Parallelism
AN: Somewhat melodramatic? I have absolutely no idea where I was going with this. =/ I wanted to do something with minimal conversation in it, so sorry if you like conversations. ^^;;; Slight AU.
Begin~
Above a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere lay a little meadow. The little meadow was charming and rustic. Small breezes whistled and raced through tall green vegetation. Weaved in, out, and about the said vegetation were wildflowers. Blooming brightly and in such astonishing shades of color, they exploded out in whatever patch of grass they could find, adorning the picture with a lovely garnish. Sweet little birds chirped out their lovely melodies while their larger cousins burst out in song. Framed around its edges, leafy green trees grew, reaching out toward the vastness of the one they knew they could never reach. This charming meadow was a vast expanse, but little knew about its existence. It sat under the clear blue empty sky, waiting for those to discover it.
Somewhere, a voice calls, in the depths of my heart
May I always be dreaming, the dreams that move my heart
In the middle of this existence lay a man. This particular man was very interesting, wearing a unique ring that perched itself on his right middle finger. A pair of fascinating black gloves hung out of his back pant pockets. His very expensive, Italian-suit clad chest rose in steady beats as he breathed out. He was near conscious. Soon, a pair of brilliant orange eyes blinked open slowly under uneven locks of brown hair. One more blink, and the set of orange eyes changed into warm amber. He sat up slowly, his muddled mind barely perceiving his surroundings. Yawning a lazy yawn while stretching rather like a cat, he assessed his physical being. Nothing was wrong as the man allowed himself a tiny smile upon seeing that nothing was wrong. However, he did notice that all of his belongings were missing, save for the ring he wore and the gloves that he carried in his back pocket. Frowning, he shaded his eyes and looked up. Judging by the position of his ethereal body above, he estimated that he had been out for approximately a few hours already. Who knows, he might've even been out a few days already. This little tidbit of information caused the man more displeasure.
So many tears, of sadness, uncontrollable through and through
I know on the other side, of them, I'll find you
A movement a little bit farther from the man startled him. He whipped around into a defensive stance, only to relax when he identified the threat to be none dangerous. But it was strange. Strange that since his right hand man would barely even let him out of sight for five minutes, let alone an hour. His companions, or Guardians as he would call them, were a rowdy bunch and did not like their boss to be gone for a few hours without them knowing. His former home tutor and his little group, even less. He imagined them all freaking out, frantically trying to find him. The image that he conjured up in his head filled him with mirth. Only few moments later did he finally subdue his laughter and the involuntary shaking of his shoulders. Well… that was… exhilarating. He had hardly laughed like this in ages, after joining the area of his expertise. But first things first, he had to figure out where he was. After a few seconds of pointless pondering, he decided that it was his best course of action to walk around. After all, it wasn't like he couldn't get more lost than he really was. Although his home tutor would smack him for thinking like that. A ghost of a smile passed over his lips, but quickly disappeared into a calm and detached manner.
He threw himself to the ground with a loud thump! Groaning with irritation and tiredness, he mused on how the hell did he manage to end up in the same place after walking for 30 minutes? Turning up his head to look at the blue sky, he wondered if it ever got lonely, being by itself in such a high place. Looking down upon others while leading them, the sky encompasses all. Regardless of where you are, everyone is under the same sky. The hauntingly familiar lyrics to a long forgotten melody started to resound in his mind.
Every time we fall down to the ground, we look up to the blue sky above
We wake up to its blueness, as for the first time
Though the road is long and lonely and the end far away, out of sight
I can with these two arms, embrace the light
Ironic isn't it? Yet at the base of this song, there was an inkling of truth. With those two hands of his, he had killed many, but saved his family. They were his light; the only reason why he involved himself in so many dangerous situations was for them.
As I bid farewell, my heart weeps, in tenderness I feel
My silent empty body begins to listen to what is real
He accepted the position and that was final. There was no going back to the innocent . But, he felt strangely happy, if not a little bit resentful that he was protecting all those innocent people out there from the sad truth in the real world. They lived in a fragilely spun web that could collapse any instant. That would mean chaos. Still, it's for the greater good, eh? Speaking of which, he really missed his family right now. Raising his head, he decided it wasn't worth the effort if all he did was wander around and come back again.
"Do you want to leave this place?"
A lilting soft voice was carried over the breeze to him. Immediately, his guard went up.
"Calm down. I'm here to help you."
His guard relaxed against his will. Suddenly, the faint smelling perfume of the flowers around him had a soporific effect as his eyelids fluttered closed. Limbs feeling heavy, he sank slowly down into the oblivion of sleep, but not before he caught the familiar flash of platinum blond hair under the sunlight and eyes the color of the sky and faintly with it, the smell of sunflowers.
The wonder of living, the wonder of dying
The wind, town and flowers, we all dance one unity
Tsuna… Tsuna! Tsuna! Boss! Dame-Tsuna!
Hmmm…that sounded familiar. He hadn't been called that nickname ever since he was a teenager. Strange… his limbs seemed to be out of function. Tearing his eyelids apart, he blinked slowly. Why was he in his office chair? Gradually, the blurred faces in front of him sharpened into focus. He blinked. What were all his Guardians doing here?
"Tsuna!"
Their cries of relief were somewhat welcoming. Well, most of them at least. The less expressive ones showed it in their eyes. He murmured groggily, not being able to form a straight sentence. A sudden thwack in the side of his head sent him reeling. When he regained his senses, another blow to the head hit him.
"Dame-Tsuna, falling asleep in the middle of the meeting. What were you planning?"
"Are you PLANNING for me to lose more brain cells?"
Reborn ignored him.
"Continue the meeting Tsuna."
Sigh. That was to be expected. As he elaborated more on details of the mission, he could not get the nagging feeling out of his head. After they all left, he slumped into his office chair. What was the significance of the dream that he just recently had? He had sworn that it was all real; he could feel the breeze ruffling his hair, the course grass beneath his suit, the smell of sunflowers in the air. But his family had insisted that since he fell "asleep", he was there the entire time. No one could wake him up. But who was the person who had helped him "escape" from his dream? That flash of sun-warmed platinum blond hair and those blue blue eyes…
"Dame-Tsuna."
One chilling voice stopped his muse. The man known as the top hitmen in the underworld was staring at him with those chilling black eyes. Void of any emotion, they stripped him down bare, unpeeling the layers and layers of masks that he spent years of building, back into the bumbling teenager he used to be. He sighed. It really seems like he wasn't going to get out of this was he? Resigning himself to a late night, he waited for Reborn to start speaking first.
"What's wrong."
Everything that Reborn said somehow was turned into a statement, never a question. Dropping the airs of a mafia boss, he reverted into an exhausted, frazzled looking young man.
"It's nothing Reborn. Just tired from all these meetings."
Reborn inspected him with a critical eye. Tsuna could tell that he did not believe him. But surprisingly, the man tilted his old black fedora down, hiding his eyes.
"Whatever lie you are telling Tsuna, is no good. I will find out what you're up to."
With one fluid motion, the mysterious black clad man left the office, the only note of him leaving was the soft click the door made when it swung closed. The mafia boss decided to call it a night. Falling down in those soft silky sheets of his felt like bliss. Pure bliss, in its simplest form. Content, he fell asleep, but not before hearing the same soft lilting voice that accompanied him.
Somewhere, a voice calls in the depths of my heart
Keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part
Now he was in a different place. Unlike the quiet and tranquil meadow that he found himself the first time, he was in the complete opposite. Burning buildings framed a red sky with angry curls of smoke slashed across. Rubble littered the ground before him in a chaotic mess, while fierce sounds of clashing metal and gunshots rang across the otherwise empty place. It was a bleak and desolate world, colored only by the redness of the sky that washed the gloomy concrete buildings in a strange light. Pounding feet echoed across the paved street. Only then did he notice that street was paved with human bones and the streetlights, human skulls with sickly candles lit in them that drenched the structures near it with sickly orange light. Suddenly, a frightened little boy came into his sight, looking as if he was running for his life. His breath came out in ragged pants and the look of fear that all animals possessed was evident in his eyes. The little boy came to a stop a little bit in front of where he was to catch his breath. He tried to raise his arms to ask the little boy where he was but the little boy stared right through him. An unheard noise startled the boy and he whipped his head from side to side, his hair floating around his head like a halo as he tried to discern where the mysterious noise came from. A single bullet rang out from its sheath. As if in slow motion, he watched as the golden projectile traveled towards the boy's heart and embedded itself in there. He watched in horror as the boy turned towards him with a surprised expression, accusing eyes as he fell with a clatter to the pavement below. The body of the boy melted into the ground and with a shock, he realized that the bones were embedded into the ground, the skull made into yet another sickening streetlamp. Falling to the ground, he opened his mouth in a silent scream while masses of restless souls dragged him down into the ground. All that was left of his being there was a ripple and then the darkness engulfed him.
Why speak of all your sadness or of life's painful woes
Immersed let the same lips sing a gentle song for you
Tsuna awoke in mind-gripping terror, wordlessly scrabbling at the bed sheets. Raising a hand to his heart to calm his breathing (and to prevent others from being awoken) , he was startled to find himself staring into the very blue eyes that had so killed the little boy in his dream. A sheen of cold sweat showed on his brow when he found out that he could not move; he was paralyzed. The mysterious person enshrouded all in black with a familiar orange flame flickering on his forehead leaned forward until his soft lips just barely brushed the other's forehead. Instantly, Tsuna felt relief, and overall, warmth. He was not alone in his decisions to kill for his family. Just when he was about to surrender back to the peaceful oblivion called sleep, he remembered something important.
"Who are you…?" He managed to croak out.
The figure stood stock still as the young man in the bed looked at him with sleepy expectancy. He slowly turned on the spot, showing once again his brilliant sky blue eyes. The rest of his facial features were covered in a shattered mirror mask that was replaced together with emphasis on the shatter lines that swooped from his forehead and followed the gentle curvature of his upper lip.
The whispering voice, we never want to forget, in each passing memory
Always here to guide you
When a mirror has been broken, shattered pieces scattered on the ground
Glimpses of new life, reflected all around
Leaning in close, the man's feathery breath tickled his ear. He shivered involuntary when the man drew in a warm breath to whisper to him and him alone, "I'm your guardian deity."
The chirping of birds infiltrated the air. An opened, balcony window allowed rays of sunlight to enter as pure white curtains floated to introduce it into the room. The occupant of the giant bed groaned as he tried to wake himself. One lazy amber eye cracked open and decided that the sun came out too early today. Flipping himself over so that he faced the darker side of the room, the occupant of the comfy looking bed willed himself into heavenly oblivion. Soon, his silk, white pajama-clad chest rose up and down in steady beats as he lost himself in Lala land. However, this peaceful moment was to be interrupted. With a loud bang!, the door flew open and crashed onto the adjourning pale sea green walls. Loud, heavy impatient footsteps stomped loudly on the lushly carpeted red floor. The swishing of a coat could be heard as the intruder settled himself on the pristine white sheets, causing the bed to dip and the cloth to wrinkle. A large, tan hand shook the one beneath them awake rather quite gently, if not the large, displeased aura the man radiated and the eminent frown he wore on his scarred face showed otherwise. Spiky black hair whipped around the trespasser's face while red feathers attached to them drifted softly to settle on their shoulders. Grunting when his obvious method of awakening did not work as the man just murmured and burrowed deeper into his makeshift nest, he tried a different method.
"Oi brat. Wake up."
The occupant of the room recognized his voice as of a person not to be angered and he woke. Blearily blinking his large eyes which were framed by a (unfortunately) feminine face, he spoke.
"What is it Xanxus?"
"You've got a visitor."
Window of beginning, stillness, new light of the dawn
Let my silent empty body be filled and pledged
With that, he jabbed his thumb in the general direction of the doorway. Tsuna's face was alight with confusion. Did he have a meeting with someone today? Nah, he would've known about that. Who was it? In the middle of his musings, someone new entered the room. The hauntingly memorable whiff of sunflowers penetrated his brain, while the rustling of a large piece of clothing drew his attention. Slowly, his eyes traveled up the lines of the black cloak, up the well-hardened lines of the stranger's shoulders, and rested on his smiling face, the pale lips stretched into a loving smile and those sapphire eyes sparkling at him from under platinum blond hair. Somehow during those short moments, Xanxus had slipped quietly out of the room and closed the door behind him, sensing that his boss wanted some privacy. After what seemed like eons, Tsuna managed to find his voice.
"How-"
"Shhhhhhh…little one."
Instantly, Tsuna fell silent, still in shock that the man in his dreams would so appear before him in real life. The man leaned down close.
"It seems that I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Giotto, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"Giotto, why are you here?"
"Ara~ don't be in such a rush little one. The answer to your question will arrive soon."
The tall man leaned closer, so close that Tsuna could feel his warm breath on his cheek.
"I have come- to reclaim what is mine."
And with that, he kissed Tsuna. A blinding flash engulfed them from head to toe in brilliant white light. A movement inside of the cape drew their attention. The shattered glass mask that Tsuna had seen the other wear before only once had flown out above them. In an instance, the mask became whole once again and glided down slowly toward Giotto's chest, sinking in with nary a ripple once it touched it. Giotto's head flew back as his being was slowly being lifted into the air. Tsuna reached out to grab his hand, but had to shield himself as the light became too intense for him to see safely. Once he had felt the light die down, did he slowly raise his head to glimpse what had become of Giotto. He exhaled sharply. Giotto glowed with white light and when he turned to look at Tsuna, he smiled, his eyes so filled with love that Tsuna felt his heart would burst. Wordlessly, Giotto offered his hand to Tsuna. Tsuna hesitated but reached out and grabbed the hand, as the last verses of the song sang itself out following them.
No need to search outside, nor sail across the sea
Cause here shining inside me, it's right here inside me
I've found a brightness, it's always with me
The End~
...I think I may have mutilated Giotto's character a little bit. =_=V To clear up the confusion that some of you might have felt, the title "Parallelism" is derived from the fact that Tsuna has these dreams that cause him to get immersed into these dream worlds that are somehow tied to the extremities of his life. I won't reveal anymore because that totally kill the intent of the story. It's for you to decide what you want to think about it. :]