Authors notes: Gaw, I'm so tired. So I guess I'll just post this now or never X_X
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, which belongs to its respective owner, Amano Akira.
OLD
Sometimes, Yamamoto thinks, sometimes he can imagine that Tsuna is standing right next to him again, and Gokudera would be fawning over him and- oh, haha. Just like old times.
AGAIN
Smoke after smoke, cigarette after cigarette; and time he's lost and lost and lost (but really he's just mostly thrown away it all, or, you know, lost track).
FORGOTTEN
At one point or another, Haru had hated her hair. She doesn't remember when, or why, but none of that matters when Tsuna takes the tips of her hair and dwindles with it & breathes in the scent with a soft warm embrace.
SLEEPING
Well, to put it simply, it had been rather sad when Gokudera didn't respond with his usual screech (haha, like a girl) when he took his wrist to his lips and gave it a quick kiss. ("To make it better!") Gokudera says nothing.
COMPASS
"Fuck," Gokudera glares at him, "What's the mafia without a couple of fucking crazy car chases?" he turns left when the lights point right. Yamamoto holds onto his seatbelt for dear life.
ICE
It's a very rare occurrence, one that is almost as natural as it snowing the desert, but- it happens- when Tsuna's eyes go cold, and it is ice.
ROMANCE
Gokudera is like steel, flawless and perfect, so strong.
However, Gokudera is prone to being human, too. And he would probably rather die than admit who's shoujo manga that is under his bed (Later, he admits, he should have used the fucking carpet compartment).
BALLET
At one point or another, Reborn had said that Yamamoto was a natural born killer, and he is, in the way that only that retarded baseball freak could be in his abstract little goofy ballet of blood & smiles.
LOATHE
Kyoko later regrets taking her brother to the movies; she should have asked before whether Ryohei liked Chuck Norris or not.
EMBARRISMENT
Okay, okay, Tsuna thinks. Maybe he should of asked whether or not he could go into his mother's closet beforehand, but curiosity got the best of him.
("Curiosity killed the cat," later Reborn criticizes him.
"I know, I know!" Tsuna cries into his knees, curling away from those horrid pictures of his very own father.)
PEEK
Tsuna hates going to bathroom with his father; mainly because he tends to take a extra look on his not-yet-born grandchildren.
("Well," Iemitsu says after a long blank look, not even trying to hide his disappointment.)
TELEVISION
The next morning, after a long, so very long night of bloodshed and hands and jobs they awake to empty & spilled beer cans and dirty toilets, though no one can really explain the sudden appearance of the television.
BOX
"I bet he lives in one of those shitty apartments in the downtown area, you know, with the rat problem?"
"Really? I thought he lived in one of the super luxurious mansions with a fucking huge pool and a whole harem of super hot babes."
Reborn makes a bet. "He lives in a box."
Reborn, of course, wins the bet, and later that month he offers Gokudera shelter in Tsuna's home.
(A burning box is found somewhere down near Tsuna's street, and the only evidence left behind is a box of cigarettes & an exploded dumpster.)
THEFT
Tsuna remembers this one time where they were trying to get him a girlfriend, via phone, and awkwardly saying something about whip cream and robbery.
(Well, it didn't exactly work, but Yamamoto and Gokudera had tried so hard to help he didn't really complain.)
SETTING
The scene before him is awfully familiar, Mukuro thinks nonchalantly, blood splattered on the walls, people screaming & sobbing before him, and he can't help but think, what insane dead author thought of this?
DRESSES
Women like dressing up, like the feeling of romance when they twirl there pretty skirts and lift their legs in the air.
But, the thing is, their awfully picky about their dresses, whether the color is the right shade, goes with the shoes (oh, don't get him started) or whether its warm enough, or if its too-formal or too-casual or whether it's the fucking right temperature for them-
But, Gokudera can't help but forget all the bitching when he sees a smile bloom on Tsuna's face when he sees I-pin and Nana and all the women in their dresses, skirts twirling.
SARCASTIC
"Well," Shamal whispers in Lambo's ear, "the truth is, you see, Gokudera is rather sarcastic and he," he grins-
Gokudera lights his bombs.
TWIST
"A word is worth a thousand pictures," Reborn preaches wisely.
Tsuna interjects. "Hey, isn't that-"
CRUSH
"Oh, Tsuna," Spanner smiles at him dreamily after the X-burner is complete. "You are absolutely perfect." Tsuna hopes that this is at least puppy love.
HANDWRITING
For a smoker, Gokudera has beautiful handwriting; complete with intricate loops and swirls and drifting endings; written as it would have been to a lover.
Tsuna, on the contrary, has absolute horrid handwriting (Later, Reborn comments, "Its stupidity.")
AIMED
It's a hot-blooded race against time- and there's nothing but sweat, smoke, pride, and sheer will power firing through their ice-cold veins. He hears Yamamoto pant beside him, run step-after-step-after-step beside him, and he knows: they might not be ready, but they're aimed & fired.
TWIN
When cornered by fellow Mafiosi about the truth, he responds with a string of curses and a flurry of bombs, a rabid blood lust and a disappearance in the stingy waste of smoke & cologne.
(Pictures argue later, and he has a feeling Reborn was involved.
"I've already said, that baseball freak is so not my type." Gokudera argues angrily.
"Ah, so I guess it was Giovanni, then?"
"Yeah sure- wait, who the hell is Giovanni-"
REMEMBERING
Hibari lives by the iron code of Kill Or Be Killed, the thin balance of Life vs. Death and Trash Who Do Not Deserve Either.
While many question this train of thought, Hibari simply remarks "Shut up before I Bite You To Death."
(Because in truth Hibari does not waste time in being nostalgic; the past is the past, the present is the present, and the future is untold, no matter what that 'corpse' says.).
VISIT
Mukuro's visits are a rare occurrence, one that is wistful and fleeting, like a child's laughter or the drifting petals on a Sakura tree.
(And that is what he is, everything & yet nothing at all)
STAIRCASE
If there was ever anything cruel and usual, it would be the scenario occurring right now, Gokudera thinks; Him falling up the fucking staircase.
(And what's worse, he can fucking feel that cross eye bastard laughing at him.)
CANDY
He hasn't been called to the past in so long- and of course- he gets called at the most inconvenient time, ever.
He is greeted by awkward silence and a fifteen-year-old Tsuna's shrill screaming.
Five minutes later- and he pops back- and I-pin is still there on the bed.
"How'd it go?" his voice cracks- first time in years since that's happened.
"He wanted candy," I-pin smiles.
"Nice," he smiles lazily, and not so lazily plants a kiss on her neck, and pulls that blanket nice little blanket not so nicely off.
NEEDS
Everybody has needs, Yamamoto insists in Gokudera's ear. You're just mine, he grins.
WASHES
To be rather honest, Hibari doesn't remember his first kill. All he remembers is washing the blood stained clothes and wondering whether he should be proud or not.
PERFORMANCE
"That was lovely," Byakuran smiles at them, "A performance of a life time," and he pulls out his gun and aims at Tsuna's face.
SMILE
There's no last words, no drama or anything like that, no rain and vengeful screams; there's only blood, a shocked silence, and a smile bleeding on Tenth's face.
WITHDRAWN
Yamamoto figures it out: Tsuna is (was, was, he reminds himself) Gokudera's addiction- not fucking cigarettes- and-and he quickly realizes just how bad withdrawals really are.
POOL
Tsuna remembers when they were kids; sneaking out late in the summer, fireflies' abuzz, melted ice cream and midnight dips in the school pool. (And Hibari would always chase them.)
AWKWARD
At times like this, back then, it would have been awkward, this dead silence. But, they're companionship fills in for the verbal void, and there's nothing to be said- just the curling wisp of smoke from Gokudera's cigarette and the never-leaving smile on Yamamoto's face is there. And that's okay.
LITTER
"What the fuck!" Gokudera spits. "Why the hell is there gum on the ground near Bosses-"
IMPROVEMENT
Tsuna groans after Reborn lectures him. "Why can't you just say "okay that's good just needs some improvement" and be done with it?"
"Because," Reborn sips calmly on his tea, "Where improvement is needed there is a void filled in with endless stupidity; mainly, you, Tsuna."
ABANDONING
When Gokudera was a small child, he saw the world abandoning him right before his eyes, and said, Fuck Off I'm Doing My Own Thing. Now, even when he world turns his back on him, he knows that Tenth will never abandon him.
DEEP
"That water is awfully deep there, Kyoya," Mukuro smirks at him. Hibari glares, and jumps- and no one's sure when he's coming back, but- but, if there's one thing for sure: he always will drift back- right when the tides highest.
DIFFERENT
In truth, Chrome has always been a little bit different, even before she was Chrome, in a time with a name-and-face she can't even remember. Her mind, her body, her very own soul is different from the rest. And, it's not even all hers.
But, looking at Mukuro's calm face, eyelashes fluttered closed, in a dream (always, always a dream) with ever blooming Sakura trees and cotton soft grass that can cut deeper than a blade, (and stars attached to the sky with a silver string and a smile on their face) she can't help but think, maybe, that different is better.
GREETINGS
It's always awkward, meeting someone new. However, it's just plain sad when you greet someone who is dead but not actually quite alive, and Gokudera knows this for a fact.
COLLECTION
Unknown to rest of the world, Reborn does indeed own a closet full of orange-wrapped fedoras.
(Tsuna discovers this when he is eighteen, in an embarrassing situation involving a tampon, and angry PMS-ing woman, and a hideous amount of glue.)
VERB
"Actions speak louder than words, Kyoya dear," Mukuro twists a smile.
Hibari grunts, and proceeds to bite him to death.
"I'll bite you to death," Hibari confirms, knife-to-knife, throat-to-throat, a controlled display of blood & order.
Mukuro laughs.
TEASE
"Hmmm," Mukuro smiles at him evilly, "maybe the should call you the Tenth Longola, my big little mafia boss."
Tsuna abruptly zips his pants.
ENDLESS
"Hana," he pants, "Is so not an extreme name."
"Oh my god," she moans, "Can you please just shut up for once?"
GAME
The target has been marked, a silver bullet in his head and a bulls-eye on his back, its Read Aim Fire and a wild game of chase- this time batteries guaranteed.
SECRET
Gokudera's running at full speed, the scent of rotten fish and salt and smoke in the air, clinging to his hair, his clothes, intoxicating his lungs. He's got the answers; written, imprinted & burned into his body and mind. Blood drenches his shoes and chest and the tips of his fingers. He's got a pistol and a pack of cigarettes in his back pocket; and people see, and they know: its just another secret they've got to accept & move on, here, in This Old City.
DANCE
Haru doesn't wait, when music plays. She grabs the nearest hand, and pulls them out onto the floor, swings & shakes, twirls & tips. And in times like these, they all can't help but think, maybe they all need to dance a little, because Haru is their music.
COINCENDENCE
There was once a wise old lady who had once said; "there are no coincidences in this world." She never knew how right she was, when he was christened 'Mukuro'.
BLOOM
"Those dead flowers- you know, the one's that never opened? Yeah, they bloomed, just yesterday." Gokudera confirms.
A smile literally blooms on Tenth's face.
ENVELOPE
When a malevolent sunset forms in the west and the skies turn a deep crimson; there is a moment of silence- the sound of the sky gently tucking away all the sins & desires of the world before twisting off into the night; a black sky cradling the moon.
PHENOMENOM
When they're were kids- just 14 & 15 & 16 and all that jazz- they had all said that they go out with a bang; that the world would remember the names and that one day someone's going to look up and say, 'man, I wish I was like them!' They- they had truly thought that they were special, that they were different.
Ten years later, they learn that everyone goes out with a bang- a jolt of the heart and a spark of electricity, and the same aching sound of heart braking and-
Yamamoto looks up to the sky, and realizes that maybe quietly drifting away (he-he won't say disappearing after all, because-) isn't that bad- because maybe all phenomenon's leave are the walking dead & the lone and the lonely.
