Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Chapter 2: Gokudera Hayato
Gokudera knew there was something wrong as soon as the clock struck 7:45. There was no way Jyuudaime wouldn't contact the family if he wasn't going to make it home for dinner by 8:00, and it's his personal rule to call at least 15 minutes before. In this highly unpredictable world, the only thing Gokudera believed to be punctual were Jyuudaime's phone calls. And they have never failed him.
Until now, that is.
Ring...Ring...
Voicemail came on once again. Hello, this is Sawada Tsunayoshi. I'm busy right now, so I can't answer your call. Please try again later? I...Hiieee! Reborn! I'm not talking to my girlfriend, I'm just recording voicemail! Brief sounds of scuffles could be heard in the background, and Gokudera shut the phone. As much as he knew it was just a recording, the feeling that Jyuudaime was getting hurt somewhere wouldn't leave him. The sounds of Reborn giving Tsuna his daily beating didn't help much.
It was all Gokudera could do to stop himself from bashing his own head against the wall. If he hadn't gone UMA sighting with Shitt. P, then maybe he would be with Jyuudaime right now and Jyuudaime would never have gone missing. He was really a fail of a right hand man. There was no doubt about that. Where would he even start? Even though Namimori was a small town, Gokudera knew that logically, it would be harder to search for a missing person if Gokudera started running all over the place.
Gokudera didn't really have much choice after this. Sighing with resignation, he decided to try the spartan tutor himself.
"Chaos."
"Reborn-sama...Jyuudaime hasn't called yet...I was wondering, did you have any contact with him in the past fifteen minutes?"
"...Dame-Tsuna will always be Dame-Tsuna. He probably forgot. Don't worry too much about it, Gokudera. He'll call when he remembers." The phone shut off with finality, and Gokudera silently pulled it away from his ear.
For the first time in his life, Gokudera became suspicious of Tsuna's home tutor.
It was a brisk walk from his apartment to the Vongola Headquarters. Tsuna, being so understanding of all his guardian's needs, understood that there were days when Gokudera didn't want to spend time with the rest of the guardians. It went without saying that people wanted to be alone sometimes, Tsuna had reasoned, and so he had generously bought an apartment for all of them. Except Hibari, of course, who had his own estate, which was left to him by his parents. Gokudera spent as much time as he could with Jyuudaime, because he would never be able to forgive himself if Jyuudaime had gotten hurt while he was not there. Sometimes, as in the case of Gokudera's first successful hit, he wished to be alone. It was much too pitiful for Jyuudaime to see him in a shocked, blood covered state anyway.
Halfway there, Gokudera's phone rang. He hoped it was Jyuudaime with all his heart, but alas his wishes were not to be fulfilled.
"Yo, Gokudera!" His cheery voice never failed to piss him off.
"Yakyuu-baka! Jyuudaime is missing and you're sounding so carefree and shit? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Profanities slipped out of his mouth with ease. Gokudera had never been one to hold back on the language, and the more stressed he is, the worse it became. After listening to a bout of cheerful laughter from Takeshi's end, Gokudera snapped. His language became even more colorful and at one point, he was just hollering into the phone. His anxiety threatened to overwhelm him. He wouldn't stop to listen to whatever placating words Takeshi had to offer...
"Maa, Gokudera, calm down. Calm down! I know where Tsuna is! We can go look for him right now. Maa, maa!"
"You know where he is? THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO IN THE FIRST PLACE, YOU DUMBASS. YOU MADE ME WORRY FOR NOTHING. I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU WHEN I SEE YOU." Even as the threats slipped out of his mouth, Gokudera felt a sense of ease at knowing that someone knew where Jyuudaime was. Grumbling softly to himself, he all but forced Takeshi to give him the location of the Vongola Decimo.
"He said he was going to go to the forest for a walk, remember? I'm sure he asked you as well! I had to help my dad at the sushi shop, so I wasn't able to go with him, but I thought you were going to be there, so it was okay. Maa, even if Tsuna is alone, he'll be fine. Tsuna's a tough guy."
"Shut up, you idiot." Gokudera started jogging towards the forest. Yamamoto, as dumb as he is, was right. Jyuudaime was strong. Even if some assassins tried to take a hit on him, he would be able to get out of it alive. Not everyone can best the powers of a Vongola boss, least of all when it was someone as strong as the Decimo. In the back of his mind, he registered Yamamoto telling him that he would meet up with him at the Namimori Shrine, but that was all the information he needed to know. Shutting his phone off, he quickened his pace and jogged up the steps to the shrine.
"Herbivore."
Tch. The tonfa bastard. Gokudera growled. "What the fuck do you want, Hibari?"
Hibari was holding a limp and shivering Tsuna by the collar. Gokudera's eyes widened immediately. "JYUUDAIME!"
Hibari shoved him towards Gokudera, and Gokudera quickly set about to seeing what was wrong with the Vongola Decimo. Tsuna was a horrible wreck. His eyes were wide with shock, and his hands were shaking and holding onto a bloodied piece of rope. The rope dangled limply from his grip, stained with crimson liquid and flecked with bits of discolored flesh. Gokudera took the rope from Tsuna's hands gently, cringing in disgust when a few maggots wriggled over the coarse material, feeding hungrily on the flesh.
"What the fuck did you do to him, tonfa bastard?" Hibari 'hmph'ed in contempt at Gokudera's accusations, but he didn't leave. He seemed to be intently observing Tsuna's actions, as if waiting for the brunette to flip out at any moment and start going on a rampage. Gokudera shot him a look of contempt, but Hibari wasn't even paying attention to him.
"Gokudera!" Yamamoto soon appeared at the top of the steps. Deciding that four was one too many, Hibari turned on his heel and disappeared into the forest to who knows where. Good riddance. Gokudera thought savagely.
"Goku...oh, Tsuna! What's wrong with him?"
Yamamoto was by Tsuna's side in an instant, and Gokudera didn't have the heart to stop him. There was a look of concentrated worry on the baseball idiot's face. His smile was completely nonexistent as he carefully turned Tsuna's hands over and looked for wounds of any kind. Tsuna wasn't covered with blood, except for his hands, which ruled out the possibility of an attack. If there was a fight, Tsuna would usually be covered with blood due to his close combat abilities. He wouldn't be reacting in this way either. Tsuna, as wimpy as he once was, had gotten into the role of Vongola Decimo quite well, and was no longer afraid of fighting for his own causes.
The only clue came from the rope that Gokudera now held in his hands.
With a silent agreement with Yamamoto, Vongla Decimo's two closest friends started moving in unison. Even though the two of them had a childish, one-sided competitive behaviour, Gokudera knew that besides Tsuna, the best partner he could ask for is Yamamoto. They seemed to understand each other without even having to voice their own opinions out loud sometimes, as rare as those occasions were.
"I'll meet you back at the headquarters, Gokudera."
"Whatever. Just make sure Jyuudaime gets home safely."
Gone was the panic and the shouting, well, at least until Tsuna thought to open his mouth to speak.
"Gokudera...I..I k-killed her."
Oh, so the assassin was female. That narrowed the list down quite a bit. Not many accomplished female hitwomen were out there, but there were a couple from prominent families that Gokudera knew were gunning for Tsuna's head. It was hard to be strong without gaining some strong opponents in the process. That was a guarantee.
"Don't worry, Jyuudaime. I'll find out the family that did this..."
"No, Gokudera! I...I k-ki-" Here, Tsuna seemed to go into a panic induced coughing fit. Yamamoto quickly supported him with his arm, and Gokudera wished desperately that he had thought to bring a jacket or a bottle of water or anything for Tsuna. Was he going into shock? If then, don't they have to lift his feet or somethi-
"I killed HARU, Gokudera! She.." And then Tsuna blacked out.
Believing in the supernatural had some downsides sometimes. Just like there were bad and good people in the world, Gokudera knew that there were friendly and malevolent spirits out there. And as soon as he had stepped foot in the forest, the killing intent was unmistakable. There was a chance that Tsuna had been influenced by whatever was inhabiting the forest spiritually, causing him to kill Haru.
Still, Gokudera carried on bravely. He already had his Systema C.A.I out and at the ready, his arrow pointed downwards and his cat sitting on his shoulder arrogantly. For once, Uri wasn't complaining. Instead, the cat was sniffing at the air and letting out distressed, half-hearted growls.
Something rustled behind him, and Gokudera jumped. "COME OUT OR I'LL SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKING FACE."
When the bushes rustled again, he immediately raised his hand and aimed his arrow steadily. A black limb emerged from the bushes, and then another, and then a pale face...
"Hibari? You fu-"
Hibari silently glared at him and waved for him to be quiet, before disappearing back into the shadows. Gokudera frowned but had no choice but to follow the aloof guardian back to wherever he had come from. Hibari was acting weirdly. Normally, he would've responded violently to the taunt, jumping at an opportunity for a good fight. Either that, or he would leave silently, after shooting Gokudera a disdainful look. But neither of those scenarios happened.
Gokudera was so lost in his musing that he almost walked right past Hibari when the man stopped. Hibari growled in annoyance and grabbed his arm. Gokudera almost shot him in the face once more in shock, but stopped himself in time. With a huff of irritation, Hibari slammed his tonfa into Gokudera's stomach, and then proceeded to lead the way into a clearing.
Gokudera cursed and ranted at the man's back, but Hibari was too intent on his goal, whatever it is, to pay any attention to the fuming storm guardian. As much as Gokudera wanted to retaliate with violence, Hibari was an ally here. The guardians had interacted with him long enough to know that though Hibari seemed separated from the family, he would always be there to bestow the correct punishment on any wrongdoers. That was enough for Tsuna to trust Hibari, and grudgingly, Gokudera had learned to overlook the cloud guardian's peculiar ways of working.
"Here, herbivore." Hibari was leaning over a corpse.
Gokudera hurried over. The corpse was missing a head, he noted. But it was definitely a female body. It was still clothed and none of its belongings seemed to be missing. The nails were sharp and clean, not covered with blood as one might expect when a person struggles. There was no sign of a scuffle, and underneath the silver moonlight, the clearing looked clean and undisturbed, only out of place because it contained a corpse.
"It doesn't seem to be the work of a common mugger or rapist. Her clothes are still on, and none of her belongings are missing. Judging by the amount of decomposition the corpse had undergone, the corpse is probably a few days old. The maggots are already fat, having gorged themselves on the rotting flesh." Gokudera commented softly, more for himself than Hibari. Gokudera had watched enough detective shows to know the basics of identifying a murder, but he had no professional experience when it came to finding details.
Hibari wasn't even trying to decipher the mystery. Hibari was checking something on his phone, and when Gokudera raised his eyebrows at the man, he held it up.
No signal.
Gokudera scoffed. Of all the things he was worrying about, he was worrying about not getting reception? That man was seriously disturbed. He watched as Hibari slipped the phone back into his pocket and pulled out his box and ring. Releasing his hedgehog, he let the animal sniff the corpse and then wander around, staring at the floor.
Who are we kidding? We're mafioso, not detectives. We should get out of the crime scene before someone actually thinks to send the police.
"Tch. This person is definitely not an assassin." Haru. Gokudera's mind informed him, but he refused to believe such a preposterous thing, even if Tsuna had told him himself. There was just simply no way. The stupid woman was supposed to be home, studying for her exams or something stupid. Why would she be all the way out here, in the forest? And besides, the facts don't line up. Gokudera was sure that he had seen her just the day before, and they had even started a small spat about her fashion sense or something. She was wearing an ugly brown cardigan or something..
The corpse was wearing a brown cardigan.
Tch. How many people out there wear brown cardigans? Anyway, stupid woman had said it was the craze of the season or something. Many people would've bought it, as ugly as it is.
"Oi, Hibari. Jyuudaime mentioned something about the stupid wo-...tch, he mentioned something about Haru. Do you know anything?"
"Why would I, Gokudera Hayato?"
Hibari seemed more intent on rifling through the woman's handbag to answer his questions. Gokudera glared at him before continuing to observe the corpse. Haru was wearing a light blue scarf on that day. That was the main reason for our spat. I claimed that it didn't match her ugly brown cardigan, but she claimed that it represented the sky and the trees or something stupid like that...
The corpse had no scarf on, but considering that it had been beheaded, that was not a surprise. Gokudera had half a mind to start walking around the clearing, looking for a blue scarf, but for some reason his chest squeezed painfully at the thought of finding one. It would be horrifying but conclusive at the same time.
A burst of music caught the two of them by surprise. Hibari arched his eyebrow and help up a horrendously pink phone with two of his fingers, as if it was something disgusting. Gokudera quickly took it over and fumbled with it before flipping it open.
One message.
"Hey, there's no reception here, isn't there?" Gokudera murmured. Hibari shook his head mutely and stood, before going to lean against a tree nonchalantly. Gokudera scowled at him. Trust him to leave everything up to someone else. Hibari shot a cool look back, as if daring him to complain about his actions. The phone vibrated in Gokudera's hand again, and he frowned at it.
You have two unopened messages.
It was wrong to invade someone's privacy like this, but curiosity took over Gokudera's sense of morals briefly. Enough for him to open the phone and mess around until he found out how to open the messages.
Haru, when are you coming home, sweetie? It's late, and I don't want you to be out by yourself after dark. If you decided to stop over at your friend's house, please give me a call.
Love, Mom.
His blood was frozen. It was...Haru. How many people in this town are named Haru? Gokudera reasoned with himself. Overall, there was something strange about the message. Fuck that. There was something strange with the whole situation. The corpse is at least 3 days old, and the last time Haru had been seen with Gokudera was one day ago...and now, after her daughter has been missing for who knows how long, her mother finally thinks to message her? There was no 'missed call' in the call log. Normally, someone would try calling first before sending a message when the recipient is not available. And the corpse's head is missing. Gokudera realized that that little detail was what bothered him the most. The corpse's head is missing.
"H..Hibari, this.."
"Miura Haru was murdered." Hibari replied with certainty.
Gokudera shook his head. He was shaken. Automatically, his trembling fingers reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, which he lit immediately and stuck in his mouth. Standing upright, he quickly backed against a tree as well, mirroring Hibari's actions, taking a long drag on the cigarette. His mind whirled. He had been planning on telling Tsuna that it wasn't Haru, and that Jyuudaime was just mistaken because he was in shock or something. But now...that all the evidence pointed out otherwise, it should be...
"Suicide...is a possibility. She didn't struggle and her clothes are clean. And...and when I was with Jyuudaime, he had a rope that was covered in blood and bits of flesh. She...she must've hung herself."
"Or was hung by someone who she trusted." Hibari interjected.
Gokudera frowned. "Whatever the fuck you want to believe. I don't give a fucking shit about your opinion."
How did it come to this?
Gokudera lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Tsuna had completely broken down at the news, and they had yet to tell other members of the family. The only people who knew right now were the guardians. Gokudera didn't know what to do now. They didn't want to tell Kyoko or any of Haru's classmates, because it was just too hard of a blow. Everyone else was still in denial.
Reborn was convinced that it was murder, and Gokudera, Hibari and Reborn had argued about it. An enemy famiglia, Reborn had said. Gokudera had claimed that all evidence points to suicide. It was probably because Tsuna had asked Kyoko out just a few weeks earlier, and since then Haru had seemed more distant and unwilling to hang out with them. Hibari had adamantly insisted that there was a murderer loose in Namimori's population, and had started his own investigation regardless of Reborn or Gokudera's opinions. He was determined to find out who had done this atrocious deed in his precious town.
It was messing up the discipline. Hibari had claimed. It was as if he didn't know Haru at all. This was another case for Hibari to bestow justice on or something. Gokudera frowned in distaste. Hibari was playing cops and robbers or something. He didn't seem to care about the wellbeing of the family. Haru's death had not affected him at all. Even Gokudera had shed a few tears upon seeing Tsuna burst into great heaving sobs. It was a heavy blow on the family. How could that heartless bastard not feel anything? Except for the need to protect his stupid town?
Gokudera's hands trembled and he almost reached for a cigarette once more, before he decided to hell with it all. Sitting up, he pulled a scrap of paper over and a pen and quickly penning down a list of possible suspects leading up to Haru's death.
Suicide.
Murder (List of families):
Cordain Family
Falemorie Family
Cansanave Family
...
Individual murderers (Types):
Rapist.
Mugger.
Assassin...
There was too little evidence on what was happening right now. There was no way Gokudera could prove anything. In times like these, it's better not to trust anyone.
Picking his pen up, he filled in a couple more names, and then after a brief pause of consideration...
Hibari Kyoya.
Yamamoto Takeshi.
Rokudo Mukuro.
Chrome Dokuro.
Sasagawa Ryohei.
Sasagawa Kyoko.
Sawada Tsunayoshi.
They were the people closest to her, after all.
October 26th. The day when Haru's parents would know what had happened to their daughter.
Gokudera, as Tsuna's right hand man, had taken it upon himself to be the one to inform her parents of her death. He departed as soon as he finished lunch. It was better not to delay this anymore.
He rang the doorbell.
Nobody came to open the door.
"Excuse me." Gokudera called gruffly. Maybe they were asleep or something. Or intoxicated with the grief and panic of looking for their missing daughter. Haru mentioned once or twice that her parents drank, but not to the point where they got drunk. Well, special circumstances, Gokudera reasoned. And who was he to talk? Even now, he had his cigarette between his fingers, already lit.
He knocked harder on the door, and then rang the doorbell once more.
Still, nobody answered the door. Are you fucking kidding me... Just when he was about to kick the door down, it swung inwards.
"Aah, Gokudera-san!" It was Kyoko. What was she doing here?
She was carrying a box of Haru's belongings. Gokudera took a peek inside the box. It looked like Kyoko had been packing for a sleepover or something. There was a plain set of clothes, and then a pair of pajama pants and a shirt that said 'Fashion of Love!' decorated with pink sequins and some sparkly shit that Gokudera didn't care to identify. Nothing valuable was in the box. It also contained shampoo and shower gel.
Gokudera grunted. He really didn't know why Jyuudaime chose to go out with this woman. She was pretty, but completely airheaded. Her personality was far too similar to the baseball idiot's for his liking.
"What are you doing here, woman?"
Kyoko seemed unfazed by his gruff way of speaking. She gave him a tender smile that made Gokudera feel sick. What if she was a psychopath behind that mask of innocence and radiant happiness or whatever? What are they called again? Yanlele? Yandere?
"I came here to get some of Haru's stuff! She told me to get it for her. Apparently, she's going to spend the night on school campus or something. She's busy, ne? Of course, getting into such a prestigious university, one can only expect something like this!"
"She told you?" But she's dead.
"Mhmm! She texted me just a few minutes ago."
Kyoko pulled out her phone, a sky-blue device with a cute doughnut keychain attached to it. After flicking through her messages a little bit, she held it up so that Gokudera could see the screen.
Kyoko-chan! Hahi, everything's been so busy desu! Sorry, Haru hasn't been able to hang out with you guys for so long! Kyoko-chan, sorry if you're busy, but I really need to ask you to get something for me! Can you bring some of Haru's clothes and her pajamas over to Namimori University? Haru has too much work! Haru needs to stay at school because Haru needs to study in the library!
...What the fuck?Gokudera shook his head. There was something seriously wrong going on. How could a dead person send text messages? And...and even so...Gokudera leaned closer and noted the number. It was really Haru's number. But that was impossible. He had Haru's phone with him all night, and it was still in his pocket. He knew he was withholding information or something, but there was something that told him he had to keep it with him. It was essential in finding out what happened to her.
"Anyway, I have to go, Gokudera-san. Haru is waiting for me. See you later!" She beamed at him and moved past him slowly. Gokudera stood rooted to the spot for a second, and then quickly he took the box in his hands.
"I'll help you carry this. It must be heavy. Did you forget anything?" Gokudera would see who this 'imposter' was. He quickly reached into his pocket. Haru's phone is still there. With one unread text message.
Kyoko smiled gratefully. "Thank you! I'm sure Haru will be happy as well. She hasn't had time to come visit us a lot..."
But where are her parents?
The library was too big and too grand. People were hunched over their desks, frantically working on whatever they were working on.
Kyoko hurried from desk to desk. Gokudera stayed standing in the middle of the room. It was futile. She wasn't in this world anymore. What was the point of getting worked up over someone nonexistent? The image of Haru's corpse was still fresh in his mind.
Students were starting to leave the library. The sunlight streaming in from the windows dwindled and the sky turned to a murky darkness once more. It was another starless sky, and told of ominous forbidding. Gokudera shuddered. Was this the last sight Haru saw before getting killed?
Kyoko hurried back, but Gokudera could see that she was still completely calm. "Maybe we should check the dormitories, Gokudera-san. That's where Haru spends the rest of her time, isn't it? When she's not with us, I mean." She said.
"Tch. Whatever, doesn't make a difference."
And so the two of them set off towards the dormitories, Gokudera trying to erase his feeling of unease as he walked under the starless sky.
Of course males can't go into female dormitories. Let's turn back. Gokudera had wanted to say, but the hopeful expression on Kyoko's face could not be ignored. Why didn't I just tell her anyway? Sighing heavily, Gokudera handed the box over and tapped his foot impatiently. "I'll wait for you here, woman. You better hurry up. I don't want Jyuudaime worrying over you as well."
Kyoko tilted her head in confusion at the inclusion of 'as well', but decided not to dwell on it. She stepped bravely into the block that Haru stayed in and soon disappeared through the doors. Gokudera sat on the steps outside, playing with an unlit cigarette. Soon enough, he gave in to his cravings and flicked it against a lighter.
It was dark, and damp. The dusky dew had set in already, and the whole town was cloaked in an eerie mist. Gokudera played with his lighter, watching as the flame flickered uncomfortably against the thin, humid breeze. It had been a full 15 minutes, and Kyoko had not come back yet. It was stupid of him, but he was starting to feel that something had gotten her as well. All these years of believing in UMAs had his imagination going wild. Of course she wouldn't be back. Haru wasn't in the dormitories after all, and Kyoko was just wasting her time asking where Haru could've gone.
Another ten minutes passed, and then another twenty. Gokudera had pulled out his phone and was playing a stupid game on the screen when he suddenly thought to look at the time. Fuck. It's so late already. Just what the hell is she doing? There should be teachers on patrol or something. When they tell Kyoko that Haru hadn't been back for two days, would she give up then?
He remembered Haru's phone, still in his pocket.
Taking it out hesitantly, he flipped it open once more, coming face to face with the familiar screen. His hands shook as he went back to her message log. There was something so disturbing about going through a dead person's belongings. It have him a deep sense of unsettled fear, as if he had swallowed something bad and it was slowly rotting inside him. He wondered if Haru would come back to haunt him or something. Even though he hadn't really done anything particularly bad to her, they still hadn't gotten along that well. It was just another quirk of their relationship, Gokudera had thought. Their personalities differed too much for them to agree on anything.
One text message from Private Number.
My heart craves blood. I cannot live
There, the message was cut off. Gokudera stood quickly. This was a...a message from the murderer. Definitely. There was no reason for anyone else to play such a prank on Haru, and the number was not one that he recognized.
Kyoko. Fucking Sasagawa Kyoko. Oh fuck.
He burst through the doors, and the stench hit him full on. Everywhere around him...rotting corpses. Filling the air with the sickly sweet smell of musky blood and decomposing flesh. Splatters of blood stained the walls in random patches. Gokudera covered his mouth and shook.
He pulled out his phone and shakily dialed Yamamoto's number, Tsuna's number, even Kusakabe's number. No signal.
"Woman! Oi, woman...we're leaving." If this is some kind of sick illusion, Gokudera was going to beat the fuck out of Rokudo Mukuro as soon as he got the permission to visit Kokuyo. Maybe he would bring Hibari along, just because the man would go into a rage and destroy anything anyway. He leaned on the wall and dry heaved. He hadn't eaten dinner and lunchtime felt like an era away. His fingers came away sticky with blood and bits of dried flesh and inners.
"Oi, woman.." He continued calling, even though he had a pretty good idea what had happened to her. A light flickered on and off at the end of the corridor, and drawn like a moth to a flame, Gokudera walked forward in a trance.
There she was, hanging on the wall. A noose still curled around her neck. Her head was missing, and again, her fingers were clean and showing no signs of struggle. She gripped a bloodied knife in her right hand. It was as if she had willingly stood on a chair, hung herself and then kicked the chair to the side, except the noose was nailed into her neck and her head had been taken off. Gokudera had not heard any sound of screams or struggling while he was outside, and the end of the corridor was not that far away from the entrance.
An illusion. He told himself. This is an illusion. What the fuck is going on with this world. What the fuck. This is just too messed up.
There was a stool standing upright near one of the walls, with the cardboard box Kyoko was carrying set upon it. Gokudera stumbled over, and opened it.
Haru's unseeing eyes stared back at him. Her mouth had been forcefully pulled into a grimacing smile. Her brown hair had been pulled back and pulled neatly into a ponytail, and the head was clean. Even the bottom of the neck, where it had been severed from the body, had been burned cleanly. There was no blood. Her eyes stared at him, and Gokudera imagined that she would pull her lips back and laugh any moment now.
Gokudera turned and ran.
In every single room he ran into, there lay a scene of carnage. Dead bodies littered the once clean, waxed floors. Lights flickered randomly, throwing his vision into disarray. Gokudera wanted to clutch at his head and stop, but he had to get out. The suppressing aura of the room was getting to him. He wanted to rip through the walls and get home, but nothing was happening. He continued to stumble blindly.
Finally, the entrance came into view. He gasped in relief. Gokudera was no stranger to death, but after seeing so much gore, so vividly, after seeing someone dead in such a gruesome way...he couldn't take it.
His phone beeped with a message. Gokudera laughed out loud. Now you call me back? You fucking retard, Yamamoto Takeshi!
He flipped it open.
One message from Private Number.
without vengeance.
Gokudera gaped, one hand on the handle of the exit. I cannot live without vengeance. This was like some badly written horror movie, yet he couldn't tear his eyes away from the message. Pausing was his mistake.
"Gokudera-san..."The knife lodged itself firmly in his back, right below his shoulder blades. He could feel it pierce his lungs. His breath came in short pants now, and his vision flickered. He pushed forward. The street was so close. So close. Just a few steps away.
And just before he toppled forward, he turned back.
There she was, headless and missing her knife. The noose was still nailed to her neck. Kyoko's clothes were still immaculate, somehow unstained by the blood.
And Gokudera could still imagine her smile, a smile that will haunt him until he draws his last breath, even though it wasn't physically there.
A/N: Next update will be tomorrow. Um, just because you guys know that I will be updating tomorrow doesn't mean that you don't have to review ^.^' I'm not forcing you, but I really would like more people to review on this, even though it's going to be over in seven days.
Thanks so much to TunaSFX and Lunakatsuma for reviewing. Both of you get a virtual cookie from me.
So guys, please tell me if this is going a little too far in the horror department. I'll either move the rating up, or take the fic down, depending on what you guys think. Thanks for reading :3
