KitsuneFreak: And here is chapter 2. I debated for a while, who I should pull for this and settled with two people since it makes way for much more plot speed. Plus, wouldn't you get tired of reading redundancies? Travel back in time, found injured, OMG what happened, lather, rinse and repeat. You'll only have to endure this torture one more time. Next chapter will have the last set of time travelers.
See what I mean? I just summed up my entire chapter for you. Well now that wasn't smart. Still, it's more fun to read it for yourself right? Hope you enjoy it! Just to let you know, I may make references to my earlier 1st Gen fic, 'Clams Much?' but I'll keep it to a minimum so you can read without too much confusion. My mind makes me believe that the foundation for this story should start with 'Clams Much'.
Despite the fact that this story assumes that everyone is speaking Italian, I couldn't drop certain nicknames because I felt as though that would really take away from the personality and habits, so you can just assume, that characters do sprinkle Japanese names and suffixes in their Italian. In response to a few questions, this is post Millefiore Arc but before the Guardians actually reach the age of 25. So I'd say they're all around the ages of 22 give or take. In the fight scenes that are occurring, all of the guardians are wearing suits, so it would kind of be like during the Choice battle if that gives you a better mental picture.
Prior to posting, I didn't realize that my page breaks would be edited my FF, but if you see '..8.9' in bold, then you should have probably already figured out that it will serve as my page break. I'm too lazy to change my habits.
Disclaimer: (Checks local copyright listings) Nope, I see I still don't own it yet.
{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}
The fighting dragged on longer. Tsuna felt helpless at that moment. All of his other Guardians were capable of fighting. It wasn't that he was majorly injured or anything, rather, except for the X-Burner, he was primarily a close range combatant. In addition, given their heavily forested location outside of the Vongola estate, the X-Burner would just bring more problems to their current situations.
Tsuna shook his head. No. He was a mafia boss, now! He can't start regretting in the midst of a battle and shift back into No-Good Tsuna. He had to do something. Motioning for his other Guardians to draw their attention back towards him he laid out a plan.
"Yamamoto and Onii-san, I want you two to pair up and attack the enemy group from the left. After breaking through, Gokudera-kun and I will take the right. From what we can see, so long as we can knock out that party right now, then we can stem their flow of reinforcements and backup."
"So it's going to be an all-or-nothing, eh?" Yamamoto asked, grimacing at notion.
"Baseball-idiot, it's either that or we get pushed back to headquarters," Gokudera retorted in response, but with no malice in his voice. His mind was much too concentrated on the battle before him. It was only a manner of habit nowadays that Gokudera hadn't yet gotten rid of.
"All right let's go."
Nodding quickly, the four split up into their designated pairs. Yamamoto and Ryohei took the lead from the left, serving to break the wall of attackers. Successful, they gave the signal back for Tsuna and Gokudera. Having broken through their right line of defense as well, the battle between the two sides became almost the equivalent of an every-man-for-himself mêlée – chaotic to say the least.
"How you holding up there, Ryohei?" Yamamoto called, back to back with his senior.
"Extremely well, thanks for worrying," Ryohei gave a short laugh before launching an array of punches at the three unlucky men on his right. "I'm almost jealous of your weapon."
Mowing down two more men with the blunt end of his sword, Yamamoto raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Oh? I find it more difficult because I have to keep track of which side to hit them with."
"Same as always with you, huh? Don't kill them unless there is an extreme need for it. Well then," Ryohei started as he pounce-punched another lackey, "I guess I'll extremely boast my good luck for only having my fists!"
Both men laughed aloud for a quick moment before getting serious again. For the next several minutes they repeated the same process of staying back to back and only leaving for a few seconds in order to take down some other fighters. Despite the fact that they were holding up okay, it was clear that if it dragged out any longer, they would both collapse. Wounds from the previous confrontation added to the general injury and blood loss. Even staying conscious would soon become a problem. It also didn't help much that their opponents were also armed with an array of long distance weapons, primarily guns. Yamamoto, as a result, was forced to serve as defense for both himself and Ryohei. He cut down many of the bullets and other projectiles that came in their way.
Looking up, Yamamoto found that Tsuna and Gokudera didn't seem to fare any better than they were. Also back to back, the boss and his right hand man fought off their own horde of fighters. However, looking back towards Tsuna was a dangerous mistake on Yamamoto's part. One of the men that had previously fallen had somehow snuck past their perception and had thrown a particularly large rock at Ryohei. Too late; he couldn't stop it from colliding with the boxer's head. Ryohei soon fell to the ground, having lost consciousness, and there was a little blood trickling from where the rock had hit.
Cursing mentally, Yamamoto quickly slung the boxer's arm over his shoulder and made his retreat, yelling back at Tsuna to do the same. Tsuna's flame orange eyes widened at the sight of his Sun Guardian's limp form and grabbed Gokudera's shoulder, motioning for him to retreat as well as Yamamoto and Ryohei ran deeper into the forest.
Inevitably, the two parties were separated, having retreated from two different routes. Tsuna turned back one more time to reassure himself that his Sun and Rain Guardians were going to be just fine. They had already talked about where they would meet if they were separated. However, Tsuna's eyes widened in horror as he saw a bright white light suddenly engulf the retreating figures and when the light dissipated, the two men were gone with it.
..8.9.
Frowning distastefully at her bloodied blouse, Chrome stood from the side of her bed in order to peer into the closet. She hoped that there was something in there that would at least make her look a little more presentable. In addition to her ruined blouse, her dress suit sported several tears and rips.
"If I told anyone that I fell out of a tall tree and struck every branch on the way down, I wouldn't doubt that everyone would believe me," Chrome chuckled to herself.
Thankfully, the closet held both men and women's clothes of varying sizes. Mostly, they consisted of various styles of business suits.
"Jeez," Chrome frowned, "so professional."
It didn't take her long to find a dress suit similar to hers. She tossed off her old clothing on the long couch and put the new suit on. The only difference now was that it was a creamy beige color and the blouse was black. Fiddling with the hem of her skirt, she straightened it out. In doing so, she caught sight of her Vongola mist ring.
'Funny, if they're aware of the mafia, then why did they treat me so hospitably? My ring clearly shows that I'm Vongola…'
Chrome closed her eyes as she tried to figure out the reason. There wasn't any, was there? Is it all a setup? Fake hospitality to find openings in her defense?
'Wait.'
As she sat back on the side of her bed, her eyes soon rested on her trident. She remembered waking up clutching onto it even after Knuckle had left. She didn't even realize her own death grip on the item.
'So they didn't notice it because I was covering the ring with my left hand. Still, it's better to be safe.'
Slipping off her ring, she tore a neat strip of her destroyed blouse. Weaving the cloth tightly around her ring she made room for a loop and tied a knot before putting it around her neck. Stuffing the ring-turned-necklace inside her blouse, her eyes wandered back to the trident.
"Hmm," Chrome mused, "I don't think I'll be able to carry this around like before."
Leaning over to pick up her trident, she detached it cleanly into four pieces. Looking around, she reached out to take the roll of bandages that the priest had left behind. Carefully, she wound the bandages tightly around the pieces of her weapon till she was sure that it wouldn't disassemble. Giving a small smile she cradled the trident in a manner not unlike that of a mother to her baby.
Three knocks on her door, startled Chrome. "C—come in."
The door opened to reveal Knuckle, who waved a simple greeting. "Good morning! I hope you had a nice sleep?"
Chrome only nodded shyly in reply. She looked out her open curtains for a moment, it was pretty early. She'd have guessed that at the latest it would be around 6 because the sun was only high enough in the sky to give the small light of dawn. She probably would have continued staring out the window (and conveniently ignore the priest) but her stomach loudly protested.
Knuckle watched the girl the entire time, and grinned widely when he heard her stomach's wail for sustenance. He saw the girl's visible eye grow wide as a blush spread across her face, and tried to suppress his chuckles in order to not seem rude. This girl was just too cute and funny.
"Despite the fact that it's very early for breakfast, you can still come with me to the dining room. After all, you didn't eat dinner."
He offered his hand and waited for the girl to respond. Chrome, having finally recovered from her momentary flush of embarrassment, shifted her eyes to the side before standing up, still cradling her trident. She moved to stand next to him, but didn't take the hand.
"Bringing that along?"
Chrome only nodded in response.
"Alright."
Both walked down the quiet halls. There weren't that many people wandering around because it was still rather early. For the most part, Chrome was rather happy that the man, Knuckle, wasn't trying to make conversation with her because, for one, she hadn't yet figured out how she would respond, and two, she was busy trying to find mental contact with Mukuro.
'Mukuro-sama?'
No response.
Chrome's sigh was noticed by Knuckle who kept an eye on her the entire time. The priest recalled the conversation that he had with Giotto the previous night.
"Tomorrow morning you should be the one to greet her."
"Any reason for it in particular?"
"Considering you're position as a priest, she may open up to you better. I did notice that she felt rather relaxed around you."
"I doubt it. What's the real reason? It probably isn't just a tour of the place."
Giotto chuckled, "At the very least, we still need to find out about her whereabouts. Who she is, and from what she said earlier, who her friends are and how many are there of them."
"Is it necessary to do this so early? She came in injured."
"Not a single tear, nor a cry of pain – the tolerance that can only come after years of actually doing battle. You saw for yourself, that injury wasn't light. She isn't as delicate as she seems."
Knuckle let out a sigh. "Guess I'm not the only one who's worried."
"Whether or not she was attacked, I can't be sure. However, I can say for sure that she attacked back and competently at that."
Knuckle ran a hand through his hair at the memory. It frustrated him that he had to be on guard around this innocent looking girl. All appearances considered, she still seemed to be just a girl.
'Don't forget, she may just look innocent. I still need information.'
Clearing his throat, Knuckle asked, "You said earlier that you and your friends were attacked."
Chrome looked up at him before replying softly, "Yes, we were."
"Do you think they'll be alright? I mean, you were able to somehow get here where it's safer."
"I believe they'll be okay. They can take care of themselves."
Knuckle glanced at the girl's gentle expression. 'So they can fight too, huh?'
"Who were you with? Family members? Friends?"
"They're friends, but I consider them family."
"I see." He paused for a moment before continuing, "After last night, do you think you can tell us what happened? We really want to help, especially if those people are coming after you."
The girl's eyebrow raised in response to his question.
Knuckle eyes widened apologetically, "I'm sorry if I brought up a terrible memory, and it was so recent too."
"They aren't dead," Chrome's voice took on a new confidence, "all four of them will be alright."
Her voice dropped off to a whisper, "I'm not just sure of it. I know it is true"
'So there are four.'
Chrome was starting to feel edgy to say the least. She made an effort to not show it and hide it behind an impassive visage. This man was prying too much into incidents that even she wasn't too clear about. One minute she was fighting (or rather, Mukuro was, Chrome corrected herself) and the next she woke up on a bed having her injuries tended to. Her only memory of what happened in between was falling and the scent of flowers.
The double doors that led to the dining room loomed before them.
"Here's the dining room. Wait here for a moment; I'll have one of the maids prepare breakfast for you. "
As Knuckle left to fetch a maid, Chrome had a fleeting sense of déjà vu because the doors looked so much like the ones back at the Vongola mansion. She shook it off immediately. Stupid European style, why did they all have to seem so similar in design? Still, she walked down the room. It was long, considering the length of the table itself. Her hands trailed on the mahogany table and passed the chairs as well. She drew invisible circles in the wood to amuse herself and continued do so as she walked down the long table.
'Still…It's so familiar.'
A splotch of red at the end of the dining table caught her attention.
'Red?'
She stopped her drawing and moved quickly, but cautiously towards the location of the splotch. Two bodies, fallen over and both were face down. One had raven black hair and the other had white hair. From the looks of it, the white haired one had been carried by the raven haired one.
'It couldn't be…'
Chrome's felt a shiver down her spine as she saw an all too familiar bamboo sword. Her eyes darted to the men's right hands which were splayed ahead of them. She felt something drop in her stomach as she saw the rings of the Sun and Rain. Chrome rushed forward to check their pulses while noticing that they were, indeed, breathing.
'Pulse seems okay.'
At the sound of footsteps approaching, despite being so startled the mist illusionist kept enough wits about her to simultaneously slip off both of the Guardians' rings and pocketed them. She heaved an arm from Yamamoto and an arm from Ryohei around her neck before half-carrying and half-dragging them to the double doors.
"Breakfast will be here in—"
Knuckle stared in a mix of surprise and confusion at the sight before him. The girl, having noticed him, held her hands out to him with an imploring look in her eyes. However, the stranger thing was the appearance of two men that he had never seen on the grounds of the Vongola estate.
"Please, they're my friends…" the girl started.
Injured and clearly unconscious from the blood loss, Knuckle wasted no time in the healing and rushed to their side immediately. As his concentration rose, a warm yellow glow enveloped both of the men as he sought to stop the bleeding and close up the worst of the wounds.
..8.9.
"Keep searching!" G yelled at a group of his subordinates, "I don't plan on going back till we find something."
G lit a cigarette as his eyes scanned the forested area around him. After Knuckle had left, Giotto had called him into his office as well. He remembered passing the priest as he was walking out.
"G, I want you to take a few of your men and search the forested outskirts of the estate."
G raised his eyebrow questioningly.
"That girl was in battle. And if she stumbled here to escape, then the battle site must be close," Giotto continued.
"Why don't you send Alaude? He has much better resources for wide area searches."
"He doesn't know of this situation yet considering that he's still on his way here from his mission in France. I don't want to put off the search until then."
G let out another sigh. He didn't see how any fight would be able occur on the outskirts of Vongola territory and still not be noticed by anyone. For the most part, the areas that have been checked were all clear of any abnormalities.
"For all we know, she could have just popped out of nowhere," G grumbled to himself. He didn't like the lack of information, and being unable to find any more was frustrating. He took out his silver handgun and began to polish it absentmindedly. His eyes scanned the area one more time.
"This area's clear," G called out to his men. "Let's move to the next!"
..8.9.
"Will they be okay?" Chrome asked tentatively, pulling pieces of her biscuit off. Despite having picked apart the biscuit into many bite sized pieces, she left every single one of them on her plate. Worry practically destroyed whatever appetite she had left.
"They've stopped bleeding," Knuckle used his free hand to wipe the sweat off his brow on the back of his sleeve.
Chrome nodded back slowly, finally putting one piece of the biscuit in her mouth. She chewed it slowly as an idea ran through her head.
"E—excuse me?"
Knuckle looked up from his efforts, "Yes?"
"Ca—can we take them back to… to my room?" She gestured around to their dining room setting.
Knuckle looked out of one of the windows and saw the sun going higher, shedding more light on the world. In a few more minutes, the room would soon be filled with people.
"Alright. You carry him and I'll," he threw the white haired man's arm around his shoulders, "take this one."
Both pairs staggered back to the guest room with Knuckle leading and Chrome trailing behind. Thankfully for them, it was still early and the hallways were empty. Reaching their destination, Chrome and Knuckle filed in and shut the door quickly behind them. Chrome used a hand to swipe off her bloody clothing from the couch before laying Yamamoto down. She also set down the bamboo sword that she remembered to bring along. Glancing over to Knuckle, who was currently laying Ryohei on the bed gently, she slowly slid the sword under the couch out of sight.
'Can't hurt if he never noticed it in the first place.'
..8.9.
"Gokudera-kun, I want you to stay here and not leave my sight."
Startled by his boss' sudden command, he looked at Tsuna. "Something the matter?"
"You saw that white light, right?"
"I noticed it, but I have no idea where it came from. It happened twice."
"I know. The first time it happened, Chrome went missing."
"Jyuudaime," Gokudera reached out a hand to pat Tsuna's shoulder, "I believe you're over thinking it."
Leaning his back against a tree, he pulled up his legs to hug them. Tsuna frowned inwardly. Some habits were just too hard to kick. "I wish I was."
"What do you mean?"
"When we made our retreat, I looked back at Yamamoto and Onii-san. When the white light flashed again, they were gone."
Gokudera's eyes widened but remained speechless.
"I don't want to think about what could have happened. I can only hope that they're okay." Tsuna let out a sigh and uncurled himself from his previous position.
"Gokudera-kun, how are your wounds?"
"Che," Gokudera tore off a portion of his shirt sleeve –after having been relieved of his jacket during the scuffle – and roughly bandaged the cut on his bleeding arm "nothing I can't handle. You?"
Tsuna looked his injuries over. He, too, sported an assortment of cuts and soon-to-be bruises. Following Gokudera's example, his took off the jacket of his suit and started tearing it to use as cloth. From the looks of it, they won't be getting Bianchi's medical care for awhile.
The two men bandaged themselves in silence. The most important part right now was to stop the bleeding. Once that was complete, they would move to the area where they had planned to meet Yamamoto and Ryohei in case they were separated.
"Let's go."
..8.9.
Groggy eyes opened and Yamamoto groaned in pain as he put a hand over his eyes.
"What happened?"
He pulled his hand back only to be startled by violet eyes…or rather just one violet eye and the other had a skull eye patch over it. Chrome had unwittingly put her face right in front of Yamamoto's in her anxiousness.
"Whoa there," Yamamoto blinked, "Chrome is that you?"
Having realized their closeness, Chrome blushed a little and moved back quickly to seat herself on the low coffee table.
"Thank goodness you're okay."
Getting up to properly sit on the couch, Yamamoto flashed his signature smile. Turning his head he asked, "Do you know where Ryohei is? I was carrying him before I passed out."
Chrome looked over to the sleeping figure on the bed. Yamamoto's gaze followed hers.
"I see, so you treated him too…" Yamamoto gave another carefree grin, "How lucky!"
"Actually, I didn't."
"Eh?"
"He's not here right now. Knuckle left because he said he had to meet someone."
"Knuckle? That's such an interesting name!" Yamamoto chuckled, "Sounds familiar, but I can't really put my finger on it."
Chrome only smiled and shook her head at the Rain Guardian's cheerfulness.
"Chrome?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you know where my shigure kintoki is?"
"Under you."
"Wha—?"
Yamamoto bent his head down to look between his legs. Chrome held back a giggle from seeing Yamamoto's less-than-dignified position. The baseball fanatic reached under and pulled out his weapon. His eyebrow quirked up in confusion.
"You hid it?"
"I thought it would be better if they didn't know that you had a weapon. I'd recommend keeping it out of sight when they're around for a while."
Yamamoto's confused grin morphed into one of seriousness.
"So we're still not out of the woods yet."
"It seems so."
A silence hovered between the two Guardians. Chrome suddenly remembered the rings that she had confiscated when she had absentmindedly put her hands in her pockets. Reaching over to pick up the torn blouse from the ground she tore two strips.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking precautions."
Chrome took out the rain ring and began to wrap and loop it in the manner with which she wrapped her own mist ring. Yamamoto continued to watch her in silence. Completed, Chrome held out the necklace to Yamamoto.
"Here. Wear it like this instead. It should be safer."
Tossing it around his neck, Yamamoto grinned, "Thanks!"
"Umm…"
"Yeah?"
"There're a few suits in the closet and a bathroom over there. If you … you know… want to …change or something."
Chrome blushed a bit at the notion, but shook her head and pulled out the sun ring. She wrapped it as well before slipping it back in her pocket. She would give that to Ryohei later. Yamamoto, taking Chrome's advice laughed a bit before making his way to the closet to pick out his new presentable wardrobe. After changing in the bathroom Yamamoto came out as he loosened his tie comfortably and plopped himself back onto the couch.
"EXTREME hangover!"
Yamamoto and Chrome's eyebrows simultaneously raised in amusement.
"It seems as though he's awake," Chrome giggled.
"No Ryohei," Yamamoto laughed as he spoke, "It's not a hangover. You were hit by a rock to the head."
Ryohei sat up quickly and rubbed the area that had been hit. "Oh…well then, EXTREME rock pain!"
The comment only led the jovial laughter of the mist and rain guardian to get louder. Despite their belief that they were deep in dangerous "enemy" territory, their sun guardian never ceased to shine into their world.
..8.9.
"What do you mean there are two more?" Giotto paused in his writing and looked up at Knuckle.
"When I was going to get breakfast for Chrome, I came back and she was carrying two injured men whom she claimed to be her friends."
"I see…" Giotto's voice trailed as he was lost in thought.
"From what I was able to figure out, she was with four people"
"That means that there are two more yet to show, that is, if they show."
Knuckle let the silence grow between them as he wondered how he ought to deliver his next bit of information.
"From what I can tell based on the injuries," Knuckle started, "the fight they were in is probably still ongoing."
Giotto brought his attention back in alarm, "What?"
"The girl only suffered a gash to the shoulder. These two are much worse compared to her."
"You're sure of this?"
"Very much."
Giotto cleared his desk in an attempt to clear his head. He sighed, "Where's Asari and Daemon now?"
"Daemon has probably disappeared to God knows where. Asari, on the other hand, is probably in the library if not on his way there. He said something about needing to find information on flutes."
"Well, call Asari out and have him on guard. I do not want any unnecessary battles occurring on the estate."
"Understood."
..8.9.
"So, we have extremely no idea where we are or who they are."
"Yes."
"And we have to take extreme precautions so that they are not suspicious of us."
"Mhmm."
"It's all extremely confusing!"
Cue two simultaneous sighs.
Ryohei scratched his head. He had already changed into a new outfit and discarded the old ones. His sun ring hung loosely around his neck since he had not yet stuffed it under his shirt.
"Well, whatever you want to think of it," Yamamoto started again, "just make sure that the ring is on your neck where they can't see it."
"Well now why didn't you just say that. Much easier to understand to the extreme!"
Chrome sighed again and shook her head at the simpleton. She couldn't help but smile whenever the sun guardian opened his mouth. The words that flew out were sometimes so outrageous it became undeniably believable.
'Chrome.'
Chrome stiffened at the sound of her name. She looked to the two other men who were joking back and forth with each other. They weren't the ones who called her.
'Chrome!'
Chrome shook her head. She wasn't hearing things, it was probably him.
'Mukuro-sama?'
Chrome waited patiently for a reply. However, after having waited for a few moments, she received no response again. She couldn't understand why she was unable to find or maintain contact with Mukuro.
'Was I just hearing things?'
..8.9.
"Jyuudaime, they're not here."
Tsuna sighed as he looked around again. There were no signs of Yamamoto or Ryohei anywhere.
"Is it possible that they were captured?" Tsuna asked.
"Anything is possible," Gokudera said slowly, "especially because we have no idea what that flash of light was."
Tsuna bit the bottom of his lip in frustration. "How about contact with headquarters?"
"Lots of static. I can barely hear Giannini's voice."
"Switch it over to Hibari-san. Give him a report of the situation. He might need to…"
Tsuna's voice trailed off as he looked around. His hyper intuition was sending off red warning flags. There was an attack coming.
Recognizing his boss' alertness, Gokudera readied his dynamites. "Guess the message will have to wait."
{Badger, Badger, Badger, Mushroom, Mushroom…}
KitsuneFreak: I made Chrome exceptional, once again, in this chapter. I seriously don't think that she's all that of a weak girl. She is given much less credit than she deserves!
Ryohei, for some reason, is a hard character to write dialogue for. His extremes feel redundant but that is pretty much how he talks…
The reason why I didn't want the characters to reach 25 was because I wanted to leave box weapons out of the picture for awhile (assuming that they haven't been created yet). Box weapons leave too much room for…well… for lack of better terms…god-moding in the past.
Hope it was enjoyable; I did slowly start putting in the humor. I will add more to it as the story progresses.
R&R
Toodles!
