Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of its characters. I only own Karasu, Alana, and the original scenes. So HANDS OFF!
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Warriors Don't Cry
Chapter 2: A Day Out with Brother - Karasu
I reluctantly turned the shower water off. The warm feeling on my skin left as quickly as it came. I was glad that it was the weekend. I still had today and tomorrow to spend time with my family before setting off to eight hours of torture and tests.
I climbed out of the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap around my body.
I stopped for a moment to look at myself in the bathroom mirror's reflection. Tsuna's face stared back at me with a dry look as if it was asking me what the hell I was doing looking at my reflection in the first place. The differences between the real thing and the face in the mirror were the hair color, which I got from my mother, hair length, and eyes.
This face had hard, lifeless eyes, unlike Tsuna's innocent ones.
I despised these eyes of mine.
My eyes traveled from their own reflection to a crow-shaped birthmark just below my collarbone. I traced it. Its existence was the sole reason why her life plummeted into a hellish nightmare but it was also what gave her mother inspiration to name her Karasu.
Crow
I groped for my clothes without breaking any eye contact with my reflection.
I grimaced at my carelessness when I realized that I left my change of clothing outside. Tsk, if Reborn or Sensei were to see this, they would scold me and criticize me to no end.
"Gah! You idiot cow! What are you doing now?" I heard a slightly muted voice ask irritatingly to the "idiot cow". "Wah! Lambo is tangled! Help me Stupidera!"
I opened the door and…
…was immediately thrown back by a very heavy form. I made a small grunt of pain when my back made contact with the tiled floor. My head was then painfully jammed into the person's chest. I guess this was my karma for leaving my change of clothes outside.
Though, I swear I brought them with me.
I shook my head. This wasn't the time to think about that. I had a person, who was undoubtedly a male or a very flat chested female (which I doubt), uncomfortably on top of me and it was getting hard to breath.
As if reading my mind, the mystery person hefted himself halfway off of me and shook his head as if to clear it. I caught a glimpse of his silver hair and recognized him in a second. "Gokudera-san."
Gokudera yelped when he heard me voice and jumped away from me as if he was just burned. I got myself up from the floor in unsteady legs and smiled at the blushing male who was desperately looking at anywhere but me. "Juudaime's sister! Sorry! So sorry! I really didn't mean to-
"It's fine. This isn't the first time someone had walked in on me. Though," I added thoughtfully, "getting squashed at the same time is a first."
Gokudera quickly handed me my clothes. "I'm so sorry, Juudaime's sister!"
"Stupidera, you pervert! You're peeking at the lady's boobies!" A five-year-old kid in a cow suit mocked. My eye twitched when I saw my underwear in his hands. So he was the culprit of my disappearing change of clothing! I grabbed him by the back of his outfit and let him dangle for a few seconds. "Taking things from others without asking isn't very nice, you know." I gritted out. "And you shouldn't talk about a woman's 'boobies' so easily in front of the older males. It gets them embarrassed."
Gokudera blush darkened, further proving my point.
"Ah! Tsuna-nii, I thought you were a guy! I didn't know you could turn into a girl!" The kid marveled in awe. I shook my head at the child's naïve mind. "I'm not Tsuna. I'm his twin sister. We may look alike, but we're completely different people. My name is Karasu."
"Wah! My name is Lambo! Kara-chan can become my subordinate if you want!" Lambo stated with sudden arrogance. Gokudera, forgetting for a moment that I wasn't dressed properly, shot a nasty glare at the cow kid. "How dare you even suggest that to Juudaime's sister! It should be you begging to become her subordinate!"
Ignoring Gokudera, I snatched my underwear from Lambo and plopped him into Gokudera's hands and pushed them both toward the door. "I want to change now if you two don't mind."
"O-Of course Juudaime's sister! I'll be going-
"Thank you. Good-bye." I abruptly said, slamming the door on the guy's face. I had a certain amount of patience and the pair had just milked it dry. It was a miracle that my towel managed to stay on through all of that. I know what I did was a little mean but I was covered only with a towel and Gokudera was a guy at least the same age as me. You all get the point.
Relieved that I could finally dress, I shuffled through the pile of clothing.
"YOU PERV! I DON'T WANT YOU TO EVEN LAY EYES ON MY BEST BUDDY CLOTHED!" I heard Alana scream when I exited the bathroom. I successfully threw the wet towel at her face. "Cool it Alana, I'll be the one to decide that."
Alana ripped the towel from her face and pointed at Gokudera with an accusing finger. "Karasu, is it true that he stood in the same room with you for two whole minutes when you were clothed with only a towel?"
"Well yes but-
"And is it true that he tackled you down when you were getting out of the bathroom again with only a towel on?" Alana asked forcefully, not ripping her murderous gaze from Gokudera's face. "I don't know what you call it, but I call it assault! Assault, I tell you!"
"Yes, yes and the time you jumped the last guy who called you short wasn't assault either." I said sarcastically. Alana nodded in agreement, thinking that I meant every word, "Exactly, Gokudera assaulted you."
"Gokudera did what?" Tsuna asked in an alarmed voice, coming down the stairs. Seeing him, Gokudera's face became horrified and miserable. Not even noticing this, Tsuna gave him an accusing look. "Gokudera, what did you do to Karasu?"
Poor Gokudera
"What happened?" Tsuna demanded seriously again. Ah, I can see his protective brotherly instinct take over. As much as it warms my heart that he still cared so much about me, I felt a bit sorry for Gokudera who looked like he was going to break down in any moment. "Juudaime! I-I didn't-
"The cow kid stole my clothes so Gokudera got them back for me because I was only in a towel. Clumsy me slipped. Gokudera tried and failed to catch me. So this was all a messed up misunderstanding." I lied smoothly.
Relieved that it was all a misunderstanding, Tsuna immediately believed my last second lie and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast.
Both Gokudera and Alana looked at me in shock before Alana recovered.
"…That was a lie." Alana said knowingly. "Dude! You were chewing on the inside of your cheek! I know when you lie! What really get's me is why? Why did you lie to your own brother? And for the Octopus-head from anyone to pick from?"
"It was my problem and my mistake. No need to get others involved for my carelessness." I told her soothingly.
Alana scowled and crossed her arms childishly. "You're being too nice to him."
"And you're being rude." I shot back flatly. Gokudera looked as if he was going to faint then and there. I put my hands and his shoulders and gently led him to the sofa that was conveniently there. "Take a seat, you look like hell. I'm sorry about what happened this morning."
Alana huffed and stomped to the kitchen to eat her breakfast. "Fine, I'll let this incident go just because you went this far to protect him. But there won't be a second time!" She warned Gokudera before disappearing.
"Thank you Juudaime's sister." Gokudera choked out from behind me. "You really didn't have to lie to Juudaime for me. He would've understood."
I rubbed my temples and took a seat next to the silver haired boy. "I know that, but I haven't talked to or seen my brother in four years. Who knows how much he changed? I didn't want anything negative happen in our first whole day together."
"Whatever the reason was…" Gokudera got off from his seat and bowed dramatically on the ground in front of me, shocking and embarrassing me at the same time. "I'm in your debt! I'll serve you and Juudaime forever, Juudaime's sister!"
"Gokudera-san! Stop doing that!" I hissed getting down onto his level and trying to make him stand up. "It's embarrassing! What if Alana sees you? She'll never let me live this down!"
After getting Gokudera to stand up properly and after many failed attempts to convince him that he didn't need to repay my random act of kindness, I gave up and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast.
"Ciaossu, Karasu." Reborn greeted me coolly while eating mother's pancakes. "Did you sleep well?"
I nodded absentmindedly, "Uh huh, it was nice to sleep in my own bed again. So when are we going to resume training? You promised that you would when we meet again."
"My focus is on Dame-Tsuna now. As I said before, you'll be helping him improve. The future Vongola Boss' training is much more important at the moment. As his shadow, I expect you to not go easy on him." Reborn told me.
Stabbing my pancake, I gave him a curt nod. "Understood, Reborn. But for now, I want to spend some family time with my brother that doesn't involve risking his life."
Silence fell between us. Just when I thought the conversation was over, Reborn spoke up again. "How are you coping after the incident? Have you recovered or are you still a bit shaken?"
I knew what he was talking about but I kept quiet because Tsuna and the others were in the same table. "We'll talk about this later, Reborn. Not in front of my brother."
"Are you ever going to tell him?"
I gave the infant hitman a look. He already knew my answer. He knew me too well.
Not now
"…I see." Reborn stated. "You're not ready yet. But I advise you to tell him soon when you can. You wouldn't want him to stumble upon your secret accidentally, do you?"
I shook my head. Later, my eyes told him, I'll tell him later.
Reborn curtly nodded, mimicking the one I did before. "Do what you want, Karasu. You're no longer my student after all. You can make your own choices now, unlike Dame-Tsuna."
So Reborn trusts me enough for me to make my own choices now. Coming from him, this trust was rare. I smiled graciously to my ex-sensei. "Thank you."
Reborn didn't reply.
I raised my eyebrow and looked at him a bit closer and realized that he dozed off. I sighed and shook my head. That little hitman, as powerful as he was, acted like the infant he appeared to be.
I finished up my breakfast and towed Tsuna outside. "We're going to have a lot of fun together to make up for the lost time!" I chattered excitedly. Tsuna grinned back and squeezed my hand. "Yeah."
I felt many pairs of eyes watching us but when I turned no one was there.
Must've been my imagination.
Tsuna first took me to a sushi restaurant, knowing my never-ending love of sushi. We ate and talked about what happened during our time apart. Tsuna gave me a long-winded story of how Reborn came into his life and the trouble that the infant forced him to go through. I was surprised to hear a few familiar names in his story.
"So you saved Gokudera-san's life? No wonder he's so loyal to you." I marveled. "Tsuna is truly going to be a great leader when you take the position."
Tsuna shook his head. "Iie, I don't want to be the mafia boss."
That statement didn't surprise me. My brother was never one for fights or violence. That was how I used to be before I was dumped into the place I personally call hell though I owe that place for giving me the backbone and strength to protect my brother.
"I don't think you have that choice, Brother. This is Reborn you're talking about. What he says goes."
Tsuna slumped depressingly. "He even got Yamamoto involved."
At the mention of his name, I perked up in interest. "You mean the Takeshi-kun? Is he really part of our family now?" I asked excitedly. Tsuna nodded with a sweatdrop, "Yeah, but he thinks this is all a game."
I blinked before chuckling. "Yup, that's Takeshi-kun alright. Same old baseball nut."
"Wait, how did you know Yamamoto-kun?" Tsuna asked suddenly. "I never knew you knew him that well."
I laughed sheepishly. "I was planning to tell you this but I had to go to America. Takeshi-kun…well, he needed some tutoring with his homework so he came to me. Remember when I came home late during the couple of days before I left? I had to wait for him and watch every single one of his games so I could tutor the guy, rain or snow." I said. "I guess we sort of bonded during that weird experience."
"So both of you were good friends." Tsuna concluded, reading my mind. "I bet he'll be so happy to hear that you're back!"
I smiled sadly. "Yeah…about that-
A loud crash interrupted us. I jumped to my feet but sat down when I saw that it was only a clumsy waitress who tripped and dropped all of the cups and plates.
Though I swear I saw a flash of silver and brown. And I thought I saw Leon too.
Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me again.
Tsuna also looked relieved. "So what were you about to say?"
I opened my mouth but decided against it when I remembered the excited gleam in Tsuna's eyes when I told him that I was a friend of Takeshi.
"Nah, I forgot about what I was going to say. Are you going to finish that?" I asked gesturing over to the lone sushi on Tsuna's plate, diverting his attention to a different subject.
Tsuna gave me the sushi and asked me about what life in America was like. I told him about my meeting with Reborn and my panic when I realized that the "special study abroad" had nothing to do with academics. I wistfully told him about my training alongside Alana and two other girls whose names I couldn't mention because I swore not to.
"Wow, do you miss them?" Tsuna asked. I shook my head. "I know that we'll all meet again. Fate seems to draw us back together no matter how many times one of us, and that included me, attempted to drift away."
"Your sensei must've been strict to all of you."
I lifted my eyebrow. "I had three teachers, aside from Reborn, who trained me during my time there. They threw me into multiple hellish situations but I know they all loved me…somewhere really deep inside."
Tsuna couldn't help but gulp at my last statement.
"And I thought that I had it bad."
I shook my head. "They were tough on me, but Reborn indefinitely takes the cake when it comes to harsh training. When he first met me, he made me climb a mountain. A freaking mountain! I was only ten years old. What kind of sick logic about training was that? And that wasn't what I sighed up for!" After I calming down from my rant, I smiled at a nervous Tsuna. "Don't worry, brother. I'm alive and in one piece. And now, I can brag to everyone that I was able to climb a mountain without any gear!"
"I'm scared about the training you'll put me through, Karasu. Will you go easy on me?" Tsuna begged to which I immediately agreed to. "Of course!"
"What about your American friend? Do you think she'll go easy on me?"
Instead of replying with the proper answer, I gave him a cheesy smile and a thumbs up.
"Good luck Brother, you'll need it."
"Hiii!" Tsuna squeaked. "I'm going to DIE!"
Poor Tsuna. Looks like he'll be put through hell by Alana. I know, I'm evil but it's for the sake of comic relief.
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