Hey everyone! Happy Friday! So here is the next chapter, as promised :) Hope you enjoy and please drop a review! See you next week :D
Disclaimer: KHR belongs to Amano-sensei, of course.
Chapter notes: It happens during the final battle against Byakuran. I guess it's slightly AU since I put a little twist at the end...
Chapter warnings: Mentions of violence and blood.
沢田綱吉 – Sawada Tsunayoshi
Reborn stared impassively at the fight in front of him.
At this point, it was clear that Byakuran was going to lose. But something was off. And it was nagging him.
Everything seemed almost too easy.
No, he would never think that defeating Byakuran was just a piece of cake, or that the injury and death counts weren't high enough but, for some reason, he felt as if someone of Byakuran's calibre would be more devastating. Reborn watched on uneasily.
The ground shook as Tsuna increased the intensity of his flames and pushed Byakuran back. The scream that followed was blood-curdling.
But then, the man smirked.
Reborn's eyes widened as he saw something gleaming in Byakuran's hand.
The Arcobaleno was vaguely aware of a flash of black dashing past him, but he didn't have enough time to care as he loaded his gun and fired without a second thought.
Will it reach?
At the back of his mind, he knew that a mere bullet would never be able to breach that wall of dying will.
Tsuna dimmed his flames and let out a breath.
It's over… finally…
After all that blood and tears and pain and oh god Yuni and Gamma…
It was finally over, yet the victory felt choking.
A gush of wind blew past, and Tsuna noticed the silence. It was odd. There were no fist pumps of celebration or cries of 'extreme!', only a horrible, deafening silence.
He looked up and saw why.
A black gakuran fluttered innocently in the air as blood dripped onto the ground.
"H-Hibari-san?" Tsuna croaked, voice barely above a whisper.
Then, the Cloud Guardian all but crumpled.
"HIBARI-SAN!"
Tsuna rushed forward and crashed onto his knees in front of the other boy. Hibari's face was pale and crunched up in pain. There was a… knife? buried in his chest.
Oh god… Tsuna panicked, hands grasping his head, What should I do?!
He glanced around wildly and his eyes met with Dino's. The Chiavarone boss looked stricken. Tsuna himself was close to tears.
Oh god… Please… Not this… Not when everything is already over…
Tsuna tried to calm down and control his flailing arms.
Focus, focus, focus…
He took a shaky breath and looked down at his Cloud Guardian with wide eyes. Hibari was curled up on his side, a hand clutching at his chest. His mouth was pressed into a line and there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead. It looked excruciating.
Tsuna gulped, wrapped a hand around the hilt of the knife – oh god the blood – and pulled. Hibari jerked in pain as a river of blood gushed out of the wound, staining the ground an ugly, dark crimson.
Oh god what did I just do?!
"ONII-SAN!"
Tsuna couldn't help but let out a panicked scream…
… and his Sun Guardian came charging in along with his massive kangaroo.
"Don't worry, Sawada! I'll heal Hibari to the extreme!"
…
When the wound finally closed and the blood stopped flowing, Hibari showed no signs of waking. He simply lay – pale and lifeless – on the cold, bare ground.
No one made a sound when Dino Chiavarone stepped forward and gathered the boy into his arms.
Tsuna sat on the floor in the Merone Base, right in front of the gate leading to the Foundation.
It'd already been hours since they'd returned, but the Cloud Guardian was still unconscious in the infirmary.
Hibari-san…
Tsuna hated this – seeing people hurt because of him. But he knew that if Hibari hadn't taken that knife for him, it would probably have stabbed right through his throat.
He shuddered at the thought.
And god… the blood…
Tsuna still remembered the slick, sickening feeling of Hibari's blood on his hands. For some reason, he'd always seen the Cloud Guardian as someone who didn't bleed. His inhuman strength made him seem practically invincible.
But the blood…
And that knife, too – the final straw of Byakuran's sadistic little game – kept resurfacing in Tsuna's mind: its gleaming blade and ebony white hilt with a string of exquisitely carved white orchid, all soaked in Hibari's blood…
Tsuna buried his head in his arms.
Ryouhei had already sealed the wound but why isn't Hibari-san waking up? What if the knife had been poisoned?! What if…
The image of Hibari's pale, broken form invaded Tsuna mercilessly.
Oh god…
They couldn't risk losing the Cloud Guardian. It felt wrong. He was supposed to be the strongest, the one who was infallible.
But maybe that's why he was the one to get hurt…
Tsuna felt a pang of guilt. They'd always thought that Hibari would be okay no matter what. But maybe they should've taken care of him the same way they took care of everyone else.
Hibari-san… I'm s–
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"Eeh?!" Tsuna looked up in panic…
… only to see a Hibari Kyouya, as good as new, holding with a pair of cold, threatening tonfas almost casually.
"You are in my way, herbivore. I'll bite you to death."
Haha… I guess Hibari-san is Hibari-san, ne? Tsuna thought, as if that explained everything.
…
A tonfa and a kick later, Tsuna lay sprawling in the empty hallway, too busy whimpering to feel any sense of relief.
And there I thought the almighty Hibari-san needs to be taken care of by a herbivorous dame-Tsuna…