School was as always. Tsuna sat at his desk and looked out of the window lost in his thoughts. It wasn't like the lessons were uninteresting. The theme "English poems of the 19th century" was quite interesting, but Tsuna like so often couldn't quite follow the teachers words. His mind was still occupied with the dream… or rather what he could remember of it.
The only thing the brunet could remember was that he was running through a maze of buildings. He also knows that he had been in one of them. Uhrg the boy had to fight to not groan out loud. His Hyper Intuition was bugging him since he woke up, but the brunet couldn't remember why. Instead it was more like he didn't want to remember it. "I better stop thinking about it!" He tried to ignore his Hyper Intuition and stored the nagging feeling in the last part of his head.
"Sawada read out the next passage!" His English teacher called out, and surprisingly successful got the brunets attention at the first try, which was most of the time not easy as the boy often daydreamed. Tsuna stood, looked at his teacher, then took his textbook and looked at the open page. "I'm sorry, sensei, where should I start again?" he looked again at his teacher. Same teacher only sighed. "It's the poem on page thirty-eight, the eleventh to sixteenth line." the teacher answered. Tsuna nodded to himself as he found the passage and slowly began reading.
"…One who never turned his back but ma…marched breast for…ward,
Never doubted clouds… would break,
Never dreamed, though right were wors…wors…ted, wrong would
triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are… baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake. "
The brunet was proud of himself for only stuttering a bit as he read the text out loud. Reborn's training was bearing fruits and Tsuna had slowly but constantly gotten better at school over the past two years. "Ok, Sawada you may sit down." the teacher said. With a small sight he sat down in his chair and supported his head with his left hand.
Classes continued but soon the bell signaled lunch break. Tsuna stifled a yawn and stretched his arms. He then stood up so abruptly that his chair screeched over the floor. Like on autopilot he walked out of the room and towards the roof. The yells of his friends or their concerned looks as they reached him didn't reach the brunet. He was too deep in his thoughts again.
As he stepped outside the rooftop door, a light breeze was coming playing with the brunet's hair. He let it grow out a little bit, so that his bangs and at the hair at the nape of his neck were now longer. He had hoped that the longer hair would make himself look better, but the greater part of it was as gravity defying as always. The only thing Reborn said was, that he resembled Vongola Primo even more. Tsuna walked to the fence and leaned on it, his right hand gripped into the wire-netting.
He let out a deep sigh and raised his head to look into the blue sky above him. It was midday and no cloud was seen at the pristine blue of the sky. Tsuna sighed once again, closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on his skin. The light breeze from before came back and swirled around the slim body. The boy hummed in delight at the calming sensation the breeze and sun had on him.
"Ähem…Tsuna are you okay?" a concerned voice spoke up behind the brunet. Said brunet spun around, obviously startled. Behind him his friends had open, concerned looks on their faces. Yamamoto's smile had vanished and Gokudera had furrowed his eyebrows. The rest of the group was only awfully silent, even Ryohei who had come to eat lunch with them!
"It's nothing, you guys can relax, really!" Tsuna flashed his friends a small smile. It was a sad one and his friends saw it, but they don't want to press the brunet into telling them. He would sooner or later tell them what was wrong.
Quietly the group went to sit down and eat their lunch on the sunny rooftop.
"Tsuna, we are going to go to Death Mountain," spoke Reborn to his student as school was out and Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera at their way home. Tsuna only let a small sigh escape his mouth, his shoulders slumped down. I really sigh to often today, he thought. "We were there only yesterday, why do we have to go today too?" "Stop complaining and go home to change in your training clothes, Dame-Tsuna." The small hitman pointed Leon in his gun form at his student.
The boy tensed, but only a little. "Okay, okay I'm already going!" He replied and dashed towards his home. "We see us!" he shouted at his friends and waved them goodbye. Yamamoto and Gokudera only rolled their eyes at their boss slash friend's behavior.
"Shall we come as well?" asked a certain bomber. "You may, and bring food and the camping gear, we will be there the whole weekend." A smirk crossed over the hitman's face, this information he had jet to tell to his student
"Ohh, a camping trip?" asked Yamamoto with a huge grin, which made Gokudera's temper explode. "You stupid sword-freak don't take this on the light shoulder. It's obviously a training camp, where we will train seriously!" he shouted with blazing eyes. "Maa, maa don't be so fired up Gokudera, relax!" the tall teenager laughed again.
Reborn shortly wondered why the guardians didn't become more mature in those two years. But he then shrugged it off and hopped of the wall he was standing on, to inform Nana of her son's whereabouts for the weekend.
Tsuna dashed home at full speed. Hurriedly he opened the front door and shouted "I'm back!" before he kicked off his shoes and ran up the stairs. In his room he changed in his training clothes consisting of a black t-shirt, an orange sleeveless hoodie, black short cargo shorts and black and orange sport shoes. The brunet then grabbed a backpack and crammed in some spare clothes and towel for good measures too. Who knows maybe he would fall into the river?
What else do I need? The boy asked himself and looked around. He then decides to take a flashlight and a blanket with him too, he had the subconscious feeling that it would be needed. So… I hope this is it. But I should hurry up… if I take too long he might get the idea to make things even harder for me! Tsuna mentally groaned. He took his backpack and headed downstairs into the kitchen. "Oh Tsu-kun do you want to go out today?" his mother asked. "Yes I'll meet with Yamamoto and Gokudera today." He answered and took one bottle of juice and one of water and stowed them also in the backpack.
His mother followed him into the hallway and watched as her son puts on his shoes. As he opened the door, Tsuna turned and gave his wonderful mother a small grin. "I'm off then." He said. "Be careful Tsu-kun!" "I will", he replied. Then he set off.
As the boy sprinted throughout Namimori he encountered some of his friends. Kyoko and Hana were walking towards the shopping mall. He saw Haru sitting in a café eating cake, and Ryohei was jogging through the area doing some extreme exercise. And all his friends, Tsuna greeted with a smile or some waves of his hand as he passed them.
As the brunet finally reached the usual meeting point, he was breathing hard and his cheeks were flushed. "Hmm, that took you too long, and when you are still out of breath you have to train harder!" Reborn sat at a small campfire, sipping at a cup of espresso. "It's not my fault that I have you as my tutor. You are a real slave driver you know!" the brunet was slightly offended.
"Oiii…Tsuuunaaa!" a shout reverberated through the forest. Tsuna turned around and saw Yamamoto and Gokudera, both with backpacks and in their respective training outfit, coming up the small path between the woods. "Hey guys! What's up with this much luggage?" he pointed confused at the backpacks. "What's wrong with these Tsuna? Reborn had said that we are here for the whole weekend." Tsuna turned to his small tutor. "Reborn! I thought that we only wanted to train today!" he exclaimed.
The hitman pulled his fedora down. "I've never said that, Dame-Tsuna." He shot his student a smug grin. At this the boy threw his hands in the air, knowing that he had lost. "Fine… and where are we going to make our camp?" he starred at his little tutor with raised eyebrows. "Yamamoto and Gokudera are going to the top of Death Mountain and will be making the camp there.
"You can count on us, Tenth!" Gokudera gave a 'thumps up'. "Ahaha…I guess we will see us up there." Yamamoto folded his hands behind his head and grinned. "And what will I do, Reborn?" Tsuna asked nervously. "You are going to climb up "the cliff" of course." This answer he had dreaded. "But it will be dark soon!" the brunet complained. "Then you should start climbing!" his tutor said.
Tsuna sighted and turned to Gokudera and Yamamoto. "I get it…Gokudera would you take my backpack then?" he asked his first friend and right hand man. "Of course, Tenth!" the silver haired boy said with devotion and his face lit up. Tsuna gave him the backpack and turned towards the huge cliff. "I think there is no helping it…let's go!" determined he strode towards "his" starting point and began climbing. "We are on our way then, Tenth!" Gokudera shouted and the teens start to go to their respective ways.
"Shit!" Tsuna cursed as the fingers of his left hand slipped. "Dame-Tsuna how often do I have to tell you to concentrate on what you are doing?" Reborn admonished his student. "Often enough!" came the reply trough gritted teeth. "Then do it!" Tsuna continued cursing under his breath and tried to stay as focused as possible, which wasn't that simple when you were climbing, who knows how much hundred meters above the ground, without bothering about the use of so much as climbing gear for your safety.
Dusk had already begun to set, and the sky was painted with the pale colors of the rainbow. It was downright breathtaking from Tsuna's position to watch. But the slim boy had only climbed two thirds of the cliff and was in great need of a pause. So he had stopped a bit to watch the beautiful scene of the sky and the scenery around him. The distant mountaintops were glowing red and orange, the forest under his feet slowly got from a light do a dark green. On the meadows the mist was silently rising, covering the grass like a thick, white blanket. Far above, the clouds were illuminated in different shades of pink and violet. When the brunet twisted his head a little he could see the first lights of Namimori, shining in the distance.
"Isn't the view wonderful, Reborn?" the student looked towards his tutor, a small smile on his lips. "Hmpf!" his tutor said. "You should better hurry up and climb up this cliff. I have no purpose to wait any longer here and you should be on top before night falls." The boy huffed and continued his way up.
There were some difficulties along his path but Tsuna managed to solve them rather quickly. As he climbed over the edge he was greeted by Gokudera and Yamamoto which were sitting on a small campfire. In the background the brunet saw the tent already put up. "We have grilled fish and wild berries for dinner." Yamamoto informed the brunet as he returned from bathing at the small lake. "Thank you Yamamoto, Gokudera it's appreciated." Tsuna thanked his friends with a smile and sat down to start eating while his two friends where giving him company.
As Tsuna was finished with his food, the tree sat at the campfire a bit longer, idly chatting. "I think we should head to bed." Tsuna voiced out. The fire was slowly burning down and sparks flew into the dark sky as the burned wood shifted. "Alright let's get going, we'll have an exhausting day tomorrow." Yamamoto stretched his arms so that bones were cracking. The three boys controlled the fire once more and then proceeded to go to sleep.
To say it shortly, Tsuna was sweating as much like someone had dumped a big bucket of water over his head. He actual hung on the side of the cliff somewhere on his way of climbing down. One couldn't imagine how tiresome and exhausting it was and how much more concentration it needs to not lose his grip or foothold on the small ledges. But it was already Sunday, and the teen finally wanted to accomplish his goal.
The brunet had started taking climbing really serious after the ring battles. Reborn had agreed when his student had come to him a week after the battles and asked if he could keep up climbing. Reborn was very interested then as the brown haired boy had said that he wanted to climb "the cliff", as it was dubbed by Tsuna, without the help of the Dying Will Bullet. When Reborn asked his student why, the boy couldn't give an answer, he only said he had to do it.
It took Tsuna almost a year to climb up "the cliff" successfully without falling down or getting into serious trouble. Reborn had saved his student most of the times,… he did not wants Tsuna to accidentally die on him. Besides the climbing, he trained Tsuna in other things like politics and traditions of the mafia and his actual schoolwork. But he couldn't let it get taken from him, to constantly think of new methods to make life more difficult for his student. He liked to see his student squirm and trying to get out of his misery, it was too much of a fun.
After Tsuna could successfully climb the way up, Reborn had decided that it was only advantageous if his student could climb "the cliff" down again. It proved to be really good training, and Reborn sometimes set up a "training camp" where some of Tsuna's Guardians would come with him and were also training in the area of Death Mountain.
To come back to the current situation: Tsuna was climbing down the cliff the third time this day, and it seemed very likely that he could make it this time. After the many failed attempts on Saturday, mostly of which were so close to his goal, the boy became angrily with himself. Why can't I climb this fucking cliff all the way down!? I should have made it faster than climbing up at the beginning of my training or not? Maybe the next time will be better!
The boy was so focused with his thoughts and reaching his goal that he first didn't realized that his foot hit the ground. He staggered and was landing on his back. "I've made it!" the boy said and laughed out in joy, lying in the ground and looking up to the sky.
Thank you for reading. If you have any question PM me or leave a review, they are highly appreciated, and contribute to improve the story. See you next time!
poem by: Robert Browning ("Epilogue to Asolando"; Asolando, 1889)
firewings27
released: 20/11/15
