( 04/01/2015 ) - metric system

Salve !

This is L. Ilovu writing ~ Everyone, thanks a lot for the reviews and the likes and the favorite, and the alert and all you did to show us that you liked this translation ! If you were in front of me, I'd given you great buckets overflowing with love and passion !

My exams begins in no more than three days, and I haven't finished the translation of the fourth chapter, I hope I'll be on time to deliver it to you in two weeks. I hope to everyone you had a great Christmas & Winter Holidays ~

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Disclaimer

Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Akira Amano

The Solitude's Flame ( La Flamme de la Solitude )'s original idea belongs to Y.

L. was given the rights to translate!

This chapter didn't get correction, wrong/bad grammar ahead

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The next chapter should be up in two weeks! ( 18/01/2015 - metric system )

(: Enjoy :)

He came back. HE CAME BACK!

Panicked at the sudden apparition of the spirit, just as he decided to definitely forget about him, Tsuna ran away. Where? He didn't know exactly. Each doors he passed, he thought he was seeing the shadow of the ghost – even though it was only his imagination, this time – which was encouraging him to continue his run. In the end, he was out of breath, in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what to do.

He didn't understand what he had to do. Sure he had messed up their first encounter, but the later didn't seem to want to give him another chance, since he didn't come up ever again after that. And just as he blamed it on his imagination, he took the time to come back? What did he want, in the end? Wouldn't it be easier for the two of them if he simply said what he had to say, so they could get out of this situation?

Okay. First, calm down. It wouldn't help anything if he continued on running like that, without any goal, just like a scared mouse. The other didn't seem to follow him till now – or at least not while he was visible – and not feeling his presence helped Tsuna gather himself up. He breathed in and decided to look around him, to see where he was. Good. He recognized the street, at least. It was really stupid of him to have acted like that. But what else could he have done- enter his home as if nothing was wrong? His mind would have tortured him all night, even if his stalker had the great thought of leaving – and nothing said he would have done it. And now he was gone, he didn't feel like going back.

But on one hand, in the middle of the night… would he dare repeat the same error as the day before? But on the other hand, he was only seeing this solution, if he wanted to sleep peacefully.

He didn't think about it anymore and walked toward the only door who would open for him in such circumstances.

Of course, when he rang the bell, it was once again Gokudera who opened the door. Sleepy, he took a little bit of time to recognize the one in front of him, but when the picture got to his brain, he seemed to be wide awake… and he didn't seem so glad to repeat the same scenario as the day before.

Tsuna thought the same thing as he saw his face. Thus, he even tried to make a more tactful entrance:

"Hum, Gokudera-kun. I'm sorry to come up like that again but… I have another thing to ask to… your sister…"

However, it of course had to be, whichever tone he put in his voice wouldn't work. The boy at the door wouldn't budge for such little excuse this time.

Even though he didn't let himself explode like the day before, he seemed close to that very same state, and he stayed where he was, not saying a word. Obviously, he wouldn't let him enter before knowing more.

But… Tsuna really needed to enter.

"Go-Gokudera-kun?" He tried nonetheless. Maybe it would help…

"I don't really know what you like in her, but you know, you don't have to court in the middle of the night," Gokudera grumbled as only reply.

"E-eh?"

"And also, you could tell me, at least. I live with her, you know, I could even help you. You didn't think of that, did you?"

In front of the beginning – or was it the prolongation? – of this shady misunderstanding, Tsuna decided to clear all the suspicions right off the bat.

"Um… Gokudera-kun, I don't see what you're talking about at all. I'm just here to…"

"You're still denying it?"

However, the other seemed ready to explode.

"It's okay" He continued. "I understood what you wanted. What I don't understand, it's why you didn't tell us about it. We're not your friends anymore, is that it?"

"It isn't, but…"

Thus, Tsuna felt guilty once again. Even though Gokudera wasn't talking about the same thing as he did – he didn't really understood what he was talking about, by the way – his words could also be used for the real situation.

"It's just… I couldn't," He simply said, looking down at his feet.

These words seemed to appease his interlocutor… But only for a moment. Why, he would have replied, not understanding in any way why their friend wanted to hide that, wanted to deal with it alone, without leaving them any chance to help…

However, instead, Bianchi came up in his back, probably dragged around by the noises they made at the front door, and not letting any chances to his brother to say anything again, she grabbed his arm and pushed him inside.

"Hayato. Let him go inside."

By instinct, the silver head struggled, not wanting to, but when he noticed the worried expression of the young woman, he stopped immediately. After all, it wasn't every day you could see her with such an expression, and without a good reason. So, even though he felt being left out of something important, it only needed one more plea from his sister; "Hayato…", for him to let the brunet enter.

On the other hand, Tsuna was observing the exchange, perplex. He focused on Bianchi as soon as he saw her approach, but the frightened look she suddenly had when she looked at him panicked him a little. Out of instinct he had looked over his own shoulder, believing the entity was back. There was nothing, though – which didn't refrain him from shivering, panicking again.

Luckily, she managed to invite him; he did so without a word. But as he was leaded to the living room, he got a glimpse of Gokudera going the other way, head hanging down, churning on his anger without a doubt; he felt as if it was his chance to help him a little bit.

As he turned toward his friend, he felt his trembling stop a little.

"Hum… Gokudera-kun?"

The other stopped, unsure. Then turned.

"Y-You're not coming to the living room with us?"

Of course not. He wouldn't have come by himself, respecting the secret of the brunet, even though he didn't like it. But thanks to this question, which was actually an invitation, Tsuna integrated him in the problem, and that's what he had been wanting since the previous day.

When he deciphered the message, he seemed not to believe it at first. The anger still not wiped from his face made place to a huge surprised one; he had let go of any hope at that point. After all that happened, he didn't even dare think he would still have what he asked for with such spite.

The brunet patiently waited for him to make a decision. He had thrown his question without thinking twice about it, but whatever, when he thought about it, he didn't really have anything to hide anymore. If he didn't say anything at first, it was because he feared not to be understood, especially from Gokudera: the phenomenon would have excited him more than worried him, and he didn't need that at the time. This said, with their previous row, his friend would push his passion on the side to help him without a doubt. Without saying that, loving it, he probably had some knowledge in the occult. Two initiated to these type of case instead of one to help, it could probably help him even more.

So, he kept on observing Gokudera's reaction, a timid smile drawn on his lips. He hoped with all his might that he would accept his attempt to fix his indelicate clumsiness, and that he would follow him to the living room.

And, indeed, an explosion full of joy seemed to devour the boy's face, who nodded excitedly, and both of them went out of the entrance, minds appeased. Good. Now that it was done, Tsuna only had to worry of the big problem he had: the ghost's persistence.

When they finally joined her, Bianchi didn't make any comment on the time they took back there, nor on the new presence of his brother; it was for Tsuna to decide, after all. However, she frowned once again when the brunet entered her vision. Thus, once they sat down, she invited him with a nod to explain why he was here. For the second time that day, Tsuna did so, explaining everything from the very beginning for Gokudera, who didn't know it, yet. Thankfully for him, this one didn't seem so excited about his recent adventures, even though he couldn't help a hiccup out of surprise and that he felt obligated to ask every single details about the entity's manifestation. But in the end, his thinking traits showed he wasn't interest in the phenomenon by itself, too concentrated on the possible solutions to the mess he put his friend through – as he estimated he had a huge responsibility in this case, it was thus his duty to help him.

Quite reassured by that, Tsuna finished his tale by questioning Bianchi about what he had to do: since the entity had appeared two time in a row, it was beginning to scare him. He had to do something, quick, and not only search for useless pieces of information the ghost didn't seem to want to give him anyway.

"True," she confirmed after a long silence. "The first time, at your place, I also had felt something's presence."

"Wh-What?!" Gokudera exclaimed.

He never had heard about that. Not only Tsuna, but his sister had felt something weird from the very beginning? Why didn't she say anything? Unlike the small brunet, she had enough experience to say if their calling had worked or not. Why did she always repeat that it had failed, then?

"Calm down, Hayato," The elder said, already seeing the flood of questions coming from her brother. "If I didn't say anything, it was because, even though it was there from the beginning, the spirit always refused to show itself. I didn't want to force him or excite you for nothing. Anyway, when Tsuna came yesterday night, it confirmed my thoughts of it not coming to speak to us, but only to speak to one of us."

At this point, she paused. Tsuna drank from every word she said, waiting for the next part. Until now, he didn't learn anything new – he had guessed a little bit that she invocation wasn't a failure, since she didn't seem all too surprised when he told her about it.

She took the time to take sips of her coffee, on the table, before continuing – when she put her drink back on the wood, her expression had changed. It was now the same as it was when she noticed Tsuna at the entrance.

"However, tonight, your aura changed," She said, turning to the brunet. "As soon as I saw you, I could identify the thing that was following you. It's why I asked Hayato to let you in."

When she mentioned that, Gokudera looked down, guilty, and Tsuna threw an nth look behind him. When he turned around, and sawing nothing, he shivered when Bianchi nodded to confirm that: yes, it was still there, even if he couldn't feel it.

"However," She said, "I don't have any other advice than continuing to try to open the dialog. It's the only 'soft' method I know."

The only soft method…? Tsuna almost asked more, but contained himself. If she didn't speak about it yet, it was because it was better to focus on the better solution, right? The 'hard' method she was implying… No, it was better if he didn't ask, too worried of the consequences it could have. Moreover, if the spectre came to him for a reason, he wouldn't chase it away because he couldn't understand what he wanted. After all, it was him who didn't stop failing at it: if he wasn't such an idiot or if he didn't try to ignore it, maybe he would already know how to gently settle the problem down. Even though it was dead and that he didn't know him at all, he didn't want to reject it, or have a lack of respect toward it. Even when he was keeping it from sleeping in peace. The other didn't open fire or hate, and it didn't seem that mean or seemed to want his misery; well! It wouldn't be him who would be the mean one first. It was a big no-no.

"And if…" Gokudera intervened, breaking off the intern debate of the small brunet. "Well, I don't know if it's good for, but couldn't we try an invocation, just like last time, but only to ask it to go away?"

Ah. Do the first step? True, Tsuna didn't think about it. Until now, he always waited for the signs to come to him.

So it could work?

"It could work," Bianchi replied, echoing his thoughts. "Maybe."

Actually, she was pretty sceptical about this plan's success, but they didn't know much about the entity… Whichever was the result, they didn't have anything to loose. As the two boys would concentrate on making it go, she would concentrate on the reason of its presence. Thus, if it wanted to speak more than going away, maybe they'd have a chance.

At this idea, she stood up to take a small glass, and bend down to put it on the table…

At the same moment when the item caressed the wood's surface, it exploded, literally, making some shards tear up Bianchi's hand and arm.

The two boys panicked after that. Thankfully, she thought, the bewilderment made them mute. As for her, she only jumped. True these kind of things weren't really good signs, but it could happen, the only thing was not to let stress invade you.

Not caring about the blood running down her arm, she stood up to take another glass. However, this time, she stopped right before putting it on the wood. She looked up, and gave the object to Tsuna.

The latter, till now, crooked up in the sofa, blinked like crazy. What? With what happened… she wanted him to do it?

No. Way.

"It was you the spirit choose to follow. It'll probably speak to you more easily, without anything else."

It was Bianchi's only argument, she didn't budge. However, even if she did seemed quite assured, there was still too much incertitude in these words for Tsuna.

But noticing everyone was waiting for him, eyes on him, and that they would go forward as long as he refused it, he resigned and grabbed the glass.

He kept it a moment against himself, not daring to put it on the table, afraid to repeat the explosion. And, apparently, when he decided himself, other shards exploded on the table. But, this time, not any of those cutting pieces dared to approach the brunet's small hand. And the glass had waited few seconds before exploding, as if it was pondering.

Coincidence? To Bianchi, it was impossible.

As the brunet was frightened, and was even more because of the phenomenon, that he was holding his hand as if it was going to fall, cursed, the young woman stayed pretty calm when she shared her conclusions:

"Ok, it was that… Tsuna."

When he was called, the boy looked up with worried eyes. He seemed completely lost.

"This spirit doesn't want to hurt you. Even if it is violent and [farouche] in front of the others, we just got the proof."

To illustrate her words, she held her own hand up, wounded. Then she went away, to wash her blood, continuing her explanation from the kitchen:

"For now, it isn't dangerous. Not for you, at least. If you want to, things can stay this way."

She came back some minutes later. A bandage was running down her arm, and merely seeing it terrorized the small brunet.

"You just have to wait for it to come back to speak to you. And when it'll happen, you can ask if it's got a message for you. That's maybe why it can't go away."

Just like a tilt, this hypothesis made his trembling stop. A message for him? So the ghost wasn't there because it felt like it, but because of him? Because it had something to say?

Suddenly, things felt guiltier than panicking for Tsuna. But in the same time, it could have done what he had to do, and leave him alone. Had he another reason to stay?

… When he came back home, that night, he didn't really what he was supposed to do. Finally, he didn't have a new solution, stuck in the waiting.

There still was work to do, for him to get out of this mess.

Tsuna was tranquilly studying in his room. He surprised himself doing so more and more often, these times – maybe because it distracted him from his other worries. Now, he had a hard time with a math calculus, his eternal nemesis, but he felt a shiver run down his spine.

Ah. There was the signal.

He looked up to see the spectre, its figure become clearer and clearer in front of him, elbow against the table.

The phenomenon didn't surprise him. Since his last visit at Bianchi's, it happened a lot. Almost each time he was alone, actually, he saw a transparent figure. However, they never did talk much again, all these apparitions being a quick stay.

But this time, the other was showing himself more clearly. His body was almost completely in sight. Tsuna deducted he intended to stay longer, today. Actually, it was his first question, as a salute:

"Oh. You feel like chatting a bit, today?"

"Yes," The other simply said, ignoring the small irritation in the brunet's voice. It's because, since the other day, he didn't have any reply, and if his repeated manifestation had helped him get used to his presence, he was determined to find a way to make him free from following him. It would be better, for the both of them.

His eternal amused face stuck on his traits, the ghost laid his head in his hands.

"So, which question do you want to begin with?"

Yes. It was true that questions, he had a lot of them. He began with the simplest of them all:

"Can I call you by your name?"

For that one, a surprised expression showed itself on the dead's face. Only one second, because it morphed back to a mysterious smile, but Tsuna could clearly see it. Maybe he expected him to ask something more… vital, important first. But the small brunet didn't think about it without at least knowing his name. And then, it would be more comfortable to speak with him.

"Rokudo Mukuro," the other said, as if it was an avowal. "But I don't know why you're interested in my name, as you'd like me to leave so badly."

This is not the question, he wanted to retort. Even though he really wanted him to strop haunting him, they passed quite a long time together, already, even if they didn't want it. And it wouldn't stop soon – they could at least try to get to know each other. They would have some stuff to speak about, at least.

But Tsuna didn't feel he was strong enough to say him that. Of course, he was still not so sure, too timid, in front of this presence. Thus, nervous, he left the questions haunting him on the side. Only the time for him not to be nervous, to satisfy his curiosity, more like, his curiosity inspired by Gokudera:

"Hum… Is it your real appearance, there?"

"What? Don't you trust your own eyes? Put some glasses on."

"No but… Did you like that, before… Before?"

"Probably. But I can change, if you want me to. Would you like a cute girl instead? Like, hum, what's her name again, K-..."

"No!... It'll be alright… You're young, then?"

"I'm not sure I'm able to reply to that."

"Why?"

"Kufufu~"

"Okay… How do you see the world?"

"Blurry. Or not. Depends of my mood."

"Do you communicate with other entities?"

"No, they're dumb."

"Can you do my math calculus?"

"No. Don't push your luck too far, either."

Tsuna couldn't help but smiling at the reply to his stupid question. Actually, even for his previous replies, quick and mocking, he didn't know if Mukuro was serious or if he was laughing at his face. However, it wasn't such an important thing – he was more relaxed, now… Enough to ask the important question?

"And… Do you have something… to tell me?"

To these words, only a short silence replied. The spectre's smiles was tainted with [lassitude]

"Ah… I thought a lot of this question, since the scorpion lady asked you."

He must have been speaking of Bianchi. Why this surname, mystery. Tsuna didn't care much for now, listening to the following reply.

"It seems that yes."

So it was a message.

"However, even if you asked me what it was, I couldn't give it to you."

Huh? Why? He wasn't ready, or something like that? That's why he didn't tell him from the very beginning? What did he had to do, then?

"Actually, it seems I forgot it. I don't know at all what the message's about, even if I know there is one."

…

Err…

Okay, so to have his message and get the ghost back to his home, Tsuna just had to make an amnesiac dead recover his memory.

… What was this stupid situation?

"Seriously…?" He lamented out loud. "How will we do, then?"

"No idea."

The other didn't seem panicked or embarrassed about that, which was worrying the small brunet. The situation was pretty important, wasn't it? Couldn't he be worried at least a little?

"However, I can deliver a message of another guy. I think that what I had to say to you was pretty important, because since I forgot I am… different. I have some small crazy breaks out. Till now, I kept myself away from it, more or less, but it could become dangerous in not so long, even for you. It would be such a shame if you died before I recover my memory, now, wouldn't it?~"

… So. The situation was even worse than he had imagined it. And Mukuro was saying that, as if it was nothing. Did he just think about how he was making him feel?

It was depressing. Everything was depressing.

Ah, yes, now Tsuna understood what Mukuro meant by "Small crazy break out." Actually, it was more like "unleash of the hoodoo," for him.

As soon as the sun rose the next day, it had begun. A flowerpot falling from a balcony right on his head, a truck without a driver getting out of the road right where he was walking, a trumpet sound coming out of nowhere just when he tried to sneak his way past his bullies – who weren't afraid of him anymore, by now. Also, there was this insane aura he felt around him, as if it was his. Aura that changed just in the end, warmed up, and the flowerpot exploded, the truck went the other way. Okay, for the delinquents that began to hit him, he couldn't do much. But it sucked that the ghost began both his guardian and his torturer. Tsuna didn't really know what to do with this poltergeist right in the middle of teenage angst.

And the worst, the worst! It was that once he came back from his terrible day, the ghost dared appear, just like that, just to chat a bit.

And the day after, and the day even after that day, the exact same schema repeated itself.

Well, even if hell became his regular day – which wasn't really relaxing already – Tsuna didn't have the heart to refuse the small talk when he came to chat, happy, with him. In his 'normal' state, he still was supportable, and these moments calmer were keeping up for the rest.

So, he took his chance to learn more about him. Maybe that by speaking to him, he would find his message. Maybe. At worst, it made the time pass. They chatted every night, now, especially of useless subjects, just as if Mukuro was still alive. These little interludes in his life that became palpitating and rhythmic seemed to relieve them both.

Thus he learned how the entity had met them, for the first time: when they had to do their courage test in Kokuyo Land, which seemed to be years apart from now. When Tsuna had repeated that to Gokudera – all of his friends knew, now, they could speak more freely – this one had been all happy to learn that, in the end, they did meet real ghosts that night. At least, he was the only one who lived the situation quite well…

He also knew more about his link to Chrome – at this subject, it was Mukuro himself who began onto it, asking how she was doing. They were cousins, but they didn't see each other before he faded away. On her side, she was the only family he still knew, but he refused to show himself in front of her, pretending she wasn't ready. He didn't even know if she knew he was dead.

Except for these few information that were pretty important, most of their conversation were ordinary, and talked of supernatural. But one day, when he couldn't help himself anymore, Tsuna asked the question which burned his lips to be asked:

"Mukuro-san, do you want to go?"

He had dropped that one during a silence, giving off a more serious tone about the current debate. He didn't really know how to approach the subject, never finding any good moment, which explained his grand entrance, direct and tactless. But he had to ask. Away from the danger he was in, himself, being the victim of the 'bad' Mukuro, he was worried for the ghost, too. Even if he enjoyed their talking, Tsuna always remembered that he wasn't there by his own will, but for him. For his message.

But the message… Tsuna could live without it. He didn't need to hold onto it. Nor stay.

"Well, I-I mean…" He continued, seeing the other didn't reply. "For the message, it's no big deal, you know. We can't help it if you can't give it to me. So… If you want to go, you can. I think it would be better for you."

"Oya? You're throwing me away, then?"

Confused to this mocking retort to his serious words, Tsuna took some time to reply.

"No… Just, I… worry?"

"For your life?"

"And for yours, too."

There, it was the ghost's turn to be confused. He blinked, perplex… before laughing with a frank and charming laugh. Seeing his reaction, Tsuna got frustrated. What, what did he say wrong? Okay, it was a bit weird to worry about a dead's life, but he couldn't help it, that's how he felt!

Before he could make any protest, his interlocutor became serious again. More like, became serious.

"No. I refuse. I'm staying."

Far, very far away, another situation, way more serious, was bringing the atmosphere down. Frowning upon papers scribbled with worrying news was somebody with a dangerous aura. His interlocutor, sitting in front of him, patiently waited till he finished his reading before expressing himself:

"Do you understand know why I'm seeking help from your organisation?"

The other put the papers back on the table, a dark look on his face.

"Yes. In any way, your family is still pretty close to ours. I came in person because I knew something big would happen. You never seek our help lightly."

"Do you think it needs an intervention, then?"

"It's a possibility. But I have to see that by myself, first."

As his interlocutor turned around, ready to go, the sitting man let these lasts words slips, frowning:

"In this case, I also give you a white card, concerning this person. Even if it might not be to his liking... Do your best.

The other opened the door – "As always" – and went away.

He had to go as fast as he could; a long journey was awaiting.