song is these times by safetysuit
enjoy!
XXXX
Hibari arrived in time to see the small herbivore and the large explosion. Other than the fact that just the concept of it was breaking so many rules he couldn't even name them all, but he had specifically sent the herbivore home with instructions to get better. This was not getting better. He hated being disobeyed. He stalked towards the explosion, not sure who he was going to bite to death first. A hand on his leg stopped him. He glanced down. It was a baby.
"What do you want, baby?" He demanded.
"My name is Reborn. Not baby. And please don't interfere. I'm curious to see what is going to happen."
"They are disturbing the peace."
"I'm not saying not to interfere. Just not yet." Hibari's tonfas were in his hands in a moment as he regarded the baby. He was sure it wasn't what it seemed to be, but he would bite it to death all the same.
"Why should I listen to you?" He snarled, and attacked. He was immediately blocked. He paused, and raised an eyebrow. "Wao. You're good." Reborn smiled.
"Yes, I am. And if it pleases you, I will fight you. But just not now." Hibari decided to listen to the baby for the time being. He straightened up, and put away his tonfas (in whatever dimensional pocket he kept them in), facing what was going on. Now that he thought about it, he was a little curious about what was going to happen.
The smoke cleared, and Tsuna suppressed a cough, getting off of Gokudera. Gokudera waved some smoke away from his face, coughing, and blinking up. Both of their eyes were watering from the smoke. Gokudera sat up, and in his first moment, mistook Tsuna for Ieyoshi.
"Jyuudaime! You saved me anyways!" Tsuna blinked at the tone of Gokudera's voice. "I never really wanted the position of boss, just when I heard that Jyuudaime was a boy the same age as me, I felt like I had to test him. I will follow you for the rest of my life, Jyuudaime-," Tsuna covered Gokudera's mouth with his hand and shook his head. He pointed to the figure through the settling dust. When Ieyoshi became clear, Gokudera's eyes widened, and he looked back and forth between the twins. He pointed a finger at Tsuna, and exclaimed, "You're the short bunny!" Off to the side, Reborn facepalmed. Tsuna gave him a curious look, but slowly got to his feet. He offered a hand to Gokudera, who took it, thanking him excessively for everything.
Tsuna was beginning to realize what this was. A day or two ago, Reborn had explained to Tsuna about recruiting Famiglia members. This had probably been a test for Ieyoshi, and to get a Famiglia member. And he had just ruined it. He didn't regret saving Gokudera. But he regretted messing up Ieyoshi's test, for a plethora of reasons. He had probably screwed up the Mochida test enough, so he was going to fix this test. He walked over to his brother, who was regarding him with disdain. He touched his brother's arm, and his brother could hear his words, see his words as clear as day.
Make up a lie and get him into your Famiglia. Ieyoshi glanced at Reborn, who had his arms crossed, and obviously wanted Gokudera in Ieyoshi's family. Normally, Ieyoshi would have beaten his brother for giving him an order, but both Reborn and Hibari were there, though Ieyoshi wasn't quite sure why Hibari wasn't attacking. He would soon, though, Ieyoshi was sure of that. Ieyoshi glanced at Tsuna, and then to Gokudera. An uncharacteristically sunny smile broke through his face.
"Congratulations, Gokudera-kun! You passed the test. I'm sorry for acting so mean before, but I needed to test you. And the little blowy-uppy thingy was to see if you would get along with other members of my Famiglia. Welcome to the family, Gokudera-kun!" Ieyoshi said, smiling. He walked over, and clapped Gokudera on the shoulder. "Let's get those wounds treated, right?" Gokudera's face changed from confused, to overjoyed at the acceptance. He smiled at Ieyoshi, blushing, and bowed.
"Thank you Jyuudaime! Is your twin part of your Famiglia?" Ieyoshi smiled.
"Naturally, to an extent, but it was more important that you get along with my actual family. He's very important to me." Gokudera nodded furiously.
"Of course!"
"We're trying to keep him as uninvolved as possible, though." Ieyoshi lied with a bright smile. Gokudera was practically throwing himself at Ieyoshi's feet, overjoyed. Reborn was glad that Ieyoshi had gotten him into his Famiglia, but disgusted at the methods. Meanwhile, Hibari did not like the pathetic herbivorous crowding. He pulled out his tonfas again, and Tsuna noticed first. He darted off to the side, and away from the "crowding. Reborn took his hand off his foot, signaling for Hibari to attack.
As both boys received a beat-down, despite how much dynamite was involved, Reborn reprimanded them from above.
"Ieyoshi; you're a fool. Gokudera; I was entirely sure that I told you not to attack today. What possessed you to draw him out in the middle of the day?"
"I'm sorry Jyuudaime, for bringing this on us!" BAM. SMACK. SCREAM. THUD. THUMP. Hibari was having a field day. Tsuna leaned weakly against a tree, suppressing a small smile. Reborn turned around to look at Tsuna.
"How do you feel, Dame-Tsuna?" Tsuna shot him a half-hearted thumbs up, before tilting his head back against the tree and closing his eyes for a moment. When Hibari was finished biting them to death, he turned to Tsuna.
"Go home, herbivore." He informed him, before stalking off to bite some other hapless student to death. Gokudera approached Tsuna next. He had a sorrowful look on his face. He started bowing incredibly low.
"I'm so sorry, Jyuudaime's brother, that you got hurt saving me. Thank you so much, but you are already injured and I shouldn't have made you take more." Tsuna waved his hand.
It's fine. Gokudera shook his head furiously.
"It's not fine, Jyuudaime's brother! Who gave you those injuries? Tell me and I'll make them pay for laying a hand on you!" Tsuna saw Reborn and Ieyoshi twitch. He shook his head, and reached out to touch Gokudera's arm firmly. He looked him evenly in the eyes.
It's done. Gokudera sighed unhappily, but nodded.
"Just remember, Jyuudaime's brother, we're both part of the Famiglia, you can always ask for my help." Tsuna nodded like he was considering it, but he was sure he probably wouldn't. Gokudera returned to Ieyoshi's side happily. Ieyoshi approached Tsuna next. He touched Tsuna's shoulder, his smile frozen on his face.
"I need to talk to you when we get home, okay?" Tsuna nodded, and tried to act like he wasn't afraid of his brother. Reborn watched them with a wary eye, his hand tight around his Leon gun. When Ieyoshi stepped back, Reborn hopped onto Tsuna's shoulder.
"Get a move on, Dame-Tsuna. Hibari was right; you should go home."
XXXX
The good thing about being home alone was that Tsuna got to put his hacking skills to work, scouring the families for information about Xanxus and Vongola. And he couldn't believe what he found. The fact was, that Ieyoshi would be able to handle all the mafia things to come if he just asked. From what Tsuna could see, there was a lot Ieyoshi was supposed to know that he should ask about.
First of all, unless you Vongola by blood, you couldn't lay any claim to the position of boss. Adversely, that also meant that if Tsuna ever had any desire to be boss, all he had to do was say so, and he would have to fight Ieyoshi for it. He definitely didn't want to be boss, but it was a nice thought, knowing that if he wanted to, regardless of who had been chosen, he could.
The second thing he found out was that Iemitsu, his father, was the head of CEDEF, the outside advisors of Vongola. He wasn't surprised. For them to be chosen at all, they would look to the parentage, and Iemitsu was good on their "boss resume". Besides, his lies had always seemed so outrageous anyways.
Thirdly, Xanxus was the son of Nono, which confused Tsuna. If he was Nono's son, why hadn't he been chosen as the Vongola boss?
Fourth, the so-called Guardians. If he was to be Vongola boss, Ieyoshi would need to gather a Sun Guardian, Cloud Guardian, Rain Guardian, Storm Guardian, Lightning Guardian and Mist Guardian. They were called what they were because of their ability to wield different type flames; that blazing flame on Ieyoshi's head when he entered Dying Will mode was the Dying Will flame. According to the color, they were a different type of flame. Not everyone's flame, if they had entered Dying Will mode, would be that color. Ieyoshi needed to gather these six people, as his flame was Sky.
After reading about some of this stuff for a while, he began to get a headache, so he took a What is Your Dying Will Flame? Quiz. It claimed to be 100% accurate, and regulated by the top Vongola scientists, and an Arcobaleno known as Verde. He got Cloud. From reading the description, he wasn't all that surprised (A.N. yes, Tsuna is still Sky, the quiz is wrong…sorta (he has more than one wave, like Gokudera). But his primary flame is Sky.)
The word Arcobaleno brought up a ton of things, but Tsuna's brain was fried, and he decided not to get into it yet.
Finally, when Ieyoshi arrived back at home, Gokudera was with him. They went straight to Tsuna's room. Gokudera was nearly pressing his face to the ground, he was bowing so deep when the door to Tsuna's room was opened, and he was visible. Ieyoshi just regarded his twin with that same frozen expression.
"Good afternoon, Jyuudaime's brother! I hope you are feeling better! How are you?" He asked, finally rising. Tsuna nodded, but afterwards, tilted his head and gave Gokudera a curious expression. Gokudera didn't seem to understand immediately, but Reborn bounced into the room and sat on Gokudera's shoulder.
"Tsuna's asking why you are so formal with him." Gokudera flicked his eyes up.
"Because you're Jyuudaime's brother, of course! Both you and Jyuudaime deserve the utmost respect." Tsuna shook his head, and gave him a smiling expression, without actually smiling.
"He says you don't have to be that formal with him. You can call him Tsuna." Gokudera looked horrified with those words.
"I could never!" Gokudera exclaimed. He observed Tsuna for a moment, before claiming, "Onii-san." Tsuna gave him a bright look and nodded.
"He approves." Reborn clarified. Gokudera looked like an excited puppy. Ieyoshi, smile all the more plastic, tugged on Gokudera's sleeve.
"Come on, Gokudera-kun, let's leave Tsuna to his own things. We probably interrupted him. Besides, we have schoolwork to do." Gokudera nodded enthusiastically, and they left Tsuna alone. Reborn skipped in and hopped onto Tsuna's head. Tsuna raised an eyebrow and looked up, curious as to why Reborn was sitting his hair. He had seen Reborn ride around in Ieyoshi's hair before, but he couldn't help but wonder what Reborn was doing in his.
"I want to you to work harder on your grades." Reborn explained. "Your grades are shamefully low and it's not fitting for the brother of a mafia boss." Tsuna shrugged, and took out his schoolwork. He didn't need to be asked.
That was how and why Tsuna ended up spending an hour with Reborn on his homework afterschool every day.
And sure enough, his grades quickly rose, from failing to sixth in his class.
XXXX
Tsuna was stuck sweeping up. Again.
In gym, his team had lost (not surprisingly), and they had asked for the two Sawadas to stay behind and sweep up. For show, Ieyoshi agreed, but he was probably going to leave as soon as the place cleared up. Tsuna just tried to shrink down as much as possible. Ieyoshi hadn't been able to release any frustration lately, not with Reborn watching constantly, and it also would probably scare away Gokudera. Reborn made it very clear that Ieyoshi was to keep Gokudera as a subordinate. Tsuna remembered the argument;
"Why the hell do I need someone so weak?!" Ieyoshi roared. He and Reborn had started duking it out over every little thing about an hour ago. Usually, Ieyoshi yelled at Reborn all the time. Reborn had spent most of this fight just sitting there, but now he had a valid reason to speak.
"Ieyoshi-baka, it doesn't matter if you think he's weak right now. In your early stages as a boss, you need any subordinates you can get. You're not strong right now, but he is, in fact, stronger than you. You need him around." Reborn explained calmly, sipping an espresso. Tsuna had begun to make espresso in the morning for Reborn, and even though it was probably terrible, Reborn drank it anyways. Tsuna appreciated Reborn not telling him that it was terrible. Ieyoshi looked like he wanted to tear his hair out.
"But he's so pathetic!" He whined, stamping his foot.
"It doesn't matter. You can demote him later. You just need all the subordinates you can get right now. Just play along."
"But-!" Reborn turned and jumped onto Tsuna's head, who was passing by. He settled himself in Tsuna's soft, fluffy hair.
"Give me a ride to dinner, will you, Tsuna?" Tsuna nodded silently, and started walking down the stairs, too scared to look at his brother. As he was walking, Reborn made sure to say loud enough for Ieyoshi to hear, "It's much nicer to sit in your hair, Tsuna. Ieyoshi's is always greasy, stiff, and covered in product."
"Ugh!" Ieyoshi exclaimed behind them.
So Tsuna was very afraid Ieyoshi would take this opportunity to release his pent-up frustration.
Thankfully, a voice called out from a distance away,
"Hey guys! Mind if I join you?" Yamamoto Takeshi, the school's baseball star, jogged over, a broom in hand. He was smiling, as usual. Ieyoshi gave him his plastic smile back.
"Not at all. We could use the help. It'll get everything done faster." Yamamoto started to sweep up near them. They worked for a few more minutes, with Yamamoto smiling, cheerful and happy, and occasionally conversing with Ieyoshi, who acted just as cheerful. Suddenly, Tsuna felt the change in Yamamoto.
"Hey Ieyoshi."
"Hm?" Ieyoshi responded, turning to look at Yamamoto. Yamamoto was still smiling, but it didn't quite reach those hazel eyes of his. Tsuna noticed, but he suspected that Ieyoshi did not.
"You've been really cool lately, with everything you've been doing, and you've been pretty awesome on our school project, so I was wondering if you could give me some advice." Ieyoshi leaned on the handle of the broom.
"What's wrong?" he asked, faking concern.
"Well, lately, in baseball, my average has been dropping, and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get it back up. I'm not sure what to do." Yamamoto admitted, no longer smiling. The atmosphere had changed considerably. "What should I do?" Ieyoshi had turned away for a moment, but he turned back quickly, a shark smile on his face. Clearly, Yamamoto saw the change, and looked a little unnerved.
"I don't know, what should you do? If you're failing, you should just drop baseball. You don't want to drag the entire team down by being such a failure. It would be better to just end it and spare yourself the embarrassment. Imagine flunking in the middle of a game. They would absolutely loathe you for it. But then again, you are their star, so no matter what you do, they'll probably hate you for it. I guess there's nothing you can do, except put more effort in and get better. Otherwise, you have nothing." He said all of this, in not a particularly cruel tone, but with an airy one, like it was something to be easily said. But Ieyoshi's eyes were sharp and dangerous. Yamamoto looked speechless, but brightened in a moment.
"Yeah, I thought more effort was probably the way to go. Guess I just needed to hear it from someone else. Thanks Ieyoshi!"
"No problem." Ieyoshi said, happily, but darkly. Tsuna wanted to punch Ieyoshi in the face. Yamamoto was a deeply unhappy person. At least that was what Tsuna had always observed from him. He was naturally cheerful, and spunky, and liked to smile, but Tsuna had always sensed that deep well of sadness that was overflowing. Those words might just be the end of him. After a few minutes of silence, Ieyoshi pretended to glance at his watch. "Oh man, Gokudera's going to get mad at me if I leave him hanging. We're almost finished, do you guys mind if I leave you two to finish up? I hate to do this, but I really need to go." Lies. But Yamamoto would never say no and Tsuna couldn't say anything at all, so Ieyoshi quickly left. When Ieyoshi was gone, Tsuna wasted no time in tapping the tall baseball player on the shoulder. Yamamoto turned around.
"Eh?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side, and gave him a soft, concerned look. Yamamoto's eyes widened, surprised that the silent boy could portray so much in an expression. He had always been curious about the silent boy, wondering why Tsuna didn't talk. He had a vague memory of knowing him in kindergarten, but that had been a long time ago, and Yamamoto couldn't even remember the sound of his voice. And ever since he had showed up to school that day with a bruise in the shape of a hand around his neck- well, nobody had stopped wondering what had happened to the pitiful boy.
Are you okay? Yamamoto shook off his surprise and smiled back.
"I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Tsuna." He went to pull away, but Tsuna's grip tightened on Yamamoto's shoulder. Tsuna looked at him evenly, and Yamamoto couldn't help but feel like the boy was looking into his very soul. Tsuna jerked a thumb, and Yamamoto understood that Tsuna wanted to say something about his brother. "What about Ieyoshi?" Tsuna shook his head, and Yamamoto could swear he heard the words as clear as day; what Tsuna wanted to say, but didn't, was just that obvious.
Don't listen to my brother. Yamamoto blinked.
"I shouldn't put more effort in?" Tsuna gave him a sorrowful look, and Yamamoto felt that someone truly understood how he felt underneath his smiles for a split second. Then the feeling passed, but he didn't forget it.
That's for you to decide.
XXXX
Tsuna had been feeling sick to his stomach about what his brother had said. He couldn't help but feel like something bad was about to happen with Yamamoto. This feeling was so strong, that during dinner, he took the liberty of sneaking into Ieyoshi's warzone of a room and hunting through it for his brother's phone. He found it quickly, and scrolled through the contacts. He entered it into his own phone, for a reason that only his intuition knew. No matter how creepy it seemed, he couldn't ignore the driving feeling that he should be able to contact Yamamoto quickly. And this was the best way to do it.
And the next day at school, he thanked every power in the universe that he did.
He had been in class, with Hana and Kyoko trying to talk to him. They were asking about Gokudera, who they had heard call him onii-san, and Ieyoshi being called Jyuudaime. They were curious about him, and even though Tsuna didn't talk, they understood him just fine. Gokudera was currently snapping at everyone who got within a five foot radius of Ieyoshi, while Ieyoshi sat back smugly in his chair, and used a very manipulative style to make Gokudera be his slave. He would ask for something kindly, but would say it was fine if he didn't, and make Gokudera stumble all over himself to get it. Then he would do something kind for Gokudera, something pitifully small in comparison for whatever Gokudera did, saying "It isn't much, but I just wanted to thank you" which made Gokudera bashful, and willing to do anything for his precious Jyuudaime. It was one of the few things that Ieyoshi did that truly disgusted Tsuna. It was beyond just dislike.
While they were talking to him, someone rushed into class, shrieking,
"YAMAMOTO'S ON THE ROOF! HE'S GOING TO JUMP!" Half the class ran screaming to the roof, with Tsuna thinking, WHY DID YOU DO THIS IEYOSHI? WHY WOULD YOU HAVE SAID SOMETHING LIKE TH AT? He sprinted at top speed, making sure to lose Ieyoshi, Gokudera, Hana, and Kyoko in the crowd, so he could slip away, unnoticed. He had a plan.
He went to one of the buildings, one that wasn't close, but with a view of the roof of the building Yamamoto was going to jump off of. He climbed to the roof, and spotted Yamamoto outside the fence, looking down, ready to jump. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed.
XXXX
"Yamamoto! Please don't jump!"
"Yeah Yamamoto-kun! Please don't! Just talk to us about this!" People screamed from the crowd, but no one wanted to get close enough. He wanted to laugh bitterly. These people didn't really know him. They just knew his baseball ability. Which he had lost. Lost completely. The broken arm with the possibly damaged nerve. His baseball career was probably going to be over. The team would hate him. The school would loathe him. He had nothing. It was just as Ieyoshi said.
"Sorry guys, but now that the Baseball God has thrown me away, I have nothing." He called back, that omni-smile never wavering. They screamed for him to get on the other side of the fence, not to jump, not to die, that they didn't care that he couldn't play baseball, but they were all lies. He had nothing. Death was his only escape.
Maybe he wouldn't jump if Ieyoshi tried to talk to him. If he tried to apologize, if he tried to say what he said wasn't true. Because truthfully, Yamamoto was a little scared of jumping. But when he saw Ieyoshi in the crowd, a moody expression, and heard his words ring painfully in his ears, he was damn sure he was more scared of living. He could hear him, even from the length away that Ieyoshi was standing.
"Tch. Pathetic." The silver-haired delinquent that was always raving about "Jyuudaime's kindness" didn't say anything either, and Yamamoto felt cold and hollow. Death would certainly be better. He turned to the edge. He was going to jump. He really would.
All of a sudden, his phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket, to blink at it. Either the caller had really bad timing, or really good timing. On a whim, he answered. Maybe he could have a normal conversation, and at least say goodbye to someone. He held it up to his ear.
"Hello?"
"These times will try hard to define me.
And I'll try to hold my head up high.
But I've seen despair here from the inside,
It's got a one-track mind."
Yamamoto's eyes widened, at the gentle, hoarse, but painfully beautiful voice that came from the phone.
"And I have this feeling in my gut now.
And I don't know what it is I'll find.
Does anybody, ever feel like,
You're always one step behind?"
"Now I'm sitting alone here on my bed
I'm waiting for an answer I don't know that I'll get.
I can't stand to look in the mirror, I'm failing
I'm telling you these times are hard,
But they will
Pass"
"And I know there's someone out there somewhere,
Who has it much worse than I do
But I have a dream inside, a perfect life,
I'd give anything just to work out
It's like I'm only trying to dig my way out,
Of all these things I can't and I am"
"Sitting alone here on my bed,
I'm waiting for an answer I don't know that I'll get
I can't stand to look in the mirror, I'm failing,
I'm telling you, these times are hard,
But they will
Pass
They will pass
They will pass
These times are hard
But they will pass"
The gentle voice had cracked in a few places, like it wasn't used enough for practice, but the song kept going. Yamamoto found himself grateful that this person had the bravery to do so.
"These times will try hard to define me.
But I will hold my head up high."
"Sitting alone here on my bed,
I'm waiting for an answer I don't know that I'll get,
I can't stand to look in the mirror, I'm failing,
I'm telling you, these times are hard,
But they will pass"
"And I know there's a reason
I just keep hoping it won't be long 'til I see it
And maybe if we throw up our hands and believe it
I'm telling you these times are hard
But they will pass
They will pass
They will pass
These times are hard
But they will pass." When the song ended, working its way up and down from soft, to powerful, to soft and gentle again, with a heart-wrenching factor that made Yamamoto want to climb back over the fence and go home, a single tear rolled down his face. Whoever was singing it, clearly knew pain. But still had the courage to keep going, and reach out to those who felt like they couldn't.
"Look around." The voice was speaking now, and Yamamoto was not the least bit surprised that the regular voice was just as beautiful as the singing one. Yamamoto glanced around, but discovered he wasn't looking where he was supposed to when the voice spoke again. "If you jump, I will too." Yamamoto looked across the buildings, and gasped when he saw a figure holding something, standing outside the fence on another school building, prepared to jump, same as him. Yamamoto pressed the phone to his chest, and suppressed a jagged sob. He abruptly turned around and climbed back over the fence. He was not going to jump today. And he was never going to attempt to jump again.
"Yamamoto-kun! What did that caller say?!"
"Thank God he's alright!"
"What if he had actually jumped?!"
"Someone should thank that caller!" Yamamoto ignored them, watching the figure intently, hands curling in the chain links on the fence. True to his word, the caller had put away his phone, and was starting to climb over the fence. No one else had any idea where Yamamoto was looking, and they started to swarm him happily. When the figure was just beginning to climb down the other side, the unthinkable happened, and the fence broke. It started to crumple, with the figure beginning to fall. Yamamoto was unable to scream.
His fingers on the chain link fence tightened, and his body wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to run over and help, he wanted to scream for someone to help him, but there was nothing to be done. The one who had saved his life was falling to his death, and it was all Yamamoto's fault. He would never be able to live with himself.
A hand shot out- and latched onto the figure. Even though it was far away, Yamamoto could vaguely recognize the outfit of the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyoya. Hibari grabbed onto the falling figure and pulled him away from the falling fence. Yamamoto breathed a sigh of relief, and his fingers loosened on the fence. Hibari was pulling the figure to safety; his savior was alive. Another tear rolled down his cheek, but it was a tear of happiness this time.
Then the idea struck him- he should track down Hibari! Hibari would know who it was that had called! He tore straight through the crowd, brushing people aside, and attempted to hunt down Hibari as best he could, before students grabbed onto him, panicked at his manic behavior. They thought it was the stress of almost commiting suicide. They didn't know what to think. So he was forcefully dragged to the nurse's office, kicking and screaming, and sent home.
As soon as he got home, he found Takesushi, his family's sushi shop, closed. His father was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for Yamamoto expectantly, eyes filled with tears. Tsuyoshi, his father, opened his mouth to say something, but Yamamoto had been thinking of that beautiful song, and did something first. He ran straight to his father, hitting him with the force of a train, and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly, and sobbing into his shoulder. It was only a confused second before his father reciprocated the hug, also crying.
Later, when they were sitting at the bar, Tsuyoshi on one side, and Yamamoto sitting on a stool at the other, Yamamoto said,
"Someone talked me down." Tsuyoshi's head jerked up.
"Who was it?" He wanted to know who it was, so he could thank them for saving his boy's life.
"I don't know. I didn't see him. I got a call, when I was about to jump. He didn't talk, exactly. It was singing." Tsuyoshi blinked.
"Singing?" Yamamoto chewed a piece of food and nodded.
"It was beautiful. And a few of the lines really got to me; These times will try hard to define me, but I will hold my head up high. And; these times are hard, but they will pass. I guess…just the way he sang them sounded like he really understood exactly how I felt. Like he knew pain." Yamamoto's eyes had dropped. He said this nonchalantly, but Tsuyoshi knew how important those words had been to him. "At the end, he spoke. He told me to look around. I didn't seem him at first, but he was standing on one of the other buildings, outside the fence, ready to jump. He told me, "If you jump, I will too." Tsuyoshi listened intently to Yamamoto's recollection of the story. "Dad." He faced his father. "I'm never going to try to kill myself again. Even if I'm sad, it's too dangerous. That guy- he almost died because of my stupidity. When he was climbing back over, the fence broke. He would have fallen and died if Hibari hadn't grabbed him first. I-I can't ever do this again, knowing that actions that I thought were personal could get someone killed." Tsuyoshi smiled gently at his son.
"Takeshi, you weren't being stupid. How you feel is never stupid. Your sadness isn't either. Clearly, this boy knew that, or he wouldn't have taken his time to help you. I wish I could thank him for everything he's done for you." Yamamoto looked up at his father, tears pouring down his cheeks. He smiled, and for the first time in a long time, this one reached his eyes. It was like the sun shining through the rain- hopeful and alive.
"You and me both, Dad."