Evidence 3: The Voice Recording

The following monday, in Language Arts class, Tsuna fidgeted in his seat, incredibly nervous about his own work. Yamamoto volunteered to read his, though, so he tried to sit still and listen.

…

Shivering, the boy looks up.

He looks up at the sky, white clouds drifting lazily from one end of the horizon to the other. He looks through the trees, cracked and dry fingers trying to scrape the heavens. He looks up at the single leaf struggling against the autumn breeze to hold onto its branch, and he thinks.

Another year past, another year gone, another year older. He is twelve now, almost a middle-schooler. There is something sad about it. He knows that he has gotten more mature now, but what else? He is having to discard the carefree days of childhood, to accept the cold winter days that are coming without a doubt. He trembles again, feeling the wind cut through his coat and slap his face. He can't know the future, can't know what is coming, but feels a sense of foreboding all the same. His intuition tells him that this winter will be a long one.

Then, he takes a step back, takes a deep breath, and looks again. He looks past the bangs in his face, the same color as his eyes and the shriveled brown leaf up above. He looks past that leaf, too, trembling in the wind and assaulted by light autumn rain as it clings to a branch. He looks past the branches, looking like great cracks across the sky in their barren state. He looks at the sky, wide open, endless, free.

There is something to be learned here. He can't know what will come to strike him down, but neither can he know what will come to boost him up. He thinks of all the friends and good memories he has created in the past year, and he smiles. He has lived through winter time and time again before, and he can do it again. A long winter only means that spring will be all the more gratifying.

The leaf snaps, drifting to the ground, riding the wind.

…

There's no way I can go after that! Tsuna screamed internally. Yamamoto sat down and grinned at him, though, so he mustered his confidence (what little he had of it at the moment) and gave a thumbs-up and mouthed, "good job."

"Eh... Sawada-kun," the teacher drawled, and Tsuna looked up. "Since it seems you want to say something, why don't you read yours?"

… Crud!

Mustering his confidence (what little there was of it at the moment), he stood up shakily and began reading. He tripped over words and shook like a leaf, but there was nothing for it.

…

This story begins with a gray cat.

This cat was a very prideful creature. He had no fears, for he had no enemies. He needed no one. But because of that, he had no one. Along with being a very prideful creature, he was a very lonesome cat.

One day while he was stalking through the forest, he came across a pond. There were no other cats near, because all the other cats in his territory were too scared to approach him. They were afraid of his sharp claws and his sharper temper. After drinking for a bit, he looked up to see a black head staring curiously at him from the water. Surprised, he leapt back and yelped. "Wah!"

The head dragged itself onto the shore. In actuality, it belonged to a soaking wet, black dog. As the dog shook himself dry, the cat hissed and backed into a crouch. "What do you want?" he snapped.

The dog wagged his curled tail, now mostly dry. "Hi!" he barked happily. "What's your name? Do you want to play with us?"

"Us?" the cat asked, still crouching. "What do you mean, 'us?' There's only one of you."

"What are you talking about?" another voice squeaked. A mouse popped out of the dog's neck fur. "Please don't forget about me!"

Standing up tall, the cat glowered. "I don't care," he growled. "Don't bother me anymore. I don't need friends, and I don't need a mouse and a dog following me everywhere."

But as he turned to leap away, the dog ran after him, the brown mouse now clinging to his companion's head. "Hey, wait up!" the dog called. "We just want to play! C'mon, let's do something fun!" The cat ignored him and hopped away through the lower branches up above.

When at last the cat stopped at the edge of a cliff, the dog nearly ran into him trying to stop. "Why don't you want to be friends with us?" he asked dejectedly. The mouse squeaked in agreement.

The cat motioned to the edge. "See all this?" he asked, referring to the massive forest. "Most of this is my territory. I set it up myself, with no one's help. I don't want to play because I maintain it. I don't need you two because I've gotten this far by myself. So bug off. And don't come back or I'll really get angry."

Satisfied with the dog and mouse's crestfallen looks, the cat nodded and went to bound off into the trees again. But at one point, his foot caught on a branch, and he fell. This is it, he thought. I'm high enough that it'll kill me. Oh well, no one ever cared anyway.

However, the fall was broken by the dog's back. "Hey, you okay?" the dog asked, voice laden with concern. The cat growled. "Let me go," he snapped. "Your stupid vibes are going to infect me."

The dog shrugged and began walking into the forest. "Well that's fine, but at least thank Mouse," he chattered. "He's the one who asked me to follow you."

"N- no!" the mouse squeaked, hiding behind an ear. "I- it was just a gut feeling! B- but… I'm glad you're safe. Your ankle is twisted, though. We can help you!"

The cat blinked. He had been so terrible to them, and yet these two still insisted on being nice. He wasn't sure whether they were stupid or just really kind.

Oh well, he thought, sighing. I guess I wouldn't mind them sticking around for a bit longer…

…

Before History class, Tsuna and Yamamoto sat gravely at their desks, staring down as though doing so would bore a hole through the desk, though the floor, and the impact of falling to the floor below would injure them enough to get out of tests forever. Actually, falling through the floor would probably get them out of classes for a while. Oh well.

Point being, neither felt very confident. Meanwhile, other students were joking and cavorting about, pretending to flirt or study. Gokudera sat at his desk, half-sleeping with his legs crossed on top of his desk. When the door opened, a young man they had never seen before walked in, and the students watched warily at he stalked stiffly over to the teacher's desk and began laying out papers. He had messy blond hair, and Tsuna briefly wondered if it was bleached. Clearing his throat, most listened (Gokudera was still half-asleep) as the man began speaking.

"Uh… last night your usual teacher fell down a flight of stairs," he said, speaking in a tone that was clearly intended to be imposing ("intended" being the operative word), "and has been hospitalized. So until he's better, I will be taking his place as a substitute teacher. My name–" here, he turned to write his name in five neat characters on the blackboard, "– is Tenma Keijuurou.

"But let's set introductions aside for tomorrow; I understand that you're having a test today." The class as a whole nodded (Gokudera had woken up at some point). "Your teacher told me that he wanted you all to take this test in groups. A partner test, if you will. Choose your own partners and sit at the same table together, and I'll start handing these out."

As a large huddle of girls- and several boys as well- assaulted Gokudera to try and get the genius delinquent on their team, Yamamoto and Tsuna grinned at each other. The former grabbed his materials- two B pencils and an eraser- before scooting over into the next seat to pair with Tsuna.

…

"… and that's why Yamamoto and I are pretty sure we aced the test," Tsuna finished, putting the last plate on the dining room table.

"That's great!" his father, Iemitsu, shouted from the other end with a booming laugh. Tsuna grimaced a bit when he realized that his father had several bottles of beer next to a hairy fist on the table, and that his only articles of clothing were boxer shorts and an undershirt that was almost undoubtedly somewhat sweaty. "You had some pretty good luck today, sport!"

"Dad… at least put some pants on."

Iemitsu walked around the table and slung an arm around his son's shoulders. "Oh, don't be so uptight, Tsuna!" he said, grinning. Tsuna crinkled his nose at the smell of alcohol wafting from his father's mouth, but smiled anyway at the praise (?). "You're not old like your dad, so you don't have to be keeping to stuffy traditions just yet."

"You're pretty young to have a sixth-grade son, Dad."

Iemitsu scratched his stubby blond beard (or maybe he constantly had five-o'clock shadow… or was just too lazy to shave), which produced a 'scritch-scritch' sound, then grinned again and walked back to his seat at the table. "Nah, you're just too old to have a 35-year old dad."

Tsuna nodded vaguely before turning to the kitchen. "Fuuta, table's set!"

"Mama said not to shout in the house because it's a neighborhood disturbance!" Fuuta called back.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of your yelling in the house!"

The six-year old laughed, walking over to his big brother with two heaping plates of curry. "Tsuna-nii," he said, sticking out his tongue playfully. "You're the one yelling!"

His brother laughed. "Alright, fine. You sure you can carry-"

Fuuta slipped, Tsuna bent down and caught both plates with his hands and kept Fuuta from hitting the floor with a foot. Realizing that he couldn't exactly hold that position forever, he scooted both plates on to the nearest hard surface (a chair at the table) and helped Fuuta up, cleaning him of dust like a mother hen. "You're not hurt, right? You should really be careful about how much you can carry, Fuuta."

The one in question, however, was much less interested in his own safety, and much more interested in his brother's feat of suddenly amazing hand-eye-foot coordination. "I'm fine, but Tsuna-nii, that was amazing!" he said, eyes full of stars. "I didn't know that Tsuna-nii could do things like that!"

Tsuna rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Hehe… I can't," he replied. "But, you know, I just… did it. I was worried you would get hurt, so I guess that was it?"

"Well you caught the curry first," Iemitsu pointed out with a chuckle. "Hungry, eh?"

Tsuna's stomach rumbled, Fuuta's followed suit, and all three males began laughing.

"Boys, stop fooling around and help set the table," Nana called in a playfully stern tone from the kitchen.

"It's already set!" Tsuna replied.

His mother walked in with two more plates of curry. "Well, then, I suppose the only thing we can do now is eat!"

The two boys cheered and sat down while both parents laughed; Nana sat down and gave Fuuta his plate while he started talking about what he did in school that day. While everyone laughed about how one of Fuuta's classmates had accidentally glued his hair to a girl's dress, Iemitsu nudged Tsuna. "Hey, tell me how your test went when you get it back, alright?" he whispered, winking.

Tsuna replied with a thumbs-up and a smile.

…

Halfway through dinner, Iemitsu turned the TV on. Nana scolded him, but did not stop him, so in the end they ate with the noise of the local news station in the background. Though Namimori was small for a city, it was quite isolated, surrounded on three sides by green mountains and on one side by blue sea, so the town had many local businesses and a surprisingly small population. News station, train station, bus stops, shrine, fancy hotels… a lot of things had been built specifically for the town's use, because it could be shockingly difficult to get in or out of Namimori- mostly the latter.

As Tsuna was talking about how the reaction to his story had been much better than he had even hoped, he barely heard the alert sound of an incoming special report. Iemitsu was watching intently, though no one else seemed at all interested… that is, until something caught Tsuna's ear.

"-the police, right? Well, say something."

He whipped around mid-sentence, eyes wide. He recognized that voice, but he just couldn't quite put his finger on who it was. It was a bit soft and muffled, meaning that the person probably was holding the microphone away from his or herself, and there was a light shuffling noise in the background. According to the small text bar at the bottom of the screen, it was a recording of a call made to the 110 emergency police telephone number.

"Hmm… I guess you can't in that state. I'll do it, then." A pause. "Good evening, officers." The voice was louder now, speaking clearly and formally into the receiver. Young and male, probably; the pitch suggested that its owner had not yet gone through puberty, yet the tone and wording were those of an adult. "I thought that I'd let you know that I'm threatening a man in his own home. I'm sure you can figure out the address, as this is his house phone, running on a landline. Don't think that you can catch me, though." All this time, there had been a methodic thumping sound, perhaps the attacker's shoes as he walked, and then suddenly there was a shout, thudding, then silence. The voice sighed. "I suggest you get an ambulance while you're at it; he just fell down a flight or two of stairs, and it doesn't seem like he'll be getting up anytime soon. Well then, officers, I bid you a good night."

There was a click, and the image cut back to the anchorwoman. "The victim, 43-year old elementary school teacher Kakinuma Kojiro, has been hospitalized. He claims that the attacker was a young boy with an unidentifiable accent and glowing eyes, but also that he was not directly attacked, only given a request. Scared, he fell down the stairs when trying to escape in the dark room; he hopes go go back to work before next month. Any information on this case should be relayed directly to the police as soon as possible. Next up…"

"Oh, Tsu-kun, isn't that your teacher?" Nana asked right as the man's image was replaced by an image of two interlocked rings, the story changing to the topic of legal arguments over marriage.

"Y- yeah…" Tsuna replied with a stutter. "I- well… the substitute said that he fell down a flight of stairs, b- but… but I wasn't expecting that!"

"It's a strange incident," Iemitsu commented, nodding and leaning back in his chair. "An unknown individual trespassing through a window, but taking nothing and not hurting the guy inside, just talking. That's not something that usually happens."

It was then that Fuuta said something strange. "It keeps happening," he mumbled, but Tsuna was the only one that heard, it seemed, because Nana and Iemitsu kept exchanging comments. The young boy was staring down at his fists, blanched white on his knees. "The clock won't stop anymore."

Tsuna faked a yawn. "Well, I think I'll go to bed," he said, stretching and then putting a hand on Fuuta's shoulder. That seemed to snap him out of his stupor. "C'mon, Fuuta, let's go brush our teeth."

…

"You okay?" the older brother asked, concerned as he squirted toothpaste onto his, then Fuuta's, toothbrushes. "You were saying something weird earlier."

Fuuta laughed, but to Tsuna, it seemed just a little bit forced. "I'm fine; thanks, Tsuna-nii," he replied. "I just had a weird dream last night, and the news recording made me think of it."

"Wanna talk about it?" was the intended response, though it was garbled through a mess of toothpaste mush.

"Mmm… maybe later," the younger brother replied, equally garbled. "Not while we're trying to brush our teeth!"

Tsuna chuckled. The rest of the time they passed wordlessly, spitting out the toothpaste and gargling, Tsuna helping Fuuta by wiping his face clean.

…

Fuuta, for whatever reason, had a fondness for sleeping on the floor in a futon. He rarely slept in bed, though he had his own room, and instead pulled all the covers off and curling up on the carpet. He fixed it in the morning, of course, but Nana and Iemitsu still noticed and, after a month or two, bought their newly adopted son a futon. Tsuna had joked that that it should be called a "Fuutan", so Fuuta made his new brother a sign for his bedroom door in school. A wooden fish painted blue, with whimsical orange lettering spelling out "Tsuna" in English. On the back, "TUNA" was written in fat black marker. Iemitsu put a nail in the door, and the sign was put up that afternoon (orange letters facing out).

It was that futon that he dragged to his brother's room, asking if he could sleep there tonight. Tsuna, being what Fuuta called "the person least likely to refuse a request", smiled and opened the door wider.

Once they were comfortable, Tsuna in his bed and Fuuta in his bedding, Tsuna got up- he briefly wondered why he'd bothered getting comfortable in the first place- and switched the lights off. He did, however, leave the blinds up, though the window was closed. Fuuta wasn't trying to sleep either, sitting up and watching his brother.

"Alright, what's up?" Tsuna asked, sitting on the floor next to Fuuta. He made a knowing, kind smile, one that offered comfort and protection. "You wouldn't ask to stay with me if something wasn't up."

Fuuta laughed. "This is why I think you're the number one empathetic older brother, Tsuna-nii," he commented. "Which is also why I think that, if I'm going to tell anyone about my dream, it should be you."

Tsuna, sensing that a long story was coming, shifted to sit more comfortably and leaned back slightly against his desk drawers. Fuuta waited for him to stop squirming before speaking again.

"I've had a lot of dreams in the past week," Fuuta confessed. "And… they're all kind of similar, actually." Here, he turned and looked straight into his brother's eyes. "Tsuna-nii, you were in all of them… and in every one, you died."

Tsuna unconsciously took a sharp intake of breath as the younger boy continued. "And there's always this other boy- he has short black hair, and he's always crying. Crying because you're dead, I think. I don't quite remember the others, but last night was the first time he said anything." He laughed slightly, and to Tsuna, it sounded tired; tired in a way that no six-year old should be. "He called me a prince… Isn't that funny? I grew up on the streets of Italy, but I'm a prince.

"But anyway, that boy- I think he's around your age, Tsuna-nii, maybe just a little bit older. He was crying, and you were just lying there. I couldn't move for a while, and when I did, all I could really do was fall on my knees. I'm not sure if I cried then, but that boy, he turned and looked at me. He had really pale, blue eyes.

"He said, 'Prince, I have no words to say. From the beginning to the end, everything has been my fault. So please, until I myself have righted what I have wronged, could you wait just a little bit longer?'

"Then he stood up and walked away, still crying. There was a really bright light, and then I woke up. My pillow was wet, so I guess I cried at some point."

Fuuta laughed again, but a little brighter this time. "It's funny; he sounded like that person on the news recording did. Like… like the way an oak tree would sound- a lot older than it looks."

They sat in silence for a few seconds before Tsuna patted Fuuta's head. "Hey, Prince of Stars." Fuuta looked at him. "If I keep dying in your dreams, then tell you what." Tsuna smiled, looking for all the world like he was prepared to sacrifice himself if it meant his brother's happiness. "This time, in reality, I'll try to stay alive. No promises, but I'll try my best to come back and see you before I die, alright?"

Fuuta's eyes expressed shock, before melting into a mixture of happiness and relief. His eyes teared up before he flung his arms around Tsuna's neck and cried. Tsuna, in turn, patted his back and said nothing.

The door cracked open and Nana poked her head in, but Fuuta didn't seem to notice. Tsuna did, though, and he held a finger up to his lips before smiling and waving slightly. Nana smiled back and nodded before shutting the door.

Once Fuuta had run out of tears, Tsuna grabbed a tissue box off the desk and wiped his little brother's face off. "You know, Yamamoto sang something for me the other day," he said, and Fuuta sniffled. "I remember part of it: 'Hey, when you want to cry, you just want to cry; you just need to cry until your tears run out. You don't have to tough it out, because you'll get stronger.'" He smiled humorously. "Are you out of tears yet? My shirt's getting wet and it's cold."

Fuuta chuckled slightly, and it grew into laughter. Tsuna laughed with him, and after a few minutes just being together, they moved into their respective places, said their goodnights, and fell asleep.

…

For the next week, Tsuna slept soundly, and it seemed like Fuuta did too. That reassured him.

"Oh, good morning."

Tsuna screeched to a halt, nearly running into a black-haired boy right outside his house. Had the other not stopped, they would've had a collision. "Hibari-san!" he exclaimed, taking a thick slice of toast out of his mouth so he could talk. "Good morning!" He paused for a moment. "Didn't you live on the other side of my house?"

"I do," Hibari agreed, before pointing down at his hand. Only then did Tsuna notice the plastic bag he held with his school bag. "But I woke up late, so I went to buy breakfast and lunch instead of making it."

Tsuna mumbled an "oh" around his toast as he began running to make it to school on t- "Gack!"

"Running immediately after eating is bad for your stomach," Hibari said, dropping his hand from where he had grabbed Tsuna by the collar. "I'll walk with you; you won't be late."

Tsuna swallowed thickly. "U- um… thanks, Hibari-san."

This is so strange… I barely know him, but it seems like he's really watching out for me.

Tsuna had to power-walk as he tried to finish his breakfast as Hibari plowed on ahead through the thin layer of snow that was just beginning to build up on the ground.

Fun fact: Teacher Tenma has had several name changes! At first he was something Sokumuba, but then he became Tenma Seijuurou, and then I couldn't decide between Kenjuurou and Kenjuuson (there are often many different ways to read a Japanese character… orz). And, well, I just now changed it to Keijuurou. Oh well; hopefully I'lll remember that I have terrible naming sense!

A- anyway, I'm really sorry for the long wait on this chapter! "Incarsyon" has chapters that flow together, so it's easier to write that and just keep writing. In contrast, "Repeat" tends to jump around in time and place, so it's a bit harder to keep a steady rhythm. But it's strange, since I find that both are written kind of like memories. Well, even if you don't celebrate Christmas or don't believe in the Nativity, I hope you enjoy at least this gift.

[Edit] I'm sorry that I keep changing things at the last minute, but I just can't stand it when I can't completely fix things! Sorry!