Terza Parte: Malattia


"Let's face it, life is a contestant challenge. It's full of unexpected detours that no one but you can navigate."
- Sheryl Crow


Hibari Kyouya paced himself, crisscrossing around the rubble as he pummeled and dodged rabid limbs with practiced ease. The sinking feeling in his gut, that began to eat away at him the moment he dropped his radio before he could warn the omnivore and others to stay away from the herd, continued to eat at him slowly as their numbers increased and his energy depleted.

With a harsh crunch, he smashed through another skull and breathes heavily, stepping back inches away from a bite that could have severed an artery. He tensed, drawing back his tonfa's and growls as he swings himself back into the mess. "Hn. For crowding, I'll bite you to death!"

A couple of bodies hit the floor in rapid succession, the Skylark glaring as a few got back up and tried to snip at him with broken teeth and protruding jaws. By a hairs breath, Kyouya escapes their clutches, leaning against a brick wall to rest momentarily before he jumps back into the fray in a continuous cycle.

Kill. Escape. Rest. Repeat.

However, their numbers only kept increasing, the Cloud quickly tiring. Just as Hibari felt like things were going to turn sour, a loud explosion nearly knocked him off his feet and several people - alive, some strangers - surrounded him.

He caught a glimpse of a red, a black-tailed braid and a nearly identical face to his own and instinctively attempted to shove a Tonfa through the socket of the person's eye. "Carnivore."

Fon dodged him with a relieved grin, kicking one of the undead away without a pause. "Kyouya. I'm so glad you're alright!"

The Skylark lunged once more for the older Chinese man, ignoring the chaos around him as he tried to land a few hits on his insufferably clean and bemused uncle who causal kept the man-eating virals at bay even in the midst of dodging him. Hibari Kyouya scowled, the feeling of being toyed with agitating him greatly.

A purple haired man dressed in a biker suit dashed past his face - easily tangible Cloud flames on him that made both Hibari territorial and curious - and fired a gun. Many were stunned to see the bullet hilariously miss any of the many bodies it could have hit, and instead lodge itself into a tree branch as thick as his arm.

The other Cloud smiled sheepishly, backing away from rotted hands that aimed to grab him as many people cast a disapproving gaze to his figure- everyone but Tsunayoshi looked slightly exasperated, the Sky's attention still on the branch, causing others to momentarily turn to it as well.

Crack!

The wood lunged itself towards the ground through the force of gravity, crushing three of the undead's heads under its weight before it rolled down the inclined hill the fight was occurring on, tripping anything stupid enough - the infected - that was in its way. There was a pause of sheer disbelief before everyone used the advantage to take out more of their opponents with ruthless efficiency.

For a moment all was going well, the newcomers far more skilled than the teens in battle and contributing to the fight thus winning it when an infected took a plunge off the roof, right over the Bovino kids head and only Tsuna notices, and only he skips forwards to push the kid out of the way, taking the brunt of the hit himself.

While downed - everyone rushed towards him - not one, but two of the desperately hungry pests sunk their teeth into his flesh, bone grinding under the pressure. The Sky bit down on his lip to contain a pained yell, attempting to kick off the one attached to his leg and punch the one that decided to make a snack of his arm. With heavy breathing and a burst of Sky flames, everyone was stunned to see ice overcome the assailants, freezing them into place before promptly shattering, leaving a shaking and sick Sky curled up on the ground, blood seeping into his clothes.

The two Sun's were the first to arrive, easily hauling up Tsunayoshi as others inquired about his health. Both Reborn and Ryohei knew the infected couldn't turn flame users- but it would still make them incredibly sick. For two to have bitten him… "We need to go," Reborn growled, shooting one of the infected out of frustration when it stumbles to close to the protective circle that seemed to have formed.

Ryohei cradled the brunette carefully, hands shaking minutely, and Reborn knew that for now, he would not be able to separate him from his Sky. In fact, all of Tsunayoshi's guardians appeared vaguely feral at the moment, including the shaking Lightning that had attached himself to the female Mist's hip.

"That would be the best course of action," Verde agreed instantly as Skull tripped, kicking one of the kids' grenades - Reborn was positive the Bovino kid had a hammerspace, his arsenal was, quite frankly, as ridiculous as his own - into the undead crowd. There is a collective pause before they all scramble to get away the moment they see the clip unlatch and soon enough, flesh and bone rains from the sky in gory droves.

Skull accidentally killed them all.

A low pained moan echoed through the street and Reborn peeked out from his shelter around a corner to shoot the pitiful thing. Nevermind, his mind corrected, Skull nearly accidentally killed all of them. His luck, as always, was simply absurd.

Viper sighed and glared at the Cloud, flicking intestines and eyeballs off of their quickly conjured up umbrella. "Mou, are you serious Skull? I should charge you for that." The accused flame user paled, hiding behind a trash can.

"Shut up!" The little Lightning shouted from his place, sandwiched in between two worried Mist users. "Stop talking when we have to help Tsuna-Nii… we have to get Tsuna-Nii back so we can heal him!" The atmosphere, which was already serious, turned somber as they took in the painting gasps and feverish skin of the fluffy haired brunette.

Reborn stalked over to assess his condition and both Sun's came to the quick conclusion that he required immediate attention. "We need to hurry and get him back to the school before more of them wander over here due to the noise." The Sun Arcobaleno concluded. "When there, having two Sun's to treat him will help immensely and the little bunny should make a full recovery in time."

Colonello caught Takeshi as the Rain nearly collapsed in relief and all the other elements felt slightly lighter with the new reassurance. Sawada Tsunayoshi would be okay. Sawada Tsunayoshi would live. However, only if…

"Stop staying still and get a move on!" Reborn snapped. "I said hurry, and I meant it!"

The next few minutes consisted of a mad dash back to their safe haven in the school, the Arcobaleno following the other flame users due to their knowledge of both the terrain and potential traps, taking out any of the infected that were unfortunate enough to have stumbled across their path.

As soon as they got there, Ryohei urged them all away from the infirmary - Reborn using far more force than necessary because it didn't damn well matter if the guardians were worried, they were in the way - before the two Sun's set to work on Tsunayoshi's wounds and the sickness that was spreading within him.

Though the man in the fedora with the odd shape-shifting chameleon perched on it was harsh, Sasagawa Ryohei learnt a lot in just a few minutes of treating Tsuna when the man decided he had enough of the 'mediocre' flame techniques and took over instead, allowing the less experienced Sun to observe the entire process. Infections were properly cleansed, ruined clothes disposed of, flesh stitched back together without ever being marred by needle and thread with only the faintest of scars to show for it… Yes, Sasagawa Ryohei felt as if he had learned a lot merely by watching the man encourage Tsuna's body to speed up its own healing process, and he couldn't help but be thankful for the man.

Surely, if he were by himself, Ryohei would have been useless once more and Tsuna - his precious little brother - would have turned out like Takeshi's father and would have died all the same.

"Thank you…" The albino choked out as the man with the curled sideburns washed his hands clean of blood. Tsuna was breathing easier but sickness still gripped at him harshly. There wasn't much they could do but let his own flames fight that particular infection, but Reborn had increased his odds of survival significantly. Ryohei adjusted the covers over his shivering form, running a soothing hand through the Sky's sweaty hair.

"Oh?" Dark eyes pierced the albino's own, and long fingers suddenly draped a warm cloth over Ryohei's shoulder causing the younger Sun to shiver at the sensation of water soaking through the fabric of his shirt. "You can thank me by cleaning him off with that. I'll have to stay here until he wakes up to make sure he doesn't relapse. Tell the others and make sure they stay away while he's healing."

A smirk overtook the raven-haired mans features as the smell of gunpowder and coffee drifted further away and the hitman went to one corner of the room to fiddle with the medical supplies. "When you're done with that, you will leave."

Ryohei could only nod dejectedly as he removed all the dirt and blood from Tsuna, making sure not put pressure on the recently closed wounds. The hitman silently made his way back over, blocking Tsuna momentarily from the albino's sight until he drew himself back again.

Now, around Tsuna's shoulder and neck was a cast that kept him from moving his arm. The hired assassins long trench coat brushed against the side of the bed as Reborn lifted the covers, doing the same to Tsuna's leg so his bone would heal properly.

"By the way…" The man mumbled as he sat down in a chair by the brunette's head, fedora tilted over predatory eyes as Ryohei went to leave. "Your technique is absolutely awful." Ryohei winced. "However, it's not unsalvageable. There's a book propped against the door. Read it and never make such amateur mistakes again."

Ryohei looked to the door, surprised to indeed see a book that wasn't there before. Picking it up, he could clearly tell it was far more detailed than Gokudera had even been able to tell him about the attributes and abilities of his flames which the Storm had been unsure entirely about it himself.

"I don't know what to say…" Ryohei told him honestly and Reborn twitched in annoyance.

This would help him progress far more and help so much better-

"Go already." The other Sun hissed, pointedly aiming a gun at him.

Ryohei beamed and skipped out of the door, recognizing a real threat when he saw one and knew he had overstayed his welcome in Reborn's new territory. That territory being anything and everything to do with medicine. "An extreme thank you, scary man! I'll go pass on that message!"

Finally, alone, Reborn kicked off his shoes and sighed, wearily subjecting himself to watching Tsuna for however long it would take the little Sky to wake up. Whether that was days or even weeks, Reborn wasn't sure.

"Idiota Cielo," he glared when the smaller male flinched in his sleep. "You're not expendable. You shouldn't have jumped in the way like that. Lightning's are tougher than you think."

He didn't receive an answer, but really, he wasn't expecting one either.


Okay, I finally had time to post this- now I have a very important question! I'm looking for a beta-reader. For ALL of the work I'm going to post on here, so I will be needing a couple! Does anyone wish to help..? Anyways~ I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! How do you all like the story so far?

-LittleSkyCompass