EdIteD: 11/21/13

Chapter 4

A consistent tapping was all he could hear. It wasn't loud or heavy but light and rather quiet. His mind was blank and all he could see was an endless void of black. Suddenly, from the void appeared images of Tsuna and all his companions in helping to bring down Byakuran. They were smiling and coming towards him when they stopped and quickly started fading away, moving farther and farther into the black abyss. He tried to call out but found nothing came out. Attempting to catch them, he willed his legs to move but found there to be some sort of disconnect since they stayed as still as stone. The tapping, which had faded with the presence of his friends, came back growing louder and louder.

Emerald eyes flew open and a gasp fell from a pair of pink parted lips. Shoichi glanced wildly around himself. He was met with neither the sight of his friends nor a black void, instead a white ceiling stared down at him. His ears perked when the familiar tapping noise from his dream broke his hazy, sleep-induced stupor. Green eyes followed the noise to its source. A large floor to ceiling window stretched across the entire side of the room, and rain was pelting the glass from the outside. Ever so slowly Shoichi drew himself up and off the bed. He didn't know where he was or how he'd got there but he knew that searching his mind for the answers would just depress him so he quickly shoved such thoughts to the back of his mind. He barely noticed he was in only a black t-shirt and grey sweatpants before wrapping one of the many blankets on the bed around his body to keep himself warm. For some reason unknown to the redhead he felt fragile. He took slow careful steps toward the door, afraid anything more would cause him to break. Each step his feet sunk into the plush carpet before being lifted up and returning to the soft surface yet again. He stopped only when he was right next to see-through surface. He brought his palm up to the glass and pressed it against the surface. He used the other hand to keep his blanket wrapped tightly around himself, not wanting his cocoon of warmth to vanish. Shoichi stared out the window. The world outside was gray. The buildings were a reflective slate sitting right below the ashen skies. The gray clouds wept rain across the city. If only that were enough to cleanse this city, this world of its sins. And me as well. The rain drops hit the glass with small ticks then trickled down out of sight. It was as if the rain had stripped the world of its color, bleaching the earth and dosing it in shadows.

He wanted to melt away in the rain, forget everything. A state of numbness had seized his body as he gazed at the sad world. Is it like this because I failed? Did I doom the world? Shouichi felt sick with himself and the world.

"Sho-chan," a familiar voice called softly from behind the redhead, causing his heart to race out of both fear and a deeper emotion he didn't want to acknowledge. He had not even heard the other enter the room, but it came as no surprise. Green orbs stayed glued to the scene outside, no longer transfixed but attempting to avoid facing who was behind him. Silence descended once more as Shouichi stared at the window, neither answering Byakuran nor acknowledging his presence.

"Sho-chan." This time the soft, melodious voice was so close that Shoichi jumped as hot breathe tickled his neck. His heart started pounding even harder in his chest, and the sound echoed in his head. He reached out a hand and laid his palm on the cool glass, steadying himself.

His body went impossibly still when two arms encircled his waist and a chin rested on his shoulder. Hot breathe once more hit his neck as Byakuran nuzzled his face into Shoichi's neck. "My Sho-chan, oh my dear Sho-chan, mine, mine, mine" He murmured against Shoichi's tense neck and shoulder. Shoichi drew in a shuddering breath. "Stop" he whispered. The sound was so soft that he couldn't even hear his own words. The white haired man heard though. He drew back and his eyes steeled over, becoming cold and hard. Shoichi's gaze dropped from the window and he looked at the carpet. Everything felt so confusing to him. He was distraught over the loss of his friends, and his failure to stop Byakuran. But he couldn't help the feeling of warmth that overcame him at Byakuran's presence, and it hurt to be torn in half by such conflicting emotions.

"Of course. How could I forget you want me to be dead." The hard edge in Byakuran's voice surprised the redhead who felt the first flutters of fear in his stomach begin. He couldn't find his voice to respond to Byakuran's icy words. No, I don't. I realized a while ago that I never truly did. The truth stayed locked behind his closed lips. One pale hand closed around his hand on the window, the other closed around the wrist pressed against the blanket, firm and a little too tightly. He was turned around and pushed against the window none too gently. His skull hit the glass with a small thud and his eyes opened slowly to meet cold, lilac ones.

"Well, Sho-chan your little rebellion failed, unfortunately for you." He said as he moved one hand against the glass to the side of his face. Shoichi was starting to feel like a caged rabbit in a lion's den. While Byakuran's presence caused warmth in Shoichi's body, he was really starting to become scared. Byakuran was unstable to say the least and Shoichi had, before his betrayal, always been certain that the Millefiore boss would never seriously hurt him but now he knew there was a very good possibility he would. "Your pathetic little friends are dead and you are back here with me, just like I told you you would be," Byakuran said. Shoichi noticed that for one of the first times the white haired man wasn't wearing his false smile but instead a serious look. "I crushed them all. The Tenth's blood looked so nice splashed on my white uniform. White really brings out blood. His face was twisted with so much pain. He-" Byakuran's voice didn't have any of the sadistic glee it usually had when he told of one of his kills. His voice was still hard for he was saying this for his redhead. Shoichi cut him off though, unable to hear any more about a person he had come to be friends with. "Don't." Shoichi interrupted Byakuran in a soft plea. "I don't want to hear that about…that."

He was one of the few, if only, that had seen Byakuran's soft side. He had seen him annoyed, cold, happy, and many other emotions, but he had never seen Byakuran so truly enraged, without the hint of any other emotion on his handsome face. His face twisted into a snarl, his purple eyes blazing, and he gripped Shoichi's arm so tightly, the redhead heard a faint 'pop' and a sharp pain in it. Byakuran didn't notice though. His other hand fisted the red locks on the side of his head. "Oh how could I forget, the Tenth and you were so close. He replaced me in your heart!" He seethed. Shoichi could only stare at Byakuran through pain-filled eyes. He was too shocked to response. Byakuran is…jealous of Tsuna? A pained whimper slipped through his lips as the grip tightened on both his hair and wrist. Then a 'snap' sounded and a pained gasp left his lips. Byakuran face became neutral again and looked down at the already bruising and swelling wrist.

"Sho-chan do you see what you've made me do to you? Now I've hurt the only thing precious to me." He muttered in a sad voice. He loosened his grip and gently pulled his hand away. "I'll be right back with something for that." He turned abruptly, dropping his hand from Shoichi. Shoichi watched him walk toward the door, panting slightly from the pain in his throbbing wrist.

"Byakuran-san," he called to the retreating man. Upon hearing his name, Byakuran stilled and turned back to Shoichi with the false smile he always wore. For some reason, it hurt the redhead to see him wearing such a bravado around him now, when it was obviously so forced.

"He-He never… replaced you," the redhead said looking directly into lilac eyes, which widened in surprise then narrowed critically. Before he could blink the other's hand was cupping his cheek. "Is my Sho-chan lying?" Shoichi turned his head from the other's gentle hand. "No." How could anyone ever replace you? You are my most important person too. Byakuran stayed there for a few more moments searching the other's face.

"Hm." Byakuran's voice was no longer cold, but slightly melodious. He turned and walked out of the room.

Shoichi leaned against the glass wall. Tears slid down his cheeks silently. He cried not necessarily because of what he had just been through, but the fact that, no matter what unspeakable evils Byakuran committed, Shoichi would always love him.

I'm satisfied with that chapter. Very much so. I do love an angsty scene that incorporates rain. Rain is so spectacular.

Reviews are also pretty spectacular