Title : Look Through Orange Eyes
Chapter 4 : Finding the storm
"Mom! I'm leaving!"
"Alright, Tsu-kun~! Be safe~!"
With a piece of toast hanging between his lips, Tsuna waved Nana a quick goodbye and set off to school.
Tsuna barely slept. For the first time in years, the brunet looked forward to school. He regretted not finding the storm as soon as he felt it, but yesterday, he could barely keep his senses straight.
The beautiful voice of that flame ringed in his head over and over again. 'My fault. My fault. Everything is my fault.'
Tsuna wondered what truth lies behind such a remorseful cry.
Being close to the flame was painful, mentally and physically taxing, but he never felt so in-tune with a storm before. For that, he was more than willing to find this person and free them of their regret.
He can't wait to meet the storm, dead set on his mission.
"Tsuna…" called a ghostly voice behind him.
"Good morning, Giotto. I was wondering when you'll show up." Tsuna bowed his head in greeting as he practically ran to school. "Where did you go?"
"…" Giotto didn't meet the teen's eyes. He couldn't. The light frown on his face hinted disappointment and petty regret.
"… Okay…? You don't have to answer, but I need to hurry. The storm is calling."
Tsuna ran towards school. The closer he was, the stronger the pulse of storm flames burned. He almost reached the junction to school when he heard a new voice. Alarm bells in his mind warned him of a new mission.
"Help me…"
Tsuna came to an abrupt stop. Intuition tugged him to go left. True enough, to his left was a normal-looking house. What could possibly be inside a normal looking home?
"Somebody? Anybody? Why can't no one see me…? It hurts. It hurts!"
Giotto pressed his hand against the gate of the house. His touch left a thin layer of frost on the weary metal.
"Air of sinister is thick inside… Tsuna, go ahead and find the storm. Let me handle this."
"No way am I going to let you go in there alone."
Tsuna pushed himself through the opening between two broken bars of the gate. Whoever the occupants were, they gave no fucks for real security. The hole gap was big enough for a grown man to pass through.
He made his way to the normal and unsuspicious-looking front door. He almost knocked when he heard a loud thud from inside. He recognized the sound from anywhere…
'The sound of a fallen body.'
Tsuna kicked the front door with full force, successfully breaking it off of its hinges with his third strike. He let his intuition work their magic, leading him to the house kitchen. What he found made him see red. The all too familiar scene was one of the few things he could never stand. Predatory instincts kicked in, but self-control tamed it.
A man was pinning a teenage girl to the floor while a woman held a bloody knife. The teenager, barely breathing, had multiple stab wounds all over her chest.
Tsuna could feel the girl's soul slipping to the afterlife. The light in her eyes gone with each shallow breath.
Against better judgement, hands empty of any real weapon, Tsuna lunged forward.
.
Reborn was furious.
How the fuck did he lose sight of a target he had been watching ( stalking ) all morning?
The target a.k.a. Sawada Tsunayoshi came home from the house of Hibari Kyoya around 3 in the morning. They had been doing some sort of paperwork together. Target went home after binding the written papers into a thin book.
Target ate breakfast with the mother, Sawada Nana, preferably called Maman by Reborn. Target left for school at 6.
Then poof. Just like that. Right in front of his eyes.
'It's like I'm dealing with a ghost…'
If one were to brush aside all logic, that thought actually made sense.
With no other lead, Reborn was on his way to meet the infamous demon of Namimori.
Reborn needed answers and needed it now.
The ninth's mission can wait.
.
School started half an hour ago with Tsuna still missing in action.
Kyoya enjoyed the peace and quiet of the reception room which he long claimed as his office. Lately, things with Tsuna had become more chaotic. Kyoya barely had time for himself.
Almost every morning, Tsuna would call or drag him to one of his missions. Tsuna needed help, so Kyoya provide whatever support he could offer. Most of the time, he was there to make sure Tsuna doesn't kill himself. What else could Kyoya do? He wasn't as gifted as Tsuna.
Night time wasn't any better. Those nightmares took away all good dreams, replacing them with loops of trauma and torture from another stranger's memory.
Together, they shared a deep dark secret. Their secret permanently buried by blood and fire, thus warranted their partnership.
A bond forged in hell.
But Kyoya wouldn't have it any other way. Horrendous as the experience was, it had been fun.
Soundless, an infant in a black suit stood on the office's window sill, inky eyes pierced straight into grey. Kyoya didn't know when or how the baby got into his territory without detection.
Reborn tipped his fedora to the side as a short greeting. "Hibari Kyoya."
"Reborn." Kyoya nodded. He acknowledged the visitor. One glance was enough to tell how powerful the infant was.
"So you know who I am."
"Sawada Tsunayoshi told me about a home tutor. His descriptions are horrifyingly accurate." Kyoya had his guard up, hands tucked under his black jacket in case things get out of control. Giotto had warned him and Tsuna about the mafia and their ways.
Reborn sensed a fight. The bloodlust in the skylark's eyes was real. Reborn briefly wondered how a teenage civilian could harbor a killing intent rivaling that of a betrayed loyalist. "I'll jump straight to the point. What do you know about Tsunayoshi?"
"Demanding information without giving something of equal in return is unfair."
"Fine. For every piece of information you answered, I'll answer one of yours."
Kyoya nodded in agreement. Talking seemed to drain a lot of his energy recently.
The hitman started. "Is Sawada Tsunayoshi involved in any underground syndicates?"
"No. Are you a part of such syndicate?"
"Mafia. What connection do you have with Sawada Tsunayoshi?"
"Sort-of-partners for 6 years. What does the mafia want with him?"
Kyoya was good, Reborn admitted. The skylark knew priority and exactly which question to ask, giving out information no more than necessary. Uncanny looks aside, Kyoya's traits were similar to Primo's first cloud guardian.
The sadistic tutor smirked. He didn't want anyone else taking the position of Vongola cloud other than the demon prefect. 'CEDEF's list of cloud candidates and everything else given by that stupid Iemitsu can go down the toilet.'
"You're good, I'll give you that." Reborn jumped from the window and landed on the prefect's desk. Kyoya was still on high alert, so one false move could end their peaceful game of 20 Questions. "Sawada Tsunayoshi is to be the tenth boss of Vongola famiglia, the strongest mafia family in the world. I am here to shape him into the ideal boss a family of such power needs. Methods are all up to me."
"Hn."
"My turn. What is he hiding?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing." Kyoya repeated, Steel eyes shown no hint of lie.
Reborn clicked his tongue. He had so many questions to ask, but the main one remained unanswered. Worse since Kyoya was telling the truth.
Tsunayoshi really wasn't hiding anything.
That, or Kyoya was a fanatstic liar.
Impossible.
"Hn. It's not like he's hiding anything in particular. If you have so many question about him, why not ask him directly?"
"I would if he doesn't randomly disappear like a ghost."
"Heh."
Kyoya's laugh caught the hitman off guard. According to the ( proven useless or wrong many times ) intel given to him, Hibari Kyoya was a ruthless, merciless person who can't smile or laugh. The cold, indifferent prefect cared for nothing but the peace and order of Namimori, ruling the town with an iron fist of pure terror.
At that very second, none of those information matched the smiling skylark in front of him.
"Infant, you have no idea."
.
The door to class 1-A slid open with a loud bang. All eyes snapped to the person who dared disturb their class session.
They leered at the always-latecomer. Said student was panting and clutching his side. Spots of blood stained his uniform.
Like every other mornings, whispers of disgust were spat carelessly around.
"Look who decides to show up…"
"You heard the thing about Mochida-senpai yesterday?"
"Dame-Tsuna is in another fight. Again."
"Yeah. Ruining the school reputation and dropping the class average with his dame grades."
"Why won't he just leave?"
"Hurry up and come up with another lie and leave. They'll take whatever pathetic excuse you give because you're Hibari-san's fuck toy."
"Leave."
"Leave."
"Alright, alright. That's enough, everyone." Mikami-sensei tapped the blackboard with a long ruler, demanding the class' attention. "Sawada, if you'll join us, please take your seat. And you missed our new addition yesterday. I'm sure you can tell which is Gokudera Hayato-kun."
Mikami-sensei, class 1-A's homeroom teacher was one of the few who believed Tsunayoshi wasn't as bad as the rumor made him to be ( not that she cared in the first place ), but the rest of her students believed otherwise.
Even the ever-so-kind Kyoko looked away, too afraid to meet Tsuna's eyes.
Gokudera Hayato fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. He never cared much for other people's insults, much less when those insults were directed towards someone other than himself, but the way the class treated Tsuna made him feel uneasy inside, as if a curse would be set upon them.
Good thing he brought salt.
Tsuna, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the ill whispers about him. His gaze automatically locked on the silver-haired stranger sitting in the usually empty seat up front, sending chills all over the stranger's body.
Then Tsuna found it. The storm who cried for help.
Ignoring everything else, the bloody teen walked up to Hayato. All the way, his eyes preyed on quivering green. Unblinking. Cold. Hypnotizing.
Tsuna gently set his palms on Hayato's desk. Hayato swore the temperature around him dropped.
The way orange eyes stared at him froze every coherent thoughts in his mind, replacing it all with many scenarios of his own possible death. It was like Satan stared deep into the core of his soul. Shit. His life force could leave his body at any given second.
Fear.
Hayato felt genuine fear.
Tsuna smiled, but behind it hid another motive.
"This exact spot, after school, I'll be here when everyone else is gone, Gokudera-kun."
Hayato only nodded. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his body.
Tsuna smiled one last time before leaving the room without another word.
.
"I'm coming in." Tsuna said as he entered the reception room. He smiled at the prefect leaning against the window. "Good morning, Kyoya-san."
He had a habit of not knocking and mindlessly enter whenever he pleases. Kyoya found this a little inappropriate, but the brunet had such a hard time understanding even the simplest of things. Teaching Tsuna basic etiquettes was a pain if not impossible.
Kyoya felt bad for Giotto. The old man had to deal with Tsuna's weird perception and interpretation of… well… everything.
The prefect wondered if Tsuna even have basic male teenager thoughts. 'Video games? Food? Girls? Anything?'
Of course, he wouldn't risk asking the brunet anything in fear of raising any misunderstandings, which most likely will happen. Nope. Not after what had happened.
"You just missed the infant."
"Oh. I almost forgot about him."
"Tsu… He's here to claim you to be a mafia boss. You should care."
"Ah. But I don't. He'll just have to live with it."
Kyoya sighed. "So, Mind explaining the blood?"
"Stabbed."
"…"
"I got it stitched. So I guess it's fine?" Tsuna shrugged. Body injuries were the least of his problems. "I brought a live victim to the hospital. It's another case of child abuse."
"Tch. I will bite those useless parents to death."
"Haha. Don't worry, Kyoya-san. I asked Squad 3 to kindly drop them off somewhere far away. I hope the package won't be naked like last time."
"If it were up to me, I would straight up annihilate them from Namimori…" Kyoya muttered softly enough for Tsuna to miss his words.
Kyoya walked up to Tsuna and pulled him towards the sofa, pushing the brunet down on comfortable cushions. Strong hands ripped off the blood stained uniform.
Tsuna didn't push away. He trusted the other in whatever decision comes to mind.
"If your wounds don't kill you, I gladly will." Kyoya breathed out as he took off his black jacket and put it over Tsuna's body.
"Ne, Kyouya-san… I finally found the storm and I need your help later on if you're not busy."
"Fine."
"Thank you."
Tsuna snuggled closer to the given jacket, taking in the smell he grew so familiar with. The jacket felt warm against his scarred skin.
"Your scent is strong, Kyoya-san."
"Oh? What do I smell like?"
"Blood."
"So do you." Kyoya jabbed his tonfa to Tsuna's side, ignoring the brunet's strangled yelp. "And don't sniff other people's clothes. It's weird."
.
"Stop fidgeting so much."
"Forgive me, Reborn-san, but I can't help it." Hayato ran his fingers through silver hair, lips twitching for a cigarette. "It feels like I've signed my death sentence the moment our eyes met."
"We still don't know what we're dealing with, so you best be on your guard. Give it your all, but don't kill him."
"Yeah… I know…"
The bomber knew Reborn was only using him as a tool to evaluate Sawada Tsunayoshi. It was all everybody needed him to be. Nobody wanted him, so might was well let the wind carry him.
He knew the whole 'kill him and you can be Decimo' was a lie. Hayato did his homework years ago. Only those from the original Bloodline could inherit the throne of Vongola.
Hayato was beginning to regret ever accepting the offer to go up against the Decimo candidate. He should've bail out when he still had the chance. With the world's number 1 hitman locking aim at his back, he had to fulfill his word to fight the candidate. In the mafia, once you gave your word, you either finish the job or die trying.
"Reborn-san, if it's okay for me to ask, are you going to tell him about his bloodline after my test?"
"It depends on the result and depends on what you say to him." Reborn glanced at the door. He heard footsteps coming towards them. "He's here."
Tsuna slid open the classroom door. Behind him was Hibari Kyoya.
"Ciaossu, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn greeted.
Tsuna bowed. "Reborn. Gokudera-kun."
"So you brought Hibari with you."
"I need his… assistance. Don't worry. He won't hurt anyone. Ne, Kyoya-san?"
"Hn."
Reborn glanced at Hayato, eyes signaling him to start the battle. Kyoya being a battle maniac sensed the hitman's intention. As promised, he won't interfere with Tsuna's mission.
"Tsu. Don't destroy anything or I'll bite you to death." Kyoya warned.
"O-Of course…" Tsuna smiled sheepishly. His smile disappeared when he turned to face Hayato, eyes dead serious. "Now, Gokudera-kun. Time for our business. I hope you won't run away."
"Che! As if I would run away from a brat!"
Hayato lit a cigarette in one flash and pulled out 8 sticks of dynamites from who-knows-where. Tsuna thought Kyoya was the only one who had dimensional pockets under his clothes.
Tsuna wanted to believe those were just toys in Hayato's hand. The smell of gunpowder and sawdust killed his hope.
Shit. Tsuna had no time or patience to deal with unnecessary engagements.
'This is going to be a long mission...'
To be continued...
A/N :
~ Thank you for answering my question from the previous chapter! It helped a lot!
~ Special thanks to Sah ( guest ). Because of you, my insecurities for this fic are mostly gone. I should remember I started write this fic for myself and my love for KHR, not to impress people.
~ Thank you Snowyh2o ( guest ) for pointing some things out! -*sweats nervously* I'll try to correct the errors I made, especially the grammars! But with my limited understanding of English, I can't do a decent job. Though I'll try my best! -About the wills, I can't say much without spoiling this fic. But rest assured, I know what I'm doing! ( I think… Oh god… I hope I know what I'm doing ) -I don't think I'll go any further than the Ring Conflict Arc. Sorry, Daemon. I don't think I have enough brain juice for you.
ANSWERS :
Q : Is Giotto hiding Tsuna from Daemon? A : No. Giotto isn't hiding Tsuna from Daemon. Giotto doesn't even know Daemon is still out there. It would make sense if Giotto didn't keep in touch with Daemon after Secondo took over since Giotto retired to Japan and Daemon became Secondo's mist, so the melon remained in Italy. I don't believe Daemon is 'too' all-knowing. After all, he didn't realize Giotto knew about his betrayal. Daemon is a fantastic illusionist, overpowering even Mukuro when it comes to possession, but he can't see ghosts. The manga never hinted Daemon having such abilities. [ QAQ Sadly, I don't have the intention of developing any plot past the ring conflict. Also, I didn't watch the anime. I only read the manga ( AND FEKKIN FELL IN LOVE WITH IT PLEASE SEND HELP ), so I'll follow the elements of the manga instead. ] I don't classify Daemon as a ghost… Well, I have a reason for that, and I'll tell you guys the reason if I'm ready. For now, just say that it's a gut feeling.
Q : Are you going to put Tsuna in the Vindice? A : Maybe…? *sweats nervously again* But don't expect anything grand! The responses from previous chapter made me really nervous because you guys had quite an image of Tsuna joining Vendice.