Chapter 6: HELL is just a few bombs AWAY
6Fortius9: I got the review. I edited Chapter 1 a bit, and about the text message from Hibari? Just wait and see. I'm going to try following your advice and tinker around. XD
* - Teme – rude pronoun used for 'you' but it's like saying insertname-teme = insertname-bastard.
"Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself."
-Mark Twain-
At the sixth day, Yuki decided to take a small break from the training. It was troublesome, but it was a hemorrhaging task: to learn how to strategize and utilize things. There was also that stupid little friend she had with her who was always waiting for her to bring him some bento like she was his girlfriend. Stupid and brainless, she thought, as she scrutinized the way he swung his weapon around like it was a baseball bat, and rough and dauntless. It seemed so odd to see the little scene: the two friends training side by side, eating together, with their deadly weapons on one corner.
The sun was shining, and it was after lunch. Watching from the doorway of the dojo, Yuki leveled her fan. Inside, she could hear Yamamoto's footsteps; she was watching him with so much hope. He and his perpetual sunny smile, the enduring little stances his father taught him to reciprocate; it did not happen to be any better when Yuki herself had learned he would be her partner. Watch over him. Care for him. Protect him. In return, she expected herself in the later years, he would give her almost nothing, because she could do everything herself. A relationship that would be strictly friendly and professional, just that happy smile he gave off, small talks regarding mafia business, and no more times like before.
She valued herself as just his mother figure, she wagered, not this lovesick puppy who did suicidal tactics to protect him. She was self-sufficient; even the Intelligence Tests that were done at school attested to her as self-sufficient.
She sighed to herself and slipped out of the dojo doorway.
"YUKI!"
Despite the pain in her chest, she ignored him. She had other things to do besides train him. She had to see and talk to a few people, train a bit more, and meditate and get her articles on time. Sakura had given her tasks: spar and check up on Hibari and Dino and Basil and Tsuna and report back after the errands were done.
The Reception Room was locked, but that was hardly a problem for her. She knocked the door open with her oversized fan, using it as a battering ram and it was open.
The sofa was not ravaged. The carpet of red was clean. Never knew the Discipline Committee actually cleans this, she thought with a smile. On the mahogany table, a cup of coffee sat. Smoke blew its aroma off, dancing in the air. Someone must have left it.
"Hibari? Are you here? I need to talk to you and it's not about that text you sent me a very LONG time ago." Her fingers tightened around her fan. "Where are you?" She hit the floor with her fan. A screeching sound echoed across the empty room, sound into the darkness. From where the steel had hit the floor, there was a large mark on it.
"Yuki-san!"
She spun and found herself face to face with Dino. There was a cut on his cheek and his blond hair was messy and tousled. DINO is Hibari's home tutor? And Sakura Hibari is MY home tutor? Oh well. "Hey, Dino-san," she returned, eyeing him warily, fingers clutching her fan. She could sense how surprised he was to see her.
"Agh, so Sakura-chan made you wear weights, didn't she?" He seemed amused.
"Yes, as you can see. She hit my butt to make me stand erect." Her eyes betrayed the stoic face she was trying to pull off. "She's very… intense and scary." Raising the fan in front of her, her lips twisted. "Don't try changing the subject, Dino-san. Where's Hibari-teme? I need to see him! If you don't, I'll fight you."
Instead of pulling out his whip, he laughed. What the hell? Is he stupid? I just call his student a bastard and he's actually laughing? What kind of logic is this –
"Then you could have told me in the first place, Yuki-san! Kyo-san's in the school rooftop, we just sparred. I don't think he'll mind if you can join and watch us. Maybe you can spar with me. I promised Sakura-chan I would fight and spar with you someday." He grinned at her deviously.
"But doesn't the teme* hate crowds?"
"If he tries to hurt you, Yuki-san, I'll protect you." Dino set his jaw. "Personally, I don't think he wants to actually hurt you. He has other priorities."
"I do not see why he does not intend to hurt me. I hit him in the face when Reborn told him to spar with me; I ignored his orders for me to stay in Nami. And his little sister is training me." They were at the school rooftop and on one ledge, Mr. I Will Bite You To Death was looking at the sky pensively.
"What's the wind user doing in here?" Vicious eyes glared at her. How hostile. And he called her 'wind user'!
"She insists on talking to you. I asked her to go spar with me."
Not exactly the truth.
"So you're the little herbivore who's being trained by my…sister." He rose from his spot, tonfas on his hands. His body changed and he was becoming a predator. In fluid motion, he charges for her.
She lashed back and there was a loud clang.
Dino's eyes widened. In the wind that blew, he could see everything. He could see his student on one side, Sakura's student on the other side. A minute ago, Kyoya had charged for her, and she had lashed out, too. In great speed, she jumped and blocking with her oversized fan flawlessly, dug for the tonfa – and the tonfa slipped. It descended on the tile-covered floor.
"You've…" His eyes lit up when he saw the weights on her wrists and ankles. "…gotten faster. Feistier. You're no longer much of a herbivore."
"I should be." With that, she opened her fan and shot Dino a face.
"Why do you wish to talk to me?" As he spoke, something shiny in his remaining tonfa caught her eye. Blades! She had underestimated him. Irritated, she scowled at him. But then, there was a ray of hope for her.
"Why the hell are you ordering me around? You sent me a text. You want to kill me. Goodness! Just say it! Do you even have the balls to tell me why are you like this! That's it! I don't understand you!" She yelped with the rage she had for him. Man and his aloof person, the solitary prince who hid among his violence.
His hostile face did not soften.
"Fine." He raced in her direction.
There was a fire in her heart. The fever, her adrenaline, her head spun but she had it in control. Why did she do this? Why was she fighting? She was training. She was trying. Slowly, she rolled her eyes as she made her first invisible move. A subtle one.
He went on running.
Next move. Checkmate.
Yuki carried her fan. She released some of her energy into the fan. Energy ran and conducted through the black metal. She smirked and then waved it.
Dino could not believe it. The fan… Two circles.
A tornado with a cold wind blew through the school rooftop. The wind was damn fast. Almost at par with Hibari himself.
As the tornado raged, Yuki pulled a nonexistent line. And there appeared the tonfa and its additional power-ups.
Hibari clung on, still standing. He paused, for the momentary tornado that let the battlefield be ravished. His eyes grew darker with hate. Liquid. "You… ravaged school property." Dino made a sputtering sound, for Hibari was injured.
"Why not fight me close combat? You fight afar," he challenged.
Yuki smirked.
"Before we fight, I wish to know why you sent me that text. Why you ordered me around," she demanded.
Hibari eyed her. His nose twitched quite funnily. He looked away, when Dino set his jaw.
Stubborn bastard.
"Why not?"
"Why I sent the text is none of your concern."
"Bastard."
Tension swirled in the air. Something dark ignited and they were off at it.
Scratches on her clothes, her jacket in tatters and rips, the tomboy surveyed the empty dojo. Unlike the times she scrambled through similarly violent skirmishes (like the Kokuyo incident, the time Hibari tried to bite her to death), she felt much better despite being bathed in sweat and smelling like crap and the tatters and scratches on her. Those times, she had sacrificed a lot and ended up wasting her energy, tired and scared. She felt much braver. Sharper senses. Keener eyesight.
She closed her eyes.
How many times did she have to fight for herself? How many challenges could her own destiny put on her back while she was still this young? At this rate, the chances of her getting into Tokyo U seemed so dense. If Tsuna's little Rain Guardian was always getting into trouble and she had to go for him, she would have to quit it. Not him. Quit on her dreams.
Her greatest dream when she was seven was to be a famous writer, for ever since she learned to write, she never stopped. She wanted to publish something like 'Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, and be known across lands. At second grade, she wanted to play baseball or be lead vocalist and also guitarist of a rock band like her brother. Be an architect, a civil engineer – until she learned women were not allowed to pursue such a job in Japan. Sexist degenerates.
Now, she wanted to pursue writing. Get into Tokyo U, get a high-end job, and it had never crossed her mind if she would marry. Have little monsters, and retire, but when she had decided on her life plans, she did not want someone who clung to her like a nettle. Marriage seemed so inconvenient for someone like her: tomboyish, emphatic and opinionated. To check on her, her aunts scolded her whenever she tried to help in the household chores and lectured her into cooking well and making boxed lunches.
Cooking had never been her forte; if she participated in the chores, she did boys' chores. Getting firewood, getting the water, and as she grew up, settled on ironing and washing the clothes (which she rarely did) and heating leftovers and slicing the ingredients for recipes while her brother was head chef.
She never thought highly of being a wife; but of being a mother, it seemed a great honor: to care for someone, love them, and bring them up and teach them right and wrong.
Nowadays, ever since Yamamoto had been in her life, she felt like a mother. Cared for him. Helped him. And loved him.
Cheeks flushed in horror. She did love him…
In the mirror, was a girl with a messy choco-colored ponytail and glowing teal eyes. Scarlet cheeks, cold hands and feet and a heart whose pulse ran away.
His mother figure.
"Adria-san, you sure you want to oversee her training? Vongola Nono appointed me." Sakura's voice rose higher. The tall fifteen-year old girl with short navy hair did not flinch. "Of course; I'm doing this as a personal favor for a fellow Varia colleague. And Vongola Nono is my father figure." Adria ran a hand through the ends of her rough and spikey ends of her hair.
"I thought you did not like anyone in the Varia." Hazel eyes narrowed.
"Only one in particular. The woman with Rain and Sun Flames. A commanding officer, who I am sad to say, is currently busy handling things with CEDEF, and forsaking Xanxus' orders, and with her husband, also a Vongola officer. You know her very well: the Scarlet Storm, wife to the Shougi Specialist."
"So you lay claim to training my student as a favor to her mother, Kaori Nara, now, Kaori Kanazawa."
"Of course." Adria's fingers wrapped around her umbrella. "I like her and I know her pretty well. She is the closest to normal Varia member – which is understandable why she did not join us in Japan- because she did not wish to fight against her own daughter."
"If you are the Cloud Guardian of the Varia, then why did that humbag Xanxus bring a stupid robot to replace you?"
Adria's lips twisted. "I talked to Iemitsu already via cellphone about Vongola Nono." Her voice creased with emotion for the last two words. Almost worried. "I told Xanxus I would be backup in case that Gola Mosca gets broken. I only look forward to fight your brother."
"Cut to the chase, dammit!"
Adria sighed. She produced an envelope, sealed with two Dying Will Flames. One glowed a golden ray of yellow and another light blue. Rain and Sun.
"I asked Kaori-chan for her seal: both sealed with her Dying Will Flame affinities." Hers was a grim smile.
"Fine."
The dojo door opened, and a hint of pink appeared.
"Sakura-chan!" Yuki rose to her feet.
Inside came Sakura, followed by a familiar shape cloaked in a weather-beaten jacket made of black leather. She carried a black umbrella and wore a violet shirt and skinny jeans, with biking boots. "Yuki-kun, meet Adria-san. She's the Cloud Boss of the Varia. She will also facilitate some of your training. She knows your mother; your mother is Varia but she's not with the Varia right now. Your mother is with CEDEF right now."
"What?" Yuki felt her stomach lurch. Her mother… Varia and with CEDEF – Basil was CEDEF. A Varia with CEDEF, especially it was Ring Conflict. "Why is my mother with CEDEF? My father's CEDEF! Is she hurt?"
Adria stiffened. This girl… Two years younger than herself, and her colleague's daughter. She did not expect to see the daughter of the Scarlet Storm did not take exactly after her. The Scarlet Storm was blessed with long, thick Titian hair, parted, worn in a bun, a fair complexion and glowing emerald-green eyes, a lean body. Instead, there was this freak of nature, a tomboyish creature with big teal eyes, fair skin, a lean body with angles, hair cut in a sharp hime cut, with spiky ends. But the concern she displayed… It was definitely Kaori. Kaori was seen best as fierce and sweet and talented…
"How sweet," Adria demurred. "Your mother is with CEDEF because your father needs her and if she DID go in here, she will hesitate. You see, it means fighting against you. Your father got injured a bit and he needed her Sun Flames to heal him. They're looking after Iemitsu Sawada."
Tsuna's father.
"Is Iemitsu-san fine?"
"He got wounded, too. CEDEF save for Basil and Martin Medici confronted Vongola Nono."
WHAT?
"Does Tsuna know?" He will be devastated. If he knows we're fighting for nothing, oh, it'll be a Domino effect.
"No. But you have to continue training and fighting. Do it for Tsuna's father. Do it for your mother. Do it for Yamamoto."
"Yes, Adria-san."
That afternoon, they set fire to the rain.
"Yuki-kun's tired."
Yuki craned her head, and looked into the hazel eyes of her best friend.
"Who isn't, Yamamoto-kun?"
His response was to laugh with her under the moonlit night. After the training, they had proceeded to walk along the dark street. The sky was filled with many stars.
"How was your errand?"
"Oh, it was fun."
She DID have fun earlier. Dodging Sakura and Adria's attacks. Learning the basic skills. Rising up whenever she fell down. The weights were no longer heavy to her. The best part was getting to hit Hibari in the face. Har-har-har.
"What was the last stance your father taught you?" came her sudden sharp question.
"The Eighth Form? Oh, I got it fine." That childish grin.
His usual cheerfulness was there. The childish little grin, that insufferable laugh, and his unrivaled enthusiasm. But something had changed in him. It was in the way he regarded her, more respectful. The way he made eye contact, and how his look softened when he saw her. Something over him hung like a mature wind of contentment.
"How about you?"
A naughty grin. "Oh, I'll manage."
Yamamoto expected her to start in a flood of complaints, protests and a bunch of words said in a blur, but instead, she opened her mouth and she changed. Instead of the annoyed pout, there entered the devilishly naughty and kind of suggestive grin that told him she would be holding her own. He expected her to. She seemed calmer, much calmer than the usual Yuki who flooded in words, calmer with that calculating pair of eyes and the stance she held her oversized fan. He saw her as a cordial fellow, idealistic and excellent with mindwork and her writing, and now, someone close to him.
When did she seem to change?
"When will you fight, Yuki-kun?"
"Oh, I don't know. I just know I'll be fighting next to you." Her face was strangely fierce enough. Then it relaxed.
"If you do fight, then good luck!"
"Excited? Excited?" She returned his grin, with a punch at his shoulder. It kind of hurt then he made a face. "Yuki, that kind of hurts."
Her eyes went big. "Oops."
"That's okay." He patted her head.
"But what if it's your fight?"
"Oh, I'll just need a good-luck charm!"
"Isn't 'good luck' just enough?"
"Ah. For others, it is. But from you, Yuki…"
"What about me?"
"I want you to promise me something."
"Fire away."
"Before I go and fight, I want you to give me a good-luck charm. Anything."
She smiled sweetly. "Yes."
The eighth day of training, she went over at Haru's.
Haru was absolutely delighted to see her.
"YUKI-SAN IS HERE TO SEE HARU! HARU IS DELIGHTED!" the girl squealed, hugging Yuki tight that she could smell the fangirl's sweet vanilla scent.
"Oh, I thought I could talk to you. So, what are you doing with Kyoko? Going out to buy some cake?" Last time the two went out to town to buy some cake, they had invited her, but she had declined. Yuki didn't diet; she was always eating what she liked, and burning calories through baseball and running around. It was vital she ate a lot, because she had to have a lot of calories to burn.
"Ah, Kyoko-chan and Haru are not going out to buy some cake. Haru saw Gokudera-san and Tsuna doing something dangerous."
She must have seen the training. Gokudera as Gokudera was, he was probably overdoing it. It irritated her. If he overdid it, then he had to have alternatives. If he wanted to be stronger for Tsuna, then he had to be stronger for himself.
"Did Gokudera overdo it?"
"He did." Haru's voice was sure.
Why is he like this?
"Yuki-san, tell me about you and Yamamoto." Haru grinned and leaned across her in the table. She was grinning and starting to giggle. She seemed so giggly and full of swing and spring. Of course, she had no idea how much Yuki and the others tried so hard to keep her and Kyoko safe from the enemies. They weren't mafia; just innocent people, friends.
"Me and him?"
She was oddly enough blushing again. Why did she blush so much? It annoyed her. What was it with him that made her blush? The memory of the intensity of their training together? The close proximity when he had fallen on top of her in the library? The embarrassment when she recited Juliet's balcony scene speech during English class? The very thing in itself that Yuki considered him to be? How much she liked him? She had only told herself she loved him like a mother loved herself. It was in their experiences together that she based it on.
"Yuki-san, you are blushing." A deadly silence enveloped the room. "Ah!" Haru jumped and giggled like crazy again like someone who was in love. After all, who was Yuki talking to? A love expert, Haru who was always in love. "HARU KNEW IT! Yuki-san DOES LOVE Yamamoto-san!" She golf-clapped.
Yuki buried her face in her hands. Leave it to a love expert to trumpet to the world that the Namimori tomboy loved the Namimori Baseball Boy.
She looked up and smiled weakly. "Haru, I DO love him –"
Haru gave an ear-piercing shriek in her thrill, enjoying the love affair immensely.
"Like a mother loves her son!"
Sweat drop on Haru's side. Behind the door, one could hear a certain pinkette facepalm her own 'beautiful' face.
"HAHI! You think of Yamamoto-san as YOUR SON?"
Haru's face was deathly pale.
Yuki laughed. "Not all like that! Ah, I see myself as a mother figure for him! Come on, to talk about his mother, she's dead, okay? He needs a mother, of course. I think I fill that out for him."
Haru shook her head. Dense little tomboy.
"But Yuki-san's close to him. Yuki-san is always with him. Yuki-san and him balance each other, and the chemistry. Yuki-san knows what is happening, he is slow to it, and they are perfect for each other."
"Haru, I don't see that way."
What if I did?
Her cheeks pinked once again.
The Ninth Day:
"Yamamoto-kun, I thought that maybe, you could try repeating the technique you made, and explain the basis for it, so I can deduce it if it DOES work. I mean, if you will use it in your fight, you can at least be contented to know, the sword will get used to it already. You just have to adapt to it."
"Ah, I just feel fine with it. I can do it."
"But –"
"You won't know unless you give it a try, Yuki."
"What's with you, woman?" drawled Gokudera on the first battle, as the two made their way to Nami Middle School. "And nice outfit by the way."
Yuki fingered her collar. She had slipped on a too-long shirt, with a faded boler over it. Pairing it with gold wash skinny jeans and sporty sandals, and she had worn her beaded chain with a peace sign pendant that hung on it. Sakura had wrapped a cloth around her head, making her look like a hippy and the pinkette had insisted on tying her hair on a ponytail. Since when did Mafioso have to look hippy-ish? Oh, crap, it just sucked. But it definitely did not beat that her fan was worn around a sash around her waist.
"My trainer insisted on it." A devilish idea formed in her mind. Note to self: dress in all-black for Ugly's battle and look like a widow and punch him in the face. That was a seriously nice good-luck charm.
"And who is your trainer?" he ruffed and took a bite of Lays from the Original Flavor Lays stack can Yuki held.
"Sakura Hibari."
He coughed and started choking, until Yuki punched his back.
"Seriously? Pinky fights like an ape, if you ask me. Why her? There are many capable mafia out there. You could ask the Scarlet Storm or the Shougi Specialist. They live around here. They're available." Yuki felt herself make a face.
"Good suggestion, but Gokudera, they are my parents."
"Good point."
"And um, my mom, the Scarlet Storm's Varia. My dad's CEDEF. And they're in Italy right now, okay."
"WHAT!"
Yuki smiled complacently. "A woman named Adria trained me, too."
"WHAT? She murdered her uncle, and his Mafia family. And she's a top Varia officer! She's killed thousands!"
"Adria-senpai knows my mother. And my mother trusts her. Don't be a pessimist. All is well." She stuck out her tongue. "Say it with me: ALL. IS. WELL."
He scowled. "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a REALIST."
"Why are you two fighting?" called a voice.
Yuki did not have to turn; Yamamoto had arrived already.
"We were just talking about how pessimistic he is," Yuki called cheerfully.
Yamamoto laughed, Gokudera got pissed and glared at Yuki, and she only shrugged, smiling.
When Tsuna had arrived with Reborn and Ryohei, Gokudera tapped Yuki's shoulder.
"Seriously, Kanazawa? What's with you nowadays?" he hissed, glaring at her. "You're always siding with Baseball Nut! I think the only reason why you're here right now is because of that birdbrain! You don't care about the 10th at all! I can tell, from the way you fought in Kokuyo; you may have sold yourself out but it was NOT for 10th; it was for that nut."
Yuki made a face.
"You don't know me that well, Gokudera," she reasoned. "Yamamoto knows me better. Besides, Gokudera, I DO care about Tsuna. I love Tsuna as a friend and along with that, I care for him. I'll do anything for him, but I don't have to show it off. Showing off is for fools. Besides, I've grown stronger."
"You love him, don't you?" he accused.
"Me? Love who?" She was unsure of who he referred to.
"With that birdbrain! You're in love with him, aren't you? Of course; you sold yourself out for him, you tried that suicidal tactic and you're fighting here because of him."
"Me? It's not anything like that, Gokudera."
Gokudera snarled a bit, but scowled. "You do. I can tell. The way you look at him, the way you always smile and laugh with him, the lengths you go for him."
"He means a lot to me. That's all." Her bossily calm glare was enough to shut him up.
And hear from Haru the truth.
"You're such a damn bad liar, Kanazawa."
"You are a horrible stalker," came her aggressive return.
"Damn pink!"
The two stared at an agape pinkette, whose jaw was clenched at two tanned pinkette women, their eyes colored with sunglasses.
"What about them?"
"Cervello. I don't trust them."
Gokudera said none. He eyed the Cervello with wary eyes, looking a wee bit tired, as if he was used to this a thousand times.
The next day, at afternoon.
"You should be careful, Gokudera."
"I can take care of myself. I don't need a woman to take care of myself."
"Then prove it later. If you overdo it, then don't come crying to me." Yuki snorted. "Okay? Just know your limit and play safe. Outsmart your enemy."
"Hypocrite," he grumbled. Stormy green eyes met teal ones.
"I am not a hypocrite."
"You are."
"Give me proof, Ugly. Evidence. Prove your little theory."
"Firstly: you don't know you love someone. You think you care for him. It is already obvious and you deny it. Either: you are a chicken and next, you are just damn slow. Kanazawa, you and Baseball Nut are both so dense. It's going to take us twenty years to get you together with the guy of your dreams."
"Guy of my dreams? Who said I had one?" She blushed.
"Sakura said so."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. TADAH."
"What's with that?"
"Your dream guy, you dimwit! Tall, dark, handsome."
What the-
He knows.
"I want to know." His eyes shone.
"Since it's your match tonight, let's have a deal, then. If you lose, you will tutor me in Math for a week, and if you win, you can wheedle the truth out of me," she declared.
"Fine! Of course I will! It's for 10th!"
A stoic voice, and a mane of short blue hair came in the background. Adria-san watched, with a slight frown.
"Gokudera, no chit-chatting with my student until training is over," she said.
Her word was law.
"Do you know the purpose of the Guardian of the Storm?" Belphegor's words were cold. The wind around them made the words themselves colder. Gokudera felt annoyed.
The wind waves traveling around the battlefield, the flicker of quick knives… What made it worse was his opponent was an excellent tactician, and strategist. A genius. This fight was for Tsuna, for 10th, and a gamble at a rate. He had promised Kanazawa he would win, and he would get the truth wheedled out of him.
He knew she would watch and worry.
"Continuously at the heart of attack, the storm of raging waves never rests. I can do it, but you can't."
It wasn't Kanazawa he wanted to win for; it was Tsuna.
"Just what the hell are you doing, standing there, Hayato?" Shamal, the old perv.
That was it.
"QUIT JOKING AROUND!"
He went on with his attacking.
A game of chess, of hiding and seeking.
"…Your boss can see it, too." That laugh, that "ushishishi," it pissed him off.
He couldn't lose. So easily. He tried to focus. His shoulders…
He got it!
He stepped out of the room. "This is the true nature of your technique," Gokudera said. He fingered the wire string.
"Is he okay?" Yuki whispered.
Sakura stared at her glumly. "I know not," she replied back.
Behind them, violence came on.
The booming, the flaring, the hurting, the screaming, the pain, the worrying. Bombs popped, rolling on and on. The floor flared, shaking violently. The souls in combat cried, like the wretched they were. Hell.
Yuki sucked on air. Violence, killing, fighting, the darkness of the mafia. It would take her down to hell. She had no salvation for she had left with every piece of herself.
Smoke cleared. Gray mist, it reminded her of apparitions.
Bloodlust.
"HOW CAN I GO BACK EMPTY-HANDED?" Gokudera's voice roared across the floor. "Get your ass back unless you really want overkill; you do know right?" Sakura reasoned, her voice rising up and down in a way that was like Mukuro's. Yuki felt something rise within her. Anger. Fierce protectiveness. Determination. Desparation. "I told him not to overdo it," she growled. "What does he fight for?"
"If you die, your life has no meaning!" Tsuna yelled.
Gokudera. Twisting inside of her, Yuki let her shoulders relax. What had she felt? She had no idea she could be so capable. Capable of caring about her fellows, and the people she loved. What it felt to let everyone down. Your anger at failure. Desparing. Gokudera's emotions were hardly alien to her. So he's like me.
She emphasized with him. Looking up, she saw a gray towhead.
"Gokudera!"
"I'm really glad!"
Pushing past Yamamoto, Yuki grabbed the Math expert by his shoulders. Looking at those shiny green eyes, she gripped his shoulders. Tight. With all the things she felt, she bit her lip. "It's okay," she managed to say. He scowled at her. But he looked up again.
"What do you have to say to me, Kanazawa?" Rough like before, but there was a maturity in how he saw her.
"Hn." Yuki and Yamamoto exchanged looks.
"I must say…" She filled her lungs with air. "What kind of a man are you? Carry your own weight, but watch yourself, Ugly, okay?"
He nodded politely.
Yamamoto laughed behind her.
Gokudera looked at him. Yuki felt Yamamoto's eyes on her and Gokudera.
"Take care of the rest."
Yamamoto smiled.
Even the tomboy.
"He knows what to do," Adria added.
Even Gokudera didn't have to say it. Why? It was automatic now. Yes, he certainly had to. Because of duty, because she was something. Because he wanted to. Protect Yuki, win the battle, do his best. It was all he had to do.
DONE! Read and review. XD