Chapter 6

-Four Fruits-

So it's tonight…when the Tengu has to take flight…

Mixed emotions coiled like multicoloured threads around his heart, wrapping it tightly when he thought about the consequences of his actions, but loosening when he imagined the night being over. Unlike the cheerless expression on the yōkai's face, the town below him was thriving with spirit and pulsating with energy as the creatures chattered to each other about the wonders of the human world.

There were those who wanted to stay in the human world, those who plotted mischievous schemes on scaring the 'little humans,' while others saw it as an opportunity to meet up with old friends. Usually for him, he would have gone with Ryouhei and met up with his fellow yōkais, drank a couple of bottles of sake* while exchanging stories and then farewelled them, hopping into the last opening of the gateway until another eclipse should come. However, this time was going to be different. He could feel his inner cogwheels turning as each second passed…each second till they found out and gave him the order to meet up at the Trinisette.

"There you are my lord!"

The voice made his lips curve to one side in discontent. It was his servant, Romario.

"And I thought that illusion was pretty good…" The blonde clicked his tongue, even though knowing the fact that the servant had never failed to see through his illusions. One time, the yōkai had even tried setting up an illusion with young, sexy-looking woman beckoning him at his feet, but Romario had simply declined the offers in a polite manner and successfully caught him drinking at the pub instead of working. The lord had concluded that either, his servant didn't have a life, or wasn't interested in women…as in he chose men over women.

"If you have the time to be making illusions, you should be going through all those papers on your desk." Romario gestured towards the ocean of strewn papers all over the yōkai's desk and piled up on the ground, making it impossible to walk within a 3 meter radius of the desk without mercilessly crushing important letters and manuscripts.

All of a sudden the lord put a hand up to silence his servant. There appeared to be the shadow of a figure behind the shōji door. "What is it?"

What the hell are you asking that for? You already know what he's gonna say…

His mind was right. There was no mistaking the silent call of Kami-sama he could sense from the tower.

"Lord Ryūki* there is an urgent meeting you must attend now at the Trinisette," the figure informed the blonde, sliding the door open to his side whilst kneeling on one knee with his head bowed.

A long nail dug into the Ryūki's palm as he heard those words. It was far too early for them to have realised. He had only seen the premonition last night.

"I'll go now," he remarked, concealing the anxiety within his voice as he heard the door close. Only after making sure that there was no presence other than himself and Romario he spoke to his servant in a hushed tone.

"Prepare it immediately Romario."

The servant bowed, adjusting his 'spectacles' with a worried expression. "As you wish my lord."

How long has it been since I've last changed to my real form? Maybe 100 years? Or 200?

But whether 100 years or 1000 years passed, the Ryūki had no trouble in changing. The blonde jumped up onto the ledge of the deck with light feet, and then let himself freely fall as he spread his arms.

A moment later, a gold dragon appeared rattling its scales in ache, as his muscles started waking up from their long sleep. But there was no time to be grumbling about sore muscles and the Ryūki started heading towards a white speck in the distance.

Gokudera wanted the clock to stop moving on and make him leave behind the one he cared about the most.

He wanted to go back to the time when he texted Yamamoto everyday to wake up, when he saw Yamamoto's grin that he loved and hated so much, when the two held hands with blushing faces…why had everything disappeared so quickly?

He probably feels the same thing.

We won't ever be the same without all four of us at the rooftop…

He looked at the mobile in his hand. The unfinished message was expectantly shining brightly on the screen as if it was looking forward to being finished today. After a few finger pressing on the keys, Gokudera stopped.

On the screen, there was a black box with white writing. It read: Message sent.

A small, pathetic laugh came from his mouth. "What the fuck am I doing…?" He grasped the mobile in his hands tightly, trying to suppress the tears wanting to escape from the prison in his eyes.

At times like this, he felt the need to go to that place. That place where everything had a start and an end.

Gokudera chucked on anything he could find, and found himself running up the street, through the school gates and up all those flight of stairs to the roof of the school. He laid his hand on the worn doorknob to find that his whole body was trembling.

Hurray up and open the door Gokudera! We're all starving!

"Ok ok baseball idiot," the student remarked automatically, turning the knob so that it squeaked like a mouse being caught onto a trap.

Instantly a ball of yellow fluff attacked his face and Gokudera flung his arms about wildly in an attempt to defend himself. "Get this ball of fluff off me!"

A voice came from above his head. "Hibird, its fine."

The bird flapped its small wings, flying away from the silver head and onto the finger of the brown head sitting on the platform built on the rooftop, where students could gaze out across the town.

"Always sorry about that Gokudera-kun," Tsuna remarked, shaking his finger disapprovingly at Hibird who just cocked his head.

"I think I'm more than used to it by now," the student chuckled while making his way up to the platform and sat beside the brown head, dangling his feet down.

"Somehow we both end up here don't we?"

Gokudera nodded, peering up at the many patterns of white on the sky. Some were speckles while others were long streaks but all of them seemed to belong there.

"Sometimes I hear his voice…and even though he threatens me half the time or tells me that I'm such a herbivore, I can't help but smile…and cry." Tsuna almost whispered the last words, scared that he wouldn't be able to control his emotions. A hand comfortingly gripped his and the brown head smiled. "I know what you mean," the silver head remarked, still gazing up at the sky where the four smiled and two cried under.

"Do you remember when we tried to make Hibari-san eat lunch with us?"

The student chuckled, as the memory bloomed in his mind. "We all got beat to a pulp," Gokudera smirked knowingly, "besides you."

There was a hint of red on Tsuna's cheeks which made the silver head curve his lips. "In the end, we ate together even though Hibari-san slept halfway." Tsuna tried to keep the smile on his face. "I can still remember how blue the sky was that day…almost like today..."

A gentle blow of the wind ruffled his hair and he put his hand up to the white sun.

Hibari-san are you at peace now?

Do you still sometimes think about me?

Because I do…

The Trinisette was a white tower in which important meetings were held with all the Kami, Lords and Masters. No light penetrated its surface and thus the interior was pitch black, with only the use of a few candles to light up the concrete room. There was always a sense of tension in the atmosphere of the room which the Ryūki hated and if it had not been for the premonition, he would have wagged the meeting.

"Lord Ryūki you are late as usual," a hoarse voice echoed inharmoniously.

The blonde sighed in the inside, getting irritated. "I'm sorry; it seems that I had to attend to the needs of some very nice looking women."

"Lord! This is a serious matter!" There was a loud bang which almost rocked the whole room.

"Ok ok, don't get your tail twisted." The yōkai waved his hands about melodramatically.

The voice ignored the Ryūki's comment and proceeded in starting the meeting. "We will commence the meeting now." There was a slight pause and everyone patiently waited, till the voice sounded again. "In the town of Namimori, there has been a report that a yōkai has been seeing its past memories."

Spot on as usual old man…

"A witness has claimed to have seen the yōkai which we have identified as the Tengu, Yamamoto Takeshi with a human and conversing in such a way that the witness believed that they had possibly known each other before, that is when Yamamoto Takeshi had been a human."

Witness?...I didn't see that…

"We hereby take the action on the capture of Yamamoto Takeshi for further interroga-"

"I, as the Kami of that region would like to personally talk with Yamamoto Takeshi first," a confident voice stated strongly and the blonde hid a small smile. He knew Kami-sama would speak up, but he also knew what the reaction of the yōkai here would be.

A high pitched cackle filled the room. "And what let him escape?" There were snickers and whispers all round the room but Kami-sama would not falter just yet.

"No of course not! I me-"

The croaky voice got its revenge and cut in curtly. "We cannot allow such a thing, as we all know that you are especially soft to the yōkai in your region, and we absolutely cannot let a yōkai run with its past memories."

"But capturing him without warning is inhumane!" Kami-sama shouted desperately, not wanting the Tengu to be hurt in any way.

"Inhumane?" A merciless laugh could be heard. "We are not humans."

A sharp nailed finger extended out from the darkness. "Put him and the Lord under supervision."

The Ryūki's eyes were wide with 'surprise.' "Why is that?"

There was the sound of a deep sigh. "I know you are friends with Yamamoto Takeshi and you have just enough potential to let him escape."

"I see...then let it be," the blonde nodded as his eyes wondered over to Kami-sama.

What will we do? They will not let their eyes off us even for a second.

Do you I've been using illusions on Romario for nothing all these centuries? Even though he may just be a servant, he has just enough power as that oldie up there.

I will trust you to do it Dino.

Of course. You won't even notice that you're just talking to an illusion.

Now that is pushing it a little, but I see I have already been deceived.

Exactly.

"Gokudera-kun what're you looking at?" Tsuna turned around on his seat and peered outside the window, catching the attention of the people sitting behind him.

"The dog staring at me in the window," the silver head replied eyeing the creature with intense glares.

"What dog?"

Gokudera frowned in confusion at the brown head's question.

"It's the black one right there which looks like it's constipated or something."

His friend however laughed. "You must have really good vision; I can't see it at all." The student continued to look out into the distance with squinted eyes.

"But it's rig-"

As Gokudera was about to say something, the waiter came to their table holding a plate of apple pie and blueberry muffin. Even though it was indoors and was just a regular café, the waiter had a hat on which resembled a top hat but with a squished top and with a thick strip of orange around the body. The man placed the plates on the table and looked at Tsuna with a smirk before leaving.

Reborn…what a weird name.

But the thought quickly disappeared from the brown head's mind as he smelt the scent of freshly cooked apple pie. As he was digging his fork into the surface, a piece of cooked apple fell onto the table. Tsuna then thought of something.

"Hibari-san…is just like a red apple."

Gokudera felt a piece of muffin go down the wrong hole and quickly forced water down before he started coughing unstoppably.

"He seems all violent and scary outside but inside...he's really caring and kind," Tsuna put the piece of apple on the side of his plate and continued eating pleasantly.

The silver head broke of a piece of the muffin and looked at the spotted surface. "Well I think Yamamoto's just like a blueberry."

The piece of pie on Tsuna's fork stopped moving to his mouth and he raised an eyebrow, not imagining that his friend would actually continue talking about such an obscure subject.

"At first he seems the same inside and out but when you get to know him, he's pretty fragile and can collapse under a load of pressure," as he said this, the student glanced at the window and found that the dog had disappeared yet again…why hadn't he seen it?

The happenings of last night suddenly hit him.

You're a child made between a human and yōkai…

"Gokudera-kun? Are you alright?" Tsuna noticed the colour rushing out of his friend's cheeks.

"I'm fine." Gokudera forced a smile. "I was just thinking what we would be?"

The brown head chuckled. "Hmm, I think Gokudera-kun would be a pineapple. Hard and spiky outside but once you get to know him; he's a bright, cheery friend."

"Thanks," he remarked, though somewhere in his heart, he had a feeling he was no longer like that in the inside.

"I think you would be an apricot. Soft outside and inside except for the pip, which is like your strong will power to keep walking ahead even if there're blue times, like that day..."

Like that day when you and I lost something...and you were the one who stood up and guided me out of my ocean of tears...

Notes from Yuhazaki:

Uwah, this update is late as=="

Now who do you think the witness was? I might choose to reveal it later tho:P

Notes:

*Sake: written as「酒」is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice

*Ryūki: written as「竜黄 (Original)

[Info from Wiki]