-Left Us Falling-
~Swimming in the Sky~
"Into my mind?!" His eyes widened.
They nodded. He began to laugh.
"Oh, no, no, no. I don't think you should go in there~"
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"
He shook his head, an amused little smile stretching across his face.
"It's a warning."
Reborn entered his room, and stared.
Okay, so he'd been doing a lot of work that day, you know, the usual. Breaking into people's houses, kicking their buckets—because we all know what that means, figuratively—raiding their fridges, and he was just so goddamned tired, so he decided that, when he finally—finally—returned to the Vongola base, he'd just go straight to his room and give his report to the Ninth in the morning.
So, back to where we were. Reborn was staring. In italics. Seriously.
Because, not only was there one small, innocent looking child in his room—honestly, he'd come to expect Sagi popping up all over the place at the most random of times, now—Oh no. No, there were two children—wait! Let's see, what was that lump in his bed? Yes, another child. So, unless he was missing any other tiny little buggers hiding somewhere in his cupboards or something, he had a total of three children under the tender age of ten currently lodging in his apartment.
"Sagi?"
"Sagi is listening, Mr. Reborn." That orange-hooded head popped out from behind the open refrigerator door.
"Who are your... friends?" Reborn raised an eyebrow and tried his ultimate best not to just collapse on the bed, ignore the painfully obvious stares of all—that tiny girl had woken up now—three children—kids. In his apartment—and go to sleep, in favor of taking that well-deserved nap he'd been looking forward to to.
But Sagi beamed, and Reborn focused on him. "That is Sagi's new imouto and Onii-san."
Reborn blinked.
"... Alright then. Goodnight, Sagi. Glad to see you back so soon." With that, Reborn swept up the girl, who giggled excitedly, set her on the counter, stared at the boy sitting on the end of the bed for about three seconds in total, and then climbed under the blankets after kicking his shoes off and pulling his fedora over his eyes. He was out like a light in under half a minute. Really, if Sagi brought these brats here, then Reborn didn't really have any reason to worry, right?
Hibari continued to stare at "Mr. Reborn" for a few more seconds before turning to address his little brother with a raised eyebrow. "That is the carnivore?"
Sagi hummed happily, bobbing his head up and down. The child turned and continued to rummage through the contents of the fridge as I-pin giggled and crawled into the empty fruit bowl.
For some very odd reason unknown to him, Reborn had an extremely vivid dream about cartoon dinosaurs on a quest for magical bacon that night.
(If I had a world of my own...)
"You are a strange child." Verde commented.
Iemitsu sat on the ground, grasping his throat in pain. "Okay," he choked. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Wow." He cast a terrified glance at the orange-jacketed, tiny little figure that stood to their left with a serious look on what they could see of his face.
Apparently, Sagi didn't like being touched when he wasn't expecting it.
The toddler in question shrugged, then turned to walk toward his newly-dubbed older brother, Hibari Kyoya, who was standing off to the side. Anyone looking closely enough could see the proud look on the nine-year-old terror's face as he went over what had just happened. Sagi sent a nonchalant look back at the crowd who had gathered. "Gomen, Mr. Sawada. Sagi doesn't like to be surprised. Sagi doesn't take surprises too well."
They could see that. Seriously.
Reborn beamed as he let a gloved hand fall on his unofficial charge's shoulder. "Such a good boy," he teased lightly, eyes gleaming as he noticed the bruise that was beginning to form on Iemitsu's collarbone.
"Hai, hai!" Sagi brightened. "Sagi is always a good boy, Mr. Reborn!"
"Of course," The Italian man admonished himself, taking great pleasure in the betrayed look the head of the CEDEF sent him. "I believe that is correct." He turned toward Hibari, who was still observing Iemitsu's plight with a almost unnoticeable smirk. "What do you say, my fellow Carnivore, shall we depart for the canteen?"
Kyoya seemed to draw himself up at the veiled compliment from his new idol—though he'd deny it if anyone asked outright. Ever since Reborn had beaten the child in a spar against his tonfas without his own weapon on hand, Kyoya had began to look up to him. Not that he'd tell anyone that.
The raven-haired boy nodded. "Hai."
Sagi had reached them by now, and scooped the daydreaming I-pin up into his arms. "Ano, imouto. Are you hungry?"
I-pin giggled. "Ya, ya! Ha-! I-pin is wantin' food now!"
Sagi nodded in understanding. "Sagi does too, little sister. But," here, the child seem to gain a thoughtful look. "Sagi is always hungry, so he isn't too surprised."
The four made their way to the cafeteria, and sat down at a bench in the corner by a window. Sagi inhaled many sticks of dango, and was soon seen chasing a cackling I-pin, who was shouting for "'Ayato." Reborn, if he was anyone but Reborn, of course, might have been worried about the girl's slight love for bombs. But, he was Reborn, so he just rolled with it. Cuz he was Reborn. Duh. Cute little girls carrying bombs were an everyday thing for him. Well, not really, that was a lie. But nothing surprised Reborn Chaos except for Sagi the Phantom Thief. So, yeah. Reborn was used to things like this.
Sagi skidded to a stop as he reached a point directly in front of where the hitman was sitting, and cocked his head to the side as if listening to something no one but he could hear. A few seconds later, Sagi turned to Reborn and gave him a serious look. "Sagi wants to go out in the rain, Mr. Reborn."
Reborn blinked. "... But, it's sunny today."
Sagi nodded. "Hai."
Reborn stared at him for about two more seconds. "... So... Where would we get rain?"
Sagi titled his head, as if the answer was so very obvious. "Fire."
Reborn continued to stare at the child, before nodding his head very slowly. Sometimes he just didn't get Sagi. Like, at all. "Ah... Okay."
Sagi sent him a serious look, before nodding back and continuing to chase I-pin. Reborn finished his meal and stood up. He had a meeting to attend. Yay. He bit back a groan and bid farewell to the three children who he didn't care about, at all, really, truly, honestly, he didn't, of course, and walked out of the canteen with that graceful, deadly stride of a hitman.
Sagi could be seen laughing behind his back. Not that anyone knew what he was laughing at.
(Everything would be nonsense.)
Trident Shamal was one easily distracted, yes. But that was only when beautiful women were around. And this meeting happened to be filled to the brink of men, and men only. So please pardon his subordinates if they were slightly confused when he seemed so, completely, utterly not paying attention. At all.
"Shamal," The Ninth raised an eyebrow. "Care to share with us what has you so distracted?"
The doctor blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and Reborn held back a snicker. How very cliché. Shamal looked at all of them with an amused expression on his face. "Yeah. Fire."
Reborn stilled. Fire... Wasn't that what Sagi had said only half an hour before?
Everyone else was just as confused, perhaps less so, however. They began to look around and peered out of windows, but looked back at Shamal with perplexed faces. "Fire? I don't even see smoke..." One man said.
"What do you mean?" Reborn inquired.
"That's what Yūkan called it." Shamal explained, which didn't lighten anything up. "He said it was fire, but I know it wasn't. It was flames. And he used it. A pretty orange color, even more orange than the Ninth's, I thought."
They understood slightly better now. "A... sky Flame, correct?" The Ninth spoke, slightly amazed. "Who is this Yūkan?"
Shamal raised an eyebrow. "What? You all know him. That adorable little thief."
"Sagi?" Reborn interjected. "Of course. I'd forgotten you had given each other nicknames. Yours was, what... Doctor-akuto? Was it?" Reborn smirked, and Shamal had the decency to at least look slightly flustered at the snickers from the other men.
"So, Sagi has the Sky Flame?" The Nono asked, surprised.
Shamal nodded. "He's rather smart, too. He lit the dynamite with it while we played that Exploding Paper Plane game with Hayato-kun..."
"Interesting method." One of the other men admired the simple genius, before turning to one of his associates. "I'd like to meet Sagi, wouldn't you?"
The other nodded. "He sounds rather fascinating."
Reborn narrowed his eyes slightly. Sagi was a child, a person. Not a thing. For some odd reason he was unable to comprehend, he felt that feeling—protectiveness-swell up inside of him now. Too bad his mouth did too. "Well, that's all well, but I'm afraid you won't have the pleasure of introducing yourselves."
Everyone turned to him in surprise and question. Reborn cursed his mouth. It usually stayed shut when he wanted it to. He mentally sighed, and went about answering their inquiring glances. "Sagi is currently on a j... I mean, he's "playing a game."" He used air quotes, which raised some eyebrows, but everyone knew about Sagi's childish personality, which Reborn didn't really find all too surprising, since Sagi was a child. "For the Vongola. Finding something we..." Reborn tilted his fedora forward. "Hm. Lost."
"I'll be able to meet him when he has finished, though." The man commented, confused.
No you won't. Reborn hissed in his mind. He sensed nothing well from this guy. He seemed to want to use Sagi for himself. Like hell Reborn would allow that. On the outside, he waved a hand dismissively. "Sagi is..." He pondered for the right word. "He's different. I don't think you'll be meeting him unless he wants you to. That's how he works."
Luckily, the Nono interjected before the man could retort. "Reborn has spent to most time with Sagi than the rest of us." The boss of the Vongola explained. "I believe he understands him slightly better then we do."
"Understand him?" Reborn let out a snort of amusement. "No one can understand Sagi but Sagi, my friends. No, I've just uncovered some of his more interesting quirks." He leveled a stare at the man from before. "Trust me on this, though. If Sagi wants it, he'll find you."
And that was the end of it. He'd tell Sagi later to stay away from this guy—though, he was sure Sagi already knew to, though he didn't know how.
(Nothing would be as it is,)
Sagi frowned and tilted his head to the side again, stopping mid-conversation with Hayato, who looked at him quizzically. "Otouto-sama? Is something wrong?"
Sagi shook himself out of some sort of stupor and smiled that same, almost detached smile he always wore. Now that Hayato thought about it, it was slightly unsettling. "Iie, iie. Sagi is just waiting."
Hayato titled his head to the side even more. "Waiting? Waiting for what?"
Sagi healed a finger to his lips and the other boy leaned forward as if the thief was sharing some type of long-kept secret. "Rain."
(Because everything would be as it isn't.)
"Are you sure this is okay?" He asked his friend as they slipped under the barbed fence, careful to keep far from the wires.
The sandy blond looked at him as if he was a child much much younger than him, though the two were the same age of six. "Of course it is, Yamamoto-san." He snickered. "Oh, don't tell me you're getting cold feet! No one will even notice, ne? You're not a chicken, are you?"
The blue-eyed child shook his head so fast he may have gotten whiplash. "N-no! Of course not! Why would I be... scared?" Takeshi cast a nervous glance toward the building they were approaching. It was a huge cement structure, and it loomed far over head, so tall it almost blocked the full moon out of sight and mind. He ran a cautious eye over the dead and dying vegetation, suddenly feeling as if he was walking straight into one of those scary horror movies his late-aunt always used to watch. The kind that made him bury himself under his blankets at night and try to block out the screams of fear and terrifying noises so he could sleep without nightmares.
His friend—though, Takeshi was having second thoughts about that status. No one else had been a true friend for him, why would this one be any different? He was finding himself become less and less sure about this. Really, what kind of friend taunted and bullied you into doing something you didn't want to, even to prove yourself? Takeshi was beginning to think he didn't want to prove himself(he didn't even need to prove himself to this fake anyway!)—crossed his arms and sent him a triumphant look, and Takeshi felt himself deflate. That's right. He was too weak to stand up to people like these. He always seemed to run into them too. Wasn't there anyone out there who just wanted him for him? Because he was him? "Good. Had me worried there for a sec." Takeshi wondered why all these "friends" of his tried so hard to talk like the big kids did. Didn't they want their childhood? Why was everyone around him so eager to grow up?
"Now let's do this." The blond grinned excitedly and they crawled through the crack in the cement wall of the supposedly haunted old city prison.
(Contrary wise,)
Sagi sat on the bench with s small frown adorning his face. There was something happening to a weather, something wrong. He felt tears begin to cloud his eyes, and they spilled over and trickled down his face when he blinked. Hayato's eyes widened in alarm. "O-Ootouto-sama? What's—why are you crying? What happened? Is something wrong?!"
Sagi turned to him, shoulders starting to tremble, and Hayato frowned, starting to get scared. What was it? Why was his amazing little brother crying now? He slid forward and pulled the shaking child into a hug, and Sagi lurched forward to wrap his own arms around Hayato's small torso, burying his face into his chest. "H-hai!"
"What is it?! What's wrong?!" Hayato said, louder, and Sagi trembled even more, starting to sob hysterically. Hayato felt tears springing in his own eyes now. He heard footsteps hurrying toward them, most likely alerted by the sound of his panicked shout. Reborn rounded the corner, and his eyes widened behind his sunglasses at the sight of Sagi crying like that. He quickly ran over and knelt down in front of the bench, putting one hand on Sagi's shoulder and the other on Hayato's. He slipped off his sunglasses and met the older child's stormy green eyes. "Hayato-kun. What happened?"
Hayato began to tear up even more when Sagi didn't even seem to register that Reborn was there. "I-I-I don't kn-know..." He sucked in a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "W-We were just talking, ,a-and then Otouto-sama just stopped, and then he looked upset, a-and then he started to cry, h-he said something's wrong, b-but I don't knew what's wrong! Mr. Reborn, what's wrong?" He pleaded.
Reborn turned toward Sagi with something that looked like concern shining in his eyes. He brought his hands down on both of the little thief's shoulder's. "Sagi, what's wrong. Talk to me."
"It's wrong! The rain!" Sagi gasped, shaking his head, horrified by something. "The rain, no! Iie! No! No, no no! Iie, iie! Rain, stop! It's wrong, don't!" The child dissolved into tears again, shaking is head back and forth repeatedly, crying out for the rain to stop doing something.
Reborn and Hayato shared absolutely perplexed glances before turning back to Sagi. "Sagi, tell what is wrong with the.. rain." Reborn spoke, gently, almost surprising Hayato—but the boy was far too concerned with his idol to notice completely.
Sagi lurched forward to clutch at Reborn's jacket, burying his face in the fabric. "N-No..."
(What it is,)
Takeshi followed closely behind the other boy as they sneaked down the stone halls of the prison. He watched nervously as the cells passed by, old, barely-there numbers in black paint glinting in the moonlight that shone through the tiny, barred windows in side them—the only light besides the eerie orange-ish glow that they were heading too. The other kid—as Takeshi now referred to him as, since he was certain he wasn't a friend now—seemed tense, and Takeshi could sense fear rolling off of him in soft waves. He was confused—if the other kid was afraid as he was, why were they even here? They shouldn't be, as Takeshi knew for sure that this wasn't really okay, after he had spent part of their journey thinking on it. This was trespassing, against the law. They weren't supposed to be here...
The yellow light drew closer as they walked deeper into the prison, and Takeshi had a long-lingering doubt that maybe the prison wasn't truly haunted by the undead or restless spirits after all.
(It wouldn't be.)
Sagi shivered, dread filling his small chest. This shouldn't happen. "Don't listen, Rain. The rain shouldn't be listening, the rain shouldn't have listened to the liar." He whimpered. "P-poor, poor rain, Sagi feels so empty now..."
Reborn was extremely concerned. "Sagi," he was becoming to sound more forceful now, and the tiny little phantom thief drew into himself. "What's happening to the rain?" The hell cares about the fact that he didn't know who or what the rain was. It seemed to be hurting Sagi, and he wanted it gone. "Tell me now."
Sagi trembled, clutching his jacket tighter, and Hayato hugged the other from behind. Reborn frowned as he caught sight of the glow of Sagi's eyes, that shone through the shadows of his hood. The orange of it was an impossibly light shade, as if Sagi's eyes were glazed.
"Don't go any further." Sagi whispered. "Don't, don't. No, stop."
(And what it wouldn't be...)
Takeshi was backed up into a corner, cement walls met just at his back. The other kid was gripping onto his hand for deal life, and he appeared to be resisting the rather painful urge to scream his lungs out. For some reason, though, Takeshi didn't feel himself as scared as the other kid. He was frightened, of course, but... calm? That was weird. He shoved those thoughts to the back of his young mind. It was the time to focus on more important things. Like the very evil looking ex-inmate who was slowly approaching them with a blade rolling between the callused finger of his right hand. He really wished he had his sword right now. Even if it was only bamboo, since his papa wouldn't let him wield a real blade yet. It was still a weapon, in the very least.
Well, it looks like he was right after all. The old city prison wasn't haunted. By ghosts.
(It would.)
Sagi screamed, and Reborn and Hayato almost jumped out of their skins. Footsteps thundered, and people raced out of the doorways and other parts of the building, stopping in their tracks when they set eyes on the hysterical Sagi.
Sagi sobbed. "Too late, it's too late." He bit back a pained whimper. "The rain was found."
(You see?)
This chapter is dedicated to Moonpuzzle. I think. I'm pretty sure. I kinda got sidetracked, and forgot. ^ ^' I'm so smarts...
I am very very very very SO many verys sorry for the longer than usual wait! I... Okay, I has no excuse o-o Really. I was lazy. I had this document open for, what, days now? And... I just didn't feel like writing after my stomach started feeling better. And then I found the amazing wonders of the Harry potter-Lord of the Rings crossover section. And then I flew off to fic-reading land, never to write again, until, I had the sudden inspiration of... yes, you got it. ANGST! The savior of any fics. Oh, how we authors and readers alike love you, dear angst. So, yeah, that was Takeshi Yamatoto, swordskiddo extraordinair. He's been a ad bad boy, breaking the law at the tender age of six. Now he's cornered by a evil looking criminal man, what's to happen to him now? O.o
As for Sagi, well... i've had a lot of my reviewers talk of expecting a break down, and I can't help but agree. Breakdowns are fantastic. I love them., Totally good torture—cough! I-I mean, totally great story material *smiles innocently with hands behind back* Yeah... That...
Anyway, Hoped you liked this chapter, I am again sorry for the wait. My mind is plagued by muses of making our sweet, trouble magnet, dear Harry get tortured, die a painful death, then awaken in Middle Earth as an adorable, angst-filled abused, little elfling. I'm sorry. I can't help it ^ ^'
ANYway, the new review goal shall be... 170. That HAS to be high enough to at least me a FEW days to think on what I want to happen next. Because, frankly, you guys are blowing my brain apart here. I was right. You reached the last goal not even a DAY after that chapter was posted. *wails* G-Give me some time, people! Stretch me thin, will ya? Maybe that was why you had to wait two weeks for this chapter, eh? Wait, has it been that long? I don't remember...
Oh crap. SCHOOL! I totally forgot that. I have to do my schoolwork. Dang it. Homeschooling yourself is NOT the thing for ADHD, OCD teenage girls tortured by puberty to do. Honestly. The distractions. Oh, the distractions...
… Plus, I need to do schoolwork, or I'll be kicked out of this totally awesome little program I've been in, and I'll have to go to a... *shudder* a public high school next year. A big public high school. With lots of other people. And totally half-assed teachers. And I'll have to be... social. Oh, god, the horror...
Anyway. 170. Was that right? Yeah, 170 reviews. See you all next time!
Love you~
~Scylar X.
