Chapter 9

The students were staring ecstatically at the enormous cathedral that stood in front of them; the Gothic architecture that adorned its vastness forced an awe to the Japanese boys who had never seen such a sight before. Both students and teachers had raised their head as much as they could, trying to reach with their eyes the top of the enormous building.

"This is the Cathedral of Notre Dame!"

The guide exclaimed happily and then pointed with his finger at the first floor of the building.

"You can see the ominous gargoyles there, and of course there are many more at the top of the cathedral. Would you like to proceed inside?"

The guide looked smilingly at the principal who was trying to distinguish what the figures of the gargoyles were shown.

"Yes, of course."

She replied fast and despite the fact that the students' eyes had not been content, for staring at the building for so little time, they all entered inside.

A unique unearthly feeling was present inside the Notre Dame; a feeling of both dread and admiration. The innumerable chairs that surrounded the hall and the towering walls that overwhelmed the Cathedral, bewildered the people that entered it. The drawings that depicted the Saints and their stories had a touch of magic in them. There was a large cross in the chancel that could be spotted in the depth of the Cathedral and a few meters to the right the statue of Madonna stands, showing the mother holding her vestal son. One thing that had intrigued the young students the most were the glass windows of the building. Even on that kind of surface there were illustrations of the Catholic religion's stories.

"So talented..."

The Sky Guardian murmured, unconsciously thinking of his disability to make a proper drawing.

"It's not that hard."

The smoke bomber who had overheard Tsuna, whispered to his friend.

"E-eh? Gokudera-kun, can you draw?"

"I used to when I was younger. I remember it wasn't hard. How about you Sawada-san?"

Gokudera replied and he was finally able to pronounce Tsuna's last name without stuttering.

"Hm... I can't really draw."

The brunette replied gloomy and lowered his head.

"Maybe you can teach me Gokudera-kun?"

He raised his head and looked into Gokudera's eyes.

"No."

"E-eh?"

The Storm Guardian's abrupt and unreasonable answer had surprised both boys. Gokudera would never deny anything to his precious friend and he'd never avoid a moment when they could be just the two of them alone.

'What the hell is wrong with me?'

The silver haired boy had frowned his eyebrows, trying to comprehend why he had said such a thing.

"I.. I'm sorry Jyuud- I mean Sawada-san!"

The fact that Gokudera hadn't gotten used to addressing Tsuna that way could easily be seen whenever he was anxious. Moreover his loud voice did not draw any attention, as the rest of the students had also started talking to each other, creating a small commotion inside the cathedral.

"I-it's okay Gokudera-kun..."

The innocent boy replied dejected, wondering if Gokudera really meant whatever he had told him the other night.

"I'm really sorry Jy-Sawada-san... I really want to teach you how to draw!"

The smoke bomber said happily but Tsuna was not entirely sure that Gokudera was being honest.

"No, it's okay Gokudera-kun. I'm not a fan of drawing or anything like that."

The brunette tried to excuse Gokudera from teaching him, yet he was feeling quite downhearted.

"Shit..."

Gokudera spelled, thinking of how all this, was probably Hibari's fault.

"Sawada-san.. I... I think I drank something that clouded my thoughts."

"Eh? You drank something?"

"Yes..."

There was no way Gokudera would admit that he was forced to drink something by Hibari. He neither wanted to sound weak to Tsuna, nor to terrify him with the thought that there was a possibility one of his Guardians would die.

"What did you drink?"

Tsuna continued asking, confused and afraid of Gokudera's health condition.

"I-it was just a glass of orange juice..."

The silver haired boy replied in undertones, as the guide had asked the students to be quiet inside the cathedral.

"Orange juice? From where? Where did you find orange juice?"

Tsuna's unceasing questions troubled even more the Storm Guardian. They had both skipped breakfast, therefore there weren't many excuses Gokudera could use.

"A-at that building..."

He said with a tremendous voice.

"...where we met up with the guide. Do you remember that I was late at returning to the school bus? There was a little shop inside one of the rooms and I drank a glass of orange juice."

Gokudera replied and was relieved, as the fake words fluently slipped through his lips, making it impossible for Tsuna to see through his lie.

"Oh, I see..."

The brunette's reply had a feeling of disbelief in it.

"You know that I wouldn't lie to you Sawada-san..."

Gokudera whispered and, with puppy's eyes, he stared into Tsuna's.

The Vongola boss gazed back at him and then smiled meaningfully, without uttering any words. He knew that his lover would never lie to him and this doubtful feeling he had was driven away by his own connivery.

After a long time of endless talking and enlightening which the students didn't pay any attention to, they all exited the cathedral, being quite intrigued about their next destination. The students entered the school bus and the teachers followed, while they were calling the students' names, making sure that none of them was missing. As soon as no more names were written to the teachers' papers, the guide finally announced their next stop.

"Musee du Louvre! In english, the Museum of Louvre!"

He yelled happily and the students' excitement faded away, as they were thinking of how dull museums are and how much more boring historical information they were about to listen to.

After five minutes the school bus had already reached its destination as the Notre Dame and the Museum of Louvre were quite close to each other. The students exited one by one and they were lead in front of one of the world's largest museums whose content varied from remarkable paintings, like the portrait of Mona Lisa, to Greek sculpture, such as the really famous Aphrodite of Milos.

"This is the entrance."

The guide said as the students approached the metallic triangle shaped entrance that stood in front of them.

"This is the Pyramid du Louvre!"

He exclaimed in joy as they all entered the enormous pyramid.

The metallic strings that enclosed all of the tourists in the pyramid hardly made anyone feel uncomfortable. The students steadily started going down the stairs and were intensely staring at the lines of people that were formed in front of the tickets offices and at the rest of the tourists that were looking around in awe and were taking many photographs of the underground museum and of the view outside, through the pyramid.

"Ah!"

The young brunette gasped as he realized that he had forgotten his camera at the hotel.

"What is it Jyuud- Sawada-san?"

Gokudera shouted troubled.

"I... I forgot the camera at home! My mom asked me to take some photos of the places we'll visit."

"Ah..."

As Gokudera climbed down the last rung of the stairs he looked around him troubled; he really wanted to help the Sky Guardian yet he didn't own a camera.

"Ah I know!"

He pointed his finger upwards and smiled to the brunette.

"I'll find one for you Sawada-san!"

He yelled joyfully and then ran towards the huge crowd of people that forced a great discomfort to anyone who was agoraphobic.

"F-find one? G-Gokudera-kun, w-wait!"

Tsuna started chasing after his friend, terrified that this brainless stubborn boy was actually thinking of stealing a camera for his own sake. He knew that his mother would be disappointed if he had no photographs to show her, but stealing a camera in order to have some, wouldn't make her any happier; in fact it could be the worst case scenario.

"Gokudera-kun?"

Tsuna shouted as he was still running but he was not entirely sure he was tagging Gokudera anymore. The figure he was following had changed a bit its body shape, and the colors of his clothes seemed to have tarnished a little. However the Vongola boss had no other solution but to keep on running until he reached his target.

Some meters away the principal was about to announce the students' names but the guide interrupted her before doing so, telling her anxiously that they didn't have much time ahead of them and that the museum would probably close in three hours, a time that was hardly enough to visit half of the exhibits.

"You see due to our earlier misunderstanding about the time of our mee-"

"I see. It's okay, we'll go straight away."

She said abruptly, thinking that if it wasn't for one of her students' horrible misbehavior they may have had more time ahead of them.

"Listen up kids!"

She screamed for all the students to listen to her.

"We'll now buy a ticket in order to see the museum's exhibits. However, we do not have much time ahead of us! So I want you all to look around you and if you see any of your friends missing, tell me right now."

As soon as she finished her sentence all the students gazed around them, looking only for their closest friends. The people who would probably notice the two boys' absence were all quite occupied with their own friends; Yamamoto and Ryohei were around their mates from their teams respectively and Kyoko was giggling with her girlfriends. The only person who was not known for his friendly spirit, was staring around him, searching for the corpse of his roommate. Hibari hadn't forgotten of how he had forced the Storm Guardian to drink the 'magical' liquid that cost him 40 euros and if he didn't see Gokudera's corpse any time soon, he'd be more than happy to go back to that shop, murder the shop owner with his tonfas and then take back his money. However, much to his surprise the smoke bomber was nowhere to be found, neither dead nor alive.

'Don't tell me...'

Hibari thought that it was quite possible that Gokudera had seduced the weak brunette and that they had both sneaked off, just like the other time on the island. He scanned quickly the crowd of the students again, searching for Tsuna.

"Is everyone present?"

The principal yelled and all the students replied affirmatively.

"Okay. Now come on, we'll buy our tickets."

She said and the students formed two lines behind her and each was holding the tickets the principal gave them.

"Excuse me Miss Principal?"

Hibari interrupted her, as she turned around to face him.

"What is it Hibari?"

She replied rapidly, as if she would gain time if her words became incomprehensible.

"I forgot a really important document on the school bus. About the students' demeanor..."

His last words were whispered, trying not to reveal the project he was assigned for their daytrips.

"You should be more responsible Hibari."

The principal growled to him.

"Go back and take it; however we can't wait for you. When you return call me and I'll tell you our location."

She finished and Hibari nodded to her and headed towards the stairs for the exit.

Many meters away the silver haired boy had forgotten the reason he had ran away from his classmates. Although he had successfully managed to enter into the halls with the exhibitions without getting noticed, the variety, the quantity and the origin of the exhibits that were laying around him, had enthralled him. It was quite bizarre, as the smoke bomber had never had an interest at such exhibits, yet at that moment he couldn't take his eyes off them. Paintings, portraits, statues and even totems that were used in ancient Egypt, everything seemed so significant and important in Gokudera's mind. He hadn't realized that the potion he had previously drunk, had actually affected him in that way, but even if he did, the love he was feeling towards art was so great that he'd deny even his precious boss's existence.

On the other side of the building the brunette was walking slowly, looking around him confused, trying to figure out how he got outside of the museum. The restaurants that surrounded him had troubled him so much that, despite his shy nature, he was actually thinking of asking someone about directions towards the museum. In fact Tsuna had not left the museum. The restaurants were filled with cuisine all over the world, and they were actually a part of the museum's exhibitions. However, the Sky Guardian, due to his stress and fear of getting lost, being punished, getting robbed, or even worse getting killed(!), he didn't raise his head to see the restaurants' names that were written in different languages.

On top of the underground building, and next to the museum's entrance, Hibari was looking around him irritated and was about to enter the museum once again, as he had already searched all the area around the Pyramid.

'Fucking herbivores...'

He was cursing them silently with all his strength, wondering where they could have gone to. The Cloud Guardian would never make himself look irresponsible to the principal, therefore he had to find the two boys and make up for his thoughtless lie. He entered the museum quietly, climbed down the stairs and bought a ticket from the tickets office. He then murmured something to his pet and it flew away, as he entered one of the halls with the exhibitions.

/_Author's Notes: I actually uploaded another chapter so soon, because I was re-reading your reviews and they made me so happy that I thought you deserve an early update! ^^

Thank you for everyone who have commented more than one time as well. :)

I really do appreciate it. ^O^