"I want you to take away the hope-the thing that is killing me."
Denis Leary
Gokudera runs his hands through his silver locks as he pulls out his cell phone. Every fiber of his being wanted to just march into the cafe, yank Tsuna out of his seat, and drive through Namimori until they found Shizuko. But the saner part of him knew he had to approach this situation carefully. Gokudera clinches his teeth as he punches in the numbers and waits for the other person on the line.
Damn, diffusing a bomb is easier than this.
"Ah...hello? Hayato-nii?" Gokudera sighs a small relief at the voice of Fuuta on the other line.
"Listen, Fuuta. Do you know where Shizuko is right now?" Gokudera asks as calmly as he possibly could as he looked towards the cafe. Both Kyoko and Tsuna were still grossly involved in their conversation, or at least Kyoko was. Tsuna just looked around trying to find as excuse to leave without looking like he did want to leave.
"Shizuko-nee? Hmm...no, I haven't heard anything from her." Fuuta answers back.
"Do me a favor Fuuta, find her. And when you do, keep her as distracted as you possibly can until me and the Tenth arrive. Got it?"
"E-Eh?" Gokudera raises an eyebrow as he hear shuffling noises from the other side of the phone. "Did something happen?" Fuuta's voice sounded concerned and urgent.
"No time to explain, just do what I tell you to do and find her. Quickly." Gokudera leaves no room for Fuuta to object as cuts off the line, shoves the phone into his pockets, and makes his way into the cafe.
"Because a very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love."
Stendhal
"Bloody hell?! You want me to tell the administrative to cancel your application because you decided you don't want to move to California? Excuse me for my language Miss Shizuko but have you finally lost all of your marbles?!" Shizuko smiled stiffly as the person on the other line continue to scold her and curse her with every curse word she had in her vocabulary, which weren't much.
"L-Listen Professor," She tried to soothe the angry woman. "It's not that big of a deal, I'm still going to continue my education...I'm just not going to California that's all."
Another spew of insults and scolding came from the other line as Shizuko held out at arms length as she rubs her ear annoyingly. After a few seconds she warily nears the phone back to her ear. "Have you calmed down now?"
"Why in all that's is holy would you give up this opportunity? You were begging me, begging me to let the administrative change their minds about recommending you and now you're just going to throw it away?!" Shizuko shrinks at her shrill voice.
"Look, I just think...that California is too far for me and," Shizuko smiles sadly as she looked at the gravestone of her deceased mother and father. "Visiting Namimori reminded me of the reason why I wanted to become a doctor in the first place. I know going to California is going to be bring me a lot of money but I don't want that, I never wanted that." She looks up at the sky and smiles slightly. "I wanted to become a doctor because I wanted to help people, people like my mother and father."
"But you'll be helping a lot of people in California!" Her professor rebukes. "Important and rich people!"
Shizuko smiles stiffly as she tears her gaze away from the sky and back to the gravestone. "Please respect my decision professor. And I-I'm sorry for putting so much trouble on you."
She suddenly went silent and Shizuko bites her lower lip nervously. The minutes stretched on until finally, she heard a long and tiresome sigh.
"Fine I'll tell the administration. You made your decision but that doesn't mean I like it. Make sure you prepare yourself for weeks worth of work, got it? If you think you were being worked to the bone before, just wait until you return!"
And with an evil chuckle she cuts off the line. Shizuko laughs nervously as she pockets the phone. "Looking forward to it Professor." She murmurs sarcastically as she approaches the grave and starts to move away the dead leaves that had gathered around the grave.
"I'm really sorry you guys," She reaches out shakily and touches the nameplate. "Truly honest to God sorry."
Shizuko balls her fist tightly as she shook away the overwhelming feeling of crying. She had wanted that job in California but she felt that the reason why she wanted that job was for selfish reason. Selfish reasons that included running away from the friends and family that she had made in Namimori. She truly did want to be with them-Tsuna and everyone-but she had felt that the first thing she had to do was fix herself. She needed to find the broken pieces and glue them back together. And who knows? Maybe by next year, she'd be bringing along a boyfriend for the next visit.
A pang of pain envelops her as that thought crosses her mind. She shakes her head helplessly. No, it wasn't the right thing to do to play with someone heart like that just because her own heart was in a huge mess right now. Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you...was that right? She thought glumly as she walked away from the grave of the two people whom she had loved with all of her heart. She had one year, she told herself, one year to fix up the broken pieces of her heart and come back to Namimori.
"Shizuko-nee!"
Shizuko slightly froze at the slightly girlish voice that was calling out for her name. She squinted at the figure that was running towards her and realized it was Fuuta. With sweat running down the side of his face, he exhaustedly stood in front of her. He took in greedy amounts of air as inhaled deeply. Shizuko looked at the poor condition Tsuna was in and her motherly instincts turned on in that instant. Shizuko moved towards him and doted on the poor boy, she took out a handkerchief and started wiping his face to get rid of the sweat.
"Fuuta! What in the world were you doing? Are you sick? Why are you so pale? Here have some water!" She quickly reaches into her bag and takes out some bottled water. Fuuta took it, mumbled something incoherent that sounded like a thank you, and downed the bottle in one go. After finishing the bottle, he wipes the last remnants of the liquid from his mouth, and looks at her with tired but determined eyes.
"I-Is something wrong?" She asked nervously. With half of the people she cared about in the mafia, it was hard to calm down whenever someone looked so serious.
"N-Nothing at all!" He shouted a little bit to happily, his eyes softening. Fuuta knew as to why he was here and knew that he had to succeed at his mission. He wanted Shizuko to be happy, everyone wanted that. So he knew he had to thing fast. "Sooo, how's the weather?"
Shizuko's face fell. Was he seriously asking about the weather? Shizuko tried not to burst out into laughter.
"Well, since were outside and we aren't being pelted by a torrential rain." She smirks amusingly. "I'd say pretty good."
"Haha!" Fuuta laughed a little too loudly, a little to fakely. "You're so funny, nee-chan!"
"Okay, stop it Fuuta. You're scaring me. Not only do you not have a future in acting but you're hiding something. So spill it." Shizuko glared lightly. Fuuta seemed to have flinched but nonetheless gained his composure back and plastered on a fake smile. Shizuko smiled evilly, Fuuta was always the good kid and never liked being scolded and she knew just how to make him confess. It wasn't the nicest way to do it but she knew that Fuuta wouldn't come running to her, with sweat pouring down from his face just to ask about the weather.
"Fuuta De La Stella!" Shizuko shouted, using the same reprimanding voice she had used when they were still so young. Usually this was reserved for Lambo and this was the first time Fuuta heard this voice directed at him. Fuuta flinched physically, feeling like he just committed a crime he hung his head low and Shizuko quickly regretted as his lips started to quiver. She reached out a gave him a hug to stop him from completely bursting out into tears, she never liked it when people cried in front of her. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Fuuta." She soothed and Fuuta nodded slightly. With a sigh of relief, Shizuko patted his back-signifying the end of the hug. But Fuuta didn't let go. Confused Shizuko patted him once again, this time a little harder. Still, he held on.
"Ah...Fuuta? When another person pats another person's back it says that the hug should end. It's kind of like an unspoken rule...so...could you let go now?"
But Fuuta didn't so much as budge, he kept on clinging to her like koala.
"I-I'm sorry Shizuko-nee," Fuuta sniffed, trying to hide the way his voice cracked but failed. "Hayato-nii told me not let you go anywhere until he and Tsuna-nee arrived."
At the mention of Tsuna's name, Shizuko went rigid. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. She glared at the back of Fuuta's head as her hands clinched tightly.
"That son of a-" Shizuko cuts herself off, not wanting to curse in front of Fuuta. "Look, Fuuta. Don't listen to Gokudera. Let me go okay? I'm really busy right now." She pleaded but Fuuta didn't even budge. She tried to push him away but with Fuuta's strong build and tight grip, it was impossible to get away from his grasp.
"Look Fuuta," Shizuko growled out, entirely serious. "I'm seriously going to yell out rape if you don't let me go!" She shouted but Fuuta shook his head, making some of his hair enter her mouth almost gagging her. She spits out the brown locks of hair and digs her fingers into Fuuta's shirt, thinking he would let go. She could feel Fuuta flinch but in the end he still held on.
"You're evil! You are pure evil! I swear the moment I buy some sweets from England I'm going to give them all to Lambo! You hear me?! Fuuta, let me go!" She shouted as panic and anger erased all rationality. Tears welled up in her eyes at the passing thought that right at that moment, Tsuna was making his way over to where they were. She wasn't ready. She knew that if she saw Tsuna smiling and telling her once again how he and Kyoko were back together-she would finally lose all reason and hope and run away. Run away for good. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE TSUNA!" She shrieked hysterically, not caring at all that she might have completely damaged Fuuta's sense of hearing.
"But Tsuna-nii is looking for you," Shizuko fell silent. Her brain stopped function as all of her systems just seemed to shut down. Fuuta breaks away from the hug and stares at Shizuko with a small smile, tears forming in his eyes. "Tsuna-nii is finally looking for you."
Shizuko stared at him, searching his face for any trace of deceit.
She found none.
Not a single one.
And, without her permission and knowledge as to why, an onslaught of tears started to fall down from her face.
"But then again, it is only hope which is real, and reality is a bitterness and a deceit."
William Makepeace Thackeray
A/N:
It seems that the masses have one and were going to go with a happy ending~ Hoho. This is really my favorite chapter since well, have you noticed that the three quotes up there are connected?
You just scrolled up and connected them didn't you? ;) Cool don't you think? haha, well it just poped into my head and I thought I should try it.
SO once again, thank you for your reviews you guys~ Honestly, if I have a bad day all I do is read your guys reviews as I grin like an idiot.
ONCE AGAIN~! THANK YOU~~~!
Less than three!
Less than three~!