CHAPTER 20: HER WORDS
"Wake up, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna opened his eyes slowly, his body still recovering for the immense pain he had felt earlier on before passing out. His eyes widened once he saw the man standing before him, in Chrome's place.
"Mukuro…" He muttered. "Thank you."
"I would've liked to distance myself from your matters, but it seems that you needed my help."
Tsuna looked around him, as his guardians, Reborn and Rush slowly came to. Gokudera slowly sat up, his eyes scanning his surroundings and staring blankly at the doorway, where Xanxus left and took Iiya with him. He struggled to get himself back on his feet, staggering towards the doorway.
"Gokudera, where are you going?" Yamamoto shouted over him, fumbling to grab his weapon.
"Where I'm going, you ask?" Gokudera muttered, clenching his fist as he tried to hold his pain in.
Yamamoto frowned, knowing what he was about to say.
"I'm gonna go after that bastard, of course!"
"And can you really do that, in that state?" Reborn asked, forcing Gokudera to rethink his decision.
"Gokudera-kun…"
Tsuna walked over to his friend, pausing for a moment before giving him a hug. Gokudera didn't even look at Tsuna, burying his face in Tsuna's shoulder, ensuring his face was covered as he felt himself break apart. Yamamoto tried his best to hold in his pain as well, walking over and putting his arm around Gokudera. Ryohei sighed and join them, carrying a very solemn look on his face.
"I'm sorry for losing my cool, Juudaime…" Gokudera apologised weakly.
"It's ok, Gokudera-kun…" Tsuna replied.
"We let Xanxus take her away too easily…" Yamamoto shook his head.
"We were an extreme failure… Both as her friends and her students." Ryohei mumbled.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna turned to face Mukuro.
"The effects of the Hell Ring will last for a few hours. You should recuperate first, then form a plan to get this girl back," Mukuro said. "It seems that this girl is someone Chrome cares about, so I will be ready to offer my assistance for her sake."
With that said, Mukuro vanished again, shrouding himself in mist before switching places with Chrome, whose knees buckled from the pain. Rush ran over to help her up, taking Mukuro's words into consideration.
"I agree with that guy," Rush nodded, catching everyone else's attention.
"Same here," Reborn added.
"We can't do anything now, since we have no idea where Xanxus went. Given that Mukuro was here and we're all in one piece, he must've defeated Mammon… And as expected, Mammon escaped before Mukuro could finish him off, just like how it was during your Representative Battles," Rush explained.
"After the effects wear off, we should all go home and rest. We'll come back here tomorrow morning and formulate a plan," Reborn spoke. "I'll contact Dino and if I have to, I'll ask the Ninth to find out more details about the wedding."
"Iemitsu told us officers about Xanxus' intentions for going after our boss," Rush noted. "And I believe the six of us won't allow him to have his way."
Rush stood up, struggling to get to his feet.
"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I need to make some calls." Rush's voice sounded extremely serious. "I need to inform the other five officers about our boss' situation, as well as request for help with fixing the facility and tending to the injured. You guys should head home once you're feeling better."
"Tsuna, remember to tell Iemitsu what happened once we get home," Reborn ordered. "Kidnapping the boss of an organisation within the Vongola is a severe offence."
Reborn's face darkened with anger.
"Especially because it's Iiya, the CEDEF has every right to get involved now."
Gokudera opened the door to his apartment and stepped inside, dropping his groceries on the kitchen counter. His apartment felt strangely cold and empty without her around. He sat down on the floor in front of the coffee table, spacing out as Uri climbed onto his lap. Uri seemed to understand how her owner was feeling, curling up on his lap and purring softly, while nuzzling her head against his stomach. He stroked Uri's fur, hoping that it would calm him down, but unfortunately it had no effect.
"DAMN IT!"
Gokudera slammed his fist onto the table over and over again, filled with resentment towards Xanxus, as well as himself. Every single time he was charged to protect her, he had failed miserably. Now, he had no clue on where Iiya was hidden and there was nothing he could do for her.
"Meow?"
Uri hopped off his lap and crawled under the table, as if she was searching for something. He peeked under the table and noticed that there was something under Uri's paw. Taking the mysterious object, he discovered that it contained a DVD, with words written on it.
"For Juudaime and his Guardians..?"
The next day, Reborn, Tsuna and his Guardians gathered in the conference room in DS55's headquarters, along with Rush. Repairs were still ongoing in the main hall, with personnel from Vongola's allies helping out with the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure. It was rather noisy, but thankfully, the conference room was soundproof and they were able to converse without interruption.
"For us?" Tsuna asked.
"Yeah…" Gokudera muttered. "Uri found it under my table yesterday."
"Let's watch this before we begin the conference, shall we?" Rush suggested, putting the DVD into the player and playing it immediately.
Once he pressed play, Iiya's face instantly appeared on the screen. She was sitting on the bed, her legs crossed, with Uri sleeping by her side.
"Hey guys."
Hearing her voice again left Gokudera speechless. Yamamoto glanced at him, with a worried look in his eyes.
"If you all are watching this now… It probably means that Xanxus took me with him, and someone in this room got so mad that he banged the table at home… Until the disk got detached from the surface and dropped onto the floor."
Everyone stared at Gokudera, who simply looked away and lit up another cigarette.
"I'm going to try and make this as quick as I can before that someone gets home."
Iiya sighed and stroked Uri's fur.
"Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about training all of you." She spoke. "It's true that I've trained lots of personnel within the Vongola, both within and outside of DS55. But training a boss and his guardians are a lot trickier. I had my own concerns about each of you, and I had to prepare myself beforehand, because I didn't know what you all were like. I couldn't tell how you'd all react to being trained by someone younger than you."
At this point, Iiya was starting to smile.
"But after I got to know all of you better, all the reservations I had about you disappeared. You welcomed me not only as an instructor, but also as your friend, and I couldn't be more thankful for that."
"If Xanxus succeeds in forcing this marriage on me, I doubt he'll allow me to contact any of you. He'd do anything to restrict my ability to act independently within the Vongola. If what Iemitsu said is true, Xanxus will probably erase my influence in the mafia world and absorb DS55 into the Varia. So in case I never get to speak to any of you again, I'd like to say something to each and every one of you here."
"I'll start with the very first guardian I fought amongst all of you. Guardian of the Cloud Ring, Hibari Kyoya."
Hibari looked up, staring ahead at the screen.
"You remind me of myself when I was younger, and still in the Varia. When I first entered the Varia, all I could think about was defeating the enemy before me and completing my missions. But doing that felt meaningless to me after a while. I guess… Have patience, Hibari. Have patience and find your reason for fighting. When you fight to protect what you believe in, you demonstrate more strength and kindness than anyone could ever imagine. Don't ever forget that."
Hibari nodded and looked away, seemingly taking her words into consideration.
"Guardian of the Mist Ring, Chrome Dokuro. You're the quietest among all of Tsuna's guardians. Sometimes, I can't really tell what you're thinking. But I can feel your determination to become stronger for your friends and most importantly… I can feel how protective you are towards your boss."
Tsuna looked at Chrome immediately, smiling at her.
"Continue to open up to the rest of the Family. And don't ever think you're weak… Because your duty towards your boss and your friends is what makes you stronger each day."
Iiya watched Uri get up to sit in between her legs, before continuing.
"Guardian of the Sun Ring, Sasagawa Ryohei."
Ryohei's eyes burned with determination, nodding as if she were really speaking to him.
"I've always admired how enthusiastic you were in every training. Even when everyone else was tired, you never seemed to stop going. And not even once did you slack off in your training… It's amazing how persistent you are sometimes. Never lose that persistence, Ryohei. Keep up your spirit and continue to motivate the Family with your energy… To the extreme."
"Yes!" Ryohei nodded, acknowledging her words.
"Guardian of the Lightning Ring, Lambo."
"Iiya…" Lambo sniffled.
"The youngest of them all. I was the most worried about training you, because you were still so young. I was about your age when I joined the Varia, and I know how scary the world seems when you're still young and inexperienced. But when you're focused, you surprise me the most with your strength. Stay focused, Lambo! I'm always rooting for you, even if I can't be by your side any more."
"Iiya!" Lambo cried. "Then come back and let Lambo-san surprise you!"
"Guardian of the Rain Ring, Yamamoto Takeshi." Iiya said. "I now understand what Reborn means when he talked about you. You have a certain flair in your fighting style… You really were born for this. I'm glad that you still train hard despite that, and you're always there to calm the Family down whenever they get into their friendly quarrels. Yamamoto, I'm counting on you to keep the peace within the Family."
Yamamoto nodded, showing his acceptance of her request.
"Guardian of the Sky Ring, Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"Iiya-san…" Tsuna muttered.
"I'm glad that you were the chosen boss of the Vongola Family. You're the only one who possesses the kindness and generosity needed to overcome our bloodstained past. I rejected the Representative Battle, knowing that you were what the Vongola needed. And for that, I was more than willing to help you in any way. Thank you for being my friend, Tsuna. Become a boss who is strong not because of his ability to defeat foes, but for his ability to bring peace and protect those around him."
Iiya looked down for a moment and took a deep breath, knowing who was left.
"And last but not the least, the Guardian of the Storm Ring, Gokudera Hayato."
Gokudera looked at her, as she struggled to find the words she wanted to say.
"Umm… Things escalated pretty quickly between us, didn't it?"
"Yeah," he mumbled under his breath.
"You're hot-headed and harsh with your words on the surface… And even though you leave me confused sometimes, I could always sense how you felt towards me. I think… I think you were the best thing that happened to me here, you know?"
"Please don't blame yourself for being unable to protect me. I've always had a feeling that Xanxus would come for me once I turned eighteen, because that's when he was supposed to marry me."
Gokudera could hear her choking up on her words, as tears began to well up in his eyes.
"I'm going to miss spending every single day by your side, Hayato. I'm going to miss the way you scold me whenever I try to snatch your cigarettes. I'm going to miss the way you get all worked up when I tease you. And I'm going to miss… The way you hold me every night when I can't sleep, and all I can feel is your warmth around me."
Iiya used her sleeve to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay by your side, Hayato. I wish I could. But maybe it wasn't meant to be in this lifetime."
Iiya sighed.
"I'll never run out of things to say to you, so maybe I should just end here. I don't want to end this video looking sad because… You gave me more happiness than I could ever imagine."
Iiya took a deep breath and smiled brightly.
"Don't forget me, okay? Because I won't forget you."
Gokudera hit the pause button, much to everyone's surprise. They watched as he took out the envelope Iiya's older self had given him.
"This expression… It's too familiar…"
He took the picture out of the envelope, causing Tsuna and Yamamoto to gather around him.
"Why does Iiya have the same expression as this girl..?"
"Is it a picture of Iiya when she was younger?" Yamamoto asked.
"No, it isn't," Reborn hopped over to join them. "What did Iiya's future self tell you?"
Gokudera recalled the words Iiya's older counterpart had said to him when she passed him the envelope.
"She just mentioned something about her having my eyes…"
Reborn peered closely at the girl in the photograph and smiled.
"I think I know who this girl is."
"Who is she, Reborn-san?" Gokudera asked.
Reborn hopped over and sat on Gokudera's shoulder.
"She's your daughter from the future."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter turned out to be much longer than I expected, so I chose to end it here. Tsuna and his guardians will firm up their resolve in the next chapter and finally meet Iiya's officers! :)
This story is already approaching its end and I hope I'll be able to deliver on these last few chapters :)
Thank you for reading this chapter! Do leave a review if you'd like to give any feedback on this story :) Thank you for reading this story so far and do stay tuned :)