Ello, I'm back with another chapter of If It Stopped Raining! It's the special date I talked about several chapters back… That's right, it's Yamamoto's 16th? Birthday. Not sure about his age but whatever cause we love him in all his ages! So how do we celebrate his birthday (In this story anyway haha)? Well you have to read on to find out!
So this one took a long long time as well, I got tons of excuses but I bet you're tired of hearing them anyway haha. I'm working on the new chapter of Vongola Workshop right now. So much I want to write, just not enough time! It's a new year everyone! Isn't that exciting? I'm almost finish an one-shot as well. Thank you very much for all your support in the last six months, I could've never wrote this if you weren't there! Thank you!
Thank you for all your support! Anyway, onto Chapter 21!
Previously in If It Stopped Raining
It took awhile before Yamamoto finally leaned back on the bench and looked up directly into the sunny sky. A frown teased the corners of his mouth. Looking strangely content and without a doubt ashamed of himself; the ex rain guardian said aloud to no one in particular. "Your Dad would absolutely kill and butcher me into pieces if he ever found out."
Do I only like the adult version of Yamamoto?
This was a weird subject for Tsuna to think about since they are technically the same person. Is it possible for him to love Yamamoto's future but not his present? He didn't think so. The pull of his heart was still there whenever he thought of his rain guardian. The guilt he felt will never go away until the Yamamoto he knew returns but Tsuna questioned if there was even a way for that to happen.
There was another thing from his encounter that bothered Tsuna. Ten year Yamamoto wore the rain ring around his neck, yet Tsuna himself had no clue as to the location of the ring. Could this be a hint for Tsuna from the future? There is only one way to find out. Tsuna's mission: Find the Vongola rain ring before Yamamoto's birthday. He only has a single clue to the ring's whereabouts; Reborn, his cruel Spartan tutor. This Tsuna decided, was going to be one hell of a dangerous mission.
Chapter 21
His Stolen Heart
"1x plus 3x plus 2x is equal to 36. Please find the value of x and check your solution." Mr. Boring Math Teacher wrote the equation on the blackboard. "Solve this question and in a few minutes, one of you will be so lucky as to tell me the answer to this equation. Now get to work!" Several of the students groaned while others promptly started scribbling in their books. Gokudera's seat was empty, just as it had been the day before and the day before and the day before that. In fact, the usually smarty-pants boy had been missing from school for the entire week. This was atypical of the boy who was practically attached to Tsuna at the hip, at least if Tsuna didn't bat him away. A couple desks behind the empty desk sat Yamamoto Takeshi, the boy who was good at baseball and whose family owns a sushi restaurant.
"Hmmmm…" Yamamoto thought quietly. "Hmmmmm…" He wondered aloud this time around. The boy had no clue how to solve the equation. He was a natural when it comes to sports but when it goes down to stuff like school; it was definitely not his strong point.
"I wonder what the chances that he will call on me are?" Yamamoto thought for a moment and after debating with himself, he decided the chances were pretty high. Everyone in the class knew for a fact that this math teacher was someone who likes to see stupid and dumb people trying to answer his questions. When they fail to answer it correctly, he will laugh openly at their stupidity. His usual and favourite targets to pick on were Tsuna and himself. Personally, he didn't give a damn what the teacher says, but Yamamoto didn't think it was how a respectable teacher should act. Yamamoto wasn't surprised when this teacher became known to other people as "Mr. Asshole".
"I might as well try to solve it anyway." Yamamoto mumbled as he started rearranging random numbers on the page. "Hmmm… There are 3x, 2x, and x. Lets divide thirty-six by three first... Then divide that by two which would be six. Divide that again by one would give me six for my final answer... I think."
Even if the steps he did were completely out of this world, they made perfect sense when he did them out and that's all that mattered. Yamamoto's odd sense of logic always seemed to work out for him miraculously enough, and so he learnt to trust his instincts instead of questioning everything that he did. Finished with the question, Yamamoto's curiosity led him to look around the room to check on his classmates. Way in the back, Sasagawa-san looked like she was finished as well since she was whispering something to her friend. On the other side of the room, Yamamoto watched a frowning Tsuna as he took a stab at the challenging math problem. The baseball player couldn't help but smile at the sight of the boy's changing expression of panic to thinking, then to panic again.
"Tsuna." Yamamoto whispered to the boy quietly. The working boy looked up from his books in confusion and searched around the classroom until he finally found the person calling him. He looked Yamamoto right in the eyes. It was surprise at first before he looked like a deer caught in headlights, then Tsuna turned back down to his books. A prickly sensation pierced his chest which Yamamoto didn't think too much of.
"Tsuna." Yamamoto hushed again. The boy at the back pretended to not have noticed the baseball player and scribbled ferociously in his notebook instead. Yamamoto was under the impression that he was on good terms with the boy, yet now Tsuna turned away from him for no apparent reason; at least none that he could think of. The grumpy voice of the math teacher brought the baseball player's attention back to the front of the room.
"Ok, time's up people!" The teacher declared as he snapped his book shut. "Now who looks like they don't know the answer…Mhmmm… Let's see…. Sawada is always a good choice. Yes… What's your answer Sawada?"
"I…" Tsuna gulped. He shrunk back from his seat even more as his classmates focused their attention on him, waiting for him to humiliate himself. "…Two maybe?"
Tsuna looked at Gokudera's empty seat before he made a guess. This gesture did not go unnoticed by Yamamoto and for a second, he felt a pang of jealousy toward the absent student. The usually overly-protective and overly-loud boy was not there to help Tsuna today.
"You're completely wrong Sawada!" The math teacher shouted. "How can you not solve such a simple problem?"
"Let's see… How about you Yamamoto? What do you have for your answer?" The teacher moved on to his next target. Tsuna was overjoyed that he was out of the spotlight for the moment anyway.
"Six." Yamamoto answered confidently.
"Six? Are you sure? I think that's completely wron-…" The teacher trailed off and said in surprise. "Right… You actually got it right?! How about this question then… I'll make sure this one is extra hard… We'll test that luck of yours today." He muttered indignantly. The teacher went ahead and scratched a couple more complex problems on the board. Several of the students groaned and blamed no-good Tsuna for his stupidity that ultimately led them to have to do more questions.
Although Yamamoto didn't voice his opinions aloud, he felt that it was entirely unfair of the class to blame Tsuna for practically everything that happens. What's worse was that Yamamoto hated himself for not having enough courage to say it in front of everyone.
Tsuna kept a straight face even as his classmates made fun of him; Yamamoto found this trait very impressive and admirable. That feeling of familiarity and déjà vu returned like a slap in the face and it was something Yamamoto couldn't explain or expect. As soon as it hit him, the memory disappeared again. Yamamoto compared it to a missing piece of a puzzle. The baseball jock was convinced the seemingly innocent boy knew something he didn't know, that at least he was sure of. Tsuna could be that missing piece of the puzzle that he is looking for. It was the only logical explanation as to why Tsuna went and talked to him like they were good friends. At that time when he told Tsuna he didn't know who he was, it seemed like he really hurt his feelings; even if he was only speaking the truth.
"Hey Yamamoto! Are you coming or not?!" Someone playfully punched his shoulder as they jogged past him. His team mates were weighed down with two tough material bags filled with baseball bats and bases.
"You've got to hurry up Yamamoto! The other team is already out on the field and the coach wants us there warming up!" Another one of his mates shouted from across the school yard. Yamamoto nodded in acknowledgment.
"Yea got it! I'm coming right away!" Yamamoto hollered back and waved them off before walking off in the opposite direction to the diamond. There was a reason why the star baseball player was procrastinating getting to the field. He wanted to talk to Tsuna and he figured that the easiest way to do that was to invite the boy to his game and then catch him afterward. The only problem now was hunting down Tsuna. It may have just been his bad luck (if that's even possible), but Yamamoto took his eyes off of him for a couple seconds to tie his shoes and by the time he was done, the boy had already disappeared from his sight.
"I just hope he hasn't left the school yet." Otherwise, Yamamoto had no alternative way of contacting the boy. There weren't many other people in the school that interacted with Tsuna, at least well enough that they would know where he lived. As far as he knew, the only people who might know were Gokudera and Sasagawa, but he didn't feel like asking either of them.
"Speak of the devil." Yamamoto said as he saw a small lone figure leaving the school. Even at a distance he was able to spot Tsuna easily. After all, there was only one person in Namimori High with that mop of brown hair. "Tsuna!" He called out and watched the boy visually cower in response before he saw that it was only Yamamoto.
"Hey… What are you still doing at the school?" Tsuna greeted timidly, his eyes darting around the school yard and looking slightly uncomfortable in the baseball player's presence. His cheeks had the most vivid blush, which Yamamoto found rather cute, not that he would say that to Tsuna since he feared that it would scare him away. The boy held his book bag in front of him as if to act as a shield or something.
"I have a baseball game in a couple of minutes, what about you? Everyone else left already."
"Nothing really… Mori from your team asked me to do cleanup duty for him since he had to play right after school."
"Mori did?"
"Yea…"
"Jeez, that guy had plenty of time to do it before the other school got here."
"That's ok, I don't really mind anyways." Tsuna insisted.
"He should at least switch you another day."
"It's ok Yamamoto!" Tsuna said in such a firm tone that even Yamamoto was a little taken back. "…It's ok. I didn't tell you this looking for some sort of retribution on him or anything… If I wanted to, I could've done that myself."
"Right. Of course."
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to sound like…" His commanding demeanour was gone quickly and was replaced by his normal stuttering self. "… a douche."
"Don't worry about it Tsuna, I know what you mean." Yamamoto reassured the boy. "So what are you doing right now?"
"I was just about to head home, why?"
"Well, our team plays Ringo High today. So if you don't have anything else to do, did you want to come and cheer for me?" Yamamoto asked with a big smile on his face.
"Umm… Actually… There is something that I have to do after school today."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry Yamamoto, but this is very important and I can't post-pone it…" Tsuna apologized quickly.
"Hey now, there's no need to apologize! You can watch another game another time, we aren't that far into our season anyway!" Yamamoto replied, trying to mask his disappointment which wasn't a very hard task for him to do. It was quite easy to mask his emotions and bottle them inside.
"Ok, next time for sure. I'll be there" Tsuna promised and ran off to the school gate and onto the street. Yamamoto's eyes lingered on his retreating shape as he deliberated why he had felt a ping of disappointment when Tsuna turned him down. His hand automatically clutched his beating heart as he stood there. With nothing to do, the baseball player jogged back to the diamond where his team and coach were all waiting for him. When he stepped up onto the plate and swung with all his might, he felt a loneliness that he had never felt before.
"Namimori wins seven to five!"
The game went according to their coach's plan. They would place hitters and fill up the bases until it was Yamamoto's turn to bat, then his job would be to clean up and bring them all home. It was a simple plan but one that worked miraculously well. In fact, this strategy contributed to all their victories so far this year.
Ringo School's pitcher had the best control over the ball than any other pitcher Yamamoto encountered before. He himself almost struck out from Ringo's pitcher's speciality screw ball with a steep drop. He could literally hear the breath hitching of his mates on his second strike and one ball. Fortunately, he was able to clear his head before the last pitch and smacked a home run that guaranteed their win.
He had performed well; he performed as was expected of him and that was good enough. No one questioned his behaviour out on the diamond and perhaps that was for the best. Yamamoto sighed deeply as he looked out the tiny window from the dressing room. He didn't even play very hard today but he was drained.
The sky was still fairly light; Yamamoto estimated it to be around six or so, no later than seven. The baseball star stripped his sweaty uniform one piece at a time. His Namimori jersey came first as he pulled it over his head. The moist material stuck to his skin as he attempted to peel it off his body. He tossed it aside before he sat down on the bench by his locker. Beads of sweat glistened on his bare chest like the morning dew; the steam coming from the hot showers didn't particularly help cool down his body.
"That was a really good game today team!" The pitcher beside him said. He was in a similar undressed state and as he congratulated the players, there was a round of excited cheer echoing in the room.
"Hell yea, we're gonna beat them all!" One of the batters at the back roared.
"If we keep this up, the championship won't be a dream anymore!"
"As long as we've got Yamamoto anyway!" The pitcher held up Yamamoto's hand and the star player put on an enthusiastic face for his team. They all looked at him expectantly for words of encouragement as a prominent figure of the team.
"Namimori's bringing home the championship this year!" Yamamoto bellowed. They responded with another round of loud shouts and agreement. Yamamoto pulled down his dirt specked pants and they pooled at his feet. His tight black boxer briefs went down next and were replaced by a light blue towel. The boxer briefs hugged around his waist and groin area to, as people would say, help "keep everything in place". Stretching his arms way over his head, Yamamoto let out a big yawn as he waited for an open shower. The little stretch caused all the muscles to flex in all the right places, exhibiting his strong chest, abdomen and arms. His back was arched at just the right angle to create a big enough bulge in the towel to cause several of his team mates to gawk and in some cases, some blush and bleed. Of course, Yamamoto was too deep in thought to notice the other players staring at him.
"Shower's free, anyone need it?" It was only when someone said that that Yamamoto snapped from his temporary trance and walked absent-mindedly into the shower.
The room continued to steam up quickly and the windows were fogged up to a frosty opaque white. Warm water sprayed out of the shower head and attacked Yamamoto's sweaty dark hair. He let the water pound and massage his aching body. His hand rubbed in a circular motion causing the tangerine shampoo to lather all over his hair. For some reason, the star player wasn't on the top of his game today. He couldn't remember the last time his mind seemed to lapse from reality in the middle of a baseball game. It wasn't the norm for Yamamoto to be thinking of other things when he is playing.
Baseball was his life.
Yamamoto was sure the coach had noticed it too because he kept looking at the scoreboard nervously up until his homerun. He really did get lucky with that last swing though; one second slower, one millimetre lower and it would've been strike out for him. Tsuna turning his offer down really struck him down. Of course Yamamoto knew it wasn't anything personal but Yamamoto couldn't help but think that he made up the excuse of something "important to do" on the spot since Tsuna said he was just going home right before that.
"It doesn't matter…" Yamamoto muttered as he turned the tap for hotter water. Once again, he didn't notice the many pair of eyes sneaking looks at his naked form as he lathered up some soap on his body.
Yamamoto made sure to put on a happier face when he stepped out of the shower for his team. After all, he should be cheerful considering they won their game today.
"So what should we do now?" Someone asked.
"Let's head home. It's getting late."
"I'm hungry!" Another complained.
"Well…" Mori started to say, trying hard to build up the anticipation in the room. "I think we should go somewhere for supper to celebrate tonight!"
"And what exactly are we celebrating?" The pitcher, Takasu asked.
"First, our team's undefeated streak!" He stood up on the bench as he made the declaration.
"But if we celebrate every time we win, then we would all be broke by the end of the season!" Takasu joked and several others broke out into laughter.
"Ok, ok. I get your point." Mori sighed dramatically but with a sloppy grin on his face. "But! There's another reason worthy of celebration and if no one else can remember why April twenty fourth is special?
"What's today?"
"Today is… Drum roll please." Mori started. "Yamamoto's birthday!"
"Really?!" One of his team mates gasped and looked at Yamamoto to confirm Mori's statement.
"Huh?" Yamamoto stopped in the middle of pulling a shirt over his head as the occupants in the change room looked at him. Maybe it was just his imagination but he swore some of his team mates were staring at his nipples and not his face.
"Is today's actually your birthday?"
"Mori isn't just pulling our legs is he?
"Is it?" He had to stop to think about that first. Lately, his sense of time and days were all jumbled and mixed up. "April twenty- fourth, right? What do you know, I forgot about my own birthday." Yamamoto laughed out loud.
"If it's Yamamoto's birthday then what are we waiting for? Let's party!" The excitement was back and the team no longer seemed tired, rather they were pumped up and ready to have some fun.
"So where should we go?" Many people threw in their own suggestions and they eagerly debated their destination.
"We gotta go karaoke; I know this place that gives great discounts!"
"I personally think the arcade would be fun."
"What about we go to the new store by the baseball stadium? I heard their stuff is good."
"A place with lots of girls would be good." One idea after another was tossed out in the center and yet, nobody noticed how Yamamoto was not one of the participating members in the conversation. The star of the day was standing by his locker off to the side, preoccupied with pulling up his black sweats.
"Hey everyone! Listen up. Yamamoto, it's your special day, where did you want to go?" Mori turned around and asked him. Under normal circumstances, Yamamoto would've just let the guys pick and go along with whatever they went with but today was different. It didn't feel right to spend his birthday with his so called friends; Yamamoto didn't know why he felt this way. They were his friends yet for the first time these past couple of days, he had been questioning whether that was true or not. It was a plaguing question that he had yet to find the answer to. His thoughts were still overwhelmed with the mystery of Tsuna. If given the choice, the baseball player would rather talk to the boy tonight.
"Actually… I promised my Dad that I would help out tonight so unfortunately I can't go." Yamamoto made up on the spot and smiled apologetically. He made sure to sound disappointed. Yamamoto wasn't a very good liar but he had been told that when he grinned, people tended to buy whatever he was saying.
"It's your birthday man! Can't you tell your old man you want the night off and hang out with us?"
"Sorry guys, but I promised him that I would be there tonight." He apologized again.
"What a spoil sport." Mori pouted. "Well crew, let's go eat before my stomach eats itself!"
"You guys go and have fun. I'll lock up the room when I leave."
"You sure you aren't gonna come with us?" Takasu asked one more time when he got to the door.
"Yea, sorry."
"Hey man, don't worry about it. See you on Monday." Yamamoto returned the wave and locked the room before he headed off in the opposite direction.
Yamamoto's trek home was considerably slow and took a significant chunk of time since he was more focused on Tsuna then actually walking. The gravel beneath his feet crunched with each step and the sky was splashed with a navy blue that reminded him of water and the ocean depth. Looking up into the heavens, Yamamoto found himself almost getting lost there among the dancing stars.
Yamamoto had intended to hunt down Tsuna after his game hence he declined his mates' offer of going out to celebrate. The only problem was that he had no idea whatsoever as to how to find the boy. He debated whether or not he should ask someone from his class like Sasagawa-san or Gokudera but he wasn't really close to either of them.
Yamamoto browsed through the contacts on his phone and started to type a message to Sasagawa-san. "Hey - this is - Yamamoto - would you - happen to…" But he thought better of it and he deleted the whole message. Going further down on his contact list, he was shocked to find both Gokudera and Tsuna's number on his contact list. He didn't have any physical memory of exchanging numbers with them yet the evidence on his phone said otherwise.
"Something's off about this whole thing…" That at least Yamamoto was sure of. Maybe Tsuna wasn't completely insane when he claimed he lost his memory. He was extremely tempted to send a message to Tsuna since he miraculously had his number on his phone but once again he thought better of it. He didn't know what to say to the boy anyway and didn't want to appear like a creep.
"I'm back." Yamamoto called out as he stepped into the familiar sushi restaurant his father proudly owns. The tiny store was packed almost full with customers. He greeted several familiar faces before he got the chance to get close to his dad where the man was working diligently. In just several fast blurring motions of his hand, his dad sliced the fresh salmon into fifteen thin portions.
"Hey Dad. Did you need help?"
"Takeshi you're back! How did your game go?"
"We won seven to four."
"Good job son! You make me proud!" He proclaimed proudly as he moulded sushi rice in his hands. "My son won another game, free round of sushi for everyone!"
"Geez Dad, you don't have to tell the world." Yamamoto frowned as he slipped on a white apron that was identical to the one his dad was wearing. His nimble fingers had no problem tying a sturdy knot on the back.
"There's no shame in a Dad being proud of his son! Takeshi what are you doing?" He asked while he rinsed his knife in running water.
"What do you mean? I'm putting on an apron." Yamamoto stated as he pulled out his own knife from the drawer. He pulled the sharpening stone and ran his blade swiftly in several slicing motions.
"What do you intend to do after you put on the apron?"
"Help?"
"I don't need your help son. Today's your birthday! Why don't you go out and have some fun with your friends? You deserve it."
"Which friends are you talking about?"
"What about the people you play baseball with."
"They're not my friends." The words escaped his mouth before he could stop himself. Yamamoto didn't know why he had said that. The easy-going teen had always considered everyone his friend, especially those on the baseball team. Yet now just as his dad asked him Yamamoto found himself unable to truly say they were his friends. This made him wonder. Who actually were his friends? He must have some.
Instead of inquiring further as to why his son would say something like that, he asked. "It doesn't matter what you do son as long as you are happy but tonight you are not allowed into the kitchen." He said firmly looking straight in Yamamoto's eyes before he turned away to fill in the next order.
"Ok, whatever you say Dad." Yamamoto sighed; slightly disappointed that he wouldn't have anything to do to keep his mind occupied tonight.
"Oh Takeshi I almost forgot, I was chatting with someone out front and she seems to know you."
"Huh?" Yamamoto was slightly excited as he wondered who it would be. "Do you know who it is?"
"Not a clue, but she's been here for awhile. I think maybe she was waiting for you to get home. Takeshi I never knew you got yourself a girlfriend." His dad grinned and nudged him playfully.
"I don't Dad."
"Well, you don't want to keep a lady waiting."
"Whatever Dad." He responded, his earlier anticipation that it could be Tsuna was squashed down and he wasn't entirely eager with the idea of talking to a girl right now. Yamamoto wasn't sure who he was expecting although the thought that it may be one of the squealing girls from school wasn't appealing to him at all. He wasn't in the mood to deal with one of those right now.
Surprisingly when he got out to the front of the restaurant, it was the dark blue-haired girl with the eye-patch he bumped into a couple days ago. She sat restlessly by herself at the sushi counter. This was the girl who called him the Rain Guardian, just as Tsuna had called him before. He didn't think much of it at that time but now that he thought back on it that was really suspicious of her.
"Hey, you're Chrome right?" Yamamoto greeted as he sat down on the stool beside her.
"Yes…" She answered back meekly. The shy girl turned the tea cup in her hands left and right which Yamamoto took as a sign of her being nervous.
"What's up?"
"Nothing really…" She said. "I saw your game today… congratulations…"
"Oh? You went to my game? Cool, where were you watching from? I don't think I saw you."
"I was standing by the trees…"
"Say Chrome, remember when I first bumped into you?"
"Yea…" The girl stopped twisting her cup and her body stiffened up.
"You said you knew me, and you called me something like a rain guardian. Do you remember?" He inquired.
"No… Yes…"
"Why did you do that?"
"I… I mistook you for someone else I know…" She responded anxiously.
"Are you sure? On that day when I asked you, you told me that you didn't know Sawada Tsunayoshi right?"
"Yes… I don't know anyone by that name." She said. Yamamoto just might've believed her if Chrome didn't look like she was about to bolt out of her stool. There was this wavering struggle in her eyes that prevented her from telling him the truth.
"The thing is he called me that exact name earlier. I couldn't and I still can't remember being called that before. It seemed too much of a coincidence that two people who don't know each other would call me by the same name." Yamamoto didn't mean to be too accusing and straight forward but he was on a roll. Now he was certain something was off and he wasn't about to let it go until he get to the bottom of this.
"I… I…"
"Hey! What's with the serious expression Takeshi?" His dad popped up from behind the counter all of a sudden, catching both teens off guard. Because all the other customers were already tended to, his Dad had more times on his hands.
"Nothing Dad, we were just chatting."
"Who were you chatting with?" He asked, absolutely mystified at his son.
"The girl you know with the dark blue hair, Chrome."
"Who's that?"
"You were the one who told me she was waiting for me."
"No I didn't and there's no one sitting beside you Takeshi." His Dad said, pointing at the empty seat beside him. There was no trace of Chrome there; even the teacup she was holding disappeared into thin air. There was no trace that she ever existed.
"Never mind, Maybe I was just too tired." Yamamoto said but deep inside, he knew Chrome was there talking to him. "So did you need me to help now?"
"Well, I suppose you could help me close up."
"It's that late already?"
"Yea, you've been sitting there for awhile now. Did you doze off?"
"I must have." Yamamoto smiled and that was the end of that conversation.
"Takeshi, you go lock the doors and I will start working on supper." Dad said and tossed him the ring of keys.
"Ok. I'll be right back." Yamamoto stepped out into the night. The sky darkened considerably since his walk home and just for a second he experienced a ping of loneliness. Then his mind drifted and he wondered what his team mates were doing right now. "Maybe I should've gone just for the heck of it…"
Footsteps sounded right behind him. The street light cast a large shadow of a man. A hand reached towards his neck.
"Who's there?!" Yamamoto whipped around and pushed whoever it was against the wall, his hand on the perpetrator's shoulder.
"Ah! Yamamoto! It's me!" He squeaked. At first Yamamoto couldn't tell who it was that he was holding. A few seconds later, when his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lighting, he saw that it was Tsuna that he pushed against the wall. "Tsuna! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed, another surprise of the night. The baseball star immediately loosened his hold on the boy.
"Hey. I thought I would stop by to wish you a Happy Birthday." Tsuna smiled, he wasn't shaken by Yamamoto's sudden attack at all. Yamamoto smiled genuinely and he couldn't help but blush slightly.
"How did you know it was my birthday? Or where I lived?" Yamamoto asked, not with suspicion but with curiosity.
"You… I…" Tsuna started. He couldn't tell him that it was Yamamoto who invited him to his house before. "I asked one of your friends where you lived."
"Oh, I see. Did you want to come inside?" Yamamoto extended his invitation. Things ended up perfect for the baseball star. This would be a perfect chance to find out what he was missing out of the big picture. He hated being kept in the dark.
"Sure." The pair walked inside, unknowing that there was someone watching them.
"Mukuro-sama…" Chrome whispered from her hiding spot behind the light pole. She stepped out of the concealment illusion that Mukuro put on her.
My sweet Chrome… We barely made it out in time before the little Vongola boy saw you…
"I'm sorry Mukuro-sama, for insisting on this visit…"
It's alright my sweet Chrome… You've done much for me… You also have the right to enjoy your freedom…
"No Mukuro-sama, I dedicate my life to you… If you did not save me, I would not be here right now…"
Tell me Chrome… Why did you almost tell him about Tsuna?
"I… don't know…"
Have you fallen for him?
"I… I don't know…"
My sweet Chrome… Do not fall in love with him… For it will only lead to disappointment…
"Why Mukuro-sama?"
Because his heart has already been taken…
Will it become a night for the two to remember? Or will it put even more distance between them? What exactly will Yamamoto find out? Be sure to find out in the next chapter If It Stopped Raining.
Author's Note - Originally this chapter would get to the meaty stuff and details of Yamamoto's birthday with Tsuna but it ended being longer than I thought it would be. The real fun stuff and action will be in the next chapter instead. Thanks again to everyone! Love you all! Rate, Comment, Review, Subscribe! Let me know what you think 3