Tada! I'm on a roll! Writing for this is getting easier than ever. So, enjoy while you can!

This update was beta'd by the awesome Ezrudine! You're amazing!

Chapter 21: In the Dark

It was only the three witches with Gokudera following them. Tsuna was panting with all his might to fill his lungs with air. He was slowly dying, the brunet was fully aware of that. He could hear voices telling — almost pleading — for him to stay awake. It was getting harder to do so though. He felt wet, dirty, and cold. His warmth was replaced with a terrifying chill throughout his body. Tsuna felt like he was continuously spinning in circles. Gokudera glanced behind his shoulder to examine the weapon. It was getting worse, he couldn't feel the heavy weight on his back anymore.

"We need to hurry! Where is the nearest hospital?" Gokudera growled.

"We're not going to the hospital yet." Bianchi answered.

"What? Where are we going then?"

"To Lady Maabaa... We need her permission and also the Witch Judge's. We can easily get it from Lady Maabaa, but it might be harder from Witch Judge."

Passing many houses and shops, they rushed down the long trail to a building in ruins. Gokudera furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. Why would the oldest and strongest witch be in a place like this? Reading his mind, Bianchi explained that it was the Witch Courtroom, where they perform trials and punishments. Mostly, it's about punishments since Witch Judge prefers to dish it out than prevent it. They went through the long entry hall into a broken and spacious courtroom. Witches from everywhere were sitting around as they watch the guilty party receive their punishments. Lady Maabaa and Witch Judge was sitting together at the far end.

"Who is disrupting this court session?" The Witch Judge roared.

She was in the middle, giving out punishments. Witch Judge was a tall woman that had her hair styled into cat ears with whisker markings on each side of her cheeks. Her black and white kimono split in the middle, exposing a part of her breasts with one of her arm sticking out. Next to her was a short woman that was covered in clothing from head to toe. Black robes concealed her body and lower half of her face with large safety pins. Her white hat had two red eyes and a pointy smile. The only thing they could see was her white hair that covered her missing eyeball and her red eyes staring at them. Lady Maabaa wasn't too much to a talker.

"You've brought the Shibusen here..."

"Please, one of them is heavily injured and needs immediate medical attention." Bianchi explained.

"Then, send him to DMWA! They'll handle that!"

"We don't have enough time for that, desu!" Haru added.

The Witch Judge was about to retaliate when Lady Maabaa raised a hand to stop her. The cat witch silenced herself. The small witch lifted herself from her seat and floated to the group. Her single red eye scanned the brunet on Gokudera's back. Tsuna wasn't doing too well; no, it was already far worse. If he doesn't get treatment now, he will die.

"He is the one..." Lady Maabaa whispered.

It was faint, but the group heard her. She raised her hands up and the group disappeared in a puff of smoke. They were suddenly in a dim lit room, they presumed that it was the unused emergency room.

"Let us begin..."

It was during class when he heard it. Reborn had just finished his lesson early and given the students free time to complete any homework. Yamamoto was sitting back, relaxing. His girlfriend, Noriko, was sitting next to him as their group chatted. Yamamoto, for some odd reason, wasn't too interested in the conversation around him. Yet, there was one that he found himself listening to.

"Yeah, my mother's a witch. She said that there were some witches that brought some DMWA students. I heard one of them was dying." One student whispered.

"Really? What do you think might be the cause of that?"

"I don't know. Mother said that they came asking for medical attention. The leader said that one of them was 'the one'."

"Wow! That sounds amazing. But who were those guys?"

This was the reason that made Yamamoto's blood run cold.

"The three witches were Scorpion Bianchi, Penguin Haru, and Doe Kyoko. The students were Hayato Gokudera and Tsunayoshi Sawada."

"Who was the one injured?"

"Useless Tsuna..."

Yamamoto rose from his seat and ran out of his room. Noriko was calling out to him in confusion. All of the attention was on the retreating back of the sword meister. Reborn stayed silent as he hid his face with his black fedora.

Running, running as fast as he can. There was only one way to get into the Witch's Realm. The one that knows would be Death-sama himself. Everything was mostly a blur until he was face to face with Death-sama. The reaper was inside his mirror, head tilted to the side. It wasn't normal or permitted to suddenly visit Death-sama for unreasonable purpose. Yamamoto was blabbering on about Tsuna and him being heavily injured. Death-sama nodded his head as he looked down.

"Tsuna-kun is resting in the Dispensary Room. This is his second day back. I suggest not visiting him."

"B-But...! I'm his meister. Why was I not told?"

"We would think you would react badly as you are now."

"I'm not reacting badly! I just feel offended that no one told me that Tsuna is heavily wounded!"

With that, Yamamoto panted for air. The two of them stared for a long moment. The unconscious anger shimmered down as the sword meister took a breather. Death-sama clapped his hands together and slowly exited his mirror. He patted one of his large square hands on Yamamoto's shoulder.

"I apologize on my part. Not telling you was not the right decision, but this was one of Tsuna-kun's requests."

"Tsuna's request...?"

"Yes, I went to visit him. Hayato-kun said that he didn't want you to worry."

Yamamoto eased his tension and dropped his shoulders in defeat. If that's what Tsuna wanted, he had to respect that. He never knew that it would be like this. The brunet said that he was going somewhere with Gokudera. He thought that it was something that wouldn't take too long and they would come home safe and sound.

"I... I just really hate myself for not going with him... If only I was there. This shouldn't have happened."

"Actually, there is something I want to gain out of this conversation."

"What would that be?"

"There was a group that Tsuna-kun had to battle. One of them was Genkishi. You should be familiar with him."

Those were the words he didn't want to ever hear. No, it wasn't the words. It was that person's name. His well-known calmness snapped. Not only was Genkishi responsible for his mother's and his father's depression, he also injured his weapon to the point that it was life-threatening. There was never anyone else he hated with his entire being. Genkishi was literally becoming a trigger to activate all these negative feelings. And for him to suddenly appear in his life again, it was not doing much of a favor on his part nor was it doing any better for Tsuna. Yamamoto dropped his head and lowered himself to the floor, sitting. He took a calming breath to escape the anger. All he wanted to do was see if Tsuna was doing alright.

"He was my mother's murderer. That caused my father to fall into depression. And the life threatening position Tsuna is in was because of him."

"I suppose he's becoming active as of late."

"Something must be going on if Tsuna was involved with it."

"True, true... Anyways, you must want to see Tsuna-kun. Under circumstances, I would say no, but you have my permission. Go and see if he's all right."

Yamamoto smiled brightly as he quickly nodded his head. In a blink of an eye, the sword meister was gone. Death-sama stood there for a second, deep in thought. He hummed absentmindedly as he slid back into the mirror. Since the safe return of his students, there was something bothering him. Lady Maabaa and he had a long discussion on the same day. There was someone who was organizing a plan to revive Asura. They couldn't allow that. Lady Maabaa also shined some light on a possible prevention. The key was Tsuna. That was the part he never understood. Why would Tsuna be the key? He didn't see any possible ability that the boy can possibly hold to stop madness itself. Death-sama lowered his head.

"I better pay close attention to Tsuna-kun."

The heart monitor's constant beeping was the only reassuring thing that said Tsuna was alive. Yamamoto was standing on the side of the bed, taking in the sight. Tsuna was required to wear a mask so he could breathe properly. An intravenous line was inserted to provide the nutrition for the unconscious weapon. It was frightening to see how fragile Tsuna was on the hospital bed. Yamamoto dropped his head and clenched his hands. He never wanted to see this ever again.

"You finally showed up..." A low voice said.

Yamamoto's head snapped up and saw a familiar silver haired meister standing at the end of the bed. His emerald eyes were locked on the brunet. His eyebrows crunched up together at the disapproving sight. It seemed like he didn't want to see Tsuna like this either.

"Gokudera... What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious, idiot? I'm checking up on Tsunayoshi. He's been unconscious since his operation. He lost too much blood..."

As if realizing something, Yamamoto slowly walked over to Gokudera. His fist gripped tightly on the cannon meister's shirt as he looked angrily worried. He was there when Tsuna got injured. He was the reason why Tsuna was on this bed; something he didn't want to see.

"Why...? Why didn't you protect Tsuna? He couldn't do things like that on his own. Especially since he can't fight someone like Genkishi..."

"I don't appreciate being blamed because you don't have the right to do so. And don't think I tried. If I knew things would turn out like this, I wouldn't have asked Tsunayoshi to come." Gokudera whispered.

"You shouldn't have at all! Last time he was like this, he barely made it... He might not even make it this time!"

"If you're playing the blaming game, fine. It's your fault too. Instead of being all flirty with that girlfriend of yours, you should have paid more attention to your weapon."

"I...! It's...!"

The words couldn't form properly. It was like they were stuck in his throat. No, it was more like Gokudera was right. He should have paid more attention to Tsuna. Since he got together with Noriko, there was a wall building itself between them. That's when the brunet began doing things on his own. If he hadn't waste all that time, this wouldn't have happened.

"It's not in my place to blame you. You're already doing that yourself... Tsunayoshi wouldn't want you to do that... During the operation, he said it wasn't your fault and not to worry you."

"He... Why would he say that?"

"Isn't it obvious? He cares about you. He thought it was best to keep you in the dark."

"Tsuna wanted me... In the dark...?"

Gokudera nodded his head. He didn't understand it either. When it comes to weapons, meisters are the ones that knows everything about them. It was part of the package of their partnership. So, when he was told that Tsuna wanted Yamamoto in the dark, he was flabbergasted. The sword meister slowly released his tight hold on Gokudera as he moved back. Yamamoto walked to the side of the bed, his hand on top of Tsuna's. It was a terrible sight to see. And to hear that made it worse.. . He closed his eyes, praying that the beeping sound doesn't stop until Tsuna was conscious again.

"The leader of the Witch's Realm... Maabaa said he won't wake up any time soon. All we can do is wait."

"Yeah... I guess so." Yamamoto whispered.

"C'mon. It wouldn't do anyone any good if you're worried. Go and spend some time with your girl. I heard she's looking for you." Gokudera suggested.

"No... I want to stay here for a while. Just in case..."

Gokudera nodded his head, respecting Yamamoto's choice. He shoved down one of his hands in his pant pocket and turned his heel. Yamamoto moved closer and pressed his head down on Tsuna's weak hand. There was a faint warmth. Weak, but still there. It meant that Tsuna was still fighting to live. Tears were forming through his closed eyes. This time, he promises that he'll never let this happen again.

"I'm not going anywhere anymore."

Tsuna was back in his apartment, fully conscious. The brunet scanned the living room in confusion. It felt strange. Last time, he absolutely knew he was at Egypt. The sound of footsteps from the kitchen was notable when it was moving closer to the living room. The faceless person entered with a wide smile, two hands holding cup ramens. He looked joyous the minute he stepped in. He carefully settled down the cups on the table and eased Tsuna into their couch, giving the brunet his meal. He took his own and began sipping the noodles. Tsuna was staring down at his, the steam clinging on his skin.

"Did something happen?"

"Of course, you're finally back home from the Dispensary room."

"But... I was just in Egypt... I couldn't possibly have been at the Dispensary room."

"Are you okay, Tsuna? That was three months ago. You finally became conscious five days since you were in there. Miss. Tsubame kept you there for three months after complain about you hurting yourself too much."

Tsuna kept quiet. It felt weird that he couldn't recall any of that. The nameless person placed a gentle hand on the brunet's shoulder and leaned him closer. Tsuna blushed lightly as he stirred the noodles. It was still hard to believe that there was actually someone out there willing to spend time with him. Even more so if that person loved him. He relaxed himself against the smooth chest as he slurped his noodles. The familiar taste the brunet grew used to tasted different. It was actually delicious. He looked into the cup to see sliced boiled eggs and the water a reddish orange color from the curry powder.

"You like it? We've been eating ramen a lot. I thought the taste would be getting old."

"It's delicious. I hope we have some more eggs and curry powder. I want another one."

"Haha! Once you're done with that, I'll make a another one. We're stocked up on those." The nameless person laughed.

"Good. I don't mind eating this everyday."

The two of them chatted on about other things. The nameless person was already done with his and held the brunet against his chest, arms wrapped around his waist. Tsuna almost forgot that he still had some bits of noodles left. The feeling between felt so natural and comforting. The sun outside was trying its best to remain awake as it was setting down. The nameless person bent his body down and pressed his lips on Tsuna's forehead, smiling. The brunet blushed happily as he tried to return it. Everything, from their conversation to their kiss, felt perfect. He really wished he'd meet this person soon.

"Let's do something tomorrow. Let's go on a date. It's been a while. We can relax since there's also no school."

"Sure. That would be great."

The nameless person smiled brightly before kissing Tsuna's forehead again.

He wouldn't mind falling in love this person.

I feel like a sadist from doing that to Tsuna. Just when he is fine, bam! He's in another life-threatening situation. Well, I guess that's the best wake up call I can think of for our Yamamoto. He's not going anywhere anytime soon. But I'm thinking of giving Tsuna someone else to fall for since Yamamoto might be too late for that. Who will it be? So, what do you think? Any good? Review, favorite, follow. Review motivates inspiration...