Task 21: Two Footsteps
Disclaimer: I own a copy of the PSP game of Katekyo Hitman Reborn… but… no. I do not own Reborn… -sniffs- -sniffs-
Warning: Umm… the end may make you hate me or love me. (I'm thinking the former).
Author's Opening Rants: I made some mistakes in the last chapter concerning Verde's partner animal and Koenig's swearing. Thank you for Nekochibi-chan and ohlordies for correcting me. –grins- And for those that think that I may be discontinuing this fic, I would say it write now: I am not discontinuing this fic. School is just being a… well… being school. –shrugs- For all my fellow country… well… country-persons out there (since saying countrymen seems off since most of you would be girls), if you plan on taking computer science in DLSU, be very afraid of INTROAI (introduction to AI). It is simply murder. –sniffs- Anyway! Without further delay, I present Task 21. –grins-
Task 21: Two Footsteps
"Tsunayoshi?" Anemone-san called out as Tsuna continued to look at Hibari sitting on the floor, strumming the koto to cause a melody. They were both out in the hall, staring at the room.
"Anemone-san…" Tsuna whispered, looking at Anemone-san, "Who is that person?"
Anemone-san seemed surprised at the sudden question. With a soft smile, Anemone-san answered Tsuna with another question, "Who do you think that person is?"
Tsuna looked back at Hibari and answered, "Hibari-san."
"Then, shouldn't he be Hibari-san?" Anemone-san asked, walking towards Tsuna.
"But… But…" Tsuna closed his eyes, "I've never seen Hibari-san play the koto before. I've never seen Hibari-san in this room before. I've… I've never had those conversations with Hibari-san before."
"Tsunayoshi…"
Tsuna closed his eyes, "Letizia told me that people like me are attracted to this place but… why am I dreaming things that I have yet to experience? Why am I dreaming things that are not mine?"
"Why do you say it is not yours, Tsunayoshi?"
"Because… Because…" Tsuna opened his eyes and looked at Hibari, "Because each time I see Hibari-san in this world, I see someone else too. Someone very different yet very same… Someone…"
Anemone-san smiled softly, "Are you afraid?"
"Yes." Tsuna replied.
"Of what?"
"I'm afraid… that that person will soon replace Hibari-san in these dreams." Tsuna looked away, "Whoever that person may be."
"Why should that scare you?"
"Because…" Tsuna closed his eyes, "I cannot really control what I do in this world. And these dreams seemed so true. And…"
"And?"
"Why is the Hibari-san I'm seeing is the Hibari-san of the future? Why am I seeing him in that form?" Tsuna asked, "Why… Why do I feel like my heart is breaking each time I see him like this?"
Anemone-san closed his eyes and replied in a soft voice, "Only you can truly answer that, Tsunayoshi."
"What do you mean?" Tsuna asked. Anemone-san smiled once more.
"Maybe this time, you shouldn't go inside." Anemone-san suggested. Tsuna looked at the room for a few moments.
"If I stop coming to that room, what will happen?" Tsuna asked.
Anemone-san contemplated for a few minutes on how to answer Tsuna's question. Anemone-san smiled sadly as he replied, "Nothing, I suppose."
"This dream… isn't mine, is it?"
"It is yours but not yours alone. It is Vongola's and, at the same time, not Vongola's." Anemone-san replied, "I guess you can say… it is your past."
"When I enter that room, I wouldn't be me." Tsuna mumbled, earning a nod from Anemone-san.
"If I wake up… no… When I wake up, would I still be me?" Tsuna asked, his voice trembling slightly. Anemone-san closed his eyes.
"That… is for you to decide, Tsunayoshi." Anemone-san replied, "You can decide later…"
"Time's up, huh?" Tsuna smiled.
"I'll see you later, Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna opened his eyes and groaned, turning to his side. With a soft sigh, Tsuna stared at the wall as he tried to keep awake. Softly, Tsuna counted, "Three… Two… One…"
As if on cue, the door opened and Tsuna heard footsteps. The curtains were pushed aside in an instant, flooding the room with sunlight. Tsuna's blanket was taken away from him and Tsuna sat, smiling, "Good morning, Letizia."
Letizia mechanically folded his blanket as she greeted Tsuna back, "Good morning, Tsunayoshi-sama. The shower has been configured to suit your taste."
Tsuna nodded as he dragged his body to the bathroom. The bathroom was spacious. The tub was on the other end, taking the entire half of the bathroom. The toilet and shower were actually on another room, hidden by a misty glass door. On the other end of the room, just a few feet away from the door, was a vanity table filled with toiletries and a mirror. At first, Tsuna was a bit uncomfortable using the bathroom but he was so used to his life in the mansion now that he didn't even look when Letizia entered the bathroom while he was taking off his shorts. Letizia placed something on top of vanity table as Tsuna entered the other door. He actually liked the extension better. Unlike the gorgeous bathroom, the extension was simpler, a toilet on one side while a shower on the other. Tsuna got in and pulled the curtains. Turning on the shower, he sighed as he closed his eyes as warm water fell on him. Tsuna hated cold showers so early in the morning but he also hated hot showers so, after gathering his courage, Tsuna had told Letizia how he wanted his morning showers. The caretaker simply listened to him while wearing that expressionless mannequin face and nodded slightly, reassuring him with an emotionless tone that she would take care of it. True to her word, the following morning, Tsuna had the best morning shower he had ever experience since Reborn came to his life.
Turning the shower off, Tsuna took one of the towels that had been on top of the toilet lid. Tsuna draped the towel over his waist. Taking the other towel, Tsuna began to drying his hair. Opening the door, Tsuna walked back to the main bathroom but stopped when he noticed a mannequin standing by the vanity table. It took a moment before Tsuna realized that the mannequin was actually Letizia waiting for him. Tsuna blushed and asked meekly, "Is something wrong, Letizia?"
"Not at the moment." Letizia replied, "I was ordered by Reborn-sama to aid you."
"Aid me… in what?"
Letizia glanced at the vanity table before replying to Tsuna, "Reborn-sama has asked me to aid you in your clothes for today."
"Clothes… for today…" Tsuna frowned as he inspected the clothes on the vanity table. His eyes widened and he looked back at Letizia, "No. No!"
"Unfortunately, Tsunayoshi-sama, you have no say on this." Letizia announced, walking towards Tsuna.
"Hii!" Tsuna squealed as Letizia placed a hand to his shoulder. Her hand was as cold as her voice which only made Tsuna more nervous than he already is, "Wai-Wa-Wait a moment! At least, let me prepare my self emotionally first!"
"It will just be a waste of time, Tsunayoshi-sama."
"Wait! WAIT!!! HIII!!!"
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"So if I wrote it like this…" Yamamoto asked, showing Gokudera a piece of paper. Gokudera nodded approvingly.
"Yeah, that will work as well." Gokudera replied, "Hell, you can do it if you wanted to."
Yamamoto grinned, "Is that so? Coming from you, that was a compliment, right?"
"Don't get it over your head, baseball-freak. Although…" Gokudera looked back at the piece of paper, "Then again, your head is already full anyway."
"Really?" Yamamoto asked before laughing, making Gokudera glare at him.
"That wasn't a complement, baseball-freak." Gokudera mumbled, before turning on the page of the book, "Try this one."
"Okay." Yamamoto looked at the next problem, "Hmmm…"
Gokudera stared at Yamamoto's contemplating face for a few moments before turning his head towards his other 'student'.
"Octopus-head… I extremely don't understand this!" Ryohei shouted, showing Gokudera his paper. The three of them were inside the study hall since five in the morning. Gokudera had actually dragged the two boys while they were half-asleep and had placed on them a huge (not to mention, dusty) book. Ryohei, as Gokudera had expected, was not that good at academics which had Gokudera wondering how Ryohei could have graduated before them. Yamamoto, on the other hand, although has so-so grades, proved to Gokudera that he could do it if he wanted to. For that reason, Gokudera had been forgiving to both of his students.
"Let me see." Gokudera took the piece of paper. Well… at least he tried to be forgiving…
Gokudera felt his blood boil as he saw what was written on the paper. Gokudera slowly looked at Ryohei who was currently staring at him.
"You… YOU STUPID LAWN-HEAD!!!"
"Woah!" Yamamoto instinctively grabbed the book he had been answering and pushed his chair away as Gokudera lunged at Ryohei. Ryohei was taken by surprised but managed to grab Gokudera's incoming fist. Pieces of papers went flying around them as Gokudera's upper body was on top of the table.
"What did you call me, OCTOPUS-HEAD!!?" Ryohei shouted back.
"I've explained three times! That's three times more than needed!!! And what do you say?!!" Gokudera mimicked Ryohei's voice, "I extremely don't understand this."
Yamamoto laughed, "Actually, sempai shouted it but you managed to mimic sempai nicely, Gokudera."
"Shut up!" Gokudera growled at Yamamoto before returning his attention back at Ryohei, "I forgot you're the time of person that would understand things easier when you feel it! Get ready, Lawn-Head!!!"
Gokudera backed away from Ryohei and took out his dynamites. Ryohei backed away as well and got into his boxing stance, "Just what I wanted, Octopus-head! Men should be extreme!"
"Oy, oy, guys…"
"Take this! Double Bomb!!!"
"Extreme HOOK!!!"
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Chrome woke up when she heard an explosion which sounded like it came from the study hall. Rubbing her right eye, Chrome yawned softly and got out of bed. Before she could go to the bathroom, a sudden yelp stopped Chrome dead on her tracks. Chrome blinked and looked at her feet. Chrome gasped as she saw who she had stepped on, "K-K-Ken?"
Ken growled and glared at her, "Watch where you're going, stupid woman!"
"I'm sorry!" Chrome frantically apologized, backing away. The door to her room opened and Chigusa walked in, sighing as he saw Ken lying on the floor.
"I should have expected you to be here, Ken." Chigusa mumbled, adjusting his glasses, "Sleeping on the floor? What a loyal dog…"
"What was that, Kapa-pii?!" Ken growled at Chigusa.
"Breakfast is ready." Chigusa said instead, walking out of the room.
"Che." Ken got up and was about to walk out of the room when Chigusa came back, "Wh-What?"
"Your strap is off." Chigusa impassively said, before walking away once more. Ken and Chrome blinked, unsure what Chigusa meant by that. Noticing that Chigusa wasn't looking at him when he said that, Ken looked back and he felt his cheeks heat up when he saw the strap of Chrome's night gown falling off. Chrome tilted her head innocently.
"Ken… Are you alright?" Chrome asked.
"I-I-It's…" Ken rushed out of the room, "It's none of your business!!!"
"STUPID KAPA-PII!!!" Ken shouted, not caring where he was going. That was until he bumped into someone. Ken yelped as he fell.
"Ah… are you okay?" Yamamoto asked, reaching out a hand to Ken. Ken growled and glared at him.
"What the hell were you doing?!"
"Well…" Yamamoto grinned, "It's actually som- GET DOWN!"
Yamamoto tackled Ken to the ground all of a sudden, earning another yelp from Ken. The moment Yamamoto tackled Ken to the ground, a loud explosion was heard and a gust of smoke flew from the door from which Yamamoto had appeared from. From the smoke, Ryohei came out and jumped. Turning around to face the door, Ryohei's ring was engulfed in yellow flame and he yelled, "Extreme straight!"
Punching the air, the flame that had been engulfing his ring formed into a fist and flew towards the smoke. A burst of red flames coming from the room met Ryohei's flame, sending a shock of red and yellow flames at the surrounding area. Ryohei's eyes widened as his flame was swallowed, the burst of red flames now directed at him. Ryohei dodged to his right, the red flames destroying the wall beside Ryohei. From the room, Gokudera walked with a smug smile on his face, "You're ten years too early to battle me in a ring fight, Lawn-HEAD!!!"
Ryohei smirked as well, going to his boxing stance, "We'll see about that, Octopus-Head. I'm an extreme man capable of extreme things, after all."
"Wow… sempai… that sounded cool…" Yamamoto commented, grinning at Ryohei.
"EXTREME!!!" Ryohei shouted as the ring on his finger erupted in a gigantic yellow flame. All of them were surprised at what they saw; even Gokudera couldn't help but backed away at the sight. Ryohei smiled, "If it wasn't for that guy, I wouldn't even manage to do this."
"That was extreme, Hibari." Ryohei commented, panting as he wiped the blood by his cracked bottom lip, "I've been training here in Italy for a few months and I couldn't even extremely get close to you. I even feel that you're better at controlling rings that me."
Hibari looked at Ryohei briefly, "Don't suppress it."
"Huh?"
Hibari sighed, "A stupid herbivore like you don't need to suppress it."
"Hibari… I'm extremely surprised. You're giving me tips?"
"Don't get the wrong idea." Hibari glared at Ryohei, "If you continue being a weak herbivore, it'll only be a burden to me and to Tsunayoshi."
"Hibari…"
"Hibari." Ryohei stopped when Reborn suddenly appeared in front of them, "Ninth would see you now."
"Take this, OCTOPUS-HEAD!!!" Ryohei yelled as the wild gold-colored flames suddenly compressed into a tight sphere bigger than Ryohei himself, "MAXIMUM VONGOLA CANNON!!!"
Ryohei punched the sphere with all of his might, sending it towards Gokudera's direction.
"FUCK!!!" Gokudera cursed as he aimed his Flame Arrow at the incoming sphere.
"Gokudera!!!" Yamamoto tackled Gokudera to the ground, the sphere missing both of them by an inch.
"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto!"
The sphere erupted as it hit the wall behind Gokudera and Yamamoto. For a moment, none of them moved. The sphere dispersed into small, glittering dust while the wall was still the same, it doesn't seemed like it was even hit by anything at all. Then, without any warning, a large crack appeared on the wall all of the sudden. It was as if the wall had been suddenly eaten, leaving a spherical shape at the center.
"What the fuck just happened?"
"Che! I missed." Ryohei frowned.
"Onii-san!!!"
"Oh, Sawada! Good… mor… ning…" Ryohei's eyes widened as he Tsuna approached him with a frown decorating his face.
"Onii-san! Why would you do such a thing?!" Tsuna yelled, not believing what he had just seen. Ryohei and the other guardians were unable to reply to Tsuna as they saw what Tsuna was wearing. Tsuna was wearing a soft pink red yukata that was decorated by sakura petals. His pink obi was done in a butterfly knot, creating a summer look. His hair which had always been messy was now combed, held in place by a red comb which had a few dangling sakura petal-shaped beads on one side. Tsuna blinked at Ryohei and backed away when he finally realize why Ryohei was not responding to him, "T-T-This is-"
"Hmm, it definitely suits you, Tsuna." Reborn commented, suddenly appearing next to Ryohei.
"Hiii!" Tsuna was surprised at Reborn's sudden appearance before frowning at Reborn, "Mou! Reborn! Why did you make me wear something like this?!"
Reborn smirked, "Well… I wanted to teach you a very valuable lesson."
"Which is?"
"Disguises."
Tsuna took a deep breath before shouting, "Then teach me how to disguise AS A GUY!!!"
"Everyone knows that the next Vongola Boss is a man. So, to make sure that nobody knows you when you go to Italy dressed as a woman."
"And what? Act like the Ninth's granddaughter or something?"
Reborn smirked, "Of course not. That will just hold more suspicion. We plan on making you go as… the Ninth's… mistress…"
All eyes went towards Reborn. Then…
"WHAT?!!!"
"Y-Y-You're kidding right? REBORN! You're not seriously- I mean- AHH!! NO! NO!" Tsuna shouted, waving his arms maniacally. Reborn chuckled.
"Of course I am, Baka Tsuna." Reborn replied, "As far as every non-Vongola personnel is concern, you are simply a daughter of one of Vongola's members."
"Oh. That… I can live with." Tsuna nodded but stopped, "But… being a girl is NOT! Can't I just be a son of one of Vongola's members?"
"Of course not. That will also hold suspicion." Reborn smirked, "And we have the perfect alias for you anyway."
"Ryohei." Reborn called out.
"Osu!" Ryohei proudly stood next to Reborn.
Reborn's smirk grew as he continued, "Since you're already used to it. Sawada Tsunayoshi, for your little trip today, Sasagawa Ryohei will accompany and you shall use the name…
Sasagawa Kyoko…"
Tsuna blinked before letting out a big: "EHHHH?!!! AS KYOKO-CHAN?!!"
"Let's do our best, Sawada! I mean-! Kyoko!!! EXTREME!!!"
"You… have to… be kidding me…"
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In Namimori, the real Sasagawa Kyoko was currently on her way to Namimori High when she noticed a familiar face in the sea of students. Running towards him, Kyoko smiled angelically as she greeted, "Morning, Setsuna-kun."
Sawada Setsuna was a young boy who looks so similar it was frightening to Vongola Decimo. Although his name is written differently than Sawada Tsunayoshi, Setsuna is known to be a soft-spoken shy boy who rarely maintains eye contact whenever in a conversation. Kyoko and Hana, being reminded by how Tsuna was like before Reborn came to his life, decided to befriend the quiet boy.
Setsuna smiled at Kyoko, "Good morning, Sasagawa-san."
"Mou." Kyoko playfully smiled at Setsuna, "Call me Kyoko-chan, Setsuna-kun. It doesn't seem right when I'm calling you Setsuna-kun but you just call Sasagawa-san."
Setsuna looked down, "I'm sorry. I will try my best… Ky-Kyoko… ch-cha… san…"
Kyoko sighed but smiled, "Well… I guess 'Kyoko-san' is better than Sasagawa-san…"
Setsuna stopped and looked at the ground, "Please give me some time, Kyoko-san. I'll… I'll try my best-"
"Ah, ahahaha…" Kyoko laughed cheerfully, "I was just teasing you, Setsuna-kun. You don't have to take it that seriously. I mean… I'll wait… until you can say my name."
Setsuna smiled, "Thank you… Kyoko-san."
Kyoko and Setsuna began to walk together. Kyoko smiled and said, "Hey, Setsuna-kun, are you free tomorrow?"
"Eh?" Setsuna blinked, "I have no prior plans, if that is what you mean."
"Then…Will you go out with me?" Kyoko asked, blushing slightly.
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"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Tsuna moaned quietly as he got off the helicopter. Reborn didn't waste any time pushing Tsuna and Ryohei to the helicopter that, Tsuna just realized, had been waiting for them since this morning. They were dropped off in a small villa in a province the pilot has called Ascoli Piceno. And by dropped, Tsuna meant being literally dropped to the ground like one of those SWAT movies that he watched together with Yamamoto and Gokudera. Well… Tsuna actually just clung unto Ryohei when they were dropped but it was still scary!
They entered the villa and were escorted by one Mafioso to a basement of some sort. The basement reminded Tsuna of the basement he saw in the first future he had been stuck in. The entire structure was made out of steel and all the doors automatically opened for them. They stopped in one giant door and the Mafioso left them. Ryohei opened the door and three people greeted them.
"Hm? Who're you guys?" The only woman in the room asked, flicking her strawberry blond hair, "Are you that scary guy's friends?"
"Scary… guy?" Tsuna blinked.
"We've been sent here by Master Pao-Pao!" Ryohei replied. The strangest of the three, an infant looked up.
"By Reborn? Then…" The infant approached the two and faced Ryohei, "You are Vongola Decimo?"
"Hm? No." Ryohei pointed his thumb at Tsuna, "He is."
"Eh? Vongola Decimo is a girl?!" The woman yelled, not believing what she just heard.
"I'm NOT A GIRL!!!" Tsuna shouted, making the three stare at him.
It was the stout man that destroyed the silence, "A very impressive disguise, Vongola Decimo. No one would ever imagine the next Vongola to be cross-dressing."
Tsuna was about to comment that he didn't want to when the woman shouted, "Am I the only one thinking how inappropriate and how disturbing this is?!"
"I'm actually with you on that." Tsuna whispered to her, making her stop.
"Nevertheless, many would like to harm Vongola Decimo. Doing this shall ensure his safety until he is ready to face the world. Now, sit down, Koenig." The stout man ordered, making the woman frown and sit down-
"AH! Something is in my sit!!!" The woman screamed and turned around, "A crocodile?! What the- VERDE!!!"
The infant turned his attention to the sit and glared at the small crocodile sitting on the woman's sit, "What are you doing here?! I thought you left?!"
The crocodile seemed to stare at the infant and the infant continued, "You left and I found a new partner!"
"A rat. You found a lab rat, Verde." The woman commented but the infant did not pay any attention to her, glaring at the crocodile.
"Oh? You're sorry? Don't you feel so-"
"Please forgive them." The stout man caught Tsuna's attention as a heated 'argument' was established by the infant and the crocodile, "The crocodile was Verde's companion for so long. A few months ago, the crocodile left and Verde was heartbroken. Heartbroken enough to simply take a lab rat and pronounced it as his new partner."
"Umm…" Tsuna began to recall where he had heard the names before but asked just to confirm it, "You are?"
"I am Innocenti. The woman is Koenig and the infant is Verde, an Arcobaleno." Innocenti bowed slightly, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Vongola Decimo."
"Oh… Nice… Nice to meet you too…" Tsuna replied, bowing as well.
"I assume Reborn has not fully told you what we do."
"You… research… about boxes?" Tsuna asked, unsure if the future still holds. Innocenti nodded.
"We have been recruited by Vongola to study about the boxes. They have even given as a very nice specimen." Innocenti said, "But you have been summoned here because we wish to research about your Sky ring."
"My… Sky ring…?"
"Please do not be alarmed. We have personally asked the Ninth about this and he had given his approval as long as it was supervised."
Tsuna looked at Ryohei then back at Innocenti, "So that's why 'Nii-san is with me…"
"Eh?" Innocenti looked at Ryohei then at Tsuna. Coughing as if to hide something, Innocenti smiled, "Well then, if you would please kindly follow Koenig to the room… Koenig!"
"What?!" Koenig yelled back and Innocenti motioned his hand. Koenig nodded and walked towards them, "Please follow me, Vongola Decimo."
Tsuna nodded and they followed Koenig out of the room. As they followed Koenig, Tsuna heard a set of footsteps going towards their direction.
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"All have been checked and the glass has been configured so that no one will be able to see what was on the other side." Samuele checked his list before turning his eyes towards his companion, and boss, "What's with all these, Hibari-sama? It's not like we're going to interrogate someone. I mean, this procedure would be for a Vongola right?"
Hibari didn't bother look at him or even answer his question, "Where's the monkey-king?"
"Xanxus-sama? Most probably drinking it all away again. God, that man drinks as if he was drinking water. It's frightening… especially when you count how drinking affects the body and our immune system. I mean, this a few drinks and-" Samuele stopped when he realized that Hibari had stopped, "Hibari-sama?"
Hibari motioned Samuele to be quiet and listened. They were on a straight hallway, the end leading to the right where the doctors were in one room. In that direction, there were three sets of footsteps coming towards them. One of them was a woman and by the clicking of the heels, Hibari knew it was that annoying woman Koenig. The second set of footsteps was confident, brash, and energetic. The last set was soft, almost gentle.
"This way, please." Hibari heard Koenig say as they entered Hibari's vision. Hibari's eyes widened as he realized who the third set of footsteps belonged to. Although he was wearing a pink yukata and his hair was combed, Hibari instantly recognized the face.
"Tsunayoshi…" Hibari whispered.
As if time slowed down for Hibari, Tsuna turned towards him slowly…
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Author's End Rants: And… we end this chappy with a cliff-hanger… blame my sempai, Ao-sempai (fanfiction account: Darkangelsonic) who kept giving me cliff-hangers so much that I happened to do it as well. So, other than school, I also got sidetracked once again because I managed to buy my own PSP (second hand and fat but it's still a psp and it's white since my DS is white so it's natural that I pick a white psp as well) simply because of Shin Megami Tensei Persona that will be released in September and Hatsune Miku Project Diva (which actually lags, -sniffs—sniffs-). –grins- Will Tsuna finally see Hibari? And if he does, what will happen? Anyway! Hint for the next chapter…
The Sea of Anemones…