Title:"Life can Become Art"
Summary:And that was all it took. After that first stroke of paint, everything he had been feeling came rushing out in the form of art. Funny how you could turn sorrow into something beautiful.
Disclaimer:I do not own the wonderfulness of Katekyo Hitman Reborn! I do not own any of the amazing characters, either! I do however own the plot to this story, as well as any OC's that may show up. (Note: OC's will be minor if they show up).
Chapter Title: "Time to Rise" (Chapter Twenty-Five)
The smile stayed put the entire day, until he collapsed on his bed and let out all the emotions he hadn't allowed himself to feel.
Tsuna was happy it was the weekend. After going home, he realized that he allowed himself to cry in front of his friends. He allowed himself to let out a pathetic whimper of defeat because he would be leaving the school. He was so embarrassed by his actions, that for most of the day of Saturday, he lied in bed and fought with himself internally. His mind kept drifting to what would happen on Monday, when he would have to face all of them.
Why didn't I just wait, the brunet thought sourly, pulling his gravity-defying hair to the point that he could have ripped them out. It isn't that long till the end of the semester! I could have waited! Then I wouldn't have had to see the pity in their eyes for the rest of my time there…why am I such an idiot!
Skull had knocked on his door several times. Each time sounding more worried, as though the brunet he had just met meant so much to him. Tsuna wanted to yell at him to stop knocking, that he wouldn't open the door. He wouldn't (Couldn't) open the door, not even if Reborn threatened him. The doorknob would stay closed and locked, just as it should have been from the very beginning.
What had letting people in done for him, anyways? He had let in seven amazing people… Takeshi, Chrome, Hibari-san, Mukuro, Gokudera-kun, Onii-san, Lambo…and now he was leaving them behind. He would most likely never talk to them again after he transferred.
"Tsuna," the daredevil asked hesitantly at the door, knocking softly. Why was everyone so persistent, so stubborn? It was annoying. "You should come out before Reborn gets home."
The brunet kept quiet even at the mention of the sadistic writer. His brown eyes looked over to the closed door, imagining Skull leaning against it, his ear pressed against the cool, white wood, trying to listen for some kind of response. The art prodigy sent a silent message, not trusting himself to speak.
When would Reborn be returning?
"Just in case you were wondering," Skull mumbled as though he had heard the question allowed, "He'll be returning tonight, along with Mammon. Fon is just leaving the airport and should be home in about an hour. Colonello will be gone for a few more days, though."
They're all coming back earlier than expected…Why?
"I hope you don't mind, but, uh, well…I told them of what happened. Ya'know, your small break down last night?"
That's right…I thought that was just a dream, but I had a panic attack last night, didn't I…?
"They seemed pretty worried. Even Reborn!"
Like Reborn really cares…he probably just wants to have an excuse to beat me up…
"…Tsuna," Skull asked hesitantly. He scrunched his eyebrows together, trying not to break down himself. Silence was something he didn't sit well with. There had to be some sort of noise, something to reassure him that the brunet hadn't died. "Hey, Tsuna? Please open the door?"
Tsuna stayed on his bed, lying on his side facing the door, the brown eye on the pillow closed while the other watched the piece of wood separating him and the rest of the world. He had reverted back to his emotionless self that he usually went into during these sorts of situation. When he got the news of his mom dieing, when he learned he would be staying with a stranger, when he had learned that the art program would be shutting down… all of them reverted to this.
He curled into a tighter ball, his hand clutching the arm that wasn't pressed against the mattress. The brown locks of hair that fell into his face shifted to shadow his eyes, trying to let everything melt away into darkness. "Just leave me alone," he croaked out quietly, trying not to let any emotion out. But the broken tone somehow smuggled into his voice, and that seemed to get Skull to leave for a while.
"Just leave me alone…"
Hours passed by in what felt like minutes. Tsuna woke up to the sound of banging on the door. His brown eyes opened up sluggishly, peering at his dark room. The curtains fluttered in the light breeze coming in through the cracked-open window. Moonlit illuminated the room, though not as bright as the sun.
"Tsunayoshi Sawada! Get out here!"
Reborn? But Reborn doesn't call me by my full name…
"Tsuna! I mean it! Don't make me break this door down!"
Go ahead… it doesn't matter…
Silence etched itself into the room as the constant, annoying banging stops. Tsuna, looking at the door in silent astonishment, wonders if the sadistic writer had given up. Or maybe one of the other roommates had stopped him.
The doorknob giggled for a minute before a familiar clicking sound filled the otherwise silent room. The door itself slammed open immediately, hitting the wall behind it violently. The loud bang made the brunet flinch slightly, but his brown eyes stared at the person with little to no emotion. The usual fear that would have run through his veins at the sight of the black fedora and curly side-burned man was gone, nonexistent in that moment.
"I thought you were going to break down the door," Tsuna mumbled in a monotone voice, looking as though he had given up. I have given up…
"I decided against it," Reborn huffed in reply, those dark eyes narrowed in a paralyzing glare. He looked over the small brunet, and sighed internally. It was worse than what Skull had said. "Time to rise, Tsunayoshi. Get up."
A part of the brunet asked why, but his body moved on its own. For the first time that day, he sat up in his bed, and stood. His legs were shaky as they supported him, but he ignored it. He took a few steps forward, looking at Reborn with dull eyes, and then proceeded.
I wonder what's going to happen…
The drive to the mysterious destination was quiet, just like when Reborn had been driving him to the shared house for the first time. Tsuna kept his eyes on the window, trying to keep them open. It was almost midnight, and the darkness of night kept trying to embrace him into sleeping. It sounded nice, but the brunet knew the consequences. If he slept with Reborn in the car, he would end up with a giant bump and possibly at bullet on his head.
Tsuna didn't remember most of the ride, too sleepy to watch the scenery. All he did was stare blankly out the window with dull brown eyes, absentmindedly closing his eyes longer than a blink every once in a while.
The humming of the car was nice and soothing, relaxing the jumpy nerves that were buzzing back. They weren't as strong as usual, but they were still there, a hazy reminder of his surroundings. Once the gentle hum was gone, he opened his eyes tiredly, not realizing that he'd closed them once again.
"Get out," Reborn huffed in annoyance, taking off his seat belt but not stepping out of the car. The brunet watched him in curiosity, wondering why the fedora-wearing man wasn't proceeding to exit the vehicle. Those sharp dark eyes turned to him in a pointed glare, and an irritated sigh escaped his pale lips, "I'm not getting out. This is your personal business, Tsunayoshi."
Why is he still calling me that, Tsuna hummed in thought as he clicked the seat belt strapped around him off, unlocking the door and pushing it open. When it closed, the thud echoed slightly. His observant brown eyes turned to take in the scenery. It was a building, an empty building that looked in ok condition. Nothing special about it. Yet, the brunet felt a pull to it…Why?
With a few cautious steps forward, the brunet heard the car's engine start and the window to the passenger's side slide down. Reborn called from his spot behind the wheel, the smirk that would have usually appeared in this situation still not present. "I'll be back in the morning. This is your personal business, after all. Try not to die, got it?"
With those encouraging words, the window rolled back up surprisingly quick and the car sped off, a slight dust trail left in its wake. The brunet just blinked after it, his brown eyes reverting the their normal form. Panic clawed away at his insides, nervous and terrified butterflies flapping their wings against his stomach.
"Ehh," he screeched, "What do you mean!? Come back, Reborn!"
"Haha! Don't be scared, Tsuna! We're here!"
"Stupid Baseball idiot! Don't sneak up on Tsuna-sama like that!"
"That was an EXTREME scream, Tsuna!"
"Yada, yada, Tsuna-nii."
"Tsunayoshi, are you alright?"
"Hn. Herbivore, stop being so jumpy or I'll bite you to death."
"Kufufufu. What a late reaction, Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna's stopped for two reasons at the sound of voices. One was that they were so familiar, and that wasn't a good sign. The only voices that could have sounded so calm and familiar at a time likes this were his friends. The ones that he had cried and whined to. And the second reason was that they had snuck up on him, causing his heart to skip a beat out of fear.
He vaulted into the air, and when his feet were planted on the ground, he took a step back. And tripped, like the klutz that he was. Before his pale face made impact with the ground (Which, by the way, did not look as though it was as soft as his pillow), someone grabbed the back of his shirt. With a quick glance behind him, he saw that it was none other than…
Takeshi. The baseball star was smiling down at him, just as he always did. Happiness that was always mixed into his amber eyes around Tsuna was there with a vengeance, but the brunet could see the new feeling put in. It was so foreign, like a splash of black paint on a canvas filled with ever-bright colors. Sadness.
Tsuna could feel his heart drop a bit at the sight. That emotion didn't belong on the sports prodigy's face, not at all. It had only appeared once on the tall first-year's face during their relationship, and it wasn't a happy memory.
With a look around at the others, he noticed the same thing. Their usual emotions that surfaced around him had one foreign one mixed in. They were sad, because of him, because he was leaving them. He had been the one to get them to open up. He was the one that brought them together. And now he was going to be the one to close them off. He was the one that was going to tear them apart from one another.
Takeshi lifted up his 'little brother' and put him on the ground gently. The brunet swayed a bit on the ground before he stabilized himself. Some of his brown hair that hung in his face shadowed his deep brown eyes, keeping what emotions were mixing into them a secret.
"T-Tsuna-sama," Gokudera called out hesitantly, taking a step forward to his precious savior. The silence between all of them was thick, nearly being existent as a solid object.
"Ne," Tsuna said softly, beginning a question that was probing at his mind, "Why are you all here? And why is everybody sad?"
At the question, Gokudera blinked back in confusion. Yamamoto's eyebrows scrunched up in worry but the smile never left his face. A huff of annoyance was heard from the back of the group as Hibari moved forward, looking as though he wanted to use his brunet punching bag for accusing him of being sad.
"Kufufufu," Mukuro chuckled, though he was stiff. How could someone see through him so easily? "I have no idea what you mean, Tsunayoshi."
"You all know what I mean," the brunet muttered under his breath, looking at the ground with a slight narrow his eyes. "All of you are sad! Don't lie!"
They blinked at him. All of them, simultaneously. And it would have been funny if not for the atmosphere that had gathered around them. It was tense and uncomfortable, as though they had all become strangers in one day of being apart.
"Herbivore," Hibari scuffed, walking over to the short brunet quickly. The same dangerous aura surrounded him, but Tsuna didn't shiver in fear like usual. His brown eyes in a pointed glare looked directly at the Skylark, and they didn't even wince when the third-year lifted him off the ground by the front of his shirt. "The way I didn't realize that you were hiding something… That is why I am irritated. Not sad. Get it right or I'll bite you to death."
Tsuna's brown eyes widened at the scolding tone in the Disciplinary Committee's Leader's voice, as though he was simply telling a child not to do something dangerous again. The Skylark let him go, and his feet hit the ground rather softly.
"Kufufufu. Even though I hate to admit it," Mukuro added, sauntering up to the short first-year with the same mischievous smirk on his lips, "The Birdie is right. Sadness is not an emotion at play in my set-up for this performance. But annoyance, well, it has a big role at the moment."
It sounds as though he's talking about special affects for a play, Tsuna noted silently, taking a step back from the blue-haired prodigy. The creepy smirk seemed to have double to the effect today…
"While Mukuro-nii and Birdie may not be sad," Chrome muttered quietly, a small blush forming on her pale cheeks, "I am, Tsunayoshi. You can tell me anything. I don't like that you… that you kept something this important from us…"
"I agree with the women," Gokudera stated, though didn't sound very happy. He had wanted to be the one to say that! "You can tell me-us- anything, Tsuna-sama! Especially if its something this important!"
"Octopus-head is right to the EXTREME," Ryohei shouted, disturbing some of the birds that had been sleeping in a near by tree. The music prodigy glared over at him and made a clicking sound with his tongue, but said nothing (Even though he looked as though he wanted to).
"Tsuna," Yamamoto said next to him, putting a hand on the brunet's shoulder, "We can help!" The ever-carefree and cheerful grin made an appearance on his tan face as his amber eyes closed.
"Yada, yada, Tsuna-nii," Lambo muttered, stepping forward to stand in front of the shorter first-year, "You could have come and talked to me. My family owns the school, after all."
Tsuna blinked at the ebony-haired Director in silent shock at the news. Before he could jump for joy, he decided he needed to ask one question. The one question that had been bothering him since he had first gotten the news that he'd be leaving at the end of the semester.
"Why are they closing the art program, then," he asked in what sounded like a desperate cry. His friends (Excluding Hibari and Mukuro, who had begun to fight, and Chrome who tried to stop them) nodded their heads at his question, wanting to know the answer also.
Lambo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, green eyes looking up at the dark sky. "Eh, well, see… Father didn't want to keep paying for the damages that Dino-sensei kept making, so he was going to cancel the art program to fire him."
That's overly complicated; Tsuna scolded the theatre prodigy's father mentally. But he didn't say it allowed. Instead he yelled, "But Dino-nii can't get fired!"
"Yada, yada. I'll talk to him about it," Lambo sighed, looking to the side as though it would be a lot of work. "At the very least, I should be able to talk him into keeping the art program open. But it may be harder to convince him into letting Dino-sensei keep his job…"
Tsuna smiled at the first-year, who had a light blush on his tan cheeks. He leaned up and patted the lazy actor's hair, having to stretch his arm to do so. "Thank you, Lambo. It means a lot."
The blush on the director's face brightened, and he turned away quickly, coughing a few times. A thought passed his mind, but he didn't trust himself to speak aloud at the moment. A few minutes passed, the area quiet except for the battle noises from the two fighting third-year. Poor Chrome had given up on trying to stop them, and sighed softly.
"Its EXTREMELY late," Ryohei commented as he looked at his phone. It had a yellow case and two boxing glove charms, which swayed slightly.
"No, really," Gokudera said sarcastically, rolling his silver-green eyes. The shouted reply of 'yes to the EXTREME' from the boxing prodigy caused the pianist to march over to the second year and hit him on the head. Another fight started out between the two of them when Ryohei threw out an EXTREME right hook.
"Hey, Tsuna?"
"Yes, Takeshi?"
"How are we getting home? There are no phone bars around here."
"Reborn said-" The brunet stopped as his sadistic caretaker's voice rang through his head.
"I'll be back in the morning."
"-That he would be back in the morning," Tsuna finished, hanging his head in defeat. He let out an exasperated sigh as his friends replied to his words with irritated (One happy-go-lucky person and one-eyed photographer excluded) tones.
"You mean we're stuck here until tomorrow!?"
"At least there's a house here, right," Yamamoto laughed out, causing the others to glare over at him. The sport prodigy's eyebrows furrowed in worry, as though he just realized that most of his friends were dangerous people. Dynamite, a tonfa, and a trident flew towards the tall first-year as he once again as he stated they were having a 'sleep over'. It would be a long night, Tsuna could tell.
AN: Well, this took forever. Not so much because of the length, but mostly because I had writer's block. It really sucks writing with writer's block… XD But I finally got the chapter done. And it's pretty long… sort of…
I'm gonna change the layout of my stories in a little bit. :3 But I wanted to post this first. None of my stories will be taken down, by the way. Oh, and guess what? Last chapter got up to 20 reviews! :D That made me so giddy! Thank you!
On one final note, I have yet another poll up. It's to decide what 27 pairings are the most popular! :3 I'd appreciate it if everyone would vote, please! You can choose up to 19 choices, and there are 38 in total.
Please leave a review, favorite, or follow! Or all three. Up to you. :3