A/N: This is like… I can't believe I've gotten this far in my writing.
And I definitely can't believe the overwhelming response I've gotten from you absolutely amazing human beings.
This is the second to last chapter before the end, and I love you for having kept up with the story until this point.
There will be a nice HibaTsuna moment in here for you, and something else that I won't tell you in here, you'll have to read the chapter for that.
Anyway, I'll leave you to your reading.
Enjoy.
Chapter 26:
Mission accomplished
With their now group of four rushing thought the labyrinth of corridors, the boys got a full-on taste of Tsuna's remarkable intuition as they wove their way through the many different turns, making their way towards the staircase.
She kept on forcing them to stop at seemingly random moment, narrowly avoiding the watchful eyes of patrolling guards bearing many different forms of weaponry, but so far, none of them has actually spotted them, and that was a good thing too, seeing as Bianchi had stated that she only carried two breath masks on her and even then, Tsuna would still be effected.
Yamamoto had been confused at her words but Gokudera had just replied with a scoff and a:
"A good thing too. I don't think I'd be able to stand the smell of that smoke for more than half a second."
Tsuna had forced their group into a stop for what must have been the fifth time in the last ten minutes when Gokudera turned around towards Bianchi.
"Why do you have so fucking many guards?" he asked, irritation plain in his tone.
Bianchi let out a long sigh, shaking her head as she rested her back against the concrete wall.
"Dylan insisted on having them." she answered in a low tone, looking out over the small group of guards barely visible from where they were standing. "If it'd been up to me, I would have surrounded the factory with a chemical mine field, but apparently, that idea wasn't trustworthy enough." she said the last part with an annoyed shake to her head.
The teens looked to one another, the same thought crossing their minds.
If Bianchi was weak willed enough to switch sides because the target was friends with her brother, maybe the men were right not to trust Bianchi's idea.
Plus, they rather liked the idea of not having to deal with chemical mist that could do god-knows what to you.
Gokudera turned back towards his sister.
"How do you even afford them all?" he asked. "You're not using your allowance for them are you?" he seemed almost appalled at the very idea.
Bianchi scoffed at his suggestion.
"Are you kidding me?" she almost raised her voice in disgust. "Wasting valuable founding on something as stupid as guards I could take down in my sleep?" she looked at her brother, expression filled with mock disgust. "I do hope your views of me are higher than that, brother dear."
Gokudera gave her a look, silently asking her to get on with it.
Rolling her eyes, Bianchi let out a long sigh.
"Vincent got the money." she finally answered. "He's been making a living doing inheritance scams and hacking into the bank accounts of wealthy families to fill his pockets." she shook her head in absolute disgust. "He wanted to become an initiate to escape the sunlight's justice system."
There is was again, more termonology.
Tsuna and Yamamoto shared equal confused expressions.
Next to them, Gokudera let out a dark chuckle.
"No clan would ever accept someone like him." he muttered.
"No kidding." Bianchi agreed.
"Guys." Tsuna muttered, making their group turn their attention towards her. "We've got to keep moving."
They nodded in agreement, and continued down the corridor.
Finally, after several minutes of running, the small group made it to the staircase, sprinting up to the abandoned factory and weaving through the fallen bits of wall and rooftop towards the back door, that still stood wide open.
And there was Reborn, standing in the middle of the doorway showing off his very distinctive silhouette with his fedora and tall, lean built, constantly switching positions all the while using as little movement as possible as one shot after the other rang through the air.
Tsuna could feel her blood running cold in her veins.
At the moment, she was just getting a small glimpse of the skill he had been suppressing for the entire time he had been living under her roof.
She couldn't help but to wonder just what else he was capable of.
The sound of their approaching footsteps reached the tutor's ears, making him turn his focus in their direction, not once lowering his gun.
Immediately, his eyes locked on Tsuna.
Particularly, the state she had ended up in since the last time he saw her.
If it was possible, his obsidian eyes became even darker.
"You ran into trouble?" he asked, sounding almost angry, looking like the part even more when he realized that Tsuna was the only one who looked like she'd taken a beating.
At the tutor's words, Gokudera released an angry growl.
"We found her this way." he muttered, anger plain in his words.
Nodding in understanding, though still very much angered, Reborn allowed his eyes to trail down Tsuna's body, locking on her wrists.
Still very much bright red, and badly bruised.
Looking up at his student, he raised another eyebrow.
Without even looking, the man raised his arm, letting off another bullet towards an approaching adversary.
Tsuna watched as the obsidian made way for the familiar shade of bright, glowing yellow, indicating the gathering of flames in his eyes.
She allowed the man to run his eyes over her, taking in the general flame levels under her skin.
She noticed how he paused over several areas of her body.
Heart, lungs, neck, brain, before finally settling on her wrists again.
For a split second, Tsuna could have sworn she saw fear flash across her tutor's face, but it was quickly smothered by the light smirk that took it's place.
"You pushed aside your fear." he noted, voice filled with a complicated mix of emotions, like he was proud, but also fearful…
Why he would be fearful though… Tsuna didn't know.
"I didn't really have much of a choice." Tsuna answered simply, shrugging.
The others in the group just looked at them, having absolutely no idea just what the two of them were on about.
They were brought out of their confusion by the sound of shots ringing through the air, looking up in time to see Reborn lowering his arm.
He still hadn't looked away from the group.
Tsuna couldn't help but to narrow her eyes at her tutor, shaking her head slightly at his behavior.
He was showing off, there was no other word for it.
He fired again.
"We'd better go back to the car."
It was at that moment that his eyes finally landed on the surprise addition to their group.
Suddenly, he was no longer holding the one gun in the one hand. As he raised his previously free hand, he was all of the sudden holding another gun. One hat none of them had even seen him reach into any from of pocket to pull out.
Narrowing his eyes, he pointed the gun at the woman.
"Why is she with you?" he asked the teenagers, not taking his narrowed eyes away from the woman's surprisingly stiff figure.
Looking at Bianchi, the teens found that she stood as though transfixed, her eyes wide and glittering with an unknown emotion as her cheeks flushed into a bright pink color.
Apparently, the woman was not going to speak for herself.
Deciding to take the matter into her own hands, Tsuna stepped up to her tutor.
She grabbed onto his arm, making Reborn turn towards her as she forced down the gun, saving the seemingly dazed woman from facing the apparently magically appearing gun.
Once the arm was down, she looked up into her tutor's eyes.
"Reborn." she addressed the man, speaking at barely more than a whisper. "Bianchi saved me from assault."
Reborn's eyes narrowed dangerously at her words.
"You look pretty assaulted to me." he retorted, taking in her blood caked face.
Taking a deep breath, Tsuna threw a glance back at her friends.
Turning back to her tutor, she stepped up even closer to him, making Reborn frown all the more at her actions.
"I mean..." she whispered, throwing another glance back at the others, taking in their confused expressions. "… sexually."
Reborn's fingers tightened around his guns.
He forced himself to calm down, shaking his head in exasperation before he looked down at his student, taking a deep breath.
"Just what else are you going to go through?" he asked, scratching the back of his head with the barrel of his gun.
To his surprise, Tsuna actually narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm sure you have a better idea on that than I do." she stated, voice almost a growl of irritation as as much rage her body could muster without seeping into that eerie calm was let out from her otherwise tiny body.
It was quite a surprise for everyone around her.
Tsuna has had things held from her for far too long.
Quickly, Reborn fired his gun again, successfully bringing down a smaller group of guards running their way.
He looked back down at his student, taking in her narrowed eyes.
"I don't disagree." he answered slowly, not even bothering to try and hide it, watching as Tsuna's eyes narrowed even further. "But we'll have to discuss that another time."
He turned his eyes back to Bianchi.
The blush increased over her face.
"Do you want to join us?" he asked, jerking his head down the path around the factory.
Bianchi looked very much dazed, but she did manage to bob her head into a shaky nod.
A small smirk spread over Reborn's face.
"Then follow me." she with that said, he began moving away from the door.
Walking up to her, Gokudera put his hand on the small of Tsuna's back, making her briefly turn towards him, and a shared look later, they moved after her tutor, Yamamoto following closely behind them.
For a moment, Bianchi remained standing exactly where she were, a bright blush still spread over her cheeks before she forced her head into a shake, bringing her out of the slight trance she'd been put under.
Taking a deep breath, she followed the group.
Catiously, the group moved over the road, moving around the building.
It was strange just how few guards were still around, only the few black dressed men entering their field of vision every other minute, and then they were quickly disposed of by the quick shot from Reborn's gun before Tsuna could even fully register that they were in danger.
As they walked, Gokudera kept up his position right in front of Tsuna, whilst Yamamoto brought up behind her, constantly taking in her slightly wobbly way of walk, almost waiting for the moment she would fall over.
Finally, the group reached the front of the factory, and the sight that reached them was one that forced all of them into an abrupt stop.
Hibari Kyoya was still there, still fighting the remaining few guards that were still standing, large piles of the already beaten guards littering the ground around him, surrounded by scorched asphalt from detonated sticks of weak dynamites and grenades, mauled firearms and weaponry, the majority of them still looking to be in working order, and here and there, piles of shell-casings could be spotted among the limbs.
Wide eyed, Tsuna was reminded of the sight of the men through the purple smoke Bianchi had created, but the distinct difference with the bodies themselves, was that they were all battered and bruised way past the point of recognition, some of them looking as though they had broken several bones and Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if several of them came out paralyzed in some parts if not every part of their bodies. It was a truly frightening sight.
And yet, that was not the reason she'd frozen up.
The visual knowledge that Hibair Kyoya, the demon of Namimori, had come along with the rescue party, was far too shocking than the fact that he was capable of beating op more than a hundred men, and come out relatively unscratched.
Hibari Kyoya beating up large numbers of people kind of went without saying.
With the sheer amount of guards the Riptides had gotten for themselves, Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if only about a handful of the numbers were actually good at what they were paid to do.
Reborn glanced at his student, smirking at her reaction.
"He insisted on helping out you know." he said, taking a stand right next to his student, his voice making her turn towards him. "Probably would have tried beating me up had I refused to allow him to be a part of the mission."
Tsuna blinked rapidly as she registered what he just said.
Slowly, she turned back towards the scene that unfolded in front of her.
"Why would he do that?" she asked in a stunned whisper.
"I don't know." Reborn answered, stuffing his hand into his pocket. "He refused to tell me."
The tutor glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eye, watching as she stared at the feared demon of their small town.
Hibari grabbed the arm of the guard that had just tried to sneak up on him, throwing him over his shoulder making him crash into the guard that had advanced on his front.
Suddenly, Tsuna's vision filled out with white.
Flash
There was a little boy, barely more than the age of seven with straight black hair.
Flash
He was looking down at her with what was akin to an encouraging smile, even though his mouth didn't mirror the emotion.
Flash
The boy moves with great skill through a small crowd of children around his age and a few even younger, hitting and kicking them all the while anger is clear on his face.
Flash
A small hand lands on her head, ruffling her hair as she feels a strange sense of warmth.
Flash
A small, slightly chubby hand reaches out towards her, smaller hands, her own hands, reaches out towards the outstretched limb, taking something glittering from within the chubby fingers. Though she cannot get a good look on what the object is.
Flash
A glint of a steel gray iris as it looks down at her.
Flash
The flashes had gone through her head at such a speed that Tsuna had had legitimate problem keeping up with them, but she managed it.
Only now, as she was suddenly hit with a piercing, pounding pain in her temple, she wished she hadn't.
The suddenness of it all temporarily caused a lack of strength in her legs, causing them to buckle under her miniscule weight.
She probably would have fallen to the ground had Gokudera not grabbed her, steadying her.
"What's wrong?" he asked, looking at her face from over her shoulder.
She shook her head, brushing off his concern.
"It's nothing."
With a swift and skilled jab to the back of the neck, Hibari brought the final guard to the ground.
Tsuna watched as the prefect let out a small, winded breath before he gave his tonfa a quick spin, getting rid of the blood that had stuck to them before he turned his attention towards the group still standing a few meters away from him.
His eyes immediately locked on Tsuna, steel gray orbs moving over her within a second's time frame, taking in whatever injuries she may have on her.
Of course, she knew there were a few.
The look he had in his eyes… Tsuna just couldn't place it.
Tsuna had been so caught up in her own mind that she hadn't noticed that Reborn was moving towards the prefect, that is, until Gokudera physically moved her forward, his hands firmly planted on her shoulders as he gently pushed her over the asphalt.
Before long, the group was standing in front of the demon of Namimori.
For the first time, Hibari Kyoya actually looked a bit worn down. His once proper and ironed clothing wrinkled, speckled in dirk and blood, some areas were even ripped but none of the blood appeared to be his own.
Even his hair looked a bit disheveled.
The prefect turned his attention towards Reborn.
"I'll deal with the rest" he said confidently, just the tiniest bit out of breath.
Reborn raised an eyebrow at this.
"How do you plan on doing that?" he asked, looking over the eighteen year old.
Tsuna and Yamamoto shared a look.
When Hibari says he's going to do something, you don't question it. You know he's going to do it, because Hibari doesn't say he will do anything he knows he won't be able to succeed in doing.
He might be known as a demon, but he was an honest one with strong morals.
Sure enough, Hibari narrowed his eyes at Reborn's word.
"I've got contacts." he answered swiftly. "I'll deal with them."
For a long moment, Reborn just stated at the younger man, eyes not moving away from the prefects steel eyes.
Eventually, he relented.
He nodded in agreement, turning his attention from the eighteen year old boy's stare and in stead directed them over to the rest of the group.
"Let's go to the car." he practically ordered.
Hibari wouldn't have this however.
"Actually." he spoke up, making the group turn towards him. "I'd like to speak to Sawada alone before you leave."
Immediately, Tsuna felt Gokudera stiffen behind her, his hands still resting on her shoulders tightening around the fabric of her sweater.
"What are you-"
"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna spoke calmly, bringing her friend down from the explosion of fury he was about to unleash on the prefect, and that most certainly wouldn't end well. "It's fine.
She looked over her shoulder at her friend, taking in his conflicting emotions before his shoulders finally sagged in resignation.
"Fine..." he muttered, allowing his hands to fall from her shoulders.
As he group moved away, the delinquent pointed a finger at the prefect.
"If you keep her back for too long, you'll regret it."
Hibari only raised his eyebrow at his words.
Finally, she and Hibari were left completely alone.
Well, not alone, they were still surrounded by piles of unconscious guards but they didn't exactly count, now did they?
Tsuna could feel the prefects eyes on her, but she just couldn't bring herself to look up, the very feel of his steel colored eyes on her was making her uncomfortable, but there was no way it would be alright for her to voice these thoughts.
Then, he moved.
A hand moved from his side, reaching up to her bloodied face.
She tensed up, consciously holding her breath as the calloused hand hovered over the side of her face. A thumb brushed the hair away from her temple, making her cut all the more visible to the eighteen year old in front of her.
For a moment, Hibari just stared at her, studying her cuts.
Finally, he let his hand drop.
"These people are lucky." his dark voice echoed over the fallen bodies, bouncing off of the concrete structures surrounding them, Tsuna could feel her shoulder stiffening more and more witch each word that reached her ears. "Your wounds are little more than superficial." the hand fell away from her face. "If they hadn't, these men would have faced a much more brutal punishment than the one already in store for them."
Slowly, Tsuna nodded along with his words.
Feeling more daring at Hibair's less-than-hostile tone, Tsuna allowed herself to raise her eyes to look at him, and immediately, her eyes fell on a small cut running over his left cheek.
Her arm moved on it's own, raising from her side and up towards his face.
Before she could stop it, her fingertips brushed against the torn skin over his cheekbone.
It wasn't a deep cut, it wasn't even bleeding, but to know that his skin had opened spoke about how someone had actually been good enough to land a physical blow on the demon, be it through a close hand weapon or a bullet.
She didn't get to think about this for much longer.
A second after her fingertips had made contact, Hibari's own arm flew up on what could only be instict, and latched on to Tsuna's wrist, his fingers wrapping around the area just below her reddened skin.
She froze up at the touch.
"S-sorry." she stuttered, looking to the ground.
Hibari however, glanced at Tsuna's wrist from the corner of his eye, and his eyebrows drew together into a frown.
He moved her arm away from his face, turning it in a way that revealed her red wrist to him. He glanced down at her for a moment, before he allowed his hand to move up, wrapping his hand around the red skin.
Tsuna's eyes widened as she felt this, head snapping up to look at the prefect.
Thankfully, it didn't appear as though her skin was burning him, but he did frown at the contact.
He looked at her, meeting her eyes full on.
"Why does your skin feel feverish in this particular spot?" he asked, voice carrying a tone of suspicion as he looked at her.
She frowned right back.
"It's been quite some time." she said, looking down to where he was holding her. "Just how hot were those flames?"
It wasn't until the second that followed that Tsuna realized that she probably shouldn't have said that.
Hibari no longer attempted to hide his anger, his face morphing into an expression of pure fury as his head snapped up to look up at Tsuna.
"They used flames on you?!" he asked, voice louder than normal and thunderous, though still not loud enough that his words would reach any other pair of ears than her own. Well, hers and the hundreds of battered up guards that surrounded them.
Slightly bewildered, Tsuna shook her head.
Hibari raised an eyebrow at her reaction.
"No." she clarified. "And even if they had, flames have no effect on me."
He gave her a questioning look, expecting her to give him more than that. But no.
She shook her head, slowly taking her hand out of his.
"I'll explain it later." she promised, taking a step away from him.
For a moment, it looked as though the prefect wanted nothing more than to object, to demand an answer from her. But eventually, his shoulders sagged as he relented.
He pierced her with a serious look.
"I'll hold you to that." he stated firmly.
"I know you will." Tsuna answered with a court nod.
Noding back at her, Hibari jerked his head to the side, motioning with a glance in the direction where the others had disappeared off to.
With a graceful bow, Tsuna took off in the direction the others had gone off to, her body soon breaking into a light jog as she rushed over the paved ground under them.
Hibari watched her back as she went, eyes trailing over the exhausted and slightly tense movements of her muscles, and his face morphed into an expression of well hidden concern, his own muscles tensing up as he physically kept himself from rushing after her.
That wouldn't so, it would serve no purpose aside from possibly scaring the life out of her.
As it turned out, Tsuna already had a form of help waiting for her just a hundred meters from where they had been talking.
Gokudera had remained behind, leaning against the wall that served as the barrier keeping their car out of sight.
He pushed himself off of the wall as Tsuna came up to him, putting his hand at the small of her back before the two of them disappeared around the turn.
Not even a minute later, the distinct sound of a barely audible engine reached Hibari's ears.
Finally, they were gone.
Letting out a long sigh, Hibari rolled his shoulders, getting rid of the slight ache that had formed in them before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black phone.
Pressing one button, he put the device to his ear.
"Yes, I need to talk to the chief."
A/N: And there you have it!
Please tell me what you think about the chapter, and the story in general, any ideas you wish to include into the rewritten version, tips you want me to think about, heck, you can tell me scenes you were thinking could fit into the rewritten version, I'll read them, think them over, and see if they would fit in or not.
The next chapter will be up on Sunday.
Until then, I want you humans to have a wonderful time. I'll try to plow through the planning of the rewrite which is taking a lot longer than I had originally believed it to be, and I'll see you again in the near future.
Hugs and kisses.
Love.
Me!