Episode 28: Back to the Future
"With every step you climb another mountain, every breath it gets harder to believe. You make it through the pain, weather the hurricanes… To get to that one thing. Just when you think the road is going nowhere, just when you almost gave up all your dreams. They take you by the hand and show you that you can… There are no boundaries."
-"No Boundaries" by Kris Allen/Adam Lambert
X Hayato Gokudera X
He was the first one at the Namimori Shrine. Or so he thought. Hibari was sitting on the steps next to Najika, who looked like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep and like she'd been crying. In her hands was a golden pocket watch. Hibari didn't seem to care about her well-being, but was looking a little upset himself.
By "upset," Gokudera meant "angry."
He walked over to Najika and put a hand on her head. She looked up to see him and smiled. "Oh, hey, Hayato." Hibari looked up before scoffing and moving away. Gokudera gave the Disciplinary Committee head a glare before looking back at the brunette.
"Something wrong, Najika?" he asked, sitting down next to her. She shook her head, holding onto the watch tighter. "Is that a gift from them?" he asked, referring to the Primo Family.
She nodded, looking down at it. "It was hers, but they've decided to entrust it to me. I should feel happy that this is their parting gift to me, but I can't help but miss them. They were all… such a huge help."
Gokudera looked over at Najika and asked, "Even Daemon Spade?"
She bit her lip, but nodded. "His task helped me mature the most. I finally figured out that I have to protect myself as well as everyone else." She looked up, leaning on both of her hands. "And I figured out why I have to stay strong." Hayato gazed at her, realizing how much older the look in her eyes was. It was no longer the look of a regular teenage girl, but of a woman who'd faced many trials in her life. He reached for her hand, grasping it tightly. She let her head fall to his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you."
He smiled lightly, "You're welcome, Najika." He stood when Yamamoto showed up. Then Chrome, and then Turf-top and the girls, and finally, Juudaime with the stupid cow, I-Pin, Reborn and Yuni.
"Everyone… let's go," Juudaime declared. Everyone agreed wholeheartedly, and soon enough, they were back in the future, where only ten minutes had passed. The real battle was just beginning.
X Basil X
They were back. Basil stood immediately and ran up to Najika.
"I was worried that something would happen!" he exclaimed, taking her hands in his. Sure, it'd only been around ten minutes since they left, but ever since, he'd been working on making a "Welcome Back" breakfast or lunch for them. Although, he'd only gotten to make toast…
Najika's bright smile answered his concern. "No need to worry, Basil-kun. We're all fine, but thanks for worrying about us." A worried-looking Gokudera-dono put a hand on her shoulder, and she smiled up at him, defusing his worried features. She turned back to Basil and asked, "Are you cooking?"
He smiled sheepishly and replied, "Well, I was going to try and prepare as much as I could, but I could not prepare enough in time."
The Wave Guardian smiled again. "Come on, then! I'll help you out!" She turned to Chrome and the other girls and asked, "Why don't we all go help Basil-kun in the kitchen?" They agreed, and Basil gave Sawada-dono a look.
They didn't have very long to prepare for the Funeral Wreaths attack. A few hours at the most.
The kitchen was silent. Even Kyoko and Haru seemed to know that they had little time to prepare for the attack that was bound to come. Chrome was solemn, and Najika wasn't looking at anyone, her cheery attitude from before gone.
Basil stopped mid-cut and put a hand on Najika's shoulder. "Najika-chan." She looked up at him from where she was putting everything into the lunchboxes for the Guardians. Her eyes were dancing with so many emotions that Basil found it hard to see them all. But the ones he did see were the ones he was feeling, too.
Fear. Worry. Anger. Pain.
There weren't very many "happy" emotions in her eyes. She was really upset about this battle, and even with the amount of training she had, she didn't know what the Funeral Wreaths were capable of.
The young CEDEF agent sent a smile at his friend. "Everything will be all right. Sawada-dono is sure to win against Byakuran." His eyes flared with determination, sparing another glance at Najika. "We shall all be able to go back to the past!"
"I know that." She removed a small watch from her pocket. It fit in the palm of her hand, and Basil noticed the symbol of the Vongola engraved in the front of it. "I just… I have a feeling that no matter who wins, I'm losing a part of my future."
Then it clicked in his head; the future Najika and Byakuran were apparently good friends from college.
"Najika-chan…"
She then looked up at him, smiling, but tears in the corners of her eyes. "There's no need to cry, right? Because no matter who wins, I'll still have the others. I hope that we can end this without having to actually kill them…"
Basil's eyes widened. "We would never kill them!"
Shaking her head, she replied, "I know, I know, but they're strong, and at points, the only way to win is to totally defeat your opponent." She opened the watch in her hand, and the two friends were vaguely aware of the other three in the kitchen watching them worriedly. "They've all suffered so much, and they were human. I don't want them to suffer more. With Shoichi-kun hurt and Yuni in danger, I don't think we'll get out alive if we allow them to go."
His hand retracted from her shoulder, and his blue eyes widened. Her eyes betrayed nothing now. They only told him that everything she said to him was true. "I will never allow anything to happen to any of thee."
Najika suddenly stood up, her eyes downcast. "I should go. Squalo's probably waiting for me to report back to Xanxus… and Fran's going to be disappointed that I couldn't come with him, and Bel…" she chuckled, "he's going to be throwing another temper tantrum, but I think I can handle it." She stood up. "Chrome, can you handle packing everything in?"
The blue-haired girl nodded. "Sure."
Basil watched sadly as she stumbled out of the room.
X Najika Kamiya X
"Well, I guess you did good," Xanxus grumbled. "But why are you reporting to me?"
I fiddled with my thumbs. "Well, I just thought, since Squalo called me over, you'd want to know that we were both okay…"
He scoffed. "I'm not your boss, Onda." I stopped, and looked up. "Tsunayoshi Sawada is your boss, and the Varia is an extension of your team. I'm eating now, so just know that we're going to make it."
I nodded. "I'll tell him now." I cut the connection and slipped my hand into my pocket, where the Vongola Watch was. I kept running my hand over the etching as I made my way to where they were sure to be eating now, bumping into Squalo on the way. When I knocked on the doorframe, everyone looked up. "Tsuna-kun, reinforcements are on their way. They asked me to tell you that. See you later."
I could feel Tsuna's worried stare on my back as I made my way to the control room. Spanner looked up. "You should go eat, Najika." Scoffing, I picked up one of his sandwiches.
I sat across from him and asked, "You see anything yet?"
"We've got something on the radar!" Giannini announced.
Spanner gazed at the monitor and sighed. "And that ends the calm before the storm." I bit my lip and slipped my hand into my pocket again. Whenever I held that watch, it gave me a sense of security. Instead of pulling out the watch, I pulled out a box. It was a Box Weapon, for sure. It was like you could see inside it, where a group of seven Flames were dancing, but you couldn't see what was on the other side of the box. I turned it in my hands, examining it.
Was this from the Primo Family? I looked back to the screen and gasped. What was that machine?! "Th-They're here!" Spanner exclaimed.
Giannini pulled up his microphone and yelled into it, "This is an emergency transmission! This is an emergency transmission! Please assemble in the conference room at once!"
Not five minutes later, Tsuna, Hayato, Ryohei, Chrome, Basil, and Takeshi ran into the conference room. "What is it?" Tsuna asked, running in.
"The teleportation system is back!" Spanner explained.
Tsuna looked taken aback. "Eh? Already?!" I gasped as several lights flew in different directions, then the teleportation system exploded. One of them was heading for Namimori Middle!
Takeshi pointed out, "Something just scattered in four directions."
"But why was there an explosion?"
Basil cut in, "The teleportation system must have been on the verge of breaking down. So it failed to land and blew up instead." My head started to ache as an emergency alarm sounded. I clenched my fists.
I took out the radio that would allow the Varia to speak to one another. "Squalo, pick up damnit!" The radio buzzed with static, but there was no answer. "Squalo? Squalo, what's happening?!" Still no answer. "Shit!" I cursed. "Giannini, let me use that microphone." I put it near my mouth and practically yelled, "Squalo, get your stupid ass to the conference room now! It's a real emergency!" I stood up and looked my friends in the eyes. "Get moving. I'll find Squalo and get out."
I ran through the halls, Tsuna and the others departing other ways. The base was shaking, and everything was blowing up. I looked around for the silver-haired man. After a while, I found him screaming at the video screen. He'd been cut off from his chat. "Squalo, did you hear me?" I demanded.
He whirled around and snapped, "Do you think I did?! What's going on?!" I quickly explained the situation to him. He nodded determinedly, raising his sword hand. "Let's get moving."
We finally caught up with Tsuna and the others. "Voi! What is this?" Right as he said that, something behind us exploded. I turned around to see the Storm Funeral Wreath in all his glory.
Zakuro.
I lit up my Ring, preparing for a fight. "Idjit. Found you now, Yuni-sama." He'd found this base completely by accident. As I lifted up my Clear Box, I put my Ring into it, injecting Flames into whatever was inside. Nothing happened, though. I tried again as Hayato and Takeshi stepped up with their Flames lit up, too.
Squalo's arm blocked us and he said, "You guys can't do anything here. Take Yuni and get out of here."
I grabbed onto his arm. "No way! I'm not leaving you to die."
He looked down and snapped, "Don't you understand?! You're already under attack!" That's when I saw it. There were Storm Flames being emitted from Zakuro's Ring, only to be blocked by Squalo's Rain Flames. I bit my lip.
"Fine, Squalo… but if you get your stupid ass killed, I swear, I'll bring you back you and kill you myself." I turned away, opening my Vongola Box and having the belt of my Box Weapons around my waist. "Where's Kaito?"
I hadn't seen him since we got back. Basil stepped up, "Najika-chan, he's in his room." I opened Chiarore's Box and flew to Kaito's room. He was standing outside, looking dazed and confused.
Flying past, I swept the boy into my arms. "Kaito, prepare yourself. We're in big danger, and everything you know about the Mafia is going to be tested." He looked sleepy, and I bit my lip. "Sleep now, baby boy."
I flew out right behind Tsuna, putting Chiarore back in its Box. "Is he okay?" Hayato asked, taking him from my arms. I sighed.
"Yes, he's fine. Just sleepy."
I looked up, clenching my fists. This battle was only just beginning. We couldn't go back to the base, and now, the Funeral Wreaths were all over, probably watching. There was nowhere that we could hide anymore. Everywhere that we had was either already being watched or had been torn down.
We decided to split into several groups, but as soon as we did, the door of the base blew up. I gaped. "Squalo!"
"Voi… This will be over earlier than I expected." I stopped in my tracks. I could hear the disguised pain in his voice, even if it was only a little. But if it was enough pain for me to be able to hear it…
Squalo was as good as dead.
"Take Yuni and run as far away from the base as you can!" he ordered.
I growled. "Who the fuck do you think you are, Squalo?! I'm not abandoning you!"
He spat, "We had this discussion before! Get away! You have a future, kid. If you die here, all of the Varia's protection of you would've been for nothing!" Protection of me? "One last thing, Onda." I froze, and felt myself beginning to cry. That nickname, even as he was facing death. "Kick their asses for me."
My head lowered, and I swear, I stopped breathing for a minute. Squalo, the brave swordsman, was dying. I stood shakily. "You heard him. Leave, Tsuna-kun. There's something I need to do." I kissed Kaito's forehead and muttered, "Sorry, Kai. This is the only choice I can really make."
Lighting up my Ring, I opened all of my Box Weapons. "You're going to try and buy us time, too?" Reborn asked solemnly.
I nodded, feeling Nove on my shoulder and Frusta at my legs. "I'm not losing anyone else. The Wave is something that allows what it feels to create its power. I can feel what I want, but right now? I feel nothing. Just hatred… and that is my power. I hate these Funeral Wreaths, and I hate that they stole my big brother away from me. I hate that Squalo got his stupid ass killed, and I hate that I couldn't do a damn thing!" Everyone paused. "But what I hate most is seeing the people I love dying in front of me. I won't let them die anymore."
"I'm not leaving you here," Tsuna protested weakly.
My dangerous look dropped at Tsuna's puppy dog eyes. "Look, Tsuna-kun… I appreciate that, but I'm a Vongola Guardian. I will do what it takes to make sure that the Vongola survives. Get out of here, while I hold off Zakuro. If I get a chance, I'll catch up with you later." I sent a smile at him. "Thanks for everything, Tsuna-kun."
I turned back, and caught Vento's Scythe Form. Yuni was the last chance we had to get home. I wouldn't die here, not in the future, damn it. I had too much at stake, but if I didn't fight, there'd be even more to lose. And I wouldn't lose to Byakuran, especially not at my own game.
And we're almost finished! After a good three or four years now (OTL) Rainbow Shooter is nearing the end. ;o;
Seriously guys, you're amazing. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long. We only have six more chapters until we say goodbye to Gokudera and Najika. I'm really glad so many people have responded positively!
Please leave a review if you like it, it means a lot to me!
XOXO
