~.~.~
Title: Ayakashi
Arc 5: Arcobaleno Trial
~.~.~
Chapter 125 One year
"You have one year," the tiny Vindice — Bermuda von Veckenschtein, as he revealed himself to be called — had told Tsuna, at the end of his impossibly twisting, impossibly deep revelation.
Suddenly, all the strange little things Tsuna had begun to notice from Reborn made sense. Just one year left. No wonder Reborn indulged them also much, no wonder he acted so oddly on his birthday.
It saddened Tsuna, and it also made him so, so angry.
"Smile, Tsuna," Yamamoto whispered, elbowing him in the side. "This is our chance to have fun together. Fireworks and snowball fights, remember?"
His heavy thoughts had shown on his face, and Tsuna could see now that even in the fading late afternoon light, Gokudera, Ryohei and Chrome were shooting him worried looks. Taking a deep breath, Tsuna cleared his mind.
"Right," he said. "Let's go set up, okay? Onii-san, lead the way!"
They had planned for this year's festival with fireworks in mind — Tsuna and the kids had brought enough blankets for all of them, Chrome and Yamamoto had handled buying snacks for everyone, bravely fending off Bianchi's attempts to help, and Ryohei once more showed them to the best secret spot, which Mukuro had then hidden from the eyes of all others, grudgingly assisted by his old minions Ken and Chikusa, who had finally been released from Vendicare and still eyed Tsuna like they had no idea what to make of him.
Even Hibari was there, watching over them from the roof of the nearby temple, as they set up their spot. Though Tsuna couldn't see them, he was almost certain Hibari's clan was also there, observing the human festival.
'That's good,' Tsuna thought, then tried to force it away, not wanting to get caught up in his heavy brooding again.
Instead, he looked over his friends — his family — spread out over the colorful blankets, chatting and laughing together under the still faint stars, and smiled. To think it had already been a year since the Ring Battles, and two years since he met Reborn…
Reborn… Tsuna's smile slipped a little.
"He's not here," Tsuna muttered, "even though the fireworks are about to start…"
But a moment later, his worry eased — just before a tiny foot planted itself into the back of his skull.
"You're a hundred years too early to be nagging at me, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn chided, landing neatly next to Tsuna. "A hitman always arrives in the nick of time, not too early, not too late."
"Right!" Tsuna beamed. As the sky overhead burst into a dazzling display of light and color, he said quietly, "They're even more beautiful this year, don't you think?" Reborn didn't reply, but Tsuna went on. "I wonder if they'll be even better next year. I guess we'll see!"
"…You will," Reborn said finally, firmly. It was like a promise. You'll see it, you'll make it there. I know you will.
"We will," Tsuna confirmed — his own promise. It was too late to hesitate. This one night of fun, and then they would begin their insane plan, beyond the scope of the mafia and of humanity.
~.~.~
Chapter 126 The peaceful days must end
"Thank you for the help," Kawahira said, smiling the same way as always. "I admit, cleaning up after the festival is a little tough by myself."
"It's nothing," Tsuna insisted, pausing to wipe away the sweat from his brow as they swept up the last of the discarded fortune telling slips and food wrappers. The others were finishing up in the woods around the shrine and the festival grounds below. "We're happy to help, and… I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh? My, I hope this isn't going to be like last year," Kawahira commented lightly, helping Tsuna tie up the trash bag.
"Er, yeah, about that… It's probably going to be, well, even worse," Tsuna admitted. "We're going to be doing this thing… Actually, that's why we wanted to get the shrine all cleared out. We're going to need to use it. It might… it might be better for you to leave town for a while. I'm sorry, but I can't promise that it'll all work out."
Kawahira was silent, looking over the shrine grounds — the worn but well-maintained buildings, the stone paths, the trees beyond. The red torii gate, the twin lion-dog statues at the entrance.
"…It's almost time for me to depart in any case," he said, a melancholy smile on his lips. "I enjoyed it, my time in Namimori, in this lovely little town, but… those peaceful days must end. Soon, I will need to resume my true duties…"
Knowing he wouldn't receive an answer, Tsuna didn't ask what those duties were. There were many question he wasn't willing to answer either.
"It's been twenty years since you came here, right? Ryohei told me that's what his parents said," Tsuna mused instead. "And it's been about ten years since Mom took me to the shrine the first time. Not that anyone could guess. You look really good for your age, Kawahira-ojisan. You haven't changed at all!"
Tsuna laughed, grinning sheepishly. Smiling as well, Kawahira shrugged. "That's what my second wife said too," he told Tsuna casually. "Except she sounded much angrier about it."
'Second wife,' Tsuna thought, exasperated but not even surprised. He wasn't even entirely sure if Kawahira was teasing him. It seemed all too plausible.
"You could say it's something that comes from my people, our… curse," Kawahira said, his tone softening.
"Your people, huh?" Tsuna repeated, looking up at the summer sky. "Not human, not ayakashi, but something else altogether… I suppose Dying Will Flames had to come from somewhere."
Kawahira chuckled. "Have you been thinking about that all year?"
"Yeah, basically," Tsuna admitted. "I just couldn't help wondering…"
"Hmm… Maybe I'll tell you," Kawahira decided. "But it'll be a secret between us. You'll be the only other to know this story, from long, long ago…"
~.~.~
Chapter 127 Long, long ago
Long ago, long before there was anyone to witness it, a star fell from the heavens and broke into seven fragments
That star had been made of Flame, unlike anything on the world where it fell, but in the world's soothing embrace, its fragments became stone — seven crystals, within which that Flame still shone.
Sleeping on that planet, observing it in their dreams, those stars that became crystals gave birth to beings that were part of them yet separate — the people forged from their Flame.
The people of the Flame watched over the world, as it changed and grew, as other tribes appeared — the spirits that formed from the world itself, and also another. Humans, they were called.
Humans were so small that when they looked upon the other tribes, they could only call them gods. But even so, both those of spirit and those of Flame found themselves drawn to those small, fragile humans.
And then, a great mistake was made.
Those humans were so small, their lives so short, but they had such passion, such strong hearts. To see them live a little longer, could we not lend them a little of our power? So thought the people of the Flame.
Thus, holding out their hands, the people born from the fallen stars gave humans a tiny spark of their Flames. And to their surprise, those Flames grew and burned ever brighter within humanity.
But the mistake was thus:
All Flames are one. Broken into seven, divided between its tribe, given to outsiders, the Flames were still connected to their single source.
And the Flames of the star, inside the seven stones, had begun to flicker and fade.
No one knew the reason. Maybe it was simply inevitable. But as those Flames wavered and began to go out, so did the lives of those bound to them. First, the tribe born from the fallen star, and then… the humans who had been given the gift that was becoming a curse.
The people of the fallen star tried to return their Flames to the seven stones, but it was not enough. The crystals had grown too cold, and any Flame placed inside would soon fade out. Their numbers dwindled, until less than ten remained.
They had no choice. For the sake of their continued existence — the existence of all of humanity — they would have to rely on the power of those they had once seen as too weak to survive on their own.
~.~.~
Chapter 128 Have you figured it out?
"So how did it go?" Yamamoto asked when Tsuna joined them at the foot of the shrine's stairway, his expression thoughtful and almost uncharacteristically brooding. Or at least it had been uncharacteristic, but recently it had appeared more and more often.
"Looks like it's a go," Tsuna replied, pulled out of his thoughts. "Kawahira-ojisan said he's leaving the shrine, so we can start setting up. This is the last one. After we finish setting up the ritual site, it'll just be a matter of waiting a little while for the leylines' power to gather there."
"Shouldn't take long," Ryohei added, nodding to himself. "This place is where the leyline is closest to the surface. I checked at the other locations, and everything looks extremely fine!"
Tsuna nodded, not so much pleased as simply determined. "Sorry, Hibari-san," he said, smiling in a poor attempt at humor, "but it seems we're going to make a mess of Namimori. I don't think we can expect the town to remain untouched after we call on the power flowing beneath it."
Hibari shrugged, though Tsuna could see the subtle twitch under his eye. "I've notified my clan," Hibari reported, refusing to even turn to face the group as he pointedly remained a good distance from them. "They'll be nearby to settle the leylines afterwards. And the warning about the earthquake danger has been issued. Preparations for the evacuation are also on schedule."
Tsuna hummed thoughtfully. "I'm going to be meeting with Grandpa soon, and I'll have him and Vongola help with that and handle the townspeople once they're out of Namimori," he said. "I'll let them know to cooperate with the Disciplinary Committee."
Hibari didn't reply, but Tsuna knew he'd do what was necessary.
"Of course, it'll only matter if we can actually carry through," Tsuna sighed, unable to stop himself from worrying. "It's not like we can even do a test run or anything…"
"Oya? Are you doubting me, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro drew out. "I told you, I understand what he did, and I can certainly do the same, even with a different medium. As for the others…" He shrugged. "I taught everyone the best I could, according to their limitation."
Lambo stuck out his tongue, knowing Mukuro was partly referring to him.
"We won't let you down, Juudaime," Gokudera swore, stepping in quickly and making sure to spare Mukuro a glare. "We've all prepared for our part in the ritual. But… before that…"
"Yeah," Tsuna sighed. "That's gonna be tough, but it's our best bet. Bermuda said he had seen it work, and he described it well enough that I think we can activate it. It's better than just waiting for…"
The others ducked their heads, a moment of gloom passing over them.
"…Do we really trust the Vindice on this?" Gokudera finally ventured. "Are we sure of their information?"
"If they were going to start lying to us, it's a bit late for that," Tsuna pointed out. "We only know about how the Arcobaleno system even works from them."
"They're taking a pretty big risk themselves," Yamamoto pointed out. "It's not like they'll be playing it safe from the shadows."
Tsuna nodded. "There's no choice," he said. Hesitating a moment, he added, "But only if you're sure you want to do this. You can still…"
There was a collective groan.
"We're not gonna back out, Tsuna," Yamamoto commented, sounding almost exasperated.
"We're extremely in this together, Sawada!" Ryohei said.
"Quit being such a wimp, Dame-Tsuna!" Lambo complained. "And don't even think about leaving me out! I'm a Guardian too!"
"Juudaime!" Gokudera drew out, apparently feeling other words weren't needed.
Hibari didn't even bother with that much, and Mukuro just chuckled under his breath.
Tsuna sighed, and smiled. "I got it. I won't keep asking," he said. "Thanks. Really, thank you, all of you."
~.~.~