Apparently… time passed so quickly.. Summer passed, my birthday passed and Their Boss' birthday passed… IMSOSORRYFORTHEVERYLATEUPDATE! I didn't mean to let you get the wrong idea of me abandoning the story! College is just so hard… and I had been suffering with a mild case of writer's block…and laziness :v
Anyway I should probably stop rambling…! But one last thing.. thank you so much for the reviews QAQ they almost made me cry and to DarkSoullessMoonlightX for making a haiku for Their Boss (You should check it out, it's so cool!) that cured my temporary writer's block! THANKS A LOT EVERYONE! You're like the pillars to my story… the cookies for my depression…the-the ice coffee for my sleepiness and well.. you get the point. xD
Now on to the story!
BETA'ED BY THE ICE WITHIN (ICY-CHAN)
PREVIOUSLY:
Tsuna, along with Yamamoto, Gokudera, Kyoko, Haru, Lambo and I-pin had gone to hang-out. Everything was all well but Tsuna kept sensing that something was wrong. Someone was following them. He managed to separate from the others twice to reveal the stalker. First by using the excuse of buying Lambo an ice cream and second, by using the explosion from the building across to the shop they were in, as a distraction. Apparently, he failed at the first for Gokudera had found him before he could find the stalker himself. And as for the second attempt…
He found Mukuro…
Chapter 51
"Mu…Mukuro…" Tsuna relaxed as he realized it was only his mist guardian, "What do you want?"
The illusionist chuckled at the blunt tone but answered, "Kufufu, nothing actually." The brunet caught the interest glinting in his mismatched eyes, thus making his frown deepen. There was a moment of silence as Mukuro continued staring at him, as if observing a very fine specimen.
Sighing Tsuna walked past Mukuro, "Well, if you're not going to tell me what you're doing here I'm leaving-"
Slam!
Tsuna turned to the hand that had slammed to the wall beside him, thus blocking his exit. He glared at Mukuro with a scowl, who in return, ignored it, "I should be asking you that, Vongola. It's not everyday I see you in an alleyway."
"Right back at you."
"Oh? Don't tell me you missed me."
"Hardly."
Mukuro frowned at the brunet's sudden change of attitude. He was acting a little colder and distant - and much to his disappointment, harder to embarrass. He shook his head as he let another chuckle pass his lips, "I see… and just to let you know, you don't have to worry – I'm not the one who had been stalking you the entire day."
Surprise flashed on the brunet's face before quickly being covered with a blank look, "I know." He hesitated, "How much did you hear?"
"Not much, I assure you."
Tsuna bit his lower lip. He looked away from Mukuro to stare at the darker part of the alley. He knew Mukuro wasn't the one who had been following him and his friends. It was impossible after all. Mukuro was still in his prison, and obviously he was just facing one of his illusions right now.
"You need to stop possessing Chrome. You're going to tire her out."
"My dear Chrome will understand." He waved him off, "After all… I had to take this rare opportunity of talking to the time-travelling boss."
The glare Tsuna gave Mukuro almost made the man himself back off. Something was totally wrong with the young boss. He wasn't his usual self. His eyes travelled down to the cracked ring.
"Tell me Mukuro…" Tsuna's voice seemed to sound different. Like it was echoing two different voices, "How did you find out about me, exactly?"
Mukuro continued to stare before shutting his eyes as he made an exasperated smile, "Oya, oya… I thought you were stronger than this Vongola."
The glare grew fiercer and it was just probably Mukuro or were his eyes turning into reddish brown?
"Answer me, Mukuro…" He narrowed his eyes threateningly.
"How demanding…" Mukuro narrowed his eyes as well, "You changed a lot during those ten years. You've got more guts." The brunet roughly grabbed the arm that had been blocking his exit.
"Mukuro…" He gripped the arm tightly.
The illusionist didn't seem bothered by the sudden action; instead he stared at the hand that held his arm. Specifically, he was staring at the ring that rested on one of his fingers. Tsuna flinched as he realized this. His grip slackened a bit and was about to let go and apologize, as he had no idea what made him act like that.
Not knowing was making him feel a bit unnerved. He had just thought about it, how suspicious it was for Mukuro to find out before Chrome. He remembered when Mukuro had told him he knew that he (Tsuna) was from the future before the school festival. And he was pretty sure at that time Chrome still had no idea of his secret. So that leaves the question of… how did Mukuro find out before Chrome? Before everyone else?
"Daemon Spade."
Tsuna froze, "What?"
"Daemon Spade handed me the memories of my future self. Enough for me to figure out what was happening." Mukuro held no emotion as he told this to the stunned brunet, "As for his purpose…" He shook his head.
The brunet's hand fell limply next to him as realization sunk into him. Primo's mist guardian had given Mukuro his memories of the future.
"I saw everything."
Tsuna was horrified, "That's impossible… no…" Knowing that someone else that wasn't even from his timeline had memories of that horrid moment he wasn't so proud of… he wasn't prepared for this.
Suddenly, soft and dark voices started echoing within his mind. Whispering things he didn't want to hear.
He knows…
He remembers everything…
He saw the blood! The deaths! The crime.
"Tsunayoshi." A firm voice managed to overcome the whispers and the hand that suddenly grabbed his own arm made him snap out of his daze. He suddenly felt his mind clear a little and the voices slowly sinking away. He let out a breath and looked down at Mukuro's hand. He blinked in confusion as he saw the flame on the mist guardian's ring.
"So…"He decided to ignore it as he got back to the topic, "Daemon made you remember." As soon as he said that, Mukuro had let go of his arm. Tsuna looked up to stare at him, "Why?"
"I really don't "remember" it. After all, I have not been in that situation before. I just saw it. Simple as that, Vongola." The illusionist stated, "Don't mistake me from my future self. I merely borrowed his memories to take a peek. That's all. I am not him."
Tsuna was speechless. Was Mukuro trying to comfort him? He quickly dismissed that idea as he shook his head. Daemon had just given Mukuro memories from the future. How was that even possible? Did it have something to do with the link of being the guardians of mist? Was it the power of Trinisette again? But Primo said—
Primo…!
How could Primo let Daemon give those memories? Did he do it on purpose?
Tsuna felt a horrible sense of dread and betrayal, 'Primo must've planned this from the start. Oh no… what if he let the others remember too? Even if they know what I had done, they'll never forgive me—'
"You seem to like thinking a lot, Vongola." Mukuro smirked.
The brunet pushed past the illusionist, "It keeps me from doing anything stupid."
"Funny that you said that." Mukuro's smirk seemed to be growing, "Especially since everything you do is mostly—"
"I'd keep your mouth shut if I were you." Tsuna clenched his fists; "I'm not in a good mood right now."
"Aren't you always?"
"Mukuro—"
"You need to leave." Caramel eyes widened. Immediately the sky wielder turned to Mukuro and was stopped as he saw the guardian's form flickering.
"Oya?" Mukuro looked at his hand that was slowly vanishing, "It seems I'm out of time."
And just like that Chrome reappeared and quickly he caught the girl as she staggered.
"B-Boss?"
Tsuna couldn't find his voice at the moment as he kept looking ahead as if in a trance. He unconsciously tightened his grip on Chrome's shoulder as he let Mukuro's earlier words sink in.
You need to leave.
The hollow feeling of being unwanted struck him hard. Though he knew that wasn't what Mukuro or Reborn or his friends really meant, rather, they must've thought it was for the best and that it was the right thing to do.
He bit his lower lip as he finally let go of Chrome who kept calling out to him. But Chrome's calling was merely ignored as one thought came to his mind.
He needed to act fast.
Finally he turned to his mist guardian who had shaken him gently to get his attention. She looked at him with the same worried look that Tsuna had gotten used to and softly asked him the usual question,
"Boss… are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that." He forced a small smile before deciding not to wait for the other's answer as he suddenly gave her a light push, "Come on, the others must be looking for us."
"A-ah." Chrome looked back at him and quickly walked beside him, "A-ano… why did Boss suddenly run off like that?"
"I thought I saw someone I knew." Tsuna skillfully lied. He noticed the illusionist looking doubtful as she turned back to the alleyway they just came from. Luckily, she decided not to push it.
"Did you know what happened after I left?"
"I-I don't. I'm sorry."
"No it's okay. Let's just hurry and find the others." Chrome looked at Tsuna as if noticing something was wrong. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary but she knew there was something up with him. She last saw Tsuna talking with Yamamoto and Gokudera before running off. She was about to follow him while using her illusion to help her get to him faster when Mukuro suddenly spoke in her mind; Let me, my dear Chrome. And just like that she blacked out.
She hoped she could confront her boss with that opportunity for she knew something was bugging him the whole day. The way he kept looking uncomfortable and silent. Though he hid his strange behavior well, Chrome could see it clearly just as how she sees through illusions with the help of Daemon Spade's lens.
At the thought of the first generation guardian, her mind wandered to the ring on her finger and the one wish that was given to her and the guardians. They had thought about it and spoke about it.
The wish of bringing back the brunet back to his original time and to have their old Tsuna back.
They had agreed to this and swore this is what they really wanted. That their hearts did not wish for anything else.
They wanted their Tsuna back…
…but what about Future Tsuna?
Chrome had thought about it over and over again. Is it really their wish to put their Boss back to that time? Are they even making any sense putting him back to that environment where everyone wouldn't even look at him in the eye? Everyone but the butler from the Vongola Mansion?
"Chrome-chan, come on. It's time to go home." Kyoko snapped the illusionist out of her reverie.
She was surprised to realize they were with the others already.
"E-eh? What about the explosion?" Chrome looked up to her then at the building that was now being put out by the firemen.
"It's okay. The rescuers can deal things from here. And I doubt they'd let some young civilians like us help them." Tsuna assured her as he also stared at the roaring flames that were slowly dying.
The fire made the brunet's eyes turn into a shade of red.
"It's too bad our day had to end so early." Haru whined as she started walking away with the others.
"Maa, we can always do it again next weekend." Kyoko promised.
"But still…"
"UWAAAHH! Lambo-san wants to eat cake!" Lambo cried as he struggled in Haru's arms.
"Gomen neh, but we can't go back." Kyoko looked back at the cake shop and watched as the police asked the customers to leave, "The explosion from the building is still unknown, it could've been a bomb… and the police is just being cautious that the nearby buildings might also have some."
"BUT LAMBO-SAN'S HUNGRYYYY!" Haru was now having a hard time carrying Lambo.
"Lambo behave!" I-pin scolded, however suddenly, her stomach rumbled making her blush in embarrassment.
"I-pin too?" Kyoko gently picked I-pin up from the ground.
"Maybe we could eat somewhere…" Haru turned to Yamamoto and Gokudera who were unusually quiet, "Oi, hora! What's with the gloomy atmosphere?"
"Tch. Shut up, stupid woman, you're annoying." Gokudera muttered as he looked away.
"What was that?!" Haru puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"Maa, maa! Calm down both of you." Yamamoto immediately intervened, "I have an idea, why don't we eat at my place?"
"Sounds good to me!" Kyoko chirped before turning to Chrome, who gave her a soft smile and a nod.
"Well, let's get going then desu!" Haru cheerfully exclaimed.
Everyone nodded and followed Yamamoto who led the way. Everyone, but Tsuna. Chrome was the first to notice this, "Boss?"
Tsuna had this unknown look on his face as he stared at them. It was somewhat unreadable and hard to decipher. He looked so blank, but so many emotions seemed to flash and clash against the blank façade.
But the expression quickly vanished as one by one the others turned back as they noticed something was up.
"Ah-sorry, I need to go home. I don't feel so good." He said with a small smile.
He did look a bit pale.
"E-eh? But Tsuna-kun…"
"I'll see you next time at school. Okay? Just call me if you need me." He turned and Chrome wanted nothing more but to reach out to him and grab him to keep him from leaving. But she merely stood there and let the brunet vanish through the crowd of people.
She turned back to the other guardians and noticed how they weren't even looking at Tsuna but at the ground instead.
Did something happen?
The illusionist frowned and silently followed Haru and Kyoko who started walking towards Takesushi as Lambo started whining again.
"We'll go order." Kyoko said as she, Haru and the two kids got out of their seats.
"Okay!" Yamamoto grinned and watched them made their way to the counter, leaving the three guardians in an awkward silence.
Yamamoto the forced a smile and spoke, "I should probably go and help dad—"
"Wait."
Both rain and storm turned to the mist with raised eyebrows. Chrome looked down, not used to the attention but spoke up anyway, "I… I want to talk about our plan of sending Boss back to his time."
"Again?" Gokudera growled as he remembered the countless of times they discussed about it, "We've been through this over and over again—"
"I-I don't like it."
The two looked at her in surprise. Yamamoto was the first to snap out of his shock, "Why?" He frowned.
"I think i-it's foolish if we put Boss back to his time, when we saw how he was being treated there." Chrome clutched the hem of her skirt.
"Chrome—" Yamamoto started but Gokudera interrupted him.
"I think keeping him here is more foolish. Juudaime must be sent back to the time where he belongs. Keeping him here would only make things confusing." Gokudera scowled.
"But what if it's a mistake? W-what if we're making a wrong wish?"
"There is no wrong or right." Gokudera had slammed his fist on the table, fortunately not strong enough to catch attention from the other customers, "The only thing that will make it go wrong is if we all had different wishes. You know there would be consequences if we don't do it properly."
"B-but…"
"Gokudera's right, we have to do this for Tsuna's sake. He can't stay here." Yamamoto looked dead serious, "He needs to go back."
Chrome looked at the two with a bit of disappointment. Yamamoto noticed this and made a small smile, "Maa, maa Lambo changed in the future. Remember? He understands Tsuna better now. And besides if that still doesn't work out we can still make a change! After all, once Tsuna is back to the future, the force field thingy that kept the time paradox away would disappear. And then we could change the future!"
"For once the baseball idiot makes sense." Gokudera couldn't help but look impressed.
Chrome blinked and looked down. The rain guardian did have a point, but she couldn't help but think something was still wrong. She could sense it. Almost like an itch that cannot be located.
"It's best if you don't think about it too much." The bomber commented as he eyed the girls and the kids who were coming back, "Or else your heart might end up desiring something else."
"Y-you're right…" Chrome said in finality. She was just probably thinking too much. It was selfish of her of thinking that Tsuna could stay. He was needed more at the future, where he belonged.
And like what Yamamoto said, they still can make a difference in Tsuna's future.
Only question is; would it turn out as how they would expect it to be? Or end up as another unexpected tragedy?
TIMESKIP
"We lost sight of him. Dammit."Mysterious shadows lurked around inside a freshly burnt building during the late hours of the night.
"Hn, and to think your plan would've worked." One figure that was leaning against the wall snorted.
"It almost did, and you know it."Another figure said as he stepped over the bodies that wore the uniforms of the police, "We almost had him at the alley, if that illusionist did not appear."
"Boss won't be happy if he hears about this."
"I don't know… this mission did not really come from him… rather, we were paid to do this by another family if I remember correctly."
Another snort, "Too weak to kill a mere boy? He may be the Vongola Tenth, but I seriously don't see his potential."
"So, you were the ones following me."
Everyone halted and turned to the entrance of the building. The person could not be seen from the dark but they immediately knew who it was.
"It's him! VONGO—"The figure was cut off as he felt something sharp stab him through the chest. He felt his blood drip from his mouth before turning to the teen that had suddenly appeared before him, "H-How-?"
Sawada Tsunayoshi harshly pulled the dagger out and kicked the dying body out of his way. He turned to the other remaining members of the unknown mafia gang. His eyes glinted malice and danger, with a tinge of crimson, almost like the dripping dagger he held.
Finally one of them snapped out of his stunned state and pointed at the brunet, "G-GET HIM!"
The blood-coated dagger was then positioned in front of dull-looking eyes, "Io proteggerò la mia famiglia…"
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End of Chapter
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OMAKE:
"R-Reborn… how long am I suppose to stand here?" Tsuna looks down from the edge of the rooftop before backing away and grasping the fence behind him, "I want to go home!"
"Shut up Dame-Tsuna and go back to your previous position! It won't be long before everything is finished." Reborn, who was sitting on top of the fence, spoke.
"R-Really?" The brunet looks at him with hope.
"That's right. It won't be long before you have to jump off."
"WHAT?!"
A random extra xD
Io proteggerò la mia famiglia = I will protect my family.
Idk if the Italian is wrong grammar.. lol.
Review?
