A/N: OKAY, so I did a thing.
A thing that I think you will like that I did.
And no, I'm not talking about a version of this story winding up on Archive Of Our Own. Just to be clear though, YES, that is indeed me posting it on another site, no theft going on here.
Helena is my real-life middle name and Styvhals is the reversed version of the surname I WOULD have had had my something great grandfather not decided to legally change it because he liked the sound of this preacher's last name.
Or… at least that's what I think the story went…
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
I decided a while back that I would wait to upload any chapter of this story on this site until I had finished writing it in its ENTIRETY.
And so, I have now finished all 41 chapters leading up to the end of this part (I'm counting the 23 chapters already uploaded, I don't have 41 chapters waiting to be uploaded), but I am not going to upload the thing in bulk because I know myself and I will most likely NEED the time these chapters can buy me in order to properly plan and work out the sequel. I have already begun planning on it in bits and pieces, I have decided on a few of the events and how certain characters will develop through it, as well as the reveal of a few answers that you have been asking me for since I first started on the first version of this story (couch Hibari's relationship with Tsuna couch). I have even decided on a few of the plot points that will come to span over to the sequels that will come after that.
So far, I have planned to do 8 "Acts" to this story. There used to be thirteen but the more I planned the more I thought that was just an absurd number.
Anyway! I will be uploading once a week during the periods where I'm not actively working on the sequel just to be sure, despite me having gotten SOME stuff down of what I want to happen there are still plenty of blanks that need to be filled but I am feeling somewhat confident about where everything is headed right now.
Anyway, you have been waiting for this and I will not keep it from you any longer.
Please,
Enjoy.
Scene 24:
Official Friendship
A familiar shape zooming through the school gates about twenty minutes before the first bell caused most of the students to pause what they were doing and look up.
They turned their heads just in time to see the well-known hoverbike of one Gokudera Hayato driving towards the school. Surprisingly early too as the delinquent usually got to the school grounds either ten to twenty minutes late or within a time period of ten minutes before classes were set to start.
What could have possibly warranted his early arrival?
The first thing they noticed was the lack of the sleek black helmet that usually obscured his hot head, the lack of it sent his silver tousles flapping around his head in the wind, the only thing protecting his eyes being a pair of visor-esque sunglasses.
They didn't notice the second rider and where the helmet had disappeared to until just before they reached the school ground.
The whispering started within seconds of them zooming past the gateposts.
As the second rider's head was obscured by that familiar helmet, all the students could see of her was the absolutely tiny body, the almost impossibly thin waist, the long, slender arms tightly wrapped around the delinquent's frame, long yet firm looking legs dressed in black tights instead of the socks most of the students opt to wear, but that could simply be because she would be in flash risk in socks or stockings when on a hoverbike.
Those that swung that way just couldn't take their eyes off of that figure, they couldn't remember ever seeing a girl in the building with a similar shape.
That girl must have worked her butt off to achieve a body like that.
Some of Gokudera's fans that had been attempting to catch the guy arriving at school as many times as possible, were surprised when, instead of violently veering his hoverbike into a violent halt that would have risked the vehicle to turn over on its side like he usually did, the silver-haired transfer student opted to ease the vehicle into a gentle, smooth stop, sliding it expertly in among the line of bikes in the parking lot.
His fans watched, eyes green with envy as their ideal boyfriend turned around to look as his passenger as he removed the visor shades from his face and gave her what could only be described as the most charming smile they had ever seen on his face.
At that moment, even they could see the more aristocratic lines to his features.
He looked like a nobleman.
Despite everything, they found themselves going weak in the knees.
The students watched as the mystery girl gracefully unwrapped her arms from around the delinquent's torso, allowing them to fall back on the seat to steady her torso as she quickly swung her long shapely leg in a perfect display of flexibility behind Gokudera's back, not touching him, not showing anything further than the start of her thigh before both of her feet landed on the pavement as she peeled herself off of the vehicle, adding a little 180-degree turn as she did so.
The movements seemed so natural, almost like she had done them unconsciously.
The students noticed the pondering frown on Gokudera's features, raising an eyebrow as he leaned over the front of his bike.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked the girl, bringing his visor shades up to nibble on one of the parts that hooked behind the ear.
Did he sound playful?
No… no that couldn't be it.
"What was?" the girl asked, her voice coming out muffled from behind the helmet.
What everyone watching found confusing, was that they found the voice familiar. They just couldn't for the life of them remember where they had heard it before. They simply couldn't connect that voice with the figure in front of them.
Gokudera shook his head with an… amused? Huff.
He threw his leg over the bike but he remained sitting.
"The whole..." he mimicked the movement her leg had made with his arm. "Leg thing you just did."
The helmet shook as though the wearer was shaking her head in fond amusement.
Maybe…
"No." she answered him with laughter in her voice, her arms crossing over her chest as she crossed her ankles where she stood. "But it got me off the bike faster." the viewers frantically wracked their brains, desperately trying to remember just where they had heard that voice before.
"You're showing off?" Gokudera asked, his voice carrying a teasing note to it despite keeping that same air of great respect for the girl in front of him.
How could that girl earn the loyalty from a guy like Gokudera?
The girl just laughed.
"Not really," she answered, bringing up her hands to fiddle with the clasp keeping the helmet in place under her chin. "Sometimes I don't even know I'm doing things like that." she continued with the clasp, her voice steadily growing more and more annoyed. "I guess it's subconscious." her delicate-looking hand closed completely around the strap, violently yanking on it.
Gokudera frowned at her actions.
"What's wrong?" he asked, getting off the bike and moving closer to the smaller figure.
The girl let out a small, dejected kind of groan before throwing her hands back down.
"I can't get it off."
Gokudera moved even closer to the girl, his height forcing the helmet to tilt upwards in order for whomever the girl was to look the delinquent in the face.
"Here," he said, a gentle expression on his face as he grabbed the sides of the helmet.
Now that the other students thought about it, the size of the helmet was quite comical when compared to the over-all tiny form of its wearer.
"I'm not tilting my head up any further than this." the girl deadpanned as Gokudera gently tilted her head.
Gokudera chuckled, or all things.
"I'm not asking you to," he said gently, his voice sounding strange to the ears of the other students as they had never heard him speaking in such a manner before.
Just as gently as his words had been, Gokudera gripped the sides of the helmet, bending his own knees to get a better look at the strap fastened under her chin before he moved his fingers towards what could only be the clasp. He fiddled with it for a moment before he cautiously gripped the thing, giving it a couple of yanks of his own as he kept fiddling, his eyebrows furrowing as the strap stubbornly remained in place.
"It's stuck." he eventually sighed, straightening back up to look through the helmet's visor. "I'll have to but it off."
The girl's shoulders tensed slightly.
"You alright with that?" Gokudera asked, putting one of his hands gently on the girl's shoulder as though trying to steady the slight tremor that had developed in them.
For a couple of seconds, the girl just stood there, her one hand clutched around her tie before she took a deep breath, her shoulders heaving under Gokudera's hand before she answered him.
"Just… make sure you don't cut anything else."
Gokudera smiled once again, sending those students who found him irresistible swooning where they were standing. In fact, a couple of them found themselves unable to stand at the sight of it, much to their friends chagrin. And yet, the girl standing right in front of the guy in question seemed to be completely immune.
"Don't worry," Gokudera said, momentarily returning to his bike to fetch a maintenance knife from one of its compartments, unfolding it from its protective casing as he stepped back up to the girl. "It's not the first time I've had to cut off a helmet strap." he put his hand on the helmet again. "I have been thinking about getting a different model for a while now."
Tilting the helmet upwards again, Gokudera gently slid the knife in between the strap and what could only be the underside of the girl's jaw. The students could see how the girl's fingers clenched at what some of them guessed to be the feel of the metal against her skin.
Quickly, with a smooth flick of his wrist, the strap fell limply away from where it had been blocking the girl's head from escaping the helmet's hold.
"There." the silver-haired guy said with a proud look on his face as he straightened up, turning back around to return the knife to where it had been hidden.
All the surrounding students held their breaths as the girl lifted her slender arms to finally free her head from the comically large helmet, and suddenly, their eyes were greeted by a head of familiar messy, mat, golden-brown hair momentarily lifting away from a soft, round, clean face that really brought attention to the olive tint to her skin before they were covered back up by the mess.
Gasps echoed all over the grounds.
Dame-Tsuna…
It was Dame-Tsuna!
Dame-Tsuna was looking down at the helmet still clutched between her hands with something of an annoyed side-pout stretched out over her lips.
"Great..." she huffed, shaking the helmet in the air as Gokudera walked back up to her. "Now I'll have to make you get TWO new helmets." her voice echoed clearer now with the helmet gone, a playfully annoyed tone to it of all things.
The student body was in shock.
Some of them had been going to the same school as Dame-Tsuna since they were in middle school, and no-one had ever noticed that the girl actually had quite the figure. Even if it was only the thin waist and the length of her arms and legs that did it. She barely had a chest after all and her over-all structure just looked like it should be labeled "FRAGILE", but that didn't matter.
The fact that the schools previously most bullied girl proved to actually be attractive once you couldn't see the birds nest she had for hair…
It was too shocking for words.
"No matter," Gokudera said, taking the helmet out of the girl's hands. "Money is not an object."
"Of course it isn't," Tsuna growled playfully, her arms dropping to her side as she looked down to where her bag had fallen to the ground as she was struggling with the clasp, bending down with such fluid grace that it didn't look as though she was real.
So… she was taking ballet classes huh?
"You aristocratic bastard," Tsuna muttered as she rose back up.
To those who really paid attention, they noticed Gokudera's steps faltering for a split second as he was walking back to Tsuna from where he had dumped now useless helmet by the bike.
Of course, Tsuna noticed this.
Her entire body stiffened as she was about to hang her bag on her shoulder, the bag hanging from her elbow-area as she turned towards the delinquent.
"I am SO sorry!" the bag fell back to the ground as her hands flew to her mouth.
Gokudera just chuckled, shaking his head as he finally reached her.
"It's okay." he waved a hand nonchalantly in the air. "You didn't know."
Some students felt their brains short-circuit.
A bastard…
Gokudera is a literal bastard…
An aristocratic bastard…
Huh...
Ignoring the tension in the air, Gokudera's eyes fell to the ground where Dame-Tsuna's bag still lay. He let out a fond.
"Let me," he said, plucking the bag girls bag from the ground.
"Gokudera-" Dame-Tsuna tried to speak up, her hands moving to take the bag away from him but the delinquent interrupted her.
"No," he said, grabbing his own bag from the bike. He gave her a smile. "I want to."
Now, everyone knew that most girls, if someone as attractive as Gokudera was to do something like that to them. They would either freeze up in place, blush furiously, become embarrassed, or simply transform into a giddy mess that melted at his smile.
Dame-Tsuna on the other hand…
First, it appeared as if she would go through with the first alternative with how she was staring at the delinquent without moving a muscle. Then, her shoulders relaxed and much to the surprise of the student body.
She smiled.
They couldn't recall one time where they had ever seen Dame-Tsuna smile. And it would take some serious torturing before anyone of them ever admitted that they actually found that it suited her.
Such a simple, gentle smile lit up her features in such a way that showed off just how attractive she could be despite the bird's nest she had for hair.
That smile quickly took on a teasing tone as she suddenly reached out her hand to pat Gokudera over his silky silver hair, causing the teenager to freeze mid-step at the touch, his striking eyes widening as he stared down at her.
"Good boy." she cooed, sounding as though she were praising a boy, shaking her head as she took on a higher-pitched voice, cringing her nose.
Gokudera blinked in confusion for a few seconds after she removed her hand.
"What?"
If anything, Dame-Tsuna's smile grew, if even just a little bit.
"If you're gonna act like a puppy, I'm going to treat you like one!" she called out as she took off running towards the school building.
For a long moment, Gokudera just stood there, staring after her.
Slowly, a playful smirk spread across his lips.
"Get back here you shrimp!" he shouted after the girl, immediately setting off after the retreating girl. He reached her just before they reached the main doors of the school, his arms wrapping around her waist and hauling her into the building to the sound of her loud echoing laugh.
By the time the echo faded into nothing, the schoolyard was deathly silent.
It took a while before one of the students decided to voice was on everyone's minds.
"What. The. Hell?"
This was the broken up sentence that started it.
"SINCE WHEN DID THEY BECOME FRIENDS?!"
"No… no… Dame-Tsuna probably became Gokudera's bitch."
"That's not how a guy acts around his bitch though…
"Did she call him a puppy?"
"Did HE become HER bitch?"
"There's no way anyone would want to be HER bitch."
"Don't let her hear you say that. Remember what she did to Mochida?"
It didn't take long before they fell into gossip. Throwing one assumption or theory after the other, completely forgetting the fact that they should be moving to enter the school building as well until the bell forced them out of their mad chattering.
During English class, Tsuna found her thoughts drifting to the conversations she had had with Reborn out of sheer boredom. The reaction he had had when she had asked him to tell her more. More about what she knew he was keeping from her.
She wanted to know more about the origin of her fires.
She wanted to know more about this Giotto person that was her ancestor.
She wanted to know who those "our" he keeps mentioning are, and just where the records were kept and by who.
Unfortunately, if she knew her tutor right… she wouldn't get her answers for a LONG time.
There was nothing more she could do about the matter at the moment, and he was right, she did have a lot to do.
Like… she still had to figure out what to do with her art assignment.
How in the world was she supposed to make a portrait of her best friend when she didn't-?
Wait a minute...
She had two friends now…
And since she was closer to Gokudera than she was to Kyoko by a WIDE margin…
So technically speaking…
Gokudera is her best friend.
Her eyes widened as it suddenly hit her that she just might be able to turn in an art-assignment after all.
Now… she just had to somehow find it in her to ask him…
He most likely wouldn't mind too much what with it being HER, but she didn't think right now was the time to ask it of him, she still had some time after all and she hadn't thought to bring the supplies with her that day.
She'll just ask him later.
During every break, she suddenly found a conversation with at the most three classmates who wanted to know just how she had beaten Mochida as easily as she had appeared to have done, but she had never found them important enough to relay the truth to them, sparing brief off-hand explanations about converting ballet to self-defense tactics with her Mom after the incident, not revealing the true origin.
Who knew what kind of rumors would spread if she revealed the truth…
Thankfully (she couldn't believe she was saying this), Gokudera had managed to stick close enough to her side most of the time, warding off or even physically pushing the offending students away whenever he noticed that she was starting to become either annoyed or uncomfortable with the seemingly endless stream of questions coming at her.
Comments about how cool she had been…
As if beating someone up suddenly warrants badass status.
Thankfully, no one wanted to go against Gokudera when he turned… that, expression on them.
Tsuna was waiting outside the student bathroom, mindlessly swinging her bag as she waited for Gokudera to do his business. It was the first time during the day that she truly had a moment for herself, what with the students continuously swarming around her for one reason or another.
Because THAT will endear them to her after all these years…
She had kind-of expected the footsteps slowly approaching her what with how the rest of the day had looked.
"So..." a voice spoke up from her side.
Huh… Tsuna felt her eyebrow twitch.
This voice was one she had already classified as more welcome than most considering their last conversation.
"You talked to him?" Fujitaka Sasuke asked as he slipped up next to her, leaning his back against the wall at her side, his hands clasped behind him in a playfully casual, yet still cautious manner.
Tsuna couldn't help the breathy chuckle slipping from her lips.
"I wound up doing that, yeah."
Fujitaka shifted a little, obviously gathering up enough courage to keep their somewhat conversation going.
"So?" he asked, leaning slightly towards her. "How did it go?"
When Tsuna turned to meet his eyes, it would appear that her fellow ballet dancer suddenly regretted his words, his hands flying up to wave somewhat frantically in the air between them, though his voice still remained surprisingly steady when he spoke again.
"If I may ask?" he asked uncertainly. "I mean… it looks like the two of you are on better terms now than you were before..." he trailed off, his eyes flashing towards the bathroom door over and over again as he kept talking.
Taking pity on the nervous dancer, Tsuna turned her gaze to her still-swinging bag.
"Well..." she paused, mulling over how she should answer him. She shook her head, deciding to just go with it. "We finally, officially, put a label on just what out relationship is."
Fujitaka looked as though someone had punched him in the stomach.
He swallowed a couple of times before he spoke again.
"May I ask what that label is?"
Stars… just how obvious could a guy get?
However… Tsuna couldn't help but find the way he acted around her to be somewhat… adorable, every now and then.
"May I ask why you are so curious?" she found herself asking, an eyebrow rising teasingly.
"Of course you can!" Fujitaka's response had obviously slipped through his lips before he had had the chance to think about it if the absolutely horrified look on his face was anything to go by. "I mean..." he quickly backtracked, clearing his throat as his gaze drifted down towards the ground. "I know so precious little about you..."
Despite herself, Tsuna could feel a light flush form on her cheeks.
She… she was not used to this kind of attention.
"And you want to know more?" she asked before she could stop herself.
"I do," Fujitaka answered without looking at her.
For a long moment, the two dancers stood in silence, before Tsuna let out a long breath.
"Friends."
Fujitaka's head snapped up to look at her again.
"What?" he asked, sounding quite confused, his eyebrows furrowed.
Tsuna chuckled again.
"Gokudera-kun and I are officially friends," she answered softly.
Shortly after she said that the guy in question stepped out of the bathroom and the two of them set off out of the building, leaving Fujitaka Sasuke standing as though frozen leaning against the wall next to the student's bathrooms.
Gokudera had thankfully not asked her if she wanted a ride back home that day, as he didn't have a helmet for her to wear as thus she wouldn't feel safe and he wouldn't feel alright with her riding behind him without head protection, so he had simply accompanied her home, leading a hovering bike beside him as they walked.
It had been nice until they had bid goodbye and she had entered her house only to immediately be accosted by her mother the second she stepped through the front door.
She had barely gotten the time to take off her shoes when the woman had suddenly cornered her, her voice steady as she looked at her daughter with a narrowed eyed, smug look on her face that made Tsuna feel quite uncomfortable.
As if the words themselves didn't already do that.
"Alright girl." the woman practically purred as she crossed her arms across her chest, moving as Tsuna tried to move around her, successfully locking her in place. "Spill." she jerked her head to the door indicating what she meant.
"What?" Tsuna refused to look at the woman, wanting to just get to her room already.
Of course, Nana wouldn't have it.
"Is that guy your boyfriend?" the woman asked, again blocking her daughter again.
Tsuna could feel the blood rushing to her face at the words.
"Mom..." she sighed in exhausted disbelief, her hand rising to rub at her closed eyes.
She had just gotten to know the guy for Purity's sake…
Plus, she wasn't looking for a partner as of right now.
At her reaction, Nana allowed the smug look to slide off of her features, though Tsuna knew that the woman wasn't done as of yet, even if she did raise her hands in a placating kind of surrender.
"I'm just asking." the woman stated, that overly familiar teasing look in her eyes almost causing Tsuna to groan. Leaning forward, the woman crossed her arms again before asking with a much lighter tone to her voice: "So… is he?"
Taking a deep breath to quell the blush she could feel rushing to her cheeks, Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear, refusing to look her mother in the eye.
"No." she replied through a sigh. "He's not my boyfriend."
Sighing heavily with a theatrically dreamy air, Nana straightened herself out, letting her chin fall into the palm of her hand as she stared openly at the closed door.
"That's a shame," she said, tilting her head the slightest. "He sure is handsome."
Still lightly blushing, Tsuna adjusted the strap of her bag all the while refusing to look at her mother's theatrical expression.
"I know he's handsome." she found herself sighing again, feeling as though her face was on fire.
Huh… now she knew what that felt like.
Even though her hair was still comfortably situated behind her ear, she brushed it back yet again. Doing this, she actually caused a few strands to fall back where they had been before.
"I'm just..." she could feel her mother's eyes on her, practically drilling into her skin. "I'm just not looking for anything like that." she cautiously allowed herself to peer up at her mother through her messy bangs. "I just want a friend right now."
Oh no… she could see that teasing glint return to her mother's chocolate orbs.
This wasn't good.
"So..." the woman began. "Would you give that guy a chance if-"
"Bye!" Tsuna cut her off, trying to quickly make it around the woman to the stairs. Which proved to be hard as the woman kept putting herself in her daughter's way, that frickin' smirk playing on her lips.
"If you were looking-"
This was strange…
This wasn't that unusual a behavior for Nana, she always jumped on the first chance to see Tsuna's face turn a bright red, so the feeling shouldn't be that different.
However…
Somehow… right now, the feeling felt somewhat…
Amplified.
It was hard to explain but… it was like her blood was pumping through her body at a quicker pace than it had ever done before like her heart was beating overtime.
What was going on?
She didn't allow herself to dwell on that though.
Shaking her head furiously, Tsuna finally found an opening between her mother and the wall and shoved herself through it.
"I'm not talking anymore!" she practically screamed as she spun around on her heel and hurried up the stairs, ignoring her mother giggling at her retreating back.
She hadn't noticed the hulking shadow of her tutor standing in the kitchen door, his face deathly pale with beads of sweat trickling down his forehead as though he was running a rather high fever though without the flustered cheeks from the temperature.
He had followed her with his eyes, his expression masked in indifference to hide the worry slipping through his dark gaze.
June 25
Thursday 2215
Tsuna had awoken that morning feeling as though a heavy blanket of dread had covered the entirety of Namimori, a strange sensation considering the fact that there was not a single cloud in the sky for as far as the eye could see.
Summer was on the upswing that was certain, and yet Tsuna couldn't shake the cold shivers raking over her skin, making her want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of hot tea despite the light seeping in through her bedroom windows.
She didn't linger on that though.
After going through her regular morning ritual with the addition of an orange and white raglan zip-up hoodie over her spring uniform to protect her from the harsh winds when riding on a hoverbike, she carefully tucked her best care of colored pencils alongside her sketchbook into her bag, ensuring that the case wouldn't suddenly open during the day with a rubber band before she went down for breakfast.
Just like the day before, Gokudera arrived outside of the house as she was in the middle of eating, only this time, her mother didn't insist on her going out to talk to him, allowing her to finish her food even though she had to do so whilst ignoring the woman's irritating, suggestive looks coupled with giggles.
Truly, Tsuna couldn't finish eating fast enough that day.
When Tsuna finally exited her house, she was glad to already find Gokudera sitting on his bike outside of the gate.
She frowned when she couldn't see even one helmet with him, only when she was just a few steps away from the gate she watched as her friend reached behind him and took out something from his bag hanging from one of the handlebars.
As she came up to him, he had pulled his hand back out and held out a small device that looked like something of a headpiece painting in white, blue, red and orange. As she raised an eyebrow at her friend, the silver-haired teen pressed down on once section at the top of the headpiece and within a couple of seconds, he was holding a helmet. A helmet significantly smaller than the one he had lent her previously, a sleek and relatively modest design that suited her much better.
Plus, her favorite color was prominent in its paint.
Where did he get that kind of info?
She didn't think about that for too long, making sure that her bag was safe on her shoulder before she took the unfolded helmet from her friend's hands and slipped it over her head, finding it to be surprisingly comfortable despite its nature.
Gokudera smiled at her before fitting his own headpiece thingie on his head and pressed down, allowing Tsuna to watch a helmet very similar to the one he had had before fold-out around his head in a surprisingly striking way.
She shook her head at the guy's showy display before getting on the bike behind him.
Once her arms were safely wrapped around Gokudera's torso, they were off.
The signal rang through the air so suddenly that it had caused the petite girl in front of him to jerk rather violently, almost dropping her chopsticks at the movement.
"Juudaime, are you alright!?" Gokudera frantically asked, his one hand clutching at his sandwich as he reached out towards the girl with the other, making sure she wasn't making any awkward movements as she collected herself. It may have appeared as though he was too protective of her (and sometimes he was, he was willing to admit that), but he knew that Juudaime's skin was delicate enough that she actually could wind up hurting herself from the smallest of things.
He once saw her hurting her finger by closing her lunchbox lid.
She was getting a better feel for her brief lack of orientation, growing accustomed to her body not shutting down on her at the drop of a hat, and she had been getting better, but there were still moments like this, moments were her brain would short circuit for a brief second, and he had made it his personal mission to help her until she had overcome it entirely.
"Yeah..." Juudaime finally breathed before her face scrunched up in annoyance at the loud noise still cutting through the noise in the classroom. "What is that?"
"It's my gem." Gokudera answered, equally annoyed as he fished out the offending dark ruby-colored object, turning the alarm off before it could cause Juudaime any more discomfort. He didn't even bother to check the number, he knew he didn't have it in his contacts list.
This appeared to baffle Juudaime.
"… aren't you going to answer it?" she asked, setting her lunch box aside so as to allow her to completely focus on him.
"It's no one important." Gokudera insisted, putting the gem back into his pocket.
This brought a small frown to Juudaime's face.
"How can you be so sure?"
Gokudera looked up at her, pinning her with his bright olive eyes.
"No one calling me could possibly be important." he didn't say it, but they both knew that there was one exception to that, and she was sitting in front of him.
Sighing, Juudaime brushed a lock of hair behind her ear in that usual nervous/unsettled gesture he had become so accustomed to, however, there appeared to be an air of annoyance to her overall posture that piqued Gokudera's curiosity.
He didn't often see this particular emotion on Juudaime's face.
Eventually, Juudaime managed to collect herself enough to look him right in the eye with as much determination as her still somewhat drawn back and personal nature allowed her to show. He was proud that she had picked HIM to shed that particular asked of herself around, but years of self-induced isolation was hard to brush off, no matter how easy she may make it appear sometimes.
"Gokudera-kun… what if I had been the caller?" she asked, her voice steady, her gaze unwavering.
This caught Gokudera by surprise, but he didn't dwell on it.
"But Juudaime is here, in front of me, so you can't be the caller."
This appeared to annoy Juudaime even more than before, bringing an exasperated sigh from her lips as she leaned back into her chair.
"But what if I weren't there, and your gem started ringing. What would you do then?" she looked at him intently, silently begging him to understand what she was trying to convey.
"Fine..." he sighed, giving in to his Juudaime's wishes. It would do no good to his emotional state if he somehow managed to make her angry. He still couldn't fathom why the simple choice of not answering a gem-call seemed to bother her to such an extent. "I'll at least check the called ID when I'm alone."
"Good." Juudaime responded, a gentle smile spreading across her lips.
Gokudera couldn't help the sense of accomplishment that filled him at the sight.
The day had progressed pretty well considering.
It was even worse than it had been after she had beat Mochida.
Now… now… now she was apparently offering to be Gokudera's bed warmer in exchange for martial arts lessons that she could use against Mochida because she was officially DONE being the constant victim within the school building.
Yeah, because Gokudera always fights with pirouettes and high kicks to the face (the two had never actually spoken about it but Tsuna got the feeling that Gokudera preferred a form of weaponry that allowed him to think strategically when on the battlefield, and if that didn't work he would turn to his fists, he had proven to be very proficient at archery after all).
Speaking of fighting.
As her classmates were discussing the rumors at high enough volume that everyone around them hears it, Gokudera was currently at his wit's end.
He couldn't stand that these idiots thought they were worthy of speaking about Juudaime in such a manner.
Sitting at his desk, his one hand clutching at his hair, the other was furiously tapping his pen against the glowing, sleek surface of his desk, the force of the taps threatening to leave scratches in the touch-sensitive material.
He had been in the middle of developing his own type of writing when the gossip from the people around him had reached his ears.
He couldn't believe the sheer idiocy of the people that had forced themselves into his immediate surroundings.
How could they believe that Juudaime would allow herself to fall into the same bed as someone like him? How could they believe that anyone would have to teach Juudaime martial arts in order for her to beat up that poor excuse for a human male?
Sure, Gokudera himself had been the one to instruct Juudaime on how to turn her ballet into functional self-defense tactics, but that was exactly the point, he didn't teach her anything she didn't already know, he just showed her ways she could use it so as to not allow pieces of shit like that to get the better of her again.
She was bad-ass before she beat that fucker, they were all just blind to it.
He had half a mind about blowing up every piece of shit teenagers that had dared to open their mouth the past fifteen minutes, but he knew that Juudaime wouldn't be happy with him if he did.
In fact… he would probably scare her away once again if she saw him with those things in his hands...
No.
He wouldn't do it.
Not yet anyway...
A/N: In case anyone wanted to know, I actually have an inspirational Pinterest board dedicated to this fic under the username Anna Sol (not my real name, I am VERY paranoid about revealing my real name on the internet, the only place where my real name is used on a regular basis is on YouTube and I don't even have any videos on there I just leave comments when I feel like I need to share something). I only have three public pin boards open as of yet, two of them I share with my brother tied to a project we really wanna turn into a graphic novel one day as we think it's awesome, but the remaining one is titled "In the Light of Fire Act 1: Hidden From Shadows" and is just the shit that has served to spark my interest and inspire me with my writing. If you wanna check it out, please do.
Also, in terms of what is going on with me posting the story on Archive Of Our Own, that is simply me trimming the chapter count down and tweaking the earliest chapters o the story, the oldest ones that may need it. The chapter count on that version will NOT reach 41 as I will be making them longer than I have consistently done on this one.
Please tell me what you think.
I think that's all I need to put out there right now.
This has been:
A message from Her Ladyship.
