A/N:…
HAPPY 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
I have officially been working on this series for 5 years now!
Which is weird…
It feels so weird….
I have never worked on a story for this long before it's strange!
Well, technically I started working on April 16th as that was the day I first got the concrete idea for the rewrite but one day doesn't mean anything as the 17th was the day I truly started writing on it! So it COUNTS!
HAPPY 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!
Anyway, onto the story.
Enjoy.
Scene 26
Tiny Pickpocket
June 26
Friday 2215
To be frank. Tsuna was feeling rather… weary.
Not to mention, more than a bit suspicious.
It had been days.
Days!
Since her… rather hard-handed tutor had stormed into her bedroom and ordered her to take up the now beyond familiar position on the coffee table to start what had used to be daily lessons.
But he hadn't done this for days now.
Curious and just a bit worried, Tsuna had even taken it upon herself to visit the man's own room for the first time since he had moved in.
What she had found… had been strange, to say the least.
Peeking through a crack in the door, she had spotted her towering tutor collapsed on top of his bed, looking for lack of a better word, sick. His skin appeared to be clammy in the light of the dim ceiling lamp and beyond pale.
It just couldn't be healthy.
The sight felt wrong in so many ways.
Usually, Reborn was always very, very careful to ensure that no one EVER saw him sleeping. For a long time, she had honestly found herself questioning if he actually did sleep what with him always seeming to be up and about when she was but it appears that even someone like him needed to rest every once in a while.
Perhaps… those hours he forces her to do that exercise, leaning against the wall with that stupid, ever-present had of his hiding his eyes was spent napping.
Yeah… she was going to believe that's what he's doing from now on no matter what he may have to say about it.
Not that she would actually voice this opinion of hers, of course.
But… why would he stay up long enough for him to look like… that?
It wasn't something she particularly wanted to think about…
Alright… so, at the moment, she was sitting in her bedroom, a fresh canvas propped up on the easel in front of her. Something that her mother had managed to dig out of the basement a few days prior but Tsuna had never really gotten the chance to actually use what with how hard Reborn had been pushing her through the training.
But this time… this time she had to paint for a school assignment, so HAH!
Also… she needed to keep her hands busy with something, or else her thoughts would drift away to a certain athlete, whom she had last seen being hauled off in an ambulance.
She didn't know why, but she had this feeling in her gut.
A feeling that told her that things wouldn't end well where the athlete was concerned.
Shaking her head for what felt like the billionth time that day, Tsuna picked out a thinner brush from her collection.
Taking her time, she mixed a series of shades of olive-green, one lighter than the other before she carefully leaned forward to fill in the eyes on her charcoal sketch all the while periodically glancing down at the colored drawing she had done the day before, just to make sure she got the lighting right.
She had made sure to make as detailed a colored drawing as she possibly could since she wouldn't be able to have the subject in question in front of her for as long as she needed, not to mention the scene she wanted. She didn't like working with photographs either as they never truly captured what one sees with the eye and more often than not focus on things SHE didn't focus on as much when painting.
When she created something, she liked to look at the whole pictured through her own eyes first, paying attention to the details she wanted to include without having some of them slightly fuzzed out in photographs.
So she filled in the circle with the utmost care, filling in the correct colors in the correct spots before carefully blending them to smooth out the transition when she actually wanted there to be one.
This painting was a portrait.
A portrait that she would be expected to show the subject in question, not to mention her teacher.
She would have to make this some of her BEST work.
Reborn had woke with great difficulty.
For a moment, he was confused.
Why was he in his room?
Why was he feeling relatively well-rested?
Then it hit him.
The irritation directed towards his own weakness swelled within him as though someone had injected the emotion directly into his bloodstream.
What had he been thinking?
Falling asleep on the job…
So unprofessional.
He ignored the fact that he was still very much in need of sleep, as well as the fact that his limbs protested greatly against him as he practically pried himself off of his bedsheets, making sure his feet were firmly planted on the floor before he even dared to try and actually stand up.
He grimaced at how pathetic his own weakness was.
He hates this side effect.
With great difficulty, he stumbled out of his room, making his way towards Tsunako's.
He had a job to do after all.
He opened his student's bedroom door without knocking, as was his custom, moving up the stairs with as silent steps as he could manage in his weakened state, which thankfully was still a great deal, and there she was, sitting in front of her newly discovered easel with the sun streaming in through the bedroom window, casting her lithe frame in a bright, warm, orange glow.
It could have just been his exhaustion, but his student looked positively ethereal at that moment.
Reborn had known she was artistic, he had seen her previous painting, but he had never gotten to actually see her paint. And now that he has… he couldn't help but note that he had never seen Tsunako so relaxed.
So this was her zen time…
Reborn found himself just watching her. Leaning against the frame of her door and just taking in how peaceful she looked. Like she didn't have a bloodline that could possibly literally burn her up from the inside if she couldn't control it.
Like she had no worries.
He knew better.
He really hated that he had to pluck the wings of such an obvious angel.
Well… more than the people around her have already tried to for years now.
"Are you sick?"
The voice had come so suddenly that it had actually succeeded in startling Reborn, although he did manage to reign in his reaction to the point where he had no physical reaction to it. He simply continued to look at her as she slowly turned her head to look at him, momentarily pausing the movement of her hand guiding the brush as her eyes locked with his.
He furrowed his brow in slight confusion.
Even if he wasn't at his physical best right now, he shouldn't have done anything to alert her to his presence.
"How did you know I was here?" he asked, not moving from where he was standing.
This seemed to catch Tsunako off guard.
She turned her attention back towards whatever it was she was painting, her eyes narrowing slightly in clear confusion as she brought the butt of her paintbrush up to the opening between her lips. Reborn had seen her do something similar with her right thumbnail before.
If brushing her hair behind her ear was a nervous habit… positioning something between her teeth was a pondering habit?
Finally, she removed the brush, tilting her head to the side.
"I… don't… know." she did not sound pleased, or comfortable at this realization.
For a moment, Reborn felt as though he had frozen in place before a small smirk slowly spread across his lips, his head tilting forward in that WAY too familiar manner that served to conceal his eyes in the shadow of his fedora brim, his fingers tightening into fists in his pockets.
Oh, this was just too perfect...
He hadn't been sure as to whether or not Tsunako was going to develop THAT as well as her skin generated flames. He had had a hunch but it would have been too much to hope as only two others through the entire history of her bloodline that had ever developed THAT aside from Giotto himself. Most only getting the bare minimum of it.
Oh… this was just too good.
Her potential was just getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.
He managed to school his expression before Tsunako turned those warm brown eyes back at him.
"I'm not sick," he assured her, watching as her eyes slowly narrowed in obvious disbelief, her back straightening in preparation for the defiance she was about to turn on him. He quickly put up a hand to stop her before she could. "I just got a lot of work right now." he turned his eyes away from her. "It doesn't allow for much sleep."
Tsunako actually scoffed at his words.
"Really?" she asked, her voice lowering half a note as her eyes narrowed even further. For a split second, Reborn could have sworn that her eyes actually flashed a brighter caramel color. "That's what you're going with?" she pinned him with a LONG look before apparently deciding that she was most likely not going to get an answer out of him.
Instead, she opted to turn her attention back towards her canvas, turning her brush over to her left hand before giving her right one a rather violent shake, flexing her fingers before returning the brush where it belonged.
It wasn't until now that Reborn realized that Tsunako's hand had been trembling slightly.
Letting out a long sigh, he allowed himself to collapse against the wall, his arms crossing in front of his chest.
"Don't worry about that now," he told her, directing his eyes down towards the blood. "Enjoy your break." he made sure his voice had an air of finality to it.
Tsuna looked as though she wanted to ask more questions despite her attention focused on the canvas, but she was cut off.
"Tsu-can! Reboyama-sensei!" Nana's voice sounded through the com fitted into the wall next to the inside of the attic door. "Dinner is ready!"
Reborn closed his eyes, silently thanking the woman for saving him from his overly observant student.
He glanced over at the student in question, her piercing eyes now locked right back on him.
"We'll talk more later," he promised, leaving Tsunako with her paintbrush still raised in the air, hovering inches away from her canvas as she stared after him in suspicion.
Letting out a long sigh, Tsuna returned her full attention to her almost completed portrait, trying not to let her mind dwell on the obvious secrets Reborn was keeping from her. Secrets that he was obviously losing sleep over and obviously didn't feel were important enough to clue her in on.
She shook her head in frustration, already feeling the start of that eerie calm creeping up on her as messy tendrils of golden brown hair whipped around her face.
Pointedly, she added a few additional stroked to the painting.
With the final stroke, Tsuna leaned back, allowing herself to study her work with a self-critical eye that she had gotten used to using.
Deeming her work to be good enough, she lowered her paintbrush into a glass of water sitting on her desk, allowing the paint to seep out of the bristles as she ate.
The last thing she did before leaving her room was hanging up the painting on the wall, allowing a pair of bright olive-green eyes to guard her safe heaven whilst she was away.
The plastic bag rattled as Gokudera stepped through the automatic doors of the convenience store, halfheartedly rummaging through its contents with a bored expression plastered on his face as the humid afternoon air hit him in the face.
He shoved a store-bought spice-covered onigiri to the side, trying to locate the pack of cigarettes that he knew for a fact laid somewhere at the bottom of the bag.
He was in desperate need of a smoke.
He had sworn some time ago that he would try his best to not smoke in the presence of his Juudaime, combine that with his even more desperate need to be around her as much as physically possible for as many days of the weak as he could, and you get one very twitchy serial smoker.
He wasn't regretting his decision, however. He couldn't possibly endanger Juudaime's lungs by smoking when she was around him. Juudaime should live as long and healthy a life as absolutely possible, a life that should never be shortened by his constant need for a lit stick of tobacco between his lips.
Maybe he should start thinking about quitting altogether.
But that brought up all-new problems considering…
But he could probably find a way around that with a few adjustments to the designs…
How long would that take?
He sighed heavily as his fingers finally closed around the familiar pack.
It didn't even take a second before he had one of the rolled pieces of paper in his mouth, a lighter already setting the tip aglow.
He took a deep breath as he allowed one hand to slide into his pocket, the plastic bag hanging from his bare forearm as he locked the cigarette between the index finger and middle finger of his free hand, removing the cancer stick for a brief moment as he exhaled a large cloud of white smoke into the air, even creating a few circles as he went.
He was absolutely disgusted with himself.
Honestly, Juudaime was far too kind to even allow him within a ten-meter radius from her.
Especially after that afternoon in the park when he'd…
Just as always, he found his thoughts circling around Juudaime, but to be quite honest, he couldn't help it, nor did he want to stop.
He couldn't help but wonder what she was doing at that very moment. Whether or not she was feeling well. Whether or not she remembered to ear properly and on a regular basis. Whether or not she was actually going to paint his portrait…
The second he thought that last one, he gave himself a mental beat-down.
Why was he doubting Juudaime's intentions? Her word?
She had told him that she was going to make a portrait of him, so he would just have to trust her that she was in fact going to finish it.
Trust, huh…?
That wasn't exactly a common concept for him, but he would do anything for Juudaime!
He had just rounded the corner on the way back to his apartment when suddenly, a small weight rammed straight into him. It probably would have knocked him over had he been someone else, but as it was, he was only knocked a few steps back before he quickly regained his balance.
He looked up just in time to see whatever had run into him already sprinting away as though its life depended on it.
And if anyone knew Gokudera, it most likely did.
"Watch where you're going you fucking bastard!" he screamed in anger after the retreating figure, his cigarette had fallen from between his fingers at the collision.
It was a kid.
A very small, worryingly thin kid too, with a head of messy black curls that could have passed for a smaller imitation to the state of Juudaime's head and wearing what looked like worn jean shorts paired with an adults cow-print shirt that looked like it had never seen a washing machine, it hang from the kid's gaunt frame, flapping in the wind as he rushed away from the scene.
He was barefoot too…
The sight of the kid brought… unpleasant memories back to the forefront of Gokudera's mind, but he viciously refused to allow himself to succumb to the emotions that came with them.
He refused to be weak.
Not anymore.
Grumbling loudly, he ruffled his hair violently as he stomped down on his fallen cancer stick.
This just wasn't his day, was it?
Ten minutes later, Gokudera closed the door to his apartment.
It wasn't much. Just a two-room thing, a bathroom and a large open area that combined the kitchens (which were rarely used), living room, foyer, and bedroom.
The only things of note would probably be the raised section that formed something of a small, open second floor over the bathroom that he had turned into his semi-separate bedroom. That, and the LARGE windows that covered pretty much one whole wall and the slanted ceiling.
He barely had any furniture of note, just what he needed for it to feel at least relatively homely but open enough so as to not trip over anything if he needed to move quickly.
Letting out a deep breath, Gokudera allowed himself to fall against the wood of the door, one hand running through his bangs as all energy seemingly left him now that he knew for sure that no one could see him from the height his apartment was at.
Reigning in anger was a very exhausting thing. It only felt natural when Juudaime was around.
Only Juudaime could quell his constant annoyance without doing too much.
Juudaime's gently smiling face flashed to the forefront of Gokudera's smile. Such a small, barely noticeable smile that somehow managed to light up the entirety of her half-hidden face, warming her features in a way Gokudera wouldn't even begin to describe, making the air around her seemingly glitter with her mere presence.
The memory brought a smile to Gokudera's own face.
He chuckled slightly as he wandered over to the kitchen area, allowing his bag to fall onto the counter before he started to unpack it, that smile still not leaving his lips.
Two packs of milk. Four packs of ramen. Ten store-bought precooked frozen lunches of different varieties, whatever that managed to capture his interest really. Five onigiri of differing flavors. Three bottles of mineral water. Six cans of coffee. And seven random nutrition bars.
It wasn't nearly enough to fill his fridge, but it would be enough to serve as food storage for the week to come.
Smile falling from his lips, a growl rolled off his tongue as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
He should probably start thinking about actually learning how to cook actual meals. What he had been living on up to this point has left him looking somewhat gaunt, and that would not look all that intimidating should he need to take to the offensive in the near future, and he knew that would one day be needed if he was going to protect Juudaime.
He didn't really have the attention span or wish to waste his money on learning something so-
His wallet…
Where was his wallet?
He knew he had put his wallet in his right pants pocket after paying for the damned things, so why wasn't it there now!?
Furiously, he ripped out the contents of all his pockets, sending his lighter, crumbled pieces of papers and a couple of coins clattering tot he ground. But no wallet in sight.
Letting out a loud growl, he brought up both his hands to ruffle his hair, clutching at the strands to the point where he almost ripped them out by the roots.
Think… he needed to think…
He wasn't clueless enough to simply leave the wallet at the counter of the store, so he had pocketed it and walked outside. So someone must have snatched it from his pocket on the way to the apartment, but he hadn't walked even remotely close to-
A flash of unruly black curls and a dirty way-too-big cow-print shirt flashed to the forefront of Gokudera's mind.
That kid…
That fucking kid!
That cow-brat had snatched his wallet when he rammed into him!
Oh… that kid was so fucking dead…
"Damn it!" Gokudera growled loudly, spinning around and stomping straight towards his front door, yanking a jean jacket as he went as he was sure the temperature had dropped significantly ever since he entered the building. The temperature was already plummeting on his way back without the sun blazing down on him.
His hand was already angrily gripping the handle when a distinct sound reached his ears.
His gems ringtone.
Growling again, Gokudera seriously thought about just leaving it to ring, but his treacherous mind reminded him of a conversation he had previously had with Juudaime when he had last allowed that to happen during lunch…
Again, he growled as his promise rang through his head, furiously ruffling his hair in anger as he stomped back to the counter. He clenched the ear-piercing device in his hand for a moment before he actually accepted the incoming call and pressed the offending object against his ear.
"WHAT!?" He bellowed into the device, pouring all of his current anger out on whomever it could possibly be that was keeping him from blowing up the thief.
For a moment, the person on the other line was completely quiet. Gokudera actually hoped that he had managed to scare the person enough for them to hang up and leave him alone so that he could catch himself a cow-brat.
To his horror, an all-too-familiar sigh sounded from the other end.
"… what happened?" the gentle soprano voice of a young woman asked, acting as though she was all too used to his snapping voice.
And she was.
Much to his own personal shame.
"J-Juudaime!" Gokudera found himself exclaiming, almost collapsing to the floor in shock as all previous anger was shocked out of his system at the sound of that gentle voice. "I-I am so sorry!" he leaned forward on the counter in a minor panic, desperately trying to clear his head enough to deliver an appropriate excuse. Thankfully, he succeeded quickly enough. "I didn't check the called ID."
He mentally beat himself up for making such a stupid mistake.
"I figured." Juudaime sighed again on the other end. "So, what happened?"
Gokudera's eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Trust his Juudaime to be so forgiving!
Quickly, Gokudera schooled his own emotions, straightening his back and turning around in order to lean back against the counter, his one arm folded over his stomach, hand hooked at the fold of the arm still holding up the phone. It appeared to be a very relaxed position, but by the looks of his tense shoulders, he was just barely holding himself back from blowing up into the speaker and thus probably shattering his Juudaime's eardrums.
A long, irritated sigh escaped the smoker's lips.
Should he light another one? He didn't exactly get to enjoy that first one after all…
He shook his head at the thought.
Instead, he opted to simply answering his Juudaime's question, not even bothering to try and come up with a more lenient excuse for his ire. Not that she wouldn't catch onto whatever lie he came up with either way.
"My wallet was snatched by some kid just after I bought this week's provisions." he didn't even seem to notice that he was sounding more like a soldier giving feedback to his superior than a friend relaying information to another over gem-call.
Juudaime however, seemed to notice this just fine.
A long breath of resignation could be heard on the other line before Juudaime spoke again, her voice carrying a distinct monotone note to it.
"And… you were just about to go out looking for him to give him a piece of your mind." the way she said that made it sound so natural, so obvious, like that, was the only thing she could expect Gokudera to do in reaction to something like that, but the very tone of her voice stated that she wasn't happy what she knew him well enough to know how little control he has on his temper.
They had only known each other for a couple of weeks and Juudaime could already guess his actions on par with someone who had known him for years...
No… more.
He wasn't that easy to read, he knew that what with the list of people who didn't know him at all, so Juudaime's observational skills were quite remarkable indeed.
But he had already known that.
"… Juudaime…" Gokudera found himself muttering, his arm falling from where it had rested against his torso, moving down to grip the edge of the counter instead.
Juudaime sighed again, this time in clear exasperation.
"Please, Gokudera-kun." she pleaded with him. "You'll only get yourself into trouble."
She sounded genuinely concerned, even worried. Of course, she would, Juudaime was one of the most selfless people on the planet! In the short time, Gokudera had known Juudaime, he had started to suspect that she didn't even know the meaning of the word 'Selfish'. It simply didn't exist to her. She didn't care what happened to her, only those she had actually come to care for, or the innocent/people that hadn't already been marked in her bad books.
Juudaime was far too good.
She really wasn't suited for this kind of life…
After a moment of silence, Gokudera allowed his eyes to fall shut, taking in a long, deep breath before he spoke.
"As you wish, Juudaime."
"Thank you." Juudaime breathed out on the other end, sounding as though she had been holding it the entire time she had received no response from him.
He could practically hear the grateful smile she most likely wore.
That was when something hit him.
"Juudaime..." he straightened himself a little. "May I ask why you called?"
For a split second, there was no response from the other line, until:
"Oh, right!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that she probably shouldn't be screaming straight into the gem, not that the thought of lecturing her about it ever entered Gokudera's mind. He had, after all, start off the call by shouting straight into her ear, so he figured this could serve as just punishment, if not well-deserved karma.
"The portrait's done," Juudaime answered his question, now suddenly sounding somewhat self-conscious as though she as debating whether she really should have called him just to tell him something that would be blatantly obvious that coming Monday.
A sense of calm washed over Gokudera's being.
She had actually finished it…
A portrait of him…
"Can't wait to see it," Gokudera said, his voice barely more than a whisper, he found himself almost shocked at just how voice his voice had suddenly gotten.
On the other end, Juudaime gave a nervous laugh. He could just see her brushing her hair behind the ear she didn't have the gem pressed against.
"I can only hope you like it," she mumbled, obviously uncertain.
Gokudera had to keep himself from chuckling.
"I'm sure I will," he said reassuringly, looking up towards his ceiling. "Juudaime is the one who made it after all," he said the last part as though that answered everything, and to him… yes, yes it did.
"Seriously… stop talking like that." Juudaime mumbled. Gokudera didn't need to see her to know she currently had an attractive blush donning her pale cheeks, just barely visible from under her messy fringe.
He didn't even bother keeping the chuckle back this time.
"No."
Juudaime was silent for a long moment, but Gokudera knew she wasn't offended by his defiance. She had encouraged it in the first place! So he had the feeling that she was currently shaking her head fondly, smiling at how comfortable he now was to oppose her now.
At least where the small things were concerned.
Even though he probably shouldn't feel proud of telling Juudaime 'No', she always encouraged him to be defiant with her. She probably felt as though there would be a time where that one 'No' would hold a lot of weight both to her and to him.
Finally, she spoke.
"I'll see you on Monday."
He didn't really want to stop talking to her. It had only been so brief, but Gokudera knew that Juudaime probably had other things to worry about aside from talking to him.
So he relented.
"Until then, Juudaime."
And so, the line went dead on her end.
Honestly, Gokudera couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips as he brought the phone down from his ear, gently placing it back on the counter as he leaned against it, his eyes closed and a small playing on his lips.
Truly, Juudaime was just too adorable sometimes.
His eyes snapped open.
What?
What the fuck did he just think!?
He couldn't think such things about Juudaime! She was a young lady of much higher standing than himself, there was no way she was 'Adorable'.
No matter how true it is…
Her absolutely tiny and delicate exterior, her nervous habits, her soft voice, her embarrassed face. She really did love to try and prove to him that she really was the thing one might call children and small animals.
Though sometimes she did remind him of a tiny baby rabbit…
NO!
No, no, no, these thoughts had to stop!
He could think of her as attractive, that is a given as Juudaime could quite frankly be nothing other, but if he went any further in his thoughts people would actually start to believe that he wanted more out of their relationship than just a friendship. Fuck, even friendship was asking too much out of her!
Even if she had been the one to have asked it of him.
Speaking of things she had asked of him…
Olive green eyes trailed over to his front door, his mind rolling over her request as well as his own sickening need to track the cow-brat down and blow him to smithereens.
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
Sighing, he reached into his back pockets, unclasping strange, circular, obviously electric objects that had been fastened to the insides of his pockets hard enough so that they wouldn't fall out every time he reached into them.
He brushed his thumbs over the line of tiny LED lights lining something awfully similar to the retractable lenses of old cameras, some of the lights glowing a bright red.
Those lights were the indicator that these particular objects had not been used ever since he had arrived in Namimori, and for the most part, that was a good thing, but a small part of him still felt the aching absence of any real excitement since he first set foot in Japan.
It was too calm here for him to be truly content.
He turns the devices around in the palms of his hands, pondering.
Finally, his long fingers closed around the devices and he found himself stalking over to a very out-of-place painting of a beautiful mansion with an impressive garden locked up behind tall iron gates that looked much more haunting in comparison to the otherwise beautiful scenery.
Gokudera gave the painting a passing glare before he violently shoved it to the side, revealing a moderately sized safe mounted into the wall.
It didn't appear to have either a handle, or a wheel for the owner to enter to combination, it was just a plain dark gray metal door to the naked eye, but it most certainly wasn't.
With practiced hands, Gokudera rapped on the metal with the back of his right middle fingers, watching with a bored expression as the door changed, the cold gray color being exchanged for a glowing touch screen that soon spelled out the words.
Please enter Password.
Gokudera wasted no time in typing in the six-letter password that made the door automatically open in front of him, revealing its contents.
Money. Bundles of emergency money that he stored away in case of extreme emergency such as sudden eviction or in need or spontaneous redecorating/renovation.
It was also there what he stored a purple velvet necklace case containing a silver locket with a lily engraved onto it.
It was too precious for him to even think about touching.
He glanced down at the devices in his hands.
"Just for the weekend," he promises himself before leaving them inside the high-security door.
Eyes closed, Gokudera stalked towards the large windows.
Silently, he stared out over the illuminated small town with a scowl on his face.
"Next time I see you, cow-brat, I'm going to kill you."
June 27
Saturday 2215
Back at the Sawada residence, Tsuna had just pulled a pale blue t-shirt over her head to go with the white hot-pants she had chosen to sleep in that night.
The night had started to become too hot for her to even think about sleeping in her regular night-gowns, and as much as showing this much skin left her feeling naked, she would have to deal with it.
It wasn't like anyone at her school was going to see her like this anyway.
Scratching her scalp from under the bird's nest she called hair, she turned towards her bed, only to see someone already sitting on it.
Reborn looked positively dying. His skin was pale and appeared to be clammy, his clothes that usually clung modestly to what could only have been a slim yet athletic body now hung loose around his frame. Tsuna also had a feeling that should he look at her, she would find his eyes sunken in and surrounded by dark bags from a lack of sleep.
She really didn't like seeing her tutor this way.
"Really." she insisted, crossing her arms under her almost non-existent chest. "What's wrong with you?" she gave him a concerned look from across the room.
He didn't answer her.
Instead, he rose to his feet on surprisingly unsteady legs and stalked towards her, wavering dangerously, each step looking as though they were physically hurting him.
Tsuna's brow furrowed into a concerned frown as she watched him.
Finally, he stood in front of her, and just as she had expected, his eyes were sunken and outlined with dark skin, making him resemble more of a skeleton than the admittedly attractive older man she had become so accustomed to spending her afternoons with.
His dark, bloodshot eyes stared down at her, pinning her where she stood.
"Have you been feeling funny as of late?" he asked his deep voice usually weak sounding.
Tsuna shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Feeling more than a little bit uncomfortable under that lifeless stare he kept on her.
Was he even blinking?
"What kind of funny are we talking about?" she asked cautiously.
He really weren't blinking…
Reborn took one step closer to her, his entire demeanor looking almost crazed in the shadow of her ceiling lamp.
"The past couple of days..." he muttered, eyes wandering over her being in a clear inspecting manner. "Had it happened that you suddenly felt as if your heart was beating unusually strong or fast?"
Tsuna flashed back to the morning before she had asked Gokudera to be her model. How her embarrassment at her conversation with her mother had felt strangely amplified. She recalled the strength of which she had heard her heartbeat in her ears when she had rushed into Yama-sushi after having just sent Yamamoto-san off in the ambulance.
So… that hadn't just been her imagination…?
Her hand rose up, brushing her hand behind her ear.
Immediately, Reborn's eyes narrowed, not once looking away.
"Is there… something wrong with that?" Tsuna asked uncertainly, shifting her weight once again.
"Listen to me." Reborn could have been screaming the words for how strongly they hit her in the face, even though, in reality, his words had been barely more than a calm, quiet whisper.
He reached out his hands towards her, putting them on her shoulders.
Immediately, she felt as though her own body-weight had doubled all of a sudden, it almost made her knees buckle under her.
"If you're not careful with what you allow yourself to feel," he brought his face in close to hers. "Your stronger emotions could cause your heart to literally beat out of your chest," he spoke with an urgency that she had never heard before.
That, coupled with the words themselves, caused her blood to freeze in her veins.
"What?" the word slipped through her lips before she could stop it.
Reborn paused for a moment, seeming to think for a moment before he let out a long sigh.
"It's the side effect of the method I used to help you in training."
He answered.
He actually gave her a straight answer.
Even if the answer in question was quite frightening.
"What were the side effects of the other methods if that was the safest?" Tsuna asked softly, trying not to make her voice tremble under her tutor's intense gaze.
For what seemed like a minute, Reborn didn't say anything, just keeping his eyes pinned on her, locking her in a quick staring contest that she found herself to unnerved to break.
Finally, he sighed.
Stepping away from her, Reborn staggered slightly, bringing up his hand to rub at the bridge of his nose in obvious exhaustion before he glanced at her.
"It's best if you don't know."
And with that, he just left, not giving her the chance to ask anything else.
He had gone far too long without sleep to force himself into social situations for the day.
Reborn almost crashed into his assigned bedroom, forcing himself to lean against the door once he finally managed to close it after the third attempt as he rubbed his temples to try and clear his head of the sudden wave of violent nausea that had suddenly washed over him in the hallway.
What was he going to do?
What could he do?
He did not have the attribute for this kind of thing!
His attribute was the very CAUSE of this thing!
He would have to somehow get his hands on a Rain within the next week or his student was going to be in a great load of trouble.
He sighed in irritation at the very thought.
He did NOT want to contact… him.
A/N: I LOVE writing Gokudera and Tsuna interacting, it just feels so wholesome.
Please tell me what you think, any thought you might have had as you read it, they really make my day. I'm currently boarded up on Pinterest fishing for sequel inspiration so technically, this counts as me not actively working on the sequel.
I love you all.
This has been:
A message from Her Ladyship.