A/N: Forgive me if I come off as less… energetic about this chapter than I have in previous ones. It has nothing to do with this chapter in and of itself, I'm just going through something of a rough patch right now.
I have little to no energy so I'm just going to leave you to it.
Enjoy.
Scene 27:
Broken Spirit
June 29
Monday 2215
Monday came round faster than Tsuna honestly could emotionally prepare herself with dark clouds rolling out over the vast expanse of normally bright blue, blocking the sun from view.
That morning, she sat on her knees on the floor of her bedroom, deliberately dragging out her preparation time as she carefully wrapped up her now dry portrait in a dirty violet linen cloth, fastening it with safety pins before attaching the make-shift strap that would allow her to carry the thing on her back.
She had already eaten breakfast before she set to do this.
She was nervous, terribly so. In fact, she had to actively rein in the flame release in her bloodstream so she wouldn't be held back by tingling fingers.
She had been so wrapped up in wrapping the painting that she barely registered her mother entering her room, sneaking up behind her until she was standing there, staring down at her with a smugness that she wasn't even bothering to hide.
She waited for a few moments before she opened her mouth.
"Gokudera-kun is waiting for you outside."
A safety-pin almost slipped out from between Tsuna's fingers at the sudden wave of anxiety that punched her in the stomach. She knew that it most likely wasn't needed seeing as the young man in question was just Gokudera, but she couldn't help it.
Social stuff is hard…
Letting out a shaky sigh, Tsuna slowly rose up from the floor, carefully swinging the contraption onto her back before turning towards her mother.
"Thanks."
She made to walk out the door when her mother suddenly put a hand on her arm.
"Are you sure he isn't your boyfriend?" the smug look on her face forming into excitement, everything anyone needed to get a good guess as to just what the woman was thinking, so when someone like Tsuna looked at it, it was like she was punched in the face with all the suggestive things her mother was most likely thinking Tsuna and Gokudera got up to every time the two of them were alone on the school rooftop.
"Mom!" she found herself exclaiming, yanking herself away from the woman's grasp. "We're just friends." a harder than normal beat ringing through her chest warned Tsuna that she should probably calm down if she didn't want to experience the side-effects Reborn warned her about.
Nana's expression told Tsuna that, once again, her mother didn't believe her claim.
"It's true." Tsuna had to keep herself from growling at her, throwing her arms out at her sides, one of her hands clutched around the strap of her school bag.
"Tell you what." Nana waved in the air, dismissing her daughter's words. "Why don't you invite him over for dinner sometime?" she calmed down enough to give Tsuna a suggestive smile.
Tsuna blinked up towards the roof.
"Maybe." she relented, voice barely louder than a mumble.
She didn't stay around to listen to her mother's brewing speech intended to convince her to bring Gokudera over. Instead, she quickly spun back around and headed towards the stairs, gracefully sprinting down the steps before bolting towards the front doors.
As she rushed outside, she failed to notice a pair of sickly obsidian eyes watching her from his own bedroom window.
Gokudera had been smoking when she got out.
Leaning against his bike like he usually did, only this time, he had a cigarette locked between his index and middle finger, occasionally bringing the stick up to his lips, holding it there for a couple of seconds before releasing a sizable cloud of smoke as he pulled away.
He had looked quite relaxed before Tsuna bolted out through her front door.
Instantly, he stiffened.
Quickly, just as Tsuna reached the gates, Gokudera flung his cigarette stick out of sight with a quick flick of the wrist. He straightened himself out just in time for Tsuna to reach his side.
Having notice his action, she shook her head exasperatedly.
"You don't need to hide your habit from me." she insisted, looking over his tense posture, taking in the small twitch of his finger. How long had he gone without a cigarette? "If you feel the need to smoke, you can you know."
Gokudera just chuckled at her, his eyes locking onto the thin rectangle strapped to her back. Curiosity sparked in those olive green orbs as he turned fully towards her.
"Is that the painting?"
Ignoring his deflection, Tsuna threw a glance over her shoulder, nodding slowly as she looked back at Gokudera's expectant expression.
She brushed her hair behind her ear.
"I'm not showing you yet," she stated, a finger hovering in the air between them as she made her voice sound as final as she could despite the air of self-consciousness hovering over her.
A small frown played on Gokudera's eyebrows.
"Why is that?" even though he looked a bit annoyed, his voice had a teasing tone to it.
"It took five minutes to wrap it!" Tsuna exclaimed humorously, throwing her arms out strongly enough to make her school bag dangle viciously from her hand. "I'm not going to do that again!" she waved her arm in a mock childish manner, trying to keep a serious expression.
It didn't last long.
Son, she and Gokudera both burst into quiet laughter.
"Let's go," Gokudera said, jerking his head in the direction of the bike before he himself got on, handing her her collapsed helmet as he did.
Having the helmet folded out around her head, Tsuna carefully adjusted herself behind her friend, locking her bag securely between their bodies before wrapping her arms around his body as the two of them started off down the road.
Minutes later, the two friends walked into the classroom, Tsuna with her schoolbag hanging from the fold of her arm like a handbag and the wrapped-up portrait clutched between her hands.
"Mornin'!" Kyoko's sweet voice sounded from her desk, waving merrily in Tsuna's direction.
"Lookin' dreary." Tsuna greeted back sounding borderline teasing as she walked past the other girl without looking at her, but no one could unsee the gentle smile on her lips, Gokudera closely following on her heels.
She ignored the shocked looks she was receiving at her actually answering a greeting for once.
Setting the painting down next to her chair, Tsuna slumped into her desk, watching as Gokudera slipped down into the desk in front of her, the chair's back pressing up against his chest as he turned his full attention towards her.
There was that look again.
She shrugged her shoulders exasperatedly.
"What?" she asked, feigned ignorance.
Gokudera threw a pointed look down towards the floor, right where the painting rested.
Tsuna rolled her eyes at his eagerness.
Bending down, the tips of her fingers brushed against the cloth wrapping when the sound of the classroom door slid open, closely followed by terrified squeaks from the female portion of their class.
Heads snapping in the direction of the sound, the two teens were met by the sight of one Yamamoto Takeshi standing in the doorway, his right arm wrapped up in a thick cast, and a positively heartbreaking look on his face.
It wasn't that he looked sad that made it so heartbreaking, it was the fact that he made a pathetic attempt to smile through the attention of their classmates.
At least, it was pathetic in Tsuna's eyes…
It didn't appear as though the others even caught on to the pain in his hazel eyes.
"Yamamoto!" one member of the baseball team cried out in horror. "What the hell happened to your arm!?"
"Oh, this?" Yamamoto laughed, holding up the cast covered limb for all to see. "I seem to have practiced a little too much last Friday." he lifted up his good arm to scratch the back of his head. "The force of the ball just became a bit too much and the bone just… gave way." he closed his eyes, still smiling that hurtful smile. "You know how I program the pitcher machine."
The class continued with the questions, such as:
"Are you alright?"
"How long till the cast comes off?"
"Will there be any permanent damage?"
"How did you get to the hospital?"
He didn't answer any of these.
Some probably would have pegged him for being rude, but all Tsuna could see were the deep lines of absolute exhaustion rounding his eyes, making him look all the more deflated than he had done those long, painful days before she had confronted him about them.
Releasing a deep breath, the athlete sunk into his desk.
A worried expression etched itself into Tsuna's features as she turned around in her chair towards him.
"You doing okay?" she asked, her voice soft but surprisingly strong through the constant buzzing of their classmates surrounding them, obviously keeping themselves from mobbing the injured athlete's desk in their need for answers.
He didn't look at her.
"Could have been better..." he answered, not even bothering to try and put up a happy front for her. He knows she wouldn't buy it. "But not too bad… I guess."
Discreetly, he glanced up at her through his eyebrows.
"Thank you..." he mumbled. "For getting me to the hospital… and telling the Old man."
Even though he didn't sound all that grateful, Tsuna allowed a small compassionate smile to curl her lips. She knew he most likely didn't have that easy a time at the moment, considering his right arm also happened to be his dominant one if her observations were anything to go by.
And they always were.
Well… he would have to practice writing with his left arm then…
He would come out of the cast semi-ambidextrous.
"It was the least I could do," Tsuna said with pointed note to her tone that she had the worrying feeling that Yamamoto couldn't pick up on, or he ignored it, not understanding why it was there in the first place, a wonder in and of itself.
Had he forgotten that day?
Behind her, Gokudera threw a glare in Yamamoto's direction.
"Damn right you should be thankful." he declared, his voice telling Tsuna that he was just moments away from ripping the injured athlete a new one. "She's too kind of most of you bastards!"
Yamamoto turned his attention towards the silver-haired teen, a strange, unreadable expression flashing in his melancholy eyes.
Sighing, Tsuna put her hand on the delinquents forearm.
"Gokudera-kun," she said, her voice almost impossibly soft despite the annoyed edge to it.
"What?" the teen in question asked, his head snapping towards her.
They didn't say anything, the two of them just stared each other right in the eyes for a long moment and that was apparently everything Gokudera needed to know as he soon forced himself to sit back down, obviously annoyed at this turn of event.
Sighing again as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, Tsuna turned back towards Yamamoto, smiling kindly.
"I'm glad you're alright."
Their conversation didn't go any further than that as their teacher walked into the classroom, forcing the entire class into silent, mechanical motion.
Tsuna turned away from Yamamoto.
Gokudera returned to his own desk.
Yamamoto himself, just sat there, eyes locked at the back of Tsuna's head, all he could see being a tangled mess of golden brown hair really, but it didn't matter.
"I'm not alright," he mumbled through the noise of chairs scraping against the floor.
As the lunch bell rang, Tsuna finished her lunch box out of her bag, looking up just in time to see Gokudera settling down on the desk in front of her in the exact same manner as he had done that morning.
Once again, he threw a pointed glance towards the wrapped up painting.
"Can I see it now?"
Sighing, Tsuna bent down, fishing the painting up from the floor before she carefully removed the safety-pins keeping the cloth in place. She found herself hesitating before she allowed the fabric to slide down from the frame, unraveling before falling down into Tsuna's lap, revealing the full portrait to her.
Urgh…
The light did not look good…
Then again… maybe that was the schools effort to try and make the lighting feel as similar to a cloudless sunny day as possible that made the bumps and swipes on the canvas look strange…
Biting her lip, Tsuna tightly shut her eyes before quickly spinning the painting around for Gokudera to see.
Nothing.
Absolute silence...
Slowly, Tsuna allowed herself to pry her eyes open to look at her friend.
The guy had absolutely frozen in his seat, his olive eyes wide open, absolutely focused on the canvas in front of him.
Finally, he moved.
Almost robotically, he reached out towards the portrait, slowly closing his fingers around the frame as he gently picked it from Tsuna's hands.
He studied it in complete silence for what felt like forever, Tsuna's brown eyes pinned on him the entire time, just waiting for him to finish his evaluation.
Their sudden silence seemed to have attracted the attention of their classmates as some of them broke off their on-going conversations to peer around in their directions, curiosity sparking in the majority of their eyes as they realized what Gokudera was holding.
The boy in question raised his hand to stroke his fingertips over the painted lines, his face hidden from Tsuna's view.
"So..." Tsuna's soft voice broke through the silence, brushing her hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"
Gokudera didn't get the chance to answer as some of their more curious classmates decided they just couldn't stand being left in the dark for much longer, sneaking up on the friends so as to get a peek at the canvas from behind Gokudera's shoulders.
Their reactions were quite humorous.
"NO WAY!" One of them screamed, eyes thrown open wide enough that Tsuna found herself legitimately worried that they would pop out of their sockets as their arms shot out, latching onto the canvas frame and yanking it out of Gokudera's hand to get a closer look.
Furiously, the student whipped their eyes back and forth between Tsuna and the painting now clutched in between their shaking hands.
"Dame-Tsuna..." they breathed in disbelief. "Did you really paint this?!"
Immediately, it appeared as though the whole class descended upon the two friends, shoving each other aside in a desperate attempt to try and get a look at the painting.
Eventually, they decided to just pass it between each other, each of them exclaiming their shock at the painting. It was like a choir of indirect praise that made Tsuna feel just a bit dizzy from the blood that rushed straight towards her cheeks at the words.
Those emotions froze however, when two hard beats echoed through her body.
Seriously!? Just how easy was it to cause that effect?
Tsuna violently shook her head, hoping that the air from the movement would serve to calm down her temperature enough to settle her heart back down.
It took some time, but thankfully, her heart complied with her wishes.
Oblivious to Tsuna's temporary dilemma, Gokudera shot out of the chair, taking up pursuit of the now wandering portrait.
There was one person, however, that hadn't joined in the fray.
Yamamoto Takeshi still sat in his desk behind Tsuna. He had seen the portrait when she had first unwrapped it, but as he had gotten to see her artwork before, had even been gifted a sketch portrait of himself before Gokudera had even moved to Namimori, her skills hadn't been as much of a shock as it apparently was to the rest of the class.
Then again…
Her portrait of him had been a sketch. Albeit a very detailed and obviously carefully made, but the one that was now being passed round the classroom was large, it was colored.
It was beautiful…
Again, not overly stylized, not a perfect representation of the delinquent. She had made sure to include everything that made Gokudera, Gokudera was brought out an enhanced. The scars on his knuckles, the wrinkles and stains on his uniform, the unruly mess that was his silver hair, all of it was there just like she had done with his portrait sketch.
He couldn't help it…
He couldn't help that painful throb shooting through his chest at the sight of the portrait.
It hurt…
Instead, Takeshi just sat there, his eyes locked onto the surface of his desk, trying to block out the noise around him to no avail.
His good hand clenched around the desk surface.
He couldn't understand it, he really couldn't.
How did Sawada go from being the schools most bullied student to one of the main spectacles of the student body? He just couldn't understand it!
He allowed himself to peek up at the back of that infamous head of messy hair, somewhat taking advantage of the chaos surrounding them.
Just how could everything suddenly go so well for her?
Finally, Gokudera's fingers closed around the frame of the wandering canvas, yanking it out of the hands of the frail-looking boy with combed-back brown hair and thick-framed black glasses.
"Give me that," he growled angrily before heading back to the desk.
The intervention seemed to be the silent indicator that their impromptu game was over, and so, their classmates slowly started to make their way back to their own respective seats, some of them threw one last glance at the painting as they went.
One of the female classmates paused for a short moment, leaning down towards the messy-haired young woman.
"Hey… Sawada." she shifted timidly, her gaze flickering towards the delinquent now back to carefully studying the painting in his hands before settling back to Sawada's partially hidden ones. "Could I have that portrait once you're done with it?"
It felt like the whole class froze at that question.
Really?
She actually dared to ask that?
Takeshi watched Sawada shook her head, releasing something of an amused yet exhausted sigh.
"You'll have to ask Gokudera-kun about that."
And with that, the negotiation was over.
Takeshi's attention flickered towards Gokudera, taking in the clear look of amazement he's not even bothering to conceal now that his original shock has faded.
He knew that feeling…
Finally, the delinquent looked up at Sawada.
"You've made me look far too good." he insisted, shaking his head.
Takeshi could imagine the barely-there smile on Sawada's face at the sound of her amused scoff as she once again shook her head.
"I guess we have that it common then."
Gokudera raised an eyebrow at her comment.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"The two of us obviously think of the other as more attractive than we do ourselves." she shrugged, leaning forward to rest her chin on her palm where she'd propped her one elbow on the desk. Takeshi could only guess that she was looking the delinquent right in the eye with that rare, open, teasing look that he had yet to have see pointed at himself but he had seen directed at Gokudera with more and more frequency as the days passed.
Smiling back at her, Gokudera handed her the painting with careful hands.
He leaned back against the chairs backrest, his arms crossed as he watched their begin to carefully wrap the canvas in the cloth again with nimble hands.
"Your teacher is going to love it." he insisted.
Pausing momentarily in the wrapping, Takeshi had no doubt that Sawada was glancing up at Gokudera from behind that messy wall of hair before she brushed a lock of hair before returning to her work.
Three minutes later, Tsuna put her wrapped canvas back on the floor, turning her attention back towards her forgotten lunchbox.
Gokudera, ever the gentleman, had taken to wait for her to finish before he picked his forgotten sandwich back up from the desk.
Neither of them seemed to have noticed the glances thrown at them from the injured athlete behind Tsuna.
"Sawada-san!" Andou-sensei called from the front of the classroom, making the young girl looking up from her hands where they had been busy taking the longest time removing the safety pins from the cloth. "If you please." the woman, motioning with her hand towards the empty easel standing in front of the blackboard, beckoned.
After an hour of looking at sub-par portraits of boys, girls, and non-specifics of varying detail and effort from stylized but basic charcoal sketches of a figure when bowling to a portrait done completely without a visible base sketch and simply done from dabbing shades of color on top of one another until a face had formed, Tsuna's nerves had built quite drastically, to the point where she actively had to push down the tingling in her fingers.
Legs minutely shaking, Tsuna slowly moved up to the front of the classroom, trying to ignore the whispers from the surrounding students as she went.
Most of whom was not in her assigned class.
"Who do you think she painted?"
"Probably her mother, she doesn't have any friends."
"I don't know… she's been getting more popular lately..."
"Are you joking?"
Hands trembling, Tsuna put the portrait down on the easel, and with grateful flick of her wrists, she removed the cloth covering the person it portrayed.
The second the canvas was revealed, the girls in the class burst out into some of the loudest squeals Tsuna had heard as of yet, loud enough that it could probably have been heard over the entirety of the building. Tsuna wouldn't have been surprised if the sound threatened to burst the eardrums of the poor "I-don't-go-for-guys-or-appearance-allone" people that surrounded them.
Heck, even Tsuna and Andou-sensei jumped at the suddenness of the noise.
It was some of the best work Tsuna had ever done, the most realistic likeness of Gokudera that she could have possibly caught in paint. His one hand resting on top of his raised knee with his bright olive eyes staring out through the painting in a playfully challenge that Tsuna knew she had been the only one to have seen before she thought to capture it on paper.
The orange light-streaming in through the window set the glow in those beautifully expressive orbs in his face aflame, his pale skin shining with health and his silver hair aglow. He face much calmer and visibly at-ease and comfortable than anyone but Tsuna had had the pleasure of witnessing. The kind of expression that really pulled his aristocratic features to the forefront through his piercings, tattoo's, studded bracelets and multiple chain necklaces.
Those that swung his way swooned, those that didn't growled in annoyance, and Andou-sensei stared at the painting in stunned disbelief.
She turned towards Tsuna as though in a trance.
"This is your best friend?" she asked, really putting the empathize on 'this'.
Tsuna found herself awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well… he was my first friend out of the two I've got." she brushed her hair behind her ear. "We haven't really known each other fro that long but we have managed to have gotten pretty close despite that..." she nervously brushed her thumb over her wrist as she shifted from one foot to the other. "It feels strange that I am comfortable calling him friend but it's nice." a small smile played on her lips as she drifted away, her gaze moving towards the floor.
The entire class had fallen silent.
Sure, many of the students had come to witness the messy-haired girl hanging out with the silver-haired delinquent, but they had all come to the conclusion that she had somehow managed to hook up with him, but to hear that she considered him her best friend…
The fact that the delinquent had obviously modeled for the portrait of his own free will…
The lack of romantic or sexual tension in the expression on the painting…
The nature of their relationship was slowly, slowly, sinking into their stubborn hormone-ridden brains.
Andou-sensei was the first to snap out of her shock.
Shaking her head, Andou-sensei slowly bobbed her head in a semi-understanding nod before she turned her attention back towards the painting in an obvious bid to hide that flash of pity that had entered her beautiful dark brown eyes.
It didn't work.
"Great work with the lighting." the teacher spoke up softly, moving her hand over the portrait as she studied how the light fell over the subject in question. "Wonderful attention to where the shadows fall in relationship to the light from both the ceiling and the window, amazing blend between the lighter and darker colors." this was not something new to Tsuna, it was something of a repeat of what she'd been hearing about ALL of her work since she first started art classes in middle school. It was something that Tsuna had always found came easy for her since she'd first started drawing, one of her first drawing had even been a sketch of a funny looking shadow she'd doodled out of boredom when she was six. Her Mom had it framed in the foyer.
Art was the only class where she had never received criticisms for how she can do something better.
A gentle smile formed on the teachers face as she allowed herself to transition into the section where she studied the relationship between the subject and the painter.
Tsuna had no doubt that the woman had been worried when she'd first revealed the portrait, but now…
"Am I right to assume that the two of you tease one another regularly?" Andou-sense glanced over to Tsuna as the messy-haired girl couldn't help but chuckle at the question.
"We're both very honest people." Tsuna started, brushing a lock behind her ear again but her smile remained, much to the shock of the class that had never seen such a thing on her. "We've never been ones to withhold something because we would come off as rude so we quickly fell into something of a routine of playful banter very early on." she tilted her head to the side, shaking her head fondly at the memory. "WAY before we'd even actually put a label on our relationship."
Andou-sensei smiled again before turning back to the painting.
She raised an eyebrow before turning back to Tsuna.
"He respects you?" her voice was a strange mix between relief and confusion.
Tsuna rolled her eyes with a long sigh.
"Yes," she answered, though her voice held a clear air of exasperation to it. "The guy acts like he's an employee and I'm his boss sometimes." at the questioning look Andou-sensei gave her, she quickly elaborated. "The guy hasn't had any real friends before either so he really has no idea how to act around me sometimes so as to not… run me off so to say." she scratched a bit at her cheek. "He went so far as to actually swear himself into my service."
No surprise, many eyes widened at this.
"Service?" Andou-sensei repeated.
"Yeah." Tsuna nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "I refused to see him for days until my mom forced me to talk to him and I got him to understand how uncomfortable that made me." she shifted a little before her smile returned. "That was the day the officially became friend." she threw her arms out at her sides.
It felt nice to finally have that story out in the open, it would put a stop to SOME of the rumors at least.
Andou-sensei blinked for a moment before that smile returned.
"Well." she looked back to the portrait. "It is a wonderful piece of work." she took a step back. "Probably one of your best."
"Thank you." Tsuna replied with a short jump before she fell into a deep bow. She plucked her portrait down from the easel after she's risen and quickly retreated back to her sear, not even bothering to pay attention to the rest of the class.
Walking out of the building, Tsuna was surprised that she wasn't surprised to see Gokudera leaning against his bike, waiting for her.
Shaking her head, she jogged up to him.
"You don't have to wait for me every afternoon you know." she spoke up, causing Gokudera to snap his head in her direction fast enough for her to briefly worry that he was going to snap his neck from the force of the turn.
A gentle smile spread across his face as he tossed her collapsed helmet to her.
"I don't need to." he said, agreeing with her statement. "But I want to."
Tsuna couldn't keep herself from rolling her eyes, a smile spread out over her lips as she closed the distance between her and her friend.
"You don't have the painting with you." Gokudera noted, seeing her bare back.
"I keep all assignments at school until the end of the school year." Tsuna answered, she pressed the button to unfold the helmet in her hands before pulling it over her head, carefully snapping the straps in place. "It helps the teacher set your final grade in cases of substitute teachers and possible changes in employment."
Nodding in understanding, Gokudera spared no thoughts to unfold his own helmet directly around his head before throwing a leg over his bike, kicking the silent engine into gear.
Tsuna was just about to join him, when a prickling at the back of her neck caused her to pause.
Slowly, she turned around towards the baseball fields.
These stood Yamamoto Takeshi, his healthy hand pressed tightly to the chain-link fence surrounding the sand and grass covered ground that made up the baseball club's assigned fields. Fields that were currently swarming with players.
Even from where she was standing, Tsuna could see how the athlete's fingers clenched around the metallic wire.
She didn't need to see his face to feel the overwhelming, heartbreaking longing that radiated off of his well built yet somewhat sagging form before the athlete suddenly turned his head, his hazel eyes meeting hers from across the distance.
He quickly wiped whatever expression he had worn before, exchanging it for a look that she couldn't quite place.
She did know one thing, however.
She didn't like it.
"Juudaime!" Gokudera's voice called out, reaching her through the helmets both of them wore.
Snapping her gaze away from the wounded athlete, Tsuna quickly jogged the rest of the way up to the bike and climbed up behind her friend with a familiarity she would have scoffed at developing just a few months before.
The next thing she knew, the two of them were speeding off the school grounds, oblivious to the pair of pained hazel eyes that followed them as they went.
Zooming down the road, through the apparent maze of buildings and down the familiar route that they had taken so many times before, Gokudera suddenly found himself being practically forced into pulling the bike into an abrupt stop in the middle of the road, barely having time to guide the vehicle onto the sidewalk before killing the engine through the sudden, violent pounding of tiny fists on his back and shoulders.
Confused beyond reason, Gokudera turned his head around towards his esteemed passenger, only to find the need to quickly duck down to dodge a swing of a slender leg as Juudaime jumped off the bike with an air of urgency that confused Gokudera.
Before he got the chance to say anything about it, she had already set off down the road they had just passed, not even bothering to take the time to remove her helmet.
"JUUDAIME!" He called after her, watching as she turned towards the playground he had barely noticed they had passed.
Cursing quite loudly, Gokudera practically ripped his keys from the engine, ensuring that no one would be able to steal it, and took off after the young woman.
Turning down her route, he found himself freezing up at the scene he suddenly found himself witnessing.
Juudaime had taken off her helmet but not collapsed it in her rush, sitting on her knees in front of a crying girl dressed in a pink t-shirt with a unicorn print on the front paired with a frilly, lacy chiffon flower skirt, her long ginger hair pulled back into a ponytail, flanked by two other kids. One was another girl wearing jean jumper shorts with a rainbow t-shirt, her light brown hair in a pixie-cut and the other was a positively tiny boy dressed in a bright blue frilly dress and his dark auburn wavy hair pulled up in pigtails. Both kids had their hands on the crying girls shoulders, obviously her very concerned friends.
It was NOT adorable.
Not at all.
Fuck…
The three of them couldn't have been older than five, and the crying girl was sporting a large, bleeding scrape on her right knee.
Whispering what Gokudera could only assume were soothing words of comfort, he watched as Juudaime quickly reached into her school bag without removing her other hand from where it was gently grasping bellow the little girl's bleeding knee.
She didn't rummage through her bag's contents for that long before she pulled out that familiar, decorated container sealed with a zipper.
Her first-aid kit.
Gokudera had to mentally scold himself for forgetting about it's existence, he hadn't seen even one glimpse of it for a long time now, something that he had to mentally pat himself on the back for, taking at least some responsibility for ensuring that Juudaime simply didn't need to pull that thing out again, whether it be for her or someone else's.
He watched as she carefully cleaned the girl's scrape with gentle, feather-light movements so as to not put too much pressure on the tender skin or otherwise causing more pain that the little girl was already in. A small pile of bloodied cotton balls was collected in a small paper bag that had come out of the kit as well.
During this, the girl's cries slowly turned into slight sniffles, her friends rubbing her back in comfort as they allowed Juudaime to work, all three of them listening to her voice as she kept talking to them as she moved her chosen tools over the scrape.
Gokudera chose to remain at the parks gate posts, leaning against the structure with his arms crossed over his chest. He had a feeling that his appearance wouldn't help the kids emotional state at the moment. Juudaime had probably quickly removed the helmet for that same reason.
No one could be afraid of her when her entire being screamed:
Soft.
A few minutes later, Juudaime was carefully covering the scrape with a strip of bio-tape she had cut out without measuring the wound in question, most likely have developed a good sense on how much would be needed over the years.
Once finished, she gently tapped at the knee as she smiled up at the girl.
"There." she practically cooed. "Try to be more careful when playing in the future, alright?" she tilted her head to the side, her shoulders drawing together to make her look even smaller than she already was.
Adorable…
How could a soon-to-be-sixteen-year-old be adorable?
NO!
He couldn't think like that, stop it!
But she was so lovely-
NO!
No.
Juudaime is admittedly beautiful, but that is not something that his thoughts should linger on.
He watched as the little girl actually managed a true cheerful smile despite the tears still clinging to her rosy cheeks, nodding slowly as her friends and Juudaime all helped her back to her feet.
"Bye-bye, nee-chan!" the three of them called out as the three of them turned to walk towards the apartment complex on the other side of the road, the pressure-sensitive crossing point rising to force the vehicles to a stop as the two friends helped their limping friend over to the other side.
Gokudera noticed many of the passengers in the cars watching the children with smiles on their faces that clearly spoke of how adorable they found the three friends.
"Bye!" Juudaime called in return, waving at their retreating backs.
She kept watching them until the crossing blocks lowered back into the road and the three disappeared into the building.
Having tired of standing on the sidelines, Gokudera slowly walked up to Juudaime's side, standing on her right as the two of them watched the door to the building close behind the children's backs, peering through the glass until they vanished into a visible elevator.
Once alone, Gokudera turned towards Juudaime.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
A small smile crept onto the corner of her mouth, her eyes closing as a light laugh escaped her throat.
"I've always had a soft spot for those younger than me." she answered slowly, turning half-way towards him. "Animals too." she turned her attention back towards where the kids had disappeared. "I just can't keep myself from jumping in when I know someone physically weaker than me is in need of help."
Nodding, Gokudera looked down at the kit still clutched in her hand.
"Still got that?" he asked.
Juudaime laughed, bringing the kit up between her hands to fiddle with the zipper.
"A habit is hard to kick." she muttered, a darker chuckle rolling off her lips. "And you never know when someone else might be in need of it."
Gokudera raised an eyebrow, letting out a contemplating noise.
"Then why didn't you bring it out when the baseball-idiot broke his arm?"
To his surprise, Juudaime practically snapped her head up to look at him, her expression seeming to question his intelligence.
"I can only treat minor injuries." she said slowly, as though she were still talking to a five-year-old and not someone her own age. "If I had tried to fix that kind of a broken bone right then and there, I could possibly have made it worse!" she threw her hands out in mock exclamation, her eyes wide in theatrical horror, but there was a glint of genuine discomfort at the idea of what her inexperience possibly could have done should she have tried to treat that baseball-idiot when they had found him.
Her arms crossed dramatically in front of her chest as she turned away from him, loudly huffing in a snooty manner.
Shaking his head at her antics, Gokudera let out a chuckle.
"Come on." he said, jerking his head in the direction of where he had parked his bike. "We should get going."
She didn't move, she kept her back facing him with her arms stubbornly crossed.
Oh really?
Well, if she was going to be like that…
The next second, one of Gokudera's arms was wrapped around Juudaime's tiny waist, her whole body raised high in the air as he carried her right out of the park with her helmet clutched in his free hand to the sound of her high-pitched laughter. Probably the only thing that stopped the odd passer-by from believing it was a kidnapping.
He couldn't help but laugh right along with her.
June 30
Tuesday 2215
The clouds were still there, hanging over the whole town with their dark… gloomy presence.
The lack of sunlight slowed everyone down, making the days seemingly twice as long as normal.
Tsuna found herself glancing out the large windows lining the outside wall of the grocery store more than once as she wandered through the aisles, pushing a cart in front of her all the while minding the other shoppers milling about around her.
Realizing what she was doing, she shook her head, turning her attention back towards the canned foods lined up in front of her.
Where was the ravioli?
She hadn't been feeling quite right since the previous morning, a gnawing feeling in her stomach telling her to stay on guard for anything that might happen at any moment.
She had been too wrapped up in nerves to really pay attention to it the day before.
It unnerved her more than she was willing to admit.
"Juudaime?" a familiar voice cut through the low buzzing of the afternoon shoppers surrounding her, a voice that could only belong to one person, not to mention a word that only ever came out of one persons mouth.
Even before she could fully register the voice, Tsuna found a smile spreading over her face, that uneasy feeling that had kept her insides frozen in unease effectively melting by the time the identity was clear to her.
She turned around and sure enough, there he stood, dressed in tattered jeans, a black t-shirt under a blood-red zip-up hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a shopping basket hanging from one of his hands.
"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna greeted, even though the last time she had seen him hadn't been more than three hours before.
"What are you doing here?" Gokudera asked, stepping up to her.
Frowning lightly, Tsuna shook the cart in front of her, her expression blank as she stared at her friend.
To his credit, Gokudera chuckled before nodding to show his understanding.
It was strange how the two of them had developed a silent language over the weeks they had been acquainted. The knowledge that she didn't even need to open her mouth to convey a message to the silver-haired teen sometimes stuck her as borderline creepy. Should a pair of teens who have barely known one another for a quarter of a year really be close enough to understand what the other meant without having to speak?
Tsuna, quite frankly, had no idea.
The topic always served to send both of them into a laughing fit whenever it came up though.
"You need any help?" Gokudera asked, stepping up to her.
"Only if you know where I can find the ravioli." Tsuna answered, smiling gently as she turned back to the shelves, her fingers running over the cans as she scanned the labels, frowning as she didn't seem to manage to find what she was looking for.
"Juudaime." Gokudera's voice cut through her irritation within seconds, successfully catching Tsuna's attention as she turned back around towards him.
She found him pointing downwards towards a shelf much closer to the floor than the one she had been looking through. And, sure enough, about two meters in front of her stood the medium-sized cans in the colors of red, orange, and yellow with the delicious pasta covered meat squares lining the metal.
She sent her friend a grateful smile.
Having five cans in the cart, Tsuna swiftly moved down the list her mother had given her as she had practically shoved her back out the door.
Again.
Tsuna was aware that the whole time that Gokudera was right there, always close by as he himself occasionally grabbed the odd thing he needed. She was grateful for the silence, the tranquil atmosphere that was so rare when around the delinquent as they usually only hung out when in school, and because of that their time was spent with Gokudera glaring at everyone that so much as glanced at Tsuna's messy hair with a look of disgust, his irritation rolling off of him in powerful waves that Tsuna was sad to say that she had gotten used to.
Thankfully, their own class had learned quickly to stop doing that, allowing the friends to simply enjoy each others company without Gokudera feeling the need to defend her from things she had gotten so used to that she no longer picks up on it.
She didn't hold his attitude against him, seeing as she knew just as much about his past as he knew about hers. She knew he had grown up with an aristocratic background, and he knew that she had probably been bullied since she was five. The basics really.
There wasn't much either of them needed to know.
About ten minutes later, Tsuna made her way to the check-out point, closely followed by Gokudera whom she knew had finished gathering his own items LONG before she had seeing as he hadn't put anything in his own basked during the entire time the two had walked together, but he had remained in the store until she had finished all the same. She could tell what he wanted to so without even looking at him by now.
She also knew that there was no use arguing about it anymore.
Gokudera would do what Gokudera wanted to do.
Paid and packed, Tsuna stood by the check-out picking up one large paper bag in her arms as Gokudera bagged his own items. She moved to pick up her second bag only for the silver-haired one to snatch it up before she could. He only smiled in response to her playfully annoyed look despite the comical difference in size between the two bags he was holding.
"I'll follow you home." he said. No, stated, though his expression showed nothing but gentle, amused protectiveness.
"I figured." Tsuna responded, smiling back at him.
They had begun a casual conversation about Gokudera's living situation by the time they had exited the store, walking out into the windy, damp afternoon air.
They had been so absorbed in their conversation that neither of them noticed the small figure bolting towards that at a million miles an hour. Curly black hair bouncing around a pale, round, dirt-covered face and a large, beyond dirty, worn and torn adults cow-print dress-shirt billowing around the child's positively tiny frame.
Bare feet pounded almost soundlessly over the damp pavement as the child sprinted. It threw one glance after the other over his shoulder as he expertly weaved through the crowd, cartwheeling and flipping as he deemed it necessary for fast passage, never once slowing down.
Because of his bad habit of looking back… it happened.
Tsuna and Gokudera were focused on their conversation, the kid turned it's head back, and before either of them knew what had happened, the kid crashed right into the unexpecting, feather-light Sawada Tsunako.
The force of the collision sent Tsuna stumbling backward, knocked her off balance in a way that sent a couple of things falling out of her bag, one of which being the flimsy plastic bag of apples that subsequently opened and scattered the contents over the asphalt as her legs collapsed underneath her, causing her to land rather painfully on her shins, clutching at her now partially emptied bag as though her life depended on it.
It had happened so suddenly, so fast, it had knocked the breath out of her lungs.
Any other time she would have brushed it off within seconds, gotten back up off the asphalt to find out just what had happened and take care of whatever scrapes she'd received, but she quickly discovered that that would be impossible.
Her heartbeat picked up speed at such a speed, such force, that the sound echoed through her whole body, and it wasn't slowing down.
The kid had taken a tumble as well, rolling over the pavement, scraping up his hands, patches on his elbows and knees, not to mention a small part of his right cheek and the top of his bare feet over the rough surface. He sat up with great difficulty through the burning pain on his skin and looking around, seeing Tsuna sitting frozen on the ground with apples and other miscellaneous groceries scattered all around her before his eyes wandered and he notices…
Gokudera.
Of course he recognized the silverette, and the silverette recognized the kid.
"You..." he growled angrily, his one hand sliding into his back pocket, looking as though he were able to commit murder.
The boy shrunk back under the intense stare, his own surprisingly bright green eyes wedge open in horror as he painstakingly moved backward, trying to get away from the man.
Thankfully, the help came in the form of a frightened whimper.
"Gokudera-kun..."
Two pairs of eyes turned towards Tsuna, though she barely noticed it. The only thing she could focus on were the violent pounding in her chest.
It was truly scary.
She could actually feel the size of her heart jerking inside of her, sending one violent burst after the other through her body with such force that the force of it actually shook her physically, pounding away at her ribcage as though it wanted out.
She did not want it out.
Seeing her in such a frightened state, Gokudera immediately rushed towards her, crouching down in front of her as he set down his own bags next to him before reaching out to gently grab her by the arms, calmly stroking her skin with his thumbs.
He subtly flinched.
Her skin was scolding.
Taking advantage of the silverette's moment of distraction, the kid quickly rose from the ground. Snatching one of the scattered apples from the ground, the way-too-thin figure bolted from the scene as fast as his calloused, scraped feet could carry him, subtly winching with every step he took, but he absolutely refused to slow down.
Noticing that the kid had run off, Gokudera prepared to run after.
"HEY!" He screamed, his grip on Tsuna's arms loosening, but he never got the chance to move.
Tsuna's dainty little hand lashed out with the speed of a whip, her fingers clenching around the blood-red fabric surrounding Gokudera's bicep, forcing him into a stop.
She hadn't looked up once, her chest having with every panicked breath she took.
It had never been as bad as this.
It would probably have been painful had her fear not locked her in a state of numbness. She was surprised her fire hadn't burst out from her skin at this state, but she suspected that she had gotten enough control over her flames that it wouldn't release without her control anymore.
That, at least, was some comfort.
Gokudera's hands ran up and down her arms, slowly, in time with the normal rhythm of a humans breath, and she forced herself to time her own breathing to his movements.
In… out…
In… out…
In… out…
She didn't know how long they had been sitting there, but by the time her attention widened, she noticed that they had gathered a small crowd.
A little while later, she found she no longer had to force her breathing into the set rhythm, she no longer felt the vicious pounding in her chest. It was still quick, but it wasn't frightening anymore, and that served to calm her down even further.
Fingers loosening around Gokudera's hoodie, Tsuna took one final breath before she allowed herself to straighten, her arm loosening the death drip around the half-filled paper bag still pressed tightly against her chest.
Seeing this, Gokudera actually reached out a hand, pressing it to the side of her neck as he looked her right in the eye.
It was the most affectionate action he had ever made, but Tsuna didn't dwell on it. This whole situation was anything but romantic. Sure, any other girl would have probably started blushing furiously and fainted if someone like Gokudera did something like this to them. But Tsuna wasn't any other girl, and she was also aware of the kind of person Gokudera was.
"You okay?" Gokudera's gravely voice registered into her brain, making her smile despite the situation she'd just crawled out of.
She nodded for an answer.
Releasing a relieved breath, Gokudera returned the previously scattered apples to her bag before he gently helped her back up to her feet. The gathered crowd slowly started to return to whatever business they had after making sure that Tsuna didn't need medical attention, finally leaving the two teenagers on their own, allowing them to gather their things and return to walking.
A few minutes later, the two of them stood in front of Tsuna's house.
She was just about to enter the building when a thought suddenly struck her.
Turning back towards her friend, her arms still tightly wrapped around the paper bag, she looked him right in the eyes with her own smiling ones.
"You wanna stay for dinner?"
The question obviously took Gokudera by surprise but he righted himself within the next second.
Skills.
For a brief moment, he looked conflicted.
"You would have me?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably.
Scoffing, Tsuna rolled her eyes, her entire demeanor relaxing at his answer.
"Oh please." she sounded half-way towards speaking through a chuckle. "Mom has been nagging me about inviting you over for quite some time now." her eyes locked with his again, a soft smile on her lips. "Why not now?", she raised a questioning eyebrow at him, almost daring him to reject her invitation.
Gokudera couldn't help but chuckle at her actions, shaking his head in amusement.
"Then I would be happy to accept."
And with that said, the two entered the house, closing the door behind them.
"Welcome home!" Nana called out as she heard the front door opening, peeling herself away from the half-finished dinner on the stove, wiping her hands on her apron as she steps into the foyer, expecting her daughter struggling with multiple paper bags as she tried to take off her shoes. "What kept… you…?"
She froze at seeing the silver-haired young man standing next to her little girl, supporting her as she clumsily removed her shoes without having to let go of the bag in her arms.
Suspiciously, the brown-haired woman allowed her eyes to dance from one teen to the other.
The air around the two was something Nana had thought and honestly been legitimately worried she'd never get the chance to witness her daughter included in. The air of two friends close and comfortable on a level that was difficult to describe or even understand for those who had never been in such a relationship with someone.
Nana had to force her eyes not to water at the sight.
Shaking away the emotional thoughts, Nana turned her attention to the young man whom had stubbornly wormed his way into her daughters life.
Having only seen the young man from the windows before that moment, Nana had to keep herself from openly staring.
The young man was… stupidly handsome… his visible alabaster skin unblemished, his sharp olive eyes heartwarming gentle where they were locked on her daughter and his graceful, beautiful hands keeping a visibly gentle grasp on Tsuna's elbow as she got her second shoe off, carefully balancing two bags in his one arm.
Nana found her eyebrow raising at the display of skill.
Apparently, the guy had already kicked off his own shoe.
Finally, her daughter noticed her, as did Gokudera.
For a long moment, the three of them just stared at one another.
Letting out a long breath, Tsuna motioned towards her friend.
"Mom… meet Gokudera-kun." she looked up at the young man as she motioned with her hand towards Nana. "Gokudera-kun… this is my mom."
Nana ignored the annoyed tone to her daughters voice.
Gokudera's handsome face formed a positively charming smile before his head bobbed down into as low a bow as was safe with the bags in his arms, his shining silver locks swinging in a manner that told Nana that the young man used no styling products before he straightened again to meet her eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." he spoke, his gravelly tone kept light and surprisingly melodic.
Tsuna raised an eyebrow at the tone. He had used that tone when he'd offered himself up as a subordinate for her, obviously a tone he only used when speaking to someone he truly respected, but he'd stopped using it around her pretty quickly.
Thank the stars, it would have been BEYOND awkward if the guy had been using that tone with her when they were in the classroom.
"Oh my." Nana breathed, playfully putting her hand over her chest as she allowed her eyes to slowly move over the young man in front of her. "You're a polite one, aren't you?"
Gokudera actually let out a playfully annoyed sigh as he rolled his eyes in reaction to Tsuna's playful jab.
Nana momentarily felt like the world had tilted.
Her daughter…
Her little girl was TEASING someone!
"Really…?" she breathed, her eyes shifting between the two teenagers with a bit more interest than she had before. "A bad-boy gentleman?" she allowed her eyes to linger on the young man in front of her, the corner of her lip twitching. "I have never heard of that before."
Tsuna rolled her eyes at her.
"Well." the silver-haired teen let out a rather… humorless chuckle, awkwardly shuffling the bags as he glanced in Tsuna's direction. "I've sort of made a point of never meeting anyone's expectations."
An awkward silence fell over the three.
"Right." Nana finally shook her head, holding her hands up with an embarrassed air to her before she pointed to her right. "You can put the bags in the kitchen, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
Gokudera took in a long breath through the nose, no doubt smelling the overwhelming scent of food in the air before smiling gratefully.
"I'm already looking forward to it."
Tsuna actually had to force herself not to raise an eyebrow at the guy.
So this was what it was like seeing him utilizing ALL of his gentleman training… she'd only seen hints of it so far, he'd become quite respectful towards her as of late, but she'd made sure that he wasn't hesitant to tease her, to handle her a little roughly.
To say it was a bit odd, was an understatement.
Gokudera's expression turned a bit awkward before he spoke again, his eyes shifting around the interior of the house.
"May I ask where can I find the bathroom?" he asked, still maintaining that polite way of speech.
"Just over there." Nana quickly pointed down the hall, earning another grateful not from the silver-haired teen.
"Thank you." and with yet another bow, he was off.
For a long moment, the two women just stared after Gokudera as he deposited the bags he was holding before disappearing into the bathroom.
Tsuna had been waiting for it.
"Great stars." Nana let out something between a sigh and a gasp, her hand landing over her chest as she dramatically fanned herself with the other. "Where did you find him?" she asked as she glanced towards her daughter who was trying to disappear into the kitchen. "And how did you become friends with him?" she demanded as she scurried after her semi-miniature.
Tsuna couldn't help but chuckle.
"I ask myself that every day."
And it was true, sometimes it felt like something of a blessing that Gokudera had agreed to be her friend before… that blasted thing he'd originally wanted.
Truthfully, she should have expected her mother's next comment, but it still made her almost drop the bag.
"Please tell me you'll marry him."
"MOM!" Tsuna couldn't help exclaiming, staring wide-eyed at the woman.
Had she just heard those words come out of her mother's mouth?
"What!?" the woman exclaimed, throwing her hands playfully in the air, still smiling that annoying smile of hers. "I want him for a son-in-law." she threw her hands, palms-up in the direction of the bathroom. "He's perfect!"
Tsuna almost slammed the paper bag down onto the counter in her frustration.
"We're not talking about this!" She exclaimed as she spun around, almost stomping away from her mother with her hands stubbornly clasped over her ears in case the woman would make another incredibly uncomfortable comment.
Nana only giggled at her daughter's actions.
However, this conversation was not over yet, she'd just have to wait until Tsuna was emotionally capable of handling the amount of teasing she'd unleash on her.
A mother knows her daughter.
She was already preparing her "I told you so" speech.
A/N: I needed that last scene.
I just NEEDED IT!
So I made it happen.
And I'm gonna go now, please leave your thoughts about this chapter before you do, if you have the energy to of course.
This has been:
A message from Her Ladyship.