A/N: Yeah… I'm just gonna leave this here.
Enjoy.
Scene 36:
Family Resemblance
Tsuna leaned limply against the wall, hours had passed since the trays had been taken away and with them gone, Tsuna couldn't help but to notice how slowly, but surely, she was entering a groggy state similar to the one she had been in when Reborn had dragged her off to the cabin.
Had her food been spiked with something?
You know what, once the thought seeped further to the front of her groggy mind. Yes, her food had most definitely been drugged.
Of course, she didn't actually know whether or not it had actually been hours since she didn't have any means of which to tell the time, she didn't even know which time of day she had woken up.
What she did know was that the woman had been forced to change the wick in the lantern once, and that sure spoke for something about the passing of time.
Tsuna just kept her gaze on the woman, watching her as she kept all of her attention on her gem.
What she was doing, Tsuna had no idea, but it was obviously starting to irritate her.
Growling, the woman raised her hand, weaving her fingers into her long strands of hair, giving it a vicious ruffle, sending her beautiful locks flying around her head before calmly settling back along the line of her spine.
Tsuna herself, sat with her knees pressed up against her chest, using them as her only form of protection within the walls. Mindlessly, Tsuna sluggishly fiddles with the links of the chain, almost absentmindedly looking for a weakness within their general structure.
"You feeling alright?"
The sudden voice caused Tsuna to jump, her eyes snapping up towards the woman.
She was looking at her with a strange look in her eyes.
Tsuna's mind was too fuzzy to make out what that emotion was.
"Yes..." she replied, her voice just the tiniest bit slurred. "I feel absolutely fantastic."
The woman startled a little, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"I didn't know you were sarcastic." she stated, obvious amusement in her voice.
"I didn't know you thought you knew me." Tsuna immediately shot back.
The woman chuckled at her response, shaking her head before returning to her gem.
For about five minutes, the woman returned to what they had been doing before, only now, Tsuna couldn't find it in her to move her eyes away from the elder female.
Suddenly, the woman growled, slamming her gem down on the table in frustration.
Face falling into her hands, she ran her fingers through her hair, once again giving it a brutal ruffling violent enough that Tsuna legitimately feared she was trying to rip her beautiful locks out by the roots.
Tsuna wished she had hair like hers…
Deciding to spare her hair, the woman instead turned her attention to Tsuna.
For several long minutes, the two females just sat there, staring at one another as though they were the most fascinating things they had ever seen.
Finally, it all became too much for Tsuna.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
The woman raised her eyebrow at her.
"I could ask you the same question." she retorted, blood red lips twitching into a small smirk.
Tsuna rolled her eyes at the response.
"Unlike some people, I don't have a gem to fiddle with." she threw a glazed but pointed glance towards the woman at the table. "I don't exactly have anything better to do."
"Toucheé." the woman chuckled, uncrossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her thighs, openly studying the girl in front of her.
Finally, she gave an exaggerated sigh, shaking her head in disbelief.
"You're so tiny." she almost exclaimed.
"I blame my Mom." Tsuna replied easily, continuing to fiddle with the links in the chain. One of them had got to be weaker than the others right?
"It's a shame about your hair." the woman suddenly said, making Tsuna look up at her again.
"What?" she asked, completely thrown off.
"You have such a beautiful color and you don't even bother to take care of it?" the woman waved her hand in the air almost frantically, sounding as though she were talking about some sacred rule that should be obeyed at all times.
And who knows, maybe it was to her.
Absentmindedly, Tsuna brought up her hand to fiddle with one of her messed up curls.
"I've tried." she sighed, curling the lock around her fingers. "This is supposed to be ringlets you know." she freed the finger with a defeated kind of sigh, letting her hand fall back into her lap. "Neither me or my Mom know how to handle such things."
"A trip to the salon could easily fix that." the woman advised, looking at Tsuna in great interest now, as though she couldn't believe someone like her existed.
Tsuna looked at the woman, blinking for a moment.
That look… there was something about that look that felt… familiar.
It felt like she'd been faced with that expression before…
She blinked again, forcing the thoughts away for the moment.
"As if I would trust a stranger with my hair." she scoffed.
This seemed to be enough for the woman as she returned to simply study her again.
For a couple of minutes, the two females sat in silence.
The woman broke it again.
"Why don't you wear make-up?"
Just the thought of it made Tsuna's skin itch.
"The curse of the Cuor DiLeone." she breathed, leaning her head back to stare up at the ceiling, relishing in the cool concrete behind her.
The woman raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Overly sensitive skin." Tsuna answered smoothly, leveling her eyes back on the woman. "I'm allergic to most cosmetics." she made a point to wave her hands in the air, saying the last part with an overly exaggerated voice.
Again, there was most definitely something in the food.
Something that had a strange reaction to the flame suppressing drugs?
Apparently ignoring the childish outburst, the woman just raised an eyebrow at her answer, obviously somewhat intrigued.
Crap! She probably shouldn't have told the enemy that!
Truth serum?
"That doesn't explain why you don't use them." the woman spoke up again.
"Why should I?" Tsuna spoke again before she could stop herself. "I've been bullied for eleven years whilst looking like this." she motioned with her hand over her face. "I never wanted anyone anyone to treat me differently just because I "clean up" a bit." her head lolled to the side with a scoff. "I'm already clean." she pinned the woman with a clearly annoyed look in her glazed eyes. "It's their fault that they can't see past the mess." she fell back against the wall again. She would have crossed her arms over her chest had the motion not been uncomfortable given the shackles. "Putting on make-up would be like putting on a mask." the annoyance drained away from Tsuna's features. "I want people to like me for me, not for how I look."
The woman shifted where she sat, tilting her head to the side, eyes never leaving the younger female.
"If used correctly. Make-up can enhance your already existing beauty." she stated, her fingers fiddling.
Tsuna sighed.
"That's all well and good but I have no idea how to do that." she slurred, the annoyance was back. "And the last time someone tried to do that for me they had no idea of my allergy and wouldn't listen when I tried to inform them." she shook her head, not wanting to think about that irritating, nosy brunette.
The woman nodded slowly, her chin jutting out.
What was that look?
"You've lived quite the hectic life, haven't you?" she commented.
"Yep." Tsuna answered almost before the woman had finished her statement, a sudden burst of energy racing through her system. She felt it drain away almost immediately, looking straight at the woman again. "And I'd quite like it if it continued." she lifted her hands in the air in mock surrender. "I'm just saying."
The woman chuckled again, shaking her head as she sat up, leaning against the backrest of her chair.
"You're surprisingly calm for someone in your position." she sounded almost as though she was somewhat impressed.
Tsuna sighed again, shifting restlessly.
"I first activated my flames when this guy and his two friends dragged me into an alley, beat me up, and was in the middle of slowly lowering a knife to my eye as I laid pinned to the ground." she shrugged as though the information didn't matter. "So I'd say I've been through slightly worse." she frowned, tilting her head again as she stared into nothing. "It's either that or the drugs."
Silence fell over the woman once again, her eyes widening with each word that came out of Tsuna's mouth, allowing Tsuna the time to study the woman as well.
In the yellow, flickering light of the room, she couldn't get much of the woman's features, but from her general being, her behavior, her demeanor…
Tsuna couldn't help but to feel the air of familiarity from her.
How could that be?
Finally, she couldn't keep it in anymore.
"Have we met before?"
For a moment, the woman looked startled.
"No." she answered, telling the truth as Tsuna could clearly tell. "Why do you ask?"
Tsuna tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing into a small frown.
"You kinda… sorta… feel familiar." she mumbled before shaking her head. "But maybe that's the drugs too..."
The woman just frowned at her.
The black car screeched to a halt in front of the log cabin, the wheels spraying the dirt all over the place as it swerved a bit.
The passengers of the car didn't even wait until the car had properly come to a stop, bolting out of the vehicle and tumbling to the ground. The athlete with the baseball bat looked the tiniest tint of green, desperately trying to compose herself as the other teens picked themselves off of the ground.
The engine of the car died and Reborn stepped out, looking as calm as ever.
"This is where you and Juudaime stayed?" Gokudera asked, looking around.
"That is correct." Reborn answered, straightening out his suit jacket as he started off towards the cabin stairs, the teenagers following after him.
Hibari narrowed his eyes at the older male.
"I still don't understand why you would take the rabbit into the forest like this." he growled at him.
Reborn ignored him, stopping long before the stairs right in front of the teenagers, forcing them to a halt so they wouldn't crash into him.
He turned around to face them.
"Before I take you inside." he started slowly, taking in their faces. "Are you sure you want to be a part of this." he asked, narrowing his eyes on them. "This will be your last chance to pull out, and you will not get a second one."
Growling in irritation, Gokudera stormed straight past Reborn.
"I will not leave Juudaime in the hands of Kidnappers!" he loudly declared for everyone to hear.
Yamamoto's good hand clenched around his bat, his face morphing into a surprisingly frightening serious expression.
"I owe Sawada too much to leave," he said, following Gokudera's example.
Hibari growled angrily, storming past the man as well, though he was quickly past the two others before him.
"I will not be left out of this." he stated.
Yamamoto looked at the eighteen year old with a curious look.
"What is your relationship with Sawada?" he found himself asking before he could stop himself.
In front of them, the prefect froze in his steps.
He never turned back towards them, but he tilted his face in their direction.
"Not one she can remember." and then he just kept on walking.
The exact same thought flashed through their heads.
"I have been bullied since I was five."
Yamamoto's head snapped in her direction, confusion written all over his face.
He knew this, they all knew about this by now so why was she bringing it up in a place like this? From behind Tsuna, Gokudera's fingers tightened around his arms. The crowd of students also seemed to be taken aback by the sudden change of subject, turning towards one another in silent whispers.
"Wha-" Yamamoto started but Tsuna didn't want to hear it.
At least, that's what my mother told me." Yamamoto blinked, watching as Tsuna seemed to fall into her own thoughts for a moment, a look he couldn't quite describe forming on what he could see of her face under those dripping bangs. "I was shoved down a flight of stairs during my first week of middle-school and lost three years worth of memory." the whispers around her became even more buzzing.
A three year memory gap. A scary prefect that proclaims he's got a relationship with Sawada Tsunako but not one she can remember…
The two classmates shared a look of reluctant understanding.
Just what could that relationship have been?
For some reason, Gokudera felt like he didn't like this turn of events.
But for now, all they could do was follow the angry prefect up the steps and into the cabin, hoping that they would finally get to what they really came there for.
Entering the living room, the three teenagers were shocked to find that there were already a group of people in there. Walking around, setting up high-tech looking computers and other equipment on any surface they could reach.
Equipment that at least two of them had never seen before in their life.
The three teenagers were immediately on guard.
Hibari had his tonfa out, Gokudera's hand in his pocket as his eyes shifted from man to man with Yamamoto beside him, his bat raised over his head. As he was the tallest of the three boys, it was also over the heads of the other teens.
Thankfully, they didn't have to do anything.
With a light chuckle, Reborn pushed himself through the week wall the boys had created, walking right into the room with no care in the world.
"When did you people get yo Japan?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
From within the group, a fall man with a thick head of wavy golden blonde hair dressed in an expensive padded jacket with a fur-lined hood over a black shirt of some kind with a print at the chest paired with what looked to be dark, brand jeans and combat boots walked out, his admittedly handsome face forming a large, attractive grin.
He studied the buys behind Reborn as he walked, his eyes notably lingering on the shortest one of them, a flash of interest passing through his eyes.
The boy in question clenched his hand around the rubber-covered metal.
Once the man was standing in front of Reborn, the two men suddenly started chuckling.
Smiling in familiarity, the two men clasped hands in greeting before both of them pulled the other into a short brotherly hug, laughing as they patted the other on the back.
As they parted, Reborn threw a glance over the blonde stranger's shoulder.
"How's the Warden fairing?" he asked, his voice bearing a joking tone Gokudera especially, had never heard him use before.
The still working men looked up at his question, their overall demeanor relaxing considerably, some of them even breaking out into humorous smiles.
"Absolutely horrible." one of them answered, though he laughed as he said it.
"Completely useless." another joined in, laughing along with the first one.
"A total looser." a third one chimed in, actually trying to sound serious before he too broke into laughter, soon followed by the laughter of the rest of the unknown men in the room.
The three teens lowered their weapons, looking around in complete confusion.
"Shut the fuck up you bastards!" the blonde screamed at them from over his shoulder. He wasn't being serious, everyone could see that, which just caused the men to laugh even harder.
A hand on his shoulder made the blonde turn back towards Reborn.
"You sure got here quickly." the man proclaimed, obviously pleased. "I only called you about an hour ago."
"I was already on my way." The blonde stated, bringing up his hand, snapping his fingers.
Immediately, everything fell dead silent.
One of the men dropped everything he was carrying, which thankfully didn't look too delicate to break as it hit the ground. He snatched a rather thick looking folder from the cushioned and pelt covered log-based couch pushed up against one of the largest windows in the room.
With no time spared, the man handed the folder to the blond.
The blond in turn handed the folder to Reborn.
Taking it, Reborn immediately propped it open in his hands, carefully making sure that not one single paper would fall out from it.
"I'll do anything for my little sister." the blonde declared, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
That seemed to be the last straw for Hibari.
Eyes narrowed to steel gray slits, he marched up to the two men, almost prying himself in between the two of them and proceeding to stare up at the blonde in anger he didn't even bother to hide.
This scene could have looked particularly funny as the blonde was almost two heads taller than Hibari, towering over him when he tilted his head down to look him in the eye.
"Just who are you?" the prefect demanded, his tonfa having long since mysteriously vanished.
The man had the nerve to chuckle, eyes running over Hibari's stature.
"Name's Dino Cavallone." he answered, cocking his head in Reborn's direction as the man himself wandered off, eyes submerged in the folder, furiously turning the pages. "I'm Reborn's previous student. Which makes Tsuna my little sister through tutelage." his eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "I've never actually met her, but I would like to."
Hibari frowned, looking at the blonde as though he was ready to attack him, but he allowed himself to glance at the other man.
"Reborn?" he asked lowly.
"The name I have chosen for myself." he answered absentmindedly.
Deciding to leave that as it was, Hibari let out a low growl.
From back at the door, Gokudera and Yamamoto watched the scene with mixed feelings.
Gokudera was aware of Reborn's real name and Yamamoto truly didn't care enough to harp on a false identity, they merely brushed off the reveal and focused on the matter at hand.
They didn't trust Dino, that was a given, but he was already helping them along the way to save their friend and classmate, they couldn't exactly say anything against him.
Once again, they found themselves wondering about the nature of the relationship Hibari had with Sawada. What kind of feelings did he harbor for her to make him act like that in front of the man that just declared that he had already labeled her his little sister in his mind?
Not knowing what else they could do, they shared another look, knowing that they would probably find out at a later date if they continued their association with Sawada.
Right now, they had other things to worry about.
Going through the folder, Reborn made his way to the kitchen table.
Slamming the folder shut, he allowed it to flop down on one end of the tabletop before walking over to the other end, putting his hands down on the wood as he looked over the younger men that had seemingly forgotten everything about why they were there.
"Gather round." he called out, snapping the boys out of whatever occupied their minds at the moment.
Quickly, they followed his order, Dino taking his place where Reborn had discarded the folder.
"Dino." Reborn spoke up, making said blonde look up at him. "Tell us what you've found."
Dino nodded once, picking up the folder.
"We are dealing with a small circle of hire-able Roamers." two pairs of eyebrows rose in confusion at the strange wording. "Professional dirty workers hired whenever someone wants something done but cannot afford to do it themselves for a multitude of reasons." Dino looked extremely appalled at his own words. "The hired muscled for the cowards of our world."
"Get on with it." Reborn ordered, cutting off his rambling.
Dino jumped at the sound of his voice, but quickly collected himself.
"My Guild had been following them for some time now, wanting to catch them in the act in order to take them down for good." a small, dangerous smirk played on his lips. "And now we finally have the opportunity." he popped open the file in his hands, riffling through the papers.
The teenagers shared a glance.
It was strange to be a part of something so serious.
Something akin to a strategy meeting within the military.
"They call themselves, 'The Riptide Association', and currently consist of five main members." Dino continued, removing one of the pictured from the folder and throwing it onto the table.
"Bone Breaker." he said, giving the alias to the man in the picture.
It was a surprisingly short man, possibly even shorter than Hibari, but visibly strong in built, wrestler style. His head was shaved bald, his nose rather large and having obviously been broke repeatedly, his lower lip sporting a spike piercing. The entirety of the right side of his head was decorated with a large brightly colored Chinese dragon, making his button-sized eyes look even smaller in comparison.
In the picture, he wore a bright orange hoodie that was stretched over his muscular chest, blue baggy jeans and red sneakers, appearing as though he was just taking a morning job.
"Known for almost pulverizing the bones of his victims whilst they are still in their bodies, and alive," Dino explained. No one noticed how Yamamoto's face whitened slightly at the description, but he violently shoved those thoughts back down.
Now was not the time to be frightened.
Dino picked a second picture from the folder, throwing it on top of the first one.
"The worm."
This time, the picture was of a very tall, lanky young man with bright yellow hair carefully style into a buzz cut, square glasses resting on his nose and a silver, nondescript earring dangling from his right ear. He had large, bright blue eyes and skin so pale it was almost white.
In the picture, he was wearing a deep blue button-up shirt and black slacks, sitting in a cafe with a laptop folded out in front of him, looking very concentrated on what he was doing.
"Skilled hacked and sniper." Dino's eyes met Reborn's from across the table. "Nothing compared to our standards of course, but he'd apparently the best of the best according to everyday rankings."
Reborn actually scoffed, shaking his head.
Another picture landed on the table.
"The Firestarter."
A man just a bit taller than the average height with a thick head of straight red hair, latte colored skin speckled with freckles all over the place, a maniacal look on his face.
In the picture, he was standing outside a library, posing against a statue depicting the ancient Grecian goddess of wisdom, Athena, dressed in a bright green T-shirt, Bermuda shorts and converse sneakers, he looked the perfect picture of a cocky psychopath.
"Infamous pyrotechnical arsonist, with an equally explosive temperament according according to the survivors."
This did not sit well with the teens.
This man was within the same vicinity as Sawada?
Another picture.
"The Cournal."
A medium tall, intimidating man sporting large rippling muscles and a serious expression. His skin was tanned, his long dark blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, the bangs brushing over deep brown eyes.
In the picture, the was standing on what appeared to be a bridge, staring out over a troupe of training soldiers all dressed in military pants and black tank-tops. The man himself, was wearing black sweatpants and a light blue wife-beater, but two distinctive military badges hung from his neck.
"Ex army official, expert marksman and martial artist. Known for being able to extract information from anyone."
The last picture joined the others.
"And The Poisoned Scorpion."
Gokudera's eyes widened in absolute horror.
With the speed of a striking snake, the delinquent snatched up the newest picture from the table, holding it up in front of him as he stared at it in disbelief.
It was the picture of a young woman in what appeared to be her early twenties, her thick head of long wavy hair died puce, her bright olive green eyes outlined with thick dark make-up and full lips colored deep purple in the picture.
She was sitting at a table in a bar, her legs crossed showing off her high heeled black stiletto pumps, dressed in a tight-fitting black and neon pink ombre colored halted dress that barely reached over the start of her legs, slit down her side and held together with neon pink lacing, leaving her long slender legs bare for the world to see. She had a martini glass in hand, smirking seductively at whomever it had been behind the camera.
Gokudera's hands suddenly started shaking something terrible.
The other men had locked their eyes on him the second he had snatched the picture from the table.
"What's wrong?" Reborn asked, frowning at the delinquents reaction.
Gokudera just kept trembling, the disbelief clear in his eyes.
"It can't be her..." he whispered in an almost broken manner.
Tsuna was legitimately fighting to stay awake.
The woman had gone back to fiddling with her gem, now with a much more relaxed demeanor to her, leaning against the concrete wall with her legs crossed in front of her.
A very elegant pose.
A very elegant looking picture…
Tsuna could feel her hand twitching to paint her…
Or was that some kind of side-effect from the drugs?
Who could tell?
At one point, the woman had taken to twirl her hair around her index finger, eyes firmly locked onto the gem in her hands.
Tsuna's eyes fell on her fingers, long and bony but graceful.
She moved her eyes up to her face, taking in her features more carefully than she had been before as they were lip up in the light of her gem.
Sharp but gentle cheekbones brought a distinct diamond shape to what would have been an inverted triangle, her full lips curving into a sensual cupid's bow, her eyes naturally slanted over artistically arched eyebrows, and of all things, a slightly upturned nose.
Wait…
The woman…
Again, Tsuna was struck with that feeling of familiarity.
It didn't just come from some of her features either, or a handful of the emotions she pulled, but also in a few of the habits Tsuna had seen her display during the hours the two had been stuck in the same room.
Her mind began to finally draw the comparison.
The person she knew… was beginning to form in her mind through the physical resemblance the woman had.
But it couldn't be… it had to be some freak coincidence.
But what if it wasn't?
"Now I know why you look so familiar." the words just fell out of her lips, no use trying to keep them in with whatever it was in her system.
The woman perked up, glancing at Tsuna from under her lashes.
"Do you now?" she asked, only sounding mildly interested.
Tsuna didn't let that discourage her.
"Your features." she waved her hand in front of her face in a pointed kind of manner, swaying a bit where he was standing. "Some of them are like… identical to those of my best friend." she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her lips.
Her best friend…
She doubted he would ever understand just how much she enjoyed being able to call him that.
The woman raised an eyebrow in mild interest, glancing back to the screen of her gem.
"Really?" she replied, sounding almost polite.
"Yeah." Tsuna confirmed, suddenly finding herself nodding exaggeratedly to herself. "I should know." she said proudly, preening. "I painted his portrait."
And what a beautiful portrait that had been.
"Interesting." the woman hummed, not looking up from the screen. "And what is the name of this friend?"
She knew she shouldn't, she didn't know what this woman was capable off, but she couldn't help it.
The chains jiggled as Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear, keeping her eyes pinned on the woman as she prepared herself.
"Gokudera Hayato."
The woman stiffened, her fingers freezing, her head snapping violently to look directly at Tsuna.
"What?" her voice had a deadly edge to it.
"The bad-boy gentleman." Tsuna couldn't keep her voice from slurring, smiling again. "My first official friend."
Suddenly, the woman was standing, staring down at Tsuna with something close to anger on her face, though Tsuna suspected that she was attempting to reign it in.
"You're lying!" she accused her, taking a few powerful steps towards her, her breathing heavy as she stared at the girl chained up against the wall, too weak to even sit up straight against the wall anymore. "Hayato doesn't have any friends!"
Hayato?
First name basis?
She was obviously very convinced that Gokudera didn't have any friends too if the narrowing of her eyes were anything to go by.
Tsuna could practically feel the guarded fear radiating off of the woman's being.
She shifted slightly where she was sitting but her mood didn't change.
She pinned the woman with a look.
"Well he's got one now." she stated almost airily, ignoring the woman who just kept stiffening up in front of her. "He wanted to be my subordinate, like… out of the blue, but I was like… nah." she waved in the air dismissively. "I like hanging out with you but bossing people around just feels wrong." her arm froze in the air, her mind reeling for a moment. "At least, that was the gist of it." she pointed towards the woman before throwing her arms out at her sides, smiling again. "So he became my friend instead." her arms dropped, an almost dreamy look forming on her face. "He's absolutely amazing, my Mom loves him." she laughed briefly to herself shaking her head.
The woman was openly staring at Tsuna now, horror etched into her beautiful features.
She stumbled backwards, her hips almost crashing into the edge of the table. Her hands slammed down on the tabletop, narrowly missing her gem. She looked as though that was the only thing keeping her upright.
Trembling, she put one hand over her mouth.
"Wait..." Tsuna frowned a little, a thought that should have struck her earlier finally entering her mind. "How do you know him?"
Slowly, the woman looked up at her again.
"He's my brother." she breathed.
Tsuna could feel her eyes widening.
"My younger half brother."
Tsuna blinked, her muddled brain fighting to register the information.
Finally, she shook her head in disbelief.
"That… explains so much."
The four males around the table stared openly at Gokudera, all sporting a different expression in reaction to his shocking reveal.
Reborn was intrigued, slowly rubbing his chin in thought.
Dino was bewildered, his eyes moving between then men standing in front of him, trying to gain some form of reassurance that he hadn't just heard what he'd heard.
Hibari looked absolutely murderous, his fingers twitching for the tonfa he had collapsed and stuffed up his sleeves.
Yamamoto stood frozen, eyes open wide in shock as his bat clattered loudly to the floor.
"She's your sister?!" Hibari suddenly snapped in a loud growl.
"Calm down." Gokudera immediately shoots back. "I haven't seen her for five years."
"Y-you're related to Sawada's kidnapper?" the athlete breathed, finally managing to snap the other members of the male gender out of whatever traces they had been put under.
Gokudera grumbled loudly, his fingers tightening around the photograph, crumbling it at the corners.
"I's not exactly something I'm proud of." he muttered, looking at the athlete from over the photograph of the twenty-something woman. He couldn't help but to look down at the picture again, taking in every detain of his sister.
Reborn pinned Gokudera with an emotionless stare.
"What would your sisters motivations be for committing kidnapping?" all eyed turned towards him at his calm voice. "Does she normally do things like this?"
A long sigh escaped Gokudera's lips.
"While I haven't seen her in a long time, I haven't been able to escape the news about her." he growled, shaking his head viciously.
The fingers of his one hand unlatched from the picture to violently ruffle his hair.
After a moment, he looked up at the other men.
"My sister's always been a bit… loose." he started, letting out a long breath. "Both her and I, have always wanted to become Initiates." two pairs of eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the word used, whilst the other two molded into more pondering expressions. Gokudera sighed in irritation. "She has always been a bit more obsessive about it through, willing to do anything in order to get into a Guild, she just wanted to be a part of it all."
Letting the picture fall back onto the table, Gokudera brazed his arms on top of it.
"From what I heard, she even tried to sleep her way there once, but when she didn't get her way, she poisoned the man." she glanced down at the picture. "She's not called "Poisoned Scorpion" for nothing you know." he growled loudly. "She will do anything do get her way."
He looked up, glancing at each and every man around the table, giving them a serious but guilty expression.
"My family has been Flares for generations." he sighed heavily. "My sister was the first to officially become a roamer between the two of us."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Hibari asked, his patience finally running out.
Dino just chuckled at his reaction.
Hibari shot him a furious glare, but the older man just kept on chuckling.
"We don't have time to explain right now." Reborn stated, putting his hands on top of the table as he looked over the pictures with much greater interest than before. "The situation is bad enough as it is."
Forcefully calming themselves down, the other males followed Reborn's example.
"We're dealing with greedy Roamers." the teacher summarized, picking up the pictures and looking through them in greater detail.
He may be good at reading physical capabilities through pictured, but one can only do so much without knowing the general personality of a person, that can really tip the scale in a battle if you can't read your opponents character.
It was at this moment that he realized just how much easier it would have been had Tsuna been with them.
He groaned at the thought.
"Greedy Roamers are usually impulsive and unpredictable in what they are willing to do in order to become an Initiate." slowly, realization began to dawn on the teenager's faces.
He gave them a firm nod.
"This isn't a ransom situation." he grimaced before forcing the words out. "Tsunako's life may very well be in danger."
A heavy silence fell over the boys, their muscles seeming to freeze up where they were standing.
Dino decided to take their minds off of Reborn's words for the moment.
"Thanks to the pictures." their attention snapped towards him. "Me and my men have been able to pin their location to around..." he held out his hand, allowing one of his men to put a strange device in his palm. Working quickly, the man pressed a couple of buttons before setting the device at the center of the table.
The next thing the boys knew, the device lit up, projecting a holographic map in the air in front of them. A 3D map of a very specific location.
"Here."
Hibari's eyes narrowed.
"The factory district?" he asked, looking at the transparent, weathered miniature buildings surrounded by heavy woods close to the water a few miles away from Namimori proper. It was clearly an abandoned area, overgrown with vines and stray trees breaking through the paved ground, shrubbery leaving some roads impossible to travel anymore.
"The what?" Gokudera asked, frowning.
Obviously understanding that this would be new to the transfer student, Yamamoto didn't even blink before he started explaining.
"It's a district of closely knit factories that hasn't been in use since the end of WWIII."
Gokudera seemed even more confused at this.
"Why?"
"Several of them were used for secret smuggling rings or slave-trades during that dark time." Hibari of all people explained, not looking up from the hologram. "It was widely agreed to leave the buildings to rot."
Reborn raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Why not demolish them?"
Hibari raised his gaze, pinning the taller male with a dark glare.
"Who knows what might turn up when those walls come down."
A/N: I'm not joking when I say my enthusiasm for uploading these chapters is dwindling, I can't help but feel like there aren't that many people who actually reads this no matter what the numbers tell me.
To be frank, there is little motivation behind this story as it currently stands.
I wouldn't be surprised if I wind up uploading every other week in the future, we'll see what happens.
This has been:
A message from Her Ladyship.