I don't own KHR.
"Are you sure you're up for-"
Before Tsuna could even finish his sentence, Kyoya whipped his head in his direction and glared at him. Even though it was just a warning glare, and the fact that Kyoya would never hurt him (at least nothing more than a slightly harsh bonk to the head), Tsuna couldn't help but to gulp a little.
"Are you sure you don't want a nap first?" Tsuna quickly backtracked, figuring that this was a fair question and wouldn't injure Kyoya's pride. It was after lunch, and Kyoya was just about to go on his early afternoon patrol. On a normal day, Tsuna would have just nodded and told him that he would see him later without a second thought.
Today however, Kyoya was recovering from not only a bad night's sleep, but also a long gash on his back that he had only received yesterday. There was also the fact that it had been snowing just an hour ago. And while it had stopped snowing, there was still a nice, thick white blanket covering the ground. Which meant that there was plenty of snow for the other kids to play with, and this meant that there were probably going to be a lot of crowding and rule-breaking herbivores to deal with.
Needless to day, Tsuna was a bit worried and he felt like he had every right to be so. But apparently, Kyoya was all for following his normal schedule despite everything that had happened.
But maybe if he just accepted taking a nap first instead, then at least he would go on a patrol well-rested.
Kyoya then tilted his head, clearly thinking about it which made Tsuna hopeful as he knelt on his bed.
"No," Kyoya decided with a shake of his head. "I'll take one right after the patrol."
Tsuna managed to fight back a sigh and decided to just be glad that Kyoya was at least planning on resting right after his self-mandated patrol.
"Okay...see you later," Tsuna said after nearly successfully fighting the temptation to say something along the lines of 'don't push it.'
"Hn," Kyoya simply replied with a small smile as he reached over to ruffle Tsuna's hair. Then without another word, he turned away and left the boy's room. When he was sure Kyoya was gone, Tsuna sighed and looked out the window.
When the snow first started, Kyoya had pulled him (Chrome had already left to check on Mukuro by that point) inside avoid the rush of crowding herbivores that would want to play outside. But now that the snow had stopped and it looked like it wasn't going to continue, Tsuna wanted to play in it.
But Kyoya just went on his patrol and even he hadn't, Tsuna definitely wouldn't have forced his brother to play with him. And while he had played in the snow alone before, he didn't necessarily want to do it again, not when he knew what it was like to have someone around his age play with him.
But it was looking like he didn't have another choice-
"Um...Tsuna?" Tsuna perked up at the familiar voice to see Chrome standing in the doorway, fidgeting with her hands a bit. Tsuna gasped as he realized something.
Of course! He could ask Chrome to play with him!
"Hey Chrome, what is it?" Tsuna asked as he got off his bed and started to walk towards the purple-haired girl.
"Uh...can we talk?" Chrome asked nervously as she fidgeted with her hands even more. Tsuna tilted his head as he wondered what was making her so nervous. They had a great conservation earlier that day and Chrome seemed to loosened up during then so what had happened after she had left them?
Maybe it was because of whatever she wanted to talk about?
"Sure!" Tsuna exclaimed with what he hoped was a happy and calm smile on his face as he stoppped a few feet in front of Chrome. "...Wanna go outside to talk?"
"Uh...yeah," Chrome accepted with a nod as she stopped fidgeting quite as much. "Let's do that. Though...can we make sure no one is around to overhear us? I...I want to tell you a secret."
"Oh, alright, okay," Tsuna accepted as both curiosity and bewilderment rose within him, all desires to play in the snow with his new friend while they talked pushed aside for now. "Let's go then."
"Mhm," Chrome replied as they both then left the empty room. As they quietly made their way through the orphanage, Tsuna wondered what could be so important to make Chrome insist on talking to him alone.
Was it something to do with Mukuro? As they had agreed, they had stayed far apart from each other ever since yesterday, only catching glimpses of each other at mealtimes so far. While Kyoya seemed pleased enough with this arrangement, Tsuna honestly wasn't. Not that he blamed Kyoya for wanting them to stay away from the other boy, but something in him wanted to give Mukuro another chance.
Sure, Mukuro was the reason why Kyoya's back was injured which caused him to not sleep well last night. Sure, Tsuna had been geniunely afraid that Mukuro was going to kill his brother. But then, after Tsuna stood his ground...Mukuro made a face.
A face that screamed pain and vulnerability.
And besides, he seemed to treat Chrome well enough, and in return Chrome seemed to trust him completely. He couldn't be that bad right?
"Uh Tsuna...there's kids everywhere." Brought out of his musings, Tsuna realized that they were now outside and just like Chrome said, there were kids all over the front yard.
But Tsuna knew enough to not be discouraged.
"Let's check the backyard then," Tsuna said optimistically as he started to walk around the building.
"Oh...right!" Chrome exclaimed as she quickly followed him, her small feet crunching the white snow beneath her as she did so. When it looked like she wasn't about to say anything else, Tsuna's mind once more went into trying to figure out what secret Chrome wanted to tell him.
Wait, secret...could it be that whatever Chrome wanted to tell him had to do with that strange attack Mukuro used to overpower Kyoya yesterday?!
That strange attack had been bugging Tsuna ever since he saw it, due to both its sudden appearance and its sudden departure. Not to mention, sakura blossoms didn't just grow inside of orphanages in Italy. He had wanted to ask Chrome about it earlier but Kyoya told him that they should let Chrome tell them of her own free will, despite it clearly bugging him too. When Tsuna asked him why, Kyoya said something to the effect that he wanted Chrome to trust them first.
Had they gotten Chrome to trust them already to tell such a secret already?! But if so, why did Chrome just seek him out, and not Kyoya as well?
"Oh, there's a little house over there!" Chrome once again bringing him out of his thoughts, Tsuna looked up and that they reached the backyard and indeed, there was a little house right in front of the black iron fence.
"Yeah, that's the well house," Tsuna informed her as he looked around the backyard and noted that there were only a few kids playing here. "Wait, is this the first time you've been to the backyard?"
"No," Chrome admitted a bit sheepishly, not that Tsuna blamed her in the slightest. She and Mukuro did just arrive here yesterday. It made sense that she wouldn't know all the in and outs of this place yet. "I mean, I did see it from a window but...I couldn't see the well house from there."
"Yeah, the trees do cover it up pretty well," Tsuna commented as he looked at the well house and all the branches from the nearby trees that were hanging over it.
"...Do you think we can go in there? Or does the well take up the whole house?" Chrome asked.
"Uh...I'm not sure, I've never actually been in there," Tsuna admitted as both fear and nervousness began to writhe together within his stomach. While he had never even seen the inside of the well house, just the thought of a small, dark house with an old, unused well inside was enough to turn him away. Tsuna wouldn't even be surprised if the well house was actually haunted.
Kyoya's order for him (and any other kid for that matter) to stay away from the place was just an extra incentive.
"It's probably locked anyway," Tsuna continued as he hoped that this would dissaude Chrome from wanting to go in there. "Hey, there's not that many kids over there, let's-"
"Hello worthless brat." Tsuna gasped at the unfamiliar voice as he quickly turned around, desperately hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was.
But unfortunately, Tsuna was right. The voice did belonged to Gabe, and he was standing only a few feet behind him with a cold smirk on his face.
"Gabe, wha-" Tsuna began to say, his senses on high alert as he quickly noticed that Gabe had a black eye as well as some gashes that looked pretty fresh.
But Kyoya hadn't bit anyone today yet, so how-
"It's been a little while since we've talked face to face, hasn't it idiot?" Gabe interrupted him as he took a step towards them, his smirk somehow growing even colder.
Tsuna suddenly got the overwhelming sense that they needed to run.
"Tsu...Tsuna's not an idiot! And he's not a worthless brat either!" Chrome declared vehemently with no trace of her earlier nervousness on her face. "Take that back!"
Despite the situation, Tsuna couldn't help but to feel happy that Chrome was defending him already.
"Oh do you think you're the boss of me?!" Gabe cried, his cold demeanor now overtaken by indignation and fury as he started to walk in full earnest towards them.
"Chrome, we gotta go!" Tsuna exclaimed as he grabbed Chrome's hand and started to run towards the other corner of the back of the building.
"You can't escape from me!" Gabe yelled as the loud and constant crunching of snow behind them reached Tsuna's ears, telling him that Gabe was running after them.
"Tsuna, what's going on?!" Chrome cried as she ran behind Tsuna, her hand clenched tightly around Tsuna's.
"I'm not sure, but he's a bully so we gotta keep on running," Tsuna replied, which was the honest truth. Gabe, Nico, and Matteo hadn't bothered him and Kyoya ever since the cafeteria incident so why now? Why was Gabe coming after him (and Chrome by extension) now? Did it had something with Gabe's black eye and those gashes?
Wait, where were Nico and Matteo? The three bullies never left each other's sides, so-
At that moment, Tsuna and Chrome had finally reached the corner and were just about to turn it.
Only for Nico and Matteo to jump suddenly around the corner, each one with bruises and gashes of their own.
"Ah!" Tsuna cried out as he quickly tried to backpedal but it was too late. Nico was already reaching out and it didn't take much for him to grab Tsuna's arm and pull him to his chest.
And out of Chrome's grasp.
"Gotcha," Nico said with a pleased and mean grin as he quickly wrapped his arms around Tsuna, trapping him.
"Tsuna!" Chrome cried, her voice full of alarm and fear. At the corner of his eye, Tsuna saw Chrome start to go towards him only for Gabe to grab her arm and pull her to his chest.
"Sorry, but I can't let you do that," Matteo said as he held her prisoner with his arms too, sounding strangely...kind of apologetic.
"Chrome! Let go of her, she's got nothing to do with this!" Tsuna pleaded as he tried to fight and squirm his way out of Nico's hold. "Leave her alone!"
Then, despite his panicked state of mind, he had a moment of clarity and inspiration. Knowing that there was no time to waste, Tsuna quickly raised his foot and stomped hard on Nico's foot.
Nico immediately yelled out in pain as he let go of Tsuna. Now free, Tsuna then rushed towards his new friend and the one who was holding her captive.
But before he could try to save Chrome, before he could even reach her, he felt someone punch his right cheek. As a result, Tsuna let out a sharp cry as he crashed onto the snow covered ground harshly on his side.
"Tsuna!" Chrome exclaimed as despite the pain blossoming on his face, tried to get up. However, he was only able to get to his hands before a hand grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him halfway off the ground.
"Actually, she has almost everything to do with this," Gabe growled into Tsuna's face as he continued to hold him up the ground.
"Wha...she just got here yesterday!" Tsuna exclaimed as he instinctively grabbed hold of Gabe's wrist with both hands. "What could she have possibly done to make you this mad?!"
"Not her specifically, but her friend that came with her broke our last straw," Gabe answered with a cool, icy glint of pure rage in his blue eyes. "And we were all friendly with him too, we even offered to let him be our leader if he would just beat up the monster but no, he just had to beat us up instead!"
Tsuna's brown eyes widened with this piece of revelation.
Mukuro...was the one who gave Gabe and the others those injuries? Why didn't Mukuro just say no?
"We've waited too long to have our revenge," Gabe continued as he straightened up while still holding onto Tsuna's coat. "And no matter what, we will have it!"
"What are you gonna do-whoa!" Tsuna started to ask before Gabe suddenly started to walk, literally dragging Tsuna along behind him.
"You'll find out," Gabe simply said as he continued to walk. Wincing as the harsh coldness of the snow managed to get past his shirt and coat and onto his bare back, Tsuna tilted his head back. What he saw made his eyes go wide with fear.
They were heading towards the well house.
Realizing what Gabe had planned for them, Tsuna instantly tried to claw his way out of Gabe's grasp but no matter how he tried, he couldn't loosen Gabe's grip on him.
"Help! Somebody help!" Tsuna heard Chrome cry out in desperation. The young boy tilted his head back down and saw that Chrome was struggling to get out of Matteo's grip but to no avail. "Please!"
A quick look around showed that any kid that had been playing in the background before was now long gone.
"No one is going to help you two, little missy," Nico sneered as he brought up the rear. "They know better than to get in between us and our righteous revenge."
Righteous revenge? They were the ones that started all of this from the very beginning! And even if they hadn't, locking them in the well house was going way too far!
"There's no need to despair," Matteo added as he followed Gabe while half-pulling, half-dragging Chrome alongside him. "You're not gonna stay in there for that long anyway."
"What in the heck are you talking about Matteo?!" Nico exclaimed, angry as his brown eyes all but bore holes into Matteo. "Do you really think that after everything that monster and that new kid have done to us, that we would just let these two go after only five minutes?!"
"Well, no," Matteo replied a bit sheepishly as a strand of brown hair strayed into his nervous brown eyes. "I'm...I'm just being realistic. I mean, sooner or later Kyoya or Mukuro is gonna come looking for them and will eventually realize they're in the well house. Especially when we put a barricade in front of the door."
"True, but I bet even those two will have trouble breaking down a huge thick wall out of snow that has been frozen over," Gabe replied as he reached inside of his open coat to take out a full water bottle. "And look at that...it's snowing again."
Tsuna, who had been struggling this whole time, looked up and both saw and felt a small snowflake land on his nose.
...He didn't want to play in the snow anymore.
"Here we are!" Gabe cried out as they finally stopped, his voice having a psychotic edge to it. Tsuna tilted his head back just in time to see Gabe reach out to grab the rusty-looking door handle. The seven-year-old then hoped against all hope that the well house really was locked.
Then Gabe turned the handle and with a loud, unpleasant creak, the door opened to reveal a small dark room with a big well made out of rocks in the center of it.
Which Tsuna had been expecting honestly. If it was locked, then why would Kyoya have made it a rule that no one was allowed to go near the well house?
"Well," Gabe started as he bent over to grab Tsuna's arm with his free hand before roughly pulling him up to his feet. "Here you go!"
And with that, Gabe pushed him into the well house, causing Tsuna to collide harshly with the well, his coat barely cushioning the blow. The sound of the rocky well trembling as a result from the collision did not help matters.
Tsuna suddenly wished right then and there that Kyoya would save them. Which was probably a selfish wish since Kyoya wasn't in the greatest condition currently to fight all three bullies all at once. Especially when they were being particularly ruthless and vengeful.
But even so, Tsuna wanted Kyoya to suddenly come to their rescue like the superhero he knew his brother was.
"And now you're next little missy!" Tsuna barely had any time to react before Chrome got all but thrown into his arms. But he caught her sucessfully, and when he wrapped his arms tightly around her, he felt grateful that at least he was able to prevent his new friend from crashing into the well too.
Then he both felt and heard the rocks that made up the well shift and rumble behind him.
The next thing Tsuna knew, he was falling backfirst into a deep, dark hole with Chrome still in his arms.
Plot twist, Tsuna and Chrome died that day and Mukuro just created illusions of them to hang around them out of guilt and grief;)
On a serious note, I will be continuing this in the next chapter, so you won't have to wonder long what in the world happens next. Hopefully.
So what did you think? Please leave a review telling me what you felt and thought during this chapter and I will update shortly. Till then, see ya and have a good day/night!