Chapter 2
Zinnia
Namimmori was one of the safest places in the world. They had a disciplinary committee which made the town out of the mafia's reach (which tells a whole lot bout the committee in itself). The town was surrounded by trees everywhere, so much so that it was even mentioned in the middle school anthem. It made the town feel spiritual and peaceful.
The town was inhabited by people with wide smiles. Said people had a boundless amount of energy. The biggest example was a boxer-captain (Is that a word) ran round the town for rounds in all sorts of positions for 'EXTREME training'... granted he was kind of a nuisance, but the disciplinary committee gave up on him, seeing that the boxer was like that his whole life. It was a lost cause as well as one of Namimori's seven wonders.
Now there was only one grey area to this town. Somewhere down an alley, you could hear splutters from a person drowning.
"Ahahaha. He has water coming from his nose! Ew, there's snot too."
There were people forming a circle around a boy laughing at his pathetic attempts to take a good whiff, to increase his chances of survival when he was being repeatedly plunged into water .By the way, said water source was a huge barrel.
'I didn't want to drown! I crossed that option out so many times!' the brunette haired boy screamed to himself. His eyes warm and his nose dripping clogging his breathing system and forcing him to puff out through his mouth which was apparently funny for his tormentors.
"Hey guys! Listen to this dweeb! He's breathing like a pregnant woman. Who fucked you up so bad, Tsuna-chwan? Life? Ahahaha.
Breathe with me Tsuna-chwan. Don't want you to be a party pooper with you fainting on us. Come on! Take a deep breath, then exhale through your nose. I said through your nose, idiot.
Dame Tsuna can't follow simple instructions."
Then they proceeded to dump him back into the water.
"Look that idiot's shivering in joy. Can't wait to be back in water eh? You're not a fish, Tuna... So we'll have to bring you back to the world. We're saints, aren't we? lololol"
The water was cold and it was making him delirious and claustrophobic when he was submerged into the barrel. His mind wasn't telling him a single thing when normally it haunted him with all sorts of words and he felt utterly alone.
" his hand gripped my neck tightly and forced me underneath. I couldn't fight back and it made whatever efforts my body made pointless."
He remembered the one-sided conversations the delusion of him told him in those days following his apparent recording. 'He' never replied to any of his hysterical remarks, ignored all his sobs when he was forced to see the mirror, since the sounds from the mirror when he didn't force him to look back. It had been torture either way.
His house was a two-storied individual house- an American dream. There were a lot of guest rooms which were locked and the keys were with his mother. He couldn't ask for the keys, since it was suspicious.
He couldn't stay downstairs the whole time, because his mother thought of him as a lazy bum who wanted to forgo his duties. But everytime, he stepped into his room, the mirror started playing as if his mere presence served as a trigger to continue playing.
'His' choked words and voices along with the harsh questioning and laughter of 'his' torturers reminded him of his current predicament.
Why did he go outside? If he stayed inside, his sanity would slowly die (What was his delusion thinking?! It was too traumatic to be a form of therapy for his suicidal tendencies... which he would protest was just him being an adrenaline junkie!) So his only solution was to go outside and being the easy target for his favorite and most frequent company, his bullies.
Now he was doing a rather poor enactment of the torture his delusion experienced and he never meant for that to happen. It's just that he tripped with the shoes he'd acquired to make his clumsy act more solidified (No. Hibari Kyoya wasn't making him paranoid!) right into the frigid water barrel which was open for his entire life here. Matters were worse since it was sewage water (more like a collector for the sewage water which leaked there- leaky pipes and all) added to the fact that the town was chilly at mornings.
He would probably get sick from this, but he had to go to school, else his 'friends' would show him how much they 'missed' him.
Honestly, the only good thing he got from his 'friends' was that his mom didn't get worried because the teacher didn't put in his report card that he was practically a loner.
At long last, his bullies got bored and went away leaving him behind for a fast food joint.
'This is why I don't like friends. They're always such a pain! And I can't stop being ungrateful!' the brunette thought as his vision swam and his head ached while his nose ran a marathon. He got up drenched like a rat and chuckled at the irony of being the same thing he accused his delusion off.
'Looks like a mafia boss and a loser are on the same boat' then he thought back to how grimy the place was and how the tormenters felt and looked like.
'Scratch that. I'm at a better place.'
His feet wobbled as he felt light-headed as he squinted his eyes towards a source of rustling behind the bush and his body went immediately on the defense.
'Round two?'
Then out from the bush came the cutest thing which kept him company in his miserable life, a shorthair -an orange cat, which he had dubbed Natsu.
It was fierce just like everything in his life... but was surprisingly the only being that didn't hurt him. But it was annoying, that was it for sure.
He met Natsu when he around 1st grade. Natsu was a kitten with cherubic eyes and fluffy puffed up cheeks. It was fed well, judging by the glowing aura it had emitted. It was also loved because it mewled and circled him like it was nobody's business.
That and he regularly saw the kitten being given toys and shelter accessories.
He, on the other hand, was regularly kicked by his classmates and playmates because he was abysmal in anything he did. It was like an arrow shot his small heart with how accepting the kitten was.
He remembered ducking to touch its ears, but it didn't scratch him or yawn. It just looked attentively at him and purred.
He also remembered being a complete loser and running straight home after that with a huge blush on his cheeks... and weeping pathetically after that.
His mother had been worried and speaking in higher octaves, but being the incompetent he was, he couldn't make coherent words or understand what on earth she was saying.
She was probably worried that her son became a nutcase, crying for no reason after coming back from school.
But the following weeks from then, he knew... that he wasn't the nutcase, the kitten was.
Those weeks had been horrible (what's new?). He had been caught crushing on his classmate, Sasagawa Kyoko. His classmates didn't take it lightly... in fact, it's how he got some of his current 'friends'. He was alienated during playtime, recess and physical education but was surrounded by people after classes ended, playing 'kagome' with the girls and 'dodgeball' or 'tag' with the boys.
(Kagome's a game where people make a closed circle around a person sitting at the center and singing songs. )
Granted the songs felt a bit malicious, but he could blame it on the first time he received so much attention from the girls.
He also played hide and seek, with people forcing him to hide in the closet... but they just didn't find him later.
But on the positive side, he learned how to pick locks blindfolded from that incident. It also made him very grateful for the food his mom packed him everyday... too bad, his 'friends' thought that he needed to be reminded this everyday since, with his lunch box on the ground.
But that kitten followed him home everyday through the weeks. It licked him and it played around him and mewled and tried directing him to all the weird stuff it caught- like dead rats *shudder*
Its fur was so soft, he wanted his pillow to be that soft and warm. When he cuddled at a grass slope, he had the best sleep he had in ages.
It was so strange... he didn't or couldn't being it food- remember lunch box meets ground?- nor could he bring anything cute for the kitten's house- apparently his female classmates considered it too girly to keep around and led him to another vicious beatdown.
He was pretty sure he needed the kitten's company than it needed his... cos his classmates told it more positive and cheery stories and petted it to comfort it- but he needed to pet it to comfort himself and he was an absolute downer.
He couldn't help it, the most positive of his stories made the very few people who talked to him CRINGE.
But the kitten stayed... how irrational it was. There was nothing good in staying with dame-Tsuna.
Natsu looked at his drowned rat look that he now sported, making him wonder if this was going to be his new fashion for the month and sneezed loudly. He looked around frantically if someone heard that, but minutely relaxed when he saw that no one was around.
The cat came up to him and rubbed itself on his knees, absorbing the water. Used to its antics, Tsuna spoke;
"Natsu... you're better off not acting as a towel. It's sewage water... it's filthy" his eyes downcast and his lips turning to an irritated frown when he realized the cat wasn't listening and was on its way to his other leg.
So he clicked his tongue and jerkily moved to ignore the surprised mewl from the cat.
He moved a few steps ahead until the insistent cries from the cat stopped him. He released a sigh;
"Ok fine, Natsu. I'll dry up and take a warm bath at my house. Now, will you stop worrying?" He was reminded of how ridiculous he was talking to a cat and how stupid it was that it was a cat which was one of the sole reasons he was living (The other being his mom)
The cat stopped crying and instead opted to follow him.
He sighed again and stopped his lips from quirking upwards.
His walk back home was upbeat, considering he was almost drowned by his 'friends'.
When he reached home, he looked at the backyard tree and started climbing it- a habit he got when he came back bruised and beaten (which was painful at first). He was lucky his mom didn't sweat the details.
Why did he care about what his mother thought so much in this regard?
Well, the first time he came bruised and beat up, his mother made him sit next to her as she advised him to not get into fights as if he was a delinquent.
He also saw her posture- her knees crossed and her stomach pointing to the door exit, it was signs that he was told by his newly met delusion. She said that a third grade student shouldn't act so rebellious and her eyes darted around his body and the wall behind him as if she was afraid he'd have an outburst and that all she wanted was to leave the house and talk to her beloved husband judging by the phone she gripped tightly in her hands. Her fingers were playing with the mobile screen as she chastised him. She was clearly into stating her opinions and her hair was tucking her ears, and she reinforced the position throughout her conversation, not wanting to hear her son out.
It felt like he was living a lie and it made him disbelieve his delusion. But when he stuck through the conversation and eavesdropped on her phone call with her husband- he found out that the psychological tips his delusion gave him were the truth.
His world crashed on him that day.
He didn't want a repeat of the past. She was trying to protect the world she knew as he was. So he should act on the mutually understood belief.
When he got to the room, his mirror resumed from where it was and he could hear sounds of drowning which reminded him of his little incident. He gritted his teeth and ignored his beating heart and went on more important issues.
He took a warm bath and dried himself, intent on keeping his promise with Natsu.
He also took a towel from a cupboard, his eyebrows furrowed upwards in worry that Natsu might get sick. He took a backpack and muttered an excuse to his mom which she hummed happily back to him, and he left.
It was strange it was him this time to search for Natsu, instead of the other way around. But the cat did stupid things because of him, and it wasn't the first time he had to do these things.
After wandering around Namimori, he spotted Hibari sitting on a tree. At that instant, their eyes met, and he stared for a while before moving ahead, giving a small bow for a greeting (No one acts rude with Hibari Kyoya).
He moved around town searching for orange, any indication of the cat. He then finally reached the last place he'd rather be, the street where he was being drowned.
And found his dreaded suspicions right.
His 'friends' looked up at him and smiled a wide smile which sent shivers down his spine.
"Oh, Dame-Tsuna? We wanted to go find you just now. Nice timing" and moved slightly aside to show one of them holding down the very orange cat he'd been searching for the whole time. It was as drenched as he last saw it... but this time it was for another reason.
There were puddles pooled around its feet as it hissed.
Maybe it hissed at him for showing up in the first place- like it was scolding him for getting himself back into trouble.
Or maybe it was hissing at his friends for drown- hurting it or trying to hurt Tsuna... or maybe it was both. Because Natsu never liked his 'friends' for some reason.
But it didn't matter because he did something stupid the very next moment. Seeing how drenched the cat was and how water trailed from the barrel till the puddle near the cat... something in him snapped. He charged at them with a scream.
He tried punching, kicking at them and then was punched to the ground and all the air he inhaled out of rage escaped him making him wheeze. He was then punched and kicked from all directions. The brunette curled up into himself, hiding from the pain and finally his hair was pulled, making his split lip open to breathe in air that he desperately wanted, and was yanked to the side of his cat.
Someone might have held him down to his knees and grabbed is arms behind his back arresting his movement, but he wasn't aware- he didn't care. All he knew was he was helpless and powerless... and that Natsu was going to ...
"Ooh Dame-Tsuna has a backbone~"
"Ahahaha, the only thing you wanted to protect was a mangy street cat and you couldn't even do that lololol. What a loser."
"Wait he snarled at me before when we called his mother a slut. Remember that? I mean what father never visits his kid. This loser's definitely an illegitimate."
"Oh yeah! And he didn't do anything else. The cat's got more backbone than he'd ever have. Calling him a scaredy-cat is an insult to Sir mangy cat here. Ahahahahaha."
They kept speaking insults to him as one of them got a huge stone and moved towards the cat and tears flew down Tsuna's eyes as he whispered and begged continuously to spare its life.
They, however, found the whole situation very amusing and told him.
"I wonder how many hits can we give it before it becomes worthy to be Dame-Tsuna's friend? It must at least have the same level of cowardness."
His sobs and tear ducts refused to listen to him as he scolded himself to stop adding fuel to the fire... especially when what he was doing was a positive feedback to the cycle of bullying.
He heard a thud and a loud cry from the cat and he jerked forward, this time making him fall forward and the boy who held him down previously, sat on top of him.
He then heard the stone ram down again and again, hearing whimpers from the cat.
"Ooh, it's finally whimpering, just like you Dame-Tsuna. You finally match each other. Good for you" and they continued laughing as they brought the stone downwards. And heart couldn't have beat faster nor could his eyes stop looking at the cat crying out.
He couldn't stop himself from apologizing over and over again.
But he went deathly silent when the cat stopped too... lying completely unrecognizable across him.
And he was left alone, sounds of laughter decreasing in volume with Natsu.
"...You stupid cat
...
I told you nothing good happens from hanging out with me.
...
...
...
I can't call out to anyone again.
...
...
Who am I gonna call Natsu again?
...Why would you even want to hang out with Dame-Tsuna? Look at where it got you! You were so loved by Namimori..."
He sobbed and sobbed holding all the pieces of the cat in his arms.
It was almost evening, and he felt a presence behind him. It sent him shivers, but he was exhausted.
"Herbivore. Why aren't you home yet?"
It was Hibari, one of the last people he wanted to see
'Oh great. He's going to accuse me of animal abuse.'
He was muddy- just as always, but the cat... it didn't deserve it.
And as if on cue, he felt a hand on his collar pulling him up slowly making the cat's body pieces fall gently to the ground and then he felt a distinct sense of choking.
'If this is what hanging feels like... I'm going to cross it from my notebook.'
He was then dragged to who knows where... it was Hibari he was talking about. The prefect was probably going to find a place where he could be taken care of without suspicion. Goodbye to his shitty life.
He should have known better. His life was always trying to mess with him. He was instead thrown into the Namimori lake from a bridge, which was thinking positively, warmer and cleaner because it was still afternoon turning evening- meaning it was still warm. Namimori had hot afternoons, and warm evenings and frigid nights and mornings.
But the bad part was he didn't know how to swim, and Hibari was going back the direction he came from.
But his disciplinary committee was infinitesimally kinder than Hibari as they picked him from the lake and told him to go back home.
When he got back home, his mom looked disappointed, and he realized he was bruised and wet.
"Tsu-kun! You should know better than to play so rough! How can you be so careless! And you have school tomorrow! You should be more responsible."
He was wet, which showed his carelessness. It made his bruises look like it wasn't from a fight but rather from something silly and moreover... his upper half wasn't covered in blood because of the dip. It made his encounter with Hibari suspicious, and he dropped the idea from his head immediately and focused on his mom's lecture.
She berated him continuously and brought his energy level further down and finally told him to march upwards. His room greeted him with the screams of torturers and the gasping of his delusion and this time his mind and body were too exhausted to care. And he wrote in his book something else other than suicide notes for once.
He wrote to get a flower- Zinnia -the flower for remembrance of a friend. It was something his negative mind spoke ominously to him- something he'd have to get for the people who'd probably barge into his life if his delusion's prophecy was spot on. It was a flower which would probably have a major influence in his life if he doesn't end his first.
It was a race against time, and he wanted to win this one.
The next morning, he had acquired the flower from the Namimori flower shop and went to the alley he frankly wanted to forget existed.
He looked at the alley, feeling a bit shocked.
There was no leaky pipe and the alley was cleaned up and the barrel was removed. In its place was a small gravestone with a flower pot near it having a lily.
He bit his lips to remove any sort of conjecture from forming.
And placed the zinnia beside it and carved the name 'Natsu' on it before he double guessed himself.
and walked away.
His walk to the school was silent and peaceful, something he'd never thought he'd see in his entire life. In fact, no one even bothered to say a word or come closer to him, but there were whispers... so many whispers.
The group who he called his 'friends' didn't come by- it made him a bit happier... because he didn't want to see them right now.
In lunch, he sat under a tree his mind lead him to. There were people outright gasping that time and scuttling away. He looked up to see what the commotion was... and there was Hibari Kyoya sitting up.
Usually, he would do what any sane person did... running away to safety. But he was exhausted from the events and gave a simple bow (albeit more sincere than any he gave before). And for the first time, he ignored his mom when she gave complaints of his encounter with Hibari.
Preview:
He hated weakness and the brunette who had dull eyes and looked frail irritated him to no ends. But he hated the fact that he was curious about the enigma of the boy who did things the weak did while looking so smugly proud of it!