A/N: By the way, just to say something,

The title, Phoenix Tears has a reason behind it, even if the name is tacky.
The Phoenix is a mythical bird that is a symbol of resurrection. So it's a bird that revives from its death. I think you would get why is it called Phoenix tears if you can sympathize or empathize with Tsuna.
Hope you like the story ^^

Chapter 15

Turnabout

Kusakabe followed the demon of Namimori like a shadow. He didn't know what he could say to the other. Reborn had gathered them at the chairman's office, much to Hibari's annoyance and revealed something that horrifying like it was it was everyday's business. Hibari didn't say anything, like the others who fell silent after hearing it. Yamamoto looked conflicted while Ryohei looked devastated.

He understood the unanswered question, the hitman asked, not expecting to get any answers.

The two were patrolling Namimori like usual and the prefect performed his duties like clockwork. It made him worried but he could provide no answers or suggestions to the dilemma. Tsuna's condition was slowing getting worse as the doctors said there were no signs that the boy would awake anytime soon. They were planning on transferring him to another hospital for further treatment.

It felt like things were going on according to the psychotic script Reborn narrated. The boy would be kidnapped in the hospital for some unprofessional treatment or would get buried in medicine and die of an overdose or from the weight of debris...

Either way, he was not a part of Namimori anymore, legally speaking. So if Hibari pursued him further after knowing what the price of getting involved with the brunette was... he'd be in an unhealthy relationship- one that his parents and his uncle advised against.

He was in the room, trying to hide the tonfas with the chains from the prefect's field of view. The other was fuming from the unexpected appearance of an unwanted visitor. Said visitor was sitting on a sofa near the coffee table, sipping tea.

"What are you doing here? I told you that you are forbidden from entering my territory." Hibari growled.

Unfazed, his visitor, Fon replied,

"I heard Reborn visited you. I suspect he told you everything. It makes things much more complicated."

"If you are so worried about the mafia involving themselves because of the Arcobaleno, you shouldn't have come here."

"Kyo-san is right, Fon-san... With news that two Arcobaleno visited Namimori, people will start to imagine things... We just got an issue under control... Even though...

It leaves a bitter aftertaste..."

"I'll take responsibility for that, don't worry. You won't expect any problems from the Arcobaleno, at least."

Kusakabe felt the prefect bristle, though he couldn't fault him in it. He felt the same.

"...What are you implying, Fon-san?" he asked coldly.

"Nothing will happen as long as you don't get involved with Tsunayoshi-kun."

"Are you telling us to turn a blind eye? We are responsible for the safety of Namimori citizens."

"He has no family or relation or proof that he is Namimori's citizen. He is no longer your responsibility, luckily enough. As expected of him...

You better cut your losses. You can get stronger from this experience. I'm sure Tsunayoshi-kun will accept your decision. He won't hold any grudges.

After all, he's just one person in billions. There's no reason to get stuck on him alone.

You should focus on the bigger picture, and extend your reach- instead of focussing your efforts on the one anomaly that doesn't fit in your system.

So Kyoya... don't do anything reckless."

Kusakabe couldn't keep his rage in control

"How can you even suggest abandoning him? Betraying him like that-"

"When it costs your life in return, there's no way that this kind of relationship is healthy. If he doesn't even consider it a betrayal, why does it matter if you choose to do so?-"

"As if I can use the opinion of the guy who thinks it's normal to treat him like trash. If you looked at the way he treats us, like as if our company is the greatest thing we could give him-!"

"It's fine, isn't it? He's satisfied with just that."

"How can we even forgive ourselves for doing that to him?"

"Why? It's not even your fault-"

"It's not fair. He doesn't even know what its like to live a peaceful life-"

"Is it fair that you guys have to suffer in his stead? Or what? You would struggle and protect him to keep him obliviously happy? I doubt there's something crueler that you can do to him..."

"Why are you so persistent about this, Fon-san?! Do you hate him enough to want to make him suffer like this?!"

"He'd die anyway if you leave him alone. I don't have to lift a finger.

But Kusakabe-kun... if he's the reason my nephew and you would have to die, I can't keep silent"

"...what would he have left if we just ...upped and left?"

"...you two have people who will be sad if you died. You have people who support you- the DC committee, your parents, the people from the Hibari organization, the Sasagawas, the Yamamotos...

Treat your lives more preciously."

"...what about... Tsuna?"

"His mother wouldn't have left him if she couldn't trust him to do fine by himself. The only one who can take his life is the world itself, and not even he himself can take that away from it. Besides, he's strong to be fine after all those things had happened to him.

He'll be fine even if you guys didn't meddle in his business. I'm not telling to stop being his friend... I'm just telling you to not accept any responsibility."

"What?... You...

How can you even...?"

"I'm telling you this because this is the optimal way of going about things. We have tried so many times to help him. But it's just impossible. Even, so... there are still things I can protect.

If my request is such a heavy burden... I'll carry the weight of the responsibility for you...

So...please... listen to me for just this time... in this lifetime..."

He still hated the fact that Hibari didn't say a thing during the entire conversation. But it wasn't the prefect only. He couldn't stay still after the conversation and ended up going to Takesushi to see Yamamoto staring at a baseball bat, holding a baseball uniform in his armpit.

He must have let out his feelings out in the open because his disapproving glare immediately caught the attention of Yamamoto who gave him an apologetic smile.

"It's rare to see you without Hibari-san.

...Want to have some sushi? My treat?"

He accepted, intending on questioning the jock's actions. But he couldn't get his words out. Something was stopping him, maybe it was his own fear.

"Lately I've been out of my game. Pops called me out during kendo practice.

'You can't even cut tofu with your blade' Ahahaha, he doesn't hold back any punches... Huh? That doesn't sound right. He doesn't hold back any swings? Wait, that doesn't make things any better..."

Well, at least the conversation was affecting him that much-

"You know that my mom died when I was in elementary right?... Pops was bawling that night. It looked funny. I've never seen him like that, with his snot overflowing- he looked like a small kid.

He clung to my pants and forced me to make a pinky promise to never die. Ahaha, I'm definitely going to swallow a thousand needles for that. Ahahaha...

It was a scene that I could never forget... I should never forget... But somehow I did... funny how life works, right? I remembered it in the worst moment... right on the roof...

...But you know... I'm never going to regret making that promise.

…

…

…

I never did tell you guys... but my Pops didn't tell me he was an assassin when I told him I wanted to protect Tsuna. Tsuna... he... has quite the reputation in Namimori... So, of course, Pops told me to not to...

Sorry, I've strayed from what I wanted to originally say. I've become the master of the Shigure Soenn Ryuu, and I feel bad for Pops for going through all that trouble for nothing.

But... I'm going to continue with baseball... because I can't bear a future where Pops will have to attend another funeral... and I can't bear... a future where...

I would have a grudge against Tsuna for inevitably being a cause for my Pops' death..."

It was a bitter feeling that he couldn't muster to find the courage to see if there was another person who could help the brunette. Especially since Sasagawa Kyoko was the treasure of her brother and her best friend. He couldn't risk the chance otherwise... not when he himself couldn't stand for the friend who would select the choice they couldn't, for the people who wouldn't do the same thing for him.

To think that they were once the people who told him, who conveyed to him that he wouldn't be alone anymore and that he could rely on them... that they wouldn't leave him all alone... that they would be a permanent addition in his life...

He never liked agreeing with Tsuna's thoughts on these things. He wouldn't start today.

He brought himself to stop the oppressing negative thoughts from burrowing into his being. So he asked the prefect walking in front of him.

"Kyo-san... what's on today's agenda? This doesn't seem like the usual route we walk through."

"I found the mole. So I'm biting him to death."

So he was planning on tying up the loose ends from the Gesso incident. It made Kusakabe a bit envious. He kinda wanted to not be the only one seemingly stuck on the brunette. Maybe it was because it felt like it was injustice on his part. Because, if they were going to do this to him, it would have been much better that they treated him like the people in Namimori.

Somehow, somewhere down the line, the people he considered a devil for doing such cruel things to the brunette ended up switching roles with them... Now wasn't that ironical?

The first thing Hibari did when he spotted his target was to throw the tonfa right at him. It was expected, but so sudden that the assistant didn't have the time to try calming the prefect or warn the victim.

Said person, had unfortunately turned around at the exact moment -and had their first kiss taken by metal.

"Irie Shoichi, I'll bite you to death for endangering the life of a Namimori citizen."

Kusakabe inspected the down boy.

"Kyo-san, I don't think he'd be up for round two."

"Tch. Herbivore."

Hibird definitely agreed with that as it perched on the boy's head chirping out Herbivore to rub salt into wounds. It chanted it as the assistant dragged the ginger-haired boy to the DC committee room.

Kusakabe looked at the fainted boy with slight panic,

'Come on Irie-san, if you don't wake up now Hibari-san will throw the brewed tea on you.'

Hibari seemed to be losing his patience by the moment as he threw glances at the cooing teapot and at the unconscious boy every so often.

Thankfully Irie woke up by some miracle and let a shriek that could contest Tsuna's.

"What- Where am I?! Hibari-san!-"

"For collaborating with the Italian Mafia, herbivore... I'll bite you to death."

Hibari was not making whatever information extraction process he wanted to do any easier, not that the screaming Shoichi making things any easier.

"Kyo-san, maybe you should explain the situation to calm him down so that you can interrogate him."

"Hn. During close inspection, we found traces of communication with the hibird bots."

Kusakabe looked at the ginger-haired boy in shock, putting things together. When Hibari was out and he had enlisted the help of the technician, he had given him free reigns to map out Namimori for a test-run that time. So then...

"Irie-san, were you responsible to deliver the letter to Tsuna-san?! And the documents to-"

It was a horrible thought, accusing a student of such a heinous act.

"N-no! Byakuran had forced me to do that. I was being threatened-"

Hibari didn't want to hear such bullshit.

"There was no loss for you. You could have simply told us if you had such threats. You were the only point of contact and the only point of information that Byakuran could use to get anything from Namimori.

This is my territory."

A dark aura flooded the room. Hibari was fuming.

"I don't even know anything about this 'Tsuna-san'-

I only recently found that he was a mafia member after he hijacked the bots. I thought we were both robot enthusiasts-"

"I doubt he would have told you he was a mafia member if he didn't trust you. You would just have thought he was a hacker when someone would have tried this. Not to mention...
You concealed the information from us when we were seeking it. We did ask you to inspect all our communication sources before when we needed to find the sources that he would have taken. To which you had the audacity to say that nothing had been taken over.

If our technicians had looked it over then, they could have come with the same conclusion that they did today- it was hacked."

"No, Hibari-san! It wasn't like that! I didn't know he had hacked it then-"

"So, somehow at the most convenient time, you did not know your own bots were hacked, but later you found it out and kept quiet because let me put it in your own words-

'Byakuran had forced you to do that and threatened you' but never thought of telling us of it?

Yet you sing these things when I force the tonfa down your throat?"

"I thought he needed my help on it. I was just helping a friend in need. He looked desperate. I couldn't leave him alone."

"A likely story. Hmph. And why would you accept to hand deliver a letter from a mafia boss to the one kid who had the reputation of being the weakest person in Namimori?

Even if you didn't know anything about him being a mafia boss, from the rumors and the disappearance of the kid for two-three months didn't leave you with any suspicions and even got you delivering documents to the same kid's mother?"

"Just because I'm the only one who had contact with him doesn't mean I delivered the letters or documents."

"'the letters and documents'? Why it seems like you know what happened to the Sawadas.

Those months had no traffic from Italy, as traced from our 'collaboration' with the VPN service providers. You knew of the entire plan.

I suspect you've been a partner rather than a lackey in this case. You even call him by his first name without any suffixes, you must be close to him. Close enough to not even tell the truth when I've caught you red-handed."

"Irie-san... why did you help Byakuran if you knew what he was? You couldn't have possibly thought that he had anything other than nefarious intentions..."

"I don't know what you are talking about-"

"There's no need to play dumb. If I just wanted to bring order, I wouldn't even tell you anything. I have enough evidence to bring you to jail for assisted murder. You do realize that you played a big part in this crime right? To drive a person to suicide, and bring another person close to death. It would be attempted murder in his case.

Even if its friendship, I hardly think you would blindly follow a person even if it meant going into jail. I think you would know this, but he'll not be going to jail for this since we don't have the connections to bring him into the light. At least, not yet.

But, I'm sure the Vindice will take care of him... if I produce the proof. Proof that you have hidden. Don't tell me you're willing to sacrifice yourself just to help your friend?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Irie-san... don't tell me you plan on taking this to court? Why would you be willing to risk it all for that guy?"

Hibari decided to give a guess, unwilling to lose his only link on this.

"Reborn already told us about what Byakuran is willing to do."

"Kyo-san?" the assistant looked at the other, perplexed at the words he said. What did Irie have to do with their talk?

"...you guys don't know a thing. I heard the whole thing by hijacking the DC committee computer."

"What! When?!" the assistant exclaimed, alarmed.

"When you told me to hurry and finish the model hibird bots in the DC committee room. Sorry about that, Kusakabe-san."

Hibari brought the conversation back to speed.

"I know you heard that. That's why I brought you here in the first place. I wanted to hear your motivations."

"We're friends. Friends help each other."

"You're one of the guardians of the Millefiore. You're one of the people who were in this time loop phenomenon, as that hitman called it."

"What?- Shit! I gave myself out with the Reborn thing, huh? I never get used to this... I swear...

Why do you need my opinion? I'm pretty sure you can ask the other Arcobaleno like your uncle or Byakuran himself..."

"Because, if I'm correct... you're not playing for that marshmallow bastard's team."

The two looked at him in shock.

"...W-what makes you think that?"

"Kyo-san, if he was responsible for the letters and the documents, why would you think that?"

"Because of the fact that Tsunayoshi is being transported to the very hospital that he had been kidnapped in the 'previous timeline'."

"How do you figure that?"

"It's the same timeline, not a parallel universe. So it's a hospital which is susceptible to an earthquake, can have an earthquake and have a suspicious background with those rumors around it. It should also have smuggled goods in.

I can get that information easily since, due to your famiglia's shenanigans I ended up having ties to the underworld."

"...But what does that have to do with anything?"

"The only people with that knowledge is us, the Arcobaleno and the Millefiore. I did not pay for the additional treatment or approve of it, neither did the Hibari family."

he continued with a quiet voice.

"Neither did the Sasagawas nor the Yamamotos."

"But then, Byakuran or the Arcobalenos could do it. Byakuran is trying to get Tsunayoshi-kun into the mafia and the Arcobaleno have been trying to prevent you guys- "

"Precisely. The other two groups have been stuck in an infinite loop because of the reason that they can't accept Tsunayoshi's death. It would make no sense that they would put him in a hospital that could have resulted in his death."

"So why me?"

"Because you're the only other person who has indirect contact with him, being the mole. So I wanted to hear your intentions."

"...Here I was thinking I would be bitten to death."

"Hmph. There's no worth in biting you to death."

"...Why are you doing this? Haven't you been warned against trying to help Tsunayoshi-kun?"

"That's why I'm doing this. Especially since the warning is from the very groups that can't even bring themselves to stop the cycle and they act like hypocrites blaming each other when none of them can abandon him.

Not to mention... it irritates me."

Kusakabe looked at Hibari in awe, understanding dawning upon him.

'Reborn-san said that since the Vongola were killed... we were killed the cycle depended on the other two...

Since the Arcobaleno is preventing the very guardians of the Vongola from protecting...him...-'

"You're the only one who's actively trying to kill him right now."

"...You guys always try to help him. That's why we have to do the cycle all over again. It's because when you die, the people close to you guys die also trying to help him because you guys died for him.

If he dies without you guys... you act like as if the very life has been sucked out of you. I mean, he always dies in the most horrible of ways and he made us make a promise-

It's painful. Byakuran and the Arcobaleno never learn. I feel like I'm going mad from the repeats. I hear the same lines over and over and over and over again. There's about 15 of us that actually know the situation and the rest... know nothing.

You guys die, and die and die or watch him die. We've seen him cry and have such a painful smile and on top of that." he choked

"The acts are concentrating on him. It's because we aren't able to let it go. It's so cruel, giving us the option to change things but not giving us any power!...

Don't you think it's strange? The people in Namimori are going way too far with the way they treat him. He's experienced situations no normal or abnormal person can face in one lifetime. It's going to get worse from here on. Your lives aren't going to cut it to get rid of his 'bad luck' anymore.

I've seen him last cycle without limbs, paralyzed and we stitched his whole body back together. It made me think about Theseus ship. He died unable to control his body properly- 'his' heart and half of 'his' brain that we transplanted with the other organs and limbs made him revert to the mindset of a five-year-old. He lost control of his bodily functions... he could only babble...

But that was the happiest I ever saw him when the incidents piled up again!" he sobbed

"And that was him after we decided to 'fix' him when he was 'presented' to us in formic acid like he was a fetus. Like as if they found this rebirth cycle some sort of joke-!

By replacing what he lost with parts, somehow we lost him.

He died choking on detergent since it was close to the range his hand could get into. He even tried that in this life, I've heard. I can't handle it. I can't stand it... But...

Even still, he made us promise, that in that life when the later cycles didn't take any of your lives but kept on murdering him like that... like with that kind of death, even if you die, your corpse will be tossing in its grave... he told us that he was a goner...

So we should leave him be and help you guys find your happiness without him. We made him like that this life... But I won't have another loop, even if it is at his cost.

The cycle would restart if all of us has any regrets regarding his death. I am not having it anymore. He's going to die away from Namimori, away from my eyes. The other Arcobaleno have had it with the cycles. The Millefiore are the only ones who are sincerely trying to help him, by restoring the Vongola rings to you guys. They'll do that, over my dead body.

The Arcobaleno have made their move to stop you guys from meddling. We're going to fulfill Tsunayoshi-kun's last wish, as our final respect towards him.

I only told you two since you won't tell it to the others. Not that they will try to help or lend an ear to you if I let information that you are trying to help him."

"You didn't need to tell us this all if that was your deepest wish. I don't think you're as determined about this as you say."

"...I lost hope long ago."

"Irie-san, nothing is impossible-"

"Are you seriously telling that to me? There's no use trying to get a camaraderie with me, I'm your enemy here."

Hibari looked straight into Shoichi's eyes.

"You guys are potential comrades. You will shift sides at the possibility of getting Tsunayoshi to live."

"...We'll talk if you manage to get a hold of this miracle."

"I need information for that."

"Isn't that the specialty of the Hibaris? Why ask me that?"

"Because you'll be playing intermediary for that."

"Huh? That's asking me if I'll be against the Arcobaleno and the Millefiore. They don't want you guys interfering anymore."

"You're either way going against them by shifting him to that hospital. Guess what would happen if I leak that information?"

"I thought it was strange I was able to pull that off! You sure took a huge risk for this! Even though you won't remember a thing if there's a next cycle."

"It's your own fault for getting into a situation where you're the perfect triple agent."

Kusakabe and Shoichi looked flabbergasted at Hibari's shrewdness.

Far from Namimori, in a certain hospital in Japan.

A nurse looked worriedly in the direction of the deathly quiet room.

'I don't think it's a good idea to put the patient in a room like this. The atmosphere is so gloomy.'

"Ah-Ahem, This is going to be your hospital room for your stay here. I'll bring some flowers to make the room a bit brighter than this... So, Nagi-chan, I hope you can cheer up! There's still a lot more you can do with your life!"

There was no reply from her silent, somber patient. Her eyes roamed towards the only other patient in the room, who lay unconscious in his bed and she visioned her own self turning into that, cold and dead within a month.

Well it didn't matter, no one ever wanted her after all.