"Was there any particular reason why you suggested for Juudaime to invite her?" Hayato asked Takeshi as the two of them stood waiting outside the Sawada household, waiting for Tsuna.
"Humm? No, not really. It just seemed like a good idea. And Tsuna was okay with it." Takeshi answered, grinning. "Plus the kid said we should keep an eye on her, right? Wouldn't inviting her make that easier? And more fun while we're at it!" Hayato could only sputter out unintelligible profanities at the Rain beside him, but he cooled his temper upon seeing the brunette they were waiting for practically come bursting through the door, looking as though he had just barely escaped untold chaos.
"Don't tell me," Hayato started. "The stupid cow is up to his usual antics again?" Tsuna gave an undignified sigh as he held his head in his hand.
"I don't even know where to start with that kid sometimes."
"I could always straighten him out for you, Juudaime!" The Strom suggested, not so subtly pulling out a stick of dynamite, but Tsuna simply waved him off.
"No, don't start with that. The last thing I need is for the two of you going at each other's throats." Tsuna weakly scolded. He really did not have the energy for that. "Besides, we're already running late to meet up with Kazumi-san because of me. She's probably already waiting." Somewhat reluctantly, Hayato put away his dynamite and followed his Boss down the street.
The three of them were able to make up some time thanks to the short walk being guided by the GPS on Tsuna's phone. As they got closer, and sure of where it was they were going, Tsuna pocked his phone and looked around the neighbourhood. It was apparent that the area was a little more upscale than the rest of Namimori.
"So Kazumi lives in a place like this, hun?" Takeshi asked rhetorically as they came up to an apartment complex with a courtyard separating the buildings.
"I don't see her." Hayato grumbled.
"Well, she did say to wait a few minutes if she wasn't here…" Tsuna muttered quietly, all the while something heavy settled in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. He didn't know what, he just knew something was. And the feeling got progressively worse as the minutes passed. It didn't help knowing that they had arrived late as it was.
Five minutes flew by. Then ten. Eventually fifteen minute passed and the Rain and Storm had long caught onto their Sky's unease. They looked at each other with grim expressions before silently agreeing it was probably for the best to check on Kazumi. Tsuna had once again pulled out his phone to confirm Kazumi's unit number, and the three of them proceeded towards the stairs.
"I swear, if we get there and all she has to say is that she lost track of time putting on stupid makeup or something, I'm going to blow her up." Hayato growled.
"Please don't Hayato-kun." Tsuna pleaded, exasperated.
"And if it turns out to be a trap, I'll definitely send her flying." Tsuna just sighed as they reached the level that Kazumi's unit was on. They looked up and down the hall for a moment, gaging which direction they need to head, and proceeded further, stepping out of the way for a man who was walking briskly for the stairs.
"Oh, sorry." Tsuna bowed slightly after accidently knocking shoulders with the man. Straightening himself, the man sent Tsuna an unpleasant glare before continuing on his way. And yet, for whatever reason, Tsuna couldn't take his eyes away as they followed the man down the hall, watching his movements. He didn't know why he was so fixated on him until he reached for the handrail on the stairs.
Blood.
Tsuna's brow creased as he starred, his vision seeming to follow the man in slow motion as he concentrated on the wet stain on the man's shirt sleeve. For a moment Tsuna entertained the thought that he was mistaken. People don't exactly walk out of their apartment with fresh blood on their sleeves. Maybe it was wine, or his wife's lipstick? And yet he felt his stomach churn the longer he starred at it. Something wasn't right. And by now, after so many years, he knew to trust his intuition.
"Tsuna." Takeshi's voice called Tsuna from his thoughts just as the man disappeared down the stairs. But it was the tone Takeshi used that caught his attention; serious and strained, full of caution. And he had reached for the Vongola Gear hanging from his neck, indicating that the Rain had caught onto something dangerous. Tsuna followed Takeshi's hardened gaze to a door that was opened just slightly ajar, and a streak of blood that had been left behind on the frame. It was smudged enough to look like someone had brushed their sleeve across it, like they had been in too much of a hurry to worry about leaving behind evidence. Tsuna didn't want to believe where his thoughts were taking him. What were the chances that it had been a certain man's sleeve that brushed up against it?
Tsuna looked at the name plate by the door, dread spreading like a wildfire through his body. He already knew what he didn't want to know. But the characters on the wall didn't care.
"Kazumi…" He muttered her name quietly, feeling the blood drain from his face as he rushed for the door, quickly followed by his two Guardians. The door gave way easily, but the trio stopped at the threshold of the apartment to take in the damage. It didn't just look like a fight had broken out, it was the next closest thing to a bomb being set off. Everywhere the boys looked, picture frames either hung loosely from the walls or had simply fallen off, and something else was either knocked over or had been shattered to pieces on the floor. They followed the chaos and debris to the living room, where they met a sight they were dreading more than anything.
"KAZUMI!" Tsuna shouted the second he spotted Kazumi laying amongst all the rubble, motionless next to the coffee table and a katana piercing through her arm, pinning her to the floor. It was more than painfully obvious that she was in terrible condition, and yet for a moment, Tsuna didn't know what to do. Just from one look alone, he could see several scrapes and bruises that hadn't been there the other day, and each a different level of severity. Form simple scratches to bleeding wounds that Tsuna wondered if maybe they were bleeding too much. "Hayato, call an ambulance. Takeshi, find something for her injuries." Once his brain started working, spitting out orders as if on instinct, the other two went into motion immediately.
Tsuna approached Kazumi, carefully turning her from her side and checking her over, making sure not to irritate her injuries as best as he could. "Kazumi-san! Kazumi-san!" He called repeatedly, gently trying to jostle her awake. It was no use, and her condition was definitely worse than he originally thought. Up close, he could see there was a steady flow of blood collecting from the back of her head and soaking her hair. She must have hit it against something hard. The table maybe? And then he noticed her clothes; dirty with a few clear prints of the heel of someone's shoe. He wanted to throw up just thinking about what most likely happened here.
"Juudaime!" Hayato caught Tsuna's attention as Takeshi arrived with a handful of towels. "An ambulance will be here soon."
"G-good." He answered as he took a towel from Takeshi and did his best to press it to the wound on Kazumi's head. He was trying really hard to ignore the blood that was getting on his hands. "What should we do about the sword?" He asked, eyeing it as Takeshi piled another towel around that injury.
"It's probably best to leave it. If we try to remove it, she could end up losing too much blood. She's already lost a lot as it is." Hayato explained after a quick observation. "If we take it out, that gives the blood the chance to flow more freely with no cauterizer. Plus, the police will probably investigate this as a crime scene and take the sword as evidence. Taking it out would probably be considered as tampering." Tsuna flinched at the thought.
"T-then, I guess we should leave it for the paramedics." He concluded, sighing as he regarded Kazumi's prone form. All they could do right now is wait for the ambulance to arrive.
xXx
Reborn was waiting for them.
Before the ambulance had left Kazumi's residence, Tsuna had contacted Reborn and informed him of what happened and they would be going to the hospital. So when Tsuna spotted his satanic tutor in the lobby, he really wasn't all that surprised. Even if the tone of his voice said otherwise.
"What are you doing here, Reborn?"
"I want to know what happened, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn chided in a curt tone. "Explain. From the beginning, in detail."
"Honestly, we don't really know a lot." Tsuna sighed, responding almost immediately. After years of learning from experience, Tsuna knew that prompt answers always went over better. "We were supposed to meet up with Kazumi-san, but when she took too long we went to check on her. She was already like that when we found her. It looked like someone had broken in and attacked her when she got in the way or something."
"Did you see anyone?" Reborn continued his questioning.
"No one else was in the apartment. I made sure." Takeshi responded first.
"There was someone leaving the building though." Tsuna spoke and he felt his stomach drop. "I didn't really get a chance to look at his face, but the stain his sleeve, it was definitely blood." It was then that Tsuna felt Reborn's hyper focused gaze on him and a cold sweat ran down his back. "R-Reborn, do you have any idea who the man might be? Or why he went after Kazumi-san?"
"No, I don't." Came Reborn's reply after a moment of silence. "For now at least. I'll be looking into it. Be careful what you tell the nurses and police Tsuna; I have a feeling this is more than what it looks like on the surface, and it could put you, your Guardians, and the rest of Vongola in the line of fire." Tsuna swallowed a hard lump in his throat.
Why was it always him?
xXx
It had been well over an hour since Kazumi had been admitted, and the three of them had provided all the information they could to both the nurses and the police. Now they were in the waiting room, and Tsuna couldn't help but pace between the isle of chairs. Adrenaline had long since worn off; at this point he was almost purely running off of the same nervous desperation that kept him running away from bullies as a child.
"Tsuna, sit. You're only going to wear yourself out faster if you keep worrying." Reborn instructed from his own seat. Tsuna paused in his step, and hesitantly obeyed with a huff. He stiffly lowered himself into the chair beside Reborn, sitting on the very edge and clenching his hands together over his knees in an attempt to keep them from shaking. He had washed them ages ago, but he could still feel some of Kazumi's blood left behind, dried and left in the cracks of his skin. Just thinking about it was enough to make him feel sick again.
"We should have gone looking for her sooner." Tsuna found himself muttering. "I knew something was wrong, but I didn't do anything about it."
"And what could you have done?" Reborn asked, interrupting Tsuna's mutterings.
"I could have helped her!" Tsuna practically shouted, until he remembered where he was and lowered his voice. "Maybe she wouldn't have gotten hurt if I had realized sooner."
"Tsuna," Reborn him starred down with a scolding look. "Based on what you've been able to tell me, Kazumi had likely already been fighting against the invader long before you got there. And, from what I can tell, it's impressive that she even managed to walk away with only a few sever injuries. Had you gone in fifteen, or even twenty minutes earlier, I doubt her condition would have been much better, if any different." Tsuna grit his teeth.
"But, I still could have done something." Tsuna muttered quietly, seated in his chair with his head resting over his folded hands. Takeshi and Hayato were both seated on his other side, sitting in a similar slouched fashion, anxiously waiting to find out what would happen.
Another hour went by, and the teens were gradually losing focus in the waiting room. Spending the last two hours hyped up on nerves had drained them of their energy, and one by one, each of them found their heads growing heavy while they sat in the uncomfortable chairs. They were only startled back into alertness when one of the nurses called out to them.
"Excuse me, but you're the ones who came in with Yamashita Kazumi-san?" She asked.
"Yes!" Tsuna declared. "Is she alright?" He added on quickly, albeit nervously.
"Please follow me." The nurse instructed, hesitating to answer Tsuna's question in such a public area. She led the way, and the four of them showed no hesitation in keeping up as the nurse took them into a private room. "Thank you, please make yourselves comfortable. As far as Yamashita-san's condition goes, please be advised she has been stabilized." Tsuna could physically feel the tension leave his body as he sighed deeper into his new chair.
"Thank goodness." He muttered, earning the agreements of his Guardians from beside him.
"That being said, she has sustained quite a few severe injuries." The nurse continued, bringing the tension right back as she referred to the clip board in front of her. "To start with, based on what you described earlier, after she was brought in, there is a very good chance she has sustained a concussion from her head injury. She also has three broken ribs on her right side, and at least one minor fracture on the other. On the other hand, the stab wound on her arm appears worse than it actually is fortunately, however there are two fractures in her forearm and wrist.
"In addition to all that, during the initial exam, we were able to make out some bruising around her neck, indicating that at some point an attempt at strangulation had been made. Based on preliminary examinations, we suspect there will be no lasting or permanent damage, but it is something that we will carefully monitor until we are completely certain she will be fine.
"And that about sums up the extent of her worst injuries. The rest appears to be minor lacerations and bruises that will heal just fine on their own." Tsuna, Hayato, and Takeshi could only listen in stunned silence as the nurse read off the list of Kazumi's injuries. "Is there anything else you can tell us at this time?"
"Make sure she has no additional visitors." Reborn stated quickly. "For the time being, and for her safety, we will be the only ones to visit until she regains consciousness; when she can tell us more on her own. We don't want her attacker to attempt to finish what they started if they somehow find out she is here. I'd also like to ask you to make arrangements to have Kazumi moved to a private room."
"I understand, I will make those arrangements right away. For now, if you wish to see her, I can take you to the room she is currently staying in."
"Thank you, we would like that very much." Tsuna said as he and the others got up to follow the nurse through the hospital.
"Here is Yamashita-san's room. You'll be permitted to stay until visiting hours are over. However, before you leave, I'd like to ask you to provide us with some contact information in case anything should happen."
"Of course. Tsuna will provide you with everything you need right now." Reborn stated with a ghostly smirk on his lips. Without Tsuna even knowing, the child hitman had moved to sit on Takeshi's shoulder instead of his. Tsuna simply sighed, knowing it would be useless to retort.
"Right. What exactly do you need?"
"Not too much; names and phone numbers of any emergency contacts, and those who we may grant permission to visit mostly." Tsuna nodded. It was easy enough, and definitely information that he could provide now.
"Alright, please lead the way." He decided, giving the nurse a radiant smile.
"Of course." She answered smoothly, with a slight bow as she led Tsuna down the hall.
