Timeline: KHR Future Arc + YYH Dark Tournament Arc
"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
~Rabindranath Tagore
Tsuna took a step back from the screen.
His hands trembled and his chest felt tight.
He had a bad feeling since he first arrived in the future alone...in a coffin. But, he was so caught up with all the insanity and fear of being thrown into the middle of a war, that feeling was thrown to the back of his mind for a bit. Between the fighting and the training, he had little time to think.
(But, that feeling grew the longer he stayed. It grew when he turned to ask for advice or comfort and the person he wanted was not there. It grew when he thought he caught red hair out of the corner of his eye, but was always mistaken.)
Eventually, he asked the question lingering in the back of his mind.
No one gave him a direct answer. Lal Mirch was confused at the question as if she had never met the person. That made his stomach squirm, but it was Hibari's response that truly scared him. He froze when Tsuna asked and his eyes shifted away.
That alone told more than words ever could.
(There was guilt and pain in those eyes. It sent a shiver of dread down his spine.)
Reborn didn't stop him from slipping out of his room that night and watched silently as Tsuna logged in to the computer to confirm his fears.
Tsuna could feel Reborn now, still on his shoulder. His small hand was gentle on the back of Tsuna's neck.
(How strange. It was almost like his tutor was actually trying to comfort him.)
Tsuna swallowed and looked back at the information on the screen. Scanning it again as if it would change.
It did not.
The picture on the report captured his brother so perfectly, Tsuna wondered who and when it was taken. Tsuna traced the lines of his brother's face. Shuichi-nii was outside, the sun made his hair look like fire and his eyes shine. There was a faint smile on his lips and mischief in his eyes.
(Not a day older than Tsuna had last seen him in the past.)
"Reborn," Tsuna whispered. "How could this have happened…"
(It wasn't possible. His mind rejected the very thought. And yet…)
His brother was not in the future with him.
(Hibari looked away when Tsuna asked where he was.)
His eyes drifted from the picture to the words underneath.
Name: Sawada Suichi
Status: Deceased
Age: 16
Tsuna felt his eyes water, blurring the rest of the information. It didn't matter. It was just more information about his brother's history and family relations. Nothing important.
(Nothing that told him how, why, or when.)
"Reborn." He whispered.
"I know." His tutor replied.
His voice was as flat as usual, but Tsuna sensed that the hitman was not as unaffected as his blank expression suggested.
"It was our fault."
Tsuna flinched and glanced behind him. Hibari was leaning against the door frame, his eyes distant.
"He was called away...to a tournament." He closed his eyes. "He told us not to follow him. Told us not to get involved at all. We didn't listen. We...were not prepared for what followed. In our ignorance, weakness, and refusal to listen, we became a liability. He tried to protect us. In the end, that was his downfall."
"What tournament?" Reborn asked sharply. "The mafia doesn't hold tournaments…"
Hibari merely shook his head. "I will not say anything more. It is not my place, but…"
He crossed the room and knelt in front of Tsuna.
"It is a difficult truth to accept, but even if you are angry or hurt, wait and listen. It is not a good place to be separated in. Be smart."
Tsuna sniffed. "That's if I survive long enough here to make it back to the past."
Hibari blinked slowly. "When not if."
(Sometimes Tsuna wondered how someone like him inspired so much faith in others.)
(Despite his confusion, he felt a little better at the unshakeable confidence in the older man's eyes.)
He would do it.
He would deal with this Byakuran guy and go back to the past to save his brother.
He would do it.
He had to.
This just sort-of struck me today. Like lightening. Had to type it out real quick for yall. Wanna guess what happened in the past (future? Future of the past...hm)? Nothing good, I'll tell you that.