Chapter Three – So. That Happened
"Are you okay, Yamamoto?" Tsuna found himself asking, pale, bloody fingers gripping tightly onto the bottle of water Yamamoto had shoved at him.
Yamamoto, as white as sheet and looking as if his world was falling apart, just stared.
"I can explain," Tsuna added, voice just a whisper and, when he couldn't help but shiver and sniffle, Yamamoto seemed to burst into action, rummaging wildly through his bag until he reverently pulled out his jacket and draped it around Tsuna's shoulders.
When Tsuna tried to stop him, to say he didn't need it, the look on Yamamoto's face quickly shut him up. His friend was obviously just one wrong word away, one wrong move away, from falling off the edge.
"You said you could…you could explain?" Yamamoto asked, voice unsure as he glanced towards the mess of glass and blood that Tsuna had pulled himself away from not even five minutes before after waking for the second time.
Tsuna tugged the jacket a little tighter around him, thankful of the warmth now that he had it and a little upset he'd be getting it bloody.
"I was hit by a car when I was eleven," Tsuna mumbled. "Stood up from the impact and walked away. Fell out of my window and broke my neck and spine the year after. A few accidents here and there after that. Every time I can just…I can get to my feet and walk away. Apart from my mum, you're the only one to stay after."
"A-About that…" Yamamoto looked across the gym. "After the light hit you, people screamed and scattered but…but no one seemed remotely concerned that you…and..."
"I understand," Tsuna said softly, reaching out a hand to squeeze Yamamoto's wrist. Yamamoto abruptly snatched up his hand and held on tight, as if afraid of losing Tsuna. Tsuna felt the ache all the way down to his heart that he'd caused this.
"People who aren't close to me aren't affected. That's all I can really say about that. But, because we're friends…I'm sorry you had to go through that. Mum did her best to push it to the back of mind so, now, whenever it happens she just tells me to wash my hands and make sure I am clean for dinner."
"They didn't even hear me shouting at them," Yamamoto said bluntly, voice almost dead. "I was sat by you shouting at them, at anyone, to get help but they just congratulated Mochida-senpai and walked away. Someone mentioned telling a teacher about the glass but…"
"I'm sorry," Tsuna repeated, hunching his shoulders almost defensively and was surprised when Yamamoto reached across to grab his shoulders, eyes suddenly fierce.
"No, Tsuna. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had to go through all that at the age of eleven and onwards with no one caring and…sure, it was awful to see but you're alive and I haven't lost you or anything so…so I'm thankful you have this thing."
"But you had to see me die," Tsuna said, lost and quiet and Yamamoto just made a despairing noise and yanked him close for an ungraceful hug, arms tight and painful around him.
Tsuna still found himself dropping the water bottle to hug Yamamoto back.
For some reason, he found himself crying.
He reckoned that was what it felt like finding someone who could finally see him, outside of his mother.
"Should we clean up the mess?" Yamamoto asked after some time, scrubbing at his eye with the heel of his palm.
Tsuna stared at the pile of glass in the gym, at the bloodstains and wondered that himself.
"No one…no one seems to care. Sure there's the initial panic over there being a mess, and there being blood but…I don't know. It sort of glazes over. I've yet to work out how all this works, after all." Unable to help himself, he let his fingertips dance over his ruined trousers, catching in holes and tears to feel unblemished skin.
"It pushed itself out," Yamamoto mumbled suddenly. "The glass in your legs. Just…popped out. Do…can you feel it?"
"Normally, no. It sorts itself out and I wake up. I was in pain this time, though. I'm guessing initially being hit by the thing killed me instantly. The only injuries healed are the ones that cause the death, I've noticed. So I don't wake up completely injury free. I've still got some aches and probably have bruises from Mochida-senpai hitting me."
Yamamoto fell silent and just stared after that, still sat against the wall and watching Tsuna closely, as if afraid he would disappear if he looked away.
"Last year," was said so suddenly Tsuna flinched before he felt his breath catch in his throat, realising what was going to happen.
"Y-Yamamoto…Takeshi," he began, trying to stop what was about to happen.
"You died because of me last year."
"N-No, I – "
"Don't lie to me, Tsuna. It's almost an insult." Yamamoto threw an arm out so quickly Tsuna tried to lurch away, only for the arm to settle around him and pull him close again, tight into Yamamoto's side.
"You're very introspective for a fourteen year old," Tsuna muttered instead and the tension was abruptly broken by Yamamoto tentatively asking, "What does that mean?"
"The future Decimo does not run from fights," was loudly declared as Tsuna entered his bedroom, still bundled in Yamamoto's jacket, and wearing borrowed tracksuit bottoms, also Yamamoto's.
The breathless squeak that left Tsuna as he sank down the doorway in fright was a noise he would deny for the rest of his life.
"I didn't run away!" Tsuna replied, and waited for the inevitable blow. He was not disappointed, and nursed his head as he trudged towards his bed.
"Mochida won the fight while you, conveniently, weren't there. You fled," Reborn accused.
"What happened after the light fell, Reborn?" Tsuna answered back, as quick as a whip and sharp as a knife and he was rewarded with the sight of Reborn's face twitching slightly from its rigid expression.
"Everyone left the gym. You were not there. Neither was Yamamoto." Reborn's face twitched again and Tsuna liked to think that whatever was happening in his head was like a hard reboot as the tiny hitman tried to figure out what exactly had happened with no success.
Tsuna dropped his bag at the desk as Reborn contemplated silently in the middle of the room.
"The light fell. Before that, you pushed Mochida back – completely unrefined, you need to work on your strength – but then…"
"It's okay you don't remember," Tsuna mumbled to himself, and shucked off Yamamoto's jacket. "And if you try to, it'll make it worse."
They never remembered. Not even when he put the facts in their head. Something just stopped them from putting the pieces together.
He plucked at his bloody shirt and waited for concern to cross Reborn's face but, instead, was graced with a lax, unseeing expression as the otherworldly thing that kept him alive and out of people's minds worked its magic on Reborn before he could see that Tsuna had been injured.
By the time Reborn had been still for more than ten minutes Tsuna was in clean clothes and had bundled all of the bloody stuff into the wash basket. He didn't want the questions Reborn would ask him about the blood, not when he'd already forgotten what he was trying to remember.
"You were going to help me with mathematics tonight, right Reborn?" Tsuna asked, a little louder than necessary, and that seemed to snap Reborn out of his trance like state.
The fact Reborn didn't launch immediately into questions, when he didn't demand over Tsuna's health or berate him for losing the kendo match, left a bitter taste in Tsuna's mouth.
There was still a warm, heavy lump in his chest when he remembered that Yamamoto was no firmly in his corner no matter what.
It was either that, or his ribs were still healing.
The hit over the head Reborn gave him for interrupting wasn't merited though, and he made sure to complain.
Despite using pain as an incentive and a deterrent, Reborn's teaching methods were arguably giving results, Tsuna determined. After eight days of rigid training that involved more gunfire than he thought his teenage years would have (no deaths, surprisingly, Reborn shot to scare not to kill) his test scores had increased by an average of about six points.
Not a huge amount, but an increase nonetheless.
Hey, Tsuna might actually have passable scores by the end of the term, and wasn't that a pleasing thought?
He could only pass if he lived that long.
Staring at Hibari down the hallway where he'd been trying to creep into his classroom after he'd been late leaving, Tsuna didn't think he'd survive.
"Herbivore. You're late." Hibari's voice was dispassionate and Tsuna felt a prickle down his spine from both fear and the feeling someone – probably a sadistic Reborn – watching him.
"H-Hibari-san!" Tsuna stuttered. "I-It wasn't my fault, I-I – "
"I'm going to bite you to death."
Tsuna made a noise that was akin to a drowning cat and bolted, bag slapping against his side with every step. The rapid tapping behind him made no mistake he was being quickly pursued.
The only way he could really have a chance of making it was if he left the school grounds. He'd get a worse punishment when Hibari caught him next for ditching lessons, but at least he'd be able to gather his bearings.
Right?
He took the corner and nearly slipped during the corner, elbow bouncing off the window sill as he went wide.
Hibari apparently took the corner less gracefully, because a noise that sounded like a mortar impacting sounded from behind him, and Tsuna could help but shriek as he ran faster for the stairs.
Someone was walking up the stairs, apparently. They also hadn't heard Tsuna's screams of horror or the sounds of pursuit. The young girl looked shocked as Tsuna came flying towards her at a speed befitting of being chased by a monster.
Something inside Tsuna went a little quiet, his hysteria taking a backseat to the new calm that was washing through him as he slammed bodily into what he guessed was a student from a younger class.
Everything seemed to slow down as he grabbed her by the upper arms and abruptly twisted, not to place her between him and Hibari – even he wasn't that cruel – but because she had started to fall, and he wanted to be the one to take the tumble instead of seeing her hurt.
As he pushed her forward, his left foot slamming heavily down on the top of the step, he thought he'd made it. His right foot, landing as heavily as the left but too far over the edge of the step, proved that wrong.
The girl was on her knees, sobbing in fright.
Hibari was close enough for Tsuna to see his dark eyes narrow in concentration, a hint of panic flashing across the normally stoic Disciplinary Leader's face as Tsuna tipped backwards.
Tsuna felt as fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, only fingertips clutching desperately and as a last ditch effort, he threw his arm out to try and grab onto Hibari in return, the prefect trying to snatch at him.
His back impacting the steps forced the air from his lungs, his next tumble over less dignified as he scrambled to grab the banister. Gravity forced him head over heels backwards, the back of his head pressed against the sharp corner of a step.
Tsuna saw the raw horror on Hibari's face, a strange expression.
Then again, he was sure the other had never seen someone die.
His neck crunched, sickening and wet.
Everything went blissfully black.
Hibari Kyouya could only watch as the boy he had been chasing ragdolled down the steps in order to prevent someone else from doing the same thing.
Tsuna woke up with a pathetic groan and immediately flinched in preparation of being attacked by Reborn for getting up late. His impromptu movement had him tumbling from what he was lying on – not his bed as his sleepy mind had thought, but a soft couch.
The memories came back all at once and he immediately wondered why he hadn't woken at the bottom of the steps, considering people left him alone after his death. In no way should he have been moved.
Not unless Yamamoto…no, Yamamoto was off home, sick. No way could he have known and then found Tsuna.
A hand closed around his upper arm, tight and unforgiving, and Tsuna was yanked from the floor, wincing as his vision spotted white and black and he was forced to sway, to avoid falling again.
His neck was still faintly aching as he forced his head up.
Really, there was no way he could process the thought that, somehow, Hibari cared enough for him to remember Tsuna after death.
The hand clasped around his arm showed this was all too real, as did Hibari's sharp, knowing eyes.
Tsuna was less concerned with the how – he knew the mechanics of how – but why exactly Hibari could see him, much less have carried him from staircase to the Committee room after his death.
Hibari didn't care did he? Tsuna was pretty sure he couldn't.
Then Hibari was shoving him back onto the couch and staring at him so frighteningly that Tsuna could do no more than clasp his hands tightly on his lap and wait for his judgement.
Maybe he likes you, his mind whispered.
Who would care for you though, the nastier part whispered back. Your mother has to. You saved Yamamoto's life. He's only around because he has to be.
So where does that put Hibari.
Tsuna wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.
He found out soon enough. He wasn't too sure if that made it any better.
Chapter Three! Hope you like it!
This is also completely unbeta'd, so if you spot any mistakes don't be afraid to let me know.