Chapter 11 of Parallel Worlds.
Alternate name: characters think about crap and are usually just a tab bit angsty but not as bad as Tsuna in previous chapters.
Yeah, that's right, it's been less than a year. I wouldn't get too used to it thought. I'm busy with a lot lately. Thank you all that read. I really appreciate it and love you all tons ^w^
After Tsuna took a moment to muse over his thoughts in the forest he returned back to his house to find a note on his bed. Hyper Intuition didn't warn of any poisons or explosives hidden inside of the plain white envelope. In a very cute handwriting was his name on the front along with a few flowers. He quickly ruled out the possibility that it could be by a girl, seeing as Kyoko or Hana would never do something like this and they were the only ones he was actually close to. Anyway, who would send a letter to dame-Tsuna? After a moment or two Tsuna picked it up, running his nail through the top of the envelope and effectively cutting it before extracting the note inside, which read:
Dear Sawada Tsunayoshi,
I've been keeping an eye on you. For a while now I have wondered when would be a good time to reveal myself as I am. After a little bit of thinking, at sunset tonight seems like a nice and dramatic time. Come to Namimori Middle School at sunset today. I will be waiting for you there and I have brought with me a present especially for you. Don't worry, I promise this isn't a threat, but you can come armed if you want to.
Your friend,
~^w^~
It was quickly folded and shoved into his pocket, though the words were turned over and over in his mind. Tsuna could probably risk it, just so long as it didn't interfere with anything else he did today. He was a busy mafia boss who had connections and deals to make, events to attend to.
oOo
"Dino, c-could I talk to you for a second?"
Dino, who had been on his way to start training with Hibari, stopped short as his younger 'brother' called out to him. The boy stood behind him, fidgeting with the many rings that adorned his fingers. Just about every part of his body language screamed weak and helpless, but his eyes were burning. Dino was brought back to their first meeting. Tsuna had demonstrated knowledge that Dino couldn't begin to understand. Sure he had known that Reborn was an Arcobaleno, but he didn't know most of the others, seeing as many kept themselves hidden and secret. The Dying Will Flames was another thing he knew about, being such a close ally of the Vongola, but the different kinds and their names were unknown to him. Any decent Family kept their secrets close, so obviously the best guarded them with their lives and only revealed them when it would be in their favor. For Tsuna to be privy to such secrets… Dino wouldn't call the feeling fear, as he most definitely didn't fear Tsuna, but something was wrong with the combination of knowledge and Tsuna that just didn't sit right with Dino.
"Of course! Anything for my little bro!" Despite the almost-dread growing in his stomach, Dino grinned and waited for Tsuna to catch up with him. "I was just heading over to Hibari. Whether he likes it or not, somebody has to train him up. He's skilled, I'll give him that, but it won't be enough if he wants to fight against the Varia, or even just survive. Trust me, I used to know one of the guys." Now Tsuna was rubbing the bare middle finger of his right hand. Dino vaguely recalled an elaborate ring once adorning it, but I had never paid the boy's jewelry much attention. Still, if the tan was anything to go off of, it wasn't normal for him to take it off. "Anyway, what is it that you wanted?"
"Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm making it up as I go. I'm running off my intuition, and it says that I need to make more allies. I know you can be trusted to stand with me, and right now I am in dire need of support. Dino, what do you know of Cielo Dieci?"
"Reborn told me about the guy. Appeared out of nowhere, seems gifted in at the very least mist flames. Reborn also suspects that he has something to do with strange flame readings that appeared in the forest not too long ago before vanishing like magic. Why, do you know something more?" Tsuna's fidgeting increased
"Ha, I guess you could say that. I know his real name." Now that most definitely caught Dino's interest. This must have been what Tsuna wanted to tell him. But that didn't mean that Dino was letting his guard down just yet. After all, if that was all Tsuna wanted to talk about, he lived with Reborn. He could've easily told the infant this information over the breakfast table.
"What is it?"
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
…
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm serious!" Tsuna's hands clenched into fists and the rings on Tsuna's hands flickered for a second. Brief flames of anger that were snuffed out quickly. Dino's eyes flashed to the rings, warning bells going off in his head. This man, despite his appearance, despite how he would (probably) never hurt Dino, he was still powerful. And yet when Dino looked back at Tsuna's face, he was met with a kid who was lost and starting to grasp at straws.
"… C'mon. Hibari can wait. "
Dino led Tsuna to a small outdoor café and ordered some tea. For a moment, the two just sat there, Tsuna staring into his cup and Dino staring at him. Finally, it seemed that Tsuna had finally decided how to go about the mess he had dumped onto Dino.
"I guess I should start this at the very beginning. I should, but I won't. Instead, I'll start it at the next best place: the day before Reborn came. That day, that was the day that I arrived. Because I'm not the Tsuna from here. I don't know if you'll believe this, but I'm from another world." There was a pause here, as if Tsuna was waiting for Dino to argue. But Dino had seen and heard some pretty strange things in his days, and while this was ranking pretty high on the scale he let the boy continue on. "I'm still not entirely sure why I'm here and I'm really struggling. I'm pretty sure the other Tsuna is okay but I'm not even sure of that. And then I didn't want to ruin his life but it was terrible and I couldn't just leave it like that. And then, when Murkuro came, I couldn't hold back any longer. I had to do something. So I became Cielo Dieci so I could have my cake and eat it too. But it's just made me more… lonely." Tsuna ran a hand through his hair. "So, I guess what I'm trying to get at here, is that I want to trust you. I'm confiding all of this in you in hopes that I can have somebody on my side and not be hiding from everybody." He then proceeded to stare intently at his lap, avoiding Dino's gaze.
A lot of thoughts swirled around Dino's mind. Different Tsuna than was originally from here, yet the one he had always known. A guy who knew about the mafia, essentially had the chance to leave it, but leapt back in in desperation for normal. After a moment, he got up, walked around the table, and surrounded the teen in a hug that was probably I long overdue.
"Tsuna, I'm not going to act like I know what's going on here or what you've been through. But I hope you know that I'll always stand by you. You're my little bro after all."
And if the two just sat there for a minute, and if Dino's jacket was a little damp on one shoulder when he met up with Hibari, well that wasn't really anybody's business.
oOo
Reborn stared down at his student, fast asleep so that his body would be able to put up with the coming training. It would be better stated as torture, but not only was there no other way Reborn wanted to teach, there was also no other way to get Ieyasu strong enough to survive Xanxus in that amount of time. And it would only get more intense if Ieyasu wanted to actually win the fight and become Decimo.
Recently, Reborn had had his hands full with trying to find Cielo. So far, his sources were drawing and disappointing blank on anything. This could mean that Cielo was a very poor hitman that few knew of, but it could also mean that he was an exceptional one. And Reborn was tempted to say it was the latter. So he went for his second method of information cracking – well, okay, not second method. Second was torture. But the lunch-meeting made for a more subtle approach and would, with any luck, make the complicated puzzle of Cielo at least a bit easier to crack. At any rate, he had been so focused on trying to get Baka-Ieyasu into some semblance of a respectable boss and concentrating on Cielo that he hadn't left any time to puzzling over Tsuna.
Sawada Tsunayoshi was mysterious and strange boy, and Reborn wasn't completely dropping the idea that he was bipolar. In the time that he had personally known the teenager, the kid had frequently switched between being utterly useless and weak, to being almost respectable and strong-willed. Dame-Tsuna had appeared panicked this morning, which had been strange, and Reborn was willing to bet that there was more going on with the boy than met the eye. For, in the few seconds Reborn had found to consider the not-mafioso, he had found one disturbing and intriguing fact: Tsuna wasn't easy to read. That didn't mean that he was impossible to read. Reborn wasn't the World's Greatest Hitman for nothing. But the impressions he got were foggy, faded, a muddled mess. There was the strong possibility that it had to do with his ongoing theory that Tsuna was more of a natural hitman than anybody had suspected him to be. Or it could be that the kid actually was a muddled mess inside. Either way, if Reborn hadn't been so busy with so many things, he'd be right on top of it to test the kid's limits.
But as it was, Reborn had been hired to train Ieyasu, Xanxus was on his way, and Reborn had not failed a mission yet. He wasn't going to start now.
And joined his student in a nap that would be the last wink of restful sleep either of them got for a while.
oOo
"EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEME!"
oOo
Yamamoto gripped the ring tightly, feeling it nearly cutting his hand.
He was currently alone in his room, his usual grin replaced by something that just barely resembled smile. He could feel the bruises littering his body, making moving more painful than it should but not nearly painful enough to stop him from moving completely. The bruises not only served as a reminder of his defeat by the Long-Haired man, but also of that day on the roof that seemed so long ago yet felt like yesterday. Only two things had been hurting at that time, though; his arm, obviously, but the less obvious one was his heart. He hadn't even known it was hurting until Tsuna had talked to him.
And Tsuna, the sweet kid, was willing to play the Mafia game. Which meant that the game must've been important. Yamamoto was willing to do what was needed to stay in it. At the skill level he had right now, his swordsmanship being some rough guess of how to fight with a sword and his talent with a bat, he was just about as useless as he was when his arm was broken. But he refused to be thrown away. He would still fight. Though Yamamoto didn't know much of his father's past, he knew that the sword he had had, once upon a time, not been a simple decoration.
The mafia was a tough game.
But Yamamoto took nothing more seriously than his games.
oOo
Gokudera lays on the ground.
He is burned.
He is tired.
And he had just now realized that he's lost sight of his life.
For Gokudera had an awful habit of getting caught up in things and focusing on others. At times, it seemed that his body was simply transport to get him place to place. There were more important things to worry about than himself, after all. There was making sure Jyuudaime was alive and breathing. There was Cielo, cloaked in indigo flames, mysterious and perhaps the person he owed his life to. There was even Tsuna, the strange boy that seemed unaffected by his glares. But now it seemed that if Gokudera wanted any hope in improving and become more powerful, he'd have to let those things become a little less important and start to see the where his life stood in it all.
But it had been so long since he had lost sight of his life, he didn't even know where to start looking.
oOo
Tsuna arrived just a little late to Namimori Middle School. How one can be late to as vague a time as 'sunset'? With the elegance and knowledge of a mafia boss. And he honestly was all that surprised when he saw who was there, reclining on the school gates. He was torn on whether to be angry or relieved. Eventually, he naturally settled on relieved.
"Byakuran."
"Tsu-chan~ How did you like my mysterious little letter?"
"I almost just burned it. You look a little younger than the last time I saw you." Byakuran shrugged at that.
"You seem to forget, Tsuna, that I once easily accessed the memories of millions of other Byakurans. It really isn't all that surprising to me, different ages and such, though I do find it amusing and a nice change of pace. At any rate, I thought I should tell you that Reru is currently in your body in your world. Don't worry, I'm taking care of him, but I don't think I'm going to be able to get your ring back. And any way, we're currently prolonging the inevitable and trying to not let your Guardians know what's going on. Your ring missing would definitely be strange. I've also decided that it's about time I told you the real reason for why I brought you here."
"So you actually do have a reason. I thought you just liked to mess with people."
"Guilty as charged, but there's also another reason. As I'm sure you've noticed by now, Ieyasu isn't exactly an amazing kid. As Vongola Decimo, he's probably not much better than Xanxus himself. But the fact of the matter is, we'd probably be safer with Xanxus. Because the Mare rings may be sealed in your world, but they aren't here. In this world, the Hanataba Famiglia rose to power not long after the Vongola. And guess who the heir is~~"
"You." Tsuna deadpanned."
"No, it's Shoichi." Tsuna didn't even blink. "Okay, yeah, it's me. Gosh Tsuna, light up a bit, I'm just playing ~. Now, the problem comes from the fact that Ieyasu, without interference, is in a downward spiral. When he is 15 he kills me and takes my ring. When he is 18 he officially becomes leader of the Vongola due to the unexpected death of the Ninth. At 25 he takes the sky pacifier as his own and becomes the more feared and powerful man in many worlds. At 45 he finds out he can explore worlds using the Trinisette and collects the rest with little trouble. At 46 he starts to rules multiple worlds and destroy the ones that don't boy to him or that he doesn't like. When Ieyasu is 46, he will become a cruel god."
Byakuran titled his head as he finished, smiling.
"We have work to do, Tsu-chan~. To alter Ieyasu's path or make Tsuna the Vongola Decimo. It is possible that what you've already done has worked, but why risk it."
And Tsuna sighed as he feels a burden on his shoulders that he somehow already knew was there.
"Byakuran, I'm sorry I'm late. My mom wanted to know where I was going, and when I said I was hanging out with friends she got all exited and kept asking if there was a girl and-" A red haired man panted for air next to the Sky-flame users. His glasses were just barely hanging onto his nose. He paused mid-explanation as he spotted Tsuna. "Byakuran, who's this?"
"Ah, Sho-chan, you haven't met Tsu-chan yet, have you? Well, Tsu-chan is the one I wanted the ~special order~ for. Well, let's see how it turned out." Shoichi shook Tsuna's hand before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small yet elaborate ring with a light blue stone with a 27 carved into the face. At Byakuran's prompting, Tsuna slipped it onto his bare finger. It was a bit loose and wasn't nearly big enough to cover the entire pale area where his Vongola ring had been, but it was better than nothing.
"Ah, thanks."
Tsuna contemplated his ring for a moment before looking up at Shoichi, outright grinning.
"I can't tell you how much this means to me Shoichi. Why don't you come over to my house for dinner? There's always room in my house for people. You too Byakuran."
"My dad gets home from the hospital today, so I should really be home for that. But I'm sure Sho-chan would love to hang out with you." And with a ruffled of Shoichi's hair and a pat to Tsuna's hand, Byakuran was gone. After spluttering around for a bit in confusion, Shoichi called his mom – who was eager to see her little nerd socialize – and headed to Tsuna's house.
"So, how'd you meet Byakuran?" Tsuna took the step to the break the ice between him and this other Shoichi.
"Well, it's actually a funny story…"
Whoa, cliffy. Ish. Not really. So, I've been getting a lot of reviews about people who can't wait until Tsuna's secret is reviled. And I'm sorry to tell you guys this, but that won't be for a while now. Probably another 2 arcs. Which is also as many more as I'm planning to do. But, as I've been thinking about it, I've decided that I'm going to have some characters who know about it, such as Dino.
Next chapter, look forward to a short back story and Reru struggling in life. Plus other crap too.
Ciao for now!