Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Stuff.
Word Count: 7536
Part 68: Prayers for those
(Future)
Thankfully, Kawahira's thought began when Chrome appeared in his living room with the failed arcobaleno in her arms, Hana and Malana had gone out to get food. Though it would have been nice to have the doctor on hand, what was happening to Lal Mirch was a lot more than Hana could actually handle.
"You had been warned so many times before," Kawahira murmured, shooing Chrome away from Lal's side. Chrome inclined her head and left the same way she had appeared and Kawahira could only shake his head, sighing heavily through his nose. He reached down with his right hand, lightly clasping the cracking pacifier with the tips of his fingers and raising it up to his eye level. The cracks were deepening with every flare of flame and Kawahira clucked his tongue, "Do you want to die Lal Mirch?"
The woman wouldn't answer, unconscious as she was and Kawahira sighed again. He wrapped his flames around the pacifier and pulled on the natural, untainted air in his shop to focus into it. It glowed with his flame color, the cracks sealing slowly and he rested the pacifier back on her chest.
He picked up one of her hands, curling it around the pacifier gently, his glasses glinting in a way that hid his eyes. "I can only do so much, hopefully the Mother thinks of you kindly."
Really even he refrained from stepping out of the shop after that bratty, white haired child disrupted the Trinisette. He wouldn't be as heavily affected as the arcobaleno had been, but as the administrator and the ultimate power in tying that together, he was also attacked.
Taking a seat in his recliner, Kawahira sighed once more as his joints cracked, a little irked that age was starting to show now because of the situation.
If there was one thing he could be glad for, was that he hadn't pushed forth the arcobaleno trials. He would have hated to see such a new, fresh cycle go to waste so easily because of some insipid brat.
The bell to his shop jingled, Malana's cheerful greeting telling him that they had brought him something back did not make him wince at the turn his thoughts took, because he knew who he would have used for that cycle.
Yes, hating to see a budding cycle go would have been frustrating, at least that's what he would keep telling himself.
/ | \
Spanner handed him his ear piece back first, followed by his gloves which Tsuna instantly put on.
"Now this is what I made for you," Spanner held out a little pan of water, two small clear things in it for Tsuna to take. "These are similar to contacts, they're not for you to see better, but to help you figure out the amount of power to put behind those attacks you used earlier."
Tsuna gave the man a disbelieving look, picking up one of the contacts and just stared at it, "How?"
Spanner shrugged, "There's a device that's being hinted out to the public, but won't be out for years that we've already been using." Spanner glanced down at Tsuna's gloves, before looking back up, "It was either the contacts or inserting it into your wrist, seeing as your hands are your weapon of choice, the contacts are a better fit."
Tsuna nodded slowly, lightly bending the contact and watching the minute twitch Spanner tried to hide when he did that. He lightly tsked as he looked directly at Spanner, lips pursed as he asked, "So, uh, what do I do?"
"Put them on," Tsuna gave the man a deadpanned look, before doing so, blinking as he got used to the feeling of something in his eye. "Now these are flame active, so you'll have to concentrate a small amount into them every time you put them on. The beauty of it is after a couple of times they'll be attuned to you and the technology," here Spanner tapped at his ear, where Tsuna wore the earpiece, "that's connected through here will automatically go through."
"…..so it's like a Bluetooth?"
"Yeah, just a lot more advanced seeing as its connecting to you."
"Welcome," a cool mechanical voice that sounded like his Tutu came through Tsuna's earpiece. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, age 15. Speak a command."
"Wow," Tsuna uttered, ignoring the voice's remark of 'command not understood'.
"You'll have to first do your moves so the device can analyze it and if anything give it a name so you can call it up instantly instead of doing it manually."
"This is so cool," Tsuna uttered, eyes flashing amber as he raised his hand, palm facing towards Spanner. "Now let's answer a question or two, yes Spanner-san?"
The blond mechanic blinked at the palm full of Sky flames directed at him, giving a brief glance around as he saw that his Gola Mosca's weren't reacting and sighed, "I would still like to see it in use, Young Decimo."
Tsuna tilted his head, a bland smile aimed at the mechanic, "We're looking for a large, round white machine that apparently Irie Shoichi has been working on, do you know what it is and where I could find it?"
Spanner rubbed the back of his head, brows furrowing in thought, "I don't know where Irie moved that, but I know it had something to do with time and pace." The mechanic paused for a second, noting that the flickering flames weren't going out and he sighed once again, "Actually Irie for the last year or two pulled out a lot of notes he's kept on the idea of time and space and the possibilities of being able to do time travel and controlling it."
"So it's a time machine of his own creation?"
"Not an actual time machine, I don't think he got that far, it was supposed to work with something else."
Tsuna refused the urge to close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose, thinking back on the few times Lambo had gotten loose with the ten year bazooka in hand. He remembers running into the red head a couple of times and Lambo pointing him out to being the one the Bovino sent packages too.
What kind of packages did they send?
It was too late to ask that question, even though when he had Lambo hadn't known what the family that ultimately left him in Tsuna's care sent the red head.
The wall across from them crumbled down, a woman stepping forward, smirking at them while palming the leather threads of the whip she had in hand, "Now, now boys let's not talk too much, hmm?"
Spanner groaned aloud, letting his face fall into his hands, "You have great timing Iris." He really didn't like the woman, if only because she had constantly scoffed at his work while she got up to gross body mutations that would create a 'super-soldier' for Byakuran.
Which of course was bull shit.
Iris liked creating mindless creatures that she could have under her control, then she would maybe lend those creatures to Byakuran.
The blond brought his hands down, but not before he ruffled his own hair before he brought them down to his hips, "Well I'll say there's never a better target to see how that works Young Decimo."
"Isn't she Millefiore?"
Spanner shrugged, noticing how irritated Iris was becoming over being ignored, "Yeah, for Millefiore, family isn't really our thing like Vongola is up and arms about."
Really he was only here because of one person. There was a reason he hung out around a bunch of defunct Gola Mosca's and barely left the little niche of a shop he had here. He couldn't match up with the other members and honestly didn't understand the fanaticism they had over Byakuran.
"She's all yours Young Decimo, let's see your techniques at perfection."
/ | \
A dark mass curled around Takeshi's form, keeping the real Genkishi from stabbing him through with his katana.
The swordsman looked up, lips turned down in displeasure to look at the woman that approached him. There was something odd about the way her heeled boots echoed in the room, not even when his sword clashed with the young Vongola Rain's did the sound continue on like that.
There was a low growl that came from the mass, which started taking the form of a large cat. The striking gold eyes of it made him briefly hesitate, before he continued on, pointing his weapon at the approaching woman instead.
"You're done Phantom Knight," she said, coming off as completely disinterested, even as he speared her through.
Well, almost speared her through. Technically his sword was piercing through her abdomen and straight up through her spine, but the non-reaction, the no bleeding and the sudden glee that crossed her features was really off putting.
"Oya my mans," she said, "We have somethings to talk about."
Genkishi avoided the dark tendril that tried to stab him through the back and barely managed to duck back from the other ones that appeared. The Mist felt himself being backed and it wasn't until the tendrils had speared the outline of his body against a wall, tangling themselves across him so that he wouldn't be able to break away did he realize that he left his katana behind with the woman.
Who was currently holding his sword at her side, the tip of it grazing the bottom of the floor. There was the scratch of metal against the floor, the shrieking of it amplified by whatever means she was using and making him cringe as the piercing sound grew louder.
"Actually," the woman began as she made her way towards him again, dragging his sword as she did so. "I don't think there's much to say."
The tendrils seemed to breath in deeply, sagging against him before tightening more than they had been. He felt her resolve through the tendrils before they sunk into him and everything that he had ever thought, had ever done came before the Millefiore banded together came to him.
(He had betrayed them. He couldn't stand to speak to Uni, nor the thought of her. He was guilty, but he knew it had to be done. Byakuran was the only savior – he was the only way - he was what was right and what would make everything make sense.)
A sound of disgust left Natsume when the walls started to sport spider webs of cracks and she moved back to where Takeshi was, letting Genkishi's sword clatter onto the floor. Kalani had curled up against Takeshi, tenderly licking the teen's wounds. Chrome reappeared beside her in that moment, crouched down beside Takeshi
"You're not going to punish him, Natsume?" She asked, lightly running her fingers through the teen's hair, not liking the way his face tightened as Kalani licked over a particular wound.
"Kyoya is here Chrome," Natsume responded flatly, watching familiar needles poke through the walls. "I want to see how he planned this all out."
"….planned?"
"I would love nothing more than to completely lose myself, Chrome," Natsume answered, head tilting to the side as a glowing green object floated its way through one of the bigger cracks. She reached up to grab it, the warmth of it settling in her palm and making her relax. She scoffed, feeling Hana's flames spreading through her, urging her to settle.
The wall finally crumbled and she just so happened to pull Genkishi away from being crushed at the last second.
Kyoya's figure walked through the dust, Kusakabe not far behind him.
"But Kyoya has a plan and I'd rather not ruin all his careful planning."
/ | \
"I said I don't want to fight," Gamma said, using the sleeve of his sweater to wipe at the blood that trickled down his nose. "Are you deaf?"
"Why wouldn't you?" Ryohei asked, dropping his hands to his sides after seeing his opponent leave himself open. "This isn't our first –"
"And that was our last," Gamma grit out.
There was a pained yelp and Gamma wanted to scream, "Stop trying to get out of that, I told you two we're not fighting, we're leaving!"
"But big bro! Come on!"
"No!"
The yell echoed around the room and Gamma finally turned to the two, "I made a deal and I am not crossing that woman." He then turned back to Ryohei, "I said I don't want to fight, so let us through –"
"Right so you can stab us in the back?"
An exasperated noise left Gamma, giving the young Storm Guardian a bewildered look, "Maybe a few weeks ago, I would have been more than happy to play with you kid, but that woman is here and we made a deal."
It clicked for Ryohei in that moment and he moved towards Gokudera, holding the kid tightly, "Leave then, but if –"
Gamma laughed, shaking his head, "I would never dream of breaking a deal with The Black Witch, hell, I never thought I'd make a deal."
The two with him went quiet, moving ahead of him when he turned to glare at them over his shoulder. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the room, the Storm Guardian's yell of 'what the hell lawn head!' heard faintly as the doors closed behind them.
There was a few seconds of silence, before Gamma breathed out, feeling all of the tension he had kept inside leave him for the moment. He looked at the door ahead, could practically taste the freedom that was about to greet them.
Well, not freedom, but away from this hellhole.
And with the Witch's deal, everything should eventually fall in place.
/ | \
(Past)
"I'll be back mama," Natsume called over her shoulder, not liking the short silence that followed before her mother answered back with a 'be careful keiki'. With a slight grimace Natsume closed the door beside her, making her way out the yard and onto the street.
Hibari was up against the wall, just underneath the Sawada nameplate waiting for her and pushed off it to follow after her. The prefect stayed a bit behind, deciding not to say anything to the younger teen. Having spent the last couple of days with the girl had made her easier to understand.
(She had also started speaking more with Kusakabe and he wasn't sure if he liked that.)
"So it's been about a week or so, give or take a few days, everyone that we were watching has pretty much disappeared either around my house or when they've been at the park," Natsume said, pointing down the street, before walking in the opposite direction.
Hibari already knowing where she was taking them, merely followed along. He had gone to see the areas where the other ones had gone missing from and had gotten nothing out of his inspections. With Natsume's insight he knew the people they were looking for hadn't been taken anywhere.
They had just ceased to be at that spot and nothing Natsume did to track their flames or anything, led them to a place where they could have a chance of finding them.
"Y'know this is a weird team up, don't you think?" She asked after awhile, looking at him not at all surprised that he was walking beside her.
He raised a brow, wondering why she was chit-chatting after having been quiet for the last ten minutes. Most of the things they had talked about was figuring out what was happening and just keeping track of who was around and who wasn't.
"This isn't teaming up," he answered, slowing down his pace to walk behind her as he noted Mukuro's place holder by the monkey bars. "You just have a way to solve this problem."
She looked over her shoulder, her brows raised in a way that said she thought otherwise, before shrugging and making her way towards Chrome.
"Whatever you say, Hibari."
/ | \
(Future)
"Leave it to Kyoya to encase the man in that silly dome of his," Natsume uttered, lips pulled down into a frown.
"In his defense you did try to take him out once he started on him," Tetsuya said, holding up his hands as if to pacify the woman before him. She made no move to correct or berate him, but the look in her eye made him weary.
"Poor Roll, he's going to need a flame detox after all of that," Chrome mentioned, feeling sorry for the Cloud Guardian's box animal.
"Pah, I'm leaving, this is all under his control," she ignored Lambo's gasp of amazement, instead narrowing her eyes even more at Tetsuya who merely gestured to Kyoya. Without saying much else, Natsume made her way out of the room, not sparing a glance back at the group she left behind.
She knew she wouldn't be able to do what she had originally wanted to do, even though she had stated her intentions and what she wanted, she knew that wouldn't be happening. She paused just a ways down from where the fighting was taking place.
She brought up her left hand looking over the clear crystal that sat in the palm of her hand.
Should I….?
Tears pricked the corner of her eyes as she felt a tug around her navel, while at the same time there was a familiar explosion of power.
It seems Tsunayoshi had figured out his balance and she….well…
There was a poof of pink smoke, and the necklace hit the floor, the flecks of indigo that had been beginning to show disappearing into the crystal, "Uh, Ryohei? Hibari? Chrome?"
Natsume blinked as she looked around her unfamiliar surroundings, before the gleam of a familiar necklace got her eye, "Oh hey….wow," she sighed out softly as soon as her fingers touched the quartz. If anyone were around to see, they would question what caused the pained smile that crossed the girl's features.
Part 69: A step here, a step there
"Wow," Tsuna breathed out, trying to see how far the damage went. He ignored the twitching limbs of Isis' minions, looking for the woman that commanded them instead. He spotted her lying motionless by a much smaller version of her minion, who was caught between all the rubble that had fallen down after his attack.
'Command not understood, systems on alert'
"Nice job, Young Decimo," Spanner's voice came up from behind him, sounding wheezy. "I think over everything, the system might be a bit too sensitive, but other than that it does what it's supposed too."
Tsuna flexed his fingers, hearing the crinkle of the leather gloves as he nodded along, "I don't know how to thank you."
Spanner winced as he attempted to shrug, giving the young teen before him a pained smile, "I think living would be good repayment." The brunet nodded along as he turned to fully face him and Spanner was reminded just how young this Decimo was again.
"Pick up what's most important, we're leaving this area."
"I don't think having me around will be a good idea."
Tsuna didn't bat an eye, "We're leaving, Spanner."
The teen turned not giving room for argument as he headed to where Iris was, the woman was finally coming too and peaked a purple eye up at him. Tsuna tilted his head and nearly screamed when a tendril struck out against Iris, rendering her unconscious.
He whipped his head around to see where it had come from, only to notice that the necklace he wore had gotten uncomfortably warm. Looking down he noted it was glowing and pulsating softly against his chest, before it went back to how it was before.
"We're leaving now! I hope you're ready!" Tsuna called, not wanting to linger around much longer and knowing that moving on would be better than trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
/ | \
Irie was pretty sure he had gone beyond stressed and nervous, to the point he was already so stressed and nervous that he was actually pretty calm.
If that made any sense.
The Cervello beside him were making comments, but he had long ago tuned them out as he watched everything play out across the screens. His hand hovered over the cursor and when he went to move it, he found that he couldn't.
Warning signs blinked across the screen and it was a lot of work to not give into the intense cramps he was feeling. He had lost sight of the group that was with Genkishi and the Sun and Storm Guardian's were getting closer to that groups last known location and he had lost Iris' connection.
"Sir, the Vongola Decimo is rapidly approaching," one of the Cervello pointed out to one of the screens on the lower left side, where the teen was flying through the busted walls. Irie had to blink to realize that that indeed was Spanner trailing behind him. "What do we do?"
"He's going to get here, there's no one to call into place," what had happened to the others? Gamma had long since turned traitor and left, but there should have been more around to hold of this infiltration.
"I'm afraid that is as far as you'll go," a man flickered into view, wearing a suit a armor. The sword in his hand slashed forward creating enough of a shockwave that it threw Tsuna off course and poor Spanner rolling onto the floor.
He didn't.
"Who gave him permission –" one of the Cervello began when they realized what was happening on screen, only to be cut off by her partner.
"The Phantom Knight wouldn't use that unless he saw absolute need too," the other one answered, looking at Irie, to see his reaction to the turn of events.
The man took chance of this distraction, tapping his pointer finger three times on the cursor and zeroing in on the wrecked zone where the intruders had been. Irie narrowed his eyes as he caught movement in the wreckage and then the Storm and Sun Guardian appeared and began to help the Cloud guardian's second in command to a safer area.
"Well," he uttered, pressing a button just beneath the cursor, watching as green smoke was released into the room. "Gotcha."
His eyes flicked back over to the fight between Vongola Decimo and Genkishi, what are you planning Genkishi? He checked back to the intruder's and twisted another button before pushing it down and where the intruder's lay a bubble was created.
"Open those doors," he told the Cervello as he twisted the cursor, the quaking that followed ended as quickly as it started and soon before him where all of Vongola Decimo's people. "Get their rings and anything else on them to me, they won't need them anymore."
He watched as the two women did as he told them, his heart beat speeding up as he realized there was one person missing. Hiding his growing panic, he went back to the screens, and wherever he looked he couldn't find her.
Oh no, oh no ohnononono.
Where was Sawada Natsume?
/ | \
Natsume could feel the fight that was happening not too far away from her. From what it felt, it seemed like Tsuna had it under control.
"Maybe I should have gone back to where the others were," she muttered quietly to herself, but she proceeded down the hallway. She had stuffed the crystal she had picked up into her pocket, trying her best to ignore the way it felt. Natsume stopped, eyes narrowing as she tried to pinpoint whoever was watching her and nearly jumped out of her skin when a young boy wearing a wizard's hat and cape stood before her, who looked at her in a way as if he was considering what to do with her.
"Who are you?" she asked, already thinking of ways to run away from him.
"Do you know what you're doing?"
Okay, not what she expected to be asked, "Uh, I'm just walking along."
The boy made an unimpressed sound and before he could make his move, he was snatched up and held against the wall, "But I did ask who you are, because I'm assuming you already know who I am."
"….you would really hurt a kid like me?"
Natsume stared and the tendrils tightened their hold on him, a creaking sound coming from him as she did so, "You're not even a real person." She made to move forward, but something familiar and frightening washed over her, and she gave the thing a wooden smile, "Ah, would you look at that, my brother's calling! Got to go, bye~"
And with ease she disappeared, honing in on the crystal around Tsuna's neck and tripping as she failed to land gracefully after a brief 'pop' and instead was a heap of limbs alongside her brother.
"Okay, not bad, but that felt awful," she wheezed, giving the room she had fallen into a bland smile. "Oh hi everyone!"
The red head that was in a heap on the floor seemed to almost melt with relief, "Oh thank God," falling from his lips before he straightened out, looking a million times less stressed than he had before. He got up to do something, Natsume not looking at what he was doing because Tsuna took that moment to hug her.
"Hey, uh," she sputtered, because Tsuna was crushing her with his hug, "Tuna I missed you too, but uh, my ribs are hurting."
"Sorry, sorry," her brother said, smiling sheepishly at her and uh, okay, why was he crying? "It's just really nice to…." He trailed off gesturing to all of her. She stared at him for a little bit, watching him squirm in embarrassment, before she sighed out in relief and hugged him back, just a lot less tightly than he had her.
"I know, I know," she murmured, patting his back gently.
There was a cough and Natsume broke her hug and levelled a glare at the red head, who went white at having her attention on him, "So what's happening around here?"
"Right, uh," Irie began after standing up and moving towards the big capsule that had all of the Vongola people in it. "Like I said, this," he gestured to all of them, inching away from the people who stepped out and moving towards the prone bodies of the Cervello, "This was all planned and I am very happy you all made it to this point."
Hayato scoffed, "You're happy we made it this far? Do you even know how badly we want to kick your ass?"
"Badly?" Irie offered as a response, ignoring the tick mark that appeared on the teen's forehead. "But this was all for a purpose – you see," He gestured to Tsuna who blinked slowly, "Your older self knew this needed to happen and so together, along with Hibari Kyoya we came up with this idea."
Everyone seemed to turn to look at Hibari, who frowned, but Irie continued on, more caught up in his explanation than the people around him, "The Vongola Rings of this time have been destroyed, your older self assumed that getting rid of them was better than the chance they may fall into Byakuran's hands."
"And Byakuran," Irie breathed out heavily, "He's…unique, he's come up with ways to unbalance and overcome any obstacle that should have stopped him."
The man looked over at Reborn, "The Trinisette was the first thing he attacked, which led to the fall of the arcobaleno, tying that in with Vongola not having the rings, well that only left Byakuran with the power of the mare rings."
"Wait are you saying these are more than just family rings?" Tsuna asked, his hand coming up and lightly touching the ring that hung around his neck.
"Yes and trust me, that's a much longer story that we don't have time for," Irie answered, sighing deeply afterwards. "Byakuran is the true enemy, whether you think me one still or not, I just want you all to understand that I'm on your side and I am sorry that everything had to come to this."
"We could have died at any point."
Irie gave them all a bleak smile, "I know, but you didn't and the fact that you survived means you'll have a better chance at what's to come."
"Excellent pep talk," Natsume commented, getting the red head's attention, "What else are we waiting for now?"
"Ah, ya, we're waiting to hear from the results of Stage 1, if that goes well….." Irie shrugged, "Well it makes everything a little more easier."
Tsuna fought the urge to put his face in his hands, but decided not to question anymore. Instead he sat himself down and would wait to find out what happened once this Stage 1 was completed.
"Hey guys, where's Lal?"
Everyone looked at Irie, who held his hands up in placating manner, "I swear, I actually don't know, let…let me look at the video feed and I'll let you know."
The teen did let his face fall into his hands this time, guilt creeping into his mind as he thought about what could have happened to Lal.
…my fault…..
Part 70: Everything is madness
"The lava man is literally hot," Natsume muttered (and quietly thought to herself, how hot is he?) as the image of said man was presented, relaxing in a pool of hot lava….or was it magma at that point? She ignored the way Hayato looked at her, keeping her eyes on the image before it changed back to the floofy man.
"I'm so glad I could see everyone's abilities in these pre-games, it'll only make the game to be much more exciting."
"Game to be?"
The white haired man smiled, eyes closed as he nodded, "Sho-chan knows all about Choice, it's something we will cooperate in if not," he opened his eyes, looking at them through his lashes. "Well the 7^3 policy is forfeit and I win~"
Byakuran raised his hand to his cheek, tapping it lightly with his finger as he seemed to think over what else he could say, "Ah, yes your lives too, but that shouldn't have to be stated." He gave them a cheery grin, "So rest well and I will give you the details in ten days' time! Oh~ and I'll be taking the Melone Base with me."
"Huh?"
The shaking started once Byakuran's figure dispersed, a bright light accompanying it. There were various curses, Irie's heard over everyone, followed by a much brighter, warmer light that engulfed them all. The light faded and they all found themselves staring down the deep void that was now in place of the Melone Base.
"How is this possible?!"
There was a snort and they were all pushed onto the piece of land that survived the base extraction. Natsume and Chrome who floated down gracefully, the others weren't so lucky, though only two people face planted into the ground.
"How about we think less of how is this possible and more of actually doing," Natsume answered. Anyone's response to her was cut off as another bright light went off, this time coming from Irie's machine, streaks of light beaming at the gathered Guardian's and Natsume.
"Right…your gifts from your future selves," Irie breathed out, not liking the tingling sensation Natsume's flames left behind. There were more than the girl's flames at work that saved them all, the fact that the Vongola rings were gathered in this world after having been without them for so long must have offered extra protection. "Please accept these powers and know that we can do it!"
/ | \
They made it back to the base, which thankfully wasn't in too bad shape. It seems like the older Hibari had set up the destruction of an older part of the base for the Millefiore to invade. Speaking of Hibari, the teen had disappeared off to who knows where and the others were a bit reluctant on going out to look for him.
Tsuna sighed as he closed his eyes, letting his mind go over the events of the previous day and wondering what else they had to do to be able to win. How much stronger did they have to get and what would be sacrificed at the end of it all?
Ryohei-nii was already upset with him for having told Kyoko the truth of what they were involved in and it took Natsume getting in the older teen's face to get him to calm down. Well, not exactly calm down, Natsume had just simply snapped that the girl's had long since been involved the day they accepted to fight in the Ring battles.
'They have every right to know and it allows them to make a choice.'
And the girls had made their choice, to stay and support them. Still Ryohei wasn't happy, but the fight had left him and the teen decided to go have his own chat with his sister.
There was also the fact that Lal was missing and they couldn't find her. The only clue they had was that the older Chrome had taken her somewhere that could only be considered safe, or at least that's what Fuuta assured.
Tsuna groaned, turning over onto his side. He saw the golden box on his nightstand, something in him called for him to take it, but he flinched back when the box shook on its own. Tsuna withdrew his hand and he was tempted to know what was in there, he needed to know what his older self entrusted to him (more so than the problem he had left them with.)
But he couldn't, he played enough video games to know that if he bullheaded his way through, while feeling the way he was, he wasn't going to get anywhere.
Tsuna stared at the box a little longer and then he grabbed it, turning it around in his hand as he sat up. His other hand took off one of the necklaces he wore and with a bit of concentration he lit the ring, pressing it gently into the indent of the box.
It felt as if the moment was put on pause and then it fast forwarded way too quickly with the thing in the box trying to kill him.
Badideabadideabadidea!
/ | \
Lal stared at Kawahira who stilled for a second before he set her tea down, "The Vongola boy has done something he shouldn't have."
"I should go back," Lal said, making as if to stand only to fall backwards, a coughing fit over taking her.
"You step outside and you will surely not last long enough to make it back," Kawahira chastised, watching the woman sit herself down. "Someone will come get you soon enough, just heal a little bit longer."
"I understand that, but those kids need me more and if the last of my energy is used to give them –" she fell into another coughing fit, specks of blood appearing in her shaking hands.
"You are useful to them when you are healthy," he handed her a wet cloth, placing it in the palm of her hand, followed by a cup of tea. "Now drink."
He watched as she finally did as she was told, partially amused, partially irritated that he was playing babysitter. He waited until she fell asleep, his brew doing an excellent job of putting her under. He stood and made his way to her side, reaching for the pacifier around her neck. The cracked pacifier glowed between his hands, floating and greedily accepting the flames he used to coax the cracks closed.
Emi curled around his legs, sitting down to watch as he did his work.
When he was done, the cat blinked up at him and he went to pick her up, only for her to prance out of his grasp. He snorted when the cat stopped not even a foot away, waiting for him to chase after her, instead of giving into what she wanted he straightened up and went back to his seat.
Kawahira refrained from rolling his eyes as Emi jumped into his lap and made herself comfortable, "You know you're going to see someone you love very soon," he murmured, lightly petting the cats back. A little indigo butterfly fluttered past as he spoke, making its way out through the walls of his shop, "Yes, I think you'll be very happy to see her."
/ | \
Natsume blinked as Fuuta poked her forehead and only smiled cheerily when she narrowed her eyes at him the second time he did it.
"I have to go somewhere," she said and Fuuta nodded in understanding. She didn't get a chance to tell him that she'd be back soon, because Fuuta was already looping his arm with hers and dragging her to one of the exits. "Uh…by myself?"
"And not say hi to Kawajira-jiisan?" He said, sounding affronted as if he had no idea why she wouldn't consider taking him. "I was raised better than that."
"You know?"
He shrugged, "Who doesn't know? Well….the enemies we've had don't know, but Kawahira's managed that on his own."
"…so everyone is okay with him in the future?"
Fuuta nodded enthusiastically, "He's been a great guidance when he's not being a crotchety old man." Natsume laughed, her eyes crinkling shut as she did (there was that and the fact that it was bright out) and Fuuta basked at how open she was.
Even with the others fretting over what's to come, figuring out how to open their animal boxes, while also keeping on top of taking care of not only themselves but each other, Natsume seemed to take it all in stride.
Like she usually did.
But he knew better, at least now that he was older he did and he could tell that she was worried and had probably been much more worried in the past trying to figure out what was up with everyone's disappearance.
"Did you figure out your animal box?" he asked as they strolled down towards the market area. She had locked herself in the older Natsume's room and he could tell that she was trying to work something out, but whether it was the box or the questionable things she found in her room was a mystery.
"Oh ya, that was no big deal," she answered, patting the fanny pack around her waist where she had put the box in. "It's actually pretty cool, minus the fact that the big boy licked my face."
"Kalani is very affectionate when he wants to be," of course towards her and a terror on whoever she decided to sic him on.
"Oh, is that his name?"
A cry of mama was heard and Natsume was nearly knocked over by the force of a small child running into her. Fuuta cursed and then cursed again for doing so in front of the child, letting go of Natsume's arm and pulling the now confused child away from the teen, "Malana, where's Hana?"
"You are, but aren't mama?"
Natsume could only stare, mouth hanging open at the girl that reached her hip looking at her with a cross of sadness and curiosity, "Uh…hello."
"Oi brat! Don't run off like that – oh shit, hello," Hana was nearly breathless, a paper bag crumpling in her hand as she saw the scene she came on. "Malana, come here."
"But –"
"No buts."
"Nina, why not?"
"Life happens, doesn't it?" Natsume spoke up, feeling her mouth go very dry as she crouched down to be at eye level with the little girl. She gave the little girl what she hoped was a sweet smile, "I'm a little young for who you're used to, but I'm Natsume too."
Malana walked up to her, her face scrunched up in thought as she reached up and touched Natsume's face, "I'm Malana….can you braid my hair? Nina doesn't do it like mama."
"Sure."
Hana and Fuuta shared a look, the dark haired woman looking much more annoyed than usual and Fuuta just deciding to let things happen as they're supposed too, "Well let's get to Kawahira's and we can do all that in a safe place."
"Yeah! Let's go!" cheered the tiny girl, grabbing Natsume's hand and pulling her in the direction of the antique shop.
When the door to the shop was opened Kawahira was at the counter looking as if he was about to say something only to close his mouth as he realized who was at the door.
"Well hello there young one," Kawahira greets and Natsume can't help but think that at least one thing hasn't changed and that's Kawahira being Kawahira. "Malana I thought you were with your Godmother."
The door jingled open and a less annoyed Hana answered, "She was but she made a bad choice."
"I ran to better safety," Malana chirped brightly, tightening her grip on Natsume's hand. "Not mama is just as safe as mama."
"I am innocent in all of this," Natsume said slowly, looking around at everyone. "I swear I didn't plan any of this."
"Since when do you plan?" Hana huffed, earning a laugh from Fuuta, "You're the one that says, 'don't think just do'"
"Yeah…well I'm starting to rethink my decisions in life right now and I think I need to start planning more."
"Fantastic," Kawahira deadpanned, "While I adore this cute little get-together, someone needs help and they are barely feeling any better to be able to be moved to your base."
Fuuta asked, "Is this where Lal has been?" And looked about ready to crumple in relief when Kawahira nodded, "I'll take her back, I know where Inoue stays in the base and it'd be better to take Lal to her directly."
Kawahira gestured to the back room and Fuuta went, Hana following behind him as she prattled on about checking availability of medical supplies and what dosages they needed to stock up on.
This left Natsume and Malana alone with Kawahira, whose expression was hard to read. She didn't quite understand why he was so blank, but she could tell that he wasn't feeling well, not like his usual self.
"Does the thing that affect Lal and Reborn, bother you too?" she led Malana to the counter, creating a stool to sit her on and began to do as she had promised.
Kawahira didn't respond, only watching the younger Natsume expertly braided Malana's hair, said girl humming happily.
"Your future won't be the same after all this," Kawahira instead said, lacing his hands together within the sleeves of his robe, thumb stroking at the band around his left ring finger.
"I would be really disappointed if it was," Natsume responded, tying off the end of Malana's braid. The little girl hopped off the stool and ran up to one of the mirrors, turning her head one way and then the other to admire her hair. "I would hate to feel like the other me does."
"Oh?"
Natsume sighed and pulled out the necklace she had found at the base where she had appeared, "This feels awful…."
Kawahira took the necklace from Natsume, not enjoying the way the tips of his fingers prickled when he touched it, "I will keep this."
"But I wanted too –"
"No," Kawahira uttered, "You will do well to stay away from anything else that has your older self's energy invested in it."
"I want to –"
"Help? The way you can help your future is helping yourself and the others with you right now," Kawahira lectured, easing off on the intensity when Malana came back to Natsume's side and grasped her hand.
"He's right," Hana spoke up, pushing through the beaded curtain Fuuta close behind her holding up Lal. "It's admirable that you want to help your older self, but this really is her problem to deal with."
"If anything when Tsuna-nii comes back things will begin to mend."
Natsume looked back to her teacher, the man's expression unreadable, and she decided to back off. This was a painful subject for all of them so she changed it, crouching down to look at Malana and giving the girl a gentle smile, "Y'know, someone's wanted to say hi for a while now." She pulled out the small box from her fanny pack and pressed her thumb against the ring hole and Malana was squealing as the large cat nuzzled its head against her chest.
"Ka! I missed you!"
And at the same time a familiar amber eyed cat came into view, its tail flicking at the sight of the larger feline, but plodding ahead to get to Natsume. Natsume cooed, picking up the much older Emi and cradling the cat in her arms, "Oh, look at you~ Old girl, sweet girl~"
Kawahira just sat down on his stool, already knowing that even though they had told her not to, Natsume will do as she thought was right.
AN:
So...I had a brief moment of of utter panic and terror, followed by a wave of disappointment and holy hell i can't rewrite this chapter. Because for some odd reason this file wasn't where it was supposed to be and I had to friggen look through everything on my laptop to find it.
So I found it and I decided to do a brief proofread and upload before I forget and actually lose it.
Uh, yeah, so here it is.
I'm sorry for taking so long, but life has been sucking pretty bad and I'm just tryna finish school at this point.
Any major errors or just weird grammatical stuff (or me forgetting what the heck i've been writing about because honestly, i don't even know where my notes are for this story, i keep cleaning and rearranging everything and AHH), let me know and I'll try and fix it by rereading everything and making note of where it all went wrong.
Enjoy guys,
Sorugao