Word Count: 4878
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
"I need the pacifiers."
Lal pressed the ridges of her mask tighter against the bridge of her nose, feeling an itch in her throat the longer she was among the wreck. Her room, along with a few of the others had been destroyed in the fight with Zakuro, but luckily enough some things had survived the damage.
She moved aside some debris with her foot, revealing the crumpled pieces of her bed frame beneath what had been the ceiling.
"Lal?" Fuuta called out and she made a sound that she had heard him. She pointed at the broken bed and Fuuta moved up to her, starting to move the bigger pieces that she would have had trouble with.
Well, she wouldn't usually have trouble with it.
But her body was weak and she was sure that nurse Inoue would be hunting her down to put her back on rest.
"There should be a latch in the ground," she said, deciding to help on moving smaller debris out of the way.
It was quiet for a while as they moved everything out of the way. Lal ended up having to stop when she started coughing, but motioned for Fuuta to keep going. She shivered, resisting the urge to pull her coat tighter around her.
There was a grunt and whoop of success as Fuuta straightened up, clapping his hands together to get rid of the dust that had gotten on them, "Y'know….Giannini would have put this in for you if you had asked. You wouldn't have had to tear up the floors."
"I like to do somethings myself," Lal sniffed, moving to where Fuuta was, toeing the shoddily cut piece of floor. Fuuta hummed, a little amused, though he was starting to feel a bit down. He watched Lal bend down, sifting her fingers along the jagged cracks of the floor and forcefully tugging the floor board off.
He saw the box that was inside and he felt guilty.
"If she's anything like her mother and grandmother, you can't convince her to change her mind," Lal murmured quietly, delicately picking up the box. It was the size of a child's shoebox, the darkly stained wood fitting as what should have been a final resting place for what was inside.
"She's just a few years younger than them," Fuuta sighed, sticking his hands in the pockets of his pants. He wished he had worn his scarf today, it would have given him something to fiddle with. "I can't imagine…"
"You can't or you won't?" Lal asked, bringing the box against her chest. She coughed once more, turning her head away so that it wouldn't go towards Fuuta.
"I would like to not," Fuuta answered, his voice changing to something much more airy. "But we cannot decide for others what we would struggle to decide for us. It's time."
Lal nodded, leading the way out of the room and heading towards the clearing from where the final fight had taken place.
Why there, the others had asked and Uni had smiled, a kind, yet sad smile.
"To begin again, we should start where it ended."
Part 84: Beginning Again
"Natsume you have to eat something," Tsuna spoke softly to his sister, who didn't even huff when he lightly poked her side. "Tsume…"
She had not been okay when they had started the final battle, she hadn't been okay after it and though he had thought she would get better over the days, she hadn't.
It's nothing like what Lussuria had explained to him had happened when he had 'died' in this world and since she wasn't really talking, he couldn't really say what it was.
He'd rarely ever seen her like this and he was trying not to freak out.
His Bluetooth beeped, a short little tune playing (1) for a few seconds before trailing off. He reached out to grab it off Natsume's night stand, holding it up to his ear, murmuring, "Listen to message."
The voice spoke Fuuta's message, We're heading back. Uni said she's ready.
Tsuna sighed, putting on the small device over his ear, before turning to Natsume, "Hey, come on its time."
Natsume breathed heavily through her nose, curling further into the pillow she was clutching to her chest. She didn't sit up, just looked up at him and he didn't know how to feel about the redness of her eyes or how puffy they looked.
She cried, but not like this.
"Natsume…." Tsuna sighed, getting up from the edge of her bed and facing her. He gently grabbed at her wrists, which were gripping the pillow tightly. She didn't fight him, loosening her grip and letting him pull the pillow away. "I will carry you, Tsume."
This time she did huff, softly.
"No seriously, don't make me carry you, you're heavy," he started, pulling her up into a sitting position.
"Che."
"Oh so she does speak?" Tsuna asked, pulling his hands away from her wrists to cup her face and shake her head lightly. He attempted to run his fingers through her hair, something she had always done to soothe him and because his hair was a 'soft poofy mess.' "Oops," he uttered when he felt how tangled her hair was and at the way her nose wrinkled as he tugged her hair because of it.
"You said carry, not drag me by my hair," her voice was scratchy and low.
"You have a frog in your throat," Fran's voice spoke up and Tsuna looked over his shoulder at him. "Master said to come check on you."
"That's very nice of him to be concerned," Tsuna said, reaching for the water bottle on the nightstand and handing it to Natsume.
Something was said under her breath that he didn't quite catch and Tsuna wasn't about to ask her to repeat herself, though Fran did say, "Yeah he is." (2)
It got quiet after that, Natsume downing more than half the bottle before capping it and then blandly looking up at Tsuna, "Up, up."
"What are you five?" Tsuna asked, slipping into Hawaiian, earning a slow blink from Natsume. She didn't say anything about him being rude, not when he turned around and crouched so she could get on his back. "Come on, let's go."
Fran watched as Natsume didn't move and Tsuna had to grab her arms and then haul her up onto his back, "She looks heavy."
"Light as 57 kilograms of feathers," Tsuna said, choking off at the end as Natsume tightened her arms around his neck.
"I'm glad that's not me," Fran said, sticking his hands in the pockets of his coat as he stepped back to let the twins through. Natsume merely huffed, resting her cheek against her right arm and Fran wondered why they were all so worried.
(Okay so maybe he understood why they were all worried, but they were maybe exaggerating a little. People got sad and felt guilty over others deaths all the time, that's all that was happening here.)
He followed after them, not really interested in the trinkets and pictures around the Sawada home. He'd been there enough times to know what was there and he wasn't like some other people that he knew that just had to point out and question certain things.
They were out on the street, heading towards the Nature center and were halfway there when a black cat started following them.
"Emi," Natsume called, making Tsuna stop as the cat came up to them, curling around his legs. "I'll walk, Tuna-fish."
Fran didn't snicker at the nickname, though he may have made a sound when Tsuna turned to squint his eyes at him.
Natsume missed the stank eye as she bent down to scoop up her cat, cradling the cat on its back so she could lightly pet her stomach.
She started walking, Tsuna shaking his head in exasperation as she just went on ahead without saying anything.
"I should have brought her Emi," Tsuna muttered, running a hand down his face as he realized that maybe that could have helped Natsume. "But nooo I made her favorite snacks instead and she barely ate them."
"The cookies were delicious and it was very kind of you to cut up the mangos," Fran blinked when Tsuna gave him a dead stare, the slightly shorter teen shaking his head before grumbling. "I don't know about the bread, it seemed like it was missing something."
"….." Tsuna sighed, staring for a second at his hands, noting the burn on the palm of his left hand and the cuts on his pointer finger from when he misjudged how much force to use with the knife while cutting the mangos. "You forgot the cinnamon sugar."
"Oh…well, next time I'll add it."
Tsuna made a noise that almost had Fran concerned, but had heard it before when Natsume was dealing with Levi and was getting annoyed with the man. So he wasn't concerned.
"Why is it always walking up the mountains when I'm here," Tsuna heard Fran murmur under his breath as they reached the sign that said they were heading towards the Nature center. Tsuna refrained from saying that Namimori was kind of sort of surrounded by mountains.
(It really did depend on which direction they were going and they were definitely heading towards the more mountainous region of Namimori.)
They ended up catching up to Natsume who had stopped near the garden outside one of the green houses, Emi still curled up in her arms.
"At least the air's always fresh."
At Natsume's brow raising questioningly, her head tilting slightly to the side as she looked at Tsuna, who just shook his head, "Don't." She looked between the two and quietly joined them as they continued on.
/ | \
The atmosphere was solemn when they got to where they needed to be.
Lal was handing Uni the box while Fuuta stood beside her. Lal stepped back and Fuuta only stayed long enough to place a hand on Uni's shoulder.
"Thank you," her voice was quiet and Fuuta stepped back, inclining his head to the Sky Arcobaleno. She was slightly surprised to see that the Varia had come, but it seemed that the slight chance of having their Mist back made them curious.
(Can they tell how nervous I am? That I am scared?)
She wouldn't doubt it.
She knelt down on the ground, placing the box before her and with the gentlest touch, she opened the lid and there were the pacifiers – dull, cracked, and lifeless. She pressed her other hand to the one that was around her chest, the fingertips of her other hand lightly ghosting over the chains wrapped around the blue pacifier.
"Uni-san," Tsuna murmured, stepping forward and kneeling beside her. His sister was behind him and Uni felt a brief pang of guilt (she couldn't bring him back….what was going to happen to all of them without Kawahira? The Arcobaleno would only last a few more years….)
Gamma softly pressed his hand against her back and she nodded, brought out of her thoughts, "Tsuna-san."
There were no more words left to say and Uni breathed in deeply, before slowly exhaling it out. Her hands went to hover above the pacifiers, hers being the first to glow brightly.
Those gathered around closed their eyes at the brightness, so they missed the bright ribbons of light that wrapped around the pacifiers. They missed the way the light wavered for a few seconds as a young girl felt her mortality.
They missed the way Gamma joined the young teen, how his own energy joined hers and steadied the brightness.
There was a ringing that followed the end of the brightness and when they all slowly opened their eyes, there were the arcobaleno who were looking around confused at the pile of clothes beside them.
/ | \
"What do we do now?" and Tsuna dreaded that question as those gathered in the meeting room looked at him. In his head he cursed out Skull, who didn't deserve it, but Tsuna had reached his end.
"That's definitely a question to ask older me," he said, ignoring the need to grab the notebooks that Tazaru and Nosaru had set in front of him. "I think I've done enough."
Xanxus coughed at that, but he didn't bother covering up the smirk, "The tiny bastard has a point, he can't think this far ahead."
"….that's not what I said."
"We'll leave it to the established Decimo to clean up this mess he brought in," Verde piped in and Tsuna decided not to chime in when they all started talking amongst themselves.
"Then we'll meet again another day," Dino said, his voice loud enough that it got quiet so they could hear him. "Xanxus will you be here?"
"I'm leaving."
Mammon didn't sigh at their Boss' attitude, "Since I'm staying, I'll take back any important information." Giannini refrained from exhaling heavily, knowing that Mammon's stay was going to cost them.
Even if it was for the benefit of their health.
"If that's all for them," Tsuna got a nod, drumming his fingers against the table top and without much else being said, those gathered began to leave. Xanxus stayed sitting as did Dino, who almost went away with Tsuna's quiet dismissal.
"When will we be sent back?" Tsuna asked, scooting his chair over to Giannini's side, who was typing away at the computer in front of him. Shoichi who was beside him perked is head up at that question and answered.
"Two days, I'm trying to get the timing right so that you've only been gone for two weeks instead of four weeks."
"Right….I'll leave you to that then." Tsuna stood up from his seat, Xanxus and Dino following suit. Reborn had gone ahead with the other arcobaleno, though if he had done it to fill them in on what had happened or to just bother them, he wasn't sure.
"Why are you two following me?" Tsuna looked over his shoulder to brows raised questioningly. Dino shrugged, just smiling at him and Xanxus just scoffed as he brushed past him.
"I don't follow idiots."
"…I think he likes you."
"At least he's not cursing."
"I can fucking hear you."
"Oop, ahh," Tsuna sounded as he went into the remade kitchen, "I think I'm going to sleep for a few days once I get home."
"While you definitely deserve that, let's see if Reborn will let you get away with that."
Tsuna sighed as he grabbed the kettle and filled it with water, setting it on the stove and turning it on so it would heat up. He grabbed two mugs from the mug tree (which somehow survived the attack), set them down and opened the cupboard above to look for whatever tea was left.
"Rest while you can now," Dino advised after a long silence and the kettle started whistling. He walked away with that, pausing at the doorway to stare at the young teenager, "Grazi, Tsunayoshi." He left before he could feel the guilt begin to eat away at him, knowing it would be better to leave whatever questions he had to them.
(This should have never involved them.)
Part 85: Moving Home
"If I'd known you were here, I would have brought one more," Tsuna said when he saw Takeshi sitting near Natsume, Ziro laying on its back between them, while Kalani was curled over Takeshi's legs.
"That's okay," Takeshi said, lightly petting the dark fur of the large cat.
"Thank you," Natsume murmured, grateful for the warmth of the cup in her hands. She took a sip of the tea, humming in appreciation.
The trio stayed quiet, Tsuna barely flinching as Natsu decided he wanted to be out too, the little lion knocking its head into Ziro's side, who let out a quiet boof.
Tsuna didn't know what to say, he knew Takeshi had lost his father here and Natsume her teacher, but going back they would both be alive and well. How jarring of an experience would it be for the pair when they got back?
"You're thinking too loud," Natsume muttered, reaching out and pinching his cheek. He pouted up at her, not bringing up the tear tracks on her face, or the puffiness of her eyes as they stared off at one another.
She didn't say anything else as she pulled her hand back. Instead she drank her tea, side eyeing Natsu as he nipped at Kalani's paw.
"Do we have to go back to school?" Takeshi asked as the idea of finally returning home became much more realistic.
"I'm going to stay home for a few days," Tsuna admitted, stretching his legs out and pointing both of his feet. "It's not like school is hard." Natsume snorted into her drink, one hand coming up to wipe what had dribbled down her mouth, "What? It's the beginning of the year; we're just going over whatever we left off last year."
"That's still two weeks worth of homework," Takeshi made a face of disgust, not liking the idea of catching up on homework. "Also spring training…"
"…I think we've conditioned enough for that," Natsume muttered, shaking her head. "Can we not worry about that? I'm trying to exist right now."
"Too late," Tsuna uttered, sticking his tongue at the unamused glare Natsume aimed at him (which really wasn't much of a glare, but a pout.) "I'll shut up."
"Thank you."
"You're not welcome."
Natsume looked at Takeshi, who raised a brow questioningly, "Put him to sleep."
"Can I drink his tea if I do?"
"Yeah –"
"That's not right, I didn't know you were here!"
"Cool –"
Tsuna yelled, leaning out of the way of Takeshi's hand. Natsume watched, not at all bothered by the two boys now rolling around the ground. She twitched her fingers, Tsuna's mug floating out of the way from getting knocked over.
There was a chirp, Kalani butting its head against her thigh and she sighed, letting her free hand come down to rub the top of its head, "Yeah, somethings don't ever change."
/ | \
Hana knew that if she showed up with the child walking beside her, a few of the younger couterparts would not fall for her saying it was her child.
She was lucky that Haru and Kyoko bought it and she was going to thank whatever Gods were out there that they didn't look into it when Malana had insisted to hold Natsume's hand after she had set her down that day.
"I want to see her, nina."
Hana merely rested her head on top of Malana's head, lightly ruffling the girl's hair, "Let me call Fuuta."
"Fuuta-nii can come too!"
Hana hummed as she pulled out her phone, dialing Fuuta's number and then waited for him to pick up. He picked up after a few rings, greetings were exchanged and Hana got to the point, "Malana, she wants to see her."
"Can't meet at the plaza," Fuuta's voice thought aloud and Hana grimaced as she remembered walking by the Antique shop. She had yet to get a hold of Wonomichi and with how busy it had been at the makeshift base, she doubted Fuuta had time to look for him either. "Sawada house?"
"When do they –"
"Tonight."
"Good for them," Hana responded, exhaling softly.
"Yeah, I'll get her to you, don't worry Hana."
"Thank you Fuuta."
The call ended and Hana put her phone away, reaching out to grab Malana's hand and giving it a gentle tug, "Come on, we're going to the house."
"Tutu is back?"
"She'll be back soon."
Malana hadn't started asking for Kawahira yet and Hana could already tell that the little girl would be broken up over the fact that the man was gone. Her phone buzzed in the midst of those thoughts and she checked it, seeing that it was Fuuta.
'we'll see you soon.'
"That was quick," Hana muttered, putting her phone back in her pocket.
When they finally got to the Sawada home, Hana should have been surprised, but she wasn't to see Haru and Kyoko there as well. Fuuta looked sheepish as he sat on the arm of the couch, before he nudged the pair of feet dangling over it.
Malana greeted the two girls with a hug, Haru and Kyoko soaking up the warmth of the child like dry soil, returning the bright smiles that Malana gave them.
"We heard you were going to be here!" Haru's voice was rough as she handed Malana a small little bag. "Remember that fabric you helped me pick out? This is your lucky bag!"
Malana gently took the drawstring bag out of Haru's hands, tracing over the eyes and mouth of the face that Haru had made and then drawing a pattern into the bright blue and purple sequins of the body, "It's a fish!"
"I helped stitch the inside," Kyoko said, as Malana opened up the bag and to see her name was stitched in gold.
"Thank you, aunties," Malana hugged them again, gripping their legs tightly, before pouting up at them. "I don' have anything for you."
Kyoko smiled, eyes crinkling as she did, "Don't worry, your hugs are enough for me."
"Then all the hugs!"
The childish response and action had the two older girl's laughing and for the moment, Hana could see whatever was stuck in their mind fading away. Haru picked up the girl, leaning over the back of the couch, "Say hi to Tsu-chan, she's being awfully rude, no?"
"Yeah, yeah! Hi Tsu-chan!" Malana rested her elbow's on the head of the couch, honey brown eyes bright as she looked at Natsume, who had her arm over her face.
The hello, Natsume responded with was muffled and even Fuuta hid his laughter when Malana let herself fall out of Haru's arms and onto Natsume's stomach, "Oh shit, you're heavy."
"Natsume, language."
Natsume grabbed Malana, holding her over her making the young child giggle as Natsume narrowed her eyes at Haru, who didn't back down, "Don't tell me about language."
"She hasn't been that bad about it lately," Kyoko said, resting her arms on the head of the couch, looking between Natsume and Haru. "Also Hana and I have tried about the cursing."
"And guess what, it didn't fucking work."
"You're just doing it on purpose now."
Natsume sat up, casually throwing Malana (who was enjoying this a little too much) at the end of the couch, "I came here to have a good time –"
"You just laid down as soon as we got here," Fuuta cut her off, placing a hand on Malana's head to keep her from diving back onto Natsume. "Also don't say hi to me Lana."
"I see you all the time."
There was a dramatic gasp from Fuuta as he let go of Malana, who tilted forward and back onto Natsume who caught her. Haru stared at the two petulant pouts on both of the girls faces, turning to stare at Hana who was outright laughing and decided not to ask aloud what just clicked in her mind.
"Let's get a picture," Fuuta said after a while, raising up his phone and holding it up. "Hana, please get in the picture."
There was a choked sound from Natsume when Malana had tightened her arms around her neck, Kyoko standing beside them with a serene smile and Haru tiptoeing over Natsume's shoulder, lips puckered and holding out a peace sign.
Hana rolled her eyes and stood by Kyoko watching as Fuuta turned the camera to the front screen and proceeded to take a dozen pictures in one go, "Say la chérie!" (3)
They were together for little while longer, Fuuta showing Haru the pictures, while Kyoko wondered around the home, happy to know that somethings never changed. She passed by the altar that Nana kept in the corner of the room, bowing her head and saying a quick prayer.
"Kyoko-chan! We have to go!"
Kyoko sighed as she turned away, hoping that the new future before them was better.
/ | \
"Squalo-senpai! You live!"
"Somethings never change," Lussuria sighed, watching as Squalo tried to avoid the slap on the back the Rain boy gave him, but failed to be fast enough. "Sweetheart, we just fixed him, don't go breaking him now."
"I am being gentle."
Lussuria nodded, deciding to put his hands on Squalo's shoulders which were way too tense, "Squa-chan here needs a much gentler approach."
"Fuck both of you, I want to go back to my room."
As that conversation went on, Giannini, Spanner, and Shoichi held out some rings to Tsuna, who passed them out according to name, "You can't take back all the boxes you used here, but we believe these will do."
"Is that what you spent doing these last few days?"
"These were originally prototypes that had been requested by your counterparts," Giannini answered, feeling quite content at succeeding with this project. "They wanted a better way to have certain things on hand, instead of all these boxes."
"I wonder who complained," Ryohei said as he took his ring, noticing that everyone was looking at Hayato who shrugged as he tried on his ring that looked like Uri (if you squinted really, really hard.) "Nevermind, I think I know."
"We're not sure what exactly will happen if we allow things to go back from now to your present, but take the Vongola boxes," Shoichi continued, watching as Spanner handed back the brightly colored boxes. "Without the Vongola rings, they're not much use."
"What about the boxes Natsume's older self gave us?"
"Don't you think you're asking for too much?" Mukuro asked, watching this all go on.
"We could have died fixing your problems," Tsuna answered, rolling one of his shoulders back. "So no, I don't think we're asking for too much."
"He has a point."
"Fran, shut up."
"Can you find me? Please? I don't want to deal with him all over again," Fran said, his voice monotone as he spoke, so Tsuna wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. Fran then pointed at the Varia, "Or them."
"What the hell is that supposed mean?"
"Whatever you think it means, Master."
"The little Frog is being quite boisterous –"
"I'm surprised you know what the means, Bel-senpai."
Dino refrained from shaking his head, feeling quite at odds with the familiarity of the situation and knowing what was going to come. There was a reason the arcobaleno were surrounding the room in a way that would allow them to step in if anyone started fighting when the older counterparts came back.
"It's time."
"I guess this is it," Tsuna looked over everyone in the room, inclining his head slightly. "Until we meet again."
The machine whirred to life, a soft voice that spoke back but went unheard by everyone, Until we meet again.
As my last right and my blessing to you, Tsunayoshi, may everyone know of you and your family's great efforts.
The older counterparts stood before them after a flash of blinding white light. There was a scream and Takeshi was holding Natsume, hiding her face into his chest as it hit her once again that she had lost someone dear.
Part 86: Welcome Home
Nana nearly shrieked at the sudden earthquake, "Fuuta! Fuuta!" She lost her footing, but scrambled up as Fuuta came down stairs, eyes wide as she guided him underneath the table. The shaking continued for a few seconds longer, seconds that to Nana felt like minutes.
"Auntie?"
"It's over, but let's wait here.
There was another rumble, not as violent as the first and Nana felt as if she was floating, watching scenes of her children and their friends. She hadn't noticed her hands were shaking, not until Fuuta was tugging at her hand, while his other hand patted at her face, "Someone's at the door."
Maybe the neighbors.
Oh dear, she should check on the old man next door.
She got out from underneath the table, brushing her hair back over her shoulder, Fuuta following after, clasping her hand tightly.
"Of course you'd forget your key –"
"I was at home when that idiot sent me –"
Tsuna? Natsume?
She opened the door and there stood her children, looking tired and worn out, but bickering with each other nonetheless. They seemed taller and stronger, but they were no match for her own strength when she wrapped her arms around both of them, not realizing that she was crying.
"Mama –"
"Auntie, we're home!" Lambo and I-pin's voices chorused together as they hugged her legs, though Lambo did a quick hug as he lunged at Fuuta. "Haha! You're short again!"
"My heart," Nana reached out to Tsuna first, cupping his face and bringing his forehead against hers and then Natsume's. "Oh, my heart, I've missed you two."
"Mama, we're home."
(1) Mamoru Beki Mono
(2) Natsume grumbled "How annoying""
(3) La Chérie ; French for honey.
Originally Xanxus was going to say Little Lion, but even if he is older and more settled, he's still an ass. So tiny bastard it is.
Author Note:
So, I believe this is a hot mess, but its my hot mess and I actually enjoyed it, so I'm sharing it with you all. Sorry its shorter than usual, but that's kind of where the chapter wanted to end.