I don't own KHR.
Mukuro mentally cursed their bad luck as he was forced to not reply back to Chrome. He unfortunately needed to focus as much as he could if he wanted any hope of fooling Alaude.
Though with the way Alaude was staring at them...Mukuro was loathe to admit it but he had a feeling that his illuision, which had never once failed him, wasn't going to work this time.
"Nice try, but I know you're there," Alaude finally stated. "I've been around too many illusions lately for yours to work on me. Now show yourselves so I can arrest you."
Kyoya then without any hesitation tore himself from Mukuro's grip on his wrist, making himself visible to the world (Mukuro was still unfortunately still at the point where he needed physical contact with somebody in order to make them invisible). He then rushed forward, his pair of tonfas raised and an excited gleam in his gray eyes.
Of course he did that. Not that Mukuro can really blame him though. He's been wanting to wreck some Vongola posterior for a while too.
He just wished that they could have gone igconito for a little while longer at the very least.
"An Alaude clone exists too?! What is wrong with this world?!" the green-haired mafioso almost screeched as Kyoya struck at the stoic Alaude, who had yet to move.
Okay, that reaction was hilarious.
Mukuro was about to drop the illusion on him and Ryohei when his slightly younger brother suddenly whispered in his ear.
"They know about me and they extremely now know about Kyoya. But they don't know about you. Let us distract them while you extremely find our younger siblings."
That...was actually a pretty good idea. Granted, he was going to miss out on beating these guys up. But Hayato and Chrome were the priority here, and the quicker he could rescue them, the better.
The sound of metal clashing against metal suddenly rang through the air, making Mukuro focus back on the scene unfolding right in front of him. Kyoya's tonfa had made contact, but it wasn't with Alaude's head.
It was a pair of handcuffs.
Despite the very strange choice of weapon, Kyoya just tched and tried again. Seeing this made Mukuro admittedly feel a bit nervous.
What if...something happened while he was gone? Something that he could have helped prevent?
"Go." At this whisper, Mukuro turned his head to Ryohei and saw a serious and determined expression on his face.
Mukuro sighed and nodded. He decided to trust his brothers to beat these guys up and not do anything too stupid.
Just like Ryohei was trusting him to get their siblings back.
Ryohei nodded and without another word tore his wrist from Mukuro's grip and charged forward.
"So I wasn't dreaming after all?!" the green-haired guy screamed as Ryohei ran towards him, both fists balled and ready to start punching. Mukuro smirked as he started to race down the hall, leaving the fight behind. When he got to the end of the hallway, Mukuro turned his head and smiled when he saw that the two mafioso were being sufficiently distracted.
So far, the plan was working.
And as long he is careful, the plan will continue to-
"Oh my gosh..."
Mukuro instantly stiffened as he quickly turned to the right and looked down the adajacent hallway. His heterochromatic eyes widened as he saw a tall man with a familiar hairstyle and wearing tall, laced-up boots. The man was looking right at him with a gloved hand over his mouth as he held up what looked like a black lens over his right eye.
This...this must be his doppelganger. Who better not be able to see through his illusion too oh so help him-
"I...I have a little doppelganger too? Oh...you are just...too adorable."
What?
KHR
"HIIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
Reborn whistled as Lambo started to whimper, having been startled awake.
"Nice banshee cry-"
Before Reborn could finish his sentence, before he could do anything to hurt Tsuna and Lambo, Takeshi made his move. He pulled out his bamboo sword (he had it strapped to his back this whole time) and swung it towards the man wearing the yellow pacifier.
A second or two later, there was a flash of green light and a clash of metal. Takeshi's brow furrowed when he saw that Reborn had blocked the blow with a green kunai.
Where did that kunai come from?
Wait, why is it green?
"Oh," Reborn said as he focused on the katana that was pushing against his kunai. "A bamboo sword that transforms into a katana...interesting. Does it have a name?"
"Shigure Kintoki," Takeshi grunted out as he kept on pushing against the kunai. A part of him didn't want to reply but Pops once told him that being dishonorable in a sword fight was one of the worst things you could ever do. Takeshi didn't know if not giving out his sword's name was dishonorable or not, but he didn't want to risk it.
Shigure Kintoki was his Pops' sword. There was no way Takeshi was going to be the one to bring shame to its name.
And besides, Takeshi needed to buy time for Tsuna and Lambo to get away from Reborn anyway.
"Shigure Kintoki," Reborn mused as Tsuna scooted till he was right behind Takeshi. A bit relieved that Tsuna was now behind him, Takeshi risked a glance backwards. Tsuna looked afraid as his arms were curled protectively around their baby brother. Lambo himself was still whimpering softly as a few fat tears rolled down his chubby cheeks. It was kind of surprising that Lambo wasn't full out crying, especially with that kind of wake-up call.
Perhaps he felt too scared to cry.
Takeshi decided that he didn't like that.
With the overwhelming thought, no, need to protect his little brothers so that they would stop being afraid, Takeshi turned his attention back to Reborn and pushed against the green kunai even harder than before.
"I've heard that name before," Reborn continued as he held the katana in place with one hand. Takeshi gritted his teeth in frustration.
He was practically putting all of his strength into this, so why wasn't the kunai budging?! Why was Reborn acting like this was nothing to him?!
"Ah, right, it's the name of Yamamoto Tsuyoshi's sword."
Takeshi stiffened as his brown eyes widened in pure shock. He vaguely heard Tsuna gasp behind him but Takeshi's mind was swirling too much to draw much, if any, attention to it.
"How...How do you know that name?" Takeshi all but whispered as unwanted memories full of blood and sorrow filled his brain.
Reborn...he didn't...no, Takeshi would have recognized him if he was one of the men that killed Pops.
But then...how did he know Pops?!
"You're his son aren't you?" Reborn continued, completely ignoring Takeshi's question. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Before Takeshi could react to that, Reborn flicked his wrist, making the katana fly out of his grasp and stick itself into a nearby tree. Managing not to panic, Takeshi glanced at his katana before looking back at Reborn.
Should he just tackle Reborn? No, while Takeshi is by no means small for his age, he has a feeling that he wouldn't win a wrestling match against the adult.
But if he goes after his katana, then he will just be opening himelf from an attack from Reborn's kunai.
Or, even worse, leaving Tsuna and Lambo open to an attack.
That definitely wasn't an option.
Wait...what if...
"Tsuna! Get the katana!" Takeshi cried right as he lunged at Reborn.
He may not be able to last long before Reborn either pins him down or kills him, but he should be able to last just long enough until Tsuna brings him his Pops' katana.
He has to.
However, before Takeshi's body could make its destination, Reborn held out his arm. The next thing he knew, Takeshi was being held tightly against Reborn's side, his legs and head facing down at the ground and his arms pinned to his sides.
Takeshi let himself hang there for a second, too stunned to start fighting back.
What...what just happened?
"Takeshi!"
Alarmed, Takeshi looked up and saw Tsuna, still holding Lambo, with his hand on the hilt of the Shigure Kintoki while looking very much afraid.
He...he can't lose here!
His determination rising once again, Takeshi fought back. But no matter how much he kicked and squirmed, Reborn's hold on him did not loosen. Not one tiny bit. Takeshi glanced up at the man to find that Reborn was looking down at him with a tiny smirk. It was like Takeshi's efforts to break free...were amusing to him.
Was...was he really that weak compared to him?
"Let Takeshi go!"
Takeshi tore his gaze from Reborn's dark eyes only to be met with a sight that filled him with horror. Tsuna had pulled Shigure Kintoki out of the tree and was now pointing it at Reborn with one hand.
Like he knew how to use the Shigure Soen Ryu technique so that Shigure Kintoki wouldn't turn back into a bamboo sword. Like he knew how to even use a sword in the first place. Like he wasn't still holding a tearful Lambo in his other arm.
Like he wasn't pointing a weapon against the guy that once tried to kill him.
"Tsuna no! Go! Just go!" Takeshi pleaded as he kicked and squirmed in a desperate attempt to distract Reborn. "Leave me! I'll be okay, I'll swear!"
"What?! No!" Tsuna protested vehemently. "I'm...we're not leaving you!"
"Take!" Lambo cried as he reached both his little hands towards Takeshi, like he could just grab his older brother away from Reborn's grasp.
Take...was that...Lambo's name for him? Oh gosh...
"Standing by your friend is all well and good," Reborn finally stated as he took a step towards Tsuna and Lambo. "But are you actually prepared to fight? Especially when it is very clear that you will lose?"
Reborn took another step towards Tsuna and Lambo. Lambo was still reaching his baby hands towards Takeshi. Tsuna was still standing there, despite the fact that the hand holding the katana was trembling violently. Despite the fact that both Tsuna and Takeshi knew that Shigure Kintoki was going to turn back into a bamboo sword any minute now from lack of proper use.
The memory of Pops' lying in a pool of his own blood was followed quickly by the image of Tsuna and Lambo lying in a pool of their own blood.
No...No! Not his brothers, he can't watch them die! He won't!
"Go! Please, I'm begging you! Just go!" Takeshi screamed as he kept on kicking and squirming despite knowing that it wasn't going to do anything.
It was the only thing he could do at this point.
"But..."
"If not for mine sake, then for Lambo's! Please!"
"What are you going to do Tsuna?" Reborn asked as he took yet another step forward. He was only a foot or so away from Tsuna now. "Are you going to listen to your friend's apparent last wish or continue to foolishly stand by him? I, for one, will personally not fault you for running away. You are only a little child after all."
Tsuna didn't answer at first, looking too panicked, too afraid, and too conflicted to even get words out. Takeshi found himself praying that Tsuna would just run away without a word. That Tsuna and Lambo would end up getting away safely. That Kyoya and the others would be able to reunite with his younger brothers. That Tsuna and Lambo would see Hayato and Chrome again.
That his older brothers would be able to forgive him for not staying safe, for not protecting Tsuna and Lambo better.
"It's okay Tsuna, really. I promise."
For a second, Tsuna just stood there silently, still conflicted, trembling, and terrified.
Then suddenly, Tsuna stopped trembling and looking so conflicted.
In fact, if anything, Tsuna looked...resolved.
"Yeah, you're right. It will be okay."
Then, without any sort of warning, Takeshi's world turned bright orange.
Well, that was more dramatic than I planned...But I personally liked how it turned out.
How about you? Did the characters acted like themselves, were there any glaring grammar mistakes, etc? Please tell me your thoughts in a review and I will update early next month!
Till then, have a good day/night!