OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Accrue
This is how every piece falls into place.
Realism
Noriko awakens from her coma to meet golden-brown eyes and a wide grin.
"Hey, Nori," Takeshi says, sitting on the left edge of the hospital bed. "How do you feel?"
"Terrible," she coughs out, making a face at the taste in her mouth. Her throat is entirely too dry. "Water...?"
"Here." He grabs a glass off the small table nearby and raises it to her lips. "Careful. Go slow, okay?"
Noriko hums faintly in response and tries. She still ends up choking on the water, and he has to raise her up to a seating position and pat her back until she can breathe again.
"'m okay," she manages at last.
Takeshi doesn't look convinced at all, but he doesn't pursue the topic. Instead, he moves onto something far worse. "So, I heard we're up against someone called Daemon Spade? Know anything about him?"
Her silence is loud. The hand she presses to her stomach, over the wound that almost killed her - again - speaks more truth than any explanations she can offer.
"Oh," he breaths.
Potential
Reborn has always been aware his student has great potential. He would never have agreed to tutor, and continued to tutor, Tsuna otherwise. The Greatest Hitman in the World does not tolerate failure.
He saw it when he first came to Namimori. All of thirteen years old and already with nearly a full set of Guardians. All of thirteen years old, and quietly content, safe and secure in the bonds he had with his friends, such a pure and sweet Sky.
He saw it when Tsuna fought Mukuro, then Xanxus, then Byakuran, and won. Tsuna has potential, so much beautiful potential, and Reborn's job is to bring it out.
That is all truth. However, he was not lying to Noriko - or is it Cynthia now? - when they argued. Yes, Guardians and Advisers are meant to protect their Boss, but coddling isn't a valid technique of protection. It would only bring harm in the long-term, and Noriko coddled Tsuna most of all.
Looking back now, Reborn finds this situation morbidly ironic.
Noriko is, as he suspected, Tsuna's limiter. But it isn't the way he expected. Reborn has seen Tsuna angry, furious. With Yuni. With the Simon when it came out that they crippled Yamamoto. But this time -
This time, Tsuna is well and truly livid.
Because it's Reiki Noriko this time, Tsuna's first and best friend, the one who has always, always been on Tsuna's side, his first defender and his closest confidant, and not only did Daemon Spade almost kill her, he brutally wounded her heart, and that isn't something Tsuna can forgive and forget.
Reborn watches Tsuna and Daemon face off and muses that it really was Noriko's fate that destroyed Tsuna's last doubt, last uncertainty, last fear, leaving only this contained conviction behind, Will and Flame.
Silly
It's silly. That's what it is. It's so silly.
She thought, mistakenly, foolishly, that she'd hit rock bottom already.
Back when the Cervello Famiglia was slaughtered down to one survivor. Back when Elena was killed. Back when the Vongola descended into blood and sin. Back when her family was killed one by one until she was the only one left.
Again.
Back when Daemon became a stranger with lies on his lips and eyes of death. Back when Daemon betrayed them (betrayed her) for power, for a cause that he claimed was Elena's, a final blasphemy upon her beloved late sister.
She should have known better. She should have been prepared to fall ever farther.
So silly. So stupid. There's no reason for her to feel like she was betrayed all over again. None at all. They were - nothing. Just...almost brother and sister in law. Maybe friends. There wasn't. Anything. No promises. Nothing.
It's been centuries. So much must have happened since she went to sleep (died) and woke up (lived). For him to. Hurt her. Try to kill her. Was. Not a betrayal. Simply efficiency. For him to try to kill her Sky. Again. Was.
Not a betrayal. His loyalty had never been hers. Theirs. Her loyalty...
Well. Just as stupid as the rest of her, apparently.
(A voice whispered that it had been an accident. She ignored it. What did he expect, trying to kill Tsuna?)
It was idiotic for her to expect him to maybe. What? Hesitate? Reconsider? After so many years of this - this disregard for life and the values they once held dear. Silly. Stupid. She should have known better.
Silly. Stupid. She should have known better.
Noriko knows this. Cynthia knows this.
It doesn't stop the ache in chest, nor the burning in her eyes.
She's so silly. What else had she expected? Wanted?
Regret
"She's alive," Tsuna says, watching Daemon closely.
"More's the pity," Daemon scoffs, spinning his trident lazily. There's not the slightest hitch in his twirling or his voice, but Tsuna doesn't allow his anger to cloud his mind.
"Aren't you even a little relieved?"
Daemon smirks, broken and insane and taunting. "Cynthia's ever been a stubborn thorn in my side. So blinded by her so-called 'justice' and 'fairness', she's never been able to do what needs to be done. Her black and white morality is a weakness she'll never overcome."
There's the briefest hesitation before he continues, one Tsuna only catches because his Hyper Intuition nudges at him from the back of his mind.
"I'll make sure to finish the job next time."
Tsuna can all but taste Daemon's regret on the air, bitter as cruel heartbreak, and wonders.
It's not enough for him to pull his punches or rain down gentle fire, but he wonders and pities.