Hell Yeah baby, I'm back so get ready for some angst and bad grammar. Someday I shall have a beta reader. Until then, we all shall suffer.
Thanks for the lovely reviews and enjoy the read
Maestri
Part IV
"Tell me, young Tsunayoshi" the adult suddenly asked as he put down his chopsticks on the empty bowl.
"Hm?" the child muttered lightly as he gulped down and then choked over a stray pasta. He coughed loudly and clumsily hit his tiny chest while he took his drink of water and drank as fast as he could to stop choking. Once he could breathe normally, the brunet looked up with his wide open brown eyes and glanced at the man who had irrupted in his life three years ago.
"Do you remember our first meeting?" the man asked lightly while he put his elbow on the table. Then, he leaned his cheek over his hand and watched with open delight the youth's surprised face. The latter was frowning and seemed to be seriously thinking it over.
"It was," the child started softly as he played nervously with the pasta left in his half empty bowl. "Three years ago, right?"
The man shook his head lightly, his mysterious smile still on his thin lips and then stretched his hand towards the youth until his index was lightly touching his forehead.
"No," the adult said just as softly. "I'm talking of the real first time we met, Sawada Tsunayoshi…"
The child widened his eyes and suddenly leaned away, instinctively trying to put as much distance between him and the stranger. The mere fact of hearing his full name coming from the adult had scared him. He didn't know why but it terrorised him.
Tsuna closed his eyes and felt a thin layer of cold sweat start to cover his body while uncontrollable shivers ran through him. Finally, he felt his consciousness slowly waver and weaken, and the child knew that the man had used his full name to induce such a reaction within him.
So the youth did the only thing he could do. He clenched his fists and called silently for help.
A reassuring wave of heat surrounded him and the child slowly relaxed. He softly sighed in relief and let darkness take him, certain that everything would be okay.
"What do you want from me, Kawahira?" the child asked rudely as he opened his eyes.
"Just a little chat, of course," the man answered suavely as he watched with apparent delight the distinct orange eyes as well as the sombre face the child showed. "Do you remember our first meeting, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"
"… How could I ever forget it?" the youth retorted back with a frown and an ageless expression that only a man who had been through too much could show.
The adult's smile merely widened in dark delight. He nodded as he watched the child's ageless eyes and his broken face.
"In that case," the man added with a cheery voice. "You also remember our promise…"
Suddenly, it was as if time had been broken. The reassuring sound of the other clients discussing in the restaurant vanished, the familiar hissing of the boiling water and chefs arguing in the kitchen became inaudible, and Tsuna felt his heart stop. His face turned white and his eyes lost what little light they had kept as the child started to shudder.
The young boy clenched his fists over the wooden table and closed harshly his eyes, pushing back the treacherous tears that had started to peak through.
"… Yes," he finally said with a voice haunted by the ghosts of his past. "I remember."
The man kept smiling and Sawada Tsunayoshi finally let his tears fall.
For the first time in years, Reborn didn't know what to say.
The Arcobaleno fight, his memories that were coming back unannounced, Tsuna's sudden declaration, and now the fact that a fight with unknown time limit had started.
The best hitman's sanity was slowly starting to chip away.
Since the discussion with Bermuda, the Sun Arcobaleno had been haunted by voices and memories from his forgotten past. And then, there was the Other.
Reborn still didn't know the Other's true identity, he was actually sure of only one thing about it. The Other had been an important man in his older life and had vanished without leaving a trace. However, now that the baby was slowly remembering, he had the necessary hindsight to notice some things about that stranger.
What had been the probabilities that a really talented hitman belonging to the Vongola Family travelled to a really isolated Italian village just to tell a kid he didn't know at all to follow him? That coincidence was really suspicious.
And if it had been a coincidence, how had that man ended in that rural village? Why had he taken Reborn under his wing just to teach him all he knew?
Reborn sighed and softly shook his head. This really wasn't the time to get lost in his thoughts just to find out about the true identity of the man in his memories. The fight against Bermuda would soon begin and Tsuna's plan, the one his student has worked for so long, would soon unveil itself under the Arcobaleno who had been kept away during the planning.
The watches suddenly rang, and the Sun Arcobaleno thinned his lips.
He would finally see if Tsuna got to make a plan as elaborated as the one he had used against the Millefiore.
Reborn looked up and met his student's decided gaze. The latter nodded softly, the promise of better days clear in his fiery eyes and the tutor felt the customary sun of proudness light up in his chest. The baby sighed another time, letting out all the tension that had taken over his cursed body over the last days, and felt his lips stretch into a grin.
Everything would be alright.
Because he would protect Tsuna.
Things started moving fast, Bermuda and their team suddenly irrupted in the forest and attacked them whilst Tsuna, backed with Enma and Basil, started flying to and from as they destroyed meticulously a bunch of Vendice.
However, nobody could have planned what would follow. Nobody except Tsuna.
Therefore, just as Bermuda took their real form, the teenager swiftly attacked and, in the pale mockery of a hug, stretched his arms around the cursed man's neck, taking profit of the latter's short confusion of gaining their true body. Then, while the Vendice was giving nasty hits to the Vongola heir to get him off their back, the brunet did something that highly surprised Reborn.
He closed his fingers over Bermuda's empty pacifier and whispered words that nobody except the cursed man could hear on the latter's ear. Bermuda widened their bulging eyes in shock and let out an amused laugh that shook their deformed body just as the teenager jumped away from the Vendice boss, the cursed pacifier still in his grasp.
"Byakuran!" Tsuna gasped as he turned towards the future Millefiore Boss.
The albinos, who had stayed put till now to gather all his strength, finally moved. He lightened his ring and Uni's pacifier started to glow just as strongly as the two rings. The young child let out a horrified scream, her all-seeing blue eyes widening in terror as she saw what would soon happen.
"Sawada-san!" she screamed as she fought the tearful sobs that were ripping through her chest. "Don't do it! I beg you!"
Reborn furrowed his brows and slowly stretched his hand towards the watch, his instinct flaring as many alarms as it could in his head. Something was going. Something very bad. And Tsuna would end facing it. The baby readied himself, his hand on the button of the cursed watch, gritting his teeth in preparation of the painful transformation that would follow, but was soon stopped by a calloused hand.
"Don't move," the Varia Boss threatened him without even taking his red eyes from the future Vongola Decimo. "Or I'll shoot you down."
The Sun Arcobaleno frowned even harder and tilted his head, trying to understand what was happening. Since when had Tsuna had the time to talk with Xanxus and convince him to help him? And since when did Xanxus obey the young Sawada?
However, Xanxus' intervention remind him of his promise to the Ninth Vongola, he couldn't get mixed in Tsuna's fight. And right now, his student was fighting his hardest fight. The cursed baby gritted his teeth and folded his arms over his chest, his dark eyes looking over his student without ever leaving any detail out, tensing whenever Bermuda's attack actually hit and letting out tiny hums of approval whenever Tsuna hit back just as harshly.
And then, the worst happened.
A dome made of Sky flames slowly surrounded the two fighters and the unmoving spectators. Reborn felt his heart miss a beat. The last time he'd seen such a dome, an innocent soul had been lost. And his instinct was screaming that today too, an innocent would die.
Suddenly, a wave of Sky flames surrounded Tsuna and the teenager slowly fell to his knees and then into a tense curl as he tightly hugged to his chest Bermuda's pacifier. The latter took a few steps back as they looked with suspicion at the young Vongola and at the dome made of flames.
"It won't be with such easy tricks that you'll best me, Sawada Tsunayoshi!" the Vendice taunted just as they attacked. They jumped towards the teenager still curled over the burnt grass and Reborn felt as if he had been submerged in cold waters when he realized that Tsuna wouldn't move. His eyes widened and he fought against Xanxus just as Bermuda pierced through the brunet's chest.
To hell with the Ninth's promise! Tsuna was in danger and Reborn would never abandon him.
He ran, avoiding with little to no problem the monster-like Jager's attacks and got his silver revolver out of his pocket, the last present of the faceless and nameless man who had haunted his memories and dreams, to press the muzzle against Bermuda's neck. The Vendice had been standing above Tsuna's defenceless body, their arm still piercing the teenager's chest. The Sun Arcobaleno gritted his teeth and pressed even hardly his weapon against Bermuda's bone.
"Get away from my student," he hissed dangerously with a voice full of hate. "Now."
Bermuda slowly stepped away, their arm leaving the brunet's body with a horrible slurping sound, and Reborn fought against the rage threatening to throw all his senses away when he noticed the blood that covered the Vendice Boss' smiling face.
"I wonder," the latter whispered in a sickeningly sweet voice. "How far is your student willing to go just to save you…"
The baby stayed silent and kept threatening his enemy, briefly hesitating between switching to his real body or to keep aiming at Bermuda's neck from his low standing body. However, the Vendice noticed his hesitation and their mocking smile widened even more.
"Or could it be," the cursed man added with an evident delight as they narrowed their eyes. "That you aren't even in the known…"
Dark eyes narrowed and Reborn made his decision. His free hand went to the switch button on his watch. A blinding light surrounded him, a bunch of explosions echoed in the clearing and the Vendice used the moment to bring out their Night Flames to teleport themselves away to safety.
However, just as they stepped away from their wormhole and into the clearing lightened by the orange dome, a bullet went through their leg and Bermuda briefly tripped before they straightened again.
"Chaos," greeted darkly the man wearing a familiar fedora and dark suit.
The Vendice jumped away immediately to avoid the bullet that followed the hitman's customary greeting and landed on a low hanging branch with a snarl as their injured leg touched the wood. A creaking sound followed, and Bermuda noticed with surprise that Reborn had planned their jump and had fired bullets during his early transformation to that exact branch to make sure it wouldn't support their weight later.
And indeed, the weight and sudden movement of the Vendice had been enough to completely break the wood. Bermuda widened their bulging eyes and prepared themselves to use their Night Flames yet again to avoid the Sun Arcobaleno's bullets when they noticed something very important.
They didn't have their pacifier.
And without it, their body wouldn't move as fast as they wished it to. The cursed adult slowly turned their head towards the teenager who was still laying on the ground in the middle of the clearing. their bulging eyes noticed an orange tinge in the boy's hands, and they finally realized what would happen.
"Weak," a voice as soft as velvet but cold enough to freeze the Vendice Boss' blood. "You're way too weak…"
Bermuda felt a bullet go through their chest and they fell heavily on the ground, a hand clenching over their injured torso. Their breathing quickened and they slowly stood up, staggering lightly as they saw their opponent slowly walk towards them.
Reborn raised his hand, silver revolver shining under the orange flames of the dome surrounding them, and calmly aimed for Bermuda's head, a slight feral grin on his lips while his fedora shadowed his eyes.
"Yamamoto, Squalo," he called out just as eerily calm as before, his dark eyes never leaving the injured Vendice. "Make it rain, I want them to suffer."
The two men obeyed without a word, knowing that it would have been pure suicide to argue against Reborn in such a state. A heavy rain full of Rain Flames soon covered the interior of the dome and Reborn kept threatening Bermuda with his silver revolver, dark eyes never blinking even with the cold water dripping down his face.
"What is it, Reborn-kun," the Vendice Boss taunted as they pushed away the drenched strands of dark hair glued to his face and obstructing his view. "Did losing your lover for the second time shock you mute?"
A gunshot followed their taunting and Bermuda faltered before they fell down on the muddy ground, a soft groan of pain coming through their cracked lips while the Rain flames made sure to slow down his haemorrhaging.
"What did you say?" the hitman growled so threateningly that everyone in the clearing shuddered.
"Don't you remember, Reborn-kun?" the Vendice merely said with a mocking smirk on his bloodied lips. "The oh so charming Tsunayoshi that you loved so dearly is going to die, yet again, under your powerless eyes…"
Another bullet flew and Bermuda had to smother a growl when they felt pain surround his other leg. However, they couldn't even faint since the Rain flames made sure to keep them in the same state as long as they would surround them.
"Tsuna isn't dead," Reborn retorted as he stood and looked down at the cursed being. "Not this time."
The Vendice's bulging eyes widened and they let out an amused chuckle whilst they tried to rise their head but with no success.
"So you do remember everything," they stated calmly as they pushed back in place the bones of their broken leg in a crack that echoed in the silent clearing. "However, it is too late… Sawada Tsunayoshi is going to die soon…"
Another gunshot echoed in the forest and Reborn put his foot over Bermuda's back, leaning all his weight over it, while the Vendice Boss started panting harshly, trying to stay awake.
"Tsuna won't die until I say it so," the hitman whispered to Bermuda's ear. "I won't let it happen…"
He pointed his silver revolver towards his enemy's neck and slowly smirked as his dark eyes lightened with a feral gleam.
"Chaos," Reborn whispered when he pulled the trigger.
So the angst train is coming to town and there's two chapters left. Get ready for some weird shit.