Clear to cloudy

Target 22: An endless run

Kotsu's sitting in the livingroom doing some insane homework Reborn had given him, just waiting for the tiniest excuse to stop doing it. Since it's insanely hard. Something that does not help is the fact that right beside him is none other than Geraldino sitting drawing peacefully. He really seems to LOVE doing that. He's been living there for almost a week and aside from doing little tasks for Kotsu's mother, since he doesn't want to incur her wrath, he's been doing nothing but draw all day long. And he certainly hasn't improved… Kotsu still can't tell if he's drawn a fish, a cloud or some other animal.

Meanwhile Jute is out buying groceries along with Cotton and Kotsu's mom as he seems to be the responsible of the two unlike Geraldino.

However Kotsu's prayers for a distraction are heard! The door to the house opens.

"I'm Hooome…!" Ren yells a little halfheartedly from the entrance and Kotsu's quite sure he's never sounded as halfhearted as now.

The boy quickly joins his brother in the hallway. "Ren… what's the matter…?" He asks and Ren just attempts to laugh it off.

"Oh it's nothing lil' bro! Just…" He holds up his favorite pair of sports shoes which he uses for his runs and his dancing and P.E. and so on. They're ruined. The sole has literally detached from the rest. He really IS a sports freak! "Kinda ruined them during P.E. today… so I'm a little… sad you know… they're the ones I got from you for my birthday after all," He says smiling, truly grateful for having gotten them.

"That… that's alright Ren… It's not your fault they broke… I should've bought some that could withstand so much use. I know how much you love working out after all," Kotsu says laughing a little and Ren joins knowing how much he exercises.

Reborn comes out into the hallway seeing the two, before glaring at Kotsu. "You done with your homework?" He asks and Kotsu freezes.

"N-not yet! Just… wanted to see what was wrong with Ren!"

Reborn raises a curious eyebrow. "And what IS the matter with Ren?"

Ren shows the hitman his shoes. "Kinda broke them…" He says in the depressed tone of voice even Reborn finds unnatural.

He walks up grabbing them. "Give me 15 minutes and I'll fix them up for you," He says going back into his room and Ren's eyes almost sparkle.

"Thank you SO much mister Reborn!"

-NII-

Reborn comes out of the livingroom again with Ren's shoes. They're looking brand new and almost sparkle. "There. I reinforced them with Leon's string. There's not a single chance that they'll ever break from repeated use now," He says holding them out for Ren to take but instead Ren just hugs him. Not something Reborn tries every day.

"Thanks a TON mister Reborn! I'll take them for a test drive RIGHT now!" He says grabbing them and running outside to try them out. He quickly sets off. "They feel amazing mister Reborn!" He yells after them as he disappears around a corner.

Kotsu can't help but smile, seeing him happy again. He might be like that all the time, but it's much more meaningful when he comes back from a little trip of sadness. He now doesn't feel as terrible about going back to doing his 'homework'.

Geraldino just looks out the window at the young boy. "Geez. That guy sure loves using his body. Does he even KNOW how to sit still for more than 10 minutes?" he asks and Reborn sits down across from the two.

"Not sure. Takes quite a miracle for it to happen after all."

However about five minutes after Ren left Kotsu hears something outside. A feint voice through the glass door. "lil' bro…" It says. Kotsu goes to check what's happening. However when he gets outside… no one's there… curious. He's about to go back inside when it calls out again. "Lil' bro!" It yells. The only one who calls him that is Ren. He hears that it's coming from the street. He runs out the gate to see. After looking around a little Ren comes running, surprisingly fast. "Lil' bro! Help!" He yells sprinting straight past him the panic clear in his voice.

"What's wro-" Kotsu tries but Ren sprints around the corner coming out on the other side a little while later.

"I can't stop!" He yells panicked and Kotsu's eyes go wide.

Ren comes back around. "What do you mean!?"

Another round. "I just CAN'T stop running! It's like the shoes are…" He disappears. "POSSESED!" He finishes on the next lap.

Kotsu runs back inside and knocks frantically on Reborn's door with Geraldino looking quite curiously at his panic. "REBORN! What did you do to Ren's shoes!?" He yells and Reborn comes out looking quite angry.

"I laced them with Leon's fibers so they won't wear out. Why?"

"He says he can't stop running!"

Reborn for once seems surprised. "Hm. Strange. Even if he DID have a sun flame, he'd run out quite fast…" He says going outside where Ren is still circling the house. "Ren! Go straight! Head downtown! Run as FAST as you can. Wear yourself out," He commands and Ren just nods trying to speed up. As he does so he now finds that he's once more unable to slow down from THIS speed too.

"Mister Reborn! This is weird!" He yells disappearing down the street. Reborn tsks.

"What the hell…?" He says and Leon transforms into a biker helmet. Reborn heads behind the house and suddenly he comes out riding a large bike, grabbing Kotsu in the passing speed. Geraldino comes out with an angry look.

"HEY! That's my bike!" He yells but sees that Reborn is on it and blushes from how cool he looks. "Oh… um… Have a good trip Reborn-senpai!" He yells in an almost girlish tone.

Kotsu looks back before shaking off how weird that was. "What's going on Reborn!? This is crazy! Why can't he stop!?"

"To make them so incredibly durable I used special thread made from Leon's body. Much like your fork it has special properties. I don't know why this means he can't stop running…" He says as they speed after his brother Kotsu being given an extra helmet for safety.

-NII-

They find him downtown sprinting away like there's no tomorrow. He looks really panicked for once, but that's understandable. He's not really feeling tired yet, but can't run any faster if he tried. He's also running too fast to try any narrow corners since he might crash straight into a wall. He looks back hearing the bike rev. Reborn drives up next to him. How on earth is it that he needs a motorcycle to keep up with him!? "Mister Reborn!" He tries and Reborn looks to him.

"Alright Ren. Listen up. It's your shoes doing this. Whatever you do. Do NOT panic. You'll only accelerate," He tries but Ren looks ahead seeing a busy road in front of them, naturally causing a person who can't stop themselves to panic immensely and he feels his body starting to move faster than he's ever even SEEN someone run. He must be running about 30 kilometers an hour. Almost the speed limit in cities! He's forced to turn into the heavy traffic running along the car lanes running in between the cars. Reborn grits his teeth and Kotsu is panicking.

"Reborn! What do we do!? There're too many cars!"

Reborn grits his teeth knowing that Ren is scared out of his mind. "No such thing! I see a completely car-free lane!" He yells revving up before speeding down the sidewalk making sure to avoid people.

"Reborn! It's a sideWALK!" Kotsu complains.

"And it's your big brother overtaking cars on foot up there! The more he's running in traffic the more panicked he'll get and the faster he'll go,"

"T-there has to be a limit to how fast he can go! RIGHT?!"

"We're talking about Ren here. Do YOU think there's a limit to his energy?"

Kotsu sees his point. He can't even remember the last time Ren ran out of energy. He trains ALL the time. If he's not he's probably eating, sleeping, showering or doing homework. It's almost like it's his way of relaxing. "True… then… what do we do?"

Reborn smirks and revs up even more setting off breaking the speed limit to catch up to Ren who's gotten quite far ahead now.

"M-Mister Reborn! I-It's not working!" Ren tries, suggesting he doesn't even know he's panicking, which is arguably even worse than knowing he's panicking.

"R-Ren! C-can you get off the road!?" Kotsu tries and Ren looks ahead seeing the exit to Namimori coming up.

"M-Maybe I can run into the forest? B-but that's even more dangerous!" He says now indecisive which makes things ten times worse.

He speeds up even more and outruns Reborn's motorcycle. "R-Reborn! What do we do!? This is so bad!"

"I can only see one solution. Let you handle it," He says stopping in that way you see in movies where he turns the bike 90 degrees sliding to a halt, along the sidewalk coming to a quick halt.

"L-let ME handle it...!?" Kotsu says confused.

Meanwhile Ren has gotten into the large forest at the edge of Namimori trying to stop himself from crashing into any trees and rocks and so on. "This is bad! This is bad! This is bad!" He keeps repeating to himself as he swiftly avoids them all. After going for just a little bit he hears someone screaming from behind him.

"WRROOOOOAAAAHH!" Kotsu yells now in his dying will form, his clothes gone once more. "I WILL STOP REN WITH MY DYING WILL!" He yells overtaking him after a little more, his legs glowing yellow. He gets past him and gets in front as Ren nears a cliff. He grabs hold of him, hugging him, forcing his feet into the ground to stop him. However he only slows down a little bit. "NOT! ENOUGH! POWER!" He yells gritting his teeth so hard they might crack.

However Ren sees the cliff coming up, and looks down at Kotsu who's in front of him. 'I-If we keep going… Kotsu will fall!' He thinks before he suddenly feels the force driving him to run disappear letting him back in control and he falls forward landing on Kotsu and the two of them slide along the ground until they finally stop right on the edge of the cliff. Both of them get up screaming off the top of their lungs. Kotsu screaming in success and Ren in relief. Kotsu's flame disappears and he returns to normal looking around.

"D-did I do it…?" He asks and sees Ren who's crying. "R-Ren… what's-" he starts but is interrupted as Ren suddenly hugs him, tears rolling down his face.

"I-I'm so sorry Kotsu! Y-you almost fell off a cliff because of me… I-I would've never forgiven myself for that… I'm sorry… t-that's the ONE thing I hate more than violence… is losing you!" He yells falling to his knees in Kotsu's arms, the little brother not used to seeing his big brother crying.

He tries his best to comfort the blonde by hugging him back. "I'm… really happy to hear that Ren… I-I'd never want to lose you either," He says and the two keep hugging until Ren stops crying whipping all the tears away as he gets up.

"W-well I think that's enough running for me for just a little while… I-I'm pretty exhausted," He says laughing a bit and Kotsu joins in.

"Y-yeah… it's been a while since you were completely exhausted huh…?" The two stand there laughing until a strong blow of wind comes from the cliff making Kotsu realize his state of clothes.

Reborn comes through the woods seeing the two stand there and smirks. "So… you stopped him just in time," He says and Ren sees him, swiftly taking off his shoes and handing them to him.

"Mister Reborn! Fix them please! I'd rather they be broken than… like this,"

Reborn just pushes them back refusing to take them. He lets on his classic smirk. "Since you're calm now, you can wear them without trouble. Just don't panic and if you do… just think of what you thought when you stopped," He says turning around going back to his bike. "See you at home,"

At that moment Kotsu realized something. He had to walk home… in his boxers. He was just glad Ren was there to walk with him. "Well Ren… L-let's go home too," He says and Ren nods.

"Yup. I need a shower!" The two laugh a little as they begin their walk home.

-NII-

Reborn walks through the quiet woods, when he suddenly hears a noise coming from behind him and spins on his heel swinging a kick at the person thinking it's an assassin. He misses as the intended target jumps back and leans against a tree. "You really haven't lost your touch Reborn-san," A male voice says.

Reborn just looks at him. "What do you want?"

"I was just checking in to see what your plans are with that kid. I can certainly see his potential… but make sure he's trained properly,"

"YOU are telling ME how to train someone?" The boy laughs.

"Well I AM, at this moment at least, the one most suited to be the next leader of the Vongola. So make sure he can surpass the example I'll set for him,"

Reborn smirks. "And what level is that?"

The boy smirks as well fishing out a weapon from his pocket. "Why don't I show you?" It lights up with an deep orange flame. It appears to be a katar with two curved spikes.

"I'll pass. I can tell just from that how serious you are," Reborn says before once more spinning on his heel once more to leave.

"Very well… I'll see you again soon Reborn-san," He says before jumping into the tree disappearing from sight.

"Weirdo,"