Thank you to all those who took interest in this story! I also want to say a special thanks to my onee-sama (asparklingfairy) that became this chapter's impromptu beta. Without her, I would still be agonizing over everything hahahaha...
As soon as he places his piece on the board, a man lifts his head up, inclining it toward the direction of his home's entrance. Across him, his opponent looks up at him with inquiry in his blue eyes. He needn't give an answer to his opponent, though, for the audible beat of wings against the air is more than enough of an answer for the both of them. Its volume isn't that of a bird's, yet none of them takes alarm since there's only one other person besides them who knows of this place.
"He is quite early today, is he not?" The younger of the two speaks first, hand hovering over the board as he studies the pieces laid out before him. He receives a grunt in reply.
"Eh, it's not like he's following a schedule or something." Tsuyoshi Yamamoto resumes to watching the board when he hears no war cries from outside, a frown making the lines on his face appear deeper to show his displeasure. "You're getting more and more dangerous in this game."
"It's only because you're a great teac—"
There's a loud thud behind him, the impact of the object that hit the floor rattling the board and their shogi pieces. Tsuyoshi sighs as he glumly stares at the prematurely ended game before turning to the cause of this mess, ready to give a lecture on manners and handling things better. His words never leave his mouth, the picture of his son with what seems to be a fourth of his scales displayed freely on his exposed skin stopping his tirade before it even managed to start. Coupled that with his son's shadowed eyes, the marks he assumes are burns that are rapidly healing, and the curled body—unconscious but breathing, he notes with relief—by the feet of the younger dragon, no one can really blame him for being rendered speechless.
"What," he manages to croak out, eyes now fixed on the unconscious form lying on the floor, "is the meaning of this, Takeshi?"
"A dragon tamer," Takeshi Yamamoto answers, the words uttered like a curse. At the edge of his peripheral vision, Tsuyoshi notices his shogi opponent stiffening at the hostility in his son's voice.
Tsuyoshi spares his son a fleeting glance before he continues examining the dragon tamer. He sees no visible physical injuries so far, but that isn't exactly helpful since the only bare skin that he can see is of the tamer's face. Extremely young-looking face. Tsuyoshi glumly looks back up to his son, whose cold stare is still in place. "If he's a dragon tamer, then why bring him here?"
For a second, the air seems to grow heavier, almost suffocating in its weight. The effect is dispelled when Takeshi turns on his heel, leaving his father, their guest, and his...captive behind.
Heaving out another sigh, Tsuyoshi mutters, "Foolish child." He scratches the back of his neck as he moves to approach the dragon tamer, only to be stopped by a hand grasping his elbow. Knowing what's already to come, Tsuyoshi says, "You're a guest, Basil. It won't be gracious of me to let you—"
"I insist." Basil's eyes lit by determination stops him from speaking any further, and Tsuyoshi really can't do anything else aside from watch him gently pick up the unaware dragon tamer off the floor. He takes in the gentleness of Basil's movements and decides that maybe it wasn't Takeshi's anger that caused Basil to freeze earlier.
"Follow me, then." He starts walking deeper inside the house, Basil's soft footsteps following right behind him. Now that he's been given time to process things, Tsuyoshi is glad that Basil readily offered his assistance. This means Tsuyoshi can retreat to his kitchen earlier and have more than ample time to mull over his thoughts and observations.
Heavy eyelids lift up to reveal brown eyes, their owner shivering despite the heavy blanket covering him from neck to toe. Blearily, he takes in the sight of his bedroom's familiar wallpaper, unease creeping into him slowly. Willing his mind to function better through the haze of sleep still clouding his mind, the young child slowly sits cold of the morning quickly embraces him, though the child pays it no mind as his young mind gives him an answer as to why the bed feels colder than before when his hand registers the small amount of warmth at the space to his left and the absence of its source.
Throwing the covers off of him, the small boy jumps off the bed and runs to his slightly opened door, his heart beat loud in his ears. He nearly trips down the stairs four times and nearly bumps against the small table that has his mom's favourite vase on top before he manages to reach the kitchen. His mother's head shoots up at the sound of his ragged breathing, surprise making her forget to hide the despair in her eyes.
"Tsu-kun," Nana starts, voice pained and guilty.
That's all it takes to make the tears roll down a young Tsuna's cheeks.
Trying to roll over to his side, Tsuna's groan turns into a yelp when sharp pain slices through his sleep-fogged mind. There's a movement beside him, cold hands gently urging him to lay on his back once more. Tsuna doesn't resist, the pain clouding his judgement at the moment. A soft voice reaches his ears, the words that are uttered completely alien to him and then there's something cold pressing at the area on his neck that aches badly. In under a minute, the pain subsides and Tsuna more or less could focus on anything else besides wanting to die.
"Does that alleviate some of the pain?"
Tsuna turns his head a bit toward the origin of the soft voice, eyes opening to meet blue ones. His heart falters in his chest, throat constricting as memories of what happened before he lost consciousness rushing back to him. The person watching him must have noticed, concern etched on their face while they wait for Tsuna's response.
"I'm— yeah, it does. Thank you," Tsuna says weakly once he's managed to suppress an incoming anxiety attack. Still, it's getting harder and harder for him to breathe, his mind urging him to sit up. Tsuna tries to do so and is dismayed when he finds his arms too weak to even move let alone push himself up. A frustrated noise escapes him, alerting his companion of his distress.
"Here, let me assist you." Before moving to do so, his caretaker looks at Tsuna for approval, which Tsuna grants him through nodding slightly. Slowly, Tsuna is able to sit up with the aid of his helper, his chest loosening gradually once he's up until he can breathe more easily again. The hands on the small of his back and arm somehow become a source of comfort for Tsuna in his disorientation.
"Thank you," he tells his companion once again, to which he gets a reply in the form of a small yet warm smile.
"You're welcome." The hands supporting him relinquish their hold on him to retrieve a glass of water sitting at the tray set by the foot of the futon that Tsuna's currently resting on. Tsuna takes the offered glass with another mumbled thanks before he gulps its contents greedily, thankful for the alleviation of the parchness of his throat that's brought on by each gulp.
Once he's emptied it, Tsuna cradles the cold glass in between his hands as he regards his caretaker. Only then is he able to take it the other's features, like their dirty blonde hair and the rather androgynous make of their face. What really catches Tsuna's attention the most are the blue eyes that remind Tsuna of a certain swordsman, though whereas Yamamoto's eyes were cold back then, the eyes currently studying him back are warm despite the coolness of their colour.
His intuition starts nagging at him then, which Tsuna brushes off when he suddenly remembers his manners. "I'm sorry for not asking earlier but, what's your name? I'm Tsuna, by the way."
Tsuna most definitely doesn't blush when the other person chuckles in a fond way. He does catch the flash of something those blue eyes, passing so fast that Tsuna thinks he must have just imagined it.
"Do you think it wise to just give your name out to a stranger?" Tsuna is most definitely blushing by now, his cheeks and the tips of his ears tinged with pink. The questioning voice holds no malice, though, only fondness (which makes Tsuna wonder why that's so in the first place).
Deciding to take mercy on his blushing charge, the stranger says, "I am Basil, young master Tsuna. It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance."
Tsuna sputters at the title that he's given, garnering another chuckle from Basil and a light dismissal to the attempts to get him to drop the title. Their friendly banter is interrupted when the door slides open, revealing a middle-aged man with a white cloth wrapped around his forehead and a mature face that reminds Tsuna of Yamamoto. He's carrying another tray, this time with a bowl where light wisps of steam are rising up from and another glass of water. His eyes, alarmingly similar to Yamamoto's, takes in the scene before him.
"And here I thought you were gonna sleep for the whole week." Stepping inside the room and using his foot to slide the door shut beside him, the man hands the tray over to Basil. He then passes by Tsuna's bed to approach the windows, sliding one open and sitting at the frame. Outside, the sky is being painted orange by the setting sun.
Knowing that Tsuna's been following him with his eyes, the man sighs and says, "Eat first. Believe me, you'll need all the energy that you can get, since I have as much questions to ask you as you probably do."
"I, uhm," Tsuna starts, pausing to steady the tray with the bowl of soup that Basil places on his lap. "Thank you, Mister…" He purposely trails off, letting his question hang in the air.
The man sighs in irritation while Basil answers, "Tsuyoshi Yamamoto, the master of this house."
Before Tsuna can utter a word, Tsuyoshi grumbles, "Alternatively, you can refer to me as the father of the dragon who took you here." There's a pause, then, "He didn't kidnap you in an attempt to anger your group or anything like that, didn't he? Heaven knows that I really can't deal with placating a hoard of dragon tamers searching for their lost comrade."
"Your son isn't the type to do such petty things," Basil tells the man, voice bordering on reprimanding.
Tsuna, on the other hand, is trying his hardest not to faint once again. He is somehow in Yamamoto's house, alive despite his occupation as a dragon tamer being known, and talking to Yamamoto's father who is most likely to be another rain dragon. Basil, he thinks, must be a dragon, too. He doesn't notice that his hands have been shaking until lighter ones— Basil's, his mind helpfully supplies— cover his.
"Is...is he—"
"No, he's not around at the moment," Tsuyoshi answers his unfinished question. "Don't worry your head off about him. He'll be back before you know it."
"You must eat first, young master Tsuna." Basil merely smiles at the displeased noise that Tsuna makes. "Your body needs it terribly for you have been out of commission for nearly two days now."
Tsuna's eyes nearly falls off their sockets at that, even more so when his stomach makes an embarrassingly loud growl. Chin tucked to his chest to hide his mortified blush, Tsuna begins eating, enjoying the tranquility that has been bestowed on him for the time being.
Contrary to the peace that Tsuna is basking in, the younger Yamamoto is currently fighting viciously against an equally, if not more, vicious Hibari Kyoya. Not long after he dropped Tsuna unceremoniously in front of his father, Takeshi flew out once again, his rage still bubbling inside him. He lands at the same spot where he felled the other dragon tamer, unsurprised to see Hibari and his most trusted man, Kusakabe, already securing the area for investigation. Hibari turns to him and it's all the warning that Takeshi gets. Birds fly away from their perches when the sound of weapons hitting each other echoed through the forest, subsequently followed by more of the same noise.
That was nearly two days ago, though neither fighters are willing to back down, not yet. Wounds and bruises are scattered all over their bodies, some more serious than the others.
Takeshi presses the back of his hand at the right side of his chin, not the least bit surprised that it's coated with red when he looks down at it. He also takes cursory note of his shredded pants and shirt and the dirt that coats his limbs.
"This is pointless, Yamamoto Takeshi." Above him, standing on a large boulder, is his opponent. Hibari only has his slacks and white-turned-brown shirt, both obviously unusable after this fight due to the huge tears and holes that now decorate them, and tonfas on his person. Exhaustion can be seen at the barely there slump of his shoulders, but Takeshi knows that Hibari is never one to give up so soon.
He is proven right when Hibari demands, "You cannot protect him forever. Hand over the herbivore from Vongola so that I can bite him to death for causing disturbance here in Namimori."
Takeshi doesn't know which sets him off— whether it be Hibari's demand or his insinuation that Takeshi's protecting that dragon tamer-
Takeshi snarls and lunges toward Hibari, starting their battle anew.
Right after he finished his meal, Tsuyoshi orders him to go to sleep and tells him that they'll talk tomorrow. When the door closes, Basil assures Tsuna that Tsuyoshi isn't normally this irritable, though his son's actions have made his more stern parental side to rear its head up.
"I see…" Tsuna mutters, guilt showing in his face as he replays what happened back in the woods. Flashes of Yamamoto's frantic shouts and his cold blue eyes make Tsuna grip his blanket tighter. He momentarily forgets that Basil has yet to leave the room, so immersed at the thought of losing his first friend and the depression that it gives him.
"Young master Tsuna," Basil starts, politely not commenting on the way Tsuna startles. "Whatever it is that happened between the two of you, I am certain that things will be sorted out in the end. The young master of this house isn't one to hold grudges for long."
Shiny brown eyes peer up to Basil from underneath wet lashes, the hope and helplessness warring behind the tears causing Basil's heart to skip a beat. "Do you really think so, Basil?" Tsuna's voice is laced with uncertainty and fear, lending more to the image of a boy lost that he is projecting at the moment. It tugs at Basil's protective instincts, something that he doesn't truly want to resist.
Still, he can't just carelessly give Tsuna a confirmation to what he is hoping for, for even he is as much of an amateur as Tsuna is when it comes to reading the younger Yamamato. Instead, Basil settles with saying, "Have faith that tomorrow will be a better day, young master Tsuna."
To his relief, Tsuna lets himself be tucked in bed by Basil. He thinks it's partly because he seems to be very deep in thought, but he doesn't believe that fully since Tsuna's eyes are sharper now than they were earlier. The browns of Tsuna's irises have turned into golden amber due to reflecting the light from the lamp, and Basil finds that he can't break his gaze away from them even if he tried with all his might.
"Basil?" Tsuna's voice is merely above a whisper, piquing Basil's curiosity. He hums, a sign for Tsuna to continue. "You might think me crazy for saying this but...I feel like I've seen...like I've known you before."
Basil's expression morphs into a melancholic one, simultaneously mesmerizing and worrying Tsuna. He opens his mouth to speak, to say sorry in case he has managed to offend his caretaker, but he doesn't get to say anything when Basil shakes his head. His soft smile is back in place, no trace of melancholy or distress in his face.
"Those words make me happy, young master Tsuna," Basil whispers cryptically. He then bids Tsuna goodnight and leaves the room to let Tsuna rest.
Unfortunately, it doesn't cross his mind that now he's left Tsuna with more things to contemplate about aside from trying to salvage his friendship with Yamamoto. Tsuna wishes that he could simply let go of Basil's enigmatic words, but his blasted intuition is hellbent on not making him dismiss it so easily.
"Ugh, there goes a good night's sleep." Not that he needed it after being asleep for a whole day and a half. Not at all.
"Tsu-kun, I'm sorry. Stop crying now, please?"
Nana is at a loss as to how she can make her son stop crying, not when even she has tears running down her eyes. The shroud of loneliness that had been a constant in her son's life has finally been lifted, yet now it's returning with a heavier weight when fate plays a cruel joke on her son by making his father as this story's antagonist.
Tsuyoshi opens their discussion with, "Tell me you didn't try to force a bond to my son."
The statement alone is bad enough by itself, but the sight of the older Yamamoto polishing a knife that he just used to cut fish makes Tsuna's face go pale in record time. He vehemently shakes his head from side to side, trembling a little under the harsh scrutiny of the older man.
"Hm," Tsuyoshi says once he's deemed that Tsuna isn't lying. He inspects the knife, turning it this way and that way. He can feel Tsuna apprehensively watch the knife closely. "If that isn't what's got his inner drama queen out, then what is?" The knife slides smoothly in its place on the cutlery block, Tsuna's apprehension visibly leaving his face as more of the metal slides out of sight.
"I—it's...I'm not sure myself." He visibly flinches at the Tsuyoshi's annoyed glare. "I, uhm, I got kidnapped. By another dragon tamer. He used me to be the bait— to lure out the rain dragon rumored to be in Namimori." There's no point in lying; Tsuna is this close to saying that Tsuyoshi has hyper intuition himself. The older Yamamoto just seems to know.
"Huh." Tsuyoshi waves his hand for Tsuna to continue while grabbing a bowl of rice and a sheet of dried seaweed.
Squirming, Tsuna rubs his palms on the fabric of his pants, continuing, "I never...told him. About my occup—about being a dragon tamer. It's not an introduction that I'm used to give." Because I'm a failure for a dragon tamer, anyway. "And it's not really safe to announce yourself as a dragon tamer right off the bat. Not with groups threatening to flay dragon tamers on sight prowl across the lands."
"Also because you're on some secret mission, too, right?" Tsuyoshi scoffs at the guilt that prevails in Tsuna's red face. "Listen, kid, I don't know what you've been promised for this job, but you best forget about trying to take any dragon from Namimori."
A silence filled with tension blankets them, Tsuyoshi deftly making sushi while Tsuna stares a hole at the table. The older man thinks that that's how Basil will find them, immersed in their own thoughts without having said another word to each other. To his surprise, he hears Tsuna take a deep breath to fortify himself.
"I haven't really thought of finding the rain dragon that much. Not since Yamamoto b...befriended me." Tsuna nearly falters on his last words, regret and longing clearly written all over his face.
Then he looks up at Tsuyoshi with wide, pleading eyes, the sheer intensity of desperation in them shocking Tsuyoshi. "You...you have to believe me when I say that I didn't make friends with him because he's a dragon; I didn't even know that he was a dragon until that man kidnapped me to use me as bait!"
Tsuna bites at his bottom lip hard while he fights the tears back, and Tsuyoshi sees now why his son is so angry. He sighs as he laments at the fact that he will have to step in as opposed to just be a spectator to this mess.
Besides, he can call in a favor from a certain person if he does manage to fix this mess.
When he's finished with slicing the sushi rolls, Tsuyoshi arranges them on a plate, letting Tsuna collect himself after his outburst. Once he's done, he sets the plate down in front of Tsuna and tells him, "Remember those words and repeat them to the correct Yamamoto."
Tsuyoshi has never seen so much hope and relief reflected in a human's eyes before, and decides right then and there that, yes, there's no doubt that this is the person that has captured his son's loyalty.
Even if they're both still oblivious about it.
The day quickly turns to night, and Tsuna finds himself wandering to the front door after exploring around the small house. It didn't take long for him to walk through all of the house, save for the bedrooms located at the east, since it only has one floor. He took great care not to wander to the rooms and not to open any cupboards earlier, for fear of breaking the tiny bit of trust that the elder Yamamoto has granted him so far. He did take pleasure at examining the wooden carvings that adorned the top of the bookshelf in the living room and the books underneath them. Most of the titles that he saw are all about swordsmanship, a few about cooking, and a handful about history. There's not much to look at after that, the entire house rather bare aside from the essentials. It doesn't detract from making it feel homey, though.
Tsuna stares at the door for a moment, suddenly unsure if he's allowed to go outside or not. He tries to remember if he's been referred to as a prisoner or anything of the sort, but Tsuyoshi and Basil haven't treated him as one so far. Pondering over the matter for a few more seconds, Tsuna decides that it shouldn't be too much of a problem if he just stayed around the house. That's not so bad, right?
Making up his mind, Tsuna opens the door and immediately gasps at the sight that he's greeted with. Instead of a pavement or dirt road, he sees a small area of rough ground before the, he hazards, edge of a cliff. Based on the forest being reduced to mere patches of greens and blues, Tsuna estimates that the house must be 18,000-foot high above ground. Dizziness instantly assaults him, though it isn't strong enough to make his knees buckle under him.
"Young master Tsuna!" Basil calls out to him somewhere from the left. He jogs up to Tsuna, face flushed and appearing to be quite short of breath.
"Are you okay, Basil?" Tsuna asks, meeting Basil halfway and checking him for anything that's amiss. He lets out a sigh of relief when Basil nods and notes how the small smile on Basil's lips widen at his concern.
"Out exploring?" It's Tsuna's turn to nod, glad when Basil doesn't frown or show disagreement with his current venture. "Ah, if that is the case, please follow me. There's a spot with the most marvelous view of the sunset just around the corner that may be of more interest to you, young master Tsuna."
Tsuna pouts at the title tacked before his name; he's been trying to get Basil to drop it ever since their first conversation, but Basil is adamant and won't change his mind regarding the matter. He decides not to comment on it this time, opting to nod for Basil to lead the way. Basil readily leads the way and Tsuna wonders why he is radiating so much delight.
When they turn around the corner, Tsuna sees stairs carved on the mountain, leading up to what he guesses is the true summit of the mountain that they're on. He really doesn't like the idea of going up further, but Basil's excitement at showing Tsuna what lies up ahead erases down any reluctance from his mind. Taking in a fortifying breath, Tsuna follows Basil closely, eyes stubbornly set on the rough surface of the stairs.
The night's chilly wind ruffles his hair softly when they finally reach the summit. Tsuna isn't able to stop the gasp that escapes his lips, eyes wide as he drinks in the scene of the sun painting the skies red as it descends down the horizon. Silhouettes of various mountains are scattered all around them, parts of them hidden by a few errant low-hanging clouds that crawl by. He's seen the sunset so many times back in Vongola, but that can't compare to the one before him right now. Without the obstructions caused by the countless buildings that made up the city of Vongola, Tsuna can clearly see the splashes of reds and oranges that currently dominate the usually blue skies.
"It's beautiful," he whispers, completely mesmerized to the point that he forgets everything else.
"Indeed," Basil agrees, though his eyes aren't focused on the sunset before them.
Instead, they're trained on the boy beside him.
"Ah! Mr. Yamamoto!" Haru exclaims, opening the door wider and ushering the man inside her store. She locks it behind her and motions for the man to follow her as she walks toward the door at the back. "Thank goodness you're here! I was just going out to send a message to you when you arrived."
"Sorry if my idiot son has caused you trouble," Tsuyoshi genuinely apologises. He frowns at the strained smile that Haru gives him.
"It's no problem at all! It's just...I have never seen Yamamoto this...like this." Haru chews on the inside of her cheek as she stops before the door. "He's all bruised and wounded but he won't let me help him clean his wounds. He's just sitting there on the chair…"
Tsuyoshi places his hand on Haru's shoulder and gently squeezes it. "You've done more than enough, Haru, and thank you for that." His lips quirk up in a small smile when the shadow on Haru's eyes lifts up. "I'd like to ask one more favor from you though. Can you lend us your home for a bit?"
Haru doesn't hesitate in giving her agreement, smiling at Tsuyoshi as she steps away from the door. "Just—don't touch my sewing tools, okay?" Haru tells him before turning on her heel and walking out of her shop to give the two men privacy.
Tsuyoshi allows himself to smile briefly, waiting until he hears the front door shut. Once he's sure that Haru's shop is empty save for him and his son, he then proceeds to open the door and walk inside the seamstress' living quarters. It's as neat as a part-home, part-workshop could be, the tables that are pushed against the walls drowning under heaps upon heaps of fabric and threads. Tsuyoshi walks past all of them, not even bothering to glance around as he goes straight to the reason of his visit here in Namimori.
He finally finds his son sitting beside a window, wounds unattended to and every inch of his skin covered with bruises. Tsuyoshi scrunches up his nose in disgust. "You better not be thinking about bleeding yourself dead here. It's impolite to Haru."
Takeshi only shrugs in response, showing Tsuyoshi that his son is at least listening to him. Inspecting his son's wounds closer, Tsuyoshi sees that they are healing, though very slowly. He sighs in exasperation at this, pulling one of the chairs over and setting it in front of his son. Nudging Takeshi's leg, Tsuyoshi schools his expression into a stern one when his son finally looks at him.
"This is absolutely ridiculous and pointless," he starts.
Irritation creeps into Takeshi's face at the familiar statement. "So Hibari said."
"Then you should've realized by now that it is." Tsuyoshi nudges Takeshi at the leg with his foot again when the younger dragon turns his gaze back outside the window. He scoffs at the irritated noise that Takeshi makes. "It's been a while since you've thrown a tantrum as magnificently as this. All because of a dragon tamer, hmm?"
Takeshi's eyes flash dangerously at that, deep blue replacing the brown that the people of Namimori would be accustomed to. His usually smiling lips are set in a grim line, eyebrows furrowed together as he glares a hole in his father's amused face.
"He doesn't fit the category of dragon tamers that you've trained yourself to hate on principle, so I don't understand why you're trying so hard to fit him in it." Tsuyoshi crosses his arms over his chest, watching every bit of reaction that Takeshi does. "It's pointless forcing Tsuna—" Takeshi bristles at the name. "—in that category. Not when even you are not convinced that he is that type of person."
The ticking of the clock is the only sound that prevails in the silence that follows. Tsuyoshi patiently waits as his son stews on what he just said, a myriad of emotions reflected on his face. He has faith that Takeshi will be able to sort out his feelings, and on the unlikely chance that Takeshi fails...well, a good smack at the head might do the trick.
"He kept it from me," Takeshi eventually says, eyes now glaring a hole at the floor rather than at his father's face.
"Which is the sensible thing to do," Tsuyoshi counters. "They may not be as widely hunted compared to us dragons, but I know that you are not ignorant at the fact that dragon tamers are also being scorned and targeted for what they are regardless of their beliefs and attitudes concerning dragons."
Takeshi falls silent again, letting ten minutes pass before he puts into words what really has been bothering him.
"Did he...were we even friends?"
With another sigh, Tsuyoshi can only say, "Only he can tell you that."
"May I ask you something, young master Tsuna?"
They're back inside the house, cradling steaming mugs between their hands as they sit across each other inside Tsuna's room. After the sun had set and stars began dotting the darkened skies, Basil had steered him back to the house lest he freeze in the cold mountain air. Tsuna finds that he gets along with Basil as easily as he did with Yamamoto. Though he suspects that the other man is also a dragon, he doesn't ask, as is his usual protocol regarding new acquaintances. Basil doesn't seem to think that it's an important fact to bring up, so Tsuna won't, either.
"Of course," Tsuna answer him as he blows at his hot drink.
"You have the right to decline to answer, though I'm afraid that I really am curious as to why you took up dragon taming." Basil doesn't comment on how Tsuna's shoulders slump.
"I don't know." Tsuna rests his cup on his lap, thumb tracing the rim. "I mean, I do know. It's a...family thing, kind of like a tradition, so to speak." When Basil doesn't interrupt him, Tsuna continues. "My dad, he's a good— no, a great dragon tamer. Or so I heard from the people back at home."
Basil reviews his words in his head before saying, "Should I assume that he's your inspiration for being a dragon tamer?"
Tsuna smiles sardonically, a smile that Basil thinks doesn't fit him. "I suppose. After all, sons usually want to follow their father's footsteps, since a father is every little boy's own personal hero."
"You do not share the same sentiment, do you?" Tsuna goes rigid then, face blank and devoid of warmth.
"I...well, I can't really consider someone who I barely know as my own personal hero, right?" Tsuna glances up at Basil, desperately wishing for a subject change.
It must have shown on his face since Basil says, "Ah. ...how have you found dragon taming so far? It seems like it must be filled with excitement, is it not?"
Tsuna's laugh, while not possessing the sardonic quality that his earlier smile did, still manages to unsettle Basil by being painfully fake. "It's...fine. Exciting, yes, though I've only watched other dragon tamers in action with dragons from a distance."
"A distance?"
"I'm bad, really bad at anything I do including dragon taming." Tsuna averts his eyes, feeling his cheeks burn at his admission of his incompetence. "I, uhm, haven't bonded with a dragon before. Not because I didn't try, of course. It's just hard for me to bond with a dragon that's trained to be a...a tool. They can talk, too, you know? Even the ones that were raised in captivity. I just couldn't shackle one of them to me, and I think those dragons didn't want that, either. A bond can never really formed between a tamer and a dragon when there is not even a tiny sliver of acceptance between the two."
"There are dragon tamers who force dragons to submit to them though, are there not?" Basil says, taking in the details of the shadows that darken Tsuna's amber eyes.
"Yes. And they are despicable for being able to bend another sentient being to their whims without feeling remorse." The fire of the lamp between them flickers, casting shadows on Tsuna's face that made him feel of danger.
Basil regards this Tsuna before him with quiet fascination, mulling over how such a meek and harmless dragon tamer molds so perfectly into the very picture of resolution and contained threat despite being polar opposites of one another. He also considers how Tsuna has caught Takeshi's interest long enough for him to be so wholly affected by the revelation of Tsuna being in the profession the public claims to be the dragons' mortal enemy, not to mention the sudden shifting of the mists right after the death of the other dragon tamer.
Not that he needed all these to impact his decision that he had already made so many years ago.
Basil suddenly breaks the silence with, "May I…implore of you utter the words you use to form a bond?"
It takes a moment for Tsuna to comprehend the question that is not quite a change in topic but unexpected in its nature, he scrambles to come up with a response. "I— yes, but mine is kind of...bad." Tsuna's gaze falls down to the floor at Basil's reproachful look, thumb tracing the rim of his cup again. "Each incantation is different, since the tamer is the one who composes it. It's a recent practice, about three decades old, and the elders haven't tried to stir up a big fuss about it since it makes it easier for us to use our own words instead of someone else's from centuries past. ...I wasn't born to be a poet, Basil," Tsuna adds, trying to dissuade him one last time.
"Then that is all the more reason why I need to hear yours. " When Tsuna still looks very reluctant, Basil shamelessly says, "Please?" with an expression that he knows is hard to resist.
Much to his delight, his antics prove to be effective as Tsuna huffs and murmurs something suspiciously close to 'outrageous'. Basil doesn't mind, though, not when it lets him get what he wants. Tsuna opens his mouth, then closes it due to embarrassment. He repeats this process a few more times before he finally says:
upon the land i traverse
and the skies you fly
your loyalty i request
for my mortal life
be my wings
and, i, your will
Euphoria floods Tsuna's entire being, startling him into snapping his gaze up. What he sees is…
Tsuna sees himself staring back with wide eyes, confusion painted clearly across his face.
The fire flickers once, twice, and then it's Basil staring back at him with wide eyes instead of himself. Tsuna wonders if his mind just played a trick on him, that thought suddenly forgotten when he catches sight of the angry red lines that are peeking out from underneath Basil's left sleeve. Basil follows his gaze, blue eyes widening a fraction as he takes in the the red lines that stand out against his pale skin. Pulling his sleeve up, the entirety of the red lines across the inside of his wrist, forming a name—his name, Tsuna realizes with horror— is revealed.
Neither of them moves for a beat, then Tsuna is scrambling toward Basil, nearly knocking over the lamp in his haste. He cradles Basil's wrist between his hands, gawking at it as he tries to comprehend how his name ended up being inked on it. A litany of apologies and promises to undo whatever he just did pours out from Tsuna's lips, eyes frantic when he looks up at Basil.
He stops when Basil shakes his head, a smile on his lips. "There is no need for that, young master Tsuna. It is more than an honor to be bound to you."
Outside the room, Tsuyoshi chuckles. "Seems all your worrying is unfounded, golden lion." Inclining his head to the right, he adds, "Isn't that right, Takeshi?"
Back in Vongola, a tall, blond man flanked at the sides by his most trusted subordinates passes through the heavy gates of the city, his blank face belying the excitement that he's feeling. It has nearly been a year since he last set foot in Vongola, the shortest of his excursions so far. On his right arm are souvenirs that he got from the Cavallone city, a dress and a handful of jewelry for Nana and an outstandingly garish mug with painted figures of a father and son for Tsuna. Oregano, the woman currently on his right, commented back at the Cavallone that such a thing shouldn't even exist, let alone be given to anyone as a gift.
"Perhaps you should've taken something else for your son. I can fly back to Cavallone if you'd like," Oregano proposes once more as they pass by saluting soldiers. She sighs when her boss merely laughs boisterously.
"Nonsense! There's no need for you to waste your energy, Oregano, not when this here is already the most perfect gift!" Iemitsu Sawada plucks the mug from his bag, turning it this way and that way while he hums appreciatively. "My little Tsu-kun is very fond of colorful things. I'm confident that he will love this!"
Oregano grimaces for Tsuna's sake and opts to instead pull her companion, Turmeric, to the path leading to the Vongola mansion. They both know from experience that Iemitsu would rather risk the Vongola Nono's wrath than not go straight to his family upon arriving at Vongola. To indulge their boss, both she and Turmeric always go ahead of him to brief the Vongola Nono about how their journeys have went while Iemitsu pays his family a visit.
"We are giving you half an hour," she shouts to him over her shoulder. She just hopes that Iemitsu heard her or else there will be punches thrown later.
Merrily going the other way toward his house, Iemitsu whistles a happy tune to himself. He can't keep the large smile off his face as he imagines how Nana and Tsuna will react when they see him at their front step. Surprised, perhaps? Though he hopes that surprise is followed by a burst of happiness; the last time he came home, Tsuna had been reserved around him, not meeting his eyes and only talking when he was prompted to.
Iemitsu doesn't take long to reach his destination: a medium-sized house with two floors and a garden at the front that's well-tended to. He examines the beige paint peeling off the wooden walls and the broken part of the fence, taking a mental note to make arrangements for house renovations before he leaves. Skipping the last few steps toward the door, Iemitsu stands to his full height and clears his throat. He lets a few seconds tick by before knocking loudly to the door, excitement radiating off him. He wonders if it's Nana's smiling face or Tsuna's shocked one that'll greet him when the door opens.
What he's not prepared for is Nana's saddened face and wide, watery eyes, looking red as though she's been crying for days. For the first time since they were married, Nana Sawada doesn't jump into his arms with a shout of joy. Instead, she stays rooted at her spot, half of her body hidden behind the door as tears make her eyes shine. "Iemitsu, Tsu-kun is—"
Gifts forgotten, Iemitsu quickly rushes forward to hug Nana when her shoulders shook. "What about Tsuna? Did something happen to him, Nana?"
Nana doesn't speak for a while, her sobs echoing at the unusually silent house. Iemitsu can already feel dread choking him by each second that passes, the only thing he could do being letting Nana cry while he rubs soothing circles at her back. He's never seen her so broken until now.
"Nana?" He prompts again, his large hands gentle as he cradles her face between them. Iemitsu is normally not a patient man, but he will wait for as long as he's needed to when it comes to Nana.
"Tsu-kun, he—" Nana hiccups, obviously pushing her sobs down so that she can talk. "He hasn't...written in a week. A-And—"
"Written?" Iemitsu repeats, confusion apparent in his frowning face. "What do you mean written? Where is Tsuna?"
Tears slide down to Nana's cheeks, her lips trembling. "Nami...mori. He went there u-upon the Vongola Nono's request. His first m-mission. He hasn't written, and w-when I went to the market yesterday, they said the road to N-Namimori is blocked for i-investigation because..."
Iemitsu watches his wife inhale deeply, waits with baited breath as Nana tries to force the words out from her lips. When he hears them, it's like being doused with ice water.
"A dragon tamer is reported have died."
Timoteo places the paper that has just been delivered to him down on his desk, face set in a stern expression as the panicked yells of the guards outside grow louder. At his back Nougat and Ganauche are both standing tall and alert. In front of them are Oregano and Turmeric, who wait uneasily for the doors to burst open. It's not long before the mahogany doors nearly fly off their hinges, the wood banging against the walls. A livid Iemitsu is revealed, with disheveled guards behind him.
"Leave us," Timoteo orders them, which they readily obey. They depart, leaving the hallway deserted except for the seething blond man. "Welc—"
"You had no right," Iemitsu cuts him off as he stalks inside the room. The tension in the room skyrockets.
Timoteo closes his mouth and regards the man before him silently. He carefully picks his words out, knowing that even the smallest slip will set off the rage of Vongola's famed golden lion. "Tsunayoshi is not as fragile as you think he is, Iemitsu. Caging him within these walls isn't the right thing to do, nor is not helping him be better with the one thing that he thinks will make him a son that you'll be proud of. "
"That isn't something that you know!" Iemitsu bellows, his rage projected at the loudness of his voice. "He takes after Nana more than me—"
"Are you implying that Nana is weak?" Timoteo challenges him.
"No!" is Iemitsu's immediate answer. "What I'm getting at is that he doesn't have our cursed blood in him. He is not made for dragon taming; it's too dangerous a thing for him to be dabbling with! And you just had to send him off on a mission with no one to aid him. Are you out of your mind? Do you know how it feels to not know where your child is?"
"I do."
The reply effectively put a stop to Iemitsu tirade. This time a heavy rather than calculating silence settles over them. Iemitsu's mind slowly works through Timoteo's words and the sorrow that he exudes. He tries to convince himself that this is an act for Timoteo to calm him down, but his intuition screams otherwise.
In the end, he manages to hiss out, "Tsuna hasn't written in a week, and there's a dead dragon tamer in Namimori." Anger is still in his voice, though it's subdued and laced by exhaustion. After spending an hour comforting his wife, he had asked their neighbor Kurokawa to watch over Nana before rushing into Timoteo's office.
Timoteo neither confirms nor denies it. He only says, "Have faith in your son. He's got strength that belies his appearance."
Basil slides the door shut once he has managed to calm Tsuna down. He can't help but smile at the image of Tsuna repeatedly asking him if he's sure that he doesn't want for the bond to be reversed. At the same time, Tsuna's repeated attempts to convince Basil to let him undo the bond unsettles him, since it is telling of what Tsuna thinks of himself.
"You are not unworthy of me, young master Tsuna." He remembers Tsuna's breath hitching at those words, like he couldn't believe that someone thought he's even worthy of anything, much less the bond of a dragon.
A movement by the shadows pulls Basil from his thoughts, his light blue eyes meeting navy ones. He offers a wry smile to the new arrival, walking closer so that he can whisper his words. "You've taken far too long to return, young master Takeshi."
Takeshi glares at him, blood boiling with annoyance at Basil's taunt. "Never knew you were one to use deceit."
Basil shrugs, walking past Takeshi toward his room. "I don't dawdle when it comes to the things that I want."
Back in his room, Tsuna is oblivious to what's happening just outside the hallway. Despite having been given about a hundred assurances that Basil definitely doesn't want for their bond to be broken, Tsuna still can't believe that he'd managed to bond a dragon to him. No matter that it was unintentional, Tsuna can't take the image of his name inked in red on Basil's wrist off his mind. He also feels...less lonely, which is something foreign to him.
His mind keeps on looping through these thoughts, making him toss and turn restlessly. Finally, when he has accepted that sleep is never going to come to him tonight, Tsuna slips on his jacket and boots. Being as silent as possible, he ventures outside, shivering at the first touch of the cold night air against his skin. He just stands there by the door for a minute, breathing in the fresh air to clear his mind. It works momentarily before he's once again assaulted by memories of his bond with Basil now mixed with how Yamamoto is still angry at him.
What will he think when he finds out about my bond with Basil?
Tsuna's mind conjures up a myriad of scenarios, most of them with Yamamoto exclaiming bitterly that he's no better than the dragon tamer from days before. Tsuna suddenly feels even colder at the thought of Yamamoto believing that he only befriended him because of what he is—a dragon—and not because of who he is as an individual.
In an attempt to distract himself, Tsuna starts walking to the only other place that he can go to. The bright moon above is as beautiful as the sunset that Basil showed him earlier, urging Tsuna to climb the stairs faster. When he does reach the top, he quickly forgets the moon though, eyes immediately falling to the lone form by the edge of the cliff.
Yamamoto is looking at him silently, as though he has been waiting for Tsuna the whole time. His eyes have gone back to a brown color, but under the moonlight, they don't feel warm like they did when Tsuna and he hung out around Namimori. Tsuna tries his hardest not to be too disappointed, a battle that was lost from the start. He tries to gauge the feelings in the expression Yamamoto's regards him with, his task proving to be hard because of the distance between them. Tsuna doesn't dare to take a step closer, though, not wanting to upset Yamamoto more than he already did.
Shifting his weight awkwardly from foot to foot, Tsuna says, "Hi." It sounds painfully weak and uncertain to his ears, which is exactly how he feels at this moment. When Yamamoto doesn't reply, Tsuna lets his gaze fall to the ground.
If it were anyone else Tsuna knows he would give up know, but Yamamoto was - is his first real friend and he can't leave things unresolved between them like this, so he takes a deep breath and recalls the things that he told Tsuyoshi. Lifting his gaze, he once more stares straight into Yamamoto's eyes and says., "I...I know that you think that I became friends with you because of...you being a dragon. That is not the case, and I hope you believe me. It's true that I am on a mission to find and bring back a rain dragon to Vongola, but I never even knew you were one until I was kidnapped and used to bait you."
Tsuna cringes at how his words sound like a really pathetic excuse, which is obviously what Yamamoto thinks as well, since he scoffs before saying, "Couldn't you have thought of something more believable instead of that flimsy excuse?"
Tsuna's sight blurs with barely held-back tears at Yamamoto's dismissive and condescending tone. It's a side of Yamamoto's he hasn't seen since he arrived in Namimori, and now Tsuna desperately wishes he could turn back time, to go back to when he and Yamamoto were at each other's side rather than the standoff they are locked in now. He trembles in a way that has nothing to do with the cold, and he laughs at how pathetic he must look like to Yamamoto right now.
"No," he forces to say despite the lump in his throat. "No, I couldn't. Think of a better excuse, that is. Because...because I am pathetic. I'm a pathetic excuse for a dragon tamer—"
"Didn't seem like it when you formed that bond with Basil." Yamamoto's voice is now laced with contempt, his anger slowly becoming more visible in his expression. "You're telling me now that you didn't befriend me because I'm a dragon because you've already gotten what you needed, right?"
Tsuna furiously shakes his head from side to side, misery rendering him unable to speak when the worst scenario that his mind came up with is playing right in front of his eyes. "That's not true!" It hurt his throat to shout so loudly, but Tsuna could care less, not when his too fragile first friendship with the rain dragon is close to shattering.
Yamamoto doesn't seem the least bit convinced, though. He turns to face Tsuna fully before asking, "Was our friendship even real?"
"Of course!" Tsuna wants to run up to Yamamoto and shake him, to make him realize that their friendship is genuine. "I-I really like you, Yamamoto! As a person, as a friend, and I'm really, really thankful to have met you. You...the friendship that you extended to me, it's...like a gift and just...thank you." Tsuna's falters, but he soldiers on to say, "Thank you for letting me be your friend. Even if...it was just b-briefly. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed our time together."
Yamamoto takes all of this in with a flat expression, not giving Tsuna a clue as to what's going on in his head. He's regarding him with less anger in his eyes now though; making room for contemplation tinged with uncertainty. Despite Tsuna's words and the sincerity behind them, Yamamoto still feels doubt lurking at his mind. Only when he resolves to distrust Tsuna his father's words repeat themselves inside his head— "It's pointless forcing Tsuna in that category. Not when even you are not convinced that he is that type of person." —and he can't help wondering whether he's still trying to fool himself into believing that Tsuna isn't honest, that he's just like the other dragon tamers out there that aim to harm his kind. After all, he's taught himself early on that words alone can never be trusted.
Looking up at the dark skies illuminated by the moon, Yamamoto closes his eyes and asks, What's the one thing that humans aren't so willing to let go of?
Tsuna watches with dread when Yamamoto takes on step backward, a sense of déjà vu spurring him into action. He's running before he knows it, cursing his short stature when Yamamoto takes another step backward, and another, and another—
Nana shouts at him, pleading, as she tries to reach him before he takes the last step backward. "Tsu-kun! No, no, please, please! Listen to mama, please."
Yamamoto's body tips backwards just as Tsuna's fingertips graze his shirt and then he's falling, Tsuna's scream falling on deaf ears. Anything else aside from the need to save Yamamoto escapes Tsuna, the fear of losing his friend trumping over all of his fears as he jumps after Yamamoto. He tucks his arms to his sides to gain more speed, eyes trained on Yamamoto's falling body.
"Yamamoto!" he tries to scream, most of his voice lost against the force wind. He shouts a second time, flailing in an attempt to get closer to Yamamoto. He succeeds somewhat and is able to see Yamamoto watching him calmly, like they're not currently falling down into their death.
"I'm a dragon!" Yamamoto shouts, and Tsuna is confused for a moment before he realizes what he meant.
"T-Then shift already and save yourself!" It's getting harder and harder to breathe, and Tsuna doesn't even know if Yamamoto can hear him.
Yamamoto watches Tsuna's rapid descent above him, waiting for him to scream something selfish or to force a bond with him so that he can order Yamamoto to save him. But none of those things happen, Tsuna only continues screaming for Yamamoto to save himself without any mention for his own wellbeing. Yamamoto recalls how Tsuna looked so lonely and afraid when he first saw him despite the countless people that were around him and how evasive he was whenever Yamamoto asked about his family or life back in Vongola. He recalls how happy Tsuna appeared whenever Yamamoto sidled up next to him at the streets of Namimori, and how he sometimes had this expression of disbelief that someone was actually willing to spend their time with him.
Yamamoto also recalls when he felt the exact same way and when that changed.
Tsuna covers his eyes with his arms when the wind makes it unbearable to keep them open. He curses himself for leaving his goggles back at his room. He has no clue if Yamamoto has already shifted and saved himself, but on the off-chance that he hasn't, Tsuna readies himself to shout one last time and removes his arm from his eyes—
Tsuna sees the bluest night for the first time in his life.
And then his body crashes down on solid mass, knocking the air out of him. Endless blue fills his vision, and when he looks up, he sees brilliant blues scales stretched over the long, lithe body of the dragon looking back at him.
"Hopefully my belly's soft enough. If I had caught you on my back, you would've gotten a few broken bones."
The words that a dragon tamer utters to bond with a dragon are said to be mandatory; without saying them, a bond will never happen, even if the tamer is forcing the bond against the dragon. But if one is to brave the cobwebs and dust of ancient libraries, they will find that there are those who can bond with dragons without the help of those words.
The mist shifts around the trees below, a bone-chilling laughter filling the crevices of the forest near Namimori.
"How interesting."
A/N: The pacing doesn't really match what I originally planned, but I do have plans to expand on the things that I've mostly glossed over in this chapter (ex. Basil, Timoteo's intentions)
Thanks for reading. Concrit would be much appreciated!