If any case you were wondering about Flames, in this fanfiction, there's isn't, hence no one was using them.
Disclaimers: Katekyo Hitman REBORN! does not belong to me, it belongs to Akira Amano~
Chapter 6- Of new solutions and newer issues
His mind drifted off into another world once again.
With the same beautiful old sight of green grass, flowers all around, growing beautifully, Rokudou's first thought was to look at the sky, which looked slightly different than it always had.
The sky was always grey, regardless of any clouds or not. This time, it had a slight colour in it. A light cerulean colour. Now he has read a lot of times and seen picture books that say the sky is always blue when there are no clouds.
But he was never able to actually see it.
He reached out to the blue, seeing how far it is from his reach, but a smile came on his face.
It wasn't some blue sheet someone put on, it was an actual coloured sky.
He looked down to see more children pilling in, running around, playing amongst each other, laughing, smiling..
He smiled at them out of instinct, and it seemed that they were able to see him, as they waved at him, speaking in words Rokudou couldn't understand.
Even though he didn't understand, the scenery was so light-hearted, he felt like a feather which was about to be blown away.
One of the children had the guts to run up to him. As he did, he was holding a couple of flowers in his small pale hands, beaming at Rokudou. Without thinking, he bent over to the boy's level, who then reached out with the flowers to him. He smiled gently and patted the child's gold head, ruffling spiky but soft hair.
The child laughed, showing him the flowers. "Please have them" he said, putting them on Rokudou's lap, making him look down at them. Beautiful shade of purple and indigo, the flowers were Hydrangea. Seeing the beautiful shade, Rokudou, with his free hand, fingered them, then looked back at the little child
"Thank you"
The child's eyes gleamed, then he nodded, making his head furtherly patted even if Rokudou wasn't moving that hand. It was also one of the first times Rokudou could speak within in a dream, because usually it felt like his throat was cut, or his larynx was sealed by something. Now it felt as light as he was feeling.
The child turned his head to see someone calling out to him, who looked much older than him, wearing black all over, save for a violet dress shirt which was tucked neatly in his dress pants. The boy smiled at Rokudou again, before running over to the black cladded man, who stepped closer, revealing silver eyes.
Rokudou was still sitting on his knees, so he had to crane his head up high, rather than simply looking up. Curious heterochromatic eyes looked into steel eyes, who at first looked very seriously at him, then even he softened. Steel silver eyes lightened, and a small smile came on his face. The child laughed again, clinging onto the man's leg, before looking back at Rokudou with the unfading smile.
"Don't leave us waiting" the man spoke in a gentle but strong voice, and Rokudou smiled at him, if anything he looked a little nervous, until he started to see the scenery changing once again. He frowned as he began to hear people talking, not screaming, but simply talking. It was then he realized, he needs to get going.
Is it possible that people are actually waiting?
Well according to the man in black, who spoke one line to him, told him more than what he needed to know. There wasn't one or no person waiting, but there were a lot of people, yearning for him to come back.
His friends..
His family..
All are waiting patiently for him.
Rokudou looked down at the flowers again, then looked up at the man and nodded. "Yeah.. See you soon" he let the wind blow on him and the others, seeing as the child began to look confused, and his other friends started walking up to the man and the child. Rokudou waved at them, who then waved back at him as gentle winds picked up.
'Let them guide you where you want to be.. Where you should be..'
-!
He woke up to seeing white once again.
Rokudou's eyes slowly opened to white ceilings, white coverings, and people.
He curiously looked to his side to see a worried Giotto who smiled when he was glanced over to.
"Giotto?" was the first thing he asked, blinking a few times. Giotto sighed in relief "Rokudou-kun, could you believe it? The staff said you were dead!" he cried, fiddling with his hands on his lap, seated on a chair.
Rokudou lowered his eyes and smiled at him. Behind Giotto was Yamamoto and the others, who seemed to look more calmer than Giotto. Then again.. Why is the ever so calm and unwavering Giotto looking so worried? Who cares if he had died earlier, its nothing of Giotto's concern, he has so much friends who can easily replace the void called Rokudou Mukuro.
Yet..
Giotto leaned back on the chair, wiping his face. Come to look at it, his face did look a lot more red that it usually did, especially around the eyes. Rokudou had a troubled look realizing he made Giotto cry for.. who even knows how long? Along with that, his hair looked a bit disheveled in terms of it looking less spikier, then again, Sawada's hair was always spikier than his, but Giotto's had the look of Cloud Strife's. Even that was a bit lowered
"I'm so glad you're awake" Giotto interrupted Rokudou's thoughts, putting a finger near his small nose "Honestly, people need more faith" he pouted, Gokudera snickered behind, while Yamamoto began to speak "He was so worried, he cried all day saying he regretted not forcing you to come with us" he laughed, and Giotto looked more embarrassed than he usually did, snapping his head back, shouting with his light voice "I thought I told you guys not to say that!" he hid his face, Sasagawa came closer to the bed "I hope you are doing better Rokudou kun" she smiled at him, he looked over to her, sitting up with low difficulty, as he wasn't mortally wounded, but just a compilation of a lot of them, including rain. Giotto tried forcing him back to laying down, so he was forced to lean on the bed rim, with a pillow risen to support his small back.
He had a few bandages on his face, because most of them were on his midriff, which was covered by his white shirt, and the white blanket that covered majority of his body, save for his arms and half torso. His hair was opened and a little messy due to having it open while laying down on a bed, and because his bangs were parted again, he kept his right eye closed so that no one sees it. He moved his bangs back on the eye for ease.
"Yeah, I'm doing fine, thanks" he looked to the vase situated not so far, looking at the small little blue flowers standing in it. By first glance, he was able to tell they were hydrangea. Although hydrangea are not the usual plants to be placed in hospital rooms, it brought a smile to him, as he remembered, it was someone in this room who was offering them to him, and it seemed like it made its way to the real world.
"But how did I get here?" he asked, looking back at someone who was supposedly paying attention. Sasagawa looked over to Giotto then back at Rokudou "I think it was Hibari sensei who brought you here" she answered, not really aware who Hibari is, but heard his name a few times by Giotto.
Rokudou then made a comical expression, saying a small "eh" Sasagawa tilted her head "Rokudou-kun, is something wrong with that?" she asked innocently, making him crackily look at her with the same comical expression "ahahah.. how the hell did he?" Sasagawa then shrugged, because she thought the fact that it was Hibari who brought him back, means he's a pretty nice fellow
Speaking of the nice fellow Hibari, he finally made his fashionably late appearance, which of course Giotto had to retort about "Hibari Sensei, so late.." he mumbled, dissociating himself from the chatting Gokudera, Yamamoto and Miura. He said nothing, seeing as everyone is crowded near the bed, he kept himself far.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me of something, Rokudou-kun" Giotto whipped his head back to Rokudou, who looked a bit cluelessly to him "I thought of a group title for us" he smiled "A group.. title?" Rokudou asked, not really sure where it was going with this.
"Yeah! Our gang, is going to be called Vongola!" he pointed at everyone with his thumb "And we all will have codenames too, wouldn't that be great?" even though he sounded very excited about the idea, he looked so calm rather than excited. Rokudou smiled at the enthusiasm of his, which once again was a rare sight considering Giotto always had this professional behaviour. Is this what his friends always saw in him?
"I think that's a great idea!" Gokudera responded, clearly excited because it was Giotto who has stated the idea "Sounds good. What would we be called though?" Yamamoto smiled, asking the real questions. Giotto looked at the two "Well, I've only thought of names for you guys" he sheepishly smiled, Rokudou just watched them once again from his bedpost.
"Yamamoto-kun, you will be Rain because you are so reliable and so fully of tranquility, Gokudera-kun, because you really love destruction, and you desire acceptance from others, myself included, you'll be Storm" Yamamoto looked confused, but smiled nonetheless, while Gokudera looked like a puppy who was being patted "Amazing, you really are so good at telling what people are like!" he balled his fist in excitement "Miura-chan, you'll be lightning because you are quite ambitious and would go on so much lengths to achieve your goals, and Kurokawa-san, you'll be Cloud because you are quite the aloof kind, always sailing independently away from the group like if you are saying 'why am i with a bunch of losers' and Sasagawa-san is Sun because of how kind she is, always like the sun shining in the sky, quiet, but noticeable." Kurokawa snickered and Sasagawa didn't have a change in reaction, as if she knew what he was going to say, and Miura smiled "That's cool, Giotto san~" Giotto smiled at them, then looked at Rokudou "And Rokudou-kun, because no one can really tell what you are thinking, and I think you're pretty creative with your works, you'll be Mist" Rokudou, like Sasagawa didn't have much of a change in reaction, just smiled.
"And then I thought, what would suit me..?" Hibari just watched them, as Giotto pouted again, Rokudou brought a finger up "Well because you're a pretty accepting person, and a great peacekeeper, why not just be Sky?" Rokudou asked in a rather matter-of-fact way, Giotto looked back at him "Sky?" Rokudou nodded "Doesn't 'Giotto' even mean 'Great Sky'?" Giotto looked surprised for a moment, then laughed. "Hahah, you're right, it does mean that. So then I'm Sky?" he asked again, Rokudou, getting tired of nodding, nodded yet again.
"Yes yes.. That makes you Sky, who holds the Rain, Storm, Lightning, Sun, Cloud and Mist together" he concluded, Giotto looking at him in amazement "Rokudou-kun, that sounds cooler coming from you" then as on cue, Giotto's phone begun to ring
"Ah, its uncle" he picked up and headed for the door "I'll be right back, eh?" he waved at them before leaving. Rokudou watched him leave, looking at the others, who then looked at Hibari who gave them a look, so they looked back at Rokudou "Hibari Sensei hates crowding, and I think he wants to have a word with you" Kurokawa stated, looking clearly unfazed at the 'intimdating' stare of his. She wanted to ask how did he get injured enough to get to a hospital for more than three days, but she refused, thinking it was probably some personal issue.
The idea that it is an odd Tuesday, Rokudou was on that mission since Thursday, found by Hibari on Friday morning, hospitalized till today. The reasons as to why this happened was unknown to them, but they were scared to ask.
"Alright" they all said bye to him and walked out, knowing they would meet up with him later. It was a moment after they left that Hibari approached him, Rokudou then had a nervous smile on his face, but on the inside, he was shaking.
'He knows of it. He's going to tell everyone' he mentally shuddered, making sure he won't show it on the outside.
'He's going to hate me. He's going to kill me' Hibari simply stared at him blankly, which was the usual stare he gives people.
'Either that, or he's going to put me in prison, either way, I'm in trouble' It was like another eternity of waiting till Hibari began to speak "Your phone was broken when i found you" he started, giving Rokudou the phone he found 'shoot.. Now how am I going to contact them?' Rokudou looked at it, then let it sit beside him, near the pillow.
"There was a weapon beside you" he showed a picture of the trident to Rokudou through his phone "Its in my room right now, because the doctor was going to freak out" his eyes widened upon seeing the photo.
"The doctor refused to check on you" the fact that Hibari wasn't saying it all at once was bothering Rokudou the most, irking him "Saying that there's a demonic presence to you" he then moved the bangs which hid Rokudou's right eye "He almost fainted seeing what was under this" he fingered the eyelid, letting it sail within the butterfly eyelash "I couldn't see it, but he said it was something dangerous. Life threatening" his finger now reached the end of his eyespot, letting itself stop on the corner "Was someone trying to murder you?" he finally asked, moving his hand away from him "No, I fell off a carriage" Rokudou lied, which Hibari quickly noted, seeing as he looked away from him "No.. Your body would've had an evenly splatter if that were the case. Besides that weapon had blood on it, by the colour of the dark red on it" he then glared at him for being lied to, which made Rokudou even more nervous than he was.
"I'm not telling anyone of it" he then comforted, making Rokudou look at him "It's only to answer my questions" he frowned in response. "Oh? Then tell me, what are you going to do when you find out?" he finally spoke, in a much quieter voice, looking back at him with the visible eye "Depends on your answers" Hibari shrugged "I don't care if its bad, but if you can't be happy with what you are doing, you're betraying yourself" as he was saying it, Hibari moved his gaze elsewhere, and had an unreadable expression, which surprised Rokudou as he was trying to figure out what he was trying to say through his face and words.
Hibari didn't expect an answer which was about to come out, so he bent the subject "I took care of your medical bills, you don't need to think about it" he looked back at him, then noticed that Rokudou had opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted. "Oh I see.." then he looked at his hands which were sitting on his lap "I was escorting someone to their household" Hibari then looked like he was paying full attention to him "And that man had rivals from other places.." he leaned back, turning his head upward
"Protecting him was vital, and because I know how to deal with nuisances like that, I took on that task" he then looked at Hibari and lowered his head "I didn't think there would be such a powerful swordsman by their side, and I was caught off guard" he then sneezed "Ontop of that, it was raining, so I was put under a disadvantage" he lifted his shirt up to look at a bloodied tourniquet "And I'm only good with self-defence, not literally guarding someone who is more.. well endowed than me" he took Hibari's hand and moved it over to the wound, making Hibari's long fingers stroke the wound present. It didn't stop him from talking, even if he knew it stung a bit "Kuhah! I managed to keep him safe, but who knew I was in a near death situation?" he laughed sardonically to himself, Hibari seemed more sad now, seeing how the bandage seemed to latch itself onto Rokudou's thin body
"If you are going to ask why did I take on it? Its a easy and lame answer" Rokudou smiled at him, with that smile, there was a little red that appeared near one eye. He thought of not answering because of the sheer obviousness, but he did nonetheless "That's where I get my pay" he itched his cheek when he said that, thinking that now Hibari might think he's an idiot.
"Stupid.." So he does think he's an idiot "No one wants to hire a paranormal punk" he suddenly proclaimed, anger rising on his face as well as in the tone of his voice. Hibari looked surprised for a moment, unexpecting an angry response to come from him any sooner, and closed his eyes "If that's the case, why do you have people running behind you?" Rokudou's glare lessened to a sad glance "You call them friends, correct? Why do they like you?" he clarified, knowing that Rokudou wouldn't answer him "Why am I even talking to you if I don't want to have anything to do with you?" he then opened his eyes, there was no glower nor glare, he was just looking straight at Rokudou, actually looking thoughtful.
"Because we will accept you, even if you killed a millions of people" he just needed to say that, that and a stroke on his face, and small transparent tears came dripping from mismatched eyes. It started from the left, then continued on the right, over Hibari's hand as it was still on the right side of his face. "You don't have to tell everyone everything, heck, we hide things from others" although tears came from Rokudou's eyes, he looked as if he didn't even know they were coming until Hibari rubbed his closed eye, did he realize something was up. He brought a finger up his face and watched as the drop travelled to his finger and looked questioningly at it. He's known that Dokuro was the only one who visibly showed that she cried a lot, seeing as tears almost don't stop falling down her face until she is happy with Rokudou, otherwise she always looks like she is sad.
He didn't know he was also capable of crying as well, seeing as it wasn't stopping. His right eye even opened, which seemed redder because of the strain of crying. He looked away from his finger to Hibari, who still had a very thoughtful look on his face, as if telling him it was alright to cry.
"I'll give you all the time you want" he thought and said out loud. He moved his hand away from Rokudou, seeing as he buried his head in his hands, openly crying, wiping away his tears. Although Hibari didn't know what the circumstances he faced back when he was far younger, he could tell by the look in Rokudou's eyes, his right in particular, the years of bearing and shouldering the pain by himself, doing things he never wanted to do. Hibari concluded that the eyes really are a mirror to the soul, as Rokudou looked like a very mature child who was currently having a breakdown due to being discovered as such.
As being someone who didn't appear to care about anything, he most certainly felt bad for the child- No, this responsible teen. Within such short time, Hibari felt like he got to know so much about things he never thought of knowing until he was older. A seventeen year old boy, facing such dangerous situations at such a young age, and was still able to put up a smiling front and make it seem like he just had a bad fashion statement.
Rokudou's cries became more croaky, and heart-wrenching, as he began to hiccup as he sobbed. Hibari wondered if that was how a demon cries. It sounded painful, as if someone was crying for mercy, or begging for death. He wondered why it sounded so different from the typical shrill crying that normal people did.
It wasn't that he couldn't watch it go on, it was that he didn't want have Rokudou cry alone, or suffer alone, so he pulled him into a light embrace, letting his tears wet his shirt, it didn't matter, it dries quickly, and if it didn't, he could always change it. Rokudou seemed to cling onto his shirt as he cried.
Hibari patted his head for a bit, then stopped when Rokudou was trying to move away, which was not too long after he clung to him. He let go seeing that the younger male seemed to look a bit embarrassed, muttering apologies to him, whom he just replied with a pat to his head. They both heard knocks on the door. Rokudou hid his eye once again and straightened himself on the bed, while Hibari just glanced over to the door. The door knocked again, then Hibari looked at Rokudou who looked a bit perplexed. Hibari then cleared his throat and firmly said "Come in". When he said that, the ones knocking came inside again, revealing to be Giotto and his friends again.
"Sawada Ieyasu.." Hibari muttered, almost facepalming. "Hibari saaaan, I told you, its just 'Giotto', don't become like uncle" he nagged, lowering his head "But anyways, Rokudou-kun, the doctor said you'd be discharged tonight, isn't that nice?" he asked, running over to Rokudou who had the same perplexed look from before, looking from Hibari to Giotto, to Hibari, to the rest. "Gio, I think Rokudou-kun's scared of your obnoxious behaviour today" Kurokawa jested, making Giotto puff one of his cheeks "Kurokawa-san, I'm sure he knows I'm worried" he then chortled, seeing as Rokudou's eye was widened, which was the only change in expression.
Then Giotto straightened himself again, putting a hand on his throat, which for some reason, Rokudou just noticed, seemed to always be having a scarf around it, not in a sense of fashion, but to hiding something. Being someone who does that, he found it odd that the perfect being who called himself Giotto has something he hides.
Because Giotto didn't hear an answer from Rokudou, he looked worried "Isn't that good, Rokudou-kun?" he asked again, then remembering, they had class in like, two hours. He then chuckled a bit "Oh I get it, we have class soon, so its not good news, but fear not, I have your notes for Friday, Monday" he was about to give it to him, but then noticed, where is he going to carry it? He didn't have a bag with him, so he kept it with him "I'll give them in class" he sheepishly said, seeing as Gokudera seemed to look at the time, and scoffing, while Yamamoto noticed the corners of Rokudou's eyes being a bit more red than it usually was. "Was everything alright here?" he asked, making Rokudou look at him and smile at him "Yeah, thanks" Yamamoto blinked a few times, before smiling himself "Alright then~"
Giotto put his hands on the lower side of the bed "Think you can walk, Rokudou-kun?" as he was addressed, he looked at the blond and smiled at him "I guess, I mean I'm not injured that badly" he shrugged, feeling stiff because he hasn't made a single movement in three whole days. He nonetheless tried moving himself out of bed, and because Giotto couldn't stand seeing him do it all by himself as he thought 'he might fall over', he offered support which he slapped away.
"See that wasn't too hard" Rokudou laughed, waving his hands "I should probably get to my dorm, how far is it from here?" he looked over to Hibari, then to Giotto. Giotto should know because they both are in the dormrooms, so he glaced over to him "Ahah.." he noticed the blond really didn't look like he wanted to answer that, seeing as how nervous he begun to look.
'He sure is expressive today..' he thought, casting his glance over to the quiet Hibari, who blankly said "4 kilometers" which removed any sense of life from Rokudou, seeing as how his soul began to fly out of its body, and became more white than he already was, with a surprised look.
Giotto's hair stood when he saw that, hence his hair magically fixed itself in the partially spiky way, and he jumped, catching Rokudou's soul and carefully tried putting it back in the body, who still looked mortified. "Rokudou-kun, is something wrong?" he saw his mouth begin to move slightly, and a shaky hand raised up "That's so far!" he suddenly exclaimed, seeming as colour returned to him. "Just how did you guys manage to make it here by foot?!" he began to shout in a rather insistent way, the blond reacted rather amused, seeing how alive Rokudou finally looked.
"Hehe.. That's why we had the bus, I mean we have bus passes, so its no problem isn't it?" he flashed his student card, which showed a silver sticker on it, which was considered the bus pass "We have two hours, so the first hour could be getting you back to your dorm, then the other getting you in shape for class, neat idea?" he received a stare for his suggestion, then a break of laughter. "Alright alright, I get you, I get you" Rokudou composed himself again, covering his laughing mouth with a hand.
'Or i could've..' Hibari thought to himself an incomplete sentence, which didn't seem to go overlooked as he hoped, seeing as Kurokawa and Yamamoto were trying to talk to him, hence they were able to tell he was thinking about something related to them.
"Nah, that won't be good, this Mr. Hibari was the one who brought him here, shouldn't he take him back?" she turned her head to Giotto, who was now looking out the window, while Rokudou was fixing his shirt as it kinda messed itself up "True, he could do that" he smiled over to her, who had the expression of a dead man "Kurokawa-san, generally I'd look at you for ideas other coming up with my own, what do you think?" Giotto looked more nervous than happy, seeing as Kurokawa had the same blank expression which seemed to look through people's souls.
Much like Hibari.
'They probably might get along pretty well' Kurokawa cleared her throat "Well..~"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because of skepticism, they went with Kurokawa's idea of going by Hibari's invitation to take them home, since they all live in the same building, and he had to return Rokudou's stuff to him, so it made sense in the end. It was also a shorter time, because it wasn't too much on a car's distance compared to a human's walk, which is usually four kilometers per hour, technically an hour in walking distance. By bus, there would be too much stops, and most of the time they don't take the main road, because they go on further neighbourhoods rather than to the point.
Either way, driving with Hibari was a most preferable situation. He may not have liked it so much, solely because he hates people grouping together, he said this time might be an exception, because Giotto was a family friend, and he was obliged to be friendly with him, and because he wasn't sure if Rokudou was fully recovered yet.
By the look of things, everyone was rather quiet, enjoying the view outside. Hibari wondered how did everyone manage to get inside, but then he remembered; some threw themselves in the trunk for some reason, saying it was spacious, which weirded Hibari out. Rokudou was on the front seat, his head facing downward as he was sleeping, Giotto was put in the middle of the back seats because his short height, Sasagawa on his left, and Yamamoto on his right. It was a joke when they told Gokudera to go in the trunk, but he complied!
The surprised looks on everyone's faces, amused on Giotto because he thought it was hilarious. Rokudou looked utterly confused, Kurokawa as if she wanted to smack the living lights out of him, Sasagawa was a mix of confusion as well, Miura told him the dangers of sitting in a dirty place like that, Yamamoto laughed, and Hibari only said "But I clean it everyday", Gokudera at Giotto's joke jumped in there, and it actually was spacious enough for more people to go in, so Miura insisted on going in, and Giotto was about to go in, because he started to feel bad, but Kurokawa already was there, telling Giotto she'd kill him if he was about to go in.
That's how the interesting ride from Hibari went as. Interesting it really was.
He managed to get them at their buildings, Giotto woke up Rokudou and went to their dormrooms to get their stuff ready. Rokudou had to get his clothes changed as well because of being in a hospital patient's outfit for the time being, which was why he took particularly long on getting set up.
He was standing in the room, alone with the blinds closed and the lights on, letting the dim light flicker on, even though it wasn't necessary.
Looking at his clothes which were neatly folded on the bed, he went to the closet to wear a different pair, which looked identical, because he didn't have much of a specific preference, as long as they looked fine on him, secondly he couldn't afford much.
He picked out a blue gradiented shirt, gradient because it was light on the top, gradually turning darker as it went lower, a light-clothed, but dark patterned scarf and a black sweater to go with it. He had his signature black gloves back on, and black pants.
He managed to get the pants on with no delay, but when he was changing his shirt, he stopped and gazed below. Half his side was still bandaged, and his figure looked slimmer, slimmer that he previously looked. He wondered when will be the time he'd only look like bones, because it didn't look so far, even though his face didn't have those bone lines on it, his face was still fine but tired looking, a bit disheveled if his hair wasn't contradicting it with its pure straightness, but his body looked awfully scrawny.
"Now if I was someone who was trying to diet, I'd be happy about this" he said to himself, putting back the patient shirt and went to the closet, pulling out a white shirt to wear underneath. As if it could make him look more normal, he hated catching people's attention with his low weight problems.
It's only a stupid and unnecessary pity that people do, that he dislikes the most.
Once he put on both the shirts, someone knocked on the door, which he first tied the scarf around him, then answered it, seeing it was Giotto and his group again. They really don't get tired of talking to him, do they, was something of Rokudou's initial thoughts, but then he remembered; he's part of the 'Vongola' group, so he is now a key member of it?
"Kufufufu.. What would you be doing if I was still changing, Sawada Ieyasu?" he teased, but let them in "Rokudou-kun, not you too.." Giotto laughed, lowering his head. "Ahn yeah, sorry for intruding, we wanted to ask if you needed help in anything" he elaborated. Rokudou looked at him as he was putting on his sweater "No, not really". Because it was fall approaching, it didn't look as though Rokudou was overly dressed, but Giotto clearly saw what he was trying to hide, feeling sympathetic about it.
There was a still moment of silence after Rokudou let them in, putting some of the things he thought 'were lying around' away. He didn't dare speaking first, and for some reason no one else would either. It was probably the stillness of the room that kept everyone as quiet as they were, but it wasn't something unusual for him, just a bit unusual for friends to be doing that.
First timers.
It's always like that. The first time you appear in someone's room, you show a mood of modesty and the unlikely feeling. This is not your comfort zone, but it gradually might, but not as quickly as it naturally would in your own room.
Giotto still had a calm expression, seeming to like the subtlety of the room. It was simple, but nice for a person living alone.
"Rokudou-kun's room is quite the modest kind, a nice change in scenery" he pointed out, going to the window, then opening up the curtains that seemed to be closed and covering the transparent screened window. It wasn't a massive window, but enough for someone like him and Rokudou to jump out and about.
It might've been different if they were adults however. They would probably get stuck and then have to manage their ways out.
Rokudou muttered a quick 'Oho?' to the comment, giving him a look, but then laughed a bit.
Rokudou's bed for suitable for one person, with a blanket of a light shade of blue, long enough to cover the whole mattress, and reaching the floor if it wasn't tucked in.
There were two more doors for the room, other than the entrance, which was for the closet and washroom, Giotto speculated. It's something every dorm room has, his included.
"So, how long are we going to stand here and admire a room that looks better than me?" he joked, leering downward to his short friend. He looked up with a small surprised expression, then had to make a rather contrary comment "Rokudou-kun, please take a moment and listen how you can NOT compare a human to a house!" he moved his arm to the side "and if you are, then you look a lot better than your room" one could tell that he was really trying to shout loudly as his cheeks showed signs of restraint and he had to take a good breath before talking or looking level again.
Kurokawa snickered a bit at it, while Gokudera panicked. "Alright alright, Sawada Ieyasu, now please take a breather" Rokudou brought his hands up a bit, saying yet another fussy joke talk. It appeared as if he really wasn't paying attention to the comments and was trying to get Giotto to stop. Giotto was in the state to ramble a bit more until Rokudou started to ruffle his head that he stopped doing so, and innocently looked up
"Kufufufu.. Thanks for the comment, Sawada Ieyasu." he then brought a finger from his other hand up "Also, Sawada Ieyasu sounds a lot better than Giotto, I wonder why you refuse to call yourself that" he sarcastically said with a dumbfounded expression, then goofily grinning as he saw Giotto's expression change from surprised to more of an exasperated one
"Rokudou kuuun!" he shouted, almost looking like he was going to cry, to which Rokudou coughed then made a pitiful look to him
His cheeks reddened wth either anger or embarrassment, and remained speechless for a moment, then threw a tantrum by throwing his fists around screaming his name as Rokudou and the others laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So after class, Giotto wanted to have the group togethe again for the evening, which Rokudou had to refuse going to, because of the fact that he still wanted to get the thing over with, and get his trident back from Hibari's room. He made up an excuse to the group that he was simply tired and wanted to go rest, which they didn't push further and let him separate from them. Moments later they all went back to their rooms.
He then remembered that he might have to get a new phone from 'his job', considering it had important information from them, and he wouldn't bother buying a new one because laptops can use emails rather than needing phone calls.
Or he just use payphones.
Either way, he would have to get a new one because they won't accept that as an excuse, and its not the first time he broke a phone, but it was the first time someone found him with his broken phone and while he was 'working'.
How was he going to cover for himself? They wouldn't care, its the fact that if Rokudou lies, that would be the end for him, and him alone, and probably those who were with him because they might execute an investigation on them.
He sighed as he leant against the brick wall, loling his head upward, leaving a hand on his waist. It was just a few days ago that the mission was over, he succeeded, but got noticed on the way. In a way, to a tangent, that's a mission failure due to unsuccessfully escaping.
He saw someone move their car infront of them, and if he wasn't aware enough, he wouldn't have found out that was Hibari waiting for him to come inside, with the door unlocked.
He moved forward to it, then clicked the door open, then rather than asking 'should i get inside?' he asked "How long were you waiting?" the driver, or Hibari himself, looked over to the side "Just a few minutes" he replied, waiting for Rokudou to settle inside, which he did, fastening the seatbelt on him.
Once again, due to the distance, he didn't have to drive too quickly, but he didn't have to take too much time in driving either. Rokudou wanted the drive to go on forever because he wasn't ready to face it, but time wasn't on his side as they made in a few minutes.
Back to the intimidating place he would call home. Perhaps intimidating was a bad word, perhaps odd sounds better.
Yes, odd.
Being in Hibari's room once again felt odd to Rokudou. Now that he was aware of what kind of person he was, and the family he lived with, he felt guilty about it.
Hibari didn't seem to care, and called Rokudou over to his side to brush his slighty unruly hair due to not being able to brush it for days.
Even though he had said that, he didn't dare pick up the brush he left on the bed, but Rokudou complied and went to him nonetheless. His room, his rules.
Rokudou was pulled in a gentle embrace, Hibari's arms circled around Rokudou's thin waist. Even though it was totally random and have him off guard as always, he didn't make a reaction, except for a slight raise in an eyebrow. By the strength put into it, he was pulled onto Hibari's lap, who buried his face on Rokudou's exposed collarbone. Even though he was asleep in a hospital room for three days, he had a soft smell of Sakura flowers which he saw during the Spring, now how long has it been since he has had anything to do with Sakura? A long time it was.
Rokudou moved his head upward again, exposing it further and to 'ruin the atmosphere', he decided to be funny "You know, if I wasn't as old as I am now, I would've reported about you" Hibari looked back at him with the same amusement "Why not report me now?"
"Well because seventeen years old isn't so young anymore, and you're only twenty, aren't you?" he lowered his head, and began to pat Hibari's head, and moved his hand when he brought Hibari moved away from his neck, with a know-it-all smile up his face "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he began to stroke and carress one of his thighs, making Rokudou simply look down at him rather questioningly "What's the plan, Hiba-" "Kyouya" "Ahah. What's the plan, Kyouya-Sensei? Do you finally think I'm pretty?" his chin was held
"Do you like this sort of thing?" now he was confused. Hibari is asking for his confirmation? Oh wait..
Everyone should be doing that, but no one does. This is why rape exists. He commended him for trying. He was always used to rough treatment such as being thrown around, or in a situation where he was completely helpless, it made no difference to him. Except that was only for them to injure him, such as bruising his pretty face, or cause him to bleed from his mouth due to his internal organs being pulverized.
It really made no difference to him.
"And if I said I don't care?" he inched a bit closer to steel-eyes, smiling ear to ear with his eyes lowered. That was always his prettiest smile, which always was found as an alluring one, as if makes him shield every imperfection about him, and make him look as though he is everything they need or is.
That he is a perfect being.
"You have my permission" he put a gloved finger on the predator's lips "Anything you want to do. I'm fine with it" predator was a wrong word to use, considering he wasn't as vicious as hateful like actual predators that Rokudou hates.
Hibari moved Rokudou's finger away from him, "No, I want your answer, as in you wanting it, rather than having myself doing improper things with you" he looked a bit angry in Rokudou's perspective, who removed the smile off his own face, looking at him, rather bothered than anything else
Is he mocking me?
"Alright fine, then if i say 'lay me down' you really would?" he asked, feeling like it was the most obvious question in the universe. Hibari smiled, instead of just saying 'yes', he gently laid Rokudou on the bed. He wasn't surprised that he complied, but rather he was wanting to laugh at it "come here" he instructed, waving his hand to bring him over. He was ontop of Rokudou now, looking at him with a light sense of admiration, or that's what he thought he saw. He slowly reached out, wrapping his arms around Hibari's neck, then smiled again, pulling him with low force, until their noses touched.
"Are you sure you don't want to be with a beautiful woman?" he asked, looking more sympathetic than anything else, Hibari almost called him stupid, but he didn't "Nah, I'd rather love a broken child than with a woman." that was his confession. Rokudou wasn't surprised that he was referred as a broken child, because in many knowing adult's eyes, they would view him as such.
Someone without a childhood, who wasn't loved before.
"Kuh.. If you love this broken child, then you need no permission from him. For he wouldn't mind having someone like you to be.. his" he then let Hibari kiss him gently. Being someone who never had experience in things such as these, he let a small gasp when he felt a tongue slip in, and arms around his waist. He let the other explore through, pulling him closer until they can't come any closer.
But it was through that moment there, that Rokudou felt Hibari's feelings for him, which he was not so certain of. He always thought Hibari looked at him as either a hindrance or just a child figure, but if he is doing things like this right now, that is acknowledgement of seeing him as more than just a child, but a person mature enough to handle it.
They both separated, Rokudou suddenly had the need to sit up, which made Hibari move back, sitting on the bed, looking at him with the same glance that Rokudou was giving him.
Nonchalance.
They both seemed rather calm of the situation, with faint specks of embarrassment. "I didn't think you'd be this tame" Rokudou commented, putting a hand on his lip, looking back at him, smiling slightly. Hibari gave a questioning look, but then smiled but said nothing. Naturally he wouldn't say anything, so why would he need to say something now?
Rokudou continued "I thought I'd be fighting a ferocious beast" then Hibari responded with a inaudible laugh "like last time?" Rokudou glared at him with a smile "You're still a predatory monster!" he joked as he noticed his lip began to bleed, but he laughed. He leant his head on him "My predatory monster." he closed his eyes again. they stayed like that for a few seconds until he began to speak again "Did you know, I never let anyone do that to me?" his eyes opened, due to his face being angled downward, both his eyes would've been visible.
Not to Hibari that is.
But they were visible.
Then he smiled, lowering his eyes again, he moved back to look at him. "They can injure me all they want, but this was off limits" because he knew that was to be shared only with someone you care immensely for, not something you can just give away, even when you are seducing someone. The first time always matters which was why he used to avoid it by doing something else. That could be hard considering he could pass up as a good looking woman or man who someone would be enticed to.
He felt an arm circle around his waist, which again pulled him into a hug. this time he hugged back, wrapping his arms around his neck "Of course, I was unsure about it, and I still am." he lamented. "Is it a coping mechanism, or is it actual love that people can experience" for he didn't believe in love, nor did he believe Hibari believe in it either. This wasn't love, it was simply a code of trust they put on each other. Rokudou simply owes him a few things, and he's trying to pay it back somehow, while Hibari is doing it for him to realize what it is, even if he doesn't know what love truly is.
He let his knees give in, dropping himself on the bed again. "Do you want to continue doing what you were?" he asked before he could say anything. Rokudou smiled at him, but Hibari looked as if he was looking elsewhere, and his hand even travelled there, as if he wasn't talking to him again.
Then he realized. He's looking at the wounded areas again. His long fingers at first softly trailed at it, then pressed at it, making him cringe and cry in pain. Hibari noted that and looked back at him "Don't forget you're still in a pretty bad condition" what he meant was that if they did supposedly continue, there would be an unnecessary amount of extra pain for Rokudou, and the chances that the wound would spurt open again still lasted.
Not to mention it was going so quickly. They only just met a few weeks ago, and already confessing to each other seemed rushed and only like an escape route from something else.
Wait.. Right, it is just an escape route. In Rokudou's case, it was to avoid the rest of the world from knowing who he really was, and possibly shun him for it. Hibari so far hasn't shown a sign of refusal, or rather, he showed signs of acceptance towards his behaviour and actions, which is in a way of accepting a human for their wrongs
Which is truly a consideration of love. To be able to accept one's beauty and their flaws and make it the best of them, makes you unconditionally love someone.
Thinking about something like that made Rokudou laugh. To think Hibari could be a vicious vampire like carnivore, but only to actually be a saint underneath.
It's like the opposite of him, who is gentle and kind on the outside, but is chaotic with his work, and is the one who murdered people for real.
Maybe if his life choices were different however..
"Hahah, I forgot that already" he joked, letting him latch off of him, but sit beside him. He followed him with his eyes, then saw he got up, so he looked a bit questioningly. Then he saw him picking up a hairbrush from the table. Rokudou sat up, smiling wryly at him "I thought you were lying about it" he walked over to him with slight difficulty due to having himself comfortable on his bed.
He was hit on the head with the said brush, "Oh yeah, that was for sneaking out" he rubbed his head, still smiling at him as Hibari grumbled. "Ow?"
"You can take a bath if you want, you were in that dirty hospital for three days" "At least I don't smell like antiseptics" "At least.."
Hibari showed him where the washroom was, and told him about the things in the bath such as the shampoo, conditioner, soaps and other stuff. Because he offered, Rokudou thought, he should just comply with it.
It probably was an order by him. Knowing how he is, it was definitely not just an offer.
But of course, he's not a totally unconditional kind "And towels?" he asked, to which he just shrugged and then gave him a few "If they're too small, you could always shout at me about it"
With that he went to the bath, as Hibari went out of the room.
~space~
For a while now, he was able to sit in the bathtub, full of water warm enough to warm up his cold self. He watched as the bandages that adorned his body were getting soaked enough to detach from his figure. Dry blood was being washed off of his body by the warm water.
Just for a moment, he just watched. Simply observed. He didn't need to react in any which way, he just needed to watch as it went off him. It was naturally a strange sight, and if words can extend itself, it was gross. But he simply watched it, picking on the scab with his finger when it was exposed to the water. It stung a bit, and it also hurt when he picked at it, but he continued nonetheless.
He wasn't trying to harm himself, but he was trying to clean that portion as it was considered the dirtiest part on the outside. As he would quote, his heart is the dirtiest, just no one can see how badly it is hurt and dirted. Like an incurable illness.
He stopped when he felt like he was causing only more harm, then remained unmoved, looking slightly to the side, then smiled at the rubber duck that was floating in the water.
"Even a guy like him has a rubber duck.. kufufufufu" he snickered a bit, flicking the duck with a finger.
It looked a lot like a bird he saw in the house, so he assumed that it was a toy of the bird, rather than a rubber duckling. Plus note, it was also quite round, and had a small beak compared to how the ducklings usually look.
He found it cute that he had a rubber bird in the bath, for someone scary looking like him.
After a while, he was finished bathing, including washing his hair and face, he had himself covered in the towels provided, and one idly sitting on his head as he peeked out by opening the door a bit.
Hibari seemed to be writing something, and looked up when he heard the door creaking. Rokudou smiled at him, he didn't change his expression, saying "Don't put your shirt on" simply. Rokudou snorted "What, you want to see my cute little curves?" he heard a small and quite laugh as a response, then a bag in his hands "Ohhh, the bandages?" he went back inside, then came out a minute later, wearing his pants, and holding the rest of his clothes. "I can do them myself" he brought a hand to Hibari, which he took to pull him over to him, seating him on the chair he was previously sitting on, Rokudou rolled his eyes "You really like doing that, don't you?" he received no response as his bandages were being put on carefully.
He found him to be putting them on pretty nicely, making sure he didn't miss a spot, but it was hard to miss considering he stood out a bit. It made him smile, if only little. His gentleness always had him wondering, 'was he the same person?'
A minute later he was done, then he tapped Rokudou's back, who looked back at him "It's done, you could put your clothes back on" and so he did, making sure he wouldn't make them drop the bandages.
He then had his hair brushed, using Hibari's brush, pushing the long strands back but keeping the shorter ones in the front and over his eye.
And after a lot of 'distractions' he would call, later, he looked over to Hibari, who was still writing something. "So Mr. Hibari" he didn't receive a reaction or reply, "Hibari sensei?" nothing "Alright fine, Kyouya Sensei" he received a glance "Yes?" he's still trying to get rid of the use of honourifics. He must be pretty frank with him "You were only supposed to give my Trident then send me back, what happened to that?" he received only a reply of "hn" and more paper writing. Rokudou looked a bit irritated. He walked over to him "Hello~?" he waved his hand over to him, and received nothing as a response again. He fisted his hands, then walked back, then heard a knock on the door which scared him. He was scared if it was someone he knew because they might misunderstand something.
well its not a misunderstanding. They did have something shared together enough to pass up as a couple.
But nonetheless he hid in the closet, Hibari snorted at that and had the door answered by simply saying "Come in"
It was his 'friend' Kusakabe, who came in. Rokudou kept himself hidden so he wasn't able to see what he looked like, but judging by his voice he assumed it was someone much older.
Which was a wrong assumption considering they are the same age, Hibari and Kusakabe.
Hibari gave him the paper before he could ask, and Rokudou tried peeking in to see who he was, resulting him to almost laugh at his hairstyle, which was rude, but Rokudou is not a nice person.
He left the room pretty quickly, after a short chat with Hibari. Rokudou noted on how close the two seem to be, with small words they share a lot of information, not everyone can explain themselves in two to three words unless you were explaining about something but being a fool about it. But the two of them were able to do that in matters of seconds and explain a lot to each other.
Which is something admirable, when people are able to do that. but how little does he know that he and his friends do that quite a lot as well, so it shouldn't be something astonishing.
But he was still caught simply waiting, rather impressed with his friend, or his advisor. And NOW it looked like he was paying attention to Rokudou as he motioned him out of the closet, who complied with a joke which was ignored.
"Alright, what did you want to ask?" he asked, giving Rokudou his 'undivided attention', which scared him more than making it easy as he was intimidating as someone who came from a year or probably ten years of strict regulations and back brainwashed by them, authorizing his authority on others. How freightening is how people can get brainwashed by others.
He kept a level stare at Rokudou, not bothering to ask again, seeing as how he knew the other heard him, and that was why he was reacting with silence. He'd reply in a minute, but first there will be a reaction.
Rokudou on the other end, gazed into steel-onyx eyes, searching for something in them, even though he never found answers in eyes which seem so guarded with nothing. Even though they weren't lifeless like his blue eye, they certainly were something that he liked looking at.
Or to distract himself into.
"Well?" he raised a brow, Rokudou waited. "Are you caught in a daze because of my cool eyes?" Hibari then joked, of course, Rokudou laughed at it because of the simplicity of it.
no, the joke sounded like his silly jokes that the other would ignore. "So you do listen to them" he smiled to him, then levelled his expression to a normal one
"You already know what we need to talk about" was all he said, before waiting for Hibari to say something further.
"I'll get straight to the point: Rokudou Mukuro, quit your job" he firmly said, receiving a twitch of an eye from Rokudou. His face spoke levels of 'why?' or 'that has nothing to do with you', but he vocallized none of it, but stared at him. "If you are concerned about finances, I'll take care of that" from a glare, it became a look of worry now. Hibari pressed forward "I don't care if you have ten children, I'll deal with that. But you need to get yourself out of unnecessary trouble" he finished, looking at his hands which were in his lap, then looked up "You understand?" he ended with a question. Rokudou was left to only say "..Yes" to whatever he was saying because of the pressure of fighting back was strong.
"I can get you another job for you to work on, but this could kill you if you continue" while he was saying that, he wondered, just how much times did a situation like this happen to Rokudou? How much times did he have to almost kill himself to get where he was standing.
He understood that yes, he's a strong child, but he is only a young person that could do so much and get away with it. It's a sad life to live. Furthermore, his soul probably has already died with the first murder he had to committ.
Maybe that's why he calls himself Mukuro.
Mukuro meant a corpse. And on the inside, Rokudou's eternally bleeding heart was dead. He could even look like a corpse when he's not smiling and moving. That didn't mean he was ugly or anything, no. For a corpse he was beautiful. But as a person, he looks tired, given up, and depths of sadness embedded on himself. His snow white skin almost looked like decomposed skin, except he perhaps used moisterizers to keep his face and neck proper, his hands are always gloved, and Hibari worried to see what are under those even.
When he saw him in the hospital room that day, he practically was called dead and almost abandoned because the incompetent staff thought he was dead and his spirit was back with revenge in his right eye.
It was like he had to take care of him because of the suspicion everyone had when he was brought over by Hibari.
While Hibari..
Hibari didn't want to see something like that. Even though he usually acts as if he doesn't care about anything at all, its only that he cares so much that he hides it. Or that his face doesn't show it very well, but he more than concerned that he continues to work behind the scenes to fix things up with whoever had problems with.
That was why he was considered quiet, because no one would notice the work he would mostly do, and it doesn't get overlooked, but it gets questioned as to how this happened, but he wouldn't outright say 'I did it' as he wasn't the kind who claims credit, but he was, however, the kind who might bring it back saying 'you owe me' a moment to laugh there, but he would be the kind who does things as such, but that is only what a normal person would do or say. {not really}
Either way, seeing people who are important to him be hurt is like stabbing himself in the heart, even if his face didn't show it. Seeing how Rokudou grew onto him for a while now, made him quite important to him, even though the teenager bugs him a lot by hiding so much from everyone, and lying about most things, and in general, the fact that he plans on enduring everything by shielding everyone away from him irritated him to no end.
That was why he would say he hates him, and wants to punch him real good for that. As for now, seeing their intimacy being just fulfilling a need, he was the only one who could convince Rokudou to step out of the shell he locked himself inside, even though it was confusing as to how he could do that, he knew it was only he who can, and should be the one who does.
Another reason as to why he was much irritated seeing him hurting and sad earlier. Even though it would make him happy to see him expressing himself, as it was, he was angry that he got himself with more pain, so talking it out would take even longer.
And his job harder.
This is also why he says 'children are difficult' even though he's no child, he's in college and he is aware of everything that he is doing and the impacts on it. He's not naive, he's very clever and is very elusive, like a fox when compared. This time was just a fluke, because nothing can be hidden forever from Hibari Kyouya, but you can hide the world as Rokudou Mukuro, usually without traces.
Once again, this is Hibari Kyouya, no matter how much you can hide or try to escape, he can find you and exploit what you were hiding. It was only a matter of time when it would slip out of Hibari's tongue that he knows what Rokudou has truly done.
Hibari took a moment to look at him again. He seemed to be looking elsewhere, with his eyes lowered and his gaze on the grounds. He noticed that his knees were giving up standing, and he was lowered to his knees, and his face looked from the ground to where Hibari was. His mouth was moving, but Hibari couldn't hear anything coming from it, but it certainly was saying something.
His hair moved from his eye of the right, which stared, or maybe, glared would sound preferable. Glared at Hibari's eyes who simply glanced back as if it was nothing. Rokudou stopped speaking, but his breathing became a bit coarse, and his eye widened.
He thought, this is like a test of trust. The eye of his was testing him, was he able to keep Rokudou safe from others as he says he will? Is he a good enough person?
It looked as if Rokudou lost control of his own self, and the doctor sounded a bit correct that there was someone else other than Rokudou inside of him, who was probably the reason why Rokudou has such a strong murderous intent.
The eye was enough to show how much he could hate someone, as it bled with hate. Beautifully crimson, it shone as if it was adorned in the most prettiest red one can possibly find, and held just as much as heaviness that Rokudou's soul carries.
He let his finger roam around the eye, as if tracing it again. His head lowered, making Hibari move his hand away from him. Once again, it was almost night now, and Rokudou didn't bother eating anything from the start of the day and till now even, perhaps that was why he looked tired.
Then he remembered, he is those kind of students who also have frequent times of fainting during the day, but everyone always said it was low blood pressure. But putting pieces together, it would make sense if it was because of the eye's power that was consuming him half of the time, and Rokudou does nothing against it, he doesn't even struggle to stay awake, he just lets it hurt him, lets it take over him, and in the end lets him be taken out of.
It was doing it just now even. Trying to take over and fill its satisfactions, its needs, the things it wants to do. This must've been the bigger reason as to how Rokudou used to do the jobs, he let his alter ego take control and kill them.
How sad.
He must've felt as if blood can never erase from his hands, his soul, his heart.
Must be a tiring life, a regretful one.
He then saw something seeping out of his shirt, and if he wasn't smart enough, he wouldn't have noticed that it was blood coming out of his shirt. Usually these kind of side-effects come from struggling.
Perhaps he still wanted to spend time with Hibari as Rokudou, not someone else who is out for human lives. Not the murderous Mukuro.
Even if that meant he had to struggle alone.
Back to the situation in hand, Hibari's first thought was to stop the bleeding that was occuring. Because this isn't the time to be fighting, seeing as that would destroy Rokudou further, he quickly, but carefully hugged him. Perhaps too much was going on for Rokudou that he even is trying to exceed how long he spends during a day. Or probably it was the other way around.
He had a conversation related to that with Giotto as well, once again. When it came to actual conversations, he could only hold it with Giotto, or Sawada Ieyasu, because Alaude was as quiet as he was, and seemed a bit stressed with his own annoyances, Sawada Tsunayoshi doesn't put up well with Hibari, Sasagawa Ryouhei is a bit of an idiot in his view, Reborn is busy, and that was where he didn't bother with the rest.
But Sawada Ieyasu liked speaking about things with him, and due to his inherited hyper intuition, he even noticed Hibari's dotting behaviour, or a bit of possessive, behaviour when it comes to Rokudou, and how his eyes harden and seem so focused when he is brought up.
And because he couldn't it much from Sawada Ieyasu, he decided to tell him of it, that is in Hibari's language, and that sounds a bit off. Of course the blond understood his way of speaking and always told him; 'if they happen to be struggling alone, lend a shoulder. Accept them of their flaws and turn them into beauty about them. Don't let them suffer alone'
He asked him a few times as to why would someone do that, as in shouldering their burdens, as everyone has their own burdens to carry, he would always respond in ways Hibari would call cheesy, and weak.
He has stated it already a few times, Rokudou is not weak at all, he's only young, and is exceeding what he could carry on his own. he's not only carrying his own, but ar least the burdens of six more people, and has reached his limit on doing so.
Rokudou remained unmoving in his arms, seeming to take in the comfort he was receiving. If he could voice out anything, he would be telling Hibari how tired he was. Tired of everything. The world, the burdens in it, the fact that he can't see what others see, the regrets he has, the remorse he could never possibly deserve to hold, the sorrow he feels thinking, the inability to make things better. All that he's been living for seemed to be falling down at him, rendered useless.
But his voice refused to speak, as his eyes began to close slowly. Hibari kept a gentle, but a strong hold of him, hoping that he could feel it rather than him having to say that he is trying to protect him. Hibari was lucky, that Rokudou did feel secure, as if he was guarded by someone other than himself. He always felt secure about Hibari, enough to be able to sit calmly with him and tell him everything he needs to know, if only he just asked him to.
He lowered himself off of the bed and sat on the floor, keeping Rokudou in a secure embrace. He began to pat him, rubbing up and down his back. He heard a sigh escape Rokudou, so he tried looking at him, hunching himself a bit lower to see. Rokudou's eyes were closed, the blood that was overflowing from the tourniquets stopped, as his body began to relax, and weakly breathe.
In a matter of minutes, he was sleeping in the same position, Hibari remained there, unmoving himself even if he wanted to, he refused to move if that had to wake up Rokudou and worry him again. When he was certain that Rokudou was sleeping, he carefully lifted him and put him to rest on the bed once again, covering him with blankets that were on it.
"gonna grab a bite to eat" he sighed, giving Rokudou's head a pat before leaving the room.
He came back a few minutes later, placing what he would consider edible, near the nightdesk that he had, and watched Rokudou as he slept. He perhaps had said it before, but it really looked like a corpse being put in a casket. Sometimes it looked like he was awake, but most of the time it looked like he was simply lying there, not going to budge.
His phone began to ring and he answered, pretty angrily, with a growl with almost every letter he was speaking out. Once more, it was a call from the 'annoying and annoyingly wise; Sawada Ieyasu' or the 'stupid nickname; Giotto'. Even though it wasn't a really stupid name, Hibari didn't like it one bit. Why can't he stick with a normal name like Ieyasu?
Forgetting that he began to talk a bit with him. He kept his voice low, even though it was naturally low, to make sure Rokudou doesn't hear him talking. He could just leave the room as well, but he was making sure he wasn't getting up any time sooner.
Like the last time he left Rokudou alone, he jumped out of the window and did that dangerous job!
This time he made sure there is no escape for him.
Giotto told him over the phone how the day passed for Rokudou because he asked about it, and as he expected, it sounded like any normal day would pass. He clicked his tongue at that. But at the same time he was a bit relieved at that, at least people didn't see an oddity about him, and that nothing too jeopardizing happened during class.
The call lasted for around fifteen minutes, which is very long considering how much he doesn't seem to speak. the rest of the night was spent in his room, making occasional looks at the bedside to check if he was still there or awake.
Staying awake wasn't a problem to either of them, knowing that the two of them do it almost on a natural basis, so he wouldn't be surprised if he woke up in the middle of the night, or he staying up watching in case something happens for the whole night.
It was almost anticipating that Rokudou woke up at half past eleven, or 11:30 for easy words that Hibari acted like he wasn't watching. The food he left for him got cold so he put it away. Rokudou's eyes opened groggily, appearing to still be pretty sluggish when he tried to sit up. He clutched near his stomach, and Hibari wasn't really sure if he was in pain, or was it hunger. He glanced over to Hibari who stood up from his chair he was sitting on, then smiled wryly at him.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, inching closer as he caught up to him, checking if it was still bleeding or not, as it was earlier. It should've stopped by now because he wasn't moving himself for quite a while, four hours at the very least? But it wasn't too short of a time, but it wasn't too long either. "Ahah, not really" he answered, lifting his shirt a bit to see why is he looking so cross about it. Then he realized, it was before. The tourniquets that Hibari had to put on after his shower seemed soaked in red, as if it was starting to bleed again. But right now it was dry, but still meant it bled before. He frowned at that.
"You haven't eaten anything for the whole day, haven't you?" he asked to change the mood in the room that happened to turn into a droll like one as Rokudou was sulking. He looked up at him, then smiled again "Hm.. but I'm not hungry" he paused, then joked "I am though, hungry for you" Hibari snorted as Rokudou choked out a laugh.
"You're kidding me, I'm not on the list" he flicked his forehead, smirking a bit, then making a serious expression again "I'll get something for you, stay put or I'll bite you to death" and if Rokudou didn't remember what happened when he did not do as he said, he would've said something, but instead he stayed put. "On a condition" he piped in, Hibari turned his face as he was about to leave the room "What" then Rokudou smiled "We're perhaps soul mates now, let's do something cute together" Hibari raised a brow. "Don't get over the line, Rokudou Mukuro. You're still a brat" but if one could see it, they could've seen a snicker from Hibari as he left the room.
Later, Rokudou refused to eat as he had already stated that he was in no state to be eating, but because his body needed the energy, Hibari didn't let it slide.
"Really. It's fine, I can survive not eating for days" he commented, waving a hand at him. The problem was, it has been a few days since he had actual food other than what the IV that was attached on him, so Hibari didn't find that as a good excuse. "Alright then, don't eat" Hibari took a spoonfull and shoved it into Rokudou's mouth who made a muffled noise upon letting it enter, and let the spoon out of his mouth. He glared at him, but received a glare back so he quieted down and swallowed. "How can I forget you will always have things your way" he meekly said, looking at the plate, then at Hibari with a sheepish smile "Let me guess, you're this rough with people the reason why you're scared to it with me, right?" Hibari grumbled "I don't know and I don't care about it. Besides you're just a first year, why are you so desperate to do that with someone?" at the question, he shrugged "I thought you were interested? You always sound strangely kinky" he was referencing all the bite to death comments he had received during the past few weeks. A normal person would call him either a cannibal, or kinky, due to reasons that one doesn't need to explain for.
"Well I'm not all into it" he felt a bit shameful as he thought, he was leading a student on. That could be considered wrong because they don't know a lot of things "Ah that's cool" Rokudou sounded a bit relieved when he said that, as he slowly began to eat a bit of the food given to him. It didn't taste bad, but he was used to skipping a lot of meals, and eating in some place that wasn't your home was strange. "You're not into it, either." rather than asking he said it like a statement. Rokudou nodded at him "I know I know, I look like the kind who would be into it, but I'm not very much so. Maybe if I was better looking" the word he was looking for, was being sexy. Being bony and thin isn't all that, its rather creepy, or so stereotypes say.
Not that he wanted big muscles, but he wanted to look a bit stronger than he does now as he looks like someone who can get blown away with the wind. He let his knees hug at his torso as he looked down on the bed he was sitting on. The bowl was put aside by Hibari, as he sat beside him when he came back from putting it away. Hibari put Rokudou's head to rest on his shoulder, looking rather embarrassed by it, but he did so. Rokudou looked up at him, then smiled at him. He felt his head being patted by him, but nothing was said. This silence was pretty nice, as it just put you at ease as if no words were even required for anything. It was as if they were the only things that existed in the world, there were no people, no sky, nothing, just the two of them. There was no space either, just a small spot where the two were sitting, and that was that.
The ringing of the phone got the two out of their trance as Hibari had to answer it. Judging by the way he spoke in small words, it probably was work related, or just something that didn't interest him in the slightest.
Or it was just his normal way of speaking, as always.
He ended the call a minute later, then looked at Rokudou who stared then closed his eyes. It probably was none of his business, so he wouldn't pipe in. Hibari noted that, and of course, didn't tell him about it.
He probably didn't want to know about it either.
So for 'compensation', Hibari gave him a small little peck on the cheek. Rokudou looked at him apathetically "Hm?" then Hibari answered "Because I didn't tell you, its compensation"
Rokudou sighed with a smile. A silly one he is.
This was going to be a long night, a quiet one as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He walked to his class the next day to avoid suspicion of others. It wasn't like he was avoiding Hibari, however, as when he left, he skipped breakfast and ignored the fact to pack in lunch, but gave Hibari a small goodbye kiss as he left, as he went for his work shift as well.
He met with Giotto when he walked by, seeming to be talking about normal things like "Yesterday wasn't too much of a bad day, let's hope that today outshines it, however."
The thing he liked talking with Giotto, was the fact that he would never make a negative comment or have a bad view of things. It was either 'not too great' or 'not the best' but it was never 'horrible' and 'the worst', and Rokudou liked that there was someone who practices optimism in the group, as he is considered the leader-like one, and he took that role quite seriously from a standpoint of he has to stay kind and strong so that his friends can rub off of it rather than being sad because it would influence the whole team.
Rokudou snorted at one of the comments he made about hair, stating that Sawada Tsunayoshi tried to make his hair look like fire, and he had to reason that he was styling it like Cloud Strife. But once again, when he explained it, he made no hints of negativity in his words, and said in a polite manner, which was why Rokudou laughed at it.
Sometimes he's too kind for his own good.
But that was why he was friends with him, he didn't want Giotto to dirty his hands anywhere, and made a one sided promise to himself that he would be the one who would dirty his hands for Giotto if the situation calls for it.
That's what friends do, don't they?
Getting to class, they regrouped with the rest and as any group would do, started chatting with one another. Kurokawa said that there was a new student enrolling, and even though colleges are not like high school who announce it in front of everyone, somehow she heard of it, but she didn't know who it was.
It was when the teacher of the class came in, that someone came in a bit late, not really late as they had ten minutes till classes actually start, but later than the teacher.
"Wow~ So this is my class for today" he commented, almost looking like he was interested.
At the sound of his voice, Rokudou snapped his head in surprise to look at who entered. It was as if his heart immediately stopped when he recognized who that was. It was Byakuran from that mission he had not too long ago!
Byakuran felt a gaze at him, so he looked back, then smiled as he pointed "Oh hey, its Mukuro-kun from earlier~ I didn't know you study here. What a surprise!" he replied joyfully. Giotto nudged Rokudou's shoulder as he seemed to freeze in place, "Rokudou-kun, its fine. It's just a student, isn't it?" he said sympathetically, as Rokudou finally got control of himself and looked at Giotto "Yeah, yeah.. Just a student" Gokudera and the others wondered how he knew him, and judging by how Rokudou froze earlier, they wondered if it was something bad.
Rokudou swallowed a lump in his throat. Whoever was pulling strings, were definitely trying to get him in trouble.
Perhaps a solution was; keep Byakuran away from others before he outright tells them that Rokudou was on a mission for guarding him earlier
Aaaand that's all for this chapter, now hopefully the next one wouldn't come so late.
I apologize for the lack of updates in Summer, ironically when I should be having time, I can't write.
As always, any sort of feedback is greatly appreciated~