A/N: This is way over due- sorry! And, to make it worse, I have taken forever to update MisTaken even though it was started before Desperation. Thank you so much for all the reviews even though I am taking so long with the updates! Here is your Christmas present from me, look for a new chapter of Mistaken to be up sometime tomorrow~!
Purble- Thank you so much for your review! I am glad that you have enjoyed the fic, and I hope that I can continue to make the story interesting and unique! My main goal in writing any fanfiction is to keep the characters as in character as possible, so I am pleased that you think they are so. Ah, Hibari is a hard character for me to write personally, because I cannot really get his personality down quite right so his and Tsuna's relationship might not be exactly perfect . Anyways, thanks again for the review!
Bleach-ed-Na-tsu- Sorry for replying to you in this way, but for some reason when I tried to respond via private messaging, the reply failed to send . Thank you for reading and reviewing! It is good to know that you are understanding what I am attempting to put out- it is a concern of mine that my writing is not coming across in the way that I want it to. I hope that I can explain things a little better in the future. I am reluctant to go into too much detail because I don't want it to become overly wordy. Sorry this took so long to come out, please enjoy!
"Me"- Thank you for the encouragement! I hope that I can continue to create something that is enjoyable to read. Check out the KHR stories on my favorites list too, they are great!
Here is the forth chapter- enjoy!
Yamamoto could not decide between laughter or concern as he escorted his intoxicated friend to a secured room. They all agreed that the Storm should be moved to an area that only the Guardians could enter, and that only the Guardians be told about the situation. The enclosure that Gokudera would be staying in for the rest of the night was in a level below the basement. It contained only a bed and bathroom and was designed to protect anything within it from outside forces. Yamamoto deposited his fellow Guardian onto the bed with a sigh.
Gokudera began complaining about blurry vision and spinning hallways on the trip to the safe room, and half-way to their destination, the Rain found himself practically dragging a mumbling Storm off the elevator. On their trip down Hayato had gone on about how, despite anything he had said previously, he actually enjoyed going to watch the few professional baseball games that Takeshi had played in.
As he was slumped against the large headboard, Gokudera forced glazed-over green eyes to meet the dark ones of his friend. Yamamoto tried to hide a wince at the drug-induced state the Storm was in; but despite the intoxication that afflicted him, Hayato noticed the Rain's motion. Sluggishly moving to sit up a bit more, Gokudera's slightly slurred words broke the silence of the room.
"Oi, yakyuu-baka what is that pathetic look you are wearing? Don't hang around me showing such expressions, I have enough of my own for the both of us," Hayato's voice did not sound all that accusatory- rather, Yamamoto heard a note of self-blame in the last few words. Takeshi's stiff laughter lingered in the air before Gokudera found it acceptable to continue. "I still don't really know what is going on. Obviously I was drugged somehow because, every time I try to think properly my mind goes blank and this pounding in my head gets louder, and for some reason its like I can't control what I keep inside my head and what my mouth says."
Yamamoto turned to face his friend. The Rain could still not get over how open Hayato was, and the muddled explanation of the Storm's mental condition surprised Takeshi. The former athlete had never personally experienced the effects of a truth-serum, and from the looks of Gokudera's condition, he counted himself fortunate. "Well, that explains some of the stuff I have heard the past half hour," Yamamoto said with a smile. His expression faltered when a sigh sounded from beside him. "You alright Hayato?" Looking at the part-Italian's face, Yamamoto noticed lines of pain and annoyance.
"'m fine for now, I guess. Feels like my strength is being sucked away by this poison. I thought it was only supposed to make me say crazy crap," Gokudera's eyes were half way closed and his face was still flushed with fever. Despite it all though, Yamamoto nearly laughed at the gleam in the green eyes. Apparently, no amount of drugs could completely take away the hint of mental walls that the Guardian constantly upheld.
'There is only one thing in the entire universe that can totally get past those walls, and right now that person is driving himself to his death with everything that has been going on recently.' Takeshi's thoughts were paused as Gokudera began the slow process of standing up. Quickly, Yamamoto moved to assist his friend, but the help was pushed away with a sneer.
"Aho. I can go take a piss on my own. I don't need your freakishly silent self following me around everywhere. Just because Reborn-san always used to call you a natural assassin doesn't mean you have ta act like one every where you go. Relaxing around your family is natural, you know." The grumbling continued and was muted by the closed door of the small bathroom.
Takeshi could not help the amused smile that found it's way to his face. He could still hear bits and pieces of his friend's comments and snickered at the words. "Maa, maa Hayato, there is no need for that sort of language. Now hurry up and get back out here before you accidentally drown yourself in the sink." More grumbling from the Storm followed Yamamoto's comment but the Rain thought that he heard some laughter mixed in with the usual curses.
When Gokudera was finally out of the bathroom, a knock on the room's door made both Guardians pause in their conversation. Yamamoto's hand casually drifted to the sword at his side and one of Gokudera's rings was blazing with a red flame. "Tsuna? Is that you? I thought you were not coming down here until Gokudera was over his uh... condition." The three of them had decided that, in order to conserve what was left of Gokudera's private life and personal dignity, Tsuna would devote his being into finding the spy in the family.
There was a pause on the other side of the door and Takeshi pulled his blade from it's sheath a few centimeters. Gokudera began to move towards the door but was stopped by Yamamoto's arm placed stiffly in front of the Storm's chest. A confused look shot from the green glazed-over eyes towards Takeshi's dark ones. The Rain flinched at the look and forced a smile as he took a few strides forward. Once in front of the door, Yamamoto silently twisted the knob and sent a look back to his friend that suggested silence and alertness. After peering through the crack of the door briefly, the tense gaze smoothly fell and was replaced with a humored expression. "Oi, you have a visitor Gokudera." Yamamoto returned his blade back into its sheath and opened the door fully, revealing an annoyed looking Bianchi.
Gokudera faltered at the arrival of his older sister and moaned as he hunched over in pain. A scowl was plastered on his face as the Storm Guardian pulled his head up and forced out between clenched teeth, "Woman! Can't you remember to wear the goggles, or at least give me some kind of warning before you show up..." the raging man was paused in his rant when the woman in question took three strides into the room and stopped in front of her brother.
"Hayato, we don't have time for your childish antics. Tsuna sent me here to get you. He has a good idea who the traitor in the family is, but there is also word that your location has been compromised as well." Bianchi's words flowed from her mouth, any annoyance in her voice was obviously not directed at the Storm. As she spoke, her hands quickly moved to push the goggles around her neck up around her face. When Gokudera was able to stand with a reasonable amount of security, he looked with a glazed over seriousness at his sibling.
The group of three made their cautious way down the hall and towards Tsuna's private office. Silence covered them except for the occasional muttered remark from the resident Storm Guardian as he commented on various thoughts that happened into his mind. Yamamoto felt himself smirk whenever Bianchi would scoff or mutter a reply at one of her brother's more comical remarks. By the time the group made it to the elevator the two lucid members were trying to keep their laughter controlled enough so that it could be covered up by a forced cough. Unable to help himself any longer, Yamamoto let a chuckle slip.
"Maa, Hayato, as much as I have enjoyed hearing about the many uses of papier-mâché in the context of the supernatural spectrum I am going to take the stairs and make sure that we will have no unwelcome guests waiting for us in the above floors," Takeshi's signature smile filled his pause before he addressed Bianchi, "I'm sure you can handle...this on your own for a few minutes," the Rain made a vague motion with his hand in the area Gokudera was standing in.
"Not to worry, I have been taking care of my foolish little brother long enough to accept whatever he has to offer. I even brought a snack for him to have while we head to the Boss's room." As she finished speaking, the pink headed woman reached into her side-bag and pulled from it a rather large piece of cake covered up in clear plastic-wrap. She hooked an arm around the astonished looking Storm and pulled the man closer to her, "Hayato, this was made especially for you during this trial of your life. I added a special ingredient to it that will get that treacherous poison out of your body quickly. Please eat it all right now while I'm watching, so I can be sure of your safety..." Bianchi's voice never moved from her totally serious tone of voice and somehow the cake was suddenly unwrapped and sitting on a plate, fork awaiting its master's hand.
"What the- Woman! Do you want to kill me right here? This must be proof that you are the spy in the Family, trying to finish me off right here and now. I'm on to you, and don't think for a second that you will be getting anywhere near Juudaime any time soon. Yakyuu-baka, take this annoying woman with you, I can ride the blasted elevator on my own," Gokudera's voice seemed to be less slurred as he spoke, but he nearly toppled over as he shoved his doting sister away in an attempt to escape the torture that her cooking promised.
"Hai, hai, whatever you say Hayato." Yamamoto laughed as he turned and headed towards the staircase. He waved casually to Bianchi as she pressed the call button for the elevator and allowed himself to laugh more freely at his friend. Shouts and curses from the defiant Storm followed the swordsman and were quickly covered up with seemingly caring remarks from the female Italian.
The elevator was not empty when it opened in front of Bianchi with a soft 'ding'. Suspicion instantly plastered her face when a man looked up at them with surprise before he smiled. "Signorina Bianchi, Signore Hayato, I was actually coming down here to see you!" The excitement in this man's fluent Italian made Bianchi's eye twitch slightly but she forced her voice to sound as apathetic as possible.
"Hm? And who are you? No one is supposed to know we were down here unless you are a guardian of the Decimo or the Boss himself, and you are neither." Moving ever so slightly in front of her recovering sibling, Bianchi cocked and eyebrow at the man- daring him to challenge her.
"Ah, forgive me, but I just wanted to come and give my thanks to Signore Hayato for saving my life. I was driving the car that he and the Decimo were in earlier today and if it wasn't for their actions I fear my wife would be planning a funeral right now instead of our daughter's birthday celebration." The man said quickly and politely, giving an encouraging smile at the end. He took a step to his right and motioned for Bianchi and Gokudera to join him in the small box. "Please, let's return to the main level. I am to drive the Decimo across town in thirty minutes for a meeting with his father. Something about his father and mother taking a vacation overseas in the coming month. I wanted to come thank you before I had to leave," the man said as an explanation, still waiting for the two to join him and still wearing the overly considerate smile across his face.
Bianchi quickly checked her watch, 'Takeshi is most definitely waiting for us upstairs, and if we don't get a move on, he will leave and head back down here to see what the problem is. I don't trust this guy any more than I want to date him, but if that baseball idiot leaves the elevator entrance we will have one less back up than we should...' her thoughts caused her to sigh out loud and grab her listing brother by the wrist. "Right, well please don't take it personally when I say that I really don't care why you came down here, just know that if it happens again you'll be riding the elevator up in a body bag and not with that annoying smirk on your face," the Italian woman growled as she pulled Gokudera into the small box with the starting-to-get-creepy middle aged man.
"Oi, Aneki, watch what you're pulling around. I got shot along with the oh so fun dose of spill your guts serum. This guy was there, he saw it all go down, ne buddy? Then on the way back we had a nice long game of 'listen to Hayato say idiotic things'... this day is just getting better and better." As he continued to let words spew out of his mouth, Bianchi noticed that her little brother was starting to sound more like himself and less like the drugged up man that had appeared in the base a little over an hour ago.
"That's great, Hayato. Because I'm sure everyone wants to know about the many aspects of your crazy brain. You should be apologizing to this driver for having to listen to all the tedious notes and formulas that you have been spouting off..." the woman trailed off in her verbal thoughts as pieces began to fall into place all too quickly. Without hesitation, Bianchi ignited one of her rings and turned, preparing to release a few of her scorpions. As she faced the driver, and newly discovered traitor, surprise took over her features.
On the other side of the small elevator, the Storm Guardian of the Vongola had activated his skull arm gun and had it pointed with a steady arm at the man in question. When he spoke, Gokudera sounded as lucid and sure of himself than he ever had, "As a Guardian of the Tenth Generation Vongola, I am going to request that you remove your hands from your pockets. Be aware, I have no qualms with blasting you away right here if you make a move that could be seen as a threat." Keeping a close eye on his now captive, Gokudera touched the communicator in his ear. Turning the device on connected him to Tsuna's device, and after touching another switch on the piece, it connected to Yamamoto's earpiece as well. "Juudaime, Yakyuu-baka, Aneki and I are bringing a suspicious man to be questioned about today's events."
Bianchi physically relaxed and moved to place a heavy hand on the man's shoulder, her right eye twitching full-force from the collective stress of the day. "You know, it really is not a good life choice to cross these guys," the woman leaned over and muttered into the man's ear, her grip on the shoulder tightening.
The forced smile on the man's face slowly shifted into a grimace, and finally into a scowl. The man turned to face the other two in the space, and directed his glare at Bianchi. As he opened his mouth to say something, Gokudera quickly spoke first, "I suggest you shut your trap, Signore, because that is my sister you are about to talk to, and I am very much looking for a reason to take out some frustration right now." After a beat of stillness, the man shut his mouth with a snarl and slowly took his hands from his jacket pockets. Smirking, Bianchi leaned over and pressed another button on the elevator wall.
A minute later, the silver doors slid open to reveal the expectant swordsman and Rain Guardian leaning against the hall wall looking as casual as ever, save for the murderous glare in the dark eyes aimed at the man responsible for his friend's pain.
Twenty minutes later, Tsuna closed the door of one of their interrogation rooms containing the confessed spy for the Corvello Family that had acted as a Vongola driver for the past six months. The Decimo ran a hand through his brown hair and closed his eyes for a second, letting the harsh mask of Mafia Boss slip away and allowing the more natural concerned friend persona take back over. Tsuna had sent Gokudera away to his room to recover more fully, and assigned Yamamoto to stay with the bomber until the poison was completely gone. The moment of stillness was broken, however, as Tsuna's ear-comm beeped and Hibari's voice suddenly sounded in the Sky's head. Tsuna replied quickly then turned the device off, took a deep breath and straightened his suit, then headed to his office to meet with his Cloud. The final preparations for a very unfortunate plan were to be delivered within the next twenty-four hours, and the Decimo had a few more arrangements to make.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I know that this chapter didn't have much over-all plot material, but everything is necessary to show the stress the Tsuna and the Vongola as a whole are going through. Also- I am working on a one-shot based off Reidluver's KHR fic called "It's a Mafia Life", so go check out that story and get excited about a Gokudera POV of it coming soon! (I just love me some Gokudera angst. His depression and desperation-see what I did there?- is pretty much cannon, and it is oh-so-fun to elaborate on that ^^) Once again, I apologize for this being so late. I should be able to get up a few more chapters before I head back to school at the end of January. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, it was really encouraging to hear from you guys!