Here is a character's point of view that I've wondered about just as much as the others. I'm pretty sure he wasn't present during the assassination, but he could have, I've got no real idea. Either way, I've wanted to write his chapter quite a bit, because hes one of my favorites.
Unfortunately, due to lack of information, I'm not entirely sure how in character this will be... I really don't know how this guy, with his personality, would have handled the news...
Disclaimer: I dont own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, nor the affiliated characters.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS LOTS OF VERY HARSH LANGUAGE ON THE VARIA'S PART. MOSTLY XANXUS, BUT THATS JUST WHO HE IS. YOU HAVE BEEN ALERTED.
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"And then I told him, 'I'm not interested in someone who can't even last in the ring, let alone the bedroom!'"
A loud cacophony of laughter filled the black limousine on its way through he streets of New York, the two men inside hidden from outsider's eyes by bulletproof tinted windows.
"Ahaha, I'm not sure what you mean when you say those kinda of jokes, Lussuria." said the spiky silver haired man, who chuckled in a heartily- albeit a bit confused- manner.
Sasagawa Ryouhei had been in America for about a day and a half so far, on his Boss's orders, to meet with the waiting Varia and collect information on several dangerous mafia famigilia. The first day he arrived via private jet, he'd spent in a luxury suit until he would meet up with his escort the next person, the ever flamboyant Lussuria (Ryouhei never fully comprehended the fact that his friend was pretty much as gay as they come), was busy conversing animatedly about is most recent relationships and missions with the other Varia, scooting closer all the while to the silver haired man's seat.
The sleek black limo pulled along as best it could in the traffic of New York's congested streets, breaking free of the chaos by way of side streets that eventually turned into the rare part of the state in which houses sat on rich, luxurious land plots. Ryouhei stared out the darkened window at the scenery, his smile light and carefree.
"Naa, Ryouhei-kun, you havn't been to visit in a while, what're you doing in America this time around? Is it because you miss me?!" Lussuria questioned, now nearly on the same seat as the Boxing enthusiast. Ryouhei chuckled, scratching the old scar on his brow.
"Sawada sent me over. I'm here to collect some information from you guys." he answered. Lussuria tilted his head, his lips pursed in a large pout.
"Tsuna-chan? Information on what? Its rare for that cute little Boss to ask anything from us, for how terrified he is of Xanxus-sama~!" he spouted dramatically, clutching his hands together under his chin. Ryouhei laughed again, nodding in agreement.
"That's true, you should see his face when he hears you guys are coming to stay at the mansion. All the color drains out of his face and only Reborn can get him out of his room!"
The two men laughed for a while longer, now sidetracked into telling stories about both their boss's less-then-authoritative qualities (Ryouhei had more the share the his Mohawked partner). The limousine slowed, pulling in to the large gray pebble driveway of a castle-like estate, guards at the main gates nodding in recognition to the driver as they granted unharmed passage.
Ryouhei chuckled as he stepped out of the luxury vehicle, Lussuria clamped on his arm and exclaiming loudly to the castle walls of their arrival.
"Yooo-whooo~! I'm back with Ryouhei-kun, everyone~!" he hollered in his great high pitched yet vaguely masculine tone. There was no response, however, from the cold stone building, and Lussuria seemed at odds about that fact.
"Ah, strange. Usually you can hear Commander Squalo yelling back at me to shut up... Hmph! Could they be ignoring me?!" he mused aloud. Ryouhei just grinned at the eccentrics of this member of the Varia, pushing open the great dark oak doors and entering the vast main lobby of the Varia Head Quarters.
The walls were covered in antique tapestries, deep red and bearing the Assassination Squadron Crest. Ryouhei's patent leather Versace shoes made sharp 'clack' sounds reverberate from the black limestone marble floors, all the way up to the towering stone ceilings that anchored heavy metal and crystal chandeliers. There was a definite feeling of medieval inspiration about the place, and from the outside in it didn't look like something to be found anywhere in the United States.
"Squalo! Bel! Levi! Geez, where is everyone?" Lussuria huffed, placing his hands on his jutted out hip. Ryouhei stared up at the grand staircase winding up to the second floor, his eyebrows furrowed. This house was a 'home' (of sorts) to some of the most dangerous men on the planet, so it was fitting that there be a kind of unwelcoming atmosphere, but it was more off then it had been on past visits.
"Well, first things first, I need to see Xanxus. Sawada was kinda vague on the details of the information I needed though..." Ryouhei said, rubbing the white compress on the bridge of his nose.
"Hai haaai!" Lussuria sang, leading his fellow Sun attribute companion up the stairs with a bounce in his step. Ryouhei stuffed his bandaged hands into his pockets, paying half his attention to the ancient paintings of great battles and important people of the past, and half to Lussuria's continuous stream of conversation.
"Ah, here it is, Boss's office. Scaaary, isn't it?" the Mai Thia fighter said, gesturing at the towering double doors that appeared as the hallway's dead end. The wood was dark, with reinforced steel bolts and thick metal handles that might at some point have been a precious metal, but were not tarnished from ill keeping.
"Xanxus doesn't scare me all taht bad." Ryouhei said with a chuckle, gripping the handles and pulling. "Now, Tsuna while in Hyper Dying Will? That'll get to me."
The great doors scrapped loudly against he stone floors, giving an ominous sort of foreboding feeling to anyone thinking about entering. Ryouhei just stared in steadfastidly, his feet following his careless personality and pushed him into the dark room beyond the threshold. Lussuria followed along closely in his wake, the eyes behind his sunglasses sneakily eying the Boxer's arm for an opportunity to cling to it once again.
It was deadly silent in the Varia Captian's office. Cold; smelling a bit like brandy and copper. Ryouhei felt uncomfortable, as most would, standing in the center of the room, feeling eyes stick all over him.
"Yoo-whooo, Lussuria is here with the special guest Ryouhei-kuuun!!" Lussuria sang, dancing over to a red velvet couch, of which he collapsed into with a flourish. Ryouhei smiled at his Guide's antics, yet was not surprised to hear the resounding 'Tch!' that echoed around the stone walls.
"Voooi! Fucking Sun-Homo! Can't you be a little quieter? Shit." came the disgruntled voice of the man Ryouhei knew well as Yamamoto Takeshi's fellow Rain Swordsman.
"Squalo, it's been a while." he greeted, waving to the man who sat in the window-sill, arms crossed and long silver hair dropping over his face recklessly. Squalo gave a grunt in recognition.
"That fucker ready to come have another match with me yet? Or is he still dicking around with that stupid baseball shit?!" he inquired in a rather harsh tone. Ryouhei smiled. The name hadn't been used, but Ryouhei knew perfectly well what 'fucker' Squalo was referring to.
"I don't think so, he seemed pretty busy with Vongola work and doing the training for Major League games. He does send his regards though." the silver haired Sun Guardian answered. Squalo crossed his arms tighter over his chest, his face all the more upset.
The sound of muffled coughing came to Ryouhei's ears, and his attention was shifted to the pair who stood in the dimmest part of the study. A tall man who's usual hooded face was now unveiled by the fit of violent coughs he was trying to suppress. The boy at his side, who wore a large, strange hat that made it seem as though a frog was eating his head, stared with interest at the cloaked man's sudden bought.
"Ah, so you're sick too, Mammon?" Ryouhei asked, his tone concerned, though he knew it would be wasted on the grown Arcobaleno. Sure enough, he was soon treated to a pair of narrowed, uncaring dark purple eyes under a mat of even darker bangs before the hood was pulled right back up to once again conceal the man's features.
"Like I'd catch something from those useless people." he said in a mellow sounding voice, wiping the speckles of blood he didn't think Ryouhei had seen onto his coat. The boy at his side let out a hum.
"Hmmmm, but Master has been sick for a good month now...." he mused, receiving a sharp elbow to the back of the head by the generous Mammon.
"Fran, what did I tell you about talking?" he queried. Fran sighed.
"'Don't'." he supplied obediently.
"Ushishishsi...."
Ryouhei shifted. He knew that laugh, and he was sure Gokudera Hayato knew it just as well.
"The little Frog Student is just as pathetically stupid as his Teacher." said the blond haired Prince of the Vaira as he lounged on a couch opposite of Lussuria, followed by an agreeing nod from the Lightning giant Levi A Than, who stood behind him against the book shelves.
'Belphegore.' Ryouhei thought, his eyes narrowed with dislike for the Genius royalty.
"Aaah, the Fallen Prince is speaking, Master. I'm gonna pretend like I don't hear him...!" Fran said clearly loud enough for all to hear. Ryouhei chuckled even though a dangerous silver knife whizzed past him and stuck itself in the shoulder of the young Fran, who silently shed a few tears without changing his blank, emotionless expression. Ryouhei couldn't be sure if Fran had felt it at all, when he acted like that.
"You guys seem to be getting along as well as eve-"
"Shut up."
The Sun Guardian turned rigid. A chill ran down his spine and arms, the acrid voice coming like thunder from the figure behind the huge black oak desk. Ryouhei turned his head casually, being a man that wasn' t all that easy to intimidate on bark alone. And, after all, this person was the one he was sent to talk to.
"Xanxus." he nodded to the glowering red eyed man, bowing out of Japanese customs. Xanxus, Captain of the Ninth Vongola's Special Assassination Squad, glared at the Vongola's Sun, swirling his snifter of Cognac. His spikes of black hair fell into his eyes, almost hiding the visible scars that stretched across his cheeks and forehead.
"When'dyou get here?" he drawled, pushing his glass against his lip, letting the fiery liquid burn coldly over his lips. Ryouhei raised a scarred eyebrow.
"I only just got here-"
"Not here, you dumb shit! In the fucking 'States. How the fuck long have you been in this shitty country?" Xanxus barked, interrupting the would-be reply. Ryouhei frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
Tsuna always sent him to deal with the Varia, and if it wasn't him, it was Yamamoto. The only reason for this was most likely because Ryouhei was friends with Lussuria, and Yamamoto was on 'good' terms with Squalo. But other then the mohawk-ed man, Ryouhei couldn't be sure that any of the other Varia cared at all for his presence. Hell, they barely cared for each other's presence. But he dealt with it just fine, since it couldn't be helped that Tsuna was absolutely petrified of even being in the same country as Xanxus.
"Tsuna had me come over about a day and a half ago. I've been staying at the Hilton in NYC. You know, the drive upstate was a real-"
"Shut the hell up, fuck! I didn't ask for your fucking itinerary!"
Ryouhei clenched his teeth, hands bracing at his sides into familiar fists.
"Oi! You're being EXTREMELY rude! I can stand that Hibari Kyouya more then you!" he snapped back, lifting his arms into his most practiced stance. In back of him, Lussuria let out an amused hum, pressing his sunglasses up on the bridge of his nose. Xanxus seemed none too pleased.
"You piece of Guardian shit..." the Italian growled, red eyes fixed precisely on the boxer's dusty gray. Ryouhei glared heatedly back, the animosity hanging thick in the air so much anyone not used to such an ominous aura would cower in distress.
"That sack of garbage you call a Boss..." Xanxus continued, his lip curling as though the mere thought of Vongola's true Sky was a bad taste in his mouth.
"That sack of shit... the pussy-ass little dickless fuck that's in charge of when you take a piss-"
"Oi! You gonna keep insulting Sawada to the extreme, or do you have anything else to say?!" Ryouhei's fist slammed down on the dark wooden desk, rousing a shuddering quake to thrum down into the floor. Xanxus just stared with intensified menace, and with his steel-toed boot, shoved the laptop that was facing him toward the silver haired Guardian.
"This 'oughta shut you're damn mouth, shit head." he sneered. Ryouhei frowned at the screen, not understanding the small sentence of dots and dashes that were displayed in code.
"What is this?" he inquired, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a confused expression. Xanxus took a large swig of his brandy.
"Varia coded report, moron. Its about that shitty Boss of yours."
Ryouhei blinked.
"Sawada? What about him? Does he want me to come back already?"
Xanxus took another long drink, slamming his empty cup down and refilling it with a great show of uncaring as excess liquor spilled across the paperwork.
"He's dead."
Ryouhei froze. A sharp chill cut through his spine down to his fingertips, causing his fists to clench tightly. His steel gray eyes filled with fury, staring at the lax Leader of the Varia.
"You bastard, calling Sawada names is one thing, but making up things like th-"
"Shut up!" Xanxas roared, standing up from his chair so abruptly that it span out from under him and clattered to the floor. The Italian grabbed his bandy glass and hurled it across the room, where it narrowly smashed into the head of Marmon's strange student.
"Miss." Fran announced, seemingly unaffected by the seriousness of the conversation. The other Varia were quiet, oddly so. Ryouhei spun on his heel to inspect them all, searching for a tell that would give away the joke that wasn't registering with him.
Squalo had turned his head out of site, staring out of the window, his arms crossed in an uncomfortable way that seemed more awkward then relaxed. Belphegore didn't have the giant grin plastered across his royal face, instead he fascinated himself with his rings, turning them over on his fingers with his lips turned in a emotionless line, while behind him Levi hid a slight ill-to-do smile. Lussuria had his fingers pressed to his gloss covered lips, eyebrows furrowed in concern as he stared at his fellow Sun Attribute.
It began as small movements of his neck muscles, Ryouhei shaking his head slightly. He turned back to Xanxus, who was now back in his chair with the entire bottle of liquor, gulping it down in large swallows.
"That's... that's a lie." The silver haired man denied, his fists shaking at his sides.
"You think I'd admit to that piece of shit dying by someone other then me?! If I say that little fuck got called in as dead, then that fucking means he's dead." Xanxus snapped, his red eyes flaring. Ryouhei stood stock-still, his pulse hammering in his ears, drowning out a voice that could have been Lussuria's.
"I... I have to go... Japan, I... have to go back.." The Guardian muttered, his vision flashing around the room while he backed away. The Varia stared with mixed expressions, blank stares of uncaring, camouflaged apprehension, and turned backs. Ryouhei stumbled out of the room in a daze, his eyes dilated and spinning.
Though Lussuria had been the one to guide him through the maze of hallways to the Head Office of the castle, somehow the Boxer's feet found their way out onto the main steps outside. Since arriving the sun had begun to set, making the mansion grounds flood in a heavy red and gold light. He stopped, standing on the cement and stone stairs of the front drive, and began patting himself all over until his fingers found the lump in his breast pocket that was his cell phone.
" Yamamoto...Yamamoto..." he muttered hastily, impetuously punching his fingers against the number pad. He listed, ill at ease from the digital drone of each long drag of the responding ring. Ryouhei's eyes, small disks of silver awash in a sea of bloodshot white, stared at nothing while his head was filled with urgent pleads for the Rain Guardian to answer his phone.
"Damnit!" the boxer cursed upon discerning the automatic answering machine response above the thundering of his own rapid pulse. He punched in another number with the same urgency.
"Octopus-head... you always answer...!" he urged while the drone of the digital ring went on and on. Again, an answering service wait for him.
One bye one Ryouhei called the other Guardians. Hibari, Lambo, even Mukurou and Chrome; all left him empty handed and panicked. Then, slowly, his fingers pushed in the numbers that would connect him with his Boss. His hands were unsteady and weary as he pressed the phone back to his ear, waiting.
'The party you are trying to reach is unavailable do to service cancellation or contract termination. Please contact service suppliers for further-'
Ryouhei stood, staring at the ground. His hand fell limp to his side, the hard plastic shell of his mobile clattering sharply against the stones, cracking the screen and splitting the case. Behind him, the heavy thudding of boots and soft tinkling of metal chains came to stop at his side.
"...You can't be right. The report was wrong..." he stated. Beside him, Xanxus crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
"If you want to think that, knock yourself the fuck out." he growled, crossing his arms over his chest. Ryouhei shook his head.
Of course the information was accurate. But it couldn't be right...
"How..." he questioned, his deep voice grumbling lowly in a whisper. Xanxus glared ahead of him.
"That Millifiore scumbag assassinated him, apparently." the Varia Captain answered bitterly. Ryouhei shot his head around, looking aghast.
"Th-the meeting...?!"
Now Xanxus aimed his glare at him.
"No shit that meeting." Ryouhei's blood turned cold and his muscles grew stiff. The meeting Tsuna said was unnecessary for him to attend...
"The others were there... other Guardians. Why didn't they-?!" Xanxus cut him off.
"Do I fucking look like I was there? No. I was in this piss-hole of a castle dealing with these fucks all on the order of that dead little piss-ant! The same reason you're here!"
Ryouhei furrowed his brows, the skin of his forehead and the scar that marked it condensing with sweat. His short term memory problem often was the cuase of many problems for him, and even now it infuriated him that he was unable to recall Tsuna's words right before sending him off to America. He remembered the expression, though. The way his friend looked at him as though the time he regretted something deeply.
'...just can't...Nii-san...understand, right?'
Ryouhei felt sick. The rings on his fingers were cold and clammy against his skin, and he tasted a metallic flavor on his palate. Xanxus was muttering to himself, cursing the Millifiore's Don in his native language for 'killing what was his to kill'. Ryouhei looked at his crushed cell phone on the ground, wondering if he should have called Kyouko or her friend Hana. Hana knew about the whole Mafia business, but Kyouko was still blissfully unaware, something Tsuna had taken great efforts to cover up even after the two had decided to call a quits on any romantic involvement.
He wondered if he could call his sister. Did she know? Was she just as unaware of her old crush's death as well as the reason why it occurred? No. She must still be at their family home, cooking or cleaning or whatever else she busied herself with. She'd probably be the last to find out. Ryouhei knew he couldn't be the one to tell her, anyway. He could hardly accept it himself.
'I just can't....have... there...Niisan... understand, right?'
The silver haired man let his knees bend and deposit him onto the cold stone steps of the mansion. He was at a loss, unknowing of how to handle the situation. No one he was this close to had ever... disappeared before. His parents were both still alive back in Namimori, and he'd never had a family pet before, so he'd never felt the pain of loosing a pet dog or cat.
His fist clenched tightly on his thigh.
Tsuna wasn't a childhood pet! He was his Boss. He was his friend; his 'little brother'. The grief gripped him tightly in a miserable hold, yet he was still uncertain as to how he was supposed to handle himself.
"FUCKERS!" Xanxus shouted loudly and violently, his exclamation coming so suddenly and such high a volume that the Sun Guardian's body twitched. Ryouhei slowly dragged his eyes over to the older man, who was leaning against the castle's stone wall with his fist braced tightly above his head. Ryouhei studied him, his body slowly calming into a sort of resolved trance. His ashen grey eyes fell half-lidded, clouded from resignation of uncertainty.
'I just can't have you there with me this time Niisan, you understand, right?'
Ryouhei flinched against the concrete and stone ground, the memory finally coming back to him, as it did sometimes. Tsuna had said it with an easy going, sort of embarrassed looking smile, but there was still the hidden lacing of regret that peered out at Ryouhei, and made him curious even at the time. Tsuna sometimes said he was regretful of bringing the Guardians into such a world, despite the vehement arguments that they chose to be a part of it.
But that time, it was a sad, sorrowful, yet confident sort of regret. The kind that Ryouhei had only seen once before, years ago when he accompanied Tsuna along on a mission, and ended up healing him after he look damage from a bullet that had been aimed at the 8 year old Lambo. Tsuna had looked sad, and Ryouhei supposed it was from regret that he had ended up in such a situation. Yet other then the sadness, he seemed pleased that he was able to protect his youngest Guardian.
So why had he seen such an expression when Tsuna sent him off to America?
"Xanxus." Ryouhei's voice was thick and graven, this throat parched as though he'd been deprived of water for a lifetime. The Varia Commander glared over at him, making a sort of grunt of acknowledgment.
"I'm going back to Japan tomorrow, but I'm coming back. When I do, I'd like all the information you have on the Millifiore. All of it."
"Where the fuck do you get off ordering m-"
"Regardless of our internal strife, when we are attacked by enemies from the outside..." Ryouhei's fists shook as he spoke, his body at it's limit of grief and anger that he had to admit that all this was happening. Xanxus glared harder, but heaved a sigh and turned back into the castle.
"... We the Vongola are always... One... God damnit!! I fucking hate you Guardian scumbags!!"
Xanxus left the end of the mantra at that, closing the double doors behind him with two great slams. Ryouhei stared at the ground, his eyes burning and wet, and his heart tight. The rings on his fingers, though not his most important (that ring had been done away with several months ago by Tsuna's command), felt like braces entwined around his hands. And there, on the steps of the Varia secondary Mansion in the state of New York in the United States of America, Sasagawa Ryouhei lost hope that things would be okay.
The Sky was gone. And what was the Sun to do without the Sky?
The young, 15 year old girl's head rolled against a steady shoulder.
Ryouhei's shoes clacked loudly through the hidden bases' hallway on his way to the meeting room, the empty sound unaffected his purposeful strides. The Boxer's steps were slightly more of a fast pace then usual, and he'd admit it was what was waiting for him that rushed his gait.
Tsuna had come back, due to some reason or another, but still, he was back.
So this, Ryouhei's second return back to Japan after the last one (which had been only two days, for the funeral), was an especially important instance. There were many things he wanted to see this time around, although at the moment the young Chrome Dokurou in his arms was a rather pressing matter. Would the 15 year old Tsuna be as vibrant as memory served? Surely the younger Vongola Decimo would recognize his 'Nii-san' still, despite the years of difference, but, would he believe the personality that came with those years?
Ryouhei was still, to a very smaller extent, still Ryouhei. His 'extreme' habits remained intact, and his high overprotectivness of his younger sister and friends, but a large part of him had been strongly effected by forigne grief and stricken sadness. It had calmed his personality down somewhat, and the acts of 'extreme-ity' were very much toned down to loud outbursts on the random occasion. He knew all too well as a boxer, that getting hit once meant another was to follow closely behind, and that it did when his Master had died a short while back.
But when the door slid up, and he was greeted with surprised, bright brown eyes under messy tawney bangs, his lips lifted in a smile again.
"Sasagawa Ryouhei, gate crashing!" he announced, and for the first time since that day he had been told by a man he couldn't stand that his dear friend had died, there was hope building anew in his eyes.
And so, he would do whatever it took to make things different this time around. No matter what extremes he had to take.
Urgh, I really dont like how I ended this... I wish I knew how Ryohei handles emotions...
I wanted him to seem like he was confused by what had happened to Tsuna, and it messed up his thought process (which may be why it seems that after he gets told about it he starts acting in a wierd way).
I put him in America with the Varia due to Hana's comment to Kyouko that 'Ryouhei is overseas meeting up with an Okama' (okama meaning cross-dresser, or slang for a gay person). I'm sure the only 'okama' Ryouhei would know of is Lussuria (who is blatently gay, and for Ryouhei himself at that). So I had him be in upstate New York, which I think is the more country-side type part of the state, I'm not sure... I live in California, so once you leave Los Angelos, everything becomes the countryside...
Ah, but, I really wish I knew more about Ryouhei. He's one of my favorite characters, since I love his type.
The next chapters are already almost done, I've got Gokudera's written on paper somewhere and Reborn's is in my archive about half-way done. Any other character I'm still only thinking about in my head (Dino, Lal Mirch, Tsuna's parents, ect.) As you may have noticed, Xanxus and other Varia members were featured in this chapter, so please tell me whether or not I should have a seperate chapter or not featuring their reactions alone.
Please feel free to review if you'd like, I wont force you. Thank you for reading so far!
-Rae