[Just a quick note] - My beta and I have revised Basils chapter (8) quite a bit, and I think it would be very good if you reread it at some point. While nothing too substantial to the plot has been changed, a lot about Basil and Iemitsu was added.
So I am back from my short Hiatus, finally able to write again now that my exams are finished. I'm sorry this took so long to get out, but now I should be able to work out a proper schedule. Please enjoy, and thank you for your beautiful support and wonderful encouragement. It really means a lot to me~
Beta'd by the wonderful mercyn~
The knots that Tie and the Strings that Bind.
Misty world of ours.
Upon returning home, everyone went to their own rooms. Takeshi was still reeling from his shocking victory, and everyone else had fallen into their own world. Tsuna desperately wanted to comfort them all, but he himself was still trying to unravel the strange, counterintuitive rushes telling him that Xanxus cared for Squalo despite his show of disrespect upon the rain's death.
Reborn had taken Lambo up to Tsuna's room when it was clear that his ward would not be of sound mind for a while, and the others kind of drifted away. Even Kyouya, who had been brooding over the strange feelings and sights he had been experiencing, had left and Dino had followed in the hopes of burning off some of the cloud's mountainous energy before everyone went to sleep.
That left Tsuna alone in the living room, head bowed and back slumped. Not really sure of what to do or what to think.
"It upsets me to know that they still haven't realised just how precious, and delicate you are, Tsunayoshi." The voice was smooth and lacked the usual, teasing finesse to it.
Tsuna didn't even startle at the voice, but something in his chest unknotted when the wave of indigo suddenly entered his vision. "I'm not precious Mukuro." Tsuna sighed heavily, he was so sick of being left alone; but again, he was weak and didn't really know what to do.
"But you're not denying that you're delicate, Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro almost laughed, but his sky was still slumped uncomfortably, and his strings radiated loneliness.
"I'm weak, I know that." Tsuna sighed out with a shaking voice.
Mukuro was ready to castrate those damn boys that called themselves guardians; especially that cloud, when his mind registered exactly what his sky had said.
Some deep, hidden part of Mukuro had hoped that Kyouya would realise and help him protect the sky having become aware of the string's burden; apparently Mukuro was right before, he couldn't trust anyone but himself, his dear Chrome, and his two other partners.
Mukuro frowned upon hearing the sigh, and he felt Chrome stiffen beside him. The pair of illusionist didn't know how long it would take, but they wanted Tsuna to know just how precious he was; they both wanted to destroy everyone who had dared make him feel so dull and worthless.
Mukuro took a seat to Tsuna's right, he pulled Tsuna close, teasing his hair as Chrome took a seat on Tsuna's left and leaned in to share the support and offer her own. Tsuna shifted at the joint warmth, and a small smile met his lips with a light laugh.
He never would have imagined the comfort of company a year ago, and now it seemed he couldn't really function without it.
A gentle silence would have settled between the three but Tsuna shifted again, and though he looked into neither mist's eyes, both were highly aware of the heaviness of Tsuna's eyes when he spoke.
"I know I've asked this before, but please answer me again; do you really want to fight for me in these battles? Do you want to be my mist guardians?"
This time the silence was awkward and tense, Tsuna's shoulders became rigid and scared, and Chrome could do nothing but press her face into his back as he sat forward. She was unsure of what to say or what to do, her boss and friend was so unconvinced of his own worth; she thought, shockingly, that even she was more aware of her own worth than Tsuna.
"Kufufufu, you aren't worried about us are you, Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro teased, "I thought you had more faith in us than that."
Tsuna paused again, trying not to yell in frustration and turmoil; it wouldn't help him or the two blue-haired teens next to him. "I have the utmost faith in you and Chrome also, Mukuro. But you are two very precious people to me; it's only natural for me to be scared and worried when you're about to face trained assassins."
While Tsuna continued to stare at the wall in a failing attempt to control his emotions, Mukuro's face fell into a completely unguarded expression of intrigue and grief. Beside him, Chrome became stiff with tears in her eyes.
They had heard similar words close to two thousand times over the past near-enough-a-year. Tsuna was not stringent in giving praise and affection, but he was strict to whom he gave that unguarded, unadulterated trust and love. Mukuro and Chrome has heard almost exactly one thousand nine hundred and twelve times that they were precious and meant enough to Tsuna for him to kill; but there was something serious and heavy about it this time that made them both pause, and left Mukuro without will to tease and torment.
Chrome had reached out for Tsuna's hand, her body was still leant against Tsuna in a comfortable way, but tears were still in her eyes. "We couldn't be half as strong without you, boss." She whispered, just loud enough for Mukuro to hear on Tsuna's other side. "If we are precious to you, you are a thousand times more precious to us."
"It's hard to believe sometimes." The whisper was so soft that Mukuro and Chrome almost missed it.
Mukuro sighed, and while one hand moved to grip Tsuna's free hand, the other wiped across his face and through his hair in a frustrated and stressed-out expression Mukuro rarely ever had to resort to.
"Tsuna, that attitude is going to get you hurt one day. Do you not remember what we are, what we did?"
Tsuna startled a little at that, turning to face Mukuro with an aggressive expression that surprised Mukuro on some deep level. "What you did to that foul family was a necessity of survival; don't ever think it makes you less than any other guardian of mine. You are just as clean as they are." Mukuro may not have expressed that undertone that Tsuna picked up on, but Tsuna knew it was there. After a deep breath Tsuna leant back and relaxed somewhat. "I have you to protect me from my 'attitude' Mukuro, you and Chrome both."
"You don't need to worry about us, Tsunayoshi."
"Mukuro and I will be fine, boss."
Tsuna sighed deeply, and the sound was a painful huff of breath. "I know you are strong, you two are strong, smart, and capable of so much more than I am. But I cannot help but be worried. It's natural to worry about family."
Somehow or another, those words and the comfortable hum that rumbled from Tsuna's chest settled them all into comfortable conversations. They stayed up much later into the night than anyone else, and it was only when both Chrome and Tsuna started to nod off against Mukuro's shoulder that he woke Tsuna, and lifted Chrome into his arms. "Come, Tsunayoshi. You need to sleep."
In the morning there was a strange energy in the house. Hayato, as usual, was the first awake followed by Ryohei. Both entered the kitchen under a warm conversation.
"Normal coffee, Tako-head? Or should I put the Italian stuff you and Reborn like?"
"Better make it the strong stuff, turf-top." Hayato started clinking through the cupboards for the pans so he could start cooking breakfast, suddenly Hayato stood up and looked towards the door, "Is something wrong, Reborn?"
The man had an uneasy aura about him, though his face didn't show it. "Get the other's up, we need to talk."
Ryohei stood straighter again, looking at Reborn with concern. Though the man was never a ball of warm cuddles- like Ryohei might describe Tsuna- he wasn't usually so brutal. Also, the man was putting Ryohei and Hayato in mortal danger; the cloud and male mist guardians did not take too kindly to being woken up before they were ready. Takeshi, funnily enough, also had a tendency to throw things at pitching speed at whoever dared wake him up before he was ready.
"Alright, Reborn." Hayato sighed, turning the burner on low so nothing would burn, "Turf-, you get the illusionists and their little group, I'll get the sword-freak, skylark, and Juudaime."
"No." Reborn stepped in front of Hayato before the boy could move to go wake his boss. "Let Tsuna and the cow sleep, get everyone else up."
Within half an hour everyone except Tsuna and Lambo were downstairs in the kitchen, coffee had been passed around, turned down only by Takeshi and Ryohei, who preferred tea. Kyouya has taken to yawning quietly from beside Takeshi, trying not to snap at the next person to talk. Chrome was half asleep, trying vainly not to lean against an equally drowsy Takeshi and Mukuro had taken to glaring at Reborn; he and Chrome had a battle that evening and they had stayed up late into the night. They had expected to be allowed to sleep in.
"I won't pretend that you're maturing as I had hoped so I'll get right to the point. There are possibly three fights left- two if we're lucky- but if things continue as they are, Tsuna is going to run himself into the ground." Reborn sat in his usual seat at the head of the table, his arms were crossed over his chest and his voice was stern.
"Are you insinuating that we're not aware of this fact already, baby?" Kyouya was not amused, at either being woken up an hour early or at being accused of being weak; in any sense of the word.
"It's hard not to, Kyouya, when all you do is take and take from Tsuna while he continues to push himself to be the perfect sky." Reborn almost growls, "He has the utmost faith in you and you know it, but that little bit is nervousness and timidity from his past makes him lack faith in himself; the faith you as his guardian are supposed to give him."
"You're talking about his panic attacks during out battles." Ryohei observed finally, "How can we help that, he is perfectly fine by the time the battle is done."
"Tsuna never asks for help, he never seems to want it." Takeshi tries to defend, but even to him it was a pathetic case.
"Like any of you would know what Tsunayoshi is going through, you're all blinded by your own problems!" exhaustion and his usually bitter attitude finally got Mukuro to stand and snap at his fellow guardians, and Reborn.
"Mukuro!" Chrome touched Mukuro's arm, trying to get her saviour to sit, and save Tsuna more grief. "Sit down, please think of boss."
"What would you know about it, pineapple-bastard?" Hayato scoffed, looking amused that Mukuro would even try to act like he knew their boss better then say Hayato or Takeshi.
Mukuro turned on the hot-headed bomber, Mukuro was incredibly biased and he admitted to hating Hayato simply because the boy was from and a part of the mafia.
"How about you open your eyes, you nicotine addicted fool, and realise that Chrome and I stayed up half the night with your beloved 'Juudaime' trying to calm him down enough to sleep!"
Everyone startled then, even Reborn, but he startled because he hadn't expected Mukuro to react so thoroughly to protect Tsuna, he would have expected Chrome to make it known what they had done the night before. As much as Reborn wanted to help his student, he had to teach the guardians first that the sky needed to be held as much as it held them.
It just wasn't usually the mist who did that.
"Boss calls himself weak and selfish." Chrome whispered quietly. "He depends on us so much; he feels that if he allows us to 'pamper' him and be his support then it will make him weaker and will cause him to lose us."
By the end Chrome was almost sobbing. Each guardians held the same expression of disbelief as before, surprised not only by her words but by the vindictive smile on Mukuro's face. He wanted to see them weakened and realise their mistake.
"There is no need to get so angry at them, Mukuro."
As one, the gathered boys and girl snapped their heads towards the doorway where a bed headed brunet whose expression was a painful mix of guilt and acceptance stood.
"They need to hear, Tsunayoshi." Reborn replied, getting up to make Tsuna a coffee as he took his seat at the table's other head. "By experience or scolding, it doesn't matter."
"You should still be asleep, Tsunayoshi." Mukuro scolded, his tone still sounded exhausted, and Tsuna smiled sadly as he took his seat. "I even cast an illusion to ensure we didn't disturb you."
Tsuna smiled knowingly, tapping the side of his head; a sign of not only his intuition, but their shared mindscapes. "Hyper intuition, remember; I can't be tricked by many illusions anymore."
"Juudaime..." Hayato's voice from Tsuna's right caused the red string to tense uncomfortably. "Do you really think so lowly of us...?"
"No!" Tsuna banged his knees on the table as he had tried to stand, "No, never think that Hayato. I would never think that of you," with a pointed glance at everyone, "any of you."
"Then tell me herbivore why you'd do this to yourself." Kyouya's choice of words sent Tsuna grimacing back, Kyouya was mad at him.
Tsuna sat down dejectedly, rubbing his eyes as he did, "Because my problems are never going to be as important as yours; I want you all to be happy."
"All we want is you happy, Tsuna." Takeshi almost whined. "To us, our problems are never going to be as important as yours. We're your guardians." he stressed.
"I just..." Tsuna stopped with his head bowed, "I'm sorry...I just don't want to lose any of you."
Tsuna loathed admitting his weakness; but they had all seen it. They were there every time he couldn't breathe during a fight, and they were there when his flames broke out of his body in uncontrolled lashes of emotion. He loathed knowing that he was unfit to be their boss or their friend.
"Tsuna, you idiot." Suddenly a pairs of arms were wrapped around his neck and a solid chest was pressed to his back, "Do you think any of us can leave you? We're your friends Tsuna, and you mean the world to us." Takeshi pressed his face into Tsuna's hair and tried to put his feelings across in his words and embrace.
All the guardians were thinking the same; Tsuna was literally their world now. None of them even wanted to think about going back to a time where Tsuna was only an idea, or another face in the crowds at school.
"Thank you, I'll get stronger so we don't have to worry each other anymore."
"This is what proves that you have so much more to learn about being a boss, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn scoffed, as if he had planned the conversation out himself.
"It's a learning curve for us all. We still know so little about each other despite the year we've been together." Tsuna sighed with a frown as everyone waited for his answer. It wasn't how he wanted to answer them, but it was the only one he had.
The rest of the day everyone spent in a semblance of normalcy. The guardians kept in mind what had happened that morning, but they were focused instead on improving themselves and keeping Tsuna together for the final few battles ahead. Each guardian knew they had a duty, and with the new information from that morning slapping some sense into them, they were all trying to find a way to soothe their boss.
So no one really noticed the day fly by.
By the time they arrived at the gym the Varia were already set up on their side of the gym. Tsuna's eyes were drawn to Xanxus- instinctively following the orange string to where the Varia leader seemed to be sleeping- where red eyes met Tsuna's chocolate irises and with a nod Tsuna continued towards his side of the gym.
Reborn, however, stopped at the center, where after a flutter of the air another male appeared.
He was cloaked in dark purple, his head and face covered so that the only discerning features visible were his hard indigo hair and the purple tattoos framing his cheeks.
Though the others watched the man's appearance carefully, Tsuna was drawn to the fact that the man shared an orange-encircles string with Reborn. The orange bind that Tsuna always noticed on Reborn also encircled the new man, and though the link was tentative at best, Tsuna could see an indigo fate string trailing from the cloaked man and hooking around Reborn's chest, and similarly one of Reborn's yellowing-chameleon strings was secured around the cloaked man's chest.
"Surprising to see you turned up, Mammon." Reborn scoffed, flicking his fedora upwards slightly. "I didn't think the spoilt brat could pay you enough."
"It is Viper now, Reborn, and you know that. As for Xanxus, paying me enough? He isn't." The man sighed, catching hold of a pendant around his neck and rubbing it in what Tsuna assumed was a frustrated tick, and it matched Reborn's, though instead of yellow it was indigo. "But besides Arcobaleno duties, this is one of few I do with little reward. How tiresome though."
"Well, you're in for a treat with these two."
"I certainly hope so. I'm ever so tired of wimps trying to play with illusions."
The illusionist disappeared and Reborn rejoined them, but at Tsuna's prompting looks dismissed them with a non-verbal promise of an explanation at a later date.
Mukuro stepped up to Tsuna, linking fingers with him and wearing a melancholic smile. "Don't panic on me now, Tsunayoshi. I want you to enjoy this battle."
"We'll be fine, Boss." Chrome whispered, mirroring Mukuro's action by linking fingers with Tsuna. "We are a pair after all."
Tsuna smiled despite the tension rising in his stomach. "I know you'll do fine."
Chrome smiled and kissed Tsuna's cheek, Mukuro ruffled his hair and they strode off to the center of the gymnasium. Hayato and Takeshi took their places on either side of Tsuna, and Ryohei stood beside Takeshi with a sleeping Lambo in his arms.
The Cervello began explaining the rules of the match as they usually did, but Tsuna was more curious about the sudden prodding at his shared mindscape. Usually Mukuro and Chrome left him well alone, knowing he wouldn't share his emotions with them, and prided his mental privacy above pretty much all else. But something about the fact that they were battling made Tsuna give in and share just a little bit more with them.
Sure it may be cheating, given they could draw on Tsuna's sight like this, but Tsuna didn't really give a damn, they were civilians fighting mercenaries after all. What was wrong with taking advantage of their special skills?
"Yare yare, I have to fight two brats?"
"Kufufufu, afraid you'll lose, oh cloaked one?" Mukuro taunted.
"Not at all, it's just troublesome playing with brats who don't know what they're getting into."
The only warning Tsuna had before the world started tilting and rotating was his gut clenching and the slow burn along his shared it, the suffocating, slow transition between reality and illusion would have had him in a nauseating tumble just like Ryohei and Takeshi behind him.
Tsuna was not for the first time, awed at the combined strength of his mist guardians. Though Mammon was probably one of Reborn's associates, and the holder of the purple string, he had miscalculated the strength of the teens he ffaced, and that as always was his downfall.
As Tsuna had observed before, Mukuro and Chrome as individuals were insanely strong, and though Mukuro was more honed, Chrome had a raw talent. Together, however, and the pair could create illusions that threatened to make even Tsuna stumble. As it was, Reborn was looking a little green.
"Let us show you our world." Mukuro and Chrome's gaze landed on Tsuna before they joined hands and slammed their tridents to the ground.
"Let me see It." Mammon taunted, "Let me see your mind."
The world shifted on its axis slightly, leaving only Ken, Chikusa, Reborn, and Tsuna standing, though Tsuna noticed that Xanxus too was unaffected by the tilt. As the gymnasium dissolved and an open field took its place, Tsuna was shocked to see the shared mindscape he occupied with Chrome and Mukuro appear, complete with the strings and looping ropes of fate crisscrossed around the glade.
However, the peaceful image didn't last for long, soon pillars of fire, ice and lilies spun and followed the spiralling, knotting columns the strings created. Tsuna, suddenly, realised what Dino had meant during the previous battle. By observing he could learn how to fight different flame users.
Illusionists used the strings similarly to how Tsuna used them.
What Tsuna wouldn't know until much later, was just what impact the image of the glade and strings would have on a number of his guardians; Hayato, Kyouya, and Takeshi especially. They had been listening closely to what Mukuro had been saying- that morning and even before that- and though it wouldn't initially click they would later realise that the strings Mukuro and Tsuna mumbled about were just as physical as the air was. Kyouya would be the first to react to this realisation, and Hayato would understand before Takeshi.
All three of them would begin to analyse Tsuna's random mumblings from that point on.
"You brats really are naive if you think you can defeat me with your skill." Mammon chuckled as he pushed the illusionary plants back with snakes. "You are a few years too young to be even trying."
Fire and ice clashed with snakes and vines as Mammon danced around the glade that Mukuro and Chrome maintained. Mukuro grinned as he threw illusion after illusion at the cloaked man. Chrome too, though not as thoroughly, seemed to be enjoying herself. It was the first true test of her skill she had had since meeting Tsuna. It gave her a small step of confidence to smile openly and take pride in her skill.
Ice columns imploded with a shatter as ice shards flew around the room. Though Tsuna knew it was an illusion he couldn't help the flinch to the side as a particularly large shard headed straight for his shoulder.
"Mukuro!" Tsuna wailed.
"Sorry, Tsunayoshi." Mukuro laughed, "I have to keep you on your toes if I am to possess you one day."
As the icy mist cleared Chrome startled to find all their illusions, apart from their glade, had been nullified. She cast a quick shield of vines around herself and Mukuro and took a slightly offensive stance, just to be safe.
Mammon had taken up a soft stance, arms crossed over his chest, and purple mist ebbing from the ground beneath his feet. He was trying to probe at their mind.
Mukuro startled a little when he came to the same realisation as Chrome, immediately concentrating on keeping their mindscape free of intruders; though he couldn't feel any true intent of corruption from the opposing illusionist.
Chrome could still feel Tsunayoshi's mind though, so she knew their illusions hadn't been overwhelmed.
All of a sudden, Mammon paused. He relaxed his stance, and the mist evaporated, with it the mindscape they had been battling within. Everyone landed on their feet again, Ryohei and Belphegor looking green around the gills as they stumbled upright.
"I forfeit."
Mammon walked over to Xanxus at that point, and leaning in to whisper in the noiret's (?) ear he stood erect again before handing his ring half over and disappearing in a puff of indigo smoke.
Tsuna would later swear he saw Mammon in their backyard with Reborn that evening, but would pass it off as exhaustion.
"Decimo candidate, Sawada Tsunayoshi wins the battle of the Mist." Mukuro reached for the ring half, and as he clicked it into place the braid linking the halves together glowed a brilliant shade of indigo before it dulled, leaving Mammon's string floating like the other Varia members; waiting for the true fate.
"Next battle, the battle between Cloud guardians."
For some reason, as the orange strings that represented Xanxus and Tsuna bucked and whipped together in a fighting but parallel dance, Tsuna grew tenser about the battle to come. His eyes traveled to meet the burnt paprika and they were so deep. Tsuna and Xanxus shared a moment of pure emotion where their strings tried to tell them the future; but neither man could understand the words.
So Tsuna sighed, he strode between Hayato and Takeshi as Reborn led them home, Mukuro held a sleeping Chrome in his arms and Kyouya took up the rear. The final battle was tomorrow night, and Tsuna couldn't be happier that it was finally going to be over.
Sooo I'm back! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I don't feel especially confident about this chapter, but I suppose that's because I haven't written anything for quite a while. I honestly love Chrome and Mukuro, so writing them was fun, and Mammon can be interesting to write too.
Now, I've noticed that I spend a lot of time on either Mukuro and Chrome, or on Kyouya, and that will have reason in the future. I explained in the first arc that these three will play a predominant role for a while because of one of my head-canons...don't worry though, in time all of the guardians- Hayato and Takeshi particularly- will be explored in more detail. So please continue being patient if you don't particularly like my choices.
Thank you for reading; I'd love it if you reviewed it.
Thank you,
~~Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3