Yes I know I said I was back from hiatus like….three months ago and I'm so, so unexplainably sorry. I never intended to leave any of my stories so long, especially since getting back into he swing of writing again. But personal stuff happens, a lot more than I was expecting.
I've been going through a really, really hard time right now. But this is my gift to you, for sticking with me. I am currently writing the next chapter of DoF, ENOIS, and a few others.
Things….just might take a while. I'm sorry.
Unbeta'd so look out for when I get it back from Mercyn.
The knots that Tie and the Strings that Bind.
Clouded with confidence.
Tsuna sat up in bed, sweating and gasping with the sheets pooled in his lap. His bare chest was sticky with sweat, but his arms were covered in Goosebumps. He ran a hand along his face, not noticing the two shadows standing just in his doorway.
"Tsuna," Reborn mumbled, sitting on the edge of Tsuna's bed by his knees. He tried not to frown when Tsuna flinched away from his voice, but he remained silent as Kyouya took a seat closer to Tsuna so that his back was close to Tsuna's torso.
"What was it about this time, Tsunayoshi?"
Tsuna took a few deep breathes, trying not to immediately gravitate towards the offered back.
Kyouya was not one for comforting, but he was becoming more and more aware of the strings and with that came a softness towards Tsuna who seemed to control his strings and bleed into him the feeling of protectiveness that none but Namimori had ever been able to establish in the stoic boy.
"You….you were defeated." Tsuna gasped out, leaning over so that with just one more shift his shoulder and head would be pressed against Kyouya's back. "Gola Mosca was….he was about to blow your head off." Tsuna tried not to sob, because it was a stupid dream and Kyouya had no patience for sobbing fools.
"Tsuna." Reborn almost groans, because they thought that finally Tsuna was calming himself down. "You need to close your eyes, don't you dare argue, close your damn eyes."
Tsuna complied, finally pressed against Kyouya's back.
"Breathe, Tsuna." Kyouya hissed out, his voice rattling in his chest when he could feel Tsuna's shallow breathes. "I'm not going to lose." he explained when Tsuna's breathing evened out again, but Kyouya's hands were clenched between his legs. "If I lose it will be because I feel I will gain less than it will cost me." he continued, the serious tone making Tsuna's chest constrict.
"Tsuna." Reborn stated slowly, watching the stress on Tsuna's face
"Damnit, Tsunayoshi," Kyouya cussed, turning and startling Tsuna, when the brunet sits up he is shocked to see Kyouya's eyes furious. "At this rate, herbivore, I'm going to lose because I'm too preoccupied by you killing yourself! Now I know you have faith in me, but if you keep choking yourself with your anxiety I am going to get distracted!"
"I'm sorry," Tsuna sighed, rubbing his face. "It's stupid I know."
Reborn slapped Tsuna's knee, a scowl visible without his fedora and Tsuna stared at him wide eyes. "Stop talking like an idiot. Nothing you do or say, and nothing that upsets you is stupid. What is stupid is thinking it's stupid. If you want to make up for this 'weakness' overcome it. Try to concur it or control it."
Reborn stood and left the boss and guardian alone. As much as he wished he was the one who would quell Tsuna's unease he knew he wouldn't. As a tutor that was a pride hit, but as Tsuna's friend, it wounded him internally. He would fix it eventually; but after the battles.
When the door clicked Tsuna leant back against his headboard. "Sorry."
"Shut up, Tsunayoshi." Kyouya sighed. "I don't understand yet, about all this strings business. It's herbivorous chatter if anything. But I understand it leaves you susceptible to emotional swings and bouts of uselessness." Kyouya turned and matched his gaze with Tsuna in a very trusting way. "I will understand one day, omnivore. Because you've gotten me involved and I adapt. But you need to do the same. Learn to control this or so help me I'll make you adapt."
When Hibari walked out Tsuna sighed. He was relieved, of course.
Tsuna looked down at his chest, watching as the strings wove and danced. They seemed calm, but a sick feeling held onto Tsuna. He turned his eyes towards his table, where the half-ring sat in an ornate box. His strings could be seen from the ends of it, where they knotted and wove with the other orange and red strings of the past bosses. His orange trailed back to his own hand and despite himself he smiled as he reached for it.
He knew he would be boss, his intuition and the happy burn of the string told him that, but when he slid the ring in place and held Nono's string in his hands there was a foreboding illness there.
Nono's string was old and worn. Wise beyond Tsuna's string, it knew things and had become its own intuition; but there was something wrong with it. Tsuna soothed the string until it bowed out slightly, revealing its inner workings; there was the problem.
Laced within the faded and darkened oranges was just a single threat of red, a dark, almost black red that made Tsuna's head hurt and his intuition scream.
Tsuna reached for the string, wanting to know how it felt; know what it means. Just as his fingers brushed the strange and his intuition began to weave the reason behind his unease, the turmoil in his stomach grew. Something bad was happening; something that could change the way the strings fell-
"Tsuna-nii!"
Suddenly Tsuna's lap was full of Fuuta. The strings bowed out a little to make room for the younger teen and Tsuna smiled as his waist was assaulted with both physical and poetic love and affection.
The black thread completely forgotten.
"Fuuta, what did I tell you about suddenly jumping on me. It's not a smart thing to do first thing in the morning." Tsuna gently reprimanded.
"Not to do it because that's no way to wake someone up." Fuuta pouted. "But Kyou-nee told me you were awake and told me to go jump on you." Fuuta chuckled, "and you said that pretty much anything Kyou-nii says goes."
Tsuna sighed; he had actually said that anything the guardians said pretty much goes. Since none of them would put the kids in danger and would grasp a dangerous situation before the kids every time.
"Alright, if Kyou-nii said to do it I'll let it off." Tsuna ruffled Fuuta's hair and grinned. "Shall we go see what Hayato is cooking?"
"He's making crepes!" Fuuta cheered, "I asked for them last time I stayed over, and he promised to cook up apples with it too."
"Is that so? Alright, let's go."
"You need a shirt, Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta almost gasped when Tsuna headed for the door, Tsuna gave him a curious look before looking down at his bare chest –not quite bare but Fuuta didn't understand that.
"Why would I need that? We're all guys."
"Chrome-nee is back from Kokuyo with Mukuro-nii, Chik-nii, and Ken-nii!"
Tsuna chuckled and ruffled Fuuta's hair. The boy was starting to notice girls now that he was getting older; it was nice to know he was concerned. Especially since Chrome was so easily flustered by things like bare chests and tight shirts.
"You're right, Fuuta. Thanks for telling me." Tsuna smiled. "I'll meet you downstairs then. Tell Hayato to have a crepe ready for me if he isn't too busy."
Tsuna dressed quickly and followed his little brother downstairs. He could already smell the cinnamon and apples scent the air. There was pineapple too, and oranges. As he entered the dining room he quickly kissed Chrome's cheek and pressed a hand against Mukuro's shoulder before nodding to a very tired looking Chikusa and Ken.
"Good morning," he greeted Hayato, Takeshi and Hibari. "Welcome home." this time he turned to Mukuro, Chrome and their pair of friends. Chrome was blushing delicately, flustered by Tsuna's obvious affection and Mukuro was grinning in his cunning way,
"Kufufu, yes it was a rather long night." Mukuro chuckled, though it was broken by a yawn. He sighed and drank from his coffee while Tsuna took his seat at the head of the table.
Tsuna was very surprised that Mukuro and Chrome had bothered to get up so early. They had left as soon as they woke up the day after their battle, and Tsuna hadn't expected to see them until tonight; they had promised him to turn up to Kyouya's battle.
"But I hope you're well rested despite that." Tsuna smiled as he sipped Takeshi's coffee, despite the boy's protest.
"Oi! Tsuna!" Takeshi moaned, snatching the coffee back. "I wasn't finished with that."
"If Tsuna wants your coffee he should have it, baseball idiot." Hayato barked but even still he placed a new mug down in front of Tsuna. He even grinned when Tsuna poked his tongue out at Takeshi. "Here you go Juudaime. Fuuta asked me to get you one ready; I guessed you'd want apples and raisins."
"Hayato….I swear if we weren't stuck in this stupid mafia thing I'd make you go to chef school."
Tsuna was already tucking into the three crepes on his plate when Hayato registered the words and became a stuttering mess.
"What are you doing today, Bossu?" Chrome asked quietly as she sipped her tea.
"I think I'm sparring with Kyouya this afternoon." The others nodded, understanding the reasoning behind it. They knew that Tsuna hated fighting, but fighting was exercise, and exercise often helped clear the mind and calm the soul.
"Hn," the ravenette exhaled, putting a mouthful of crepe into his own mouth.
Tsuna smiled and the table descended into comfortable chatter. Tsuna did wonder where Reborn was, but the man was as mysterious as ever, especially since that Viper's appearance the other night. Tsuna made a note to ask his tutor about the man under the cloak when he had the chance.
The thing with clouds is that despite their characteristic aloofness they are both frighteningly perceptive and ferociously protective of any and every sky, territory, or person they have deemed theirs.
Tsuna ducked violently from his musings as another swipe skirted over his head. He and Kyouya were burning off some frustration that evening, both itching for the final fights; if they were two things Kyouya was near perfect at it was enforcing discipline and reading Tsuna. He knew that his sky was nearing his limit, and one thing Kyouya was perfect at was allowing Tsuna to breathe for a moment, to break and be a sky rather than the guardians' boss.
"You're distracted again, Tsunayoshi." As always, when they were alone Kyouya was not vicious, he was simply stern, a rock Tsuna could lean on.
"I'm sorry, Kyouya." Tsuna panted, dropping onto the floor. "You know I don't like fighting."
Kyouya sighed and dropped himself gracefully onto the floor in front of Tsuna, stashing his tonfa away wherever it was he hid them. "That's why you'll never be a carnivore."
Tsuna actually chuckled then, sighing to himself as he stared at the ceiling. "Maybe I don't want to be."
"You're happy staying a weakling?" Kyouya asked skeptically, he knew Tsuna's personality wasn't a love of fighting or being strong, but it also wasn't about staying weak and letting other people be hurt in his stead.
"Is it really staying weak if I don't want to fight, Kyouya?" This time it seemed rhetorical and Kyouya stayed quiet. "I feel like there is something I'm missing –that I'm not seeing –no matter how many times I think about it I can't pinpoint what it is though."
Kyouya sighed again and stood up, he patted Tsuna's shoulder as he passed in a brief sign of affection, "Then you are not weak; giving up is herbivorous. I expect to spar again in a few days; wanting to fight or not, I will not be caught within a group of herbivores who can't protect what they naievely declare theirs."
Tsuna looked on amused before he sighed and grinned, "Off to train with Dino-nii?"
"The show-pony needs to get it through his skull that I don't need his help."
"I'll see you this evening then, Kyouya."
"Hn,"
Even though he was sore, tired and uneasy Tsuna felt better after sparring Kyouya. He still couldn't land anything near a solid hit on the man and that was enough for Tsuna to lie back and maybe take a nap.
Kyouya would be fine, in fact Dino would probably have his work cut out for him during training; Kyouya had bloodshed on the mind.
As they walked, the group –including a bedraggled Dino –automatically spaced themselves from Tsuna and Kyouya. The raven-haired male had to stifle his sigh when he saw the slight tremble; he could see Tsuna trying to hold his nerve.
"Don't even humour me with the pep-talk, Tsunayoshi." he bit out tiredly. Though he smiled a little when Tsuna chuckled, especially since that chuckle didn't sound like it was choking him.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Kyouya." Tsuna sighed, watching the skylark stride alongside him, with his arms crossed across his chest. Tsuna smiled and tugged on Kyouya's string, watching as the skylark's head whipped around to look at him with a scowl. "But you have to promise me one thing. If you think you're going to be hurt, destroy the place and get out. Ring be damned."
Kyouya scoffed, "And what are you going to do if I refuse, herbivore?"
"I will ruin your pride and do it for you." Tsuna explained, eyes flashing. "I will drag you out of that ring by the scruff of your neck and throw you in the dirt if I have to."
Kyouya laughed. Full laughter that ruffled his string; enough so that Mukuro felt shivers and looked back curiously. "And how do you suppose you're going to do that, herbivore? When you can't beat me in a fight?"
"Try me, Kyouya. You just try me and we'll see who's the damn herbivore when I'm done with you. You will get out of there; one way or another."
Kyouya stopped walking, watching as Tsuna's eyes sparkled and for a moment, just a moment, Kyouya saw all the strings light up in response. They bowed out from Tsuna in a haze of flames that even the other guardians seemed to notice.
"Wao."
Suddenly Tsuna's fringe covered his eyes as Kyouya ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, Tsuna." he explained, "I'll be fine. Just you watch omnivore. These idiots have destroyed the peace so I'll just Kami Korosu."
Tsuna grinned, still shaking and wary of the ill feeling filtering from the orange strings wrapping his hands. He walked back towards the group, happier once he heard all their chuckling and banter drift across the air.
It seemed like Takeshi and Ryohei were standing before the battle arena, debating the preference to the barbed wire and the shape of the ring.
"Well, it is an octagon, and I'm EXTREMELY certain that's the same shape as street-rings." Ryohei mused, "But I'm also EXTREMELY certain that they don't have barbed wire. It seems useless, no one's going to climb the damned cage. It's not EXTREME to cheat."
Takeshi just laughed before holding his chin. "I don't know, Sempai." he chuckled, "With someone like Kyouya you never know. Besides, if the battle goes south they don't want him to escape right? I mean Gola Mosca could beat him….I don't think that wire will discourage him though…"
Takeshi looked positively bemused by the concept.
Tsuna was downright disgusted.
The ring was cruel and dark; a ring of barbed wire and chain-link fencing which was penning in an array of guns and canons. The floor was riddled in scuff lines and something about it made Tsuna's head ache. It was monstrous. He didn't even understand why.
"I can't even help you this time, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn explained, stepping up to Tsuna's side with Lambo lying limply against his chest with his arms around Reborn's neck.
"Kufufufu, the cloud as I remember, isn't supposed to be caged by anything." Mukuro explained, stepping up next to Reborn.
"They're mocking, Kyouya." Chrome whispered, stepping up next to Tsuna.
"That's not the spirit," Ryohei frowned, looking over at Kyouya who was scowling at the disgusting arena.
"You sure you can win, Kyouya?" Takeshi asked with his fast becoming characteristic seriousness. "That's an awfully large cage; maybe even big enough to catch a cloud."
"You fools need to calm down. I'm not about to lose to those who create chaos in my family."
Everyone had to make pause then, because Kyouya, for the first time had admitted that they were part of his family, and that the Varia were creating chaos.
It was the first time they had, without a doubt, seen Kyouya care for Tsuna.
Kyouya stepped up to Tsuna and knocked his head with the tonfa in his hand. "You need to stop being such an idiot, Tsuna. Just because you're supposed to be my sky doesn't mean I won't kami Korosu."
Tsuna just smiled sheepishly before nodding, and Kyouya's deadpan look seemed to soften only slightly. With a quick turn of his heel he entered the ring, looking up with a bored expression into the mechanical eyes of his opponent before turning to Xanxus.
"I'm not about to lose to a monkey king," he taunted, a blood thirsty smirk forming, "But let's see if your piece of junk can make me break a sweat."
Even as the Cerevello opened their mouths to explain the rules, a hard mechanical roar echoed over the arena as Gola Mosca bore down on the grinning Kyouya.
"Good," he explained as he swiftly dodged and parried, "But I wanted a challenge and you failed to bring it."
Tsuna stood shocked, as did the rest of the guardians, because right before them in a pile of fizzing metal and floating cloud flames was the downed Gola Mosca, and Kyouya stood with his tonfa spinning, a grin of slight insanity playing on his lips.
"I think that's my win."
However, just as Kyouya slid the ring onto his finger, the strings clicking into place and bowing out in a hesitant float Tsuna felt his gut churn uncomfortably. He felt a rippling darkness and unease pass through all the sky and boss strings around him. He whipped his head around and when he met Mukuro's eyes they too felt the change.
"Kyou-!"
Before he could get the words out the canons stations around the circumference of the arena started to explode, Tsuna almost screamed when the beam of light and fire struck Kyouya's thigh and the man went down. But before he could utter a single word his guardians were in front of him, their backs to the blaze as they held him tight; Lambo was pressed against his back, and Chrome was shoved behind him as an explosion caused by the mines being stuck by the laser enveloped the area in a cloud of thick smoke.
"K-Kyouya!" Tsuna screamed as he tried to push through his guardians.
"Tsuna, you can't run in there yet." Takeshi tried to calm the frantic boss, all the guardians holding him tightly.
"Damnit Hayato, let go." Tsuna cursed as he tried to shove Hayato's arms, which were in a vice around his waist, off.
"I can't let you do that, "Hayato couched out, "You'll get hurt and I'll be damned if I let that happen."
Tsuna was struggling too much to notice the panic in his guardians' faces or the Gola mosca previously downed by Kyouya get up. He looked at Chrome, his intuition making him check on their injured sister. Her eyes grew panicked as she looked at something over her shoulder and Tsuna turned to see the rampaging Mosca.
It all happened in an instant then, Tsuna was already equip with his gloves, and the heat of the moment, coupled with the fear and anxiety coursing through him had him in the air his flames holding off the metal creature as it spit electricity from fizzed circuits.
"Kyouya," Tsuna's monotonous voice called out, it had the tinge of heightened emotion that made the guardians wince; in HDW mode only dire emotion would affect Tsuna's voice.
"I'm over here, omnivore." Kyouya stepped out of the carnage with just the barest limp, though Tsuna could almost smell the blood and singed skin.
Tsuna shoved the Gola Mosca away from his friends before he stepped down towards Kyouya, as the machine flew back Tsuna held its arms, ripping them from the torso before it could do too much more damage.
"Ushishishi, the little peasant isn't half-bad boss."
"Shut up, trash."
Tsuna ignored the tightness in his fists as the orange strings constricted in favour of seeing his friend.
"Kyouya, are you alright?"
"Stop being an idiot, Tsunayoshi. Something like this won't keep me down."
But even with the words, Kyouya limped over and leant subtly on Tsuna, he was panting and as soon as they had the time Tsuna would drag Ryohei's ass over and make the boxer heal the ex-prefect.
"My friends being hurt is an acceptable reason to pani-"
Kyouya's eyes widened when Tsuna and his sentence disappeared, it was only Kyouya's own pride that kept him standing. Tsuna was soaring towards the Mosca as it started to move again; this time though, Tsuna didn't give it another chance to go haywire. He chopped the machine in half; hoping to end the entire ordeal.
Too bad the strings weren't so willing to let the same happen; it was then that Tsuna noticed the orange –sky user strings –coming from the center of the mechanical beast.
He recognised them and terror settled into his stomach.
Tsuna stood shell shocked as the Mosca opened up like some deranged flower, he watched as a face and torso, burned and bloodied, made an appearance. Like calling cards Takeshi and Kyouya were there, ripping the machinery apart and pulling the person from the confines.
He should have realised earlier, Tsuna rationalised, that the orange string in his hands, the one tired and drained, on the verge of death but fighting back, was not simply nostalgic, it was a warning. He watched with disgust and a mix of none-too-well-hidden relief when his Cloud and rain ripped apart Gola Mosca and pulled out the Ninth Don.
His 'grandfather' was in the mosca and he was being used.
Reborn and Dino acted in a second, Dino's men were making a barrier around the downed Don and Reborn had already stared treating the man with sun flames. Dino was muttering deep controlled Italian on his cell phone and Tsuna knew that things were changing.
Still, Tsuna watched on with muted interest, because his entire focus was on the strings wrapping the don and the air. There was both disappointment and interest wafting from Xanxus' string, it drifted around everyone, touching strings here and there, looking for insight. So Tsuna knew then that Xanxus had the sight and quite a sight at that.
Xanxus closed his eyes and sighed, knowing what was coming, knowing the fury of someone who was uninvolved yet involved all the same.
Xanxus knew what ignorance could do.
Tsuna looked at him with pure fury, and somewhere inside Xanxus was glad that the brat seemed to finally be serious. He just wished that it didn't cost him so much. Xanxus wished he could take the brat aside and explain everything.
"I won't let you take Vongola, Xanxus." Tsuna hissed as he stared down the red-eyes man who sat upon his throne. His eyes did not look to his grandfather as the man was taken away by Reborn, and he ignored the confused and rather worried waves of emotions assaulting his chest from his guardians. "I'll kill you if I have to," Tsuna paused, trying to ignore the keening in his ears threatening to make them bleed. "How could you?"
Xanxus almost winced when the boy's voice broke. Nono had spoken fondly of the boy, and to know that he had broken Tsuna really bothered the older male. Instead he scoffed and scowled. Xanxus turned away before the boy could see the pain and hesitation in his eyes; leaving with only deep, meaningful words.
"You are still blind, even with such an amazing sight."
Xanxus left Tsuna stewing in fury and confusion as he and the Varia walked away. One more fight and it would be over. One more fight and he Decimo would be named and Xanxus could finally fucking relax.
It was going to be the hardest fight though; Xanxus looked up at the stars, a wish crossing his mind that was stomped out even before it fully came to his lips.
"Can't our family just be left alone?"
So…..I imagine you're all a little confused, a little worried, and a little angry at this chapter. It's short, I'm late, and nothing is making sense….but that's the point. It's a cliff hanger, and I planned it that way.
Also, I realise I've completely disregarded the whole 'Hayato blows things up when he cooks' but I just love the image of Hayato cooking crepes with his hair tied up. And, having lived on his own for so long (longer in this story than canon) I figure he must know how to cook somehow. Besides, Nana would teach him, even if he lived with her for less than a year. After all, he isn't with Tsuna all the time; wouldn't it be cute if he kept visiting nana and asking her to teach him how to cook? So that he could keep Tsuna and the family happy?
As for how late it is, I apologize and promise to keep trying to update regularly.
I love you all, so much. Please review,
Bleach-ed-Na-tsu :3