Chapter 4.
"Tsu-chan, could you go out to buy some eggs? We just ran out! I must have forgotten to buy them yesterday. Oh, and some carrots!"
Nana heard a familiar crash in response.
"Tsuna, are you alright? Did you fall down the stairs again?"
"I'm fine, Mom." Tsuna replied.
"Please take care of yourself, honey. Don't break the eggs!"
Tsuna grabbed her wallet and phone and stuffed them in her pockets.
"Oh, and bring an umbrella with you, it looks like it's going to rain!"
Obediently, she took her favourite sky blue umbrella and slipped on some shoes.
"I'll be going then."
"Be careful, Tsu-chan!"
Tsuna shut the door behind her, and glanced at the sky, it was clear, not a gray cloud in sight. She sighed, she was going to look like an idiot with the umbrella.
Half an hour later...
"Are you alright?"
Tsuna did not dare to look up. She was a mess. She had egg yolk dripping from her hair and egg shells splattered all over her shirt. All this because a dog barked at her, causing her to lose her footing and fall down the stairs. For the second time that day.
I really am dame-Tsuna.
She sniffed and fought back tears as she fished her pockets for a handkerchief or a piece of tissue.
"Here, you can use mine."
Tsuna looked up, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "S-sasagawa-s-san..."
"Tsuna-chan! I didn't recognise you. Are you alright? I saw you fall down the stairs..."
Here she was, in such a sorry state, right in front of the prettiest girl in Namimori Middle School. Must she have such lousy luck? How humiliating.
Tsuna clenched her eyes shut and ran. She ran and ran and didn't stop till she was huffing and puffing like the wolf in that story that tried to blow the pigs' houses away. She felt gross, inside out. Now, not only was her shirt, hair and arms sticky from the broken eggs, but also slimy from her sweat. Yuck. Plus, her self-esteem had taken a blow from letting Sasagawa Kyoko see her like that. She wanted to go home, huddle in one corner and mope.
But she could not just go home like this, Mom needed the eggs. I can't go anywhere looking like this. I guess I could wash myself a bit in the river or something.
She found a river, and did her best, washing off most of the stains on her shirt, the slime off her arms and the sticky yolk off her hair. Now she was dripping wet.
Tsuna yawned. She was tired too. Her mad dash just now had tired her out. Maybe I'll just lie down under the sun and take a short nap.
When Tsuna woke, she was as dry as a leaf, but the sky was no longer clear blue. It was tinged with orange, and in the distance loomed grey clouds. Crap.
Tsuna ran to the supermarket as fast as she could. She bought the eggs and carrots, and stepped out of the supermarket into a heavy, pouring rain. There was no sign of the perfect weather from the afternoon. Lucky Mom told me to bring an umbrella. She opened her umbrella with a snap, and walked as briskly as she could back home.
In this weather, all Tsuna saw were people huddled under umbrellas rushing to their homes, maybe. There were a few people shielding their heads with bags and dashing through the rain. Even the cars seem to be rushing home, water from the road splashed onto her as the cars zoomed past. But there was one person, getting drenched in the rain.
What is he doing?
Tsuna looked closer. The person was sitting on the edge of the slide in the playground. He had his elbows rested on his knees and his head was bent, hiding his face completely. He had soggy grey-ish hair, a chunky watch on the wrist, and his shirt was dishevelled, wait, that's the Namimori uniform...
Is that Gokudera-kun? Tsuna almost tripped over her own feet in surprise. What is he doing? He's going to fall sick.
Tsuna looked around and walked away.
In 5 minutes, she was back, holding a cup of hot cocoa, and wad of tissue. Gokudera-kun is scary, but he'll fall sick at this rate. I'll just shove the stuff in his face and run.
Slowly, and carefully, she approached the boy and held the umbrella over him. It took him just a few seconds to realise her presence, and unsurprisingly, he glared at her. Tsuna gulped.
"Y-you'll fall s-sick." and before the boy could retort, Tsuna pushed the hot cocoa into his left hand, the umbrella into his right, and left the wad of tissue on his lap. Then, for the third time that day, Tsuna ran.
She ran carefully this time though, she didn't want to break the eggs again. Tsuna sighed, her hair was getting drenched, she was going to look like a pine tree with legs, oh well, this is the best dame-Tsuna can do I suppose. Only perfect people can dash around in the rain and still look stunningly gorgeous. I bet Sasagawa-san can do it. Yamamoto-kun pulls it off all the time. Even Shigure makes the girls squeal when he's such a sweaty mess after soccer practice.
Tsuna slowed to a jog and then to a walk, boy was she tired. She was almost home, she might just make it in time for dinner. Or maybe not...
There were a couple of mean looking boys surrounding somebody. A bullying scene. She would have to go home by the long way. And I'll be late for dinner...Tsuna turned to take another route.
"Please let go of me!"
Tsuna stopped. That voice sounded familiar. She felt her stomach lurch. She turned back, and took a closer look. Panic hit her, it was Sasagawa Kyoko! What should she do? I can't just leave her and go home.
It was still raining, Sasagawa Kyoko's umbrella dropped to the ground. What should I do? What should I do! Tsuna grabbed her hair in indecision.
"Stop hiding, and do something about it, wimpy-Tsuna!" a voice called out.
Suddenly, Tsuna was flying. She landed face first into the ground. The eggs! Tsuna panicked and gave the eggs a quick check. Her shoulders sagged with relief when, miraculously, none were broken.
"Oh, who do we have here?" the biggest guy sneered. Tsuna scrambled back. She had landed right in front of the bullies. What kind of kick was that!
"Tsuna-chan!" ironically, even amidst the terrifying situation she was in, Tsuna couldn't help but admire how Sasagawa Kyoko managed to still look so pretty. But she should stop focusing on Sasagawa, it was getting unhealthy.
Every inch if her screamed run! but if she ran, her classmate would be left behind, because there was some one grasping her arm.
"How kind of you to join us," He sneered.
Today is just not my day, Tsuna wailed internally, because for the fourth time that day, she was running for her life. And she hated to run. She hated exercise in any form. Her body was protesting and she could feel her leg muscles tightening, as if they were going to-
"Cramp!" Tsuna wobbled to a stop and panted heavily. Her eyes scrunched in pain as she waited for her muscles to loosen up.
"Tsuna-chan, are you okay?" it was Sasagawa, who was also panting from running away from the bullies. "Just now, you were so brave! Thank you for saving me, Tsuna-chan!"
Tsuna felt her face heat up, she smiled sheepishly at the pretty brunette and said softly, "I'm glad you're alright, Sasagawa-san."
"You should call me Kyoko, Tsuna-chan."
"K-kyoko...chan?"
"Yepp!" Kyoko smiled at her.
Tsuna shyly smiled back.
"But what should I do? If I go back home, those guys would still be there."
Plus, It was still raining, and they were getting soaked.
"Do you want to eat dinner at my place?" Tsuna hesitantly asked.
"At Tsuna-chan's house? Can i?"
Tsuna nodded. Shigeru would be happy too, she thought.
"Thank you, Tsuna-chan!"
Tsuna smiled. And then she sneezed.
"We better hurry, or we'll fall sick." Tsuna said and with that, the two girls began to run, yet again, but this time not away from danger, but towards a place of safety.
She fell sick anyway. Running in the rain. Of course she fell sick. She just hoped Sasagawa-san, no, Kyoko-chan, had not fallen sick either. She wondered if they were friends now.
She stopped that trail of thought immediately, Kyoko-chan is a nice girl, maybe that was just a show of kindness. It might not have meant anything. Tsuna stared at the ceiling of her room.
She recalled how delighted her twin had been when he saw Kyoko at dinner. As though Christmas had come early, she thought wryly. Who would have thought that I would be the first one to invite Sasagawa Kyoko to our house, and not Shigure.
Her luck was getting strange lately. That was the first time she met Kyoko outside of school, aside from the mornings on the way to school. Under such strange circumstances too...huh?
Tsuna sat up abruptly. She remembered something weird. There had been someone else at the scene. She distinctively remembered a voice calling her, mocking her. She remembered sailing through the air, and then landing in a heap in front of the trio of bullies. Someone had pushed her. Or maybe he kicked her. Argh, everything happened so suddenly, I can't remember what exactly happened. I can't even tell if I was pushed or kicked! What if I had imagined the whole thing? No, there was definitely something there. What was it-
Her door slammed open. Tsuna yelled and hid under the covers of her bed. For a few minutes, there was silence.
"Nobody asked for your help." a voice said. Who is that? Tsuna wondered.
Strange, why do I smell hot chocolate? She took a peep from under the sheets. There was nobody in her room. She emerged fully from under her blankets, and took a quick glance about her room.
Somebody had left a cup of hot chocolate on her desk. Beside it, lay her favourite sky blue umbrella.
Fourth chapter, goodness! Did you like it? Please leave a review, I would love to know your thoughts.
DISCLAIMER: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters don't belong to me. The only thing I can claim ownership over is the storyline.