Future of the Sky

Stubborn Sky

When Kenji had gone out to run errands for his mother he hadn't expected to see Amami Sawada out as well. With grocery bags in one hand, and a paper that he assumed had her shopping list in the other the elder Yamamoto sibling couldn't help but chuckle at how she looked like she could have been a housewife. He picked up his pace to catch up with the girl as she stopped at a corner to wait for the light to change, and tucked the list into one of her bags.

"Somehow I don't think that your brother knows you're out shopping alone Sawada-chan." Kenji commented to the girl, startling her into jumping and turning to face him.

"Ya-K-Kenji-san! You shouldn't startle me like that!" She exclaimed earning a sheepish laugh from the tall male.

"Sorry, my bad Sawada-chan." He replied.

Amami made a face that was half mad, and half pouting, "Kenji-san, it's weird if you make me call you by first name, but you still call me by my last." She complained.

"Amami-chan then?" Kenji asked.

"Ami, Ami-chan." The girl corrected matter of factly.

Kenji laughed, and used his free hand to ruffle her hair like he would to his own little sister, "Alright then, Ami-chan."

"Ah! Kenji-san!" She exclaimed shifting her bags to free a hand to fix her now messed up hair.

Kenji knew that his sister Emiko was frustrated with both the Sawada siblings, Amami in particular who seemed to have put up a wall of distant politeness towards them. Kenji too was frustrated, but he knew that just meant he would have to take the time to knock down the polite wall. The fact that Amami was reacting so naturally, and familiarly to his actions made the older brother confident that with a little work he, and Emiko, could push past her distant politeness.

Smiling down at the smaller girl he said, "I'm glad you're feeling better Ami-chan."

He watched as Amami's face tinted pink and she got that funny expression again that was a mix of anger, and a pout before she turned her back to him again to watch the light.

Again Kenji laughed, and stepped up next to the girl's right side, "Let me walk you home, that's where you're headed right?" He asked.

Amami looked up at him side long reluctantly before nodding yes, and asking, "Why?"

Kenji merely continued to smile at her, "Because it's not safe for girls to be out alone with their hands full." The light changed for them, and Kenji took two of Amami's bags before starting to cross the street. "Come on."

Amami gave him a worried look before she started to follow after him. As they were crossing the street the older brother noticed that the girl was looking around, and kind of tense like she was waiting for something. There were sirens wailing in the distance that sounded like police cars, but Kenji didn't pay much mind to it.

That is until he saw a car turn the corner at an amazing illegal speed from what had just been an empty street. That car didn't even bother to slow down as it barreled towards Kenji and Amami.

"Kenji-san!" Amami cried, but much to his surprise two slim hands wrapped around one of his arms, and in a feat of strength that the young man hadn't thought the girl possessed she yanked him, and thus herself, out of the path of the vehicle.

Both young adults landed on the road rather badly as the car sped past, and the police vehicles came up the road much more conscious of the two young adults then their target had been. One car stopped, and two officers got out as the rest continued their pursuit of the car.

Kenji sat up, hissing as pain shot up his right arm as he tried to put weight on it to help him get up. He ignored the noise that the people who had seen what happened made in favor of the sniffling girl sitting next to him as one officer came to them, and another to the passers by.

"That was scary huh Ami-chan?" He asked with a small laugh, when the girl didn't seem to stop crying he added mournfully, "Ahhh, looks like we'll have to go get new groceries. The old ones are ruined." When she still didn't stop Kenji reached out his good arm to pat her on the head like he does to his sister, "It's alright Ami-chan, It's over now…"

"Are you kids alright?" The officer asked causing Kenji to look up at him.

"I'm fine." Kenji replied before looking at the brunette haired girl next to him. "Ami? Are you hurt?"

The girl sniffled again, and used her hands to rub her eyes one more time before she shook her head, "I'm fine…" She replied weakly.

Kenji frowned at her. The girl hadn't really moved from where she fell yet, she was still sitting in the exact same spot, the exact same way she had landed. Kenji got to his feet, and extended a hand for the girl, "Up we go then." He said.

Amami hesitated, and Kenji knew for sure she had hurt herself, before she accepted the hand, and yelped when she put weight on her ankle as she was puled up.

A frown crossed the Yamamoto's face, "I thought so." He said unhappily.

The officer sighed, "We'll have to take you kids to the hospital to get checked out. You can call your parents there." He said.

Kenji looked to the officer, "Alright then officer." He replied, and placed a hand over Amami's mouth before she could protest. "Our parents are out of town though so we can't call them. I'm taking care of my little sister today." He lied smoothly.

The officer frowned, but accepted the answer with a nod, "Alright then."

On the ride with the officers to the hospital, and up until the officers and doctors left them alone, Amami was quiet save for the occasional sniffle. Once they were gone though Kenji was rather baffled by Amami's behavior.

"I-I'm sorry K-Kenji-san. It a-all my f-fault, y-you were almost h-hit because…" She said before she started crying again.

"H-Hey it's alright Ami. We're both mostly fine, it was just a freak accident not your fault." He said hurriedly trying to calm the girl.

"N-No! I-It was th-they were ta-targeting m-me. Th-This is why… I-If we hadn't b-been there t-together…"

Kenji frowned, and then sighed, "It has to do with why you and your brother are in town again." He said quietly, and got a nod yes in response. "And you've been distant because you don't want us involved since it's dangerous." Again she nodded, and Kenji sighed.

"I can't force you to tell me what's going on, but you know sometimes it's easier to get through hard things when you have friends to help you. That's what dad always told Emiko and I."

"Not this…" Amami replied stubbornly.

Another sigh came before Kenji replied, "Alright, you win for now."

The next day Amami couldn't help but stare at her brother, and then Reborn with his guarded look of approval as he informed her that he had just told Emiko exactly why they were in town.

"Ieyatsu…" She started.

Her brother shook her head, "You won't understand Nee-san." He replied gently.

"So the little sister will be coming with us then." Reborn stated making Ieyatsu freeze for a moment before he relaxed again.

"W-Well, I gave her the option. She still has to get her mother's permission, and she can always say no Reborn." He replied firmly to their tutor.

"There's always kidnapping if that woman says no." Reborn replied easily.

Much to Amami's relief Ieyatsu looked appalled, "No way Reborn! Absolutely not, we're not criminals!" Ieyatsu paused after that before rephrasing, "We're not that kind of criminal."

Amami looked between the two males as they seemed to reach what could be called an understanding. Making a frustrated noise Amami turned around and headed for her room as quickly as she could with an injured ankle.

"She'll come around Reborn," The older sister heard her brother say with a sigh. "She just needs a little time."

"Baka Ieyatsu, time is the one thing we don't have to waste." She heard Reborn reply.

Getting to her bedroom Amami flopped down onto her bed. She was much more stubborn then her brother and Reborn, she would make sure that she wouldn't be the one to drag anyone else into this madness with them no matter what Reborn said.

A/N :: And here's another of the new chapters, this time focusing more on the two elder siblings. Obviously the first part of the chapter, the section with the car incident in it, takes place the same day as the last chapter, just a little earlier in the day. The second part takes place after Ieyatsu filled in Emiko the next day. I hope you guys enjoyed it, though looking at it out of my word document it looks a lot shorter then I thought...

Now with my old chapters I had a few comments where people referred to Amami and Ieyatsu as twins. I'm trying my best to make it clear in the story chapters that they are not twins. However their relationship is heavily based off of the one I have with my own brother where we get along strangely well, and he sometimes seems to make a better older sibling then I do myself. The Sawada siblings were raised to cover for each other's weaknesses, which is actually the reason why Ieyatsu will form time to time act sort of like an older sibling for his big sister.

I do want to apologize to you guys. I promised it wouldn't take long to get this up, but it actually took much longer. Of course as always there's reasons (excuses) as to why, but some how I doubt you guys really care. So I am very sorry I broke that promise.

I do want to let you guys know though that I'm going to try updating this story once a month. That way I can hopefully get ahead of the chapters I need to post before they should be posted. This will also give me time to reread and make edits that I had missed before. So please expect Chapter 8 to be released in November!

Please review with your dying will! Flames will, as always, be used to roast marshmallows with Byakuran.

Disclaimer: Akari-chan doesn't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, any of it's characters, places, or anything like that.

Reposted 10/11/12