Title: Land of Roses

Author: Dreamcloud

Fandom: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Pairing: 80/59 18/27

Setting: A Modern Romeo + Juliet era so yes they do have mobile phones

Warnings: Use of guns, most probable blood and guts scenes and sadly death.

Author's Note(s): So this is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, so there will be a lot of reference to that.

Location: 80/59 Street Restaurant

Time: 10:50pm

In my life not a lot of things had shocked me; mostly because I had been raised around homicidal maniacs all my life. This meant that every other hour someone who lived within our grand mansion would kill another person, sometimes this would be directly in front of me, other times I would walk into the room and find the bloodstain on the carpet. Either way this way of living had taught me to always be on my guard and be aware of what was happening around me at all times.

However it seemed this sense had failed me. At this moment in time I was utterly floored. I didn't know what to think do or say. I, Hayato Gokudera, for once, am speechless…

Believe me this does not happen often. But what am I meant to say to that.

He's watching me, waiting for my reaction, a response, anything that would give away what I'm thinking. But the question was still spinning around my head, my brain trying in vain to process what he had actually said and wondering if he was being serious.

"You want to… Marry me?"

It was stupid; I was trying to confirm what I already knew. But he clearly didn't know how dangerous this situation already was. We were playing with fire so to speak, one wrong move, one tiny slip up, and we were both dead. At the same time I didn't want to put him off and push him away. I actually wanted quite the opposite. Honestly don't get me wrong I was truly and utterly happy he had asked me. But…

"Yes" the answer came quick, without hesitation, and spoken with completely honesty. How could I not want to marry him? "I've found a priest who's willing to marry us"

Oh God! He's looked into this already, made plans and organised the whole thing. It really was beginning to dawn on me that he was being completely serious about this. He'd gone to the trouble of looking into it before he'd asked me.

How could I say no?

"Okay" I whispered, looking back down at the ring in wonder, a faint smile on my face, and then laughed. "No one else is going to take you after all idiot. I'll marry you"

I don't think there are words to describe how happy he looked. His eyes lit up and he practically flew from his seat to pull me into his arms and wrap me into a bone crushing hug, laughing all the while.

It took me a moment to realise it, but I had caused this reaction. I was the reason for his sudden happiness. It had been me agreeing to marry him that had caused his eyes to light up and that familiar laugh to bubble from his throat… I had never made anyone this happy before, I was sure of it. It was hard to take in for a moment. The fact that I could make someone happy; it had never seemed possible before…

"Really? You mean it? You really mean it?" he had pulled me back to ask, before tugging me back into his arms grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes, yes! God let me go, I can't breathe! Oi you idiot!"

But he didn't listen; he just continued hugging me and being unwilling to let me go. Picking me up and twirling me around, drawing far too much attention to us in the process.

I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life…

LINE BREAK:-

Location: 80/59 Street Restaurant

Time: 11:03pm

"You're late"

"By like 3 minuets"

"That's 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back again because I was stuck waiting for you"

Seriously? Shut the fuck up.

"So how was dinner?" Shamal then asks me, eyes on the road, like they should be. I don't want to die after what's just happened.

"It was fine thanks" I murmur back, unsure on whether or not to tell him the good news.

After all there was only so much he was going to stand for; and apparently, according to him I was already in too deep.

"It must have if that fancy engagement ring is anything to go by" he suddenly says and instantly my eyes dip down the band of gold resting on my finger lovingly. Takeshi had insisted on me wearing it as I had left. Although he understood I was going to have to take it off when I got home. So he had taken off his own gold chain from round his neck and given it to me to put the ring on when I couldn't wear it on my finger. His reasoning was that he still wanted me to be wearing it in some way.

"Yeah" I say awkwardly, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. I had to tread carefully. "He proposed to me" it's the most simple and blunt was I could have put it, and I had just voiced the obvious, confirmed the answer that he already knew.

"You're so stupid" he tells me, sighing. He's not angry and that's good. "I don't even know what to say to you anymore. You're going to get yourself killed pointlessly. Is that what you want?"

I don't know why, but I feel guilty. I shouldn't really, but Shamal has a way of making me feel like that. So I do what I normally do and hide it with anger. I don't want to let him know I feel bad. I already know I shouldn't be doing this and I don't need him to remind me of that. Yes this could get me killed if anyone found out. But that's not the point is it? The point is I'm doing this because I'm young and foolishly in love with someone I shouldn't be in love with; and because I'm young I don't care!

"Of course I don't!" I yell at him, clenching my fists in a silent protest against him.

"Well how is this going to work?" he then asks, giving me a quick sideways look. Which, by the way, he really shouldn't being doing because hello, next heir to the Gokudera mafia family here, I'm kind of important. Fucking idiot! "Are you just going to run off into the sunset with him? Think about this Hayato! That's not going to work I told you this earlier. Your father will send you cousin after you in a heartbeat if you suddenly go missing"

Oh goody, he's bringing Zakuro up again. He knows that I'm shit scared of him, even though he's not really done much to me to warrant it. But I know what he's capable of, I've seen him in training and it's not pretty. He becomes this sort of mutant human and goes about destroying the whole of the training room, much to my father annoyance. I know full well what will happen if this goes wrong. But I somehow am trying not to care as much as I probably should.

"No, he's going to sort it. I know he will. Everything's going to be fine"

I know Shamal's not convinced. But he says nothing none the less.

LINE BREAK:-

Location: The Gokudera Mansion

Time: 11:30pm

The room was dark, and set alight by only two glowing candles on the wall. The curtains were closed, cloaking out any light that the evening could offer. The whole room gave off a menacing aura, much like the two current occupants residing there.

"Have you seen Hayato lately?" the man sitting behind the large oak desk inquired, leisurely swirling a glass of wine.

"No, he is currently out again" the other replied from his position leaning against the far wall, arms crossed limply, observing the other.

"I see, and where is my son off to now?" another question filled with curiosity.

"He said he was visiting Tsunayoshi Sawada"

"…Don't you find that odd?"

The other man frowned and gave a considering pause, mulling it over in his head. When no immediate answer was given in response, the other spoke once more offering an explanation.

"Didn't Iemitsu's son recently get married?"

"Yes Hayato was at the wedding reception"

"Isn't it normal for one to be spending time with their partner? If this is the case then he should not be spending his time with Hayato" The other man explained, turning his head slightly too where the other stood and smirked. "Clearly something is up. I want you to find out what it is exactly my son is up to. Do you think you could do that for me?"

The other man came forward and bowed in front of the desk.

"Of course my Lord"

LINE BREAK:-

Location: Yamamoto Dojo

Time: 10:30am

Everything was sorted. Everything was in place and I had sorted everything out with the priest who was going to be marrying us. The time was set and I had called Hayato to tell him a time. So all I've got to do now is wait. Which was really hard, I just couldn't sit still!

It had been two weeks since I had taken Hayato out to dinner. I've seen him only three times since then. The third time we met up to plan everything out for the wedding. Honestly I had had no idea how demanding Hayato could be, but of course I understood that he only wanted things to be right. He had dragged me round different clothes stores and made us both buy new clothes, forcing me into different suits and looking me over to see if it was right or not.

As soon as I had got back home those same clothes had been stuffed securely under my bed away from prying eyes. There was no way any of my family could see them, they'd likely know straight away something was up. I never wore formal clothes and made it a point to rebel against wearing them by letting my tie hang loose or un-tucking my shirt from the trousers, holding a scruffy roguish sort of look that Squalo hates. But for Hayato I had tried to look charming and submitted to every twirl he made me do so he could scrutinise every angle of me properly.

In the end we had settled on a dark blue shirt for me and a pair of black trousers with matching jacket. Hayato had had the same except he had fallen in love with this burgundy red shirt and had immediately turned to me for my opinion; to which I had told him he looked gorgeous in anything he wore. He had looked a picture standing there in the middle of the aisle holding out a dress shirt, his cheeks matching the colour staring at me with wide sliver eyes.

I was the luckiest guy alive I swear.

I had around three and half hours to wait still and I just couldn't. It was hard enough that I couldn't see him all the time and we were limited to texting and sneaky calls last thing at night or in the early hours of the morning. It was amazingly difficult to part from him when we did. Standing there in front of each other unsure what to say and trying to avoid the word "goodbye" scared because it sounded so final; like everything was over.

I really needed to find Squalo and get some last minuet training in…

LINE BREAK:-

Location: A church downtown

Time: 02:00pm

God I was so nervous! I mean really really nervous. Shamal, as always had agreed to drop me down and such. He had even agreed to be there as a witness considering that Takeshi had no one in on our secret. I sort of felt lucky that I had Shamal. I knew I'd go crazy with guilt otherwise.

I had dressed myself up in the clothes I had brought with Takeshi, sitting twiddling my fingers in the back of the car. We had just pulled up round the back of church, so as no one would see us out in the open. I opened the door and slid out just as Shamal began tugging me towards the back door which was open as Takeshi had said it would be.

Even as I was walking down I knew there was no turning back now, there was no backing out and pretending this had never happened. I'd already had this conversation with myself and debated over if I was making the right decision just last night; which had nearly ended in me talking myself out of it. I had then realised that I couldn't do that to Takeshi, who had never had any doubt that this wasn't going to work out. Never the less I was still worried, but no longer scared, just worried.

The corridor we had walked down lead to the main church where Takeshi was already stood waiting at the altar. He looked ready that was for sure; standing there ever so confidently in his suit grinning at me as he turned. I was quick to join him as Shamal took his seat in the front pew. Takeshi took my hand to join his side smiling down at me excitement brimming in that amber gaze. He squeezed my hand, no doubt sensing my unease, how could he be so calm even now?

I soon found out that he had arranged for us to have a traditional Christian wedding, which I knew was down to the fact that I had mentioned that my family was heavily into going to church and praying. I had once upon a time hated this with an intense passion. However as the years had passed I had slowly, yet unwillingly, come to appreciate religion even though it had never really helped me any; but I had still wanted to marry in a church being as I loved gothic architecture.

The priest wedding us had begun to flip through the pages of his bible to the assigned marked pages and cleared his throat dramatically announcing his start. I fidgeted from side to side nervously, this was it.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" a voice whispered in my ear softly, a gentle squeeze of my hand told me Takeshi was talking to me. He appeared to trying his best to not interrupt the ceremony; but seeing as the priest was speaking directly at Shamal, who wasn't in the slightest bit interested in what was happening, the speech was utterly wasted on him.

I know this was what I wanted, I had known for a while. But there was a difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it; and God was I feeling this difference. I was not backing out though; I was going to see this through, not because I felt obligated, but because I wanted to.

"Don't be an idiot" I told him fiercely, because he should not doubt me. "Of course I'm sure, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't" and it was true, I really wouldn't. He smiled in response and gripped my hand a little tighter, turning back to the priest and seemingly putting all his attention into our vows, which made my heart flutter a little; traitor…

"Do you Yamamoto Takeshi take this man Gokudera Hayato to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?"

"I do"

I smiled slightly as he spoke to words to me and not at the priest and I really don't think that I had ever heard words spoken with so much conviction. My attention quickly became diverted forward as the priest turned to me with the same question.

"Do you Gokudera Hayato take this man Yamamoto Takeshi to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?"

"I do"

The word fell from my mouth without much thought and I didn't miss the smile directed my way from a certain person beside me, and the intentional squeeze of my hand.

"And now for the exchange of rings"

Rings?

I couldn't remember us buying rings. My eyes glanced to my soon to be husband in a panic. He didn't seem very concerned considering we were currently ringless and the priest was watching us with expecting eyes. But again the idiot appeared to be prepared as he produced from his pocket a small black velvet box and opened it to reveal two bands of gold.

Why was he so perfect?

No, I didn't just think that…

The priest nodded to him as Takeshi handed the box to him and took one of the rings from its confines and held it within his hand, his other interlocked with mine as he faced me.

We exchanged rings and to be honest it all went a little blurred from there. I knew I was speaking, spouting words of love and promises to be faithful, but it flew past me and before I knew it we were being pronounced as lawfully wedded. The priest, once again was speaking to Shamal (who didn't give a crap by the looks of it) telling him we were married in the eyes of law and was ushering us to sign our marital papers.

"Hey, are you alright?" as ever my now faithful husband was worrying over my state of mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe we're actually married, and no one was killed in the process" I tell him while looking down at my wedding finger now adorned with two rings, both glittering up at me.

He laughs, happy as ever and gives my hand one of those reassuring squeezes and kisses the top of my head.

"Don't worry we've still got a long way to go. So don't count out someone dying yet" I frown, really I don't like the sound of that and let him know by shoving him a little as he goes to sign his name on the parchment.

"Don't talk about people dying so easily. It's not going to happen; we're going to make sure of that. Then one day, when things are better between our families, we're going to tell them and they are going to accept it. If on the chance they don't then we're going to re-located to somewhere warm and sunny, with a nice view of the ocean and live out days out in peace away from this death trap" I tell him while going to light up a cigarette, which I really shouldn't be doing in church, but hey I just got married and I don't give a crap.

The priest shows us out with a warm smile, probably feeling he just did something great for society, Takeshi does keep thanking him after all. He warns us to be careful and encourages us to hide the rings while in the company of family and friends. The suggestions makes me remember that I already have a plan in motion for this and I take out the necklace wrapped around my neck and string the wedding ring and engagement ring onto it.

"Good idea, as long as they are kept out of site you should be fine" he concludes before scurrying back inside the confines of the church with a bow, probably to avoid being seen with us and getting into our mess.

"Well then newlyweds, what are you going to do now. The weathers nice and you've just got married, any plans for the honeymoon. Don't tell me you need taking over to Europe on some spare of the moment get away?" Shamal asks practically leering at us, while he too lights up a cigarette, clearly he has more manners then me and knows not to desecrate Gods name and home by smoking in the blessed building.

Takeshi's laugh breaks me from my thoughts as he steps next to me looking happier than I've ever seen him.

"Well I was thinking we've got all day and my families not expecting me back till late. So I was thinking we have some time to spend right?"

He makes a good point so I just and nod and look back to Shamal, because he's got to make up some God awful lie to my family back home; and really I can't see him hanging around us while we go about our business. God I really hope he doesn't stay…

"Alright then, well I'm going to head back to the house and go try and pick me up a lovely lady on the way. What time do you want me to come pick you up? Sometime before midnight would be nice"

Why is he looking at me like I know? I'm not the one who planned all this after all. To be mean I turn my head to Takeshi expectantly, which he doesn't miss as he runs a hand through his head searchingly.

"About 10?" he tells Shamal and I notice it comes out more of question like he's asking permission or something. Which he really shouldn't because Shamal is not the boss of me, I'm the boss of him. But 10 sounds good to me, I don't want to arouse any sort of suspicion in my household.

LINE BREAK:-

Location: The Gokudera Masion

Time: 03:30pm

"You're back early. Did you find something?"

"Yes my Lord. I believed it was urgent" the man stepped away from the shadows and knelt before the desk.

The other man sitting behind the desk frowned and placed down his glass with a soft clink, before folding his hands together below his chin.

"I see. Nothing bad I hope" he then said a look of concern flashing through his sharp eyes.

"Earlier today while trailing your son I came across an odd sight. He was entering a church with that doctor. I watched for a while thinking it was strange and then an hour later he came back out with another boy and the doctor…"

"I see and were you able to identify this boy"

The question hung in the air for a while and the man kneeling frowned slightly as though puzzled.

"That is the reason I came back so quickly. The boy your son left with was none another then Yamamoto Takeshi the son of the current head of the Yamamato family"

The glass that had sat perched atop the desk suddenly went flying violently across the room smashing into the back wall and falling to the carpeted floor in a shower of glass. However the man behind the act merely sat back down rather calmly and took in a breath of air.

"Do you think my son was aware of who he was?" he asked eyes was once again and face set into a stern look.

"Yes. I regret to inform you my Lord but the two are now married"

"They are what?"

"Married my Lord. I wasn't so sure at first but after they left I checked within the book that the church keep. It documents all marriages that have taken place within the church and your son's name is written down next to the Yamamato boy's. I believe he was very much aware of who he was marrying"

"I can't believe this! My own son has gone against me and taken our enemies name!" He pounded his fists against the wooden desk and gave another frustrated sigh before standing and turning to look from the window. "When is Shamal due to return?"

"He left them at the church. I assume he should be back shortly"

"Alright. I want you to bring him to me when he arrives. After that you know what to do"

"Yes my Lord"

The man kneeling rose to his and turned to head out of the door

"Oh and try not to make too much of a mess. I don't want anyone alerted Zakuro"

LINE BREAK:-

Location: Somewhere downtown

Time: 09:50pm

"He's still not called yet"

"Don't worry I'm sure he would leave you stranded"

It was the fourth time Hayato had brought it up now. Shamal had yet to ring and Hayato had called him twice himself, but his phone was turned off. Hayato had said that he was most likely in bed with a prostitute, but I was sceptical. But in a way I was glad he wasn't answering because that meant I had more time with Hayato. I was worried though, because it wasn't like I could just turn round and tell Hayato to come with me, because he'd be killed on spot as soon as he stepped through the door. It made me wonder if there were other worlds as people called them. I wondered whether there was a world out there where me and Hayato were together and our families didn't hate each other and we were happy. Maybe my dad owned that sushi shop he had always dreamed of and maybe I was on a baseball team at school….

It would sure be nice…

But back to reality and it just wasn't that simple. I had had a really nice time though. We had been to restaurant and got a bite to eat, Hayato had sworn in Italian at one of the waiters, which had been really funny. We had caught a movie that had been some odd mix between sci-fi and fantasy, Hayato had seemed to enjoy it and had been so transfixed by it that he didn't notice the fact that I had hooked my arm around him halfway through; which had made me happy. After that Hayato had noticed that there was a festival going on in the main centre and had tugged me in the right direction after I had got us lost in a nature park. We ended up with armfuls of prizes because Hayato had gotten addicted to this shooting game, and I had ended up having to pry the gun from his fingers. By that point we had realised that Shamal would be coming for Hayato at any time now and we had started to make out way back. It had then dawned on Hayato that Shamal still hadn't called and wouldn't know where to pick him up from.

"I really hate him sometimes you know. He better have not forgotten about me!"

I laughed and pulled him into my arms kissing the top of his head.

"I bet he hasn't, he might be busy is all, you'll see" I gave his neck a slight kiss which in turn made him shudder. A smirk graced my lips and I trailed a sneaky hand up his shirt making him jerk slightly as he felt it.

"What are you doing you idiot?" he asked attempting to crane his head up to look at me.

"Nothing…" I tell him while moving us behind a wall to shield us more from the crowds of people leaving the festival.

Learning down I get a better look if him, his cheeks are painted that cute red hue, meaning he's really embarrassed. His eyes are watching the floor, like it's more interesting than me, which is a little insulting. My hand trails to his chin and with a light tug I pull his up to look at me before kissing him softly, and then running my tongue along his lips letting him know that I want to take it a little further even if we are in public. He lets me in and I take my time mapping out his mouth and getting a taste of everything he's eaten today. It doesn't surprise me when I come across the taste of ash and something smoky. But it does badly clash with the ice cream I just treated us too. I catch a soft moan come from him and smile into the kiss taking him by the waist and pulling him close. His arms come up to wrap around my neck, and he tilts his head slightly giving me better access for where I want to be.

But it's all over when Hayato's phone suddenly goes off emitting an annoying tune into the air. He breaks away from me and fumbles in his pocket for the demon device pressing it to his ear after accepting the call. His lips are still slightly swollen and he's short on breath but he looks absolutely adorable as I coil him into a hug from behind.

"Hello?" he asks and has clearly not checked the caller ID while in the mist of locating the damn thing. "You git!" he suddenly yells and it doesn't take me long to figure out who's on the other end of the line. I press myself closer to him so as I can hear what's being said.

"I'm really sorry" Shamal says on the other end of the line, and I note the nervous laugh he gives after the apology.

Hayato doesn't seem to care though and immediately fly's off the handle at him, really giving him a piece of his mind as he promised to do.

"Do you know how worried I've been, I thought you had forgotten about me!" he yells down the phone, not holding back at all.

"Look Hayato where are you?" Shamal then asks and it's worrying how he suddenly gets straight to the point, and how Shamal himself seems worried from the tone of his voice.

"I'm at the north entrance to the park downtown; they've got a festival going on at the minuet. Why what's wrong you sound worried?"

"Okay, stay where you are I'm going to come fetch you. But make sure that Takeshi isn't there when I come. I think your family thinks something's up and they may be sending something to follow me okay? So make sure he's not about. I don't want anything to kick off"

Now we're both really worried and Hayato has gone really stiff in my arms, a look of shock planted on his face.

"O-okay. But how do you they know?" he asks in a whisper. "We were really careful"

"It's going to fine. Don't panic I'll explain later" The line goes dead and we're left on our once again.

After a moment of silence Hayato pulls back, sliding the phone into his back pocket.

"You better go, before he gets here, he sounded serious about this. I'll call you when I get back okay?" he tells me and all I can do is nod.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon okay?" I tell him drawing him into one last hug and kissing him softly.

I leave him standing there watching me go. But if I don't there's a chance I'll be killed. I round the corner and duck suddenly as a black car pulls round. It could have been any car, but it could have also been one of the Gokudera cars as well; and I really don't want to take the chance.

I've got to walk back by the looks of it, but I don't mind. There's no way in hell Squalo will come and pick me up at this time of the night. He'd rather gut me alive I'm sure. Besides it's a nice night, so I feel I should make the most of it.

I keep walking until I make it to the main plaza where the town hall is; in front of it is the fountain set at the top of a flight of stairs that acts as water feature for the public. I stop abruptly, something's not right…

I can sense something; and whatever it is it's not good.

I leap back curling my body into a summersault and land in a crouched position; eyes catching the sword that's now embedded in the stone walk way. One more second and that could have been impaled in my chest. I look up and about for where the sword came from and just who exactly is trying to end my life.

My eyes land on a figure standing behind the fountain dressed in dark colours carrying a gun in his hand, which was of course pointed in my general direction. He takes a step forward into the light of the town hall and gestured to the sword he had thrown at me with his gun.

"Pick it up. I went through the trouble of supplying you with a weapon you were comfortable with"

My eyes widened. So if he knew my main weapon of choice was sword he had to know who I was. This meant he hadn't just spotted me and randomly decided to pick a fight. No this guy had done his research and had sort me out to kill me.

"Who are you?" I ask picking up the sword in case he chose to end it all and attack.

He laughed slightly and then re-aimed his gun on me.

"You messed with the wrong family when you got involved with my little cousin. The boss isn't happy, and so he sent me to deal with the problem. Your family is meant to keep it's filth to itself. You broke the rules and now you have to pay for it"

"Little cousin… Wait! What did you do to Hayato?" my mind suddenly was kicked into gear. Shamal had been acting funny, did that have anything to do with this. Had he known this was going to happen?

My opponent broke into laughter again, tipping his head back to the cloudy sky.

"Now you understand you sin. Don't worry Hayato has been brought back home. He won't be leaving for a while. He's not to blame though, this is your families doing after all. You were caught in your little game. I spotted you at the church. The stupid doctor was with you wasn't he? When he arrived home the boss dealt with him and threatened Hayato's life. He soon told us what had been happening. We used him as a decoy to get Hayato to go back by having him call and ask where he was. He led us straight to you. Such fools… But it doesn't matter now. Your life will soon be over"

I hadn't the time to think as I dodged his attack moving to the side and hiding behind the fountain. He was really going to kill me. I was soon moving again as I heard the sound of falling stone crashing into the pavement. H-he had cut through the stone of the fountain. How?

I jerked my head to the side to see that he was now holding a sword in his hand watching me with a calm gaze. He was now standing the opposite side of the now broken fountain. But not for long, he leapt to the side and jumped up over the water to where I stood. His sword was brought down fast and I scrambled to meet it with my own, blocking him from slashing through me. He smirked as he landed on his feet and pushed down on his sword trying to make me drop my guard. With a push to the side I broke our struggle and lunged down before bringing my blade up, smacking into his ribs with the back of my sword.

I couldn't kill him could I?

He might be trying to kill me but, he was still part of Hayato's family. Would he be mad at me if I killed his cousin? Would he understand that I had to, because if I didn't surely he was going to kill me?

I had no time to think as my enemy soon recovered and came running at me once more blade poised and aimed at my head. I was back to blocking once more. But he had thought ahead and now went for my lower body trying to slash my stomach. I caught the sudden movement again and blocked the attempt. He tried again and again and again. My head, my shoulder, lower leg and chest. All tries were met and blocked on my part as I struggled to keep up with his speed while attempting to find my own opening to pay him back.

But we couldn't keep this up forever and I tried to break the chain.

I brought my blade to the side again, letting it scrape down his before turning round and aiming for his neck to slash it from his shoulders…

The move didn't work out and he twisted his arm round and again defended against my move with a laugh.

"You're good kid. Who taught you?"

I glared at him, still trying to push him back and slash that smug looking grin from his face.

"A better man than you" I sneered and pushed back on my right foot, leaning down and pushing forward again, sword lowered ready to swing up and hopefully land a hit on his chest.

I missed. He hit me back with the side of his blade and my own ended up catching his shoulder and tearing through cloth and then skin leaving a nasty rip of flesh behind. He let out a grunt and punched me back with his fist on instinct.

I hit the floor as the heavens opened and rain came tumbling down on us, the clock on the town hall blaring out, letting everyone know that it was now 11pm.

We were both frozen, watching the other breathe in and out rapidly. He broke the moment by laughing and pulling himself back upright. I followed the movement pushing myself up on the sword that wasn't my own.

Before I could even steady myself he had lunged forward and sent his sword into my leg. My own instincts kicked in and I rammed my sword up, taking advantage of his being impaled in my leg and pieced through his abdomen painfully. He jerked back and his face contorted into an ugly feral look and he hammered on my blade, which was back defending me again, trapping us in battle of blocking and attacking. There would be no end in this game; we were both evenly matched when it came to this clearly. One of us was going to have to take a chance…

My eyes flew open as I saw him suddenly bring his sword up high, the tip aimed at my head.

Now!

I brought my own up fast and slashed across his stomach, digging it in as much as I could, trying to make the wound deep enough so he wouldn't get back up this time; but I still didn't want to kill him.

He gasped and gave a gurgled cough, spitting up blood onto the water logged ground below us. His body gave out and toppled forward onto the ground, I took a step back so as to avoid any funny move he might make. He didn't, simply lying there in a fast growing puddle of his own blood.

Was he dead?

I found myself uncaring as I dropped the borrowed sword onto the ground and made a move to start forward, trying to think how I would explain this to my family. My wounds hindered me for a moment as I made it to the top of the stairs leading back down the pavement and stopped.

God it was painful.

I moved a foot forward once more testing how much weight I could put onto my wounded leg.

BANG!

What?

The sound hit my ears and echoed in my head. A gun? But he had used a sword…

No.

Pain blossomed in my back and the front of my chest. My hand gripped my shirt over my heart. What was going on?

He had had gun too… At some point. Was I falling? What had happened? He was dead wasn't he? No I didn't kill him, I didn't want to.

"Did you really think I would let you go so easily" He was standing above me from my fallen position at the bottom of the stairs; looking down on me from his pedestal as the winner.

I didn't say anything. I couldn't the world was going funny, twisting and fading to black at different intervals. Must have been the lights, they kept going off. On and then off. On and then off.

"Ha. You look so pathetic lying there. Just remember kid, don't take it personally or anything. But our family doesn't fight fair…"

He was gone. Just like that. Leaving me here on the ground soaking up the rain and trying to forget just how much pain I'm in.

It's funny, my life isn't flashing before my eyes. Shouldn't it be?

No all I can think about is how I promised I'd see Hayato soon. I wasn't going to be able to keep that now. I wasn't going to be able to call him and tell him everything was fine. Because it wasn't.

Hadn't he mentioned something about a house with the view of the sea? I'd have liked that, waking up to the ocean every day. Well waking up to Hayato and the ocean.

I would never hear him call me an idiot again…

I really wanted to hear him call me that right now. Really bad. I couldn't remember what his voice sounded like. The rain was drowning him out. Stupid rain…

Was he crying? I could feel it, it was hitting me hard from the heavens.

Don't cry Hayato… Don't cry…

I'll see you soon…

And so part two of the 3 part thing. This one was obviously a little more sad, as yes, this is based off Romeo and Juliet and therefore there will be death I am sorry to say. But on the plus side I hope this was worth the wait! I shall be working on part three as soon as I am done writing this, so hopefully another update shall be on it's way!

Dreamcloud.