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Chapter 26 muther fukuro!

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Gonna get started on our remastered version, so look for that.

Is KHR ours? No.

Chapter 26 - The Finish Line?

After returning to the present, the trio went into a deep discussion. Away from the school, Kokuyo land, the Sawada residence, Yamamoto's house, and well the point is-

"So how should we tell them about our flames...Tsuna is already demanding answers the minute we returned to the present." Sakurako started, not so fond on the fact that Tsuna practically asking her more than what she wanted.

"Yama too. Ugh. The timing is all bad. I don't know how this will work out… We have the apartment now, it's just a matter of when we move in, I guess." Aoyuki sighed heavily, and leaned back against the wall.

Kimiko crossed her arms in a huff, "You wouldn't believe it, but so is Chrome-chan as well as….Muku-kun. He finally appeared, however he had a lot of demands."

"I figured that ugly old bat would demand shit from you, especially after what he saw in his future vision." Aoyuki drawled, playing an app on his phone.

"Does this mean he knows you married him?" Sakurako tried to sustain her laugh.

"Who knows. I hope so. That would make things a lot easier. For me. I won't have to compete at all with that ugly bedazzled turd W.W." Shrugging her shoulders, Kimiko smirked at the prospect of not having to try to gain a one upper against M.M.

"Now that I think about it, you two were arguing quite a lot once we returned to the base," Sakurako remembered not too long ago.

"ANYways… We need to focus on this shit, guys. We can have a spat-fest after this is all done." Aoyuki grimaced as he lost his combo. A little early, just a tiny bit too early.

"...Do you want me to arrange another meeting with Reborn?" Sakurako suggested.

"We don't need to tell them. I dont think its something they need to know exactly. It might help, but it might not help," Aoyuki glanced over to Sakurako, "You said that they knew mine? I could tell them mine, and I don't know about you...guys just tell some random secret that sounds secret enough to be the hidden secret."

"But Mukuro is demanding to know since he can sense that I have another flame. And he must have told Chrome-chan too, if she trusts me." Kimiko held her head in her hands.

"But then that would be unfair to Tsuna, I mean you saw me being confronted by Tsuna at the base." Sakurako reminded.

Groaning, Aoyuki slid his phone into his pocket and pushed off the wall. "Yeah, but you told him of your own free will. You could have told him anything, and that would have been fine. But you chose to tell him about your flame. Though I don't blame you. I probably would've told Yama in a heartbeat if he asked me again. But ehhh. We'll figure something out."

"Then, I'll go find Reborn and tell him the situation." Sakurako gathered her stuff, heading toward Tsuna's house.

"Fiiiine I'll get Chrome-chan too." Kimiko illusioned a cape and waved it dramatically, causing it to rise and create an effect not unlike that of a certain potions professor.

"And as for me…. I'm going to prepare for all this shit to be wrecked thoroughly. I'm off to find the Yama, my beloved Yamamoto. Gotta tell him I'm moving out..." Aoyuki stretched, and walked towards the Yamamoto residence.

BAM. TIME SKIP.

'

~~At Tsuna's house. ~~

We're finally going in depth about everything.

Sakurako fiddled with her hands hoping that time would move faster.

"So yeah. Long story short, we're not from this world, this world is a supernatural fantasy story in ours, which is why we know some shit ahead of time, and we officially have our own apartment. No, we don't know how or why we came here. No, we won't tell you how things are going to happen, and no, we don't know why we got these flames in particular. Questions?" Aoyuki finished explaining to the group, and leaned back on his palms to watch their faces.

Tsuna decided to inquire by asking Sakurako, "What about the second flame you were talking about from during our time in the future, Sakura-chan?"

Reborn's eyes narrowed to the three. Sakurako in particular.

Shimizu, are all three of you truly ready to tell Tsuna and his guardians about that?

Aoyuki's mouth flipped from a lazy smile to a pulled back one of disgust.

This boy, I swear to god, I will destroy his entire shitty hairspray and hair-gel collection, and burn all of his cutesy wittle timey-wimey diaper pajamas.

"In a sense, there's an addition to our primary flame," Sakurako raised her hand as she slipped on her star ring, "Each one of us has been given our own secondary flame. Individually unique of it's own kind, a completely different set of flames compared to the seven flames of the sky."

Yamamoto side glanced over to Aoyuki, taking notice of the fact that he seemed a little distant after hearing Tsuna's question. In fact, it's as if Aoyuki is all in all trying to avoid speaking up about his flame.

Igniting the star ring, a white flame danced glowing brightly on Sakurako's hand.

Tsuna smiled at Sakurako, "That's amazing! I know I've seen it already, but it's still just as amazing to see up close, Sakura-chan!"

Sakurako blushed a bit, directing her gaze to the floor. Avoiding Tsuna's gaze of amazement.

Y-You don't have to point that out…

She suddenly felt a glare being sent towards her.

You're giving the squid the wrong idea.

Kimiko piped in, "I wouldn't say earned. More like, awakened a dormant power? Its the same with the normal flames of the sky too. Dormant, not awarded. We're not too sure on what kind of system it operates on though. Chrome-chan! Watch closely now~"

Kimiko slipped her moon ring onto her finger, and let it ignite into a flames, rotating back and forth between a pale yellow and white.

Chrome let out a small gasp as she watched the flickering flame on Kimiko's ring. "Kimiko-san…"

The group was staring at the two girls' flames with a mix of surprise and amazement. Aoyuki on the other hand, after getting over his initial shock of seeing the two of them reveal their flames, rolled his eyes and gave them an exasperated eyebrow raise.

Yamamoto's gaze turned to the remaining of the three, who was just sitting there, looking very disgruntled with the direction things were going. "And what about you, Yuki? You told me that you had another flame too?"

The room became silent as everyone turned their attention to the blue-haired boy, who was giving a bored stare to Yamamoto. Silently waiting to see what kind of flame he had.

"... I…" He closed his eyes, and sighed, sitting up straight.

It's time to raise hell.

Looking at the group, Aoyuki deadpanned, "I lied. I don't actually have one."

And hell let loose.

Yamamoto frowned silently at his friend's answer. But seeing as how Aoyuki's eyes were darker and unforgiving, backed off, hoping that he would tell him at a later time.

"What are you saying, Kaji-san…?" Tsuna spoke up the minute Aoyuki stated that one line.

Reborn tipped his hat to cover his eyes, and sat in silence.

"Cut the crap, Kaji!" Gokudera stood up this time, furious at Aoyuki's outburst, "You can't talk to the Tenth like that either!"

"I said nothing to the 'Tenth' that would require you to defend him, Gokudera. I just said a simple sentence. Or do you think that Tsuna is so stupid he can't decipher it himself, that you need to rush to his aid?"Aoyuki rolled his head and leaned back onto his palms again.

Hibari, sitting on the windowsill, simply raised an eyebrow at the scene unfolding.

"Yuki that's not fair! You can't just not tell them, especially after we just did!" Kimiko launched to her feet in anger, yelling at her friend.

Sitting in silence, Chrome fidgeted, looking back and forth between Kimiko and Aoyuki.

"Once again, like I said earlier, that was completely your own choice. You didn't have to show them anything at all. And you know what? This is my choice. So back off Kimimi." Aoyuki rolled his head to glare in Kimiko's direction, not appreciating his friend's tone of voice.

Sakurako, silently agreed to Aoyuki's choice however at the same time the discussion was beginning to look pretty ugly if no one stopped it.

"It's not just your choice, Kaji! You're lying to us! Tell us the truth now!" Gokudera joined in the yelling barrage.

"That's right to the extreme!" Ryohei yelled, "Even though I have no idea on what is extremely going on!"

Aoyuki snapped at Ryohei, "If you have no idea, then shut up."

"But Kaji-san, this is important! If you do have another flame like Sakura-chan and Tetsume-san, then it can really be useful if we get into another battle like in the future! I'm not sure yet what either of their flames can do, or what their power is, but I'm still sure it's useful in some way!" Tsuna exclaimed, trying to reason with Aoyuki. "Besides, in the future, Sakura-chan told me that you all would tell us the truth about everything!"

Sakurako flinched. It seems as if her own words were beginning to haunt her.

"Please don't tell anyone yet. I along with my friends are going to explain everything once we return to our present. I won't lie or run away from telling you and the others the truth this time."

Aoyuki laughed and stood up. "Are you hard of hearing, Sawada Tsunayoshi? Or maybe you're getting too old. Your memory seems a little shitty. Sakura said that SHE wouldn't lie or run away from the truth. She never said anything about me. So go suck a dick or five, Sawada. Everyone has their secrets. Even you, Sawada. Or don't tell me you forgot already, about your little adventure with death? The skull that kept revealing your secrets all over your body? Against your will? Don't be such a god damn hypocrite Sawada."

"How can you say that to the Tenth! Oi! Kaji! You can't speak that way to him! Apologize right now!" Gokudera stormed closer to Aoyuki, yelling in his face.

"Shut up will you?" Aoyuki placed his hand against Gokudera's face, and used his leg to trip Gokudera to flip him to the floor, where he landed with a thud. "Nice 450 flip."

"Stop, Kaji-san!" Tsuna, finally, took a stand, making everyone else wary of the fact that Tsuna made a move, "If you continue to act like this…."

"Then...I won't accept you as an ally!"

Aoyuki paused, eyes widened in shock, before resuming his face from before and raised an eyebrow, "Does that mean you're going to kick me out of the Vongola?"

Tsuna bewildered at Aoyuki's question, had nothing to say. He wasn't sure. Tsuna was in a disarray of whether he can call Kaji Aoyuki a member of the Vongola Family, because Tsuna knew...that he himself didn't want any part in the mafia to begin with.

Kaji stood still, watching Tsuna battle with his thoughts, and the others who had looks of shock on their faces, stunned into complete silence at what was happening in front of them, and what Aoyuki had believed Tsuna's words to mean. And then grinned to himself.

Oil onto the fire.

"In that case… I accept. I never really cared for you or the Vongola in the first place." He stretched his arms above his head, and turned to leave. "Oh, Yamamoto. Don't worry, I'll clean my stuff before you get back."

Ignoring the others, Yamamoto stood up and asked Aoyuki, "Why? Aren't… Aren't we friends? Friends stick together!"

Aoyuki froze at the door, his hand already on the doorknob, and turned his head to face Yamamoto, "You know… I think I'm starting to really hate those words." He then opened the door and stepped out. "Prepare yourselves, babies, for a shitstorm. Cuz' I'm bringing it hard."

At that point, Yamamoto was speechless to what Aoyuki had spoken.

Yamamoto ran out of Tsuna's house, following after Aoyuki, "Wait, Yuki!"

Reborn raised his head, a grim expression shown.

I'm disappointed in you, Dame-Tsuna. You lost a valuable ally.

Sakurako, gripping her hands into a fist, stepped forward to calm the current unease of the group, "Everyone."

"Yuki may sound like he doesn't want to be involved, but…Yuki is truly on our side, just probably a little mad. No, rather, angry of being forced to say something he doesn't want to admit." The star flame user inhaled and then exhaled to calm herself down, "Isn't it the same for all of you? Not wanting to speak the general truth to others for the sake of benefitting the use of that power in a fight, or to keep them out of harm. Like you did with Haru-san and Kyoko-chan?"

"Also, Tsuna-kun…if I remember," Sakurako pointed out, "You never wanted any of us in the perils involving the mafia, correct?"

"So in the end, everyone gets what they want! Isn't this ideal for you?" Kimiko sneered at Tsuna. "Do you want the two of us to leave as well? After all, you already have your guardians. You don't really need three extras, do you?"

"N-No, I didn't mean it that-!" Tsuna flubbed his words toward the remaining two, "I just…"

"You just don't trust us, right? It's not like you asked for this, right? This wasn't what you wanted? Fine! Then we'll all leave!" Kimiko yelled, grabbing Sakurako's arm.

"W-Wait a minute, Kiki!" Sakurako struggled from her friend's grip, "We're not done-!"

Tsuna, reckless as he is, reached out and took hold of Sakurako's free hand, "I just want to protect my friends! A-And you...you three are also my friends too!"

Kimiko stopped pulling, noticing that Sakurako didn't struggle in trying to remove her hand.

Sakurako's expression became unreadable. Unhappy of being labelled as a mere friend, she tugged at Tsuna's hand. Once Tsuna released his hold thinking that Sakurako was going to say something, she raised her hand up. Colliding the bare palm of her hand against Tsuna's cheek, a rather painful slap was heard through the room, one which Sakurako never would've thought to do.

"It hurts…" Without realizing it, Sakurako felt the droplets of tears roll down her face, "Tsuna...don't you know how painful your words can be…?"

"Yuki is right…" Sakurako admitted, her body shaking from what she just heard, "I also seem to hate the word 'friend'."

Tsuna placed a hand over the area where Sakurako hit, "Sakura-chan…?"

Biting onto her lip, Sakurako wondered whether she would regret saying her thoughts now. However at the same time, she'd feel a lot better to say the words right now.

"Tsuna-kun...I know that this isn't the right place or rather the time to say this...but," Sakurako gulped down the nervousness in her tone, as she finally stated, "I like you, Tsuna-kun…"

Tsuna, his face full of shock enveloped him, while the others watched the drama progress before them.

"More than a friend...a fan...a person not of this world…" Sakurako straightened herself, her eyes directed toward the surprised tenth generation Vongola boss, "I like you as someone I truly care for…. from the bottom of my heart! You're the one that inspired me to move forward no matter how many hardships hit! I...I…"

"I like you no matter what kind of person you are...Tsuna-kun!" By the time Sakurako confessed her true feelings to Tsuna, Kimiko pulled the girl out of the room with her.

The silence in the room was unbearable. Even Gokudera and Ryohei didn't know what to say, just standing there with their mouths open. Hibari was no where to be seen, probably having already gone off somewhere, tired of listening to all of the noisy herbivores' drama. Chrome sat there, flushed into a red hue after watching Sakurako's bold confession to the boss.

Reborn, who'd been sitting in silence, stood up from his small seat. Hopping in front of the coward that didn't even move after receiving a second confession during his own life span.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn slammed a ten ton hammer atop of the brown gravity defying haired pre-teen.

"Ow!" Tsuna hissed from the pain radiating on his head, "What the heck was that for Reborn?!"

"For being a real idiot," Reborn's strict tone sounded a little angrier than what Tsuna was used to before, "You almost lost three allies...Allies aren't easy to regain once an act like that happens."

Reborn had Leon return to his chameleon form, as he made the decision to reveal a secret, "There's something...that involves your relationship with Shimizu Sakurako and you, Tsuna."

Tsuna, not knowing a single clue of what Reborn is talking about, sent a curious gaze toward his tutor.

"In that future, the same future where we defeated Byakuran. The future version of you and Shimizu Sakurako were married."

The bomb dropped to the ground, "What the hell?! That...that...that woman married the tenth?!"

"What are you extremely yelling about octopus head?!" Ryohei yelled, absolutely confused of what in the world happened earlier.

"Eh?! I...I...I was married to Sakura-chan in that future?!" Tsuna exclaimed, finding it really hard to believe it.

"It's the truth." Reborn flat out finished, "You know Tsuna, you may need to work on the way you speak to others...especially women. You have no tact when it comes to speaking the right words to those three."

Suddenly, Kimiko popped her head back into the room. Surprising all of the occupants except Reborn.

"Oh my...so many confessions being thrown everywhere today," Kimiko sing-sang in a mocking voice. Focusing her gaze to the eye-patched mist guardian, Kimiko grinned, "Chrome-chan, would you like to go on a date? I feel the need to clarify this date will not be as 'friends' since that appears to be a taboo word today~ It would be very lovey dovey, just you and me-"

"Kiki, I'm ready." Sakurako's voice could be heard from behind the door.

Rolling her eyes, Kimiko told Chrome, "Just text or call me or alert me whenever you want to!"

Slam!

The four boys eyed Chrome, who fidgeted in response to Kimiko's offer.

-Meanwhile-

Dark, heavy clouds loomed overhead, with spots of patchy grey sky. A few small drops of rain were beginning to spot the ground.

Yamamoto had finally caught up to Aoyuki in the middle of the park, grabbing his hand to stop him. "Yuki wait, please!"

Aoyuki paused, held back by Yamamoto. "Why did you follow me?"

"I need to know what you meant back there! And I was worried about you… You seemed really angry back there.." Yamamoto trailed off, but tightened his grip on Aoyuki's wrist.

Anger inflamed, Aoyuki spun around and began to yell, "Of course I'm angry! Who the hell wouldn't be? Everyone was laying into me about how I should," he paused and pushed his hair up to imitate Tsuna, mocking his voice, "tell everyone for the good of the group! It could be useful later on!"

Lowering his hand, he resumed glaring at Yamamoto. "Not only that, but we aren't the most mentally sound at this point. We're still not exactly how in nine hells we managed to come here, or why. This is a completely strange environment to us! We've only seen bits and parts of this world, and that still doesn't help at all! It's like looking at a travel brochure versus going to the actual place! It's different! That's not helping my stress levels at all!"

Noticing that Aoyuki was more intent on releasing his pent up emotions and thoughts rather than running away, Yamamoto gently let go of Aoyuki's wrist, to let him express himself more.

"You know how hard it is? Lying? Keeping that many secrets from the people that you care about?" He paused, chest heaving, his emotions running wild really taking a toll on him, "It's hard to sleep at night, knowing that I've been lying to you since the very beginning! And then, that son of a fother mucker, Byakuran!"

Yamamoto silently waited for Aoyuki to vent out all of his frustration. It's better than what Yamamoto had chosen to do, once his arm broke before a major baseball game. He nearly committed suicide, never had the chance to speak about how he felt. Even when he was facing Gamma… Genkishi… and Squalo as well. How much pressure was being weighed on his shoulders in many of those times. Watching Aoyuki, Yamamoto kind of envied Aoyuki's capability of bursting into anger then move onwards rather than going to extreme measures to solve a solution.

"He just haaaaad to bring out the goddamn Choice wheel with our flames on it! Granted, Kimimi's wasn't there, but that's beside the point! Her ugly ass dog shit 'present' wasn't there either! What would've happened if we had been chosen to fight? I don't know, it would be hella stressful that's what! Then, that cheeky son of a b*tch decides to be cute, and revive them, after we had already killed them!" Aoyuki was ranting and waving his arms about, trying to convey his frustration with the events of the future arc. "If we hadn't been able to defeat them the second time, if they had powered up…. I don't think any of you would have come out of a fight with them nicely. And then your injuries, or even deaths, would have been on our hands and consciousness! I know we said that we could take care of them, but that was just a front! We were almost trounced the first time we had to fight them. It's true I did find a countermeasure for my 'present', but Sakura… She was suffering even before the battle!"

"Absolutely none of this is helping with anything! Screw Sawada! Screw Gokudera! None of you have even tried to understand from our standpoint! What if you had magically been teleported to a world that had been just a fantasy to you, and had to fit in? It's insane and crazy and so fast paced that there's no time to stop and collect yourself! And then we have you guys, who have just been demanding answers and getting angry when we choose not to say anything! Just keep on asking and asking and asking! We aren't some sort of treasure buried in the sand, Yamamoto! You can't just keep digging and digging for something that you believe to be there! We're only human, made of skin, blood, flesh, and bone! We will break if you push us too hard! And you know what?! This is my f*cking breaking point! I'm sick of it!" Aoyuki took a few steps back after his rant, and let out a few dry coughs, panting. "My throat hurts now…"

He looked frustrated with himself, turning to stare in the distance. "Oh… Rain… You know, I really... have always loved the rain… At my home, it almost never rained, so rain calms me and makes me happy." Aoyuki smiled gently, and stretched out his hand to let the raindrops collect on his palm.

"You alright now, Yuki?" Yamamoto asked the currently calm Aoyuki.

"I think so…" Aoyuki replied. "I just… I don't like being forced to answer things. Even at home, I… I hate it." He closed his eyes, and took a few shaky deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heartbeat and soothe his aching throat.

"Including the ...you know…" Yamamoto found it hard not to say the word, since Aoyuki revealed that he hated hearing the word, "friend".

Aoyuki opened his eyes to look at Yamamoto. "Look… there's a reason behind that, okay? I…. I don't want to be friends. No, no.. That's a bad way of putting it. I want to be more than that, okay? But hearing the word 'friend' all the time, again and again and again, it's painful. It's like… How would I put it?"

He paused, and began pacing in circles, "It's like being at an ice cream shop. It's you on one side of the glass, and it's another person on the other side. They have what you want, the ice cream. But you know what, there's this pesky little thing in between you and the ice cream. A glass screen. And if you want the ice cream, you gotta wait for the person to give it to you. You can't just bust through the glass and take it, that would not only be rude, but scary and painful for the other person too."

Turning to face Yamamoto, Aoyuki continued, "And at this point, it's you and me on opposite sides of that glass, my 'friend', and you've got that ice cream." He paused, and took a step closer to Yamamoto, "And it's not actually ice cream that I want from you." Another step. "It's your affection."

Aoyuki let out a sigh, and turned away. "Not that I really expected you to know. I never gave any clues as to my dislike of that word. And I certainly gave you no reason to know that I love you. Damn, this is like one of those high school centered anime confes-" Pausing, Aoyuki's eyes widened as he spun around to look at Yamamoto.

Yamamoto, at the same time, had his eyes widened. "Yuki, you…."

Cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, Aoyuki muttered, "Shit. Didn't mean to say that yet…."

But since I've already said it… Might as well.

Aoyuki took the last few steps to bring himself face to face with Yamamoto. He placed his hands on both sides of Yamamoto's face, "Yamamoto."

"Do you love me?"

Yamamoto struggled to answer.

If I say yes, that would make Yuki happy, and bring him back, right? But then… I would have lied to him, knowingly…

If I say no though, I would hurt him…

I treasure our friendship a lot... But I also want to keep playing mafia with him and everyone...

"Yuki, I…"

The sounds of thunder could be heard in the distance, as the rain began falling even harder.

Hella lot of words

not as much as the last chapter

or another chapter, i forget which

but still

How much is a lot?

Hella

Chapter 27 coming up soon!