Homura sat in the chair, his leg tapping nervously on the ground as he watched over the brunette. Despite the doctor's saying he was fine save for a concussion, bruised ribs, and a fever, the silverette couldn't help worrying over the man whose name he didn't even know.
There was something about the atmosphere, the aura of him, that drew Homura in. Made him feel safe, like he belonged. Something that the male sekirei couldn't help but find amusingly ridiculous. With a body like his, Homura would never truly belong anywhere.
Just when he felt like he was getting comfortable, like life would be bearable, Minato came and his body started to change, to prep itself to answer the siren call of the male Ashikabi. As much as Homura hated it, he slowly found himself getting used to the constant burning trails along his skin, as if it was too tight and his own flames were burning him up from within. It wasn't pleasant, but it was bearable and that was all that mattered.
Now here he was hovering over a guy whose name he doesn't know, worrying over someone he hasn't even ever had a conversation with, but makes him feel so warm. So at home in his presence. And he can't help but on some level be drawn to him like a mouth to a flame. This mysterious man made Homura feel, for the first time in awhile, like he could be whoever he wanted to be and still have a place to return home to.
And that alone worried him. It was proof that he couldn't even react properly.
A muffled groan jolted him from his thoughts, a small blush coloring Homura's features when he realized he had zoned out staring at the brunette's face. Only now the man was staring back with eyes the color of maple leaves in autumn. They were still clouded but with sleep this time rather than pain.
The man tilted his head, blearily gazing at Homura's scrutinizing gray eyes before opening his mouth. His pink lips parted softly, but what came out was entirely unexpected.
"Devo aver colpito la testa più dura di quanto pensassi... O Hayato era in realtà proprio su UMA di... Perché c'è una versione maschile di quel medico femminile dalla MBI in piedi proprio di fronte a me…"
Homura blinked owlishly at him. The first words out of the stranger's mouth were not even in Japanese.
"I don't know what you said, but okay," replied Homura, saying the only thing that came to his bemused mind.
The man seemed to realize something after Homura said that, some of the haze fading from his gaze as if someone waved away the mist from in front of them. Something else seems to appear there, a bright spark of orange like firelight dancing off his irises. It is gone far too quick though for the silverette to be sure he really saw it.
"Ah sorry… ehhe.. I forgot I was in Japan..." the brunette trails off awkwardly, his hand not restrained by an IV rising to run nervously through his hair, "Anyway.. I am Sawada Tsunayoshi, and you are?"
"I am Homura, just Homura. It is a pleasure to meet you Tsunayoshi-san. I was there when you wrecked and came with you to make sure you were okay," Homura replied just as awkward, feeling a bit like a creep once his actions were put to words. But Tsunayoshi didn't look at him with any judgement or negativity. Instead his lip seemed to quirk up into a faint grin.
"Well it is good to meet you too Homura-san. You can just call me Tsuna, Tsunayoshi is a mouthful.. Though, thinking about it, it would probably be a bit more pleasant if we met outside of a hospital and I wasn't wearing a rather breezy gown..." the nervous lopsided grin was oddly endearing. Sadly it was ruined all too quickly when he shifted wrong and let out a rather unmanly yelp for his troubles.
"I would suggest you be a bit more careful. The doctor says you bruised your ribs in the accident," Homura suggested softly, only for Tsuna to snort darkly at his advice.
"Yeah not the first time I've bruised them," his tone was grim as he rubbed gently at his likely tender side. Yet, somehow he managed to look like a pouting child despite his supposed seriousness.
As awkward as the situation was Homura couldn't help but chuckle at that. Tsuna for his part, seemed to widen his golden brown eyes and resemble a kicked puppy even more.
"Mou, it's not very nice to laugh at people,"
"Having that kind of expression isn't helping you any," Homura shot back, finally wresting control of his laughter. He schooled his features into a completely serious expression, removing any trace of a smile.
Tsuna did the same.
Then, after a few minutes of awkward silence staring into each other's eyes…
The two both burst out into loud laughter.
"Ah-ha this is the most fun I've ever had waking up in a hospital," Tsuna confessed in between giggles, his face and the skin trailing down his chest taking on a red hue. Part of Homura wondered if it went down any further, but was quick to dismiss the thought. He was a guy. He was supposed to like girls, damn it. The whole reacting a male was really messing him up.
Tsuna seemed to catch his sudden discomfort and leaned forward to grab the hand Homura left resting on the sheets. At the brunette's touch, another thrill of electricity followed by a comforting heat ran up his arm. And, judging by the surprised expression on the brunette's face, he felt it too. It was all Homura could do not to tug his arm away in shock.
"What's wrong Homura?" Tsuna asked, seemingly deciding to ignore the immediate matter for a more trivial one. Something that was both endearing and annoying to Homura. That seemed to be the case for the entire situation.
Part of him felt like he could oh too easily let himself drown in the honey of Tsuna's eyes while another part was disgusted by himself. Disgusted that he let himself get so attracted to the point of reacting with another guy, even after he already showed signs of reacting to Minato. Why couldn't things be easy for once? Why couldn't he just get the female Ashikabi he wanted? Instead he was reacting to not one, but two males!
"Nothing. Well if you are all right, I have to head home. I have work in the morning. It was nice meeting you, Tsunayoshi," Homura steeled his voice, pulling away from the other man. He couldn't deal with this. This situation was overwhelming and all over the place. It was beyond him.
So he was going to do what he does best. He was going to avoid it like the plague and continue doing his job. Maybe if he put things off long enough they would go away, at least that's what he could bring himself to hope. Homura prayed with every part of his being that he could stay away from Tsuna and all would be right. That everything would go back to the way it was, before this guy quite literally fell right into his life.
But, as Homura shoved his way through the door, the words that followed him made him think that maybe just maybe, he wouldn't be able to stay away. Because, rather than get mad, than accuse Homura of being the coward he is, the brunette simply said one thing. One thing that had never been said to him so earnestly by anyone other than Miya.
"Alright then. Have a good night Homura. And thank you for making sure I was okay,"
.:HXH:.
A man dressed in a startling amount of white stood on top of Tokyo Tower, the wind messing with his hair and his mantel. In his hands, he fiddled with a phone, texting much like a teenage girl would her crush. But his typing spree ended when the door to his perch opened to admit a gray-haired doctor.
"Hello Takami. What brings you to my humble lair at this time of night?" he said breezily, his tone childish but holding a faint darker ring to it, something that spoke of untold genius and insanity. His eyes would likely be the same, two shrewd pools showing intelligence and an untold capacity to evil. But that was just an assumption, given their nature hidden behind highly reflective glasses.
"You asked me to come and give you the report on him to you in person," Takami, the woman, replied dryly, far too used to the man's antics. The white appearance of her knuckles as she clung to the clipboard for dear life was the only sign of her true discomfort.
"Oh yes. Well? Is it a success?"
"It appears so. The DNA implant was a success and it appears to be working. He already has attracted a sekirei..." Her words trailed off, eyebrows scrunched together as if unsure of the information she was reading. He seemed to notice it out of the corner of his eye.
"Good. It would have been a pain if he died. I have no doubt the Vongola could really mess up my plans if they were provoked properly. But there is more. Something else that seems to have puzzled you. What is it?"
"Nothing gets past you does it?" Takami sighed wearily, looking up at him from the edge of her clip board. For his part, the white man merely grin cheekily.
"Of course not. I am a genius after all. So spill, what has little Takami so worried?"
"The sekirei he attracted had already reacted to Minato. It might just be a fluke, since the reaction had yet to move toward the winging stage, or this boy may just be able to steal the attention of birds who aren't winged, whether or not they have already been claimed by another Ashikabi,"
The man whistled, impressed.
"I am glad I got to claim you Tsunayoshi Sawada. You will surely make this even more interesting. I can't wait to see who you wing, Sky-san,"
As the man walked back into the building, a new bounce in his step and a lively tune on his lips, Takami remained. Her gray eyes trailed over the sky-line, dotted with sparkling buildings. She knew that really soon the man, Minaka, would close the borders of Tokyo trapping all who remained in it until his games finally came to an end. Ashikabi and Sekirei alike would be trapped to fight to the death.
Her thoughts turned to the new one, an individual who was completely uninvolved until the moment he entered the city under Minaka. Whoever this Tsunayoshi was, however normal he was before, he gave up his normalcy the moment he stepped into Tokyo's borders.
No maybe that wasn't exactly right. If this man got Minaka's attention he couldn't have been completely normal. But whoever he was, whatever he could do, that didn't justify dragging him here.
Takami couldn't help the anger and disgust toward the man who was her boss and once her lover. What was once quirky charm and charisma had long lapsed into a full on God Complex borderlining insanity. Whoever he was when they were together was long gone, given into the joy of controlling lives. And now another innocent was pulled into his web of control.
She was just as guilty. She had been with him when he found the ship, had been by his side during the starts of these plans. She was too embroiled in the coming storm to step out of the way. But that was her lot in life. From the beginning she knew she would go down with the rest when the time came. It still wore on her though.
So with whatever shreds of faith she had left, she bowed her head and prayed. Prayed for the little birds, the innocents who would be lost in the coming weeks, and for the sky, may it receive all the souls without judgement.
Lastly she prayed for the soul, who even anxious radiate such warmth under her hands as she single handedly dealt out his fate to be involved in all of this.
"Whoever you are Tsunayoshi, I am deeply sorry for what I've helped bring you into,"
*I must have hit my head harder than I thought... Or Hayato was actually right about UMA's... Because there is a male version of that female doctor from the MBI standing right in front of me...
Translation Ah La Google Translate since I don't know anyone who speaks fluent Italian to translate the sentence for me.
||Author's Note||
Okay normally I don't update this frequently, but I was on a role tonight. As such you guys got three chapters for the price of one. This is the final real set up chapter. From here things will start going on. I am sorry for any awkwardness in this, I usually don't write this kind of thing so I am doing the best I can. I can't exactly tell you when I update again. I could do more chapters tomorrow or it could be a few weeks to a few days before chapter 4 comes out. I can tell you one thing though.
Reviews directly correlate with my energy. The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to push myself into trying to update more. So please let me know what you think and pass on any criticisms you have.
Also this likely won't be an insanely long story. I can't tell you how many chapters it will be, but it likely won't be a giant quantity.
On another note, if there are any other sekirei you really really want to have Tsuna have, let me know. As it is, I have only made plans for him to have Homura. But the trick is, you have to give me a reason why you want him to have this sekirie. You can't just tell me like "Uzume Cause Reasons". You have to give me a valid reason and if I like the reason and think it could fit into the story than I will be happy to oblige.
Anyway until next time.
~Aureux