Chapter 3 - The Paradox

Tsuna stepped heavily in the ladder as he went towards his room. The heavy, repetitive sound of his footsteps on the 16-step ladder somewhat made him quite unsure of himself. At many times, he he felt that there were always something that made him doubtful of everything, whether those things that he had were truly his or that those things were only hallucinations and daydreams brought about by drugs. Despite that uncertainty, he still managed to continue walking upstairs, reaching an end after the 16th step. He subtly smiled when he reached the second floor for he believed that he had accomplished something, unlike what's happening to himself, which is like falling in a downward spiral of possession to someone else.

Hayato was really pissed at Takeshi's sarcastic and mocking smile and decided to get the crap out of that man.

"Bullshit! You sick bastard, where are you bringing the Tenth?"

They just ignored him and continued walking, unmindful of what Hayato said. Takeshi, all of a sudden, learned the reason why the white-haired Italian became that furious. He just smirked and grabbed Tsuna closer to him with hand and held his shoulder tightly against him.

Hayato could not control his rage against Takeshi. In all of his life, there was never a time that he was annoyed like that by someone, let alone taking from him a person that was special for him. Controlling his rage no more, he yelled,

"Bastard! Why don't you fight me and let's see whether that monkey-face of yours would not kiss the soles of my shoes?"

The two seemed not to hear him and just going along the lane,

"Are you scared, Oriental cocksucker?"

Takeshi stopped in his tracks, pulling Tsuna that was supposedly waking straight.

"Why? Doesn't truth hurts?"

Takeshi's hand clenched tighter against Tsuna's shoulder and earned himself a yelp form the smaller man.

He said softly, "Sorry, but I think I couldn't keep my side of the agreement. You're free now, Tsuna, but please, can you hold my bamboo sword for a while?"

He removed his hand from Tsuna's shoulder turned around to face Hayato. Tsuna moved aside from him, with a gloomy expression in his face. He thought of putting himself between them again but he was now free and Takeshi would not care for him anymore since their agreement had expired. He could now fight the Japanese to save Hayato but he felt that it would be useless, and it would end up for the worse. Undecided, he just stepped back while rushing his mind to think of a solution.

"So, do you really think that you could beat me, mano-a-mano, chum?"

"You bastard!" and he charged at Takeshi for punch.

Takeshi effortlessly stopped the punch with his right hand and twisted it like a pretzel. The white-haired man shouted in pain. Then, Takeshi kicked him in the stomach that sent him to the crowd that was now watching them.

"Hayato Gokudera. I don't really expect that you are ridiculously weak! C'mon, show me what you got!" then, he just put his right hand towards his pocket and his left hand, taunting him to fight.

"How dare you treat me like a scum?" and a growl came from Hayato. "Embarrasing me in front of Tenth! You'll pay for this!" and then got a cigarette stick from his pocket and lighted it with his lighter. Then, he got some highly explosive dynamites hidden inside his clothes. The manager of the cafe was really pleading at them to stop up to the point that he hold Hayato's clothes to stop from him lighting the dynamite.

"Don't you know who I am, old shit! I am Hayato Gokudera from the La Curenza Famiglia! Fuck off my shirt or I'll blow your damn shop!" and he shoved the manager forcefully and the old man fell into the floor. He was looking at the Japanese with his hands clenching tightly against the dynamite and his teeth bit the cigarette filter so hard that it bend due to it.

"You fuck-head, you'll gonna die here! No one takes away the Ten... " and he felt a needle piercing through his flesh and within a moment, he fell unconscious on the floor. Takeshi was quite shocked how did that happen but when Hayato fell, he saw Tsuna holding Hayato's forearm with one arm and holding the syringe in Gokudera's flesh in the other.

Tsuna removed the needle containing heroin from Hayato's body. He neatly placed the cap back to the needle and returned it to his pocket.

"Don't worry, he's just sleeping. I only injected a little amount on him. Besides, he's better to be sleeping than to be dead, right?" and he placed Hsyato's arm safely on the floor.

"But you're already free..."

"I was just saving his life from death, that's all."

"Wait, this confuses me. You're free and you put him into sleep instead of me? Are you crazy or something?"

"Well, I might be but we both know that if if I did not do that, you might have killed him through that small revolver inside your pocket." Tsuna held Hayato's shoulder and pulled him inside the restaurant. He talked to the frightened manager and despite the latter's protests, he pitied Gokudera and placed him on one of the seats and let him sleep there.

"You're eyes are quite sharp, but I guess, I'll keep going. Bye." and he started walking away from the scene.

"Wait, your sword, my lord."

"I ended our agreement a while ago, right? Now, you have no reason of being my slave anymore."

"However, you still managed to control yourself a while ago. You have killed him if you really wanted to but you didn't. Because of that, I thank you and offer myself to you, my lord."

Takeshi get his bamboo sword from him. He was actually confused and had no idea of how did Tsuna arrive to that conclusion. However, he could not let this opportunity pass to know whether this man was the Tsuna he loved since he was a kid.

"Well, it seemed that you knew my intention all along, as expected of my slave." Again, he put his arm over Tsuna's shoulder with his left hand and they resumed walking.

"Tsuna, if that Hayato would attack again, what will you do?"

"I'll protect you, my lord."

"But if your master asked you to kill Hayato, would you do that for me?"

"Anything for my lord."

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"Yes, my lord."

"I thought you love him that much, up to the point of giving yourself to me."

"Yes, I do love him. But you, my lord, had spared his life twice and it was just worthy to give myself to you until you have no use for me. And if he would threaten you again, I would not hesitate to protect you, my lord, even if I need to kill him. However, I shall kill myself as well for I could not bear living in a world without him."

"But what if I would ask you live after killing him, Tsuna. Will you?"

"Then, I would live but I will never love anyone again. I'll just retain my body in this earth for your commands but my heart was already buried along with him, my lord."

Takeshi was kind of embarrassed for his question and a bit impressed of Tsuna's love to the white-haired Italian. But in a deeper sense, he knew that something was quite weird with Tsuna. He knew that Tsuna offered himself to him as an exchange for saving Hayato yet he was ready to kill him for his loyalty to him.

Changing the topic, he said, "You're sharp..." and took out a pistol from his pocket. "You know, I would really wanted to use this against Hayato and you in the restaurant earlier but..." and blowing it as if there is smoke.

"You were afraid to die, right? But don't worry, I'll do my best to protect you, my lord."

Takeshi couldn't believe what he heard. It was the same exact words that the brown-haired boy said to him as that boy saved him from that swordsman. He doesn't know what to do... whether to react in joy or whatever, to assure himself whether it is or is not his hallucination, he decided to ask the same question he asked his savior several years ago...

"Huh? What did you say? I wasn't afraid." he replied irritatedly, trying hard to imitate what his reaction was before.

Tsuna was quite surprised by this man's behavior, sometimes very serious, cold and manipulative but most of the time, cheerful and almost-idiotic. Sighing, he commented, "For sparing the life of Hayato earlier, I'll devote myself to my lord, Takeshi Yamamoto, because you are now important to me. And besides, protecting..."

"...those who are important to you is the best way to spend your life, am I right? Is that what you would want to say, Tsuna?" He laughed and patted Tsuna's head.

Tsuna, for the third time, was shocked by that man's unusual trait. The first one was the man's ability to read him like a book. Second, the fact he he knew his name. And third, the fact that the man knew what he was about to say was truly outstanding. Inside him, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling of familiarity, a feeling of solace amidst storms. His red flushed red and then stated,

"You know... I don't know how do you manage to know about that ... but that reminds me of the feeling I never felt with anyone before, even with my family and Hayato... familiarity... I felt I know you for a long time... just like my scar..."

He entered his room quietly, trying not to make any unnecessary noise. He removed his bathrobe and threw it to the bed, revealing his naked body. He opened the cabinet and get his boxers from one of the drawers. He wore it followed by his undershirt which fitted his body quite well. Soon after, he get a long-sleeved polo shirt and wore it along with a pair of black slacks. He reached for his belt and put it in his pants. Afterwards, he get his blazer uniform from the closet and wore it in his body.

He looked at his reflection in the full length mirror. He looked quite handsome.. in his mind. As he was checking himself, he remembered that he should always bring his weapons because any school day in the famous Academia Giotto, an academy that only mafia children were studying, was always at war and you needed to have weapons.

He removed his suit and put a vest loaded with 9 syringes with different colors... then, he put back his blazer. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he was smiling again, not noticing a little budge that the vest made. He got his bag that was placed in his study table, beside the wallet and the car keys beside it. He then went down the stairs quietly this time. He met his dad, who was now reading today's paper in the living room. Tsuna said,

"Bye, dad. I'll gonna use the car, okay? It's the first day of the semester."

Dino, quite surprised that his son would use the car, replied,

"Wow, what made you use the car? To impress some chicks... sure, just take care of it." and followed it by a laugh.

"Thanks, dad. Gotta go." he opened the door and outside their house, a red Ferrari was parked. He used the key to open the car and when he was in the driver's seat, he suddenly had the urge to start it up and rev up the engine, which he did. After a while, he was now driving towards school.

A/N

I hope you liked the chapter...

Sorry for being late...

Comments and criticisms are always welcome.