Chapter 23
"Gokudera-kun, why? WHY!" Tsuna shouted out the only sentence inside his head at the time. Activating his sun ring, his made his sun attribute fire go out to the maximum. Holding Gokudera Hayato's body, his eyes were filled with desperation.
"Why did you get out of that mist world to help me? Why did you do that? Don't you know just getting out of that mist world will cost you a lot of energy? Don't you know that the arrow can cause you greater pain than it can cause me? Why did you do that!" Tsuna's emotions were shaking. He saw the mist world he created was broken. There was a small triangular hole on the side of that small world. Definitely created by Gokudera's Systemia CAI.
"I guess I just couldn't control myself." Gokudera said weakly. "Actually, all of us inside the mist world felt the same as me, I am just the person who stands out too much." Coughing out a little blood, he tried to straighten his body. "Ever since we saw that lonely look inside your eyes ever since we met at Namimori, ever since you left Vongola after bombing the main hall, and just that lonely look five minutes ago when you were talking about you discarding you innocence. Ow," He winced as Tsuna's hand clutched tighter on his shoulder. Thanks to the sun flame, his wounds were much better right now.
On the ground, Sasagawa climbed out of the mist world gazing at Tsuna's flame. "Shit to the extreme." He murmured slowly. "Doesn't he know that his life will be shortened a lot if he release his flames like that for just two more minutes, to the extreme?"
"Ow," Gokudera continued on. His eyes now looking at Tsuna's. "Well, don't discard the innocence, because it's that innocence that we want. And it will be that smile that we want to protect." Touching Tsuna's twisted eyebrows, Gokudera smiled weakly.
"Ah..." Tsuna said quietly as he put Gokudera beside Sasagawa and the guardians who all went outside the mist world right now. "Thank you, Gokudera-kun." He murmured beside Gokudera's ear. "And mina-san," Tsuna said before he went up into the air again. "Wish me luck."
"Cesare, I know you are there somewhere." Tsuna said slowly, lowering his head. He wasn't feeling too happy right now. Actually, he was feeling extremely angry. For the first time, he felt like killing somebody. His comrades was the only thing in the world that he would protect with his life. And of course, same as Hibari Kyouya, he hates the fact that others often sacrifice themselves to protect him. And the scene which happened two minutes earlier pissed Tsuna off to the extreme. "Stop freaking hiding. I wanna end this RIGHT NOW."
"Nah..." Small movements of air appeared in front of Tsuna. "I think you know right now that the flame you own is nothing compare to mine, right?"
"Yep, I know that." To everyone's surprise, Tsuna said without any hesitation. "But I have to defeat you right. As usual, I have no choice in front of me for me to choose which road to go."
"Then how are you going to defeat me?" Cesare said with great interest.
"Kill me now if you can." Tsuna didn't answer the question. Actually, he didn't have an answer: He really didn't know what to do. His mind was going through all the informations he knew about the Tornator, but non can really help him. At this time, Cesare attacked. A giant black fire ball was heading towards Tsuna. This time, Tsuna had the chance to duck.
But to everyone's surprise, Tsuna remained on the spot, he looked like he was trying to move, but he couldn't, just like Reborn before he was hit by Lambo's bozzoka and then sent to the future world. "Crap, I cannot move." Tsuna said, panicking a little.
"Well then, suffer the consequence!" Cesare shouted out aloud.
The fire ball consumed Tsuna's body quickly. After a loud bang, the black flames disappeared. Something dark with the shape of a human fell from the sky.
"Tsunayoshi-san?" Gokudera said slowly, standing up with the support of Sasagawa. "Tsunayoshi-san!" His eyes were filled with fear as he saw the burnt figure.
"Dead?" Cesare said as he checked the black thing, "That was not fun at all. I expected a great fight at least causing severe wounds to my body." Then his hand with the black flame still flaring on the Tornator went forward to get Tsuna's VG. The thing he wanted all along. His dream, also his revenge. But wan't that a little too simple? His movement froze for a second before he touched the Vongola Gear looking thing on the dark figure's hand. Killing him just like that? Only using 70% of my full power...Anyways. But eagerness for power finally beat his suspicion. After four years of shrinking inside that small family eager for revenge, Cesare finally got the chance to touch his goal!
But...
Only for a second.
As soon as Cesare's finger touched the surface of Tsuna's VG, a small lion came out of nowhere. It ran to Cesare at top speed and then slid the Tornator off his finger lightly. As soon as it did so, it ran to the corner of the room and disappeared. After the lion was five meters away from Cesare, the black burnt figure disappeared into the air: a top class mist illusion. That scene left everyone stunned. Of course, except Byakuran.
"Hey, Natsu~" Bykauran waved at the air where the small lion disappeared. "Can you drag Tsu-chan out off his small illusion world? I think if he stays there any longer, Cesare's brain's gonna explode."
"The Tornator!" Cesare murmured under his breathe, his whole mind frozen. "The Tornator!" His figure was getting less stable. It was on the edge of disappearing. "What happened! What in the world just happened! Where's the Tornator? Where is my Tornator?"
"Cool down, Cesare Rizzo." Byakuran said calmly. "From your actions, I guess you don't know that the Tornator holds all your power. It's like the box weapon. Well, shall I call you a box weapon then?" He said with a crooked smile. "The Tornator is the source of all your power, like the box weapon's final power depends on the amount of fire its owner put inside it. With out the ring fire, a box weapon can do nothing, same for you. Without the Tornator, you can disappear any second."
"What?" Cesare said in disbelief. "I didn't find that on the information sheet left by my ancestors!"
"Of course not." Byakuran retorted. "You think Vongola will leak that much information out? After all, Vongola is still the strongest family in the Italian Mafia after so many years. And also, since Vongola VI's mist guardian is kind of selfish, I bet he made the Tornator specially for himself. Only he himself can drag out the true power of the Tornator, like even if Tsu-chan can open all the box weapons, he can only drag out the true power of the sky attribute box weapon."
"So that was Tsunayoshi's box weapon?" Yamamoto muttered. "A small lion?"
"You got that right, Yamamoto Takashi." Byakuran said with a slight smile. "And now, Tsu-chan, are you planning to come out and end this dude's life or not?"
No reply at all from the corner where Natsu disappeared into.
"Great then~" Byakuran was still smiling. "So I will kill him for you then, Tsu-chan. You can rest for now." Before this sentence even ended, his body disappeared and reappeared beside the panicking Cesare. With one blow of his mini white dragon-白竜-he ended the life of a man who caused Sawada Tsunayoshi and his guardians so much trouble like snap.
"That was easy." Byakuran said as he clapped his hands. "Now can you come out of that mist world, Tsu-chan? I finished him off already."
Still no response. That was when Byakuran got a little suspicious. Looking around the training room, he saw the guardians of Nakamura Kai fidgeting, too. They were not only looking for Tsuna, but also the body of their Vongola Decimo.
The body of Nakamura Kai was still there on the ground before Cesare bombed Tsuna which then caused the appearance of Natsu. To everyone's surprise, the state of his body was great, like it was never hit by a X X Burner. But non of them dared to get near. There was two reason: one, there was still a fight going on; two, then couldn't face the body of somebody whom they treasured so much, whom they spent so many happy days with, whom they fought beside, and whom they spilled tears and blood for. Now with both the source of the answer Sawada Tsunayoshi (cough, in their opinion) and the body of their treasured boss disappeared, all of them were getting anxious, including Reborn.
Firing a shot into the ceiling, Reborn lowered his hat and said slowly. "Byakuran, where is dame-Kai's body and Tsunayoshi-san?"
"I don't know." To everyone's surprise, Byakuran didn't reply with the usual tricking tone, but a reply quite impatient: he was just as anxious as the guardians.
That was when Reborn's body suddenly froze. His eyebrows twisted a little, then a made a split second decision. Putting his two hands in front of his chest to cover his sun pacifier, he called out at Byakuran. "Byakuran, bomb the corner where that small lion disappeared into now. Right now."
"Huh?" Byakuran was quite surprised at the order. But looking at Reborn's serious eyes, he decided to not ask any questions. That turned out to be a wise choice. Because when he was preparing to use his white dragon again, Lambo asked Reborn about his decision and was sent into the air half a second later.
"Reborn-san?" Gokudera, who was now fully healed thanks to Sasagawa, asked slowly as Byakuran fired his fire. "Why?"
Reborn didn't answer. But his face was grim. Under his poker face, his heart is actually even messier than ropes twisted together. Because, just ten seconds earlier, his pacifier sent a message to him through the flame. A Sky Arcobaleno is near, and he is at the edge of death. That was the message.
At the same time, Byakuran was using his full power trying to break a whatever-shield-made-by-Tsu-chan. He already broke into the mist world create by Tsuna, but there was an translucent orange shield inside the mist world. To his surprise, Byakuran found the shield even stronger than the shield he, Tsuna and Uni created in the future, the stage for the sky. He realised that something was really wrong.
Reborn was getting extremely impatient. Without saying another word, he shined his pacifier onto the shield. To everyone's surprise, the shield broke as soon as one ray of the pacifier light touched it. As soon as the first crack appeared on the shield, Byakuran stopped attacking and ran towards the shield along with Reborn. The rest of the guardians followed behind them. They were all anxious to see what was going on.
"Tsu-chan!" Byakuran stopped on the spot as soon as he saw Tsuna. Then his whole body went numb as he saw Tsuna and Nakamura. Yes, I didn't type it wrong, it was Nakamura, not Nakamura's body. His gaze first landed on Nakamura who was lying on the ground. To everyone's surprise, his eyelids were fluttering a little, and his face wasn't so pale anymore. Obviously, life was shot inside his body.
"Jyuudaime! Yes!" Gokudera shouted as he saw the movements on Nakamura. "Yes! Jyuudaime's not dead!"
"Kai..." Yamamoto was really speechless.
"Boss..." Chrome's eyes were filled with tears. She experience two giant change of emotions today. The first happened when she heard that every trace of her boss was erased from earth. The second one is happening right now. She was on the edge of fainting.
"Kufufufufu, Vongola." Mukuro smiled a little, so did Hibari who was still standing quite far away from them. But all of their smile froze as they moved their gaze towards the person kneeling beside Nakamura. All of their face turned pale.
"Tsu-chan, you decided?" To everyone's surprise, Byakuran spoke first. His face was a little pale, but he was more calm then everyone present right now.
"..." Silence. Then a short answer, filled with what, sadness? "Yes."
"Ah." Byakuran sighed. "Ok then. Once you decided, nobody can change your mind. I know that from experience already Tsu-chan. But what do you want me to tell them?"
"Them?" The same voice.
"Yeah. Them. Your family." Byakuran said in a really low voice. "You know they will kill me if I tell them that you g...Nevermind."
"Ah. I thought about that long ago." The voice was filled with relief. "I knew this might be happening as soon as I saw the Tornator on the table of the office belong sot Underboss I inside the Vassallo family base. So yeah. I guess you can just erase their memories."
"What!" That was when Byakuran finally broke and lost his cool. "Why in the worl..."
"Byakuran Gesso." Tsuna finally raised his head. His eyes were filled with resolution. He knew something like this was going to happen, actually, as soon as he arrived in this world. The power of the Sky Arcobaleno: see into the future. Even with only half of the power, Tsuna could see his clear future with the help of Vongola's 'time'. But he didn't know he will be the one... After seeing the eyes of the guardians when they leaned the death of Nakamura, Tsuna's heart broke. Finally, he truly realised that their boss is Nakamura Kai. It was Nakamura Kai who brought them joy during the school years, it was Nakamura Kai who lead them through the hard times, and it was also Nakamura Kai whom they all loved. This was not his world. He, Sawada Tsunayoshi, was not Vongola Decimo, but just a normal citizen of Japan. Even so, when he saw the guardians being so sad, he heart ached like hell. He knew that for the guardians in the world, losing Nakamura Kai is like the guardians of his world seeing his dead body after a battle. That was when he finally decided.
"Byakuran Gesso." Tsuna said slowly, no, weakly now. "This is my final wish. As Vongola Decimo, the Sky Arcobaleno candidate, and your boss, I order you to accomplish what mission I just gave you. Please do it ASAP."
"Tsunayoshi-san?" Gokudera said slowly. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing really." Tsuna smiled happily. Well, happily in the guardians' perspective. "Just helping your boss going back to life." Then he eyed Byakuran who was trying to add something. "You will see him soon, maybe in one minute you can talk to him." Then the orange flame circle surrounding Tsuna grew larger. Reborn who was standing not far away from Tsuna raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew he was not going to like it.
"How about you, Tsunayoshi-san?" Gokudera added anxiously with a happy face. "Can you live with us? Would you like to join our family?"
"I am already in your family, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna said slowly. He sight was getting blurry now. Sorry, mina-san. I am doing something useless again. After all, I still couldn't discard that stupid innocence of mine. Sorry. Really Sorry. "But ごめん, I cannot live with you guys, I would have to go, I am sorry, I am in a hurry." He said sincerely.
"Tsunayoshi-san?" Gokudera said as he noticed Tsuna's voice getting lower and lower. "What's happening? Why is there an circle of sky attribute flame around you? Why are you sending them out uselessly? That will hurt you greatly! You know! Please stop!"
That was when Reborn became alerted. Orange flame circle? How familiar...wait, I know this! The Sky Arcobaleno sacrifice! "Tsunayoshi-san!" Reborn called out loudly. "Please stop! Right now!" He called out anxiously while Byakuran was shaking his head slowly.
"If Tsu-chan ever makes a decision, nobody can change it." He said sadly.
Taking one last look of the guardians, Tsuna smiled. They all look confused. It was rare to see all of them like that, especially Hibari. Tsuna grinned at Byakuran. Byakuran squeezed one ugly smile back. He couldn't just stand there and see his best friend die. But that was all he could do. Smiling the dazzling smile one last time, the flame finally consumed Tsuna.
"Tsunayoshi-san!" Reborn shouted out loudly. "Noo!"
The guardians were still confused. But when the flame disappeared, everything was clear.
There, beside the moving body of Nakamura Kai, was a pile of empty suite, the Sky Vongola Gears Version X, the Vongola Box, and the small box containing the Sky Arcobaleno Pacifier which Tsuna found mysteriously inside his suite last night.
*sigh* Byakuran turned his head away and looked outside the window.
The sky was exceptionally blue today.