Color of Your Soul
Chapter 6: Gokudera's Melancholy
I need you, even though we fight all the time
Like you need me, I don't want to leave you
My last words
Are "I'm sorry I always get mad at you"
Cause I need you
Gokudera is a very loyal person that you can always count on… if you were Sawada Tsunayoshi. Ever since the second day that he'd met Tsuna, he's sworn to be by Tsuna's side until his own death. He has an extremely soft side when it comes to Tsuna or anything related to his beloved Juudaime. Truthfully, everyone does. But if anyone tried to show any kind of affection toward Tsuna, Gokudera will be pissed off. Yotsuba has established a theory that Gokudera really cared about everyone somewhere deep in his heart. Speaking of Yotsuba, if there was a person that Gokudera hated more than the baseball idiot, it would be Yotsuba.
That girl really thinks she's better than him. It's been a month now, and there is still no sign of her being any superior than him. Her test scores were horrible. Her fighting skills? She hasn't even combated for real even once! She can never protect Tsuna like he can. Maybe her pet yeti can do the job better than her. But still, he's the only one suited for the job.
It is not unnatural if Gokudera got mad first thing in the morning. There were many things that could tick him off easily. In today's case, it would be the alarm clock.
"Damned alarm clock!" Gokudera hissed as he threw the poor thing at the wall, "How dare you not wake me up? If I don't get to walk to school with Juudaime today, I'm going to break you apart!"
Huffing angrily toward the bathroom, Gokudera grabbed his uniform and slammed the bathroom door shut. In the shower Gokudera thought about how wonderful and admirable Tsuna is for tolerating idiotic people like baseball idiot, stupid cow, and that stupid girl with her brain not screwed on right. Really, if he were Tsuna, he'd have blown up that group of morons a thousand times already.
After looking into the mirror one last time, making sure that he looked presentable for Juudaime, Gokudera left the house quickly. On the way to Tsuna's house Gokudera glared at every living thing in sight. If anything were to harm Tsuna, he'd be there to protect Tsuna! When he finally arrived at Tsuna's home, it was Nana who answered the door instead of Tsuna. Learning that Tsuna had already left for school, Gokudera made a mental note to slaughter the alarm clock when school is over.
When Gokudera was about to continue on to school, Nana said warmly, "Thanks for always looking after Tsu-kun, Gokudera-kun! I'm really happy that Tsu-kun has a friend he can count on!"
Gokudera blushed. Nana's words were like chiming bells in his heart. Thinking that Tsuna's mother has approved of him as Tsuna's right hand man, Gokudera happily took off. He was just thinking about protecting his beloved Juudaime when Tsuna came running with bees following close behind. Poor Tsuna's face was swollen here and there with bee stings.
It was time to put Gokudera's pledge to test. All fired up inside, Gokudera lighted his bombs and attempted to blow away all of the bees. But…
"GAAAAHHHHHHH!" Tsuna's scream was heard all throughout Namimori. After all, bombs were about ten times the size of bees.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Gokudera repeated the bowing motion and his apologies over and over in besides the bed that Tsuna rested on.
Tsuna had bandages all over his body. Gokudera was ashamed of himself. Not only did he not save Juudaime, he hurt Juudaime even more! He felt even worse when Tsuna smiled at him and said that it wasn't his fault.
"Don't be so nice, Tsuna-kun! Of course it's his fault!" Yotsuba said casually, "Anyone in the world would know that bees are smaller than bombs!"
Her words were like salt on Gokudera's wounds. His head shot up toward Yotsuba and he sent his infamous glares. Yotsuba stared at him as if he wasn't emitting any murder intent. Tsuna looked at his two friends nervously; he didn't need anymore battle scars on his body!
"Gokudera, would you like to get stronger?" Reborn asked suddenly. Tsuna immediately got a bad feeling.
"Of course! I would do anything to get stronger!" Gokudera looked at Reborn hopefully.
"Then you'd probably be interested in attending my special Power-Up Training Session!" Reborn said, smirking, clearly up to something.
"Training under Reborn-san?" Gokudera didn't even need to consider. "I'll do it!"
"Good!" Reborn said, "And where do you think you're going, Yotsuba?"
Yotsuba twitched as she made a stop in front of the door. Putting on a sheepish smile as she turned around, she shrugged. "Um… I think I'll pass on the training session…"
"Baka!" Reborn said as he pointed a gun at Yotsuba's head, "The one who needs the most training here is you!"
Yotsuba gulped at the shiny gun and gave up on any further objections.
Being able to train under Reborn was a high honor for Gokudera, but having to train with baseball idiot and the dense girl was another story. He wanted to get stronger as fast as he could. Why did Reborn HAVE to start with baseball idiot? The fact that the baseball idiot was doing quite well aggravated him. Studying Tsuna's impressed expression, Gokudera wanted to get on with his training so that he could show Tsuna his strength.
Finally Reborn led them to an empty classroom for Gokudera's training. Tsuna was worried about what kind of weird training method Reborn is going to use on Gokudera; Gokudera was excited; Yotsuba was daydreaming; Kyoko was still interested and not very sure what was going on. Reborn started explaining the different ways of training, and Gokudera, of course, wanted to train every aspect simultaneously like what Yamamoto was doing. Reborn rejected and Gokudera was forced to train with a bowl of ramen and I-Pin.
At the smell of the ramen soup Yotsuba woke up. Tsuna explained to Yotsuba that Gokudera's task was to eat the ramen while I-Pin attacked him with her Gyoza Fist. Yotsuba watched Gokudera with interest. On his first try, Gokudera's arm twisted and the strands of noodle were thrown to his back. Upon seeing this, Yotsuba's right hand shot up to her mouth. She seemed to be pained by restraining her own laughter; whereas Tsuna and Kyoko worried about Gokudera. On his second try, Gokudera's head went straight into the ramen bowl, causing Yotsuba to burst out in laughter.
"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna cried concernedly, "Reborn, I think we should stop here!"
"No! No! Please continue!" Yotsuba managed to say in between laughter.
Gokudera glowered at Yotsuba, thinking that he'll have to kill her along with his alarm clock later, said to Reborn, "Reborn-san, please continue! I have to get stronger no matter what!"
"Of course!" Reborn smirked, signaling I-Pin to continue with the Gyoza Fist. Just as I-Pin was ready to make her move, Lambo jumped out of nowhere. Mistaking Lambo as a broccoli monster again, I-Pin released her Gyoza Fist a lot stronger than she needed.
This time, Gokudera burned Tsuna with the ramen soup. Kyoko gasped with concern. Yotsuba rolled on the floor laughing. Gokudera started to bow and apologize violently again, and Tsuna screamed from the pain.
The window slid open. Yamamoto and Dino looked in. "What's going on here? We heard some screaming."
"Yamamoto!" Tsuna exclaimed, "We're saved!"
Gokudera twitched. Yotsuba stopped laughing as she noticed. As Dino complimented on how good Yamamoto was, Gokudera walked out of the room quietly with a slumped back. Tsuna looked on to Gokudera's retrieving back confusedly, wanting to go after Gokudera but Reborn stopped him. Even Yamamoto was confused about Gokudera's strange exit. The room gained an awkward silence.
"Saa," Reborn broke the silence first, "It's time for your task, Yotsuba!"
"What?" Yotsuba jumped, "You weren't kidding when you said that?"
Reborn put on a dangerous face, "If I were kidding I wouldn't be pointing a gun at you, would I?"
Yotsuba didn't say anything, accepting her fate. No one could go against Reborn's evilness after all. Reborn smirked and ordered Leon to jump on Yotsuba's hands. Yotsuba stared at Leon curiously.
"Yotsuba, you're pretty weak overall, due to your natural illness. But what you need to train most on is your strength and stamina." Reborn explained patiently. "And do you know what the best training for those two aspects is?"
"Um…" Yotsuba thought for a while, deciding not to answer with "running" since Gokudera already got it wrong before, "The ramen-eating exercise?"
"No, stupid!" Reborn said as he kicked Yotsuba on the head, "Of course it's running!"
Yotsuba opened her mouth to retort, but decided not to for her own good. Tsuna seemed to think the same thing beside her.
"Now, all you have to do is carry Leon and run all the way to find Gokudera and bring him back!" Reborn said. "And if you stop running, Leon will report back to me!"
"Isn't that easy?" Yotsuba said. However, right when she finished saying that, Leon transformed into a gigantic, green rock with eyes. Yotsuba was immediately brought down by the weight, bending her knees and her arms stretched straight. "Damn you, Reborn!"
"Do you want Leon to be heavier?"
"No!" Yotsuba answered quickly, running off to find the silver-haired boy.
Gokudera sat alone on a swing in the park. His eyebrows were tied into so many knots it could be made into a maze. The fingers that grasped the chains on the swing were so tight that his knuckles turned white. He was mad at himself. It was obvious that Tsuna would rather have Yamamoto as his right-hand man. The way Tsuna's voice relaxed when Yamamoto appeared explains everything. He just couldn't understand why. He's tried so hard to protect Tsuna, but all he's ever done was making things worse.
"With you throwing your bombs around, I think Tsuna-kun would die first in your hands before any assassin can get the chance!"
Yotsuba's harsh words played back in his head. No matter how much he'd like to admit it, Yotsuba was right. He acted too fast with everything, not thinking of the result. And, in the end, hurting Juudaime instead of protecting him. Maybe Yamamoto IS a better right-hand man that he is. Maybe even Yotsuba. She's never hurt Tsuna before.
"There you are!"
Gokudera's head rose to the lucid voice of the female running toward him. All he saw first were very sloppy footsteps and a huge rock covering the first half of the girl's body. As she stopped in front of him, the huge rock decreased in size and turned back to Leon. Gokudera wasn't much surprised when he saw that the girl was Yotsuba. She was probably here to make fun of him, although he didn't know why she would bring Leon along.
Yotsuba was bent down and she was gasping for air. She was sweating like she's been to the desert. Yotsuba glared at Gokudera. "You… You bastard! Why… why… did you… have to come… all the… way… over here?"
Gokudera raised an eyebrow. He barely understood what she said. Yotsuba sighed exasperatedly and stumbled to the swing next to Gokudera. Finally sitting down, Yotsuba took a few deep breathes and continued to address Gokudera.
"Well, now that I've found you, it's time for us to go back to Tsuna-kun!"
Gokudera put on a surprised look. "Juudaime doesn't want me there, anyway. He has Yamamoto."
Yotsuba gawked at Gokudera incredulously. "I thought you wanted to be Tsuna's right-hand man!"
Gokudera remained silent, unwilling to say anymore. Yotsuba stared at him. Her expression was getting softer as she watched Gokudera quietly sulked by himself. There is no need to do that… when you are…
"I really wish that… I could by like you, Gokudera-kun." Yotsuba uttered quietly, earning a strange look from Gokudera. "I wish I was brave like you. And always there to protect Tsuna-kun. Unlike me, I always stood at the sideline, not doing anything to protect my treasures."
My daddy… my Nii-chan… I'm sorry. I couldn't protect either of you because I was too weak. I was too weak in my will. Daddy had to suffer. Nii-chan had to suffer. And now Nii-chan changed because I was useless. I guess I had it coming. And yet I've cowered again, trying to find a new sky under Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Tsuna-kun is really lucky to have all of you as friends!" Yotsuba said, gazing up at the red and orange sky. Gokudera stared at the bittersweet smile on Yotsuba's face and looked away. What a stupid woman.
"Che!" Gokudera made a short laugh through his nose, "Haven't you heard that if you want to cheer someone up, you've got to be cheerful yourself?"
"I don't think a person who'd just made a fool out of himself with ramen should be scolding me."
"Shu-shut up!"
"Yocchan!"
Yotsuba was just about to go home when Dino called after her. Yotsuba grumbled as she stopped her footsteps. She was ready to go home and crash, after all that running and Leon-carrying. It was probably the most energy-draining task she has ever done in the past. Most of the time when Yotsuba went on missions for Vongola, it was Kabi who did all the physical work. Yotsuba almost rolled her eyes as she watched Dino run up to her with his sheepish smile. Show off… I'd run right now if I could.
Dino pressed an icy-cool bottle of water onto Yotsuba's cheek, startling her. "Tired?"
Yotsuba glared at Dino for asking the question and snatched the bottle from his hand, placing it on her other cheek. "You really can't see it for yourself?"
Dino smiled warmly at the younger girl. "I'll give a ride home."
Yotsuba beamed at Dino in contrast of her previous attitude toward him. Dino laughed at Yotsuba's change in face expression as he motioned for Romario to get the car started.
"It surprised me when you brought Hurricane Bomb back today. I thought you guys would have an argument for sure!"
We did. Yotsuba thought. "There's nothing difficult about that. He's just a child."
"Says the most childish person I know!"
Yotsuba chose to ignore what Dino said and just drank her water. Dino laughed again and ruffled her hair. "Just kidding. Yocchan tried so hard today… I'm really proud of you! You looked really cool back there, coming back with Gokudera peacefully."
"Thanks, Dino." Yotsuba smiled. "Unlike you, I'm actually being productive!"
"Hey! I had to squeeze time out of all the important things I had to do so I could come here, you know?"
"Just to play in that baseball-shooting tank? I feel sorry for your Family, Dino!"
"Yocchan!" Dino whined.
Before Yotsuba could say anything her body gave out. Falling backwards as sleep took over her, Dino caught her before she made contact with the ground. Dino sighed at the troublesome girl, but he could not wipe off the smile from his face.
Sleep, Yocchan, because it's okay to be weak and cry sometimes.
TBC.
A/N: Man, this is such a short chapter! In case you haven't noticed, Yotsuba addresses people with their family names when she's serious… it's kind of like an unconscious act? Yeah, so it's not that I'm being inconsistent.
Please review, review, review! Because that's what keeps me going!