In Their Story, There was a Girl
Chapter 20: To Heart
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Four tide up limbs, a mouth silenced by a mask, a vision blurred by water—Yotsuba was suffocating. She could hardly move with the electric tubes and plugs surrounding her. The only movement she could see was the bubbles traveling upwards in the water that contained her. The people outside glass wall—far or near, she could not tell—were blurred silhouettes, staring at her with cold eyes.
Why? Why? Yotsuba felt like crying with all the despair and pain in the atmosphere. The glass wall reflected her own image, and it was a nightmare in her eyes.
Suddenly, her reflection started to change gradually. She widened her eyes at the reflection of the man that stared back at her.
Mukuro…
The man smiled at her, so sadly. She frowned.
My little clover, why do you look at me like that? The reflection mouthed the words.
She'd wanted to shout to him. She'd wanted to run to him. But…
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Tick, tock, tick, tock. Yotsuba's body shot up from her bed. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Cold sweat ran down from her forehead to her chin. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The vivid dream she had still replaying in her head. Tick, tock, tick, tock. She jerked her head around furiously, finding everything in her room peacefully settling where they were. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Everything was quiet; except for the monotonous ticking of the clock that drove her crazy, like the silence in the water. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Even the cries from Kabi were blocked out from her ears.
Grabbing her hair with both hands, Yotsuba screamed at the top of her lungs.
Is that where you are, Mukuro? Is that what they've done to you?
Yotsuba panted, wanting to get out, but couldn't move her feet.
"Yotsuba-chan!!"
"Yotsuba-chan, are you all right??"
Two worried voices traveled to Yotsuba's ears from outside of her apartment, followed by a series of knocking. Snapping out of her trance, Yotsuba stood from her bed and stumbled toward the door. She opened the door and found two very worried faces staring at her.
"Kyoko-chan? Haru-chan?"
"Yotsuba-chan, what happened?" Kyoko asked with concern.
"We heard screaming!" Haru also said in addition.
Yotsuba's racing heart seemed to calm down after seeing the girls. Their innocent, sincere voices soothed the pain in her ears a while ago. "I'm fine. I just saw a cockroach, that's all."
The two girls looked at each other and at Yotsuba, and then they both started giggling.
"Yotsuba-chan, you really had us worried!"
"Yeah! Yotsuba-chan, you are so cute!"
Yotsuba smiled as she studied the girls' outfits. They were wearing extravagant kimonos. "What are you guys so dressed up for?"
"Yotsuba-chan, you don't know?" Kyoko said. "It's the New Years!"
Haru nodded in agreement. "And we're heading off to Tsuna-san's house soon. Do you want to come with us?"
"Ah, New Years!" Yotsuba said in realization. "I'd love to go with you guys, but I have to stay with the Disciplinary Committee instead. I heard that usually it's Kusakabe-san that accompanies Kyouya on New Years, so I volunteered to replace him so he could take a day off for once."
"Eh? That's so nice of you, Yotsuba-chan!" Kyoko smiled brightly.
Haru frowned. "Yotsuba-chan, why did you join the Disciplinary Committee? I barely get to see you now!"
Yotsuba was taken back a little, but smiled nonetheless. "I want to become stronger, so I can protect everyone, help everyone, and…"
Mukuro…
"Well, Yotsuba-chan should still wear a kimono, at least! You know, to enjoy the New Years spirit!" Haru said, calling back Yotsuba's attention.
"Kimono?" Yotsuba repeated. "I… I don't have one!"
"We figured that you don't have one since you lived in Italy most of your life, so we brought one along with us!" Kyoko said, eager to put the kimono on Yotsuba.
"Oh… oh, I…" Yotsuba was a little speechless. "It's… so nice of you two…"
The three girls entered Yotsuba's apartment with much excitement. At that moment Yotsuba was very thankful for Kyoko and Haru. The life back in Italy didn't allow her to be around girly things so much. And for once, she'd like to be an ordinary girl.
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In the early morning, the people whom Yotsuba had passed by on the street all turned their heads back to look at her a second time. She was put into a deep red colored kimono, with detailed linings and several neat accessories. The red color went really well with her black hair and black eyes. But the reason why people were staring at her wasn't because of her appearance, but because of her clumsy steps.
"Damn these Japanese slippers," Yotsuba muttered under her breath. Even her cheeks were turned into the same color as her kimono, as she felt the stares of the townspeople. With the speed of a turtle, Yotsuba finally arrived at the Hibari estate.
Yotsuba took in the sight in front of her in awe. She'd expected that Hibari's habitat would be something extravagant, but this mansion-like estate was totally out of her expectations. She felt a little embarrassed as she compared her own apartment to Hibari's home. But what really surprised Yotsuba were all the Disciplinary Committee members standing guard in front of the gate.
These people sure are loyal… Yotsuba thought. The stern-faced teens saw the arrival of Yotsuba, and let her in without a word.
Yotsuba was left to walk into the estate all by herself. Looking around at the huge place, she had already forgotten where she came in from and where she was supposed to go. Getting a bit jittery, Yotsuba rocked back and forth, until a familiar creature flew over and settled on her shoulder.
"Hibari! Hibari!" The little yellow bird chirped.
"Oh, Hibird!" Yotsuba gasped. "I'm so glad you're here! Can you take me to Kyouya?"
Hibird detached itself from Yotsuba's shoulder and flew a little to the left, waiting for Yotsuba to catch up. "Hibari! Here! Here!"
Forming a smile, Yotsuba followed the yellow bird. The two of them arrived in front of a paper door near very center of the estate. Getting nervous for no reason, Yotsuba bowed. "Kyouya."
With just one call, the paper door was slid open. Yotsuba was surprised to see Hibari out of his uniform. He looked a lot more mature in his robe, and a strange kind of beauty emitting from him. Hibari, too, stared at Yotsuba up and down, making the girl blush. Neither of them said anything for a while, and the only sound was the flapping of Hibird's wings.
"Hibari! Hibari! Yotsuba! Likes--…"
With a swift of a movement, Hibari stroke the poor little bird with his tonfa mercilessly. Yotsuba's eyes shot wide open at this sight. He…he just bit Hibird!!! She gawked at Hibari incredulously. The boy, however, turned away in an instant so that she couldn't see his face.
"Kyouya… I thought that you liked little animals…"
Hibari did not reply.
"I mean, Hibird seems to like you a lot!" Yotsuba added quickly to fill the awkward silence. "Because… because Kyouya is a gentle person."
"Gentle?" Hibari repeated, finally looking at Yotsuba.
"Well, little animals… I guess they can understand Kyouya's gentleness more than humans," Yotsuba said softly, losing her contemplation bit by bit.
After staring at Yotsuba for a while, Hibari said, "Then, you must be a little animal, aren't you?"
"Ha??" Yotsuba was suddenly speechless. She was not used to Hibari's strange comments that were getting quite frequent lately. But it seems like Hibari was in a mood good today, judging by his look at Yotsuba's reaction.
Trying to change the subject, Yotsuba quickly said, "Ah, I heard that there's a good place for tea around here! Let's get outside and not ruin the New Years atmosphere, yeah?"
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Even though the tea in her hands smelt great, and the desserts all tasted great, Yotsuba just couldn't fully enjoy them right now. She didn't know since when she'd started to lose her cool in front of Hibari Kyouya. Even though she knew that he was probably the strongest man around Tsuna right now, but she used to be a lot sharper in front of him. Her reactions now toward him are different now.
Recently, Hibari has been randomly saying things that Yotsuba doesn't particularly understand. His words, his tones, his gestures, and his expressions all made her a bit nervous and unable to respond. Yotsuba feels quite foreign to this new kind of self, but Hibari seems to enjoy it.
She couldn't understand why she was having these kinds of feelings. Facing Hibari's "playing around", she felt nervous and unfamiliar, but she doesn't hate it. She just couldn't understand.
After their little afternoon tea, Yotsuba and Hibari decided to take a walk in the park. In this cold season, the maple trees in the park have changed into bright red skins. With the crunching sounds of fallen maple leaves made by people's footsteps, the scene in front of them seemed even more poetic.
"Pretty…" Yotsuba commented to no one in particular.
The spirit in the park was very uplifting. Even the wind liked to join the afternoon strode with them. In an instant, maple leaves filled the air, and the air was colored into red.
"This is just like… a rain of blood…"
Watching the leaves fall down like the rain, Yotsuba said unconsciously as she raised her hand as if to catch something. Then she realized that another hand also reached up besides her, reaching up to an even higher place than hers. The long fingers locked a piece of maple leaf falling down.
It was Hibari's hand. After catching that leaf, he moved his hand softly in front of Yotsuba's face. Slowly lowering her arm, Yotsuba took the leaf from Hbari's grasp. She stared silently at the dried, red leaf on her palm. It was as if her palm was soaked with blood.
Rain of blood… Hibari pondered, then, are you drenched in blood right now?
The two of them walked along in the park like nothing had happened. However, there was a storm in Yotsuba's heart.
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Time passed by really quickly. After the walk in the park, the two of them also went around the city (it was almost like patrolling again), and visited the shrine. Fortunately for Yotsuba, it wasn't really crowded anywhere in Namimori today, so that Hibari didn't have much chance to bite people to death.
On the way back to the Hibari estate, the sky was already getting dark and it was about dinner time. As they neared the estate, they bumped into Tsuna, Gokudera, and Yamamoto, who were on their way home.
"Ah, Yotsuba-chan, are you…" Tsuna had wanted to greet Yotsuba, but upon seeing Hibari's scary face, Tsuna swallowed back his words.
"Yotsuba-chan, you're done? Must be tired!" Yamamoto said cheerfully, completely ignoring the darkened face that Hibari put on when he saw them.
"Hey, guys! Where are you all going?" Yotsuba asked, also not noticing Hibari's mood change.
"We're about to go to Tsuna's house to eat dinner. Wanna come?" Yamamoto replied. But when Yotsuba was going to answer, Hibari cut her off.
"Your job is not done."
"Eh?" Hearing Hibari's sudden words, Yotsuba was a little shocked.
"I said, your job is to accompany me the whole day, and the day is not over." Hibari said as if it was the most natural thing. "So then, let's go."
Grabbing Yotsuba, who hasn't the slightest clue what just happened, Hibari dragged her away from Tsuna and others. Tsuna and Yamamoto, who watched Yotsuba as she was dragged away, looked at each other with confused faces.
"Did Hibari-san just do that on purpose?"
"Who knows…?"
At last, they only started walking toward Tsuna's house again after scratching the back of their heads. But as they left, Gokudera looked back at the spot where Hibari and Yotsuba stood. For an instant, his expression became very complicated.
………just for an instant.
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TBC.
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A/N: All right, just 6 more fillers to go! Just to let you know, even though these chapters are fillers they have some significant parts to them also! There was something very important about Yotsuba's kimono in this chapter and their walk together, but I don't want to explain it here in case I ruin it. Oh, and FYI these fillers are totally out of chronological order, but please excuse that!
Another thing is that even though I think I'm going at this story with a good pace, I think I'm going to have a lot of trouble later on. Because even though I've planned everything for the Varia Arc, I haven't the slightest idea how to write the Future Arc so that everything will make sense… and the pace of the manga is not helping. Well, I'll just hope that by the time I get there, I'll get it together.
Okay, this A/N is getting too long. It wouldn't take long until the next update, so please review and stay tuned!