In Their Story, There was a Girl
Chapter 26: Dream Reader
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Bang! A direct hit in the head. Bang! Another hit in the chest. Shots after shots, Yotsuba hasn't stopped shooting at the dummies that Iemitsu had prepared for her for hours. It's been like this for three days already. For a person like Yotsuba, to be able to concentrate for that long is quite amazing. But it might be because of the mood that she's in. Iemitsu had only taught her a few techniques in gun-handling, and already ran off somewhere, not even telling her where he went. Out of frustration, Yotsuba started taking it out on the dummies. Surprisingly, the black gun is very easy to use.
"Oh! I see that you're doing quite well!"
Yotsuba turned around to see Iemitsu standing there with his cheeky grin. She raised an eyebrow and huffed. "Yeah, I'm pretty good at learning by myself! Where were you this whole time?!"
Iemitsu scratched the back of his head. "I was checking up on all the other guardians!"
As Iemitsu walked toward the dummies, Yotsuba was fuming up again, but she kept quiet. Iemitsu picked up the dummies and examined them. His face expression was full of surprise.
"You shot the bull's eye with each shot!" Iemitsu complimented. "I knew you would do well with guns! You have great hand-eye coordination from all those years of Aikidou already!"
Yotsuba blushed a little bit from the compliments, feeling happier about the training.
"But you're shooting at all the wrong places."
"Huh?" Yotsuba blinked. "But… you said…"
"Yeah, bull's eye to kill the person!" Iemitsu said. "Yocchan, these guns are not for you to kill."
Yotsuba was more and more confused. "I… I don't understand…"
Iemitsu smiled. "You will understand soon enough. From now on, you're aiming to damage as least surface as possible."
Yotsuba raised her eyebrow. How was she going to defeat the Varia like that?
"You've never killed before, right?" Iemitsu said, "I don't think Tsuna would ever want any of you to kill."
With those words, Yotsuba suddenly understood. Shooting those dummies may be easy, but killing real people was something she has never done. It would break Tsuna-kun's heart if I did, wouldn't it? She thought. And she probably wouldn't be able to do it, since they were the enemy, after all.
Seeing that Yotsuba has understood, Iemitsu smiled. "Well, you just keep practicing! Rest a while when you need it. I'm going to go check on the others!"
"Wait!" Yotsuba tried to grab the tall man. "Don't just leave! At least teach me how to use this… this white gun! It doesn't even have bullets!"
But before she could reach him, Iemitsu was already gone. Sighing in frustration, Yotsuba decided to take a break. Who knew that Iemitsu could be such an irresponsible home tutor? Settling down next to a big tree, Yotsuba's eyelids became heavy. With the peaceful breeze and the sound of leaves swaying, she gradually entered into a deep slumber.
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It was a dimension colored in all black. All around her was burning fire. She was dreaming again, but she was confused. The atmosphere was filled with hatred, anger, and heavy murder intention. It couldn't have been Mukuro. She has never felt so much anger from Mukuro before. But if it weren't Mukuro, how could she be seeing this scenery in front of her?
Yotsuba squinted her eyes against the hot air and the brightness from the fire. Through the fire she could see a silhouette. She walked closer, and the fire seemed to part ways for her. The image that revealed in front of her eyes was nothing unfamiliar. A tall man stood there with a box in hand. His red eyes burned with wrath, and his face twisted.
"Fake…" The man spoke through gritted teeth. His anger was hinting to explode anytime. "Sawada Tsunayoshi… treasure the little time you get to live…"
Fire shot up in the dark sky. Yotsuba backed away. She has never felt so close to death before, and she ran as fast as she could.
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"Yocchan! Wake up!"
Yotsuba felt the rough skin of Iemitsu's big hand lightly slap her cheeks. Her eyes suddenly shot open, seeing a rather serious face. She panted and wiped off some of the sweat on her forehead and sat up. She was relieved that she was woken up, because that dream was becoming unbearable.
"Iemitsu-san!" Yotsuba said in a shaky voice. "I… I saw him! In my dream… I… he found out! He wants to kill Tsuna! He…"
"Calm down!" Iemitsu said as he grabbed onto the girl's shoulders. "You saw him in your dream?"
Yotsuba nodded furiously.
"Ah… is that so…?" Iemitsu said; his grasp on Yotsuba's shoulders loosened. Letting out a breath, he started to laugh lightheartedly. Yotsuba raised an eyebrow.
"Looks like what Shamal said about your disease were true…" Iemitsu muttered. "Yocchan, your sleeping problem is not just a disease. Something is awakening inside of you!"
Yotsuba stared at Iemitsu confusedly. "What do you mean?"
"We'll have to test it out very soon," Iemitsu said excitedly. "But first, you should come with me to a place!"
"What?" Yotsuba was getting more and more annoyed by the minute. Iemitsu… why can't he ever be clear about something?!
"It's time to put your training to use! And your friend needs our help!"
Yotsuba's attention was captured by the latter sentence. Without any more thoughts, she followed behind Iemitsu into the mountain.
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"Um… are we doing training here?" Yotsuba popped the question as the two of them moved deeper and deeper into the mountain.
"I told you, your friend needs our help!" Iemitsu said.
Yotsuba sighed. They've been walking in the mountain for so long that she'd forgotten what they came for. She wondered what could be wrong. Maybe it's one of Reborn's ridiculous trainings that Tsuna has to risk his life for again. As if on cue, an explosion was heard somewhere not far from where she and Iemitsu were standing.
"What?! What was that?!!" Yotsuba exclaimed.
"Let's go!" Iemitsu said, leading the girl to run toward the explosion.
Yotsuba almost couldn't believe what she was seeing in front of her. For all this time, she thought all of her friends were training hard with their home tutors. However, the boy in front of her, Gokudera, was all by himself and covered in injuries. It seems like he was trying to train himself, and he was too hard-headed and hurt himself.
"That idiot!" Yotsuba gasped.
From a few feet away, Gokudera slowly got up shakily. Even with all his wounds, he grabbed more bombs out of his jacket, seemingly wanting to continue. At such a close distance, Yotsuba could hear the struggles in his breathing.
"I'll do it… and find out what Shamal was able to see," Gokudera murmured. "Even if my body perishes…"
Yotsuba's heart wrenched upon hearing that. She watched as Gokudera barely stood up and lit his bombs. But without even making two steps, Gokudera's legs gave out. The lighted bombs fell from his grasp and he wasn't able to move another muscle.
"Gokudera-kun!!" Yotsuba exclaimed. Gokudera is going to die!!
"Go!" Iemitsu gave Yotsuba a push on the back, "show me what you could do with the Pistole Monocromatiche!!"
Out of instinct, Yotsuba raised the black gun in her hand. Her eyes opened wide and with four quick shots, the bombs were shot into pieces before they could explode.
"What…?" Gokudera muttered at the incredible scene in front of him.
"Gokudera-kun!" Yotsuba ran out from the woods into the clearing where Gokudera laid.
Iemitsu's mouth opened slightly. He was surprised that Yotsuba actually shot the bombs accurately. It was a dangerous bet, but he'd won. Iemitsu smiled. Reborn, you sure found some great Family members for Tsuna!
Yotsuba ran to Gokudera's side, who gaped at her incredulously. "You! What are you doing here?!"
Without saying anything first, Yotsuba swung her right fist into Gokudera's nose. Because the attack was too surprising and Gokudera was already lightheaded, the swing became a direct punch. Gokudera's hand shot up to his nose, and blood dripped down in between his fingers.
"Stupid woman! What the hell was that for?!"
"Oh, now it hurts?!" Yotsuba fumed. "If life is something that you can just brush off your shoulder, then I can kill you right now! Saying things like you're not afraid to die…… It's not funny!"
Gokudera was speechless toward Yotsuba's words. Her face was bright red along with her shrilly voice. The girl grabbed onto his collars and pulled him up, anger and sympathy sparkled in her eyes.
"You're always saying that you're going to protect Tsuna-kun," Yotsuba continued, "But how are you going to do it if your own head is blown off?! And to think that… Tsuna-kun… and all of others… are training so hard so none of us would get hurt…"
It was unbelievable; their faces were so close that Gokudera could see water threatening to leak out of her eyes. As if just noticing the moistness of her eyes, the girl blinked and turned her head quickly. Letting go of his collar, Yotsuba ran back into the woods. Leaving a "Stupid Octopus-head!" as she disappeared between the trees.
"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."
…………but you've protected me today…
"Haven't you heard that if you want to cheer someone up, you've got to be cheerful yourself?"
"If you're trying to scold me, you shouldn't be smiling, Hayato-kun!"
Gokudera held up his hand in front of his face. He studied the cuts and blood that covered his whole palm. And, using the back of his hand that's a little bit cleaner, he wiped his bloody nose.
"What I couldn't see was… my own life…" he muttered.
"Gokudera-kun!!" Tsuna's voice lit up the whole atmosphere.
"Ju…Juudaime!" Gokudera jumped up suddenly, red in the face. "You were watching the whole thing?! How embarrassing! You showed up at a pathetic moment!"
"Yeah, you really are pathetic and reckless," said Shamal, who appeared from the trees also.
Gokudera's eyebrows furrowed. "Shamal…"
"Heal your own wounds since I don't care for men," Shamal said, "Geez. Do you know how many girls I could've hit on in ten days instead?"
"Eh? Does that mean…"
"You will train me?" Gokudera asked.
"Next time you act recklessly like that," Shamal warned, "I'll take out the life you don't want!"
Gokudera looked to the side. "Hmph. Even if you don't, that stupid woman would do it herself!"
"Oh yeah, Yocchan was here!" Shamal swooned with hearts in his eyes. "If it weren't for you, I could've flirted with her!"
"Don't be disgusting, you ero-doctor!"
"Yotsuba-chan… I wonder who she's training with…" Tsuna said. "Although I have to admit, the way she punched Gokudera-kun seemed a bit like Hibari-san… I knew she was spending too much time with him."
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"Iemitsu-san… what kind of training is this?"
Yotsuba watched Iemitsu confusedly as he set up two sets of futon on the ground.
"We're going to test out your ability!" said Iemitsu.
"What ability?" Yotsuba raised an eyebrow. "I don't have any ability."
"Like I said, something is awakening inside of you, Yocchan!" Iemitsu said with a wide smile, and crawled into the futon himself. "Get in, Yocchan!"
Reluctantly, Yotsuba got into the other set of futon.
"Now, once you and I fall asleep, start thinking about me!" With that said, Iemitsu pulled the cover over his head and closed his eyes.
"Wait, what?!" Yotsuba exclaimed, trying to wake Iemitsu up. Unfortunately, the elder man has already fallen asleep and was snoring like a beast.
Sometimes I wonder if he has my disease, too… Yotsuba thought. Sighing in exasperation, she also lied on her back, pulling the cover over her chest. For a person like Yotsuba, she fell asleep whenever she wanted to. Before she gave into her slumber, she called Sawada Iemitsu over and over in her head.
And there it was—another dream. Except this time it wasn't the clover field or the dark space, it was a room colored in fluffy orange. And then something extraordinary happened. Faces popped out in the room. What's incredible was that all the faces were of the same person—Nana, Tsuna's mom! There were pictures of her laughing, smiling, cooking, sleeping, and everything else possible. Yotsuba gawked at the scene in front of her. She was getting overwhelmed by the smiling faces of Nana as Nana's sweet voice appeared in the background.
"Honey, it's dinner time~"
"I'm coming, Nana!"
Yotsuba looked over to Iemitsu's voice. He looked as if he was drunk and he was skipping all over the place. Cold sweat gathered at Yotsuba's forehead. Yotsuba didn't know that one could be so overwhelmed by sweetness and love and all the fluff that she was feeling in the moment.
"WHAT IS THIS?!" Yotsuba screamed as she woke up. She looked to the side where Iemitsu slept, with a trail of drool running down his chin.
"Nana…" he murmured in his sleep.
Out of frustration, she flipped the futon over so that Iemitsu rolled out of it, finally waking up.
"Oh, you're up already, Yocchan?" asked Iemitsu as he yawned. "So what did you see?"
"Nana-san…" Yotsuba replied. "There was nothing else but Nana-san!"
Iemitsu's eyes lit up. "So I was right about your sleeping problem! Yocchan, you're a dream reader!"
"A dream what?" Yotsuba repeated.
"You can read other people's dreams when you're asleep, Yocchan!" Iemitsu said as he patted Yotsuba's back. "Haven't you noticed that you're always able to sense strange things in your dreams?"
Suddenly, it clicked in Yotsuba's head. That's right, she's always been able connect with someone else's emotions in her dreams. All those times that she talked to Mukuro in her dream, and all those times that voices were heard during the Kokuyou Battle. Yotsuba's eyes widened at this realization.
"I just wanted to know why you showed me… that horrible place…"
"I didn't. You were the one that was searching, remember?"
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TBC.
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A/N: Ah, sorry for the late update! Please look in my profile to see a full-colored picture of Yotsuba that I've drawn! And lasty, please review!