Travel by Parallel
Sawada Tsunayoshi
DISCLAIMER: Still a diehard fan of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, not its owner!
Please review. I hope to improve my English and the story as well. :)
Sawada Tsunayoshi opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of his own bedroom. He blinked and then a smile formed on his face.
"It's just a dream!" he exclaimed, jumping out of his bed. And then he suddenly yelled, "HIEEE!"
He fell on his face. Gokudera Hayato lay on the floor and Tsuna did not notice him and tripped over the gray-haired boy's outstretched body.
"Oww, what the hell are you doing, bastard—ah, Jyuudaime!"
"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna exclaimed. "What are you doing here in my room?"
"Jyuudaime's room?" Gokudera looked around. "But I thought that I was by some snowy lakeside, and you were—" He stopped as he saw Tsuna's surprised reaction. "Is there something wrong, Tenth?"
"It's not a dream?" Tsuna asked, more to himself than to Gokudera.
"Oh, have you forgotten it, Tsunayoshi-kun?" came a new voice.
Gokudera pointed at the one who just spoke. "Byakuran!"
"Hello, Hayato-kun," Byakuran smiled, sitting cross-legged on Tsuna's chair. And then he addressed both Vongola, "What do you say about the parallel world you just visited?"
Tsuna did not reply, his face showing worry and shock. Gokudera was concerned with his boss' reaction but he was also bewildered by what Byakuran had said. "Parallel world?" the Tenth Vongola Storm Guardian asked.
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know about it, Gokudera-kun," Byakuran said. His eyes looked sharp as he continued, "Do you remember what happened yesterday?"
Gokudera thought about it. Yesterday was…
A pink and white ball rolled to Gokudera from the open bedroom door, which the teen looked with disgust.
"That stupid cow again…" he grumbled with a clenched fist, facing the door expectantly. Instead, a little girl with a braided black hair appeared.
"I-pin! What is it?" Tsuna asked kindly as the little girl entered the room.
"I-pin lonely," she replied as Tsuna gave her the ball. "Tsuna-san, have you seen Lambo?"
Tsuna seemed to be taken back by her question. He looked away, scratching his chin. "H-he must be around here somewhere in the house, playing hide-and-seek…"
I-pin frowned. "Lambo... I must find him!" She ran out of the room, bringing the ball with her. The three boys heard her calling for her playmate going fainter.
Byakuran was still smiling. "Tsunayoshi-kun, I just noticed. You don't know how to lie, do you?"
"Jyuudaime is lying, you say? How dare you accuse—!"
"No, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said, his voice hard with despair. "Byakuran is right. I was…lying to I-pin."
"Juudaime…?"
"You're not only lying to her, Tsunayoshi-kun," Byakuran observed. "You're also lying to yourself because a part of you cannot accept it."
"What the hell are you saying, Byakuran?" Gokudera asked angrily. He did not like the smile on the face of the white-haired teen.
Tsuna shook his head so hard that tears fell from his eyes. Finally, he said, "They're gone… Not only Lambo, but also Yamamoto, Oniisan, Chrome, Mukuro and even Hibari-san. They disappeared!"
Gokudera was shocked by his boss's news.
"They're scattered to different parallel worlds," Byakuran said. "And they will die unless Tsunayoshi-kun immediately finds them."
[Five hours ago]
Reborn closed his suitcase with a snap.
"I'm going back to Italy for a few days," he told Tsuna who was eating his breakfast.
"Really? So I'm free of you for these few days?" exclaimed the suddenly excited Tsuna. Reborn grabbed his arm and twisted it to an impossible angle. "Oww!"
"Don't go excited over my absence, Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn said. Actually, he didn't want to leave his student. He felt something was about to go wrong but he wasn't really sure.
"Just let me go! It hurts!" Tsuna yelled.
"Oh, Reborn-kun." Nana Sawada entered the kitchen as she wore her apron. "Are your things ready? You're not forgetting anything?"
"Everything's fine, Mama," Reborn replied, twisting Tsuna's arm further.
"Do you have your passport and ticket with you?" Nana asked in reminder.
"It's in my pocket, Mama." Reborn bent one of Tsuna's fingers.
"HIIEE!" Tsuna complained. "Stop Reborn from hurting me, Mom!"
"Oh Tsu-kun, he's just playing with you," Nana said. "I'm sure he's going to miss you on the days he's going to be away so he's trying to bond with you."
"No way is he going to miss me!" Tsuna exclaimed.
"Reborn! Are you running away?" Lambo ran into the kitchen. And then he tripped. "Gotta… stay… calm…"
"Take care, Reborn-san," I-pin and Fuuta said.
"I'll be going with you to Italy, Reborn," Bianchi said, picking her own luggage.
Reborn gave one last kick on Tsuna's cheek before jumping off the table. "Be good while I'm away."
Soon, he and Bianchi rode on the taxi and were off to the airport.
Tsuna noticed the time. "Oh, I'm going to be late for school. Ittekimasu!"
"Iterashai!"
...
...
...
"Jyuudaime!"
"Tsuna!"
Tsuna saw Gokudera and Yamamoto Takeshi outside the Sawada residence. They walked towards the school. But at the gate, they saw a crowd of students.
"Who's that guy…?" came a murmur.
"A Kokuyo student?"
"What's going on?" Tsuna asked. He, Gokudera and Yamamoto managed to squeeze themselves through the crowd. He first saw a girl in Kokuyo school uniform with a skull eyepatch over one eye, a worried look on her face. "Chrome! What are you doing here?"
"Boss, M-Mukuro-sama and the Cloud person are…" she managed to whisper, pointing.
"They're fighting to the EXTREME!" Sasagawa Ryohei yelled with his arms raised.
Tsuna looked at the center attraction.
"Hibari-san! Rokudo Mukuro!" Tsuna called, seeing two of his guardians fighting. They were exchanging blows at amazing speed that their arms were just blurs. But the moment they heard his voice, their heads turned towards him and each shot him a murderous look. "HIIEE!"
Hibari shifted his gaze at the group of students and raised his tonfas once more. "Who gave you the permission to crowd together? I'll bite you to death."
The students sensed Hibari's irritation and they immediately ran to their respective classrooms. Soon, only Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei and Chrome were left standing there. Tsuna's bag suddenly opened.
"Lambo-san is not feeling well… No sweets in here..."
"Lambo! What are you doing in my bag?" Tsuna asked as the boy in cow-print clothes popped his head out of the black school bag.
Gokudera grabbed the little boy's hair. "Stupid cow!"
"Let go of me, Aho-dera!"
"Stop, Gokudera-kun!"
"Come on, Gokudera," Yamamoto said. "You shouldn't treat kids like that."
"That's right to the EXTREME!"
Tsuna took flailing the Lambo from the fuming Gokudera and passed him to Chrome. "Can you take care of him for a while?"
The girl nodded.
"Kufufufu." Mukuro watched Tsuna. "My target seems so busy handling his chores."
"Mukuro, why are you here?" asked Tsuna in curious manner.
"To finish this business," he replied. Mukuro used his trident to block Hibari's tonfas. They were fighting again.
"HIIEEE! Please stop fighting, the two of you!"
Suddenly, the time seemed to stop.
Tsuna did not realize it immediately. One moment, he and his guardians were in their usual behaviors: Gokudera angry and scowling, Ryohei yelling "EXTREME!", Lambo eating lollipop he'd stashed in his head, Yamamoto in high spirits, Chrome silent, and Mukuro and Hibari fighting. What happened in the next moment threw Tsuna into so much surprise that his mind was not immediately able to catch up.
His guardians were frozen in ice not unlike the ones made by his Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised.
"Ciao, Vongola boss candidate!" A girl in pink-white-and-black Gothic Lolita clothes greeted Tsuna. Her face was hidden by a mask, cut short so that the lower part of her face can be seen evidently. She was beaming wickedly and she held up an umbrella even though the sun had barely risen.
"Who are you?" Tsuna asked. "What have you done to them?"
"People call me the 'Giver of Challenges'," the girl replied gleefully. "I'm very bored, so I will be playing with you. I heard rumors that you are a really interesting guy."
"What?"
"I'm giving you a challenge," the girl continued, bounding towards Tsuna. "You should do it or I'll get angry!"
"What if I don't do it?"
The girl made face. "That's no fun! I'll just kill you and your friends!"
"HIIEEE! No, please don't!"
"Then you'll do it?"
Tsuna nodded, much to the girl's happiness.
"I'll tell you of your challenge then!" the girl said, spinning her umbrella in excitement. "I'll be taking your Guardians to different parallel worlds and erase their memories of you. All you have to do is find them and make them remember who you are before they die!"
"HIIEEE! Die?"
"Yes, your Guardians are destined to die early in the parallel worlds I'm taking them to. Once they die in that parallel world, you cannot bring them back here and that's minus one friend to you. It's that simple. Do you understand?"
"But how I get to other parallel worlds?" asked Tsuna, his eyes wide with confusion and panic.
"Well, that's not my problem anymore," the girl said. "See you!"
She snapped her fingers. The girl, as well as Tsuna's Guardians, disappeared like they never once existed.
Tsuna dropped to his knees. "What am I going to do, Rebo—?"
Only then did Tsuna remember that the infant had gone to Italy with Bianchi.
A new voice piped up. "You seem to be having a problem, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Tsuna looked up. "Byakuran! What are you doing here?"
"I'm in vacation."
"Oh yeah! Byakuran, you must know how to travel through parallel worlds."
"Hmm, yes. Why?"
Tsuna tried to explain his situation even though he had barely the gist of it. Somehow, as he told his tale, his spirits lifted.
"Can you please help me?" Tsuna asked Byakuran.
...
...
...
"So that's how it happened," Gokudera said. "I remember until the point when Hibari and Mukuro are fighting. Damn it, who is that 'Giver of Challenges' woman?"
Tsuna seemed to rise from his misery with renewed strength. Determination was making his eyes come alive. There's still hope for his friends.
"We still have to find the others," he said. "Byakuran, can you please…?"
"Sure," came the reply. "Get ready for another journey in a parallel world!"
...
...
...
"Can you please help me?" Tsuna asked Byakuran.
"Travel to other parallel worlds? Hmm…" Byakuran thought for a while and then smiled as an idea formed in his head. "Alright, I will. But only in one condition."
"Condition? Okay, as long as I can do it." Tsuna was ready for anything just to save his beloved friends. Byakuran's smile widened as he whispered Tsuna his condition. Tsuna noticeably blushed.
"But I—" Tsuna stammered. "I don't know, Byakuran… I'm happy you feel that way, but I think I can't—"
Byakuran pouted. "Can't you do it?"
Tsuna hesitated and then seemed to hung his head in defeat. His face still crimson red, he replied, "Okay, I'll do it…"