Episode 6: Abandoned in an Unknown World
"A phrasing that's a single tear, is harder than I ever feared, and you were left feeling so alone… Because these days aren't easy like they have been once before… These days aren't easy anymore…"
-"Why" by Secondhand Serenade

No way. There was no way they could do this to me. Why? Was I not strong enough to win, or something? Was it because I was blind? If it wasn't, then why did they all betray me like that? Even Gokudera was against me.

So there I was, on the streets, walking around Namimori aimlessly, kicking pebbles and empty soda cans. I'd run so far that I didn't know where I was anymore. I slid down onto a bench and sighed. I never expected any of them to say what they did…

"No way, Reborn! I don't want Najika-chan fighting in this war." Tsuna? What was he saying about me not fighting? "It's not right, and it's not what I want!"

He didn't want me fighting? I heard another voice add, "She's not up to the task. I mean, none of us were, but she's at a bigger disadvantage than the rest of us. She's blind, right?" Yamamoto, too? What were they all doing?

Another familiar voice chimed in, "Remember, Reborn, I was against this from the very beginning." Dino. He was saying that I shouldn't fight, too… "I've seen her improve, but she's still not going to be strong enough to beat whoever they send out."

"I don't think she should let her fight either." I gasped, feeling tears form in the corners of my eyes. Gokudera had banded against me, too? "She's going to die out there."

I… wasn't… that weak…

Reborn snapped, "Stop being overprotective. She'll be fine! Her tutor is a friend of mine, and she said that Najika is doing just fine while training. She's strong enough." Tsuna sputtered a response, but the baby interrupted him. "Dame-Tsuna, stop being stupid. I said you're going to need her, and you are."

Gokudera's loud protest rang through my ears. "But she's going to die! These guys are professional hitmen, Reborn! Najika-chan doesn't have a chance against them." I'd had enough of their doubts.

They all turned as I slowly pushed open the door, the wood creaking as it revealed my form. My eyes were trained on the floor as I spoke. "You really don't want me fighting in this battle, do you?" I ignored Tsuna's wild protests. "Why? Am I not good enough to be part of this or something? Is it because I'm blind?! Why?"

Tsuna cried, "You don't understand, Najika-chan!"

Venom seeped into my voice as I snapped, "I understand perfectly well. You don't want me to be a part of this. Fine. Here, take this stupid Ring! It's brought me nothing but trouble! Just leave me out of it!" I tossed the Ring on the ground and stalked off, ignoring the cries of my friends behind me.

I wasn't sure if they realized how badly their doubt hurt. But I'd promised to stay out of that fight if they didn't want me. And they didn't.

What were they trying to do? Protect me?

I'd show them that I didn't need their protection. Not one bit. I'd be stronger than they ever expected.

It'd been hours. I knew what I did was stupid and kind of bitchy, but I couldn't help but not want to go back. They really had doubted me. How could they? I'd done nothing but stand there with them from the start, and I was being told I couldn't fight? I'd worked too hard for too long to give up now.

"Why are you crying, Princess?" I knew that voice.

X Tsunayoshi Sawada X

She just left. Not even a goodbye left her mouth. She walked out of the house without the Wave Ring. She'd quit for good.

Everyone was solemn. They'd just wanted to protect her from getting hurt. They hadn't taken her feelings about the fight into account. She really wanted to fight. She probably thought that they didn't like her, or thought that she was useless towards them. When she wasn't. But they didn't want to see her hurt.

Tsuna sighed. "We should try to find her. She's out there somewhere, and we need a Wave Guardian… What if something happened to her?" He stood and ordered, "Yamamoto-kun, get Basil-kun. We've got to find her before the Varia do." Everyone nodded and ran off different directions.

The Vongola Tenth was about to run out the door when his tutor's voice hit him. "This is why I told you to be careful. Waves are sensitive to people, and when they're hurt, they lash out at anyone. I warned you about this. Now you're going to pay the price."

Tsuna clenched his fists and ran out the door, Reborn's words echoing in his head as he ran out the door. He wanted so badly to find Najika now. If something happened to her because of this… He couldn't bear to think of it.

Najika-chan… I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to doubt you… Come home, please?

X Hayato Gokudera X

Gokudera dashed east towards the park. The whole group had been searching for at least an hour and had all come up empty-handed. This was the only place that the group hadn't checked.

A head of long, wavy, brown hair caught his eye. She was sitting on a park bench, her legs tucked up against her chest. He was about to call out to the girl when he noticed blonde hair next to her.

Bel. Damn him.

Her head was on his shoulder and she was crying, her shoulders wracked with sobs. Did what they said make her cry? Gokudera suddenly felt something gnawing at his insides, much like a monster trying to claw its way out.

He felt what it was made of; guilt, anger, jealousy, and so many other negative emotions. Bel, the sadistic prince of the Varia, was flirting with Najika, comforting her over something he'd said. How could he not be angry?

Wait, a voice inside him said, you are the one who made her cry…

That wasn't me!

Gosh, you're stupid. What you said must've hurt her. I'm you, you idiot, and I've noticed the bags under her eyes. She hasn't been sleeping very well since this thing started.

She hasn't? She hasn't been training, has she?

Why are you asking me? I'm you; if you don't know, I don't know. All I did was notice the dark circles under her eyes. Clearly, I'm just more observant.

Harsh.

Thanks. Now, what are you going to do about it?

Gokudera had no answer for the voice inside his head. But, instead of going over to confront Bel like he was originally going to, he stayed back and listened. What he heard made his chest hurt even more.

Najika was sobbing. "I don't know what to do anymore, Bel-kun. They're my friends, and I don't want to hurt them. But… they hurt me a lot. I felt really useless, you know?" He looked at her through his long bangs as she laughed shakily. "Why am I telling you this? You're part of the Varia, you wouldn't understand. I should hate you."

Bel shrugged. "You're right, I don't, and you should." She moved her head to glare at him. "Hey, at least I'm honest. I may not understand feeling useless, but I do understand betrayal. Hell, I'm usually the one betraying. Besides, you need to talk."

She moved to get up, but Bel pulled her back onto his lap. "Bel, what are you doing? Let me up!" she cried, struggling against his grip. He whispered something in her ear that Gokudera couldn't hear, but that made her go limp, wide-eyed with shock, as Bel chuckled evilly.

The hell is that bastard saying to her?!

"I couldn't," she was saying. "That goes against everything I know…" Her voice was quiet, a mere whisper.

The Prince the Ripper shrugged again. "An eye for an eye."

"You're… that's horrible."

Bel merely chuckled. "Thanks, Princess," he nodded, nuzzling her neck. Gokudera's monster started to eat away at his insides when he saw how Najika didn't protest against Bel's tacky display of affection. "You know you'd make a good one."

She sighed. "I can't kill." He moved to say something to her again, but she interrupted him. "No, Bel-kun. I don't want to. I've seen what you do, and I don't want to be on the receiving end of that."

He laughed louder than usual and mockingly crooned, "You afraid, Princess?" To the Vongola Storm Guardian's shock, Najika nodded her head. "You are, huh? Well, there's really no need. Sure, we're a little," he paused, looking for a word, "rough, but you'd get along great with us."

Scoffing, the Wave Guardian replied, "Yeah, right."

"Your boyfriend broke his promise. I remember him promising that he'd never make you cry."

Both Najika and Gokudera froze. "He did, didn't he?" she asked softly, a breeze ruffling her hair. There was a moment of silence before she added, "He's not my boyfriend, you know." Gokudera glared at the ground. He really had fucked up this time. "I'm so stupid."

Bel's voice was uncharacteristically soft as he asked, "Do you love him? That other Storm Guardian?" The silver-haired bomber's head snapped up, but she either didn't answer or had moved her head to confirm or deny. "I thought so." He'd desperately wanted to know what she said.

Desperately? Why desperately? Maybe it was because… Gokudera wanted to know that Najika loved him?

Nah, that was stupid. All he needed was Juudaime's approval, and he'd be the happiest person around, right? … Right? Shit, who was he trying to fool? He wanted her to love him, he craved it, he needed it. … And he couldn't believe how corny those thoughts sounded.

Then he realized that he'd broken both of his promises. He completely forgot about his first one, and almost died, which made her cry. The sight of Najika's tears almost snapped Gokudera's heart in two, knowing that he'd caused them. That was when he promised that he'd never make her cry again. Because that worked out so well, right? Yeah, of course. He wasn't good with girls. He wasn't good with words. He was only good with bombs and fighting. Some talent for a future, huh? He felt so damn stupid and useless in helping her.

Why would she ever love him?

X Najika Kamiya X

I did love him. I had tried to convince myself that it was just puppy love, or… or Hero Syndrome! Yeah, that was it. He was always nice to me, so I convinced myself that I was in love with him! That had to be it.

Well, I'm stupid. Seriously though. If you'd only known this guy for a week and a half and he's probably one of the first guy you've ever talked to who didn't give you pity because of your… "disability," wouldn't you fall for him, too? Why couldn't I just fall in love with Yamamoto, or Hibari, or even Tsuna? Why'd it have to be Gokudera, of all people?

And Bel. How the hell did he know so fast? He knew before I even knew myself. That was creepy. Was he stalking me? He always seemed so different around me for some reason.

It was the only time we were alone, but he was like a completely different person. He wasn't mean or cruel or sadistic or even perverted. He just listened and understood.

Why couldn't he be like that all the time? Maybe then, I would've fallen for him. But then again, that probably wouldn't have been any easier. Falling for someone in the mafia must never end well.

I sighed and leaned against the bench. "Why did I have to fall for the one person that could never love someone like me?" I asked quietly, so quietly that I was pretty sure that not even Bel caught it.

But he did, and he replied, "It's just the way love works, I guess." I had to wonder if Bel understood love better than he cared to share. "I know that you're going to refuse again, but I have to ask you again; would you be willing to think about that proposal?"

Looking down, I pushed my head in my hands. "I… I don't know… If they don't want me to fight, then what use would I be to you?"

He shrugged and replied, "We need a Wave Guardian, you want to fight. We both win, you know?" I paused, thinking about it. For a psychotic Prince, Bel did make quite a bit of sense. "You are considering it!" he exclaimed gleefully.

After a good five minutes of thinking, I sighed. "Fine. I agree."

X Hayato Gokudera X

She agreed. She was done with the Guardians. Done with Juudaime, done with the baseball idiot, done with Basil…

Done with Gokudera.

She had chosen to leave them to fight without her. The brunette girl lifted her hand, and the Varia's Prince took it, holding it almost gently, as if he'd break her any minute if he was any rougher with her. He wasn't even being that rough.

Gokudera's fists shook. He wanted to call out, to tell her that they needed her, that he wanted her to come back. He couldn't even think of anything but having her back at his side. If she was done with them, she wouldn't have to make him pinky promise that he was going to stay alive.

Some part of the Japanese-Italian thought that she was overreacting. Another part thought that it was him that was just being plain stupid for letting her go. But the third part of him just didn't care if she fell of a cliff at this point. He wanted to strangle that part of himself, hell, he would get brainwashed if it meant he wouldn't think that way anymore.

Just because he wanted to yell to get her back, doesn't mean he could form words. Every time he tried to say something, he just couldn't. He couldn't find the right words to bring her back, the words he knew she'd want to hear.

There was lump in his throat as he watched her retreating figure.

His fists tightened seeing their two hands intertwined.

As the tears streamed like rivers, he saw his last chance.

His last chance was gone. He'd missed his chance to stop her. What had he been so afraid of? So what if she was still mad at him? So what if she slapped him or called him a jerk? So what? Just what did it matter?

It wasn't like he didn't already know that. It wasn't like he didn't accept that he was.

It wouldn't have bothered him if she said that.

What bothered him was how much his chest burned when she held hands with that little bastard. He thought that she hated him.

I guess that when you're broken, you turn to whoever you can.

Fuck off.

… Good luck getting her back.

Whatever.

He sighed and looked up. She was gone, with Belphegor.

Before he knew it, his fist was raised, and slammed against the brick wall of the alley next to him. He didn't even leave a dent in the stone. All he got was an injured hand, his knuckles bruised and bleeding from the impact. She would've freaked out if she saw that. Just that thought brought a small smile to his face. He knew exactly what she'd say.

"Gokudera-kun! What happened to you? Come on. Let's get that hand bandaged, and if it's broken, we'll go get a cast for it."

Maybe… maybe it was all a bad dream. A nightmare. Gokudera hadn't had one of those in years. Ever since he held a bomb, he hadn't been scared of anything, not even death. Now, he was scared of one thing. He was scared that he'd lost the only girl who didn't like him only for his looks, but for who he was. He was scared that he'd made her cry for the third time in a week.

He was just so utterly talented, wasn't he?

Note the sarcasm.

Glaring at the ground, Gokudera proceeded to sluggishly trudge back to Juudaime's home. He'd failed Juudaime, failed to get her back to them. Angrily kicking an empty soda can, he glared in the general direction of where the two left. He wouldn't ever let himself feel so empty and hateful ever again. He shouldn't be feeling that against her. Why did he let himself sink so low as to doubt her?

He almost dreaded going back to Juudaime's house. How would he tell everyone else what she'd done? It was all of their faults, but she was like the little sister. Even Dino would be torn by what she'd done.

What they'd said had driven her to betray them. She was fighting against them. Maybe they wouldn't have to win against her, but they'd only have to knock some sense into her. Not even.

Oh, God, what was wrong with him? He was worried about those damn Rings now? Well, if it wasn't for those Rings, maybe they'd all just be nice, normal friends. Normal… yeah, right. Of course they could be normal.

There it was. The Sawada home. He was about to twist open the doorknob when he hesitated. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to tell them what happened. He grimaced and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets. Behind him, the door flung open and the baseball idiot called, "Gokudera! What happened? Did you find Najika-chan?"

At her name, the silver-haired bomber visibly winced. "Yeah," he replied quietly. "But she's not going to be coming back." The baseball idiot turned serious at his fellow Guardian's reply, and he practically dragged Gokudera back inside, where the rest of the Guardians, Dino, and Reborn were sitting, all of them solemn.

It took a little while for him to explain what he'd seen and what she had done. "And I guess… I guess that it just pushed her to the edge. She'd been working hard, and she hasn't been sleeping. Us doubting her must've pushed her over," he finished, looking down at his hands.

A long, serious pause loomed over the group. "Gokudera-kun." The Storm Guardian raised his head. "It's not your fault," Juudaime stated firmly, the look in his eyes hardening. "We were all at fault."

Another knock on the door interrupted them. Juudaime stood up, albeit shakily, and answered the door. A tiny figure stormed in, sending chilling glares at all of the people in the room. "What the hell did you say to her?" the Arcobaleno demanded, putting her small hands on her hips. "She packed up a bag of clothes and the whole box of medication that she was supposed to take, and then she left. She didn't even say anything of why she was leaving!"

Reborn jumped down from his place on the table. "Lal. She betrayed the Vongola and is now siding with the Varia." Lal's glare was so fierce that even Gokudera figured not to cross her.

"Hmph. You retarded little shits deserved that much for hurting her," she snapped, shooting one last glare around the room. "By the way, now you're going to lose for sure. You're down, two to three. The kid's tougher than any of you think."

They didn't even have a Wave, and Mist and Cloud were still no-shows.

Yep, they were screwed.

CHAPTER EDITED AS OF 6/15/13

Atogaki-

Next up, is the Mist Battle, because I was way too lazy to write the Wave Battle first, and plus, the characters introduced in the next chapter have rather important relationships to the battle with Najika. Also, I've recently gotten into several series, and I'm pretty much done with this story, I'm thinking of putting a poll up on my profile again, only this time, you would vote for the Fandom rather than the Story itself. Anyways, I'm also going to be recommending new series and stuff now, because KHR is over and done with, and I've been hooked on several of these.

-Ao no Exorcist
-Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteru
-Wolf's Rain
-Hakuouki
-07-Ghost
-Durarara!

All of them are distinctly different from KHR, but they have their similarities and charms. Those are also a few of the choices of my next story.

Oh, by the way, guess who the Wave Guardian is if you want; I highly doubt anyone is expecting who it really is. I tried to be original with it, so please don't say that I made it too obvious, 'cause I purposely made her build up good and bad relationships so you'll have to guess who the new Wave Guardian is.

I think I forgot to add this:

-dono - Only Basil uses this. It's an old Japanese suffix