Windshear

Part 14/?

Authors: Kagaya Chou and The Dream Whisperer
Characters/Pairings: All the Vongola ring bearers, Reborn, Dino and co, Byakuran and co, Mukuro's Ken. Byakuran/Mukuro, eventual Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5521
Summary: The fight ends, and the cure...

As he slipped away from the battle arena, Yamamoto bit hard upon his lower lip and clenched his fists tight. Hibari will win, he told himself as he silently followed Mukuro down the hall. All the while, Mukuro had been by Byakuran's side, he thought, practically at that man's lap...

Who's side is he on?

When Mukuro started humming a cheerful little tune, looking for all intent and purpose like he was happy, Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, sharp as knives. Hibari's dying. He nearly hissed out a breath, but Byakuran's mocking words came back to him so clearly.

Fetch us the cure, won't you, Mukuro-kun?

Yamamoto saw red.

Striding forward in quick, harsh steps, he grabbed Mukuro by the collar, stopping the man in his tracks, and shoved him against the wall, abruptly cutting off the lullaby.

"Why?" he growled, agitated. "If you knew, why?"

Mukuro nearly bit down on his tongue when he was slammed against the wall. His hands came up immediately to wrap around Yamamoto's wrists, tugging those larger hands away so that he could breathe.

"Now, now, calm down, Takeshi-kun," he gritted out through his teeth. He took a quick breath as he continued, "I don't know where the cure is, but I'm trying to find out."

"You were humming," came the flat response. Yamamoto barely resisted tightening his chokehold; he just managed not to. "You were humming a lullaby."

If Byakuran told Mukuro to 'fetch' the cure, Yamamoto was all for it, honestly, but unless the Mist guardian could explain why he sounded so care-free about the whole thing - oh yes, come to think of it, Mukuro had laughed out loud too when Hibari first woke from coma - Yamamoto's self-restraint was on a countdown.

"It's a clue," Mukuro told him quietly, still calm because he had gone through - could recall - enough deaths not to be afraid of them anymore. They still hurt like hell, but keeping calm in the face of killing intent was a hard-earned and ingrained survival skill. Mukuro didn't struggle, and simply gave Yamamoto a characteristic smile. "It's not just a lullaby, Takeshi-kun."

He took another breath, "Now, would you mind letting me go so that I can tell you about it?"

The Rain guardian complied about a few seconds later, when the tempest of emotions in his eyes settled into anxiousness and confusion. "It's a clue," Yamamoto slowly repeated. He stepped back from Mukuro and seemed at a loss for where to place his hands, so they hung limply at his sides, fingers still half curled, not quite relaxed. "It's not just a lullaby..." What he wouldn't give to wrap his fingers around Byakuran's neck though.

Mukuro cleared his throat, rubbing his neck mock-casually. He fussed with his cuffs for a moment, watching Yamamoto out of the corner of his eyes. He wasn't going to let that boy do that again, he thought to himself. He'd simply been... distracted.

Sighing and sounding exasperated, Mukuro started to walk again. "It's a gamble... a game that Byakuran is playing with me." His smile was wide, but grim. "I know that the cure is in the Gesso base here, but..."

"But..." Yamamoto managed to fill in the blanks as he caught up with the other man, "you don't know where it is." That statement bore none of the accusation from at the start of their exchange, but he was nonetheless agitated. "And you have a clue..." He peered at Mukuro anxiously. "He gave you a clue - in the form of a lullaby?"

The idea of Byakuran serenading Mukuro came up surreal, and yet so very vivid.

Mukuro hooded his eyes, looking straight in front of him. He started singing under his breath, low and nearly inaudible.

"Hush-a-bye baby, on the treetop,

When you climb up, in its house you'll stop.

There is a power I seek and keep,

That'll quiet poor babies when they must weep.

"When baby's drowsing, cosy and fair,

Reach round its neck, it won't need for air..."

His eyes slid shut, and he shook his head, smiling a little secret smile to himself. "No, I don't know where the cure is yet, but I have an idea." He tilted his head back, looking up to Yamamoto, and his smile widened with the smallest hint of pride. "I've sent Ken."

Before Yamamoto had a chance to ask more about Mukuro's idea however, a gruff voice came from behind.

"Ruin a fucking nursery rhyme, why don't you?" As they turned around, Gokudera dropped out of stealth-mode and simply jogged over. "What are those horrible lyrics on about?"

"My, my, even Hayato-kun has decided to join us," Mukuro cocked his head to the side, all false curiosity and wide smiles. By all rights, he should have expected this - Rain and Storm tended to stick together - and he'd possessed their bodies before – Gokudera during his little jaunt at Kokuyo, and Yamamoto during one of their missions after he had been freed from the Vendicare. He would have sensed them coming if he hadn't been thinking so deeply about those morbid lyrics.

Mukuro tapped his hand against his thigh, faintly annoyed and just a little impatient; it was enough to have one tag-along for this, but two? Ah well, he would just have them do his dirty work, wouldn't he? He ducked his head, sliding his thumbs into the pockets of his pants as he started walking again.

"It's a clue, Hayato-kun. Straight from the horse's mouth."

"Che, should have known," Gokudera sneered. While he was more than a little rusty on the piano nowadays, what would that horse - flower know about good music? "So Byakuran's gambling Hibari's life on a song, you sent beast boy to look into it for you, and there's more to the thing, isn't there?"

At Mukuro's happy little nod and hum, Gokudera just sighed, and looked towards Yamamoto.

You snuck off, stupid. What were you thinking, walking away from Hibari like that, worrying me- worrying the Tenth like that? Could have said something- such an idiot. Don't do that again!

Yamamoto blinked at the silent glare. Gokudera sighed again. "I excused us from the Tenth. It's enough that everyone else is watching Hibari's fight, really. Now, are we going, or what?"

"Of course we are," Mukuro interjected smoothly. With a wide smile, he turned around with a theatrical sweep of his arms and said to them, "Now, follow me." Without waiting for a reply, he turned his back on them once more and strode off towards the front gates.

Gokudera rolled his eyes, but they soon fell in formation with the ease of familiarity.

***

They had to sneak into the Gesso's headquarters in Rome. Mukuro knew better than to suggest that he'd go in first, and then open the back door for them. Gokudera had never trusted him that much, especially since his acting with Byakuran was ever so convincing, and - with Hibari's life on the line - Yamamoto had proven that he wasn't going to be his easy-going, happy-go-lucky self.

But when Mukuro started running, they knew something was up. Yamamoto just caught him by the wrist before he disappeared around one of the corners of the many white, uniform-looking corridors.

"What's going on, Mukuro?"

The Mist guardian stopped in his tracks, turning his head to look at Yamamoto. His eyes were serious and narrowed, lips pursed and pale. He tugged his wrist out of Yamamoto's grip smoothly. "We have some trouble." Usually he would tease and withhold the information, but this simply isn't the time. "Hurry up."

They had no choice, really, except to follow Mukuro and hope for the best, but when they stepped out of the lift and onto the rooftop garden, they saw Joushima Ken and understood.

Beside a man-made river, the young man was hunched up against the trunk of a large tree, drenched with water and blood, and looking delirious. He cracked an eye open when he heard them run over.

"M... Mukuro... -san," Ken tried to grin, to laugh. "I... beat that bastard good..." He nodded off to the side.

...Where Gloxinia lay, face down in the river, uniform ripped to shreds. It didn't look like he was going to get up soon.

Mukuro strode over to Ken immediately, hands running up and down his body and checking his injuries. Pressing two fingers below Ken's chin, he tilted his head up and looked into his eyes. His lips thinned further at what he saw - in the absence of boxes, Gloxinia still had access to his beloved drugs, especially since the Gesso grew their own.

"Ken," Mukuro said, crisp and firm. "Look at me."

When Ken's eyes had focused a little more, Mukuro leapt into the other man's mind. There was little to no resistance. The information he needed was retrieved quickly, and he backed out into his own. He sighed - well, at least Ken had done what he was there for.

"Hayato-kun," when he spoke again, his tone was serious. But it still had the note of amused teasing in it, as if it was second nature for him to speak like this. "Take Ken back down to the car with Chikusa. Takeshi-kun and I will get the cure." A pause, and then he sighed, knowing that Gokudera would protest even before the other man spoke.

"Please."

"Wha-" Gokudera froze in mid-protest. He looked from Mukuro to Ken and Yamamoto before shutting his mouth and turning towards the Mist guardian once more, scowling. Plainly, the look in his eyes said that he did not want to leave, that it was a personal trial to place trust in Mukuro, and if you let anything like this happen to that baseball idiot, I'll...

Suddenly, Yamamoto was in front of him. "Here," he said, as he carefully transferred the blonde-haired man into Gokudera's arms. "We'll get the cure," Yamamoto promised with a nod and a tight smile.

Trust me.

Mukuro chuckled lightly at that. "What a touching display of the bonds of friendship," he commented idly, smiling as he leaned against the tree. "But unfortunately, we don't really have much time for that."

"Well, then get on with it," Gokudera shot back. He glowered at them both before sparing a quick glance at the man now bleeding in his arms. Ugh. He shoved the worry far from the forefront of his mind, and grit his teeth and started turning around. "Damnit, blondie, stay awake!"

Does it occur to anyone, Gokudera grumpily thought as he walked away, that I'm the shortest one here?

"Kufufufu," Mukuro laughed to himself as he watched Gokudera struggle with Ken into the lift, cursing and swearing under his breath all the way. It wasn't that he didn't think Yamamoto could do the job - they were both reliable - but Gokudera was difficult to work with... and more fun to annoy.

His eyes narrowed for a moment before his usual smile took over his face again. "Now, Takeshi-kun," Mukuro turned, "would you climb up this tree for me?"

"Huh?" Yamamoto blink at the strange statement. But rather than giving Mukuro a look of dumb, wide-eyed confusion, he tore his eyes from Gokudera's retreating form to look up at said tree, noting that... there was something... a tree house?

When you climb up, in its house you'll...

There was a soft whoosh as Yamamoto's feet kicked off the ground, and he flew upwards into the tree, a flash of blue flame at his heels.

Mukuro eyed the ground rather critically, noting the bloodstains and the scuffed grass. He turned his eyes towards the unconscious Gloxinia for a moment and smirked. He poked him with his trident. Hm... alive, but out cold. Mukuro sighed rather dramatically before plopping down to sit at a clean spot on the grass.

Tilting his head up, he leaned back on his hands. "What do you see up there, Takeshi-kun~?"

Yamamoto ducked between a few branches as he hovered around the wooden construct, mindful to keep the fire of his dying will under control. Something told him that it wouldn't do to accidentally burn the whole thing to the ground.

"I think I'm seeing that tree house you sang about," he replied. He broke off a thinner branch and waved it through the door-less entrance, sweeping the top, sides, and the floor for traps. He found none.

"Looks clean," he said, referring to the fact that the branch didn't set anything off. "I'm supposed to find something inside, right?"

Mukuro nodded, and then frowned to himself. Now, calling at each other like this was troublesome... His lips curved into an insincere smile before he called upwards, "Let me inside you, Takeshi-kun." It was not a request, merely a courtesy.

He found the thin thread that represented the possession contract between him and Yamamoto, and followed it, shifting slightly when he found himself in Yamamoto's mind, looking through his eyes. "Oh~? What do we have here?"

Yamamoto stumbled through the entrance as his world tilted and his vision went out of focus. When he could see again, he was greeted by the sight of... the Arcobaleno in their infant forms. Which was impossible; Tsuna had helped them break their curse some time back.

"Those... dolls... look really realistic," he noted, half-distracted by the odd feeling of another's presence inside of his head, and half-confused as to why he could still control his own body, as opposed to the last time Mukuro took possession of it.

Mukuro made a small humming sound inside Yamamoto's mind. "The Arcobalenos... it's been some time since I've seen them in this form." In his own physical form, Mukuro tapped his lip.

He started to sing the lullaby under his breath again, running through the words. He clicked his tongue lightly before speaking again.

"Shall we start off with the Sun?"

Yamamoto's eyes went to the doll with the yellow pacifier; Reborn. He reached round its neck and gasped at the feel of the silicone flesh.

"So, I 'pluck out the bullet' that's..." He trailed off, and hesitantly, slid his hands under the doll's armpits. The weight of it shocking him. Iteven felt like he was lifting a real infant,and he faintly recalled doing so, quite often, with Reborn.

Mukuro tsked quietly, shaking his head as the sensations travelled to him. Hissing a little at the feel, he said, "Don't be squeamish now, Takeshi-kun." There was a smile in his voice when he next spoke, a certain sort of dark humour.

"Take it apart."

Technically, Yamamoto knew what he had to do at that point: he was supposed to find some 'bullet' or whatever it was lodged in the baby doll's 'heart'. But he didn't really know what he was looking for, so using his ring or his sword was out of the question.

With a hollow laugh, he squeezed the doll experimentally, and thought that perhaps there was something like a rib cage inside. But that couldn't be right. He managed to convince himself that it was probably like a Mosca robot at best, only with a very convincingly human outer skin.

As he pulled the pacifier and the doll's garments out of the way, Yamamoto began to detach himself. Idly, he wondered what the doll was made off, and what Reborn would think of this as he dug his fingers into the bared torso with such force that it started to tear.

There was no blood. There were no muscles. Thankfully. But he stared at the thing in morbid dread when silicone slowly gave way to bone - Yamamoto gave a silent gasp- or rather, not bone, some sort of PVC skeleton that was stark white. There were shiny steel joints. If he applied enough pressure upon them, he imagined, they might-

C-C-CRACK.

Mukuro could easily feel Yamamoto's discomfort at the situation, but he didn't say a word about it. He had never been the comforting sort; it just bored him. But...

"Well, at least it doesn't look like Hibari."

He gave a fake cough before looking through the Rain Guardian's eyes again, scrutinizing the doll. Mentally humming quietly to himself, he said, "Try the legs."

Yamamoto swallowed thickly, his mental landscape a whirlwind of stray thoughts and emotions. He was glad that the doll did not resemble Hibari, resentful that it tainted some of his earliest, fond memories of Reborn, and Mukuro's words were meant to keep him on track, weren't they?

"Right." Odd that the word sounded so calm.

Methodically, he pried the doll apart, working from the gaping hole in its chest and ripping its skeleton out - section by section - wishing that it was just cotton stuffing, and yarn and if the stiffer form was really at all necessary, a cork centre inside... like there would be if he had opened up a baseball.

He took a deep breath, and started checking inside the PVC tubes as well, in case they weren't all hollow.

Meanwhile, Mukuro's frown deepened further; Yamamoto's search yielded no results. Reach round its neck, it won't need for air... yet Byakuran had also said the bullet lodged in its heart... There's obviously nothing in the chest of the doll - Yamamoto had dismantled it enough. Maybe in the doll with the purple pacifier?

This was wasting time.

"Takeshi-kun," Mukuro murmured quietly. "I don't think you're searching in the right place."

Reach round its neck... "The pacifier?" His eyes snapped open.

Yamamoto's eyes were on the pacifier when Mukuro spoke in his head. It took a moment for the meaning to sink in however, and then he reached out and snatched it off the floorboards, holding it up to the sunlight that peeked in through the thick canopy of leaves outside.

"There's something- There's something inside, Mukuro!"

And Mukuro had to laugh at the raw excitement in his voice. It wasn't the appropriate moment for laughter, but when had he ever cared about that anyway?

"Then what are you waiting for, Takeshi-kun? Bring it down here then."

Yamamoto stood up quickly, nearly banging his head against the low ceiling of the construct, but because he had been subconsciously keeping his eyes off of the floor as he backed out he managed to avoid the headache. The tiny yellow pacifier felt cool in his fist, and rattled a bit as he manoeuvred past branches and foliage, then lowered himself to the ground.

"Mukuro!" He knelt beside him. "Here!"

Taking the pacifier from his hand, Mukuro chuckled again to himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, slipping out of Yamamoto's mind to settle back in properly into his own body before tossing the pacifier in his hand.

Something was in there, definitely.

There was a thoughtful look in his face as he looked at it for another moment more. Then, he gripped it strongly and smashed the pacifier against the tree behind him.

Yamamoto's heart skipped a beat or two as the yellow shell of the pacifier cracked open like an egg, and a single silver bullet fell onto the grass.

***

That giant, unnatural ball of fire was no longer in the sky.

The ground was charred black in several spots. A little away from the arena, several walls of the main building had collapsed, burnt as well, parts of it threatening to cave into itself further. The smell of smoke and carbon was thick in the air, nearly enough to choke. A few pieces of ash and soot floated down, and landed on white hair.

Byakuran laid on his elbows, eyes squeezed shut and panting. His shoulder had been dislocated. His fingers were curled inwards, practically clawing at the ground while he couldn't seem to feel anything past his upper arm. And his clothes were charred too; burns, red and raw and angry, dressed him from head to toe.

At the back of his mind he swore he could almost hear his Mukuro-kun's laughter, dark and sweet like that time when Hibari had just woken up from his coma. Of course it was his imagination - a memory - because Mukuro never managed to form a psychic link with him, and he'd much rather think about that than focus solely on how much he was hurting.

As he tried to push himself off the ground, he found that he couldn't quite control his own muscles right. He was shaking.

Who would have thought that the dying will of the Vongola Cloud guardian could be so... so much?

Said Cloud Guardian was a distance away, fighting to keep his eyes open and fixed upon Byakuran. Hibari was on his knees, leaning his weight on one hand so as to not kiss the floor, the other hand clawing at his throat. His breaths came in sharp, harsh pants and desperate gasps as he tried to make his lungs work for him again. Byakuran was only a singular white-and-red spot in the distance, surrounded by black but Hibari refused to let his eyes close.

He refused to give in. Not to his own body, not when he had just won.

Trying to speak was a futile effort - he couldn't even think of the words to say, much less try to force his vocal chords to say them. He breathed out shakily, dropping down to an elbow. The roaring in his ears was starting to get louder and louder.

"Dino," Reborn's voice broke through the deathly silence that had befallen them all when both fighters fell from the sky. Seemingly out of the blue, he enunciated, "We need a derringer," and looked at Hibari once more. He noted clinically the blueness of those lips, the blood that speckled practically everything around him, and the heavy, desperate gasps. Closing his eyes, he snapped his cellphone shut and slipped it into his pocket, turning to the Cavalone don. "Soon."

Dino forcibly tore his gaze away from Hibari's figure. His hands twitched, legs unconsciously moving into position to run forward. He restrained himself - he knew that Hibari wouldn't want to be acknowledged to be weakened. Besides...

What would he be able to do anyway?

Lips pressed tight together, Dino gave a short nod to Reborn before turning to one of his men standing at the very edges of his vision. "Get one from the weapon store. Hurry." The black suited Mafioso turned and ran towards the mansion. Dino turned back to Reborn.

"They've got the cure?"

"Yes," Reborn looked away, back towards Byakuran, who barely managed to move from the spot where he had fallen. But it was a fact that he was still alive, though badly injured. Reborn didn't have to glance at Tsuna to guess what his silly student would do about that: offer the bastard medical attention, and make Byakuran admit defeat, so that the Gesso wouldn't try to start something here and now.

Tsuna's steps were slow and steady as he walked towards Byakuran. He spared a glance towards where Hibari was, but he clamped down tightly on the urge to run over to his Guardian - there was something more important he had to do, something greater he had to protect.

His famiglia.

Stopping right in front of Byakuran, he raised his gloved hands in front of him as a sign of peace to the Gesso members who had ran forward to their leader. He didn't kneel, merely tipping his head down so he could meet the Gesso leader's eyes.

"Byakuran-san," his voice was soft but firm. "You lost."

There was a long stretch of silence before Byakuran managed to lift his head slightly, and raise his eyes to the Vongola Tenth. "... Have I?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, "Ah..." He tried to laugh, but ended up wincing instead. "So I have," he sighed out softly, half in awe. He eyed his own guardians briefly, and then chuckled despite the pain. "Mukuro-kun isn't back yet..."

This man... has probably never lost before, Tsuna thought, a small, mirthless smile curving up his lips. Almost involuntarily, he glanced over to Hibari, who had managed to rise back up to his hands and knees. He tore his eyes away and refocused back on Byakuran, silent determination steeling his gaze. There was a moment when he gave Byakuran's guardians a look before he dropped down into a squat in from of their leader.

"Where is the cure, Byakuran-san?"

"Mukuro-kun..." Momentarily, Byakuran gasped and violet eyes went unfocused. He tried to flex his fingers and made a tiny mewl at the back of his throat when he discovered that he couldn't. Why couldn't he feel anything there, when the rest of his arm, and his body felt like he was still crashing through cement and on fire?

The cure was with Mukuro - that was what Tsuna could tell from those slurred words. He pressed his lips flat together when Byakuran's body suddenly went limp, eye - that briefly widened in confusion - sliding shut. Standing back up, he brushed his hands against his dress pants before turning back to Byakuran's people.

"He needs medical assistance. Will you let us provide it?"

It was Iris, who responded - cruel, terrible Iris, Tsuna recalled, with the Mare Cloud ring on her finger, and the Death Stalk unit at her back - another reality that they had not prevented.

"So the Vongola Tenth really is as merciful as they say," she murmured, crossing her hands beneath her ample bosom. "Go ahead then," she shrugged. "You're the boss here.

"It's' not as though he thought he'd need to bring his own doctors," she sniffed, and then turned her nose disdainfully. "I knew that Rokudo Mukuro was a bad influence."

"Is it such a bad thing?" Tsuna countered almost mildly, smiling at her. He nodded at those words, turning around to call to Dino. "Sorry, but I need to use your medical wing for a while." It was not a request; more of an order really, because this was an emergency and he had no time for unnecessary niceties.

In the mafia, even mercy had to be enacted through force.

"Please get us a stretcher," Dino's men were looking at each other, but Tsuna's clenched fists - still covered by his X-gloves - and Dino's own short nod convinced them. They brought the stretcher quickly, and Bruno came with them, running over to Dino.

The derringer flashed in the sunlight as Dino handed it over to Reborn.

***

Yamamoto paused in the shadow of the wrought iron archway, the bullet warm in his clenched fist.

"Come on, idiot." Gokudera shoved at him. "Let's get this over with." He didn't like the idea of what they needed to do in order to cure Hibari either, but letting him just die seemed to be the only other choice.

Reborn looked over to them as his hand closed over the derringer. He turned his eyes over the Hibari, who was now reduced to wheezing on the ground, saved from being sprawled on his stomach by a weakening elbow. Then, it shifted over Lambo, Ryohei and Chrome, who looked as if they wanted to run over to him right now and were barely restraining themselves.

"Yamamoto," he intoned, not taking his eyes away from those three. He tossed the derringer in the direction of the Rain Guardian.

"You know what to do."

The natural born hitman caught the gun easily, but it wasn't easy at all, what he had to do.

He took in a quick, short, shuttered breath and closed his eyes for a second from the derringer that felt so heavy in his hand.

"I know, kiddo."

Tsuna's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. Gokudera looked away in respectful silence. If the others still had any doubts or confusion in their minds, it was wiped clean as Yamamoto took one step and then another towards the Vongola Cloud guardian, loading the derringer as he did so.

Click.

Hibari looked up at the sound, cracking his eyes open just enough to see Yamamoto's silhouette standing over him. Sweat is making his hair stick onto his face, and a breeze makes his already erratic breathing shudder from the cold.

He was so exhausted.

But he managed to turn himself around enough to meet Yamamoto's gaze, his own dazed and unfocused. Hibari rasped out a breath, falling onto his back and coughing weakly. There's the smallest of smirks on his face.

Are you going to put me out, he wanted to ask, but he had no more air left in him.

"Reborn," Dino exclaimed, "What- what's is this?" Despite the fact that he actually knew by now, he couldn't help but feel like he had just handed them the weapon of Hibari's murder.

But Yamamoto wasn't listening anymore. He was looking at Hibari's tired, tortured face, thinking that it was wrong. It was Hibari Kyouya, the strongest man he ever met, lying on the ground - flat on his back!

"I have to shoot you..." He swallowed and tried to make his mouth work again. "I have to shoot the cure into you."

"The cure is a bullet," Reborn stated tonelessly, his eyes fixated on Yamamoto and Hibari, a distance away. "The final act of Byakuran's little tragedy." His hands twitched, itching to curl around a gun to shoot at the man who had caused all of this, and no doubt had more in store for them. It had seemed too simple - no, the fight wasn't simple, and the defeat was real, but this couldn't be the end of it, Reborn thought. He had watched Byakuran being taken away without a word, for Tsuna's sake... but what more could that man have planned?

Beside him, Tsuna brushed a hand against his shoulder. "I'm not going to let Byakuran-san die, Reborn," his voice was low but steady. "When we got back from that future, I swore to myself that I won't let anyone else die if I could help it." His gaze shifted to Yamamoto, whose arm was obviously shaking, hands clenched too tight around the tiny derringer.

"Hibari-san will live," and his words resounded throughout the arena, clear as a bell and a proclamation.

Hibari, for his part, listened to all of this only partially, the voices floating in and out of his consciousness. He looked up to Yamamoto, and the small smirk widen just so slightly. Shaking his head a little, he motioned for Yamamoto to just get a move on already.

But Yamamoto knelt down beside him instead, and slid a hand under Hibari's neck, lifting him off the ground partially and then adjusting his grip so that he had an arm supporting both Hibari's head and shoulders. A part of him thought that the ground must be hard, and too cold - or warm - or something for Hibari.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly against the shell of his ear.

Immediately, Hibari's hand reached up and clench around the front of Yamamoto's shirt. He pulled himself up slightly, until he wasn't entirely dependent on Yamamoto's arm around him to keep him off the floor. A breath out, an explosive exhale that could almost be taken to be a laugh.

"Do it," he mouthed, and closed his eyes.

Even if this wasn't the cure... he had nothing to lose.

Yamamoto drew a shuttered breath in through his teeth, and looked down at the small, single-shot derringer in his hand. It wasn't so bad, he tried to tell himself. The bullet wasn't as big as those dying will bullets that Reborn used to shoot Tsuna up with, and he'd once seen a bullet bounce off a tree because it'd been fired from too far away - and Reborn explained that it had very low ballistics. This bullet... It was... tiny.

How much of a cure could it hold?

What if Hibari died of blood loss before he could even be cured?

Yamamoto shook his head, and promised, "You'll live." No matter what. Yamamoto couldn't allow himself to say 'don't die' again, as if it would just draw Hibari closer to death.

"I haven't told you something...," his voice wavered and nearly broke as he paused to swallow, "you really need to hear." Please live so you can hear it.

Hibari, slumped against his chest and arm, could only smirk in response. He closed his eyes.

Of course.

After all, he wouldn't ever let himself die. Not like that. Not to something as trivial as a disease. Even if Yamamoto hadn't said anything, he would still live.

Slowly, his hand started to loosen around Yamamoto's front.

There was the touch of the barrel against his chest, point blank range, over his old wound. When Yamamoto lay him down again, Hibari's brow creased at an odd, soft sensation that ghosted over his forehead. He didn't have the energy to look, but he could feel Yamamoto moving back, drawing the derringer away.

Then, he heard the click of the safety catch. The shot rang out, and he jerked like a rag doll on impact.

TBC

Sorry for the late update! I've been really busy and forgetful recently, aaaah! I'm seriously very sorry about it.