I loved reading all the comments, thank you.
I've read a few Reborn stories with the same theme as my story, but I hope to make mine as unique as possible and have a fitting ending. I don't want it to land in a one year break or something like some stories do. I can't make promises of course, but I'll definitely try to keep updating on a regular pace.
Chapter 8 – The Loyal Snake and the Broken Rain
The old man with the birds called 'Birds' was holding Kyoko, Hana and Haru hostage. The big monitor behind Birds showed Kyoko and Hana sitting in a park bench. Haru was listening to music with earphones on while she walked through Namimori shopping district. Behind each of them a zombie like creature eyed them creepily. Both monsters looked like each other and had long sharp nails.
"Let them go you bastard," Tezuka yelled as he made a fist.
"Real men don't kidnap girls," Bianchi added as she looked angry. Her eyes were hidden by an eye mask with orange glasses in them.
Reborn was happy that he didn't need to worry. Shamal had everything under control.
"Coward," Gokudera said as he kicked the old man straight in the face after Shamal, I-pin and Adult Lambo saved the girls.
Reborn turned his head to the thick forest behind him. He felt something, someone running past.
"What's wrong Reborn-sensei?" Tezuka asked.
"Nothing, let's move on."
{The Loyal Snake and the Broken Rain}
"Do you think they noticed us senpai?" Fran asked as both of them ran through the forest near Kokuyo Middle School.
"Only Reborn."
"Shouldn't we be worried then?"
"No, he doesn't know it's us," even if Reborn sensed someone running past, he couldn't possibly know it was Tsuna and Fran. Tsuna was fairly sure that Reborn could sense Dying Will Flames, so both he and Fran lowered theirs to unnoticeable proportions.
"Someone's up ahead senpai," Fran said, his expression was serious.
Fran was right. They entered a clearing with a stone floor and table where a man stood. He wore dark pants and a green long sleeve shirt that looked like one prisoners wore. This particular shirt looked like one from the Vindice Prison. He had a steel chain in his hand that led to a gigantic steel ball. The object had snake symbols engraved around it.
"Good afternoon Snake-chan, you seem angry," Fran said as he waved to the man. The man seemed unfazed.
"You're heading the wrong way, turn around, or else," the big man said.
Fran looked at Tsuna, "what should we do senpai?"
"I'll fight him," Tsuna said with such conviction that Fran nodded before stepping aside.
"You're pretty brave for thinking that you can fight me kid," the big man said. Tsuna noticed that there was something off, something that didn't fit the image that the man was showing. The man looked like he wanted Tsuna to admit defeat and just leave. His eyes screamed for Tsuna to leave.
"I don't like to fight," Tsuna said after noticing the man's pained expression, " you don't suppose there is a way that we can talk this out?" Tsuna asked hopefully.
Though he could clearly see through the man's façade, Tsuna realized the man would not budge, so he put on his brass knuckles.
"You should be worried Snake-chan, senpai is in a hurry," Fran added as he sat on the ground. He produced a bento box out of nowhere where he ate sweets from. Fran usually did that when he wanted time to fly by, or calm his nerves. Fran couldn't help but want to step in and protect his senpai.
A feeling in the back of his head told Tsuna to ask the question that he really needed and answer to, "who are you?"
"My name?" The big man seemed confused. Then he looked into Tsuna's nut-brown eyes, "my name is Rokudo Mukuro," and then Tsuna knew where the feeling came from.
The man was lying. Fran realized it too, but that wasn't surprising because Fran had a particular type of Dying Will Flame.
"I see," Tsuna said sharply as he stepped forward.
The man's eyes spoke "please step back, I don't want to hurt you," but instead the man said, "you need to learn how to listen to your elders," Rokudo Mukuro said as he twirled his metal ball around until it shook above his head. Mukuro then threw the ball in a straight line towards Tsuna. "Dying so young, how sad," Mukuro whispered when the ball smashed into Tsuna.
Mukuro's eyes widened in shock a moment later, "impossible."
Tsuna grunted as he held both hands out. He used his flames to slowly stop the metal ball in its trajectory. Smoke went into the air from Tsuna's brass knuckles. Tsuna let the ball drop down on the ground and looked at the shocked Mukuro.
"I know who you really are," Tsuna said suddenly, "and you're not Rokudo Mukuro."
Fran chose to stand and walk to Tsuna, "your name is Lancia, from the Serenita Famiglia in Northern Italy," Fran said with narrowed eyes. The Serenita Famiglia was an allied Famiglia to Tsuna and Fran's Famiglia. They were wiped out years ago.
"How did you know?" Lancia asked shocked.
"You are known to as The Strongest Man in Northern Italy, I wouldn't forget such a name," Tsuna paused, "and not to mention look your name up." Lancia seemed to understand how Tsuna and Fran knew him. Lancia realized that Tsuna and Fran must be from a Famiglia back in Italy, he just didn't know which one. By the looks of the brunette, he probably wouldn't answer either.
Tsuna frowned when the man fidgeted around like he was possessed. Lancia then began to laugh, "you think I'll spare you because you know me?" Lancia reeled back his weapon.
"I thought the Serenita Famiglia was a fair Mafia Famiglia, maybe I was wrong," when Tsuna said that, Lancia's angry face fell.
"He killed them all," it was so low that Tsuna needed to listen very carefully. The voice sounded broken, almost as broken as Tsuna felt when he died all those years ago, almost as broken as Tsuna felt when his father spoke about him on that rainy day when they had buried Tsuna into the ground.
"Who killed your Famiglia?" Tsuna asked, but he already knew the answer.
"Rokudo Mukuro."
Tsuna had heard about what happened to the Serenita Famiglia, but he didn't know that it was Rokudo Mukuro who had done it.
"Lancia-chan, let us pass and we'll deal with Mukuro," Fran said, "we won't kill him, but we'll let you go, I know that Mukuro has a spell bound on you."
"No, never!" And suddenly all the rage came back to Lancia.
Fran wanted to take action, but a gust of wind to his left stopped him. Tsuna appeared behind Lancia, "sorry for this," and with a single chop aimed towards the back of Lancia's head, Tsuna made the large man fall to the ground. His eyes were about to close, but Tsuna said, "anger is a darkness that haunts us all Lancia-san, don't let the image of your precious Famiglia be tarnished because of someone like Rokudo Mukuro," recognition filled Lancia's eyes before he became unconscious.
Tsuna looked at Fran who looked back with puppy eyes, "you know I could have stopped him," Fran sighed as he stretched his arm that was ready to strike Lancia.
Tsuna eyed Fran, "even among Mafia there should be honor. He was my opponent, not yours."
Fran puffed and looked hurt.
Tsuna ignored him and went to drag Lancia to a nearby wooden bench before putting him gently on it.
"Let's go," Tsuna said as he started running on the stony path that led to Kokuyo Middle School.
Fran couldn't help but remember Baron's words as he ran next to Tsuna, "Fran, you need to look after you senpai very carefully, he has a gentle heart that doesn't belong in the Mafia World." Baron was right.
But if anyone hurt his senpai, Fran would make them pay dearly.
{The Loyal Snake and the Broken Rain}
Tezuka led the group towards the building that was Kokuyo Middle School. Just earlier they had beaten the weird guy with the birds. Tezuka couldn't wait to prove himself towards Vongola Nono, maybe then the man would allow him to take the mantle of Vongola Tenth already.
Reborn told him to be patience, so Tezuka had nodded happily. Inside his mind he was cursing the baby Mafioso. If it were anyone else, Tezuka would have taught him a lesson, but it was Reborn. He was scared to death for Reborn's anger. He was happy that he hadn't yet given him reason to be mad at him. But Tezuka was good at hiding things. He wondered what his home teacher would say if he told him that he was the one who broke that baseball idiot's arm.
Moreover, it wasn't his fault. Reborn asked him to recruit Yamamato, so he did. Tezuka hardly talked to Yamamato six months ago. He needed to devise a plan to get his immediate attention and loyalty. And what better way than to prevent Yamamato from killing himself? Tezuka still smiled at his genius idea.
To gain Gokudera's trust he didn't even need to sweat. That moron was as loyal as a dog. If the Italian wanted to be treated like a dog, then Tezuka would happily agree. Though, at first Gokudera wanted to blow him up. He was in trouble until Reborn shot him with one of his weird bullets. He saved the Italian only by accident, because if he hadn't diffused the dynamite sticks, then he would get blown up too.
"You truly are worthy of being the Vongola Tenth, forgive me Juudaime!" The Italian bowed almost a thousand times. Tezuka wanted to refuse him, but when he noticed Reborn's approving nod, he said, "I'll forgive you Gokudera-san," it took effort to say that.
Gokudera was only a few paces behind him.
"Reborn-san, what about the baseball freak?" Gokudera asked. Gokudera hated Yamamato, because Yamamato was always calm and emitted that feeling too. Gokudera felt more like a storm, so he strongly contrasted from the baseball freak. Even so, he couldn't help but wonder what happened to Yamamato.
"I don't know," Reborn answered, "he's not easily beaten though," Reborn hummed. Yamamato had deflected an attack launched by one of Rokudo Mukuro's men. Ken was his name, switched to his cheetah mode and took Yamamato into a pit with a ladder attached to the inner walls.
"Don't worry guys, keep moving, I'll keep him occupied," Yamamato said before unsheathing his baseball bat. It transformed into a blade instantly.
That wasn't the only memory in Reborn's mind. Abel Tsunayoshi and his friend were in Kokuyo as well. He narrowed his eyes when that thought occurred in his mind.
{The Loyal Snake and the Broken Rain}
The building looked abandoned and neglected. Most of the windows were broken and patched up with wood, the floors were dirty, the walls were full of graffiti and almost all furniture inside was in pieces.
"They must have decorated the place senpai," Fran said as they walked in the soundless hallways of Kokuyo Middle School.
Tsuna hummed, "perfect for someone like Mukuro I suppose an-," Tsuna stopped looking around in distress. It felt like Fran was dying, but that couldn't be possible because Fran was right next to him. The feeling felt so real that he wanted to cry.
Fran looked at him worriedly, "what's wrong senpai?" The words echoed in his mind. The hallway became a hazy mess and the ground underneath him shook violently. Fran didn't seem to notice it. A blinding blue light shone to his right. The blue became less and less, almost fading. His heart felt like in a grip, "NO!"
"Senpai!?"
"Fran I need to go, I need to go!" His breath felt raspy and out of control. Tsuna was a collected and calm person for most of his life, but the blue light made him enraged and sad at the same time. His feet screamed at him to run towards the blue light and do something.
"Senpai!?"
"Fran, stay at the building, I need to check something out!" Tsuna barked before he ran back towards the entrance of the abandoned school, "I'll come back, I promise!" He left a speechless Fran behind.
Seconds later he was in the thick forests next to Kokuyo Middle School. He looked around and his world still shook violently. It took every bit of self constraint not to fall down on his knees and throw up his breakfast. The blue light was only the size of a lit candle now. His feet took him deeper and deeper into the forest.
Finally he came into a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing he noticed a round metal latch. He ran to it and pulled it up. He sensed and saw the blue light below the rails that led into a big room. He climbed the rails down. He was exhausted from the running. When he arrived below he panted and clutched at his knees not to fall.
"Tsuna?" A voice asked.