AN: After over a week of silence I am (finally) back! This chapter was hard to write *pout* Rewrote it 3 times and I got stuck for hours on the part when Tsuna plans how to win the battle~! But, I'm done, so read on fellow Readers. Oh, how do you guys feel on a hetalia one shot?
Notes: Just to make it clear, Tsuna is using the umbrellas that you can fold and stuff in your school bag, not one of those long stiff ones that are like 3 feet tall. The type of umbrella may change later on, *hint hint kokuyo arc* and Natsu's weapon is STILL undecided, so have fun. Suggestions are welcome. By the way, the reason the umbrella broke with that one dynamite yet was fine with the rest, because the dynamite was literally like an inch away. Close range, strong hit, equals a very, very dead umbrella.
Chapter 13: Cyclone and Tempest
Natsu wasn't an idiot. Just because his twin had this very creepy observation/stalker tendencies and intuition did not mean he hadn't stolen his fair share of eyes from his parents. So it didn't exactly take long for him to notice that his twin wasn't in the stands where he was supposed to be.
Freezing up, Natsu gaped like a fish at the empty seat. When in hell did his twin leave? He didn't have much more twin to think before a basketball connected to his face. Yelling in a mixture of pain and shock, Natsu fell on his butt.
Immediately, his teammates surrounded him in worry. "You okay, man?" asked one of them. Natsu nodded distractedly as he stared at the stands. His teammates followed his line of sight and made a face that looked like they just sucked a lemon, though they were careful to hide it from Natsu.
"Worried about your brother, huh" said one, with a sickly sweet voice, "Don't bother, he'll handle himself just fine. Now, lets get back to our game!"
Natsu frowned and was about to argue when he remembered that Tsuna had said something about having something to do, whatever that meant. It'll be fine he reassured himself mentally He probably gone to do what he said.
Nodding his head in agreement, Natsu got up on his feet, basketball in his hands, and about to follow his teammates before he hesitated. As much as he loved basketball, he was a brother first and foremost, and frankly, his brother sense was screaming that something was very, very wrong.
Donning an apologetic grin, Natsu instead threw the basketball over to the team captain and ran to the lockers, yelling over his shoulders, "Gomen, I'll make it up to you guys later!"
Kicking the locker doors open, he quickly showered and changed, running out with his book bag tossed over his shoulder, clothes in disarray, and his hair still wet from a quick shower. Tossing a peace sign over to his unhappy teammates, he darted out the door.
Half running, half straightening out his clothes, he let his intuition lead him to where his brother was. Tsuna was going to freak when he found out that he ditched practice, but it would be worth his safety and that soft, half-delighted, half-irritated smile that he would toss at him.
It wasn't long before he spotted the smoke coming from the courtyard and his heart to go cold with fear.
Not even 5 minutes into the battle, and Tsuna was mentally cursing whoever introduced Gokudera to bombs, because this was absolutely ridiculous. The boy kept removing dynamite from seemingly nowhere and there seemed to be an unlimited supply.
God, he knew the mafioso toted around a legendary supply of fire power, but it wasn't anything to the real thing. Dodging another thrown dynamite, Tsuna came face to face with another one.
Yelping in shock, Tsuna opened his umbrella, which thankfully shielded him from both the explosion and the smoke. The force of the dynamite pushed him back slightly, but he was otherwise okay.
Smiling roguishly, Tsuna thanked the gods for Natsu's horrible, dangerous, radioactive, acidic, poisonous cooking, because those life-threatening creations caused the desperate creation of his prized umbrella.
Natsu's cooking was horrible in the way that it would literally melt through walls. So after finding out that the school was giving mandatory home economics, which also gave him a panic attack, he had desperately emailed his pen pal, who happened to be a genius inventor from England, and after lots of bribing and a natto lollipop recipe, had acquired the umbrella.
With a steel handle and fire proof, waterproof, and thankfully, acid proof, and lot of other-proofs cover, it had saved his life, his classmates life, and his teacher's life on more than one occasion, even outside the classroom, because Natsu was drawn to the kitchen, and he couldn't kick his twin out no matter how many pots and pans he tossed at his twin.
It also proved dependable when facing silver haired mafiosos and exploding dynamite, not that he was complaining. A yell of "Twice Bomb" was heard, and Natsu gritted his teeth and jumped back to safety.
So far, they had played a long and twisted game of cat and mouse, and Tsuna just couldn't get a kick in. Glaring unhappily at the silver head, he twirled the umbrella like a mechanical fan, causing the smoke from the blast to turn to Gokudera instead of him, blinding him for a bit and allowing him to plan.
His brain scrambled for an idea and he mentally reviewed the weaknesses of dynamite. He could stop and pinch out the flames, but the sheer amount of dynamite Gokudera was tossing around...that and he he need to cook dinner later on, and burns were just going to make things painful. Natsu would also freak.
He could just through the dynamite to Gokudera. The boy wouldn't dare try doing it when they were so close, it could hurt him just as much as it hurt Tsuna. But he wasn't suicidal, that was Natsu's job, since his twin insisted on nosing into other peoples business, yakuza, bullies, or Hibari.
Tensing as the smoke cleared, he opened his umbrella fully and twirled it nonchalantly, eyes watching the smoke for Gokudera, his hand prepared to swing the umbrella to protect him if dynamites were thrown.
"You're not half-bad" growled a voice from the smoke, a dark shadow visible in the grey, "But you can't win a fight by running away. But that's the only thing you know how to do, right? Run and run, and leave your brother to deal with the incoming fists."
Snaring, he darted into the smoke, snapping it close, before striking at the shadow. It fell into thin air, as the shadow dodge, revealing its identity as Gokudera Hayato, sneering in his full glory.
"Tch, you got some potential" mused Gokudera, lazily withdrawing a handful of dynamite, all of them lighted with flames, "But too bad. Only one person can be boss, and your brother wins in this competition."
Tsuna glared uncharacteristically. It wasn't one of his usual half-hearted glares of irritation and thinly veiled exasperation but of bitterness, frustration, fear, and self righteous anger toward the world. It was the look of wild, uncontrollable rage.
"We never asked to be boss!" he roared, jumping back while opening the umbrella to shield him from the explosion, echoing loudly and sending any remaining birds into the air in alarm.
"We never asked for this, this hell!" he screamed swinging the umbrella wildly in his rage, "We didn't want this!"
Closing in on the bomber, he swung the open umbrella wildly, his anger blinding him to the futility, the foolishness of the move. With years of experience, Gokudera disarmed the umbrella from his grasp, sending it flying away to crash a couple yards away, bent and broken; all torn fabric and twisted metal that Natsu's cooking had never been able to do, with a dynamite.
Kicking Tsuna's legs out from under him, Gokudera grabbed him by the bangs of his shoulder-length brown hair. Both of them left panting from the fight, Tsuna stared into Gokudera's eyes with bittersweet defeat at his lips.
Without lifting his eyes from the brunette's own amber-brown, he used his free hand to fetch a single cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a move that was too fast for Tsuna to see, and took a long drag.
Watching as Gokudera took a smoke, Tsuna commented monotonously, numb from defeat, "Smoking is bad for your health, you know. You'll end up dead by the time you hit 40."
Smirking slightly, Gokudera answered, whether to mock him or just for the heck of it Tsuna didn't know and wouldn't ever know. "Doesn't matter, when you're in the mafia, you die young. Better die by your own hands instead of by some paid out bastard."
"Mafia" Tsuna whispered, "What kind of demon would invent that dratted thing...?"
Gokudera hummed, "I think of my line of work as more in the lines of 'It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it'. You want to live? Better work your ass off. Who cares if it's a crime. Better alive than dead."
"What are you saying?" whispered Tsuna, staring up at the boy with horror. Gokudera grinned roguishly at him before dropping the cigarette and crushing it under his foot.
"It's simple. The mafia existed, because people want to survive, and money equals survival in this century. You got no money, you get no food in your stomach, and you'll be ten feet under in a couple days" explained Gokudera with a cold, ruthless grin that Tsuna both hated and understood. "Now unfortunately for you, it's time for you to die."
Speaking nonchalantly as he wrapped his free hand around Tsuna's fragile throat, Gokudera said with a hint of regret, "I don't think I would have mind much if you've been an only child, you would have been a good boss. But your brother has more potential, and even if you have to die for it, I, we, the mafia, can not risk you surviving."
"Promise me" he wheezed as the hand tighten, "Promise to protect my brother, no matter what he does or how he acts, in my place, promise me!"
There was silence from the bomber and black spots began to appear in his vision. His eyes slowly fell close in defeat, of course the bomber wouldn't agree. He would just be another dead body on the boy's shoulders.
"Just this once, brat. Just this once, I promise" said a voice gruffly. Snapping his eyes open in his surprise even as his vision blurred and black creeped at the edges of his vision, he smiled in gratitude, despite the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
At least his brother would be safe. It would make Natsu sad, but he would stand up. Even if he didn't, Reborn or Mama would kick him out of his misery. But he doubted it was needed. He was strong, stronger than anyone he ever seen, even Reborn, because he was sure his brother would surpass that strange enigma of an infant one day. One day.
He want to live for one more day. He want to laugh with his brother again. He wanted to say goodbye to everyone, even to all those bullies and Hibari. He wanted to live, maybe it was selfish, but he wanted to live.
He wanted to live.
Orange flashed behind his eyelids and he felt warm and cozy, like a summer day of peace and silent happiness. Power was in the orange, he could feel that clear as day. But what kind of power he didn't know. It had always been there, a quiet sleeping warmth in his belly, but now it was awake, from what he didn't know.
Do you wish to live? for what? the orange asked. Maybe it was just him over exaggerating everything, but it felt like it was a part of him and him a part of it.
Yes. I want to live. I want to see my brother again. I want to see my mom, my friends, and everyone once again. I want to live he whispered back, a silent wish to a god that had long since turn it's back on mankind.
Maybe it was his intuition that told him what was to come, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but he opened his eyes to Gokudera's startled green eyes and whispered.
"I'm sorry but I want to live."
"TSUNA!"
A beautiful orange flame blossomed upon his forehead, like the kiss of some divine being, the color of the sunset, of whiskey, and hardened amber.
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