Protecting, vice versa
Chapter 17: Irony, ain't it? (Part 2)
A/N: I'M SO SORRY FOR LATE UPDATEEEEE-/shot
Anyway, here's the second half of the situation owo. I guess this chapter would explain the title... So, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except for the storyline. Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira.
WARNING: Gays, OOC-ness.
' "The famiglia 'Ye Shan'... was supposed to be extinct 395 years ago."
Tsuna and the gang, including the audiences above, gasped as the baby hitman made his last statement, which could have as well expanded the duration of the Q&A session.
"What the hell...?!" '
The baby hitman's expression stayed the same, as if he had never heard the gasps and exclaims of surprise. He pulled down his fedora, shading one-third of his face and most of his eyes. He did it so as to uphold his pride and dignity of the world's best hitman. He did it to shield his emotions from getting revealed.
Ahh, no matter what emotions were boiling in him that was going to be evident in his eyes, or the strong sun rays reflecting into his eyes, his trusty fedora would always be there for him.
It was unlucky; Tsuna had caught the emotions a split second before Reborn had pulled his fedora down. Startled, the brunette nearly lost his concentration on the field, but managed to calm himself down before getting overwhelmed by the tenseness of the surroundings.
I've never seen it before... Confusion, anger, and irritation...?
Even with his eyes shaded from the world, the baby hitman continued to look at Hua Ming closely for any twitches or obvious changes that could be reflected off his eyes.
Not long after, the ex-Sun-Arcobaleno reluctantly put one foot behind him, seemingly giving up on his silent investigation which had started after his last statement.
Reborn turned behind to face the group, pointing at the Ye Shan famiglia's boss. He opened his mouth to say a sentence of exasperation, irritation and anger; "I can't find out why..." Stopping halfway, the baby hitman pulled his fedora down, and the words stuck tightly onto his inner lip, refusing to come out.
Attempting to break the silence, Hua Ming tried to say out a sentence that might result in a win-win solution.
Unfortunately, it was HIS type of win-win solution.
"Why I'm so hot?" Right after the statement, he changed his position into one disturbing-looking modelling pose.
Silence. And yet again, the cold wind of solitude blows.
Ignoring the posing Hua Ming, Reborn finally got the stuck words off his lips. "...why he can still look so good."
The group blinked.
"Look good?" Yamamoto repeated dumbly, blinking with the aura of 'idiocy' surrounding him. (Being the baseball idiot he is.) Well, for this situation, maybe ignorance is bliss.
However, instead of him being the only one with the aura of 'idiocy' surrounding him, Ryohei, Tsuna, Enma, and Basil were all there to join him in creating "Group Idiot". Be ready to see more of this group popping up.
The rest was simply shocked/stunned at the hitman's words.
With this one question in mind, Julie blurted out his confusion; "Y-you can't be jealous of his looks, or can you? ...Ex-Arcobaleno?"
Cue punch in the Shimon Desert Guardian's face.
Sighing, Reborn pointed at the boss of the Ye Shan famiglia, with an aura that would shake most ordinary people surrounding his miniature figure. "Look. No one would revive Ye Shan without some extraordinary belief, and since Ye Shan does have a bad reputation in both status and power in the history of mafias, I doubt anyone would want to revive it." Saying that sentence in one breath did put some stress on the baby hitman's lungs.
Hua Ming had but one expression on his face - sadness.
"Why do you say that, little baby?" Sniff. "Ye Shan was probably the greatest in power then!" Sniff. "We could kill all those useless China famiglias that aimed for whatever shit..." Sniff. "But it was all because of-"
A bullet whizzed pass his cheek, creating a small scrape there. A drop of the gooey crimson liquid we often see slid slowly down his face, dropped from his (slightly) oily chin, and eventually landed on the grass with a small 'plop'. Grunting in anger of "his handsome, beautiful, muscular and perfectly sun-tanned face" (blegghh) has been spoilt by the scrape, he glared at the baby hitman, who simply ignored the death shots from Hua Ming's eyes for him.
Clearing his throat and taking a deep breath for when his lungs had the slight strain again, Reborn continued the findings of his analysis while holding his hand up into a 'two' sign; "If that is true, then the second option to this case is that this particular muscle-faced freak here-" he faced his open palm at Hua Ming, who was too concerned about the miniature scratch on his face to be paying attention. "-is that he was the boss from 395 years ago."
Gasps and whispers started echoing from above, but the ground level stayed silent from the straightforward words that were stated quite straightforwardly.
Reborn, the best in ignoring people, held out his open palm to Hua Ming. At first, "Group Idiot" thought that it was an invitation of some kind, but he was an enemy, so... that possibility was ruled out. Besides that, there didn't seem to be any other explanation. Naturally, their brains burned and burned until...
"Now explain this particular predicament."
The brains of "Group Idiot" stopped their thought processes so suddenly, their bodies slumped down along with the decreasing speed of their brain cells.
Hua Ming, only noticing his epic shine (being the proud one he is), didn't noticing the evident slump, and just cackled away at the baby hitman's question.
"How?" he stifled out that word between giggles and loud snorts of laughter. "How? You did say how, did you?"
Reborn's face was held with an expressionless façade, as the boss of Ye Shan continued his hideous laughter. "You're the world's best hitman, and yet you don't understand?" Hua Ming managed to make a clear sentence out of the hyena-like screeching.
The ex-Sun-Arcobaleno raised an eyebrow, not at all disturbed by the sentence. "Yes, and do you have a problem with that?"
Trolled.
But his brains were simply too simple to figure out that he had been trolled, unlike everyone else in the field. (Who were, at the point of time, stoning as the cold wind continued to blow.)
Hua Ming flipped his hair, trying to look awesome, but no- only TYL! Mukuro would look fabulous doing that.
Cue TYL Bazooka falling on Mukuro (due to Lambo having fits.)
Seeing the hair flip just in time, TYL! Mukuro did the same, only more epicly. "Kufufu... no one would be able to copy this splendid move of mine."
The boss of Ye Shan grunted- he didn't like losing to someone at least 300+ years younger than him.
Flip.
Flip.
Flip
Fli-
"Stop it. Do not interrupt me." Reborn cut through the random 'I whip my hair back and forth' competition, his eyebrow shading over his eyes, showing that he was beginning to feel both irritated and infuriated. The baby hitman had already been tapping his feet since the start of the 'I whip my hair back and forth' competition in frustration. He wanted to end this quick with two goals in mind- one was because of the fact that if they didn't act quickly, Hua Ming might choose to attack at any point of time, and the other reason was to train Tsuna and his guardians so that they could go up against the boss of the Ye Shan famiglia.
Hua Ming sighed in exasperation, and simply slumped down like what Group Idiot was doing some time ago, succumbing to TYL! Mukuro's awesome hair flipping. Sitting down on the grass while pouting (which looks absolutely horrendous on such a muscular guy like him), he muttered out a muffled sentence; "So, continue your interrogation."
Expressionless still, Reborn randomly flipped open a piece of paper (Leon Paper), looked at it for a brief second, and looked at the Ye Shan boss directly in the eyes.
"Explain this whole mess."
Sighing and yet once again succumbing, though this time it was to Reborn, Hua Ming took a deep breath and started to explain...
395 years ago...
Giotto stared hard at the fallen family, once standing proud and tall, but now was struggling to even breathe. The defeated famiglia, Ye Shan, appeared to have used up nearly all of their flames. (Flames=Life of user)
The boss of them all, a recognizably younger Hua Ming, gravelled at the Vongola 1st Generation's feet and glared at them hard. His eyes were red, body full of scratches and serious burns, and his head had gone wrong; internally. Though the fact that his head had gone wrong had already occurred quite a long time ago.
"Why..." Clenching his teeth and somehow scowling out the word at the same time, the 5th boss of the famiglia Ye Shan had his fingers dig into the soil that had gone wet and cold from rain. "...Why would you rip our famiglia of glory?"
Giotto looked stunned that Hua Ming had said these kind of sentences even at his dying moment, for most corrupted famiglias would normally plead for mercy. This was a new experience to him. As the blonde opened his mouth to say something, G filled in for him.
"Because your glory is nothing more than-" Cue saliva flying out of G's mouth. "-shitty corrupt ruling!"
Asari and Knuckle blinked in slight surprise, while Alaude and Daemon kept their cool. G did not have the habit of having saliva fly out of his mouth, though he sure was vulgarest. It only happened if he really hated something or someone. Normally, SOMEHOW, he would control the flow of his saliva when he scolded.
Giotto nodded, his fluffy golden hair swaying along gracefully. "Indeed. If not for that, thousands would still be living." The blonde deadpanned, and for probably the first time in his life, a slightly icy cold look filled his warm amber eyes, slowly, but surely.
A person beside the boss of Ye Shan rose his head, dullness starting to seep into his eyes. "You... you all will suffer... one day..." he muttered, with hatred seeping in sharply with every word he said.
His head fell.
Hua Ming gritted his teeth in agony and rage. Death had to fall upon his comrade who shared the same views as him; the views that loudly proclaim that their famiglia should be the boss of all top famiglias, or in other words, the most powerful famiglia that ever existed. They killed without hesitation, killed without thought, killed without regret. All they wanted was the people to fear and acknowledge their power, thus they would slowly rise their way to the top.
But this vigilance- mere vigilance group- had defeated them, and furthermore they wiped the floor with them! They were supposed to be the most powerful, not this certain vigilance group, consisting of a (seemingly) scrawny bunch of young adults! Everyone was supposed to gravel at their feet, not them! This was a great humiliation, a great heartache, a great-
"Killing without regret would be similar to someone casually slaying your own comrade."
The 1st Generation Swordsman spoke up, after being silent for so long. Of course, not as silent as Alaude. Daemon had been noisy all the time with his 'nufufu'-ing, so we shouldn't bother about him.
Hua Ming glared up at the group, trying to raise his own opinions. Yes, that swordsman sure looked beautifully handsome and just to his tastes, but his mind was screwed on all wrong! All wrong, all wrong, all wrong, all wrong-
"Indeed. Peace should be maintained and stabilized. Killing should be the most extreme least desirable result."
Knuckle raised his own point, and went back to praying silently. This is why I did not say he was silent the whole time.
The boss of Ye Shan, again, felt a strain in his heart and brain. He just couldn't comprimise- why did these people not enjoy killing? They could hear the plesant melodies of screams, feel warm blood splatter onto all of them, and even more enjoyable presents. There were just too many examples to list. Also, if they did not enjoy killing, why did... why did they... seemingly mercilessly... beat up all of them-
"In case you didn't notice, your corruptedness had a result worse then being handcuffed or bitten to death."
The head of CEDEF finally spoke up, and that was probably the longest sentence he had ever said, stating that he was getting quite impatient with this.
Hua Ming was shivering- internally. He couldn't understand why they thought his method of getting everyone to bow down to them was evil, even 'bad' was not a word fit for its mighty goodwill.
"Nufufu, this drama is so pathetic. Let's go back."
That melon head infuriated him the most. He did nothing in the battle except to stand still, and hold his whatever-shit-kind-of-wand-that-was, and he still dared to comment that this humiliation was simply a drama in his eyes?
(In actual fact, the melon was casting illusions without moving.)
It was only a few seconds, the duration that the 1st Generation of Vongola walked away, but it felt like an hour- the backs of the ones who had dared to humiliate his mightly famiglia, the seemingly cheerful conversation they had while returning, and the amount of 'ignore'.
No.
He and his surviving Guardians- the one of the Storm, Rain and Cloud- would not let it just end this way.
He himself would never, EVER, let it end this way.
They would get revenge against the Vongola, no matter what obstacle they would face in their way.
Even if they had to hide for the next 400 years just to train, they wouldn't mind.
Two goals- one was to defeat the Vongola at all costs, and the other was to become the strongest famiglia, and they wouldn't care to use all the other famiglias in the world to go against them.
"WE MUSTTTT!"
With the scream echoing in unison, a thick wall of black flames suddenly erupted around them, and they felt a sudden rise of energy and flame power. Their faces aged a little- but that, in Hua Ming's and his guardian's opinions, was the price to pay for extreme power.
"Giotto, you did notice that their full amount of flames have yet to be unlocked. Why did you spare them?"
"...To tell the truth, I just have a feeling that they could make a whole lot of people stronger."
"...you trust your Hyper Intuition too much."
"It's alway's correct. It can't be helped- the fact that I place my full trust in it."
"And then that's how we got these mysterious black flames that kept us living, and so we trained." Hua Ming waved his hands about while explaining in glamour, yet there was anguish and an obvious hinting of the craving for revenge. "We trained, and we heard that there was another famiglia who wanted to wage war to splatter blood amongst themselves, so we made an alliance with them."
Black flames. Night Flames. That was the very first thought that ran through Gokudera's brain.
Adelheid frowned, the name of the famiglia which had started this whole action flowing into her mind. "The Gole Fenice."
Reborn seemed to be thinking for the whole time the Ye Shan boss was talking, and raised his finger to ask one of the thoughts in his mind. "Why not the Shimon?"
The boss of the said famiglia blinked in confusion at the sudden mention, and then the memories came to him; the ones in which Fake Julie a.k.a Daemon Spade had tricked all of them, him getting out of control... the redhead shuddered; he didn't like remembering those moments, for now they were friends.
Kaoru nodded, frowning instinctively. "At that time, we wanted revenge."
Hua Ming mouth pursed into an 'O', and he spaced out for a moment, seemingly recollecting his thoughts. He then shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. "Nope, when we were ready, your conflict was over." The boss of Ye Shan actually looked serious at this moment, and its surprising as he had only done that a few times ever since he entered this fanfiction.
The baby hitman, with the same straight face he had for the I-don't-know-which-time, had several judgements running continuously in his mind, and one more hit him;
They could know that the Shimon and the Vongola had fought, and furthermore, the ending point of it. This means... they have an information gatherer or an information specialist.
The ex-Sun-Arcobaleno had immediately sniffed out the branches to this belief.
This means that they could know every single skill that these people have.
The smell of certainty was starting the overwhelm him.
How bad is this situation if that path is assumed so?
...Danger. I have to conclude this as soon as possible.
Reborn held out his open palm at the enemy, gaining attention from those on the field as well as those being spectators. (Some had even bought out popcorn despite their friends/classmates/schoolmates being beaten up, and despite various warnings from the teacher). The baby hitman opened his mouth with the slightest worry to speak- "We have to end it now. Later, we might see some unwanted ordinary folks rushing in and asking what's happening here."
"Even if there are sound proof walls?" The boss of Ye Shan tilted his head slightly to appear cute, but that DOES NOT WORK FOR HIM.
"Even with the most advanced technology, not all sound can be blocked by sound proof walls, especially loud explosions."
Hua Ming sighed, succumbing to defeat for the third time. Maybe it was not really admitting his loss, as he looked at his watch right after he sighed, as if he wanted to rush somewhere else urgently right after this conflict ended. The gay boss spoke in a conceited and unsubdued manner; "You all have to end, and so do we. It's time to go for us."
Clapping his hands, 3 people appeared from above the trees or somewhere in the air. SOMEWHERE. They all were in the same position- both hands seemingly holding something behind their backs, backs slightly hunched forward, slight and tiny wrinkles spotted on their faces and other parts of their bodies- effects of Night Flames reduced with the little amount of flames stored in them.
Pointing with an open palm, he introduced the new characters and brought it to a point where it pointed at a slightly short, but slightly muscular man- "This is Yao Jing, my Storm Guardian." The said guardian, or now known as Yao Jing, nodded his head as a greeting. Next, the hand shifted to a dude that seemed to look like a professor with his thin blue-rimmed glasses and a well built, tall structure- "This is Liao Jue, my Rain Guardian."
Julie scoffed without holding back, but he was lucky that the sound made was quite soft to the ear.He threw those thoughts away before someone noticed him breaking the mood, and he silently observed the posture of Liao Jue... There's one thing that really suits him is the professor-looking like glasses. It somehow fits onto his face.
Having his open palm stray to the last man standing like some kind of soldier, though slightly vertically challenged like the Ye Shan's Storm Guardian, was, as Tsuna's Hyper Intuition predicted- "This is the last guardian that's alive, our Cloud Guardian, Zhong Yi." While introducing the last guardian, Hua Ming's face scrunched up a little, but it was barely noticable.
The Cloud Guardian barely moved, and the only greeting was a blink that was harder than usual. Of course, only those close or only the geniuses at reading body signs could see the difference between a normal blink and this one.
The four tilted their body forward quite stiffly, before the Rain and Storm Guardian lifted something... moving and wriggling over their heads?
Everyone frowned; was it a weapon? Was it just something of distraction? Was it-
No.
No.
"...How the fuck..." Rauji stammered out with a small voice, seeing two recognisable figures with their eyes widened and hair in a complete mess, clothes crumpled and torn- forcefully ripped off would be a better word to describe the tears- and evident scratches and bruises all over their bodies. Their eyes were closed delicately, yet the attempt to make them closed seemed a little too harsh on their bodies.
How did these people get involved in this?
How did they get captured?
How, of all people on Earth, would it be two of his friends?
Hiyako.
Haru.
How was this... legit?!
30 minutes before...
Haru moved around suspiciously outside Namimori High, a cloth covering the upper part of her hair with its ends firmly secured by a knot at her nostrils, and a bag covered in cloth which looked suspiciously like bento. Actually, from its smell coming out through gaps, it was bento.
Looking repeatedly at the bento and with a grin plastered on her face, the Midori uniformed girl thought with excitement and anticipation at the compliments that the fluffy haired brunette-or otherwise known as Sawada Tsunayoshi- would be saying with a romantic aura surrounding every single letter spoken. She would receive it gently, and have it permanently plastered onto the walls of her brain.
Her excitement didn't last for long.
A rag, which was a tad wet, was suddenly clamped around her mouth, and with this sudden action, Haru dropped her bento and flinged her hands up in the air, attempting to scream due to the shock. However, the air that she breathed in was tainted with one with the smell of a sweet... gas? Still, she tried to resist, and even ended up hurting herself along cracks and sharp objects along the ground.
Still. It wasn't long till she passed out due to the "sweet-smelling gas".
Sleeping gas.
Yao Jing looked apologetically at her, mumbling a small sorry in Chinese before doing his ninja skills do disappear without a trace.
A spilled bento lay on the floor, its contents strayed on the pink flower-decorated cloth.
Hiyako was taken while spying, as mentioned in one of the previous chapters- while watching, a large, bare, and warm hand clamped her mouth shut in the discomfort of the bushes, and a sweet smelling gas was sprayed over her. The more she tried to resist, the more wounds she obtained from the roughness of the leaves.
Yes. It was sleeping gas.
The whole crowd froze, their minds all crumpled and jumbled up with the sudden information sent. They couldn't process the fact that they... had a gap in their defense...
Kyoko, seeing one of her real best friends and a classmate captured, seemed to be screaming, but no sound came out. She, too, was distressed till a point where her voice couldn't handle the pitch she was screaming at.
Hana stumbled back, for one of the first times in her life. There was no way... no way that her best friend's best friend and her fellow classmate would get captured! Even with the safety here, Hiyako still decided to go to a dangerous zone, and that... that Midori middle school girl was stupid enough to enter school grounds, especially when lessons were not over? Wait... that means she sneaked out from her school too... but nevermind that.
They were captured.
That was all on the normal onlookers.
Those eating their popcorn and other impromptu snacks had stopped their munching and some had even dropped the bags in disbelief.
Tsuna was the first to react. Not Reborn, not Byakuran, not Enma, not anyone else. Tsuna. The brunette reached with one arm and flew with the other at a speed which could be compared to sound, with a scream that seemed manly yet shaking with a seemingly cloudy conscience when he had a clear one; "HARUUUUUU! HIYAKOOOOO!"
It somehow made the duration of the flame-sprint.
Still, the same duration of the flame sprint was too slow; the Ye Shan parted with the scene, a satisfied smirk on almost all their faces except for the Cloud Guardian, as they disappeared through Night Portals.
Crashing into the fence, the attempt to try to rush in through the Night Portal failing, as the brunette fell onto his knees on the ground.
The girls who knew about the mafia (except for Hana, where tears rolled silently down her cheeks) and Lambo were wailing in distress and occasional screams were filled along with them.
The rest could only stare at the empty sight before them blankly.
Hicagen squinted a little, before a slight opening was seen between his eyelashes.
The first thing he saw?
White light.
The first thing he thought?
Am I in heaven?
Everything was suddenly silent.
WAIT, I'M IN HEAVEN?!
In shock, he sat up from the bed in such a rush that he hit something- CLONK!
"Ow..."
He ruffled his messy blonde hair, trying to relieve the pain, and that did not help to make his hairstyle more smooth and neat. As he was busy rubbing the sore spot, a voice that was slightly squeaky, thought it could be identified to be one of a man's, but filled with a tone of concern and worry for the state of his body;
"Are you okay?"
For the first time since he woke up, he fully opened his eyes and saw that he had hit a.. torch? Tilting his head slightly to the right despite the slight ache in his neck, he saw a slightly stout face and wide eyes blinking right into his.
"YARRGHHHH?!" Hicagen stumbled back on the bed on his hands and feet, before hitting the backrest of the bed frame. Even with more pain, with a shaking finger, Hicagen pointed at the figure, who was slightly shocked at the reaction of the Gole Fenice Cloud Guardian at the same time. "WHO ARE YOU?!"
Tsuna appeared behind the figure, hood still on and Hyper Dying Will Mode still activated. "So you're awake." The brunette deadpanned jokingly, and seemed not to spare any thought about the question that Hicagen raised.
Noting this and thinking that it was real, the assassin slammed one of his fists (which seemed comical) into the mattress while shouting fervently at the Vongola boss to-be; "ANSWER MY QUESTION!"
The brunette laughed; he got tricked that easily! But soon, he regained his composure, and continued on to introduce the mechanic. "This is Gianini, one of Vongola's mechanics. You are now at the Japan Headquaters of Vongola. Please make yourself at home here." At the last part, the brunettes lips curved into a warm smile.
Hicagen blinked. And again. He spouted out a question without any thought; "What happened?"
Tsuna and Gianini looked at each other for a few seconds after the sentence was said.
"Well..."
"JUUDAIMEEEEE!" Gokudera sprinted over to the brunette as the group begun to move away silently. As the silverette reached Tsuna like an excited little puppy, Tsuna shook his head, still heavily affected by the kidnap.
"Not now, Gokudera."
The other guardians limped towards their boss slowly, as the other famiglias gathered themselves and left with a sense of emptiness.
"Tsuna..."
"Bossu..."
"Oya?"
"Nii-san...-sniff-"
"SAWADA?"
"Hnn."
The concerned voices of his other guardians ringed in unison (Hibari's sounded a little concerned, and that's pretty good), except for Lambo's sniff which was slightly more delayeed than the other titles.
Tsuna didn't look up, but the brunette still answered the calls. "...Hai?"
Yamamoto pointed at a corner of the field, where a couple of people layed in a heap. "What are we going to do with them?"
The Vongola Boss to-be glanced up, looking at the defeated Gole Fenice from the corner of his eye. His decision?
"Bring them back to HQ to recover."
Silence reigned the surroundings for a moment, then those who understood the whole situation (Lambo doesn't) started raising their concerns;
"But, Bossu, they..."
"Kufufu... I rather they rot there and die."
"BUT THEY EXTREMELY..."
"..too much of a herbivore."
Tsuna shook his head, saying his own point of view, "They were innocent. They didn't deserve to be tricked, put through this, and in the end get nothing for all their efforts. My..." He touched his heart, and his eyes started tearing up, remembering the moment where the two girls were taken away. "...My Hyper Intuition tugs me there."
The rest of the 10th generation of Vongola listened to the sentence closely, and nodded at the common sense largely available in the few sentences.
"IF YOU EXTREMELY SAY SO, SAWADA!" Ryohei broke through the supposedly silent agreement, raising his fists of glory into the air.
Cue attempted kick of Tsuna's head.
Of course, in the brunette's HDW mode, he could easily dodge it.
"Che." Reborn landed on the ground with a soft 'pat', and placed one hand on his hip. "It's unfortunate you dodged it. I wanted you to have a feel of my punishment for being naïve."
The brunette's eyebrow raised at the part where Reborn said that he naïve, and he dried his tears with his icy-cold metallic crimson red gloves.
"Naïve? ...I doubt so. They were tricked, and if I had to say something, all of us were naïve enough to let... to let..." Tsuna trailed off at that point, burying his head in his knees to sob silently without anyone seeing this state of his.
He didn't want to spread the tears.
Hicagen stared at the brunette who had made faces that seemed nothing like the plight he was in in the flashback. Then he remembered- his comrades and all...
With eyes reverting back to his usual silent stare, he faced Tsuna and asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice;
"Where are the others?"
Instead of the Vongola Decimo to-be answering, the horizontally challenged mechanic replied, jabbing his thumb behind.
Leaning a little to the side, he peeked over, only to see-
"ENMA-CHAAAANNNN!"
-his boss running around the whole area trying to catch a certain screaming redhead.
Turning around while in a frenzy, Enma shouted, panting, "I'M NOT GAY!"
"I AM!" The orange-haired boss admitted openly, not caring about the amount of fucks the others were giving. In fact they were equal to the number of sons Nono has alive right now.
Sighing at the plight of gay bosses nowadays, Hicagen tilted more, and saw ONE peaceful corner out of the mayhem around.
And the inhabitants there? Flariek, Hirashi, Gokudera and Kaoru. With Chrome being a spectator.
With a Monopoly board- Disney Edition, in between them.
Hirashi lifted his piece and silently uttered the steps he took. After landing at the supposed position, he gained eye contact with the bomber and nodded.
And so the silverette threw the dice, and slid his figure onto the Cinderella step.
Cue shine in eyes.
Cue slamming of board.
"I'LL BUY HER!" The Storm Guardian of the Vongola screamed, setting up one leg on the chair while standing up, as if attaining a position of victory.
Silence.
"...you sound like you're buying a prostitute." Kaoru sighed, shaking his head at the choice of the bomber's words.
Gokudera paled, and stared at the card he had instinctively taken out of the card deck.
Tsuna laughed at the scene, and turned to the Gole Fenice assassin. "Don't worry about them. They're perfectly fine and healthy." he smiled gently, a shine of calmness in his orange-tinted eyes.
Hicagen did sigh through his nostrils. I suppose so.
"What a fine fine we had to pay, too."
The blonde shivered at the voice of malice and the aura of malevolence emitting from the brunette. Why, oh why, did he have to encounter money problems now?
And it was all due to his gay boss.
"Wait, Decimo-"
"YARGHHHHH!"
With bandages covering his arms and legs, Hicagen stared at the brunette, who had by then calmed down about the money matters. Kiyoshi Ryu was sitting cross-legged, hands gropping the bottom parts of his legs with great strength- strength so great that the brunette's jeans threathened to be creased for the whole of it's life, and strength so great that the knuckles of both hands had gained some white colour.
At first, the assassin had thought that Tsuna was daydreaming and was a sitting pro on that chair with no backrest.
"Kiyoshi Ryu, are you okay-" In the midst of his question, the blonde paused, noting something sliding down the cheekbones of the Vongola Boss to-be. It was a tear- a tear so silent that it could be camoflauged so well beneath the maw of the shadows.
Then the blonde remembered- two of the brunette's friends had been kidnapped by the enemy to an unknown location.
It was no wonder; the tight clutch of his lower leg, the silent atmosphere (even though it was made a little noisier with the commotion in the room), and the aura of melanchony.
I shouldn't bother him.
But... is it me, or are those eyes a hue of empty brown?
The next day came fast- and it was still a school day. Even if there was some mafia affair for one day at their school, education will still continue. After all, the school was restored with some money, wasn't it?
And so, the brunette casually streamed down the corridors, a hood still shielding his identity from the rest of the world, a fire blazing brightly on his forehead under the beak of the shadows.
Ignoring shrill fangirl screams as if he had done that almost everyday of his life, the endless stream of profanities from his right-hand man's mouth and the repeated laughter from his Rain Guardian, he strolled into his class and to his seat nonchalantly.
Arriving at his table, he noted a slender body sitting on his table, seemingly awaiting his arrival- Kyoko.
"Sasagawa Kyoko?" The brunette acted, thinking that the school idol had not found out his identity, and slid into his seat, eyes staring right into hers.
How weird it was; he could barely control the rush of blood flowing up into his face, even in his Hyper Dying Will Mode.
Leaning down so that her mouth was facing his ears, she whispered with her hot breath blowing against his skin with every word she said;
"Tsuna-kun."
With the mention of his real name from someone who had supposedly not known his true identity, he felt his eyes widen with astonishment, but he still continued to listen-
"I believe you will get Haru-san and Hiyako-san back, ne?"
Getting back to her originial position, the school idol gave a genuine smile to the brunette, covering her supposed eyes of concern.
Tsuna was stunned by how fast his crush could actually jump up from the depression of having two of her friends captured, and replace it with trust in him.
Of course, he could not deny that he, too, wanted to save the two from the clutches of the enemy badly.
The brunette felt the corners of his lips curve up into a grin, as he gave a slight nod in the direction of Kyoko-
"Yes, we will."
After the school idol left, the blonde assassin approached Tsuna with a slight smile on his face.
Poke. "So... do you like her?"
The brunette, while tapping his fingers on the desk, shook his head in embarressment, which was a clear sign to Hicagen that he did.
So he stopped asking, and instead questioned the Vongola Decimo to-be;
"Does she know about the mafia?"
Being the person that will forget things fast (a.k.a forgetting that all his classmates already know about the mafia residing in their class), for a moment, Tsuna's heartbeat stopped, and sighed when it seemed that nobody heard it, but...
"Tsuna! I heard the word 'mafia'! What's happening?"
Cue a wild Yamamoto's sudden appearance behind them. Furthermore, he said it as if it was some announcement for everyone to hear. Tsuna's face continued to pale even further, as his breathing escalated and became heavier due to the shock recieved. Eyes widened, the brunette's complexion worsened.
And then Gokudera's face paled along.
"JUUDAIME! JUUDAIME! ARE YOU HYPERVENTILATING?!" The oh-so-loyal right-hand man of Tsuna quickly grabbed both shoulders of his boss and started shaking it, with the rough voice of the bomber reverberating repeatedly into the brunette's eardrums. Well, that just made him feel more faint.
The swordsman who had made Tsuna 'hyperventilate' stopped his guffaws, and turned to said brunette. "Oh, sorry Tsuna, but you should be okay right?" Yamamoto said with his usual 'idiot' voice, and simply patted Tsuna's head while continuing his usual hearty laughter, not aware of the damage that he had caused to Tsuna's body and heart.
With the laughter of the swordsman, Gokudera became even angrier, till... "YAKYUU-BAKA! YOU JUST MADE JUUDAIME HYPERVENTILATE!"
The silverette turned around in an instant to scold the laughing Yamamoto.
"But Tsuna should be okay, right?"
Yamamoto asked with a blank yet blur face
And, a one-sided argument starts, as usual.
Chrome quickly ran over to the now boisterous area, concern shining in her single purple eye.
"Bossu, are you okay?"
She asked, clearly at unease with the brunette's pale face.
What could the boss do? Tsuna simply sighed, remembering that everyone already knew that he and his friends were in the mafia.
"Yeah, I am.. I just got shocked for a moment there because Yamamoto said 'mafia' out loud..." He mumbled out with a heavy breath, scolding his memory lightly.
Well, isn't this ironic? The brunette was pretty sure it was, his Hyper Intuition was recollecting the events that seemed so much like event. But a voice stopped it-
"How could you actually fail to remember that?"
Tsuna spun around, only to see a slightly amused Hicagen. Well, the brunette could see it due to the slight sparkle in the usually cold-blue eyes.
"It was just yesterday."
As if being a mother that had just found out that her kid had done something wrong, he held up both hands, shook his head slowly while exhaling a breath of lament.
Well, irony, ain't it?
This felt just like before the war had started-
War.
Haru.
Hiyako.
Tsuna felt his heart clench again, and the tears nearly fell out, but-
"I believe you will get Haru-san and Hiyako-san back, ne?"
Kyoko's voice rang merrily in his head again, making the pain go away.
Yes, as Kyoko said, they will get the two back, and give it their all to rescue them from the hands of the enemies.
They would defeat that corrupt family who had done all this just for their greed.
They will.
Hicagen stared at the brunette who suddenly fell silent and had held his sight onto the floor for a while.
Wow. That was some sudden self-reflection on life.
Cue fangirls glomping the assassin from his back.
"GRAAAAHHHHH!"
Omake: April Fool's Day- Please do not activate your risk! (A/N: Yes, I'm really sorry that this is late and is going to be short.)
Sometime later, during lunch and on the rooftop, the 10th generation of Vongola (except Lambo) and the sole Gole Fenice Guardian were peacefully enjoying lunch, the rooftop being the only place that had security and had a pass code. But of course, otaku fangirls would all figure out the trick that main and badass characters who were all in school would tend to gather on the rooftop.
Again, they were lucky it had a pass code.
Everyone was enjoying their meal peacefully, but Hicagen could only stare at his bento, which Nana had prepared. ("Tsu-kun, I heard you had a new foreign friend!" "E-ehh?! Who did you hear from?!" "Reborn-kun, of course! Now give this bento to him and let him experience Japanese food!")
Ryohei, being the fastest to finish his food, noticed this fact first.
"TOMOQUEZ-KUN! WHY AREN'T YOU EATING TO THE EXTREME?!"
Crap, he got figured out! He was blending pretty well with the surroundings as well... but, they were top notch people in the mafia after all.
Scratching his head with one finger, the blonde stammered out awkwardly, somehow still maintaining the emotions of his eyes; "W-well, since I'm the only one that's from a different famiglia..." he trailed off, staring at the bento again.
"Oh?"
Cue burst of aura from a certain hooded brunette.
"Eat."
Well, these two words were enough to make the others scared. After all, this aura meant one thing... the risk.
Chrome stood up with suddenness, suddenly holding some notebook with the Vongola emblem on it along with a pair of spectacles, which she wore, and cleared her throat as she defined the meaning of risk- "Vongola Dictionary. Risks. Meaning one, doing something that could be a danger to your life. Meaning two, angering any one of the Vongola guardians, or worse, their boss."
Hicagen raised his eyebrow, his body starting to shake ferociously. "W-why are you angry over the fact that I'm not eating?"
The brunette's seemingly innocent smile stayed in place, and he tilted his head slightly.
"Oh? No. I'm not angry. Just... I remember not seeing you eat yesterday... and breakfast too; due to the fact that Gokudera spotted you not eating your breakfast with the rest of the Gole Fenice while taking a detour for no apparent reason to school..."
Tsuna paused for a moment, before turning to the silverette.
"...which reminds me. Why were you taking a detour, Gokudera?"
Cue scary smile again.
The two shivered the most now, as the Vongola Boss stood up with his risk clearly activated.
"You two better give me a reason."
The Vongola Guardians and Hicagen all dropped their utensils, and eyed the door with secrecy with their heads counting in unison for their escape-
1... 2...
"GYAHHHHHH!"
Now, let me explain. Gokudera was taking a long detour due to his sister, apparently, strolling around the usual path he took to let him try the new cookies she baked. It was a coincidence that Gokudera passed the Gole Fenice headquaters, and saw Hicagen being offered breakfast. However, the blonde refused the offer, and ready to head off to school.
Why did Hicagen refuse the offer? Well, let's just say that on that day, Iguras cooked for everyone, and apparently his cooking was either heavily undercooked or overcooked with some inedible ingredients inside...
Hmm. Tsuna sure has a unique way of being concerned for his friends when in the risk.
A/N: I'M SORRY FOR THIS SUPER LATER UPDATEEEE- (ahem) So. Basically, here's a summary of the things that happened between Vongola and the Ye Shan famiglia:
Ye Shan famiglia is one of the astriocats (If the spelling is wrong, I apologise). Vongola was founded to hunt down astriocats. So they hunted down Ye Shan famiglia, and then when Vongola left, Hua Ming, Yao Jing, Liao Jue and Zhong Yi's resolve to get revenge on the Vongola due to their twisted thinking got them Night Flames.
So... about Hicagen's backstory- it will come at a later time. And as to why the Ye Shan guardians and boss frowned at Zhong Yi... well... it would also come at a later time.
And now. I have to enter a HIATUS mode due to exams coming up and editing the other chapters.
Okay, I hafta go now, sorry for long A/N, bye! Oh and if your exams are coming up too good luck!
RawwrMage (21/4/2014)