Protecting, vice versa
Chapter 21: Daybreak, Minibreak, Outbreak
A/N: By the way, minibreak is a proper word; it can be another word for getaway, weekends and such.
So, I've planned this about a few weeks ago but had no time to write. I apologize.
Also, I guess some of you noticed that Gokudera disappeared during the discussion so here's what happened;
"Now that we've settled almost everyone's except for Tsuna's and Gokudera's..." Yamamoto gazed at the list, an innocent yet slightly serious gaze covering the brown hue of his eyes.
The bomber blinked, and suddenly a person's name got into his head.
"Juudaime. Juudaime."
In his haste (of excitement), the silverete quickly scribbled down a name on a separate piece of paper, and gave it to his beloved boss. Thrusting the slightly crumpled piece of paper into Tsuna's hands, and without waiting for a reply, used his Sistema C.A.I to fly off into the sky.
The rest could only stare.
"What's in that EXTREME paper, Sawada?" The boxer questioned, interested in it's contents.
The brunette only smiled.
"A name."
So, Gokudera disappeared to find who? You'll find out soon!
As for now, enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except for the storyboard. Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira.
20XX, Namimori Forest, Namimori, Japan
A certain boxer, swordsman and cow, after shaking and shaking and shaking their rings, and after finally getting the Rain, Sun and Lightning 1st Generation guardians out, they finally decided planning on their training.
"Fight." Lambo suggested, deadpanning while digging his nose. As always.
"Fight." Yamamoto's eyes sharpened, however not like the first time he fought Asari.
"FIGHT TO THE EXTREME!" And the last decision was screamed out by none other than Ryohei.
The answers, though baseless, had their real meaning seen through by the (obviously) smarter 1st gen guardians.
And the 1st gen guardians currently present nodded.
"Okay, then. Now let the examination begin."
An hour or so later, the three from the modern times were caught defeated, laying down on the ground, panting as if there were no tomorrow. Well, their bruises did seem like there was no tomorrow for them.
OKAY, just kidding, just kidding, they aren't in a critical state now.
Ryohei was currently too tired to heal them as well. To the extreme he went, to the extreme he fought, and to the extreme was he defeated.
Lambo was slowly taking out the candy wrappers surrounded by his all time favorite grape candy. Well, candies were worth his life, so why not endure the pain to eat it?- was his mentality.
Yamamoto was just- being Yamamoto. There's just no other way to explain it but Yamamoto.
Well- now the 1st gen guardians have taken out a notebook and a pen. And surprisingly, both items were modern, not some feather pen or something.
Growl.
Ryohei looked down at his stomach.
"I'm hungry to the-" And the boxer paused for sometime.
Growl.
"-EXTREMEEEEEE!"
The 1st gen guardians looked up.
Lampo was the first one to speak, his lazy voice on as usual; "Well, go to the city or something. We don't have food here."
Then the group looked down at their bodies.
"Our wounds. They'll drag us to hospital when we have a short training period of one week." Yamamoto spoke up, feeling a bit tight on the schedule.
Asari chuckled.
"We're ghosts. You'll have to come inside your rings for food. Then your rings would be at risk, being out in an open space in the middle of nowhere."
Ryohei's and Yamamoto's cheek each had one teardrop rolling down.
Until they spotted Lambo still chewing on his candy, slowly.
And they reached their hands out.
And Lambo still continued chewing.
And the stole the candies.
...
Shit be getting real.
"GIVE LAMBO-SAN BACK MY CANDIES!"
"LEARN TO SHARE! (TO THE EXTREME!)"
A silverette stumbles into the basement of some mechanical room.
"I-Innocenti-san?"
He stammered out loud, seeing a figure clad in white residing in a comfy looking chair.
"Yea- wait, who are YOU?"
The figure retorted, hearing the unfamiliar voice.
The bomber simply shook his head, his silver hair whipping around his slightly agonized face.
"P-please upgrade my SISTEMA C.A.I!"
"...what?"
Gokudera blinked.
"You heard me, p-please upgrade my SISTEMA C.A.I!"
"...no no no, I'm not asking you to repeat the question again."
And he blinked again.
"Then what was that 'what' for?"
"It meant...
...what on earth is "SISTEMA C.A.I"?"
And the two stared at each other.
"...oh yeah, you're the ten year younger Innocenti. Oh well."
"...what?"
"STOP WHAT-TING ME!"
While checking through the silverette's box weapon, the scientist, famed in the future for being one of the three developers of box weapons, asked questions to kill time for the bomber.
"Just now you were saying that I'm a ten year younger self." Innocenti piped up while Gokudera just took out a cigarette.
The silverette looked up.
"Yes, I did travel and get stuck in the future before. With Juudaime and his other guardians." He replied, before whipping out a lighter.
"Juudaime?"
"The humble and respectable upcoming 10th boss of Vongola."
Innocenti stopped his scan on SISTEMA C.A.I.
"Let me presume. Your famiglia got into some problem with another stronger famiglia, and now you want me to make you stronger?"
Gokudera's cigarette dropped out.
"Wow, you figured all that out?" The silverette glanced up at the scientist, who had slumped back down in his chair.
"It's evident, the scan shows it all. Especially when this box weapon failed to cover all gaps."
The Storm Guardian snorted, but his eyes showed a glimpse of his real emotion-
"Especially when regret is shining off your eyes."
Gokudera sat up, about to retort with something rejecting that statement, but then-
beep beep beep, beep beep beep~ Master!
A chibi maid with twitching cat ears popped out.
The scan is complete~
The bomber stared at it, and one of his hairs fell onto his face.
"..."
"Uh oh, I wanted to hide it. Ehehe, don't you find this cute-"
"YOU PEDOPHILE!"
"Just when I found you quite respectable too..."
The two were now trudging along some secret underground lane constructed in Innocenti's laboratory.
The scientist grumbled. "Please forget about that. For my pride."
"YOUR PRIDE MY ASS! YOU'VE THROWN IN AWAY THE MOMENT YOU MADE THAT CHIBI!"
"...okay, okay, fine. Anyway, on to the results."
The scientist paused in his tracks, and leaned against one of the silver walls. Taking out SISTEMA CAI, Innocenti twirled the cube-shaped box around his fingertips.
"Firstly, I finally believe that you went to the future to get this- it's one of my future, yet incomplete plans."
"...well, obviously. My TYL self had it and figured it out."
"Secondly..."
The scientist glared at Gokudera.
"Fight me."
The air fell still.
"...Hah?"
"Fight me."
"What are you saying, old ma-"
"Fight me."
Gokudera took one step back, before sighing helplessly.
"Why?"
The spectacles of the scientist gleamed, and he only answered a few seconds later.
"I'll like to test you, and train you if you're not worthy of your title."
The bomber's face had a momentary wash of disbelief, but his cool farce hopped up again.
"Why?" The Storm Guardian retorted, skipping the emotion of surprise and instead doubting and dwelling on the fighting abilities of the scientist. "You're just a scientist-"
"I am not just a scientist."
Innocenti blurted out hastily, and realizing that he had, once again, lost his composure, immediately straightened his back and tilted his glasses back up, so that it rested nicely on his nose bridge.
Gokudera didn't prompt any questions about the reaction, and only nodded his head to the scientist's first question.
To this, the scientist grinned, grinding his teeth a little, trying to block out memories in the midst of it.
"Next up, Number 10784."
Hesitation filled up in him, but he still had to go forward anyway.
He took a step-
"NUMBER 10784!"
-and quickened his pace.
Standing in front of a metal chair, he twitched nervously.
Why was he here? Mama and Papa had only said it was a path to make him stronger. Mama and Papa had only said that it was for the future. Mama and Papa had only said-
-everything with a scrunched up face and red eyes.
He knew that they were only trying to put up a farce. Nothing could ever escape his detection.
But he knew the place he got sent to was nothing good.
"Number 10784, sit on the chair."
He did as he was told.
"Put on the metal bracelet."
Slipped it on.
It wasn't exactly the right size for his wrist, but his instincts told him it was good that way.
Earlier before, he had heard screams echoing out from the soundproof room.
It was terrifying.
And it seemed that this bracelet was the one that caused all the trouble.
Taking that his wrist didn't touch the entire circumference of the bracelet, he could feel nothing but a hint of gladness.
While staring at the bracelet, a projector came down in front of him. On it was... a man wearing a lab coat?
"Hello, person."
He cringed. Person? Was he not calling him by his name? Names are a sign of love, Mama and Papa had said.
So he shouldn't expect any form of love from this person.
"Do you know why you are sitting here today?"
He shook his head. No one ever told him why.
"Well, assuming that you don't know, here's the reason:"
A crude smile came up.
"Someone had done something bad to us, and you are the one who has to bear the consequences."
Young Innocenti could only stare and listen on.
"So you have to serve us."
His eyes were glued.
"And you have to become stronger for us."
Not in interest.
"So we shall give you strength-"
Not in suspense.
"-and if you don't survive it, you're useless to our society."
But in fear.
The next moment, his feet and arms were clawed and locked to the chair.
"Well, as for this 'test', good luck."
A click sound was heard.
Intense heat started rushing up his arm.
And spread to his whole body.
It happened so fast, and only a few seconds later was his brain and body able to register that pain.
The video continued playing, but besides the words 'Adding flames to..." and "Unlocking your flames...", he couldn't register anything else.
And in his mind, the only thing he was thinking about was...
"Mama... Papa..."
With a flash, Innocenti sat up from his bed, beats of perspiration flowing down his skin.
Grumbling, he reached out for his forehead, and pushed up his fringe.
"This dream again..."
His past was tragic; his mum and dad had to loan money from the mafia just to support their family, who lived in slums. Just because they couldn't play the famiglia back, he was captured, and they bought out his flames with force.
It hurt. So much.
And the famiglia that tortured him was none other than Vongola.
It was not only till later then he realized that he was tortured by the people in Vongola who joined the mafia just for their twisted sense of justice, and that Nono had them hung immediately.
To thank Nono for making sure kids like him would never appear again, he started working for the Vongola, and with his high IQ and EQ, he worked his way up to the top scientists by studying day in day out.
It was tiring, but now he was in a position where he could enjoy life.
His parents?
Never saw them again.
Sighing out the pain in his heart, he lay back down on his mattress, turning towards the side to enjoy his well-earned rest time.
Unknowingly, he had spoken out his thoughts in his sleep.
Unknowingly, his tears had came out, mixing with his perspiration.
Unknowingly, Gokudera had heard it all.
A/N: I'm sorry, but I'm gonna end it here; halfway through the story. You see, my exams are coming up.
So await the next chapter! (Tsuna and Checkerface swag.)
RawwrMage (7/8/2014)
P.S: Sorry, but no reviewer replies for now o^o