Protecting, Vice Versa
Chapter 19: Day 2 onwards with Hidden Malice. (Part 1)
A/N: I've been having a writer's block for a damn long time and I'm sorry I left this story hanging. I'll try to make something but I know you guys will throw stuff at me anyway ;w;
By the way, it's still winter in the story.
So enjoy~
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the storyline. Katekyo Hitman Reborn belongs to Amano Akira.
*Lampo, Knuckle, Asari group*
Nom nom nom.
A day of hard work deserves good food, yes?
For us, especially, us poor tutors, and especially me, that have to teach our juniors just because we have a history in terms of skills!
*munch, munch*
Aren't we to be pitied?
Ahh.
*stares*
*munch, munch, munch*
Ain't the breeze of winter too cold?
*staresssss*
And our greedy juniors yet, still, asks for more.
"No."
Jerk.
"A...hahaha... why... do only you guys get to eat?"
"B-because you're robbing our rare free days to tutor you-"
"Aren't your free days everyday?!"
Knuckle spat a fish bone out from his mouth, as if he had nearly choked on it.
He leaned up from his meal.
"Not really, as on some days we have to help Giotto with extreme paperwork-"
"What EXTREME paperwork?"
"...erm... it's extremely hard to explain..."
The three juniors stared at their seniors happily munching away on their bentos, with their hunger gradually increasing along with the number of seconds ticking by.
Perk.
"Aren't you guys just the image of time engraved into the ring? Why the need to eat?"
"Because we... we used to be humans!"
"...it's extremely legit!"
"Err... I don't think it really is."
The three living humans and three images shared 4 logs that formed a square, and in the middle a fire raged on, illuminating the supposed darkness around them for it was still dawn, to keep themselves warm from the chill of that winter morning.
Twitch.
"Lambo-sama is hungry!"
"Ahaha, my stomach is grumbling as well."
"EXTREME... hunger."
Swish. A river flowed behind them, with irregularities in it's path caused by rocks that obstructed the supposedly clear path of the slightly rapid torrent, as fishes occasionally flew and slammed their bodies against bolders due to conflicting currents-
"Wait. Repeat that third segment one more time?"
I said, - as fishes occasionally flew and slammed their bodies against bolders due to conflicting currents-
"Fish?"
Fish.
"Really?"
Yes.
They turned their heads to look.
Swish. Only three rocks were in view, but the strong flow of water crashed itself against those three, creating a slightly large splash.
Splash, splash, splash.
Ploop.
A fish plopped up.
Silence.
"FISHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ahh, well, there they go. Stripping off their shirts, putting a blue pail (wherever it came from) by the riverbank, pants still on and all, and the next thing you know, they're in the flowing waters.
Leaving a 6 year old cow behind rolling around on the log in the agony of a empty stomach.
"Lambo."
The Lightning Guardian looked up, eyes half open with his energy sapped from the lack of both his meals and candy.
In the blur of his eyes, he saw Asari, who, apparently, had not touched his meal, smiling down at his petite figure.
"Lambo, shall we go collect sticks together to have a small meal over a mini campfire?"
'Small meal' The cow's eyes blinked open. Meal. The word he had been wanting to hear.
Instantly, his head came bobbing up and down, his afro following suit, and his green eyes sparkled once again, thought the lack of energy refrained him from speaking.
And so the two left.
And two remained at the logs, awkwardly sitting by the campfire, eating their meals slowly for they had nothing better to do.
"Umm, so, what should we do now?"
"...so, what did you catch?"
Yamamoto looked down at the pail full of seafood delicacies, some still alive and twitching to catch at least one more breath for one more second of their lives, some still, motionless, and ready to be barbecued.
So they checked the contents of the pail.
First thing: A crab.
"A... crab?"
"Furthermore it's a king crab..."
"Well, it'd be EXTREMELY filling."
So they put the wriggling king crab back, and took out the second item.
Kelp.
"I don't think it's extremely edible."
Thus it was thrown back to it's home.
The third item was taken out.
Sea urchin.
"Woah woah woah WHAT WAIT SOMEONE GET IT'S SPIKES OFF BEFORE IT PRICKS PEOPLE!"
Knuckle was assigned to the job. Pluck.
4th thing. Sea cucumber.
"..."
5th thing, live octopus.
"?!"
6th thing, jelly fish.
"?!"
7th thing, red grouper-
"IS THIS RIVER CONNECTED TO THE SEA OR SOMETHING?!"
Well, you get the idea on the contents of the pail.
"But what happened to the idea of fish?"
...well, who knows.
Coincidentally, Lambo and Asari came back from their stick collecting campaign.
Thus they washed the sticks the two had collected before stabbing the foodstuff through it.
And they put a grill over the fire they had made to keep themselves warm. Somehow.
Well, unknowingly, morning had turned into late afternoon, however the meal to be seemed hearty enough to conquer their hunger gathered over their supposed breakfast and lunch, as well as their dinner.
And so they grilled.
Surprisingly, the salt from the slightly salty waters of the river served well as seasoning, and the smell of it was not something anybody could resist.
Munch.
"THIS- IS- EXTREMELY GOOD TO THE EXTREMEEEEE!"
"I think this is probably more worth it then the bento!"
"Hahaha, you think so, Asari-san?"
"THIS IS THE FEAST LAMBO-SAMA DESERVES!" (Lambo got back his energy.)
Lampo stared at it, his eyes sparkling in delight at the sizzling delights.
"No."
That one word crushed his hopes. (And dreams. Of a grand barbecue.)
"But why? Knuckle didn't help as much as the great Lampo-sama-"
"He plucked the freaking spikes off the nice sea urchin, while you only rested there!"
Well, he feasted on their bentos without sharing (as well as the bentos of the other two while they were busy), so nothing can be done about it.
"..."
Thus, their training (in a way) ended up being quite useful. (Enduring the strong currents, managing to catch the rapidly passing goods, training their instincts while focusing to keep their balance in the rapid stream.)
"WAIT!"
"?"
"What's wrong, Asari-san?"
"We... barely trained at all today..."
"...Oh yeah."
It doesn't seem like Asari treats the catching of food at the raging river as training.
Then the translucent figure stood up swiftly, crossing his arms in annoyance as the time wasted was crucial to the amount of strength they could acquire. They only had a week and their juniors had to gather enough power to battle a famiglia with a monster-like strength gathered up over centuries. Furthermore, they were beaten down so badly just a few days before...
As if sensing the 1st generation's Rain Guardian's thoughts, the mood of the whole group turned for the worst.
"But that means that tomorrow will be double the training!"
Now they looked into the 1st generation's Rain Guardian's face.
"If today we barely trained, that means that we just have to do double tomorrow. And if tomorrow we barely train again, the day after the next would be quadrupled training."
The group, being idiots, got this idiot-proof explanation.
"YEAHHHHH!"
"For now, let's just enjoy this nice meal."
While the others ate, thought not as loud and crazy as their usual meals, one that was loud but now in a slightly more isolated side chewed silently on his grilled octopus.
Day 3, night, the mortal group was seen sleeping, their bodies covered with bruises, while their rings laid beside them, seemingly surrounded by an aura similar to a devil.
But one person wasn't sleeping too well despite his lack of energy, with his fist full of scratches and bruises clutched tighter than ever, to the extent his supposedly closed wounds opened up again.
While blood slowly trickled out, his mouth crunched up and he breathed a shaky breath out saying one name;
"Kyoko... I would definitely... get your friends back."
Slam.
"Tch-! Give me back my box weapon already! Our friends lives are at stake- dammit!"
In the middle of a huge, cold, and dark grey lab filled with blueprints and yellow-ed paper, there were but two figures.
A scientist and an extremely pissed off Gokudera.
"But there's nothing you can do without your box weapons."
"! ...I still have-"
"Your dynamites? What use do they have against such an enemy?"
"..."
"Shove it up their ass and give 'em a good blast of an ass fuck?" *nosebleed*
"..."
The silverette sighed. He knew that usually he'd be hot headed by now, but the doctor's perverted reminded him of the dangers the kidnapped are being exposed to. (Girls in a room full of weird men are...)
He even tried to contact the old dude who made the arcobaleno pacifier container to try to locate the flames of the ancient and lame immortal people, however, somehow he couldn't be contacted.
"Tch... I wish there was some way I could use my dynamites or at least train..."
For the first time, the usually hot-blooded Storm Guardian was passive enough to wish for something passive besides being "Juudaime's only right-hand man". (Which can be both active and passive). It may have been due to him accidentally overhearing the past of the scientist, it may be his own frustration at his inability to do anything, it could have been anything. But this was a kind of anxiety that he had hardly felt. Why was this so- the bomber questioned himself, repeating it in his mind quite a few times.
He silently stood up and walked out of the scientist's lab, the scientist himself feeling quite surprised at the silverette's attitude in the middle of making modifications to said person's box weapon.
He had used Byakuran's travelling machine to transport himself over to where the scientist currently resided for research, China. (The marshmallow lover gave him an extra mini one for him to travel back.)
The research lab resided in the corners of a busy market place, and since he had nothing to do now and had a couple of 人民币 (China's currency, Ren min bi), he thought he'd might as well see what's here instead of wasting his time in that stupid, old lab.
He bought a few rings (that seemed quite intricate, and the red stones on them looked suspiciously familiar...), some food like gyoza (dumplings, can be both fried and steamed) along with a few other street foods, and more.
Sure, the food was nice, steaming hot, however with the current situation he was in, his tastebuds couldn't react like they were supposed to...
For people not involved in this dispute, furthermore girls and even... , to end up getting kidnapped because of us... shit!
He kicked a wall (his hands were full with half-eaten food), the thought of the two, especially Haru, being in a place without protection...
"Ah. It's not the same without annoying girls and someone's irritating words-!"
He kicked the wall again, leaving a crack there.
In a bad mood, he wandered off, lost in thoughts, while people who passed by looked at him with curiosity.
Somehow, he wandered and walked till he noticed- he was now at an isolated and secluded place near some forest.
Noticing that he had mindlessly wandered, as well as that his food had gone cold, he grumbled even more, as he turned around and headed back-
"Go... Gokudera-san?"
He flinched. Without looking back, the owner of the voice he immediately identified was-
"Baka-onna!?"
He turned around quickly thinking that she was there, in the forest he was right in front of- but there was no one.
His eyes narrowed softly.
"It was my imagination... there's no way that baka-onna would be here-"
"Hahi?! I walked to the front of you and you said I'm not there?!"
The silverette's eyes widened, and he swiftly turned back; to see the familiar face, the bright hazel eyes, as well as the pout she often gave.
"Haru!"
"Hahi-! That's one time you haven't called be baka-onna!"
"...Haru, wait-" He slapped himself. "This... isn't a dream, is it?! I thought you were kidnapped?!"
Haru looked down slightly.
"Haru... did get kidnapped. By a few big, scary, and weird guys."
"Then how are you here-!"
"But Haru was allowed to walk around freely, because; from what I heard, there was no chance of any of you being here in China." She took a breath- "and even if we wanted to escape, we can't get back to Japan without our passports and money."
Gokudera nodded. "You're right..." he blinked. "What about the other one?!"
Haru smiled a bit. "She's okay, just that she had rather stayed in the famiglia's base; she said she were in no mood to go out."
The Storm Guardian sighed in relief- to see that the hostages were unharmed, it was a considerably better situation, and even more so when he realised;
"Then why don't the two of you escape now that I'm here?"
Haru smiled hearing the word 'escape', then blinked.
"Hahi! Thinking about it, how did you get here, Gokudera-san?!"
"I used Byakuran's transportation device."
"That's an idea! Then Haru shall go back to get the two of them!"
Gokudera grinned, his eyes resting on the running figure in front of him. Not only will Juudaime be proud of him, but it would also be a clear advantage. For him too; his mind could be cleared of whatever that would have bothered him.
Haru ran excitedly, her cheeks growing pink from excitement, smiling-
Only to bump into the chest of a bigger figure.
"I'm afraid that would not be happening."
The heavy accent made Gokudera flinch. It was one of them, his name he had forgotten, but he knew for sure he was one of the masterminds behind the kidnapping.
"You-!"
"Ah... I was sure there would be none of our opponents so far out from Japan, but I had forgotten technology had advanced."
The man cackled in a monotone voice, without emotions, without much concern for the world outside that he did not know.
He grinned.
"Looks like we'd have to switch methods."
His arm circled around the neck of the girl, tugging and dragging her.
The silverette flinched, and tried to pursue the two, only to be stopped by some kind of invisible barrier of Night Flames.
Haru struggled, but she knew her strength was too little for rebelling, and instead used her remaining time where her voice could still be heard by the silverette;
"Gokudera-kun, don't give up."
They vanished into the darkness of the forest, the barrier of Night Flames disappearing as well.
The Storm Guardian, who could only stare and rely on his ears, quickly regained his composure and ran into the direction the man dragged Haru to.
"HARU-"
But it was no use. They had gone, probably through the same method they had disappeared from school.
"Shit...!"
The rest of the day, the silverette didn't go back to the lab. Innocenti ignored that, and only continued working on his current project; he knew the Storm Guardian would come back to retrieve his box weapon. In the first place, he couldn't be of any help to increase the offensive power of the bomber.
His high IQ would work something out on it's own.
Day 3, the scientist woke up, had his morning cappuccino, and read the newspaper that was often delivered to his doorstep. (It was in Chinese but he could read it anyway.)
In the middle of the pages, an article read; "Strange bombings in the forest!"
He briefly read some sections of the article to confirm his suspicions.
"...fast paced bombings... intricate attacks as if trying to kill someone..."
He sighed.
"That hot-headed asshole. Does he need dynamites to replace his balls?!" *nosebleeds*
He looked back at his table, where the uncompleted box weapon laid, cleaning away the blood trickling down onto his lips with his hand.
"...since that asshole is throwing his balls away for this, I'd better put in some effort too."
Unknowingly, the two had supported and motivated each other with their unique willpower.
A/N: I shall apologise again for the 1 year delay ;-; I'm also too busy to edit the whole story, so I'll take that off the description. The next chapter is going to take some time again, but I'll do my best to get it out within a month.
By the way, there are hidden implications in here. Can you spot them? ;)
ALSOOO promoting my other more active fanfic, Psycho Personnel. I just edited a chapter and recently added a new chapter. Check it out if you have the time? ;)
Hope you enjoyed this!
RawwrMage (20/08/15)