Disclaimer: I don't own KHR
Chapter 8: An extremely bright sun
~~~~~Where Tsuna is~~~~~
'Too bad I don't have any earplugs…' Tsuna thought. 'They'd help when Jack chews me out every time I call him.' He shrugged.
"Jack!" he yelled loudly, causing the blonde grim reaper to pop out of nowhere. The teen grumbled and stuffed a manga book into the folds of his robe.
"Where to next?" he said in a bored, resigned voice.
"Where my sun guardian is," Tsuna replied.
"Oh, isn't that the one that yells all the time?" Jack muttered to himself. He shrugged and snapped his fingers, causing the world to spin.
"Can't we do something else for teleportation?" Tsuna asked, feeling nauseous.
"I'll look into it," Jack answered in a tone that sounded like he was saying he would do the exact opposite. "Go have fun. Call again. Or don't. I don't care anymore," Jack said before fading away.
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Maybe if I buy him a manga, he won't get mad at me next time," he muttered before heading off in search of Ryohei.
~~~~~Where Kyoko is~~~~~
Kyoko anxiously watched the door as she cleared her plates and started to wash them in the sink. Her brother had still not returned from his morning jog and he'd left an hour ago. His food was most likely stone cold at this point. She bit her lip as she dried her glass off. Lately, he'd been staying out later and later, and when he came home he'd look like he was ready to collapse.
Tsuna's death had taken its toll on everyone, Kyoko was no exception. She'd cried and holed herself up in her room for an entire day, skipping school which was very uncharacteristic for her. Half of that day she'd spent bawling on the phone with Haru, who'd suggested they get together some time to talk about it. After talking with her friend, Kyoko had picked herself up, realizing that Tsuna would probably not want her to spend her entire life crying.
Unfortunately, her brother seemed to grow more and more distant. At first, he'd tried to be tough, comforting Kyoko as best he could, but she could see that Tsuna's death was extremely hard for her brother to cope with. In fact, Kyoko couldn't remember hearing her brother yell 'EXTREME' since the accident.
Kyoko continued to worry her lip as she wrapped a plastic sheet around her brother's breakfast and stuck it in the fridge. He'd warm it up whenever he got back and she hoped it was soon. She wrote a note on a post it and stuck it on top of the meal saying she'd gone out to buy some groceries and would be back around lunch time. As Kyoko grabbed the money for errands, she cast a long look at the photo stuck to the fridge.
It was a picture of her and Haru along with Tsuna and all his guardians. She'd somehow managed to get them all (excluding Hibari and Gokudera) to smile for a brief second while the picture was taken. 'Onii-san,' she thought. 'Will you smile like that again?'
~~~~~Where Ryohei is~~~~~
How long had he been running? A mile? Two? Ten? Ryohei had lost count a while ago. His feet beat along the sidewalk in a steady rhythm. Left, right, left, right. He was breathing heavily, but he barely noticed it. Ryohei almost crashed into a person walking to work, muttering out a quick apology before continuing, trying to regain his stride. He was too preoccupied with the thoughts swirling through his head.
'Why wasn't I there?' he thought. 'Why couldn't I have skipped practice? For one day, why couldn't I have decided to walk my little brother home?'
~~~~~EXTREME Flashback~~~~~
"Oi, Sawada!" Ryohei jogged up to Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera as they exited the school.
"Oh, onii-san! What's up?" Tsuna asked.
"The boxing club has an EXTREME match tomorrow! I EXTREMELY want you all to come!" Ryohei yelled, raising his bandaged fists into the air.
"I'll be there onii-san," Tsuna said, smiling.
"Haha, me too, senpai!" Yamamoto laughed.
"Che. Well, if the Tenth's going, I will too," Gokudera grumbled, a scowl on his face.
"EXTREME!" Ryohei yelled. "I EXTREMELY have to go to practice! Be careful walking home TO THE EXTREME!" Tsuna and Yamamoto had waved goodbye (Gokudera just crossed his arms and made a 'tsk'ing noise) and Ryohei had ran off to the locker room.
He'd just gotten home from practice when Kyoko ran up to him and shoved him out the door. He was pretty confused, but his blood ran cold when Kyoko said that Tsuna had been in an accident. Ryohei froze for a minute before grabbing Kyoko's wrist and dragging her with him to the hospital.
They both arrived breathing heavily as they had sprinted from their house. Ryohei had seen the grim faces on Gokudera and Yamamoto and Tsuna's mother was burying her face in her hands while the children whispered quietly at her side. Kyoko had burst into tears and buried her face in Ryohei's hoodie while he just stared at Tsuna in shock. He wrapped his arm around Kyoko, the situation not really registering in his mind. How could his boss, who'd gone through so much and been so strong, be taken from the world so easily? It wasn't fair.
'What if,' Ryohei had thought. 'I had walked home with them. What if I had saw the car coming first. What if, what if, what if.' There was one thought that haunted Ryohei.
'What if I could've saved him?'
~~~~~Where Tsuna is~~~~~
He'd been sitting awkwardly on the couch in the Sasagawa house for a while. Even though he knew no one would be able to see him, he still felt extremely out of place. He sighed and ran a hand through his spiky brown hair.
'He's been gone a long time' Tsuna thought. 'Maybe I should go look for him.' Tsuna got off the couch and started to head for the door. He'd just touched the doorknob when it suddenly swung open to admit a very tired looking Ryohei. The sun guardian shuffled to the microwave and shoveled down the cold breakfast before draining a water bottle and tossing his dishes in the sink.
Tsuna vaguely heard him mutter, "I'll wash 'em later." Before Ryohei flopped down on the couch Tsuna had just been sitting on and promptly passed out. Tsuna sweatdropped as he watched Ryohei snore.
His awkward fidgeting grew into concern as he noticed certain things about his guardian. Ryohei had obviously ran a very long distance, and he'd not even bothered to remove his shoes when he'd fallen asleep. The sun guardian's knuckles were also cut up as if he'd spent half the morning at the gym boxing and the treads on his sneakers were almost nonexistent from his extensive training.
'He's acting like Gokudera, though he'd probably get mad if I said that,' Tsuna thought. 'He's going to train himself to death if I don't do something…' Tsuna sighed, drawing a blank on ideas. He threw his hands up and did what little he could.
Tsuna washed all the dishes in the sink, putting them away in the cupboard as well, and mentally congratulated himself on not dropping any. He then got Ryohei's shoes off his feet and adjusted him so he wouldn't wake up with a crick in his neck. Tsuna finally wet a washcloth and placed it on the sun guardian's head to cool him off. He then stood back and wondered what else he could do.
As he pondered, a glint of light shined out of the corner of his eye, drawing Tsuna's attention. The source of the light was the bright yellow ring on Ryohei's finger, his proof of being a Vongola guardian. Tsuna smiled lightly.
"I know it's not much," Tsuna murmured. "But I can do this for you." Tsuna tapped the photo stuck to the fridge, lighting it with his flames. He grinned at the picture of his guardians, his friends, frozen in that one happy moment. He turned back to the unconscious sun guardian. "Don't be sad, onii-san. It 'EXTREMELY' doesn't suit you." Tsuna left wondering where he could buy manga so he wouldn't get yelled at again.
~~~~~30 minutes later~~~~~
Ryohei sat up feeling pleasantly refreshed. He noticed the washcloth lying on his head and sat up holding it. "Kyoko?" he called. There was no response. He glanced at the clock to see that it was still about another hour before she would return home. Ryohei frowned and trudged over to the sink to rinse out his plates, only to find they had been put away already.
He was confused about what was happening, and that certainly wasn't helped when he spotted a burning orange flame on the fridge. So he did what any normal person would do when confronted with a burning object. He reached out and touched it.
Suddenly, he was filled with a sense of peace and happiness, much like what he felt on the day the picture had been taken. His memories of the day flooded back. That day had been beautiful; All of them had gone to the park to mess around and, somehow, Hibari, Mukuro and Chrome had been dragged along. It was a miracle that Hibari didn't bite anyone to death for crowding. Ryohei then heard Tsuna's voice waft through his head.
"Don't be sad, onii-san. It 'EXTREMELY' doesn't suit you." Ryohei could practically see the smile Tsuna would have on his face while he said the words. His eyes hurt from holding back tears.
"Alright, Sawada. I know. Now I'll have to be strong TO THE EXTREME!" He let out a shaky laugh, when he heard the doorknob turn behind him. He gave the picture one last long look before running to the door to help Kyoko with the groceries.
A/N: Ryohei is awesome. And fun to write for. I really liked this chapter, but Ryohei seemed really depressed in it. I guess it fits and all, but it's weird to write for him and not put a lot of "EXTREME" in his sentences. *shrugs*
So I guess the next guardian is Mr. I'll bite you to death. Oh joy. *bangs head on table* askfjdskla I can't write Hibari! :P *goes off to cry in emo corner*
Anywho, I might not to update for a couple weeks. Maybe, maybe not. Let's just see how things play out.
So, please review! Thanks for all the attention this story is getting! :D You are all so aweso-,er..., EXTREME!