Chapter edited April 18th, 2016

By the time Gokudera and Yamamoto arrived at Bel's house, the building was on the fire. The area was cordoned off by police, and fire trucks surrounded the area, but for whatever reason no one was entering the house.

"What the fuck are you doing just standing there?!" Gokudera screamed at the nearest officer as he pointed towards the fire. "Our friend is in there!"

"It's not safe," the officer tried to explain. "There were reports of gunshots and it's too dangerous to send everyone in like this. I'm sorry, but it's a tough situation."

"The fucking house is on fire!" Gokudera yelled. "There's people in there, and these fucking idiots are just standing around while it burns instead of putting it out!"

Before the officer could say anything further, Yamamoto leapt over the barricade and ran into the burning house as he shouted his friend's name. Outside, Gokudera struggled to fight the officer off that had grabbed hold of his jacket wisely to prevent the teenager from running in after his friend.

"Let me go, you asshole!" Gokudera screamed. "I'll fucking –"

"Hayato…"

The silver-haired teenager stopped struggling as he heard a familiar voice. He turned around and came face-to-face with Chrome and Mukuro, both looking as if they were about to cry.

"Mukuro!" Gokudera reached out and pulled the older male close by the other's collar. "Mukuro, where's the Tenth?! Where is he?!"

"Calm down, Hayato…" Mukuro gently pried the younger's hands from his person, and it was then Gokudera noticed the dried blood all over them.

"Mukuro…" Gokudera bit his lip, trying to understand what had happened; there was a fire, and blood on the other's hands, and his best friend was trapped in there and – and… And it was all just so much to take in.

"It seems trouble has followed Bel all the way from Italy…" Mukuro observed as his eyes darted over to the fire.

"What do you mean?" The younger teenager wasn't sure if he wanted to hear this; all he wanted was to know if the Tenth was okay or not.

"They had moved here because there had been a hit put out on all of their lives." It was now Gokudera noticed that Mukuro was holding his side and a large spot of blood was staining his mist-patterned shirt where he was holding; what the hell had happened to him? "They knew they had been found, but there was nothing they could do about it apart from staying hidden as best as they could. But…"

"They were attacked?" Gokudera finished, only to receive a hesitant nod from Chrome at these words.

"M-mukuro-sama…" the girl begun as her hands fumbled over each other, "…Mukuro-sama came back home… H-hurt…"

"I had been down in the kitchen when someone attacked me from behind," Mukuro explained. "I didn't have any time to warn the others; everyone else was upstairs, and I could hear the fighting up there already… I managed to stab the one who attacked me in the stomach and I took that time to run home and call the police…"

"The ambulance is here, too." Chrome pointed out past the fire trucks. "L-lussuria and X-xanxus… They're being t-treated. T-they got out of the house when the fire s-started…"

Gokudera dropped to his knees as he tried to take in everything that was happening; someone had attacked the others, and Yamamoto had stupidly run inside after Tsuna? …But wasn't that what he was about to do before the cop had held him back..? Could he really be angry at his friend for risking his life for Tsuna when he himself wanted nothing more than to do the same?

In fact, it seemed as if Yamamoto's boldness to protect Tsuna only made Gokudera appreciate him all the more.

"Fran is in there somewhere…" Mukuro mumbled, and the stress became evident in his heterochromatic eyes. "He was with Belphegor and Tsuna when I went downstairs. I… I don't know… what to expect…"

Fuck… Gokudera could feel tears welling up in his eyes, terrified for his friends' safety. Tenth… Yamamoto… You'd both better come out of this alive… I swear…

~~Yamamoto~~

The teen could barely see where he was going from all of the smoke, but he could hear someone screaming from upstairs. Yamamoto followed the noise up the stairs, holding his blue jacket over his mouth so he could try and avoid inhaling the smog. He ducked and jumped back as a smouldering piece of roof fell to where he had just been standing, and he knew he had to be careful; if he wasn't, he could die any second now.

It didn't take long for Yamamoto to get upstairs, but with the smoke blocking his vision, it was hard to tell just how far he had gone before he tripped over a body laying still on the corridor floor. He leant down and did his best to clear the smoke from his vision, and he could only just make out the silver hair that he knew belonged to Squalo. He reached out to place a finger against Squalo's neck and was relieved to feel a slight pulse – one that meant he was still alive, but would die soon enough if the teenager didn't get help.

I'll come back for you, Squalo – I promise. Yamamoto stood back up and continued down the hallway, finally arriving outside the room where the cries were coming from. He almost couldn't open the door; something heavy was stopping it from opening, so he gathered up all of the strength he could muster and kicked at it. He was thankful that whatever had been blocking the door was able to be moved, even if it were only just enough for him to squeeze through the small opening he was left with. When he entered the room, he found that the roof here was collapsing, too, and the falling debris was what had almost stopped him from getting in. This room didn't look as bad as the rest of the house; perhaps it had been on the other side of the building from where the fire had started.

Tsuna was sitting on a desk by an open window and was cradling Fran as they both struggled to keep breathing. From the looks of things, Tsuna had a bit of blood on his face and shirt, and a few burns on his hands, whereas Fran's clothing had been taken off him and there were splashes of blood on the insides of his thighs.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto was quick to take his jacket from his face and instead hand it to the other two. He took Fran from his friend as he helped the brunet to his feet and said, "Tsuna, Squalo's unconscious in the hallway. I think he's still alive – we've got to get him out."

Tsuna nodded. He was very unsteady on his feet and had to use Yamamoto as a support as they crossed the room. He was able to get through the door by himself, crawling through the gap that had been created.

Yamamoto cradled Fran with one arm and allowed the boy use his shirt to filter the smoke. With his other arm, he leant down to pick up Squalo. Tsuna slipped his shoulder beneath the man's right arm for support, helping carry him out of the house. When they got out into the fresh air and a few paramedics came to take the ones who had been trapped in the building back to an ambulance, Mukuro approached Yamamoto with a worried look on his face.

"Did you not find Belphegor?"

Yamamoto's mouth dropped open as he realised he had forgotten all about the blond – but how was he supposed to explain that to Mukuro? "…I… I-I…" He turned back to look at the house, trying to decide if he would be able to get back in and out of there as safely as he just had, but before he could even make his mind up, the structure of the house begun to collapse and the right side of it begun caving in.

The Namimori Middle student hated to hear the horrified sounds Mukuro and Chrome made, but before they could say anything, emergency service workers approached them. Yamamoto pointed back to the house as he exclaimed, "My friend is still in there somewhere!"

There was nothing the teens could do, and while Mukuro and Chrome were too distraught to see what was happening any longer and had to leave the scene, Yamamoto distracted himself by going to the ambulances and checking on the others. The first one he came to, he found Xanxus and Lussuria sitting on one of the beds, with a few pieces of gauze on their faces and some blood on their clothing, but otherwise looking fine.

"Are you guys okay?" Yamamoto was almost afraid to hear the answer; look at what had happened to them…

"Hmph." Xanxus narrowed his eyes as if he couldn't stand the idea of being thought of as weak enough to not be able to handle himself. "Trash was nothing."

"We're fine, dear." Lussuria gestured to their bodies, but despite what he had just said, he didn't sound fine; he sounded as if he were about to cry. "The blood isn't ours. But Mammon… I'm afraid… Mammon's gone…"

"Why'd you run?" Yamamoto didn't mean to sound accusing, or as if he were blaming the others for what had happened; he was simply trying to understand how they could leave their friends behind and get out of the house without helping the others. "You left everyone else behind."

"Shut up, trash," Xanxus snarled. "You wouldn't know anything about it."

"We didn't run." Lussuria rubbed at his wet eyes; talking about this wasn't easy for him, Yamamoto could see. "We chased off the ones attacking us, but before we could get back inside there was an explosion. It was too dangerous for us, but we trusted Squalo to take care of the kids. Mammon… Mammon must have been cornered, though; she… She took her own life… When we found her before… before we were attacked… Mammon…"

Yamamoto hated to see the man so distraught, but what could he do? Nothing, except stand here and listen.

"Where's the blond trash?" Xanxus looked over at the other two ambulances a small distance away from their own. "I didn't see him being brought over with the others."

"…I couldn't find him…" Yamamoto whispered.

Xanxus said nothing, but Lussuria's tears came harder now. "Oh, my poor baby! Bel-chan!"

Yamamoto couldn't bear to see the man's pain any longer; after what had just happened, it was too much for him. He quietly excused himself so that he could check on Tsuna, and though he felt bad, he knew he shouldn't; he needed to look after himself first, and seeing the way Lussuria was clearly so devastated was something he couldn't deal with right now.

The teen moved to the next ambulance, and here he found Gokudera already resting by Tsuna's side with a look of worry on his face.

"Yo, Tsuna." Yamamoto's voice lacked the cheerful tone it usually held, replaced instead by one of sadness. "How are you feeling?"

Tsuna shook his head. "I'm fine… But…"

Yamamoto glanced at Gokudera and, from the look the silver-haired teenager's face held, he didn't force Tsuna to continue talking. It was when the silver-haired teenager stood up and gestured for Yamamoto to follow him did the taller male really become worried; what did the other want to talk about he couldn't say in front of the brunet?

Once the two had found peace together a distance away from the congregation, Gokudera started speaking in an unusually strained voice.

"You're such a stupid idiot for going in like that, you know...?" Gokudera looked at the ground and bit his lip. "You could have died… Stupid…"

Yamamoto reached out to wrap his arms around his friend in a soothing manner. "But I didn't. I'm fine. Tsuna's fine, too. Don't worry about it."

Gokudera shook his head. "Tenth's not fine…"

"What do you mean?" Yamamoto frowned.

"…He told me about it… What he saw…"

Yamamoto gulped, unsure if he wanted to hear the rest or not.

"…It…" Gokudera felt tears well up in his eyes as his compassion for his beloved Tsuna made him feel as if he had been there in the brunet's place. "…It must have been… horrible… They… They attacked them… Bel... Bel tried… he tried, but… Tsuna said… Tsuna said his blood was everywhere… Fran wouldn't stop crying, and… And they… they… God, it's so sick…! They raped Fran, Yamamoto…! And all Tsuna could do was watch…"

Yamamoto closed his eyes, not knowing who he felt sorrier for; Tsuna, for having witnessed such things, or Fran for having been forced into something so cruel.

"Tsuna said…" Gokudera stopped talking so he could wipe at his eyes. "…Tsuna said that when… When Squalo got there… The fighting was horrible… Tsuna took Fran and hid in the closet, but… Apparently Squalo was outnumbered… He got cut down and the others took Bel… After that, you got there…"

Yamamoto wrapped his arms tighter around Gokudera, trying to bring comfort to the other. He didn't initiate anything, knowing the other teenager was most likely in shock from having been told about what his best friend had experienced so, when hot lips pressed against his, he was rather surprised.

Yamamoto pulled away and whispered, "Gokudera…?"

"Please… Just kiss me…" the smaller male whispered back with a pleading look. "…I… Today was going so well… And now…"

"It's okay…" Yamamoto ran a hand through silver hair as he smiled gently at Gokudera. "It's going to be okay, I'm sure of it."

Gokudera pressed himself back against the younger male and shivered as strong arms wrapped around him. He returned the embrace and whispered, "…I think… I love you… Takeshi…"

Yamamoto, who didn't need to think about his own feelings, said, "I know I love you, Hayato. Let's get back to Tsuna, okay?"

Gokudera nodded. He slipped his hand into Yamamoto's larger one, not caring for what anyone thought about it; today was pressing on all of them; it was only natural he wanted comfort.