Hello everyone, Naintarlow checking in.
Thank you, everyone, for all the reviews and support, it's nice to be appreciated.
In retrospect, I'm glad I stopped the previous chapter where I did because if I tried to write this whole chapter as a whole it would be around 20k, which a little scary, thinking aloud that I almost wrote a chapter that long.
Still, things are starting to heat up and I can't wait to see where we end up. And in the background more players began to move.
Currently, I'm rereading the Katekyo Hitman Reborn manga (I'm at the rainbow representative arc) and then I plan to reread Rosario Vampire. Hopefully, I am able to finish them before I reach the summer arc(s), where I plan to play around so to speak (evil laugh in the distance)
Enanza: You can't see me but I'm doing a victory dance. I beat the evil autocorrect.
I was not sure where to stop the chapter but then I thought if it was an anime where it would be the most annoying part to stop to keep you all in suspense. Guess it worked.
I like Yukari as a character, her whole place in Tsukune's harem on the other hand always felt like a comical relief than anything else. I hope you like how I dealt with her crush. On that note, despite what I said at the beginning of the story, Tsukune lost another harem member.
Considering in canon Omote also held feelings for Tsukune, you threw me in a loop with this question. All I can say, that I probably will figure out by the time this becomes relevant. Though now I envisioned an epic Tsuna vs Issa for the right of Akasha's hand.
Yes, Tsuna's illness is directly related to flames, but it will be a combination of things, so I plan to mislead you guys for a while.
Guess, I should stop, before it once again becomes another long author note.
Chapter 6: Love is in the air
"I'm so sorry." said Moka, looking up at Tsuna with teary eyes. The two of them were standing in an empty corridor, just after homeroom ended. Kurumu dragged Tsukune away for somewhere, leaving the two of them alone when the pink-haired girl meekly asked to speak with him.
"For what?" he asked, feeling completely lost. It was not a new feeling, most of his life he felt lost around girls, especially Kyoko during middle school, but that was not the usual around Moka.
The vampire was very nervous, constantly fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, not meeting his eyes. She was like this since around the middle of homeroom, where she almost jumped out of her desk from shock as she noticed something.
"Moka-" he tried to say something to the girl to comfort her, but was cut off by the vampire.
"I lost your ring, I mean I lost Natsu." she began to ramble, not even stopping to breathe, as if she even stopped for one second she wouldn't be able to say anymore."He was with me in the morning, and I wore it on a chain around my neck, so I could keep it safe. But when class started, I noticed him missing and I looked at everyone and I don't know where he could be and I didn't mean to, it meant a lot to me that you trusted me with your ring, but I lost it and I'm sorry." she closed her eyes as if excepting to be hit. Her eyes opened wide when she felt a hand on her head, gently patting her. Looking at her friend, she found Tsuna smiling softly at her.
"Is that all? I already knew about that" he asked her with an amused look on his face. At her disbelieving expression, he elaborated."You have to remember, though he stays in his ring most of the time, Natsu is a living being. You couldn't have lost him if he didn't want to. Even though he is a shy, big scaredy-cat most of the time, he could be very stubborn if he decided on something and little else could dissuade him from it. People told me, Natsu and I are very similar." he told her with a fond smile."I already sensed when he let himself be 'lost' and I do know who has him, so don't worry about it."
"Than you are not angry?" asked Moka with a hopeful tone, already looking like she lost a great weight from her shoulders.
"Of course not. Natsu is just being his usual self." Tsuna said cryptically, before the vampire embraced him, picking him off the ground and twirling him around in happiness.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she chanted, either not noticing or not caring about the very close proximity of their bodies.
"Moka...strength..." wheezed out Tsuna, gulping in precious air as he was released. Sometimes that girl seriously forgot about her strength.
- 0-
"Thank you so much, you really saved me." gushed Yukari as she thanked Moka with stars in her eyes.
It was lunch break and the gang was sitting at their usual table, eating lunch where Yukari found and joined them. Kurumu was missing, according to Tsukune, she was held back by her homeroom teacher, because of her low exam scores.
Tsukune gaped at the young witch, head tilted in confusion, while Moka sat there, blushing slightly, caught completely off-guard by the adoration aimed at her. Tsuna, on the other hand, was left unaffected, calmly eating his lunch, beef ramen. Despite this being a school for monsters, he had found that both their Japanese and western foods are surprisingly good, compared to the outward appearance of the whole school. A school belonging to a horror movie did not promote health standards after all.
He looked up as he noticed the silence and slowly chewed on the last piece of beef before swallowing and turning to Yukari.
"Nice to meet you." Tsuna greeted her in a neutral voice. "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi," he pointed his chopsticks at a still unmoving Tsukune." the rude one is Aono Tsukune and by now probably everyone in the school knows her, but she is Akashiya Moka." he finished, pointing at Moka who was coming out of her stupor and with the introductions done, he went back to his ramen but found it missing. Looking to the side he caught Lambo finishing it with a sated belch.
"Lambo." he said dangerously, causing the young boy to look up and froze at the look sent his way."What did I tell you?" he asked, the look in his eyes promising pain.
"Hi, Tsuna-nii." tried Lambo with a weak smile, holding up the empty bowl as if it was a peace offering."Not to leave the room during your classes?" he asked, not sure of the answer.
"Don't. Eat. My. Lunch." ground out Tsuna, before the two of them descended into bickering, fighting over an empty bowl.
"Nice to meet you." answered Yukari politely, though it was clear from her attitude that she quickly dismissed the boys, only concentrating on Moka. The older girl smiled at her, causing her face to lit up in a nice shade of red.
"I heard that even though you are the same grade as us, you are only eleven, right? And even ranked first in the exams?" she asked curiously, not wanting to have incorrect information. "You are really smart aren't you Yukari-chan? And that outfit is really cool." she complimented her, causing Yukari to wave embarrassedly.
"A grade-schooler." murmured softly a shell-shocked Tsukune, who felt as if he was a dumb rodent next to the two girls. Fortunately, his comment went ignored by everyone at the table.
"Oh, well, cool, I mean, I'm not, but..." Yukari couldn't form a proper sentence, she was so embarrassed. Her face was red and she tried to hide her face under the brim of her hat."You are the one who's cool and pretty and sweet, Moka-san." she said, shyly looking up from behind her hat after she calmed down a little. She looked at the vampire with a look filled with passionate emotions. "You know I actually...I..." she seemed to lose her nerve for a moment before she steeled herself and launched herself into Moka's lap, embracing the surprised vampire. "I wuv you!" she declared loudly, her voice carrying over the whole room, causing everyone to look at them curiously.
"What?" asked back Moka, blinking in shock, not understanding what's happening. Her arms closed around Yukari's form on reflex, to keep the girl from falling.
"What?!" cried out Tsukune, who finally came out of his shock-induced haze, face reddening at the sight before him.
"What?" asked curiously Tsuna, chopsticks in his mouth, while he was holding a struggling Lambo in a headlock, missing the whole interaction.
"What?" Lambo stopped his attempt at trying to bite Tsuna's hand to also look up, but immediately lost interest and went back to trying to get free.
"Every time I saw you in that classroom across the hall I fell in love with you a bit more. But after you saved me, my heart was made up." Yukari told the pink-haired girl, her heart beating fast and loud."Please go out with me!" she pleaded with a cute look on her face."Is that so bad, dating someone like me?"
Moka opened her mouth, but no words came out as she looked troubled by the confession made by the eager witch. She sent a look towards Tsuna, part of it a plea for help, the other part full of emotions that went unvoiced, but the teen could only give her a silent shrug as he watched the spectacle before him with confusion as if it was not a scene he ever saw before.
"Looks like you have some competition." he muttered to Tsukune in a poor attempt to lighten the atmosphere around them. The other human could only continue to stare at in shock, not even the mention of his crush was able to bring him back.
With no other way out, Moka gave Yukari a weak smile. She didn't want to hurt the young girl's feelings, not after what happened to her, especially because this appeared something usual, but she also didn't want to agree, because she didn't feel that way towards her. If she had to date someone, it would be...She shook her head, trying not to let her thoughts wander, trying to find a middle ground. Not rejection, but also not agreement.
"As a friend, I suppose." she said in the end, causing Yukari to beam at her.
"Thank you, I'm so happy." she cried out, hugging her. Whether it was her intention or not, her head ended up firmly on the top of the vampire's chest, causing Moka to let out a soft moan at the sudden sensation.
There were several loud thuds around them, causing Tsuna to look around, with an eyebrow raised. Around the room, there were a lot of boys and a surprising amount of girls passed out with red faces and blood running freely from their noses.
"What's going on?" asked Lambo, looking around bewildered. Tsuna eyed him for a moment, trying to decide what to tell him, before giving a shrug to himself.
"Vampire all you can eat buffet." he told him, before looking at Tsukune, deadpanning as he found him with his head on the table, passed out like the others. "Et Tu, Tsukune?" he asked humorously. He gave a glance to Moka and Yukari. and he lost his smile as he tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
-0-
For a day or two, things remained mostly the same, with the only addition being Yukari popping up and hogging Moka all to herself. Kurumu was fine with that, she was noticeably more friendly with the vampire after the whole incident with hypnotism, but she used this opportunity to spend as much time with Tsukune alone. Tsuna didn't say anything, but he began to miss their quiet walks in the morning, the private talks they had while Tsukune was being tortu- when Tsukune was training. Instead of saying anything, he concentrated all the more on Tsukune's training, making the black-haired boy miserable almost all the time.
The hellish torture Tsuna provided, coupled with Moka spending less and less time with them, Tsukune steadily grew angrier with Yukari's annoying presence.
"Mmm!" moaned out Moka softly, when out of nowhere Yukari appeared and grabbed onto her breast. She, Tsuna, and Tsukune were walking to the newspaper club when out of nowhere Yukari for the lack of a better word attacked the vampire.
"Wow! Moka-chan's breasts are even bigger than they look." she marveled with an almost childish curiosity as Moka struggled to get away."It's so soft, this is like a dream."
Other students stared at them, before either looking away, red in embarrassment, or passing out because of nosebleed. It's gotten so bad, that several students have to call in a sick day or two, because of massive blood loss.
"You do know that sexual harassment is a crime?" asked Tsuna patiently, despite whatever annoyance he felt toward the witch. In some ways, she reminded him of I-pin, when they first met. The young martial artist might have been a kid, but she acted -or at least tried to act- like an adult, because that's what she knew, that's what was expected of her. In the end, Yukari was still a kid, a lonely kid.
But while Tsuna may have been patient, Tsukune, on the other hand, wasn't.
"Wait! What in the world are you doing?" cried out Tsukune.
Yukari let go of Moka, who ended up on the floor in her struggle to get free and glared at Tsukune, while Tsuna helped Moka stand up. As soon as she was on her feet, Yukari possessively embraced her, her glare never losing its intensity only switching it to Tsuna for daring to touch her Moka-chan.
"Please don't get in our way. I know all about you two!" she said as she puffed up her cheeks angrily, though honestly, it made her look cute if anything. "Aono Tsukune, grades: middle of the middle, athletic ability, average like a human, no hobby or special ability. In other words, you are a perfect picture of a completely ordinary boy." the words struck Tsukune heavily, causing his shoulders to slump under an invisible burden. Tsuna almost laughed at him but was surprised when Yukari turned to him. "Sawada Tsunayoshi, grades: below average, athletic ability: above average, it's been noticed that you carry human weapons, mainly guns, and explosives with you. You are a no-good delinquent." the former mafioso's eye began to twitch at the words, especially the mention of his old nickname.
"Please calm down, Yukari-chan." Moak tried to diffuse the situation, but it was to no avail, the young witch could not be stopped so easily.
"You two are like snapping turtles, while the gorgeous Moka-chan is the moon. You are way too different." she said vehemently, getting into the two shocked boys' faces. Despite her little stature, the manic glint in her eyes unnerved a little even Tsuna. When neither of them spoke a word, she stepped back and reached into her cloak."I love Moka-chan. Because of that, I don't want my beautiful Moka-chan to be brought down to the dirt by rotten delinquents like you."
"You realize that it is her choice who to be friends with, not yours." The brown-haired teen tried to reason with her, even as he felt shivers crawl up on his spine as he was reminded of his introduction to the Poison Scorpio. The way Yukari acted with Moka, was too eerily reminiscent of Bianchi and Reborn for him to be able to forget, even if the age gap was much lower.
"That's why I'm declaring war on you!" said Yukari, completely ignoring what was said to her. In her hands, she was holding a small stick, a wand with a heart-shaped ending, a pentagram in the middle of the heart."You don't stand a chance against my magic wand." But the most interesting thing, that the others save for Tsuna failed to notice was a small chain hanging around her neck, below the coat holding Natsu's ring. Instead of the wand, he eyed the ring curiously, letting out a little annoyed huff as the animal ring let out a pulse of flame energy, communicating with its owner.
Tsukune couldn't hold back the soft snicker at the sight of it. After everything that was thrown at him by this academy, mostly by Tsuna and Lambo, a magical stick of all things didn't particularly frighten him. Of course, it only made Yukari angrier.
"I'll make sure you never come close to my Moka-chan again." she pointed her wand at a nearby cupboard, a half dozen brooms flying out of it at her command. The boys just watched on with bemused expressions, before Tsuna turned to his friend."
"Run." he said simply before the brooms launched themselves at them.
Tsukune ran with a surprised cry, though he only got a few meters before he was hit with a barrage of brooms, sending him down to the ground. Thankfully his body was used to much more painful sensations, mainly explosives, so the damage done to him was relatively low. It did not make it any less annoying though.
Tsuna on the other hand, calmly dodged the incoming attacks with ease, causing Yukari to pout angrily and divert more brooms against him and away from Tsukune. Thanks to the hyper intuition of the vongola, it was practically child's play avoiding the slow sweeps made by the brooms.
"What's going on?" asked Tsukune as finally the last of the rogue brooms left him to join trying to catch the former mafioso off-guard, but it was in vain.
"This is my magic." Yukari declared cheerily, ignoring for a moment the futile assault against Tsuna. "With my magical wand, channeling my magic I can control the brooms. That's because I'm a witch." she took a cute pose, waving her wand in the air."Using my magic, I will fight off any boy that dares to get close to my Moka-chan!"
While Moka and Tsukune gaped at the bold declaration, Tsuna was getting increasingly bored, wondering if he should use the grenade Lambo left in his bag or that wasn't worth the effort. But all idle thoughts left him, as he felt a small, but genuine killing intent not far from them. He froze, his body instinctively readying for a fight. It was almost an afterthought to simply grab the closest broom by the handle that tried to take a swipe at him, his senses stretched as much as he could without access to hyper mode, trying to find the source of the killing intent.
At the same time, the other brooms fell to the floor, Yukari letting go of the control of her magic, taken aback by the sudden sense of danger radiating from the brown-haired teen. Taking a step back, trying to hide behind Moka's presence, she couldn't help but be afraid, before a sudden warmth from the ring on her neck, calmed her down, assuring her that she was safe. Though, it did not make her any less wary of Tsuna.
Tsukune also reacted similarly, his mind immediately jumping back to their first day at the newspaper club, remembering the chilling look Tsuna gave him that day. He tried to fight his body's reaction, his friend wasn't even looking their way, instead of looking towards the end of the corridor, searching for something.
"Tsuna-kun!" cried out Moka, seeing the others' reactions, trying to snap him out of it. Maybe because of her other half, but she was easily able to ignore the killing intent Tsuna was releasing.
At the sound of her voice, his head snapped to them, but the feeling of danger disappeared as soon as he noticed their reactions. Forcing his tense body to relax, he gave them an apologetic look, that only Moka noticed before he let go of the broom he was still holding. As the broom fell to the ground with a loud noise, Tsuna turned around and walked away without a word. It was only after they all calmed down, that they noticed the broom's handle was broken, the wood was barely holding itself together.
-0-
The next day found Moka walking together with Tsuna and Lambo toward the newspaper club's room, their arms full with papers they were told to get for their upcoming paper. Lambo was ahead of them, loudly singing something to himself, that for some reason reminded Tsuna of Namimori Middle's School Anthem, a favorite of Hibari's. It was totally instinctual that he looked around, dreading the prefect's sudden appearance.
"You should do something about Yukari, she attacked Tsukune once again." he told her in a casual tone, happy to have a little time to talk just the two of them. While the witch decided to leave him alone after several failed attempts at him, she continued to plague Tsukune."Last I heard, Kurumu was tending after him at the clubroom."
If there was someone who benefited from Yukari trying to draw Tsukune away from Moka, it was the succubus, who used every opportunity to stay alone with her destined one.
Moka stayed silent, a sullen look on her face that Tsuna could emphasize with. She did not want to hurt Yukari's feelings, it was easy to tell her that the girl just felt alone and latched onto the first person who showed her kindness. But it did not mean what she was doing wasn't wrong, driving away Moka's friends so she could only concentrate on her was going to backfire sooner or later.
Tsuna didn't bother holding back the sigh that threatened to escape him. He would have preferred a rampaging youkai that only needed to be beaten up, to this high school drama.
"Maybe she could play with Lambo-kun? Having someone closer to her age might help her." asked Moka with a hopeful tone, but her hopes were dashed as Tsuna let out an unamused snort in response.
"It would be a disaster." he told her."Last time I tried that it was a warzone. Grenades and kung-fu attacks flew everywhere and I was in the middle of it. Trust me, Lambo is a good kid, but terrible with first impressions."
Her shoulders slumped in defeat and they continued to walk in silence. They soon reached the clubroom where Tsukune raised voice was heard. The two of them looked at each other, confused about why the human was yelling, though privately Tsuna had an idea.
Stepping into the room, both of them wore shocked expressions as they witnessed Tsukune grabbing onto Kurumur's breasts, the succubus letting out an embarrassed kya followed by a soft moan as he tightened his grip.
"What's going on?" Moka raised her voice in surprise, red dusting her cheek at the scene before her.
"To tell you the truth, I always thought it would be the other way." commented Tsuna, amusement on his face, even as he looked away and began to walk toward an open window, where he could hear soft giggling.
"It's not what it looks like. My body, it's moving on its own." Tsukune cried out, panicked, even as his hands let Kurumu go and moved towards her skirt. "Somebody, please, stop me!" he pleaded.
Yukari was busy giggling to herself, using her voodoo doll to control the black-haired boy's movements. She was pretty proud of herself for that one, using the doll as a medium, no one could tell it was her who used Tsukune's body, and her Moka-chan would finally see the boy for the lowlife he is.
"Found you." said an amused voice above her. Looking up, she was surprised to find the face of Tsuna peering down at her. Before she could think of running away, a hand grabbed her collar and pulled her in through the window with ease. Unfortunately in the process, she lost her grip on her magic item, and along with her lost concentration, the spell she used faded away, giving Tsukune the control back over his body.
"No, my voodoo doll. Let me go!" she cried out as she fought to get out of the older boy's grip, before falling down the ground as he did exactly she asked. She took her chance and quickly dived behind a bewildered Moka, using her as a shield.
"That was funny! Do it again." cheered Lambo, when he realized that Tsukune was acting funny because of her. Unlike him, the others looked mostly shocked, save for Tsukune who was visibly pissed, and Tsuna who had a neutral expression as he simply leaned on the wall and watched the drama unfolding.
"I've had enough!" roared furiously Tsukune, glaring daggers at the witch who looked anything but repentant. "All week I was attacked and ambushed by everything from brooms to washbasins, and this was the last straw. Someone should teach that annoying brat some manners before she goes too far." it did not help, that Yukari had the audacity to stick her tongue at him, while she pulled down her eyelid, further taunting him.
"Tsukune, let's calm down." ever the peacemaker, Moka tried to calm the human boy, holding her hands up, though even she felt that this latest trick of Yukari was a little over the line. Still, she tried to mediate, since she thought of Yukari as one of her friends and she did not want them to fight.
"You are too soft on her!" insisted Tsukune."You have to tell her she's being a bother. How long until she seriously hurts someone? It's for her sake as well as ours."
"I suppose..but..." the vampire trailed off, uneasy. She did not want to take sides, but the worst thing was that Tsukune's words made sense. They have been so wrapped up in their argument that neither of them noticed Yukari's face fell and sadly taking a few steps back from them.
"If she continues to hang out with you, and drive away everyone else, won't she just end up alone and without friends?"
"I don't mind." the young witch's quiet voice interrupted their argument. Everyone looked at her, while she used the rim of her hat to hide the gathering tears. She clutched the ring on her neck as if it was a lifeline, trying to sound cheerful. "After all, I'm a genius. I'm sorry but I don't want such stupid friends." both Tsukune and Kurumu cried out in protest at the insult aimed at them, but they were ignored. "Besides..." her voice shook as she held back a quiet sob."Besides I always, always had been alone."
Everyone looked at her in sympathy, after all in some ways or another every one of them had been alone at some part of their lives. Even Kurumu as when she started to attend this school, she was without friends, only charmed servants to keep her from feeling lonely. Tsukune winced, feeling ashamed as he realized how harsh his words may have sounded,
"Yukari-chan." he said softly, reaching out to her to comfort her. But instead, she burst out laughing as if she heard a great joke, waving her wand around, causing a metal washbasin to fall from above, directly at Tsukune's head, sending the poor boy to the ground, nursing a very big bump. "Yukari-chan!" he cried out in anger as she ran away, cackling madly.
As Moka rounded on him for his thoughtless words, only Kurumu noticed Tsuna calmly getting up and after telling Lambo to stay put, he walked away in the direction Yukari ran. She tilted her head in puzzlement, wondering what was going on in the usually distant teen's mind.
-0-
"Let me go." cried out Yukari as she was roughly pushed into a tree.
After she ran away from Moka and others, wanting to be alone so no one would see her tears, unfortunately, she soon bumped into and was cornered by her class representative and his friends, one of her most frequent bullies. They dragged her to the edge of the forest, where no one ever went to, the perfect place to remain undisturbed.
"So disgusting." he hissed at her with a cruel glint at his eyes, even as his body contorted on itself, green scales taking over the place of skin, his lithe body expanding."A witch is such a disgraceful being."
Sonn all the three of them revealed their true forms, as lizardmen. They were taller, much broader, with a lizard's head and a scaly tail appearing from under their shirts. The class representative hair turned red, forming into some sort of mohawk as he leered at the young witch. Yukari in response could only hold her wand out as some kind of shield, while her other hand clutched her ring protectively.
"Understand, we have no need for a girl like you in our class." the class representative turned her now yellow, reptilian eyes on her, mouth widening into a scary imitation of a smile with lots of sharp teeth."Why don't we get the academy rid of you?" his lackeys obediently laughed in response, looking down on her.
"Stay away!" she cried out in alarm, waving her wand as if it was a torch in hopes they remain where they were, while she tried to think of some magic that could help get out of this mess. Her plan backfired, when with a quick lunge of his head, the leader snatched the wand out of her hand, breaking it apart with a bite in the process.
She stared at the remains of her wand in shock, tears gathering in her eyes and ignoring the small sounds of growling that came from where her hands clutched onto her ring. The bullies laughed among themselves at her helplessness.
"What should we do with her? Maybe she can be useful for something even if she is just a half-breed." asked one of the henchmen, leering down at her, much to the others' amusement.
"Let's eat her up. No one will ever know, and I'm really hungry." offered the other one.
"You are always hungry." retorted their leader, but grinned nonetheless. "But I agree. Let's eat her up." he opened his jaw wide enough that it seemed he would be able to swallow Yukari in one bite and then lunged forward toward the frightened girl.
"Please, stay away." she cried out, terrified. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see, even as the ring in her hands warmed to a painful degree."Someone, save me!" she tried to call for help, but she knew it was pointless. No one would hear it and even if someone did why would they help? Her, the wich half-breed?
Just when she accepted her inevitable fate, something amazing happened. Bright, orange flames surged forward around her, causing the lizards to back away. It was the strangest fire she ever saw. Even though she was completely engulfed by it she was unharmed, yet it burned the ground around her. The fire originated from her hands or rather from the ring she was holding. It grew so warm that with a pained hiss she was forced to let go, the ring falling down at the ground, the brightness of the flames intensified for a moment, blinding Yukari.
When she finally opened her eyes, she let out a silent gasp. Where the ring fell, there was a small lion, not much larger than the average kitten, snarling at her bullies warningly. His mane was literally made from the same orange fire that surrounded them and he had a small metal helmet on the top of his head. But the strangest thing was how familiar he seemed to her for some reason, emitting the same reassuring light the ring she found did.
"What is that thing?" asked one of the lizardmen, eying the witch warily, convinced that it was her doing.
„Seems like Natsu decided to show himself. Now that's interesting." a voice mused behind them, causing them to whirl around alarmed. Sawada Tsunayoshi walked towards them, hands in his pockets, looking like he was just taking a casual stroll, completely ignoring the lizardmen that glared at him.
"Just who do you think you are?" demanded the closest one, angrily swiping at him the moment he came close enough.
In response, Tsuna simply tilted his head, the attack flying over him harmlessly. Then without stopping, he walked past them into the ring of fire that surrounded Yukari. Much to the onlookers' shock, the fire didn't seem to harm him, harmlessly passing over him as he stepped inside. Yet, when the lizard that attacked him, jumped after him, he reeled back with a painful cry as the flames burned him, his scales offering him no protection.
"How-?" she asked, trembling slightly. She was thankful that none of her classmates got through, but she was also wary of Tsuna who she antagonized quite a lot in the past days. Instead of answering, he looked over to her broken wand, watching it with an interested gaze.
"How fascinating." he mused out aloud, his lips lifting to a small smile. "The wand is a medium to safely channel the power, not unlike the way we use rings..." he murmured before turning back to the matter at hand.
He raised an amused eyebrow as he found Yukari standing before Natsu, glaring at him defiantly, hands held out at her side as if she was trying to protect the box animal from him. He crouched down to her eye level, ignoring the protest from his body. Natsu's flames were strongly connected with his own, that was one of the reasons his partner refrained from coming out. He could already feel his body trying to burn up itself and he could be thankful that the raw anger and hate that accompanied the feeling have yet to show up.
When she looked at his eyes, Yukari blinked in astonishment. Instead of the usual, cold brown eyes, there was a certain warmth in the older student's gaze. They also had an orange tint to them as if they reflected the flames dancing around them. But more than that there was that familiar feeling both Natsu and the orange flames radiated, sympathy, pain, and understanding, all of that she could feel from his eyes as if these emotions were her own.
With a happy sound, Natsu suddenly ran past her and scaled up Tsuna's body until he comfortably rested on his shoulder, face next to his. He let out a content „Gao" before looking down at her, seemingly smiling. The former mafioso only chuckled in response, thoroughly amused. The bullies outside the circle of fire went completely ignored by all of them.
"This is Natsu. He is my box animal." Tsuna introduced the small lion as his hand absentmindedly began to pet him, uncaring of the flames he emitted. At Yukari's confused look he explained with a small smile."Suppose you can call my partner or familiar. Still, this little guy is usually so shy it is a wonder he lets people notice him. He normally doesn't seek out anyone, but for some reason he wanted you to meet him, so here we are."
"He doesn't?" she asked, bewildered. If she believed what he said instead of her finding the ring, Natsu was the one who found her for some reason."But why?"
Tsuna didn't answer at first, absently humming as he took a slide glance to the fire surrounding them, aware of time running out, after all especially with his condition he and Natsu did not have limitless flames. No mention of the off chance that these guys had someone with them capable of getting through it.
"Guess, because like you, Natsu and I know what it means to be alone." he said at last, much to her shock. He gave her a sad, but genuine smile."It's a terrible feeling. Being around people and knowing that your existence didn't matter to any of them. If you disappeared the next day, they wouldn't mourn you, wouldn't search for you. But you are not alone." he said as he embraced her, Natsu growled to her softly, poking her with his nose in worry. As she tentatively returned the embrace, he decided to ignore the dampness in his shoulder for the time being.
Despite how much he didn't want to get close to people after what happened with Vongola, he still couldn't help but let Moka and the others in. That is because, just like he told Yukari, being alone is one of the worst things in his mind. And no matter how little he knew her, he was sure that he was not making a mistake in trusting her and opening up to her. Because he knew the words he was saying to the young witch, he wanted to hear the same words from someone when the loneliness became so bad it hurt.
"I used to be the same, you know." he said and had to stop at the sudden surge of emotions that tried to erupt. It has to be said that Tsuna and emotional processing were not remotely acquainted."I had terrible grades and I was very bad at p.e. I was clumsy, I was not the sharpest around, and generally a prime target for bullying. They named me Dame-Tsuna and it got so bad that the whole town knew me by that name. Instead of turning to pranks like you I simply tried to endure, hoping it will get better. And all the while I was alone, no friend, no one." he gave a bitter chuckle as he remembered those dark days."I also 'fell in love' with the first person who showed me kindness, it was a bit pathetic really. I was so embarrassed trying to talk to her, I admired her from afar, getting close to being a stalker." he heard Yukari softly chuckle into his shoulder. Only when he looked at her that he noticed that even he began to cry."But it got better." he told her with a gentle smile, thinking of a ridiculous baby telling him that he will make a mafia boss out of him. She looked up at him in wonder and gave back an unsure one."You are not alone Yukari-chan."
Movement caught his attention as he saw from the corner of his eyes that the fire around them was almost gone, worse, the lizardmen surrounding them now numbered a dozen, apparently, the cowards had some friends laying around. Straightening up, he put a reassuring hand at her shoulder, even as he began to sweat, his body nearing its limit.
"Get ready, Natsu." he said to his partner, receiving an agreeing growl in response. He looked down at Yukari and tried to look as confident as he could. "When I tell you, you have to run as fast as you can, through them, okay?" when she looked up in worry, he gave a weak smile."We will be right behind you, don't worry." At last, she gave a nod in agreement.
Grabbing her hand, they walked to the edge of the fire ring from where the main bully was leering at them.
"Nowhere to run and no help to come." he gloated before them, sharp teeth glinting as he tried to take a bite out of them, but for the time being the fire was enough to hold him back."Give up and maybe you won't suffer as much as the halfbreed.
Yukari tried to burrow herself into his back, while Natsu growled back threateningly, but Tsuna remained unaffected, giving him a fearless smile.
"Yes, I have no chance, no hope, yet here I am smiling. Scary isn't it?" he asked and was pleased to see a few of them shift uneasily, but the leader remained unaffected."The question is, what do I know that you don't?"
"You are bluffing." reported the lizardman before him, but it only caused Tsuna to chuckle, amused by something.
"Look up." he told them simply and in response all of them looked up, staring dumbly at the grenades that were thrown in their direction.
As the grenades blew up, blanking the place in smoke, Tsuna rushed forward, pulling Yukari after him, through the confused lizardmen. While these grenades didn't have much explosive power, they created a useful smokescreen, exactly the thing he needed right now. Pushing his aching body to its limits, he skillfully avoided the half-blind swipes coming their way thanks to his intuition and before long they burst out of the pitch-black smoke.
As soon as his vision cleared, Tsuna began to run towards a familiar group rushing their way, who were calling out in worry.
"Yukari-chan! Tsuna-kun!" cried out Moka when she reached them, quickly embraced a bewildered Yukari in a bear hug."I was so worried."
Tsuna meanwhile fell down to one knee, panting heavily as he tried to fight against his falling body. He looked to the side and gave a thankful nod to Lambo who stood there ready to cry, along with Tsukune and Kurumu. But the person that surprised him was Gin, who just smirked down at him, hands casually in his pockets, watching the still confused lizardmen from the corner of his eyes.
"Since when do you move out of your doghouse?" he asked a little snidely from the club president, though there was no real feeling behind his words.
"Since I have to get you out of trouble." Gin replied, causing Tsuna to give a bark of laugh as he forced himself to stand up and eyed the dissipating smoke.
The others hovered around Yukari, making sure she was alright. Yukari had tears in her eyes, though these were more from relief than anything else as she held onto the vampire with all her strength.
"I'm sorry." she whispered softly, but the others heard it all the same.
"I understand. It's tough being alone, isn't it Yukari-chan?" Moka smiled down at her gently. "I as well, have been alone for a long time, but in the end, I found friends of my own." she smiled up the others around her as she said that, eying the brown-haired teen for a little longer. "That's why I want to help you and that's why we couldn't leave you behind." the young witch only began to cry harder at her words.
Thanks to the height difference between them and the look on her face, the scene reminded Tsuna of a mother comforting her child. Just for a moment, Moka looked far older than she should be, but after a blink, everything looked the same.
"I'm also sorry about before." told her Tsukune, giving her a sincere smile."Let me help you too. So don't think of yourself as alone anymore, Yukari-chan."
The whole situation was very sweet and Tsuna hated to break it up, but the smokescreen Lambo created was almost gone and a dozen angry lizardmen would be on them any minute.
"I'm all for emotional speeches and all that, but it's not over yet." he reminded them, causing them to separate and look at him a little guiltily.
As if a switch had been flipped his whole demeanor turned serious, gaining an edge that demanded respect and attention. It was such a sudden, jarring difference to his usual demeanor that everyone turned to listen to him, even Gin lost his smile as he waited for Tsuna to speak.
"Moka, Gin, and I will take on these guys, but you have to go, take Yukari, Kurumu and Lambo with you and make a little distance so we could concentrate on the enemy. Here," he tossed him a small case full of little, colorless pills." if you don't have any other choice took one, but not until it's absolutely necessary, you hear me?" he asked sternly and only continued after Tsukune gave an unsure nod as he clutched the small case."Lambo, if you need to use the ten-year bazooka and keep Yukari safe."Lambo nodded in agreement, already pulling out the pink weapon from who knows where."Natsu, stay with them." the small lion jumped down from his shoulders and ran to Yukari who was quick to scoop him up and hold him close to herself."Go!" Tsuna ordered when they didn't move, with mute nods they were quick to run in the direction of the school building, leaving the 3 of them to take care of the lizardmen.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Gin as he carefully released his power, a though refraining from a full transformation.
"You are the fastest among us. I need you to make sure that no one could get through us." the werewolf grinned in response, feeling his lust for battle rise at the excuse to cut loose. Tsuna turned to Moka who watched him with a resolute look. "I need Ura-chan's help for that one." she nodded and with permission given he reached up and pulled down the rosary that sealed away her power. With a burst of potent energy, Omote was replaced by the silver-haired Ura, who only cocked an eyebrow as she looked over him.
"You really need my help against small fry like that?" she asked with a light frown, but he understood the unasked question of "Are you in a condition to fight?"
While he could fool others he was aware that both Moka and Gin noticed how weary he was and he had trouble standing up, let alone do anything. Also, only Ura was aware of his worsening condition, so he was thankful that she didn't voice anything out.
"Better safe than sorry." he said in the end diplomatically, before gulping down the dying will pill that he grabbed before giving the case to Tsukune. With a grimace, he closed his eyes as if his whole body was fighting against the effect before a small fire appeared on his forehead. It was a darker shade of orange than Tsukune's and also noticeably smaller. As he opened his eyes, only the white of it could be seen as he let out a snarl towards the incoming bullies."I'll protect Yukari as if I were to die."
"What is that?" asked Gin, a weird look on his face as he felt something change around his underclassman.
"The dying will." said softly Moka, looking at the former mafioso in former interest.
"No time for chit-chat." interrupted Tsuna as the lizardmen reached them.
"You think you're so smart?" snarled the leader, backed up by his brethren."Don't make light of us, weaklings. We will make mincemeat out of you." he declared as he ran forward, arms raised in attack.
Before anyone could react, Tsuna was already charging as well, straight ahead. But instead of blocking or attacking, he swiftly avoided the charging lizard, slipping past him and into the midst of the others. They all screamed in rage and went to attack him as well, but with his quick reflexes, he came out unscathed. Focusing on him, left most of them unprepared when Gin and Moka attacked. Two of them fallen into sweet unconsciousness, courtesy of a fast barrage of punches from the werewolf, while the vampire took out four lizardmen with a single kick.
"What the hell are you?" asked one bully fearfully, before he was knocked out by Tsuna who used his confusion to his advantage, leaving only five of the original twelve lizardmen.
"I suggest you run." he said with a smile, though with the dying will fire blazing on his forehead, it looked more vicious.
"Like I would do that!" roared their leader, before he was taken out in an instant by an annoyed Moka.
"Small fry. After all, you are the kind of garbage that can only wield power against weaker beings." she told them. Seeing more than half of them taken out in a minute and witnessing their leader taken out in an instant was enough for the four still conscious lizards and they simply run away, crying for mercy, even leaving behind their fallen.
"Well that was easier than I thought." commented Gin, arms behind his head as he carelessly walked among the unconscious bodies."Now, if you excuse me, I have a few matters to attend to. See you guys later." with a perverse sounding laugh he walked away, whistling to himself.
"He never learns, does he?" Moka asked rhetorically, before looking at Tsuna, who exited dying will mode, a small trail of blood coming from the side of his mouth. "That was reckless of you." she said matter of factly, before reaching out, scooping up the blood with her finger, licking it, and savoring the taste.
Tsuna tried very hard not to dwell, how the scene looked on the outside, or any strange thoughts involving the vampire before him. Instead, he gave a weak smile in response, even as he winced as every part of his body hurt.
"Sorry." he said in the end.
They stayed silent until Tsukune and the others reached them, seeing the fighting end.
"Moka-san! Tsuna-san! You're okay." cheered the black-haired human, relieved.
"Moka is as brutal as ever." commented softly Kurumu, looking over the carnage left behind warily.
Before more could be seen, a small witch-shaped missile launched itself at Tsuna, who had to take a step back to remain standing as Yukari buried her head into his chest, sobs wracking her body. Natsu was behind her, looking worriedly at his partner.
"I'm sorry, I did not mean to cause trouble. I'm sorry, please don't leave." she cried without control.
Tsuna wore a troubled expression on his face, looking at the others to help, before he gently embraced the girl, patting his back a little awkward.
"I'm not going anywhere Yukari-chan." he assured her as the others looked on with smiles on their faces."You are not alone anymore."
"Let's be friends from now on Yukari-chan." joined Tsukune, Kurumu nodding in agreement. Yukari raised her head from Tsuna's chest to nod at them meekly, a wobbly smile on her face.
Tsuna raised his head, a half-smile forming on his face, but as soon as he noticed a figure standing behind his friends he froze, body tensing instantly. He was a tall blonde man, with a hairstyle similar to his, wearing a suit, with a long, black cape draped over him, and most alarmingly the dying will flame of sky blazing on his forehead. He looked at him with knowing orange eyes, staring into his soul.
"Vongola Primo." he mouthed, shocked beyond measure.
He looked just like he did when he met him and the other past bosses inside the vongola ring. He smiled down at him, gentle, understanding, and guilty at the same time. He did not know how he really felt about his ancestor, the man who created the Vongola, who indirectly made him the candidate for the position of Vongola Decimo.
"That time is coming closer." Primo told him, his words ringing in his mind with an ominous undertone. "Soon it will be your time, Decimo." he said before stepping away and disappearing as if he was nothing more than a mirage. Maybe that was all it was.
And without warning, he felt so tired, his legs buckled and he would have fallen if not for Moka's strong grip on him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her sharp eyes watching him for any other sign. The others also looked worried.
"Guess I'm more tired than I thought. My bad." he gave them a strained smile, trying to calm them down. He looked at Moka from the corner of his eyes, telling her silently to let it go for now. "Natsu." he called out to his box animal, who looked at him solemnly, before jumping up towards his hand, his whole body becoming fire, before he returned to his ring form, safely on his hand.
"What's wrong?" asked Yukari worriedly, neither Tsukune or Kurumu looking convinced.
Tsuna looked at the vampire for help, who had to sigh at the whole thing.
"I'll bring this idiot back to his room to rest." she told them, still holding up the former mafioso."You should take Yukari to the school nurse, to make sure she will be alright." the other two teens looked at each other uncertainly, before nodding and herding a still worried Yukari away, Lambo going with them. When it was only two of them and the groaning thugs they beat up, Moka glared at him, more because of frustration than anything, and began to lead him away."Let's go." she said curtly.
"Sure." he said, giving her a thankful smile. "Mind if we make a quick stop on the way?" he did not need to see her face to knew she rolled her eyes at him.
-0-
Sawada Nana sang to herself cheerfully as she prepared dinner, twirling around her kitchen. Futa and I-Pin were upstairs, working on their homework, so the house was mostly silent. She let out a rare frown at the thought. She has gotten so used to it, it was a little depressing to have the house feel empty. Her husband was still overseas working, Reborn and Bianchi returned to Italy and with Tsuna off in high school, his friends didn't come over to visit. No, she had to admit, that even before her son left, they stopped coming over. Sometimes even she got lonely.
She was shaken out of her gloomy thoughts when the phone started to ring. A smile once again graced her face as she picked up, greeting the other side with her usual cheerfulness.
"Sawada Residence."
"Hey, mom." greeted her Tsuna on the phone. He sounded a little tired and a little out of breath as he spoke, but it was impossible to miss the note of happiness in his voice.
"Tsu-kun. What'swrong?" a mother's intuition was very strong, it only took a few words for Nana to knew something was wrong. Tsuna only called home once since he went to his new school, to tell her that Lambo won't be back until summer and even then he talked very little about himself. For him to call her, something must have happened.
She heard Tsuna chuckle to himself, the sound instantly easing her worries. It had been a while since she heard her Tsu-kun laugh so sincerely.
"Nothing wrong, guess I'm just more tired than I thought." he reassured her, though she heard someone talking to him quietly, and it was definitely a girl's voice. She barely restrained herself to gush about her son with a cute girlfriend, not wanting to scare them. But a girl! Maybe her dreams for grandchildren weren't so far off into the future than she thought.
"How is school? Did you make any friends?" she asked instead, trying to hear more about her son's life.
"Yes, I did actually." he stayed silent for a moment, before letting out a light chuckle. "They are quite strange, but I honestly like them. We even joined a club, the newspaper club and things are...fun." he told her, sounding a little uncertain in the end, but she couldn't help but cheer inside. Her son always had trouble finding friends and it warmed her heart to know he was making new ones.
"That sounds pretty interesting. You will have to send any papers you do to me so I can see the work of my Tsu-kun."
"Sure. Though we mostly go after ghost stories and the like, so be prepared for some fiction." he said, chuckling to himself for some reason. "How are things at home?" there was a note of worry in his voice that even she could hear easily.
"Everything's fine, don't worry." she reassured him, a slight smile on her face. Her precious Tsu-kun was acting so mature, he was growing up to be a gentleman just like his father."It's a little quiet with just I-pin-chan and Futa-kun since both of them are just so behaved all the time. Oh, you just missed Haru-chan visiting."
"Haru?" he asked, sounding a little surprised.
"Yes, she's such a sweet girl. She asked me to teach her to cook a few recipes and it's nice to have a helping hand around. Sometimes she brings her friend, Hana-chan too." she added, though it was really rare for Hana to show up.
"Hana?" Tsuna's voice sounded disbelieving. "No offense, but I thought she was the last one who would ever want to cook." he muttered to himself, but Nana decided to let it go.
"I almost forgot, Ryohei-kun asked to give you a message."
"What did he want?" her Tsu-kun's voice was not exactly cold but guarded, something that appeared not long before he left for school. It worried her a great deal.
"He used to visit me during his morning runs" she told him." and he asked to tell you that he will be out of town for a few months, he will be going to a training camp for an upcoming sumo wrestling tournament and he thought you would be interested in it, I guess. Isn't that wonderful?." truth be told, she never heard about sumo wrestling before, but kids always came up with new games, so she was not surprised.
"Sumo wrestling?" there was something in his voice as he said that, but for the life of her she couldn't tell what it was."Thanks."
"You are welcome." they talked for a few more minutes about insignificant things, before it came to say goodbye."Take care of yourself Tsu-kun."
"I will don't worry. Bye Mom." he said to her warmly, before the connection ended.
As she put down the phone, she couldn't help but frown once again. She did not have the heart to tell her Tsu-kun that he sounded just like his father, whenever he told her not to worry. But he never liked being compared to his father for some reason, so she did not say anything.
-0-
Tsuna had a rare warm smile on his face as he rested his head on the cold surface of the wall after he talked with his mother. After the day he had, he felt the unexplainable urge to talk with his mom, to reassure her that he was alright. Because lately even he began to believe that he will be alright.
"Your mom sounds...normal." commented Moka, sounding a little uncertain. She was still in her unsealed form but stopped radiating that unmistakable pressure of energy that just raised every survival instinct of his.
"That's my mom." said Tsuna, smiling at her, just simply feeling happy." She can be a little oblivious, a little airhead at times, but she is the best in the world.
„That must be nice." Moka had a faraway look in her eyes as she said that. He was tempted to ask about her mother but thought better of it. If she ever wanted to talk he would be there for her, just as she was for him, but he wouldn't force it.
"Come on, let's go while I can still walk." he stepped away from the wall, with the intention of walking, before he promptly lost feeling in his legs. He would have fallen on his face if Moka was not fast enough to catch him. "Thanks." he breathed out as he leaned on her, not able to stand up properly."Now you know why I don't use the dying will myself. With the state I am now, even materializing Natsu takes too much out of me."
"It's getting worse, isn't it?" she asked, as she began to lead them towards the male dormitories. Despite her usually very scary demeanor, she was very gentle with him as they walked.
"Little by little, yes. I probably should be much worse off if it wasn't for you sucking my blood regularly." he told her, trying to keep his awareness up, but it felt like a losing battle. He was tired, physically and emotionally and Moka's presence even in her unsealed form had a very relaxing effect on him. And he felt so sleepy all of the sudden.
"And how do you even knew that me sucking your blood could help?" she asked after a few moments, only to receive no response from the former mafioso. Looking to the side, she was surprised to see his face so close to hers as he rested it on her shoulder, sleeping soundly. A soft smile sneaked on her face even as she rolled her eyes in annoyance."Idiot." she murmured fondly, before picking him up properly and continuing her walk toward the dormitory.
-0-
"What are you looking at so intently?" wondered Tsukune as he looked at Tsuna in question.
It was a few days after the confrontation against Yukari's class representative and Tsukune, Tsuna, Lambo, and Gin were lunging around the newspaper room, while Kurumu and Moka went to bring some supplies for their first real paper. Gin was sound asleep at the teacher's desk, while Lambo most alarmingly was polishing grenades for some reason or other. Tsuna, on the other hand, was oblivious to that, intently watching something in his hands, deaf to the world.
They did not see Yukari since then, though heard that she stopped her pranks and apologized to her whole class. From the lizardmen they had nothing to fear, after the sound beating they got, they will think twice before bullying anyone again. Still, even now, Tsukune gave suspicious stares to any broom they came across much the other human's amusement.
"Hmm?" Tsuna asked back absentmindedly, turning his attention toward the other human. he was pale and still had dark circles under his eyes, but he looked much better than a few days ago. As he lowered his hand, Tsukune could see the object in it, a small protection charm. It was dark blue, with an image of a fish on it. It looked very cute."This is a charm from a friend." he replied when he saw where his attention was focused, before simply putting it back to his picket, unwilling to talk about it anymore.
He wouldn't get a chance to, because at that very moment the door opened and a blur raced towards Tsuna, catching the former mafioso completely off-guard. With a cry of 'Onii-san!' the bluer collided with him, ending with the both of them on the ground with a loud thud that was able to wake up Gin, who looked around confused.
Withholding a groan of pain, he looked down at what ran into him, meeting the smiling face of Yukari. The young girl was clinging to his waist, not letting him go for a moment. She also was missing her signature hat, though it could be more like due to her sudden sprint than anything.
"Yo." he greeted her calmly, while he stood up without struggling, Yukari still attached to him. She beamed in response to his greeting.
"I'm the newest member of the newspaper club. Isn't that awesome Tsuna-nii-san?" she asked brightly.
Tsuna raised an eyebrow in question at being called nii-san but humored her all the same. In the end, she was not a bad kid, just a bit lonely, and being a pseudo sibling was much better than a preadolescent girl having a crush on him.
He looked to the door, finding Moka and Kurumu walking in after Yukari, the supplies in their hands and her hat in the latter's hands. The vampire sent him a bright smile as they placed down their supplies.
"Seems like Yukari-chan changed into a very good girl. She will be a good addition to the club, a new friend to spend time with." she said cheerily, somehow calming down Tsukune who looked very much worried since the moment Yukari appeared.
What they forgot to take into the equation was Lambo, who stopped what he was doing and was looking at them curiously, before launching himself at Tsuna, who struggled to remain standing with two kids clinging into him, the young boy scowling at Yukari.
"Tsuna-nii is my nii-san, get yourself another." he told her, sticking out his tongue at her.
"No way." instead of a mature answer, for once she decided to act like her age and began to childishly argue with the young hitman. "Tsuna-nii-san is my nii-san. And he has to marry Moka-nee-san so we could have a happy big family." she declared, causing various reactions from her audience.
Kurumu began laughing as she heard that, tears gathering her eyes as she enjoyed herself. Tsukune, on the other hand, looked like someone punched him in the gut, gaping at Yukari, while Gin seemed to choke on nothing, and held onto his desk, as he tried to remain upright. From where he stood, Tsuna could practically sense the embarrassment radiating from Moka as she made a very realistic imitation of a tomato, before turning away and hiding her face in her hands. Yet, he could see peeking out, looking at him with a hard to decipher gaze.
For his part, he was only mildly exasperated as he was placed in the middle of two annoying kids' tug-of-war. He did not even raise an eyebrow when the first grenade sailed through the air, filling the room with smoke as it exploded, nor when the first chairs began to rise in the air to pepper Lambo with uncanny accuracy. All he did was send Moka a look as if saying 'I told you so'. Still, he could not keep the fond smile away from his face. No matter how much he would state otherwise, he loved days like this. Who needed peaceful, boring days when they could have ones like these?
He still rolled his eyes when he heard what could be laughing from Natsu's ring.
"Yeah, yeah. You can shut up any time." he told his partner, without really meaning to.
In the middle of their squabbling, the two younger kids let him go, so he was free to navigate the warzone to Moka's side, opening the door and letting some of the smoke out, and making a much-needed escape route available.
"Listen up kids." he called out loudly and as one, the two of them stopped what they were doing to look at him in question. Yukari froze in the middle of waving her new magical wand, while Lambo was in the middle of pulling out the ten-year bazooka. Looks like he intervened in time. "Since I do not have the patience to see you squabble like children, we will decide things with a simple competition. The one who can catch Tsukune first will be the winner and can call me nii-san." he said pointing at the shocked teen.
They turned their attention towards Tsukune, their moves almost robotic as they concentrated on him. Feeling a shiver ran up his spine at the killing intent suddenly aimed at him, Tsukune turned to his part-time teacher, part-time tormentor.
"Why do I have to get involved? Can't you think of something else?" he pleaded, even as he slowly inched in the direction of the door, ready to run at the first sign of trouble.
"Don't want to." Tsuna replied, without the smallest hint of guilt in his voice. Tsukune just gaped at him in shock. "I don't feel like training you right now, so it will be a nice alternative. Suggest you run." like the devil was chasing him, the black-haired teen ran through the door, Lambo and Yukari on his heels. Those that remained could hear his panicked cries slowly fading away with the distance.
Tsuna went back to sit down once again, a satisfied smile on his face, only to run into Moka who glared at him, with puffed up cheeks, that were honestly more cute than anything.
"What?" he asked, but she only continued to stare at him. "it's better if it's him than me. And anyway it's useful training." he defended himself, even as he turned around to walk after the rampaging horde that the two kids became to at least retrieve Tsukune after he was caught.
And then spend the rest of the day wondering, how Moka could make him do something like this, without even saying a word.
-0-
"Go shi Yushu, go shi Yushu, go shi yushunoshu." sang Lambo happily as he brushed his teeth with enthusiasm. After all, with the amount of candy he ate, he had to take really great care of his teeth.
Tsuna only smiled as he heard Lambo singing, before going back to finish the last of his homework. Like most subjects, History was never his strongest, especially, when they taught them human history with bits of youkai history thrown into the mix. And of course, the bits relating to Mafia history that Reborn forced him to learn were more like fiction to the rest of the world. Figures.
"I finished, Tsuna-nii." said Lambo, walking over, after he finished brushing his teeth. He wore a cow-themed one-piece pajama, very similar to the one that he wore most of his younger years.
"Good. Go to sleep, I will go too after finishing this." he said, indicating to the paper before him. For once, the young boy did not put up a fuss and went to bed.
He continued to work silence for a few minutes, as Lambo slowly fell asleep and began to softly snore. After that, he packed away his work and gently poked Lambo in the stomach to check he was fully asleep. He had a habit of pretending to sleep, mostly when he wanted some candy for a midnight snack. When the boy didn't steer, Tsuna went back to his desk, satisfied, and pulled ut a bunch of items, before sitting down and looking at them with a calculating gaze.
Natsu's ring was placed down, next to the gun Tsuna got from Reborn and the few remaining dying will bullets he had on him. On the other side rested his X-Gloves in their inactive form and the case of dying will pills. There was also a small paper with the word hallucinations written over it and two names, Vongola Primo and Massimo Vongola on it. In the center was the small message from Reborn, 'remember Kokuyo' and the charm he got from Kyoko so long ago.
He leaned back on his chair as he thought about what to do. He could walk away, forget about all of this. His time with the Vongola was over, it would be logical to just forget the whole thing and try to move forward. He was no longer a mafioso, just a simple human, yet here he was. No matter how much he would have liked otherwise, he still wasn't the type of person who could easily walk away from something like this.
"You will own me one for this, Reborn." he said at last to himself, picking up the charm, inspecting it. Then without a moment's hesitation, he harshly ripped apart the small cloth, catching the two small items falling out of it. One was a small memory card, while the other was a folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, he saw a telephone number on it."What have you gotten into?" he couldn't help but wonder as he sat in the dark room, pondering the mystery before him.
-0-
Bonus scene:
While Tsuna chased mysteries, on the other side of the world, in a secluded mansion in Italy, a secret meeting was being conducted. The mansion was known to a very few, a retreat of the Vongola Bosses, where they could work with those they trusted the most and only when they didn't even trust their own people not to betray them.
In a darkened study, behind an ornate desk sat Timoteo Vongola, also knows as Volgola Nono. The old mafioso looked even older, even weathered than usual. His eyes that once burned through the will of seasoned killers with a single glance, stared ahead blankly, almost soullessly. He looked just like a frail old man, tired of life, tired of its struggles.
Before him stood an Italian man with short blonde hair and a short goatee on his chin. He looked a very fine Italian suit, stood ramrod straight with a strong, unyielding aura. He was the leader of the CEDEF, the outside advisor of the strongest Mafia family, Sawada Iemitsu. He had a small file in his hands, that he was looking into while he gave his report.
The third figure was sitting a little away from them, in a way that not even the faint moonlight could illuminate his face, shrouding him in darkness, save for his left hand where a small ring could be seen, the Vongola Sky ring. From time to time, he reached over with his right hand, and idly played with him, looking like he was enjoying himself.
"How is he?" the third man asked out of nowhere, cutting off Iemitsu rudely. Though neither he nor Timetio reacted, save for a brief flash of annoyance from the outside advisor.
"According to our reports, he is still alive, even though the poison is clearly working. His body and mind continue to deteriorate, although at a smaller rate than estimated."There was absolutely no emotion in his voice as he answered. That sent the darkened figure cackling in an eerie fashion, rocking back and forth on his chair, almost bowling over.
"How wonderful! I love when things don't go according to plan!" he laughed for a whole minute before as if a switch had been switched, he turned serious and stared down Iemitsu."Send a few hitmen after him then. Freelancers, those who couldn't be traced to us. After all it wouldn't look well to connect Vongola to his death. Don't you agree, Nono?" the old leader didn't react in any way, but he still began laughing once again."That's what I like to hear."
Iemitsu simply nodded to him, making a note for himself, before continuing the report as if nothing happened.
Up above them, hiding in a secure spot was a baby wearing a fine-made suit, eavesdropping. He had curly black sideburns and a yellow pacifier. He was Reborn, the Sun Arcobaleno, and the Strongest Hitman. A small hat hid most of his furious expression, but the clenching of his fist was unmistakable. He came here, infiltrated this mansion, because of the suspicions he had and sadly they were confirmed. From what he found already and what he just heard, there could be no mistake, dark times are coming.
'You better survive, Dame-Tsuna.' was his last thought before the inevitable happened and he was discovered.
"What do we have here?" asked a dark voice full of malice.
-0-
Thank you for all the support you have given me until now, it's hard to give words to how happy I am whenever I see a new favorite, follow or review. So in return, I thought I will give you guys a little sneak peek into (one of) the summer arc(s), hopefully, it will be free of any meaningful spoilers. Enjoy.
Sneak Peek:
"What's wrong Tsuna-kun?" asked Moka curiously as they walked next to each other.
Since the others didn't feel up to exploring the city after what happened yesterday, the two of them alone left the hotel they were staying in. And it was nice, to spend time with each other, without anything dangerous or troublesome looming over their heads. Yet, ever since breakfast, Tsuna had a distracted expression on his face, sometimes only half-heartedly responding to her.
Being caught and seeing no point in lying, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry about this." he apologized, especially since it was rare nowadays that they could just talk with only the two of them."It's just...for some reason today was highlighted in my calendar, so something important was supposed to happen today, but no matter how much I rack my brain, I can't think of anything.
"Maybe someone's birthday is today?" the vampire tried to guess."Or maybe you simply wanted to remind yourself about the summer trip? she asked, but Tsuna shook his head, deep in thought.
"No, that's not it. That calendar was from home, I really didn't use it since I started to go to Youkai Academy, so what could it be?"
"Maybe Lambo or others would know? Why don't you ask them when we got back to the hotel?" she offered, trying to help him figure out this problem.
"Lambo, Lambo..." he mumbled to himself, as he felt as if he was almost at the right answer. "That's it." he cried out, stopping in place as he remembered. Moka looked at him with a curious tilt of her head. "I remember now. The day Spanner tried to recalibrate the bazooka. This is today. Moka, what's the time?" he asked, looking around for a clock.
"It's almost eleven o'clock, why?" the young girl was beyond confused, but thinking about it, it was not an uncommon thing around the former mafioso.
„Oh, damn it, it's almost time." he quickly began to pat himself down, ensuring he had everything necessary on him. Natsu's ring, his x-gloves, dying will pills."Ok, Moka, you listen carefully. You have to take care of me, don't let me discover any big thing about my future, not what happened with the vongola or the others and I definitely can't found out about your or the others monster nature, got it." he asked her, but the poor girl was completely lost.
"I don't get it. What are you talking about? What's happening today?"
"We don't have much time." he insisted, then took a breath, trying to tell her as quickly as he could. "Two years ago a friend tried to modify Lambo's ten-year bazooka, I was hit by it, but was only sent forward two years. I was sent here today. I tried to remind myself so it wouldn't-" he was cut off as he felt a quite similar weightless sensation as he instantly traveled in time. Pink smoke blocked his vision, but at least this time, he remained standing."-like this." he finished lamely as the smoke began to clear around him.
He did not have a long time to ponder if he reappeared where he thought he would when worried voices cried out around him.
"Juudaime!"
"Hahi! Tsuna-san!"
"Tsuna!"
"Tsuna-kun?"
"Sawada! Are you extremely alright?"
Despite knowing where he would be going back, to times that once he thought were the happier times, he was still stocked to come face to face with the younger versions of his former guardians and friends. Gokudera, Yamamoto, Onii-san, Haru, Kyoko were standing around him at the grounds of Namimori Middle, some looking worried, some gaping at him in astonishment. He could even spot a snot-faced Lambo, a suspiciously watching Reborn and a sheepish Spanner not far from them.
A lot of emotions began to fight inside him at seeing them again, so young this time. On one side he was happy, glad to see them. It was those happy, peaceful days after they came back from the future, where he began to believe that all will be right. On the other hand, it was hard to forget what happened after the inheritance ceremony, how his 'family' fell apart. Still, these days may be lost to him, now he had Moka and the others and he was quite close to saying that he was happy to be with them.
This war of emotions went through him in a few seconds, leaving him in a hard to identify emotional state. Instead, he chose to default to a neutral response.
"Two years younger and you're all so short." he deadpanned at them with no emotion on his face. Their reaction was funny as hell, all of them looking at him shocked as if they never expected him to say something like that. Come to think of it, his younger self did not have Tsukune to torment or Gin to egg on each other. Oh, well.
The ice was broken when Ryohei began to laugh loudly, the others joining him, amused by the older Tsuna's response. But the easy atmosphere was soon broken when a familiar skylark appeared at the edge of the school grounds. tonfas already out and on a warpath.
"The school is not in session, the grounds are off-limits. Everyone who fails to obey will be bitten to death." threatened the president of the disciplinary committee.
„Bastard, who do you think you are telling Juudaime where to-" he was cut off as Tsuna simply walked past him towards Hibari with a smirk on his face. "Juudaime?"
"Yo, Hibari." he greeted his former cloud, ignoring the menacing scowl sent his way."If I remember correctly, Spanner's modified bazooka works for around 2 hours, so I have time to kill." he placed his mittens on, Hibari eying the older omnivore with minuscule interest."So, let's fight."
-0-
You know, I'm not sure if it counts as a Sneak Peek, where it's around 1/12 of the whole chapter. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it.
Little interesting trivia: The song Lambo was singing was a Japanese song for kids, that teaches teeth brushing. Its name is hamigaki no u ta. It's a nice, little song.