Hey, everyone, Naintarlow checking in.
Sorry for the late chapter but thanks to the hot days of the summer I found it hard to find the motivation to write for long. I thought I should write a short chapter with a few interactions so you don't have to wait for a full chapter. Well, that didn't work. The small chapter turned to 13k long and was a literal monster to write.
I had to rewrite the last few scenes at least eight times and even now I feel a part of me doesn't agree completely but it was the best it's gonna get. Curious to hear what you guys think of how I handled Tsuna and Moka's first argument.
One of the reviews pointed out a very interesting thing. Mizore. Since in the anime, she joins before the PSC trouble but in the manga, she is later introduced. So I want to ask you what do you think? We still have a few chapters before that so I feel a little conflicted about it.
As for reviews:
LightJakRises: Arikura and her girls will remain a mystery for a while, though I will leave you guys little tidbits from time to time. Also, I haven't seen the xxxHolic anime but sounds interesting.
This chapter answers the question of who the girl was, and you will be surprised.
Generation Xerox. I never heard of it before so I googled it, then I was laughing like a madman for a minute. That's really Reborn in a nutshell.
You might have to wait for Xanxus a little but it will be hilarious.
Funny thing, Moka's reaction to Tsuna was a really last-minute thing when I wrote it, but I like the direction it leads me. In this chapter, they reconcile a bit but they still had a long way to go until the air clears between them. And the poison isn't cured, his body got a little treatment to help fight off the worst of its effects.
Sakihinata: If you think about it, even in RV canon she is usually pretty quick to judge at first glance
Gold1992: Your wish granted, Ura and Omote arguing because of the letter and what it caused for the relationship of Tsuna and Moka. hope you enjoy the chapter.
You mean Mizore right? right now I don't even know, both of them feel possible right now, so we will see? I kind of look forward to her reaction to zero point breakthrough. As for the poison, Tsuna is really stubborn and not gonna move hastily.
For Lal and the communication, next chapter you finally get your answers. For Arcobanelo appearing maybe or maybe not, but Mukoro will appear in due time. His other allies, some accounted for, some are not.
Enanza: Once again thank you for catching these small mistakes.
Who knows really? Maybe later we will learn what was going on between Giotto, Akasha, and Arikura.
Okay, you caught me by surprise. The earth flame idea is really good, something I really hadn't thought of but has a lot of possibilities so I may probably go down that route. Thanks for the idea, though it will take a lot of time for him to be able to use it.
Well, the first of the freelancers appear at the end of the chapter and have some impact on the plot of the deadline chapter that's coming up. And yes, Tsuna's reactions and actions as well as the others will be something to look forward to.
I think Tsuna has most things figured out by summer with a few exceptions, though I will make no promises. Also, it was already mentioned by Ura that Omote is a lot less aware of the outside world than when the roles are reserved.
Sorry for once again the late chapter, hopefully, the next one you won't have to wait for so long but I make no promises. Thank you again for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Please enjoy.
Cover: Someone holding up a photo of the newspaper club, with everyone present on it but there is a crosshair drawn around Tsuna's head
Chapter 10 The calm before the storm
"Why aren't we going to our usual training place?" Tsukune asked with a tired yawn as he dragged himself after Tsuna who didn't seem like he would stop anytime soon.
It was about a week since the incident with Ishigami and him almost dying, something he tried not to think about much. He felt marginally better, though he still woke up some days completely exhausted but it may have been because of Tsuma's insane training. For some reason, the enigmatic teen decided to amp up the difficulty setting on his training, much to his dismay.
After the whole debacle with the skulls that screamed out his deepest embarrassments, he felt relieved that things were getting back to the normal routine. Well, almost everything. Though there was a little awkwardness between him and Moka after her oblivious rejection, he soon came to peace with that and their friendship remained as strong as ever. Even Kurumu being extra clingy and spending a lot more time with him was something he quickly accepted as normal.
What he found strange that there appeared some kind of distance between Moka and Tsuna. It wasn't obvious at first glance, he was pretty sure not even Kurumu or their other friends noticed it but it was there.
Only thanks to all the attention he paid to Moka that he noticed and even then he almost dismissed it because it sounded ridiculous. But it was there, subtle differences in their interactions. How Moka looked away, not meeting Tsuna's eyes, how she no longer visited them during his morning training, how they tended to descend into awkward silences, and how she stepped away from him whenever he stepped close to her. Tsuna bare all of it silently, the only sign of it affecting him was the way his shoulders dropped and the closed look in his eyes.
As their friend Tsukune was of course was worried about whatever was going on between them but the one time he tried to bring up the subject with his friend, Tsuna gave him a look that immediately destroyed any further thoughts of prying into their business. Still, he hoped things got better between them soon.
"Until now we mostly focused on your physical conditioning so you could survive until I can use the dying will bullet on you and for you to be able to handle the strain that comes with constant usage." Tsuna explained after a long silence, drawing Tsukune away from his musings.
"I remember feeling a little exhausted but not anything bad." he objected with a thoughtful frown. "And didn't you say the dying will releases external limiters and grants invincibility?" he asked trying to remember the explanation he got at the start of the year.
"That's true for the basic bullet but there more complex ones that are more demanding. Ones you are nowhere near ready for." he waved away his objections, giving a friendly greeting to the few students who were up at this hour."Now that you recovered from the skulls disease, we can begin training in earnest." as he caught Tsukune's sour look, he couldn't help but laugh."Get over it, I had to go through this just like you. Except my tutor was, even more, a sadistic bastard. It's a necessary step to acclimate your body to the dying will flames, so you could properly utilize them."
"I really don't want to meet that tutor of yours." Tsukune said with a shudder. You poor boy, you don't even know the half of it."You still didn't explain where are we going." he reminded the brown-haired teen.
"As I said, now that you have reached a level of physical fitness of a little above the average human norm," as he told it matter-of-factly, Tsukune's shoulders dropped in dejection."It's time we focus more on you mastering the dying will flame."
"Master? What do you mean by that?"
"You remember me in dying will form?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, receiving a nod in answer."That's what we want you to achieve in time. The way you use it now is without any control. You only concentrate on the regret that activates it, charging forward like a bull. You are a berserker, incapable of thinking. You also fight with full throttle, burning a dying will at maximum all the time. That's why you could only stay at that state for five minutes at most." he explained, much to the other teen's surprise. Usually, Tsuna wasn't one to explain things, preferring to leave him in the dark.
Looking away from Tsukune who was listening attentively, he held back a smirk as they finally reached the karate club's dojo. Motioning for Tsukune to follow him he entered while he continued to explain how training will be from now on.
"You can only master the dying will while trying to use it consequently and since my body still has trouble entering that state, I arranged for a sparring partner. Of course, every few days we will go back to the basics and work on strengthening your body further but for the time being, control over dying will flame is more important."
Tsukune opened his mouth to ask a question but he was cut off as Tsuna entered the inner room, forcing him to follow after him. Inside there was one student, rigorously practicing some kind of kata. He remembered him, he was an upperclassman who sometimes dropped by his training to talk with Tsuna and demand spars from him. Gin also mentioned him, complaining about him not capable of holding back and hounding Gin whenever Tsuna was not available for spars. He shuddered as he realized the implications especially when Tsuna and the karate club captain, Haiji if he remembered right, shared a grin.
"Yo, Sawada." he greeted him enthusiastically after he finished his kata. Tsukune's muscles hurt just from seeing it, but he didn't even break a sweat. "It's been pretty boring since you decided to hang out less." he finally noticed Tsukune who offered a shaky grin in greeting. "So this is that pupil that I heard about?" he asked as he looked at him curiously.
"Yeah, that's Tsukune." Tsuna said as he encouragingly put his hand on the human's shoulder. That didn't encourage Tsukune at all, whenever Tsuna decided to be supportive it meant that there was a real possibility of dying."So if it's not too much trouble, could I ask you to spar with him a little?"
"Sure, he looks a little weak and frail-looking but it was the same with you and I learned better to assume." Haiji agreed with a large grin before he raised an eyebrow in question."But why can't you train him? You told me you are the same species of youkai so wouldn't you be a better choice? Or you want him to learn karate specifically? In that case, he is free to join our karate club." he added with a chuckle.
Tsuna waved him off chuckling as well.
"The goal is not to teach any techniques to him, that can be done later." the older teenager looked interested in the explanation so he continued."His powers are unstable and without control, the only way he could control them is through fighting. I will fight him also on some days but it would help him a lot more to fight other opponents too. How about it? Right now he is a berserker without any control, eager to back up no matter what you diss out. He would be the ideal punching bag." he ignored his student's alarmed look and his face turned serious."The more he fights, the more familiar he becomes with his power, enabling better control and output. It would be a few days a week at most, the other days either I would spar with him or I spar with you while he works on his strength training. You win either way." he said with a small grin.
"Sounds interesting. "Haiji chuckled before he faced Tsukune with an eager smile."Are you ready kid?" he asked taking a karate stance.
"What? Of course not. I'll definitely die." the human protested, frightened by the aura of the 2nd year student. Before he could even think about running away, Tsuna placed a hand on his shoulder, sending him a reassuring smile. But behind that smile was a promise of extreme pain if he tried to chicken out.
"You'll be fine or at least you won't die just yet. But if you want to stop relying on me or Moka then you have to train like your life depended on it." Tsuna said in a lowered voice. He looked into his eyes, Tsukune unable to look away. After a long moment, he gave a shaky nod."Good, you have the case of dying pills with you? Eat one, only one whenever you are knocked out of the dying will state." he gave a nod to Haiji before he began to leave the room."I'll leave you guys to it. I have a few things to do so I'll be back later. Try not to die, Tsukune."
"W-wait, Tsuna!" Tsukune cried after in worry, before his instincts screamed and he jumped away just as the upperclassmen stuck where his head was a moment ago."That could have killed me!" he shouted, horrified.
Haiji only laughed at hearing him before he was once again on the poor human.
-0-
"Here are the items you requested." a small student with a very rat-like face said as he placed a smaller bag in front of Tsuna. His beady eyes roamed around the room nervously as if fearing someone or something jumping out of nowhere.
Though he told Tsukune how many things one can get their hands on in a male dormitory, the truth was it was a little harder than he made it out to be. There were s few people who made a business about getting their hands on and smuggling into the school various items from the youkai world, items others would find hard to come by or the school didn't let them bring them. There were even fewer who dared to acquire items from the human world, something many frowned upon despite them being in a school focusing on coexistence.
Of course, it was not easy to smuggle anything into the school. Despite his first impressions. after he looked into it, the school was keeping an eye on many things, one of them was the various contrabands. Even the students went through quite a serious check, though there were blind spots just like the one he and Tsukune 'fell' through.
Still, despite, the difficulties in acquiring the goods there was more than enough of a demand that many students tried their hand in it. The one before him, Murikawa was one of the best currently in the school with the reputation as a trusty, reliable salesman. He was the one Tsuna preferred to do business with most of the time since he was able to acquire most objects he needed while he had little reason to betray or trick him.
He was far from trusting the older student, his past with the mafia made him suspicious of anyone but he was pretty sure he could easily take him on even without dying will if he tried anything.
Tsuna frowned as he checked the contents of the bag. He may offer a minuscule amount of trust to Murikawa, he was not so naive not to check out the goods before paying.
"This is only half of what I asked for." he noted with a narrowed gaze. He was not so much afraid that the dealer tried to trick him since someone like him relies on his customers' continued support and with access to the newspaper club he could easily discredit Murikawa's business venture if needed. Something the older student was well aware of.
What was worrying that for the last few weeks other small-time dealers also had difficulty acquiring various items he asked from various sources as a precaution. Murikawa was one of the most trustworthy and it was worrying if even he found it hard to operate.
"Can't be helped, the Public Safety Commission decided to crack down on us for some reason." answered the older student, shifting in place uneasily. He was not a fighter, that's why he worked behind the scenes, making business instead of fighting for power like the stronger and stupider monsters. He had no loyalty to anything, his goal was simply to survive with the most money he can get away with."Since I only got half, let's say eighty percent of the initial price."
Tsuna raised an eyebrow, looking not very impressed.
"Let's say sixty percent and I'm being generous since it's only around half of what I needed since I can understand that your work is not very easy." he countered with a disinterested impression, watching as Murikawa visibly sweated. He was even more unnerved than usual, this Commission had him scared to hell and back.
"Meet me at seventy. I had to think about the added expenses bribing the Commission to look the other way so I could get a part of the requested products." he offered in the end.
Tsuna rolled his eyes, even as he handed over the money to Murikawa and picked up his bag, and left. It surprised him a little to see that the monsters used human money but after a little investigation, it was not that surprising. The youkai world lived in secret from the human one but used many of its inventions for their own use. The older clans may use gold, silver, and other minerals between each other as a substitute for money, those clans were scattered and isolated enough that there wasn't a need for united money before.
Only in the last century when there was any kind of growing unity between various youkai that the need for it become real. And since there was a little human money 'in circulation' thanks to their contact with the human world, most notably the mafia, it was easier than trying to make one from scratch. It also helped them to integrate into the human world.
He was thankful that his good for nothing father sent quite a lot of money to his mother in the effort to appear as a caring husband and father to the world, that meant since his mother was not one to spend a large amount of money, there was enough saved that he had quite a big allowance while in this school. It felt good that even while cut off from the Vongola, he didn't have to ask for help from Dino or anyone else at least in this matter, though the thought of spending his father's money left a rather sour taste in his mouth.
Still, he got his money's worth at least. He got the most needed items for the little project he was working on and also learned a useful tidbit of information. He already knew about the iron grip the commission had on the students, despite the small incidents they were involved in, the situation would have been much worse if students didn't fear acting out, in case the school police gets involved.
He planned to keep away from them for the time being, not wanting to have Moka and the others involved in case he got in trouble with them. From the rumors alone they, or at least their leader was very strong since even Haiji cautioned him against gaining the attention of the Commission in one of their talks. Also from what he knew they didn't even really answered to the headmaster, which made them even more of a wildcard in his eyes.
But the most interesting thing they were corrupt, which was an even more interesting development. For a moment he toyed with the thought of taking them down, a new school police may be placed in their place but it wouldn't be corrupt and would be too distracted trying to achieve a semblance of order to notice him doing a few things under their nose.
It would be profitable to bring those smugglers under his fold. With a little help and a little organization that lucrative business could be a lot less dangerous and very profitable for him. He knew about how the underworld worked thanks to Reborn's relentless lessons that he could easily model it after the black market. It would be a good source of money that didn't have anything to do with his father and it would place a lot of students directly or indirectly under him, which would be useful if he ever needed to cement his position in the school.
"And I'm again thinking like a mafioso." he muttered as he began to massage his head. He could not help it. Like it or not, the mafia became an integrated part of himself and since his talk with Dino and Lal, he was thinking more and more about what was happening in the mafia.
That's why he decided to amp up Tsukune's training regiment. Sooner or later the mafia will come to him since his very existence is a threat to Massino. Moka, she could defend herself, even her sealed self was stronger than most humans, but Tsukune, on the other hand, would die instantly. Tsuna was sure he figured out the type of flame he most probably had and adjusted the training according to it. He thought about introducing him to the hyper dying will, but the human was nowhere ready for it, not yet.
Walking back to the dojo, he was smiling softly at the picture that greeted him. A beaten-up Tsukune lied before him, his soul trying its hardest to leave the body while Haiji was patiently practiced not far from them, only a slight sweat as evidence of their training.
"Hey, Tsukune, you alive?" he asked, probing him with his foot. When the young teen groaned in pain, he moved on, conscience clear. "So, how did he do?" he asked from the karate club captain who stopped when he noticed.
"Better than I would have thought." answered Haiji with a laugh as he noticed Tsukune twitch in response to his words."As you said he had no form, no tactic but what he had is resilence. I look forward to our next training session."
Tsuna couldn't help but give a small smile at hearing that. Tsukune and he had been in different circumstances but unlike Tsuna who had to be forced to train by Reborn, his student seemed to be quite enthusiastic in bettering himself.
"Glad to hear it. I will be back with him in a few days but it's better to not focus on only one aspect." Tsuna said while he effortlessly picked up his friend, throwing his arm over his shoulder. "How about a spar tomorrow? I shouldn't just laze about while my kouhai tries his best not to die?" he asked with a wry grin.
Haiji only gave him a sharp smile before waving him off, letting him carry Tsukune away. He only just left the dojo when he already got bored with the whole thing, deciding to drop the teen who groaned in pain and proceeded to drag him by his leg. The few students who were up and about could only look in horror as Tsuna dragged a very corpse-like Tsukune away.
-0-
"How long do you plan to keep up this foolishness?" a harsh voice demanded, causing Moka to awkwardly jump from where she stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom, drying her lush, pink hair after her morning bath.
Gulping, she turned back to face her reflection. But instead of the green-eyed, pink-haired Omote, the one who looked back was Ura, with her red, slitted eyes and silver hair, scowling at her as she crossed her arms.
"I-I don't know what are you talking about." she stuttered out but did not stay to see her other self's expression, instead she hurried to her bedroom, planning on finish her morning preparations in peace for once.
Since the time her sealed powers were first unsealed and the dark, scary part of her awakened, Ura began to talk to her through the rosary that kept her powers in check, and even if she was at first bewildered by it, she liked it. It was like having a roommate with her all the time, she never had to feel lonely.
Of course, it also had its downsides. Her other self was very critical, and a little bit arrogant, not approving her friendship with Tsukune or Kurumu for example and she had a bad habit of talking to her when her attention should be focused elsewhere, like in the middle of class. It also didn't help that unlike a roommate, if they ever disagreed, she couldn't even leave to try and cool down, she had to endure the lectures from Ura endlessly.
At first, she talked from her rosary, choosing to stay silent most of the time, but recently when she spoke, Ura even replaced her reflection, though it looked like it was only her who saw Ura, the others only seeing her regular reflection. And, through the last week, she talked a lot more, arguing with her but for once in her life, she was not letting her told her what to do.
"Don't play dumb. I'm talking about that ridiculous pouting of yours." Ura's voice drawled in her mind as she finished buttoning up her blouse. "You know I'm normally not one to say that but you shouldn't hold a grudge for something so insignificant." she heard her other self audibly scoff, annoyed by the week-old argument.
"It's not insignificant." she cried out, whirling around on impulse, even if she knew there was no one behind her."Because of Tsuna, Tsukune almost died and we wouldn't have known the reason for it. He is always like this, staying silent and guarded, not telling anything to me, I mean us until he decides there's no other way." she said, hugging herself for a little bit of comfort.
"What are you? His wife or girlfriend, he should tell everything about himself?" Ura asked sarcastically before Omote felt her staring at her in disapproval even though she had no body at the moment."It's getting really annoying that I had to defend him and talk about trust issues but the bottom line is that he was right. Knowing about Tsukune's illness would have changed nothing, other than letting the two of you worry about something that you could not change."
"Tsukune at least had a right to know that he was dying from something that Tsuna did to him." she argued back, walking over to her desk, seeing an opened letter laying there. It was slightly crumpled from her reading it over and over so much. "He has so many secrets to him and you told me before he was dangerous. Dangerous to be around. Even Akua-nee-san says that." she stated, referring to the letter from her sister, the brown-haired teen unknowingly delivered to her.
She was really surprised to find that the letter came from her oldest sister who she didn't see or heard from since a long time ago. In her letter, she asked how she was doing and questions like that, without telling anything about herself other than she was busy but the real surprise was at the end of the letter. Akua told her she knew she befriended Tsuna and warned her to keep her distance from him.
She told her while Tsuna was human, he was also dangerous, dangerous for the people around him. He was connected to the human criminal underworld, the mafia specifically with enemies who wanted nothing more than hurt him, and much to Moka's horror, Akua revealed in her letter that Tsuna had blood on his hands.
At first, she didn't want to believe her sister's words, wanting to believe in her very first friend. But the doubts began to appear, especially coupled with the whole skull disease fiasco. He had many secrets about him, many things he refused to talk about, along with that strange flame power, the dying will flame he had that he didn't tell them anything about. No matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise, a large part of her felt that maybe there was some truth to her sister's words.
Because of this, she began to subtly keep her distance, not knowing what to do. Her other part of course noticed that and began to pester her about that, their roles reversed for the first time since usually, it was Ura who was advising her to keep her distance from other people. She found her actions childish, saying she was needlessly sticking her nose into things that didn't involve either of them and was creating unnecessary problems.
"Why are sticking up for him all of a sudden?" she asked as she went to gather up her books for the day, wanting to get over their almost usual morning argument.
"Because as much as I hate to say it, he is the only one who can release a seal if something bad happens or your idiot friend once again runs into trouble." Ura asked, making it clear that she didn't like depending on anybody. "With the seal on, you are only slightly stronger as a human and I have no wish to die because you ran into some trouble that you couldn't handle." she conveniently didn't mention that Tsuna was also someone who intrigued her and she wanted to see what he was truly capable of since most of the time he preferred let others do the heavy lifting.
Of course, she thought as a frown appeared on Omote's face. It was typical of Ura, not caring about others, looking down on everyone who was not someone strong like her, and seeing people only what use they could be for.
A knock on her door ended their argument for the moment as she went to answer it. Both of them agreed not to argue when others were near her since while Ura talks to her silently, no one wiser, Omote could only reply audibly and it would not be good for either of them if people thought she was crazy for talking to herself. Thus, this silent truce was created between them.
She went to open the door, her eyes widening at who she found on the other side.
-0-
"I feel like a truck went over me ten times at least before I was stretched all over the place by some medieval torture equipment." muttered Tsukune as he dragged himself after Tsuna, his whole body crying out in protest of even trying to breathe.
"That's oddly specific Tsukune." the former mafioso commented with obvious amazement.
They were walking toward the cafeteria after he dragged his student back to the dorm to change and ready for the classes. He sent Lambo there earlier today to get some snacks from the cafeteria before the rush of students could empty it and wait for them there, so Tsukune would replenish some of the lost energy.
When the black-haired human was not looking Tsuna went over his state with a critical eye. Despite Tsukune believing otherwise he was in a much better shape than he should be after he went for a full spar against Haiji, the second-year student who was already one of the most powerful monsters in the school strength-wise.
His wounds were slowly healing, already several bruises looked around a day or two old instead of being fresh. Tsuna estimated that by the end of the day he would be left with only a few scrapes, confirming his suspicion.
When they arrived at the cafeteria with time before their first class, neither of them was surprised the cafeteria was mostly empty. By this time the students would buy all available breakfasts and left in quick order to get ready for their classes. What was surprising that instead of just Lambo waiting for them at their usual table with a couple of sandwiches, they were greeted by Kurumu, Moka, and Yukari sitting next to Lambo, the whole table filled to the brim with delicious smelling breakfast.
"Good morning Tsuna-nii, Tsukune-san." Yukari greeted them brightly, waving them as she noticed them. Despite it being morning she was already very preppy in contrast to Kurumu who struggled to even stay upright until she noticed her destined one walking towards her.
"Tsukune-kun! Good morning!" she cried out as she launched herself at the unsuspecting teen who placed his hands around her waist as he struggled not to trip and bring the girl down with him. Kurumu took a moment to press her assets into his face before leaning backward and inspecting him. Her face turned worried when she noticed the fading black eye on his face. "What happened to you Tsukune-kun? Don't worry I will use my body to nurse you back to health." she cooed as she began caressing his face that erupted in an enormous blush.
"I wonder if I should step in or let Tsukune get traumatized for life by the far too eager succubus." Tsuna mused out loud, scratching his head in puzzlement."Thought it could be used for character development." Unfortunately said succubus heard his words, causing her to instantly turn to him.
"Tsuna! Why are you tormenting my precious destined one? Thanks to you he injuries himself almost daily." she accused pointing a finger at him, while her other hand pished Tsukune's face back to its 'proper' place, not letting the poor boy get even a word in."You push him so hard he even fell ill, but you didn't even let him have a day off."
"That's called training, something he wanted so don't blame me if I deliver what I promise. You should try it too if you don't want others to save your skin if you get any trouble." Tsuna answered back, though his voice lacked any heat. He and Kurumu had a strange relationship that consisted of them arguing with each other most of the time. "And for the last time, skull disease is practically what sheep pox is to the humans. You have to get it once so you will be immune after that." he grumbled as he went to the table, looking around.
The table was full of various foods, and just looking at it made him hungry. Bacon, egg, toast, cereal and he even spied pancakes, though Lambo did his best to try and eat them before any of them would wise up and notice it. Yukari was beaming at him expectantly while Moka sat silently, looking at Tsukune and Kurumu, determinedly not meeting his eyes.
"So what's the occasion for this five-star breakfast?" he asked from the little witch curiously, while causally boking Lambo on the head, silently telling him to slow down and chew. It was obvious they knew he and Tsukune would be here to eat something as they except for Lambo waited for them to arrive before digging in.
"Kurumu, Moka-nee, and I thought that you and Tsukune worked so hard this last week that you could use a good, fulfilling breakfast, so the three of us asked permission from the dinner lady and with a little help made you guys breakfast." she explained, smiling brightly when Tsuna affectionally patted her head, even though she had her hat on.
"Well, thanks for that, it's really thoughtful." he said to her with a sincere smile, before he finally met Moka's eyes. She looked as if she was about to say something before she flinched and averted her eyes. It was very subtle and most people would have chalked it up to shyness but Tsuna was good enough at reading facial expressions to not be fooled. He had to, a large part of his life was spent bullied, he had to know when to try to run and when to take a beating. In response, Tsuna's mouth tightened for a moment before he controlled his expressions.
Yukari also seemed to catch it because her smile became a bit forced, prompting him to sigh. He did not need this kind of drama, not with a possible mafia civil war happening any time along with everything else he had on his plate.
While Tsukune stayed silent and decided to let the two of them figure things out between themselves, Yukari on the other hand used every opportunity she could get her hands on to force Moka and him to talk things out and make up. He got it where she was coming off it was pretty clear she looked up to and even idolized the two of them, she wanted things to turn back how they were before.
"Come on Tsukune, let's eat." Kurumu cried as she dragged the still blushing teen to the table, sitting down next to Lambo who was eying Tsuna cautiously while he was eating slower. The only seat left for Tsuna was the one between Moka and Yukari, something that was without a doubt thanks to the young witch.
"Ittadakimasu!" all of them called out softly save for Lambo as they took their seats and began to eat. Tsuna immediately grabbed a nearby toast and began to nibble on it, appreciating the fact that they can have a calm, fulfilling breakfast for once, instead of quickly eating whatever they managed to grab from the cafeteria.
"This is delicious! All the pain I had to go through was worth something at least." Tsukune cried out as he tasted the scrambled eggs the succubus placed in front of it, tears coming out from his eyes. Kurumu, who made that specific food was shyly blushing at his side like a newlywed housewife.
"Here, try this, Tsukune-kun." Kurumu said sweetly, handing him the miso soup she made with all her love, a shy smile on her face. Tsukune, oblivious to the looks she got from his other friends, eagerly dig into it.
"Seems like Tsukune and Kurumu gotten a lot closer to each other." commented Moka with a small smile, though she felt a little out of place at the idyllic picture before them as she bit into a sandwich.
"If I watch it too long my teeth gonna rot." Tsuna said with a blank look as he sipped a cup of orange juice."Next thing we know they are married with the second kid on its way."
"Yeah." Yukari agreed with a sage nod before a sly smile appeared on her face. "The only ones who can do that are you and Moka-nee." as if on cue, at her words both Tsuna and Moka began to choke on their food or drink and began to cough, embarrassed blush on their faces.
"Yu-Yukari-chan!" Moka cried out as she pouted at the young girl along with Lambo, who did not catch what was happening but joined in nonetheless. Thankfully Tsukune and Kurumu were distracted for the time being.
Tsuna only stared at the witch with a raised eyebrow after he managed not to choke on his juice, silently promising that since Tsukune's training started to require less active interaction from him, he was gonna start tortu-, ahem, training both Lambo and Yukari since he was such a caring older brother.
At that moment, as if they knew what was awaiting them, both kids started shivering, resembling him during his training with Reborn, amusing the former mafioso. A soft laugh reached his ears, that he thought for a moment that he just imagined it since it was so low, making him turn around. He only saw Moka still pouting at Yukari's words, though it looked as if her rosary moved for a second.
"Let's just get back to eating." he said in the end, trying to hide the frown from his face. His questions about Moka and her seal just kept piling up, but he already decided not to go behind her back. No matter how much his paranoid nature demanded him to be aware of every possible danger.
Still, that paranoid little voice in his head was getting more and more insistent every time he even looked at the vampire. The sudden distance between them was not helping him keep that voice down, the less she was a friend and more of an ally, the easier it was to convince himself of the necessity of looking into her secrets.
They began to eat quietly, talking about just whatever came to mind, with an unconscious decision to keep away from the topic of whatever was going on with Tsuna and Moka. Both teens welcomed that change, allowing them to eat in peace.
"Tsuna-nii, can I ask a question?" Yukari asked him softly after a while, looking a little unsure. Tsuna who was chewing on a strip of bacon turned to her curiously, humming in agreement."I never heard of monsters like you and Tsukune. Could you tell me a little about them.?"
Instantly Tsukune tensed and began to look around nervously, before turning to Tsuna. Lambo stopped eating and began sweating as he also looked at Tsuna for what to do. On the other hand, the brown-haired teen continued to chew slowly, with no hint of nervousness on his face. Next to him, Moka who also knew about the truth about the two of them and the dying will flame also paled and began to play with her hands.
'Can these guys be any more obvious?' he asked from himself with a sweatdrop. Thankfully, both Yukari and Kurumu looked at him when the question came up but this was beyond ridiculous. Was he this transparent before Reborn came?
Lucky for him, he was working hard to make up a believable cover, using little tidbits he learned from the youkai world since he came here. It was not foolproof but it should be enough to cast doubt if anyone suspected them to be anything other than monsters. But there was still a sour taste in his mouth because he constantly lied to the people he hangs out with, people he even began to call friends. Still, the omerta must be upheld.
"To tell you to the truth, most would call us half-breeds since we are very similar to witches when you look at it closer." he admitted much to their shock, especially Yukari's eyes widened at the words. Similarly, Tsukune and Moka also looked shocked since they had no idea where he was going with this.
"Really?" the young witch who spent a lot of time bullied and harassed because of her heritage asked with unabashed hope. Unnoticed by Tsuna, Moka clenched her fist, an angry expression appearing on her face at his lie.
"Well, as you know most monsters' true form looks different than their human forms. Unlike them, Tsukune and I aren't changing physically, only a flame appears on our forehead. We live a lot more isolated from other monsters that's why we are not well-known." Tsuna said explaining the story he made up for his and Tsukune's cover."For most of us, you could hardly tell us apart from humans because there is a requirement for our powers to manifest for the first time. We need to have a near-death encounter. Hence we call it the dying flame." Kurumu and Yukari looked horrified, the succubus clutching Tsukune's arm close to her in an effort to make sure he was alright. Tsuna decided to give little half-truths to make the cover more believable.
"So how did you activate your powers for the first time?" Moka asked, not even sure if what he was telling was the truth or not.
"My teacher shot me in the head." was the answer he gave them, along with a bright smile. Everyone looked at him horrified, even Tsukune who knew that was really how the dying will bullet worked, but couldn't understand how easily Tsuna admitted that.
"That sounds horrific! What kind of teacher did you have?" Kurumu asked, practically molding herself to Tsukune for comfort who couldn't complain at having a beautiful girl wrapping herself around him.
"A spawn of the devil." was the cheery response before Tsuna begab to ponder, putting a hand on his chin."Come to think of it, maybe I was taking it easy on Tsukune after my own very traumatic training. Guess I shouldn't hold back so much." at his words poor Tsukune began to tremble and for a moment it looked like his soul tried to escape through his mouth. The others nervously laughed at him, not knowing if he was serious or not.
"Please, that training for wusses. It's nothing for someone as great as Lambo-sama." Lambo boasted but everyone saw he was bluffing. His eyes were wide as saucers, he was sweating heavily and was trembling in place. It was no surprise, Reborn loved for others who were around Tsuna to go through the same hell, and Lambo, as annoying as he was, was a favorite collateral target of his.
"Is that so? Guess it's time for me to bring out some of those old playing tools." Tsuna commented with a sadistic smile, a small part of him, the one that was influenced by Reborn enjoying himself, as tears began to gather in the young Bovino's eyes, even as he tried to keep up his confident pose. It also had the added benefit of turning the attention away from his and Tsukune's 'species'.
"Don't bully Lambo so much." Moka scolded him and he had to keep down the surge of irritation that her words caused. He was joking, of course, she knew it very well but it seems the skull disease incident did a real number on her trust. He shouldn't be surprised by that but it hurt nonetheless.
"From Lambo's reaction alone, I really wish we never meet your teacher." Kurumu admitted with an uneasy look before she perked up as a thought came to her mind."Hey, if we are asking questions now, I have one too. What is a lightning guardian?" she asked curiously, her head tilting as well.
Hearing her words, Tsuna found himself completely unprepared. He froze in the middle of taking a bite, his thoughts running rapidly as he tried to figure out where she could have heard this term. Was she involved with the mafia as well or did someone talked to her about it? Not to insult her intelligence, but Kurumu was a little bit of an idiot at least academically and she tended to put all her focus on Tsukune. Was it where she heard it? But he was careful to not tell or hint anything even to Tsukune, deciding to keep the other human in the dark until he shows the proper resolution that was needed to survive in the mafia.
He subtly cleared his throat when he noticed the others looking at him, worried about his reactions. Trying to force his face into a confused expression, he noticed Lambo wringing his hands nervously. Perhaps he was the source where the succubus heard it from. But the young Bovino was aware of the omerta, maybe even more than him since he was raised in that world instead of thrust into the middle like Tsuna.
"Lightning guardian?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, hoping he looked uncertain enough to tell that the term meant nothing to him. By the way, he caught Moka frowning at him in the corner of his vision he was not successful enough.
"Yeah, I wondered about that too." Yukari spoke up, looking at him with wide, curious eyes. Whenever she looked at him so openly, so trusting it bothered him quite a bit because of the countless lies he surrounded himself with."Last week when Lambo fought against Ishigami he said a few things we didn't know what it meant. He said something about being your lightning guardian and a hitman. Whenever I tried to ask Lambo he ran away or blow up something randomly." she stated sending a pointy stare at the increasingly more nervous mafioso.
"Is that so?" he asked while giving a brief glare to Lambo, his mind furiously trying to come up with an explanation that would let their curiosity die without giving up any real information. No matter how much he disliked it, it looked like he once again had to agree to half-truths for the time being.
"Well, Lambo usually says a lot of outrageous things, so it could be just like that." Tsukune spoke up with an unsure smile. He was just as lost as the others, but trusted Tsuna enough and felt indebted enough for all the help he gave him that he decided to try and help out when he saw the others try and peer into his secrets.
The others looked a little unconvinced by his words, though they could not deny it that Lambo tended to act and say things that didn't make much sense. Lambo meanwhile was getting more and more nervous by the attention on him, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. He was probably moments away from using the bazooka, Tsuna thought, so he decided to speak up before that weapon could complicate matters further.
"Now that I think about it, I have an idea where the term lightning guardian may have come from." he put his hand on his chin to further create the image that he was deep in thought."My family and Lambo's knew each other for a long time, a few centuries at least. A distant ancestor of mine had a group of people gathered around himself, who called themselves his guardians. Lambo's ancestor was one of them, guess that's where it came from since he had lightning powers." he shrugged as if to say he knew nothing more."On the other hand, this hitman thing I knew where it came from. See, my teacher had a fondness for old-school human fashion, especially Italian suits so he frequently looked like a mafiosos would. Lambo wanted to surpass him and attacked him many times only for my teacher to beat him without even trying." a small chuckle escaped him as he thought about Lambo and his many failed assassination attempts at Reborn."It also didn't help that when he was at a young, impressionable age we strapped him down and made him watch with us the Godfather trilogy with Italian dub." he explained with a small smile. The last one truly happened and made for an amusing ten hours.
For a long moment, the others remained silent, only watching him with incredulous eyes. It made him nervous, wondering how was Reborn able to just state ridiculous claims like that and get away with it. He expected them to call him out on his lies at any moment but was surprised when they finally reacted.
"Well, it's Lambo so it makes a certain kind of sense." Yukari mused out loud, looking at Lambo thoughtfully who gave an indignant look back.
"And here I thought we could hear a wonderful tale instead of boring stuff like that." Kurumu said, pouting as she looked like she lost all her energy."I excepted to hear a fabulous tale of Tsuna being born female, a princess who was struck by a curse by a jealous witch who transformed her into a cold and ruthless man. The curse could only be broken by her true love's kiss but before that, they had to gather the approval of the various men in her life. Lambo, her adopted little brother, the lightning guardian, her otou-sama who could never let go of his daughter, the earth guardian, a childhood friend who would wish nothing more to see her smile, the water guardian, an aspiring young samurai who is in love with her and protects her with his passion, the fire guardian and last, the womanizer older brother, who is a secret siscon, the air guardian. It would be a tale of love, emotions, passions, and tragedy all the same." she regaled them, missing the others creeped out expressions as she was firmly stuck in her daydream. What was most worrying that there was a bubble above her that displayed various images as she told her daydream.
Out of all of them, Tsukune was the most horrified, pale, and shaking as the image of Tsuna in a dress burned into his mind. It was just so wrong.
'There is something wrong with the imagination of this girl and it was way too specific to my liking.' the brown-haired teen thought with a sweatdrop. Moka next to him couldn't seem to make up her mind what to think about it but he could have sworn he heard soft giggling from her rosary.
"Hey, why am I the evil witch?" Yukari protested with an indignant expression. Tsuna felt his sweatdrop grow, it was not the only thing wrong with the picture.
Lambo began laughing loudly at her that prompted her to wave around her wand angrily, sending a large metal basin to land on the unsuspecting Bovino's head. Yelping in pain, he holds his head after a hit that would have knocked out most humans at the very least before grabbing a grenade out of nowhere and throwing it at her.
Naturally, Yukari sent it away from her with a wave of her wand but unfortunately, it landed before Tsukune who was still semi-conscious, and Kurumu who was still in the middle of her daydream. The two could only blink at the offending object stupidly before it promptly detonated, coating the two of them in snot. Of course, seeing this, the two younger kids stopped their impromptu war and began to laugh loudly, pointing at them.
"You little brats! I'll make you sorry you messed with me!" roared the succubus as she got over her shock, causing both Yukari and Lambo to suddenly trying to hide away from her. She was about to attack them when the sound of someone laughing causing everyone at the table to turn to Tsuna.
The normally reserved and cool teen was laughing wholeheartedly at the scene before him. His eyes were closed as he leaned back in his chair and just laughed, forgetting all of his problems and burdens for the moment. The others only looked at each other uncertainly, before small smiles appeared on their faces and joined in.
The small moment was broken when out of nowhere Moka stood up abruptly, the others looked at her tense posture in question. Her head was down, hiding the conflicted expression on her face that only Tsuna caught. She stayed still for a second, almost making the others ask her what was wrong before she raised her head and gave a small, forced smile.
"Sorry, I forgot I left something in my dorm. I will meet you guys at class." she hurried away, not letting the others ask her anything else. Tsuna watched her with a thoughtful expression on his face before he also stood up.
"Thanks for the food." he called back with a half-hearted wave as he walked after Moka, not even trying to act as if he wasn't going after her. It was time for a long-overdue talk.
"Tsuna-nii, Moka-nee." Yukari muttered sullenly, looking in the direction her two sibling figures went. Kurumu and Tsukune shared a worried look between them before they in mutual agreement began to clean up the table, putting away the remaining food.
-0-
'I've changed a lot less than I thought' was the thought Tsuna arrived at as he went after Moka, weighing the events of the last few months.
Humans are social creatures after all. Even after he was betrayed by his father and abandoned by his guardians, he still couldn't help but crave companionship. Without even noticing it he befriended this strange group of monsters along with Tsukune, and because of that, he was a lot more truthful and open with them than it would be advisable in his position.
The mafia was on the verge of a civil war, his very existence still a thorn in whatever plans Massino cooked up, it was inevitable that he would be targeted sooner or later. Youkai Academy was also full of dangers and the headmaster's hidden agendas, he couldn't afford to look weak or vulnerable. Yet here he was playing nice in the newspaper club and acting like a typical teenager with all the unnecessary drama. And he couldn't say he regretted it.
"If Reborn would be here he would scold me, saying a mafia boss should not be this soft." he laughed ruefully himself as he finally spied Moka. Instead of going back to the dorm as she said, she took one of the less used forest paths and stopped next to a large tree. She had her back to him so she didn't notice him coming after her.
Tsuna frowned as he thought about how to approach her. He was no good with heart-to-hearts and obviously, this situation couldn't be solved with a joke or simply redirecting her attention. It was better to try and get rid of the tension between them before something bad happens.
"If you are gonna stand there looking all forlorn for too long we are gonna late for class you know." he spoke up, surprising the vampire who almost jumped a whole meter in fright.
She immediately turned around, facing him. It did not escape his notice how she did not meet his eyes or how she hugged herself as if she had not felt safe near him. In contrast, he felt a stare from Ura in the rosary but he felt no hostility from the sealed part of Moka.
"What's with that face?" Tsuna asked as he stepped closer to her, hands still in his pockets."Yukari and the others are worried about us, so I thought it's about time we talked about whatever is your problem with me. I mean, it's been a week already, I highly doubt that you are still angry about what happened with Tsukune, am I right? There's got to be something else." he said and the wince Moka failed to hide confirmed his suspicions.
Moak didn't answer at first but Tsuna waited patiently, knowing there was no use forcing her to hurry up. Rather they miss the first class and clear the air between themselves than let this distance between them become something worse since it not only affected them but the others as well.
"I'm still upset about what happened with Tsukune. You didn't tell us anything, instead, you went off and let us worry when those marks showed on Tsukune." the vampire began to say, gaining the courage to look up and meet his eyes. There was anger in her eyes, but it was almost overshadowed by confusion and hurt."I understand that you and Tsukune had to hide the fact that you are humans, but you have so many secrets about you, you don't tell us anything, even when it affects at least Tsukune. I don't even sure when you lie to us since you are doing it the same to others." she said, slowly but surely winding herself up and losing the last of hesitation.
Tsuna frowned at her words, feeling she was not telling him everything. A large part of it, his secretive nature in particular was something they addressed before and he honestly thought she accepted that part of him but looks like he was wrong. Though it was pretty hypocritical of her, to scold him for having secrets and not explaining things.
"I told you before, the world I belong to is different from the human world at large and even the youkai world. If I told you anything more than the bare minimum you could be in danger, you could be involved in dangerous things. I can't even shield Tsukune from them forever since his life changed forever the moment he came to this school, no," he shook his head, talking more to himself than her." since he met me. But I try to keep him away from the worst of it as long as I can, something I can't do if you constantly demand answers." he closed his eyes, trying to keep away the hurt at her mistrust. A part of him could understand it, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt."But I can't convince you of that, can I?"
For some reason, a scene from his past came to his mind. When they were trapped in the future ruled by Byakuran, when he and his friends were in the middle of training, Kyoko and Haru demanded answers from him. He wanted to keep them as far from the mafia and all the dangers it came with it, yet they demanded answers from him that he had no intent on providing. But right now he did not have a mentor to tell him what the correct answer was, only himself.
"It's not just that." Moka said, looking even more conflicted."The letter you gave, it was my older sister, Akua." she revealed to him, causing Tsuna's eyes to widen.
"Your sister?" he asked bewildered. He remembered the black-haired girl he encountered and he was lucky to survive. Whatever stayed her hand, he felt that brief killing intent and knew that as easily she placed the letter in his inner pocket, she could have easily killed him. That was Moka's sister? For some reason, it was not very surprising.
And here he thought it was only his family and those belonging to the mafia that were complicated. But apparently added to the mysteries surrounding Moka, he could add the older sister who gave a vibe of an assassin, a merciless killer. What's next? Tsukune discovering he is a descendant of some kind of exorcist family who destined to hunt down some kind of doomsday monster? On second thought, he rather not tempt fate if possible.
"In her letter, she told me that you are a criminal, belonging to the mafia." she explained with a lot more confidence than she felt."She told me to stay away because you are dangerous, that anyone who stays around you is in danger. She said...she said that you killed, that you are not who you claim to be." tears began to gather in her eyes in frustration and the hurt and uncertainty she tried to hold back until now.
Tsuna didn't say anything, only lowered his head, his hair shadowing his eyes. Moka didn't notice it, but his body was tensing and his mouth formed a grim line. Unknowingly she was stepping into dangerous territory, opening up old wounds that he wished to let rot forgotten.
"I don't know what to think." she confessed, looking away as the first tears began to fall on her face."I want to believe in my friend but you are so closed off, not willing to talk about your past and that power of yours. It feels like a lot of time you are just humoring our presence, and I just feel so uncertain because it looks like my sister who only met you once knows more about my best friend than I do." she clutched her hands to her chest as she began to sob, her own emotions getting out of her control.
"It does not what I say to you, you already made up your mind didn't you?" he asked harshly, causing, Moka to look up and flinch as she met his eyes. They were cold, no hint of the friendly if distant person she usually saw. It reminded her of Ura's stare, that merciless, judging gaze that nowadays greeted her in the mirror.
"Just who are you really, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Ura asked quietly from inside her seal, feeling worried for her other-self. The teen was usually calm and not threatening at all, though she was aware he had a hard edge underneath all that fooling around. As Omote started to tremble, she wished she could release the seal herself, because, for some reason, the energy she felt from him had her on edge.
Suddenly, Natsu's ring caught fire, the small lion leaping out of it. Tsuna made no move to acknowledge his partner's presence that caused Natsu to growl to himself before he caught the edge of the teen's pants and began to tug them as if telling him to leave Moka alone.
Tsuna looked down and met his box animal's worried eyes. They had a long staredown before his shoulders slumped forward and the presence that had even Ura on edge disappeared. Instead of anger or indifference, all that left in him were sadness and tiredness. He reached up with a hand to massage his brows as he felt a headache making itself known.
"You just can't help yourself can you?" he asked, not expecting her answer as he raised his head meeting her eyes. Moka visibly recoiled how weary they were, suddenly Tsuna looked so much older than his age would suggest."Understand I can't tell you everything, I'm entitled to my privacy and secrets or I could start to ask you why do you need a seal for your powers when everyone else could do it without the aid of one or why do you have two different personalities." he waited until the vampire averted her eyes, shifting uncomfortably."The other thing is, there is a real danger of the enforcers of the mafia showing up out of nowhere and dragging us to their prison for life and I doubt even Ura-chan could defeat them. Understood?"
He waited for her to nod before he sighed as he tried to think of what to say. Meanwhile, seeing he calmed down, Natsu trotted to the pink-haired girl, prompting her to pick him up and pull him to her chest for comfort.
"The mafia, the real one is hidden by the human world at large but interestingly enough has a lot of contract with the youkai world." he started to explain with a serious look in his eyes. "The fact that your sister has contact with them, to the extent that she knew about me is worrying. My connection to them is due to my blood." at her clueless look he gave her a wry smile, hiding the darker thoughts running through his head."My ancestor, some four hundred years ago formed a vigilante group that turned to be one of the largest mafia famiglias of today before he retired to Japan. Of course, I knew nothing about any of this until I was already a middle schooler when suddenly I was thrust into that world. I had to fight for my life many times and during that time mastered the power that the mafia covets and treasures dearly, the dying will flame. Stuff happened and for most purposes, I'm no longer part of the mafia, though some don't see it that way." he looked at her, a little wary of her reaction, rightly so since she was already pretty distrustful towards him because of his alleged past.
"There are people after you?" she asked wanting to clarify. She still looked conflicted but at least the tears stopped for the time being. He could not understand why but seeing her, drying tear tracks on her face sent a pang through him but he quickly pushed it down, behind his self-control.
"Probably, don't know for sure." he admitted, trying to remain aloof, didn't want to alarm her any more than he already did."My very existence is a threat to some people, but this school is hidden enough to give anyone who is after me a bit of a pause. Even if it comes to that, I won't let others get hurt because of me." he promised sincerely. He would rather fight any assassin sent after him, even with his current condition to let those he called friends come to harm.
"That's a lot to take in." Moka said timidly, biting her lip as she looked away.
Part of her didn't want to believe her sister, but here was Tsuna confirming at least part of it. It should have made her scared, made her angry, to distance herself from him but for some reason, none of these things occurred to her as she was listening to him. The only thing she could concentrate on was the small glimpse of him he let out from the closed up mask he used almost all the time. Even Ura was silent, listening to Tsuna and deep in her thoughts, for once not offering up a commentary.
"I understand." he conceded with a shrug, trying to keep his own thoughts hidden. The youkai may be a grey spot in terms of the mafia but he still made quite a risk telling her even a portion of his past, still, he felt strangely lighter after a week of silence between them.
There was still a nagging doubt in the back of his head, that warned him that she could betray him just as easily as his father and the Vongola did, but he did his best no block it out. He was well aware that he was a mass of trauma and mental issues waiting to explode but for once he decided not to listen to his paranoia.
Seeing that things had calmed down, Natsu jumped down from Moka's arms and turned into a ball of fire before going back to the ring. The vampire meanwhile used her hands to wipe away the rest of her tears before she stepped closer to Tsuna, one hand resting on his chest in a seemingly intimate manner.
"Thank you for trusting me." she whispered to him, her eyes full of intense emotions. She looked at him as if seeing him in a new light and from the small smile on her face she liked what she saw. He felt his face redden at the look she gave him, making him instinctually retreat for the time being.
"Would you have taken no for an answer?" he asked with a wry smile, Moka trying to hold down a small laugh at his poor joke.
Her eyes were dropped to his neck and he caught a look of longing before she averted her eyes. After what happened, both of them were too emotionally drained for anything like that. Giving him one last look and a small smile she stepped away from him.
"I'll see you at class?" she asked hopefully while brushing her hair behind her ear. After Tsuna nodded, she decided to leave, letting him think through what happened on his own.
He came close to blowing her off, to distance himself from her and everyone else, lest he once again ends up hurt. It would have been the sensible action, he thought, since sooner or later the mafia would find him and he wouldn't want anyone else to be dragged into it. But the truth of the matter was that he was selfish. He wanted to have fun with the others in the newspaper club, to have these little moments of levity. And try as he might, being around Moka simply lowered the walls he put on, made him let his guard down more than he initially was comfortable with.
He remembered Reborn mentioning that the dying will flames are connected to one's life force, and very being so it stood to reason that the poison that affected his flames, would have an impact on his mentality as well. Still, it was not a good enough excuse for almost lashing out as he did. He needed to work to control his emotions or eventually, he would do something rashly he would never forgive himself for. He could already feel Reborn thinking up punishment, for failing to treat a lady like a mafia boss should.
Tsuna had to suppress a snort at the thought. Guess he was so used to Reborn's training he was already thinking up punishments for himself. With Natsu resting in his ring and Moka running away at least it left him alone, to think for a while. Well, mostly alone.
"You guys, you never learned to keep your nose out of the business of others, did you?" he asked as he turned back to the nearby treeline with a too calm to be genuine expression on his face.
In response, with a frightened scream four people jumped out from behind the trees looking at him in shock. It was no surprise that it was Yukari, Lambo, Tsukune, and Kurumu since he should have known they would try to listen in. Thankfully judging by their confused looks and the distance between them they didn't hear much about their argument since, despite emotions running high, both Tsuna and Moka kept their voice relatively low. It was already a stretch for him to explain some things to the vampire, involving the others would be a step too far.
"Tsukune, Lambo," he called out to the two males, causing them to stand up ramrod straight, a nervous expression on their faces. "Extra training tomorrow for the two of you and If you don't leave soon,' he said pointing at Yukari and Kurumu. "you gonna join them whether you want to or not. Got that?"
All of them paled at his words and promptly ran away, leaving him finally alone. Even then, he caught the worried looks Yukari and Lambo sent him and he couldn't help but smile at them.
"These guys." he sighed a little fondly as they scurried away. Finally, alone, he began to walk away as well but he only took a few steps before he lost his balance and fell to the side. Thankfully there was a tree next to him that he used to brace himself then put his back to it and slid down, sitting on the ground.
He was finding it hard to breathe properly, sweat began to break out on his brow yet his face gone pale. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling it burning from the inside, and bit down a curse. He knew he would pay for his earlier loss of control but thought he could deal with it.
„Effects of that medicine already wore off?" he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes as pain racked through his body. he remembered Arikura saying that medicine was nothing but a temporary shop and even though he felt in the last few days a lot better than during the last month, he should have known that anything that made his flames react would place him back to step one.
He thought about approaching the headmaster for help but soon decided not to for the time being. He still knew nothing about him and his intentions, so he couldn't trust him, Add to the fact he already had him in his pocket so to speak, since he owed him a favor and was aware of his origins and could out him anytime, Tsuna felt it would be better to add anything more to use against him.
He sat there for a few minutes, trying to let the pain subside and gathering up his strength. Natsu gave a sorrowful sound from his ring that Tsuna understood was his way of apologizing for forcing himself out of the ring but there was no need. This temporarily physical pain was better than losing his temper and saying something he would regret later.
Sighing, he looked up at the sky. The sky above the school always gave off a feeling of wrongness, especially during the night, but even in the morning he just felt he wasn't looking at the real thing. There were no clouds in the sky, the sun was hidden by the trees above him and as he looked at the sky, Tsuna all of sudden felt a great sadness overtaking him.
"An empty sky, such a lonely existence." he murmured, deep in thought as he slowly stood up. For a moment he thought about those simpler days where all he had to worry about was whatever idiocy Reborn cooked up and trying to get out of being Vongola Decimo. Where did it take him? He was no longer Decimo but still felt like he had more problems than ever. With a shake of his head, he dismissed the memories, concentrating on the here and now.
As he began to walk away, in hopes to arrive to school before the first class, he did not notice the spot where he previously stood covered by various cracks forming a spiderweb, as if something very heavy was there.
-0-
"Target confirmed." a young female figure murmured as she lowered her binoculars, watching Tsuna from a nearby rooftop. "He seems a lot more handsome than I thought." she said to herself, placing a bandaged hand on her chest.
"So that's the former boss candidate of the all-mighty Vongola Famiglia." a male voice sneered from the shadows with arrogance. A small male stepped closer to the edge of the roof, his long spiky hair falling on his back, two larger spikes in the front forming some kind of horns."You sure that's our guy? He looks way too harmless for someone who supposedly defeated hard cases like Rokudo Mukoru or Xanxus of the Varia. I'll bet he would die just from a simple graze." he boasted to himself as he flexed his hands.
"Nonetheless we can't afford to underestimate him. He bested foes who were stronger and better prepared than him because they did not think he was enough of a threat. We can ill afford to do the same." a third, deep voice spoke up from behind the two, causing them to turn to the speaker.
Not far from there a small mountain of a man sat calmly, towering over the two other figures even while sitting. The school uniform on him seemed to hardly able to contain his overly muscular mass. The other two bowed their heads at his way in respect, clearly marking the large man as the leader of the group.
"Don't forget this is our chance to get into the big leagues and gain the favor of the new Godfather of the mafia." he continued, eying the others seriously, though he continued to speak softly."We caught a lucky break by finding him so soon in this hidden corner of the world but don't think it's will be the case for long. We have to strike fast, not giving him or anyone a chance to interfere, understood?
"Yeah, yeah, got it." the younger male said with a careless shrug, avoiding the large man's eyes.
"Meanwhile I just found something interesting that could be used to our advantage." the girl said who continued to scan their surrounding from the roof.
She was watching Tsukune and the others walking away from Tsuna, not willing to anger him. She had her focus on the boy not far from them who was also watching them from the shadows, his focus specifically on the cyan-haired girl.
"I'd rather we not move until we have all the relevant information." the large man cautioned, standing up and walking to the edge to get a good look. "So for the time being I need you to control yourselves. No attack until I give the order." he declared turning to the short male.
"You got it, boss, it will be a piece of cake." he boasted as the three of them retreated to the shadows.