div class="chapter preface group" style="border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.119999885559082px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.5em 3em; padding: 0.643em 0.643em 0px; float: none; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;"
div id="notes" class="notes module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.643em; position: relative; width: auto; float: none; clear: right; min-height: 5em;"strongspan style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"This chapter come pretty fast compared to the others, yay me!/span/strongbr style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /strongspan style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Please enjoy and tell me what you think :)/span/strong/div
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div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.119999885559082px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 667.28125px; float: none; word-wrap: break-word; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"CHAPTER 5: Tether/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"His instinct told him to run as soon as he woke up. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Waking up in an unfamiliar place with no memory but his own name echoing in his head like a prayer was indeed unsettling, but it wasn't as if he had another choice. However, waking up from inside a coffin filled with flowers in the middle of nowhere had toppled all the other weirdnesses and nonsense of having amnesia. One thing he was absolutely sure of, aside from the fact that his name was Sawada Tsunayoshi, was that he needed to get out of here, wherever it was, and fast./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Climbing out in a rush, he could not help but notice the intricate carving of a single letter 'X' on the center of the lid. 'Tenth'- his brain immediately supplied, but what was it that he was the tenth of, that unknown part hurt his brain just to think about./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But he had neither the time nor the luxury to dwell over this fact. He already had too much on his hands: He woke up amnesiac from inside a coffin, that was enough to ring an alarm. Also, he was starving, his throat was as dry as sand. He felt exhausted and his limbs barely got any strength. Now that was something he needed to take care of immediately, his messed up brain, he would get to it eventually. He broke into a run as soon as he got near the exit of the beautiful clearing and just let his feet do the piloting, bringing him through the forest and closer to civilization. He slowed down briefly to catch his own breath once he got out of the wood, finally reaching somewhere evidently touched by human's influence. His eyes trailed the road just outside of the wood that led to a visible small town that didn't seem too far from where he was./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He straightened up and calmly walked to his destination, ready to face whatever he might encounter in the unknown territory. It wasn't as if he had anything to lose, anyway./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Past, Sicily./strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wandering around alone in the slum of the town at ass hour of the day was admittedly not Giotto's brightest idea. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"For the last two hours alone, he had had to stop at least three mugging attempts, two on himself, another on an elderly lady who just got her work pay, beat up several potential rapists and saved a few kids from getting run over by a huge carriage recklessly driving on the street. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Not that he wasn't grateful for being able to stop those crimes, but it was disheartening to think that no matter how big his Famiglia had become, somewhere outside of his influence, people still suffered./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He sighed and looked up at the dawning sky over his beloved town. Oh how he wished the one he was supposed to look for would show up soon. He could keep on walking around aimlessly and beat up thugs left and right all day, but at the end of day, he would probably be too depressed to function properly. And if he got too agitated to work, his dearest friend G would surely have his hide./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"'G would be exceptionally mad this time. I never snuck out this early in the morning. Poor guy might not even wake up yet.' /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"It had become a game between G and him: every once in a while, he would sneak out and enjoy his temporary freedom. The fun was how long it took G to put two and two together and dragged him back screaming and kicking. And then he would be scolded for being irresponsible and things that he could care less about. The blond would still sneak out whenever he got the chance though./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"However, his little adventure today was for an entirely different reason. Today, it wasn't simply a game to pass time or toy with G, he actually headed to the slum of the town with a single purpose: he had someone to look for./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The matter was, he had no idea what he or she looked like or even a name or nickname to call them with. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even with the help of his freakishly accurate intuition, it still proved to be a challenge trying to find someone you never met before with little clue and next to no information. That was why he had tried his luck going along with every little nurge of his intuition, only to find himself stopping crimes after crimes, beating up thugs after thugs./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Sicily in the early morning was sacred. There was barely anyone in the street, only a few stores up and about to prepare for a new business day. The smell of baked goods from a nearby bakery assaulted his nose, making his mouth water uncontrollably. Giotto had spent a lot of energy for the last few hours, he was exhausted and starving, the idea of a hot and steaming cornetto seemed absolutely divine./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Just as he started making his way over to the bakery, his Intuition gave a tug at the back of his mind, pointing him to the opposite direction instead. Giotto hesitated for just a second, giving a remorseful glance to the bakery, then he turned on his heel anyway and silently stalked toward a slightly out-of-sight alley./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sounds of scruffles and yelling hit his ears immediately. Giotto sighed deeply, disappointed to find that it was just another mugging he needed to stop. But from the look of it, the victim this time proved himself to be quite a fighter./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"SLAP!/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sound of an evident backhand made his blood boil. He just didn't get it, why everyone had to resort to violence. Why can't everyone just coexist in peace?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Insolent brat! How dare you bite me?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sound of someone spitting, another voice, a young man's, growled out "Taste as nasty as you look."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Then another slap./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Let's see how long you can keep up that attitude?" Then the sound of rustling clothes and someone evidently unbuckling himself made him want to gag. Of all vocabulary in the world, not even the worst adjective could describe how he felt about these rapists./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He had almost intervened, but the little voice at the back of his mind whispered quietly to him: strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Wait! Fall back and observe./strong He frowned, not liking the fact that his intuition told him to not help an innocent man from getting raped, but comply anyway since this nagging little voice never failed him before./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He hid himself in the shadow of the alley, taking great care to not let his very eye-catching hair color get noticed by the thugs. From his spot, he could make out a young man, or perhaps a boy, with brown hair being held down on the ground by at least four, no, five other brutes who easily dwarfed him in size alone. All of them were armed with nasty looking knives and crowbars. One of them- the biggest, meanest looking one was roughly grabbing the man (boy?) by his hair. From the look of it, the brunet had suffered quite a bit already under the hands of these ugly brutes. He looked battered with bruises and cuts that littered his bare left arm, the sleeve of his tattered shirt was ripped off at the shoulder. His righy hand was wrapped in a dirty blood-soaked makeshift bandage that was previously a piece of his right sleeve. By the way he clutched his ribs and his labored breathing, Giotto guessed the brunet must have gotten swung in the ribs by those bars many times. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet continued to thrash in his captors' hold, only to get rewarded another backhand to the face for his troubles. This time, the man (boy?) stayed down and ceased all his futile struggling. Giotto was half worried that the brunet might have passed out from the pain and once again attempted to come out from his hiding spot./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, not yet/strong./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"'Damnit!' He cursed in his head. What was more to even observe? The poor man was already done in, and a few seconds more from being utterly and completely destroyed. Why on earth would his Intuition tell him to wait and watch someone get hurt instead of helping at all?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He still could not get a good look at the brunet's face, but the black and purple on his light skin was enough to make the blond want to avenge him as painfully as possible. He got to give the brunet an applause though, outnumbered as he was, he was still able to get some good hits in. His assailants did not come out unscathed from the scruffles as two of them spotted a nice shiner each, and another was favoring his leg. The one grabbing him got one arm bloody from his captive's sharp teeth. The man chuckled darkly as he saw the boy beneath him had gone completely still and quiet. He still looked pissed off over letting one unassuming looking boy get the better of him, but it could not hide the lust in his eyes as he eyed the brunet hungrily. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hey, whatever you do, don't hit his face! He won't sell if the face is damaged!" Another voice said, and Giotto seethed even more when he realized what those evildoers were up to. He swore to god he was going to have a field day cutting their family jewels off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Don't worry, I will be real carefu-"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"As the brute briefly let go of his prey's hair to undo his pants, the brunet, who Giotto thought had passed out previously, was actually lying quietly like a predator waiting for his prey. He immediately saw that opening and headbutted him squarely on his nose. Taken by complete surprise as he had assumed his victim no longer had any strength left to retaliate, the man howled in pain grabbing his newly broken nose, the mass of him bending backward and no longer pinning the brunet down, finally allowing him the freedom he needed to take his revenge. With one leg kick out, he sent the brute flying backward, hitting the opposite wall with a big thud. The remaining thugs shouted and made a grab for him only to have him rolled over on the ground and successfully got away. He quickly crawled onto his feet and stood up, ready to run for the hell of it./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"One immediately gave chase and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Getting pulled backwards did not phase him, however, as he turned in the grip and elbowed the other as hard as he could on one of his eyes. The brute cursed and the blinding pain made him release the brunet. Once free again, the brunet gave him a beautifully executed uppercut that would give his boxing friend Knuckles a run for his money, up his jaw and knocked him out like a light./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The remaining delinquents did not dare to underestimate the seemingly harmless brunet anymore as they eyed him cautiously. The brunet returned with a glare of his and without any warning, he dashed forward, grabbing the two nearest thugs' head to brutally smash them together. The satisfying sound of their skulls cracking was the only sign that both of them had been out for the count. They dropped to the ground like dead weight and the brunet calmly walked over their bodies toward his last assailant who was now clutching his crowbar for dear life, shaking like a leaf in front of whom he had previously deemed an easy prey./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Fuck off." The brunet said, and the man was all too ready to comply, he was about to pee himself, anyway. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet finally allowed himself to let his guard down, his shoulders slumped and his legs started to shake for overexertion. He sank down to his knees, panting and huffing for breath, looking as though he was about to pass out for real./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, it's not over yet/strong! Giotto's Intuition sang in warning, and he caught a glimpse of the first assailant, the one who got his nose broken, creeping behind the brunet brandishing a knife./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet seemed to realize the danger he was still in, but could not find any strength to avoid getting stabbed in the back. Giotto promptly decided that he had observed enough, and immediately took action. Using the burst of his Flame to move forward faster, Giotto reached the brunet in recorded time. He yanked the man into his arm, the other blasting the brute backward and hitting the wall for a second time in the last 10 minutes. This time though, Giotto used enough force to make sure the man stayed down for good./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Setting the brunet down gently while mentally apologizing for being too rough with him earlier, he finally got a good look at this peculiar specimen, who had almost gotten away victorious with five opponents twice his size with bare hands. Had he been in better shape, the group of goons was probably an easy game to him. And Giotto shuddered to think of what destruction he would bring had he possessed the smallest amount of Flame. Brushing back the sweaty brown locks of hair from the younger's face, Giotto was astonished to find that the brunet appeared… too young, the type of youth often seen in young adults who had barely gotten out of his adolescence years and into the beginning of adulthood. Anyway, it was hard to discern his age just by looking at his face. His features were boyish but delicate like those of a china doll with porcelain like face. He was definitely of mixed blood, as he could see some very prominent Italian traits on his face soften by the features of Easterners. Or perhaps it was the other way around, his Asian roots enhanced and deepened by European blood. The boy-young man's eyes fluttered open, revealing two warm chocolate-color orbs. However, there was something familiar in the brunet that he had yet to put a word into./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hey! Are you okay?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I'm fine…"- The brunet replied weakly, looking up at his savior, their eyes met for the first time. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Both their eyes flashed orange as soon as they met. The other man flinched violently and Giotto was struck with the realization that he had found the one he had been looking for./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""You-" The younger man suddenly grabbed his head and groaned in pain for no reason and Giotto legibly started to panic. "Hey! What's wrong?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GIOTTOOOO!" The sound of his name being called by G was like a life saver at the moment when Giotto was almost taken over by panic. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GIOTTO! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT HERE! HOW DARE YOU DITCH YOUR PAPERWORK AND DUMP IT ON ME? YOU WILL FUCKING PAY FOR IT WHEN I DRAG YOU BACK TO THE MANSION. I SWEAR I'M GONNA GET THAT MELON HEAD MINDFUCK YOU SO BAD YOU START CALLING HIM YOUR MAMA!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto was sweating bullets from his best friend's threats but called him over anyway. This unfortunate young man needed help, and Giotto wasn't the most suitable one to fix him at the moment./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""G, HELP! OVER HERE!" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What? Where the fuck are y-? Oh, there you are!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Then he heard footsteps approaching, obviously belonging to his pink haired friend. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GODDAMNIT GIOTTO YOU ARE NOT EVEN DISGUISING YOURSELF! HOW ABOUT YOU WEARING A FUCKING SIGN SAYING THAT 'I'M VONGOLA PRIMO PLEASE COME AND KILL ME'!" Was the first thing his most trusted right hand man hurled at his face./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Wow, really G, do you mind shouting even louder so that everyone and their dogs can know where I am now? With my luck some opposing Famiglia might even come and hurl a knife at my face. Do you truly want to contribute to your best friend's death that much?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Of all the fuc-" The stream of cursing coming from the man's mouth was no surprise, but he did lower his voice anyway, which was something Giotto was profoundly grateful for. He had been abusing his Hyper Intuition since early morning and his head was now killing him. G's yellings and very loud and demanding presence did not help his hyper aware senses at all. "Wait a minute, what the fuck are you doing here?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Ever so perceptive, Vongola Primo's most trusted right hand man!" Giotto gave his friend a mocking applause, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Obviously I just have to spend my hard earned free time from work surrounded by beaten ugly rapists and human traffickers with their almost victim in pain and practically dying on my lap. What else would I do in a shady alley like this?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Fuck you, Giotto." G scowled like it was the most natural thing in the world when it came to dealing with his oldest friend. Then he looked around at the knock out goons behind Giotto and finally at the aforementioned almost rape victim in pity, gods he couldn't help but share Giotto's sentiments about those disgusting creatures called rapists "You let them off too easy, Giotto. Is he okay? Did he…?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto, still cradling the brunet in his arms, shook his head quietly, and G heaved out a relieved sigh. "I wasn't the one who kicked their asses. He did. I only delivered the finishing blow."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""This scrawny looking thing?" G arched an eyebrow and came closer to the both of them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Only now did G observe the brunet more closely, and by the dramatic and widening of his eyes and the comical arch of his eyebrow, Giotto came to the conclusion that G had seen something in the brunet that he clearly missed./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Giotto?" G's question held a dangerous edge that made Giotto flinch involuntarily. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Uh… yes?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Did you have a son out of wedlock without telling me?" The harsh and shaking, whisper-shouting tone of his voice conveyed to Giotto exactly how livid and the slightest bit of panic he felt about the secret he might or might not have kept from his best friend. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wait, what?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"His head snapped back to look down at the face of the brunet on his lap. Oh my god, no wonder he looked so familiar, even with his eyes closed, the boy was practically a younger, brunet carbon copy of himself./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""No, G! You are misunderstanding, he is not my son! Gods, I swear I've never seen him before today!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""But he-" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hayato?" The brunet opened his eyes and blearily looked at G, the orange tint once again appeared in his irises. G arched an eyebrow, he had no idea what the boy was talking about, but the glowing orange eyes was enough a reason for him to believe that this brunet was anything but a mere stranger to his best friend. To his knowledge, the use of Flame was an exclusive trait among the upper class of the Cosa Nostra society and those Flame infused eyes coupled with Hyper Intuition, according to the shaman who gave Giotto the Vongola Rings, was something belonged only to the family from his mother's side. Giotto swallowed thickly, as even he himself found it difficult to deny the obvious blood relation between the both of them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Where are we, Hayato? I don't- Why is your hair pink?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto snickered to himself and G's face turned a furious shade of red. G thundered, "You little- , let me tell you my hair is not fucking pink! It's re-"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"In the middle of G's rambling, the boy's eyes suddenly misted over with a light sheen of indigo over his iris, completely lost their lucidity they showed a few seconds ago. "Who is… Hayato?" He asked, almost dreamily./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""W-what?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto frowned but did not say anything, watched as the brunet's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body slumped down in Giotto's arms./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What's wrong with him? Did he hit head earlier?" G asked in worry, Giotto's son or not, he just didn't like the idea of anybody getting hurt aside from their Famiglia's enemies./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Shifting the boy so he could put him on his back, the blond said. "Let's take him to Knuckles to find out!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wasting no more time, he picked the brunet up in a piggy back carry and just took off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Left behind by his best friend, G had an overwhelming urge to tear all the pin- red hair off his head in frustration. "But he- In broad daylight? I don't even want to start on how it's going to be a total disaster! Heavens, I really hate you sometimes, Giotto!" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Yet G ran after his best friend and his precious cargo back to the Mansion, anyway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"If span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"all he felt before was the cold, the panic and confusion, now, enveloped in an unknown yet so familiar warmth, he felt safer than ever. The warmth seeped through where his chest was in contact with the other's back, slowly filling up the gaping empty void in his chest. The calmness and the deep rumbles in his voice as he conversed with his pink haired companion soothed his jumbled mind and slowly pulled him into a deeper, dreamless sleep where he wasn't in any pain any more./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Present time, Vongola Mansion./strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"As soon as Hibari was able to sit up without any kind of assistance, he ran for Tsuna's private chamber, shrugging off Sasagawa Ryohei's protests and the others' concerns like a pest./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"They just didn't understand just how dire a situation Sawada Tsunayoshi was in, and how close he was to insanity. The backlash from the others' Discords left him hanging to his lucidity by a mere thread, and that thread was Hibari./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"But now, that thread was cut off too./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari didn't dain to explain this very important fact to his fellow 'Guardians'. After all, they had all chosen where they stood with the brunet- on the opposite side. If they and Hibari were no longer on the same side anymore, Hibari found no more reason to play nice with them. And now, his priority was to find Tsunayoshi as soon as possible and keep the repercussions of their Discord to a minimum./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Sawada Tsunayoshi, open up right now! Tsunayoshi!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"His angry knockings seemed fruitless though, since the door stood silently and firmly between him and the small animal./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He was becoming more and more agitated as the silence stretched./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Only a few hours had passed since the disastrous meeting that left him thrown against the wall by his boss. He had lost consciousness on the spot, cracked a few ribs, got a minor concussion but otherwise fine. However, during the few hours he was out of commission, many things could have happened. And Hibari, from his experiences with Sawada Tsunayoshi over the span of ten years, feared the worst./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Tsunayoshi! Open up the door or I will knock it down!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He called one more time for good measure, then decided just to act./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"With one hit, he brought down the very heavy, imposing-looking door and burst into the room like a storm raging./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The room was empty of any occupant and it scared Hibari, he was sure the brunet had returned to the room earlier as several of the staff had confirmed they saw him entering the chamber after the meeting and never left. He was about to tear through the room to look for clues about his boss' whereabouts then suddenly he felt it, an enormous amount of Sky Flame, very similar to but definitely not the brunet's, came from the direction of the ensuite bathroom./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Shit!" Cursed Hibari and he was just about to bring down another door to get to his boss when it was blasted to pieces by the sheer force of that unknown Sky Flame, its pureness and strength was almost unparalleled and unrivaled if he hadn't known one Sawada Tsunayoshi./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari had to steel himself, digging his heel into the expensive carpet so that he didn't get blown away, he would very much like not to get thrown to the wall a second time in one day, thank you very much. But he was temporarily blind from the too bright and powerful Flame, unable to make out what was actually happening at the source of this Flame./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"And as fast as it came, the Flame promptly disappeared. It still took Hibari a distressingly long time to be able to see clearly again. And the sight that greeted him wasn't one one with a faint heart was able to withstand./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The bathroom looked like a freaking murder scene./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The mirror was shattered and covered in blood. Broken shards of glass scattered everywhere and an alarming amount of dark red liquid splashed over the floor and the wall. The Flame Signal of his boss was all over the place, but neither hair nor hide of Sawada Tsunayoshi could be found./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari willed himself to stay calm and tried to properly assess the situation. He stepped forward, only to take two steps back, as he felt a small something round and hard under his shoes. He picked that object up for inspection and realization struck him like standing in the point blank range of Tsunayoshi's XX-Burners./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Even when it had been a while since he last saw it, Hibari was able to identify the object immediately. It was the Vongola Ring in its original unsealed form, not the bigger half part of the big and imposing Sky Vongola Gear that Tsunayoshi wore on his slender hand 24/7- like a huge chain dragging him down around the clock, as out of place as it felt- not much different from the too big and too heavy mantle on the otherwise too small shoulders./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Clutching the Ring hard in his palm, Hibari gritted his teeth. His extensive knowledge on flame rings and weapon boxes all pointed him to one single conclusion./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Sawada Tsunayoshi had relinquished the right to his Vongola Sky Ring./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"By now, the remainders of Tsuna's closest circle -well, used to be- had picked up the spike of strange Flame signal and now was crowding just outside of the bathroom. Some of them gasped, one sputtered the name that they did not deserve to use, some others even screamed in fright. He heard, but Hibari could not care less about them or their state of mind. Tossing the Vongola Ring without a care to one of those herbivores, Hibari silently walked away from the scene despite their growling and protesting and questioning. He only answered to the small animal and him alone. The other herbivores, he was not obligated to give them any kind of explanation./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Standing at the gate of Vongola Mansion, he lifted his face to look at the darkened sky. It started to rain, and the droplets of water hitting his face reminded him of that one time long ago, how he had shed his tears realizing how lonely he was, until Sawada Tsunayoshi came along. His chest where he used to feel their powerful and healthy Harmonization was now a gaping hole, cold and empty where it should felt whole and complete. The only thing that tied him together with the fate of Vongola was gone, he just could not find any other reason to stay. He half-tempted to leave his own Vongola Gear too, but Roll, the shy little hedgehog, always reminding him too much of the brunet, Hibari just could not bear to leave him behind./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He left the country within the night./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He still had many things to do, even if the person was gone, a promise with him was still a promise. And Hibari never failed to deliver a promise./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"br /br /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What are we going to do now, Takeshi?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Gokudera dragged a hand down his tired face, the bags under his eyes looked like twin shiners after many weeks of little rest and relentless searching./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Yamamoto flopped on the sofa in one of Mansion's many living rooms, his face looking as haggard and exhausted as the other Guardians who threw themselves on the nearest surface possible. They had decided to regroup at the Mansion to plan their next move after scattering all over the city to look for one Sawada Tsunayoshi. It had been a week, and no sign of him could be found. From what was left on the floor of his bathroom, they had initially concluded that the man was attacked and maybe kidnapped. That was why they had personally paid a visit to each of Famiglia's opposing groups in the first week after the brunet had gone missing, hoping to find their boss alive and only held hostage. Yet none of those little excursions brought him any closer to finding him. Exhausted both mentally and physically, they returned with a heavy heart and deep disappointment, and none of them could shake off the feelings that it was their fault that the burnet was no longer here./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Irie Shoichi then pointed out that all the windows were locked and bolted, the only entry was knocked down by Hibari. There were also no other visible signs of fighting and struggling aside from the broken mirror that was evidently the work of Tsuna himself, considering the events that occurred up until that point (All of them winced, mood soured immediately thinking of the disastrous meeting). The amount of blood, while looking alarming, was not enough to be life-threatening. Not to mention the Vongola Ring was left behind so he leaned toward the theory that maybe the tenth left on his own accord./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"None of those theories explained why the Ring was in its original form and what was the strange but extremely familiar Sky Flame that they felt was though./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"They had contacted Talbot to consult him on this matter, only to receive a much disheartening result: The old man refused to even speak to them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I don't know, Hayato. I… This is hard. I've never in my life imagined that one day Tsuna is- that he is no longer with us. Even with our Harmonization severed, I still expected to see him every time we returned to the Mansion…"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""We all have taken his presence for granted, haven't we?" Hayato sighed deeply, and dragged another long smoke. Yamamoto frowned, but didn't comment, unlike his boss, who would immediately take his cigarette and put it out, all the while complaining about how bad smoking was for his health. He had quit it before, knowing his boss hated seeing him smoke but he had taken to smoking again after, well, the fallout with the brunet himself./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Putting out his cigarette, Gokudera stood up and stretched languidly like a cat, then he whacked his fellow Rain Guardian over the head as the man started to nod off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Come on, Takeshi! There's no time to sleep!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What are you even planning, Hayato? There isn't much we could do at the moment."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Yes, there is. I've decided."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""On what?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Gokudera turned to grace him with a look. As soon as their eyes met, Yamamoto immediately understood what the Storm Guardian was trying to say. And he paled, trying to stop himself from a full body shudder./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""You mean…"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I'm afraid so, Takeshi. We need to call span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"him/span back."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"End of chapter~/p
/div
div id="notes" class="notes module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.643em; position: relative; width: auto; float: none; clear: right; min-height: 5em;"strongspan style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"This chapter come pretty fast compared to the others, yay me!/span/strongbr style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /strongspan style="color: #555555; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'lucida sans unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif;"Please enjoy and tell me what you think :)/span/strong/div
/div
div class="userstuff module" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.119999885559082px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 667.28125px; float: none; word-wrap: break-word; caret-color: #2a2a2a; color: #2a2a2a;" role="article"
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"CHAPTER 5: Tether/strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"His instinct told him to run as soon as he woke up. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Waking up in an unfamiliar place with no memory but his own name echoing in his head like a prayer was indeed unsettling, but it wasn't as if he had another choice. However, waking up from inside a coffin filled with flowers in the middle of nowhere had toppled all the other weirdnesses and nonsense of having amnesia. One thing he was absolutely sure of, aside from the fact that his name was Sawada Tsunayoshi, was that he needed to get out of here, wherever it was, and fast./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Climbing out in a rush, he could not help but notice the intricate carving of a single letter 'X' on the center of the lid. 'Tenth'- his brain immediately supplied, but what was it that he was the tenth of, that unknown part hurt his brain just to think about./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But he had neither the time nor the luxury to dwell over this fact. He already had too much on his hands: He woke up amnesiac from inside a coffin, that was enough to ring an alarm. Also, he was starving, his throat was as dry as sand. He felt exhausted and his limbs barely got any strength. Now that was something he needed to take care of immediately, his messed up brain, he would get to it eventually. He broke into a run as soon as he got near the exit of the beautiful clearing and just let his feet do the piloting, bringing him through the forest and closer to civilization. He slowed down briefly to catch his own breath once he got out of the wood, finally reaching somewhere evidently touched by human's influence. His eyes trailed the road just outside of the wood that led to a visible small town that didn't seem too far from where he was./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"He straightened up and calmly walked to his destination, ready to face whatever he might encounter in the unknown territory. It wasn't as if he had anything to lose, anyway./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Past, Sicily./strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wandering around alone in the slum of the town at ass hour of the day was admittedly not Giotto's brightest idea. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"For the last two hours alone, he had had to stop at least three mugging attempts, two on himself, another on an elderly lady who just got her work pay, beat up several potential rapists and saved a few kids from getting run over by a huge carriage recklessly driving on the street. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Not that he wasn't grateful for being able to stop those crimes, but it was disheartening to think that no matter how big his Famiglia had become, somewhere outside of his influence, people still suffered./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He sighed and looked up at the dawning sky over his beloved town. Oh how he wished the one he was supposed to look for would show up soon. He could keep on walking around aimlessly and beat up thugs left and right all day, but at the end of day, he would probably be too depressed to function properly. And if he got too agitated to work, his dearest friend G would surely have his hide./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"'G would be exceptionally mad this time. I never snuck out this early in the morning. Poor guy might not even wake up yet.' /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"It had become a game between G and him: every once in a while, he would sneak out and enjoy his temporary freedom. The fun was how long it took G to put two and two together and dragged him back screaming and kicking. And then he would be scolded for being irresponsible and things that he could care less about. The blond would still sneak out whenever he got the chance though./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"However, his little adventure today was for an entirely different reason. Today, it wasn't simply a game to pass time or toy with G, he actually headed to the slum of the town with a single purpose: he had someone to look for./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The matter was, he had no idea what he or she looked like or even a name or nickname to call them with. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even with the help of his freakishly accurate intuition, it still proved to be a challenge trying to find someone you never met before with little clue and next to no information. That was why he had tried his luck going along with every little nurge of his intuition, only to find himself stopping crimes after crimes, beating up thugs after thugs./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Sicily in the early morning was sacred. There was barely anyone in the street, only a few stores up and about to prepare for a new business day. The smell of baked goods from a nearby bakery assaulted his nose, making his mouth water uncontrollably. Giotto had spent a lot of energy for the last few hours, he was exhausted and starving, the idea of a hot and steaming cornetto seemed absolutely divine./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Just as he started making his way over to the bakery, his Intuition gave a tug at the back of his mind, pointing him to the opposite direction instead. Giotto hesitated for just a second, giving a remorseful glance to the bakery, then he turned on his heel anyway and silently stalked toward a slightly out-of-sight alley./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sounds of scruffles and yelling hit his ears immediately. Giotto sighed deeply, disappointed to find that it was just another mugging he needed to stop. But from the look of it, the victim this time proved himself to be quite a fighter./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"SLAP!/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sound of an evident backhand made his blood boil. He just didn't get it, why everyone had to resort to violence. Why can't everyone just coexist in peace?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Insolent brat! How dare you bite me?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The sound of someone spitting, another voice, a young man's, growled out "Taste as nasty as you look."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Then another slap./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Let's see how long you can keep up that attitude?" Then the sound of rustling clothes and someone evidently unbuckling himself made him want to gag. Of all vocabulary in the world, not even the worst adjective could describe how he felt about these rapists./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He had almost intervened, but the little voice at the back of his mind whispered quietly to him: strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Wait! Fall back and observe./strong He frowned, not liking the fact that his intuition told him to not help an innocent man from getting raped, but comply anyway since this nagging little voice never failed him before./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He hid himself in the shadow of the alley, taking great care to not let his very eye-catching hair color get noticed by the thugs. From his spot, he could make out a young man, or perhaps a boy, with brown hair being held down on the ground by at least four, no, five other brutes who easily dwarfed him in size alone. All of them were armed with nasty looking knives and crowbars. One of them- the biggest, meanest looking one was roughly grabbing the man (boy?) by his hair. From the look of it, the brunet had suffered quite a bit already under the hands of these ugly brutes. He looked battered with bruises and cuts that littered his bare left arm, the sleeve of his tattered shirt was ripped off at the shoulder. His righy hand was wrapped in a dirty blood-soaked makeshift bandage that was previously a piece of his right sleeve. By the way he clutched his ribs and his labored breathing, Giotto guessed the brunet must have gotten swung in the ribs by those bars many times. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet continued to thrash in his captors' hold, only to get rewarded another backhand to the face for his troubles. This time, the man (boy?) stayed down and ceased all his futile struggling. Giotto was half worried that the brunet might have passed out from the pain and once again attempted to come out from his hiding spot./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, not yet/strong./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"'Damnit!' He cursed in his head. What was more to even observe? The poor man was already done in, and a few seconds more from being utterly and completely destroyed. Why on earth would his Intuition tell him to wait and watch someone get hurt instead of helping at all?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He still could not get a good look at the brunet's face, but the black and purple on his light skin was enough to make the blond want to avenge him as painfully as possible. He got to give the brunet an applause though, outnumbered as he was, he was still able to get some good hits in. His assailants did not come out unscathed from the scruffles as two of them spotted a nice shiner each, and another was favoring his leg. The one grabbing him got one arm bloody from his captive's sharp teeth. The man chuckled darkly as he saw the boy beneath him had gone completely still and quiet. He still looked pissed off over letting one unassuming looking boy get the better of him, but it could not hide the lust in his eyes as he eyed the brunet hungrily. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hey, whatever you do, don't hit his face! He won't sell if the face is damaged!" Another voice said, and Giotto seethed even more when he realized what those evildoers were up to. He swore to god he was going to have a field day cutting their family jewels off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Don't worry, I will be real carefu-"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"As the brute briefly let go of his prey's hair to undo his pants, the brunet, who Giotto thought had passed out previously, was actually lying quietly like a predator waiting for his prey. He immediately saw that opening and headbutted him squarely on his nose. Taken by complete surprise as he had assumed his victim no longer had any strength left to retaliate, the man howled in pain grabbing his newly broken nose, the mass of him bending backward and no longer pinning the brunet down, finally allowing him the freedom he needed to take his revenge. With one leg kick out, he sent the brute flying backward, hitting the opposite wall with a big thud. The remaining thugs shouted and made a grab for him only to have him rolled over on the ground and successfully got away. He quickly crawled onto his feet and stood up, ready to run for the hell of it./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"One immediately gave chase and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Getting pulled backwards did not phase him, however, as he turned in the grip and elbowed the other as hard as he could on one of his eyes. The brute cursed and the blinding pain made him release the brunet. Once free again, the brunet gave him a beautifully executed uppercut that would give his boxing friend Knuckles a run for his money, up his jaw and knocked him out like a light./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The remaining delinquents did not dare to underestimate the seemingly harmless brunet anymore as they eyed him cautiously. The brunet returned with a glare of his and without any warning, he dashed forward, grabbing the two nearest thugs' head to brutally smash them together. The satisfying sound of their skulls cracking was the only sign that both of them had been out for the count. They dropped to the ground like dead weight and the brunet calmly walked over their bodies toward his last assailant who was now clutching his crowbar for dear life, shaking like a leaf in front of whom he had previously deemed an easy prey./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Fuck off." The brunet said, and the man was all too ready to comply, he was about to pee himself, anyway. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet finally allowed himself to let his guard down, his shoulders slumped and his legs started to shake for overexertion. He sank down to his knees, panting and huffing for breath, looking as though he was about to pass out for real./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, it's not over yet/strong! Giotto's Intuition sang in warning, and he caught a glimpse of the first assailant, the one who got his nose broken, creeping behind the brunet brandishing a knife./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The brunet seemed to realize the danger he was still in, but could not find any strength to avoid getting stabbed in the back. Giotto promptly decided that he had observed enough, and immediately took action. Using the burst of his Flame to move forward faster, Giotto reached the brunet in recorded time. He yanked the man into his arm, the other blasting the brute backward and hitting the wall for a second time in the last 10 minutes. This time though, Giotto used enough force to make sure the man stayed down for good./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Setting the brunet down gently while mentally apologizing for being too rough with him earlier, he finally got a good look at this peculiar specimen, who had almost gotten away victorious with five opponents twice his size with bare hands. Had he been in better shape, the group of goons was probably an easy game to him. And Giotto shuddered to think of what destruction he would bring had he possessed the smallest amount of Flame. Brushing back the sweaty brown locks of hair from the younger's face, Giotto was astonished to find that the brunet appeared… too young, the type of youth often seen in young adults who had barely gotten out of his adolescence years and into the beginning of adulthood. Anyway, it was hard to discern his age just by looking at his face. His features were boyish but delicate like those of a china doll with porcelain like face. He was definitely of mixed blood, as he could see some very prominent Italian traits on his face soften by the features of Easterners. Or perhaps it was the other way around, his Asian roots enhanced and deepened by European blood. The boy-young man's eyes fluttered open, revealing two warm chocolate-color orbs. However, there was something familiar in the brunet that he had yet to put a word into./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hey! Are you okay?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I'm fine…"- The brunet replied weakly, looking up at his savior, their eyes met for the first time. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Both their eyes flashed orange as soon as they met. The other man flinched violently and Giotto was struck with the realization that he had found the one he had been looking for./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""You-" The younger man suddenly grabbed his head and groaned in pain for no reason and Giotto legibly started to panic. "Hey! What's wrong?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GIOTTOOOO!" The sound of his name being called by G was like a life saver at the moment when Giotto was almost taken over by panic. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GIOTTO! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS OUT HERE! HOW DARE YOU DITCH YOUR PAPERWORK AND DUMP IT ON ME? YOU WILL FUCKING PAY FOR IT WHEN I DRAG YOU BACK TO THE MANSION. I SWEAR I'M GONNA GET THAT MELON HEAD MINDFUCK YOU SO BAD YOU START CALLING HIM YOUR MAMA!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto was sweating bullets from his best friend's threats but called him over anyway. This unfortunate young man needed help, and Giotto wasn't the most suitable one to fix him at the moment./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""G, HELP! OVER HERE!" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What? Where the fuck are y-? Oh, there you are!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Then he heard footsteps approaching, obviously belonging to his pink haired friend. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""GODDAMNIT GIOTTO YOU ARE NOT EVEN DISGUISING YOURSELF! HOW ABOUT YOU WEARING A FUCKING SIGN SAYING THAT 'I'M VONGOLA PRIMO PLEASE COME AND KILL ME'!" Was the first thing his most trusted right hand man hurled at his face./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Wow, really G, do you mind shouting even louder so that everyone and their dogs can know where I am now? With my luck some opposing Famiglia might even come and hurl a knife at my face. Do you truly want to contribute to your best friend's death that much?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Of all the fuc-" The stream of cursing coming from the man's mouth was no surprise, but he did lower his voice anyway, which was something Giotto was profoundly grateful for. He had been abusing his Hyper Intuition since early morning and his head was now killing him. G's yellings and very loud and demanding presence did not help his hyper aware senses at all. "Wait a minute, what the fuck are you doing here?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Ever so perceptive, Vongola Primo's most trusted right hand man!" Giotto gave his friend a mocking applause, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Obviously I just have to spend my hard earned free time from work surrounded by beaten ugly rapists and human traffickers with their almost victim in pain and practically dying on my lap. What else would I do in a shady alley like this?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Fuck you, Giotto." G scowled like it was the most natural thing in the world when it came to dealing with his oldest friend. Then he looked around at the knock out goons behind Giotto and finally at the aforementioned almost rape victim in pity, gods he couldn't help but share Giotto's sentiments about those disgusting creatures called rapists "You let them off too easy, Giotto. Is he okay? Did he…?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto, still cradling the brunet in his arms, shook his head quietly, and G heaved out a relieved sigh. "I wasn't the one who kicked their asses. He did. I only delivered the finishing blow."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""This scrawny looking thing?" G arched an eyebrow and came closer to the both of them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Only now did G observe the brunet more closely, and by the dramatic and widening of his eyes and the comical arch of his eyebrow, Giotto came to the conclusion that G had seen something in the brunet that he clearly missed./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Giotto?" G's question held a dangerous edge that made Giotto flinch involuntarily. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Uh… yes?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Did you have a son out of wedlock without telling me?" The harsh and shaking, whisper-shouting tone of his voice conveyed to Giotto exactly how livid and the slightest bit of panic he felt about the secret he might or might not have kept from his best friend. /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wait, what?/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"His head snapped back to look down at the face of the brunet on his lap. Oh my god, no wonder he looked so familiar, even with his eyes closed, the boy was practically a younger, brunet carbon copy of himself./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""No, G! You are misunderstanding, he is not my son! Gods, I swear I've never seen him before today!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""But he-" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Hayato?" The brunet opened his eyes and blearily looked at G, the orange tint once again appeared in his irises. G arched an eyebrow, he had no idea what the boy was talking about, but the glowing orange eyes was enough a reason for him to believe that this brunet was anything but a mere stranger to his best friend. To his knowledge, the use of Flame was an exclusive trait among the upper class of the Cosa Nostra society and those Flame infused eyes coupled with Hyper Intuition, according to the shaman who gave Giotto the Vongola Rings, was something belonged only to the family from his mother's side. Giotto swallowed thickly, as even he himself found it difficult to deny the obvious blood relation between the both of them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Where are we, Hayato? I don't- Why is your hair pink?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto snickered to himself and G's face turned a furious shade of red. G thundered, "You little- , let me tell you my hair is not fucking pink! It's re-"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"In the middle of G's rambling, the boy's eyes suddenly misted over with a light sheen of indigo over his iris, completely lost their lucidity they showed a few seconds ago. "Who is… Hayato?" He asked, almost dreamily./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""W-what?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Giotto frowned but did not say anything, watched as the brunet's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body slumped down in Giotto's arms./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What's wrong with him? Did he hit head earlier?" G asked in worry, Giotto's son or not, he just didn't like the idea of anybody getting hurt aside from their Famiglia's enemies./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Shifting the boy so he could put him on his back, the blond said. "Let's take him to Knuckles to find out!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Wasting no more time, he picked the brunet up in a piggy back carry and just took off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Left behind by his best friend, G had an overwhelming urge to tear all the pin- red hair off his head in frustration. "But he- In broad daylight? I don't even want to start on how it's going to be a total disaster! Heavens, I really hate you sometimes, Giotto!" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Yet G ran after his best friend and his precious cargo back to the Mansion, anyway./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"If span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"all he felt before was the cold, the panic and confusion, now, enveloped in an unknown yet so familiar warmth, he felt safer than ever. The warmth seeped through where his chest was in contact with the other's back, slowly filling up the gaping empty void in his chest. The calmness and the deep rumbles in his voice as he conversed with his pink haired companion soothed his jumbled mind and slowly pulled him into a deeper, dreamless sleep where he wasn't in any pain any more./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify" /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"strong style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Present time, Vongola Mansion./strong/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"As soon as Hibari was able to sit up without any kind of assistance, he ran for Tsuna's private chamber, shrugging off Sasagawa Ryohei's protests and the others' concerns like a pest./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"They just didn't understand just how dire a situation Sawada Tsunayoshi was in, and how close he was to insanity. The backlash from the others' Discords left him hanging to his lucidity by a mere thread, and that thread was Hibari./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"But now, that thread was cut off too./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari didn't dain to explain this very important fact to his fellow 'Guardians'. After all, they had all chosen where they stood with the brunet- on the opposite side. If they and Hibari were no longer on the same side anymore, Hibari found no more reason to play nice with them. And now, his priority was to find Tsunayoshi as soon as possible and keep the repercussions of their Discord to a minimum./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Sawada Tsunayoshi, open up right now! Tsunayoshi!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"His angry knockings seemed fruitless though, since the door stood silently and firmly between him and the small animal./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He was becoming more and more agitated as the silence stretched./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Only a few hours had passed since the disastrous meeting that left him thrown against the wall by his boss. He had lost consciousness on the spot, cracked a few ribs, got a minor concussion but otherwise fine. However, during the few hours he was out of commission, many things could have happened. And Hibari, from his experiences with Sawada Tsunayoshi over the span of ten years, feared the worst./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Tsunayoshi! Open up the door or I will knock it down!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He called one more time for good measure, then decided just to act./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"With one hit, he brought down the very heavy, imposing-looking door and burst into the room like a storm raging./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The room was empty of any occupant and it scared Hibari, he was sure the brunet had returned to the room earlier as several of the staff had confirmed they saw him entering the chamber after the meeting and never left. He was about to tear through the room to look for clues about his boss' whereabouts then suddenly he felt it, an enormous amount of Sky Flame, very similar to but definitely not the brunet's, came from the direction of the ensuite bathroom./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Shit!" Cursed Hibari and he was just about to bring down another door to get to his boss when it was blasted to pieces by the sheer force of that unknown Sky Flame, its pureness and strength was almost unparalleled and unrivaled if he hadn't known one Sawada Tsunayoshi./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari had to steel himself, digging his heel into the expensive carpet so that he didn't get blown away, he would very much like not to get thrown to the wall a second time in one day, thank you very much. But he was temporarily blind from the too bright and powerful Flame, unable to make out what was actually happening at the source of this Flame./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"And as fast as it came, the Flame promptly disappeared. It still took Hibari a distressingly long time to be able to see clearly again. And the sight that greeted him wasn't one one with a faint heart was able to withstand./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The bathroom looked like a freaking murder scene./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"The mirror was shattered and covered in blood. Broken shards of glass scattered everywhere and an alarming amount of dark red liquid splashed over the floor and the wall. The Flame Signal of his boss was all over the place, but neither hair nor hide of Sawada Tsunayoshi could be found./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Hibari willed himself to stay calm and tried to properly assess the situation. He stepped forward, only to take two steps back, as he felt a small something round and hard under his shoes. He picked that object up for inspection and realization struck him like standing in the point blank range of Tsunayoshi's XX-Burners./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Even when it had been a while since he last saw it, Hibari was able to identify the object immediately. It was the Vongola Ring in its original unsealed form, not the bigger half part of the big and imposing Sky Vongola Gear that Tsunayoshi wore on his slender hand 24/7- like a huge chain dragging him down around the clock, as out of place as it felt- not much different from the too big and too heavy mantle on the otherwise too small shoulders./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Clutching the Ring hard in his palm, Hibari gritted his teeth. His extensive knowledge on flame rings and weapon boxes all pointed him to one single conclusion./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Sawada Tsunayoshi had relinquished the right to his Vongola Sky Ring./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"By now, the remainders of Tsuna's closest circle -well, used to be- had picked up the spike of strange Flame signal and now was crowding just outside of the bathroom. Some of them gasped, one sputtered the name that they did not deserve to use, some others even screamed in fright. He heard, but Hibari could not care less about them or their state of mind. Tossing the Vongola Ring without a care to one of those herbivores, Hibari silently walked away from the scene despite their growling and protesting and questioning. He only answered to the small animal and him alone. The other herbivores, he was not obligated to give them any kind of explanation./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Standing at the gate of Vongola Mansion, he lifted his face to look at the darkened sky. It started to rain, and the droplets of water hitting his face reminded him of that one time long ago, how he had shed his tears realizing how lonely he was, until Sawada Tsunayoshi came along. His chest where he used to feel their powerful and healthy Harmonization was now a gaping hole, cold and empty where it should felt whole and complete. The only thing that tied him together with the fate of Vongola was gone, he just could not find any other reason to stay. He half-tempted to leave his own Vongola Gear too, but Roll, the shy little hedgehog, always reminding him too much of the brunet, Hibari just could not bear to leave him behind./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He left the country within the night./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"He still had many things to do, even if the person was gone, a promise with him was still a promise. And Hibari never failed to deliver a promise./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"br /br /p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What are we going to do now, Takeshi?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Gokudera dragged a hand down his tired face, the bags under his eyes looked like twin shiners after many weeks of little rest and relentless searching./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Yamamoto flopped on the sofa in one of Mansion's many living rooms, his face looking as haggard and exhausted as the other Guardians who threw themselves on the nearest surface possible. They had decided to regroup at the Mansion to plan their next move after scattering all over the city to look for one Sawada Tsunayoshi. It had been a week, and no sign of him could be found. From what was left on the floor of his bathroom, they had initially concluded that the man was attacked and maybe kidnapped. That was why they had personally paid a visit to each of Famiglia's opposing groups in the first week after the brunet had gone missing, hoping to find their boss alive and only held hostage. Yet none of those little excursions brought him any closer to finding him. Exhausted both mentally and physically, they returned with a heavy heart and deep disappointment, and none of them could shake off the feelings that it was their fault that the burnet was no longer here./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Irie Shoichi then pointed out that all the windows were locked and bolted, the only entry was knocked down by Hibari. There were also no other visible signs of fighting and struggling aside from the broken mirror that was evidently the work of Tsuna himself, considering the events that occurred up until that point (All of them winced, mood soured immediately thinking of the disastrous meeting). The amount of blood, while looking alarming, was not enough to be life-threatening. Not to mention the Vongola Ring was left behind so he leaned toward the theory that maybe the tenth left on his own accord./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"None of those theories explained why the Ring was in its original form and what was the strange but extremely familiar Sky Flame that they felt was though./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"They had contacted Talbot to consult him on this matter, only to receive a much disheartening result: The old man refused to even speak to them./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I don't know, Hayato. I… This is hard. I've never in my life imagined that one day Tsuna is- that he is no longer with us. Even with our Harmonization severed, I still expected to see him every time we returned to the Mansion…"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""We all have taken his presence for granted, haven't we?" Hayato sighed deeply, and dragged another long smoke. Yamamoto frowned, but didn't comment, unlike his boss, who would immediately take his cigarette and put it out, all the while complaining about how bad smoking was for his health. He had quit it before, knowing his boss hated seeing him smoke but he had taken to smoking again after, well, the fallout with the brunet himself./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Putting out his cigarette, Gokudera stood up and stretched languidly like a cat, then he whacked his fellow Rain Guardian over the head as the man started to nod off./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Come on, Takeshi! There's no time to sleep!"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""What are you even planning, Hayato? There isn't much we could do at the moment."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""Yes, there is. I've decided."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""On what?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify"Gokudera turned to grace him with a look. As soon as their eyes met, Yamamoto immediately understood what the Storm Guardian was trying to say. And he paled, trying to stop himself from a full body shudder./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""You mean…"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="justify""I'm afraid so, Takeshi. We need to call span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: oblique; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"him/span back."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;" align="center"End of chapter~/p
/div