Hi I'm back with a new chapter. Please enjoy!
CHAPTER 2: Memories
POOF~
"Oh my god! TENTH!"- Shouted Gokudera in shock. It had been a while since they last experienced a ten-year-bazooka mishap like this. The other times, the victim was usually Lambo himself since the others knew better to avoid getting hit by the unfortunate object, but they still got hit once or twice though. Tsuna, on the other hand, had never swapped with his ten-year-later counterpart since the time they were all sent to the future.
"Oh shit! Oh shit shit shit shit!" Yamamoto cursed, which was really really uncharacteristic of him to do so, as he tried to clear the dreaded pink smoke away to get to his best friend and boss. He, too, was quite traumatized the last time the brunet got hit by Lambo's bazooka. Both he and Gokudera were scared shitless that none would appear in place of the present version of their friend. Lambo, being oblivious as to why both of his older brother-figures seemed to overly panic at what he thought a normal occurrence, this was not the first time he used the ten-year-bazooka after all.
"Tsuna! Are you there?" Yamamoto asked, half of him wanting the bazooka to malfunction and not switch the two versions of them, the other hoping to witness with his own eyes the ten-year-later version of Tsuna for reassurance.
"Tenth! If you're here, please answer us!"
"Yes?" The familiar, if a bit lower than usual, voice rang out, soothing both their wrecking nerves.
The smoke slowly cleared, revealing the familiar figure of their dearest friend. Both of them slowly let out the breath they did not know how long that had been held in.
Appearance wise, the brunet in front of them actually did not look much older than his younger counterpart. His soft chocolate locks were as gravity-defying as ever, most of his baby fat had melted into a more defined jawline, he stood only an inch or two taller than he used to be, still a lot shorter than his Guardians though. The main difference was that this man's eyes seemed to turn permanently into molten lava, gleaming orange in the shadow under his bang instead of the usual warm brown color. They looked sadder and much older than what his youthful appearance suggested. The eyes were the only clear thing that indicated the ten-year difference between the two versions of Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Oh hey, younger-Hayato and younger-Takeshi! Wow it has been ages since I last saw that pink smoke hahaha." Laughed the older man, his sad sad eyes immediately shaped into two curves of mirth. "Why do both of you look so panicked? Did you expect a dead body to turn up or something?"
"Please don't joke like that, tenth! It's really bad for our hearts! Do you want us to develop an ulcer like Irie or something?"
"Haha I would never. I'm just feeling weird seeing you two so young again."
"Glad to see you are fine, Tsuna!" Yamamoto, now feeling much more confident, approached the brunet to give him a warm side-hug, mindful of the object the older man was carrying with him. It was a bouquet of white flowers wrapped in black wrapping paper. Now that was an odd choice of color for a bouquet. And were those flowers anemones? Hm, Yamamoto reminded himself to ask Irie the meaning of white anemones later, that man was an expert in the language of flower after all. "Wow, aren't you looking good?"
"Better than ever, in fact." The brunet gave both of them a serene smile, orange eyes gleamed with fondness and warmth. Gokudera blushed deep red as he saw the look on his boss' face. The older man aged like fine wine, eventually grew out of his teenage awkwardness and into a younger, gentler version of Vongola Primo, the coloring and the softer features inherited from Nana Sawada served to alleviate the sharpness of Giotto's European roots. That coupled with his too-powerful Harmonizing factor of the Sky Element made the genuine expression on his person seemed too irresistible. If the brunet were to ask Gokudera to jump into a blazing fire now, he would carry out his order without any question. That was just how powerful Tsuna's smile was. However, the other man's smile, no matter how sincere it looked, still held a hidden edge, like the man was trying to suppress his other emotions and only showed them what he wanted them to see. Their Tenth at 21 still wore his heart on his sleeves, very much unlike this 31-year-old version who seemed to be very good at keeping his emotions in check.
"Older Tsuna-nii! Why do you ignore the great Lambo?" Gokudera didn't have any more time to dwell on this fact as Lambo pulled at Tsuna's neatly pressed suit pants and loudly demanded his attention.
"Hey younger Lambo. I didn't mean to ignore you, that is. I'm sorry I do not have any candy on my person today to make up to you. The older version of you stopped demanding candies from me a while ago so I didn't bring any with me anymore." Tsuna bent down to ruffle the younger's hair fondly.
"I have enough candies! The younger Tsuna-nii have given me plenty." Lambo shook his head wildly, some candies he hid in the curls of his hair flew out with the rough motion.
The brunet chuckled at his surrogate younger brother and told him warmly "You are such a good boy, Lambo."
Straightened up from his crouching, the older man pulled at his neatly button collar and mused. "Hey, doesn't my office seem a bit hot today? I've been sweating like crazy since I've got here."
"Of course you'd be hot, Tsuna. You're dressed to the ninth." Yamamoto exclaimed. Both of them only now noticed how the other man donned a three-piece suit, rather uptight and weather-inappropriate compared to what they both were wearing: both of them had forgone their jackets due to the hot weather, leaving them in only their shirts and dress pants. The color choice of the brunet was odd too: the pieces he was dressed in were black with a white dress shirt, an one eighty different from the color scheme he usually went for. The brunet was most often seen in a white suit and navy blue striped vest, coupled with bright orange dress shirt. "What's the occasion, though? Usually you would go for something much more… vibrant."
The dull black and white attire gave Yamamoto and Hayato a bad premonition since it seemed so un-Tsuna-like - who always felt so colorful and warm, and the colorless bouquet he carried only served to strengthen the unpleasant feelings he was giving off.
"Oh, it's nothing worth worrying about. I'm on my way to a funeral, that's all." Said the brunet lightly, as though he was just talking about another invitation to dinner. His eyes, however, were telling another story: at the word 'funeral', the light in those molten lava orbs completely dimmed down, like a fire being doused by cold water.
Whose was it? It was a question that both of them were too afraid to ask. They swallowed hard. The silent question became a heavy weight hang over their head that instantly dragged the previously light mood down. Even the calm and composed expression on their friend's face could not squash down the raging storm in their chest. Both of them withdrew into their own self, lost in thought about their future.
"Hayato, Takeshi. Listen…" The brunet started, breaking the suffocating silence, his eyebrows furrowed, a hand reaching out to his two friends. This warranted the two other adults in the room's full attention as Lambo wandered off, apparently satisfied by the candies given to him by the younger Tsuna. "Nevermind. The younger me… will probably know what to do. He is me, after all. You two, please don't worry about it." Shaking his head, the older Tsuna reached a hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out an orange cube-shaped object that the other two immediately recognized as the box weapon of the Sky. "Please, give the younger me this box. Once he sees what's inside, he will know what to do."
It was Gokudera who took the box and held it tightly within his hands. Yamamoto, on the other hand, grasped onto the older man's thin shoulders, tight enough to make him wince in pain, "What do you mean by that, Tsuna? What do you want to tell us? Please, don't leave us in the dark like that, not again."
"Takeshi…"
POOF~
The shoulders suddenly turned even thinner, the body in his arms grew shorter, warm chocolate eyes replaced glowing orange orbs. The dreaded pink smoke was back, and so was their Sawada Tsunayoshi.
The vulnerable expression on their Tsuna's face made Yamamoto release the brunet with a startle. Yamamoto involuntarily took a step back to stand beside Gokudera and watched their friend slowly regain composure from whatever he witnessed in the future ten years later. The other man did not make a sound, even his breath seemed so still and quiet. He felt like a statue, liveless, cold and frozen in time.
"Tenth, are you okay?" Asked the bomber tentatively, the weapon box in his hands felt awfully cold despite only parting from the ten-year-later Tsuna's warmth moments ago. "What did you see in the future?"
"I- I…" The brunet opened his mouth as though to speak then shut it. He shook his head softly at their question.
"Tsuna…" Yamamoto said, a reassuring hand patted the brunet on his shoulder. "It's fine! You know you can tell us whatever happened, right? Then we can deal with it together!"
"Please… Please don't make me talk right now." Tsuna looked to the side to avoid his friends' worried gaze. He then shouldered past the two of them easily to the entrance of his office, swiftly escaping the room in a heartbeat. "I'm sorry, I really need some fresh air."
"But-"
The door shutted with a click behind him leaving Gokudera and Yamamoto the only occupants of the office.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
The next time he woke up, it was to the feeling of someone gently running a hand through his hair. Unconsciously, he leaned into the warmth the calloused hand was emitting, missing the comfort that he had not gotten to experience in quite a while since he moved to Italy, away from his kind mother's loving care and gestures.
Gods, how he missed the carefree, simpler time when Vongola was not yet a burden he had to carry. Being Dame-Tsuna sucked, but it sucked less than gradually having your will to live and lucidity chipped away bits by bits, eventually going through with days by sheer force. Ever since the day of the last mishap with the ten-year-bazooka, he felt more like he was existing only to carry out the rest of his plan rather than actually living.
The fatigue plagued him like an old friend, welcoming him back into the merciful nothingness that a good rest usually offered. Nonetheless, in recent days, no matter how much rest he had, he still felt exhausted deep to the bones. This was part of the reason why Tsuna did not want to actually wake up, preferring the state of half-consciousness that dulled the edge of his near-permanent migraine and heartache. The other part though, was how great the hand on his head felt. He was afraid that if he were to wake up, the hand would disappear, and one more good thing would vanish like all the others taken away from him so far.
Who is it? He wanted to ask. Who is it that still sticks around even when I'm only a mere shell of who I used to be?
Is that you, Reborn? Negative, Reborn left. He has sent Reborn away even when the man was reluctant to. It was his fault Reborn was no longer here. This warm warm hand did not feel like Reborn's either. Reborn's were always cold, and not as gentle.
Mom's? No, too big and calloused to be hers.
"Tsunayoshi, I know you are awake." The deep voice finally alerted him of who had offered him the comfort he sorely missed.
"Hibari-san." The younger man breathed out as his eyes fluttered open, drinking in the sight of a man with messy raven hair and dark gray eyes. The mentioned man frowned at how the brunet addressed him, but neither said anything nor retracted the hand on the younger man's head.
"You got sick? That's twice this month." Hibari stated matter-of-factly. His expression was cold and detached but could not hide the concern and worry in his gray eyes.
"I feel better now."
The brunet sat up in his bed, his own hand taking Hibari's from the top of his head and kept it in his lap, his eyes never leaving Hibari's face during the whole process.
"Stop it." Scowled Hibari.
"Stop what?"
"Looking at me as though I'm gonna disappear any moment."
"You are not, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not. What you saw would never happen. I will make sure of it."
Tsuna squeezed Hibari's hand tightly with both of his then promptly let go. Only now did Hibari withdraw his arm to cross over his chest. The younger man smiled at his Cloud Guardian warmly as the older man made a gesture for Tsuna to look down instead. Only now did he notice that the other man had put some kind of folder on his bed.
"What is this, Hibari-san?"
HIbari turned to glare sharply at the younger man once more time which puzzled him to no end: What had he done to warrant this kind of treatment?
"Late birthday presents." Hibari answered curtly. "The black markets you want to eradicate, they're down."
Hastily tearing open the seal on the folder, Tsuna gasped as he skimmed the content of the files inside. "Oh my god, Hibari-san! This is amazing! You are really efficient!"
Just as he finished reading, the brunet ignited a small Flame and burnt down the whole file. Hibari watched him closely like a hawk with a small satisfied smirk on his face. The burnet then mirrored his Guardian with a smirk of his own, his eyes flashed orange with a dangerous gleam.
"Thanks to this efficiency, we can now move on to the next phase of our Plan, Hibari-san."
"Address me by my first name, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Glowered the older man.
Blinked the brunet in confusion. "Wh-what?"
"Call me 'Hibari-san' one more time and I will bite you to death."
"Oh, sorry, Kyoya! I forgot. Dreaming of the past tends to make me slip back to the old way." The young man chuckled as he stood up from his bed and stretched languidly. "This good news deserved some celebration, don't you think so? How about a spar?" Tsuna grinned at the other man. However, Hibari only answered with a frown.
"Huh? Are you really turning down a chance to fight?"
"You're ill."
"My fever broke last night and I feel fine now. Also you being here helps greatly, Kyoya. My head does not even hurt anymore."
The Sky Element was known to be extremely powerful compared to the other Elements, especially with a full set of Harmonized ones. However, every power had its price. The consequence of a broken Harmonization could be fatal to the Sky Flame welder. The stronger the Sky was, the more powerful the effect Discord had on them. Falling into Discord with his other Guardians had drained both his mental and physical health greatly in the span of one short year. Being near Hibari- the only one whose Harmonization with him still went on strongly- helped, but it was nearly impossible for the Cloud Guardian to be by his side full time. Hibari tried to swing by as much as he could hoping to alleviate the younger man's pain over most of his Harmonizations being severed too roughly, but the missions often took him far too long to his liking, while the brunet's time was quickly running out.
"No means no. If I want to fight, I'll find the Bucking Horse. And you, you need to eat."
"I'm not hungry." Lied the man with the straightest face he could manage.
However, his stomach decided to betray him at that very moment as it rumbled loudly in protest. Tsuna laughed sheepishly at Hibari's harsh glaring. At least the younger man had the decency to blush for being caught red-handed by the ex-prefect.
"Okay, you have a point. I haven't really eaten anything since lunch. But most of the staff must have gone to sleep by now. How about we go down to the kitchen and I will whip up something real quick for both of us?"
"Hn"
Tsuna took that as a yes and quickly ushered the older man out so he could change into something more appropriate.
As he tore through his wardrobe for a pair of slacks, his phone on the nightstand chimed out signaling a new message from an unknown sender.
21:22, Wed
"Are you there, Tsuna-kun?"
"I know we're not exactly on speaking terms right now but…"
" I haven't heard anything about you from Haru-chan or Kensuke-san in quite a while."
"..." (Unknown sender's typing)
His lock screen showed a speech bubble with the dreadful three dots for the longest time. Then suddenly the bubble flickered off for a second as though the sender were attempting to send a really long message and promptly decided not to anymore. As expected, a new message jumped out shortly.
21:27, Wed
"I'm worried, Tsuna-kun."
Unlocking his phone, Tsuna deleted the messages without looking neither at the mail address nor the messages itself.
I'm sorry, Kyoko-chan.
Putting his phone in the pocket of the slacks he just put on, Tsuna walked quietly out of his bedroom. The door clicking shut behind him reminded Tsuna of how he decided to seal the door of romance for good several years ago.
…
Ring!
Ring ring ring!
Picking up the handset of his decades-old ancient phone from Settimo's time that was somehow still miraculously working, the young boss answered the call without even looking away from the file on his desk.
"Sawada's speaking."
"Tenth! Sasagawa Kyoko is here at the Mansion! That wretched woman keeps insisting on speaking to you! She said she would not leave until you see her! Do you want me to chase her away for you?"
The brunet heaved out a long breath as he heard how angry Gokudera sounded on the phone. After their break-up, some of his Guardians- Namely Gokudera and Yamamoto- became extra grudging towards his ex-girlfriend, thinking she was the one dumping their best friend for the person they both disliked due to some circumstances in the past. Even if that person had changed for the better and even joined their Famiglia and Tsuna had explained to them thousands of times that he was the one who broke up with Kyoko-chan first. And no matter how fast Sasagawa moved on from him or whoever she dated after him, it was none of their business, since he was actually the one who called off their relationship in the first place and ordered Chrome- sweet gentle Chrome who would never refuse any of his requests- to alter Kyoko-chan's memories of ever dating him. (Even if the name of the man who she chose to date left a really bad taste in his mouth, left him sour and bitter because of all the men in the world, why did it have to be him? But it was also none of their business, too. )
"Just let her in. It's fine." He was expecting her appearance, anyway, since Chrome had informed him a couple of days ago that the beautiful woman had finally overridden the unjust modification on her mind.
The door to his office slammed open and the furious face of his old love showed up like a vengeance angel, the backlighting served as a halo behind her figure. Three years apart had in fact treated her very well: She had grown her hair out from the shoulder-length hairstyle he was used to during the school years to just reaching the small of her back, the cute and delicate features of a young girl had blossomed into a more matured and striking kind of beauty, she also dressed like the celebrity she cut out to be. Not that Tsuna was shocked by this change of the girl he used to date, he was always dutifully following her career (and secretly helping, too) ever since she debuted as a fledgling model, after all.
"Good morning, Sasagawa-san."
The furious expression on her face morphed into a beautifully terrifying sweet smile at the way he addressed her, the kind of smile that promised intense pain on her opponent's part. Gone was the sweet and innocent school idol of the past, Tsuna seemed to have awakened a lioness underneath the sheep's clothing.
"Good morning to you too, Tsuna-kun. I've come bearing a gift."
The auburned hair woman calmly pulled a small USB out of her handbag and put it down on his desk, right on top of the file he was working on.
"What is the meaning of this, Sasagawa-san?"
The young man's eyes flashed dangerously at the challenging look the woman leveled at him. Ex-girlfriend or not, he would not let just anyone waltz in his office and make a show out of him like this.
"This is the information of the human trafficking ring you want to burst so bad. Yes, before you ask, I've arranged a private meeting with the ring leader at his own house, sedated him and extracted the files directly from his PC. Yes, I've put myself in great danger for this information. And no, I didn't do it alone. Haru-chan and Kensuke-san helped me."
"KYOKO-CHAN! Do you have any ide-" Tsuna growled out, only to be cut off mid-words by his ex-girlfriend.
"Yes I do. Now do whatever you want with those intels I have risked my life for. Use it or burn it for all I care. Then you'd better decide if you would provide for me a proper alias or means to defend myself with or not because I'm definitely going to do it again. And you know that you are powerless to stop me."
The silence followed in the considerably-sized office seemed dense enough to cut with a butter knife. Both of the ex-lovers held each other's gaze steadily in an equally matched battle of pure stubbornness with only a mahogany desk between them acting as the barrier.
However, it was the young boss who relented first. He gave off a sigh of dejection as he pulled out a file he had prepared beforehand from the top drawer of his desk.
"Sign the first contract and you will be the official Brand Ambassador of our Vongola Corp Cosmetic branch in Japan. The next file is for your employment as our official informant. Read carefully before signing to know what your rights and obligations are, Sasagawa-san."
Bewildered as to why the young boss gave in so easily, the beautiful woman took the aforementioned files from the brunet's hand with a slight tremble in her hand. Opening up the contracts, her eyes immediately locked in the small Sky Flame- the signature of Vongola Decimo- at the end of the contracts in wonder. "There is a flame-"
"And you will undergo the proper training for a Flame-active member of Vongola. Your training will be overseen by Sasagawa Ryohei until he deems you battle-ready. You will also be assigned a personal bodyguard." Holding up his hand to keep the auburned hair from protesting, he continued "Mochida Kensuke is good at what he does, but he is not cut out to be a personal bodyguard. Also I want your bodyguard to be someone I personally picked and I believe your brother will gladly agree with me. I've been very patient and generous with my offers so far, so don't push your luck, Sasagawa-san."
The young woman nodded seriously, skimming her contracts one more time, then stamped onto the signature of the contractor's area with her own seal.
Giving back the files to her ex-lover-turn-boss, not without keeping her copies, she said, "Okay then! Since I already got what I came for, I'm leaving now." She made a small bow then prepared to leave.
"Sasagawa-san!"
"Yes?" Looking back at the brunet who was as unreadable as ever, she dared to hope that the man she had loved whole-heartedly and unconditionally to say anything more about them rather than just simply staring at her, sad and forlorn like he had lost something too precious.
Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, and the auburn held her breath.
"Why Mochida-senpai? Of all people, why him?"
She blinked. She did not expect that.
"He changed."
"I know."
"And he never lies to me or tries to make decisions for me anymore. He now knows how to respect me as a person. Which was something I had expected from you, Tsuna-kun."
Silence was her only response from the brunet she used to love so much that she was ready to give up the safe civillant's life to follow. Yet the man cut her off and pushed her away in the worst way possible.
"Goodbye, Tsuna-kun." The young woman closed the door separating her and the love of her past behind.
Just as she turned a corner, ignoring the glare her now-boss's Right Hand Man was giving her, she almost fell over as the whole Mansion trembled after a large bang sound from the direction of the young boss's office. Her eyes wide and scared, she held onto a piece of furniture to hold herself up, watching as Gokudera and Yamamoto ran past her to get to their boss in panic.
She only caught a glimpse of the man who used to be her gentle, lovely Tsuna-kun in the middle of his office with a whole wall blasted away, head and hands blazing before being ushered off by her own brother.
End of chapter.