At the sound of his name coming from a stranger, Yusuke faltered in his steps for a second, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he gazed at the teenager – Mukuro –, before continuing into the room. "Okay, I'll admit I didn't expect that. Did my reputation precede me?" he asked, the quirk of his lips contrasting the serious glint in his eyes.
After all, joking aside, no one should have known his name; he didn't have a reputation. If anyone looked his identity up, they would have found Sasaki Aoi – his fake name in official capacity during his stay in Japan – instead of Yusuke. The only way Mukuro could have known his name was he found out through the people of Namimori, whom he did give his real name to, or he already knew it. Either was possible, but the look of surprise that crossed Mukuro's face as he uttered his name threw him for a loop. Somehow, it seemed like there should be a third possibility, one that Yusuke had yet to consider.
Mukuro stood from his seat and picked up something propped to the side as Yusuke edged closer. He raised an eyebrow when he was finally close enough to see Mukuro's choice of weapon: a trident.
A smile twisted on Mukuro's face, dangerous as much as alluring, as the two of them instinctively fell into the pattern of languidly circling each other. Both weren't attacking yet, but simply examining and measuring each other up. Yusuke knew Mukuro was physically weaker than him, but the confidence that he exuded said he had a something up his sleeve. That, or he was just very good at faking his confidence.
"Kufufu, I wonder," Mukuro drawled in answer to his previous question, eyes fixed on him. "You're not from here," he stated, not a question but a prompt.
"Well, neither are you," Yusuke countered calmly, before missing a beat in his step as he caught sight of Mukuro's eyes - specifically the red one. Mukuro immediately took advantage of Yusuke's lapse in attention, pushing off the ground to rush at him with trident in hand. Yusuke shifted the last second, watching the trident stab at the space he was merely a split second ago, before grasping the trident's handle with a hand. The weapon jerked to stop at the force, bringing its owner to halt directly in front of him. Up close, Yusuke finally could see the kanji for four and the glow of a familiar energy within the red eye. He leaned in to peer closely at it, forgetting that he was in a middle of a fight. Half-disbelieving, he asked, "Is that demon energy?"
Mukuro wretched his trident away instead of answering, forcing Yusuke to dodge or be stabbed.
"Should you really be distracted right now, Yusuke?" Mukuro asked, and there was a way Mukuro said his name, threatening as much as suggestive, that made a smile curl unwittingly across Yusuke's face. Even though Mukuro was undoubtedly weakened after escaping Vendicare, a fact that Mukuro himself should know well, he still managed to so relentlessly give off a presence of strength and superiority. Yusuke was impressed.
He grinned. "Why don't you tell me?" he challenged, before running towards Mukuro. Mukuro ducked under his fist and swung his trident up, but Yusuke sidestepped it. "How about this?" he suggested, mind flashing to the deals between himself and Reborn even as he continued, "I win this fight and you tell me about that eye."
"Kufufufu, why would I take such a deal," Mukuro asked, barely managing to blocked his kick, "when I have what you want but you have nothing of value to me?"
Yusuke froze for a second, cursing the fact that he was always way too honest in his fighting style. This really was just like Reborn and his deals. For once, he would like to deal with someone who was perhaps a little less perceptive. "I won't beat you too badly?" Yusuke offered, half-joking and half-serious as he resumed the fight.
"You can't defeat me," Mukuro said, just as Yusuke punched the smug smile that began to spread across his face.
Or would have punched, if Yusuke's arm didn't go through Mukuro's image.
"What did I just say?" Mukuro said, his voice a few inches to the left of his illusionary self. Yusuke immediately pulled his arm back, but not before it was cut with the trident.
A few droplets of his blood hit the ground.
"I can't believe I forgot that you are an illusionist," Yusuke said, a small frown crossing his face. He eyed at the minor wound on his arm for a beat, before finally grinning. "That's a good trick though," he said as anticipation finally entered his eyes.
"Why, thank you," Mukuro said, smug smile firmly on his face as he twirled his weapon with more flair than ever necessary. "Now you're mine."
Yusuke raised an eyebrow at his phrasing, but before he could reply, a wretched, blood-chilling shierk pierced into his ears. Who…? Yusuke looked towards Mukuro for any hints, only to pause at the sight of him. Mukuro's regular eye was pitch black to the point where there was barely any difference between the pupil and the iris, and the red one have never been any closer to the color of running blood more than now. The aura around Mukuro had completely changed and Yusuke automatically looked towards the number on his eye without really knowing why, only to see it remain the same.
"So he found them," the illusionist breathed out, a jagged smile sharp enough to cut on his face. He chuckled deeply and it rattled in Yusuke's brain despite how many villainous laughs he had heard in his lifetime. "Shall I go greet them?" he mused quietly to himself, Yusuke all but forgotten. Yusuke would have felt peeved if only he didn't get such a visceral feeling of wrongness from Mukuro's abrupt change.
Mukuro dissipated his trident before moving out of the room and starting down the stairs, fight followed after a few seconds, curious despite himself. Who did the shriek belong to? It sounded mournful, chilling and vengeful all at once. What could elicit such a… Yusuke stopped on the step of the stair, and stared at the humming illusionist's back as he finally remembered why he was there for. Mukuro was attacking the middle school students of the normally peaceful Namimori. Last he heard, Reborn intended for Tsuna to become involved and Reborn always got what he wanted. "What did you do to Tsuna?" He thought back to the shriek and the golden-haired brat's protectiveness. "Or rather, his friends?"
"Broke one of his arm," Mukuro answered without a pause in his steps, his tone almost inflectionless. Some humor entered his voice with his next words. "It will be a while before he can batter up again."
"You didn't," Yusuke said, stated, commanded because Tsuyoshi's boy was Tsuna's friend, wasn't he? Traded his shinai for a baseball bat, Tsuyoshi recounted to him, his tone wistful and proud.
Mukuro took the last step onto the second floor, before turning around to face Yusuke. "Of course I did," he uttered, his eyes glazed with madness. "His arm cracked so nicely – "
Crack.
"There's a lot of things I can forgive," Yusuke enunciated slowly, eyes hard as he pressed Mukuro's head against the wall. "But messing with one of the few friends I have or their family ain't one of them."
Mukuro began laughing.
Yusuke's grip tightened.
"Yusuke," a voice called out and there was Reborn. Pointing a gun at him. Yusuke's heart thud, slow and steady, and time seemed to stretch out endlessly between them two. "Let go of him."
"Why?" Yusuke questioned, inflectionless. He made no move to comply to Reborn's command. "He crossed a line. It's personal."
A silhouette behind Reborn stood, and Yusuke briefly noted the two bodies on the ground that it was previously crouching over, before the silhouette stepped into light. "Yusuke-san, please."
The part of Yusuke that wasn't snarling at Mukuro's transgression whistled, reminded of the uncanny resemblance between Giotto and Tsuna. On Tsuna's forehead was a flame flickering and leaping with desire to burn everything to ashes. His hands were already both lit, the burning energy amplified by familiar gloves with a X on the back. What was most striking, however, was instead of a warm orange glow, Tsuna's flame pulsed so intensely that it borderlined red. At this moment, Tsuna wasn't using the Sky Flame. He didn't want harmony. He wanted destruction.
He was using the Flame of Wrath.
"Please move," Tsuna repeated, and Yusuke could hear the tightly coiled fury in his tone, barely restrained like a wild animal. "I need to do this."
Yusuke flexed the hand that was on Mukuro's head, considering. It had been a while since Yusuke was genuinely angry. He didn't even think he could feel anything beyond vaguely amused or annoyed anymore, but somehow, Mukuro crossed a line that Yusuke was barely aware still existed. He harmed Takeshi and by doing so, affected Tsuyoshi as well. Before, Yusuke said his fight with Mukuro was personal and it was. By crossing Tsuyoshi and his son, Mukuro crossed Yusuke too.
But…
The same applied to Tsuna, didn't it, and he was even more affected than Yusuke. Takeshi is his friend and to begin with, this whole conflict with Mukuro was all about Tsuna. Yusuke could only imagine how he felt right now, to the point that his normally gentle, if not a little uncontrolled, orange flame changed to the Flame of Wrath.
Yusuke pushed down the anger that flared at the thought of passing his right to retribution, and let go.
Mukuro slumped down against the wall, leaving a trail of smeared blood where the skin of his head split open. Collapsed against the base of the dirty wall, Mukuro looked uncomfortably akin to a victim. Or at least that was what Yusuke would have thought if he felt charitable.
He certainly didn't feel any, however.
Yusuke stepped aside, away from Mukuro, and next to Reborn, who was finally lowering his gun. His finger remained on the trigger, however. Yusuke wondered who Reborn was prepared to shoot: at him or Mukuro.
Tsuna stepped forward at Yusuke's clear signal of go ahead and stood before Mukuro, looking down as he waited for the illusionist to stand.
Mukuro did with a laugh, wiping his head wound against his sleeve before promptly summoning his trident. "Why, hello, Vongola," Mukuro with a mocking bow. His eyes – red and black both – glittered, sharp with madness. "How do you like my presents?"
Wrong move, Yusuke thought as Tsuna shot forward and crashed against Mukuro's trident, sending Mukuro flying back into a wall.
"Shut up," Tsuna growled, appearing instantly at Mukuro's location and punched. Yusuke noted that it was an illusion a split-second before it began dissipating around Tsuna's arm. Without pausing a beat, Tsuna slammed his hand to the left and backhanded Mukuro, who was at an angle behind the illusion.
Mukuro crumpled, apparently defeated, and that was when a dozens of hissing snakes dropped from thin air and onto Tsuna. Mukuro turned and Yusuke took a step forward, rapt, when he caught sight of the number two in Mukuro's red eye. The demon energy emitting from it vanished. How?
Yusuke was about to take a closer look when the sound of a gun cocking reached his ears. He paused.
"Don't test my patience, Yusuke."
Yusuke turned. Reborn was watching the fight between Tsuna and Mukuro, and to outsiders, completely ignoring Yusuke. Yusuke would need to be a fool to believe that Reborn's attention wasn't split between the two, however. His tense stance, his finger on the trigger, and his foot pointed slightly in Yusuke's direction for the ease of a quick pivot all said otherwise.
Reborn was ready to follow through with his warning and as much as Yusuke was interested, he didn't want to fight under such circumstances. Not when Reborn seemed furious, his attention split and distracted.
Yusuke turned back to the fight instead, resigning himself to watching Tsuna and Mukuro fight and to squint at Mukuro's red eye from a distance.
"Why are you angry?" Yusuke asked after a moment.
He snuck a glance at Reborn for his reaction, only to see Reborn already outright glaring at him. Yusuke involuntarily started, surprised. He thought they were going to do that conversation thing where both of them will stand side-by-side, neither of them looking at each other as they made believe to be talking to thin air. But it seemed like Reborn was even more incensed than he thought.
"You know why, Yusuke. Urameshi," Reborn growled and Yusuke winced, because that was totally foul play, using his surname.
"Back to Urameshi again?" Yusuke joked weakly, only to immediately jump back when a bullet slammed into the cement where he was standing a mere second ago. The background battle still raged on without a pause, and that was when he realized that Reborn had thoughtfully used a silencer. Great. No one will ever hear that he got shot. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, alright? I broke my deal, our words, yada yada yada." When Reborn looked like he was about to shoot at him again, Yusuke hurried on, "I didn't know until today that Tao – er, an employee at the restaurant that I worked at– was a victim of Mukuro's attack, so I came here to um, avenge him."
"You mean, use that employee as an excuse to fight Mukuro," Reborn corrected. "And to back down from our deal." Yusuke winced at the matter-of-fact way Reborn said it; it was true in a way, but still. "Since you broke your end of the deal, I won't uphold my part of it either."
Reborn's gun transformed back to Leon. Yusuke's eyes bulged out, because what the fuck, wasn't Reborn about to shoot him before, but Reborn already turned his attention back to the fight. Tsuna was winning, easily.
Without knowing what else to do, Yusuke mimicked Reborn and brought his attention back to the fight, except he couldn't concentrate beyond noting the fact that Tsuna was winning. True nervousness was wiggling in his stomach, reminiscent of - nothing, Yusuke realized with a shock. Since when was the last time he was nervous about anything? - , as he waited for Reborn to do something. Surely, surely Reborn wouldn't let this go so easily. Yusuke had a feeling that he was the vindictive type, so there was no way Reborn wouldn't retribute in some way. So Yusuke waited. And waited. And waited, constantly on the edge for longer than he had ever remembered in recent memory, but Reborn did nothing. He was ignoring Yusuke completely like he wasn't there, like he didn't exist, and it pissed Yusuke off as much as it made him –
– finally realize that that was exactly what Reborn wanted.
Their deal was for them to fight if Yusuke didn't involve himself with Mukuro. There was no point of Reborn threatening Yusuke with violence, was there, when that was actually the prize for complying? A prize that Yusuke was no longer eligible for, because he broke the terms.
Yusuke couldn't stop the wail-like noise that escaped from him when it finally dawned on him, except even that embarrassing noise didn't make Reborn turn towards him. Leon flicked his tongue out at him, almost sympathetically, but turned away when Yusuke sent him a pleading look for help.
On your own, buddy, Leon seemed to be saying. Or maybe Yusuke was just projecting his own subconscious feelings onto the chameleon. Even his own subconscious didn't want to help Yusuke. He was so screwed.
Yusuke awkwardly cleared his throat.
Reborn ignored him.
"So, nice weather we're having today?" Yusuke said, going for cheery.
Reborn didn't even cast a glance in his direction.
Yusuke awkwardly scratched his head, quickly running out of ideas.
A shot rang out in Kokuyo Land.
Yusuke startled, limbs instinctively falling into a fighting stance, even as he was certain Reborn got sick of his attempts at reconciliation and shot him. He looked down at Reborn, only to find surprise – as surprised as the hitman will ever would be – on his face. Yusuke followed Reborn's gaze to the sight of Tsuna's flame abruptly going out, leaving the teenager to stare down, completely horrified at the body that laid crumpled at his feet.
Snapping out of his surprise, Reborn hurried forward and Yusuke made a move to follow, taking Reborn's action as a sign that he should also be able to move closer to observe without … whatever torture Reborn might decide to inflict on him next.
'Kufufufufufu.'
Yusuke's head snapped up, eyes focusing at the ruined side of the building where Tsuna was currently hovering over Mukuro's still body. He recognized that laugh.
Yusuke moved forward, cautious as he went towards Mukuro's body to confirm his suspicion. His movement was as smooth as a machine, easily moving one foot after another. It didn't require much thinking to move until he heading towards Tsuna from his blind spot, until he was close enough to hear Tsuna babbled frightenedly, "He was like, 'So even rabbits have fangs, huh,' and smiled. I – I don't know what was going through my mind, not really, because I was just so angry." Closer, he could see that Tsuna was wringing his arm and ah, that won't do. He needed that body. "I thought he would just admit defeat, but then he took out a gun and shot himself."
Yusuke's arm extended out, reminiscence of Mukuro's pose to summon his trident, and –
'Get the fuck out of my head,' Yusuke snarled, and pushed his energy throughout his body. Discomfort rouse within him at the sudden displacement of his energy, but when it settled again, Mukuro's influence was gone from his head.
Yusuke immediately consciously brought up energy to mentally block his mind from influence. He could sense Mukuro's presence hanging around, frustrated when he tried to enter his mind but couldn't.
"He hurt Yamamoto and everyone, but I didn't want him dead!" Tsuna exclaimed, completely freaking out. He turned to his tutor, near hysterical now. "Reborn, what should I do?!"
Yusuke briefly wondered if he should tell them that Mukuro just tried to possess him, but he didn't think Reborn would appreciate that. Besides, even if that might reassure Tsuna that maybe Mukuro wasn't all dead yet, out of his body wasn't exactly alive either.
'Go back to your damn body,' Yusuke hissed at Mukuro when he continued to buzz around his head.
'I need to possess at least one person after leaving my own body,' Mukuro replied, daring to make the fakest sad sound he ever heard when Yusuke mentally batted at him for attempting to enter more than the surface of his mind that he allowed him for conversation. 'If you would much oblige.'
'So you can' – Yusuke swiped briefly back at Mukuro's mind and it couldn't be helped that he caught a bit of his thoughts since Mukuro's whole soul was literally there – 'possess him?' He paused for a moment, shuffling through the half-thoughts that he snagged, before continuing, 'And fuck, of course it was the stupid wound you gave me with your trident. Of. Course.'
Mukuro sneered. 'Well, you're taking this all to stride.'
'Having a friend that specialize in the mind does that to you,' Yusuke deadpanned, and then offered a piece of memory of Hiei, his Hiei, to justify his reaction.
'… A third eye, mind control, sword that will turn any humans into demons,' Mukuro noted with amusement. 'Doesn't that sound familiar?'
'… I give you an inch and you take a fucking mile, don't you?' Yusuke replied, rubbing at his head. He should have known better than to share anything, really. If Yusuke can swipe from Mukuro, of course Mukuro could take more than Yusuke intended to show as well.
And he just happened to accidentally tell Mukuro that demons were real.
Mukuro was about to reply, when he abruptly hissed, 'Stop him!'
Yusuke inwardly winced at the high volume Mukuro shouted in his head, before finally focusing on the scene in front of him. Tsuna had a flame lit on his forehead again, only this time his flame was back to a pure orange, glowing light and warmth. Reborn was watching Yusuke with a suspicious look, but turned away just when Yusuke was about to speak.
He wondered if Reborn knew.
"Please, please, come back," Tsuna uttered sincerely, kneeling beside Mukuro's still body. "Reborn said you shot yourself with a possession bullet. I'll cleanse its effect with my flames, so please… just don't be dead."
'Stop -!'
Tsuna pressed his forehead, along with the gentle flame, against Mukuro's forehead, and Mukuro screamed. It took Yusuke everything to not clench onto his head and hold on for dear life, and he couldn't help but wonder how that was supposed to bring Mukuro back.
For a long while, the only thing that Yusuke was aware of was the ringing of his ears from Mukuro's screams as he was sucked back into his body, and the sight of the pulsing flame between Tsuna and Mukuro where they pressed forehead to forehead.
When Tsuna surfaced from what Yusuke thought as quite the intimate gesture, the flame on his forehead was extinguished and there were tears rimming his eyes. Yusuke wondered if Tsuna also saw some of Mukuro's thoughts or memory, then wondered what did he see to elicit this type of reaction.
"Tsuna," Reborn prompted, his voice surprisingly soft.
Tsuna blinked and the tears that were previous on the edge of his eyes fell down his cheeks. He didn't seem to be able to look away from Mukuro, who didn't seem to be waking. "He was experimented on by his own family," Tsuna said, making no move to wipe his tears as he finally, finally looked away and towards Reborn. "How can anyone do that?!"
For a moment, Yusuke thought Reborn wasn't going to reply. Yusuke wouldn't be able to answer either, not with Tsuna looking so lost and disheartened. At last, Reborn said, his voice still soft, "The Mafia is a cruel world, Tsuna."
"Well, it shouldn't be!" Tsuna exclaimed, and he was young, so painfully young with his ideals of justice and his inability to accept how the world actually was against his belief of how it should be. "I – !"
Chains shot out from the darkness, and both Reborn and Yusuke fought to hold still as they wrapped around Mukuro and pulled. Tsuna let out a cry as Mukuro's body was dragged away.
"Wait!" he exclaimed, quickly standing up only to collapse back down the second he put weight onto his legs.
Reborn and Yusuke caught him, and their eyes met very briefly as they slowly lowered him against the ground.
The chains pulling Mukuro away paused upon hearing Tsuna's cry, before the chain started rattling in reverse, the end of the chain heading towards them instead of away. A figure draped in black appeared into the light. "Young Vongola, what it is that you want? Vendice have fulfilled its part of the bargain, and you, yours."
Bargain? Tsuna looked like he wanted to ask, but chose to address the more pressing matters at hand instead. "What are you doing with Mukuro?" he asked as he struggled to sit upright, but failed. His face scrunched up with pain like every muscles in his body was aching. They probably were. Summoning the flame for usage took a toll on the body, and Yusuke knew Tsuna did it at least twice already.
"Return him to Vendicare for trial," the Vendice answered clinically, his voice not inviting further conversation.
Tsuna didn't notice as he argued, "But it's not their fault! They were experimented and were pushed –"
"The Vendice is aware of that and has overlook their actions when they took out the Estraneo Famiglia. However, their subsequent action of destroying other mafia families unrelated to their experimentation cannot be excused or justified. They acted recklessly and exposed the Mafia to those who should have remained ignorant, thus disturbing the delicate balance the Vendice exist to preserve." Upon its last sentence, some annoyance seemed to have entered the Vendice's voice before it reverted back to being indifferent. "Mukuro Rokudo, along with his companions, have much to answer for."
"But – "
Reborn jumped onto Tsuna's shoulder, nearly unbalancing the teenager with the sudden weight. "That's enough, Tsuna. Even the Mafia has laws that it must follow."
Tsuna turned to look at his mentor, the look on his face nearly betrayed for Reborn siding against him, and the Vendice took the moment to slide away. It started to do so, but then turned back to Yusuke after a slight pause.
"You," the Vendice said, its voice near inflectionless. Yusuke couldn't help but think it sounded oddly familiar in a far-off away. "The Vendice don't know why you are here, but tread carefully. We're watching you. We know you don't belong."
Yusuke froze at those words. You don't belong, it said. We know.
By the time Yusuke could think of a reply, the Vendice was gone and like that, the Kokuyo Incident that occurred in the peaceful town of Namimori officially came to a close.
So finally, the Kokuyo arc officially comes to an end. This won't be the last you see of Mukuro, and everything that is revealed here will be explained later on in the future. Please look forward to it =^^=
Anyway, thank you lovely Aori-chan for helping me with the beta-ing. It's very fun editing with you. Also, thank you lovely readers for reading and staying with me thus far. I love sharing my writing with you.
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With that said, once again, thank you for reading! I should be able to update again in August.