TAGS: POV Third Person Limited
Canon-Typical Violence
Light Angst (like blink and you'll miss it type of angst lol), Fluff and Humor, Bonding, Developing Friendships, Slice of Life
Adult Arcobaleno, No Arcobaleno Curse, Sassy Sawada Tsunayoshi
WARNING: Not Beta Read
Reborn taps his foot against the body securely wrapped in the carpet, then rests his foot on top of it. He smirks, satisfied with a job well-done.
"You're such a terrible person."
Reborn whirls on his feet, pointing his gun in front of him, his finger on the trigger. Big and wide brown eyes look back at him, and almost at the same time, Reborn shoots.
The bullet goes right through him.
The bullet only goes right through him, without leaving a hole in the middle of his forehead behind, let alone blood.
The boy shrieks, so high-pitched, he might actually be a girl. His expression funnily catches between shock, fear and indignation. "Did you just try to kill me? I'm just a kid!"
Reborn imperceptibly tenses, keeping his eyes on him but listening for any noise. Is that boy trying to wake up the whole apartment? Can't he see Reborn's trying to discreetly get away with murder? "How should I have known that?"
"Liar! You looked me straight in the eye!"
"I didn't know your age was supposed to be written in your eyes."
Is he twelve? Fourteen? He can't be more than fifteen at most.
Reborn shoots him again, aiming at his heart this time.
The boy gaps, his jaw just about dropping to the floor, wide-eyed again.
Reborn's lips twitch up despite himself. Those are some entertaining expressions he's able to make.
"You—" he splutters once his shock wears off, and this time it's pure indignation that takes over his face "—are you serious—would you stop trying to kill me already? I'm a ghost, I'm already dead anyway!"
Reborn takes note of the information, dismisses it, but then brings it back to the forefront of his mind from where he flied it away in a corner the second he got a look at the boy.
Reborn's too smart and rational a man to believe in things like ghosts.
But Reborn's also too smart and rational a man to not believe in things he can see right in front of him with his own two eyes.
They're in the dark, but he's able to see the boy clearly because of the white glow to him. Reborn can see through him too as he's literally transparent, and his bullets went through him like air, like smoke, his body dispersing before putting itself back together again. The night's still as quiet as before despite the fact he's been shouting, and, of course, the boy's flying.
All evidences indicate the boy to be a ghost only him can hear, and likely only him can see too.
How interesting.
"Whose ghost are you?"
The boy glances down behind him before looking at him again. "No, I'm not the ghost of the person you just killed."
Reborn restrains himself from rolling his eyes. He doesn't say? That's why he's asking him, isn't it?
His thoughts must still show on his face somehow, because the boy turns embarrassed, crossing his arms on his chest and scowling. "What? Why should I tell you anything when you're still pointing your gun at me?"
Reborn wants to shoot him again for his cheekiness, and to maybe get another funny reaction out of him.
He decides against it. He needs to pick up his bullets and disappear from the crime scene along with the body.
Back at one of his safe houses, the boy sits on his knees in front of him, his hands on his lap. He doesn't look like much, looks average in every way, with brown eyes and brown hair, and a small and lean body. He looks Asian, Japanese he'd guess, if only because he's in Japan right now, wearing what he's sure is a school uniform.
The boy frowns. "Why do I have to sit like this as if I did something wrong?"
"You've been spying on me."
He winces. "I haven't been spying on you," he says, but stays on his knees anyway, letting Reborn loom over him from the armchair. "I'm a ghost, who could I even—" He blinks. "Wait, you could tell?"
So that was him, and not just his paranoia acting up too much and for too long. Good to know.
"Why can I only see you now?"
"I don't know."
"Why have you been…" an amused smile pulls at his lips "...haunting me?"
"I'm not haunting you! Or spying on you. And I've never intruded on you privacy either, just to be clear."
"So what have you been doing?"
He falters, looking down. "When I woke up… like this, you were standing there with bodies at your feet."
Reborn raises his eyebrow. "I didn't kill you."
"Yeah, I guess you might not have. I—" he poorly holds back another wince "—my body wasn't there." That's right. Reborn can't say he can remember all his kills from memory alone, but he's only been feeling eyes on him since about two months ago. For how average and forgettable the boy looks, he'd still definitely remember him if he had killed him within that time span. "But I don't remember anything except for my name, and I figured it could mean something that I appeared next to you." He shrugs. "I didn't know what else to do."
"And your name is?"
"Tsuna."
Reborn props his elbow on the armrest, leaning his head against his hand. "So you're dead and this is… what, what happens after death? Is that what I'm supposed to make of this? That the afterlife is just you roaming on the Earth as a ghost?"
"No, I don't think so. I haven't seen any other ghost but me so far."
"Are you in some kind of purgatory or something then?"
He shrugs again. "I don't know. But what do you care?" he asks, giving him a nasty and accusing look. "You were going to kill me even if you weren't sent to kill anyone else but that lady."
"What good would it do me to leave witnesses alive?"
"See? You're going straight to hell no matter what."
"I certainly would hope so, considering how hard I'm working for it." He smirks wider at Tsuna's outraged look. "I noticed you're not passing through the floor."
"Oh, yeah. Except for people, I can 'touch' things if I want to, even if I still don't really feel them." He touches the low table next to him to demonstrate. "But my default state is still to go right through stuff." He passes through the floor then, stopping once Reborn can only see him from his chest up.
Reborn straightens in his chair, his curiosity piqued. "What else can you do? Any of the other fun ghost things? Telekinesis? Strong winds? Changing the temperature?"
"Yeah, I can do telekinesis."
He flies up from the floor to stand on his feet, then picks up his coffee cup on the table and shows it to him proudly.
A beat of silence passes, during which a widening shit-eating grin appears on Tsuna's lips.
"You're just holding it," Reborn deadpans. "'Touching' it."
"What? If you couldn't see me, you'd think I was using telekinesis right now. And maybe that's how all ghosts use telekinesis, for all anyone knows."
"Do I look like I find it funny?"
He does, but if he's going to be haunted by a ghost, he can't have it be more cheeky than himself.
Tsuna snickers. "So what? I'm already dead anyway."
Reborn slowly uncrosses his legs, resting his arms on the armrests and leaning away from the back of the chair.
Tsuna's grins falters, but then he raises his eyebrows, lifting his chin up.
Reborn leans forwards even more, leaning on the armrests to stand.
Tsuna hurriedly kneels again, putting down his cup on the table. "I'm sorry, please, don't stand up."
Reborn almost chuckles out loud, but manages to keep it silent, and smooths his face again before Tsuna can look up and see him laughing. "That's what I thought." He leans back against the chair, crossing his arms on his chest and his legs at his knees again. "What about possession?"
"What? How should I know that?"
"You never tried before?"
"Why would I have tried to possess someone? Why would I even think it's something I can do?"
"You never went through someone before? Not even on accident?"
"No way," he says, shaking his head and looking reluctant at the idea. "I've been careful not to. I always fly way above people so it won't happen."
"Oh, don't be such a bore. You're a ghost right now." He stands, smirking. "Come on, fly through me."
Reborn can't say something like "he's always been curious to know what a ghost going through him would feel like", but now the opportunity's in front of him, he is very curious to learn how it'd feel like.
Tsuna stands and steps back from him, crossing his arms in front of him and shaking his head more firmly than before. "No way, absolutely not. What if I really do possess you?"
"Even better."
"You're insane, and I'm gonna disappear right now."
Reborn narrows his eyes, taking a step forwards. "Don't you—"
Tsuna grins, letting himself fall backwards and disappearing right through the floor.
Reborn blinks. Did he really just…?
He huffs a laugh when it's clear Tsuna isn't just pulling a prank, and isn't planning to come back anytime soon.
He's entertaining if nothing else, Reborn has to give him that.
His target changes cars yet again, but this one didn't show up in his investigation of her, and so isn't bugged. Reborn smirks, amused.
Even he isn't so paranoid. Not on a daily basis like that anyway.
"Go inside their car," he tells Tsuna, who's sitting in the passenger seat. "Listen to everything they say, and make sure to remember it."
"Are you out of your mind?" Tsuna blurts out, because of course he does. "I'm not going to help you kill people!"
Reborn clicks his tongue. "You're useless then. Why are you even here if you hate killing so much? You don't think that just as long as you keep breathing down my neck, I'm eventually going to stop killing people, right?"
That'd be the funniest thing he'd do yet.
Tsuna stays silent too long, and he takes advantage of a red light to look at him.
"What?" he asks. "Don't tell me you're stuck to me or something?"
"I'm not," he says with a quiet voice, looking down. "If there's a limit for how far I can get away from you, I haven't reached it yet, but I know I can get away from you. But you're the only one who can see me and talk to me." He marks another pause, long enough they're driving again when he speaks again, "I don't like being alone."
Right. He did say he has yet to meet another ghost but himself.
Was he glad when it turned out Reborn could see him and hear him? Relieved?
Has he been happy ever since it turned out they could see and talk to each other?
Reborn glances at him, slightly frowning at the way he looks… ashamed, for some reason. And like he's bracing himself for something.
Maybe for his reaction?
"So what you're saying is that I'm the one who's stuck with you, is that it? And that all you plan to do about it is nag me about my job?"
Tsuna looks at him for a long moment before beaming. He laughs, slumping against his seat. "Well, someone has to. You clearly don't have any conscience left in you whatsoever."
"Come on, fly through me already."
"I said no, and I'll keep saying no no matter how many times you ask."
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"Literally anything, Reborn, we have no way to know!"
"We could if you weren't such a coward."
He swiftly lunges at him, aiming to be the one to go through him if he isn't willing to go through him.
Tsuna's surprised scream catches in his throat, but he still flies out of his reach in time, Reborn only brushing his fingertips against him, not enough to feel anything. He clicks his tongue.
"Reborn!" Tsuna shouts, flying at a safe distance from him. A laughs escapes his lips he's quick to hold back, but a grin still pulls at his lips. "God, you're so stubborn."
Reborn smirks, ignoring the other people on the sidewalk giving him a wide berth and looking at him like he lost his mind. "I haven't even started yet."
He won't miss the next time he lowers Tsuna's guard and makes him fly close to him again.
Reborn watches Tsuna sleeps on the couch, sitting on the armchair. He glows more brightly than he usually does, and is more transparent than he usually is too, almost like air when he usually gives the illusion of consistence somehow, of being tangible.
Apparently ghosts need to sleep too from time to time to replenish whatever energy they exist on, lest they can't even fly anymore or become invisible to even themselves.
All he's learned about ghosts, Reborn's learned it from Tsuna, and it's not because he's not been researching the subject on his side too. He's came across plenty of ghost stories, from myths, legends, folklore and religions, to superstitions and scary stories told to children, but nothing relevant to what's happening to him. He read through multiple accounts of people who supposedly experienced something similar to him too, but every time he deemed it worth investigating further, it turned out to simply be the product of their own imagination. Either that, or stories from people who couldn't prove it wasn't just that anyway, while Reborn could prove it, couldn't he?
He'd just have to make Tsuna hold a cup again, and not being able to see him like he can, only seeing a floating cup, they'd be forced to acknowledge the presence of a ghost nearby.
Or they wouldn't see any floating cup at all because maybe Tsuna is simply the product of his imagination, and doesn't actually exist.
Reborn has yet to figure out his identity, though of course he has very little to go by. Japan is no small country either, and though it's only reasonable to assume he "appeared" next to him from nearby, he could just as well have been at the other side of the country when he died. The two months time span helps narrow things down, and as soon as he pins down from which school his uniform is things should go much easier, but for now he can't say for sure if Tsuna was ever an actual existing person.
Reborn would swear he hasn't just gone insane, but that's what every insane person is ready to do, isn't it?
Tsuna said he had no conscience anymore, and though he's one to agree, maybe this is his conscience finally drawing a line by taking the form of a ghost boy to nag him about how he kills people for a living.
How amusing.
Why his conscience would take the form of a boy with too warm eyes and too bright smiles like it's anything he's ever been familiar with, he doesn't know.
Reborn groggily regains consciousness, and half expects to just die for good any second now. He told himself he had to look at his injuries first before passing out as he collapsed face down on the floor, but clearly he already had lost too much blood by then.
Reborn keeps his face perfectly still, but tries to come back to his senses faster and clearer while still pretending to be unconscious.
He's lying on his back.
He flexes his fingers, and they barely twitch, but it should be enough for him to grab his gun—
Reborn almost lets his breath falter.
He can't feel the weight of his guns anywhere on him.
"Reborn! Are you finally awake?"
Tsuna's voice is full of relief, and the tension drains away from Reborn's body.
Right. He's been living with a ghost roommate lately.
Tsuna looms over him when he opens his eyes, looking just as relieved as he sounded.
"Thank God," he says, sitting back on his knees. "I almost called the hospital."
"I'm the only one who can hear you," he says with a hoarse voice. "And don't you ever bring me to a hospital for wounds like this."
What is he going to say to them? He was shot and stabbed while trying to be the first one to shoot and stab them dead?
Wait, it would actually be a funny thing to do, wouldn't it? He should do that at least once in his life.
"I know, but what else was I supposed to do? You just fell and passed out and were bleeding so much—oh!" He offers him a bottle of water. "Here, you should drink as much as you can."
Reborn ignores it, rising on his arm with difficulty, gritting his teeth through the pain. His clothes were cut open, his wounds cleaned and bandaged. The job looks surprisingly clean and like it was done properly too, though Tsuna left a mess behind him, half the contents of his first aid-kit on the floor at his feet.
"You were a bullied kid, weren't you?"
It's one of the better options among all the ones he can think of right now anyway.
"Wha—? I don't know."
"I do."
Tsuna gaps before huffing. "You're such an asshole. You're welcome for saving your life."
Reborn slowly lies down again, smirking. He ever so slightly misses a beat at the comfortable feel of the pillow under his head. Has it been there all along? "How did you do it?"
Tsuna holds his gloved hands up, grinning proudly. "I had no idea if it'd work, but thankfully it did. Turns out I can touch people too through the objects I can touch."
"My clothes are one thing as they were already ruined, but do you know how expensive this pair of gloves was?"
Tsuna rolls his eyes. "Do you even have anything not expensive in your closet?" His expression dims, worry taking over. "Sorry, you shouldn't be talking so much right now. And you should really drink some water. Also take a shower and make sure I did a good job with your wounds."
"Don't make a big deal out of something that isn't," he says, even if his eyes feel heavy.
"Don't fall asleep! I'm gonna draw you a bath real quick, so stay awake, all right? You can sleep and rest after."
What?
"You're going to what?" he asks, but already Tsuna's flying away. "Wait—"
He rises on his elbow again, much too slow to stop him from disappearing through the bathroom's door.
He's going to what?
For whom?
Reborn can draw himself a bath. Who does he take him for? He still can move, he can drag himself to a shower despite the pain. Or to a bath if he's really so hellbent on the idea, but though it is what he prefers, when injured like he is right now, he knows to content himself with a shower.
Tsuna pops his head through the door as the water's running, and smiles when they catch each other's eye. "Good. Don't sleep. And lie down, you're hurting yourself."
He disappears back inside the bathroom.
Reborn slowly lies down, somehow feeling like it's not what he's supposed to do. He huffs a laugh. Then he laughs again, a small laugh that still makes his wounds ache, but he lets it run its natural course anyway.
The sound of the water filling the bath lulls him to sleep, but he'd hate to waste hot water like that.
Tsuna watches the body on the floor as Reborn puts away his gun, an absent look on his face.
"Aren't you going to… dispose of it?" he asks.
"Not this time. She needs to be found, she's a message. Let's go."
He doesn't move, but Reborn didn't expect him to, remaining put too.
"Do you think my body was ever found? That people know I'm dead?"
"Who knows."
"Then do you think… they'd still have buried me anyway? That there's people missing me right now? Grieving me? Mourning me?"
Reborn tilts the brim of his fedora down, hiding his eyes from sight. "Who knows. We need to go, Tsuna."
"Do you think I was killed or I just died?"
Reborn's jaw ticks before he forcefully relaxes it again. "Does it matter?"
Tsuna marks a long pause before speaking, "Yeah, Reborn." Reborn slightly tilts his fedora up again, and there's really a smile on Tsuna's lips. "I think it would to the people who'd care to know."
Reborn purses his lips, looking at his many files scattered on the floor in front of him, not one of them with any valuable or usable information whatsoever.
Who is Tsuna?
It certainly seems to be the million dollar question.
Tsuna might not be his actual name, but he doubts it, though he's been taking into account it might actually be a nickname or something else of the sort. His school uniform has still to give him a lead, though he has no doubt it's bound to eventually, but he's been looking elsewhere in the meantime.
He's been looking into graveyards, into the news and police reports, looking for reports or investigations of crimes or fatal accidents. For any cases of disappearances too, in case Tsuna isn't actually dead at all but is still a ghost somehow, and he's been looking into hospitals as well for the same reason.
He has yet to find anything, and he doesn't much like the idea it might be because no one cared to take note of Tsuna's death or disappearance in any way whatsoever.
He strongly doubts it's the case, having been living with Tsuna for almost two months now.
Tsuna shrieks from the kitchen. "Reborn, help! Fire!" He appears halfway through the door of his room soon enough, and gives him a disbelieving look. "Why are you still sitting?" he accuses like Reborn's the one who managed to start a fire. Again. "Come quickly, there's a fire!"
He flies back to the kitchen, to no doubt make the fire worse, somehow.
Reborn smiles, rolling his eyes, but standing all the same. Tsuna thought he could just freeload on him without contributing anything to the household, but that wasn't about to happen.
He's been messing up every single chore Reborn assigns him to though, so maybe he should let it happen after all.
Reborn walks out of his room with a last glance at his files. He's left to suspect he might need to widen the scope of his researches, and start from scratch again from further earlier than only two months ago—four, now.
But if Tsuna can be the ghost of someone he killed at any time ever since he's started killing people… then Reborn really might be the one who killed him. Which'd explain why he's the one being haunted by him, though it wouldn't explain why he only started to haunt him now.
Ha. Wouldn't that be a fun conversation to have?
Reborn forcefully keeps his smile on his lips.
"Ready?" Reborn asks.
"You're just bored."
"Well, someone has been hiding my job offers from me."
Tsuna gives him an unrepentant grin, and he lets him have it, even though he couldn't possibly hope to hide anything from him within his safe houses.
They sit on the couch, each at one end of it, facing each other. Reborn pops a grape in his mouth, a bowl of grapes on his lap.
"This is for science."
Tsuna rolls his eyes. "Sure it is."
Reborn throws the next grape his way in a perfect arch towards his mouth. Tsuna opens his mouth wide, trying to angle his head just right, but despite Reborn's perfect throw, the grape goes through under his eye.
He laughs, Reborn chuckling too.
He tuts. "Can't even get something so simple right?"
"I'll do it right next time," he says, sitting straighter. "Throw me another one, come on."
Reborn eats another one first, then throws him a grape again. It looks like it really will land in Tsuna's waiting mouth this time, but Reborn throws him another one right through his eye, startling him, and the grape goes through his chin instead.
"Reborn!" he shouts before laughing. "You're wasting food. What are you even cheating for?"
"What hurtful and baseless accusations. My hand just slipped."
"You're the most ridiculous person I've ever met."
Reborn grins, laughing, and blatantly throws the next grape through his forehead.
"Reborn, wait," Tsuna says, stopping dead in his tracks.
Reborn doesn't, raising his eyebrow at him, though he does slow down and more carefully assesses their surroundings.
He doesn't notice anything amiss, or anyone for that matter, more cars than people at this hour of the night. Not that threats can't come from cars too, of course.
"What is it? It's late, and I want to go home."
"Just wait here for a bit, please."
He flies ahead of him in a hurry, and this time Reborn stops walking, curious. He leans against the vitrine of the shop next to him, waiting for him.
When Tsuna comes back, he looks more alarmed than when he left.
"Reborn, you can't go this way. There's people waiting for you in the back alley near the apartment complex. Dangerous-looking people."
Oh, an ambush? How nice of these people to always keep him entertained.
"How many?"
"I'm not sure, at least five. More. All armed."
Reborn snorts, leaning away from the vitrine. He certainly hopes they're armed, if they're hoping to kill him. They'll need at least that. "How did you know?"
"I don't know, I just had some kind of hunch. But where are you going?" he asks, wringing his fingers. "We're turning back, right?"
"And you went through all the trouble of checking it out simply on a hunch?" He raises his eyebrow at him, teasing. "What, does it make you anxious to be near me? You're a ghost, Tsuna, you—"
Tsuna frowns. "What? What are you talking about, Reborn? I was just worried."
Reborn frowns too. "About whom?"
"What?" Tsuna gaps, speechless, then frowns harder. "Reborn, what… Of course I was worried about you."
They hold each other's gaze, a slow smirk pulling at Reborn's lips. "Oh?"
It's not a very intelligent response, but he can't think of anything else to say.
How is he supposed to react when someone's worried about him again?
He can't remember the last time it happened to him.
"Well, you don't have to worry about a thing," he says, not turning back but continuing on the way home.
"Reborn, no! I told you—"
"They'll just come again if I don't take care of them right now, won't they? Or are you saying I won't be able to take care of them?" He looks above his shoulder, catching his eye. "You know me better than that, don't you?"
Tsuna looks extremely reluctant, biting his lip hard, but he relents anyway. "Fine. Just don't die."
Reborn smiles.
Huh. He can't remember the last time someone said that to him either.
"I didn't kill you," Reborn says at dinner.
It's out of the blue, but Tsuna just raises his eyebrows at him. "Yeah, I know? You told me already."
He sits across from him, a plate in front of him too, because it turned out he can swallow food, and have it disappear from his stomach and turn into ghost energy, whatever that means.
"What if I did kill you?"
Again, Tsuna doesn't look much disturbed by his words, merely frowning. He keeps eating, though focuses on him, looking thoughtful. He puts down his fork, that look on his face again Reborn doesn't like to see.
"Then… in the case you disposed of my body, would you go back and make sure someone finds it? Would you make sure the people I knew know of my death so they can give me a funeral and grieve me?"
Reborn doesn't even bother asking him 'That's it?'. He sighs, and yet a smile pulls at his lips all the same. "Are you trying to always be so nice instead of just being human?"
Tsuna smiles at him in earnest, shrugging. He doesn't pick his fork back up, but some levity still gets back to him. "Do you think I had friends, Reborn? Family?"
"I don't know about friends, but yes, I'm sure you just didn't spawn into existence."
Tsuna huffs, actually managing to kick the leg of his chair despite his short legs. How commendable. "You know what I mean. Do you think… I was loved?"
"I do."
Tsuna stills, widening his eyes, his mouth parting open. He slowly blinks, swallowing thickly, then blinks again as a gleam appears in his eyes.
He laughs, a soft and slightly strangled sound, then rubs his eyes. "Thank you."
Reborn feels Tsuna come closer until he presumably stops near the bed. He stays silent a long moment.
"Reborn?" he eventually whispers. "Are you sleeping?"
"I thought you didn't intrude on my privacy?"
"I knocked," he defends himself. "And you didn't answer even though you're clearly not sleeping."
Reborn smiles at the clear pout in his voice, but smooths his face as he rolls on his other side to face him. "What is it? Are you bored?"
There's only so many ways he can keep himself busy on nights he doesn't need to sleep after all, though he has yet to come to him for help on the matter.
Tsuna shakes his head. "I just… wanted to talk? Can I sit?" he asks, hesitancy and uncertainty coming out of his every pore.
"Just hurry it up. Some people need their beauty sleep on a daily basis."
Tsuna huffs a laugh, sitting at the edge of the bed. "Yeah, sorry. I was just wondering… well, I mean, you're not going to stay here forever, right? In Japan, I mean. I can tell you're not Japanese."
"How rude. Do all Japanese people have to look Japanese?"
"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean, and I know you're not Japanese."
Reborn leans his head against his hand, propped on his elbow. "So?"
"How long are you staying for?"
"Until I take care of the businesses I have here."
"Right, of course." He looks away again, hanging his head low, and sways his legs back and forth. "Um, I've been wondering—well, you know, I might not be stuck to you, but do you think I'm stuck… here? That I can't leave Japan or even just this town?" He sways his legs back and forth until he stops, and hunches over himself little by little as he worries his lip. He laughs, no doubt sounding fake to even his own ears, standing. "Sorry, that was stupid, forget it. Sorry for bothering you—"
"I said I would stay until all my businesses are taken care of."
Tsuna pauses, turning to look at him. "Eh? Yeah, I heard you…"
Reborn rolls his eyes. "Am I not the one being haunted by a ghost, Tsuna?"
"Oh," he says, clearly not understanding the meaning of his words. "Oh!" he says again once his words actually sink in. A laugh tumbles from his lips. "Right, yeah, you're—you're the one being haunted by a ghost. My ghost. I mean, me, I'm the one—" He laughs again, and keeps laughing even as he bites his lip to stop.
Reborn rolls his eyes again, but he's smiling too. He lies down on his stomach, resting his head on his crossed arms. "Besides, you're a ghost. What a scam would it be if you couldn't even go anywhere in the world you want?"
"I don't know", he says, walking closer again and kneeling at the foot of the bed. He leans his chin between his hands, his elbows on the bed. "I need to recharge my energy from time to time. What if I'm flying above the ocean when it happens?"
"Why would you go anywhere by flying above the ocean? Don't you know planes were invented a long time ago?"
"God, you just really have to have the last word every time, don't you?"
They end up talking through the night, somehow ending up sleeping on the same bed as the first rays of sunshine filter through his window.
Reborn drags himself to a dead end, and he can't help but smirk at the irony of it. How many people did he kill in this kind of dead ends and back alleys?
Turns out karma really is a bitch, huh.
"Oh no," Tsuna says, worry thick in his voice. "Hurry, Reborn, we need to find another way."
"We can only go back from here," he says, sliding down the wall to the floor.
And even if Reborn managed to take them on somehow without dying, he'd never last long enough to take care of his injuries before dying to them anyway.
"What are you doing?" Tsuna asks. "Stand up. Are you giving up?"
"Are you saying you can't see all the wounds and blood on me right now? Because I'd love to hear that right now."
"Reborn!" He bites his lip, his anger entirely lost in his worry and fear, his fists shaking at his sides. "You're not going to—" He falters, almost flinching, then shakes his head. "You're not. You're going to get out of this. You always get out of things, right? So come on, get up, they'll be here soon."
Reborn sags against the wall, trying hard to keep his breathing steady. He'd ask Tsuna to leave him, but he knows he won't.
He doesn't want him to see this.
"Right, of course. Who do you take me for? Just let me bleed to death a little first."
"Reborn!" he shouts again, kneeling next to him, his voice all desperation. "Come on, Reborn, please. You have to get up and—and win against them like you always do. And then we'll go home, and I'll take care of your injuries, and… and…"
"Don't cry," Reborn says, cupping his cheek as close as he can without actually touching him. "Why are you crying?"
"Why do you keep asking me things like that?" he says, sniffling and wiping away his tears. "Of course I'm crying because of you. What, did no one ever cry for you before?"
As a matter of fact, Reborn can't recall anyone doing it to save his life.
Well, he can vaguely remember his parents doing it when he was young, but it became clear at a very young age Reborn could take care of himself by himself, and didn't need anyone else to do it for him no matter how dire the situation. Besides, parents don't count for things like this, right?
Reborn's just about to die. Is it such a big deal?
Tsuna seems to think so, tears keeping dripping from his eyes.
The group of hitmen abruptly rounds the corner, finally catching up to them. They grin viciously at his sight.
"No!" Tsuna shouts. He stands up and puts himself between them, stretching his arms at either side of him. "Reborn, hurry! You need to leave!"
"Finally caught you," one of the hitmen says.
"Not looking so proud now, do you?" another taunts, but Reborn only has eyes for Tsuna.
He does scoff in a corner of his mind. They came at him in such big numbers, yet there's only fourth of them left, and all of them injured too. But they still think they can act like they're superior to him? Better than him?
What a joke.
"Don't!" Tsuna shouts at them like they can hear him. "Reborn, please, you have to…"
Reborn smiles at his back, at the worried and pleading look he gives him above his shoulder.
He's such a kid.
Reborn doesn't want him to see this.
The hitmen point their guns at him.
"Wait," he says casually, raising his hand. "Let me stand first."
They allow him to, the fools.
Reborn has still one bullet left, and he's sure they'll find it just as funny as him as one last one of them drops dead at the same time as him.
"Reborn…" Tsuna hesitantly stands to the side, walking nearer to him, maybe thinking he has a plan.
"Let's get this over with, Reborn."
"No," Tsuna says, not sounding like he's answering the hitman, keeping his eyes on him. Reborn tightens his hold on his gun, holding the hitmen's gazes. "No!"
The tension in the air snaps, but instead of gunshots, a bright explosion of fire fills his sight.
Tsuna lunges at him, touching him as he wraps his arms around his waist, knocking them both on the floor. Reborn feels nothing of the pain coursing through his body, keeping his eyes on the fire all around them.
Actual fire, bright orange flames burning around Tsuna and him, and washing over the back alley like waves. Scorching flames too, it seems, as they swallow the hitmen whole, barely giving them the time to scream in agony before they drop dead.
Tsuna's on fire too, flames on his forehead and on his hands, his eyes shining a bright and clear orange.
He looks breathtaking.
"I'm sorry, I—I panicked," he says, straddling him. "Are you okay?"
"Did you just try to take those bullets in my stead?" He runs his hand through his hair, marveling at the fact he can, at how soft they are like he's always suspected they would be. "Don't you ever do something so stupid again."
"Well, don't you ever be about to die on me again!"
"Did you just burn people alive?" he asks, not because he cares, but he can't possibly pass up on this opportunity, can he now? "You're such a terrible person."
Tsuna flinches, guilt and anguish twisting his features, but then he catches on his words, blinking. "Did you just…? Oh my God," he blurts out, "really? Right now? Reborn, you're impossible."
Reborn bursts out laughing. He laughs loud and hard, and laughs, and laughs.
He needs to make some time in his schedule to start looking into bringing dead people back to the realm of the living.
A/N: - Tsuna's not actually dead! He had an accident and ended up in a coma, but when the doctors advised Nana to just let him go because it was unlikely he'd ever wake up again, she instead brought him back to their home so she could keep taking care of him, and that's why Reborn doesn't find him in any hospital he looks into.
- Before he went in a coma he almost really died, but before he could he became a ghost instead. He appeared next to Reborn because he was the one with strong enough Dying Will Flames closest to him for him to anchor himself to (not that I know what this means zedfghcfg, I'm just saying words here). Because of course, the whole ghost thing is because of some DWF fuckery. Also Reborn couldn't see or hear him at first because their flames needed to first become in tune with each other.
- I guess... they're in Namimori here? You might have noticed I took care of not clarifying that fact, and it's because they also might not be in Namimori. Like, it's very likely they are, but also I can't say for sure they are lol. And mostly it's because if they were, I feel like Reborn would have had a much easier and faster job of finding out who Tsuna is, and I couldn't have that.
- On that note, realistically speaking, maybe Reborn would have had an easier and faster job of figuring out Tsuna's identity no matter what? (For example, I'm thinking that even if Nana brought him back to their home, they'd still have had records of Tsuna being admitted to the hospital for Reborn to find.) I have no clue lol, but like I said, I couldn't have that if I wanted them to bond the way I made them bond here.
And that's pretty much all I have for this AU. And this was supposed to be for the oncoming rare pair week event, but Reborn & Tsuna aren't a rare pair lol.
Anyway, this is a Reborn & Tsuna fic, so of course I immediately thought of you, Birdie. Hope you liked it. :heart emoji:
I hope you enjoyed the story. Any and all reviews are appreciated.
Thank you for reading!
- Hope