[Fic] Windshear [Part 31/?]
I spent the whole of last week at home, and this week the people around me are getting sick. Seems staying home was definitely a good idea, for everyone's sake, what with the pig flu going around - heee, my co-workers say I may be immune now ^^; but be careful guys! *public service announcement wut o_O;*
Enjoy~ ♥
Windshear Part [31/?]
Authors: kagayachou and evocates
Characters/Pairings: Yamamoto, Hibari, Tsuna, Reborn, Byakuran, Mukuro, Lambo, Spanner, Giannini, Kyoko. Implied Mukuro/Byakuran. Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5201
Summary: Hibari and Tsuna find Byakuran and Mukuro at last... but what are the Vongola actually up against?
Without another word, Tsuna sacrificed his ear piece, handing it over to safely remove himself from between Hibari and Yamamoto.
Hibari took the earpiece fluidly and hooked it onto his ear.
Reborn watched him before he smirked slightly, shaking his head. This would be amusing, but he had no time for this - after all, Squalo was only fighting one Wreath, Xanxus another, and Bel the third. There were still three more to deal with.
He turned around and started walking down the staircase.
And Tsuna followed, for a couple of steps at least, as if to give Hibari some privacy. He had a spare headset, of course. He pulled a small case out of his pocket and slipped the earpiece on.
"Reborn..." Despite the serious look in his eyes, he smiled slightly. "Thanks."
A hand still wrapped around the railing, Reborn stopped, turning back to face Tsuna fully. "Ch'," he said dismissively, jerking his head to the side as if shaking away the thanks like it was an annoying fly.
Then he continued walking down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Hibari was deathly silent as Yamamoto explained that he was, "Haha, taking operator duty. I'm safe. Back at the nearest base... And Lambo's here, so I won't over-extend myself..."
He wondered if he was going to have Gokudera, Squalo and Hibari out for his blood after this.
As Hibari suddenly focused his glare at the Vongola Tenth, it seemed that Tsuna would have at least his Cloud Guardian after his blood in the very least. Tsuna winced a little, but he was already used to that, really. Maybe.
"Yamamoto Takeshi," Hibari cut the idiot off before he could babble on, tone cold and voice hard.
Yamamoto shut up immediately, his mouth closing with a sharp click. There was a pause, the tension heavy and taut between their breaths, before Hibari spoke again.
"You're not allowed to get any more injured. You're not allowed to die," he snapped out.
At length, Yamamoto sighed, his voice quivering on the edge of a smile. "I'm just resting while working from home, Hibari. The one who's been getting more injured here is you... But you're all right now, right? Sasagawa-sempai..."
"Hn," Hibari shrugged to himself. "Those herbivores will not kill me." If the injury was not immediately fatal, it could be easily ignored and he could continue fighting. He wasn't as weak as to let such little things get in his way, after all.
"The King of Rats might have sent men to the base," Hibari said crisply; a warning that he would usually not give. But Yamamoto was his, and that made all the difference.
"Haha, we know," Yamamoto chimed. "Don't worry - Tsuna's put Lambo on the job for that. I'll be resting and watching you all from the sidelines 'til I absolutely can't," he chuckled, then decided to repay the warning in kind. "You're surrounded right now."
Hibari snorted. Obviously, he didn't think very much about Lambo's skills in fighting. But he let the matter pass without further comment, his eyes scanning the area. "They are below. Don't bother about it." A pause, then he half-growled, half-sigh. It was a strange little mixed sound, full of mostly exasperation and confusion. "If you are injured again, Yamamoto Takeshi, I will bite you to death."
There was a ghost of a sound on the other end, not quite voiced, but Yamamoto had laughed. And he was probably smiling when he finally replied. "This is bad. I already have people out for my blood because I got hurt in the first place."
Hibari's reply came immediate, sharp and fast and almost threatening, "Who."
"Gokudera. Squalo," Yamamoto simply answered. "But they're always like that." Gokudera was going to make him rewrite that report with Mukuro's involvement among other things. Squalo was going to kill him. Slowly. Or try to anyway.
Yamamoto didn't think he'd really mind being bitten to death by Hibari though...
"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right?"
"Hn," Hibari replied, eyes narrowing. A moment passed, then he reached up to his communicator and snapped it off, tossing it towards Tsuna before turning around and continuing up the stairs. His footsteps were stronger and heavier than before, and there was a dangerous light in his eyes.
"Whoa!" Tsuna barely caught the headset in his palms. He opened his mouth, about to flat out tell Hibari to keep it with him, but thought better of it. Sighing instead, he put the unused headset back in the empty case he'd taken out before, then continued up the stairs after Hibari.
***
"Mu. Ku. Ro. Kun~"
Byakuran stepped around him lightly, almost hovering as if he was high on something. "It's time. And Hibari-kun's brought a guest I'm sure you'd love to see," he smiled brightly, half-bowing and holding a hand out to the reclined man. "Shall we?"
Mukuro's eyes blinked open, focusing on Byakuran's hand before traveling to rest on his face. His lips curved into a small smile and he nodded, lifting a hand and placing it in Byakuran's, allowing him to be pulled up and close to the other man.
"Let's go, Byakuran-san," he murmured.
"Ah..." For a moment, Byakuran held him like they might begin a waltz. There was such life in those violet eyes unlike before when dark shadows hid his thoughts. Rather, his eyes were bright. Too bright to read. "How are you feeling now? Can you walk or shall I carry you?"
There was a flash of something undefinable in Mukuro's eyes for the briefest of moments before he masked it with a small smile. He did not try to push away from Byakuran's tight embrace. "You're very kind," he said, smile widening as he looked into those too-bright eyes, carefully hooding his own. "But I can walk by myself." After all, their destination was just outside that white door.
Byakuran nodded then, quickly, and backed away to let him stand on his own. He took one last look at the plants all around the room, and sighed heavily, though it did not seem to affect his oddly upbeat mood. The ones that had not wilted yet, seemed to shrink into themselves before his very eyes, heavier leaves dropping then, into dry soil, and crumbling to ash.
Mukuro watched all of this with impassive eyes, standing there straight and stiff like a sentinel, or perhaps a doll. Then, he closed his eyes for a long moment. "Byakuran-san?" he called out.
"Hm?" Byakuran took his eyes away from the plants, and his gaze strayed over to his playmate's weapon by the wall. "Yes, Mukuro-kun?" He picked up the trident, and looked over his shoulder at the other man.
Mukuro's smile widened even further, until it morphed into a smirk. He took a step forward, back straight and feet steady, until he was just in front of Byakuran. He blinked-
And his red eye shifted to six.
Alarm. Betrayal. Cold, cruel anger made Byakuran tighten his grip and swing Mukuro's trident around, but...
He barely took a half step towards him before his vision blurred. He staggered.
"Mu-Mukuro... -kun..."
Byakuran couldn't remember a time when he'd been pierced by that trident in his hands; it was the first time he touched it.
His trident isn't supposed to work that way... is it?
"Kufufufu..." Mukuro laughed, low and soft and sinister.
Like a puppet with his strings, he closed his eyes and let his body drop to the floor.
He straightened then, in Byakuran's body, gave a great stretch and yawn like he had just gotten up in the morning, and kissed his trident before he bent down to pick up his own corpse.
He placed it right outside the door, arranging the limbs artfully to make it seem as if he was only sleeping. Then, he leaned against the door and waited for Hibari to come.
The rightful owner of Byakuran's body stirred restlessly, trying to push him out, but Mukuro's ire was colder, calmer, pinning the man's spirit beneath his own with pernicious pillars of icy spikes.
Playing with each other had been fine - part of the point of their game. But Chrome and Ken and Chikusa were off limits, and Byakuran should have known. Mukuro had never seen fit to introduce them after all, despite how intimate the two of them had become throughout the years.
As he waited, Mukuro detached the top of his trident, and leaned the staff across his corpse's lap. He twirled the sai in Byakuran's hands, and marveled at them - at the man's quick reflexes.
There were the burns... but Byakuran had made a very good recovery.
There was suddenly the sound of footsteps; slow, measure, smooth. Almost ominous, in fact, as it drew nearer and nearer. Mukuro only smirked slightly as he straightened back up, attaching the sai back onto the staff. He tapped the ground with it.
An invitation.
One that Hibari did not need and did not appreciate. The man appeared at the top of the stairs - a flash of black hair and dark, glaring eyes before Hibari was moving, rushing forward with tonfas drawn. Mukuro smirked to himself in response, spreading his feet on the ground as he blocked the blow from the tonfa with the trident.
"Oh~h," he remarked, tilting his head to the side. It was a little gesture that was so characteristic to Rokudo Mukuro that it almost had his name emblazoned on it. "You are here early, Hibari-kun. Where is Tsunayoshi-"
"Be quiet," Hibari merely snapped, drawing his tonfa back to attack again.
Mukuro laughed at the typical response he received. He shifted his weight to let the tonfa slide along the length of his trident and ducked down, darting past.
"Hibari Kyouya: the definition of the one track mind," he teased, but he abandoned the fight as soon as he spotted the one he had been waiting for. Jumping out of the Cloud guardian's immediate range, Mukuro crossed the arena to stop in front of the Vongola Tenth.
"Long time no see, Tsunayoshi-kun..."
Tsuna raised his eyes to meet those violet ones, his hands clenched at his side and lips pressed flat with unhappiness. He knew, in an instant, that despite the body, despite the similar look in this man's eyes, that he was not Byakuran. That he was someone who was far more familiar to Tsuna himself.
"Mukuro..."
Hibari's eyes snapped towards Tsuna for a moment. Of course, he had realized that there was something not right about this 'Byakuran' - he stood differently and moved differently; little things that a predator like him noticed immediately. So- this wasn't the King of Rats that he was hunting for.
It didn't matter.
Hibari drew back a tonfa and charged in again.
Mukuro smiled at Tsuna, nodding. "The one and only..."
He disappeared just as the tonfa should have connected to his back; he had sidestepped.
"A favor, Hibari-kun," Mukuro whispered by his fellow guardian's ear.
Hibari immediately shoved a tonfa between Mukuro's ribs, turning around to glare at the other man. "You have five seconds," he intoned, and dug the metal in deeper.
It took a bit of will power, but Mukuro shoved all the pain into 'does not exist for me, since it's not my body,' and smiled while Tsuna winced.
"I'm staying in here for as long as it takes for you to kill him," Mukuro pointed at Byakuran's body as he spoke. "But when you do, I'll need you to bring my body back to my dear Chrome."
He turned to Tsuna. "She is being rescued?"
"Of course," Tsuna nodded immediately. He should have known that Mukuro's first priority would be Chrome - he had always cared so much about her, even when he hid it beneath teasing and indifference. "Gokudera was sent after all three of them. I'm sure that he would have already rescued them, if he's not still in the process of it."
"Thank you, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Hibari ignored the entire conversation going on. His tonfa moved up from Byakuran's ribs to press against the hollow of the throat, shoving the tip against the skin slightly. "Get out of that body, Rokudo Mukuro. Byakuran is mine to kill."
I'm helping you kill him, not killing him for you, Mukuro thought of answering, but he could already predict Hibari's I don't need your help. Which, while understandable, was a dreadful waste of time. Especially when the person they were discussing was still fighting to regain control.
"Byakuran," Mukuro's smile turned thin, "belongs to me."
The words bought him a mental reprieve, with the soul inside at once flattered and indignant and downright confused.
Slowly, Hibari turned around and pressed the tonfa a little further against Byakuran's throat. His smile was wide and dangerous, death written at the edges and he spoke, "No."
At the side, Tsuna had enough of only watching. He blinked and stepped forward, his hands flaring up with his characteristic orange flames as he came between them. "Enough, Hibari-san, Mukuro. We are not here to fight each other." He turned to Mukuro, narrowing his eyes slightly. "How long can you keep him captive like this?"
"Not long," Mukuro answered. "He's been collecting the dying will energy of... his dying men," he shrugged. "I'm letting you kill him, Hibari-kun." The number in his red eye shifted to two as he looked towards Hibari, and a hand wrapped in orange flame curled around the end of the tonfa. "What are you in disagreement with?"
Hibari simply looked at him for a long, silent moment. Tension hung between the both of them like a thin, taut string, fragile enough to be broken by a single moment or perhaps even an errant breath. Then- Hibari's eyes narrowed for a moment.
He took a step back away from Byakuran's flames, shaking out his tonfa as if cleaning out the dirt, "I don't need your help."
"...Heh... Hahahahaha!"
The man in the white suit stepped back from the others, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "And you thought he wouldn't say that otherwise," he said in a chiding tone.
"Aw~" He seemed to answer himself, "I underestimated Hibari-kun's one track mind."
Without a second thought, Hibari rushed forward, tonfa drawn back. He slammed the tip of one tonfa against Byakuran's ribs, or tried to, with his face entirely impassive. He was prepared to step back and attack again regardless of whether the first hit was deflected. Which it was.
In the brief moment where Hibari's answer had taken Mukuro off guard, Byakuran had wrenched himself from the mental binds, only to feel the real, very familiar steel tonfas coming at him again.
He spun around with Mukuro's trident, but Hibari still grazed the side of his uniform, and Byakuran's ribs protested from the earlier blow that Mukuro had ignored.
Meanwhile, the devious illusionist was laughing in his head, his voice like a siren's. Even as he fought back, Sky flame making the trident flare orange, Byakuran felt like he was being pulled under water over and over by that voice, while he was supposed to be pushing Mukuro out of his head. But it wasn't quite working, because Hibari was on a roll.
However, if he allowed Mukuro to control his body again, you'd be the death of me, would you, Mukuro-kun?
Tsuna stood at the side, shoulders tense and orange flames flaring in his hands as he watched Hibari and Byakuran battle each other again. His toes were curling in his shoes to stop himself to leaping forward into the fray - this was Hibari's, and Mukuro's, fight, and his Guardians would not appreciate him jumping in to steal their prey.
So all he could do now was watch, and wait until they needed his help.
Which they certainly seemed not to. Hibari was holding himself up well against Byakuran- or was it Mukuro now? That eye was flashing red and violet repeatedly, as if the two of them were battling over the control of his body. Hibari's opponent's movements were jerky and erratic, barely competent as he blocked the Cloud Guardian's blows again and again.
This was getting frustrating. Hibari pursed his lips, and violet flames exploded outwards from his tonfas, nearly swallowing him whole as he dived forward once more.
***
Lambo excused himself to use the washroom when the sounds of fighting burning drowning laughing screaming dying went on for far longer than he could tolerate. As he splashed cold water over his face, he reflected that Yamamoto hadn't seemed affected at all. The older man even managed to take catnaps in between, like he was used to the chaos.
And when Lambo thought hard enough about it himself, he realized that he had probably been part of the chaos making when he was about five - except at that time, he had yet to understand the concept of death as a permanent state, no thanks to Reborn.
Suddenly, he snapped his head to the right, gasping softly under his breath when he noticed strange shadows appearing at the windows. He whirled around, his heart thumping faster as adrenaline filled his veins, running towards the window and looked down.
Men. Dressed in black suits with black glasses, holding guns and surrounding the mansion. Lambo's heart leapt up to his throat, and he swallowed nervously, hands clenching around the sill. They were just around the mansion, he told himself- no. No, he was wrong.
A sudden crack, and they had scaled the wall, climbing in. He gasped again to himself, tearing his eyes away from the sight and running towards the control room where Yamamoto was.
Yamamoto was on his feet when Lambo rushed in, but he was also in video conference with Spanner and Giannini.
"Someone has to be in the control room," Yamamoto reasoned, "and you're still working with Gokudera, right?"
"Yamamoto-kun's right, Spanner," the head mechanic nodded earnestly in agreement. "You can take your laptop over to continue working on what you're doing with Gokudera-san. Leave the security of the headquarters to me!"
With an amused smirk, Yamamoto cleared his throat.
"And the Guardians of the Vongola!" Giannini quickly added.
"Yamamoto-nii!" Lambo blurted out, leaning against the doorframe and panting slightly. His curly hair hung in his eyes a little, and he brushed it back in an impatient gesture as he stumbled over to Yamamoto.
"There are a lot of people surrounding the mansion and they just managed to get pass the gates!" He bit his lip, clearly nervous and agitated. "They're invading the base!"
"Yeah," Yamamoto nodded. "I'm planning on getting something from the weapons room, Lambo. Do you have your weapons on you or do you need to get back to your room first?"
There it was again, that natural conversational tone, like the weather is beautiful and world is at peace, and the Shigure Kintoki is a regular baseball bat. Lambo blinked, momentarily a little lost. But it soothed him somewhat. Enough to think again. He was a Guardian for heaven's sake. "I'm armed," he nodded back. "But the big guns are in my room."
"All right," Yamamoto turned back to the screen, taping his headset as he spoke. "Keep us informed." He closed the video conference and handed Lambo the headset the boy had earlier removed.
"Spanner will take care of Tsuna and the others. Let's head for the weapons room, since it's closest, and then we'll go to yours."
Lambo nodded immediately, falling into step with Yamamoto easily as they started towards the weapons room. "Umm... Yamamoto-nii, where do you think that they could be headed right now?"
Yamamoto didn't slow down at all, striding with long steps towards their destination. He trusted Lambo enough to know that the kid would be able to catch up with him. "The control room, if they can find it, or Tsuna's office." Then, all of the sudden, he turned to Lambo.
"Sasagawa-san!"
***
She was waiting in Tsuna's office. Sticking close to the Vongola Guardians in the control room might have been safer, but Kyoko knew that she would only be a distraction, especially to her fiancé - and her older brother.
The office was dark, quiet. The leather seat smelled a little bit like Tsuna, and the photos on the table made her smile. There was one, what seemed like a timeless moment, between Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto. The three were sitting around somewhere having bento for lunch. Or rather, two of them were having a friendly tug-of-war for Tsuna's attention, and Yamamoto was actually winning Gokudera's.
In another photo frame, there was Kyoko herself, with Haru, Bianchi, I-Pin... and Chrome. It was an all-ladies shot with everyone in fancy evening gowns. Tsuna's hands had been shaking at the time. That photo had probably been his forth - no, his fifth try. Yes, because Bianchi was threatening him with a faceful of poison cooking by then, and Chrome was actually laughing.
Ryohei and Lambo were in the third photo. They were running away from Hibari and death by tonfa because they had been fighting in his back garden, and ruining his peace. Kyoko remembered her brother's extreme re-enactment; the only thing that had saved them then was Hibird's singing. The song was something that it had picked up from Dino Cavallone - something Hibari had not approved of.
Kyoko giggled to herself. She could easily picture her Tsu-kun smiling as well when he looked at those photos after a long day of desk work.
Then suddenly she heard something - soft taps along the ground, echoing slightly. Kyoko gasped to herself, shrinking away from the door instinctively before she slapped herself mentally. She wasn't a timid little wife who couldn't do anything on her own! Tsuna and her brother and everyone else might want to protect her, and she was willing to be protected, but... they were busy, weren't they? She wouldn't want to bother them, especially when this battle was so important.
Let's see... she ran her hands over the red wood of the desk, traveling down to the drawers. She pulled open the last drawer, removing everything from it to place them on the ground. Tsu-kun really has too many things, she thought to herself, giggling silently, nearly hysterical.
Exhale. Come on, Kyoko, she scolded herself. You can do this.
She hooked her fingernails beneath the corners of the false bottom, lifting it up and off. And - there it was - Tsuna's spare gun, safely hidden along with two more bullet cartridges. She had noticed him fiddling with his desk once before, and had been curious enough to check it out- and found this. It actually confirmed what she knew about her fiancé's 'business.'
The sounds outside were getting nearer and louder; feet shuffling, quiet thumps.
Slowly, gently, as if handling a feral, dangerous animal, Kyoko lifted the gun up and weighed it in her hands, then placed it back onto the floor. Steeling herself, she slipped the two extra cartridges inside her pockets before putting everything back into its place. She stood up, picking up the gun again and aiming it at the door, her grip tightening as she tried not to shake in nervousness and perhaps fear.
She clicked the safety back, and waited in the darkness. Let it be Lambo or Yamamoto. Let it be someone who's supposed to be on the base.
Someone edged the door open, slowly, almost soundlessly, and Kyoko prepared herself to fire. But there was a cry then, and a series of gunshots from outside the door. Someone slumped down against it, pushing the door ajar as he fell. There was a curse. The man was bleeding.
Another man cried out, but his voice was cut off quickly. Kyoko held her breath as more men in black suits ran past the door. Any one of them might be able to look inside and see her, she thought, but they were too busy running away from something, so busy they were actually abandoning their wounded as well.
Kyoko bit down even harder on her lip as she kept her gun aimed towards the door, her hand shaking slightly from both the strain and the fear. The door was slowly opening, and there were footsteps getting closer. Slow footsteps, walking at an almost leisurely pace...
She gulped, and held her finger against the trigger. She had never fired a gun before, and she doubted that she would even manage to hit the target - but still, she had to try.
Then the door opened completely, and Yamamoto walked in.
Eyes drawn to the wounded man, who tried to crawl back as he approached, Yamamoto didn't see Kyoko at first. But his eyes were sharp, and his sword was drawn. There was no blood on the blade yet, however...
"That looks pretty bad," Yamamoto said in Italian. "You could get that treated."
The man only clutched his leg harder and growled, "What do you want, Vongola?"
Yamamoto smiled, and it was nothing like the happy-go-lucky expression Kyoko had come to recognize. It was dark, and cold, like his voice when he answered, "Funny. Who sent you?"
Kyoko watched this with her heart in her throat. At the sight of Yamamoto like this, she backed away, holding on even tighter to the gun even though she didn't press onto the trigger. It was terrifying to see the usually gentle and friendly man smile like this, so full of knives and a thirst for blood that she wondered if it was truly Yamamoto or had he swapped personalities with Hibari. She had never imagined - much less seen - Yamamoto like this.
Perhaps this was what being in the mafia really meant. She knew, of course, about it in the abstract: the blood, the violence, the killings, the cruelty. But to have it shoved into her face like this... she shivered slightly.
Then, she all of the sudden realized that she had backed up so much she hit the wall, knocking the air out of her own lungs and dropping the gun, sending it clattering over the floor. Immediately, she ducked downwards, scrabbling for it and keeping her eyes to the ground, trying to hide the fear and nervousness that nearly overcame her.
Yamamoto frowned, and closed his eyes momentarily, relying on his other senses as he reached to the side and flicked on the light.
The man on the floor groaned. There had been no warning and his vision needed some readjustment. It was then, while he winced from the light, that Yamamoto knocked him out and quickly patted him down for weapons after a quick glance around the room.
A shotgun, two clips. A handgun bearing the same crest as the one on the man's signet ring.
"Giannini-san, I need information on a Mecacci family, and... I've found Sasagawa-san."
Finally, Yamamoto allowed himself a sigh of relief. Sasagawa Kyoko's location was secured. She was frightened, no doubt, still shivering slightly beside the table, but she was as safe as she could be, given the situation.
As he walked over to the young woman, he spoke gently. "Sasagawa-san, are you all right?" After a silent pause, he knelt. "You're not harmed?"
Kyoko stared at him, a little uncomprehending and very much still afraid. That sharpness in his eyes was gone, replaced with his customary warmth and gentleness, true, but she knew now that it was only masked; that Yamamoto was so very much capable of that deadliness and violence.
Yet... yet, did it matter? After all, Yamamoto was still Yamamoto - he had not changed at all. He might be dangerous, but... But Kyoko had always known that, hadn't she? She had always suspected that, at least.
Taking a slow, deep breath, she tried to smile, and barely succeeded in giving him a small, tremulous smile.
"Yamamoto-kun... I'm all right," came out in a whisper before she cleared her throat. "Thank you."
He shook his head and looked down, suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. He couldn't help but find it funny - a short bark of a laugh came out when he spied the handgun on the floor beside her.
"Sasagawa-san, you... know how to use a gun?"
Immediately, Kyoko shook her head so hard that she almost saw stars. She was biting down on a lip, her hands clenched on the hem of her shirt and shoulders hunched upwards and tensed as she looked at Yamamoto.
She was afraid.
Of course, she was trying not to be because this was ridiculous, to be afraid of Yamamoto of all people, but everything that had happened so far was such a shock. To speculate about all this violence and blood was a completely different ball game than to actually experience it, and Kyoko knew that this time she was in over her head. That if Yamamoto and - presumably - Lambo hadn't come along, she would most likely be dead.
But she wasn't. Because as far as she was concerned, Yamamoto had saved her.
Kyoko took another long, deep breath. "I don't know how to use a gun," she said, and was so proud that her voice only trembled slightly. With a deliberate care, she relaxed her hands and shoulders, letting her arms hang loose at her side. "... Thank you, Yamamoto-kun."
This time, Yamamoto wasn't entirely sure what she was thanking him for. Just that she was probably a little traumatized. The fact that Kyoko had enough sense to arm herself was slightly reassuring, but if she didn’t know how to use her weapon of choice, she was still in danger.
"Haha..." With a characteristically friendly and upbeat smile, Yamamoto said, "you can thank me later! I need to get you out of here first."
He looked at the handgun beside her again, and picked it up. "Tsuna probably won't ever want you to use this," he began as he clicked the safety back on. Idly, he thanked his lucky stars that nothing painful happened when she had dropped it. "But..." he held the gun back out towards her, apologetic. "It might be a good idea to hold onto this. Just for a bit longer."
Slowly, Kyoko nodded, reaching out to close her hand around the cold metal of the gun. She held it close, gripping it so tight that her knuckles turned white before she forced herself to relax with a deep breath.
"All right," she smiled, turning away from him. Her eyes caught a glance of the photographs on Tsuna's desk, and her breath caught in her throat. She had to be strong, she reminded herself. She had to be brave. Compared to what Tsuna, Ryohei and the others had to be going through, this was nothing !
Straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, Kyoko's lips pressed into a flat line as she met Yamamoto's eyes again. She nodded shortly. Her fingers trembled slightly, traitorously, but she steeled them too, and clutched the gun to her chest as she carefully stood.
Back: Part 30
Next: Part 32
Enjoy~ ♥
Windshear Part [31/?]
Authors: kagayachou and evocates
Characters/Pairings: Yamamoto, Hibari, Tsuna, Reborn, Byakuran, Mukuro, Lambo, Spanner, Giannini, Kyoko. Implied Mukuro/Byakuran. Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5201
Summary: Hibari and Tsuna find Byakuran and Mukuro at last... but what are the Vongola actually up against?
Without another word, Tsuna sacrificed his ear piece, handing it over to safely remove himself from between Hibari and Yamamoto.
Hibari took the earpiece fluidly and hooked it onto his ear.
Reborn watched him before he smirked slightly, shaking his head. This would be amusing, but he had no time for this - after all, Squalo was only fighting one Wreath, Xanxus another, and Bel the third. There were still three more to deal with.
He turned around and started walking down the staircase.
And Tsuna followed, for a couple of steps at least, as if to give Hibari some privacy. He had a spare headset, of course. He pulled a small case out of his pocket and slipped the earpiece on.
"Reborn..." Despite the serious look in his eyes, he smiled slightly. "Thanks."
A hand still wrapped around the railing, Reborn stopped, turning back to face Tsuna fully. "Ch'," he said dismissively, jerking his head to the side as if shaking away the thanks like it was an annoying fly.
Then he continued walking down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Hibari was deathly silent as Yamamoto explained that he was, "Haha, taking operator duty. I'm safe. Back at the nearest base... And Lambo's here, so I won't over-extend myself..."
He wondered if he was going to have Gokudera, Squalo and Hibari out for his blood after this.
As Hibari suddenly focused his glare at the Vongola Tenth, it seemed that Tsuna would have at least his Cloud Guardian after his blood in the very least. Tsuna winced a little, but he was already used to that, really. Maybe.
"Yamamoto Takeshi," Hibari cut the idiot off before he could babble on, tone cold and voice hard.
Yamamoto shut up immediately, his mouth closing with a sharp click. There was a pause, the tension heavy and taut between their breaths, before Hibari spoke again.
"You're not allowed to get any more injured. You're not allowed to die," he snapped out.
At length, Yamamoto sighed, his voice quivering on the edge of a smile. "I'm just resting while working from home, Hibari. The one who's been getting more injured here is you... But you're all right now, right? Sasagawa-sempai..."
"Hn," Hibari shrugged to himself. "Those herbivores will not kill me." If the injury was not immediately fatal, it could be easily ignored and he could continue fighting. He wasn't as weak as to let such little things get in his way, after all.
"The King of Rats might have sent men to the base," Hibari said crisply; a warning that he would usually not give. But Yamamoto was his, and that made all the difference.
"Haha, we know," Yamamoto chimed. "Don't worry - Tsuna's put Lambo on the job for that. I'll be resting and watching you all from the sidelines 'til I absolutely can't," he chuckled, then decided to repay the warning in kind. "You're surrounded right now."
Hibari snorted. Obviously, he didn't think very much about Lambo's skills in fighting. But he let the matter pass without further comment, his eyes scanning the area. "They are below. Don't bother about it." A pause, then he half-growled, half-sigh. It was a strange little mixed sound, full of mostly exasperation and confusion. "If you are injured again, Yamamoto Takeshi, I will bite you to death."
There was a ghost of a sound on the other end, not quite voiced, but Yamamoto had laughed. And he was probably smiling when he finally replied. "This is bad. I already have people out for my blood because I got hurt in the first place."
Hibari's reply came immediate, sharp and fast and almost threatening, "Who."
"Gokudera. Squalo," Yamamoto simply answered. "But they're always like that." Gokudera was going to make him rewrite that report with Mukuro's involvement among other things. Squalo was going to kill him. Slowly. Or try to anyway.
Yamamoto didn't think he'd really mind being bitten to death by Hibari though...
"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right?"
"Hn," Hibari replied, eyes narrowing. A moment passed, then he reached up to his communicator and snapped it off, tossing it towards Tsuna before turning around and continuing up the stairs. His footsteps were stronger and heavier than before, and there was a dangerous light in his eyes.
"Whoa!" Tsuna barely caught the headset in his palms. He opened his mouth, about to flat out tell Hibari to keep it with him, but thought better of it. Sighing instead, he put the unused headset back in the empty case he'd taken out before, then continued up the stairs after Hibari.
***
"Mu. Ku. Ro. Kun~"
Byakuran stepped around him lightly, almost hovering as if he was high on something. "It's time. And Hibari-kun's brought a guest I'm sure you'd love to see," he smiled brightly, half-bowing and holding a hand out to the reclined man. "Shall we?"
Mukuro's eyes blinked open, focusing on Byakuran's hand before traveling to rest on his face. His lips curved into a small smile and he nodded, lifting a hand and placing it in Byakuran's, allowing him to be pulled up and close to the other man.
"Let's go, Byakuran-san," he murmured.
"Ah..." For a moment, Byakuran held him like they might begin a waltz. There was such life in those violet eyes unlike before when dark shadows hid his thoughts. Rather, his eyes were bright. Too bright to read. "How are you feeling now? Can you walk or shall I carry you?"
There was a flash of something undefinable in Mukuro's eyes for the briefest of moments before he masked it with a small smile. He did not try to push away from Byakuran's tight embrace. "You're very kind," he said, smile widening as he looked into those too-bright eyes, carefully hooding his own. "But I can walk by myself." After all, their destination was just outside that white door.
Byakuran nodded then, quickly, and backed away to let him stand on his own. He took one last look at the plants all around the room, and sighed heavily, though it did not seem to affect his oddly upbeat mood. The ones that had not wilted yet, seemed to shrink into themselves before his very eyes, heavier leaves dropping then, into dry soil, and crumbling to ash.
Mukuro watched all of this with impassive eyes, standing there straight and stiff like a sentinel, or perhaps a doll. Then, he closed his eyes for a long moment. "Byakuran-san?" he called out.
"Hm?" Byakuran took his eyes away from the plants, and his gaze strayed over to his playmate's weapon by the wall. "Yes, Mukuro-kun?" He picked up the trident, and looked over his shoulder at the other man.
Mukuro's smile widened even further, until it morphed into a smirk. He took a step forward, back straight and feet steady, until he was just in front of Byakuran. He blinked-
And his red eye shifted to six.
Alarm. Betrayal. Cold, cruel anger made Byakuran tighten his grip and swing Mukuro's trident around, but...
He barely took a half step towards him before his vision blurred. He staggered.
"Mu-Mukuro... -kun..."
Byakuran couldn't remember a time when he'd been pierced by that trident in his hands; it was the first time he touched it.
His trident isn't supposed to work that way... is it?
"Kufufufu..." Mukuro laughed, low and soft and sinister.
Like a puppet with his strings, he closed his eyes and let his body drop to the floor.
He straightened then, in Byakuran's body, gave a great stretch and yawn like he had just gotten up in the morning, and kissed his trident before he bent down to pick up his own corpse.
He placed it right outside the door, arranging the limbs artfully to make it seem as if he was only sleeping. Then, he leaned against the door and waited for Hibari to come.
The rightful owner of Byakuran's body stirred restlessly, trying to push him out, but Mukuro's ire was colder, calmer, pinning the man's spirit beneath his own with pernicious pillars of icy spikes.
Playing with each other had been fine - part of the point of their game. But Chrome and Ken and Chikusa were off limits, and Byakuran should have known. Mukuro had never seen fit to introduce them after all, despite how intimate the two of them had become throughout the years.
As he waited, Mukuro detached the top of his trident, and leaned the staff across his corpse's lap. He twirled the sai in Byakuran's hands, and marveled at them - at the man's quick reflexes.
There were the burns... but Byakuran had made a very good recovery.
There was suddenly the sound of footsteps; slow, measure, smooth. Almost ominous, in fact, as it drew nearer and nearer. Mukuro only smirked slightly as he straightened back up, attaching the sai back onto the staff. He tapped the ground with it.
An invitation.
One that Hibari did not need and did not appreciate. The man appeared at the top of the stairs - a flash of black hair and dark, glaring eyes before Hibari was moving, rushing forward with tonfas drawn. Mukuro smirked to himself in response, spreading his feet on the ground as he blocked the blow from the tonfa with the trident.
"Oh~h," he remarked, tilting his head to the side. It was a little gesture that was so characteristic to Rokudo Mukuro that it almost had his name emblazoned on it. "You are here early, Hibari-kun. Where is Tsunayoshi-"
"Be quiet," Hibari merely snapped, drawing his tonfa back to attack again.
Mukuro laughed at the typical response he received. He shifted his weight to let the tonfa slide along the length of his trident and ducked down, darting past.
"Hibari Kyouya: the definition of the one track mind," he teased, but he abandoned the fight as soon as he spotted the one he had been waiting for. Jumping out of the Cloud guardian's immediate range, Mukuro crossed the arena to stop in front of the Vongola Tenth.
"Long time no see, Tsunayoshi-kun..."
Tsuna raised his eyes to meet those violet ones, his hands clenched at his side and lips pressed flat with unhappiness. He knew, in an instant, that despite the body, despite the similar look in this man's eyes, that he was not Byakuran. That he was someone who was far more familiar to Tsuna himself.
"Mukuro..."
Hibari's eyes snapped towards Tsuna for a moment. Of course, he had realized that there was something not right about this 'Byakuran' - he stood differently and moved differently; little things that a predator like him noticed immediately. So- this wasn't the King of Rats that he was hunting for.
It didn't matter.
Hibari drew back a tonfa and charged in again.
Mukuro smiled at Tsuna, nodding. "The one and only..."
He disappeared just as the tonfa should have connected to his back; he had sidestepped.
"A favor, Hibari-kun," Mukuro whispered by his fellow guardian's ear.
Hibari immediately shoved a tonfa between Mukuro's ribs, turning around to glare at the other man. "You have five seconds," he intoned, and dug the metal in deeper.
It took a bit of will power, but Mukuro shoved all the pain into 'does not exist for me, since it's not my body,' and smiled while Tsuna winced.
"I'm staying in here for as long as it takes for you to kill him," Mukuro pointed at Byakuran's body as he spoke. "But when you do, I'll need you to bring my body back to my dear Chrome."
He turned to Tsuna. "She is being rescued?"
"Of course," Tsuna nodded immediately. He should have known that Mukuro's first priority would be Chrome - he had always cared so much about her, even when he hid it beneath teasing and indifference. "Gokudera was sent after all three of them. I'm sure that he would have already rescued them, if he's not still in the process of it."
"Thank you, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Hibari ignored the entire conversation going on. His tonfa moved up from Byakuran's ribs to press against the hollow of the throat, shoving the tip against the skin slightly. "Get out of that body, Rokudo Mukuro. Byakuran is mine to kill."
I'm helping you kill him, not killing him for you, Mukuro thought of answering, but he could already predict Hibari's I don't need your help. Which, while understandable, was a dreadful waste of time. Especially when the person they were discussing was still fighting to regain control.
"Byakuran," Mukuro's smile turned thin, "belongs to me."
The words bought him a mental reprieve, with the soul inside at once flattered and indignant and downright confused.
Slowly, Hibari turned around and pressed the tonfa a little further against Byakuran's throat. His smile was wide and dangerous, death written at the edges and he spoke, "No."
At the side, Tsuna had enough of only watching. He blinked and stepped forward, his hands flaring up with his characteristic orange flames as he came between them. "Enough, Hibari-san, Mukuro. We are not here to fight each other." He turned to Mukuro, narrowing his eyes slightly. "How long can you keep him captive like this?"
"Not long," Mukuro answered. "He's been collecting the dying will energy of... his dying men," he shrugged. "I'm letting you kill him, Hibari-kun." The number in his red eye shifted to two as he looked towards Hibari, and a hand wrapped in orange flame curled around the end of the tonfa. "What are you in disagreement with?"
Hibari simply looked at him for a long, silent moment. Tension hung between the both of them like a thin, taut string, fragile enough to be broken by a single moment or perhaps even an errant breath. Then- Hibari's eyes narrowed for a moment.
He took a step back away from Byakuran's flames, shaking out his tonfa as if cleaning out the dirt, "I don't need your help."
"...Heh... Hahahahaha!"
The man in the white suit stepped back from the others, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "And you thought he wouldn't say that otherwise," he said in a chiding tone.
"Aw~" He seemed to answer himself, "I underestimated Hibari-kun's one track mind."
Without a second thought, Hibari rushed forward, tonfa drawn back. He slammed the tip of one tonfa against Byakuran's ribs, or tried to, with his face entirely impassive. He was prepared to step back and attack again regardless of whether the first hit was deflected. Which it was.
In the brief moment where Hibari's answer had taken Mukuro off guard, Byakuran had wrenched himself from the mental binds, only to feel the real, very familiar steel tonfas coming at him again.
He spun around with Mukuro's trident, but Hibari still grazed the side of his uniform, and Byakuran's ribs protested from the earlier blow that Mukuro had ignored.
Meanwhile, the devious illusionist was laughing in his head, his voice like a siren's. Even as he fought back, Sky flame making the trident flare orange, Byakuran felt like he was being pulled under water over and over by that voice, while he was supposed to be pushing Mukuro out of his head. But it wasn't quite working, because Hibari was on a roll.
However, if he allowed Mukuro to control his body again, you'd be the death of me, would you, Mukuro-kun?
Tsuna stood at the side, shoulders tense and orange flames flaring in his hands as he watched Hibari and Byakuran battle each other again. His toes were curling in his shoes to stop himself to leaping forward into the fray - this was Hibari's, and Mukuro's, fight, and his Guardians would not appreciate him jumping in to steal their prey.
So all he could do now was watch, and wait until they needed his help.
Which they certainly seemed not to. Hibari was holding himself up well against Byakuran- or was it Mukuro now? That eye was flashing red and violet repeatedly, as if the two of them were battling over the control of his body. Hibari's opponent's movements were jerky and erratic, barely competent as he blocked the Cloud Guardian's blows again and again.
This was getting frustrating. Hibari pursed his lips, and violet flames exploded outwards from his tonfas, nearly swallowing him whole as he dived forward once more.
***
Lambo excused himself to use the washroom when the sounds of fighting burning drowning laughing screaming dying went on for far longer than he could tolerate. As he splashed cold water over his face, he reflected that Yamamoto hadn't seemed affected at all. The older man even managed to take catnaps in between, like he was used to the chaos.
And when Lambo thought hard enough about it himself, he realized that he had probably been part of the chaos making when he was about five - except at that time, he had yet to understand the concept of death as a permanent state, no thanks to Reborn.
Suddenly, he snapped his head to the right, gasping softly under his breath when he noticed strange shadows appearing at the windows. He whirled around, his heart thumping faster as adrenaline filled his veins, running towards the window and looked down.
Men. Dressed in black suits with black glasses, holding guns and surrounding the mansion. Lambo's heart leapt up to his throat, and he swallowed nervously, hands clenching around the sill. They were just around the mansion, he told himself- no. No, he was wrong.
A sudden crack, and they had scaled the wall, climbing in. He gasped again to himself, tearing his eyes away from the sight and running towards the control room where Yamamoto was.
Yamamoto was on his feet when Lambo rushed in, but he was also in video conference with Spanner and Giannini.
"Someone has to be in the control room," Yamamoto reasoned, "and you're still working with Gokudera, right?"
"Yamamoto-kun's right, Spanner," the head mechanic nodded earnestly in agreement. "You can take your laptop over to continue working on what you're doing with Gokudera-san. Leave the security of the headquarters to me!"
With an amused smirk, Yamamoto cleared his throat.
"And the Guardians of the Vongola!" Giannini quickly added.
"Yamamoto-nii!" Lambo blurted out, leaning against the doorframe and panting slightly. His curly hair hung in his eyes a little, and he brushed it back in an impatient gesture as he stumbled over to Yamamoto.
"There are a lot of people surrounding the mansion and they just managed to get pass the gates!" He bit his lip, clearly nervous and agitated. "They're invading the base!"
"Yeah," Yamamoto nodded. "I'm planning on getting something from the weapons room, Lambo. Do you have your weapons on you or do you need to get back to your room first?"
There it was again, that natural conversational tone, like the weather is beautiful and world is at peace, and the Shigure Kintoki is a regular baseball bat. Lambo blinked, momentarily a little lost. But it soothed him somewhat. Enough to think again. He was a Guardian for heaven's sake. "I'm armed," he nodded back. "But the big guns are in my room."
"All right," Yamamoto turned back to the screen, taping his headset as he spoke. "Keep us informed." He closed the video conference and handed Lambo the headset the boy had earlier removed.
"Spanner will take care of Tsuna and the others. Let's head for the weapons room, since it's closest, and then we'll go to yours."
Lambo nodded immediately, falling into step with Yamamoto easily as they started towards the weapons room. "Umm... Yamamoto-nii, where do you think that they could be headed right now?"
Yamamoto didn't slow down at all, striding with long steps towards their destination. He trusted Lambo enough to know that the kid would be able to catch up with him. "The control room, if they can find it, or Tsuna's office." Then, all of the sudden, he turned to Lambo.
"Sasagawa-san!"
***
She was waiting in Tsuna's office. Sticking close to the Vongola Guardians in the control room might have been safer, but Kyoko knew that she would only be a distraction, especially to her fiancé - and her older brother.
The office was dark, quiet. The leather seat smelled a little bit like Tsuna, and the photos on the table made her smile. There was one, what seemed like a timeless moment, between Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto. The three were sitting around somewhere having bento for lunch. Or rather, two of them were having a friendly tug-of-war for Tsuna's attention, and Yamamoto was actually winning Gokudera's.
In another photo frame, there was Kyoko herself, with Haru, Bianchi, I-Pin... and Chrome. It was an all-ladies shot with everyone in fancy evening gowns. Tsuna's hands had been shaking at the time. That photo had probably been his forth - no, his fifth try. Yes, because Bianchi was threatening him with a faceful of poison cooking by then, and Chrome was actually laughing.
Ryohei and Lambo were in the third photo. They were running away from Hibari and death by tonfa because they had been fighting in his back garden, and ruining his peace. Kyoko remembered her brother's extreme re-enactment; the only thing that had saved them then was Hibird's singing. The song was something that it had picked up from Dino Cavallone - something Hibari had not approved of.
Kyoko giggled to herself. She could easily picture her Tsu-kun smiling as well when he looked at those photos after a long day of desk work.
Then suddenly she heard something - soft taps along the ground, echoing slightly. Kyoko gasped to herself, shrinking away from the door instinctively before she slapped herself mentally. She wasn't a timid little wife who couldn't do anything on her own! Tsuna and her brother and everyone else might want to protect her, and she was willing to be protected, but... they were busy, weren't they? She wouldn't want to bother them, especially when this battle was so important.
Let's see... she ran her hands over the red wood of the desk, traveling down to the drawers. She pulled open the last drawer, removing everything from it to place them on the ground. Tsu-kun really has too many things, she thought to herself, giggling silently, nearly hysterical.
Exhale. Come on, Kyoko, she scolded herself. You can do this.
She hooked her fingernails beneath the corners of the false bottom, lifting it up and off. And - there it was - Tsuna's spare gun, safely hidden along with two more bullet cartridges. She had noticed him fiddling with his desk once before, and had been curious enough to check it out- and found this. It actually confirmed what she knew about her fiancé's 'business.'
The sounds outside were getting nearer and louder; feet shuffling, quiet thumps.
Slowly, gently, as if handling a feral, dangerous animal, Kyoko lifted the gun up and weighed it in her hands, then placed it back onto the floor. Steeling herself, she slipped the two extra cartridges inside her pockets before putting everything back into its place. She stood up, picking up the gun again and aiming it at the door, her grip tightening as she tried not to shake in nervousness and perhaps fear.
She clicked the safety back, and waited in the darkness. Let it be Lambo or Yamamoto. Let it be someone who's supposed to be on the base.
Someone edged the door open, slowly, almost soundlessly, and Kyoko prepared herself to fire. But there was a cry then, and a series of gunshots from outside the door. Someone slumped down against it, pushing the door ajar as he fell. There was a curse. The man was bleeding.
Another man cried out, but his voice was cut off quickly. Kyoko held her breath as more men in black suits ran past the door. Any one of them might be able to look inside and see her, she thought, but they were too busy running away from something, so busy they were actually abandoning their wounded as well.
Kyoko bit down even harder on her lip as she kept her gun aimed towards the door, her hand shaking slightly from both the strain and the fear. The door was slowly opening, and there were footsteps getting closer. Slow footsteps, walking at an almost leisurely pace...
She gulped, and held her finger against the trigger. She had never fired a gun before, and she doubted that she would even manage to hit the target - but still, she had to try.
Then the door opened completely, and Yamamoto walked in.
Eyes drawn to the wounded man, who tried to crawl back as he approached, Yamamoto didn't see Kyoko at first. But his eyes were sharp, and his sword was drawn. There was no blood on the blade yet, however...
"That looks pretty bad," Yamamoto said in Italian. "You could get that treated."
The man only clutched his leg harder and growled, "What do you want, Vongola?"
Yamamoto smiled, and it was nothing like the happy-go-lucky expression Kyoko had come to recognize. It was dark, and cold, like his voice when he answered, "Funny. Who sent you?"
Kyoko watched this with her heart in her throat. At the sight of Yamamoto like this, she backed away, holding on even tighter to the gun even though she didn't press onto the trigger. It was terrifying to see the usually gentle and friendly man smile like this, so full of knives and a thirst for blood that she wondered if it was truly Yamamoto or had he swapped personalities with Hibari. She had never imagined - much less seen - Yamamoto like this.
Perhaps this was what being in the mafia really meant. She knew, of course, about it in the abstract: the blood, the violence, the killings, the cruelty. But to have it shoved into her face like this... she shivered slightly.
Then, she all of the sudden realized that she had backed up so much she hit the wall, knocking the air out of her own lungs and dropping the gun, sending it clattering over the floor. Immediately, she ducked downwards, scrabbling for it and keeping her eyes to the ground, trying to hide the fear and nervousness that nearly overcame her.
Yamamoto frowned, and closed his eyes momentarily, relying on his other senses as he reached to the side and flicked on the light.
The man on the floor groaned. There had been no warning and his vision needed some readjustment. It was then, while he winced from the light, that Yamamoto knocked him out and quickly patted him down for weapons after a quick glance around the room.
A shotgun, two clips. A handgun bearing the same crest as the one on the man's signet ring.
"Giannini-san, I need information on a Mecacci family, and... I've found Sasagawa-san."
Finally, Yamamoto allowed himself a sigh of relief. Sasagawa Kyoko's location was secured. She was frightened, no doubt, still shivering slightly beside the table, but she was as safe as she could be, given the situation.
As he walked over to the young woman, he spoke gently. "Sasagawa-san, are you all right?" After a silent pause, he knelt. "You're not harmed?"
Kyoko stared at him, a little uncomprehending and very much still afraid. That sharpness in his eyes was gone, replaced with his customary warmth and gentleness, true, but she knew now that it was only masked; that Yamamoto was so very much capable of that deadliness and violence.
Yet... yet, did it matter? After all, Yamamoto was still Yamamoto - he had not changed at all. He might be dangerous, but... But Kyoko had always known that, hadn't she? She had always suspected that, at least.
Taking a slow, deep breath, she tried to smile, and barely succeeded in giving him a small, tremulous smile.
"Yamamoto-kun... I'm all right," came out in a whisper before she cleared her throat. "Thank you."
He shook his head and looked down, suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. He couldn't help but find it funny - a short bark of a laugh came out when he spied the handgun on the floor beside her.
"Sasagawa-san, you... know how to use a gun?"
Immediately, Kyoko shook her head so hard that she almost saw stars. She was biting down on a lip, her hands clenched on the hem of her shirt and shoulders hunched upwards and tensed as she looked at Yamamoto.
She was afraid.
Of course, she was trying not to be because this was ridiculous, to be afraid of Yamamoto of all people, but everything that had happened so far was such a shock. To speculate about all this violence and blood was a completely different ball game than to actually experience it, and Kyoko knew that this time she was in over her head. That if Yamamoto and - presumably - Lambo hadn't come along, she would most likely be dead.
But she wasn't. Because as far as she was concerned, Yamamoto had saved her.
Kyoko took another long, deep breath. "I don't know how to use a gun," she said, and was so proud that her voice only trembled slightly. With a deliberate care, she relaxed her hands and shoulders, letting her arms hang loose at her side. "... Thank you, Yamamoto-kun."
This time, Yamamoto wasn't entirely sure what she was thanking him for. Just that she was probably a little traumatized. The fact that Kyoko had enough sense to arm herself was slightly reassuring, but if she didn’t know how to use her weapon of choice, she was still in danger.
"Haha..." With a characteristically friendly and upbeat smile, Yamamoto said, "you can thank me later! I need to get you out of here first."
He looked at the handgun beside her again, and picked it up. "Tsuna probably won't ever want you to use this," he began as he clicked the safety back on. Idly, he thanked his lucky stars that nothing painful happened when she had dropped it. "But..." he held the gun back out towards her, apologetic. "It might be a good idea to hold onto this. Just for a bit longer."
Slowly, Kyoko nodded, reaching out to close her hand around the cold metal of the gun. She held it close, gripping it so tight that her knuckles turned white before she forced herself to relax with a deep breath.
"All right," she smiled, turning away from him. Her eyes caught a glance of the photographs on Tsuna's desk, and her breath caught in her throat. She had to be strong, she reminded herself. She had to be brave. Compared to what Tsuna, Ryohei and the others had to be going through, this was nothing !
Straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, Kyoko's lips pressed into a flat line as she met Yamamoto's eyes again. She nodded shortly. Her fingers trembled slightly, traitorously, but she steeled them too, and clutched the gun to her chest as she carefully stood.
Back: Part 30
Next: Part 32