(no subject)
I figured I should at least post one fic on my LJ as evidence that I have written *something* even if it's not something good, lol. So when I complain about the way Mukuro is being a pain in the ass in the Reborn mini!bang fic, it means there actually is a fic in which Mukuro is being a bloody pain and it's not just my imagination. If that makes any sense. It may not. Because my chest still hurts and while it's better than it was two days ago, I really think I should try to cut out of school early and make it to the doctor before catching my shinkansen to Osaka tomorrow. Wouldn't do to croak at a doujinshi event.
Title: More than a Study It's obsession
Series: Kateikyo Hitman REBORN!
Pairing: Spanner x Tsuna (Sort of but not really?)
Rating: Definitely NOT R-18. I cannot write that for my life.
Notes: Written as a gift for kurot months ago when the chapter first came out with Tsuna chained up. I probably should have had it beta-ed in the long run because I think that would have made it so much better and made it worth reading but ah well. Sorry for the lack of an ending but hey, it's almost 5000 words long so that must mean something right? C'mon mini!bang... *dead*
If you asked me what it is about him that's so intriguing, I can't give you any single reason. He's baffling, and that's what draws my interest. He seems just like any ordinary teenager one moment, reacting to every little thing I do, and the next the flame that he shoots from his hands demolishes another one of my experimental robots as if it was as fragile as a house of cards.
He renders my calculations useless. I can't figure him out, and I can figure everything out.
So he's the enemy, what does that matter? That attack of his destroyed my invincible King Mosca. Of course that's going to increase his value in my eyes. The fact that the attack, the X-Burner, is still not perfected is even more valuable and exciting. The chance to see the stages and development of that attack, to see him use it with precise control and at full power... It's worth more than what the Millefiore have offered.
So he's the enemy, but that doesn't change that he's a viable specimen for study.
-------
"Not like that," Spanner says, low and thoughtful, and Tsuna's concentration scatters at the sound of the smooth voice coming through the earphone. "Your left arm should be raised another six degrees, your right one lower by two degrees. Do you want to blow yourself into the wall again?"
Tsuna sighs. He doesn't think it will help to point out that the X-Burner had been on its way to completion before Spanner had started to "train" him, and now his control is hardly better than when he first started working on the attack. He's said it before, and Spanner's reply was a smile and the words, "Your structure was wrong. It's best to work starting from the basics."
He corrects his stance, and Spanner tells him to fire the X-Burner. It's like a wild beast, straining under his control yet Tsuna can truly feel that he's beginning to tame it to his hand. He still ends up flying through the air because the balance of strength wasn't equal but at least he doesn't go slamming into the wall, which is an improvement over previous days.
The training with Spanner lasts five hours every day with an hour break after two hours for tea. Tsuna finds it weird but Spanner insists on a tea break. 'To enjoy one of the best things about Japanese culture,' is what he always says as he brews green tea. They sit at one end of a table littered with tools and gadgets, two steaming cups between them and they talk.
At first, Tsuna tries to keep his distance from Spanner. He is the enemy, after all, and who knows what he will do, even if he wants to help Tsuna perfect the X-Burner. There's no guarantee that Tsuna wouldn't mention something in the conversation that, while he thought it insignificant, would actually be quite important in the war going on between the Millefiore and the Vongola families.
But Spanner never touches upon those subjects. He asks about life in Japan and Tsuna tells him about Namimori Junior High School, thinking it a safe subject until Spanner smiles and says, with an eyebrow raised, "Gokudera and Yamamoto? Ah, the Storm and Rain Guardians. So they haven't changed much in these ten years, though I suppose they built on their history together to become one of the best teams in your family. Now I understand why they're so emotionally reliant on each other without you." That's what causes Tsuna to stop talking and rue the fact that he ever opened his mouth in the first place.
He remembers that Spanner is an analyst; he calculates down to the last possible calculation and then triple-checks just to make sure he hasn't overlooked anything. Tsuna remembers that Spanner spoke to him about the inevitability of his loss, that his power had been calculated, when he had been fighting the Mosca down in the tunnel. He wonders if Spanner is holding the fact that Tsuna proved his calculations wrong against him, because there are times when he can see a dangerous light in Spanner's eyes, an almost fanatic glint that makes Tsuna think he has to keep his guard up because the man isn't quite sane.
After that first conversation, Tsuna didn't voluntarily speak up so Spanner would just look at him with a gaze that was fervent and yet somehow distant, as if he weren't seeing Tsuna though he was sitting right in front of him, and talk about other things. How he became interested in Japan; how cool he thought the country was with its writing characters; how he had discovered green tea and his love for it; the development of robotic technology in the past several years, and how Japan was the leader in the field. Spanner's eyes are normal when they discuss such subjects, and he smirks when Tsuna comments, "Of course Japan's the leader... we've been making anime about giant robots for decades."
Spanner's eyes are anything but normal when he begins to discuss the X-Burner near the end of the breaks. His gaze never moves from Tsuna's face when he talks about how Tsuna's balance is still not perfect, that the symmetry between his right and left hands is not precise. Spanner will demonstrate and then look at Tsuna with an expression that says, See? It's not that hard. His eyes say something else entirely with their piercing directness, so serious, eyes almost glassy as if he's running a fever.
Tsuna wonders why he isn't running, trying to escape as soon as he's given his gloves and pushed into the training room while Spanner watches and advises him from an observation room. He wonders but he can't come up with an answer. Something tells him not to and he has learned to trust his instincts, even though a part of his brain is screaming in alarm.
So he sits calmly across from his captor during the break between training sessions, hands cupped around his tea, listening to the rhythmic cadence of Spanner's smooth voice. Spanner has just refilled both of their cups, and the tea is a comforting warmth against his palms.
The chains around his wrists, however, are like burning coals against his skin.
------------
Everything begins to change on the third day after Tsuna begins his training with Spanner. There's no conversation during their tea break that day, only Spanner staring intently at him and talking over Tsuna's head. Even after the second half of the day's training is over, Tsuna still feels uneasy and can't seem to escape from the heat of Spanner's gaze, as if Spanner hasn't looked away from him even once though his comments and advice today seemed off-hand, almost distracted.
The door to the training room opens with a slight whoosh of air and Tsuna looks up as he tries to catch his breath, surprised to see Spanner walk in. His hair is disheveled as if he's run his hands through it countless times in the two hours since Tsuna saw last him, and his eyes seem slightly glazed. Until Spanner's eyes land on him and then the dangerous light that Tsuna sees in them occasionally flares up like a match suddenly struck.
Spanner says something but it's so low that Tsuna can't catch it. "What?"
"It shouldn't be like this."
Tsuna looks at him, confused. "What do you mean?"
Spanner walks closer to him, slowly, and Tsuna unconsciously takes a step back. He could easily knock his captor unconscious because as far as Tsuna can tell, Spanner is just a normal human being beyond his intelligence and machines, but something prevents him from doing so.
Spanner stops several feet away and studies him. "By my calculations, you should have perfected the X-Burner by now. You were close before I started training you, and even given the time I took to fix the basic structure of the attack, you should have perfected it." He scratches at his temple, the epitome of bafflement.
"Your stance is perfect, the angles are perfect. But what you have isn't the completed X-Burner. You've reached a plateau and can't get past it." He mimics the X-Burner pose precisely, and tilts his head at Tsuna.
Tsuna almost jumps when Spanner's hands land heavily on his shoulders. "Why do you keep proving me wrong? The X-Burner is supposed to be more than what you've shown me; my calculations tell me it should be so much more."
"You're Vongola the Tenth," Spanner says, as if confirming the fact. Tsuna wonders if Spanner is even truly seeing him because his eyes look through him like's a piece of glass. "I want to know what makes you tick. Maybe then I can figure out what's keeping you from the true X-Burner."
--------------
Vongola the Tenth. Spanner has studied him quite closely over the years, basing and enhancing his Mosca off of Vongola's abilities and attacks, researching and calculating, knowing him inside and out. If there could be an expert on Vongola the Tenth, Spanner would easily volunteer himself as such an expert. He had looked forward to meeting him in person, joining Millefiore because it would give him that opportunity when the Vongola family grew suspicious and stopped recruiting new family members.
Spanner had only ever seen the man in videos and he was extremely disappointed when he learned that Vongola the Tenth had been assassinated by the Millefiore before he had been able to see him in person. He would have loved to converse with Vongola about his native country because he was sure the man would have a unique viewpoint on Japan given his current position as the boss of an Italian mafia family.
He has been given a second chance with this teenage Vongola the Tenth, this one that uses an attack that's never been recorded before and surpasses all of his calculations. Spanner was extremely lucky that Shoichi Irie of White Spell had chosen him to investigate the tunnel. He ended up obtaining the treasure of a lifetime, and that didn't only refer to the X-Burner.
Vongola the Tenth writes in the cool katakana, hiragana and kanji characters occasionally when they discuss the X-Burner. He drinks the wonderful green tea with a smile that clearly says he enjoys it, when Spanner has only had people give him weird looks because he loves the tea so much. And there's no doubt that Vongola is Japanese. He easily comments about Japan's development of robotic technology, referencing the mecha anime that Spanner has watched religiously as easily as he breathes.
Spanner hasn't had this much fun around anyone in ages; he'll admit Irie is interesting, but many of the Millefiore members are absolute bores. And there's still the completed X-Burner to look forward to. The fact that the plan he created for the X-Burner training has been dashed to pieces doesn't bother him as much as the fact that Vongola can't seem to perfect the attack. The vector created by his hands in the X-Burner attack stance has been honed to almost surgical precision and there's no trouble with power with several crumbling walls in his lab hardly standing as evidence, and yet something is holding Vongola back.
He can't figure out what it is right now but he will, because he always does. He wants to see the X-Burner in its true form, no matter what it takes. And if that means he learns more about Vongola the Tenth in the process, so much the better.
Spanner sticks another lollipop into his mouth, humming slightly as he gazes down at Vongola the Tenth sleeping curled up on a futon.
-------------
It's very hard for Tsuna to look Spanner in the eye the next day. He spent his entire night wide awake, wondering what had changed yesterday, what he had done to make Spanner act so strangely. He was aware of Spanner coming to watch him in the middle of the night, and he tried his best to pretend to be asleep. That was hard because all he wanted to do was jump up and demand to know what kind of game Spanner was playing, and what he intended to do with him.
Tsuna sighs, watching Spanner covertly as he bustles around brewing tea during break time. Spanner seems to be in a good mood, lollipop stick flicking from one side of his mouth to the other as he hums the same tune from last night. Tsuna knows he's heard it before, and he tries to focus on identifying it.
There's the clink of plates being set down and Tsuna automatically reaches out for his tea, the chain of his handcuffs clanging against the table, before he realizes that there's more than just the usual tea. A plate of sweets is next to the tea pot, filled with an assortment of small cakes and cookies that Tsuna recognizes as some of his favorites. "What's this?" he asks, looking up at Spanner.
Spanner sits there with his elbows on the table, watching Tsuna with his chin resting atop his interlocked fingers. He grins and says, "They're a present. You like these, don't you?"
Tsuna is at a loss for words and he has to look away. He doesn't understand his captor; Spanner's the enemy but he's trying to help Tsuna perfect an attack that will be used against the Millefiore family. He treats Tsuna with respect and kindness, and even if he acts eccentric at times, he's always civil. No, he's more than civil... he's friendly. He just doesn't know how to react around Spanner, Tsuna thinks with a sigh. It's getting too hard to think of him as one of the enemy, especially when he starts talking about his love for Japan the way he currently is. It's like the silence of yesterday, all of yesterday, never happened at all.
Suddenly, Tsuna recalls where he has heard the tune that Spanner hums from time to time. "Gundam."
Spanner freezes mid-sentence and the lollipop slips from his half-open mouth. Spanner catches it out of instinct and after a second, seems to pull himself together and the grin he directs at Tsuna is almost blinding in its brilliance. "Correct!" he exclaims, gesturing at Tsuna with his lollipop as if it were a pointer stick. "I was wondering if you'd recognize it and you did!"
Spanner starts talking about Japan's mecha anime and how the Gundam series had been a catalyst and revolutionized the world when it came to the development of robotic technology. Tsuna can only stare in amazement at his captor who is so excited and caught up in the subject that he's completely forgotten his tea and thinks, Spanner is an otaku. Why are all the Millefiore so weird?
-------------
Tsuna understands now what Spanner meant when he said the training had reached a plateau; he feels that he hasn't made any progress in perfecting the X-Burner at all today. If Spanner hadn't been there, Tsuna feels like he might have been satisfied with the X-Burner the way it is because it's far more under his control now than it was when he first used it against Dendro Qram. But Spanner says this isn't the true X-Burner, and Tsuna is swept up in his captor's fervor and can only push forward, wanting to see the true extent of his attack.
He can't put it into words well but Tsuna wants to show Spanner the X-Burner that he's been working towards as hard as Tsuna has. Tsuna understands that Spanner is the enemy; he chants that fact to himself several times a day but his instincts tell him that Spanner isn't someone he has to worry about. If Spanner had wanted to hurt him, he would have done so by now, and if he wanted to gain favor with the Millefiore, he would have turned Tsuna in when he had first been taken captive instead of keeping him here, hidden, training him.
"Why are you doing this?" Tsuna asks when Spanner comes to handcuff him for the night.
Spanner has been humming a new tune ever since Tsuna identified the previous one earlier that day, which he stops when Tsuna voices his question. He tilts his head at Tsuna, staring for a moment, but he doesn't pretend to be clueless about what Tsuna is asking. Spanner doesn't evade the question but his answer is the same as always. "I'm interested in you, and your X-Burner."
"That can't be all there is to it."
"Why not?" Spanner asks, curling a lock of his hair by his temple around his finger. "It's a wonderful attack. I understand the mechanics behind it but without knowing the true extent of it, I can't make my robots impervious to it. Then again, there's always the possibility that you develop a new attack that I'll have to take into account in the future, and wouldn't that just be amazing?"
Spanner's eyes are practically filled with stars at just the idea, making Tsuna shake his head. "You're a member of the Millefiore, aren't you?"
Spanner looks at Tsuna like he's an idiot for asking such an obvious question. "Of course. And you're Vongola the Tenth."
"Our families are in the middle of a war and you don't find anything wrong with this situation?" Tsuna can only stare dumbly at Spanner as he gestures between the two of them. Tsuna picks at his clothing that, despite being a small size, is so big on him that he resembles a child wearing their parent's clothes, and he looks at Spanner wearing the same thing and carrying it off with a kind of dignity. Matching clothes. Spending practically every minute for the last few days together... it's like the beginning of an eccentric newlywed's life. The very thought scares him so he pushes it out of his mind.
Tsuna reaches out towards Spanner who has started on another lollipop but the chains around his wrists prevent him from touching his captor who sits atop the head of the huge Mosca lying beside the futon. His hands stop only a couple of inches from Spanner's face, and Tsuna drops them back into his lap, the metal links clinking against each other. "Why are you doing this?" Tsuna asks again, his voice sounding uncertain even to his own ears.
Spanner purses his mouth slightly and appears to seriously think about the question this time, the thumb and index finger of his right hand whirling the lollipop around in his mouth as he looks up at the ceiling.
"I like you," Spanner says simply a few moments later, pulling the lollipop out of his mouth.
"WHAT?!" Tsuna gapes at his captor.
Spanner laughs. "I like you, Vongola the Tenth. You're an interesting person. You understand what I'm talking about when I discuss Japanese mecha animes. You're the first person to identify the theme song, did you know that? And you actually enjoy the green tea with me, instead of gulping it down as if it were bitter water like other people do."
Spanner's words were a shocker at first but now Tsuna can only think, Spanner wanted someone to be an otaku with, that's all.
But it's as if Spanner can hear Tsuna's thoughts because his next words completely disprove Tsuna's conclusion. "I thought you were interesting ever since I first learned about you. You were just an ordinary Japanese teenager who got dragged into this violent mafia world against your will. You were simply trying to protect your friends and family, just like the main characters of most Japanese mecha anime. Even after you became the Tenth, you never really changed. According to reports, you still wrote in those cool Japanese characters instead of Italian, laughing that you would never get used to writing with the alphabet. You stocked green tea in the Vongola home base because you missed it when you were there. You tried to improve this city, Namimori, because you loved it so much."
Spanner blinks at Tsuna. "Ah, but then, that isn't you. Or won't be you for a while yet. You're still the teenager who hasn't completely given up on his dreams of a peaceful life in Japan."
Tsuna is so surprised at all he just heard that he sits there, not even able to react when Spanner ruffles his hair.
Spanner stands up. "Go to sleep, Vongola."
"Spanner..."
"Millefiore and Vongola may be enemies, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm interested in you. And I want to see the completed X-Burner more than anything else in the world right now."
"Even more than the legendary OVA you said you couldn't obtain a copy of after searching for the last few years?" Tsuna can't help asking.
Spanner makes a face. "Probably, though it's a close call."
Tsuna smiles weakly.
Spanner heads towards the doors but stops several feet from the sensors and turns back. "Vongola, do you know what my name means?"
Tsuna tilts his head at Spanner in confusion at the sudden question. "No... what does it mean?"
"The Japanese place a lot of importance on names, don't they? Choosing the kanji to represent their names is a big deal, so I've read. Though you know, some of them are so hard to write and to read, I'm sure that even other Japanese people have trouble-"
"What does your name mean, Spanner?" Tsuna cuts in. If he lets Spanner go off on a tangent, one, he'll get his ear talked off and never get to sleep, and two, he'll never find out what Spanner intended to say in the first place. It's times like these that Tsuna realizes that he's learned a lot about his captor in their few days together.
Spanner grins. "Right, sorry. Those kanji are just so cool but anyway. In British English, my name means wrench."
"Wrench as in the tool?"
"Yep, the one that tightens and loosens bolts. Don't you think it's fitting? It's as if I was meant to be working with gadgets and robots from the moment I was born."
Tsuna coughs. He can imagine hearing Spanner say that it was his fate to be an otaku as well.
"I create things, I adjust things..." Spanner is gesturing widely with his hands and just then seems to recall that he's still got his lollipop in his hand and sticks it back into his mouth. "I fix things."
Spanner takes a step backwards within the range of the sensors and the automatic doors open. Tsuna's wondering why Spanner brought up the subject of his name in the first place when his captor adds, "Maybe I was meant to fix your X-Burner, Vongola the Tenth."
He salutes jauntily from the doorway. "Don't keep me waiting too much longer. Seeing the finished products of what I work on is one of the joys of my life."
--------------
The X-Burner in all of its glory is far more than Spanner expected. He looks down at Vongola the Tenth lying on the floor in the training room and smiles around the lollipop in his mouth. Vongola never fails to prove his calculations wrong, which makes him such an interesting person to have around. Spanner truly hasn't had this much fun in ages.
Spanner stands over Vongola and peers down. There's a slight sheen of sweat to the boy's face and his usually spiky brown hair is partially matted down and darkened due to the exertion of the last hour. Vongola's breathing is a little ragged but he looks peaceful. "Congratulations, Vongola. How does it feel to perfect the X-Burner?"
"Eh?" Vongola's eyes fly open and Spanner laughs when he sees the surprise in them.
Something had caused Vongola to lose whatever inhibitions he had about using the X-Burner but it seemed that was unconsciously done. Did he not even realize that today's X-Burner was on a whole different level than that of yesterday?
Looking down at the boy's expression, a mixture of shock and delight, it appears that Vongola didn't.
"You've done it," Spanner says. He claps but he's feeling anything but in a celebratory mood. It's odd because Spanner thinks he should be ecstatic at finally seeing the X-Burner he's been longing for, and he should be hurrying to account for the attack in his next string of robots. Yet there's a heavy weight in his chest, similar to the feeling Spanner had when he learned that Vongola the Tenth of this day and age had been gunned down by the Millefiore.
Huh, Spanner thinks, and then grins down at Vongola, "Shall we break for tea now?"
Vongola looks at him with a strange expression on his face and then sits up with a nod. Spanner leaves the training room, heading for the area that serves as his kitchen and dining room without turning to look back because he can sense Vongola falling into step behind him. He slows down and glancing to his side, asks, "How does it feel to perfect the X-Burner?"
There's silence for several steps and then Vongola lets out a soft sigh. "Weird, actually," he answers.
Spanner quirks an eyebrow. "Aren't you happy?"
"Yes," he says without an instant's hesitation, "but for some reason it just doesn't feel real." Vongola doesn't say anything after that and they walk the rest of the way in silence.
------------
His tea is a very lovely green color, Tsuna thinks as he stares into his cup. He reaches out to put another small cake onto his plate and tries to look up at Spanner's face as he does so but only makes it as far as the dark tattoo on the side of Spanner's neck.
There's a tension in the air that's thickening with every second that passes, keeping Tsuna from truly relaxing and falling into the routine that they've been following for the past few days. Tsuna doesn't quite understand it, because they should both be happy. Spanner finally got to see the completed X-Burner, and now that the training for it is over, Tsuna should be freed from this odd imprisonment. Yet this tense stillness between them, as they talk about absolutely nothing of significance, is obviously not happiness; it almost feels like sadness.
If there's one thing that Tsuna has learned from all of his training with Reborn, it's that it's not good to pretend that something doesn't exist, that it will cease to exist as long as you ignore it. Better to face whatever it is head on rather than have it come back to bite you in the behind when you least expect it. Tsuna takes a gulp of tea and then after a deep breath, raises his head decisively and gazes directly at Spanner. He jumps slightly at seeing Spanner just smiling at him, but forges on ahead. "Spanner, what now?"
Spanner is smiling but the emotion lurking in his eyes isn't one Tsuna associates with smiles. It's fervent but not scarily so; Spanner's eyes are almost studying him, similar to when Spanner looked at data he had gathered on the X-Burner. Tsuna squirms slightly under that gaze and Spanner asks mildly, "What do you mean?"
What's this weird sensation that he feels? Tsuna grips his cup tigether and tries to shake it off. "What do we do now? The training for the X-Burner is over..." Tsuna trails off and thinks, Ah, as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Saying the fact aloud drives the truth home that their reason for being here, together, is gone. Part of the reason Tsuna stayed, the reason that Spanner imprisoned him in the first place, no longer exists because the X-Burner is complete. He doesn't remember how he felt when he fired it, not even knowing it was the perfected attack but his body will remember and be able to duplicate it again. Tsuna stares down at his hands and that's when he finally realizes that there are no chains around his wrists. His gloves lie next to him on the bench and Spanner had returned his things the morning of the third day. If he wanted to leave, there's nothing that keeps him here.
Except that he doesn't feel like it's really over.
Tsuna looks directly at Spanner and says, "The X-Burner is complete. You've gotten your wish... now what?"
Spanner chuckles to himself and Tsuna can't help but flinch slightly at the dark tone of his captor's laugh. Spanner looks down to pour more tea and when he looks back up at Tsuna, his expression is far too serious. "What do we do now?" Spanner echoes Tsuna's earlier question. A corner of his mouth quirks up in a bemused smile. "You're correct. The X-Burner's complete. What else is there for me to study?"
"I thought I was only interested in your X-Burner," Spanner says with a shrug, tapping a finger against his lips. "I thought that's all I wanted to see, because it's an attack of yours, Vongola the Tenth. But I fear I may have miscalculated that as well."
"You always throw my calculations to chaos." Spanner leans across the table, one hand on the table's surface between their plates keeping his balance. A shiver runs down Tsuna's spine just as Spanner says, "And I think I might like you for that."
=====
HAHAHA for lack of ending. I just realized I have no Reborn icons and that probably should be rectified but I am lazy. Oh well.
...Time to do the dishes and go to bed early. But it's not even 9 so that's way too early. I'll pack for tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it when I get back from the doctor ~__~;;
Title: More than a Study It's obsession
Series: Kateikyo Hitman REBORN!
Pairing: Spanner x Tsuna (Sort of but not really?)
Rating: Definitely NOT R-18. I cannot write that for my life.
Notes: Written as a gift for kurot months ago when the chapter first came out with Tsuna chained up. I probably should have had it beta-ed in the long run because I think that would have made it so much better and made it worth reading but ah well. Sorry for the lack of an ending but hey, it's almost 5000 words long so that must mean something right? C'mon mini!bang... *dead*
If you asked me what it is about him that's so intriguing, I can't give you any single reason. He's baffling, and that's what draws my interest. He seems just like any ordinary teenager one moment, reacting to every little thing I do, and the next the flame that he shoots from his hands demolishes another one of my experimental robots as if it was as fragile as a house of cards.
He renders my calculations useless. I can't figure him out, and I can figure everything out.
So he's the enemy, what does that matter? That attack of his destroyed my invincible King Mosca. Of course that's going to increase his value in my eyes. The fact that the attack, the X-Burner, is still not perfected is even more valuable and exciting. The chance to see the stages and development of that attack, to see him use it with precise control and at full power... It's worth more than what the Millefiore have offered.
So he's the enemy, but that doesn't change that he's a viable specimen for study.
-------
"Not like that," Spanner says, low and thoughtful, and Tsuna's concentration scatters at the sound of the smooth voice coming through the earphone. "Your left arm should be raised another six degrees, your right one lower by two degrees. Do you want to blow yourself into the wall again?"
Tsuna sighs. He doesn't think it will help to point out that the X-Burner had been on its way to completion before Spanner had started to "train" him, and now his control is hardly better than when he first started working on the attack. He's said it before, and Spanner's reply was a smile and the words, "Your structure was wrong. It's best to work starting from the basics."
He corrects his stance, and Spanner tells him to fire the X-Burner. It's like a wild beast, straining under his control yet Tsuna can truly feel that he's beginning to tame it to his hand. He still ends up flying through the air because the balance of strength wasn't equal but at least he doesn't go slamming into the wall, which is an improvement over previous days.
The training with Spanner lasts five hours every day with an hour break after two hours for tea. Tsuna finds it weird but Spanner insists on a tea break. 'To enjoy one of the best things about Japanese culture,' is what he always says as he brews green tea. They sit at one end of a table littered with tools and gadgets, two steaming cups between them and they talk.
At first, Tsuna tries to keep his distance from Spanner. He is the enemy, after all, and who knows what he will do, even if he wants to help Tsuna perfect the X-Burner. There's no guarantee that Tsuna wouldn't mention something in the conversation that, while he thought it insignificant, would actually be quite important in the war going on between the Millefiore and the Vongola families.
But Spanner never touches upon those subjects. He asks about life in Japan and Tsuna tells him about Namimori Junior High School, thinking it a safe subject until Spanner smiles and says, with an eyebrow raised, "Gokudera and Yamamoto? Ah, the Storm and Rain Guardians. So they haven't changed much in these ten years, though I suppose they built on their history together to become one of the best teams in your family. Now I understand why they're so emotionally reliant on each other without you." That's what causes Tsuna to stop talking and rue the fact that he ever opened his mouth in the first place.
He remembers that Spanner is an analyst; he calculates down to the last possible calculation and then triple-checks just to make sure he hasn't overlooked anything. Tsuna remembers that Spanner spoke to him about the inevitability of his loss, that his power had been calculated, when he had been fighting the Mosca down in the tunnel. He wonders if Spanner is holding the fact that Tsuna proved his calculations wrong against him, because there are times when he can see a dangerous light in Spanner's eyes, an almost fanatic glint that makes Tsuna think he has to keep his guard up because the man isn't quite sane.
After that first conversation, Tsuna didn't voluntarily speak up so Spanner would just look at him with a gaze that was fervent and yet somehow distant, as if he weren't seeing Tsuna though he was sitting right in front of him, and talk about other things. How he became interested in Japan; how cool he thought the country was with its writing characters; how he had discovered green tea and his love for it; the development of robotic technology in the past several years, and how Japan was the leader in the field. Spanner's eyes are normal when they discuss such subjects, and he smirks when Tsuna comments, "Of course Japan's the leader... we've been making anime about giant robots for decades."
Spanner's eyes are anything but normal when he begins to discuss the X-Burner near the end of the breaks. His gaze never moves from Tsuna's face when he talks about how Tsuna's balance is still not perfect, that the symmetry between his right and left hands is not precise. Spanner will demonstrate and then look at Tsuna with an expression that says, See? It's not that hard. His eyes say something else entirely with their piercing directness, so serious, eyes almost glassy as if he's running a fever.
Tsuna wonders why he isn't running, trying to escape as soon as he's given his gloves and pushed into the training room while Spanner watches and advises him from an observation room. He wonders but he can't come up with an answer. Something tells him not to and he has learned to trust his instincts, even though a part of his brain is screaming in alarm.
So he sits calmly across from his captor during the break between training sessions, hands cupped around his tea, listening to the rhythmic cadence of Spanner's smooth voice. Spanner has just refilled both of their cups, and the tea is a comforting warmth against his palms.
The chains around his wrists, however, are like burning coals against his skin.
------------
Everything begins to change on the third day after Tsuna begins his training with Spanner. There's no conversation during their tea break that day, only Spanner staring intently at him and talking over Tsuna's head. Even after the second half of the day's training is over, Tsuna still feels uneasy and can't seem to escape from the heat of Spanner's gaze, as if Spanner hasn't looked away from him even once though his comments and advice today seemed off-hand, almost distracted.
The door to the training room opens with a slight whoosh of air and Tsuna looks up as he tries to catch his breath, surprised to see Spanner walk in. His hair is disheveled as if he's run his hands through it countless times in the two hours since Tsuna saw last him, and his eyes seem slightly glazed. Until Spanner's eyes land on him and then the dangerous light that Tsuna sees in them occasionally flares up like a match suddenly struck.
Spanner says something but it's so low that Tsuna can't catch it. "What?"
"It shouldn't be like this."
Tsuna looks at him, confused. "What do you mean?"
Spanner walks closer to him, slowly, and Tsuna unconsciously takes a step back. He could easily knock his captor unconscious because as far as Tsuna can tell, Spanner is just a normal human being beyond his intelligence and machines, but something prevents him from doing so.
Spanner stops several feet away and studies him. "By my calculations, you should have perfected the X-Burner by now. You were close before I started training you, and even given the time I took to fix the basic structure of the attack, you should have perfected it." He scratches at his temple, the epitome of bafflement.
"Your stance is perfect, the angles are perfect. But what you have isn't the completed X-Burner. You've reached a plateau and can't get past it." He mimics the X-Burner pose precisely, and tilts his head at Tsuna.
Tsuna almost jumps when Spanner's hands land heavily on his shoulders. "Why do you keep proving me wrong? The X-Burner is supposed to be more than what you've shown me; my calculations tell me it should be so much more."
"You're Vongola the Tenth," Spanner says, as if confirming the fact. Tsuna wonders if Spanner is even truly seeing him because his eyes look through him like's a piece of glass. "I want to know what makes you tick. Maybe then I can figure out what's keeping you from the true X-Burner."
--------------
Vongola the Tenth. Spanner has studied him quite closely over the years, basing and enhancing his Mosca off of Vongola's abilities and attacks, researching and calculating, knowing him inside and out. If there could be an expert on Vongola the Tenth, Spanner would easily volunteer himself as such an expert. He had looked forward to meeting him in person, joining Millefiore because it would give him that opportunity when the Vongola family grew suspicious and stopped recruiting new family members.
Spanner had only ever seen the man in videos and he was extremely disappointed when he learned that Vongola the Tenth had been assassinated by the Millefiore before he had been able to see him in person. He would have loved to converse with Vongola about his native country because he was sure the man would have a unique viewpoint on Japan given his current position as the boss of an Italian mafia family.
He has been given a second chance with this teenage Vongola the Tenth, this one that uses an attack that's never been recorded before and surpasses all of his calculations. Spanner was extremely lucky that Shoichi Irie of White Spell had chosen him to investigate the tunnel. He ended up obtaining the treasure of a lifetime, and that didn't only refer to the X-Burner.
Vongola the Tenth writes in the cool katakana, hiragana and kanji characters occasionally when they discuss the X-Burner. He drinks the wonderful green tea with a smile that clearly says he enjoys it, when Spanner has only had people give him weird looks because he loves the tea so much. And there's no doubt that Vongola is Japanese. He easily comments about Japan's development of robotic technology, referencing the mecha anime that Spanner has watched religiously as easily as he breathes.
Spanner hasn't had this much fun around anyone in ages; he'll admit Irie is interesting, but many of the Millefiore members are absolute bores. And there's still the completed X-Burner to look forward to. The fact that the plan he created for the X-Burner training has been dashed to pieces doesn't bother him as much as the fact that Vongola can't seem to perfect the attack. The vector created by his hands in the X-Burner attack stance has been honed to almost surgical precision and there's no trouble with power with several crumbling walls in his lab hardly standing as evidence, and yet something is holding Vongola back.
He can't figure out what it is right now but he will, because he always does. He wants to see the X-Burner in its true form, no matter what it takes. And if that means he learns more about Vongola the Tenth in the process, so much the better.
Spanner sticks another lollipop into his mouth, humming slightly as he gazes down at Vongola the Tenth sleeping curled up on a futon.
-------------
It's very hard for Tsuna to look Spanner in the eye the next day. He spent his entire night wide awake, wondering what had changed yesterday, what he had done to make Spanner act so strangely. He was aware of Spanner coming to watch him in the middle of the night, and he tried his best to pretend to be asleep. That was hard because all he wanted to do was jump up and demand to know what kind of game Spanner was playing, and what he intended to do with him.
Tsuna sighs, watching Spanner covertly as he bustles around brewing tea during break time. Spanner seems to be in a good mood, lollipop stick flicking from one side of his mouth to the other as he hums the same tune from last night. Tsuna knows he's heard it before, and he tries to focus on identifying it.
There's the clink of plates being set down and Tsuna automatically reaches out for his tea, the chain of his handcuffs clanging against the table, before he realizes that there's more than just the usual tea. A plate of sweets is next to the tea pot, filled with an assortment of small cakes and cookies that Tsuna recognizes as some of his favorites. "What's this?" he asks, looking up at Spanner.
Spanner sits there with his elbows on the table, watching Tsuna with his chin resting atop his interlocked fingers. He grins and says, "They're a present. You like these, don't you?"
Tsuna is at a loss for words and he has to look away. He doesn't understand his captor; Spanner's the enemy but he's trying to help Tsuna perfect an attack that will be used against the Millefiore family. He treats Tsuna with respect and kindness, and even if he acts eccentric at times, he's always civil. No, he's more than civil... he's friendly. He just doesn't know how to react around Spanner, Tsuna thinks with a sigh. It's getting too hard to think of him as one of the enemy, especially when he starts talking about his love for Japan the way he currently is. It's like the silence of yesterday, all of yesterday, never happened at all.
Suddenly, Tsuna recalls where he has heard the tune that Spanner hums from time to time. "Gundam."
Spanner freezes mid-sentence and the lollipop slips from his half-open mouth. Spanner catches it out of instinct and after a second, seems to pull himself together and the grin he directs at Tsuna is almost blinding in its brilliance. "Correct!" he exclaims, gesturing at Tsuna with his lollipop as if it were a pointer stick. "I was wondering if you'd recognize it and you did!"
Spanner starts talking about Japan's mecha anime and how the Gundam series had been a catalyst and revolutionized the world when it came to the development of robotic technology. Tsuna can only stare in amazement at his captor who is so excited and caught up in the subject that he's completely forgotten his tea and thinks, Spanner is an otaku. Why are all the Millefiore so weird?
-------------
Tsuna understands now what Spanner meant when he said the training had reached a plateau; he feels that he hasn't made any progress in perfecting the X-Burner at all today. If Spanner hadn't been there, Tsuna feels like he might have been satisfied with the X-Burner the way it is because it's far more under his control now than it was when he first used it against Dendro Qram. But Spanner says this isn't the true X-Burner, and Tsuna is swept up in his captor's fervor and can only push forward, wanting to see the true extent of his attack.
He can't put it into words well but Tsuna wants to show Spanner the X-Burner that he's been working towards as hard as Tsuna has. Tsuna understands that Spanner is the enemy; he chants that fact to himself several times a day but his instincts tell him that Spanner isn't someone he has to worry about. If Spanner had wanted to hurt him, he would have done so by now, and if he wanted to gain favor with the Millefiore, he would have turned Tsuna in when he had first been taken captive instead of keeping him here, hidden, training him.
"Why are you doing this?" Tsuna asks when Spanner comes to handcuff him for the night.
Spanner has been humming a new tune ever since Tsuna identified the previous one earlier that day, which he stops when Tsuna voices his question. He tilts his head at Tsuna, staring for a moment, but he doesn't pretend to be clueless about what Tsuna is asking. Spanner doesn't evade the question but his answer is the same as always. "I'm interested in you, and your X-Burner."
"That can't be all there is to it."
"Why not?" Spanner asks, curling a lock of his hair by his temple around his finger. "It's a wonderful attack. I understand the mechanics behind it but without knowing the true extent of it, I can't make my robots impervious to it. Then again, there's always the possibility that you develop a new attack that I'll have to take into account in the future, and wouldn't that just be amazing?"
Spanner's eyes are practically filled with stars at just the idea, making Tsuna shake his head. "You're a member of the Millefiore, aren't you?"
Spanner looks at Tsuna like he's an idiot for asking such an obvious question. "Of course. And you're Vongola the Tenth."
"Our families are in the middle of a war and you don't find anything wrong with this situation?" Tsuna can only stare dumbly at Spanner as he gestures between the two of them. Tsuna picks at his clothing that, despite being a small size, is so big on him that he resembles a child wearing their parent's clothes, and he looks at Spanner wearing the same thing and carrying it off with a kind of dignity. Matching clothes. Spending practically every minute for the last few days together... it's like the beginning of an eccentric newlywed's life. The very thought scares him so he pushes it out of his mind.
Tsuna reaches out towards Spanner who has started on another lollipop but the chains around his wrists prevent him from touching his captor who sits atop the head of the huge Mosca lying beside the futon. His hands stop only a couple of inches from Spanner's face, and Tsuna drops them back into his lap, the metal links clinking against each other. "Why are you doing this?" Tsuna asks again, his voice sounding uncertain even to his own ears.
Spanner purses his mouth slightly and appears to seriously think about the question this time, the thumb and index finger of his right hand whirling the lollipop around in his mouth as he looks up at the ceiling.
"I like you," Spanner says simply a few moments later, pulling the lollipop out of his mouth.
"WHAT?!" Tsuna gapes at his captor.
Spanner laughs. "I like you, Vongola the Tenth. You're an interesting person. You understand what I'm talking about when I discuss Japanese mecha animes. You're the first person to identify the theme song, did you know that? And you actually enjoy the green tea with me, instead of gulping it down as if it were bitter water like other people do."
Spanner's words were a shocker at first but now Tsuna can only think, Spanner wanted someone to be an otaku with, that's all.
But it's as if Spanner can hear Tsuna's thoughts because his next words completely disprove Tsuna's conclusion. "I thought you were interesting ever since I first learned about you. You were just an ordinary Japanese teenager who got dragged into this violent mafia world against your will. You were simply trying to protect your friends and family, just like the main characters of most Japanese mecha anime. Even after you became the Tenth, you never really changed. According to reports, you still wrote in those cool Japanese characters instead of Italian, laughing that you would never get used to writing with the alphabet. You stocked green tea in the Vongola home base because you missed it when you were there. You tried to improve this city, Namimori, because you loved it so much."
Spanner blinks at Tsuna. "Ah, but then, that isn't you. Or won't be you for a while yet. You're still the teenager who hasn't completely given up on his dreams of a peaceful life in Japan."
Tsuna is so surprised at all he just heard that he sits there, not even able to react when Spanner ruffles his hair.
Spanner stands up. "Go to sleep, Vongola."
"Spanner..."
"Millefiore and Vongola may be enemies, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm interested in you. And I want to see the completed X-Burner more than anything else in the world right now."
"Even more than the legendary OVA you said you couldn't obtain a copy of after searching for the last few years?" Tsuna can't help asking.
Spanner makes a face. "Probably, though it's a close call."
Tsuna smiles weakly.
Spanner heads towards the doors but stops several feet from the sensors and turns back. "Vongola, do you know what my name means?"
Tsuna tilts his head at Spanner in confusion at the sudden question. "No... what does it mean?"
"The Japanese place a lot of importance on names, don't they? Choosing the kanji to represent their names is a big deal, so I've read. Though you know, some of them are so hard to write and to read, I'm sure that even other Japanese people have trouble-"
"What does your name mean, Spanner?" Tsuna cuts in. If he lets Spanner go off on a tangent, one, he'll get his ear talked off and never get to sleep, and two, he'll never find out what Spanner intended to say in the first place. It's times like these that Tsuna realizes that he's learned a lot about his captor in their few days together.
Spanner grins. "Right, sorry. Those kanji are just so cool but anyway. In British English, my name means wrench."
"Wrench as in the tool?"
"Yep, the one that tightens and loosens bolts. Don't you think it's fitting? It's as if I was meant to be working with gadgets and robots from the moment I was born."
Tsuna coughs. He can imagine hearing Spanner say that it was his fate to be an otaku as well.
"I create things, I adjust things..." Spanner is gesturing widely with his hands and just then seems to recall that he's still got his lollipop in his hand and sticks it back into his mouth. "I fix things."
Spanner takes a step backwards within the range of the sensors and the automatic doors open. Tsuna's wondering why Spanner brought up the subject of his name in the first place when his captor adds, "Maybe I was meant to fix your X-Burner, Vongola the Tenth."
He salutes jauntily from the doorway. "Don't keep me waiting too much longer. Seeing the finished products of what I work on is one of the joys of my life."
--------------
The X-Burner in all of its glory is far more than Spanner expected. He looks down at Vongola the Tenth lying on the floor in the training room and smiles around the lollipop in his mouth. Vongola never fails to prove his calculations wrong, which makes him such an interesting person to have around. Spanner truly hasn't had this much fun in ages.
Spanner stands over Vongola and peers down. There's a slight sheen of sweat to the boy's face and his usually spiky brown hair is partially matted down and darkened due to the exertion of the last hour. Vongola's breathing is a little ragged but he looks peaceful. "Congratulations, Vongola. How does it feel to perfect the X-Burner?"
"Eh?" Vongola's eyes fly open and Spanner laughs when he sees the surprise in them.
Something had caused Vongola to lose whatever inhibitions he had about using the X-Burner but it seemed that was unconsciously done. Did he not even realize that today's X-Burner was on a whole different level than that of yesterday?
Looking down at the boy's expression, a mixture of shock and delight, it appears that Vongola didn't.
"You've done it," Spanner says. He claps but he's feeling anything but in a celebratory mood. It's odd because Spanner thinks he should be ecstatic at finally seeing the X-Burner he's been longing for, and he should be hurrying to account for the attack in his next string of robots. Yet there's a heavy weight in his chest, similar to the feeling Spanner had when he learned that Vongola the Tenth of this day and age had been gunned down by the Millefiore.
Huh, Spanner thinks, and then grins down at Vongola, "Shall we break for tea now?"
Vongola looks at him with a strange expression on his face and then sits up with a nod. Spanner leaves the training room, heading for the area that serves as his kitchen and dining room without turning to look back because he can sense Vongola falling into step behind him. He slows down and glancing to his side, asks, "How does it feel to perfect the X-Burner?"
There's silence for several steps and then Vongola lets out a soft sigh. "Weird, actually," he answers.
Spanner quirks an eyebrow. "Aren't you happy?"
"Yes," he says without an instant's hesitation, "but for some reason it just doesn't feel real." Vongola doesn't say anything after that and they walk the rest of the way in silence.
------------
His tea is a very lovely green color, Tsuna thinks as he stares into his cup. He reaches out to put another small cake onto his plate and tries to look up at Spanner's face as he does so but only makes it as far as the dark tattoo on the side of Spanner's neck.
There's a tension in the air that's thickening with every second that passes, keeping Tsuna from truly relaxing and falling into the routine that they've been following for the past few days. Tsuna doesn't quite understand it, because they should both be happy. Spanner finally got to see the completed X-Burner, and now that the training for it is over, Tsuna should be freed from this odd imprisonment. Yet this tense stillness between them, as they talk about absolutely nothing of significance, is obviously not happiness; it almost feels like sadness.
If there's one thing that Tsuna has learned from all of his training with Reborn, it's that it's not good to pretend that something doesn't exist, that it will cease to exist as long as you ignore it. Better to face whatever it is head on rather than have it come back to bite you in the behind when you least expect it. Tsuna takes a gulp of tea and then after a deep breath, raises his head decisively and gazes directly at Spanner. He jumps slightly at seeing Spanner just smiling at him, but forges on ahead. "Spanner, what now?"
Spanner is smiling but the emotion lurking in his eyes isn't one Tsuna associates with smiles. It's fervent but not scarily so; Spanner's eyes are almost studying him, similar to when Spanner looked at data he had gathered on the X-Burner. Tsuna squirms slightly under that gaze and Spanner asks mildly, "What do you mean?"
What's this weird sensation that he feels? Tsuna grips his cup tigether and tries to shake it off. "What do we do now? The training for the X-Burner is over..." Tsuna trails off and thinks, Ah, as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Saying the fact aloud drives the truth home that their reason for being here, together, is gone. Part of the reason Tsuna stayed, the reason that Spanner imprisoned him in the first place, no longer exists because the X-Burner is complete. He doesn't remember how he felt when he fired it, not even knowing it was the perfected attack but his body will remember and be able to duplicate it again. Tsuna stares down at his hands and that's when he finally realizes that there are no chains around his wrists. His gloves lie next to him on the bench and Spanner had returned his things the morning of the third day. If he wanted to leave, there's nothing that keeps him here.
Except that he doesn't feel like it's really over.
Tsuna looks directly at Spanner and says, "The X-Burner is complete. You've gotten your wish... now what?"
Spanner chuckles to himself and Tsuna can't help but flinch slightly at the dark tone of his captor's laugh. Spanner looks down to pour more tea and when he looks back up at Tsuna, his expression is far too serious. "What do we do now?" Spanner echoes Tsuna's earlier question. A corner of his mouth quirks up in a bemused smile. "You're correct. The X-Burner's complete. What else is there for me to study?"
"I thought I was only interested in your X-Burner," Spanner says with a shrug, tapping a finger against his lips. "I thought that's all I wanted to see, because it's an attack of yours, Vongola the Tenth. But I fear I may have miscalculated that as well."
"You always throw my calculations to chaos." Spanner leans across the table, one hand on the table's surface between their plates keeping his balance. A shiver runs down Tsuna's spine just as Spanner says, "And I think I might like you for that."
=====
HAHAHA for lack of ending. I just realized I have no Reborn icons and that probably should be rectified but I am lazy. Oh well.
...Time to do the dishes and go to bed early. But it's not even 9 so that's way too early. I'll pack for tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it when I get back from the doctor ~__~;;