[Fic] Windshear [Part 5/?]
Hello again, and welcome to another update of Windshear XD Please step back from feelings of impending doom due to upcoming exams or project deadlines, and relax. Take a deep breath. Drink lots of fluids (if you're already chillin, and not worried at all, even better)! I tell this to my baby sister too: each exam only takes up a few hours of your time; you will outlive the deadline. So, as always... enjoy ^_^
Windshear Part [5/?]
Authors: kagayachou and the-dw
Characters/Pairings: Tsuna, all of the Vongola Guardians and Reborn. Slight Yamamoto/Gokudera, eventual Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5033
Summary: Yamamoto received a wake-up call, Reborn interferes, and Tsuna is convinced to hold an impromptu Vongola Guardian meeting; ensuing chaos predicted.
There was one thing Gokudera hated about his room. Just one. But it was right next to Tsuna's, and as the Tenth's Right Hand Man, Gokudera wasn't really about to voice any complaints.
Past dawn, sunlight always found his face.
Even when he moved the bed around, put up a blind, shut the curtains, the light would somehow filter through, bounce off walls and... It was a conspiracy. He grunted as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes, blinking blearily. Wait-
There was an arm... around his waist.
Gokudera scowled at the offending limb, and wrapped his fingers around Yamamoto's wrist to lift it, but that just made the man behind him snuggle and shift closer. The Hurricane Bomber squeezed his eyes shut and took some deep breaths, counting backwards from ten before correcting himself and then counting up from one. It wasn't normal for the baseball idiot to be this clingy, but then... it was still the baseball idiot.
Reaching over, Gokudera shove once at Yamamoto's shoulder. "Get off."
Yamamoto muttered something unintelligible, a protest perhaps as he buried his face even further into Gokudera's hair. But he opened his eyes anyway, and ugh; silver hair plus sunshine - ow ow ow - he winced, shoving himself backwards to sit up and out of the rays that so stung his eyes.
They both saw stars when Gokudera tried to sit up at the same time, neither of them looking, and subsequently knocking their heads together. Gokudera snarled beneath his breath, maneuvering so that he could shove Yamamoto away. Hard.
"Wake up faster, baseball idiot," he grumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "And I said get off; I feel gross."
Yamamoto groaned and spared a second or two to look dismayed at the pleasant wake up call that he hadn't received since... high school? "I'm awake," he laughed, "awake, Gokudera!" He half-rolled, half-scampered out of the other man's way, rubbing his aching jaw and forehead, briefly imagining Gokudera's hand print on his face.
He could still see those slivers of silver sunlight that'd been all but burned to the underside of his eyelids. Blinking rapidly, Yamamoto rubbed the tears out of his eyes as well, only to chuckle, "It's just morning, and you're already so energetic."
"You're a lazy ass," Gokudera grumbled under his breath, blithely ignoring the fact that Yamamoto was usually the one to be up and out of the room first for morning exercises. Completely naked and utterly uncaring, Gokudera rolled out of bed. He ran his hand through his tangled hair and grimaced, heading for the in-suite bathroom.
Then, he remembered.
"Oi," he turned back around, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe leading to his bathroom. "You were cuddling."
"Ahahahaha," Yamamoto scratched his head sheepishly. "It's funny - I was just thinking how we ended up in that position last night."
He hadn't a clue, really. They hadn't cuddled since the awkwardness of youth when they both decided that getting all lovey-dovey with each other felt just plain weird. Gokudera always turned with his back to Yamamoto when it was finally time to sleep. Yamamoto would then lie on his back and stay on his side of the bed for the rest of the night. On and off, it'd become a comfortable routine. Until now...
Gokudera snorted, giving Yamamoto a disdainful glare that said you are an absolute moron and should thank me on your knees because I am a saint for dealing with your stupidity on a regular basis. He sighed, and looked back towards last night.
"You were thinking about Hibari, weren't you?" A pointed statement more than a question.
"...Huh?" Yamamoto's eyebrows went up. He gave a quiet, somewhat confused laugh after rolling the idea of cuddling Hibari in his head. "Gokudera," he had to admit the mental image was not altogether unpleasant, but, "I'm... not that suicidal."
Oh, really. Gokudera pushed his hair out of his eyes and resisted grabbing a few sticks of dynamite from the tabletop to toss at Yamamoto's head. He wouldn't have lit any of the fuses - he had more self-control than that - but it would have been a waste of energy. Yamamoto didn't dodge his firecrackers anymore when they weren't glowing and Gokudera didn't want to destroy what little brain cells the baseball idiot actually used.
"And I'm not stupid," he glared, because he could pretty much guess what Yamamoto had been thinking this time. He wiped the image out of his mind with a shake of his head. "I meant thinking about Hibari as in you're concerned about him. Some reason or another, you were holding me so goddamn close, like I was gonna slip away in your sleep-"
The idea of Yamamoto suddenly being clingy for him instead made Gokudera's lips thin. "Far as I know, our relationship hasn't changed and I'm not in more danger than is the norm for any of us, so you aren't abnormally worried about me, right?"
Yamamoto nodded, blankly, wide-eyed.
"You are fucking crazy," Gokudera sighed, and threw his hands up. "Of all people, you're feeling protective over Hibari...
"Eh, whatever." He stepped into the bathroom, only to paused again. "Just tell me something."
"Gokudera..."
"Whatever it that's going on with that guy," Gokudera looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "Does it, in any way, endanger the Tenth?"
Yamamoto shook his head; that was all Gokudera needed to know.
As the silver-haired man closed the bathroom door behind him, Yamamoto dropped back into bed, letting out a heavy sigh.
Was nothing important to Gokudera if it wasn't about Tsuna?
No, that wasn't fair. He'd more or less told Gokudera he wasn't going to tell him more, and...
Yamamoto stared at the ceiling as the sound of running water began. Gokudera was right; he wasn't stupid. Even though he did not know what was going on with Hibari, he'd hit the proverbial nail on its head. Yamamoto wanted to tell him. Surely, Gokudera could help them find or figure out how to make a cure.
But Hibari... It was Hibari of all people, and as Gokudera said, Yamamoto wanted to protect him. Maybe he was fucking crazy. Maybe Hibari didn't need help. And maybe he was going to be all right with some strange disease slowly eating at his lung, killing him from inside out.
With a listless laugh, Yamaoto sat up. Enough of that, he told himself. It wasn't something the Vongola Cloud Guardian would take lying down, and neither should the Rain. The others didn't have to know if Hibari didn't want them to, but Yamamoto knew that, when they all worked together, the Vongola made miracles.
***
Reborn didn't bother knocking. If his students were good enough, they would be able to tell, in any case. Besides, knocking on doors were terribly boring, really, and Reborn preferred to find more unorthodox entrances. Even for him, he needed to keep his skills sharp.
Sliding into the room through the window, he sat at the sill, cross-legged and holding a folder between his fingers. "Yamamoto," he greeted.
The young man placed the remote control on the coffee table, the screen frozen on a frame where a silver-haired swordsman stood smug and poised, smirking towards the camera after his 96th victory. While Yamamoto leaned back against the couch and made to turn towards the window, it took a moment for him to tear his eyes away from the man he once defeated ten years ago, now well on his way to becoming the next Sword Emperor.
"Hey, kiddo," Yamamoto had a wide smile, and when he finally looked at the older man, his bright brown eyes were dancing with pride and exhilaration.
"Haha. Come inside!" He gestured, and then looked down at the folder in Reborn's hands. "Oh," his smile dampened minutely. "Is that for me?"
Yamamoto seemed cheerful, Reborn noted as he jumped down from the windowsill. He padded over to the couch and sank down into it, handing over the file without a word. His eyes lidded slightly as he watched Yamamoto - the smile was genuinely warm and open, and the laughter was as real as it ever was.
That was what he liked about Yamamoto, to be honest. The man knew how to bounce back onto his feet even when something brought him down; never did he let it affect any of his mission, and it was incredibly easy for him to simply let go of his insecurities, to not let it affect him aversely for long periods of time.
Reborn glancing at the paused video. It was a welcome stress-relief, he surmised. What good timing. He let a smirk quirk his lips before turning back to Yamamoto. "Read through it."
Yamamoto nodded, taking the folder and pulling its contents out with the ease of practice. He scanned over names, addresses, and photographs of several doctors and researchers... from the Gesso family. After a period of silence, the only sounds in the room being their light breathing and the friction of paper shuffled against paper, he looked back at Reborn to show that he'd finished reading.
Reborn smiled slightly at him, tipping his hat downwards to cover his eyes. Yamamoto was already sliding into his professional mood - good. He turned away from Yamamoto to look at the wall, choosing his words.
"This isn't an official mission. Consider it a... favor of sorts, Yamamoto," not a favor to him, however. "I'm not going to ask you to assassinate this time - I'm going to ask you to make use of your other talents."
He paused before cutting straight to the chase. He wasn't one to mince words, especially not to a grown man who didn't need it. "Those scientists - I want you to befriend their families and try to get as much information about how to stop Hibari from dying as possible."
"Their families..." Yamamoto mulled over the wording, eyebrows crinkled slightly, his tone perplexed. "Do you mean you want me to befriend them as well as their families, or to avoid the scientists and only get close to their families?
"Kiddo," he looked at his mentor, mild discomfort crawling into his eyes. It was one thing to go undercover to infiltrate mafia families and fight people who meant his own family harm. But it seemed to him that Reborn wanted him to go after innocents this time. Not to kill them, yes, but, "They... might not know anything."
"There might be a chance that they do," Reborn was looking at him now, dark eyes intense and serious and boring into Yamamoto's. "It might be a long shot, Yamamoto, but it's a shot that I'm willing to take." For Hibari's sake; the words hung between them, unspoken but heavy all the same.
Then he looked away again, continuing, "Avoid the scientists. You wouldn't want to be recognized, Yamamoto."
Lips thinning, the Vongola Rain Guardian said nothing. He looked back down at the photos, thumbing one of them as he digested the words. Honestly, he wasn't one to be easily recognized in the mafia world now because it'd been his fault that his father was murdered in that other future. The Yamamoto Takeshi in that timeline had been... a bit of a celebrity as a hitman - a real star.
"I won't be recognized," he smiled back at Reborn. "I'll do it."
***
In the training room, Hibari pivoted on his heel and slammed his foot into the chest of one of the computer-simulated human enemies, crushing the ribcage. The man dropped backwards and fell, fading away even before it had reached the ground.
Letting his tonfas drop back to his side, Hibari's eyes closed, breathing through his partly-opened mouth. "Tetsu," he said, and it was almost a conscious effort to keep his words from slurring. "That's enough. You can go now."
Up in the observatory, Kusakabe watched as Hibari walked towards the wall and leaned against it heavily. He looked down at the controls - it wasn't a heavy workout, not for a man like Hibari. Normally, even the highest setting wouldn't have made him break a sweat. He frowned, then shook his head.
Such worrying was useless - Hibari neither wanted or needed it. He nodded sharply, though he knew that Hibari won't be able to see him, and switched off the controls. "Yes, Kyou-san. I'll be in the labs." There was more he needed to investigate.
Predictably, Hibari did not acknowledge those words, pushing himself away from the wall such that he wasn't depending on it to keep him standing steadily. He let out a long, slow breath, his hands clenching into a fist.
This was getting ridiculous.
Especially when Reborn appeared beside him somehow, a wall sliding shut behind him - that baby and his secret back passages... Even without looking up, Hibari could feel the man's eyes on him.
"You'll find this useful." Reborn said. He held out a manila folder with one hand.
Hibari opened his eyes, narrowing them to focus them as he opened the folder. Familiar faces and names stared back at him, and he shut it again, handing it back to Reborn with a shake of his head.
"I have this already."
Reborn made no move to take the folder back. Rather, he shook his head and smoothly crossed his arms over his chest. "These are the people I want you to stay away from," he clarified. "Yamamoto will deal with them; you would be recognized, Hibari."
In an instant, Hibari had his tonfa out and pointed at Reborn's throat, the tendons on the neck standing out as he gritted his teeth. He took a step into Reborn's personal space, and hissed, "I don't need to be protected by herbivores, baby."
Deftly, in a seemingly casual swipe, Reborn caught the end of the metal rod and pulled it aside, slowly but surely as if to prove that Hibari was in no condition to fight him. "Yamamoto is no herbivore," he smirked. "And neither am I.
"You have not become so weakened that you cannot beat information out of these people, I'm sure, but you're not one for subtlety, and assaulting their defenseless scientists for a reason you do not wish disclosed will allow the Gesso to openly target you."
Hibari jerked the tonfa out of Reborn's hand even before the older man could finish pushing it away. He scowled darkly, "Only weaklings need to hide their intentions from others. If they want to target me, then they are welcome to."
His smirk was nearly bloodthirsty when he continued, "I will just bite all of those rats to death."
"And be no closer to getting cured," Reborn scoffed, irritation and the mild distain in his eyes hidden behind the shadows cast by his fedora. "The people I specifically want you to avoid have no interest in fighting you at all. They simply made the weapon their famiglia's used on you. We need information from them. Nothing else, Hibari.
"It is a strength to be able to retrieve such a thing without force." With a dry, almost condescending smirk, Reborn looked him in the eyes. "It's not something you can do yet."
Hibari's lip curled up into something that was both self-satisfied and unspeakably angry at the same time. As far as he was concerned, he had been doing exactly what Reborn just said that he couldn't yet. It was that, and because he'd grown enough in the past ten years to realize when Reborn was blatantly baiting him, which kept him from attacking the Arcobaleno. That, and the fact that pain was suddenly blurring his vision - which he would never admit to, of course.
"Ch'," he snorted, stepping back and turning away, heading towards the door. "What do you think Tetsu has been doing?"
"He's been supervising a team in the Foundation that's been trying to hack into the Gesso's heavily guarded servers," Reborn nodded. "Having Kusakabe work behind the scenes is a smart move; his family will remain untouched by the mafia as long as you are alive.
"So leave Yamamoto to the frontline. You need to be in a secure position so that you can lead your men."
It was no surprise that Reborn knew - he always had a bad habit of interfering into things he didn't want to. Hibari stopped in his tracks, but didn't bother to turn around. "I don't like repeating myself, baby," he said curtly, flatly. "I don't need any of you to interfere with the Foundation, or me. All Yamamoto Takeshi will do is get in my way."
He took a long breath, feeling the air rattle hollowly in his lungs. He smirked slightly, "And so would you."
Reborn didn't like repeating himself. He vaguely wanted to shake some sense into Hibari, or shoot him for being pigheaded; Hibari was dying. He was not an island. He was not invincible. He was certainly in need of help, no matter how much he denied it.
"Hibari. I told you all this so that you will know to stay out of his way. The only thing I'm doing is making sure the two of you don't crash into each other when running after the same target again."
Hibari's lips thinned, and he started towards the door again with sharp, short steps. He pushed open the door.
"As long as he stays out of mine."
***
It was Yamamoto's idea, Tsuna reflected. "We had a reunion party, Tsuna, and it was fun, but we didn't all get updated on how everyone's been doing for these past ten years, so let's get all of us Guardians together and do that." So there they were in a meeting room, months after their last reunion. As they waited for the others to arrive, Tsuna peered at the Rain Guardian, curious.
Yamamoto was smiling at something or other, nothing in particular. It wasn't unusual, and yet...
Gokudera slid quite naturally into the seat on Tsuna's right, leaning back fluidly and stretching out his legs. There was an irritable look in his eyes however as he glanced at his watch. "How long do they plan to keep the Tenth waiting?" he grumbled, leaning his head against a hand.
Beside him, with a tiny sheepish smile, Tsuna shot Gokudera with a simple look. "It's okay, Gokudera. I don't mind."
Yamamoto laughed out loud from where he stood, by the sill of an open window that overlooked the back garden. The sky was cloudy, thick, grey and heavy, like it was going to rain soon. And though he could tell Gokudera was thinking something along the lines of Tsuna being a gracious, patient, all-round wonderfully amazing boss, Yamamoto didn't have the heart to poke him out of his rosy bubble, wondering instead if Hibari would deign to show up.
"Excuse me..." A soft voice came from the doorway, cutting through his musings, as Chrome stepped through it. She smiled, standing confident and tall, quite unlike her teenage self. Her long hair spilled over her shoulders, barely restrained by a few bobby pins at the sides. "I hope I'm not too late?"
Even though Mukuro's body was long-freed from his water prison, Tsuna still considered Chrome to be one of his guardians. She was more reliable than Mukuro, at any rate. And less intimidating.
Gokudera snorted, waving a negligent hand at the empty chairs down the long table. "You're earlier than, oh, the rest of them." There was no real bite to his sarcasm, because technically, no one was late yet, but they were still keeping the Tenth waiting, and Yamamoto was distracted, and everything was annoying Gokudera. "Assholes..."
"Hey, hey... Calm down, Gokudera," Yamamoto glanced back at Chrome with a playful, welcome smile gracing his lips. "Have my seat, Dokuro. Gokudera won't try to bomb you over Tsuna."
Gokudera gave him a flat glare, then raised an eyebrow.
"I really don't mind the wait, guys," Tsuna repeated. "It's going to rain soon, and Ryohei said he'd drive over." He nearly shivered at the image of his eternally-boisterous Sun Guardian grinning manically behind a steering wheel.
"Um, hello, Chrome." Tsuna cast Yamamoto a curious glance, then looked back at the young woman with a shy smile, "Welcome back. How are you and... the others?"
Taking the seat on Tsuna's left, Chrome set her trident on her lap and answered evenly, "Mukuro-sama is Mukuro-sama. He seemed to be rather preoccupied with his current job, and hasn't spoken to the rest of us for three days now." At the anxious look in Tsuna's eyes, she laughed lightly, shaking her head. "I feel him. He's fine.
"Ken and Chikusa are both fine, too," she continued. "Ken is annoyed at Mukuro-sama's silence, but I suppose he will get over it. Chikusa... is very much himself as well." Her smile turned fond as she turned back to Tsuna. "Thank you for asking, boss."
Tsuna blushed awkwardly at his only female guardian. He was happily engaged to his childhood sweetheart, but it never seemed to stop Chrome - or Mukuro - from a bit of teasing now and then. Nonetheless, he smiled back. "You're welcome."
As Chrome turned her attention inwards, Tsuna sighed internally, relieved. He glanced back towards Gokudera, and found him eyeing Yamamoto with a pensive frown.
Yamamoto wasn't paying attention to anyone in particular either. That was another thing that got Tsuna thinking. Normally, Yamamoto and Gokudera played off each other like a stand-up comedy duo - at least in Reborn's eyes. Tsuna sometimes wondered if their bones got mixed up in past lives and they thus had a lot of karma to collect from one another.
But lately, Yamamoto's been more preoccupied, and subsequently much much harder to read. The fact that they weren't stepping on each other's toes or having a verbal ping pong match over his head said something.
Tsuna just didn't know what.
But before he could dwell on it any further, someone slammed the door open and stormed in with a great, "Whoa! Sasagawa Ryohei has arrived just on time!"
And lying in the doorway, teenage Lambo sported a large shoe print on the back of his curly-haired head.
Gokudera reacted instinctively as the Vongola Sun Guardian came barreling in like a bull that had just spotted a red cloth. Placing himself between the two of them resulted in the Tenth's Right Hand Man being head-butted in the stomach by the Tenth's future brother-in-law. Tsuna winced, verbal squeak and all; Gokudera clenched a fist, smacking Ryohei over his spiked-up army cut on reflex.
"Fucking watch where you're going, lawn-head!" Gokudera blew up. He hadn't yet gotten over waking up on Ryohei's lap since their last reunion, before Bianchi threw her shirt in his direction and Yamamoto dragged him out. Ending up in another compromising situation with Ryohei however, right now, on the floor and in front of Tsuna did not make him feel any less molested. "Charging in like a bulldozer," his ass hurt, and he was nearly spitting nails. "You could've injured the Tenth, dumbass!"
Most of the pain of landing on his butt was pushed to the back of his mind as he shoved at the older man. One had to adapt with Sasagawa Ryohei, unless one was called Sasagawa Kyoko or Hibari Kyouya. And Gokudera was rather too busy pouring his frustrations - with baseball idiots and antisocial freaks, not to mention dumbass lawn-heads - out onto the thick-skinned man to dwell on physical discomfort.
Chrome ignored the ruckus beside her and slid out of her chair, padding towards the youngest of the guardians, who was now sitting up, tears in his eyes. She pat him absent-mindedly on his soft hair, asking, "Lambo-kun? Are you quite alright?"
Lambo bit his bottom lip, eyes almost bugging out as he told himself to tolerate the abuse, but he didn't dare say it out loud. Who knew when and where Reborn would pop up?
Over the years, the older hitman finally started moving on from Tsuna to make sure the rest of the guardians were up to standards. He finally paid Lambo some attention, and if Lambo was caught crying, oh boy...
Between teary-eyed Lambo, and the train wreck that was Gokudera plus a very wet Ryohei - who obviously drove over in a convertible - Tsuna squeaked and attempted damage control.
"Guys, um-"
Ryohei jackknifed from the slap to his temple, looking impressed. "That was an extreme blow, octopus-head!"
Tsuna had a sinking feeling in his gut as, behind him, Yamamoto started laughing. Ryohei's eyes shone as he clasped Gokudera's hand. "Coulda been better," he exclaimed excitedly, "but you're doing good for mid-range fighter!"
Gokudera's anger flared visibly.
Shaking his hand free, he grabbed a fistful of wet orange shirt and black tie, tugging Ryohei down to growl low. "I've trained in close combat too, you one-trick kangaroo. If you don't get off of me, I'll show you better. Now, quit dripping on my suit!
"And you!" Gokudera pointed an accusing finger at Yamamoto, "Quit laughing, baseball idiot; it's not funny!"
"But it is! Hahahahha!"
"Guys!" Tsuna wanted to tear his hair out as his Storm Guardian's self control - or what little was left of it - flew out the window. Dear gods, it looked like he was going to lose his Rain Guardian too. If Yamamoto laughed any harder, Tsuna was sure he'd be the next to take a dive, whether he fell out the window or Gokudera threw him out!
Chrome smiled serenely, completely unperturbed by the chaos around her. She was used to Ken, Chikusa and Mukuro-sama after all. She had experienced stranger phenomena.
Lifting her eyes, she nodded politely when another man stepped through the door. "Good afternoon, Reborn-san," she chimed, standing to step aside.
The hitman tutor smiled at her, removing his fedora in a gentlemanly fashion, holding it over his chest as he bowed. "The same to you, Chrome." He then turned his eyes, with undisguised distaste and amusement, towards Lambo, who was still rather... floored. After a moment, Reborn smirked ominously and prodded the boy with the toe of his boot. "Get up."
"Ah!" Lambo sniffed back a whimper and scrambled to his feet. He positively burned with embarrassment, and tried to laugh it off as he tugged his shirt back in place. "Haha-you're late," he managed with false bravado. Reborn promptly looked away again, ignoring him once more.
But then again, there was no way in hell that he could insult someone as fully as the pros going at it with each other in the room.
Ryohei had managed to pry Gokudera's fingers off, one by one, and now stood over him with an earnest, reassuring expression that almost looked smug. "Trust me, squid face. I've got more than one trick under my belt. You've got potential, but you've still got extremely bad form."
Gokudera's jaw dropped, and, "Oh, hey guys!" Ryohei finally saw the three standing at the door.
Chrome offered a sweet smile and Lambo rubbed the back of his head, looking away. Reborn simply put his hat back on, tipping it down over his eyes as though he was actually nodding.
"Ryohei!" Tsuna cut in before Gokudera could formulate a scathing reply. "Hi! Sit dow- have a seat! I mean," he had a strained smile on his face and it only grew wider when he suddenly pictured his future brother-in-law running around the base with the flu. "I'm- I'm glad you could make it. Why don't you go change into a set of dry clothes while we wait for uh Hibari-san!"
And while Tsuna wasn't looking, Yamamoto nearly did fall over the ledge, because he'd looked away in an attempt to stop laughing, only to halt, mid-laugh and stare out the window, stance going tense. The awkward cut-off made everyone fall silent.
Yamamoto turned fully towards the window, his hands falling from around his stomach to grip the window sill. His brows were creased, his mouth was slack and his eyes were riveted on something outside.
Without warning, he jerked around and went out the door, a dark scowl crawling over his face.
Gokudera watched as Yamamoto practically stormed out of the conference room, his own anger temporarily dampened by the Rain guardian's uncharacteristic behavior. Was there an assassin? Nah- What? He nearly ran over to the window, looking down.
And rolled his eyes. No wonder the baseball idiot ran off.
"So he finally decides to grace us with his presence today," he muttered, but there was no acid in his tone. "Hibari's here, Tenth. From god-knows-where."
If it weren't for those words, Tsuna would have dashed out after Yamamoto. Instead, he skid to a halt, narrowly missing Reborn, who probably would have side-stepped, though here he hadn't moved an inch. Thus, Tsuna collided into Lambo.
"Wha-Ah?!"
"Oof!"
Lambo cringed, one eye winced shut as momentum pushed them against a wall. The rest in the room could practically hear his internal mantra: Tolerate. But he pushed Tsuna back at arm's length after a tense moment and tried to figure out what just happened.
"Mr. Happy-Face ran down to bring Mr. Bite-You-To-Death up here?"
Tsuna just looked up at him, baffled. "But -" And then Gokudera's words sank in. "But Yamamoto looked mad!" Tsuna exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Reborn gave a mental chuckle at Lambo's nicknames for the two Guardians; the boy never failed to amuse. He reached over, and whapped Tsuna's silly head. It was easier now that he was taller than the boy - and he would always be a boy to Reborn, simply because he was his student.
"Silly Tsuna, watch where you're going," he berated with an even tone. Then, he turned around and whapped Lambo as well. "You too, stupid cow. Be more alert."
Reborn crossed his arms and shrugged slightly. "Let them be. Yamamoto will bring Hibari up here at any rate, so we might as well just settle down and wait."
Back: Part 4
Next: Part 6
Windshear Part [5/?]
Authors: kagayachou and the-dw
Characters/Pairings: Tsuna, all of the Vongola Guardians and Reborn. Slight Yamamoto/Gokudera, eventual Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5033
Summary: Yamamoto received a wake-up call, Reborn interferes, and Tsuna is convinced to hold an impromptu Vongola Guardian meeting; ensuing chaos predicted.
There was one thing Gokudera hated about his room. Just one. But it was right next to Tsuna's, and as the Tenth's Right Hand Man, Gokudera wasn't really about to voice any complaints.
Past dawn, sunlight always found his face.
Even when he moved the bed around, put up a blind, shut the curtains, the light would somehow filter through, bounce off walls and... It was a conspiracy. He grunted as he lifted a hand to shield his eyes, blinking blearily. Wait-
There was an arm... around his waist.
Gokudera scowled at the offending limb, and wrapped his fingers around Yamamoto's wrist to lift it, but that just made the man behind him snuggle and shift closer. The Hurricane Bomber squeezed his eyes shut and took some deep breaths, counting backwards from ten before correcting himself and then counting up from one. It wasn't normal for the baseball idiot to be this clingy, but then... it was still the baseball idiot.
Reaching over, Gokudera shove once at Yamamoto's shoulder. "Get off."
Yamamoto muttered something unintelligible, a protest perhaps as he buried his face even further into Gokudera's hair. But he opened his eyes anyway, and ugh; silver hair plus sunshine - ow ow ow - he winced, shoving himself backwards to sit up and out of the rays that so stung his eyes.
They both saw stars when Gokudera tried to sit up at the same time, neither of them looking, and subsequently knocking their heads together. Gokudera snarled beneath his breath, maneuvering so that he could shove Yamamoto away. Hard.
"Wake up faster, baseball idiot," he grumbled, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "And I said get off; I feel gross."
Yamamoto groaned and spared a second or two to look dismayed at the pleasant wake up call that he hadn't received since... high school? "I'm awake," he laughed, "awake, Gokudera!" He half-rolled, half-scampered out of the other man's way, rubbing his aching jaw and forehead, briefly imagining Gokudera's hand print on his face.
He could still see those slivers of silver sunlight that'd been all but burned to the underside of his eyelids. Blinking rapidly, Yamamoto rubbed the tears out of his eyes as well, only to chuckle, "It's just morning, and you're already so energetic."
"You're a lazy ass," Gokudera grumbled under his breath, blithely ignoring the fact that Yamamoto was usually the one to be up and out of the room first for morning exercises. Completely naked and utterly uncaring, Gokudera rolled out of bed. He ran his hand through his tangled hair and grimaced, heading for the in-suite bathroom.
Then, he remembered.
"Oi," he turned back around, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe leading to his bathroom. "You were cuddling."
"Ahahahaha," Yamamoto scratched his head sheepishly. "It's funny - I was just thinking how we ended up in that position last night."
He hadn't a clue, really. They hadn't cuddled since the awkwardness of youth when they both decided that getting all lovey-dovey with each other felt just plain weird. Gokudera always turned with his back to Yamamoto when it was finally time to sleep. Yamamoto would then lie on his back and stay on his side of the bed for the rest of the night. On and off, it'd become a comfortable routine. Until now...
Gokudera snorted, giving Yamamoto a disdainful glare that said you are an absolute moron and should thank me on your knees because I am a saint for dealing with your stupidity on a regular basis. He sighed, and looked back towards last night.
"You were thinking about Hibari, weren't you?" A pointed statement more than a question.
"...Huh?" Yamamoto's eyebrows went up. He gave a quiet, somewhat confused laugh after rolling the idea of cuddling Hibari in his head. "Gokudera," he had to admit the mental image was not altogether unpleasant, but, "I'm... not that suicidal."
Oh, really. Gokudera pushed his hair out of his eyes and resisted grabbing a few sticks of dynamite from the tabletop to toss at Yamamoto's head. He wouldn't have lit any of the fuses - he had more self-control than that - but it would have been a waste of energy. Yamamoto didn't dodge his firecrackers anymore when they weren't glowing and Gokudera didn't want to destroy what little brain cells the baseball idiot actually used.
"And I'm not stupid," he glared, because he could pretty much guess what Yamamoto had been thinking this time. He wiped the image out of his mind with a shake of his head. "I meant thinking about Hibari as in you're concerned about him. Some reason or another, you were holding me so goddamn close, like I was gonna slip away in your sleep-"
The idea of Yamamoto suddenly being clingy for him instead made Gokudera's lips thin. "Far as I know, our relationship hasn't changed and I'm not in more danger than is the norm for any of us, so you aren't abnormally worried about me, right?"
Yamamoto nodded, blankly, wide-eyed.
"You are fucking crazy," Gokudera sighed, and threw his hands up. "Of all people, you're feeling protective over Hibari...
"Eh, whatever." He stepped into the bathroom, only to paused again. "Just tell me something."
"Gokudera..."
"Whatever it that's going on with that guy," Gokudera looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "Does it, in any way, endanger the Tenth?"
Yamamoto shook his head; that was all Gokudera needed to know.
As the silver-haired man closed the bathroom door behind him, Yamamoto dropped back into bed, letting out a heavy sigh.
Was nothing important to Gokudera if it wasn't about Tsuna?
No, that wasn't fair. He'd more or less told Gokudera he wasn't going to tell him more, and...
Yamamoto stared at the ceiling as the sound of running water began. Gokudera was right; he wasn't stupid. Even though he did not know what was going on with Hibari, he'd hit the proverbial nail on its head. Yamamoto wanted to tell him. Surely, Gokudera could help them find or figure out how to make a cure.
But Hibari... It was Hibari of all people, and as Gokudera said, Yamamoto wanted to protect him. Maybe he was fucking crazy. Maybe Hibari didn't need help. And maybe he was going to be all right with some strange disease slowly eating at his lung, killing him from inside out.
With a listless laugh, Yamaoto sat up. Enough of that, he told himself. It wasn't something the Vongola Cloud Guardian would take lying down, and neither should the Rain. The others didn't have to know if Hibari didn't want them to, but Yamamoto knew that, when they all worked together, the Vongola made miracles.
***
Reborn didn't bother knocking. If his students were good enough, they would be able to tell, in any case. Besides, knocking on doors were terribly boring, really, and Reborn preferred to find more unorthodox entrances. Even for him, he needed to keep his skills sharp.
Sliding into the room through the window, he sat at the sill, cross-legged and holding a folder between his fingers. "Yamamoto," he greeted.
The young man placed the remote control on the coffee table, the screen frozen on a frame where a silver-haired swordsman stood smug and poised, smirking towards the camera after his 96th victory. While Yamamoto leaned back against the couch and made to turn towards the window, it took a moment for him to tear his eyes away from the man he once defeated ten years ago, now well on his way to becoming the next Sword Emperor.
"Hey, kiddo," Yamamoto had a wide smile, and when he finally looked at the older man, his bright brown eyes were dancing with pride and exhilaration.
"Haha. Come inside!" He gestured, and then looked down at the folder in Reborn's hands. "Oh," his smile dampened minutely. "Is that for me?"
Yamamoto seemed cheerful, Reborn noted as he jumped down from the windowsill. He padded over to the couch and sank down into it, handing over the file without a word. His eyes lidded slightly as he watched Yamamoto - the smile was genuinely warm and open, and the laughter was as real as it ever was.
That was what he liked about Yamamoto, to be honest. The man knew how to bounce back onto his feet even when something brought him down; never did he let it affect any of his mission, and it was incredibly easy for him to simply let go of his insecurities, to not let it affect him aversely for long periods of time.
Reborn glancing at the paused video. It was a welcome stress-relief, he surmised. What good timing. He let a smirk quirk his lips before turning back to Yamamoto. "Read through it."
Yamamoto nodded, taking the folder and pulling its contents out with the ease of practice. He scanned over names, addresses, and photographs of several doctors and researchers... from the Gesso family. After a period of silence, the only sounds in the room being their light breathing and the friction of paper shuffled against paper, he looked back at Reborn to show that he'd finished reading.
Reborn smiled slightly at him, tipping his hat downwards to cover his eyes. Yamamoto was already sliding into his professional mood - good. He turned away from Yamamoto to look at the wall, choosing his words.
"This isn't an official mission. Consider it a... favor of sorts, Yamamoto," not a favor to him, however. "I'm not going to ask you to assassinate this time - I'm going to ask you to make use of your other talents."
He paused before cutting straight to the chase. He wasn't one to mince words, especially not to a grown man who didn't need it. "Those scientists - I want you to befriend their families and try to get as much information about how to stop Hibari from dying as possible."
"Their families..." Yamamoto mulled over the wording, eyebrows crinkled slightly, his tone perplexed. "Do you mean you want me to befriend them as well as their families, or to avoid the scientists and only get close to their families?
"Kiddo," he looked at his mentor, mild discomfort crawling into his eyes. It was one thing to go undercover to infiltrate mafia families and fight people who meant his own family harm. But it seemed to him that Reborn wanted him to go after innocents this time. Not to kill them, yes, but, "They... might not know anything."
"There might be a chance that they do," Reborn was looking at him now, dark eyes intense and serious and boring into Yamamoto's. "It might be a long shot, Yamamoto, but it's a shot that I'm willing to take." For Hibari's sake; the words hung between them, unspoken but heavy all the same.
Then he looked away again, continuing, "Avoid the scientists. You wouldn't want to be recognized, Yamamoto."
Lips thinning, the Vongola Rain Guardian said nothing. He looked back down at the photos, thumbing one of them as he digested the words. Honestly, he wasn't one to be easily recognized in the mafia world now because it'd been his fault that his father was murdered in that other future. The Yamamoto Takeshi in that timeline had been... a bit of a celebrity as a hitman - a real star.
"I won't be recognized," he smiled back at Reborn. "I'll do it."
***
In the training room, Hibari pivoted on his heel and slammed his foot into the chest of one of the computer-simulated human enemies, crushing the ribcage. The man dropped backwards and fell, fading away even before it had reached the ground.
Letting his tonfas drop back to his side, Hibari's eyes closed, breathing through his partly-opened mouth. "Tetsu," he said, and it was almost a conscious effort to keep his words from slurring. "That's enough. You can go now."
Up in the observatory, Kusakabe watched as Hibari walked towards the wall and leaned against it heavily. He looked down at the controls - it wasn't a heavy workout, not for a man like Hibari. Normally, even the highest setting wouldn't have made him break a sweat. He frowned, then shook his head.
Such worrying was useless - Hibari neither wanted or needed it. He nodded sharply, though he knew that Hibari won't be able to see him, and switched off the controls. "Yes, Kyou-san. I'll be in the labs." There was more he needed to investigate.
Predictably, Hibari did not acknowledge those words, pushing himself away from the wall such that he wasn't depending on it to keep him standing steadily. He let out a long, slow breath, his hands clenching into a fist.
This was getting ridiculous.
Especially when Reborn appeared beside him somehow, a wall sliding shut behind him - that baby and his secret back passages... Even without looking up, Hibari could feel the man's eyes on him.
"You'll find this useful." Reborn said. He held out a manila folder with one hand.
Hibari opened his eyes, narrowing them to focus them as he opened the folder. Familiar faces and names stared back at him, and he shut it again, handing it back to Reborn with a shake of his head.
"I have this already."
Reborn made no move to take the folder back. Rather, he shook his head and smoothly crossed his arms over his chest. "These are the people I want you to stay away from," he clarified. "Yamamoto will deal with them; you would be recognized, Hibari."
In an instant, Hibari had his tonfa out and pointed at Reborn's throat, the tendons on the neck standing out as he gritted his teeth. He took a step into Reborn's personal space, and hissed, "I don't need to be protected by herbivores, baby."
Deftly, in a seemingly casual swipe, Reborn caught the end of the metal rod and pulled it aside, slowly but surely as if to prove that Hibari was in no condition to fight him. "Yamamoto is no herbivore," he smirked. "And neither am I.
"You have not become so weakened that you cannot beat information out of these people, I'm sure, but you're not one for subtlety, and assaulting their defenseless scientists for a reason you do not wish disclosed will allow the Gesso to openly target you."
Hibari jerked the tonfa out of Reborn's hand even before the older man could finish pushing it away. He scowled darkly, "Only weaklings need to hide their intentions from others. If they want to target me, then they are welcome to."
His smirk was nearly bloodthirsty when he continued, "I will just bite all of those rats to death."
"And be no closer to getting cured," Reborn scoffed, irritation and the mild distain in his eyes hidden behind the shadows cast by his fedora. "The people I specifically want you to avoid have no interest in fighting you at all. They simply made the weapon their famiglia's used on you. We need information from them. Nothing else, Hibari.
"It is a strength to be able to retrieve such a thing without force." With a dry, almost condescending smirk, Reborn looked him in the eyes. "It's not something you can do yet."
Hibari's lip curled up into something that was both self-satisfied and unspeakably angry at the same time. As far as he was concerned, he had been doing exactly what Reborn just said that he couldn't yet. It was that, and because he'd grown enough in the past ten years to realize when Reborn was blatantly baiting him, which kept him from attacking the Arcobaleno. That, and the fact that pain was suddenly blurring his vision - which he would never admit to, of course.
"Ch'," he snorted, stepping back and turning away, heading towards the door. "What do you think Tetsu has been doing?"
"He's been supervising a team in the Foundation that's been trying to hack into the Gesso's heavily guarded servers," Reborn nodded. "Having Kusakabe work behind the scenes is a smart move; his family will remain untouched by the mafia as long as you are alive.
"So leave Yamamoto to the frontline. You need to be in a secure position so that you can lead your men."
It was no surprise that Reborn knew - he always had a bad habit of interfering into things he didn't want to. Hibari stopped in his tracks, but didn't bother to turn around. "I don't like repeating myself, baby," he said curtly, flatly. "I don't need any of you to interfere with the Foundation, or me. All Yamamoto Takeshi will do is get in my way."
He took a long breath, feeling the air rattle hollowly in his lungs. He smirked slightly, "And so would you."
Reborn didn't like repeating himself. He vaguely wanted to shake some sense into Hibari, or shoot him for being pigheaded; Hibari was dying. He was not an island. He was not invincible. He was certainly in need of help, no matter how much he denied it.
"Hibari. I told you all this so that you will know to stay out of his way. The only thing I'm doing is making sure the two of you don't crash into each other when running after the same target again."
Hibari's lips thinned, and he started towards the door again with sharp, short steps. He pushed open the door.
"As long as he stays out of mine."
***
It was Yamamoto's idea, Tsuna reflected. "We had a reunion party, Tsuna, and it was fun, but we didn't all get updated on how everyone's been doing for these past ten years, so let's get all of us Guardians together and do that." So there they were in a meeting room, months after their last reunion. As they waited for the others to arrive, Tsuna peered at the Rain Guardian, curious.
Yamamoto was smiling at something or other, nothing in particular. It wasn't unusual, and yet...
Gokudera slid quite naturally into the seat on Tsuna's right, leaning back fluidly and stretching out his legs. There was an irritable look in his eyes however as he glanced at his watch. "How long do they plan to keep the Tenth waiting?" he grumbled, leaning his head against a hand.
Beside him, with a tiny sheepish smile, Tsuna shot Gokudera with a simple look. "It's okay, Gokudera. I don't mind."
Yamamoto laughed out loud from where he stood, by the sill of an open window that overlooked the back garden. The sky was cloudy, thick, grey and heavy, like it was going to rain soon. And though he could tell Gokudera was thinking something along the lines of Tsuna being a gracious, patient, all-round wonderfully amazing boss, Yamamoto didn't have the heart to poke him out of his rosy bubble, wondering instead if Hibari would deign to show up.
"Excuse me..." A soft voice came from the doorway, cutting through his musings, as Chrome stepped through it. She smiled, standing confident and tall, quite unlike her teenage self. Her long hair spilled over her shoulders, barely restrained by a few bobby pins at the sides. "I hope I'm not too late?"
Even though Mukuro's body was long-freed from his water prison, Tsuna still considered Chrome to be one of his guardians. She was more reliable than Mukuro, at any rate. And less intimidating.
Gokudera snorted, waving a negligent hand at the empty chairs down the long table. "You're earlier than, oh, the rest of them." There was no real bite to his sarcasm, because technically, no one was late yet, but they were still keeping the Tenth waiting, and Yamamoto was distracted, and everything was annoying Gokudera. "Assholes..."
"Hey, hey... Calm down, Gokudera," Yamamoto glanced back at Chrome with a playful, welcome smile gracing his lips. "Have my seat, Dokuro. Gokudera won't try to bomb you over Tsuna."
Gokudera gave him a flat glare, then raised an eyebrow.
"I really don't mind the wait, guys," Tsuna repeated. "It's going to rain soon, and Ryohei said he'd drive over." He nearly shivered at the image of his eternally-boisterous Sun Guardian grinning manically behind a steering wheel.
"Um, hello, Chrome." Tsuna cast Yamamoto a curious glance, then looked back at the young woman with a shy smile, "Welcome back. How are you and... the others?"
Taking the seat on Tsuna's left, Chrome set her trident on her lap and answered evenly, "Mukuro-sama is Mukuro-sama. He seemed to be rather preoccupied with his current job, and hasn't spoken to the rest of us for three days now." At the anxious look in Tsuna's eyes, she laughed lightly, shaking her head. "I feel him. He's fine.
"Ken and Chikusa are both fine, too," she continued. "Ken is annoyed at Mukuro-sama's silence, but I suppose he will get over it. Chikusa... is very much himself as well." Her smile turned fond as she turned back to Tsuna. "Thank you for asking, boss."
Tsuna blushed awkwardly at his only female guardian. He was happily engaged to his childhood sweetheart, but it never seemed to stop Chrome - or Mukuro - from a bit of teasing now and then. Nonetheless, he smiled back. "You're welcome."
As Chrome turned her attention inwards, Tsuna sighed internally, relieved. He glanced back towards Gokudera, and found him eyeing Yamamoto with a pensive frown.
Yamamoto wasn't paying attention to anyone in particular either. That was another thing that got Tsuna thinking. Normally, Yamamoto and Gokudera played off each other like a stand-up comedy duo - at least in Reborn's eyes. Tsuna sometimes wondered if their bones got mixed up in past lives and they thus had a lot of karma to collect from one another.
But lately, Yamamoto's been more preoccupied, and subsequently much much harder to read. The fact that they weren't stepping on each other's toes or having a verbal ping pong match over his head said something.
Tsuna just didn't know what.
But before he could dwell on it any further, someone slammed the door open and stormed in with a great, "Whoa! Sasagawa Ryohei has arrived just on time!"
And lying in the doorway, teenage Lambo sported a large shoe print on the back of his curly-haired head.
Gokudera reacted instinctively as the Vongola Sun Guardian came barreling in like a bull that had just spotted a red cloth. Placing himself between the two of them resulted in the Tenth's Right Hand Man being head-butted in the stomach by the Tenth's future brother-in-law. Tsuna winced, verbal squeak and all; Gokudera clenched a fist, smacking Ryohei over his spiked-up army cut on reflex.
"Fucking watch where you're going, lawn-head!" Gokudera blew up. He hadn't yet gotten over waking up on Ryohei's lap since their last reunion, before Bianchi threw her shirt in his direction and Yamamoto dragged him out. Ending up in another compromising situation with Ryohei however, right now, on the floor and in front of Tsuna did not make him feel any less molested. "Charging in like a bulldozer," his ass hurt, and he was nearly spitting nails. "You could've injured the Tenth, dumbass!"
Most of the pain of landing on his butt was pushed to the back of his mind as he shoved at the older man. One had to adapt with Sasagawa Ryohei, unless one was called Sasagawa Kyoko or Hibari Kyouya. And Gokudera was rather too busy pouring his frustrations - with baseball idiots and antisocial freaks, not to mention dumbass lawn-heads - out onto the thick-skinned man to dwell on physical discomfort.
Chrome ignored the ruckus beside her and slid out of her chair, padding towards the youngest of the guardians, who was now sitting up, tears in his eyes. She pat him absent-mindedly on his soft hair, asking, "Lambo-kun? Are you quite alright?"
Lambo bit his bottom lip, eyes almost bugging out as he told himself to tolerate the abuse, but he didn't dare say it out loud. Who knew when and where Reborn would pop up?
Over the years, the older hitman finally started moving on from Tsuna to make sure the rest of the guardians were up to standards. He finally paid Lambo some attention, and if Lambo was caught crying, oh boy...
Between teary-eyed Lambo, and the train wreck that was Gokudera plus a very wet Ryohei - who obviously drove over in a convertible - Tsuna squeaked and attempted damage control.
"Guys, um-"
Ryohei jackknifed from the slap to his temple, looking impressed. "That was an extreme blow, octopus-head!"
Tsuna had a sinking feeling in his gut as, behind him, Yamamoto started laughing. Ryohei's eyes shone as he clasped Gokudera's hand. "Coulda been better," he exclaimed excitedly, "but you're doing good for mid-range fighter!"
Gokudera's anger flared visibly.
Shaking his hand free, he grabbed a fistful of wet orange shirt and black tie, tugging Ryohei down to growl low. "I've trained in close combat too, you one-trick kangaroo. If you don't get off of me, I'll show you better. Now, quit dripping on my suit!
"And you!" Gokudera pointed an accusing finger at Yamamoto, "Quit laughing, baseball idiot; it's not funny!"
"But it is! Hahahahha!"
"Guys!" Tsuna wanted to tear his hair out as his Storm Guardian's self control - or what little was left of it - flew out the window. Dear gods, it looked like he was going to lose his Rain Guardian too. If Yamamoto laughed any harder, Tsuna was sure he'd be the next to take a dive, whether he fell out the window or Gokudera threw him out!
Chrome smiled serenely, completely unperturbed by the chaos around her. She was used to Ken, Chikusa and Mukuro-sama after all. She had experienced stranger phenomena.
Lifting her eyes, she nodded politely when another man stepped through the door. "Good afternoon, Reborn-san," she chimed, standing to step aside.
The hitman tutor smiled at her, removing his fedora in a gentlemanly fashion, holding it over his chest as he bowed. "The same to you, Chrome." He then turned his eyes, with undisguised distaste and amusement, towards Lambo, who was still rather... floored. After a moment, Reborn smirked ominously and prodded the boy with the toe of his boot. "Get up."
"Ah!" Lambo sniffed back a whimper and scrambled to his feet. He positively burned with embarrassment, and tried to laugh it off as he tugged his shirt back in place. "Haha-you're late," he managed with false bravado. Reborn promptly looked away again, ignoring him once more.
But then again, there was no way in hell that he could insult someone as fully as the pros going at it with each other in the room.
Ryohei had managed to pry Gokudera's fingers off, one by one, and now stood over him with an earnest, reassuring expression that almost looked smug. "Trust me, squid face. I've got more than one trick under my belt. You've got potential, but you've still got extremely bad form."
Gokudera's jaw dropped, and, "Oh, hey guys!" Ryohei finally saw the three standing at the door.
Chrome offered a sweet smile and Lambo rubbed the back of his head, looking away. Reborn simply put his hat back on, tipping it down over his eyes as though he was actually nodding.
"Ryohei!" Tsuna cut in before Gokudera could formulate a scathing reply. "Hi! Sit dow- have a seat! I mean," he had a strained smile on his face and it only grew wider when he suddenly pictured his future brother-in-law running around the base with the flu. "I'm- I'm glad you could make it. Why don't you go change into a set of dry clothes while we wait for uh Hibari-san!"
And while Tsuna wasn't looking, Yamamoto nearly did fall over the ledge, because he'd looked away in an attempt to stop laughing, only to halt, mid-laugh and stare out the window, stance going tense. The awkward cut-off made everyone fall silent.
Yamamoto turned fully towards the window, his hands falling from around his stomach to grip the window sill. His brows were creased, his mouth was slack and his eyes were riveted on something outside.
Without warning, he jerked around and went out the door, a dark scowl crawling over his face.
Gokudera watched as Yamamoto practically stormed out of the conference room, his own anger temporarily dampened by the Rain guardian's uncharacteristic behavior. Was there an assassin? Nah- What? He nearly ran over to the window, looking down.
And rolled his eyes. No wonder the baseball idiot ran off.
"So he finally decides to grace us with his presence today," he muttered, but there was no acid in his tone. "Hibari's here, Tenth. From god-knows-where."
If it weren't for those words, Tsuna would have dashed out after Yamamoto. Instead, he skid to a halt, narrowly missing Reborn, who probably would have side-stepped, though here he hadn't moved an inch. Thus, Tsuna collided into Lambo.
"Wha-Ah?!"
"Oof!"
Lambo cringed, one eye winced shut as momentum pushed them against a wall. The rest in the room could practically hear his internal mantra: Tolerate. But he pushed Tsuna back at arm's length after a tense moment and tried to figure out what just happened.
"Mr. Happy-Face ran down to bring Mr. Bite-You-To-Death up here?"
Tsuna just looked up at him, baffled. "But -" And then Gokudera's words sank in. "But Yamamoto looked mad!" Tsuna exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Reborn gave a mental chuckle at Lambo's nicknames for the two Guardians; the boy never failed to amuse. He reached over, and whapped Tsuna's silly head. It was easier now that he was taller than the boy - and he would always be a boy to Reborn, simply because he was his student.
"Silly Tsuna, watch where you're going," he berated with an even tone. Then, he turned around and whapped Lambo as well. "You too, stupid cow. Be more alert."
Reborn crossed his arms and shrugged slightly. "Let them be. Yamamoto will bring Hibari up here at any rate, so we might as well just settle down and wait."
Back: Part 4
Next: Part 6