Chapter 18: Chapter XVIII
Ten Years Later Interlude
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Between him and him, they just missed each other once and once again.
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"The Gesso Famiglia and the Giglio Nero Famiglia recently merged to form the Millefiore Famiglia." Yamamoto reported.
"The head of Giglio Nero Famiglia, Uni, would agree to merge with Gesso?" Tsuna asked, surprised.
"Byakuran probably did something that made her agree." Ietsu guessed.
"Should we do something?" Gokudera asked.
Ietsu shook his head, "It's none of our business if she agrees with the merger."
"But Gesso was already a threat on its own, with Giglio Nero..." Gokudera felt that the situation couldn't go on.
"They did not do anything wrong and we do not have any rights to interfere, unless we want to start a war." Ietsu then turned to Reborn who was silent the whole time on the table, and asked, "What do you think, Reborn?"
"Ietsu is right. At this point, the best course of action is simply to continue to monitor their actions." Reborn replied.
Gokudera looked frustrated and ready to argue, but years of practice finally made him calmer and less rash, so the meeting ended shortly after.
"I just dropped by to check on you guys, only to receive news of a rising family that is not in a good relationship with Vongola, leading Vongola to be in a precarious position." Tsuna said to Reborn as they walked out of the meeting room.
After graduation at Namimori Middle School, Ietsu had finally agreed to take up the role of Vongola Decimo and lead Vongola along with his guardians. Reborn also helped out as a member of Vongola, but Tsuna chose to go back to his previous lifestyle before he came to Namimori. Unlike everyone else, Tsuna did not have the same commitments and he would not let himself be bound by such. He would rather go around the world without an aim and take up odd jobs, but he did make visits to Vongola from time to time in these few years.
The other guardians were busier and all went back to work, only leaving Reborn who did not have a definite job scope to talk to him.
Reborn was unusually quiet, before asking, "You find it odd too, don't you? The rate at which the Millefiore Famiglia grows is not natural."
"You mean how it is one of the fastest growing Famiglia in history? Yes, it is indeed abnormal."
"As if they had some supernatural help." Reborn speculated.
"Supernatural... The mafia is pretty supernatural in the first place isn't it?" Tsuna wanted to laugh, but got serious a few seconds later, "If you need it, I could help investigate."
Reborn shook his head, "It is not wise for you to go near the enemy's base alone."
Tsuna shrugged, "I mean, I don't think it would be too much work for me-"
Reborn was adamant, "There is no need for you to do so, and there are too many uncertainties surrounding that famiglia."
"If you say so." Tsuna did not pursue the issue further.
They reached the Vongola dining hall, and grabbed food together. Tsuna smiled when the plate of spaghetti was served to him, with a slice of cake at the side. "Honestly what I missed the most when I'm outside is the food made by the Vongola chefs," he confessed.
Reborn, who was sitting right in front of him: "..."
Tsuna saw the face Reborn pulled and blinked, "What? They hire the best chefs, no?"
Reborn finally nodded, "They do."
"I wonder if they will give me their recipe? I'm sure it is being passed down, the food tastes the same throughout the years."
Reborn reminded him, "You can't really cook very well, Tsuna." Even if he had the recipe, that didn't mean he would be able to cook as well as the professional chefs.
Tsuna huffed, "Fine, be that way." Disregarding Reborn's rudeness, he decided to focus on the food instead.
"Tsuna," Reborn called, resulting in Tsuna looking up from his food, "If you hadn't become an Arcobaleno, what would you be doing?"
While surprised at the sudden question, Tsuna answered after pausing to think for a while, "I don't know, maybe lead a normal life, without having any relationship with the mafia?"
Tsuna stuffed a few more mouthfuls of spaghetti into his mouth, before continuing, "Now that you ask, I think I would have preferred a more peaceful life? Work a normal job, retire in the woods..."
Reborn raised an eyebrow, "Retire in the woods?"
Tsuna laughed while scratching his head sheepishly, "I don't know, maybe I would be too sick of people after working for so long. It's always nice to enjoy some peace and quiet with nature. Imagine that, a cottage in the woods, planting flowers and vegetables in my free time. Quite a nice image, don't you think?"
"Then why don't you do that now?"
"I'm sorry?"
Reborn repeated, "You can afford that life now, so why don't you do it?" Why wander aimlessly around the world?
Tsuna stared at Reborn, his hands and mouth finally stopped moving. "Maybe," Tsuna shifted his gaze to the view outside the window, "Maybe it's because my life is too long now to be living like that." In the woods, with nothing to do except for staring at himself in the mirror every day, probably.
"Human beings are complicated that way, Reborn." Tsuna said, "We never know what exactly we want, and even if what we want is within a manageable reach, we often do not get there. Perhaps one day I would be living like that, but today is not the day yet."
Reborn nodded slowly, pondering Tsuna's words, "I understand what you mean."
"Where are you going next?" Reborn asked.
"Possibly Japan." They were in the Italy headquarters now, and both of them had not been to Japan in a while.
"Send my regards to whoever is in Japan, then."
Tsuna agreed, and moved on to his cake after finishing his spaghetti.
Reborn had not ask for dessert, so he just watched him eat.
"What do you think of the future of Vongola?"
Tsuna looked up from his cake, "Do you want to ask if I'm having any visions, or are you simply asking for my opinions from my observations?"
"Both."
"I do not have any visions specifically on Vongola, so there is that. From what I see, I would say that Vongola is stagnating." With so much power at hand currently, stagnation would not be that much of a problem, but it was another case when there are other rising families.
Tsuna thought for a few more seconds before asking, "Are you afraid that Vongola is at its peak?" After the peak, it would just be a downhill next.
Reborn did not comment on that, but Tsuna took it as a yes.
"Are you still the Reborn I know?" Tsuna tilted his head and asked. "The Reborn I knew never had any doubts about what he was confident in. You were always so sure about maintaining Vongola, so what are you thinking so much about now?"
"I think you know me well enough to know what I am thinking and what I am not thinking." Reborn clasped his hands and set them on the table.
Tsuna smiled, "Then you would know what I think of this too."
He continued, "We are currently at a standstill. Ietsu would not unnecessarily start a war or wipe out a family given the situation now. In fact, I cannot imagine him doing anything like that no matter the circumstances. After all, he would be more interested in using peace to deal with any disputes."
"I think," Tsuna's eyes lost focus for a moment, "Some things are inevitable, and no matter what we try, they will still happen."
"I don't believe in going down without a fight." Reborn said.
"That's what I like about you, Reborn," Tsuna chuckled, but turned solemn. "Struggling, fighting, but having the same outcome in the end. Would you feel better to know that at least you have tried, or worse because all your work was for naught and hopeless because it wasn't in your capability to do anything?"
"Vongola's future isn't the brightest," Tsuna concluded, "The world of mafia is changing, and Vongola may very possibly not be the strongest family in the near future."
Tsuna patted Reborn's hand, "We both know what could be coming. Do what you believe is right, and I know that is the best choice."
"Great meal with you, I got to go now." Tsuna stood up from his chair after wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.
"So soon?" Reborn followed suit, then pausing a little in his steps. "You are leaving now? Why don't you stay longer?"
"I'd pass. There's nothing much here, and you guys look like you are busy. I wouldn't want to disturb for too long."
Reborn walked Tsuna to the door, handing him his coat before he left. Reborn helped to flatten some creases on Tsuna's coat after he wore it, his fingers lingering a few more seconds than needed, before he pulled his hand back. "Sometimes I feel like you don't take good care of yourself when you're out."
Tsuna gave a guilty laugh. "You know how when you are alone you tend to not care about some details, but I'll try my best."
"See you. If you guys need anything, just call me." Tsuna waved goodbye and stepped out, then got into a car outside.
Reborn stood at the doorway and watched the car drove off, only returning to his room when the car was no longer in sight.
---
"Colonnello and Viper... have sacrificed."
Everyone in the room stilled when they heard the news. The Vongola could not believe what had happened.
"What?"
"But... they are the Arcobaleno..." And all they knew was that Arcobaleno didn't die.
Tsuna's blood froze when he got hold of the news, and dropped everything on his hands to rush to the Vongola headquarters.
"What do you mean? They had sacrificed?" Tsuna stood in the middle of Vongola's meeting room, fists held so tight by his side his fingernails were dug into his skin, but he didn't even realize.
The room was silent.
Tsuna looked at each of their faces one by one, seeking an answer, "How is that possible? How could I not have known? I should have felt something, why didn't I feel anything?" How could he not have any visions about that, why wasn't he there to help them?
"Tsuna, calm down." Was all that Reborn could say.
Tsuna shook his head, "I am calm."
He turned to look at Reborn, who looked like he wanted to say something else, and sighed. He took a seat and said, "Tell me exactly what had happened."
Ietsu explained how Colonnello and Viper were fighting against the Millefiore family, but there weren't many details at hand since there weren't any other people with them.
Tsuna just sat there after Ietsu was done, not saying anything. They did not know how to comfort him, so they decided to give him some time alone instead.
Everyone left the room, except for Reborn who remained seated. "It's not your fault."
"You don't understand, Reborn." The special bond between the Sky and the rest was like a string connected from them to his heart, and every time they left the string would break and a piece of his heart would be pulled out along with it.
"Calm, calm, calm. How do I remain calm?" Tsuna asked. He did appear calm, but everyone knew it was all simply a façade. Nobody could understand the turmoil he was having deep within him. "Two people I've known for the longest time died suddenly. We've been through so much together, and I am their leader. I should have been looking after them."
"... You couldn't have prevented it, and they know what they were going into." Reborn said. After all, being in the mafia meant that their lives would always be on the line, and they were always prepared for death.
"Sometimes I feel like you don't have a heart." Tsuna mumbled.
Reborn was so rational, sometimes it seemed that nobody's death would affect him, and as long as he could take one more step towards his ultimate goal, that was all that mattered. Calm? The only calm one here was Reborn.
Reborn kept quiet beside him.
"I'm sorry." Tsuna quickly apologized after that slipped out, covering his face with his hands, "I am horrible. You were just trying to comfort me and I took it out on you."
"It's fine, you're not horrible." The last thing Reborn wanted now was to make Tsuna feel like he was a horrible person.
"It is despairing, to face everything life throws you but you can't do anything about it. Every single try you take is futile, every single step you make you are still in the same spot." Tsuna pulled down his hands to reveal his eyes, but his hands were still covering half his face as he glanced at Reborn, "Am I just going to watch them die without being able to do anything?"
Reborn grabbed Tsuna's hand, "You're stronger than you think you are."
Tsuna shook his head, "It's not a matter of being strong. It just... sort of haunts you wherever you go."
"I am tired now, I really am." Tsuna said.
Reborn knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. He just sat beside Tsuna in silence, waiting for him to feel better.
---
Tsuna knew that they were all going to die.
Targeting Vongola and the Arcobaleno - Byakuran wasn't going to stop until he reached his goals.
"What is it like when you watch everyone you love die one by one?" Byakuran sent him a message.
Like you would rather your heart was gouged out instead.
Like a piece of you dying one bit by one bit, and when you lost each piece you experienced excruciating pain, but it happened so many times that you became numb, yet you are still in pain each time.
"Come to me," Byakuran had said. "Together we can do anything."
Tsuna didn't reply him.
Instead, he was still in Vongola's headquarters, which he had been ever since Millefiore's attacks.
"You can feel it too, can't you?" Sitting on the couch, Tsuna asked Reborn who was sitting opposite him drinking coffee.
Reborn nodded, "Something is weakening all the Arcobaleno, and it feels like poison flowing in the veins."
"It doesn't affect me as much as you all." Verde had already passed away, while Fon and Skull were seriously ill. Reborn too, was falling sick more often than usual. Tsuna, on the other hand, could still function normally albeit feeling slightly weak at times.
"They called it the Anti Tri-ni-sette Radiation, which can be used specially to target the Arcobaleno. Others are not affected by it." Reborn was talking but he suddenly had a coughing fit.
"Stop drinking so much coffee when you're not feeling well, Reborn." Tsuna frowned, taking Reborn's cup from him.
Reborn did not argue.
Tsuna took another cup and filled it with water this time and passed it to Reborn. He watched as Reborn took a sip from the cup, before saying, "You know, I have heard of a saying that the Sky Arcobaleno can revive other Arcobaleno."
Reborn had a bad feeling about this. "How?"
"By injecting flames into the pacifiers." Tsuna replied.
Reborn pursed his lips. "You believe in that? It could be a myth."
"I believe it is true." And Tsuna's intuitions were rarely wrong.
Reborn remained silent for a while, staring at the cup in his hands, before looking up and asking, "How much flames do the pacifiers need?"
Tsuna paused to think, before shrugging and replying, "I don't know, probably as much as I have."
"You really want to do this?" Reborn stared at Tsuna, slowly uttering his words. Even if he felt like he already knew the answer to this question, he still chose to ask this. Maybe he was still looking for a glimmer of possibility that there was something else in there when Tsuna told him this.
"This is probably the only way, Reborn." Tsuna gazed back, his tone firm and steady.
The only way to save Vongola, to stop people from dying, and to save the world.
Reborn's fist tightened by his side.
What price are you willing to pay to reach your goals?
Could you sacrifice everything you had ever known?
---
Sometimes Tsuna wondered, Vongola and him, which would Reborn choose?
Sometimes Reborn wondered, the world and him, which would Tsuna choose?
In the end, Reborn chose Vongola, and Tsuna chose the world.
----
"Reborn left you some things in his will."
Tsuna looked up at Reborn's lawyer holding a piece of paper, clutching the pacifiers he had with him. All six pacifiers were with him now, which meant there was only him left, holding onto them like a lifeline. "He's not really dead, you know."
"But..." I think he would like you to have this, the lawyer thought. While they all knew that Reborn was probably going to come back if everything went according to Tsuna's plans, the lawyer knew Reborn would know that his will would be used and yet he had not told the lawyer to change anything.
"He is currently legally dead, so this is the procedure I have to follow."
Tsuna nodded and took the will from his hand, since he did not want to make life difficult for a man who was simply trying to fulfil his duties.
There was no point in leaving him money, Tsuna thought, and he couldn't think of anything else Reborn would leave him.
He quickly scanned through the will. "I have all rights to his possessions, that sounds reasonable... Wait-" Tsuna suddenly stopped.
"A piece of land in Italy? Why would he-" Tsuna felt like maybe he didn't understand Reborn as much as he liked to, and it wasn't his first day feeling this way.
Even if Tsuna wanted to see what Reborn left him, he was currently in Japan right now, and the circumstances would not allow him to go to Italy freely at his will.
Tsuna frowned and asked, "Is it something important for Vongola?"
"No, I don't think so. Reborn-san had this land for many years, before all of this happened."
Tsuna nodded, but agreed that it was probably not related to Vongola. "He never said what it was for?"
"I think he just mentioned it was a gift for you."
"Oh." Tsuna wasn't sure what to make of that. "Thanks for telling me, regardless."
"Tsuna-san, the meeting is starting soon." Tsuna looked up, and passed the document back to the lawyer so he could continue to process it after this. "Thank you for your help today."
Tsuna filed the piece of information at the back of his head, but too many things were happening way too fast. Until the day he died, he still never got to see what Reborn had left him.
---
"What exactly do you want, Byakuran?" Tsuna was sitting in the sofa in front of Byakuran when he asked this question.
Byakuran only returned him his signature foxy grin, "If you had come earlier, I might have spared a few of them."
Tsuna stared back at him, unconvinced, "Both of us know that you wouldn't."
"It doesn't do for you to have so little faith in me, Tsunayoshi." Byakuran shook his head, as if reprimanding him.
Tsuna took a deep breath, before saying, "I can 'join' you, but I would like to take care of the pacifiers."
"You are the Arcobaleno's boss, it does make sense for you to help take care of them." Byakuran replied, but he did not seem to agree or disagree with what Tsuna had requested.
Tsuna needed to keep all the pacifiers close to him to achieve what he wanted. He bit his lower lip as he looked at Byakuran who was also watching him.
Tsuna finally said, "I promise you, I won't run."
---
Tsuna kept the pacifiers close to him, never letting them out of his sight.
When he was alone, he would take them out and hold them and sometimes talk to them, no matter how silly he would appear to be.
Slowly, he would try to inject flames into the pacifiers, without Byakuran noticing.
Feeling the pacifiers pulsating with his own flames, warming up his hands, Tsuna said, as if to comfort them, "Don't worry, I'm alright. He still needs me, so he wouldn't do anything to me."
"Ietsu's plan is working until now. I know you'd be proud if you knew all that he has done." Tsuna informed one particular yellow pacifier, which liked to pulse more frequently than the others.
A few weeks later, Tsuna said, "Don't reject my sky flames. You're just making my job harder and slowing the inevitable."
He continued, "I can't live with knowing that I could have saved all of you but I didn't, so please don't be upset."
"I don't know how to continue living like this. It's so different knowing you're well in another place but we are apart, versus when you're completely out of reach." Tsuna brought his legs up so he could hug his knees, and quietly mumbled, "I just kind of... miss you being here."
Tsuna continued to ramble on, not sure if he was really talking to someone, or just whispering to himself, "Maybe... we just have to wait until our next life to be together again."
"Maybe we met in this life, so we know how to find each other in our next."
Tsuna stared out the window, and hypothesized, "You know, perhaps in at least one parallel universe we would be happy together, and I'm happy just knowing that."
As the days passed by, Tsuna could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. "Isn't fate cruel that I can't even say a last goodbye to you?"
There was no reply.
Tsuna's heart clenched. "I'm sorry. Sorry that you have to experience what I have experienced when I'm gone. When you wake up, I wish you could forget me instead. Sometimes I think that might be better."
On the very last day, Tsuna gently cupped the pacifiers in his hands, feeling his flames resonating with them.
At this moment, he felt strangely calm, and he wasn't afraid of what was to come. He could tune out the people around him to focus on what he had to do.
"Goodbye." Tsuna said softly, not caring if they can hear him.
"I hope you had sweet dreams, and there will be many more to come."
When you wake up, I hope the happiness from the dreams will continue.
Tsuna closed his eyes, and hoped for the first time in years, he would get some sweet dreams too.
The flames burnt brighter and brighter, and as they reached their brightest point, it was also time they extinguished.
When Reborn opened his eyes again, the world was nearly the same as when he left it.
His yellow pacifier was still on his chest, as if it never left.
He let his hands wrap around it and tightened his grip. The warmth left by another person seemed to be gone, only leaving his own flames to fill the pacifier.
---
"You like flower fields?" Reborn asked Tsuna as he sat down right in the middle of the lavender fields, sniffing the purple flowers in front of him.
"Yeah. It would be nicer if there was a field of orange flowers though." Tsuna smiled, unbothered by the bees flying around him as he got close to the flowers, but simply taking in the view of lavender swaying gently in the wind and the sweet scent of it.
Tsuna thought Reborn wouldn't understand it, and he didn't know a passing remark would leave such an impression in Reborn's mind.
"Pff, you want to buy a land to plant flowers? Are you still the Reborn?" The seller who knew Reborn for quite some time asked. He would stare at Reborn in disbelief, if he had not considered that to be rude. He continued teasing Reborn, "Spending and doing so much for one person? She must be the one, eh?"
Reborn shrugged, "I'm not sure about that, but of course it would be nice if he were to be."
The agent let out a hearty laugh, "I can be sure for you, sir."
Reborn's lips twitched upwards.
The agent shook his head, "Look at you, you are absolutely smitten."
Reborn stared at him, but found that there was no point trying to deny that even though he would never use 'smitten' to describe himself, "Yes, yes, I am. Now will you do it for me?"
"If you've got the money, of course I would do anything for you. Don't worry, I will get it done as soon as possible."
Reborn thanked him, and walked out of his office. As he walked on the streets, he noticed that the sun was glaring today, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
He imagined what it would be like, when the skies are blue and clear like the weather today, with the land filled with orange flowers.
Maybe one day, when the flowers are at full bloom, he could show Tsuna that place.
But before he knew it, the curse came.
---
Whenever Reborn walked past a flower shop, he would stop in his tracks and stare inside.
Every once in a while, there would be orange roses poking out of the vases.
He would consider buying them, but there wasn't anyone to give them to.
Sometimes, Reborn thought, he was willing to sacrifice the whole world to get Tsuna back.
-- Gift
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