What now?

Part 31 Lull of Misery

"Sawada Tsunayoshi? The Demon?" 

Squalo stared at the small brunette, almost not believing it. This can't be him, he looks too innocent! Squalo had only ever heard horror stories Tsuna, how you could see the endless rage in his eyes. But Squalo could see none of that. 

Despite that he found it interesting was the boy's lack of fear, even casually introducing himself. Then again he knew that murdering people made you less affected by death. A grin grew on his face, he was intrigued. Never a good thing.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked as he retracted his sword. Doing a quick check on his hand, he nodded and looked back up at Tsuna.

"I live here, with my friends." Tsuna answered curtly. He loosely waved his arm towards the door, making direct eye contact. Normal were it any other person, but a challenge to a mafioso. Squalo especially.

"Really now, you and a bunch of other kiddies all alone? That can't be good, you lot need an adult don't you think?" He snickered mirthfully, he couldn't imagine who this kid could be hiding away with. But they had to be smart to pull it off, no reasonable person would rent out such a nice apartment to a group of random teenagers. "Why don't you and you're freinds come with us?"

"Us?" Tsuna asked curiously.

Squalo grinned. Hook, line, and sinker.

Too bad it was the other way around

-Back in Japan-

Nori slumped over his homework lifelessly. Staring at the math problems, nothing made sense. Numbers went into his head, and right out, what little stayed in just melted into a soup of nonsense.

"Do you need help Tenth?" Gokudera has long finished all his homework, and was now reading a physics book on the floor. He had a look of concern in his eyes, he knew what was troubling Nori. 

"Why?" Nori muttered tossing his pencil aside. He knew the concern was well meaning but it only annoyed him beyond end. "What's the point of doing my damn homework when my brother is missing? It's so fucked up that math has a higher priority than family. I thought family was important in the mafia!" 

Throwing up his hands he slumped into his chair, completely defeated. His anger was boiling over and he couldn't hold himself together.

"Do you really consider him family?" Gokudera asked more to himself than anything. He was so sure he hated Tsuna, being the cruel Demon and everything. But this Demon was so soft and kinds, more like an angel if anything. He wondered who the real monster was now.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Those words, the mere implication tipped Nori off the edge. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" he roared suddenly shooting out of the chair. How dare anybody question his love fro his family, he thought he'd made it abundantly clear he cared for Tsuna. Why else would he have gone through so much trouble, so much strife and stress for some background character.

"Gokudera, as my subordinate... are you fucking questioning me?" His voice was deathly quiet as he stared down the silver haired boy. "I advise against that, but if you have an issue with my decisions then I suggest you leave." Nori had the other by the collar of his shirt, his knuckled white from his deathly grip.

"No no, never Tenth! I just meant-"

"What the hell could you possibly mean?! He's gone, maybe dead, and you're asking why I even care. Is this how you'd act of Sora went missing?" He accused blindly. His body was shaking violently, he didn't even bother to look at Gokudera. He let the boy go before he did anything regretful.

"Tenth..."

"It doesn't fucking matter, just leave... not forever though. I didn't mean that, I-I just need to think."

Gokudera nodded and was gone without another word. 

On his way out, Gokudera bumped into Sora. Nori's question popped into mind, Would I care if Sora went missing? He shook his head, he wouldn't know who he was if he didn't. That he was sure of. More than anything.

"Something wrong?" the younger boy asked. Before he'd never ask such a personal question, or at least what Sora thought was intrusive. But now there was a bit of confidence behind his concern. Whether it was because of their friendship, or Sora was actually shaping up into a boss, Gokudera wasn't sure.

He shook his head with a faint smile. "No Sora-sama, I'm fine." He made his way out, tossing a loose goodbye at his sister and Fuuta, but not daring to look their way.

Fuuta swung his tiny legs as he listened to Bianchi. Spooning more food into his mouth, he still zoned into the woman's words. She was telling him about Tsuna, and from what he heard, this was a totally different person. He found himself wanting to meet Tsuna, see for himself.

"I think he'd love you," Bianchi muttered at the end of her story on Tsuna's little cross dressing excursion. 

Fuuta perked up excitedly. "Really?" 

She laughed sadly but nodded. She had never seen Tsuna handle a kid before, but she had a good feeling he'd be great at it. With Fuuta being such a good child, surely the brunette would adore him.

This made Fuuta hopeful, he really wasn't sure what to think of it. But a small bit of pride welled in his chest as his cheeks flushed. "I hope you're right Bianchi-nii."

Nori sat lifelessly at the end of bed when Sora came in. He spared his brother a short glance, then went back to staring at the floor. He felt the bed shift, feeling Sora beside him. He didn't want to speak but he'd hate to ignore his brother.

"Hi," Sora greeted. He could feel his brother's distraught from a mile away. Which was weird seeing as he'd only properly known him for a couple years now. He never felt such a strong connection with Tsuna, even if he knew Tsuna all his life. Even when they got along as kids, he was blind to him. 

Tsuna had only ever been a second thought until recently. That disgusted him, he couldn't believe he was such a worthless younger brother. If only he had bothered when he had the chance.

"What if he ran away?" Sora pondered aloud. He didn't want that to be true, but it was a fair assumptions.

Nori laughed spitefully. "Well I wouldn't fucking blame him, I would too. You're family hated you all you're life, what more reason would you need?"

Sora nodded. "If he did, I think it'd be because of all of us. Not just you."

"I don't see why he wouldn't run away because of me. I'm a disgusting enough person right?" Nori sneered thinking back on the first day he met Tsuna. He couldn't figure out why he had done such a thing. He wasn't into such vile acts, he was sure of that.

"Well dad gets really pissed of when you don't do as he says. But yeah, that's no real excuse I guess." Sora sighed, he'd let Nori sort himself out a bit. "Sorry to bother you."

"Do you think he'd accept an apology? It's kinda late now, and the first one was shitty as hell. I-I mean, of course he'd say forgive and forget, but do you think he'd mean it?"

Sora shook his head, "Well you'd have to find out for yourself huh?"

What's this? An update that's not a year later? Boy Howdy, sure is. Damn, forgot how fun it is to write this. I'm pretty sure I almost dropped this cause I kept taking this too seriously, but then I remembered this story is a mess anyways. I can do whatever, I don't need plot accuracy in this fan fiction.

Gokudera wasn't forgotten! Heyo!