The Azure Sky

Chapter 8: Crying

"Ah~you're awake, Hito-kun!"
The said blonde blinked his blue eyes as he stared up into sunset-orange eyes.
It took a few seconds to process who the owner of those eyes were; the events from before came rushing back to him.
"HIIIIIEEE!  S-SAWADA-SENSEI!"
Hito quickly scrambled backwards before feeling his back hit something hard.
He rubbed his back before glancing behind himself; his back had hit the headboard of his bed.
It was then that the blonde noticed that he was in his room.
"E-Eto...Sawada-Sensei...h-how did I get to m-my room?"
Tsuna gave a sheepish laugh.
"Maa, when you fainted," Hito flushed out of embarrassment. "I thought that sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable, so I brought you to your room."
Hito flushed darker before giving a tentative smile to the other.
"Th-Thank you, Sawada-Sensei."
Tsuna merely grinned before standing up, stretching slightly.
"Well, let's go, Hito-kun." A small smirk made its way to the ex-Decimo's face. "We still have training to do~!"
With that, Tsuna left the room.
Hito gaped and he shook violently; the blonde pulled his blankets over his head to hide--even though the brunet was already gone.
'HIIIIEEEE!  HE'S DEFINITELY ANOTHER REBORN!  I WASN'T IMAGINING IT!'
~~
"A-Ano...Sawada-Sensei...w-where are we going?"
Tsuna glanced back, eye-smiling towards the other.
"Oh~just a cliff you might be familiar with."
Hito could've sworn that the other chuckled evilly at the end of his sentence.
Reborn was on Tsuna's shoulder, smiling amusedly at the change of attitude of his supposed ex-student.
On the other hand, the brunet was thinking about the Vongola Ring on Hito's finger--it was not in its released form.
'So...that narrows the timeline down to before the Future War and after the Ring Conflict--since he has the two halves of the Vongola Sky ring.'
Tsuna's eyes grew distant at the thought of his deceased once-enemy and now-friend.
'Byakuran...'
"BYAKURAN!"
"E-Eh?  Haha....i-it's--cough--Tsunayoshi-kun..."
Tears streamed down the Decimo's eyes; his hand were pressed against the grievous wound on the Mare ring-user.
"Why did you engage the enemy by yourself when I specifically told you not to?"
Byakuran coughed harshly.
"M-Maa...I had my Gua..rdians...with me..."
"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!"
"H-Heh...Tsuna...yoshi..-kun's mad~!"
Byakuran coughed harshly.
Slowly, his eyes began to droop; Tsuna widened his eyes before applying more pressure to the wound.
"Don't you f****** dare close your eyes, Byakuran."
"Aw...b-but I'm sleepy...Tsuna..yo..shi..-kun..."
Feebly, Byakuran reached a pale, bloodied hand out and ruffled Tsuna's hair; the marshmallow-lover smiled a real smile--unlike his usual fox-like grins.
"I'm...sorr..y.....Tsuna...yosh..i...-kun."
The hand dropped, and the heartbeat of the Mare ring-user ceased.
"S-Sawada-Sensei?"
Tsuna blinked before turning his gaze to the left, where Hito was gazing worriedly at him.
The brunet smiled.
"Hai~?  What's wrong?"
"Why are you crying?"
'Eh?'
Tsuna then felt the warm, wet tears against his cheeks; they all stopped walking.
The brunet quickly scrubbed an arm over his eyes, giving a nervous laugh to the others.
"Maa~nothing to worry about!  We should hurry now!"
The ex-Decimo ignored the stares--although it was hard, since the number one hitman was gazing at him sternly.
The rest of the walk was filled with silence.
~~
"HIIIEEEE!?  H-HI-HIBARI-SAN!?  C-CHROME-CHAN!? ONII-SAN!?"
"Hn/B-Boss.../EXTREME!"
Hito trembled and instinctively hid behind Tsuna to put distance between him and Kyoya; the brunet laughed at that.
"Maa, I told Kyoya that he won't be 'biting herbivores to death' today." Tsuna grinned. "He'll be fighting...me."
"EEEEEEH!?"
Tsuna ignored the outburst as he turned to the rocky path ahead, which would lead to the cliff that Tsuna once trained at in his world.
"He won't be fighting me alone though..." The brunet looked over his shoulder as sunset-orange eyes glowed ominously in the slightly-shaded area. "All of you will be fighting me--at the same time."
~~
"Hai~we're here~!"
Tsuna smiled brightly--he wasn't even sweating, which impressed Reborn slightly--as he glanced behind himself; the group was panting harshly, except Kyoya and Ryohei.
'Hm...I'll have to help them work on their stamina later on...'
He let them catch their breath as he leaned against a boulder, hands in his pockets.
After a few minutes, they eased their breathing before slowly standing up; Tsuna noticed and smiled softly, pushing off of the boulder behind him as he slowly walked to the center of the clearing, his back facing them.
"Alrighty then..." Tsuna cracked his neck before turning his head to look at them; his eyes glowed brightly. "...Shall we begin?"