Freeborn! ((COMPLETE))

XIV

Crap, Tsuna thought to himself. "Guys, we have a dilemma..."

"Dilemma? What kind?" Rei asked, sounding worried.

"The kind that might just make this entire operation a bust. There's a guard outside the door."

"What?! No!" Rei exclaimed, bringing his hands up to the sides of his head in frustration.

"Quiet!" Rin whispered, clenching a hand over Rei's mouth while Tsuna checked on the guard. Thankfully the guard didn't seem to have been disturbed by the sudden noise too much, having only shifted in the chair slightly.

Tsuna let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He looked back at the others and gave a thumbs up only for a fairly loud thump to echo throughout the halls.

Two short words shot through their heads at exactly the same time. Uh oh...

~on the other side of the door~

Kalas heard the sirens blaring and he heard the echoing sounds of footsteps as the guards hunted for the intruders. He also heard what sounded like his brother when he's annoyed or disheartened followed by what sounded like Rin trying to keep him quiet. After that there was a pause and suddenly there was a thump just outside the door that made Kalas's stomach drop.

"Huh? What? Someone there?" came the tired voice of the guard that had previously been sleeping against the door.

Then something strange happened. Something about the same size and weight of the guard's head hit the door before hitting the floor, sounding like a huge weight was towed along with it. There was a small "sorry!" followed by what sounded like keys jingling and a quiet metal sounding clink before the door opened, revealing four teens, one kneeling next to the now knocked out guard, and the other three standing just outside the room. Scratch that, one was standing just outside the room while the other two scrambled to help Kalas up.

"Guys? Who's the other guy?" Kalas croaked out weakly. Ever since his escape attempt last month, he'd been getting less food and water, resulting in a malnourished and dehydrated nineteen and a half year old.

"This is Tsuna, he joined the swim team a couple months ago," Rin said as Tsuna waved a hello.

Kalas returned the wave as best he could. "So, what, are we inducting everyone who joins the swim team into our little group?" Kalas asked, his voice getting slightly stronger the more he used it.

His four saviours looked at each other, trying to come up with a good answer. Luckily, Nagisa solved that problem.

"Sure, let's go with that!" the strawberry blonde replied, breaking the small silence that had fallen over their group.

Tsuna smiled at his upperclassman's answer before looking at the rather sickly looking older teen Rin and Rei were supporting.

"Will you be able to walk okay?" Tsuna asked in concern.

Kalas flashed a cocky smile. "Don't worry, my young friend. I'm tougher than you'd think."

"No running!" Rei demanded, knowing his brother was most likely going to run down the corridors just to prove his point.

"I agree with Rei, running would be a very bad idea, given your current state," Tsuna said, his intuition prickling at the thought.

By know, Rin, Rei, and Nagisa knew better than to doubt the younger boy when he said things like that. They'd had multiple close calls while Gou was distracted with helping the other groups that, had Tsuna not been with them, the whole mission could, and would have, been compromised. If Tsuna said it would be a bad idea to run, they would walk instead.