Contract

Chapter 9

Reborn grumbled. It had been a week already, one long week. He flicked his fedora up in frustration and stared out the window as if waiting for something to happen, his eyes searching the sky for anything. Not once had he sensed Tsuna's arrival during that long time since he had accidentally slept over, which was quite unusual seeing as the brunet came almost every day regardless of what day it was or if he had classes the same or very next day.

And during that long wait, Reborn couldn't shake off the feeling that something had happened, something terrible. For a while, he had been seriously tempted to go running out whenever he felt a tug in his chest, the thoughts of a harmed Tsuna coming into mind. He had thought it was just his imagination for the first few days, believing that the brunet was simply busy with school. However, when he thought back, Tsuna'd never liked school and he wouldn't stay back for anything.

Soon after, he started noticing the worried looks from the others who knew about Tsuna, many watching the outside world as well to feel for the brunet's welcomed arrival - Fong, mostly, but Colonello did so as well. Skull, Lal, and Viper weren't familiar with the human and didn't register him, Verde'd never once come up from his labs, so of course they weren't looking.

Reborn just grumbled to himself once more, tearing his eyes away from that bright blue sky.

He could go to Earth to check things out, to make sure that everything on Tsuna's side was alright. It wasn't hard to make his way over to there, it was actually quite easy for someone of his level and he knew that the temptation of actually going was getting stronger. He wanted to leave, he needed to know if everything was alright. And damn it, it was annoying! Growling, Reborn kicked his feet up onto the table and leaned back in his chair to peer at the ceiling. The silence in the house was terrible, it pricked at his mind, and it only got worse when the others were nearby. He started taking out his frustration on Skull, kicking him around, before turning to Colonello, who didn't hesitate to fight back.

'It couldn't hurt, right?' He thought to himself, closing his eyes to think. 'It couldn't hurt to see him.' Reborn then sighed quietly and found himself standing to make his way out of the shared house. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to check up on things, he wouldn't even need to reveal himself, just pop in to see the human and leave. Simple.

"Reborn," The raven perked slightly at the sound of another voice and glanced behind to see Fong standing in a doorway, looking at him quite seriously. The Chinese-looking man had an unusual frown on his lips and he flipped back his long braid that had fallen over his shoulder. His eyes shone with worry, staring directly into Reborn's. "Are you leaving to check on him?"

The raven 'tch'ed and turned away, he had been caught in the act and so soon. "Yeah. It's been too long."

At that, Fong sighed happily, looking relieved that Reborn was finally going. "Good. I've been having this terrible...feeling for a while. I can only hope that I'm wrong."

Reborn nodded his head at that and turned back to head out the door. 'I hope I'm wrong as well.' With that, his body shifted into his black feathered mass and took off into the sky, eventually evaporating from sight when he got high enough and tore through the barrier that separated the two worlds. Fong soon stepped out of the house, his eyes trained on the sky, knowing that Reborn had disappeared to the other world as soon as he could no longer sense that dark presence. He took a deep breath, he could only hope that everything was alright and that his feelings were off.

Meanwhile, the raven flew through the barrier, breaking through the multiple layers with ease, making his way towards Earth. The moment he arrived, creating a small crack in the blue sky, which healed soon after, he knew immediately that things were different. The sky he was now flying in was denser, more polluted, than the one he was familiar with and the world below his body was filled with building and vehicles. There were white clouds instead of pink ones and the wind was much weaker. The people below were not in monster-like forms, but humanoid only and he could easily smell the evils radiating off some of the humans.