#Gave Ryohei longer and messy hair <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[katrasining]

Ryohei and Yuki ❤️

[i-w-p-chan]

Red Crystal, Part 3

Previous

.

Filling out the forms was less-terrifying and much easier than he expected, thankfully, which gave him enough time to browse some of the books in the rooms before he went to sleep.

It was strange for him, though, that he was interested in learning what the books had to offer. A part of him could remember that he was never one for learning from books, but that same part felt like there was something important he needed to do, and to do it, he needed to learn from these books.

He pulled a book off the shelves and opened it to read from the first page. It was full of technical explanations and his eyes glazed over two paragraphs in.

He returned the book and tried another and another. Four more books were taken and returned due to the same reason.

He found what he was looking for in the fifth book. He put it on the couch and went through the others looking for similar books, books to help him actually practice with his Spirit Core.

After some time and a good amount of books found, there was a knock from behind one of the walls, "Hey, Enma! It's time for dinner! You better come out now! You already spent a lot of time in there, you can return here tomorrow."

Enma blinked and looked from the books to the wall and back again, before he sighed and went to the entrance; he probably shouldn't be pissing off whichever Priest calling for him. Besides, he needed to go find Tsu and talk to them about trying out a practical learning approach.

.

Two days came and went with no sign of Tsu. Asking the other Priests gave him nothing useful aside from knowing that Tsu was unexpectedly busy and couldn't come to the Temple for a few days.

And so, Enma spent the time either practicing meditation like the books suggested or talking with Skull who came by daily.

On the third day, he decided to go and turn in the forms, if Tsu wouldn't be returning anytime soon, then Enma needed to get his work done without Tsu around; Tsu was going to have to adjust to the possible new schedule.

He fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he gave Haru the forms, worrying that he passed the deadline for turning the papers in.

Haru smiled at him reassuringly, "You came back just in time, today was the last day."

Her eyes flitted behind him and she blinked, "Tsuna! I almost didn't see you there behind Enma!"

Enma blinked and turned around to see who was standing behind him without his notice.

He was met with pupil-less, amber eyes and a messy, brown hair done in a braid that was left to drape over one shoulder.

Tsuna's eyes drilled into his.

"Oh, Tsuna! This is Enma! He was just turning in his application forms!"

Tsuna reached a hand towards her and she handed the forms over, he clutched them in his hand, all the while maintaining eye-contact with Enma.

"You're hired."

"Eh?" Haru cocked her head to the side in confusion, Enma unconsciously mirrored her. Tsuna didn't even spare the forms any glance, how could he decide whether Enma was a decent applicant or not?

"I'm Tsunayoshi of the Vongola, the current head of the group," Tsunayoshi spoke, voice emotionless, the spark in his eyes sending a foreboding chill down Enma's spine, "Pack up, we're leaving in half an hour." After he said his piece, Tsunayoshi turned on his heel and left the building.

Enma turned to look at Haru, who looked as confused as he was.

Haru recovered quickly, though, and returned to smiling at him, "You heard him. You've been hired. It's best if you go back to the Temple now and pack up whatever you have for a trip. The boss will pick you up from there."

"How sure are you that he will?" Enma asked, voice faint.

"He didn't tell you where to meet him, did he?"

"No."

"There you go. Now go, you have a job to prepare for."

Enma speed walked to the entrance, breaking out into a jog once he left the building. He was distracted all the way to the Temple, wondering what type of job he could possibly be hired for on the spot. Did Tsunayoshi even check to see the content of his application forms? What if he did after he left and decided that maybe Enma wasn't suitable for it after all? Or maybe it was generic and anyone could do it?

Enma sighed, even when he thought things would get somewhat clearer, he was proven wrong. At least he only had a couple sets of clothes aside from what he was wearing at the moment, so he didn't have to worry about over-packing.

.

Tsunayoshi came to get him in thirty minutes, just like he said.

He stalked towards him where he was sitting in the Temple's main hall and dragged him outside, then over to the stairs to the side, up the stairs until the balcony made out of the Temple's roof, and the highest point on the land. The Vongola's ship was floating up in the air already with the gangplank pulled down.

Tsunayoshi walked up the gangplank and Enma scrambled behind him. The moment the two were inside, the ship started moving and Enma gathered enough courage to ask, "What is it that you took me on for?"

Tsunayoshi gave him an inscrutable look and Enma was stricken; there was something way too familiar about Tsunayoshi's eyes, Tsunayoshi's voice and Tsunayoshi's mess of hair.

He opened his mouth, about to ask Tsunayoshi if the two ever met before, when Tsunayoshi cut him off with a careless hand wave towards the rest of the corridor they were in, "Today is just a scout mission, to give you the chance to interact first-hand with what we want you to work with. Until we arrive, make yourself comfortable, go explore the ship or something. I'll be on the deck in case you needed anything."

"Have we met before?" Interrupted before or not, the desire to know was too strong to keep a tight lid on the question and it tumbled past his lips.

Tsunayoshi gave him yet another inscrutable look as he took a couple of steps forward and right into Enma's space. Raising his head, he looked Enma in the eye and whispered, "Have we?"

Enma's throat suddenly felt tight, and his eyes blurred with slight tears as he was struck with the spontaneous urge to cry and hug Tsunayoshi for all he was worth and not let him go.

"Are you two done yet?" Lambo's bored drawl cut into the tense atmosphere like a sword; Tsunayoshi retreated and walked away passing by Lambo on his way while Enma took a deep breath and braced himself against the nearest wall.

"That looked pretty intense."

Enma blinked out of his stupor and focused on Lambo, "Huh? Oh. Yeah, I… don't know what happened. I just asked him if we met before- he looked very familiar and-" And what? What more was Enma supposed to say when even he didn't know what he was exactly feeling at the moment aside from a great sense of relief that threatened to knock him over. Relief and happiness and giddiness and yearning and eagerness, eagerness to what he didn't know but he wanted, oh he wanted-

"Hey!" Fingers snapped in his vision, jolting him out of his musings, "You spaced out for a moment there."

Enma refocused on Lambo, who gestured to him to stand up (when did he sit down? He didn't remember) and pulled him along down the hallway, "We should probably get you to put your things in one of the rooms before we take you to meet the rest."

.

It didn't take long to introduce Enma to the others on board; some of them he met before, like Chrome, Yamamoto and Ryohei. There was the teen who took Enma to the Vongola offices a few days back, who was introduced as Gokudera. And there were others he hadn't met, like Chrome's brother, Mukuro, Ryohei's sister, Kyoko, and Hibari, never mind Tsunayoshi.

Their destination was the island Enma woke up on days ago.

(Enma had to blink at that thought; had it been only few days since then? It felt longer than that to him.)

The ship stopped at the edge of the island and dropped down the gangplank.

Yamamoto must have seen Enma's curious look and responded, "We're not going in with the ship because we'd rather keep it on standby in case of sudden emergencies in the main land that may require help from us."

Enma nodded in understanding as he followed after Yamamoto down the gangplank.

The group consisting of Tsunayoshi, Hibari, Kyoko, Yamamoto and Enma trekked through the forest to the small shoreline near the river, crossing it to start climbing the mountain on the other side. Enma was surprised to see a pathway well-hidden between the rocks jutting out of the mountain. Tsunayoshi led them through it with ease.

The moment they reached the top point and started to descend, Enma was stricken with a sudden sense of fear that almost froze him in place. The group momentarily stopped, and Enma wondered if they wanted to take break.

They didn't; in fact, Enma saw that they only stopped for mere moments, enough for Tsunayoshi to take out a vial from one of his pockets and knock back half of its content. The group, and Enma didn't even notice them tense up, relaxed only after Tsunayoshi drank from whatever it was the vial contained. Enma wondered if it was a medicine that Tsunayoshi needed.

As the group moved again, Enma noticed the formation changing; previously, Tsunayoshi was at the front, followed by Yamamoto, then Enma himself, then Kyoko then Hibari (Enma belatedly realized that they were keeping him in the middle), now, Tsunayoshi hung back until he was walking next to Enma and Kyoko moved forward to walk behind Yamamoto, keeping Hibari at the rear.

The moment the group made it out of the pathway cleverly hidden in the mountains, the town that lay beyond the mountain range came into view.

Enma's heartbeat sped up until he could feel his heart violently slam against his ribcage and the blood pressure pound in his ears.

The buildings seemed to have suffered heavy damage some time back but they looked like someone put in the effort to rebuild them.

Then Enma saw the pedestals.

Rows upon rows of protected pedestals, each cushioned and bearing crystals in many colors, intact, broken, beat up or simply shattered, leaving shards to rest on the cushion, all lined up in rows that looked more like grave markers than a jewelry display.

And the wave of emotions and memories that Enma didn't know he was holding back crashed on top of him, pulling him under, choking him with inconsolable grief, suffocating him with images of blood and sounds of screams and smoke and calls for help-

In the distance beyond the buildings where the Walls circled around, stood a huge pair of doors, open wide.

A sense of visceral fear lanced through him, knocking the breath from his lungs and forcing him into his knees.

He was grabbed by a hand; he only saw a flash of concerned amber ey- orange? Was that Tsu? What was Tsu doing here? He thought deliriously as a soothing voice reached his ear, barely heard over the roar of memories and pain and-

Something was brought to his lips, and then he felt a hot liquid slide down his throat; the burn brought a sudden, very brief moment of clarity.

In that moment, he knew, without a shadow of doubt, that this town was his hometown. This is where he came from; this is where he used to live before it was attacked. The doors, he must close them. The town was gone everyone was gone he was all alone.

Fatigue swept through him and his vision turned to black as he faded away from consciousness.

.

When he woke up, he was feeling groggy, throat dry and limbs as heavy as lead.

"You're awake." Enma heard Yamamoto say before he saw Yamamoto come into view, leaning over him with concern lining his face, "You haven't been out of it for long, we moved you back to the ship and now we're on our way to continue the patrol and drop you off at the Temple."

"Wh-what happened?" Enma asked, voice hoarse.

"You received quite a shock when we reached the town. Thankfully, Tsuna brought enough from his special medicine for the two of you," Yamamoto explained as he gave Enma a glass of water.

"Special medicine? Shock?" Enma asked after he gulped down the offered water.

"Yeah." Yamamoto scratched the back of his neck, "The town gives Tsuna flashes as bad as the one you had back in there, and since we come and go there quite a lot, we ended up coming up with a recipe that will keep Tsuna alert, he drinks it before we head in. The vial he had on him? That would be his special medicine.

"He had no idea how you would react to the town yourself, so he kept half of what he had on him for you in case of emergency."

Enma blinked, "He… he did?" Enma blushed in embarrassment and ducked his head, then he whipped his head up as a though occurred to him, "Wait! How much of the medicine did he need? I remember he only drank half of the vial. Did he need the other half?"

"Well…" Yamamoto trailed off, "Kinda? It's not life or death if that's what's worrying you."

"But there are side-effects?"

"Well, yeah. The medicine helps him handle the emotional upheaval from the flashes."

Enma moved to stand up and go look for Tsunayoshi; Yamamoto hovered over him, making sure he'd be there to catch Enma if his legs failed him, "And what is going to happen to him since he didn't take the full vial?"

"Ah." Yamamoto's smile had a strange lilt to it, "His feelings go haywire. He needs half the regular dose, a full vial, to stave off the initial onslaught of the flashes. He can deal without the other half, so it's okay."

"No, it's not okay." His feelings went haywire? That didn't sound like fun to Enma who spent the last few days having mood swings.

Yamamoto looked amused, and Enma snapped slightly, "Why didn't he have more on him then?"

"It takes a lot of time to prepare the medicine. And given that we've been going to the town more frequently lately, we could only make time to make one dose between visits. Ah, there we are."

Enma noticed that Yamamoto had guided him towards the deck.

Out on the deck, the atmosphere was light with amusement and faint chuckles. Enma did not understand what they were all being so cheerful about.

Then a blur jumped at him, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and pupil-less amber eyes blinked innocently at him.

Tsunayoshi grinned at him, "Enma! Enma! You're awake!"

Enma gave Yamamoto a shocked look; Yamamoto merely sent him an amused grin, eyes twinkling as if to say 'yeah, that happens'.

"Hey, Enma," Tsunayoshi mock-whispered, "How are you? You aren't still sleeping, right? Right? I don't want you to go sleep and stay asleep for so long again, okay?"

"O… kay?"

Tsunayoshi nodded vigorously, "Yeah, I don't want you to go red crystal on me again, you got it?"

Enma almost choked in shock.

"Hey! Heyhey! Did you hear me? No crystal-ing on me! Understand?"

"Yeah, sure, I understand," Enma said distractedly as his brain whirred with half-remembered memories about crystals.

"Good." Tsunayoshi nodded, then he pulled Enma down while pushing himself up and sloppily pressed his lips against Enma's, who completely froze in place.

"Very good!" Tsunayoshi disentangled from him and skipped over to Kyoko and nuzzled her cheeks, "Kyokooooo! You have pretty eyes, can we cuddle?"

"Sure thing, Tsuna." Kyoko smiled brightly.

Her smile didn't falter, even though it did soften into a tender smile, when Tsunayoshi went and tightly hugged a blushing Gokudera before plopping himself to lay down with his head on Hibari's lap, face pressed into Hibari's stomach, before starting to hum.

Hibari's hand went to Tsunayoshi's hair, but Hibari wasn't looking at him; he was looking straight at Enma with an inscrutable look.

Enma didn't pay the look a lot of attention as he was busy clamping down a hand on his mouth and asking Yamamoto, "What… what was that?"

"Ah, don't worry, he does that."

Kyoko beckoned Enma towards her and patted the seat next to her, "Sit down, Enma, we still have some time left until we arrive at the land, so it's better if you just relax for the time being."

Enma sat down next to her, marveling at the quiet atmosphere; he'd honestly expected them to be rowdier than this, he'd overheard some stories about their rambunctious attitude from people in Vongola City and at the Temple and thought he'd be seeing it first hand, apparently not. Not that he was complaining, he had enough excitement to last him a week.

Casting another look around the deck, he realized why they were all quiet: Tsunayoshi's body was moving with the quiet, steady breathing of a sleeping person. At some point, Mukuro had thrown a blanket over Tsunayoshi while Ryohei and Chrome had moved to sit on either side of him and Hibari like silent sentinels.

It appeared that he wasn't the only person who had enough excitement for the day.

.

End part 3

Next