110. Almost There

"What happened?" Yamamoto could only bear to ask after a very long while of silence.

Inside the thickly sealed room no one was allowed to go in-- he watched through the tempered glass window. To the brown-haired boy in the room, connected to a variety of drips and machines connected to him. An oxygen mask laid over his face. He was barely breathing.

Yamamoto gritted his teeth-- a hand pressing against the glass, fingers squeezing so hard as if he was subconsciously trying to fuse through the object and pass through. To him-- so he could just touch him.

Sitting on the bench by the side, his head down, Sawada Tsunayoshi had his hands together nervously.

"We thought he was sleeping," Tsuna choked out, biting back a cry, "So Dino-san and I left him in the room and went down to dinner. We messed around with the Varia for a very, very long time. Then when we got back to the room..."

Burying his face into his palms, Tsuna couldn't bear to say anymore.

He could remember clearly, what everyone saw. The fear and utter shock everyone felt, walking into the room, seeing the boy on the ground, in a repulsive pool of his own blood.

"Lussuria was able to provide first aid, so we're grateful." Dino mumbled under his breath. Lussuria may have been the only reason Rei was kept alive. "Apparently, there was hemorrhage in his throat wound, so it's not looking bright."

Yamamoto almost felt angry. 

His throat wound; that meant Rei was straining his voice again. Even after everyone repeatedly emphasized to him that he would lose his voice? Does Rei have no sense of emergency?

Gripping his fist, Yamamoto bit his bottom lip. This frustration... this utter irritation and disoriented emotions-- this sudden feeling of losing his bearings-- was this how Rei felt when Yamamoto was in his place?

Well, it really didn't feel good.

-

"He's at risk," Kunomasu explained, "Rather than his throat, his lungs are at critical. He's not going to last." His face was stoic and blank-- unemotional. His eyes sagged down, empty.

The face of a doctor reporting bad news to family of a diseased.

The hallway had a reasonable amount of people-- but it was deafeningly silent.

Most of the Vongola was here-- Shamal, Bianchi and Fuuta-- except Haru and Kyoko had gone home with Lambo and I-pin... Sae was clutching onto Shamal's back, looking down.

"Just a question,"

To everyone's surprise, the one to speak up, sharply, was Shamal. Shamal, who usually didn't give a shit about 'male' patients.

Eyes turned to him. 

Kunomasu, having met Shamal before and assuming him to be a quack doctor, raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead," he urged.

"That kid there," he pointed at the room Rei was in, "he's got that crappy lung since when again?"

"...Six or seven?" Yamamoto tried.

"Three," Kunomasu corrected, "According to Amano's files."

A few eyebrows raised at the new information. That was surprising. Hell-- that would mean Rei's survival to this point was nothing short of a miracle.

"And," Shamal said louder, his gaze lowering into an angered glare, "Has there not been a single attempt made in signing for donors? I believe that to be the responsibility of the doctor." 

Accusing eyes swirled towards Kunomasu.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed, as if it didn't concern him.

"Well, on that matter," he mumbled with a tone of resignation. Lifting his head to the hallway behind Shamal, he signaled, a show of his hand. "I believe we should obtain the explanation from Doctor Amano himself, should we not?"

Turning around, Amano stood there, with Yuuichirou close behind.

Gritting his teeth angrily, Amano glared at Kunomasu. "Who the fuck's the one that let Rei out of the hospital in the first place?"

-

"I first treated Rei when he was three." Amano admitted, "When Yuu, Yuuichirou brought him in for the first time because he wasn't breathing. No, I wasn't a pediatrician."

Leaning against the wall by the door of the ICU, Amano knocked on the glass of the room.

"And, to keep it simple, Rei's got about three major problems," he raised three fingers, "First, his blood. Some nurse gave him a blood transfusion once upon a time and he got an instant ABO incompatibility reaction."

Amano was gonna assume everyone understood his words and were listening, no matter how confused they seemed. Yamamoto already looked lost, but he was trying to be serious.

"It wasn't a wrong blood type, but his body rejected it flat out. Through emergency measure, we had Yuuichirou over here--" Amano paused to pull Yuuichirou's face away from the glass window, "for a direct transfusion."

"Wait--" Gokudera interrupted, "What is that supposed to-"

"I don't know either," Amano admitted, "But Rei's immune system isn't accepting blood from strangers. It's unusually picky, as if it chooses its donor. It's as if some... thing-- is interfering with his recovery."

Tsuna lifts his head abruptly, as if in a clear, matter-of-fact understanding. "Is it--" Tsuna spoke up hesitantly, "The Night Flames?"

A few jumped in surprise. Did Tsuna just mention the existence of flames to a person unaffiliated with the Mafia-- 

"Yes," Amano calmly answers. "Rei described them as the forbidden flames only possessed by those who lived through death."

That made a few more heads snap up. Amano was a Mafioso? or affiliated?

Shamal and Bianchi didn't faze. They were more interested the second part of the sentence-- those who lived through death. What could that mean for the Vindice?

"Rei knows about his own condition?" Yamamoto questioned, not dwelling on the unnecessary detail, "and the cause?"

Amano nodded. "For a long while now, but the cause, only recently," he explained, "If Rei's deduction is correct, those who possess a Night Flame use it at the risk of their own bodily endurance. And in the case of it not having enough..."

He left the sentence hanging.

That made the mood drop. Takeshi felt his heart sink-- Rei-- he'd been hiding it all. All of this, in himself. He was a terrible liar, but much more of a liar than anyone could have thought. They believed his secrets were all spilled-- but there was such a huge element hidden behind those tears he shed that day?

What else? What else could he be hiding? Shouldering? What other burdens did he hold?

What did he think, carrying these weights in his bruised chest?

"You mentioned three problems," Reborn spoke up, raising his voice to break the icy atmosphere, "What were the other two?"

"The second were the Night Flames." Amano continued easily, unfazed. "What else would they interfere with? If Rei takes a lung transplant, even if we determined they'd be compatible-- the Night Flames may cause a negative reaction. Worst Case Scenario, Rei won't live through it."

His fingers trembled as he spoke. "We've had to reject every one thus far. It's difficult. Nothing's coming up as promising."

Kunomasu spoke softer than Amano did. "But this rate, what takes him wouldn't be the throat, nor would it be an attack," he mumbled.

Ryohei perked up, his ears catching every word, "What are you implying?"

"Rei's lungs are abnormal, inside and out." Kunomasu spoke for Amano, "Gangrene has grown on the surface of the lung tissue and has corroded much of it."

Heads lifted and eyes widened, absolutely mortified.

"From what I saw just yesterday on the X-ray," Kunomasu spoke sternly, failing in any form of gentle, empathetic manner of speech: "This week's all he's got."

"Amano-sensei, Kuma-sensei--" Yamamoto breathed in a raspy, nervous voice, "Please... please tell me you're joking."

Please tell me that isn't true.