112. Identity

Tsuna and Takeshi tensed-- but it wasn't hard to tell that they were already aware. They looked alarmed-- but not surprised. Gokudera looked taken aback-- Kunomasu and Amano looked confused.

Pulling her legs to her chest, Drew sighed. Was she really that bad at acting?

Lifting her gaze to the older man, Drew cracked a smile as she realized Yuuichirou was fuming.

-

Tapping letters in the small mobile keyboard that substituted for the pen and paper they didn't have, she didn't know what to think.

I don't know where Rei is.

This would be the fifth time she answered this question.

Seeing no progress-- Yuuichirou was ready to snap. "Then," he grunted, his voice near murderous as he stressed his words in frustration, "What are you?"

It hurt to be on the receiving end of such anger.

He always looked at Rei kindly-- so why?

Evidently, because Drew was not Rei.

I don't know what I am.

Leaning back against the head board, Drew could only smile sadly back. Her eyes stuck in the same, unreadable way Zen taught her to when she was bothered. Threatened. Disturbed.

"Why are you here?"

The next question was asked by Tsuna himself.

Eyes darting toward Tsuna-- Drew could only give a hesitant chuckle. Why am I here, she thought. How many times will she have to dwell on that irritatingly undesirable fact?

The dark chuckling sent shivers down the brunet's spine, and he shrunk away, not daring to ask another question.

Why am I here, she repeated in her mind. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not Rei, after all, what have I been doing all this time, settling down quietly in his mind? She didn't speak it out. I'm not Rei, why do I keep pretending I still have anything to do with Rei?

"Is my son... alive?" Yuuichirou spoke up again, his expression was darker than before. He had been unamused so far, and no answer had explained much more.

Because otherwise, why would Drew be here?

Tilting her head slightly aside, Drew smiled ghastly, eyeing him with a gaze slightly condescending-- as if a taunt of 'I wonder?'

It seemed that was the last straw for Yuuichirou.

His hand reached out quickly, a fist curling around the collar of Rei's hospital garb. Lifting the child a little off the bed-- he began to say something.

With only a nonchalant eye roll as she was thrown forward, Drew kept the IV-attached hand down, to prevent disturbing the needles within the veins, and--

Kicking off the bed in an angled spin, she brought an elbow down near the adult's nape-- and fully grasped an arm around the neck. Throwing her entire body over, she was easily able to get above Yuuichirou, having the gall to sit on his back casually as she yawned in a semblance of boredom.

Anyone that was on a chair bolted upright, shooting back in caution.

Drew let out silent laughter.

Closing her eyes, she could feel the flow. The black flow coursing through her body like they were blood across her veins-- the accursed black flames that gave her the ability to move.

She knew it was not doing Rei any good. It was forcing an immobile body to be active. That could mean nothing but agony beyond. As pretty as Transportation and Mobility may sound, Night Flames only served as an illegal, addictive power up that would only hasten his death.

Like a drug. 

There was a reason Flames of the Sun and the Night were polar opposites, after all. One was a Medicinal Drug, the other, a Recreational Drug. Same function, different usage.

Reaching for the phone, she wrote her speech. 

I'm not like Rei.

I'm not Rei, she corrected herself internally.

Don't underestimate me. Unlike Rei, I had a healthy body. I'm far stronger.

She returned the wary gazes from the Vongola with a glare of her own. She countered the hostility with ominousity to compare. 

But inside, she sobbed. She cried, and she felt her heart wrench painfully at the gazes she received. Distrustful, hateful gazes that spoke one clear message.

She was not welcome here.

Yuuichirou was obediently taking in the situation, not resisting Drew's weak grasp. If he were to try to break free, there were chances of her grappling him down in a more irritating position than now. 

His pride was thrown down a notch-- but he couldn't get rough with the child-- after all, this was his child he was facing.

Rei's lips were stuck on a crazed smirk as Drew eyed the crowd condescendingly, as if she were a villain. However, the pain in her eyes was not overlook by a single one of them.

So please, she typed slowly, closing her eyes. She knew they could read her through these unfulfilling eyes. That was one major flaw in her acting, after all-- eyes were the windows to the soul-- dead and lifeless like she was supposed to be.

Just leave me be.

-

The room was silent as the occupants of the room took in the information.

Drew stepped away from Yuuichirou, who stood back up, kept his eyes on the child, and sat back down with caution.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong," Kuma spoke up suddenly, already sitting back down. Was he trying to make peace here? Was he feeling pity for the forlorn look the girl held? 

Or maybe, it was just an impulse on his side of the story.

Regardless, Drew decided she liked this man. Calm and unaffected. This was the moment weapons were usually drawn and she was threatened, held up, cursed at-- but nope, this guy's normal. Cut the unnecessary drama and get to the point. She liked this guy.

"So, are you her? Rei's, y'know, past self?"

Eyebrows raised at the revelation they hadn't yet come to realize. Taken aback by the Doctor's understanding of the situation, Drew turned to him, surprised.

So Rei probably told him, she realized, in a time I'm unaware.

Responding with a gentle nod-- she eyed him warily.

"Then," Kunomasu leaned back against the desk, "For about... two hours to three, why did you pretend to be Rei?"

Why did you pretend to be something you are not?

I'm not Rei, she told herself for the hundredth time that day. I'm not Rei. Rei never is and never was me. Why did I think for even a second that Rei was ever 'me'?

She knew she shouldn't dwell. It was getting to be a bore, how she repeated herself like she didn't have half a brain cell to register it the first time. But still, she told herself again.

Why do I still cling onto the hope that I can still be part of Rei?

Why am I pretending to still be alive?

A few faces grew mortified as Drew felt herself crying. Takeshi and Tsuna were simply surprised to see tears from the boy-- and Kuma was utterly horrified, regretting if he had said something insensitive he hadn't noticed.

But Drew-- she simply lowered her head to cry quietly, trying in vain to stop herself.

"My, I decided to stop by, and look who it is."

The hospital door crunched open, a visitor to a room supposedly held off limits due to a fragile patient--

Eyes turned and Tsuna could only let out a shriek as he flinched away, barely staying on his chair. Gokudera let out a hiss, and Yamamoto's eyes narrowed in disgust.

"Hostility so early on, I see," Rokudo Mukuro, in the flesh, mused. Raising his hands to the side, he showed he meant no harm, "Was there an issue for me to visit an old friend in the hospital?"

Yuuichirou, knowing exactly who the boy was, only stood confused to their relationship to his son.

Why would Rei be acquainted with a criminal as notorious as Rokudo Mukuro?

"Friend, my ass, you were nearly killing him!" Gokudera groaned.

"What... are you doing here?" Tsuna spoke up again, "After what happened so long ago, why... to Rei?"

And calling Rei a friend, no less.

Takeshi didn't speak, but his eyes spoke volumes.

"I'm not obliged to answer any of that." Mukuro smiled, "But I must inquire, who in this room would make a girl cry?"

Mukuro made his way over to Drew, who was busy wiping away tears now-- and standing beside her, he smiled.

Looking up at the indigo-haired male, Drew sniffled.

"This isn't really how I expected to meet again," he admitted bitterly, "you called yourself Drew, if I recall. Drew Cite, was it?"