70. Base

"Jeez, this place's security is looser than a fucking prostitute!" Squalo cursed out loud, "How the fuck did Byakuran invade the network?"

"Squalo?!?"

The long-haired man had easily barged into the base in a way bolder than I could've imagined-- a legitimate stroll through the defenses as if the barriers were never even there.

Taking a little longer to catch up, I loitered slowly, awing at the magnificent size of the base. I peeked into the room in time to see Dino approach Squalo.

"A greeting gift," Squalo huffed, shoving to Dino's arms the huge tuna he and Mr Totsuka had reeled in just this morning.

And then, bypassing Dino, he made a beeline to Takeshi-- and with not a bounf or bit of hesitation, gave a deep swipe across his face with his sword arm.

I sucked in a breath, holding back a gasp. There was little blood, I reminded myself, it must've been the flat end, because Squalo's sword had no blunt edge.

Squalo then burrowed his knee into his stomach, hard-- my eyes squeezed shut and I diverted my eyes quickly the moment I saw the blood gush from his mouth.

"Yamamoto!!" I heard Tsuna yell.

"Are you trying to kill him?!?" Gokudera followed. 

Covering my eyes and my mouth, I realized I was holding my breath. Letting out the air slowly, I willed my heart to pace itself. Mr Tanabe told me not to strain myself anymore for at least today--

I felt a light knock to my head. Opening my eyes,  saw Squalo at the doorway. He knocked me in the head with his normal arm, giving me a degrading look-- and huffed. He turned away and walked off. 

Well, I reminded myself, bringing a smile onto my face, Squalo's just going to make him stronger.

Kinda sad I don't get to talk to Takeshi, though.

My thoughts were interrupted as a loud crash happened right at the other side of the door. Jumping in surprise, I looked over to see-- wait, Tsuna?? 

He had been blown back into the door by a hard punch from Ryohei-- turning my attention to the interior of the room, I registered the conversation.

"I'm a man too, so that one fist is all I will give you!" Ryohei yelled, "With that one fist, let's step forward to the next level!!"

There was a long moment of silence-- ah, I realized, breaking into a smile. That's where we are in the story.

"Damn you, Lawn head, how dare you do that to the Tenth!!" Gokudera yelled back, spurting forward, "I WILL KILL YOU!!"

"Calm down, Gokudera!!" Dino panicked.

Peeking over from the doorway, I let out a sigh. 

"Eh, Rei-san?" Tsuna noticed me. "Wait, REI-SAN?!?" 

The room instantly quietened down. Ryohei stopped yelling and Gokudera stopped trying to kill people. Reborn looked over. Tsuna gaped.

Stepping out nervously, I clutched the edge of my oversized Varia jacket nervously-- 

"Uhm..." I started nervously, "Hi guys, it's been a while?"

Tsuna shrieked.

-

"You just found yourself in the middle of the ruins of the Varia mansion all of a sudden?" Dino raised an eyebrow questioningly. 

"Yes..." I whine, "one second I was at the hospital and-"

"Hospital?" Tsuna spoke up quickly, "Did something happen again, Rei-san?"

"Eh? Ah, no- I was just there for a checkup and-"

"His eyes are red." Ryohei supplied, "Something happened after I bumped into you in the ER. Was it Ajinomoto-sensei??"

"That sounds nothing like Amano!" I had to retort on instinct. Sighing, I stood up in resignation. "No, no, nothing happened!" 

"We never know when we can trust you, Green." Gokudera had to supply, "Last time you said 'you just tripped', you went off and had a knife battle with Belphegor!"

"He what?" Dino was alerted.

"I said it's nothing!" I whine.

"Rei." Reborn's call towards me was what shut the commotion up. He was in front of me now, looking up and into my eyes-- "You look tired. And very pale."

My eyes softened-- and I leaned down to pick Reborn up. 

"Nothing much, really," was all I could manage, along with a dry chuckle, "the Sea trip was just a little too tolling on me." Hugging him like a doll, I breathed out, "I'm really tired."

"You crossed the sea?" Dino stood up in alarm, "I recall the future you was aquaphobic."

Dino no.

I flinched as I felt Reborn tense. Tsuna, Gokudera and Ryohei stopped as well, frozen for a long moment in shock or surprise or something-- then Reborn jumped out of my grasp, gun in hand.

"Wa- no wai- Wha- wait, Reborn!" Scrambling down to grab him again, I barely succeeded in halting his progress, but ended up sprawled across the floor. "I'm alright, really..."

Reborn stepped over to my face-- and put a hand on my cheek. "You look pale. Go find a room and sleep," he told me. "Tsuna, go find an empty room with him."

"Me? Sure, but-"

"No need for that," a foreign voice interrupted the conversation.

"Oh, Russo-san." Tsuna noticed the man, "Are you alright now? You were asleep this whole time for your injuries."

"I'm perfect," he dismissed the issue, "I may not be as much of a monster as Kyouya-san, but I'm quite a monster myself!"

At the doorway, a strangely familiar man covered in bandages stood there. A tall, black-haired man with red eyes-- not part of the anime cast but I feel like I've seen him before somewhere...

The male raised an eyebrow, "Y'know what, I'm not even gonna ask. It's one of your weird magic tricks again, isn't it, Hijau?" he sighed, "I hope you turn back soon."  

"Ahhh!!" I couldn't help my loud tone, getting up quickly in surprise, "You're the Taekwondo Man!"

"Taekwondo Man?" he snapped back in response, "What kind of name is that?"

Realizing I let the mental nickname slip out, I covered up my mouth quickly, "Nothing!" I denied.

Standing up quickly-- our eyes met. His expressions were held in a firm smile I recognized as fake-- and his eyes locked into mine were strong and experienced enough to not break quickly.

My expressions fell into a serious one-- and soon his smile dropped too. 

"So, you're the Rei from the past?" he asked me, in a dull, emotionless, and very not-amused tone. His eyes seemed to be looking me down-- like a king educating a servant acting cocky.

"Yes, I am." I kept my voice firm and clenched my fist to fight back the intimidation with a look of my own. It felt like just a look of a brave puppy, perhaps, standing up to a beast and holding its own ground. Futility.

"Wait-" Tsuna spoke up nervously, "What's this? Rei-san, this is Russo-san, and he's quite familiar with the you of this era and-"

Turning to Tsuna momentarily from the corner of my eye-- I turn to Russo again.

Russo sighed, "Well, I never know you were in the category of people I would meet here." his words were chosen strangely, "I mean, this is a place only Vongola Tenth's generation and its close comrades can reside in."

He gave me a grin-- and that grin made my stomach sink in realization.

This is a place only Vongola Tenth's generation and its close comrades can reside in.

Category of people.

My gaze sharpened, and I swallowed an uncomfortable bit of saliva down my throat. "Hey, Russo-san," I clenched the hem of my Varia uniform, "Who in the universe are you?"

Yes, because no one should be in this Vongola Base. No one except the main cast. My being here is because I've interfered with the storyline. I'm an intruder.

So why is someone else in here? Why is there another intruder? How?

There's only one possible reason.

Russo cracked into a mischievous grin. "I call myself Russo," he introduced himself gleefully, "I am very please to make your acquaintance, Rei."

-

"I have in empty bunk in my room, so he can sleep with me." Russo had offered.

And so here I was, finding myself in a locked room, facing an unknown man. He sat at the chair by the desk, and I on the mattress of the lower bunk bed. 

Our eyes were locked, and our faces held firm and stoned.

"I'll get straight to the point--" After what felt like ages, Russo spoke up. His smile seemed to have gone off and away from existence. "You don't belong in this world, do you?"

I clenched my fist. I knew it.

I nodded. "I used to live in another world," I told him, "Where the dying will flames did not exist, Mafioso were distant, storybook-like fantasies that no one really tried to get near--"

"And this universe-- Katekyo Hitman Reborn--  was an Anime." Russo finished my line.

Our eyes met again-- and for some reason, we simultaneously broke into dry, awkward chortles. It was perhaps a sense of belonging-- a happy finality of finding a comrade-- or maybe it was just some warped form of despair. The realization of how messed up the world was, or how ridiculous this whole system made the world seem.

Russo held his head, "Are you fucking kidding me, there really are other people like me!"  

Regardless, Rei couldn't even understand why he found this highly amusing.