VONGOLA RELOADED!

00: Betrayal

A roar of thunder echoed from above and the sky darkens to a warning shade of gray. Nobu stared up at the once brilliantly blue heavens, now an ugly charcoal.  The rain was coming, but he made no effort to relocate from his current position. He was waiting for the rain.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the small pouch that he had received from his sister. She had originally stored his birthday present in it, but Nobu had replaced the contents inside with something else.

The metal door screeches open and the lock that swung back and forth on the hinges—now broken—falls to the tiled floor with a metallic clang.

Nobu turned around to meet the gaze of his Rain Guardian. The young boy, Ran, panted—out of breath from climbing the many sets of stairs to reach their current destination. The tips of his charcoaled colored hair were soak with sweat and his chest heaved up and down with each exhalation of breath. His body swayed from left to right as he made his way over, but his cerulean gaze never shifted away from Nobu’s.

“What the hell is this?” He glowered, holding up the crumpled letter that he found inside of his shoe locker earlier. “Is this some sort of sick joke?”—he threw the letter to the floor, furious—“Because I, sure as hell, am not laughing!”

“I thought that I owed you an explanation before I left.” Nobu answered simply. He smiled as if their situation was just anything out of the ordinary. It only provoked Ran though.

“You aren’t leaving, Nobu,” Ran said, ignoring whatever protest Nobu was going to throw at him. “I won’t let you.”

Nobu chuckles. “Thanks,” he says, “I’m happy. I didn’t think you’d care that much.” His smile was a dejected one. “What makes you think that you would be able to stop me at all though?”

A flash of white engulfs the sky for a split second and thunder drums loudly in the background. In the same second, Nobu disappears from Ran’s line of vision, causing him to frantically search for his precious Secondo. A sharp blade plunges into Ran’s flesh and forces him down to the floor. He cringes and cries out in pain as the weapon slides out from his open wound. He reaches out to stop Nobu, but he was already walking to the door, beginning to disappear from Ran’s blurring vision.

“Why?” Ran manages to say weakly, but loud enough for Nobu to hear.

“Because,” Nobu says, “I’m the Vongola’s traitor.” With a quick flick of the wrist, the blood on the blade of the dagger that Nobu held is flung to the ground, staining it. He conceals the blade with its sheath and turns back to give Ran one last look. “Take care of Nanami.”

The door creaked in its rustiness as it was pulled shut. He called out to Nobu, waiting for him to come back, but there was no answer. The letter that was thrown to the floor earlier became wet as tears began to pour from the sky. Even so, Ran could still make out the word “Goodbye” on the front of the envelope.