The Only Way

Author: Bligy

Summary: When an old foe reveals a devastating future, only by joining forces with one of his worst enemies can Gokudera Hayato hope to prevent the death of his most precious person.

Warnings: Swearing, angst, emotional drama AND this story contains yaoi (obviously). There are three lemons in this story, if you don't like them, please don't read them. I haven't sectioned them off, so just skip those parts of the chapter - and the lemons are ALWAYS until the end of the chapter, so you're better off just skipping to the next one.

Pairings: Gokudera x Tsuna, other pairings revealed as the story progresses.

Author's Note: This started as a challenge for a Byakuran x Gokudera, which was the chapter you are about to read, then I realized the potential for more, and decided to keep writing. I shan't say too much, or it'll give away everything. THIS STORY IS ALREADY FINISHED. There are 29 chapters and they shall be posted at least one a day, potentially more. This was written for my beloveds on FB. I have done a brief read/edit over everything, but otherwise this story is unbetaed and any mistakes (there are many) are my own. This is fanfiction, so many scenes are OOC, but I wrote this entire story in less than a week (four days, I believe), so I did the best I could on short notice. Cheers! Bligy

...

The man's smile was infuriating, it made his blood boil, which wasn't exactly hard. One stupid look and he was about as ready to kill someone as he ever was. Unfortunately, this prick knew just how to hit him the hardest, and like hell was he going to let this bastard hurt the Decimo.

Of course, he hadn't seen that smirk for a month now, ever since they'd returned from the future and no one had seen or heard from Byakuran again, but the memory… the memory made his skin crawl. He clenched his jaw down on his cigarette and swore when he bit through the filter.

Flicking the butt away carelessly, he brought another one to his lips, lighting it as he passed the 'No Smoking' sign attached to the hospital door and snarling when a guard attempted to stop him.

"Back off!" Gokudera grunted as he shoved the man away and stopped for a second to look at the automatic doors that would lead him to what could be the show-down of his life.

Looking down at the paper in his hand, however, he knew that he didn't have a choice:

'Meet me at Namimori General. Come alone, or Sawada Tsunayoshi will pay the price.'

The words were followed by a specific time and room – the time had been ignored in favor of getting there as quickly as humanly possible.

Gokudera crushed the elegantly scrawled note in his fist as he stormed into the declared building, people parting for him like the sea with his aura of anger and the fierce expression on his face. He found the room with the aide of a terrified nurse who pointed and stuttered like mad, but was able to get him there within three minutes of his entry.

He had a stick of dynamite already out, between his fingers and about to be lit off the end of his cigarette as he crashed into the empty room where he was supposed to be meeting the renewed threat against the Vongola famiglia.

"So nice of you to show up… and so promptly, too," Byakuran declared, seated casually on a thread-bare, worn down couch.

At first, Gokudera couldn't help but feel a bit taken aback by the tired lines on Byakuran's face, the slouch to his shoulders and the resigned look to his smirk.

"What the fuck do you want?" the silver-haired second-in-command demanded and was irked when Byakuran chuckled at him, although again slightly ruffled at the weariness to the sound.

"There's been a disturbance to the future," Byakuran stated, leaning his elbows on his knees and looking up at Gokudera expectantly.

"And what the hell does that have to do with the Decimo?" Gokudera demanded suspiciously, fingering the stick of dynamite in his hands a little awkwardly, wondering if this beaten-down version of his former adversary was actually as threatening as the note sounded.

"I am of no threat to you now," Byakuran stated, opening his hands and showing off his lack of weapons – or rings. "I can see when I've lost, and I have no intention of fighting a losing battle."

"Didn't stop you before, you stupid bastard," Gokudera muttered, keeping the dynamite out just to spite.

"I'm guessing that you've managed to alert security with your… dramatic entrance. Shall we?" Byakuran motioned past Gokudera and the silver-haired man snorted in disbelief.

"Like hell I'm going anywhere with you," he stubbornly declared and glared when Byakuran simply stared at him.

"I have no intention of giving you information that could change the surface of the world in a hospital with a thousand ears and twice as many threats. If you truly feel that the Decimo Vongola's life is that worthless—"

"Shut the fuck up and go wherever. Shit… why didn't you just tell me to meet me there in the first place," Gokudera grumbled as Byakuran walked out of the hospital, a casual hop to his step and the first returns of a true smirk to his face.

"I'll remember that next time," Byakuran stated with a chuckle and quickly led the way through the halls, bypassing security by inches and getting them out and into a back alley, where he then took a few more twists and turns and ended up in what looked like a warzone, but could have – ten years or so ago – passed for a park.

"Is this your big, secret meeting place?" Gokudera asked, eyeing the destroyed swing set with disdain.

"No, the hospital was the meeting place, this is merely where we'll be speaking," Byakuran stated and Gokudera nearly threw his dynamite just to shut the man up.

"Well?" Gokudera growled when Byakuran made himself comfortable on a giant tire and stared at him.

"The Decimo Vongola is dying," Byakuran declared without any introduction.

Gokudera was flying forward before he even knew it, grabbing the front of Byakuran's jacket and snarling into his face.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" he screamed, shaking the man and not noticing as Byakuran just flopped there like a rag-doll.

When Gokudera finally ceased his shaking – realizing that Byakuran wasn't responding to his threats – he only had to wait a few seconds before the man started talking again.

"Tsuna will die from an incurable disease in five years. All of my futures state so," Byakuran warned, grabbing Gokudera's hand on his jacket tightly in his own and prying it off his clothing while Gokudera stood in frothing fury.

"Like fuck… like fucking hell, this is bullshit. This is just some fucked up shit you're spewing so that we'll drop our guard, or so that you can move in on his territory, or…" Gokudera trailed off, feeling something icy-hot settling into his stomach and bile rising in his throat. "Why the fuck are you telling me this?"

"I have seen twenty different futures… twenty alternate universes that could come to pass with the death of the Decimo Vongola… including the rise of another head, or the fall of the family in general… but all of them end in devastation for the world. Even those in which I somehow manage to rule merely end in my swift demise," Byakuran sighed wistfully, his thumb tracing along the finger where his Mare ring sat before Uni sacrificed herself to destroy it.

"That explains jack-shit. Why did you tell me?" Gokudera demanded again, replacing his hand on Byakuran's jacket and shaking the man once more.

"Because a twenty-first future just appeared… one where Tsunayoshi may just survive," Byakuran stated.

Gokudera, for the second time in less than an hour, felt the ground move beneath him and the wind from his lungs deflate. Tsuna… was dying, but he could live?

"How?" Gokudera hissed, his voice a pleading demand, unable to stand on his own and infuriated by it.

"If you help me, we can make a cure," Byakuran assured him, placing his hands over Gokudera's and staring at him intently.

"Me?" Gokudera blinked, disarmed at the idea of helping with anything that didn't involve the destruction of personal property.

"Of course… you're the apprentice of that useless Doctor Shamal, are you not?" Byakuran smiled, and Gokudera felt the hope in his chest tighten into anger once more.

Grunting, he threw the man back onto the tire and stepped away, taking out a cigarette with shaking fingers and glaring.

"I think you're full of shit. I'm going to check on your so-called future… and if, if what you're saying is true… we'll talk again," Gokudera muttered darkly, looking away and debating if this would be considering working with the enemy.

"I've already told you, Gokudera… I can't win this war… anymore. I'm of no threat to the Vongola name, but there may be some strategic benefit in having a medic who can see the future as an ally, nay?" Byakuran asked with his eyes twinkling brightly and that horrific smirk on his face.

Strategic benefit his ass… there was something Byakuran wasn't telling him.

"I'll find you, you smug bastard. If you're telling the truth, I'll make that cure or kill you trying, and if you're lying… well, we'll just see how long you burn before going to hell," Gokudera threatened.

"I look forward to it," the white-haired man told him, staring directly at him even as Gokudera turned and walked away, a shiver running down his spine declaring that the asshole was still staring at him.

He felt it all the way to Tsuna's front door, and absently Gokudera wondered if he'd been followed, or if Byakuran was simply watching him through whatever ability it was that he had.

"Hey Gokudera! I wasn't expecting you today!" Tsuna greeted him with that nervous smile and somewhat-eager look on his face, and Gokudera knew that no matter what he learned on the other end of the ten-year bazooka, there was no way he was going to let the Decimo die.