Seeking Comfort - Colonello

Disclaimer ~ I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

*The one where Skull seeks comfort from Colonello after being shot*

"FUCK!" Skull screamed as he felt a searing pain in his leg. He didn't stop running though. He would be caught if he stopped. See, he was on his way back to the manor the Arcobaleno were staying while they waited for their flames to stabilize when he was ambushed by a bunch of people. The curse was recently broken and thanks to Verde the Arcobaleno (except Yuni) didn't have to wait as long to have their older bodies back. Anyway, back to the people currently surrounding Skull in the alley. Hel didn't have the slightest idea who any of them were but they all thought he was someone else. They kept calling him a name that he couldn't be bothered to remember, yelling at him about bringing back what he stole. Skull had yelled back that he didn't steal anything and they were crazy. That was about time they pulled out guns and started trying to shoot him.

One of the good things about living with Reborn was that Skull had a lot of practice dodging bullets. He was able to knock out several of the thugs so he could run away. However, as he started to turn the corner and escape into another alley, the lead thug was able to hit him. He knew he wouldn't be able to get very far with his leg like it was, so Skull ran a few more blocks and jumped behind a dumpster. It stunk like you wouldn't believe but there were trash cans and cardboard boxes around it and that kept him hidden from view.

His leg was still bleeding but he didn't have anything around him to use as bandages. He was lucky to even have a pocket for his phone in his biker outfit. Wait. His phone! He could call the others and have one of them take him back to the manor. And bring bandages.

"The great Skull-sama is a genius," Skull whispered to himself, shifting slightly to reach his pocket and wincing as pain flared up his leg. He was able to reach his phone and, with shaking fingers, hit a button for the speed dial. He wasn't sure which number he called but he just hoped whoever it was would pick up.

"You better have a good excuse for being late kora," the voice of Colonello said through the phone.

"D-don't hang up!" Skull exclaimed. He flinched afterwards, a mixture of pain and fear of those thugs hearing him. A low groan escaped his lips from the pain in his leg, jarred by his flinch.

"Lacky?" Colonello asked. "What did you do kora?"

"I-I kinda got shot. Can you come and pick me up?" Skull asked. There was multiple yells from the other side of the phone. It sounded like the other arcobaleno but Skull couldn't be sure. It probably was though. If Skull was right, it was about time for dinner. Yuni wanted them all to have dinner together since they were living together. As long they showed up for dinner they didn't have to interact with anyone else unless they chose to.

"-are you kora!" Colonello's yell startled Skull out of his thoughts.

"What?"
"Where are you right now? Kora!"

"Behind a dumpster and a bunch of trash." Huh, Skull could hear someone shouting at Viper to track him in the background. Maybe...Fon? No. Fon is always calm. He never shouted. It wasn't Verde. His voice was too deep. It couldn't have been Luche or Lal because the voice was definitely male. Not Viper. Unless Viper would yell at himself(herself?) and Skull didn't think Viper would do that. That only left Reborn or Colonello. It had to have been Reborn. There wasn't a Kora at the end of the sentence. Colonello always says kora.

"-ull! Skull! Reply kora!" Colonello yelled into his ear.

"Huh? Did you...say something Senpai?" Skull was starting to feel the blood loss. He was getting really tired. It was hard to stay focused. Skull could almost bet that if he wasn't using his cloud flames to propagate his blood he would have died a long time ago.

"Skull. How much blood have you lost?" Colonello asked in worry.

"...Alot I think." Skull answered.

"You need to keep talking to me Skull. We are on our way but you need to stay awake," Colonello said.

"Mmkay...What do you wanna talk about?" Skull was looking at his blood seeping through his fingers.

"Whatever you want. You just need to keep talking until we find you," Colonello said.

"Ah. I saw a couple of my fans earlier. A boy and girl. Twins. Oh, and their parents. The girl's name is Tetsumi. She's super sweet and quiet. One time she asked to take a picture with me. I signed it for her. When she saw me she said she still has that photo framed on her desk. Her brother, Ryoma, wanted me to sign his favorite poster of me. Said he wanted to be just like me. I told him that he wouldn't be him and he would be me and that he wouldn't want to be me instead of himself. They came to a lot of my shows..." Skull trailed off as the trash can in front of him was tossed away from him. Skull looked up to see the thugs from before standing in front of him with nasty glares on their faces. "Uh-oh. The dumb guys are back. They thought I was someone else and when I told 'em I wasn't they got mad. But I don't wanna be anyone else. I like being Skull," Skull continued to say whatever came to his mind first.

"Oi!" one of the thugs yelled, "Who ya talking to Yuma?"

"My friend. Although I think my other friends heard too so I was probably talking to all of them...That's possible right? Yeah. Speakerphones. He told me to keep talking to him so I wouldn't pass out and die before they got here," Skull stated, smiling proudly at himself.

"That's a riot Yuma! You don't have friends!" the lead thug said.
"Yes he does kora," a voice said from behind the thugs, the words laced with killing intent.
"And who are you?" a different thug said. Instead of the six that ambushed him earlier there was about twenty now.

"When did you guys multiply?" Skull asked the thug nearest to him. He was ignored.

"We are the people who are going to kill you," Fon said calmly. All the arcobaleno were there except for Yuni. That's good. Skull didn't want her to see him like this. It would make her sad and Skull doesn't like it when kids are sad. It was part of the reason he became a stuntman. Skull said as much, continuing to ramble on. It was probably the only thing keeping him conscious.

"In case you can't tell the obvious, we outnumber you," the lead thug said.

"You're right. This won't be a fair fight. You should get some more guys first," Reborn said, Leon-gun in hand. The sight of the green weapon had the thugs pulling out their own guns. The Arcobaleno leapt into action and the thugs were taken out in seconds. Colonello, Verde, and Reborn rushed to Skull's side while Fon, Lal, and Viper took care of the unconscious thugs. Or were they dead? Skull wasn't sure.

"That is a lot more blood than he should have in his body," Verde stated. There was an underling worry in his voice.

"I know. I've been using my flames to make blood since I got shot," Skull said cheerfully. "I don't even need to think to do it! I didn't even know I could do that until a little while ago actually. I think I've been using it for years though. It would make a lot of sense why I didn't die a million times already," Skull continued to ramble on happily. He didn't quite know why he was so happy all of a sudden but he liked it.

"Interesting. We will have to talk about this later," Verde said, cutting the fabric of his pants around the bullet wound. Skull wanted to get mad at the loss of his favorite biking suit but settled for just complaining (aka pouting) about it to Colonello. Reborn and Verde were examining his leg closely.

"We'll get you a new one kora," Colonello assured him. Skull smiled.

"We will have to take the bullet out before Reborn can heal it," Verde said to Skull.

"Mmkay."

"It will hurt."

"That's fine."

"I mean it. It will be very painful for you."

"Do it quickly then. I'm ready to sleep."

"Okay then. Colonello. Keep him calm," Verde moved to push down on Skull's leg, keeping it still while Reborn took out the bullet.

"Ow," Skull deadpanned, although you could tell it hurt by the clenching of his hand around Colonello's. When did he even grab the other's hand?"

"It's almost over Skull," Colonello reassured. Fon, Viper, and Lal had moved to hover around them, waiting for some sort of news.

"I missed dinner didn't I? Sorry," Skull said, a few tears in the corners of his eyes. Whether from sadness or pain he wasn't sure. "I even made you guys come out here because I couldn't outrun a few stupid thugs," Skull said sadly.

"They weren't thugs kora. Those people were from the Scarafaggio family," Colonello said. "It wasn't your fault. You were outnumbered. You are the least experienced when it comes to fighting out of us, with the exception of Yuni, and with all the bullet holes we saw trying to get to you it looks like the bastards just got a lucky shot kora."

"I dodged a lot of the bullets. I should probably thank Reborn for that actually."

"Welcome," Reborn said, pulling the bullet out of Skull's leg a second later. He immediately went to healing the would with his Sun flames.

"Yay. No bullet," Skull said blinking slowly. "Imma sleep now," he said, feeling his body start to fall, until it was stopped by a warm chest. Skull could see the white t-shirt and felt the unique fabric of Colonello's army jacket before he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

_Line_

Skull felt warm when he finally slipped back into consciousness. Not like a fever warm but more of a protective warmth. It took him several tries to blink his eyes open and keep them open. Seeing Oodako swimming in her tank told him that he was in his room at the Arcobaleno manor. He tried to sit up, only to find he was weighed down by something. An arm? A warm breath was tickling the back of his neck too. Skull tried to turn and look behind him but all he was able to see was a head of blonde hair. But the only one in the arcobaleno with blonde hair was Colonello. Why was Colonello in his room?

"Finally awake kora?" the sudden voice of Colonello snapped Skull out of his thoughts, causing him to squeak in surprise. Colonello laughed and moved back, allowing Skull to sit up and look at him curiously.

"What happened?" Skull asked. Colonello frowned and Skull wondered if he did something wrong.

"You don't remember?" Skull shook his head. "You were shot kora. Called me to come and get you."

"Sorry. That must have caused you a bunch of problems," Skull apologized looking at his lap. He felt something hit the back of his head lightly.

"Don't be sorry. All of us were happy we were able to get to you in time. You almost bled out kora! We were all worried about you," Colonello assured. Skull looked at him, an unreadable emotion across his face. "I'm serious kora!"

"I thought you were Colonello senpai," Skull joked. That earned him a rough ruffle of his hair.

"You must be feeling better if you are making jokes kora. I need to tell everyone else that you are awake and you need to eat kora," Colonello said, standing up and stretching. Skull watched him quietly as he paused in the doorway. "You know, even though we all pick on you we do care. When everyone heard you were hurt they all started panicking in their own ways. So, we want you to get better soon okay? I don't think any of us can handle Reborn's driving again," Colonello said softly, then quickly exited the room, closing the door behind him. Skull laughed to himself at that.

"You forgot I'm a stuntman senpai," Skull said to himself in the almost empty room. He had a feeling it was about to be very crowded soon though.

Okay so I'm not actually sure which order any of these are going to be in. I have a whole bunch of ideas centered around Skull (can you tell he's my favorite?) that I put on a site that will choose one randomly for me. That will be the order I write and update the story. Some chapters will be long while others will be short. It just depends on the prompt and how well I am able to write it. Fair warning, updating is sporadic at best.

If you have any requests for fics let me know and I'll add them to the list. I will get to it eventually. Depends on the randomizer thing.

Anyway, you know the drill! Review for more fics!