A/N Well I just recently got into KHR and I fell in love with it and got the idea for this story after reading the ring battles in the manga. For anyone that reads my other story A Different Friend I have not abandoned it. Real life got in the way of writing and only about two weeks ago I started again with with new story, I'm currently working on the new chapter for both ADF and this story. Oh, Yeah I don't own anything except for my OC.
Edit A/N: Now to let everyone know, while I will be taking somethings from the anime, this story is mostly based on the manga.
Please leave a Review letting me know what you think!
Chapter 1
It may seem a bit strange, but I woke up from the silence. I'm the type of person that always falls asleep listening to music, but that is because of my above normal hearing. See I use music to help drown out all the other noise like the hum of machines, cars going by on the street, even the few times my brother would sneak a girl into his room. So to have the world around me be completely silent registered as something wrong and so here I am waking up.
Sitting up I noticed that the room around me looked the same as always, save for one very large fact. Everything was in shades of gray, my bed, my books, heck even my hands looked gray right now. Freaking out a bit I got out of bed and standing there I looked back down at it, automatically reaching down to fix the blankets out of habit. I froze midway through; the panic now spreading through me rapidly. I have to tell you, nothing will scare you faster than seeing your own body laying down still curled in your blankets, especially when your body has a bullet hole in its head.
I needed to get out, now, right now. I turned and ran towards my bedroom door stumbling slightly in my haste. I yanked the door open and ran through it. At first, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings after leaving my bedroom, but when I did I was surprised to see a small room with a large desk right in front of me, taking up the majority of space. Sitting there staring at me was a man, or maybe a woman I honestly couldn't tell their gender based off of looks alone. They simply sat there with a smile and beckoned me forward. The desk was completely clear on top except for a thin laptop that was already opened and facing the unknown person.
"Please have a seat." The stranger said as I approached the desk, gesturing to my right as they spoke.
Looking to the side I was startled to see that a simple cushioned chair was now there. Knowing that it hadn't been there before, my earlier panic, which had lessened, increased greatly. There weren't many explanations as to why I either didn't notice the chair before or how it had appeared. With what I had seen earlier in my bedroom, I was starting to think I was either dreaming or going insane.
"You're not."
Startled, I turned and looked back at the stranger sitting down. "What?" I asked.
"Dreaming" They answered. "Or going insane, you're not doing either of those."
"What am I doing then?" I asked feeling lost and even more freaked out that the mystery being, no longer sure of them being human, seemed to be able to read my mind.
"Oh, I always forget you all seem to get over excited about the mind reading. Sorry about that but it isn't something I can just turn off since I have been assigned your case."
"My case, what is going on here? I just saw myself with a bullet hole in my head and a chair appearing out of nowhere and you can read my mind!" I said my voice growing louder as I spoke.
"Hmm, it always seems to work best to just come out and say it so, your dead."
Their face was smiling and I really could use that chair now. All but collapsing into the chair, my eyes focused on the being, still smiling, in front on me. "I'm dead?"
"You're dead. But it was quick and you didn't feel any pain so that is probably a plus." Still smiling, and that is now also added to the growing list of things that are freaking me out right now, they continued talking. "Now you have a few options that will be available to you after we review your life."
I sat there listening and still in disbelief of the whole being dead part. This whole thing had to be some sort of prank.
"Not a prank."
Or I'm delirious from food poisoning.
"No, you went to sleep without eating dinner anyway."
Someone must have slipped drugs in my drink.
"Wrong again, you didn't go out. Instead, you spent the evening reading until you fell asleep."
"STOP DOING THAT!" I screamed.
"No need to screech. Also it is not something I can just turn off. Now listen, you are dead and..."
"No" I interrupted.
"Yes."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I am not dead!"
"You ARE dead!" the stranger said raising their voice slightly. "Nora Jane Mitchell. Born; March 8th, 1987. Date of death June 11th, 2015 at the age of 28 due to a bullet to the brain. Death was inflicted by James Thomas Fletcher who panicked when he thought he woke you up since he broke in to steal from the house."
Stunned at the previously calm persons rant, I sat frozen in my chair. After a few moments letting the new information sink in I spoke up again.
"I'm dead?"
"You're dead."
"Damn" I muttered before letting out a sigh.
"No need to use such language now. Let us move on shall we?" The stranger said before focusing on the computer. "Hmm, you lived in a two-parent family with three siblings. Never grew close to any of them and you moved out as soon as possible. You were an average student throughout your entire education though you took Italian in public school instead of the more popular choice of Spanish. Later on you made a similar choice when you took Japanese in college. Any way you later on took an office job and your life seemed to be a repeat of going to work and coming home, the only exceptions were the rare trips with your best friend. You mainly spent your free time reading, quite a lot as I can see from this list here actually."
"This is kind of creepy" I said when they finished speaking.
"Only to you, this is all perfectly routine for me. Now my job is to process you for one of three options."
A few buttons were tapped and then a picture popped up in front of me. It showed pearly white gates surrounded by fluffy white clouds and large gold block letters spelled out the word HEAVEN. Another picture popped up shortly after the first. This one showed onyx black gates that were surrounded by flickering flames and black letters spelling out HELL.
I waited a few seconds for a third picture to appear but, when nothing happened I spoke up again. "Um, I thought you said three options?"
"True, it is hard to decide what would be a good image for reincarnation though."
"So I can choose between Heaven, Hell, or being reborn?" I asked.
"No, I have the choice of where to sort you." They said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah that would make more sense. Can I just say that I really, really don't want to go to hell?"
"Calm down. I have reviewed your life and you haven't done anything to deserve hell. Though you honestly, haven't really done anything to deserve heaven either." The stranger paused for a bit as they started looking over something on their computer. "Right, reincarnation is the route we will take. Now I just need to find a world to send you to."
"Wait, wouldn't I just be born in, you know the world I came from. I mean that's the only world right?" I asked and ended up getting a look that seemed to say 'are you stupid'.
"Let's see if I can explain this so you understand it. There are many worlds in existence currently. New worlds are created though when old ones die or are destroyed. So you have your world that is connected to the many parallel versions of it. Then you have other worlds that are separate from yours, with their own sets of parallel worlds."
"But why do I have to live in a different world? Can't I just get reborn back home?"
"No, when you're born into your new life your memories are suppressed beforehand and living in your old world has shown that these memories can be unlocked and many times this has led to people going insane. So when a person dies and is chosen to be reborn they are sent to a different world. Now your past interest in Italian and Japanese has actually given me an idea." Closing the laptop they turn their attention back towards me. "I'll explain more about what comes next now, that is if you're quite finished with all these questions. It's not like you'll remember any of this anyway."
"I'd rather know more about where you're sending me actually. I might not remember later but I'd feel better now if I knew."
"Well come on and follow me, I can tell you as we head towards the rebirth station."
Suddenly the desk and everything on it disappeared. The stranger...
"You can call me Ange I'm quite tired of hearing person, stranger, etc. from your thoughts."
"Well it's not like you introduced yourself earlier. Hey where are you going doesn't that door just lead back, to my, um body?"
"Of course not, why would I keep up a connection to that place for? That would be way too much of a hassle. Now follow me, keep up and I'll tell you about your new home. Not that I think it'll do you much good seeing as you won't remember any of this as a baby but I guess it also doesn't do any harm."
As I stood up my chair also disappeared. I started asking my questions as we left the room and traveled down a white hallway. "What is this world like? How is it different from mine? I'm also curious about why I'm not more worried about my old life?"
"You are no longer connected to that life. Right now you aren't connected to a body so more physical and material worries aren't as important right now. Your soul has already accepted the loss of what came before. As for your new world, well, it has its similarities to your past one. But in this one a few humans have unlocked, well I should use the term they themselves use, their flames. In this world each person has a type of energy that when unlocked is unlike anything you would have seen before."
"Oh! What type am I? Are they elemental or mental? Is there a quiz involved before I go that determines my type? I actually kind of like taking those kinds of quizzes." I couldn't help the smile on my face at this point.
"No, your new life has already been determined and honestly unless you start getting hit by lightening or sticking your fingers into electrical outlets repeatedly you won't be unlocking your flames or even be able to use them effectively. Now let's enter here."
"Okay that door definitely wasn't there before." I said as we went into a large room filled with people all lined up. Ange led us over to a short line and I noticed a piece of paper now in their hand. "What's that?"
"This is the information the rebirth technician needs to send your soul to the right destination. Now you will be born to a couple that has, until now in the parallel worlds had a miscarriage. You will be born this time giving them a healthy baby girl. Your birthday will be at the end of October and, hold on while I turn this in your next now."
And Ange was right, the person in front of me was calmly walking into a glowing portal where they vanished. I turned and watched Ange hand the paper over to another androgynous type person. As they started typing on the keyboard of another laptop I continued my questions.
"If it's similar to my old world are the countries the same? Where will I be born?"
"The same major countries are there, the Americas, Europe, Asia, etc. You will actually be born in a town in Japan. A place called Namimori to be exact."
"NAMIMORI?!"A loud screech came from practically next to us. Turning I saw a young girl, a teenager, with a short pixie haircut who was staring at Ange with large eyes. I was starting to feel a bit scared when she got closer and continued speaking. "You mean Namimori the place where Tsuna and Reborn and Hibari-sama live!" She then turned to glare at me. "I bet she doesn't even know anything about Reborn! Sending her there would be a waste. I demand to be sent there instead."
"No your processor has already dealt with your case now excuse us the portal is up and it is almost ready for my charge to head through."
Ange led me to the slowing growing light green portal and left me standing in front of it. This was all very strange and I still had questions I wanted answered, even more now that I could see this portal up close. Suddenly, as I was staring at the light in fascination I was grabbed and spun around. Startled, I saw the girl from before, her face was hideous since it was twisted into a rabid snarl.
"WARNING, UNAUTHORIZED SOUL ON REBIRTH PLATFORM" A voice shouted out from somewhere followed by Ange's.
"CODE OFG. I REPEAT CODE OFG!" Ange shouted out to the rest of the room before addressing my attacker. "Listen you may think you know that world but stories are only created when the creator of said story gets glimpses of a different world. Where she is going is similar but real life is not the same as a manga."
"No you just want to send me somewhere horrible. But I deserve to go there and be with Hibari-sama. My life was horrible, my parents ignored me, I had no friends, I had nothing I deserve this. I do!"
"No you don't. You did nothing with your life. You never even tried to reach out to others and when anyone tried with you, you'd rant about how they didn't understand. You died because you refused to listen to your parents and ran out of the house and got hit by a car."
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She screamed this time.
Scared beyond belief now and seeing that the crazy person wasn't focusing on me for the moment I quickly leaned back and kicked her away from me. I did manage to detach her from myself but I ended up falling backwards into the portal. The last thing I saw was the girl now being held back by Ange as others came running towards them. After that the green light of the portal was all I knew until I lost consciousness.
"Get her over to a portal and make sure she goes to the correct one! Don't take your eyes off of her." Ange spoke sharply towards the hysterical girl's processor. "I dislike obsessive fan girls immensely, fan boys also for that matter."
He turned and headed back towards the technician's desk. "Well Reuel, did she go through okay?"
"For the most part" Reuel said not looking at Ange.
"What do you mean for the most part?"
"Well I wasn't finished as she fell in. Everything was done except for the last part which as you know is the memory suppression."
"Great, and once they leave here we cannot interfere. Tell me was any of the suppression done or will she be aware of her past memories from birth."
"From birth, I barely got everything else entered before she fell. I hadn't even started the suppression yet. She was lucky that she didn't go in earlier or her soul would have been lost. Oh and her soul's memory might effect her new body to a small extent. Her hearing should travel over since it was such an issue before but I'm not sure if anything else will be though"
Ange sighed and rubbed his forehead. "There isn't anything more we can do and it honestly could have had a worse outcome. She will just have to live her life as it is now."
"Go on Ange, I'm sure the next arrival for you will be here soon. Don't worry too much about this one."
"Yes, ours is a job that is never done. I'll see you again soon Reuel."
As Ange left and Reuel went back to his computer, the rest of the room was business as usual. No one giving the soul that used to be Nora Jane Mitchell another thought.
Ehara Rin was born on a slightly breezy but otherwise normal October day. Rin did not expect to remember the afterlife or her past life, honestly she had no expectations at all for her new life. Being a baby with an adult mind was incredibly boring. Being dependent on others for all her needs was frustrating for the previously twenty eight year old. But there were moments when her new mother would hold her close with such obvious love in her expression that made Rin feel safe and happy. Others times her new father, who worked late, would come home just as she was put to bed and rock her to sleep as she listened to his voice singing a soft lullaby. Those and other such moments made everything else worth it.
Rin, as she grew up was never considered a prodigy. Mostly because she had everything working against her by keeping her memories. Yes she had taken Japanese before but that had been in college and she never became fluent in it. So first, she had a language barrier and then a cultural one. She often did things her own way when her frustration with everything sky rocketed which caused even more problems for her.
Her mother and father sometimes despaired over their strong willed daughter, especially since upon entering school she became easily aggravated with the work. This mostly stemmed from, again, the language barrier and later, in just how much useless information she had forgotten from the first time she went through school. So no, Rin was never seen as a prodigy, genius, or any other form of an especially smart child. Add to that statement the fact that she had never learned basic information about Japan before, and well it was quite easy to see why she had such problems in school.
She also ended up scaring her parents pretty regularly, ever since that first time she electrocuted herself. Rin had started playing with electricity as soon as she could move around on her own. It hurt, well it always hurt, but she found that for some reason the more often she played with electricity the less it hurt and the more she could consciously control it. By the time she was five other children started complaining about getting slight shocks whenever Rin was upset or growing angry. The other kids didn't really question it much but they all slowly started keeping their distance from the strange girl.
By the time Rin had entered Middle School she was polite to classmates but friendless. To her this was fine, she was too busy anyway keeping up with studies and joining the swim team. Yes the swim team. Rin's decision stemmed from the fact that one day she almost electrocuted her mother by accident when she was upset. She started swimming then not only because it was something she enjoyed it both in her old life and new, but because her electricity hurt more when it went off in the water. Her stubbornness kicked in here and she used this activity as training until she was at the point where she could swim sharing a pool with others while keeping a tight hold on her emotions and powers.
Currently Rin was now in her first year of Namimori Middle School. It's here that her already, not quite, normal life started becoming completely chaotic. She wasn't sure who she blamed more for this Sawada Tsunayoshi or the baby hitman Reborn.
"I'm leaving now Kaa-san!" I shouted out from the front door.
"Okay dear, have fun at school" Mom said with her head poking out from the kitchen doorway. "I really wish you would let your hair down now and again. It's so plain pulled back into a ponytail."
"Sorry Kaa-san it just gets in the way if it's not pulled back. If you would let me cut it, I wouldn't pull it back." I replied as I slipped on my shoes.
"Never! A girl should have long hair and take pride in it. Too many run around with it all chopped up. I will ground you for eternity if you ever come home with a choppy haircut." Mom scolded. I didn't bother to point out that she had her own black hair cut so that it only reached her shoulders.
"Hai, hai Kaa-san. I'll be home later, bye." I said before taking off out of the house and into the early morning light.
I took my time walking down the street towards Namimori Middle. My mornings always seemed to be the most relaxing part of my day. I would take my time getting to school and still arrive early. Then I would spend time reading whatever book I currently had from the library, old habits die hard but this is one I didn't mind keeping from my old life.
Arriving at my classroom, I took my seat by the window. As I was absorbed in the story I barely registered my classmates trickling in. My reading did get interrupted a little later on as suddenly the majority of the boys in my class started shouting.
"Hentai!"
"Confession Of Love!"
"Here Comes Pantsman!"
Those were just a few of the things being said. Looking over I noticed they were all talking to Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Just what is going on?" I mumbled.
"Hey, you don't know Ehara?" Kurokawa Hana asked. "Tsuna asked Kyoko to go out with him in only his underwear yesterday!"
"Way on earth would he do that?" I asked. Sawada had always been pretty quiet and not one to bring attention to himself if he could help it.
"He is obviously a hentai." Kurokawa said before turning her attention back to the boys.
Geez I could care less about perverts and confessions, they could at least be a little quieter though.
The boys didn't stop until the teacher showed up for the lesson. At least the rest of the school day was pretty normal. Sawada still got picked on here and there but it seemed like it would die down soon. As the last class finished I hurriedly grabbed my stuff and left the classroom, only to come face to face with members of the Kendo club.
"What are you all doing here?" I asked already getting annoyed at being delayed.
"Mochida-senpai sent us to bring Dame Tsuna to the dojo." Idiot number one said.
"Yeah he insists on avenging Kyoko-chan." Idiot number two added.
Their attention suddenly shifted to the door behind me. I looked back and saw that Sawada was standing there. The idiot squad rushed forward and lifted Sawada into the air and rushed off towards the dojo followed by the entire class. Curious, I followed along interested in seeing just what Mochida had in store for Sawada.
The dojo was already pretty full when I got there. Pushing towards the front I saw Mochida dressed in his kendo gear. Then he started talking and I just wanted to laugh, he was acting like this was some kind of TV drama or something! Seriously, 'God may forgive a piece of shit like you, but I won't!' what kind of line was that. Though, coming here was turning out to be a great idea, if only for the fact that I got to see Sasagawa being held back from giving Mochida a piece of her mind. Not that I could blame her I would definitely hit anyone trying to claim me as a prize.
I thought this whole circus act would end when Sawada did a runner, but suddenly said boy came charging back into the dojo. I was shocked not only at the fact that he was in his boxers, but that for some reason there was a bright orange flame on his forehead. All around me though everyone was only commenting on his lack of clothes. I didn't get it, but I also didn't have time to focus on it as Sawada ran straight at Mochida and actually broke the shinai to head-butt the older boy.
With Mochida on the floor, Sawada actually yanked out a handful of hair. I winced imaging how much that must have hurt. But, when the kendo club member refused to raise Sawada's flag, he continued ripping out handfuls of Mochida's hair. Finally the flag went up and he was declared the winner. I noticed though that the strange flame on his forehead was now extinguished.
As everyone swarmed Sawada after his victory, I quickly left the dojo to head home. My classmate had been like a completely different person during the match and I was worried about the strange flame that had been on his head for that short amount of time. I didn't know where I could get answers or even if anyone had them. My best guess currently was that Sawada had also awakened his flames, but it was obvious that they were very different from my own.
Later that night a loud boom sounded from nearby almost like something exploded. I ended up ignoring it in favor of finishing my current novel.
School was mostly the same but at the same time it all felt different. Suddenly Sawada was respected by a good portion of the students while some others were afraid of him now. Last but not least, I never could seem to find a chance to question him about about those flames, I also hadn't seen them again either.
In fact the only time Sawada did anything else strange was when he was asked to participate in the school volleyball tournament. He was pathetic for the first portion of the game but when he came back from the break all of a sudden he could jump insanely high. His team ended up pulling ahead in points after that and winning but I never spied even a hint of flames. It was almost enough to make me question if I had seen them at all in the first place.
Instead of the days going back to normal after Sawadas latest stunt, this time life got even weirder in the form of the new transfer student from Italy. Gokudera Hayato had all the markings of a delinquent. From the sloppy uniform to the multiple necklaces and of course a bad attitude. Gokudera couldn't have looked more like a classic bad boy if he was staring in a crappy TV school drama. Of course many of the girls in class swooned and immediately declared the need for a fan club. For some reason, Gokudera seemed to be targeting Sawada, going so far as to kick his desk on the way to his own seat. This didn't really surprise me seeing as lately, everything seemed to revolve around Sawada when it came to weird things going on.
During the morning classes you could practically feel the tension between Sawada and Gokudera. The latter's face constantly had a glare on it that he directed towards the former, the only time he didn't was during the science test. When the bell for lunch rang Sawada literally ran out of the classroom. Gokudera left soon afterwards and the class was still silent. Cursing my own curiosity, I grabbed my things and left to go after the two boys.
The transfer student was pretty easy to find since I could still see him as I left the classroom. I followed him as he made his way towards the back of the school. Of course, I wasn't even surprised to see him light a cigarette once he got outside.
My curiosity had always been one of my strongest traits. I could never decide though, if it was a good one to have or not. Especially now as I stand outside staring at Gokudera trying to decide if I really wanted to know what was going on.
The answer was yes.
"I see your targeting Sawada." I said breaking the silence and bringing the delinquents attention to myself.
"I don't know what your blabbering about. Buzz off, stupid woman." He said.
"Please, stupid is one thing I most definitely am not. Besides it doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here. I mean, you show up today and immediately zero in on Sawada. There is also the fact your from Italy."
"This isn't any of your business so back off!" Gokudera said obviously starting to get frustrated. "I'm here since Reborn asked me to be, if you or your famiglia have an issue bring it up with him."
"I can't do that" I said. Inside I was picking up the crumbs of information Gokudera was dropping and trying to make sense of them. Who on earth was Reborn, a person, or company? Famiglia was also a foreign word that I felt was pretty important right now. At the moment, there was only one thing I was sure of and that was that this transfer student was going after my classmate. "You see, I can't let you attack Sawada."
"Hn, like a weakling like you could stop me" He glared.
"An idiot like you has no idea what I can do. Leave Sawada alone and you won't have to find out." I said most definitely bluffing at this point.
"And let that piece of Trash become the Vongola Decimo? The Future of the mafia would be ruined if someone like him took over the strongest Famiglia in Italia."
I never got a chance to reply since, just as Gokudera finished speaking, Sawada ran out from the building. Gokudera and I watched as Sawada lost in his own world mumbled something about Ghetto seniors? I had no idea what he was talking about but this was the absolute worst place he could be. Could this boy really be involved in the mafia? I just couldn't picture it.
"Your wussy-ness disgusts me." Gokudera said to Sawada in contempt.
"You're the transfer student!" Sawada said already freaking out. "I'll be leaving now."
"I won't allow that. No matter who stands in my way, I refuse to let a nuisance like you ruin the Vongola Family." Gokudera said after lighting up another cigarette.
Sawada stopped in his tracks at the other boys words and if that didn't prove that he was in on this mafia business, his next words did.
"How do you know about the family?" He asked.
At this point, I couldn't stand being ignored any longer. "That is a stupid question Sawada. Did you not listen earlier to the fact that this guy here is from Italy. That alone should have given you your answer, I don't think our school has ever had a transfer from another country before. Not to mention one that is from the home of the mafia!"
Finally Sawada was looking at me but his next words made me almost wish that I could leave him to Gokudera's mercy.
"Um... Who are you?" Sawada asked.
I think I was about to hurt the kid myself at this point.
"She would be Ehara Rin. Known mostly for her polite and distant behavior by her classmates. Except for you it seems Dame Tsuna. This girl has been your classmate since the beginning of the school year."
"REBORN!" Sawada yelled.
This was Reborn? A baby, a baby wearing an expensive suit and a fedora, with some kind of lizard sitting on him and a ridiculously bright yellow pacifier hanging from his neck. This is ridiculous, so far I've managed to piece together that Sawada has somehow gotten mixed up with the mafia and now Gokudera wants to kill him because Reborn asked him to. I can't believe he wants to kill someone just because a baby asked him to?
"You came earlier than I expected Gokudera Hayato." The baby said to the silver haired boy, completely ignoring Sawada's shouting.
"Eh! You know each other?" was Sawada's question.
"Yeah, he's a member of the family that I called over from Italy."
"So this guy is in the mafia!"
"It's my first time meeting him as well, though."
Gokudera interrupted Sawada and Reborn's conversation at this point. "So you're the ninth gen's highly trusted assassin Reborn."
"I see all three of you are in some way involved with an Italian mafia group named Vongola. Gokudera wants to kill Sawada because of a request from Reborn. I have to wonder though, just how did you get involved with the mafia Sawada? How did you get to the point where you're the successor to a mafia group?" I said bringing everyone's attention back to me. Including a certain baby, who now was pointing a gun at me.
"Just how do you know about Dame Tsuna being the successor, Ehara Rin." Reborn said all the while still pointing the gun at me.
"Gokudera." I said simply.
"You already knew! Don't try and act innocent, just what Famiglia do you work for?" Gokudera shouted at me.
I ignored him, mostly still staring at the gun that I'm pretty sure would put a bullet in my brain soon if the baby didn't like my answers.
"I bluffed. I've been curious about the weird stuff happening around Sawada. Running around in his boxers, jumping extremely high at the volleyball game when he can't even jump as high as the most athletically challenged classmate we have, and the thing I'm most curious about, the flame that appeared on his forehead during the match with Mochida."
I paused to breathe and calm down for a second before going on. "So when all of a sudden we get a transfer student who kicks Sawada's desk and then continues to glare at him all day, well I couldn't help myself and I followed after them when they both left the room at lunch. Gokudera here did tell me all I've figured out. I just had to act like I already knew."
Finally, the gun went down. Just as one threat seemed to go away through another popped up. Gokudera, with his cigarette still lit brought out two handfuls of dynamite.
"Hey Reborn, you're not kidding about me becoming a candidate for successor if I kill Sawada right?
"WHAT!" Sawada shouted.
"Yeah that's right. Well let's continue the killing."
"Do you care if the girl gets it too."
"No."
"Crap" I muttered.
"Wait. Hey just, killing me what are you talking about, this is a joke right!" Sawada said.
"I'm serious." Reborn answered.
"You're betraying me. Everything was a lie?"
"That's wrong, I'm telling you to fight."
"Um Sawada-san, now might be a good time to run!" I shouted interrupting his conversation and pulling him to run with me. Since as he had been talking, Gokudera had already started lighting the dynamite in his hands. "Talk to the baby later!"
We ran and when I felt the heat of the explosion behind us I was properly scared and started running faster. Still holding onto Sawada's hand I ran until we reached a dead end. Reborn popped up once more and decided that now was a good time to introduce Gokudera. I didn't need to know his mafia nickname or that he conceals dynamite all over. I pretty much got that when he started flinging the stuff at us.
Gokudera was now standing in front of us, calmly holding more dynamite that was ready to go off. His eyes narrowed and it almost seemed like he was disappointed. Just as he threw the explosives at us a gunshot rang out and Sawada fell down. In less than a second though he practically flew back up this time in just his boxers and once again with that flame burning brightly on his forehead.
"REBORN! I'LL PUT OUT THE FUSES WITH MY DYING WILL!"
Then suddenly, Sawada was almost like a blur as his raced around snuffing out the fuses on the dynamite, each time repeating the word defuse. Gokudera threw out double the amount of dynamite but Sawada managed to get all of those also. My shock kept me still as I watch this and I couldn't help but, finally, think that my curiosity was most definitely a bad thing.
Gokudera seeing his dynamite defused, once again tried throwing even more out. As he had triple the amount of bombs balanced in his hands one solitary stick fell to the ground the fuse burning brightly. The boy seemed transfixed by that small fire eating quickly at the fuse. Soon his hands went slack and the rest of the sticks fell around him in a crude circle. I watched him just stand there and I realized that this boy was just waiting for death and that wasn't something I was prepared to watch.
"NO!" I shouted before running forward.
I noticed Sawada was still defusing the explosives and Gokudera seemed to be now staring at the boy in awe but I couldn't take the chance that Sawada might not make it. I sped up and pulled the transfer student with me away from the dynamite. I didn't stop not until I heard Sawada's relief as he said he made it. Looking back at the boy kneeling and surrounded my unlit dynamite, I also felt relieved and it made my knees give out. I sat on my butt on the ground not caring if I got dirt on my uniform or not, I was alive and so were the others.
"I WAS MISTAKEN! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S FIT TO BE BOSS!" Gokudera shouted as he knelt besides me, his hands on the ground and his head bowed down. "TENTH! I'LL FOLLOW YOU! COMMAND ME TO DO ANYTHING!"
"Wah!"
"Having the loser serve under the winner is a family rule." Reborn said with what I could swear was a smirk on his face.
"If Sawada-san commands anything it should be that idiots shouldn't use explosives" I said still picturing Gokudera's face as he gave up.
"It isn't any of your business!" Gokudera glared at me.
"Gee haven't I heard that from you before. Besides didn't you want to be the Tenth whatever thing."
His face went back to looking gloomy. "Actually I really didn't have ambitions to become the Tenth Gen. It's just, that when I heard that the Tenth is a Japanese guy the same age as me, I felt that I had to test his strength..."
Everyone was silent in the face of Gokudera's confession.
"But this is much more than I expected!" Here he turned back to face Sawada. "For putting yourself on the line to save me, I'll place my life in your hands!"
Sawada tried clumsily to refuse. Only to have Gokudera refuse his refusal. I'm not even sure the transfer student realizes how scary he can look, otherwise he would notice that he scared Sawada.
"Gokudera became your subordinate because of your strength. Good job Tsuna." The baby congratulated Sawada.
"This is insane." I muttered before shouting at Sawada. "And would you put your cloths back on already Sawada-san!"
"Oh no no, these guys are cutting class" a new voice said.
Three older students had shown up looking like trouble makers.
"This requires some punishment." the first voice or Jerk One as I'll call him said.
"You're only allowed to cut starting senior year" came from Jerk Two.
Finally Jerk Three had to add his own comment. "How many front teeth do you want broken?"
I ended up still sitting there as Gokudera chased the three seniors away with his dynamite and Sawada ran after him trying to get him to stop. I wasn't interested in following, instead I just laid back and stared at the sky.
"Just what did I get in the middle of?" I asked myself out loud.
"The mafia."
Startled by both the voice and the sudden appearance of Reborn's face above me I squeaked. Yes squeaked not that Reborn reacted to that at all.
"Join Tsuna's Famiglia."
"What? Why? I'm not, I don't think I'd be useful." I also wasn't sure I wanted to be part of the mafia.
"You had questions about Dame Tsuna's flame right." Reborn said more stating a fact then asking a question. "You also handled the situation well, even managing to act instead of freezing in place. You also successfully extracted information from Gokudera without him realizing it. Tsuna would do well with you in his famiglia."
"So I get answers in exchange for joining."
"Some."
"I take it you have questions of your own."
"Some."
I had a feeling this wasn't really a request. I probably knew too much to stay out of whatever this crazy mess, that focused on Sawada, was. I also didn't have as much information as I'd like. With that in mind I already knew my answer.
"Huh. Sure I'll join."
Standing up finally, I looked down at the baby. "So where do you wanna go talk."
So this is how I ended up taking direction from a mafia baby and going to Sawada's house as he still ran around in his boxer shorts.
"You can't be serious, this is where Sawada lives." I said as Reborn and I stood in front of the door to this two story house.
The door opened without us even knocking once.
"Oh Reborn, you're back early" a woman about the same age as my mom said standing in the now open doorway. "Who is this with you, a friend?"
"Ciaossu Maman, this is Ehara Rin, she knows Tsuna."
"Oh my, I'm afraid Tsuna isn't back yet but why don't you take her up to Tsu-kun's room and I'll bring up some snacks for while you wait."
"Um its nice to meet you ma'am. You can call me Rin."
"Rin-chan! What a cute name. I'm Sawada Nana but you can call me Mama since you're a friend of my son you're practically family. If only my no good son could get a girl as pretty as you as a girlfriend. Anyway come in, come in."
Reborn led me inside and then up the stairs and into a messy bedroom. For all the weird things going on lately I wasn't expecting the completely normal bedroom. I sighed and simply sat down at the table set up in the middle of the room where Reborn was already sitting.
"Can I.." I started to speak only to be interrupted by Nana-san entering with a tray of snack and tea.
"Here we go, I hope this will be fine with you both."
"Its fine Maman. Thank you." Reborn said.
"Yeah thanks Nana-san."
"Oh, its no problem and call me Mama okay." Nana said smiling. "Now I'll be downstairs if you two need anything."
"Ah, thank you" I called after the woman as she left. "Wow she's really nice huh. Now can I ask just what those flames on Sawada's head were."
"Those were his flames released by the dying will bullet."
"Dying Will?"
"Your dying will is based on what you regret just before you die. It means your body is in a state wherein all safety switches are off. So in exchange for risking your life by breaking your limits, you can harness amazing strength to go from I should have done it, to I will do it."
"If you don't have regrets?"
"You're dead."
"Damn. How did you get involved with Sawada in the first place?"
"My job currently, is to raise Dame-Tsuna to become a mafia boss."
"Why him in the first place through?"
"The other three candidates died and Tsuna is a descendant of Vongola Primo, the first boss."
"So the poor kid has no choice."
"None."
"You have questions for me I'm guessing."
"A few. In my research I noticed you went to the hospital quite a few times for getting electrocuted. I have a theory but I'd like you to answer me anyway." He paused to look at me for a moment. "Most would learn the first time never to play with electricity again, you have been to the hospital no less than five times. I want to know why?"
"Ha, I figured that would be your question." I stopped to drink some tea. "You're right, most would never do it a second time. Me though, I've been playing with electricity since I was a baby. The hospitable visits only happened when I over did it. I can handle a lot more now than I could before. It's one of the reasons I was so curious about Sawada."
"Just like I thought. You have lightning flames, you will make a good addition to Tsuna's famiglia."
"Are they the reason I could see Sawada's flame but the others didn't notice it?"
"Yes, flames of any type can are only visible to others who have access to their own flames. The exception being mist users, also known "
"So I have lightning flames huh, anything you can tell me about them."
"Don't feel like it." Reborn said with a smirk.
"Will I ever found out more."
"Later."
"Damn you" I said before I gave up and started eating the snacks. I had just finished my third when the door slammed open. Turning to look I saw Sawada finally back in his clothes and obviously also skipping afternoon classes.
"Yo boss" I said raising my hand as I greeted Sawada.
"Hieee! What are you doing here!" Sawada yelled.
"Reborn asked me to join your famiglia and I agreed."
"Reborn don't just involve my classmates in your world." Sawada said.
"Too late" The baby said.
"You're definitely stuck with me. In more ways then one actually." I told the brunette.
"Ehhh!"
"So it turns out I live next door."
"EHHH!"
"Yeah I didn't know either."
"But wouldn't I have seen you on the way to school?"
"Baka Tsuna, Rin leaves for school early while you barely get there on time."
"That would definitely be why I had no clue he lived next door" I muttered. "Anyway how do you think you did on the science test today Sawada-san?"
"What, why the random queston?" Sawada asked looking confused.
"Listen I was serious when I said your stuck with me. So, we might as well get to know each other. Would you feel better if I introduced myself?"
Seeing his relieved nod I continued. "Okay, I'm Ehara Rin, please just call me Rin though. I enjoy reading, swimming, and playing with electricity." Again Sawada looked completely confused. "I live next door and I'm only average in grades but I'm pretty good at baking desserts. Ah, also since we're neighbors I'll be by every morning to make sure you're up for school." I ended with a smile, which only grew wider when Sawada let his head fall down and hit the table.
"Ah, Dame-Tsuna will have to get used to waking up early now. I'll have to prepare some of the traditional Vongola family wake up items from now on." Reborn said.
"Reborn! Gah, why is this all happening to me." Sawada asked.
I noticed that Reborn was taking out some pictures and placing them on the table after Sawada's question.
"No, no I don't want to see those again." Sawada started shaking his head and backing away from the table.
Curious, again, I leaned over to look at the three photographs lined up. Number one was of a man in a suit with a gun in hand, laying on a cobbled street in a pool of blood. Number two was somehow taken under water where a obviously dead man was floating with the fishes. Number three a just a picture of a pile of bones.
"I'm guessing these were Sawada's predecessors, Reborn?"
"Yup Tsuna is that last candidate left."
"I'm not going to be a mafia boss!" Sawada said from the corner.
"I think your stuck with it Sawada-san. But hey I'm sure, um eventually you'll make a good boss." I tried to encourage the poor boy.
Sighing he came out of his corner and back to the table. "Could you at least call me Tsuna."
Smiling I replied "Sure thing Tsuna. Now, since we have some time before school lets out and I can't really head home till later, is there anything you'd like to do?"
I ended up spending the time playing video games and simply getting to know Tsuna better. The boy had a tendency to get lost in his thoughts but was surprisingly good company. He did look at me a little funny when I put on gloves to handle the game controller.
The next day was just as chaotic, starting from first thing in the morning when I went to pick up Tsuna.
After knocking Nana's smiling face answered the door for me. "Oh my, Rin-chan you're here awfully early! Tsu-kun is still asleep."
"I figured he would be but I'll get him up. I warned him yesterday I would start bringing him with me to school early today." I said answering Nana's smile with my own.
Just as she ushered me in and closed the door, a loud boom came from upstairs.
"Oh Reborn-chan must have woken Tsu-kun up. I'm sure he'll be down soon. Would you like some breakfast?"
"Uh, sure. I usually just bring some bread or something with me to eat on the way to school though."
Nana quickly led me to a sit and continued cooking at the stove. Seeing a stack of plates I quickly set the table while I waited. Just as Tsuna's mom started putting food on the table said boy made his way into the kitchen. I really couldn't help the laugh that escaped when he saw me there.
"Rin-chan? You're here so early!" Tsuna said looking shocked.
"Oh, this is just when I usually leave for school. I've been awake for a while now."
"Tsu-kun don't be rude you haven't even greeted Rin-chan." Nana scolded her son as she sat down the last plate.
"Ah, yeah good morning Rin-chan."
"Good morning Tsuna.'
"Ciaossu"
Whipping around I saw Reborn already eating across the table from me.
"When did you get there!" Tsuna and I both said.
"A while ago. Eat quickly Dame-Tsuna or you won't have any food."
And so I spent the time chatting with Nana as Tsuna tried to eat and defend his food from Reborn at the same time. As the last of the food was practically inhaled I bid goodbye to Nana and dragged Tsuna out the door and towards school.
"Hey Tsuna! We should get cake later to celebrate becoming friends!" I said.
"Friends! What really?"
"Well, yeah. I mean I know technically since I joined your famiglia I'm a subordanite but..."
"Nooo! I'd rather have friends!" Tsuna interrupted me.
"Great! Oh there is this café that has scones! Have you ever had a scone? I love them." I continued talking happily.
As Tsuna and I made our way inside of the school and then the classroom, I couldn't help how happy I felt. Not only was I sure to get some answers eventually about my flames but, I hadn't really noticed before just how lonely I'd been. I didn't have close friends in this new life, unknowingly driving them away in my pursuit of controlling my flames. It really had taken longer than it should have to realize that I didn't have control in the beginning. In trying to keep others safe from myself, I ended up with no one.
Now though, I think I'll like having Tsuna as a friend. He definitely played more video games than I did but I spent a good chunk of time reading fiction. Of course with Reborn around I think someone may have cursed my new friend to 'live in interesting times' not to mention having Gokudera in his life now.
Speaking of the that silver haired boy, I noticed he wasn't in class yet. He was definitely going to get an earful from the teacher. Especially since we had Nezu-sensei first thing today. Already the condescending teacher was starting to had back tests.
Receiving my test back, I was kind of depressed to only see an 87 on it. As I put it away I noticed that Sensei had some sort of derogatory comment for most of the low score students. Of course he always said 'hypothetically' as an excuse to get away with his bad attitude. Sadly by sitting in the front row towards the middle I had a constant front row seat for everything.
Finally he called Sawada and I perked up a bit. Instead of a single comment though, Nezu-sensei started 'hypothetically' talking again after jerking the paper away when Tsuna reached for it. By the time he started going on about my friend being a burden I decided that enough was enough.
Standing up, Nezu-sensei pause at my interruption. I took the few steps forward to stand by Tsuna and snatched the test out of sensei's hands. Folding it in half I handed it to Tsuna before addressing the man I now extremely disliked. What sort of adult gets pleasure from verbally abusing students using the weak excuse of 'hypothetically' in his comments.
"I think sir that everyone else would like to get their tests back, don't you?" I said, my voice full of contempt.
Before Nezu-sensei could say anything, Gokudera slammed open the classroom door. Thus giving him another target which he practically jumped at. Though from sensei's reaction to Gokudera's glare, I was actually glad that the explosive fanatic could be so intimidating.
And then he just had to ruin it. His greeting was loud and his eyes were open wide as his gave a quick bow. Of course muttering and whispering immediately started. Poor Tsuna looked like he wished the ground would swallow him.
"This is just hypothetically speaking but.." Nezu-sensei started.
"Sensei, I think we've all heard enough of your 'hypothetically'. Could we actually move on to the lesson or are you just going to inflate your own ego?" I snapped. I couldn't help it, I was sick and tired of his attitude.
"Ehara! Watch your tone. As I was saying hypothetically loser trash always seem to gravitate towards each other. I'd be careful who you associate with." Sensei said glaring at Tsuna, Gokudera, and me.
Gokudera exploded, not literally, Tsuna tried to make himself disappear without moving, and I started swearing pretty colorfully at our sensei. The obvious conclusion was getting dragged to the principals office.
The not so obvious conclusion was having to find a fifthteen year old time capsule or get expelled. Not only did the three of us have to find it but we also had less then one day to search for it. The three of us all seemed to be in shock as we each went or separate ways upon leaving the office.
How could I snap like that? I've always just ignored the stupid teacher before and now I've gone and gotten us all into trouble. Tsuna was probably angry at me, no doubt Gokudera was to, though he might be more upset with the teacher than with me. I didn't even want to think about how my mother was going to react.
I walked for a bit before stopping at a window. Looking at I could see the playground and for the life of me, I couldn't see any indication of where a time capsule would be buried. Now even more depressed, I didn't even jump when Reborn appeared.
"Ciaossu"
"Kaa-san is going to kill me Reborn and Tsuna probably won't want anything to do with me now, since I started this whole mess."
"I was right you know." Reborn said joining me at the window.
"Huh?"
"You make a good subordinate. You stood up for your boss, even against someone who in that situation had more power politically than you. You did good Rin."
"Yeah?
"Yeah. Don't you think it's weird how Nezu-baka only teaches from the textbook. Even your tests are word for word the same as questions from the book."
Before I could reply Gokudera came down the hall spotting Reborn and I.
"Reborn! I'm sorry, I've failed the Tenth!" The boy said falling down to bow on his knees.
"Come on, I'll be re-teaching you the basics of killing. There are many better ways to do someone in then trying to choke them to death." Reborn said hopping down to the floor and walking away. Gokudera simply followed the hitman, not even looking at me at all.
My short talk with Reborn had me thinking and I made my way to the library for some research. When I got there I only opened the door a crack, this was so I could place some type on the side to keep the door from being locked. Then I entered and went straight to the librarian. Acting like I was in a rush, I quickly told the old woman that the principal had requested her presence. She ushered me out and gave a quick push to the button on the inside handle, that would have normally locked the door, and slowly made her way to the Principle's office.
As soon as she turned the corner I was inside, taking off the tape and actually locking the door, this was so I wouldn't be interrupted. As I sat at the librarian's computer I was thankful she hadn't logged off. I made quick work of searching the school's records for any mention of Nezu-sensei. I found out that supposedly he graduated pretty high in the standings from Tokyo University but why was such an accomplished man working here at a middle school of all places.
With even more questions I went on the internet and found the phone number for the university's admissions office. Keeping an eye on the door for any signs that the librarian was back I decided to make the call to the school. Working in an office in my past life actually came in handy for once and it was easy to sound offical when I was speaking to the administrative office. The answers I got had me transferring the call to the Principal's office. Afterwards I made one other call before leaving the library, still safe seeing as the librarian had yet to return.
Already on my way to the playground, I started running when I heard explosions. I made it outside just in time to see Tsuna, once again in his boxers, punch the ground. Gokudera, not to be left out, starting throwing dynamite.
"Tsuna, Gokudera-san! Are you both alright?" I said as I ran towards them.
"Tch, Where were you woman!" Gokudera shouted at me as he picked up what actually looked like a time capsule.
"I was looking something up, hopefully we won't have to deal with Nezu-baka anymore now." I answered not able to help the smile on my face.
Tsuna, staring at the now opened capsule in Gokudera's hands, spoke up. "I can't believe we actually found it."
"Uh, not really this is from forty years ago not fifthteen." The taller boy said.
"No! Oh man what am I going to do?" Tsuna was once again panicking.
"Ehara, Gokudera, Sawada! I knew it. You'll be immediately expelled." Nezu screamed as he came running from inside the school.
I stepped infront of the other two as I spoke. "No, I really don't think we will. Especially since not only are the cops on the way here but , oh look behind you here comes the principal. You should really know sir, that Fraud is a crime."
Suddenly Gokudera stood next to me and held out a handful of test papers with horrible single digit scores. "Ya know, I'm pretty sure this will be pretty good evidence against you Nezu-teme considering no Tokyo Grad would have such pathetic scores."
"I think you're absolutely correct Gokudera-san. Why don't you and the others head back to class now. I and the police have some business with Nezu-san here." The principal said when he arrived.
Our little group hurried inside, Gokudera and I waited for Tsuna to get dress before heading back to the classroom.
"Whew I'm relieved we didn't get expelled." Tsuna said.
"Ah, were you worried?" I said teasingly. I did frown a little at Gokudera's next words though.
"I'll trade in my life to prevent anything like that from happening Tenth!"
Tsuna and I were shock and while my friend look a little in awe of the taller boy, I was worried. The look on Gokudera's face told me that he was completely serious and adding that to what happened the other day, I was starting to really worry about this strange boy.
"Isn't it great to have such reliable subordinates?"
"Wha! Reborn!"
"Ah! Where do you pop out from, seriously are you trying to scare everyone!" I ranted at the small hitman.
"I don't want subordinates!" Tsuna said after registering what Reborn had said.
Gokudera at this point stopped walking. "Oh, yeah." He paused to take a paper out of his pocket. "The tests here are pretty easy, huh?"
"WHAT!" I practically shouted staring at the test with a perfect score on it.
As Tsuna froze in shock, I went to the wall and sat down sulking. I ignored the others as I moped about how unfair life was. Stupid silver haired transfers that weren't actually stupid.
End Chapter 1
