Akiyama Mio's red eyes studied carefully the carton box. The box was placed on her doorstep, resting quietly, as Akiyama pushed her bag up on her shoulder and brushed one strand of her light blue hair to the back of her ear. She squatted, as she watched carefully the package.
Was it a bomb?
Akiyama wondered if her mother was at home. She hadn't seen mail on the mailbox, meaning that her mother had removed all the mail. The box that she was currently staring at must have come later.
It was addressed to Akiyama, as the top of the box had her name written in sloppy words: Akiyama Mio.
So Akiyama picked up the 'bomb' and felt its weight. It was lighter than what she supposedly thought it was a bomb. Placing the box under her right arm, she walked inside of her home, greeting her mother, who was in the kitchen, and walked up to her room.
Once inside the room, she placed the box on top of the bed, and threw the bag onto the floor.
Her red eyes scanned the box, one more time, before her trembling fingers opened the box. Inside, there was a small box.
A box containing a box?
Was this a prank?
Akiyama opened the small box and peeked inside. A ring, a weird looking ring, with a protruding horn coming out of the middle of the purple circle, and another box- but this time she could see it was metallic made, were kept inside of the small box.
What was this?
She started by trying to open the box. Nothing. The box wouldn't budge.
Sighing, she turned to the ring.
She picked it up and rolled it around over her fingers. The ring gave off a feeling of security and comfort to Akiyama, making her instantly connect with the piece of jewellery.
She placed it on her middle finger, and extended her arm.
As she figured, the horn was too big. It ruined the complete picture, of a normal ring. But, if she wanted, she could turn the ring into a necklace.
She smiled.
What a thoughtful gift.
But gifts were always given to someone by someone.
Who gave Akiyama this ring?
She shrugged, relishing the feelings that the ring provided, and never took her eyes off the ring.
That night, when she was asleep, the ring shone mysteriously, under a purple aura.
It had finally found its user.
Six years later.
Akiyama never found the sender of that gift, that precious gift. She eventually forgot about the sender, focusing on the ring itself, and how it affected her.
She found that with the ring, she could do impossible things.
Once she had tried it on, again, to feel it on her fingers. She had been wanting a cat, that she had seen on the streets, and- she didn't know how, the cat had magically appeared on her bed. At first she thought that she was seeing things.
But then, her mother walked in and saw the cat.
Eventually she allowed Akiyama to have it, but Akiyama never forgot on how it had been brought to the world.
She had used magic!
And it was all with the ring's influence.
Akiyama looked at Neko. The brown cat slept peacefully on his bed, ignoring the fact that Akiyama was staring at him.
Her red eyes passed to the ring that she had on her chest. Everything considered 'weird' happened to Akiyama since she got that ring.
When she imagined something- like for example wishing to have a cat, those wishes came true. She was sure that the ring was some kind of 'wish well', only in the format of ring.
Right now, at her apartment, Akiyama never stopped staring at the ring over her chest.
It was then that the doorbell rung.
Akiyama placed the ring inside her shirt, and walked to the door. As she opened it, two people stood in her doorstep.
Who were these people?
"Hello." One of them, the shortest, greeted. "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. And this is Rokudo Mukuro."
"What do you need?" Akiyama asked. "If you're here to sell something I don't want it."
Sawada laughed. "No, we're not here to sell anything."
"So?" She was unaware that her ring had popped out of under her shirt.
Mukuro smirked. "It appears that I have a new apprentice."
"Apprentice?" Akiyama bobbed her head to the side. "What do you mean by that?"
"Can we come in? We'll explain everything to you." Tsuna proposed.
Akiyama stared at the two men, before sighing. "Sure."
She moves her body to the left so that the men could enter her small apartment. Sawada and Mukuro walked inside, as they took a seat on the couch. Akiyama stared at them, watching their heads move closer, as they whispered something to each other.
She closed the door, and walked to the chair that was placed to the right of the couch, near Tsuna.
"So, Sawada-san, Rokudo-san..." She started. "What can I help you with?"
"I am the one that can help you, Akiyama Mio." Mukuro stated. Akiyama widened her eyes, frightened.
"How do you know my name?!"
"Mukuro!" Tsuna berated the male. "Akiyama-san, don't be scared. We won't do anything to harm you."
"Then explain to me, how you know my name."
"We have been on your trail, so to speak." Tsuna explained. "We know that you have in your possession a great ring, one that, one would think, it can make miracles happen."
"You mean this ring?" She flashed the ring to the men. They nodded.
"Yes. That ring is called Horn Shaped Ring, and it's very powerful." Tsuna continued, as he looked at Mukuro's hands. "Mukuro has one as well, although it doesn't do the same, let's say, effects as yours."
"My ring can do magic." Akiyama stated. Mukuro laughed.
"Magic does not exist, Akiyama Mio." Mukuro shook his head. "Only the energy of the user of the ring can make what you call to be 'magic' happen. And I can see that you carry a great level of energy."
"Energy?" Akiyama repeated. "You mean that I have energy stored within me that allows me to perform magic?"
"Again, that is not magic." Mukuro sighed. "It's called illusions."
"But illusions aren't real, right?" They both nodded, again.
"Technically they aren't. But if the opponent, which the user is using the illusions against, believes in them, they turn real and they can kill."
"So that means that my cat isn't real." She mused.
"What do you mean?" Mukuro asked. "Everything in this apartment is real."
"What?" She was confused, right now. "Didn't you tell me that the illusions turn real if the person believes that they are? Well, I, with this ring, created my cat. So he must be an illusion right?"
"That's where you are wrong, Akiyama-san. Your ring is different. It's called Hell Ring, belonging to a group of rare rings, that can do amazing things. Yours not different- your ring can turn illusions into reality."