Summary: She didn't ask to be the nation's sacrificial lamb, and she certainly didn't petition to be anyone's leader. Now she didn't have a choice but to be a pawn in this deadly game. AU OC-epicness.
Disclaimer: I most certainly do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. That level of awesomeness is beyond my reach.
Rated T: for mild swearing, blood, violence, and probably, probably suggestive themes.
A/N note: Well, um, hello. This might seem a little strange, but this is my second attempt at this story. The first time I had, unsuccessfully I might add, tried to use first person. Every word that I managed to type was like pulling my teeth with a monkey wrench. I reckon it had to do a lot with me being the writer and knowing how I would react in a dire situation compared to how I want my main character to act. So obviously that experience wasn't very pleasant. First person is so hard to write. And so, my readers, I have decided to stick with third person perspective and swing my style that way. You have no idea how relieved I was to do that. I have experience with both the first person and third person perspective writing, but for some odd reason this story wasn't as smooth as I hoped it would be with the former. Here's my decision and I hope many of you will be as relieved as I am.
This is an alternate universe story which means I will not follow the canon plot. I figure people need a new, fresh, exciting story to read and I just so happened to think of one. Oh and if you do not like OC fiction, I will not force you to read, but I do urge you to try. Even if we try to deny it, stories start out with new characters, OC people, and we tend to familiarize ourselves with them over the course of time. They become canon and fanfiction is born. I see no reason to not to repeat the cycle. So I hope many of you will enjoy the show.
Prologue: Alone
"The guise has been set up and the arena polished. It's been fifty, long years but it's finally time."
With that said, the man sighed warily to himself. It would seem that another round of hell-bent catastrophes were upon them again. Something had shifted underneath the thin veil of power hidden in the earth. He could feel it and had absolute confidence that it was not of natural causes. Furthermore, he had heard from his subordinates that an unexpected source was the reason for this recent lapse in power. The Famiglia Clock had paused briefly, an almost impossible endeavour, until that moment it had. Only the forgiving souls would understand the implications behind that brief power struggle. It not had occurred for well over a thousand years in fact.
It could only mean an omen was upon them.
"All the hosts have been found and lined up at the gate, King. We had some willing prospects this time around."
The King found this particular notion amusing. "For the power no doubt."
"Yes—Well, it does not seem we had faced any particular incidents, "it was then that the informer paused, he hesitated, "except one."
"Oh?" that had peeked his interest. "What sort of incident?"
There had been families all over who would gladly sacrifice their own flesh and blood for this chance of power. It did not seem likely any resistance was the cause.
High unlikely.
"A few days, the seekers had felt a brief change in energy around a certain area in Japan. We had dispatched a few of our men to investigate…"
It was only a few days ago that the clock had lapsed. Interesting, a very strange notion indeed.
"What have they found?"
"A girl." The informer said, nervously looking away. The king looked away to hide his surprise. A girl? What sort of incident could a girl cause? "She had a container with her."
A surge of shock went through the King's system, and if it weren't for the candles illuminating only parts of his face, he wouldn't have been able to successfully hide the response. Foolishly the informer did not realize the sort of impact his words had on is King. That this would arise a dire matter indeed. "A…host, daresay, are you telling me this girl is a host?"
"W-we can't label her anything else your majesty. S-she had the container—,"
"A host? Impossible." He breathed. The candles flickered off the walls threateningly under the power of the king's emotions. Impossible, absolutely impossible.
"Only five hosts are allowed in this power struggle. Only five. Are you telling me, Brow, that we have a sixth?"
Brow Nie Jr. nodded his head, entirely serious about his statement. "And that's not all. We don't know what family she represents, or her prior background information at all."
"Her power?"
"Unknown."
"Fascinating." The King paced along the altar of the Famiglia Clock. It was an old artefact, carefully crafted, radiating in power and one that had not failed to choose predecessors over the course of a thousand years. It was not prone to failing them. So who was this girl that threatened the very fabric of tradition?
"Is she among the other hosts?"
"As of now, yes—she was knocked unconscious, your majesty."
"I see." He said, he had no choice but to go along, "I see where the incident lies. Very well, have her ready. Prepare her guardians."
"But your majesty, who? All the guardians have been handpicked. Where would we find the needed spiritual power to find more?"
The king contemplated for only a minute, even if it pained him he had no choice but to put faith in the spirit world. "Then assign her anyone you can find in this world illegible enough. There must be a few of them around her age. We cannot have her enter the arena without any sort of preparation. It is your duty to make sure she is conscious before the needed time."
"Yes King."
"Then I want you to find everything you can about this girl. Where she lived, who she was, and what her power is. Do not let her out of your sight."
"I'll make sure the others know about her."
This was not an accident.
The King watched the clock with solemnly and frowned. He reminisced his time and the hardships he had had to endure to make it king. He could hope that the repercussions of this young lady's unfortunate timing did not kill her immediately.
"…Dismissed."
A few days earlier…
What do I have to do to be normal around here?
Why did I do that?
What went through her head at the time, she'd never know. It was a life changing experience for her, one of those quick-never-thought-through decisions that emerge at the full-front of the mind but never something one took time to decipher. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't have gone through all the pain that she did, or the danger she had subjected herself to. But it was something she could not go back and change, not with her personality anyway. What was done was done.
She just had to live with it.
The first thing that came to Anju's mind while roaming the store for bread was of rarity among teenagers around her age. She envisioned how many long hours of work she had to do, or how much of the bill had been paid before the due date, or even rarer, how was she going to feed her family tonight. Only a part of her was set on finishing her homework and studying for tests, but those were miniscule responsibilities. Too late, she realized, that she was pushing herself too far. The one thing she could not afford to do.
Her sensei, sadistic old coot that he was, had kicked her out, spouting his usual claims of disappointment . Amazingly she didn't put up much of a fight, knowing that she felt miserable the last few days, from personal matters of course, before her sensei decided an intervention was in order. So he ordered her to go shopping. Alone. In the middle of winter. Without a scarf.
Anju sneezed and the sound echoed eerily into the abandoned street.
How typical of him.
The cold chilled her spine to the core, and she shivered momentarily before picking up pace. She was no fool. Streets like these were prone to danger and bull-headedness. If it wasn't a psychopath then it was an idiotic teenager drunk on booze. Anju did not feel like she wanted deal with either type.
Then she remembered she had loose change, just enough to get a taxi on the way back. Anju paused in her walking, felt the ever-growing urge to call a taxi, but another idea popped into her head to contradict that urge. She could use that money to buy chocolate for Momo. It wasn't much and she knew they were tight on money, but the happiness on Momo's face…she couldn't ignore that. Then there was her younger brother and she knew he wouldn't mind a few pieces for himself.
Satisfied with the brilliant surprise, Anju left the taxi idea behind in favour of a happier one. If push came to shove, her training could take down a few perpetrators. No problem, right?
She made her decision.
Pivoting on her foot, Anju decided to take the shortcut to the dojo. It was a faster path than the usual but perhaps an even dangerous one to tread. She didn't mind, it was the middle of winter anyway. Who would go through the freezing cold just to deal with a teenager like her?
Anju walked around the store to head straight for the backalley. If she continued from there, it would only be a matter of time before her feet reached the front door of the dojo. She did it with only a minimum amount of awareness. And perhaps that was what got her in this mess in the first place.
What's that noise? She asked herself, scanning the alley. It was mostly deserted, if not the noise from traffic did anything to break the silent. Other than that, there was not a human in sight.
She breathed slowly, trying to minimize the surrounding noise and focused her concentration, her eyes narrowed. There, there it was again. Like a stampede of…humans? Whatever it was, the sound was getting closer and closer, much too coincidental to not be headed her way.
It was then Anju felt something resonate very slowly in her chest. It was as quiet as the wind and very, very small to be considered a voice. But for some reason it was as if she heard the message loud and clear.
...
…go…
Go? Go where?
…run.
Shocked, Anju didn't have time to react as much as she should have, seeing as how her legs refused to respond at all. But the strange thing was, she wasn't crippled with fear, it was more like…apprehension.
She should have heeded the warning.
"Agh!"
Suddenly she was hit by a powerful blow, so hard, that it threw body back a few meters before it hit the ground with a resounding thump. Immediately her vision swam with pain, and she choked on the intensity of it. It was excruciatingly difficult to breathe and her side felt bruised and damaged. Over all, she felt like crap. She might have cracked a rib...oh god. Before long and before Anju could decide to run away, she was pulled up by the front of her coat.
And looked straight into the eyes of a madman.
The hairs on the back of her head bristled in fear. Oh now I feel it, she told herself sarcastically.
"Cuff her boys, we have our little lamb."
Her hands were cuffed behind her back, the metal bit harshly into her wrists. If Anju had the strength to look back she would have seen more of the strange men behind her.
What did they want with her? Did she look suspicious in any way? Did…did she smell? What the hell? That's the best I can do?
She looked the strange man in the eyes and saw the unmistakable thirst for blood. She doubted they were here for her smell. She just…wished sometimes…
"What do you want?" she croaked, but it was steady and strong.
She couldn't say the same thing for her legs. Training her ass.
Something unreadable flashed into her attacker's eyes, it made her gulp nervously. "Where have you been hiding, little lamb? We worked very hard to get you alone. Time to go home."
Her body tensed and it was like a cold bucket of water flushed over her head. They were going to kidnap her, throw her away, kill her, sell her to a pimp, or do something worse, whatever it was she didn't want to be a part of it. Molesters! Holy shit, am I going to be sold and killed like a helpless idiot?! Someone…h-help—
"Hel—!" as if he knew what she intended to do, the attacker clamped her mouth shut with a grubby, thick hand. It nauseated her to think about it. And just to spite him, she contemplated throwing up all over his hand.
"Nu-uh, we can't have you bringing in trouble now can we?"
"We have to go sir." One of his lackies said.
"Just a minute!" The man snapped back, clearly annoyed. That sickly perverted smile was back on his face. "There is some unfinished business to take care of."
"Wh-who are you?!" Anju demanded.
They all ignored her, dragging her body with them to only God knew where. Anju began to hyperventilate and thrash violently against their holds. Adrenaline pumped heavily through her veins, numbing the pain in her sides. Is only she could escape! What did they want with her?!
"Hey stop that!" they tightened their grip.
She…she didn't want to be sold.
She didn't want to be a p-p-prostitute…oh god…she was going to be a p-prostitute.
Someone help!
There must have been someone willing enough to hear her plea. There just had to be…
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. For a second she thought she had passed out, but the pain was still there and it doubled.
The light caused her head to thump with pain.
Her chest tightened as if a hand had crushed her heart.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't breathe.
"Anju!"
Damnit…
…I should have taken the taxi…
In Italy…
Finally.
He had done it.
He had successfully finished his assignments and was taking time to relax (something he really did not have the luxury to say) in his favourite plush chair. Not that he would let anyone know that. Brow Nie leaned back, bringing a cup of hot cocoa to his lips, eyes closed, and finally gave himself a mental pat on the back. Everything was done, done, done. No more paperwork! No more assigning people! No more scatter-brained idiots who didn't know the difference between a nice-witted report and the rear of his bottom.
Bliss.
"S-sir…our boss has specifically—"
"Where is he? I need to talk to him, where's he hiding?"
"B-but—"
There was a loud commotion outside his office, but already in near exhaustion, Brow did not provide much attention to it. It was always noisy around the hideout. In fact, he contemplated investigating what the big deal was about, but thought nothing of it.
Well…eh. Hot cocoa. Plush chair. Not wise to leave these items unattended.
Brow ignored the noise and resumed drinking his cocoa before the door slammed open with a loud thwack.
"…ack!" He swallowed hastily and nearly choked on the hot treat.
"I've been looking all over for you, yo!"
…
"…Ganauche…what a splendid surprise." Brow rubbed his throat tenderly, sending the man a dark glare.
Ganauche, face blank from his usual smirk, waved the killing intent aside. There wasn't a single smirk to his serious face. Usually the guy had such a swagger to his step that one thought he could rule the world only with his charming smiles.
For once, Brow had no choice but to give his undivided attention.
"Something unusual happened in the vault that I think the King should know about."
Brow narrowed his eyes. "Vault? Where the Famiglia Clock is? What could possibly happen to it? You better not be pulling my leg, Ganauche."
There was no teasing remark to that and it worried the informer. "It's not the clock I'm worried about…" there was hesitation, "I think I might have been hallucinating, yo, but the clock stopped, and I mean stopped for one whole minute."
The very idea that the clock had malfunctioned sent dread down his spine. But it did not show on Brow's face and he snorted. "You must have been hallucinating then."
"I don't think I was."
"Do you have proof then?"
"You and I both know that it wasn't a hallucination." He replied, "Seriously, I have a bad feeling about this."
Brow looked away, frowning his ever usual frown. And to think he was finally free of paperwork. What wonders the powers of coincidence could do to his complexion.
"Fine, if what you say is true, then I'll inform the King. Anything else that you need off your chest? Like the moon turning into cheese?"
Ganauche visibly relaxed, a smirk tugging on his lips. "Haha, I'll let you know when it happens though. I predict it'll happen during the next full moon."
Brow rolled his eyes, thinking the man couldn't possibly be more idiotic.
"But thanks anyway," Ganauche said sincerely, "I've been getting hives from all the worry. Oh and wonderboy has been meaning to talk to you."
"Ever the drama king you are Ganauche." It took awhile for the sentence to sink in. "So he's looking for me too? What else is up his sleeves?" he said that as an afterthought.
"Who knows?"
There was a companionable silence between the two even if Brow detested the very idea of being a companion to this guy.
The smirk brightened.
"I've been wondering about something…"
"Again?"
"…."
"…is that a panda plush chair?"
"Have you succeeded in getting the girl?" came an amused voice.
"…no, we were intercepted."
The man who spoke, shook in fear.
"Ah, I figured as much. Please, do tell."
"Another woman saved her. I don't know who she was, but she was strong! We couldn't stand a chance—"
"Hmm…sounds familiar."
"W-wait, where are they t-taking me! Boss! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! B-boss—"
"Make sure nothing remains. I do not care how, just do it."
"I'm sorry—!"
Thank you very much everyone. Well it's a start. Most stories start somewhere right? I planned to write a lot of mystery and action in the prologue, you know, get the blood moving. Until the next chapter.