Episode 1: Unseen
"In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee? In inches, in miles, in laugher, in strife? In 525,600 minutes, how do you measure a year in the life?"
-"Seasons of Love" from Rent
"Ouch!"
"I'm so sorry. Please excuse me." I moved out of the way of the person I'd run into. I felt a glare on my back, but didn't turn around to see if they were. I couldn't, anyway. I was born blind. Finally, after I ran into four more people and three walls, two doors, and a wall, I made it to my classroom and took my seat.
A loud voice interrupted my thought process almost as soon as I'd sat down. "Hey! What the hell are you doing in Juudaime's seat?!" I would've looked up, but by the voice, I could tell it was Hayato Gokudera, a classmate of mine with a rough temper. He usually hung around Tsunayoshi Sawada, a weak boy with a kind heart, and Takeshi Yamamoto, who was the school's reining baseball star. "Get up, woman!" he yelled.
I quickly stood up from the desk and bowed. My voice escaped as well as I apologized, "I'm really sorry, Sawada-san. I didn't realize that I was in the wrong seat."
He quickly replied, "It's fine! I mean, it happens to everyone at some point or another." His words made me giggle, feeling a little better about my mistake. There was a pause, then Tsuna asked, "Oh… you're Najika Kamiya, right?" I nodded, a little surprised he knew my name, seeing as I never socialized with anyone from the class.
"Yes… that's my name," I smiled softly.
Tsuna chuckled. "You're a transfer from Kokuyo?" Again, I nodded, somewhat surprised at his knowledge. I could feel my eyes growing a little wider with "Um… You can call me Tsuna if you want."
I smiled. "That's fine. But you can call me Najika, then." I then realized I was in front of him. "Oh, you probably want to sit down. I'm sorry." Moving to the right, I fell a little, teetering when I hit someone.
A rough voice growled, "Watch just where it is you're going." I bit my lip, slightly scared of the person I'd bumped in to.
"Oh… I'm sorry." Straightening myself up, I calculated where my seat was. If I had sat in Tsuna's seat, my desk would be right behind his. Smiling proudly and running my hand along the desk until I reached the desk, I sat in my own seat, preparing for class.
"Um… sorry to ask, but what's wrong? You seem to be… running into things an awful lot," Tsuna pointed out. "You bumped into Gokudera-kun just there." So that was who I ran into.
I looked down, biting my lip. I'd thought people would've known. So I began, "Well… Tsuna-kun, you've noticed that I take different tests than you, right?" I didn't hear an answer, even when I paused for at least a minute. "Um… I'll take that as a no."
Tsuna protested, "But I shook my head 'no'!" So he had answered; just not in a way that I could translate.
"That's the thing, Tsuna-kun. I can't see it. I'm blind. I've been this way since I can remember." I looked in his direction as he gasped.
He stuttered out, "I-I'm sorry, Najika-chan." I shook my head, a bitter smile coming over my face.
It was like I couldn't stop speaking after I started. Something about Tsunayoshi Sawada made me feel like I could trust him, maybe more than I trusted anyone ever in my life.
"You see, I've always felt… inferior to you people. You know, the people you can see. That's why I transferred. Kokuyo had special classes for people with disabilities. But I wanted to be normal, so I transferred here. A friend helped me with the papers." I laughed shakily and heard the door open. "Looks like Sensei's here," I muttered, cutting the topic short.
Tsuna yelped and I heard him take his seat, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so. I let out a small giggle.
The class went by fast, and I understood everything but math, since I had to be able see the numbers to actually solve the problems, something that I struggled with, clearly. Lunchtime was next.
"Najika-chan?" A voice asked. I spun to try and find Tsuna, who had spoken. "I'm right here," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder to turn me around. "Now… um… would you like to eat lunch in here? With us?" he asked quietly. "I mean… I just… Yamamoto-kun said that he'd seen you sitting alone in the corner everyday… so I wanted to know if you wanted company…"
I smiled a bit, again surprised by his consideration of my feelings. "It does get quite lonely sometimes… So sure, thank you so much, Tsuna-kun." He gently took my hand and led me over to the desk that the three of them ate around, sitting me down in a chair. I fumbled around with my bag, finally opening the latch and pulling out my lunch. "So… who is sitting where?"
Yamamoto's friendly voice cheerfully replied, "I'm to your left, Yamamoto. To your right is Gokudera, and across from you is Tsuna." I nodded, sending a soft smile at the group of three, and proceeded to eat my food as the minutes of our lunch period ticked away.
Nothing of interest happened at lunch. Unless I could count Yamamoto and Tsuna playing Twenty Questions, asking me things like what my favorite color was or when my birthday was, or Gokudera yelling at Yamamoto for interrupting Tsuna and Tsuna making excuses to get them to stop, then it was perfectly normal. I'd finally found some friends, who were… relatively normal and relatively nice. Even if they were a bit strange, I was very happy with having three people to talk to.
But what happened after school was much more interesting than lunch. Tsuna and my houses were within walking distance of each other, as we'd found out when Yamamoto asked where I lived in Namimori. As I was about to say that I'd see him at school on Monday, Tsuna yelped in surprise. I heard a loud crash and a moan of pain. I'd guessed that someone had knocked Tsuna down.
"Dame-Tsuna!" a childish, baby-like voice scolded. "You failed your test again today. You need to try harder!"
Tsuna, from his place on the ground, wailed, "Reborn! I am trying! Please, don't kick me like that anymore! It hurts…"
Stifling a giggle at his high-pitched, squeaky, pain-filled voice, I asked, "Tsuna-kun, are you alright?"
I extended my hand to help him up, but he weakly said, "Najika-chan… I'm all the way over here…" I faltered, blinking a few times before turning to the direction where I heard his voice come from.
The person, who was apparently named Reborn, asked, "Is this another one for your Family, Tsuna?" Despite Tsuna's protests, he directed his words at me and said, "She's blind… But she'll do. Welcome to the Vongola Family. This is the world of the Mafia."
I tilted my head, appearing confused, and asked, "Mafia? Aren't those stories only rumors? What's a Vongola Family?"
In response, the babyish voice laughed a little. "Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun are in the family, along with Kyoko-chan and Hibari. Sasagawa, Haru, Lambo, Fuuta, Bianchi, and I-Pin are Family members, too. A Family is a group of people that surround and support a Boss," Reborn explained. I nodded, all the information processing in my mind, even though I didn't really understand it. Reborn simply demanded, "Are you a part?"
I laughed. "I guess I am… If all of Tsuna-kun's friends are part of his Family, then I guess I am, too! Unless Tsuna-kun says otherwise…"
Tsuna immediately said, "No! I mean, of course! Yes, you're a part of the Family! I mean, yeah, you're a friend!" I laughed at his desperate attempts to come up with an answer that would be correct, but kind at the same time. "Aw… that was a trick question, wasn't it?" he whined.
As I attempted to stop laughing at poor Tsuna, I managed to cough out, "No, of course not! Anyways… why don't we hang out tomorrow? You'll have to pick me up; I can't see where my house is compared to yours." Tsuna quickly agreed and I bid him farewell.
X Tsunayoshi Sawada X
Tsuna was never one for asking anyone, especially a girl to be in the family without asking their permission. In fact, he didn't like it at all. But Najika seemed to accept it without many questions. It was a bit weird to him, since Gokudera was already involved in the Mafia and Yamamoto thought it was a game. What was going through Najika's head was a question to Tsuna. But as he walked with the two, chatting about his father, he realized that perhaps Najika was already in the know about the Mafia.
"Hey, guys?" he asked, suddenly remembering something. Yamamoto and Gokudera turned to him. "I've got to stop at Najika-chan's place. She asked me to pick her up if we went out today, since she won't be able to see us." They both agreed and he ran up to the small house and knocked.
The brown-haired girl answered the door. "Yes? Is that you, Tsuna-kun?"
At first, Tsuna nodded in reply, but he remembered that she couldn't see. "Yeah, it's me. Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun are here, too! Do you want to spend the day with us?" he asked, smiling.
She nodded. "Of course I would! You guys are so nice. Thank you for agreeing to put up with me on your weekend, Tsuna-kun." He smiled at her and nodded. "So, what are you planning to do today?"
"Um… well, we're planning to get all of our friends together and just walk around today. Oh, and I've got exciting… kind of… news! My dad's coming home soon, finally. I just thought you'd want to know… since, you know, Yamamoto-kun and Gokudera-kun are still on about it…"
Najika smiled hesitantly, her grin somewhat strained, and replied, "Wow… It's nice that you get to see your dad… My family is still in Kokuyo. My mom, my dad, and my sister, Akane, all live together in an apartment." Tsuna grinned and led the blind girl over to the other two, who were already on their phones, calling up people. "Who did you guys invite?" she asked curiously.
"Everyone living at Tsuna's, Haru, and Kyoko," Yamamoto said happily.
She grinned, laughing almost incredulously. "How many people do you have at your house, Tsuna-kun?"
He groaned, letting his head hang a little as he replied, "There's around seven… Myself, my mom, I-Pin, Lambo, Fuuta, Bianchi, and Reborn all live in that tiny house… Luckily, a few of them are kids…"
X Najika Kamiya X
Tsuna had so many people living with him. I couldn't identify all the voices, since most of the time, they were all speaking at once. It kind of hurt my head. But from what I was told, I-Pin and Lambo were five, Fuuta was around nine, Bianchi had decided not to show up for some unknown reason, Reborn was the person I'd met the day before, Haru was the loud and, according to Gokudera, annoying girl, and, according to Tsuna, Kyoko had the voice of an angel.
So, our whole day was spent attempting to keep Lambo out of trouble, shopping around Namimori for different things, and playing a whole bunch of arcade games.
Fuuta was already calling me "Najika-nee," which I found far too cute to resist. Gokudera and Yamamoto both seemed to lose against Fuuta in the arcade games, while I held onto Fuuta's hand as he taught me how to play the games that I couldn't see.
"Sorry, Fuuta-chan… but it's just not that easy to play while I'm blind," I apologized as we walked out of the arcade. He was gripping onto my hand, holding it tightly with all the strength he had.
His adorable voice squeaked, "It's okay, Najika-nee. You did your best, and you beat Hayato-nii!" I laughed and squeezed his hand, feeling him squeeze back. "You did really good for your first time!" he cheered. I leaned down to give him a hug.
"Thanks, Fuuta-chan."
At the music store, I listened to a whole bunch of albums and bought pair of headphones as well as an album by a Korean Pop Band, SHINee. Inside the Picture Booth, I took my picture with Fuuta, Tsuna, and Reborn, one with just Fuuta, another with Gokudera and Yamamoto, two with Lambo and I-Pin, since Lambo pressed the button twice, and the last one with Kyoko and Haru. I couldn't see them, but I smiled and accepted them as gratefully as possible anyway.
Soon afterwards, it was lunch, so we stopped for some drinks. I nearly panicked as I approached the vending machine. "What do you want?" Gokudera's voice asked from behind me. I squeaked in surprise and jumped. "Really. What do you want to drink? You can't see the numbers, right?"
I sighed. He really was blunt. "Um… I usually get an iced tea." Maybe Gokudera was really nice… The clunk of a can on the bottom of the vending machine tore me away from my thoughts. The can of iced tea was pushed into my hands, albeit gently. "Thanks, Gokudera-kun." He just gave a 'hmph' and walked away.
I sat with Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Haru, with Fuuta sitting on my lap, when a loud noise disrupted us. I could smell smoke coming from where Tsuna was sitting with Kyoko and the kids.
Without thinking, the five of us ran over to where they were, Fuuta tugging me along the whole way. When we got over, I could feel wind, stronger than any I ever had, blowing through the group of us.
Reborn had gotten Kyoko, Haru, and the kids out of danger. Tsuna was freaking out, since this guy was really good, and really scary. But Gokudera and Yamamoto were apparently helping out. I heard a loud bang, and looked around frantically, backing away. I only heard Tsuna's frantic yell of, "Stay away, Najika-chan!" after I bumped into someone. My landing wasn't soft, and I felt a metal point at my throat.
"Voi! Who the hell are you?!" a loud voice demanded. I gulped and could feel the sword point being pushed a little closer. If it came any closer, I was sure it'd draw blood. I let out a whimper, too frightened to speak.
A loud bang made the sword point retract itself from my throat and another voice yelled, "Leave her alone!" Gokudera and Yamamoto had arrived. I looked around, still unable to understand what was happening, struggling away from the blade at my neck.
As if in response to the threat from Yamamoto, someone hauled me over to them and I grabbed onto their arm, clinging to them in fear and shock. I could feel my hands starting to shake. In the background, there were more loud explosions, and the other man, the scary one, was really mad. He was already threatening death on them.
"Please do not!" another new voice warned. This voice was softer, kinder, than the last one. "He is not a person that you can handle!" Tsuna let out a gasp of fear. Apparently, he was the one that dragged me away from the angry swordsman. "He is simply that dangerous!" Tsuna was shaking in fear behind me. I could hear Yamamoto and the other man's swords clanging, and then I heard Yamamoto fall to the ground.
I could hear a bomb, its fuse whittling down to nothing, as Gokudera growled, "You bastard." But the bomb's sizzling was cut off and I could then hear Gokudera being put down. But before the sword could harm Tsuna or me, I heard the other boy run up to fight against the swordsman.
Tsuna let go of me and reached up to grab something. "These gloves!" If I could have reacted in any way other than shaking in fear, I would've stared at him in complete shock.
How were gloves supposed to save us? Weren't gloves used to keep your hands warm?
"Even when your palms get read! Even on a hot summer day!" I could've sworn it was Reborn who was yelling that at Tsuna. "Leave those gloves on!" I gasped as Tsuna stood, wrenching away from my grasp, then stood myself and tried to find my way over to hide. Reborn and Tsuna were arguing pointlessly, and then I heard a painful cry and a thud. The boy who saved us was defeated, and only Tsuna and I were left to fight.
But a loud gunshot interrupted me, and I heard Tsuna yelling, "Reborn! I will defeat the long-hair with my dying will!" I couldn't help but gasp. The swordsman was speaking softly to Tsuna, but then threatened to kill him.
"Tsuna-kun!" I cried, feeling even more useless than ever. Shaking in anger, both at the man who was hurting Tsuna and at myself for being so useless, I bit my lip and backed away a little, wanting to reduce the burden upon my new friends.
I heard Tsuna being thrust into the wall beside me. But he got back up, only to be thrown once again. But after the second hit, he cried, "Not good!" and began to run. More loud explosions rung in my ears and I had to cover them, letting out a scream as I fell from the sonic blasts of the explosions.
"No!" I cried in despair and desperation. "Please don't hurt them!" A sword point was pushed against my throat once again and I whimpered. I felt useless and scared. I couldn't do anything to help.
Another voice rang above me, echoing through the air with a strange authority and severity. "You haven't changed, Superbi Squalo. Getting so serious against children. Aren't you embarrassed?" the voice asked dryly.
"Dino-san!" Tsuna cried out in relief, and I was relieved to know that this new man was an ally.
His name was Dino, of the Cavallone Family, also known as Bucking Bronco Dino. "If you insist on continuing your tasteless little game, I'll take you on."
I thought that the enemy, Squalo, would be smart enough to leave, with all these people fighting against him. Instead, he shouted, "Voi!" and I knew that he wasn't one to give in easily. "It'd be fun to take you on here and now, Bucking Bronco!" Squalo picked up Tsuna and I winced, hearing his yells.
A whip cracked and Dino yelled, "Let go of Tsuna!" More explosions, which I'm pretty sure made me deaf. But Dino made it out and made sure Tsuna was all right. As he was doing so, Squalo escaped to the rooftop.
Our two allies seemed absolutely distraught to find out that Squalo had escaped with a bunch of important "rings," apparently. I didn't know where he was, but even if I did, I wasn't sure what I could do. Squalo simply laughed and left us there.
I ran over to where I heard Tsuna's voice and knelt down. "Tsuna-kun, are you okay?! I'm so sorry I couldn't do anything to help you!" I could feel tears forming in my eyes as I remembered how cowardly I was. I didn't even try to help. "I'm really sorry!" I bowed my head in apology and shame.
Tsuna replied, "It's okay, Najika-chan. I didn't expect you to do anything, nor did I want you to. I don't want you hurt, after all, I won't force you to fight." I looked up a bit and smiled.
"Are Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun alright?" Tsuna gasped and ran up to them. Both of them were awake, and alright, even after they'd been hurt real bad, from what I could hear. "I'm glad you're all okay." I bowed. "Thank you very much for saving us, Dino-san. Um… Reborn… I've realized what being part of Tsuna's Family could do, and I'm sure I'll just be a hindrance. If you don't want me in the way, just tell me, okay?"
I got a kick in the shin as a response. "Idiot. We need you. You're the only one who can become one of us. Any other female would be just about useless in your position. But you're all going to slow us down at the level of skill you're at. It was completely one-sided." I heard a whir and Reborn continued, "Let's go, Tsuna."
Turning to face Yamamoto and Gokudera, I asked, "Are you both sure you're alright? I heard some really nasty hits get in." When I got no response, I continued, "But, um… I hope that you're not upset that I didn't try and help Tsuna."
Gokudera snapped, "But why didn't you?! You could've helped, or at least even distracted him!" I lowered my head in shame once again. He sighed. "I get it. Sorry."
I didn't even reply as I turned and walked away. Heading back home, I brought the mail in and went to finish my work. You could've helped! Gokudera's voice rang in my head. I really was useless. Why should I be able to help? I'm just a blind girl with no skill to fight, whatsoever. If I wanted to help, I'd have to learn to fight.
CHAPTER EDITED AS OF 6/15/13
Atogaki-
Well, here I am, done editing and all. I couldn't bring myself to make chapters longer, so I apologize.
For you who are just joining us, welcome to "Rainbow Shooter," a 59/OC story, with dashes of B/OC, 84/OC, and a few other pairings. My name is Akira, or Aki, and I've been writing for around four years now. This is the first finished story that I've brought myself to write. I'm actually very pleased with the plot and all that I've been able to do with this. The layout of the chapter is the title of the fic, the chapter number and title, and then a line or two from a song that really influenced me to write this. For this chapter, it was "Seasons of Love" from the Broadway Musical "Rent" written by Jonathan Larson. Afterwards, there will be an Author's Note, titled the "Atogaki," which means "Afterword" in Japanese. It will have some translations, and, for this chapter, and a few others, a guide to the honorific(s) that are used. It may also be used to clear up a few things, or do some shameful(less) advertising for both myself and my friends.
I chose the song "Seasons of Love" because; 1) It's a great opening song, and 2) I felt that it could be a, sort of, anthem for this story. I used the title "Unseen" because, clearly, Najika is introduced as a clutzy, blind girl, and is almost immediately thrown into the world of the Mafia, and no one knows what she's getting herself into.
I hope you'll review please! It makes me happy. ;D
"Najika" means rainbow, or, at least, that was what I've been told. "Kamiya" is a surname I took from the anime "Digimon," whose first main character was named "Taichi Kamiya."
-kun - a honorific used by persons of senior status in addressing or referring to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers. It can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long period of time. Although kun is generally used for boys, that is not a hard rule. For example, kun can be used to name a close personal friend or family member of either gender. Also, in business settings, young female employees may also be addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It can also be used by male teachers addressing their female student.
[For this story, I will be using this honorific for most of the boys in the Vongola, save for the Varia, whose honorifics turn on and off at points.]
-chan - expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. Thus, using chan with a superior's name would be condescending and rude. In general, chan is used for babies, young children, grandparents and teenage girls. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, or any youthful woman. It can be used for males in some circumstances, but in general this use is rather condescending or intimate. Although traditionally honorifics are not applied to oneself, some young women adopt the childish affectation of referring to themselves in the third person using chan (childish because it suggests that one has not learned to distinguish between names used for self and names used by others). For example, a young woman named Kanako might call herself Kanako-chanrather than using a first person pronoun. Also, the very common female name suffix -ko may be dropped, as in Kana-chan.
[In this story, most of the girls will have this honorific on the end of their names, but at points, Najika will use this to speak to people who she has given a nickname to.]
-san - this is the most commonplace honorific, and is a title of respect typically used between equals of any age. Although the closest analog in English are the honorifics "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs.", or "Ms.", san is almost universally added to a person's name, in both formal and informal contexts. However, in addition to being used with people's names, it is also employed in a variety of other ways. San is used in combination with workplace nouns, so a bookseller might be addressed or referred to as honya-san ("bookstore" + san), and a butcher as nikuya-san ("butcher shop" + san). San is sometimes used with company names. For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima Denki might be referred to as "Kojima Denki-san" by another nearby company. This may be seen on small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san. San can also be attached to the names of animals or even inanimate objects. For example, a pet rabbit might be called usagi-san, and fish used for cooking can be referred to assakana-san. Both uses would be considered childish (akin to "Mr. Rabbit" in English) and would be avoided in formal speech. Even married people often refer to their spouse with san.
[This honorific will mostly be used when the teens are speaking to someone older than them, such as Dino or Xanxus.]
-sensei - it is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill, and is also applied to novelists, poets, painters, and other artists, including manga artists. In Japanese martial arts, sensei typically refers to someone who is the head of a dojo. As with sempai, sensei can be used not only as a suffix, but also as a stand-alone title. Sensei can be used fawningly, and it can also be employed sarcastically to ridicule such fawning. The Japanese media invoke it (rendered in katakana, akin to scare quotes or italics in English) to highlight the megalomania of those who allow themselves to be sycophantically addressed with the term.
[For "Rainbow Shooter," this honorific will be used sparingly. Najika will really be the only one seen using it, as the others call their tutors "Shishou," meaning "Master," or simply refer to them without a honorific.]
-senpai (sempai) & kohai - Sempai is used to address or refer to one's senior colleagues in a school, company, sports club, or other group. So at school, the students in higher grades than oneself are sempai. Students of the same or lower grade are not senpai, nor are teachers. In a business environment, colleagues with more experience are sempai, but one's boss is not a sempai. Like "Doctor" in English, sempai can be used by itself as well as with a name. Due to the grammatical rules of the Japanese language, although spelled senpai, the n sound turns to an m sound, thereby being pronounced sempai. A kōhai is a junior, the reverse of sempai, but it is not normally used as an honorific.
[I will be using "senpai" in this story. These two will also be used sparingly, for Hibari and Ryohei (briefly), and three other characters, also briefly.]
-sama - this is a markedly more respectful version of san. It is used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself, toward one's customers, and sometimes toward people one greatly admires. When used to refer to oneself, sama expresses extreme arrogance (or self-effacing irony), as with ore-sama("my esteemed self"). Sama customarily follows the addressee's name on postal packages and letters and in business email. Sama also appears in such set phrases as o-machidō sama ("sorry to keep you waiting"), o-tsukare sama (an expression of empathy for people who have been working long and hard), andgo-kurō sama (an expression recognizing someone's labors), but although this is written with the same kanji, it is semantically distinct from the sama used as a term of address.
[I don't think I used this one too often. Instead, I used Basil's older form of Japanese, like "-dono." I don't believe this one was actually used.]
There will be others, like "-obaa-san," and "-ojii-san," which mean "Aunt" and "Uncle," respectively.
I believe that's it... Oh, right! All of this information was from Wikipedia. Thank God for Google.
This will be the longest Author's Note. I apologize for any inconvenience.
-Aki