The Secret Unofficial Vongola Backup Guardians

So. It has come to my attention that, in shonen manga, even those written by women... the girl characters tend to be weak little moe things that need to be protected (with the notable exception of FMA, but that's about it). They fight less, if at all. They're the token healer character. Or they're scared to fight/pacifists/not very strong.

Well, that's about to change here. Instead of me griping about how pathetic the chicks in Reborn are, I'm gonna write a fic where they learn to kick ass and have to save the boys. Watch out, everyone: Kyoko and Haru are about to kick some ass.

You'd better freakin' enjoy this. I know I'm gonna.

Chapter 1; In which Kyoko and Haru Make a Significant Discovery and Subsequentially Break the Law.

It'd started on a day when Ryohei had practice. The days he had boxing practice, Kyoko always walked home on her own. Sometimes Tsuna would insist on accompanying her, out of some misplaced sense of chivalry (the concept of chivalry, unknown to Kyoko, had been brutally murdered some ten years back by Xanxus), but most of the time she was left to come home by herself to an empty house that her parents hadn't yet returned to from work. She didn't mind it; it gave her a handful of quiet time in which to do her homework, watch girly television shows, and giggle loudly on the phone with Haru.

On the days Ryohei had practice, he never wore his Vongola gear to school. It was an inconvenience for him to have to try and hide it in the locker room while he changed into his boxing gear, he'd said.

Since the time that they were in the future, when Tsuna had told her about the Vongola famiglia and the mafia, Kyoko had always wondered how a mere piece of jewlery could allow people to use… well, in Kyoko's mind it was magic. Tsuna had said "flames", but Kyoko had seen magic. People conjuring colorful fires in their hands and using those fires to do battle and power their weapons spelled out magic to Kyoko.

She was home alone. She had at least an hour. No parents, no Ryohei. Just her. And her brother's Sun Vongola Gear.

She crept into his room, not entirely sure why she was being so cautious if nobody was home. The strange metal armband rested on Ryohei's nightstand, along with a few rings set with yellow stones that he'd been collecting over the course of the few weeks after the incident with the Shimon famiglia and that creep with the weird name (something Italian, with a last name that was a card suit. Kyoko couldn't remember). She'd seen similar rings on Gokudera's hands, only with red stones, and blue ones on Yamamoto, and orange ones on Tsuna. He'd explained as much that each of the colors of the flames did something different, and the kind of flame in your body had to match the type of ring you used.

Well, thought Kyoko, Ryohei-oniichan and I are related, right? So if it's a genetic thing, he and I would have the same kind of magic flames. I think.

It was a morbid little curiosity of hers. What if she could use this power, just like her brother? What if it wasn't as special and mysterious as the boys made it seem? What if she could be just as strong as they could, and fight at Tsuna's side like her brother did? They didn't have to do all the protecting all the time, did they? Couldn't Kyoko step in and protect her brother sometimes, instead of him protecting her? Couldn't Kyoko stand up for herself, instead of Tsuna standing up and saving her time after time?

Feminism was an attitude that came in, took up residence like a deadbeat boyfriend, and didn't leave until the mind it'd lodged in became a feminist itself and kicked it out.

Kyoko fiddled with the rings on her brother's nightstand before she selected the one she thought was the prettiest – a simple silver band with sleek spiraling bits curling around a lemon-yellow diamond in the center – and picked it up. She tried it on various fingers –it was obviously sized to fit her brother – before discovering it fit well enough on the pointer finger of her right hand. She slipped it on easily and admired it on her hand. Something about it just made sense to her. It looked right to her (Kyoko assumed it was because the color yellow looked nice with her hair).

"Now," she mumbled to herself, "how did Tsuna say they worked?" It was something about 'resolve' or 'conviction' or something, wasn't it? She had to truly want and need the flame to come out. She had to truly want the power for something.

But what in the world was a resolve anyway? The first thing in Kyoko's mind when she thought the word was I did that back in January. The word "resolve" triggered the immediate thought of New Years' resolutions. I resolve to… and so on and so forth. Kyoko almost always forgot her New Years' resolutions anyway.

But if that was what 'resolve' was supposed to mean, it didn't make much sense to how Tsuna had described it… unless… Hm, she thought. Something I've resolved to do…

The first thought in her mind was how beaten up Ryohei had been when they'd brought him home after the Vongola's fight against the Shimon famiglia, and she decided that this must be her 'resolve,' however it was supposed to work. She wanted to protect her brother. She wanted to keep him from fighting, like he'd promised her years ago (a promise, Kyoko noted with annoyance, he'd been breaking with increasing frequency). If it came to that, Kyoko found herself thinking that maybe she'd even fight his battles in his place-

It was startling, because her hands were clasped over her chest and she was looking straight at them when a brilliant, sparkling yellow fire burst forth from the ring. Kyoko immediately pulled her hand back from her body and extended her arm as far as she could reach. The Sun-attribute flame (Kyoko didn't remember the colors and their explanations quite perfectly, but she'd retained enough to know which one was which) danced energetically on the ring, shooting up glittering sparks every now and then. It didn't burn her; she didn't even feel any heat from it. It just… was. It was magical.

It was power.

Kyoko let herself relax, and thought about other things, like her homework, and how excited Haru would be when she showed her, and the flame died down and vanished back into the ring with a slight whoof. Kyoko pulled the ring off her finger and clasped it tightly in her hand.

So she could. So she could be powerful like the boys, wield magic and fight their fights if she really wanted to. She could teach herself and train, maybe get Bianchi-san to help her learn to use this newfound magic of hers. If she wanted to.

If she wanted to, she could work at it and work at it until she was stronger than Ryohei. Until she was the one protecting him.

Oniichan is sort of forgetful, she thought slyly to herself. I doubt he'll notice if just one of these rings is missing.

She took the diamond-shaped Sun ring, slipped it back on her finger, and vanished out the door of her brother's room, closing it carefully as she went.

Inside her head, brilliant, shining new ideas were spinning.

...

For a little while, at least, Kyoko wanted to keep this to herself. It was her special new toy to play with, and she wanted to play with it ad infinitum. She didn't think she would ever get tired of watching that brilliant, sparkling yellow ignite itself in her hands.

Sitting under a tree in the park by herself, it didn't take her very long to notice things happening each time she lit the flame. She remembered Tsuna had said something about the Sun flames having an 'active' factor, although she hadn't known what that meant. After a while, she began to realize it wasn't just 'active,' it was 'activate.' The Sun flame dancing on her fingers made things activate.

In the future, Tsuna had mentioned her brother using the Sun flames to heal himself. Kyoko wanted to try this out, but she wasn't one for self-harm and couldn't bring herself to draw her own blood, much less ask anyone else if they'd like to help her test it out. So instead she thought about the concept of that. What healing was, in theory, was regeneration of cells. Her brother, in the future, was using the Sun flames to activate cells and force them to regenerate.

If it could activate human cells, why not other living cells? Kyoko thought.

She sat down on the grass in the park and searched through the greenery until she found a flower bud that hadn't bloomed yet. Taking care to avoid the eyes of the mothers at the park with their children, Kyoko silently lit a tiny flame in her hand and moved it up against the flower bud. She watched in wonder as before her eyes, the tiny bud opened up and bloomed to life in brilliant pink.

Utterly enthralled with this ability of hers, Kyoko scouted out more pre-blossomed flowers and coaxed them into blooming in her hands.

At one point she got carried away with a dandelion, and before she knew it the yellow petals had continued their activation and become a feathery puffball of seeds. With a wry smile, Kyoko picked the dandelion, blew the seeds out around her, and focused on the flame she'd already input into the flower.

As the seeds landed in the grass around her, Kyoko watched in awe as hundreds of stems rushed up out of the ground and burst into yellow fireworks before her. Half the awe was in the happening of it itself; half of it was in the knowing that she herself was making it happen.

...

It was about ten minutes after the flowers that Kyoko decided she should probably stop leaving Haru out of all the fun; Haru had a tendency to get a little annoyed when she wasn't included in the action. Besides, the sooner she explained it to her friend, the sooner she could show her the flowers.

Included in the action, thought Kyoko. That's exactly what she'd want to be up to. She'd want to be right up there fighting with Tsuna-kun, wouldn't she?

Haru was completely ecstatic. The prospect of power to protect the boys in her life had seemed just as enthralling to her as it had to Kyoko.

"So what you're saying is," Haru bubbled, "if we can both use these rings like Tsuna-san can, then we can help protect the guys?"

"Us and other people!" Kyoko affirmed. She sat forward on her knees on Haru's bed; she'd gone over to the other girl's house, leaving a note on the counter for her brother. He wouldn't worry about her. She did that often enough that he was used to it. She had an idea she absolutely had to run by Haru. "I mean, think about this for a second: Don't you think it's weird how all of Tsuna-kun's Guardians are boys?"

"Except Chrome-chan," Haru reminded her. Kyoko shook her head in disagreement.

"Yes, technically she is, but there's that other boy who's the same Guardian as her. They're both Tsuna's guardian, and they've got the same power," she mentioned. "Is he her brother or her cousin or something? They look like they're related." Haru paused. "Heck, they look like they're twins. They even style their hair the same way!"

"I don't know. We can ask Chrome-chan sometime."

"Right. Either way," Kyoko continued, "technically he's Tsuna-kun's Guardian, right? So what I was thinking is… if we could get enough girls together, one of us for each kind of flame power, then we could be… I don't know, like backup Guardians! The girl version of the Vongola!"

"That sounds like so much fun!" Haru squealed in agreement, pumping a fist into the air exuberantly. And then her face fell and she started fiddling nervously with the hem of her uniform skirt.

"What's wrong?" Kyoko asked carefully. What could possibly be wrong with thanking the boys for saving them so many times by saving them in return?

"Well, it's just…" she mumbled. "You've seen how hurt they come back, haven't you? It's scary, thinking that they get that way in fights with the same powers you want to protect them with. Hahi! Not that I don't want to protect them either," Haru blustered, waving her arms around as if to push the idea away. "Because I do! Totally! Haru will protect Tsuna-san and the Vongola with everything she can! Only… I'll do it carefully so I don't get hurt! Somehow!"

The girls giggled over that for a while before Haru came up with another question.

"Wait, Kyoko-chan… how do I know what kind of power I have? I mean, you and your brother had the same one, which makes sense since you're siblings… but how can I…"

"Well," Kyoko started, slipping off her Sun ring, "You can try this one first to see if you're the same kind as me." She handed the ring to Haru, who went through the same sizing test Kyoko had before deciding it fit best on her middle finger. "Tsuna-kun explained how it worked to you too, right?"

"Uh-huh," Haru nodded. "Resolve or something, yeah?"

"Yep."

Haru glared comedically at the ring for about two full minutes before sighing exuberantly and returning it to Kyoko. "Guess I'm not that one, huh?"

"Guess not." Kyoko shook her head. She'd expected as much. There were seven different kinds, after all; it was only a one in seven chance that Haru would have the same power as Kyoko.

"But how can we get our hands on other rings to test what kind I am?" Haru wondered aloud. "I mean, it's not like we could just waltz down to a jewelry store and say, 'gimmie all your magic mafia rings' without them calling the police on us…"

"Well, let's think of it this way: you're not the same kind as me, so that saves us the problem of taking another ring from my brother. And if we want Chrome-chan on our team too, then that's the Mist power taken care of too. So that narrows it down a little bit."

"Right. But what about the other ones?" Haru prompted. "How are we gonna get the other five kinds of rings?"

The girls thought silently for a moment.

"Oh, there's an idea…"

...

The doorbell rang and Tsuna scampered down the stairs to answer it, with Gokudera hot on his heels in case it was an ambush or something on that order. Yamamoto followed lazily after them, not wanting to be left out. I-Pin and Lambo ran circles around Tsuna's feet as he opened the door.

"Oh, Kyoko-chan! Haru! What are you guys doing here?" he announced as the girls came into view on the other side of the door. Both of them were smiling brightly, and Haru carried a box wrapped in a pink cover.

"Since it's the weekend right before summer break, we were celebrating and we made cookies," Kyoko explained. "We were wondering if you wanted to share some with us."

Tsuna smiled and invited the girls in. Gokudera was simultaneously relieved that the boss was safe and slightly annoyed that he hadn't gotten to blow anyone up. Yamamoto just kept on laughing like he always did.

Tsuna took the cookies into the kitchen and spread them out on a plate for everyone to have. Lambo attacked them immediately and with great enthusiasm before anyone else could have a chance, and Gokudera growled at him to be civil and share.

"Ah, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said suddenly, "may I use your bathroom?"

"Oh, go ahead," he allowed. She skipped lightly out of the room. "Haru, do you guys get out of school on the same day as us?" he asked conversationally as he attempted to grab a cookie away from Lambo.

"I think so," she nodded. "Maybe a day or two different. You guys aren't doing homework, are you? My school hardly has any right now. I think the teachers have just given up or something."

"No, we were earlier though. Now we're just hanging out," Tsuna admitted.

"Playing video games," Yamamoto added cheerfully.

"When we ought to be studying so Jyuudaime doesn't fail the eighth grade!" Gokudera complained.

...

Kyoko did not go to the bathroom. She went to Tsuna's room.

It wasn't the first time she'd been in, but the last time she'd been there she assumed Tsuna had been in a bit of a frenzy to clean up before she arrived. Now, without knowledge that she was going to be in his space, he hadn't bothered to pick up papers and dirty clothes and all manner of random crap that'd been left around his room. It didn't bother Kyoko; her brother's room looked pretty similar most of the time. It was just a teenage boy thing.

In a small box on Tsuna's cluttered desk (Kyoko noticed an entire bottom drawer stuffed full of tests scoring under forty) were a handful of rings he must've been saving for Lambo, because they all had the brilliant citrus-green that denoted they were intended for the Lightning attribute. Kyoko searched through these until she found one she deemed pretty enough, and pocketed it. She doubted Tsuna cared much about those at the moment, because Lambo himself was enough of a problem to deal with that he probably didn't even have time to explain the rings to the kid yet.

On the windowsill were a handful of orange-tinted rings that must've been Tsuna's Sky attribute ones. Despite the fact that he'd told Kyoko that sky was the rarest type of flame (he was surprised that he could use it, because he "failed so hard most of the time," as he'd said), she figured they could search for someone anyway. If they were going to be a full team, they needed one of each. Besides, that could turn out to be the kind of flame Haru could use, so she didn't want to assume anything too early. She selected the least-conspicuous of the rings (Tsuna might not notice one missing, but Reborn probably would, so it was best not to grab an obvious-looking one) and slipped it into her pocket as well.

On the table in the center of the room, along with forgotten homework and a triad of videogame controllers (on the small screen in the corner, an action fighting game sat paused. Yamamoto seemed to be winning), sat a handful of rings that belonged to Gokudera and Yamamoto. They'd likely taken them off to play. Yamamoto's light blue Rain attribute rings were strung along a chain, so he could wear them around his neck and take them off easily for sports. Kyoko slipped one of these off the chain, careful to replace it exactly as it had lay before in case someone noticed. She again selected the least-conspicuous ring, this time out of Gokudera's red Storm attribute ones (he would notice), and took that one as well.

Kyoko returned from the bathroom with a smile on her face. As she did, Haru "happened" to glance at the clock, and with a startled 'Hahi!' insisted that they had to leave in order to help cook dinner back at her house. Tsuna thanked them for the cookies and let them be on their way, showing them to the door and closing it with a smile.

...

Hibari Kyouya lived in a traditional Japanese house that stood out rather incongruously against the rest of the neighborhood. It was easy enough for Haru to sneak in the back through a shoji paper door that had been left open just slightly. She crept carefully down the hallway and tried not to make any noise at all, while Kyoko was at the front door keeping the Namimori prefect distracted with questions about the Disciplinary Committee (she was claiming she was starting a school newspaper and wanted to do an article on them. Haru hoped to god Hibari believed her).

Hibari's room was austere and mostly empty, but at least it was tidy. His closet had been left open; Haru was hardly surprised to see that ninety percent of his clothing was school uniforms (the rest was mostly blacks and dark colors with the occasional blood-red). On his desk, along with his red Disciplinary Committee armband and a math textbook that looked as if it'd never been opened, there was a small cardboard box labeled "mafia stuff from that herbivore Sawada" in black sharpie. Inside the box was a handful of rings with purple stones set into them. Haru dug through them, pulled out one she thought was just a bit too feminine for someone like Hibari, and jammed it hurriedly into her pocket. She scrambled as quietly as she could out the door she'd come in, and made it outside just in time to catch a glimpse of Hibari coming down the hall, after which she eagerly ran for her life.

...

"So aside from Chrome already being our Mist person, and me already being our Sun person," Kyoko began, "Let's try testing the rest on you." She pulled out the rings she'd picked up at Tsuna's house and spread them out on the bed with the Cloud ring Haru had picked up. The quintet of colored stones glittered against the white sheets, reflecting the light from Haru's overhead lamp. "Which one d'you want to try first?"

"Well, when Tsuna-san explained the whole Guardian thing of his," Haru said, "he told me each Guardian had a special purpose. Like… since you're Sun, the Sun Guardian was supposed to be like a bright light protecting everyone or something…" Haru pouted, contemplating the rings. "I don't think I'm Cloud, since that one's supposed to be all aloof and independent like a lone wolf, right?"

"I sorta remember that explanation," Kyoko admitted. "I was more focused on the idea of magic at that point I guess we could find someone else for that one. And, hey, maybe we can get Bianchi-san to be our Storm Guardian! If it works the same way as me and my brother, she ought to have Storm powers, right?"

"Yeah!" Haru agreed enthusiastically. "Hey, here's an idea," she said suddenly. "Why don't I just put on all the rings and focus really hard, and we'll just see which of them lights up!"

Kyoko giggled. "It seems silly, but give it a try. Maybe something'll happen."

Haru nodded and smiled. She slipped the remaining Rain, Sky and Lightning rings onto her hand, fussing around until they all fit her fingers fine, and then closed her eyes. Haru's resolve was easy enough for her to figure out; she wanted to protect Tsuna, she wanted to not be left out of everything, she wanted to help. She wanted to be in on everything, right up there with the boys. Despite the likelihood of getting hurt, it'd be such a thrill to fight alongside the boys like Chrome sometimes got to (when her remarkably similar-looking male counterpart wasn't doing it for her). Even though it was dangerous… wasn't she Miura "Dangerous" Haru? …well, technically no. But she could be, couldn't she? She said the word enough times a day that she really ought to be by now-

In focusing on her resolve, Haru closed her eyes tightly, so she didn't notice until Kyoko gasped that one of the rings had lit up. She opened her eyes to a jittering green light that seemed to be emitting intermittent sparks. It made a noise like fizzy water in a small, echoing space. Mesmerized by the citrus-green glow, it was a few moments before Haru gently slipped off the other two rings, and examined the one remaining as she let the flame die down.

"So I'm Lightning, huh…" she wondered aloud.

Kyoko and Haru stared at the rings on each of their fingers.

"There's sort of a problem with all this, Kyoko-chan…" Haru mentioned nervously. "We, um, we don't know how to fight. Really. At all." Kyoko blinked slowly, as if just realizing this fact. "I mean, I do gymnastics, but that's really about it. You don't, well…" Haru fiddled awkwardly with her new ring. "Well, you don't do any sports or anything. Or martial arts. You aren't even in any clubs, as far as you've told me… how on earth are we supposed to fight?"

So.

Just thought I ought to say what this was inspired by... This fic is the direct product of three things: Tatta Latta (the Reborn girls' image song), the movie Sucker Punch!, and Monstrous Regiment (a Discworld novel). If you don't know what these are, that's okay. Look 'em up if y'wanna, but you really don't need to. The fic makes perfect sense without 'em.

The plot will probably kick in somewhere around the end of chapter two, in which... well, we'll get to that when we get to it, yeah? Yeah. Okay.

Lemme know what you think. As far as the girls' flames go (and not just Kyoko's and Haru's), I'm doing a lot of speculating based on genetics and personalities. And as far as pairings go, HOLY FUCK, Forte's about to have to write het. It's sorta story-necessary (but 6918 is going to happen regardless. No questions). So Kyoko/Tsuna will occur, and Ryohei/Hana is basically kinda canon, so that's gonna be in there. I-Pin and Lambo (TYL versions, thank you ten-year bazooka) are too cute not to include. Haru? Haru. I don't know what to do with Haru. She's either going to be fighting for Yamamoto or Gokudera (probably Gokudera, 'cos then I can put Chrome with Yamamoto). Tell me whatcha think of all that, if you'd like to.

This will be posting erratically, but I'll try to do it at least once a month or so, if not more. Depends how inspired I get. Reviews are fed into my quantum transducer and used to generate plot.