+ Target 2 +
Nami Araoka, only just nine years old, was huddled in a corner of the new apartment her parents had ever so quickly moved into. An outsider would find it strange that the Araoka family, who had felt so uncomfortable in this world of constantly developing technology, would suddenly move into a newly built apartment in the middle of the ultra-modern Mirinamo City. But believe them, they had their reasons.
Nami hadn't spoken to anyone in days. Was it due to the culture shock of moving from the country to the city all in the blink of an eye? No, she'd stopped talking long before that, ever since those strange fires had appeared over her old hometown, and so many people had…
"Hello" a new voice had said to her. Nami slowly looked upwards to see that it belonged to young man with light brown hair, several bandages across his face and orange-coloured eyes just like hers. He wore a dark-coloured business suit and seemed to have a sword sheathed at his side, though closer inspection showed that the sword was only a wooden one that didn't look like it could do any real damage.
"You're Nami, aren't you?" he asked of her, "I'm your cousin, my name's Ieshige. I've heard about what happened to the village you used to live in. That's why I came to visit your family, to make sure you were all okay".
But like all these past days, no response came, if anything Nami only ducked further backwards despite the sincerity Ieshige was trying to convey. Her cousin bent down to look more closely at her, yet then stood up and walked away back towards the door.
Before he left however, he whispered to himself "Her eyes shone with the very colour of… But if she truly is, then how am I to ever convince her to take such a role, after a tragedy like this?"
He was then overtaken by a loud coughing noise, but once it finally cleared up he did say one last thing back to her "Goodbye Nami. I hope we can meet again, in brighter circumstances".
In all the years that had passed since then Nami had never really given much thought back to that meeting, considering Ieshige to be nothing more than her creepy cousin her parents didn't bring up that much, whenever she even remembered him at all that is. Having just read that letter, seeing why they didn't talk about him was clearer to her than ever…
The girl's room wasn't much to write home about, it seemed to be mostly empty; her bed, study desk and some cupboards being the only real furniture. Probably the most noteworthy thing about it was how neat and excessively spotless it all was, bed sheets tucked in, carpet sucked dry, though there were a few more unnerving touches like all the boxes stacked beneath her bed or the heavy latches on her cupboards.
"Nami!" Kotone called out as she ran over to the bed and leapt on her, saying things like "I'm sorry I made you mad! I didn't mean to, I…".
"Get off! Get off!" Nami said back as she squirmed to get out of Kotone's grip, which was no easy thing to do seeing how strong Kotone could be. It was only when Kotone stopped she calmed down and replied "No Kotone, don't feel bad for yourself. I mean, I was the one who took it all out on you and Shiori, saying you could be a-"
"A mafiosa?" Kotone finished for her, then grabbed her school hat and said in her best Sicilian accent (I.e. a really poor one) "Nice little hat you have here, would be a shame if anything were to 'happen' to it". She promptly chuckled and tightly hugged Nami again, saying "C'mon, do you really think I look like an underworld sort of girl?"
"Well, I don't know," Nami began "People say the Mafia go to pretty long lengths to disguise and conceal themselves in the eyes of the general public". She gulped, it was probably all the better that no one had mentioned the Mafia to her until now, the thought of any person on the street possibly being some criminal mastermind would've been too much for 'Scaredy-Cat' Nami to handle.
"Ah, well…" Kotone tried to say back. For some reason or another she appeared to be having difficulty answering that statement.
"So I see you're both sorted out now, are you?" Shiori said as she entered in "My, you're awfully close together, you two weren't going to go have any fun without me?"
Neither Nami nor Kotone made any vocal response to this, but judging solely from how much they were blushing they didn't really have to.
"Oh, so these would be the Rings that letter referred to" said Shiori again as she glanced at an open case Nami must've placed on her study desk. Sure enough in it were held six Rings, with an empty space in the centre from where Nami would've taken her Ring.
"Aaaiiee! Keep your filthy hands off them! Those Rings are Nijuudaime's alone to hand out!" Gokudera rushed in and blocked Shiori's sight of the case.
"I was just going to look" Shiori muttered to herself.
"Er, Gokudera, there's something I still don't understand," it was Nami who spoke "It's just, you don't exactly look like the sort of person some big Mafia family would hire because…"
"Oh right, I'm only sorry I could not address that sooner, Nijuudaime" Gokudera replied "I… wasn't always this height. They say being an Arcobaleno is the result of a curse, but to tell you the truth I actually volunteered to be this way, so that one day I could-"
Her tutor then swerved around "Are you two still here? This is an important discussion Nijuudaime and I are having, we would kindly appreciate no eavesdroppers!" he snapped at Shiori and Kotone.
Shiori hmphed and took Kotone by her shoulders "Fine then, 'us two' can easily amuse ourselves, can't we Kotone?".
The redhead sidestepped to move out of Shiori's reach, but then said "Yeah, 'course we can". The two began to exit the apartment, but Kotone managed to smile and yell out "See you soon, Nami!", waving as she left.
"Ah, thought they'd never leave" Gokudera said as he began to look more relaxed "You see, us Arcobaleno, or rather all but one of us, are basically immortals granted powers by Rings similar to the Vongola ones. Together, we form the top seven hitmen in the Mafia world."
"So really there's no one better you could ask to be your personal tutor!" he proudly exclaimed, before looking downcast and admitting "Although, I've only ever tutored one upcoming Mafia Boss once before…"
Three-times bomb!
Storm Thunder Arrow!
Uri Cambio Forma!
"…and they say he was never seen again" Gokudera finally finished.
How is that supposed to be reassuring? Nami thought, likely sweatdropping "Er, you also were starting to say something like 'so one day I could-'?"
"What, oh no, that's -ah- nothing, f-forget I said that" her tutor tried to deflect that.
"Okay…" Nami muttered, before looking back down at the ring on her finger. It was clear to Gokudera that what had caused her outburst before was still on her mind.
"Ah, Nijuudaime, they told me that-"
"That eight years ago the country town I lived in was attacked and burnt to the ground, by someone who could wield Flames…" Nami began, before lighting up the orange spark on her Ring "just like this one".
"Our reports also said that, you were always really strong, brave and courageous as a child…" Gokudera said as tears started to well up in his eyes "But ever since the attack, you've become incredibly afraid of everything, you've been failing in school because your fears won't let you concentrate, and people always call you 'Scaredy-Cat Nami'. Nijuudaime!" he wailed out as he clutched onto Nami's arm, tears now falling everywhere.
"No, it's okay, it-it was a long time ago now, well to me anyway, right?" Nami said back "Though frankly, I still don't want to take these Rings, if they truly can create such destructive Flames".
Gokudera was uncharacteristically silent, but then began muttering to himself "What would Reborn-san do? What would Reborn-san do?".
His expression suddenly brightened, as he zoomed out of the room and back, now with a rubber duck on his head, two spoons behind his ears and wearing a saucepan. "Nami, anyone can possess the resolve to ignite the Dying Will. You can burn through your own way and not blaze the same path!" he loudly proclaimed.
"So you're saying, the Flames themselves aren't bad, just how people use them?" was the conclusion Nami came to.
"Er, yeah. Something like that, essentially! A…a most poignant proclamation from Nijuudaime!" Gokudera stuttered out.
"Besides, our reports also also told that the colour of the Flames on that night were a bronze colour with a dark yellow centre. Don't worry Nijuudaime, that doesn't sound like any of the Flames the Vongola use" her tutor said. "Well, not commonly…" he whispered.
Though she may have smiled at Gokudera's words, doubts and uncertainties were still clouding around within Nami's head. The letter said they may have reformed into a vigilante organisation, but either way it all sounds so dangerous and scary, and I might only meet more people who'd use the Flames for all sorts of horrible things.
Besides, it said whoever I'd be giving the Rings to would also be placed in danger with me, I… could never ask so much of someone.
If that was the case, why did the following words then escape from Nami's mouth?
"Alright, I'll let you train me".
"A cram school" Shiori stated as she stared up at the building "You'd honestly imply that the science club president requires further education?".
"What? No, this is just my house" Kotone replied "Actually, it's kinda my house and my cram school, you see it pulls double-duty as a boarding school as well".
"You know I was just joking Kotone" Shiori laughed, then her ears picked up a noise from within "Should've known; it's hoverboard-specialised, am I correct?".
"Only the best in the city!" Kotone beamed, only to hesitate for a bit and ask "Wait, is there something wrong with that?".
"No, nothing wrong at all," Shiori said "But you do have to wonder how your current hoverboarding skills could be of such a low level if you attend an entire extra school for them".
"M-my skills are perfectly fine!" Kotone said back "Are you trying to pick a fight or something? 'Cause if you are, then I'm warning you-"
Hardly turning to look, Shiori picked up a test tube and splashed its pinkish-green contents right across Kotone's face. The latter immediately began flailing around, saying things like "Ahhh get it off me get it off me don't let it poison me don't burn my face don't burn my face!".
Shiori could only laugh at the scene, before coming over and saying "Relax, that one vial had only coloured water in it. You totally should've seen your face".
"N-not funny, Shiori!" Kotone yelled back.
Shiori sighed, but turned her expression around when she glanced upon an opportunity. "Hmm Kotone, if it's really that much bother, I could happily clean it off your face if you'd like me to" she said as she moved closer.
Kotone just glared at her, and repeatedly swished her face with her hands trying to wipe it all off herself. It didn't seem to change Shiori's bemused expression in the slightest.
"A boarding school nevertheless, huh? How does it feel for you, living away from your parents that is?" Shiori asked.
"Oh, it's no big deal really" Kotone grinned as she responded "I've… lived away from Mum and Dad for most of my life, I guess. When they are around they're always super-nice to me, but normally they're off on some big business trip or whatever".
"Right" Shiori said. From her you'd usually expect something like 'if it ever gets lonely I could…', but she was surprisingly quiet.
Around that time there came a pretty loud noise only a few blocks down the street. Kotone and Shiori casually turned their heads around to see what it was, only to be greeted by the sight of an enormous crowd.
"More of your boyfriends?" Kotone giggled as the two of them ran to see what was with the throng of people.
"…Was that an attempt at humour?" Shiori said as she adjusted her glasses "Besides, they don't seem to be looking in our direction".
Sure enough, the whole crowd seemed to be staring upwards at three different mega-television screens, each displaying a picture of a bright green-haired girl wearing flashy pink and yellow clothes, singing and dancing around a brightly-lit stage. The words 'Hoshino Yumeka-chan, live in concert at Kaminari Stadium, Tomorrow Night Only!' flashed brightly along the bottom of the broadcast.
"Oh, Yume-chan. Hey I know her, I've got like, all of her albums and, and…" Kotone trailed aimlessly on.
"The virtual idol, eh? The actual music they write for her sounds pretty much like any generic pop act today, but the technology that embodies her is to my interest" Shiori admitted. Hearing Kotone's words, she then looked at her and said "Oh don't tell me you're the sort of girl who'll buy anything just so long as it's popular?".
"Well, er, sorta" Kotone sheepishly replied.
"I see" muttered Shiori, clearly not all that impressed "Tell me, would there be any specific genre of music you truly like to listen to?".
"Of course. Lots of hardcore rock'n'roll with a pow and a nnnrrooowww and a reow-row-row!" Kotone said as she burst into a complete air guitar frenzy.
"Ha ha, okay then, I promptly retract any accusations of typicality" Shiori laughed.
"Hmm, so what sort of music do you like Shiori?" Kotone asked, trying to continue the conversation along.
"I'm afraid you may have asked the wrong person" Shiori replied "Not really much of a music listener here, I find it often just gets in the way of my research and experiments".
"Aww, I had you pegged as a techno type of person" Kotone said.
"What, because I like science?" Shiori said in an amused tone "Although, when I think it over a little more perhaps I could go along with a more… romantic type of song. You know, for-"
"Crowding I see" a black-haired student with a cold gaze intoned as he came into view "And therefore you are intentionally disrupting the peace and quiet of Mirinamo, are you not?".
Shiori just smiled to herself as she placed in her hands inside her lab coat pockets "Why hello there, Kyoya Hibari. Fancy running into you again".
"Wait, you actually know this creepy guy?" Kotone said, her expression nowhere near as unfazed as Shiori's was.
"Oh yeah, he's my biggest follower, isn't that right hmm?" Shiori teased.
"You've been nothing but a stain on the pride of Mirinamo High, the herbivores you continuously attract around you in swarms make you almost as sickening as that girl up there" he said with a voice that possessed no hint of soul "Hmph, I'll-"
"-Bite them all to death?" Shiori finished for him, before grabbing Kotone's hand and saying "Come along now Kotone, best to just let him have his little fun".
"Huh, but what about all those people hnuuh-" Kotone exclaimed as she was yanked along by Shiori back off down the street.
It wasn't until they were a fair ways down the street that the scientist finally began to loosen her grip. Kotone paused to catch her breath, but later said to Shiori "Wow, how can you just talk to a person like that and stay so cool and collected?".
"I put it down to prior experience, mainly" Shiori replied, turning her gaze to Kotone and saying "Oh, but don't tell me you were scared of the nasty man, now were you?".
"What? 'Course I wasn't! Jerks like him don't scare me, they just make me really mad, that's all" Kotone said as she clenched her fists towards herself. "But it was a good thing Nami wasn't with us, she gets so scared by even shadows, imagine how she would've reacted to… Oh, erm, you won't tell her I said that, would you? I don't want to seem mean to her or anything".
"Alright then. Though could you imagine how Gokudera would react to him?" Shiori giggled, then said "Oh, but isn't Nami so cute when she's scared? Hmm, maybe we should arrange some sort of meeting after all".
And I was worried about being mean, you're way worse Shiori! Kotone thought as she sweatdropped "Hey, could you imagine if that, er, 'Hitagi' guy was really one of those new androids, I bet that'd be-"
"If I was an android I'd feel rather stereotyped by that statement" Shiori interjected. As Kotone put on her best 'hey-I-didn't-mean-to-sound-like-that' face, Shiori then closed her eyes and said "Though that does get me thinking, more specifically back to that Hoshino Yumeka".
"I wonder, Kotone, maybe it's a good thing that so many celebrity roles in our modern age are being taken by artificial intelligences. Digital circuitry could be much more suited to dealing with the pressures of fame than our own fragile human hearts. I mean, just input a few words in the matching programming language and the stress is gone, right?" Shiori mused.
"Yeah, but wouldn't it be like so cool and fun to be a pop celebrity? I mean, you'd get to wear loads of cool clothes and, and you'd get to sing along and… and you could get into lots of really cool places and, and…" Kotone rambled on "Hey, what if there's a market for like, hoverboarding pop celebrities who-".
"There truly is no getting through to you is there?" Shiori deadpanned. She sighed as she sat down on a nearby bench, then lightened her mood and asked "Besides, doesn't life as a Mafiosa sound potentially glamorous enough for you?".
Kotone paused at that remark, unsure exactly to how to respond, but at last said "Do you really think Nami… will accept us as her Guardians? I mean, that letter said she should be giving those Rings to the people she trusts the most, and we haven't even known her a day really".
"If you look at things technically, it's not like she has much else" Shiori muttered "You saw how lonely she was cooped up there in that spare room, didn't you? Her parents don't seem like they're around a lot either. Plus you don't go ahead and throw yourself in front of a blast for just anyone, do you?".
"So unless a whole bunch of eager gangsters suddenly show up in the next few days, daring to prove me wrong…" Shiori continued "Well, looks like we could be it".
"Really, you think?" said Kotone, then stood up to her full height, span her hoverboard upwards and managed to catch it with her hands "In that case, I'm gonna be right by Nami, no matter what!".
"Have you been practising that trick or was it all just improv?" Shiori asked as she stood up "But yeah, count me in too".
"Erm, Gokudera" Nami asked, their first training session taking place on the roof of her apartment building "Why exactly are all the training dummies dressed up in cow costumes and baseball uniforms?".
"What?" Gokudera replied "You mean, they are? Strange, I, er, never noticed that before" he said as he began whistling and shuffling his feet.
Nami gulped, she still couldn't believe she'd actually said 'yes' to all of this. But said yes she had, so she then proceeded to trying to relight her Ring and the sword-hilts she carried. For some reason it wasn't as easy as before, back when she was at probably at her maddest.
"Come on, come on. Work, please!" she said as she tried to focus all her energy, till finally the orange flame blazed forth from her Ring and the fiery blades shot forth from her sword-hilts again. Though she hadn't seen it last time, four more of the Dying Will Flames had also appeared on her, two on either side of her forehead and one on each of her outer ankles.
"I knew you could do it, Nijuudaime!" Gokudera began, but then hesitated. "I absolutely cannot believe that I'm teaching swordsmanship" he snarled, but continued with "Okay, since you appear to be releasing a lot of Flame energy at the moment, let's see if you can take out this big one right in front of you".
"Er, alright" Nami said as she began to run forward, finally leaping forwards and striking the dummy with both her blades of fire, causing it to catch alight and explode.
"Oh, Nijuudaime, that was wonderful!" Gokudera said, only to admit "Well, actually it was kinda amateurish, and you only caused that much damage because I stuffed a few explosives in there. But it's the fact that you tried that counts!".
"Eh, thanks" Nami weakly replied.
"Okay, maybe we should try something different" Gokudera suggested "I know, try spinning around with your Flames to create an area-of-effect attack, that way you should be able to knock out multiple enemies at once".
Nami breathed in to ready herself, before rapidly twirling in a circle to create a whole ring of flames around her. Unfortunately she overestimated the range of the resulting flare and…
"Arrrggghhh! DON'T HIT ME!" yelled Gokudera, scampering around trying to do something about his singed self, also causing Uri to then wake up and start wildly hissing. "W-wait, Nijuudaime, please, er, forgive me for my outburst, I had no idea…".
Once Gokudera had gotten himself and Uri back together again, he said "Alright, something else that's different. See this dummy here, and how it's wearing lots of armour. Now if it were a real enemy, it's likely it would be covered in Flame-resistant armour".
"So I'd need to find a weak spot somewhere, right?" Nami came up with.
"Ah yes, you're exactly right, Nijuudaime! Fortunately, since you create your own blades using your Flames, if you hold your Dying Will back you should be able to change the shape of your blade. To beat this dummy, let's see if you can make your blades take a rapier or dagger form" Gokudera replied.
Sucking her gut in and closing her eyes, Nami strained to try and meld her Flames into more compact form. Unfortunately she strained too hard and ended up accomplishing the opposite, both her blades blasting forth and creating two nasty searing marks across the rooftops, leaving Nami to spin around in a daze.
"Okay, new idea. Maybe the problem isn't linked to how well you work with certain techniques, maybe all you need is a bit more motivation" Gokudera decided on as he snuck his way into one of the dummies, waving its arms and making scary noises "Waaaah, I am a big, scary monster! I am coming to get you, waaaah!".
Though she may have been the kind of person who couldn't last five minutes into your average horror movie, the only effect Gokudera's attempt to scare her had on Nami was to make her collapse onto the ground in laughter.
But both student and teacher were at an impasse, Nami barely capable of controlling her Flames, and Gokudera no longer able to think up any more ways of teaching her to control her Flames. It was the latter who broke the current silence, but only with the same "What would Reborn-san do?" mantra he'd used before.
Gokudera then stopped, and slowly turned towards Nami, tears again were forming in his eyes. Whatever new idea he had come up with, he seemed very reluctant to go through with it.
"Nijuudaime, forgive me, but… would it be alright, if I were to ask you about the person you keep calling 'Erena'? I know, it's hard, to think back to that awful day, when-"
"Erena was my childhood friend" Nami said "She lived in the village with me, the one my parents moved to because they didn't like high technology and all. She would've been about a year younger than me, and she had black hair like mine, only hers was long and flowing. She was shy a lot of the time, so I kept having to cheer her up and rescue her from getting picked on"
"But the night our village was attacked," her words came to a halt, yet she swallowed and continued on anyway "While everyone was running for safety, they say she just vanished into the flames. Like with the attacker, they said they couldn't find any trace of her and had no idea whether she was alive or dead…"
"…And I've never heard any further word on her since" she slowly came to an end.
"Nijuudaime" Gokudera said "I'm, sorry for putting you through this again, but I think what you can recall of Erena may be the key to mastering your Dying Will, if she really is the strongest memory you have".
"No, it's alright" Nami said as she stood up again "But I won't just use my memory of Erena, I'll use… my thoughts and feelings for everyone around me, for those I won't let end up like her!".
The Flames around Nami then blazed brighter than ever before, and even her ring began glowing bright, slowly changing into a sturdier form.
"V-Vongola Gear?" Gokudera gasped "It's… finally re-awakened".
Nami then dashed forward and took out one training dummy with a single blow, shifted her blades into katana form and sliced another's head off, then into a sharp dagger-like form and pierced the sides of two armoured dummies simultaneously. In a feat of blinding speed, her flames blazed their brightest as she took all the remaining dummies on the roof.
"Alright, now we do this my way!" Gokudera yelled as he shot a whole cloud of flaming arrows into the air, as all of them began to rain down on Nami. The Vongola Ventesima however shifted both her fire blades into broadsword form, and promptly proceeded to create a wide arc with them in the air that destroyed all the arrows before they could touch her.
At last Nami was all sizzled out of Dying Will, her blades disappearing till all that was left were the hilts again. "W-what happened?" she asked as she staggered around "I feel so, so…"
"You were BRILLIANT, Nijuudaime!" Gokudera announced, jumping up and down for joy "But, you do have to remember, things aren't going to be as easy when you're up against a real-life enemy, especially if they can use the Dying Will too".
It was at that moment a dove came flying in, landing on the edge of the roof whereupon Uri leapt out and ran towards it. Instead of chasing it down as you'd expect a cat, Uri in particular, to do so to a bird, the two animals looked to be engaged in some odd form of conversation.
Uri then came back to Gokudera, whose scarlet pacifier Nami noticed was beginning to glow. After a series of nods and gestures between him and his animal partner, Gokudera then turned and said to Nami "Nijuudaime, sorry to ask an important question of you so quickly, but would you happen to have anyone in mind for the Guardian positions yet?".
"Why, what's happened?" she asked.
Gokudera beamed at her "I think the Vongola's Twentieth Generation could just have received its first real mission!".
A/N: If you're wondering "Wait, how come Hibari's still around without being an Arcobaleno?", oh you'll see soon enough.