The first week was hell for everyone.
Everyone had basically lived on their own or with smaller groups inside their homes with the option of leaving for a while always there. It was an exercise in and of itself to become accustomed to having 19 people in one space- especially when two of said people were Mukuro and Hibari- much less trying to do so while confined to a small space with the option of escape being unavailable.
Fights broke out constantly and the only thing that stopped the underground base from collapsing around them was the fact that Reborn had had it reinforced with Flames while it was being built making everything inside the base much more durable than it otherwise would have been. (Not that there weren't damages in a few places, but it was holding remarkably well considering.)
Tempers were short, people were fighting, sleep was hard to come by, privacy near impossible and everyone had been evaluated by Reborn in preparation for their training. Habits, strengths, weaknesses…everything Reborn thought he would need to train them all was pried from everyone- even the most stubborn.
What eventually caused everyone to settle down a bit was the first of a long list of close calls.
Haru and Kyoko, while they had been aware of what it was their friends and brother had been involved in for the last few years, had not in any way been prepared to be shoved into close quarters with them and all the chaos that came from their close proximity.
They had been unable to deal with it and had left the protection of the base.
Natsume had realized what happened only a few minutes later and upon realizing that everyone was fighting again and that she didn't have the time to try and stop them so they could help her Natsume had simply stopped long enough to grab two katana for the girls and put her gloves on before she was out the door and following after the girls as quickly and quietly as she could manage.
She found them due to the noise. The girls were running and Natsume could see at least 25 of the more common things attacking them. The girls were fighting back where they could, but were mostly running. Natsume didn't hesitate. She lunged forward, the noise drawling the attention of the outermost horde, pulling one of the katana free from her back. She swung it hard slicing the first few things that lunged at her in half without pause. She continued her lunge quickly slashing at anything that got in her way as she quickly managed to get to the girls' side. "Kyoko! Haru!"
"Mei-chan!"
"Here!" Natsume slashed through another zombie before she handed the katana over to Kyoko. Kyoko took the sword thankfully spinning on her heel to lash out at the creatures that had approached her. Natsume quickly handed the other katana off to Haru before lighting her gloves.
The three girls fought viciously.
Kyoko didn't look like it, but one could not be Ryohei Sasagawa's little sister without being taught some kind of fighting ability. She didn't like fighting, didn't want her brother to go out looking for a fight or starting one but she had nothing against defending yourself or others. That protective instinct her brother had ran in the family. She knew the basics of using a sword, could use it without hurting herself. It was actually this ability that had first drawn her to the attention of Kensuke Mochida rather than her status of School Idol.
Haru also knew how to handle the sword without harming herself, though she had learned for her Cosplay Club. She silently thanked whoever was listening as she sliced though anything that moved that wasn't Mei-chan or Kyoko-chan.
Natsume cursed firing another condensed fireball at the closest creature. (She didn't curse very often, but Natsume thought the situation called for it.) They still had another eleven creatures to deal with and she knew the noise they were making would draw more and more creatures to their side.
Maybe even one of those twisted creatures. The ones that had twisted into something different than most of the others. The walking nightmares. (She felt sick at the idea.)
Her eyes widened as the creatures seemed to shift and lunged all together in a horde. She heard Haru shriek and turned her head quickly. Haru had five of the creatures lunging at her from all directions and was having problems with so many. Natsume cursed again even as she fired a small controlled steam of her flame through the creatures in front of Haru, freeing Haru up to deal with the two coming from the back.
Eight more.
Natsume turned blinking in surprise as Kyoko's katana flashed by her face beheading a creature that had lunged for her while she had helped Haru. "Thanks Kyoko-chan."
"No problem."
Seven.
Natsume lunged into the fight again using quick face grabs to set any creature that approached on fire and into ash. She dealt with two quickly even as Haru dealt with one of the two attacking her.
Four left.
Kyoko spun sharply, the blade flashing again, and sliced cleanly through another. Natsume used a few fireballs to kill another.
Two left.
Kyoko and Haru dealt with the last two creatures and Natsume thought they would make it back without any serious trouble.
Then she heard the sobbing.
Her Hyper Intuition spiked sharply even as Haru and Kyoko turned and called out "Hello? Are you alright?"
"No!"
But it was too late.
Natsume lunged forward knocking Kyoko and Haru to the side even as the pale grey-white skinned girl with long talon-like appendages in place of fingers came barreling out of the trees and straight at her side. Natsume didn't quite have the time to brace for it or block the girl as the talons came up and sliced at her.
She cried out as the talons bit through her flesh hearing Kyoko and Haru cry her name even as she hit the floor and rolled. She brought her mittens up, relighting them into her glove state ignoring the injury to block the girl who was turning and barreling her way again.
Natsume managed to block the next attack, flinching as the laceration in her side pulled at the movement and resulting pressure. She could see Haru and Kyoko lunging forward to help her even as she was forced to release the girl after delivering a strong punch to her head.
The girl staggered sideways before lunging her way again. Kyoko and Haru managed to injure her even as Natsume braced for another attack trying to ignore how damp her shirt and pants felt. The girl lunged, talons first, for Natsume's head. Natsume quickly dodged, earning a few scratches on her cheek in the process even as she spun delivering a flaming backhand to the girl's face. Haru took advantage of the girl's dazed state lunging forward and decapitating the girl.
Natsume staggered after a breathless moment, her gloves fading back into mittens, as they all waited to see if anymore creatures would lunge out of the woodwork. Her wound was deep and as adrenaline faded blood loss made itself known.
Haru and Kyoko quickly lunged to her side supporting her weight and helping her back towards the base while Natsume managed a quiet warning "Be quiet. Noise draws their attention."
They all staggered back inside the base waiting only long enough for the entrance to shut before Kyoko and Haru were screaming for Shamal even as they continued to drag a flagging Natsume towards the Infirmary.
Natsume remembers the clatter of noise as everyone rushed for the Infirmary at the sound of Haru and Kyoko's panic, she remembers being laid down, remembers the door slamming open and the ringing silence so filled with tension she could feel it even in her semiconscious state, remembers Shamal and Reborn rushing forward to help her, remembers steady hands on her face, a warm voice and gentle fingers.
O~O~O~
It took Natsume stumbling back coated in red from her ribs to her thighs with Haru and Kyoko on either side of her, both pale and shaking with tears running down their faces and various scratches and bruises on them both for the constant chaos of the base to settle down. It was jarring for all of them to see Kyoko and Haru who never participated in any of the violence stagger into the base obviously having been fighting especially considering they were supporting Natsume between them, dripping blood from her shirt.
When it was explained that the only reason Natsume was hurt at all was because she went after Kyoko and Haru when the two girls left the base for a break from all the fighting, that Natsume didn't stop to ask for help because it would take too long to stop their fighting, that Haru and Kyoko would- in all likelihood- have died if Natsume hadn't come after them with weapons and then put herself between the enemy and the girls….well it was like a slap to the face.
Reborn took one look at the long vicious claw marks running from just under Natsume's ribs from her front left, around her side and down to her left hip on her back and decided he was going to beat teamwork into the heads of his charges.
He would never see Natsume injured like this due to infighting ever again.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Okay. This is short, but next chapter is going to have quick looks at the training, followed by a time skip, and then scattered throughout the other chapters will be flashbacks to more in depth looks at training.