'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Spells/Other's thoughts/Skills
[Captions]
{Korin's Voice}
Inner Voice
Chapter 7 Hyper Mode
Tsuna stood back up on her feet, the orange flames of her own determination burning on her own forehead, "That aura on your head…" Mukuro chuckled, "I see… so that bullet did work. But compared to the previous one during the fight with Lancia, you seem a lot less fired up."
"The Rebuke Bullet brings out the calm fighting spirit within of her." Reborn states, "It's a completely new kind of bullet, with a totally different hidden strength."
"Hm, all it seems that she lost the will to fight." Mukuro chuckled, "Either way, you're still no match for my skills." The blonde student launched at her from behind and she stopped him with a grab to his head that startled him, followed by backhand to his face, knocking him out instantly, "I'm not done." This time, Chikusa swings the yo-yos around her and fire off the needles inside of them at her.
The brunette stood still as the needles just go pass her, 'An illusion…' She looked to her left, 'There!' She ran towards the seemed empty space and punches the beanie student hidden there, startling Mukuro yet again as he was knocked back a lot and the dagger spun out of his hand and into a crack in the walls.
"I-Impossible… She couldn't see through the illusions from before…" Mukuro muttered.
"That's also an effect of the Rebuke Bullet." Reborn smirked, "It has release the dormant Vongola blood inside of her. The Dying Will Bullet works by using the pressure she is facing and releases all the external limiters. The Rebuke Bullet, on the other hand, causes her to be more aware of her hidden willpower and removes the internal limiters."
"At the same time, it also releases the limiters around her internal senses." The infant added on, "In Tsuna's case, that would be the ability that she has displayed a few times since coming here, what the First Vongola Boss has dubbed as the ability to 'See through all': Hyper Intuition. Those gloves too have other uses."
"Kufufufu, if that's so, aren't you forgetting one simple thing?" Mukuro chuckled, "These are still your friends' bodies. Can you really strike me down? Well…" Gokudera dashes towards her, "Can you?" He elbows her in the face. Bianchi followed by a knee to her abdomen, "Kufufufu, you really can't make a move against me." The two just keep on hitting her back and forth from each other, "You make a great sandbag."
"That's not it." Reborn said, "If she were to defend against your attacks, it would cause some strain to Gokudera's and Bianchi's bodies. So she absorbing all your attacks using her own body."
Tsuna then tactically moved alongside Gokudera's outstretched arm to behind him and chops him at the back of the neck, "M-My body…!"
"She intuitively knew how to knock you out."
"Intuition, you say? Don't make me laugh!" Bianchi charges at her and punches at the brunette, who did the same thing as before and knocks her out.
The two bodies laid down into her hands, "Sorry to keep you waiting." She apologized as she put them down gently, "Reborn, look after them."
"Don't get so cocky." Reborn said as he walks towards the two.
"Mukuro, show yourself." Tsuna commanded, "You're still alive, aren't you?"
"Kufufufufu…"
Mukuro stepped out of the shadows and walk up towards them, "Your sense for battle has improved, I give you that, but you're getting too ahead of yourself right now." He tells her, "Among the six skills I possess, there is all but one skill I have yet to use."
"The Fifth Path, the Path of Human." Reborn states.
"That's right." The pineapple explains, "This world we are living in is the realm of Humans. It is the most ugliest and most dangerous world."
Tsuna flinched on that, "I'm not lying." Mukuro added, "Because I hate this world, I hate using this skill." He bring his hand up to his red eye, "If possible, I would rather have not use it. Cause the Path of Humans is the ugliest…" He digs his fingers into his eye with blood staining his hand, and as he removes it, the kanji in the eye turns to white, "…and also, the most dangerous skill." A black aura rises up from around him and the blood staining his entire right side of his body.
"Beware of that dark aura." Reborn tells her.
"Do you see it?" Mukuro chuckled, "When a fighter emits an aura from their fighting spirit, it represents a burst of their fighting spirit, in other words…" He dashes towards her and swings his pole at her, "…their strength!" Tsuna was just fast enough to grab onto the staff and he uses her moment of shock to land an upper cut onto her gut and sending her up into the air. He spun his black pole a few times and swings and lands a solid hit to her and sends her flying and crashing into the walls.
"Kuhahaha, how fragile you are." Mukuro laughed, "This is just a warm-up exercise to me."
"That's good to know."
The orange flame on her forehead bursts as it grew stronger than before, "If that was the extent of your abilities…" Tsuna has her hands in the flame, and as she removes them from it, the black gloves are now ignited with the same orange flames that are burning on her forehead, "I would be rather disappointed."
"I see…" Reborn smirked, "Those gloves are made of the same materials as the dying will bullets, so they too can ignite the Dying Will Flames."
"Heh, what you're trying to do is the same as a cat bristling its fur to make it look bigger." Mukuro laughed, "Even if you change the appearance of your aura, there's no meaning to it."
"Dying Will Flames aren't a type of aura." Tsuna stated.
"Oh? That's an interesting thing to say." He chuckled spinning his pole with anticipation, "Then will you show it to me?-!" He dashes towards her with the black pole at hand and swings it down at her. Tsuna grabs onto the metal pole and with a flick of her wrist, the pole bended and broke, much to his shock before she swings a flaming palm at his face, "Hot!" He stepped back in shock, 'The aura is emitting heat?-!'
"The density of the Dying Will Flames is much different compared to aura." Reborn stated, "Unlike a normal aura, which only can be seen by certain type of people, Dying Will Flames is condensed energy that contains destructive properties on its own."
"So those gloves are like hot iron…" Mukuro muttered.
"That's not all." Tsuna ran towards him, the illusionist swing his pole down at her in retaliation, only for her to vanish in a flickering of flames. Tsuna then reappeared behind him and punches him with another of her flaming fists, with the pineapple just quick enough to block the attack from the brunette, his black staff bended down from where her fist hits.
"What did she do…?" Mukuro mutters in shock.
"Are you done warming up yet?" She asked him.
The illusionists stared down at the girl, before chuckling and laughing out loud, "What a delightful miscalculation. When I take over your body, I won't need to plan on creating a conflict within the mafia since I could just barge in and create one myself."
That caught their attention, "So that's your goal." Reborn muttered.
"Of course not; I'm not satisfied with just that," Mukuro chuckled, "I plan on possessing every political and iconic VIPs all over the world, and then control them to change this ugly world into a beautiful sea of blood, a world war. Or perhaps, that is a bit too cliché?" The pineapple turns rather serious for once, "But first has to be the mafia, the annihilation of the mafia."
"Why are you so fixed on the mafia?" Reborn asked.
"Do you hold a grudge?" Tsuna asked.
"I have no intention on speaking anymore." Mukuro chuckled, "You will become a part of me when I'm in my ultimate form. Just watch!" A dark spiritual version of him came out of him and dashes towards her.
"An illusion…" Tsuna mutters, "What can you do with-" She was then hit by some stones that were thrown in the illusion that she obviously overlooked. Mukuro took that chance and leaped up to strike at her.
"Tsuna!"
"I got it!" Tsuna replied to her tutor as her gloves ignite and she vanish once more, and once again reappearing behind him once more. Mukuro, shocked of her movement moved back in attempt to block, but unable due to himself in the air and she sends on straight fist to his face, sending him crashing down to the floor below.
The brunette lands down in front of him with a thud.
"So this is… the Vongola Tenth… who defeated me…" Mukuro grunted while chuckling.
"Kill me."
Tsuna's eyes widen in shock, "I will rather die than be caught by you mafia."
She looked at him hesitant, before turning around, "I… I can't do that…"
She then felt a strong grip on her wrists, "You are as naïve as they come." Mukuro chuckled.
"Mukuro, you…"
The pineapple illusionist tightens his grip on her, causing her to gasp out in pain, "I knew it, that strange ability of yours is because of those flames on your gloves. If I seal off your arms, you can't do any of those tricks, can you?-!" He lands a headbutt on the back of her head, "Such a shame, I would rather not injure your beautiful body before I start playing with it." He knees her on the side hard, before swinging her around and sends her flying away, "Now, looks where I've thrown you."
The brunette looked back to find the trident spearhead from just now that was lodge in the crack of the wall, "There is no way you can defend in mid-air. You will die thanks to that kindness of yours."
A zip through the air and a hand grabs her before she came close to weapon, the black haired teen pulls her towards himself and she collide softly on his chest, "That was too close." Korin sighed, "You alright, Tsunahime?"
"M-Motoyama-san?" She mutters in shock, a blush appears on her face, "A-Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He assures her.
"So he came to." Mukuro said, "But with those wounds- eh?-!" His eyes looked all over the teen's body, the wounds from his fight with Orcus are almost healed and the wounds from the stab from Fuuta and his strikes are all gone, "I-Impossible, how is your wounds…?"
"I rather not talk about it." Korin said, before pulling out his gun, "Now it is mine turn to fight you. Get ready, Rokudo Mukuro." He ran towards him and fires four shots after another, Mukuro dodges them by leaping to the right before he saw Korin discarding the empty bullet casing before loading another round in within a split-second and he fires another four shots at him, this time one hits Mukuro's shoulder.
"D-Damn!" The illusionist mutters.
"If you're comparing a fighter's aura…" Korin mutters as he dashes forward abandoning his gun aside, "Then I'll show you mine." His eyes now filled with a true killer intent as he got ready to punch Mukuro, an aura of a true demon arising out of him that took shape of a dragon, "M-Monster…" Mukuro mutters in shock as he was hit in the gut with the teen's fist, and he didn't stop there with a few more punches to the same place and one final fist to the face, knocking the illusionist unconscious.
"It is over." Korin said.
"Yeah…" Tsuna mutters as she comes out of the dying will mode, "Ah! That's right! Everyone's wounds!"
"Don't worry." Reborn assures her as he puts down his green Leon-phone, "The medical team from Vongola has arrived in the area. It seems they manage to give Lancia the antidote in the nick of time."
"Thank goodness…" She sighs in relief, before looking back at Mukuro, "Is… Is he dead…? He's still alive, right…?"
"It's alright, he didn't suffer that much." Korin tells her, "You're so naïve, it's annoying."
"S-Sorry…" She mutters.
"Not that it matters." He said, "It's probably one of your strong points, after all."
"Don't go any closer, byon!" A shout was heard, coming from the blonde student who, along with the beanie student from before, regain consciousness and is crawling towards them, "Don't you dare touch Mukuro-san, you mafia!"
"Hie! T-Those guys from before…!" She shrieked.
"Don't worry." Korin tells her, "They are in no condition to fight back."
She then was confused of their loyalty towards someone who just use their bodies even though they are on the verge of collapsing, "W-Why…?" She asked, "Why do you do so much for Mukuro? You were possessed and used by him!"
"Don't speak as if you know anything." Chikusa mutters.
"For us… this is nothing, byon…" The blonde delinquent just barely getting back on his feet, "…compared to our suffering back then…"
"Suffering…?" Korin muttered, "What happened to you before?"
"Heh… don't you want to know…?" He chuckled, "We were used as guinea pigs for testing by our own family."
That shocked them all, Korin not as much as he seems to know where he is coming from, "I thought so." Reborn said, "You guys are part of the Estraneo Family that created the Possession Bullet."
"Forbidden? Ha! You guys just labelled it as that for your own convenience!" The blonde student said, "Thanks to that, our family members were labelled as brutes and were horribly persecuted by other families. As soon as we stepped outside, guns are fired at us. That only stimulated the adults to run more tests on creating new special weapons, saying that it is an honour to die in their development. Day after day, our friends died one after another. No matter what we do, there was no way for us to live."
"But he… all by himself, destroyed that miserable life. He was a quiet one, not the one that stands out. I think that was the first time I heard his voice."
"As I thought, this world isn't worth it. Let's erase it all." Mukuro said, "Shall we go together?"
"That time, for the first time since birth, there was a place for us." He stated, "We won't let you destroy that!"
"But…"
"… I can understand where you're going at." Korin suddenly said interrupting Tsuna, "I too have experienced what you have… people always looking at you like some beast, hurting you just for the sake of it, performing so-called tests on you…"
Tsuna was dumbfounded by what he has said. She never thought that someone like him have that kind of life, the person who was seen as a great role model in school and the latest addition to the school's male idol, 'Maybe that's why he has that lonely look in his eyes…' She thought, 'And those things he said before… is because he is afraid?'
Three silhouettes suddenly appear by the doorway, "Oh, the medical team have arrived." Reborn said, only to have suddenly chains locked around the three convicts' necks, shocking the three of them as the silhouettes revealed to them as three man with bandages all around their face and huge black cloaks around their bodies, "That was fast. I never thought they would appear already."
"W-Who are they?-!" Tsuna cried.
"Vindice (Avenger in Italian)." Reborn said, "They are the enforcers of the law in the mafia world, and they trial whoever that cannot by trialed by normal means."
The three cloaked men starts pulling the three back with them, "W-Wait!" Tsuna cried, "W-What are you-"
"Don't even try, Tsuna." Reborn warns her, as the three disappears in the misty shroud like how they came, "It will be troublesome if you get involved with them, just leave them alone."
"T-They're that scary…?" The brunette mutters terrified, "B-But… what will happen to Mukuro and the others?"
"They will be put on trial and sentenced." Reborn said, "I assure you, it won't be light. We don't live in a kind world, after all." The real medical team starts to arrive and pulling every heavily injured people in the room onto stretchers.
"Then… what happen to Lancia-san?" Tsuna asked.
"After getting the antidote, he was taken away as well." Reborn said.
"N-No way!"
"It can't be helped." Korin said, "People who are thought to be involved are to be arrested as well, isn't that how our laws work normally?"
"B-But…" Tsuna muttered, before looking back at how the paramedics placed all her injured comrades on stretchers and pushing them to receive medical attention, "W-Will they be okay…?"
"Don't worry, they are top class medical specializes."
She sighed, before feeling a lot of pain that suddenly arises from all over her body, "W-What is this?-! My body just suddenly hurting!"
"Probably muscle pains." Korin said, "You did over exceeded what your body is capable of, so that burden is just returning back as recoil."
"N-No way! Make it stop!" She cried out before fainting on the spot.
"So she fainted from the pain. It looks like she needs more training." Reborn sighed, "But you did completed the orders from the Ninth, good job, Tsuna."
"Tsunahime, you did well today." Korin smiled as he sat down, "I'm a bit tired too, so maybe… a little… nap…" He dozed off sitting down.
Xxx One month later xxx
Thanks to the invitation from Reborn, Korin reluctantly joined the gang in cheering on Yamamoto who was one of the players in their school's baseball team playing in the autumn game at the stadium. He sat down at a more quiet corner as he saw Yamamoto score a homerun easily. "If you guys don't work hard, I'll start a riot!" Gokudera suddenly shouted with dynamites blazing.
Korin annoyed by his behavior channels some of his ki and swings his wrist in a chop, cutting the fuses right at the end. The bomber looked down at his dynamites in shock, "Who the fuck did this?-!" He shouted angrily, "These things don't come cheap!"
"Calm down, Tako-head." Ryohei tells him, "There are other things to do while watching sports." He stood up and cups his mouth with his hands, "Why don't you quit baseball and join the boxing club instead!"
Korin was irritated by that as well and he swings a quick punch to the noisy boxer face. "Oh, Tako-head, that was a nice punch you hit me with! You should join the boxing club too!"
"That wasn't me, Lawn-Head!" Gokudera shouted, "And why would I join such a stupid club that does such stupid sport with just a stupid caption?-!"
"How dare you insult boxing! Come at me in the ring after this!"
"Like hell I'll do that!"
Korin then saw a foul ball coming towards him and grabbed it with ease, and he flings it aside quickly and that got into Tsuna's hand. She looked over to the black haired teen yawning in boredom, "T-Thank you, Motoyama-san."
The teen ignored her with his eyes nearly closed, "Hey! Hime-sama just thanked you! Be honored by it!"
"I-It's alright, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna tells him.
"Don't mention it."
The two looked over at him, staring as if he grew a second head or something, 'Did he just… reply back…?' They thought.
"My, what a surprise." Kyoko said, "Motoyama-kun actually said something back."
"But who is this guy…?" Haru wonders confused.
'Ah right, Haru-chan haven't met him yet…' Tsuna remembered.
"Well, looks like you're making progress, Tsuna." Bianchi suddenly appears behind her and the bomber, the silverrette falling unconscious from the appearance of his sister.
'What a noisy bunch…' Korin mentally groaned, 'But… I guess, this thing isn't too bad to do time to time…'
"Korin." Reborn sat down next to him, "So, up till now, what do you think about Dame-Tsuna?"
"Terrible, if you're talking about her being a mafia boss. She is too naïve, lacks the will to make the tough decisions for the greater good of the group and she is completely useless without your help and your special bullets." Korin summarized, "But… she is kind, reckless at times but she thought about her friends before herself. I guess that's what make all those people to follow her."
"Like you?"
"I wouldn't say so." Korin said, looking up at the sky, "If I would to place it as one single world, it would be… sky. She is like a wide sky that willingly accepts everything. Even a sinful person like me…"
Reborn looks at him with much interest, 'He is strong, and even goes par against Hibari… not just that, at one point, during his encounter with Mukuro…' He recalls the berserk flames that Korin called upon when he was pissed at the illusionist, 'A something mysterious that may benefit or destroy the Vongola… huh?' The tutor hitman smirked, 'Looks like you have given me quite the wild card, Ray.'
"Korin," The teen looked at him in response, "How do you like to tutor Tsuna in Mathematics?"
"R-Reborn?-!" Tsuna cried in shock.
"She is terrible in that subject, well she is terrible with all her subjects, Math is the one that she really sucks at." Reborn continued, "Seeing that how your score at that subject is amazing, even compared to Gokudera, I would like you to tutor her in that."
"R-Reborn! D-Don't come up with weird ideas so suddenly!" She cried, blushing at the thought of him in her home.
"I-I agree with Hime-sama!" Gokudera shouted, "I am more than enough to teach her! Right, Hime-sama?"
'I don't really think so…' She thought wearily, her memories of Gokudera so-called teachings are much too complex for her.
"Sure." Korin nodded.
"Eh?-!"
"Well, the time I have done till now is all just to observe how you do." Korin said, "As the Knight, I should be assisting you in anyway I could, even in studies. If you like, I can come to your home after school every Wednesday and Friday. Is that a bother to you?"
"E-Eh? N-No! I'm okay with that! You can come anytime!" Tsuna suddenly spluttered out, 'What am I saying?-! It's like a really want him in my house!'
"Then it's settled." Korin said, "I'll see you next Wednesday then."
Another foul ball came towards him and with a swipe of his wrist, he grab and passed it into Tsuna's hand within a second, "Take care of me from now on, Vongola Tenth."
To be continued…
Mukuro Arc, over! Next two to three chapters will be
filler chapters with character development and
some smutty time for Tsuna and Korin~
I'll try to upload the next chapter as soon as I can, so
for those asking me when the next chapter is coming out,
please have some patience.
With that, I thank you for reading this!
