Author's rants (IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!): Mukuro's ability goes by many names: Paths, Realms, etc. I've put 'paths' because I watched the anime, instead of reading the manga like a good otaku. So when you see 'Second Path' and stuff like that, well you know what I mean, and that's what counts…right? Right. And to those who read this, CONGRATULATIONS! :D

Not as important: THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS/FAVORITES/STORY & AUTHOR ALERTS~!


Chapter 9

Enter: Hyper Dying Will Tsuna

Gokudera, Yuri, Bianchi, Ken, and Chikusa's bodies were now all possessed by Mukuro. Reborn explained aloud how Mukuro was able to do all this. It was because of the Possession Bullet. Even the Sun Arcobaleno couldn't contain his shock at the fact that the illusionist was able to possess five people at once.

Using the Second Path, Path of the Hungry Ghost which was the skill that stole the enemy's abilities, Mukuro mercilessly struck both Tsuna and Reborn repeatedly.

Mukuro was too focused on trying to possess Reborn and Tsuna that he didn't seem to realize an extra observing silently in the shadows. Shirobara Nikoru sat there and watched as her best friend was possessed by a homicidal sadist. Lovely.

She watched as Mukuro used poison cooking, dynamite, channels, yo-yos, and bare strength against the duo.

"HIII! Who knew Yuri-san was so strong!" Tsuna screamed frantically and tried his hardest to dodge Yuri as she swung at him, blow after blow. Yuri didn't really have any proper training; most of it was merely pure strength.

While Yuri was distracting Tsuna, Gokudera threw a heavy amount of bombs at the brunette. Nikoru took a sharp intake of breath and reflexively ran up and pushed Tsuna out of harm's way.

"Nikoru-san!" Tsuna cried, eyes bulging noticeably. He was afraid that one of his friends had endangered themselves for him. It was the same for Gokudera, Yamamoto, Bianchi, and even Yuri - they all got hurt because of him. All because he was no-good and couldn't protect them.

A hand placed gently on his shoulder broke him out of his depressing thoughts. While Tsuna was busy thinking, Nikoru had gotten out of Gokudera's throwing range and back to the spiky-haired boy. Her athleticism made up for her mental slowness.

"You shouldn't worry, Tsuna-kun. I'll protect you this time, unlike before when I fainted because of all the blood." She tried to make light of the situation as a smile lit up her features. "I promise to protect you this time." Nikoru swallowed the guilt of feeding him promises that she couldn't keep. But when Tsuna's huge eyes lit up with a flicker of hope at her words, Nikoru's guilt disappeared and felt newly acquired determination. She would protect him.

Unfortunately, Mukuro finally noticed Nikoru and watched as the boy who was shivering in fear was now calm and hopeful, thanks to the girl that he didn't notice until now. Wait, he did notice her; he just didn't pay any attention to a weakling like her, yeah…that was it.

Mukuro, in Chikusa's body, had enough and changed from the Second Path to the Fourth Path (Path of Asura), planning to take Tsuna's body once and for all. But before he could start running, Chikusa's body suddenly fell down and hit the floor with a thud. The trident slid away and Ken's body picked it up, explaining aloud that it was normal for bodies to do that when they reached their limits.

Tsuna was appalled at Mukuro's view on humans; he treated everyone as toys or tools. Even the people he cared about didn't affect his belief the slightest bit. Nikoru's encouragement and his last strand of relaxation was gone as realization dawned on him as well as fear; Mukuro was going to overexert his friends and open up their wounds.

"I'm fine," Mukuro reassured no one in particular. "I don't feel pain," he said through Chikusa's body.

Tsuna was stunned into a silence for a second but soon snapped out of it. "What are you doing? Isn't that your nakama's body?" he screamed, finding courage somewhere within himself to scold the enemy.

The illusionist's eyes widened marginally. A certain blue-haired girl told him something similar to what the Vongola just said. 'Why aren't you treating Bakodo-chan, isn't he your nakama?' How many times must he repeat himself? Ken and Chikusa were mere tools for his convenience, and that was all they would be. Mukuro told the boy that once he possessed someone, it was his body, not theirs. It was his right to decide whether the body broke or died.

"That's wrong." Tsuna disapproved of Mukuro's beliefs, not that the sadist cared about his or anyone else's opinions.

"Do you have time to be concerned about others, when you're about to be killed?" Bianchi stalked forward.

Nikoru jumped up and stood protectively in front of Tsuna who was on the floor in a vulnerable position. "Not if I can help it." She wasn't afraid of Mukuro…well she was, but she wasn't about to show it.

"How amusing." Gokudera advanced towards Tsuna. "Both of you are not suited for the mafia," Mukuro said without hesitation.

Blood was pouring from the siblings' wounds. Gokudera's chest wound had opened up and Bianchi's wound on her stomach was opening too.

Despite Tsuna's desperate protests for him to stop, Mukuro chuckled menacingly and all of the brunette's cries reached deaf ears.

"Kufufu, I remember now." Mukuro closed his eyes while he chuckled and opened them up again a second later. "When you were fighting Birds, you were about to stab yourself to save your girlfriend."

Tsuna's breath hitched at Mukuro's observation.

Nikoru was livid, a tiny scowl etched on her forehead. "She's not his girlfriend."

Mukuro tilted his head to the side and looked over Nikoru's put-off attitude. "Oya, jealous are we? Then, are you his girlfriend?" A devious smile played on his lips.

Tsuna blanched at Nikoru's abrupt denial to Kyoko being his girlfriend. He also choked on his saliva when Mukuro assumed that Nikoru was with him. Wait, why did the conversation switch from one thing to another so suddenly? And why was the topic about his love life?

While the admittedly strange conversation was taking place, Reborn watched the scene unfold with the tiniest glint of amusement in his eyes. When Nikoru got up and comforted his pupil, he felt his pet chameleon vibrate a little. And when she made Tsuna that promise, Leon shook even more. This intrigued Reborn to some extent. However, the girl's next actions caused the shape-shifting pet to cease shaking quite significantly, but it didn't stop him from shaking altogether.

Nikoru giggled, amused. "Of course I'm not jealous," she replied easily with a mirth-filled grin.

There went Tsuna's self esteem…

After Nikoru calmed down, she continued. "And no, I'm not his girlfriend. I just have an inner fangirl…" She muttered the last bit so that no one could hear, thankfully.

Mukuro thought it was a good time to end that strange conversation there. He turned back to Tsuna who was hanging his head in depression. "Because of your softness, you will be possessed by me." All light-heartedness was gone, it was back to being serious and dangerous.

"Listen well. If you don't want any further harm done to your friends, make a contract with me without running away," Mukuro, who spoke through Bianchi this time, offered.

Tsuna rejected the oh-so gracious offer and sought help from his tutor. Reborn simply told him to work things out on his own, without asking for help from himself or Nikoru. The spiky-haired teenager pathetically begged for help from the Sun Arcobaleno, in reply he got a kick to his chin which sent him flying back.

Nikoru took a step forward, planning on rushing to his aid. But the home tutor wouldn't allow it. Reborn sent her a silencing gaze and jumped over to Tsuna himself. Nikoru tilted her head down fractionally in understanding, somewhat unnerved by Reborn's intense gaze.

After a few words from Reborn, Tsuna grew determined. He spoke out his true feelings; he wanted to defeat Mukuro and he didn't want to lose to such a terrible person.

"That's unexpected," Mukuro foolishly commented lightly at Tsuna's resolve. "I'll hear the rest of the story after I've possessed you and after you've killed your friends with your own hands!" In Yuri's body, Mukuro changed his eye to a '四' and a dying will flame emerged.

"No," Nikoru said firmly. She shifted her position so that Mukuro didn't have Tsuna in his line of sight anymore. "Even if I have to hurt my best friend's body, she will forgive me. I won't let anything happen to Tsuna-kun." Nikoru directed her hardened gaze towards Mukuro. Yuri wouldn't mind if her best friend dealt some blows towards her body, Nikoru was sure of that. So with that thought in mind, she found her resolve; to protect Tsuna and to beat Mukuro.

Mukuro wasn't affected by either Tsuna's or Nikoru's determined glares. Lifting his trident up, Mukuro was ready to make Yuri strike at the one closest to him; Nikoru. But Lady Luck decided to side with heroes once again. Leon shot up and glued himself upon the ceiling, long webs shooting out of his round form and sticking onto various surfaces.

The strange chameleon no longer looked ill. On the contrary, he seemed better than ever. Leon shined a brilliant shade of green and illuminated the dark room with a dazzling green glow.

After Reborn explained what his partner was doing, Leon began chewing while smiling; meaning that he was about to spit out a new item. For Dino, Leon spat out Enzio and a whip.

While Tsuna gazed with hopeful eyes, wishing for something like Enzio, Nikoru saw Yuri walk closer towards the brunette, planning on taking him out. As Mukuro broke out into a sprint, so did Nikoru. Without a weapon in hand, Nikoru decided to simply trip the illusionist over, hoping that it would work. She stuck out a foot, but there was no way such a plain tactic could defeat Rokudo Mukuro!

In normal circumstances it shouldn't have worked, but he was in Yuri's body. Nikoru knew Yuri had the worst luck due to that mirror she broke and that she was extremely clumsy. She and Dino were a lot alike actually.

Mukuro saw Nikoru's foot and planned to jump over it, although Yuri's athleticism wasn't all that great so he ended up tripping over it. The illusionist recomposed himself and got up, while muttering things along the lines of: "stupid, clumsy body". He threw the trident to Ken's body, thinking that it was best to stay out of the unlucky girl's body forever.

Ken slashed Leon in half, but being the fantastic shape-shifting animal that he was, Leon morphed back into a big green blob. Tsuna, Reborn, and Nikoru looked up to where Leon once was. In his place were small items that were blanketed in shiny white light.

Two mittens with a '27' on each glove made their way onto Tsuna's face. Whilst he was freaking out, Nikoru crept back into the shadows and played with something that also fell from the ceiling.

She sat down and folded her legs close to her chest, keeping what was left of the warmth within her. Nikoru placed her hands on top of her knees and stared at the little creature that was as big as both of her hands put together. On her open palms was a small white Siberian tiger cub which she received from Leon. She stared at it in amazement whereas the cub stared back with trusting blue-gray eyes.

A chameleon giving birth to a tiger. Nice.

Once their staring contest was done (Nikoru caved in easily as her eyes started to water from not blinking), Nikoru began stroking the tiny cub lovingly. She always wanted a Siberian tiger, a lion, cheetah, or a tiger for a pet. No, seriously. She even went as far as to ask Yuri to steal one for her - it didn't turn out so well.

"Hmm…do you have any powers, like Leon or Enzio? Wait, that's not important, the most important thing right now is your name," the strange girl said with the utmost seriousness. "…and your gender," she added as an afterthought.

The white tiger with black stripes stared at its new owner with its blue-gray eyes. Nikoru noticed that its eyes had tints of blue in it.

"Are you male?" Nikoru inquired, fully expecting the tiger to answer. The dense girl wasn't surprised when the miniature tiger nodded briefly. "Okay, now to figure out a name…" Blue-gray eyes, how unique. "How about Blue?" Nikoru was never the imaginative one.

The newly dubbed 'Blue' nodded in an uncaring manner. Blue was a sensible name and he was glad that his owner didn't name him something ridiculous, like 'Naru-chan'. Blue didn't know why he used that name as an example; it just came to him all of a sudden.

Nikoru looked back to the scene in front of her. She made it just in time to see Hyper Dying Will Tsuna enter the scene. Inwardly, she was squealing like crazy, her Inner Fangirl was going wild. Hyper Dying Will Tsuna was her favourite, after all. After that, it was Ten Years Later Tsuna and then it was normal Tsuna. She would never admit this, of course, the only one who knew of her Inner Fangirl was Yuri.

Mukuro was stunned by Tsuna's new-found abilities. In a few seconds, the Vongola calmly hit Ken, who crept up behind him in a sneak attack; saw through the illusions and knew instinctively where the real Chikusa was. Apparently, it was because of the Vongola's Hyper Intuition. Mukuro used Gokudera and Bianchi's body to beat up and toss Tsuna around like a rag doll. He didn't use Yuri's body just in case a similar incident would happen like previously so.

Tsuna's orange eyes briefly flashed towards Nikoru's, then back to the unconscious bodies of his friends. Trying to force her blush back, Nikoru nodded and walked over to them, her new pet asleep within the hood of her jacket. She began the bandaging process all over again.

Tsuna knew that Mukuro was alive and called him out of the shadows. Before Yuri blacked out, Mukuro saw what she had done to his face. To save himself from the humiliation, the illusionist somehow got the markings off.

Mukuro then proceeded to show the last skill: the Fifth Path, the Path of Humans. He clutched his red eye as it changed to a '五', the hand touching the eye grew dark and an ugly, dark aura surrounded him. The left of his face looked like it was dry and cracked, the right of his face was covered in the same murky colour as his hand.

Nikoru's shoulders slumped down. It was as if all the weight on the world was placed onto her. Unbeknownst to her, the suffocating atmosphere was simply the tension and malicious intent in the air.

Her breaths became ragged as the dark aura crept up on her, the creeping sensation was similar to one of bugs crawling over her. However, Nikoru instantaneously calmed down when Dying Will Flames flickered and licked Tsuna's X-Gloves. The air around became more pure and easier to breathe. Keeping her crazy Inner Fangirl at bay, Nikoru grabbed some ointment from the first-aid kit and applied it to Bianchi's wound.

Mukuro was beginning to panic. The 'aura' on Tsuna's X-Gloves wasn't an aura. It was much denser and it emitted heat. Tsuna proved that when he used the flames to melt the end of Mukuro's trident and twist the metal. Laughing maniacally, Mukuro revealed his intentions of luring Tsuna all the way out here and challenging him to a battle.

After the little speech, Mukuro sent an illusion after Tsuna, but secretly hid rocks in it. Jumping up, he lunged at Tsuna but was shocked at the boy's increased speed. Tsuna was behind Mukuro in an instant, both suspended in mid-air. Mukuro took a strong hit and came crashing down with a strangled cry.

Muukro deceived Tsuna, stating that the boy should finish him off. While the kind-hearted boy turned his back on him and rejected his offer, Mukuro smirked and grabbed Tsuna's hand, making sure he couldn't evade. The ex-convict brought his head back and hit it against Tsuna's. He tossed Tsuna forward toward the trident sticking out from the crack in the wall.

Instead of getting stabbed, Tsuna used his flames to rush back at Mukuro, full-speed. Grabbing hold of his forehead, Tsuna cleansed Mukuro's black aura, efficiently knocking him out. A giant crater lay underneath the illusionist's unconscious body. Tsuna extinguished his Dying Will Flame and began talking to Reborn.

They were interrupted when Ken and Chikusa crawled forward, army style. Yuri also got up and began limping towards them too.

Tsuna was surprised to see Ken and Chikusa stick up for Mukuro, even though they were possessed. He asked with intense curiosity as to why they would go to such lengths for Mukuro. Suffice to say, he was taken aback by the answer.

When Ken spoke about their past, there was so much malice and hatred in his rough voice. His eyes were glazed over and showed all the pain and suffering he endured. Once the heated conversation ended, three faceless men covered in white bandages entered.

They seemed to hover above the ground, making no noise except for the clanging of chains. As they floated in, a hazy mist surrounded the area they walked through.

Nikoru shifted nervously, causing Blue to pop his head out and see the commotion. At the sight of the mysterious strangers, the small cub hissed hostilely.

The bandage-clad men paid the others no attention and left with the three escapees, metal collars by their necks dragging them back to Vindicare prison.

The Vongola medical team soon arrived. With multiple gurneys, they moved the injured away to the hospital. Yuri protested, saying that it was only a sprained ankle but when she took a step forward she fell down, face-first. She reluctantly left, with a second-degree sprained ankle and a wounded pride. Nikoru rolled her eyes at her best friend's idiocy, but soon found herself grinning.

Fortunately for Yuri, Tsuna passed out in a more embarrassing way. The Rebuke Bullet took a lot on his body so he collapsed in pain. The only one who remained unscathed was Nikoru…and Blue.

Nikoru sweat-dropped as Reborn jumped onto his student's shoulder and fell asleep before he could finish talking. Standing there for a few seconds, Nikoru realized something. "Eh? I'm all alone." She blinked slowly. "How am I supposed to get home…?"

Shrugging, she decided to follow Reborn's plan. She pulled Blue from her hood and curled herself up into a ball, hugging her new pet close to her chest. Nikoru felt the drowsiness crash over her and gradually fell asleep.


Published date: 09-07-10

Edited date: 04-10-10