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THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT

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I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN, I do however own this story and the characterisation of Agatha.

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SIOFC!Gokudera, Slash/het... Kinda? I was a mind that remembered more than one life. Physically born as a boy, mentally reawakened as a woman. I am Gokudera Hayato, please call me Aya.

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CHAPTER NINE
Hibari Kyouya

Last time:

Takeshi went first, "Hee, I didn't think we had such a good room - " he noted only to pause when he spotted the occupant already there, casually perched on the back of one of the three seater leather couches.

"Who are you?" Hibari Kyouya demanded shortly, eyes flicking over what he could see of the small group.

'We got caught by a troublesome one...' Takeshi thought grimly, feeling a chill in his blood.

And now:

It was probably either a comment on my age, or the fact that I'd encountered individuals a great deal more powerful and less egotistical than the boy in front of me, but I just found the supposed Dictator of Namimori, it's Iron Hammer of Discipline, Hibari Kyouya... decidedly underwhelming.

I couldn't exactly call him pretty, his features were too sharp for that, definitely good looking. But most of all, to me, he just looked young. Spouting off pre-schooler logic really wasn't helping him, I decided as he spoke.

"I really hate weak herbivorous animals that form groups. Whenever I see them, I really want to bite them to death," he purred lowly, slowly lifting an arm, tonfa in hand.

Surreptitiously, I shifted a foot backwards, preparing for the fight that was about to break out.

"Whoa, it's my first time being in the Reception Room!" Tsuna said enthusiastically as he slipped in front of both Takeshi and myself, I startled, and Hibari struck.

"One."

Tsuna went down as the Prefect's tonfa clashed into the side of his head hard enough to throw him into the wall.

"Tsuna!" I ran to him immediately, I hadn't felt his Flame react to the blow the same way it had when Reborn struck him – that kind of hit could give him a concussion! What the hell was that brat thinking? Hitting Tsuna that hard! No blood, just a nasty bruise. I pulled down one of his eyelids and to my great relief his pupils reacted fine, dilating against the sudden onslought of afternoon sunlight.

"Are you injured? You seem to be protecting your right hand. Bingo," the Prefect declared behind me as a sickening thud struck my ears and Takeshi went flying with a painfilled grunt.

"Two," he declared before turning towards me as I slowly climbed to my feet. He gave me a look up and down and made a small sound that I had only ever heard from cats before now, a hiff, and turned away, "They won't wake up. I hit them to make sure of that. Suit yourself here, I'll call an ambulance for them."

My blood burned, and I could feel a hard knot form in my stomach. I took a deep breath, and slowly let it out, feeling the tingle of adrenalin in the tips of my fingers. I grinned. All teeth and vicious intent. It wasn't very pretty.

"Yeah? Why don't you call yourself one TOO?" I snarled lunging forward.

Of all things, I think getting attacked by the girl threw him off the most.

My palm thrust into his stomach like a lance, bending him double with a whoosh of expelled hair – and brought his face down into my knee as I rammed it up with a punishing crack that could have very possibly been his nose.

I didn't see the blow that hammered into my side, but I knew I would be feeling it for weeks.

I staggered to one side and twisted, bringing my fist down on the side of his head, throwing my weight behind the blow – he shifted out of the way, but I scored enough of a glancing blow to send him spinning towards the floor even as I went down too, planting a hand on the linoleum and using it as a pivot to throw a kick at the Prefect.

He blocked it with a tonfa and grunted as he threw me off, my leg swinging in an upward arc that would have thrown a great deal of people off balance – people that hadn't been trained by my Shifu.

I kicked off with my other leg, using his throw as extra momentum to ram a kick into his thigh that threw his leg akimbo and sent him off balance as I spun and landed in a crouch.

His grin was all teeth as he smiled at me. Stood six paces apart, there was a lull as I slowly climbed to my feet and he gently tested his leg.

"You are no herbivore," he observed with a blood thirsty grin as I placed a hand against my hip, rubbing the no doubt blossoming black bruise.

"Hippos are herbivores, and they've killed more people than lions," I pointed out softly as I shifted, cracking my shoulders and neck, "And more cows have killed humans than even sharks. Your logic is flawed. The most successful of Carnivores tend to form groups."

He hmphed in annoyance and readied his tonfa, grey eyes narrowing. I smirked a little knowing I had irritated him, and took a deep breath.

In, hold, release. Sink into peace, you are the eye in the storm. You are the centre of peace in the middle of the chaos, the storm that tears all around it to pieces. You are the storm, your core is calm, your arms are a hurricane, your legs are a typhoon. A storm is never still.

Something like recognition flickered in his eyes as I lowered myself into a familiar, if somewhat rusty stance. I should practice more, I decided as I slowly let the deep breath out.

And went on the attack.

While I was faster, Hibari did have better reach on me with his weapons, however, if he wished to make use of his full strength he needed to shorten that reach, which allowed me to step into close range combat. Not my forte, but I was most certainly better than anyone else currently in the school, perhaps with the exception of Hibari himself. The problem was beating him without hurting him. He was still going to be a Guardian, an ally, and as much of an asshole as he is, he was strong and we needed him in top form. I couldn't risk anything long-term or alienating him from the Famiglia. Which made this fight that much more difficult, because I could beat him, easily. I just might accidentally end up killing him – hence why I had removed all temptation of using explosives or my Flames by taking the rings off and stowing the bombs in my bag. Shifu's style was a martial art developed specifically with Flame Combat in mind, it was only half as effective without.

Turning aside the rain of tonfa blows was difficult, my palms were numb and my elbows ached as I carefully redirected the blows, crossing the Prefect's arms over himself in the hopes of opening up his guard. But he was too good to let something like a redirection leave him vulnerable.

Though he was stupid enough to kick out at me.

I grabbed his leg and grinned as his eyes widened a moment before I yanked him forward off balance, and ducked down, swiping his other leg out from under him and throwing my weight behind the leg I'd caught, flipping him over in midair.

He hit the ground on his stomach and I was immediately on his back, even as he tried to roll onto his hands and knees. I tried to get him in a hold but had to duck away and abort when one of those tonfa came dangerously close to giving me a concussion.

Instead, I grabbed it.

Jumping up, I wrapped my legs around the Prefect and twisted, jerking the tonfa out of his hand and throwing him across the room. I hit the ground in an ugly sprawl that I ungainly rolled out of, keeping hold of my ill-gotten gains until I hit the wall and used it to push myself forward back into the fight -

Bringing my stolen tonfa directly into the Prefect's face.

He would have a lovely black eye with a blow like that.

"REBORN! HELP AYA-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!"

I startled so bad that I almost brained Tsuna with the tonfa when he suddenly appeared at my side, Leon!Slipper in hand as he rammed his head into the Prefect's gut, throwing him further across the room.

It became a free for all after that, if I weren't so used to teaming up with Shigu against Shifu in two vs one sparring matches I was fairly sure I would have ended up hurting Tsuna in the tangled rain of mismatched limbs that flashed and flailed in my vision. That was the thing about fast-paced combat, especially when it involved more than one person, you often didn't know what was going on yourself, you just had to react and hope you didn't put yourself in a bad position.

Black gleamed out of the corner of my eye, and without conscious thought, or care, I slammed into Tsuna with my hip – bouncing him out of the way of the concussive blow.

"Aya!"

The tonfa slammed home on the side of my head and everything went dark.

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I woke up in my own bed at home several hours later. My head felt like it was swimming. I immediately went back to sleep, only half aware of the hand that gently sponged my forehead with cold water.

The next time I woke up, the light hurt, and even the sound of the birds outside was like icepicks to my brain.

Someone helped me take a drink of water and swallow some pills that dulled the discomfort, but I found myself being tucked back into the bed and told to sleep – once the sharp edge of the pain in my skull dulled, I was only too happy to do as I was told.

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All in all, I was out of it for over twenty-four hours, sleeping off the concussion I got protecting Tsuna from that homicidal maniac that Reborn wanted to join the Family. It was pretty much only my understanding that we needed Hibari for the ensuing fights with Mukurou, VARIA, Byakuran, Shimon, and the Vindice that prevented me from... dealing with him.

But never the less.

I was furious.

Less so at him, and most definitely, whole heartedly, at myself.

What the hell kind of kiddy shit was I trying to pull here? I knew Tsuna would soon be facing great danger, and yet I still rested on my laurels and played fucking house, worried over video games and homework, school clubs and how to cook goddamn rice-balls properly when I could have been furthering my training, getting stronger, doing my goddamn job as his Storm Guardian!

The day after I assessed myself well enough, I called work, I called school, I told them I was taking a month, family emergency, if they wanted proof they could call my sister. And then I packed a bag.

I booked a ticket to Tokyo where I dug up not only a martial arts gym, but one that had connections to the underworld – where Cage Fights and underground Fight Clubs took place. Often times, when I needed to make some quick money and didn't care how I looked afterwards, I would sometimes take my hand to these kinds of things. I'd broken more bones in these kinds of rings than I'd actually had kisses, as both Aggie AND Aya.

I busted my ass.

By day, I worked myself to the bone in the gym. I meditated, practised katas, I used training machines, I did three times the regular amount of roadworking that the other students did – enough so that the Gym owners pulled me aside and suggested as gently as they could to tone it down before I did myself permanent harm. I doubled the amount of work I did after that. I couldn't afford to be anything less than the best.

Because what if that had been Xanxus? Hm?

What if I'd been knocked unconscious defending Tsuna against Xanxus? Or Mukurou? Or Byakuran? The Six Funeral Wreaths? Enma at his most unstable? Daemon Spade? Jaeger and the Vindice? Bermuda? Kawahira?

I couldn't afford to be human. I needed to be a monster.

And by night, that's what I was.

I stepped into the rings at the underground fight clubs and I left nothing but blood and broken bodies in my wake.

At first they thought to pit me against the bikini-barbrawlers and the gladiator-gals, when they didn't even last five minutes, they started pitting me against the professional female fighters. And again, they didn't last long. What fighters I didn't put down immediately with the first blow, just weren't vicious enough to fight me. I went in there like I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Australia and something to prove.

Both of which were annoyingly true.

They started rolling me out against contenders soon enough.

Then Reborn rocked up towards the end of the month.

I'd just finished my third fight in the Ring. My hair was braided and piled on the back of my head in a cloth covered bun to discourage grabbing, I wore a pair of baggy grey sweat-pants and a baggy white vest, the black straps of my bra visible along with the small bulges that the fillet inserts naturally gave me (all my bras had them – just to give me some kind of breast outline, however subtle). My arms were wrapped, my feet were bare, my eye was bruised, my lip split and swollen, bruises patterned my arms, and I had visibly gained muscle since the last time Reborn saw me. I was sat cross-legged to one side, a bottle of water by my knee, my hands resting loosely on my knees as I mediated. Blocking out the sounds around me, the heckling, the trash-talk, the betting, the jeering. No one got close. I'd already demonstrated that anyone who laid a hand on me, inside or outside the ring, was going to get wrecked. They didn't dare anymore.

Reborn sighed heavily as he shifted his hat down, shadowing his expression.

"I never took you for such a sore loser. Really, running away because you lost a fight and throwing yourself into cess-pools like this? What are you trying to prove?" he asked in disappointed scorn.

I arched an eyebrow at him, "You think this is my trying to prove something, Reborn?" I asked idly as I stretched my arms up above my head, grunting a little as my bruised rib shifted uncomfortably.

"Tsuna's been tearing his hair out with worry over you. Yamamoto-kun's been talking about contacting the police." I arched an eyebrow at him wondering where he was going with this. Tsuna was always nearly tearing his hair out over something or other, typically directly related to something that Reborn was cooking up. Yamamoto wouldn't get halfway to the police station before Reborn directed him elsewhere. So what exactly was he trying to gain from telling me these obvious, foregone, facts?

"Bianchi cried."

My expression pinched.

"And what, exactly, are you trying to get at, Reborn?" I asked shortly as I took up my water-bottle and took a hit.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, sounding tired.

"Training," I replied as honestly as I could. Reborn paused, and lifted his hat, looking as surprised as I'd ever seen him.

"Training?" he echoed, "for what?"

I cracked my neck and looked down at him, "Back there, in the Reception Room... what if that had been someone else, hm?" I asked slowly, my gaze canting upwards over the crowds of milling people, the dull lights and dust in the air, the smell of alcohol, sweat, expensive perfumes, cologne, all mixing with the reek of blood and bile and dirt. "What if it had been Xanxus, or someone else from the VARIA?" I prompted further, my voice soft. "You're forbidden to interfere. Takeshi was down. Tsuna's Dying Will only lasts for five minutes. And I went down. I left him on his own. If it had been anyone else that we were fighting..." I trailed off, letting my meaning become absolutely clear.

Tsuna would have died.

"I've not been taking this seriously enough," I stated coldly as I got to my feet. "But now I am."

I already hacked my way into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, as well as the Traffic Management Offices. Every CCTV camera, traffic camera, speed camera, in the city and connected to it via security networks (in other words, regardless of whether or not it was a Private Security company handling the CCTV, if they had a Police Response connection, I had access to their cameras), was under my control, linked to both my laptop and my phone with Facial Recognition Software running at all hours.

If someone with connections to the Underworld entered Japan, I was definitely going to know about it.

Tsuna's father, any member of the VARIA, Fuuta, Mukurou, the Geigues, the Shimon Famiglia, the Tomaso, the Todds, even Dino's Famiglia were on the lists. Anyone.

No more fucking around, no more playing. People's lives were on the line, and I was not superwoman, I wasn't Shounen Protagonist of Awesome. I didn't get to pull that Naruto/Luffy/Natsu-styled Nakama Mind over Matter second wind bullshit. If I went down, I was down. And that left Tsuna open.

Reborn sighed heavily, "When are you coming back?" he asked.

"Day after tomorrow," I answered promptly.

The tiny hitman huffed and melted back into the crowd.

And if I saw him at the bookies as I stepped into the ring, I didn't call him on it when I returned to Namimori and spotted the wide smug grin on his face.

I was a bit busy being buried under Tsuna, my sister, and Lambo.

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Chapter DONE! OMG. Next chapter... heeeheee Namimori Sports Festival 8DDD you have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this particular chapter.