Chapter 10: Interlude B
Italics-Dream speak/Flashback
A/N: I will update soon. I just got myself to fix some stuff here. I have revised nothing in the plot. I only changed the Interludes so it won't have part 1 or 2's on them.
Levi-A-Than was no fool. He knew that when Squalo started going silent it had everything to do with Catrina. Catrina, that name had him feel heavy and sad everytime he thought about it. That girl had went into their lives with that innocent smile of her's. He had watched her as she warmed his precious Boss' heart, as she impressed Squalo with her abilities. He watched as she charmed the blond prince, Lussuria, and the baby illusionist. He experienced the feeling of warmth as she accepted her with open arms. Levi-A-Than was no fool. That was why he was standing on front of his Boss and Squalo with a serious facade for a reason.
"What do you want?"Xanxus coldly asked him. Levi flinched, he could still feel the disappointment from his Boss from his last battle radiating from him.
"I want to talk about Catrina," Levi replied, his voice shaking slightly. He saw Xanxus stiffen, the white haired commander flinching. He had hit the Jackpot, or probably the minefield as he felt the heavy miasma encircling both of his superiors.
"This..this is just a speculation but," Levi continued hesitantly. "Maybe, Catrina hasn't died. Maybe she faked her death."
"Tch,"Squalo replied with a small sigh releasing. "Who knew that you'd be the third to figure it out that easily."
Levi mentally sighed with relief. The heavy miasma surrounding his two superiors already had disappeared.
"How'd you find out?" Xanxus asked, making Levi fidget in happiness.
"That girl,"He replied. "She..was similar to her, in a way."
"You've got to be kidding me," Xanxus said with a groan of annoyance. "Are you suggesting that brunnette girl trash is our Catrina?"
"Yes,"Levi replied with confidence. Xanxus glared at his subordinate, not believing such statement. It was impossible.
"I doubt it,"Squalo said while shaking his head in dismay. "From what information I got, seems that she had been in a coma until six months ago."
Levi deflated, it seems that his theory was wrong. A small part of him did encourage him that he got the part of "Catrina was still alive" right though. Xanxus on the other hand was getting annoyed.
"It doesn't make sense since she seemed to know about her," Squalo continued. "Unless she never did go into a coma and faked it."
"There's a chance," Xanxus said with a nod. Levi was silently glad that he wasn't being glared at anymore and silently listened to the two.
"Why don't we interrogate her then?" Levi asked, interrupting the two, suddenly realizing that they didn't have to go the roundabout way to do this sort of situation. They were Varia after all and didn't mind kidnapping for their own purposes.
"Oh yeah,"both men said in unison, Levi wanted to hit his head on the wall, seeing this behavior.
"I'll get my men to get them,"Levi said, feeling suddenly tired.
"Right, Good work Levi,"Xanxus said with an approving nod. Levi's tiredness faded away and he inwardly did a jig as he left with those words fresh in his mind. Yep, it was a sweet reward to hear those words from his Boss.
Niccolo Bovino looked at Alek with a small frown as the blond man started treat the cut that he had received from cutting some vegetables from Nana.
"Sorry Alek,"Niccolo said with a small smile. "I didn't want to interrupt you from your stay with the Sasagawas."
"It's fine,"Alek replied plainly. "Other than that how's she?"
"She's fine," the older Bovino said with a small tired sigh. "Though, I tried doing the mind thing to try and meet up with her, I couldn't..she wasn't responding."
"That's bad, maybe we ca-"
"I already did ask Checkerface-sama, he said he couldn't reach her either. But he did say that this will be temporary."
"So that means until then we have to keep doing what we're doing.."
Both men went silent, only hearing the sound of Nana cutting vegetables on the cutting board. A shiver ran down their spines as they remember the person that's coming next for the Storm battle.
"She won't like it," Alek muttered, "She'll kill us."
"And I didn't even get to hang out with my little bro yet,"Niccolo whined. "Agh goodbye fratellino, I hope he does well when I'm gone."
Alek patted the older Bovino on the back.
"Sorry dude,"he softly said, inwardly he was weeping. "But I have to go back, take care."
"W-wait A-al-" Niccolo said and reached his hand out to stop the blond man. Unfortunately for him, Alek already left, leaving his pill bottle in the seat in front of him.
"Traitor!" Niccolo wailed.
Natsuki opened her eyes and looked around the hospital room. In the bed next to her was Lambo and beside him was her mother and I-pin. A small smile formed on her lips as she was sleeping peacefully.
Slowly, the girl brunette got out of her bed and changed into some regular clothes then slipped on some sneakers. She hesitantly looked back at her mother, who was still sleeping. Quietly, the girl brunette snuck out of the hospital using the window, which she opened slowly due to the noise it made when opened.
Once outside, the cold wind greeted her, making her regret not bringing her jacket along with her. Natsuki then kept walking until she stopped at the entrance of the park.
"Are you here to take me away Levi-A-Than-san?" She asked out loud with an amused smile. "Because I would love to go along."
Levi flinched and went out of the shadows.
"Impressive," he said to her. "Then you wouldn't mind coming along?"
"Of course not," Natsuki replied happily. "I was waiting actually. Though I'm not sure about my brother and others. Nevermind about that, let's just go."
Levi hesitantly walked towards her, he was skeptical on why she would happily go along with him. No sane person would want to be kidnapped willingly unless they had something planned.
"You can knock me out if you want,"Natsuki piped up, seeing the hesitation in his eyes. "After all, It's time I met up with your Boss anyways."
Levi frowned. He couldn't believe what was coming out of this girl's mouth. Yet he complied and held out the cloth that was soaked with Chloroform to her mouth, making her unconscious. He then caught her and carried her back to the temporary Varia base while dismissing his men from their posts nearby.
Natsuki was still asleep by the time Levi had arrived. Deciding that she wouldn't be waking up soon, he placed her in a random guest room. Once he left, he went towards Xanxus' office to report to him about her willingness to get kidnapped.
"Boss," Levi greeted, still slightly dazed from thinking.
"You got her?"Xanxus asked, he could see his Boss fidgeting, getting impatient from waiting.
"Yes," Levi replied. "But it was willingly."
"As expected,"Xanxus said with a nod as he looked over to Squalo.
"I'll interrogate her when she wakes up,"Squalo said out loud before leaving the room with a serious look on his face. Levi softly sighed, as he noticed the fatigue starting to affect his precious Boss.
"You should rest,"Levi calmly said. Xanxus opened his mouth but closed it again. With a small nod, he complied with Levi just at that time before leaving the office to rest. It had been a long day for him. Levi, on the other hand followed his boss out of the room and went to get himself something to drink. It was going to be a long night for him.
Alek looked nervously at the frozen storm guardian and their frozen sky.
"I cannot believe you," she angrily said to the small brunette girl. "Letting yourself get kidnapped like that and to those boarish men too!"
"It can't be helped,"Natsuki replied. "So please just go on with business."
The frozen storm guardian stiffened and opened her mouth before closing them again.
"Fine," she said hesitantly. "As long as you are safe."
Natsuki smiled brightly at her direction.
"Thanks," she said. "Then excuse me, I have a long interview with a certain shark to attend to."
With that, Sawada Natsuki woke up to a pair of curious eyes looking at her.
"Ciao Superbi Squalo," she whispered happily.
If there was one thing that Squalo could always blame for his fate, it would be genetics. Specifically genetics for those bright smiles that can make a person with sight go blind. Catrina had them and so did this smiling little brunette girl in front of him.
"Shut it off," he growled as he squinted his eyes. In the corner of his mind, he noted that unicorns and fairies(the more good kind) danced around this girl.
"Umn What do you mean?" The girl asked, tilting her head slightly, a huge question mark hanging above her head. Squalo had the sudden urge to just hit his head on the wall.
"VOIII! You've gotta be kidding me!" He shouted, his patience burning away with that shout of his. The girl flinched a bit and looked at Squalo intently and with wary eyes. Squalo sighed and pulled up a chair and sat down, making himself calm down by mentally counting downwards.
"You should know why you're here," he calmly said in a normal volume.
"Of course," Natsuki replied with a wry smile. "About your Catrina, yes?"
Squalo nodded.
"I'll answer every question then," Natsuki said, her wry smile disappearing. Her eyes revealed the sadness hidden within those bright globes. "But it's just better to explain."
Squalo stiffened a bit and opened his mouth to object but he found himself stopping as he saw the eyes.
"Go ahead," he reluctantly replied, signalling the brunette to start with her explanation.
"Your Catrina really did die that night,"Natsuki said and continued on once she saw the silver haired man open his mouth once again. "I'm telling the truth right now. Because I remember the night I died."
Squalo froze. His mind whirred, logical thoughts rejected the words comes out of her mouth. Yet a small part of him believed her. That Levi was right, that she was Catrina.
"I'm Catrina," Natsuki went on. "Because she is a part of my soul and therefore I am her."
"You're lying," Squalo said with a scowl.
"I'm not," Natsuki replied with a serious face. "Let me tell you about the car accident."
Sawada Natsuki, age 5. She was cheerful young girl that doted on her little brother like her father. Her brown hair messily flowed down to her shoulders and her huge honey colored eyes charmed the people around her. After school, she decided to head to the park instead of home to play at the swings. Despite having friends Natsuki had always valued the tranquility of being alone. That day, a strange cat caught her eyes. It's fur glinted wonderfully under the sun and it's eyes glowed in different colors.
Being a curious child, Natsuki followed the cat as it went down the road. Then the car came. The child tried to cry, yet no tears came. Her voice came out as a small croak. Pain instantly appeared and disappeared. Once the brunette opened her eyes she found herself standing in front of a tall skinny man with a skull mask hidden on his face.
"Hello child," he said with a cold and emotionless voice. "You've died."
The brunette girl shivered as the man patted her head.
"As they say it's really fluffy," the tall man said out loud. Natsuki blinked and looked at the tall man as he removed the skull mask, revealing soulless black eyes with handsome sharp features.
"Do you know who I am?" He asked the girl as he kneeled down to her level.
"Death?" Natsuki asked, still slightly shocked by the turn of events. "So You're death?"
"Yes," Death replied with a small smile. "Fortunately, you won't die."
"But you just said I've died."
"Yes you have. Girl, you're going to to live again but it's your decision whether or not you accept the man's offer."
"Offer? What offer?"
"You see, you have some special blood in you and a certain person is willing to revive you under the conditions of taking on this curse."
"So what's this curse?"
"It's the curse of living with frozen flames that will eventually kill you if you don't put flames within yourself. Sadly your flame is a rare one."
"But that means I still get to live right?"
"Not exactly, As that guy says, you're too young. Your body can't handle the curse, so he wants to split it and have it return when you grow up."
"Then I'll take the curse. Because..because mommy and daddy will be sad if I die and I'm scared to die."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, But can I get my soul back when I turn 18?"
"By 18 years old...Yes."
"Alright then."
Death looked at the girl with his soulless eyes and felt pity. Pity for what the girl was about to experience. Pity for the fate that she had chosen and pity for her experience. With that pity, he granted Natsuki a small gift.
"And the rest is history,"Natsuki finished.
"That was bullshit,"Squalo said with a calm facade.
"The arcobaleno curse was also bullshit," Natsuki piped up. "But it's true, you just have to look at Mammon. Plus you also saw my frozen flames."
"Those metal thingies were your flames?" Squalo asked with wide eyes.
"Of course," Natsuki replied. " You think I have iron bars in my skin and transform like some mutant?"
Squalo went silent, thinking about all these stuff. Natsuki on the other hand watched the silver haired man. Her heart ached badly and her body shook slightly. She was badly holding back her want to hug him. She wanted to cry and tell him sorry but if he didn't accept the truth, she knew that all chances of apologies were nothing.
"Just think about it," Natsuki softly spoke up. "Now can I go home? I don't want to worry mama and Tsu."
The Varia commander looked at the girl and softly sighed. Reluctantly, he stood up and lead her out. He would have to explain this to Xanxus later.
Omake 4: The Prince, warrior girl, and the cake
After that incident, Bel was reluctantly and forcefully admitted into the next rotation. Catrina was also bit reluctant to spend time with the boy but complied. The blond prince on the other hand was slightly miffed from that incident. He wanted revenge and revenge is what he will get.
So here they were, eating cake in a cafe while silently being wary of each other. As they ate, ideas formed in their minds. Bel's mind was filled with plans that would embarrass her while Catrina's was filled with ways to try to befriend the guy. Lady luck on the other hand had a lot of plans in store for the two. As the two ate, they didn't see a man with a gun threaten the person behind the cash register to hand over the money. They didn't see the people gather in a group, afraid of the gun. They didn't see the man approach them with a swagger in his walk.
"Oi kids," A tall buff man said gruffly, pointing his gun at them. Bel and Catrina stopped eating and looked at the man boredly.
"What do you want?" Catrina asked coldly. "Don't you see that we're busy eating?"
"Shishi the peasant's right," Bel piped up. "You can't just interrupt us like that and with a toy too."
The buff man glared at the two teens in front of him as they started to eat their cake again. With a small movement of the finger, he shot at both cakes. The frosting splattered on their faces and clothes.
"Kaching," Bel said with a sharp grin as he wiped the icing off his face using the sleeve of his sweater and took out his knives. Catrina looked at the man with an icy glare as she wiped the icing off her face using a napkin. Purple miasma surrounded her and made the man freeze in place. Bel threw a knife, it landed on the man's arm. The man winced in pain as the knife went deep within his muscles. Then he felt a cold metal touching his neck.
"You don't waste cake like that," Catrina sharply said to him. Immediately, he broke out into sweat. His whole entire body shivered and he nodded quickly.
"Good," the girl said with a bright smile. "Now shoo."
With that, the man ran away, leaving the money that he stole in front of the two teens. Bel glanced at the raven haired girl and then put away his knives, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn't get to make a masterpiece out of him. Catrina smiled slightly as she took a glance at the blond prince. Noticing the icing she wiped it off from Bel's cheek.
"You missed a spot," she said with a small amused smirk. Bel felt his face heat up in embarrassment. A sharp smile replaced his features as he tried to hide it. Catrina's smirk widened, the blond's smirk dropped as he backed away from the girl.
"I kinda like seeing you act like a normal guy at your age sometimes," Catrina said out loud as her smirk widened. "It's kinda cute and you remind me of my little bro…"
Catrina's speech faltered. Her brown eyes glistened in sadness and confusion as she tried to figure out what she just said. Bel watched as the girl held her head, her frown deepening.
"Oi peasant," he said hesitantly. Catrina did not move.
"Peasant," the blond prince repeated again. Catrina did not move.
"Catrina," Bel finally said with a slight haste with his wording. The raven haired girl looked up at him with a confused face.
"What?" She asked, making Bel feel slightly uncomfortable.
"You just said something about a little brother," Bel said.
"I did?"
"Yeah."
Catrina's forehead wrinkled as she tried to remember. Finally a sigh came out of her lips as a sign of giving up. Bel felt like he was falling off a cliff as she did that action. She was so close too to remembering.
"Excuse me," A small voice spoke up from behind them. Both teens turned around and saw the blushing brunette woman. "Are you both a couple?"
Catrina coughed loudly and looked at the woman incredulously. Bel shook his head and did his trademark "shishi."
"No," Both replied together after their initial shock has passed away. Both then looked at each other with a small glint of respect before paying their meals and leaving.
"You're not half bad peasant," Bel said as he walked out with her.
"Same could be said to you," Catrina replied with a small smile on her face. "Hey, let's ask Lussuria if he has some tiramisu."
Bel grinned and nodded. Both teens returned, heading straight to the kitchen and ignoring the stares about their frosting dirtied clothes. Meanwhile back at the cafe, the owner returned to see a pile of money on the ground and his employees chatting about a cute couple that saved the store.
Omake 5:Omnivore, meet the skylark
Hibari had soon got the name of the person who emitted such Carnivorous aura and to say that he was shocked was a big understatement. The way she acted was like an omnivore's attitude. She was shy and quiet and was mostly good like other herbivores. Yet the way she protected her brother was what made her a carnivore. He watched as she scared off the young brunet boy's bullies and also threatened a teacher who was picking on him. By observation, he was sure that her brother was a sort of catalyst in this change in behavior.
By the third day of his observation, the skylark decided to confront the girl himself and maybe have a little spar. He wanted the later of course and that was how he found himself opening the door of classroom 1-A.
"Om-Sawada Natsuki," he said out loud, making everyone on the room freeze. "Come with me."
All eyes went to the girl brunette, the said girl just looked at them with wide eyes of confusion and worry. The prefect tapped his foot, slightly getting impatient. Seeing this Tsuna faced his sister and smiled a small reassuring smile. He then signalled his sister to go, not wanting her to anger the prefect anymore. Natsuki took one last look at her brother and got up to follow the prefect out of the classroom and up to the roof.
"Fight me omnivore," Hibari said to her once they arrived. Natsuki's eyes narrowed.
"No," she replied distastefully.
"Fight me or I bite you to death," Hibari threatened.
"No," Natsuki insisted, instinctively moving into a defensive stance. Taking this as a signal to start, the skylark took out his tonfas and charged at the brunette girl.
Naturally, the brunette girl dodged and she did just that and more. Her body started to react on it's own and quickly made her do a low kick to make the skylark off balanced. The prefect, being the prefect, just jumped away. A small amused smirk emerged from his lips. Natsuki shivered at the sight. She knew that Hibari was a force that needed to be reckoned with but something that she shouldn't worry about that much. Yet in the back of her mind, the nagging small voice told her that she needed to go back.
"Prefect-san," Natsuki suddenly said as they warily watched each other for the next move. "I seriously want to get back to class."
Hibari ignored the brunette's words and swung his tonfa towards her. Natsuki dodged and grabbed the tonfa, pulling the prefect closer to her and grabbing the other tonfa.
"I want to get back to class," she said with a slight venom mixed in with her tone. Hibari narrowed his eyes. Disappointment started to set in within his system as he realized the reason for her wanting to leave. It was her brother's bullies that she was worrying about.
"We continue afterschool," Hibari said once taking it all in consideration. He pulled his tonfas away from her grip and pointed towards the door that lead back downstairs. Natsuki grinned a bit at the prefect's direction then quickly strode towards the door and down the stairs. She made her way back to the classroom. As she walked back, her body shivered again but not from fright or shock but from excitement. It had been a long time since she had the time to even spar like that.
Sawada Natsuki opened the door with a sharp grin, making most of the students freeze and stop midway in their small talk towards her brother.
"S'up Tsu," she cheerfully said as she approached her brother, who was looking at her with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine,"Tsuna replied, his eyes scanned his older sister and found no bruises inflicted by the prefect.
"Don't worry," Natsuki leaned over and softly said to him. "Just get home once school ends, just be careful."
The brunet boy nodded yet still looked at his older sister with worried eyes. He knew that Hibari would not just leave someone he was interested in with that perfect condition.
"I'll be fine," Natsuki assured with a bright and confident smile. "Don't worry about me Tsu, I can take care of myself."
Sawada Natsuki looked at the prefect, waiting patiently for her as she arrived on to the roof. A small tired sigh went out of her lips as she saw the glint and felt the skylark's aura.
"Just to warn you," she said out loud. "I'm still going through physical therapy."
The prefect nodded curtly and immediately charged at the brunette girl with his tonfas. Natsuki dodged the attack and did a kick to his stomach before backing away at a considerable distance. Once again the young prefect attacked, swinging his tonfas at a much more faster rate. Natsuki blocked with her hand, wincing slightly upon contact.
The barrage of attacks, dodges, and blocks were continuing as a few minutes passed by. By then, Natsuki had gotten used to moving sharply to avoid and counter attack yet it took a lot of energy. By the next minute, the brunette girl was on the ground with Hibari on top of her with a tonfa on her neck.
"Told ya," she told him in between breaths. Immediately, the weight over her disappeared and she felt herself being pulled up. The skylark look at the pitiful looking omnivore that is wincing in pain and wondered if he misjudged her a bit.
"Herbivore," he said as soon as it looked like she can stand and walk on her own.
"Seems I got downgraded," Natsuki said with a small laugh. "Good."
"You're scared of me like the other herbivores it seems,"Hibari noted out loud. Natsuki laughed more and shook her head.
"Prefect-san that's where your wrong," Natsuki replied, a huge grin forming on her lips. Hibari looked at the brunette girl to explain why she wasn't scared of him. Natsuki just turned around and left.
"Herbivore," Hibari said again, Natsuki didn't turn around. Hibari helplessly watched the enigma of a girl open the door leading down go through that door. As the wind swirled around, Hibari took one last look at the door again before going towards it.