"And this, boys and girls, is your new weapons!" Lambo said from the road, patting two heavy looking pine boxes. "Straight from Italy, made by the finest craftsman currently available. You're gonna love them, I'm sure of it. Now help me carry them, they're heavy." The Cow boy scrunched a lip, smirking as I rolled my eyes and slid out a crate. Tanaka grabbed the other end, Lambo and Nero getting the other and bringing them around back.
It had been a month since the incident involving the unknown Famiglia that had attacked us. Neither of our attackers left behind any identifying symbols or weapons, leaving the Vongola with few clues.
Finally though, we were receiving our equipment. Arming ourselves properly, instead of what little we had now. Only Tanaka had received his official Dioli weaponry, leaving the rest of us with only the stock items, or those that we had been found with.
"This one here… should be Celio, Emilia, and Hina." Lambo cracked open the box, lifting the lid to reveal three different weapon sets.
A butterfly knife with wavy purple coloring heated onto the handle, the Mist symbol at the bottom of the handle on each side, the blade with the blank circles meant for the Dioli logo. The blade flashed with a silver sheen that caught the eye, it was designed well for its purpose. "It'll take some time to adjust, but I like it." Hina clutched her new weapon to her chest, a goofy grin on her face.
"White? Really?" Emilia looked up to Lambo with a cocked eyebrow, only receiving a shrug in response. Pulling her boots out, I noticed they came with knee guards, the left with a Sun symbol etched into it. "Knee protection, nice." The Sun pulled on her new boots, zipping them up with a smooth pull. "Fits like a glove."
"You'll need those knee pads, I'll explain why in but a moment." Lambo reached down into the crate, pulling out two more weapons. "And these, are the Dioli Gauntlets." He handed me pair of leather and chain-mail gloves, fingerlesss, that extended up my forearms. The leather was dyed black, shining silver chain on every flat surface, only where my joints moved was there leather. Black links showed the Roman numeral 'I' on the back of the hand.
Tightening the straps on the under side, I lit up my Flames, feeling the weapon as an extension of myself. It would be easy to adapt to flying with these. The added weight would make my punches hurt more as well.
"And finally, Nero." The other crate was cracked open, two weapons laying in polished glory. A white sheath, within which was a stunningly bright blade, which hung at Nero's right side. He strapped on a chest holster, also made of white leather, where his gun resided. Drawing it, he cocked it back, looking into the chamber with a practiced eye.
The metal was white on this too, gold inlaid to look like the pattern pattern of Lightning Flames, sharp angels spreading out from the hammer. "They are beautiful, my complements to the smith."
"I would hope so, the Vongola uses this guy for every important weapon, or someone from his shop. The people who made the first and second in command of the Varia's weapons made yours as well." Lambo stacked the crates together, moving them out of the way. "Anyway, as I promised, as to why Emilia will need those knee pads."
He paused for effect, a horrible smirk breaking across his face. "You, will be heading to the Varia this Summer break for the training of your lives. Emilia will be learning Muay Thai while she's there."
I froze in fear, as did everyone who knew about the Mafia in detail. Tanaka, bless his heart, had no idea why we were scared out of our minds.
"We are so fucked." I said, hope dying as I uttered the words.
"Oh, yeah, that's an understatement." Lambo gave a series of quick nods, sniffling before waving us goodbye, sighting, we would need the rest.
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After a few days of complete and utter panic, I began to look forward to the trip we were about to embark on. Going back to Italy was bound to be fun, and the Varia, while I was sure were complete psychopaths, probably wouldn't kill us if we managed to keep up.
And, there was the obvious. Xanxus. The only other confirmed Mixed Flame User in the world. If nothing else, he would make an excellent opponent.
"Celio, are you ready?" I heard Hina calling me from downstairs.
"Just a second!" I called back, patting myself down. Phone, wallet, passport, good to go. Grabbing my duffel, I pounded down the stairs, locking the door as I exited. Hina was waiting at the back of the second cab, trunk still open. I threw my bag into the trunk, waving to Tanaka and Nero as they slipped into their cab.
Shutting our own, we climbed in, and got comfy. The ride to the airport was gonna take awhile.
"It's finally here…" I mumbled with a gleeful smile. I was going back, to Italy, to train with the Varia of all people. Back where I was from, that was a name whispered in dread, hoping that they would never decide to come through and clean out. "This is gonna be great!" I looked over to Hina, seeing her smile at me.
Her hair was pulled up into her hat, a rather large one, two long strands framing her face. Damn. Looking closer I realized why she seemed so different today. "You took my advice..." Her eyes were blue, no contacts. "Woah..."
"Is that all you have to say?" Her eyes twinkled with mischief, and God damn I could get used to this.
"I assure you, you do not want me to voice the rest of my thoughts in the back of a cab." She bit the upper corner of he lip, a debate warring in her mind. How brave was she?
"Try me." Apparently a good bit.
"Mostly thinking that I want to push yo-"
"OKAY! That's enough. Quit playing around." She sputtered, turning to the window with burning cheeks. Never play flirt chicken with me. We sat in silence for the rest of the ride, though I enjoyed looking at her from my side of the cab, the amber light of the sunset casting a light on the wisps of hair escaping her hat at the nape of her neck. Oh I had it bad...
Once we arrived, we entered the airport to find the Decimo group waiting at a private boarding area. "It'll be a long ride, there is a reason that we're doing this at night. Let's get boarding!" The Decimo led us through the connecting tunnel and into his jet, hanging his cloak on the back of a chair as he went to the cock pit. "Hibari, let's get this bird in the air."
Chrome answered my wondering gaze. "Tsuna and Hibari fly our plane, they're quite good at it."
"Where did they learn that?" Tanaka asked while busying himself with his tangled ear buds.
"Over the ocean in rapidly descending plane, with a dead pilot in the way." She sat back into her chair, fluffing her travel pillow, promptly falling asleep, Mukurou in the next chair over.
I winced, moving to sit into one of the love seats, Hina taking the aisle seat next to me. Nero, Tanaka and Emilia sat across from us, a table in between my Famiglia.
My thoughts wandered, specifically, a foot to my right. Hina and I were clearly… something, what that something was, I wasn't sure. I thought it had gotten pretty explicit back in the cab, but that had blown everything else out of the water. The bigger more immediate problem was that, one wrong move, and what I had managed wouldn't matter. Would she be pissed if I asked? There was no telling, but how else was I supposed to know?
Motion caught my eye across the table, Emilia poking Tanaka in the ribs. He turned to her, taking out one ear bud to let her whisper, handing it to her when she had finished. And what kind of mess were these two? Certainly a more complicated one than myself, but considering the people involved, I fully expected it to be solved in the simplest of manners.
The plane lurched as we took off, and we were in the sky, heading for Italy. My thoughts must have echoed in Hina, because she turned to me. "I learned the language, but I've never been to Italy. What's it like?"
I thought for a second before answering, a fondness for my homeland present in my voice. "Spring is beautiful, a great time for hiking. It's warm, not too much, but you won't see many jackets. Winter, it gets cold, the crowds die down in the bigger cities, its a lot more peaceful, but there is always the din of the common man making their way down the street. Summer, that one can be bad, but there is one thing I like about it, the grape harvest. Arabella and I would work in the fields during that time, instead of my… usual work." I paused, looking out the window.
"Fall, that's my favorite. Its the season of hunting, trapping, and foraging. The rain is peaceful, and the cold comes sweeping in, muffling the noise of the markets." I looked back to Hina, returning her smile.
"What's it like to harvest grapes?" She leaned against my shoulder, chattering until far past midnight, for us. With a twelve hour flight, and a seven hour difference in time between Tokyo and Naples, with Tokyo leading, we would have plenty of time to sleep. We would be getting to the Vongola estate in the dead of night, so really, Chrome was destroying her sleep schedule. The others stayed awake almost as long as us, we had an hour to ourselves before exhaustion forced us into our dreams.
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"We're here." Tsuna's voice woke me, his speech soft like most were in the dead of night. "Wake your Familigia up, mine is going to be about as much as I can handle."
I nodded, shaking Hina awake from my side. She buried her face between the back of the couch and my shoulder, a sense of deja vu overcoming me. "Morning..." She woke with a yawn, her precise English showing itself again. "Are we here?"
"Yeah, you go ahead and start grabbing your stuff, I'll wake these two." I nodded her away, facing Emilia and Tanaka, seeing the two in a very similar position to what Hina and I had been seconds ago. I contemplated taking a picture, but decided against it, if nothing else for their prideful natures. "Nero, wake up." I shook his shoulder, the Lightning Italian standing without so much as a yawn, he seemed tired, like he hadn't slept well.
"I don't like unfamiliar places, and moving ones are worse." He answered my unspoken question, looking down at the other two, smirking as he did. He pulled out his phone, snapping a picture with a brief flash.
Tanaka, blinked as he woke, seeing Emilia on him, before standing unceremoniously. The Sun Guardian slumped against the seat as I gave Tanaka a dirty look.
"Really?"
"I can't really make clear decisions without coffee." He yawned, leaning down to wake Emilia as I grabbed my bag from the overhead. "Hurry, we need to get off the plane."
"Yeah yeah." Emilia stretched out her arms as she rose, moving on to her legs. Tanaka watched her, a little more interested than I could pass off. He realized it after I smacked his arm, breaking the stupor.
"Are you seriously this dysfunctional without caffeine?" I asked as he grabbed his own duffel.
"Before the suns out, yeah." He yawned once more, walking with me off the plane and down to the waiting car, Hina already putting her suitcase and carry on inside. We threw ours on top, Nero and Emilia filling the SUV's trunk with their own luggage. The brief drive to the Vongola mansion was made in drowsy silence, followed by us being brought to four rooms in a line, and promptly collapsing into bed.
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"Celio, I need to see you in my office after breakfast." Tsuna flipped a page of his newspaper, his face hidden from everyone else at the table.
"Sure." I figured it was just some Vongola business, or plans that he wanted my approval on, likely to do with our training here in Italy. I finished my food, following the Decimo through the mansion, into a familiar office on the highest floor. All dark heavy furniture and expensive knick knacks from previous generations, but with Tsuna it seemed inviting, not stifling.
"This," He went around his desk, tossing a black binder down on the polished wood. "is a list of every Rain currently training underneath the Varia, whether they are a Vongola, or one of our Allied Families children. I want you to look through them."
"Why?" I asked as I sat, flipping the book open to the first page.
"I think you need a strong Rain, it being your sub-element, you need someone who won't feel lesser in the face of your power." Tsuna rubbed the back of his neck, struggling to continue. "I know I said I wouldn't decide any of your Guardians for you, but-"
"You already did." I flipped another page, noticing a circled picture, Vincio Idoni, a descendant of the Ferrucio Famiglia, a broken Famiglia that still had a few capable descendants operating as Free-lancers. All swordsman, and he was no different. Top of his class, too.
"I never-" Tsuna seemed to be much more focused on my words than my tone, prompting me to cut him off once more.
"YOU hired Hina, I have a really hard time believing that Emilia wasn't set in front of me on purpose, but I'm not mad. They are my Elements, I have Harmonized with them, you helped me." I paused, flipping the final page, seeing a young girl. The scream caught me off guard, causing me to wince slightly. "If you think I need a Rain from this group, I'll see about it." I looked up, shocked to see the conflict on Tsuna's face.
"I'm not going to lie to you Celio, I thought Hina and you would be a good match, that you would harmonize, I had met her once before. So yes, I put her there on purpose, there was no guarantee you would ever find her yourself." He sat back, guilt playing behind his eyes.
"Tsuna, its fine, really. I'm happy, my Family is happy. You didn't do anything wrong." I smiled, putting the binder back on the desk. "Should we go back to the others?"
"Yeah." He stood, asking me as we left. "What do you think about the Rains?"
"Vincio Idoni, a Ferrucio Swordsman, top of his class, impressive. And there was one at the end..." My mind searched for a name to the delicate features, deep green eyes, wavy brown hair that fell down past her shoulders. She reminded me of Arabella. "Zoe Donati."
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"Dioli." Tsuna paced back and forth, addressing the five members of my Familigia. "You will be heading to Rome from here, and there you will join the various Varia Schools, to learn from the Executive group, as they will be personally teaching while you're there. They will know why you are there, except, Celio, you will be posing as a Rain. The Varia have promised a good Illusionist to mask your flames."
He paused, turning to head back the way he had come. "The story goes that you are a special squad being headed by Celio, your Rain, until you find your Sky. As such, the Executives will be leading the classes, and training with you especially. Good luck." He waved goodbye as we loaded into our car, Nero in the driver's seat, and off we went.
Two hours of uneventful driving later, and we were in front of the Varia Mansion, a similarly large building to the main Vongola one back in Naples, they just liked stone a lot more. The school would be on the opposite side of the building, it was relatively new, meant for training only the best to one day take a place as a Varia assassin, at least that's what Xanxus, its founder, had intended.
Instead it had become a training ground for all of of the promising Vongola, and very select few from the Allied Famiglias, such as the Chiavarone. It was only allowed for the benefits of the Varia, iron sharpening iron and all that.
When we arrived at the stone brick driveway, a golden gate blocking our way, a man with silver hair came to 'greet' us.
"VOI! Are you the brats Decimo sent?!" He leveled his sword with my eyes, glaring at me with the wrath of a thousand suns.
"Yes, we are the Dioli." I hefted my bag up, slinging it over my shoulder and tried not to back down.
"Get in here then!" His sword cut through the air, a signal to someone operating the controls, seeing as the gate rumbled open directly after. "We have work to do, the Decimo has tasked us with making sure you're up to the Varia standard, and as we've been told, you have a Scott from America, Chiavarone, one of those Cipriani from a few years back, a civilian and a street rat."
The street rat bit didn't bother me, what did was the way he said every single Famiglia name, and the word civilian. "If Decimo has decided to train you, I expect you not to be a total waste of my time, is that understood?" He turned at the foot of the steps, waiting.
"Yes sir." I couldn't read him just yet, whether or not he hated us or simply acted this way with everyone.
"VOI! THAT QUESTION WAS FOR ALL OF YOU!"
"Yes sir!" The rest of my Famiglia snapped to attention, breathing a sigh of relief as he turned to continue walking.
"Now, you will split with your individual Executive Members before you head to your school- OI, shitty Boss, the Dioli brats that Sawada sent are here!" Our guide snapped his head toward another man, one with scars on the sides of his face, and yelled.
"Hah? What the hell do you want me to do with them?" He gestured to us loosely with the wine bottle in his hand.
"This is the Leader of the Varia, Xanxus Vongola! I am the Mission Commander of the Varia, Superbi Squalo!" The man with long gray hair turned his back to us, still shouting. "Where are the other Exec's?"
"I don't know, you're the one responsible for the trash." Xanxus took a swig from his bottle, eyes scanning our group. His eyes landed on me, and I felt my Flames surge in my eyes, his Wrath doing the same. "You." He pointed to me, a sneer and a smirk on his face.
"Fight me."
"It would be my pleasure." My lips twisted despite myself, Flames coming to life in my palms.
The Mixed Flames were about to clash.