Today was a bad day for Tsuna, Ren thought as she observed her group of friends in the arcade. First he finds out that his father he thought had run out on him says he's coming back and then after playing hooky at school to go hang out with friends to have to apologize for Lambo's embarrassing behavior in front of his crush. Ren could only conclude that Tsuna had no luck, so when Kyoko came to their table offering Tsuna a drink she discreetly decided to leave them alone and answer the three texts from Kyoya on her phone. Most likely he would kill her later for skipping school and work to go play with her friends, but she was sure she could make it up to him. She chuckled as a few wild ideas waltzed threw her mind.
"Where are you?"
"Are you ignoring me?"
"Carnivore… if you're with the rest of them that skipped today, I'm going to bite you to death." Ren winced at that last one, when Kyoya addressed her by Carnivore she knew he was really mad at her. So she began devising a text that would hopefully ease his anger.
"Sorry, Tsuna had some rather shocking family issues that came up and to help ease his mind they all decided to skip today. And because I bailed early the last time the girls wanted to go shopping they forcefully dragged me along." Send. A second later a bird chirped signaling a text.
"I'll still bite you to death. Make sure they don't disturb the peace." Read Kyoya's quick reply, and she had a sneaking suspicion that his 'bite' this time might mean something else. Before she got a chance to reply there was an explosion over where she had left Tsuna and Kyoko. When she got there the whole place was covered in dust from the explosion and from where she stood could see a long white haired guy with a sword fighting a boy around Tsuna's age with a blue flame on his head like Tsuna's dying will flame and fighting with a strange triangle type weapon. Tsuna, predictably, was cowering behind the blue flamed boy.
"Tenth! Tsuna!" Ren heard both Hayato and Yamamoto yell as the dust cleared and the boy went flying.
"VIOOO! What trash is piling up here, are you with him if you are then I'll make you spill your secret's first"
"Tenth get down." Hayato yelled as he tossed dynamite at the long white haired male, who dodged easily enough.
"VIOO, more scum." He said as Yamamoto and Hayato prepared to fight the man. "Get in my way and you'll die."
"Hmph, I 'll return those words right back at you."
"Hum, you have a sword guess then I'll go first, I didn't even bring my bat but it was sitting right over there, funny." Yamamoto said like this was all a game, which considering who it was he probably did think it was a game. Ren watched as Yamamoto charged the male and was easily deflected as the male jumped over his head.
"VOI! The way you swing, you haven't learned a style. This will be easier than I thought." And in a few seconds Yamamoto was unconscious, Hayato was up next but he didn't even get to throw his dynamite before the fuses were cut and he took a blow to the nerves in his shoulder knocking him out. "VIO, weak scum like you don't even deserve the chance to get stronger." The white haired male raised his sword to give a finale blow but was stopped unexpectedly. He looked to who had stopped him and saw a choppy black haired and silver eyed girl glaring at him with all the intensity of a black leopard protecting its cubs.
"So another piece of scum has shown up, fine then I'll send you to your early grave." Ren narrowed her eyes and pushed her opponent back away from her unconscious best friend. She glanced down to make sure he was okay then cursed herself when she barely had the time to block her attackers strike. Ren jumped back to put a bit of room between them and sink herself into that feeling when facing a strong opponent, that intense concentration and how the world turns to shades of grey and the only thing with color is her opponent.
She blocked his next attack and extended the blade on her staff and sliced into his side. "Oh, you're better than this trash, but you're still not strong enough." Ren ducked his next blow and turned to disarm him only to realize his arm was the weapon, knowing that mistake had made her vulnerable she jumped back and flipped in the air to distance herself then had to dance around the explosions he sent from his sword blade. This guy was begging to piss her off. She extended the other blade on her staff so she could have a better balance in her weapon as she tried to defeat this guy but all her attacks had fallen short, and for the first time in a long time she felt her skills were inferior to his. She may have landed a hit or two but those were by chance or complete luck, and not the skill she possessed.
"VOOI! Enough of this, your strong but not strong enough to take me on." He yelled kicking her in the stomach and sending her flying into the wall, stars exploded in her eyes as her skull made contact with the unforgiving wall, she felt herself slide to the ground before darkness overtook her. She came back to her senses not too much longer after the white haired male left, to the sound of medics tending to the wounded. Anger welled up in her, along with shame at loosing so easily and a fierce desire for vengeance consumed her turning her eyes ablaze with it and eating away any emotion. She waved the medic who came to her away and when he persisted turned her gaze on him and found some satisfaction in watching him wince in fear and retreat slowly as if any movement would send her over the edge.
Getting to her feet brought a wave a dizziness and slight nausea which she concealed while leaning on her staff lightly.
"Ah, Ren-san you shouldn't be moving you hit your head really hard." Tsuna said seeing that she had woken up. Ren didn't reply as she walked past him not even looking at him. "Wait-
"Tsuna, stop." Dino said quietly placing a hand on his little brothers shoulder, he had only met Ren twice but he knew her well enough to know that this was not a time to talk to her, especially not when her attitude was so eerily calm but those silver eyes ablaze with a cold wildness that sent a shiver down his spin. "This is not the time to talk to her, just let her go."
"But Dino, she's hurt her head is still bleeding."
"Yes, but right now is not the time for that. She's strong so a wound like that won't affect her, but her pride that's another matter, she was just defeated without it really being a challenge for her opponent, that for her is a bigger problem than her wounds. Just leave her be she'll be fine." Tsuna wanted to argue but he also saw the way her eyes flicked dangerously so he let her be as she walked off with her head held high.
Kyoya opened his eyes when he felt that murderous rage, glancing around for its source he was a little shocked to see it coming from Ren in waves. She was standing at the chain-link fence of the roof her hand white as she clenched it harshly around the metal and a few beads of blood ran down the length of her arm. When she heard his approach she looked at him with cold and angry silver eyes.
"What happened?" he asked noting the small trail of blood down her face.
"I was beaten." She laughed darkly, "I wasn't just beaten, this guy defeated me as easily as I would Tsuna." Her jaw clenched in disgust at the thought.
"Oh, was he that strong, sounds interesting." She didn't reply, which told Kyoya even more about how one sided the battle had gone, he wondered how he would fair against this opponent if someone he considered his equal was so easily defeated. But instead of pushing for more details he decided to be a bit gentler. "Come here."
Ren turned to him her anger still burnning within her. "You're hurt."
"I'm fine, just a bump on the head."
"A bump doesn't leave blood." As if to prove his point he wiped away the small trickle away from her temple and saw her wince at the unexpected pain. "Come on, I'll help you calm down so you can think of getting your revenge clearly. Besides I still have to punish you for skipping all day." Ren couldn't help the small sadistic smirk that came to her face as she followed her partner into the building, she would indeed be plotting her vengeance.
The next morning Ren had to endure a lecture from her grandmother about proper edicts and tradition. This time it was the fact that she refused to wear a kimono or yukata while at home, the truth really was that Ren didn't mind wearing a kimono actually the contrary she liked them. It was the fact that her not wearing one insulted her grandmothers overwrote sense of being a woman, so basically she did it to piss her off. By the time the lecture had ended her breakfast was cold and Ren's patience was very ready to snap.
"This came in the mail for you today. At least you're doing one thing right by applying for college information." Her grandmother said as she tossed a small envelope on the table. One look told Ren that it was obviously not something a college would send out, and on top of that she had never applied for it in the first place. She was about to toss it when something about it's odd weight caught her attention, when she opened it she found an odd shaped ring that had a few strange symbols on it. For some reason this whole hiding the ring trick smelled of Reborn, and as if thoughts of him conjured him up her phone chirped with a message from the latter summoning her to the hospital where the strange boy had been taken.
When she got there she found Hayato and Yamamoto in the lobby, along with Dino, Reborn and a currently panicking Tsuna.
"What's up that you called me here for Reborn?"
"Ah Ren you're here, now I can explain everything. That man that defeated you yesterday was someone from the Vongal, he was a part of a special division called Varia. He came here to stop Basil from delivering the Half Vongal Rings."
"Rings? You mean the thing I got in the mail this morning."
"Yes. There are eight rings and they only have meaning when being held by the next generation. The other seven of the rings go to those worthy of protecting the next Vongal boss Sawada Tsunayoshi." Ren eyes darkened at the implied meaning behind those words and the duty she had been entrusted with the ring. "That ring is the proof that you are the successor to Vongal."
"Don't make my choices for me. Besides why did you drag everyone else into this dangerous situation!" Tsuna yelled.
"I'm so honored and happy! I'm so ready for this. Let's do our best tenth!" Hayato said with the devotion of a loyal dog.
"Gokudera's ring is the Ring of Storm. Yamamoto's the Ring of Rain. Ren's the Ring of Wind." Reborn explained.
"Oh yeah, His is a bit different than mine." Hayato observed.
"What's with the 'Storm', 'Rain', and 'Wind' Part?" Tsuna asked. "This isn't a weather report."
"The first Vongal Family had a variety of unique members. Their traits helped shape the rings. The first boss was said to be like the sky, colorful and engulfing everything, open to all things. So his ring was the Ring of Sky. The other rings were named after varies kinds of weather that color the sky. The merciful shower that washes all away, the Ring of Rain. The turbulent gale that fiercely blows, the Ring of Storm. The drifting cloud that is never trapped by anything and walks its own path, the Ring of Cloud. The illusion that prohibits knowledge of its true nature, the Ring of Mist. The orb of fire that brightens the great sky, the Ring of Sun. The thunderbolt that strikes a zealous blow, the Ring of Thunder. And lastly the Ring of Wind, that gently supports the others while seeing and fiercely blowing away all threats. The invisible companion of the cloud, solitary and independent, that's as flexible and changeable, Ren's ring is one that is rarely ever fulfilled."
"hm, Why's that Reborn." Ren asked curios to know the answer.
"In all the generations you are only the third chosen to inherit it. The wind guardian has such peculiar traits that are very rare. For example, the cloud is never entrapped by anyone and walks his own path, but the wind is aloof easily changing direction and flexing itself to accommodate, never trapping but always there by its side. The wind is always there but never really seen, it can be gentle as a feather or so fierce and sharp it can cut steel. The wind tends to see things before they happen and blows them away. That unique combination of contradictions is hard to find in a person. You should be happy she's on your side Tsuna."
"Stop! Stop I don't want to here anymore this is way too dangerous if we keep these things then those guys from yesterday will be after us." Tsuna yelled then looked confused as the mood in the room drastically changed.
"So that bastered is going to be there, then I'll defiantly hold onto this ring. I can't let such a one sided fight stay like that." Ren said her eyes flaring dangerously, 'I need to get stronger.'
"This is mine right, then I'll hold onto it. I don't think I can stick with being a loser." Yamamoto said before running off somewhere followed closely by Hayato.
"In ten days I'll be reborn a man that won't put this ring to shame." He yelled before disappearing also.
"Good job Tsuna, with your words there ready and willing to train." Dino said.
"This isn't a joking matter!"
"We don't have time to train all the guardians in ten days so I called in a few friends to help, Gokudera and Yamamoto will find their own, Collenello will train Ryohei and if everything goes well then he will be ten times stronger."
"Well guess I'll head off to train." Dino said as he made to leave.
"What you're a home tutor, but I was relying on you for this fight." Tsuna panicked.
"Sorry Tsuna but because of the alliance I can't do anything, but help train a problem child." Dino replied while Tsuna continued to freak. But the way Dino had said problem child made Ren look up with sudden realization.
She smiled as Dino walked past her, "You better be prepared, he won't sit still long enough to hear your explanation, most likely he'll just toss the ring."
"Ahh, Ren that sounds so foreboding, just means I have my work cut out for me."
"Good luck and try not to die." Dino chuckled at her statement but a part of him shuddered at the way she said it so calmly and matter of fact like.
"Have any advice for me?"
"Duck."