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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 FOURTEEN
Bucking Horse Dino
The silver haired girl shoved her phone into her pocket and bowed respectfully to her Senior, waiting until she received one in return before immediately whisking the five year old up into a tight hug.
"What are you doing in Japan, Shigu? Where is Master?" she asked, peering around at the top of the walls and telegraph poles where he usually liked to loiter in order to feel the wind currents.
"Master is still home in China. I have been given a job to do," I-pin explained importantly as she rummaged a photograph out of her pocket, "Honourable Fai Jin has commanded that this man must die, and awarded I-pin the honour of his trust in handling the kill," she boasted happily as she presented a picture of a young man with a very round face and large flat nose with a cigar stuck between his lips.
Aya frowned, "Shigu, Master does not want you to be taking jobs without his approval, or supervision, and certainly not hits. Does he even know about this?" she asked doubtfully as she flipped the photo over, on the back was the man's name 'Dustin Bridges', apparently an American gangster who offended the Triads while gambling in Las Vegas. He'd taken liberties with the daughter of the Chapter Head in that city, and now the Triads were looking for retribution. But why send I-pin? She was five, and hardly qualified for such jobs!
"Master knows!" I-pin hastily assured her, "Honourable Fai Jin has cleared it with him, he even said that Master thought my training was far along enough to perform such tasks alone!"
And that merely confirmed, one hundred percent, that this scum sucker Fai Jin was lying and trying to get some measure of revenge on the Storm Arcobaleno, either to muzzle him, get back at him, or just to remind him that he wasn't invulnerable. That stupid fuck. He may as well have just signed the death warrants for his entire chapter. The silver haired girl sighed deeply as she adjusted her hold on the little girl, how to break this to her without upsetting her? I-pin was very sensitive about such matters, and the thought of disappointing Shifu was enough to send her into inconsolable tears for hours.
"Perhaps, Shigu. But you must have been travelling for days, come. A bath, a hot meal, and a night in a proper bed, how does that sound?" she offered as she knelt and picked up the Martial Artist's travelling pack. "I even have some Oolong left from when I last passed through," she bargained, grinning when I-pin agreed happily.
Back at home, she saw I-pin into the bathroom with a thick fluffy towel, showed her where to find the wash products, and then called Shifu the moment the door closed behind the younger girl.
It rang a few times before picking up, "Aya, you rarely call," Shifu greeted, no other invitation to speak further, or offer of help, or insinuation that she even required help, merely an observation as to how rare it was to hear from her.
"Shigu has found her way into my care. Apparently Honourable Fai Jin has cleared a hit for her with you," the former Hitwoman reported without even a single iota of remorse as she literally threw a man she'd never met into what basically amounted to a meat grinder. If he was willing to put a five year old to her death in an assassination mission she should have never even heard of, he deserved the consequences that followed. Like the pissed off Storm Arcobaleno that was about to knock through his front door.
"I see. Thank you for your quick actions. Is she well?" he asked, a very slight sigh of relief escaping him.
"She is well, thoroughly enjoying my bathroom at present. You are welcome to join us if you are in the area." he likely was. Aya hadn't programmed I-pin's face into the facial recognition software, but Shifu's certainly was. And if I-pin had come into the country without his permission, then he would be following scant breaths behind her.
"I believe I would enjoy that. A chance to catch up with both of my students is a rare pleasure," he said pleasantly. Aya smiled as she rattled off her address and hung up, moving to get tea and snacks set up enough for the three of them.
She moved through her small apartment, cleaning up after herself, throwing dirty clothes into the washing, straightening books, papers, and bags here and there, putting them away, making her bed, etc. I-pin eventually surfaced, clean, and happy as she settled down onto one of the cushions the elder of the two laid out around the coffee table – now pulled out from the wall, wiped clean, and laid out with wicker coasters and place mats with tea-cups and plates of snacks.
"Shifu is apparently in Japan. He just rang to see if he could visit," Aya explained as she poured the five year old a cup of tea before frowning, "I-pin, where are the glasses I got for you?" she asked. She's specifically taken I-pin into Hong Kong in order to get her eyes checked and a set of toddler's glasses made for her, even going so far as to pay for the glass to be treated and near-enough unbreakable. She'd braided and knitted an elastic strap as well so they wouldn't slip off I-pin's head while practising, at least until she was able to get the plastic surgery in order to reconstruct her ears. It had been something of a surprise when she first met I-pin to learn that her parents had abandoned her to die in the gutters of Kowloon because of a minor but rare birth defect. If Shifu hadn't had business in the Walled city that day, the little girl would have died in the gutter, mauled to death by feral dogs, or perhaps picked up by a street vendor and used for food (baby girls that were abandoned often ended up in illegal delicacies – aborted female foetus was often used in a soup said to improve virility and fertility).
I-pin pulled an apologetic face, "The strap broke," she admitted sadly even as she dug into her pack to present the spectacles and frayed strap. It looked as though it had just been worn down by heavy use.
Aya took them off her and carefully examined the strap, "It's alright, Shigu, these things happen. I'll repair it tomorrow, but you'll have to postpone your hit until I have it repaired. It would not do to shame Honourable Fai Jin by mistaking the thorn you are to remove from his side," she told the little girl as she turned and set the glasses onto her desk behind her. I-pin made a noise of agreement, but anything else she could have said was cut off as a knock resounded on the door.
At least the Storm Arcobaleno was more polite than the Sun, Aya mused as she got to her feet. Reborn would have just crawled through the window, and then dodged whatever she threw at him for startling her.
She bowed in greeting to her tiny Master before allowing him in.
She would leave Shifu to cancel I-pin's hit on this Dustin Bridges as she was, regardless of her age, I-pin's Junior, and not even a member of the Triads. She had no authority over the five year old by Chinese standards; I-pin, in fact, had seniority over Aya like any other Senpai would have.
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The next few weeks were surprisingly quiet, Shifu had requested that I-pin move in with her on a permanent basis, to further her training under the eye of someone more trust worthy while he dealt with this Fai Jin back in China (he even went so far as to name her Todai, his apprentice, thus giving her seniority over I-pin and basically adopting Aya as the heir to his personal Martial Art – she already was but this just made it official, and since she was a Guardian now it put her firmly outside of the Triad's influence even with Shifu's loyalties). With the extra mouth to feed, clothe, and school, Aya found herself pinching pennies with increasing aggression and budgeting like her mother used to during the financial crash when the banks went under.
She needed another job. She huffed in distress, she was barely managing her work hours, school hours, club hours, and spending time with Tsuna. She was going to have to drop one of them in order to earn more money. But they weren't WILLING to give her more hours at work though! She supposed... she could take up hits once more. But that – she wasn't keen on that.
Perhaps if she dropped her club hours... She could start tutoring her classmates? That could work...
"Coupons are a godsend," one of the other shelf-stockers, Yuuri-chan, suggested as they refilled the drink fridges. "Then again, a pretty girl like you would have no problem finding yourself a sugar daddy," she pointed out seriously, "I did it during Highschool so I could afford text books and make-up," she explained as she grunted, hauling a large box of Tiger Beer from the transport delivery cage.
Aya huffed, "Should you really be recommending a grey area of prostitution to a fourteen year old? I'm pretty sure that's illegal," she pointed out as she dragged out a case of mango ramune out after her.
"In the west maybe. Thirteen is age of consent here. What you do with other people is nothing to do with the law beyond morality," Yuuri pointed out as she tore open the plastic casing and began to fill the fridge shelves.
"You can still be arrested for it," Aya pointed out dryly as she pulled another case off the delivery cage. "Besides, most guys are a little intimidated by the fact I have biceps bigger than their dicks." Never mind that she actually had some equipment that would be unappreciated.
Something whistled behind her, just catching the edges of her hearing – she jerked backwards, black flashing just past the tip of her nose and shattering the fridge windows.
Yuuri squealed and fell backwards over the cases, sprawling hard on the floor as a certain Prefect dislodged his tonfa from the fridge windows.
"Woman," he snarled darkly, glaring at the Storm Guardian as she shifted backwards defensively, "Working as a Namimori student is strictly prohibited - "
"I have permission from the Administration - " she interrupted in annoyance, only to be cut off herself.
"– For possessing an unauthorised job, and polluting the morals of Namimori with indecent conversations: I will BITE you to death!" he hissed, actually looking furious as opposed to his usual apathetic blood thirst.
"I told you! I have permission!" she snapped back even as she jerked to the side to avoid a tonfa strike, "Call the goddamn school and find – oh for the love of – would you STOP – STOP!" she shouted as she kept having to dodge out of his strikes. He tore down shelves, shattering jars, tearing packets and boxes, shattering food and condiments across the floors.
"WOULD YOU STOP IT?!" she snarled lunging forward and grabbing both his tonfa, crossing his arms and ramming him up against the fridges, shouting in his face.
He lunged forward and smashed his forehead into her face, she felt something crack and a hot rush of wet heat from her now throbbing nose.
She brought her knee up in a punishing blow to the fork of his legs.
Hibari Kyouya wheezed, his grey eyes nearly popping out of his skull as he doubled over. She released him and stepped back, letting him slide to the floor and cup himself as he cringed. It was probably the first time anyone had ever kneed him in the balls in his life.
She grabbed his collar and drew him up, spitting blood to one side as she shook him roughly until he met her gaze, "You ever barge into my place of work and pick a fight again, it will be the last fight you ever have," she snarled viciously as she hauled him out of the convenience store and dumped him in the gutter.
A moment later, she threw his tonfa out after him. Making sure one of them bounced off his stupid hard head in the process.
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She lost her job at the Convenience Store, on top of her broken nose.
She could have spat wasps.
She had goddamn permission from the school to be there! The store knew that! She knew that! She was betting her long bow that the Head Prefect now knew that! But the store wasn't willing to risk another confrontation with the blood thirsty Prefect or his committee over her – even though they damn well KNEW!
Not only that, but she'd blown half her savings on paying back the school for half the damages she'd caused during her last fight with that psychotic Cloud Potential.
She was going to have to take a Hit, or a turn in the Fight Clubs in order to make rent this month.
She asked Nana-san if she would be willing to put I-pin up before taking a week from school, telling Tsuna and Takeshi where she was going, and shipping out of Namimori and into Tokyo where she made her reappearance in the clubs.
For some reason, they seemed to think her absence made her weaker, not stronger. She thoroughly disabused them of this mistaken notion.
This time she made a point of betting on herself as she fought. She earned seven times as much as she did last time.
More than enough money to last her to the end of the year in terms of rent and utilities – longer still if she managed to find herself a job between then and now. She would find something, something that didn't involve sponging off someone rich in return for sexual favours.
And she was going to kick that fucking bastard hard enough to pop one of his goddamn balls when she ran into him again.
But first, she had to pick I-pin up and reassure Tsuna that she'd returned unharmed. Then it would be printing CVs off, and job hunting, hopefully she would find something in the region of evening work, if not weekend stuff that paid well enough not to need work for the rest of the week.
She sighed as she plodded slowly down the street towards Tsuna's place, she supposed she could do music... she heard that paid well. Providing entertainment at swanky evening dinners and other such events. It was how her mother made money before she fell in with that piss-stain she called a sperm donor in this life.
She stopped, spotting a swarm of black in front of her Sky's house, the majority of them Flame Actives, if not Useful, all of them armed, wearing almost trademarked mafioso suits.
What. The. Hell?!
Green eyes narrowed as tension corkscrewed up her spine, as if someone had rammed an iron rod up it.
Someone must have been Flame Sensitive enough to have noticed her churning Storm Flame because a shout went up amongst them and weapons were suddenly being pulled from pockets, jackets, and other assorted locations.
She unslung her bag, and dropped it.
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Reborn honestly expected more of a reaction, he was torn between disappointment and approval.
He had set up the meeting between his former stupid student and his current stupid student to gage how Tsuna would react to another Sky encroaching upon his territory, his safe place, while he was unprotected and without Guardians. He had arranged it precisely to see a Rivalry reaction between them: the men barring access to the house to anyone not directly related to Tsuna – thus putting hostages within easy reach; Dino occupying Tsuna's room with his own throne – taking over his personal space; the men at Tsuna's back – a threat he couldn't see; even Dino's flaring Sky Flames – showing off a willingness and capability to use them against the younger Sky...
And stupid student 2.0 just blushes in embarrassment as they casually pick apart all of his flaws and laugh in his face about them.
Tsuna was perhaps the most chilled out Sky he'd ever had the pleasure of encountering. His Flame didn't bristle defensively, nor did it spread out to try and smother Dino's own, nor even attempt to sing out to him and draw him into an alliance. If Reborn could liken it to anything, Tsuna's flame just accepted that Dino was there, and doing his own thing. Beyond that, nothing. The complete acceptance immediately had Dino's own Sky Flame relaxing, if not cleaving to Tsuna's own, which was a singularly odd experience given how his first stupid student was a currently Useful Sky, able to use his flame via his own power, while Tsuna was not.
It spoke very highly for Tsuna's temperament as a Sky, his ability to accept others, and perhaps how badly he had been beaten down by Guardian Potentials throughout his childhood that he was now so used to bullying that it didn't even stir his flame unless his life was actually in danger.
The house shook with a loud explosion outside.
"HIIIEEEE! IS LAMBO PLAYING WITH EXPLOSIVES AGAIN?!" Tsuna shrieked in alarm, half wondering why he even bothered to be so wound up anymore – and then he saw one of the suited men outside go sailing past his window. On the second floor.
At speed.
Somehow he didn't think Lambo was responsible for that.
Reborn huffed a chuckle, "It seems as though Aya-chan has returned from Tokyo," he observed dryly as another explosion rocked the house and three more of Dino's men went sailing past the window, much to the astonishment of their blond Boss gaping at Tsuna's window in a mix of horror and dismay. He hadn't expected the young Storm to return, and while he would have likened this reaction to a Cloud Guardian's, it was in keeping with her mixed affinities and temperament. Plus, Tsuna had no other Guardians with such physical capabilities yet, she was considerably more high-strung as a result. Tsuna and the rest of his budding Famiglia were at a puny level ten, while she was prowling around at a deadly level thirty, perhaps even higher if she used that frightful logic and intellect she had hiding behind that pretty face. Reborn did so like the smart ones, they were so hard to find amidst Flame Actives and Users given their universal habit of Fixating. He was perhaps an exception to the norm in that his Fixation had been on education, the giving and receiving of.
Dino tore out of his throne and lunged through Tsuna's open bedroom window, "Guys! Stand back, I'll handle her?!" he spluttered in alarm when he finally got a look at just whom was sending his men flying, blue eyes going wide when he came face to face with a shockingly pretty young woman – currently launching one of his men over one of the houses with an angled palm thrust to the stomach.
He would be lying if he said he didn't stall for a moment, every bone in his body rejecting the idea of physically attacking a lady. He – he couldn't! Reborn had been very insistent that he was to never attack a lady, that proper Bosses had to treat women with respect!
He Reached for her instead.
He couldn't fight her, but she was obviously a Flame User, so if he brought her under his influence he wouldn't need to – HOLY FUCK SHIT!
Dino yelped as he threw himself to one side, the wall behind his head disintegrating under the force of a Storm Flame laced punch.
He felt a cold sweat bead on the back of his neck as icy green eyes turned to lock onto him. Oh... Oh crap.
Rejection.
That... that was a first.
He'd never been Rejected before. He'd heard stories of Skies being Rejected by Flame Users... it usually got messy, very quickly.
He brandished his whip in the hopes it would ward the woman off, he really didn't want to hurt her.
She snapped it out of the air and lit her Storm Flame.
Dino gagged, with flames in that level of concentration she would burn through the whip that Leon made for him!
"HIEEEE AY-AYA-CHAN, DINO-SAN!" Tsuna wailed, flapping comically as he blundered between the two, immediately going towards the girl who had yet to remove her eyes from him.
But her flame stopped actively trying to eat through his whip. She stopped attacking.
"Tsuna?" the girl demanded, her voice a husky androgynous timber that Dino was kind of a little into but would not even dare entertain the thought of anything past polite conversation after witnessing what had occurred earlier today. She might very well break him.
She Rejected him hard enough to leave metaphorical bruising on his Flame. Never mind that he was pretty sure she had to have some manner of Cloud affinity to physically launch his men over houses.
"Stop fighting! Please! Dino-san – Dino-san is Reborn's other student! He's not bad!" the little Sky explained, flailing at the young woman who oh so very slowly pulled her eyes away from Dino to look down at the brunet, her eyes immediately thawing and softening into a look of concern that made the blond immediately want to hit himself. That explained the volatile Rejection. She already had a Sky. She took his attempt to Pull her into his influence as a Poaching attempt. Well... She just earned a great big gold star in Dino's books for that reaction. Such loyalty was commendable.
"Looks like we just have a misunderstanding, Miss," he called over, drawing those icy green eyes back onto his face.
She didn't answer for a time, glaring suspiciously at him until Tsuna nudged her and gave her a particularly pathetic look when she glanced over to him. It was quite amusing to watch how quickly she crumbled in the face of the much smaller brunet's damp kitten expression.
She hiffed, glowering over at him, "So it seems," she acquiesced grudgingly, releasing his whip with an air of great reluctance.
Dino flicked it back into his hand, amused, as he watched Tsuna flutter around the girl who scratched the back of her head self-consciously, eyeing his men suspiciously as another girl, about five years old, her head swollen with an abundance of untrained Sun Flame, bustled over babbling in Chinese and presenting a bag to her. The grey haired woman replied, also in Chinese, and the little girl nodded, casting a glance over them all before rushing back into the house where a dark haired boy with green eyes, about the same age, was being sat on by Reborn.
"Hey Dino, want to stay over for dinner?" the Sun Arcobaleno 'asked'. Dino had been his student long enough to know an order when he heard one (any 'suggestion' from the Sun Arcobaleno was to be taken as the word of God and acted upon immediately or suffer wrath on par with biblical proportions).
"I'm okay with it, but what about these guys?" he asked, casting a concerned look over his men, many of whom were looking a little worse for wear after their encounter with the young Storm still stood protectively in Tsuna's shadow, glaring at them all. A few of the others were chuckling amidst themselves in approval, one or two were a little irritated, one seemed to have love-hearts in his eyes, several looked to be pouting in annoyance that the fight was over and the others... were either unconscious or injured. It seemed the young lady had made quite the impression. Thankfully the men he had brought with him today were all familiar with Flames and the etiquette that went with them, none of them were holding the knee-jerk violent response of a young Guardian seeing a threat at her Sky's house against her. Hell, not even Dino could and the tip of his favourite whip was ruined. It was highly frowned on, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted to legitimately try and Poach her for himself. The idea of such a powerful and loyal little Storm in his pocket was attractive, and she was much easier on the eyes than most of his Famiglia – plus he had to start thinking about continuing the Cavallone Famiglia and a strong Flame Using wife would provide strong heirs.
Tsuna flicked a look over his shoulder at him; he was gripping the girl's sleeve as she rummaged in her bag for something, for once not looking around suspiciously, looking remarkably like a small clingy child next to his mother. But then Tsuna frowned, it was a small thing, and his grip tightened on the girl's clothing.
The blond twitched uncomfortably when the brunet's eyes glowed with orange embers for all of a heartbeat, gleaming reflectively almost like a cat's eye when a torch passed over it in the dark. He... hadn't heard what Dino just thought, did he? He couldn't have. No way. No one knew Reborn's little mind reading trick. Heheh... heh... mmm... Weren't the Vongola known for their Hyper Intuition? Erk.
That was a 'MINE' if there ever was one for a Sky.
The young Storm was Vongola, and it seemed as though her Sky had every intention of keeping it that way.
Reborn sent his men packing and the group of them trooped back into Tsuna's house. Up close, he decided, the young Storm was actually a lot prettier than when he first thought. Her hair wasn't grey, it was actually silver, gleaming strands of polished metal, thick, wavy, and right now, she was taking it out of the tight braid she'd gathered it all into, sheets of rippling silver streaming down her back. She wore a long sleeved red chinese shirt trimmed in gold with a phoenix curling across her shoulder and with the wings stretched out across her shoulders and down her back, on her fingers were various rings that he managed to identify as Russian made Flame Channellers. Very rare and not something they parted with easily these days. She wasn't very well endowed but her legs? Dino found his head tilting sideways to get a better look because if he wasn't mistaken those were some very fine legs, attached to an even nicer backside.
It was just as they were stepping into the house, Tsuna and Reborn up ahead with the other children; her arm snapped out and shoved him against the wall too quickly for him to react, and without any of the others noticing. Dino froze as she turned and leaned up into his personal space, bent backwards awkwardly over the umbrella stand with frigid icy green eyes locked onto his own startled blue.
"You ever threaten Tsuna, or drag him into trouble, I'm going to rip your testicles off and wear them as fashion accessories. Am I clear?" she asked lowly, looking him dead in the eye. Not a threat. A promise.
Dino swallowed, blinking, "...Transparently," he managed to choke out.
"Good," she stated, and then released him.
"Aya-chan?" Tsuna called back to them from the kitchen.
The young woman turned away from him, all smiles, "Coming Tsuna!" she chirped as she toed off her shoes and stepped into the house, "Oof, it's good to be back. Yes, hello Lambo, alright alright, Reborn was bullying you again, huh?"
Dino chuckled a little weakly following after her, what a woman!
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Wifey and I like to bully Dino, we have yet to figure out why. I'm pretty sure it's because he's pretty XDDD