Target 19: Training (Ari POV)
"The first match will be the guardians of the sun," The Cervello said. I breathed a sigh of relief. They did say my match would be last though. I wonder who my opponent will be…
"Please look over there" I heard the Cervello say.
Bright lights turned on; they were so bright it looked like daytime even though it was night.
"We have prepared a special ring for the Guardians of the Sun. This time we have made a ring that benefits the specialties of the Guardians of the Sun. Likewise; we will be setting up a unique combat area for each battle.
"What!?" Tsuna shrieked, "That huge thing?"
"Guardians of the Sun, please come in the center of the ring." The Cervello announced.
"I guess I'm going now," Ryohei stated walking toward the huge ass arena.
"Hey, Tsuna, aren't we going o form a circle or something?" Yamamoto broke in.
"Ryohei turned back around, "That's great!" he exclaimed, "I've always wanted to do that, especially since boxing is an individual sport!"
Tsuna and Gokudera looked extremely troubled, and Yuki just shook her head in defeat.
Before anyone could complain though, we were all grabbed and forced into a group huddle.
"Ryohei! Fight!" He seemed like the only one totally into this.
"Yosh! I feel my extreme power overflowing!" Ryohei cried.
Magical Time skip to the end of Ryohei's battle, because we all know how it goes, and I'm too lazy to write it. ;) Plus, you can just watch the anime…I think it's episode 41.
And enter Kyoko and Hana.
"Onii-san, you promised me you wouldn't fight!" Kyoko screamed, distraught and worry laced in her tone.
Kyoko's voice seemed to bring Ryohei back to life, and he looked utterly rejuvenated.
"I'll show you the real power of this punch!" He screamed, and it looked like he was emitting a bright yellow light.
"This is the real…maximum cannon!" Ryohei delivered a punch to Lussuria's knee, and the metal plate protecting it shattered. It was obvious that Lussuria could no longer fight, and another baby with a pacifier managed to get Kyoko back home, with Hana running after her.
"That was a good fight," Ryohei stated, "Now hand over the ring."
"No! No!" Lussuria cried, "I am Varia! I'll fight you with one leg if I have too."
I couldn't help but wonder why he sounded so desperate. And then the machine called Gola Mosca shot Lussuria in the back.
"What's going on?" Yamamoto asked, confused and shocked.
"Kill the weak," Yuki replied looking totally indifferent to what was going on, "That is one of the reasons why Varia is one of the most powerful organizations."
"Right," Reborn broke in, "Lussuria panicked because he was afraid of that."
"Oi! Hang in there!" Ryohei cried. One of the Cervello stepped in front of him to prevent Ryohei from helping Lussuria.
"I'm sorry, but we must check to see if he can still fight or not."
The other Cervello announced that Lussuria could no longer fight.
"Thus, Sasagawa Ryohei is the victor in the battle over the Ring of Sun. That is the end of tonight's battle. Starting from today, we will regularly announce the following night's battle. Tomorrows match will be…thunder." We all turned our heads to look at Lambo who was sleeping peacefully.
After that, Ryohei handed the completed ring to Tsuna, and we all headed home to rest up.
It was now the next morning and I rolled out of bed. I walked to my window to pull back the curtains, but there was a familiar face peeking through the glass.
"What the fuck!?" I instinctively screamed, and drew the shades shut again.
After a few moments, I heard a tapping noise. It was really persistent and quite annoying, so I pulled back the curtains again. There, balancing precariously on my window sill looking into my room like a world class stalker/creep was none other than Kawahira Yuki.
"Are you gonna let me in or what?" She asked impatiently. I sighed and grudgingly opened the window for her to climb through.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, crossing my arms.
Yuki smirked, "I'm here to train you."
"And why would you train me?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.
"It was a request from a friend, so of course I couldn't say no." Yuki stated, quite matter-of-factly.
"What friend?" I asked, hoping to get at least one answer of out her.
"You wouldn't know her," Yuki replied back.
"Well then how does she know me?" I retorting, mentally praising myself for thinking of such a witty and snarky comeback.
"Oh, Ari here has a silver tipped tongue. Who knew you'd be so feisty?" She joked, obviously avoiding my question. I sighed, and just decided to let Yuki be as elusive as she wanted to be.
I plopped down on my bed, and hugged my body pillow.
"So, what are we going to do for training?" I asked kind of scared for the answer. All I got was a sadistic smirk in reply.
I was currently doubled over, hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. Today I was skipping school in order to go through Yuki's training regimen. I was still panting hard, when I felt a bullet almost graze my cheek.
"You done resting?" Yuki called never looking up from her Ipad.
"I don't get how this is supposed to help me!" I yelled at her, all while dodging a barrage of bullets.
"You need to work on your speed and agility. Those are the fundamental skills you need; then we can get on to real training." She replied, now shooting at me with two guns instead of one.
We went at this for over an hour, until Yuki stopped shooting at me.
"Shit," I heard her mutter. "You're lucky I ran out of bullets! If I remembered to pack my spare ammo, we would have been going at this for way longer." She jumped down from her perch on top of a tree. Oh yeah, did I mention we were currently in the forest?
Suddenly she raised her gun, and I saw her finger pull the trigger. It was like everything was moving in slow motion; I could kind of see the bullet as it left the barrel, and that gave me ample time to dodge it. But I was still not quite fast enough.
"Bitch!" I cursed, as the bullet ripped my shirt, but thankfully didn't touch my skin, "I thought you said you ran out of bullets!"
"Did I?" She asked the total picture of innocence; or at least trying to be, but totally failing at it.
"I guess you shouldn't trust everything I say. Anyway, your reflexes and speed have greatly improved after just an hour of me shooting at you. Can't you see my training is already working?"
I did have to admit that if she hadn't shot at me earlier, there was no way I could dodge that shot without taking some type of damage. Now all the damage I got was a ripped shirt.
"Ok, moving on to out next phase of training. Hand-to-hand combat. I take it, that's not one of your strong points?'
I nodded, "My specialties were throwing projectiles, and mid-range combat, not close range. During my self-defense classes I would also get my ass kicked in hand-to-hand."
"Right," Yuki mussed, "So tell me, you said you were involved in the Canadian mafia?"
"Yeah," I replied, "My father was a boss of the Rizzuto Family. I was taught everything like how to defuse a bomb to how to hotwire a car. I was also taught many fighting styles, and taught to handle many types of weapons." But I laughed bitterly at this, "Even though I was taught all these things, doesn't mean I excelled at everyone. I am especially bad at hand-to-hand, and guns. I hate guns."
"Hey! Beatrix and Steiner take offense to that," Yuki cried, cradling her guns close to her.
I scoffed, "You named your guns? And that, plus it's a Final Fantasy reference?"
"Got a problem with that?" Yuki challenged, her eyes gleaming, "Anyway, enough chit-chatting, let's get on to actual fighting. We will now be doing hand-to-hand, but there's catch. You are going to be blindfolded." Yuki must have seen me tense up because she laughed, "Relax, I won't kill you. You just need to focus on hand-to-hand using your other senses besides sight."
Yuki then took out a bandanna and motioned for me to turn around.
"Stop pouting," Yuki chided, and I sucked in my bottom lip. I didn't even know I was pouting.
"Fine," I heard her sigh, "Would it be fairer if I was blindfolded too?"
"Hell yeah," I snapped, and Yuki took the bandana out of her hair, and gave it to me. I tied it around her head, and Yuki took the other bandana out of my hand. I widened my eyes in surprise, 'How did she know the bandana was there?'
"Stop looking so shocked," I heard Yuki say, "I kind of made it easier for myself. Smell the bandana, doesn't it smell unique?" I caught a whiff of the scent, and gagged.
"Yeah, it smells like old lady." I replied, trying to breathe through my mouth.
"Hey!" I heard Yuki object, "I sprayed the bandanas with my favorite perfume so I know exactly where you are!" I felt wind blow some hairs across my face, and I presumed that wind was generated by Yuki's movements. I ducked, and spun in a circle, with one leg tucked under me and one leg stuck out, hoping to trip Yuki.
"Not bad," I heard her acknowledge, but now her voice seemed like it was coming behind me. I immediately whipped around, only to be met by a kick. I managed to block in time though, and I skidded back a few meters, my arms talking the brunt of that attack.
"I don't get why we have to do this blindfolded," I confessed, while we continued to exchange blows.
"Trust me, you'll thank me later!" Yuki giggled gleefully. We stopped after a while, and I removed my bandana, and was immediately assaulted by the blinding sun.
"Jesus, it's bright!" I exclaimed squinting my eyes. Once my eyes had adjusted to the light, I looked over at Yuki. She seemed to have no problem with the sun. Realization then bitch slapped me across the face.
"You bitch!" I growled, "You weren't blindfolded at all were you?"
"Took you long enough to figure out," She deadpanned, "And here I thought I could get away with it too."
"Like hell!" I hissed, charging at Yuki at full speed.
"My, my, I now have an angry Ari on a rampage," Yuki mused, dodging each of my attacks.
"I won't waste my energy on you," She bluntly stated, after she managed to knock the kunai from my hand. "Don't charge at me recklessly like that again, only charge at someone when you know you can beat them mkay?"
Her bright violet orbs bore into mine questionably, and I looked away in slight embarrassment.
"Fine," I muttered in agrrement.
"Okay, training is over for today, let's head back now." Yuki suggested, and I nodded again.
In no time we found ourselves at the gate of Nami-Chuu.
"Oh, and when I said training was over. I was lying." Yuki winked at me, and I groaned out loud.
"Have you tried taking off the ring?" Yuki asked, and I looked at her in confusion.
"I take that as a no," She replied, "Here, try to take it off now. Consider it…training," I just looked at her like she was crazy, and tried to pry the half ring off my middle finger. It wouldn't budge a centimeter.
"Ok, I knew my fingers were chubby but not this chubby," I muttered to myself, as I continued my pitiful attempt at taking my ring off.
'Was it just me, or does Yuki look relieved, almost happy?' I thought to myself, as I saw an odd expression cross her face. Soon it had been 20 minutes, and there was no progress in me taking off the ring. Suddenly the bell rang and students just flooded out the doors, like water being poured into a glass. I continued in my futile attempt at removing my ring, until I spied the familiar faces of Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Tsuna. Yuki called them over, and in no time there was a little competition going on. Whoever removed my ring would get bragging rights, and be Tsuna's right hand man. (This was all Reborn's idea.)
Of course this made Gokudera totally set on removing my ring. Obviously though, even with all the tactics they tried, my ring was still very much on my finger.
"You guys know your efforts are useless right?" Yuki broke in after hours of unsuccessful attempts.
"And why is that?" Reborn asked, curiosity taking over.
"Because the ring chose her, and it is never leaving her finger. Ever."
Omake!
We heard the sound of breaking glass, and looked up to see a boy with black hair jumping out a window. Oh, did I say out a window? I meant through a window.
"Hibari-san!" Tsuna squeaked in surprise.
"Baby," He said, addressing Reborn, and I saw he had an armband around his jacket that said 'disciplinary committee.'
"Fight me," He declared, whipping out tonfas, and getting into a fighting stance.
"Now, don't get ahead of yourself Hibari," Reborn responded coolly. Then he looked at me, and his eyes glinted with a mischievous gleam. Reborn pointed to me.
"Hey, Hibari. If you can manage to take off her ring, I'll let you fight me."
"Hn. Why would I be interested in such an herbivorous task?" He scoffed, looking away.
"Because only the strongest of the strong can take it off," Yuki piped up, "And if you do manage to do it, you get to fight Reborn."
I could see the unmistakable blood thirsty look in his eyes as he mulled over the deal.
"Ok, I'll do it," Hibari finally said. He walked over to me and gave the ring a tentative tug. Then he tugged even harder. That boy was damn strong; I thought that my finger would pop out of its socket.
Suddenly there were a lot of people who looked the same because they had the same hairstyle. I felt myself behind held back, as Hibari tried to twist the ring off my finger.
"Pull harder you herbivores," Hibari growled through gritted teeth.
"Mon Dieu! Je mourrai! Je mourrai! Oh la vache, j'ai douleur!" I screamed while grabbing onto the first thing I could get my hands on. Unfortunately that had to be the Disciplinary Committee's vice president Kusukabe's pompadour. I ripped it off, and threw it with all my might.
(Of course with anime physics he was totally fine the next day.)
"Oh yeah, Ari reverts back to French when she's scared or in immense pain." Yuki informed.
Suddenly Hibari let go, and I was sent flying a long with the rest of the Disciplinary Committee.
Out of nowhere Hibari whipped out a cutting board and yanked me back on my feet. He roughly grabbed my hand, and slammed it down on the cutting board.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I heard Yuki yell as she was picking her way toward me, steeping over all the unconscious bodies.
"This is how you do it," She brought out her gun, and turned the safety off.
"Bitch, whose side are you on!?" I screamed, horrified that she would actually consider shooting my finger off.
"Tch, woman." Gokudera muttered, "Step aside, you have to use this," He brandished one of my kunai and held it up.
"Where the fuck did you get that? That's mine!" I demanded, trying to grab it with my left hand.
The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital with no recollection of what happened. I looked down at my right hand, and I saw it was in a cast.
"How the hell did that happen?!"
A/N: Whoot whoot, Ryohei's battle done. Now I just have to write all the rest of them, and then head on to the future arc! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and the omake at the end. Next chapter is going to be my 20th! Thank you to everybody who has supported me so far, I never really thanked you.
Thank you to:
Purplelillies2476, ChocolateManiac, Cookiezfreak, Dele124, Emerald180, Jeanxjeans, PurpleRoses2168, Starawesomeness2, YatogamiKushina, AmberTales, Almakarma18, koreanlover21873, Nanobb, xXSakuraAkariXx (I love your story btw;), and MagicAssassinDogDemon.