Trigger: N/A
Warnings: N/A
Important Stuff:
Small OC Cheat Sheet
Spirits:
Zephyr -The wind spirit that Reborn met in the Spirit World.
Kamikawa - The origami spirit that Reborn exchanged information with.
Engetsu - Silver kitsune that Reborn met in the Spirit World. Knows Ayame.
Meishi - A green falcon that lives in the Sawada Household
Ienari's Guardians
Matsushita Hachirou - Ienari's best friend. Captain of the Judo Club. Lightning Guardian
Akemi Kaori - President of Ienari's fanclub. Black Hair, Purple Eyes.
Kakusu Hideki - Former student council president, son of politician. Red Rimmed Glasses.
Koujin Fuun - Ninja assassin. Dark purple hair, crimson eyes. Kunais as weapons.
Inmen Hisen - Mochida's cousin. Ienari's crush. Hime-cut black hair and ocean blue eyes.
Others:
Hibari Koumei - Kyoya's Father. Interpol Agent.
Hibari Yun - Kyoya's Mother. Deceased. Fon's sister.
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Phone Call
Reborn stared at his phone, debating whether to risk calling Nono. There was some safety in delivering letters through the secured Vongola mail delivery system, but he couldn't help this persistent feeling that something was wrong. Nono had yet to give any consideration to his requests about Tsuna at least being considered as a Decimo Candidate.
Reborn knew his words had some weight. Yet it had been months and despite Reborn's probing, nothing had come up. The recorded fight against Mukuro should have been enough proof that Tsuna was far superior than Ienari in his control over Sky Flames.
Calling was risky, especially given the nature of the call. Many steps had been taken to protect who exactly the Decimo Candidate was and where he was located. With the technology today, calls were even easier to intercept.
Making up his mind, Reborn flipped opened his cellphone and prepared to dial the numbers he knew by heart.
He didn't get very far before the phone was snatched out of his hands.
Leon transforming into a gun, Reborn turned around, aiming at the intruder. He faltered just for a moment when he realized it wasn't a person but in fact it was a fox.
More specifically, it was a silver kitsune with seven tails, glowing like soft moonlight. "Engetsu," Reborn grit out, remembering the name that Zephyr had mentioned. "Why are you here?"
Engetsu didn't answer him -could it even speak?- choosing to wrap one of its tail around Reborn's phone. It gave Reborn a look, one that clearly read as 'idiot.' Reborn twitched, but didn't fire. He really didn't want to end up back in the Spirit World again.
"I would like my phone back, please," Reborn said as politely as he could.
Engetsu just huffed and bounced out of the room, taking Reborn's cellphone.
Carefully suppressing the urge to kill the kitsune, Reborn began to chase after the fox. He had just left the Sawada Household, Engetsu darting around the corner, when Reborn felt it. Instantly, his eyes snapped towards the forest. Like a supernova brightly shining and warm glowing, he felt Tsuna's flames.
Abandoning his chase, Reborn headed straight into the heart of the forest. His Sky was important than a cellphone.
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Tsuna aimlessly flew. He landed deep in Namimori's forest, bristling and angry. His Sky Flames danced, flickering. They poured out of him, coating the area in orange flames.
'How could she?!' he roared in his mind.
"Neesan you idiot," Tsuna shouted. He punched a tree, toppling it to the ground.
He sank to the ground, angry and betrayed. The sunset orange faded back into chocolate brown, Sky Flames disbursing as Tsuna pulled his legs to his chest. Thoughts swirled in his head as his emotions raged.
He was just so angry with her. How could she even think about killing herself like that? Hadn't she stopped Tsuna's own attempts with countless lectures and reminders that life was precious and that he shouldn't throw it away so frivolously? Were those nothing but empty words to her? Did she not believe them herself?
Why would she even do it?!
Concern
Hana's eyes flickered towards Namimori's forest where she felt Tsuna's Sky Flames spike into existence. "What is Tsuna up to now?" She asked, annoyed. He knew better then carelessly pulse his flames like that, uncontrolled and so powerful that anyone could sense them.
"He's really angry," G remarked from her side. They had been working increasing Hana's stamina with her Storm Flames. "Giotto gets like that when his patience finally snaps."
Hana scowled. "He and Neesan are still fighting." Eyes narrowed, she looked at her teacher. "You wouldn't happen to know about what, do you? They're being surprisingly tight lipped about it."
G shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "No. I think Giotto knows because he's been subdued lately. He's annoyed about something, but resigned all the same way."
Crossing her arms and tapping her foot to the ground, Hana said, "We're going to have to stage an intervention soon. This has gone on long enough. Neesan clearly hasn't been sleeping as a result and Tsuna is so angry, he's going to do something stupid. They're both going to do something stupid."
"Can't let that happen," G said dryly. "It didn't end well the last time after all."
Drowning
Ienari felt a chill run down his spine. He looked around, searching for the cause. Nothing stood out. It was engulfing, like he was sinking in water, the surface so far away. He felt his Flames, pulse and grow out of his control, singing and resonating in a way he didn't understand. He tried to rein them in, unwilling to let them go, too afraid of the depth and darkness that loomed around him. He remembered this feeling, once before so long ago. No, no, no, no!
"Ienari!"
Paled and sweat running down his face, Ienari focused on Hachirou's concerned face.
"You okay?" Hachirou asked.
"Yeah…" Ienari said, as the feeling retreated.
Shadow Court
"Nono, we have a problem."
The elderly Don looked up to see Iemitsu entering his office. The normally boisterous man looked serious, a rare expression on his face all things considered.
"Iemitsu what is wrong?" Nono asked, setting aside his work.
"You remember the Corna Famiglia?" Iemitsu asked, handing Nono a folder. "They have been destroyed."
Nono took the folder and opened it, letting the stack of photos inside of it fall out. They revealed a massacre. Bodies laid skewed across the ground, buildings leveled and deep scars carved into the earth. It was as if a hurricane had blown through the Corna Famiglia.
"Who did this?" Nono asked.
"Reports are shaky," Iemitsu said. "There were no witnesses. None left alive at least. Cameras from the distance, picked up the Corna Famiglia's Mansion standing one minute, and gone five minutes later, blown away. There is only one piece of evidence that suggests who is responsible for the attack. It was sprayed with paint on the one of the remaining standing walls."
Nono found the picture and gasped. He clutched his chest, feeling his heart pound wildly. There, in black paint, was a coat of arms that Nono recalled only seeing once in his entire life: a symbol, a spiral and curves, spines and rigid lines.
"Iemitsu," Nono said weakly. "Bury this. Do not investigate this matter any further."
"Nono are you alright?!" Iemitsu asked. "Why should I bury this? They might be a threat to Vongola."
"They're only a threat if we make them," Nono said, pale and shaky.
"I do not understand," Iemitsu said. "What do we have to fear of them?"
"We do not challenge the Vindice, do we?" Nono said, speaking of the widely feared law keepers of the mafia world. "This group, the Vindice are the ones who fear them."
Iemitsu stared at him, jaw hanging in shock. "Wh-what?" The blond asked. "Such a group exists?"
Nono shuddered. "What I am about to repeat does not leave this room Iemitsu. Not a word to anyone, not even your subordinates, no one. Am I clear?"
"Yes."
Nono tapped the symbol. "This is the crest of the Shadow Court. Their creed is simple: 'Too dangerous to live, too valuable to kill.' They are the shadowy rulers of the world."
Iemitsu looked skeptical. Nono knew the CEDEF leader didn't believe him. It was such a fanatical tale that Nono barely believed it himself. But he had seen proof.
"They are divided into two groups, Active and Inactive. No one joins the Shadow Court. You earn it, by being both dangerous and valuable," Nono explained.
"But if you're too dangerous, then your valuable might not be worth the risk and if you're too valuable, you'll be locked up so tight, there's no danger to you or others," Iemitsu said.
Nono nodded. "Yes. Finding the balance is the key. For example, Reborn would fulfill the dangerous criteria, but not the valuable one. His position as the Sun Arcobaleno does make him valuable, but as anyone can inherit that title, he is not valuable enough. Yet the Italian Prime Minister is not dangerous, not physically at least. But he is valuable and I believe he is on the Inactive Shadow Court List."
"So you need to be more valuable than dangerous?" Iemitsu asked.
"No. Your value is your impact on the world. The danger is what you can do with impact. This is why we don't assassinate government leaders carelessly, or at all. The fallout would be horrendous. As government leaders, their physical danger level is not the threat, it's their words, the laws they can pass, the people they can inspire. Einstein for his intelligence, the things he invented and the one time he went against his beliefs and signed the letter that lead the creations of atomic bombs," Nono said. He knew very little about the actual members, but once you knew the criteria it was easy to see who was most likely members.
"Many world leaders are on the Inactive List because of this. It doesn't stop people from trying to kill them, but World War I started off because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria," Nono said. "In fact, it is said the Shadow Court was created because of this, placing those whose deaths would set off chaos."
"And the difference between the Inactive List and the Active List?" Iemitsu asked.
"I do not know," Nono responded. The reason he knew there was two different groups was the fact that his mother had once been an Active member. She had told him this information on her deathbed, but not even she knew all the details. She didn't know how she had come to become an Active member. Nono suspected that as long as Vongola remained the top mafia famiglia in Italy, the current Don would always be an Inactive member.
"There are different benefits between the two. One of the difference is awareness. Many world leaders are undoubtedly aware of the Shadow Court and their power, but they are not aware that they themselves are members. In fact, I only know of three Active members: King, Queen, and Prince," Nono said.
"No one knows their identities, or if they do, no one is willing to speak of it. What little I have been able to confirm is that they surfaced about six to seven years ago in America." Nono thought about the time the world quietly shook. It had happened to quickly and died so fast, in less than a year, that many people didn't even notice it was happening, not even connecting the various side effects.
"That long ago?" Iemitsu asked, surprised. "That was around the time crime dropped to an all time low in America. Many mob families, even the few tentative allies we had overseas, had disappeared, vanished without a trace."
Nono nodded. "Yes. Something happened in America and the Shadow Court made their move. They gutted the Underworld in America and left none the wiser."
"Do you think they intend to do the same here?" Iemitsu asked sharply.
"I don't know," Nono said. "But it might be wise to bring Ienari to Italy sooner than later. We were already intending to give him the rings soon; he can finish his education here."
"Is that really wise if here is going to become a warzone?" Iemitsu asked. Concern was laced in his words.
"Yes, I believe so. This may be the heart of where the fight may go down, but there are more of us to protect him. I do not know how Reborn would fare alone against the Shadow Court," Nono said. He had faith in Reborn's skills, enough that he knew the hitman could probably hold his own against one of the members, but if all three came?
No, it would be better that Ienari came to Italy. Individually, no one was as strong as Reborn, but there was strength in numbers. Nono was old, but hopefully he and his guardians could hold off at least one of member of the Shadow Court, Iemitsu and the CEDEF could hold off the second and Reborn taking care of the last. Plus, should anything happened to Nono, Ienari could easily inherit. If Ienari managed to gain Active Status, hopefully that meant the Shadow Court wouldn't attack him, securing Vongola from complete destruction.
If Ienari died… well, Iemitsu would never forgive him, but there was always Tsunayoshi…
New Friends
"Little cow boy," Lampo said, kneeling down in front of a crying Lambo. All the first Lightning Guardian wanted to do was to check on Tsuna. Giotto had been sulking for days; it was starting to disrupt Lampo's naps as all Giotto did was hog the couch.
Of course when Lampo decided to drop into the Sawada Household (and to treat himself to some of Nana's delicious cooking), he found a crying Lambo instead. Shifting down to the physical plane, Lampo reached out and poked Lambo in the stomach.
Never let it be said that Lampo was actually good with children...
"Monster!" Lambo shrieked, surprised by Lampo's sudden appearance.
Lampo merely sighed. "Stop crying," he grumbled. "It's annoying."
Lambo, of course, just cried harder.
Scowling, Lampo lightly whacked Lambo on the head. "You're being noisy."
Lambo looked at him, eyes trembling him. "To-le-rate!" The small boy pulled out his Ten Year Bazooka and shot himself.
Coughing, Lampo waved away the smoke. He blinked, surprised to see that the young child was gone and a teenager that looked far too similar to him stood in his place.
"Yare, yare," ten year later Lampo said, running a hand through his hair. "Is this the first time we met Lampo-nii?"
Lampo stared at him. No one had mentioned this!
Path of Least Resistance
Shouichi slammed his head into his desk. He was so close! So close! Everything should work perfectly, every calculation had been checked, double checked, the theory sounded, every test done had shown it was possible.
And yet it wasn't working!
"What am I missing?" Shouichi said to himself. It had to be something obvious, something so easy that Shouichi would be an idiot to have missed it in the first place.
His computer beeped at him, signaling a new message.
MOSCARobot: 'What are you working on?'
Shouichi frowned. He typed back. 'Shouldn't you be asleep? Why are you up so late?'
MOSCARobot: 'Working on something, got bored, decided to bother you.'
That sounded about right. Shouichi had met his online friend through a robotics forum board, years before he met Tsuna and Ayame. Despite the timezone difference, it was easy enough to keep up correspondence. Insomnia and late night inventing splurges, meant they were up together more often than not. Shouichi had come to rely on his friend as a soundboard, bouncing ideas off of him whenever Shouichi got stuck and couldn't see another angle.
In return, Spanner did the same and together they had created some of the most interesting inventions.
MOSCARobot: 'So what are you working on?'
Shouichi hesitated. He shouldn't. It was a top secret project, one he had signed paperwork for. But he was stuck and he didn't know when Ayame would be coming in. It would be a waste of a day (or longer) if she didn't come in to help him.
'How do you move something that is more abstract in theory to that may be tied to a physical anchor and tie it to another one?'
MOSCARobot: '...'
For a brief moment, Shouichi feared that he had offended his friend.
MOSCARobot: 'What makes it theoretical?'
Shouichi thought about it and wrote back. How to explain it? 'Do you believe in magic and curses?' he wrote instead.
MOSCARobot: 'We're engineers and scientists.'
Shouichi shrugged. After learning about Dying Will Flames, a component that was more spiritual than physical, he had started looking at the world with even wider eyes. 'Clarke's third law. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'
MOSCARobot: 'Why are you quoting a sci-fi author?'
Shouichi smiled. If only Spanner knew. Namimori was… different. 'Just imagine an object that has a curse on it, like say anyone who touched it falls into a deep sleep like spindle of the spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty. If I wanted to transfer the curse of deep sleep from the spindle to say a pair of scissors, how would you go about it?'
MOSCARobot: 'Ask it? For that matter, ignoring that I don't know the rules of magic, why can't you just treat it like a battery charging a battery?'
Like a bolt from the blue, it hit Shouichi. That… could work! A battery charging a battery! Quickly, Shouichi's fingers flew over his keyboard, typing out his hasty response to Spanner. 'Thanks Spanner! I need to try something!'
MOSCARobot: 'Wait Shouichi! Shouichi!'
MOSCARobot: '...'
MOSCARobot: 'At least explain the moving curses part!'
Sweet Dreams
Chrome stared down at the pair of silver earrings she had been wearing earlier that day, quietly panicking. She didn't know how or why, but they had changed shape on her.
'These are the ones Neesan got me for my birthday!' She thought morosely.
Before they had been nothing special, spherical silver orbs that gleamed. Somehow they had changed, turned into a crescent moon sitting on a cloud and a star dangled from the the cloud. Why had they changed? How had they changed?
Gently, she picked up the earrings, cradling them in her hands. "Maybe Ayame-nee can explain it," Chrome said softly.
Maybe they were suppose to change.
Gathering Numbers
Mao scowled. Namimori was a strange, strange place. The hairs on his neck stood as he observed his surroundings. It was quiet, calm. He didn't like it.
There was something far more dangerous lurking in Namimori; perhaps this was why the Storm Arcobaleno had decided to hide his family here. It would not matter. Soon, another two hundred men would arrive in Namimori. Even if whatever strange power that kept most of them away, as long as a fraction of them made it through it would bring their numbers up to at least four hundred.
Tomorrow, Namimori would feel the might of the Triad.
Gyoza
Fon felt a chill run down his spine; his gaze snapping towards the window. Outside was serene; a few people still walking in the streets as the sun approached the horizon.
"Shisho, Shisho," I-pin chirped, showing her latest Gyoza attempt to Fon.
Fon smiled, turning back to his apprentice. He was grateful that Tsunayoshi and Nana had opened their doors to I-pin and him. While there was still the Triad to keep an watchful eye out for, at least for now, I-pin got the childhood she rightfully deserved.
"Very good, I-pin," Fon praised as he tried to ignore the uneasy feeling.
He would go out and hunt after everyone was asleep.
Plan of Attack
"Everything is set," Hachirou called out. Next to him, stood the rest of Ienari's friends. Hideki pushed his red-rimmed glasses up his nose, peering at the same map that Ienari was observing. Kaori smiled; her hands cupped around a gray tea cup. Both Hisen and Fuun were sharpening their weapons.
"Good," Ienari said. He had decided to go ahead and launch an attack on the new Chinese group. As they were still trying to gain territory, it would be better to take them out before they established themselves and then have to compete with both them and Momokyokai. There was too little information on the new Chinese group, but even if there was a bigger group, they would have time to gather more people before the larger group descended.
Plus, Reborn hadn't stopped him.
Ienari took that a sign that they weren't that big of a threat if his tutor wasn't worried about them.
"Alright," Ienari said, pointing to the large warehouse. "This is the enemy's headquarters. We'll launch an attack on them tomorrow morning!"
Try Everything (I see you in the night)
A rare bout of insomnia was bothering Dino. There was a persistent feeling that tugged him to go. Finally fed up, he threw off the covers, changed into comfortable clothes, grabbed his whip and snuck out of the hotel. Romario would have a heart attack to find him missing, but at the moment Dino didn't care.
His feet hit the pavement, aimlessly wandering through the dimly lit streets of Namimori. The stars faintly glowed and the waxing moon hung high in the sky. No one was out at this hour. Dino's only company was the stray animals, the whistling of the wind in the trees and the night sky.
In the distance, he saw someone sitting at the bus stop, head bowed and shoulders slumped. 'Probably a drunkard,' Dino thought to himself and moved to turn down another street. He didn't want to any trouble.
The feeling tugged at him, something instinctual. Giving in, Dino headed down the street.
To his surprise the person sitting at the bench was Ayame.
"Ayame?" He called out, not wanting to surprise her. Dino had learned that Ayame did not deal with being snuck up on kindly, especially if she hadn't been sleeping. Being thrown across the room was not something Dino enjoyed.
Ayame looked up at him. Dino startled, surprised to see her eyes red rimmed. She clearly had been crying. It wasn't just that either. Dark circles under her eyes, pale skin and a hollowed look reflected in golden eyes, she looked like as if someone had run her over several times and had just left her there.
"Why are you here?" She asked, misery dripping from her words.
"You look like you could use a friend," Dino said. He held out his empty hands. "Look! I'm not even carrying anything that could be spilled on you."
Ayame scoffed, looking away. "There's still ten feet of distance between us that you can trip and crash into me."
Dino simply grinned. At least she was feeling well enough to still banter with him. Carefully, he approached, mindful to not trip and prove her right. As soon as he reached the edge of the bench, he sat down, still an entire arm's length away from her. "You okay?" He asked, concerned.
Ayame sighed and bowed her head once more. "People are so complicated."
"Well that is what make life interesting," Dino said.
"I don't like interesting," Ayame said.
"You would be bored," Dino said. Ayame was a whirlwind of doing. She was always running off to do something, reading and researching something, juggling five different things at the same time. He couldn't picture her not doing anything at all.
"I'll take bored over emotions," Ayame muttered.
Ah. Dino wondered if this had to do with her fight with Tsuna. That had been an eye opener. In all of his visits to Namimori it had become clear how close Ayame and Tsuna were. That was why when he arrived two weeks ago to find them fighting, it had been concerning. No one, not even Reborn, knew why they were fighting.
"Does this have to do with your fight with Tsuna?" Dino asked aloud. "Why are you two even fighting in the first place?"
Ayame frowned, wiping her face clean of the tears threatening to fall again with her sleeve. "We're disagreeing about a relatively minor issue from my point of view and a major one from Tsuna's."
Dino would hardly call this a simple disagreement.
"Want to talk about it?" Dino asked.
"No," was Ayame's curt reply.
Dino let the issue rest. No sense poking that open wound. He stretched out on the bench, throwing his arms behind his head and looked up at the night sky.
"At least it's a nice night out," Dino said.
"Why are you here?" Ayame asked again, weary and tired.
"Couldn't sleep," Dino answered. "So I snuck out of the hotel I'm staying at. Romanio is probably going to flip out once he notices I'm gone, but I left a note so he shouldn't worry too much."
"You're a mafia don," Ayame said flatly.
"Wish I wasn't," Dino said with a shrug. "I mean I love my famiglia, love my men and I've always know that I was always going to be some sort of boss. Just didn't expect my father to croak so early. Perils of being born as a heir, I guess." He looked up at the stars, so different from the night sky in Italy.
Sadly, he smiled and remembered fondly the days as a child and his father's indulgent smiles in his childhood dreams even if it was tainted with that Dino would later identify as guilt and pity. "But I can't help but wonder what my life would be like if I had been born into a normal family. Preferably a family that own a ranch. I love taking care of horses and riding them. I mean I own a whole company that breeds and race horses, but it isn't the same…" Dino trailed off, realizing he was rambling.
Ayame merely made a small noise of acknowledgement, to show she was listening, but otherwise didn't say anything.
He appreciated that. There were no hollow words of encouragement that he could still follow that dream even if he was too busy to do so. There were no words of pity for his predicament because childhood dreams aside, Dino loved his famiglia and wouldn't trade them for the world. Just a simple understanding of the situation.
"Any childhood dreams you have?" Dino asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Ayame looked at him. Then she looked away, glancing upwards at the same stars Dino had been staring at. "I wanted to be a hermit," she said softly.
Dino blinked. "What?"
"A hermit," Ayame repeated. "People are exhausting. Dealing with social interaction, what is acceptable to do in public, what isn't. What people defined as 'normal' and 'healthy' and the stigma of being 'strange' and 'different'. The expectations of others, the pedestal people place others on. It's exhausting."
Her lips twisted in a dark self-deprecating smile. "I just wanted to be left alone. Move to a mountain, a shrine and just live among nature, allowing me to do what I want and just to be me."
"That sounds…" The word lonely died in Dino's mouth. He couldn't imagine Ayame being isolated like that. But he looked at her slumped shoulders, the dark circles under her eyes and the heavy exhaustion that radiated off of her presence. Perhaps, moving to the mountains would be helpful for her, for whatever burdens she was fighting. Still, he couldn't imagine it.
"What about Tsuna?" Dino asked. "I think he would miss you if you decided to move to the mountains."
"He doesn't need me," Ayame said. "None of the kids do."
"I doubt that," Dino said automatically. Tsuna definitely relied on Ayame a lot and it was clear that he adored the older girl.
Ayame huffed, smiling for the first time since Dino showed up. "You silly man," she said fondly.
Oh.
Shit.
Being Reborn's student forced a certain awareness into Dino. It was one thing to keep childish and naive ideals like kindness, it was another to keep those ideals and be ignorant of the world. Reborn didn't mind if you thought the glass was half full as long as you aware of the implications and consequences of the glass being half empty at the same time. Believe in kindness, but be aware that everyone could backstab you at a moment's notice.
So for Dino, it had just clicked. Like the right piece of the puzzle that just slotted perfectly. Just a small and quiet revelation. Even as his heart fluttered and dread snuck into his stomach as he smiled back at Ayame.
'Shit,' Dino thought with a wail of dismay. 'I'm in love with Ayame.'
Camping Under the Stars
The moon hung in the sky, glowing softly by the time Reborn finally found Tsuna. The sun had set quickly, and night had fallen. Reborn had been forced to use Leon as a light, following the lingering traces of Tsuna's Flames that had snuffed out as quickly as it had been lit.
Letting his instincts guide him, Reborn finally found Tsuna, curled under a tree.
Tsuna was asleep. Reborn clicked his tongue, annoyed but didn't move to wake him. He could see the dried tear tracks in the faint moonlight, the way Tsuna curled into himself, clothes covered in dirt. To the side, there was a felled tree, toppled over from what looked to be a punch. Sky Flames lingered in the area, tiny sparkles lighting and flickering out.
Letting Leon transform into a blanket, Reborn draped Leon over Tsuna before settling into Tsuna's lap. "Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said without any bite. "You'll catch a cold out here."
Tsuna continued to slumber on, unaware.
Hunting
Fon stared in quiet horror as he peered through the skylight of what he had previously thought was an abandoned warehouse. What he had found in the shadows of Namimori was not good. The Triad were gathering here. How had they arrived without him noticing? Why were they even here in the first place?
He was the Storm Arcobaleno, one of the world's strongest. But against that many members? Fon was not a fool. Backup must be called. Fon had to warn Koumei and had to keep both his nephew and student safe.
The sun crept over the horizon, ushering the dawn of the new day.
Early Morning Encounter
Haru skipped out of her house with a wide smile. There was going to be a huge sale today and Haru wanted to get there early so she would be first in line. Plus Kyoko and Hana would be meeting here there. A gift for Chrome! She beamed as she walked down the street. It was a beautiful and quiet morning. In the early hours, no one was awake yet as the sun had just crossed over the horizon just minutes ago. That was perfectly fine for Haru who enjoyed the bright sunrays and tranquility of morning.
She was approaching the shopping center when she spotted someone very familiar.
"Ah, I-pin-chan!" Haru said, waving to the smaller girl.
"Haru-san," I-pin greeted her.
Haru bent down to I-pin's eye level. "Why are you up so early?" she asked, absentmindedly looking around for Tsuna or Nana. It wasn't like the mother son duo to let a young child like I-pin out of their sight without them nearby.
"Shisho didn't come home last night," I-pin said. "Looking for him!"
"Shisho?" Haru said. In her mind, a picture of Fon flashed. Ah, that was right. I-pin called Fon Shisho for some reason.
"Do you need help looking for him?" Haru asked. The shop could wait. This was more important. I-pin nodded.
"Found you."
Haru twirled around, startled. Looming over her and I-pin was a tall Chinese man. His smile was razor sharp; reaching down at them with a large hand. Haru scooped up I-pin and rolled away. I-pin threw a gyoza, only for it to be deflected.
"I-pin, student of the Storm Arcobaleno. You will come with us," the man rumbled.
"No!" I-pin shouted. "Shisho said I don't have to go with you anymore!"
Haru hugged I-pin closer to her chest as she inched further away from the stranger. She didn't like this situation. Her eyes darted left and right, looking for any type of help. No luck, the streets were still empty.
"I-pin-chan doesn't want to go with you," Haru said. She was proud to note that her voice didn't waver, rang clear with Haru's desire to protect this small child. "Haru won't let you take her."
The large burly man frowned, radiating with displeasure. "You have no choice!" He lunged reaching out to grab Haru.
Haru twisted her body, shielding I-pin. No, he would not take I-pin. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact.
It never came.
Haru opened her eyes, looking to see the color green.
"You bitch," the man swore. Up and down his arms ran crackles of green lightning. His muscles twitched, spasming uncontrollably.
"Haru-san is a Lightning Flame user?" I-pin asked in awe.
A what user? Haru's head spun. Where had the green lightning come from? No, this was not the time for questions. She had to get away with I-pin before the man recovered. Wasting not another moment, Haru turned to run.
She didn't get very far before someone grabbed her by the collar of her blouse and sent her flying. Her world exploded into pain and she collided with a wall and slumped to the ground. Dimly, she was aware of I-pin frantic voice calling out to her.
"Ah, sorry I-pin-chan," Haru managed to mumble out before she slipped into unconscious. It looked like she failed to protect I-pin.
Signal Start
As Haru lost consciousness, several things happened.
A cup broke.
Miles away in another country, a phone rang.
Hyper Intuition woke with a roar.
Several people jumped out of bed, suddenly aware of a chill that ran down their spine.
One of them, Mukuro clutched his ears as Namimori suddenly screamed.
Above all, Mao stood over the stilled unconscious bodies of both Haru and I-pin and gave the order.
"Capture Hibari Kyoya and the Storm Arcobaleno, Fon," Mao ordered. "Kill anyone who gets in your way."
Battle Start! Man these poor kids can't catch a break can they? Someone is always attacking Namimori.
-waves tiredly- Hi Guys. I'm back. My health issues have seemed to resolve themselves (no doctor could tell me what's wrong but it's currently not a problem anymore which... I guess is good). Con season isn't quite over for me, but I can squeeze in some writing for now. We'll see how it goes.
In case anyone is curious to what Ayame looks like, you can find her art (by Klawzie) here: (remove #) tinyurl #.#com#/#hn2237d
On a related note, are you guys interested in extras for this story? Like more detailed theories on the Spirit World, what the Shadow Court Crest looks like (cause I drew that a few weeks ago), or the few story tidbits that I have but don't really fit anywhere. Like how Ayame found out about Yousei for example. It was too spoilery to post during the Yousei Arc but now you know enough about her abilities that I could post it. Tell me what you're interested in seeing and where you would like to see it posted. (Via tumblr only, as an interlude chapter in this story, as a separate story all together, etc)