The only I hate more than tests are colds, and worse, having a cold and taking a test. Well, enough of my rants about life, here is chapter 25, beta-ed by hokkyokusei.

I do not own Bleach or KHR.

2nd phase and an early start

Rukia woke up the next morning, four days since the first phase. The electroshocks put a strain on her body, making it hard to move the last few days. When her body had healed for the most part, the first thing she did was to take a shower. After her shower, she went to the kitchen to cook something to eat for herself, and noticed the mess in the kitchen. She looked around, but she couldn't find Grimmjow anywhere. Mentally sighing, she grabbed a broom from the closet and started to clean up.

After breakfast, she decided to take a walk before she went back to training. She went to the park to relax, if only for a little bit. Rukia thought really hard about the battle that would supposedly take place 6 days from now. Was it really worth it to fight for some ring? Orihime seemed to be quiet than usual. Rukia called out to Orihime, but Orihime didn't respond. The air was starting to get a little chillier and Rukia regretted not bringing a jacket. Going back home, she decided that she would just follow what fate had in store for her, that she wouldn't run anymore. When she turned 16, she would ask for Tsuna's permission to confront her brother again. She wanted to settle it. But, for now, she had to get ready for the battles to come. She opened the door and, seeing Grimmjow asleep in the couch, she decided to leave training for tomorrow. 'Odd. Grimmjow is acting the same way as Orihime… but why?' Rukia felt the sadness that Orihime felt for Grimmjow, but she didn't understand why though.

x-x

The next morning Rukia woke up earlier than usual. She yawned and sat up, stretching out all the kinks. She stood up groggily and put her hand on her nightstand for support and felt some paper under her hand. Rubbing her eyes, she brought it up to her nose and blinked, trying to clear the sleep-grit from her eyes. When her eyes cleared, she saw that it was a note left to her from Grimmjow.

Shrimp—

Something came up in school and I can't train you for the next phase, so skip to the third phase. I am sure that she will help, but for this phase you must train alone. Here are the instructions for this phase: go to the forest and summon Sode no Shirayuki, and there stab it into the ground. Sit and meditate. As you meditate, you should hear a heartbeat: try to sync your heartbeat with the heartbeat that you hear.

--Grimmjow

"That's it? I don't understand."

Rukia tried to make sense of the note, but couldn't. It really didn't make any senseto her. She walked out the front door and headed to the bus stop. On her way to the bus stop she saw Ryohei jogging in her direction. What surprised Rukia was the baby flying around him. She recognized him by the blue pacifier. 'Colonello? I wonder why he is training onii-chan?' Rukia thought to herself. Leaving those two to train, she got on a bus to begin her training.

x-x

She arrived within an hour; she headed to the same spot where her training began. She let her lips touch the cold metal on the bracelet, releasing Sode no Shirayuki, and stabbed it into the ground. She sat down beside it, closed her eyes and tried to hear the 'heartbeat.'

An hour passed and she heard nothing. She was about to open her eyes when she heard a light badump. Badump. She sat still, listening as hard as she could. 'Is this… the 'heartbeat?'

That heartbeat got louder and louder, more distinct. She wanted to get up, but the sword's power kept her in place. All of a sudden, a blinding light burst from the sword, engulfing Rukia and her surroundings. Rukia quickly shut her eyes, seeing a white imprint on her lids, and felt a chill go down her spine, even though a soft, warm wind blew past her. When the light died down, Rukia managed to open her eyes.

"What… happened here?" Rukia asked.

Her surroundings were covered in snow, the leaves on the trees were dropping heavily to the ground, covered with ice and frozen. Black clouds covered the sun. Rukia could see the ends of the barrier that Sode no Shirayuki created. The wind was getting stronger, turning the snow into a blizzard and blinding Rukia who shivered in the cold. Rukia could see a figure walking towards her, though the blizzard made it hard to see who it was. Rukia could see that the person walking through the blizzard was a woman. The woman was coming closer and closer, and with each step the blizzard was getting calmer and calmer. The next thing that Rukia knew, the woman was in front of her. The person was a bit taller than Rukia and she had on a white kimono with her long sleeves touching the ground. Her long black hair and red lips stood out because of her pale skin. Her eyes were sky blue; giving a calm yet cold look that sent shivers down Rukia's spine. She had also ice crystal-like earrings dangling and shining like icicles, though there was no sun.

Rukia looked at the woman with admiration in her eyes. Rukia let her eyes trail off to drink in the beautiful kimono. Rukia's eyes widened when she saw Sode no Shirayuki in the woman's sash. "Who…are you?" Rukia managed to ask with her nearly frozen lips. The woman looked at Rukia and gave her a small smile.

"Do not be alarmed little one, my name is Shirayuki." The woman turned and looked around her. "And this is my domain. I welcomed you here because you summoned me."

"I… summoned you?" Rukia asked with a confused look on her face. Shirayuki let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, and I know why you did, you require my help."

"Your help? Why would I need your help? I don't even know who you are."

"Who else could give you the best help in controlling Sode no Shirayuki than the one who wielded it in the past?"

"You had held Sode no Shirayuki before?" Rukia saw Shirayuki disappear for a moment. Shirayuki reappeared in front of Rukia, planting a kiss on her forehead. Rukia felt her cold lips, though she had gotten used to the cold. Shirayuki looked at her with a warm smile.

"To answer your questions, yes, I have wielded Sode no Shirayuki before. I was its first owner. That kiss was a gift, the gift of the snowfall. The snow can be a mysterious thing: the wind guides the snow and gives it speed. Let the wind guide you, and glide with the wind."

"So, what is the gift?" Rukia asked.

"The gift of speed, or as you prefer to call it, shunpo."

"I can use shunpo?"

"Not immediately, you still need to practice. That, I will help with." Shirayuki walked out to the center of the dome, "Come, little one, we shall begin our training."

"Our…training?"

"Yes little one, I will train you to use this blade with perfection and beauty." Rukia followed her, knowing that Shirayuki was the only one that could give her power.

x-x

A few hours later, Rukia could see that she had gotten a little stronger. She bowed to Shirayuki, who let out a small smile and disappeared. The barrier began to slowly disappear along with her. Rukia looked around, seeing the snow on the ground. She walked to where the sword was on the ground and grasped the hilt, and once again, the sword let out a blinding light. When the light faded, the sword disappeared and the bracelet was back on her wrist. Rukia then sensed a familiar aura and turned around only to find the mysterious boy she saw the other day.

"Hello, mi name is Basil." The boy lightly bowed and grabbed Rukia's arm. Rukia pulled away and looked at Basil.

"What's wrong, Basil-kun?"

"Sawada-dono needs thy assistance." This triggered Rukia's attention.

"What happened?"

"They have come for the rings, there is too much to explain. Go and help Sawada-dono and the rest of his guardians!" Basil looked up and saw that Rukia was already gone.

x-x

Rukia could sense the strong auras that were being emitted. '4…no 5 strong auras are within the city.' Rukia took out her cell phone and dial a number. She waited for him to pick up.

"Grimmjow, it's me Rukia. We have some unexpected visitors. Can you sense them?"

"Shrimp, so what are you calling me for?"

"I just need a favor, check on the guys for will you? I still need to reach Tsuna-san so I don't have time to stop for anyone else."

"Fine, but you owe me one."

"Sake is on me next time," Rukia hung up, slightly annoyed by the fact that she had to bribe Grimmjow in order for him to help her. Rukia increased her speed, thinking, 'Having shunpo at my disposal is quite useful.' As Rukia reached the city gates, the auras got stronger. Rukia slowed down and rested for a minute, getting used to the aura that the enemy was emitting.

"What kind of enemy are we facing?" Rukia asked herself. Catching her breath, once more she started to run using shunpo. Jumping from building to building, Rukia caught sight of three strange men. The men had black coats and their masks covered their mouths. Rukia caught sight of the umbrellas that were on their backs.

"What are they doing?" Rukia sensed a hollow coming her way. Mentally sighing, she summoned Sode no Shirayuki. With a swing from the blade, the hollow turned to ashes. Rukia turned her attention to the men in black coats.

"What's going on, Rukia?" Orihime asked in her spirit form.

"Where were you in the last few days?" Rukia asked her, Orihime had a sad look in her eyes.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Besides, now is not the time for chit-chat. We need to find Tsuna-san before the enemy does."

"I know that, but something is interfering with my attempts to find him," Rukia tried to concentrate on finding Tsuna's aura. A circle of light was drawn on the bottom of Rukia's feet and a thousand white ribbons surrounded Rukia and Orihime. She closed her eyes and reached out to find the ribbon that she was looking for. Rukia held on to the ribbon once she had found it. With the orange ribbon in her hand, Rukia pulled it so the ribbon would reveal Tsuna's location. "I've found him," Rukia shunpo-ed to his location, going faster to reach him as fast as possible.

x-x

"Rukia, you have to hurry!" Orihime urged Rukia.

Rukia stopped in the middle of the street; she had lost the three mysterious men. While trying to sense Tsuna's aura again, she was surprised when a hand touched her shoulder. Rukia whipped around and took her stance, only to be surprised when she saw who that person was.

"Rukia, what are you doing here in the middle of the street?" Yamamoto asked. Rukia ignored him and disappeared by using shunpo when she picked up Tsuna's aura.

x-x

On top of a tall building, a man was looking at the horizon. The man had a long black trench coat, black pants, and boots. The Varia emblem was on his arm. A long mask covered the man's face and the collar of his coat covered the back of his head. Mist started to cover the roof of the building. When the mist disappeared, a baby appeared. The baby wore the same uniform and his hood covered his face. The baby floated next to the man.

"Looking at the horizon?" the baby asked. The man next to him nodded. "Are you going to find the holder of your ring? I can help find him, with a fee of course."

"No, like you said before, 'haste makes waste.' I'll meet the holder of my ring soon enough. If what shark-head told us was true, then the rings will be here. There is no rush." The man looked at the ring in his hand, the silver band with a half shield-like emblem at the front. "Besides, I want to meet her… I sense her nearby… I shall go meet her."

"I shall accompany you, I want to see the encounter… Kaien." The baby looked at the masked man.

"How long I have waited to see my student once again? Rukia, even after death I haven't forgotten about you." The man looked at the baby, "Let's go Marmon." The man and the baby disappeared.

x-x

Rukia heard sounds coming from a street close by her. Rukia saw one of the masked men on top of a small building. The masked man pulled out a sword-like lightning rod and the rod started building up energy. Rukia looked where he was aiming. Ahead of her were Tsuna, Lambo, I-pin, and Fuuta, who were the man's target. The masked man raised his rod and jumped, aiming to strike at Tsuna. Rukia couldn't wait any longer. Jumping to try and reach the masked man in time, Rukia cast a kiddou spell. An orb of blue flame appeared in Rukia's hand. She extended her arm to reach her target.

"Hadou no. 33 Soukatsui!" Rukia made direct contact with the man. The blast sent the man flying and he landed heavily on the concrete. "No one lays a hand on my friends."

Rukia turned to Tsuna and the others, checking if they were all right. By that time, Gokudera, Ryohei, and Yamamoto were already there, with three other masked men unconscious.

"Sorry we are late Tsuna!" Yamamoto said crouching down to examine I-pin's wounds, although they were only scratches.

"Why does this idiot have a ring?" Gokudera scowled, ready to kick Lambo who was rolling on the floor.

"Tsuna carry me, I'm hungry." Lambo whined.

"This child… he doesn't know that he is being targeted, does he?" Rukia muttered darkly to Reborn. Rukia picked Lambo up and carried him in her arms.

"But, those guys were much weaker than I thought! That was an easy victory." Ryohei looked at the three unconscious men and Reborn let out a small sigh.

"That is just thinking naïvely. These guys are only low rank members of the Varia. The really scary ones are… He's coming!" Reborn looked up.

Everyone looked up in time to see a dark shadow against the sky leap up into the air from the forest and land on the wall ahead of them.

"…So you guys did that…" the figure growled. The man, now easily visible, had a cruel-looking face. Tiny eyes were set on a face framed by spiky, unkempt hair. Six umbrellas were attached to his back.

"My opponent who wields the ring of thunder is… the kid with the perm," the man said in a scary tone, with his beady eyes fixed on the quaking Lambo. "If you interrupt… I'll kill you all!"

'Oh, crap, no! As Reborn said, he's obviously at a different level than the ones before!!' Tsuna cried in his head. Then…

"Hold it, Levi!"

Six more figures appeared behind 'Levi' halting him before he could whip out his parabolas.

"Don't hunt them all on your own~!" said a girly voice.

"Looks like the other wielders of the rings are here as well," added another.

One of the six was a enormous robot, and beside it was a boy wearing a wide grin, a silver tiara, and a striped shirt. A baby was standing at the boy's feet with a small lump on its hood which was covering its face. On the other side was the man who had halted Levi. He had ridiculous green hair on one side of his head and was wearing a half-skirt-like thing. To his left was another man who wore a black mask and remained silent. Rukia looked down at Reborn and saw that the arcobaleno was looking intently at the other baby.

"WAAAH?!" Tsuna said, panicked, "T-This many?!"

One of the men stepped forward, roaring in an outrageous voice, "HEEEEEEY! HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME, YOU PIECE OF TRASH."

"He-He's here!" Tsuna gasped. Yamamoto and Gokudera had also recognized him… that silver-haired sword user from before.

"Che… it's him," Rukia snarled.

"Damn him!" Gokudera cursed, sharing the same feelings.

"Vooooii, who has the ring of rain?" the white-haired man demanded.

"Me," Yamamoto responded with a serious look on his face.

"Oh. It's you." Squalo raised his sword and grinned venomously. "Three seconds. Just give me three seconds to finish you off." He was about to jump and attack when a hand stopped him.

"Move," a seventh man said calmly.

"Heeey!"

"Move," Levi said.

"You have nothing to do with iiit!" Squalo protested furiously.

"There he is… I never thought the day would come when I saw him…" Reborn muttered.

Tsuna stood beside Reborn, mouth wide open, horrified.

"Xanxus," Reborn finished grimly.

Rukia could feel the thickness of his aura. He had on the same uniform, only with his coat hanging from his shoulders. The man was sending a murderous look at the gang. Rukia looked at the man's eyes and she could feel the pressure his aura was emitting.

As Xanxus' eyes fixated on Tsuna, Tsuna let out a shriek of fear and fell back.

Rukia couldn't take in anymore. 'This man's aura is too much… how on earth can he emit an aura this thick!? It almost reminds me of captain Zaraki.' Rukia got on her knees, with Lambo in her arms and looked at the hairpin. 'It's starting to glow? Why?' The pin was glowing a dim orange color.

'I can't move…' both Yamamoto and Gokudera thought.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi…" Xanxus growled, holding his hand up. Circles of lights started to form around it.

"No way boss, you're suddenly using that…!!"

"Are you planning to get us too, boss?" Squalo yelled, shielding himself with an arm.

"This is bad, run!" Reborn cried.

Rukia was on her knees, trying to move, but didn't have the courage to do it. Orihime in her spirit form stood in front of Rukia and Lambo and closed her eyes.

"Santen Kesshun – I reject!" A shield extended in front of Orihime, waiting for the attack to hit. Suddenly, a pickaxe smashed in front of Xanxus and the rest of the Varia.

"That's enough, Xanxus."

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. Basil and Grimmjow were on top of the ledge across from the Varia, along with another man. The man had an orange jumpsuit and was followed by Basil and another man in a black suit.

"From here on, I'll be in charge of things," he announced decisively.

"Dad!?" Tsuna shrieked, surprised at his father's sudden, unexpected appearance.

"T-t-that the tenth's dad?!" Gokudera exclaimed, surprised.

Rukia found that she could somehow move again.

"Y-You! What are you doing here?" Squalo raised his sword, pointing it at Iemitsu .

"Xanxus, are you going to let your subordinate raise his sword at the external advisor?" Iemitsu asked. The clash of auras was almost too strong for Rukia to take. The two men sent death glares to each other.

"Those two… such a violent atmosphere!" Rhyohei said.

"D-dad? What are you saying?" Tsuna asked with a wavering voice. Rukia looked up.

"Don't stick your comments in now, Iemitsu! You're a wuss who can't do anything but run around!" Squalo interjected angrily.

"Wh-what!?" Basil yelled, offended by this remark. He stepped in front of Iemitsu, but Iemitsu stopped him.

"Wait, Basil," Iemitsu looked up at Squalo. "I wasn't running. I was waiting for a response from the Ninth."

Rukia noticed that this seemed to stir Xanxus's interest.

Iemitsu continued, "I was questioning the way you guys were carrying things out, so I sent messages to the Ninth asking some significant ones." Iemitsu then brought out two rolled up letters, "And what I assume are his answers… have just come."

Iemistu took out two letters and gave gave one to Basil and one to Grimmjow. Grimmjow gave his letter to Tsuna and Basil gave his to Xanxus.

"Why is Dad…?" Tsuna stuttered.

"He is the external advisor," Reborn interrupted, "That is his job within the Vongola. He is a Vongola, yet at the same time, he is not. During regular times, he doesn't interfere, but during state of emergency he has the right to succeed the boss. Actually he is number two. As the outside advisor, he has an equal opinion to decide the successor and he can give the half Vongola rings to whoever he wishes."

"Half Vongola… rings?" Tsuna asked, completely confused.

"Didn't you notice? By themselves they are just shards, but when the two shards come together they complete the ring and as such, they are proof to the throne. "

Tsuna and Xanxus both opened their letters at the same time and an orange flame lit up the letter.

"It is the dying will flame seal… it is a true, direct order." Marmon floated around Xanxus to look at the letter.

"But it's in Italian! I can't read it," wailed Tsuna.

Grimmjow snatched the letter from Tsuna's hands. "Damn kid, I'll read it.

"Until this point I believed that Sawada Tsunayoshi was fit to be Vongola the tenth. Though now, it may be because I am close to death, but my intuition has taken a new course. Xanxus, my son, he is worthy to become Vongola the tenth. But it seems that some people are not happy with this decision. Still I do not wish to see my family fight a meaningless battle, so the candidates will have to fight in a form that we all agree on...

"Strange, that is all that the letter says." Grimmjow looked at Iemitsu , "Oi, there is a missing part from this letter."

"I know; that part was for me and Xanxus, The way that we are going to decide the true owners of these rings is a one-on-one battle with the person of the same ring. The rest of the letter orders us to wait for instructions." As if on cue, two pink haired women with black masks and long pink hair jumped out from the woods.

"Thank you for waiting," one of the women said.

"Who the hell are you?" Grimmjow scowled.

"We are the Cervello organization, we serve directly under the ninth's orders. Please consider our decisions that of the ninth's."

One of the Cervello took out a similar letter that Xanxus and Grimmjow had in their hands. "The ninth has said that this would satisfy the entire family, meaning that everyone will accept the outcome of this. Do you have any objections, Xanxus-sama?" Xanxus just glared at them. "Thank you very much."

"Wait, I do," Iemitsu protested. "I've never heard of this organization. How can we trust total strangers to judge these battles?"

"We're sorry, but we can override those objections by the authority of the ninth."

"Besides, I've heard of this organization," Grimmjow interrupted, "My master told me that there were some organizations that were directly under the boss' disposal. For instance: the boss of the Kuchiki family has the Central 46. Those organizations don't have to be known by others in the family. The Cervello are a secret squad that serves the strongest family. They gather information from everywhere, and serve as the eyes and ears of that boss. With that letter, we can't touch them," Grimmjow scowled again.

One of the Cervello announced, "The eight rings split in half: half were given to the ninth and the other half was given to the external advisor. During the heir ceremony, the two halves come together and are given to the next boss and his guardians. Both the external advisor and the ninth decided on that."

"However, both the external advisor and the ninth have given their rings to different people," the other Cervello continued, "Iemitsu gave his rings to the chosen 8, led by Sawada Tsunayoshi. The ninth gave his rings to his chosen 8 led by Xanxus-sama."

"The only way to prove it is with their lives being put at stake."

"The location will be Namimori middle, at midnight…"

"Further details will be explained then…"

"Wait… we're going to battle at Namimori-chuu?" Tsuna asked. He looked at Xanxus. Tsuna dropped to his knees, cowering in fear.

"We shall await for you there at 11 P.M. Goodbye." The two women jumped, leaving the site. Xanxus and the rest of the Varia left as well.

"Looks like this came sooner than we thought," Grimmjow grumbled.

Rukia was lost in thought over the hairpin. 'Why did the hairpin glow?' Rukia thought, 'Things are coming too soon.' Rukia wondered who the person with the mask on was. She felt that, somehow, there was familiar aura around him. She felt afraid to find the truth about that man, but she knew that she would face this sooner or later.

End of chapter 25

Wish me luck on my exams this week.

Next time: the battles of the Sun, Thunder, Storm