Chapter 29
A Hitman Reborn
Kiriyuu was sitting on the kitchen floor when she returned to the past; there was no Spanner, no TYL Guiseppe, no flashing lights, no dead-person smell, either. Tsuna and Reborn were gaping at her from halfway across the room. A baby Lambo was crying loudly in the corner for no reason. The bazooka was beside her, fizzing out smoke weakly from the nozzle. The silence persisted - She didn't know what to say to them. Her mouth just opened and closed, like a fish out of water, hauled onto deck. In fact, she felt like one. Helpless, useless, unable to breathe properly too, probably.
"Kiriyuu, are you alright?" Reborn asked, since he realised that Tsuna was probably too shocked himself to speak at the moment; he was exceptionally concerned about this. It wasn't a good sign if no-one came in your place if you got hit by the bazooka. Tsuna just continued to gawp helplessly. Their glances then landed on her hand; she followed their gaze, and realised that she was holding an A4 file.
Tsuna let out an uncomfortable laugh to get rid of the unsettling silence; his eyes landed on her folder gripped in her hand. "You brought a present – "
Reborn kicked him.
She jerked into movement again, stared wide-eyed at the folder, and back up to them. Then she promptly quickly got up, brushed past Tsuna and Reborn, and made a mad dash to the bathroom upstairs, slamming the door shut behind her.
…………
In the bathroom, Kiriyuu locked the door, put down the toilet pan, sat down. Not exactly a good, hygienic and sanitary place to do this sort of thing, but she didn't care. Tsuna was knocking on the door asking her if she was alright, but she ignored him. Reborn was calling for her, too. She ignored him also, despite her ethics and the respect she held towards him. She flipped open the A4 file Spanner had given her and told her to read. She HAD to read it, apparently. It will explain everything… Like what?Why she was dead 10 years time?What was going on between the Vongola and the Giglio Nero?Why she was 'killed' by Hibari?Who Spanner really was?The fact that this was a cruel, sick joke?What happened to Elia, too?
When she opened the folder; it contained several documents. The first was a profile of herself future self in 10 years time – it was identical to her Giglio Nero one – the profile was like any other – it was stamped with a Giglio Nero family emblem, then another on top of it – one she didn't recognise; it had flowers on it, anyway. The profile had countless of details about her; her previous home address, health problems, birth name, blood type, education, other things from biodata etc. Even a passport photo was included, too. It was clipped under a paperclip along with the profile. Kiriyuu gawked at her future self; she would no longer smile, her eyes would be concentrated yet soulless, her face would look hollowed out with adjacent cheekbones and a sharp jawline. Her hair would be brown, longer than it was now. And her left cheek would be horribly scarred - a perpendicular streak of permanent trauma striking upwards from the jaw, near the bottom of her eye - She was mortified by the scar.
She stuffed the photo into her pocket a few seconds later, skimmed through the rest of the profile. Her mother would be deceased 10 years time, her only living, close relative would be Guiseppe, a retired hitman of the Black Spell. Elia was mentioned; her apprentice. It didn't seem much out of place. Only a few details were different, like her height and stuff, but that was pretty much it. Next, Kiriyuu moved onto the next. It was in a memorandum form; no Giglio Nero stamp this time, however, but a different one. Some kind of… flower seal. She had never seen it before.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Spanner
FROM: Irie Shouichi
DATE: 21 January
SUBJECT: The Experiment
The Cloud Guardian of the Vongola has emerged as the strongest out of the rest.
Byakuran has proposed a new, side-trial during this week's General Meeting, which discussed how we should deal with the Vongola Guardians, particularly Hibari Kyouya. It was decided that the new trial will involve Hibari Kyouya. He has requested that we develop a new device that will allow us to transmit possible, exponential short messages roughly to any era we desire since the issue regarding the Ten-Year-Bazooka still exploits more resources of what our current abilities and belated fundings can proffer. The reason for this is so we can attempt to send a perhaps decipherable message to our counterparts back ten years ago. While we are still developing a method to let humans be capable of physical time travel, Byakuran suggests that an intangible message without the use of a human subject will do work for the time being.
He has also suggested we use a member of the Black Spell from the previous Giglio Nero for our subject of further study and observation since the Gesso famiglia's history is seemingly unsuitable. I have accepted his motion and results are expected the following ten months. The message we are to send to our past counterparts is to warn about the impending future we are living in today. It is also so we can learn how Hibari Kyouya came to power 10 years ago. If we can remove that factor, then our success in this future will be guaranteed.
I have enclosed a list of potential candidates who will be commanded to infiltrate the Vongola. I await your response.
Kiriyuu flipped the memo over – a list. A list of names Kiriyuu did not recognise were on the sheet, in courier new font, some weird barcode beside them. Her name was circled with red marker pen, she was number 281 in the list. She put that memo away for the moment once she'd finished reading it. There was another memo; also from 'Irie Shouichi', and about an Experiment… Whatever the hell that was – something about Hibari, anyway - Something about him being the strongest Vongola Guardian.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Spanner
FROM: Irie Shouichi
DATE: 25 January
SUBJECT: RE: Candidate for Experiment
Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you agree with my suggestion; Candidate 281, Ottuso Kiriyuu does seem the likely candidate to undergo this experiment. Her background is clean with no current relationship with the Vongola; you asked in the previous memo how her name came up in the list - there is a profile in the Giglio Nero Information Base about her mother; a retired, promised hitman who served the family well and is now working on a Cannabis Farm. The genetic qualities her mother has passed down to her may be to our advantage --
Kiriyuu ripped her eyes from this memo; she didn't bother to read that one at all. It was enough. It made sense. An experiment. She was the experiment. No wonder they chose her out of all people. And here she thought she was special. Yes, she was special. But in the wrong way.
She was a guinea pig. She had been the guinea pig all along.
Kiriyuu sat back in disbelief, the document fell out of her hand. It took a while for the whole thing to seep through her mind; it took her like the darkness of the night, and she could've sworn she felt an intrinsic, raging stir rattle through her. She had thought about the meaning life, but this time, it felt like a knife had ripped into her, ripped every shred of her dignity and humanity left. They went through her. It was a stab. A stab in the back. How could her family do this to her? How could people do that to her? She didn't even know them! Who was she to them? Was she that…. worthless? She moved onto the next document reluctantly. This time, it was a letter, written in musty, black Indian ink that smeared in some places or another. It was signed by that Spanner guy she'd met. She read it closely.
Shouichi and I worked on the Time Requiem together about a year ago from today.
Three quarters of the actual aspect regarding physical, tangible time travel was under Shouichi's responsibility, however. I was only to put the device together, while Shouichi carried out further research, therefore, there isn't much I can tell you about regarding the Millefiore's true objectives revolving around the 10-Year-Bazooka.
The message was a barely distinguishable message, telling them to send Ottuso Kiriyuu to assassinate Hibari Kyouya. The Time Requiem sent the message back to the Giglio Nero, before they merged with the Gesso; before the Millefiore came to be. The Giglio Nero had to trust it because it was stamped with your family's seal – it was a seal used from the family's previous bosses so many years ago that it is extremely highly regarded no matter what. Byakuran had retained it from Uni for further use, and when your family, 10 years ago, discovered the message, realised it of high priority and urgency.
After the message, the Time Requiem suffered damage due to its difficult mechanisms and delicate nature, and has proved to be complicated to repair because of the subtle barrier of subspace energy that surrounds it.
Once I received a further memo from Irie a few months later, he said that he had successfully sent the message, and you, 10 years back, would've been dispatched to Namimori, Japan by now with the task we promised to Byakuran. Later, I discovered that your 24 year old self was in the Millefiore; the experiment hadn't been entirely a success because you had left Hibari with no apparent reason and he still became a Guardian. It is also not that simple, either. There seemed to be a third party objective that had altered your previous incentive to stay with Hibari. Whether you decided to say with Hibari or not, this was your outcome. But you were here. You were suddenly a Commander, and you suddenly hated the Vongola; there also seemed to be a very complicated relationship between you and Hibari which I have still to investigate in.
You had three different future aspects. The first life you could've led, was before we had sent the message altogether 10 years ago. The second life was the one you had now, just before you died. And the third…. This will be your new future.
Your rebirth into this world.
Spanner.
Kiriyuu re-read the letter. Attached to the back of the letter, was a photograph; it was the Giglio Nero emblem of their very first boss. She paled as she stared at the photograph. It meant serious business. If anyone defied that – it meant going against the entire family. She still didn't understand anyway. She couldn't believe it. She was still as lost and uninformed as ever. Who was Byakuran? Who was Uni? Who the hell was this… 'Byakuran' to allow this? She felt her anger bubbling up to a hundred degrees; if she met him…. grr, she'd probably rip him apart. And what was going on in the future? She was furious. She didn't feel upset or scared anymore. She was fuming. She wanted to rip the letters up and stuff them into her mouth, but – this was important. It was some kind… proof, judging by all the emblems stamped on it.
She slammed the folder shut after ramming the letter back inside the folder, got up from her seat, stood in front of the mirror.
…………..
"Reborn, it's been five minutes! I haven't heard anything from her and we've been shouting for ages! You don't think - ?!" Tsuna squawked like a chicken on fire, his hands flailing all over the place until Reborn hit him over the head. He knew how unstable girls could be and how emotional they were – well, that's what he thought. Kiriyuu was no exception.
"I'm sure she's fine. That folder she was carrying, it must've – "
A scream, then – SMASH!
Reborn perked up at the ominous sound. Tsuna instantly paled at the sound that had emitted from the bathroom. "Kiriyuu?! Kiriyuu, are you okay?!"
"Break the door down, Tsuna." Reborn instructed calmly. He hoped that Kiriyuu hadn't done anything stupid (like stick her head down the toilet, per chance?).
"Eh? O-Oh, okay. I'm-I'm going to break down the door!" Tsuna yelled out, even though he actually sounded reluctant to. Wow, he was also listening to Reborn this time, too, without complaining, either. That was because he was worried about Kiriyuu, he knew she could get a bit kooky. He took a few steps into the corridor, backed against the wall, and closed his eyes. "YAAAARGHHHH!" He went charging like a bull towards the bathroom door –
- Which opened, and Tsuna almost crashed to the floor if Kiriyuu hadn't caught him by the scruff of the neck with an unusually aberrant reflex of her arm. She wasn't looking at him, however.
"….K-Kiriyuu…?" Tsuna squeaked out, as he opened his eyes, and glanced to her. There was something different about her. Something…. Dark, foreboding, and brooding, it wasn't like her.
Her hand was bleeding. The mirror in the bathroom was completely smashed, drenched in blood.
"I'm… sorry, I'll…I'll pay for the mirror…" She dropped Tsuna, and brushed past Reborn. She stalked back down the stairs without another word. Uh-oh, not an entirely good response. Tsuna and Reborn exchanged awkward glances. They quickly followed her back down the stairs – Kiriyuu blinked slowly; she knew Tsuna was saying something to her, Reborn was also saying something - but she wasn't listening. She stomped back into the kitchen, and checked the clock on the wall. It had only been roughly 10 minutes. Good. The bazooka was lying against the fridge, unguarded. Lambo was probably on the potty in the WC downstairs or something (since Kiriyuu hoarded the upstairs bathroom). Kiriyuu didn't care anyway. She snatched it from the ground and stared at it. She lifted it up; it felt rather light in her bloody hands, the sleek, cool, black metal and the immense firing power it held. Suddenly, this bazooka felt like the most precious thing to Kiriyuu in the world.
"Kiriyuu, what're you doing - ?!" Tsuna squawked, but Reborn stopped him instead with a small arm out, and shook his head. "It's dangerous!" Tsuna called out, but she still wasn't listening.
"…. I have to know, Tsuna." Kiriyuu said instead as she turned round to them. She pointed the bazooka to her head, and she pulled the string slowly herself. "I have to know the truth."
She was gone in a puff of smoke.
…………………..
Spanner felt a disturbance.
He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and perked up from his telescope and rubbed his temples; he was trying to weld two thin wires together (it was 1000 times magnified). He lifted up his goggles and looked left and right. Nothing was out of place; the door to the examining room was closed. No draught, then. So it wasn't a chill he'd felt down his spine. It was something more menacing. He wondered why he still kept her body inside a cool box within the walls of the office. It certainly wasn't healthy, that's for sure. It was also forbidden in some way, hoarding Kiriyuu's body without telling anyone…. Hmm.
There was another sound from the examining room. A loud crash and then a thud. He craned his head back round. Spanner had never watched a scary movie recently so he wouldn't think twice about Kiriyuu becoming a zombie and crawling out to eat his mechanic information-filled brain before building a super-evil ray that would let her take over the world religiously – even though there was nothing religious about that. He certainly didn't believe in ghosts, either. He went back to work; he knew he was alone – that fact didn't relieve the uneasy atmosphere, however. Immediately, two tiny hands clamped around his neck as soon as he'd peered into the lens to get a better look at the joinery of the hotwires. The hands weren't even big enough to cover his neck, and now all he was suffering was his head being shaken to and fro.
"Spanner, you little bitch!" A high-pitched, female voice could be heard beside him. He grimaced, and turned round. "I'm going to kill you!!!"
It was 14 year old Kiriyuu, with effervescent orange locks that curled past her shoulders, round, innocent, waif-like green eyes, pale-pink rounded cheeks, and miniature hands….covered in blood. Awww, she was short. She was angry. She was cute, compared to her older, moody and brooding self. And she was also probably much happier than she was in the future. Her older self was sarcastic and surprisingly dark. Short, angry and cute. He dismissed the fact that she was trying to strangle him because they weren't strong enough to block his airduct and he couldn't feel any temporary impairment to his breathing anyway. Then again, violence in someone as young as her wasn't good. And she'd called him a bitch. Bad language in a youngster wasn't good, either.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed in his ear; and he tried to keep her quiet by clamping another gloved hand over her mouth.
He winced as she slapped his hand away from her, cleared himself free of her blood. She eventually stopped a few moments later, exhausted. Hostility wasn't in him so he didn't do anything back except wait for her to wear herself out, which would be pretty soon. She didn't scream anymore, to his relief, and slumped against him, her head pasted against the front of his mechanic worksuit. "… Keep your voice down; no need to raise alarm to the entire Millefiore - "
"SILENCE, bitch!" Short pause, then - "It's my turn to speak and demand questions – "
"You mean answers – "
"I said 'sileeeeence'!"
He blinked. Then sighed. Verbal abuse was being hurled at him and all he could do was inhale it all in for the moment. Okay, maybe it was better if he made her calm down first.
She was holding the folder in one of her hands. "… How dare you give me this… this stupid file all about me, with all these random memorandums about an experiment and the Cloud Guardian and… all about the exploitation of an innocent Giglio Nero family member named Kiriyuu - and expect ME to read all about it at home, and accept the fact that I was used by you-you cruel people just to get to Hibari! How dare you!!" She screamed into his clothes, her voice muffled. She thumped her clenched fists on him repeatedly, throwing a tantrum. She made a funny whimpering sound.
Hmm, it was the same folder with the report and the memos her future self had read by accident. It was also the same one that sparked off that violent fit that had her almost stabbing a piece of sharp metal into him. "…. I'm sorry." Spanner murmured out as he reached for the roll of tissue on his desk. "There wasn't enough time to explain to you properly, so I had to give you the folder instead. I'm sorry you had to find out that way." But… the sooner she found out the truth, the better.
That just seemed to make the girl more infuriated than ever. She wouldn't accept the tissue as he nudged it towards her.
"You're bleeding." He gestured to her hand, which was bleeding profusely. She ignored him promptly. He sighed, reached over to the desk again and pulled out his first-aid kit. As a mechanic, Health and Safety was always top priority. He peeled out a few plasters from the tin, a roll of printed bandages, and egged them towards her.
"…Leave me alone." She was tearing up on the waterworks though as the pain spread.
He sighed again, turned her round, took her hands gently even though she resisted thoroughly. He slapped the plaster over the thick gashes, pulling out a few glass fragments in progress, wrapped them around her palms, and also wrapped up her fingers until they were like thick sausages.
"I…I broke a mirror." She eventually mumbled out. "That's 7 years of bad luck for me."
"No, that's superstition. You're too violent for a 14 year old."He finished patching her up. She was stuck with three layers of barney-bandages all over her palms. He'd forgotten the fact that she would probably find him and try to kill him from 10 years ago since they had easier access to the bazooka than they did now. Heck, she could probably track down his TYB self and kill him then. That was pretty scary, like the Terminator or something, only she wasn't a muscle-bound, jarhead-cyborg.
"Heh, wait 'til you meet Hibari." Another pause, then – "Waaaah…. Hibari!!!" She cried, pasted her face flat against his chest again. She needed a hug, even if it was from some guy she just met 10 minutes ago.
"I'm sorry." He said softly, "…. It was an insensitive decision; I was the one who nominated you to go through this."
At first, she looked back up, gave him a very sour and suspicious look. Then – "What I was like in the future?"
He paused.
"Was I super-sexy? Did I have this amazing body? Was I the strongest hitman in the world? Did I have this amazing voice that – "
"………" He rubbed his temples. Everything spewing from Kiriyuu's voice was the weird 'ee-eee-eeeee-eee' ringing sound in his ears.
She wasn't finished - "… Was I a robot?" … That almost sounded slightly hopeful.
He heard that; almost choked on his lollipop.
"Did you build me?"
His eye twitched somewhat.
"I'm pretty sure I'm human -- I don't want to be a robot!!!"
He watched her with half-lidded eyes. That's some imagination she had. Then again, she was 14 and there were a lot of things she had yet to learn about. Couldn't exactly blame her. "….Sorry to disappoint you. But no, you're not a robot. I didn't build you."
"… So I really DO die in 10 years time!" She then yelled, and she lifted her face up from his chest again, glaring at him with tearful, green eyes. "And the worst part is, I didn't even have to in the first place – it was all because of you people! You… changed my life by sending one measly little message and that changes everything about me!!! I met the worst guy in my life when I could've led a normal life and wouldn't have so many problems! You changed my future! You took everything from me! I'm gonna kill youuuuuu!"
Spanner let her 'toss' him around for a bit; her fingers still clamped around the collar of his suit, shaking him forwards and backwards, left and right again. Back and forth once more, side to side, like the gearstick of a car. He sighed inwardly; he was actually starting to feel slightly nauseous from the rocking-boat motion.
"You give me my life back! I want it back! It's my life! It's all meant to be mine! Not a stupid experiment of yours! I have a name! It's Ottuso Kiriyuu Salvatrice Lacole! I have parents! I have a life and I should live it the way I want to!! It's not something you write down on paper like a story and decide for yourself without consulting to me first!! I'm not a lab-rat in some kind of maze, looking for a bit of cheese! I'm a human and I have rights to live my life the way I want! It's mine, you got that?! Mine, mine, mine, mine!!!" She 'tossed' him around again. "And give me my diary back! It's private, and no-one else should be reading it! Especially a guy!"
He had to admit; it was probably the most entertaining and interesting thing he had ever read. "No." He replied curtly. He probably needed it for future reference (and for a few laughs). A few days ago and he had read that she thought her life was a fairytale; she wondered if she was actually born by a man with an artificial womb, and that she secretly wanted her life to have some kind of evil conspiracy behind it. What on earth went through her mind? He waited for her to calm down; that meant he had to endure more childish tantrums from the girl. "Kiriyuu. You can live your life the way you want to right away. You have rights. No-one is stopping you but yourself. Just walk away from everything that is happening right now….." He paused. "…. You still don't get it, do you?"
"OF COURSE I DON'T!!!" It was back to Kiriyuu strangling Spanner senseless again.
"Okay, okay." He let out a short sigh, twisted his lollipop around in his mouth for a moment from the stick, hearing the hard candy clatter against his molars. "I'll tell you what I know first - The Giglio Nero, led by Uni, and the Gesso, led by Byakuran, merged together to become the Millefiore. We are currently at war with the Vongola. It was natural that we were trying to develop a way to destroy the enemy. We developed a machine that transmitted a vague message about Hibari Kyouya. The Giglio Nero had no choice but to accept. The message was for you, our chosen candidate; it instructed them to dispatch you to assassinate Hibari, but all we wanted was you to spy on him. We also knew that at your current strength and abilities that time, it was highly impossible that you'd be able to kill him in the first place. There goes phase 1 of our experiment. I know, it is complicated, but Byakuran makes all the rules, not me."
She continued listening even though she didn't like any of what she was hearing at all. He propped her upright in his lap, as he didn't like her soaking up his front. She was so tiny compared to him, like a child's porcelain doll or something. He knew she was fragile, he knew she was frail, and naïve. Easy to break. "…Why is there a war?" She then asked.
Crap, he knew he'd have to face that question some time. "….. I'm not going to tell you."
She frowned dangerously at him. "Tell me."
"No."
"Tell me!" She grabbed the front of his collar again that their noses almost touched; he was now staring back into the eyes of a very, very angry little 14 year old girl, and Kiriyuu wasn't entirely a normal 14 year old girl, either. She was violent. She could handle guns, and let's not forget the crazy animal-instinct properties hormones a teenager had that could induce her into a rampaging Godzilla. "Whywontyoutellme?!" She screamed loudly at 90mph.
His eardrums felt like they had burst, and he opened his eyes again, smoothed down his hair which had been blown back. "…The more you try to interrogate me, the more I won't tell you and the more you waste your time when you could find out about something else that is more important."
She bit her lip, let go of him and returned to her 'seat'. "F-Fine…."
He took a deep breath; this would be a long monologue, "Your future self is 24 years old. You are a Commander of one of the Black Spells squad; I forgot the name because there are too many – " He replied, and she rolled her eyes. He continued, " – You despised the Vongola. Elia goes off and tells someone that she thinks you are allied with the Vongola. This spreads to Byakuran, he sends people to interrogate you but you seemingly died at the scene, and Elia finds you. She says Hibari Kyouya killed you because he was the last person you saw, which probably makes the rumour that you were allied with the Vongola even worse. She takes you to my office after you recover; she wants me to build your coffin – "
"Okay, I get it. What's your point?"
"You are given the chance to avoid this from happening. You have the choice to save your life. So, ask yourself - what are you going to do now? And how are you going to do it? What will you sacrifice in order to live?"
Kiriyuu looked down. "…. Sacrifice?"
"Think about it. Your diary has entries about your times with the Vongola; you are friends with them; you went camping together. The way how I see it… I don't know why you suddenly despised them so much, but… It was your 'hatred' towards them, and the resent you felt for Hibari Kyouya, the freedom you wanted from him and your feelings for him that drove you to your end - So if you want to live, you will have to sacrifice your relationship with your friends, severe yourself from Hibari from now on, and have no more ties with them at all."
I…. resent… Hibari? Her lip wobbled. Spanner knew she was soaking this in like a sponge; to be honest, what he wanted to achieve was the opposite. He didn't want to be the one who would tell her what to do.
He wanted Kiriyuu to be the one who would realise what was the right thing to do.
He took his lollipop out, Kiriyuu watched it somewhat, rather hungrily, too. "Or, you can sacrifice this family. But I highly doubt that, and you wouldn't have anywhere to go. You know it'll always be family first." Pause. "Oh. When you return back to the past, you must promise me this."
"What?"
"You cannot tell the Vongola about the war."
"….Huh?" She then frowned. "And why NOT?!"
He looked to the side. "Well…You have no evidence about this war right now. The report I gave you won't mean anything to them, you know, so you can't show them that."
She grumbled.
"They may not believe you, especially at this time – the scramble for the rings should be their top priority in due time – so the least they should be worrying about right now is a war that hasn't begun yet. I'm pretty sure that you're also afraid of what they'll do to you if they found out about the war. And you're also scared that our family will find out and pursuit you for siding with the enemy – "
"You don't know them! You don't know what the Vongola are like at all!" She suddenly snapped at him, trying hard not to cry, "If you met one of the Vongola – you'd think differently, too! In fact, if you met Tsuna, you'd see the Vongola from a different perspective!"
He sighed. "Listen; whichever the way how our family may use you to reach their objectives… I know you still understand the way how things work in our family, and where your loyalties lie. You won't betray your family in the end, because we are the ones who raised you. You were born into a powerful family. You owe everything you are now to us." He continued, "They are basically everything you are now. They sculpted you. You were raised by them. Don't underestimate our family - They could've forced your mother to terminate you while you were still in her womb. If it wasn't for us who decided to let you live, and provide you with food," He began to list with his fingers and she shrunk from him, " - and shelter, and even a proper education, you'd be out in the streets, living the life no difference to a common sewer rat. You'd bedead, and that is why you will always be indebted to the Giglio Nero whether you like it or not."
It was brutally honest, and harsh. But he was right. The Giglio Nero would always hold a power over her no matter how much she didn't want it.
"One more thing - Don't be naïve, Kiriyuu; even though you may trust these Vongola, how long have you known them for, compared to the Giglio Nero? What makes them any different to who and what we are? What if they're planning something up their sleeves, too? And don't forget, you're still part of the Giglio Nero. It doesn't matter if we were neutral with them today, yesterday or tomorrow."
He could see that she was starting to cry again, even though she was trying her best not to. "You wrote that you went with them to destroy the hideout of the Tomaso in Namimori. It was a reasonable decision, because the Vongola should not be so courteous to a potential rival family. This goes to all mafia around; it is like a business. Businesses compete with another and annihilate their rivals. What will make you any different to the Tomaso in the eyes of the Vongola? So I hope that changes your perspective of the Vongola even though they may be your 'friends'. They may have been friendly and hospitable to you before…. but if anything threatens their family, then be prepared for the worst. Think about it, before they decide that they want to destroy you, too."
Spanner paused. Well, those were words he never thought he'd say in his life.
Kiriyuu listened to it all. Everything he said was right; it struck a chord within her. She looked back down at the ground. "… I… I get it. This whole thing is because of the Vongola, and Hibari, right? I don't get the whole 'Guardians' bit, but… If they hadn't wanted Hibari to be part of their family in the first place, then he wouldn't have become the Guardian, and then you guys wouldn't have to use me to get to him… right?"
He gave her a small, yet rather doubtful nod of his head. Man, he had spoken so much. Well, he hadn't spoken this much to someone before. He needed water… water…. Quick.
"So…So it IS the Vongola's fault…" She grumbled incoherently. He didn't hear.
He checked the clock on the wall. "Hmm, that's more than five minutes up. How come you're not gone yet?"
She glared; he ulped. Well, not really. As if he'd let some snot-nosed, 14 year old brat with hormone problems intimidate him and push him around, especially in his territory. She was roaring at him again, her clenched fists flailing in all sorts of direction. "Oh, that'd be suuuuuper, right? With me gone and you can go back to all your work and stuff and live a conscientious-free life without ever thinking that you cost an innocent girl to lose her life. Haha! WRONG! Even fate is with me! The bazooka must've broken down so I can have more time so I can still kill you!" She laughed maniacally in his face. She really was quite cute when she was younger, and extremely insane. Again, she tried to strangle him. But this time, they just ended up in a tangle of arms and legs.
He ended up having to lift her off from him from under the arms and back upright like a teddy bear even though she kicked and screamed. She was so tiny compared to him, really. "Watch my tools. They're sharp and delicate."
"… Oh. Sorry." She mumbled – which surprised him a lot – she then looked up at him apprehensively, "…. You don't look like a bad person."
"Huh, you're one to talk about judging people by their appearances."
Kiriyuu continued, "…. And to think, you could do something like that to someone…. Don't say it was a 'spur of the moment', I won't take that excuse. You know: 'Oh, it was a spur of the moment so that's why I chose Kiriyuu to be part of the experiment…' That's a load of crap! And that letter – oooh, don't get me even started on it! It was stupid and gangly; I didn't understand any of it! I don't want to!"
"Okay, I understand that you're still angry – "
She just felt murderous regardless. "I'm not just angry, I really wanna kill somebody, i.e. YOU!" She went 'raaaaargh' like a mad dog high with rabies and lunged at him, tried to strangle him again; he held her back by using his palm, which was pressed against her forehead. She was now flailing in mid-action, trying to reach his neck. He let her go, and she slumped back over his front again, gripping the fabric of his trousers. He hesitated, looked up and sighed, then slowly put a hand over the top of her head. Her fingers curled under the hem of his trousers even tighter as she rubbed her face against it, still sniffling. "… I don't want to die… I know it's natural, but I don't want die the way I'm supposed to in 10 years time… I don't want to be killed by Hibari…. Is… Is it selfish of me to say such a thing?"
He actually wasn't sure how to answer to that.
"Why me, Spanner…?" She began again, "There are so many other people…. Why did it have to be me…?"
"… Would you rather have other people take your place? Would you rather have not met Hibari?"
She looked up at him, knowing that he had successfully pissed her off yet made her realise the truth, and that's what irked her. Her face scrunched up in a sour expression; no, she wouldn't want other innocent individuals taking her place, and no, she wouldn't want to have NOT met Hibari in the first place. Even though she self-acclaimed so much that she hated him, but… Deep inside, she knew meeting Hibari was the best and worst thing that could happen to her.
"NO!" She then seethed out, bunching up a bit of his baggy trousers in her hands. "I want Hibari all to myself! No-one else can have him but me! No-one else is allowed to kill him but me! He's mine, mine, mine, MINE!!!"
He gave her a tiny, awkward, brief smile. She was rather possessive, too. Hm.
"Spanner, what do I do now?"
"It's up to you. You have to decide yourself. What path will you choose?"
"…….." She then sniffled, wiping at her eyes. "… I still don't understand why you're doing this. You said you didn't pity me. Why do you want to save my life? It doesn't mean anything to you - " She grumbled out. " - You don't even know me. And you're a mechanic. You're not meant to do these kinds of things. You're not supposed to care about these things and give long lectures and dramatic, life-changing, mind-boggling monologues. You're not going to get a 'good Samaritan' award, that's for sure!"
He waited. "Well, we are…………….. family." That was a long pause. He coughed somewhat into his glove. Awkward, but true.
"I don't believe you." She said with a snort, "… I don't blame you. No, I mean, I… I forgive you, Spanner. But just because we're 'family' isn't a strong reason for you to help me. It's your job, right?"
The expression on his face somewhat fell. "…. No, that's not it."
"Huh?" She hadn't heard him; too busy engrossed in staring at those Power Rangers-look-alike robots in the corner.
"By the way, you can't hit yourself with the bazooka after this either. You're going to be cremated."
"…….. Nnngh."
"The way how I see it…." He glanced down at her. She still wasn't looking at him, her eyes still engrossed with the floor. He let out a short sigh, made her look at him for the moment, and he smiled again. "… Isn't it also natural to want to see one of the 'best things'?" And Spanner knew that he had got through to her -
"…. Best thing? You mean a miracle?" She frowned. "That's the LAMEST thing I've ever heard."
Well, no, not really. But it was close.
……………
She didn't understand when he said he wanted see one of the 'best things'. She just understood this: She had to prevent her death. She had to prevent her death at the hands of the Vongola. Hibari. Everything pointed like a big, fat, red arrow to him.
She felt alone, without Spanner, or Guiseppe, or Elia, even if she would betray Kiriyuu in the future. Elia, and Guiseppe, were suddenly the closest people she would have as 'family'. Tsuna and Reborn were looking expectantly at her, waiting for a response. She just froze up on the spot; she didn't know what to say to them. She didn't know how to react to them anymore. She ran out of Tsuna's house once she realised she was back in the past. When she'd looked at them – her… her… friends? Tsuna… Reborn… No, they weren't her friends. They were the Vongola. They were a rival family. Why would anyone from a rival family call the other…. Friend??
Every muscle in her body clenched. She was stuck now. She didn't know. She just didn't know anymore.
They were waiting for some kind of response from her – she stood there as reality slammed back into her and she remembered what Spanner had said and she felt afraid. She felt afraid of them; what Spanner said just went around and around in a tight circle. Hibari – the Giglio Nero – the Vongola – Hibari – The Giglio Nero, and so forth. Kiriyuu thought her brain would explode any minute, she felt the contents of her stomach almost ride up the back and out her gullet. She didn't say anything to Tsuna, or Reborn, despite the fact that they were calling after her as she ran out of their house. She'd left her grocery bags, and even her shoes in the house. She ran out bare-foot, she just knew she had to get away; she had to get away from the Vongola now. Nothing else mattered.
She was terrified.
Kiriyuu tripped over somewhat, stumbled forward and collapsed onto her knees on the pavement. She ignored the stares she received from passerbys, engrossed in staring at the dark, paved path in front of her even though her knees were beginning to throb. Her fingers clenched, gathering up dirt and her nails scraping against the warm, dry, thickened tar. A few drops of sweat fell off her forehead and stained the ground in front of her. Her eyes were wide, pupils trembling. She was shaking all of a sudden; she couldn't seem to stop.
She got it. She got her wish.
Her life had been a conspiracy all along.
And it felt horrible.
………………
There goes the elaborate, rather-screwed-up plot of my story.
Now TYB, Kiriyuu has found out what happens in the future, so it begins – she has to prevent her death in the future, her supposed 'alliance' with Mukuro, AND change her entire future life in the Millefiore. I know, I know, it's really quite far-fetched… I really should've made it much easier, right? -Sigh-
