Chapter 34: the thoughts that bothered me
I was in trouble, that was something that I knew for sure. Why wouldn't I be in trouble when I was restrained, or hugged, by Lussaria and guarded by Squalo who was standing right next to me? Even Levi was watching me though he looked less pleased by my capture. The only ones I didn't see right now were Mammon and Bel… But my mind was too occupied to think about those two right now.
There was another matter that was more important to me, like the gola mosca.
I did not remember signing anything that proved that the Varia bought this machine and I was sure that Spanner told me that these robots were still in their experimental phase…
Which meant that they weren't supposed to be sold.
Which meant that it didn't come from us.
Which meant that the Varia had the necessary blueprints to build it themselves.
It all made sense now. Why I met some of the Varia members in the trap we set up in Milan and how the thieves got away with the blueprints unscathed from our base. This assassination squad were the thieves we were looking for. They were the ones that stole the older blueprints that Spanner managed to secure.
They were the ones that caused fifty percent of my paperwork lately.
I was still glaring at the robot with a Vongola ring around its neck, this thing is a guardian?!, and thinking of a way to destroy it without getting Tsuna disqualified for the ring battles when a weird laugh caught my attention.
"Ushishishi, it seems that we have successfully captured the fish." Bel laughed. I gave the damned sure-to-be-destroyed-soon-robot one last glare before turning my attention to the blonde teen and the baby on his… shoulder.
The hooded baby did not wear a pacifier like Renato, but a part of the Vongola ring around their neck instead. But even without the pacifier, it was obvious that this baby was not a normal baby.
"Damn it." I breathed. An arcobaleno.
…
"So… why am I in this situation again?" I muttered mostly to myself after fifteen minutes. If only my stun gun wasn't confiscated by these men and my bag wasn't out of my reach because of Lussaria who was still hugging me, I wouldn't have been in this situation. Hell, they only managed to confiscate it because I was distracted by the gola mosca! I shouldn't have been in this situation to begin with!
First the gola mosca and now an arcobaleno in the enemy team, what is next? Another lookalike?!
...Now I was thinking about it, that was very possible considering the flames of wrath that I encountered in Milan...
Damn.
Something to defend myself with would be very appreciated right now, but because my bag was out of my reach I could only use illusionary weapons… and what then? Jumping down from the roof equals suicide and I wasn't sure if I would be able to escape the school if I ran. There was only one way out of the school grounds, damn it!
"Be honored." Levi answered the rhetorical question almost bitterly. "You can join the Varia, the best assassination squad of the world with the best boss of the unive-"
"The worst shitty boss in the world!" Squalo interrupted.
"The… worst boss in the world?" I muttered to myself again. Who talks about their boss like that? And if he really was that horrible, why would anyone follow a 'shitty boss' like that?
"The worst shitty one." Squalo corrected me. "But the strongest of all and the only shitty boss I will follow in my life."
"Hmm, interesting." I sighed. This man loved to contradict himself, or rather he liked to insult people doesn't he? I looked at the night sky and sighed again. This group managed to get in and out of the Neo Estraneo base without being caught while they are this loud and disagreeing with each other…
We really should upgrade our security system.
…
"Is this the wrong place?" I heard Tsuna ask in the distance after watching the Varia being loud for another fifteen minutes. In this fifteen minutes I confirmed the fact that the Varia was the loudest and most violent band of misfits that I've ever met in all my lifetimes. Even the explosions in the Neo Estraneo were less loud or destructive than this group, though I could simply be used to that noise.
I looked away from the Varia that stopped bickering for now and looked at the small group that approached a cube shaped arena on the ground floor. I had the perfect view of the arena, that probably was the first battlefield, from the roof… which is probably the reason why Reborn texted me to come here.
It would have been the perfect observing spot if the Varia wasn't here as well.
The said assassination squad, minus the gola mosca, looked at the small group of friends that just arrived before nodding at each other. Then they looked at me and smirked ominously. I didn't like the foreboding feeling I got. Not at all.
"VOI I hope that you like heights, fish." Squalo stated loudly.
"…Why?" I asked hesitantly, but I got no verbal answer. Instead, Squalo took me from Lussaria's hold with his swordless arm and jumped from the roof with me. My unvoiced protests became a silent scream as I felt the gravity pull us down and I could only close my eyes as I desperately held on the only thing that I could grab in fear.
I had nothing against heights, as long as I wasn't falling of course. Especially in this life where a simple fall from the stairs will result in my bones getting crushed and kill me.
"...Hieee? Zero?!" Tsuna exclaimed. I heard something snap and felt the familiar killing intend from the area where Tsuna's voice came from.
"Zero-chan?"
"What the fuck are you doing with the enemy, midget?!"
"So there you are to the EXTREME!"
"Let her go, now." I heard Reborn order.
"No." Squalo answered. "And she is the one that doesn't let go of me." I slowly opened my eyes to noticed that I was still holding Squalo's waist as a lifeline even though we already landed.
"T-that was n-not funny." I said when I found my voice again. I tried to let go of the assassin, who was way too amused at my reaction, and scowled when I found out that my body didn't want to work along. I was still paralyzed by the shock of being forced to jump from the roof again. At last, I managed to let go of the man and tried to stand on my own though that didn't exactly work out. My legs gave out and only Squalo's arm around me prevented me from falling.
Today I reconfirmed the fact that being forced to jump of the roof was terrifying.
"Never again." I muttered, though the last time I said that resulted me in jumping again. Really, I should have sent Cozart to prison for that, no matter how ´justified´ the action was. No, actually. The action wasn´t justified at all. Being forced to jump from the rooftops was never justified. He managed to talk his way out of it though.
Squalo simply laughed and handed me over to the gola mosca. The machine restrained me with its metal arms as the memory of a few centuries ago played in my head.
"…Who is this Zero?" Levi asked after the memory of Cozart pushing me off the roof and jumping after me had ended. I looked at the man and tilted my head in confusion and then I realized what he meant. They didn't know it yet, right?
"That is me." I nodded. "My real name is Zero."
"…It's not Nemo?" Lussaria asked. I shook my head in response and the man pouted. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Hmm… because I was kidnapped by you guys?" I sweatdropped. "It is only natural that I don't give my real name to my kidnappers, right?"
The Varia thoughtfully looked at each other again and nodded.
"You have the right mindset." The baby stated. "Not revealing your identity when you are kidnapped to avoid spilling information and actually escaping by making use of the situation is a natural thing for someone in our line of occupations to do."
"Mammy is right, you're suited to become an assassin or Mafioso." Bel agreed with the baby… Mammy? As in Mammon? The hooded illusionist in Milan?
"Are you… Mammon?" I asked. The hooded baby nodded and I sighed in defeat. Of course, it just had to be Mukuro's opponent that was an arcobaleno.
…
"Well then, the guardians of the sun. please come to the center of the ring."
"Hmm, the sun battle is first then… that means that Ryohei nii-san is up first." I muttered. So we will begin with the sun guardian… And in something that resembled a boxing ring as well. Are the arena's based on the fighting styles of the first generation of the Vongola, Knuckle was a boxer after all, or did they choose this kind of arena to give Tsuna's group an advantage?
I suspected that it was the first, though it could be complete coincidence as well.
"That is right, Hibari-chan." Lussaria smiled. I looked incredulously at the man who was still calling me 'Hibari-chan' after I told them that I didn't give them my real name. Did he still think that I really was a ´Hibari´? That was a terrifying thought. "I will win easily… though it is sad that boss isn't here to see me win."
"One thing before we begin." Reborn stated. "If we win, stop trying to get Zero in the Varia. She will not join, no matter what."
"That sounds alright." Squalo smirked. "It's going to be an easy win for us after all."
"Which means that I have to win now." Lussaria cheered and winked at me before walking to the boxing ring. I looked at the assassination squad that simply nodded in agreement and wondered if no one was going to mention the fact that they never told Reborn what their conditions were in this bet…
They probably didn't notice, luckily enough for me.
…
I was really grateful that I had mist flames and that I was able to create illusionary sunglasses. The lights of the arena were literally blinding bright like the sun… Though it could have been my imagination as well because it was sometime around midnight now.
Anyways, the light was blindingly bright.
"How unfair." I scowled. Lussaria had his sunglasses, but Ryohei didn't which was a clear disadvantage. Didn't this count as foul play or something like that? I looked at the judges, the women that let me in, and frowned when they didn't mention a single thing.
Were they hired by the Varia?
I returned my attention to the battle and winced when Ryohei hit Lussaria's knee. That got to hurt… wait. A metal plate in his knee? I frowned at the clear disadvantages that Ryohei got in this battle and wondered where his tutor was… Or who, for that matter.
It clearly wasn't a boxer though.
I could see some improvements in Ryohei's attacks, but nothing new. It was clear that the teen was taught other things than boxing, even as someone who never boxed I could see that. Well… Knuckle did try to teach me some boxing of course, but I was never good at fighting like that. The lessons did make me more observant of the movements of a boxer though.
It made me compare every boxer to Knuckle as well.
Ryohei´s movements were nowhere close as Knuckle's smoother moves. Yes, Ryohei´s punches were strong, but Knuckle's fighting style was smoother, less ferocious, graceful as a tiger even. But equally fierce.
It was almost painful to see how much differences there was between their fighting abilities… And yet they were so much alike.
Too much alike.
Boxing was one thing, their looks were another… but their extreme fighting spirit and dying will? Seeing this similarity made me wonder if I was supposed to teach this generation as well…
But I wasn't his tutor. Someone else was, not me. Someone else taught this generation, I only taught Muku-chan…
Was it bad to feel jealous of the tutors of this era? I quickly shook that thought from my mind and returned my attention to the current time. This was not the time to be jealous, Ryohei was struggling right now!
"Come on, Ryohei nii-san." I muttered. "You can do it…"
"Stand up kora!" someone shouted from above. I tore away my eyes from the battle and looked up.
Another arcobaleno?!
"Colonello!" Tsuna shouted to the blonde baby with the blue pacifier that was floating in the sky… no, wait. He was being carried by a bird.
"Voi, that shorty is Colonello the arcobaleno." Squalo muttered, though it somehow sounded as loud as his normal volume. "What is he doing here?"
"It's about time. Show them your true strength, Ryohei." Colonello shouted from his spot in the sky.
"Master Colonello, I've been waiting for those words." Ryohei stated. I looked between the white haired teen and the arcobaleno as I slowly but surely connected the dots.
This was Ryohei's tutor. An arcobaleno. Someone that belonged to the same group as brother…
If someone that belonged in the same group as brother was tutoring the sun guardian, I could be sure that he learned something interesting. Maybe even a special attack like-
"MAXIMUM CANNON!"
I should have known it.
…
"This is bad…" I muttered. Even with the amazing attack, that was slightly different from Knuckle's maximum cannon as I noticed, Ryohei was losing.
But that would actually make sense, considering that the teen had less training and experience than Lussaria who was a professional assassin. One should not expect normal teenagers to win from professionals after all…
Though Giotto did manage to create a strong vigilante group that turned in a mafia Famiglia with determination only…
"Onii-chan?" Kyoko asked as she appeared in the schoolgrounds-
Wait, what are Kyoko and Hana doing here?! I panicked. I thought that only those who have a connection with the Vongola could enter the school grounds! I looked at the two approaching girls and quickly used my illusions to become invisible before they could notice me.
"…That is weird." Hana muttered. "I thought that I saw Zero with those weird monkeys."
I dodged a bullet with that, I thought when the teen dismissed it as her imagination. It would have been suspicious to see your absent classmate in the middle of the night… in school even! And suspicion was the last thing that I wanted. Suspicion meant attention and it went against all my teachings to catch too much attention.
I returned my attention to Ryohei and Kyoko and smiled at the scene I saw.
"Determination was all you needed." I whispered as the white haired teen who found his resolve in the arena took his stance. "Shine bright, Ryohei nii-san."
"MAXIMUM CANNON!"
And Lussaria was down. I was sure that the man was still able to fight though- My thoughts paused for a little while when I heard the whirring sound from the gola mosca that was still holding me. I recognized that sound. I knew that sound too well.
The result of this sound managed to blow up three labs at once.
I looked at the machine in fear and tried to wriggle my way out of the arms of the robot before I became a victim to a deadly burst of explosive material. Luckily enough for me, the robot let me go to aim. Sadly enough for Lussaria, the robot was aiming at him.
Just in time, I managed to let myself fall to the ground so the attack of the gola mosca couldn't hit me or my bag and watched the sun guardian of the Varia being shot down in horror. I got up as fast as I could and ran to the battlefield. When I neared the arena I noticed that Lussaria was alive, barely but still alive.
He was lucky that he wasn't shot by the latest kind of explosive bullets that Spanner installed in his mosca's... I have to ask Spanner what the differences are between the gola mosca's I knew and the one on the stolen blueprints. I had to be sure of that, for both for Tsuna's sake and the Varia's.
"Tomorrow evening's battle will be the match between the lightning guardians." I heard one of the identical women state in the background as I was still observing Lussaria's wounds.
The lightning guardian…
Lambo.
No.
The kid wasn't ready.
He was still a child.
No.
"Zero, you are half transparent again." Reborn whispered. I looked down and nodded blankly at my babyfied brother before making sure that I was invisible again.
"Please don't tell me that Lambo is going to fight tomorrow." I whispered. Reborn looked away from where I was standing and pulled his fedora over his eyes to hide his expression.
"…It's inevitable… maybe it's better if you don't come to the match tomorrow." Reborn stated softly. "You will only be distracting the stupid cow from his fight."
…
It was almost two o'clock when I reached my home. I was still invisible as I entered the green building and still absentminded when I let myself fall down on one of the couches in the living room.
There were too many things bothering me right now.
Muku-chan's opponent, the gola mosca, Lussaria's wounds, Lambo's fight tomorrow…
One thing was sure, I will not be able to fall asleep easily tonight.
…
Omake: the best of friends (kind of)
"I still think that infiltrating the Chiavarone base was a bad idea, Cozart." I whispered to the man next to me. "This is asking to be killed."
"Shh, don't say that out loud Alex. They might hear us and we aren't infiltrating the main base anyways. Just a small casino that they own." The redhead hushed. I shook my head and looked at the dealer of the black jack table. Why did I come along again?
O right, because Cozart already left and because he was a moron that would surely get caught if I wasn't there to help him out.
Do it for Giotto, I tried to convince myself. Do not flip the table, do not kill this idiot, do not catch too much attention, we just need to gather some information about the Chiavarone boss. But I knew that it was too late already. We stood out like a sore thumb.
Cozart had his signature bright red hair that was difficult to miss and his reputation as Giotto's friend and I was accompanying this guy. If I only arrived earlier I could disguise us with illusions, but no. Cozart had to rush in without a plan or backup and now we were forced to play this card game like other customers in the casino while we clearly didn't have as much money as the them.
And with us acting so suspicious? It's a miracle that we hadn't been thrown out of the casino yet.
"Black Jack." I sighed as I revealed my cards. If I was stuck in this situation, I will at least enjoy myself and earn some money.
"T-that is your sixth Black Jack in a row, Alex." Cozart hissed. "Could you please cheat in a less obvious way?"
"I'm not cheating." I replied with my pokerface still on. "I don't need to cheat to win card games."
…
Apparently I was too absorbed by playing Black Jack, I always got like this when card games were involved, and now we were recognized as 'spies'… actually, Cozart was recognized as a spy. I was recognized as the 'demon of the port'… though I had no idea what that actually meant.
It still meant that we were both recognized and running away though.
"Why are we running to the roof, Cozart?!" I shouted as we ran up the stairs.
"I thought that you knew why!"
"You are the one who is running in front of me!" I shouted.
"You are the one that caught their attention!" Cozart shouted back.
"I told you that I was sorry already!"
"Well, I don't know! With your kind of pokerface you could not have meant that at all!"
"You- you know what? Forget it!" I exclaimed as we both reached the end of the stairs. "Your descendants will have the same trusting issues as you!"
"And your descendants will be as emotionless as you!" Cozart retorted. We looked around for a way out, why were we even trying to find a way out on the rooftop anyways, but we couldn't find a way out… or at least I didn't
"…Hey Alex?"
"Yes Cozart?"
"Do you trust me?"
"You ask that after I accused you of having trusting issues?" I deadpanned.
"Do you trust me?" Cozart tried again. I looked in the strange eyes of my friend that showed nothing but determination and nodded. Despite him being an idiot, Cozart was still a friend and someone I could entrust my life with.
"…Of course."
"Then, forgive me for doing this!" Cozart shouted as he pushed me. I didn't expect being pushed and stumbled backward which resulted in me falling from the roof with Cozart jumping after me. Luckily enough, our fall was caught by a huge heap of wool on the roof of the neighboring building.
"Never again." I gasped. Apparently I could not entrust my life to this bastard. "I hate you, Cozart."
"It's official." Cozart nodded. "We are best friends from now on."
"Where did that come from? And I thought that Giotto was your best friend?"
"Well, you still trusted me after a fight like that. Only best friends forgive each other as fast as that and… you're right about Gio. You are my female best friend then."
"…Female best friend?"
"D-don't misunderstand, Al! I meant that I have two lists of best friends and that spot was still open." Cozart explained.
"That is alright then." I sighed, I was relieved that he did not find out that I was an actual girl but that was a close call… wait.
Is that dynamite falling to us or just my imagination? Lit dynamite? Please let it be my imaginatio- no, damn it's real lit dynamite.
"Cozart?"
"Yes Alex?"
"We have to jump again!"
Hey guys, doubleyy here.
So, that was the first battle. Three more battles until Mukuro's fight which probably equals three or four chapters (If everything goes as planned). One of those chapters will probably have someone else to narrate the story... or at least, if everything goes as planned. The Omake is basically the entire relationship between Cozart and Alex summerized in one omake, it was fun to write :). Somehow I got the image of Allen Walker from D. Gray-man in my head when Alex said that she doesn't have to cheat to win card games (though he does cheat) XD.
I'm not too sure about that yet, ddmahan922. I have five different ways in which the future chapters could turn out and in several, there is a possibility ;).
Thanks for the tips, Claed. I personally think that I've improved a bit since chapter three, but like I mentioned English is not my native language so the possibility of mistakes is always here. Maybe I will go back and rewrite the first chapters at a point, but right now i want to focus on the future chapters. (And as you may have noticed by now, Zero is indeed a girl)
To Raven-V-Blackshade and Akayuki Novak: I'm glad that you liked the omake I guess ;).
To Reaper Senpai and ADDBaby: the reaction will come soon kufufufu...
Yeah, Mortal, I was kind of watching the movie back then (I loved it :D)
And thanks to all the others for their support as well! We reached the 200 in favs, which means one thing!
Omake 2: the daily life of the Sinclair's part 13
It is a Sinclair tradition, they said. It will be fun, they said. And yet, Renato couldn't help but think that it is only annoying as he looked at the man in front of him. Screw tradition, he was going to kill this man when he finds a gun. There must be a gun somewhere in this household, the matriarch of this household was a hitwoman for god's sake!
Tradition be damned, Renato didn't care about the stupid tradition of 'letting possible future clients or bosses babysit your children to see how they fare', he was going to break it and kill the man. Many similar thought ran through Renato's mind as he continued glaring at the soon-to-be-dead-future-Vongola-Nono and the honestly offending smile that the man wore.
"Stop smiling." Renato ordered before turning away and beginning his quest to find a goddamned gun. The smile on Timoteo's face annoyed Renato to no end. It was kind and caring, but oh-so-obviously fake. This man needed to learn how to smile properly, it was almost painful how fake the smile was. No, it simply is painful. The man needed some lessons in smiling, but he could only receive that from the best…
And there was no way that Renato was going to allow the fake smiling forty-something years old man close to his precious little sister.
And now was the perfect moment for murder because Renata was still in their neighbor's house.
So where is the gun?
…
Fifteen minutes.
Renato was looking for a gun for a full fifteen minutes before returning to the living room where he left his 'babysitter'. Without his gun. It seemed that Serena and Renatus Sinclair knew their son too well and took every single weapon with them, save for the cutlery… But even Renato wasn't so desperate to use cutlery to commit murder.
When Renato opened the door to the living room, with the full intend to order his babysitter to stop smiling or to use the cutlery as last resort, he did not expect to see a battlefield.
Cards were littered everywhere and there were even cards sticking out of the wall. Renato approached one of the cards that were stuck on the wall with a strange feeling and pulled the card out…
Karuta cards?
Renato, with the card still in his hand, slowly walked to the dining room in suspicion. There were only two people in this household that would even think of playing a Japanese card game like karuta and both of those members of the Sinclair family were not supposed to be at home. One of them was with his mother and the other was at the neighbor's. And yet, more and more proof of the presence of the latter appeared as Renato came closer to his destination.
The raven haired teen desperately tried to ignore the card house that could not be called a card house anymore, the structure reminded Renato way too much of the Eiffel tower for it to be a house, as he finally was standing in front of the door that separated the living room from the dining room.
Just as he suspected. Renata was back. Renata was playing card games against their babysitter. Renata was destroying the said babysitter. With the most bright, or sadistic as Renato's mind supplied, smile that she could muster.
Renata was playing card games.
"You're back Reborn!" Renata beamed at her brother when he stepped in the room. "We were just about to begin a game of poker. Do you want to join?"
The answer was obvious.
"No." Renato answered. The teen ignored the man that was desperately pleading him to save him with his eyes and shook his head again. He knew better than playing card games with Renata. She would destroy every opponent with skills that professionals would kill for and still smile the smile that an unexperienced victim could not say no to.
Renato knew it, he was an experienced victim.
The older Sinclair sibling successfully looked away from the pleading look and the sparkling smile and walked off to his next quest. To find a camera to record this. His father and mother would love the blackmail material and there was no way that Renato was going to pass on recording the smile-less face of the future Vongola Nono…
...Zero/Alex(is)/Renata may or may not be a bit too obsessed with card games so now and then. Anyways thanks for reading and please review.
Doubleyy out.