Mori acts very...uh...unhappy with herself in this chapter...for a while only!
I'm so very productive today.
Chapter 35: Back to Training
One hit.
She couldn't even land one hit on that guy. How could she possibly defeat him?
In this state too.
Mori dimly became aware of her surroundings as her mind slowly dragged itself back to the real world. And her first thought was she didn't want to be awake. Her entire body hurt like it was ripped apart and she could feel numerous needles hooked up to her. She didn't like needles.
But it didn't bother her as much as Neo. It was more than a complete defeat. It was utter annihilation! How was she supposed to stand up to him in a real fight?
And now...she was stuck, probably in a hospital, probably under intense care, probably incapacitated for a long time, if not for life. Probably on the verge of dying. She could've even muster up enough energy for her illusions to heal her.
"You're awake." Was that...
"L...Lal Mirch...Se...Sensei...?" She shifted slightly to face the infant.
"..."
"..."
"You see the difference between your strength against his now?"
"..."
"To tell you the truth, I can't really find a scenario where you'd come out alive." She said bitterly. "If you don't fight, the chances that Sawada's family wins drops down even lower than it already is. And if you do...well...you know. You couldn't even touch him when you were in the best condition. In your state, it's just..."
"...am I going to die?"
"No, you're out of danger zone for now. But..."
"...what...?"
"All the nerves connected to your arm were cut open. The doctors believe that you'll never be able to use your left arm again."
"...that's it...? Nothing...nothing else?"
"Thankfully no."
Mori turned back to the ceiling. It was true. She tried to move her left arm and found that she couldn't even feel anything, let alone move it. "..."
"Don't worry about it. It's not like anyone your age has a chance with that guy. There are even rumors that he can even fight on par with Xanxus."
"Will...everyone be killed...?"
"What?"
"I mean..." Her hazy mind drifted back to everyone back in Namimori. "If they...lose..."
Lal Mirch didn't say anything for a moment. "The Varia are ruthless people." She finally said. "I don't want to be scaring you. But I doubt they'd have any mercy." She got up from her seat. "I'm going to have a talk with some of the higher echelons in the family. I'll see if I can get you out of this." She was about to leave when...
"S...sensei..."
"What's wrong?"
"H...how long have...I been out...?"
"...5 days."
3 days left.
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Lose usage of her left arm? Yeah right. The moment Mori felt her energy returning, she began recreating the snapped nerves, as well as any other wound she had.
She couldn't even hit him that last time. She couldn't even go near him. She really wasn't going to let that slide by. Maybe she was hanging around Kyouya too much. Maybe not. But the fact that she couldn't even touch that Neo bastard was more of an insult than Mori should feel. Defeat him? She was going to destroy him!
She left the injury ward half a day later, despite the protests of the doctors. Why should she stay? Her condition was perfectly fine now, although the nurses and such thought otherwise. Who in the world can heal from such wounds in five days? Not many can even survive!
And it was straight back into the training facility.
"Please give me the level 15 training course."
The person in charge, a rather friendly old man, stared at her. "Are you insane? Nobody's even passed through level 12! And you've just been discharged from the hospital without approval from the doctors. There's no way you can survive it!"
"I'll be fine."
"..." The old man sighed, looking at her skeptically. Nobody can blame him. She was still covered with bandages, clutching her side, and limping. "I've got to say, you've got guts. Kid. Knock yourself out." He tapped some things on the keyboard. "Careful there."
The field itself didn't look much difference.
"It's starting!"
And everything changed.
What little light there was suddenly extinguished. Mori couldn't even see her hands. "..."
Then, suddenly, illuminating objects came into view. Mostly weapons of mass destruction. That were aimed straight at her.
"Gah! That...that's a lot!" She managed to evade the first few rounds, but there was no way anyone could dodge the next. Simple. There were no openings. Deflecting wasn't an option; the moment she's near them, those explosives will go off. Unless...
Mori recalled Lal Mirch saying how the training system included holograms. She hadn't seen any in the previous levels. That must be it. Why else would they make the obstacles so visible, if not to trick the challenger into believing they were all real? So...to test this sudden brilliant stroke of intelligence...She threw a random rock at the obstacles. Bingo. Passed straight through.
Now...the problem was to find out which was real and which was not.
Mori took off her contacts. Now it was all ears.
Though...by the sounds of it...there was terribly large amount of real machines as well.
Mori gulped.
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Around 5 days later (her match turned out to be one of the later ones), she returned to Japan. First stop? Namimori Junior High!
Even though...nobody should be there now. It was...dark already. So, it was surprising when she saw light coming out from the library window, as well as the shattered glass of windows and other things. Kyouya wasn't going to be happy.
It took a while for Mori to get to the library, mainly cause she was still sporting some injuries from the training...which she did beat...In fact...she used it so many times that the entire thing malfunctioned and exploded. Oops.
And the library was empty. So she ended up going into the hall. Now that wasn't empty at all.
"K...Kyouya!" Well, there was Kyouya, Reborn, Tsuna, Ryohei, Gokudera, and a bunch of other black outfitted people who she assumed were members of the Varia. It was Squalo! Hey, there was another little kid, a weird guy with umbrellas...and...Some huge machine thing that had a gas mask on. Nice combo.
Said boy turned around, looking rather startled...for his standards. "You. What are you doing here?"
"Just came back from training." She chirped. She tried to run up to him, but a sudden pain to her side caused her to stumble. And she found herself in Kyouya's arms.
"..."
"It was rough." She said cheerfully as he pushed her gently back into standing position.
"HEY!" Oh god, Squalo's voice was as loud as ever. "Look who it is. The one eyed brat. Hn? Now the four eyed brat. Nice evolution there." And he was as charming as ever. Note the sarcasm.
"Nice to see you too." She mumbled. "It seems that you're as confident as ever."
"Heh."
"But..." She smiled happily. "I don't think grooming your hair like that's gonna turn you into a girl."
"WHAT?!"
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
"I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS!"
"You know him?" Kyouya glanced at Squalo with distaste.
"Uh huh. Once. My first impression of him was that he was trying to turn himself into a girl. I mean, he takes care of his hair even more than some of those weird ladies that like to dress up a lot."
"I...see..."
"Mori san!" Tsuna and co ran up to Mori (who was still leaning against Kyouya for support). "Just what happened to you?!"
"Training."
"Eh?! W...who was your tutor?"
"I didn't expect Lal Mirch to wear you down this much." Reborn commented.
"Well, she only trained me for the first two days."
"??"
"I trained myself after I came out of the hospital."
"You were in the hospital?!"
"Don't worry! I made up for the lost time. I haven't slept for the past 3 days!" She said rather proudly.
"..." Now Kyouya looked rather alarmed.
"Well, whatever." Squalo laughed harshly. "That Neo will wipe you out anyhow. Too bad your last few days were spent training for something pointless." Still laughing maniacally, he made a grand exit out of the window. The rest of the Varia followed.
"..." Kyouya sighed and Mori found herself scooped up in his arms. "You're going to sleep." And they made their exit as well.
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Well, she wasn't about to fall asleep on the way home. Kyouya had other plans for her.
"Why were you hospitalized?"
"Eh?" She blushed. "T...training."
"As if. You would've healed yourself if it were just training wounds."
"But it's true."
"You shouldn't lie. There's really no difference between your lying and you telling the truth." So she was a bad liar when it came to Kyouya after all.
"Mm...Won't Kyouya get mad?"
"Yes. But the difference is if you don't tell me, it's you that I'll be mad at."
"Guh..." She gulped. "Alright, alright." And sighed. "Did you by any chance see a green haired guy with those people?"
"Yes. He left before the others."
"Ok, go blame him."
"..."
Mori bit her lips, and pulled her shirt collar a bit lower (NO! BAD! IMPLICATIONS!). A rather discolored scar was embedded in her skin. "It goes all the way to my stomach." She said rather bitterly. For once, Kyouya looked very shocked. He was probably ready to drop her on accident.
Silence...then..."I'll kill him." And he looked very, very angry.
"Iie...it's alright."
"?"
"I mean, he's my opponent. Right? And I worked hard that last few days. I wanna see if I can beat him this time."
"..." Kyouya set her down.
"Kyouya?" He had settled on his knees in front of her. Sadly, he was only a few inches shorter than her that way. "What are you..." And he pulled her closer by the shoulders and kissed her deeply. Not those quick, rushed ones. More like...uh...how do you say...a real one? That really did turn Mori into jelly.
"You don't have to take care of everything yourself." Kyouya said rather quietly, though he seemed rather embarrassed, acting like this. "I can help, if you want."
"...Kyouya..." He was slightly surprised as tears spilled out of her eyes. "I love Kyouya!" She hugged him tightly. "I don't want Kyouya to get hurt. I just want to be with Kyouya forever."
"..." He sighed exasperatedly, but hugged her back. "You are an idiot."
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Romantic moment! OMG! Kyouya was way...too ooc. But what could I do? He has to be nice SOMEWHERE!!!!