Kyandi: ...
Roksana: Are you not going to greet your readers?
Kyandi: I can't. I'm dead. I laughed myself to death after reading reviews.
Roksana: Dead people don't talk...or giggle.
Kyandi: I'm not giggling. I'm...snickering. There's a difference.
Roksana: And what would that be.
Kyandi: Giggling is what girly school girls do. I'm not either of those things.
Roksana: That sounds more like a technicality and I thought you didn't do those.
Kyandi: I don't. Nor am I going to continue this conversation. It'll kill the happy mode the funny reviews left me in.
Roksana: Then shall we move on?
Kyandi: Yep! Everyone. enjoy and review!
Roksana: Kyandi-sama does not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN.
Chapter 30 Figuring it Out
The next morning, Hibari awoke to a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time. He awoke on his back, staring up at the ceiling of his daughter's bedroom. Feeling the weight on his chest that he had, surprisingly missed, Hibari looked down to find Roksana half laying across his chest, his arm draped over her waist. Ryoka, sometime in the middle of the night had tried to crawl between her parents and had ended up sprawled over her father's stomach, Roksana's arm wrapped around her protectively.
For a man who hated being crowded, he didn't mind this in the least.
Waking up to both of his girls safe and sound in his arms.
That being said...he really didn't have the time to sit around.
Thankfully, Roksana chose then to wake up. Hibari watched her face as her eyes fluttered open, the girl blinking and covering a yawn as she had a hundred times before. Then those eyes focused in on his face. For a moment, she merely stared at him and he thought he was going to get the usual "Oh, it's you." that she had given him long ago.
Instead, she jammed her knuckles into his ribs.
Hibari let out a low grunt as his ribs began to throb in pain. Roksana sat up, looking down at his face, her expression blank as she glared down at him.
"Good morning, jackass who knocked me up." she greeted.
So she wasn't completely over that just yet.
He would let her have this one hit, just like he had let her future self knock the crap out of him only once after she got back the positive pregnancy test.
Granted her future self had left him black and blue.
Hibari didn't say anything in reply to her greeting, and sat up, cradling a still sleeping Ryoka in his arms. Shifting, he got to his feet.
"Where are you taking Ryoka?" Roksana asked.
"You have training. I'll keep her with me." Hibari replied.
"The hell you will!" Hibari turned as Roksana jumped to her feet, blocking his way to the door. "You're just going to end up another big blow out with Tsuna and she could get hurt. No. I'm taking her."
Hibari didn't argue as Roksana took the sleeping child from him. At this point, Ryoka woke up. The child greeted Roksana happily, managing, for the moment, to take Roksana's attention from Hibari. Kusakabe took the moment to tell them that their breakfast was waiting. Roksana found herself, in a traditionally styled dinning room, sitting on a pillow at a low table, Ryoka sitting next to her and Hibari across from her, the three eating.
"Don't think I'm done with our conversation from yesterday." Roksana told Hibari, making the man look up at her from across the table. He didn't even attempt to pretend not to know what she was talking about. "If you had a couch, I would have made you sleep there, last night."
At that, Hibari scoffed. He would have loved to see her try. He was the leader of the Foundation, he was the one that would make the rules. If he wanted to sleep in the same bed as her, he sure as hell would. Ryoka quickly put a stop to the conversation when she looked between them and asked her question with an almost teary voice.
"Mama, are you and Daddy fighting?" Ryoka asked.
"Sort of, little one." Roksana admitted.
She would never let it be said that she lied to her children.
"Is it because Daddy's being a fight crazy jackass?"
Roksana nearly choked on her food when Ryoka so sweetly asked that question, while Hibari seemed completely unfazed, going about his eating as if his daughter hadn't just called him a jackass. Roksana looked down at the child.
"Who taught you that word?" Roksana asked, trying not to sound angry.
"Uncle Hayato!"
Roksana slapped a hand to her face. While Ryoka tilted her cute little head to the side, a questioning look on her adorable little face, Roksana turned a sharp look on Hibari.
"You let him teach her that kind of language?" she demanded.
"He's your friend." was Hibari's simple reply.
"What kind of father are you?"
Though she asked that, Roksana kind of already knew the answer. In just the handful of hours she'd had with Ryoka the night before, she had seen first hand the kind of father Hibari was. He was the kind that got his daughter whatever she wanted and more, the kind that taught her to fight and defend herself, who told her it was okay to nap whenever she wanted, to call others herbivores, and who had taught his daughter his twisted sense of discipline.
He was also, apparently, the type of father who didn't care if his eight year old cussed.
Roksana couldn't believe her future self had let this go. She was going to have to parent this situation before it got any worse. Turning to Ryoka, Roksana made sure she had the child's full, complete attention.
"Ryoka, children shouldn't use those kinds of words. You especially don't call your father a jackass. Whatever Hayato might say or call him, you don't repeat it, alright?" Roksana asked.
"Even if Daddy agrees?" Ryoka asked.
"Especially if your daddy agrees. Do you understand?" Roksana asked.
"Yes, Mama. Does that mean I'm not allowed to call Uncle Hayato, Uncle Takeshi, and Uncle Tsuna herbivores?" Ryoka asked, wide eyed in curiosity.
Roksana turned another look on Hibari. She stopped to think for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.
"I think that one's alright." she told Ryoka, who gave a cheer and went back to her food.
Roksana was starting to think that her family had become a very strange one indeed.
-0-0-0-0-
After all that Roksana had learned about her future life and her family, her friends were concerned that just throwing herself into her training would be too much for Roksana. Especially when the girl only let Lal teach her the basics about the use of the boxes before insisting that she was fine and figure things out for herself from there. Worried about her, Tsuna and Yamamoto took their first chance to head down to basement eleven to check in on the girl.
Walking into the room, they found Marc sitting just inside the door with Ryoka in his lap. The two instantly shushed the two boys before turning their attention to the center of the room. A flickering silver light had Tsuna and Yamamoto focusing on the same point.
Roksana sat in the center of the room, cross legged, her eyes close as she took deep breaths. Her Moon ring was emitting strong flames, Roksana focusing on keeping them steady, trying to increase them and decrease them at will. Without a box that could use for practice, Roksana was stuck with just learning how to control her flame. From what Tsuna could see, she had picked up on it very quickly, just like Gokudera and Yamamoto.
Crouching next to Marc and Ryoka, Tsuna and Yamamoto turned to the two children, keeping their voices low, so not to disturb Roksana.
"How long as has she been like this?" Yamamoto asked.
"For a few hours." Marc told him. "She said it's about all she can do. She's been able to make the flames really big and really intense."
"Well, until we can find a Moon box, this really is all she can do." Tsuna remarked.
"I might be able to help with that." Tsuna, Yamamoto, and the children turned, finding Kusakabe standing behind them, a bag in one hand.
"Is there something all of you need?" came Roksana's voice then.
They all turned. Roksana's eyes were still closed, but that didn't mean anything. With her flames all but filling the room, she probably had known the moment they got off the elevator.
"I come baring gifts, Roksana-sama." Kusakabe told her, raising his voice.
Roksana's flames grew brighter for a moment before fading, the girl opening her eyes as Kusakabe started towards her. When he reached her, he crouched in front of her, placing the bag on the ground to start digging out boxes. There were around fifteen in total of various designs and colors. Roksana looked down at them before peering up at Kusakabe.
"A gift from Kyo-san. He's sure there's bound to be a Moon box in these somewhere." Kusakabe told her.
"If this is his attempt to suck up to me so I don't kick him out of the bed, then the bribing, submissive role doesn't suit him. I'll take them, but I'll still plant a foot in his face if he tries anything." Roksana told him, Kusakabe chuckling.
"To think I would actually miss the two of you fighting." Kusakabe remarked.
Roksana fixed her eyes on the man's face before she reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder. Kusakabe looked up at her, her determined expression set firmly.
"We will win this and fix things. I promise...this future will not come to pass." she told him.
"I sincerely hope so. He hasn't been the same without you." Kusakabe told her, before rising to his feet. "I have to return now. I hope you find a usable box among those."
"Thank you, Tetsuya." Roksana told him.
"Of course, Roksana-sama." Kusakabe said, turning to walk away.
"Tetsuya." Kusakabe turned to look back at Roksana. "I don't suppose, even after ten years, I could talk you into dropping the "sama", huh?"
Kusakabe smiled at that, her question bringing back memories of all the times his time's Roksana had tried to get him to drop the honorific.
"I could always go back to calling you Volkov-sama." he offered.
"Oh, God, no."
Kusakabe chuckled as she wrinkled her nose up in distaste at the thought of him going back to that.
"Best of luck, Roksana-sama." he told her, turning to walk away, Roksana muttering to herself. Once he was gone, Roksana looked down at the boxes before, Tsuna, Yamamoto, and the children joining her.
"Do you think any of them is a Moon box?" Tsuna asked, looking down at the boxes.
"Only one way to find out." Roksana said, reaching out to pick up the first one. "Aren't you two suppose to be training? Hibari will beat you up if you slack off even a tiny bit, Tsuna."
Tsuna had no doubt. Thankfully, Hibari was in the middle of some work and had given Tsuna time for lunch. Which only showed how serious Hibari's work was since, other wise, the man would never pass up a chance for a fight.
"We're on a lunch break." Tsuna told her.
"Lunch, huh?" Roksana's eyes came up, landing on Marc and Ryoka before she heaved a sigh and set the box back down. Roksana pushed herself to her feet, dusting off the back of her shorts before she turned to her brother and daughter. "I suppose that means I need to feed you two."
"Food!" Ryoka cheered.
"Yeah, food. Come on. Maybe we'll be nice and whip up something for your daddy, too." Roksana told the little girl, holding out her hand.
Ryoka gave another cheer and latched onto her mother's hand.
"Haru and Kyoko-chan are making lunch." Tsuna told her.
"Yeah, I know, but I think I'll take responsibility for those in the Foundation hideout. You two should go eat while you can." Roksana told them with a smile before she laid her free hand on her brother's shoulder. "Come on, Marc."
Tsuna and Yamamoto rode up with them in the elevator and waved as Roksana headed off with her brother and daughter in tow. Once back in the Foundation hideout, Roksana found the kitchen, and, with a little help from the two children, got lunch ready quickly. She sat Ryoka and Marc down at the table to eat before carrying two more meals off to find Hibari and Kusakabe. She found Kusakabe in what looked like a library.
He was grateful to accept the food and told her that she could find Hibari in his office. After getting directions on how to get there, Roksana headed off. Hibari was bent over paperwork when she opened the door. His eyes came up, the man ready to tell off whoever had entered without knocking, but he stopped when he saw Roksana standing there, a tray of food in her hands.
"Am I right to assume that you still like my cooking?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What makes you think I ever liked it?" he retorted.
"Because your only birthday request from me was to continue cooking for you. Do you want the food or not?" Roksana demanded.
Hibari's only reply was to move papers on his desk to clear a spot for her. Roksana walked into the room, placing the tray on his desk. Hibari wouldn't admit it, but one of the things he had missed the most about Roksana, next to the girl herself, was her cooking. In the eleven years since he had first laid eyes on Roksana, he had never met anyone who cooked better than her.
There was no way in hell he was going to pass up on a chance to eat her cooking again.
"I'll come back for the tray later." Roksana said, turning to leave.
"Don't you have training?"
Roksana paused at the door, turning to look back at him, blue-purple and green eyes meeting gray from across the room.
"I know you men might be able to do it, but us woman can do this neat little trick called multi-tasking. Like how I can insult and compliment you at the same time. Would you like to see an example?" she retorted.
As much as he would love to get into one of their old fashion brawls, making bets on who would win, he had work he had to finish first.
The sad part about being a grown-up.
"I have work." he told her.
"Shame, and I had such a good insult waiting. Oh, well." Roksana turned, waving over her shoulder as she left the room. Just as she rounded the door frame, she threw back, over her shoulder, one last comment. "Thanks for the boxes."
Hibari looked up, but the door was already sliding shut behind her. It put an amused smile on his face as he turned to the food she had left. She never could just thank him to his face.
Roksana returned to Marc and Ryoka, eating her lunch while the two finished their's. After that and clean-up was done, Roksana returned to basement eleven to start working her way through the boxes. By the time she made it through all fifteen boxes, Roksana had come to a shocking realization. Curious, and unwilling to share the information until she understood it more, Roksana got to fiddling with the boxes, Ryoka remarking that Roksana lit up like Hibari did, when experimenting with the boxes.
Roksana ignored the comparison and focused on her work. She only stopped when it was time for dinner. She didn't share any information over dinner, and didn't even acknowledge Hibari when he joined her in her bed that night.
When she woke up the next morning, despite having slept in her own room, she woke up, once again, sandwiched between Hibari and Ryoka. Not that she really minded too much. That day, she handed Marc and Ryoka over to Haru and Kyoko since Dimitri and Maeve had been sent to Italy to try to see how things were fairing there. Around two that afternoon, the whole base received a shaking from its lowest level.
When the others rushed down there, they found Roksana sitting in the middle of a charred and blackened room, her clothes burned and her hair singed and frizzy. There was a displeased look on her face as she glared down at the box sitting in front.
"Are you alright, Roksana?!" Tsuna asked.
"I'm fine." Roksana retorted.
"You got a box open?" Lal asked.
"Oh, yeah, I got it open alright. I got three open. Let's just say..." Roksana glanced around the destroyed room. "They weren't exactly pleased."
"What do you mean?" Lal asked.
"I mean, they collided and blew up in my face. It's going to take a little more tinkering to figure this out." Roksana, already muttering to herself as she arranged three boxes in front of her, her eyes fixed intently on them. "Oh, by the way, can one of you return those other boxes to Hibari. They're mostly Sun and Lightning boxes."
All eyes turned to the bag Roksana pointed at. Inside was the other thirteen boxes that Kusakabe had left with her the day before.
"How do you know what attribute they are?" Lal asked.
"What do you mean? I knew the moment I tried to insert my flame. Isn't that how it works for you?" Roksana asked, looking up.
She found Lal staring at her in stunned silence. After a blink, Lal shook her head.
"No. I've never heard of someone being able to tell the attribute simply by trying to insert their flame." Lal told her.
"Huh...must be a Moon thing, then." Roksana remarked idly, turning back to her boxes.
"You were able to find three Moon boxes, though?" Yamamoto asked.
"No."
"What do you mean, "no"?" Lal asked.
"Exactly as I said. Not trying to be rude, or anything, but can you guys go now? I really have to figure this out." Roksana said, dropping the subject without giving them any kind of answer.
For the next two days, that was all they got out of Roksana. One the fourth day of her training, Haru and Kyoko tried to get the girl to join them in making sushi for breakfast, but Roksana had to turn them down, insisting that she still had a lot of work she had to do to catch up to the others. On the fifth day, Kusakabe called a meeting with all the other guardians. Roksana joined, merely so she wouldn't be out of the loop on information.
There, Kusakabe gave them some surprising news.
"M-Mukuro was defeated?!"
Even Roksana was a little surprise by that news.
"But Mukuro hasn't been released from the Vindiche prison yet." Tsuna remarked.
"We had thought the same as well. Five years ago, Joushima, Gakimoto, and Chrome attempted to break him out, but that resulted in failure. After that, we hadn't been able to track the three of them...that is, until we heard a strange rumor half a year later." Kusakabe told them.
"A strange rumor?" Yamamoto asked.
"Mukuro had been defeated is what was said." Kusakabe replied.
"What does that mean?" Tsuna asked.
"The information said that the Millefiore that defeated him was the Eight Captain, Glo Xinia." Kusakabe told them, the file appearing on the screens before them. Roksana only had to take one glance at the bespectacled man in the picture and she got the feeling that he was a creeper, a real piece of work. "One of the rare A-ranked, he's known for being greatly skilled and is a man of strength."
"Appearances really are deceiving, then. He looks more like the torture type than a muscle-head." Roksana remarked. "If you consider the possibilities, though, knowing that sly Mukuro, it's highly likely that this man fought something that Mukuro possessed, isn't it?"
"Possibly. If you also consider that Mukuro having been dealt massive damage, there's still a low chance that he would have died. We believe so because after that, in an airport in Italy, a man made contact. We were able to get a photo of Chrome Dokuro." Kusakabe added, showing them the image.
"C-Chrome was still alive! She seems to have hurt herself, but..." Tsuna trailed off, relieved that Chrome was alive.
"I see, so if Mukuro had died, then Chrome couldn't possibly still be alive, huh?" Gokudera asked.
"However, right now, Chrome is missing. And so, the man who had discovered her movement that time is the one from this secret meeting." Reborn added.
"As expected, you caught on quickly. That's right. Kyo-san believes that a piece of Mukuro is within that man." Kusakabe told them.
"So the annoyance lives on." Roksana muttered. "And this mystery man?"
"We do not yet know his identity, and if anything, it's not anyone that you guys know. Here is another thing that led us to believe that this is the work of Mukuro. This photo was taken." Kusakabe said, passing a photo to Roksana. Tsuna leaned over to see what it was.
"This is...of Hibird that we saw earlier." Tsuna remarked. "This is Mukuro?!"
"It's another part of Mukuro." Kusakabe confirmed. "When Kyo-san was staying in Italy, he got the feeling that it was observing him and felt really confident that it was. Luckily, we captured at least one photo of it with our camera."
"Makes sense. Hibird did belong to Birds at one time, so that put Mukuro in close contact with it, and I wouldn't put it past Mukuro to do whatever he had to to insure his survival." Roksana remarked, handing the photo back.
"For this thing, we gave it a code name from Mukuro's own-"
Kusakabe was cut off as the radar suddenly went off on their screens, making everyone look down.
"What is it, Giannini?" Lal asked.
"It was only a moment, but we picked up the presence of an unknown, but very powerful ring...in the outskirts of Kokuyou Land." Giannini replied.
"Kokuyou Land?!" Tsuna asked.
"But, this area is flooded with heavy electromagnetic interference. There's a high chance it could be a false alarm." Giannini told them.
"There's also a chance, given the location, that it's Chrome." Roksana retorted.
"Analyse the data on the outskirts of Kokuyou Land again." Reborn ordered.
"Roger that!" Giannini replied.
"It could be a new enemy." Lal warned.
"No...I'm sure it's a friend." Tsuna remarked lowly.
"My gut is telling me that this is Chrome with the Vongola Mist ring." Roksana added confidently.
Giannini ran the analyse again, trying to determine if the signal was one worth following or not.
"As I suspected, we don't have enough data. I am unable to determine if the signal our radars detected at Kokuyou is real or not." Giannini told them.
"What do you do, then? If it really is Chrome, we can't just wait for-"
Another incoming alarm cut Tsuna off and had all of them looking up once more.
"What is it this time?" Yamamoto asked.
"It's an emergency coded message." Giannini said, displaying the code for them to see.
"It's just rows of commas." Roksana remarked.
"That means..."
"In our slang, the comma represents a head that's been cut off...in other words, it's a code for killing." Giannini said when Reborn trailed off. "It's the assassin squad's code!"
"Oh, joy. First Mukuro and now Xanxus and his merry bunch." Roksana mocked tartly.
Today wasn't shaping up to be a delightful day for her. She could have handle it, if it was just Mukuro, but to have the Varia on top of Mukuro was like piling pins on top of a needle sandwich and swallowing the thing whole...already unpleasant, but made unnecessarily more so. To make it worse, both Mukuro and the Varia had had ten years to get even worse. Just what she really needed at that time.
"How is it?" Reborn asked as Giannini worked on the code.
"The data contains a video, I believe. Give me another moment to decode it." Giannini told him. "Aha, I think I've got it. Just as I thought, the code belongs to the Vongola. The digital signature matches as well. It's playing now."
Roksana, and just about everyone, jolted in their seats with a very loud, and annoyingly long "Voi!" was shouted from the screen, a ten year older Squalo appearing on the screen.
"Well...that's a face I want to punch." Roksana remarked, agreeing with Lal when she ordered Giannini to turn the video down.
"Are your necks still attached? Fucking lousy brats! Get this! Fucking lousy brats! Stay where you are! Even if you pick up the signal of a new ring outside!" Squalo told them.
"He's referring to the one at Kokuyou land." Reborn said.
Belphgor appeared behind Squalo then, his hair a bushy mess about his head now, the mess still hiding his eyes from few.
"If you wait patiently, a very simple instruction will be there soon. Until then, be good and stay put, little kids~!" Bel told them.
Roksana was left wondering what they meant as the video ended with Squalo and Bel getting into a fight and Squalo telling them not to die. Heaving a sigh, Roksana pressed a hand to her face.
"I stopped my training for this crap." Roksana remarked.
"But it seems like those two haven't changed a bit!" Yamamoto told her.
"That's not necessarily a good thing, Takeshi." Roksana retorted. "Though, I am curious as to what this simple instruction is."
"I guess it must be referring to him. He's returning from Italy." Giannini said.
"Who?" Roksana asked.
She got her answer very quickly when the sound of someone entering the room, reached their ears. Turning, they all found the last two guardians they had been looking for.
"Sasagawa Ryohei. Gate crashing!" Ryohei announced, entering the room with an unconscious Chrome in his arms.
Relief washed over them all at the sight of their last two missing guardians. With the appearance of Ryohei and Chrome, they now had all seven guardians under the same roof.
After Ryohei greeted his sister, who was over joyed to see him well, and they got Bianchi to see to Chrome and her injuries, they all gathered to hear what this "instruction" from the Varia was. Roksana was surprised, though, when, the moment his hands were empty and his sister wasn't hugging him, Ryohei scooped Roksana up in a hug.
"What's going on?" Roksana demanded as he hugged her.
"It's so good to see you again! To see you alive!" Ryohei told her happily.
"Yeah, well...that's not going to last long if you keep hugging me this tightly." Roksana retorted.
"Oh, sorry!"
Ryohei sat Roksana down then, the girl yanking on her top to correct it.
"My ribs feel like pancakes now." Roksana remarked, walking away from him to claim a seat, Ryohei grinning widely.
"Kyoko-chan and the other others have gone to make dinner. Then, we can speak freely." Tsuna said once they were all gathered up in one room, Roksana perched on the arm of a couch, legs and arms crossed.
"I was acting as a messenger of the Tenth Boss to go to the Varia with regards to a certain matter. In the middle of that, the Vongola hunt started." Ryohei begun, his expression going serious. "The Varia received an information source about you guys coming over from the past. That's how I knew about it too. Apart from them, only some fo the top-level survivors from the Vongola and our alliance families know about it...there are also many who don't believe it."
Which Roksana could understand. If she hadn't seen the 10-Year Bazooka in action herself, she never would have believed it herself.
"Alliance families...So Dino and his family are alright?" Roksana asked.
"Yes, they're well too." Ryohei confirmed. "Then, working on the assumption that you guys are really here, the family's leaders have come up with a full-scale attack plan. The instruction to those of us here, the Tenth Boss's family, is this. In five days' time, we will raid the Millefiore's branch in Japan."
Ryohei went on to explain to Tsuna that, if he decided to call off the raid, then the choice was his, but it had to be made by the day's end. A choice that Tsuna didn't feel comfortable making, but he was the boss, the one in charge, and that choice sat with him alone. That being said, even Roksana felt the pressure.
Five days.
They had five days to heal Chrome, and to wrap up their training. Roksana had five days to figure out how to use her boxes and to use them to their best potential. It wasn't a time restraint she was happy with, but it was one they were going to have to deal with.
With that thought, Roksana returned to her training.
She was just going to have to work her butt off and pray it would be good enough.
END
Kyandi: I'd definitely be feeling the pressure.
Roksana: No kidding. Five days to learn how to use a weapon I've never seen before...there's definitely pressure.
Kyandi: Yeah. Just wait until they see your box weapons.
Roksana: I'm looking forward to that.
Kyandi: So am I! I spent a lot of time doing research to design these box weapons, so I'm excited.
Roksana: Then saw we get on with the next chapter so we can get closer to their reveal?
Kyandi: Yes, ma'am! Everyone, enjoy and review.
Roksana: We'll be back tomorrow!
Kyandi: Bye-bye!