"Natsumi has some signs of damage to her nervous system, and her muscle mass and body fat are still both on the low side. However, she shows signs of being able to make a full recovery. With her developing Flames of Restoration, I'd think she will be the picture of health in another week or two. After that, she'll just need normal levels of exercise." Shamal reported to Reborn as the two of them sat drinking sake. It had been a week since his arrival and he had seen Natsumi a few more times since in order to check on her health. "That's as much as I can tell you about her physical health, since I have no idea how you managed to remove the seal in the first place."
"I'd tell you if I could." Reborn replied. "You said about her 'physical health'. How about her mental and emotional health?"
"Her beta brain waves are a little on the high side, causing her to maintain a high level of stress even during daily life, not unlike mild PTSD symptoms. Pretty common among people who have met you." Shamal teased. "It's something a week or two of brain training could probably fix, if you want. Though it isn't anything urgent."
"We can arrange it." Reborn nodded his agreement. Where before, such a heightened anxiety would have been beneficial to her awakening her flames, it served little purpose now. "And her emotional health?"
"...Reborn, her situation could best be summarized as hopeless." Shamal said with a sigh. "She doesn't have the most dysfunctional family situation I have ever seen, Bianchi and Hayato's family still takes the cake on that one, but it is beyond fixing. Outside of Natsumi's problems with her father, her relationship with her mother is unhealthy as well."
"A heavy handed mothering is the cultural norm in Japan. It's not like I'm not projecting expectations onto the girl as well." Reborn replied. He knew about how hard and insensitive Nana acted towards Natsumi, but it was within the cultural norm, and wasn't anything a small talking to couldn't fix. A parent projects expectations on the child in order to motivate them, it was a sign of love.
"You know that there is more going on than that." Shamal said, giving Reborn a hard look. "Being a housewife is about more than just doing the chores. It is about providing emotional stability for the rest of the household. But instead of looking out for her daughter, Nana lives in her own little fantasy world, revolving around Iemitsu. Because Natsumi's condition and her ability to see through the enchantments were a contradiction to that fantasy, she rejects her. And since Iemitsu is effectively out of the picture and Nana's condition isn't going to get any better, and will only get worse if we don't reveal the truth to her, the situation isn't ever going to fix itself."
"...Natsumi isn't even thirteen yet, and despite everything that has happened, she still loves her mother."
"Grief over loss is temporary. But if the girl stays in that house, she will never fully recover."
"Can't we get Nana herself some therapy?" Reborn asked.
"Even if we did, the corpse of Iemitsu will always hang over the two of them. There isn't any way to effectively approach fixing this, and if we make a misstep, it could cause everything to get a hundred times worse." Shamal said with a shake of the head. "I know that as an orphan, you idealize having a family, but this family isn't healthy for her."
"So you want her to just run away from it? How well did that work out for Gokudera? You were the one who tricked him into thinking his father murdered his mother, didn't you?" Reborn snapped.
"He's alive, ain't he?" Shamal replied grimly, his eyes narrowing.
Shamal had been called in when Gokudera's father was looking for a 'miracle cure' for the boy's mother. The fact that Shamal managed to keep a woman with a stage 3 inoperable brain tumor alive for three years was a miracle, however, that didn't stop Shamal from feeling guilty for her death, or bound to watch after her son. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so hard on him if she hadn't been so beautiful.
The tension in the room dissolved as the both of them just slumped down into their drinks. The two of them had too much history together and knew too well the other's buttons, but in the end, they each knew that the other spoke the truth.
"...Her potential Rain Guardian is living alone in a large condo near the school. We could have Natsumi stay there off and on for a while as a sort of trial period and see how she does." Reborn said, still being noncommittal. As much as he wanted to deny it, part of him wanted to see Natsumi and her mother happy together.
Reborn and most of his students had been orphans. Kiritsugu and Irisviel were even orphaned by their own hands, and the less said about Bianchi's family situation, the better. It was unbelievable that the parents hadn't tried to kill each other more than they already had. He wanted to see things work out between Natsumi and Nana.
"I'd also suggest cutting Nana off from the funds she's been getting from Iemitsu, or at least slowing them down. Make her get a job so she can start to connect with the real world again. Always hanging out around that house isn't healthy for her either." Shamal suggested, getting a nod of agreement from Reborn.
"I'll look into it, after I talk to Raiga about beefing up security around his granddaughter's place. The Fujimura Group is alright when it comes to basic wards to keep out the unaware, but it can't hold a candle to what the Emiyas' got, both from the old Einzbern and Emiya roots and… other sources." Reborn said before returning to his drink.
Both the Einzbern and Emiyas had been famous names when it came to magic items before their untimely demise, and most of the Mafia World still remembered them and gazed upon the Emiya residence with greed in their hearts. If not for the contract Kiritsugu made with Vongola, settling down and letting their children have a normal life would have been impossible.
It had been Timoteo's desire to keep that lost knowledge lost and to make use of Kiritsugu's practical skills that had caused a deal to be made between them, as the loss of such knowledge meant that Vongola would remain stronger simply by comparison.
"Raiga, huh. I'm surprised he'd let his granddaughter near the Vongola heir. He hasn't been happy since Nono established the Independent Assassinations Unit, Varia." Shamal hummed. "If memory serves, he called Tyr a 'self-righteous murderer' and sent a fruit basket to Squalo's hospital bed after he killed the man. I still remember that stupid kid's confused face when he got it."
Reborn nodded a bit in confirmation.
There had been many who hadn't approved when Timoteo had decided to establish Varia, an assassination group not 'techniquely' under his orders. A loophole in order to get around old peace contracts and an open threat against anyone who went against the Vongola Famiglia, both inside and outside of the Alliance.
The claim had been that it was a peace keeping force that wouldn't be tied to the politics of the Alliance, but Raiga had been outraged about it. The fact that the leader of Varia decided to name himself 'Tyr', after the Norse God of righteous conquest, didn't help matters.
'A conqueror is always a lover of peace. They would prefer if no one ever fought back.'
If Japan hadn't been considered insignificant at the time, Raiga probably would have been punished for being so outspoken.
Tyr, the first Sword Emperor, had been the Ninth's enforcer, and his death had been a power play on the part of the faction seeking to make Xana the next head of the Famiglia, before the Cradle Affair.
Reborn sometimes wondered what happened to Xana, since Timoteo wouldn't tell him.
"Raiga had been one of Daniela's supporters. Maybe he hopes that Natsumi will be able to fix things." Reborn said.
"Are you talking about Raiga or yourself?" Shamal said, being a little too close to the truth for Reborn's comfort.
"I've been hired to be Natsumi's home tutor. It's only natural that I have high hopes for my students." Reborn said, trying to dismiss Shamal's claim.
"Sure, though since we are on the subject of your students, how's Bianchi been doing? When is she going to arrive?" Shamal asked casually. "She can't stay away from you for long, you know? It's bad for her health."
"I know, and soon. I just wanted to get things settled around here before her arrival." Reborn said with a nod. "She'll be arriving any day now."
He was not looking forward to explaining Bianchi to Natsumi and Shirou.
...Or maybe, Shirou could provide a new solution for her as well.
"It looks so pretty." Illya said as Natsumi held out the perfectly cut ruby on the end of a brass chain. It was simplistic in design and could have been mistaken for an ordinary piece of jewelry, if one didn't know any better.
Natsumi didn't want to think about how much it must have been worth.
"It is only the starting piece. I'm still working on the enchantments for the… transformation pendants, but once they are finished, I'll be mounting that ruby onto Natsumi's." Shirou explained.
"You're already working on our transformation pendants!?" Illya asked, full of excitement.
"Oh, does someone want to have an early peek at their birthday present?" Shirou teased.
"No… but… can I?" Illya asked, fidgeting nervously. Shirou chuckled as he reached back to his work bench, taking out a box that contained two necklaces. Illya gasped the moment she saw them. If the ruby necklace was pretty in its simplicity, then the ornaments on these were breathtaking in their complexity.
The first one that Shirou held up was a four pointed, ruby red star with six white-blue wings growing out from its, the middle two wings folding back inwards as if to cradle the star. The entire thing was made of crystal, but the wings were made with such detail that Illya wondered if they would feel like real feathers if she touched them.
The second was a six petaled summer lily, its petals being a beautiful shade of orange with small touches of darker color to make them look like authentic flowers. There was a small gap in the middle, where Natsumi's ruby was supposed to go. Though even before that, they knew that this one was supposed to be hers, since her name meant 'summer flower'.
"Wow!" Illya said as she looked at the winged star, the little light in the room causing it to sparkle. "Can I touch it?"
"Feel free." Shirou said, letting Illya hold it. Seeing how careful she was being, he chuckled. "It isn't fragile. You could run over it with a car and it isn't likely to break. Those stones were harder than diamonds even before being reinforced with magic."
"Really?" Illya asked, unable to believe it. It was small enough to easily fit into the palm of her hand, and felt so light and delicate.
"Do you want me to slam it against the wall to prove it?"
"NO!" Illya shouted, holding it close and causing a few snickers at her reaction.
What Shirou didn't tell them was that the two necklaces were already functional as flame rings, each one having over fifty times the power output of Shirou's old rings. And while small, each one was one of the was made up of two of those large fist sized crystals that Reborn had provided. The Rainbow Fragments had been compressed and shaped perfectly through magecraft, something owing to their own mystic nature.
Though Shirou wouldn't let the girls use them until they had limiters placed on them… and if he was burning off excess energy anyways, why not use it to fuel a few extra runic formulas, as well as store energy in a rainy day fund?
After letting the girls see the current designs, Shirou took them back and hid them away again. His own pendant was already done, since it would go without limiters. It was a red sword behind a yellow shield in the shape of a sun with ten petal-like edges.
The number of edges on each of the items actually held meaning, as in Hindu lore, each of the Chakra was represented by a different colored flower with a different number of petals. For the yellow it was ten, six for orange and four for red.
Shirou still wasn't sure what he would do for Taiga's pseudo ring, once he got around to making it. Perhaps he should ask if she had preferences.
"So… um…" Natsumi started, holding up the ruby she had already been given. "Is this really going to stop people from being able to find me magically?"
Shirou smiled and reached over to a side table, picking up a digital camera. Natsumi was surprised when the boy took a picture without saying anything before turning the camera around to show the digital screen on the back. Natsumi gasped as while she had definitely been standing where the picture was, she wasn't in it. Instead it just showed the back wall behind where she was standing.
"It doesn't matter if the means they use are magical or mundane, no one in the world will be able to capture your trail, be they man or god. That is the nature of the mystery." Shirou declared.
"D...don't you think that is overkill?" Natsumi asked.
"No. But since I don't know how to do a spell for active invisibility against your enemies, it will have to do." Shirou said, his words were joking, but his face didn't have the same humor. "Remember my match with Fuji-nee? Just because you can't be hit, does not mean you won't lose some other way, and when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force, no one knows what will happen. Even with that necklace, I would advise you to be careful."
"Okay." Natsumi said with a swallow.
Then Shirou laughed and patted the girl on the head. "As far as we are aware, no one is actively pursuing you right now, so you don't have to worry." He told her.
"I would worry a lot less if you and Reborn didn't keep flipping back and forth between serious and happy fun times with 'magical girls'." Natsumi said with a sigh.
"I think it's cool when Onii-chan acts all serious." Illya mumbled quietly.
A knock came at the door and Irisviel's voice came to them through the door. "Kids, I know you're having fun in there, but it is time for you to go to school." She said cheerfully.
"Ah yes… *yawn*... school." Shirou said with a long yawn, getting giggles out of the two girls.
"We're off!" Illya cheered as she left the house with Shirou and Natsumi.
"Good morning, Judaime!" "Hey you three, what's up?" "Extremely good morning!"
"Good morning." Natsumi replied, seeing Gokudera, Taiga and Ryohei at the end of the driveway, waiting for them. She wasn't really surprised to see any of them there, even if it was usually just Gokudera. Though she was a little more surprised when she saw someone on Ryohei's back. "Kyoko-chan!? Are you alright!?"
"Ah… Good morning, Natsumi-chan." Kyoko said weakly, as she forced herself to smile. The girl was completely covered in sweat.
"Kyoko-chan tried to follow her brother and me on a morning jog. I think it was a little too much for her." Taiga said sympathetically.
After what happened to Ryohei, Kyoko had been in a panic.
Even though she had only wanted to get her brother to sleep in till noon on a weekend for the sake of his health, having it backfire so spectacularly had left its mark on her. She blamed herself for what happened, even though she had good intentions and there had been no way she could have possibly known that Ryohei actually NEEDED sunlight in order to live. She barely let her brother out of her sights since it happened, and Taiga had been forced to volunteer to go on morning jogs with him in order to reassure the girl.
It seems that even with Taiga's promise to keep an eye on him, Kyoko followed along anyways.
Natsumi thought it was a little extreme, but Ryohei had confided in her about it, telling her about how when they were kids, Kyoko was used by high school thugs to lure Ryohei out and beat him up. He had been beaten so bad that he had been taken to the hospital and ended up with the scar on his head. Even though it was out of her power, she had always blamed herself for what happened.
Seeing him back in the hospital bed again had opened up old scars of her own.
"My legs feel like wet noodles." Kyoko half laughed. "I don't suppose you could use any healing magic to make it better."
"I can try." Natsumi said, reaching into her pocket and getting the 'Sun Ring' that Reborn requested that Shirou give to her.
After discovering that Natsumi apparently had a talent for something called the 'Flames of Restoration', a hybrid flame between Sun and Sky, Reborn had started to insist that Natsumi try to learn how to use it. And since it was basically healing magic, and not for fighting, Natsumi didn't try to avoid it as much. She might have been scared of fighting, but she did want to be able to help her friends in any way she could.
After picturing the spinning top and focusing her desire to heal Kyoko into the ring, a brighter yellow orange flame appeared on the end of it. Natsumi then focused this energy into Kyoko's legs.
"How does it feel now?" Natsumi asked, her voice calm as still water, in that characteristic way it became when she activated her flames herself.
"That feels really nice." Kyoko mused as she gave a sigh of relief. "You know, you are always really cool when you are using your magical powers."
The complement out of nowhere shocked Natsumi out of her trance and caused her to blush. "Thank you." She mumbled, earning a giggle from the girl.
Part of her was glad that Kyoko knew what was going on, so she could confide in her friend more… Alright, so she thought it was all about magical girls, but Natsumi could still talk to her and Hana about things when she wanted to.
"You can put me down now, Onii-chan." Kyoko said.
"Are you sure? I'd be extremely okay with carrying you to school." Ryohei replied, as worried about his sister as she was about him.
"That's alright, I'm good. As long as we don't do any more running." Kyoko replied with a shake of the head.
"If you don't want to have to do any running, we probably all should be moving then." Shirou suggested.
"Good point. Let's go." Taiga nodded as Ryohei let his sister down, though he still insisted on carrying her things for her.
"So, other than the noodle legs, how was this morning's run?" Shirou asked casually.
"It was EXTREME!" Ryohei replied with a huge grin, flexing his left arm to show off his muscles. "Ever since last week, I have felt SUPER charged and ready to give it my 300%!" His enthusiasm caused everyone to give a weak laugh, something between a normal laugh and a cry of despair. "So when are you and Natsumi-chan going to start joining the rest of the Boxing Club on our morning runs?"
"Onii-san, we aren't part of the Boxing Club." Natsumi said with a sigh.
"Though joining you on a few morning runs isn't a bad idea." Shirou mused.
"Shirou-senpai!?" Natsumi panicked.
"Even with the seal being removed, your body is still recovering. A bit of a morning regiment wouldn't hurt." Shirou explained. "I used to have a morning exercise regiment too… until I became so swamped with work."
"THAT RIGHT!" Ryohei roared his smile threatening to split his face as fire burned in his eyes. "You should all join the Boxing Club's routine, even you, Octopus Head!"
"No means no! Stupid Turf Head!" Gokudera snapped back.
"Come on! Throw away those cigarettes and start working out more, your body will thank you!" Ryohei shouted.
"I don't need to give up on smoking, and there is nothing wrong with my body!"
"Prove it! Let's have an EXTREME run to the school and see how you handle it! I'll leave you alone if your lungs don't collapse on you!"
"Gokudera-san, Onii-san please." Natsumi said, trying to keep the peace, but the two boys were too pumped up to notice.
"Onii-chan, what is it?" Illya asked, drawing Natsumi's attention to her and Shirou as the older brother stood in front of the girl, one arm held out in order to keep the girl behind him as his eyes focused back the way they had come.
"Illya, whatever you do, don't leave my side." Shirou said seriously.
Natsumi was surprised by his sudden behavior, but then she too started to feel like something was deeply wrong.
The sounds of a motorcycle blared and the entire group stopped to watch as a woman dressed entirely in black on a black motorcycle drove towards them, only to stop when she was next to them on the road.
Natsumi was nervous as the woman pulled off her helmet to reveal a head of long pink-purple hair, and oval face, sharp eyes and narrow lips. She seemed to be a mature seventeen, and looked as though she should be doing makeup commercials or posing for magazine covers.
"Bianch… ugh…" Gokudera started to say something, but then suddenly collapsed, clutching at his stomach, his face turning purple and his eyes rolling back in his head.
"Ah! Octopus Head's smoke damaged lungs are already EXTREMELY giving out on him!" Ryohei shouted in panic. "Don't worry! I know CPR!"
Gokudera started to twitch more frantically than ever as Ryohei grabbed onto the boy's face and tried to force him to open his mouth.
"Gokudera, are you alright!?" Natsumi shouted, almost as panicked as Ryohei, then the woman on the bike called out something.
"Catch." She said, tossing an opened juice can towards Natsumi.
Natsumi could sense danger coming from the can, and her flame enhanced eyes could even see a miniature of purple and red fire radiating from the opened lid, but before she could even start to react, Shirou jumped into action.
In the blink of an eye, Shirou was between Natsumi and the woman and slapped the can to the side with one of his conjured blades. The can spun away, its contents splatting on the stone walkway, which started to sizzle and smoke as the concrete itself began to rot away. Natsumi paled, thinking of what that concoction would have done if it had hit her instead.
The moment Shirou had moved, the woman pulled down on the accelerator on her bike and was half way down the block within two seconds. Not that it made any difference.
Shirou's sword disappeared, to be replaced by a pair of spikes on either end of a long chain. He immediately threw one of the spikes, having it pierce through the body of the motorcycle before planting his feet and giving the chain a hard pull, ripping the motorcycle out from under the woman and sending her bouncing down along the road.
She was still trying to get back to her feet as Shirou rushed towards her, throwing the other spike as well.
*Clang*
Out of nowhere, Reborn appeared, deflecting Shirou's attack and causing the boy to stop in his tracks. "Reborn?" Natsumi said, not yet sure what was going on.
"Reborn-sama!" The woman said with… lust in her voice.
"Sorry about this. I should have intercepted her sooner." Reborn said, looking up at Shirou. "I'd be grateful if you would forget what just happened here."
"Reborn, who is that woman?" Shirou demanded, swords in hand and eyes focused.
"Her name is Bianchi, and she is my lover." Reborn said simply.
"LOVER!" Everyone, save for Shirou… and Gokudera, shouted in surprise. Natsumi vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that Gokudera's sister had been dating Reborn, but her brain couldn't process the details.
"Isn't she a little young for you, Oyaji?" Shirou said, his words joking, but his eyes never wavering.
"Cheeky brat." Reborn said with a smirk, as 'Bianchi' picked him up and started to rub her cheek against him.
"I expect an explanation for this." Shirou said.
"You'll get it, but it will take time. I'll take Bianchi back home and we can talk after school." Reborn said, not seeming to mind being held by the woman in such a manner.
"Fine, but if I see anything suspicious…"
"There won't be. I give my word." Reborn replied before jumping out of Bianchi's arms. "Come on Bianchi, let's go."
"Ah, but Hayato?" She said, looking to where Gokudera was still on the ground with more than a little concern.
"He'll be fine. Shirou-kun can drop him off with Shamal at school. He'll take care of it." Reborn assured her.
The face momentarily went unhappy at Shamal's name, but quickly relaxed. "Alright, darling." She said, before turning to Shirou. "I know he can be a little bit spoiled at times, but please take care of my little brother."
"Um… sure." Shirou said, not used to people he had just almost maimed being this friendly with him. With that, and her behavior towards Reborn, she didn't seem to be right in the head.
She just left her destroyed bike in the center of the road as she walked off with Reborn, perfectly happy.
"Is Reborn-san dating a witch?" Illya asked with a tilt of the head.
She still had a better idea of what was going on than the rest of them.
Some people have asked why I don't hurry up past the Life Arc and get to Mukuro and the ring battles faster.
The answer is simply, because I don't handle time skips very well. This is my writing style. I know its slow, but sorry, that is the way it is.
I know that 'Blades of the Unlimited Sky' reached the ring battles by chapter 12, that was a very different type of story than I have. I'm trying to develop both the mechanics of the world and the histories of the characters more than was given in the source material, which means I can't just skip past introductions and internal dialogues, even for what you think are minor characters, because it is people's reactions to the minor characters that help to define them.
Shirou isn't a Mary Sue derailing an already off the rails plot, but a man who lives in constant fear of failing the people he loves and of being betrayed by them, barely being kept emotionally stable by the mystic effects of the Sky Flames of the people around him.
Reborn isn't just a chaotic asshole, but someone with years of guilt, mistakes and secret hopes, who is trying to raise people who are better than himself so that they can be the person that he could not.
Natsumi isn't just a naive girl desperate for love, but a girl who has suffered deception and betrayal and who is afraid of being deceived again.
Yamamoto isn't an idiot baseball fanatic, but someone who is constantly putting on a smile to hide the fact that he feel empty inside.
Timoteo isn't just a crime leader, he is a man who has done things that he knew were beyond forgiveness, justifying them to himself by saying it was for the family.
Iemitsu isn't just a moron who ran out on his family, he is a moron who was running away from his own guilt, knowing that he can never fix them.
It's what changes a straight comedy to something else. Something that KHR did very well after the life arc.
!Spoilers!
My current idea of how everything goes down with the ring battles is that Natsumi and Shirou give Xana the beat down, but Natsumi recognizes that Xana needs to become the Vongola Boss in order to justify her existence and emotionally recover from what Timoteo did to her. So Natsumi uses a fake ring made by Shirou to trick everyone into thinking that Xana is the real heir and that Natsumi is the one unqualified.
This results in Mukuro attempting to betray them, because it goes against what he wanted to have happen, i.e. Natsumi becoming the boss in order to bring down the Mafia World, so Mammon can step up to fill the Mist role.
Then the future arc would be Xana, Natsumi and her guardians being transported into the main canon future arc, but into Italy, and having to deal with Xanxus.