"Our magical girl outfits can EVOLVE!?" Illya shouted in disbelief as Natsumi showed her the changed gloves.
After everything on the bridge happened, they had all quickly relocated to Emiya house, where they explained what happened and revealed 'the truth' to Haru. Haru was especially shocked to find out that Shirou was a 'real wizard'.
Shirou, Taiga and Natsumi all sighed as the number of 'magical girls' increased once again.
"Well, sort of." Shirou said, placing a teapot and snacks on the table for everyone. "In order for you to be able to change your clothes in and out of the state of an astral form, I synchronized your outfits with your unique energy signatures. It seems as though Natsumi somehow instinctively made use of this to perform an Alteration Spell and change the clothes form. Though I have no idea how she managed that."
"The clothes were made from Leon's threads. This kind of thing is pretty normal for them." Reborn said with a shrug.
"There is more to it than that." Shirou said with a frown. "Yes, Leon has the power to take on different forms, and his threads carry some of that power, but those forms don't just come out of thin air, and you need a very concrete image in order to do an Alteration. Even after years of practice, it usually takes me three or four seconds of my full concentration to pull one off, and this change is really complex."
"This was your doing, wasn't it!?" Natsumi shouted angrily at Reborn.
"Oh, what makes you think that?" Reborn asked with a tilt of the head.
"What makes me think that!? You wrote 'Vongola' on it!" Natsumi said, waving her hand back and forth to show off the lettering. "I told you that I would never have anything to do with the Vongolas, and you went and forced this on me!"
Reborn looked back at her with his usual blank expression, disappointed to see the suspicion in her eyes, but understanding why she would jump to such a conclusion.
After everything she had been through, it was only natural that she would have trouble trusting him fully.
"Why is she so mad?" Haru asked, confused by Natsumi's outburst. The day had been one confusing occurrence after another.
"It's complicated." Taiga replied, not knowing how else to describe Natsumi's relationship with the Vongola Famiglia.
After what the Ninth had done to her, it was only natural that she would be upset about anything that looked like her being further forced into the Famiglia.
"Natsumi, as much as I would normally agree to not trust Reborn further than you can throw him, I can assure you that he didn't do this." Shirou said gently.
Hearing Shirou's words, Natsumi crumpled up a bit, looking down at her hands. "But if Reborn didn't, then where did it come from?"
"That's a good question. I don't really know the answer to it." Shirou admitted. The change made by the Alteration magecraft requires a mental image as clear as those used for projections. For Natsumi to do it herself, under pressure and without meaning to, it was unheard of.
...No, actually, it wasn't unheard of, because Shirou had once done pretty much the same himself, when he traced a sword for the very first time in the middle of combat. But that had come about because of him receiving the method from Archer through the resonance of like souls.
Natsumi's new gloves had many similarities with the gloves of the Vongola Primo. Was that just a coincidence?
"Reborn, you haven't exposed Natsumi to anything that might contain soul information from the first Vongola boss, have you?" Shirou asked. "I'm talking about any object he might have been close enough to to leave an imprint of his memories on it."
"...Not to my knowledge. ...Wait." Reborn replied after some thought. "I can't say for certain, but there are rumors that said that the Rainbow Fragments that I gave you were shaved off of the original Vongola Rings when the rings were first split. It would take time to get confirmation of this rumor's validity though."
"Well, that solves the mystery of where the blueprint for the gloves came from." Shirou said "When I connected Leon's threads to the pendant, the memory of the gloves must have been absorbed into the clothes. Still doesn't explain how she pulled off the Alteration on instinct alone though. Even with a blueprint, it isn't easy to pull off."
"Vongola Hyper Intuition is an amazing thing. Especially when they feel like a member of their Sky is in danger." Reborn replied, wondering how Shirou knew about the Vongola Primo's weapon of choice.
Reborn also suspected that the gloves' appearance had more to do with Natsumi's Hyper Intuition tapping into the experience of her ancestors, than it had to do with the Rainbow Fragments, but Natsumi wasn't emotionally ready to know about the REAL duties of the Vongola Sky. Those duties that had less to do with the Mafia and more to do with maintaining the stability of the mystical aspects of the world.
"Haru doesn't understand any of what they are saying." Haru whimpered, clasping her head.
"Welcome to my world." Taiga said with a sigh.
"I don't really get it either." Illya admitted.
"Ditto to that." Natsumi said with a sigh, looking down at the gloves with discomfort written clearly on her face.
"Does it really bother you that much?" Shirou asked Natsumi. "I can remove the letters if you want."
"You can?" Natsumi asked, perking up.
"What? Do you think I can't do something intentionally that you managed unintentionally?" Shirou said with a smirk. "I may be a third rate spellcaster, but give me some credit. I did make those clothes after all."
"Thank you!" Natsumi said with a wide smile, allowing her clothes to change back to normal as the magical girl outfit returned to its astral form. She took her pendant off and handed it to Shirou. "How long will it take?"
"To just remove the letters? About ten minutes, give or take. If you'd like me to completely remove the gloves all together, more like two hours." Shirou said, giving a basic estimate of the time required.
"Ah, you don't need to remove the gloves all together. I just don't want them to have Vongola written on them." Natsumi said, a little embarrassed. She actually greatly desired to keep the gloves, other than the fact that they had the mafia's name written on them. The feeling of using the gloves to fly through the air was pretty cool.
"Yeah yeah, I get it." Shirou chuckled as he got up from the table. "This won't take long so feel free to hang out. You know where everything is."
"Thanks again." Natsumi said as Shirou slipped out the back.
Of course she was going to hang out. Reborn wouldn't exactly let her leave Shirou's wards without the pendant's protections.
No sooner did Natsumi think this than Reborn confirmed it.
"Natsumi, make sure not to leave before you get your pendant back." Reborn said as he finished off the biscuit he had been snacking on before jumping out of his booster seat to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Natsumi asked.
Reborn looked back to her with a wide grin on his face. "Do you really want to know?"
"...Not when you say it like that. No." Natsumi admitted as a bit of sweat formed on the back of her neck. Reborn chuckled at the response before leaving.
"What!? You're just going to let him go off on his own!?" Haru asked.
"Even if we went with him, we wouldn't be able to stop him." Taiga shrugged. "Reborn kind of just does whatever he wants. You'll get used to it."
"But he's just a baby!" Haru shouted in panic.
Natsumi and Taiga exchanged looks. "Haru-san, you're going to learn that, around here, things are never what they seem and you can't guess anyone's age based on appearances." Taiga said with a shake of the head.
"Huh?" Haru said, not getting it.
But before they could say more, there was a flash of pink light as Illya transformed into her magical girl outfit. "Come on… wings… wings…" Illya said over and over again, her eyes clenched tight in focus.
"Illya-chan, what are you doing?" Natsumi asked.
"I'm trying to make my costume evolve wings so that I can fly too." Illya said.
"Couldn't you just ask Shirou to add them for you?" Taiga said, giggling a little at the cute look of Illya squishing her face in concentration.
"Onii-chan said not until I was older." Illya pouted, getting laughs from Natsumi and Taiga as Haru squealed at the cuteness.
Gokudera sighed as he tossed his bag of groceries onto the table in his small apartment and crashed down onto his coach. He had separated from his boss and the others at the Emiya residence, where he was still unable to enter without permission, and had headed back home.
After the incident on the bridge, even though everyone admitted that it was a misunderstanding caused by that stupid girl in her weird outfit, Taiga had still made Gokudera apologies. He hadn't wanted to. It wasn't his fault the girl was dressed like a lunatic and swinging a hockey club around Juudaime. He had even refused to say he was sorry, until Juudaime told him to.
It had felt like pulling teeth. But he had apologized, even if he didn't mean it.
Meanwhile, Shirou and Reborn had been off to the side, too busy arguing over what to do to even care.
From what little of it Gokudera could overhear, Shirou wanted to wipe the girl's memory and pretend like none of it had ever happened, while Reborn insisted that the girl was a friend of Natsumi and Illya, and they should treat her as such, saying the girl had potential. It seemed as if the two were on the brink of going to blows over it until Natsumi stepped in and broke them up.
It was one of the few times that Gokudera actually agreed with Shirou. He didn't want that crazy girl anywhere near Juudaime. Where did she even come from anyways?
God, listening to that girl for even the short walk from the bridge had already given Gokudera a headache. He unconsciously patted his pocket, searching for a smoke, but found none.
The lack of nicotine in his system was only making him more irritable. He had nearly bit a hole in his lip when the guy at the corner store asked if he was going to be threatened into selling them to a minor again.
Didn't that asshole know he was trying hard to quit!? Why was he tempting him so!?
It had only been the thought of Natsumi's smiling face as she told him that she was proud of him for fighting the habit that stopped him from giving in to the man's temptations.
If it was for her, he would quit smoking.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
Gokudera froze as his cell phone started to ring, the rhythmic sound breaking through his thoughts.
"Hello?" Gokudera said in Italian as he answered the call.
"Hello, Hayato. How have things been going?" The gentle, grandfather-like tones of the Ninth's voice asked. The familiar voice caused Gokudera to relax and a smile to spread across his face.
"Things have been going great, sir." Gokudera replied.
Gokudera had only really met the Ninth and his Guardians twice, once back when he was still living with his family and a second shortly after he ran away from home, but he remembered even back then thinking that he would do anything for this man. It was the Ninth who had sponsored him after he had left his family and who had kept helping him get jobs for various Famiglias. Even when things always seemed to go wrong, the Ninth hadn't held it against him.
The Ninth was still helping him to pay for his living expenses and had been the one to first send him to meet Juudaime.
"Well that is good to hear. Could you tell me what has happened since I spoke to you last?" The Ninth asked.
"Of course!" Gokudera replied, before going into detail about how Natsumi was starting to do a morning workout routine and the progress in it that the girl was showing, as well as his own giving up on smoking to try to keep up. "She's getting stronger with each passing day! Just an hour ago, Juudaime managed to pull a girl dressed in weird armor out of the river! The way she flew up out of the water was the most amazing thing I have ever seen!" Gokudera gushed.
"She flew? I'm sorry, Hayato, but could you be more specific?" The Ninth asked.
"Ah… sorry. I can't tell you." Gokudera said, his head pounding as it felt like someone had pulled back on his leash. The Geass Contract that Reborn had made him sign preventing him from divulging such information.
"Did Reborn help her save the girl?" The Ninth asked.
"No sir." Gokudera replied.
"Was it one of the Emiya Clan?"
"No sir."
"Did Natsumi do it without help?"
"..." Gokudera's hand went to his throat as it felt like someone was pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.
"Let's change the subject." The Ninth said, and almost immediately, Gokudera felt himself breathing easier. "Tell me, how goes your attempts to get closer to Natsumi? Have you managed to get into her inner circle of friends?"
Gokudera's face fell a bit. "Juudaime is still very kind to me, better than I deserve, but I haven't really made much progress in proving myself to her. Nothing I do seems to work out."
Whether it was help with tutoring, an escort or help around the house, Natsumi just didn't ever seem to need Gokudera around.
Reborn was a far better tutor than Gokudera was. Natsumi seemed to prefer the presence of those two girls from their class and the Fujimura girl over Gokudera, and as much as he hated to admit it, Taiga was much stronger than he was and made for a better bodyguard. Even his sister Bianchi seemed to be getting closer to the girl than Gokudera himself.
He wanted to try to help solve other problems that would come up, but those usually ended up being way over his head and would be solved by Shirou.
Gokudera was both fascinated by and hated the local wizard.
He had long been interested in the paranormal and couldn't deny being interested in a genuine spellcaster. However, Shirou was also someone who was older than him, and much more older than he looked. This made Shirou an enemy by default, even without the way he kept getting between him and Juudaime.
The wizard also seemed to have a problem with Gokudera, though the dynamite expert couldn't understand why. He probably just wanted the position of right hand man for himself.
But more than anything… Gokudera was jealous of Shirou. Shirou didn't just have Natsumi's trust, he also had power and knowledge that was way outside of anything Gokudera could provide. He made Gokudera feel useless.
"He's just too much stronger than I am." Gokudera admitted aloud.
"Who is?" The Ninth asked.
"...I can't tell you." Gokudera said.
"I see." Ninth said, his voice full of curiosity. "Well Gokudera, you are just going to have to try harder to become Natsumi's right hand man and guarantee her safety. Nothing is more important than that."
"Right." Gokudera said.
He wanted to be Natsumi's right hand man and protect her. Nothing in life was more important than that.
"We will speak again another time. Goodbye, Hayato." The Ninth said before hanging up the call.
Still smiling, Gokudera looked down at the cellphone and opened up the call history list, then erased it.
"Huh?" Gokudera blinked as he found himself staring down at his cellphone, unsure of why he had it out.
He didn't even know why he had it at all. It wasn't as though anyone ever called it and he had never used it even once in the four years since he had gotten it.
Shaking his head, Gokudera pocketed the phone, trying to remember what it was he was thinking about before.
It had something to do with becoming Natsumi's right hand man.
"That's right, I have to get stronger!" Gokudera shouted, pumping himself up.
With Natsumi's rapid growth, if he himself didn't become stronger, then she would just leave him behind. He had to become stronger, for Juudaime.
"Is that so?" Gokudera jumped and turned around to see Reborn sitting behind him on the countertop, looking at him with his large black eyes. "If that is what you want, then prove it."
Gokudera didn't have time to think before Reborn pointed his gun at him and pulled the trigger.
"It's no good." Illya mumbled as she sat back down at the table.
Try as she might, she hadn't been able to get her clothes to change at all, and the child was starting to get frustrated.
"Maybe it reacts to danger or something. Since Natsumi-chan's changed in order to save me." Haru suggested.
"H...Hey, don't say things like that." Natsumi said, worried that Illya might start putting herself in danger. Then the idea of the girl putting herself at risk and getting hurt really started to sink in and Natsumi paled. "Illya-chan, for everyone's safety, you must NEVER put yourself at risk."
"Huh? I wouldn't put myself in danger on purpose." Illya said, tilting her head in confusion.
"Natsumi, you okey, you aren't looking so good." Taiga asked in a whisper, seeing Natsumi's pale face.
"Fuji-nee, you know how Shirou-senpai gets when it comes to Illya-chan. What do you think he'd do if she starts putting herself in danger?" Natsumi hissed back. The last time something happened to her, he and Reborn nearly destroyed the school, and Natsumi was pretty sure they were holding back their strongest attacks to minimize collateral damages.
And that had been when Illya had only been made to go into dying will mode. If something actually happened to her, Shirou would probably lose his shit again.
Thinking about it for a moment, a look of worry came over Taiga's face as well. "Yeah, you should make sure to stay as safe as possible."
Illya didn't get it, but she still promised not to put herself in unnecessary risk.
"Well, even if it doesn't evolve, it is still super cute!" Haru said cheerfully. "Haru would sure love to have something like it."
"Why don't you get one too then?" Illya asked. "After all, you're also a magical girl."
"Hey, yeah!" Haru said, her eyes practically sparkling at the thought of being a magical girl.
Natsumi and Taiga shifted a little uncomfortably. "Before you go asking about getting your own outfit, shouldn't you apologize to Shirou-senpai first?" Natsumi suggested.
Haru immediately came out of her fantasy and put on an unhappy face. "And why should Haru apologize to that guy?" She huffed.
"Why should you apologize? You called him a villain and assaulted him multiple times when he hadn't done anything wrong. Of course you need to apologize." Taiga said.
"You did?" Illya said, shocked that anyone could do that to her beloved older brother.
"He was the one who started it!" Haru objected vigorously. "That jerk was being mean to Reborn-chan! He called Reborn-chan a devil and was trying to corrupt him with his black heart!"
"That's just how Shirou-senpai and Reborn are with each other." Natsumi said with a shake of her head. "I know it might seem strange to you, but that is just how they deal with each other."
They were used to the way that Shirou and Reborn acted towards each other, with Shirou glaring daggers at the little hitman and Reborn with his manipulative smile. Shirou made it no secret that he didn't trust Reborn, and Reborn made it little secret that he was manipulating Shirou every chance he got.
But even if on the outside they appeared to be in a cold war with each other, they didn't necessarily hate each other.
"How can Natsumi-chan say that!?" Haru said, shaking her head. "No, Haru won't accept it! He is evil and Haru has to protect Reborn-chan from him!"
"Is that so?" Shirou said from the back door, causing the girl to jump in surprise. She seemed unsure of what to do as Shirou walked up to the table and placed Natsumi's pendant in front of her. "I'll be in the kitchen, if anyone needs me."
"Wait, Shirou!" Taiga said, but the boy just kept walking. As the door closed behind him, Taiga started to grit her teeth. "What is wrong with you!" She shouted, turning on Haru, who yelped in disguise. "Shirou isn't some kind of monster! He's a human being and he is our friend! What gives you the right to come in here and treat him like this!?"
"But… he's so mean to Reborn…" Haru said, confused about how she was suddenly getting shouted at.
"You don't know the first thing about him! Him or Reborn!" Taiga said, clenching her hands into fists. She felt moments away from decking Haru when Natsumi placed a hand on her shoulder. Her entire body trembled as she worked to get herself under control. "If you are going to treat our friends so poorly, then just leave. Leave and never come back, because we don't want you here."
And with that piece said, she stomped off after Shirou.
Illya looked between Taiga and Haru with shocked eyes before shying away from the new girl. "Illya-chan?" Haru said in a heartbroken voice as the girl followed after Taiga and her brother. The door closed and only Haru and Natsumi were left. "Haru… Haru is not wrong. Babies are pure. Bad people bullies them."
"Haru-san, please stop talking like that." Natsumi said, surprising the other girl. "Shirou-senpai might not be perfect, but he isn't a bad person. Don't you understand that you are really hurting his feelings when you act like this?"
"But he was mean to Reborn-chan." Haru said, making her excuse, looking down at her hands. "You're siding with him too, aren't you? You want Haru gone."
"It isn't about taking sides. You are in the wrong here." Natsumi said with a sigh. "Try to think of it from their point of view. How would you feel if someone came into your home, insisted that your father was a monster, and then beat him with a hockey stick?"
"...Haru has been a bad girl again, hasn't she?" Haru said as Natsumi put things in terms that she could understand, her head sinking down.
"...Maybe a little." Natsumi said, feeling sorry for the girl. She felt that Haru wasn't a bad person, it was just that her emotional and social maturity seemed to be closer to the level of the babies she loved so much. "I'm sure that everyone will be more than willing to start over if you just apologize and don't do it again."
"Really? You think they will still want to be friends with Haru?" Haru asked weakly.
"You won't know unless you try." Natsumi said, not actually too sure herself. Taiga was really mad at Haru, and Illya loved her brother more than she loved being able to breathe. In the end, Shirou's reaction would probably be the deciding factor.
"You didn't need to do that." Shirou said, his voice rather dry as he dug through the fridge for what he needed for making dinner.
"Shirou, she doesn't have the right to talk like that to you. Even if you say that it doesn't bother you, we can tell that it does." Taiga said as she and Illya watched Shirou's back. "And even if it didn't bother you, it bothers me how she treats you when she doesn't know the first thing about you."
"Onii-chan." Illya said weakly, having not noticed any problems between Shirou and Haru before, and feeling guilty for overlooking it and inviting the girl over.
But Shirou's reply surprised them.
"...Couldn't the same thing be said in reverse? How much do you know about her?" Shirou said as he retrieved the fish from within the fridge and brought them over to the cutting board.
"Ah… well…" Taiga stuttered a little, taken off guard by Shirou's question.
"Miura Haru, age 12. Her father is a university professor and her mother works as an state attorney in cases involving child abuse, often times involving extreme neglect. Ironically, her parents don't seem to keep track of their own daughter." Shirou said, listing off the things he knew about the girl. After Haru turned up at their house, Shirou immediately started to investigate her. Standard procedure for anyone who approached his little sister. Their father did the same and the pair even compared notes. "She goes to Midori Middle School, a high end all girls school. She has made no friends there and has been suspended from school three times during the spring semester due to her neurotic and sometimes violent behavior. She's also got a record with the police, one account of assault with a weapon and the attempted kidnapping of a baby she thought was being abused by its parents."
"Kidnapping!?" Illya squeaked in surprise.
"I won't say that her behavior doesn't bother me, but what really gets under my skin is Reborn. He knows perfectly well that the girl is mentally ill and yet he wants to bring her into the world of magic." Shirou said, starting to sound a little anger. "Imagine, giving Dying Will Flames to a girl like her? It is more irresponsible than giving a rocket launcher to a toddler."
Taiga swallowed, thinking of the kind of damage an active flame user could do if they act out in the kind of way that Haru had been acting.
"Honestly, her having some friends and people to keep a close watch on her is a good thing. I just can't condone Reborn's desire to have her trained." Shirou admitted.
"So, Onii-chan doesn't hate Haru?" Illya asked.
"No. I don't hate her. She's annoying and I don't care for her attitude, but I don't hate her." Shirou admitted.
As he said so, the door to the kitchen opened and Haru stepped in, with Natsumi gently guiding her from behind. "H...Haru is sorry. Haru knows she was bad." Haru said, seeming to be on the verge of tears. "Do… you still want Haru to leave?"
Shirou looked at the girl and took a breath. "Do you want to stay for dinner? We'll be having it in a half hour."
"Yes… Yes please." Haru said in relief.
Shirou went back to focusing on his cooking as the girl started to make up, Taiga apologizing to Haru for yelling at her. Everything seemed to return to the earlier peace… until Shirou suddenly stiffened, his eyes snapping towards the door.
Someone had entered the bounded field without permission, pushing straight through with brute force.
The girls were surprised as Shirou dashed past them, his hands held out and a pair of swords materializing in them as he dashed out of the kitchen, seeming ready for a fight as they all heard the sound of the front door opening.
But when he saw who the intruder was, he stopped.
"Juu...daime!" A familiar voice said.
Natsumi glanced into the room to see Gokudera on the ground, trying to crawl towards them, a chaotic, multicolored flame on his forehead. The energy of Shirou's wards was attacking him for breaking the rules that Shirou had set down. "Gokudera-san!?" Natsumi said in surprise.
The boy looked up at her, his expression full of the madness that came with the Dying Will Bullets, which kind of freaked the girls out a little bit.
"Juudaime… Please… Please make me… AH!" Gokudera's words stopped as Reborn jumped down, landing squire on his back before bouncing off of him, across the room and onto a table.
"What do you think you are doing?" Reborn said, looking at Gokudera with disapproval. "Do you think you have the right to ask her if you can't even stand on your own two feet?"
Gokudera gritted his teeth before starting to push himself up off of the ground, fighting against the magic that surrounded him with the pure brute headedness that came with his Dying Will. Inch by inch, the boy slowly managed to stand up, and when he did, he took a deep breath. "Juudaime! Please make me your right hand man!" Gokudera shouted with all of his strength… then collapsed to the ground as his Dying Will faded and the bounded field overwhelmed him.
Reborn smiled as everyone went into a panic. "Alright. Starting tomorrow, the real training begins."
This is supposed to be Gokudera's time to seek redemption, but I am still leaving the option for just snuffing him open, if people keep whining about how he is being treated unfairly, when in a fair world involving Shirou, Gokudera who already be sleeping with the fishes.