A/N: Before we kick this story off I have to apologize.
In my attempt to buy myself more time to plan out and write this part of the story, I actually wound up burning myself out, I found no enjoyment in writing anything for months and I was actually put on anti-depressants for a while as I was having trouble leaving my apartment without feeling like I was trying to breathe with led weights in my lungs.
I have been slowly working myself back to writing and even when I finally, finally found myself writing something semi-concrete without feeling absolutely disgusted with the words in front of me, I still couldn't bring myself to continue writing on this thing, until the desire suddenly hit me and the disgust didn't surface like it had so many times before.
I did not mean to leave you waiting for so long, and I hope that you will be willing to forgive me for leaving you hanging on that cliff I left you on at the end of the last fic, but I'm finally back, I'm finally writing on this things again and enjoying it, the chapters will come out slowly as I still find looking at some parts of my outline difficult what with me having attempted to force it during that difficult time, but I will manage, I'm in a much better place now, probably better than I have been for years in fact, and I will write as much as my body allows me to.
And if there are any new readers here, this is the first chapter of the SECOND story in a series I'm working on, the first part is already finished and can be found on my profile. If you're interested please give it a read, I promise it gets more interesting as it progresses, my way of writing is just very character based sprinkled with plot and thus can come off as somewhat flow for those looking for fast-paced, plot-heavy stories.
I refuse to be sorry about that.
So here it is, the first chapter of the sequel to my most popular fanfiction.
Enjoy.
Scene 1:
Awed Looks
July 20
Monday 2215
Chapter 1: An introduction
Ombra is the name we call our world.
It is a vast, spread-out society with an unknown number of strongholds and towns located in secret, unplottable locations all over the globe, each one inhabited by a number of Guilds only known by the inhabitants of the location in question.
It is speculated that one Guild has stationed themselves on the moon, though the logistics behind that claim are shaky at best.
The only major contact between the many different Guilds out there is through the outside alliances known as "Flares" (Someone aware of our world, has contacts in our world, but has no interest to actually join a Guild anytime soon). The Guilds form these connections to protect their existence and strongholds against other, possibly more powerful Guilds.
Aside from these alliances, the strength of a Guild is established through the number of members, the name they have made for themselves, how long they have been around from the day they were first founded, and how many lesser Guilds that have sworn themselves under their crest.
Till this day, the most famous and strongest Guild in existed is the very first one:
Vongola.
The last known record speculates that they have over 59 vassals sworn under them, and that does not take into account the number of vassals sworn under them.
Each Guild is lead by their Warden and those he/she appoints as their direct underlings, creating a hierarchy within the Guild. The position of Warden can either be inherited or appointed depending on the will of the Guild founder or necessity, such as if the Warden in power is without any direct descendants or it the descendants in question do not hold the trust of the rest of the Guild, or just unfit for the position one way or the other.
All those that reside within Ombra claimed land aren't automatically a part of a Guild, however, but it does mean you have to be tied to a Guild one way or the other, usually through one of their family members being a Guild Initiate or even a full-on Guild member.
A Guild Initiate (a new guild member) remains that throughout their lives unless they gain the favor of a higher ranking member that can elevate them to Full Member status, if not, they remain as Initiate, but should their descendants decide to remain in their world, they will automatically be elevated to Member status simply due to the fact that they had been raised with a direct tie to our world.
Should a child reject the position offered to them, they are still tied to Ombra due to their vast knowledge even if they have no direct contact with our world or has no real contribution to it in any shape or form. They are considered a shadow living in Lumeria (The world on the "unknowing"), and is referred as simply, Walkers.
Do not be confused, actually becoming an Initiate is a very difficult thing for someone on the outside, with the requirements for becoming one differing depending on the Guild.
Usually, though, they would need a higher ranking member within the Guild of their choice to vouch for them before they are put through a trial period within the ranks.
Those that seek acceptance within a Guild, any Guild, are usually referred to as Roamers and are usually spoken of in annoyance.
They can be quite desperate and sometimes even quite unhinged in their desire to join the ranks, so it is usually best to stay away from them.
Then how are Initiates usually found?
Members usually introduce their friends and family to the world and subsequently, their Guilds, with the hope that they would be willing to join them in that part of their lives, and most of the time, they do.
In order for a Guild to become a Guild, they need to have about-
Tsuna's eyes snapped up from the old, yellowed page of the thick, light-brown leather-bound book she had resting in her lap as she let out a long, exhausted sigh, rubbing at her temples in an attempt to stave off her mounting headache.
Too much information…
The book Reborn had given her after she'd allowed all the questions she'd kept bottled up from the moment she'd first met him tumble out of her mouth the day before when he'd needed her to just sink back down into the mountain of pillows and rest, not weigh her mind down with additional facts that he still didn't think she quite needed to know just yet was giving her a terrible headache from the information overload.
She'd snatched the book up from where she'd set it down on the bedside table almost the second her mind had woken up enough that morning.
Okay… so she'd really grabbed it before, almost dropping it to the floor as her fingers had yet to fully regain their regular strength.
Not one of her better moments…
"The History of Ombra." was the name of the book, sounding more than a little bit silly to her as the name of this world she was supposedly a part of without having ever heard of it had yet to fully register into her mind.
This was why she preferred to ask questions directly though. Getting the information she wanted in a less clinical and monotone manner that came with textbook facts when she wanted it, not having to rifle through less-than-interesting nonsense to get the answers she was actually looking for.
She hadn't even managed to get through the first chapter when the door to her assigned bedroom burst open, startling her out of her spiraling thoughts to see Bianchi strutting inside, dressed in a short leather pencil skirt with cross-lacing running from top to bottom over the front of her things, fishnet pantyhose under blood-red thigh-high socks, and a red plaid front-zipper bustier over a black sheer top with bishop sleeves. The stiletto heels of her black leather ankle-boots clicking against the wooden blood as the woman made her way over to where Tsuna sat leaning against the small mountain of dune pillows propped up against the headboard, her long lavender tinted hair twisted up into a bun at the back of her head showing off the bejeweled scorpions dangling from her earlobes.
Tsuna would be willing to bet that her best friend's older sister could probably make a potato sack look like the world's most fashionable item if she put her mind to it.
As the woman reached the younger female's bedside, she settled down something that took a few seconds before Tsuna recognized as a large, multi-layered case of deep lacquered wood and metal that was either pure gold of painted to look like it. One of those cases that bear more than one resemblance to a tool case.
Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if Bianchi did view the thing as a tool case of sorts.
HER tool case.
For HER tools of choice.
"Alright." the absolutely stunning woman said, bringing Tsuna out of her wandering thoughts to watch as the woman put her well-manicured hands on her hips, her attention turning fully to the younger female on the bed, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows drawing together as she studied her smaller frame, her blood-red lips twitching. "Let's see what I have to work with."
Tsuna had barely had the chance to let out a confused "What?" before the woman had grabbed either side of the younger female's head and begun inspecting the bird's nest that functioned as her hair. The touch was gentle but unexpected enough that Tsuna froze where she was sitting, the book falling out of her lap as Bianchi gently turned her head from side to side, humming in thought as she carefully tugged at a few notable curls protruding from the mess.
"What are you doing?" Tsuna finally asked, already developing an ache in her neck from the awkward positions Bianchi kept putting it in.
"I am going to fix this." came the woman's answer, the casual, calm tone not hiding the determination set in her face as she finally let go of Tsuna's head in order to turn the majority of her attention towards her case, easily opening it and rifling through its content all the while keeping Tsuna more of less trapped on the bed. "Your features are too pretty to be hidden by something as silly as hair." Tsuna actually drew back from the woman, her nerves igniting when she fished out different types of barber's scissors, brushes, and combs.
She hadn't been lying she had told the woman that she didn't exactly trust anyone near her neck with a pair of scissors, but… things were different with Bianchi.
Bianchi had been there when she had consciously activated her flames, had been there to help her stifle them again when she had completely blanched on how to go about that.
If she were to really think about it, if there was one person she could find it in herself to trust with her hair, it was Bianchi, though she did sit rather tensely as Bianchi fished out a bottle from her case, popped the lid, and poured the semi-translucent, thick liquid into the palm of her hand.
Seeing the uncertain look on the younger girl's face, Bianchi chuckled.
"It's organic hair oil," she explained as she sunk her hands into the messy hair in front of her. "It will help me sort out the knots without yanking all of it out by the roots." with that said, she ducked behind the girl.
As she worked, she would carefully explain to Tsuna what she was doing, what she was going to do eventually, and why doing so was so important for someone with her hair texture. Of course, the vast majority of what the woman was saying went in through one ear and out the other as Tsuna found the woman's fingers combing through the hair and massaging her scalp to be… distracting.
Okay, so she was being lulled into sleep, but really, the woman should be banned from ever working at a salon and/or barbershop lest she wind up knocking out each and every one of her clients.
A massage parlor would probably want her though…
She had just begun swaying a little where she was sitting when Bianchi spoke up.
"How did you first meet my brother?"
Taking the question as a means to keep from falling asleep, Tsuna quickly answered.
"He zoomed past me on his hoverbike one morning at the school gates." she couldn't help the nostalgic smile that spread over her lips at the memory. "He spent a good few days after that just staring at the back of my head without really doing anything. It was kinda creepy."
Bianchi chuckled at her words, her movements not faltering the slightest. She had taken to brushing out the mess with both a brush and a comb some time ago and the woman was watching the hair lengthening significantly in between her hands with more than just a little pride. It had taken some time to actually find the tips of the messy hair so Bianchi felt the emotion to be warranted on her part.
"If that was your first impression of him, how did you become friends?" the woman found herself asking, nodding along to herself once the question registered into her mind. "I know my brother is quite stubborn and his trust isn't exactly easily earned."
To her surprise, Tsuna actually laughed.
"Oh, believe me, I know." the younger girl agreed, forcefully calming herself down so as to remain relatively still. "It took a LOT of convincing on my end just to get the guy to realize that the way I act around people wasn't an act." she frowned a little. "I'm still not exactly sure what finally convinced him, but one day he seemed to have completely switched his opinion of me saying he wanted to get the facts straight for himself." she threw her hands into the hair at this in amused exasperation. "Took him long enough!"
Bianchi laughed along, shaking her head at her brother's past behavior.
Tsuna lowered her hands into her lap and kept talking.
"After that, we just kept encountering one another, we kept talking, he decided to teach me how to use my ballet to defend myself and the next thing I know, he and I kinda just… clicked." she threw a look at the woman from over her shoulder. "Conversation between us after that point has never been easier." a frown passed over her delicate features. "Of course, the nature of our interactions seemed to have completely passed over Gokudera-kun's head as not long after that he asked to become my subordinate."
Bianchi's hands paused, comb part-way through the lock she was working her way through.
"And how did you react to that?" she asked slowly before forcing her hands back into motion.
Had Bianchi not been working on her hair, Tsuna probably would have slumped over.
"I avoided him for a couple of days." she glanced over at the woman again, watching as a spark of anger flashed in her eyes. "I'm not proud of it, but he just made he so uncomfortable with that question." thankfully, Bianchi seemed to accept that if that spark of anger faded away had anything to say about it. "He eventually just showed up at my door when I was having breakfast, ensuring that my Mom saw him and she forced me out the house so we could talk." she shook her head slowly from side to side as she recalled that morning. "It took a while but he finally understood that I didn't want a subordinate, that I wanted a friend, and I essentially had to explain that I wanted what we had before he asked to be my subordinate before he accepted."
Of course, there was a lot more to it than that but she didn't feel like telling the woman the whole story, it was rather long.
Bianchi found herself having to let go of the girl's hair in order to force her still as her movements had become more and more erratic the more she'd talked.
Letting out a long breath, Bianchi returned to her self-appointed task.
"I'm not surprised it took so much for him to agree," she admitted, her voice heavy. "Both of us grew up relatively isolated from others our age and life on the street for someone as young as he was when he left is… rough, to put it lightly."
For the next couple of minutes, the two women just sat in silence as Bianchi worked.
Tsuna was more than just a little surprised at just how little pain she was experiencing. Every time she had attempted to brush her hair herself before that point had been an experience of self-appointed torture that she only forced herself through if she happened to find the mess either offensive or annoying when she happens to look in the mirror one day.
To think hair maintenance didn't have to hurt…
Her thoughts brought her back to their previous conversation when something hit her.
"Wait..." she muttered, catching the woman's attention. "Gokudera Hayato is a Japanese name." she glanced over at Bianchi, watching as she nodded her head in confirmation. "But from what you tell me, he was born and raised in Italy with an Italian father."
Bianchi thankfully decided to answer the question before it was even asked.
"The name our father gave Hayato upon his birth was Nicolas DiGuerra." she smiled softly as she forced Tsuna's head back to its original position. "I grew up calling him Nico. But he changed his name when he ran away, embracing his mother's Japanese heritage by taking her family name and addressing himself as Hayato."
Tsuna frowned as Bianchi wrapped one of those hair-stick cape thingies used when cutting hair around her neck, having finally finished brushing out the mess and exchanged the brushes and combs for the different kinds of scissors she'd picked out earlier.
Much to Tsuna's surprise, she didn't tense as the woman began snipping away at the tattered ends of her hair.
"But you recognized him by Hayato back in the cells." she found herself commenting after a moment's thought.
Bianchi's reply was swift.
"I made a point to keep track of any and all information on him that I could come across." she pulled out the full length of a curl with a comb, keeping it straight as she expertly cut at the strands. "I memorized the name after recognizing a description that could belong to no one else." she made sure the cut hair stuck to the cape before moving to another lock of hair. "If Hayato is the name my brother wishes to be addressed as then that is the name I am going to use."
The two women sat in silence for a long while after that, the only sounds coming from each cut made with the scissors.
Eventually, Tsuna couldn't help herself.
"You are a pretty kick-ass older sister, Bianchi," she stated softly.
The woman in question froze mid-cut, staring at the back of Tsuna's head for a long, tense moment before her lower lip trembled, her gorgeous eyes closing as she let out a long heavy breath.
"Thank you, little Princess," she whispered into the resulting silence.
A good hour had passed since Bianchi had started her self-appointed task, the amount of hair sticking to the cloth was rather frightening but given the fact that Tsuna hadn't had a haircut in literal years, it was understandable. She had just finished cutting and begun massaging shampoo into the hair all the while explaining what would happen once the girl had taken a shower.
This time, Tsuna ensured that she actually listened.
It was beyond strange for her to be able to see the whole room without having to peer at her surroundings through a veil of hair, the lot of it now sitting on top of her head in a shampoo lump. She couldn't help but wonder what her hair would look like once Bianchi was finally finished it is after the coming shower.
And she did need one, she still hadn't had one since before she was kidnapped and the layer of dirt and other… stuff caking her skin was starting to make her feel itchy.
Tsuna had just gotten off of the bed, heading for the bathroom when the bedroom door opened and Reborn walked into the room successfully startling the two women within.
The sight of his student gave him pause, taking in the state of her hair, not to mention the fact that he had a clear view of her face for the first time since he had met her. Or at the very least, the first time he had seen her face whilst she was still awake and aware that he was staring directly at her face.
He was quick to get over it though, thankfully.
"You two finish up what you have to, but when you're done it's time for a lesson." he tossed a fresh bundle of exercise clothes in Tsuna's direction, staying just long enough to witness her catching them with much more ease than she usually would have before he disappeared back out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Tsuna did not miss the long, swooning sigh that came from the woman still sitting on the bed, she suspected Bianchi had even sagged into herself as she stared at the closed door with a dreamy look in her eyes.
Curious, Tsuna turned to glance at the woman from over her shoulder.
"Did you know Reborn before the wrong warehouse thing?" she asked slowly, successfully snapping Bianchi out of whatever state she had fallen into.
"No." the woman answered, clearing her throat. "I did not know him personally, but I have seen him around before when on different jobs in Italy." the woman ensured that Tsuna couldn't ask her any more questions before she threw her a couple of things sending the younger female scrambling to catch them. "I trust you still remember what to do?"
Tsuna raised an eyebrow at the woman.
"Comb when still underwater, finish with a cold rinse to close the pores?"
"Correct." the woman nodded, her face carrying a slightly red tint. "Call me when you're out so you can leave this room an absolute knockout."
Deciding to leave it as it was, Tsuna just nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.
Truth be told, Tsuna couldn't remember the last time she had been able to run her fingers through her hair when she washed it without having them painfully snagging on one baseball-sized knot after the other, but now she could smoothly run a comb through it with no issue.
She had to admit, her scalp itched something fierce from the unfamiliar sensation coupled with the new direction her hair pointed in.
She had seen the ball of hair Bianchi had brushed out, and it wasn't pretty.
Closing her eyes, she set down the comb, allowing the water to cascade over her uncovered face for the first time in ages. She had always ensured to wash her face of course, but it was difficult to do when in the shower what with her hair has always done its own stubborn, unattractive thing.
She knew that she wouldn't be able to maintain any kind of hair-care ritual Bianchi wanted to introduce her to, not unless the woman ensured that it happened. The next thing she knew the woman would attempt to introduce her to skincare and makeup, but if that happened Tsuna knew that she would wind up putting her foot down.
She didn't need makeup, she would never be the kind of girl who wore a full face of makeup on a regular day (of course, on less-than-normal occasions she suspected she would have no say in the matter but that didn't mean she would allow herself to have someone cake her face with product that would take way too long to get off in the evening). She had nothing against other people wearing it, some people are skilled enough to make their faces look absolutely amazing, but it just wasn't for her.
Stepping out of the shower, Tsuna wrapped a towel around her body as she knocked on the door before unlocking it, letting Bianchi know she was done.
Wandering over to where she'd left her clothes, Tsuna caught her reflection in the mirror and promptly froze.
Had she always had such big eyes?
Had her face always been that round?
It was a strange concept that she hadn't seen the entirety of her face in such a long time that she had essentially forgotten what she looked like. At least, not without having to manually move her hair away from her eyes only for it to fall back once she removed her hand.
She felt so clean… cleaner than she ever remember being, even if the only thing that had changed was her hair.
She couldn't help but wonder how the others would react to seeing her face like this…
She didn't usually think about such things, and she didn't like the anxiety that bubbled up in her at the thought. She hadn't worried about social views on beauty in a long while.
Catching where her thoughts were headed, Tsuna forced her eyes closed, taking a deep breath, stabilizing herself against the counter.
In her mind, she gathered up those uncomfortable thoughts and feels and stuffed them into an opaque jar, tightly screwing the lid closed before shutting it away into one of her mental drawers. It had been several years since she'd had to go through with this little ritual of hers but it was one she knew worked for her. When she'd first tried to ignore the opinions of those around her it had taken some time before she got over the anxiety that resulted from the looks everyone gave her, but she'd discovered that little trick online and it had helped her immensely.
Slowly, she felt herself calming down again, her worries slipping away as she fell back into her usual mindset.
She would not allow social constructs to make her uncomfortable in her own body.
Not again.
"What's wrong?" Bianchi's voice forced her out of her thoughts, though she didn't startle.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to look at her reflection again seeing Bianchi settle down a couple of containers of product on the counter beside her before plugging in a hairdryer sporting a… odd contraption Tsuna couldn't recall ever seeing before.
Tsuna shook her head, straightening out her spine.
"Reflections are dangerous," she said, rubbing at the skin under her eyes as Bianchi raised an eyebrow at her. "They make one aware of what society thinks is beautiful and then you just begin worrying if you fit into that mold or not." she allowed herself a small smile as she faced the woman directly. "I haven't worried about such things in a long time and I won't allow myself to start now."
Bianchi just stared at her for a long moment before chuckling.
"You do that," she said, putting her hands on Tsuna's shoulders, positioning herself behind the younger girl so that they both were looking into the mirror. "But when I'm done with you, you won't have a reason to worry in the first place."
Tsuna was going to have to take her word on that…
Her hair was… fluffy.
Fluffy and bouncy, springy.
Had it been that way when she was younger? Before it had gotten too unruly for both her and her mother to handle?
There was just so much… volume, and it was so long! Hanging down past her shoulder blades almost reaching her waist, when it was still curly! Who knows how long it was should it ever be straightened, she hadn't exactly bothered checking back when it was wet.
Bianchi had stayed long enough to carefully pull the curls back into a ponytail, fastening it with an orange scrunchy (Tsuna didn't wanna train with this new, bouncy hair flying all over the place, it just wouldn't be practical).
Thankfully, Bianchi didn't insist on putting make-up on her.
She had to admit that it took a bit longer than strictly necessary to get dressed when she found herself freezing up whenever she caught sight of her own reflection, the clothes Reborn got her being a soft forest green zip-up hooded sweatshirt and ankle-long sweatpants worn with a pastel-pink tank-top.
She found herself quite liking the outfit, but she had to wonder just where Reborn had learned about women's clothing.
One last long look at her reflection and Tsuna felt she was finally ready to follow Bianchi out of the bedroom. To face whatever reaction the others would have to this relatively forced make-over.
Taking a deep breath, she forced the door open, spotting her gym-shoes propped up against the wall beside the door as she closed it behind her. Someone must have taken them off of her before they brought her to the bedroom the evening before.
Again, she found herself stalling as she spent way too long putting her shoes on, lingering in the hallway before she finally got to the stairs, peering down into the cottage lounge where everyone was waiting for her.
The second they saw her, all activity in the room halted.
Feeling very much like she was the main character of one of those cheesy teen movies from hundreds of years before where the nerdy female lead got a make-over and suddenly became the bell of the ball, Tsuna fidgeted where she stood, awkwardly pulling at a loose curl hanging in front of her ear.
Gokudera (who had been in the middle of cleaning one of his guns when she'd reached the top of the stairs) promptly dropped both the cloth and the gun onto the table when he finally realized the change in the room's atmosphere and looked her way.
Her hair somehow looked both thinner, and bigger than it had been in its birds-nest state, loose curls falling around her soft, round face very attractively.
She looked away from the strange, almost awed looks as she took a few steps down the stairs, only to immediately find herself wrapped up in a tight hug from a man she didn't know.
"YOU ARE FUCKING ADORABLE!" A surprisingly soft voice shouted, swaying her from side to side as she fought to free herself from his grasp.
Who was this man?
What kind of man hugs strangers like this?
She was so confused…
Bianchi watched her brother scramble to his feet, hid olive eyes narrowing his eyes at the Cavallone warden desperately trying to keep his arms around the struggling teenager, she had to be the one to push his guns out of his reach.
"What do you think Hayato?" she asked, deliberately switching his attention onto herself. "Doesn't she look pretty?"
For a long moment, Hayato just looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing into a frown as though he was silently asking her if she was serious or not.
His next words shocked the room back into silence.
"Juudaime has always been beautiful." he pushed himself away from the table, stalking over to the stairs where Tsuna had finally managed to shove a flailing Dino away from her. "I could tell that the first time I met her."
Bianchi blinked up after her brother, something Tsuna caught.
"It's true," she said, taking a few steps further down the stairs, carefully avoiding Dino's grasping hands. Thankfully, one of Dino's men had taken it upon himself to hold the young man back from latching onto her again. "Gokudera-kun is the first one to have told me that without having seen the entirety of my face first." she smiled at the guy in question as he ascended the stairs to meet her halfway, catching one of her curls in his long fingers as he looked her right in the eyes.
"It is nice to see it all for once though." he tilted his head to the side, studying her closely. "Not that I would have been disappointed if I had never gotten to see it." despite his words, Tsuna noticed that the guy took great pleasure in finally being able to meet her gaze after having known her for so long with only the lower half of her face visible the majority of the time.
She scoffed at his words.
"Your gentleman nature is showing," she muttered, her eyes narrowed teasingly.
"How could it not?" he gestured with his hand, letting go of her curl, "When faced with such a splendid example of the double X chromosome." he theatrically waved both his hands in front of him, gesturing towards her. She didn't hesitate to smack those hands down, only for him to bring them back up in a repeat of his previous movement, making her smack them down again.
Apparently, that was enough for Reborn.
"I'm starting the lesson," he called out, snapping everyone's attention towards him. He jerked his head towards the exit. "Outside, now, no more dawdling."
Gokudera dutifully stepped out of Tsuna's way so that she may approach her tutor.
The towering male gave her a once over before a small, minuscule really, soft smile twitched on his lips, a small nod before he walked out of the cottage.
Tsuna supposed that was as much of a compliment as any from the man who had probably been holding himself back from cleaning up her appearance himself from the moment he had met her the day he moved in. She could only guess that the only reason he didn't was because his job as her tutor was too reliant on trust for him to burn it on a forced make-over when she was most reliant on comfort and relaxation, something a make-over most likely would have ruptured something violently, especially her social life.
Gokudera watched as Juudaime followed Reborn out the door, closely followed by a rather solemn-looking Dino (though he was being more or less dragged by the collar by one of his men). Shaking his head in amusement, he turned back to where he had left his guns, only to be met by his sister, his sister wearing an expression that he'd rather not deconstruct.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he growled, his eyes narrowing into a glare.
Bianchi just batted her eyelashes at him.
"What look?"
Gokudera knew his sister, he would not fall into her trap. Instead, he moved to the table to keep cleaning his guns. But of course the bitch wouldn't leave it at that. She leaned against the table at his sides, the feel of her gaze piercing.
A few seconds later, he couldn't take it anymore.
Throwing the cloth back onto the table, he turned towards the woman.
"Why did you take it upon yourself to do that to Juudaime's hair all of the sudden?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Of course the woman would look borderline triumphant at that.
"It simply cannot stand it when a woman's true beauty is hidden by something so trivial, so fixable." she peered down at her brother. "Please don't let the change in her hairstyle dictate your behavior for the poor girl." again, she batted her infuriatingly long eyelashes at him, daring him to take the bait.
Gokudera couldn't help but feel insulted at that.
How dare this bitch even hint that he would ever change the way he treated Juudaime just because she changed up her appearance a little?
A growl tore out of his throat before he pushed away from the table again, storming out the door.
What better way to ignore his sister than to watch Juudaime's lesson, right?
Gokudera and Bianchi arrived at the scene just in time for Reborn to turn to his former student.
"If you'd be so kind as to light your own flame, Dino." it was phrased like a question but there was no doubt in the minds of everyone present that the man expected his words to be followed. A kindly-worded order if you will.
Dino just rolled his eyes at Reborn's words before raising his right arm, closing his hand in a loose fist to show off the elaborate ring resting on his middle finger.
It looked somewhat like an old-fashioned signet ring, only it had an orange gemstone fitted into the carved pattern.
A gemstone that flashed before a flame flickered to life from it.
Tsuna blinked at the sight.
So that was a medior…
She did notice something odd about that flame though.
"That flame is different from mine." she immediately pointed out, fingers itching to reach out towards it. Whilst it was orange like her own, it wasn't as deep an orange color, and she could have sworn that she saw it glittering faintly, something she had never seen her own flames do the two times she'd called them forth.
Reborn gave her a proud nod at her observation.
"That's due to the purity of the flame," he explained, gesturing towards the flame still flickering on Dino's hand. "The orange flames are created from the other flames harmonizing with one another, like a choir, the stronger the harmony between the flames the purer the orange." he sent Tsuna a look that was somewhere between smug and proud. "Yours happen to be one of the purest I have seen in a while." Tsuna knew not to let anything that comes out of his mouth affect her by now, so she just waited for him to go on with his lecture. "A you may have noticed, Dino'd flames have a heavier, or stronger concentration of the flame I possess." he leveled his eyes on her, his expression now completely serious. "Now, it's your turn to activate your flames."
Those words… the last time he had stood in front of her telling her to activate her flamed, it had resulted in her getting kidnapped. She knew it was unlikely to happen again, that she was now relatively aware of how to activate them, but she couldn't help the slight cold shiver of fear that ran down her spine.
Surprisingly, Bianchi seemed to immediately catch onto this, as Tsuna suddenly found the woman standing right behind her, beautifully manicured hand gently resting on top of her shoulders in a show of comfort.
And it worked.
Bianchi had been there the first and only time Tsuna had activated her flames at will, there was a sense of comfort with her that she hadn't quite reached with Reborn.
With the woman's presence serving to calm her down, Tsuna allowed her mind to turn inward. It didn't take nearly as long as the other time to get the flames flooding her system, concentrating the flow into the palm of her hand all the while still keeping the flow going. She didn't wait long at all before she slowly removed the barriers keeping the flames in, slowly allowing them to flicker to life from her skin, slowly growing bigger, but she ensured that they didn't get too big, she didn't need a furnace fire this time, just something maybe a bit bigger than a candle flame.
By the time she looked up, Gokudera and Dino were both staring at her burning palms in open awe, much like Bianchi had back in the cell.
Reborn, however, wall all business.
Beckoning Tsuna to come closer, he made her hold her flame closer to Dino's in order to get a clearer comparison between the two shades of orange, and sure enough, Dino's were much closer to yellow in color than hers were, and the glittering in his wasn't at all present in hers.
"It's not just a color difference," Reborn explained, allowing his hands to hover around both of the flames. "If either of you were to focus your flames onto someone, you will find that Dino's would energize them whilst yours would serve to make them calm down, to feel at ease." he looked her right in the eye. "Remember this difference."
Tsuna could only nod in confirmation.
"Good." her tutor acknowledged. "Now I want you to snuff out your flames without killing the flow."
Bianchi squeezed Tsuna's shoulders, probably remembering the way she had reacted when she herself had asked the girl to turn her flames off. However, unlike the last time, now both of them were aware that she could turn them off if she wanted to. That is not to say that the comfort of the woman's hands on her shoulders wasn't welcomed.
Tsuna closed her eyes, once again guiding her attention inward.
It took a few minutes but eventually, she got the mental image in place and the flames slowly but surely shrunk down, eventually going out completely, leaving only her smooth, unblemished if slightly red skin in their place.
When she opened her eyes, she was met by the approving gaze of her tutor.
For the next hour, Reborn had Tsuna turn her flames on and off over and over again, using Dino's quick response to the same direction as a guide for how quick he wants Tsuna to become, if not even faster considering she didn't have to work through a piece of metal and gemstone.
A few tries in Reborn ordered Bianchi to step away, and Tsuna could understand why, she needed to learn how to do it herself without the need for someone to be there for comfort, but that didn't mean that first try without her standing behind her didn't take significantly longer than any of the other tries combined. But she did manage it, and the tries that followed only got quicker and quicker, the act of activating the flames becoming less and less frightening.
What could be frightening about flames that didn't even burn you?
Eventually, she stood there, capable of turning her flames on and off just seconds after Reborn called for her to do it, she didn't even need to think about each and every step in the process anymore she just… did it.
They probably would have gone on for an hour more had the sound of an engine not reached their ears.
Sure enough, just a few minutes later, a black car drove up to the cottage, stopping just a few feet away from where they stood.
Hibari Kyoya soon stepped out of the driver's seat, though his wandering gaze froze when they landed on Tsuna. It took her a moment to realize why, having long since forgotten about the change in her hair, allowing the prefect to see her face for the first time in a long while.
If he ever had, she wasn't entirely sure.
Maybe he had if the gentle turn to his facial expression was anything to go by, even if it had only been there for a split second.
"Dare I ask about the hair?" he asked, closing the car door behind him.
Instead of actually talking, Tsuna just pointed to Bianchi who gave him a short, two-finger wave.
Thankfully, the prefect took that as the answer it was, giving the older woman a respectful nod before turning his attention towards the one of clear superior standing out of all of them.
He may be difficult to deal with sometimes, but Hibari had always been respectful towards those older and superior to him. So long as they earn that respect of course.
He stalked right over to Reborn, though Tsuna couldn't help but notice how he seemed to be pointedly ignoring the tall, blonde Italian standing right next to the taller man, despite the clear effort Dino was making to try and catch the prefect's attention.
What… what is going on?
"The warehouse has been dealt with." Hibari relayed dutifully, ever the effective peacekeeper. "I have also begun looking into finally having that district leveled to the ground within the near future."
Reborn raised an eyebrow at that.
"Didn't you say people are reluctant to demolish those buildings?" he asked, keeping his voice level. "Something about them being scared of what might be revealed?"
Hibari looked almost insulted at that, but he remained relatively respectful.
"I cannot allow such an easily accessible hiding spot to remain." his eyes darkened at the reminder of what Tsuna had gone through in there. "Not just kidnapper, but any potential criminal could see that district as a potential gold mine, it cannot be allowed to exist for much longer."
Reborn nodded in acceptance.
She watched as Hibari's eyes landed on Dino. Dino, whose sole attention was already locked firmly onto the prefect.
That look on Dino's face as he was looking at Hibari…
It made her feel hot.
But she was already feeling a little hot from the fire she'd been playing with for the past hour… but this was a different kind of heat.
Noticing where her attention was, Bianchi put her hands back on the girl's shoulders and steered her back towards the cottage.
"You go hydrate, you need it," she said, shoving her in the direction of her brother.
A brother who immediately took the opportunity to toss his bewildered friend a water bottle he'd had put in the cooler after Reborn had let him know that he would start with her lessons. A cooled bottle that fogged up immediately at Tsuna's touch.
Deciding to take the out for what it was, Tsuna just shook her head, collapsing down on the edge of the porch as she opened the bottle, inhaling its contents, not realizing just how thirsty she had been until the water ran down her throat.
Then again… the was to be expected considering she had been playing with literal fire for the last hour.
Gokudera was quick to join her, sitting down at her side, his eyes focused on her exposed face. It felt weird, but she didn't want to dwell on those emotions for too long, she didn't want to wind up having a complex about her face of all things. But still, meeting someone's eyes when talking to them was going to be weird for some time still.
"I have to ask," Gokudera spoke up, drawing her out of her meandering thoughts. "What does it feel like when you activate the flames?"
Taking the out, Tsuna turned her body partially towards him.
"I don't really see it as activation," she stated after a moment of serious thought. Gokudera gave her an intrigued look, encouraging her to keep going. "It's not like just flicking a switch in an electric fireplace and they're on, it's more like…" she bit her lip, her brow furrowing as she sought for the right words. "I guess you could say it's more like turning on a gas stove with the gas already ignited in the pipes."
Gokudera's eyes seemed to glitter in light of the information.
"So, you just open a path for them to escape?"
"Exactly," she confirmed with a nod.
Apparently, that opened up the floodgates for one Anima related question after the other. Most of the time she had to remind her best friend that she really didn't know how it would work for someone who's not the Phoenix but he didn't seem to mind, he was more interested in how working the flames was like for the Phoenix than he was about how it would have worked for him had he not snuffed out his own core in his youth.
That was not something she had particularly wanted to remember.
She didn't particularly want to be reminded that there had been a point in his life that Gokudera had lacked any and all form of driven emotions to the point where the very manifestation of those emotions sitting in his chest had vanished. It made her worry for him more than she'd like to admit, more than she felt he was ready to hear.
It looked as though Gokudera was preparing himself for a new round of questions when the sound of furious footsteps reached them.
Turning towards the sound they were met with Hibari storming towards them, his cheeks flushed despite the look in his eyes that told Tsuna that the eighteen-year-old was on the brink of absolute, murderous, fury.
Well, at least until said eyes zeroed in on Tsuna's face and he forced himself to stop, closing his eyes and taking a deep, calming breath.
Fury momentarily stifled, he focused back on the only girl around.
"I need to talk to you for a second." was the only thing he said before he turned on his heel and stalked into the cottage.
Tsuna found herself shaking her head at the order, but knowing there was little she could do about it when he was in that much of a mood.
Sighing, she got to her feet, handing Gokudera her water bottle for safe-keeping.
"I'll be right back," she told him before she disappeared back into the cottage, quickly finding the prefect sitting in the comfortable window seat.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she approached him.
She hadn't gotten that far before he spoke up.
"You do realize that I expect you to give me a more detailed explanation this coming Wednesday, right?"
She could do little more than sigh at his words.
"Look." she breathed, sitting down next to the prefect, that strange feeling of comfort at his still very much present. Now that she thought about it, it was the same type of comfort she felt when with her mom, but stronger somehow. The thought made her frown. Shaking her head to rid herself of that odd thought, she kept talking. "I can only tell you about as much as I know." she watched as his eyes narrowed at her in warning. Tsuna's face twitched in annoyance, rolling her eyes as she leaned back into the cushions behind her. "I suspect the man's still keeping things from me so there's not that much I can tell you, honestly."
Thankfully, Hibari seemed to accept her explanation.
For a few long moments, the prefect just stared at her before he broke.
"It's strange seeing your whole face."
She couldn't help but laugh at his blunt words, throwing her head back. Shaking her head in humor she pushed a curl behind her ear.
"It is strange." she agreed wholeheartedly. "It's definitely odd to have my face so exposed." she waved her hand in front of her, following her fingers with her eyes, still marveling at the lack of a barrier.
"Well don't the two of you look absolutely gorgeous."
The teens both snapped their attention towards the front door to see Dino leaning against the opening, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked at the two of them.
Before she'd had the time to blink, Hibari had positioned himself on front of Tsuna, shielding her from the Italian's line of sight. Though, looking back on it, Tsuna would say it was a pointless endeavor as Dino's attention had been mostly focused on Hibari in the first place.
Seemingly determined to absolutely ignore the blonde, Hibari turned his attention back towards Tsuna from over his shoulder. His normally pale cheeks bearing a tint of pink.
Huh…
"I will take my leave then." the prefect stated as clearly as he could before he stalked to the door with determined steps, pointedly ignoring Dino as he shouldered past him (though Hibari's shoulder only reached upper rib level on the blonde).
Dino, however, didn't like that at all apparently as he was quick to follow the shorter male out the cottage.
Tsuna probably shouldn't have done it, but she found her eyes following the two men from her seat by the window. And thus, she bore witness to Dino catching Hibari by the wrist, a mistake on the older man's part as Hibari's immediate reaction was to yank his arm away, his tonfa seemingly materializing within his grip, allowing him to throw an attack at the blond in what Tsuna could have sworn was flustered anger within the span of a few short minutes.
An attack that was stopped by what looked to either be a bit of rope or a whip that had appeared in Dino's hands just as quickly as the tonfa had appeared in Hibari's.
From where she was sitting, Tsuna only had view of Hibari's face, and thus she could clearly see as his eyes widened, his face turning a curious shade that looked to be an ombre of pink and red, the arm supporting his tonfa shaking something violently, his chest heaving as though he had run a lap around Namimori as Dino seemed to be reaching out towards that odd fluctuating color, steel-gray eyes trailing the hand as it inched closer.
Before the blonde had the chance of touching the wide-eyed teen, his eyes narrowed and the very next moment, Dino was stumbling backward from a fist colliding with his jaw, his legs not quite keeping up with his upper body and sending him crashing to the ground as Hibari spun around on his heel and stormed off, his fists clenched at his sides.
Tsuna felt her nerves ignite as she watched a couple of the men pull out guns and level them on the prefect's quickly retreating figure as he approached his car, only to be stopped by Dino's raised hand, and they did lower their arms despite the blood that their Warden spit to the ground.
She watched as Dino was helped back to his feet by his men, raising his hand to possibly wipe at the lower part of his face before he turned to walk back into the cottage.
The first thing she noticed was his busted lip, already partially swollen with a surprisingly large cut still pumping blood, though, from the looks of it, it was already beginning to clot up. Was that some flame bullshit that his yellow-tinted flames were capable of? Accelerated healing?
Just as she thought that, the Italian spotted her still sitting by the window.
From the looks of it, it didn't take long for the blonde to realize that Tsuna had seen everything.
A strange, embarrassed kind-of-smirk curled his cut lip.
How did that work?
"Kyoya is playing hard to get." Dino laughed awkwardly, an expression that Tsuna really, really didn't want to pick apart right now forming on his face.
Before she realized what was happening, a frown etched itself onto her brow.
"No usually means no." she almost growled, her eyes narrowing into a mild glare, her irises flashing orange as the familiar feeling of flames slowly seeped into her system in response to her mounting irritation with the man.
Dino just let out a chuckle, reaching out a hand to ruffle her carefully styled hair.
She slapped his hand away.
Much to her annoyance, that only seemed to amuse the male even further as he just shook his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets before telling her straight.
"He has never said no," he smirked, glancing back over in the direction Hibari had just disappeared down. "I know my battles, and if he should ever ask me directly to back off, then I will." he took a couple of steps away from her and turned around, throwing a look over his shoulder at her. "I'm not someone to force my attention where they are not wanted."
With that said, he walked away, leaving Tsuna alone to her thoughts.
Come to think of it… why did she feel so protective of Hibari all of the sudden? She was well aware that the eighteen-year-old was perfectly capable of defending himself so why did she feel the need to step in like that?
Then again…
Whilst the prefect could defend himself physically… did the same apply to his emotions?
A/N: This turned out to be quite the long chapter, but I cannot say that I mind, I'm just happy to be writing on this beast again.
There is nothing more amazing than when the characters you've created decide that, no, instead of doing the thing you have imagined I'm going to do, I'm instead going to do THIS. It just makes them feel all the more real, and I experienced that quite a bit as I wrote this chapter, it made the experience much more enjoyable.
I remember at one point I got a comment from someone who had gotten quite annoyed at the state of Tsuna's hair, but the thing is that I had planned for Bianchi to be the one to deal with the mess ever since I was planning "It's In Her Blood". Actually having the scene in writing kinda feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.
The way Tsuna dealt with her anxiety is actually something I started doing as of late. I am someone prone to petrifying anxiety and there are many memories and thoughts that make me feel like absolute shit, but I discovered that little trick I had Tsuna use and decided to give it a try one night and I have to say, the clearer you imagine yourself tucking that memory away, the better result. I haven't been plagued by anxiety-inducing childhood memories since I discovered I can just pack them away. If anyone else is helped by this tip, all power to you.
Anyway, I finally managed to finish this thing and I hope my motivation will remain for at least a couple of days so that I may make some headway into the second chapter and maybe even further into the outline.
Wish me luck as I tackle the emotional minefield, please share your thoughts and maybe even speculations on upcoming chapters and I'll come back with the next chapter when it's ready.
Until next time.
This has been,
A message from Her Ladyship.