Thanks to Random Person (guest) for your kind words
DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN
Natsuki's POV
'Squalo-sama is going to owe me big time.' I thrust myself at Yamamoto making contact as a loud explosion erupted.
"Fuck!" I rubbed my head to somewhat soothe the pain. "Yamamoto-san are you...okay?" I looked around at my new dark surroundings. "Yamamoto-san?" I asked again. Still no response meant that I was alone.
I switched on the mask's night vision. I was in a bedroom? I was in my bedroom? The room's design was exact to my room back at the main Varia headquarters. 'Did the device just send me back home?' Once I climbed off my bed I started to see a difference in the room outline. My work area was littered with papers and a bookcase was added in the right corner of the room.
'I know for sure that I cleaned up before I left. Squalo-sama's flowers are gone too. I was only gone for 4 days; they couldn't have rotten in such a short amount of time. And did Lussuria add in a bookcase while I was gone? I know I talked about adding one in but I could have done it myself.' I turned off the night vision and opened the door.
From the blood red coloured walls and white marbled floor, it was clearly Varia headquarters. I found at my feet a tray of food covered in plastic wrap with a note on top. I took the note, reading 'Please come out soon, Nat-chan. We're here for you.' The tray of food was still warm indicating that it was recently put here. Judging from the use of Nat-chan it must have been Lussuria that put it here.
'Lussuria saw me leave a couple of days ago. He knew I was not supposed to be here. Was there an impostor that took my place? No, no one knows that I exist other than Varia members. Even then they would have to be quite the actor to fool everyone. Maybe this was an illusion then. That glasses boy was eliminating the Vongola guardians so when I stepped in the way, he could have trapped me in an illusion, distracting me from the guardians. Then what was the point in making the useless mess on my desk? And how could anyone find out the details of my room to this extent?'
I stepped over the food and proceed to Squalo's room next door. Empty. I explored more of the base being careful not to get seen by the other members. I reached the dining hall hearing some muffled noises coming from it. I placed my ear against the door.
"I'M EXTREMELY FULL!"
'Why does that sound so familiar?' Moments later the door swung open. I hid myself behind the door holding it open until I figured that the one exiting couldn't see me from their side view. 'Sasagawa Ryohei? I didn't expect the loud, captain of the boxing club to actually know what a suit was nonetheless wear one here. Why was he even here in the first place while his sister just disappeared?'
The next thing I knew the door flew opened again but before I could grab the handle the random member forcibly closed the door shut. "Haunti-!"
I grabbed his arm, pulling him forward, landing a punch directly on his face. The force was enough to knock him unconscious and give him a nose bleed. I kicked the man over to avoid him choking on the blood. 'It's times like these that I really appreciate my leather gloves.' I thought as I rubbed the little blood off my knuckles against the ends of my shirt.
The door once more with the Varia top members and apparently Sasagawa wasn't the only one that changed. Squalo was the first one that came rushing out. His overall face structure didn't change much but there were some more defined lines in his face. Not to mention that his hair was much longer now. Levi had grown a mustache that was downright ridiculous. Lussuria had grown a red mohawk which didn't seem physically possible. Bel's hair also increased in length along with messiness. Was that a new crown too? Xanxus's eyes changed as they were not so much full of blood lust but of boredom with his now tamed hair.
Then was the new face. A teenager with teal hair and matching eyes. The most shocking thing about him being the giant frog hat that he wore. I knew all of the potential members list and this kid was not there. The way he put his hands in pockets showed that he couldn't care less about me being an intruder but merely went with the rest of the group.
An illusionist. I could tell by the way he held his mind separate from the group. A powerful one too. It wouldn't be surprising if he was the one that made this illusion as illusionists like to insert themselves in to closely observe their target. But thinking of powerful illusionists, I failed to find Mammon in the group.
"Nat-chan!" Lussuria ran up to me with his arms opened wide. "You cam-!" I held him at staff distance with the blade close to his neck.
"I suggest that none of you people take a step forward." Lussuria slowly backed out of my range. He looked back at the other members with a pleading posture. Bel pulled Lussuria back from the shoulder.
"I'll take care of him." Bel approached me, slowly, not making any sudden movements. Now that he was so close I could see that there was an increased height difference from the last time I saw Bel. He grabbed my staff, holding the blade directly on his neck.
"Can you really use this on us?" The grip on my staff tighten. The way the illusion spoke was too life like. I couldn't bring myself to hurt Bel and merely pulled the staff out of his grasp.
"I will tell you this. I was shot by the Bovino Famiglia's ten year bazooka, so I am not the person you think I am. However, given the certain circumstances that I saw earlier today, I have reason to believe that this is not the future. If you truly are Varia and not an illusion nor trick, then tell me something only Varia would know about me or... that frog boy gets attacked." Given that frog boy was a powerful illusionist I couldn't let him play me so easily. Threatening him would cause him to up his game that could let me sense a shift in power. That would give me all the evidence I needed to kill him.
"Everything." My eyes widen a bit at Bel's confidence. What pissed me off most was that I didn't sense any change in the frog's demeanor. "I know everything that there is to know about you, Shadows. Your left arm has a 3 cm, cut scar from when I first kidnapped you. The bullet only grazed you but when Boss attacked you it caused the cut to reopen and expand. Even in our time period you still have that scar." It's true that I did have a scar but my uniform covered my skin so an enemy illusionist shouldn't have been able to see it nor know how I got it. In fact, Bel was probably the only one that would know since he tended to it.
"You have 2 guns on your belt that you barely use because you hate the recoil of them. In the future you only carry one. You're a top killer but hate dramas with scenes of killing because the camera angles and music made you feel uncomfortable. Watching you was more entertaining than the show itself. You hate wearing earmuffs because you hate the idea of not hearing everything. Your cup size-" I put away my staff to show that I didn't possess any threat.
"Stop! Stop! I believe you!" Bel roughly grabbed my mask, yanking it off. "Hey be careful with that! Verde and I worked hard on it."
"Ushishishi you really are the younger version." Bel smiled. Not grin or smirk but smiled. Gently. 'Did something happen to Bel over the years?'
Lussuria tackled me into a hug, in which I jabbed him with the sheath knife end of my staff. "Don't get ahead of yourself Lussuria. I don't know about future me but I still find your hugs to be suffocating."
Lussuria grabbed both my hands and pulled me into my spot in the dining hall. "Don't be like that Nat-chan. You must be starving. Here eat this." He took a plate, of what I assumed was his own dinner, and put it in front of me.
"It's fine Lussuria. I ate a bit before I came... here?" I placed his dinner plate back on his side. The rest of the members took their respected spots at the table and continued to finish their dinners. The table placement still had Xanxus at the head with Squalo, me and Lussuria on the left with Levi, Mammon and Bel on the right. Yet instead of Mammon sitting in front of me, the frog boy took his seat.
"Oh nonsense, you should eat dinner with us. It didn't feel right with future Nat-chan- avoiding dinner." Lussuria seemed to have cut off his sentence midway as if he was keeping information from me.
"Future me?"
"Yes, you were always busy with work that you just went straight to sleep. It really bothered me that I put food outside your door." Lies. If I wasn't use to Lussuria then I would have missed it. The way his body moved was too stiff compared to usually fluid movements. There was truth to his words but deciphering which was the lie would be the hard part.
"So how did you get here?" Xanxus asked. Was he changing the subject?
"I just got off my suspension from attacking you after the Cloud ring match. I was Japan at the time and wanted to visit Sawada when saw his Lightning guardian and a few of his friends disappear after being hit with the ten year bazooka. The attacker then went on to Yamamoto-san who I tried to push out of the way, landing me here. From what I saw the machine was faulty and I couldn't trust that it actually brought me to the future."
"Yamamoto Takeshi, huh? I'll try to get into contact with him later then." Squalo said
"Wow, you guys must have gotten close over the time." Squalo stood up, slamming his hands on the table.
"HELL NO! THAT BRAT IS STILL IS TOO SOFT! IF THE YOUNGER VERSION CAME TO THE FUTURE THEN HE'LL GET KILLED INSTANTLY!" There was a comfort in knowing that after all this time, Varia still marched to a different beat than normal people.
"I see. Then about Sasagawa-san, why was he here?"
"Orders from Sawada. Sasagawa was sent here to discuss a counter plan against the Millefoire." Levi explained. It's strange to think that the scrawny Sawada actually took on the position of Vongola Decimo. From what I saw he didn't feel like a Mafioso boss type.
"Millefoire?" They explained that how the Vongola was losing reputation from a group called Millefoire. Only a few families remained intact but most had either gone into full hiding or laid low for the time being, Even Varia was one of the few still functioning had trouble finding jobs as they became less frequent because of other family's fear of the Millefiore.
Then there was Irie Shoichi who was the second in command in Millefoire. From the picture it was obvious that this was the same man that shot Yamamoto and I with the bazooka. He was the one I needed to target next.
"Slow down, Hime. You aren't familiar with box weapons and rings. You can't survive off of combat alone in this era." Box weapons, a new technology from Verde that lets dying will flames to power weapons and animals.
"Then teach me. Who knows how long I'll be here so I need to learn how to fight. Squalo-sama I assume you would do the honours once more."
He gave me his signature grin and roughly slapped my back. "WHO ELSE WOULD?" I chuckled at him.
"Squalo-senpai, can you please keep it down when I eat. It's disturbing to listen to you scream all the time." Froggy said in a monotone voice. Squalo only yelled insults back at him which Froggy only mumbled back.
I elbowed Squalo, pulling him closer "Who's the frog boy in Mammon's chair?"
The atmosphere felt heavy as the table went silent. The only one that seemed unaffected was Froggy. Squalo cleared his throat, slightly lighting up the tension. "Natsuki, meet Fran. Our new Mist guardian."
I burst out laughing. "New Mist guardian? Hah! Like Mammon is weaker than this kid. I admit that even I can see his potential, but Mammon wouldn't lose to a newcomer."
"Ahh Natsuki-senpai that hurts my feelings. I'm sure that my Master would be disappointed in me if he heard that too."
"Master?" I raised my eyebrow in suspicion. From the side, I saw Lussuria signalling Fran to not answer. I glared at Lussuria who was obviously trying to keep it a secret.
"Before I came here my master was a pineapple illusionist named Rokudo Mukuro." I turned my glare over to the other members who clearly knew about my hatred for Mukuro after he humiliated Mammon.
"You guys replaced Mammon with a mini Mukuro? And future me was okay with this?" What the hell is wrong with future me?
"Not exactly. When I first came, Natsuki-senpai tried to cut me after I-" Fran was cut off when a few of Bel's knives pierced his hat.
"Frogs shouldn't say any unnecessary information. Hime, Mammy had been busy because illusionists and espiers are rare. We got the frog to replace him so that we would have an illusionist on hand. He's still a newbie that does not concern you."
Another lie. Bel was better than Lussuria at lying but not to the point of fooling me. Yet the way his finger twitched for his knife was my sign. Once again there was a bit of truth but this time the lie was better covered. It seems that there was more emotion in Bel's voice that I somewhat feared what the truth was. He was trying desperately to convince me that that was the only reason Fran took Mammon's spot. For now, I'll buy it.
By nightfall I was caught up on the recent events and returned to my room. Luckily I didn't grow much over the years so I could still wear my new clothes. Except for my curtains being closed and the mess on my desk, it didn't seem like I changed much.
I grabbed the box and ring off my desk. I slipped on the sliver 5 petal rose ring, thinking of my resolve. 'The ring shouldn't be too different than my hands, right?' The ring exploded in a 5 color flame of orange, red, yellow, blue and indigo. All I knew was that I possessed Sky flames while the others were a mystery.
Squalo told me to wait until tomorrow to test out in order to prevent any accidents. If I disobeyed him then there was no way he would teach me about boxes. I picked up the box marveling at the simplicity of the weapon. A dark purple box with a sliver outline and black cracks design. 'I wonder what kind of animal I have. It's super tiny too. How is it even possible for something to fit in here? Verde truly is a genius. This invention really takes the cake.'
I drew open my curtains letting in the moonlight. 'That's better.' My eyes followed over to my new bookcase. It was filled with classical books, some files of important missions, various reference books for weapons and Mafioso profiles that I must have collected over the year. I pulled out the binder labelled Varia.
I sat down on the floor. The binder turned out to be a scrapbook filled with pictures of my times with Varia, everyone's birthdays, vacation pictures, and Squalo's 'The making of the Sword Emperor'?
'Wow this must be the Mafia Land Bel told me about! It looks like we had fun too. I hope I could convince the past Varia to take me too... When am I going back to the past?' I didn't mind being here in the future for a short period but I still had to get back to my timeline.
I pushed the Varia binder back into its place and took out the Mafioso profiles. 'Maybe Verde could bring me back.'
Bel's POV
From the corner of my eye I saw Hime yawn and rub her eyes. "Tired Hime? Should I carry you back to your room?" Hime playfully pushed my shoulder. Being used to my attempts of flattering her, she was no longer effected by my advances.
"No I can walk myself. Goodnight everyone." Hime pushed herself out of her seat.
"DON'T FORGET I'M TRAINING YOU FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!" Squalo yelled after her. Hime merely raised her hand to show acknowledgment before the door closed behind her.
"Nee Bel-sempai, why are we keeping Mammon-senpai's death away from Natsuki-senpai?" Fran asked in his usual monotone voice once it was clear that she wouldn't hear anything.
"Maa Fran-chan, you saw our future Nat-chan. The reason she locked herself in her room all day is because she was still grieving over Mammon's death. They had a special relationship that she hadn't gotten over it."
'That's right. It's all because Mammy died that Hime became depressed and I have to deal with this annoying frog. All of it happen so fast that none of us had a chance to do anything.'
~Flashback
Hime and I were walking down the halls as we were about to leave on our joined mission. "This is going to be so much fun, Bel."
"Ushishishi excited Hime?" She vigorously nodded.
"Yep! It's been so long since we last went on a mission together. I blame you for not wanting to go with me. What changed your mind this time?"
"Nothing much." 'I just need you out of here for a while.' It was rare for us to do a joined mission as I preferred to go solo. She knew this. Hime scowled for a second but quickly went back to her smiling face. She must have known I had lied and let me off the hook. Yet I knew she also hated us lying ever since Kyuudaime's almost death. Knowing her, she was merely gathering information right now.
We reached the lobby where Squalo and Lussuria were talking to the new mist guardian that Mukuro Rokudo recommended. On our orders Fran covered himself in an illusion of Mammon. To avoid Hime finding out about Fran I had to get her out of here fast.
"Let's go Hime." But Hime had already left my side to press Fran against the wall, with her blade close to his neck.
"NATSUKI STOP IT!" yelled Squalo.
"Who are you and why are you impersonating Mammon?" It was a miscalculation on our part that she wouldn't be able to figure out his trick. Fran dispelled his illusion but Hime still didn't move her knife. Lussuria grabbed her shoulder, roughly throwing her off of Fran.
"Nat-chan, calm down. This is our new mist guardian. We were just testing his powers." Realization appeared on Hime's face. She bowed politely at Fran.
"I'm sorry. I-I wasn't t-thinking about... new mist guardian? Mammon already has that title." No one said anything which made Hime more nervous. She started to twiddle with her fingers.
"W-what's the matter guys? Y-you're starting to scare me. Say something. Nee Lussuria? Bel? Squalo-sama? Please -Just answer my question. What about Mammon? What happen to Mammon?" Squalo put his hand on Hime's shoulder. In one of the rare moments, Squalo spoke gently.
"Mammon was killed on a job. We believe that it was a Millefoire member but it's still being determined who exactly." Hime's eyes grew wide letting me see her pupils shaking. Her hands balled up into fists.
"Don't lie. Mammon can't- he wouldn't- he's still-" Her voice became low and almost inaudible. Her head dropped. "I didn't even get to..."
I slowly approached Hime. I gently caressed her face making her look at me. Her eyes were filled with tears along with a slowly developing red nose. My stomach fell. I had never seen Hime look so vulnerable.
"Bel c-can you do me a favour?" I unconsciously nodded. Consciously, I had no idea what to say to calm her down. Her lips trembled as she continued, "Can you go on the mission alone? I-I need some time." She didn't let me answer and started to drag her feet towards her room. All I could was watch.
~Flashback over
5 months has passed since that incident. Hime had been locked in her room ever since. Every once in a while she would eat the food that Lussuria left her but never the entire thing. Whenever someone wanted to talk to her, she merely replied with "I'm busy" or with silence. It was exactly that vulnerability that we none of us knew how to comfort. I couldn't let that happen to this Hime.
"Fran. If you tell Hime about Mammon..." I held out a fan of knives and sneered at him. "I'll make you a human cactus."
Fran held up his hands in an innocent manner. "Yes yes I understand." I scoffed at his behaviour.
As the night went on I couldn't resist the temptation to check up on her. Seeing the light under her door was more comforting than the darkness that has been the norm lately. I didn't bother to knock and merely walked in. I stopped in my tracks when I saw her asleep at her desk. One hand was on her laptop while the other was on a paper with a list of phone numbers that I didn't recognize.
I carefully lifted her up. I tucked her into bed, turned off the lights and crawled in next to her. Being so close to her I was able to smell her usual scent of apples, leather and strawberries.
'Strawberries were Mammon's favourite.' I sighed as I brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. 'When did you and Mammy get so close?'
I watched her body rise and fall in a steady breath. 'Don't worry, I won't let you fall anymore. Mammon is alive in your era and that's all that matters.'