OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Mist
This is how the Mist rages.
Bodies
"There have been some attacks on prefects," Takeshi tells her, brow furrowed and a serious look in his eyes. "Hibari's absolutely furious."
Noriko's silent for a long moment, staring out the window to the wide blue sky. "Only Disciplinary Committee members?" That sounds...suspicious.
"Yeah. Everyone's nervous."
Noriko hesitates. "Has there been anything...strange about these attacks?"
"Nah. Though..." He frowns thoughtfully. "I hear a lot of them are missing their teeth for some reason."
"...I see."
Convicts
It takes Noriko three days longer than Reborn expected to confront him.
"What's going on?" she demands during a lull when Tsuna is busy with the children and Nana is making dinner. There's no hint of the radiant smile he is used to seeing on her lips, only pure, clear focus in those blue-grey eyes.
He sips at his coffee indolently, making no attempt at pretending he is not blatantly trying to provoke her with his disregard for her opinions and emotions. However, when she doesn't react in the slightest, he isn't surprised.
Contrary to Tsuna's beliefs that Noriko is crazy reckless, Reborn has since observed that the blonde's self-control is incredible. She merely chooses to induce trouble the majority of the time, with full knowledge of the consequences.
Rather similar to Reborn's tactics, in fact. He wonders if she has been conditioning Tsuna to be familiar with the unusual, insane, and dangerous since they first met, as that is his current goal, albeit turned up to eleven.
"There's a group of escaped convicts in town," he says at last, as casual as if they are talking about the weather. "They're probably the ones responsible for the incidents occurring."
Reborn can all but see Noriko absorb that information, tease out all the hidden nuances, and then turn to plans and schemes for how to use it. This calculating side of her is interesting, especially since he sees it so infrequently.
Most of the time, Noriko seems happy to just go along with the flow, after all. He would suspect her of being a Rain if she doesn't also inherently display a Sun's enthusiasm and a Cloud's edge. But now...
Now things are different, for Tsuna is in true danger.
"Names?" she inquires, the manipulative glint fading away into something cool and calm, utterly implacable, as if she has resolved herself to this conflict and accepted whatever resolution there may be.
He muses on the good sense of telling someone as disturbingly unpredictable as she is of this information. "...Rokudo Mukuro. Joshima Ken. Kakimoto Chikusa."
Insult
Noriko was willing to overlook the attacks on the prefects, on the students of Namimori Middle even if Kyoya wasn't.
She isn't so willing to overlook the attack on Ryohei. She also isn't the only one.
There is a spark of orange in Tsuna's eyes even as he fusses over the boxer. Hayato fingers his dynamite erratically, while Takeshi's smile is strained. Lambo is quiet for once, and Kyoya...
"No, Hibari-san," Tsuna says, the first time he has ever attempted to stand up to the Cloud on anything. He doesn't even hesitate before stepping in front of the coldly furious prefect. "If we're going, we're going together."
Kyoya narrows his eyes, his glare both sharp and shrewd. "Don't think you can order me around, omnivore," he warns, his grip on his tonfas white-knuckled, the bloodlust crackling from his form near tangible. "I hate crowding."
"We won't be crowding," Tsuna responds, standing tall and straight, gaze clear and confident, Hayato and Takeshi to his left and right, and Noriko half-expects an orange flame to burst into being on his forehead. "We'll be hunting."
The smirk that spreads on Kyoya's lips could make the devil tremble and beg for mercy, the heavy-lidded look he gifts Tsuna with oddly proud and grudgingly respectful. "Now you understand, little carnivore," he purrs.
Bystander
Noriko has done her best to prepare her family for this. She has done her best to expose her Sky and his Elements to peril and threat, pushed at them to train and prepare, encouraged the bonds that have developed.
But now, as they navigate the treacherous battlefield of Kokuyo Land, while Takeshi wrestles with Ken, while Bianchi poisons M.M., while Kyoya takes out Birds, while Tsuna battles Lancia -
Noriko cannot assist. She cannot help, cannot interfere.
She is the Judge.
Noriko watches Tsuna fall to the ground and suddenly remembers why Cynthia felt such self-loathing at times.
"Why won't you help?" Reborn asks her, night black eyes sly and dark.
"I can't," Noriko replies simply and digs her fingernails into her palms.
Demon
Noriko almost feels physically ill when she first meets Rokudo Mukuro.
Kami-sama. That hairstyle. That smirk. That laugh.
This is nearly worse than seeing Tsuna for the first time. Certainly worse than encountering the rest of the Guardians...combined.
She doesn't know what to feel. She doesn't know what she should feel.
Hayato and Bianchi are preoccupied with fending off Ken and Chikusa. Takeshi was knocked out back in the fight with Lancia. Reborn's hands are tied, and so are Noriko's.
It's Tsuna and Kyoya who take Mukuro on.
Capture
They win, even when Mukuro pulls out the ability of possession at the last minute. Kyoya ends up battered and unconscious on the floor, and Tsuna is pushing the limits of even the Rebuke Bullet, but they win.
The gloves...the gloves are a nice touch.
If Noriko squints just a little, she can almost see...
Tsuna refuses to kill Mukuro, as she expected. Giotto never hated Daemon as he should either.
But then the Vindice come for them.
And Noriko cannot help but step forward.