OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Raid
This is how they retaliate.
X
Noriko is incredibly proud with Tsuna creates a technique called the X-Burner.
She is also incredibly worried about how entrenched he has become in the dark world of the Mafia.
It doesn't help that, apparently, the Tsuna in this reality gave in and became the Vongola Decimo.
Sadly, Noriko cannot Judge Reborn for a crime he has not committed yet.
Older
When a ten years older Rokudo Mukuro arrives at the base, Chrome, Ken, Chikusa, M.M. and Fran in tow, and looking so much like Daemon, Noriko almost throws up.
She refuses to talk to him. She refuses to be in the same room with him.
(How is this fair?)
Strength
The fights between Mukuro and Kyoya are incredible. Ten years older Ryohei stands on the sidelines shouting enthusiastically, while Tsuna, Hayato, and Takeshi watch with awestruck eyes.
Even Reborn seems impressed.
Noriko just watches, eyes only partially opened. She remembers a man with blue hair and mad eyes, ever fighting with a blond man with hunter eyes, scythe and handcuffs clashing against one another.
She shivers. It's not so cold.
Corner
Mukuro corners her eventually. Noriko should have expected it.
Ten years can change many things.
"You see someone else when you look at me," he muses quietly into her ear, a single hand chaining her wrists to the wall above her head. "You always have, Cynthia."
"You know better," she says, voice coming out even despite the tremors in her bones. "Reincarnation doesn't work like that." Though sometimes, she thinks...
"Kufufufu...sometimes, little Moon, it's better to let go of the past," Mukuro tells her. "But that would be hypocritical of me, wouldn't it?" So he still wishes to destroy the Mafia? Or does he simply pay lip service to the idea?
"Ten years." Noriko fights against the pull of the Eclipse, knowing that it will only be a hindrance to her family now. "I never imagined you would last this long." Without betraying Tsuna, that is.
He goes very still, pulling back to stare at her with heterochromatic eyes. "So suspicious," he mocks, but there is weight to his gaze. "Tsunayoshi-kun's so much more trusting than you are."
She tilts her head, feels the cold inch ever closer. The status quo will not last, she knows, but not here, not now. Still, she wants to know. "Are you taking advantage of him?"
He smirks, arrogant and knowing. "Would you try and kill me if I said yes?" he wants to know.
"Do you think I can't?" Ten years is a long time, but several hundred years are longer.
He narrows his eyes and lets her go. "It has nothing to do with power, Nori-chan. Can you honestly kill me?"
Noriko hates that he says her nickname with such familiarity. "Tsuna is my Sky," she says and turns to leave.
"Ah, but I am your Mist," Mukuro murmurs quietly behind her.
Unnecessary
"Nori-chan?" Tsuna peers at her with wide, pleading eyes. "Stay here? Please?"
He does not want to see her in an Eclipse, and so he thinks to keep her out of the battlefield altogether.
Noriko tastes the silver power in her veins and smiles. "Of course, Tsuna! Have fun for me, will you?"
"Nori-chan!" Tsuna cries, scandalized, while she laughs.
Invasion
They creep away, Lal Mirch, Tsuna, Hayato, and Takeshi, while Kyoya and Mukuro distract the men that have come to assassinate them all under the cover of night.
Noriko wonders at them. Did this Byakuran really assume these pawns would be enough to kill off the Vongola?
If so, he's a fool.
Suspicions
It's not easy watching the confrontations with Reborn.
For one, her boys, her family, are getting hurt.
For two, under watch, she's useless, yet again.
For three, the hitman is suspicious, immensely so.
Fortunately, Reborn is too focused on Tsuna to truly interrogate Noriko now that they are alone.
That doesn't mean he does not notice when she goes still, still, still when the pink-haired woman come on screen.
Noriko does not know what her future self was thinking. It's obvious that it's time to clean house.
Plan
There are so many things wrong with future Tsuna's plan that Noriko nearly doesn't know where to start.
How much has the Mafia ruined her Sky? How much has Reborn ruined her Sky?
To put children into the line of fire? To put innocents amidst a fight between two rival famiglias?
On purpose?
Not to mention getting himself shot and artificially killed. That is not acceptable.
What was this Tsuna thinking?
It partially assuages her ire when she notices her Tsuna looks just as horrified as she feels and none of his Guardians appear much pleased with this arrangement either.
There is also, of course, the factor of the future Tsuna trusting parts of his plan to future Kyoya and future Mukuro. Disregarding her instinctive rejection of any sort of trust given to the Mist, why did they agree?
Perhaps it was that bad in this world. Perhaps it was that desperate when they hatched this idiotic plan.
Noriko doesn't care.
How dare they?
It doesn't help that sometime in the commotion, Mukuro and Kyoya have both switched with their younger counterparts and Noriko can't even yell at the older Guardians.
Though, at the moment, Kyoya is frowning darkly. That's good.
On the other hand, Mukuro is smirking in amusement. That's bad.
Noriko doesn't know when she'll finally snap. Some day, she is going to Judge the Mist for a past he doesn't know and it will not be pretty.
Then, there's Irie Shoichi and the remaining, former Cervello.
That is a brand new can of worms she doesn't want to approach with a ten foot pole.