'Thoughts'

"Talking"

Spells/Other's thoughts/Skills

[Captions]

{Korin's Voice}

Inner Voice

Chapter 2 The Shinmei-ryu, and the Bird Girl

"We're heading to Japan." That was the last thing Ray has spoken before they finally made it to the eastern country off the coast of Korea. Right now, they are in front of the thousand wooden temple gates, "There were such things here in Japan as well?" Korin muttered in awe, "It's like in a movie…"

"Kyoto is the ancient capital of this country, so it is certain that there are quite a lot of religious buildings here." Ray said as he entered the gates, Korin jogging behind him to catch up, "The place we're heading to is the headquarters of the Kansai Magic Association, so please behave yourself."

"Sure thing." Korin said, "But I can see why they build the headquarters here. This place is teeming with magical energy from the earth."

"So you can sense magic from your surroundings as well?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, not just me, Kinchi, Hiyoko, even the old man can do it. It's a family thing."

'I see…' Ray thought, 'I heard the Yan Exorcising Council specialized in a type of magic that is a branch of its own that has never changed since ancient times, magic that uses the spiritual power around them to form spells. Even in the western world, that form of magic has undergo many changes over the past centuries but for it to remain unchanged for so long…' He continues walking down the path, till they reached a large temple, "Huge!" Korin cried.

"We're here." Ray said, before walking right in through the front door.

"W-Whoa! Wait a second here!-!" Korin cried, "I thought you said this is the headquarters of the Kansai whatever-you-call-it, so shouldn't we let someone know we are in the building first?"

"It's okay, I know their leader personally."

"Eh?"

Korin followed Ray worriedly, not been into another magic association's main HQ before. He looked right and left worriedly, 'Please let not be traps, please let not be traps!'

"The leader isn't that lame to place traps in the main HQ." Ray tells him.

'Real-time thought interception?-!' Korin cried.

"Not really, it was written all over your face." Ray stated.

'That's definitely a lie!' Korin mentally cried, 'Great… not only do I get a mafia man to be my trainer, but he is those super serious kind plus he reads other's mind without concerns of their privacy…'

"Not if you think like that." Ray said, "If you keep your thoughts to the least and to your selves, I wouldn't even need to read them."

'THEN YOU ADMITTED THAT YOU CAN READ MINDS!-!' Korin thought angrily, that leads to a hard knock on the head by a really pissed off blonde.

"Oh, Ray?" They turned their attention back to the front, a middle-aged man in a japanese priest's outfit walked up to them, Korin can only conjure that he is either one of the association's mages or one of its leaders from the magic energy he is radiating. "It is you! You told me you'll be here shortly but that was fast!"

"Being in my line of work means punctuality could affect whether I'll live or die." Ray said, "There are bosses that will kill you if you don't make it on time."

"Eh? Really?"

"…Just joking."

Korin falls over comically, "You really need to work on your sense of humour, Ray…" The man chuckled dryly.

'No, no, I can't even tell if he is really joking or not…' Korin thought, 'More like, I don't think that was a joke at all…'

"Oh? And who might this guy be?" The man asked.

"This is my new student." Ray said, "I have to train him up for the next year and this place is the only place I can think of."

"Is that so?" The man chuckled, raising his hand up to Korin, "Nice to meet you, young one. I'm Konoe Eishun, head of the Kansai Magic Association."

"Wait, you're the head?-!" Korin cried. He then quickly bowed politely, "I-It's very nice to meet you!"

"Hahaha, it's okay." Eishun chuckled, "You're Ray's student, so there's need for such formality. Come; let me show you to the guest rooms." The leader of the magic organization shows them towards the room along the wooden hallway.

It was when they passed by a rather big yard when Korin heard voices. He looked into the garden, finding a girl of his youngest sister's age swinging a wooden sword, her hair tied on one side in a small tail and she wore a red-white kendo clothes, 'So young…!' Korin thought in shock.

"Oh? Setsuna is still practicing?" Eishun wonders, "It's already off training hours…"

"Is something the matter, Eishun?" Ray asked.

"Well, sort of." The head priest said, "That girl over there, her name is Sakaraki Setsuna. She's my daughter's bodyguard and her only close friend here. Due to an incident a few months ago, she has been training very vigorously, but I fear that might have caused some gap between them."

"I think I understand." Korin spoke up, "She failed to accomplish something, protect your daughter from some accident and she wants to get stronger so she wouldn't make the same mistake."

"You're pretty sharp." Ray said.

"Not really." The boy said, "It's just I have a similar experience, that's all."

"A similar experience?" Eishun asked.

"I rather not talk about it."

"Fair enough." Ray said.

The three carried on down the hallway, Korin looked back at Setsuna with a look of shared sympathy crossed his eyes.

They finally made it to the guest room, an empty room, the floor covered in tatami mats with some futons on them along with a small table by the side, "Cool small place." Korin commented.

"This place will do nicely." Ray said as he put his bags down as well, "Thanks, Eishun." The head priest nodded and turned and leave the two to their own business, "Korin, you do possess some sword skills, right?"

"Eh?"

"Back then, in Hong Kong, you were using a flaming sword. Did you receive training for that before?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah, I guess you can say that." Korin stated, "My grandfather was a master in the fist and sword style of our family and he taught me himself…"

"I see." Ray got up on his feet, "Well, I can't train you magic-wise, but I can help you strengthen your body. Not just that, that flame of yours, I'll teach you how to control it." The last part caught Korin's attention, "Yong-Kia told me, that flame of yours is very wild to the degree that you can't control it and burned your sister's right shoulder."

"That stupid old man…" Korin growled.

"It's okay. For one, it is perfectly normal. Those flames aren't supposed to be controllable for someone of your age." Ray said, "The golden flames, dubbed by the first Knight as the Knight Flames, are bright flames that burn through the darkness. Those flames aren't life-threatening on their own, even if they lose control. But if you can control them, it would be a deadly weapon or a protective cloak."

"So there is a way to control it?" Korin asked.

"Of course, I'm living proof of that." Ray said, "Although, the method can be rather tricky."

"And you're planning on showing me how?"

"That is the plan." The blonde said, "Also, that gun Yong-Kia gave you? I know that you have never wielded a gun before, so leave that to me as well."

"Then I'm counting on you for it." Korin said.

"You better…" Ray said, prepping a gun from nowhere, "If you even try to complain, I'll blow your brains out."

"Eh?-!"

"…Just joking. Snicker."

Korin sweat-dropped, a bit weird out at the blonde poor attempt in making a joke.

So the next whole year has been nothing but training for Korin to control his flames and learning how to shoot a gun. Within that short period, Korin has improved a lot but the major problem is probably the flames, something that Korin still couldn't control despite Ray's tutorship.

He too has gain quite close to Setsuna after those two has a small talk.

Xxx With Setsuna xxx

Korin was finishing his strength training with Ray, which are basically military-classed exercises with several hundred repetitions for each exercise that could knock any normal kid unconscious from exhaustion alone. It was a good thing Korin is not an average boy but was still winded from doing all those exercises one after another.

The boy, finished with all those exercises, is currently walking down the hallway to the yard to unwind. He then saw the young girl swinging her wooden sword repetitively, like all the other days he passed there. This time, Korin was started to get worried as he noticed how tired she looked at that her swings are getting sloppy with each swing.

"Oi oi, that's enough!" Korin called out to her, "At this rate, you're going to- what the hell?-!" The girl sudden collapsed in mid-swing and falls head first onto the dirt ground, "Oi! Hang in there!" He ran up to her, feeling her forehead and glad it is not burning up. "Collapsed from exhaustion, huh…?"

Having a doctor as your father has its perks, Korin silently commented in his head as he picked up Setsuna in his arm, realizing how light she is, and carries her to his shared room.

A few minutes later, Setsuna slowly wake up from her slumber. Finding a really unfamiliar ceiling, she shot up; finding Korin sitting crossed leg next to the futon she is in, "Yo, finally up?" He greeted.

"You're…" Setsuna muttered, not remembering seeing him walking around the house before.

"Just call me Korin." Korin said, "I just came here a few weeks ago, almost a month if I remember correctly…"

"Oh, you're the new guy training here that the other girls are talking about." The little girl realized, "Nice to meet you, I'm Sakaraki Setsuna."

"I know." Korin muttered, "Anyway that was rather worrying with you. Aren't you overworking yourself a little there? You're going to kill yourself at this rate."

Setsuna looked down at the blanket, a guilty look on her face, "Okay, if you don't want to tell me, it's okay." Korin sighed, "But don't matter how you trained hard, if the person you're supposed to protect is terrified of you, would it be worth it? You are a half-bird, after all."

The girl flinched and looked at him in shock, "H-How do you…?"

"Pure accidental." Korin said, "I felt your back and kind of took a peek…"

*SLAP*

Korin got it coming to him with a handprint on his right cheek, the young girl blushing badly and trying to hide herself in the blankets in embarrassment, "Geez, I swear, you are so much like my own younger sister."

"Pervert."

"Oh, forget it…" Korin sighed, "Listen, I don't know what reason you are pushing yourself, but if you ended up dying or permanently hurting yourself, it's not worth it." He patted her on the head, "Try to live some of your childhood happily, right?" He then got up and left her in her own thoughts.

A few days later, Setsuna came up to him again, thanking him for his advice. This gave birth to a sister-brother relationship between the two.

It is nearing a full year since Korin started training under Ray. The boy is currently practising his marksman with his unique revolver in his hand, shooting the makeshift target on the wall of a spare training room they weren't using at all.

"Man this gun packs a punch…" Korin muttered, opening the cylinder and letting the only four bullet casings fall out of it.

"It obviously does." Ray said as he walked in, "Yong-Kia is famous for his one-shot sure-kill shots with that gun."

"Ah, Ray."

"Anyway, I'm not here to talk about that." The blonde rummaged in his suit's inner pockets, taking out a letter with a stamp of a clam on it, "We, or precisely you, have orders from the Ninth boss."

"For me?" Korin asked as Ray took out the letter from the envelope.

Ray read out the orders, "Ray, I have heard that you have acquired Yong-Kia's son under your tutorship for the Tenth Knight. I have orders for him; he is to transfer to Namimori as soon as he can to assume his role as the new boss' protector immediately. You are not allowed to follow him. His living arrangements are settled and the address is written below along with the upcoming boss' picture. I wished him all the best."

Korin sighed, "Already…? Well, a year really flies pass, huh?"

"Well, you heard the orders." Ray said, "I'll accompany you to Namimori station at best. The rest is up to you."

"Yeah, yeah…" Korin sighed again. He was then handed the photo from inside the envelope, it showing a young girl around his own age with long brown hair that is puffed up on the top and big chocolate brown eyes. Just by looking at the photo, the first thing that he thought was, 'This is the future boss? She's just a normal girl… but she looked kind of cute…'

"She's your type?" Ray asked, Korin immediately blushed red, "Well, I suggest you don't even try to, she may look like that, but she has the blood of the first Vongola Boss running through her. She may be some yankee."

"EH?-!"

"…Just joking."

"I knew that! I knew that yet I fell for it!-!" Korin shouted angrily.

"Her full name is Sawada Tsunahime." Ray continued, "Age 14, not much totally unique about her besides her extremely clumsiness, her body too is just below average. Her nickname is Dame-Tsuna, or No-Good-Tsuna. In a nutshell, she's a real loser."

"A loser student…" Korin summarized, "Reminds me of myself all those years back…"

"Hm?"

"Personal history is confidential, tutor or not." Korin said.

"Agreed."

"Well, I guess I better start packing up my stuff." Korin sighed as he walked out of the training room.

Ray looked at the back of his old student, 'In one year, he already picked up the basics of the gun, even finding out the secret technique that is used for that gun. Not just that, even learned some stances of the Shinmei-ryu just seeing them practice once… Yong-Kia… your son, is a fighting genius.'

…

To be continued…

Sorry for the short and rushed chapter, just I have a slight mental
block on this and couldn't make it as long as my previous
fanfic. So basically, I'll jump in straight into the Daily Arc
and begin his interaction with Tsuna and the rest of the
gang next chapter.

Please states your likes and dislikes of this new fanfic
in the reviews. Critics are welcomed but not flames!