'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Spells/Other's thoughts/Skills
[Captions]
{Korin's Voice}
Inner Voice
Chapter 24 Five Vessels: Water Serpent arises
The morning sun barely rises up in the sky, signalling the start of a new day. Korin groaned as he hear his alarm clock ringing and reaching out a hand and turning it off, getting up and finding himself in a different room as the one he is staying when he came here.
"Oh yeah, I've moved to the Sawada residence…"
He remembered now, the tiring trip he had from bringing all his necessities and clothes in one small bag he brought with him to the house, and then with a slight noise, correction, a lot of noise, by the three resident kids, he was directed to the guest room where he later fallen asleep moments when he touched the futon.
"Well, I guess I'll go practice my forms…" He muttered as he changed into a pair of grey sweatpants and singlet, and head down to the small yard.
This time, the sun truly has starts to rise out of the horizon. The sun light starts to penetrate the room of our beloved brunette, she still sleeping soundly in her bed. When the sun hits her, she groaned a little before turning her head away from the sun.
"…Ha…Ho… Heeyah!"
"Hm?" She was curious of the sudden sounds in front of her yard, before remembering that her Knight and crush now lives together with her. Her face turned beet red as she curls up in her blanket letting out a muffled shriek, 'Waawaawaa, what do I do…?-! I can't stop smiling at all!-! If I go down like this, he will definitely think I'm weird!'
"Tsu-chan, it's time for breakfast!" Her mother's voice boomed from below the stairs.
She threw her blanket off her face, "Hai!" She called out to her. 'There's no point thinking about it so much…'
Taking her uniform, she rushes into the bathroom. Stripping off her pyjamas, she stepped into the shower and turning the knob, letting the warm water rain down on her face as it flows across her smooth figure like on glass. Her body isn't exactly that amazing, but it isn't too average either. She already has start developing some at the chest and her long legs add to that effect.
"Hm hm hm~" She hummed as she feels her sleepiness wash away with the water.
At that moment, the door opens up, Korin then walked in before noticing the naked brunette in the showers.
…
…
The room was filled with only the sound of water splashing onto the bathroom floor as both teen's faces start to turn red, the brunette already emitting steam, "S-Sorry…" Korin apologized.
"N…N… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!-!-!-!-!"
*SLAP*
"PAIN!"
All of the residents gathered at the dinner table for their breakfast after their individual mayhem, maybe some of their mayhem reached the dinner table but other than that, it was quiet.
Maybe a little too quiet…
"Ara, Tsu-chan; what's wrong? Your face is all red." Nana asked her daughter, the young brunette is blushing red from the thought of her naked body, full naked body getting seen by him of all people, 'I can't get married anymore…!' She sobbed.
Korin just remain silent and dig in his breakfast, a very visible red hand mark on his cheek. Having to deal with the shit of society has makes him capable of putting on a perfect poker face, even fake expressions.
"Korin-nii has a weird mark on his face." Fuuta stated.
"I slept on my hand."
The rest of breakfast pretty much remained undisturbed, until Lambo starts stealing food from I-pin that leads to a small chase around the table and then Reborn starts stealing from Tsuna's plates and all turned chaos.
That, however, did not disturb Korin at all, with the same poker face the whole time and just carries out eating while simply swatting Reborn's and Lambo's chopsticks away from his plates. After the eventful morning, Korin left first, just to scan the area and to make sure rumours about them don't get out too far for the sake of Tsuna's safety and his own sanity.
He has enough dealing with one over-explosive tempered bomber, and he do not need most of the school's population on his tail every twenty four seven.
"I'll be leaving." Tsuna tells her mother as she picked up her bag.
"Ah, Tsu-chan wait." Her mother said, handing her two boxed lunches, one wrapped in orange and another in yellow, "Yours and Korin-kun's lunch."
"Thanks, kaa-san." She took the lunches and put it in her bag.
"No need, you worked hard on Korin-kun's bento, right?" Nana giggled, getting a small blush from Tsuna's cheeks, "Hope you succeed~!"
"Y-Yeah…" Tsuna then ran out of the door after Korin.
The two meet up at the junction just before school, Korin coming from his original route with a few small detours that he accidentally made. They carried on to school, Tsuna now moving slightly away from Korin much to his surprise.
"Is something wrong, Tsunahime?" Korin asked.
"N-Nothing…" She muttered, her face a little red as she felt his presence getting closer to her.
"…Look, if it's about that thing this morning, I'm sorry." Korin tells her.
"I-It's not that…" She muttered.
"Then what is it then?"
"…" Tsuna couldn't look him in the eye.
Korin sighed, mentally giving up on pressing on the matter, leaving her to her own matters. Even if he is her protector, there are things that are better left for her to solve on her own.
They met up with the rest of the gang midway, the bomber obviously shouted out angrily that he will kill the teen if he touch even one strand of hair on his 'princess' with Yamamoto laughing off with his care-free attitude. As the four make their way to school, he can hear the whispers of the other schoolmates, all bad comments on how Tsuna shouldn't hang out with three cool guys all to herself.
As much as he wants to beat them all to submission, he knew the brunette wouldn't want that.
That has Korin thinking another thing.
'When did I become so protective over her…?' Korin thought, 'She just something like my client or something. Why am I so worried about her own well-being?' He then brushed it off as her being relatively almost the same personality of his own twin sister, minus the mean exterior.
They reached the main gate few minutes before the starting bell. When they stepped right through, Korin felt something was wrong. The entire world changed for a moment, as if he was in a different plain of reality. 'A barrier…?'
"Hime-sama, is something wrong?" Gokudera asked the brunette, Tsuna too is a bit woozy.
"Y-Yeah…" She assures him, 'What's wrong with me…?'
'So she felt it as well…' Korin thought, 'Considering her hyper intuition, it is possible… but maybe…' He recalled the charm glowing in her hand before, 'Maybe… she really has potential…?'
Classes carried on as usual, Tsuna getting scolded by the teacher for not getting the formula correct, the class laughing at her failure, and Gokudera threats to bomb everyone until the brunette begged him not to do so. At lunch, instead of heading to the rooftop like they always do, they decided to eat at the classroom.
"Why do I have to eat with you all the time?" Gokudera growled.
"Hahaha, come on now." Yamamoto laughed, "We are all friends, aren't we?"
"Both of you, just calm down." Korin muttered as he chewed on the bread he got from the school store.
"Shut up, Motoyama!" The bomber shouted, "And why are you having lunch with us anyway?-! You always just disappear at lunch period!"
'That was during the time when Dracul threatened me, and possibly Tsunahime…' Korin thought annoyingly, 'Damn, that loyal puppy is annoying…' He turned to the window. If he concentrates his magic in his eyes, he could see the barely visible barrier around the perimeter of the school. The bubble of astral energy surrounds the campus like a dome.
From what he noticed, the bubble doesn't affect anyone; even the birds flew through the bubble with little to no interference. 'If it didn't affect anyone… why is it placed up…? What kind of barrier is it?'
"Motoyama-san…?" Tsuna called out to him, snapping him out of his thought mode, "What is it, Tsunahime?" Korin asked.
"I… well…" She muttered as she took out her two lunch boxes, "I… made this…"
"…" Korin looked at his bread, whether to tell her that he has lunch already, or accept the lunchbox. He mentally choose the latter, not wanting to hurt her hard work, "Sure, why not?" He said as he gladly accepted the lunch box. Opening it and placing the first piece of food in his mouth, he wasn't disappointed.
"This is good, Tsunahime." Korin said.
"T-Thank you…" She said, her face blushing pink and a small smile on her face.
At his continuous eating, he then notices that the food is infused with some good spiritual particles. 'Did she use magic unconsciously…?' Korin thought in surprise, before popping another bite size piece into his mouth, 'Maybe it is not just potential, she has quite a large magic quantity as well…' He looked over to the classroom door, and then saw one girl looking in.
Her short slightly curly violet hair and purple eyes staring straight at him, she wearing the same Namimori female uniform as Tsuna; noticing his stare she flinched before running off.
"Hm? Who is that?" Korin wonders.
"Wow, you caught even her attention?" Hana spoke as she and Kyoko walked up to them.
"Ah, Kyoko-chan, Hana-san!" Tsuna greeted.
"Her? You know that girl?" Korin asked.
"Well, most of the school knows about her. She was quite famous among both the girls and boys." Hana stated, "She is Amaya Kasumi, a member of the tennis club. She was their ace, making in the nationals since her first year. She is like the tennis version of Yamamoto Takeshi."
"Amaya…?" Korin then remembered what Tsuyoshi told him about the five Cursed Clans. One of the clans was named Amaya.
"She has a little fan club from both the boys and girls but she never did show any attention to any boys or girls. Hell, I've heard she avoided the boys like they are some kind of demons or something." She stated, "For you to catch her attention, you are something."
Korin turned to where the girl stood before. He wasn't too sure, but he knows he sensed something unnatural about her. She don't felt completely human, something like an aura of demonic energy radiating off her like a uncontrolled tap.
'So, there is a mage attending school here as well…' Korin thought, 'Is she the one that created that barrier…?'
After lunch, they all return to their lessons, mostly continued without much problem, aside from the usual Dame-Tsuna taunting and Gokudera's threats. There were some glares from the female population that Korin took notice, deciding to keep them in his sight as long as possible.
But that was later after the final bell rang. They all start to pack their bags to get ready for home or their club activity; that is when Korin felt an unnatural magic signature coming from the roof. He put his bag back down onto the table before rushing to the roof, leaving the brunette alone.
"Motoyama-san…?" She wonders why he suddenly left the classroom so quickly. Unknown to her, she has even worse troubles to deal with. And they are looming over her right that moment.
"Sawada Tsunahime, is that right?"
Korin made his way to the roof, opening the door hard. He was then greeted by a young man, a high-schooler from his height and the fact he is wearing the Namimori High school uniform.
His well-kept hair of a bluish purple shade with his unusual sky blue eyes staring straight at him, in his hand is a long spear, a Naginata with some brown worn out bandages near the blade.
"Are you the one behind the barrier around the school?" Korin asked.
"So I was right…" The teen said as he spun his spear around before pointing it out at him, "Sorry, but now it is true to you, I can't let you live."
"What?" Korin placed his hand on his gun hidden in his uniform, the teen rushing forward at him and swing the pole weapon down at him, the Knight dodging that attack by leaping back before he landed and pulls out his gun, aiming its muzzle at the teen.
"Who are you?" Korin asked.
"That is none of your concern, mage." The teen muttered his sky blue eyes devoid of any emotion.
'This is going to be tough…' Korin thought.
At another point in time, Tsuna was in a lot of trouble. For starters, she was left alone by her friends as well as Korin who just bolted to who knows where, and now she is being confronted by a group of second and third years who has dragged her into the girls toilet without an answer.
The brunette shrieked as she fell onto the bathroom floor, the three girls looming over her ominously.
"You bitch, you really have some nerve, huh?" One of the girls said angrily, "Dragging Yamamoto-sama, Gokudera-sama and Motoyama-sama around like dogs on a leash."
"-sama…?" Tsuna wonders, 'They're part of their fanclubs…!'
"You ugly whore!" Another of the girls pulls the girl's shoulder length hair, Tsuna let out a scream of pain, "You think you are so popular? You really are mistaken!"
"That's right! You think that they would want to hang out with a loser like you?" The other girl asked.
"Listen, you. You better start to keep your distance away from them from now on." The leader of the little trio said, "Your foul presence is disturbing them."
Tsuna was dead frightened by them, this isn't the first time that the bullies did this, but it was made much worst when they say how she doesn't deserve her friends, 'They're right… I've been holding them all back…' She recalled the fight with Xanxus, where even then, Korin has to come and save her from him.
"Hey, you!" Another voice boomed in from the toilet entrance, there stood the ace of the tennis club, Amaya Kasumi.
"Amaya… Kasumi-san…" Tsuna muttered.
"Hey, let her go!" Kasumi said angrily as she swipes the hand off the brunette's hair, "She has done nothing wrong, so why are you doing this?"
"Nothing wrong? She is hanging with the wrong crowd!" The leader shouted.
"That's right! She shouldn't be so close with the school's idols!" Another girl behind her said.
"All she has been doing here is being friends with them." Kasumi stated, "What's wrong with that?"
"That's the problem!" The other girl shouted, "A loser like her doesn't deserve to be around them in the first place!"
"Sawada-san." Kasumi whispered to her, "Let's run for it."
"Eh?" The brunette blinked before she felt a hand grabbed her wrist, the tennis ace pulling her out of the bathroom and starts running with her in tow.
"Ah! Come back here!"
The two starts running along the corridor as the three girls start chasing them from behind. Kasumi pulls onto Tsuna as they ran up the stairs, reaching the end and the roof. Slamming open the door to the roof, before they heard fighting on the opposite roof (Nami Middle has two roof accesses, mind you), there two figures fighting, one is Korin who just countered the blade from the spear with his gun.
"Motoyama-san!" Tsuna cried.
That caught his attention when he saw the brunette on the other rooftop, "Tsunahime?" He wonders before he moved to dodge another swipe from the naginata.
"There you are!" The three girls came out from the roof access door, "You're not getting away this time!"
"HIIEEE!-!" Tsuna shrieked in fright.
Korin stopped as he fired off a round at his assailant, before he leaped onto the fence surrounding the roofs and leaped across the courtyard below and landed on the other fence. "What's going on?" He asked.
"M-Motoyama-sama!" The leader cried out in shock as he jumped off the fence, "N-Nothing, nothing is going on!"
"Sure?" Korin said, his eyes now indifferent and staring straight into hers. He looked over to the other two girls, before turning to Kasumi and Tsuna, and then turns back to her, "You have ten seconds to leave."
"B-But, Motoyama-sama-!"
"Ten." Korin announced as he fired off a round into the air before aiming at her, "Eight, seven, six," The three already start running off and away from them. He spun the gun before holstering it back into his hidden holster, "Are you alright, Tsunahime?"
"T-That was mean, Motoyama-san!" Tsuna cried, stunning him in surprise, "You shouldn't threaten them like that! They are normal innocent middle school girls!"
"…They are not that innocent." Korin stated, his face returning to default monotone, "There is one thing that I hate above all else and that is bullying. Because they are young, they think they can get away from anything. There are times that it takes a strong force for them to back off."
"That does not mean you can use your gun!" Tsuna cried, before pointing at him angrily, "From now on, I forbid you from using your gun in school!"
Korin this time blinked, completely caught off guard by her declaration, "Okay…" He said, "Wait, that's just stupid! This is my gun; I use it as I want!"
"No! It is an order! You are not allowed to use your gun in school otherwise I say so!" She added.
"…Tch, what's wrong with her…?" Korin muttered as he crossed his arms in annoyance, "I got it, I got it. No gun in school."
"That's good!" Tsuna said happily. She then realized what she did, and her face turned beet red, "I-I…I'm sorry for that!" She cried as she ran out of the door.
"…Maybe the Dying Will Bullet has stronger side effects than I realized…" Korin muttered in surprise. He then realized that Kasumi was here the whole time, "You're Amaya Kasumi, right?"
"Y-You're…" Kasumi said as she moved back, her hands to her chest in defence.
"Get away from her!" The teen from just now leaped down as Korin saw the blade of the spear strikes down onto where he stood before he leaped back to evade that attack. The blade spun around attached to a glowing chain linking to the remaining of the pole weapon before the metal links pulls the blade and locking it back in place.
"Nerio-niisan!" Kasumi cried.
'So his name is Nerio… wait, niisan?' Korin then place one point with another, "You two are brother and sister?"
"Don't you dare hurt Mimi!" Nerio said angrily.
"Wait a second!" Korin said, "I'm not here to hurt anyone!" The older brother lowered his weapon slightly, "Look, I know who you are. You're members of the Cursed Clan; Amaya, right? Well, I'm in the same boat; I'm a member of the Motoyama clan, a Cursed Clan like you. Well… I think I am…"
"Stop spewing lies!" Nerio shouted, "You're not one of us. You're not a cursed human! You reeked of magic, exorcist magic at that! You're definitely a mage!" He raised his spear yet again, "You're not leaving here alive."
"Shit…" Korin muttered as he pulls out his gun and pushes out the cylinder.
"Nerio-niisan, wait!" Kasumi cried, "He's right!"
"Mimi?" Nerio blinked, "You believed him?"
"I don't understand, but what he said is true." She stated, "He is not a mage."
"Actually, he's half correct." Korin stated, "I am a mage, just not a regular kind."
Kasumi stared at him, before feeling something from him, "You're… one of the Five Vessels too…?"
"You too…?" Korin asked, "Now that I think about it, I have a strange feeling that you are familiar… even thought I have never seen you before…"
"So he is one of the last Motoyama?" Nerio asked with Kasumi nodding. The older brother sighed as he stopped pointing his spear at him, before it glowed and changes back into a blue charm, a similar one as well. It looks like the Fire God Talisman that he got from Mingzhi.
"That charm…" Korin stated.
"Oh, this?" Nerio said, "It is the Water God Talisman. Our clan, the Amaya, is quite associated with the Lord of Water, and our techniques and spells reflected on that as well. Well, it is that only the Water Vessel use it but…" He turned to his younger sister, who looked away bashful.
"Water…" Korin muttered.
"Yes." Kasumi said, "I'm the Water Vessel, the medium of the Lord of Water."
Korin was busy getting all that information back into his head, before he felt something pulls him out of his body and into a different plane, reminding him of that time when he was nearly killed, correction, already killed by Dracul.
Within a millisecond, he saw the reality around him changed. He is now in a large empty place, completely nothing but the reflective water-like floor under his feet reflecting the bright blue sky. He then notice a flaming presence behind him, turning around to see Hiryuu there standing proudly. "Hiryuu…?"
"Boy, it seems we are invited by the Water Serpent." The dragon states out.
He wonders on the dragon's words, before he felt another presence in the same room. He looked around, before he saw it. The Lord of Water is right there in front of him with Kasumi standing in front of it.
The water Joteijuu is in the form of a snake like creature, a blue serpent to be exact. Its scales bright cyan with lizard like head except it looks like it has whiskers near its nose and anthers behind its ears; a long wave-like frills flow along its back and its belly of a bride shade of light yellow.
"That's the… Lord of Water…"
"It has been so long, Leviathan." Hiryuu stated, "When was the last time we met up like this?"
"It's been almost a century." The serpent, Leviathan, said, its feminine tone completely gave away its gender, "I see you too found a new Vessel as well."
"He is the rare one among the remaining descendants that managed to survive." He stated proudly, "What of you, Leviathan? I believe the same tragedy happened to your worshippers."
'Tragedy…?' Korin then remembered the story that Tsuyoshi told him, the incident that took all but one Motoyama. 'So, it didn't happen with just the Motoyama, but with the other clans as well?'
"Yes, it is tragic." Leviathan stated, "Most of the Amaya was wiped off of Hokkaido, only the girl's parents survived. Sadly, even they were killed when she and her brother were very young."
"Is it by the same person, that Knight of Beginnings?" He asked.
"No, the parents were killed in a conflict between the two mafia groups." She stated, "It was terrible, the children witnessed the cruel world of the dark society so young."
"It is okay, Leviathan-sama!" Kasumi assures the serpent, "Sure, my parents are dead, but I still have Nerio-niisan!"
"Oh yeah, Hiryuu, I want to ask you something." Korin stated, the dragon turning its attention to him, "I have a similar charm as Nerio, it's called the Fire God Talisman. Is it something that the Motoyama clan created?"
"…Yeah. It is the charm that contains my power." Hiryuu stated, "That reminds me. Leviathan, the God Talismans are supposedly for the Vessel's usage only, so why is the boy using it instead of your Vessel?"
"It is ashamed for me to say, but Nerio was originally the Water Vessel I chose." She stated, "But that time, the sister was severely wounded, and he begged me to make her my Vessel instead of him. I accepted it, in exchange that they share the power. I split up my powers among them; the brother will possess the Talisman, while the sister will be my medium."
"I see, so that's why I never saw him around." Hiryuu muttered, "But a shared Vessel…? This is risky bet you made, Leviathan."
"It is for the best, for both of them." Leviathan said, "They are all they have as a family. One truly cannot survive without the other."
"So Amaya Kasumi is the medium like me?" Korin stated, "Wait… that should means that I should be able to use the Fire God Talisman, right?"
"That is not for me to say." Hiryuu stated, "To use that charm is similar to forging out a weapon of god. It is not as 'used' but rather made."
"Made?"
Hiryuu looked up at the sky, "It looks we better leave, boy." The dragon tells his Vessel before walking away, "I do not like to be in the territory of water very long."
'Ah, because water puts out fire…' Korin remembered.
Before he knows it, the surroundings around him changed in an instant and he is back on the roof of the school. From what he can see, there hasn't been a single change, not even a second has passed since their little talk. 'I have to ask Hiryuu about this later…' Korin mentally reminded himself.
Kasumi blinked as she returned to reality as well. Korin holstered his gun before walking up to the girl, who flinched at his approach, "Well, since we're not going to kill each other soon, it's a pleasure to meet you." He put his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of trust. What he did not expect was for the girl to jerk hard from his touch and then moved several steps backward.
"I…I…" She muttered, "I-It'sapleasuretomeetyoubye!-!-!" She ran out of the roof in top speed, stunning Korin a little.
"Wha…?" Korin blinked in surprise.
"Well, that is supposed to be expected." Nerio said as he walked up to him, "You met Leviathan-sama, right?"
"Yeah, that water serpent, right?" Korin stated, "What do you mean by to be expected?"
"Mimi has this huge androphobia for years." Nerio stated, "Back when she was still in elementary school, she was assaulted by some drunkards that nearly stripped and rape her if I didn't make it in time. Since then, she avoided boys like a disease, well, except for me. She hates being touch by any male besides me, and just being close to one is quite hard on her."
"So that's why she avoided the boys." Korin muttered.
Elsewhere, in the small streets of Namimori as the sun begins to set, a small figure walked down the road with a large silver headphones on her ears.
"So… this is Namimori, huh…?" She muttered as she spins and skip to every beat in her ipod.
"I wonder how to Water and Fire Vessels are going to be like…?" She said to herself as she took out small charm, the same charm as in the Water and Fire God Talisman, but it is grey with white markings.
To be continued…
Yeah… there will be some interesting process
to go in this chapter! But I am quite disappointed
at myself for that Tsuna getting bullied scene… It
irritates me to no end!
But that is done, that is that. But now… it is
more on the development of the Five Vessels
as more of them starts to appear.
I won't show all of them at once, but every one
of them will show themselves in time. Now,
I'm leaning more on the Light side with
plenty of ideas than the dark side for Korin's
character development…
Oh, and I have plans on making a UQ Holder
fanfic. Tell me whether I should go with it
or don't do it in reviews. Reviews are like
food for my writer soul… I need them…!
Just kidding~!
With that, I thank you for reading this!