Clear to cloudy
Target 12: Fangs of the wolf
Kotsu, Ren, Murphy and Reborn walk through a large tunnel with Tsugemora slung over Ren's shoulder, not being able to move due to poison. They enter another large open underground area, this appearing to be the old entrance to the station. Inside they see two people sitting in a large sofa. Both playing a video game on an old tv they have set up. In fact this entire area appears to be a sort of living quarters for the gang.
"Hey! No fair! Stop screen cheating, Neve! You piece of crap!" The first says angrily. A young boy with short white hair and a single black stripe down the middle.
The other juts laughs at his friend. "You can't prove I'm screen cheating Cenere! Maybe you just suck at the game!" He says. His hair is the exact opposite of the first boy's, being black with a white stripe. The first boy tosses down the controller clearly angry at having lost.
"Bastard… I ought to kill you," Ren laughs a little being reminded of when he used to play videogames with Kotsu in the younger brother's room.
"Um… excuse me… do you know where we can find someone named… Geraldino I think his name was," He asks and the two boys shoot up, not recognizing the voice. Ren walks over calm as ever, still not knowing that they're members of an ACTUAL gang. They both jump back and look at Ren as he puts Tsugemora down in the couch where he's likely much more comfortable on it. "Is something wrong…?" Ren asks seeing them clearly keep their distance. Cenere and Neve look to each other, before looking furiously at Ren.
"You bastard! Who the hell do you think you are? Coming in here like you own the place! We'll kill you!" they both yell taking out weapons. Both of them hold a large kukri and point them to Ren who just takes a short step back.
"Hey now… I'm not really… playing this roleplay so um… it's those guys you'll want to 'attack'," He says laughing and the two boys look to Reborn and the others curiously noting that the entrance is blocked.
Kotsu is panicking seeing the large knives both the boys are holding and tucks at Reborn's sleeve. "Reborn! Oi! We need to help Ren! He's not actually going to fight those guys! He thinks it's just a game!" He says and Reborn pulls his sleeve back making Kotsu let go, with a slightly annoyed tsk.
"Ren'll be just fine… besides I wanna see what he's got," he says and the boys hear it smirking.
"You hear that Neve? They won't be bothering us while we take care of this chump!" Cenere says smirking and Neve nods.
"that's good for us! Makes our job easier!" He yells jumping forward and Ren doesn't move at all, not thinking they'll actually attack him. Neve notes Ren's lack of action and stops right before contact with Ren's neck with his kukri. "Hey! Why didn't you dodge or counter attack!?" He says and Ren just smiles.
"Because you guys won't actually hurt me, or you know… attempt to with toy swords," He says and sounds harmless as always, but the two boys just take it as an overconfident statement and gulp a bit creating a little distance between them and their opponent, wondering just how strong you have to be, to NOT dodge a direct attack like that. But before they get too scared of him, they both leap for him anyway.
"If we think too much-!" "We'll just get distracted!" They yell finishing each other's sentences and Ren sighs and holds up his hand as if to tell them to stop.
"Guys! Stop… I already told you I'm not playing this game, so it won't be any fun," He says and once more the boys take it the wrong way, thinking he's actually saying that fighting them is like a game to him and that beating them won't be any fun.
"Oi… this guy… what on earth is with him…?" Neve says looking rather worried.
Reborn sighs off to the side. "Looks like Ren's in the middle of a GIANT misconception huh?" Kotsu just looks overly confused at Reborn and then the two boys.
Ren sighs as well and just holds up his hands. "Alright alright… I see that you really want me to play… so I'll play along a little…" he says sighing, just remembering when he used to playfight with Kotsu when they were younger thinking that it's a bit like that.
The two boys are looking quite angry right now, seeing as they believe Ren's naivety to be overflowing confidence. "You bastard! Now we're mad!" Cenere yells as he leaps forward towards Ren slicing at him and Ren dodges for once, leaning really far backwards, placing a hand on the ground for support, before jumping onto it, with a slight spin of his legs, with his foot being quite far from Cenere's face and Ren jumps back chuckling whipping under his nose with his index finger with a smirk on his face.
"Got ya…" He says and Kotsu is in complete disbelief at this behavior. He actually thinks it's like a playfight where they PRETEND to get hit, when the other grazes by them.
"What…?" Cenere says aloud, before Ren suddenly jumps as Neve comes from behind with another slash and Ren avoids it.
"hey hey… how am I supposed to pretend to get hit if you attack from the back?" He says landing into a roll, instantly ready again and the two boys start furiously swinging at him in perfect sync, with Ren simply dodging them all pretending to get cut all over, making the correct over-the-top noises only annoying the boys even more as he's easily dodging them, while no even focused on it.
"The hell's wrong with you!? Can't you see we're trying to kill you?" Neve yells as they both stab directly at him and he jumps back and lands on his back.
"Arrrggh I'm… DEAD," He says laying on the ground, pretending to have died, and the two boys just look at each other in total disbelief at what they're seeing, never having felt so humiliated and underestimated before. They both jump and try stabbing Ren again and Ren opens one eye slightly, seeing them coming and he swiftly pushes the knives to the side making them hit the concrete on either side of his head. "Hey hey… that's a little close don't you think? Someone could hurt themselves," He says and stands up before yanking both kukri's out of their hands. "Gimme those!" He tosses them aside and looks very disappointed at the boys, almost like he's their older brother.
"Now you two calm yourselves. All this fighting and video games are making you more violent. That is NOT good for you. If you two don't stop this I will stop playing this game and teach you some lessons about violence," He says holding up his authoritative finger, very disappointed. Once more the two boys misunderstand thinking he means it as in, 'Stop fighting or I'll beat the crap out of you both,"' Instead of Ren just wanting to tell them about why violence is not always the answer. They both start sprinting out of the tunnel going straight for the exit.
"We promise! We won't ever hurt anyone again! Just… PLEASE STOP!" They yell and Ren just sighs shaking his head in relief.
"Good grief. Kids these days," He says and looks to his little brother who's honestly stunned that Ren somehow won a fight… without… actually… fighting. "I'm glad YOU aren't like those two lil' bro."
Reborn nods slowly. "Well done Ren… you handled that well…" Ren just grins his usual happy grin.
"Well it's just a game… how hard can it be?" he looks to Tsugemora who's still just sitting in the sofa sleeping soundly. "But I guess I broke the rules didn't I? I mean… am I really allowed to start playing just for one 'fight'?" Reborn just ignores the question and looks for the next place to go to.
"Looks like there aren't many places left to go… but… we have two paths…" He says pointing at two walkway, tunnels going either way from the entrance. One is labeled platform D and one is platform E of the old subway.
"Let's split up then. I never got to ask those two where Fumie is being kept so it makes the most sense right?" Ren suggests and Kotsu is against the idea, before Ren even finishes the sentence.
"That's crazy Ren! Who knows how many strong guys are hiding in here! There could be a LOT more, even stronger than those two!"
However much to the young Kotsu's dismay Reborn nods.
"That's a good idea. Murphy… take Ren and Tsugemora… me and Kotsu will go this way," Kotsu is almost in disbelief at what he's hearing. Splitting up seems like the craziest idea in the world to him. Strength in numbers right?! But it's happening. Reborn pulls Kotsu by the ear with him down platform E while Murphy guides Ren and Tsugemora to platform D.
"ReboooOoorn!" Kotsu complains and Reborn doesn't listen. As always, so Kotsu honestly isn't surprised… just annoyed.
"This'll be a test Kotsu. Of how strong you are," Kotsu just grits his teeth breaking free of Reborn's grasp of his ear, knowing that there's no running.
"But why do 'I' have to be tested? Can't YOU just take out Geraldino and his whole gang in one blow! The world's strongest hitman remember?!" He yells angrily as they continue down the dimly lit tunnel.
"I could, but if the next vongola boss can't save a single family member then how is he supposed to save the whole family?" Kotsu realizes the hitman has a point ignoring Reborn's slight bragging, or maybe he ignored it because he's got the feeling it's true that he could and just goes along with it.
"I… hm. Mm," He tries thinking of something to say, but can't figure anything clever to respond and decides to be quiet.