Ah…..yeah. Not even gonna explain why I was gone for a long time. Just here. Sorry.
FORGIVE ME! DX
Reborn couldn't even begin to voice how utterly bewildered he was. Here he is standing behind a almost closed door watching his landlord who is drying herself off.
For those of you who thought that way, leave now you pervs. That is not why the hitman was practically all messed up in the head. Besides, she dried herself with the towel on, thank you very más. Moving on, the hitman was currently transfixed with what was on her body.
'What are those?' Reborn knew better than to even whisper at this point. Deciding not to leave was probably the worst mistake he's ever made while being in the strange country, but he was too far gone to turn back now. Then the unexpected hit.
"You must be joking." His expression changed from curious to serious in nanoseconds.
S*** just got real.
Now, Tsuna wasn't one to worry about Reborn's whereabouts seeing as the hitman did what he wanted, but when it takes someone two hours to go and take a shower it makes a person skeptical. Especially if that person shares a room with you and is now vital to be present so they can sleep well.
"Everyone in this house is probably asleep but me." Tsuna sighed and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. In bright blue lights it read 1:43 a.m.
"...Maybe I'll wait just fifteen more minutes. He must be back by then." The boy opened up the new manga he was reading and began from where he left off.
First, the markings and now this. Reborn wanted answers and he wanted them now. Standing to his full height, the hitman slammed the door open wide and stepped into the room the prowess of a panther. Kaminika turned quickly, clutching her towel tightly around her body like a protective shield.
"Care to explain?" His voice void of all emotion and instead took on a demanding tone. Kaminika was no fool and knew he had saw everything, but stayed silent as the man continued.
"I mean, now that I've seen what I've seen, it's no wonder you seemed to passed all those tests with flying colors." He persisted in moving forward inch by agonizing inch as she backed away confusion, fear and horror etched in her eyes.
"Reborn-san, I do not unders-"
"Oh you know perfectly well what I'm talking about. No man or woman alive can match up to Fong's speed or techniques let alone sneak up on him, and there is no way a normal person could complete a physically impossible obstacle course in less than two minutes."
"Reborn-san, I only did what was required and asked of me. I did not think I did anything wrong." She still found herself backing away from the man as he was becoming dangerously close.
"At first I believed you cheated," he said cooly, breezing over her plea, "but then I thought that you didn't seem like the type. Instead I began to think that there was some kind of loophole-"
"No…."he grabbed for her arm when he registered he was close enough and raised it above her head as her other clenched desperately to her towel, not planning on letting go.
"And look what I come across. Some kind of creature only to be believed in myth or in awesome faith or religion.
"Reborn-san, it is not-"
"To think that I was foolish enough to be convinced that a nice stranger would let an unknown band of people into their home out of the kindness of their heart. No one in the world is that gracious."
"Please listen-"
"What were you planning to do, taking us all in like that and with our backs turned," his grip on her wrist tightened, "leading us to think that you're a good young girl who was being good-natured then kill us when we weren't looking?"
"No."
"Eat us, maybe? Torture us until there were nothing left of our bodies except for bone dust and scraps?"
"I would never-"
"Of course not. What else would a Fallen like yourself do with the people that you have taken in?" Reborn was stoic and cool as ever but he was gripping the girl's wrist so hard that he was sure it would be nothing but a twig when he let go if it; if he let go.
"Reborn-san, please. I was only trying to be considerate of-"
"Considerate of who? We are the mafia, darling, and it would be in your best interest not to mess, toy or interfere in anything we do." Well the big secret was out and about, but at this point it looked like nothing was going to stop the hitman from what he was doing.
"M-mafia?! The mob?!" She stuttered out of horror.
"Mmhmm." The arcobaleno hummed and grinned sadistically as he spun her around so that her arm was placed in a way that she was putting herself in a headlock and her back was facing him.
"I'm warning you now; let it come to my realization that you've been lying this whole time and I won't hesitate to gun you down into nothing where you stand. Capiche," he whispered in her ear as she shook.
"Yes, Reborn-san, I-I understand."
"Hmm." Reborn leaned in and gently pecked the shell of her ear. Releasing her wrist, he turned to leave.
"A lovely room you have here. My room should be two floors down. Nice talking to you; have a good night. Hope your dreams are sweet." As her doors closed, Kaminika stood still. For minutes, which felt like hours, she stood until she slowly sunk to her knees quivering like a loose leaf about to fall of a tree. Her hands made their way to her face. She closed her eyes tightly as she covered her face trying yet failing to calm down.
"What will I do?
….
W-what will Zainto say?"
Reborn, at last, arrived to his shared room with Tsuna, not in the least bit happy, but surprised that the lights were still on. He walked in immediately finding his student sprawled across a recliner. Tsuna was out like a light and didn't look like he was waking up anytime soon. Reborn strode over to the boy and towered over him before shaking him gently.
"Dame-Tsuna." The brunnette groaned in his sleep and turned a bit. "Dame-Tsuna." The boy flinched slightly. "Tsuna!" Reborn was becoming more agitated than he already was. Tsuna forced open an eye and saw his home tutor looming over him.
"Enjoy your bath," the teen asked sarcastically.
"Good morning to you too," the man scoffed.
"What's with you," the don questioned, rubbing the sleep out of his eye, "you've been gone for, what,...four hours." Tsuna took a glance at the clock to see that it read around three in the morning. The hitman stayed quiet as his student stretched and fell back into the recliner.
"I had to deal with Colonello's rowdy behind for and hour and a half before Lal-san came storming yelling at him for being too loud and told him to go to sleep."
"..."
"...Something wrong, Reborn?" The brunette could see the conflict on the man's usually I-won't-tell-you-a-thing face which was not a good sign.
"Anything that you came with or bought here, go find a bag and pack it all. We're leaving in a day's time." Tsuna promptly fell out of his seat in surprise.
"W-what?! W-why?! Did something happened?" Tsuna became confused, no, flabbergasted in a second's time as to why they had to leave the safety of the house.
Unless…
"What did you do?" Tsuna narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him in a serious manner. Reborn narrowed his eyes right back at the accusation that he did anything at all.
"I didn't do anything." The teen missed the stress on how the tutor wasn't the one to cause trouble.
"Then, did Shoichi-san fix the machine?" Hope became clear in his voice.
"No."
"Did you find another way to get back home?"
"No."
"Then what is it?!" Tsuna almost shouted as frustration laced his words.
"It's not as safe here as I originally thought, Tsuna; now hurry and pack. We have to let the others know early tomorrow morning so we can leave that night. No one will be the wiser. Why are you moving like molasses? Pack. Now!"
"Not safe?….Okay." Tsuna got up from his seat slowly and began gathering everthing he had, stuffing it into a duffle bag he conveniently bought on an impulse. Little did the two realize that a pair of sharp steel greyish blue eyes peered through the crack of their door before disappearing into the shadows.
Tsuna awoke the next morning tired from the night before but rested well enough. Reborn had went to the other's quarters earlier to let them know what was up. It became very obvious to Tsuna that the hitman was not taking the risk of staying another night at this house.
As instructed, the young don stuffed everything he had come to own in the past week into his duffle bag and put it under his bed. As to why they were leaving the house was still a mystery to him.
'Maybe, Verde was right to suspect something of this place.' Tsuna wasn't dumb enough to believe that something wasn't off about the country. He noticed the signs. The ridiculous ease as to which Kaminika caught Fong and completing Colonello's strength sapping, pain inducing obstacle course. How she knew exactly what Verde was talking about without specifying at all. Tsuna was no fool.
'But-' Maybe that was how things worked around the country. Obviously it would be different from where they came from; not every place is the same. Here, probably all the people were gifted with amazing speed and strength, as far fetched as it sounded.
'We're most likely the weird ones.' The middle schooler was so engrossed with his thoughts that he didn't realize that something approached him; at least not until he looked up.
"Hm? Hello."
"Is everyone clear with the plan?" Reborn had explained the whole spiel from his last night adventure around the house to the others as soon as he finished gathering his belongings. He had to stay up the night prior to silently pack the kids' things before he could explain anything. Nods and hums of understanding filled the room, but not without accompanying looks of confusion.
"I-I don't see why we're leaving e-exactly." Enma spoke hardly above a whisper though he was heard anyway. Uneasiness resonated throughout the room as some fidgeted at the awkwardness.
"You have something to say?" The hitman let no emotion come over his words. Enma, not fully understanding he had been heard, shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"W-w-what I mean is….could you explain the situations a bit more clearly? Did we do something wrong, or did she?" Unconvinced faces looked toward the arcobaleno for answers. Said man sent an unnerving stare to the boy who shriveled and sank back into his chair.
"..."
"I'd have to agree with the child, Reborn." The home tutor turned his gaze to his victim's rescuer which happened to be Fong. The Storm had a reassuring grasp on the young Shimon don's shoulder. "What exactly is the big deal? You say it's dangerous to stay, but why must we make such hasty actions?" Reborn stared hard at Fong, shifted his gaze to Enma then back. He let a harsh chuckle in turn sending shivers down several spines. Fong stood strong to his question and his grip tightened on the shaking boy.
"You don't get it do you?"
"Obviously. Otherwise the question wouldn't have been brought up. In other words: pointless."
"Well, obviously, you're an idiot."
"Reborn!"
"I have my reasons," he snapped, "To think that, in a week, you all handed over your trust so easily. You people are mafia! None of you should be handing over anything easily!"
"Something is bothering you, Reborn; to the point where you are losing your cool like this."
"Are you kidding?! I would not be standing in front of you all right now trying to force any of you out the door if something wasn't bothering me, Fong! The Longer we stay the more danger each and everyone of us is in. No one would be leaving if I thought we could handle the issue."
"Now back to my previous question; what, pray tell, is the issue, Reborn?"
"...We are in the very presence of a Fallen; maybe two and I'm not going to stay long enough to see for myself if I'm right or not." The tutor gave the martial artist a long Are-you-happy-now glare. Fong closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as the others held theirs, fearing the worst.
"And just who are you accusing as such?"
"..."
"...Reborn."
"...Our ever so lovely hostess and her brother," he stated with thick sarcasm. The water that Dino had been drinking at the time shot out of his mouth like a geyser and he began hacking; Yamamoto started patting his back to stop the fit the other was having. Belphegor went about laughing uncontrollably like it was his job as Lussuria was fanning himself, pacing back and forth stating it wasn't true. Enma, the poor boy, had a grip like iron on his hair staring wide-eyed at the floor.
"I KNEW IT!" Verde shot from his seat with an I-told-you-all look. "I knew from the beginning that there was some strange business going on in this place and did any of you believe me? NO!"
"You'd think by with what you've done in the past that you'd come to terms with that by now." Colonello stated casually. Verde gave him a vicious glare then adopted a smug look.
"Goes to show what you know, monkey."
"Back off, lab rat!" Colonello growled. Sparks were flying between the two as the others let go of breaths they were holding harshly.
"The heck is a 'Fallen'," Skull questioned cluelessly in which Lal smacked him upside the head for.
"Someone similar to you, dufus." Verde answered quite full of himself for the time being with his arms crossed over chest.
"Anyone familiar with religions or legends know what a Fallen is, Skull-kun," Byakuran said matter-of-fact like.
"Then how come Verde know what it is," the stuntman asked while pointing a finger in the scientist's direction earning a flying loafer to the cranium.
"Who cares about that! Can we reverse back to the accusation that our landlord is a mythical creature?!" Dino burst in now free from his coughing fit.
"Agreed," Squalo vocalized calmly which was odd considering that he and the majority of the group were being silent.
"Do you know for certain that she is, indeed, a Fallen. No indication of stating otherwise?" Gokudera, out of everyone, spoke in the girls behalf.
"She certainly doesn't act like any Fallen I've read about," Mammon started from his seat, "letting strangers in your home, on earth, and helping them; if she was one we would probably all be dead by now if she is as powerful as Reborn is presuming."
"I still say we need to leave….and bring the machine with us, somehow." Reborn voiced out clearly not changing his mind leaving Fong in an annoyed state. Shoichi and Spanner's eyes widened at the declaration. "And anything that is necessary for it."
"THAT'S STEALING!" Shoichi yelled in disbelief. "Do you honestly trust we can do something like that after all the kindness she's showed us?!"
"It was all a trap." Reborn began sternly.
"I THINK NOT," the redhead technician fumed at the notion. "That is a bunch of malarky; I'm not doing it!"
"You'd better or be left at the mercy of that….thing." The hitman sneered in disgust.
"Now that's going too far!" Fong chided losing his cool a little.
"I would have to agree with Shoichi on this one." Spanner came in bluntly.
"I don't have a problem with it. Take what you can."
"Verde!" Fong snapped, not the least bit pleased.
"What do you need us to do, Reborn-san? I'll see what I can do to help." Gokudera said with an impassive face.
"Gokudera-san!"
"You can't be serious Gokudera." Yamamoto looked at his friend as if he had grown several new appendages and another head.
"If Reborn-san thinks that a new danger has approached that none of us can handle I don't think that any of us should question him."
"Taco-head has a point." A tick mark instantaneously appeared on on said person's head.
"Ryohei-san!"
"Onii-chan!"
"If there is even the slightest chance of Kyoko getting hurt, I'm not taking it," he spoke in a dead serious tone.
"Master, I-pin thinks we should leave. Safety first," the Chinese girls said quietly tugging on Fong's robe.
"I-pin, please, this is not the time." Fong sighed exasperated.
"Alright we go; Varia's in."
"Squalo-san!"
"..."
"But, I-I don't want to leave; at least not yet….." Enma stuttered lost in his own thoughts.
"Stay strong, Enma-san, this will only take a moment." The martial artist gave the don a wary smile that didn't do much for reassurance. Colonello was staring long and hard at the floor before relenting to leaving. Dino, Byakuran and Chrome weren't moved a bit and decided on staying due to little proof. Hibari himself didn't care much about any of it.
"This is madness! You all are making a mistake! Especially you, Reborn! Lal, say something!" The Chinese man was on the edge of his patience with all of them. How dare any of them question the mistress of the house's background when they themselves each have a questionable history that has everything associated with the word 'shady'.
"...If she is a Fallen like you have stated, then that's a threat," she said getting a nod from the man, "but, even so, that's her business. I don't see why she has to tell us a thing. That would be called being hypocritical."
"Now Lal-" Colonello started only to be cut off.
"Thank you, Lal. This is all ludacris what you people are doing!" Fong bellowed losing what remaining cool he had.
"Maybe she kept it "hidden" from us for a reason." Enma voiced sarcastically using air quotes to prove his point.
"Maybe she realized that this is the way all of you would react that she didn't say anything." Lal added on.
"Well she still should have said something-" Colonello began again just to end up being glared at by his former teacher.
"What I don't get is that some of you think that she had to. Why? Plus it's not like we expected it either. Who goes up to their landlord randomly and says 'Oh, by the way, I've gotta ask, you wouldn't happen to be keeping a secret that any of us should know about would you? Like some real Earth-shattering stuff like that fact that maybe you're a Fallen or some other creature of the night that will kill us when we all are sleeping. Well, are you?' That's freakin' ridiculous!" Some had to pause at the statement while others nodded. Reborn stood his ground and did not plan on moving for anyone.
"I thought so. You wusses can leave; if I hadn't made it clear, I'm staying."
"We are not arguing any further about this. We are all going tonight and that is final." Reborn declared.
"No." Those who were hellbent on staying fought back bravely.
"It's not up for debate."
"Too bad." Byakuran hummed from the back in a tone that was the furthest from feeling sorry for the statement and got himself a glare.
"...Either you come or you suffer here."
"Then, goodbye. We'll see you when we see you," Lal kept a stoic face while waving her hand, "Oh, and good luck getting back home without a machine, because your techies decided to remain in the house." Shoichi grabbed his stomach and Spanner continued to suck on his lollipop idily.
"I'm staying, as well." Fran spoke up from his crouched position on the floor with an ever present bored expression gracing his features.
"VOI, YOU'RE A PART OF THE VARIA! YOU'RE COMING WITH US!"
"And give shelter with a warm bed and food? I don't think so. Think about it. We were lucky to even be able to stay here without a hitch. Do you think that somebody else will let us stay at their house? Nobody's that gracious." That got Hibari's vote on remaining automatically. Reborn barely flinched.
"YOU-"
"HIEEEEEEEEE!"
SIlence ensued for a good ten second. Eyes widened, breaths were held, and curses were heard as everyone scrambled out of the room and made their way toward the scream. Many stumble over each other trying to get ahead to the room they thought, no, knew the familiar bellow came from. Reborn cursed at the thought that the worst happened when he was gone and was close to praying what he was thinking wasn't true.
"JUUDAIME!" Gokudera made it to the room first, as expected, only to be brutally trampled on upon the rest's arrival. They all shoved their way into the spacious bedroom to be met with the sight of the struggling brunnette, his hands holding his face.
"What's wrong, Tsuna!" Yamamoto yelled at his friend in worry, hurrying to his his side. Muffled cries assaulted his ears as the boy continued to twist and turn on the floor. Colonello went to grab for the boy at the same time Reborn did, but froze at the sound of a voice.
"KYO!" Everyone turned to the door to see their cloaked hostess standing there with a deep frown. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THESE PEOPLE ARE GUEST! COME HERE!" Kaminika spoke in an authoritative tone with obvious frustration. All of a sudden, Tsuna's thrashing stopped and in a flash a black blur sped by everyone and to the girl's side. The young don's face was covered in scratches and they were bleeding lightly.
" I told you not to do that!" Kaminika scolded harshly to, what the others saw, a black kitten with a scar that vaguely looked like an 'X' on it's cheek and a crescent pattern on it's forehead. It had steel grayish blue eyes and was not looking too happy.
"Bad cat," the girl chastised while some watched in confusion or disbelief and Tsuna moaned in pain on the floor. Lal crossed her arms in front of her chest highly unamused.
"Lo and behold your attacker is a cat. You must be so proud, Reborn." All the hitman could do in that moment was burn a hole in his student's head with his eyes.
And there you have it. Forgive my empty promise and how awful this chapter is. Thank you for leaving reviews, following, or favoriting. Feel free to check out my other stories and such. Thanks for reading. Until next time.