Chapter 4

Having witnessed Aoi singlehandedly assassinate the whole Cicspulo clan by herself, Levi and Lussuria admitted defeat. She had proven to them that she was indeed Varia quality. He and Lussuria finally thought that Aoi was worth it for their squad; therefore they introduced themselves to her as soon as they returned to their base. Aoi patiently listened to them. She showed her acceptance and grinned then made an excuse to leave. She still had to sort the things she now remembered. She was very eager to know her past, the person she was searching for and how did she end up unconscious. This also gave her the chance to rest. Aoi sighed. Out of the blue, knives flew at her from all directions. She knew all too well that those were owned by none other than Belphegor. Rumors she had heard about him state that he was the smartest in the Varia, and that he joined according to his own will after murdering his brother. She was able to deflect one of those knives with a… spoon. How she was able to do that, Bel never found out.

"Ushishishi, I don't want you in Varia, I disapprove of your existence here. Until I rip your body into shreds, I won't be satisfied," Belphegor said.

Aoi whistled, "Okay, how do I prove it to you that I'm worth it?"

"Defeat me, if you can."

"That's it?" Aoi raised her eyebrows.

"It won't be easy, little girl."

The battle started when Bel charged her head-on. He would prove to his stupid Varia officers that Aoi was not fitted to be with them. Stupid and idiotic plans like that of the gay bastard and that big dumbass would never work. He had thought of a full-proof plan that had no holes in them. Belphegor threw his unending supply of knives in Aoi's direction. Like many of his previous fights, he had attached nylon, transparent strings to each of them. He would create a trap that no one would ever escape from. Bel smiled evilly at his soon to be skewered opponent. Aoi, on the other hand, fell for it, hook, line and sinker. She was enclosed by strings that could cut through skin thus; she was covered in tiny wounds, panting from exhaustion from dodging whatever Bel threw.

"Bow down before me!" Bel commanded at the worn-out Aoi. All he got for an answer was the sound of grumbling stomach. She looked at him in embarrassment. So that's why she was holding a spoon! She was on her way to the bedroom to think and eat to get rid of her bad mood.

Aoi, who at that moment was close to fainting from hunger, requested, "Ne, can we do this some other time?"

"No," Bel replied. "If you surrender now, I will never accept you as part of Varia," he continued. More sounds issued from her stomach.

"Fine," she said. Just as she was about to give up, Xanxus chose to enter the lounging area. He saw Aoi encased by strings and Belphegor wielding a knife.

"Trash," the boss said, pointing to the prince,"come with me, we have something to discuss." Belphegor, truly loyal to Xanxus unwillingly drew back his knives, freeing Aoi and followed his superior out of the area.

Aoi, thankful for the distraction Xanxus had provided, ran to her room. Her eyesight was already blurring due to the lack of food. She couldn't see the approaching figure. BAM! Aoi fell to the floor hard on her back. "I'm so sorry!" she shouted before she could stop herself from apologizing. The person she had bumped into raised an eyebrow, dusted himself and stood up. Fran didn't bother to hold out a hand for the girl lying on the floor.

"Ah-" he muttered then walked away. He was not interested in the injured Aoi. He didn't even care. He had opted to forget the memory of her singing.

Aoi passed out. A few moments later, Lussuria felt a hand holding his ankle. He was very shocked to see the newbie on the floor. "Food…" she croaked. Lussuria felt his pockets and handed a piece of chocolate to the girl. "Thank you!" she said gratefully. Aoi, now energized by the little piece of food, stood up and bowed to Lussuria. She thanked him again then went to her room. The sun guardian shrugged and continued on the direction he was heading to.

Aoi was finally inside the safe haven her private room offered. She rummaged through her stuff and brought out a whole pack of chocolates. She gobbled them all up quickly, trying to think back to her past. Even with the help of the sweets, it still remained bleak. Giving up on her attempt, she grabbed her earphones, plugged it on her music player and soon, drifted into sleep. The afternoon turned into evening. Aoi, slept like a log, not even waking up for dinner and to the din her acquaintances made.

Best friends, ex-friends till the end, better off as lovers but not the other way around.

Racing through the city, windows down in the back of yellow-checkered cars.

Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh

Aoi woke up to the "whoa-ohing" of the song playing. Having forgotten what the title of the song was, she looked at the screen of her music player. "Bang the Doldrums" by Fall Out Boy. Hmm… this reminded her of her ex-friends. Wait... hold up a sec, she remembered something again in the middle of the night. She had friends before! Where were they now? Did they die? Aoi thought harder, but nothing else came to her. She slumped back on her comfy pillows. What time was it? 3 AM. Hardly anyone would be awake by now… Aoi changed into her usual clothes, and sneaked to the refrigerator located in the living area. She was surprised that the lights were still open. Waiting for her in the brightness was Belphegor.

"Ushishishi, you and I still have unfinished business," he said, "Let's continue, shall we?"

"By all means," Aoi replied. She dove right as Belphegor slashed her from the left. He attacked; the combat's flow was the same as the first battle. Aoi was trapped again. Bel opened his box weapon and Mink appeared. It injected the storm dying will flame onto the strings, effectively caging Aoi between them.

"So… what are you going to do now?" Bel taunted. It was just as he calculated; he had predicted that Aoi wasn't as clever as he which he used to his advantage.

"This," Aoi replied. Bel felt the atmosphere around him shift. He took a step back. Aoi lighted her ring and opened her box weapon, out came an otter. The prince was astonished. His box animal's species was sort of closely related to hers. He felt insulted by it.

"So, what are you planning to do with that otter?" Bel asked again. Aoi didn't even bother to reply.

"Luca," she named the animal, "see those strings?" it nodded, "Can you cut them for me?" in one quick swipe of its paws, Luca severed the storm-coated restraints. The cloud otter then settled itself on Aoi's shoulder. "Thank you… saa… let's get wild," she muttered.

Aoi charged Bel, she attacked with a dagger she brought specially for the occasion. Slash, swoosh, and clang: Dagger met knife. Bel was taken by surprise, he madly tried to defend himself, but it was fruitless. Aoi scored by hacking a gash on Bel's right forearm. Once the maddened storm guardian saw his 'royal' blood, his real talents showed up. Laughing maniacally, he recklessly attacked. All logic fled from his mind as he let his battle instincts take control. He was rewarded by a cut he had cleaved across Aoi's chest. Wheezing heavily, Aoi found out that she was in the middle of struggling for her life; she was not just proving her value to the deadliest faction of the Vongola. If Bel managed to win, he would take her life. Powered by this wave of realization, she entered the same state as her enemy. Blinded by her lust for victory, Aoi let her body do the thinking. She plunged her dagger to Bel as if her chest wasn't sticky with blood. She parried off a jab aimed for her stomach. They locked eyes, glowering at each other. While staring at her, Bel perceived that there was something abnormal with Aoi's eye color. It wasn't the same shade of violet! He peered closer to her despite of the amount of hair blocking his view. He saw something that looked suspiciously like a kanji character on her left pupil. On her right, he glimpsed a bluish glint. Hmm… intriguing. This is too fascinating… it would be a waste to kill her before I found out what the writing on her violet orb meant.

"You pass my test," Bel announced, tucking away his knife and permitting Mink to return to his box.

"Eeh?" Aoi exclaimed. She strapped her dagger to her thigh and let Luca go back to her box. Aoi hadn't discerned the fact that she was hurt. Staggering badly, she used the wall as support. Bel had vanished; presumably, he was on his way to research more about Aoi's background to try and understand the meaning of the symbol in her eye. Aoi turned and headed towards the hallway. She barely made it to Lussuria's room.

"Ara, ara, it's only six in the morning," Lussuria torpidly said while opening the door.

Clutching her chest, attempting to stop the blood drip onto the carpet, Aoi uttered a word, "Help," afterwards, she collapsed.

"Oh my," despite the time, Lussuria brought out his box weapon and opened it. The sun peacock spread its splendid plumage in front of Aoi. In a few seconds, her wounds and bruises healed.

"Arigatou!" Aoi stood up and bowed, fully restored to health. She turned to leave when Lussuria grabbed her arm. Aoi whirled around and faced him.

"Who's responsible for all those injuries?" he asked, concern showing in his voice.

"It doesn't matter," Aoi gave her shoulders a shrug then smiled. "Thanks again." She stretched and headed back to her room to catch a few winks.

"What made Belphegor stop attacking me so abruptly? It seemed so… doubtful," Aoi thought, "Oh well; at least I survived in one piece… I guess that's all that matters." Her eyelids snapped shut and she slept the morning and afternoon away, her head buried in her pillow.