Vongola VS Varia, Start!
The Wind is constantly blowing, but where is it going to take us?
The sound of laughter and cheers dragged me out of my sleep. The noise was coming from the living room. I got up, remembering that I turned the TV off last night. I made my way to the living room, seeing a familiar silhouette. The figure turned around and smiled.
"Breakfast is on the table," she answered, reaching out for the remote, turning off the TV. I glanced at the table, which a piping hot plate of pancakes was sitting on.
"You made this?" I asked her.
"Surprised?" She stood up from the couch. I had never seen my mother cook, nor have I ever tasted her cooking.
I sat down at the table and cut myself a small piece of the pancake. I glanced at my mother. She was calm and her flaming red eyes were pale and dull, almost brown in color. She was looking out the window, sorrowful.
"Something is off, isn't there?" I asked her, taking a bit of my pancake. She sighed.
"You really are like your father," she replied, pulling a chair next to me. "I'm worried about the Ninth." Her red eyes suddenly brightened, blazing. Last night was full of events. Notably the wrath of my mother was shocking. She even went against Xanxus. But what surprised me the most was her killing intent. She managed to suppress it completely.
"A one on one battle between them?" Tsuna cried out. Xanxus glared Sawada's father.
"It's also written to just wait for further instructions," Sawada's father continued. My mother clenched her fist, a habit she had whenever she was mad.
"Thank you for waiting," a female voice said. Two feminine silhouettes popped from the bushes. They looked identical, twins almost. They both had long straight pink hair with straight cut bangs framing their masked faces. "In this battle for the rings, we will be serving as judges." All three parties looked shocked.
"We are the Cervello Organisation, serving directly under the Ninth. Please consider our decisions regarding the battle for the rings as the Ninth's decision." they explained, holding up a letter similar to the one given to Sawada. An orange was located on the top of the letter. "The Ninth said that this is the most risky step to satisfy the entire family. Do you have any objection, Xanxus?" Xanxus simply remained silent.
"Wait, I do," Sawada's father replied, furious. "I've never heard of the Cervello. How can I leave the judging to someone like that?"
"We cannot accept your objection," they answered calmly. "We serve directly under the Ninth, and thus, you have no authority over us."
"Oi, who the hell do you think you are?" she asked, clearly mad. The killing intent came back, making me flinched. Even the cold Cervello was affected by my mother's murderous eyes. "I don't care if you serve under the Ninth, but I request that the battles be judged by someone whom I can trust."
"I'm afraid we can't—"
"I'm Kathy Li Walker, and I order you to stand back down, Cervello," my mother snapped back, interrupting her. "I request to speak to the Ninth right away."
"They just said they can't," the man with green hair said calmly.
"Besides, aren't you one of the Ninth's guardians as well?" Xanxus asked, mocking my mother. She frowned, clutching her hand tighter, her knuckles turning chalk white. She simply backed down, staring at the ground. She clenched her jaw. I hated seeing her helpless. She was the head of the Li's, equal to the Vongola in power. She went against fate itself, and is now standing on top of the world. But at that moment, I finally realized that she wasn't any different than us; she was simply human.
"Originally the seven types of half Vongola rings had two sets. One set that the boss has and the other that the outside advisor has," the Cervello explained. "In the ceremony for the heirs, the pairs of rings are connected to form the complete Vongola rings, and are given to the seven people who both the Ninth and the Outside Advisor have decided as successors. However, this has become an exceptional case because the boss and the Outside Advisor decided upon different people for each half ring; they distributed them to different people; the seven people led by Xanxus, and the seven people led by Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"In this battle, the one who is truly worthy to wield the ring will prove it with their lives," the other Cervello explained. "The location is Namimori Middle School at midnight. Further details will be told."
"We'll be fighting at school?" Sawada exclaimed.
"Well, we will await you tomorrow night at 11pm," they replied before jumping back into the bushes and disappearing.
"Go to school," my mother ordered, reading my worried facial expression. She cleared the table and placed the plate into the sink. "You'll feel better there, I promise."
I rushed to my room and got changed. As I glanced in the mirror in order to fix my messy hair, a small glint came from my right hand. The half ring of the Wind Guardian was sitting on my middle finger. I wondered who the Wind Guardian was. If I remembered correctly, there were only 7 Varia Officers, including Xanxus. Does it mean that I didn't have to fight? Then, where is the other half of my ring?
I laced up my converses before waving to my mother. I stepped out of my apartment and locked the door behind me. I wondered how long my mother was going to stay with me. Not that I didn't appreciate her presence, just I would assume that she had rather more important things to do back in Italy.
I spotted Sawada, making his way to the school, rather nervous looking. I rushed down the stairs to join him.
"Sawada," I called. He glanced at me and smiled.
"Sora, it's nice seeing you here," he replied, keeping the forced smile on his face. He kept his hands to his side, clutched into a tight fist, his knuckles turning chalk white. He was slightly quivering, despite the rather warm weather.
"Are you alright?" I asked him. He slightly flinched at my question. He responded with a quick smile, which did everything but reassure me.
An arm suddenly swung across our shoulder, as a familiar figure appeared.
"Yamamoto!" Sawada cried out.
"Yo Tsuna, Sora," he replied, greeting us with his smile. "Just as I thought, I couldn't sleep yesterday. I couldn't calm down, so I figured I should go to school." A smile finally drew itself on Sawada's lips. I guess I wasn't the only one worried and having Yamamoto at my side calmed me down quite a bit. His smile was reassuring.
"Man, this is so exciting!" he exclaimed. I couldn't help but to burst out laughing. Sawada had a shock look on his face. Yamamoto's expression calm down. "It will be alright. Initially, the only thing I had in mind was how to beat that long haired dude but, although I still don't get the situation we're in now, with everyone around, this is what I thought: this isn't my battle but it's our battle." That's right, I wasn't alone anymore. I had Sawada, Yamamoto and Gokudera.
"We're not alone, Sawada," I said, looking up to the sky. "We'll win this battle together."
"Obviously! Who could allow those guys to take care of the Vongola?" a voice cried. Gokudera was standing in front of us, carrying a large box with ease. "No matter who it is, I'll get rid of them! The one who will win is us. Leave it to us, Tenth!" Sawada's nervous expression suddenly disappeared, leaving in its place, a calm and relief one. He glanced at his once quivering hand.
Do you want to join the Mafia?
Within the couple of weeks since I transferred to Namimori and for the first time, I felt like I belong. I guess my mother hadn't considered this. Sure, being part of the Mafia may be dangerous, but in the end, I wasn't fighting alone.
"Sora, where were you?" Fred asked me, the minute I reached my desk. "You weren't in class for like 5 days!"
"Sorry, I was sick," I replied, forcing a smile. I wondered how I was going to hide this whole Mafia thing from her.
"You were sick around the same time as Tsunayoshi," Fred stated. I desperately tried to keep the smile on my face.
"Ah, really?" I asked, playing innocent. Fred smirked. She suddenly leaned in closer to me.
"Don't tell me, you two were together during this whole time?" she asked me, in a low voice. I felt my cheeks warming up, as I pushed her away from me.
"It's not what you think!" I cried out. "I didn't know he was sick as well!"
"Yamamoto and Gokudera were absent around the same time as you two," Fred stated once again. Her gaze suddenly shifted towards the half Vongola ring. I quickly covered it with my other hand. Fred's face became more and more puzzled.
"Hey, what was—" Luckily for me, the bell had rung, and soon everyone was rushing to their seats. I sighed as the teacher entered the classroom and asked for everyone to stand up. The day had only just begun.
I glanced at the giant clock, sitting on the wall of the school. It was 10:50. The air was getting colder and colder. I tightened the jacket around myself. My heart was beating at the speed of light. I crossed my fingers, hoping that I wasn't going to fight tonight. But, either way, someone was going to fight tonight, and there will a victor and a loser.
"Yo Sora!" a voice cried. Yamamoto appeared from the shadows.
"Yamamoto," I replied, relieved. His smile instantly erased my fears. I believed he suited the title of the rain guardian. His ring was strung around a tiny silver chain around his neck. It was tucked nicely into his school shirt.
"You ready for tonight?" he asked. I replied with a shrug. He laughed.
"It's like you said, we're gonna win this together," he said, his eyes sparkled. They were calm, with no signs of nervousness, or fear. They were filled with excitement.
"Besides, do you really think that the Tenth is going to let them win?" Gokudera showed up, his hands in his pockets, in his usual slouched position. He had a rather annoyed look on his face.
"Gokudera!" Yamamoto called. Gokudera simply clicked his tongue and joined us. I inched over towards Yamamoto, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Oi, what are you three doing here?" Sasagawa asked, rushing over.
"What are you doing here, Turf Head?" Gokudera asked, sounding even more annoyed than he was before.
"Sawada told me to come join him here," he replied. A glint coming from his neck caught my eye. A tiny ring was chained around his neck.
"You are a guardian too?" I asked, panicked. Sasagawa glanced at me weirdly. I held out my right hand where the Half Vongola Ring of the Wind was.
"Yeah, I'm the Sun Guardian," he replied. I glanced around. Gokudera was the Storm Guardian, Yamamoto was the Rain and Sasagawa was the Sun. Slowly, the Guardians were gathering.
"Tenth!" Gokudera called out. Sawada rushed towards us, holding Lambo in his arms.
"Sorry for being late, Lambo suddenly started playing Hide and Seek," Sawada apologized, holding Lambo up by his horns.
"Dumb cow, stop causing trouble for the Tenth!" Gokudera growled.
"But then, there are those who aren't even here yet," Yamamoto added, defending Sawada. "Like the mist guy that still hasn't showed up."
The wind howled. The school was quiet, almost eerie. The sky grew darker, and the air grew colder and heavier.
"It's so quiet. Is the school the right place?" Sawada asked, breaking the silence. "Are they not here yet?"
"They're standing by," a familiar female voice announced. Several figures appeared on the roof top, which amongst them stood the Cervello. "Upon a strict conference, the match of tonight in the battle of the rings has been decided."
"The first battle is," she continued. "The battle between the guardians of the sun."