Rebirth

Ring 2: Reborn, Rebirth, Reincarnate

Ku Fu Fu

This has been a big day for my cute Chrome so I'll be replacing her in the prologue.

Ah, it's Mukuro. Hi. Have you seen Chrome?

Ah, Sawada Tsunayoshi. No I haven't.

Really?

Yes.

Oh well...

Now, let's ignore that interruption and return to our story.

Hey!

Kyoko stared at Chrome for a while, "Chrome?"

Chrome blushed and let go, "Um..."

"That's Great Chrome!"

Chrome looked up, surprised.

"Ah ha, don't worry, I won't tell Haru. Do you want to come in?"

"N-no. Not today. I got something today."

"Okay. Anytime you want to talk, just tell me. Just not in front of Haru."

"Okay."

~ The Enveloping Sky~

"Tsu-kun!"

"Ah! Mom, get off me!"

"How was the boarding school?"

"It was alright. I almost got no friends though."

"Ah ha! I was so glad to be hearing that you've graduated. The house was so lonely without you."

"Then don't send me there in the first place!"

"Aw, but they were so interesting!'"

"Who would send you a flyer for a school in Italy?"

"That's right, how was Italy?"

"It was good. There were so many different foo-Hey don't change the subject!"Tsuna sighed, "Is Chrome still next door?"

"No, they moved a few days after you left."

"Oh. Do you know where they are?"

"No, her mom doesn't really keep in touch."

"Well...I'll just unpack."

"Ah, by the way Tsu-kun, whose baby is this?"

"Ciaossu."

"WAH!"

"I'm Reborn. I was one of Tsuna's teachers back in the boarding school. Unfortunately Tsuna has failed to reach my expectations so I'll be tutoring him."

"Huh? But Tsuna was doing great with his grades."

"Here's his report card."

Tsuna peeked over his mom's shoulder. Sure enough, his math was only a C while the rest of his report cards were As and Bs.

"Ah. So you're his math teacher."

"Yep."

"Well you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you mama. Well Tsuna, let's start out lesson after you unpack."

"Sure."

-Next Day-

~The Illusion Mist~

Chrome so busy thinking, the hot water poured over her ramen bowl. She quickly dropped it and her dinner got ruined. After tending to her minor burn and cleaning up her mess, She decided to go to a diner instead.

After saying her unheard good bye, she brought some chocolate and wandered the town. She was lost in thought until she bumped into someone and her chocolate down her throat. She coughed and managed choke it out. As she took a moment to regain her senses, a familiar voice said,

"Are you alright?"

Chrome looked up. And blushed, "Mu-Mukuro! S-sama."

Mukuro smiled, "Are you free today?"

"Y-yeah."

"Shall we go to a restaurant?"

"H-huh?"

"Well you look hungry and chocolate's not that filling."

"Ah! O-okay." Chrome blushed uncontrollably as she hid her chocolate.

Mukuro said restaurant. But he brought her to a exquisite diner that looked like it was for the rich. He easily paid his way in and was instantly bussed to a table. Actually...yeah, it was a restaurant.

"Shocked?" Mukuro noticed Chrome's uneasy fidgeting, "Your parents are rich are they not? You must be used to this by now."

"M-my parents...m-my parents..."

Mukuro studied her while she tried to put together a sentence. He laughed, "You don't have to explain right now."

"O-okay."

"Have you ordered?" The waitress asked.

"I'll have a salad for an appetizer and a lobster for the main dish."

"And you miss?"

"W-water."

"I-is that it?"

Chrome nodded nervously.

Once the waiter was gone, Mukuro laughed again, "You're really not used to this huh?"

Chrome developed a sudden interest in her neatly arranged tableware.

Mukuro shared his orders with Chrome who was still too shy to order her own food. After the exquisite dinner, the couple parted. Chrome took out her chocolate that was neatly preserved in the restaurant's air conditioner. She wondered if she should eat it. Finally, she threw it out after biting off a piece.

Her home was dark again. This time there was no mom who took midnight fridge raids. Chrome sneaked cautiously to her room and took a bath. She pulled her pillow close to her and fell asleep. She was so tired she didn't notice the smile on her face.

-Next Day-

Chrome went over to Kyoko's house. She stood at her door, nervous. Finally, she slowly reached for the bell.

"CHROME-CHAN!"

Chrome jolted away from the doorbell and looked up. Kyoko waved at her from her room upstairs, "Hi! Are you here to visit?"

"Uh...um...YES!"

"Okay! I'll be right down!"

But when Kyoko finally appeared at the door, she was all dressed to go OUT.

"Well, I have to pick up some cakes. If you come along, we can talk."

"Huh? But...what about your..."

"Haru's also here."

"Oh."

Once they picked up Kyoko's cakes, their "talk" began,

"Have you decide on Haru yet?

"N-no."

"Is that so. Oh well. What's Mukuro-sama like?"

"Eh? He-he's um..."

"Still uneasy?"

Chrome looked down.

"Ah that's right, I heard that someone's looking for you!"

"What?"

"Yep. I haven't met him, but Haru says she did."

"He's a strange person." Haru said when they her, "He had this small baby. He had a photograph of you when you were about 5."

"Huh?"

"Do you know who it could be Chrome?" Kyoko asked.

"N-no."

"It bet it's a stalker!" Haru cried.

"What?"

"Haru, don't scare Chrome."

"But it's gotta be! Who else could have a picture of a 5 year old Chrome?"

As Haru and Kyoko argued over who the stalker was, Chrome began to feel an answer present itself to her, but it was still too far away for her to grasp.

In the end, her day passed without any sightings of her stalker. Monday came and Chrome woke up early. She prepared breakfast for both herself and her family and went out. Even though for the rest of her week her school was closed for vacation, Chrome wandered back to Kokuyo. She easily walked in and sat down in her first period class. Comfortable in the loneliness, she lay her head back down to sleep...

Chrome dreamed of multicolored flames. She was suddenly awaken from her strange dream by a announcement from the school intercom.

"Will Chrome Dokuro stop sleeping and come to the principal's office at once?"

Shaken, Chrome slowly gathered her stuff. As she walked through the hallways, the safe feeling she got from the empty classrooms turned to an ominous creepy feeling. Her feelings only intensified the closer she got to the principal's office. After a moment of hesitating, she opened the door. A familiar laugh welcomed her.

"M-Mukuro-sama? Why are you here?" despite that, Chrome was relieved that it wasn't her stalker...although Mukuro would count.

"Why are you here?" Mukuro asked.

"Um..."

"Mukuro-Sama!" A wild looking man burst into the room, "Ther...Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No. Go on, Ken."

"Yes!" Ken cried, "As we suspected, HE's come back."

"What about Chikusa and M.M?"

"They're readying to stop him."

"I see. I'll be right there, go help out the other 2. Also, warn Birds that he'd better stay out of the battle and if things get bad, try and ask Lancia for help."

"B-but Mukuro-Sama, he's left..."

"Don't worry, it's only a last resort."

"Y-yes!"

Ken took out a cheetah teeth cartridge ad placed it over his own. He then ran out of the room at an incredible speed.

"Chrome, come here."

I followed Mukuro over to the trophy cabinet. He opened it and pulled out a baton.

"Take this."

The baton was similar to the ones used by her cheerleading squad. But the handle was steel while the 2 weights on either side were made out of the standard material.

"Take these too."

Mukuro gave her the head of a trident and another metal cylinder.

"Eh? Wh-what is this?"

"Don't worry. To others it'll look like regular cheerleader's batons."

He banged on the side of the cabinet and a part of the side fell off. There was a hidden compartment and inside was a large trident.

"Mu-Mukuro-sama?"

"Leave through the back door." Mukuro said, taking out the trident, "I don't want you to get caught in this."

"B-but what is happening?"

"Oh, it's just a feud between 2 schools. Nothing to worry about."

Mukuro walked her to the backdoor. Despite his caution, Chrome caught a glimpse of the school's attacker. Chrome recognized the uniform of Namimori. The red band marked him as a prefect. It was Namimori's magical tonfa wielding Hibari Kyoya. The rumors weren't exaggerating on how dangerous he looked. But the small yellow bird on his head sort of ruined her image of him. Chrome glanced at Mukuro who was talking to M.M-sama and a guy with a beanbag hat and sunglasses. One of his eyes glinted red.

For the first time in her life, Chrome came home to an uproar.

When she went in, Chrome heard her mother talking about her, "Ah ha ha! Yes Chrome has become quite the cute girl. Be careful that your son doesn't become smitten."

Surprised, Chrome snuck towards the kitchen. She peeked inside. Her mom was having a cup of tea with a new friend. She somehow looked familiar.

"Ah, it was a hassle trying to find you again!" She said.

"Ah, sorry about that." Her mom apologized, "Things have been crazy so I couldn't find time to contact you. It's been 8 years hasn't it?"

They both took a drink and Chrome's mom took the time to glared at Chrome and motion for her to go upstairs. As she did, she heard her mom's friend ask, "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, just a fly."

As Chrome walked towards her room, she tried to pinpoint where she saw that woman before. The answer stood in her room.

"It's been a long time Chrome."

Chrome looked up. There was a boy standing in her room. A familiar boy, but still a boy, "Who...are you?"

"Ah, I didn't think I changed that much."

And finally, the answer came to her, "T-Tsu...kun?"

"Yep."

"Wah, I didn't see you for so long! What happened? Didn't you go to an Italian boarding school?"

"I graduated so I came back here. But you didn't change at all. Except that you cut her hair. And what's with the eyepatch?"

Chrome shrunk back, "I...uh...got into a car accident when you left."

"WHAT?"

"I'm okay now. I got surgery so now I wear this eyepatch."

"Ah man I wish I was there for you."

"It's okay. How was the school? Did you do good?"

"He did terrible."

Chrome turned around, "Tsuna...is this your..."

"No! No! This is my teacher!"

"Eh?"

"Caiossu I'm Reborn. I'm his tutor."

"O-oh."

"Tsu-Kun!"

"Ah, that's my mom."

Tsuna, Chrome, and Reborn all walked downstairs. Nana Sawada was still chatting with Chrome's mom until she noticed Chrome, "Ah, Chrome-chan, when did you come back?"

"J-just now?"

"Oh, it's been so long."

"Hasn't it?" Chrome's mom said.

"Yes! Remember that time when they were in the sandbox?"

"Oh yes, that was the day Chrome kissed Tsuna wasn't it?"

"Yes!"

"M-Mom! It was on the cheek!" despite that Tsuna and Chrome both blushed and looked away.

When Tsuna left, Chrome's mom left without a word to Chrome. Chrome returned to her room and unpacked the 3 pieces that Mukuro left her. She decided to leave the 2 pieces under her bed. The baton seemed safe enough. She stowed it away in her bookbag and returned to her bed. She laid there and sighed, "I'm going to need to join the Cheerleading squad after this aren't I?"

~The Enveloping Sky~

Tsuna collapsed on his bed, "AHHH! Chrome hasn't changed."

"Are you thankful?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm your tutor. Besides, wasn't Chrome the reason you returned?"

"Sh-shut up."

"Hmph."

"Wah...I'm so happy, I could die."

"It's dark enough. Wanna try?"

"Huh?"

"Dying."

Reborn pulled out a gun and aimed it at Tsuna.

"Wh-Whoa! Wait a minute, if you shoot, I'm going to run around naked! I don't want that, I just got back!"

"This isn't the Dying Will Bullet."

"Oh, okay then...Wait! Does that mean it's an actual bullet?"

Reborn pulled the trigger. Tsuna arched back and fell forward.

"Tsuna? Was that a gunshot?"

"Mama. Tsuna fainted when I shot this toy gun."

"Oh Tsuna." Nana said, throwing out a gun with a flag coming out of the barrel, "It's okay, Tsuna will wake Reborn-kun."

"Mama, I'm hungry."

"Dinner almost done. Do you mind coming down and setting up the tableware?"

"Okay."

Nana and Reborn both left the room, leaving the silent and still Tsuna on the floor. Minutes passed. Suddenly, Tsuna got up. An orange flame blazed on his forehead.

"Reborn. Dying Will Mode Achived." Tsuna said calmly, "Activating Safeguards. Safeguard #1: Retrieval of gloves."

Tsuna turned to Reborn's weapon case. He opened it. Inside, there were 2 mittens. Tsuna slipped them on.

"Safeguard #2: Ignition of Gloves."

Tsuna brought his hands to his forehead. The mittens caught fire and transformed into 2 gloves, intact within the large orange flames that they were engulfed in.

"Safeguard #3: Flame Lens."

Tsuna picked out a vial in Reborn's case. Inside were 2 contact lens. Tsuna crushed the glass and picked out the contact lens, slipping them on.

"All Safeguards Achieved. Begin Primary Function: Extinction of All External Flames."