"Tsukiyo, you'll be meeting your new mentor now. I presume you may know him, not personally though," Lal Milch said. However, Tsukiyo's mind was flying somewhere. Right when Belphegor confessed to him, if the Varia's storm guardian wasn't joking that is. And what was more embarrassing was that, she fainted before him.
Lussuria told her it was Bel who carried her to her room, and it made her feel more humiliating. Who the hell would faint after they were being confessed to? But she was thankful for that because she didn't know what to say to him. She sighed.
"Oi, are you even listening!" Lal Milch slapped her face, making her flew out of her thoughts. That really hurt, she wanted to cry.
"Geez, Lal, you don't have to slap me," Tsukiyo remarked. Lal Milch had gotten somehow annoyed by being called 'sir' followed by a sudden 'ma'am' from Tsukiyo so she settled her with her name.
"Oh, there's your new mentor," Lal Milch said, pointing at a certain figure. He had a white spiky hair and light purple eyes. He also had a violet tattoo under his left eye. He was leaning on the tree, his arms crossed. Obviously, the guy had been there for a long time, waiting for them.
"Sorry for the wait, Byakuran. Tsukiyo here was sort of slow," Lal Milch apologized to him. Upon seeing them, the guy flashed them a smile like it didn't bother him. Though to Tsukiyo, the apology was very formal, she can't say if they were enemies or not but she'll settle with enemies. Lal Milch was giving Byakuran a serious look while the latter was busy smiling back at them.
Tsukiyo blinked. She couldn't believe this person was right in front of him. Maybe, she's having some illusions because of the sun's heat but Lal Milch just called his name.
"Byakuran!" She hissed. Her flames ready to riot but Lal Milch stopped her.
"Listen, Tsukiyo. He's going to be your mentor," her former tutor said.
"What? Nobody told me about this!" She shouted in a response implying protest.
"Shut up!" Lal Milch raised her voice, too. "I was telling you about it, a while ago. It isn't my fault someone's not listening!" Lal Milch ran out of patience, too.
Both of them heard Byakuran's laughter, and both shot him a glare which made his merriment be gone.
"Hmph. I'm leaving her to you, Byakuran. The physical training will be left to me. You teach her how to deal with her flames," Lal Milch said and left in a matter of milliseconds. Now, it was only Tsukiyo and Byakuran.
"Hello, Tsukiyo. Is this the first time we've met?" He asked, as if not knowing the real deal regarding their situation.
"No, I think not. Our first meeting was in the future. When you ordered me to kill my little brother Tsunayoshi," she answered sarcastically.
Their talk was bizarre that if someone ignorant of what really happened ten years later with the Millefiore family heard them, he would say their time awareness was off. Entangling the past, present and future was a sign of insanity.
Byakuran smiled in amusement. "But I didn't know you would actually do it. I want to know what made you betray Vongola, Tsu-chan."
"Once I accomplish what I need to do, maybe, I'll tell you," Tsukiyo said. No, she really didn't have any intention to tell that to anyone. Byakuran wasn't an exception. She didn't like those memories at all. Tsuna was really irritating in the future.
"It's a deal then," Byakuran said. "I don't care whatever you need to be accomplished. I was just asked by the Ninth to train you. No sweat. And I was getting bored, too. I hope we'll have much fun, Tsu-chan."
Tsukiyo was surprised to hear that they sent him to train her. What were they thinking, she didn't know. And that was when she realize, why is there a need to train her. If her flames would impose much trouble to Vongola, why help her improve her skills?
She just gazed at Byakuran who was giving her that annoying smile. She'd prefer Belphegor's Cheshire grin, her thought said.
_._._._._._._._.
Tsukiyo's back hit a large trunk of tree. She fell on the grassy ground, looking badly injured. She was covered with cuts and blood was dripping from her left shoulder. She felt the warm ooze of blood from the side of her lips. She can even taste blood. She wiped her mouth with her bruised hands.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Byakuran asked, frowning at him. "I told you to cast a certain weapon inside your mind, not blew yourself with your flames," he scolded. The man strode towards her, his arms stuck in his pocket reflecting his carefree attitude.
"It's not that easy, you marshmallow-bastard!" She shouted back, wincing in pain. Byakuran shook his head, surprise that she still have the energy remaining to shout back at him.
"Well, this took so much time. I thought it was going to be an easy job that's why I took only a few packs of marshmallows," he said, followed by a sigh.
"I'll do it again," Tsukiyo said, trying to stand up firmly despite her bad facet. She was ignoring all his retorts regarding marshmallows. He hadn't lost his fetish with that soft spongy candy. It was getting in the way of her training. Imagine that, Byakuran even once ordered her to run back to Varia Headquarters just to get some Marshmallows. She almost beat him up.
"Then at least do it right," she heard him said.
Then at least train me properly, you lazy-ass.
Her eyes narrowed at Byakuran's comment. He was ordaining him to do things right but he didn't even show him any demonstration how she could do it. He just gave him the instructions and it was all up to her now. They had the same flame type, right?
Tsukiyo shot him a useless lethal glare.
"Tsu-chan, tell me exactly. What weapon are you thinking of?" He asked, curious as why she was so hard up in shaping her flame even into small dagger-like flares. He heard she had done it once when she was a kid but here was the infamous little girl who couldn't even control her flames.
Tsukiyo frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"
Byakuran almost wanted to hit her head. "Were you even listening, idiot? I told you to shape your flame into a weapon you'd like to take hold of. What were you doing all those times?"
"You should have seen the look on your face, Byakuran. I was just kidding. I'm not that stupid," Tsukiyo said, letting out an impolite laughter. Byakuran was a calm person but seeing his patience ran out was a new people on Tsukiyo's list that she had irked much.
"I'm amused that someone in such a bad shape could still joke around. Now tell me, what weapon were you thinking about?"
"A scythe," came the direct reply. Byakuran raised an eyebrow.
Tsukiyo knew what Byakuran was thinking. She was fond of that epitome of death, Grim Reaper.
"Whatever you were thinking, that's not true. Mind your own business, marshmallow-bastard!"
Byakuran sighed. "Look at yourself first, Tsu-chan. Let's have those uncalled-for cuts be treated." I don't want to be killed by your beloved father. He carried her bridal style causing Tsukiyo to blush, but still she was giving him that disgusted expression.
"It's not like I wanted to carry you," he reasoned out. "If I don't carry you, our travel towards the Varia Headquarters would take some time." In other words, you're slowing me down.
Of course, Tsukiyo knew he implied that. And as much as she wanted to kick him, she can't because of her injuries and the foremost weariness gone into her.
_._._._._._.
The next training sessions had gone fine. Little by little, she can shape her flames into scythe but still she can't hold on to it longer that she was on the verge of giving up.
On the other hand, Lal Milch had trained her physically. She was fine with it since she wasn't that clumsy at all. She can control her movements. And she needs more confidence when attacking. It was just that Lal Milch was a deceiver. The kid-woman would shot her with her gun, which surprisingly she could dodge out of instinct. In fact, almost all her surprise attacks was avoided because of instinct. If she didn't have hyper intuition, maybe, she was dead and the Vongola should be regretting what they had done to her. Scratch that. Maybe, they can even breath of relief.
She heard Byakuran sighed. "Fine, then. You can do it eventually. I'll teach you something interesting. Do you want to fly?"
Tsukiyo gave him a perplexed look. "Of course I do. Why'd you ask? You'll teach me?" She snickered.
He just smiled. "Everything that I'll teach you isn't something for offense but they will come in handy. They're for controlling your flames, Tsu-chan. Once you control your flames, the offense sets in."
Tsukiyo's shoulders slumped. If it was for controlling her flames, it has to do with shaping her flames again. What? He's going to tell me to think of a pair of wings.
"Seems like you're getting the basic idea in here," he remarked, as if he had read her mind.
"Hey, I might burn myself with that! You want me to die that badly, huh?"
"That's a shame, Tsu-chan. To be burned by your own flames is like being betrayed by your own famiglia," Byakuran said, not minding any violent reactions from her. After all, that was what he was after. He wanted to see what she was capable of, with her hatred clouding her resolve.
Tsukiyo went silent after hearing Byakuran's words. Consequently, she thought, not trusting her flames was like mistrusting her family. But whose fault is it in the first place? She doesn't want to blame anybody, not even herself.
Anger was stirring inside of her. From the ground where she was standing, jet black flames moved like vines appearing at a remarkable speed. They swirled around her. A strong jet of wind played around the place. Tsukiyo was standing unharmed however Byakuran had taken some defensive measures using his flames to protect him from her sudden outburst.
"I think I've gone too far," he said to no one but his self. But there was not a fear on his face. He was just observing her.
The surrounding trees had fallen down, leaves waved everywhere but majority was turned to ash by the intensity of her coal-colored flame.
Tsukiyo didn't feel her control over her flames. It was the other way around; she was the one being controlled. She closed her eyes. She was tired already.
She was tired of this mafia business she had stumbled into. She didn't want anything to do with the Vongola anymore. She could die for all she cares. It was all meaningless. She can't find any meaning of what she was doing.
Why would I need to be trained? It's not like there's something I could do with it. Wouldn't I use it to kill again? To take lives? I felt like I've been betrayed, but to them, I am the traitor. This is meaningless.
But…
She told herself once. She won't let herself be controlled anymore. She hated being controlled. She had other things still to be accomplished. She remembered how she got involved with this – Reborn and Varia. She remembered Fiamma and Felicity, the way they died. She remembered being imprisoned in that dark place. The future wherein she killed Tsuna.
She opened her eyes.
"I won't submit," she muttered to herself. "I won't submit to these flames." Slowly, her black flames became less vicious. But they were fighting back. It was like a wave, at times, it will soften but suddenly it will intensify. It took for a while until its intensity had diminished to seemingly harmless force until it completely disappeared. Now, she was just standing alone in a messed up place.
"Byakuran," she called to the person hiding at the shadows of the trees. "You must be proud," he heard her say. Byakuran had no idea if Tsukiyo was mocking him. However, mocking or not, Tsukiyo had successfully controlled her flames. She suppressed them the moment they were about to rampage.
He knew. He doesn't need to come over again. Tsukiyo will be fine. Lal Milch will have to train her physically though. But still, Tsukiyo's eyes were full of resentment. She was still looking for vengeance. And Byakuran wondered why the Vongola had decided a huge mistake. The Tsukiyo he sees now is an unforgiving one. A lot different from the Tsukiyo he saw ten years later.