"Hey everyone! Yamamoto is about to jump off the roof!" a boy yelled as he came running in.
"Yamamoto from our class?"
"Hm that's impossible. There're good and bad pranks, you know."
The class immediately started laughing. "When he stayed after school practicing yesterday, he went too far and broke his arm!" the boy continued.
Everyone went silent and then in a panic, ran for the roof. Mio followed them quietly. Everyone was chattering all at once on the roof, so much so that the girl couldn't even hear where Yamamoto was. Angered by the ridiculous and useless things people were saying, she opened her mouth to shut them all up, when all at once; they went quiet on their own.
"Tsuna? If you came to stop me it's no use. You should be able to understand my feelings." She could hear Yamamoto saying.
"Huh?"
"For someone that's called no-good Tsuna all the time, you can understand the feeling of preferring to die over failing at everything, right?"
"Huh…I um…No…You and I are different, so…" Tsuna replied hesitantly.
She could hear the anger and bitterness in Yamamoto's voice as he spoke, "How arrogant of the recently awesome Tsuna-sama. So you're a fine student now as opposed to me."
"N-no, that's wrong! It's because I'm no good!" Tsuna said, flustered. "Unlike you, I've never put effort into one single thing… I arrogantly told you 'effort' and such, but I've really done nothing. …What I said yesterday was a lie… I'm sorry!" he continued.
"Saying you're so frustrated that you want to die, or you want to die because of a career ending accident…unlike you, I've never had those kinds of intense thoughts. In fact, I'm a pathetic person who would have regrets when dying…thinking if I'm going to die then I should've done it with dying will, thinking it's a waste to die from something like this…"
Everyone listened as the boy let out all his feelings in front of them. "So, I can't understand your feelings. Sorry…" With an embarrassed "Later!" he started to run away, but was caught by Yamamoto and dragged back.
At the added weight, the rusty fence gave way and the two of them toppled back and fell. The horrified screams of her classmates grated against Mio's ears and she resisted the urge to scream at them. Instead she strained her ears, listening for something that would tell her that they were okay.
Was that a gunshot?
In the end, Tsuna and Yamamoto somehow made it to the ground safe and the class left the roof, grumbling about pranks. Frustrated with her inability to help, Mio stayed on the roof.
"Someone like me has no right to be in a part of a family. I can't help anyone so why should they waste their time protecting me."
She punched the wall next to her angrily, hissing when her fist only got injured. "Herbivore, what are you doing here?"
"I'm skipping class, what does it look like?" she responded.
"For breaking the rules, I'll bite you to death."
"I don't give a fuck! Can't you see that I'm self loathing right now?" she retorted, standing up.
Something hard met her face and she was flung to the side, hitting her head on the wall. "You little shit!" she yelled, "What the hell are you doing?"
He repeated his earlier statement, "I told you I would bite you to death herbivore."
His next attack hit her right in the stomach, knocking all the breath out of her. She gasped in pain but grabbed the jacket that was flapping in front of her noisily. He hit her in the arm and as her grasp weakened, kicked her backwards. "Fuck you" she hissed.
She struggled to stand up again but in the blink of an eye, the boy had gotten right next to her and kicked her in the stomach again. He picked her up by the collar and watched as she struggled in his grasp. "You are one of the new transfer students" he said.
"So what?" she gasped.
"Do not break the rules in Namimori or I will bite you to death" he dropped her and left the roof.
She punched the ground in frustration. "Shit. Even this bastard. Every single one of them. Looking down on me! Fuck!" she thought as she pummeled the ground.
It was only when the sting of her cuts got to her that she stopped and laid there, immersed in her own thoughts.
She wasn't sure how long she had been there, having not heard the bells. She stumbled down the stairs and made her way through the school without much difficulty. She was almost at the front door when she heard footsteps coming from down the hall. She tried to make herself as invisible as possible, but a familiar voice growled, "What the hell happened to you woman?"
"Oh it's you Gokudera-san" she sighed, "I was bitten to death."
"You got beaten again? How incompetent are you?" he exclaimed.
It was the last straw, "Yeah I know I'm incompetent! I can't do anything so just leave me alone!" she yelled.
The silence that followed her outburst was stifling, but neither of them moved. Then she felt him grab her by the wrist, "I'll start training you tomorrow morning so you better be ready. But for now, you have to get those treated or else you won't be able to do anything tomorrow." He mumbled.
Stunned into silence, she obediently followed him. They got to her apartment and she let them in, not having spoken another word the entire time. "Where's your first aid kit?" he asked.
"The bathroom cupboard" the reply seemed to come naturally somehow.
Having gone to her apartment every night for dinner, he knew his way around pretty well and came out a moment later with the kit. He dragged her over to the couch and forced her to sit and then started cleaning her wounds. "Um…Gokudera-san, why are you doing this?"
"If you don't clean these, they could get infected! And if that happens, how the hell are you supposed to protect the Tenth?"
He finished bandaging her up and stood up, "You can't use that arm for now so what do you want for dinner?"
"Eh…Gokudera-san, can you cook?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course I can stupid woman! Cooking is just science! I just have to follow a recipe! It's easy!"
An hour later, the results of his science were done. Jade took a bite and chewed slowly. "It's…not that bad" smiling at him comfortingly.
"If it's bad, you don't have to eat it" he growled.
She took another bite, "No, I like it."
"Look, you don't have to force yourself to eat it" he mumbled, embarrassed.
"It's been a long time since anyone has cooked for me" she said, shaking her head, "Thank you Gokudera-kun."
Noticing the change in honorifics, she gasped, "Ah, sorry. It just somehow came out."
"I don't mind" Gokudera mumbled, blushing fiercely, "if you call me that."
She grinned, unable to resist the opportunity to tease him, "Are you blushing Gokudera-kun? I can feel the heat radiating from you."
"Of course I'm not!" he retorted, eating faster.
"The test is easy. Simply dodge the attacks." Reborn said, pulling out two guns. "Well, let's start."
He whipped out a set of knives and threw them at the baseball player who dodged in the nick of time. "W-wait, Reborn! Are you seriously trying to kill Yamamoto!" Tsuna asked.
"Wait up Tsuna" Yamamoto pulled the boy back and whispered, "When we were kids, we played with wooden swords, right? It's all right. I'll stick around."
"As the boss, show him an example, Tsuna." Reborn said. He turned to Mio, "You too since you're a subordinate."
"Sounds good. It's a race to see who's going to pass the test. Well, I'm not worried about Kiyo-chan, since she's already so fast."
"K-Kiyo-chan? When did you two get so close?" Tsuna asked curiously.
"Ahaha that's a secret" Yamamoto said, grinning playfully as he started running away, "Well, let's run!"
Mio took off after the boy, listening for the sound of projectiles. "Next weapon is a bow-gun." She stopped at the sound of the baby's voice coming from in front of her, was grabbed by Yamamoto and dragged to the side, where they continued running. She could faintly hear the sound of a child's laughter and then suddenly, "I'm Lambo from the Bovino Family! I'm Lambo who came to Junior High School even when he's five years old!"
She didn't have any time to think about it however, because even more projectiles were being flung and shot at them. She was almost safe when the sound of much larger things came flying at them. Yamamoto grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way in the nick of time. Right behind her, she could hear explosions. "Phew. Looks like if I take it easy, I won't be able to pass."
"Reborn! Let's stop this test! You saw that right? Lambo started to shoot missiles!"
The baby ignored him and said, "Next is a sub-machine gun. First, the level of a trainee hitman." He started firing at them. From all around them, she could hear the sounds of people preparing to attack. The various dynamite, bullets, and missiles all came flying at them, and Mio made a split second decision. She grabbed Tsuna's wrist and pushed him in front of her. Yamamoto continued pulling her along and the three of them made a run for it.
When the smoke cleared, Gokudera rushed over, "Are you alright, Tenth?"
"Phew that was close" Yamamoto said, holding onto Tsuna who was weak-kneed.
"Since Yamamoto pulled me…I…was saved…" Tsuna stuttered.
Mio stood up and brushed herself off. A hand grabbed her arm and she flinched, "Who-"
"Oi woman, it's me. Calm down."
"Gokudera-kun? This smoke is messing my senses up" she coughed, trying to clear her lungs.
That night, he showed up at her door with a bag full of books. After eating, he sat her down and started lecturing to her. She listened for awhile before interrupting, "Gokudera-kun, why are you telling me about all these weapons?"
"You seemed familiar with dynamite" he replied, "So I thought you could be the weapons expert."
"But why are we not doing any actual training?"
"Understanding begins on paper stupid woman! You have to understand the theories about this before you actually do it!"
"Eh? I'm more of a hands-on experience type person."
"Are you complaining?"
"Ah no sensei. Please continue." She replied dryly. He resumed lecturing her about the different types of weapons.
The next day however, he seemed to have taken her advice and decided on some actual training. "I want to test your senses today before we go back to theories. Wave when you can't sense me anymore."
He started walking away casually. Gradually, the sounds got softer and softer until she was straining to hear his footsteps. A moment later, she waved her hand. He came back and wrote something on a clipboard.
Bringing out a handful of dynamite, he handed it to her, saying "Try hitting the paper targets with these."
Close by, she heard the rustling of paper and lobbed a lit stick of dynamite at it. Drowning out the sound of the explosion, she then proceeded to hit all the targets that were close by. Gokudera walked back, still writing, "Now to test if you can differentiate sounds. Hit only the paper."
She continued to impress him with her tuned senses. "Ah, don't walk so close to the paper targets, Gokudera-kun. I might hit you."
Baffled, he asked, "How can you tell it's me?"
"That's easy, your scent is unique. Nothing else in this area smells like that mixture of tobacco and smoke. I can hear your footsteps too."
After the training, they sat down on a grassy part of the park they had decimated in silence. "Reborn-san says making you a weapons expert on firearms is a good idea. You have good aim and you could you learn how to use a gun easily."
"So…get me a gun?" she responded, confused as to why he would even bring up something so obvious.
"He also said that I should ask you about your past" the boy continued.
At this, Mio stiffened. "And if I don't want to tell you?" she asked, cautiously.
"I'm not going to pry. But it better not affect the Tenth." Brushing himself off, he stood up and offered a hand to pull her up.
She ignored it and stood up by herself. "Bye then" he muttered, before walking off.
"Sorry Gokudera-kun. I don't think you're ready to hear my past yet. Because if you do, you'll either pity me or hate me. And I don't want that to happen." She thought before walking off the opposite direction back to her apartment.
"Ah Kiyomizu-san, we can do it so you don't have to do anything" a girl said hesitantly.
Mio sighed and sat down. Why did everyone assume that she couldn't do anything simply because she was blind? She had been waiting for awhile when she heard the sound of rice cooker indicate that it was ready. After waiting a bit, the girls opened the lid to let it cool. They had just started to form their onigiri when Mio stopped them, "Did you wet your hands?"
"Eh? Should we?"
"It helps make the rice not stick to your hands. If you make it salt water, it can add some extra flavor to the onigiri."
"Are you…maybe…good at cooking, Kiyomizu-san?"
She shrugged, "About as well as the average person, I guess. But onigiri are pretty easy."
She washed her hands and then rubbed some salt over them. Taking a handful of rice, she quickly started shaping it in her hands. The girls watched her and copied her techniques of applying the right pressure to the rice to make it stick but not squish. She made three normal sized ones and a small one that she popped into her mouth.
"Kiyomizu-san, we'd like to thank you for helping us. We used to think you were a bit hard to approach, but you're actually really nice!" The girls thanked her and chattered happily together.
"Hard to approach? You could say that." She thought wryly.
They carried their creations back to the classroom where the girls announced, "We'll give the onigiri we made in home economics class today to you boys!"
The guys cheered. From the other side of the classroom, among the excited chatter, she could make out Gokudera's voice. "What a weird event."
Behind her, she heard the door open. A foreign perfume and the sound of soft stealthy unfamiliar footsteps making their way to a certain girl, told her that a stranger was in the classroom. But for what reason? Soon it became clear as the nauseating smell of some horrible onigiri replaced the nice familiar rice-y scent. "Hey, wait up! What are you doing?" Tsuna shouted, running over to where the horrible smell was coming from.
A sweet voice asked, "Tsuna-kun. Want to eat them?" That was Kyoko, the school's idol. From the way Tsuna was stuttering, it was obvious the boy had a crush on her as well. But the fact that he hadn't accepted yet meant that he had noticed the woman who had come in and switched the onigiri?
"Oh, you don't like salmon?" Kyoko asked, sounding a little disappointed. Mio winced on the inside and encouraged the boy silently, "Be a man and eat it Tenth. I'll pray for it not to kill you."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, a whole group of girls had surrounded Gokudera and were trying to give him their onigiri, despite the boy's angry refusals. He finally managed to get away from them and took his place by Tsuna's side again. While Tsuna was still hesitating, it seemed that Gokudera and Yamamoto hadn't noticed the difference in onigiri and had each reached out to take one.
As they were about to bite into the poisonous onigiri, Tsuna batted them out of their hands, yelling, "If you eat it, you'll die!"
There was a gunshot and suddenly Tsuna was yelling and running around the classroom, grabbing onigiri from everyone. He ran up to Mio and reached forward to grab hers. Immediately, her fist flew out and made contact with his face. There was a tiny pop and then the sound of a bullet clattering onto the ground. He calmed down immediately as Mio stood there, shocked at her own actions. "Ah, sorry…that was a reflex…"
Gokudera didn't see it that way however, as he immediately rushed over, yelling angrily, "You bitch! What the hell do you think you're doing? How dare you hit the Tenth!"
She apologized again but Gokudera would have none of it. "And I don't need your dinners anymore either" he growled, making sure no one could hear him.
"Kiyomizu Mio. She's stronger than I thought she'd be. Getting the bullet to come out like that. I thought only the one ton mallet can do that. Perhaps she has that much force packed in one punch?" Reborn mused. "I'll have to find a good weapon for her."
Mio slowly slurped up the ramen she had made. "That's right. I got too comfy. They always leave after awhile. Family, huh." She thought to herself.
The first time it had left her blind and this time it had left her feeling empty. Although Gokudera had never spoken much, usually only talking about Tsuna, without his presence, the kitchen felt much darker and bigger already.
"What does it mean to be part of a family? People can leave each other so easily; what difference does it make if you're family or not?" She thought, finishing up her ramen. She tossed the cup away and sat at the table, alone and in the dark. Grabbing her homework, she tried cheering herself up, "Well whatever, I'm used to people leaving me. It's not the first time this has happened. Hard to approach? Sure, I guess I am. With good reason."
But the loneliness and regret lingered with her the rest of the night.
"Eh? Kiyomizu-san? What are you doing here?" Tsuna asked.
"Reborn-san asked me to come help you with home economics."
"Ehhh? But Bianchi is already here…"
"If you want me to leave, that's okay too" Mio replied, turning to leave.
"Ah no! It's just that I don't know if Bianchi will be happy that Reborn asked someone else to help me as well" Tsuna replied sheepishly. "Come in!"
She felt her way around the house and followed him upstairs to his room. "Ah. You came just in time." Reborn commented from his seat in the room.
Mio bowed politely and then took a seat. Bianchi looked up and smiled, "What I'm creating now is Poison Cooking 2. Twice the killing rate."
"I want you out of here, now!" Tsuna shrieked, "Kiyomizu-san can teach me!"
Mio scooted over, "Does that really kill and not just give bad stomach aches?" she asked curiously.
Bianchi chuckled, "Of course. All of it is for love. Are you interested in learning poison cooking?"
The doorbell rang at that moment and a familiar voice called, "Tenth!"
Tsuna shrieked and ran downstairs. Bianchi stood up and followed and Mio was forced to tag along, although reluctantly. As they came down the stairs, Gokudera suddenly froze and dropped the watermelon he had been carrying. "Aneki!" he stuttered, sweating.
"Hayato" Bianchi replied, surprised.
Suddenly the boy clutched his stomach and ran out of the house, yelling, "Excuse me!"
"He's always like that" Bianchi commented idly, "Strange boy."
Tsuna was holding his head in a panic, "Gokudera-kun and Bianchi are siblings?"
"Yep, with different moms" Reborn answered. "You two should go after him." He said, looking at Tsuna and Mio. After a moment, the girl reluctantly followed Tsuna out the door.
They found a little while later, leaning against a tree, panting heavily. They walked up to him and he started telling the story of how Bianchi had caused him trauma as a child. He then asked Tsuna to drive his sister out of the town. The two came up with an outrageous plan and Tsuna went running off. Gokudera turned to Mio who was still standing there, unsure of what to do.
"What were you doing there woman? You're not bothering the Tenth are you?" Gokudera growled.
"I'll have you know that Reborn-san asked me to come and help Tenth with his home economics. And Bianchi-san is going to teach me poison cooking." She retorted.
"Geh! She's going to what?"
"She's going to teach me poison cooking. It's a talent that could come in handy when protecting the Tenth so I don't see why you should have any objections."
"Don't okay?"
"Why not? This has nothing to do with you Gokudera-kun! I want to learn to be more useful to Tenth."
"Look, just…anything but poison cooking. Your cooking is good so don't ruin it." The boy mumbled.
"I'm not going to feed you poison cooking Gokudera-kun. You're not even eating at my apartment anymore, so I don't see the problem here."
"I'm sorry, okay?" He shouted, "I lost my temper when I shouldn't have! Just don't learn poison cooking."
She thought for a moment before replying, "Well fine, but I still want a gun."
Reborn popped in at that moment, "That's fine. I'll get you one. More importantly, Mio, you should continue cooking for Gokudera."
"Eh? Why?" they both replied at the same time.
"It's important to build up family bonds" the baby replied.
"Well…" Mio swallowed her pride, "If he's not against it, I don't mind, I guess…"
"I guess I will…but only cause it's healthier! And I don't want to endanger Tenth!" Gokudera agreed.
Author's Note:
It's been awhile since I've updated but here's chapter 2!
I'm developing Mio's character and her relationship with...mainly Gokudera I guess...ahaha... D: And don't worry, her past will be revealed eventually. :)
Next chapter should be out around Saturday?
Read and review~