"Ah Gokudera-kun, you're late" Mio commented as the boy entered her apartment, "Do you have the things I asked you to buy?"
The boy froze, "Geh! I left them back there! Shit! That stupid woman!"
"Left them where? What woman?" She asked, confused.
"There was some stupid woman attacking Tenth! So I went and blew her up and then I forgot the bag!"
Mio sighed, "I guess we'll just have to have something else for dinner."
"More importantly, Reborn-san told me that your weapons came in."
"Yeah, they're on the table in the living room. Big suitcase, you can't miss it."
After eating, they got down to business immediately. Gokudera opened the suitcase the weapons had come in and whistled, impressed. There was a pair of handguns, a disassembled rifle, and a machine pistol. The boy took out the pair of handguns and the manual that came with them and started reading aloud. The girl felt the guns and tested their weight in each hand, getting used to the feel, and familiarizing herself with what she would be working with.
It was a process that they would repeat many times before the girl would actually get to fire the weapons.
Mio disassembled, reassembled, and loaded the guns fluidly with no hesitancy in her actions. She raised the handgun, aimed at the target Gokudera had set up for her, and fired. The sound of the gun being fired startled her, however, and threw off her aim. She shot a few more times getting used to the feeling before putting it down and switching to the machine pistol. According to the manual, it was a MAC 11. She pulled the trigger. The force of the recoil threw off her aim horribly and unable to let go of the trigger in time, she ended up emptying the entire magazine. This gun would be much more challenging to master, and she would need to learn control before she would be able to use it properly; nevertheless, that would just make it all the more satisfying to use. The last firearm she put together was the rifle. Holding it like the manual had instructed her, she once again aimed at her target and fired. Its recoil dug into her shoulder painfully, almost making her fall, but she caught herself just in time.
Gokudera came over, "You skimmed the top of the target on that one. If you aim about 30 degrees lower and take the wind into account, then of course you have to consider…"
Mio wasn't listening. She was delighted with the weapons. The power that she held in her hands, controlled by her and her alone. Finally, finally, she would be able to do something on her own. It was an absolutely exhilarating feeling, as if she held all the power in the world in the palm of her hand.
Becoming a weapons expert was the best choice she could have made.
"We're here!" the three people announced.
"Wha- Why are Gokudera-kun and Kiyomizu-san here?" Tsuna shrieked.
"I was thinking about it, and I figured if there isn't someone who understands the stuff, we're never gonna finish this, right?" Yamamoto explained, "With Gokudera and Kiyo-chan here, we have the skills of 100 people."
Mio smiled warmly; she could practically hear Tsuna weighing the pros and cons of the situation. After spending so much time with the three of them, she had gotten to know them all pretty well; and because of it, she had come to recognize their unique scents and quirks. Gokudera of course smelled like tobacco and smoke, and he dragged his feet as he walked. Yamamoto, the friendly baseball player always smelled like sushi and sunshine, his steps were controlled, but light. Tsuna, the most ordinary of either of them, oddly smelled like the sky. He reminded her of breathing in the fresh air in the mornings; the smell was comforting to say the least. He walked irregularly, usually tripping on things here and there.
They settled themselves comfortably in Tsuna's room and Gokudera started teaching them from the book. Noticing that Tsuna was still a bit confused with some things, Mio scooted closer and discreetly helped him. Soon, it had split up into two mini study groups. Gokudera was lecturing Yamamoto, and Mio was slowly helping Tsuna learn the basics that he needed to know. The process was slow since the boy had to read each problem to her, but with repetition and patience, they got the worksheets done. All except for question seven.
Assuming that it was just her who didn't get it, Mio asked Gokudera about it. The boy stared at the paper for a moment and then stuttered, "…I don't get it…"
"That's not good" Yamamoto laughed, "If we can't solve all of it, we're gonna fail, right?"
Gokudera panicked, "Whaat? Why didn't you say that earlier?"
"Now, now, we still have time so let's join our powers and think."
"Duh! I can't let the Tenth fail!" Gokudera snapped.
The sound of someone coming up the stairs registered in Mio's mind for a moment before she absentmindedly waved the thought away. They needed to solve this problem!
"Why not just have a tolerance tournament" Reborn suggested, sitting in front of a bowl of something steaming. The aroma wafted through the room and Mio's mouth watered. This was clearly not a situation where they could take it easy however and Tsuna continued to shriek, "What the heck are you doing? Are you some kind of demon?"
"Not me" the baby replied.
"Who else besides you would do such a thing-" Tsuna froze when he saw the girl that was standing in his doorway, "Haru!"
She gloomily replied, "Haru is not…a demon…"
"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that someone came in a moment ago Tenth" Mio commented sheepishly.
"I heard you were working hard on homework…So I thought to help you change your mood…"
"Also, why did you let her in?" Tsuna whisper shouted to Reborn behind his hand.
"The mafia should treat women well. Treat women you favor well."
"Wha? She liked you first of all!"
Haru started dragging herself out of the room, "It's ok, Reborn-chan…Haru will go home now…" They could hear her mumbling, "Just…Haru is not…A demon…"
There was silence in the room after she left. "You're popular, Tsuna. How did you get to meet a girl from such a good school?" Yamamoto commented.
"Eh? Good school?"
"Isn't she wearing the uniform of Midori Junior High? It's one of the hardest elite all-girl Junior Highs to get into around here."
"Heh, that dorky girl is?" Gokudera mumbled.
"Maybe this question 7 might be easy for her" Yamamoto laughed.
Tsuna bolted up, "I'll go and ask Haru!"
"Ah Tenth! You don't have to run-" Mio called. Tsuna froze outside. "She's right outside the door." she finished.
"So, question 7. I learned this before; I think I'll get it." Haru said.
A few hours later, the girl collapsed, apologizing fervently, "I'm sorry! I don't know!"
Mio jerked up out of her nap to hear Gokudera yelling, "You! If you didn't know, don't act like you did in the first place!"
"I thought I could solve it…" Haru defended.
"Oh crap, it's nighttime already!" Tsuna moaned.
The window opened and a cute voice singing an annoying song drifted in. They all went silent and Mio could feel the waves of anger pouring in the kid's direction. The boy evidently noticed it as well because he went quiet and then laughed nervously, "I…I'm just passing by."
"Hey! You guys! If you're just here to bother my homework progress, go home!" Tsuna yelled.
"Come on, calm down a bit, Tsuna, Gokudera. It's still a first year Junior High question. We can just ask an adult." Yamamoto said, reassuring them.
"Aah! I know an older lady who can probably solve this problem!" Haru shouted. She whipped out her phone, still complimenting the woman. "She's really pretty and her hobby is cooking. Oh, hello, Bianchi-san?"
Both Gokudera and Tsuna panicked at the same time. "W-wait, you don't need to call Bianchi!"
The sound of a bicycle coming to a stop outside the house sent Gokudera running down the stairs as fast as he could. He slammed the door shut and locked it before the woman could get in. Clearly it didn't work because a moment later, they could hear his screams.
"So Bianchi, do you get it?" Tsuna asked, having resigned himself to letting the woman help them.
"Well…whatever to this" she replied coldly, ripping the paper into pieces. "Love is what's important."
As Tsuna shrieked and moaned, Bianchi turned to Mio. "Would you still like to learn poison cooking, Mio?"
Hesitantly, the girl opened her mouth to reply but a groan from behind her stopped her. Gokudera weakly moaned, "No you can't. Don't learn it."
"Hayato, if she wants to learn, you can't stop her" Bianchi reprimanded.
"Don't do it…" he continued to moan, "I don't want to accidentally be poisoned again…"
"Oh? And why would you end up being poisoned?"
"Ah" Mio suddenly said. "That's because…um…I cook dinner for him?"
"Stupid girl" he groaned, "I told you not to tell anyone…"
"Ehh? Gokudera-kun and Kiyomizu-san have dinner together?" Tsuna asked.
"Ahaha, you two really seem like a couple" Yamamoto laughed.
There was an awkward silence. And then Mio broke out laughing, "How can we be a couple, Yamamoto-kun? He doesn't fit my ideal type of guy at all!"
Gokudera immediately shot up, seemingly recovered from his bout of sickness and retorted, "I never said I liked you either, stupid woman!"
"I never said you did, you dimwit!"
"Ahh, I can see the love" Bianchi said, tears in her eyes. Upon seeing her face again, Gokudera immediately collapsed, almost foaming at the mouth.
"It's not love!" Mio insisted, "I don't understand where you're getting that idea from!"
In the end, Haru's father came and helped them with question 7, Reborn revealed he was a genius mathematician, and Mio decided to take the poison cooking lessons after all despite Gokudera's protests.
"Ehh, I didn't think we had such a good room-" Yamamoto said, as he slid the door open.
"Who are you?" a boy inside the room questioned them.
"What is he?" Gokudera asked belligerently.
"Gokudera, wait…"
"Would you put out your cigar in front of the Disciplinary Committee President? Well, either way, I won't let you get away."
"What the hell, bastard?" Gokudera yelled, walking in front of Yamamoto.
"Put it out" the boy said, swinging an arm. Immediately the cigarette was put out. Gokudera darted backwards, alarmed.
"Ah!" Mio suddenly shouted, "You're that guy who beat me up the other day! Going on and on about biting and vegetables or something!"
He turned to look at her, "I really hate weak herbivorous animals that form groups. Whenever I see them," his gaze narrowed, "I really want to bite them to death."
"Whoa, it's my first time being in the reception room" Tsuna said, walking in.
"Wait, Tsuna!"
"One." The boy was knocked away brutally.
"Bastard! I'll kill you!" Gokudera yelled, charging forward.
"Two" the dynamite user was knocked unconscious before he could even light his dynamite.
"What's your problem?" Mio growled. The boy lunged for her, but to his surprise, she managed to dodge his attack.
"Herbivore, you are blind correct?" the boy asked.
Infuriated by the question, the girl pulled out the handgun she had on the inside pocket of her jacket, "And what if I am? Don't fucking underestimate me!"
She fired a blank at the boy. He simply batted it away however, and as she was trying to load a different type of bullet, he brought the tonfas crashing into her stomach, throwing her against a wall. "For bringing a weapon into Namimori, I'll bite you to death."
She pointed at him and fired a stunning bullet at him. He knocked it aside with a tonfa and kicked her in the same spot in the stomach. "Three." Yamamoto growled angrily, "Punk."
He managed to dodge the prefect's attacks, but it was only a matter of time before he was taken down as well. "Four."
Mio coughed, struggling to breathe, "Fucking hypocrite. You're holding weapons and yet you're punishing me for bringing mine on campus?" She fumbled to hold onto the gun in her hand, shaking from the pain that he had dealt her.
He walked over and stepped on the hand that was holding the gun, "This weapon is confiscated."
Anger brought with it a surge of energy. She lunged up and punched the boy in the face as hard as she could. Satisfied with her blow, she grinned, "I told you not to underestimate me."
A second later, he had broken her arm and knocked her unconscious and turned to deal more damage to the other intruders.
"Wha-? You intentionally made us meet him?" Tsuna yelled.
"It was a dangerous bet though. You're lucky to leave with only bruises and scratches. Something must have happened to Mio to make her provoke that way though."
"He caught her skipping on the roof and beat her up" Gokudera grumbled, "Stupid woman."
Yamamoto frowned, "That Hibari though; I didn't think he would actually beat up a cute girl like Kiyo-chan so harshly."
"Cute? You think that stupid girl is cute?" Gokudera grunted.
"Eh? Isn't she?" Yamamoto replied, laughing.
"Hmph, more like annoying."
"What do you think Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked, turning to the blushing boy.
"Uh… well, I guess?"
"Romance is forbidden so you should all just forget about it." Reborn warned.
"Poison cooking is all about love" Bianchi explained, as she continued to create batches of what looked like rotting cake.
Mio's arm had finally healed and she was taking her first poison cooking lesson from the Poison Scorpion. So far, it wasn't going very well. While all her creations had turned out looking grotesque, they all still tasted fine. "More love Mio" Bianchi said, "You're doing well."
The girl concentrated and started mixing all sorts of things into what she was making. Lazily chopping some onions, she dropped the chunks in and then set it on the stove to boil. The result was a sort of brown looking stew. Bianchi scooped some into a dish and set it outside on the window sill. A few birds hopped closer to inspect the dish. One of them pecked at a piece of something that was floating in the stew and suddenly took off flying rapidly in circles.
"Oh my, it seems that your dish gave that bird an energy boost" Bianchi commented.
Mio apologized miserably, "I'm sorry Bianchi-san. Even though you took the time to teach me, I still can't do it."
Bianchi smiled and cupped the girl's face in her hands, "Nonsense Mio. I enjoyed teaching you and in the end, it is all for love." The woman seemed to think for a moment, "It's been awhile since you have seen Hayato and the others, hasn't it?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, since my arm had to heal."
"Why don't you go pay them a visit?"
"Get down guys!" a voice shouted. There was the crack of a whip and suddenly there were two explosions. Mio could hear something else that wasn't a person falling however, and without thinking, she brought out her gun and fired. It hit its target and exploded.
Various voices were talking. "It's just one of the boss's antics again!"
"He surprises us at least once a day."
"Still, who took down that last one that the boss missed?"
The sound of footsteps running over caused Mio to hastily hide the gun in her jacket. "Ah, young lady, thank you for helping." The man sounded friendly enough. He smelled like olive oil and expensive cologne, and while the scent should have been overwhelming, it somehow mixed together enticingly.
Suddenly feeling shy, she murmured, "It's no problem."
"Hey, would you happen to know Tsuna?"
"Eh?" she looked up, "The Tenth?"
The person laughed, "Ahaha, I knew it! You must be one of Tsuna's friends, right?"
"So, ask me anything, my cute sworn brother." Dino grinned. "Oh yeah, do you have a family yet, Tsuna? Besides cute little Mio of course" he questioned.
The girl blushed furiously and continued to eat quietly, unsure of what to say.
Reborn responded, "Right now, there are Gokudera and Yamamoto. Also a few candidates: Hibari and Sasagawa Ryohei." "Also, don't flirt with Tsuna's family members so easily, Dino." He added, "Mio's going to be the weapons expert of the family."
"Those are just my friends and seniors!" Tsuna argued. "But why did you come to a person like me, Reborn? You seemed to be doing just fine with Dino-san."
"Eh? Reborn! I wasn't flirting; Mio is cute! Anyways, Vongola is the center of our allied families. That's why it gets priority above all others in every aspect."
"Eh? The Vongola is that influential?"
"Oh Dino-kun, my my, you spilled your food…" Nana, Tsuna's mother commented, indulgently.
"Without his men, Dino only functions half as well" Reborn said.
"Saying stuff like that again Reborn, you really want Tsuna to believe that? It's just because I usually use forks and knives so I can't use chopsticks very well." Dino defended himself.
There was a scream and they all jumped up from the table. There was a loud thud as Dino tripped over his own foot and fell and then they were all rushing to the bathroom. They could see a large turtle chewing on bits of the bathtub. Mio however could only hear crunching, "What? What's happening?" she asked frantically.
"Eh? He's right there…" Dino replied confused.
"Ah I forgot to tell you Dino. Mio is blind."
"Eh? But then earlier, how did you shoot that grenade?"
"I could hear it falling. I didn't really know it was a grenade but I heard two explosions before that from your whip so I thought it probably couldn't be a good thing. But all I can hear and feel now is crunching…"
They explained the situation to her and her eyes widened behind her bangs. "There are turtles that grow that big?" She smiled sadly, "I guess I wish I could see that."
Dino stepped forward, "Stay back. Nobody interfere. It will be a disgrace for the Cavallone family if their Tenth boss can't even take care of his own pet." Then raising his voice, he yelled, "Calm down Enzo!" and cracked his whip.
The sound of a slap and Tsuna shrieking in pain followed and Mio looked at them in confusion. Had Dino hit the younger boy? He hastily apologized, "Sorry, I slipped!"
Finally, somehow with Reborn's help, they got the situation under control and were able to settle down. "Ah I should be getting back, Tenth." Mio commented. "It was nice meeting you Dino-san." She said.
"Good morning Tenth!" two familiar voices called cheerily.
"Ehh? Gokudera-kun and even Kiyomizu-san?"
"I woke up too early so I was wandering around and ended up here" the boy said, "I don't know why but this girl came here too."
"It's none of your business where I go Gokudera-kun" Mio retorted but then smiled when she smelled a familiar scent. "Ah! Dino-san, good morning!"
The man came over, "Mio, morning! Hey, Smoking Bomb brat. It's our first time meeting, right?"
"That tattoo…Bucking Horse Dino!" Gokudera glowered.
"Hey everyone! What are you guys doing? You're gonna be late!" Yamamoto said, laughing as he slung his arms around the two guys. He pulled away to ruffle the girl's hair and greeted Dino pleasantly as well. He then shepherded the two boys away. Mio bid the Italian man a farewell and hurried off after them, following the sounds of bickering.
"Either way, I don't like him" Gokudera commented after explaining everything Dino had done for the Cavallone family.
"Eh…w-why?"
"Anyone older than me is an enemy" Gokudera growled.
Behind them, Mio could hear the sound of a car speeding towards them. She reached out a hand to grab Tsuna's sleeve and tug him to safety, but to their shock the car skidded to a stop next to them. A lasso came flying out and wrapped around Tsuna, pulling him into the car. Mio who was still holding onto his sleeve, was yanked inside as well. Upon entering the car, she relaxed immediately, "Dino-san, what are you doing?"
The man laughed, "You really are something. How can you tell it's me?"
"Eh?" she blushed furiously, "It's just…your scent is really unique" she muttered. "Anyways! Why did you do this?" she asked, demandingly.
Dino grinned, "Sorry sorry, I just had to test your family."
"Hey, wait! What about Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto? You sent them rushing off to find some group?" Tsuna asked, plaintively.
"Don't worry. Momokyokai is just some imaginary yakuza group that Reborn made up. They'll probably give up and are on their way home now."
"Tsuna, you're a lucky guy. Lately, there haven't been many family members who are so thoughtful of their boss."
Mio smiled warmly, thinking of the group of friends and how close they had gotten. She shook her head mentally; why was she getting so attached to them? They claimed they were family, but they could leave her at any moment. She couldn't develop any attachments that would leave her even more heartbroken.
"I forgot to tell you guys. Momokyokai is a real, existing yakuza in this town." Reborn spoke up.
They all panicked.
"Can you tell me where he is?"
"Spill it!"
Mio wrinkled her nose at the overwhelming smell of body odor coming from the room, but Tsuna rushed in, relieved that his friends weren't hurt. Upon seeing him, they threw the bodies they were threatening aside and rushed over. Mio suddenly stiffened, "Uh oh, trouble."
A door opened and a group of tough looking men walked into the room, "What did you do? You brats…"
Gokudera stood in front of Mio protectively, whether on purpose or not and she scooted out from behind him, pulling out a gun. Dino strode forward and attempted to mediate the situation. But the men were not interested. With negotiations broken, he swung his whip and managed to hit the two boys behind him as well as himself.
The men laughed loudly and charged at them. Tsuna shrieked, there was a gunshot, and then he ran headfirst into the battle. Mio joined him, firing special stunning bullets that she had made at the men with deadly aim. Gokudera and Yamamoto jumped in a moment later. A crack of a whip let the girl know that Dino had joined the brawl as well.
After they took care of threat, they returned to Tsuna's house where Dino praised them cheerfully. As he left, Tsuna commented, "Gokudera-kun, I thought you hated Dino-san. So I was afraid you were gonna turn on him."
"He just talks big and is petty so I'd rather not pay any attention to him." Gokudera said, uninterested.
"He's not petty! He's actually really cool!" Mio defended automatically. "Ah. I mean…never mind…"
Yamamoto laughed, "Kiyo-chan, don't tell me you have a crush on him?"
Mio blushed, but denied it immediately, "Of course not. I was just thinking that he was the boss of a big family and he's really talented. Don't think I'd fall for someone that easily!"
"Tch, trust a stupid woman to fall for a guy like that" Gokudera scowled.
They were all still bickering as they left Tsuna's house.
Author's Note:
Hey, sorry it's been so long since I've updated this fic! I'm having a bit of trouble with it...aka I have no idea what to write ahaha...
Anyways! Tell me what you think about Mio's internal struggles and her interactions with all the characters. Any feedback is appreciated. Unfortunately for some reason, I just can't think of anything for Tsuna or Yamamoto to say so they end up being...just...there... D: So suggestions for that would be great too!
Please read and review~