Jump Forward
The complex I am in is really complex. There are so many basements, and it's all contorted. One minute we are heading west, than we switch to the east and back again, only to head north. Fuuta was jabbering about how Tsuna and Gokudera showed up with Lal Mirch, a member of CEDEF. Now apparently, Takeshi, Haru, Kyoko, Lambo and I-Pin have joined the mixed, "WHAT! Takeshi and Kyoko?"
"I don't really know what's going on either," Fuuta lifted his slim shoulders. Fuuta goes from a cute ten year old to a very attractive twenty year old, "First Tsuna-ni and Gokudera show up, than Yamamoto as well shows up. Right now everyone is recovering,"
"Recovering from what?' I rudely interrupted,
Instead of getting offended, he just as smiled at an inner joke that I didn't figure out until later, "They were fighting,"
"Good Lord," I shook my head. No matter where, or when, Tsuna always got himself wrapped up in fights,
"Tsuna-ni just has an injured arm, but Yamamoto and Gokudera got fried,"
"Levi Volta kind of fried?" I asked,
"Kind' a worse,"
"It's hard to beat incineration," I pointed out,
"Well, rather than getting incinerated they were interrogated," What are we in now?
Obviously you're in the future, an expanse of grass and blue sky opened up in my mind,
Mukuro, I commented, I believe this is the first time you've done this, and I was distracted by how tall he was, still rail thin, with long hair? What's up with the long hair?
You are nine years, ten months into the future, and you're asking me about my hair length? Mukuro shook his head as if I was the only person on the planet who would notice or even think about hair length in the situation I was in,
So what do you want? I hate beating around the bush, vaguely noting the Ten Year Bazooka missed ten years by two months,
Just checking up on you. Making sure you're adapting,
If I didn't adapt to surprises, I would have been out of a morgue faster than I just was, except it would be into a grave. Mukuro flinched and one of his memories flickered: a silver haired woman was lying in a pool of her own blood, concentrated around her chest. Her eyes were closed but from Mukuro's memories her eyes were steel grey (like Superbi's and mine), as if a camera was doing a super close up and then slowly backed away to reveal my face, ten years older, but definitely mine.
"Karen-ne?' Fuuta touched my shoulder,
Sorry, didn't intend to show you that, Mukuro ran.
"Eh? Nothing, Fuuta, nothing," he looked at me strangely, but didn't comment. Great news, someone killed me.
Okay, this is nuts. Just because I'm two or three days behind in the future from everyone else, I'm completely out of the loop, and I hate being out of the loop. Oh well, time for box and ring training by Lal Mirch with Tsuna. Lal teaches me while Tsuna's getting his butt kicked by Hibari, and while Lal is nattering on about the different flames and whatnot (she lost me somewhere in the middle), Mukuro is adding his comments. When I'm not distracted by Lal, Mukuro is drilling me in illusions like I'm going to die if I don't, which I probably did,
No, Karen, his thoughts were exasperated, who killed you and how, we don't know aside from the person being a Millefiore, All we know, is you're the strongest fighter in this era,
You kidding me? I interrupted again,
Ignoring me as usual he continued, you're a strong swordsman, and in illusions, you were second to none, that's a shocker (no sarcasm used), and you're smart. Of course, if it was a contest of brute strength, you would loose to Xanxus, Mukuro continued, but you're sharper than diamond and that's your strength, so we can only assume that your killer took by surprise or put you in an impossible situation. The bastard was actually just lucky.
Thanks for the compliment,
Where? I could picture the expression on his face perfectly,
The diamond part, and the entire speech and that made him quiet for a really long time. Much to his pleasure, Lal thought I was daydreaming and as a result I got chased all over the training room to avoid her hand.
There are days where I don't know who to scold or kill. Of course, my distaste isn't just for Lambo, but Haru and Kyoko as well but Haru especially. I-pin had gotten sick, and the girls were unable to diagnose the illness properly so they had to go out of the base when we're strictly told that to do so would be very dangerous for EVERYONE. Of course I'm not angry with them for taking care of I-Pin; it's just that Haru has absolute zero ability of going undetected. She's so obvious even a baby would notice something was off! Why couldn't it have been Kyoko who is oblivious enough to go undetected? Naturally, Bianchi had to go out to keep the pursued Haru from leading the Millefiore to the base, and than Tsuna had to go out after Bianchi lead the Millefiore Thunder Bee Man out on a wild goose chase.
On the other notes, there are some days where I really hate Lambo. The brat had to go out of the base and send everyone into a whirlwind of panic. Once again, Hibari saves the day, using his usually excuse of the 'peace' being disturbed. When he came back, "You know, Hibari, when you're around there's no peace," I had commented. He gave me his 'bite to death' look and walked away. After seeing that expression on him so many times it doesn't bother me anymore. My love for Lambo was also tried when he almost boiled himself and I-Pin to death with the possibility of blowing the Vongola base to kingdom come and again Tsuna had to step in.
On more cheerful notes, now that my basic box training is complete, I'm just keeping my current level of skill up while integrating my box weapons into my current style; my box weapons happen to be a Rain Kingfisher, and small rain shark along with a box that contains a Mist/Rain hybrid jaguar. Talk about playing with nature danger. How did I end up with three boxes by the way?
It may sound easy to work the boxes and rings into your current fighting style, but really it isn't. First you have to build a bond, which can be impossible as demonstrated by Gokudera and his leopard cub Uri, who kicks Gokudera's butt. Seriously, Gokudera is letting a kitten win all their fights! Fortunately, I seem to get along with all of my boxes. The kingfisher and jaguar, according Bianchi, have names, Mire and Kaida. The shark doesn't have one because it doesn't care. Just give it some human blood once in a while and it's happy. Mire, the kingfisher, and Kaida, the jaguar, are all perfectly affectionate and well behaved unlike Uri, "It's because you disciplined them," Bianchi had laughed when I asked her what the different between Uri and my box animals was, "also you four just bond." Great. I have a bond with a bloodthirsty little shark that I absolutely do not relate to at all. Out of all my boxes, Kaida has to be my favorite.
Instead of fitting the box weapons into my current style, I altered my style to suit them. Kaida comes out when I need someone to watch my back and to fight with me. Mire comes out when I need the discretion of illusions. The shark, obviously, comes out when I need brute strength and blood thirsty ferocity with the tranquility of rain; how ironic is that or does it even make sense? Apparently, this shark is the younger sibling of another Rain attribute shark box, Grande Pioggia Squalo. I bet that belongs to my brother, and if anyone wants to take a bet, I'll be my life on it. Finally, after both of us finish our preliminary training, Takeshi and I start sparring and training together.
I shake my head over my brother's video series, The Road to Becoming the Sword Emperor. Reborn's stated reason of the series creation was support for bragging rights. Yes my brother is proud, but he doesn't brag in the form of videos or use them as evidence. Later on, it was confirmed I knew the real reason for the creation of the videos: to try and draw Takeshi back to the way of the sword. I don't usually give up, but that's a lost cause right there. Superbi might be able to get Takeshi completely devoted for a certain amount of time, but beyond that is like trying to not freeze on Pluto without a space suit.
Strangely enough, I find I actually like Gokudera a lot better now. Apparently Takeshi knocked some common sense into him, and I like it since his tough act is now just an act around Takeshi and not genuinely meant.