Train
This upcoming Choice battle seems exiting but the pressure is insane. In order to be ready for the battle in ten days, we finally get some time off. On one hand, the time off give us time to recuperate but at the same time it gives us time to worry. Solution: occupy the mind.
Three of those ten days have already passed. We found Basil. Not surprisingly, the guy is a Rain type and dead tired and hungry enough to put a tapeworm to shame. I'm glad Basil's on our side as he had put up a fight against my brother though he came out battered and lost the fake Vongola Rings. He also fought his way through the Millefiore from Spain to Japan. That's impressive for someone who just had a handbook. I'm glad the Young Lion of Vongola isn't my teacher (I hear he uses a brutal, useless training regime).
The day after Basil showed up, everyone decided that they wanted to see Future Namimori. Personally, I don't really care but I thought it would be fun, in a way. Instead of going to the Ukitake house, I headed to Takeshi's place but I ended up meeting him at the park with Lambo and I-Pin. Later on in the day, Gokudera joined us for a game of soccer. I retreated and played referee. It sure was nice seeing Takeshi and Gokudera getting along.
Chrome has joined Kyoko and Haru's circle. Since I don't have any training to do aside from staying fit I help the girls out with the household chores until Haru and Kyoko declare a boycott. I have to say I agree with them, ignorance may be bliss but it can kill and I learned that the hard way (I obviously didn't die…in my proper era at least). Eventually, Tsuna gave in, but it was just after the girl's eradicated the boycott and Bianchi used a little lie to get Tsuna to go after Kyoko. And I was right, Kyoko stayed composed while Haru broke down.
With six days to go, Superbi shows up, kicks the shit out of Takeshi and drags me and him off to training. Literally in Takeshi's case.
"Superbi! That was overkill!" I protested as he hauled an unconscious Takeshi like a sack of potatoes,
"This piece of trash lost to Genkishi, so he's gonna have to pay the price,"
"But" I started
"Shut it! And you're one to talk with you kicking the bucket before I do," I wasn't going to dig around with that. He's almost a decade older than me and has been a part of the Varia a lot longer than me as well so logically he should be the one who dies first. We continued in awkward silence until we reached a clearing in the forest.
"Here we go," Superbi dropped Takeshi on the ground not very gently, "now to wait for him to wake up. Until he does, it's back to the training for you. What do you know about box weapons?"
"Lal Mirch explained it but I got lost somewhere in the middle," I rubbed the back of my head, a habit I picked up from the gang, "all I really got was a person has to have matching waves, flame, ring and box in order to make things work with the exception of the sky attribute as it can open any box. For practical uses, I've used it training but I didn't get a chance to use in actual combat,"
"VOIII," he growled, "which bastards didn't let you fight?"
"Hibari," I admitted, "well, the future one."
"Fine, I'll get that one. Get those weapons out and rollin' little sis, we got six days to whip you into shape!" God help!
Things are actually not too bad now that I opened my box, which is the secret Misty Rain Vongola Box that only Irie and the Tenth Generation know about. The hilarious thing is my box is a jaguar which is my nickname and to top it off, she is a black jaguar. I've named her Kaida. My future self owned two other boxes, one consisting of a Mist Kingfisher dubbed Mire and a Rain shark that, if it had a name, the name would be impolite to say in public. The hard part has been trying to work with the Squalo Piccolo Pioggia, Little Rain Shark, because it so bloodthirsty vampires look vegetarian compared to it. Even I, the owner, is in danger of being consumed. Mire and Kaida are very serene and mysterious, which is expected with them utilizing mist flames, and are much more cooperative.
One thing is annoying me: for the last two days a song has been pulsing through me but I can't write it down and work on it, besides, some of the lines to the lyrics just don't work, "I love you" recurs a lot in the song but who do I love? It uses the Japanese 'aishiteru' (I love you) rather than the 'daisuki' (I like you). Sure I love my friends, but….I don't think I'm in love.
Of course, I got the shorter end of the stick in the training as I was the one who kicked the bucket. I thought Superbi was brutal and Spartan before, but he takes it beyond hell…or heaven depending on your point of view and where I end up after this life. Seriously! Just because I get killed everyone has to do overtime on training me. I mean, even the world's greatest swordsmen can be beaten by a technique they don't know, which two certain swordsman did experience, so why is everyone freaking out because I died? I mean, Superbi almost kicked the bucket but I suppose 'almost' is the key word.
Superbi seems to have more energy than usual. Probably because he's cut down on his vocalization and instead is teaching us via experience. In the morning I get drilled since I'm an early bird and Takeshi gets the afternoon. The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese; no idea as to who I am: the bird, the worm, the first mouse or what? Any suggestions people?
"WHAT?" Superbi yelled,
Takeshi just chuckled while I smacked my forehead into my hand. Leave it to Takeshi to put a time limit on his devotion to the sword. Naturally, that irritates (big litotes here people!) the hell out of my brother. It irritates me as well, but Takeshi is Takeshi and baseball and friends are his life. I just started laughing. Typical Takeshi: nothing stops him.
Superbi's POV
I could kill someone with all this frustration, at myself, my sister and the baseball/katana brat. I'm furious because it's fuckin' obvious Takeshi is crushing on Karen and she on him, but neither of them realizes it! Karen I understand, the girl knows enough psychology to put the 'doctors' to shame but she doesn't know squat about her own psyche particularly where being 'in love' comes into play. She also doesn't see her own worth as a human being short of being a sister which is very ironic as she sees the value of everyone as human beings. Katana brat I don't get, but it might just be because he's obsessed with baseball. How can a person be obsessed with a game where a person throws a ball, another hits it and run around in a square? My third reason for fury is how I'm dealing with it. I'm overjoyed Karen has found someone, but I'm also intent on the fact NO ONE IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER.
Glancing over at Karen reveals the little bug to be asleep. "What's up? You worried about Karen?" Katana brat's big puppy eyes are perceptive when they bother to look,
"NO! Well yes, but when don't I worry her?" Katana brat just smiled at that,
"Yeah don't blame yah. I used to think she was invincible, but coming here and finding out she's killed…that's hard to believe but she's alive now so it's all good," he grinned.
I want to drill him about his feelings for Karen but at the same time I don't want to know, "How do you feel about her?"
"What?" Katana brat was startled by the question, "uh, she's a really awesome friend," it sounded like a question
"VOOOIII! I MEAN DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON HER!" I've lost it,
Katana brat just stared at me like I lost my mind, which I did, "I…no…"
Thunk went my head into my mechanical hand. Ow, that hurts, "Like I'll believe that crap. You look at her like she's the bloody sun!"
"A more accurate description would be the moon," Takeshi pointed out,
"SHUT UP! You love her, as in romance!" Takeshi averted his eyes to the camp fire and stayed silent. Somehow, I didn't wake Karen up. The kid can sleep through Xanxus's worst rages, but the slightest silent sound wakes her up instantly; I love my sister but I really don't get how her mind or physiology functions as she seems to deny all Laws of Nature except for those of gravity….and mortality.
Karen's POV
As soon as I confirmed Takeshi and Superbi to be sleeping I slipped out of the campsite and headed to a clearing I had found when we first arrived. It wasn't I didn't want to be watched for this private training it's just I don't want to worry about someone getting fried. The last time I tried this Leviathan got a little toasty and my arms were burned from finger tip to shoulder. Of course, last time was six years ago before there was such thing as Sky, Rain, Mist and other Dying Will Flames. I was trying to combine all three of mine into a single point. Of course I'm not channeling them into my hands after that last incident so I'm using a spar sword.
One by one, I lit up each of my flames. Rain was the easiest to bring out; Mist was just a shade harder than the Rain and I had to spend an entire three minutes on bringing out my Sky Flame. I have no idea as to how I can have the Sky flame as the Dying Will Flames tend to follow family lines but maybe it's just like my Mist flame: a random pop up.