In Their Story, There was a Girl
Chapter 15: Rokudou Mukuro, Part I
-----YOTSUBA POV-----
I remember on one sunny day, when I was only nine years old, I was on my way to the Chiavarrone mansion to find Dino. There was a small crack on the floor. Not really looking at where I was going, my foot was caught and I fell hard on the ground. But when I lifted my head, a man held out his hand to me and lifted me up. He had the most gentle, sweet smile on his face; with a caring voice he asked me, "Are you all right, little miss?"
I nodded my head timidly, making a small smile at the kind man. Giving me a pat on the head, the man moved back onto his road, and I kept walking towards Dino's place. When I got to the mansion, Dino came running at me.
"Did you bring the wallet that I forgot?" he asked me.
"Yeah, it's right he—", my sentence stopped short as I felt my empty pocket. Taking a look, the inside of my pocket was pulled out, and the wallet was gone.
The gentleman took the wallet when he was helping me up. The gentleman with the kind smile took it. At that instant I felt ashamed. How did I get fooled so easiy?
…just because he had a seemingly honest smile?
-----NORMAL POV-----
"Oi, stupid woman, you better protect Juudaime when I'm not there!" was the last thing that Gokudera said to Yotsuba when he turned to fight with Chikusa.
The tint of confidence in Gokudera's voice comforted Yotsuba's racing heart as she, once again, entered Mukuro's sanctuary. Just like the first time, Mukuro sat in the middle of the long couch with the most relaxed composition.
"Rokudou Mukuro…" Yotsuba couldn't help but mutter his name.
"Kufufu… my little clover! I missed you. I knew that you were going to bring Vongola to me sooner or later," a smile splattered across Mukuro's deadly, pale face. "You're such a good girl."
Shiver. A chill started at her feet to the tip of her hairs. A piece of inerasable darkness seemed to remain in her heart; she tried hard to suppress the fear boiling inside her. But it seemed like Mukuro saw all of it, and his smile told her that he was very amused by her performance. His smile seemed to make fun of her efforts of struggle.
Even so, thinking of the encouraging words of the blonde angel, the accepting smile of the young Vongola leader, the gentle hands of the baseball player, the rough kindness of the silver-haired boy, and the fearless black personage that she always followed behind, a new courage was born.
"Where are Fuuta and Hibari-senpai?" Yotsuba asked with a determined voice.
A slight unhappiness sparkled in Mukuro's eyes as he saw the change in Yotsuba's expression, as he heard the change in her voice.
"You won't escape this place a second time," a strange light seemed to shine in the blood red color of Mukuro's right eye. "Rest, my lady, we still have a long time waiting for us to spend with each other!"
The smile on Mukuro's face had no temperature, no emotion.
"Both you and the Vongola."
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BANG.
The cruel sound of a gun echoed in the rundown constructions of the Kokuyou Center. For a second, Yotsuba thought the world was only black and white, and someone had pressed the "slow motion" button on the time of life; the scene in front of her eyes played so slowly. No one expected that Mukuro would point a gun at himself, and end his own life.
The Six Reincarnations. Mukuro, having the powers of the Six Reincarnations in the cursed right eye, his power seemed unbeatable. His aura was so ghostly, and so cold that it felt like the place was snowing.
Yotsuba was stupefied when a controlled Fuuta stabbed Mukuro's weapon into Bianchi's stomach. Everything was spinning in her head; everything was going out of the ordinary now. Stumbling, she attempted to move Bianchi's body to somewhere safe, as Mukuro fought casually with a struggling Tsuna. From the State of Hell to the State of Animals, unimaginable powers, unimaginable strength.
What kind of being are you, Mukuro?
As if to end a magic show, at the last second, Hibari arrived with Gokudera at his shoulder.
"Are you ready? I'm going to bite you to death!"
"Kyouya…" watching Hibari and Mukuro fight with amazing speeds, Yotsuba gradually woke from her trance.
Although finally seeing Hibari, Yotsuba was even more worried as she saw the countless of wounds and bruises on Hibari's body. The clean, white uniform shirt was now tainted with blood and mud. Yotsuba has never seen Hibari in this kind of state. Yet, Hibari still fought as if he wasn't hurt at all.
Kyouya… I can't believe he was treated this way. The Kyouya… who always seemed so tough and strong…
Not long after, a winner was born. Mukuro collapsed from underestimating Hibari's strength. But right after Mukuro collapsed, Hibari also lost consciousness.
"Kyouya!" Yotsuba ran to Hibari's side as he fell.
"In that kind of state, he's still determined to defeat Mukuro. Seems like his earlier defeat was quite impactful!" Reborn commented at the side.
Listening to Reborn's words, Yotsuba ran her fingers through Hibari's messy black hair. Always sure about what he does, unbeatable pride and dignity, maybe that's the reason why Hibari is so strong. A small smile crept up to Yotsuba's face as she thought.
All of a sudden, as everyone relaxed, Mukuro arose.
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Manipulation of the body. The moment that Bianchi slashed Yotsuba's arm with Mukuro's weapon, Yotsuba felt it so very clearly: the cruel, cold aura that haunted her for so long these days. That tear-threatening aura that seem to burst out from a possessed Bianchi. Rokudou Mukuro was trying to take her body, she knew it. At the same time, Tsuna started to realize that something was wrong. But before he could do anything, Yotsuba felt a dizziness rush through her head, and her body gave out. As the scenery blurred in front of her eyes, Yotsuba cursed in her head to not being alert enough.
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So dark…
When Yotsuba opened her eyes, all so saw was a fog that was gray and white. There was no sound at all. To Yotsuba's surprise, she did not feel the emptiness and fear she expected to feel in this place. Instead, she felt emotions so dense and so deep that hid in the fog surrounding her.
Is it loneliness?
Yotsuba took a step. One by one, Yotsuba walked aimlessly through the fog with slow steps. Suddenly, a ball of light appeared in front of Yotsuba. Amazed yet captivated, Yotsuba reached out her hand. As soon as her finger touched the light substance, thousands of thin rays shot out and enveloped her body.
"?!"
"No! I will never hand over this child to you!"
"Stop being ridiculous! The Family needs these kids! They're our only hope!"
When Yotsuba opened her eyes, the gray fog no longer greets, but replaced by a dimly lit room. All in all, it was somewhat a fancy room. However, the weird thing was that all the curtains were shut closed, shutting out all the sunlight. In the dark and humid room, a man and woman are having argument. Yotsuba noticed right away the young, eight-year-old boy behind the woman's back. The little boy grasped the hem of the woman's skirt tightly as he watched words thrown back and forth between the two adults. His little body seemed to shiver more noticeably every second. Yotsuba thought that the scene cannot get any more familiar.
"He's your child! Your blood runs through his body! And you have the heart to send him to that… that hell of a laboratory! Just… just for that experiment that won't even succeed!" the woman screamed, tugging the little boy behind her.
"Shut up! For the sake of the Family, a little sacrifice is all we need!" the man said, a smile full of madness crept up to his face, "The experiment will succeed… and once that happens, we can teach those higher-rank mafias a lesson!"
"If it weren't for your stupid boss wanting to produce that weapon, we wouldn't have to hide our identity like rats!"
An ear-piercing sound echoed throughout the dark room. The man, with a hand still raised in the air, stared down at the woman who covered her cheek emotionlessly. The little boy's tears finally broke out as he embraced the collapsed body of his mother. The woman looked back at the heartless man unbelievably, the man that she once loved so madly. Her tears, too, rolled down her cheeks one by one.
"I'm going to pick him up tomorrow morning," with that, the man slammed the door of the apartment. The only thing left were the sobbing of the little boy and the woman.
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Yotsuba blinked hard as the scenery in front of her changed again. A sick feeling came up from her stomach as she recognized the bloody corpse near the railing of the roof of a tall building. It was the woman that she had just saw, and the little boy was curled up in a corner, pale and shivering. A knife lied on the floor near the boy's feet.
He killed her…
The door of the entrance opened suddenly, and the man from before appeared. The man looked shocked for just a second.
"What happened here?" he asked, but the little boy did not answer. Shrugging indifferently, the man took the boy's little hand by force and pulled him away. The little boy did not try to struggle or shout; he silently followed the man toward a place where he would never see sunlight again.
Bringing the little boy to a dark laboratory, the man changed the little boy into white surgical clothing. Somewhat kindly, the man said to him, "this is all for the Family, please bear it!"
Leaving those last words to his only son, the man never came back.
The next man that greeted the little boy was dressed in surgeons' uniform. With a look of real sympathy, the man said, "from now on, your name will be Rokudou Mukuro."
Yotsuba was astonished. Not so much for the name of the little boy, but for the familiar man who gave him the dreadful name. She would never forget a man like that. The man who ruined her life, yet able to have the most honest face that fooled her so. The man who she decided to believe in despite of what he's done.
Father…
Rokudou, meaning the Six Reincarnations, a name that indicated his fate.
Mukuro, meaning dead corpse.
…A dead corpse for the sake of experiments.
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TBC.
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A/N: I just realized that I haven't updated for a whole month! I'm so sorry about that! I was having a lot of stress from school and I'm going through a series of important exams. I promise that I'll update more regularly after this week! Please review!