Episode 5: Drops of the Storm
"Tell me, would you kill to save a life? Tell me, would you kill to prove you're right? Crash, crash burn… Let it all burn… This hurricane's chasing us all underground."
-"Hurricane" by 30 Seconds to Mars.

Lambo was okay, as it seemed. I walked into the forest to see two very powerful Flames charging at each other.

Flinching, I waved to interrupt the match. "I'm sorry… Lal-san said that I could find someone that could help me. I'm looking for Dino?" His name was so familiar…

The man with a Flame like Tsuna's, only more powerful, stood and laughed. "So, you're the girl that Lal sent to help me! Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I nice to see you again, Najika-chan! It's me, Dino, and this troubled young one is Kyoya Hibari!"

I bowed to the familiar man, smiling civilly. "Ah! I knew that name was familiar. It's nice to meet you, Hibari-san. I'm Najika Kamiya." Hibari's Flame was a purple that was strong, but well controlled.

"Alright, so… Lal-san… you said that she directed you here?" I confirmed Dino's statement. "Okay~ Najika-chan, you said your name was? I guess, to better train you, spar against me! It'll be fun, I promise!" I sighed; he was persistent. "Good. Now… if you can find me, you fight me!"

Then he disappeared.

With a sigh, I placed the plastic bag I was holding onto the ground. "Well then… let's play, Dino-san."

I closed my eyes and lowered my sensory vision of inanimate objects. Dino was… behind me. I turned around and raised my sensory vision again. Rushing towards him, I knocked over a ton of bamboo, which fell around him, to make sure he didn't escape, then cornered him in the high walls of bamboo.

He muttered, "Damn. You're quick." I heard him curse and then when I aimed at his face, he ducked, but stopped and fell when I kicked his leg out from under him. I felt a quick slash to the side of my face. "I'm sorry! It's bleeding…" he apologized, panicking.

It was; I could feel the blood running down my face. Although I flinched as I felt the gash, I shook it off as best I could. "Not a problem. Now…" I tried to aim punches at him, but he was a very good dodger.

He asked, "Why aren't you using your gun?"

"Lal-san wanted me to train my body to hit things, because a gun could be knocked out of my hands easily," I replied, aiming a hit at him with each word. "And she's right. I take all of Lal-san's advice to heart. She's always got a point." I finally landed a hit on him, knocking him back. Each time I missed, I felt another laceration on my arms or body.

His voice sounded worried when he said, "You're bleeding all over. Let's stop. You can't get hurt like this, especially in the middle of the Ring War." I nodded. "What's in the bag?" he asked, finally noticing the plastic bag on the ground.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Well… Lal-san told me that no one has seen either of you for a while, and I figured that you could use a real lunch. So, I brought you riceballs and soup, as well as some vegetables for snacks for later." I handed the bag to Dino.

Dino's voice indicated a smile. "Ah, thanks so much, Najika-chan! I'm actually kind of hungry right now… Seriously, thanks very much!"

I bowed again after I finished bandaging my new wounds. Thankfully, none were too deep. "I'll see you guys later. Gokudera-kun's match is in a while, and I promised him that I wouldn't be late. So long, Dino-san, Hibari-san." I waved to the two as I walked away.

I noticed that Hibari had only said one thing to me, when I was leaving. It was faint, but I heard a soft, "Hn," as I passed him. I could feel his gaze on me while I was walking away.

That night, I arrived with Tsuna and Basil, who I had met while I was walking home from the forest. Yamamoto and Ryohei were both there. But Gokudera wasn't. I looked around for his gray Flame. We were led down to a hallway and most of the Varia stood across from us. Lussuria and Xanxus were missing.

Belphegor laughed and called, "I told you I'd see you today, Naji-chan~ Are you ready to watch your friend lose?"

I growled fiercely. "You're the one who's going to lose, Belphegor!" I yelled back, hatred seeping deep into my voice.

The Varia's Storm jut laughed. "You, Princess, can call me Bel~" I let out a vicious growl, clenching my hands into fists again. Everything about Belphegor made me mad.

Gokudera had to come. We couldn't lose this match to the Varia. Or we'd lose everything we were fighting for. Biting my lip, I looked around for his red Flame. Come on, Gokudera-kun… you have to get here quickly…

My wish was granted. Just before the clock struck eleven, our favorite bomber appeared at the end of the hallway. His voice and posture were confident, and his stormy red Flame was larger with all his confidence. I rushed forward to hug him and cried, "Gokudera-kun! You made it!"

He patted my back awkwardly and replied, "I wouldn't miss this. Now, I'm going to fight, and I'm going to win." The field sounded dangerous. It didn't sound like something I would be able to survive in, but I knew that Gokudera could do it. But… fifteen minutes to win against Belphegor… that was crazy, even for them. Apparently, he could sense my worry. "I'll be fine, Wave girl."

I glared at him. "Enough with the Wave girl thing. You have to call me Najika, or so help me, I'll call you octopus-head!" He flinched. That name was clearly a touchy subject. "Now that the name thing is settled, win, just don't get killed!" Gokudera did so after dealing with his tutor, Shamal. "You can do it, Gokudera-kun!"

Belphegor's own red Flame was radiating over confidence as he deemed the match and his opponent "fun." I growled and, in my head, envisioned ways that I could go over there and tear him limb from limb without being disqualified. I was so caught up in seeing his death that I didn't even notice that Ryohei had pulled us all into the chanting circle again. They even included Lambo's tail in it.

As both Gokudera and Belphegor walked do the center, I stood with Basil. "He'll be okay, right, Basil-kun?" Basil looked at me and nodded. "Good. 'Cause if he dies… I'll never forgive him."

Basil smiled. "It is quite hard to forgive a dead person, isn't it?" he asked teasingly. I smiled and laughed quietly.

It was hard to think throughout the entire match. Belphegor's knives were really fast and at points, I didn't think that Gokudera could've won. It was like Belphegor could read the wind when the Hurricane Turbines went off, whereas Gokudera and his bombs were rendered useless. Belphegor's knives almost always hit their target, and that had me worried. He looked almost… like a child. A sociopath child that liked to play with knives, that was what Belphegor reminded me of.

Twelve minutes left…

Basil was telling me everything that happened, since I couldn't see the life forces on the screen.

He told me that Gokudera was having a hard time. He hadn't even been able to toss one bomb at his opponent. Belphegor's knives were still able to hit him, no matter what he did. I heard Gokudera's painful cry and winced. A knife to the shoulder was a real disadvantage.

Then everything stopped. Belphegor threw a handful of knives, and they hit their target perfectly. I gasped as I heard the sound of the knives hitting their target.

"Gokudera-kun!"

The figure crashed through the window. It wasn't Gokudera, but a model from the science room. Turns out that when Belphegor had patted Gokudera on the shoulder, he put wires on them. When the knives were thrown at Gokudera, they were bound to hit because of the wire.

Just because the wire was gone doesn't mean that the match got any easier. There were still those damned turbines to worry about. The bombs were thrown, but those turbines didn't stop them. Instead, they changed direction and flew right at Belphegor, who seemed to take the full brunt of the attack. Maybe Gokudera would make it out of this match as the winner.

But then… Belphegor… he appeared unharmed. He began to cackle, and he sounded absolutely furious. Because Gokudera had landed that attack, Bel was now a very upset prince.

He was still laughing almost two minutes later. The clock was ticking, and I could sense how anxious the rest of my friends were. Gokudera threw his Rocket Bombs again, but Bel simply slashed all of them. Every move he made was with reason. He truly was a genius. Gokudera was doomed if he didn't start thinking straight. But he didn't let a point blank attack stop him. Bel sat up again, still unharmed, except for the brain damage. He was completely insane, not to mention that Gokudera was injured badly.

Six minutes remaining…

Gokudera vanished into the library, where Bel quickly followed him. His knives cut right through all the bombs that were thrown. For every knife that was thrown, Gokudera was cut by some unseen force. That's when I realized; if Bel could send knives along a wire, why couldn't he have surrounded someone with wires? Reborn and Shamal had the same thought.

Bel was smart, really smart. Gokudera was cornered, and running out of time. He was surrounded by wires, but he wasn't giving up. He had dropped his lighter on purpose earlier to destroy the wall that the wires were attached to. Sagging wires won't hurt. Since that worked, Gokudera's bombs were thrown once again, this time, onto the wires towards Bel. No escape and no mercy. Bel was cornered this time.

Gokudera won. It was as good as over. But Bel wasn't about to give up.

Three minutes until explosions…

Belphegor seemed to be injured in his side, lying eagle-spread on the ground, covered in rubble. His Flame was almost dying. Just as Gokudera grabbed the Ring, Bel began to attempt to strangle him, grabbing for the Ring. The match must have worn Gokudera out, since he had no energy to fight back.

Time's up.

When the turbines began to explode, Gokudera and Bel were still wrestling on the floor. Shamal was practically begging Gokudera to come back, but, being Gokudera, he wouldn't stop until he won. He was in fear of shaming himself. He was going to break our promise. Tears filled my eyes and I leaned on Basil for support. Tsuna seemed to see my tears.

"Knock it off!" Tsuna cried. "Why do you think we're fighting?! We're all going to have a snow fight and watch fireworks together! That's why we're fighting! That's why we're growing stronger! I want to laugh with everyone, but if you die, it's all meaningless! And… you're breaking your promise to Najika-chan!"

X Hayato Gokudera X

He was breaking his promise. How could he forget the pinky promise he made with Najika only the night before? What kind of friend forgets things like that? He remembered the pleading look on Najika's face when she made him swear him to come back.

"Just promise me that if you're forced to chose between the Ring and your life, you'd chose your life?"

"I promise."

A long drawn out beep.

Boom.

X Najika Kamiya X

No.

This couldn't be happening.

There was no way that Gokudera would break our promise.

"I promise."

He wouldn't. He couldn't.

I began to sob silently, my shoulders shaking with pain.

He and Basil were the closest I've ever been to people. I could always trust him to make me feel better. I was practically hidden in Basil's jacket, clinging to him for dear life, while he just murmured soothing words to me.

But it couldn't make me feel better like Gokudera could.

"Look over there!" I followed where Reborn was gazing. A red Flame, almost dead. A single tall, skinny figure. Limping, but otherwise unharmed. We all rushed to Gokudera, to see him collapse. I gasped and knelt next to him, grabbing his hand.

He rasped weakly, "I'm sorry, Juudaime. While the Ring was taken from me, I came back because I wanted to see those fireworks, and I wanted to keep my promise to you, Najika-chan. I'm not the kind of person to break promises to a friend."

I cried even harder and as he sat up, I hugged him immediately. "You really are stupid. Those stupid Rings don't matter to me. I just want you coming back safe. But you kept your promise, and that's what matters." He rubbed my back gently. "You won to me. You beat him, fair and square. Bel's just a persistent little worm, you know that."

He muttered, "I made you cry. I'll try not to make you cry again, Najika-chan. I promise. And you know I keep promises." I did know. He'd kept his promise today, and I knew he'd always keep his promises to me.

"Gokudera-kun… you're hurt. Come on, sit up. I knew you weren't going to get out unscathed, so I brought something to help ease the pain." I pulled a roll of bandages and medicine for scratches. "It may not stop the bleeding, but it's something."

Gokudera hissed as I applied the medicine to the cuts on his face. "Ouch." I quickly recoiled, frowning at his pain. "Keep going," he urged, "it'll hurt a lot more if you don't."

A soldier under Levi announced that someone had showed up outside of the school. I smiled; who else would it be but the boy with the purple Flame?

I wrapped the bandages around Gokudera's wound in his side, ignoring his flinch of pain. The soldier who ran around the corner was knocked back in front of us with a painful cry. I smiled a bit as Kyoya Hibari himself walked out to face us.

"The Cloud has arrived," I said to myself, humming a soft song.

Hibari turned a corner, his Flame just as irritated as he always seemed to be. Snickering at the predicament, I bit my lip and prepared for the confrontation.

The Cloud Guardian glared at the Varia, and threatened in his calmest voice, "Trespassing on school grounds," his gaze switched to the floor, "as well as destruction of school property…" He glared at Tsuna now. "You are all jointly guilty, and I'm going to bite you all to death."

… mmkay then, Hibari-san.

His solemn gaze switched to me bandaging up Gokudera. I noticed quickly and waved. "Hey, Hibari-san! Good to see you again; I take it you whipped Dino's ass during that training of his?" He nodded to me, saying nothing. "That's good. You fared a lot better than I did, I guess, since it doesn't look like you have a lot cuts or bruises." I could feel his eyes flickered to the cut on my face. "Oh, it's fine, Hibari-san. No need to worry!"

Levi attacked him head on, but Hibari simply stepped aside and tripped him. "Shall I bite you to death first?"

I gaped as Hibari aimed at Yamamoto, who had stepped in to calm the skylark. Yamamoto stepped back and grabbed Hibari's tonfa. I gaped at him; his movements were those of a swordsman. Reborn calmed him down, but then… he mentioned the name "Mukuro," and Hibari stopped fighting. Gokudera stood up shakily and I held onto him as he fell back against the window. With that, the Varia were gone.

Gokudera stood once again, nearly tripping and falling as he did so, and Tsuna worriedly exclaimed, "Gokudera-kun!"

He protested violently, "This is just a scratch!" Tsuna and Basil asked that Shamal would see to Gokudera's wounds. But the pervert decided he wouldn't since he wasn't a girl. He departed with a smirk that even a blind girl could see.

"I guess we have no choice. Romario, take a look at him." I knew that voice. Dino, the head of the Cavallone Family.

Romario quickly walked over to Gokudera and looked at him. "You were beaten pretty badly. But it looks like your wounds have already been bandaged well. Did you do this, Kamiya-sama?" I nodded, keeping quiet. "Well, it looks like you've done a good job with his wounds. Just be sure to help him change his bandages. You must really care about him."

I could feel my face grow red. "Of course I care about Gokudera-kun. He's been nothing but nice to me."

Romario chuckled, but said nothing. He continued to inspect Gokudera's cuts and scratches, correcting some of my wrappings. It was like he realized something no one else knew, which irritated me to no end.

Dino was saying something about Hibari, and how he would continue to grow. He'd grown stronger from the training, and, even though he was a handful, he was very strong. I knew just from the controlled Flame he had how much control he had over his strength.

"Squalo was meant to be Varia's boss."

So, he was strong. His light blue Flame was incredibly big, even compared to the rest of the Varia, save for Xanxus. His skills with the sword were going to be tough for Yamamoto to beat. Even the way he spoke was with the utmost confidence. Winning or losing didn't matter; it was more or less just being able to crush his opponent completely that mattered to him.

Training proceeded as usual the next day. I was fully concentrating on who I would be fighting. Only one person was left for me to fight, and that was the baby, Mammon. He seemed calmer than the rest of the Varia.

Lal and I were sitting on my porch, eating lunch. "Lal-san?" She made a small noise. "Do you know anything about Mammon?"

She shook her head, taking a bite out of her riceball. "No, sorry, kid. All I know is that he's the Varia's Mist user."

"Eh?! Then who's their Wave user?" I asked.

She shrugged, picking up another riceball. "No one knows. Apparently, they don't have one. But that only means that you'll win by default." I frowned; why was I training at all, then? "Hopefully that's enough for you guys to win the matches and for that wimpy kid to become the Vongola Tenth."

I was still thinking about what Lal had said when I dashed to Namimori. Yamamoto was going to win. I just knew it.

Everyone else was already there when I arrived, and I stood with Basil and Gokudera, the latter heavily covered in bandages. I giggled when I saw his muffled Flame, the usually fierce storm suddenly tamed.

Jokingly grinning, I teased, "Back from Egypt so soon, Gokudera-kun? Did you meet the pharaohs?"

"Shaddup," he muttered, his voice muffled behind the walls of fabric. "This is the result of Dino-san's bodyguard… Romario… and the turf-head bandaging me up, the idiots." I laughed as he struggled to get the bandages off of his head so he could at least breathe. I moved his hand away to remove them for him. "Thanks," he breathed, taking deep breaths.

The field was in the South Tower. It was wet, and I could hear running water everywhere. Basically; the longer the match took, the higher the water level will rise. A fierce creature would be released after a certain amount of time. The loser would be swallowed.

"Ah, sounds like fun!" The obnoxious voice of Bel floated to my ears. "Eh? Oh~! Naji-chan's here~ Now I can have some real fun!" He laughed dangerously as I backed up a bit. Bel was crazy.

I scanned the crowd of Varia. There was Bel, Levi, Mammon, Gola Mosca, and… Xanxus. He showed up, it seemed. And his Flame had grown even more since the last time I saw his Flame. I didn't know it was possible. I took another step back in fear.

X Hayato Gokudera X

Just before the match started, Dino showed up and greeted everyone. The baseball idiot had to win. Gokudera was shocked when the turf-head said that they should pull Hibari into their chanting circle.

Najika, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "He'd obliterate you all in a minute." Gokudera had to agree, as much as he didn't want to.

It was Juudaime that saved them. "Now, now. Not as a replacement, but how about we let Basil-kun in?" Everyone looked expectantly at the blonde, and Najika even pulled him into the circle, along with Lambo's tail.

The baseball idiot stayed inside, but everyone else was escorted outside. The Rain Guardian didn't seem worried in the slightest. Basil was relaying everything that happened to Najika. The long-hair immediately began to rush at the idiot, and kept attacking, even when he missed. The first part of the battle was mostly the idiot running from the long-hair's attacks and attempting to stay alive. But he revealed his sword style, the Shigure Souen, and the form Spraying Rain, avoiding death by using his sword.

Najika laughed as he relayed the moves to her. "Squalo-san could never beat Yamamoto-kun! Especially since he's mastered the whole Shigure Souen."

His Rolling Rain form saved him again from being cut in half. Dino, however, was worried. The idiot looked really confident, as he should've, after learning how to use all eight forms of the sword style.

He jumped at the long-hair and switched the sword from his left hand to his right, landing a hit using Early Summer Rain. The long-hair fell back into the water. But… it didn't seem to work. In fact, the hit was nonexistent. He'd jumped back, not allowed the hit to land.

X Najika Kamiya X

Squalo was too overconfident. He knew everything about Shigure Souen. I grimaced as I heard Squalo's yell and Yamamoto's cry of pain as his shoulder was slashed. I grabbed Gokudera's hand and squeezed as I heard a splash. Maybe this wasn't going to be so easy.

I noticed a strong force on the roof of the school. It could only have been one person. The infrared sensor was only in front of the tower, so I decided to check it out. "Hey, Gokudera-kun?" He made a small noise. "Tell me what happens. There's someone on top of the roofs."

I raced up the stairs and emerged on top of a building. The dark blue Flame of a Mist user was flashing before me. I knew who it was; this person had the same feel and presence as him. "Mukuro?" I called.

The Flame user turned towards me and asked, in a light, feminine voice, "Who are you? How do you know Mukuro-sama?"

So she knew Mukuro. It was a start, at least. Then, there were two more Flames in my vision range. The Flames of a Sun user and a Rain user, a yellow and a light blue. "Ken, Chikusa, what is it?"

Ken… and Chikusa… Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto? "Ken and Chikusa! It's me, Najika Kamiya!" I called suddenly.

Ken's loud voice exclaimed, "Najika-chan! It's been a while. Mukuro said to tell you that he says hello, and that the next time you see him, he'll be stronger than before. Now, what're you doing here?"

"I'm in the Ring Battle. What are you doing here?"

Huffing, Chikusa replied, "Same as you. Only, she's the one in the Ring Battle, not us." Who was the "she" Chikusa was talking about? "I don't know why Mukuro-sama insisted we protect her."

The girl replied, "I get why you don't, it's all right. You'll see who I am later in these battles, Kamiya-san. I can't reveal my name now. But for now, you may refer to me by Mukuro-sama's name."

I nodded. "Very well. I will, Mukuro-san. If you're the Mist user, that means that your battle is coming up within the next three days. I hope that you're able to attend." I heard a yell coming from below, and I frowned at the situation. "… I guess that means I should be getting back. I hope to see you again later." I bowed to the three and left the roof.

As I got down to the ground, I arrived in time to hear Yamamoto's name being called, then, his voice calling, "I won!" I could practically hear the smile in his voice. Waving my hand in front of the infrared sensor, I ran up to the door.

But the Cerevello had other plans, as did Xanxus. "The ferocious sea animal is going to be released. It's too dangerous to do into the Aquarion right now." They weren't going to even bother to save Squalo, but Yamamoto just wouldn't give him up. I could hear the arguments between the two swordsmen. Squalo was prepared to die at the hands of the shark.

… Dead.

Another one of the Varia was gone. They'd gotten rid of Lussuria and Bel was injured badly. Now, Squalo was dead, eaten by the shark. Xanxus didn't seem too displeased with his subordinate's death. No one deserved to die like that, not even scum like Squalo. Even Tsuna thought so.

The next match was to be between the Mist Guardians. But our Mist Guardian hadn't shown herself to anyone besides me. Even so, I had to track her down by myself with no hints but her Flame.

And I knew that my match was coming up soon. I couldn't afford to lose. Not when everyone was counting on me.

CHAPTER EDITED AS OF 6/15/13

Atogaki-

Wow. Um... this was somewhat dramatic, and kind of weird. But I had fun writing it, so that's all that matters. But anyways, I chose the song Hurricane by 30 Seconds to Mars for obvious reasons. And as for Chikusa and Ken calling Mukuro "Mukuro-sama," tell me, and I'll change it. Right now, I'm just too lazy to go look it up, plus I have almost no internet right now. I'm doing this in like, two minutes. It's kind of sad. Hurricane Irene hit where I am, and since I live in the middle-of-freaking-nowhere, the power lines got knocked out pretty fast, so I'm stuck watching Ao no Exorcist, and using my phone to reply and stuff. Sad, really. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed this.