Episode 8: The Wave's Wrath
"Marks of battle, they still feel raw. A million pieces of me on the floor. I'm damaged goods for all to see. Now who would ever want to be with me?"
-"Exit Wounds" by The Script

I was sitting with Bel in the living room of the Varia mansion, bored.

Sure, I had my laptop and I was watching Bleach, but I'd seen the whole series already. I sighed and closed my laptop, putting it on the table. "Bel?" I asked softly. He looked up from where he was polishing his knives. "Do I have a right to feel guilty for betraying my friends?"

He put his knives away and replied, "Well, I guess you do." Clearly he was back to his understanding personality. I swear, Bel is freaking bipolar. "You care about them a lot, but you were scared of them hurting you, so you just hurt them back. I wouldn't feel bad, but you know me."

Giggling a little, I nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Bel laughed a bit, leaning against the back of the sofa. "I don't know how to feel guilt or remorse," he confessed. "Only anger and hate. For a sixteen year old, I guess that could be a little problematic, but honestly, it's not a bad thing."

I was confused. "How is being an emotionless vegetable a good thing?" Seriously, without emotions, there'd be no friendship, no trust, and no love. But there'd also be no hatred, no rivalry, and no betrayal. Emotions are what drove me to betray my friends. "I guess it could get rid of some bad things, but to get rid of your emotions? I could never do that."

Chuckling a bit, he waved my comment off. "No, no, that's not it. You can still feel, you just don't show it. Like if I said something to hurt you right now, and you didn't react, it probably hurt you, but I wouldn't know if I did or didn't." I did see his point. So it was just an act, being emotionless. "As you've probably figured out, my being a seriously sadistic person isn't a total act. It's more just a hidden side of me. I can be sensitive if I want to."

I stood up and sat on the ottoman his feet were resting on. With no hesitation, I laid down, resting my head on his chest. His arms wrapped around my shoulder, one hand stroking my hair gently.

Curling into his body, I closed my eyes. "You're a really good friend, Bel-kun, and I badly misjudged you when we first met. I'm really sorry," I muttered, gripping his jacket as I curled into him.

"Thanks, Princess."

X Hayato Gokudera X

So as you could guess, the Vongola didn't succeed in finding a Wave Guardian.

Well… it's not really like anyone was looking in the first place. Juudaime was still training, and everyone else was getting their wounds checked out again by Romario. Stupid bodyguard. He was too cautious. Not like Najika, who would just treat and bandage the worst ones while fussing over them, but then tell him to deal with the scratches.

Gokudera thought that seeing her fighting against them would be the hardest part of this next battle. It may be best to just forfeit.

No! No, they couldn't afford to lose this match.

It was too important.

X Najika Kamiya X

The night came quickly.

Once again, we, the Varia, were all there at the school early. Xanxus sat in a throne and the rest of us were on the roof.

Once again, the rest of the Vongola Guardians showed up. Ryohei was the first, with Colonello, next was Basil and Tsuna, and third was Yamamoto and… and Gokudera. Chrome didn't show up, as she was probably still asleep. However, Ken and Chikusa both showed up and yelled for me to do my best.

The Cerevello announced, "The battlefield today will be the pool. This is a warning to the Wave Guardians; the pool is filled with electric eels, and there are only three platforms on each side." Simple enough. "However, one-by-one, the platforms will tip over after twenty minutes. In this match, if you fall in, you lose, no matter who has the Ring."

Bel chuckled and once again draped his arms around my shoulders. "This will be fun! I can't wait to see you fight, Naji-chan~" He giggled childishly as I simply rolled my eyes and turned away from him. He knew I was using what he told me about; being emotionless so you don't have emotions for people to hurt. "You hurt my feelings, Naji-hime!" Bel whined.

I sighed. "You don't have feelings to hurt, Bel." He just laughed, agreeing with me completely. "Xanxus-san." He looked over to me lazily. "Do you have the Ring?" He rolled his eyes and pulled the Ring out of his breast pocket of his shirt. He tossed it to me, while I caught it, slinging the chain over my neck.

"Now get going," he snapped, glaring at me. I smirked and mock saluted, hopping down from the roof and landing in front of the gate. The Cerevello opened it for me and I walked in, taking my place at one end of the pool.

I heard Bel's voice call, "Vongola, who's your Wave Guardian? Naji-hime needs to fight someone~" He was clearly having fun mocking Tsuna and his Guardians. His laugh was obviously teasing as he crooned, "Looks like we win!"

X Tsunayoshi Sawada X

Najika was fighting for the Varia. There was no doubt, since she was even wearing the jacket.

Meanwhile, Tsuna didn't have a Wave Guardian to send out. His fists clenched. Did he even want to send someone to fight Najika? She was his friend, no matter who's side she chose. But she was acting distant and closed today.

He looked at all of his friends. Ken and Chikusa had come, but Tsuna knew that they wouldn't fight against her. Gokudera, Onii-san, and Yamamoto already had fought, and Reborn and Colonello would probably either not fight or kill her pretty much immediately.

One of the Cerevello announced, "If Tsunayoshi Sawada does not send in a Guardian in five minutes, the match will officially go to Najika Kamiya, and the Varia will win." He saw Gokudera's eyes narrow. Najika wasn't even looking at them. Her arms were crossed and she was staring at the other side of the pool.

She noticed Tsuna and Gokudera's gazes on her and snapped, "I don't have all day, Vongola. Hurry up and send one of your friends."

Tsuna paused. He didn't know who to send in. In fact, he was about to go into the arena himself, and forfeit the match to Najika. He didn't want to hurt her. As he took a deep breath, he prepared to walk through the gates to the pool.

Another voice called, "Wait! Please, wait!" Tsuna stopped all movement. Everyone looked at the arriving figure. The Wave Ring was on a chain, dangling around his neck. He stopped short, right in front of Tsuna, bending over and panting.

"I am very sorry that I am late, but I had to find Najika-chan's Ring." It was Basil, his weapon in one hand and his other clenched into a fist around the Ring. "I will fight her."

Najika clearly didn't approve, as she scoffed. "Have you forgotten, Basil-kun? I beat you once, and it was a landslide victory to me. It shouldn't be to hard to beat you again." Basil didn't reply, only went through the open door of the fence.

X Basil X

The Cerevello began the match. "The Wave Battle, Basil versus Najika Kamiya. Battle, start!" Neither one of them made a move. They were both standing there, staring at their opponent and friend. Najika still looked bored, while Basil's face was glittering with determination.

"Najika-chan… none of us meant to doubt thou." She didn't move. "We art all very sorry about it, and Sawada-dono would like thou to come back to them." She uncrossed her arms and one of them moved one of her hands to the bottom of her black jean shorts, pushing the end of the jacket out of the way. Why wasn't she saying anything? "We're sorry… now please, come home."

For a moment, Najika didn't respond. Her head was down, her bangs covering her eyes. Then she slowly looked up. Everyone took two steps away from her. There was an anger in her eyes that no one knew she possessed.

"I was willing to forgive you idiots, but now… you send someone in to try and win me back? Pathetic," she spat, drawing her gun from its holster and letting it stay beside her. "You won't get anywhere like that. Go on, try and hurt me!"

Oh, now she was just taunting them.

Basil knew this and gritted his teeth before putting one foot on the platform nearest him. He saw that she was doing the same thing, only faster. She clearly wasn't afraid, and she clearly didn't want to talk. He stepped onto the platform, and noticed that Najika had stopped at the halfway mark. It was like she wanted him to charge at her.

He moved one foot to see if she'd do anything. But no, she simply stood there, her gun useless and limp at her sides. That's when he made up his mind; he would win and bring her back. Without warning, he leapt at her, his weapon raised. She smirked.

Smirked?

With her left hand, she grabbed his blade, the metal sinking into her palm, not even noticing the large gash it left on her hand. She pulled it down, yanking it out of a surprised Basil's grasp, tossing it off to the side. It landed a few platforms away with a clatter.

Now, Basil was left weaponless, while she still had her gun. Before she could hit him, he jumped back onto another platform, close enough for him to get his blade. The blood on her hand was dripping down onto the platform, and fast, forming a puddle underneath her feet. But she didn't falter. She only advanced more, the blood dripping down her fingers.

He almost regretted fighting her now. But all those thoughts left him when he saw her lift her gun. She shot a single bullet near his hand, forcing him to retract it. She didn't even look entertained. She simply watched him try and figure out his next move. After a minute of waiting, her face turned to annoyance and she gracefully jumped over to the platform.

She stood over Basil, who was still trying to reach his blade. "I would say that I'm sorry about this, but that'd be a lie," she said sweetly. Reaching down, she snapped the Wave Ring from around his neck and was about to put it with hers when Basil finally reached his weapon.

With a startled cry, she jumped back when he swiped at her. "I cannot allow thee to win, Najika-chan." He was deadly calm now. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out two of his Dying Will Pills, ingesting them. His brain turned to calm, and he knew what to do. He jumped backwards, landing on each platform.

He threw the blade at her, as it worked like a boomerang. Najika didn't know that, and once she jumped, she didn't even notice it coming back around until she had to duck to avoid it. She glared at Basil and raised her gun. "I'd hoped I wouldn't have to do this…"

A turquoise blue flame came shooting out of the gun, right at Basil. He hopped away, trying to avoid it, but it seemed like they were coming from everywhere. He was panting from dodging in less than three minutes. He looked at her, but she was nowhere to be found. In fact, four of the six platforms had turned over, including the one she had been standing on. "Najika-chan…?"

"Looking for someone?" Basil froze. How did she get behind him? She was smiling serenely, but there was a kind of malice behind it that only a pissed off girl could have. "Sayonara, Basil-kun." With that, she kicked him in the gut. He went flying back into the pool.

X Najika Kamiya X

Damn me and my stupidity!

I forgot about the electric eels! I was on the concrete of the sidewalk near the pool while Basil would probably drown. Sighing, almost resignedly – even though I was freaking out inside – I reached my hand down and grabbed Basil's who was struggling to swim up.

I hauled him up onto the concrete and watched as he coughed. "Why?" I sent him a confused and annoyed look, crossing my arms and standing up. "Why did thou save me? I thought that thee hated all of us," he stated, his voice soft and resigned. It nearly broke my heart.

I scoffed. "Whatever. No one deserves to die over a shit-piece like this," I snapped, holding up the Ring. "I just want this damn thing to be over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a boss to report to." I stalked off, feeling Basil's eyes on my back.

Climbing back up to the roof, I threw the Ring at Xanxus, who caught it with ease. Bel immediately draped himself over me. "I knew you'd win, Naji-hime! I saw you training last night~"

"Whatever." I clutched my blood-drenched left hand. That really hurt… "Do you have any bandages?"

There was a short pause and then ripping of cloth. I felt something being tied over my hand. Ouch. Whoever was wrapping my hand wasn't being too gentle about it, but I guess that was just the way they were.

"Let's go home."

X Hayato Gokudera X

As Juudaime helped Basil out, he asked, "What happened to Najika-chan? Is she mad at us?"

Basil shook his head. "Her actions are clear; she cares about all of us, but we doubted her strength. It's not something that we should've done, considering that she is a wave."

"Stop comparing her to a wave!" Gokudera snapped. "She joined the Varia. She left us behind. That's all there is to it. Only the weak betray their teams," he spat, turning and getting ready to leave. Weak. He just called her weak. That probably would've made her cry if she was there.

Juudaime sadly asked, "Is that what you really think, Gokudera-kun?" Said Guardian froze before shooting Juudaime a look and stalking off.

No. Of course he'd never think she was weak. Especially after she emitted that tiny burst of power. He was sure that everyone had seen it. It was only for a moment, but her Flame was visible.

It was a bright blue, almost periwinkle in color. The color itself, though, wasn't what he was concerned about. He was concerned about the intensity of it. Just looking at it strangled him.

It seemed… like it would kill him. And it seemed like she would let it.

CHAPTER EDITED AS OF 6/15/13

Atogaki-

I wanted it to be short. Yes, this chapter was intentionally short. Because the battle was one-sided. Basil doesn't want to hurt her, because it's clear that he cares about her. I hope that this was a surprise for you guys to find out that Najika would be fighting Basil. At this point, when I was writing this, my OTP for this story was actually not Gokudera/Najika, but Basil/Najika. To tell you the truth, this was going to be a Basil/OC story, because there are almost none out there, which makes me sad. He's cute, and so much fun.

The title, "The Wave's Wrath" is pretty much obvious. If Najika's denial stage was chapter six, this is her anger point. I chose "Exit Wounds" for more obvious reasons. xD I'm so obvious.

I finished watching Rebocon 4, and I was almost in shock when I found out that Dino's seiyuu was the same as Juudai Yuuki's (from YuGiOh! GX). I was like... "So that's why Dino's voice is so sexi." Plus, he's an amazing singer. If you get a chance, check it out, because he is amazing.