Episode 16: Battling the Future
"Drink the poison lightly, 'cause there are deeper and darker things than you, I know, 'cause I've been there, too… I know it must be frightening to have the world fall apart right under your shoes; trust me… You'll make it through…"
-"I'm Not the One" by 3OH!3
It was around an hour after the battle. It was still as boring as ever. No more battles were coming for us. All I could do was lounge around and train more with Frusta and Vento. I sighed and spun the box lazily.
"I'm bored!" I complained loudly, leaning back on the rock. Bel and Fran were chasing each other again, Hikaru was off trying to gather more Rings from the bodies, as my future self's Ring shattered in the past week, Xanxus was being lazy, Lussuria was tending to the injured, and Squalo and Levi were sparring after some pointless argument.. It was then that my cell phone rang. "Hello?"
"Hey, kid." Lal? She sounded really weak "We need you back. You have to help Sawada. You have to face the Arcobaleno with the rest of them." My eyes widened. "We only need you for around a week. No big deal."
I sighed. "I'll go ask Xanxus. Call me back in ten." Hanging up, I waltzed past the entirety of the Varia, right up to Xanxus's throne. "Xanxus, I have a request."
"What do you want," he demanded.
Trying to be subtle, I simply said, "I just need a few days off… See, Vongola is having a bit of a tough time with something, and I need to go help them." He shrugged. "So… is that a yes?"
He shrugged again. "Do what you want." I smiled and practically ran from him, towards the clearing, where our transport was.
When I passed Hikaru, he stopped me. "Hey, you're going back to Japan, right?" I nodded. "Well, good luck, Najika. You're gonna need it, since Japan is seriously under attack right now. Fortunately, you'll have Sawada-kun and Gokudera-kun to help you, right?" He smiled as I nodded happily, smiling up at him. "And it took me a while, but I finally finished it. Here," he said happily, holding out something small and green.
What he handed me was another box. "A box weapon?" I asked skeptically.
He shook his head. "Nope. Well, yeah, but it's a transport system. Open it." When I opened the box, I managed to pull out what looked like a snowboard, only smaller. "It's powered by Flames, and it's super fast. It'll get you to Japan in a day!"
A huge smile planted itself on my face. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Hikaru, you are the absolute best. Thanks so much!" I hugged him again as I ran. "See you in a few!"
As soon as I got to the clearing, I pulled out the Flame-board and took off.
Tsuna-kun, Hayato-kun… I'm coming.
X Tsunayoshi Sawada X
All of them were sitting in the living room, save for Hibari, who was on his own again, and Gokudera, who was getting drinks. They were waiting on the one person who wasn't with them yet. Najika Kamiya, the Wave Guardian.
The door slammed open. "What's all this about facing the fucking Arcobaleno!" a voice demanded. Najika Kamiya stormed in and stood over Tsuna, her coat tucked under her arm. Tsuna noticed the Varia's logo on the jacket. "You, Tsunayoshi Sawada, are so much trouble! Can you keep yourself out of battle for one minute?"
"Najika-chan!" Tsuna exclaimed happily. "You're okay, you're safe!" He reached up and hugged her tightly. "Why did you even leave? It wasn't like we didn't want you around…"
She pulled away. "You're not mad?"
Tsuna smiled even wider. "I'm a little bit upset that you left, but I'm not mad at you for what happened in the past."
She sighed. "Well, I come back and learn that we beat a Funeral Wreath only for you to find an ally in the enemy. God, what is this world coming to?" she complained. "I'm just glad you guys are okay." She gazed around. "Eh? Was everyone pulled into the future?"
He sighed. "Yeah… Yeah, we all were." Then he noticed her bandaged arm. "What happened to you?" he cried, grabbing her arm and inspecting it. He noticed in horror that red liquid was leaking through the white bandages. It looked bad.
The brunette looked down and then laughed. "This is nothing. It was just the result of training the newbies. It's not a huge deal. I mean, it's not like I died…" She smirked a bit and proceeded to change the subject. "So, you all won? It's good do hear that you're doing okay."
Onii-san looked closer. "Your eyes look extremely clear!" She smiled.
"You noticed? I had a bit of surgery done. I'm not blind anymore. Judging by the voice, you're Ryohei Sasagawa. Nice to finally see you." She turned back to Tsuna and said, "By the way, the Varia have succeeded in taking the castle. The Funeral Wreath, Siel, has been eliminated by Xanxus."
Tsuna cried, "Eliminated? As in, dead?"
She shrugged. "What do you expect from an assassination squad?" She laughed as Tsuna began to cower in terror at the now-trained assassin. "Hey, I didn't kill him. He was simply… disassembled, to put it lightly. Sorry for not telling you I was leaving, Tsuna-kun. I just didn't want you to worry."
The Vongola Boss waved her off. "Not a problem, Najika-chan."
She laughed and replied, "Well, I should also tell you that I was assigned to a mission with Fran. I'm going back to the Varia Castle as soon as we return."
"So you finally came back, and you're gonna run off again?" Gokudera's voice asked. Everyone turned to see the bomber standing at the door with a tray of tea in hand. "Najika, you have no idea how worried I was about you." He shoved the tray into Yamamoto's hands and quickly hugged her. "You idiot."
She pulled away quickly. "Sorry, Hayato-kun. I was just trying to find out what the hell happened in this time period. In Italy, things aren't any better. I couldn't get anywhere without having to bring out my box weapons. Even Bel had to fight." She pursed her lips. "This sucks."
Gokudera grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her, right in front of everyone. Yamamoto looked away politely, Kyoko and Haru squealed, and Chrome smiled widely. Tsuna's jaw dropped as Gokudera pulled away. Najika's face turned a bright red. "I…I told you that I missed you…" he stuttered quietly and looked away from her.
Najika's tough exterior she was trying to keep up fell and she hugged the Storm Guardian tightly. "Is it too late to say how much I missed you?" He shook his head and hugged her tightly.
Tsuna smiled. His Family was back.
X Najika Kamiya X
Lal asked, "How'd you get here so quick?"
I opened the box and pulled out Chiarore, my Flame-board. "I made a friend in the Varia who helped me out. He knew I was going to come here, and he gave me this to get home."
"It's Hikaru Kobashi, right?" my tutor asked sharply. I nodded. "I knew it. He's the only one who can create stuff like that anymore."
Laughing, I replied, "He's a hell of a Flame user, too!" I looked around the room. "Your Flames are all so much stronger… how often have you been fighting?"
The Arcobaleno sighed. "Too often."
I laughed again. "I'm guessing Hayato-kun was being a total pain in the ass when he was injured, right?" I saw my boyfriend's face turn red and he sputtered nonsense as he looked around at his laughing friends. "It's good to finally be able to see your faces."
Tsuna laughed and smiled, but it soon slid off his face. "I can't make you do this, but if you'd face the Arcobaleno with us, then it'd mean a lot to me."
Lal sent a glare at Tsuna. I simply shook my head and replied, "Don't be stupid, Tsuna-kun. You can't get back without me. You need everyone who's brought back ten years, right?" He nodded. "But wait. What if we're not the only one's who've been brought back? After all, if there are that many hidden Vongola Bases, who's to say that we don't have more people in the other countries?
Reborn finally cut in, explaining, "There's a monitor of the entire world on the screen in the security room. If the 10-Year Bazooka goes off anywhere, it'll show up there."
"That's good. I'm worried about the people in Namimori." I crossed my arms and leaned against the doors. "I know that Hana Kurokawa is still alive and does know, to some extent, about the Mafia. Now, Hikaru Kobashi and the entire Varia has been pulled in. The CEDEF, namely Basil, has connections in this world, too."
Everyone's jaws dropped. "How do you know so much?" Takeshi asked.
I smirked a little and looked down at the box weapons at my side. "Being in Italy for three months has its positive sides." Reborn seemed to smirk, too. "Let's do this then. We're going to the past, right?"
As everyone walked out, I stayed with Lal. "You wanted to ask me something, kid?"
I nodded. "Yeah. What's with this 7^3 that I've heard about? All I know is that there's seven Vongola Rings, seven Mare Rings, and seven Arcobaleno Pacifiers, but I'm the eighth Vongola Ring. Where do I fit in?"
She shrugged and replied, "Dunno, kid. Maybe it's just because you hold more power than most of them by yourself."
"It's science, Lal, not strength or power," I stated flatly, walking out. "We'll be back in a few."
X Hayato Gokudera X
When they were finally back at the base to go into the past, Gokudera noticed that Hibari had already gotten there. "You're late, herbivores," he deadpanned. Najika let out a small laugh.
"I see Hibari-kun hasn't changed at all," she mused from Gokudera's side. "But we should probably get going." She checked that she had her boxes and Ring.
Shoichi Irie walked up to her and smiled a little. "Nice to see you again, Najika-chan." She looked up at him and her eyes widened. "I see you recognize me. I was a year above you in school."
She nodded. "Your Flame isn't as weak anymore," she pointed out bluntly.
The redhead nodded sheepishly. "Perhaps I should explain for the people who weren't here, as well as give some new information. Like the fact that even though you've been here for a few months, only three days passed. I just want you to say that you went on a picnic and got lost. Cover up for your disappearance." Everyone nodded at that. "The Arcobaleno Trials will last for one week. If you don't complete the Trials within a week, everything will fall apart, and we lose all hope of defeating Byakuran-sama."
That was when Kyoko and Haru walked in. "Is everyone prepared?" Everyone nodded when Juudaime looked at them. Even Yamamoto, who knew his father was going to die.
Spanner typed some things into the computer and everyone began to glow, sending them back ten years.
When Gokudera opened his eyes, he was walking out of a shopping district. Hibari immediately walked off, and Chrome was missing. It was then that Gokudera noticed a sign reading "Namimori's underground Shopping Centre; parking lot entrance construction site." That would be where the Melone Base was in the future.
Proof that they'd gone back.
I'm a horrible person. Yeah, there's another short chapter, after a long wait. :P I'm just that amazing.
Onto better subjects; 15 chapters of this story are up, so I'm going to start focusing on another story. There's a poll going up soon. :)
Here's the choices! First to seven votes wins!
Anyways, 15 chapters of Rainbow Shooter are up, and now, I am going to put up another poll on which story you'd like me to work on the most now. I've been working with one-shots most of the time so I don't know where my inspiration will strike next. I can't guarantee that the story you choose will be my main one, but I will try. :)
Choices:
-07-Ghost
-Air Gear
-Bakuman
-Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)
-Bleach
-Blue Exorcist (Ao no Exorcist)-Darker than Black
-Death Note
-Durarara!
-Fairy Tail
-Fullmetal Alchemist-Haruhi Suzumiya
-Hetalia: Axis Powers
-InuYasha
-Naruto
-One Piece
-Prince of Tennis
-Tokyo Majin
-Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
-Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru
-Uta no Prince-sama
-Vampire Knight
New Characters:
Shoichi Irie, age 15. He is a year older than Najika and Tsunayoshi, but does appear to have knowledge of the Mafia. He has had an "encounter" with Lambo once before.
Hikaru Kobashi, age 14. He is the future Varia Cloud Guardian, but at the moment, he's simply a student and a classmate of the Vongola Boss, who adores mechanics and biology.