Another one. Yosh!

I can't believe I'm doing Colonello! I can't believe I'm doing Colonello! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FRIGGIN' DOING COLONELLO!

Well, it was a good experience. And I blame Pokemon Songs... and Negima... and a little bit of Mulan for this. *cough*

Please review to make the Reborn characters happy... especially the Varia because they lack funds for their therapy. *cough* and you know how therapy can cost pretty high with them around. *shakes head*


=Message of the Wind=

"That's right...
I'm sure, I'm sure, I won't lose
Things like magic spells
I don't need them.
Run! run!
Quickly out of the wind
To the tip of this road
The bud that is our dreams is -hey- peeping out!"

---

It wasn't that bad after the training, the ginger-haired female thought, fixing the bandage wrapped around her body, it wasn't that bad. After all, nobody noticed anything about me, so said the short-haired soldier as she tied the loose ends before slipping in her camouflaged shirt. Great, she thought, shaking her head in disbelief (while hunting down for her own pants; not a very neat female we have here), what a stupid way for her to end up in the military- COMSUBIN to be exact- as she gritted her teeth in her own craziness. Well, she blames it on watching that cartoon- Mulan-was it- for bringing her mind with this idea.

Oh, sure, nobody knew that she's a girl; with a short, messy ginger mop of hair, slightly-unfeminine face of hers and, let's not forget, her brash and unladylike femininity, nobody would tell the difference.

Right?

"Jo! Hurry up or Miss Lal's going to kill us!" Someone shouted before hearing a slight groan from the female- whose voice and speech mannerism doesn't really make any difference that makes her sound more girly to be exact. "She said to meet her in her office! Hurry up in there, are you a woman or something?"

"No shit, Sherlock!" She replied back in an irritated manner- though that guy probably don't know half of her about that- as she finally located her own pants and put them on before picking up the dark-green beret and placed it onto her head. Screwing the doorknob open, she gave a scrunched look as she wondered why Lal Mirch wanted her in the first place.

Upon arriving at her office, the female who was known as Jo noticed that one of her fellow comrades, Colonello, was also present and was talking to Lal as if they were buddies. Well, no use since she agrees on the guy; Lal Mirch needs to act more like a girl. Ha, who is she to talk? Jo should say that to herself first, she thought gingerly, clearing her throat so that she could be noticed.

"That was fast of you," The blonde-haired male smirked, making her blush a bit. "And here I was, thinking you're a bi slower with that body of yours, but I beg to differ." Jo only grunted in reply (blush still intact) as she mentally noted that in COMSUBIN, she is a guy portraying as a female.

"Enough!" Lal's sternly said as both of them stopped from their almost-attempted battle and straighten themselves up. "Colonello, get back to your post, I need to speak to Jo in private." Colonello did not made any second thoughts as he saluted his commander and, as he passed the ginger-haired comrade of his, he placed his calloused hands over her head and gave a ruffled pat before walking out of the door and closing it in the process. After the said male had left, the raven-haired female sighed as her gray optics observed the female who was fixing her mane of hair (while mumbling some incoherent words at some point) before she sat down onto her chair behind her desk. "You seems to becoming close with Colonello," Lal observed the other' slightly coughed before she continued. "You should know that the reason you are in COMSUBIN is to serve Italy as a marine soldier, and I believe you knew that from the beginning of your arrival here, Josephine." Of course, Jo thought, Lal Mirch is the only one (so far) who had known the female's secret that she is, in fact as stated before, a female (albeit a bit of a tomboy in a sense) and that she was the one who made it possible for the female to actually make it in as one of the elite (second one is Colonello and there are others).

"Yes, ma'am." Jo replied with a slight stiffness.

"By the way, you have a call a while ago and I suppose you might want to take this time to call them back." That was one of the good things about Lal sometimes, Jo thought with a smile as her commander handed her the phone and quickly dialed her home number, she sometimes understand me, prolly because I'm the only female who is brave- or stupid- enough to actually want to be in the war for all she care.

---

"So, what it is about, hora?"

One of the chances where the soldiers were taking a break, Colonello and Jo managed to have their usual lunch together as the ginger-haired soldier took a large bite out of her own lunch. He noticed that after she was dismissed by Miss Lal, she was grinning as if she got a promotion or something. Knowing their commander, it could be anything, he thought curiously, but he rather asks the female in question just to make sure.

"Ehe," The female replied with a grin after wiping off the residue from her mouth with the back of her hand (so unladylike!) "Got good news from back home," She stated proudly, taking another bite and swallowing her food before she went on. "Ma said that I'll finally be getting myself a new sibling!" He couldn't understand why she was happy about it, the blonde thought, but he didn't have to ask it as she continued. "I always wonder what's like to have a little bro or sis, and I'm really fond of kids. Thought I'll be just an only child, but guess The Guy from Above heard me alright!" A chuckle was heard from the female before she stood up, picking up her own tray, waiting for her comrade to finish eating. "Now Ma 'n Pa won't be lonely and I could have someone to play with; I dun care if it's a boy or a girl, as long as it's someone, I'll be happy!"

---

Every day seems to pass by slowly; every hour seems to slow itself down as the anticipation building itself up onto the female soldier's beating chest. So, would it be a girl or a boy? Would it look like Ma or Pa? Would this baby take Ma's calm yet wise manner or Pa's callous yet firm belief? Whatever it is, she doesn't care as long as their family would have an additional member, and that is the only thing that made her from detaching at the fact that she's a female at heart. Sure she looks a lot like a male with few modifications, can fight back at anyone without hesitation, uses weapons and heavy artillery, and even manage to mingle in with the rest of those roughly mannered males as if she is one herself, but the fact that she adores kids to the point that she wanted to have her own, little sibling had still made her feminine despite all these circumstances.

But this europium anticipation of hers didn't last long, unfortunately.

The soldiers were given a 'break' from all their hard work and training, allotting them two weeks to spend time away from the camp as Jo decided to visit her family in these times, excited that in a week's time, she would have a baby brother. With her experience here in COMSUBIN, she surely can teach the little tyke everything and anything about how to be tough like a male! Colonello decided to hang along, seeing that he doesn't have much plans anyway in his place.

In short, he needed a place to crash, and who would be a better place that Jo's?

A few days after he arrived at the town where Jo is staying (He got that information from- who else- Lal Mirch herself), he noticed that when he asked where the female, Jo, is staying, most of the answers he got were 'Ah, you mean Josephine, right?' or anything similar. Strange, did Jo had a sister or something, as he tried to 'correct' that he meant Jo, the 'guy' with messy-looking mop of ginger hair, gray-colored eyes and smaller than an average Joe. Nevertheless, he found out where 'he' leaves and when he tried to knock, a female in her fifties opened the door as he asked if this is where Jo lives.

"Ah," The woman exclaimed, a smile plastered onto her face. Colonello immediately noticed that the woman looked a lot like Jo, only older and a female, but his budding suspicion grew when she continued. "You must be that lad my daughter, Josephine, was talking about back in the army!" He was muddled by confusing thoughts as she let him enter and told him to wait onto the living room while she prepares some drinks.

Upon inspection onto the picture frames placed neatly onto the drawers and above the fireplace, he noticed the same ginger-haired person- only younger- as he realize...

Jo is actually a female!

He never knew that those blushes she emitted every time he notice her enter Lal's office was NOT meant for Lal after all and all the other 'odd' things she would have been doing that he thought only girls (and girly-guys) would do! Dammit, how stupid of him, he ranted to himself. He's going to have a long chat with her after this!

"I'm very sorry," He was surprised at the old woman's apology before he realizes what she is apologizing about. "Josephine always wanted to be part of the army but it seems she thought the only way for her to join without being ridiculed is to impose as a male." Sitting down, she picked up her own cup of tea as she silently offered the other cup towards the male (in which he took out of respect). "She never seems to be that close with females in her young, always being taunted to be un-pretty, but I guess she felt she was more secure when she's around boys more than her own gender." Shaking her, he noticed her sigh before she went on with her tale.

Halfway, Colonello didn't listen to her tale, his mind still muddled by the fact that she had deceived everyone in the army. Has Lal known about this? How about everyone else? Why did she done that? He was angry that she had lied to them; he would understand if she told him that she's a female, but why would she do such a thing just for her own, selfish act?

"You know, I believe there is a reason for you to come here. You see..."

Snapping back from his thoughts, Colonello noticed a sad smile forming onto the woman's face.

"A few days ago, two days after Josephine arrived; we received the news from the doctor that the baby won't make it." Another sip from her tea. "She was very excited about having her own little brother, she keep asking if she could be the one naming the young one and spend some time with him. I guess the news really broke her spirit- she's spending almost the whole waking day in the room where her brother is supposed to stay when he arrives- and I suppose you arriving here would at least try to cheer her up."

After a few more talks and so, Jo's mother lead the lad upstairs as they stopped onto a room with a closed door as she knocked three times before talking to whoever is in there. "Josephine, your friend is here, please come out and talk to him!" Looking back at the blonde-haired male, "I'll leave you for a while, I have to make lunch." Walking back towards the kitchen, Colonello was left alone, standing in front of the door as he heard a muffled sound from inside the room. Upon hearing the tale, his anger had somehow diminished, remembering the times where she was eagerly talking to him about her having a baby brother and how she will take care of him and talk to him and teach him stuff. He remembered the eager smile present onto her face in which he realize that it actually suited her better than a scowl she shows every time.

Thinking that she had taken a long time, he didn't even felt guilty pounding the door as he hollered towards the occupant from the other side of the door.

"Hey, come out and open the door!" He shouted but no answer came. "Stop moping around and come out!" That was tactless of him as he growled and latched his other hand onto the doorknob. "If you don't come out, I'm coming in!" He didn't even wait for an answer as he screwed the knob, pulling the door open as he noticed, from the decorations, bright wallpapers and all the other stuff that this is actually the room the woman was talking about. And, right here and there, he heard a sniff as he whipped his head and noticed a very annoyed female wearing only a shirt and jogging pants as she stood at the crib, holding a what-it-seems to be a teddy bear, and, from the looks of her face, she had been crying.

"C-Colonello?"

"Ch'... you've been crying like a pansy!" Colonello's callously replied, crossing his arms. "I can't even believe that one of the strongest COMBUSIN elite is actually a crybaby!" She tried to blubber something but he caught her to it. "And don't even dare to retort back, I already know your secret." Narrowing his eyes, he watched as the female in front of him clenched her fist, eyes glaring onto the floor and not even daring to face him. "Oh, suck it up, Jo! You're just pretending to be strong when, in fact, you're just a pretty weak female! Ha, you're not even as close as Lal Mirch for all I care (and, frankly, not quite as pretty to say at least) so why don't you just drop out of the army and just spend your loony little time here, moping like you're suppose to do!"

WHAM!

Damn, that punch gotta hurt, the male thought as he noticed the female huffing, her fist balled itself tightly while the other grasping onto the bear's limp arms as she growled onto her fellow COMBUSIN-comrade, eyes glaring daggers at him. As if the punch was not enough, the female advanced herself and grasped onto his wrist tighter than any monkey-wrench could do, bending it onto his back as he tried his best not to holler strings of curses as of not to make a ruckus (with no avail, unfortunately).

"Say that again and I'll make sure you won't even go as far as returning in the army!" Jo seethed, tightening her grip. "Bring back what you said, idiot!"

"Heh," He still managed to pull out a grin. "Make me, hora!" He didn't even realize that body slam she just did to him, and now he knew what the rest of his comrades feel when she does that to them. Damn, she's a lot worse than Lal, he thought through pain. "That ought to put you back to reality, kora!" He said in an attempt to stand up (using the crib's railings for support) as he grinned towards the female as if he had just done something good. "You don't really look that great anyway with that sad face, didn't you know?" Now it was her turn to look confuse as she blinked owlishly at him, not knowing what's going on. "You should stop moping like a child and move on; do you think your little brother would look up to you when he sees you like this?"

"..."

In a rare gesture of kindness, he walked up towards the female as he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in a tight embrace.

"There's nothing you can do about it, kora, but I'm sure there's a reason for everything. He'll hate it when he sees his older sister cry, even from up there."

And, here and then, he is right, Jo thought, a small smile present onto her mouth as a crimson blotch formed onto her cheeks.

"Try to be strong, I'm sure even if he's not here, he's still there for you, kora. And I'll make sure of that!"


Now you know why this one is placed here. Haha, I got watching Negima all over and I'm amazed at the episode about Ayaka's relation with Asuna and the reason why she dotting over Negi. Haha...

Yeah...

Modern-day Mulan much?

The song is 'Kaze no Message [Message of the Wind]' by Mai Mizuhashi from the anime "Pokemon D/P". Sure I'm sure; we all know the disclaimers.... I don't own Reborn, its characters, COMBUSIN, and everything, except this one and my characters.

Anyway, review will make the world go round, says Fye D. Flourite... and probably Verde. *cough*