Woah, just checked my mail and found more reviews right after I posted section 3. :D
Again, thanks so much, everyone, for the reviews! xD
A reviewer, n a g a s h i . n o . k u r o, says the story is a little confusing. If it's confusing, for anyone that's confused with the story, try following along the events in the manga with the story; it'll give you an idea what's happening when, like Kaia does this while Tsuna is there and does that. :]
I hope that helps… xD
If not, you can contact me [again, if it's n a g a s h i . n o . k u r o]
Ahh, and n a g a s h i . k u r o, you'll have to read the author comments up here if you want to see the pairing poll updates. :]
And no, I didn't close the poll yet. Which means I haven't decided. However, since Mukuro/Kaia is in the lead, I'll have to assume this is going to be the final pairing until another entry takes up first place.
Well, since kaitlin177 voted again, here's the updated scoreboard:
Mukuro/Kaia: 9 [and 5 re-votes from Shin] [one of the votes are from Shoko-Chan, and she re-votes twice]
Belphegor/Kaia: 7 [a re-vote from The Great Pineapple MEKI] [a re-vote from RemStrike78] [and a re-vote from AkaMizu-Chan] [kaitlin177 re-votes twice]
Gokudera/Kaia: 7 [and 1 1/2 re-votes from Shin] [another re-vote from Crazee4anime] [a re-vote from little-L.A.M.]
Hibari/Kaia: 5 [a re-vote from that~one]
Yamamoto/Chrome: 2 [and 2 re-votes from Shin] [and a re-vote from Banyou]
Hibari/Haruka: 2 [and another re-vote from Shin]
Mukuro/Kaia with a Hibari twist: 1 [and 3 re-votes from Shoko-Chan]
Belphegor/Kaia with a Mukuro twist: 1
Soto/Kaia: 1
Byakuran/Kaia: 1
Xanxus/Kaia: 1
And a reminder: I'm still looking for versus battles. :]
I have Bel vs. Kaia so far, and I'm going to add Bel vs. Mukuro and Mukuro vs. Hibari to future face-offs. :]
That'll be fun…
Anyway, please enjoy the story, and I hope it won't be confusing…
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"Good morning," mumbled Kaia as she walked in casually through the door. "Reborn-senseii…" She calmly held up a hand, as Reborn came, seemingly out of nowhere, to attack Kaia with a green stick. Kaia held her ground and yawned, apparently not even using any real strength. Kaia smirked and walked on. Her Arcobaleno tutor disappeared out of sight again.
He came at Kaia from the back now. She merely side-stepped him, and Reborn nearly came crashing into the wall at the speed he was going at. Reborn gritted his teeth in frustration. Soto had trained her to such a level in the years he had her… No, only I have the potential to do such a thing. She's just fighting like a drunkard.
"So it starts now?" Kaia raised an eyebrow, her half-lidded eyes still sleep-ridden. "Aww~ Where's Leon~?" She stretched. A gunshot rang out, inches from where her stomach had been. Kaia had bent her belly forward into a refreshing stretch. "Such a nice way to get started for the day~!" Now she bent the other way, just as Reborn fired a bullet at where she had been. Kaia laughed aloud and stood upright. Reborn wasn't amused.
"Beginner's luck," he muttered, firing more shots from where he stood. Kaia was jumping and dodging the bullets, but still not tired. So her energy-leeching was immediately sucked away when contact with the younger Mukuro was cut off. Kaia grinned, her eyes dancing with delight, slowly being engulfed in red dying will flames. Her expression suddenly darkened.
"It's time I began playing, isn't it, Reborn?" she grinned. Reborn stopped shooting rounds and raised an eyebrow.
"So it's going to get interesting, eh?" Reborn smirked. "I haven't had this much fun since forever."
"I won't go all out," shrugged Ria. "Soto would be angry and throw a fit if he found out I hurt his friend." She smiled. "But I'm still blood innocent, as you know. That proves a gigantic disadvantage for me." Reborn frowned. Why would she smile at pointing out her own disadvantage?
"Enough talking," he muttered, firing successive shots at Ria. His opponent dodged them all; Ria still hadn't bled a single drop yet. Now, Ria pulled out the training knives.
"I'm bringing training knives in; is that okay?" she asked. She received no reply, so she shrugged and threw a handful at Reborn. The Arcobaleno dodged, deflecting them with his Leon-gun. Ria just stood there. It baffled Reborn; usually, people would take advantage of that split moment to attack Reborn directly. But Ria didn't. She just stood there. She was still part Kaia – the Kaia half was merely asleep right now.
"I know you're just playing with me," said Ria. "And I know you know that I'm just playing with you. Can you go all out, please?"
Reborn's reply was a homing bullet. A split moment later, Ria threw a knife so fast that it disappeared from sight. And both projectiles homed in.
The homing bullet was an exploding one. Kaia coughed as she emerged from the smoke and flying dust, boasting a miniscule cut, bleeding on her elbow. Reborn was left defenseless; Leon was hit by the knife, and like a sheet of paper, was tacked onto the wall. The knife was in all the way to the end, excepting a little bit to hold Leon there.
It was a draw.
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"I was only playing with you," Reborn remarked stubbornly. "I would have gone all out and defeated you much sooner."
"So would I," replied Ria, "If I went all out as well." She grinned to herself, standing, facing Reborn in the training room. "You know how Soto would freak out if he saw you covered in injuries. You know equally as well how he would freak out if he saw me covered in injuries." Reborn nodded.
"You still can improve enough," smirked Reborn. "To beat me." Ria shrugged.
"I'd like to release my pent-up Flames of Rage anyhow," she laughed, reading Reborn's raised eyebrow.
"How much do you know?" he asked. Ria shrugged.
"Don't you know how to read minds?" retaliated Ria, raising an eyebrow. Reborn frowned. It was like talking to a completely different person. "It's really rash to say that I can really improve enough to beat you in thirteen days, or even years. After all, you are the world's best mafia hitman."
"How much?" Reborn repeated. Ria grinned; she had a pretty good idea of how stubborn Reborn would be. She told the truth.
"Since the Ring Battles," she shrugged. "But not Kaia, mind you. I'm trying to keep her down a little." Reborn frowned. Is she really going insane? She's talking of herself…in a way…
"Then I will train you. We have six hours before they wake up," the Arcobaleno said. "Let's get started then."
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"First of all, you must know the combat style of this time. I believe you have not seen any of it, is that right?" said Reborn.
"How would I know? I don't even know what it is," remarked Ria with a shrug.
"Well," Reborn began. "Rings that can light flames are essential to fighting in this era. There is a pulse of special energy in our bodies, which can be converted in to attribute flames through rings, like Vongola Rings. These flames are a very important factor of victory in this time. Most flames are attack-based; not many flames can be used directly to defend against attacks." Ria nodded.
"There are two basic ways of using the flames," continued Reborn. "One way is to directly manipulate the flames into a weapon to fire them, much like guns or laser-guns. A second way is to open boxes. Boxes are box-like mechanisms that can open and release the thing inside, changing the simple flame energy into different functions and things. Most boxes are plainly called boxes, and some are named to distinguish between others. They contain objects and things that can be animated by flames. But when there is no flame enabling the box to move, it will immobilize, like an animal suddenly falling dead. There are boxes that release items that are engulfed by flames and others that can suck in an opponent's flames to become more powerful. There are storage boxes as well, which contain objects that cannot be animated by a flame. Storage boxes can store nearly anything – some even use it to store extra flames to release in emergencies.
"To open a box, one must both have a strong enough flame and the correct type of flame. There are seven types of flames – Sky, Storm, Rain, Lightning, Sun, Cloud, and Mist. Therefore, there are seven types of boxes, each with attributes like those I have named. The box type and the flame type must both match." Ria nodded again.
"Again, back to the pulse of energy in the body. This is also key to opening a box. These pulses also have seven types, like the box and like the ring. The strength and purity of the energy emitted goes at a fixed rate ever since the time you were born. This is known as the aura. Most humans have separate wave energies flowing through them, however usually if one can light a ring, it would be the only type that can be lighted by that specific person. Most people cannot light rings. Most wave energies are inherited through genes; most family members would have similar, if not the same, flame types. It also affects personality; for example, the Cloud would be calm and drifting, the Rain controlled, and the Lightning most lively. The Sky flame is the only flame that is able to open all types of boxes – however, it cannot draw out the full potential of the non-Sky box. It is a very rare type of flame, and is seldom seen. On average, the normal Mafioso would only see a Sky flame once every five years.
"To summon a dying will flame through a ring requires a sense of resolution and determination. Most normal people would not be able to have that strong sense of resolution; therefore, most normal citizens would be unable to use a box and ring. The stronger your resolution is, the stronger your flame will burn, and the higher the purity of the flame. The purity of a flame refers to its density, in a way, like now powerful it is in a given amount of space. When the purity of a flame increases, the characteristics of that flame would typically change a little bit as well, adapting to the larger amount of power, force, strength, and ability."
"So…" Ria raised an eyebrow.
"You have no ring; therefore you must work out a way to defend yourself from box-and-ring users efficiently," said Reborn. "I trust your judgment and your plans on this – I trust that Soto has done something like this in the past?" He looked up to Ria.
"He has," replied Ria. "How big is the rush, then?"
"Thirteen days, as I have said. Thirteen days to devise a fool-proof method of defeating most box-users. Soto has great expectation in your imagination, and I trust you can come up with one before tomorrow," replied Reborn. "I have a surprise for you at the end of the two weeks. Always train in the utmost secrecy, only at night, when nobody is here and everybody is asleep." Ria nodded.
"We typically sleep at about ten or ten-thirty at night, to about seven-thirty or eight in the morning. I will occasionally drop in to see your progress," said Reborn. "If you do not pass by the time the thirteenth day has come, then Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, everyone would have to know of your training."
"Good night, Reborn," Ria bowed. The Arcobaleno nodded, turned, and left the room. She looked around the training room. She knew that it was sound-proof, and most violent jolts, thuds, falls, and anything that would affect the rooms around it would be negated.
First of all, thinking was not to be done in a training room like this. She turned and marched out of the room, shutting the door. She had to find the library.
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Ah. That was interesting. However, next section will be much more interesting. It'll relate to scene 54. Remember scene 54? :]
If you don't, you can go check it out if you want. Just a little heads-up for next section. xD
Now, please review and vote and complain and suggest or whatever. :]
Thanks for reading, and please have a great rest of the summer!! x]
