Yo! I'm back people! Here's another chappie in Karasu's POV!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT... you know what? You all should know by now that I don't own anything but the original scenes and characters (who are Karasu, Alana, and Jung-won)
Enjoy!
Warriors Don't Cry
Chapter 7: Ditching School – Karasu
A dark-haired girl looked out from her lattice windows. It may be that her father could contain her physically but it was impossible for him to contain her fiery will to be free.
She was already dreaming of what the world is like beyond her little room.
Books, songs, and stories weren't enough to satisfy her curiosity and she looked forward to the full moon. She had just turned sixteen centuries old, old enough to go down with her sisters to bathe in the Lake of Summer Tears down in the mortal world.
The girl focused back to her task of weaving her father's clothing. Her weaving was the most favored out of her twelve sisters. Even though she was the youngest. She loved to weave. It was the only thing that prevented her from dying of boredom. She carefully laced a small, shining thread into the black cloth to map out the whole constellation into her father's robes. He loved the stars so she knew he would be very pleased by the style she chose.
A light summer breeze drifted into the room, causing the small bag filled with strings to fall from its perch of the loom.
She was distracted again when a red string fell from her little bag filled with strings of all colors. The girl stopped her weaving and carefully picked up the red string.
This string was more important than the rest because it fell from old man Lao's bag of strings. She overheard her sisters say that if the string were to be tied around the little finger, the person would fall in love with the person, which the string is tied to at the other end.
The girl wasn't much of a romantic, but she was curious.
Who was attached to the other end of the string?
She fingered the red string before tying it around her pinkie. She admired how it glowed under the moonlight. She looked around as if expecting the person to pop out of nowhere.
No one did.
The girl could imagine the look of disappointment on old Lao's face. This string was meant for another maiden who was fated to meet and fall in love with the mortal man.
The maiden might die alone because of her curiosity.
A little embarrassed by her childishness and guilty, the girl made a move to untie the string to find that it disappeared into thin air as if it never was tied to her little finger in the first place.
In the distance, a sad tune played by a flute sounded as if it already knew the end of the story.
I woke up this morning with a headache because of the strange dream that haunted me last night. I rubbed my eyes. Well, at least the day can't get worse than yesterday! I thought optimistically while putting my school clothes on.
Imagine my annoyance when I saw Dino's subordinates hanging around our front yard just like yesterday. I rubbed my eyes and scowled at the group of men cleaning their guns ad smoking like they had no care in the world how my neighbors would react when seeing them.
I hate Fridays.
"Awesome! What kind of rifle is that?"
At least Alana was having a blast. Jung won-seonsaeng left our house after dinner last night, stating that she was going to get a hotel room for herself. I stretched and leaned on the brick wall at the front and waited for my brother.
"Gah! There's a commotion in the front house again!" I heard Tsuna yell. I pushed myself from the wall and walked to Tsuna's side. "Yeah, they were like that for a while."
Alana hopped over and grinned from ear to ear. "These guys are great! Tsuna-fish, can we have them over every day? Please?"
"Every day? Hiii! No way!"
"That's not something I would like to experience either, Alana. I actually feel uncomfortable with this many people so close to our house during early mornings. It makes me feel as if I'm being stalked." I agreed.
"Good Morning, Decimo, Decimo's sister, little girl." Romario greeted all of us in Italian.
I nodded. "Good Morning to you too, Romario." I greeted in broken Italian. I learned a little back in America but only the basics. Romario looked at me appraisingly. "You know Italian, Decimo's sister?"
"Call me Karasu and yes, I learned only a little bit." I said modestly. "I don't know much and my accent is terrible."
"No, you're doing very well for a beginner, Karasu-sama." Romario praised lightly. "I'm impressed my your efforts."
Karasu-sama, at least that was an improvement from Decimo's sister.
"What are you guys doing here? I didn't ask you to pick me up." Dino, looking disheveled and sleepy, peeked out from the front door. Hard to think that this clumsy, kind, young adult was a boss of a mafia family.
"No one came to pick you up, boss." One of the men piped up. "I was just taking a stroll and ended up here."
"Me too."
"Me too."
"From the hotel in front of the train station?" Dino said incredulously. I smiled at his subordinates, my earlier annoyance gone. Both Tsuna and I shared a look. They really loved their Boss, didn't they? Goes farther to prove that Dino was a good boss.
"Good morning, Juudaime!" I heard Gokudera's voice suddenly, breaking my little emotional connection with Tsuna. He scared me! "I woke up too early so I was wandering around and ended up here!"
Speaking of good mafia boss, Tsuna was becoming a really great one despite of his reluctance of being involved with the mafia. Gokudera was a fine example of that.
Gokudera turned and kept his grin while facing me. "Good morning, Juudaime's sister!"
"Call me Karasu-chan. We're friends, aren't we?"
Before he could reply, he was fly kicked by our favorite midget. And no, it wasn't Reborn. Alana smirked cheekily. "Why no 'good morning' to me, huh Octopus-head? No good being rude to your Boss' sister's right hand woman!"
I felt another squabble coming so I stopped it by tossing a bag of candy at Alana's way and apologizing profusely to Gokudera. "Sorry, Gokudera-kun. She's just a bit energetic today because of our morning guests. Forgive her this once?"
"Morning guests?" Gokudera's happy face turned serious and inadvertently made me blush. Hey, it was the first time he looked at me like that since I met him and it made him look more-how can I say this- attractive. I can't blame his fangirls now for liking him so much. They must see that expression on his face every day.
I'm a bit jealous.
That expression felt nostalgic and familiar. I wonder where I saw it before?
I shook my head to clear my mind. What the hell was I thinking? This was Gokudera! Why was I making such a big fuss over his face expression? He was just a friend. I was just getting over Takeshi. This was unacceptable!
"Hey Tsuna and Gokudera!" I brought myself back to the present just in time to feel Takeshi's chest hit my back while his arms hung carelessly over Tsuna and Gokudera's shoulders jamming me into a sandwich between my brother and his best friend.
Since my decision of not pursuing my past feelings for my best friend, I've kept a fair distance away from him. Now, here he was. Touching me. I braced myself for the onslaught of emotions of regret and heartache like I usually did before and after I came back to Japan.
I waited.
"What are you guys doing? We're going to be late!" Takeshi stated/scolded cheerfully.
I blinked in surprise. Nothing. Nada.
I felt as if a huge weight was lifted for my shoulders. I relaxed into Takeshi's chest and smiled up at him. "Well hello there, stranger. I don't think that we've met before." I joked lightly. "You don't seem to remember my name."
Takeshi laughed. "You're in a better mood today! Good morning, Karasu!"
"Better."
Gokudera glowered at Takeshi in annoyance and hatred, more than usual that is.
"Hello." He greeted Dino cheerfully.
"Yo."
I looked around. "Where's Alana?"
"Didn't you hear her say that she was going to go ahead?" Tsuna asked curiously. I shook my head. It must've been while I was admiring Gokudera's seriousness.
"Eh, I must've been a bit out of it. Friday mornings, you know how they are to me." I quickly made an excuse, embarrassed by the strange thoughts I had toward the silver haired bomber.
Tsuna knew I was lying. I was a terrible liar when I was nervous.
Not now. I begged him with my eyes and he understood. That was what I loved most about my brother: he left things alone if I wanted him to.
My mind wandered as my brother and his friends talked about Dino and his success in leading the Cavallone Family. This information was nothing new to me so I allowed my mind to wander.
I remembered the strange dream I had last night. It was a while since I last had that sort of dream. Those dreams began to flow into my subconciousness since that incident. I knew Alana and the other two who trained together were experiencing the same thing.
My Sensei, not Jung-won or Butcher Knife Teacher, had said that those dreams were like answers, pieces of a puzzle that needed to be out together as soon as I could if I wanted to survive.
Too bad she disappeared a while back, she was the only one who had the real answers.
I suddenly felt my body being wrapped around with something and then I was flying. I calmly looked at the rope that was lassoed around me. It was well made and pretty tight so the possibility of chewing through the rope to get free was low. The high-pitched screaming told me that Tsuna was also wrapped around the rope with me. "Hiii! No way!"
I mean, who else screamed that high?
"Juudaime! Juudaime's sister!"
"Tsuna! Karasu-chan!"
Our bodies were dragged into the open door of a car driving away. Hmm, seems that we just got kidnapped. I observed while Tsuna panicked behind me. "Don't worry Tsuna," I assured my brother, "they'll have to go over my dead body if they want to hurt you."
That calmed Tsuna up a little. I looked around the car and sweatdropped when I saw who my kidnappers were. There was no way I would forget those black-suited subordinates within ten minutes.
"Dino, what the hell do you think you're doing?"
The blonde sitting in the front laughed sheepishly but didn't answer. I glared daggers at his back but didn't say anything after that. Tsuna still looked a bit freaked out but was too shocked to even say anything.
After a few minutes, Dino's car stopped (driven by Romario, thank GOD) and we overheard the conversation between Reborn and the boys. When they ran off, I (along with a very dazed Tsuna) was dragged out. "Sorry about that, guys. I just needed to test your family." Dino apologized while untying us.
"How did they react?" I asked, "Did they meet your expectations?"
"They lost their cool, but they were really set on saving you too. Consider yourselves lucky that you both have such loyal subordinates."
I shook my head. "They're not mine. They're Tsuna's."
"Ah, I forgot! You're also his subordinate too, right?" Dino slapped his forehead. "So it was completely unnecessary to take you!"
I brushed myself off. "Yeah, it really was. You should've left me with the guys to test my loyalty too."
"No, you already proven yourself." Reborn's voice squeaked, causing all three of us to look down.
I lifted my eyebrows. "Thanks? But, aside from that, was it really a good idea to tell them that we were kidnapped by a yazuka gang?"
"Don't worry, the Momoyokai Gang is just a fictional yazuka group that Reborn made up." Dino soothed us. I crossed my arms and shook my head. "No, I'm pretty sure I heard about that yazuka group."
"I forgot to tell you that the Momoyokai is a real yazuka group operating in Nanimori." Reborn said, backing up my statement.
"See?"
"Reborn! Why did you do that! They're not just the usual thugs or delinquents! A bunch of teenage boys can't take all of them on!" Dino panicked along with Tsuna. "Yes, I heard that they're really talented with the martial arts." Reborn agreed, not really helping the situation at all. He even had to gal to fall asleep on us!
I turned and ran off with my brother and Dino while pulling out my phone. I pressed the speed dial to Alana's cell. "Hello? Yeah, I need a little help. No, there won't be any machine guns that would be needed I just need some directions to where the Momoyokai gang is. You can come along if you want."
I listened intently at the information that was given to me. After Alana was done with relying the information to me, she babbled in a question that turned my lips upwards into what you would call an 'evil' smile that made Tsuna and Dino a bit uneasy.
"Of course you bring her, the more the merrier!"
"Cowabunga!" Alana yelled while jumping into the battle with her Nunchucks, attacking the man closest to her. How Hibari allowed her to miss school was beyond me. Jung won-nim walked into the room with her infamous Bo staff and cornered a yazuka guy with a nasty glint in her eye.
What happened next went unnoticed by everyone but Alana and me. We paled and looked away as the man screamed girlishly. I couldn't blame him. Jung won-nim's fighting methods hurt a lot even though she's only armed with a stick.
That poor, poor soul
It turned out that Takeshi and Gokudera was fine on their own but bigger and buffer guys came into the picture. Dino tried to help but he messed up creating the chaos that was happening in this moment.
Alana had just entered.
"REBORN! FIGHT THESE GUYS AS IF I'LL DIE!" Tsuna screamed and joined in with my hyperactive friend to battle the yazuka men in his underwear. I've heard about Tsuna and the dying will bullet but this…this was hilarious.
I roundhouse kicked a man with face covered in either piercings or tattoos while laughing at my brother.
The fight went on for a while (yazuka has countless men, no?) but it eventually was finished with a huge bang, thanks to Gokudera.
And that was how the Momoyokai was destroyed.
Many of the Momoyokai were shipped off to the hospital. I think some were sent to some mental institute because they babbled "crazy" things that really couldn't exist. I think most of those who were traumatized were the ones who fought against Jung won-nim, personally. You have no idea what she could do with that staff.
Never underestimate the staff.
The things that happened after that were boring and nothing really to mention.
I watched in boredom as Dino fell down the stairs again. It was amusing at first, but once it happens again and again the gag gets boring. Jung won-nim shook her head and helped him up. "I'll bring him to Romario."
It looked like this wasn't the first time she did this.
"Is that pretty lady your teacher, Karasu-chan?" Takeshi asked innocently. I nodded. "Yeah, one of them. I have three in total. Thank Kami it was only her." I muttered the last part under my breath. Gokudera seemed to be the only one who caught my statement because he began to finger his dynamites.
"She beat the crap out of you if you even tried." I stated flatly at Gokudera, "Don't even think about doing something as stupid as that."
The word "stupid" pierced Gokudera and sent him into his own little world of depression. Alana (surprisingly) patted him on the back and comforted him. "Don't worry, she didn't mean it. She only said it to protect you, Octopus-head. Don't underestimate my big sis when she has a Bo staff on her 'kay? Especially when she has a Bo staff on her."
"Why the hell should I listen to you?" Gokudera growled. Alana held up her hands defensively. "I might hate you, but I don't hate you enough to go through what Karasu and I did."
"What happened?" Tsuna asked.
Ah, the forbidden question.
"Don't ask."
"But-"
"Don't ask."
Some memories were better left untouched.
Gasp! And another chapter is finished. Hopefully, I'll be able to do better with the next one. Gah! If only the Normal Life Arc wasn't so long and frightfully boring!
Next up is ALANA (yay!)
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