Hello again!

Here's the next chapter! 'Cause I'm in a really good mood, I even wrote a little Hibari POV tidbit (in third person)! Yayz!

Enjoy!

Warriors Don't Cry

Chapter 19: Captured – Alana

"Those jerks. You know that they won't keep their promise, right? The moment I leave this place, they're going to destroy it. They don't need it anymore. They don't need you anymore!"

"Yes, but then you will be unharmed."

"…"

"What's with that face? Trying to make it uglier than it is?"

"You jerk."

Soft laughter is heard. It gently bounced off the walls and soothed whoever heard it. Some of the listeners looked up in surprise. It was a rare sound after all.

Who made The Lord of Death laugh?

"Hades?"

"What now? Are you hungry again? Here, have a pomegranate."

"Jerk."

There was an empty silence, so empty that a flock of crows dared to start a racket, breaking the thick silence.

"Will we ever meet again?"

"Yes."

"Swear on this pomegranate? You better swear!"

A laugh. "I swear on the pomegranate, Persephone."

I promise.

Karasu buddy, if conveniently awakened telepathic powers between friends actually exists, I want you to know that I loved being your friend in this life. I hope that we'll be able to meet again in the next life.

Blood trickled down from my temple, reminding me of my current situation. I forced my stinging eyes and glared at a pair of mismatched eyes. Sakura petals floated down like snowflakes around me. I sneezed.

Darn allergies.

"Kufufufu, we have a feisty fighter here. How unexpected. You're lasting far longer than your superior did."

I snarled. "Shut it weirdo, if you didn't pull this cheap-ass trick on Hibari, he would've kicked your ass three seconds flat!"

Hibari was sprawled on the ground at my right. If he had enough energy, he would've glared at me for defending him. He's prideful like that.

"Your faith in your superior is admirable, little one. It's too bad that you are fighting for the mafia scum." He spat the word 'mafia' out as if it really were scum. He reached out for his trident. "It's regrettable that I have to crush such a energetic spirit."

I cackled out a laugh.

"Worry about yourself, Pineapple-head."

The jerk's eye twitched.

"And I'm NOT LITTLE!"

(Before it all happened)

My eye twitched when another hospital bed rolled into the room.

By now, the whole room was filled with the members of the Discipline Committee. Some were injured and some were just dropping by to visit their injured buddies.

It wasn't like I didn't like them or anything. In a matter of fact, I got sort of fond of the awkward/creepy/pompadour group. Hey, what can I say? They grew on me.

I just didn't think Unni would like waking up in a room filled with 'delinquents' and 'sweaty men'.

Oh, and I didn't like the fact that they found out that Unni was in a coma before Tsuna and co. did. At least they didn't flood the whole room with their dramatic tears of pity.

I hate being pitied. It's not like I'm weak! I accepted that Unni might not wake up a long time ago. I was fine, dammit! If they keep this up, I'm so going to bite them to death, those stupid herbivores. Who do they think they are?

…Gah, I just sounded like Hibari there. Not healthy.

To distract them (and me), I asked them how they got so beaten up.

I also asked 'cause that guy needed to pay for getting them stuck with me.

To my confusion and my concern, they spoke about these strange guys who picked fights with a lot of the students in Nanimori. I stiffened when Kusakabe was rolled in. I wasn't surprised that the others were beaten up, but Kusakabe was pretty strong. He was Hibari's second hand after all.

I stood up. "I'm going out. If a guy named Dino drops by, tell him that I went out for a walk." And with that, I left the stuffy hospital room for the first time since…well, forever.

I walked out of the hospital and winced.

Ow! The sun, it buuuuuuurns!

Yeah…I haven't been out in a while. That wasn't healthy either.

While I was stumbling about in town, my mind turned into a cyclone of theories in why the students in Nanimori were being attacked.

They had something against our school, that's for sure. I mean, come on. These attackers were being not so subtle about attacking students only from Nanimori. But it's strange.

What would they want with such a normal-wait.

I stopped walking.

Scratch that. This school isn't normal. It has a prefect who could tonfa you through seven freakin' walls for pete's sake!

And they only attacked the strong students, right? The Disciplinary Committee are full of those so most of them being attacked isn't that much of a surprise.

Something about these attacks smelled fishy.

And when I say fishy, I mean mafia-fishy.

"Gotta find Hibari." I muttered to myself. If there were anyone who was tough enough to take care of this problem, it would be him.

Duh

Okay, back to the present.

I eventually found Hibari err, was found by Hibari. He had the same idea in his head so he dragged me to the school that the attackers were supposed to be from.

We beat the crap out of all the students. It was unnecessary but hey, whatever works.

Blah, blah, blah, we went up creepy hallways, blah, blah, blah, more idiots to beat up with my nunchucks and his tonfas then, BAM! We finally met the King of Creeps a.k.a Pineapple Head.

Who I was fighting against at the moment

"Dude, what's with your eyes? Were you born with those or something?" I asked randomly while avoiding his scythe. Normally, I wouldn't avoid these kinds of things and just parry it as I usually do with my awesome weapons but there was something about his weapon that set off alarm bells in my head.

And when alarm bells set off, it's not a good thing.

Whatever it was, I wasn't going to get scratched by that thing. Knowing how low this guy is, it's probably covered in poison.

"I mean, I understand that genetics sometimes get pretty messed up but what's with those creepy numbers appearing on your eyeball? You don't have contacts on do you?" I kept rambling on hoping that it would distract him.

Darn it, my eyes are starting to get puffy.

The guy laughed. "Kufufufu."

"Uhhhhhh, right. And that's supposed to be funny, how?" I asked, a little creeped out.

If I could see his face, he was probably smirking. "Little one, do you want to experience hell?"

I hesitated. "Um, you see, I sorta already experienced hell not a while back so I really don't want to go through that again right now."

What the heck is with that guy's mind?

I mean, yeah, his actions so far points to 'sociopath' or 'mentally ill' but…seriously? Hell? He thinks that he can send me to hell?

Psh…yeah right

I put my hands up in a 'time out' sign. "Wait. I need to take off my shoes."

"Be my guest." The pineapple said mockingly. I think he even added a bow to make a bigger effect though I'm not sure. He looked like a blurry blob of black, blue, and red by now. I peeled off my ripped up sneakers and threw them in a random direction.

To my satisfaction, I heard one of my sneakers make contact with a random guy's head, making him yelp in pain. I snickered.

Hey, it wasn't on purpose so it's funny.

"Are you ready now, little one? I'm afraid that there might be some pieces of glass on the ground so watch your step."

Liar. Everything in contact with the ground can't escape my super-ultra sensing skills! There're no glass shards in the room so take that! No one can beat me now! (Insert hamster-like maniacal laughter).

"Jigokudo." I heard him mutter.

First Path

What the heck did he mean by that?

I tensed up and held up my nunchucks in front of me. If worst came to worst, I would have to kick this guy's butt with concrete.

Then…nothing.

I raised my eyebrow but didn't lower my guard.

"Hmm? You're not affected? That's…interesting." The voice purred, though I think he was a little irritated judging by the stiffness in his stride as he approached me. "Why aren't you panicking, screaming? Going insane?"

I shrugged. "Umm, problems with your ability? You should get that checked. I know a really great doctor. I can point you to him." But he doesn't treat boys.

"Kufufufu. How funny."

"Yeah, sort of got that when you laughed." I said sarcastically. "You tried to place an illusion on me, right? Well, they don't work on me."

I think he raised his eyebrow. "And they don't work on you because…?"

"And I'll tell you because…?" I mimicked.

The reason is pretty simple. I'm earth. I'm connected to the ground and my roots are firmly hooked to reality. Stupid illusions like that wouldn't sway a strong, rooted warrior like me.

That, and my eyes are sealed shut by the miracle called allergies.

Nyah, didn't see that coming, did ya Pineapple-head?

Wait…so if I'm not affected by his strong point…it means I can kick his butt now. I don't have to hold back.

An evil, Reborn-worthy smirk covered my face.

"Dude, you're toast. You know that, right?"

The concrete under the jerk's feet began to tremble.

Earth. Air. Fire. Water.

That's us, the element four. We're the four newbies of the Megumareta. The four pillars who are not yet strong enough to protect the world. We're not superheroes, if that's what you're thinking. We carry burdens and problems that superheroes won't even nightmare about having.

Don't get me wrong. Having super cool powers that can control the elements is awesome in so many levels. It's just too bad that those abilities aren't part of our 'thou art cursed' package.

Naw, it was those crazy scientists that gave us those abilities. They thought that the curse we had wasn't enough to become powerful weapons.

Yeah, powers that rival or even surpass nuclear weapons are always a disappointment. (I'm being sarcastic if you don't know).

Let's get this straight, when a person becomes a Megumareta, they're not handpicked from a random country because of their skills. None of us were that talented when we were recruited.

They're born as a Megumareta.

Cursed from birth, even if we have humble beginnings, we will be eventually be snatched into the world of the Megumareta. We're marked. It would be impossible for a Megumareta to spend their whole life living normally. The mafia wouldn't allow that.

In their years of knowing our existence, they knew that we would be reincarnated if we ever failed in one life.

They knew we were strong when we're together.

I was nine when they found me. They found Unni first, so that's how they found me so quickly. It was my stupid birthmark that showed them who I was.

It was that stupid pomegranate birthmark's fault.

At a young age, I had to learn how to survive against an enemy that I didn't know. I had to harbor grudges on people I never met. I never lived in one place for more than one month and soon, my suitcase became the only home I could be attached to. I had to face it all alone. Soon, others like me joined me and I didn't feel so alone anymore.

And, I got to stay in America for a whole year.

Karasu was the last to join. It was hard to find her. I was hoping that she wouldn't be found. Maybe, I was thinking, maybe she can escape.

That was what I was hoping.

But our curse is strong and it would be a bad thing if we left her alone. She would've destroyed herself or, worse, destroyed the people she loved without knowing. It happened before in history.

What is my curse?

Lets make this simple:

I'm the reincarnation of the Goddess Persephone and, for some reason, she holds a deep grudge on every single god out there and has a deep rage that may or may not destroy the world though she probably would.

Some goes for the others, though they were reincarnated from different people.

That's why some immortal overlords look at us like we're ticking bombs. That's why they send some chosen assassins to 'slay' us after every reincarnation.

Our birthmarks are like signs that say 'I'm here!' or 'Kill me!'

But, to sum it up, we manage to live and survive so far while babysitting the future, and very reluctant, Tenth Boss of the Vongola Family who is also my best buddy's twin.

Yeah

Go figure

I was suspended in the air in an empty room with only a small window to comfort me. The window was the only thing that connected me to the next room, not outside. I knew that Hibari was somewhere in the next room.

Yup, you guessed it.

I lost

I managed to get a couple of good blows on the multicolored-eye freak before a dirty trick was pulled on me. Yeah, I should've expected it after what he did to Hibari but I forgot.

Stupid

I should've known that this would happen! Why didn't I beat him up faster? Why did I get so cocky so quickly? Why did-?

I frowned and shook away the thought before it came. It was too stupid to get angry over. Why should I be angry?

What I had to focus on was to warn Karasu. She's probably in trouble too.

During my concentration period, a fluffy, yellow bird landed on my head. I scowled at it but I couldn't do anything to make it go away. I mean, who wanted bird poop on their head? Not me.

Though it was a little cute. It reminded me of Pocky.

…But still. I wanted it off me. I showed my teeth and growled. "I'm not in a good mood right now. Bug off."

"Bug off! Bug off!"

"Go away!"

"Away! Away! Away!"

"Shut it! You're breaking my concentration, dude! I need to find a way out of here and you're not helping! God, even Stupidera would be better company than you."

"Shut it, dude! Not helping, Stupidera!" The little bird chirped.

I sweatdropped.

That sentence…actually made sense and, it was true.

Hmm…

"Your pants are on fire!" I yelled.

"Pants on fire! Pants on fire!"

I began to giggle. This is really fun! I think I'll be entertained during my whole planning time but…

I looked at the bird and then back at the small window. Stupid Hibari is probably moping 'cause he lost against a pineapple. I completely understood. I didn't like being defeated by a fruit either.

I looked at the small window and at the bird again before smiling.

I think out prefect needs a pick-me-up

Alana-style

HIBARI POV

Being defeated was something that Hibari rarely and never truly experienced.

After years of putting herbivores in their place, this was the first time he was this beaten up. Some of his bones were broken but that didn't matter. Those trivial worries are left to the weak herbivores.

No, this didn't mean that he was automatically going to become one of those weak, herbivores and crowd with a herd. This defeat irritated him, but it didn't discourage him.

No, in fact it did the opposite.

Like how a carnivore would react when another carnivore treads on their territory, Hibari was going to sink his claws and teeth on that guy's throat and-

His violent thoughts were put to a stop when a tiny, yellow bird landed near his right leg. He lazily turned his head to focus on the tiny creature. "A tiny herbivore. What are you doing here?"

The bird opened its beak.

"I'm an omnivore…duh."

There were rare times in Hibari's life when he got surprised and this was one of them. He looked incredulously at the bird. That bird almost sounded like-

Uncontrollable laughter coming from the next room confirmed his suspicions.

A part of him wanted to bite that little omnivore to death, a large part of him, actually. And that brought him to wonder why he allowed such an irritating creature follow him in the past few months.

"Midori tanabiku Nanimori no~" The bird began to trill, breaking the prefect from his thoughts.

The sound of the school anthem helped Hibari feel a little better.

Maybe that omnivore wasn't that annoying.

"COWABUNGA!" The bird suddenly shouted.

Hibari twitched. He still wanted to bite her to death, though. How could she have not properly taught the bird the whole song? She should've finished what she started.

What a troublesome omnivore.

It may have been a trick of light, but if the bird talked, it would claim that it saw the prefect smile.

And Hibird makes an appearance! I just love that little bird! Who wouldn't?

Hopefully the little Alana/Hibari was visible enough for you readers. If not, then re-read it and squint. If the curse is a bit hazy to you people, then shout it out so I can clarify in the next chapter. Karasu is better at explaining things anyways.

Next up is Karasu and her rescue team! Maybe little Yama/Karasu/Goku tension so you're warned!

Until then...

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