Seven
"Ramen, ramen! Ramen!" Umira chanted happily in a sing-song voice. The group was heading towards a ramen shop for lunch by the train station.
Kari frowned and narrowed her eyes, being even more hot-tempered than usual. "You made us eat ramen yesterday after training, then for dinner, and again this morning. I'm tired of it! Why are you dragging us around to eat ramen? Why am I not the one leading you guys?! Why can't we go eat fried rice or sushi?" Honestly, she missed her mother's cooking.
Yoritomo grinned. "Am I glad that I'm not bunking with you food-crazed people." Karina jabbed him sharply in the stomach, causing him to curse and Hibiki to 'tsk'. When Yori opened his mouth to say something again, Hibiki shook his head. It was obvious that Kari was unusually violent – even for her – right now, and it was best not to bother her.
"If you work in a ramen shop, you never get tired of it~ also, it's the most palatable thing in the world!" Umira replied, brushing her purple bangs away from her eyes as she ran forward, spotting the restaurant.
…..
His wet blue hair matted onto his forehead and hung lower than his eyes. However, he did not even have the time to care about brushing his wet hair away as he ran with full speed - which was not very fast due to lack of energy - forwards, spotting what seemed like the exit. Ignoring the pains in his body, he put on a burst of speed, desperately trying to make it there.
Then chains latched onto his arms and legs, preventing him from going any further. He cursed. Being unable to use his powers meant that he had to succumb to the heavy iron chains. They forcefully dragged him back into his cell, and the momentum caused him to crash against the wall. When he looked up, there was a man with black hair.
The man in the suit and dark hair clicked his tongue, looking sympathetic. "Poor, poor thing. Locked up like a pitiful monster. Then again, that is what you are, is it not?"
The indigo-haired man smirked. "You've finally gotten around to realizing that, have you, Hiyashi Osamu?"
Osamu kept his composure, still smiling. His jet-black hair glistened in the dim light– like filthy grease or oil, the chained man thought, a widening smile etching onto his lips as the thought amused him. Though his eyes were a supposed to be a deep, warm brown, they looked more like a greedy, oily black.
"You are only just wild, now, or even feral. I did help you escape the chains of your family, no? There is a difference between something feral, and a monster," the suited man said lightly, after quite a period of time, as if he had been contemplating the words in his head. He straightened his dark tie.
The blue haired man chuckled. "Oh? My consciousness tells me you have just contradicted yourself. You did call me a monster."
The suited man's mouth twitched for a brief second. "Now, excuse me, if you will. I have to go look on my daughter and nephew; see how they are doing with their studies. I really have high hopes for them. I will make sure that their studies will soon pay off, and they will be able to overthrow your filthy famiglia." Osamu turned on his heel, ignoring the man in chains. "Remember to send them my love, and help me get my engagement rings, will you not?"
…..
"Kari-san, eat some ramen and calm down. I did read those articles you sent us – one person is able to have multiple flame types. Maybe at that time, the Boss was merely testing your dominant flame," Umira said through gulps of noodles, gesticulating with her chopsticks. She had used Kari, instead of Karina, Hibiki had noted. Was it because of the ramen that she was becoming so informal?
"BUT THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY MY DOMINANT FLAME TYPE IS STORM AND NOT SKY!" Kari shouted, hitting the table with her fists in frustration. Thankfully, the store was near empty, with only them and the deaf shopkeeper. Though they all felt sorry for him, and disabilities were not a laughing matter, it was useful to keeping their conversations unheard. Especially when you had a yelling Kari.
"Ka –"
"HOW COME AKANE HAS SKY FLAMES AND I DON'T!? EVEN KAZUTO HAS THE SKY FLAME, SO HOW COME I DON'T?!"
Everyone stared at her and actually stopped trying to ignore for once.
"Wait, what? Kazuto has the strongest flame power?" Yoritomo said, perking up.
"How come you didn't tell us, Sawada?" Hibiki asked.
"...Kazu-kun has the Sky flame…?" Akane squeaked. She was silent up until now. What had happened a day ago was way too much for her. Akane nearly wanted nothing to do with mafia, let alone the idea of being the boss of a mafia family. However, Reborn had appeared and kicked her in the face. He had merely told her that her bond was strong with the fourth boss - like Tsuna with the first - and he was going to make her go through intensive training. Akane didn't mention it, but she saw that even Tsuna looked a little pale when Reborn said that. To be honest, Akane was even guilty for having sky flames circulating in her. She never asked for it or anything… It was just… There. Akane slowly recalled the events of yesterday. Karina had bounded up and was the first one to try the rings. She tried sky first, of course. And was a little surprised when it wouldn't flame. She thought she was doing it wrong but tried on the other rings. The others didn't work either so Karina sighed in relief and decided that there must be something wrong. However, when Hibiki went next, his cloud ring lit up the instant it was on his finger. He was just staring at the ring for the next few moments while the others clapped and Karina stood there gaping. So then Karina realized that she had accidentally skipped what she never would have thought would be her type of flame- storm. She tried all the other rings again after Hibiki got his confirmed by Tsuna. None of them worked, so Karina finally picked up the storm ring with reluctance. It wasn't as if she didn't like it… She just wanted to be the sky flame holder. Unfortunately for her, the ring lit up the second it touched her finger. Karina had swore in words Akane have never heard before and was just barely able to refrain from punching the nearest person in the face.
Akane sighed. The others had then tried on the rings with great excitement. Nobody knew who exactly was going to be the sky flame wielder. After Yori got rain, and Umira got lightning ("As my father predicted!" She had pronounced happily), Akane was praying that she wouldn't be the one… Yet here she was standing now… an E-classed replicate of the sky ring on her right middle finger.
A sigh from Umira caught Akane's attention while Karina ranted on about 'So what if he does? Why do I have to tell you?...' Umira rolled her eyes, as though the rest of them were missing something obvious. She fixed her red glasses, and set her chopsticks down. "Guys, it's a common theme. In many anime shows, fanfiction and comic or manga books, there's only one twin that can succeed their parents, and it's usually the boy." She took a deep breath, and the others, besides Hibiki, began to distract themselves with whatever they could. Even Karina sighed and sat back down, knowing she would have to release her temper later.
"... Because our society still hasn't fully recovered from gender bias." Umira stated after a long ramble that went on for five minutes.
"Hm? Yeah…" Yoritomo muttered, focusing on his ring with a big smile. "Don't you think this is pretty?" Karina and Akane just both sighed, hoping Umira's speech phase would be over soon.
"Yes, quite true," Hibiki said to Umira, the only one who was listening to her.
"Also, many men are also entirely letting women push them around, thinking that because they are females, they should let the more minor power do so. However, males should treat us as their equal. We are not weaker than them, so we don't need them to be unusually soft with us all the time. We also don't need them to be extremely rude to us. We are their equals!" Umira said, suddenly banging the table with a fist to enforce her point.
Karina interrupted before Hibiki could respond, holding up both hands. "Please, guys. Can't you continue this somewhere else? Does this always have to happen when I'm trying to release my temper? Can't I just shout properly without having two boring geniuses making up hour-long speeches?!"
Umira waved to the shopkeeper for another bowl of ramen. "Go ahead, Kari-san. I won't stop you."
"It's called helping you understand world issues, Sawada," Hibiki said with slitted eyes.
"Thank you," Karina said calmly, as though all her rage had faded away. A millisecond later, she was standing on the table, almost kicking over Umira's bowl. "HOW ARE YOU ALL GOING TO SURVIVE WITHOUT ME LEADING YOU ALL?! SOMEONE GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION!"
Akane chuckled uneasily. "Give me one too…" She wailed quietly. She dared not to speak that loudly for the fear of Karina crushing her into a pulp for whining as well as to keep neutral to the obviously irritated Hibiki, barely refraining from challenging Karina to a fight and beating her up. Maybe the rumors about him being just as violent were true...
…..
"Where is the hotel again…?" Akane asked. The group had just finished eating and got out of the Ramen shop. However, nobody listened to Akane. Umira was unusually happy, always fidgeting and doing things with her hands with sound effects. It was as if she was already fighting some imaginary monster while skipping on ahead of the rest of them. Karina was still fuming, but Hibiki had somehow managed to shut her up. Supposedly with the notion of trying to find members to fill up their team.
Suddenly, Hibiki stopped moving and Akane slowed down. "What's wrong, Osaku-san?" Hibiki tilted his head slightly to the left, where there were two people. There was a girl crouching with her hands around her legs, head down, and another boy who was bending and patting the girl's back as if comforting her. Hibiki suddenly walked towards them.
"H-hey! O-Osaku-san, wait!" Akane's face went pale. Why in the world did she even allow herself be around Hibiki, the scary strict council president? Now he was just walking over there with that perfect president face again, probably to demand for a stop of crouching there and being blue. The things Hibiki demanded were quite unusual, usually, in their standards. It might not have been for the council president's though. Not surprisingly, he didn't stop when Akane protested. In fact, he completely ignored her, took three strides over and was in front on them. Then he addressed them. The girl lifted her face briefly when she heard footstep. Akane caught the look and shivered from head to toe, the look on the girl's face was fierce and filled with… Kill power. The guy beside her just laughed uneasily and murmuring. Akane didn't notice it but the others were watching too, and all of them were rigid.
Kari couldn't help but feel pity for the girl, and forgot all her anger in that instant. "May I help –"
Suddenly, the girl burst into sobs. The orange-haired boy beside her patted her back and seemed to be saying something to her. Karina raised an eyebrow at Hibiki, but walked towards the gray-haired girl, and crouched down. Both the boy and girl seemed to be older than her, but she spoke to the crying girl in an older-sisterly voice, something she had acquired after taking care of her younger sister, Yuriko.
"Are you alright?"
The boy pursed his lips as the girl kept crying, unable to reply. "We were in a team together for the competition," he explained, "And it turns out that the other members were merely playing a joke on us, her especially. They had other team members meeting them here, and kicked us out." The guy paused and the girl only cried harder. "Right. You probably don't know what I'm talking about…" He said, and trailed off. He looked a bit down himself.
Karina stayed silent for a moment as she processed the situation. She completely ignored the last sentence the guy said. "So… you guys don't have a team?"
"Yup. We'll have to leave soon, once the mafia members find out." The boy grinned when he heard her reply. It was obvious that he was very easygoing, since his grin looked forced. It was understandable, the two experienced just the worst thing when you are with friends- getting ditched.
A light bulb seemed to light above Kari's head, because at that moment,everyone- except for the crying girl and the other guy- realized what she was thinking. Akane facepalmed. Umira looked excited. Yori just sighed. Hibiki looked completely unfazed, a bit glad looking. "You guys can join my team! We need people, anyways." Karina beamed without holding back. Akane didn't know if the other two would trust them enough to join. They did just get ditched and now a group of strangers are asking them to join their mafia team, not just a team for games.
She didn't know what to think about it anymore. Akane felt like she was past the stage of being dismayed when more people actually supported the idea of mafia, but now that she was the boss, she really wanted to be dismayed. So to Akane's dismay as well as joy (less chance of getting beaten up in the competition), the boy broke into a wider grin and nodded. He stuck out a hand. "I'm Ibuki, Ryuuji." Ryuuji straightened. Just as Karina was about to shake it, Umira beat her to it.
"It's common sense for me to take an outstretched hand!" Umira said, turning her head to address Karina. Karina shrugged, too happy about finding new members. Akane approached the two slowly.
"Oi, Mi-chi, say hi to them! We've found a new team to join!" Ryuuji said in a happy tone.
The girl looked up and tried to wipe her tears away, but salty tear tracks were on her cheeks. She looked at Karina and the others suspiciously, unsure whether she would be able to trust this group after her last team's betrayal. Akane could see the hesitation in the girl's eyes as she looked away and turned her chin slightly. She looked sad and tired. Akane thought for sure that the girl would ignore them, but after standing in awkward silence and just as Ryuuji was going to say something again, the girl with long silvery hair lifted her face finally, hair stuck to her forehead in a wet manner, covering her eyes. Then she looked up at Akane.
"I-I'm Choira Miyoru." The girl said in a soft and light voice. Her eyes averting Akane's.
Akane could not contain the gasp that escaped through her lips.
…..
"Weapons," Tsuna began, "Are an important part of a mafia member's image. They define who you are, and very few can fight without one."
The four different teams were all gathered in the lobby of the hotel, listening to the Tenth for their first training assignment. Karina had never seen her father look so serious in his usual suit, and couldn't help but feel respect for the man in front of her. However, there was also no sense of family left. Right now, she couldn't feel that this man had ever been her dad- which is ironic due to the fact that they were supposed to be a 'famiglia'.
"Weapons vary from person to person. Some prefer the usual; swords, guns, poison, but others can use something more... Special. Each mafia has their own unique weapon, fit for only them. Though many use guns, the design and model of each is different."
A boy with tanned skin and dark hair shot his hand into the air. "Statistically speaking, sir, there can't be that many weapons in the world."
"That's true. Some mafia members' weapons may be the same. However, we're here today to find yours. There is a difference between the same weapon if one is yours. Sure, the weapon can be the same, but they may be different styles. Say for example... swords. Let's just come up with some types of swords."
"Claymores, longswords, two-handed swords, Asian swords, Egyptian swords-" The boy started, counting off on his fingers.
"Okay, that's good enough! We all know that!" Karina interrupted him. The boy from the other team looked at Karina briefly while Akane got very uneasy.
"Right, like you can list much more!" The boy challenged. Akane noticed that Tsuna, in fact, was not doing anything to stop the two. Instead, he silently stood there looking at them and seemed deep in thought. The two other teams were also not doing anything, but instead looked on in amusement.
"Sabers, bastard swords, scimitars, falchions, flamberges, and foils!" Yoritomo piped up, taking on the challenge and defending Karina.
"Don't forget lightsabers," Umira added. Karina looked like she was about to say how she didn't need Yoritomo to defend her, but Akane knew Kari needed it. Yori trained in kendo and knew lots about swords… And when it comes to things he knows, he's one proud lad. Suddenly, Tsuna moved, and Karina saw his expression change from engaged-in-thought to guilty. Akane wondered why, but as soon as she did, something slapped her cheek. Hard. Reborn appeared out of nowhere and was climbing up her hair in sports clothing. His hair was tied into a stubby ponytail. He reached over and slapped the other team's boss, too. Akane's face went pale.
"R-Reborn-san!?" Akane shrieked, holding her cheek.
"Hm. Similar response to Tsuna's when this happens." Reborn said to himself. Then he looked up. "You'll get used to it."
"What, you hitting me all the time or you dressing up like this?" Akane wailed.
"Both." Reborn said smugly. "Now stop dwindling and get to work! You're both the wielder of the sky flame. Go stop them." Reborn then flipped and kicked Akane's and another boy's head like a soccer ball. The force made her whole body follow her head, towards the two groups.
Akane's heart sank oh-so-deep when she landed flat on her face in front of Karina – who looked quite ready to kill, Yoritomo – who was forcing a grin through gritted teeth, head up and trying to keep his proud composure, the boy from the other team, Team Lei, from the badge on the front pocket of his suit – who was seemingly stating facts calmly, but was clearly annoyed despite his attempt to hide it, and another boy from Team Lei with brown hair – who was slowly standing up and looking at them with bored eyes.
"Move, Aka-chan, what are you doing? They're already being smarty pants and saying how we're more stupid than them!" Karina said loudly for the other team to hear. "Let's prove ourselves by beating those dumb people up!"
Akane gulped. "A-alright you guys, calm down." She said to both teams, but they screamed over her. 'What should I do? What should I do? Ugh, that Reborn!' A voice screamed inside Akane's head. "Hey guys… Stop! We're all humans…" She tried. No use, their voices drowned Akane's just like before. Akane hesitated for a moment, but then cleared her throat. "G-Guys - "
"Oh, look there. That girl can barely form a sentence without stuttering," the tan-skinned boy said, finally 'officially' joining the fight when he realized it couldn't be kept down by just stating facts. Karina knit her brows together, and lunged forward.
"OSAKU! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO FIGHT THAT LITTLE PIECE OF -"
"Don't swear. And yes, I know you were going to swear, Sawada-san. Calm down. It's best not to get into a fight when we've hardly trained yet," Hibiki said, whispering the last part. He held Kari's arms behind her back, and prevented her from swinging her fists. She tried to resist, and when she realized it wouldn't work, she resorted to kicking
"Just let her go, Hibiki! That guy insulted one of us- He insulted Akane!" Yoritomo yelled.
"I do have a name! It's Ame! Who are you calling 'that guy'?!" The boy with tan skin yelled back. Both teams' members all joined the fight, with only Akane and the other leader trying to keep peace. Everyone kept screaming and Umira started jumping up and down.
"Huh? What did you say? I can't hear you." A girl taunted Umira. Umira flipped her hair, and took her president stance. Though she was almost half a head shorter than the girl in front of her, she gave off a strong aura, and the girl backed up just a tiny bit.
"Then you must be deaf. I guess deaf people aren't really qualified for an argument." Umira said with a sympathetic expression. "Because they can't even hear it." As soon as Umira said that, the other girl went pink and the brown haired guy suddenly didn't look as bored. He walked up to Umira and towered over her.
"You picking a fight?" He hissed in Umira's face. Umira didn't even look the least bit scared. Akane wondered why. Though she herself wasn't facing anything, Akane was getting very scared.
"Oh, no, sir." Umira said sweetly. "But it does happen a lot around my family's ramen shop. And I'm the one usually responsible to stop it." Umira said, faking a smile. The guy reached into his coat pocket took out something menacingly. "Hm? Taking violent measures already? Is it because you can't defeat me in an argument, sir?" Akane never heard so much venom in her class president's voice. Umira never used anything close to sarcasm, but there was a strong hint of it in her last word. The brown-haired guy said nothing, but raised his arm. Umira shrugged but flinched when he struck down. Akane gasped and closed an eye. However, nothing touched Umira, because a dagger stopped the item the brown haired guy was holding.
"Ichiyo, don't!" The girl that was taunting Umira shrieked, finally realizing that this was going too far. The brown haired lad didn't bother to stop.
"Shush, Natsuko. They'll pay for insulting you. And stopping my attack." Ichiyo said in a low voice.
"Hah! I knew I had super powers!" Umira said, completely ignoring how Ichiyo just tried to stab her. Instead, she stretched her arms out and pretended to apply an invisible force against the item. However, it was Hibiki who was behind her, holding the dagger over Umira's shoulder and stopping Ichiyo's knife. The dagger was something Kari had given him as a temporary weapon. The rest of them used kitchen knives.
"You lay a finger on my team member, and you might not be able to ever do it again," Hibiki stated with piercing eyes. The knives rubbed against each other and a spark or two flew out when both weapons pulled away at the tip. Hibiki instantly moved in front of Umira and Karina as well as Akane. Karina just stared in disbelief while Yoritomo looked smug. Ichiyo advanced again.
"If it weren't for you guys picking the fight! You should have known better than to rise to the challenge of Ame's!" He said in a growl.
"Woah, it's not OUR fault that YOUR teammate was misbehaving and cooking up chaos!" Karina suddenly shouted, back in action. She took out her knife as Ichiyo and Hibiki clashed together another time. This time, Ichiyo pulled back his arm and punched Hibiki on the edge of his face weirdly, due to the half dodge Hibiki made at the last second. Hibiki used the momentum to swing up his leg and let his whole body weight depend on his leg. He kicked Ichiyo in the side, and was able to get back in balance to stop another blow from the knife. Akane had seen enough. This couldn't go on. Akane squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe doing this will just emphasize how she is supposed to be the leader of her team, but there was no other choice. She has to raise her voice. Just once, and demand for a stop. It had been decided.
"Stop!" Akane yelled boldly. "How old do you guys think you are? Six year olds? Seven? Why are you even arguing about this!? It doesn't even matter much!" Akane said, huffing heavily, as if it took all her energy to say that. Both teams slowly fell silent, because Karina had fallen silent instantly when Akane talked that loud and Hibiki had won over Ichiyo's knife. However, Akane did not stop right there, though she did lower her voice a little so it sounded close to her normal talking voice. "I know we are all stressed about the tournament."
"Competition. There's a difference." Umira and the tanned boy said in sync, and gave each other an irritated look.
"Competition." Akane repeated. "And I know we are only doing this because we know that we are opponents… But that's not now! We are wasting precious training time! We can all do our best at the competition to prove team skills… It's just… not a good time to argue nor fight." Akane finished with a finality tone, indicating that her speech was over. Karina stared at Akane and caught her eye. However, Akane looked down self consciously at her feet instantly.
"Back off now. This is pointless. I'll make sure you'll get what you want at the competition." Hibiki said to Ichiyo in a bold whisper. Hibiki pushed against Ichiyo's knife and Ichiyo's arm shot up, the two weapons making a scraping sound, then silence. There was a moment of pause, but then Ichiyo started lowering his arm, the knife pointed downwards. He was aiming for the open Hibiki.
"Ichiyo." Team Lei's leader spoke, his eyes concerned. Surprisingly, Ichiyo stopped and pulled back. This time, he actually took back a few steps to show that he was done with the fighting. Hibiki straightened with a nod, flipping his dagger so he was holding the blade and tucked it into his cloak. Akane knew that instant that Hibiki was not 'open' as Ichiyo might have thought. He was in a stance slightly different from a stance that a person would have if they were not alert. Only slightly though, but the stance would allow him to see Ichiyo's moves and react accordingly.
The team's leader-Lei- raised an eyebrow, and looked at Akane with a small hint of admiration as everyone settled down quietly. Reborn kicked both Akane and Lei in the stomach. "Lei, you could have done something. Akane, that was too slow of a reaction. You two are just as useless as Tsuna."
Tsuna sighed as the two leaders lay on the ground in pain, remembering how he used to be like them- victims of Reborn's wrath.
"M-maybe we should be easier on them... Reborn." Tsuna said with a nervous laugh. Reborn shot Tsuna a death stare and sent shivers crawling up his spine. "A-Akane did react…" Tsuna said uncertainly. "That wasn't too bad."
"Yes, correct, certainly better than the no-good-Tsuna. But that was not how leaders like you two should react. Vongola is a big family. You have lots to learn." Reborn said cutely. "Oops, I need to go and exercise now. Ciao." With that, Reborn jogged away. Tsuna sighed again. It was true. Both team leaders dealt the situation better than he would have back twenty or something years ago. He would have been simply caught in the fight- trip over someone's foot, then get trampled as the two teams fought.
The other two teams began talking amongst themselves, some laughing, others looking mortified.
"Be quiet." Hibari, who was standing a little apart from the whole crowd finally made a sound. The two words contained so much tone that everyone instantly shut up, feeling the dark aura that came off of the man dressed in black.
"Thank you, Hibari-kun." Tsuna said with his voice shaking slightly. After all these years, he still believes that Hibari would kill someone just for talking too loudly… And it seemed that his daughter had gotten herself one of those people as well – Osaku Hibiki. Shaking it off, Tsuna continued. "Some people can use forks, or others fans. Some may even use a pencil. As I have said before, weapons differ like people. Your first assignment is to find a weapon that you are the most comfortable with. One Vongola agent will go with each team to help. Any questions?"
"Sir, I remember that a lot more teams had come for trial before... Why are there only four left?" Ame asked.
Tsuna's neutral expression took a sudden turn to what seemed like disappointment. Out of 13 team applicants, only four remained. "They were disqualified for multiple reasons. One, for example, did not have every single ring type. Though that could have been changed easily by switching around teammates, they said something about not wanting to do so. Also, it's best for you all to compete with people you know and trust. Another team's members couldn't get along with each other, which is something that you can't have when you're going to be always working as a team. Do you all understand, now?"
Everybody in the crowd nodded. Besides being strong, being fast, and being able to stand against enemies, they had to cooperate with one another. The mafia wasn't a wild organization; it was strict, with many rules.
Akane looked uneasily to Miyoru and Ryuuji, who were at the back of the crowd. They hadn't made a move during the whole event, and she didn't really expect them to. They had just joined a new team with strangers - if they were able to adapt and stand up for those strangers quickly, fine, but it was normal for them to not join an argument when they didn't know their team members that well. Akane knew it wasn't nice, but she still felt a little uncomfortable when she stared into Miyoru's eyes. She replayed the events of what happened after they met in her head.
"A-albinism…?" Akane had squeaked. Miyoru only looked quickly away and let her white hair fall over her eyes again. They were all walking back to the hotel, and the sun had finally shown the team Miyoru's true hair color- not grey, but white.
"...Yes." Miyoru had said after a while. "Go ahead and laugh." Akane had stayed silent for a little, feeling awkwardness creep into her. It wasn't as if Akane was blaming Miyoru, it was just that she never met anyone with albinism, and she had been fascinated.
"No, no. I- uh. It's just that… I think it's really unique." Akane had stuttered, though she meant it fully. "I mean. I never met someone who… has albinism so please forgive me for being rude. I really didn't mean to stare…" Akane had said, and glanced at Miyoru. Miyoru's only reaction was a nod.
…..
Hibari glared at every member of Team Akane. "Stay back, herbivores, or I'll bite you all to death." He said in a growl. "You heard Tsuna, now go." The group instantly walked away and started looking around.
Hibiki waved a staff around, already checking a weapon. The teams were looking through weapons in a small shop. There were plenty of these booth-shops along the sides of the particular street they were on. The whole entire street for as far as the eye can see was lined with shops especially selling mafia items and essentials.
Umira was just outside the shop, gushing 'Kakkoii~!' all the time, apparently because of Hibari. Karina exhaled with frustration. None of them knew how she felt. She was so sure that she was going to be the one getting the sky flame ring, and she'd been practicing on being a leader all this time. Karina knew she'd been extra hot-headed just to show the group who is the leader, since she was so sure… But now, it just turned out to be Akane. A feeling of envy rose in Karina's chest, but she pushed it down soon before it'd burst out. Karina diverted her attention by staring at the weapon in her hand. It was a shiny black kunai, it's tip finely polished. Karina humphed and turned it a few times around in her hand.
"Too small." She said. Karina needed a weapon capable of reaching a further distance. Her only plan of combat at the moment was martial arts, and though she is extremely good at it, she knew her bare skin would not be able to last when others are all fighting with weapons.
"Still dwindling?" Hibari suddenly appeared behind Karina. The tone in his voice made Karina jump.
"E-eh… Choosing, not dwindling." Karina replied timidly.
"Same thing to me. Get on with it, I want to finish this quick." Hibari said simply before walking away. Karina could tell that Hibari never wanted to do this, and that he was only doing this because it was a mission from her dad.
Akane skipped over. "Kari-chan, did you decide yet?" Karina turned over, her blast of envy suddenly in her throat – a thick venom about to be spilled out. However, Karina stopped when she saw Akane's beaming face.
"Mmmmmm… not yet. These weapons all don't fit me..." Karina forced herself to say something sort of nice, rather than spitting all the anger inside of her. "Don't you think Hibari-jii-san is scary?" Karina whispered, forcing herself to change the subject.
"Why are you calling him uncle?! You know this freaky guy?!" Yoritomo replied back, also whispering, catching her words as he looked at different swords.
"Ooh, there's another eavesdropper besides me!" Umira appeared out of nowhere. "Seems like Yoritomo-kun has the potential to be a stalker!" Everyone ignored Umira's weird choice of words. No one really understood what she called 'fandom stuff'. The word 'stuff' was already a complete aberration from what vocabulary Umira usually used, which pretty much scared them out of their wits.
"'Course I know him! He's one of my dad's friends, well, um, colleagues! He's visited the house tons of times. I remember not being scared of him when I was younger, but as I grew older, I just started getting scared," Karina said, giving a shudder.
"I don't mind Kyoya-san~" Umira sang loudly. Karina tensed up.
"Shush! How do you even know his first name?"
"I do research on people and characters I like~"
"Whatever! Shut up! Now! Or he'll bite us to death! I've seen it myself… When my dad took me on one of his missions..." Karina hissed.
"Okay, I get the idea, but what is Osaku-san is thinking?" Yoritomo interrupted. Karina noticed for the first time that Hibiki did not seem to mind Hibari at all. However, she merely shrugged and turned her attention to the class president.
"Umira! What is up with you? How are you not afraid?!" Kari hissed.
"Hm? Of course I'm afraid! But he's just so cool and handsome and…" the blue-eyed girl fanned herself furiously.
"And married!" Kari went up to her and grabbed Umira's shoulders, then shook her. "What is with you and this stupid fan-thing?"
"Kari-chan, it's fan-girl, and -"
"Just shut up and stop fangirling! It's annoying and weird!"
"Not when you know what I'm fangirling about, and why are you speaking in a hushed tone?"
"Because!" Karina gestured towards Hibari in exasperation. "He's just - just because!"
"Oh! Are we playing a game?"
Karina facepalmed so hard that Akane thought her skull would crack.
Akane decided to lighten things up a little. "Anyway, I came here to show you my chosen weapons!" She beamed, obviously satisfied with her choice. Karina sighed. Even a person as indecisive as Akane chose her weapon before she herself had chosen hers. How she wished Akane could become more submissive, and become weak so that she, Karina, could be the leader.
"...Show me." Karina said, feeling a little twinge in her heart. What was she thinking? Was thinking evil thoughts about her best friend really something noble to do?
"Here… Ta-da!" Akane said, opening a box. Inside the box contained five rings. They were different colored and one ring looked particularly interesting.
Karina raised an eyebrow. "Rings, Akane? Not a great offensive weapon," she said, pouncing on the chance to release some of her anger in a 'normal' way. "And what's this?" She asked, pointing to the interesting looking one that was different from the rest of the rings.
"Hehe, this, my friend, is an add-on." Akane said, rather proud of her weapon. "This set of rings were custom made, but the person who ordered it couldn't pick it up, since the rings were late and he had to travel to another part of the world." Akane said, recalling what the shopkeeper had said to her.
"So what about the add-on?" Karina asked, a little irritated.
"Here, I'll show you." Akane said. She swiftly took out the 'special' ring and showed it to Karina. "I tried it on already, and it works pretty well. Look." Akane said. The special ring was actually a metallic cap, which Akane pressed onto the top of her sky ring. Karina made a 'Tch' sound. It seemed to her that Akane was just bragging and showing off, but Karina knew better. Akane then concentrated and lit up her ring as they had practiced the day before. However, this time, the flame shot up to at least ten centimetres higher than a normal flame would reach. Karina grinned.
"That is plain cut awesome." Karina admitted. However, Akane didn't stop right there.
"Wait, let me try to do this again." Akane said and concentrated hard. Karina pursed her lips and stared at the ring, and after a while, it seemed as if nothing else would happen. Just as Karina was about to say something, the bright orange flames suddenly started shooting up from the rings in the box and collected into a thin blade. Soon, the flame on Akane's hand was straight and in order, the flow of the flames more controlled and not going all over the place.
"Here we go…" Akane said, clearly nervous. She waved her hand around once and the flame flickered but sustained it's blade like structure. She then grinned and slashed it down like using a blade. The wind that followed the slash was fascinating, making Karina's hair all messed up. However, right after that, the flame flickered severely when Akane lifted her hand again and the concentration broke. The flames were back to the unconcentrated type again, flowing in different directions rather than having one single coming point and flickering when ever Akane moved her hand. Then the flame went back to the normal type that a person would have if they just lit their rings without equipment. Then it died completely as Akane tried to catch her breath.
"Did you see that?" Akane smiled, satisfied. However, she looked a bit tired, and her forehead was a bit damp.
"Yes, I was beside you the whole time." Karina muttered. She felt happy for her friend, but that was not the only emotion in her. "So, tell me how they work." Karina gestured towards the rest in the box.
"Oh, they connect through the receiver – which is what I've put on top of my sky ring, and they all have this thing which will receive the signals sent out by the receiver. Sky flames that come out of the E-class ring go through the receiver, which empowers the flames and sends the same flame to the other rings. So it'd only take the energy to light one ring to light all rings! So if I just put all of these on, they'll make more flames – one on each finger when I'm ready… Of course, they cost a lot of concentration and can be a bit slow." Akane then stopped. "Right, there's also more… But I can't do all of them yet… Will have to do more training… Man, this is great!" Akane said excitedly, almost jumping up and down. It was rare to see Akane so energetic, but Karina didn't know if she appreciated it at the moment or not.
"Yes, Akane. It is," Karina replied simply.
Ryuuji, who had been silent so far, whistled, and even Miyoru let out a small smile. Though Karina had clapped Akane on the back only moments before, she now bit her lip and replayed the whole scene in her head, playing and replaying the orange flames that burst out of Akane's ring. How she wished…
"That's so amazing!" Umira piped up, looking interestingly at the rings.
Karina ignored the others. How she wished...What did she wish? For Akane to die, along with her brother just for having the sky flame when she didn't? No, not at all… Yet…They were the ones chosen for sky flame… But… She couldn't possibly wish for such... "SHU-UT UP!" Karina yelled, annoyed with her own contradictory thoughts, and realized that she hadn't yelled that in her mind. The others all stared at her, and Hibari, who had been in a corner the whole time, shot a glare at her. She tensed up, and bit her bottom lip harder, cursing herself for yelling when Hibari was around. However, he didn't move, and only gave her a look that was clearly a warning. That somehow ticked Karina off. She instantly glared back – almost in a challenging manner; something she wouldn't have dared to do if she had not been in such a temper. But now Karina was seriously angry. She wanted nothing to do with this anymore. She just need to go somewhere by herself and that was the end of that. Not trusting her tongue enough to say anything, she bit her lower lip and walked off by herself, back to the hotel. As the last of her long, dark hair faded away, Akane felt something drop sickeningly in her stomach.
…..
As they walked back to the hotel an hour later, everyone having found their weapon, Akane stared sullenly off into the distance. Akane had finally remembered how Karina just called her 'Akane'. Akane knew the use of 'Akane' told the ginger-haired girl how Karina felt all too well. Her friend was angry. Angry to the point where she tried to keep her temper in, and that was not a good sign for Karina. Karina would usually show her emotions instantly, either by actions, words, or facial expressions. She acted on impulse, and thinking things through was not her style.
"Kari-chan… Was it because of me…?" Akane murmured to herself absently. She never meant to show off in any way. It was just her excitement that kept her blabbing.
…..
Salazar clenched the piece of paper tightly, resisting the urge to tear it apart. The girl sat across from him on a lavish red velvet couch, one leg over the other. She quietly sipped her bitter green tea, studying the boy.
"I -Th-that– bloody bastard!" Salazar yelled, his yellow eyes burning with rage. He stood up, pacing around the luxurious room. "How could I – How could he!?" The boy seemed to be at a loss for words, and his hands tore at his silver-white hair. His usual honeyed voice was gone, replaced with a spluttering that was usually unseen with him. "How do you know all this!? Why do you know this!?"
"I have my measures," the girl replied calmly, taking no surprise towards his display of actions. Salazar looked at the paper in his hand again, barely even reading the words, just trying to make some sense out of the whole situation. A dozen different thoughts ran through his head. His uncle… He can't be… Not his uncle… Not after Salazar gave him all his trust... But the evidence lay right beneath his nose. A-and an incidental car crash planned? The person that he had trusted for so long, a traitor? Why was he just seeing this document now? This couldn't be possible. This was just a dream. Why was this mansion place so big? Why did he even agree to let his uncle take over his property? Why was he even thinking about those irrelevant things right now? 'Stop your body from shaking, for goodness' sake. And stop thinking about unrelated things!' Salazar thought furiously.
"By joining the mafia, you can take revenge," the girl said, almost absentmindedly.
Salazar took a big gulp from the cup of tea set before him, scalding his tongue, and spit it out, realizing it was much too bitter. The girl, sitting across from him, gave a look of disapproval, but didn't say anything.
"H-how… why should I believe you?"
"Oh, that part is entirely up to you. There is, however, an official seal that you will recognize as your uncle's personal one on the bottom. Did you not see it? This is the original copy."
Salazar looked down. Indeed, he hadn't noticed the seal before in his anger, but it was right there, loud and clear and recognizable, along with his uncle's conspicuous signature. A simple movement of the hand and pen, signing his parents' lives off for wealth, by paying the other party only $1,000, he gained the whole household. Salazar's gold eyes flickered from the lines of text to the seal, back and forth, back and forth,trying to convince himself that this was all fake. But the cold touch of the bumpy seal woke something up inside of Salazar. This was no joke. He had to take revenge.
Mum, dad, his sister… all gone, just because of money. His dad was killed by his own bloody brother, which explained why his uncle was the found hugging his father's corpse, blaming the blood on his suit for doing so. Anger surged through Salazar like never before. The person who had took him in and who he had looked up to for so many years, was the very person who murdered his family.
"So, will you join the mafia? As I have mentioned before, you can use the opportunity to take revenge."
"What is with you and this mafia business?! Even Akane, some other girl, and the class president mentioned it – something about joining them. What's so good about the mafia, a killer organization, which could be the very organization that helped my uncle?!" However, as he shouted that, a thought occured in Salazar's mind. It was his uncle who ordered the killing. It was his uncle who intended it. Not the mafia. They were just doing their job. It was all completely his uncle's fault. Vengeance surged through the young boy's veins and he pounded a fist hard onto the willow table. Still, he questioned it. "Where did you get the information?"
"The mafia just happens to be everywhere. Curious, no? The mafia really is not what you think it is," the girl mused, still holding her cup of tea. "They may have helped your uncle, but there are many groups of mafia. The one I am asking you to join is an entirely different group, I assure you. They are based nowhere near Britain. Plus, this information is supposed to be kept a secret. This piece of information was given to us by a certain group, who stole it from the mafia family that aided your uncle. You see, the family was gaining tremendous power. But with this, we have an advantage. They'd do anything to keep that from being revealed, so as to maintain their kindly image." She took a sip of the green tea, then set it back onto the saucer. "They know that the the public would surely think of avenging the dead and if they knew who killed their loved ones… as long as we have this, we can push them down and threaten them with this information. Oh, and about your friends, I did receive an invitation to join Sawada-san; to join the Vongola, an elite mafia organization. Will you join me, along with my reply?"
-End of chapter 7-
Ail: Hi there everyone! It's Ailurophilek here! I hope you enjoyed the chapters so far and if you have anything to tell us, feel free to leave a review!
Regi: Blah blah blah. ANYWAYS, anyone have ship names/ships, so far?
Ail: YES! I SHALL SHIP YORINE!
Regi: I wasn't asking you! And I thought the ship name was Chirubi! AND WHATTTTT HIBARI'S MARRIED?! shock!
Ail: You did say 'anyone'. -3- And don't say anything else because 'anyone' includes ME! *Pauses for a second* Oh, uh… Idk, it was Hibari-kun's decision, not mine. I didn't make him marry someone… So ask him. *Remains thoughtful*
Regi: Meh. HOW ARE YOU EVEN ABLE TO CALL HIM HIBARI-KUN WITHOUT HIM KILLING YOU?!