Chapter 2
I'm going to kill 'God' later, Alice thought as she twitched in annoyance as she glanced down at her ten-year-old body. Right after my existence is deleted by a 'system glitch', I'm actually forced to go through puberty all over again?
She heaved a sigh as she leaned backwards against the wall. To think that she hadn't even realised it herself until she was introduced by the caretaker.
As her eyes fixed on the children playing around in the room, she felt like scoffing, No matter in what world, am I only going to end up in the orphanage?
But.. She turned her head and regarded at the boy who stood at an arm's length away from her with a smirk, This ain't half bad at all.
A loud wailing sound caught her attention as she glanced back at one of the child who had burst out crying for some reason. She watched as the caretaker came rushing in, picking the child up into a hug as she whispered gentle words of reassurance.
This scene.. How farmiliar.. Back at home, the owner of the orphanage she stayed used to do that too. They had so much children that there was never one day with silence in that place.
She blinked as a scoffing sound interrupted her train of thoughts. Glancing sideways at the blonde boy, she watched in mild curiosity as he regarded the scene with annoyance in his eyes, "Weak."
Her eyes darted back towards the little girl crying and she found herself speaking right before she had realised, "Crying isn't being weak."
The blonde boy raised his eyebrows at her, as though daring her to continue.
"Rather than that, I think that the ones who dares to cry are the brave ones," she stated, "They're not afraid of showing their weaknesses. It is the cowards that tries to hide their tears."
She continued staring ahead without revealing any of her emotions, knowing fully well that his gaze was fixed on hers. One of the things she had learned through growing up was that a wavering gaze would be what separated you from those who stood at the top of the food chain and those who were at the bottom in this society.
Weaknesses could easily be seen through a wavering one. A strong and firm one on the other hand, would be a message to others that you were strong and weaknesses did not matter to you.
"You're different," he stated finally with a smirk that seemed so similar to a certain main character that she was well acquainted with.
"So are you," she shot back. If Kyle was here, she would probably be cracking up at the sight of two ten year olds having such a serious talk. She'd probably had slapped the both of them on the back and told them to 'chill out'.
He shrugged.
They're far too similar.. Her thoughts drifted off.
"What's your name?" she asked all of a sudden, eyes still staring straight ahead.
"Why should I tell you?" he raised his eyebrows, despite the trace of amusement in his black orbs.
Alice simply shrugged her shoulders, "I'll just ask someone if you don't want to say."
Her answer seemed to have satisfied him as he crossed his arms, "Leon."
Her eyes went wide for a second. What the..
I knew it. This is all to weird to be called a coincidence. But..
"Alice," she replied back, despite the little twitch within her that wanted to ask, Why no last name?
The boy, Leon, too, seemed as though he wanted to ask her the same thing but simply nodded instead, as though with understanding.
Glancing sideways, Alice traced his features with her eyes slowly. Its too similar. The name, the sideburns and his body posture.
She'd only seen Adult Reborn once or twice in the Manga but it was more than enough for her to recognise him in his child form.
She reached out almost absentmindedly and gave a tug at the blonde's sideburns. Watching in slight amusement as they bounced back in place, she thought, Its just like Reborn's..
It all makes sense now that I think about it. After all, which hitmen would actually use their real name and appearance in the Mafia?
As she found herself lost in her thoughts, Leon twitched in annoyance as she continued pulling and releasing his sideburns with that annoying smirk on her face.
Boing~
Boing~
Boing~
"Oi.."
Snapping out of her thoughts, Alice glanced up at the popped up vein at the corner of the his forehead and blinked.
Fuu.. let's see if this Reborn gets annoyed just as easily as the other.
Making sure to look as dull as ever, she pretended as though she heard nothing and continued.
Boing~
Boing~
Boing~
With a twitch, Leon tried to slap her hand away in annoyance but thankfully for her quick reflexes, she dodged out of the way in time. Geez, talk about being peachy.
She blinked dully again before using the most unapologetic monotone voice, putting on a blank face and released his curls, "Oops."
He twitched and glared at her.
Her smirk returned and widened. Ooh, this is all too lovely.
"This is your new room from now onwards!" the caretaker announced cheerfully, "Just let me know if you need anything alright?"
"..."
"What are you doing?" Alice questioned, walking over to sit on her new bed as she glanced at the blonde boy who was standing there.
He scoffed, "Don't make it sound as if I want to be here."
She arched a fake puzzled eyebrow, "You don't?"
He glared at her. She smirked back.
"No," he snapped with distaste, "That woman seems to think we're on close terms. I got forced in."
Ah.. she thought, that overly cheerful caretaker.
Leaning back against one of the pillows, she crossed her arms, "Well since you're here, I might ask well ask some questions. Is this full of spare cash or something?" Normal orphanages don't give everyone new rooms.
Reborn- Ahem! Leon raised his eyebrows, "Why are you asking me?"
Alice shrugged, "Because you happened to be the person standing closest to me right now. Besides, those brats outside probably won't be able to answer me anyway."
Once again, Leon seemed amused by her.
"This place is funded by the Mafia," he stated, crossing his arms.
Disbelief flashed passed her eyes for a mere second before exasperation filled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised anymore?"
Sensing that the question wasn't meant for him, Leon said nothing. Only continued watching her with his sharp eyes.
"Anyway," she continued, "You sound amazingly calm for ten-year-old boy who is talking about the Mafia."
"That's because I'm going to become the world's strongest hitman one day," he announced, smugly this time.
What the hell? He's been wanting to become a hitman since ten? He seriously has no life.
"At ten? Have you no life?" she questioned, voicing out her thoughts.
The innocent curious look she held as she asked that question only succeeded in making him more annoyed.
"Shut up," he stated, the corner of his eyes twitching.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" she asked, completely ignoring his insult. She had to admit, she was slightly curious about how the sadistic bastard managed to become the world's strongest hitman. It just didn't make sense.
"By slaughtering everyone in my way," he stated in a though it was normal, reminding Alice exactly why Reborn was her favourite character.
Struggling to force to corner of her lips down, she placed on a dull look purely for the sake of annoying him while making sure to let the amusement be visible to his eyes, "Why aren't you just a bunch of rainbows and sunshine?"
He twitched in annoyance. Alice imagined that if the real 'Leon', as in the shape-shifting chameleon, was here, she would probably have been shot already.
Oh.. Now that I think about it.. Realising that the current Reborn was completely weakless to her, she found herself smirking smugly.
At the same time, Leon wondered why he felt like murdering the girl in front of him.
"Anyways, its impossible," she stated, snapping him out of his thoughts. Actually, it is, she knew that perfectly well. But that didn't mean she couldn't rile him up for fun.
He glowered darkly at her. She only smirked back.
Just briefly however, Leon's heart felt a weird rush of feeling. He arched an eyebrow at the girl who had laid backwards and made herself comfortable on the bed, completely ignoring him.
He may have been a child, but he had trained his glare to near perfection since he was seven. Why was it that this girl as completely immune to it? As his lips twitched up into a brief smirk, he couldn't help but feel as though things were going to get interesting.
"Can't you see I'm gonna sleep? Have some common sense and leave already, Rainbow man," she yawned from her position.
Leon twitched. Or not.
Mini Omake
The eyes of the caretaker of the orphanage lit up almost instantly at the sight of Leon standing almost as the friendly distance with Alice without trying to glare at her.
"Leon!" she squealed, picking up the child into her arms as she rubbed their cheeks together, "You've finally made a friend!"
Alice watched in amusement as the said future hitman twitched in anger in the woman's arms.
Coughing to mask her snort, she sent him one of her mocking smirks.
He glared at her.
I must have done something really great in one of my past lives, didn't I?
Whaddya think? :)
Leave a review please~ You'll brighten up my day~
Raita