Beauty and The Beast: A Varia's Tale
Summary:
"Only true love can break the curse."
The Varia were so sure they'd never escape their fate now. Why? One. Their boss was incapable of falling in love with women. Two. Because he loved tequila more than anything. Three. And because of reason two, he'd NEVER find love. Or so they thought.
They didn't expect Miss Vongola Decimo, afteral.
[Fem!Tsuna x Xanxus]
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything of KHR which is the best mafia related anime and manga in this whole wide world. Only Amano Akira does.
Warnings: With the Varia comes colourful language :'3
And do watch out for grammatical errors or anything of that sort xD
Point it out to me if you spot any :v
6. Hourglass of Death.
Previously,
"…thanks." She managed to say before her legs gave away and she fell forward.
However, instead of landing on the ground face first she was prevented from falling by Xanxus who used the boot of his outstretched leg to balance her by lightly pushing it against her abdomen. Squalo raised an eyebrow at his Boss's sudden act. He could've sworn the man had acted out on pure instinct. Or did he?
"Not interested in trash like her?" Squalo couldn't stop the smirk that crept on his lips.
The black haired man shot him a side glare before tossing the unconscious female over to the white haired swordsman who caught her with ease. "She was about to spill my drink."
Squalo laughed only to have the glass of wine in which Xanxus had lifted off the table shatter over his head and its contents drip down his long hair. "VOI! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!?"
Now it was Xanxus who wore the smirk as he coolly walked back into the mansion with his hands in his pockets. For all he knew, the shitty assed commander had got just what he deserved. And that made him settle into a good and satisfied mood. The one mood he was rarely ever in.
A set of five silver knives shot out of the dark hallway; Sawada Tsunayoshi immediately dropped the books she was carrying and barely managed to dodge the attack as she moved as though she were in a dance.
"Ushishishi." His laughter echoed throughout the corridor as the blond prince stepped out of the shadows.
Tsuna sighed as she bent down and picked up the English textbooks off the floor along with Bel's knives. She warily eyed the weapons holding them up towards its owner. "I'd really appreciate it if you don't use me as a target practice, Belphegor-san; especially when I'm preoccupied."
The prince tilted his head to the side with his ever-present grin plastered on his face. "The little rabbit seems to be unravelling its fangs."
He covered the gap between the two of them in just one long stride and leaned forward, bringing his face right in front of hers. The brunette grimaced at the proximity and chose to fix her gaze on his shiny tiara. He seemed to have his eyes locked on with hers, but she wouldn't know for sure since his fringe fell over his colourless orbs. No one had ever seen it. It was a mystery and would most likely continue to remain a mystery. "And it has just been a week and a half."
Tsuna cleared her throat. "Well, a week and a half is definitely enough time to get used to the Varia's company."
Bel chuckled in reply. "Don't be too sure of what you only see on the outside."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Her hyper-intuition knew his words carried depth even though he had just lightly spoken like it was a joke.
"It-" The blond prince cut himself off as he abruptly directed his attention over to something far behind her. His grin grew wider like a Cheshire cat's as he snatched the knives out from the brunette's hands and pounced off into the dark hallway. "Found you, stupid frog~!"
The Vongola Decimo sighed and shook her head again. She walked off in the opposite direction in a slightly quicker pace than before. Being late for her first 'English class' was the last thing she wanted for to happen.
She was headed over to the library in the south-wing of the mansion. It was an enormous place with an uncountable number of books that would leave one gaping. Especially since the library belonged to the Varia who were assassins who didn't seem like the type who even had time to read.
Tsuna pushed open the door with fine wood carvings and entered the library. She stared up at the high ceiling and the tall shelves tightly fitted with books. It was a sight she knew she would never get used to. The Vongola mansion did have something akin to this but somehow, Varia's library seemed more alluring in a strange manner.
She slowly shut the door behind her and then headed over to the corner where her mentor was, to her surprise, already seated with an unreadable expression.
The brunette glanced at her wristwatch and frowned. There were still about ten minutes left before noon which meant that she wasn't late. But that didn't explain why he was here before the assigned time.
"Umm…good afternoon, Levi-san." She greeted him awkwardly as she took her seat across where the Varia's Lightning Guardian was seated on the table. "I hope you weren't waiting too long…?"
"I arrived at eleven." The man 'hmmph-ed' as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Tsuna openly gawked at his reply. He had been here for almost an hour! She faintly remembered something similar as this taking place during the 'Ring Conflict' back then.
Does he have a thing for being early? She wondered to herself.
This would be their first time that they would actually be engaging in a conversation with each other –though it would strictly be limited to her lessons- and so she felt a little uneasy.
When she first approached Squalo to as for assistance with learning how to be more fluent in the English language, she did not expect him to shove over the responsibility to the Lightning Guardian much less for Levi to accept the duty.
Just two days ago, there had been a parcel with a note at the doorstep from her hitman tutor which contained her University's summer assignments as well as "side-assignments" from Reborn himself. Learning how to fluently speak in English by the end of summer was also one of them. Tsuna decided to work on it first since it was one of her worst subjects back in high school all because she had focused more on learning Italian instead.
And if she wasn't able to complete the list of 'side-assignments', she would be spending her next vacation getting to know all the Mafia Dons under the Vongola.
So that was how she had landed up in the situation where the man with the fancy beard was…wait. Why is he glaring at me!?
"How well versed are you with English?"
"Umm…I can read simple texts but I am terrible with sentence formation and grammar." Tsuna replied after a short and thoughtful pause.
"Pronunciation?"
"…I don't think it's too good…"
Levi nodded before pulling out a textbook from his own pile of books and handing it over to her. "Turn to page number twelve and read the text out for me."
The brunette obediently did as she was told and scanned through the words. She cleared her throat and then proceeded on with the text which was titled 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'.
"Twinkuru, twinkuru, ri-little sutah." Tsuna began nervously. "How I wondah wah you ahh."
"Stop." The man cut in before she could continue any further. He didn't show much of a reaction but he clearly didn't expect what he had just heard. As for the brunette, she felt her ears slowly turn warm while wondering if she had sounded that bad.
"We will work mainly on your pronunciation, focusing on your R's and L's, and also try to get rid of that heavy Japanese accent of yours."
The brunette nodded in response.
"As for your grammar and sentence formation, I will give you materials on a new topic everyday which you will work on for two hours after dinner. This will help your progress greatly."
"Levi-san?" The man looked at her with a questioning glance. Tsuna had been wondering why he had even accepted the task of teaching her despite the fact that he seemed to dislike her. "Why are you helping me?"
His glare had her diverting her attention down to the open book in front of her. Wrong move perhaps?
"You are the next boss of Vongola under which comes the Varia." Levi began after a moment of tense silence. "If you can't even speak English properly, you will bring shame to the Boss."
The brunette sweat-dropped. That did sound like a pretty legit reason from the perspective of someone who was ever loyal to the boss of Varia.
"Here." He said as he handed a bunch of papers to her. "These are elementary, junior and high school level questions on English. Solve them now."
That's A LOT. Well, at least there's no punishment for wrong answers. "…okay."
Just cause she had assignments to complete didn't mean that she would be excused from her training with the white haired swordsman. In fact, those were the exact words Squalo had said when the two bumped into each other after she had finished her lessons with Levi.
The brunette was not even given a chance to take a short break when she was dragged off by Squalo to the training room.
Today, he had said that she would be battling against illusions. She was already well practised in that field thanks to her Mist Guardian being added into some of Reborn's training sessions. But according to the swordsman, her excuse didn't matter as it wouldn't hurt to gain more experience while she was still stuck with the Varia.
"VOI! Where is Mammon?" Squalo demanded after throwing open the doors to the training room revealing Fran who was busy pulling out knives from his frog hat and fixing up the damage while seated on the floor.
"Ah." Fran blinked in surprise at the sudden intrusion. "Senpai isn't in here. I doubt she will even bother dropping by anyway."
The man frowned. "Tch. That blasted illusionist."
"So…classes will be cancelled for today?" Tsuna asked trying not to sound hopeful but failing miserably.
"Of course not, we still have an illusionist here." The man snorted as he pointed his sword at the said individual who had gotten off the floor and put on his cap.
"So dumba- commander…what am I supposed to do?" Fran asked as he turned to Squalo.
"Conjure up another swordsman." He replied after a thoughtful pause before turning to Tsuna. "Change of plans, you brat will learn how to defend yourself against two swords."
"Wha-" Tsuna choked when she found herself staring at Yamamoto Takeshi who appeared beside Squalo.
He grinned and waved at her. "Yo Tsuna!"
His actions were the same, even his carefree laugh and the cheerful demeanour he almost always had about it. But her hyper-intuition knew better. She got into a battle-ready stance and narrowed her eyes. "Bring it on."
Squalo smirked in approval as he too prepared himself to attack. "Remember, no offense on your part."
"Only defence." Tsuna nodded.
"Begin!" Fran, who had taken over the position as a referee, announced. The whole scenario then shifted. They found themselves in an open field that resembled –a Pokémon gym battleground?
But the trio were far from being distracted and immediately jumped into action.
Tsuna ducked a high sword swing from her Rain Guardian only to find herself being flung back after a harsh hit on her abdomen from a certain white-haired swordsman who appeared from below. She instantly got back on her feet while inwardly cursing herself for letting her guard down.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she retook the same stance from when they began. Her now glowing-orange eyes snapped open as she moved out of the way from Squalo's strike and blocked Yamamoto's sneak attack with a punch packed with Sky Flames. The sudden move caused him to use his sword as a last second block.
Unfortunately though, the sword shattered on impact with her punch. Yamamoto whistled as he stepped back with his hands raised. "Not bad Tsuna, but that was just the beginning."
The brunette sweat-dropped at the mini-tiara that popped into existence on the top of his head and the sudden appearance of a chainsaw in his raised hands. He now wore a very familiar Cheshire like grin as he reared the chainsaw to life. "Let's have a bloody fun time together~!"
Fran's monotonous resonated throughout the illusion landscape as he made an announcement. "Ano…this is to inform you that there has been a player switch due to minor problems accompanied by boredom. Yamamoto's replacement is Take-bel-shi. Okay, that's all. Resume the battle."
Tsuna barely dodged the chainsaw that was abruptly thrust at her face, missing her ear by just a mere centimetre. She cart-wheeled back and dropped down to a leg spin which caught the white-haired swordsman off guard. However, he used his loss of balance to slam his sword on to the ground and swipe the flying debris at the girl.
The brunette wove her way with skilful ease through the oncoming rubble. She took off the ground just in time to avoid her other opponent's attack which would have been a disturbingly violent had she not dodged it.
"Maa maa, Tsuna. Why don't you just stay still…" Take-bel-shi wore a menacingly wide grin on his face as he pointed his weapon at her. "…et laissez-moi vous baigne dans le sang."
She did not need to know French in order to understand what he had just said. The brunette had gotten a gist of his words, afteral.
Tsuna slowly exhaled as she focused hard sky flames unto her left hand which was aimed at Take-bel-shi. It was a technique she had accidentally discovered when she had been training on her own during the past week. Usually, she required her X-Gloves version Vongola Ring to activate the pure sky flames but somehow, she had found a way to bring out the hard flames without it.
The danger of her new technique was that since the pure flames were highly concentrated on her bare palm, there was a huge possibility of her sustaining small burns to even having her whole hand go up in flames, forever. The sky flames were afteral the only flame attribute, among the other dying will flames, which possessed the traits to release heat and burn.
"This is your end."
"VOI! I said you're only supposed to stick to defence!"
BOOM!
"Mou~!" Lussuria fussed as he immediately tended to a currently unconscious Fran who had been brought in by a fuming Squalo and a sheepish looking Tsuna. "What on earth did you guys do to Fran-kun?!"
Tsuna winced at the glare directed to her from Squalo who had seated himself on an empty stool after the both of them placed the young illusionist on a bed. She followed suit and sat on the edge of another spare bed in the infirmary.
It wasn't entirely her fault. She hadn't expected that her 'still-in-the-process-of-perfection' of a move would cause such blast after coming in contact with the other two's simultaneous attacks. The shock wave from the impact flung all three of them to different corners of the room and shattered the illusion landscape in the process.
Squalo was able to bring up a flame barrier to shield himself from the flying wreckage while Tsuna somehow managed to get through it with just a few bruises. The young Mist Guardian, however, wasn't so lucky. Fran was caught unaware since he hadn't been expecting any offensive attacks to be thrown at him. Thankfully though, his only casualties were broken bones, a deep cut on his back and the fact that he had lost his consciousness after knocking his head against the wall.
"What the fuck was that goddamned move?" The white-haired swordsman growled as one of the Varia Sun Guardian's subordinates tended to his scratches right away.
"A-A special move I've been trying to perfect." Tsuna replied in a guilty tone as she stretched her hand out for the tall man who had being assigned to heal her wounds.
She watched as he activated his flames over her hand. The Sun flames gave off calming warmth as they as they mended up the bruises on her delicate skin. The brunette gave a soft sigh in contentment.
"Voi." Squalo grabbed the girl by the arm and turned her so that they were facing each other. She gulped as their eyes met. "Next time, fucking learn how to control ANY of your special moves before you use it."
Tsuna nodded feverishly as she felt his grip tighten.
"Am I UNDERSTOOD!?"
"Yessir!" She squeaked.
Satisfied with her reply, he rose to his feet and shoved the man tending to the last of his scratches aside before marching out of the infirmary. "Fuck this shit, where's Mammon?"
Tsunayoshi turned to face Fran with a regretful look as the Varia's Sun Guardian nursed him. She murmured a soft "Thank you" when the tall man was done healing her injuries and got off the bed. Grabbing Squalo's stool, she placed it next to the teal haired illusionist's bed and sighed.
"Don't worry, Tsuna-chan." Lussuria smiled. "Fran-kun doesn't experience any kind of pain due to a condition he suffers from."
The brunette frowned. "That's…absurd."
"He is immune to all kinds of physical pain. And this is nothing compared to what the Varia have to go through." The Sun Guardian replied as he pulled the bedcovers over the teal hair's small frame. He patted Tsuna on the head before heading out of the infirmary. "Don't stay too long, alright? Supper will be served in an hour."
The brunette nodded, her gaze still fixed on Fran who looked as though he was having a peaceful dream. He's just a kid.
"Do they really have to face such perilous situations out there?" She wondered aloud to herself after some time. "But Nono won't send them out to such dangerous missions, would he? Speaking of which…" the brunette frowned, "Why is it that the Varia haven't shown any signs of taking up missions lately?"
Reborn had once told her that the independent assassination squad under the Vongola were very active. Whether it was the lower ranks or the higher ups or even Xanxus's Guardians, they always had missions to carry out on a regular basis. But strangely, she hadn't seen such movement at all ever since her arrival.
"Could there be something preventing them from doing so?" She asked no one in particular as she brushed off the stray strands of hair on Fran's pale face.
The brunette froze her movement when she suddenly realised something even more unusual.
It was the very presence of the boy infront of her. He would permanently be a part of Varia only after he finished his training under her Mist Guardian. Until then, he was to visit the Varia every month for a week and take up his share of missions as a temporary member, a procedure carried out to ensure that he would be well acquainted with the Varia after he became a fully fledged member.
Tsuna herself had been present when they had signed the agreement.
It's been almost two weeks now and he's still here. She furrowed her eyebrows.
There was something going on. Tsuna didn't know what it was but she was now sure of the fact that there was something strange happening in the Varia.
But what could it be?
"Tch." The orange haired girl wore a sour expression as she flicked the crystal ball with her finger. "Pesky blood of Vongola, she's such a nuisance to my game."
The fairy pointed her forefinger at the brunette whom she was watching through her magical medium. She suddenly gasped. A smirk on her lips and a devious glint in her eyes replaced the thoughtful expression she had been wearing. "Lucky~! I just remembered a way to remove such nuisances from my game…permanently~!"
She got off the couch she had been sitting on and proceeded to straighten out the folds in her pitch black gothic frock that fell above her knees. The girl then strode out of her cosy little cottage.
She stepped out into the foggy evening and inhaled the fresh air with a sigh. The dark woods were a place she was very fond of, one of the reasons being the fact that rarely any human ever ventured into it.
The fairy parted her lips and emitted a soft melody which echoed throughout the visage of the mysterious tall trees. Almost immediately, a huge gray wolf appeared before her. It lowered its head down and allowed her to pat it on its head, a sign of submission.
"Hello, Oíche." She cooed. "Conas tá tú?"
The wolf grunted in response.
"I have a task for you and your cairde." The fairy grinned. " Téigh go dtí an Varia. Fanacht le mo ordú."
The majestic beast bowed before vanishing into the fog.
Her satisfied smile was however wiped off from her face the moment she sensed an awfully familiar presence behind her. She turned around with a scowl and narrowed her vibrant green eyes at the sight of her brother.
"Cad ba mhaith leat?" She demanded. "Cael?"
"I believe we have to talk." The boy sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Caitlynn."
Xanxus growled as his head throbbed. This was not the usual fucked up headaches he usual had after a hangover. This was a different kind of headache. And he realised the source of it was the very object sitting on the table, taunting him with a memory he did not want to remember.
The fucking hour glass with blue sand that foretold how soon he would die.
He kicked the table, sending it down with one mighty crash. That fucker of a fairy was going to pay. The next time he met her he would strangle her and put an end to all the fucking bullshit.
His crimson eyes narrowed as his sight fell on the hourglass which remained unharmed. The sand still continued to slowly trickle down as though teasing him with the fact that no matter what he did, he couldn't change his fate.
The door opened and his Rain Guardian stalked in with a frown. "Voi. What fucking happened in here?"
"Get that fucking piece of trash out of my sight." Xanxus growled as he threw his bottle of champagne at the hourglass. "Now."
The white haired swordsman wisely picked it up without another word and pocketed it. He then turned to his boss and tossed an envelope with the black haired man's name neatly scrawled on it. "Some low ranking trash was brought in dead with this in his pocket."
Xanxus ripped it open. His scowl deepened as he read the contents of the letter.
'The game has just begun.'
He crushed the letter and burned it up with his flames. "What the fuck is the meaning of this?"
"The others say he was ambushed in the woods left to the Varia's mansion." Squalo said. "He was a pretty nasty sight. I must say, it looked like the work of…wolves."
A/N: Yes. A VERY late update. After three months. I began writing this chapter just last week. I'm not the type who can finish a chapter in a day. I like taking my own sweet time xD
So how did was it? :'3
I really enjoyed writing the part where Tsuna recited "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Especially since it was a free class when I was writing it down in my notebook and me and my bench mate couldn't stop saying it. It's catchy, somehow xD ROFL
The fairy reappears again and so does her brother. The wolves and the dead Varia member. Take-bel-shi. Levi tutoring Tsuna. Tsuna's new special move and the explosive training session. Xanxus and the "fucking" hourglass. What do you think? :'3
Do drop in your feedback and what you feel of this story. That stuff is important for me to carry on and it gives me A LOT of motivation even though it's just a small sentence, thank you very much ^^
A big thank you to Ghiro, GiuliaZe, wolfiesilvester, Ducki9, FANactic Writer, AoBara, ezcap1st, Twitch101, ichigo kurosakee, POTDMARY1 for your reviews! ^^
Ginseng Tea: Thank you for your opinion. Yes Tsuna appears to be a wimp in the beginning mainly cause she was pushed into the company of assassins. It takes one some time to get used and comfortable to the presence of other people, so that is what happened here with her :')
And no, here, let's just say he has taught her to go all HDWM without the gloves but it's still a work in progress :'3
Thanks for pointing it out anyway!
Well with this chapter out, how does her personality seem like to you now? xD
darkchan74: Thank you! I love protector Squalo too :'3
I tried to make her seem badass in this chapter. Did that work out? xD
Guest (Jul 19 c1): Thank you, whoever you are. Your review moved me (T^T)/
I'm glad you like it and this is a late update but I hope you get to read it! ^^
A big thank you for the follows and favourites! I love you guys :'3
Translations:
(With the help of Google Translate)
Et laissez-moi vous baigne dans le sang: (French) And let me bathe you in blood.
Conas tá tú?: (Irish) How are you?
Cairde: (Irish) Friends.
Téigh go dtí an Varia. Fanacht le mo ordú: (Irish) Go to the Varia. Wait for my command.
Cad ba mhaith leat?: (Irish) What do you want?