A KHR! Story - Chapter 3 - Recruitment
"I've been watching you for a few days now Shiyori-san. You seem to be a very vigorous fighter." The little baby smirked.
Yeah, that's not creepy at all.
"What is it that you want with me?" Shiyori was keen on finding out her ties with her new acquaintance.
Reborn smiled. "Sawada Tsunayoshi. Do you know him?"
She nodded. The oddball? What did he have to do with her?
"He needs proper training to fight and you're the most suitable person for the job with your skills and leadership. I saw you kick your kendo club into shape. You just have to do the same with Tsuna."
Her brown eyebrows furrowed slightly. She was supposed to train that oddball Tsunayoshi? She remembered the time where he and Mochida-sempai had gotten into their fight. The 'oddness' that radiated off of the boy gave her a weird sensation. Something had sparked differently in him in mere seconds.
Shiyori looked to the baby confused. "Why should I? It seems like he's fine—considering that mishap with Mochida-sempai and all." She shrugged.
The chameleon on Reborn's shoulder suddenly glowed and turned into a gun. He pointed the gun at Shiyori who now stood up, surprised. It was a real gun, no denying it. Even if it wasn't, Shiyori wasn't going to risk anything.
"What are you doing?" She set out in her fighting stance.
With another smirk, Reborn unloaded the gun, taking a red bullet out the cartridge, bringing it up to show the girl before him. He meant her no harm, he just wanted to show her something.
'What a weird little one, nonchalantly holding around guns like that,' Shiyori sweatdropped. She adjusted her red-trimmed glasses again at the bridge of her nose. Hesitantly, the kendo captain kneeled down once more, examining the bullet on Reborn's little hand.
"This is a dying will bullet. A person shot in the head by this will be resurrected with dying will. I shot Tsuna with this during his fight with Mochida."
Shiyori nodded. "So this is the reason for that odd feeling he was emitting."
Reborn smiled. "Corretto," he remarked in italian. "Take the time to really look at Tsuna. He's an actual crybaby without my bullets."
The girl frowned. "So his strength was all because of the bullets? If so, then it was an unfair fight."
He loaded back the bullet into the cartridge. The gun immediately turned back into his companion, Leon.
The small hitman looked to Shiyori. "Tsuna is going to be the tenth generation mafia boss of the Vongola family. He has the strength, but these bullets pull it out of him. He's just too much of a coward. You can help him Shiyori-san."
Shiyori looked over Reborn, astonishment on her face. This odd kid Tsuna, a future mafia boss? This could lead to unnecessary trouble not only for her in the future, but her own family as well. The girl wasn't stupid or oblivious. She stood up quickly and rotated her body the other way.
"Before you go, you should know." They cooly shared a glance. "Yamamoto Takeshi is now part of his family too."
She whirled back fast, bewildered. Reborn smirked as an annoyed look grew on the girl's face as she sweatdropped. "Of course he did." Only Takeshi would be oblivious enough to join him. They've been hanging out so much more recently. He probably thought this was all just some game.
"So will you help me? If not, I could always ask Mochida. He seems like he's better suited at this point."
Shiyori grew an anger mark on her forehead. Anything but that. She had too much pride. Her eyes narrowed at the mafioso. She didn't like being belittled, much less underestimated.
The two shared one long stare down until-
"Fine, I'll do it."
Another smirk came out from Reborn. "Welcome to the Vongola, Shiyori-san."
He tipped his hat as he suddenly retreated into a secret entrance by the wall they were standing next to. Shiyori looked to the sky. If she couldn't teach that Tsunayoshi to be protective of his so called "family", he wouldn't be able to protect Yamamoto in dire situations they were sure to face.
"Bakamoto, this is all your fault." She sighed and retreated home. "What have I gotten myself into?"
"Shiyori-chan~! Let's eat lunch together!"
Yamamoto smiled at his friend.
Shiyori eyed him warily without turning her head to him. She continued to remain in her seat, her body still, but relaxed. "Eh? Are you mad at me?" He asked worriedly.
Turning her head away from him, she looked away from his puppy eyes. They could be hard to deny sometimes when he looked at her like that. It's been like that since they were younger.
He patted her on the shoulder. The other hand rubbing the back of his neck an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry! It's because we haven't been talking or hanging out the past few days besides yesterday! Both our clubs hold us up. I've been hanging out with Tsuna and Gokudera a lot too. Ah I know! You should join us! We play mafia and everything! It's really fun," he laughed as both his arms relaxed at his sides.
Her eyes twitched. Fun? And that transfer student with the bombs was part of the family too? But then again she should have figured. Guys as weird as Tsuna should be with that group. Reborn's words echoed in her ears "Welcome to the Vongola, Shiyori-san."
She sighed as she gave in to Yamamoto's apology.
"Whatever, Takeshi." Unfortunately, I guess I'm part of that weird group now.
Yamamoto grinned as he pulled the girl and her lunch to the desk of none other than Sawada Tsunayoshi. Without realizing, her gray irises pooled into the future mafia boss' as she forcefully pulled a chair next to her to sit beside him and across Yamamoto. He stared back, frozen in fear until a bang of a fist on the desk broke it. Her eyes then traveled to the transfer student from Italy.
"Oi! Stop looking at the boss like that or I'll blow you up!"
Green eyes challenged gray ones in a hard stare as she remarked with a simple "Do it."
He jumped out of his chair and was about to pull out something from his school blazer until Tsuna bursted out, "G-Gokudera-kun! It's fine," with a cowardly pitch in his voice.
Gokudera gave the newcomer another angry glare as he ceased his movement and settled back into his chair, the tension between the two of them obvious to anyone, besides one that is.
"Haha, didn't I tell you they were funny Shiyori-chan?" They all sweatdropped at the baseball freak's obliviousness.
Tsuna took the opportunity to talk to the girl who helped him that one day with Mochida.
"U-um. I don't think I've ever formally introduced myself. I'm-"
"Sawada Tsunayoshi." She switched her glance. "And you are Gokudera Hayato. I'm in your class, of course I know."
"Eh-." Tsuna stood there in his seat shocked, not knowing what to say. Such a stoic and brassy tone. "I'm Akibara Shiyori, if you didn't know that by now," she said as she started to eat her lunch nonchalantly.
Tsuna looked between the brassy girl and the happy-go-lucky Yamamoto gorging on their bentos. These two were apparently the best of friends and yet their personalites clashed by a landslide. Tsuna could see something tick in Gokudera as he was about to have another outburst. He quickly grabbed his attention.
"G-Gokudera-kun! You said you were gonna share a snack with me?"
The mafioso snapped out of his rage and turned all excited, wanting to share his favorite snacks with his beloved boss.
Shiyori took in his sudden change of character. It seemed he was really intent on protecting Tsuna. Her eyes slowly rested on Yamamoto eating his lunch. Just how did you get tangled up in this mess, Takeshi?
Litle by little, she couldn't help but angrily blame Tsuna once more. In the first few minutes of the meal Yamamoto kept talking about the "wild" times where they played mafia. It involved baby cows with bazookas, little girls with smelly breath that moved people, a woman who turns all food purple, explosions and more weird and dangerous sounding stories involving the underwear-clad-at-the-time Tsuna. Her chopsticks viciously picked at her bento, her anger towards the boy slowly growing. Such weird stories that this guy is getting Takeshi involved in. He could get him hurt. Why does Takeshi have to be so oblivious to the fact he could get hurt?
One vicious pick.
Two vicious picks.
Three vicious picks.
"U-Um. Yamamoto-kun, won't you take this? I made it especially for you," says a girl from another class as she hands Yamamoto a bento, a blush on her cheeks. He took it politely. "I don't know why you're giving me this, but thank you!" He smiled as she squealed away with her friends on the other side of the classroom.
That set it off.
One last vicious pick at her food brought the entire bento to the floor from her hand. She looked at her bento in awe. Her sweets, her beautiful omelete her grandmother had made for her, all ruined on the floor. Her eyes went wide. People stared at the girl who's eyes looked downcast to her delicious meal. Her heart broke a little inside as her stomach growled. Omelets and sweets were her favorite, besides sushi of course. Whatever gesture made her set that last pierce to her bento, she'll never know.
"Aw Shiyori-chan don't worry. I'll share my meal with you!"
Shiyori looked up to see a piece of Yamamoto's sushi held up with chopsticks, hovering towards Shiyori's mouth. "Say ahhh."
Everything turned slow motion. Students paused to look at the gesture from Yamamoto to Shiyori. Some of the girl's faces lighted up at this daring move. It was almost like a secondhand kiss! This girl would basically be secondhand kissing their precious Yamamoto. Tsuna noticed this too as a blush formed on his face.
'So daring,' he thought. In a place like this, he would never have the courage to do this with any girl, specifically with Kyoko.
As Shiyori's mouth began to open slightly, a crowd of boys burst into the classroom.
"CAPTAAAIIIIIIN!"
Everyone looked shocked to the huge group of boys, Shiyori's face a bit annoyed. It wasn't that she cared about Yamamoto sharing his meal, her kendo team altogether were just too loud.
Kaito stepped out of the group and held out a bento box with a brand new omelet. "Captain! We noticed that your meal dropped when we were err-all admiring you from afar! We as the kendo team bring you a new one so please accept it!" He brought the bento near her face and she looked at them with bored eyes and eyebrows lightly raised.
She took it calmly. "Thank you."
"Oh! And this too captain!"
Another boy from the club presented her with a small box, a small cake coating in a massive amount of sugar and little sweets decorating along the frosting inside. At this, Shiyori's eyes grew as she took it quickly and sampled a small bite. Her taste buds flew as she let loose one of her genuine famous smiles that the kendo team swooned over. They discovered her reaction to delicious sweets after she discovered a forgotten piece of cake in the home economics room. Ever since then, they try to slip her some sweets to get a glimpse of their captain's stoic demeanor turn adorable.
But as soon as it came, it had left just as fast. Her eyes went back to their usual look. "Okay, you can go now."
The team stood up straight and saluted. "YES MA'AM!" And walked out in a quick and orderly fashion.
The class laughed at the loud bunch and continued to their lunch, the memory of the almost moe moment between Akibara and Yamamoto long gone. Shiyori turned back to the three boys before her. Gokudera held the same sneering look. Tsuna looked sheepishly between her and Yamamoto. And Yamamoto? He was laughing.
"Haha! You've gotten really popular Shiyori-chan!"
Shiyori shrugged but turned her attention back to Tsuna with a small glare. Before she was interrupted by her violent stabbing, she remembered she was mad at Tsuna. This boy was the reason she had to get involved with weirdos. This boy was the reason for pulling Yamamoto into something that could hurt him. Tensions again riled high as the hot headed Gokudera was about to yell out, but was cut off once again before he could. The teacher had come in and class was back in session.
"Boss! Let's go home together!"
Tsuna nodded as he and Gokudera started on their way home, but before they could, Reborn appeared from a small machine coming out of the ground. Tsuna yelped in surprise. "Reborn! Stop showing up in weird places!" He relaxed. "And what's with the outfit?"
Reborn was wearing an armored garment. A uniform someone would wear if they were doing kendo. He looked up at the two.
"You're going to be training with someone today."
Tsuna looked astonished. "Eh? With who?" A tired groan escaped his lips. "Reborn, I had a long day, can I just go home and take a break?"
The hitman stood there unblinking, the curt smile still plastered on his face. The two stood there looking back at him confused. Leon transformed into a gun as Reborn pointed at Tsuna.
"Go to the kendo room now or I'll kill you here."
"HEEEEEEEE NO DON'T SHOOT!" Tsuna screamed as he ran towards the kendo room. Gokudera, just as shocked, ran after him. "Wait up! Boss!"
Tsuna and Gokudera walked up to the kendo room, opening the door to see multiple people standing in a circle, with two people in the center, their stances in the striking position. A hand landed on Tsuna's shoulders as he screeched in fright. It was none other than Yamamoto smiling with the armor-clad Reborn sitting on his broad shoulders.
"Yo! You guys wanted to see Shiyori in action too?" Tsuna looked shocked. He almost forgot Akibara was the captain. He hoped it wasn't her he had to train with. Reborn pointed to the kendo team as they stood still waiting for the cue to start.
"Tsuna, watch and learn." Tsuna gazed upon the people once more.
A firm voice wavered around the room. "Land one hit on any of my datotsu-bui. If you're hit by me on any of your target points, stand aside and let the next person go. Remember to come at me with everything you've got."
"YES MA'AM!"
It was amazing. Though it wasn't a formal kendo fight, one person at a time would try to nail Shiyori at one of her target points but to no avail. As she landed her hits to her opponent's head, wrist, and torso protectors, they were forced to retreat quickly for the next in line to swing their shinai around. Shiyori's shinai danced as she gracefully blocked every oncoming hit. Soon enough, the last person in the circle was up. Their bamboo blades clashed as they each tried to land a hit.
"More aggressive Kaito," yelled Shiyori.
The boy roared as he slammed his shinai hard on his opponent's. Shiyori mustered enough strength to push back before the head touched her torso. She smirked under her mask. 'He's improving,' she thought.
Yells of encouragement from the other team members ushered for Kaito to give it his all. Their weapons kept recoiling off of each other from the brute strength they were both emitting. The two yelled as they continued to keep up with each other's hits and blocks.
"Yeah! Go Shiyo-chan!"
Shiyori, in hearing this, wavered a bit unexpectedly. 'Not that annoying pet name again,' she thought.
In that moment, she felt the shinai jab her on the shoulder. He had landed a hit. She grunted as she could sense everyone's realization at Kaito's accomplishment. Kaito stared at his captain shocked, not believing his achievement himself. Everyone started cheering.
"Alright Kaito! You landed a hit!"
Kaito smiled under his mask as he gazed excitedly upon his captain. "Captain! I did i-"
A swift swish of Shiyori's shinai hit the bottom of Kaito's head protector that protected his throat. It flew off his face as he fell back by the sudden and unexpected impact. He and the rest of the onlookers gawked at Shiyori's move. Standing back into her relaxed position, she took off her mask, wiping the little beads of sweat from her face with her forearm. Opening her eyes, she surveyed everyone watching, an irked look on her face as she saw the trio at the door. Tsuna and Gokudera looked wide eyed.
Gokudera stepped forward. "Hey that was a dirty move! He hit you first!"
Shiyori shrugged at this. "I told him to hit me at my target points. Last I checked, there's no target points on the shoulder."
Tsuna saw Kaito's eyes widen to this realization as he bowed before Shiyori. "I'm sorry captain! It was my fault for forgetting."
She shook her head at him. "Next time, we'll have to work on precision. Imagine I was your enemy and you swiped an actual blade at my shoulder. That wouldn't have stopped me. You'd have to slash me in the head, torso or throat or I'll go to the ends of the earth trying to kill you. Learn to hit with precision or you'll be dead in one slash." She turned her attention to the rest. "That goes for everyone as well. Good work today, especially you, Kaito." The bowing boy inclined his body, his eyes in complete admiration. He nodded. "Thank you captain!"
"You're all done for today."
"YES MA'AM." They said as they speedily gathered up their stuff and left the room.
The future mafia boss gulped, dreading coming here in the first place. He knew now that Shiyori was definetely going to be the one to train him. There was no doubt about it. He squawked as Shiyori walked up to the trio in a small fit. Pushing away Gokudera and Tsuna, her pointer finger pounded roughly on the baseball freak's chest.
"Takeshi. What did I tell you about calling me that?"
Yamamoto laughed as he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, it just slips out sometimes, you know that!" He placed both his hands on the girl's shoulders after. "But you were really amazing Shiyori-chan! I'm proud of you." He ruffled her hair as she groaned in protest.
Tsuna let out a breathe of air in relief. He thought she was going to come for him. Maybe she wasn't supposed to train with him after all. His relief was cut short as the front of his shirt was clenched up so that he was face to face with Shiyori.
"And I didn't forget about you either. Now suit up. We've got training to do. I promised that baby," she pointed at Reborn, "that I would train you, but on one condition. If you fail to conquer my training, you have to abide by my wishes."
The spikey haired student gulped again. "What is it?"
She glared at him with firm, narrowed eyes.
"That you exclude me and Takeshi from all this mafia nonsense and not include us in anything of that sort. I'm not having any harm come to the people I care about."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
And there you have it people! Chapter threeeeee~! Finally right? Excuse me if there's any errors of any kind. I kind of rushed to get this chapter in since I've just started school so other things have been too overwhelming. If anything I'll update it haha.
If you didn't get the "secondhand kissing" part, that was just my interpretation of a "moe"ment (*bu duhm tsss*) get it? no? okay aha. C'mon guys, they're still in middle school so when you see that "lovey dovey" type stuff at a young age you're just like "oh dear I'm blushing."
If anyone's a little confused about the "datotsu-bui" thing Shiyori refers to, it's supposed to be the "target points". These are what gives the points in the kendo competitions. When someone lands a hit on the target points (i.e. parts of the head protector, wrist protector, torso protector) with good force, endurance and precision, they are rewarded with a point.
Leave me with some more feedback guys! I always get so happy when I see a notification pop up on my screen that tells me when one of you guys faved/commented/followed my story. I want to make it better (:
Thanks!
Nina (: