Chapter 51: Battlefield.
Once again back in the giant cave, the three Vongola members were training with the Box Weapons once more. The Vindice were kind enough (aka ordered by Bermuda) to help with the training and provide suitable opponents. This provided an excellent opportunity for Tsuna to work together with Shinichi and Kaito in a more physical setting. This would be the first time all three had worked together at once. The first time, it was Vongola VS KID and Conan, then it was only Kaito who fought Tsuna whilst Shinichi was recovering with Mukuro, after that Kaito stayed at Vongola whilst Shinichi and Tsuna solved the Black Wolves case. A little further down the line was the Mafia Game against Dino, yet Tsuna had stayed in the tree for most of that and he hadn't been at the battle against Dino. Nor was Tsuna there at the Phantom Game. Tsuna supposed that their fight against Verde could count, although he was on the floor for most of that.
So then, this would be a great opportunity.
From previous training exercises, Tsuna knew that the Vindice meant business, and that a reasonable power was needed to survive against them. The Vindice were not afraid to harm even in these training sessions- Reborn would have approved, Tsuna was sure. So even before the battle had begun, Tsuna had already gone into Dying Will mode, bordering on the hyper side. Shinichi and Kaito stood a step infront of him on either side- he assumed it was because, from what he could tell, the pair were natural instinctive protectors, and Tsuna was used to being protected anyway, much to his dislike.
"Let the Battle Begin," Orders Bermuda, who was once again hovering in the air to the side. Bermuda rarely entered these practices, preferring to hover and observe instead. If he ever did interfere, it was with a child-like mischief of using his chains to trip the others up, apparently teaching them to expect the unexpected. Tsuna swore he'd heard that off of a children's anime before but shook it off.
The battle started off in the most dramatic way possible… in a cloud of smoke. Tsuna didn't even see Kaito drop the smoke bomb, but just heard the poof sound as he was engulfed. It reminded him slightly of Lambo's bazooka. He used the time to open his Box and to let Natsu out. Natsu roared, showing he was ready for action. What Tsuna wasn't expecting was for both Shinichi and Kaito to run backwards, towards and past him. He expected both of them to go towards the enemy.
Tsuna's intuition flickered in his mind and he had just enough time to defend himself. "Natsu, Cambio Forma Modo Difesa: Mantello Di Vongola Primo!" Natsu quickly jumps onto his arm and Tsuna raises the brand new black cloak in time to stop the two chains heading for his face. Tsuna hears the sound of chains rattling and then feels the pressure release from the cloak. Lowering it slowly, he sees that the two chains have been captured by Shinichi's own baton and chain, Orion's Offensive.
Shinichi heaves and the Vindice's chains totally remove themselves from Tsuna's mantle to point directly at him. Kaito, currently dressed as KID, runs down the taught chains and into the mist where the Vindice are lurking, his balance perfect on the thin and uneven surface. Even Shinichi looks impressed. Kit follows along, the Kitsune's balance perfect too. Tsuna watches as Shinichi's feet drag along the ground, and Shinichi leans backwards to counteract the force from the other end. He quickly runs over towards Shinichi and grabs hold on him, pulling him backwards too. However the pair keep slowly being dragged forwards.
Tsuna thinks and thinks before an idea hits him. He lets go of Shinichi, who jerks forwards but quickly regains his purchase, before running around to Shinichi's front, his back towards the mist and the enemy. He places a hand on Shinichi's chest. Looking upwards, Shinichi catches Tsuna's eye and nods at the pleading look Tsuna gives off.
"Operation:" Tsuna says, and Shinichi's eyes widen. What on earth was Tsuna thinking? But why not complete the command?
"Rodger that Boss." Says the virtual guide. "Left glove burner pressure rising. 1,000 Fiamma volts, 2,000 fiamma volts, Right glove pressure 50 fiamma volts." Tsuna nods to himself before looking back up at Shinichi. The pair make eye contact once again, and Tsuna uses that moment to look for any sign of pain in Shinichi's eyes. Eyes flicking downwards, Tsuna quickly checks that he hasn't burned through Shinichi's shirt either. Slowly but surely, the chains tighten once again and the pair start going backwards.
"That's… brilliant Boss!" commends Shinichi. "Using the soft Flames of the X Burner to counteract the pressure the Vindice is applying. It's almost like a reverse X Burner." Tsuna nods but can't do much more, too focused on the woman's voice reading out the fiamma gauge. He didn't want to harm Shinichi at all, and he was far too used to exerting hard Flames with his right hand, the one currently pressed rather close to Shinichi's heart. One slip up could burn Shinichi's chest or worse.
"Kit, Flame's Eclipse!" comes KID's voice from through the mist.
Not long after, KID is sent flying backwards, whilst Shinichi is sent flying to the left. Tsuna, no longer having Shinichi to lean against, falls over and nearly lands face first. Kit had bitten the Vindice Officer and was extracting their flames, so the Vindice had retaliated. During it's movement he had sent the chains he wore flying, and the unexpected movement had sent Shinichi- still connected by the baton and chains wrapped around- flying too.
Shinichi quickly stops his attack and the ravens convert back into their separate forms. With a burst of Flames, Tsuna darts forwards and catches them, pushing off the cave wall. Whilst being carried, Shinichi fishes out his Conan Glasses (the adult sized ones, but still named that for the memory) and turns on the tracking function.
"Boss, drop us," Shinichi advises before showing him the location of the Vindice with the tracking beacon on it. When KID had run down the chains earlier, he had come face to face with the Vindice that owned them and placed one of the tracking beacons on them before calling out Kit's attack as a diversion. Tsuna nods, and as he nears the floor, let's go of Shinichi, who was quickly caught by KID. Tsuna propels himself off the opposite wall before heading at full speed in the direction of the beacon.
"X Stream!" Tsuna shouts, spiralling around the enemy, a ribbon of flames following behind. This move 'caught' the Vindice officer off guard (They weren't allowed to go full power to their dismay).
Whilst Tsuna was dealing with that one, Shinichi and Kaito were dealing with the other one that had appeared.
"Storm Card." Kaito grabs the Storm Flame filled cards and loads them into the Card Gun before firing one off at the figure before them.
"You know Kaito, your aiming sucks. Let me do it."
The feeling of being kicked out of control was a weird one, yet one Kaito was used to by now. With Hunter now in control, the shooting was quicker and sharper. The Vindice Guard got hit by the shrapnel a few times, causing the odd rip in his cloak. It was hard to tell if his actual body was affected or not. Kit runs forwards, nimbly dodging the chains directed towards her before leaping for the Vindice officer and latching on using her claws. She then proceeds to bite and claw at the Officer, using every advantage Nature gave foxes to use.
"Lightning Moon's Kitsune-bi." Kit jumps off before unleashing a ball of Lightning Flames at the target. The Officer dodges, most likely using a hardly seen short warp, and the ball continues past him…
…Right into the back of the Officer Tsuna had just hit with his X Stream. As that one fell forwards due to the blast at his back, Tsuna prepared for another attack. "Cambio Forma, Modo Attaco: Mitena di Vongola Primo." Natsu jumps onto his wrist before transforming into a gauntlet and shield combination with the number 1 on it to represent Primo. Without having to wait for the attack to charge due to Natsu's help, Tsuna concentrates his Flames into the glove before punching the Officer falling towards him. The attack hits square on and the cloaked man goes flying backwards.
Shinichi had been dealing with the Officer who had dodged Kit's attack. "Sickle of Leo!" Huginn and Muninn fly up to brush against the ceiling before flying down towards their target at a hyper sonic speed, creating rippling airwaves to cut at their attacker. The force of the cuts pushed the officer back on a collision course for the other officer they were fighting against.
But just before the pair smack into each other, they disappear. All three look around trying to locate where the Vindice have gone to, but the mist in the cave was too thick. Shinichi runs towards the wall, Huginn and Muninn landing on his shoulders, before placing his back against it. Sitting down was a bad idea since it would take time to get back up and move if necessary. "Corvus Connection." He whispers under his breath, not wanting their enemies to hear what he was planning. Shinichi's eyes go the usual sparkling black as the birds' eyes turn Shinichi's shade of blue.
{Don't worry Master, we'll find him!} the birds affirm before flying off his shoulders and into the surrounding mist.
Shinichi looks through the eyes of Huginn, watching as the bird scans the area with eyes made for searching for tiny movements. He sees Tsuna, standing still and seemingly waiting for his intuition to give him a clue.
{What do you think you're doing!} caws Muninn, so Shinichi swaps views and sees through Muninn's eyes instead. From this raven's perspective, he can see Hunter pluck Conan's glasses off of his own face and place them on. The experience of watching something happen to yourself was a weird one admittedly, but KID had used Shinichi's form far too many times for comfort in the past three years, so it wasn't as bad as it should have been. He was sure that Kaito did it to annoy the hell out of him once he figured out that it annoyed Conan to no end.
He watched as Hunter pressed a few buttons before using his pen (Oh, he could use the pen, that was good,) to circle the correct pattern of buttons for Hunter to access the tracking screen. Sadly, he could not see through Kaito's eyes, so he had no idea what the tracking screen was showing. Instead he watches as Hunter prepares his next attack.
Muninn catches glimmers of colours and at Shinichi's order, swoops in closer. Shinichi watches the pattern of colour before watching as they are loaded into the Card Gun. Hunter keeps on throwing one card into the air, as if juggling with only one object, so Muninn snatches it out of the air before flying far away from Hunter.
Hunter runs into the mist in the direction of the tracking beacon. When he catches sight of a shadow in the mist he knows he's in the right place. The first card he shoots is a Mist card, thickening the mist surrounding them so that the Officer doesn't notice Hunter in return. The Mist card is also used for another reason; it disguises the signs of the next card to be used: the Rain Card. Hunter aims this card to land before where he reckons the Vindice's feet are. As the card crashed against the ground, the sleeping gas mixes in with the opaque mist already there.
{Master! Master! Boss has found the other one!} informs Huginn. Knowing that Hunter is alright at the moment, the bird flies towards its partner. Tsuna had turned to face west, his face scrunched up in concentration. As covertly as possible Huginn flies in that direction and checks where the Vindice Officer is. Muninn lands on Tsuna's shoulder and he jumps up in shock. Seeing that it's only one of the ravens and not the bandaged hand of an attacker, Tsuna smiles and rubs the bird's breast feathers. Muninn nods his head in a forwards direction, when Tsuna looks that way it's to be met with some of Shinichi's Star Flame messages.
X marks the spot, 4 metres ahead.
Tsuna smiles before settling into the stance for the X Burner. Muninn takes off once more, still carrying it's burden, aiming towards the officer Tsuna is targeting. At first Shinichi had wondered what this card was since it wasn't one of the special Flame cards that Spanner had made. Instead it was a thicker, heavier card. After a silent conversation with Hunter through the mediums of Star Flame Messages and lip reading via bird, Shinichi had finally found out what it was. So when Muninn flies over the Officer, he drops the cargo and watches as the Vindice Officer is covered in a purple goo a la KID. The goo sticks the Vindice officer to the floor long enough for Tsuna to charge his X Burner.
"300 Thousand Fiamma Volts. Gauge Symmetry. Ready for Launch Boss… Fire." The assistant says into Tsuna's ears. The left and right gauges are filled, the crosshairs are all aligned.
"X Burner!" Tsuna shouts. With the soft flames stabilising him, he shoots forth a burst of Hard Flames towards the Vindice Officer, hoping to make contact through the mist using the marks Shinichi had given him. The officer is hit with the attack but uses his chains to deflect some on the damage.
"Enough you're done." Orders Bermuda. The Officer nods before concentrating of getting KID's goo off of himself without removing the cloak.
Hunter meanwhile crept forwards on silent feet through the mist to see if he could find the felled and sleeping Vindice Guard. Sadly Conan's glasses didn't have a function to see through the mist so he took them off and placed them somewhere safe where they wouldn't get broken. He took a few more steps before, through the mist, materialized a chain covered flying fist. With his reflexes honed through thievery, he managed to jump back enough that it hit his chest instead of his face. But either way he still went flying backwards to crash into the cave wall, knoching the breath right out of him.
The Vindice Officer takes this opportunity to short warp to Shinichi's position and sent a sharp tipped chain right for his throat.
"YOU FORGET YOURSELF!" Bermuda shouts, his aura filling the whole room. The chain stops, but it had still pierced Shinichi's neck slightly, blood dripping down. Shinichi, who's consciousness was currently in Huginn, felt the blow twice fold, once through his own body and once through Huginn. Both birds gasp for breath before falling to the ground. All four other occupants in the room couldn't move, Bermuda's aura was that strong. Even Shinichi and Kaito, who could usually stand it better than everyone else were pinned to where they were, as were their Box Weapons.
The baby gently plucks the spear tip out of Shinichi's neck, before floating to be infront of the Officer. If Tsuna didn't know better, the Officer was quaking in his apparently non-existent boots. Bermuda is not a happy baby and back hands the Officer, sending him soaring across the room. The crash is the loudest one yet, removing a large quantity of rocks from the cave edge and forming a huge cloud of dust.
Having deemed that enough punishment for now, but no doubt planning more for later on, Bermuda floats over to each bird and carries them over to place them on each of Shinichi's shoulders. As soon as both birds are placed, Shinichi cuts the connection off. He coughs before placing a hand over the wound. A coughing fit soon ensues, with Huginn and Muninn flying around in a slight panic. Kit rushes over to see if she can help, but Shinichi turns his face away.
"Shinichi, are you alright?" asks Tsuna, boosting over to where his Guardian was. Shinichi shakes his head and continues on coughing. Tsuna notices him write something quickly with his Scalpen, but furrows his eyebrows when no message appears before him. He turns to where Kaito is across the room and notices that it doesn't look like Kaito got anything either. Bermuda laughs. Tsuna turns towards him and tracks the Boss of the Vendicare as he hovers to be by Shinichi's side.
"Fate really hates you doesn't it?" Bermuda keeps on laughing as Shinichi tries to glare but fails. Tsuna notices that he's turning a strange shade of green. "I'm going to have to call you Bad Luck Shinichi to go with Decimo's No Good Tsuna I believe." Tsuna doesn't have time to protest over the use of the nickname for the pair have disappeared. Bermuda reappears almost immediately afterwards, still laughing quietly to himself.
"What's… wrong with Shin…-chan?" Kaito asks, trying to get his breath back.
"He's too proud to admit it to you," Bermuda comments. Kaito rolls his eyes, already knowing that. Shinichi was far too prideful to ask for help often, or for things he deemed he could do himself. Getting Shinichi to ask for help was worse than drawing blood from a stone. Although Kaito had gotten blood tears from a stone, so maybe he wasn't all that far off. "I reckon the both of you may be able to sympathise actually." Bermuda guesses. "He's nauseous." Both give questioning glances. "He has no control over the birds so he can't tell when they are going to move. It's like being in a car with your eyes shut, or looking down at a book, it makes you feel sick. The same principle applies here. Maybe when you first learnt to fly you had a similar feeling? KID more than Decimo I suspect." Now Kaito understood, and he could imagine that to be a rather nauseous experience. Tsuna, being the one to control his Flames personally, hadn't actually gotten sick when learning to fly, possibly the first non-dame thing he had ever done. "He'll get over it, certainly a lot quicker than the strain on his eyes. Luckily enough it seems that the Corvus connection does not place any strain on his eyes due to them not moving at all during the process."
"Bermuda, would you mind telling us what happened here?" asks Tsuna, still in HDW mode, pointing a thumb in the direction of the still unconscious Vindice Officer. "Was it not the plan for us to be trained as realistically as possible? Shinichi not being able to move is indeed an inherent flaw that needed to be noted and addressed, so why the reaction to the officer making the flaw clear?"
The baby floats there and Tsuna gets the feeling that whatever Bermuda says next is not going to be the whole truth. But there's not a lot Tsuna can do about that since from what Shinichi has said, Bermuda is far more powerful than Tsuna is. "Training should not be taken that far. The officer simply forgot the difference in our power levels. Whilst there is meaning to training as if your life depends on it, a theory Reborn seems to live by, it is not worth it if death actually occurs. It was in my power to stop it, so I did." Sounded reasonable enough. From the Contract they made it seemed that Bermuda hated killing as much as Tsuna did, so it made sense for the man to stop it when he could. But his intuition was still saying there was more to it than that. There was no need to knock the Vindice Guard out completely.
"I'm going to check on him," Bermuda says, floating away from them. The baby looks over his shoulder and waves at them "Have fun." That tone caused a wave of suspicion in the Vongola pair. It didn't bode well, that tone. Bermuda disappears as soon as he's said it.
There is a groan from the other side of the room before movement occurs. Rubble falls and rolls as the Guard stands up, a hand on his head from the headache. "Fuck, Bermuda-sama is really mad at me. Now he ain't going to let me recharge until I'm literally at death's fucking door and I don't want that again. Once was more than enough." Shaking his head, the Guard turns around and realises he has company. Tsuna and Kaito have no idea what the Officer was on about, due to them not knowing the secret behind the Vindice. The officer steps out of the rubble, an aura building around him. "And it's your fault. If I'm going to get tortured then so are you. It'll be my Revenge." At the use of the word revenge, his aura flared once more.
Suddenly, he wasn't there anymore.
Kit barks and lunges for the figure infront of her, ripping at the cloak surrounding the Officer. Kaito grabs another Rain Card and fires it at the Officer. Strangely the Officer turns to face the incoming card, not even bothering to dodge, nor to remove the Kitsune biting into his arm. The card crashes against his chest and releases the light blue sleeping smoke. The Officer leans forwards and takes in a deep breath of the stuff before laughing.
"But!" protests Kaito, hating it when plans didn't go his way. Plans always went his way. "You should be asleep!"
The Officer laughs harder. "If it didn't work on me the first time then it's not going to work on me again. Why else do you think I was able to attack your friend? Because I woke up quickly? Pathetic."
Kaito quickly reloads to another card and shoots that one, purple flashing through the air. Again the Vindice lets it hit him as he steadily walks closer to Kaito. Once more there is no effect. That had been the Cloud Card, one to create multiple vision in the target, but the man wasn't even wobbling at all. The Officer swings his arm, dislodging Kit and sending her into Kaito. The pair skid back and hit the wall, a lot more softly than last time admittedly.
Kaito looks up, eyes glaring from under KID's top hat. "You harmed Shinichi and then laugh about it? You feel no regret for your actions?" Kaito puts Kit down before taking a step towards the Vindice Guard. "You want revenge for getting slapped by your Boss for doing something wrong? Well I think it's only fair that I get revenge," Tsuna's eyes widen a Kaito's Flames flare up around him too, "for how you harmed Shinichi!"
Kit growls deeply and Tsuna swears that she's gotten bigger. A capsule rolls out of Kaito's sleeve and crashes against the floor, spreading smoke all over the place.
"Moon:Mirror!" The voice comes from everywhere at once, even Tsuna can't locate it's source. The rattle of chains resounds and reverberates around the cave, the acoustics perfect for picking the sound up and throwing it around the room. The smoke clears and reveals two Kaitou KID's, chains swinging in their hands. "Kaitou KID's Lunar Eclipse." The pair swing the chains towards the Vindice Officer, but he just short-warps away, appearing three steps away from his starting position.
The chains change direction in mid air, and that's when Tsuna notices the faint white glittering sheen they have on them. The chains were filled with Moon Flames, giving Kaito full control over them. Tsuna felt like we was watching a floating snake with the way the chains weaves and curled around to follow the path of the Vindice officer who just kept on moving. Kit growls and gathers Lightning Flames at the tip of her tail, before launching a whole volley of them. Only Kaito was wearing the cape, Kit preferred to have the freedom of movement with her tail unless she was acting like KID on purpose. Kaito ran forwards into the middle of the wave of Lighting Flame balls, cartwheeling and back flipping out of the way. These movements caused the chains to go flying, but to Tsuna it all seemed controlled for it never hit any of the Flame Balls nor Kaito, Kit or himself. In fact, now that he thought about it, none of the attacks were coming anywhere near him.
"Revenge is not worth harming someone ever!" Kaito shouts, bringing the spear ends of the chains down on his opponent, hoping to entrap his arms or torso.
"Hn, Sometimes Revenge is all about harming the other." The Officer replies, his voice deep and ice cold. Was Tsuna going to mention that every time the word revenge was spoken their Flames got larger? No. He was however, going to file that away for later reference and think about it at some other time. The chain that Kaito had launched had gotten caught around the Officer's neck and right arm. Tsuna looked down at Natsu and the pair nod to each other.
The lion runs up to get closer to the action and roars loudly. "GAAOOO!" The chains and the officer's cloak turn to stone, petrified by Natsu's harmony factor. Now the chain can't come off, nor does it seem like the Officer can move his right shoulder. Kaito copies the Vindice's move from earlier and wraps the chain around his fist. Sending his Flames into the chain, he delivers a stronger than usual punch to the Vindice's face, payback for earlier. Soon after, the Officer short warps again, this time dragging Kaito a few steps forwards extremely quickly. Kaito loses his balance due to the tug of the chains and trips. Falling, he turns it into a one handed handstand before continuing with the motion and kicking the Vindice officer's left arm. The Officer brings the other chain around with great force, but Tsuna gets there first, Flames gloves grabbing the chain before it can connect with Kaito's stomach.
The Officer spins throwing them all off. He keeps on spinning, drawing in the chains around himself. Kaito is forced to let go of the chain he was holding or else be dragged in. Faster and faster the Officer spins until he is inside a whirlwind. He lifts off the ground before diving directly for Kaito. Kit jumps in the way, lessening the impact, consequently losing control of her transformation and returning to Kitsune form. Tsuna follows behind the officer, Natsu already in the attacking Cambio Forma.
"Take this! Big Bang Axel!" A fist with strength rivalling an X-Burner punches the Vindice in the back, flattening him to the ground. Kneeling on his back, Tsuna places his hands together and takes a breath in, preparing to enter the Negative State.
The Vindice bucks, almost throwing Tsuna off, so Kaito jumps and places his feet on each of the Vindice's shoulders. Kit does similar, taking ahold of one ankle in her jaw and wrapping her tail around the other leg. Kaito sends one of the Moon Flame infused chains to wrap around the Officer's legs and another to wrap its free arm against his body.
"Vongola Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition!" Placing his hands against the Guard's back, flames of Ice slowly start to engulf him. The Officer squirms and tried to short warp out of there, yet he's run out of Flames, and can't combat the effect Kaito's Moon Flames have.
Kaito tugs on the chain connected to the Vindice's neck, forcing the Officer to look at him. Kaito didn't care that bandages covered his eyes, all that mattered was looking in the right place. Tsuna didn't like the look in Kaito's eyes, it looked a lot like a pissed off Xanxus and Hibari cross. Reborn had mentioned that Hunter was an amalgamation of all the scary people Kaito had seen, but there was still a lot of Kaito's own essence in that look. He couldn't be sure whether it was Hunter or not.
"Revenge is not worth it if people get harmed in the process. You're going to apologise to Shinichi and take whatever other punishment Bermuda gives out like a good little boy since it's what you deserve. There was no need to get mad at us when you were the one in the wrong and it was entirely your fault. Take this as a lesson in moderation; you could have stopped before you actually harmed Shinichi, just a touch would have been enough to get the message across. But you didn't. And because you didn't you're going to get the coldest sleep of your life, and I sure hope you enjoy it, since we aren't getting you out of there any time soon."
Tsuna covered the Vindice's face over with the Negative Ice. He got off the prone figure and went over to Kaito. "Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself."
"Ha," Kaito barks. "Do you know how close that spear tip came to either piercing an artery or his airways? There was a very real chance that Shinichi could have died. Of course I'm not going to be myself." Kit barks and wags her tail, one of her Kitsune-bi bouncing on it. "That's right Kitty, lets go check on Shin-chan~" Kaito sings before quite literally skipping across the cave and out of the door.
Tsuna shook his head and followed at a more sedate pace. He was starting to regret allowing Shinichi to leave with the Vindice. It had changed the both of them. They needed to get back to Vongola, back to his, no their, family, and quickly.
"Honey I'm home~"
There is a moment of silence around the Vongola Mansion.
"And I brought Mother home!"
Suddenly there is a stampede for the hallway.
"Hey, why call me Mother?" pouts Tsuna from his position over Kaito's shoulder.
Tsuna can hear the grin crawl onto Kaito's face. "Well you said it to Verde right. You're not the Godfather but the Mother of Vongola. But anyway, recently kidnapped and beaten Mafia Bosses shouldn't be talking now should they?"
Tsuna sighs and proceeds to close his eyes and 'play dead'.
"JUUUUDDDAAIIIIIMEEEEEEEEEE!" That must have been the loudest anyone had ever heard Gokudera shout, and boy could the bomber shout. He practically collided into Kaito in his haste to see his beloved boss once more. "Oi, why are you carrying Juudaime like that? Show him some more respect dumbass!" He chides Kaito.
"Hey, I'm the one you rescued him!" argues Kaito, pouting at Gokudera who is not impressed. Instead he lifts Tsuna gently off of Kaito's shoulder and places him on the cushioned throne that was always in the front entrance for him to use when waiting for the others to return home.
"Wow, I've never seen him that gentle before," comments Yamamoto as he descends the stairs at a jog.
"Tsuna-niii!" Lambo and Fuuta come running in from the kitchen area, covered in icing and cookie crumbs. Before long the whole of the family is surrounding Tsuna's throne, all concerned for their brother.
"Where the hell did you find him!" demands Gokudera, shouting as he turns to face Shinichi and Kaito. "Who were the fucking retards that did this?! When I get to them I'll!"
"Quieten down or you'll wake him," Hisses Kaito a finger to his lips. Gokudera immediately shuts up yet his fists and whole body is shaking in unbridled anger.
"Shouldn't we get Boss to the infirmary?" asks Chrome, her quiet voice cutting through the silence.
"Ahh of course!" says Shoichi in a panic. "Spanner we should get the mosca to carry him, but it's down in our lab."
"I shall do it for my Extreme little bro!" announces Ryohei, fists in the air. The others all part to let Ryohei through and the procession follows behind.
Well, most of them anyway.
Shinichi is grabbed and dragged in the opposite direction by one very pissed of Mukuro. Not that he looks pissed though. In fact, he's smiling. Actually smiling. Not smirking but smiling. Something was wrong.
They walk through the forest even though Shinichi wants nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep. When Bermuda had said they could go back and that Shinichi had 'passed his assessments', Tsuna insisted on going back that very second. Shinichi guessed that Tsuna wasn't comfortable in the Vendicare. It had taken a toll on him that was for sure. He's pushed inside of a house and forced onto the sofa.
"Ne ne! I smell Shini-chan, byon! He's back!" Ken shouts from a different room, most likely the kitchen, before he comes stomping in like a Rhino. "Bad Shini-chan! Bad!" Shinichi swears that Ken was about to roll the newspaper up and smack him with it. "You can't leave us out of the Fun! And going with the Vindice of all people!" Ken then puts on this hurt puppy look, made all the more powerful by Ken's animal genes. "You betrayed us!"
"Kufufu~ That's right. You betrayed us," Mukuro is still smiling that weird smile of his, but this time there's a considering gleam in his eyes. "To repent for your sins I'm going to make you live your darkest nightmare." A very happy smile alights on Mukuro's face as he raises his hand to place it over his cursed eye.
However he makes the mistake of looking Shinichi in the eye. Shinichi stares back up at him, an apathetic look on his face. "Go on and try. Don't you think I'm already living it?" It was clear to Mukuro that Shinichi truly did believe that so slowly he lowers his hand. But then Shinichi blinks and there's this confused look on his face. "And what's this about me being a betrayer anyway?"
All three members of the Kokuyo gang face palm, or mentally in Mukuro's case. Chikusa was already in the room when the pair had arrived. Back on goes Ken's hurt puppy look, so Shinichi looks over to Mukuro… who also has a hurt puppy look on. He sits down and lounges across Shinichi's lap, hand to his forehead in a dramatic manor, rather like Kaito did sometimes.
"And he doesn't even know! Oh the horror!" Shinichi blinks, wondering whether he's trapped in an illusion or not. "I'm not going to talk to you until you apologise for betraying us!" and with that he crosses his arms and tightly shuts his mouth. Shinichi looks gobsmacked, especially when Ken loudly announces that he's not going to talk to Shinichi either. Chikusa muttered his usual catchphrase, supposedly agreeing with the pair.
"What did I do wrong?" asks Shinichi, but all three ignore him. He mentally backtracks the conversation looking for a clue as to what he did wrong. "You're mad at me for leaving you behind? I couldn't exactly take you with me everywhere I went you know." Still no answer. "You're mad that I went with the Vindice?" That gets a reaction and all three turn away from him, painful looks in their eyes. "I thought you would have understood it best. Mukuro, aren't you the one who always says about using any tool at your disposal? If Bermuda,"
"Don't mention his name." growls Mukuro. Shinichi rolls his eyes but continues anyway.
"If he's the only one who can teach me, then why shouldn't I take the opportunity?"
"You only take opportunities yourself when you know that you are going to come out the other side unscathed. That's what other people are for, to make sure the way is safe for you. He could have kept you there, locked you away from us, kept you in the dark for eternity. That Thief said he had almost broken you. If he had… If he had then he wouldn't be safe from me no matter how far down he hid. I wouldn't have allowed it."
"We tried to follow you, you know," mumbles Ken, looking up slightly. "But one moment you were in England and then you're in America and then suddenly you're back here, and then you go off the map totally byon. We had no way to know where you were or if you were safe!" complains Ken. "And the sweets in all of them were awful! Do you know how hard it was to get bubble-gum that wasn't bubble-gum flavour? It was impossible!"
"Wait, how did you know if I came back here?" Shinichi asks suspiciously.
"That day they brought the cat lady in, your smell was stronger than it had been for days. It stopped at the interrogation rooms though." Explains Ken, unconsciously rubbing a hand over his nose.
"You do know you've just talked to him right?" asks Chikusa, flicking his yo-yo once.
Ken grabs his hair and rolls on the floor "Aww, dammit! See what you've done now Shini-chan?"
"Still talking…"
"Shut up Kakki-pii" Ken bops Chikusa on the head.
"Where's Flan?" Shinichi asks, not having seen any sightings of apples yet.
"Him? Brat's gone with the Variaahhh! You did it again, byon!" whines Ken, banging his head into the floor.
"Well then, if none of you are going to talk to me, I'll just leave and go see Kaito and Tsuna." Announces Shinichi. He tries to get up but Mukuro's not moving.
"Oya? Did I say you could leave?" Mukuro smirks and makes himself more comfortable. Shinichi tries once again to stand up, even attempting to push Mukuro off. All that gets him is a trident under the chin. "Kufufu~ The wounded aren't going anywhere until they are healed." Mukuro chides, taping the cut Bermuda had inflicted yesterday with the tip of his trident. "You know My Dear Detective, I'd never hurt you like this." Shinichi doesn't even ask how Mukuro knew that, his Flame was currently too low to fight off any mental probing a full powered Mukuro- practically the current King of Illusions- wanted to do. Shinichi makes another attempt to leave, not liking where this conversation is going. "You should stay here, we are all that you need. You don't need any of the others, I can help you fulfil your wish. All you need to do is ask."
"Get on my knees and beg you for help? When hell freezes over." Rebuts Shinichi, for that was surely how Mukuro would want him to 'ask for help'.
Mukuro smiles and waves a hand in the air in a posh manor. "Been there done that. It's rather easy to freeze hell over you know."
Ken bounces over and leans over the back of the sofa and Shinichi's shoulder. "Yeah yeah, byon! Shini-chan helped us so it's only natural that we'd help back. And anyway you're part of the Gang byon! If Mukuro-sama says he can do it then consider it done. No one can resist his illusions or stand up to his cursed eye! He even beats that Skylark. He's invincible!"
"Can I arrest you lot on the ground of Kidnapping?" wonders Shinichi out loud.
"Hey! That's not fair~" Ken whines once more, giving Shinichi a very light smack on the head.
"You can do what you like here Detective." Mukuro gets up and sits on the sofa opposite, "You know that. In the space of this house, you are free of all commitments, free from the ties that bind you to Vongola, to Tsunayoshi, to Kaito, even to that Ran girl you seem to care for. But I want you to remember something My Smart Detective. How to define an illusionist."
"An illusionist in your case if a Mist Flame User who uses the Flames to control the perceptions, or the 5 sense, of their target. This controls what they see, hear, feel, taste and smell."
"Correct. Now add in my 6 Paths of Reincarnation." Mukuro gives Shinichi a moment to mentally add them into the picture, "And then my stash of the Estraneo's Special Possession Bullets. Now imagine how easy it would be to infiltrate and destroy the Organisation that plagues you." Shinichi gets up and heads towards the exit.
Just before Shinichi leaves, Mukuro adds in one more thing. "Remember Shinichi, I can give you that clean start you so deeply desire."
And the door bangs shut.
Mukuro looks between the door and the sofa, and back again a few times before his jaw drops. "He left." He sounded like a child stating the obvious that it doesn't want to believe… because it was the obvious that he didn't want to believe. Quickly he gets up and strides out of the building. For Mukuro didn't run. Ever.
By the way, I'm not actually a fan of gender swaps, but it was part of the legend that Kitsune take on the form of young women… or elderly men, so unless you want an 90 year old KID hobbling around the place, we're sticking with a fem!KID. I feel like I'm being a bit mean towards Shinichi, but I keep on coming up with all these things that could go wrong for him. I suppose in reality I should be giving Kaito more of these punishments since he's the one closer to God Modelling. I'll have to come up with some more.
Hopefully this chapter fulfils the wishes of two special reviewers!
I'll see you all next time!
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 03 October 2012