Target 9: Illegitimate Explanations.
Due to Nami-chuu's rather large accidents, thanks to the disciplinary committee, the students were never sent to the infirmary, rather they were sent straight to the hospital, meaning the school had no nurse—which did wonders for the school's budget.
This made it easy for everyone to stay in the infirmary without raising any questions. Hitomi and Kita were laid in beds next to each other by Minoru. Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto stood or sat in various places in the rather large infirmary. Kamiko, Emiko, Reborn and Minoru were also strewn about the room. The only people missing were Collins and Hikaru, Hikaru opting to take Collins home after her father pulled up screaming about how he was going to take her to practice.
"Well, Hikaru said she wouldn't say anything about this to Collins. Said she'd make up a story or somethin'." Emiko told the group. Reborn nodded, not having been around when Emiko went to talk to Hikaru.
"But what exactly happened, you never really explained." Tsuna spoke up, all eyes turning to him, "I mean, why's Hitomi all bloody?"
"That, I don't know, we were inside the office—Kita, Minoru and I." Emiko answered him.
"It was like nothing I'd seen. This predicament has even me baffled. She just… burst into flames. They were Dying Will flames, but they weren't normal Dying Will flames." Reborn spoke.
"What do you mean? Like they weren't sky flames or—"
"No," Reborn cut Gokudera off, "They were Dying Will flames—sky flames, they just appeared though, she hasn't been trained enough for the flames to just appear and I didn't even get the chance to shoot her."
"That's…" Tsuna began, but even he couldn't finish.
"Well we can't do anything about it now, Hitomi's unconscious and she probably won't remember it when she wakes up, in my opinion, I think we should just wait and see if it happens again, but for now we shouldn't mention it to her." Yamamoto spoke up.
"I guess you're right, Yamamoto. But, there's just one thing I'm curious about…" Tsuna began ominously.
"What's that?" Yamamoto questioned.
"Who is that girl?!" Tsuna pointed at Minoru. The attention of the room shifts to Minoru, who rocks on the balls of her feet anxiously.
"Me? Oh, I'm no one important. But, my name isn't Minoru like you've been thinking, Emiko and Kita." Minoru addresses the two girls.
"Then who are you?" The now conscious Kita asks.
"My name? It's Teru." Teru smiled.
"But Teru is a boy's name! And I thought 'Minoru' was your last name!" Emiko accuses.
"So is Minoru, Emiko, but I thought I made it obvious that 'Minoru' was her first name. So, does that mean you're secretly a boy or something?" Kita asks.
Teru shakes her head, "No, I'm fully female. My mom was just confused by names; she's only half Japanese and lived in America all her life."
"So why do you know about what's going on, from what Emiko told us, you were just in this thing to get something back." Gokudera asked.
"Oh, yeah, that. I was looking for my bugs. Collins took them because she found me trying to kill some kids." Teru shrugged. This drew a shocked gasp from Tsuna and Kamiko.
"Kill?! You're a killer?!" Kamiko and Emiko comically clung to each other, moving away from Teru.
Teru only smiled, "Not really, they don't listen to me well, and I mean I'm only infected with a little over 100 diseases. Unlike my dad."
"Your dad?" Gokudera questioned. Reborn smirked.
"You didn't know Gokudera? Old Shamal has a kid. But, she's not really a kid, Teru's in her twenties." Reborn stated, shocking the adults in the room.
"It's nice to meet you, Vongola, my name is Teru Shamal."
"I can't believe Shamal has a kid—a grown kid at that!" Tsuna exclaimed from his place on the couch.
The large group had migrated back to Hitomi's house after Hitomi regained consciousness. Teru sat in her own chair, Emiko, Kamiko, Kita and Hitomi far away from her. Yamamoto smiled at their childishness and Gokudera growled, smoking a cigarette by the window.
"Well it's not that hard to believe, Shamal had to be appealing to someone… And if you look at her like this," Solana turned herself upside down on the couch, "She looks slightly like Shamal."
"That doesn't even make sense!" Hitomi exclaimed, only to be ignored by everyone except her guardians.
"But does she act like Shamal is the question." Yamamoto speaks. The young girls look at the Rain guardian in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Kita asks him. Yamamoto smiles before beginning to speak, only to be cut off by Tsuna.
"Yamamoto means that Shamal acts like a player. He's always hitting on women." Tsuna explains. "Not that he gets any of course…"
"Well, then Teru-san could definitely be this Shamal guy's daughter. Because if this Shamal were to be a female, they would be practically the same person, because Teru-san likes to hit on guys a lot." Kita explained.
"But the thing is, Shamal claims that Teru isn't his daughter. She's even got his immunity to the diseases; remember when she said she was infected with a little over 100 different diseases? Those diseases that Teru has are mostly hereditary. And the bugs—they're mosquitoes, are probably drawn to her because of Shamal." Reborn explains.
"Yup, and I've been working freelance in an attempt to find him—he's disappeared somewhere. But when I find that man, he's dead!" Teru's demeanor changed.
"Well, what did he do, Teru-san?" Hitomi spoke up.
"He's the reason why my mom is so depressed all the time! She's in the clinic because of him and I'm living on my own! I can't even pay the rent!" Teru complained.
"Well, if you want, Teru-san… You can stay with me!" Kamiko spoke up.
"What?! That's crazy!" Hitomi practically screamed. Emiko and Kita nodded along.
"You're right, Hitomi. That is crazy. Hibari won't tolerate that." Reborn told her.
"Oh… yeah that's right, my parents are back…"
"Teru, you can stay here with Hitomi." Reborn decided.
"No! Reborn! I don't want some crazy assassin with bugs to stay here! Mom! Dad! Do something!" Hitomi yelled for her parents.
"Well… it's already been decided, Hitomi. Teru's staying here…" Solana told her.
"Hey! I know what, I'm pretty good with medical stuff, and I can help you with that!" Teru told them.
"That's great! See Hitomi? You've even got someone to take care of you!" Solana clapped.
"Um, no." Teru spoke up, "I only treat men."
"She's just like a female Shamal!" Gokudera and Tsuna yelled.
After settling things with Teru, Teru left, saying she needed to 'transfer' out of Nami-chuu. Hitomi, Kita, Emiko and Kamiko were all spread about the living room, which was empty except for them and Reborn.
"So, what exactly was going on over there—Hitomi, you guys were practically—I don't even know what to say!" Kamiko was cut off by Emiko throwing a pillow at her.
Hitomi glanced over at the two, confused. "What? Practically what? I don't remember a thing, guys. What happened?" Hitomi asked.
Kita and Emiko laughed nervously, Emiko jabbing Kamiko in the stomach with her elbow.
"Nothing, Hitomi-chan, nothing at all!" Kamiko coughed out. She glared at Emiko who put on an innocent face.
"So," Kamiko once again started, "What's with the talking baby? And you suddenly getting popular with people and going around dressed as cartoon characters?!"
Hitomi paled and Kita gulped, Emiko and Reborn seemed to be the only calm ones out of the group. Reborn sighed, knowing that Kamiko would ask about this sooner or later.
"Well, you're in luck, Kamiko. Because we're going to explain all of this to you, aren't we, Hitomi?" Reborn directed his glare at Hitomi who yelped in panic.
"No! I'm not explaining anything! I don't even want to be involved in whatever this is!" Hitomi held her arms up in surrender.
Kita laughed, "It's the game we're playing! It's called 'mafia'! It's really fun!"
"A game? Called mafia?" Kamiko looked skeptical to accept this.
"Yeah," Emiko agreed, "See, the object of the game is to protect Hitomi—you know, become like a mafia family. So we have to fight people sometimes."
"But it's not a game!" Hitomi tried to tell them, but Reborn silenced her.
"Yes, that's exactly the point, Kamiko." Reborn agreed with the two girls.
"So we have to protect Hitomi, yeah? She's like, the boss or something?" Kamiko asked. Emiko and Kita nodded at this.
"Yeah, so we have to get stronger for Hitomi because that slaughter in the hallway was less than perfect…" Emiko mumbled.
"Well, I'm sure it won't be that hard, yeah? We protect Hitomi all the time! Just now we'll have to actually fight! I'm in!" Kamiko agreed.
"Ack! Why was it so easy to convince her to do this?!" Hitomi screamed.
"Calm down, I was going to recruit her anyway." Reborn smacked Hitomi with his foot. The two begin a one-sided argument while the three girls watch.
"He's very violent isn't he?" Kamiko whispers to Kita. Kita nods in agreement.
"Yeah, he is. But he's supposed to be like that—he's Hitomi's home tutor." Kita whispered back.
"Home tutor?!" Emiko yells, "But he's just a baby!"
"I'm not just a baby, I'm older than this. And the real me is really, really cool." Reborn tells the girls.
"The real you?! What do you mean 'the real you'?!" Hitomi yells at him.
"I mean I'm not really a baby, but that doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that today is Friday, meaning that tomorrow is Saturday." Reborn told her.
"And Sunday comes afterwards. Who cares?" Emiko chimed in sarcastically.
"It means tomorrow we're gonna do some training." Reborn smirked viciously. "So be ready, and don't eat breakfast."
"W-What do you mean 'don't eat breakfast'?! What're you going to do?!" Hitomi asks him, but Reborn was already gone.
"He's always disappearing somewhere!" Hitomi yells. Kamiko shrugs.
"I wonder what we're 'training' for." Emiko wonders aloud.
"Maybe it's something super-secret. But, do you really think we shouldn't eat tomorrow?" Kita asks. Kamiko shakes her head and Emiko nods hers.
"I think eating would just upset our stomachs or something. If we're doing this early in the morning, wouldn't it be bad to eat right before you exercise—er train?" Kamiko explained.
"Well, now that I see your point, I don't think we should eat, yeah, Hitomi?" Emiko looks to the brunette.
"Don't ask me! This is the first time he's ever talked about this! But it's not like you guys have to actually listen to him!" Hitomi said.
"Well, I think it would still be good for us not to eat in the morning, yeah?" Kita points out.
"Well, I guess I can agree with you, um…" Kamiko trailed.
"Ack! That's right; you guys don't really know each other. Um, Kita-san, this is Kamiko-chan. Kamiko-chan, this is Kita-san." Hitomi and Emiko watched the two girls shake hands.
"So, now that we've got that out of the way, what do we do now?" Emiko asked.
"Well, it is kind of late…." Hitomi trailed, looking over to the clock that rested below the TV situated above the mantle.
"Wow! You're right, I've gotta get home!" Kita yelped, standing quickly. "Bye, guys! I'll see you tomorrow!"
With that, the curly haired girl left the room, letting herself out of the house. Hitomi looked over to Kamiko who had spread herself along the length of the couch. Emiko still lay on the floor, toying with the remote.
"So, Hitomi, you never really explained anything—and what's with that baby? And what about the mafia game?" Kamiko asked.
"We'll get to that later, more importantly, Kamiko," Emiko rolled over, looking at the girl on the couch instead of the loud TV. "What the fuck was up with that thing you did? It was like… you got all fast and then did whatever you did with that wooden sword."
"What? What did she do?" Hitomi asked, clueless. Emiko waved her off, showing that it wasn't really important.
"I dunno, just something your dad taught me. In my mind, I just slowed them down, and then I guess I got faster—they don't call 'Mach Speed Mare' for nothin', ya know. Oh! And that reminds me! Hitomi," Kamiko turned to Hitomi, "Oh, dearest cousin of mine, would you so kindly allow me to stash my skating equipment here—you know how my parents are about skating. And Katsumi-chan said she can't keep it at her house anymore."
Hitomi sat back against the couch, moving out the way as Kamiko began poking her with her pale feet. The coal-haired girl smiled innocently and Hitomi sighed, running a hand through her hair. She nodded, knowing she wouldn't be able to say no.
"Fine, I guess, but you've gotta bring it all here, we can put it in the spare room or something." Hitomi waved it off.
"Wait," Emiko spoke up, crawling closer to the two cousins, "Something my dad taught you?"
Kamiko nodded, moving to flick Emiko on the forehead. "I use that little technique when I'm skating, really helps."
"Hm…" Emiko seemed to take this into consideration before turning to Hitomi. "So what does this mean?"
"How should I know? I'm just about as new to this as you are—not that I'm accepting it or anything!" Hitomi waved her arms in mock-surrender.
"Well, let's not dwell on it, yeah? So now you gotta tell me more about just what you've been keeping secret these past few weeks!" Kamiko yanks on both of their hair.
"Ack! Kamiko-chan! Stop! We'll tell you!" Hitomi cries while Emiko slaps Kamiko's hand. Kamiko reluctantly stops and sits upright, bringing her knees up to her chest.
"So spill, then."
"Well," Hitomi recalls, "It all started the day my dad came home…"
"So what do you think?" Tsuna asks the man. He shrugs, not knowing what to say.
"This is more your forte, ne, Tsuna? After all, you achieved the Ultimate Hyper Dying Will form and I, on the other hand, have not. But, I'll give you my input as best I can." The man replies.
"Well, alright, I'll accept what I can get…" Tsuna sighs loudly, ruffling his own hair as he collapses into the waiting chair.
"So you said she just went into Dying Will mode, Reborn?" At Reborn's nod, the man continues, "Well, how did it look? Was it like the Ultimate form? Did she look like she had control?"
"Well," Reborn's squeaky voice sounded from where he sat, "She didn't speak—not a word, I thought that was at least strange. She seemed calm. Almost as if it was a mix between Hyper and Regular Dying Will… Maybe it was just an off chance."
"So you're saying that if Tsuna—or anyone who has Dying Will Mode potential, for that matter, were to be pushed into a corner like you claim Hitomi was, they would be able to enter that state?" The man asked.
"Maybe," Tsuna spoke before Reborn could, "Maybe it was a last chance survival thing—after all, the girls did say that Hitomi was extremely afraid of that Collins girl."
"That could be true." Reborn spoke, "But, like we established earlier, we just need to continue watching her. And that means we've got to start training her."
"Training?!" Tsuna almost panicked, the man's presence having faded from the room. "What?! There's no danger at this moment! Hitomi hasn't even found all her guardians!"
"So? She needs training and so do those girls, Dame-Tsuna. After all, she is my student now; I can do as I please." Reborn told him before kicking Tsuna in the back of the head. "And don't cut me off again."
As Reborn began to walk away, the faint sounds of Tsuna's painful yelps filled his ears. "I'm going to need some help, huh, Leon? And I think I know just who to call…"
Wow! Two chapters in one day! What is this? This is crazy! And it's only because my motivation has returned and I didn't have school today! Woo! So this was a semi-serious chapter, I think. And just who was that man? And who is Reborn going to call? Oh no! Things are happening! Review!