Target 16: More Training?
"Hitomi!" Kamiko waved at her cousin. Hitomi, Emiko and Reborn approached the girl who stood on her front step, Dino standing next to her. He also smiled and waved at the girls.
"Hey, Kamiko-chan, Uncle Dino." Hitomi waved back. The group of three stood in front of the steps to Kamiko's house, watching the girl run back inside.
"Finally! Summer break!" Kita said, running over to the group, "Hey guys!" She fist-pumped wildly and Emiko face-palmed while Hitomi smiled at her.
"Why are you acting like such a spaz?" Emiko asked, "We're not even going to be doing anything easy!"
"Well, I don't care! The fact of the matter is that I can show off my summer clothes and I get to hang out with my mafia buddies!" Kita yelled. Quickly, Hitomi latched her fingers over Kita's mouth, a panicked look in her eyes.
"Kita! I told you to keep that quiet, okay?" Hitomi scolded her, letting go, "We can't draw attention to ourselves and you blabbing that we're affiliated with the mafia isn't helping at all!"
"She can't help it, Hitomi." Emiko shrugged, trying not to jostle Reborn, "She's a spaz."
"That's not nice Emiko…" Dino said, leaning over the railing, "She's just excited, that's all."
"Alright, I'm ready!" Kamiko came back out of the house, skateboard and new wooden sword attached to her back. She hopped the railing and dusted herself off, "Be back whenever we're done!" She said, looking back at them.
"Oh, that reminds me, I don't even know what we're doing today." Kita tapped her chin.
"Well, we weren't informed either." Hitomi admitted, "Actually, I don't even know where we're going."
"You'll find out in a minute. Now that we're all here, I'd like to discuss something with you." Reborn said, hopping on the ground. The waited patiently for him to speak. "This is the most important piece of advice and news that you will ever hear me tell you in the days coming, until I deem you are worthy, got it? It's so important, you will never forget it. Here it is: the sky is blue."
Immediately, the four girls fell over. Dino laughed, heading back inside the house. "Thanks, Reborn... but I think we already know that." Emiko rubbed her head.
"No, you didn't know, but you don't understand it right now, so let's get to something more current. You all suck." Reborn stated. Emiko and Kita were about to argue, but Reborn held out his hand, Leon turning into a mallet, "Any objections? No? Didn't think so. Like I was saying, you all suck. You make me want to cry how badly you guys have handled these last few missions. So, we're going to be training you today."
"Aw, more training?" Hitomi whined and was promptly shut up by the Leon-mallet being thrown at her face. With a muffled shriek, she fell to the ground, Leon still on her face. While Hitomi was rolling around, trying to get Leon off of her face and screaming about how much it hurt, Reborn continued speaking.
"We won't be doing just any training; we'll be training with the Sasagawa's." He informed them. Emiko paled noticeably while Kamiko gulped, Kita on the other hand, clapped.
"Hee Hee, yay!" She smiled, "Yay!"
"Yay?!" Emiko questioned, "Have you seen Katsumi's dad? He's so fucking ripped it should be illegal! And Katsumi's no joke either! She'll knock your ass into the year 3000!"
"I love that song!" Kita replied easily as Hitomi got up, finally having removed Leon from her face. Said face was red with scratch marks and bruised slightly. Hitomi shook it off, joining the group.
"Let's get going." Reborn said, leading the way.
"W-What? What'd I miss?" Hitomi asked the others, following him.
Katsumi loved watching her father fight. He moved effortlessly, as if he was a dancer, dancing in a showcase. He wasted no extra energy or exerted extra effort in any of his attacks, they were clean and straight to the point, never leaving anything lingering. She wanted to be like that, but her father wouldn't let her.
"Boxing is too extremely dangerous for you!" He'd say, and then try to force it on her brother who wanted nothing to do with the sport or sports in general. He loved music, while Katsumi loved boxing. That's why she never told her father that she was the co-captain of the boxing club; all he knew was that his daughter was a dancer.
"Hey, Katsumi-chan!" Hitomi greeted as the group entered her backyard. Katsumi was seated underneath a shady tree, watching her brother fail miserably at boxing.
"C'mon, Kyou, fucking hit back to the extreme!" Katsumi mumbled, finally noticing Hitomi and the others, "Oh, hey, girls! What're you doing here?"
"We're here to train with your dad, actually." Emiko answered, "Why aren't you up there? Your brother's a fluffin' wimp."
"Meh, dad doesn't know I box, and I'd prefer if it stayed that way. Anyway, I'll tell him you're here." Katsumi got up, walking over to the boxing ring.
"But Sasagawa-chan is the best boxer in school! Not to mention, she's the only female boxer." Kita scratched her head, "Why does she have to keep it a secret?"
"Her father doesn't approve of her boxing, just like my parents don't like me skateboarding." Kamiko explained, "Thinks she's too delicate for it, so he forbids it."
"Well maybe we can help her…" Hitomi suggested, "I mean, since we're here anyway."
"ARE YOU GUYS READY TO LEARN SOME EXTREME FIGHTING MOVES?!" Ryohei yelled at the girls. Hitomi screamed, caught off guard and the other girls tried to stand their ground while covering their ears.
"They're ready. I leave them in your capable hands, Ryohei." Reborn said, leaving the girls alone.
"Alright! We'll start out extremely easy! Fifteen laps around the block, no breaks!" He said, pumping himself up.
"Oh my god… I think he's trying to kill us." Kamiko whispered.
"First chance we get, I'm makin' a break for it." Emiko whispered back as they began jogging. It wasn't long before Ryohei had lost them.
"HEY! GUYS? WHERE'D YOU GO TO THE EXTREME?!" Ryohei yelled. He'd circled the block about twenty more times than he should have and lost track of the girls. He stopped, looking around before sighing, "I guess they were extreme enough for me!"
Once his footfalls had gotten more distant, Emiko let go of the breath she'd been holding and stepped out of the bushes, looking around for any sign of a white-haired male. Seeing none, she sighed, "Coast is clear, guys. You can come on—Aiie!" Emiko yelped, jumping back.
There in front of her was Katsumi, who was leaning in towards her. "Katsumi? What're you doing here?" Kamiko asked, being the last to step out of the bushes.
"I just came to see where you guys were hiding. Dad's going to be disappointed if he can't find you." Katsumi replied.
"Well it doesn't matter! I'm going home!" Hitomi crossed her arms, "He made us run fifteen laps and when we got back, he made us do it again because we didn't run the right way! And then we had to fight against his kangaroo! His kangaroo! My fucking back is bruising because it kicked me so many times! Why does your dad even have a kangaroo? This isn't Australia! Why does he have a pet kangaroo?!" Hitomi screamed, tossing her hands up.
"Tomes! You need to calm down. Maybe you should go home. You're stressed out, bro." Emiko agreed, "Let's all go home and figure out how we're gonna deal with Reborn?" The others agreed, as they were too tired to do anything else.
"Hitomi… Hitomi… Wake up, Hitomi!" Bleary-eyed and incoherent, Hitomi looked around, partially blind. Once her vision cleared enough for her to see faces and not just shapes, she screamed, backing into her headboard with a loud smack.
"R.J.! What're you doing? Don't scare people like that!" Hitomi scolded, "And you too, Teru!" She removed herself from the weird position she was in, "What're you even doing in my room?"
"We're here to get you ready for the battle royale!" R.J. clapped happily, "C'mon, c'mon!"
"B-Battle royale? W-What?" Hitomi asked confusion clear on her face.
"You shouldn't have skipped training yesterday. Reborn and Ryohei got together and now you've gotta take part in a Vongola-style battle royale." Teru explained.
"Oh god, this can't be good." Hitomi mumbled.
"Oh, no! It's hell!" R.J. replied cheerily, making Hitomi sick to her stomach.
Kamiko, Kita, Katsumi and Emiko were seated at one long table in Hitomi's backyard when the brunette came outside. Her father, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Chrome and Ryohei were seated across from them. The girls looked extremely nervous, well, all except Katsumi who didn't seem to have a care in the world. The other table's occupants were a mixture of anger, confusion, happiness and cluelessness.
"What's going on?" Hitomi asked loud enough for everyone to hear, "Why are we all sitting like this?"
"This is a battle royale!" Tsuna declared, pointing at Hitomi, "You missed a very important training session and now Ryohei is mad!" "So mad!" Ryohei echoed. "And we'll be competing against each other with our current acquired skills since you can't take training like a man! The winners win and the losers lose Vongola-style!"
"Ah, you can't be serious! We're going to lose so hard!" Hitomi grabbed her head in her hands, "So unlucky, so unlucky!" She repeated.
"Take a seat, Hitomi! First round!" Tsuna pointed to the wheel at the front, in the middle of both tables. "Spin the wheel, Lucia!"
Lucia giggled, spinning the wheel. For about thirty seconds, the wheel spun and spun, until it finally slowed. Hitomi was sweating bullets as it wheeled to a stop, landing on a space labeled Karaoke Contest. "Alright, who wants to go?" Tsuna asked as Solana brought out the karaoke machine.
"Mom, can't you stop them?!" Hitomi asked, but the blonde only shook her head, shrugging. "Sorry, carina, but it's a mafia thing. I can't help you." Solana informed her, "But have fun!"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Kita raised her hand, jumping up and down, "I wanna sing, I wanna sing!"
"Well… alright. Mist guardians!" Tsuna called, "Get up there!" Chrome and Kita both got up, rounding the table and heading towards the machine, "Don't let her win, Chrome! We have to win!"
"Boss, shut-up, you're making her nervous." Gokudera flicked Tsuna on the arm. Tsuna glared at him, rubbing his arm.
"Y-You can pick a song…" Chrome offered and Kita wasted no time in scrolling through the song list. Her eyes brightened as she picked a song. Tapping the screen, the music began playing and Kita swayed from side to side.
"Wait…" Emiko paused, "She's going to sing the Nyan-cat song?"
"I'd say I'm surprised, but I'd be lying if I did." Kamiko replied.
"I didn't think a person could sing that song!" Katsumi yelled, "Extreme!" For a full three minutes, Kita bounced around, singing the same line over and over. Gokudera was a minute away from lighting bombs just to shut Kita up and Yamamoto had taken to wearing ear muffs while Ryohei didn't seem bothered in the least.
"Okay!" Chrome yelled suddenly, surprising everyone, "You win! Please… stop, it's getting on my nerves!" Kita frowned, a dark look crossing her face.
"You dare interrupt me while I am giving a performance?" She asked darkly, "Nobody interrupts Kita Watanabe without a reasonable explanation, even then, it better be a damn good one."
"Ki-Kita..." Hitomi tried, but Kita wasn't listening and pulled out her trident, pointing it at Chrome.
"Let's go, lady!" Kita challenged, "I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Er, no need for fighting!" Tsuna laughed nervously, getting up and pulling Chrome away from Kita. "Point for Hitomi's team. See, you win? Go sit down, kid. Lucia! Spin the wheel again!" Tsuna commanded, pointing at the wheel. Lucia giggled, spinning the wheel once again. Kita sulked back to her seat, crossing her arms and frowning.
After a few minutes of watching it spin, the wheel slowed to a stop. "E-Eating contest!?" Emiko questioned. Tsuna nodded, crossing his arms triumphantly.
"Yes! Eating contest, and since you obviously don't want to be subjected to it, Storm guardians' turn!" Tsuna called, pointing at Gokudera. Emiko stood up, frowning.
"Your dad is a dead man." She promised, walking around the table to wear a smaller table was set up by Teru and Solana. R.J was nowhere to be seen and the hotdogs the two women had placed on the table didn't look at if he'd touched them.
"Alright, no interference with the other person! If I do find out you interfered, you're disqualified!" Teru told them, "Ready… Set… GO!"
Gokudera and Emiko looked at each other, "You take a bite first." Gokudera urged her, "Then I'll take one." She gave him an incredulous look.
"Are you crazy? You're the parent! You're supposed to be willing to take the first bite!" She argued.
"Well you're the kid and you've got a lot more years than I do!" He responded, "Look, how about we both take a bite together? Alright? Ready?" Emiko nodded and the two picked up a hotdog. A nod was shared between the two and they took a simultaneous bite.
Almost suddenly, Emiko's eyes sparkled, "Whoa, this shit is good!" She yelled, practically inhaling all of the hotdogs on her plate. Gokudera did the same, but without saying anything.
"Hey… did R.J touch those hotdogs?" Tsuna asked Reborn, who was seated in Gokudera's seat.
"I dunno, maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Maybe he put in some kind of aphrodisiac that makes the food irresistible and maybe he didn't." Reborn shrugged, "Who's to say I know?"
"Emiko! Those dogs are poisonous!" Hitomi called, pointing at them, "Stop eating them!"
"Can't… they're… so… good, Hitomi! Try one!" Emiko tossed a dog Hitomi's way and it landed on the table with a squelching noise. Hitomi poked it and it moved. With her signature scream, Hitomi pushed it away and the hotdog crawled away,
"Emiko! Those things are alive!" Hitomi tried to warn her, but Emiko was already up and running, followed by Gokudera.
"What the fuck were we eating?!" Gokudera asked, trying to keep himself from puking, "Why are they moving around?!"
"It's my special recipe: Live Cooking!" R.J replied easily. "I just stuffed a special kind of spider in each of those hotdogs for protein! Don't worry the poison's only minor and only works if it bites you!"
"Goo th' knowth…" Emiko responded. Hitomi watched her best friend, who must've had an allergic reaction to the food run around. The others winced and Gokudera ran into the wheel, falling on it and being bitten repeatedly by the spiders.
"Oh, and they get angry if you eat their young!" R.J. laughed. Promptly, Gokudera puked up and Emiko fell, doing the same before passing out.
"Call an ambulance, someone!" Kita said, standing up, "We don't want anybody to die!"
"Well…" Tsuna looked around. After Gokudera and Emiko had gone off to the hospital, Kita had taken it upon herself to start singing again and the machine was promptly destroyed by Chrome. In a small fit of rage, Kita attacked Chrome and the two destroyed more than half of the yard. Currently, Chrome sat; nursing a fractured wrist and Kita was locked up in a cage behind Hitomi's table. "Let's continue."
"Continue?! Dad, seriously? Two people are in the hospital, the yard is destroyed and Kita's in a cage! A cage, dad! I think we've had enough." Hitomi reasoned.
"We wouldn't be doing this if you hadn't skipped out on practice, Hitomi." Reborn replied, standing in front of her. "This is the way that Ryohei wants to handle it; after all, he's the one who has been wronged in this case."
Hitomi huffed, crossing her arms, "Fine, let's keep 'playing' then." She relented, "Lucia, can you spin the wheel, please?" Lucia complied easily, spinning the wheel once more.
This time it landed on "Cosplay baseball?" Kamiko repeated, looking from the wheel to Tsuna's table, "That can't be a thing. How is that a contest?"
"I don't know," He shrugged, "I didn't make the wheel. But anyway, the costumes are over there by Lucia." He pointed to two identical bags sitting on the ground by Lucia.
"C'mon, Kamiko. It's our turn!" Yamamoto said, standing, "Finally! Something I like!" Kamiko gulped, standing up and heading over to the wheel.
"Good luck, Kamiko… Yamamoto-san is a little crazy when it comes to baseball…" Hitomi shivered; secretly glad it wasn't her that was going against him. Her father seemed to do the same as he watched the two head into the house to change.
Five minutes later, Kamiko and Yamamoto emerged. While Kamiko seemed embarrassed by the costume, Yamamoto pulled it off rather well. "I look great!" He said, twirling around.
"He does look good." Tsuna commented, and Ryohei agreed, shouting about how he thought it looked good as well.
"Why are they dressed as PreCure?" Hitomi asked. "Kamiko looks like she's miserable."
"More like why does Yamamoto-san look like he was born ready to wear that outfit?" Katsumi corrected her. "Kamiko'll be fine. It's Yamamoto-san I'm worried about. Is it weird that I think he looks good in that outfit?"
"I think that if we all think it and he accepts it, it's okay." Hitomi responded wearily.
"Okay, now for the bats and the balls!" Teru handed Kamiko a bat and Yamamoto a bucket of baseballs. "Your goal, should you choose to accept it," Teru smirked, "Is to make sure that Kamiko doesn't hit a single ball, but you've got to throw them all! And your goal, Kamiko," She turned facing Kamiko, "Is to hit at least one of Yamamoto's pitches, okay?"
"C'mon, Kamiko! You can do it! To the extreme!" Katsumi yelled.
"What about the costumes?" Kamiko asked, lifting up the white skirt.
"Meh, it was to make both of you uncomfortable, but…" She looked back over to where Yamamoto was twirling around, singing some sort of song without a care in the world. "It only worked partially… Anyway! Let's start!"
Kamiko gulped, readying the bat as Yamamoto stopped his singing and twirling in favor of picking up the bucket and the balls. "Are you ready, Kamiko-chan? Because I'm not going easy on you at all!" Yamamoto called as an evil glint appeared in his eye, "Baseball isn't easy!"
"O-Okay…" Kamiko gulped, a little more than nervous, "I'm ready…" A barrage of baseballs came Kamiko's way and immediately, she began wildly swinging the bat while she ran around screaming. Hitomi, Tsuna, Chrome, Ryohei and Katsumi hid underneath the table while Lucia hid behind the wheel and Teru inside the house.
Yamamoto tossed the balls at high speed, not paying attention at what he was hitting, that is, until they broke a window. It happened relatively fast. Kamiko managed to swing the bat hard enough to hit the ball, letting go because she tripped over a tree branch. The ball went flying, straight into the window of the house. And the bat hit Yamamoto in the head, instantly knocking him down and out because of the speed. Kamiko was already down, having slipped on the branch and went Lucia stepped on her; she didn't feel up to getting up again.
"TSUNA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GUYS DOING OUT THERE?" Solana yelled, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BACKYARD!"
"L-Let's run…" Tsuna gulped, already sprinting away.
"Okay…" Tsuna counted the people they had left. "We've got three for my team and two for yours… but technically speaking, Chrome's out so it's two and two."
"I'm going home." Chrome mumbled, turning away, "I'd known you guys were just a little crazy, but I didn't think this much! I'll see you later, boss." With that, Chrome walked away leaving Tsuna, Ryohei, Hitomi, Katsumi and Lucia standing in the park.
"What now to the extreme?" Ryohei asked, "We don't have that extreme wheel and we can't go back to your house!"
"Yeah… that's true. Alright! We'll have two fights! Me and Hitomi and then you and Katsumi!" Tsuna declared. "Alright Hitomi! Here and now, in the park! Let's fight!" Tsuna put up his hands, getting into a fighting style.
"I-I don't want to fight anybody!" Hitomi squeaked, putting her hands up to cover her face, "Y-You can win this round!" Tsuna sighed, frowning. He grabbed Hitomi's hand.
"C'mon, or else I'll let Reborn put you in the pokey. He's been asking about it, y'know." Tsuna informed her, "And the pokey is sharp!"
"Wh-
What?! No! NO POKEY OH MY GOD! DAD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Hitomi yelled, attracting stares. Quickly, she pulled her hand from Tsuna and punched him in the stomach, when he doubled over in pain and surprise; she kicked him in the face, effectively knocking him down onto the ground. "There, happy? Point for my team! Katsumi it's your turn." Hitomi said, going to sit on a bench.
"But… I can't fight Katsumi to the extreme." Ryohei said, scratching his head.
"Well she's the only one left; I'm not fighting you, so it's got to be her." Hitomi reasoned.
"Dad, c'mon, it'll be against the rules." Katsumi pulled on his arm, trying to get his attention.
"Not right now, sweetie." Ryohei patted her head, "I'll handle this."
"C'mon. Reborn's gonna come after us if we don't play the game right." Tsuna mumbled weakly, "I fought Hitomi… er… yeah…"
"I can't fight her! Y'know what, this whole thing is off to the extreme!" Ryohei crossed his arms, "Your team won anyway, I won't train you anymore. I can't fight Katsumi. She's my daughter, and she's a delicate little—"
"Don't you even finish that sentence!" Katsumi yelled, sending a punch her father's way. The amount of people staring at them increased as he was sent barreling into the park's fountain, knocking the statue into the fountain. "I am not delicate!" She yelled, pulling off her dress and tossing it at Hitomi, and revealing the work-out clothes beneath. "And I am not little and I am most definitely not a flower!"
"W-What?" Ryohei climbed out of the fountain, "Katsumi, what's wrong?"
"I'm tired of you telling me I can't! I only came to this stupid thing so I could show you that I'm strong to the extreme! I'm captain of the boxing club! I've won three titles for Nami-chuu in boxing! I am not a delicate flower! I'm tough!" She yelled back, "And I'm going to show you by fighting you!"
"Katsumi, calm down." Ryohei said, "You should even be talking about fighting. Your brother's a fighter, you're not! You can't fight!"
"I can't fight? Did you hear a word I just said?!" Katsumi screamed, her white hair tinting black.
"Oh geez…" Hitomi mumbled, "Ryohei-san! You'd do well to listen to her; Black-Katsumi isn't much of a talker!"
"Wh—" Anything he was about to say was completely shut down as he was punched once more, this time out of the fountain and into a tree.
"So, what's up with her?" Tsuna pointed to Katsumi, "Why the sudden change?"
"Ah, it's a long story, when Katsumi can't handle something, her alter-ego, Black-Katsumi comes out and she's basically Katsumi, only more violent and evil." Hitomi responded, "Sorry I beat you up. I just really don't like the pokey."
"Understandable." Tsuna replied, "Yeah, first time I went in there, I fainted."
"Where's all this coming from?" Ryohei asked, finally managing to block a punch from his daughter, "Katsumi! Can you hear me?!"
"We're done talking! We're fighting now!" Katsumi yelled, trying to kick at Ryohei. He growled, face hardening in determination.
"Fine! I'll shut you down!" Ryohei said, pushing Katsumi away and cracking his knuckles.
Tsuna, Hitomi and the bystanders watched as Ryohei and Katsumi went head to head for at least an hour, no-one surrendering. Reborn sighed, having been sitting on Tsuna's head having tea and cakes for the past hour.
"I'm going to hurry this up." Reborn allowed Leon to transform into his gun form. "Katsumi, meet Dying Will bullet." Promptly, Reborn shot Katsumi, only slowing her momentarily. While she convulsed slightly, she remained the same. Surprised, Ryohei didn't miss a beat, but Hitomi looked up at Reborn, tugging on her father's hair, much to his dismay.
"E-Eh?" Hitomi gasped, "Why didn't it affect her? Reborn, why didn't the bullet work?!"
"Because Katsumi, like her father, lives life to the extreme every day. They live as if they were going to die, so if Reborn also shot Ryohei, it'd pretty much be the same outcome." Tsuna replied, "Ryohei! Can't you see, Katsumi is just like you and Kyou is sort of… not…"
"Yeah! Kyou's in a band and he absolutely hates working out!" Hitomi agreed, "Katsumi's the one who does all the working out and crap! If anything, Kyou's the delicate flower!"
Ryohei stopped, managing to deflect a hit from Katsumi, "Is this true?" Katsumi stopped as well, the flame on her forehead extinguishing and her hair returning to normal.
"Yeah, dad. It's true." Katsumi rubbed the back of her neck, "You never would've found out had we not done this competition. We're not the same kids we were back when we were younger."
"So… Kyou hates boxing?" Ryohei asked, trying to wrap his head around it.
"No, he doesn't hate it, he just… doesn't want to box. He likes music! He's in a band." Katsumi said, "I'm the one who likes to box—and I like to dance, too. I'm sorry that your view of me has probably changed, but it's who I am. Can you accept that I'm not a delicate flower anymore, dad?"
"Well… you did throw a pretty extreme right hook." Ryohei chuckled, "I'm sorry, Katsumi."
"It's alright, dad." Katsumi smiled. "Let's go home, yeah?" She said, hugging her father.
"Well, Hitomi. Looks like you've got yourself a sun guardian." Tsuna stretched, standing up. "Mission accomplished!"
"Wh-What?" Hitomi said watching him walk away. "That was the point of all this?! To get me another guardian I don't need?! Dad! Dad, are you listening to me?! Daaadddd!"