Target 24: Kinda Dead
Everything seemed to pass by in a blur for Hitomi since getting kidnapped and suddenly, she was studying for finals. The group had gathered at Emiko's new house to study. The room was quiet as Kita had left to the bathroom and Katsumi had left early. Hitomi merely sat, staring at her paper while Kamiko and Emiko were actually doing the work.
Emiko cast small glances at Hitomi, but she couldn't find anything to say to her. Kamiko didn't seem to care and continued on with her work, barely understanding it but not wanting to ask for help and break the silence.
That was when the door slammed open and Kita stood there, a large smile on her face and a tray of sushi in her hand. "Emiko! Your dad made sushi!" Kita gushed, walking into the room and setting it down on top of the table, covering all of their papers.
"Kita! We're working here, hello!" Emiko yelled, "I'm not even hungry!"
"Doesn't matter if you aren't, I am." Kamiko spoke up, reaching for a roll. Kita began piling food into her mouth as Hitomi looked up, staring at the girl blankly. The curly-haired girl smiled at Hitomi, her mouth full of the food.
"H'mi! Y'nah h'gy?" Kita spoke, pieces of rice and seaweed flying everywhere. Kamiko squeaked, backing up and Emiko frowned, pulling out dynamite sticks.
"Dammit, Kita!" Emiko said, standing up, "What the fuck?! Don't talk with your stupid mouth full—y'know what? Don't talk at all!"
Kita laughed, as Emiko lot the dynamite. Hitomi stood up, sighing. "I think I'll go home."
"A-Ah no!" Quickly, Emiko dosed the dynamite, tossing it under her bed. "Look, I put it away! I'm not gonna blow her up!"
Kita swallowed the sushi quickly, "And I won't eat all the food! Hitomi, please stay."
"No," Hitomi shook her head, "I… I just want to go home." With that, Hitomi turned and left Emiko's room.
"Dammit…" Emiko cursed, "This is the first time we've seen her all week!"
"And she's still depressed…" Kita added, frowning.
"Well she did get kidnapped…she's not Uncle Tsuna, you know. It's different, so that could be bothering her." Kamiko added. "If she needs us, we'll be here—cause that's what guardians do. And as Hitomi's right-hand—!"
"Hey!" Emiko slammed her hands down on the table, "Who fuckin' died and said you were her right hand! Clearly it's me!"
"I'm the more logical and sensible choice for the job." Kamiko nodded, "Who said that the Storm Guardian absolutely had to be the right-hand? Nobody, that's who!"
"I claimed that a long time ago!" Emiko argued. Kita watched the two argue as she ate more of the sushi.
"Oh, well let's have a fight to the death—" Kamiko pulled out her sword. Emiko smirked, pulling out her Tonfa, "Over who gets to be the right-hand!"
"It's the only logical way!" Emiko agreed.
"Hey! Hey! Nobody's dying in my house. I'm not letting that happen again…" Gokudera said, pulling the sword from Kamiko's grip and taking the dynamite from Emiko. "How about a pillow fight to the death?"
Shifting the weapons into one hand, he grabbed two pillows off of Emiko's bed and tossed them to the girls. Emiko glared at him, but Gokudera didn't look fazed by it at all. Kamiko just stared at the pillow, pressing her fingers into it, as if testing it. "You can join in too, Kita." He said, grabbing the body pillow from the bed. He offered it to the curly-haired girl.
Kita squealed, taking the pillow, "Oh yay!" Then she beamed, smacking Kamiko in the face with the pillow, "Pillow fight start!"
"Hey! You got a head start! No fair!" Emiko said, whacking Kita with the pillow. Gokudera left the girls beating the crap out of each other with pillows.
Hitomi walked down the road quickly and quietly, wanting to get home as soon as possible. She couldn't help it. Lately she hadn't been feeling like herself. The brunette looked to the sky, sighing loudly, "If something's going to happen, it should already happen... I hate waiting..." She mumbled, walking a little faster.
Unbeknownst to Hitomi, she was being watched. Above her, situated on a roof was Reborn, watching his student with distaste. He clicked his tongue, looking at Leon. "Ah, the first part of her test begins… Leon, I'll be making a few arrangements today, could you look after Hitomi for me? I'll make it worth your while."
The lizard looked to his owner, nodding slightly as if to say 'It better be'. Leon jumped down off of the building and landed safely on top of Hitomi's head, the girl unaware. Reborn watched them for a few more minutes before he stood, looking around.
"… I think the Varia is best suited…" Reborn tapped his chin before disappearing from the building.
Hitomi continued on, no real destination in sight. She didn't want to go home, now that she thought about it. Her father would be there and at the moment, Hitomi didn't think she was all there and well enough to handle her father. The man was a little scary after all, especially after what happened the other day. The brunette aimlessly wandered around town, that is, until she bumped into someone.
"Ah… sorry…" She mumbled, rubbing her head, feeling something scaly, "A-Ah what's that?" The person glared down at her, "It feels really nasty!"
"What'd you say, punk?" The other person, a girl, growled at Hitomi, "I'll show you something nasty!"
"N-No…! That's fine! I, um… bye!" Hitomi turned tail and ran.
"Hey! Let's get her!" The girl shouted, chasing after Hitomi.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..!" Hitomi repeated as she ran, trying to speed up. All that training she underwent didn't seem to be helping her at all as she dived into an alley, pushing past trash cans only to run into a dead end. The brunette trips, scraping her knees as she runs headfirst into a trashcan, tossing Leon off of her head in the process.
With her head exploding from pain, Hitomi lies on the ground, groaning and trying to sit up, only to be kicked in the side, flopping uselessly back onto the ground. The beating continued for more minutes than Hitomi could count. It hurt, every part of her body exploded with pain until she was starting to feel numb from it. She knew there would be bruises once they left.
Suddenly, a bright light shot out from somewhere behind Hitomi, scaring the other teens "I-Is she possessed? Holy shit what the fuck?!" The leader fell onto her butt, backing away as the others ran away from the light. "G-Guys! Don't leave me!" The leader crawled away, breaking into a run as Hitomi groaned, rolling over.
She looked behind her, the light having dimmed substantially, to the point where Hitomi could see what it was. "L-Leon…?" Despite her pain, Hitomi scrambled to the reptile, "Oh god, what the hell happened to you?!" She picked up the limp animal, turning him over and inspecting him for bruises. He wasn't hurt, but he didn't move much either. "Shit…"
"Leon… Leon…!" Hitomi called, waving her hand in front of the lizard. "Oh god…" Tears began forming in the corners of her eyes, "Is he dead? Oh what am I gonna do if he's dead?" She sniffled, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. "Reborn's gonna kick my ass and dad'll be so mad…"
"Hey! Hitomi!" Someone called. Hitomi looked up, catching sight of Teru. The female doctor ran over, bending down to squat in front of Hitomi. "Hey! I heard your whine from the park entrance and I knew you were here! What're you doing?" Her eyes drifted to the bright green lizard to Hitomi's left, "Is that…?"
"It's Leon! And he's dead!" Hitomi wailed, tears freely flowing now, "I don't know where he came from but I got attacked in an alley and then he was there and he did this bright light thing and I think he died!"
"Oh…" Teru was having a hard time holding in her laughter, "I'm sorry, Hitomi…" She awkwardly patted Hitomi on the back, "I wish I could help but I only treat people of the male human species, catch my drift?" The doctor stood up, dusting herself off, "But, um, you won't have to worry about anything!"
"Wh-Why's that?" Hitomi sniffled, wiping her face. Teru beamed, giving Hitomi a peace sign.
"Because Reborn will kill you in return for killing Leon!" Teru explained, "It's all elementary, really. An eye for an eye, a leg for a nose, really, it's child's play. Well, maybe it really is, considering how big Reborn is!" Teru laughed at her own joke while Hitomi stared at her with hatred. "Oh, don't you worry; just hide him until you can buy a new Leon! Easy!"
Before Hitomi could respond, Teru had already begun walking away. Hitomi sighed, looking at the lizard. "He's totally gonna notice…" She flopped back and right into the fountain, creating a large splash as she yelped.
Things just weren't going her way today.
Hitomi returned home a few hours later, not yet fully dry and closed the door softly behind her. Though it isn't soft enough and immediately, Solana is standing in the hallway. "Oh! Hitomi, I was so worried!" The woman sighed loudly, "Where did you go? Hayato called and said you'd left! I thought you would've been here earlier!"
"I, um… went for a walk…" Hitomi lied, looking away from her mother, "I'm here now though…"
"But… you're so dirty…" Solana shook her head, "Looks like you got into a fight…"
"I—oh, I just, um, tripped…" Hitomi scratched the back of her head, "Yeah… that's all."
"Oh, well go wash up for dinner, then." Solana said, walking back into the kitchen, "Honestly, that girl…" Hitomi quickly ran up the stairs, locking herself in her room.
She looked around, making sure that no-one else was in the room with her as she dropped Leon onto her bed. The limp lizard only stared blankly at her. "What was he even doing there—is he really dead? Oh god if I killed him on the walk home!" Hitomi banged her head against her bed, not looking at the lizard, who was changing forms.
"Hitomi-!" Masayoshi twisted the knob repeatedly, "Why's the door locked?! Hitomi?!"
"Y-Yeah! J-Just a minute!" Hitomi panicked, looking around for a quick hiding place for the lizard. She settled for draping a pillow across his body as she unlocked and opened the door, a nervous smile on her face, "Uh, yeah Masayoshi?"
"Dinner." Masayoshi pointed to the stairs, "It's dinner time."
"Right…" Hitomi nodded, "Um, I'll be down in a minute…" Masayoshi shrugged, walking away and Hitomi closed her door. "Shit I have to hide this dead lizard and then I have to go to dinner… where am I gonna put him…?" Hitomi walked over to her closet, pulling open the door and digging into it, "Ahah!" She cried, pulling out a shoebox. "It's temporary, Leon…" She promised, stuffing the slightly larger lizard into the box and leaving him on the bed.
"Now it's dinner time…"
"So Hitomi…" Reborn started, looking up at the girl. Hitomi was playing around with the food on her plate, not really hungry, but urgent to get back to Leon. "Where's Leon? I saw him go with you earlier today and I haven't seen him since."
"L-Leon? G-Go with me?" Hitomi laughed loudly and nervously, "I-I haven't seen him… you sure he's not hanging out around here?"
"Maybe, I mean you are here as well. Maybe he's up in your room." Reborn replied, nodding.
"N-no... I doubt he'd be up there!" Hitomi responded a little too quickly, rubbing the back of her head, "Why would he be up there alone… y'know unless he was dead—which he's totally not! Ahahaha…"
"Right…" Reborn answered, "Well I'll have to check just to be sure." He stood up from his seat, "Thank you for the food, it was delicious." Reborn bowed slightly to Solana as he jumped down and walked out of the kitchen.
"A-Ah… I wouldn't do that!" Hitomi stood up from the table abruptly excusing herself and stumbling up the steps, "He's not in there!"
"The way you're acting makes me think that he is up there. What's wrong? Did you kill my lizard?" Reborn asked, tossing Hitomi back down the stairs with ease. The girl yelped loudly before bouncing back up.
"U-Uh… no! Ha, my room is just dirty and-!"
"Your room is always dirty. Don't you remember? We share your room." Reborn reminded her just as he stopped in front of the door. "Why are you so nervous, Hitomi? If you've done nothing wrong you should be fine, right?"
"R-Right…" Hitomi lied as Reborn pushed open the door. The baby Hitman walked into the room, looking around.
"Leon!" He exclaimed and Hitomi ran into the room. Her bed and half of the room was completely filled with green.
"Wh-What's happening?" Hitomi yelled, amazed and a little scared. "Is he dying?"
"Don't be stupid… he's having a little trouble with his shape-shifting abilities." Reborn answered, "It's about time that you received your weapon—after all, you're going to be the boss."
"W-What?" Hitomi said, leaning heavily against the door frame, "Wh-Why?"
"Leon is, well for lack of a better way to put it, magic. When the time's right he'll produce a weapon for my pupil—you—to wield. He's done it for Dino and for Tsuna. Your time is coming and so he'll be like this for a while…" Reborn explained, "Did you think he was dead or something?"
Hitomi looked away, blushing as Teru walked past, laughing. "Oh, she totally cried cause she thought he was dead!"
"Shut up, Teru! Why didn't you tell me?!" Hitomi yelled; face burning bright red in embarrassment.
"Because it was funny!" Teru called, slamming her room door closed. Hitomi glared at the hallway before she returned to looking at Reborn and the now changing Leon. She sighed in relief as she stepped into the room more, the feeling in the pit of her stomach almost gone.
"I did think he was dead…" Hitomi admitted, "I thought I killed him."
"You're lucky," Reborn commented, "Leon triggered this by himself. I guess he was trying to save you or something. Though you in part had something to do with it." He looked to the window, "I guess I'll be going by myself then. Hitomi, watch Leon for me, okay?"
"Wh-Where are you going?" Hitomi asked, taking Leon from the man.
"Ah, it's not important at the moment." Reborn said, "Nothing for you to worry about, I should be back tomorrow or the next day at the latest." Hitomi looked down at Leon, the green animal changing into various objects.
"Reborn-!" Hitomi looked up, only to find that the Hitomi wasn't there. "Wh—you know what, I don't even care anymore…" She shook her head, placing Leon into Reborn's hammock, "I'm just glad I didn't kill anyone…"
Well that was hella short (lol). I wanted this chapter to go a completely different way, I had planned it to be more depressing I suppose? More crying and such, but eh, what're you gonna do? When I wrote the chapter plot and when I actually got around to writing the chapter, I wanted something that wasn't depressing and this was the end result. Something short and full of what I assume is mystery and a little bit of fun yeah?! No? Okay… that's cool. I guess that's it for this chapter, don't worry! We'll see some action soon! But in the meantime, check out The Omake Generation and Yellow Colored Lies: A Nuzlocke! They're both not-sucky! I promise!