Chapter 36
To One and All.
Sorry for not updating for a while, I've hit so many proverbial walls with this chapter. I basically wrote it one Arcobaleno per session, I hate it when chapters are hard like this one was. And then there was work and hospital visits and such (not me, a family member) so it all just kinda piled up.
Make sure to read the bottom note for the competition I'm running!
Oh, and warnings of a bad second half, starting roughly at Viper's entrance since I just wanted to finish this damn chapter and move on. I'm sure you all understand that feeling. And we're going to forget Tsunayoshi's age for this chapter, it would be boring otherwise.
So Let the Show Begin!
Tsunayoshi wakes up with the sun warmly shining on his face and the sound of the sea ringing in his ears.
Realising that's not a natural sound to be waking up to, he opens his eyes and quickly has to shut them again to block out the sun. Using a hand to shield his eyes, he sits up and tries again. After blinking a few time, he realises his eyes are not deceiving him. He is sat on a beach in the sun.
"Oh, you're finally awake." says Luce. He turns to face her and realises that they are actually sat under an umbrella.
"Where are we?" Tsunayoshi asks, looking around them. There was grass behind him, sand dunes to the left and rocks to the right. There was a cliff in the distance with lots of trees on it. All around him was pure white sand, and the sea in front of him sparkled and flashed as the sun reflected off of it.
"This is the Arcobaleno's private artificial beach." Explains Luce. "Technically, this is 'the end of the garden'. The sand is brought in and sits on a special ledge that is under the water. Since the island moves all of the time, it's impossible to have a real beach, so we made one that we could take with us. The ledge extends into the sea and provides a calm pool for us to play in. Those red dots far in the distance are where the ledge ends and the real ocean starts."
"So basically it's a beach."
Luce laughs, "Yes Tsunayoshi, it's a beach."
Tsunayoshi looks around him and realises he can't see anyone else. "Where are all of the others?" he asks, tilting his head to the side.
Luce giggles, "They are all around the beach waiting for you to go and play with them. But you've got to find them first." Tsunayoshi nods and goes to stand up but Luce pushes him back down.
"Ahh~ You've got to play with me first Tsunayoshi!" Luce sings. "And first things first: Sunscreen." She reaches over and takes Tsunayoshi's sky blue shirt off of him before looking in her bag for the sunscreen.
Once she's found it, she starts to apply it to Tsunayoshi. However the little boy starts to giggle and squirm about since it's so cold. "Gyahaha, Luce! Heehee, Stop it! That t-hehe-tick-hehe- tickles~!"
Luce giggles herself and continues to attempt to apply the cream to the squirming boy. "Haha, stop moving and I'll get it done quicker," she smiles.
A small wrestling match ensues, whilst Luce tries to keep Tsunayoshi as still as possible and Tsunayoshi does his best to stop her from tickling him. He was sure that Luce was touching his ticklish spots on purpose. And sometimes she didn't even have the cold cream on her hands… She was tickling him on purpose!
So in revenge he grabs the bottle, places some on his hand and proceeds to paint Luce's face white. When she spins him around to do his back, Tsunayoshi starts painting her legs white instead. She was wearing a full length swimming suit and her big hat as usual with sandals.
With her legs fully 'painted' he goes to turn around and gloat over his win when something cold touches his nose. Going cross-eyed, he realises she'd dabbed him with the sun cream once again! "I'll let you do your face." Luce concedes. Tsunayoshi pouts before smiling mischievously. Leaning in close, he rubs his nose against her cheek. Luce blinks wide eyes as she watches Tsunayoshi scoop up his shirt and hat before running off. Slowly she goes to touch her now cold cheek to find it covered in sun cream. She smiles gently before laying back onto the blanket and picking up her latest romance novel. She just had to find out whether Luna would return to England or stay with Mark in Spain.
Tsunayoshi kept on running in the opposite direction, rubbing in the last of the cream and letting it dry before putting his shirt and hat back on. Before he knows it, Luce is out of sight. He looks around and realises he's entered the area filled with sand dunes. Hearing a sound coming closer and closer to him, he stays still. Eventually he recognises that sound and looks up expectantly. Soon the sound roars all around him and the sun is blocked out by a large shadow. With a thump and a spray of sand the thing lands and skids to a stop.
"Wahoo! It's been ages since I did a gig at a beach. Maybe I should do one there next?" says Skull, removing his helmet as he sits astride the dune buggy… Wait, when did they get one of those? The buggy was as purple as the rest of Skull's outfit, bright red Hell Flames sprayed onto the bonnet and skulls were decorating the wheel rims. The engine hums in agreement to Skull's comment, sounding ready to show off. Skull scoots backwards slightly, before smiling brightly at Tsunayoshi. It was one of the smiles that only ever appeared when they were alone together.
Giggling, Tsunayoshi scrambles up the dune between the pair before running over towards Skull. He didn't need to be asked, he knew exactly what Skull wanted. He runs over to Skull and the stuntman picks him up and deposits Tsunayoshi in front of him on the seat. As Skull returns his hands to the handle bars and leans over Tsunayoshi, the small child couldn't feel any safer. He had always felt the safest when pressed close to Skull for he knew that the stuntman would protect him with his body no matter the cost. Sure the others made him feel safe too, but just not as much. Reborn was more likely to shoot at him as was Lal and possibly even Colonnello. It was already proven that Verde was not exactly safe to be around either. But here, with Skull's arms surrounding him, his body heat warming him and his legs stopping him from slipping off, Tsunayoshi felt perfectly protected.
Skull squirms about a bit, moving to make sure that he had Tsunayoshi properly pinned in. "Hold on here so you don't fall off," advises Skull, pointing to a particular part of the chassis. Tsunayoshi goes and grabs that bit, holding on tight in anticipation for what was to come. Skull revs the engine, getting ready to take off. Tsunayoshi can feel the whole bike vibrate under him. "Ahh! Before I forget!" shouts Skull in a panic. He reaches into a compartment behind him, and takes out a pair of goggles before handing them to Tsunayoshi. "I don't want sand to get in your eyes." says Skull before putting his own forgotten helmet on.
With a squeal- from Tsunayoshi not the tyres- the pair go zooming off into the sand dunes. Swerving left and right, slaloming around the dunes, up and over, up and up and soon they are flying in the sky. Tsunayoshi feels weightless and decides he rather likes the feeling. His smile seems weightless too and ready to come right of his face. They land with a bump, but there's no time to contemplate bruised behinds since they are moving once again. He turns his face into the wind they are creating, adoring the feeling of the wind through his hair.
As they go over one very large jump, Tsunayoshi feels his body leave the seat. But he's not scared. In fact he loves the feeling of being air-born. Something tells him it's natural. His body tells him that flying is something he can do. Forgetting where he is, Tsunayoshi lets go of the hand hold he had and throws his hands out to the side and slightly behind him. Some reflex causes him to flex his hands out… of course nothing happens except his body moving backwards and slamming into Skull's. That snaps him out of whatever memory he is half remembering and he grabs Skull's trouser legs instead. He kind of feels sad when they land once more and wonders if there is a way for him to stay in the sky any longer.
Not that Skull can tell Tsunayoshi is feeling sad. He's just wondering how the boy can breathe through all of the glee filled giggling he's doing. And how he hasn't ended up with a mouthful of sand yet. Skull keeps on driving, slams on the breaks to drift and send sand flying everywhere before going full pelt in practically the opposite direction. He keeps on driving and they come to another jump. In mid-flight, Skull picks Tsunayoshi up (he'd noticed Tsunayoshi's habit of letting go during jumps. It had worried him at first and caused him to hold the boy down with his legs tighter. However he was confident in his ability to save Tsunayoshi.) and throws him directly upwards into a gap in the trees.
Tsunayoshi wonders what kind of trick they are doing now when he is caught by long delicate fingers and red clothed arms.
"o-oh-e-ek?" Tsunayoshi looks at the patch of fur to the left of his face. It's Lichi, sitting on Fon's wrist. "Good morning Tsunayoshi." smiles Fon, setting the boy down on firm footing.
"Wahh, Fon it's you." says Tsunayoshi, arms spread out to catch his balance. He wasn't expecting to be thrown in the air like that. Tsunayoshi looks around him to see a whole lot of green, brown and glints of silver. "F-Fon where are we?" since Tsunayoshi actually doesn't have a clue. He thought he had known all their house had to offer (traps and all) but he didn't even know about the beach let alone where they are now. Although he had never had reason to be climbing in the trees before now, so that might explain why he'd never found this place.
And 'This' consisted of wooden planks, ropes, nets, chains and wires, all making a path from where they are now along the stretch of beach towards the cliffs. Tsunayoshi looks downwards and is surprised to find he's not scared of heights- must go with the flying thing. But it is a long way down. A long way down.
Fon smiles at the boy before grabbing the sash around his waist and unwinding it. Tsunayoshi watches as Fon unwinds and unwinds and unwinds- he wonders how long this piece of material is and how long it took Fon to put it on. Eventually Fon comes to an end and Tsunayoshi can see that it's tied securely around his waist with a large and complicated looking knot.
"Now if you went anywhere else to do this, you wouldn't be allowed," explains Fon as he leans forwards and starts to tie the cloth around Tsunayoshi's waist. "Since you are so short," Tsunayoshi pouts and Fon ruffles his hair in a silent apology. It wasn't Tsunayoshi's fault that he was shorter than average. Luce said it made him even cuter, so there! "But since we are here, on Mafia Row, and in our own back garden, there's no problem." Fon leans back, finished with tying Tsunayoshi's sash. Lichi jumps the short distance between their heads to sit upon Tsunayoshi's. Tsunayoshi giggles at the extra weight and carefully strokes the tiny monkey. He looks up, or at least tries to without dislodging his burden, when he feels something else sit on his head. Fon hides a laugh behind the long sleeves of his robe. Tsunayoshi reaches up and feels something small, soft and fluffy attached to a hard band… he knew what these were! He pulls them down and is confused by their shape. Sure they were animal ears like Luce had made him wear, but of which animal? His answer comes in the small upside down face that fills his vision.
"Oohh~" he sighs, finally getting it.
"That's right Tsunayoshi, today we are going to be monkeys. Luce insisted that you wear them and Lichi agrees." And indeed the monkey did agree since she snatched the accessory out of Tsunayoshi's hand and forced them to sit back in their rightful position. "Now now Lichi" warns Fon. The monkey lowers her head and pats Tsunayoshi's in apology for her harsh treatment. "Are you ready to go Tsunayoshi?" asks Fon, pointing to the wooden path before them. "You'll be safe. I've checked the pathways myself and none of them are in danger of rotting or breaking under you. And even if you slip off, you won't fall far." Fon picks up the sash that links the pair and gives it a small tug.
"Sure!" sings Tsunayoshi, stepping in the direction Fon had pointed. If Fon said it was safe, then he highly suspected it was. Unlike certain people *coughReborncough* he knew he could trust Fon's word on this. Fon never tried to hurt him nor place him in dangerous situations intentionally. Reborn did.
Tsunayoshi steps onto the plank with fearlessness only very young children have. One that came with not understanding the consequences. With Lichi taking the lead and Fon right behind, Tsunayoshi walks along, moving from one tree to the next. Along one plank, over a wobbly rope bridge, down a wooden ladder, over a rope net, Tsunayoshi did all these things and more in his new capacity of a Monkey. He and Lichi had a great time making monkey noises as they went along, often punctuated by Tsunayoshi's laughs. He even manages to get Fon to join in too, and soon all three are ooh-ing and eek-ing up in the tree tops.
They eventually get to a bit where Lichi stops by a wire rope leading off to a tree nearby. Within a few moments Fon has caught up to then from climbing up another ladder. Reaching upwards, Fon pulls down some sort of contraption and attaches it to the wire. After checking a few things and giving it a very harsh tug, he deems it ready. He steps backwards, still holding onto the object, and presents it to Tsunayoshi. It was… some sort of plate like thing attached to a chain that was attached to the wire. Noting Tsunayoshi's confused face, Fon smiles and explains "Tsunayoshi you sit on it and ride it to the other side," and he points to where the wire stopped at the next tree. "Don't worry, the sash is long enough not to pull at us." Ahh, so that's why it was so long!
Fon holds the seat steady whilst Tsunayoshi climbs upon it. Lichi for once stays with her Master, sitting on his shoulder. When Fon asks if he's ready or not, Tsunayoshi nods an affirmative and pushes off from the tree they were on. Feeling the wind brush through his hair once more he giggles. Then he remembers some movies Luce had showed him. And the first was easy to copy.
"AHHHHHAHAHAHHHHHHHAHAHHH" Tsunayoshi shouts, doing his best Tarzan impression. Luce would be proud. However as the tree gets closer and closer, Tsunayoshi realises he doesn't know how to stop. It's then that he's reminded of the other movie he had watched with Luce.
'George, George, George of the Jungle. Watch out for that' SLAM '… tree'
With scary accuracy, Tsunayoshi had impacted with the tree at the same time as the jingle dictated. However, unlike 'George', his face did not become one with the tree. Instead he had pulled his feet up, planted them on the tree and bent his knees. Sure his knees were now on level with his ears, and his nose was inches away from the tree, but those few inches were better than inches inside the tree. He sighs a sigh of relief and proceeds to clamber off the seat. He turns around to assure Fon that he is okay, but his voice stops in his throat and his jaw drops… all the way to the ground metres below them.
For Fon isn't following in the conventional manor. Oh No. Fon is tightrope walking down the zip wire with nothing stopping him from falling except Tsunayoshi- who would only be pulled down with him. Nor does Fon look worried or apprehensive with the large drop and the tiny wire he is standing on. Nope, he looks as serine as always. But Tsunayoshi can tell; he can see the look of intense concentration Fon has on, hidden to most under an empty well meaning smile and relaxed features. But it's there alright, Tsunayoshi can see it clearly after knowing Fon for all of his life. But Fon appears to do it so effortlessly that it takes Tsunayoshi's breath away.
Although we can't forget Lichi, who was performing the same feat her master was with the natural born ease of a primate. By using her hands and feet she was not only walking on the rope but swinging under it too.
Both reach Tsunayoshi and Fon flips off the rope to land in front of the shocked boy. Tsunayoshi doesn't think he'll ever find his jaw again with how spectacular that display of prowess was. He didn't know Fon was That Good.
Fon smiles at Tsunayoshi, the closest to boasting he ever got. From further ahead Lichi squeaks, demanding attention too. Tsunayoshi giggles and starts to follow the monkey down the rest of the path. Eventually they come to a large square platform that looks similar to the one at the start. Tsunayoshi can see no other way down than a pole in the corner. Walking over, Fon undoes the knot holding the sash onto the small boy. Lichi takes off the monkey ears before climbing into Fon's shoulder and waving goodbye. "We'll see you soon Tsunayoshi," Fon explains before gesturing with red sleeves towards the pole in the corner. Tsunayoshi looks over at it before looking back at Fon to say goodbye. But Fon isn't there; Tsunayoshi hadn't even heard him go.
So he has no other choice but to slide down the pole. Luckily it's a short trip leading to another platform barely two metres off the ground. Tsunayoshi looks around, wondering where he is supposed to go next, when the forest in front of him moves. Suddenly there are two piercing glimmers of blue staring right at him.
"Hn, catch me if you can, kora!" The forest challenges in Colonnello's voice before the forest moves once more, sliding down the wooden slide and into the bushes. Tsunayoshi blinks owlishly, getting over the shock of the forest moving like that before it clicks. It was Colonnello (surprisingly well done) in Camouflage, challenging him to a game of tag. Well, Tsunayoshi wasn't one to back down from a game! He loved games, they were so fun. Giggling wildly, he skids down the slide and follows the rustling of bushes Colonnello is making. It is clear that the older male is taking it slowly, otherwise the child would never catch up.
Tsunayoshi is having so much fun that he doesn't notice the sunlight catch on something perfectly straight- very few things in nature were perfectly straight. In fact he runs into it. Screaming in shock, he soon finds a rope net dropped on him from above.
He looks to his left where two blue flowers in a yellow flowered bush were staring back at him, laughter emanating from said bush. "Haahaahaa, I never said anything about not catching you back." He laughs before his eyes turn sharp. Tsunayoshi gulps. Oh dear, this was not good, Spartan Colonnello had arrived. Colonnello too it seemed came from the race of Spartans like Lal and Reborn did. Tsunayoshi had seen it before during times observing the COMSUBIN. Sure Colonnello liked to laugh and joke about, but when it came time to be serious, he was focused and sharp. Colonnello was a Spartan alright, he just knew how to turn it off.
"You should know better, kora. If you don't avoid these traps then you'll never catch me and we won't move on. I'm prepared to run around the forest all night if I have to, but are you?"
Tsunayoshi smiles. "We can go Star Gazing then!"
Colonnello sighs- Only Tsunayoshi would think about that- before smiling once more. "You'd still need to catch me for that, kora!" The two blue 'flowers' disappear.
So the first thing would be to get out of this net. Well it was a good thing he was small. Parts of the net had caught on bushes and were being held aloft in the air. If he wiggles just right, he'd be able to get out from under this net and continue to chase after Colonnello. He'd best not tell Lal about that mistake or she'd skin Colonnello alive- verbally at least… he hopes. Once he's out from under the net, he brushes the clumps of dirt from his knees before looking around him. He had no idea what direction Colonnello went in- there were no indictors as far as he could see. Last time he remembered Colonnello wasn't very good at camouflage. Just in case he looks up into the trees and spots a very familiar bird.
A very familiar bird hoping from one tree branch to another in a straight line.
Smiling to himself, he sets about chasing after Colonnello, keeping an eye out for any traps there may be. Now he knows to look for them, his intuition starts to spot them for him. He notices that every now and again, Colonnello stops- well Falco stops, so he assumes Colonnello does too- before changing direction. This frustrates the little boy, for how was he supposed to catch Colonnello if he kept on changing directions? After a few turns, Tsunayoshi sits down in a huff, arms crossed, a (cute) pout on his face. However what he didn't realise until it was too late was that he had sat in a patch of mud. He quickly stands back up, trying to wipe the mud off of himself, knowing Luce would be mad that he'd gotten dirty yet again. But instead of clearing it off, he just ends up spreading it around. And that's when the idea hits him. He'd finally recognised this for what it was: A Spartan Training session disguised as a game for his enjoyment. Giving a silent apology to Luce in his head, Tsunayoshi starts to cover himself in the mud, adding in leaves to his artistic taste.
When Colonnello stops once more and looks backwards he is proud to see that he can't find Tsunayoshi in the undergrowth. Falco had him pinpointed, but the damn bird wasn't giving anything away. "Keep it up, kora!" he shouts in encouragement, hoping for a reply to be able to locate the boy with, yet Tsunayoshi remains silent. Now that Tsunayoshi has gotten the point of his game, Colonnello starts off towards his final destination. Just as he is about to burst out into the sunlight and announce himself the winner, he hears a giggle and feels something clamp around his leg.
"Got you~" Tsunayoshi sings, smiling through a layer of mud, twigs, leaves and flowers.
"Well done, kora. How did you get me?" Colonnello asks, picking the boy up in his arms.
Tsunayoshi leans forwards in his arms to be able to see the opposite shoulder. "I just followed Falco. He stayed with you the whole time, so I knew where you were. Once I dressed up you spent longer looking for me and I caught up." Tsunayoshi strokes the bird's feathers with his cleanest fingers whilst Colonnello gives the bird a mock glare. Falco tilts his head before biting Colonnello on the nose in payment for the glare.
"So do you know what your prize is for catching me?" asks Colonnello as they walk towards the edge of the cliffs to enjoy the view.
Tsunayoshi tilts his head before breaking out into a grin. "No. What do I get?"
Colonnello's grin is far more devilish. "A Bath." Tsunayoshi wonders whether he's heard that right; a bath didn't sound like a good prize to him. "Oi, Lal, catch!"
Before Tsunayoshi realises what's going on, he's already been thrown over the edge of the cliff. He doesn't fall all that far, this cliff isn't very tall, only three or four metres, but he does fall straight into Lal's arms. The woman was obviously expecting him. Lal looks him over, looking for signs of falling for her worthless student's traps. To be honest she can't see any.
"So, how many traps?" she asks, wading out into the sea. Tsunayoshi blushes before admitting that he had only fallen for one of Colonnello's traps. Lal had thought so. "Next time make it Zero" she says before dunking him under the water and washing the dirt off of him. Once he's relatively clean and no longer wearing a mud-mask, she hands him a pair of goggles. "Here, you'll need these if you're to see anything." He puts them on before following her into the deeper water. When he can no longer touch the bottom, he jumps onto her back for a ride. She grumbles over it but doesn't make a move to dislodge him.
He had noticed that the water around them had gotten warmer and warmer- not that it was cold to start with.
Finally they get to a bit around the far side of the cliffs and there are lots and lots of different coloured blurs under the water. They really make Tsunayoshi curious.
"Hey, brat." Lal starts. Tsunayoshi grips on tighter to say he's listening, far too busy trying to guess what the different colours under the water are. "You only have to do one thing and one thing only. Hold your breath." Tsunayoshi leans forwards and tries his best to look at her face as he leans over her shoulder. Lal couldn't be serious? Holding his breath was most likely the easiest thing she had ever asked him to do for her.
"Okay then Lal. But, just what is this place?" asks Tsunayoshi inquisitively. It seemed to him like this place was special to Lal. She turns her face away from him, but he can still see the blush.
She pulls Tsunayoshi's legs tighter around her waist, making sure that he's in a position that won't hinder her own movements. "Breathe in brat". Tsunayoshi smiles, since not getting an answer to a personal question was just like Lal- at least it wasn't a slap- and follows her order. Lal places on her own red tinted goggles before stepping off of the sand bar they had been walking along. Both dive into the water and into a totally different world.
If he could, Tsunayoshi would gasp at this brand new place. It was just breathtakingly beautiful. Under the waves the water was a crystal blue, with light visible in bars falling to the yellow sand on the floor. It was so easy to forget the rest of the world here, to believe you were the one and only person on this whole planet. Lal slowly pulls him further down until the bright colours catch his eye once more. Just what were they? Rocks? Plants? Whatever they were they were pretty. The way they slowly moved, as if swaying in a non-existent breeze, it was almost mesmerizing. It was a good thing Lal was dragging him along on her back or else he'd just stay here and stare at this patch all day.
Lal leads them through a rock path until they reach a type of underwater clearing. Tsunayoshi lets go with one hand to touch the nearest piece of this rock/plant thing, but Lal quickly slaps his hand away before giving him a look out of the corner of her eye. Tsunayoshi doesn't understand why she doesn't want him to touch them, but he'll respect her wishes. She stops in the middle of this clearing and just kind of floats there. After a moment, she pulls on his arm so he lets go and they turn to be face to face.
It's at this point that Tsunayoshi realises that something is missing… Like Oxygen.
His eyes widen and a hand files to his mouth to make sure no more of the precious commodity escapes. Lal of course notices this and a staring match ensues. Tsunayoshi has no clue how to swim, nor how to get to the surface, and therefore has to rely on Lal to get him back there. So when he looks at her with a pleading yet desperate expression, his eyes widen even more when he sees her expression. Her Spartan Training look. For heaven's sake, why now of all times? So he wipes the puppy look off of his face, knowing even at this young age that it's not going to get him anywhere with her. Instead he looks at her determinedly. He trusted Lal, trusted her not to let him die here like this. Lal may be harsh but she always knew where the limit was, pushed him to touching distance of it before pulling him back to safety. She always pulled him back and he trusted her to do so this time too.
Lal of course knew exactly what she was doing and was keeping a trained eye on the tell-tale signs. Nor did she forget she was dealing with a child rather than an adult; whilst she may not yet be out of breath, he had a smaller lung capacity. If the boy had wanted to, he could have gotten away from her and gone to get air himself- it was a natural instinct to head for the surface for air, whether one could swim or not. Yet here he was, accepting her challenge and fighting all instincts just to please her. Finally, when she deems him to have held his breath as long as possible safely, she grabs him by the waist and kicks off the rock, shooting straight out of the water easily- they weren't all that deep down anyway.
Tsunayoshi spends a few minutes spluttering and coughing, trying to regain his breath. The first question he asks surprises Lal, but she berates herself since she should know better by now, this was Tsunayoshi after all. For instead of asking whether she was trying to kill him, or why she had forced him to the limit once more, he simply asks "Why can't I touch?"
"That coral down there is a living thing and very fragile, I don't want you destroying it. Plus, whilst in general the coral itself is not poisonous, some of the animals that live in it are and I don't want you to get harmed by them. In addition, some of the coral itself is sharp enough to give you scratches." Tsunayoshi nods, taking this in.
Lal hands him something small and black that he has exactly no clue what to do with. "It's a respirator" Still no response. "It'll allow you to breathe under water for longer than usual. Since you passed my test I'll let you wear one." Tsunayoshi smiles before listening to Lal's instructions and copying what she does with it. Once more she grabs him and they dive back into the blue.
Now that Tsunayoshi knows more about this 'coral', he suddenly sees the place in a whole new light. Beautiful, breath-taking yet dangerous. Sounded a lot like Lal herself really. He giggles to himself over that thought and wonders whether Colonnello would like it, or if indeed the man has ever said that himself.
Tsunayoshi decides he's going to learn how to swim just so he can come here and look at it whenever he wants to. There was something about lying at the bottom looking up at the bands of sunlight and a black shadow fall towards you that was peaceful yet astounding.
Wait… Black Shadow?
Tsunayoshi is picked up once more and dragged to the surface, but like a dolphin, he's forced into the air. However instead of landing back in the water, he lands in someone's arms once again.
"Lal certainly has a good understanding of trajectory and bio-mechanics," the mam mumbles to himself. Blinking the water out of his eyes, Tsuna finds himself in Verde's arms. Well, the voice and speech gave it away first. Even out here on the beach Verde hadn't taken his lab coat off, although the only other things he was wearing were shorts and flip flops. In fact this was the most casual he'd even seen the Scientist dress.
Verde carries his Observational Subject over towards a rocky outcrop just a few metres away, near the base of the cliff Colonnello had chucked Tsunayoshi from. When Tsunayoshi is placed on the floor, he wonders what Verde plans to do. I mean, there was nothing here, just rocks, rocks and more rocks. He knew that Verde wasn't the type to make him climb the cliff back up to Colonnello, so what was Verde planning?
"Science is split into a lot of categories, and you've seen a few of them already in my Lab. We've covered things from Electronics with Spanner's keyboard, to Robotics," Tsunayoshi's eyes flick to the wound covered by the lab coat, but Verde continues on speaking "as well as some Chemistry, Astrology, Bio-Mechanics and lots of other subjects. Today, I'm going to teach you something that can only be taught here." Tsunayoshi smiles brightly, this sounded better, learning was definitely something he expected Verde to do. Although what he could learn from Rocks he wasn't too sure.
Verde walks carefully over some rocks before sitting down somewhere relatively flat. Immediately, Tsunayoshi follows and takes his place on Verde's lap. Already far used to this position, Verde no longer noticed it and automatically worked around him. It had been like this ever since they had him as a baby after all. He had noted these feeling down in his Observation Book but had long stopped accounting each experience. "This type of environment can be very hard to replicate in a lab, so it's better to learn out here where nature does what it does best. Tsunayoshi, I want you to look into this pool of water and tell me what you see."
The small boy complies, leaning forwards to get a closer look at the water. Yet he sees nothing except their reflections and the rocks that make the pool up. But he knows that Verde is expecting him to see something, so he leans forwards even more. When Tsunayoshi leans so far forwards that he nearly slips off of Verde's lap, the scientist is quick to grab the boy around the waist. He didn't want Tsunayoshi to fall in nor to destroy the delicate eco-system they were observing.
Tsunayoshi finally leans back, wearing a childish pout. "Verde, I can't see anything in there except more rocks." He whines.
Verde was half expecting that answer. "You need to stay as still as possible and look for tiny movements." Tsunayoshi nods and goes back to staring intently at the pool, trying to look past his reflection and into the water instead. After a few moments there is a gasp and Tsunayoshi leans backwards rather quickly, almost knocking into Verde's chin. "Something moved!" he screams in glee, waving his arms about.
"Now you know that there are indeed living creatures in there, take another look" prompts Verde, knowing to be patient with him. Luckily enough, Tsunayoshi learned very quickly, enough for Verde to be tolerant.
As Tsunayoshi follows the order, he starts to gape and gasp, finally seeing what he didn't before. "Over there, and there, and there, and…and…and." Suddenly there was far too much that Tsunayoshi wanted to point out. Verde's lab coat was slowly being pulled down his right shoulder as the little boy kept on pulling on it to gain his attention and as an outlet for his surprise and excitement.
"Tsunayoshi calm yourself. Scientists don't get anywhere from acting like you are. We remain calm despite the situation, observing, analysing and remembering" He ignores that way the little boy mouths what he's just said… he didn't say it that often did he? "So let's start by naming the first one you see." Tsunayoshi nods and looks back down at the rock pool.
"Ah, that one, it's like a fish!" Tsunayoshi whispers excitedly- every time he had screamed everything in the pool had disappeared.
"Pomatoschistus Microps" Supplies Verde.
"Tomato-chi-stuff my-crops what?" asks Tsunayoshi, wondering whether Verde had lost the ability to speak.
Verde rolls his eyes. "Biology in general is done in Latin. All animals have a common name and a Latin one used in classification. Latin is used for both plants and animals. The animal you just identified is more commonly known as a Common Goby." Tsunayoshi nods, putting the words down as "Science talk" and moving on in a way only children can do.
"Uwah! Verde what's that? It's huge!" There was some sort of creature climbing over a rock towards them. He hadn't seen one of them before, so he had no clue what one was.
"That's a Cancer Pagurus, Tsunayoshi" supplies Verde, picking the animal up.
"Cancer, as in the shape in the stars?" asks Tsunayoshi. Verde and Colonnello had taken him star gazing a little while ago, teaching him the names of the shapes he could see. "So then, it's a crab!" It had taken him a few moments to relate the lines in the sky to the animal it was supposed to be. With Verde's nodded agreement, Tsunayoshi can finally link the animal to the word.
With that now sorted, Tsunayoshi looks back into the rock pool, where his eye is drawn to something that was bright blue and moving. It looked like a dog-pile of blue worms moving in a random direction. It was kind of creepy. Snuggling closer to Verde, Tsunayoshi points to the… thing, and shakily asks, "V-Verde? What is t-that?"
"That, Tsunayoshi, is an Anurida Maritima, basically an underwater insect. It's common name is a Springtail" Supplies Verde. The bright blue colouring was quite a rare sight in marine animals.
"Ann-u-ride a marmite? That bug is blue, it's not like Marmite at all. In fact, I hate them both, this blue bug and marmite." Tsunayoshi turns away from the offending blue marmite bug, burying his face into Verde's shoulder.
Verde doesn't know whether to laugh or to be offended with Tsunayoshi's version of Latin. Although the fact that he even considered laughing is shocking. It was not a feeling he got often- science was not funny after all. Sure he knew the benefits of laughing, it released 'happy' endorphins making the body feel better- the science behind Laughter is the Best Medicine- but it was not something he deemed important enough to take active note of.
"How about we look at the other end of the Rock Pool then Tsunayoshi?" suggests Verde. He feels Tsunayoshi nod against his shoulder, before the boy comes out of his sulking. "See that one? The one that looks like the sand but is too pure a cream colour?" Tsunayoshi leans down, noticing the cream against the grey of the rocks, and nods. "Well, that one is a Ribbon Worm, also known as Lineus Longissimus."
Tsunayoshi snorts and bursts out into laughter, gripping onto Verde's lab coat lapels for stability. "You finally got one right!" The child manages to say through breathless laughter. Verde straightens his back and raises his chin; He'd gotten them all right, thank you very much! Tsunayoshi, ever perceptive to the moods of the people he's living with, stops laughing enough to say. "It's kind of backwards, though. Instead of Line Long, shouldn't it be Long Line, since it's just a long line of worm, right?"
Tsunayoshi looks up in fear when Verde chokes. Oh God, what was wrong with him? Was his shoulder bleeding? Was he about to collapse? Verde looked to be in pain, head bowed forwards, face scrunched up. His shoulders start shaking before the scientist throws his head back and makes some sort of deep dry gasping sound. When Verde finally opens his eyes and sees Tsunayoshi's innocent yet worried face, Verde can't help but burst out laughing. Tsunayoshi's take on Latin, the language of his life, was just too funny to contain anymore. Verde knew he'd have to write this down later, but for now, here, where no one could see him, he'd laugh out all of the breath in his lungs (since it was not physically possible to laugh one's heart out) and let the endorphins flood his system.
He snaps out of it when Tsunayoshi pats his face before checking his pulse. That's right, this wasn't like him. Something must be wrong. He picks the boy up and starts to walk away from the rock pool. He'd remembered what animals and plants he had seen and could put them in his report when he got back later today; his memory was trained for that, even if it seemed that he was concentrating on Tsunayoshi. He was concentrating so much on these feelings Tsunayoshi had brought about in him, that when he is asked a question by the boy, he just answers on auto-pilot.
"Those would be: Chamaeleo Calyptratus, Sciurus Vulgaris, Pseudastur Albicollis, Enteroctopus Dofleini, Mico Chrysoleuca, Agalychnis Callidryas and mine would be Paleosuchus Palpebrosus." Tsunayoshi just giggles, taking guesses at who was who. Only two of them were obvious. (That would be: Leon, Cosmo, Falco, Ookado, Lichi, Fantasma and of course Keiman)
Tsunayoshi stops giggling when he is put down. "Hey Tsunayoshi, look out there, those are Stenella Longirostris, more commonly known as Spinner Dolphins" Tsunayoshi looks out towards the sea to spot the leaping and spinning dolphins.
He looks back to smile at Verde to find the scientist nowhere near. Instead there is a huge Sandcastle. It's bigger than their house and that's saying something. He walks towards the castle, mouth agape in awe. As he gets to the front doors, two people materialise out of the sand, being made of sand themselves. Despite their solid yellow colour, it was clear to see their faces and uniforms, making them look like a queen's guards. They open the doors of the castle and bow to him. Tsunayoshi doesn't know where to look as he walks past the two and inside the castle. Inside there are lots of sand people in maid and butler outfits, lining the sand carpet down to where a figure was standing. All of these sand figures were also bowing to him. He warily walks down the path, not knowing what to expect nor what to do. When he reaches the end, it's to find Viper waiting for him. Despite the heat, she was still wearing her full length cloak but were those… sunglasses he could see? And maybe even sandals?
"Don't worry, Luce paid in advance." Viper explains, spreading her arms to include the castle encasing them. "Welcome to the Sand Castle Tsunayoshi, where, for today only, you're the King." Whilst Prince suited Tsunayoshi better than King, she had bad connotations with the word Prince. Already Shishishi~ was ringing in her ears just from the thought. "Anything you want to do, it can happen here. Luce paid for the full service. Just say the word."
"Really then let's go exploring!"
She was glad that Tsunayoshi had said that, for she had an idea.
A grinding sound draws Tsunayoshi's attention to his left where a doorway is descending into the floor. Guess we're going that way then, he thinks and skips towards the door, Viper following behind. As he enters the corridor made of sand, his eyes widen at the flaming torches that light the path. Although it's rather dark where the light doesn't reach. But with Viper's reassuring presence at his back he draws up the courage to continue onwards. When, after a few minutes of walking nothing happens, Tsunayoshi calms down, and deciding this is getting boring, runs forwards to reach their final destination quicker.
Well, that was his mistake.
As he rounds a corner, he doesn't expect to be met by a mummy, bandaged hands reaching out for him. He lets out a shriek before aiming the gun at the mummy and shooting… wait, when did that gun get there? And that wasn't a bullet, that was a… a…?
"Laser beam" Viper provides walking through the molecules of disintegrated mummy. A what? Viper aims this weird white gun that doesn't really look like a gun towards him and fires it. A beam of random red pixels shoots past his cheek, and it's not even hot!, before an exploding noise sounds behind him. Looking over his shoulder he sees a black worm like animal (his mind tells him it's called an Ouroboros, how it knew that, Tsunayoshi didn't know) with a hole through its chest before it disintegrates into dust motes. A dinging noise draws his eyes back to Viper where suddenly there's a counter above her head.
He recognised that counter! They were playing a game!
"Simple kid, aim and shoot. You can try to beat me but I'm the best at this one." Tsunayoshi reckons that Viper has a smug smile on. And she did; Reborn didn't care for shooting at fake objects and Colonnello had a habit of shooting an actual gun which of course didn't register the points. Skull was a scardy cat and spent more time running and screaming than shooting. But Viper, well she loved scary stuff like this and wasn't affected. It helped that these games were always provided by her illusions anyway so of course it wasn't going to scare her.
Now he knew it was a game of laser tag, Tsunayoshi lost most of his fear. They traipse through the sand corridors, encountering many enemies ranging from simple bats to Mummies and the odd Ouroboros, which honestly scared him greatly. Viper just went through her 'occult catalogue', finding interesting things to throw Tsunayoshi's way. He apparently had a fear of dogs for some reason, the werewolves and lycans (and to his great embarrassment, a Chihuahua. Yeah, Viper didn't believe it either) making him scream and hide behind her until she got rid of them- a great way to equalise the points though.
And equalising points was important, she had a bet going that she could get more points than Tsunayoshi with some of the other Arcobaleno. Lal, Colonnello and Reborn bet otherwise. And she was not going to lose money! Luce had never specified what illusion to create for Tsunayoshi, so why not have some fun (the haunted house shooting games in the arcade had always been her favourite) and win money at the same time as pleasing possibly the only person who was important to her?
Exactly, there wasn't any reason not to.
There was only one thing she didn't like about this, and that was that this illusion was actually highly dangerous for her. For this game to be played fairly, she had to not cheat and know what was coming up. This meant allowing herself to fall for her own illusion. Basically, part of her was concentrating on the illusion whilst the other part was oblivious of it. And falling for your own illusion meant certain death in an illusionist battle. These games were treats for the others since it was such a danger to herself, and the time she was allowed to fall for her own illusion was strictly limited. She had to be careful not to get used to the feeling of falling for her own illusions less she become addicted to it and fall into insanity. Which was a problem any illusionist faced, especially one in a hard time- the temptation to create an illusionary world that was perfect for yourself was high during times like that. She looks down at her watch to check how much time she had left before having to let the illusion drop. Although she knew that the others were keeping an eye on her too.
But to be honest, none of that even mattered at the moment, the screams of pleasure and the laughter from Tsunayoshi were far more important. And indeed Tsunayoshi was enjoying himself when dogs weren't involved.
"Wahh! Viper watch out!" Viper snaps to as she feels air beneath her feat. Oh yeah that's right, the later levels had traps. Had they reached this high already? She had based this illusion around an Indiana Jones film she had watched recently, changing the temple setting to one of an Egyptian tomb, since it fitted the Sand Castle theme better. Wait, didn't that mean that the-
A hand grabs hers and jerks her forwards. "Viper! We're gonna get squished!" Tsunayoshi shouts, leading the way down the torch lit corridor.
-the rather cliché Boulder of Doom chase scene was near. She had always wanted to see the protagonist get squished by it, but she hoped that her demonic wish wasn't translated into this illusion. She would never hear the end of it if she was killed by her own illusion. Mukuro especially would wander the Paths until he found her just to gloat in her face.
"Viper! My gun isn't working!" worries Tsunayoshi, shooting backwards blindly (it's not like he could miss the boulder) as he runs.
"Well it's not a pre-programmed enemy, there's no target to shoot at and 'kill' it. You've got to out run it." Viper explains calmly. She didn't have a clue why she put this bit in when she herself hates running. Oh that's right, to watch Skull get squished by it. Strangely enough this part of the game was one of the few times she had ever seen Verde run. Viper was sure that Luce asked for these games just to get the scientist to exercise.
Tsunayoshi though was having the time of his life, adrenaline pumping. He could feel a giggle rise in his throat. He tries to stifle it, to concentrate on jogging for his life, but finds he can't. As he lets it out, Viper looks down weirdly at him. They've turned him into an adrenaline junkie!, she thinks, turning a corner and lengthening her stride.
The boulder caries on its war path, smashing into and through the wall. Now safe, Tsunayoshi stops and turns to face her. "Ahh, Viper, you're no fun! You weren't even running!" he comments. Well of course she wasn't running. This game had been adjusted to fit Tsunayoshi and people as young as him could only handle so many enemies, so many scary experiences, and only run so fast on those little legs of theirs. And even then he had been jogging and not outright running. She wasn't sure if Tsunayoshi would trip or not (like the clutz he is) so she had allowed time to pick him up and continue running (err, speed walking?) before they got run over.
Beep, Beep.
"Hmm, what's that Viper?" Asks Tsunayoshi, catching his breath at the same time.
"It's time to… fight the Boss" she lies. The tomb around them starts to shake and sand falls from the ceiling. They run down the corridor and into the light at the end. Suddenly blinded, Tsunayoshi puts a hand over his eyes. Behind him he hears a crash and a boom of the Sand Castle falling down. After blinking out the sun spots from his eyes, he turns around, expecting to see the ruins of the castle. Instead, he finds a normal 30cm tall sandcastle and 2 toy soldiers from a dolls house in the sand behind him. No sign of Viper either.
"Bwahahaha!" a creepy laugh comes from infront of him and Tsunayoshi whirls around to face it.
"Oh, Hi Bermuda!" smiles Tsunayoshi, sending the man a wave. What was it with these two, Viper and Bermuda, wearing cloaks in this weather?
Bermuda looks around himself, at his hands and then his feat, and then at his chains, before looking back up at Tsunayoshi. Two of Bermuda's chains come flying at him and stop right infront of his face. "What do you see?" Bermuda asks, waving the pointed tips of the chains about.
"Umm, your chains, what else?" asks Tsunayoshi, tilting his head to the side.
"Damn, they were supposed to be snakes." He hears Bermuda mutter. Tsunayoshi then thinks he hears something about failure illusionists and not paying, before those chains gently wrap around Tsunayoshi and lift him up. After being carefully lifted, the chains bring Tsunayoshi into Bermuda's arms.
"Bermuda, have you seen the Boss anywhere?" asks Tsunayoshi, before noticing that his laser gun was gone. Ahh, was the game over already?
Bermuda doesn't even stutter when creating the answer. "He was so scared of you that he ran away". Tsunayoshi seems happy with this answer, and starts an animated one sided discussion about all of the monsters he defeated whilst in the King's tomb. Bermuda is slightly down-heartened about not being able to play the villain, but apparently Viper must have had run out of time. Not that it mattered, it was time for dinner anyway.
"Ne, Bermuda" asks Tsunayoshi, snuggling against the feathers that made up Bermuda's cloak. "Do you like living with us?"
Bermuda is slightly shocked by the sudden question. Thinking back, he'd been living with them for around a month now. It was strange, it was hectic and sometimes downright dangerous. But then again, what was life without a little danger? Sure it was weird being in a place where people weren't scared of him, where the rooms were bright and people wore something other than cloaks and bandages, but all in all… he … liked it here.
"Yes, Tsunayoshi. I do"
That short answer that didn't really say anything, yet said everything, seemed to be enough for the little boy in his arms. Bermuda was glad that Tsunayoshi had invaded his house, dragged him through the rain and into the house of the Arcobaleno. Life was fun now, it was about more than revenge. And never would he wish to change it and return to where he was before.
"The others have been wanting to see you, you know." he comments as they walk back down the beach. The rest of the members living in the Vendicare were interested in who had taken their Boss away from them. Bermuda was known for being stubborn, to a child like extent, so it was strange for him to change his mind and leave with the little brown haired boy. In fact their Boss never let anyone walk all over him, so it was amazing that he followed the whims of the brat in the first place.
"I'd like to meet them too one day. I expect they're like you and only scary on the outside. Don't worry, I'll be really nice to them, they're like your Family after all!" Tsunayoshi assures Bermuda. Bermuda thought that the idea was sweet of Tsunayoshi and wondered over the innocence of youth. Bermuda realised that he's want to protect this child from his mortal enemy. If this Tsunayoshi grew up to be anything like the Parallel Tsuna he had witnessed earlier, then Bermuda suspected he'd come under the eye of his enemy. Bermuda would do whatever it took to make sure that never happened. He'd hate for Tsunayoshi to become cursed and die a pointless death.
Tsunayoshi didn't mind Bermuda's sudden silence, guessing that the Vindice Boss was thinking about something important. No, he was simply content to snuggle up and relax after the hectic day he had had so far. As a growling sound fills the air, Tsunayoshi looks up into a bandaged face before giggling. "I think I'm hungry."
He suspects that Bermuda raises an eyebrow, yet facial expressions are generally hidden under the white mask. "Easily sorted," Bermuda replies. With a rattle, two of Bermuda's chains go flying into the sea. Tsunayoshi watches with wide eyes, since he doesn't have a clue what Bermuda is planning. Nor does Bermuda care to explain as they continue to walk down the beach.
Eventually they get to where everyone else is. Tsunayoshi shouts out to them and waves. Attention is brought back to Bermuda however, when chains rattle once more. "Hey, Army Brains." Says Bermuda with a harsh order like tone. Tsunayoshi giggles when Colonnello turns around at that, silently admitting that he is an army freak. Well the COMSUBIN was kind of like the army.
"Oh Yeah, Bermuda!" shouts Colonnello, bringing out some sort of bazooka-like huge gun. Colonnello aims the gun in front of him and away from everyone else. With a flick of chains, whatever was on them goes flying. Colonnello follows the items' trajectory before pressing the trigger. A tremendous jet of flame ensues, engulfing whatever Bermuda had thrown at Colonnello. Out the other side of the Flame jet comes some very well done fish.
"Tsunayoshi, dinner is served" smugly smiles Bermuda, setting the child down in the sand next to Luce. Luce grabs one of the fish and sets about cleaning and de-boning it before handing the rest to Tsunayoshi.
"Careful, it'll be hot" she warns, watching the small boy carefully. Tsunayoshi takes a bite before humming and eating the rest of the fish.
The rest of the meal is cooked by Colonnello, who is determined to barbeque everything, whilst forgoing the barbeque entirely (who needs a barbeque when you have a flame thrower?). He is amazingly good at cooking with a Flame thrower.
It's a little while later, whilst everyone is chatting over the remains of dinner, that Tsunayoshi crawls over to Reborn. Reborn looks at him out of the corner of his eye before lifting a finger to his lips and pointing to his right. Tsunayoshi follows the pointing finger to find Skull asleep in the sand.
What's this? A caring gesture from Reborn?
Wrong.
With a sly smirk that literally spells doom, Reborn slowly crawls over before sitting as close to Skull as possible. Tsunayoshi follows along to see what Reborn has in mind- it's usually something fun when he's not the target. Reborn grabs a handful of sand and spills it over Skull's legs before grabbing some more and repeating the process. Leon climbs down from the fedora before turning into a toy digger and moving the sand closer to the sleeping stunt man. Tsunayoshi looks up and catches Reborn's wickedly gleaming eye. Stifling his own giggle, Tsunayoshi joins in, spreading sand over the unsuspecting Skull. From over the other side, the others keep an eye, gently laughing at the pair's antics, but deciding to leave them to it. It wasn't everyday Reborn played with Tsunayoshi after all, and their antics were not the most dangerous thing Skull had been through. Reborn and Tsunayoshi keep on sharing glances at each other, but as Reborn remains as serious as ever, Tsunayoshi's attempts at stifling his giggles get worse and worse. Luckily Skull sleeps like a rock, so he couldn't hear the tell-tale signs of a misbehaving child. Tsunayoshi takes great care in making sure that he doesn't spill any of the sand into Skull's face, Reborn… not so much. Tsunayoshi spends a bit of time wiping the sand from Skull's face from Reborn's careless treatment.
The pair step back and admire their work before Reborn ruffles Tsunayoshi's hair. "Good job brat."
Around half an hour later, a shout can be heard even at the Arcobaleno's house. Tsunayoshi is told to ignore some of Skull's colourful language. Fon sighs and decided he had best go rescue the stuntman from his sand cover. Apparently being buried in sand whilst wearing leather was not the best or most comfortable experience. Indeed Skull would be complaining about sand in his clothes for the next couple weeks.
Later on that night, Tsunayoshi lays next to Reborn, both of whom had been sent to bed early by Luce 'to atone for their crime'. Rolling over and pressing against the hitman, Tsunayoshi thinks back over the awesome, fun and action-packed day he's had today. And he wonders what other adventures he'll have with the members of the Arcobaleno House, and what else was awaiting him out there on Mafia Row…
And here are our sentences for this Arc. There are two sentences for this Arc, one that's random (since Byakuran's chapter title just wouldn't leave my head) and one that is a lot deeper like the first one. The second sentence all started due to my plans for Gokudera's chapter. I really felt that 'You are not alone' suited him.
Under the short lived sky, a world hopping maniac rides on his horse as time moves on through the generations, and assassins keep on killing with experimental Powers and their Reputation preceding them. (lol, I told you random)
You are not alone under this starry sky, looking from the outside, or from the inside, you'll find that friends from all over the world have different circumstances too. But together, we are strong; so spend your time playing and train hard before putting on your work clothes and fulfilling your orders against the wrong Family so the truth can be revealed to one and all.
You'll have to see if you can tell which Family is which from these sentences. And you'd better not peek! That's 24 chapters including this one, which makes for 23 people I've introduced. And it's far more than that considering there was more than one person per house- I think it was about 2 or 3 per house for normal Famiglia's, and then 7 people for more main Families. Just goes to show how HUGE the KHR cast is.
Oh! Oh! COMPETITION TIME!
Here's your chance to affect my story (lol, not that you guys don't anyway. All of those suggestions will be coming into play soon).
As we all know Luce is a Mafia Boss, well Ex- to be exact, however that doesn't mean she is defenceless. But guns are kind of boring. Reborn has a handgun, Lal and Colonnello have sniper rifles covered. So I want to give Luce something different. I was inspired by MyHobbyIsToRunFromReality and their fic Rainbow High School (you should read it sometime) and they give Luce a Mallet. I can imagine her doing whack a mole with it. Now I've gone and asked their permission to also give Luce a cool, weird and downright wacky weapon and they said I could.
So then guys what should she have?
Please leave a review stating what weapon she should have. If possible I'd quite like to know why you've chosen that (even if it's just "I can picture her using that" it's totally cool, some things just fit) and maybe even a small sentence or two of her using it. How about I go first…
"Luce smiles one of those fake sweet smiles of hers as she presses the 12" Chef's Knife against the side of Reborn's face. Reborn decides to let the Smartie cookie go. He'd much rather preserve his Curly Sideburns- they attracted lots of ladies. Lots of ladies who were more than willing to buy a Smartie cookie for him."
Why a Chef's Knife? It's something you'd find in the kitchen and with Luce now being a house wife she'd be used to using it to cook with. Plus she may have had knife training from her Mafia Days.
Of course that's a tame example. But be as weird as you like with her weapon :P
I have so much more to say, but I've said enough.
I'll see you soon (I promise this time!)
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 15 September 2012
(Ps. (spoiler alert) Who else was devastated that 'Adult' Bermuda was NOT drop dead gorgeous?! Although with his attitude, it doesn't surprise me that he's a child/teen. Well, MY one is handsome, okay, we'll pretend lol. )