Chapter 47:

Omake C: Mysterious Moments.

Thank you all for being so understanding about the events that happened last chapter.

And for those who were wondering, the three quotes that were left aligned and italics were quotes from chapter 29, where Verde gets seriously injured protecting Tsunayoshi from the Robot. At the end of the chapter, Reborn asks Tsunayoshi those three questions, hinting at that chapter. The italics and centred part was purely a memory that Tsuna gave Tsunayoshi, hence it's need to be centred. Hope that clears some things up.

For now, enjoy the End of Arc Omakes!

Disclaimer: I don't own any anime or manga mentioned in this chapter!

A mysterious moment in markers.

"Can you place this up there for me?"

Tsunayoshi looked up at the cork notice board and gapes at the rainbow of colours. There was every colour from red to blue to pure white and most of them corresponded with the colour that he imagined each Arcobaleno to be: The one in his hand about Colonnello was blue in colour.

But you know what, they were boring.

He couldn't read what was written on them yet- he'd only learnt numbers so far- but still they looked boring. They were about going places weren't they? Going places was fun! These needed to be made fun too.

But what to do… what to do…

There wasn't a lot he could do but there was one thing he was good at. So taking the nearest available pen, Tsunayoshi got to work drawing pictures of each of the Arcobaleno. He wanted them to be fun, so he didn't do a portrait of them. His drawing wasn't that good yet anyway. But there was this image he had of them that was perfect for livening the notes up.

"Those are the Arcobaleno. The Mafia's Strongest 7 Infants."

Tsunayoshi giggles to himself over the image that came to mind. The strongest 7 infants? That was crazy. That belonged in a story book. Although he did have to admit that the image in his head made them all look rather cute.

He didn't know why he had such a clear image of it either. The imagination must work that way…But that didn't matter. What did matter was that the doodles of the Arcobaleno in a chibi-baby form was exactly what this notice board needed. Plus they'd be able to find their own notes quicker.

So he starts with the PostIt note in his hand, drawing Colonnello with his bandana and his riffle. Once done, he places it where Luce had told him to before picking up the next one- a red one for Fon. Every time he finished drawing on the PostIt note, he placed it exactly back where he had found it. The blank white ones were for Bermuda, which didn't fit him, but Luce didn't have a white pen to write on black ones. Plus drawing Bermuda in black ink was suitable. There was another thing that didn't link up between the pictures in his head and the image of the people he knew, and that was Lal. The picture in his head gave her scars on her cheek, yet Lal didn't have any scars. He left them out. It took him a little while, but as concentrated on his job as he was, tongue poking out due to his focus, the time literally flew by. But he finished it, everything back where it should be, and took a look over his work.

There, that was better.

As we all know, Bermuda took a photo of his own doodle and used it as his phone's wallpaper. The other Arcobaleno all had similar ideas. And whenever they were working in here (at the point of being bored yet knowing they should be working), their eyes drifted towards the notice board and it made them smile despite the mundane tasks they were supposed to be doing. Everyone found the images rather endearing, especially since each PostIt note was of them in different poses. Tsunayoshi had really gone to town on them.

And whilst Bermuda loved it and the sentiment, it was also something more to him. It being as his wallpaper reminded him every time of his promise, of his goals and of his revenge. The Vindice refused to look at it after the first time, for they had all been in that position before and didn't need the reminder. Their broken rotting bodies were more than enough of a reminder. Bermuda was not going to let these images become a reality. He was not going to let these people become like the rest of his Family. No one he knew would be turning into a baby for real if he could help it. He swore it.

A Mysterious Moment in Illness.

"Verde Power!" Tsunayoshi cheers as the vials go flying. Reborn shakes his head as he is reminded of a show about planets and princesses and the moon. Of course he wouldn't know about a girly show like that. It wasn't as if Luce had been ill one week and forced him to watch every single season of it. Of course he had escaped…

Oh God she felt horrible. Whatever had she done to deserve this? Her throat was sore, she could hardly swallow, she had used enough tissues to pretend that it was snowing in the room and her head felt like she'd seen the future three times in succession.

Luce was ill.

She thinks she had gotten it from Aria, who had gotten it from Tozaru who had gotten it from Genkishi and so the list went on. It didn't matter who had had it before, the fact was that she had it now. And she hated it. Verde, Bless him, had done the best that he could. But as was with most colds, flus and other such diseases, he said it was best to take this medicine and let the cold take its course.

But she wasn't allowed to be ill! Being ill meant staying in bed and doing nothing all day. Being ill meant sleeping it off. It meant that she couldn't help any of the others, she couldn't look after them, she couldn't do ANYTHING! And it was going to drive her insane. This was worse than the punishments the Arcobaleno gave her when she did something wrong (due to the Bag being useless on her, nor did anyone want to touch the thing). Who would make sure that Viper ate something? Who would make sure that Verde was alive after not appearing for more than 20 hours? Who would place bandages on Skull's injuries? Who would tell Reborn off?! Who would… Who would look after Tsunayoshi! She'd wake up one day and the little boy would be a wreck.

That's it, she had to get out of this bed no matter what. Even if she only laid on the sofa and listened to everything around her, it would be miles better than simply lying in bed and not knowing what was happening. Luce needed to know what was happening. So in her little flower print pyjamas and a blanket in her arms, she set off down stairs to lie on the sofa. She collapsed onto it the moment she arrived. When had walking down the stairs given her such a headache? Stupid cold.

So she lays there, listening to the sounds the others were making. Silence. Oh, that's right, the rest were out today, taking Tsunayoshi somewhere or other, or on their own personal assignments. Now she was lonely. Lonely and Ill. She slowly drags herself over to the television and inserts a DVD. Yeah, Sailor Moon would do. It was easy to watch, funny yet romantic and heart wrenching at times. It had a bit of everything. And it was long enough to last the duration of her cold. What better show was there to watch when ill?

But it was still lonely.

"Oh, who's that Hunk Muffin?" says the girl on the TV, heart-eyes locked on a tall handsome man in a suit and a top hat…

"Hn, I'm back."

The moment a tall, handsome man wearing a suit and a hat walked in the door, Luce pounced on him. Finally some company!

"Reborn~ come and watch this with me. You need a break!" Luce said as best as her croaky voice would allow. She had her hands locked around Reborn's arm, her head on his shoulder and her body leaning against him. Ahh, finally someone to sit with. Luce never liked being alone.

Reborn looked horrified. There were girls in sailor outfits, magical powers and some of the weirdest love confessions he had ever seen. Did it matter she was a princess? With that whiney bratty attitude, definitely not. And who fought for Love and Justice? That girl needed a reality check. Even if her powers were real, she'd be eaten alive by the Mafia, and Reborn would laugh as he watched. Even the VCubed were more realistic than that.

He needed to get away and drink a coffee. He couldn't sit here and watch this any longer… If Luce hadn't decided to change positions and lay down with her head on his lap. It gave her less of a headache that way and the throbbing of her nose stopped. And no matter how much he tried, he couldn't push her off. Not that he really wanted to. Luce looked so small compared to the volume of the blankets around her; She looked rather vulnerable with her puffy eyes and red nose. He… he couldn't do it. Not to her.

But then he looked back at the TV and remembered just who he was watching this show with. Luce, the woman who was very close to a fangirl, the malleable Luce who was influenced by any idea. Luce, who took the craziest ideas and demanded that they be made into a reality.

Princess Luce of the Black Lilly Family.

And here he was in a black suit and a hat, with his lady-killer good looks, his suave style, and irresistible charm.

"When you're uncertain or worried, I'll be there for you. I may have no power, but you called me here to you. If you need me... ...I'll give you... the strength of my soul."

Luce didn't have a mask in her Bag, did she? Or any roses?

"You know Luce, I am never EVER going to say something as stupid as that. Get that thought out of your head right this instant." Reborn growls, pulling the fedora down as low as it would do. He'd rather die than say that, or any of the other stupid stuff that this guy was spouting. How could Luce even watch this? Luce looks up at him, eyes sparkling due to the cold… at least he hopes so. That pout isn't helping either. "I said NO!"

He couldn't even just sit here and doze off since Luce kept on asking him his opinion on something and got mad whenever he didn't give a proper contextual answer. And an ill angry Luce was worse than a normally angry Luce.

"We have to help her with all of the strength that we have left!"

"Mercury Power"

"Venus Power"

"Mars Power"

"Jupiter Power"

"Saturn Power"

"Uranus Power"

"Pluto Power"

"Sailor Moon, we trust in you. We know you can do it."

"If you made the Arcobaleno with some weird hope of re-enacting that scene then you are going to have a very long wait." Reborn growls once more. Luce makes a sad noise in the back of her throat but doesn't argue with him. Nor did she point out the similarities between that scene and the ones with Iemitsu and Bermuda. Nope, they weren't similar at all…

Reborn wanted out. He wasn't going to sit here a moment longer. He tried pushing her off, he tried asking her to move. He even tried to stand up. But Luce, damn ninja, had sewn his suit to the fabric of the sofa! How was he supposed to get out unless he undressed! Hmm, it wasn't going to be easy, but walking around in his boxers for a few moments was far better than losing his pride and being found watching this foolish show by the others. And anyway, just how many episodes were there?

They'd been sat here for nearly a week now. He was the only one without assignments to do, everyone else was busy. He'd tried to run away but Luce had somehow managed to find him before he could. And then she'd taken Leon hostage! He couldn't leave the chameleon to suffer alone, no matter how much he wanted to. But this show was going to drive him insane. It was depleting his huge stores of manliness. It was-

"Reborn." Luce muttered, drawing the blankets up to her shoulders. "Thank you for being here with me."

Well send him to hell in a hand basket. What was he supposed to say to that?

Nothing. Instead he'd just stroke Luce's hair until she fell asleep again. There was nothing else he could do.

Mysterious Moments in Magic.

All the customers who had seen ESPer Mammon yesterday had been very nice actually. Very Nice…

"That woman annoys me. Never showing her face and the room covered in drapes. I bet she's a fake."

"Hmm, that could be true. She's never done any Television appearances."

"Or magazine articles."

"I bet she gets all her money for people wanting to see her face."

"Haahaa, yeah, I bet it's damn ugly too."

The women head towards the door leading to ESPer Mammon. They all had psychic stalls of their own, but people were going to her instead due to her famousness.

Just as they were about to grab the door handle and barge in, a figure came out of the shadows. He was wearing a red-purple cloak and a tall pointy Wizard hat on his head with stars imprinted on it. He had a long fluffy grey beard too, in contrast to the black curly sideburns he had. His shoes were long with the toes curling up in a similar fashion to his sideburns.

"Kyaaa! Look it's Forebornian! His Fortune telling skills are the best."

"Oh please Mr. Forebornian! Tell us our fortunes!"

Forebornian looked the girls over, stroking his beard that seemed to get longer and longer with each stroke. Suddenly he claps his hands and a green crystal ball is floating between his palms. It suddenly starts to glow in multiple colours before the fortune teller reports in a grave voice.

"Enter that room and darkness shall befall upon you all. You should leave this place in 5 seconds and never come near her, or else your pride won't be the only thing to die. Mention her name and a curse shall be bestowed upon you. She had spirits far greater than your power can defeat protecting her."

The girls look on, their eyes wide in fear, their knees shaking as they held each other.

"Three." Forebornian says in a warning tone.

The girls blink.

"Two."

The girls turn to look at each other, noticing the look of terror the other one has.

"One."

Running as fast as they could, the pair push and trip over the other customers as the fair.

Forebornian strokes his beard in satisfaction before stepping backwards into the shadows.

He wanted Tsunayoshi's experience to be a good one today.

A Mysterious Moment in Stalking

"You know it always amazes me how much like Reborn you are, despite how much you claim not to be. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery some say."

Colonnello had a day off today. One of the finest luxuries one could ever receive. Especially when it was a day off from the hellish training of the COMSUBIN. Lal was the devil in disguise he swore. But the annoying thing was, he couldn't spend it with the person he wanted to. Lal was busy still training everyone else and Tsunayoshi… Tsunayoshi was going out with Fon today.

So Colonnello ate his breakfast with the small boy, watched him come down in his version of Fon's robes and leave the house together with the martial artist with a bounce a pogo stick would be envious of. Not long after Colonnello gets bored, so he goes out to his (not so) secret training spot and starts his warm ups. After that he faces a tree and starts practicing some of his hand to hand combat moves.

It wasn't like Tsunayoshi was going to get attacked by the other martial artists there.

After finishing up his usual set of moves, Colonnello moves onto the next bit of training. Picking some leaves up he calls out to his Partner, Falco. The bird grabs the dried leaves from his palm before rising back into the empty area of the clearing. Colonnello assembles his riffle with practiced ease, before climbing a tree and finding a sturdy branch. That was easy since the trees in this area had been imported old trees with lots of strong, wide branches the he could either lay or stand on. Laying down on a suitable branch and taking aim through the sight, he calls out to the Hawk to start the training exercise.

One by one, Falco drops the dried up leaves. They spiral down on an ever twisting and spiralling path, pushed around by the wind's whims. Since they were always moving it was hard to train the riffle on them, but Colonnello still did it. His targets wouldn't always be asleep or sitting down.

It wasn't as if Tsunayoshi was going to be attacked by a group of bandits on the rural pathway and Fon would be too busy dealing with half of them to protect Tsunayoshi.

Colonnello keeps on repeating the process until no more leaves fall from the sky. With that done he drops to the ground and disassembles his riffle, taking care to clean the parts as he does so. Having a dirty weapon meant an increase in it becoming faulty. Not only could it backfire and hurt him, it could stop him from being able to protect someone else when they needed it most.

Next Colonnello takes out two knives and stands in the middle of the clearing, settling down in a crouch. He went through the drilled-in patterns of movements, seeing an opponent in front of him in his mind's eye.

It wasn't as if Tsunayoshi was going to get tangled up in a patch of poisonous vines due to his clumsiness.

AHH! He couldn't take it anymore. Running back into the house, he goes to the notice board and finds the address for where Fon was taking Tsunayoshi today. Before Luce and the others can ask where he's going in such a hurry, Colonnello leaves the house and runs down to the docks. He jumps into the power boat that belonged to the COMSUBIN and takes off at full speed, flooding the docks with the spray. Grr, why did the COMSUBIN have to be Frogmen? Why couldn't they be Birdmen? Then they'd have a helicopter at their disposal and he could get there quicker.

As it is, reckless driving on both water and land gets Colonnello there to hear something rather endearing.

"Can we do it Colonnello's way?"

Colonnello had to check that his sound equipment was working. Maybe he should get a little closer. Maybe a little bit more. Hmm, a little more wouldn't hurt.

When the music starts up, Colonnello looks through his binoculars and is proud to see Tsunayoshi defending and promoting the way they do their warm ups. He is annoyed, however, and a little disappointed, when Tsunayoshi doesn't start to do their normal warm up, but the one he'd seen him do with Fon. But at least Tsunayoshi was smiling. That was the important thing.

Colonnello was rather impressed with Tsunayoshi's skill and dedication. Never once did he complain that this was easy. And Colonnello knew it to be so since he'd seen Tsunayoshi do far more complex moves. Nor did he whine at the slow pace. Instead he focused intently on the numbers Fon was droning out, and on getting the moves to be as perfect as possible. Colonnello watched as Tsunayoshi perfected his balance until he didn't even wobble once. Tsunayoshi also worked on his fingers and toes, pointing them out and extending his arms and legs in a similar way to a dancer's.

It looked pretty in Colonnello's opinions. Graceful too. It was nothing like the harsh street-style fighting he and Lal did. And Colonnello knew that this graceful style packed a good hard punch too. His spars against Fon every now and again were tough. And Fon still looked good whilst doing it.

~Nice tension, pay attention~

Oh snap, Colonnello thought as he snapped out of his watching. He needed to get out of here before Fon recognised the car parked nearby or the boat at the small docks.

~go-go ready go-go!~

Go, go, indeed, Colonnello mentally shouted, scrambling down the tree and making his way through the bushes towards where the car was parked. Getting inside he quickly starts the engine and drives off before anyone could notice him. Phew, that was a close one.

He makes it back home with enough time to run back into the forest and cover himself in mud before Fon and Tsunayoshi get back.

"You know it always amazes me how much like Reborn you are, despite how much you claim not to be. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery some say." Fon says with a knowing smile as Colonnello re-enters the house.

Colonnello bristled. Comparing him to Reborn! That was an insult in the highest form. But it was still annoying the Fon had noticed him. He'd made no outwards sign to show he knew that Colonnello was watching them. He hadn't even looked in the soldier's direction once.

And Tsunayoshi had looked like he was having a lot of fun today.

"He looks up to you a lot, you know. Whenever he gets the closest he ever gets to being stressed, he goes out onto the garden and practices those movements of yours. I think you're a source of calm and stability to him, especially with how whacko us lot are." Colonnello looks down at Tsunayoshi with a twisting feeling in his heart.

No he couldn't be… jealous… could he?

What Colonnello doesn't realise is that Tsunayoshi does indeed find them both calming. Fon was a calm person that let very little shake him, his calmness was contagious and just what someone needed to let go of their stress or anger. But the reason that Tsunayoshi didn't go out into the garden to stare up at trees was because the view of the sky wasn't as good as from their own secret hideout. So all that left him with was the repetitious movements Fon had taught him.

But Collonello forgets all instances of jealousness as Tsunayoshi rolls over and grabs his arm in his sleep. Nothing could be better.

I hope you all enjoyed it!

I'll admit that I made most of the Sailor Moon quotes up, only one of them is real. And I spent ages trying to decide on a good name for Psychic Reborn. Forebornian is pronounced as For-Reborn-ian, as in fortune. I couldn't think of anything nearly as good as what Amano-sensei makes up.

And talking of, didn't Sensei do a good job with the Psycho-Pass character designs? As soon as I saw the poster for it I knew it was Sensei's work.

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 21 October 2012