Amber colored eyes watched like a hawk, cataloging everything they could. Ever since the priest found out about her sacred gear, the higher ups had been in an absolute tizzy. They were even talking about making her out to be some sort of holy woman or some such nonsense.
While she might have converted to Catholicism, she hadn't actually taken her vows to become a full nun. That meant being celibate the rest of her life and honestly, she wanted kids.
The problem was that she was all too aware of human nature. She had lived over two decades dealing with the worst of it and having to corral idiots who thought that it was perfectly acceptable destroying entire wings of an expensive mansion during a random spat that she then had to fill out an unholy amount of paperwork for and then budget the repair bill after...from their checks of course.
She took a slight calming breath, just from the memory of that headache. She was only twelve and was apparently going to be used as a propaganda tool for the Church to add more faith to the believers.
She would have to play her next move carefully and put off those final vows as long as possible. And gather as much blackmail as she could towards the higher ups that would give her leverage over them.
That man didn't train idiots after all.
Four years later...
Stealing the light gun the exorcists used was a pain, but the peace of mind it gave her was worth it. Ever since the higher ups declared her a holy woman because of her sacred gear, she had been watched like a hawk. Her every move was monitored, discreetly but it was obvious to those who knew what to look for. The only 'freedom' she had was when she slept. She had learned to operate on six hours of sleep and had to work out...quietly mind you...within the limited confines of the rooms they gave her. As a future nun, she was given sparse living arrangements with little forms of entertainment save the mandatory bible in the room.
Holy women were supposed to be above small pleasures such as radio and actual reading material.
Which left physical exercise. Running was out, but there were other ways to get her body in shape. She put herself through a training regimen the two ex-soldiers would have approved of wholeheartedly. Throw in some half-remembered martial arts moves so that her muscle memory wouldn't fail her when she made her move to leave, and she was as prepared as one could get while hiding what they were doing. It was one of the benefits of the ridiculous outfits she was made to wear...it hid her physical condition rather well and most of the female clergy she occasionally bathed with rarely bothered to look at her actual body since it might 'tempt them to sin'.
It was getting harder to put off the actual vows that would make her a full nun. She might have converted to the faith, but she wasn't interested in that sort of commitment. So far the old men who had been putting her on a ridiculous pedestal had 'allowed' her to wait until she was at least eighteen. However she was sixteen now and that deadline was drawing up fast.
After a particularly exhausting day of healing others (all properly faithful members of the Church...it wouldn't do for her to heal heretics after all) she took a small walk.
It was then that she knew that fate had intervened. One way or another, she was leaving the Church.
She healed a man without thinking twice, because she was a "good girl" who helped others out of the goodness of her heart.
Even she was caught off guard by the sheer scandal that erupted from that one simple act. The 'trial' was a flurry of accusations, outright lies and a lot of ass covering. Apparently the random man she saved was a devil, and she wasn't supposed to be able to do that.
With very little fanfare, the "ex-nun" Asia Argento was thrown out of the Church with loud declarations that she had "fallen out of God's favor" for saving a heretic.
Good riddance, in her opinion.
Finding a way to Japan turned out to be surprisingly easy in retrospect. She had been fully prepared to act as a stowaway on a ship when a low-level priest recognized her. While she wasn't wearing her old frock anymore (she hated wearing it) she was dressed in a modest dress that was hiding a sports bra and bike shorts should she end up in a fight.
It was still perfect acceptable for a former nun to wear and wouldn't draw attention.
Asia, not being a fool, decided to play the pity card to get a free ride on the ship heading to Japan. She didn't care what prefecture it would land in, just that it would be on Japanese soil. She missed home.
The priest looked suitably horrified as she explained why she was no longer considered a 'holy woman' and had been ex-communicated.
"A satanist managed to avoid detection and I stumbled across him on my morning walk. I couldn't leave someone dying alone, so I healed him. But when the followers went to investigate who the man was they found satanic cult symbols in his home. It got back rather quickly to the sisters I was living with and I was thrown out," said Asia suitably saddened. "They said that because I healed someone who worshiped Lucifer rather than god, that I couldn't possibly be holy."
"How dreadful! So because of the lax security measures they threw you out?" he replied. She nodded.
"I vaguely remember having family back in Japan, a few cousins. I was hoping to visit and try to set up a new church there as God's word is not as widely accepted there in hopes of regaining God's favor," said Asia with a straight face.
Which was all partially true, but she wasn't really interested in starting a church there.
The priest was all too happy to assist her, as it was obvious that a former holy woman wouldn't exactly have the funds needed to get a proper ticket.
She got a free ride home by treating injured passengers and assisting the priest in his duties.
When she reached Japan, it was like a breath of fresh air. Not only did she earn a bit of much needed funds from the cruise ship, but she also gained a few extra clothes that she discreetly altered from the lost and found. While she did still have her frock, it was ridiculous to expect a teenage girl to wander around with only two pairs of clothes. Charity in the form of forgotten clothing was perfectly acceptable.
Well, so long as it fit within the 'modest' requirements of the Church anyway. She avoided most of the bathing suits and 'personal items'.
It was a relief leaving the cruise ship. Having to keep up her good girl persona was exhausting, but at least she didn't have to hide her exercising. Several of the older folks were practicing Tai Chi on the deck every morning, and under the guise of healing any strained muscles, she was permitted to join in.
The cruise ship had stopped in a town called Kuoh for whatever reason, and not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, she opted to set up base there.
If she had known the headaches she was going to be dealing with, she would have kept on going to the next town.
As she was heading towards the local shops, fate intervened.
"Ow!"
Her limited luggage was dropped as she ended up crashing into some random Japanese teen. She could tell in seconds he was an irredeemable pervert like Shamal...and likely far less successful, considering the Japanese mindset.
"I'm so sorry about that," said the teen.
Well, as long as he didn't try to touch her she wouldn't kick his ass. Since she was still trying to lay low, she kept up the 'sweet, innocent routine' for as long as she could stand. Fortunately the pervert (his name was Issei) departed the second she expressed an interest in the Church.
Her intuition warned her about going near the place. So she used her limited funds to buy a cheap motel room instead. She only needed to stay here a few days to recover her bearings and make a plan for what to do next. Worst case scenario, she headed to Namimori and went from there.
For the next few days, Asia gathered information about the town and concluded her best bet was to move on as soon as possible. While she was peripherally aware of the Moonlit World through Reborn's lessons, she didn't have any previous contact with them. Most of them avoided the Vongola, particularly since Daemon Spade hadn't fully moved on.
Come to think of it, she should really deal with that pest sooner rather than later. There was no telling what headaches he'd give her otherwise.
Asia laid back on the cheap sheets. At least they were relatively clean.
Feeling a slight cooling sensation on her wrist, she realized she still had that bracelet on her. With a flick of her wrist, she snapped the 'chain' on it allowing it to fall freely.
The moment she did, she felt the familiar and welcome warmth of her sky flames flood in. She had 'sealed' her flames the day she was taken in by the Church because she didn't want to risk the Cosa Nostra finding her by accident and causing trouble.
Then again with how predominantly Catholic the mafia tended to be, as well as the fact the buildings they put her in were definitely well off enough to cause a fuss if some idiot famiglia tried anything, she likely didn't need to worry that much.
Something still warned her to keep her Sky flames hidden and for whatever reason a thin bracelet made using the Zero Point Breakthrough technique was enough to hide the worst of it. The rest was all control, control, control.
She would need a day or two for her body to learn how to handle her flames more or less unfiltered, but once that was done she could leave safely. She also still had the light gun she pilfered from the Church before the incident. It was safely hidden under her clothes since guns were highly illegal in Japan.
She also still had access to the things in her Mist pocket, but using the majority of them would put her on the radar of people she would very much like to avoid if possible. Case in point, the complete moron she was related to, despite wishing very much she wasn't.
A smart phone dropped into the palm of her hand. It connected easily to the satellites above thanks to the work Irie had done to it, and was completely untraceable when she activated the button.
A few swipes opened up the photo app, and in it were pictures of her famiglia.
While she did occasionally miss the craziness of her past life, she wanted to see what she could do when she wasn't forced to shoulder the burden of being Vongola Decima.
First things first... she needed to get supplies and an idea of where to go next.
Two days later...
Asia wanted to cringe. Of course her luck wouldn't allow her to peacefully leave the area. She would have to run into an ex-Exorcist like him while getting some cheap food. And naturally he would recognize her by sight alone. Even changing into normal clothes didn't help.
Freed was a nightmare and even she had heard of the rampages he had gone on before he pissed off the higher ups. He was little more than a sociopath who got off on murder.
Not that she was unfamiliar with such people, but at least the Varia had some semblance of restraint. Even Belphegor, the most bloodthirsty and unhinged of the Varia officers, had more class and restraint compared to this fake priest.
Ditching Freed was difficult, but not impossible. The problem was that he had friends...friends who were all too happy to do the heavy lifting for him, especially with such a valuable target nearby with no apparent guards.
While the feeling of being tied up wasn't a new one, being kidnapped by Fallen in front of actual Devils was. She was only peripherally aware of the Moonlit World, so she honestly didn't know the factions or background beyond the bare minimum required.
From what she could tell, these were all low to barely mid-rank Fallen. They had been entirely too giddy about claiming her first and were already preparing some ritual that her intuition was screaming was a bad thing.
She could hear the sounds of fighting from above, and suspected Issei had called for help, or the people who controlled the area had finally taken notice of the Fallen in their turf.
Her head hurt...why did the words "fallen" and Kuoh keep sending warning bells to her mind?
"Asia!"
She opened up her eyes long enough to register the Fallen twit with the S and M gear about to steal her sacred gear.
Two things went through her mind. One was her intuition warning her that if the fallen completed whatever ritual she was attempting, she would be dead. End of discussion.
The other was that if she had to be rescued by a weak pervert like Issei, there was no way in hell Reborn would ever let her live it down.
Which really left one option, considering it was unlikely he had the firepower or back-up required to get past that many people in time.
She almost couldn't decide what was worse...the knowledge Reborn would make her life hell for letting her guard down long enough to be kidnapped by Freed's allies, or the fact she was looking all too much like a Jeanne d'Arc ripoff with how high her flames were blazing behind her.
The look on everyone's face was worth it though...especially the ex-priests who had thrown themselves down in awe and misplaced piety as the shadow of wings formed behind her.
"What the hell is this?" demanded Raynare, trying not to flinch from the sheer heat this girl was giving off.
Asia dropped to the ground, untouched by the flames. She was wearing a dress entirely too thin for her liking, and she was pissed.
"I am so glad I mastered this trick... it makes dealing with witnesses easier."
Asia threw her hand out and a wave of magic flowed past her fingers and a barrier established itself. It was a fairly benign one and wouldn't actually keep people out.
However that wasn't the true intent behind the barrier. The only reason she set it up was to hide what she was about to do next.
No, the only purpose of the barrier was to place a seal on certain memories and information until the caster removed it without her wasting time tracking down witnesses. The beautiful thing about it was that it used information the brain already had present and replaced the actual events with one fabricated by the owner's own memory and imagination. Once a story was established with the survivors and notes were compared, the most 'plausible' scenario would be used as the 'true' one until the seal was removed. It was a small, rather benign trick, but it made doing certain operations ridiculously easier because they didn't have to hide as much.
Coincidentally it was also one of the first spells the Varia mandated as part of their required courses before any mooks earned a proper Name from every division. Unless they could perform this trick, they weren't considered real quality.
Naturally, Reborn expected her to master it as well and to his surprised delight, she had a natural knack for magic and a deep well of power to use the higher-level spells.
The Fallen and the devils all stared at her. Asia cracked her knuckles in anticipation.
"Forgive me if I'm out of practice. Honestly, I should be thanking you for an excuse to let loose," she said with a smile that didn't suit her "good girl" persona in the least.
She was going to enjoy this.