Taming the Skylark (A Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction)
Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano Akira-sensei does; though, of course, the OC is mine.
"I have bad news."
Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Gokudera stared at Reborn for the longest time in disbelief that something bad had happened again.
It was Saturday and they were finally allowed to go to Italy after being denied permission by Hibari because, "Skipping classes is against school rules." Having just alighted from the private jet that the previous Arcobaleno sent for them, the three were expecting to meet the skylark and the president as originally planned, but were instead greeted by an unusually displeased infant.
"Hibari did not save Senritsu," revealed Reborn with a downward tip of his fedora.
Tsuna dropped on his knees and tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "Senpai, this is all my fault! I am so sorr—!"
"—because he decided to fight her during the competition."
Reborn added and the choked sobbing of his student instantly stopped. Tsuna blinked repeatedly. "Huh?"
"I knew it!" Gokudera stomped his feet and exclaimed, "I knew this would happen! Nothing good comes from relying on that fighting maniac!"
"Well, at least senpai is alive," Yamamoto gave them a small smile. He looked at Reborn. "Is she doing well?"
"Yes, for now," he said, before turning away to the exit. "Let's go. The last trial should already be underway."
Final Trial: Death Match
Test of Offensive and Defensive Prowess
Upon arriving at the castle, the four sneaked through various corridors until they reached a large hall. They entered through a door in the inner balcony of the second floor and hid amongst the audience.
"Did that man just beat Lord Xanxus' representative?" asked an onlooker.
Tsuna followed his line of sight and almost immediately gasped. In the middle of the stage lay an unconscious man, and beside him was a person wearing a familiar feathered mask.
"Reborn," he tugged at his mentor. "Is that Hibari-san?!"
"Holy shit, Tenth! He really agreed to wear that thing!" Gokudera cackled.
The hatted infant bumped their heads with the grip of his gun. "Be quiet. They might notice us."
Reborn then sneaked around the crowd to gather information and learned that only eight participants were left after the Joint Survival Hike. He easily guessed that as the majority of the participants were hitmen and assassins, many failed because of their inherent nature to work alone.
In effect, the last trial was reduced to a single-elimination tournament. As such, Nanami had already defeated Levi A Than's and Lussuria's representatives while Hibari crushed a random participant and Xanxus' representative, for their first and second battles, respectively.
"They both reached the finals, I see," muttered Reborn.
Meanwhile, on the spectators' seats, a certain blonde prince laughed victoriously. As the only Varia member with a remaining representative, his chest swelled with pride.
"Hey, do you smell something? Like fresh blue waters?" asked Belphegor, pretending to sniff around.
Squalo shot him an annoyed look. "What the hell are you on about?!"
"Of course you don't," he ignored him and spread his arms, "because I am the only one who will be getting a vacation!"
Lussuria had to stop Squalo from skewering their Storm Guardian. He frowned at Belphegor. "Stop it, Bel! Can't you see that the boss is already in a bad mood?"
The blonde prince leaned forward to peek at their leader and the sight of his murderous aura instantly shut him up.
"Just who is that person... or bird?" muttered Levi as he watched the unknown individual with profound intensity. "How did he beat the boss' representative?"
As the referee of the final trial, Mammon signaled the finalists to enter the arena. Hibari, still in his mask, stepped forward. Nanami followed suit.
The two, especially the brunette, were noticeably haggard since they were not given rest and had to fight continuously. Her left leg was injured, while Hibari received light burns on the arms from his last opponent.
Before Mammon could start the last battle, Xanxus abruptly spoke.
"The chicken over there," his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Remove your mask."
Levi A Than whispered, "Boss, that's a canary."
Nanami heard Hibari scoff. "I have no plans on keeping this foolish facade for long, anyway."
With one swift movement of his hand, he removed the mask from his head. Loud gasps resounded across the hall at the revelation of his identity: the Cloud Guardian of the successor of Vongola.
Xanxus' blood instantly boiled at the sight of the strongest guardian of his archenemy. Meanwhile, somewhere amongst the crowd, the said archenemy almost fainted.
"This is supposed to be an undercover mission, Hibari-san," whined Tsuna.
"VOI! What the hell did you come here for?!" bellowed Squalo, waving his sword at him.
While the other Varia members panicked, Belphegor remained silent. Of course, he was aware of Nanami's affiliation with Sawada Tsunayoshi and his guardians. It was easy to guess that they crashed the competition to save her.
"Seems to me that he's trying to annihilate all of the candidates," he lied smoothly. "Shouldn't we stop this match immediately and declare my representative as the winner?"
Hibari heard him and released multiple Needle Spheres to block them from entering the field. He glanced at them with disinterest. "I would appreciate it if you don't interfere in our fight."
Belphegor clicked his tongue. Squalo was about to charge at the skylark, but was stopped by Xanxus.
"I won't accept anyone who loses to scum," he said, eyeing the two participants. "Continue the battle."
It seemed that for Nanami to be accepted to Varia, she would have to beat the famous Cloud Guardian of Vongola X—which she obviously had no intention of doing.
"I knew you would come this far," commented Hibari as he strutted towards her.
"Of course. I had to." She then moved a hand to block the others from reading her lips. "Hey, are we going to escape now? This is the perfect chance to do it."
"We can do that," he muttered, "after I bite you to death."
A sudden gust of wind blew past her right shoulder. With wide eyes, Nanami stared at the chain that hung in the air. She slowly traced it to its source and frowned. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I told you, didn't I?" He gave her a sadistic smile. "That I want to fight you at your strongest."
"This is not the time—!"
"Cambio forma."
Her protest was cut short as a blinding light enveloped Hibari. Soon, he emerged with his gakuran back in sight, but it was noticeably longer and the inner material was adorned in an intricate design. However, more important than his appearance change was the sudden increase in the amount of cloud flames.
Nanami shivered at the simple feeling of it. She knew how strong she had become, but was also aware of her current limitations. It did not take her much to realize that she would lose against him.
Well, he wasn't hailed as the strongest guardian for nothing.
Nanami immediately took a Hyper Dying Will pill. She decided to defend herself, at the very least, to avoid returning to Japan in a half-dead state.
He sneered. "You still rely on those?"
"It's none of your business!"
Without wasting another second, Hibari lunged at her with his tonfas. Nanami blocked them with a pair of kunai, and the intensity of their clash made sparks fly between the metallic weapons.
She jumped back to regain momentum and he quickly released his chains to catch her. She evaded with ease, but her eyes almost immediately widened upon realizing that it was simply a diversion for him to sneak up on her.
Hibari mercilessly kicked her stomach. The impact made the brunette fly, but she took it as a chance to gain distance from him. She landed on a railing on the balcony.
Clenching her now aching stomach, Nanami struggled to think of a plan. Since Hibari was mostly a close-range fighter, she decided that maintaining distance was the best way to gain advantage over him.
She pulled out a single kunai from her pocket and aimed at him. Purple flames sparked from the hair clip that she wore, and the blade she had thrown instantly multiplied in number.
The skylark hummed in amusement as he dodged her blades while deflecting the others. However, just as he was about to counter, a sudden slash on the cheek put him to a halt.
"This is..." His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of barely visible threads that hung around him. It reminded him of the man whom he fought in Namimori Middle.
Belphegor snickered upon seeing Nanami use his signature move. "That's my girl."
As he had seen the technique before, Hibari was aware of its weaknesses. He was about to spin his tonfas to destroy them when Nanami suddenly clenched her fist.
In an instant, the surrounding threads enclosed his extremities and rendered them immobile. He tried to free himself from the bind, but noticed that the materials had already expanded in size that they almost resembled wires.
"Wow, you improved," he commented, impressed with her clever application of the cloud flames.
"Thanks for the compliment, but I'd rather we stop this right now."
"No," he mumbled with a thoughtful look. "This is not enough to stop me."
A little animal suddenly appeared from his collar and grew numerous spikes that snapped the threads.
Nanami stared at the creature with wide eyes. "Is that... a hedgehog?"
"This is my companion, Roll," he explained as it jumped to his now free hand.
The brunette watched the small animal with a frown. She hated hedgehogs. Seeing them reminded her of an unpleasant event in the past.
Noticing her distracted expression, Hibari immediately unleashed his chains to catch her. The rattling sound of metals took her back to reality and Nanami retreated, but the chains were quick to elongate and eventually caught her legs and arms.
"The tables have turned." Hibari watched her with a measuring gaze and frowned upon receiving no resistance.
As someone who was constantly on her trail for months, he knew that she could have stopped his chains if she used her kunais to pin them down. He gave her a death glare. "You're not taking me seriously."
"I am, but I refuse to fight you to death," she released an exasperated sigh. "Can we just go home? I'm tired already."
Hibari leaned towards her with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
"Acting like a herbivore," he grasped a handful of her brown hair, "doesn't suit you at all."
He then harshly removed the clip that was on the right side of her head and crushed it with his hand. Immediately after, a large wave of purple flames engulfed the brunette.
Nanami panicked. "H-Hey!"
A sudden clatter surprised the other Varia members as Belphegor rushed out of his seat. The grin on his face had turned into a frown.
"Is he dumb?" he grunted. "To destroy the limiter of all things!"
Hibari loosened the chains that bound Nanami.
"Fight me or be bitten to death," he declared before throwing needle spheres into the air.
At the sight of needles quickly expanding in length to bear holes in her body, it did not take her long to realize that his catchphrase was no longer an empty threat.
The expression in her eyes changed. Nanami jumped away as the needles crashed on the floor, before pulling out a set of metal spikes from the straps on her thighs. She momentarily glanced at them, and it honestly annoyed her how much his new weapon resembled hers.
The purple flame that enveloped her entire body burned brighter as she unleashed her weapons at Hibari.
"That won't work."
However, much to his surprise, the little spikes proliferated to the point that every metal looked like a raindrop.
Shivers instantly went down his spine. Releasing his Needle Clouds, Hibari was able to block most of the spikes, but a few still managed to pass through. His right thigh was hit and so was his left arm that immediately went limp.
Nanami saw him grimace in pain and blood instantly drained from her face.
It was not her intention to impale him. She simply wanted to pin him down like she usually did, but it seemed that her control over the flames disappeared along with the hair clip.
"H...Hibari, are you okay?" she asked, obviously shaken.
The skylark glared at her. "Don't underestimate me, Senritsu Nanami. The one who will be bitten to death is you."
He was about to activate the Reverse Needle Sphere when an unexpected person jumped into the arena.
"Stop, Hibari-san!" Tsuna stood protectively before Nanami, already in Hyper Dying Will Mode. Gokudera and Reborn followed him.
The Varia stared at them in shock.
"VOI! What in the world are you all doing here?! I don't remember inviting any of—!" Squalo quickly stopped hollering upon feeling an ominous aura on his back.
If looks could kill, Tsuna would have already dropped dead under the unrelenting glare of Xanxus. "Who gave you the right to be here, scum?"
He gulped and tried his best not to stutter, "We only came here to save our friend, Xanxus."
"That's right," said Yamamoto. "Your blonde companion kidnapped our schoolmate so we're here to take her back."
Everyone turned to look at Bel. He clicked his tongue and grinned. "Kaching. The cat's out of the bag, huh?"
"And?" Xanxus spoke with disinterest, his attention was focused solely on Sawada Tsunayoshi and his gang. He pulled out his guns. "Do not think for a second that you'll be able to leave here alive."
Gokudera snapped at his disrespectful attitude. "Hey, how dare you speak that way towards the Tenth! He is the next boss of Vongola!"
Needless to say, that was a wrong move.
Xanxus charged at them and the other Varia members also joined the fray. Hibari was very pleased with the sudden turn of events and attacked everyone while Nanami desperately tried to regain order.
"Wait! Everyone, calm down! Ah!" Her back bumped against someone and she found Belphegor behind her. She immediately grabbed his collar. "Tell your friends to stop!"
"No way. This is more fun!" The prince chuckled, much to her annoyance. She was about to punch him when his expression suddenly turned serious. "Oh, by the way, here—"
He was reaching for something in his pocket when chains suddenly encircled his torso. Belphegor was pulled away by Hibari.
"I'm thankful that you gave us the chance to fight." Despite his words, Hibari did not look grateful in the least. "But anyone who disturbs the peace of Namimori must be bitten to death."
Nanami decided to leave the two bloodthirsty maniacs by themselves and continued to search for the others. Upon seeing Sawada Tsunayoshi engage in an intense battle with the leader of Varia, her head suddenly started throbbing and she dropped on the ground in pain.
Xanxus managed to shorten the distance between them and he raised the gun against Tsuna's head without hesitation.
"Sawada!" Nanami reached out to him, but she was too far away to do anything.
A voice resounded in her head.
"I don't want to see you die."
Her stretched out hand dropped a single spike that she had been holding on to before her vision blacked out.
Author's Note:
Sorry for the cliffhanger! (¬‿¬ )
I really like writing fight scenes so I'm sorry if this drew out. Next chapter will be the last for the Varia Arc!
