Tomoe was loving being back in Japan. When she returned from her pink eye flight, she was greeted by Kyoya who without hesitation rushed to give her a hug!
Yes, a hug... of death!
His hug of death was not very welcoming as he tried to hit her with his tonfas and bite her to death for leaving without telling him.
She missed three good weeks of school, but she couldn't help it! Italy was very pretty and she wanted to spend a little bit more time there before she left after talking to the Vindice.
She sighed, rubbing the bruise on her arm, wincing at the stinging pain. Man, Kyoya did not hold back at all. 'I really hate having school on Sundays... Well, I only have to go in today for this week so, I'll take my time getting there...'
Suddenly, a blond haired blue eyed boy wearing a suit almost ran into her. "Woah!"
"Ah! I'm sorry! Is thou alright?"
'Thou?' "Yes, I am." Tomoe took a good look at him. 'It's a pretty boy- Oh SHIT!' She eyed the dying will of flames on his head and quickly averted her eyes, trying to ignore it. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I thank thee for worrying. I must go now," he said and ran off quickly.
Watching him run off, Tomoe let out a sigh. "Man, I guess everyone has a gimmick these days." Taking out her flip phone, she looked at the time. "Great, I'm going to be running late."
Did that stop her from walking and make her run? No. She continued at her leisure pace.
Turning the corner, she had accidentally bumped into someone. The force was strong enough to make her fall back off of her feet. With wide eyes, she reached forward to grab the person's hand which they extended out towards Tomoe. She felt a hand snake around her waist, holding her up as the other held her arm. The falling stopped, as the person secured her, holding her in place from hitting the ground.
"That was close..." She heard the man mutter in Italian and Tomoe looked up at him to see his face looking down at her. "VOI! Are you alright?"
She took in his appearance. He had long white hair and her brown eyes clashed with his light grey eyes. He wore a black trenchcoat like uniform which caught her eye. While she was taking in his appearance, he was taking in hers.
Shoulder length black hair, big brown eyes, a piercing on her ear. The birthmark on the side of her neck being a notable feature. He could easily say that this girl was a Japanese beauty.
"Ah... Yes I'm alright. Thank you sir," Tomoe replied in her accented Italian as he helped her straighten up. "I'm sorry for running into you."
"No, it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention," he responded, before realizing that he had been speaking in his home language and that the girl in front of him responded to him in Italian instead of Japanese. "You speak Italian?"
"A little," Tomoe replied as they both switched to Japanese. She smiled slightly and bowed. "Once again I'm sorry for running into you."
"It's fine," he grumbled and the two awkwardly looked at each other in silence.
But, they both had the same thought. 'What the heck should I do now?'
'Should I ask her if she saw an Italian blond haired brat running around?'
'Should I just bid him goodbye and walk away? Geh, social interaction. I'm an introvert y'know.'
"Voi. Have you seen a blond haired Italian running around?" He asked, using his hand to gesture his height. "He's about this tall and is wearing a suit, he's around your age."
Tomoe hummed, thinking back to the blond haired boy that ran by her at such a fast pace. "In fact, I did," she answered and pointed in the direction behind her. "He was running that way quite fast. I'm pretty sure he's heading towards the shopping center."
"Thanks for your help," he replied, giving her a nod and running past her. 'I sensed some flames on her... I wonder if it's the brats'.'
Tomoe looked over her shoulder for a few more seconds as she watched the man before shrugging, looking forward and continuing on her way to school.
She was already late enough to school, she didn't want to be even later than she already was and be forced to fight Kyoya (if he found out she was late to Namimori High School).
'Hmm, that man seemed interesting. The uniform and that "Voi!" sounded familiar. Where have I seen him before?' Tomoe continued to quietly think to herself as she walked, stopping mid step as a bolt of realization hit her. "It's the Varia arc now... That was Squalo, the vice captain who attacked them in public in the anime. Shit!"
Tomoe turned around, clenching her bag as she ran after Squalo.
As much as she didn't want to get involved in the plot, it was already a fact that she was too late to escape the mafia world thanks to Reborn and Mukuro.
'But wait... why do I have to do this? They'll be fine since Dino will save them...'
She slowed down, her running turning into a slow jog.
"I'm not needed."
'I don't need to play the hero.'
"Why am I involving myself in this again?"
'I can avoid all this mafia drama and fights if I just stay away. My family and I will be safe if I avoid it all.'
Her jogging ceased. She stopped moving in the direction of where the battle was going to occur.
'What are we to each other, do they consider me a friend? What am I to them?'
"Am I even their friend? They probably are wary of me because of what happened in Kokuyou."
She stared in the distance before she turned around, walking back with an emotionless expression. She had to get to school.
Everything would be fine. She was never part of the canon plot so she wouldn't be affected by this.
'That's right... It doesn't concern me.'
"I know they'll be alright. I have nothing to worry about."
So, she continued on her way, not turning back.
[G-o.... Ba.... ck.... oe.... He... He...p t... em...]
But as Tomoe walked away, she felt a very cold feeling in her heart.
"Protect the ring that is the identifying proof of the next boss," Reborn said. "And you're going to be the tenth Vongola. There's a total of seven Vongola Rings and they serve a purpose when seven people of the family have it. The six rings other than yours... Were delivered to six other people who are worthy of protecting the next boss of Vongola, Sawda Tsunayoshi."
Sitting down beside Kyoya who was playing with a ring in his hands, Tomoe continued to work on her homework.
The door then slid open, gaining their attention.
"You're Hibari Kyoya, right? Oh, even Tomoe-chan is here."
"...And you are...?"
"I'm like Tsuna's big brother and also an acquaintance of Reborn. Also I'm best friends with Tomoe-chan." She got a look from Kyoya due to Dino's words. "I want to talk about the ring with the cloud symbol on it."
Kyoya smirked. "Oh, the baby's... Then you must be strong." He stood up and Tomoe knew where this was going. "Talking about the ring is not my main concern. As long as I can bite you dead..."
Dino grinned. "I see, a problematic kid indeed. That's fine." He snapped his whip. "This way things will go faster."
Kyoya took out his tonfa with a proud look.
And Tomoe jumped out the window with her homework in hand. 'Aight ima head out.'
Tomoe looked at the girl with a gentle smile on your face. "So you're Chrome, right? Or would you prefer to be called Nagi?"
"E-Either is fine Kocho-san," Chrome replied shyly. Tomoe took in note of the features and clothing of the petite girl. She had short pineapple-shaped purple hair which reminded her of Mukuro and violet eyes, however her right eye was covered by a black eye patch with a skull on it.
"You can call me Tomoe." She smiled, lightly pressing her forehead against hers, making Chrome blush. "Let's get through this together, Mukuro, Gi-chan. I promise to make sure you will feel safe and comfortable here."
"Oi, don't forget about us," another voice said, making Tomoe lean away from Chrome and deadpan them.
"Ah right. You're here too, Ken-chan, Kusa-chan." Her look irked Ken. "I forgot I also got you guys out of the Vindice."
"You-!"
"Please calm down Ken." Chikusa sighed and bowed down to her. "Thank you for getting us out of there and lessening the burden of Mukuro-san's punishment. We will be in our care."
"Ah, it's all cool. Now let's get in so I can show you to your rooms and we can start training," Tomoe said, grabbing Chrome by the hand, making the girl flustered. "I mean, you were given that ring, right?"
"Yes..." Chrome muttered and the ravenhead sighed.
"Well then, we have a lot of things to do on our list. But first, do you guys even have clothes and daily necessities?"
The three froze and Tomoe let out a sigh, getting ready to throw her money around. With a snap of her fingers, a fancy looking car magically pulled up.
"Get in losers, we're going shopping."
Ao, who was passing by the front gates to go to work, paused seeing his niece drag three other kids along with her.
'Aren't those guys-' "You know what, forget it." he turned right back around to head inside and go back into his room. "It's none of my business. It's fine. I don't even want to go to work anyways. This will be my mental health day off."
"Alright, that's enough training for today," Tomoe said and clapped her hands once, making Chrome, Ken, and Chikusa all fall to the ground. She also worked up a large sweat while training. "Uncle Ao can you-"
Without another word, water and towels were in front of them all. "Rest up you, brats," the man said, pushing up his glasses. "You've all been working nonstop for days on end. Go to sleep and take a day off or else you'll be too sore for when you have to battle."
"B-But..." Chrome breathed heavily. "I'm still not strong enough... I need to get stronger for Mukuro-sama...!"
"You can get stronger if you train, but if you overwork yourself and your body, then you won't be able to get stronger. Besides, you'll worry Ken-chan and Kusa-chan."
"A-ha... As if I'll be worried for her!" Ken retorted and Chikusa let out a grunt.
"Troublesome..." he mumbled before pushing his body off the ground. "I'm going to take a shower... Please listen to Kocho-san, Chrome."
"..." Chrome looked down at the ground before nodding and Tomoe bent down, patting her head.
"Don't worry Gi-chan, you'll get stronger, trust me. Now the three of you go take showers and rest, we have a big day tomorrow since we will be practicing both utilizing flames as well as combat at the same time during battle."
"Yes Tomoe-sama..." Chrome replied and got up, following Ken and Chikusa who were already leaving the training grounds.
Ao sighed. "Those three are making progress, but do you think they'll- no, Chrome, will be strong enough for the ring battle?"
"Probably stronger than canon," Tomoe replied and shrugged her shoulders. "Either way, Mukuro will come in and help her, so we won't have to worry mich."
"I see..."
"How about Ken-chan and Kusa-chan?"
"Huh?" Ao raised a brow.
"I mean, you've been training them in using their flames. I have too, but I've been focusing mostly on Gi-chan to prepare her for the fight. You and Kusa-chan have the same type of flames. How's their progress?"
The older man lit up a cigarette. "They've both been slowly improving. Their combat seems to be good for assassins, but Varia level assassins? They'll barely scrape by with their lives. As for their flames, they've improved massively, especially Chikusa."
"What about Ken?"
"It's difficult when he's a sun, but his physical strength and instincts for close combat make up for his lack of control in flames. He'll most likely be stronger than Chikusa, but will never match his battle IQ," Ao admitted and Tomoe hummed.
"Well it's good that they're all making progress either way. This way they can be at a higher level than they were in canon." Tomoe looked at the dark sky and let out a breath of air, the coolness making a white puff cloud. "I think I'm going to go out."
"At this time?" Ao replied, curious. "Why?"
"Hmmm, I don't know. I just have a feeling I should... Maybe this is a sign that something good will happen to me!"
"This is not a sign that something good will happen to me!" Tomoe screeched out, running through the backyards of people as she was chased by a horde of angry raccoons.
How did she get into this situation?
...Well...
(This author won't tell you how, tee-hee)
Jumping over the incoming wall, Tomoe landed on her two feet in a cat-like position. "What the?!" A voice shouted and the girl realized who it belonged to. "VOII! You're that girl!"
Tomoe's eyes widened and looked up to see that she was facing the Varia group who were standing on a higher ground. It was then that she realized she had quite literally landed in between Varia and the Vongola group. Worst part, it was during their confrontation before the Vongola Ring Battles were suggested. Scratch that, she didn't see Xanxus yet, so this scene was before he even appeared.
'Man, up closer they seem more badass, especially Lussuria, the fashion icon. We stan, he should for real go to the Met Gala, he'd slay.'
"Eh!? Kocho-senpai?!" Tsuna yelled out in surprise as did the others.
'Shit shit shit.' Tomoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stood up, dusting her pants before turning around and sending him a forced smile. "Yo Tsu-chan. Don't mind me, just running through."
"Running through-?"
"Voi! You know her?! Is she also part of your group?!"
Tomoe blinked, spinning around quickly to face Squalo's direction. "Eh? Me with them? Eh. Eeeeeeh?"
"Move!" Levi pushed Squalo back.
"Vooiiii! You have nothing to do with it!" Squalo shouted.
"There he is... I never thought that the day I would see him again would ever come," Reborn muttered. "Xanxus."
"Uh..." 'Is this person...?! Wha... What?'
'I guess this is my cue to leave.' Tomoe let out a low whistle and started to sneak away until she felt a strong bloodlust that was even directed at her, which made her stop for a second. 'Huh?'
"Sawada Tsunayoshi..." Xanxus murderously said as his hand began to emit something.
"No way, boss, you're suddenly using that!" Lussuria exclaimed.
Squalo used his sword to block himself. "Are you planning to kill us too?!"
"This is bad! Run!" Reborn ordered.
"Eh?!"
"Not like this will kill me," Tomoe mumbled under her breath and prepared herself to use snow flames to immobilize the attack.
"Die."
Suddenly, a pickaxe was thrown in front of Xanxus, making him stop his attack. "Hold it Xanxus. That's enough," a figure said from the wall next to them.
"We're saved...?"
"Ah. He's..."
"From here on, I'll take charge of things," Iemitsu confidently said and things started to roll from there.
Tomoe tried to sneak away again as Iemitsu read out the ninth's orders since she really didn't want to get involved, but was stopped by the kids who were clinging onto her legs.
She looked down at them to see them shaking. 'Ah that's right... They're just kids who were forced to be part of the mafia and grow up in it... Of course they're scared.' She bent down, bringing them into her embrace for comfort as she continued to stare up at Iemitsu like everyone else, listening to his words.
"...-However, I don't intend to have a useless battle between my own family members. So, let us start the traditional Vongola battle to satisfy everyone... So this is what that means... Those who wield the same type of ring will fight in a one on one battle."
"Those who wield the same type of ring... A one on one battle between them!?" Tsuna repeated in astonishment.
"Yeah. It's also written for further instructions."
"Instructions?" Gokudera blurted out.
"Thank you for waiting." Two girls jumped out from the trees. "In this scramble battle for the rings, we'll serve as the judges." The attention was on them. "We are the Cervello Organization, serving directly under the ninth. Please consider our decisions regarding the scramble battle of the rings as the ninth's decision."
"Originally the seven types of half Vongola rings had two sets. One set that the boss has, the other that the outsider advisor has. However, this has become an exceptional case because the boss and outsider advisor decided upon different people for each half ring, and distributed them to different people. They are the seven people led by Lord Xanxus that the ninth chose as the successors, and the seven people led by Tsunayoshi that Sir Iemitsu chose as the successors."
"In this battle, the one who is truly worthy to wield the ring, will prove it with their lives. The location is Namimori Junior High at midnight. Further details will be told later."
"Eh?! We're going to do it at Nami-Chuu?!"
"Well, we shall await you at 11pm tomorrow night at Namimori Junior High. Goodbye." The two sisters jumped away, leaving them behind.
"Hey. Wait, hold up!" Tsuna shouted, but immediately shut up when he met Xanxus' terrifying glare.
The Varia then turned to leave, but Squalo stopped, remembering something. "Voi! Girl!" he shouted in Italian, making everyone who understood the language pause and look at Tomoe (who was still surrounded by kids). 'Now that I have time to look, I can definitely sense strong flames from her.'
'Geh great. He's just calling out to me, isn't he?' "Yes?" she cautiously asked.
"Kocho-senpai knows Italian?" "I had no idea."
"Are you part of the mafia?" Squalo asked, leaning forward slightly. "I didn't sense it when I ran into you last time, but now I can sense your trained flames. Are you with these brats?"
'Shit, I forgot to suppress them after training. I didn't think I'd run into anyone.' She didn't bother to suppress her flames at the moment, it was too late already since Squalo outed her. "No way," Tomoe replied, standing up from her knees which made the children hide behind her legs. "I know of the mafia and people involved, however I want no part or someone trying to drag me into it." She directed that last line at Reborn.
Squalo was about to say something else, but Xanxus interrupted him. "Trash we're leaving," he said and started to walk off, but not without sending Tomoe one last glance before turning back and walking off, the Varia following as Squalo yelled out complaints.
'Odd... Why did he look at me?' Tomoe let out a sigh, patting Futa's head when she felt him grab her hand. "I'm tired... I should have just stayed home."
"Tomoe-nee, are you alright?" Futa asked and Tomoe sniffed.
"Nope. My peaceful life is getting ruined after all."
"Kocho-senpai you're back from your EXTREME business trip?" Ryohei asked, walking up to her in joy. "We missed you!"
"I came back a week ago," she responded. "I bought you and Ko-chan some souvenirs that I still need to give ya."
"Really?! I am EXTREMELY thankful!" Ryohei grinned.
"Ano... Kocho-senpai." Tsuna squeaked when she turned to him.
"Ara, hello Tsu-chan," Tomoe greeted and turned towards his father and Basil who had joined the rest of them. "Hey, aren't you that boy who almost ran into me."
"Ah! My name is Basil. It is an honor to meet thou," Basil said with a bow.
'Who names their child after a herb?' She grinned. "Nice to meet you too, Sil-chan."
"Sil-chan?"
"What are you doing here Kocho?" Reborn questioned and a thick tension seemed to run through the air.
"I'm in Namimori Japan because I live here."
"You know what I mean."
Tomoe sighed, pushing a hand through her hair. "I went out for a walk tonight and started to get chased by raccoons." She held her finger up when she saw Gokudera open his mouth. "Don't ask how or why that happened. Just know while I was running I just happened to run into you guys who were coincidentally here."
"By the way..." Yamamoto began. "Kocho-senpai, did you know that white haired man?"
"Uuuhh." Tomoe blinked. 'Shit, I didn't expect him to pick up on that.' "Oh, he ran into me and asked me if I saw a blond haired Italian brat..." All eyes went to Basil before they turned back to a nervous looking Tomoe. "And I told him I saw one run by me towards the shopping center...?" Noticing their looks, she let out an awkward laugh. "Ahaha, I think I caused some problems by doing that... My bad...?"
No one was amused.
"Anyhow... Ima head out now..."
A bullet aimed towards her foot stopped her in her tracks. "We need to have a chat, Kocho."
'Did he just shoot a bullet at me!?'
"Reborn!" Tsuna shouted in alarm.
"I don't want her to continue running away before I get my answers," Reborn said and Tomoe looked over her shoulder, a calculating expression on her face. "Just who are you and what was with your flames?"
"Flames?" Gokudera frowned. "She has flames?"
"Kocho-senpai...?" Yamamoto asked.
"How about..." Tomoe smirked, sticking her arm out to the side. "No."
A hand grabbed hers and her feet left the ground Ao pulled her onto the motorcycle with a single hand without stopping. They heard shouts of surprise and disbelief as Ao drove off with Tomoe sitting behind him.
"Nice save Uncle Ao!"
"Damn brat!" Ao gritted out, speeding down the street. "Going out for a walk is what you planned, but you ended up being part of this Varia Vongola conflict! This is exactly the opposite of avoiding the mafia!"
"Geez geez I get it! Just drive away you crazy old man!"
"Old stupid hag going senile!"
"You blind ass bitch!"
The two continued to throw insults at each other the entire ride home.
A/N : I love the Varia group they are so chaotic and funny.
Also, you guys will never know about how the raccoon chasing happened. I will never reveal it. Never.
Btw, I read on the KHR wiki when I was doing research on the Varia characters that the Varia members are respectful to women and I'm like yasssssss we stan those kings
so who is ur favorite Varia member? I like Squalo the best tbh.