48. Walk

"Hey, Rei, why don't you just stay over at Mama's place?" Lambo spoke up from my arms, lifting his head to face me.

I let out a dry chuckle. "If Tsuna-san and the others find out I got into a fight, I'll be in trouble!"

"Eh? Why?" Fuuta asked.

Here it is. The overly curious questions of overly curious children that would stupefy every adult out in the world.

"Well... they just will, I guess." and I settled with that.

Lambo jumped to the ground, and I caught sight of the junk in his hair. A grenade, a box of grape candy, a small pouch of something and-- is that a slingshot? Something shiny glinted, reflecting light from the moon.

A ring.

My eyes narrowed.

We were walking around quite an isolated area now-- and so, I looked up towards the shadows the rooves further away-- to the left, and to the right, searching for something.

I spotted a silhouette. It was a man, wearing a long overcoat, the collar of it covering the large of his face-- and the silhouette was there for only a second.

I snapped towards I-pin.

She was two steps away from me, so I dove forward and pulled her back-- just in time to avoid a rapier aimed to drive straight into her skull.

I barely managed to avoid it too, the sword clashing into the gravel between my feet.

A little taken aback, but the man did not falter. He quickly raised his sword, the blade turned upwards.

I cursed as I realized that the tip of the blade would slice my jaw.

I-pin jumped out of my grasps, and with a loud warcry, she landed a sharp, solid kick at the man's wrist. The rapier jumped out of his hands, clanking as the hilt hit the gravel.

No more time for bewilderment.

I had clumsy movements. The awkward positions my limbs had to move through, and the constant failure to coordinate my limbs meant I made an inelegant struggle to get up.

But this isn't the time to worry about that, Rei!

Fuuta was already running ahead. Scooping up Lambo and I-pin, I sprinted.

Ultimately, outrunning an assassin wasn't possible, it seemed. He was fast-- fast, and experienced. It only took him three steps-- one to boost him off the ground; the next to land on the wall; and the last to boost him off the wall.

Is he a fucking acrobat or something?? Even Drew couldn't do that in the spur of the moment!

I was facing a sword coming straight down towards me--

The swearing in my head was endless. I was screeching curses over and over again-- what do I do?> What can I do? What's the best possible course of action now?

Right! I could drop the kids first--!!

Right at that moment, the assassin was blown away.

He let out a loud grunt of pain, thrown into the air a distance away, crashing into the next wall-- seeing as he didn't move after that, he was probably knocked out.

"The Vongola Famiglia's Sun Guardian and Colonello's Best Disciple--" the hotheaded boxer made his dramatic announcement to certify his dramatic appearance, "--Sasagawa Ryohei is Here!"

So close.

So close.

"Ryohei-senpai..." I called him, but was unable to speak any further.

I let out a deep, deep sigh of relief--

The adrenaline subsided and my legs gave out.

Dropping to the ground, I breathed out. My breathing was ragged before I knew it, and my heart was beating hard and loud. It was a loud thump that I could feel in my head--

Clutching at my chest, I struggled to catch my breath. Alright, I need to calm down. I need to breathe properly. Straining my lungs like this probably isn't good.

I closed my eyes as I heard an explosion.

It's fine now.

"Rei, you alright?"

I looked up.

Takeshi stood there, his brows scrunched up in concern. He held a shinai in hand, and he seemed to have dashed right out of practice.

Seeing Takeshi made a smile crack at my face.

Hm? When did my breath even out?

It seemed my smile was contagious, as he grinned back at me.

I took his hand as he offered it, and I stood back up.

"You're late, Takeshi!" I lightly punched him in the chest.

-----

-----

Now, we face Leviathan.

He was a large man, and even at a distance I felt intimidated. He was staring down at us all, particularly to the direction of the kids. I made sure to stand before the kids, in attempt to ease his endeavour to threaten the kids.

"So, the one wielding the Ring of the Thunder is..."

He spoke in a gruff, low volume, his eyes sharpened in hostility, seething with anger at the sight of his fallen subordinates.

His eyes land on Lambo. The cow child that was clutching onto Tsuna's leg shrieked, hugging the limb tighter, horrified.

This made Takeshi and Hayato alarmed, their hands shooting towards their weapons. Ryohei clenched his fists and stepped into a fighting position, his eyes locked on the man. I gritted my teeth, letting out a low growl. My hand held protectively before Lambo, I glowered at the man.

For a moment, he seemed to turn to me with interest.

"Hold it, Levi!" a voice interrupted sharply.

From the darkness of the woods, more of the Varia emerged, leaping out from nowhere and now standing by Leviathan.

"Don't hunt them down all on your own!" Lussuria was reprimanding, but he wasn't using an angry tone.

Belphegor, Mammon, Lussuria, and the Mosca.

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the sight. These-- these were the Varia. The Vongola Independent Assassination Squad. It was the Varia, in the flesh and bone--

When Levi's eyes drifted past me for half a second, I flinched.

Their mere presence was haunting every fiber of my being.

I was being intimidated. So, so, intimidated, I realized that I was shivering, and my limbs wouldn't budge an inch. I was frozen in fear, shaking like a baby deer.

Dammit, dammit, Rei, this isn't the time to--

"VOII!!!"

I jumped.

Oh, I moved.

"How DARE you trick me, you pieces of trash!" came the one and only Varia Second-in-Command, Superbi Squalo. He was glaring, his rage evident in his voice and his overly loud tone. His long white hair stretching as far down as I remembered seeing in my past, he still manages to look cool and badass.

Tsuna let out a strangled squeak in despair, "Oh god, he's here!!" he whined in anguish, as if he was going to die today.

I looked towards Takeshi. He was having a staredown with Squalo. It seemed they've realized they wore similar rings, and that wasn't a good thing in my opinion.

"Oy, Takeshi--" I tried to call, but was interrupted by something.

A terribly, terribly foreboding presence.

It felt like a weight on my entire being-- as if gravity was pressing down against me. Slowly, I turned towards where the Varia stood-- and my breath just stopped there.

Xanxus was staring right at me.

He eyed me, as if he felt offended by my utter gall to move a single muscle.

I found myself unable to take another breath. His eyes left me soon after, but my fear did not subside. I found myself stuck, mortified and terrified--

His eyes landed on Tsuna, and Tsuna let out a pitiful whimper, falling to the ground.

Xanxus's hand lifts, and I realized what would happen next.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi..." I could hear him mutter spitefully. Bright orange shone in sparks that crackled at his fingers, the light brimming brighter by the second.

"This is bad!" Reborn called up in alarm.

"HUh??" Tsuna was bewildered as well, How often did Reborn sound endangered?

The bright, bright orange was alarmingly large in volume now. I couldn't look straight at it.

"It's alright, Rei." I felt arms wrap assuringly at my shoulders. The voice calmed me. The soft, feminine tone-- of Drew's voice.

I turned around, but no one was there.

I snapped back at the sound of hard metal clashing against gravel.

A sickle planted into the ground right by Xanxus's feet, putting an abrupt stop to the flames pooling at his palm. All eyes were on the intruding object.

"Hold it, Xanxus, that's enough." Iemitsu's voice was low. It was a voice that boomed with authority, the voice of a leader when he was being serious and stern.

Eyes turned to him and his subordinates as they stepped into the scene; confusion pooled in the group as they realized the attack had stopped from the interruption.

Iemitsu smirked.

"From here on, I'll take care of things."