{???, ???}

"Come one, get out of your hiding," a raven head whined as he strolled through the forest. His black coat fluttered with every step he took as the flowery emblem on his left breast pocket shone under the sunlight. "I won't bite," he added, an excited smirk adorning his face as his eyes momentarily glinted an orange color.

::

Steadying his ragged breathing as best as he could, the man's prey leaned against one of the trees. His senses as sharp as possible he tried to catch every sound his pursuer made, to predict and avoid the raven better.

"It's not funny anymore, Feng-chan, get out now," the raven repeated, irritation starting to lace with his voice as his previously childish like demeanor stopped.

Feng didn't answer, straining himself to stay on guard as best as he could, he waited. It was hard for the Arcobaleno to have full control of his senses with how vulnerable he was in the open, the air around him seeming to attack his core every time he took a breath, but he managed, somehow. He hadn't expected someone to, abruptly come at him, especially not someone from one of the warring parties. Someone he used to consider an ally.

Perhaps, secluding himself so often hadn't been a good idea, but he couldn't cry about it now, only take full responsibility. As the dizziness gradually faded and his consciousness cleared up, the storm came to realize no more sound were made behind him. He didn't or perhaps couldn't hear the Millefiore's reaper anymore.

His senses tingled, screaming for him to run away, to hide as far as possible and never come out, but to where? Feng slowly stood up, his body hurting from his and the raven's encounter, minutes or perhaps an hour ago, as he scanned his surrounding.

The eerily silence only served to unnerve him more, he couldn't detect the ex-guardian's breathing. And his condition unabled him from knowing whether it was because the raven had given up or because his hearing ability was slowly fading. Part of the Arcobaleno wished for the first answer to be the one, but the martial artist knew better, his body was something he would never be mistaken about, his auditive capacity obviously was dwindling.

Breathing, as to calm his unnerved self, he took a running position before abruptly dashing. In a blur of black, something or someone fell from above, landing in front of the Arcobaleno and stopping him in his track.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," the hunter sang, a satisfied smile adorning his face as his purplish eyes gazed at the smaller's pitch black ones. "Fancy meeting you here, Fon-chan."

Fon paled.

Fon died.

::

{Namimori, Japan}

2''04'''

In a blur of red, the small martial artist closed the distance between himself and his target. Fon hadn't thought about the reason behind his challenge. It was unlike him to request a match with somebody else, and he usually found himself declining others' offers to fight him. So why did he decide to confront the Varia's guardian?

It was an impulse, pure desire to hit the white, to beat him, pummel him until nothing was left of him. It was there first time meeting, never had they encountered one another before and the knowledge they possessed of one another was trivial, almost nonexistent. 

First, because Fon as an Arcobaleno was the type to go into hiding, or seclusion to train himself, limiting every direct contact with the outside world if necessary and only allowing himself to do the bare minimum. The storm, unlike others, was calm, he knew of a better way than to relentlessly attack to protect and survive. Then, Yucca as a Varia officer was well-known for his position, but everything about who he was, where he came from, or what he did before, was to the Arcobalen a total mystery.

And again, the information they had on one another was for some baseless rumors or irrelevant facts they had somehow collected. The only useful things they managed to gather on one another were so minor they couldn't even use it properly. 

But if there was one solid information they both owned, it was their vision of the future. Fon knew of the previously raven's nature. He was ruthless, liking to toy with his prey, cornering them and allowing them to run until he got bored. He was a crazy fellow, probably psychologically unstable at the time but also someone Fon had to recognize as a strong and talented fighter.

On the other hand, Yucca's knowledge of Fon from the future was much scarcer. He could only piece it together as he tried to build up a gigantic puzzle in which where all of the Arcobalenos. Mammon's side was the clearest, but dark and blurry places remained. Reborn's seemed almost unreadable, but one could still discern some form if they gave it enough attention. The other's were a complete void. Only small, insignificant pieces were scattered here and there, all with the same message. The only thing Yucca was sure off was that Fon was taking revenge for future him. As for his strength, he guessed it was comparable to Mammon's when it came to casting illusions.

The one at an advantage there was undoubtedly Fon, and as he struck the white more and more, the gap between the two's martial art started to show. It wasn't something one would see if they weren't a master of the art, and then again it wasn't certified they would spot it, but slowly, Yucca got cornered by the storm. As if the roles were reversed, Fon began to play with the white the way the raven had played him. A play of cat and mouse slowly unveiled itself once more.

1''25'''

Parrying another one of the storm's kicks with his forearm, Yucca swung his dagger in an attempt to hit. In vain, the white head's movements were sloppy, unfocused and lacked any kind of aggressivity the Varia was known for. It was as if the Varia which usually was a fearsome beast had turned into a newly born cub, weak and vulnerable. It was a shameful display, Yucca couldn't bring himself to accept.

He couldn't accept it because he was part of the Varia, he was one of the officers, one of the Boss' guardians, his cloud. Such a thing was unacceptable, losing was something, but to lose without putting a fight was something he couldn't afford.

He couldn't accept it because the part of him that is, and used to be the God of Death, didn't accept failure. A target was always clinically dealt with, the way, the weapon, none of them mattered since the deed never failed to be executed. An encounter with a fellow assassin would always be a walk in the park because he was on top of the food chain.

He couldn't accept it because his soul which had once worked to serve the Millefiore Famiglia in a distant future knew better than to allow an enemy within their critical range. As the top Famiglia who ruled with an iron grip and ruthless methods, never would they allow themselves to get cornered.

He couldn't lose. It was unacceptable, every fiber of his being knew and felt endless revulsion when the thought grazed their mind.

Losing wasn't an option.

00''57'''

Sparks of purple came from his hand as his Varia ring suddenly lit up. Summoning his sky flame was tricky to the current Yucca, he hadn't mastered it at all, and it didn't come as naturally as his cloud flame did. Therefore, asking for Shinmei, worst-case scenario, Metsu's help was not something he could do. But to ask for Aguri's wasn't impossible.

The link between the guardian and his animal box weapon wasn't as prominent as in the future. Truth to be told it was practically nonexistent. Unlike Yucca, Aguri, Shinmei and Metsu hadn't received any memories from the future. They hadn't been born until recently when the rings were forged either.

The bonds and complicity Yucca had with them didn't exist which meant that although adding Aguri to his fighting power would enhance his capabilities, it would also be a liability if he wanted to play some tricks on the Arcobaleno. The purple octopus wouldn't be able to guess what his next move was and that put him at another type of disadvantage.

Small tentacles wrapped themselves around Yucca's wrist, the motion accompanied by a low boo as the octopus took its place. Cloud flames slowly seeped into the purple octopus as a smirk started to creep up the guardian's face. Well, now loosing wasn't possible.

As the energy within Aguri slowly built up, few more blows were exchanged between the cloud guardian and martial artist. It was all about time. As he defended against the Arcobaleno's blows, Yucca slowly neared the edge of the roof. It was clear the storm's blows were too much for the cloud to bear at the moment. So it seemed as Yucca's attention was focused on protecting his watch and diffusing flames within Aguri.

00''13'''

Yucca's movement suddenly came to a halt as he parred one of the smaller's punch. "Well," he called out, picking his attacker's attention and making him narrow his eyes in slight apprehension. "I'll see you later," Fon hadn't had the time to answer the white that another word came out of his mouth, "Extend!"

In a blur of white and blue, Yucca was pulled to a nearby tree, his figure disappearing within the greenery as he ran as far as possible from the storm Arcobaleno. Fon remained frozen, his mind not processing the events that had just taken place before himself. He shook his head, his legs flexing as he readied to jump and go after his prey when a shrill sound erupted from his watch.

00''00'''

A sigh escaped Fon's lips.

::

As he neared the school gate, Yucca's demeanor slowly morphed into a more casual one. The shrilling cry coming from his watch had warned him of the end of the battle, but one was never careful enough. Who knew whether Fon would still run after him after hearing the watch's ring.

Cooly walking out of the school ground, the white head reached for his phone as he casually slid the rings off of his finger before neatly placing them in his blazer's inner pocket. Turning it on to see if his sun counterpart had tried to recontact him, he was met with denial as another one of his contact's name appeared in the notification bar.

It wasn't an unexpected message.

Yucca had long guessed and knew way before it happened that the two would contact each other, but it somehow still came as a surprise as he read the short ID on his screen. He hadn't thought the other would reach for him so soon, and to be perfectly honest with the moon business going on at the same time as the representatives' battle which linked itself to his debt to Mammon, it had slipped out of his mind.

How irresponsible, to forget about those closest to him because of personal issues and his work, sometimes Yucca truly understood how he came to neglect his first student in his past life. The difference now was that his student never reached for him and perhaps he did, but Koro hadn't seen it, too absorbed in his own business to really care.

His finger slid on his tactical screen as he opened the incoming message, a conflicted light in his eyes as he firmly gazed at the black letters.

From: Boss

To: Gluttony

Heya Yucca-nii-chan, how are you doing?

You haven't contacted me AT ALL lately, and I'm feeling soooo lonely :'(

A little birdy told me you were around Namimori (Japan) these days for work, is it true \(*O*)/??

I also came, for some sightseeing with my friends. Would you like to meet up (^v^)?

Lots of marshmallows flavored kiss,

the best brother ever xx

An orangish glint mixed with a light purplish shade blended into Yucca's blue eyes as he read the text. It was oddly anticlimactic, he hadn't expected the other to seem so eager to meet up after receiving the future memories. Then again the teen could be trying to deceive him, but Yucca liked to think it wasn't the case and that perhaps, the same way he did, this chance meeting with the future had helped him mature.

Still strolling through Namimori's streets, Yucca's fingers started to glide over the screen as letters of black appeared and disappeared from his screen, slowly revealing the message he would send to his 'dearest.' It was a strange action Yucca found himself pondering over when he remembered how natural it was for him to text little Ran whenever he had time before.

Honestly, those visions and memories, although they had saved him again and again in the past, the present, and the future, they seemed more like a curse than an actual blessing when thought over. With those thoughts, Yucca sent his reply to his brother.

So, Byakuran's come back is for the next chapter! 

Thank you for reading, until next time^^

PS: Shinmei and Metsu are Yucca's box weapons. They were introduced in "Alternative Target: D.O.M.I.N.A.T.I.O.N." It is not necessary to have read it to understand their role.