000

WINTERTIDE

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

000

"What confuses me," Ariah stated, once the explanations had happened in the aftermath of Rauji's loss – and it had been a matter of dog piling the young woman to prevent her from attacking the Vindice as they hauled the large teenager away. "Is that if the Vongola have been discriminating against the Shimon since day one, why haven't the Vindice stepped in before? Not to mention that if the Shimon truly had been betrayed, how would their descendants be running around and causing trouble now? Wouldn't the Vongola have wiped them out properly instead of just making life difficult?"

"More and more of the truth is revealed after each match," Reborn explained, "The Primo of both the Vongola and the Shimon apparently safeguarded their memories of the incident with the Vindice's help should their Famiglias ever face one another with hostilities."

Ariah hummed as she hauled a whining Lambo away from Gokudera's bag where he was attempting to rummage around for sweets. The small group had only just managed to get outside when Ariah had sat down and stated that she wanted answers, not only were the Vindice giving off a rather disturbing vibe to her magic senses but that incident where everyone shared the memory was cause for concern, and then there was the talk of prison.

Gokudera looked over at the dark haired girl, "But the Shimon have faced hostility from the Vongola for years, if what they've been saying is right. And there's nothing in their body language that would suggest otherwise, they believe what they're saying is true," he admitted unhappily. He didn't want to think badly of the Noveno, he was a very kindly and wise man who never did anything without reason, he was wholly against throwing the weight of the Vongola name around. He would if he had to, but for bullying a minor Famiglia with no power, it was entirely a different matter. He knew that Juudaime would change everything for the better, like Ariah-chan said, he was the Light of the Mafia world, but that didn't mean he liked the way things were happening now.

"I think it may be based on Blood magic, if anything," Ariah admitted, rubbing her chin. "It's one of the reasons why I was forced to stay with my Aunt and Uncle." She didn't notice the way Reborn smirked, his eyes shadowed. But Tsuna and Gokudera did. "Because my mother used ancient magic to protect me, I had to live with one of her blood relatives in order to maintain that protection. At least, that's what should have happened. Intent is everything. Even though my Aunt was a blood relative, she didn't take me in willingly and held nothing but hostility toward me. Chances are the wards were only established because of my cousin who liked me in a vague baby-kind of way. They would have either died out or been maintained by my own desperate desire to please them as we grew up.

"In this case, it would have to be a case of direct hostilities between blood descendants of the original Founders of each Famiglia. So unless the Heads attacked, the Vindice would remain uninvolved. There is every chance then that the Shimon have indeed been maligned as the Primo passed down the titleship to his... cousin, right? The Second head, Ricardo? But I don't think... agh, Dad, how long did it take you to discover any information on the Shimon?" she asked, speaking directly to him for the first time since she'd arrived. Apparently having something for her brain to chew on had cooled her temper and her hurt enough to work with him – for now.

"Roughly a week within the Vongolas' top secret files," he admitted, shoulders relaxing minutely as she got to her feet, muttering under her breath. Hermione had said once that if Ariah went into Law Enforcement she would have been a true force to reckon with, Reborn could see it now, her mind latched onto things, small details, pieced them together. It was the same way he thought things through when it came to a Hit.

"There's no way," she finally declared, facing them with a scowl on her face. "There is absolutely no way that the Vongola themselves have been responsible for the Shimon's misfortune. Small isolated incidents maybe, possibly, but for the sustained kind of abuse they've been talking about, not possible. Someone in the Vongola had to have known. The only explanation is, someone knew of the Shimon's connection and targeted them under the Vongola's name. But not even the Heads of Vongola knew the about the Shimon connection. Noveno was completely in the dark."

"Hiii, what does that mean?" Tsuna squeaked, looking between the serious faces around him.

"It means, the Shimon turning up now, isn't an accident. That someone, someones, have been picking at them since the Primo's age and waiting for something, the opportune moment. Perhaps for the Shimon rings to be revealed? Unlikely, the graves would have been the first place cracked open had people been aware of them. No, this is something on the Vongola end. Someone's been waiting for something in the Vongola. Something..." She turned to Tsuna, "or someone."

"M-me?" he squawked in terror, blanching.

"Think about it Tsuna," she told him sympathetically, eyes softening slightly. "You're the first person the ring has truly accepted since it was first forged. You're the first of the Vongola Heads with the same beliefs as the man who Founded it. You're the first direct blood descendent who has been a candidate. Who ever did this, was waiting for the Primo's rebirth."

"Why?" Gokudera begged. He didn't like this, Ariah's guess made sense, it made a frightening amount of sense now that he put all the little pieces together and understood what she had been driving at.

"I don't know," she admitted, "Perhaps its the awakened abilities of the rings? They were reforged with the Primo's blood, they were awakened in a way that no other generation of Vongola have ever managed, not even the Primo himself."

"It still doesn't change what we have to do though," Reborn pointed out. The three teenagers and small child looked over at him, "We still need to fight them," he reminded.

Gloom settled over the group. Ariah folding her arms and sighing as she looked out over the ocean, Tsuna staring down as he twisted the Vongola gear around his finger. "It will change how we approach this though," Gokudera admitted quietly. "Now that we know they're being manipulated and that we're being targeted, I don't think we can fight them whole-heartedly anymore. Our position is a lot more dangerous now."

"And they're unlikely to listen to anything we have to say, at that," Ariah agreed.

"Let's continue on. We can't change anything, but we have to keep going. These people are willing to kill. Ariah, how long until Hermione is finished treating Yamamoto?" Reborn asked, looking up at his daughter.

"She should've been done by now. She's likely as not already on her way, but she's not great with a broom and she probably doesn't have Hedwig to guide her like I did," Ariah explained, running a hand through her hair. "Tonight, or tomorrow, maybe. Depends on how good her Scrying is," the dark haired girl decided.

There was almost a collective sigh as they kept walking, Ariah carrying Lambo piggy-back so he wouldn't keep harassing Gokudera's belongings looking for food. It wasn't a bad day for exploring an uncharted island, warm, with a mild breeze, if it weren't for their circumstances, it would have been a pleasant way of wasting the day away. But it was hard to forget the truth. Rauji, Ryohei, and that green haired Shimon boy were all being held prisoner by the Vindice – and even though Timoteo was negotiating for their release, it wasn't going to be happening until after this whole mess was resolved.

"Is – is this a town?" Gokudera spluttered as they crested the hill and came to a stop, overlooking a small valley with a collection of ruined, overgrown, and ancient Italian styled houses, their terracotta red roofs vivid but also dull in the early morning sunlight.

Hesitantly, the group of five made their way down to explore, maybe if they found a building with a decent roof they could catch up on the sleep they missed last night. The whole place was eeriely quiet, crickets could be heard in the long grass and the occasional bird took flight when started as they passed by. It was quite a little ghost town, sunwashed white walls and red roofs, grass and peeling paint and broken windows, mouldy wooden doors and crumbling staircases.

"Seems like no one's here," Tsuna observed as they carried on through the main street, relaxing a little at the perceived solitude.

Reborn hummed, "They look like Italian Houses... They're already old and rotten."

Ariah grunted in agreement as she ran a hand down one of the walls and came away with a chalky white palm, "Very old. Definitely been abandoned for longer than the current generation of the Shimon have been alive," she observed before looking around, "I would have expected more plant-life though."

"Agreed," Reborn said before the group froze, a distant strain of someone talking reaching their ears.

The group hastily put their backs to the wall and hurried over, staying low.

It was the Lady Gaga girl.

"Shitt.P!" Gokudera exclaimed in shock.

Ariah meanwhile blinked and stared, Sh-Shitt.P? That's... Who the hell would give a girl a name like that? Who the hell would be so cruel to name a girl shit? She shook her head. No, she was being unfair. Different cultures, different languages. It may have been obscene in English but she didn't know if it was in Japanese or Italian, she had no right to judge.

The unique girl however ignored them, "So, the area is three times bigger, which means Masato-kun has five yen more than others. This will cover the math study for the day," she muttered to herself, making a few notes on her papers before setting it aside.

"Shitt.P! It's me! I'm here to fight!" Gokudera shouted through the broken windows.

He was, however, ignored like before as she continued with what Ariah was beginning to guess was her homework. Wow, Hermione... Hermione would definitely approve. "Next is Japanese. 'Jugemu Jugemu Gokou no scratched and it hurts... I'm started to bleeding too'," she quoted in an undertone.

Gokudera grimaced, "Alright, S-... Sh-sh-sh-Shitopi-chan!" he finally burst out, face turning pink in embarrassment.

She immediately set aside her homework and stood to greet them, smiling pleasantly, "Gokudera-kun, I'm glad that you called me that." Ariah blinked, all that because he wouldn't call her by her preferred name? Well... Huh...

"That's surprisingly mature," she muttered under her breath. Maybe next time Malfoy insisted on calling her Scar-Head she would do the same. She then got a good look at her clothing, "Aren't you cold?" she couldn't help but ask, only to get ignored. It seemed as though she only had eyes for Gokudera. Which was... kind of cute actually, y'know, if she weren't an enemy who would likely try to kill them.

"H-hey," Gokudera greeted, still a little embarrassed and flustered from having to call her by that name.

She smiled and gestured around them, "This town looks similar to the one Shimon's Ancestors lived in. The end of the story." Ariah jerked back from the window as the girl suddenly launched herself up and through the broken roof to land in the street in front of them. She straightened and affixed a disconcertingly intense look onto them. "I prefer Gokudera-kun to fight with me. I want to toy and defeat cute Gokudera-kun," she intoned, making the hairs on the back of Ariah's neck stand straight.

"Of course your oppnent is me!" the silver haired youth declared, ignoring Tsuna's exclamation, "I'll be fine, Juudaime! Even though she's an UMA, as a representative of the Homosapiens and also as a Guardian of the Vongola, I'll make sure to defeat her!"

'What the fuck is an UMA?' Ariah wondered silently.

"I'll tell you my pride!"

"I already know that," Shitopi-san told him. "I've been observing, Gokudera-kun. Gokudera-kun's pride is... that you're a subordinate of the Vongola Juudaime. Am I wrong?"

"That's right! Being a Guardian and serving the Juudaime is my pride!" he confirmed.

"That's why you're weak," she told him idly, and then smiled knowingly. "To me, it's not for someone or to serve someone but for myself. Always being my own self without falsehood is my pride. I'll teach you that you won't stand the slightest chance if you fight for Juudaime. Now, prepare yourself, Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera seemed to be a little irritated, "The same goes for you! URI!" he commanded, his belt-bucket exploding in scarlet flame a moment before – a Kneazle? With red storm flame ear tufts. That was... actually really cute. She blinked as the cat hopped up and started headbutting Gokudera.

"Gokudera-kun and Uri used to have a really bad relationship though," Tsuna gaped in shock, "Uri's totally attached to him now, what?!"

Perhaps not that attached as Ariah could see the cat clawing his face now.

"Uri! Cambio Forma!" he commanded, the feline bursting into light and flame that engulfed him entirely forming...

"It's the revival of the Smokin' Bomb!" Tsuna cheered as Gokudera was revealed in varying accessories and... dynamite strapped to every available location that didn't interfere with his range of movement. Ariah stared, a little stunned.

"Ah, Gokudera-kun... you're smoking cigarettes," Shitopi-san scolded with a smile.

"Huh? Not quite," Gokudera declared with a smirk as he presented the white stick, "This is my custom Vongola Gear of the Storm's dynamite pipe-shaped Igniter," he declared, small licks of scarlet flame flickering at the tip.

Shitopi-san smiled, "It suits you, Gokudera-kun. If it were me, I'd like to shove about twenty of those in my nose."

Ariah's hands immediately went to shield her nose, "Ow, the human nose isn't big enough for that!" she squeaked, a little horrified along with the others, even her dad looked a little disturbed and he was actually the weirdest out of all of them in terms of unique habits – not that she knew of course, he had yet to show his cosplay fetish in front of her.

"Anyways," Gokudera decided to disregard that comment and get back to the fighting, he could handle the fighting. "Shitopi-chan... What should we do about the rules of the fight?" he asked.

"It's already been decided. We're popping balloons. Try lighting this 'fianma balloon' with a flame."

A fight where they were... popping balloons? Ariah tilted her head, more than a little perplexed. This... Well, Shitopi-san was, erm, unique. In thinking. So... it wasn't really surprising that she would select a unique manner of settling the fight. And the Gryffindor knew her uncle was somewhat opposed to hitting girls, even if they were trying to kill him. She could understand that kind of thinking, but if she were fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, she wouldn't hesitate to throw as many Cutting and Exploding Hexes at her as possible. Fuck being a gentleman – even though she was now a woman.

"The Fianma balloon's consistency is just about as delicate as a regular rubber balloon," Shitopi-san explained before backflipping away, the balloons following her. "No matter how wild you move, they will follow within one metre of you.

"The rules of the battle are as follows: Popping two of your opponent's Fianma bubbles counts as a win. How's that?" she concluded, her eyes widening to creepy proportions behind her large tinted sunglasses.

Gokudera nodded, "I see. How interesting. I was wondeing how I felt about hitting a girl directly... even if you're just an UMA in the form of one. With those rules, I'll be able to run wild with my Vongola Gear."

"What a sweet little thing to say. You're so cute, Gokudera-kun." Okay, Ariah was getting some major creeped out vibes from this whole thing. What the hell is an UMA? "The field is this entire town. If the duel isn't over within five minutes, it's a tie. In the event of a tie, the Vindice will take us both away to their prison. Just like the battle between Ryohei and Kouyou.

"Let's begin, Gokudera-kun."

"Fine by me," he growled, but then turned to them. "But before that, Juudaime, Ariah-chan! It would be awful if you two got hurt, please take cover somewhere safe, as far away as you can from here!" he told them.

Ariah spluttered, "What?"

"Ah, right! I got it! Watch yourself, Gokudera!" Tsuna told him, grabbing her arm and pulling her away. She followed, reluctantly.

"Again with, 'Juudaime this', 'Juudaime that'," the Shimon woman lamented scornfully.

Ariah didn't see what happened next, she was busy scooping up both her father and Lambo – and then setting said father on her shoulder so he couldn't abuse the other child after Lambo started crying, bruise on his head from where the man hit him. She did however turn around in time to See Shitopi-san hug Gokudera, arms and legs wrapping around him.

"Living on the comfort of others if proof of weakness," the strange girl purred. "I'm talking about living for the sake of anyone... living for the sake of the Juudaime. Having no confidence in yourself, and being completely dependent on others. Right now, Gokudera-kun, if the Juudaime were to disappear, your sense of honour would crumble and you'd turn lifeless, like a corpse. I also have people I love. I love Enma, and Adelheid, and Kaoru, and Rauji, and Koujou. I'm not really sure about Julie... But, Gokudera-kun, you're cute. So I love you too.

"But the one I love most, is me.

"My sense, my thought process, and my style... My big tits, my thighs... My self-respect. I love me more than anything," she told him powerfully, before bracing herself against his shoulders and flipping upwards, her heeled feet lashing out and stabbing into one of the balloons – popping it.

"THAT'S WHY I'M STRONG!" She flipped away, turning the ground to mud as she dodged away. "My flame is of the seven elements of the earth, the flame of the Swamp. I can ferment any inorganic substance into a bottomless swamp!" she declared.

"But Gokudera-kun's heart, which has been living only for Sawada Tsunayoshi... is brittle. Normally you don't even try to look past his facade." She landed on top of a building and straightened, condescending smile on her face. "Shall I show you right in front of your eyes that 'no matter how you think about him, Sawada Tsunayoshi is no good'?" she asked playfully. "You know that I've always closely observed Gokudera-kun. Gokudera-kun has somehow pushed himself to see Sawada Tsunayoshi as the figure of a Vongola Boss. He looks past all the 'no-good' parts of Sawada Tsunayoshi. But Sawada Tsunayoshi... is incredibly ignorant," she pointed out, pulling a photograph from a pocket.

Ariah blinked, those were... test papers. A picture of test papers?

"His midterms and finals always score less than tenth from last. If you take an average of everything... he's one of the top three people who have repeated grades the most."

"HIIIIIIIIIIEE! HOW DID YOU FIND THAT OUT?!" Tsuna squealed, flailing in horror. Ariah looked at him in shock, that was true?! That – that was Marcus Flint level of dumb! He was the only person she'd ever heard of failing a year and needing to repeat and he actually had Troll blood in him (At least that was what the Gryffindors thought).

"If it was just that, what would you think of him as the Vongola Boss... But on top of that, he's a complete pervert. On the way home from school, on countrless occasions, he's stalked Sasagawa Kyoko. He stays a fixed distance right behind her and follows her."

"Th-That was just to see Kyoko-chan, but, I didn't have to courage to say anything!" the brunet tried to defend. Ariah snickered a little in amusement.

"And on top of that, when Sasagawa Kyoko's skirt was blown up by the wind, he made this face." She produced a second photograph of quite possibly one of the most hilarious reaction expressions Ariah had seen in a long time, she burst out laughing as Tsuna freaked. "He also made this face when he caught Serafino Ariah changing in the living room." A third picture was produced and Tsuna went chalk white and tried to run away a moment before Reborn kicked his feet out from under him. Ariah stopped laughing and went to separate them.

Shitopi-san gave them a passing glance, the hitman was throttling his student while the daughter tried to break them up, and the cow-child took his chance to dig through the bags for sweets. Hardly very dignified, any of them. She turned back to cute Gokudera-kun.

"He has no sense of excellence or superiority. In sprinting, starting from kindergarten he was dead last. In his phys Ed test, he was also dead last. Because of Sawada Tsunayoshi, they lost that the last minute at least twelve times. And he's even afraid of chihuahuas."

Ariah finally dragged her father off her friend in time to catch that last statement and snickered, as she hefted Reborn in one arm and dragged Tsuna up with the other.

"She sure did her homework," Reborn observed, still giving Tsuna the evil eye. The brunet physically cowered behind Ariah away from him and she patted his head with a giggle.

"What do you think, Gokudera-kun? Wake uyp and look at the reality of your no-good Juudaime. If the Sawada Tsunayoshi you worship wasn't rhw Vongola Juudaime, you wouldn't think he was anything but a regular no-good loser," Shitopi-chan hammered home.

Tsuna sniffed a little, his head tipping forward to rest on Ariah's shoulder. It was all the truth anyway, he couldn't defend himself from that. Gokudera had more than likely become disillusioned and Tsuna was going to lose one of his precious friends because he was a no-good loser. And not even Reborn could change that.

"Is that all?" Gokudera deadpanned.

And then Shitopi-san exploded, one of her balloons popping in the process.

"Before giving away all my secrets, I'll tell you this," Gokudera told her as she jumped to a second roof, looking around for where the dynamites could have possibly come from – she'd kept her eyes on Gokudera-kun almost the whole time, there was no way she couldn't have noticed him deploying them! "All those no-good parts of the Juudaime you were talking about... Of course, I knew all about them."

"Even so, what about them?" Gokudera demanded, eyeing her like she was some kind of idiot. "That doesn't make up more than one side of the Juudaime. The Juudaime that I think about, the Vongola Juudaime whom I respect greatly... Had nothing to do with him.

"Sure, I'm fighting for Juudaime and to be the Juudaime's Right Hand man!" Gokudera shouted as he sprinted forward, "That's why I still don't like myself! That's not my weakness. Because the Juudaime's Right Hand man that I'm aiming for is far higher up than the current me! There are so many things that I'm missing!" he shouted, throwing out several handfuls of dynamite, "Stretch myself!" A shadow of Uri landed behind her. "And scheme!"

"I don't get what you're saying," Shitopi told him, frowning as her claws deployed, stretching out to meet the various dynamites rocketing towards her.

"Maybe an UMA can't understand." He flung more dynamite out. "And now, I'll tell you how I did that surprise bomb just then! The Storm's VG has dynamites as its main weapon, but it also has a detached secret weapon. And now, that secret is aiming for the catnip that I put on you!"

"Cat nip?" Shitopi repeated, bewildered. Right before she turned and spotted the scarlet flamed cat falling down onto her. 'A tail fuse?!' she realised, spotting the odd fact that half of the poor feline's tail hair had been shaved off – no, not shaved, burned.

"This is the Storm VG's secret weapon, and, at the same time, it's my other self." The cat expoloded.

Throwing Shitopi off the roof and popping her last remaining balloon.

Gokudera grinned as she hit the ground in a crouch and Uri, ten times smaller than she used to be, landed on his shoulder – and then started clawing his face in demand for more catnip. Ariah laughed as Tsuna immediately started cheering.

"You did it Gokudera-kun! You won! That was awesome!"

"Piece of cake! I said that hurts!" he then shouted at Uri who had migrated from his cheek to his nose, biting and scratching.

"Huh? Don't you think Uri's shrunk somehow?" Tsuna asked as the group made their way back to the Storm Guardian.

He grinned as Ariah immediately took the tiny feline away from him, carefully unhooking those nasty klitten claws from his face. Apparently Uri liked her a lot better than Gokudera and was quite content to be scratched and stroked and rubbed by the other girl.

"Yeah, since the Yuri bomb consumed Uri's own flames, the more we use it, the smaller she gets. I think when she regained her strength in about three to four days she'll be back to her normal size," he explained trying to stem the flow of blood her claws had done to his face.

"The victor and the defeated have been decided." Ariah shivered as shadows formed and three figures in black with bandaged faces formed behind the other girl.

"The defeated is Shitt.P of the Shimon Famiglia. And now, I will give you the third 'key' that I was entrusted with by Giotto and Cozart." A letter with a red wax seal fluttered to life in his hands before glowing. "Take us to the past of the Vongola and Shimon."

Light sparked on the foreheads of everyone, save Ariah and Reborn, who exchanged glances of worry.

000

I know it has been entirely too long since my last update. I have no excuse beyond reasons and lack of motivation.

I will try to be a lot more prompt with future chapters. In fact, I am now dedicating Fridays to update Wintertide until it is finished. Hopefully I can stick to this.