Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn - The Heart of Darkness -

Chapter 15

"Shiho-sama." They kneeled.

Shiho was totally clueless. Who were these twins brother and sister that appeared in front of her all of sudden in such an ancient ninja clothings? Her confused face looked so obvious that they decided to tell more clues.

"You might have forgotten but we are from Yue clan that has protected the bosses since the first generation. Our father served your father in his times."

"... Uncle Touma?"

Both of them nodded their heads.

"Then you two are... Shika? Chika?"

The guy and the girl nodded again when their names was called. Those twins were younger than Shiho. When the coup d'etat happened, they were only 2 years old. To think that they were still alive.

"We are your guardians, Shiho-sama. Your wish is our order and our life is yours to command."

Shiho grinned, "I'll never find other guardians better than you guys. Guard my back well."

"Yes, Shiho-sama." They bowed.

"Now, please follow us to the arena. Spectators please wait at the ground." Cervello proceed with the battle arrangements. The six people followed quietly. They were taken to the underground shelter. Before the door was opened, they explained the rules.

"Since it is different from Vongola Ring Battle, the winner is decided when one of you give up or die. The guardians must win along with the boss. If only the boss win, we will make decision on who will be the winner. The duty of Segreto's successor is to become the darkness that engulfs everything. No secret can escape. He will protect the family even at the darkest of time."

Shiho and Alexina looked at each other. They knew that once they entered the arena, it will be no longer Hime-chi or Shina-neesan. It'll only be a battle between the Varia and the Katsura. 

"... Shika, Chika, this is an order. Do not interfere in my battle no matter how bad a condition I'm in, including death."

"But, Shiho-sama, we are your shield."

"Do I make myself clear?" Shiho asked, ignoring Shika's statement.

Both of them has no choice but to say, "Understood."

"The same goes to the two of you." Alexina commanded. Her two guardians nodded. 

"... One more thing... Do not die." Shiho commanded. Shika and Chika nodded, "Yes!"

The Cervello took the two teams each to a different door prepared. Shiho was at the North door. She expected Alexina will be at the south door. The door was opened. There was nothing except the darkness. 

"The darkness is the domain of Segreto's boss. You'll fight in the total darkness. Traps are prepared in various point inside. You will fight while avoiding traps that could be activated anytime, anywhere in there. Once the door is closed, the battle starts. Is that clear?"

The three of them nodded. 

"I believe it should be no problem for you guys?" Shiho asked.

"Yes, we are trained in darkness ever since we are young."

"Ok. Let's meet again outside, alive."

After they went in, the door was closed. Nothing could be seen. Even if the hands was put in front of the eyes, they could see nothing. Moreover, the echoes of every footsteps made it even more difficult to rely on hearing to ascertain the location of the enemy. Nobody knows how big the place is. It was definitely a shelter but none of them went inside before as it was always locked. From here onwards, it was the two guardians vs the two guardians and the boss vs the boss. 

The footsteps were getting louder. Looks like the Varia side has an upper hand. But... Shiho noticed something weird. They were too fast. It was as if they could see as clear as normal in this darkness. Shiho was immediately attacked. It was definitely Alexina who attacked her. It was only an enemy. The guardians were onto Shika and Chika. 

Not knowing the enemy's weapon was another disadvantage. However, she didn't know what Shiho's weapon too. She managed to avoid all the attacks by luck. But her intuition won't last long. She was not Tsuna with Hyper Intuition after all. She stopped using her eyes to see and feel her surrounding.

... The fighting style I'm gonna teach you is a soft style. Taking advantage of opponents' power and turn it against them. You need to read the flow of energy of everything. It might seems easy but the process isn't....

*Feel it... The flow of energy...*

A presence appeared in front of her. Not visible but its there. Shiho could feel when the next attack is gonna come by feeling where the energy flowed to.

... Since you can already feel presence, by reading the flow of energy, you'll be able to predict where the attack will come from. Your weak heart could stand the pressure longer as you are using more of opponents' power than your own....

It was a punch coming. Shiho managed to dodge the attack and grabbed the hand that attacked and by twisting it a bit, she could feel that she caught Alexina by surprise. Shiho tackled her leg and that made her lost balance and retreated back a bit. She got on her position to anticipate the next attack. That simple struggle lasted for at least 15 minutes. But Shiho didn't feel tired at all. Indeed, this fighting style suited her. Although the attack damage will not be much but if she could tire her opponent out, she could win. 

Suddenly, something was shot towards them. Shiho didn't manage to fully avoid it and it cut her left arm. *The traps! By the look of it, its somekind of arrow...*

She heard a groan from the darkness. She guessed Alexina didn't avoid it in time too and her injury was worse than hers. However, she didn't have time to worry about her. Hundreds of arrows were onto their directions. The sound of the wind will never lie. Rather than wasting energy avoiding each of them, she moved to another direction where the sound of the wind is less heard. 

She took the chance to grab hold of Alexina and touched her eyes to confirm her suspicison of why the Varia side could move so fast and swift.

"As expected... You are wearing a night vision google. Furthermore, its heat type. No wonder you couldn't sense the arrow fast enough..." Shiho said and took the google off. She threw it somewhere in the darkness. Alexina escaped from her hold and moved further from her.

"Hime-chi... No, Katsura Shiho." Alexina's voice echoed in the darkness, "Why do you fight?"

"... That should be very obvious... To reclaim my family."

"Don't you know that you father didn't wish for you to do so?"

"Eh?"