Clover

aaaand back to plot

Whoever told Hibari that <i>the avatar</i> was in Namimori should be <i>drawn and quartered</i>. (Skip the hanging; it gets in the way.) Or at least that's Hayato's opinion and he's sticking to it. And of course then the Tenth was worried, and he's not exactly going to leave the Tenth unattended (not least because the Tenth's firebending ability is ... erratic, at best, and benders can sometimes sense other people who bend their element; at least Hayato's a known firebender) and so here he is, with the Tenth and the sword idiot, watching that guy fight the avatar.

When he finds out who told Hibari about this, he is going to leave a rocket in their <i>bed</i>.

The funny thing is that Hibari seems to be winning so far. The avatar -- Hayato is pretty sure he's heard his name before (at least half of the Fire Nation has, on wanted posters if nothing else) but he can't bring himself to care enough to use it -- started off using some airbending, but after Hibari's bloodyminded attempts to quell any currents he called and his flat, "No bending," he seemed so pleased to have found an airbending <i>psychopath</i> that he just fought with his quarterstaff.

Hayato is not sure how anyone could be cheerful while Hibari is trying to beat their face in. It goes against all reason, and, indeed, self-preservation. Hibari is <i>scary</i>. Even if the avatar hadn't found any of the scattered air nomads -- which is plausible, he supposes; most have more sense than to show that they're airbenders in public: it's just that Hibari is <i>weird</i> and has no concept of subtlety when he can just terrify people into submission -- it's still ... it's still Hibari. It's hard to get past the fact of Hibari.

The avatar and Hibari've been fighting for at least five minutes (Hayato's not sure how the avatar's lasted this long, really; he keeps <i>evading</i> and that pretty much ensures that Hibari is thoroughly pissed off) when the sword idiot seems to notice something, or more likely someone. He waves to someone Hayato can't see, and gestures enough to pull up an ice sign reading "Look this way →" with terrible, terrible penmanship. The girl whose attention he wanted to grab looks over; Hayato whacks the sword idiot in the head for drawing attention to the Tenth.

The sword idiot makes another sign, this time to hold up: "Come join?" She smiles hesitantly and walks over, carefully avoiding Hibari and the avatar's fight. She watches it for a moment, though, and nods slightly after spotting the avatar's cheerful grin.


Katara ... isn't quite sure what to think. When she saw that Aang was fighting ... someone ... her first instinct was to help, of course, but he seems satisfied enough with it and she can't begrudge him a sparring match. Particularly not when he looks like he's having fun and the guy he's fighting seems ... well. That doesn't count in her book as 'having fun'; that's more 'irritable tigerseal'. But Aang's not bothered by it, so she supposes it's probably all right. It's not as though he should have any difficulty against someone who actually wanted to hurt him.

She's pretty sure.

But more importantly she notices Yamamoto's watching them fight with two -- friends? and even if he ran off like that last time she saw him, he'd seemed nice enough. He's certainly smiling cheerily now, so whatever bothered him then isn't bothering him as much now. (Or possibly he doesn't mind that he and his friends are probably in trouble anyway; it's not as though he can worry too much about running into the avatar when Aang is <i>right there</i>.) So she goes.

"Hi," she says.

"Haha, hi, Katara!" Yamamoto says in a tone like he'd normally be loud but he isn't right now for some reason. (Maybe he doesn't want the attention from Aang or whoever he's fighting? Katara's not very good at this.) "Tsuna, Gokudera, this is Katara; she's a waterbender! Katara, this is Tsuna and Gokudera."

"Hi," says Tsuna.

"Fuck off," says Gokudera.

"Gokudera is grumpy today," says Yamamoto as he drapes one arm over Gokudera's shoulder. "It's okay, though."

... Katara has a feeling he is grumpy every day. "So what's going on? I see Aang is ..."

Tsuna sighs, frowning slightly, before saying, "He went up to Hibari and asked him about airbending." He rubs at his forehead, sighing louder, before continuing, "Hibari didn't approve. He ... doesn't think bending is decent. I think your friend's trying to make friends with Hibari, only ... he's Hibari. It's not going to work."

"I bet Aang could make it work."

"I bet Hibari could break his nose," Gokudera contributes cheerfully.

"That's not very nice," Tsuna says as he flicks Gokudera in the head. Gokudera frowns, but doesn't apologize. "Hibari's only going to consider anything he wants to say if he manages to beat Hibari in a fight. Without bending. And it doesn't look like that's going to happen."

not sure how much of this is coherent. also these segments are pretty CONTEXT? WHAT CONTEXT

Tsuna says he's not a bender. And that's mostly true, or true unless one is counting bending <i>ability</i> rather than actual bending. He could probably bend if he wanted to. In some circles, his bending is an open secret; why would a group of benders all follow someone who was not also a bender? Particularly Hibari; it's common knowledge that he has no respect for anyone who could not defeat him in a fight if they tried, and the idea of Tsuna besting him in hand to hand combat is simply ludicrous. But no one's ever seen him bend, or at least seen him bend and said anything about it. And Tsuna is just fine with that.

And if his secret bending ability makes a few people a bit less likely to want to pick a fight since they're not sure what he'll do, that's even better.


Hibari hates bending in fights. More accurately, Hibari hates tainting a perfectly good hand-to-hand fight with <i>bending</i>. It's cheap and it's lazy. (That Hibari's own form of bending is best suited towards evasion does not escape him; airbending works best at a <i>distance</i> and unfortunately he finds distance fights unsatisfying. It's only fair that if he's not going to bend, they're not going to bend, either; it's <i>symmetrical</i>.) As such, he feels perfectly justified in pulling up a wind and all the dust he can muster to stop anyone who tries to cheat, or worse, run away.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as watching a firebender accidentally light their own hair on fire. Even bent fire doesn't ignore the path of least resistance.

THIS WEEK IN KHR

20:14:19 <@daikonpan> GOKUDERA: "That light looks like his psychokinesis attack!!" khr. I am confused.
20:15:02 <@daikonpan> "Don't think that you're the only one who's angry!!" Tsuna what the hell.
20:16:24 <@daikonpan> ... right Enma is a cyborg. I forgot. Thank you, current arc.
20:16:45 < NWT> ninth boss was a cyborg for a bit.
20:17:07 <@daikonpan> no, he was used as a battery for a giant robot. there is a difference.
20:17:16 <@daikonpan> Enma is a cyborg.
20:17:41 <@daikonpan> ... Tsuna's outfit is changing every page. What the hell.
20:18:18 < Walker> bored artist?
20:18:32 <@daikonpan> Walker: she is drawing CYBORGS.
20:18:43 <@daikonpan> PSYCHIC CYBORGS.
20:18:45 <@daikonpan> IN THE MAFIA.
20:19:40 <@daikonpan> "YOU ARE THE SON OF SAWADA IEMITSU, THE MAN WHO KILLED MY PARENTS AND MY SISTER" ... ... ... what the fuck. ... dear Enma Tsuna has seen his dad for like fifteen minutes over the past ten years
20:20:08 <@daikonpan> mind you Enma has this giant idiot ball anyway so \o_O/ probably Julie is making it all up like a winner
20:20:45 <@daikonpan> "This is bad..." wow really Reborn I thought the whole 'I WON'T EVER FORGIVE YOU UNTIL I KILL YOU' thing was Enma being friendly

And that is this week in KHR. I could post pics but it's just cyborg Enma and Enma and Tsuna trying to out-laser each other. It is kind of lame. Though Adelheid is like "ENMA WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOT" and Enma is like "I'M NOT A KID ANYMORE ADEL!!" which is clearly a lie. MEANWHILE Julie is making faces like 'I am the smuggest creepy bastard who ever did smug.' So yeah.

Ah.

I'll just change it when the time is up, then. Thank you.

Could you change my name back to Blastoise, please?

Aaaand the bits for today! There are probably bits between yesterday's second segment and today's.

Katara knows that she's being watched as soon as she steps into the restaurant, and she doesn't mean in a 'know where your customers are' sense, either. It takes her a few seconds to figure out where it's coming from, but she realizes it's the boy at the back table. She thinks he'd count as a boy, anyway; he's probably a bit older than Zuko, though he's nowhere near as short as most firefolk she's seen. She nearly considers leaving after she notices that he doesn't ever entirely shift his focus away from her, but she hasn't had good fish in days. And if there's one thing the Fire Nation does well that most people should leave to the Water Tribes, it's fish.

But after she's done eating, he's still there, poking at his trout absently. He's also still keeping an eye on her most of the time, and it's with that in mind that she stands up and storms over. "Looking for something?" she growls.

"Haa, no, no!" he says easily, and while his grin's not quite infectious it's still pretty bright. "You're from one of the water tribes, aren't you?" Somehow he doesn't sound accusatory like most of the people she's met in the Fire Nation. It's just friendly interest.

She has better things to do than show friendly interest. "Yeah, Southern," she almost snaps, arms crossed across her chest. "Waterbender, too."

"Hn~?" He glances around the room -- it's empty except for the two girls at the table one over -- and says, "Haha, what a coincidence!" as he flips his full tea cup over and it doesn't spill.

... What. "... What." No, seriously, what? This is the Fire Nation.

"My mother's from the Foggy Swamp, haha," he says, and he looks so embarrassed as he scratches the back of his head that it's probably true. "-- Would you mind sparring with me? Hah, I've never met someone from the Southern Water Tribe before.... Tsuna's never going to believe this..."

She accepts, because what else is she supposed to do?


The guy -- he introduces himself as Yamamoto Takeshi, which makes her feel awkward for a moment because the Southern Water Tribe doesn't usually use family names, not to mention he's a Fire Nation waterbender, what is up with that? -- is actually not half-bad, even if he does bend all wrong. He doesn't bend like a waterbender, but he doesn't bend like she's seen Zuko bend, either; Zuko is always on the offensive. ... No, Yamamoto bends sort of like Toph would if she bent water instead of earth; he waits until he sees an opening and then moves exactly as much as he needs to. His stance is somewhere between water and fire, but his fighting style is all earth. It's weird.

It's not as weird as that sword he uses as he bends, though, and that's really what brings up the comparison to Zuko; Zuko's the only bender she's ever met who's nearly as focused on weaponry as on bending. This guy's clearly outclassed when it comes to sheer bending skill, though, while he seems to be competent enough with the sword for her to decide that he should spar Sokka if either of them are in the right area. His bending is weird, and his swordplay weirder, but she's still quite able to toy with him as soon as she understands the shape of his fighting.

He doesn't seem to mind, though. "That was fun, haha!" he says afterwards, grinning as widely as he had before their fight; she smiles back, slightly hesitant. "So what are you doing in Namimori?"

"A -- One of my friends heard something about an airbender."

She almost misses it, but Yamamoto tenses briefly at the word 'airbender'. "Eeh? The air nation's been gone for a hundred years," he says, and his poker face is pretty much perfect. But she's pretty sure she saw it....

"Air Nomads," she corrects. "But Aang said that Zuko said that --" Oh, right, she was trying to be stealthy. A bit stealthy, anyway.

"Zuko?" he says, and then he's gone.

These are other bits I wrote yesterday:

Aang is nowhere near as hasty as Zuko seems to think he is. It annoys him a little -- he's not a kid! He can totally manage to convince a rogue air nomad to go back to being a pacifist! And he can do laundry! Geez, Zuko, lighten up! -- but to be fair, Zuko is always always always nervous. It's kind of endearing, really; he can worry about everything at the same time and still get things done. How does he do it?! Aang has no clue whatsoever.

Maybe Sokka knows. And maybe Sokka and Katara are interested in helping him make friends with a rogue airbender! So Aang hops on Appa to go stop by the South Pole and pick up Sokka or at least Katara before heading to -- what was it? Namimori? Fire Nation names are weird. It's amazing that people in the Fire Nation actually manage to remember things like that.


"Come on, Katara, please~?" he whines as he tries to mimic Momo's face whenever he's begging for food. He's not very good at it.

Katara looks at him like he's an idiot. "Aang, we just got home. We have things to do. Things that don't involve -- that don't involve crazy Fire Nation pirates!"

This is true. This is probably incredibly true and there's nothing Aang can say to change her mind. But just in case, he tries the one detail even Katara shouldn't be able to resist: "There's a waterbender there."

"-- What?"

"This airbender guy Kyouya's friends or allies or coworkers or whatever. At least one of them's a waterbender."

Katara's got that expression like she's trying to find some way to fit a piece inside her head and it's not quite working. Yeah, I just won this, Aang thinks. "... You said they're Fire Nation pirates, didn't you?"

"Not exactly pirates, but yes. Yes, they are. And Zuko needs someone to investigate and maybe get the airbender to stop scaring people. Come on, please~?"

"This is ridiculous," Katara says, but it isn't a no.


Sawada Tsunayoshi hates his life.

Well, that's a given: Tsuna has never not hated his life, and he has a feeling that that's never going to change. Or it never would have been going to change, anyway, even if Reborn hadn't declared that he needed to take over the $atlavongola. Now it's definitely not going to change unless he finds some way to get out of it, and by this point he's starting to doubt if there is one.

It doesn't help that Yamamoto just gave him a report saying that he's found a spy for the current Fire Lord oh spirits and it's fairly likely that the Fire Lord's going to send someone to investigate soon. That's not good! That's like the opposite of good! Thankfully, no one's done anything to the guy Yamamoto's sure is secretly reporting to Fire Lord Zuko and if Tsuna has anything to say about it that's not going to change. (And Tsuna's briefly very glad that he does have something to say about it, but only briefly.)

... He hasn't actually heard that much about Fire Lord Zuko, which isn't unexpected given that it's only a month or so into his reign (though the specific dates are often a bit fuzzy on the more remote islands; as fast as messenger hawks go, there's not much one can do about the distance without a dragon or a sky bison and they're gone) and Reborn doesn't tend to share information that isn't immediately necessary. And frankly, it's a lot more important to pay attention to the power vacuums left after Sozin's Comet (and there are a lot of power vacuums; the $atlavongola is about the only notable group that didn't take advantage of the increased firepower to remove their neighbors) and keep everyone truly evil out of the general vicinity than it is to worry about politics when it'll take a while for anything to trickle down all the way out here.

And as bad as Hibari is, he's worlds better than a lot of the alternatives and at least he's rarely willing to leave Namimori itself. It's a saving grace, if a minor one. He's at least stopped starting fights with anyone who isn't worth his time (which is most people, thankfully) and Namimori's safer. Probably. ... It's safe from anyone not named Hibari, anyway, and that's an improvement.

Help I have some deep urge to actually research stuff relating to terrible crossover fanfic. /)_(\ Also what the hell do I rename the Vongola to.

OKAY this is what I've written of it today. I don't actually have much else of this AU written, but who cares. NOT ME that's who. UNEDITED, POST-SERIES.



Zuko's trying to work on paperwork for the eighth time that day when a certain airbender polevaults through a window and lands directly in front of his desk. Unfortunately, the scroll he was reading then flies off the desk, and the airbender's picking it up and reading through it before Zuko can say, "Aang. What."

"I thought you might be lonely, so I dropped in!" Aang says cheerily. "-- What's this character mean?"

He looks over at where Aang's pointing on the scroll. "Indigo. ... Aang," Zuko says slowly, in attempt to get him to listen, "you can't just keep dropping in like this."

The airbender grins. "Aaaand why not, oh mysterious Fire Lord? Too busy drowning in paperwork?"

"Because I'll leave you bleeding in six places the first time I don't recognize you immediately," Mai says flatly from her vantage point on the ceiling; Aang jumps. "You give his guards a headache."

"Erp," says Aang eloquently. "I'll knock next time, then!"

"Please do," Zuko and Mai say together.

"-- so! What's this scroll about?" Aang tries; Zuko's well aware that he must have realized at some point that the only way Zuko's going to have time to wander around and do fun things with his friend is if he gets as many people as possible to help with the paperwork. (Unfortunately, 'as many people as possible' usually ends up meaning 'whatever combination of Mai, Sokka, Aang, and Toph is available.' ... Toph is remarkably skilled at cutting to the cruft of the matter if she has someone to read for her; he's called in a favour or three to get her to dictate trade agreements before.)

... Frankly, Zuko doesn't want to talk about the scroll. "I didn't finish reading it," he says, and while it's not exactly accurate he says it deadpan enough that it might be interpreted as true.

Either way, Aang hands him the scroll. "Then read it!"

It's not a very cheery scroll. It's the sort of the thing Zuko wishes he didn't have to deal with, in fact; a lot of the Fire Nation's organized crime syndicates stayed on the down low during the war, mainly because Azulon and then Ozai wouldn't tolerate anything that might disrupt the war effort. (Actually, he has a feeling that Ozai at least might have subtly encouraged some of it, simply because some form of order in the colonies is preferable to none and anyone he appointed would likely end up dead in a ditch within the week. Did end up dead in a ditch frequently, though Zuko wasn't exactly usually in the loop.) And while Zuko deeply appreciates the end of the war...

... it means a lot more headaches for him. The group that particular scroll is on is one of the ones he minds less -- he hasn't found anything particularly bad they have their claws in, and the drug trade in their territory is more or less non-existent -- but it's also one of the ones that's been expanding significantly since the end of the war. And if that report is accurate, he thinks he may know why that one in particular has been thriving.

Zuko sighs, and tries to decide how exactly to explain this to Aang. He glances briefly upward to see if Mai plans on rescuing him, but unfortunately she's fallen back into her bodyguard trance and she has no intention of helping him with such trifles as conversation.

Aang waits for a solid minute before asking, "Did that scroll say there's an airbender involved in organized crime?"

Zuko sighs. "It's not verified, but -- yes. One of my spies suspects that Hibari Kyouya is secretly an airbender." And what a mess that'd turn out to be if it's true....

"That's great!" Aang says. "Well, no. Not really. But there's an airbender other than me! In the Fire Nation!"

"A yakuza airbender," Zuko states, slightly worried that Aang might have missed the important bit. "An airbender who has been traveling throughout the outer islands extorting people as he goes."

He thinks about this for a minute. (Or at least Zuko's pretty sure he's thinking; it's hard to tell some days.) "I could go try talking to him," Aang says. "I might be able to get him to stop."

... Zuko considers this. On one hand, this is an absolutely terrible idea and in the event that Aang actually managed to get Hibari to stop terrorizing the countryside, Hibari's boss would probably not approve. On the other hand, it's Aang: Aang can do nearly anything. ... Unfortunately Zuko is pretty sure that 'dying' is on his list of infinite talents. So letting the avatar go off to fight organized crime is slightly below taunting Azula on the 'completely freaking insane' scale.

... On a third hand, if Zuko said no, Aang would go do it anyway. And then Zuko wouldn't even be able to know who Aang is trusting today. "... Yeah. Okay."

I stuck up a newer version on pastebin, though I have lately not been writing that much. Also said friend has a name! She is Julia. opal has met her. :O

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/3023/poster4001sp2.jpg Oh, Daemon Spade, you're so ridiculous. The rest of Team Primo is also ridiculous but Daemon Spade's character design cracks me up. He's like Mukuro except more fabulous.

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9376/poster4002.jpg HIBARI CLONEPILE Feng is best

http://i974.photobucket.com/albums/ae221/pestetada/MinitokyoKatekyoHitmanRebornScans_4.jpg ... Did Hibird fuse with Ryouhei?

http://i39.tinypic.com/2r5atls.jpg It's a pity it has SAMPLE plastered over it because I clearly need doctor Mukuro icons. There's an official doctor Mukuro figurine floating around somewhere! And cop Hibari. But cop Hibari isn't instantly hilarious.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4585/82313010.jpg IT'S THEIR POKÉMON except for Gyuudon because apparently no one likes Gyuudon. Poor Gyuudon. ... Is Kojirou wearing headphones or something?

/LEAVES MORE VISITOR MESSAGES

Hibari has a character song titled 証 (akashi). 01:55:14 <dywypi> 証 [あかし] /(n) (1) proof/evidence/testimony/(vs) (2) to testify (usu. Christian religious context)/(P)/
01:55:15 <dywypi> 証拠(P);證據(oK) [しょうこ] /(n) evidence/proof/(P)/
01:55:16 <dywypi> 証券(P);證券(oK) [しょうけん] /(n) securities/bonds/certificates/(P)/

I am now picturing Prosecutor Hibari.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2396/15175471.png It's a G! And a Giotto!

FROM THIS CHAPTER:
"And that is why I still don't love myself yet!!"
"I've got to tone up, get taller, and stretch!" gokudera please don't try to 'grow taller'
gokudera hayato's secret weapon: catnip.
happy Gokudera is happy
Oh and then Shitt P declares, "Gokudera-kun is a strange, rare lifeform. Species name: Snugglyus maximus uma." Gokudera is confused :(
And then Tsuna is like I WILL RESCUE EVERYBODY AFTER THIS!! and Enma is like SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI IT IS TIME TO BATTLE!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img474.jpg I like how apparently Kyouko just does not care about the fact that Ryouhei has a rifle. I'm not sure what Hibari is doing with guns, though. Hibari with firearms seems like a strange idea.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img434.jpg On one hand, questionably drawn tylYamamoto and Ryouhei. On the other hand, motorcycle.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img447.jpg Spanner looks disturbingly amused by whatever he is looking at on his laptop. Meanwhile, Tsuna seems to be trying to turn into Reborn except with scarier eyes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img452.jpg ADORABLE SUPERDEFORMED GOKUDERA AND MUKURO WITH THEIR BOXES 8D ... is Gokudera drawn taller than Mukuro there? That's not right; Mukuro is 177.5 cm and Gokudera is 168 cm. (I did have to look that up, though I knew offhand that Gokudera is the shortest of the guys, ignoring Tsuna and apparently Longchamp. ... Oh and he's apparently the same height as Ryouhei. Huh. Gokudera is slightly taller comparatively than I thought.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img454.jpg Is Squalo sulking? He looks like he's sulking. Also haha Franc.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img456.jpg Gokudera is so nerdy that he has a little pencil grip thingy. Spanner's expression is great. Irie looks a bit crazed. Giannini is a lot crazed. Yamamoto is out of place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img461.jpg idk my bff hibird

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img471.jpg Gokudera with a really stupid expression!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img475.jpg Hibari liek fireworks.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img478.jpg Xanxus and Squalo gained like eight levels in gay 10yl.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img479.jpg I sort of think Tsuna wants to tell Spanner BUT ALL THE WIRES ARE RED here. Even though it isn't accurate.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img480.jpg Fanservice Gokudera just because

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img484.jpg Reborn is secretly a furry, or possibly a superhero. Wait, did I say 'secretly'?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/Daddylion/KHReborn%20Scans/Postcard%20Scans/img487.jpg tylGokudera drinks coffee from CANS. And is okay with Uri sitting on a railing.

Hey Ty.

Erm... since you changed my username to begin with, and it won't let me edit it, can you change my username to Grammar Nazi?

aaaa

aaaaa

ty lee you so cute ;w;

midnight.... puppy

midnight puppy

Hello, Midnight puppy! Do you like to be petted?

(also that's not an actual thing, is it? It doesn't seem like an actual thing)

(also thanks!)

World's cutest James fanart.