Target 001: Tsuruhime

Luce knew she was dying, she held the orange pacifier close to her chest as she slowly breathed in and out. Her daughter Aria came close to her, crying as she stroked her mother's hair.

Luce could feel her life coming to an end, she handed the orange pacifier to her daughter and whispered words of parting.

As she gave her final breath Luce steadied herself, pushing all her power into one last move. A blinding light filled her death room.

'I hope you find happiness… Reborn…'

"Ciaossu, Nono." A young baby says, greeting the Old Italian with respect. This picture in itself looked strange, after all, how could a two year old baby speak with such clear words and strong authority in his voice?

"Reborn," the man-Nono-replied, "you grew taller."

The baby scoffed at Nono's words, "Nonsense Nono, we Arcobaleno are cursed to stay babies for the rest of our lives. We will stay like this until the curse is released or removed."

Nono smiled, then averted the flow of the conversation, "Reborn, Iemitsu's daughter was born last week." Nono paused, then said, "I need you to do a favour for me, as my old friend."

"What is it?" Reborn snapped, "I need to get to Roma after this." He held a green gun in the air.

"I need you to… Marry Sawada Tsuruhime."

"Yeah, yeah fine..." Reborn turned around on his heel about to walk out the room but then stopped. "… M… MARRY!?"

As a child Tsuruhime Sawada always knew there was something… wrong, something different about her compared to the rest of her peers. No real five year old child could solve equations destined for teens at least a decade older than herself. No five year old child was able to tell the teacher what the whole Periodic Table consisted of. No five year old child was bullied like her.

By the end of the first week of school Tsuru knew she was hated… that she was different from the beginning. It was only a matter of time before others found out.

She had held her usual poker face she wore at school until as her classmate had slapped her. A sharp pain had filled her cheek but she couldn't bring herself to cry.

"This is for taking Ken-kun from me!" The girl who slapped her cried, "I hate you! Ken-kun liked me first!"

Tsuru couldn't tell how this girl felt, Ken-kun she says, but Tsuru doesn't even know any boys, and she definitely doesn't know a Ken-kun. "Makimoto-san…. I… don't k-know who… who Ken-chan is!" Tsuru shouted, angry at the girl's stupidity and one-track mind.

"Aya-chan, time to go!" A male voice resounded from the gate, the girl jolted and looked in the direction of the front gate.

"I… I'm coming Otou-san!" She shouted back, she then turned and pointed her index finger at me as if telling off a dog, "Don't you ever try to take Ken-chan from me again!" She then ran off, leaving Tsuru to walk home alone.

Once Tsuru arrived at the door, her mother opened it, her once happy smile turned into a sinister one, even though it looked the same Tsuru could feel something was off.

"Tsu-ch… What happened to you!?" Nana's once evil smile was replaced with a frown, she led her daughter to the dining table where she got out the first aid kit from a cabinet.

"Tsu-chan, how did you get this mark?" She asked as she stuck a Band-Aid to the bruise.

Tsuru tried to lie to make her mother not worry about her, "… M-mama! I… I just fell!" Tsuru hoped her mother would buy the lie, just like the other times, but fate just had to change things and Nana sighed.

"Tsuruhime." Tsuru flinched and looked down, it was never a good thing when her mother used her full name, "Tsu-chan, Tsu-chan, look at me."

The young girl hesitantly looked into her mother's eyes, "Tsu-chan, it is not very nice to lie to others."

Tsuru felt guilty, "Sorry Mama…" Tears began welling up in her eyes, her mother was the only person able to do so. Nana hugged her daughter, whispering comforting words into her ear.

"Makimoto-san… she got jealous because… because 'I stole Ken-chan,' so she hit me… But Mama, I don't know any boys!" Tsuru exclaimed, she could feel a small weight lift off her chest. "And everyone hates me! I don't know why! They bully me and call me Freak and Weird, just because I'm smarter than them!"

"Tsu-chan…" Nana whispered, she released her daughter from her hug and held her shoulders, "do you want to learn how to protect yourself?"

"How to p-protect myself?" Tsuru asked, wiping her tears. She stared at her mother in disbelief, she couldn't believe her mother could even hurt a fly! "But mama… how are you going to do that?"

Tsuru could see something change in her mother, it was not the sickeningly sweet smile, nor the knife she held in her hand like a weapon. It was the dark chuckle that escaped her mother's pale lips.

"Mama…?"

"Tsu-chan… I am an assassin, the Mezzanotte Angelo." Nana spoke, shocking her daughter to the core, Tsuru couldn't believe it, her mother, an assassin! A person hired to kill!

"H…how?"

"Fufufufufu…" She chucked a dark nostalgic look crossed her face, "A renounced assassin that only appeared at the stroke of midnight, The Midnight Angel, was my moniker. The only thing anyone saw was a golden halo from the moon's light."

"Does…" Tsuru swallowed before forcing herself to say the dreaded word, "Papa know?"

"Iemitsu-kun?" Nana had stopped chuckling ominously, a bright smile was plastered on her face. "I quit begin an assassin when I was sent to kill him, I still remember that night when he-!" Nana squealed, "Oh that was so romantic!"

The dark look resurfaced, "But then those…混蛋！他们绑架了我和叔叔-!"

Tsuru watched in awe as her mother swapped between being love struck then mad, and changing from Japanese to Chinese, she shook in anticipation, if her mother trained her, would she be able to protect herself? Would she be able to protect the ones she cherished? Would she finally be able to destroy those idiot worms?

"Mama." Tsuru's voice cut through Nana's ongoing rant, "Can I be an assassin like you?"

Nana was conflicted when her daughter said that sentence. Needing the time to think she sent Tsuru to bed. She did not want her to be tainted by the dark world of the Mafia. She herself had many emotional scars from what she had seen when she was younger.

Yet, Nana knew it would be a futile attempt, at this rate, the Vongola would have to claim Tsuru as their heir and her child would be pushed into a corner with only two choices; to become Vongola Decima, or die. Besides, she had overheard that Iemitsu had already betrothed her young daughter to a trusted ally to the Famiglia.

On the other hand if Tsuru was introduced this fast, she may be enslaved to the Chinese Triads like her cousin Fon. Hunted down for her existence because her mother was a deserter.

But Nana could see the vast differences between the two, her mind was pumping as she searched for the way with less bloodshed. If she trained Tsuru secretly and waited for the Vongola to take claim over her, the Triads would be unable to protest as the Vongola is the greatest Mafia group in the world.

Nana bitterly smiled to herself, she had found the only solution, and the only way Tsuru would be able to thrive in the bloody world she was being thrust into.

But Nana was not going to let her daughter go into it alone, not without someone to rely on.

So she decided to see the last person she thought she would, Yun.

Roma: Rome in Italian

混蛋！他们绑架了我和叔叔-: Means something along the likes of …bastard! They kidnapped me and uncle- I used google translate so sue me if I'm wrong.

Vongola Decima: I don't know if you know but it is feminine version of Decimo, meaning Tenth in Italian.

Yun: Means Cloud in Chinese (P.S. A name, O.K.)