Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn


Two years… for two years I lived my life as normally as any respectable aristocrat could without her parents. Uncle Fabio attempted to send a replacement for Luciano, but, I admit, I chased each one away. Not literally of course, it's not like I had the physical strength to take on a trained full-fledged member of the mafia. But, they were all fools, thinking that they could win the Seventh's favor through me.

That is… until Uncle Fabio decided to have a little change of approaches. After all, it was safer for both him and me if I had a bodyguard, and the Seventh was getting increasing desperate and annoyed at my indifference… and I… I was only ten years old and didn't know any better…

---

"How many have there been so far? Ten of them?" Nico heard one of the female servants whisper to her friend inside the kitchen as they prepared that day's breakfast.

"Seventeen…" the other corrected her. "I wonder how this one's going to fare; I heard that he's a foreigner."

"Eh? A foreigner? All the previous ones were Italian. Is he also from the Family?"

"I don't know… but Vongola does have a wide reach… Ah, Mr. Nicolas, good morning!" the servant said when she saw the butler enter.

"Good morning," Nico replied, giving the two a smile as he walked over to the counter to prepare the tea.

The three worked for a while with only the sound of the food preparation disturbing their silence until finally, the first speaker, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, blurted, "He's coming tomorrow, right? The new bodyguard for Miss Daniela?"

"That's what I was told," Nico answered her.

"What's he like this time?" she inquired boldly.

Nico chuckled. "Too be truthful, even I don't know. They didn't give me many details."

"Aw, I guess we'll just have to wait…" she said, disappointed, and suddenly realized something horrible. "Where's my pancake?"

"You… don't flip pancakes like that…" they heard Nico say and turned slowly to him to see the missing piece of batter on his head.

After eating and cleaning up breakfast, Nico decided to have a little talk with the "lady" of the house, who had retreated to her study room as usual after meals when there weren't any classes. He thought the conversation through in his head as he headed up the stairs and, after taking a breath to compose himself, entered the study, the usual sight of shelves filled to the brim with books meeting him. As expected, Daniela sat at the single wooden desk in the room, sheets of paper and various pens and pencils cluttered on the tabletop around her.

At age ten, Daniela of the Vongola Family was a person with a mouth that didn't match her obviously still child-like appearance. Nico had taken many precautions to keep her away from swear words, or else, he'd predicted, she'd be weaving them into her normal everyday conversations without a second thought or care. Then again, most of the time, Daniela stayed away from normal conversation, preferring to rid herself of the other person as fast as she can so that she could go back to whatever she was doing at the time. There had only been a few rare occasions that Nico managed to leave her presence without being dismissed, formally or the other. Meals did not count.

"Are you drawing again?" he asked her, making her look up. She stared at him for a second, studying his expression, and returned to her work.

"She probably already knows what I'm here for…' he thought. Regardless, Nico deposited himself on one of the two sofas, grabbing a nearby book to feign reading. Advantages of having such an unorthodox mistress gave him quite a few liberties not held by other butlers.

"You know, Miss Daniela, the new bodyguard is coming tomorrow," Nico said casually after a few pages.

"Tell him to go away," she answered, reaching over the desk for a reference book.

"You can't just keep on sending them away. As an heir to Vongola, you must be protected at all times," he began.

"Don't need them. And, there's still four before me," she cut him off curtly as she reached into a drawer, fumbling through its contents for something other than drawing-related materials. She knew the lecture was coming.

"Look, I know the last few may have too fat or too skinny for your tastes…" he began his well thought out "discussion." A dart whizzed past him and hit the target board on the opposite side of the room with a clunk. Daniela was twirling another one of the little sharp toys in her hand and took aim again.

"Number fifteen wanted to look good in front of Uncle." The next dart hit an outside ring. "Number sixteen wanted to increase his prospects of becoming a Guardian." A second landed a little closer to the middle, off by three rings. "Number seventeen also wanted to look good in front of Uncle." The final dart hit the mark, landing cleanly in the middle of the bullseye. "Therefore, I do not need a number eighteen." Sometimes Nico wondered if she purposely missed the shots that didn't go in. He turned back to Daniela, who had already returned to her drawing.

'She threw the darts to distract me… and I actually fell for that…' he thought miserably. 'Ah… What was I going to say again?'

"Why didn't you just confront them about that that instead of calling them names?" he gave up trying to recall the point he wanted to make; Daniela had already been expecting it.

"I did. After I called them names… or they wouldn't have taken me seriously."

He sighed, shaking his head. "All people have dishonorable desires. We can't change that, but I assure you, they can still do their jobs."

"This one won't be any different," she said, adding another line to her picture.

"Well, he's not from Italy this time. That means his connections with the main Vongola base wouldn't be as close."

"Makes no difference…" she repeated.

'She's impossible!' Nico thought violently and swam for a few seconds in his own thoughts. 'If she'll only keep one bodyguard, then the people from Vongola would stop bothering me!'

Daniela reached into the desk drawer and took out a set of paints. "If you have nothing else to say, please leave. My lessons aren't until two o'clock."

Nico sighed again. "Yes, Miss Daniela." He stood up to leave.

"If you have nothing better to do other than thinking of useless attempts to convince me of useless things, then go and find out some information on him," Daniela said after him.

"I'll do that…" He took extra care not to slam the door.

---

Nico tapped his fingers impatiently as the phone continued to ring on the other end. He had already attempted at least a dozen times the past three hours, but the crazy madman just never seemed to pick up the phone when Nico actually wanted to talk to him. His usual informant always seemed to call whenever the butler was busy preparing for some big event or taking a shower, but never at the "correct" time. Finally, the butler heard a click on the other end and nearly exploded into the speaker.

"Learn to pick up your phone, Friedrich!" he yelled.

"Ow, that was exceedingly painful," the man on the other end responded monotonously, much to Nico's annoyance. "So, to what reason do I owe the honor of receiving a call from you, old friend?"

"Stop with the formalities, Fritz. You're supposed to be a mad scientist, not some old bachelor."

"Hey! I'm not old at all! And for your information, I'm a data gatherer, not a mad scientist," the other retorted.

"Then why did you bring that… machine… thing… here last time you visited?"

"That, Nico, is an automated ketchup maker. I told you just to add the tomato…"

"Nevermind! I need some information on someone!"

"The price is one million yen," the other replied smoothly.

"I don't even use that currency!" Nico yelled and heard the sounds of tapping on the other end, most likely a computer. He stopped. "Wait, he's Japanese?"

"Eighteen year old prodigy from a family of… a lot of sons. Only one to enter Vongola. Rejected offer to join the Varia. Says here he's a little arrogant, but very good at what he does. Oh, and he also tends to not listen to orders," Fritz finished in one breath.

"Great…"

"I met him once," Fritz added casually.

"Really? Why didn't you mention that first?"

"Warning for you, Nico. Address him via Japanese customs. Also…" he stopped, and Nico heard a bit of shuffling on the other end, followed by static. "Oh dear, the new contraption's starting to smoke. I must depart. Sayonara!"

"Wait!" The phone on the other line clicked after he heard an explosion.

Nico clenched his own phone in his hand, reasoning with himself not to throw the object across the room. 'I'll just poison his cake the next time he comes here… yeah…' He calmly put the phone back on the receiver. 'Frivolous bastard…' Nico shook some of his bangs out of his eyes, exhausted. The butler had spent the last two years growing out his blue-tinted black hair only to have it slightly gelled and tied up in a small ponytail like one of the other butlers he had seen from another household that visited them every now and then.

"Tomorrow's gonna be hell…"

The next day, the butler once again found his charge inside the study room working on the same picture, this time finishing up painting.

"Miss Daniela, your bodyguard will be coming any minute now," he told her.

She ignored him and continued with her drawing.

He sighed. "I called Fritz yesterday…"

That caught her attention. "The German gentleman? Thank him for the ketchup maker, will you?"

"There's no way he's a gentleman, and that's not my point! How did you know it was a ketchup maker?"

"So your point has something to do with the ketchup maker?"

"No…" He took a deep breath to compose himself. "Anyway, Mr. Hibari is Japanese, eighteen, and gave up a position in the Varia to work here. You can at least show him a little more respect; you know those Varia…"

"Japanese?" she asked, looking up.

"Yes, and arrogant and professional, according to Fritz. Now, if you'll excuse, I have to go make some preparations."

"Okay, shoo," she waved her hand carelessly.

After the door clicked, Daniela added the last stroke to her drawing, frowning. After a moment of contemplation, she shook her head and headed to one of the bookshelves, taking out a book on Japanese customs. 'Just in case… Varia…'

---

Hibari Hachiro got out of the car, only to be blinded by the morning sun instead of the beauty of Italian architecture he had expected. He squinted, displeased at the sudden attack of photons on his eyes and wished that he hadn't decided on that haircut before coming.

"Welcome, Mr. Hibari," Nico said, bowing along with the rest of the servants.

The Japanese surveyed him for a second, meeting Nico's eyes, before looking away silently to study his surroundings, notably the mansion and gardens, but Nico didn't know that.

'Great… it's another one of those bodyguards… arrogant bastard…' Nico forced a smile. He admitted that the other's appearance wasn't exactly what he expected. The man was fairly tall and not extremely muscular but carried himself easily, as if he knew exactly what each of his tendons were doing and how much force was being applied and used on each muscle. He looked like he had recently cut his black hair and didn't bother using gel; it was spiky and slightly messy, like he had just woken up and hopped onto the plane to Italy although his suit was neatly pressed. His narrow eyes were a strange dark bluish gray; Nico couldn't pinpoint the exact color. The butler looked for a gun or some sort of weapon but didn't find anything in immediate sight on the man.

"I'll show you to your room. Please follow me," Nico said after he finished his observation of the bodyguard, distracting the silent newcomer from his own study of the grounds. Hibari followed him up the stairs as the other servants looked on anxiously, wondering what to do. Nico gave them a wave of dismissal, and they eagerly scampered away back to their duties.

"Oh no… Miss Daniela's going to hate this one too," the curious servant from the previous morning muttered to her friend.

Meanwhile, Nico lead the new bodyguard down the hall. He tried again to initiate a conversation. "Miss Daniela is most likely in her study, so it'd be best if you meet with her yourself after you're settled. It's the third room on the East Wing; you can't miss it. We're currently in the West Wing; all living quarters are located here, so just ask around if you need anything. Lunch will be in four hours in the dining room on the first floor. Do you have any questions?"

He turned and twitched; Hibari was looking elsewhere and didn't seem to have been paying attention to him. 'I hope Miss Daniela gets rid of him quickly!' Nico thought violently.

"Here we are. If you need anything, feel free to ask any of the servants around here. I'll send up your luggage when it arrives. Good day," he finished in one breath and ran off.

Hibari found himself in a huge room, furnished with several sofas, tables, and chairs. Two other doors beside the entrance led to the bedroom and the bathroom on the right, and a set of fancy curtained windows lined the wall opposite to him. He made a beeline to the bedroom and threw off his shoes and coat, jumping under the covers of the huge bed. 'Jetlag…'

---

"Well, where is he?" Daniela inquired when Nico entered the study.

"I… I left him at his room to get settled," he replied, shaking a little with annoyance.

"You abandoned him that fast? That's not like you."

"He hasn't said a word to anyone since his arrival." Nico frowned. "I guess my hopes were misplaced this time, or maybe he doesn't even speak Italian. What was the Seventh thinking?"

"Try adding a –san at the end of his surname," she told Nico, shrugging.

"What?"

"It's equivalent to us saying Mr." she explained, collecting the darts from the dartboard. "If you're done complaining, either bring him here or I'll be seeing you at 10 o'clock for my lessons."

"I've already told him how to come here…"

"I will be seeing you at ten then." Three darts hit the board, one after the other, forming a perfect triangle on the bullseye.

'Darn… for a second I thought we were actually going to have an actual conversation…' Nico thought to himself as he left. Daniela watched him until the door closed behind him and sighed, shaking her head.

"I guess he forgot…"

---

'Where am I?' Hibari thought groggily as an unfamiliar ceiling came into his vision. 'Oh yeah… Italy…' He sat up, stretching, and looked at the clock. 'I slept for five hours…'

He opened his bedroom door to find his luggage piled in front of him. Shrugging, he walked past them to the restroom to splash some water on his face. Yawning again, Hibari walked back to his room, threw his jacket and shoes back on, and straightened his appearance.

Still half asleep, he left his room, heading for the East Wing. Just as Nico had described, the third door was easily recognized as the study room; it was an elegant double door engraved with the pattern of a tree.

He knocked twice, and, hearing no answer, turned the door knob slowly to let himself in. He looked around him, finding book-filled shelves and the one desk in the room with papers and scattered all over the tabletop. In the middle of the room were two sofas, each littered with one or two novels.

He walked over to the desk and found a myriad of drawing materials on the surface. On the middle of the table was a single drawing of a branch covered with pink flowers: a cherry blossom. Several books on the plant lied open around the work area. Ignoring the rest of the materials, he picked up the picture gently to study it more.

"Mr. Hibari!" Nico yelled, running into the room, earning no response. He twitched and tried again. "Hi…ba…ri…san!" he choked out. "Daniela is missing!"

"I thought you said she was in this room," Hibari, smirking, replied in perfect Italian.

'Huh? He… he spoke?' Nico shoved the thought aside. He wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to Daniela. "That was five hours ago! She never showed up to her lessons."

Hibari turned his attention back to the picture. He placed it back on the desk and calmly walked over to the opened window with Nico watching him. In a one swift movement, he jumped on the window sill and out the house.

"Hibari-san!" Nico ran to the window and looked out, finding nothing except a few disturbed branches.

---

He found her easily enough and began following a short distance behind. They were in the middle of the woods, surrounded by nothing but trees and various sounds of deer and other animals.

"Stop following me!" Daniela suddenly said out loud. She whirled around, finding no one. "Hibari-san?" she said, betraying a little fright in her voice.

He revealed himself, stepping out from the trees. "Hibari Hachiro. Hibari is my surname."

She sighed, relieved, and continued walking. "Whatever."

"You can sense me…" he observed. "This must be Vongola's Hyper Intuition."

"Just leave me alone!" the girl retorted and quickened her pace. Regardless, Hibari continued trailing behind her, easily keeping up with her quickened pace with his longer legs.

They finally reached a graveyard, and Daniela walked right in without stopping until she reached a set of gravestones that looked like they were set up around the same time due to the effect of moss and time on them. She stood in front of the graves, staring at them silently.

"Do you come here often?" he asked her.

She didn't answer and instead took out some flowers from the bundle she was holding earlier and set a small bouquet on each of the graves. Lips tightening, Daniela muttered something under her breath.

"Huh? I didn't catch that."

"It's not fair… how time makes us forget things…" she repeated, a little louder.

"Life's not fair," he added carelessly. "If it was, I wouldn't be here."

"You're just like the others, aren't you?" she said, glaring at him. "None of them truly wanted to be here."

"The others?"

"Why did you agree to come here?" she demanded, her eyes already accusing him of dishonorable reasons.

He smirked again. She was getting annoyed on that arrogant expression that now seemed plastered on his previously expressionless face. "I was bored."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you draw when you're bored? This is just my way of dealing with boredom." He yawned again. "Italy's quite nice this time of year…"

---

Boredom… If my mouth was as colorful back then as it is now, I would've replied, "What the hell?" Unfortunately… or I guess I'd consider it fortunate… my carelessness had finally caught up to me soon after he said those words…


Note: Attack of the ketchup maker!