Chapter 2

Keeper of the Books

Summary: "That is the wrong question! You need to ask the right one. But even if you have the right question, or even the left question, you may attain the answer you desire, but not the correct answer. You must ask the correct question if you want the truth." The Keeper of the Books knows all. But perhaps she knows nothing in return. A conundrum. An enigma. A query. What a strange team they would make.

So I'm back now.

Thank you: Aerisse. Hasste, Rd, and QRed for reviewing chapter one!

There's a note about my other stories on my profile for anyone who cares. Otherwise, here's the story!


It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

Leonardo da Vinci


Reborn watched as the girl rubbed her eyes fiercely, having just left the Hall of Attainment. He noted that for some reason they seemed to be on the same eye level and that the girl looked a great deal younger than a few minutes ago, but decided to keep it to himself until the girl was all right.

"Mmm~" Avery whined. "I forgot how bright real light was."

The hitman raised an eyebrow to this. "Wasn't that real sunlight shining through all those windows back in your library?"

The girl shook her head, keeping her eyes squeezed shut and slowly working her way to opening them again. "That's synthetic light the Keeper of the World created for me so that I could feel like I wasn't so cut off. I'm sure you can notice the difference, even after being in my hall for a short while."

Reborn nodded curtly and let the girl have a few more moments to get herself adjusted. "So who is the Keeper of the World?"

"Well that depends who he wants to be," the girl told the other. "Appearances change just as much as titles, so it's really up to him to decide."

The raven haired male suppressed a grimace, not wishing to show anyone how annoyed he was with the girl's way of answering him. He decided to drop the subject for now in favor of his earlier question. "Why is it that you appear to be an infant like myself now?"

Avery finally stopped blinking rapidly and looked around at the other. "Time flows differently in the Hall of Truths. Did you not notice that you were in your form before the curse while you were there?"

Of course he had noticed, how could he not? But that only lead to more questions. "How old are you anyways?"

The girl tilted her head to the side in thought. "I'm not really sure. I go through aging and regression more times than I could count, and running the hall by myself tends to make me lose track of time, so I'm not entirely sure how old I am anymore. And it just never seemed that…important."

The hitman decided he didn't want to pry into the girl's business for now. He would have plenty of time to question her later. In any case, they had something else to attend to. "Come on. Our flight leaves in about an hour. I need to stop by a hotspot for a moment to check in about some equipment I'll need to ship."

Avery nodded and trotted after the small hitman, gazing at her surroundings and studying everything intently. When she spotted the building they were heading up to, the girl pulled to a stop.

"You can go on inside, I'm going to do something really quick."

"I'd rather you stay in my line of sight," Reborn grimaced. "I don't want to have to chase after you and waste time searching for the entrance all over again."

The lavender colored hair girl waved the other's words away. "It's been so long since the last time I've ventured out of my library, I'm not going back now. I just want to adjust my age."

Reborn cocked an eyebrow. "And how are you going to manage that?"

The girl pulled out a copper colored key, its head shaped like a skull with ebony pearls set as eyes. "The Keeper of the Keys, before the current one, favored me and gave me one of his three skeleton keys. This way I'm free to come and go from my library wherever I am. I could tell you about the other things it can do, but you'll be seeing soon enough anyways if I stick around long enough. Anyways, as I said before, time flows differently in my halls, so this might take all the way up until you finish your business in there. If not, then I can just wait out here."

The hitman was sorely tempted to interrogate the girl about what else her key was capable of and make sure she didn't go anywhere he couldn't get to easily, but forced his paranoia down and nodded to the female curtly before stalking off toward the bar. He observed the reflection off the grimy window, watched as the girl stuck the key into the air and a door suddenly appearing in front of her. She then stepped through and vanished. He ground his teeth for only a moment before replacing his suspicion with confidence and stepped through the open doorway.

One assassination attempt and business dealing later, Reborn was stepping back outside of the establishment. He glanced around looking for the mane of lavender he associated with the bookworm.

"All done then?"

The hitman turn his head to see that the girl was indeed a great deal older than before. She now appeared to be in her late teens to early twenties. Her hair was a great deal shorter as well, more along the lines of a pixie cut with long bangs*. Her lavender hair also seemed to have obtained turquoise highlights that brought out her pastel/minty green eyes more.

"Don't tell me you had me waiting so that you could style your hair."

The woman tilted her head slightly. "Why would I style my hair? That would have taken too long."

An eyebrow inched up. "Care to explain the change then?"

"You can't have an up without a down, and it is the same with humans and changes. Like the rest of the Keepers, my hair and eyes will change from time to time. I can alter it myself, but there's really no need seeing as it will happen on its own eventually anyways. Evolution and mutations over time is a curious thing. The Keeper of the Books long before me, who lived during the age when primate became man, left quite the detailed manuscript about the process and his take on evolution."

Reborn would have deadpanned if he were anyone else. But he wasn't just anyone, he was the number one hitman in the world, therefore he just shook off the woman's words and hopped onto her shoulder. "Let's get going. I'm never late for an appointment."

The two arrived at the airport and boarded their private jet without any trouble, not unusual but still very welcomed. The moment she got the chance, the girl unbuckled and started wandering around the plane, studying the interior and glassware, then moving to stare outside to try to analyze what she could see of the turbine. Eventually she settled back into her seat and gazed out at the clouds with a small smile.

"I had forgotten…" Avery mumbled quietly.

Reborn glanced up from his file. "Forgotten?"

The girl nodded. "I know about everything already, but to see them in person, to touch and watch them work…It makes me remember how amazing and precious life truly is…"

Reborn hummed and returned to his paperwork. He understood the girl's sentiments more than most others would assume. Originally, he had never been the 'stop and smell the roses' kind of guy, preferring his thrilling hunts as an assassin. However, after the curse, Reborn found himself enjoying the little things in life just a tad bit more.

"You should sleep. We're going to get going right after we land so you won't be getting rest for a while."

The woman looked around with a blink. "Sleep? What a funny thing to say to a Keeper. Sleep is one of the things we gave up in exchange for our position."

"You no longer require that form of rest and recuperation?" The hitman reiterated, finding that statement quite difficult to believe.

"I haven't required lots of things," Avery stated as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Reborn lowered his file to study the strange being before him. She had wide doe-like eyes and slim features. She made all the normal expressions that everyone else would make, but there was something…off about them, as if they didn't quite reach her eyes. It was more as if she was going through the motions out of habit. He was not quite sure what to make of it for now, so the hitman decided to let it go and just store that information away for later. However, this new information did make him a little more wary of the girl.

"So what will I be doing while you tutor the Vongola Decimo?" Avery inquired. "Your reason for taking me along with you is a little obscure and I'm sure that you realize the only thing I can provide you with are answers to select questions."

"That's all you're capable of anyways," the hitman pointed out. "However, that's fine. Other than providing me with information, I may ask you to help tutor my charge academically."

"Mmmm," the lavender haired girl hummed in thought. "I think that would depend on your charge. It's useless to teach someone who won't learn. I think the Vongola Decimo would be more willing to learn."

Reborn frowned. "My charge is the Vongola Decimo."

"You think so."

The hitman suppressed a growl of frustration. The things this girl knew, but kept secret was increasingly proving to be a bother. However, her knowledge was invaluable; and while Reborn liked to know all the cards he was playing with, he would have to put up with being in the dark about some things it seemed.

"You could ask."

Reborn blinked and looked up at the girl staring at him so honestly.

"I never said I was keeping secrets," the girl continued. "All I said was that you had to ask the correct question to gain the truth."

"Then who is the Vongola Decimo?"

"The one they least suspect. But he is truly the one who is also the most unsuited for the position."

Reborn smirked. "If I asked you for his name, you would tell me wouldn't you?"

"Yes. However, I think that this is a situation where you would have a better understanding if you were to see for yourself, rather than having the answer handed to you."

"Then I won't ask." Reborn placed the file he had been reviewing into his suitcase and leaned back into his seat to take a nap.

Avery tilted her head to the side. "You feel comfortable enough to lower your guard and sleep around me."

It was a statement, rather than question, and- although irritating- Reborn let it be. He would have to adjust to his new companion's behavior so that it wouldn't interfere with his judgment and tutoring. And, to answer the girl's question, he went off to sleep.


"Hmmm," Avery pursed her lips with displeasure. "This won't do. This won't do at all."

The hitman and Librarian stood in front of a average looking household during the early hours of the morning, the sun just entering the horizon.

"What won't do?" Reborn had quickly caught on to how he should phrase his questions to get the answer he truly desired from the girl.

"This environment is very bad for my books," the woman replied. "They won't be able to advance correctly with so much bad energy running through this home. I'll have to store them somewhere separate if I don't want them to spoil."

Reborn glanced at the girl before turning back to the house. There was no reason to ask any further, not when he could feel the negative energy too. He hopped up and slid his flyer into the mail slot and then up onto the girl's shoulder. "Let's observe the Sawada family here for a little bit. Make sure they can't see, hear, or detect you in any form."

Avery smiled. "Roger that."


Reviews are lovely~! The longer the better. Sometimes rambles can inspire something!