OH-EM-JIE. Thank you so, so so much for those who reviewed the first chapter! As in thank you from the bottom of my heart! Mwah~ Mwah~ Mwaaaah~~~~~

Anyway, here's the next chapter. It's actually a songfic, since, as you may have noticed from my tantrum last chapter, I've got no decent plot. But, guess what? I'VE FORMULATED A PROPER ONE! Yey! Special thanks to Colonela, DreamSugar, and CloudyDays12! Please don't get tired of reading my fics! It keeps me inspired!

Please Enjoy!

"Okay, are you ready, kora?"

"Yeah, whatever. But, just for the record, I don't feel comfortable doing this."

"Who gives a damn about what you feel, kora?"

"Many people!"

"Look, whatever, alright? There's Lal over there, kora! On my signal, Skull."

"You're not paying me enough for this . . ."

"Okay, hit it!"

(One, two, three!)

Day 1—

You are a hand full of roses

Thorns and a cheap bouquet

"Hey there, kora!" he greeted, jogging to keep up with her pace.

Was it just him, or was Lal running away from him?

"Hey, Lal!" he called out again, quickening up his velocity, and soon, he was at the same rate as she. "Would you please slow down? It's like you're avoiding me, kora!"

To his slight surprise, Lal did stop, and faced him.

"What," she said, not in a tone of query, but in a rather hard, cold, and I-will-kill-you-if-this-was-just-waste-of-my-time kind-of tone.

He flashed her his signature grin, making her blush a bit.

"Would you mind me asking you something, kora?"

"You're already asking," she said, rolling her eyes.

He chuckled, crudely sliding his arm around her shoulder. Her eyes followed his naughty little arm.

"Oh my feisty little joker," he hummed, gently pushing her to keep walking next to him. "I was just wondering if you'd like to go out with me, kora."

"Excuse me?" Lal asked, skidding into a stop, making him jerk back, loosing his balance, his weight pushing Lal against the wall, ending them both in an accidental hug.

True

I'm a walking disaster

They told you to stay away

"Oops?" Colonello muttered, trying but awesomely failing not to smile. Lal looked up with a menacing glare in her auburn eyes.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Kinda', kora," he smiled sheepishly.

Lal readied herself to kick his vital regions, but she was stopped when her eyes finally met his baby blue ones.

For a moment, she felt like she was paralyzed and that she couldn't move. He was doing it again. That strange method of his that always left her trapped in a different kind of spell. A spell that she couldn't tell if she'll enjoy or not.

"Let me go," she softly demanded, looking away, a tint of pink shade visible on her cheek.

"What if I don't?" he challenged, nearing his face to hers, making her shrink back a little. "What will you do, kora?"

"Y-You don't want to know," she stuttered. "Now, let me go."

She tried to squirm free, but Colonello already pinned his other arm on the wall, trapping her completely in his hold.

"I won't let you go, kora," he said seductively, his face forming into a tempting smile. "Not when I already have you in my arms like so . . ."

"Idiot . . ." she muttered.

Colonello smiled, and so did she—in a rather Lal-ish sort of way. A few seconds ticked by, and Colonello continued nearing his face towards her, and Lal gave no sign of evading or shrinking back, like she always do. Instead, she froze, looking deeply into his cerulean eyes, waiting for whatever it was that he planned with her.

Their lips were but inches apart, and it continued getting closer.

And closer . . .

And closer . . .

And . . .

"YE-OW!" came a cry that echoed through the hallway, causing failed experimental procedures, scattered cookie dough, unsuccessful stunts, disturbed meditations, and the likes.

"What was that?" Reborn asked, coming out of his room to see Fon about to run past him. When their eyes locked, Fon skidded into a stop.

"I don't know what it was," the latter answered. "But it sounded like it was in a world of hurt. Poor thing."

The two raven-haired men began running together, and not long after, they reached the source of the noise. They didn't find any suffering animal or Skull for that matter ('cause face it, in their ranks, only Skull can give out a scream like that). Instead, they found a certain blonde's body twitching on the floor, and a really pissed-off cobaltette walking—no make that, "stomping"—away.

"Colonello, are you alright?" Fon asked politely and worryingly, squatting next to him, checking his pulse.

"Yeah, 'course I am, kora . . ." said Italian muttered. "WHEN I'M DEAD!"

"Looks like Day One will be stamped as 'failure', won't it, good buddy?" Reborn smirked.

Colonello struggled to raise his hand, and struggled even more to raise his middle finger at his fedora hat-wearing rival.

"Fuck you, too," he smiled.

"Colonello, it's not too late to back out," Fon pointed out, putting the rain Arcobaleno's arm around his shoulder, pulling him up. "Please quit while you still can."

"He's right, you know," Reborn teased, sliding himself under Colonello's other arm for support. "Why don't we just end this, call it a failure, and you just do the dare to make our lives a bit easier?"

"In hell's way am I going to do that, kora!" Colonello blurted out, raising his heavily-slapped face at his rival. "I'm going to win this bet and Lal's heart! You'll see, kora!"

Fon gave out a defeated sigh while Reborn smirked.

"This is going to end badly before something good happens," the martial artist muttered.

"Actually, I must say that this is going to be very interesting for all of us," the assassin replied.

All the Italian could do was groan.

Seems like I'm making a deal with the devil
who's whispering softly at me:

"Are you sure that she's the one?" Reborn whispered.

'Cause I feel

Like a bad joke

Walk the tight rope

To hold on to you

"There," the woman in white said as she laid Colonello's heavily bandaged arm carefully into his side. Still, he groaned.

"Mr. Colonello, if I may give a suggestion, please be careful next time. Fighting's not good for you. We understand that you have a military background, but, there's no saying on what kind of dangers are out there. We don't know who'll get you next."

"Trust me, I do, kora." Colonello struggled to smile. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to sleep, kora."

"Of course, Mr. Colonello," the girl replied, collecting her equipment, and walked out of his room, leaving the door open.

"Damn, I should really learn how to control myself around Lal, kora," Colonello muttered, struggling to adjust himself in much more comfortable position. Unfortunately, he couldn't.

"Heck yeah, you should," a voice answered. The blonde vigilantly turned his head sideward, narrowing his eyes into slits to recognize who it was. He couldn't, however. His eyes just proceeded into closing.

"Who's there, kora?"

"Just me," the voice answered. He could hear footsteps approaching him.

"Yeah, but who are you?"

The footsteps halted all of a sudden. He felt two hands touching his injured arm, making him wince.

"Relax, idiot," the voice answered. "I won't hurt you. I think I established my point a while ago. I only came to see how you were doing." He felt a few movements, and soon, someone else's warm breath was on his face.

"So, how are you?"

"I'm . . . fine, kora," he said drowsily, chasing it with a yawn. "This is . . . nothing . . ."

"Sleepy, Egghead?"

"Mm-hmm," he hummed, sinking his head into the soft pillow.

"Then maybe you should get some rest. Have a nice sleep, I guess."

Colonello didn't respond anymore. He was already in the state wherein reality was being mixed with fantasy. Voices were beginning to fill his ears, and he couldn't tell whether any of them were real or not. He couldn't even tell if that warm, sweet, and gentle kiss he felt landing on his forehead was genuine.

Was it real?

Or a love scene from a bad dream

I don't think

I can forget about it

. . .

Day 2—

You are a shining example

Of why I don't sleep at all

The room was silent.

All the sound that can be perceived was the disheveling resonance fashioned by the artificial breeze as it ran all the way through the leaves of the disregarded tome. It didn't, however, seize a large amount time before the shuffling sound of papers ended without a trace.

Again, peace has engulfed the rather lonesome space.

The woman raised her heavy head from an ephemeral respite. Her distorted vision gradually came into a clear, and she found herself focused on a lone piece of paper, half-filled with ink-blotches that took the form of letters.

Or, at least, they would to someone else. Just not to her. For the tired and quite unfocused scar-faced beauty, they were just ink blemishes that made no sense.

She picked up the piece of paper, and held it in front of her, examining it for the nth time since she started working on it. No matter how many times she tried to make sense of it, it still appeared to her like trash.

That's it, she thought, scrunching it up into a ball, and then throwing it with the utmost accuracy towards the nearby trash bin. I won't get anywhere unless I get this "thing" off my head.

She stood up, walked towards the window, and lifted up the glass pane, permitting the late evening zephyr to penetrate her room, into her presently breathless existence. It felt cold as it caressed her fatigued countenance, but it made not much effect on her.

The woman needed sleep. She needed to relax that deprived head of hers that carried too much weighing thoughts. Perhaps, if she would shut those two concentrated, auburn orbs, and let them witness a dream for once, they'd be able to easily comprehend reality again as soon as they open themselves once more.

But, she couldn't sleep. That was the problem.

If she could, then her head would've been resting itself on a nice and soft pillow, rather than this rough and hard window frame.

"I wonder how he is," she muttered to the bareness of the hushed evening, heaving a dark, heavy, and remorseful sigh. Suddenly, her worried expression contorted into a disgusted look.

"What am I saying?" she asked herself, hitting her face with her palm. "Why am I letting myself worry about that idiot? It was his fault he got beaten, not mine." Slowly, her hand glided down her face, and then dropped itself to her side, revealing a rather solemn face no one has ever seen her show.

Tonight, as she stood there, restless and irresolute, contemplations ran throughout her head. The thought of someone particular in a different surface of this story, lying weakly underneath what seemed like a mantle that was never sufficient to keep him warm through the night, body and mind (and possibly, heart) throbbing because of her.

Yet, being the obdurate type that she was proud of being, she denied that. It was never her fault, she says.

T-t-too many sheep on the brain

To make sense of a late night call

An uncanny clamor obstructed her thoughts, and so was her attempt to yawn. Her phone was ringing.

"Hello?" she muttered almost lifelessly into the mouthpiece, thankful deep inside that, finally, the Sleep-inducing Fairy has come to shower her with much awaited drowsiness. She hoped that whoever this was, he/she would not take too much of her precious time.

"Hey, Lal, kora," replied the disembodied voice. What a recognizable voice.

"Colonello?" she found herself inquire in disbelief. Silently, she wished she didn't hear him correctly the first time.

"Yeah, it's me, kora."

Lal bit the bottom of her lip, mentally cursing fate for joking with her . . . again.

"What do you want?" she asked, the words muffled by the exasperated hand that grabbed her irritated face. "This better be good, or else . . ."

"It's not, to be honest, kora," he replied in a rather monotonous voice that surprised her. "I just called to make sure about a few things, kora."

"What?" she cried, unconsciously slamming the nearby desk in irritation. "You called dead in the night for that? Have you any idea how tired I am?"

"You don't sound tired, kora. If I know, you're probably just staring out the window, thinking about things you're not supposed to be thinking of."

"Says you," she mocked, her eyes searching for hidden cameras, peepholes, or anything that will prove that Colonello might be spying on her.

"Stop searching for hidden objects, kora. It makes you look less appealing."

"Are you bloody spying on me, Jackass?" she heard herself cry in a shrill voice.

" . . .No." A cough was heard from the other end of the line. "I'm just assuming, kora."

"'Assuming' my ass," she answered. "Shouldn't you be asleep by now, anyway? What. The treatment I gave you yesterday was not good enough to shut you up forever?"

"I guess not," he casually replied, and she swore she heard him fight off a fit of laughter. "Otherwise, how else would I be communicating with you, kora."

Lal reached between her eyebrows, and started massaging it, fighting her own urge to run towards the infirmary, and end his existence for real.

"Anyway," he continued. "About why I called. Uh, remember that day when you almost gagged my ability to live, or at least walk sturdily on two legs—yesterday, to be specific, kora?"

"What about it?"

"Did you come to visit me in the infirmary, kora?"

"What?"

"I'm just asking, kora! I was sedated—or so I thought—and therefore couldn't tell whether the things I sense were real or not. But, if truth be told, the voice sounded like you, kora."

Lal didn't answer. She was sure she was careful enough not to let him recognize her in any way possible, and he was given that sleeping drug too, so how could he remember? That was just once, for goodness' sake!

She thought for a moment. Then again, there was another time—a while ago to be exact—but she was frickin' confident that no one was there to see her. Not even a hidden camera would've seen her come in!

"And then, I felt it again. A while ago, kora."

ARGH.

"H-how can you b-be sure that w-was me?" she stuttered.

"I'm not, kora. That's why I'm asking."

Her cheeks began to burn relentlessly. With hindsight, she honestly has no idea why she had done that. What was it with her and that bizarre convention of hers to do things she'll lament later on?

"I-It wasn't me," she finally answered. "You were possibly dreaming or something."

"You know something, kora?" he asked again. "You're not a first-class liar."

She reddened even more, her grasp on the handset tightening all the more at every beat of his breath passing through her earpiece.

"I'm hanging up," she said, but was halted when he screamed for her not to.

"Don't go just yet, kora," he pleaded. "I wanted to see you, kora."

"It's eleven in the evening, Colonello. Even if I do want to come visit you, which I'm now entailing that I don't, I can't. They won't let me in that sickbay at this time of the night." Lal gave a sigh before she continued. "Just get some sleep, for heaven's sake! It'll do us both a favor!"

"I'm not sleepy, kora. Besides, you don't have to strain yourself to come to me. Let me worry about that."

"What in blazes are you talking about?"

"Turn around, kora."

Lal did so, and unsurprisingly, Colonello's upper body appeared on her window frame, the moon light emphasizing his beautiful smile. She stared at him, and it made him smile even more.

"Evenin', Lal," he greeted. "Surprised, kora?"

Talking in circles and chasing a tale of a

Love-drawn distant memory

The woman didn't answer still. She just stood there dumbfounded, contemplating as to how he was able to stand there, in the window of a room situated on the third floor.

"Well, say something, kora!"

"Leave," was her answer, yet her face was still blank.

"That easily? But, I went through hell's worth of pain to see you tonight, kora!"

"So, what do you want me to do? Give you a medal?"

"No. However, I'll pretty much appreciate it if you say 'yes', kora!"

"Say 'yes' to what?"

"With what I've asked you a while ago, kora! Remember? I asked you to go out with me, kora?"

Lal sighed as she put down her phone to hinder herself from hearing his voice too clearly. She placed it down, approached the window once more, all as she half-listened to Colonello's constant chattering.

". . . and I also heard that a carnival was going to town, so I was thinking you and I could go there together, kora. If we're lucky, maybe we'd be able to catch those "Valentine's Special" fireworks I've been hearing about and . . ."

"Colonello," she said, cutting him off. "Much as I appreciate your effort in trying to win a date with me, it just really won't work. You of all people should know that. Dating isn't really my thing, and to be honest, I'm not planning on dating anyone. And, no offense, but if ever, by some miracle, I do, I don't think it would be with you."

The Italian blinked at her, a splinter of hurt evident in the slowly-deteriorating hopefulness situating in his cerulean eyes.

"So, yeah," she breathed, refusing to stare in his beautiful spring-morning-blue orbs as she grabbed the handle of the ladder that he was standing on to.

"It's a no for me."

With that, she pushed the ladder away from her window, together with her screaming student, and then shut the window tightly.

Am I sure that she's the one?

-FIN-

. . . Yeah. I have no idea why Lal's part was a bit deep. I was . . . let's just say I was possessed. =.="

BTW, the song I used here is entitled "Forget About It" by All Time Low. I love this song! It's sooooo Colonello!

Oh, and another thing, if you are a KHR fan (though I think we've established that), and you have FB, please please PLEASE join our Katekyo Hitman Reborn Committee! I want to meet you guys there! And, if you want to know who I am there, I'm (dun dun dun) LAL MIRCH!

Just search: Katekyo Hitman Reborn Committee on your FB! See you there!

Okay, one last thing . . .

REVIEW! You have no idea how important simple reviews such as yours are to me. So please, for the love of all ColoLal fans out there, give me your thoughts and ideals. Or maybe just say "hi".

And read akuma chigiri0827's fic as well, if you're a DinoxHibari fan ^.^

Thanks for reading!

LoveLots~