Ceyrai says: The girls are getting a bit of action (no, not that kind) in this chapter, albeit of different types, compatible to their skill set. Are you starting to enjoy, dears? I hope, hope, hope you are! I've certainly enjoyed writing this part.

Also, I've been asked by a friend why it's Lal and not Reborn who's teaching Haru how to fight with guns. Well, I felt that Reborn would be too busy training (coughtorturingcough) Tsuna anyway, and that it would take a female to efficiently teach another female to fight. As for efficiency with guns, Reborn is undoubtedly better (at least in my head-canon) but I think Lal's (hypothetical) ability to relate with Haru just trumps that.

General Notes:
Pairs: 27K, 5986, some 3387 and 1896, some not-quite 2786
Universe: Canon
Warnings: English and Italian swearing. Mentions of violence (but what would you expect of a Mafia story?).
Disclaimer:For all the chapters thereafter – I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, nor any other copyrighted items mentioned.

Additional Notes:

Izakaya: a sort of restaurant which mostly serves alcoholic drinks, much like a bar but not exactly. It has private function rooms in the Japanese style, and that's where the scene occurs.

Snow White and Rose Red
you can't make her ungrow her fangs

Chapter 3 – There Lived Two Fair Maidens
with a Flame that is not quite there but is

Kyoko ver 16.2

Ryohei is adamant that Kyoko must not carry a weapon on her person – nearly as adamant as he was when the question had been whether or not to keep her in the dark about the Mafia. And he has about as much success in stopping her from bringing a Vongola-customized taser everywhere as he has had success in keeping secrets from her.

Tsuna, surprisingly, consents wholeheartedly, but only because a taser ensures that Kyoko is protected but never has to dirty her hands. It isn't enough for the more powerful enemies of the Family, but he is (to some degree) put at ease with knowing that Kyoko will be able to put up a fight, at least.

(Neither boy has any idea, though, that it is a taser merely in name and appearance; it is the fact that it is Vongola-customized, and therefore more creative in dispatching enemies, that makes it a formidable enough weapon to protect the Decimo's Madonna.)

But Ryohei doesn't like that – "Kyoko" and "fight" do not sound agreeable in the same sentence. Thus he makes (admittedly feeble) attempts to take the taser from her, but she knows his hiding places too well for any of those attempts to work. After a few more failed trials, he goes for trying to convince her that a weapon is unnecessary, that he and other Guardians are enough to protect her.

But she only wears a mysterious smile she seems to be sporting a lot these days, and says, "Isn't it better this way, Oniichan, that I can at least immobilize my attacker to buy time for you to come to my rescue?"

And really, arguments are not his strong field, so he backs out of any further debate on it. Still, it does not mean he approves.

High school brings with it even more drama than what Tsuna's Family is used to facing. With high school comes being a little more grown up, and with being more grown up means grown-up troubles – like having to explain to (beat sense into) a few Yakuza oyabun that they're not an upstart new clan, and increasingly vicious marriage proposals from every which direction – that have wormed their way into the young Vongola Family's schedules.

Among other things.

"Like we don't have enough to deal with already," sighs Yamamoto, this being a clear indication of how much the extra worries have exasperated everyone – usually, he would be the last to complain about anything.

Kyoko exhales slowly, calmly folds the letter of challenge – one assuring in saccharine cursive Italian that the position of the Vongola Madonna is never safely hers – back into the scented pink envelope, and arranges her hands on her lap. She is the epitome of composure especially when surrounded by her friends who are squirming with varying unease. (Except for Hibari, who never squirms and never cares enough to be uneasy – which does beg the question of what he is doing in the Sasagawa living room with the rest of the peanut gallery.)

It has been a long time since she is last exempt from the madness that surrounds their little gang, and everyone figures she's used to it by now. Still, they know it's not exactly easy to be the focal point of many of the situations that besiege them throughout their mid-teen years – the disadvantages almost outweigh the advantages of being the Decimo di Vongola's girlfriend.

But, "It's not as if this is the first time," Kyoko murmurs.

Ryohei is always fired up and pumped with adrenaline, punching the air and growling in anticipation – but rarely is he so angry that he has to hold it in, lest he scare his sister. He sits on the couch with her, bandaged fists shaking as he clenches and unclenches them repeatedly.

There are so many things wrong with this picture.

He doesn't think it's very fair, the way Kyoko has to deal with troubling matters just because she loves Tsuna, a future Boss. He's mad at the troublemakers, mad at Reborn for giving her the idea of being responsible for such situations, and – as much as he doesn't want to blame Tsuna – mad at the younger boy for just standing by and letting it all happen. But mostly he's mad at himself for failing to protect Kyoko from – well, things. He's not good at articulating, but he just feels that he could have done much for her to avoid (the Mafia, guns, violence, Rings, Flames) such a life, but did not.

"Dammit, Kyoko," he growls, brotherly instinct more than anything else fueling his fury. "Just say the word and I'll let 'em have it to the extreme!"

(To the onlookers, his catchphrase isn't even half as funny or annoying as it usually is.)

But Kyoko merely smiles and reassures the congregation that she will handle it herself. Ryohei and the other boys, but most especially him, object loudly, but are swiftly and silently smothered by Bianchi's glower.

"You all insult her greatly with your lack of confidence in her," she intones, quiet and terrible. "Shut up."

Ryohei, intimidated though he is by the Poison Scorpion's verbal venom, does not ponder much on how insulting his concern might be or how much he lacks confidence in Kyoko. But he does brood on the fact that he is scared shitless for whatever may happen to his precious baby sister – peace-loving, gentle, soft Kyoko who is easy pickings for the villains of the underground.

Was it so wrong to want safety and peace for his most favorite person in the world?

Tsuna's Family cannot come to a consensus on the matter – most of the boys elect to handle the situation themselves, without letting Kyoko take part at all. Chrome quietly lends her support with a soft, "I'm sorry, Boss, but I think Kyoko-san's enough for this," and Bianchi says it a little more harshly. Haru of course is behind Kyoko all the way, and Reborn chooses to be neutral as always for his own reasons. Finally, they turn to Hibari.

He merely rolls his eyes and chooses to deliver his opinion by way of his favorite metaphor. "You can't make her un-grow her fangs, Sawada."

At the end of the day, Kyoko manages to convince Tsuna and (refuses to listen to reason) meets with her challenger – a girl a year older than her, carrying with her the ambitions of her own Family into gaining connections with one of the most powerful Families of all time. The girl brings a contingent of armed bodyguards, a few A-Grade Flame Rings, and her fearsome-looking butler to the assembly in a notorious izakaya called The House of Blue Leaves.

Kyoko comes only with her taser, an entourage composed of just I-Pin, Yamamoto, and Reborn, and a quiet assurance in the way she strides into the rowdy establishment with nary a falter, clad in a formal kimono ("For extra intimidatory effect," Reborn says).

Miles away in the Sasagawa household, Ryohei and Tsuna wear away the polished wood of the older boy's room as they continuously pace, sometimes bumping into each other in characteristic awkwardness. Gokudera is there to be the voice of reason, but he can say nothing of substance in the light of the duo's barely-held-in hysterics. Instead, he is the one who holds on to Tsuna's cellphone – which Yamamoto has promised to call – flipping it open and close repeatedly. Only Lambo seems to be calm about the entire thing, but that is because his attention is held by a lollipop.

And when the ebony-haired boy finally does report back, Ryohei finally realizes that Kyoko's real weapon isn't any tangible thing that he can hide under his floorboard out of her reach, and that it has enough destructive power to completely obliterate a Family or make it absolutely subservient.

It is the utter grace that she has when she completely dominates the other girl with deep knowledge on illegal human trafficking, bribery and assassination of government officials, the fact that said rival is wearing an imitation Fendi hairband, and other such secrets that her rival's much weaker Family would rather keep quiet about in the face of a powerful peacekeeping vigilante Family like this generation's Vongola. It is the silent danger she emits when she promises the other girl that though she has absolutely no say on the decisions of the higher-ups of the Family, she will make sure something will be done about such atrocities.

And in the face of an accusation-

"What about you? You lowlife without any lineage, you stink of poverty that it makes me sick. What does a Family like the Vongola gain with someone like you? Or does an ugly beggar with no breeding have to rely on underhanded tactics to keep Don Tsunayoshi's attention? What sort of hallucinogen are you feeding him that he doesn't see you for the gold digger you are?"

"Oi," Yamamoto mutters, a warning in his voice. I-Pin makes a similar sound, and the two look as though they will spring into action at a moment's notice. Reborn watches impassively, eyes shadowed by his fedora.

Kyoko waves a hand, and they back down. "Right now, it doesn't matter what the Vongola has to gain by having me. It doesn't even matter that it bothers me to see Tsuna-kun troubled by these things. But it does matter if someone such as yourself presents herself as a choice for Tsuna-kun's bride. I love my Family, and if there were someone who deserves my current position more than I, I would gladly give it up."

She puts on a smile, cheerful and pretty.

"However, I don't think you're quite so deserving of my complete surrender."

The girl reddens and sputters. "Who are you to-"

Kyoko's eyes sharpen with a Flame that is not quite there but is, and she proclaims it loud and clear.

"I am the girl Tsuna-kun has chosen to be by his side. And I will do everything in my power to be worthy of that."

It is the kind of strength and conviction she possesses, both of which not one other girl has. And Ryohei finally understands. It still takes him a few more years to get used to it, but that is where it starts.

Kyoko wins.

(And she doesn't even use the taser.)

Haru ver 15.5

Haru liked to believe that she knew what she was getting into the first time the cool metal of a gun settled into her inexperienced hands.

Remembering her words to Gokudera back then - "I can kill people, people who are bad and will hurt me and the people in our Family" – she almost laughs at how convinced she must have sounded. She wonders – no, actually, she knows it now: she had no fucking idea what she was talking about.

Naïve.

BOOM!

She leaps out the way as pieces of shrapnel come flying towards her. A bit of broken glass cuts her cheek, but she only grumbles, readjusts her hold on her pistol and revises her battle plan.

"Oi CEDEF girl, this ain't too much for you, is it?" Squalo asks, his characteristic growl laced with uncharacteristic concern.

"Haru's fine," she snaps, but only because it pisses her off that she looks pathetic enough that the second-in-command of the Varia is actually taking pity on her. "And Haru's not from CEDEF!"

"Poteito-potahto," Belphegor snickers, twirling knives between his fingers as if they weren't in mortal peril.

"It's not as if it's Haru's first mission!" the girl decides to retort, but to her dismay it sounds more like a suspiciously specific denial. The two of them don't even dignify her with a proper response, Squalo merely snorting and Bel cackling madly.

But it isn't her first mission, really – that one had been a disaster to say the least, though Basil tried to make her feel better by saying the first mission is always the hardest, and that they finished it successfully anyway, however sloppily. It did nothing to negate the facts that 1) though they managed to stop the transfer of the cocaine shipment from one hideout of the DiSanti Family to the next, they hadn't been able to round up all the underlings working on that trip; 2) she basically ended up watching while the actual CEDEF operatives, along with Gokudera, did the real work; and 3) some mook rendered her unconscious and she would have been carried away as a hostage had Gokudera not noticed and ripped the guy a new one for doing so.

She will never forget his angry lecture on keeping her guard up and focusing on the task and not making him ("You fucking stupid woman!") worry and dammit why are you still insisting on this action girl phase of yours? Nor will her view of Lal's training ever be the same again – not after the month-long (torture) training trip she had to endure as punishment. Everything that Lal would make her do in the future already paled in comparison to that.

(Be careful what you wish for, a voice in her snidely comments.)

This is her second mission.

The Varia members are not exactly happy that they have been thrust with what they consider a babysitting job. Tsuna is not happy to loan Haru to them either ("Lal-san, it's an assassination! Please don't make Haru do it!"), but Lal insisted ("Don't be such a wuss, Sawada – whether or not she can handle it is up to her") that working with a high class team will help her learn her own strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly keep her on her toes.

On my toes indeed! Lal-sensei, I've got a 99 percent success rate at stake here!

In all honesty, it should've been one of the Varia's easier jobs, but intelligence is faulty this one particular time. ("That piece of scum," Xanxus rumbled a few minutes back, referring to their mole in the weapons smuggling ring working between Europe and the Middle East. "He's asking for a fucking funeral.") They have been told that this meeting between the backer and the weapons developer will be secret and low-key, and a kill would be quick and easy considering the lack of security.

"VOIII! What fucking lack of fucking security?" Squalo roars as the wall they are hiding behind is pelted with bullets from the machine guns that have been set-up around the perimeter of a safe house in the wilderness outside Constantinople, the designated meeting area. "They brought enough to fight a damn army!"

Haru thinks they should have foreseen this anyhow. They were dealing with a weapons smuggling ring – of course the bastards would take advantage of their vast supply of ill-gotten guns and explosives. I don't know what Squalo-san is complaining about though – three elite Varia members here is a bit much.

"Well, they didn't think to underestimate us." Bel gives words to her thoughts, and of course he looks amused at the notion. Haru briefly entertains the idea that they're doing this mission not for its success, but for the thrills.

Squalo doesn't look the least bit appeased. "Yeah, but who told them we were coming?"

"Shut up!" Xanxus is the most irritable – but then, Haru knows he always is. Still, it does not diminish her intimidation of him. He glowers at them all, as if they are nothing but hindrances and headaches. (Which, she thinks, is true in her case.) "We'll deal with worthless trash later. Focus on taking the targets out! You, CEDEF girl!" He turns his wrathful red eyes at Haru, who – instead of correcting him – flinches violently. "Can you drive?"

"No sir!" she yelps. Bel cackles again. Their Boss bristles.

"Fucking useless. Can you snipe?"

"Lal-sensei trained me to handle different types of guns, but-"

"Yes or no?" Xanxus hisses.

"Yes!"

It's more of an instinctive answer, a primal desire to keep her brains where they should be – in her head and not splattered all over the ground. It's only half-true, however. Lal has taught her the basics of every sort of gun – they had long agreed that she is best at long- and mid-range fighting – but sniping is not her strong point. At all. She has never shot a target spot on from a 3000 meter distance, which is Lal's requirement for her graduation from rifles.

But Xanxus buys it, much to her chagrin. He exhales sharply and she can almost see cogs and wheels rapidly turning in his head. "Then you're coming with me." Haru freezes – she's what? – but the Varia Boss doesn't pay that gesture any notice. "Those shitheads are gonna run, now that they know we're here. We're going to follow them. You and you-" Squalo and Bel snap to attention, "-take out the remaining trash that is their lame excuse for a distraction. We're getting a car."

Before Haru can squeak out an obligatory "Hahi", they are jumping into the line of fire, each of the Varia unleashing his fury onto the naïve mooks left to detain them. Bel and Squalo clear a way for Haru and Xanxus to get to the jeep across the battlefield.

Then Haru is running, running, jumping over obstacles and dodging hellfire. Xanxus is five, six, seven long strides away from her, and a bullet whizzes past her ankle. She winces as it lacerates the thin skin there, but staying still is a stupid idea, so she has to run, run, run till her lungs disintegrate.

Several men aim their weapons at her and Xanxus, but the dark-haired assassin makes quick work of them. Inevitably, they all start aiming for her only, and Xanxus slows his pace to match hers, but only to bark: "You damn brat! Either put that gun to good use or I leave you here!"

She knows exactly what he means by 'good use'. She has not used the gun in a mission before, nor has she ever been explicitly ordered to shoot anyone who dare cross paths with them. But the more people attacking her, the more Xanxus has to slow down – and if the enemy doesn't kill her, his impatience will.

So she starts her counterattack with hesitation tucked away.

She moves quickly, nearly frenzied but still precise, and Xanxus picks up the pace in plowing through the ranks that she has no time to check if her shots have hit the right way. She does not even stop to think of the implications of every shot she has fired, only that their targets are getting away and that success is the only option in this setting.

In the back of her mind, she thinks, My first kill is probably somewhere over there, but the thought only processes for a nanosecond before it is cut off by absolute focus on the task.

Xanxus fires a shot at the guy on the jeep's driver seat and pulls him off onto the ground, while Haru holds off the rest from behind. Veteran and novice jump into the vehicle (keys conveniently in the ignition), and Xanxus steps on the gas so violently that Haru nearly laughs at the mental image of him kicking a hole through the metal.

Soon enough they're catching up to the getaway car. Haru can see the driver, the backer in the passenger's seat, and the developer squashed between two bodyguards in the back seat. "Fucking idiots, didn't even bother tinting the windows," Xanxus mutters. He glares at Haru. "You know what to do."

Her brow furrows. "H-hahi?"

A nerve ticks under his eye as his scars begin to darken. "Shoot them all, you useless piece of trash!"

It is one thing, Haru supposes, to be unconfident about one's sniping skills when viewing a moving target from 500 meters away. It is another thing entirely to be pumped with adrenaline while riding a jeep driven by one of the best assassins in the world and being told to shoot a target zigzagging in front of them at 180 kilometers per hour.

Who, to Haru's dismay, start shooting at them even before she can collect herself.

"Shoot back!" Xanxus snarls as he zigzags to avoid the bullets as well.

Only her fear of Xanxus's wrath gets her to forget about her lack of confidence. She scrambles to the back and grabs one of the semi-automatic rifles (conveniently) scattered on the floor. She stands on her seat, uses the windshield as leverage, stops thinking, and starts shooting.

She hits the hand of the first mook, then the second, and they drop their weapons. Before they can react further, she fires two more shots that shatter the back windshield, then on the shoulders of each mook. Lastly, she fires at the wheels of the car, which promptly explode causing the car to skid before tumbling down the road like a giant tin can.

"I told you to shoot them all!" Xanxus growls as he brings the jeep to screeching halt ("Hahi!" she squeals when she nearly topples) and jumps off to finish the job.

"I'm not supposed to do any killing!" Haru retorts rather bravely. (Or stupidly, in that she just doesn't want to put in the effort of being scared around him anymore because she's just too tired.)

"Ch. Fucking useless CEDEF trash."

They complete the mission.

The debriefing afterwards has everyone a bit stunned. The mission is a success regardless of the false information, but that's not the surprising thing. Despite the large amount of foot soldiers (and the number of particularly indiscriminate Varia elite) present, fatalities are at a minimum – apparently the person armed with the CEDEF-issued pistol only aimed at the limbs.

Haru is showered with praises afterwards, by both her friends in Tsuna's circle and by members of the CEDEF she has grown close to. They treat her act of sparing lives as an act of noble heart and a testament of her shooting abilities, and finally the upper echelon of the Varia is starting to look twice at her because of this particular mission. Haru brushes off the praise with modesty, commenting that it is merely due to Lal's high standards that she manages.

No one realizes (though Kyoko, Gokudera, and Reborn suspect) that it's not because she is merciful or skillful or anything like that.

It's because she is slowly realizing the weight of a gun on her conscience, and finding that killing isn't quite as easy as just a resolve to be strong.

Post-chapter note:

The world record for farthest distance of sniper shooting is 2475 meters. Just to give you an idea exactly how high Lal's standards are.

Also, did you notice the Kill Bill reference? If you watched the first one, there was a scene where O-Ren Ishii does the strut of power with her lackeys down the hallway of the izakaya. I'm kind of imagining Kyoko in this scene, with a smaller entourage.

Ceyrai Says: WOW. That was an adrenaline rush to write – my mind was literally running too fast for my hands. This part contained one of my favorite one-liners for this fic (see the story's subtitle), one of my favorite kinds of relationship (the brother-sister type), and one of the most interesting pair-ups that I really wanted to see written (Xanxus and Haru).

Also, this is where I realized for the umpteenth time that Haru is much weaker than Kyoko emotionally. It makes for such good plotbunnies, that.

Can you tell how much I love this chapter? I hope you loved it as much as I do, or even more. Leave a review guys! Thanks for reading again!

PS It's really annoying how FFnet doesn't let writers type in the exclamation point and the question mark in succession. It just leaves one and omits the other. It get's really hard to show the right emotion for sentences. Anyone know a way around this?