She had been with Hayato learning how to play the piano when it happened. Having just finished successfully playing Moonlight Sonata, she was standing up to thank the boy when there was a large crash outside. She quickly hid the little boy behind the piano and approached the door. Peering outside, she made out the shape of Xanxus standing further down the hall. Breathing a sigh of relief, she opened the door and called, "Fratello, what are you doing? You scared me."

He turned to look at her, an expression of absolute fury on his face. She flinched in fear but stood her ground, believing he wouldn't hurt her no matter how angry he was. She was mistaken however, because without any hesitation he threw a ball of his flames at her. The roaring flames made her eyes widen in fear and she dove out of the way in the nick of time. The flame burnt a hole through the wall behind her.

"Fratello, stop! It's me!" He didn't seem to hear her, so caught up in his anger.

Charging at her, he threw fireball after fireball at her. She should have been able to dodge the attacks with ease but her confusion over the situation was slowing her down. She was slowly being forced back. And behind her was Hayato! She couldn't let Xanxus hurt him on accident. She yanked the chopsticks out of her hair and grasped them firmly in her fists, "Fratello, tell me what's going on or I can't help you!"

At this, the boy's eyes flickered. And then he roared, "YOU? HELP ME? You must be fucking kidding me! You're in on this with that old fart, aren't you? BOTH OF YOU KNEW ALL ALONG AND YOU WERE JUST STRINGING ME ALONG!"

"Knew what all along?" she asked desperately.

"You knew I couldn't become the next boss from the beginning! He pretended to adopt you so that you'd get the title but you knew him all along, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" she shrieked, ducking underneath a burst of flame he had sent at her.

The boy charged forward and in a burst of speed he normally didn't display, managed to pin her to the wall. She swung the end of the chopstick into his side. Grunting at the pain, he loosened his grip around her throat. Immediately she took a deep breath and kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to let go. She dropped to the ground, but immediately scrambled to stand and face him. This anger-filled monster might have been her fratello, but she would choose to live even if she had to fight him.

He slowly got up again and lunged at her. She dodged and started running away from the music room. She didn't want Hayato to get hurt in a fight that could get ugly. In fact, she didn't want him to see it at all. So she kept running, dodging the odd fireball here and there. Avoiding areas where there would be a lot of people, she ended up in the main hall. The usual guards were absent to her relief. Turning around, she prepared to face the angry boy behind her. Now that she had room to fight, she ran at him, on the offensive.

He blocked her first hit easily, forcing her back with the flame in his hands. She attempted to find a weak spot in his defense but there was nothing that even betrayed an inkling of an opening. The boy threw a punch at her and she flung a hand up. At the last second however, his other fist went crashing into her stomach instead. She was sent flying into a wall, the flame licking at her side. She screamed in pain and tried to beat the flame out but he pinned her down and growled in her face, "This is what you deserve for tricking me. I'll fucking kill you, you bitch."

It was an oddly surreal scene. The black haired red-eyed boy who she trusted most in the world towering over the blonde haired blue-eyed girl who was being engulfed in flames. Almost as if a demon was fighting an angel. The two children were two sides of the same coin.

She had never felt pain like this before; it burned at her relentlessly. She screamed and flailed, struggling to get away. He raised his fist and then brought it crashing down. She closed her eyes, fear crippling her. To her shock however, the boy's fist had been stopped by a scepter. The boy looked up and his eyes focused on the old man. Immediately a growl burst out of him. He was about to launch himself at the man when he spotted the guardians flanking him. He snarled and stormed out.

Nono sprang into action, ordering his guardians to grab the girl who had stopped moving. It wasn't a good sign. If she didn't feel any more pain, then the fire must have burned away her nerve endings, which meant it was an incredibly severe injury.

There was a small cry and Hayato ran over to the girl, "Sorella, what happened? Are you hurt? Sorella!" He clung to the only person to truly be kind to him, who lay on the floor, burn marks covering her stomach. Serena reached out a shaky hand and grabbed the boy's hand, "I'm okay…Hayato…I'll be fine…go find your sister…and thank you for today's lesson" She ruffled said boy's hair and then went limp, her eyes drooping shut. The boy's cries increased in volume as the guardians tried to pull him back to give them space to work with.

Serena ended up having to be admitted to a special burn unit for treatment. Weighed down with pain medication, she was kept on an IV as the doctors removed the burnt skin and did their best to salvage what was left. They had ended up grafting skin so that her injury would heal. And while she was slowly recovering, the girl was despondent. She didn't have much of an appetite and wasn't even interested in the books they brought for her. More than her injury, it was the emotional baggage that came with the situation that was weighing her down.

"Serena, what's wrong?" Dino asked as he watched the girl pick at her food.

She glanced at him dully, "I'm not really hungry."

"Not that. You know what I'm talking about."

She sighed, "How am I supposed to feel, Dino? If it were some other famiglia that had done this, I would be clambering to recover so that I could get revenge. But it was my fratello who did it! And I still don't know why!"

She shifted and winced as the area where they had taken skin from on her thigh for her grafting started aching. She sighed and put down her fork. Dino looked at her worriedly, "You have to finish your food Serena. The doctor said that your body is working extra hard to fix you, but if you don't eat, you won't have enough energy."

She shook her head weakly, "I want to talk to fratello."

"Listen Serena, Xanxus has changed. He's going around in a rage all the time and he doesn't care about anything."

"Why hasn't anyone tried to find out what happened to him?" she demanded. "Don't they care?" She grabbed the fork and started shoveling down the food. Chewing furiously, she muttered, "I'm going to make him tell me what happened even if I have to beat it out of him." She glanced at Dino who was staring at her, completely confused by her sudden mood change, and snapped, "Go get me some more food! I have to eat to recover! I can't stay in this stupid hospital forever!"

He ran to obey, glad that she had at the very least regained some of her energy.

A few days later when her wounds were on their way to recovery, Bianchi and Hayato were finally allowed to visit. "Sorella! Are you okay? They wouldn't let us see you!" Bianchi shouted as she threw herself at the girl.

Dino grabbed her before she could land on the burn patient and she struggled violently, "Pervert! Let me go! I want to see sorella not you!"

Serena's face softened for the first time since her hospitalization and Dino let the pink-haired girl run to her role model. The two kids fussed over her while Dino watched, bemused. For all that the girl tried so hard to remain aloof from those around her, she had won the hearts of these two kids so quickly.

Three visitors were plenty enough so when she was told that there was another person who wanted to see her, she was astonished. To her surprise, her instructor walked in, looking around at the kids who were passed out around the room. Smiling in amusement, he approached her. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, young lady."

"I'm on my way to full recovery!" she nodded.

"Now, I don't want you to strain yourself, but I just thought I'd bring you some good news." He pulled out a new pair of chopsticks. With a flourish, he handed them over to the girl. "These can hold up against the…tougher elements."

She was already examining the weapons. They were the same length as her previous pair of chopsticks had been but a little bit heavier. They were decorated with an intricate vine design. Noticing that the single flower on the vines seemed to protrude a little, she pressed it. To her surprise, a needle extended out of the end of the chopstick. "The needles are filled with a strong paralyzing drug. In case of an emergency, inject it and it should knock out or at the very least stop your opponent long enough for you to get away. You can adjust the dosages and the types of drug as well by turning the flower knob."

"They act as a retractable baton if you flick it the right way." She followed his instructions and the chopsticks lengthened and then slid back to their original size. "Those will be able to withstand any kind of flame or weapon that comes their way which of course means that you can incorporate your own flame into an attack."

Serena turned to give the man a hug of utmost gratitude. While she could never quite view the eating utensils the same way ever again, it was without a doubt that they had saved her life once. From the time she had gotten out of the hospital to when she died, they would remain a permanent hair accessory.

It was common to see Dino with Serena at practically all times now. Since the girl had recovered and been released from the hospital, she had been attacked by Xanxus four more times. It was getting to the point where if she was alone at any time, she would most likely be targeted by the angry boy. And they had yet to figure out what was troubling him. Dino had taken it upon himself to accompany her at all times as a bodyguard of sorts.

Serena herself had refused to stay idle; instead she spent her time training herself to be able to use her weapons, as well as training herself to use her flame. She had also put time into learning English and Japanese. Her thirst of knowledge really came alive then and she conjugated verbs and memorized vocabulary voraciously.

"So how do you feel now that you're turning eleven?" Dino asked.

The girl replied bitterly, "Not really any different. If anything, I feel more repressed than ever." She sighed and sat back in her chair, "I know it's for my safety, but having bodyguards follow me around all day is stifling." She looked at him, "And you. Aren't you bored when you're with me all the time?"

He shook his head, "It's better than going to school."

She frowned in disapproval, "You need to keep up with your schooling Dino. You're going to be a mafia boss in the future, right?"

Dino groaned, "You know I will. I'm going to keep our promise no matter what. But sometimes I just want to spend time with you."

She flicked him in the forehead, "If you keep thinking like that, you won't get anywhere." She left her seat to find a reference book and he could hear her muffled voice saying, "Don't you find learning interesting?"

"It's not the material that I don't like. It's the people. Just because I'm in line to be the next Cavallone boss, I get challenged by people all the time" He wailed, "It's not like I can take those guys on!"

As she came back, a small black blur sped by her and launched straight into the side of the boy's head. Alarmed, she rushed over, "Are you okay? What was that?"

"Ciaossu" A small voice said calmly.

She looked down and to her bemusement saw a small baby wearing an orange pacifier, a suit, and a fedora. A small green chameleon was perched on the brim of his hat. "I'm Reborn, Dino's new home tutor."

"Eh…" The boy clutched his head, "What…why is there a baby here?"

Serena gasped, "By Reborn, do you mean the Ninth's most trusted hitman? That Reborn?"

The baby smirked, "So you've heard of me. At least someone knows their stuff." He turned to Dino and kicked him in the head again, "Stop lying on the floor and get up already useless Dino."

The boy scrambled away from the Spartan tutor, "What do you mean you're my tutor? You're a Vongola hitman!"

"The Ninth asked me to turn you into a fine boss." He leaped over and grabbed the boy's arm, twisting it behind him, and dragged him off.

"W-wait! Ow, Reborn! What about Serena? She'll be in danger ow!"

The baby scoffed, "You being here doesn't change anything; now hurry up before I shoot you."

The boy's squeals of pain could be heard all the way until they exited the library. Shaking her head, Serena turned back to her books. Maybe she'd finally get some peace and quiet. But before she could even start looking up what she needed to, the door slammed open again, and two sets of footsteps pattered towards her. She greeted them without even looking up, "Hayato, Bianchi, how are you two today?"

"Sorella! You won't believe what Hayato did the other day! He was so mean!" Bianchi started.

"It's her fault sorella! She fed me some weird cookies!"

"Papa said I should give you some cookies as good luck! But then you went and played all weirdly!"

"That's because your cookies made my stomach hurt so much that I couldn't play normally!"

The two children bickered endlessly and Serena finally stepped in. "All right, calm down. Now tell me exactly what happened. One at a time. Bianchi you go first."

"Hayato had a piano recital and so papa asked me to make some cookies for him. But then when he played, it came out all weird, and then Hayato blamed it on me!"

"Is that what happened Hayato?"

"Her cookies made my stomach hurt and I couldn't play! But then papa's friends said that it was contem-complentary or something and liked it!"

"Contemporary?"

He nodded fiercely and she ruffled his hair. "Well then, no harm done. If your papa and his friends liked it, then isn't that good?"

"But my stomach hurt so bad! And papa says that sorella has to keep making cookies for me!"

"Bianchi, what exactly did you put in those cookies?" Serena asked curiously.

"I followed the recipe!" She took out a bag of the cookies and handed them to her. "I made some for you too!"

Hayato growled and knocked the cookies out of the girl's hand, "Are you trying to kill sorella?"

The cookies went flying and hit the ground. As the kids argued, Serena watched as the concoction on the floor bubbled for a moment before melting a hole through the ground. Her eyes widened. Did Bianchi just have a natural talent for poison cooking? She scooped up the remains with the undissolved parts of the bag, "Sorry Bianchi, these cookies are probably ruined. But keep practicing and I'll taste your cooking some other time, okay?"

Then, changing the subject quickly, she asked, "Did you two come here just to argue about that?"

The kids threw themselves at her and hugging her fiercely, chimed in sync, "Happy birthday sorella!"

"Sorella, why aren't you having a big party this year?" Bianchi asked.

"Ah, well some things came up. But it doesn't matter if I don't have a party as long as I get to spend my special day with you two."

She apologized fervently to the man lying in the hospital and then left, her expression troubled. In order to get to her, Xanxus had sent two men flying; one of them had severely injured his back, the other had broken has arm. It was clear that no matter how many bodyguards she had; it wouldn't be enough to keep the boy away for long. It was time to move on. Luckily, she had been preparing for this day. Her separate Swiss bank account had enough money for her to live comfortably for awhile in the country of her choice.

She had done extensive research and found out that Nono had once visited Japan in a small town called Namimori. She had decided to move there. To hide in a place that seemed too obvious and dangerous, they wouldn't think of looking for her there. She had also found out that the external advisor Iemitsu had his family there, but the man was always traveling around the world. It was very unlikely that she would ever meet him.

Making sure that no one found out about what she was doing, she continued to act as she always had. She spent more and more of her time in the library; after she left, she wouldn't have such easy access to so much information. The Vongola mansion's library was extensive and covered ridiculous amounts of information. She also had Hayato teaching her how to play the piano whenever the boy came to visit her. She learned quickly and they played simple duets together to their small audience.

The night before her twelfth birthday when everyone was rushing around making preparations, she slipped out of her room, a single bag holding everything she deemed necessary to take with her slung over her back. Leaving a note bidding them farewell on her desk, she slipped out into the cover of the night and left for Namimori, Japan.

"Dear Nono, thank you for giving me a chance at life. It's time that I moved on and stopped causing so much trouble. Please do not look for me. I will never forget you.

In the bottom corner of the note, there was a scrawled P.S. Please tell the children I will miss them and that their sorella had to leave for some business."

Author's Note:

So all those people who were saying it was great that Xanxus was nice? Yeah…um…sorry OTL But it was time to move the story forward. I guess this ends the background history arc of sorts? :3

Bianchi's first official poison cooking appearance! Gokudera beware! ^_^

Please read and review~