Ciaossu~!

Sorry for the long delay everyone, life is life, ya know?

Anyway, here's the new (longish) chapter!

grenouille-85: heheh, thanks~

PhoenixRage92: Heh, glad to hear you like Luca so much XD She's quite the little firecracker, isn't she?

Yanu: Heh, I'm glad to hear that he's IC; I'm trying my hardest. But I do have to ask, what makes you say the picture isn't Tyr? I did explain that I was unsure if it was, but I'm hoping maybe you know who it is then? It's been bugging me for ages.

steel-alchemist: Ah, thanks so much. XD and Yes, Xanxus is quite the *** sometimes. lol

XqwertX: thanks! I'll do my best!

13Lulu's: Your brother's name is Luca? XD And I'm glad you like!

*chapter 7*

When Luca finally woke from her nap, she found her uncle sitting on the edge of the bed, already dressed and smoking a cigarette.

Her nose wrinkled when she inhaled the smoke; the window was open, but it still stank.

She let out a yawn and sat up, rubbing her eyes blearily.

"Ah, awake finally. Sleep good?" asked Azzuro, glancing back at her. "I was going to wake you kiddo, it's almost time to go meet the Boss for dinner."

She sat there watching him for a few more moments before he got up, put the cigarette out in a glass ashtray on the window, and turned around.

"You should go get dressed, little princessa."

"Can I ask what happened earlier today? With that jerk, Xanxus?" asked Azzuro as he led Luca through the many hallways that seemed to make up the mansion.

"He doesn't like me…"

"He doesn't seem to like much of anything," he scoffed in reply. "But what did he do to make you cry, huh?"

His tone of voice said more than his words; as mean as Xanxus was, she didn't want her Uncle making things worse…

"He was mad… I made him mad…" she looked up at Azzuro. "I didn't mean to!"

Frowning, he had her explain a little further.

"That little jerk!" seethed Azzuro, a few minutes later. "He made you cry over some picture?!"

Luca pressed her lips together as she trailed after him; now her uncle was mad too.

Stopping outside a door, Azzuro bent down and adjusted one of the cerulean bows in Luca's hair.

"You should keep away from him for now, on, got it?" he asked, scowling slightly. "We can always find you a playmate; I mean, Calder's got a girl your age…"

"Okay…" replied Luca, before taking his hand.

"Here we go…" muttered Azzuro, before opening the door.

Like everything in the mansion, it was a little overwhelming. And especially to Luca, who was used to small Victorian town houses and a little less extravagance. In fact, not only was it overwhelming, but a little intimidating too; enough so to make Luca feel even smaller than she already was.

The room was large with a domed ceiling painted to resemble and moderately clear sky; the right side of the room overlooked what seemed to an orchard, with beautiful stained glass casting colorful shadows across the other wall, which was blank. A large fireplace sat at the far end of the room, while in front of it sat the Vongola Nono, his hands folded on the large dining table.

"Ah, good evening, you two," he said softly, smiling all the while. Next to him sat a typically angry Xanxus, who was glaring daggers into the ceiling as he leaned back in his seat. The rest of the table was vacant.

Azzuro calmly took a seat two down from the ninth, while Luca sat across from Xanxus. He didn't even look at her as she settled into it, her chin just barely reaching above the table edge.

After a few moments, Azzuro and the Boss were engaged in conversation. It was obvious from the context that it wasn't interesting to Luca, so she turned back to watch Xanxus.

She wondered if he would stay angry with her after what had happened earlier that day; he didn't seem like the forgiving type…

"Stop staring at me," growled Xanxus in a low voice, his crimson eyes locking on hers. Luca blinked in reply, but didn't break eye contact with him.

She watched as he stiffened and leaned forwards over the table.

"I said stop it."

"That thing you did earlier…with your hand and the flame…how did you do it?" she asked, ignoring his command.

"Why?" he replied, sitting back and scowling. "You don't need to know."

"But I can do it," she replied, "I wanna know how to do it too."

He scowled and started to say something, but Azzuro suddenly put his hand down in on the table, inches away from Luca's nose.

"Hey, don't you have something to say to Luca? Something about earlier?"

Xanxus slowly turned his fierce gaze to Azzuro, a very slight sneer on his face.

"Like what, trash?"

"Not at the table, please," called out the Boss. Luca looked up at her uncle to see him leaning forwards over the table, his jaw set and his eyes furious. Slowly he sat back down, frowning, but complying.

Xanxus looked even angrier, but Luca could see he was a little satisfied.

"Luca, if you like, I can teach you how to sustain a dying will flame like Xanxus can."

Surprised, Luca turned to stare at the Boss. He smiled at her.

"Boss…" interrupted Azzuro in a low voice; Luca glanced up at him; was there something wrong with it?

"Now, now, if she's showing interest, there isn't any reason to keep her from learning it. I won't let her come to harm, after all." He reached out as if to pat him on the hand, despite being two seats away. "And please, I do understand your concern."

He paused as the doors opened and two people pushing carts came rolling in. Luca watched as they put silver domed platters on the table in front of the Boss and Xanxus, before removing the tops and exposing what she could only call a feast.

Xanxus was placed with a strange round steak and vegetables, while the Boss had a plate of chicken over rice with vegetables covered in white sauce.

The two servants then wheeled the carts around and came towards the other side of the table; Luca lowered her gaze self consciously as a plate was place in front of her, but the smell coming from it made her look up.

Steaming fresh chicken Alfredo; one of her most favorite foods.

"Oh hey, that looks pretty good…" said Azzuro, looking at her plate. His plate was complete with a large burger and neatly sliced fries; Luca was starting to wonder if maybe that was his favorite meal, but it wouldn't make sense for them to just know, right?

The two servants then poured wine for Azzuro and the Boss, before giving Luca juice and Xanxus some sort of soda and leaving the room.

"Now then, continuing where I had left off…" the Boss slowly cut his chicken into bite sized pieces. "Have you been thinking about the offer I mentioned earlier? I wanted to hear your thoughts on it, before anything else."

Luca slurped up a few noodles, doing her best to keep her manners despite the messy awkwardness of the noodles.

"Well…" replied Azzuro. He ran his finger along the top of his wine glass. Luca stared up at him, watching as his expression turn more serious than before.

He looked at the Boss. "In all honesty…I've been thinking…Well, I know you said that we could live here, even if I wasn't serving the famiglia anymore, but…It doesn't seem right to take advantage of you like that, Boss. And so…" he paused, his eyes glinting.

"I was thinking about rejoining the Varia."

Xanxus let out a bit of a snort, before taking a bite of steak. The Boss didn't seem fazed in the least; he only gave Azzuro a slight nod.

"I thought as much, I must admit. I'm certain that Tyr will gladly welcome you back." He said, before taking a bite of his meal.

The next few minutes were quiet. Luca picked at her plate, taking small bites and doing her best not to get the sauce all over. Every now and again she would glance at Xanxus, who was scowling at either his father, or at his plate.

Luca didn't know much about who or what the Varia was, except that Calder and Anton belonged to it, and Tyr was the leader. But if Azzuro was going to rejoin it, where did that leave her?

She pressed her lips together as she stared at her plate; was he going to leave her with people she didn't really know again?

Her nose tingled painfully as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to cry with the Boss and Xanxus there, so she stared listlessly at the table in front of her nose, her hand squeezing Cosimo's paw tightly.

"Your Alfredo looks too good, I'm going to steal a bite," declared Azzuro suddenly, turning and stabbing a piece of chicken. He started to bite into it, grinning teasingly, only to stop and stare at Luca. "What's the matter?" he asked, frowning and leaning towards her. "Don't like it?"

She shook her head.

Azzuro turned in his chair, putting his hand on the top of her head.

"What is it then, mi princessa?"

"If you join the Varia…" she muttered quietly, looking up at him, "Are you going to leave again?"

He stared at her, before letting out a soft chuckle.

"Nah, I won't." He smiled.

She frowned and pulled out from under his hand, her small fingers tightening around his large ones.

"Promise," she demanded, staring up at him. "You have to promise."

He blinked in surprise, before a serious frown replaced it. He turned his hand over, catching one of Luca's and squeezing it gently.

"Si, vi prometto."

Luca grinned, relief flowing through her. Azzuro let go of her hand and gestured at her plate.

"You'd better eat your dinner… It's gonna get cold if you just let it sit there like that." he said in a much louder voice, before turning away with what Luca though looked like…embarrassment.

"Kay," she replied after a moment, turning to her meal. She rolled the noodles onto her fork, stabbed a piece of chicken and was about to take a bite when something possessed her to look up and across the table at Xanxus.

The look on his face was more than enough to make her freeze in place. His expression was dark, angrier than she had seen before, but…distant at the same time.

He pushed away from the table and onto his feet with a sudden noise.

"I'm done with my dinner," he growled out in a gruff, angry monotone, before walking away. The door shut behind him with a very audible click.

"I wonder what got into him…" muttered Azzuro looking up from his burger. Luca finally ate the bite of noodle and chicken, content to quietly finish her meal…though she did wonder why Xanxus had looked at her like that.

**

An hour later, Luca was fidgeting in her seat, her legs swinging back and forth as she stared out the window.

She knew that had she been older, her mind would have been buzzing at all the information she had caught through Azzuro and the Boss' conversation. But, being the five year old that she was, the worries that would come with knowing that she was to live at the Vongola house from then on, to be educated at an advanced pace (as all mafia children were), and to go through training of sorts…were lacking from her mind.

What was causing her to fidget so much was what befalls all children; boredom. And admittedly curiosity at where Xanxus had gotten to, and what else was in the mansion. But, dessert had yet to come, and it didn't feel like either man was going to break conversation and leave.

Luca glanced at Azzuro; he was busy explaining something to the Boss, his hands gesturing as he went. Letting out a small sigh, she looked away. The idea of tugging his sleeve to see if she could leave didn't seem like it would work; Luca remembered all too well what adults were like when they got into deep conversation—the chances of him listening to her were low.

Slowly she let Cosimo fall from her lap, her hand holding tight to his paw as she slowly started to swing him back and forwards. The men continued to talk, neither paying attention as Luca swung Cosimo higher and higher, before letting him fall a good distance away under the table. She let out a little gasp, as if surprised and slowly slid off the chair to her feet. Neither man noticed as she crawled under the table towards Cosimo. Picking him up, she glanced at her Uncle's legs as if they would tell her whether or not he had noticed. By the sounds of the conversation, he hadn't.

Luca moved to the end of the table, eyes on the door Xanxus had gone out. How she was going to go out, she didn't know. Just walking over there would be out of the question, as either the Boss or Azzuro would see her, and she didn't want to go out a different door (there were two) as she didn't know where they would lead, or who would be on the other side.

She let out a soft growl of frustration and sat down, staring at the door. How was she going to get out now?

And then the door opened.

"Sorry I'm so late!" called out a vaguely familiar voice as a pair of boots came into view.

"It fine, Tyr. Come sit down, we haven't had dessert yet."

"Ah, alright," replied Tyr, taking a seat a chair down from where Luca crouched. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed that the door wasn't fully shut; if she could get over there…she could get out.

Biting her lip, she got to her feet and peered carefully out from under the table. Tyr was busy chatting animatedly with Azzuro, his glasses catching in the fading light. As long as they continued talking, there was a chance she could get away. And so Luca slowly eased out, glad suddenly for being small.

She crept as quickly and quietly as she could across the carpet, all the while hoping not to be noticed. Her hand reached up for the door, pushed it and…was out!

Speeding up, she trotted down the hallway, intent on finding a particular main staircase. Based by the color of the sky, it would be too late to go out into the garden, and her Uncle knew exactly where that was. Somehow, she knew that the moment he noticed she was gone he would freak out.

"This looks like the right staircase, Cosimo," she muttered, coming out of a hallway to face a set of stairs. Her hand on the railing, she made her way up, ears straining to pick up any sounds that might alert her to a certain boy's presence. But, as with the rest of the house (at least, the way she had gone) there hadn't been any other people. She was glad for that, as someone might see her and drag her straight back to her Uncle. And then she'd never figure out what was wrong with—

"The hell are you doing here, brat?" called out a voice as she stood at the top of the stairs.

Luca turned around.

"Xanxus…" she replied, smiling slightly.

He scowled at her, crossing his arms and putting a foot on the stairs.

"Answer my question; you're not supposed to be here."

Luca frowned, taking a step towards him.

"Well…I was wondering where you went," she replied, "It was boring in there."

"So you came to bother me?" he snapped, stomping up the stairs. "Tch, I don't have time to entertain little brats. Go back to your dear uncle and leave me the hell alone."

She stared at him as he pushed past her and towards his bedroom. Luca had almost been tempted to ask him outright why he was such a mean bastard, but thought better of it. Instead, she followed him.

Somehow, she managed to get into his room before he slammed the door shut. And somehow, he didn't throw her out, though she was ready to fight tooth and nail if he tried.

Instead, Xanxus stalked over to his desk and sat down, glowering at her the whole time.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone, brat." He grumbled. "And what the hell do you even want with me anyway?"

Luca didn't answer, turning away and walking over to where the photographs were. She studied them, seeing that the picture of Xanxus and his Mama was gone. He had probably moved it to somewhere he deemed safer and far from her clutches. Not that she would have harmed the photo…

She looked down at Cosimo, running her fingers through his mane to try and tame the tangles.

"What happened to your Mama?" She asked quietly, glancing at him. Xanxus' face was masked by anger, but she was almost certain she saw him wince a tiny bit.

"She's dead." He replied sharply. "Why?"

Luca looked back down at Cosimo.

"I miss my Mama too."

Xanxus didn't say anything, but she could feel an awkward silence descending on the room. She glanced at him to read his expression, but it was dark and oddly blank. Looking away quickly, she went back to fixing Cosimo's mane.

"But now it's just me, Uncle and Cosimo. It's not bad though…Uncle…he's really nice to me. Your Papa seems nice too."

She stole another glance at him; he was leaning forwards on his knees, glaring at her.

"Tch. Why the hell are you telling me all of this? I don't give a damn. And I didn't ask to hear about your damned life story either, so why don't you just go play somewhere else?" he growled out.

Luca felt tears in the corners of her eyes from his stinging words, but she didn't let herself cry.

"W…Why are you so mean to me?" she asked, frowning. "I haven't done anything wrong. Do you act like a bastard to everyone?"

"What did you say?" he snarled suddenly, jumping to his feet.

"I said you're a bastard, asshole!" she snapped back, holding tight to Cosimo. "I just wanted to be friends! Why do you have to be so mean?!"

He walked up to her, towering over her with a menacing stare.

"You're damned lucky I don't hit kids; now get the hell out of my room, runt."

"Hmph," she turned and stomped to the door. "I hate you, asshole."

The next moments happened almost too quickly to comprehend. Luca started to open the door, only to have it wrenched from her fingers as someone on the other side threw it open, only to be smacked in the face by a boot which Xanxus had thrown.

Luca could only stumble back as a boy struggled to stay upright, his expression furious.

"V-VOOOOOIIII! What the hell was that for?!"

Covering her ears from the earsplitting roar, Luca stared up at a white haired boy garbed in some sort of school uniform; his face was red from where the boot had hit, and his expression was almost as scary as Xanxus'.

"Squalo, what the hell are you doing here?" growled Xanxus, glaring at him. "Better yet," He turned to glare at Luca instead. "Why don't you get that trash out of here and back to her Uncle?"

"Eeeh?" Squalo (as she guessed his name to be—odd as it was) turned to stare at her. "What the hell is a kid doing here?" His gray eyes moved back to Xanxus.

"What does it matter?" replied Xanxus, "Get rid of her."

"Fine," muttered Squalo, walking towards Luca. "Let's go, brat."

As soon as he was close enough, Luca kicked his shin as hard as she could. The boy let out a gasp of pain and doubled over, trying to grab her all the while. But Luca was fast and slid past him to the door.

"Bastard Xanxus!" she called, picking up his boot and trying to throw it at him. It clattered a good three feet away from him. He gave her his scariest glare yet, but Luca, infuriated by his sharp words and rude treatment didn't care at that point. She turned to stomp out the door at that point, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Letting out a squeak she tried to break free, only to be lifted up and hefted onto Squalo's shoulder.

"I'll be back," he called, before kicking the door shut and proceeding to carry Luca away.

"Let me go, asshole!" roared Luca, kicking and managing to get a fistful of his short choppy white hair.

"Voooi!" he roared, trying to free himself. "Do you want to die!? Let go!"

Luca did let go, instead twisting and slipping through his grip to land on the floor with half a mind to run away. But she didn't. Instead, she glared up at Squalo.

"Why'd you do that, jerk?!"

He stared down at her, scowling.

"Just how old are you, runt? And why the hell were you messing with him anyway? Are you trying to die?"

"I'm five," she replied, ignoring his other questions. "Who are you?"

"Five? You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, rubbing at the mark on his face. "And that bastard's gone and made me into a fucking nanny, what the hell…"

Luca let out a slight snort, before turning and stomping down the hallway, intent on leaving behind Squalo if he was going to look down on her and just mutter to himself.

"Voooi!" he yelled, catching up to her and cutting in front of her. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

She glared at him and didn't answer.

"Tch, I'm supposed to bring you back to your Uncle or whatever…so come on." He reached out and grabbed her arm roughly. Luca complied, frowning all the while.

"Why's your name Squalo?" she asked after a moment. "You're named after a fish."

"Tch, and? What the hell is your name, runt?"

"Luca," she snapped back, "Luca Canzone."

"Your last name sounds like a calzone," he countered, "So don't go around making fun of other people."

"Jerk," she replied, thinking of kicking him. But…somehow, Squalo was a little interesting to her.

"Why were you bothering Xanxus?" he asked, staring down at her. "You were about to be fried, kid."

Luca didn't answer, glowering at the carpet as they walked. Squalo made an irritated sound, before stopping in the middle of a room. There were four different hallways connected to it.

"So which way's your Uncle?" asked Squalo, frowning.

"He was in…the big dining room with the stained glass," admitted Luca. Squalo turned left and drug her down the hallway, frowning.

The walked for a good few minutes, before Luca decided to ask him more questions.

"Are you Xanxus' friend?" she asked in a much calmer voice. Squalo glanced at her.

"Friend? Pah, I don't know…"

It didn't seem like someone like Xanxus had friends. But that didn't seem right to Luca; everyone had friends, didn't they?

"I just wanted to be friends with him…" she muttered, letting Cosimo dangle limply in her hand. Squalo remained silent, but she could feel his eyes on her.

They went through two more rooms before she struck up the next question.

"Do you live here?"

"Nope," he replied, "I'm just visiting from a branch famiglia. You?"

"Nn…I guess we live here. My Uncle's gonna be in the Varia, so…"

"The Varia, eh?" asked Squalo, an eyebrow raised. "Well in any case, if you're gonna live here, you'd better stay away from Xanxus from now on, kid."

Luca didn't answer, staring at the carpet before looking up when she realized they had approached a door. Squalo tilted his head at it, as if listening, before kicking it open to reveal the dining room; it was empty.

"I thought you said he was in here!" he snapped, glaring down at Luca.

"He was! Him and the Boss and that Tyr guy too!"

"Vooi! Then where the hell did he go?!" he roared, looking around.

"Stop yelling!" she cried, pulling away. "I don't know—"

"Luca!" called out a voice. Both she and Squalo turned around to see none other than Azzuro himself standing at the end of the hallway. He cleared the distance between them within seconds, looking furious.

"Oi, brat, don't yell at my niece like that!" he snapped, standing defensively between Luca and Squalo.

"Vooi! I'll yell at whoever the hell I want!"

Azzuro started to snap something back, but Luca grabbed his wrist.

"Stop it, Uncle!"

He glanced back at her.

"He didn't do anything wrong…" she muttered, glancing at Squalo who was glaring daggers at Azzuro. "He was helping me find you…"

"Is that so?" growled Azzuro, eyeing Squalo. "Well then you have my thanks, kid."

"Tch, whatever," replied Squalo, still on edge. He then pushed past them and up the hallway, glancing back at Luca once before disappearing around a corner.

Luca stared after the way he had gone; was he going back to Xanxus' room? Her thoughts were cut short when she felt Azzuro staring at her. She looked up at him to see he was looking very displeased.

"Uncle…"

"Why did you run off like that?" he asked, crouching down to face her more comfortably. She looked at her toes, unable to look him in the eyes. "Look at me, Luca."

Obediently she turned, afraid of his expression which she believed to be angry. But it wasn't; instead he looked worried. A pang of guilt hit her stomach as she shifted from foot to foot.

"I wanted to look around… I was bored…" she murmured quietly. He frowned slightly.

"If you asked me, I would have had someone take you sightseeing around here! You can't just run off like that, I was really worried!"

Luca stared at her feet, guilt welling up through her chest. Azzuro hadn't yelled at her before; she wasn't sure what to do.

"Anyway," he said, standing up. "It's getting late; let's head back to our room, alright?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, following as he led her up the hallway.

The whole way to the room was quiet; Luca didn't have anything really to say, and she was afraid that Azzuro was still mad at her. He didn't say anything either; only led her to the room with a grim kind of expression.

"Hah, look someone fixed up our room!" said Azzuro as he stood in the door, grinning at Luca. She peered from behind him, unsure of what he meant until she saw it herself.

Her blue-green eyes widened with surprise; at first, she thought that this was a different room, but after a moment, she realized it wasn't.

The single bed that had been in the center of the room had moved to the window, while a smaller bed was across from it against the wall that separated the bathroom from the rest of the room. The bedspread had clouds on it, and looked…kid-friendly, or so Luca thought.

"Pretty nice, huh?" asked Azzuro, shutting the door behind them and sitting on his bed. "Tyr mentioned something about having it fixed up for us…didn't think it would be so soon though. And look! We've got a TV and a mini fridge…"

He got to his feet and went over to the fridge while Luca went and sat on her new bed. She watched as he opened the fridge and rummaged through it, humming to himself.

"Ah, nice one Tyr!" he suddenly laughed, pulling out a brown bottle. After a moment of confusion, Luca realized that the label on it was in English. She couldn't read it, but she had a strong feeling that it was alcohol.

Azzuro tossed himself back on the bed, putting the drink on the nightstand and holding up a remote which he pointed at the TV.

"Let's see what's on, shall we? Maybe there's some cartoons or something for ya?"

When Luca didn't answer, he looked at her more sharply.

"What's the matter?"

"Are you still…mad?" asked Luca quietly as she swung her legs back and forth.

Azzuro made a noise of surprise, before sitting upright. He frowned and patted the bed.

"Come here, Luca," he said, his voice lacking the humor it had a moment ago. She got to her feet and climbed onto his bed, pressing her lips together the whole time. "I'm not mad anymore," he said, before putting his hand on her head and straightening her hair. "But Luca, you need to tell me before running off like that… I was really worried about you."

"I'm sorry, Uncle…" she replied, looking up at him. He gave her a lopsided grin, before gesturing at the TV.

"Now then, wanna see if we can't find some cartoons or something?"

Half an hour later, Luca clung to her uncle sound asleep, her head on his stomach. Every now and again he'd glance at her, before finally turning off the TV and sitting more upright. Luca didn't stir.

Smiling slightly, he picked her up and placed her in her bed, before patting her head lightly and going to the door.

"I'll be back soon," he muttered softly, before grabbing his coat and heading out.

Hm...one thing I just wanted to address...I'm never one to complain on reviews or the like...But I see an awful lot of faves and alerts, but only a few people brave enough to review...come one, I like to hear what you guys think!

But my thanks does go out to you voiceless people who do fave and alert :D

-okami