author's note: Hello people~! Yay! I'm back from far, far, far away!

Ok, so our dear pair just had a drinking competition...wait for more to come XD ~~ (no, I swear I'm not excited...)

This chapter is going to have mostly only Lussuria in it, so don't get surprised by the title, ok?

disclaimer: I don't own Khr, except my dear Annette. And the awesome ideas for the story are given by Narzik . deviantart. com (so credits for her too~)

let's start the show~!


Chapter 8

Shopping like a pro

Annette was going to her room in grumpy mood. 'Just why did that boy act like he didn't care?' Then the girl stopped, not wanting to believe the thought that just went by her head.

'Could it be...I'm losing my touch?...NO, no, no...I'm 16! That's means my charms are suppose to be having twice the effect! Why doesn't it work on him?!' The maid groand and then continued.

'Though, thinking about it, everyone else is at my knees...so the problem is not in me..but in HIM!' Then an idea flew by Annette's head, '...What if he is like the stupid master? I mean, he could be just playing to be a boy with no interest for girls ..or not?'

Then the girl opened the door to her own really small room.

The room consisted of a bed, a table with a chair, and a mini cupboard all cramped up together. 'And why does a maid have to be cramped up like this anyways?! If anything, I should be living in a huge king-size room with a bathroom and everything included! Sheesh~, just who do they think they are?!'

Oh, and just to add to it, her room was also in the far corner of the top floor, away from the huge stairs, with no windows.

If anything, the Varia were a cautions bunch and didn't want to have her escape without their knowledge. I mean, they still didn't know if she is an enemy spy or just a regular self-loving thief.

Sure they also had cameras in there too, just in case.

Though one thing they didn't think through, is the fact that Annette was a skilled thief that already lived in these kind of conditions since three years ago.

"Come to me, babies~!" Her mood changed dramatically as she opened a drawer, taking out several expensive and beautifully carved golden stuff, "They are stupid for underestimating me like this~."

Then a cold chuckle left her, "And they call themselves assassins. It's a miracle they are still not dead and their mansion is not fully robbed."

"Did you say something, Anne-chan?" Lussuria opened the door, his mohawk and glasses peaking through. This frightened the poor teenage girl to the point that she jumped back, closing the drawer with such speed that a bang was heard, "L-lussuria? W-...is there something you want?" Annette tried to act innocent, but by her face you could see that she was holding something secret.

The flamboyant guy wasn't exactly in the mood to care what it was, since he had better stuff to do, so he just answered straight to the point, "Anne-chaan~, come shopping with me~!"

The poor girl was so lost in the moment that the guy just took her by the hand and lead her out.

When the maid woke up from the moment, she was already walking next to Lussuria down the big, expensive stairs (ok, the Varia HQ is like a mini-er version of the Vongola HQ, right? And that one is huge, like a castle).

"W-why do you wanna go shopping?" Annette asked, trying to softly get away from the guy's tight grip. And yes, although he was gay, he had well-trained arms and hands, making it really hard to get your hand away from his grip.

"Well~, I'm going on a mission tomorrow, to China. And I have to look my best of course." Then the sun guardian turned around, with a puppy dog face and said, "But no one else wants come with me...I have no idea why...shopping is so much fun! That's why I'm bringing you along~!"

The girl was about to fall from this reply, 'Of course they don't want to come with you...they're boys after all!'

But then something caught Annette's attention: Lussuria's happy face. 'Ok, maybe I can enjoy this too. I never had a friend to shop with before either...' And for a minute there, her face softened and she smiled sincerely, 'Maybe this place isn't that bad after all..'.

Going out of town in a limo, Lussuria and Annette (who felt like she is finally getting some fairness, a.k.a. riding in a limo) stood in front of a huge shopping center.

And when they went in, color and different styles sparkled. "Oh, and Anne-chan, you don't have too many outfits too, right? We could look some up!" The guy gave a very bright look, that Annette even had to turn away, since it was just too much.

"I guess I could get a few clothes from here. This is the first place I see, that has style all over." The teenager looked all around with a satisfied feeling, she is finally where she belongs!

Everyone was staring at them, since there was a tall (for a girl) model-like teenage girl in a maid's outfit walking with style and huge confidence and a flamboyant teen who definitely could've pass as a fashion designer or a manager.

'Was there a fashion show coming soon?' They all thought, but then, since there was no stage to perform, the idea was dropped.

Annette's confidence rose drastically from the people's looks. Though she has been hiding her appearances and changing them for the past few years, the girl still had a very good sense of showing-off.

"Hey, Lussuria, what do you think about this?" The girl took out a dark purple, long and cute t-shirt. "I think with this belt and a few more accessories, this should look really great on me, oui?"

"Hmm~, no." Was the straight answer he gave her, after a period of one second thinking about it.

The black-haired teen was heart-broken. That was the first time someone said 'no' to her choice! Was the world ending?!

Then she turned around, so she could see it herself. 'Maybe he is right...or am I having a nightmare?' And just so that she wouldn't embarrass herself anymore, she put the shirt right back, disappointed.

"This will look gorgeous on you!" Lussuria took out a yellow cocktail dress with fluffy stuff going down the front-right. Annette was about to face-palm, god knows how she didn't like to put bright color on, since she thought it made her look like a clown.

"No." She replied, when the guy tried to give the small dress to her. "Oh, come on! Just try it on! It will look great on you, I promise!"

"No." The girl sticked to her answer. "Please~?" "No." "Pretty please?" "No is a no. Anyways, weren't we suppose to look something for your mission?" she tried to change the subject.

"Oh, come on sweetheart~! Don't change the subject!" Lussuria started running to his companion, who was already next to the doors and about to step out. Then an idea struck him, "What if Boss likes girls in color~?"

It didn't even take a second for Annette to grab the dress from the guy's hands and run to the changing room.

The door from the changing room opened and a pretty latin-style girl with a bright yellow cocktail dress. "See, what did I tell you?" The gay teen clapped his hands, in which were a pair of yellow high-heel shoes with bows on their backs, "Now, put this too, hun."

"Sure thing~." Annette took the shoes put them on, and suddenly she was the same height as Lussuria himself, "You know, I love this!" She said, grinning and looking at the reflection of herself in the mirror.

Then a few pins were found of red and green color. The guy put them on for her, making her not very long hair, seem extended, since on those pins were a pair of pretty, long looking stripes.

It also happened that the shop had scarves of various colors too. So they picked one that had feathers and took two, on green and one orange.

The green on Lussuria took for himself and put it around his neck, while Annette took the orange one and placed it around her back, holding it with her arms.

When they were done, the people that passed by definitely could say that the background behind the two was shining and right on top said 'the glamorous duo' in bold capital letters.

"Lussuria, hun, you're amazing at this!" Annette kept on admiring how she looked in the mirror.

"Ohoho~, don't mention it, Anne-chan!" The guy next to her waved his hand in a 'no-no, it's ok' way.

Well, now that they were done, the only thing that was left was to pay, and since Annette didn't have a wallet (or a bank account to begin with), while Lussuria went to see stuff for himself, the girl went to check out the bags.

Ladies of high class were seen everywhere, 'Ha! Poor women~. I guess I'll borrow some euros from this girl~.' Varia's maid smirked and when the girl that she picked put her bag down, so that she could sit down and try some shoes, our heroine was swift and fast at taking out a wallet and turning away, before anyone managed to notice.

'Now, let's see if there is any cash in here...' Annette looked through the wallet and found several five-hundred euro bills. Grinning to herself, 'Stupid rich people are the best targets after all~. Well, this should be enough for my shopping~.'

Taking the cash, the teenager just left the wallet on the cashier's desk, since there was no more use to it.

"Are you done, Anne-chan?" A gay-tone came from our heroine's back, making the girl jump (again). "L-lussuria, you shouldn't scare me like that~!" The girl exclaimed, holding her hand on her chest and breathing deeply.

Chuckling, the older teenager, just patted the girl's head, "I got an adorable outfit too~, I'll show it to you later~! So, shall we go?" Annette nodded enthusiastically.

"Hey, Anne-chan, what do you think of everyone in the Varia?" The flamboyant sun guardian asked out of the blue, as they walked out of the shop.

"What's Varia?" The girl asked, seriously confused, since she never heard the name before, and yes, no one mentioned it before (although she already was living in the mansion for at least a few weeks trying to get the money from Mammon and stealing other things on the way).

"Oh, right, you don't know." Lussuria remembered, "We are the Varia, the elite assassination squad~!"

Annette rolled her eyes, "Assassins..yeah, right. You're just a bunch of spoiled teenagers who live on someone's money." And then she sighed, "Alright, you have a bunch of weapons, wuhoo~! But that doesn't mean anything."

The guy stood there, wondering really hard 'Just who is this mysterious girl?'

"Don't look at me like that. I might not know much about you guys, but all I have to say is that you don't look the part." The maid added, not wanting Lussuria to suddenly get mad at her, since they were having a pretty good time now. So she rapidly also said, "I mean, if you look at it, your boss - Xanxus. He is just an alcoholic who does nothing but sit around the whole day. Next is - that white-haired 'swordsman' (here she emphasized the word with her fingers). He is just loud, swinging his sword around anywhere he goes. A professional is nowhere close to being as loud as him."

Taking a breath, the girl continued, "next is that kid - Bel, was it? He is just a plainly spoiled little brat that loves his swords, but his age is no good. It's way too young to even think of him being a pro, although his skills are not bad for a 8 years old. And lastly...the dog. How did he even get here? And he is one of the higher-ranks?! Ok, he might be tall, but that's as far as pro he goes. And the way he adores, admires, loves the boss...I hate people who do stuff for others. The only one in this world you can trust is yourself, and be your own boss." (By the way, she specifically forgot to mention Lussuria, since she knew that this guy is much friendlier than the rest, and will get hurt if she said that he looks like a 'gay lord')

The serious tone that Annette was using surprised her companion. 'So she even had that kind of character in her?'

"Hmm, but what about all of those boys who were doing stuff for you, do they count?" The guy asked, curious to how she is going to react. But our heroine hardly even did, she just swayed her hair back and answered, "Who said I liked any of them?"

"So you don't like people in general?" Lussuria questioned more, he wanted to find out more about the girl after all.

"No, not really. I prefer to be left alone most of time...But that's probably because I grew up pretty much alone." She answered, not really getting where this conversation was going to.

Then, after a few minutes, the gay guy jumped up and down, clapping his hands in fast motion, "Oh dear~, if you're a loner too, than you really would make a perfect couple with boss~!"

This sudden exclamation also got Annette to fall, "Wait, wait, wait! I'm not signing up for becoming your boss's lover. All I want is to get him back for breaking my pride!"

Lussuria gave her the 'yeah, right?' look, which was answered by a "Hey! Let's go have some Buche de Noel (a very sweet french Christmas roll cake)! That cafe seems to have it~!"

Getting stunned by the sudden change of subject the teen just answered, "Sure, hun."

Looking at the different varieties of Buche de Noel, the girl's eyes sparkled.

Although it was the end of summer, it seemed like that shop sold different pastries all year round.

"Do you want a piece of our home-made pastries, beauty?" A french-looking guy, with curly hair, in his late teen years asked, obviously staring lovingly at our heroine. "I'll have that one over there~" she answered, after what she stared back at the boy's deep dark brown eyes, smiling innocently (although remember the outfit?)

After they sat down, the both of them had a glass of italian liquor and pieces of the sweet, chocolate filled cake pieces.

"But you know..." the girl started out of the blue, playing with the last pieces of cake, "This 'Varia' is very energetic and seems like everyone has lots of fun there, so I guess that goes as a plus." Annette smirked and ate the last piece.

Lussuria nodded in agreement, "The Varia is a lively place~."

Then they left, the boy in the shop said that it was on the house...so no one payed anything. Sadly, the boy won't see the girl anymore.

.

Coming back to the mansion, Annette banged the doors wide open, revealing her new outfit.

"Ushishishi~, seems we got a new clown here~!" A kiddish voice was heard of no one else but the prince himself. The maid was about to get a gun and shoot the kid's brains out, "What did you say?" She asked in a very bass, for a girl, voice.

"Shishishi, you heard me. I'll want some snack in my room, in about a half-an-hour, bring it to me, maid." The prince turned around to walk to his room then.

"Oh, don't pay attention to Bel-chan, he just doesn't understand fashion~." Lussuria answered the broken look on the girl's face.

A minute later, the main door got banged on again, this time it was the Varia's boss and the vice-captain swordsman walking. They just walked by, without a word, and the expression on Xanxus's face was serious.

'I wonder what happened?' Annette asked herself, looking at the storming pair of teenage boys, coming (from what Squalo said before - it was a meeting of some sort) a meeting.


And thus is the end of this chapter.

So, here we get a softer (?) and more girlier side of Annette.

Did you like it? Or not? Please review, if you want to comment on anything, that's very welcome too~!