A/N: Hello! Yesh, this is a relatively fast (mwahahaha all things considered) update! I especially focused on this fic because of the reviews and also for this update to be a "good luck and fighting!" wish for Guest reviewer, whom I hopefully able to read this update before his/her school starts XD anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR

Warning: AU, genderbend (Fem27)

Unfamiliar Faces

"Meeting strangers that you would one day treasure is one of life's secrets after all."
- Anonymous

Previously...

Too busy in the conversation, she didn't notice the light flickering inside her bag several times. Her phone, which was still in silent mode, was flickering for a second, then the screen started to light, then darkened, then lighten again. What's going to be the most troublesome thing was the figure that owned the name on the screen—

Xanxus.

Some time later Tsuna found herself staring wondrously at a huge house. In front of her was a huge building with a style unlike Japanese one and was more of vintage European-style. Surrounding the building was a vast open area of green and at the edges of the perimeter, there were neat artistic trees and what separated the road from the elite area was a neat border of iron fence. She's sure that they're supposed to be heading to Giotto's place...

'Rather, isn't this a hotel?' she thought, sweat-dropping.

"What are you doing, Tsunahime, we're going in."

She saw G turned his head towards her. Yamamoto and Gokudera were bickering in a distance that her ears can't pick up the conversation while Asari was saying something to Alaude. Ah, had she mentioned about Alaude joining their group when they were about to leave the school? Yes, for some unknown reason Alaude had stated that he had some business with Giotto. In front of the intimidating figure, she preferred to stay out of the prefect's sight.

"Oh, s-sorry," she mindlessly approached the group. As soon as she's standing beside her classmates, she saw G walked towards the post and bent upper body forward, putting his mouth near a silver-box device sticking to the concrete post.

"Oi, Giotto, open up, it's us."

'Eh?' she was literally sweating when she heard the name Giotto being addressed personally. The tall gate suddenly creaked and was moving to either side slowly and grandly she didn't know what to think about this revelation. "Hiiiii! T-this is Giotto-san's... house?!"

Instead of equally dumbfound looks she's getting, she was being looked at by faces that said 'duh, of course'. Except, Yamamoto, of course, who laughed merrily, "Ahaha, this is pretty awesome! As expected of Giotto-san!"

'There's a limit to being awesome!' Tsuna gaped, but didn't say anything. In fact, the group was about to be ready to leave her as they marched past the gates. Gokudera was looking tenser as they approached the main building, while Yamamoto was marveling at the surrounding. Even the road that was laid upon them was still long and she had seen a couple of men in black suit and white shirt bowed politely and formally when they passed them by.

"Amazing..." she breathlessly said when she looked down at the expensive-looking marble stones she's currently walking on.

"This is pretty awesome stuff, right, Tsuna-chan?" Yamamoto grinned at her. She nodded and smiled brightly. He's thinking the same thing.

"I was expecting a rather fancy house, but not to this extent," Tsuna took a longer step as she walked, trying to keep up with Yamamoto's long steps.

Yamamoto grinned, "Me too-"

"Of course something like this is only natural for Giotto-san!" Gokudera half-exclaimed at the two, cutting Yamamoto's sentence before he had the chance to finish it. For people who didn't knew the silverette well, they would've thought he snapped at them, and indeed Tsuna got one more reason to be scared of the transfer student.

"Hey, hey, don't get angry at others just because you're nervous, Hayato," G tapped his hand on top of Gokudera's head.

"S-shuddup! W-who's nervous...!" Gokudera shouted at his brother's face and with his fists clenched. Only then that she noticed, although his voice sounded angry, but he did look nervous and there were beads of sweat on his face. And when he shouted at G, there's a hint of red across his face, as if he's embarrassed for being caught. Tsuna was watching with amusement.

"Ahaha, Hayato-kun still hasn't changed," Asari commented in the usual laidback manner. Meanwhile, Alaude was putting a mild distance between him and the group; she noticed and noted that it's fortunate that his brother didn't tag along.

Gokudera opened his mouth, about to retort, until a certain figure ran towards them, catching their attention. This familiar figure had a smile on his face, and Tsuna couldn't help but smile as well. She muttered his name under her breath, "Giotto-san!"

"You're finally here! I was getting worried," Giotto had already arrived in front of their group by the next ten seconds. He was panting, but the smile never faltered. G replied with a smile. The first she seen since a while.

"It's because you told us so suddenly, geez."

She wanted to hear their exchange more, but her eyes were more fixated at his appearance—unlike her imagination, he didn't wear a normal, loose house clothes like t-shirts or stuff that she expected boys have in their wardrobe, but instead he's wearing a white shirt that hung loosely on his figure and long trouser that looked a bit too formal to wear at home. He's also wearing shoes! She felt her eyes widened.

"Ah, you came too, Takeshi-kun, Tsunahime, Hayato-kun."

She blurted a 'huh' and blushed when her eyes met his blue ones. And they were literally smiling at her. She parted her lips, but someone was already competing with her on the matters of excitement.

"It's an honor, Giotto-san!"

"Y-yes! G-san had offered me to come along!"

"Is that so," Giotto chuckled then said something to G and Asari, as if he didn't see the deep blushes that suddenly appeared on both Tsuna's and Gokudera's faces. Giotto then looked at another member of his guests, "I was pretty surprised to see you so willingly tag along, Alaude."

For an instant, she thought she seen Alaude's veins popped on his temple but he had looked equally calm and expressionless as he was for the last hour. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes but his lips moved slightly, as if muttering something. She was curious, but couldn't hear a word. She was caught off-guard when she heard Giotto chuckled once again.

"Well, well, don't say that, Alaude. The person you need to talk to was already expecting you," Giotto had told the older skylark, whose eyes opened and shot a half-glare at the blonde. 'H-hiii... Alaude-san is so scary...' Tsuna's inner-chibi was sweating furiously. "Anyway, let's hurry inside before it gets colder. It's getting late after all."

Giotto tilted his chin in the house's direction and started walking, as if telling them to follow him and they did. Tsuna was walking on the back of the pack and immediately busied herself with questions, but most importantly she was now getting even more excited to know what's expecting her behind those doors. Truth be told, her imagination had gone wilder than any guest should have and she's a little bothered but excited by it. The other seniors were strolling in as if it's their second home while the juniors were practically holding themselves to stay composed.

As soon as she took a step inside the humongous building, she was greeted by a big living room... if you really can call it a living room. It was more like a huge space and there were only a few big couches and end tables, but what stood out the most is the big glass chandelier hanging on the ceiling. In that same space there were three paths you could take; left, right, or middle that led to a huge staircase leading to the second floor. It was so huge that she wondered if walking around the house could be an exercise.

"You better stick close to the group or you'll get lost easily, Tsunahime-chan," Asari lightly reminded the brunette, who was slightly left behind. A hint of red crossed her cheeks and she quickened her steps. The tall senior smiled at her, which she found a refreshing kind of smile, then walked in a very normal pace while humming slightly. He's clearly having a good time. How about his brother?

Tsuna watched Yamamoto argued something she suspected trivial with Gokudera. He, too, seemed like having fun, but Gokudera clearly looked tense he didn't fight back as much as she expected him to. Giotto, who was leading the way, was chatting with Alaude and G. The moment Tsuna realized this fact, she felt her eyes widened in slight surprise. Was it just her, or Alaude and G seemed nicer whenever Giotto's present? Maybe it's the vibe that Giotto gave to people, she thought with a smile.

After some minutes, they finally stopped at another similar big door somewhere around the third floor. She had completely forgotten which road they've taken and understood Asari's warning about getting lost. Giotto knocked on the door lightly, and she shuddered when there's a muffled reply from the other side of the door. The voice sounded so mature and heavy... she gulped, just what kind of person was waiting for them?

None of them knew what's going inside her mind as Giotto pressed the handle and push it open. The door gave a slight creaking sound and something being dragged. Light poured from the small space between the doors and fell on the darker hallway. She involuntarily clenched her fists, this felt really exciting and scary in a way. As the door slowly being pushed open, she could see more of what's inside the room. It was another huge room, she noted, with big but few furniture here and there. 'Ah, another chandelier?!' she sweat-dropped when she saw the huge bright thing above the furniture.

"They're here, uncle."

Giotto's soft voice sounded like a clap of thunder on her ears. 'U-uncle!' she's been waiting for this moment all day! Out of curiosity, she moved from side to side to see the said mysterious figure. Unfortunately, the teens in front of her were taller than average and she's shorter than average and hence the unbalanced obstacle. She pouted a little and stopped her efforts when she heard that voice resounded clearly.

"Finally. Come in."

They entered the room in silence and she felt herself tensed because no one was talking and the seniors were acting too formal for their own good. Well, not that she ever saw G and Alaude in their relaxed state...

The group suddenly parted as they started to scramble to sit. Tsuna, feeling out of place, froze momentarily and accidentally met with the stranger's eyes—they were jet-black and were hidden underneath the shadows of the fedora on top of his head. He's wearing a yellow shirt, but not the blinding kind, and a black suit. He gave this feeling of danger and maturity that Tsuna immediately declared that she's frightened by the man. Blushing slightly because she obviously felt and looked like a lost puppy, she plopped to the empty space beside Yamamoto.

'So scary... I can't believe that he's that Giotto-san's relative...' she whined mentally then paused. Wait—she tried to replay her memories and if her memories were still right on track, then the stranger looked pretty young—no, too young to be Giotto's uncle. Maybe the uncle Giotto mentioned wasn't him and he's just some guest...

"Hmph, I heard that your friends were coming, but who are these three brats?"

Feeling his eyes, the three younger teens tensed. Tsuna didn't even dare to look at the stranger.

"Come on uncle, I've told you that G's and Ugetsu's brothers are coming as well," Giotto said with a weak smile, as if he's a little bit uneasy with the way his uncle treated his friends. Meanwhile Tsuna shrieked in her mind that the evil-looking-and-sounding man was indeed Giotto's uncle.

"Hmm," the stranger paused then his eyes fell on the fidgeting brunette. "And that restless little brat?"

Tsuna accidentally swallowed the lump on her throat, hard. He couldn't mean her, right?

"She's my junior and friend, I've invited her as well," Giotto answered smoothly. "She's also one of the student council."

The brunette wondered if that little explanation had given the stranger some better light of her, but she's shocked when she saw him scoffed and looked at her with those distrusting eyes when she peeked from the corner of her sight. Though a bit annoyed, she found it a bit relieving that he didn't pursue any further and had moved his eyes to Giotto.

"Then, let's just cut to the chase," he said with a tone that no one could ever refuse. The trio shivered, again.

Giotto tilted his eyebrow but nodded. He then looked at the row of guests apologetically. "Sorry, Hayato-kun, Takeshi, Tsunahime, but can you wait on the next room? This won't take long, hopefully."

What else could they say? The three stiffly nodded before they stood up and walked towards the door. They even forgot to excuse themselves when Yamamoto closed the door behind them. They also just realized that they've been holding their breaths for the last few minutes. Yamamoto was the one who recovered first and laughed softly.

"Wow, that's really tense. It's even worse than facing the principal," Yamamoto grinned. Not like their principal all that scary anyway, Tsuna thought. But she can't really deny what he said as well. It's actually the first time she's in a situation so tense that it's almost suffocating. She didn't know why, but it just felt that way.

"As expected of Reborn-san," Gokudera breathed out the air in his lungs as well. The name had caught Tsuna's attention.

"Who? Re... born?" Tsuna almost mumbled. It sounded strange enough even though she's not good in English.

"It's an alias, or so I've heard. No one knows his real name, except for Giotto-san, maybe," Tsuna was more preoccupied with the way Gokudera actually looked a lot kinder at the moment than he usually was. Maybe because he felt comparably more comfortable with them than with the occupants inside the room? Either way, she's thankful for the moment of peace.

"I wonder which room Giotto-san meant," Tsuna tried to divert the conversation, looking back and forth the opposite ways of the hallway. Yamamoto laughed lightly, once again, and shrugged.

"Whichever is fine isn't it? If we got the wrong room we just have to apologize."

"That's not the problem, baseball idiot!" Gokudera growled and make a fist. Just when she was comforted by the sight of calm Gokudera, now his delinquent blood showed up again. Anyway, it'll be worse if they started to fight there.

"Now, now, Gokudera-kun. We should just try knocking first," Tsuna said and thankfully somehow managed to calm the silverette, who nodded. She suspected that he was also aware of their situation and didn't want to make a ruckus. So, both Gokudera and Yamamoto started to walk towards the next door they saw while Tsuna followed closely behind them. She took the opportunity to scan the place, but it was nothing but big and long hallway with pictures hanging tidily on the wall. It still dazzled her, though.

'Ah, now that I think about it, I completely forgot to tell mom that I'm going to arrive late tonight,' Tsuna almost face-palmed. Whilst walking, she silently unzipped her bag and tried to reach for her phone. Her hand just grabbed the gadget when she heard a series of soft knocks and saw Yamamoto slowly pushed the door and peeked inside.

"Umm, excuse me-"

"VOOOOOOOIIIIIII!"

"H-hiiii!" a bolt of lightning just rushed through her veins and her fingers went numb from the unexpected voice. The phone on her hand automatically dropped to the floor but she realized a second late.

"Who the hell are you brats?" the same voice that just attempted to burst their eardrums asked with an intense, almost growl-like, voice. Tsuna saw the two froze momentarily outside the door. She's not sure if she wanted to see the person that owned the voice.

"Oi, oi, Squalo, you shouldn't do that every single time," this time a much gentler and light voice said. "Didn't Giotto tell us that there might be a few guests coming today?"

"Tch, he should have been more specified; I wouldn't come here in the first place," the rough-sounding one grumbled. She almost gulped, were they really unwelcome there?

"Don't say that. Well, come in first before you got yourselves lost," the voice had sounded much closer and clearer than before. Her eyes widened when she saw another blonde appeared from the space between the doors. He was pretty tall, was wearing a white shirt with some rural-print..., and was that tattoo on his arm? Tsuna jolted in surprise when he suddenly glanced her way. "Is there something wrong? Ah, sorry about that guy just now, it's just his way of greeting people."

Assuming that the blonde stranger was talking about the person who shouted earlier, she could only nodded weakly. At least this guy looked kind... he did gave a strangely similar vibe with Giotto-san... and not to mention they're both blonde.

"Is that your phone?" the blonde pointed to floor under her soles. And indeed she had completely forgotten about her phone.

"A-ah yes."

She crouched down clumsily to pick up the phone and threw it inside her bag.

"Well, come on in."

She heard him said again before he disappeared and saw that Yamamoto and Gokudera were waiting for her. She secretly thanked them before joining her two classmates. When they stepped in, it was really no surprise to see a similar-looking design inside the room. What surprised them was the presence of a white-haired teen sitting on one of the couch with his back facing them. He turned his head though, and greeted them with a scowl.

"What, there's another brat," he said while looking at Tsuna's direction. She wanted to apologize for being there and rush home where she'll undoubtedly find peace. She just didn't know that she was so dead wrong that day. Either way, the three sat once again and was watched meticulously by the two strangers.

"Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves, how rude of us," the blonde laughed lightly. "I'm Dino. This guy's Squalo."

"I'm Yamamoto Takeshi," the tallest of the three grinned, obviously looking more relaxed than he was seconds ago. What a quick change of gears.

"I-I am Sawada Tsunahime, nice to meet you," Tsuna bowed her head slightly.

"Gokudera Hayato," Gokudera said last with a palpable sign of reluctance. When they finished mentioned their names, the stranger 'Squalo' twitched his eyebrows a number of times.

"Yamamoto Takeshi... Gokudera... Hayato... where did I hear it..." he mumbled to himself in which the blonde heard and laughed openly.

"Aren't they G's and Ugetsu's brothers? No wonder you guys came here today," the man 'Dino' said in a way that sounded he's delighted to find a new discovery. Just like moments ago, this time Dino's attention towards the brunette. "And who's the young lady here?"

Tsuna wanted to laugh when he called her 'lady' but was more preoccupied in answering his question. "I-I'm a friend of Giotto-san's and one of the member of the student council he's leading."

She repeated what Giotto explained about her and hopefully got it right. The blonde smiled wider and nodded. "Nice to meet you. I did hear that Giotto and the others joined some committee, but to think it's the student council..."

"Voi, how come you know so much," the white-haired guy sent a glare towards the blonde, who casually laughed it off.

"Of course because Giotto told me," he said it in a sing-song way that obviously ticked the other guy in a wrong way. He looked like ready to pounce and fight his... friend? Tsuna sweat-dropped, somewhat reminded of some familiar peers...

"Ahaha, what interesting guys!" Yamamoto remarked in a soft voice that only Gokudera and Tsuna who sat beside him could hear. Obviously the three of them didn't share the same impression of the strangers.

"But I do feel like I've heard 'Sawada Tsunahime' before..." Dino said abruptly, killing all the earlier tension. "Have we met before?"

"Err... No...?" Tsuna trailed off. At least she never remembered hearing the name 'Dino'.

"Hmm, maybe Giotto slipped the name," Dino said casually in which piqued Tsuna's interest and apprehensiveness. What did Giotto-san talked about her?

"Wait. I also feel like I've heard that name before..." to everyone's surprise Squalo suddenly looked serious and pondering as well. The way he frowned had make him fiercer by multiple times. She's getting nervous.

"Popular aren't you Tsuna-chan!" she saw Yamamoto grinned and could only sighed, 'I knew he would say that.'

"Well, putting that matter aside," Squalo had shot a disapproving glare at the blonde when the latter resumed casually, "Don't mind to ask for anything okay? Do you want some snacks? Have you guys eaten dinner? It'll be terrible if Giotto find you guys starving later."

"Hmpf, that'll be interesting though."

Squalo actually grinned when he said that. She just hoped he was joking. 'Ah, talking about dinner...' she once again reached inside her already-unzipped bag. The others were watching her and had made her fidgeted in discomfort for the attention. Anyway, she quickly found her phone and thanked the heavens for not letting her phone break so easily. She flipped it open and the screen lit the second she did. She was expecting some text messages from her mom, maybe asking her whereabouts but instead her eyes almost popped out of her skull when she read the notifications on her screen—8 missed calls since about two hours ago. And the worst contact name possible above the text.

"Tsuna-chan, what's wrong?" she heard Yamamoto asked beside her when he saw her paled uncharacteristically.

"N-no, umm..."

Suddenly, there's a loud, distant crashing sound that caught their ears. It was barely audible, but clearly ominous, and struck some fear inside of the brunette. What now?

There were series of footsteps getting increasing loud, it literally shook the hallway, and it was accompanied by the muffled voices of people speaking in foreign language. Tsuna wondered just how strange things were gonna get, when the sound stopped as abrupt as it started. She suspected one of them was about to comment how odd it was just now when suddenly the door slammed open. A figure stood firmly between the doorframe and he looked strikingly familiar to most of the occupants of the room.

"The hell..." she heard the Squalo guy trailed off, in which she suspect him said some curse words but she was too busy and too shocked on her own to deal with anything else. It felt like fireworks exploding inside of her—in both the best and worst ways. Her jaws trembled and she struggled to speak out the name of the possibly number one person she had longed to meet but also the worst person possible to mess with her supposedly-normal life.

With boggled eyes, she finally choked out the name of the fuming figure.

"X-Xanxus-nii!"

A/N: I honestly don't know what's going to happen anymore in this fic. Characters just keep popping up, new twists are born, I don't even know when and how I am going to finish this fic hahaha XD by the way, Squalo's hair is NOT long, but rather the same style he has in the cannon when he and Dino still enrolled in the same school. Also, Reborn is an adult here. Last but not least, I'm reaaaaally grateful for your support for this fic! *huggles, huggles, huggles~!* really, I hope despite my limit of vocabulary (hence repetitive words) and writing skills, you'll still know that I'm really grateful for your support throughout every chapter :) see you on the next (hopefully fast) update!

ANOTHER RECOMMENDATION RANT:
So, lately I've been completely in love with Daiya no Ace/Diamond no Ace/Ace of Diamond and just can't get enough of it, especially since the manga will only be continued on spring next year *sob* Anyway, I think the anime/manga is much recommended. It has good humor, lovable characters, great story, and heartwarming journey of struggle by the characters... Just one thing that kinda disappoint me is that how the "strong ones" and the "grand stage of Koshien" didn't stood out as magnificent as I expected it to... except for Inashiro team. Hahahaha, but other than that, it's very recommended and I feel it needs more love! Truly, truly amazing! XD the fanwork are really amazing as well! Love! XD

Questions frequently asked by readers or I will if I'm one:

Q: As pointed by KuroiOozora, are Giotto and the others in the mafia? Alaude tagged along and they all discussed some pretty confidental things with Reborn... aren't that even suspicious! This is obviously mafia-related!
A: actually I've been struggling with this issue when I write about how Xanxus barged into the scene. There's a high possibility of slight mafia-ish but I don't want too much of it because I think that'll kind of blurred the main AU world here... but really, as I've mentioned before, everything could change and for now I don't really know #slap (am I even the author... hahaha)

Q: So... Giotto lives with... Reborn, Squalo, and Dino? In a mansion of some sort?
A: actually this will be explained more later on ;3

Q: Dino and Giotto... are they brothers?! They're both blonde and Tsuna repeatedly pointed out how they're similar in some ways...
A: take a guess! XD

Q: So... Dino and Squalo knew Tsuna beforehand? What about Reborn?
A: will be revealed in the next chapter

Q: H-how on earth Xanxus found Tsuna in Giotto's place, out of all the places in the world?
A: hmm, hopefully it can be explained more in the next chapter #areyoueventheauthor...

Q: What about Dino's, Squalo's, and Reborn's ages?
A: uugh... one more hard question to answer... let's just say for now that it's not far apart from Giotto and the others. For Reborn, he's around 20-ish. I don't want to make him too old hahaha

Q: Reborn is unexpectedly cold here... And oi, oi, he's Giotto's uncle?
A: yes, because I'm taking more of the AdultProfessionalHitmanReborn here, the one before he met Checkerface, so I guess he'll be a bit more aloof, serious, and dangerous than he was in the current cannon. And for the second question, as explained by G, they're not blood related, so... yeah.

Q: Takeshi and Ugetsu should be brothers but they share different surnames...?
A: damn... completely forgot about this fact every time they both appear on fics I wrote... well... I'll come up with something later hahaha. But let's just say Ugetsu took his surname from the mother and Takeshi from the father. I've met some people that actually do this in their family, so yeah hahaha #author'spowerrules!

Q: Why's Gokudera so nervous?
A: because he's visiting the home of the person he's respected so much.