Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! I only own my OCs.
Rating: T; torture, and slight molestation. Nothing as strong as rape though, just one really creepy, perverted dude (Cough...Nakamura...cough)
A/N: Thanks, everyone, ever so much for all the reviews and the alerts and the favorites! I'm so glad that my story is appreciated by all of you. Thanks especially to those who have reviewed, because your encouraging words really keep me going...

On we go!

Secrets

Hibari had no idea why he'd listened to the damn illusionist, especially when he was looking suspiciously older than the one that he'd fought and lost to in Kokuyo Land. Maybe it was because Mukuro looked so desperate and pleading, that he'd done it just to taunt the pineapple head. Maybe it was so that Mukuro would owe him a favor. He was definitely going to ask for a rematch in that case.

The important thing is, he'd actually walked into the girl'sbathroom, something he'd only thought someone as pervy as Dr. Shamal would do, and had kicked the door open to the cubicle she was hiding in. She didn't even look up at him. In fact, she didn't even seem to hear the thunderous sound of the door being slammed open. Upon seeing her state, half of him was mixed with disgust for her weakness, and half of him was ridden with guilt. He wondered if he'd caused her grief, what with the accusatory statement of murder coming from his mouth. Absentmindedly, he called Kusakabe and told him to close off the second floor girl's bathroom on pretense that it was under renovation. He'd turned off the phone before Kusakabe could even squeeze in one questioning word. He knew that his right hand man would heed his call no matter how weird it was.

And for the rest of the day, he'd forgone patrolling to hold her in his arms. Why he did so, he himself was still unclear. Her sobbing was disrupting the peace in Namimori-Chuu, he told himself. Anything other reason and he'd dismissed as unrealistic. Except for one, which swam around his brain and had him in a bad mood for the rest of the day after she left.

He wanted to stop her grief too.

He was unfamiliar to this feeling, so he shoved it in the back of his mind. It felt good to hold her against him though, even if she wasn't aware that he was there. But of course, he would never admit it.

Acting on instinct, Kumiko rammed her head into Silent Slayer's stomach, making her grunt with surprise and fall backwards slightly. Kumiko turned and started running, her mind bewildered and sending her different instructions every few seconds.

Run.

Hide.

Fight.

Scream for help...

Before she could even open her mouth to emit a cry, a hand wrapped around her throat, choking off her air supply. Silent Slayer grinned as she finally, finallygot hold of her prey. Without hesitation, she clocked her 'best friend' over the head, nodding in satisfaction when she slumped down, unconscious.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for this day. You have no fucking idea."

Kumiko woke up to the unfamiliar feeling of pain and darkness. She blinked, trying to get her eyes working against the dimly lit room. Upon feeling something fleshy against her back she twisted around and tried to get away from the crawling feeling of unease. She stopped in shock when one meaty hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her further against his chest. Turning slowly, she realized that it was a man, and he was sneering at her.

Fear spiked through her. Somebody...some...one...

"Yo. Are you awake now, sweetheart?"

She screamed. His face turned sour as her scream rang painfully through his ears, and he threw her across the room. Kumiko hit the wall and crumpled underneath it, whimpering softly at the pain that was now spreading across her back. Nakamura stood up slowly and walked towards her, tugging her upright by her hair. She stared fearfully at him with wide eyes, seemingly frozen in terror.

Taking her hand, he pressed his lips to her palm teasingly. "Now, now. We can't have this little mute princess being feisty, right? Would you care to listen to my proposal?"

No! Yanking her hand away from him, she stumbled backwards and felt for a door handle, a light switch, anything. He slapped her, and she collapsed once again. For the first time in her life, Kumiko cursed her weakness. She'd never once cared about how she was so vulnerable, because she was naive and she didn't think anyone would want to attack her. Now that the difference in their strength was so painfully clear, she couldn't help but hate her weakness.

Fear was rendering her immobile. She found that every time she stared up at the man's face, or looked around wildly for an exit, her limbs weren't obeying her commands properly. Her legs felt wobbly and uncertain, making her collapse back to the floor whenever she tried to stand up. Nakamura looked on with twisted amusement as his captive struggled to get a grip and pull herself upright. Finally, she succeeded.

Shakily, she stood up once more. Nakamura sneered and grabbed her wrist, dragging her back to his chair. Once there, he quickly sat down and wrapped his arms around her waist again. She hoped fervently that he wouldn't think of sticking his hands up her skirt or anything perverted like that, though her wishes didn't seem likely to come true what with the way his hands were starting to wander across her stomach.

She struggled and his grip tightened. She bit her lips and resisted the urge to throw up when his sickly breath brushed against the back of her neck seductively, and his tongue protruded to taste her smooth skin.

"Kumiko-chan, you're not going to be difficult, are you? Otherwise, something nasty might happen to you." As if to emphasize his point, he pressed his lips against her neck once more. She started sobbing as he nibbled and sucked on her skin. Pulling away to grin at the trembling girl, he continued.

"You just need to listen to what I say."

Completely defeated and at his mercy, she nodded quietly. He too, nodded back at her, giving her a feral grin. Grabbing her left wrist, he snapped it.

Her cry rang out through the empty halls of the Momokyokai hideout. He pressed his free hand to her mouth, stifling any other cries that followed. Keeping one hand looped around her waist, he continued talking.

"Alright, Kumiko. We're going to play a game. I want you to know the rules first, alright, sweetie? First of all, you mustn't tell your Head Prefect about our interactions. Don't look so wistfully at the door, he's not going to come in and rescue you now.

"I've had my men plant a bomb underneath Namimori Chuu. Did you hear of the commotion with that rowdy gang that graffitied Nami-Chuu's walls? I purposely sent my men there to take care of the bomb matter. The commotion was the perfect cover to bury the bomb in the baseball fields. Don't look so hopeful, I assure you that the bomb is strong enough to take out at least half of Namimori. The rule is, you're not to tell Hibari Kyoya about the bomb. I'm going to launch a series of seemingly unrelated mob fights throughout Namimori, and we'll see how the demon with tonfas reacts to this, shall we?"

He chose another area of her neck to suck on, leaving another hickey. Her hands clenched in fear at his ministrations, but thankfully he didn't move to touch any other area of her body. He continued his twisted explanations, much to her horror.

"But you know, I don't like playing games without stakes at hand. It'll be your intelligence against mine, how about that? You can be the bait, and he'll be the fish. Let's see...hm! No matter what, Namimori will come under my control, so don't try to resist that fate. My game is to see if you can prevent the school from blowing up, since I would quite like to make Namimori mine without taking out half of the town's population. It all depends on how fast Hibari Kyoya catches on to my plans. The faster he does, the less mob fights he's going to have to deal with. Eventually..."

His eyes gleamed cruelly at the look of terror in Kumiko's brown orbs. He brushed his hands over her stomach, caressing her in a sickeningly gentle manner.

"Eventually, Hibari Kyoya will find out that the Momokyokai is behind all of this. Don't you agree, sweetie? He'll come running with those tonfas of his. He'll be tired and hurt from all the mob fights that he's had to break up. He might even have to sneak out of the hospital if his injuries are serious, and make his way here, All my men have been given the order to kill him on sight. And then, once he reaches here, he'll have to fight me."

He picked up the revolver and pressed it to her neck nonchalantly. Kumiko stiffened at the cold metal, and he laughed gratingly at her expression.

"Don't worry, kitty-cat. I'm not going to kill you yet. You're of use to me now. This is where you come in, hm? The faster you find out a way to tell him that we're behind this, the less hurt he'll be. The less hurt he'll be, the longer he'll last in a fight against me. The longer he lasts, the more fun I'll have, get it?"

The less mob fights he gets in, the more chance he has of beating this guy at his own game, Kumiko realized. Kumiko clenched her eyes shut, hoping that everything was a nightmare. A strangly realistic one, but a nightmare nonetheless. Nakamura cruelly pinched her skin for her, causing her to jolt and snap open her eyes once more. She looked at him with watery eyes and nodded meekly.

"Oh, and one more thing, Kumiko! Silent Slayer is still going to be attending your school. She's right there, see?"

He waved at Komatsu, who was standing in the shadows behind his chair. She walked forward and waved back to him cheekily, before twining her hand through Kumiko's brown locks and giving it a hard yank.

"That's for being such an annoying bitch." She whispered into Kumiko's ear.

"So another rule. As soon as Komatsu sees that you're walking up to Hibari and telling him about his situation in a straightforward manner, I'll tell her to detonate the bomb. Everyone will die. Oh wait! I forgot you can't speak." He laughed, jeering at her downcast manner. "So if she sees you interact directly with Hibari in any manner, like giving him a letter or something, she'll blow the place up. She's got enough skills to get her out of the area without getting killed herself, so don't try anything heroic. That's all!"

Giving her one final bite on her neck, he shoved her off of him. Kumiko managed to catch herself with her one good hand, keeping her broken wrist from meeting painfully with the floor. Stumbling to her feet, she doggedly staggered to the door. Nakamura's voice rang out behind her in a sing-song manner: "Kumiko! I believe I haven't introduced myself yet! You may call me Nakamura, okay? Come back soon!"

Kumiko blanched and didn't turn back. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was smirking at her. Komatsu flounced up to the mute girl, patting her on the head in a mockingly friendly manner, and then grabbing her other broken wrist to drag her out of the building. Kumiko shrieked in pain once more, and Komatsu stopped to consider her captive.

"I guess I better call the ambulance for you, ne, Kumiko-chan?"

She squeezed her wrist lightly, and Kumiko finally couldn't take the agony any longer. She blacked out once more.

Kumiko opened her eyes slowly to see a white ceiling, the smell of sterilized sheets and medicine tickling her nose. She pushed herself upright, wincing at the pain when she brushed her left wrist against the sheets. She coughed dryly to herself when she realized Nakamura had effectively prevented her from being able to sign properly to Hibari anyway, by putting her left arm in a cast.

"Awake, Kumiko?" She knew that mocking voice anywhere.

Turning her gaze to the girl leaning on one of the walls, she couldn't help but flinch when Komatsu approached her. Komatsu grabbed her hair again.

"Nakamura told me to keep a close eye on you. You won't try anything funny, will you now?" She pulled something out of her pocket and dangled it teasingly out of her reach. It was a small black remote control, dotted with grey buttons. "This is the detonator. Want it? Can't have it, bitch." She threw back her head and laughed. Kumiko turned away. Before she could do anything else really evilly to Kumiko though, the door was thrown open and a bustling nurse waltzed her way in.

"Rise and shine, Kumiko!" Kumiko sat up at the familiarly motherly voice and nodded at her in reply, but soon went back to staring out the window. The nurse waddled over and handed her a thermometer, a cup of water and a set of pills. "These are to help you with the pain, sweetie. You should be able to go back to school tomorrow if you keep these pills with you at all times. Make sure to take them on time, or your wrist will start hurting again!"

Kumiko blanched at the nickname that the unknowing nurse tagged her with. It was so hauntingly familiar to how Nakamura had been taunting her. Simply thinking of the man gave her a headache. Komatsu sneered knowingly at Kumiko, but the look of mocking contempt quickly disappeared once the nurse turned to face her.

"You're her best friend right? Well, now, I have to thank you for looking after Koizumi-san! Koizumi-san is usually very lonely, you know? She lives all by herself with her cat. I take care of her, indirectly though, but she's like a daughter to me because she's been coming here ever since the accident..." The nurse trailed off at Kumiko's blank stare. The woman meant well, but it probably wasn't the best of times to bring up the girl's parent's death. Kumiko didn't respond to the tense silence that suddenly filled the room. She had big problems to deal with right now, after all. She had to play the 'game' with the dreaded Yakuza leader Nakamura.

There was one thing she knew though. She cannot lose, no matter what. She won't let anyone get blown up or die.

Least of all, Hibari Kyoya.

A/N: Once again, an early update! Thank you to all of you who put this story on alert and favorited, and also thanks to those who took the time to review the previous chapter XD

Reviewers: mirageseason132, zHamster and bluenari

As always, I thank you for your support, and I hope that you'll continue supporting me XD Everyone, please review!