Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman REBORN! is made by Akira Amano.

Claimer: the plot and OCs belong to me; nothing more, and nothing less.

Warning: takes place before Gola Mosca is attained

Pairing: slight OCOC, BelOC

"Ushishishi, you aren't coming with?"

"No, I think I'll stick around and smell the flowers outside. I've been cooped up inside too often."

Belphegor shrugs his shoulders in response to Aria's reply. He goes up to the house's door and knocks. Belphegor finds himself turning around to watch what Aria does.

She seems hesitant in stepping on the grass, but does so after a moment of standing still. It seems that she's enjoying the day, the light wind cooling her sun-warmed skin. There are only a few clouds in the bright blue sky. The flowers are quite attractive, too, since they splash color on the green grass and the white house. Even through his mess of blond hair he could see the white stick flickering back and forth in Aria's mouth since she was unable to find a comfortable position for her cherry-flavored sucker.

The Prince feels colder than ever after having stolen some of the gunman's body heat. How was it that she is so warm while he has to always be cold? That's hardly fair.

The door opens up, causing Belphegor to turn around. The same black-suited man from yesterday lets him in. Belphegor feels himself grin since this older human, bigger than him in basically every way, seems to be tense with fear. Is he giving Belphegor that silent permission to cut him up? He most surely is, but this isn't the time to be twisted in his mind's illusions when he has to get this mission done.

Prince the Ripper follows the large man upstairs. He goes into Beto's office when the door is opened, and he stands to wait for the sound of the door closing. Beto turns around, his hand still lingering on the laptop in front of him. There are so many words and numbers typed on the pixel-paper.

The older Italian puts on a charming smile. This time around he's wearing a blue dress-up shirt with the sleeves pulled down, but the cuff's buttons are kept undone. There is no tie, either. Belphegor can't say that he likes the way Beto seems to be smiling at him as if they're familiar enough to be considered friends. Either way, Belphegor keeps his grin in the hopes that it'll unsettle the man.

"There you are. I guess we should get to the point. Are you willing to take the offer I'm giving you?"

"Ushishishi, of course I am. But I want to be paid up-front before I do anything. I have no reason to trust you."

Beto chuckles, finding Belphegor's demand to be amusing. Surely he's in no position to be asking things of the older man when he could very well hire someone else. It just so happens Belphegor is Beto's first choice.

"You don't trust me? I'm afraid that I have much less reason to trust you, boy. Teenagers are hardly trustworthy these days, as I'm sure you must somehow know. But seeing as I'm in a good mood, I can give you fifty percent of what I want to pay you. That includes the money to keep you quiet."

"Make it seventy-five percent," Belphegor retorts, keeping that disturbingly big grin on his face.

"You strike a hard bargain, but I'll do it. Like I said, I'm in a good mood."

Beto turns his chair around. Belphegor's grin changes into one of triumph as the Italian shuffles through things to find his checkbook. When he does find one, he takes out a pen and fills it out. The Prince enjoys the sound of the paper tearing and the sound of the paper crumpling as Beto holds it out to him, and then when it's taken.

"If this doesn't work in any way, I'm coming back. I don't have to necessarily kill you either."

"It won't bounce, so there should be no worry," Beto says with a pleasant smile. "By the way, I should probably mention when I want this done. I'd prefer that, on the very day she comes to collect the last of the money, it be on that day. Just before I hand over the check for the last of it, to be specific."

"Ushishishi, that's all interesting to hear. And stop smiling as if we're friends. The Prince doesn't normally converse with commoners like you if it can be helped."

"Mm, rather rude, aren't we? Well, can you get Aria to come inside? I think we have an appointment."

Belphegor leaves the office and sticks his hands into his pockets. He goes down the stairs, knowing that he looks like he basically thinks he owns the house, or that he could find better.

He goes outside to see Aria sitting on the grass, now holding her sucker and licking away. She looks so content with herself, as if valuing the life of the day and having it. It would be nice if the blond-haired boy could enjoy the small things like the girl, but that might mean he won't be as self-centered as he is now.

How would that be unfortunate?

"Aria~!"

The Italian girl turns to the voice with surprise, also shocked at how she suddenly reacts to it. She turns to the source of the sound almost as if she wants to hear it all the time. But it's the tone of it that makes her react in such a way. The boy sounded like he was softly beckoning to her, or maybe it sounds like he's rolling a pearl on his tongue or that he's gently cooing to her in order to get her attention.

Whatever option it may be, Aria doesn't like that it got this sort of reaction from her. She shouldn't want to hear Belphegor say her name again, or make note that this is the first time he's said her name at all. She dislikes and hates him, so why would she think this way?

The gunman picks herself up and heads to the house where Belphegor is waiting. Aria doesn't know how she'll act around Beto, but she has to make it seem like there's no reason for her to act differently.

And as the day passes on and she gets Beto to pay, she pretends to be completely infatuated with him. She can easily remember how she acted before, and now it disgusts her. How could she be so pathetic like the many girls who liked someone based on their exterior? On the inside, the man was greedy and would stoop as low as seducing a younger girl into getting out of giving money away even if he did owe it.

Even though Aria thought she wouldn't, she ended up finding herself being pulled in by the older man's charms again. Every so often she would have to catch herself, feeling pure fury and doing her best not to show it. And if she did all she would do is turn her head and put on a deep scowl for a few moments and maybe throw an insult under her breath.

At the same time Aria is trying to tell herself that it's okay. Beto has practiced his charm so that it wouldn't fail him when he used it. She might be an assassin, but she's still a teenage girl. She can't necessarily fight the inner workings of her mind and body when it was made to react to these things.

But when it's time to go, Aria makes sure to say three different good byes. She feels herself almost barf at how easily Beto takes this "affection" from her. Where was the decency? But why should he show some when she never showed any when she needed to, too?

Once gone and out of view from the house, Belphegor ends up chuckling. Aria side-glances him warily, wondering what he's about ready to say now. Belphegor ends up asking, "You still like the cow after he plans to kill you?"

Aria scoffs in response. It would seem she's going to go back to her ways of not answering Belphegor, or not even showing she hears him. She won't do it if he has to go and tease her about things.

"Ushishishi, back to square one, are we? The cow says he wants me to kill you on the day he gives you the last of the money. He actually wants me to do it just when you're going to take the check. Dramatic, isn't it?"

Aria doesn't respond, but she does hear what Belphegor says. She feels her anger bubble inside of her stomach, finding Beto to be a coward who likes to shove it in peoples' faces. Either way, he's going to be surprised when Belphegor doesn't kill Aria, and she would revel in that face of his. If he tries to find a way not to pay, then all Aria would have to do is shoot his knee caps, or something, until he pays and everything would be fine.

The Prince can't necessarily say that he likes being ignored or not acknowledged by this difficult girl. He's a prince, and all royalty deserves to have attention and affection rained down upon them. Naturally, there will be people who dislike the royals, but they gave them attention none-the-less even if it wasn't in a particularly desired way.

Once The Prince had the attention from the Italian girl, he only wanted more. It's unacceptable that she not pay him any mind just because they aren't planning the older Italian man's demise. They already had that plan in mind and had gone over it on the way to Beto's house.

They would kindly suggest that Beto invite all of his family to his house for a party, and that they all have to come. If they planned on not attending, they would have to tell Beto and then he would give Aria and Belphegor their addresses. They both had ways of checking if he was lying. Then, they would detonate bombs that they would plant the day before.

Then flee the crime scene, naturally.

"Still not very talkative, are you?" Belphegor asks, trying to get a reaction out of Aria.

He wants her attention. Even those in the Varia gave him attention when he graced them with his presence with a little annoyance when he shows up. It was easy. Why did this girl have to make it so difficult? It irked him further when she didn't reply to his question.

Prince the Ripper looks around to see if anyone is outside. It's not necessarily early, so those of who had to go to work would have left their houses already. If there were any children, they had gone to school already. There is no one on the streets, and if anyone saw what would happen, they would see the gunman manage to get Prince the Ripper away from her. That's how it always seems to end.

Prince the Ripper side-steps until he's facing the opposite direction. He gets into the gunman's way, forcing her to stop walking. When she stops, she has a knife pressed up against her throat and a big grin pressed against her personal bubble. She hardly seems surprised anymore, although on the inside, she's feeling uncomfortable that Prince the Ripper has to be so incredibly close to her.

He lets his tongue slip out and touch the end of her sucker's stick. He swivels it around so that her cherry-flavored sucker moves around in her mouth. Involuntarily, she takes a step back. Aria hates that she's basically admitting defeat by admitting Belphegor makes her annoyed. Annoyance and irritation comes with hate, doesn't it?

"You're a freak, your royal highness," Aria spats. She doesn't like it when someone touches her suckers, especially with their tongue. It was disgusting in her view. "Is that enough of an answer for you now?"

"You know something like this will happen when you ignore your Prince, and yet you do it anyway? Why must you be so idiotic, peasant?"

"Because it's unpredictable, is it not?" Aria asks, narrowing her eyes at Belphegor.

"Ushishishi~! What an unusual method, peasant. It's stupid enough to work."

"Yeah, well, whatever," Aria mumbles, pushing past Belphegor in order to continue leaving.

Belphegor chuckles at Aria's hitting his shoulder, almost as if to point out that she was, indeed, unpredictable. With that crazy logic of hers, she definitely was. Someone like Belphegor loves a challenge, and she's providing that. Now he knows that two things could happen when he tries to talk to the girl.

And she won't see it coming when Belphegor takes her method, particularly at night when he's feeling cold again.

Welp! I managed to make an update for you guys while working in a cafe, after eating lunch, and an hour before classes! College is so forgiving. But yeah, don't expect a lot of updates because of the fact that I'm now in college. You're all lucky I updated since I only got THREE reviews when I asked for four.

I'LL UPDATE WHEN I CAN. I STILL NEED AT least ONE REVIEW TO UPDATE, THOUGH.