"When your friend says you can have a bite of your food, so you take the biggest bite humanly possible." (8/16/17)

"Speaking."

"Thoughts."

Writing.

"HIIIIIEEEE! You mean this girl is a member of the Varia?!" The fluffy-haired brunet squealed in terror at the sight of their "guest," who wore the same uniform Squalo Superbi had worn when he had attacked them a just few days ago.

Sawada "Tsuna" Tsunayoshi woke up this morning fully prepared for another day of training. However, he didn't expect to see yet another member of the Varia so early. Let alone one that had apparently been spying on him and his friends for the past few days to boot. According to Reborn, they were supposed to have ten days to prepare for their arrival, but it was barely even three days since they last saw Squalo Superbi, the Rain Officer of the Varia!

"Shouldn't we tie her up or something?! She might attack us once our backs are turned." Hayato said as he stepped in front of Tsuna protectively in case their intruder might suddenly attack.

Shamal simply waved off his student's concerns and laid the person against a tree and arranged her body so that the girl seems to be comfortably sitting down. "Relax, I simply gave this little lady a dose of the Medusa virus. The disease attacks the nervous system, causing paralysis on the victim. Unless I give her the counter virus, she can't move a single muscle. In other words, she's completely at our mercy."

"…I think you mean she's completely at your mercy. She can't even kick you in the face even if she wants to!" Tsuna pointed out awkwardly.

"I am going to castrate you with knife shoes." The Varia member grounded out to the perverted doctor with clenched teeth, her bloodlust rising with each enunciated syllable. For some reason, Tsuna had a feeling that this person wasn't just angry at the man's perverted tendencies.

"…Is she referring to ice skates?" Gokudera questioned.

Shamal, being his usual lecherous self, ignored the girl's threat and continued to coo over their petite captive. "Oooh~ feisty. It's nice to see a healthy young girl like yourself be so energetic. She's a little on the flat side up top, but her cute butt is very shapely~."

Needless to say, the girl wasn't enjoying Shamal's attention one bit. The look on the girl's face was twisted with absolute disgust and utter loathing for the doctor. Hell, she was even growling the same way Hibari had done when he had caught one of Namimori Middle School's delinquents graffiting his beloved school. There was even a malicious purple aura emitting from her prone form.

"You really don't recognize me, do you? Let me tell you this, dicks for brains… Do you remember treating a biologically male person who had a parasite attached to their Flames nearly two years ago? Guess what, bitch? That was me. In other words…I'm not even female." The delicate-looking Varia member said nonchalantly as he(?) looked at Shamal straight in the eye.

The look on the doctor's face… was glorious. "YOU'RE A MAN?! AND NOT ONLY THAT YOU'RE THAT ONE PERSISTANT BASTARD WHO THREATENED TO TORTURE ME AND RECORD MY SCREAMING?!" Shamal shrieked shrilly in horror as he jumped back from their captive as though they were on fire.

"I'm an agender person! No matter what I look like or how my body is, I don't particularly identify as anything at all." The…individual(?) snapped at the man as an angry looking vein pulsed on the side of their head.

"While this is all interesting and all, let's shelve this topic for another day… Now let's get down to business by starting off with something pretty easy… Who are you? Tell us your name." Reborn interrupted, approaching their captive spy.

The Varia member didn't answer. They simply stared at all of them impassively without a shred of emotion on their face.

"Um, I think the virus might be affecting her ability to speak." Tsuna said after a whole minute of silence.

Shamal shook his head and explained, "The Medusa virus doesn't affect the vocal chords so it shouldn't have taken away his ability to communicate verbally. In other words, he's just choosing not to talk."

Deciding to change tactics, Reborn had Gokudera bring out the suitcase he had stolen from the hotel room this individual was staying at. "You know if you won't talk, then I have no choice but to go through your belongings. They say you can tell a lot from a woman based on the contents of her purse, you know." The babyfied hitman casually commented as he opened up the suitcase.

Rather than be alarmed that the people are going through their personal belongings like most people, the Varia spy merely frowned and looked like they wanted to say something but decided against it to continue holding their tongue. They simply let out a small sigh and resigned themselves for what is about to happen.

The brunet boy, on the other hand, reacted very differently. "HIIEEE! REBORN! GOKUDERA-KUN! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?! PUT THOSE BACK!" He exclaimed in horror as they began tossing out all of the person's clothes from the suitcase.

"Don't worry, Juudaime! Let me handle this! I'll find out what our enemy is hiding in no time!" Gokudera exclaimed eagerly, unzipping one of the inner pockets and dumping its contents out onto the grass. Various documents and papers flew out and scattered themselves all around at their feet.

Panicking Tsuna immediately bent down to frantically pick up the papers. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I-" The boy stopped dead in his shouting when he noticed one of the pieces of papers that caught his eye. "R-Reborn… what is this?" Tsuna whispered almost inaudibly as he gingerly picked it up. The boy couldn't bring himself to say anything more as he examined every inch of the evidence in front of him, vainly hoping that it was a fake or some sick Varia joke that was planted to throw him off his game.

Concerned for his student's sudden change in behavior, the home tutor climbed up to sit on the boy's shoulder. The Sun Arcobaleno was gravely silent as he took in the information presented on the paper clenched in the teen's hands. As much as he wanted to disprove what Varia spy had found, the small hitman couldn't. The CEDEF insignia is right there and can't be mimicked unless one uses Cloud Flames. The Flames covering the paper indicated that this is truly a Flame produced copy, not a Mist-induced illusion or an amateurish attempt at forgery. Judging by the amount of Flames that remain, it's been only a few days since this copy was made. How has that idiot been keeping something as big as this under wraps for so long? Does Nono even know about any of this at all?

"Unfortunately…it's real, Tsuna… Iemitsu, you have a lot to answer for…" Reborn said, adjusting the brim of his fedora so it would ominously shadow his eyes.

What Tsuna had in his hands was Basil's birth certificate…

And right there on the line that indicated the name of the fifteen-year-old boy's biological father was none other than Sawada Iemitsu.

ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ

Not many people know this, but the Mafia World's reach isn't exclusively within the country of Italy. From the Chinese Triads to the Japanese Yakuza and even all the way to the American Mobsters, the world of the Cosa Nostra is basically like its own pocket dimension hidden beneath the noses of the public. So it's not much of a surprise to find that the majority of Varia members have backgrounds in the Mafia World or at least had connections to it prior to joining up. Considering the Mafia World is kept separated from civilians for obvious reasons, it's actually pretty easy for someone to tell a Mafioso from a "normal" person if one knows what to look for.

Constant exposure to the typical mafia chaos made Hadrian conclude that an average Mafioso's mindset is vastly different when compared to a random civilian on the street, not unlike how a wizard's brain is operated differently when compared to a Muggle's brain. After all, "normal" people don't carry around some sort of object they are able to use as a weapon in a pinch nor do they not bat an eye when people suddenly combust into colorful Flames. And the teen highly doubted that an "average" person wouldn't casually complain about having to deal with the onerous chore of getting rid a body while playing Super Smash Bros with their fellow Mafioso on their Nintendo Switch.

This disconnect between Mafia values and civilian values has caused a lot of problems on specific missions: unnecessary deaths due to too many witnesses, increased amounts of easily avoided casualties, a countless array of compromised spies, and an untold amount of paperwork and migraines just to deal with them all. Because Hadrian was formerly a civilian, the teen knows how to navigate through society without drawing attention to himself, making him a valuable asset on missions that take place in the civilian world. Add that to his ability to utilize his Flames, and you have a rare gem in the works.

And it's situation like these that requires Hadrian's skills. Luckily, Iemitsu was completely out of the house, taking with him his apprentice along to deal with an enemy Famiglia a few towns over. According to Reborn, the Varia Officer has about another day to get himself settled before the CEDEF Boss catches wind of his presence and tries to dispose of the Cloud using some trumped-up charge as an excuse. If the teen plays his cards right, he can kill multiple birds with one stone just by helping out Tsuna this way.

Sawada Nana, mother of Sawada "Tsuna" Tsunayoshi and wife of Sawada Iemitsu, is a simple housewife. For years, she's been in a relationship of lies and living a life of deceit thanks to the actions (or rather inactions) of her own husband. To be honest, the teen actually felt a little sorry for the woman. Because now he's about to smash the "sunshine-and-rainbows" reality she's been living in. Whether or not, this woman will find the strength to recover after this is all up to her.

Now here he is standing outside of the house in his civilian clothes as he mentally went over on what he should say to the woman. Finally, he warily knocked on the front door of the Sawada residence, and it opened up to reveal the smiling face of the housewife herself. "Oh! Well, hello there. Who are you?" She said amicably.

Hadrian bowed to her politely and smiled charmingly. "Ciao, signora-san. My name is Hadrian Temperanza. I'm something of a co-worker of Iemitsu, but from a different department so I doubt he's even met me face-to-face." The young teen then handed her a fake Varia business card as proof of his claims. "May I please come in? There's something important that I would like to discuss with you."

"Ara ara, how wonderful to see someone from Iemitsu's workplace! And such a polite young man as well. If only my Tsu-kun is the same. Oh, well. It's not like he can help it. That's just how my adorable dame son is after all." Nana said airily as she took the card. "Oh! Where are my manners? Please make yourself at home while I make us some tea." The housewife said as she let the green-eyed Varia Officer into her home without a second thought.

Thankfully, Bianchi had taken the children out to play in the park so their little talk won't be disturbed. Dancing her way into the kitchen, she went about to brew up some tea as her guest sat down at the small family's dinner table.

As the teen removed his shoes, Hadrian had to bite his lip from snapping, "It's not his fault that he's like that! You wouldn't even be talking about your own son like that if your useless husband had some godforsaken common sense!" He forced himself to rein in his protective Sky instincts towards the younger teen he'd just met.

"…Um… signora-san… I'm actually non-binary so...ah…" The dark-haired Cloudy- Sky hesitantly corrected her and trailed off at the end. The change in subject effectively took his mind off of the goddamn Flame Seal on the boy as he mentally prepared himself for the usual reactions to his gender identity.

He may not show it, but it always irks him whenever someone automatically assumes his gender based on his appearance. Just because he looks "feminine" doesn't automatically make him a girl, and just because he has a penis and testicles between his legs doesn't mean that he should identify as "male."

"Oh! …Then should I use 'they', 'theirs', and 'them' or do you prefer something different?" Nana simply chirped without changing a beat as she served the teen his tea.

The housewife had heard about people like him. Individuals who don't feel comfortable being addressed by anything other than the gender they identify with. Occasionally, she'd come across them every now and then. The woman had always thought that they were pleasant, perfectly nice people so she ignored all the nasty rumors her distasteful, bad-mouthing neighbors would spread about them. Besides, one can't help who they are after all. Why should she treat someone differently simply because they "don't love the right way" or they "don't behave or act naturally"?

"…'He', 'his', and 'him' please … Not that I have anything against 'they', 'theirs', and 'them'. It's just that I've been so used to using male pronouns that I still haven't felt the need to change how I referred myself." The teen replied with a slight tone of relief. Now he really felt bad about doing this to Tsuna's mother. It's so rare to see anyone so accepting. He prayed that this news doesn't hurt her too much.

"Signora-san… I work for Nono-san's youngest son. You might remember Nono-san as Iemitsu-san's boss." Hadrian informed the woman, his mind whirling on how he can break the news to the woman.

"Really? Then what are you doing all the way over here then? Is my husband doing alright? Surely, nothing bad has happened to his job, has it?" Nana said, the tone in her voice layered with a touch of concern for her beloved spouse.

Hadrian chewed his lip as he carefully thought about what he is going to say. "Actually… what I am about to tell you is about your husband. You see while I was researching for a project of mine, I found out about something that might change how you see him. I got into contact with your son and his home tutor, and informed them of my findings. After that, the two of them have asked me to break the news to you because they knew that you wouldn't believe them if it had came from your son."

A half-truth. The babyfied World's Greatest Hitman had came pretty close to blowing his brains out at point blank with his signature Chaos Shot. If it wasn't for Tsuna acting on his Hyper Intuition and begged his tutor to hear Hadrian's side of the story, the dark-haired teen would've been executed on the spot under the suspicions of being a traitor. So as "punishment" for being loosely "AWOL," the green-eyed Varia Officer was forced to become Nana's bodyguard until after their conflict with the Varia.

In a fit of sadism, the temporary bodyguard "innocently" suggested coming clean to Nana, seeing as the younger Sky was uncomfortable with lying to his mother like his "sperm-donor" had. After all, Sawada Nana may be a civilian, but as a wife of a Mafioso and the mother of a Vongola Decimo candidate, she is automatically exempt from the Vindice-enforced Omertà. Destroying Iemitsu's fantasy about his perfect civilian family was a petty revenge against his "father" that the brunet Decimo candidate had agreed with even though the younger Sky was still unsure with himself after the revelation.

"This discovery might not sit well with you and Tsuna-kun realizes this. He wants me to tell you this… 'I'm so sorry, Kaa-san… But I'll make it up to you soon.'" Hadrian warned Nana.

Without another word, the teen reached into his suitcase and took out a folder containing the specific documents that would ultimately damn her husband. He then slid it over to the housewife so she could read what's inside and mentally prepared himself for the woman's eventual outburst.

As the dainty housewife's eyes took in the information presented in front of her, her warm smile froze on her face and the light behind her chocolate brown eyes darkened with a flurry of emotions. Like a rock hitting a glass sculpture, shattering the painstakingly made work of art into hundreds of irreparable pieces in one fell swoop, Nana's rose-colored world fell apart.

ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ

Meanwhile back at the Varia Headquarters, Hadrian's entire Cloud Division was in a panic over their still missing Commander. Needless to say, none of the other Officers were too happy about it.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU USELESS SCUM STILL CAN'T FIND HIM?!" A roar of rage sounded throughout the mansion.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, B-Boss! W-We can't f-find him a-anywhere! We ch-checked every nook a-a-and cr-cranny and s-still no s-sign of him!" One of Cat Sìth's subordinates reported fearfully before scurrying off with a girlish shriek as he ducked a few Wrath Flame bullets that shaved off a few inches of his hair.

This morning, Xanxus woke up expecting breakfast from his Cloud, only to find the teen's kitchen fully stocked but as devoid of life as a morgue. Technically it's Hadrian's job to handle all the meals of everyone in the Varia, but he occasionally takes "breaks" that normally lasts about a day or so. During those times when he does, everyone usually orders take-out or simply eat out (much to their misery). Nine times out of ten, the Cloud Officer would be back in his kitchen cooking up a meal by the next day. However, this time, the Varia's residential wildcat has been missing for three whole days.

Only a single piece of paper tacked onto the chef's refrigerator explained the reason why.

To whomever is reading this,

I will be in Japan for a week at most. During this time, if you wish to use the kitchen to make your meals until my return, then I will expect everything to be the same as the way I left it. But if I am forced to clean up after you or I find that my kitchen is in less than satisfactory condition…

You better start praying to whatever God you believe in because let me tell you this... I won't be listening.

Sincerely,

Cat Sìth ღゝ◡╹)ノ

"Bad news. The prince has checked Cat Sìth's office. The Empress's gone too." Belphegor announced upon his return from the Cloud Division office (read: Hedwig's shrine).

"Oh~ poor thing. She must've decided to go search for Hari-chan herself." Lussuria said worryingly, concerned for his petite friend and his beautiful pet owl.

"Either something's happened to Cat Sìth, or the bird got impatient and decided that we were taking too long in searching for her master." Mammon concluded. Hedwig is Hadrian's Flame-bonded animal partner, not unlike that of the Mist Officer and their frog, Fantasma. Given the close bond between the two, it was only a matter of time anyways before the owl took off to find the Cloud Officer.

"If that fucking bird is worried enough about the kitten to fly all the way to another country, then what the hell are we all still standing around here for?!" The dark-haired man yelled out in frustration as he gripped his shot of vodka to the point of cracking.

"But, Boss, what about the Vongola Half-Rings? Squalo's still on the only other jet carrying the other half of the rings." Levi asked, reminding him of their original objective.

Xanxus let out an animalistic growl and threw his shot glass at his Lightning's forehead so hard it not only knocked him out but also left an impressive dent. "FUCK THE RINGS! The moment the shark trash finally gets back, we're heading straight to Japan and get back the fucking kitten!"

AN: Annnnnd shit's about to go down in the next chapter~ Sorry for the long wait, and thank you so much, everyone, for your everlasting patience. This arc is giving me problems. I've been having trouble on writing out not only Hadrian's role and reactions to the Ring Battles, but also how things will deviate from the canon now that we have Hadrian in the picture. I'm not too confident about this chapter, but it's the best I have. I hope this will satisfy you for now until the next chapter because summer vacation is ending and classes will be starting soon, meaning I won't be updating as often as I usually have these past few months.

Iemitsu and Basil: It's a common Iemitsu-bashing trope that Basil is actually his illegitimate son with his assistant, Oregano. Some fanfics I've read have made it that he was a result of a one-night stand affair or even a failed result of obtaining a Sky heir for the next Don Vongola throne (because Basil has Rain Flames instead Sky).

Signora-san: I know it sounds kinda weird here, but here me out. Apparently, in order to join the Varia, a member must at least know 7 languages. Here, Japanese is one of Hadrian's required languages, but I wanted to imply that he's still learning. I wonder if I should make this another quirk of his. Would this weird usage of Japanese honorifics endear him to you guys? Or would it annoy you to death? Let me know in your reviews if it does.

Tsuna's revenge: Since Iemitsu has been trying to keep his wife and son out of the mafia for years only to come back now because Tsuna is about to inherit the seat of Vongola Decimo, leaving all of his father's efforts worthless and completely unnecessary. On top of that, Basil is Tsuna's older half-brother, whom Iemitsu had spent more time with than his younger legitimately-born son. It's the straw that broke the camel's back so Tsuna decided to repay the favor by destroying the very thing that Iemitsu had desperately tried to preserve. Not only that, but letting his mother into the loop will help her so she would know exactly what her family has been up and be more prepare for what's to come. It also helps that Tsuna decided to trust Hadrian, a civilian-turned-Mafioso, to protect her for him while he's training to face the Varia and even lend in a hand as well.

Hadrian's letter: Ah, DragonBall Z Abridged~ TeamFourStar certainly does amazing work when it comes to comedy~ In case anyone is wondering where that bolded quote is taken from, go check out DBZ Abridged Episode 54: Trials and Tribulations.

Q&A Zone:

Kage640: This reviewer asks about what kind of outfits Hadrian wears. In his Varia uniform, he tries to look as feminine and child-like as possible so people automatically underestimate him the moment they see him (psychological warfare FTW). He takes full advantage of his androgynous looks and petite stature to achieve this effect. As for his civilian outfits and all of his hairstyles… I'll let the readers' imaginations decide. While his sense of fashion has improved with Lussuria practically being his personal designer, he still doesn't really care what sort of clothes he's wearing so long as he's comfortable and looks good in them. I also gave him some minor preferences here and there so he wouldn't be too much of an "empty character." As for Hadrian's accessories, his ribbon is meant to imply his Flame type to other people, and the lily hairpin is a tribute to his mother (James' tribute will appear in future chapters). Out of complete randomness, I made him prefer to keep his legs covered up in some way so pants, tights, leggings, and long skirts are a must.

Omake: The Sleeping Beauty (More Like The Sleeping Dragon)

Unspoken Varia Rule #36: If you happen to find Cat Sìth asleep in a strange location… do not wake him up. He may not show it, but he has a temper that's scarier than the Boss'. You have been warned.

Hadrian Temperanza, aka Cat Sìth, loved to take naps.

Whenever he could, the dark-haired teen would take a riposo or two at random times during the day. His years during the Dursley household has set his internal clock to force him to become awake at exactly four in the morning, and combined with his late-night antics during his time at Hogwarts, his habits has made him a bit of a night owl. It's common knowledge around the Varia that the teen is more active after sunset but less energetic after sunrise. While not on missions or on an errand, the teen would sleep away the daylight hours in between mealtimes and his responsibilities.

However, in typical Mafia eccentricity, the petite Cloud Officer has developed a habit of picking the most unusual of spots to snooze away. Inside an industrial washing machine in need of repair, tucked in a corner of one of the chef's walk-in food storage facilities, on top of the rooftops during one misty evening. No one knows exactly why Hadrian never uses his bedroom to sleep.

Squalo once found the Varia chef peacefully asleep underneath his bed. Another time, Lussuria had cooed over Hadrian while his friend was inside the man's walk-in closet in a make-shift nest made of his boas. Belphegor even paid Mammon for blackmail pictures of their residential wildcat taking his afternoon catnap in the babyfied infobroker's adult-sized bathtub.

But there was one memorable occasion where an ignorant Varia member stumbled upon the teen while he was catching up on his sleep underneath Xanxus' office desk shortly after breakfast. Mistaking the Cloud Officer for a lazy recruit, the poor individual proceeded to try and wake up the petite chef.

"What the hell?! Are you fucking sleeping in the Boss' office? Hey! Wake the fuck up already! Do you have a death wish or something? Come on! Now's not the time to take a fucking nap!" The person shouted as they obnoxiously got close to Hadrian's ear to scream as loudly as possible.

Disturbed from his precious naptime, the emerald-eyed Cloud snapped his eyes opened and slowly got up from under the desk. Turning his head, he glared at the interloper in a way that would've made Xanxus proud.

"…Is the world ending?" The irritated Cloud said lowly.

"…Uh, no?" The Varia member replied with confusion.

"Did the Boss assign me an important mission that needs to be done?"

"Not that I know of."

"Are you starving at least?"

"No, I just ate. Lunch wasn't even a half-hour ago."

Hadrian closed his eyes and slowly took a deep breath before finally exhaling. "…Is that so?" He then turned to the unfortunate bastard and said with a small smile, "Can I ask you something? How do you like your eggs? Boiled, scrambled, or sunny-side up?"

ʅ(°ヮ°)ʃ

When Levi had opened the door to what he had thought was supposed to be an empty room, the man immediately slammed it shut as he desperately wished for some bleach to wash his brain and eyes out after what he just saw.

"Muu. I see you've stumbled upon Cat Sìth's handiwork." Mammon commented as they and Belphegor passed by.

"Ushishishishi. Is it really as bad as it sounds in there?" The Storm Officer asked upon seeing the expression on Levi's face.

The three can still make out the muffled theme song of "Boku no Pico" coming from behind the door. Of course the sounds coming from inside the room were much quieter as their little wildcat's latest victim stopped screaming for mercy after several hours. Not surprising as being forced to see the disturbing show on an endless loop can make someone brain-dead after all.

"…There are no words to describe the horrors that I've just witnessed." The Lightning Guardian whispered.

At that, Mammon decided to chime in. "I have, in my possession, a shipment of holy water straight from the Catholic Church. I can sell it to you for 50,000 Euros per pint."

Without hesitating, Levi quickly whipped out his checkbook and wrote out a large number to the tiny Mist. "Give me 10 Gallons! I need to bathe just to feel clean again!"

AN: I wanted to establish Hadrian having an obvious cat-like quirk so his characterization doesn't seem to "dull." That… and I wanted to add another BAMF!Hadrian moment as well. Hoped you guys liked it~!

Thank you all for reading~! Reviews, favorites, and follows give me life~! (ʘ言ʘ╬)

Edited (8/18/17)