"So, what do you make of her?" Reborn asked as he sat in the nurse's office with Shamal, sipping his usual espresso.
"Who? The new homeroom teacher for 3B?" the doctor asked, perking up from his notes. "I can't wait to give her a physical! If you know what I mean," he said as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"No," Reborn rolled his eyes, "Dame-Tsuna's neighbor."
"Oh, her," Shamal scoffed, "I've seen better. Maybe she'll grow into something in a few years…" he trailed off in thought, "I should do a follow up then!"
Reborn sighed as he set his coffee aside with a shake of his head; he needed the hit-man doctor's head out of the gutter for this conversation.
"She has a tattoo, though," the doctor continued as he tapped his pen against his chin thoughtfully, "and assuming that she got it legally she's at least 18. There was also an open bottle of sake so that makes her, what? 20?"
"No," Reborn shook his head with a frown, "Nana said that she was 15, about to turn 16 in a month or so."
"So Sawada's neighbor is a little delinquent? How scandalous!" Shamal chuckled as he scribbled a few things in his notes.
Reina sat in her front doorway with a mechanical drill in one hand while she tried to align the drill-bit with the holes of a new set of hinges. She was having a bit of trouble considering that her side would twinge whenever she angled her arm a certain way. Needless to say that her morning was full of muttered curses and strange looks from passer-bys.
"Need help?"
She snapped her head to the side at the squeaky voice that cut through her brooding before turning back to her task with a frown.
"You can, actually," she said as she drove the last screw into the doorframe and got to her feet. "You can help me test out my new door!" she finished with a faux smile by slamming the door in Reborn's face.
She set the drill down on a hall table and dusted her hands off, congratulating herself on a job well done. Was it necessary to shut the door in the baby's face? No, it wasn't. But damn did it make her feel good!
"That wasn't very nice…" the Arcoballeno frowned as he sat on her kitchen counter with his arms crossed.
"Well… neither was the pervy doctor, so I guess we're even," Reina shrugged, not even bothering to ask how he had gotten in. "Now if you don't mind leaving…" she trailed off, motioning to the door.
"Not until you answer my questions," the baby bargained, crossing his legs in a business-like manner.
"Fine, shoot," she grunted, crossing her arms and taking up a defensive stance.
"Where were you two nights ago?" he asked, getting right to the issue that was bothering him the most.
"I was here," she said as she narrowed her eyes slightly, "and I was there, mostly there. You need to be more specific."
"What were you doing in Italy two nights ago?" Reborn rephrased his question, "And tell the truth, I can read your mind."
"Really?" Reina snorted with a roll of her eyes, "I was craving pizza."
"That's a lie," he said, irritation slipping into his voice.
"Very good!" the brunette teen applauded sarcastically. "Did your mind reading powers tell you that?"
"You shouldn't lie to me anymore," the infant growled, his chameleon transforming into a pistol, "my patience is wearing thin."
"Humph, you're in the wrong business if you don't want to hear lies," she scoffed, turning her head to the side.
For a brief, fraction of a moment Reborn could have sworn that he was talking to someone else; someone who was very, very tired. But the small moment passed when Reina turned back to look him in the eyes. He was talking to the enigma again.
"If you must know, I had business of a personal nature to attend to," she said, and he knew by the light in her eyes that was the most straight-forward answer he was going to receive from her on the subject.
"Why did you save Lambo?" he asked after a pause, Leon returned to his lizard form and crawled onto the brim of his fedora.
"Was I not supposed to?" she asked in return, arching an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
Any response from him was cut off by a phone ringing. Reina reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, old cell phone, flipping it open and answering before the device got to ring a second time.
"Hola," she chirped in a bright voice. She listened to the other side for a moment, nodding her head before she covered the receiver with her hand and whispered, "How about a deal?" she started, Reborn's ears perked up at this. "You stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours."
Reina had to step back and applaud herself for completing the daunting task presented to her. It had taken almost a day, but she had scrubbed the worldwide web of any and all photos and videos that had appeared after the car incident. Let's just say that a lot of people were going to wake up with corrupted files. She was a bit worried though, there was still a 24-hour period where any number of people might have gotten a partial match on her picture and traced it back to Namimori. Needless to say she was more than a bit anxious to see who might show up looking for her.
She felt that some kind of reward was in order for her, but that was going to have to wait a while. She had received a call earlier telling her about a bounty that needed collecting nearby. She had always found it odd that any criminal in Namimori – small time crook or the head of crime organization – received a large bounty rather quickly when compared to other parts of Japan, or even the world for that matter… None the less, she had no time to question the motives of those who called the shots. She had a goal to achieve, and she was beginning to care less and less how it was accomplished.