A/N: So guess what, today is Mukuro's birthday! (I love Mukuro.) So in celebration, here's the next chapter! It doesn't have Mukuro in it... but one day... Also, I got a new story posted, it's a Sword Art Online/Katekyo Hitman Reborn crossover called Online Famiglia, for those of you who are interested!
058 - Florence Main Station
It's daytime when Harry wakes up, and she's still in the car, though it isn't moving anymore. Squalo is also still there, staring at her warily.
She can make a pretty good guess as to why. Her body is curled around itself, her hands clutching at her chest which hurts like hell. She can only guess what kind of noises she'd made in her sleep. Judging from Squalo's look, it can't have been good.
"I found my Sky, and I can't see him," Harry explains quietly. Something shifts in Squalo's eyes. He looks away from her.
"Fucking hurts, doesn't it," he says. It's not a question. It makes Harry sad, but a more selfish part of her is glad that there's someone who understands.
"Less than not having a Sky at all," she only answers while reaching for the little packet with Flame supplement pills. Once, she couldn't have been trusted with them because she'd have devoured them in one go. Now, she can barely bring herself to swallow.
She offers the packet to Squalo. He shoots her a doubtful look, but pops one of the pills anyway. "Fucking disgusting," he proclaims.
"Takes the edge off 'til I can dose myself with Mist," Harry confides.
"Got friends in high places?"
"Well, I'm sort of friends with Mr. Verde... at least, we are on friendly terms. Sort of allied, I guess. Definitely not enemies. Maybe neutral?" Harry mutters and quails under Squalo's glare. "I'm sort of his guinea pig to his crazy scientist?"
Squalo snorts. "Get out of the fucking car, shitty brat."
Harry rolls her eyes. "Thanks for the ride, Lord of Shit."
"Voi! Don't fucking call me that!"
"Where the hell are we anyway!" Harry snaps, not recognising her surroundings.
"Fucking Florence, main station, you idiot!"
"Dammit. I wanted to go see sorella..." Harry mutters as she finally climbs out of the car. "Later, arsehole."
"Go to hell, shitty brat," Squalo answers flatly before speeding off.
Two days later, she receives a call from Aria's right-hand man Gamma that the hit on her has been cancelled, and Varia Recruitment Office sends their best regards.
Harry firmly shunts the information to the very back of her mind never to think of it again.
"What did you do, Harry?" Gamma asks her. "Why would Varia of all people want you? You're just a really annoying thief!"
"..." Harry blinks at her phone. "That was mean, Mr. Gamma."
"...sorry, kid."
"Really. Are you saying I'm not good enough for Varia? Is that it?"
"No! I'm just saying-"
"Why wouldn't they want me?"
"I didn't mean it like that! I just-"
"Yeah, I'm just a really annoying thief. I get it."
"No! That came out wrong! You're just-"
"Oh, don't bother. You don't have to placate me. I'm just the kid Miss Aria took in, not anyone important." Harry smirks at her phone.
"No! You're a wonderful person and far too good for the Varia!" Gamma rambles into the phone. "I just meant, you're too much of a free spirit to fit in there, and they should know that! Anyone would be lucky to have you!"
"U-huh," Harry says doubtfully, still smirking at her phone. Gamma is so easy to play. "Anyone?"
"Anyone!" Gamma says hastily.
"Can you back that up?" she challenges him.
"Of course!" Gamma indignantly assures her, then pauses. "...you're evil," he says flatly.
Harry laughs. "So can you give me a list of allies and associates of the Giglio Nero?" she asks.
"You could have just asked, you know."
"Now where's the fun in that?" Harry snickers. "Anyway, I'm looking to find someone to teach me some stuff and make me more awesome than I already am, so I'd really appreciate your help."
Gamma sighs deeply. "No problem. I'll have mailed it to you by tomorrow. Anything specific you're looking for? What do you want to learn?"
"Err... I'll know when I see it," Harry answers sheepishly.
"You have no idea, do you?"
"Nope! Thanks, Gamma!" Harry ends the call with a grin on her face.
One thing was for sure, she would not be sitting on her ass while Hayato was gone.
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059 - Harry's teacher: Looking and finding
Gamma keeps his word. Actually, he goes above and beyond in his duty and gives her not just a list of people, but information on their specialisations and abilities as well, not to mention a whole itinerary complete with train- and bus tickets that will allow her to visit everyone with minimal waste of time.
Unbeknownst to Gamma, Harry is incredibly bad at keeping schedules.
Harry visits and discards four potential teachers - Mr. Abadelli is mean, Miss Singh too strict and ladylike, Marco the sniper is cool but more of a soldier than anything which they both agree wouldn't do Harry any good, and finally Darius the thief is a plain asshole - and after that gets distracted. By people in colourful costumes on an awesome poster. And she decides she can spare a few hours for what looks to be a fun show.
While waiting for the performance to start, she studies Gamma's list once again - and boy, do the Giglio Nero have connections. Reborn the Terrifying Baby is on it, so is Commander Colonello, as well as someone named Mammon who she thinks is a member of the Varia (and hell no to that), and a person named Fon who apparently is the world's most renowned martial artist. Not to mention several of the Mafia's best thieves and hitmen, several intelligence specialists, and three minor bosses.
Surely one of them would be what she's looking for? Not that she knows what that actually is, but as she told Gamma - she'd know when she saw it. Her intuition is pretty good after all.
Harry puts the list into her pocket when the show begins - and she was right, it's so much more fun than sitting in a train.
And then, after a short break in which she gorged herself on cotton candy, he enters. And Harry watches and she knows.
"Please take me as your student!" she begs after the show has ended.
"HOW did you get in HERE?!" Skull de Mort shrieks in the supposedly private confines of his personal wagon.
Harry blinks. "Err... good question." She grins sheepishly. "I seriously need to watch myself around locks."
"AND WHO ARE YOU?!"
...now she regrets running from Hayato's etiquette lessons. There would probably have been advice for handling situations like this in them. And- "Hey, is that an octopus?"
Skull screeches.
"Right, sorry! I'm Harry! That's short for Harietta." She gives her best Disarming Smile. "And you're awesome and I only saw you a few hours ago but I think I'm your biggest fan and can you please be my teacher? I mean, Mr. Gamma gave me list of teachers-" she waves said list around. "But you're way cooler."
Skull laughs obnoxiously. "Of course! I'm the Great and Immortal Skull-sama!"
"Are you an Arcobaleno?" Harry asks. "'cause you're a toddler, but you're way too awesome to be normal. Plus, you got a pacifier."
"You're Mafia?"
"Oh. Yeah. Forgot to mention that." Harry laughs sheepishly. "I'm with the Giglio Nero. They gave me this list." She holds the list out to him, he takes it automatically.
"Ah! Giglio Nero! You're with Luce's Family!" he shouts, pointing at her.
"Who's Luce?" Harry asks.
"She was- WHY AM I NOT ON THIS LIST!" Skull screeches.
Harry shrugs. "I dunno, I just saw the poster for the show and thought it'd be fun to watch, and here we are."
"This has Reborn-senpai on it! And Fon! And Colonello!" Skull flails his arms around, not even listening as he looks at the list. "What're you doing watching circus shows!"
"Time well spent," Harry answers with her brightest grin. "I met you, didn't I? So can I be your student?"
"What would you even want to learn!" Skull squawks, waving the list around. "I'm not like them!"
Harry blinks and thinks back to the show. "I want to learn," she says quietly. "To ride a bike, to fly with it, to taunt death and escape it with a smile. I want to learn to break the laws of gravity - gravity is such a bother, don't you agree? - and I want to learn to be fearless. I want to learn to not just overcome my limits but ignore them altogether. I want to learn freedom." She takes a deep breath. "And I'd like to learn how to make people smile."
Skull turns away and sniffs.
"Mr. Skull?" Harry asks worriedly.
"That was..." he sobs. "That was beautiful." He suddenly turns around and points at her. "Alright! You can be the Great Skull-sama's student! I'll train you! I'll teach you to ride a bike! I'm going to make you the second-best stuntman in the world! People will whisper your name in awe!"
"...can I be a stuntman part-time? 'cause I'm already a thief and that's a lot of fun. And can I have a stage-name?"
Skull hops on her shoulder. "You can be whatever the hell you want! ...what was your name again?"
"Harry."
"You can be whatever the hell you want, Harry-chan!" Skull spreads his arms and laughs. "There are no limits you cannot break! The Great Skull-sama will make you unstoppable!"
"Awesome!"
"Ride a bike? Don't make me laugh! By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be jumping through rings of fire with it while standing on your hands!"
"Great!"
"I'm so going to rub this into senpai's face!"
"Cool! Wait, what?"
Skull laughs, wild and free to Harry's ears. "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" he shouts, pointing out of the window.
"Err... okay!"
And that's how Harry ends up joining a circus.
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060 - Harry's teacher: Training with Skull
Skull is way more fun as a teacher than Shamal. Though Shamal is great, too! Not that Harry would ever tell him that, it's much more fun to see him grumble and grouch and pretend he isn't wrapped around her little finger.
Skull though. Skull is the shit.
The first day, Harry learns about the Cloud Circus itself - a circus that is under Skull's protection and serves as a sanctuary for Mafia damaged people. Skull makes allusions to other protections but doesn't go into much detail; she figures she'll find out later.
She meets a bunch of people that day - jugglers, acrobats, the director, a bearded lady, the old guy responsible for costumes, and many more. The atmosphere is great, familial even from what Harry can tell.
Training starts the next day. Skull teaches her breakdancing. Harry totally didn't expect that but just rolls with it.
"It's great for athletics and rhythm and footwork and flexibility and stuff!" Skull explains while demonstrating moves that she has to copy. It has to be noted that everything he does, he does on his bike. And not just the seat either, occasionally he hops around on the handle, too. Harry is struggling keeping up with him while on solid ground. "And best of all, it's FUN!" Skull shouts.
Has she mentioned that Skull is awesome yet?
Later, after hours of dance lessons, Skull dumps a few books on bikes, mechanics, and engineering on her head. "You've got to know this!" he declares. "You wanna ride a bike, you better know how it works!"
More stuff she didn't really expect. And mechanics are hard. It helps though that she can use illusions to visualise everything she reads about. Also, Skull grills her about the stuff in those books in the following days, that's added motivation.
Why she has to learn this stuff becomes clear pretty soon.
Skull wants her to build her own bike from the ground up. With his help and guidance, of course, and custom ordered parts. But still.
"Anybody can learn to drive!" he shouts. "But we're the best of the best! You gotta know every screw, every plate, every tiny detail of your bike! Your bike's gotta be your heart and soul!" He points up at the sky in a heroic pose while standing on the handle of his bike. Then he drops the arm and admits sheepishly, "Also, you need a custom bike anyway. Too short for a normal one, y'know?"
Harry grins. "Okay, Skull-sensei!"
(Skull is a Japan fan for some reason. Until the Vongola declared the Japanese language chic a few years back, he was looked at like a weirdo for his tendency to adress himself and others with Japanese honorifics. Now they look at him weird because of his awesomeness.)
There are days when Skull has no time for her, in which case he dumps her on friends he has at the circus - the beast tamers, the jugglers, the acrobatics, whoever is available. It's chaotic and so much fun. She can't wait to show it all to Hayato.
It's also exhausting as hell which is an added bonus because there's not one night where she doesn't fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. There's hardly any time to miss Hayato, much less Mr. Tuna. Between bike-building, dance lessons, building up muscles, and lessons with the circus artists (turns out she's excellent at juggling, her hands are nimble and quick from all her pickpocket thievery), time passes quickly.
Her bike is finished after about five weeks. She'd thought it'd take longer, but Skull is an expert, and some stuff the circus mechanic Jeremy did for her, like fusing and stuff.
Anyway, the bike is finished, and it's beautiful. Sleek and black, with indigo little stars painted on it to form a flamelike pattern, and Harry is in love. Skull is, too, won't shut up about how great it is and what parts they used for this and that and how the suspension is just perfect for stunts and that this is literally the kind of bike that could learn how to fly.
"Awesome," Harry says. "I've been dreaming of flying a motorbike my whole life."
"That's the spirit!" Skull crows and hops on her head, which had quickly become a favourite place of his. "Oh, before I forget." He hands her a few papers.
Harry raises her eyebrows. "Hari de Mort? Your niece?" she asks.
"You need some civilian ID," Skull shrugs. "And a permit for driving."
Her eyebrows rise in anticipation. "Sweet, so that means you'll teach me driving soon?"
"Let's go right now!" Skull shouts.
"Awesome!"
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061 - Harry's teacher: Reasons why
Skull takes her to a huge concreted area in between fields and meadows. Harry whistles, impressed.
"How'd you even find this place?" she asks.
Skull smirks. "The circus came here a few months ago. I figured we could use it now."
Harry grins in anticipation as she puts her helmet on.
Driving a bike is, in one word, amazing. The powerful machine under her roaring, the wind pressing against her, the ground flying underneath the wheels. It's like she's flying, it's better than flying, it feels like she could take on the whole world on her bike. She (and Skull on her shoulder) whoop loudly as Harry tears over the concrete like it's going out of style.
It's instinctual. She already knows the bike inside out. And her body just seems to know just what she can do with it, and how to do it.
"That," Harry breathes when she and Skull sprawl on the meadow after hours of driving. "Was the bomb."
"Mmm," Skull hums contentedly from where he's using her stomach as a pillow. "You don't suck."
"Nope," she agrees. "I'm awesome."
"Of course! You're my student!" Skull puffs up in pride and Harry giggles.
"Y'know, I've been wondering," she says. "Why'd you take me as a student? You didn't really like me at first."
"Oh, that," Skull shrugs. "Your speech was inspiring, but most of all, it was 'cuz you wanted to learn from me."
"That's it?" Harry frowns a bit.
"You're the first one who ever wanted to."
"Seriously?"
Skull shrugs again. "I'm kinda the joke of the Arcobaleno, y'know? I mean, I'm awesome and like, the best-looking baby ever, but I'm not a fighter like the others. Colonello-senpai and Reborn-senpai bully me and call me lackey, the others are kinda indifferent. Well, Viper is nice unless money is involved."
"They bully you?" Harry asks, frowning.
"Kick me and call me lackey and stuff," Skull confirms.
"That's not very nice," she says quietly. "I dunno, Colonello's always been cool with me, and Reborn is terrifying but seemed alright, too, so I guess I'm a bit surprised?"
Skull snorts. "I say they bully me, but really, they're family. All of them are. Y'know, I hated them when we first met. They were arrogant snobs, and back then they really were assholes. So I ran off 'cuz nobody treats the Great and Immortal Skull-sama like that, and guess what? I got myself captured by some asshole Family."
"No way! How'd you get out of that?" Harry asks with wide eyes.
"I didn't." Skull smirks at her. "Reborn, Colonello, and Lal came in guns blazing and got me out. Told those fuckers that 'nobody chains their Cloud and lives to tell about it'. It was awesome. They trained me in some stuff afterwards, too. And I'm pretty sure the circus is under their protection as well, not that they ever mentioned it, but I've heard rumours. Viper is watching over our finances, too."
"That's so cool," Harry breathes.
"Yep, but don't tell them, they're going to be smug for days if they ever hear." Skull snorts. "Anyway, Reborn is a world-renowned trainer, and so are Colonello, Lal, and Fon. Verde and Viper've got hundreds of people asking to apprentice with them all the time, too. But me? You're the first one to ever pick me to learn from. No one ever picks me. And definitely not when they've got the option to learn from the others."
"That's dumb. You're the shit, sensei," Harry says decisively.
Skull laughs. "I know! Are those idiots, like, blind or something?"
"Must be," she agrees. "I saw you do your stuff and decided I wanted to learn from you and nobody else. 'cause you seemed so free and fearless, and not even gravity seemed to apply to you, and you made people smile and you looked like you were exactly where you wanted to be and doing what you love and I want to be like that."
There's a lull in the conversation then in which Harry closes her eyes and enjoys the sun on her face. Then Skull speaks again, only his voice sounds sort of different now, making her crack an eye open in slight confusion.
"And here I thought you wanted to learn the secrets of magic from me."
"WHAT?!" screeches Harry.
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