Chapter 14

"Okay, I bite. What's wrong with Leon?" Rosa asks, eyeing the glowing thing Leon has become in utter bewilderment. And this happened after a day of randomly switching to different objects, but she'd just assumed it was Reborn messing with her. This though... it looks like a cocoon. Thing. A cocoon thing. Glued to the ceiling of the room she and Reborn share at the Torelli place.

Chameleons aren't supposed to do that! They're not insects!

"He's going through a metamorphosis," Reborn answers sagely. "It's an unlucky sign. Every time Leon gets into this state, my students end up dying."

"I did not need to hear that," Rosa says flatly.

"Poor Leon is going to be so worn out." Reborn shakes his head sadly, shooting Rosa an accusing look. "All for you."

"Right. Thanks, Leon. Don't push yourself too much. I would hate for you to be exhausted from being an omen of my death." She resists the urge to roll her eyes. Metamorphosis? What is that going to do?

And chameleons still aren't insects!

"What do you think about Lancia?" Reborn asks her, switching the subject rather abruptly.

Rosa sighs, staring at the Leon-occupied ceiling with a frown. "I'm conflicted."

"About what?" To his credit, Reborn seems to be taking her seriously.

She draws one of her daggers from her hidden sleeve-holsters and begins letting it dance between her fingers in thought. "He's kind. Strong. Smart. Loyal." Really, everything she'd look for in a guardian. Lancia would make an excellent Lightning Guardian.

"But?"

"I get protective vibes of the Stash-her-in-a-tower-to-keep-her-safe variety from him, and he treats me like a child."

Reborn shrugs. "That's easily fixed. Besides, you could stand to be more childish, Thorny-Rosa."

"I'm trying," she sighs tiredly. She's getting better, but she still feels so worn out all the time. Honestly, most of the time she feels she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"I know." Reborn sounds almost gentle. Almost, because that's just not who he is. Every word, every nuance in his squeaky baby voice, is calculated. Still, it does make her feel a little better, so she spares him a smile, as genuine as she can make it.

"I just don't really feel a connection to him," she finally says. "No spark. There's nothing that tells me I shouldn't Harmonise with him, but nothing really drawing me either." Rosa sighs in frustration and clenches the hilt of her dagger. "I know that doesn't sound good enough to reject him. At this point I really can't be picky anymore. It's been months. You haven't said anything, but my grandfather wants to see results, doesn't he?"

"That is none of your concern," Reborn brushes her off glibly. "It's your decision, and if you don't feel right about Lancia then you don't have to Harmonise with him."

"Okay, now you're starting to creep me out. More than usual, I mean," she mutters. "I don't not feel right about Lancia. It's just... he loves his Famiglia so much. I can't take him away from them."

"But that would be his choice, Thorny-Rosa," Reborn points out.

"It's just, he's boring."

There. It's out. Rosa is a horrible person.

Reborn gives her a look that's as close to exasperation as she's ever seen. She sighs in aggravation. "Let's give it a little more time, okay?" she suggests reluctantly. She isn't all that fond of the Torelli base. Too many people, too much crowding. Too many children badgering her for stories or games or whatever.

There's one good point to this, though. Mukuro. She's supposed to be considering and evaluating Lancia for Guardian status, but she's spent most of the time thinking about him instead.

She doesn't know what it is, but something draws her to him. Nothing Flame-related. Just something about him. It's magnetic. And unsettling.

Rosa has never been able to leave a mystery well alone, be it in her last life or her current one.

―~~―~~―

"...and this is our school. It was completely renovated two years ago, and the auditorium sports a state-of-the-art sound system," Lancia says proudly, as if he had built the school himself with his bare hands. From what Rosa has seen so far of his character, he probably did. "Most of the teachers are actually members of our Family, after a child abuse scandal was revealed we decided it was just safer for the children if we took the matter in our own hands."

"Because that isn't terrifying at all," Rosa mutters under her breath. Lancia doesn't hear her and continues talking about the school in this little town the Torelli Famiglia call their own.

It's been a week since she and Reborn came to this town. It has been filled with tours. Tours of the town. Tours of the church. Tours of the town-hall, the library, the museums. Tours as in, multiple tours of the same place. The Torelli are ridiculously proud of every single thing in their little city and since apparently she's the most interesting thing to come along since the child abuse scandal they insist on showing her all of it, looking at her beseechingly until she gives them a word of praise and a metaphorical pat on the head.

Their Family has a bad case of hero worship towards the Vongola. And they're gunning for an alliance, Rosa is pretty sure of it. They have so many plans for renovating buildings in the city, building a sports stadium, improving infrastructure and so on, large projects that will take time and a whole lot of money the Torelli simply do not have. Not that they have outright said it, but Rosa is observant enough to note the dilapidated state of their mansion, not to mention how crowded it is. Not a single one of their beloved children has a room to themselves and all guest rooms are occupied by Family members with the exception of the room Rosa shares with Reborn, which she is pretty sure was cleared out in a hurry just as they arrived.

So yes, the Family needs money, and she's their ticket to an alliance with Vongola. In their minds anyway.

And Rosa isn't blind. This is a good Family, they're loyal to each other, protective of their people, they help around town, take in orphans solely to give them a home and not with any intention of using them for their own ends. They volunteer at the animal shelter, for heavens' sake! The Torelli mansion reminds Rosa of the Weasley's Burrow; crowded, poor, but rich in love and laughter. The people are so bloody happy that they spontaneously break into musical numbers at times! Cavity-inducingly sweet, it's getting on her last nerve, but that is a problem with her, not them.

The point is, they are good people and they are good for their town; and allying with Vongola in order to finance their projects will mean inviting them into their territory, letting them gain a foothold. And Vongola would utilise it, seeing as they don't have too much influence over Northern Italy. It wouldn't be the Torelli's town anymore.

It's Vongola so it would probably turn out fine in the end. Still, she is entirely uncomfortable with the situation. Especially since the Torelli haven't said a word about what they actually want, and instead have her spend every moment possible with Lancia, and when Lancia has his own duties to attend to, they extol his virtues in shining colours while he is absent. It's so very obvious that they want her to take on Lancia as one of her subordinates and probably as her Lightning Guardian as well. It would give them quite the bargaining chip; apparently to them that's worth giving away their strongest and best member.

It leaves a bad taste in Rosa's mouth. Which, honestly, is she really cut out for Mafia life? She'd been fine with the Varia, but that was... different. Assassination squad, sure, but one that existed for the sole purpose of eliminating threats efficiently and independently from the main Family, thus committing crimes that couldn't be directly connected to Vongola even if everyone knew it was Varia behind them. Killing to protect is a concept Rosa can get behind.

Politics, manoeuvring, making decisions for people and permanently changing their lives... that kind of power could easily go to one's head, could so easily be abused. Every decision Rosa makes will directly pr indirectly impact the lives of the people she'll be responsible for. It's a responsibility she's terrified of. Terrified of disappointing her people, of failing them, of making the wrong decisions that would lead people to die.

No matter. She has already decided she won't Harmonise with Lancia. His devotion is to his current Family, she would always come second no matter what he claimed. And he's boring. Kind enough, impressive strength, but bland. Plus, Rosa isn't really sure she wants someone who'd so readily throw his loyalty at her when his love belongs to the Torelli Famiglia.

At this point she thinks Reborn won't even argue. He's asleep on her shoulder, eyes open but a bubble blowing from his nose. He'd tried to escape a while ago, but Rosa had managed to foil that somehow, something she's sure to pay for later. But hell, if she has to suffer through Lancia's tourist-guide sermons, then he better suffer with her. He's the sole reason they are here.

And he's been kind of more annoying than usual lately. Wherever she goes, he goes as well. His eyes (and often the rest of his infant body) are always on her somehow. She can't go anywhere without him asking where she's going or simply following her. And he's always in hearing range, no matter what.

She's had little privacy since he became her tutor, but he'd usually known when to back off and leave her some breathing room. Now though, that point had passed days ago. The crowded Torelli mansion isn't helping in the least.

―~~―~~―

Mukuro is biding his time.

Really, he doesn't have any other option. His target is well-guarded by the Arcobaleno whose ever-watching eyes note everything. He has to be careful.

It isn't going to be as simple as sidling up to Rosabella while she is being crowded, and then 'accidentally' placing a scratch on her, which would allow him to possess her via the Possession bullet he'd snuck from the Estraneo compound. No, if he wants his answers then he'll need more time, and he'll need her alone.

Amusingly enough, Rosabella herself is his greatest ally in this endeavour. Mukuro sees how she grows increasingly annoyed with the constant guard around her, how her muscles tighten every time a Torelli Family member walks up to her, forcing their company upon her person. He sees how she stares at the windows as if envisioning the act of jumping out of them to escape the constraints placed upon her. Truly, it is only a matter of time until she does something stupid, the longing for freedom is all but reflected in her enchantingly green eyes, and Mukuro's previous self had been quite accomplished in the art of Legilimency.

The Sun Arcobaleno cannot watch Rosabella forever. One lapse in attention is all Mukuro will need. Then he'll strike.

It is unfortunate that Mukuro won't be able to rely on Ken and Chikusa for this plot of his. But he cannot be sure of their loyalties at this point in time. They like life with the Torelli just a little too much, Ken especially. Mukuro would have to create some incriminating evidence to show them the truth of the Mafia to shatter their naive illusions of a peaceful Famiglia (as if such a thing were possible!) and then make them see the right path, his path, and ensure they never doubt him and his vision ever again. Mukuro just doesn't have the time to plan all that out right now, not in the limited amount of time the Vongola girl would still be available to him.

No matter. Once he has control of her, only then will he see about securing more allies. He'd need to place them in key positions within the Vongola Famiglia to do some of his work for him, seeing as he would be busy with the big picture and keeping his little Vongola doll under control.

The hardest thing would be fooling the Arcobaleno. Seemingly innocent questioning of Torelli members had yielded the information that Reborn is the World's Greatest Hitman, a title that people generally agreed didn't even do his incredible skills justice. Mukuro would have to be very careful. One mistake and he'd be dead, his plan in shambles.

But he has the experience of six lifetimes to draw from, he wouldn't make any mistakes.

All he needs now is an opportunity.

―~~―~~―

Rosa is climbing the walls. Metaphorically. Though if Reborn got anymore clingy, it would be literally as well.

"Seriously, back off," she snaps at him.

He lifts the glowing ball that is Leon up like an offering. He's wrapped the chameleon in some sort of transparent plastic foil so now he looks like a glowing crystal ball. It goes well with his fortune teller outfit. The disguise is far better than Trelawney's completely authentic outfit ever was. "But trials are pending," he says. "Omens have been divined. The eagle will leave its nest, the dog will burrow into the ground-"

"And Mars shines bright tonight," she mutters. "While Jupiter stands in a 43 degree angle to the Milky Way, so clearly I need to avoid cucumbers and Devilbabies."

"As well as staircases!" Reborn rolls with her nonsense. "It has been divined, Thorny-Rosa!"

"It's noon, there are no stars to be seen anywhere," she says flatly.

Reborn gasps. "The stars have faded! The end is nigh!"

She makes a frustrated sound. "Can you at least pretend to give me some space? Or can we just leave? I'm so not in the mood for any trials, no matter what Leon says."

Reborn gives her a scandalised look. Rosa's getting better at interpreting his minuscule changes in expression. "You cannot escape fate, Rosa!"

She face-palms. "Right. I'll go find Lancia. Perhaps he can scare you away with sheer boredom." She would rather stick toothpicks in her eyes than subject herself to Lancia for longer than two minutes at this point, but if that's what it takes to get Reborn to back off, she will do it.

Her tutor gives her a sad look. "So little consideration."

"So much bullshit," she retorts before she quickly slips out the door and takes a deep breath. A part of her wants to plant a fist through a wall, but this is not her house and it would reflect badly on her own Family. As unkindly as she currently thinks of the Vongola, she does not want that. Especially since it might lead to complaints about her. The last thing she needs is having more of her limited freedom taken away.

So she pastes on a smile and seeks out one of the living rooms. Halfway there some kid intercepts her and whines at her to play with him. Hell no, she doesn't want that, she likes kids well enough but not when there's so many of them - their level of noise rises exponentially with the growing number of children. Ugh.

But there comes Lancia and no, between noisy children and boring Lancia, Rosa will pick children any day, so she lets herself be dragged away.

An hour into building castles with playing blocks she regrets this decision. She's got a damn headache.

No matter what, tomorrow they're leaving, Rosa decides. This whole venture had been a bust.

At least Reborn is keeping his distance at the moment, the level of noise probably warding him off. Oh god, and now some kids are throwing blocks at each other. Shit. And they're supposed to be her age, even! Okay, they don't have the dubious fortune of remembering their previous life, but seriously, how immature can those boys be?

"You look two seconds away from strangling the next one to do something stupid, Rosabella," Mukuro's voice murmurs from behind her.

She doesn't even care anymore about manners and representing Vongola and all that stupid fucking bullshit. "Get me out of here," she mutters back. "I don't care how, if I have to jump into a wormhole straight to hell, I'll do it."

"As you wish, Rosabella." And then there's the familiar touch of Mist Flames, layering over her body. Mukuro's hand grabbing hers and drawing her back with him. She follows along, lets him pull her out the room. There's an illusion of her body still in the room, having taken her place, and it chafes that no one even notices that the real Rosa is gone despite the fact that her fake smile does not look like as dopey as that.

On the other hand, it's exhilarating. Freedom at last, at least for a little!

"Reborn's gonna kill me," she whispers and laughs. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere quiet," he answers and gives her a smile. "You look like you need it."

"Oh, do I ever," Rosa mutters. He leads her to the garage where a number of cars are parked, all mediocre models that no Varia member would take the wheel of willingly unless there was no other choice. Probably not even then.

It's also blissfully silent and empty, and Rosa feels days of constant tension release. Mukuro is smirking as he watches and again, Rosa can't bring herself to care that he's seeing more than she's technically allowed to reveal. This, this moment's reprieve, it feels good. And she doesn't want it to end, so she asks, "Know where the car keys are?" and when his smirk widens, her empty smile turns into something real.

―~~―~~―

Mukuro stops grinning the moment she turns away to get the car keys. Bloody hell. Skies and their smiles are dangerous. He has to take her out, and soon, before she looks at anyone else like that and makes them her puppet.

"Got it!" she says, waving a key chain. A minute later and they're driving out of the garage.

This is going better than Mukuro thought it would. He'd originally planned to take her to the underground level below the garage, not drive away altogether. But this is a good change to his plan. This way, the Arcobaleno will take even longer to find them - if he manages to realise that the Rosabella inside the building is an illusion.

She drives fast, eyes gleaming with an appreciation for speed that a part of him shares. Regulus had loved Quidditch. Mukuro isn't him, but the memory lingers. "Where to?" she asks.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks in return. She shrugs.

"Somewhere quiet, I guess," she answers.

Mukuro knows just the place. "There are some ruins nearby." The ruins of an old monastery. It was where Ken, Chikusa, and he had stayed before the Torelli had coaxed them out. It's out of the way, and he knows the area. An advantageous location for his purposes. With Rosa's driving style, they're there quickly enough.

The two of them climb out of the car. Rosabella pockets the keys and looks around.

She looks more relaxed now, a smile playing around her lips, taking in the surroundings. Mukuro supposes it is quite the nice landscape, with the ruins set in lovely meadows, moss growing on the stone, mountains towering in the background.

"This looks like the site of a horror movie," Rosabella comments with a grin, looking at the abandoned monastery. "Have you ever been in there, Mukuro?"

"Once or twice," he demurs. "I never went far. The Family is protective."

"D'you wanna go?" she asks, eyes twinkling with mischief. "I wanna be the stupid blonde from that horror movie. I haven't done anything dumb in ages. Reborn's been on my ass all week. The last few months, actually."

This is so much easier than he thought it would be. She's doing all the work for him. He doesn't even have to convince her of anything.

Rosabella really is quite reckless.

He offers her his arm, and she takes it, again smiling at him. "Shall we?" he asks.

"We shall," she laughs.

And she lets Mukuro lead her into the darkness.