I don't own Katekyō Hitman Reborn!.
Just a quick note: You guys are awesome. Every single one of you that's reading this is awesome by default now and should be cuddled for all eternity. The story has received so much love and positive reception from you guys, I could take off to Neverland right now, pixie dust or not, that happy am I. Love ya!
Guest Reviews:
Too Lazy: Hey to you, too! :D You might be lazy but you're very polite in turn! Thanks for reading and leaving such a positive comment. I hope to hear more from you. ;p Enjoy this new chapter!
Hannah: Hahaha, she's a mess, indeed. Even I can't keep up with her reasoning at times! It's fun watching her grow in ways I haven't planned, though. As for Hibari: while he might've come to terms with the occasional mess (so long as there's some benefit) he's never gonna soften up in his ways. They'll be bickering and chasing each other to the ends of time, mark my words! And damn, mistakes always manage to sneak in. Woopsie. I swooped down on the last chapter to eradicate it! Thanks for pointing it out. :) I had a great start at college so far and I'm positively pumped to write more of this story, simply because it's fun and I manage to entertain you guys, therefore I'll try my best with the upcoming chapters as well! Thank you again for your review and onto the story you go!
Target XIII: A Whole New Term
There was a certain sort of peace to find on the morn of a new school year. A day where you can lounge about for just a little longer than usual because there's only an assembly to attend in the early hours; where the apartment is cleaned up nicely after a short spring break and the birds chirp a merry song by your windowsill. No phone call disrupting your sleep. No immoral business to do but catch up the lost amount of said slumberous luxury. Cue Morning Mood by Edvard Gried type of morning here.
Fiona rolled over and gave off a long sigh. Lost in her own personal sea of long hair, pillows and sheets, fatigue quickly trickled in after a restless night. The warmth against her bare legs left her body cozy and lazy, eyes droopy and heavy until she felt her muscles relax with the steady beat of her own heart. It was a serene moment of bliss.
Aaaaand that's when the knocking started.
Ignore it. The doorbell's electricity is plugged out. A little knocking doesn't hurt nobody. She nestled deeper into the white sea. It was all a simple matter of willpower to tune out unnecessary sounds. She earned a day off.
Knock knock knock. Whoever it was apparently didn't think she deserved it.
Knock knock knock. Pretty persistent, too.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
"Can't a woman sleep in peace?!" she roared. Instantly awake, she stumbled out of bed and over to the door to give whoever-the-jerk a piece of her mind. Clearly the intention of this early visitor was to sabotage her rest. Which meant she could slap them across the face at least once.
She ripped the door open unceremoniously. "What?"
Kusakabe didn't even blink at her glare. "Did you cut the doorbell?"
Perceptive boy. She crossed her arms. One of the spaghetti straps of her top slid down her shoulder. "So what if I did?"
"I've been knocking for a while." His eyes slid down in tune with the strap. Credit where it's due: he didn't fall over unconscious.
She flicked the strap back up and shrugged. "So what if you did?"
He gathered his leather-pristine form quickly. Almost didn't look annoyed by her demeanor. The scowl was in the starting. "You don't look very sick today." He was also well-informed to her absence. She better make sure to fob him off before he dragged her along to assembly. That's just a certain kind of boring she didn't wish to experience so early on, thank you very much.
Fiona pointed at her scantly clad pajama state. "I don't need to be physically sick to get a day off." With Shamal being their doctor at school she could do however she pleased but most of the times the vice prefect (devil in training) knew when not to trust the doctor. Which was always, really, in regards to women. "I've been working very hard and need to rest like any other human being," she finished.
"I've seen you sitting in at least eight different coffee shops over spring break. Didn't look like you were working all that much." It was his turn to cross his arms.
"I'm very picky about my coffee. You 'been stalking me?" He's persistent as always today. Au revoir, sleep. Since he wasn't in the Mafia she couldn't just tell him about all the little intelligence she had to take care of because, oh right, she was reinstated and therefore had a part-time job next to being a middle school student in disguise.
She really felt like shoving that into his face to blow off steam. Oh well.
Her fingers lazily combed a way through the long mane let loose. "If you're here about the preparations for assembly..." She leaned back inside, checked the time. "Well, I guess it's too late for that now. Shall I continue sleeping in peace then?" She gripped the door handle tighter. "Yes, I shall!" She spun around. His hand caught her shoulder in a firm grip. Aw, crap.
"Not so fast."
"I'm a deer caught in your Elvis-ly headlights."
The satisfaction was palpable in his tone. "The Disciplinary Committee kindly asks the Student Council for some assistance."
Ah. Kindly never sounds good.
Tsuna looked up into the sky. Blue and clear of clouds, it promised to be warm and bright. He took it as a good omen for the start of their new term; a new school year. Gokudera had caught up with him on his way to school as usual but so far everything looked as regular as could be. Even Reborn had held back on his usual foreboding comments for once.
"Looks like we're in the same class again," Gokudera said out of the blue, smiling almost warmly.
Tsuna shook his head. "We haven't even seen the class announcements yet."
Gokudera simply raised his fist in excitement, grinning from one cheek to the other. "No need to! You and I will be together for 10 or even 20 years, no matter what!" The smaller boy offered a wonky smile in return and sighed. This is one of those unsavory but inseparable relationships. At least he's enthusiastic.
He caught the sigh. "What's the matter?"
"It's nothing," Tsuna answered with a crooked smile. Somehow it felt odd, talking of new class announcements and the possibility of not being together after all they'd went through (mostly involuntary). "But I'm sure we'll be in the same class again." He looked up when he heard the sound of talking. The voices sounded familiar.
Kyoko and her brother passed them on the street. Kyoko blinked as she caught his eyes, then smiled brightly. "Good morning!"
And Tsuna melted inwardly as he returned the greeting. The day really promised to go well!
They stopped in the middle of a crossing, briefly catching up. "We're going to be 2nd-years today. I hope we're in the same class again!" He nodded fervently inwardly. Yes, yes, I hope so, too! This day must be fate! Ah, Kyoko-chan~
Then her brother caught up, shoving his face in between them, yelling out a "Good morning, Sawada!" himself that startled Tsuna into obedience. He almost defensively answered back and before long it was the four of them walking to school, with Gokudera scowling, muttering something about not being alone with Juudaime and Ryohei talking about training. Well, at least he got partly what he wished for: that one bright ray of light that is Kyoko-chan!
"Oh! Isn't that Benny over there? OI, BENNY!" Ryohei suddenly exclaimed and waved like mad. Tsuna turned his eyes forward, searching the streets. And where there was light, there always followed darkness as they say. Fiona wasn't difficult to spot next to the black splotch against the scenery that was a... a Disciplinary Committee prefect?!
With her long braid dancing behind and her trademark sunglasses sitting atop the bridge of her nose, she raised her hand in a casual wave. "Mornin' everyone."
As they got close, Tsuna gulped. It wasn't just any prefect, it was the vice prefect himself: Kusakabe Tetsuya! He bowed his head ever so slightly in greeting. As long as Fiona wasn't dead set on provoking him, events could still turn out well and not hazardous to their health. "Good morning!" Ryohei simply beamed at him as well. "What are you two doing out? Training already?!"
Fiona snorted. "Couscous here needs my help for something only the Student Council can do apparently." She leaned in close, palm by her mouth as she whispered to Tsuna, "I say he's lying. I'm in for trouble, mark my words." He wasn't certain whether he should feel sorry or be scared. After all, he got dragged into her mess more often than he liked.
Kyoko chuckled as if nicknaming the Disciplinary Committee was the tamest thing in the world to do. Kusakabe raised a brow but Tsuna saw his lips twitch. "Is Elvis not enough anymore?"
Fiona shot him a bright smile. "You deserve something unique."
"Truly. I'm so honored."
She patted his arm. "Don't mention it."
Ryohei laughed out loud. "You two are extreme fun in the morning!" They sent him a straight-faced glance. "Let's be in the same class again!" He punched the air a couple times in excitement.
Fiona crossed her arms. "So I'm the one to pull your sorry ass along into college? That better be worth its weight in coffee beans."
"Who needs college? The extreme is what I always strive for!" Gokudera sighed and looked away from the rapidly falling apart situation while Ryohei pumped the air more excitedly. "With that, the path ahead of me will open!"
Fiona had difficulties holding her smile back. "Caso disperato?"
Gokudera only groaned. "Cretino."
Even Tsuna had to whisper to Kyoko, "Is it alright to let him do that?" She shrugged her shoulders almost apologetic. He's always like this, huh...
Well, at least the group was gathering, one by one again. The odd bunch of friends he had. It was a surprisingly comforting sight to be among them, gathered so spontaneously in the morning and chatting casually and at ease with each other.
Then something grabbed him by his wrist, ripping him from his thoughts. "Let's go, Sawada!" Huh? "Full speed all the way to school!" Huuuuuuh?
"Juudaime!"
"Big brother!"
Why did he only ever meet the strange ones?!
It was silent only for a short while in the Reception Room. "Why exactly do I need to do this? Give me one good reason." She gave the Kanji blurring one into another the stink eye. In all its wickedness: a dick move.
Hibari shrug his shoulders, eyes closed. "The teachers asked."
Fiona gave him a sidelong glance. Just you wait, you comfortably dozing head prefect. "The operative word is I. Why do I need to do this?"
"They specifically asked the Student Council." She rolled her eyes. Two can play this game apparently. She wasn't eliminated yet. Like she'd give up this easily, damn it all.
The folders rustled as she flipped through the pages carelessly. And there was a whole box of them waiting for her to go through. Therefore she continued to ask, sweetly, dangerously: "In the morning of a new school year?"
All it did was make his head slip to one shoulder as he nestled deeper into his nap. He had a grand time sleeping despite her ticking bomb of a mood. With a sigh she let him be and got back to her tedious work. Somewhere down the chain of command someone managed to make the one person do sorting work that could not for her life decipher all but three Kanji. One of them being food. Which she was in dire need of, come to think of it. Kusakabe had dragged her along the moment she declared herself presentable, not fed.
Her eyes glided over the head prefect's sleeping form. Meanwhile her feet glided over the gray carpet in a familiar escapee fashion. Slow and steady. One step with each heave of his chest. With any luck she'd manage to open the door without him noticing before hell broke loose. It was very well oiled, wouldn't creak. Right, slow and steady, just one more step—
Knock knock knock.
By all the pork's jealous heavens, her mind and body just short-circuited!
—Hibari cracked open one eye. "Enter."
A prefect walked in with another box. "I got the last folders that need sorting." He placed them next to the other box by the table before leaving as quickly as he had come. The door shut close behind him with a click.
Hibari turned his gaze on her. "Did you attempt to flee?"
Fiona casually flipped through a folder, nestled into the very same spot she'd been before. "Not at all."
He leaned back into his chair and spun to face her head-on. "I heard your stomach grumble a moment ago."
"Which is no reason to flee the room, what are insinuating? I can deal with hunger," she answered smoothly. By all the pork's jealous heavens? Whatever had gone wrong with that sort of cursing? Seriously lost her mind capabilities for a moment there. Close one.
Fiona could sense the smugness miles ahead. Pork. "You're avoiding looking at me," he stated. What is it with these guys' perceptiveness today? She was getting sloppy. Pork. Get the pork out of your system, woman. She couldn't leave the provocation standing in the room just like that. Do I want pork that badly? It was nothing less than a challenge placed in one sentence.
Her eyes found his. Jealous. "Now, why would I—" Pork.
She snorted. Her hand instantly covered her mouth. Hibari's brows went up.
Another knock knock knock saved her hide and she blessed the visitor in every worldly religion she could think of. "Enter," Hibari said almost automatically, piercing gaze never straying from her face. Almost cracked the ice again with this incident; it's really thinning out the way those blue streaks turned up ever so slowly.
"Hibari-san, the... uh..." Whoever the lackey was, he wasn't hardened enough not to show his surprise at the sudden proximity of the two people inside. Namely his superior's tonfa by the Student Council president's neck, as she was half-standing (not fast enough to bolt, blame the hunger) on the couch with him pressing her down into the back lean. From the corner of her eyes she saw one of the folders fold in on itself as it dropped to the ground, the only proof that movement had occured within the room.
"Speak." The word transfixed the air like a sharp needle. Hibari was very much concentrating on keeping her in place when all he managed was one word at a time.
Given her problematically seated position she couldn't face the door properly, only heard the sharp click of boots as the Elvisman saluted hastily. "Yes! The assembly is over and our preparations have been wrapped up as well! We're only awaiting your next orders!"
She wouldn't be the same Benivieni Fiona if she didn't comment on that. "I missed out on all the fun," she pouted.
Dangerous, very dangerous glint indeed.
Still, he pulled back. Fiona shuddered a breath of relief and slumped back into the leather. Hibari turned around to regard the other male, tonfas hidden away behind his swaying jacket. He was so finely built, she wondered not for the first time how he could pack such a punch. And where the amount of cruelty needed to fuel the violent intent hailed from.
"Everyone is gathered?" Hibari asked.
"Yes, sir!"
"Good." He gave her a short, sharp glance. "Herbivore, you come with me."
Fiona blinked. While she would gladly... She pointed at the unfinished stacks of folders. He didn't say anything. She raised her hands. "Don't scold me afterward."
"You'll finish this afterward."
Tsuna and the rest better have a greater start to this new term than she did so far.
Meanwhile
Tsuna panted hard as he looked left and right. "I think he ran in here," he wheezed and pointed to the Science Room. Yamamoto and Gokudera went ahead, sliding the door open quietly. Yamamoto then looked at Tsuna and nodded. We'll get him now.
The three boys sneaked into the room, careful not to make any sound. Tsuna even held his breath. He could see Vongolavsky's—Reborn's!—black hat move behind one of the tables. And so did Gokudera who dived right for it the moment he got close.
"Got him!" he exclaimed and raised his catch for all to see.
Tsuna's eyes twitched. An anatomy puppet.
Yamamoto laughed. "He got us again!"
"Damn it! Falling for a childish trick like this..." Gokudera uttered in defeat. He was just about to punch the puppet when—
Its eyes rolled sideways. "You're too naïve."
—when it started to talk?!
Gokudera let go with a terrified yell and Tsuna and Yamamoto followed with a start. Mid-flight, the puppet's head popped open, with Reborn jumping out. "Ciao!" he greeted. And then he was gone like the wind again, speeding out into hallways once more.
Definitely one of those longer days.
Back to the Danger Zone
Fiona pocketed her hands into the depths of her skirt as they stepped out into the open. The volume scaled by a triplefold, the short break between assembly and classes providing just enough time to catch up on recent happenings and turn the school yard into a bustling bee hive of voices, chatter and laughter.
"Where are we going?" she asked. The first students on the yard took notice of the walking pair and made a wide berth around them. If there's one good perk she had to name about being close to Hibari Kyoya, it was that conversations generally stayed private with him. Nobody sane enough would ever step inside a thirty feet radius close to him.
"You'll see." He just briefly glanced over his shoulder, checking up on her. They brushed close to the school buildings' walls.
Fiona hummed in thought. "Huh. Consider me intrigued." They kept left-ways. They were either headed for the sport clubs or their respective grounds. She absent-mindedly let her eyes stray over the students on the grounds, spotting a few new faces among the usual ones. First-years probably, gauging by the way they were quickly dragged off to the opposite direction by their elders who knew better than to cross this devil's path. She approved of the action. They had better learn fast who he was. She wasn't going to stand up for another Friendship Committee bloodbath.
Speaking of bloodbath: there was Ryohei just two floors above her, almost throwing himself out of the windows in one of his screaming bouts, apparently trying to convert the whole school yard at once to join the Boxing Club. As far as she knew there was a rule against that sort of thing. Not that she would mind but...
Shooting a quick glance in Hibari's direction, she kicked up a pebble, bounced it off her elbow and flung it precisely into the boxer's face. He shut up at once. Hibari turned around. Fiona whistled. Better safe than sorry, he'd thank her for sure. Someday. When he wasn't as oblivious to his surroundings.
At least, she thought with a small smile, she got her much needed appreciation time. With a skip to her step she caught up to her dangerous colleague, keeping her stride equal to his. It's healthy to be the center of attention every once in a while, even if its by being avoided. "By the way, didn't you graduate already?" she asked out of the blue as they rounded a corner.
He looked ahead as he answered. "The question seems to repeat itself. You herbivores don't know better." She filed that info away for later. Somebody daring enough to ask him a question must be worth a background check at the very least. It could just be Tsuna, though. They do tend to run into each other regularly. "I can choose to be in any year I wish," he finished.
Fiona's brows shot up. "That's even more inconsistent logic than I have." He didn't take the bait and stayed silent.
A couple minutes later Fiona was sure their destination was to be the backside of the gym. If that wasn't a perfect spot for murder, now that she thought about it. "Where are you taking me...?" she trailed off when she spotted the dark ominous cloud in front of her.
Twenty-something distinctly delinquent and shady-looking students perfectly lined up in front of nobody else but Kusakabe awaited her. The devil-in-training gave the messy group a hand sign and they instantly bowed 90 degrees, yelling a manly, scruff, united, "Hibari-san!" upon his entrance.
Fiona stood rooted to the spot. "Uh-huh."
All eyes fell on her. Uh.
She dodged to the side, mouthing a Don't mind me. Sometimes it's simply better not to bask in the center of attention.
Hibari stepped up to the bunch, uncaring yet demanding and instilling respect. The closest to him was a head taller than he and a good deal broader but he was completely at ease. "So you're the new bunch." Fiona prepped herself up for a good show. Hibari wasn't one for crowds, more of a loner he enjoyed the solitude that only silence could bring. But sometimes his ego carried him through a crowd with breeze without lashing out at others. That's mostly when he was too determined to achieve something (e.g. kill her for being a returning nuisance) to mind the people.
Kusakabe stopped to stand beside her. She raked her head up and nodded at the assembled mess of potential mass murderers—because they sure as hell didn't look like middleschoolers, screw the barely fitting uniforms. "What's this all about?" Well, neither did Kusakabe in that matter but she'd grown used to him. Knucklebone Eduardo would probably get along with him real well. She should play matchmaker.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "New members for the Disciplinary Committee. If they make it. We usually initiate them into our ranks on the first day of a new term."
So Hibari is probably testing his private herbivore/carnivore limits and whether he would stand the people. I see, I see.
He quickly found one that was standing on the verge of that scale. A tall, dark, muscled bundle of raw testosterone with a thick scar on his bull neck. Middleschooler, sure thing. Whoever said her disguise was stretching the boundaries again? "You."
Mr. Bull stood straighter, as rigid as a stick before the master of all delinquents. Fiona had to give it to the head prefect; for someone so much smaller and leaner, he had them wiggling beneath his presence. She scanned the faces of the men. Compared to them Hibari was also a much more welcoming sight to sore female eyes. Must be the Japanese effect coupled with the cherry blossoms blooming this month, it enhanced his fine features only further—"Fight her."
What?
"What?" Mr. Bull exclaimed out loud. His eyes briefly jumped to her before returning to the head prefect, whose tonfas were at the ready all too soon.
"You cannot follow orders, herbivore?"
Muscled arms raised ever so slightly, helpless to the morality. "She's just a girl—"
Wrong answer. It only took the head prefect one strike to draw blood and another to knock him out unconscious. Kusakabe swiftly dragged the body off to the side as the rest watched with renewed anticipation coloring the air.
Fiona felt as if somebody had just placed her on a pedestal. With no pretty dress and coffee to calm her nerves beforehand.
Meanwhile Hibari stepped up to the next in line: taller than the one before and looking even meaner if that was physically possible. "You wish to be bitten to death, too?"
"Definitely not!" With these words he charged at her. Her eyes widened in surprise but she danced out of the way of the attack quick enough. He rammed into the bricks behind her but the action only further enraged him as he targeted her once more.
She ducked beneath his next blow. When it was clear that nobody would intervene, she turned peevish. Her attacker clasped empty air and roared in anger. Oh, well, here goes the stress meter rising again.
And the first idea popped instantly to mind. She pointed accusingly at Hibari. "You think I don't know what you're planning?" Incoming fist. Dodge. Still pointing the finger. "If I punch him, you punch me because I'm violating the school rules," she exclaimed as she avoided another hit that would have sent a normal person flying. Brute strength he owned, but not nearly enough speed to match it.
"The Student Council asked for cooperation with the Disciplinary Committee," was his simple answer. She was so shell-shocked she spun around to face him, screw the ravaging bear.
"Cooperation is not 'I'm going to kick you out of school because I tricked you into fighting, which is against the rules'. You can't hate my guts that much, can you? I found Mukuro for you!" She paused as her own words sunk in. "Wait a sec, you actually tricked me into this fight, didn't you?"
Hibari's aura simply took on a more bloodthirsty vibe.
"You talk too much, annoying girl!" her opponent yelled into her face, suddenly too close for comfort, teeth bared, angry fist aiming for her stomach—
"Stop interrupting my line of thoughts, asshole."
—next thing anybody knew, he was down on his knees, his necktie wrapped firmly around her hand, and struggling to breathe. She placed one of her feet on his chest, pushing him back inch by painful inch as his hapless attempts to gasp for air turned futile with the necktie stretching and tightening to accommodate. His eyes popped out big and round and full of fear. "Be glad I'm not wearing high heels right now," she said sweetly.
Then his eyes rolled into his head and he went slack, unconscious.
She turned to Hibari, shrugging her shoulders indifferently. "Technically, I didn't punch him."
Ice and steel made for a striking combination, she noticed for the first time. At least in this boy. He bowed his head ever so slightly, curious, provoking, thoughtful. "Then continue not violating the rules. A kowtow should suffice."
Fiona blinked. "Continue?" She raised her arms. "Oh no, we're gonna have a talk about this tricking of yours. You can't expect me to enter this kind of relationship—"
Tonfa right to her face. "You're fighting all of them. Now." No! He. Tricked. Her. Did she slip up, soften somehow? How did he manage that, placing her on that podest? "I don't need weaklings." That could almost come off as a compliment. A completely off-the-charts zero romantic one that you had to find with a magnifying glass—
Hey, he's distracting her from the main problem again!
She was just about to protest but things turned into a free-for-all at the sound of his words and the next guy stepped up out of his own accord. He cracked his knuckles ominously. "I had heard rumors of the Namimori Ogress but I never thought that it'd be someone like—"
Change of priorities.
In one fluent move she snatched the head prefect's black jacket off his fine shoulders and strangulated another windpipe. "How is that rumor still spreading?" she asked darkly.
In a Better Place...
"Stop!" Gokudera yelled across the corridors. This chase would never end at his rate. All Reborn had done was have them goose chase him all day long. Tsuna silently hoped that Hibari wouldn't get a hold of them because that would turn things sour at an alarming rate.
"Stop!" he shouted again—wait a second. Tsuna looked over his shoulder.
"Lambo?!" What was that kid doing here, popping out of thin air? "Why are you in school?!"
Lambo smiled cheeky-airy-happy. The worst combination. "If I get a hold of that, I can be in the same class as you guys!" It doesn't work like that... Where did he even pick that up...
Why does he even have to ask? The answer is clear.
Tsuna frowned, trying not to loose his cool with the dangerous cow. "But you're not a middleschooler." All it did was make Lambo laugh only all the more.
"Lambo-san's not worried about that!" Then his expression turned fierce and determined (for a baby, that is) and he pulled out the grenades. Tsuna's face derailed in shock, if he detonated these here then—
AND HOW DOES HE MANAGE TO TRIP OVER HIS OWN FEET AGAIN?!
—they were doomed.
The sticks flew out of his hands.
BOOM.
...We Make Things Worse for Another
Fiona coughed as the dust and smoke cleared and the last bricks whizzed past her head. She looked up at the large hole in the wall and into a corridor that shouldn't be visible from where she stood at. A locker dangled dangerously close over the edge before gravity showed mercy and it fell, landing with a metallic thud by her feet.
"And there goes the next furniture," she sighed. Then she fixed her dishevelled hair. One moment its delinquents, the other a sudden bombardment; school never gets boring, eh?
Kusakabe gave her a disbelieving look as he stepped out from behind a tree. "Before you even ask: I have no clue who's behind this, Couscous," she answered the unsaid question.
He didn't look convinced. And when Lambo peeked over the rim of disaster with a teary-eyed expression, he simply threw her a meaningful glance.
Fiona raised a finger. "I correct my statement: I didn't have a clue." She threw Hibari's jacket back to its rightful owner who was looking as ready as a T-Rex to bite someone's head off.
Hibari caught it with ease. "You." Creaking, cracking, breaking ice.
"I..." She gave in to fate this time, "will assist the Disciplinary Committee in every way possible."
In The End
Reborn bounced atop a desk in the middle of the classroom. Kyoko, Hana, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Tsuna, they were all successfully gathered in the same class once more. Fiona just entered class upon his calling and dragged Ryohei right along. These teens, this particular group, promised to be worthwhile. "It looks like everyone was able to advance together."
Gokudera leaned down, grinning and proud as he retold his misadventures to the baby hitman. "It was a pain! A weird counselor tried to separate me and the Tenth!"
Fiona sighed and placed a hand over her face upon remembering hers. "Be glad you haven't been asked to cooperate with the Disciplinary Committee, it's unimaginable torture. Why did I ever bring that up on Valentines?"
Kyoko chuckled at that and squeezed her arm in a comforting fashion. "I'm glad we're all together."
Ryohei nodded vigorously. "Yeah! I made sure we 3rd-years stayed together, too!" He proceeded to box Fiona's other arm.
Yamamoto smiled and nodded, one hand casually pocketed away. "These members really do have to be." It would have been fine to leave it at that, but, as always, temper and disposition vary.
"We don't need you," Gokudera scoffed.
A hand clasped his shoulder tightly. "Leave my favorite alone, you useless jerk," Fiona intervened.
"Oooh! Another battle?!" Ryohei closed in on them.
"Maa, maa, clam down, all of you." Yamamoto squeezed himself in between like an insurmountable wall.
Reborn grasped the chance and looked up directly to his student before he chose to be distracted by their antics as well. "Tsuna, they wished to be with you." For a split-second Tsuna looked thoughtful. But with a warm smile and mild surprise, he eventually nodded. Reborn was pleased. "You need to meet their expectations as the family's boss."
Tsuna's face derailed. "I'm not a boss!"
It's a good start to a new term.
A/N: Because a new school year is the time for even more mayhem. What mess will they have to go through next time, I wonder? Stay tuned!
Translations:
Caso disperato? — (A) Hopeless case?
Cretino — Idiot / Simpleton