Encounters
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There is someone watching, and though Hyacinth is aware that she is catching a lot of attention, this stare is weighted and heavy.
For someone who had survived a war, it is not a nice thing to be watched with such gravity. It usually preceded something bad happening. In her experience, anyway.
Luckily, Reborn had even more enhanced senses than her.
"Mukuro," Reborn calls out after he deliberately puts down his glass of champagne. "You creepy brat. Stop lurking around."
There is a coalescing of purple beside Hyacinth and suddenly, a man is there with a distinctly spiky hair arranged in a strange way. How odd. For some reason, it reminds Hyacinth of pineapples.
"Kufufufu," he laughs in greeting. "As sharp as ever, Arcobaleno."
Reborn's dark eyes somehow sharpens and between one blink and another, Hyacinth finds herself in Reborn's arms. How that happened, she had no idea.
Mukuro, the young man, pouts. There really is no other word for it.
"Ah! And I wanted to meet your lover. But there is a distinctly…different feel around her," Mukuro says. "I wonder what that is."
Reborn actually rolls his eyes. "And that makes you sound even more creepy. I will have to scold Tsunayoshi. He is becoming such an enabler."
Here, the Mukuro's mismatched eyes narrow. "Oya, no need to involve the little Vongola."
But Hyacinth has had enough. Efficiently, she wriggles free of Reborn's hands and then goes closer, making the conversation fall silent.
"I can't believe it," she mutters and it is heard by both men clearly. She peers at Mukuro's eyes and looks disbelieving. "I can't believe it. Reborn, there seems to be something written in his eye."
There is a beat of silence and Reborn snorts.
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There is an eleven year old at the party.
Hyacinth doesn't really notice him at first, but this is her manner of enjoying parties.
She goes around, flitting like a social butterfly, hanging on the fringes of conversing groups to admire the cut of their clothes. Occasionally, she sighs over their badly done hair or mismatched color coordination. If she comes with a date, then she would dance the night away until she can't feel her feet.
But Reborn is busy being intimidating. Something about being a hitman, he said. So she goes back to her old standby and watches.
That is when she spots the eleven year old.
He is hanging by the food area, stuffing his face in and wearing a suit.
Hyacinth coos.
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"You are so cute," Hyacinth says to the boy.
Bright green eyes, almost as green as hers, blink up at her. His cheeks are bulging with food and his hair is a controlled, puffy mess. Hyacinth has to curb her impulse to pat his hair and see if it is as soft as it looks.
He swallows the food with difficulty, eyes streaming. Hyacinth hands him a napkin and he accepts it. "Thank you," he says as he pats himself clean.
She blinks. Nothing quite tests a person's English than those two words and he had absolutely no accent despite the foreign cast to his face.
"What's your name?" she asks instead.
"Lambo. Bovino Lambo," he answers, still in un-accented English. "Are you here with someone?"
Hyacinth smiles. Ah, what manners!
"I'm here with Reborn," she says, completely missing the way his face twitched with annoyance. "He's a bit busy now, so I'm people-watching."
He cocks his head to the side. "People-watching?"
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Lambo is an absolute gem.
He points out pertinent people and make interesting commentary. Hyacinth has to smother her laughter because it would draw attention to their little alcove.
"That there is Creepy-Mukuro. He makes illusions," Lambo pointed.
"I met him," Hyacinth says. "Do you know that his red eye has something written on it? I wonder how that happened."
Lambo gives her a look of wonder. "Yeah. I mean, I never asked how that happened either. Maybe it's the result of doing too much illusions."
Lambo points to another person. "That one is Nii-san," accent comes into his voice then. "He boxes and he glows."
Hyacinth listens and smiles.
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It just so happened that one of the people Lambo points at was Xanxus.
If there is anything that catches Hyacinth's attention, it is feathers and Xanxus had that strung in his hair.
Like one drawn by a string, she goes to Xanxus and notes the minute twitch that the other equally fascinating people do when they see her.
"What is it?" Xanxus asks, voice deep and gravely. He is nursing a glass of wine and that probably attributes to the lack of vehement cursing.
"I love your feathers," she says, eyes not leaving his hair. "What species of bird is that?"
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Reborn looks for his lover and blesses the practically of Mafiosi.
Nobody really wears white in parties. There is too much chance of stains sticking to clothes. But with magic, Hyacinth doesn't really care. And she had wrangled him in white too, but that is worth looking at the shock on other people's faces.
She is easy to spot, being the only other person wearing white in the party.
Then he notes who she is with and stops a particularly vehement curse.
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Reborn arrives, in the fringes of the Varia group, just in time to see Xanxus set aside his glass of wine.
Despite the situation, he can't help but listen in.
"You've got to be shitting me," Xanxus is saying. "That is not true."
Hyacinth is nodding earnestly. "True! Viper can confirm it. There's really a sort of whisky that makes fire come out of your ears. We call it firewhisky but if you drink it too fast, it can burn your stomach lining too."
Reborn's eyebrows go up. Xanxus looks like he's pouting.
"I've been wanting something to actually make me drunk," he says. If it were anybody else, Reborn would have been put in the image of a sad puppy. Given that this is Xanxus, it would probably have to be a lion…or a dragon.
"Ah," there is immense sympathy in Hyacinth's face. "Too high metabolism?"
Reborn needs to interrupt before Xanxus can declare Hyacinth to be his new best friend or something. If both of them put their mind to it, they can probably conquer the world and cover it with wine and flashy, colorful clothes.
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Hyacinth is settled by Reborn into a table filled with the former Arcobaleno.
"Stay here," Reborn says firmly. "Honestly, the things you get into. I can't take my eyes from you for one second."
Hyacinth shamelessly smiles at him. The others simply stare.
There is their hitman, completely wrapped around the finger of one fragile looking woman.
"Everyone, this is Hyacinth," Reborn introduces her. "Hyacinth, this is everyone. Some, you already know."
Mammon, Fon, Colonnello and Lal raise a hand in greeting. A smiling, thirteen year old Yuni with a really shocked Skull and Verde blink at her.
"Hello!" she says in greeting. "I love your diversity. Are all of your hair colors natural?"
Verde splutters and, being seated right beside him, she leans close and peers at the roots of his hair.
"Woman," he says. "Have some restraint."
Reborn's eyes gleam but while everyone else glances at him uneasily, Hyacinth pats Verde's nose sternly, a look of steel in her usually gentle eyes.
"Don't be so mean," she scolds. "If you keep talking like that, you'll never be able to keep a lover."
It breaks the ice as everyone laughs. Reborn squeezes her fingers approvingly.
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Hello?
So, I'm not making Hyacinth air-headed here. She's just so used to feeling danger so she doesn't quite cower in the face of killing intent aimed at her.
And really, when you've faced down an army of Death Eater's, a bad tempered Xanxus nursing a cup of wine is not so impressive.
And Lambo is not quite a brat because he finds her cute.
Really though, why doesn't anybody comment on the kanji in Mukuro's eye? It's rather eye catching. (Pfft! Bad pun)
Who did I miss? Chrome-chan! I'm so sorry!
R & R.
~Hallen