Chapter 25: Knock Out

"Being both soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered."

-Yasmin Mogahed

"Honestly, Dino," I said, walking in with three boxes balancing on each other in my arms, "this is a huge gift. Huge," I admitted, putting the boxes down, and sending him a dazzling smile, "but appreciated."

"You really didn't have to, Dino," Chrome agreed, walking out of her new room. Dino laughed, turning from where he had been putting essentials in the cabinets of the kitchen.

"Hey, if I'm going to leave my little sister in Japan, I'm going to make sure she has a good place to live," he said, smiling casually, and then stepping off and down into the living area.

I would admit, Dino could pick them. Although not large, the apartment seemed spacious, given its openness. Its windows helped, giving it enough light without the need of any electricity. The main was a large open room, to the right and elevated two steps, was the kitchen with one round table and a counter that bordered the wall, with a stove, fridge, and a sink placed under a window. The rest of the room we kept spacious, only putting a TV in the far left corner, and an L-shaped couch facing it with a coffee table. To the far right of the room (my favorite addition) was a pleasant, built in window seat, nestled in between two book shelves. Our rooms themselves were found by turning into the small hallway on the right side of the room. On the right was mine, and the left was Chromes, with the bathroom between them. This was decided simply because the right room had a window leading to the small balcony and fire escape, where I could slip in and out if I wanted (which, we both knew without needing to discuss it, I was much more likely to do than Chrome).

Currently, we were moving in with the help of Dino and his men. Finding furniture was rather simple when you had so many people under your command, and so the apartment was now slowly looking more homey with the helpful presence of second hand furniture, pretty curtains (which Chrome picked out) and withered, but endearing, large rugs placed around the room.

"I still can't believe the price you got for this," I continued, walking in with four boxes stacked this time, balancing their weight easily. Dino offered his arms, and I relented this weight to him; an act in which he immediately regretted. He groaned, and then quickly put the load down.

"I always forgot how strong you are..." he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck before picking up just two of the boxes, "but part of the reason the price is lower, is thanks to Kyoya." This, I perked up at. Even Chrome paused in putting up the curtains in the kitchen.

"Didn't I tell you?" Dino asked, raising his eyebrows, "Kyoya helped find this place after I asked him about good places in town. I think he knows the landlady?" Dino explained, cocking his head a bit, and then shaking it, "but that's why I found it so quickly." I hummed, intrigued.

"I guess that's why it's in walking distance of the school…" I trailed off and then wondered out loud, "I wonder how he knows the landlady?"

"She's such a sweet old woman," Chrome muttered, thinking back to when we had first met her. I nodded in agreement, recalling how she had let us into her own apartment, which coincidentally, was next to ours. It was nice having an apartment on the side of the building and at the end, I thought to myself. Gave us a better vantage point, the tactful side of my brain added.

"I'll get the next payment too," Dino said, but stopped when I waved him off.

"Nah, Bro," I assured him, "It's fine. I got it. I can get all the monthly payments. Sometimes you're just too generous, Dino." He laughed, but dropped his expression when I gave him a more serious look.

"But you don't have any money of your own…" He trailed off uncertainly. I opened my mouth, ready to retort, but promptly closed it.

Shit.

I had forgotten that Dino didn't exactly know the…. circumstances in which I acquired my…. small fortune. Ivan and Bono, who had been putting books on the shelves, paused momentarily, stiffening. Chrome looked between us uncertainly, not knowing what to do.

"Nikita," Dino said, accusation heavy in his tone. "How do you have money?"

"Well," I started, hand going to the back of my head, brushing briefly against my new shaved side (which I was still getting used to), "you see, Dino… you know, when I was little, and the guys discovered that I was good at cards?" He blinked, thinking, gears turning in his head.

"Let's say," I continued, my other hand twirling in the air, rotating as I pivoted, moving back on the balls of my feet, "that I found a way to exploit that, over the years." Suddenly, Dino saw the light.

"You got money through gambling, Nikita?!" He accused.

"It wasn't gambling, as much as it was winning bets," I tried, but then dropped my awkward smile, seeing his almost disappointed face, "Well excuse me, mister mafia boss," I snapped, stopping my movements completely, and then crossing my arms, "if I used somewhat illegal means to acquire my fortune."

"Fortune?" He spluttered. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Small fortune. But most of that was off of the interest I put on the guys who didn't pay up." Bono grumbled, once again putting books on shelves.

"Those awful, awful interest rates…"

"Hey," I snapped at him, "who still owes me about whether or not Brutus and Michael would ever get together?" Bono stiffened, turning to me with a stricken look on his face.

"You found out about that? But you were in Russia when it happened!"

"I find out about everything," I clarified, "whether I'm in Italy or not."

"Honestly," Ivan sighed, "by this point, we should really know this."

"Damn straight," I confirmed with a curt nod. Dino opened his mouth, as if he were going to reprimand me more, but then closed it, slumping forward.

"I'm not even surprised anymore," he admitted dejectedly. Chrome frowned, and patted his back reassuringly as she walked by, going to her room once more.

"But, really Dino," I moved on, "you really shouldn't pay for everything. You already got this apartment," I said, moving towards him as he straightened with a sigh, "We're big girls," I gestured with my head to Chrome, "I think we can handle ourselves."

Momentarily, I noticed almost a guilty look on Chrome's face. But it was gone almost immediately. I made a mental note to talk to her later. Getting to know her, I was beginning to realize just why she was a mist; the girl was good at hiding her emotions. But I had a knack for seeing through illusions.

"You certainly proved that in the battles," Dino said with a small smile.

"And you proved that you don't freak out about me fighting anymore," I shot back with a grin. He shrugged.

"Looks like we've both grown."

"I'm a bit surprised though," I admitted, moving and then jumping to sit up on the kitchen table as Ivan and Bono exited carrying empty boxes back out, "that you actually let me stay here." He shrugged again and grabbed a chair, swinging it around and sitting, straddling it.

"This is a lot safer place than, let's say, with an elite assassination group in Russia," he jabbed giving me a sharp look before softening, "and you actually asked me to stay, which is nice." I gave him a guilty smile.

"Still sorry about that, Bro."

"Yeah," He sighed, "I know. And, I don't mind you being with your friends. I mean, this is the safest place to be, with that group. You going to be okay, not being near the Varia?" He teased lightly.

"Oh, don't worry," I said with a hum, "Bel has already voiced his plans about dropping by whenever he can. Which, knowing him, will be at the most random, inconvenient times." Dino slumped a bit.

"Should I concerned?"

"You already know there's nothing you can do to stop him, right?" I reminded him playfully. Dino scrunched his nose.

"I don't exactly like the idea of a sixteen year old boy just popping in and out of my fourteen year old sister's apartment," Dino told me. I waved him off.

"It'll be fine," I told him, "It's just Bel."

"I know," He said, struggling with his words, as if he were almost embarrassed to bring this up, "that you've known him for a while, but he's a teenage boy, you're a teenage girl, and, you know, things are bo-"

"Oh my God," I jumped off the table and put my hands over my ears, "I am not hearing this from you."

"I don't exactly want to talk about this either, Nikita," Dino said, rising to follow me, "but you're surrounded by a lot of guys with hormones-"

"Oh, trust me, Dino," I said absentmindedly, thinking of a recent revelation I had, a small blush creeping to my cheeks, "it's not just the guys you have to worry about."

"-which proves my point further, Nikita!" Dino called, increasing his pace to where he slid in front of me, miraculously not falling over (although, it probably was because Romario, Ivan, and Bono were outside the apartment, snickering about the conversation we were having). "You need to know about certain, things-"

"For fuck's sake," I cried, taking my hands from my ears, "I'm a medic! I know about all this shit, probably more than you!" Dino frowned at my language, but had grown far past the point of calling me out on it (I knew he blamed Squalo for this entirely).

"I am not having the sex talk with you!" I clarified, and then I added with a small shudder, recalling, "We already went through this once with Lussuria." He opened his mouth once more, but stopped, looking behind me. I turned too, seeing Chrome, face flushed and standing in the middle of the room awkwardly. My eye twitched, and I turned back to Dino.

"See what you did," I gestured at my roommate, "you made her uncomfortable. Fuck, you made me uncomfortable."

"I'm uncomfortable too, Nikita!" he pointed out, "You think I really want to talk about this with you?" I grabbed his shoulders, turning him around, and pushed him out the door.

"Well, seeing that we're all uncomfortable here," I said as I did this, Dino not putting up much of a fight, "you can take that as your cue to leave and never have this conversation with me again." I stood with my hand on the door, knowing that he would soon return with more of my things from Italy in a few days, and therefore did not feel guilty about kicking him out (and also knowing that he would call me later tonight).

"Thanks for the apartment, and helping us move our crap in guys," I told them cheerfully, and then dropped my expression, "but never try to talk to me about sex again. Ciao!"

And I shut the door on them.

I knocked softly at Chrome's door, and entered, pushing it open with my elbow and sending a smile her way. She muttered thanks as I handed her the mug. I then took my own spot across from her, crossing my legs on the bed and holding my own mug. I looked at her expectedly. She shifted slightly, glancing up from her text book.

"Okay," I stated, "what's up?"

"…." She blinked, then glanced away. "What do you mean?"

"Bull," I said, "shit. Something's bothering you. Tell me," I added, softer, "please." She sighed, pushing her text book aside, and then taking along sip of her tea.

"I feel… like you're doing too much for me, Nikita," She admitted with a frown, "both you and Dino are so kind, but I haven't done anything in return…" She trailed off uncertainly. I blinked, and thought back, marveling at how far she had come, how she had grown. Haru and Kyoko were definitely to thank, for getting Chrome to open up, which opened the flood gate to our friendship after she had come to stay with us, but… she had found herself, during the battles. All on her own. And it was beautiful.

She took a breath.

"I'm going to start looking for a job," She told me, "to start paying for things, to start pulling my own weight."

"Well," I said, tilting my head and smiling softly again, "then we can start looking together. I was thinking of looking for one too, actually." Her eyes widened slightly.

"But I thought you had money?" I waved her off, pausing to take another drink.

"Yeah, but I'd rather have that as a backup, you know? That's what I used it for anyway," I said, recalling the few times I actually resorted to my personal account (mostly when my little outings with Bel went a little off track, as they usually did, or to bribe the guys into keeping something from Dino).

"We can start asking around tomorrow," I suggested, "and maybe I'll ask Kyoya. Or at least Tetsu. They're well informed about everything here." A light blush spread across her cheeks.

"Thanks, Nikita," she muttered, looking down in her lap. I shrugged, then held out my fist. She blinked, and then a small smile tugged at her lips.

"What are friends for?" I asked with a small roll of my shoulders.

And she lightly bumped my fist with hers.

"So," Mukuro breathed out, lying beside me, both of us looking up at the canopy, "it's thanks to Hannah that you're still alive."

"And you," I admitted with a frown. "If her… presence were still here, then her 'life' wouldn't have transferred to me. Meaning…"

"I see," He stated. I rolled to my side to look at him, eyes slightly narrowed. He glanced over at me, then raised an eyebrow.

"You're not smug," I accused. His expression fell, as if he were offended.

"Despite what you think, Little Cavallone," he said, "I'm not always, how would you put it? An asshole?"

"Uh-huh," I said, causing a minimal eye twitch. "At least I got to beat the shit out of you. Honestly, that was better for me than talking it out for a while."

"Glad to help," he said dryly. I shrugged, my one free shoulder moving slightly.

"I was angry."

"Clearly."

"But, it worked," I sighed out, closing my eyes momentarily, "I… I'm not angry anymore. Promise," I added after receiving a wary look from Mukuro. "I may not forgive you for doing it, and I still miss her but… in the end, it saved me. In the end," I said, thinking of Dino, Bel, Squalo, my loved ones, "I didn't die. And it's partly, because of you."

"And I've become aware of how much of a spit fire you can be in battle," he relinquished, pushing himself up and then leaning back comfortable on his arms.

"And out of it," I reminded him, rolling on my back again.

"But I suppose it was worth it, hearing you say that," He hummed with a wiry smirk.

"There it is," I accused, pushing myself and crossing my legs, "there's the asshole."

"The one that you know and love," he narrated, almost dramatically, "the one you missed dearly."

"Yikes," I seethed, looking away with almost a wince, "strong words. And inaccurate." He smirked, and made a small 'hmph' sound.

"Are your injuries healed?" I asked, looking over at him with a more serious expression. There was a slight look of surprise before he pushed it back.

"How sweet. But shouldn't you be concerned with yourself?" I waved him off.

"Trust me. Chrome has got that covered, even though I'm pretty much completely healed…" I trailed off, glancing over at my new scar on my shoulder, appearing even in my mind.

"And she's doing well?" He asked, now more serious himself.

"Actually," I said, perking up a bit, "we're about to go look at our new apartment." His eyebrows rose slightly.

"Apartment?" I nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, Dino and the guys are helping us move in during the next few days," I told him, "and you guys can come by anytime. Ken, Chikusa, M.M, and Fran, of course," I said, laughing a bit, seeing his expression drop immediately after saying the kid's name. "How is he, anyway? And how was your 'talk' with Dayita."

"For one so…" He struggled with the word, as if it hurt him to say, "talented, my new pupil is incredibly…"

"Annoying?" I supplied, nearly grinning.

"Oh, it's far beyond that, I assure you," he said with a wicked, almost evil and extremely forced smile.

"I'm so proud," I mocked, putting a hand on my chest. Mukuro rolled his eyes.

"Of course you would be proud of your little hell spawn," He muttered.

"But seriously," I said, leaning to push him on his shoulder, "you guys should come by sometime. We would love to have you." He blinked, and hesitated. I could clearly see thoughts running behind his mind. Memories. Hopefully happy. He then smirked, and that smirk almost morphed into a smile.

"I think we'll take you up on that offer."

I yawned, throwing my arms up and folding them behind my head.

"You shouldn't have stayed up reading so late," Chrome muttered, frowning and looking over at me with a worried, and yet still disappointed look. I huffed and then shrugged.

"I haven't been able to read in a while, okay?" I said, "You know, we've all been a bit busy lately with fighting for or lives and what not." She hummed lightly in agreement.

"And," I admitted, brightening a bit, when I saw Takeshi walking with Tsuna, Gokudera, and Enma, "I wasn't just reading."

Takeshi smiled and waved over at us, looking just as tired as me. I felt a little pang of guilt, knowing that I was the reason for this, seeing that we had stayed up on the phone the previous night, but at the same time, was glad that he was suffering right along with me. None the less, we high-fived as soon as we were in distance of each other.

"Yo!" He greeted, nodding at Chrome as well. Tsuna smiled, looking a bit tired as well, but still muttered his good mornings, while Gokudera simple nodded in our directions, and Enma mumbled and looked away. I smiled nodded back and said my own greeting.

"Reborn start up his tutoring again?" I guessed, looking over at Tsuna with a bit of pity.

"Apparently," he sighed, slumping a bit, "along with the title change, comes a slight curriculum change." Enma gave his friend a pitying look and a reassuring pat on the back. I hummed, then ruffled Tsuna's hair, causing him to straighten immediately and bat my hands away.

"People are looking!" He hissed at me, leaning away and slightly red from embarrassment.

"Don't embarrass the boss!" Gokudera reprimanded, his scowl deepening when I laughed lightly, waving him off. Takeshi laughed as well, slinging an arm around me, and Chrome smiled as well, along with Enma, who seemed endeared by my interaction with Tsuna. I wondered briefly how close he was with his family, and if they acted this way as well. With as protective as Adel seemed to be, it was likely. Gokudera clicked his tongue and crossed his arms, but I could tell he was affected by the warm atmosphere as well.

"You're still the same Tsuna to me," I told my brother, looping arms with him as we continued to walk, "title change or not." He sighed, but I still caught the brief glimpse of his smile. he stiffened however, and turned, hearing a distant yell. I blinked, seeing a vaguely familiar figure running towards us, yelling a greeting.

He stalled, running in place as he faced us. Tsuna paled slightly, seeing this, and also noticing, with the rest of the group, that he was only wearing running shorts, and no shirt.

"B-big brother…" Tsuna muttered, looking rather stricken while looking up at Ryohei, "….why?"

"I realized that I had been slacking on my morning routine ever since the battles started!" Ryohei explained, looking rather energized despite sweating so much, "and so I added more time to my morning run!"

I blinked, looking Tsuna's sun guardian over. I would admit, Ryohei and I had never interacted much, besides the brief conversation we had about both being students of Colonnello. It was a simple matter of not crossing paths often. Although, his words piped my interest.

"Morning runs, huh?" I said, causing his eyes to shift to me.

"You're Colonnello's other student! Nikita, right?" He said excitably, "We should totally fight sometime, to the extreme!" He added with a fist pump.

"You can't just fight her, big brother!" Tsuna reprimanded. Ryohei seemed confused.

"Why not? We're both his students, so we should test our strength! Right?" He turned to me again, grinning. I blinked, and opened my mouth but paused, looking over at my side. I stiffened, seeing Chrome's pout, her eyes going to the few bandages still around my neck. I shuddered, and silently cursed her adorable kitten eyes (eye?) in my head.

"Actually," I rephrased carefully, "I'm more interested in your morning runs. I've actually been thinking about starting running again myself, and was going to ask around for a partner."

He froze, and then grinned widely.

"Really!"

"Really?!" Tsuna parroted, staring at me. Gokudera even raised an eyebrow. Tsuna paled, and tugged at my arm, pulling me to the slightly to the side.

"I'm saying this because I care-"

"Aw, how sweet of you, Tuna." His expression deadpanned, and he gave me a tired, done-with-life look.

"Don't. Seriously. You will," he emphasized in a not-so-quiet whisper, "die from running with big brother."

"He has a point, Cloud," Takeshi admitted, leaning in on the conversation, "Senpai can be a bit…."

"Extreme?" I tried.

"Extreme!" Ryohei agreed, perking up and pumping his fist. I shrugged, giving the trio a confident smile.

"I can handle it," I told them, sending a wink at Gokudera, "after all, I've experience some pretty rigorous training before." He nearly shivered, recalling how I had trained him.

"I almost," he admitted, now nearly glaring at me, "forgot about that. Almost." He then rolled his eyes, and said, "I almost feel sorry for turf-top now." I hummed triumphantly, and turned back to Ryohei.

"So is that a yes?" He asked excitably.

"Yep," I replied, "you can get my number from one of the stooges - "Tsuna and Gokudera made disgruntled sounds while Takeshi laughed – " and text me a time and place to meet up at in the morning."

There was a sudden malicious aura that could be pinpointed to a particular window of the school. The boys, minus Ryohei, shuddered.

"And that's Kyoya," I hummed, looking up at the window briefly, then back at Ryohei, "I was wondering when he'd notice that you're way out of dress code." I shrugged, letting go of Tsuna, then looping arms with Chrome, moving away from the group, "See you guys! We're going ahead before Kyoya descends upon you." Again, there was a repressed shiver. Tsuna even squeaked.

Ryohei, meanwhile, the danger he was in having somehow evaded him, let out a triumphant laugh again, while Tsuna sighed, slumping a bit. He then turned to Gokudera, question in his eyes as they quickly moved away from the boxer and into the school.

"Just how bad was her training, Gokudera?" Said right hand man shook his head, his expression serious. Enma perked up a bit, having been content with being an observer, but was now interested; he didn't know that Cloud had training Gokudera. In fact, he realized suddenly, there was a lot he didn't know about his crush. This caused him to frown, and slump a bit. Gokudera however sighed, and shook his head solemnly, remembering the constant traps, knives, fire and explosives he had to hike through so long ago.

"You don't want to know, Tenth. You do not want to know."

I stared back, almost defiantly, as Adel continued to do the same. Kyoya, meanwhile, seemed almost amused by this. However, I wasn't that surprised he was amused, considering he had been in a pleasant mood since fighting with Ryohei this morning, having gotten most of his usual viciousness out of his system (well, I'll give him an hour or so for it to build back up). My eye twitched, and finally, I spoke.

"What."

"Your hair is out of dress code," Adel stated simply, finally walking forward with the papers in her hands, and putting them on the desk. My eyes narrowed.

"Really," I stated dryly. "You're saying that to me when Shitt P. is somewhere running around the school." Her look hardened and she turned, stepping forward, her hand going dangerous close to the edge of her skirt.

"If you're insulting-"

"Insulting?" I said, raising my eyebrows and then shaking my head, "Not at all. I've actually got mad respect for her," I admitted with a casual roll of my shoulders, "and plus, she looks great. I respect confidence," I said truthfully. "But," I added, using the precious time I had stalled her with shock, "you trying to get onto me about my hair is hypocritical."

Kyoya barely blew air out of his nose, giving me a look.

"What?" I said, looking over a him, "It's not like I'm that hypocritical." His looked hardened.

"God, fine, whatever," I said, rolling my eyes and shifting my head, "fine, I'm hypocrite too, but" I emphasized, "my point still stands." Adel barely opened her mouth to retaliate, but then scrunched her nose beautifully, and turned on her heel. I watched her stalk out of the room and sighed.

"I still don't know why she hates me…"" I mumbled. Kyoya hummed, and continued his paper work, eventually, holding some out for me to file.

"It's because you're annoying," he said simply, not even bothering to look up. This time, I was the one to softly blow air out of my nose.

I was serenely glad that he didn't seem to hold any grudges against me from the battle, and I had a sneaking suspicion that Dino had talked (or annoyed) him about the subject. But now we had fallen into a casual pattern.

"Okay," I shrugged, taking the papers from him, "I guess I'll have to agree with you on that."

"I do admit," Mukuro said from the window seat, where he was seated with an easy smirk, "this is a rather cozy set up you have."

"What the hell took you two so long?!" Ken said, turning to look at us from the couch.

"Ken, be nice," Chikusa reprimanded from the other side, "we're in their new home, after all." Chrome smiled and moved forward quickly after taking off her shoes.

"I'm glad you guys are here," she said kindly.

"How nice of you to let yourselves in," I hummed, giving Mukuro a side glance.

"Oh please," M.M. stated, turning her nose up as she inspected the furniture of the kitchen, "like we don't know how to pick a simple lock."

"Say that again when I get my stuff in from Italy tomorrow," I told her with a sly wink. She hummed with vague interest, and then moved on to inspect the curtains.

"A little shabby," she muttered.

"Really?" Mukuro drawled as Chrome and I put the grocery bags down on the kitchen table, "I found it to be quite endearing. Quite fitting for our dear Nagi." M.M. nearly bristled at this, which Chrome blushed and began busying herself with putting things away. I barely frowned, ntocing this uneasily before moving on.

"Speaking of endearing," I began. Mukuro's expression dropped, knowing exactly where I was going.

"What a strange adjective to use," he muttered, almost through his teeth with an almost pained expression. I hummed, amused, then continued.

"Where's Fran? I know I sensed him too." Ken grumbled and rolled his eyes, while M.M. sniffed and turned away. Chikusa blandly raised his hand and pointed next to him. Ken huffed and jerked his leg, causing something to groan loudly. A familiar and small head of green hair slowly popped up. Fran yawned, then brushed the hair out of his eyes. They widened slightly when they spotted me.

Wordlessly, he rose and walked over to me. He then opened his arms and wrapped then around my legs.

"I'm never letting go," he told me blandly. I smiled softly down at him, putting my hand on his head.

"You poor thing," I tutted, "Is he that bad?"

"I don't know which one is worse," Fran muttered into my leg, "Shikshikaa or Master." Mukuro's eyes barely twitched before walking over, his trident materializing.

"And I was under the impression that the student was meant to respect their teacher," Mukuro muttered, rotating his trident menacing, despite keeping a casual, yet strained smile.

"Who could respect someone with hair like that?"

I quickly shifted Fran behind me before Mukuro could stab him.

"Okay," I said, drawing the word out, "let's not kill anyone in our new apartment. Please?"

"I assure you, Little Cavallone," Mukuro purred, a murderous glint still in his eye, "that we won't have a problem as long as the little one keeps his mouth shut."

There was a pause, as we all looked at Fran for a response. He blinked, looking around and seeing the attention entirely on him, before looking up at me almost sheepishly.

"Sorry, Big Sis," He muttered. "We're going to have a problem." I sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of my nose.

This was going to be an eventful visit.

I stared at the screen of my phone, texting my brother with one hand. My other was resting on Fran, who was leaning into me, fast asleep. Fran had wanted to spend the night (and Mukuro insisted on the idea), and so we had spent the afternoon watching movies with Chrome. At some point, he had fallen asleep, wrapped in the blanket from my room ("Big Sis, you're way too muscular to make a good pillow"), and Chrome had retired to her room for the night.

Currently, I was texting Dino, who had informed me that they would be arriving with some of my things from Italy the next day. Or today? I had realized that is was past midnight. I sighed, and looked down at Fran, brushing some hair out of his face.

I blinked, recalling something he had mentioned tiredly before falling asleep.

While Mukuro had been training Fran during the day, Dayita was training him in his dreams. They had established this connection while in India. Switching Fran over to Mukuro actually worked out, since Dayita had been becoming busier with running more errands for her mother and her company (one of those errands, she had missed in order to fight in the last battle with me, where she had gotten severely injured). Dayita had left saying that she would pull on the debt I owed her.

And according to Fran, she wanted me to contact her to talk about it.

Great.

Although I felt guilty (don't I always feel guilty about something?), I was nowhere near eager to pay Dayita back. I would admit, I was quite apprehensive about what she would want me to do. If I was lucky, it would just be a simple date, which I could definitely handle. But Dayita had specifically said that I owed her family. Which made me a bit nervous.

But I would have to do this eventually. And I might as well do it now before I was even more riled with guilt (because dammit, she had to get a new fucking heart because of me).

And so I sent her a quick text and waited.

"Wow! I'm pumped to the extreme!"

I laughed lightly, titling my head, amused by his actions as he whooped and fist pumped into the air.

"I've found someone that could keep up with me on my entire run!" Ryohei said excitedly, now running backwards and facing me as we neared our apartment again, finishing up our run.

"Honestly, this was way lax compared to some of the things I've done," I told him, thinking back to my 'morning runs' when I was training with Zhanna and Inna.

"Really!?" Ryohei seemed to grow more excited at the prospect of a more 'extreme' run, "we should step it up then! To the extreme!" He cried out, stopping in front of the steps. I laughed again and then hummed.

"It's whatever you want to do," I said with a shrug, then stretched my arms upward, "I'm fine with anything really." The run had been pleasant, despite my running partner being overly excited. But it was endearing really, and it was fun to talk to Ryohei as well. He blinked and stopped, causing me to focus back on him, almost concerned.

"You okay…?" I trailed off uncertainly, seeing the blank look on his face.

"You should join the boxing club!" he said suddenly.

"I'm pretty sure that would conflict with the disciplinary…" I supplied quickly, thinking back to Tsuna and Takeshi warning me about this. I suddenly regretted saying the first excuse that I had come to my mind.

"Nonsense!" He dismissed, "I'll talk to Kyoya!" My expression dead panned.

"Yeah. You do that."

"I will!" And then he sprinted off, leaving me to stare after him. I blinked and then sighed, slumping a bit and muttering.

"This will come back to bite me in the ass later, won't it?"

I nearly turned around and walked right back out of the reception room later that morning.

"Kumo."

I stiffened at the sharp command. He was glaring at me with crossed arms when I came into the room.

"Why," he began slowly, eyes narrowing dangerously, "was Sasagawa Ryohei outside of my house this morning demanding that I allow you to join his boxing club?" My forced smile fell.

"Holy shit, he went to your house?" His expression hardened. Tetsu sighed, standing, having finished making coffee from across the room.

"Unfortunately, he was already aware of where the president's house was due to prior incidents," Tetsu explained, putting emphasis and almost wincing on the last word. I blinked, taking this information in, and then promptly decided to answer Kyoya, who seemed ready to attack at any moment.

"I maybe," I started, shifting a bit, "kind of, used my position in the disciplinary committee as an excuse not to join the boxing club." Kyoya's nose barely scrunched.

"That's not going to work."

"Yeah," I admitted, my hand going to scratch the back of my head, "it was never really meant as a permanent solution." Kyoya made a small 'hmph' and barely inclined his chin.

"Good. Because I fixed your problem." I blinked, my expression falling.

"You did?" He nodded once, and then proceeded to walk out the door.

"You're fighting Sasagawa Ryohei this afternoon," he stated simply before exiting completely. My head turned, watching him in disbelief as he left.

"I am?" I said, then realized, "You're just using me because you don't want to deal with him. Kyoya! Kyoya!" I said, now a bit pissed and followed after the prefect.

Tetsu stood alone in the room, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes closed.

"What I am going to do with those two…."

Kyoya looked extremely smug, leaning against the wall of the boxing club's training area. I huffed, still pissed, even hours later.

"This is totally pay back for the battles," I muttered. I leaned back on the ropes, watching Ryohei bounce and punch the air in front of him. I carefully examined his foot work and stance. I was impressed, I would admit, by his build. His determination was on equal footing as well, which was admirable.

However, despite this, I already had confidence in myself that I would win. One, Ryohei had never really seen me fight, giving me the element of surprise. Second, I could already tell that I was much more flexible than the boxer, which would give me a huge advantage. Faster too, I would bet.

However, I would have to watch out for his weight, and definitely could not risk getting hit even once. I was aware of the power of his punches, and knew I would be relying heavily on my ability to dodge.

I threw my arms up, stretching them out. I sent a wink at Chrome while doing so, who blushed slightly and looked away. She had picked up Fran from the apartment (according to her, he was still asleep on the couch, and hadn't even woken up to find the note and the cereal we had left for him), and had brought me clothes as well.

Although she gave me a somewhat stern and disappointed look, once I told her the situation, she let off me fighting with my small (almost healed!) neck injury. Considering that this was sprung on me this morning (I sent a look over at Kyoya, who simply yawned), I was unprepared clothes-wise. But I was now comfortably clothed in a sports bra and athletic shorts.

"I'm ready to the extreme!" Ryohei yelled, bouncing again and facing me, punching the air. I stretched once more before shifting in a loose stance, prepared.

"Let's g-"

He was cut off suddenly as the doors were kicked open, and a disgruntled Tsuna fell through. There was a moment, and then he groaned loudly.

"Did you have to kick me through the door, Reborn?" he complained pushing himself up and looked back as Takeshi and Gokudera came in, the bomber going immediately to help his boss while Takeshi looked around, and brightened, seeing us. He waved, grinning. I felt a small spike of irritation from Kyoya, clearly not liking that we had more spectators than expected.

"Entrances are important, Tsuna," Reborn chirped, dragging Enma behind him by the boy's hood. "You should know this by now." The red head looked resigned with his fate, having a rather blank facial expression, and not even bothering to get up when Reborn stopped dragging him. He only moved when Tsuna looked back and asked if he was okay.

"Why did you even bring Enma, Reborn?" Tsuna asked, "He shouldn't have to be dragged into whatever it is you're scheming!"

"It's fine, Tsuna," Enma sighed, pushing himself up, not even bothering to brush himself off, "I'm used to these kinds of things." Tsuna slumped.

"We both are…" he said dejectedly, "and that's the saddest part."

"I thought that he would be interested in seeing Nikita's fight with Ryohei," Reborn explained. The two perked up at this, and their heads whipped to the ring. I held up a hand, giving them a small salute.

"Yo." Tsuna's eyes widened, his eyes going to my bare stomach. Enma suddenly turned a deep shade of scarlet, and momentarily I thought he was going to pass out. Takeshi seemed to think so as well, and stepped closer to the redhead just in case.

"You have abs!" Tsuna shrieked, pink dusting his cheeks as well. I blinked.

"Yeah," I said, patting my stomach a bit, "that's kind of what happens when most of your moves come from the core." Tsuna and Enma just blinked, Tsuna simply blubbering, opening and closing his mouth. Takeshi laughed, looking over at his friend.

"You didn't know that Cloud was athletic, Tsuna?" He asked curiously.

"You did?!"

"Well, Tenth," Gokudera said, scratching the back of his head lightly and tilting it, "with how she fights, she kind of has to be."

"You knew too?!"

"I knew when she trained me," Gokudera said simply. Fran tugged on Chrome's shirt lightly to get her attention.

"Hey," he stage-whispered, "I think they're both going to die from all the blood rushing to their heads. And by their 'heads' I mean their-"

There was a loud, distinct sound of a whistle (thankfully) cutting Fran off. We looked over, seeing Reborn standing on one of the posts, in a full referee get up. A cold feeling settled over me.

"Reborn," I said carefully, "what are you doing?"

"Refereeing, of course," he chirped. "This is an official match, after all, and someone has too."

"An official match?" I questioned, "Oh fuck no, you're not getting-"

"Here," He threw a pair of boxing gloves at me, "you'll need these." I caught them swiftly, looking down at them with a frown.

"Reborn-"

"You'll need to follow the official rules of boxing, Cloud," He interrupted, causing me to scrunch my nose at him, "unless," he added a bit menacingly, "you want to join the boxing club."

"You'd be a great addition!" Ryohei said with a grin. I frowned, and then looked over at Reborn. I sighed, slumping forward.

"Fine."

"You're giving up that easily?" Tsuna asked, confused.

"You know just as well as me, Tsuna," I said while putting on the gloves, "that there is absolutely no stopping him once he's set his mind to it. Plus," I added with a tilt of my head, "I really don't want to get shot. So, fine. I'll play his little game."

"Yeah!" Ryohei jumped, "A real boxing match!"

"Glad to see you still have your wits," Reborn said with an evil glint in his eye.

"Whatever," I sighed, and frowned, looking down at my gloves. I hated the feel of them, my hands feeling constricted, like they were bandaged. I would have to change my tactics with these.

"Okay," I said, changing my stance to mimic what I had seen Lussuria do before when he boxed. I looked over at Ryohei, narrowing my eyes.

"Bring it, Sunshine," I addressed. His grin widened, and he fell completely into his stance.

"Remember Nikita," Reborn said whistle raised, "you have to go by the rules of boxing." I blinked, losing my determined, focused look.

Shit.

What were the rules of boxing?

My mind flashed, back to my spars with Lussuria, back to any spars I could think of with primarily punching opponents… which just consisted of Zhanna and Lussuria. And even then, there were no rules to it. Even though Lussuria primarily stuck to his signature Muay Thai style, even then he remained flexible, and he used kicks more than anything and was full contact. Zhanna, although primarily punched, had no tact and just relied on strength.

But Ryohei… he was the fucking boxing captain. And by the way he stood and held himself, he had complete mastery and control over a style that I never paid any attention to, much less knew the rules of. After all, I was never the type to pay attention to rules, much less abide by them. Which, I knew would be my downfall in this match.

It was times like these when I remembered how much I truly, truly hated Reborn.

"Reborn, I just want you to know, that although you can't see it, I'm flicking you off under these boxing gloves."

He smirked, simply amused by my comment. And the whistle sounded.

Ryohei went forward immediately and I was forced to rely on foot work (that's a boxing thing, right?) as I bobbed and weaved, dodging all his punches. I heard Fran whistle, impressed, from where they stood watching.

"They're so fast…" Enma muttered, in awe of both the fighters.

"But she's faster," Gokudera said, hand on chin and eyes narrowed, watching the fight intently. Kyoya barely inclined his head from where he was leaning against the wall, away from the group.

"Yeah, but she's going to slip up soon," Takeshi said with a frown, "no matter how much she can dodge, she clearly doesn't know the rules of boxing."

"And Nikita is never good at following rules," Chrome agreed, frowning as well. Fran shrugged.

"Yeah, but that's what makes Big Sis cool," he said, giving a firm nod, set in his opinion.

"But still," Tsuna said, "if she doesn't know the rules, then she's going to mess up…"

It was then that I saw an opening and went for it without thinking, having become incredible frustrated with simply dodging and leading him around the ring. I dodged to the right as Ryohei swung and hooked my arm around his, quickly swinging my entire body into him and taking him down harshly, putting my entire weight and momentum into it. He hit the ground harshly with his jaw first, as I pushed on the back of his head with my elbow, eventually laying on top of him, and pressing down.

Reborn blew the whistle.

"Nikita loses the first round!" My head shot around to look at him.

"The fuck?! I took him down!" I argued, getting up and gesturing to Ryohei, who slowly pushing himself up, wavering a bit, clearing dizzy. Reborn blew the whistle again, irritating me further.

"You can't throw yourself at your opponent in boxing, Nikita," Reborn informed me, whistle still hanging out of his mouth that that each word came with a small tweet.

"You can't even kick!" Takeshi called helpfully.

"But throwing myself at my opponent is, like, 90% of how I fight!" I argued. Tsuna blinked, and paled a bit.

"Oh my God, she's right…"

"I'm small!" I gestured at myself, "I need the momentum!"

"Well then you should look into weight classes, Nikita," he chirped, clearly having fun with the situation.

"We're not even-" I stopped myself, bringing my hand up to pinch to bridge of my nose, only to lightly punch myself in the face, having forgotten I was wearing boxing gloves.

"Motherfucker!" I seethed in Italian, and stomped my foot. By this time, Ryohei seemed to be able to stand again, as he pushed himself up and shook his head wildly, in the manner of a dog drying off. He looked over at me, and I could practically see the fire in his eyes.

"That was extreme!" He yelled out, "Let's go for round two!" I groaned loudly, holding both sides of my face with my gloves.

"I hate you sooo much Reborn," I whined, and then sighed in defeat, straightening again. "Okay, fuck it. I just want to get out of these boxing gloves."

He blew the whistle once more when we were both ready. And we were off again. This time I went on the offensive, and tried simply punching him unconscious. But even with my speed, he was good at bobbing, and even when I knicked him numerous times, I was still preoccupied with his punches, which I couldn't even afford to be knicked with.

"Poor Nikita…" Chrome muttered.

"She's really having a hard time," Enma noticed with another frown.

"Ah," Fran said, "she's getting pissed again."

They winced as I took out Ryohei's feet and went down with him, pinning him onto the ground once again before I could even stop myself. I blinked, then shot up moving to the nearest post to kick it.

Reborn blew the whistle.

"Ryohei wins round 2!"

"God, Fucking, Dammit!" I hissed, kicking with each curse, each in a different language. The group looked at me with pity. Even Kyoya raised an eyebrow. Tsuna sweat-dropped looking from me back to Ryohei.

"Is… is his head okay?"

"She has bashed his head into the floor two times," Gokudera marveled.

"Mah, mah, he'll be fine!" Takeshi assured them, giving them a smile, "that's what the floor of the ring was made for… I think."

"You think?" Tsuna repeated. They looked back at Ryohei, who had yet to rise. Suddenly, he shot up, and they could practically see flames shooting up behind him, his fighting spirit no longer just in his eyes.

"That was even more extreme!" he yelled out, holding up his fist despite his lip being busted and bleeding, "I'm all fired up now!"

"I'll make you a deal, Nikita," Reborn said, calling attention to himself. I looked up from where I had simply slumped in the corner, my anger having turned into utter defeat.

"Sorry," I muttered, glaring, "I've swore off making deals with the devil."

"Oh, but you'll like this deal," Reborn said with a smirk. "This is the last round, so I'll take pity on you. If you can knock Ryohei out, using any way you want and without any rules holding you back, then you'll win the entire match."

"…. so that means I can take off the gloves?" I asked.

"Yes, you can take off t-"

"Deal," I said, ripping the gloves off immediately and standing. I side eyed Kyoya, considered chucking the gloves at him (considering this was all his fault), but then quickly decided that I valued my life. Instead, I tossed them to Takeshi, who easily caught them. I wiggled my fingers and sighed.

"Much," I quipped, "much better." Ryohei laughed robustly.

"I like your spirit!"

"Thanks," I allowed, now suddenly in a much better mood now that nothing could hold me back, "you're pretty fun yourself." He nearly beamed at this, and we once again readied ourselves.

"Remember Nikita," Reborn said mouth close to the whistle, "I want you to go all out. Don't hold back." I raised an eyebrow, suspicious why he was telling me this. I shrugged it off, and went forward immediately after the whistle sounded.

One throw, I decided, and it was pretty easy, considering I was already pissed.

I ducked under his arm once again and grabbed it, willing my flames to pump through my arms for strength. I saw Ryohei's face go slack, clearly not expecting me to be able to completely pick him up and swing his body, using the momentum to send him over the ropes of the ring and into a rack of weights nearby. There was a loud crash, and the peanut gallery gaped at my small display of strength. I blinked, and then winced.

"Fuck, I meant to throw him into the ropes," I muttered before running towards him, jumping the ropes.

"Did you kill him?!" Tsuna finally called out, rushing over with the rest. I scrunched my nose and flicked his forehead when he got in distance.

"Of course I didn't kill him!" I reprimanded, "I just knocked him out…"

Ryohei groaned loudly.

"..and maybe gave him a concussion."

"S-so strong…" Enma muttered. Reborn calmly walked over and took my free hand, the other hand already gloved (my gloves being handed to me immediately by Chrome, the darling) and on Ryohei's forehead, making sure I really didn't do anything to severely injure him. He lifted my hand as high as he could.

"Nikita wins the match!" Kyoya, who had only barely inclined his head to make sure the boxer wasn't actually dead, nodded once to me, barely smirked, and then walked out, jacket billowing from his shoulders.

"Asshole," I muttered, watching him go with narrowed eyes. Ryohei groaned again.

"How exactly did you manage to throw him?" Gokudera asked curiously, "I know you're strong, but-"

"Sun flames," I answered simply with a small shrug, "you can use them on certain body parts of muscles to give a little boost. And that boost was just what I needed with his own momentum to get him other the ropes."

"Ah, how cool!" Takeshi complimented, folding his arms behind his head.

"I want to be able to throw men twice my size into weight racks when I grow up," Fran commented blandly.

"But, he is okay, right?" Chrome asked, still looking at Ryohei, deeply concerned.

"Oh, yeah," I waved her off, "I knew no matter how far I threw him, he'd be fine." Ryohei groaned again, and shifted, mumbling something. We all quieted, trying to determine what he was trying to say. And suddenly he shot up, grabbing me by the shoulders. It took everything in my power for me not to throw him again.

"That was extreme! You have to join the boxing club now!" He yelled.

"First of all," I said, calmly moving my hands to pry his fingers off my shoulder, "this whole ordeal was about whether or not I would join. And I won. So I'm not." He frowned.

"And second of all?" He asked, titling his head a tiny bit. I blinked.

"There wasn't really a second of all…"

"Nikita's right, Ryohei," Reborn squeaked, causing us both to look over at him, "Nikita won the match, fair and square-"

"She didn't even follow the rules of boxing at the end-HEI!" Reborn's mouth barely tugged into a smirk after Leon had morphed into a hammer, and Reborn stomped Tsuna's foot with it.

"And this was a lesson to you too," the tutor continued.

"Huh?" Ryohei's eyebrows collided, further confused. My eyes narrowed as well, and then it suddenly clicked.

"Motherfucker… You used me to teach him a lesson!" I accused, crossing my arms.

"You need to get used to more opponents like Nikita," Reborn explained, completely ignoring me, "All your future fights will be out of bounds, and the opponents you'll be fighting won't be going by any rules. You'll need to learn to get around and defeat evasive tactics, and not just simply rely on boxing solely, until you can win any fight with it."

Ryohei suddenly brightened, and brought one fist into the palm of his other hand.

"I understand!" He said, "I'll work even harder now! Nikita!" He addressed me, "We have to wake up even early for our runs, and spar every day to the extreme!" My eye twitched, and I was still glaring at Reborn.

"Will I ever," I asked him, "not be a pawn in one of your ridiculous schemes?"

"Oh, but Nikita," He said innocently, blinking up at me, "you make a beautiful queen."

"God, you are awful at eating with chop sticks," I said with a wiry smile, watching Dino nearly make a mess of himself.

"That's not a nice thing to say to your kind brother who brought a lot of your stuff from Italy," he shot back.

"I apologize," I said teasingly, "thank you, brother dearest, for bringing my shit from home. Especially thanks for bringing my many blankets"

"Yeah, I appreciate that especially," Fran muttered, still wrapped in his new favorite blanket (which used to be my favorite blanket, I should point out) despite sitting at the kitchen table. Chrome giggled lightly, looking up from the list she had been looking through.

Tetsu had been extremely quick in getting to me after I asked, and had drawn up a few pages of places that were hiring, including wages, job descriptions and contacts. Turns out, being on the disciplinary committee had its perks. I had already scanned through and highlighted the ones I was interested in, and now that she had finished her portion of the takeout we ordered, Chrome was doing the same.

We had just finished officially moving everything in, and our rooms were now decorated with my old things. Dino was spending the night while his men stayed in a hotel nearby, and Fran was as well (Mukuro had texted, informing me that he was enjoying his wonderful break form his pupil, and had encouraged me to keep him for as long as we liked).

"Yeah, but I better go back to them tomorrow," Fran said after I relayed the message to him, "I know they'll miss me too much. Master especially."

"Uh-huh," I said, rising to throwing my takeout box away, grabbing Fran's and Chrome's as well on my way, "because you're an absolute ray of sunshine, right?"

"You know me so well, Big Sis," Fran commented. He had taken up the habit of calling me sister in whatever language he was speaking.

"So which jobs are you interested in, Nikita?" Dino said, glancing over at the sheet. I shrugged, making my way back.

"The pet shop sounds fun," I said, "and Tetsu said that the owner was extremely nice. What are you thinking, Chrome?" I asked, seeing that she had finished. She hesitated, and then flipped the page, pointing to one highlighted in purple. I raised my eyebrows, slightly surprised. Dino leaned over and had the same reaction.

"Really?" He said, "I wouldn't expect that from you. Maybe from Nikita-"

"Watch it."

"-but that's surprising, coming from a shy girl like you, Chrome," He pointed out.

"I think, it will help me," Chrome explained with determination in her eyes, "and I've been there before with Haru and Kyoko. They know some of the people that work there as well, and said that they enjoy it." I considered.

"I can see it," I admitted, "you got the look." She blushed at this. Fran reappeared from where he had burrowed into his blanket and handed me my phone, which he had been playing on.

"Text from Shikshikaa," he relayed to me, "it looked long, so I didn't want to read it. Also, I sent a few texts to the fake-prince" I sighed, and took the phone.

"Remind me never to let you play with my phone again," I said, knowing that I was going to have to deal with that later.

"You say that every time, Big Sis, but you can never resist my puppy eyes."

"…shut up, Fran," I said, moving the folds of the blanket over his face again. I ignored the rest of his muffled words, and went straight to Dayita's text, uncharacteristically long and lacking kissing emojis.

"Well, what is it?" Dino asked curiously, noticing my frown. I opened my mouth, and then closed it, considering the slew of information Dayita had just heaped into one, huge message.

I almost considered telling her no, and dismissing the offer entirely. But there were two things that stopped me.

One: I had realized earlier today, taking down Ryohei, that I had missed fighting. I almost craved it. I once again thought back to my dilemma of loving the rush of battle, the power that came with defeating opponents easily. But now, after having gone through the recent battles, is that much of a dilemma to me anymore? The short period of peace after the battles was enough to make me miss that rush, that exhilaration. Did that frighten me?

No, I realized. It excited me.

The second factor that pulled me in? The very attractive set of numbers behind the dollar sign.

"I think," I told the group, all of them looking at me, Fran even poking his head out from the blanket, "I found a job that trumps the pet shop."

"But?" Dino prompted, frowning, knowing that a 'but' was coming.

"But," I said, giving him an apologetic look.

"You're not going to like it."

SIDE STORY:

The Birds, the Bees, and Beyond

"Why I am here?"

"I ask myself that question a lot," Squalo grumbled, flipping another page of his book. I scrunched my nose, looking over at him. He raised one eyebrow, then went back to reading, leaning back and sipping wine in his armchair.

"I meant," I clarified, huffing and turning away from Squalo and to Lussuria who was standing in front of the couch, setting up a tripod to hold his large cards, the contents of them yet to be revealed, "why I am here? In this room, sitting on this couch?" I looked straight at Lussuria, who simply tutted.

"All in due time, Cloud-dearest~" He sing-songed, checking his cards.

"And why does the prince have to be here?" Bel asked, flipping a knife in the air beside me, head on my lap and sprawled out over the rest of the couch. "This is boring."

"No, Bel," Lussuria corrected, "this will be educational!" I raised an eyebrow, getting a bad feeling.

"Educational?" I repeated. Lussuria hummed, then clapped his hands together.

"I took on a duty when I stepped up as the mother-figure of the Varia"-

"The what?" Squalo asked, looking up with narrowed eyes and a scowl.

-"and I came to a sudden realization: You're eleven years old, Cloud!" Lussuria said, leaning over and putting his hands on the coffee table, causing me to lean back slightly, "which means that Bel is thirteen! A teenager! And so, as the mother-figure," I paled, getting a small understanding of where this was going, "it's my duty to inform my children…."

There was a dramatic pause as Lussuria put up the first large card, covered with a piece of cloth. He took a breath, and then tore it off.

"About the birds, the bees, and beyond!" he said, gesturing to the card, with was lettered with his proclaimed title, along with small cut outs of cartoon birds, bees, and…. God, were those cartoon penises and vaginas?!

There was a pause, as we took this information in.

"Oh, fuck no," Squalo spat, quickly getting up out of his chair and moving out of the room, leaving behind both his book and beverage in his haste.

"I'm out," Bel said quickly, pushing himself up and jumping over the back of the couch and sprinting out of the room. I moved to do the same, and even made it to the open door before Lussuria got a hold of me.

"Let go!" I begged, straining as I gripped the side of the wall.

"Children need to be educated," Lussuria hissed, trying to keep a happy tone as he struggled. Me kicking him definitely did not help him get a good grip on me.

"Bel!" I yelled, "Backup! Help!"

"You're on your own, princess!" I heard his distant yell down the hallway. I let out a small scream, Lussuria having pried me from the door.

"Traitor!" I called out. My argument that I had already read numerous medical books, and thus knew enough fell onto death ears.

"Now, Cloud," Lussuria began, armed with a pointer. I glared, tied up on the couch and facing my 'teacher'. "Let's begin with puberty and later I'll show you my real-life model…"

And thus began the longest three hours of my life.

AN:

So close, but so far away. After next chapter, I'm pretty sure that will be the end of the rewrite, and the start of me writing again to finish this story, which I will do this time now that I have more motivation and am prouder of the rest of this story. Whoo!

Remember to keep sending in who you ship Nikita with and let me know what you think!

-Evenly