Russian Roulette

by Kyandi-Akatensei

Freedom was not a right, but a gods given gift. That was how Roksana Volkov, a Russian born transfer student, saw life. So when she encounters rules and orders, her natural response is to rebel. But she may just have what it takes to blaze through the mafia world. If only she would listen to orders.

19. Guardian of the Moon

Kyandi: Hey, Kyandiacs!

Roksana: We meant to post this last Sunday, but...

Kyandi: I spazzed. I completely forgot and got all wrapped up in the chili cook-off competition my church holds every year.

Roksana: To make up for it, this chapter is longer.

Kyandi: You also get to see a more spiteful, protective side of Roksana.

Roksana: Don't you mean a more mean side of me?

Kyandi: That too. Let's put it this way...Roksana isn't playing around in this chapter. Also, I had to do a lot of research on for this chapter.

Roksana: Don't even try to act like it put you out. You love doing research.

Kyandi: True. Anyway, everyone, please, enjoy and review. I could use a little feedback.

Roksana: Kyandi-sama does not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN.

Chapter 19 Guardian of the Moon

The next night, Tsuna, curious as to who his Moon Guardian was, met up with his friends at the school gate. To his surprise, he could his father and Basil already there.

"Dad? Why are you here!?" Tsuna demanded upon seeing Iemitsu.

"You'll see." Iemitsu told him, grin on his face.

Without giving his son any further answer, Iemitsu turned, leading the group onto school grounds. The Cervello found them quickly, directing them to an older part of the school where a lone building stood, left unused except for storage. There, they found Xanxus' group waiting. Once again, Xanxus wasn't present. When they approached, one man, a tall man with semi-long, dark hair, and razor sharp brown eyes, turned to them, already looking smug, confident, and a little annoyed.

"So where's your Moon Guardian? I'm ready to get this over with." he snapped at Tsuna.

"You're always so impatient, Luca." one of his comrades, a smaller guy named Bel, remarked with a laugh.

"I just want to kill this damn kid, whoever he is, and be done with this." Luca, who was obviously Xanxus' Moon Guardian, retorted, scoffing. "The Ring of the Moon is special. It hasn't had a guardian since the First. For it to now be in play, once again, means that it has found it's chosen guardian. That'll be me. So, little imposter Tenth, where's your Moon Guardian?"

Tsuna tensed under the sharp glare of Luca, unsure of how to answer this since he didn't know who it was. Thankfully, it was answered for him.

"That'll be me."

A familiar voice had Tsuna, as well as everyone else, turning as a figure approached them in the shadows of the night. When the person reached the edge of the single light that shined on the group, the light revealed first feet clad in knee-high, black boots, then black tights and a long, grey trench coat tied over an obviously feminine figure. By the time the person had stepped fully into the light, revealing long, platinum blonde pigtails, a lollipop sticking out from between lips, and eyes of a powder blue-purple with a slash of green through them, Tsuna was thinking, "Of course it's her!".

Stepping into the light, idly rolling a lollipop around in her mouth, was Roksana.

"Roksana! You're the Moon Guardian?" Yamamoto asked, grinning.

"But, of course. Who else did you think it could be?" Roksana replied, hands going to her hips.

Laughter had all of them turning to look at Luca as the man outright laughed at Roksana.

"You've got to be kidding! My opponent is a little girl?!" Luca laughed.

Roksana's only reaction to this mocking comment, was rolling her neck on her shoulders until a series of pops could be heard. She obviously wasn't the least bit interested in his pillory.

"So this is the Moon Guardian you found."

All eyes turned as none other than Xanxus stepped out of the shadows, his hands jammed into his pockets in the most bored fashion. While his companions were slightly shocked at his appearance, they chalked it up to him being a little curious as to who Tsuna would have as his Moon Guardian. After all, the position was a special one and one that picked purely by the will of the Ring of the Moon. Xanxus' eyes moved to Roksana, scanning the girl from head to toe.

Roksana didn't give him the time of day.

"This little bitch isn't even going to be worth the fight." Luca told Xanxus, flapping a hand in Roksana's direction.

At the sound of the word "bitch", Roksana's eyes snapped towards Luca and Tsuna and the rest of his friends all groaned, knowing just how much Roksana disliked being compared to a female dog. Even Reborn gave a shake of his head. They were all aware that Luca was just digging his own grave because Roksana had a bad habit of letting personal grudges decide how badly she continued to beat a person after they were down.

A habit Hibari had, no doubt, fostered in her.

Tsuna flinched as there was an audible crack from Roksana biting through her lollipop. Reaching up, she plucked the stick from between her lips and turned fully to face Luca, the man raising an eyebrow as her eyes landed on him.

"Just so you know, the last man that called me a bitch...ended up with a rupture testicle. So, for future reference," Roksana cracked her knuckles, drawing Luca's attention, for just a moment, to her hands. "Which one would you prefer to lose? Left or right?"

Every man present, though most didn't show it on the outside, inwardly winced at the thought of letting the girl anywhere near their anatomy. Tsuna and his friends, though, had no doubt in their minds, after watching how Roksana fought, that she could, and would, do exactly as she was threatening to do.

Luca, however, had to put on a brave act and act like the threat didn't bother him.

"You think you're scary, little girl? That little bluff of yours doesn't scare me." Luca told her.

"Oh, really?" Though it was only a slight twitch in his muscles, Luca flinched as Roksana took a step towards him, cracking her knuckles once more. "Then why did you just flinch?"

Luca clicked his tongue in annoyance at the fact that she had actually gotten to him in the slightest. And in front of his boss of all people. Roksana, though, didn't care that Xanxus was watching her intently as she approached Luca. Tsuna called a warning to her, but Roksana ignored him and only came to a stop when she stood toe to toe with Luca. It didn't matter to her that the man stood about a foot taller than her.

"Go ahead and act all brave, put on whatever bravado acts you wish and say whatever you want, but you, you comrades, and your boss have threatened Tsuna and my friends. For that, by the time this fight is over...I will haunt your fucking dreams, and that's a promise."

With that said, Roksana turned on her heel, flicking the now candy free stick of her lollipop at Luca before she walked away, flicking one pigtail over her shoulder as she pulled another lollipop out of her pocket. After all this, all Tsuna wanted to do was sink into the ground and never emerge again. He only hoped she could back up her big talk.

After all, the Varia were in a whole another league when compared to past enemies they fought. But watching Roksana as she approached the Cervello, her expression showing only idle indifference, it didn't seem that the girl really felt any kind of tension.

"Can we get on with this? I'm pretty sure that I and my comrades have better things to do with our time." Roksana remarked.

"In a hurry to rush to your death, girl?" Luca asked.

Roksana turned to look at him, an You've-got-to-be-kidding look on her face as she crossed her arms over her stomach.

"Your trash talk needs a lot of work, ublyudok." Roksana told him idly, using the Russian word for bastard as a way to address him. "Give it your best shot, but you won't be the first man to try, and I sorely doubt you'll be the last, but just like all the ones before you and all the ones that'll come after you, you'll fail just the same. No man will take me down."

"This one is about to show you that there's a first time for everything." Luca retorted.

"Yeah, no, no, I hear you, really I do." Roksana said idly, waving a hand at him.

Tsuna winced as he watched one of Luca's eyebrows twitch in annoyance at her snarky retorts. Roksana merely peered at her perfectly shaped and red painted nails, as if she was completely and utterly bored with the whole thing already.

"Roksana, maybe you shouldn't be provoking him." Tsuna told her, trying to calm things before she could really make Luca mad.

"Yeah, listen to your pitiful leader. All of you might as well give up because, eventually, Xanxus will kill your sorry excuse for a leader."

An echoing wince rippled through Tsuna's friends as Roksana's eyes snapped to Luca with an intensity she rarely got. There was another resounding crack as she, once more, bit through her lollipop. At the sound, Luca turned his eyes to Roksana and froze as she approached him. At this angle, with the light shining right on her face, he and his comrades were finally able to see the two different colors in her eyes, making them stare in intrigue. Roksana stopped in front of Luca, fixing him with a look that could be that of someone who was annoyed or even that of someone who just saw the world's most revolting bug.

"The words of an arrogant man who is about to be eating dirt from beneath the heel of my boot. All I hear the excessive barking of a mutt who is in a bad need of being neutered. So go on, little man, bark." Roksana snapped, the air around her filling with a chilly feeling that even had her friends backing away. "You're about to become a dog I'm more than happy to put down."

"Ha! You're just a little girl trying to act big!" Luca retorted.

"You obviously didn't do your homework. Didn't your mother ever teach you that that's bad work ethic?" Roksana mocked. "Well, I did do my homework, Luca Verscotti, and you are nothing I'm afraid of. I have better things do to with my time than waste them on a lowlife, two-bit, ex-con with an inferiority complex with his daddy. I have daddy issues too, but at least I don't act like a whipped bitch because of them. So do us both a favor, shut the hell up, kiss my ass, and let's get on with this."

Jaws dropped as Roksana turned on her heel, flicked a pigtail over her shoulder, whacking Luca across the face with it, and strutted away. Even her own friends couldn't believe what she had just said. While she had gotten pretty mouthy with Hibari before, it had been nothing near this. Luca didn't even have the words to demand to know how she had found out so much about him, especially when Bel broke out in laughter at him.

Luca shot him a glare before turning a pissed-off look at Roksana. The girl completely ignored him as she pulled a third lollipop out of her pocket and heaved a sigh.

"Annoying dorchit...I've already gone through two of these. I should have brought more." Roksana muttered to herself as she ripped the wrapper off the lollipop and stuck it into her mouth. Once there, she turned to the Cervello. "Might we get started, please."

"Right. Then both Moon guardians, step forward." one Cervello said.

Luca stepped up to Roksana's side, shooting her a glare. The two Cervello women half turned, bringing attention to the building behind them. Even from where she stood, Roksana could tell that all of the windows of the building had been completely blacked-out.

"This will serve as the fighting grounds for the Moon guardian shuffle match." one Cervello told them.

"Guiding the family through even the darkest of times into a cycle of rebirth, all while remaining a free and radiantly beautiful as the full moon and illusive and dark as the new moon, the Guardian of the Moon must be one who can move through the dark unrestrained, to appear anew like the cycles of the moon. As such, you two guardians will battle it out in the pitch black darkness while confronting whatever comes at you in the dark." the second Cervello added.

"Everyone else will watch from the hall connecting this building to the rest of the buildings. There are cameras equipped with night vision to provide you with a shot-by-shot view of the fight." the first said, gesturing for the other to head to the waiting space.

"Moon guardians, please hang your rings from around your neck and then enter."

As the second Cervello opened the doors to the building, the first escorted the others towards the hall. Roksana and Luca each removed their half of the ring and hung them from chains around their necks. Once done, Yamamoto stopped Roksana before she could head into the building.

"We have to do the usual." Yamamoto said.

"Usual?" Roksana asked.

"Right! Circle up!" Ryohei cheered.

"No way in hell." Roksana retorted almost instantly.

"Come on, for luck!" Yamamoto insisted.

"I would rather let Hibari kick me in the face...repetitively." Roksana told him, her hands going to her hips. "You boys knock yourselves out, though."

Roksana turned to walk away, but Yamamoto and Ryohei weren't having it. Both each grabbed one of her arms and pulled her back, the girl declaring, "I hate you both" as they did. Ignoring her protesting, as well as the protesting of Gokudera and Tsuna, they forced the three into the circle, Roksana growling lowly to herself as they others gave a cheer. As soon as it was done, Roksana pulled herself away from the others, straightening out her sleeves.

"Well that was ten wasted second of my life that I'm never getting back." Roksana remarked, shooing the boys off. "Go on."

While the others moved on to the watching area, Tsuna paused, looking back at Roksana. In no way did he think her less capable than the rest of their friends. In fact, out of all of his friends, Roksana was probably one of the ones he had to worry the least about, given how much fighting experience she had, but he knew Roksana had a bad habit of pushing herself even past being horribly injured. That alone made him worry about her.

"Be careful, Roksana!" Tsuna called to her.

"Don't worry about me, Tsuna." Roksana replied, turning to look at him. "Even Hibari hasn't seen all I'm capable of. I promise, I'll present the Moon ring to you before this night is up."

Roksana gave him a wink before facing forward once more. Luca looked down at her, smirking in a smug manner that only made Roksana want to use his face to clean graffiti off a brick wall.

"You're going to break your promise, little girl, because I'll destroy you." Luca told her.

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely, because I hate repeating myself." Roksana idly checked her fingerless gloves, before she turned her eyes to Luca's face. "You're going to eat your words because I'm going to bury you."

Luca stared at her in slack jaw silence as Roksana turned on her heel and headed through the door without another look back.

"You little-"

"I refuse to let any man best me. So you, and your boss," Roksana stopped in the doorway after cutting off Luca, and turned back to give Luca, and then Xanxus, a direct look. "Can kiss me where the good Lord split me."

With that, Roksana turned on her hell and vanished into the building. Sputtering in anger, Luca followed, ready to shut this "little girl" up.

Something that only made Tsuna worry that much more for Roksana.

"You have five minutes to choose your starting point and then we cut the lights." one Cervello called after Roksana and Luca.

Inside the building, the Cervello had managed, in the course of the day, to completely transform the inside. Now, the four floor building had a hole directly down the center that gave them a clear view up to the fourth floor. What remained of the floor on each level, was arranged randomly, providing them with many blind spots that would only be even more blind once all light was shut off. There were no more doors, all walls had been, at least, partially knocked down, and the whole floor plain had been opened up while still providing them with places to hide.

Roksana committed as much of it to her memory as she could while Luca claimed a high vantage point on the fourth floor. Roksana, on the other hand, vanished among the reconstructed second floor. After five minutes, the lights were cut, the doors sealed, throwing the whole battlefield into pitch black darkness. For those left in the lit hallway, night-vision cameras scattered throughout the building, allowing them to see what was going on.

It was through those that they watched as Luca pulled night vision goggles out of his bag of tricks, putting them on to allow him to see.

"That's unfair!" Gokudera exclaimed.

"The Cervello never said he couldn't use something like that." Levi replied.

Gokudera grit his teeth, shooting the man a glare. If the Cervello allowed if then the only one who would be blind, would be Roksana.

"Guys...where's Roksana? I don't see her anymore." Yamamoto remarked, scanning the cameras. "She was right there, a moment ago and now I can't find her."

Everyone focused on the screens, searching them for any sign of the girl. They saw Luca, but they couldn't find any sign of Roksana. Luca stood at the edge of the hole, peering down at the floors below, but he couldn't see hide or hair of Roksana either. Even as he moved down the floors, carefully searching each one as he went, he couldn't find her. The scene made Iemitsu chuckle, drawing attention to him.

"He really shouldn't be looking at eye level. If there's one thing I've learned about that girl in the last week, it's that she favors landing on her opponent's head. Quite literally, too." Iemitsu remarked, grin on his face.

All eyes turned back to the screens. At first, they only saw Luca as he slowly made his way around the second floor. The man was making sure to leave now low nook or cranny unchecked as he gripped a pair of guns in his hands.

Then they saw her.

How Roksana had managed to anchor herself to what remained of the ceiling, they were able to see before she dropped. Only a sense of some kind of impending danger coming at him, warned Luca to dodge before Roksana could beam him over the head with her staff. Instead, Roksana smashed what was left of a wall into bits. Luca rolled away from her, popping back to his feet, already readying his gun to fire, but, just as quick as she had appeared, Roksana vanished once more. Luca whipped around, but couldn't find her anywhere.

"Where the hell?!" Luca snapped.

He stiffened when he got another feeling of something behind him. Luca whipped around to confront Roksana, but...nothing was there.

"Wrong direction, ublyudok."

Luca turned, eyes wide, only to be hit hard across the face with the blunt end of Roksana's staff. The hit was hard enough to send Luca flying off the edge and down stepped up to the edge, peering down into the darkness, though they were all sure that she couldn't see a thing.

"You still alive down there?" she called.

"You bitch!"

From the sound of Luca's voice as it echoed up to her, his nose was broken, giving him a nasally tone. Roksana barely kept herself from smiling smugly.

"Yeah, yeah. Get your ass back up here. I still have several of your bones I'd like to break, as well as other body parts." Roksana called. "After all...I warned you about calling me a bitch."

With that, she turned and vanished once more into the darkness. Luca made his way back up, now completely on guard, a gun in each hand.

There was no way he was going to let her rupture one of his testicles.

"Come out, girlie." he called.

"Otuali, cheln." came Roksana's retort from somewhere to his left.

Luca's Russian was spotty, at best, but he was pretty sure she had just told him to fuck off, as well as called him a dick. He turned towards her voice, firing. Roksana darted out of the way, Luca following her movements. Roksana was extremely grateful for her years of dance. She was able to easily dance out of the way, avoiding the rain of bullets despite not being able to see a thing.

It was then that Tsuna noticed something.

"Guys...her eyes are closed!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Upon closer look, they saw he was right. Roksana's eyes were completely closed, the girl moving with a confidence she would of had with her eyes wide open in broad daylight. As they watched, Roksana ducked behind a piece of destroyed wall. Her head tilted, like the girl was lending an ear.

"What is that girl doing?" Levi demanded as they watched.

It soon became clear as Luca moved, his clothes making the slightest of rustling noises, that Roksana was listening to his movements, for her head would turn, her ears following the slightest of sounds.

"She's following him by sound!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

"Her home tutor, over the last week, realized that Volkov had a very keen sense of hearing." Reborn remarked from where he sat on Yamamoto's shoulder. "So, he used the entire week to train her in how to dodge bullets fully blind, among other things."

"Seriously!?" Tsuna blurted out.

"I always knew Volkov had excellent reflexes and flexibility. It was the perfect kind of training for her, but I'm sure that wasn't all she was trained to do. Isn't that right...Iemitsu."

All eyes turned to a grinning Iemitsu when Reborn said this. It took Tsuna a moment to process the meaning behind Reborn's words. When he finally did, his jaw dropped.

"Wait...Dad was Roksana's home tutor!?" Tsuna demanded.

"Originally, since the two fight so well together, she was going to be trained by Dino along side Hibari, but then I saw just how promising she was, for myself. She's quite the find, I must say. Most of her skills are already fully developed and well trained." Iemitsu remarked, his eyes remaining on the screen, watching as Roksana moved expertly through the darkness, while Luca had to rely on the assistance of his night vision goggles. "All of which, I'm sure, is owed to her past experiences."

"Past experiences?" Levi asked, adding in a mocking scoff.

"The girl is a politician's daughter." Iemitsu informed him. It was something Tsuna and his friends already knew. "Her father is a very influential Russian politician with a great many enemies in the Russian underworld, and she is his heir."

"Your fucking point?" Squalo demanded.

"Since the day she was born, that girl has been the target of assassins and kidnappers alike. From the time she was eight, until today, she has managed to escape and survive five hundred and fifty-three assassination attempts and three hundred and ninety-two kidnapping attempts...on her own." Tsuna and his friends turned shocked look on Iemitsu, some of Xanxus' own men being just as surprised. While Tsuna had known Roksana had received self-defense training just in case, he hadn't known she had actually had to put it to use! "The girl already had most of the training she needed to be a lethal, killing machine, the talent to refine that. I merely gave her a few more tools of the trade to use. She did the rest."

On the screen, there was a loud curse as Roksana danced out of the way of Luca's bullets once more, only to duck down to avoid one more, coming up at an awkward angle to send a palm size piece of wall flying at Luca's head. Luca dodged that, but when he turned his attention back to Roksana, the girl was gone once more. The girl moved so deftly, it was as if she made no sound at all.

"She's has a great many things going for her. She light footed, moves fluidly and quietly, and has extremely flexible muscles." Iemitsu remarked, watching the screens.

"She is an accomplished dancer, so it's only a given." Reborn agreed. "The Moon Guardian must be able to move through the shadows in order to guide the family into the light. Volkov is more than capable of doing that."

"Exactly. But Luca has nothing to fear from her...until she opens her eyes, that is. Those eyes of hers truly are cursed. Well...a curse for those she hates." Iemitsu remarked, giving his son an ill feeling.

Inside the pitch black building, Luca didn't agree. The only thing he could think was that Roksana was a horribly annoying girl. If it wasn't for the sort of sixth sense he had picked up in his years a Varia assassin, which gave him a warning about approaching danger, than he was sure she would have dealt him more damage than a broken nose. The girl didn't make a single sound as she moved, and it was quickly aggravating him. It was starting to look like he was going to have to take this seriously if he wanted to put this girl down.

"I'm curious about something."

When Roksana's voice came echoing to him, Luca turned, trying to locate her by sound.

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" he asked.

Let her keep talking. It would help him locate her.

"Anello della Luna...the Ring of the Moon. Did you know there's a Roman goddess named Luna?" Roksana asked, her voice sounding like it was coming from somewhere over his head.

Luca went to climbing, trying to keep as quiet as possible while keeping her talking.

"I've heard of her. Why does that matter?" he demanded, rolling his eyes at how childish this girl was, talking about goddesses in a situation like this.

"Do you know where she gets her name from?" Roksana asked.

"The moon, obviously. She is the moon goddess."

"Wrong." Luca scoffed as Roksana instantly told him that he was wrong. "Her name comes from the prefix of the word "lunatic". Back in ancient Roman times, full moons were thought to influence human and animal behavior, causing intense thoughts, heightened emotions, and some form of psychosis. The word "lunatic", itself, comes from the Latin word "lunaticus" which refers to epilepsy and madness, diseases thought to be caused by the moon."

Luca had reached the next floor, but from the way her voice echoed back at him, she was moving as well. Probably trying to throw him off while she gave him her little lesson.

"So what? Are you trying to say that those who hold the Ring of the Moon are bound for madness?" Luca asked.

"Well, it's already too late to help you, but no." Luca growled to himself as she took the opening to aim a verbal jab at him. "I've just always found it a little amusing that the moon supposedly does to humans and animals, what men claim women do to them. If you actually look at the ring we both bare, there is a Triple Moon symbol on it."

"And?" Luca asked, not seeing where she was going with this.

"You don't even know what the triple moon stands for, do you?"

He could hear the mocking in her voice. It really made him want to shoot her in that pretty, little face of hers.

"Just get to your damn point?!" he snapped.

"Impatience, much? You know, patience is a virtue."

"Make your fucking point already!"

Luca didn't have any patience for this girl, and judging from the little snicker he heard, she knew it.

"The triple moon stands for The Maiden, the Mother, and The Crone. The Maiden is symbolized by the waxing moon, represents purity, youthfulness and enchantment. She is full of optimism, excited about new beginnings and what the future will bring. The Mother is symbolized by the full moon, represents fulfillment, fertility, ripeness and stability. She is caring and often parental in nature, there to nurture and protect. The Crone is symbolized by the waning moon, represents wisdom, maturity, completion and restfulness. She has a lifetime of experience and also reflects the end of all phases of life." Roksana explained.

"And your point is?" Luca asked, annoyed.

"Don't you hear it? There are several cultures with multiple gods and in almost all of them, the god over the moon is a woman. Even the meaning behind the triple moon, is represented by women. There's even the natural opposition between the Sun and the Moon, which represents the total opposites between day and night, hot and cold, life and death...man and woman."

Luca could hear Roksana close by now, but, for a moment, he focused on her words, wondering what she was trying to get out. At the moment, he didn't understand.

"Make your point already." he demanded.

"My point is...the only other Moon Guardian in existence, was a woman. The Ring of the Moon is not meant to be held by a man too stupid to figure that out."

Luke heard the dip in Roksana's tone, but he didn't get that feeling of impending doom. The only thing that let him know that Roksana was behind her, was the sound of a rock tumbling under her feet. He whipped around, only seeing the flash of a blade as he yanked back, before he felt the ripping pain across his chest. Thankfully, he had moved fast enough to avoid most of the damage from the attack, it was still deep enough to have him pressing one arm to the gash now opened across his chest.

Luca stumbled back a few steps, raising his other gun to train it in on Roksana, but he hesitated in shooting as she straightened her back, propping her weapon up on her left shoulder. Somewhere in the time she had been sneaking around in the shadows, she had made change in her weapon. Where, earlier, she had merely had a sansetsukon in her hands, she now had a scythe propped up on her shoulder, the blade of the weapon wickedly curved and sharpened to a razor's edge.

"You changed weapons." Luca breathed.

"Actually, no I didn't. This is still a sansetsukon, just...with a few hidden features." Roksana replied, giving the weapon a spin before settling it into both hands.

Luca tried to recover his cool after seeing one of her weapon's hidden features. Putting a mocking smile on her face, even though she couldn't see it with her eyes closed and in the dark, he scoffed at her.

"What? Trying to pretend your the grim reaper now?" he mocked.

He watched as her mouth twisted into a smirk. Then, before his eyes, her eyes slowly opened. Luca didn't know if it was his eyes, or his goggles, playing tricks on him, but for a moment, it almost appeared as if the green in her irises glowed. Then her eyes fixed in on him, as if she had no problem seeing in the dark.

"I don't need to play pretend. I've cheated the grim reaper more times than anyone I know. Professional assassins, hitmen, people who got close to me, merely to betray me and stab me in the back. You really think you have what it takes to finish a job that hundreds of people before you have failed at?" Roksana let out a curt laugh, her weight shifting subtly. "Don't make me laugh."

Luca sucked in a breath, preparing himself to move, to dodge and counterattack, but, in truth, he never even saw her move before she was on him once again. Clenching his teeth, Luca fired two rounds, the pinging of metal on metal filling the air as Roksana swung her scythe, managing, he was sure by sheer luck, to block the two bullets. In the next instantly, she was slamming the capped end of her scythe into the under side of his chin, knocking him back off his feet. Another swing of the scythe and she was driving the capped end into his gut.

Luca caught hold of the scythe's staff, keeping her from pulling it back. He then leveled his gun right between her eyes. She would either have to release her weapon or take the bullet. Either way worked for Luca. To his surprise, though, with a simple push of a button, the scythe's pole broke into three parts, like her normal sansetsukon, allowing Roksana to move out of the way of the gun fire without releasing her weapon. Using the opposite end of the parted staff like a nun-chuck, she whacked Luca across the face.

Luca, with a growl, released the staff, twisting to fire on her again. Being so close, Roksana was able to avoid two out of the three shots. A hiss left Roksana as one shot went clear through her right shoulder, knocking her back onto her back.

But she wasn't going to let that stop her.

Luca turned, towering over Roksana, looking to take advantage of her moment of pain, but Roksana was now gripping both end sections of her sansetsukon, pointing their ends at him. Luca raised an eyebrow at her.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I already told you...my sansetsukons all have added surprises to them, and this one...was a gift from Reborn." Roksana told him, grinning. "Welcome to a world of pain."

Luca's eyes widened as Roksana's fingers found the hidden triggers, the caps on both ends popping open.

"Mother fuc-"

Luca didn't even get the full curse out of his mouth before there was an explosion that rocked the building. In the hall way, all of the others were given a shaking as the explosion even rocked the hall. Reborn clicked his tongue in mild annoyance.

"I told her not to fire both ends at the same time. She'll be fortunate to escape that without losing a limb." Reborn remarked.

Of course, this didn't make Roksana's friend feel too good about the current state of things. Especially since, when they turned back towards the screens, it was revealed that Roksana's explosion had blown a hole right through the roof of the building. As the smoke cleared, they found Luca, the man sprawled over a pile of rubble, blood spilling from one side of his head and various other parts of his body. He had been blown from his previous location on the third floor, all the way to the bottom of the building.

There was no sign of Roksana.

"I hope you blew yourself to pieces, girl!" Luca shouted, obviously pissed off.

His response was a broken part of a sansetsukon hitting him dead center in the middle of his forehead.

Roksana appeared from the second floor, looking just as beat up as Luca, her trench coat torn to shreds. Giving it a yank, she ripped the shredded coat from her body revealing that, beneath it, she had worn a pair of short black shorts over her tights, and wore a cropped off, gray halter top over a skin-tight, short sleeved, black mesh shirt. What caught everyone's eyes, were the weapons strapped around her waist and to her thighs.

There were another two sansetsukons, one strapped to each thigh, and there, secured around her waist, were chains. Roksana tugged at the chains now, pulling them free until she held one end of the chains in her left hand. From the end of the chain, hung Roksana's newest weapon...a sickle.

"I found that she's much like Basil." Iemitsu remarked, watching the screen as Roksana started swinging the sickle from it's chain, getting it spinning at a fast rate. "She showed a great deal of promise with the chain and sickle. She can manipulate the chains with great precision."

Which they were quickly shown.

By shifting her grip on the chains, or hooking it around different parts of her body, she was able to manipulate the way the sickle swung through the air. She even used the chain and sickle as a way to swing herself up from the lower floors to the upper ones, avoiding more gun fire from Luca.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that Luca was going full out, the two clashing and counter attacking with all they hand. Roksana, herself, was becoming annoyed with the man, and by the time he had managed to graze her with two more bullets, Roksana fulfilled her promise. Heavy groans and winces filled the waiting area as Roksana, getting far closer than Luca had wanted her to, slammed a booted heel as hard as she could, directly into his crotch.

The noise that left Luca's mouth quickly went from rough and gruff, to an even higher pitch than any girl's voice Tsuna and his friends had ever heard.

Roksana gave him no time to even try to handle the pain. She seized Luca by the collar, yanking him around until he was half dangling over the open hole leading down to the floors below. She held him there, her eyes fixing on his face.

"Let's get one thing straight here. Professional assassin or not, you never stood a chance because, being the idiot that you are, you fucked up before we ever even stepped foot in here. No one, and I do mean no one, threatens my friends and gets away without punishment. I don't particularly care about this whole rings thing. In fact, I have zero fucks to give over the whole affair. But you, your comrades, and your boss are threatening the lives of my friends. For that reason and that reason alone, you were screwed from the very beginning." Roksana told Luca, pulling him back enough to draw her face close to his. "You see, you men might be deadly in your own right, but there's a reason the saying goes "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."."

Luca couldn't say anything back in the face of Roksana's anger. He was transfixed by the intensity he found in her two-toned eyes. Extending her arm, she pushed Luca back until only her grip on his collar kept him from falling back over the edge. Reaching out, she plucked his half of the Moon ring from around his neck.

"I'll give you only one warning. If you survive this fall, I would suggest you go back to where you came from and never show your face to me again, because next time, I won't just rupture the other testicle...I'll castrate you."

"I will kill you." Luca promised her.

"Yeah, well...good luck with that."

With that, Roksana released his collar, letting him drop to the floors below. While she was sure he wouldn't die from the fall, since the man was as stubborn as a cockroach, she knew he wouldn't be coming back up. Roksana turned away from the edge, already removing the two halves of the ring from their chains to connect them and form the full Ring of the Moon.

With that, the fight was declared over, Roksana left as the victor.

Roksana made her way back to her friends, flicking one pigtail over her shoulder with a huff as she passed Xanxus and the rest of his guardians. Her friends rushed to greet Roksana, all of them coming to a stop when they were confronted with just how badly Roksana was injured. Blood was smeared all over her body, some of it fresh from open wounds. The gun shot to her right shoulder was still bleeding, as was the graze wounds to her left side and right thigh. Bruises were already blooming to life on her skin, and there was a nasty cut on her right cheek.

"Roksana..." Tsuna said, looking her over.

"It looks worse than it is. Don't worry, Dmitri and Maeve are waiting at the school gates. I'll be fine." Roksana assured him. "Besides...I've gotten worse injuries from the stalking social misfit on the other side of that camera."

When Roksana jabbed a thumb at a camera that was part of the school's security system, it drew their eyes to the camera. They were all pretty sure that she was talking about Hibari.

"And he hits about as hard as a feather pillow." Roksana added.

Tsuna wasn't sure that Roksana trashing Hibari was a good idea. What if he was actually listening? Roksana was already injured enough.

And then Roksana's phone started to ring.

Roksana fished the device out of her back pocket, where it had managed to survive the fight. Checking the screen, she gave a curt laugh upon seeing the name on the screen. She figured he had been somewhere, watching the fight through the cameras.

"Speaking of the blood thirsty maniac..." Roksana hit "accept" and put the phone to her ear. "Hello annoying boy interrupting my evening. How may I help you."

As Hibari replied to her, Roksana turned towards the camera, looking up at him.

"Oh, really? Allow me to show you the number of fucks I have to give." Tsuna's jaw dropped as Roksana flipped off the camera. "Now that you got that, goodbye."

With that, Roksana hit "end call" and shoved the phone back into her back pocket.

"Roksana! You don't need to anger him!" Tsuna told her.

"Oh, he's fine. If he's really annoyed with me, he'll call back." Roksana told him. Sure enough, her phone began ringing once more. "See?"

Unseen by Roksana, Xanxus gave Squalo a pointed look, the long haired male nodding before turning to Roksana and her friends.

"Girl." Roksana turned to look towards Squalo. "When this is over, you should join us as our Moon guardian."

For a moment, Roksana merely blinked at him, as if dumbfounded by the request. Then a curt laugh left Roksana.

"Yeah, no. I have better things to do with my time then to spend my days having to deal with that headache of a train wreck. Sorry, I'm loyal to a fault and, well, honestly...I just don't like you guys." Roksana told him.

"Do you know who the fuck you're talking to?!" Squalo snapped.

"I do believe I have been clear, thus far, about the amount of fucks I have to give. I just got two words for you and your boss." Roksana told him, half turning to present Squalo and his comrades with her backside. Looking over her shoulder, she smacked her hand against her butt. "Kiss it."

With that, Roksana turned to Tsuna, completely ignoring the group behind her.

"Here you go, Tsuna. The Ring of the Moon." Roksana told him, holding the ring out to him.

Tsuna looked from Roksana to the ring in her out held hand. For this little ring and all that it meant, Roksana, just like Ryohei before her, had taken so many injuries. Tsuna was sure that if her father found out, he would yank Roksana right out of school and right out of Japan. But Roksana didn't seem concerned at all.

"Thanks, Roksana." Tsuna told her, taking the ring.

"Anything for a friend."

Roksana gave him a wink and walked away. Tsuna looked between Roksana and Xanxus, nervously, before turning to rush after her, the others following with the Cervello calling after them that the next shuffle match would be the following evening.

Dimitri and Maeve met them at the front gates, the two rushing over to Roksana in concern. With no one by her friends around, Roksana let go of her act...and collapsed into Dmitri's arm.

"Roksana!" Tsuna cried in concern, him and the others gathering around.

"She's lost quite a bit of blood, but we are more than prepared for this. Leave Miss Tsukiko to us, young master. We will have her back to good soon enough." Dimitri promised Tsuna as he scooped Roksana up in his arms.

Tsuna looked up at the two, wondering if they knew what was really going on. As if reading his mind, Dimitri and Maeve each gave him a smile.

"Miss Tsukiko has explained everything to us. You don't have to worry about us, Vongola Decimo." Maeve told him, surprising him.

"If Miss Tsukiko wants to support you, if this is the life she had chosen, we will follow her loyally. Now, if you excuse us, we'll get her home and taken care of." Dimitri added.

Tsuna nodded, watching from gate as Dimitri and Maeve rushed Roksana into a waiting car. As the car drove away, Tsuna turned on his father.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were tutoring Roksana?!" Tsuna demanded. "If her dad finds out, we're all screwed!"

Iemitsu merely chuckled at his son's concern.

"You don't have to worry about that. She's hid an awful lot from her old man. In fact, he doesn't know about the majority of the assassination attempts against her. You friend is strong, and use to handling things without her father's help. And she has a couple of really good and loyal attendants. She'll be fine." Iemitsu assured his son.

Tsuna hoped so.

He really did.

-0-0-0-0-

Three thirty-six a.m.

Roksana, after a long hour of cleaning and bandaging wounds, had passed out, going firmly to sleep. What had awoken her at this late hour, when she had just fallen asleep, she didn't wasn't sure. One moment, she had just fallen asleep, her mind drifting deeper and deeper into sleep, then the next, she was awake, her eyes slowly opening to fix, unseeing at first, on her beside clock. The numbers, spelling out the time, flashed back at her.

It took her a moment to realize that someone was standing at her bedside, which had her latching on to the knife under her pillow.

Without moving her body too much, Roksana raised her eyes to the person's face. She knew, before she saw the hard, dark eyes glaring down at her, and the shaggy black hair, who it was, and released the breath she had been holding.

Hibari.

"Oh, it's you." Roksana said, releasing her grip on the knife under her pillow. She was not the least bit amused by his presence. "Look, I'm not in the condition, nor the mood, to deal with you, at the moment. In case you haven't noticed, I nearly bleed out a few hours ago. So, go home."

Hibari didn't move from his spot, though his jaw did tense at her words. He remained standing there, his eyes scanning her from head to toe, taking inventory of the multiple bandages covering gunshot wounds, gashes, and bruises alike. He even took in the ugly shades of black, blue, and purple that was discoloring her usually pretty skin.

"What? I said go home." Roksana told him, too sore and in too much pain to bother to move or be patient.

She watched as a muscle tensed in his jaw even further, before he was moving. Roksana, despite her body protesting, tensed as he started to climb onto the bed.

"What are you doing? Hibari? Hey! Ow, ow, ow! That hurts! Hey, hey! Watch it! You're going to pull my stitches out! Hibari! What the hell are you doing?!"

Roksana's protesting , mixed with the sound of the shifting mattress and rustling blankets, filled the room as Hibari climbed over Roksana, shifting her around, all the while, seemingly uncaring about her level of discomfort.

Roksana was about to lose her temper, tears pooling in her eyes from pain, when, finally, Hibari settled down. Opening her eyes, she found herself draped across Hibari's chest, the male relaxing back into her pillows as he kicked off his shoes, knocking them off the bed. Annoyed at the pain now radiating through her body once more, after it had just finally reduced to a dull ache, Roksana pushed herself up off his chest, her wounds protesting even more.

"Why you...! What do you think you're do-"

"I'm staying. So, shut up and go back to sleep." Hibari told her, cutting her off.

"Wha-what?"

Roksana couldn't believe her ears. She stared at him as he folded one arm under his head, the other arm draping light over her waist.

"You're always getting in trouble, and being weak, like you are, he really will come back and kill you." was all he said as he closed his eyes.

"Hey Mr. Kettle, Mr. Pot called. He says your black." she retorted.

Hibari merely cracked one one eye, looking at her for a brief moment before he closed it once more. It was obvious, he wasn't leaving. What came out of his mouth next, nearly had her jaw dropping.

"I'll keep you out of trouble, so go back to sleep."

Roksana stared at his face as the meaning behind his words clicked in her head. He had heard Luca's threat to her before she had dropped the man, had heard Luca threaten to get revenge on her for his defeat.

Hibari was there to protect her when she couldn't protect herself.

The thought put a smile on her face and had her forgetting, for a moment, about her pain. Hibari might act like he didn't need, want, or care about other people, but, when it came to her, he sometimes showed that he did, in fact, possess a functioning heart.

"Fine, but I don't want to hear any complaints about how I get comfortable, even if it's uncomfortable to you." she told him, settling in.

Shifting carefully, she moved until she was using his chest as a body pillow. One leg draped over his, as her hips settled just to the side of his. She basically turned him into a body pillow, shifting until she found a position in which her body didn't hurt so bad. Settling in, she released a sigh. Silence spread, the noises of Pinattsu moving through her little tunnels in her cage, all they could hear over their own breathing.

When Roksana next spoke, it took Hibari by surprise.

"Thank you...Kyoya."

Hibari raised his head to look down at Roksana, since the girl never used his given name, but she was already asleep. He wasn't sure what she was thanking him for, or why she had suddenly shifted to using his given name. Really, she shouldn't be thanking him.

Once she was healed...he was going to kick her ass.

END

Kyandi: I know it might seem a little out of character for Hibari, but after seeing how he is with Hibird and animals, I know he has a sweet spot there somewhere deep.

Roksana: Yeah, like center of the Earth deep.

Kyandi: I'm sure it's not that deep. I just think it's so cute and sweet how he calls Hibird, "Little one".

Roksana: You find the weirdest stuff to be sweet and cute, then.

Kyandi: You can't tell me you don't like how sweet he is with animals.

Roksana:...

Kyandi: Cat got your tongue?

Roksana: I'm not admitting to anything.

Kyandi: Oh, fine. I have other stories to work on, anyway. Everyone, please enjoy and please, pkease, pkease review!

Roksana: We'll return as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye-bye!