A/N: I don't own KHR or any of its characters.

"Do you want to hear about your mission now?"

She gapes at me. "Fon, seriously? YOU?"

"Guilty."

"...but WHY?"

"A couple reasons - here, have some tea."

I pour a cup for her and Kyoya. She rolls her eyes and takes a seat, unable to resist the sweet smell. He looks between us, confused.

"Firstly, well it was fun seeing you try to make sense of it all."

"Do you want to die?"

I chuckle, still so cute. "Secondly, I wanted to see if you still remembered him." I nod over to Kyoya.

Both Kyoya and Hatsu scoff simultaneously.

"He was my full-time stalker." "She was obsessed with disrupting my peace."

They stare at each other, having said it in unison.

I laugh, bringing their attention back to me. "Thirdly, and quite more importantly, it was in the service of Chieko-sama."

Silence as each freezes up - the reminder of what separated them still lingering unsaid.

"She left this for you Kyoya-san." I hand him the old letters.

"We already read her Will."

"Not this part - it's an official addendum." Kyoya grabs it from me without hesitation.

His eyes skim the first page quickly, then the second, then pauses at the third. A slight red hue tinges his cheeks.

"Neh what is it?"

Hatsu reaches for it, but Kyoya swipes it away.

"Yah!" She grabs his arm, but he flushes even darker red.

"Kyoya-san, do you want to abide by her wishes or choose another path?"

He continues to dangle the paper away from Hatsu. "Hn." A non answer. Sigh. Well, I didn't think Kyoya would be straightforward about it all. I turn to my next victim - I mean, choice - Hatsu.

"It was her wish for you to live here for many more years, grow up here at the Hibari estate with Kyoya. She thought it would be beneficial to BOTH of your growths. Ultimately with her passing things became... more complicated, but she left it to me to make sure you would return one day. Of course, you'll be paid as if you were on an extended mission and your family has already agreed to it - in fact, they're more than supportive." That was an understatement if there ever was one. The Vecchio family were ECSTATIC at the prospect of a long-standing connection. And Hatsu, besides being their most skilled hitman, was expendable.

I turn back to Kyoya. "Kyoya-san, this will help ward off any pressures from the other members of the family since it's sanctioned by Chieko-sama. It will buy you time until you officially take over when you're 18 and can choose to do as you wish."

Kyoya glares at me, knowing I'm not reading the letter accurately at ALL. I mean, I glare back with a smile - you could always hand it to her to read herself. I dare you. Besides, the instructions weren't clear and if Chieko-sama entrusted this assignment to me, then I'd have to trust my own instinct on it.

"What am I being paid FOR? There's no way I'm going to be Kyo's live-in maid - "

"Ughh." Kyoya groans, cheeks still flushed.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Between the two Hatsu is far and beyond the 'smart' one. She analyzes and observes, absorbing new information every second. Still, she never understood how Chieko-sama saw her - maybe in time she would have, but she'd never cracked the case.

Kyoya watches her face for any signs of understanding. Her brows furrow, mind obviously running a million miles a minute.

And she certainly has no idea what she means to Kyoya, though maybe neither does he.

"She was hoping to move forward with the marriage alliance."

"...this is still about the MARRIAGE ALLIANCE? HAHAHAHA" Hatsu turns to Kyoya. "Did you KNOW about this - no, no there's no way you'd agree to it…"

"In the end, all it is is living together until Kyoya turns 18. After which he'll be free to run the family as he so pleases. It's a win-win, temporary arrangement."

"We should listen to Obaa-san. It was her last wish." He glares at me even more intensely, and I can see he's telling me 'don't you dare say anything else about the letter or I'll bite you to death.'

"Well then, what do you say, Hatsu?"

"There's money?"

"Yes, a lot of it."

"And Edoardo agreed?"

"Extremely readily, yes."

"And I'm not Kyo's live-in maid?"

"No… no of course not."

"And it's temporary?"

"yes."

She ponders silently, wary.

"Isn't there something you want to do in Japan anyway?" Kyoya asks her.

Her eyes widen. "There is actually."

"Then let's do it."

She smiles. "Alright, I'm in."

"Then it's official."

The final sky battle was both very remarkable and unremarkable.

Weak-willed, naive little Tsuna managed to wield Sky Flames in a whole new way in literally a DAY. Like damnnnnnnnnnn. Kyo was of course able to free himself and beat the shit out of the other Varia, though taking some damage in the process. Though you know what took more damage? THE SCHOOL. It's as if a tornado just ripped through Namimori Middle, followed up by an earthquake, then topped off by a mild landslide. Which all in all is just a recipe to put Kyo into a REALLY bad mood, so to say I'm surprised he hasn't raged like hell yet is an understatement.

He was up and out of the house early in the morning despite his injuries. And honestly I was just feeling a bit awkward to follow after him. Certainly I heard the rustle of him leaving in the morning, but we'd missed the opportunity to say something to one another and clear the air of our painful last memory as kids. And it doesn't help that the whole conversation with Fon was also a bit (a LOT) embarrassing. Though, if anyone asks me, I'm totally cool, calm and collected - 100% unfazed by the idea of marriage. Definitely not me blushing right now, HAHHHH.

Ugh lol. Just remember, it's temporary, nothing strange about this at all, it's just the same as all the other meetings I'd taken in the past.

So here I am, slowly making my way through the school gates by myself; a perfect smile on my face as my classmates greet me.

"HATSU-CHAN! HATSU-CHAN! HELLO TO THE EXTREME!" I sweatdrop, I guess it would be too unbelievable to pretend I didn't hear his YELL to me.

I turn around with a graceful hair flip. "Good Morning Ryohei!" He's flanked by Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, the baby, Kyoko and another girl.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT OUR FIGHT?"

"Onii-san, did you fight again?" Kyoko says with worry.

"H-he meant our sumo match!" Tsuna interjects.

"Sumo match huh?"

Tsuna looks at me, starting to sweat profusely. His hands go up in front of him, begging me not to dispute.

I smile sweetly and add on the sugar - "Hmmmmmm, so I guess if we were at your SUMO MATCH, we can all agree that I had NOTHING to do with it and was an INNOCENT BYSTANDER that just HAPPENED ot be passing through, neh?"

Yamamoto starts to speak "But you kicked that -"

"Shut up baka!" Gokudera slaps a hand over his mouth.

"HAHAHHAHA of course, that's exactly what it was HAHAHA." Tsuna, now dripping sweat, replies.

The baby smiles at me and I'm determined to ignore his beady, black eyes because that spells trouble and I'm already mixed in too deep with this group than I really ever want to be.

"Perfect! Congrats again on your win in the sumo match! You were sooo impressive." I add in the last line to give Tsuna a confidence boost around his obvious crush, butttttttttttttt -

"HAHIIIIII! TSUNA YOU'RE SO COOL!" The other girl next to Kyoko screams. A blush blooming across her cheeks instantly.

I sweatdrop again. Ah. Another weird one.

"Of course the Tenth is the coolest!"

"H-h-haha thanks, it was really nothing."

"ARE YOU TSUNA'S FRIEND? WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND TOO? I'm Haru!"

Friend would be a huge stretch of the imagination. More so, person-I-keep-running-into-for-some-reason. But if I am the perfect, ditzy sort of popular girl, then certainly EVERYONE is my friend.

"Of course! I'm Hatsu and I'm sure we'll be great friends!" I'm sure we won't, but eh what she doesn't know can't hurt her.

"YATAAA!" She jumps up and down. "I'll see you after school Kyoko!" And then she bolts off down the street.

I walk with the rest of them through the school gates, feeling the baby's eyes on me the whole time… What a hassle. Maybe I should ditch school? Play sick? That sounds good. I'll feign a stomach ache once class begins and dip - once I grab Kyo.

I can't concentrate. I haven't been able to think straight, let alone sleep for the past 2 days. Anddddd the very reason just forced her way through my door.

"Kyo~ It's time to go!"

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

"I'm fine."

She prances over to my desk "hmmmm~" and she actually fucking slaps the knife wounds across my arms.

I grit in pain "I'll kill you."

"Okay, but before that, I want to go somewhere."

I sigh. "I have work to catch up on."

"Can't you get Tetsu to do it?"

I'm not getting much done anyway. I sigh and she quickly follows up her plea seeing the cracks in my defenses.

"I just want to relax, nothing crazy I promise. I was so busy trying to figure out the mission and working on my other missions, I didn't have time to actually enjoy any of what I love about Namimori."

Well, hearing her say she LOVES Namimori is helping her case…

"And someone handed me a flyer for a new matcha cafe. If we go in the middle of the day I'm sure it'll be empty!"

If I wanted anything from anywhere I'd just send someone to go get it and then eat it at home. Away from all the herbivores.

"I KNOW what you're thinking - 'why not just order and eat it at home?' -" I flinch. Yeah, never admitting to her that she is spot on.

"And the answer is because AMBIANCE. It's an experience being able to go to a new place and experience how they've put together the whole store. If you hate it, we can leave."

"Hn."

"Your vocabulary never ceases to amaze me."

Kyo glares at me.

He grabs his phone from his pocket and I stiffen. He dials a number, holds it to his ear - "I'm leaving for the day." and then hangs up. Hanging from the corner of his phone is a worn down phone charm of a little bird - the one I gave him.

And I can't help but beam up at him. He had it with him this whole time. And suddenly he's ADORABLE and I just wanna fluff his hair and so I DO. I ruffle his jet black hair and he scoffs, hand lightly swatting me away, but BARELY. I mean it's Kyo, so if he really wanted me to stop, well I'd be dead. But he barely manages to even graze my fingers, eyes closing for a moment to enjoy the little head massage I've gifted to him.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt? You suddenly hung up -" Tetsu bursts through the door, immediately pausing, seeing Kyo in a position (head being FLOOFED) he never assumed was possible. Because, you know, if anyone gets near his body they'd be straight up murdered.

"Uh… er"

"I'm just surrounded by eloquence."

"You - you're the new student right? What are you doing here?" Tetsu is actually observant. He commits to memory faces, whether meaningful or not, thinking it as part of his duty on the disciplinary committee. It's a good thing too, so he can help balance out where Kyoya might need help.

"That's me! Just bonding with the Head of the Disciplinary Committee! How else am I going to get all those favors he's already agreed to."

"No." Kyo says flatly.

"Like how he promised I could get the master key to every room in this building."

"No."

"Or how he said I could arrive 30 minutes late every day - in fact, he encouraged it."

"No."

"Okay but at least he said I could eat lunch here in the committee room every day?"

There's only a small - THE SLIGHTEST - uptick of the corner of his mouth. But I see it. "Fine."

Tetsu's jaw drops and I can visibility see his brain working harder than it's ever worked before to figure out what the hell is going on with Kyo.

"Okayyyy AND he said I could take occasional naps on the rooftop."

"You're pushing it."

"You do it all the time! What about only when you do it? Then I get to too?"

He smiles now this time. "Depends what I get in return."

"Ehhhh? Look who became Mr. Negotiator. Well that's easy anyway, I know what you want."

"Hm?"

"I'll spar with you. And not just that, I'll whoop your ass too, just like in the good ol days"

"BAHAH - HATSU? Is that really you Hatsu?" Kyo and I turn in sync to Tetsu who has finally deciphered it. "You've really grown up! Look at you!"

"In the flesh." I give him a quick twirl in my school uniform.

He beams at me, "You look great in our school uniform!" He's so genuine I can't help but beam back at him. He moves closer to me, nudging me in the side. "You must be the reason there have been so many crowds around lately. Were you behind the whole Judo club incident?"

"Heh you catch on quite fast Tetsu."

Kyo glares daggers at me from the side. "That was because of you."

I throw an arm over his shoulder. "Well you deserve some punishment for not recognizing me, obviously."

He smirks and grabs my arm, throwing me over his shoulder. But I quickly twist, aiming a jab at his gut. He jumps back, letting go of my arm, but quickly dives for me again. I duck, sliding beneath his legs then grab his ankles and twist. He catches himself before face meets the floor, spinning to loosen my hold on his legs. He flips through the air landing on the opposite wall, then pushes off and swings at me again. I dodge his succession of punches, then time it to grab his wrist on the next punch. I pull him toward me hard and elbow his back as he loses his footing. He takes the hit with a grunt, but to my surprise, wraps his arms around me, pulling me down with him. We tussle a bit more on the floor until I burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha Kyo you're tickling me right there!"

He smiles, finding the spot again.

"Wait, wait - hahahahaha" He doesn't relent, as he flips me over so my back is on the ground and he hovers over me.

"That's YOUR punishment for punishing me."

"Okay fine, fine! We're even. Well, once you buy snacks today."

"Hn." His nose nuzzles briefly into my neck for a second, until he pulls us both up.

I dust myself off, quickly heading for the door.

"...So, I guess I'll finish up the paperwork and clean up the room…" Tetsu smiles, scratching the back of his head having been forced to endure the entire exchange and also get out of the crossfire.

"Thanks Tetsu! We'll bring you back something!"

"Hn."

She skips up the steps ahead of me, humming a light tune in the wind.

She's the same. She has the same flippant attitude, same bold self-assurance, same watchful eyes.

But why do I feel like something has changed?

Maybe it's the unresolved feelings on both our parts of our abrupt parting as kids - hurt, guilt, bitterness, regret, longing - or maybe she didn't feel any of those and it's me corrupting the reunion. Maybe it's simply time and age and things were bound to change. Maybe it's nothing and I didn't know her to begin with. Or maybe -

"Kyo..." she pokes me in the forehead. "You're going to get wrinkles if you keep that up."

"That's just how I look."

"Well that's unfortunate." She smirks at me, then skips back up the stairs. "C'mon."

"Why here?"

"I missed it. The sound, smells, solitude. All of it. There are two places I think of when I think of Namimori."

"Here?"

"Mhm. This shrine and your house."

And something in my chest tightens as we pass under the red torii gates at the entrance.

A/N: wow early update from me~