DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN

Natsuki's POV
I continuously tapped my foot rapidly while drumming my fingers on the table. I threw my arms into the air in frustration. "Ugh why is Bel taking so long? He should have returned by now. Wasting time like this. Can't they hurry up a little?"

Lussuria placed another plate on the table in front of Xanxus. "Relax Nat-chan. Mammon-chan's room is on the other side of the mansion. It takes a bit of time to get there. I don't think that Bel-chan is in much of a rush to get there either."

"Well he should be. Squalo-sama was the one to call us after all." I stabbed down the chicken breast. We had already ate half the meal ourselves and if they didn't get here soon then I'll get them myself.

"Ushishishi, impatient aren't you now, Hime?" Bel walked through the dinning hall's main doors with Mammon behind him. I shot myself up taking them both by the shoulders. Rushing them over I pushed them into their assign seats. I jumped into my spot sitting perfectly upright.

"Okay, they're all here now. Tell them the good news." I was practically bouncing out of my seat waiting for Squalo to say something.

He cleared his throat. "As Natsuki made so bluntly obvious, I only have one reason for calling all of you here today. We are going to scout out a new leader for Varia."

Everyone, except for Xanxus, stopped eating. Of course I knew who the new candidate was seeing that I was the one to suggest him in the first place. Yet to the rest of Varia this was a ground breaking moment. We have recruited many members over the years but no one was an officer from off the spot.

This person was worthy of the title though. From what we all saw he had earned his place and was fitting in quite nicely. Fran, our former/future/ soon to be second Mist guardian. Sure, he was a ten years younger than the one we know but I'm sure that he still has the same potential. The fact that he had memories from his future self was a bonus.

The others didn't take it as well as I thought they would. I knew that they wouldn't be pleased but I thought they would have been more mature. Boy how wrong I was. They were immature children that couldn't get past the petty insults that Fran made regarding each of them. The result of them yelling and reciting insults only resulted in one thing.

A fight broke out with food flying over our heads with Squalo's foot on the table ready to fight anyone that challenged him. I was in a good mood though. Even if they were fighting we would, nonetheless, get Fran to join us sooner or later. So I choose to continue my meal, occasionally having to dodge a fork.

The fight was suddenly stopped when Mammon released a murderous intent. He quietly excused himself to the washroom. We all looked at each other for confirmation of what just happen. Mammon was usually the one that remained calm in moments like this. Our fights usually ended with either us running out of projectiles or someone being knocked out. Not Mammon non-verbally threatening us. Everyone returned to their seats cleaning their appearances slightly.

"So as I was saying," Squalo started off "We are going to retrieve Fran to see his capabilities in this era. Depending on how well he's well adapted, we may appoint him as a new officer." I inwardly squealed at the thought of a younger Fran being in the Varia mansion with us. "Get ready, we leave in 20 minutes."

I excitedly went to my room changing immediately. The last thing was a small backpack with two items placed inside. On the bottom was a small gift that I brought Fran. If my knowledge was correct he should be around 8 years old around this time. I carefully placed the snow globe that future him gave me into the bag. I couldn't wait to surprise him.

I paced around the main lobby for a while until the others were ready. They still seemed a little peeved that they were required to go and get Fran but still reluctantly got on the plane. Even a very ominous Mammon who I felt had second motives in mind for coming with us. I didn't hold in my smiling during the plane that the others felt creeped out. Mammon wasn't happy that I suffocated him in my arms in an overjoyed daydreaming that he had to knock me out with a sleeping spell. The joke was on him when I still didn't let him go after falling asleep.

After about 2 hours did they wake me up when we landed. I understood my little punishment that I decided to keep my joy to myself. We arrived in a quaint shack in the middle of the forest. According to future Fran, he lived in Jura with his grandmother for the majority of his life. That was until Squalo and Bel kidnapped him. Now history was to repeat itself.

I knocked on the door having Varia stand behind me at a reasonable distance. His grandmother slowly opened the door taking silent steps out. "Bonjour. Pardonnez-moi mais je n'attendais pas les visiteurs." (Hello. Forgive me, but I was not expecting visitors.)

I scratched my head trying to remember the French language. Good thing I practiced with future Fran. Learning seven languages to join Varia's standards sometimes end up being mixed together. The others could have spoken but we thought it would be better for his grandmother to talk to me over them. "Um- Nous nous cherchons pour Fran. Est-il ici?" (We were looking for Fran. Is he here?)

"Fran joue en amont. Il y a une rivière au ouest d'ici. Suivez la rivière et vous trouvez lui." (Fran is playing upstream. There is a river west of here. Follow the river up and you will find him.) She was clearly showing signs of being senile by disregarding her grandson's location to a bunch of oddly dressed strangers. "Mais aujourd'hui, il fait très chaud, voudriez-vous venir à l'intérieur pour du thé? Vos amis étranges pourraient aussi entrer." (But today is very hot, would you like to come inside for some tea? Your strange friends could come in as well.)

I looked back the others who shook their heads. Well Lussuria and Bel were up for the offer until Squalo yelled at them. I pulled an awkward smile to ensure her that we weren't that bad. "Non, merci." (No, thank you).

I waved her off returning to the group. Squalo continued to scold Lussuria about not having the time to join her for mid-afternoon tea. When Lussuria gave up on his side of the argument, we headed upstream like she said. The forest was dense that we would have gotten lost if it's wasn't for the sound of rushing water leading the most way. How Fran managed to maneuver around was proof that he was no normal child.

There was a nagging feeling at the back my neck. Not a dangerous one just annoying. Only Mammon seemed to notice so I figured that it was an illusionist's presence. It meant we were getting closer to Fran. Yet for the second time today, I was wrong. Before finding out target the Kokuyo gang made their entrance. We should known that he would want his apprentice after getting released from Vindice.

"Ah there he is! That's him, right?" We looked in Bel's direction. Crouching on a rock in the middle of the river was a small boy, with a large apple hat, poking into the water.

"Just like always Grandma's lunchboxes are terrible. Well then maybe I should stir up some trouble." With the same monotone voice, the boy spoke. He talked to himself while we exchanged questions on Fran's character. Fran fell sideways into the water with his hat as a flotation device. "I sense people."

Standing up suddenly he laid his eyes on us. Rubbing them a little he squinted at us. "No good. I'm starting to see fairies."

We were dumbfound. Did he just say fairies? Fran wiggled his body chanting unknown phrases. It sounded like he was trying to exorcise us. Mukuro tried to get Fran to recognize him but was called a pineapple fairy and Varia the tooth decay fairies. Bel, in an angry fit, through his knives Fran's illusion apple hat. Fran took off running away from each person that tried to confront him. Squalo, Mukuro and a pale glasses wearing boy managed to knock Fran off his feet pointing their weapons at him.

I raised my hand snapping my fingers. Fangs understood my command, taking a physical form he stood in front of Fran making the three withdrawal. Still in pup form he growled at them not to move. "As much as I love seeing Fran spit fire at all of you, I feel the need to prevent his death."

I crouched in front of the young frog not caring that my pants were getting wet in the process. "Fran, would it be okay if I ask a few questions about yourself? The likelihood of you surviving these two will be higher if you say yes." I asked as gently as possible.

He nodded not having any other choice. "First, did you recently move schools?"

"More than 2 weeks now. Grandma said it was safer this way. In a new school and a fresh start."

'2 weeks already? I lost that much time?' "I see. Then, how did you learn Japanese so well? In this remote region on Jura I wouldn't expect the school curriculum to teach such an off course subject."

"I'm self-taught. Affinity towards it, I guess. I don't really recall much of the process." I knew that the two men were starting to become restless from my seemingly useless questions.

"Final question, I promise. Um- roughly 3 months there was an earthquake that shook majority of the Earth. Do you happen to remember that? Or what you were doing at the time?"

"Not really. Grandma was pretty scared afterwards but when everything died down, she was back to normal."

I hummed in thought. "I understand."

I stood up giving Fran my hand. I pulled him up and guided him to shore. Placing my bag on the ground I retrieved the gift for Fran. A light green frog plushy near the size of his torso. "Here I got this for you. It was supposed to be in return for what you gave to me but that kind of fails now. I have no use for it anyways so you might as well take it."

He hesitantly took the toy. "Have we met before?"

"Don't worry about it. It's past news." I sucked in my breath looking at the snow globe still in the bag. This wasn't the Fran that I bonded with. I had to acknowledge that. This was 10 years in the past to him and I was a complete outsider.

"VOOOOI NATSUKI! What the hell is going on?!" I unknowingly patted Fangs' head.

"You already know so why are you asking me?" They weren't idiots. They could tell that there was something off with him. It wasn't the same as Fran's usual insults and sarcastic comments. He truly did not know who we were. Fran was bullied for his attitude.

With his new abilities of his future self I could imagine the increased skill separating him from the other kids. However, the difference between knowledge of your potential and the years of training shows. The fact that he knows fluent Japanese despite being in France all his life proves that he did indeed receive his memories. Yet he changed schools. Which means that he recently got his head hit by that block of cheese causing his amnesia.

"How did you piece everything so fast? Even with your intuition there were still holes in your questions." Squalo asked.

I avoided eye contact. "Well there may been a, ever so slight, chance that I predicted this to happen."

Everyone, including the Kokuyo gang, mouths dropped. "You mean to say you knew that he would have amnesia before we got here and you still came here?" Mukuro asked.

"No the problem is why would you drag us here!?" Levi yelled.

"In my defense, I did not have the exact time frame. It was a possibility that remained in my mind, yes, but I'd like to point out that I did tell Xanxus-sama to recruit him when I got back from the future. Then I had to catch up on all of my missions, help Verde in creating box weapons, deal with the aftermath of Tsunayoshi-kun's ceremony drama, handle father's constant invites so before I could tell 3 months past. Now there's a frog here with no memories of us. Entirely not my fault."

Squslo raised his hand. "Wait a second. Your father's invites?" I tensed up seeing where this was going. "YOU TOLD YOUR FATHER THAT YOU'RE ALIVE!?"

"D-did I not mention that? M-must have slipped my mind. So the matter on hand-" Squalo cut me off from changing the subject.

"DO NOT BRUSH THAT OFF LIKE NOTHING! YOUR FATHER IS GOING TO SKIN US ALIVE FOR WHAT WE DID! LET ME GUESS THAT BOSS DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS EITHER!" I meekly shook my head causing him to scream louder. He even caught on why I was being extra nice to Xanxus recently. He yelled how I wasted time coming here and that I was unprofessional for letting such important information to slip out.

"As much as I enjoy seeing the usual aloof Shadows being chided like a child, we must take our leave now. Make sure to watch over Fran." Mukuro gestured for his crew to start leaving. Squalo directed his attention over to him.

"Stop right there Mukuro! He's your disciple! You take him!" I released my breath as Squalo's one track mind gave me a bit of time to reason with him. Hopefully Xanxus will be more willingly to listen to my reason. If anything I'll just blame Tsunayoshi for blurting out my name that time.

I watched as Fran curiously tried to pull on Fangs' tail. The flames must have been a point of interest for him. On his lap was my small gift. It was supposed to be a joke between all of us. At least Fran was still cute as the older one. This one had his innocence as well. Well some of it. There was something still insulting in his presence.

"A fight then? Winner decides what happens to him." Mukuro suggested with a hint of smugness in his voice. He drew my attention away from Fran that I instantly stood up.

"I volunteer then. I was the cause for us being here. I'll take responsibility." I almost felt bad that I was going to wipe his ass. Of course I didn't really feel guilty for taking Varia here. I only volunteered so that I can finally take care of my hatred against him. Mukuro materialized his trident, opening his mouth.

"I volunteer as well. Mukuro-chan let me take her on." I openly laughed my heart out. M.M was the weakest out of all of the gang. For her to challenged me? I never would have imagined she would be so bold. The loyalty these members have is remarkably high.

"How dare you laugh at me?!" The switch inside of me flipped when she took out a clarinet. I researched each of Mukuro's subordinates' skill. M.M's clarinet had the ability to vibrate molecules to the point of boiling point. M.M stepped in front of her team placing the clarinet in ready position. I stood in front of Varia and Fran, matching to her. I held my hand out releasing out my Sky flames creating a shield against her music.

She growled at me. The combatants were settled. I would have preferred taking on Mukuro but this could work as well. My flames died down letting her see my smirking face. "Natsuki finish this fast. We don't need to be wasting anymore time."

"Got it, captain." I signaled Fangs to stay by Fran. Not for security measures but because I didn't need him to waste effort in this easy fight. I tautly motioned for her to come at me. She brought my bait turning her clarinet into a pair of nun chucks. I closely examined her technique. By holding on side in her right hand she planned to hit my left. I swayed my body back far enough to avoid her. Straightening myself immediately I came face to face with a scared M.M. Her body recoiled when I grabbed her wrist.

"I was told to end this quickly." I whispered. Taking her wrist I twisted it behind her back, putting my full weight onto her, knocking her down into the water. Animal boy yelled in the background with Mukuro not interfering. I watched closely at the bubbles forming in the water. Before she could lose consciousness I yanked her head out. She breathed heavily coughing up water. She looked at me with her drooping eyes having the water droplets build on her eyelashes.

"I'll only say this once. Give up now or give up your life." I felt the muscles on her arm tighten under my grip. She was trying to struggle but with the lack of air that she had, there was only so much that she managed to do.

"That's enough Shadows. M.M's death is not worth it." I rolled my eyes at him but still let her go. She fell to her knees scraping it against the rocks. Good thing the river washed it away. I heard Varia cheer behind me.

"So as winner." I stressed the word winner over to M.M. "I want to Fran choose his own path." I left M.M in her wallowing sorrow. Fran heard me looking between the two groups. On one hand was his Mafiose Famiglia, Varia. The same people that he spent majority of the time with and who gave him his freedom to roam as he pleased. On the other hand was his master's group. They were the ones to fully harness his potential beyond imagination.

"I choose that group." A small part of me broke when I saw that Fran pointed to Mukuro. Fran looked at me knowing full well how I felt. I nodded. It was because he was a young illusionist. He was drawn to the power Mukuro had. There was always a part of illusionists that played with people minds, even if we didn't want to. The more powerful they were, the stronger the pull. Mukuro was the only exception in my book. It didn't make it better that the two shared a mind in a future. Even if Fran didn't remember that part.

"If you're going with that pineapple fairy, then please take this." I rummaged through my bag for some paper and a pen. I scribbled down my number, handing it to him. "If you ever need some help then do not hesitate to call me. A simple call every now and then wouldn't hurt either." He took the paper, giving me a nod. I gave him a hug goodbye returning with Varia. It was a sad parting in my mind but it wasn't like I couldn't see him ever again.

I set down the final plate on to the cart. "Well that's everything. Should we tell everyone?"

"Wouldn't want the food to get cold now would we? I'll get Bel, Squalo and Levi. You handle Boss and Mammon?" Lussuria took off his apron, hanging it in his usual hook. I set off to Mammon's room first.

I tilted my head at the door. The closed door. Mammon was always awake or at least aware of my presence. Now I was standing in front of his door without him popping out of nowhere. I knocked quickly. "Mammon? Are you awake yet?"

I paused when the door knob clicked unlock. I peeked inside looking at his bed. 'Natsuki-san, Master Mammon is not awakening.' Fantasma telepathed. Even in his usual serious tone he expressed his concern.

I rushed next to his bedside. Mammon mouth was pulled into a tight line with his purple signs expanding. He was having a nightmare from the looks of it. I placed my hand on his body letting out harmonizing Sky flames. His body relaxed under my hand. I sat there for a few minutes to comfort him. Under his sleeping cap he must have opened his eyes. He rotated his head to look at me. "Natsuki? What are you doing?"

I stopped my flames sitting on his bed. "Fantasma let me in when you wouldn't wake up from your nightmare. Are you okay?"

"Not so much a nightmare but an old reunion. Where's boss?" He sat up moving over to his bathroom. My eyes followed him in confusion. He looked anxious to get out of his room. It was like he was trying to escape to somewhere else.

"Uh, I was just about to get him for breakfast." He came out in a matter of seconds in his uniform. He said something about having to talk to Xanxus in my spot. He let the door close leaving me in his room. Fantasma and I swapped looks. He shrugged his tiny frog shoulders hopping on to my head. I got up when the main line phone in my pocket rang. I looked at the caller id then accepted the call.

"Morning Verde? How can I help you?"