Lambo was halfheartedly listening to his teacher verbally reciting lines in clear English from some famous renowned Elizabethan playwright.
'Why am I even here?!' He inwardly grumbles to himself as he aimlessly doodles across the multi-lined notebook paper with his pencil.
'Why can't I just drop out and be a full time hitman?' The Bovine teen inwardly contemplates about his potential career choices other than being a student.
His eyes then briefly peer up from his portrait and rove about until he spots a familiar face amongst his peers.
The Chinese assassin was animatedly jotting down notes, which she will be more than willingly to let him see later on.
The young man definitely took notice of the young girl once they entered high school but he was not the only one either.
Surprisingly, I-Pin managed to easily obtain the coveted status of popularity just by being herself. On the other hand, he was dubbed a socially weird awkward that was coined due to a horrible failure of a confession.
The school bell rung as it signaled the end of their school day.
"Review this sonnet and roughly transcribe it." Their English Literature teacher issues out their assignment along with a "pop" of the book when it closes.
The curly teen speedily departed from the class since his brain was tuckered out for the day.
"I shoulda known," slips from his lips at the sight of his fellow famiglia member that presently stands in front of his locker.
The brunette girl instantly hands him a dark red notebook with "Eng. Lit" on the cover while she knowingly claims, "I figured you might need to borrow this."
"Double?" The young man inquisitively enquired after he noticed a neatly folded white apron against her forearm.
She simply closes the flap of her bag before she replies, "Nope, just the dinner shift."
"You ready?" I-Pin then poses after Lambo opens his locker door to toss his textbooks in, except for his homework and her notebook.
He begrudgingly nods his head as he inwardly grumbles, 'Ugh,'
8888
"Come in," The aged male shouted as a butler opened the door.
In walked the very young man that will soon inherit the famiglia from his father and so forth until the very creation of the Ricotta Famiglia.
"I do hope this paperwork is in order." He was greeting him only to hear a "pow" from the papers colliding against the stained Oak desk.
This earned a rather pointed glare from the older male, who in turned questioned, "Is there a problem?"
"Why is Spring not in the dungeon serving out her punishment for Insubordination?" Yui sternly demands with his arms in front of his chest.
"As any working girl here, she has a debt to repay." He calmly explains as he reaches for a wooden box that graces the surface of his desk.
The silver haired male was watching him removing a cigar from within the container and listening to his son's complaint, "I know that but then I have a right to know where she is at all time."
"Only I and the Madam are privy to that information." The older man was reminding him while checking the ends of it and signaling for one of his servants.
His son raises an eyebrow at that statement when he irritably needles, "Are you really talking to me about protocol?"
"I'm reminding you of your position." He remarked after he repeatedly yet lightly puffed on the lit cigar for a few seconds then took a long drag.
"Spring is under my charge." Yui runs by his father again exactly where the young woman belongs in the household.
The elderly man deeply sighs, briefly shakes his head, and softly murmurs, "Didn't I tell you not to mix business with pleasure."
"You sound as if you want to own her." He bluntly presumed based off the tone and aggressive stance he took whenever the Miura girl was involved.
The silver haired male softly "tsk" his tongue at the nerve of his father before he reminds him, "If I recall your infamous tales, you owned your own harem before you even married mom."
The Ricotta boss puffs some small distinct "o" in the sky, sighs once again, and counters, "That was in my much younger and wild days."
"I want her as my wife." Yui boldly declared with a rather serious expression on his face, which earns an, "Oh?"
"But not until her debt's paid off." He added in since he knew that was probably the major reason as to why his father constantly rejected the idea.
An expression of thought was materializing on his face at the idea of the two being together. 'It could potentially solidify our position with the Vongola.'
"I'll think about it." His father was agreeing to at least sparing a few thoughts about the idea of a potential courtship.
He then crushes the lit cigar against the ash tray when he makes known, "And as a show of my thoughtfulness, the car is arriving shortly in the main driveway."
'A wedding, huh?'
8888
Bianchi brushes then tucks a stray strand of her dark violet hair behind one of her ears once they finally reach the lobby of the restaurant.
"We should definitely do this sibling date again, hm?" She directs her inquiry to her only brother with a small smile on her face.
"Hm, oh yeah?" Hayato unknowingly hesitates with his answer to his sister's question.
His slip up caused her to instantly perk up at the unplanned slight pause in his response, which prompted her to question, "Who is it this time?"
"What?!" The silver haired male irritably snaps since she quickly closes the distance between the two.
Bianchi physically raises an eyebrow at her sibling's nonchalant demeanor when she sternly retorts, "Don't play coy with me, Romeo!"
"I'm not your ex, remember." He annoyingly counters along with a roll of his eyes as he slips his hands inside of his pockets.
She was thrn repeatedly yet gently patting his back with her left hand when calmly claiming, "It's an adage."
"Besides, you're never this caught off-guard unless it is a woman." The violet haired female enlightens him about the reason why she currently questions his behavior.
He simply exhales a deep breath before he speaks up, "Kyoko,"
At the sound of their boss wife name, Bianchi immediately jumped in the middle of his sentence, "What?! Not your precious Juudaime beloved!"
She then proceeds to go on a tangent, "Oh my gosh! This is like Camelot where Guinevere is stuck between two lovers: the King Arthur and his loyal knight Lancelot."
"Shut up for a second wills you!" Hayato slightly raises his voice since the older woman did not allow him to finish his thoughts. "You need to ease up on the Medieval melodrama."
"Kyoko-san made a friend from the Inheritance Ceremony." He starts of as he removes his hands from his pockets to rub his temples.
An image surfaces to the forefront of her mind before she questions, "Are you talking about that brunette girl you were glaring holes in? I thought you was going to stare so many holes in her that she would become Swiss cheese?"
"Well she's a part of the Ricotta Familga." The silver haired male includes once the headache starts to subside.
"The ones that deal with trafficking girls?" She recalls as she places her index finger on the surface of her chin.
The taller of the two then directs his sights on to the valet, who in turn removes a set of keys from underneath the podium.
"She's a part of them. They probably think they've curried some favor since they willingly permitted Kyoko to hang out with that stupid woman." He expressed his genuine opinion about the situation along with a shake of his fist.
'A personal nickname?' Bianchi privately thinks along with a small smile on her face but instead she vocalizes, "I see, we definitely don't want them to capitalize off this precious friendship."
4444
Haru happily emerged from the tinted vehicle with a wide smile across her face as she gently cradled the sweet memento close to her chest.
'I….' The abrupt sight of the blonde male with glasses in the walkway prompts her smile to fall from her face. "Welcome back, Miura-san,"
A barely audible "thanks" slips from her lips as she hesitantly stares him directly in the face.
"Welcome back, Spring," A familiar voice was calling from behind Katsumi as her body was instinctively tensing up because she was concealing the slice of cake from their eyes.
The shorter male simply glanced over at his boss son's direction with a slightly confused yet composed expression present on his face.
'Who told him about her arrival time?' He inwardly poses the million dollar question at the sudden presence of Yui.
The silver haired male casually approaches the lone women and plays with a loose strand of her brown hair.
"I've missed you today. Where are you coming from?" The taller of the two curiously poses while he tucks the strand behind her right ear.
The lone woman amongst the group opts to remain silent until she overhears, "Oh…what do we have here?"
He simply peeks over her shoulder only to find a slice of cake presently behind her back. So he extends one of his arms around her waist and secures the object.
The young man then pops open the lid of the carry out tray, which immediately earns a shout of, "That's mine!"
His sights merely narrowed in on the girl who just surprisingly raised her voice at him. So he addressed her in a solemn tone, "What's yours is mine, right?"
The next heir to the Ricotta releases the lid, breaks off and tastes a piece of the cake only to loudly exclaim, "This is far too sweet!"
Yui then extends the open container toward his blonde friend and suggests, "Try some Kats,"
"No thank you. I'm not a sweets person." He politely declines the offer with a shake of his head "no" as he lifts the palm of his hand in his direction.
The next in line repeatedly offers everyone else that was around a potential taste of the sweet treat, "Anyone else?"
"Oh well," The young man dramatically uttered as he purposely dropped it on the floor directly in front of her face since no one else wanted some.
His tone then drops to another octave when he sternly reprimands her, "You only accept gifts from me."
"Take her to the dungeon." The silver haired male was ordering the guards while turning around to face the main entrance of the mansion.
He proceeds on ahead as two men roughly manhandles Haru by her arms in order to physically drag her to the lower dungeons.
A shadowy figure, who stood from above, cheerfully smirks at the sight in front of them before they proudly utter, "That's my boy."
4444
"You seem a bit pale, are you alright?" Tsuna anxiously poses at the moment his wife enters in his private study and within his sights.
"I'm fine. We just got back from the bakery." She answers while she digs inside of her tote, removes a plastic carton and hands him a tart.
He graciously accepted the kind gesture when he initially presumed, "I take it didn't go as plan?"
"Actually, it did." Kyoko positively replies once she settles in one of the two seats that were in front of his desk.
Her brown eyes briefly glance at the piles of paper on his desk when she makes known, "It just the head of the Ricotta gives me the absolute creeps."
"He's a perverted man that manipulates girls in to serving him." The orange haired woman honestly regarded about the older man from her few but brief encounters with him.
Her husband sits forward with a rather serious expression on his face when he sincerely expresses, "Which is why I want you to be careful with this friendship, I don't want to see you hurt."
"Haru's a good girl. She'll tell me if something's wrong." Kyoko genuinely conveys positive words about the young woman.
He then raises an eyebrow at his wife's statement when he gives her the third degree, "So you completely trust her honesty?"
"100%...but I am concerned about Yamamato-san." The young woman redirected their conversation to a topic that has her slightly concerned.
An expression of "why" surfaces to his face as he straights up a few stray pieces of papers that somehow manage to escape the neatly stack pile.
"Gokudera-san couldn't be there so he asked him to be his sub and I think he saw something on Haru's body." She explains the reason why it was Takashi and not Hayato there at the date.
"He is sensitive too others emotions." The young man agrees about his Rain Guardian's natural ability to empathize with others.
Kyoto nods her head forward before she suddenly recalls something else from her memory, "By the way, did you see the flyer of a local festival at the end of this week? I think we should attend."
"I'll think about it."
Meanwhile…
Takeshi was brewing a fresh kettle of hot tea when Hayato was entering in the kitchen and lazily plopping down in one of the round metallic bar stools.
The brunette male carefully fills up two cups with tea after he removes the metallic appliance from over the lit stove top.
"Here you go," The taller of the two then hands over one of two cups, which his companion cordially accepts with a small nod of his head.
Hayato intentionally allows the hot liquid to give off a stream of steam first before he abruptly halts in the middle of a sip to demand, "Spill." "Hm?!"
"You look like something is bothering you, so talk." The silver haired male openly points out after he finally drinks from the ceramic cup.
He was gently rubbing the nape of his neck with one of his hands as his eyes glance toward the floor when admitting, "I saw them."
It did not take too long for what the "them" was to register in the seated man's mind, "The bruises? I told you, you would see some."
"Yeah, except those look fresh." The Rain Guardian speaks up with a slight pain in his tone once he drops his hand in front of his torso.
The other young man almost spitted the liquid that was in his mouth out but instead he managed to gulp it down and shrieked, "What?!"
'So they added on more since the last time I saw that stupid woman at the park?!'
"They looked like she was tightly shackled then roughly yanked on." Takeshi was including with one of his hands now in a fist and the other was pointing at his wrist.
The Storm Guardian could only shake his head at the sheer audacity of the Ricotta to even send the girl out with fresh markings on her skin. "Well, what did you expect?"
"Their calling is Human Trafficking." He was informing the male, who was maintaining a standing position during their conversation.
Takeshi then takes his fist, slams it on the surface of the island to gripe, "And the Council just let them do it?! I thought that was frowned upon in the Mafia world."
"Frowned upon yet ignored." The silver haired male was illuminating his friend about the truly shadowy ways of their governing body.
"That's too bad. She seems like such a sweet girl too." The brunette highly regards about the woman's personality begins he sips from the cup.
A "ha" escapes from his mouth when he enquiringly needles, "You found that weird stupid woman…sweet?"
"Now I think you really took way too many balls to the head." The Storm Guardian was strongly contending about the man's ability to properly judge the brunette woman.
The standing man was amusingly chuckling at the comment before saying, "The way you described her was a bit…far fetched too."
A tea cup was then pointed in his direction when he forewarned his brother in arms, "That's because she was hiding her true nature,"
"I think you were just being a jerk towards her." He honestly remarks about the young man in front of him, especially when it comes down to the opposite sex.
Hayato merely shrugs his shoulders and brushes it off with, "Difference of opinion,"
"How did Kyoko take it?" His green eyes narrow in on the liquid in the cup while he asks about Kyoko's reaction to the bruises thus go round.
The former professional Baseball player releases a sigh, places the cup on the island and mentions, "She was the one that told me not to question Haru-san about then."
'Haru-san?' The silver haired male inwardly thinks right before he verbally quips, "You two on a first name basis now?"
His facial expression visibly gave away the answer to the question so he followed up with, "Yep, hook, line and sinker."
"So says the one who gave her a special nickname," The Rain Guardian was coyly retorting with a visible smirk on his face.
The duo intensely stared at each other, both were completely aware of the tension that started to build until Ryohei casually jogged in the kitchen.
"Thanks for the tea, Baseball Freak." Hayato politely thanks him after he speedily downs the rest of it and places the empty cup within arm's reach.
The eldest of the three then peep his head out from behind the refrigerator door to curiously probe, "Is everything okay?"
"It's fine. Just a stubborn bull, that's all." Takashi simply declared once the Storm Guardian finally departed from amongst the group.
Ryohei momentarily peers up at the clock when he verbally pronounces, "Speaking of a bull, Lambo should be home right about now."
"Actually, he has Cram School tonight." He provides the reason as to why the young teen was not presently within the headquarters ground.
"I see."
'You really are an idiot, Gokudera-san.'