Disclaimer: I own the OCs, the rest is Akira Amano's work.
Fratellanza
Fon won. That was it. Fon won Dino's trust, but it didn't mean he was happy to see me leaving.
"You're mad at me?" He stopped putting clothes in my suitcase.
"Wha..." He ruffled my hair. "No, I know where you're coming from it's just...I don't want you to go far from me for another ten years, that's all." He laughed, but it sounded empty. "I want to watch you growing up and complain about the day you had at school and..." I stared blankly at him.
"We both know I didn't make any friends at school and I don't feel like doing it anyway. Reborn told me he would send Fon homework and lectures made specially for me, so I won't fall behind and won't be hold back by your regular ten-year-old." He pursed his lips. "And China looks cool. Maybe I can be the new...what was it again? That movie in the eighties..."
"Karate Kid?"
"Yeah that!" He sat sadly on my bed. "Dino?"
"Aren't you even just a little bit sad to leave?" I frowned and pushed him, making him fall completely on the bed. "Luciana?"
"You're an idiot." He sat up in confusion. "I don't want to leave home, but I need to train, and Fon can train me to control my flame. I can't...I have to do it, and then I'm home." I smiled a little. "I'll miss you Dino, you should know that." He stared at me with wide eyes and sighed in relief.
"I am an idiot sometimes." I nodded in agreement and he looked like I had stabbed him in the back. "Ana! And you're leaving me alone with Reborn too!" He glared when I dared pretending to be innocent and not understand what he was talking about.
The goodbyes were tearful. For me and Dino, not for the others. Even when I was at the gate, Dino was screaming things at me, waving his arms in the air. At some point, Reborn just kicked him in the leg to make him stop embarrassing everybody.
Fon chuckled at me being embarrassed by Dino.
"You do know that as an Arcobaleno, even if I am not Reborn, it will not be easy," he told me once in the plane. I smirked, even if I was not the most relaxed in the plane.
"I get bored easily, didn't Reborn tell you?"
Training was hard. I had no stamina whatsoever. I would never have a lot, but Fon made me understand how little my stamina was.
However, he was a good teacher. Days were long, not always fun, but I was learning. Even if the traditional Chinese outfit he got me for training clashed with my European look, I was learning.
Just like that, a year and a half flew by. I would go home for Christmas. I had just got back from my second Christmas home as Fon's student when I noticed something was weird. Fon's sister, Feng, picked me up from the airport but I was sure she had cried. The car ride was silent all the way. It was making me anxious.
I shut the car door behind me and grabbed my suitcase. Usually, Fon would be inside with warm tea waiting for me. He was not in the living-room though.
"Fon!?" I yelled. I turned around to Feng. "Did he take a job or som..."
"Sorry, I am here." I looked down at my master and handed him the gift Dino asked me to give him. He took it and thanked me. "There will be some changes for some time. My nephew will be staying with us until he goes back to Japan." I raised a brow. I didn't care that much about someone staying.
"Sure? Why is he here?" Fon fake smiled at me.
"Family issues with his father." I shot a quick look at Feng behind me. She had cried, and I knew for a fact Fon, no matter how nice he was, was and had been involved in shady things.
I was eleven, sure, but I was not a simple kid, something I realized too many people I knew kept thinking. They thought they were so smart talking in some 'codes' I totally understood.
I was a kid, but a Mafia kid, that I wanted it or not. I was trained by an Arcobaleno.
I would observe, listen, and make my own conclusions.
Someone died in Fon's family.
"Anyway, he does not like human contact very much so...just be nice?"
"Wow, you make sound heartless Fon."
"It's not that, let's just say that sometimes you say things that should remain unsaid." I rolled my eyes.
"I'll be careful Master."
Truth be told, I had not seen his nephew for another week. I was doing the homework Reborn would send every month when a boy my age walked in the living-room. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me blankly.
I stared blankly in return.
He looked a lot like Fon, except for his steel-colored eyes. I didn't know if it was because he was grieving, but he seemed much colder too.
"Hello," I said in English. He was Japanese from what I understood, but my Japanese was far from good enough to talk with a native, my Chinese was good but I didn't know if he could speak Chinese and I was sure he would not understand my Italian. "I'm Luciana, Fon's student." He just stared at me and walked outside.
Rude.
For the first week, we would see each other like that, me doing my homework, him...his own thing. I would feel him staring at me sometimes at diner, and I would stare at him in curiosity too sometimes.
Most of the time, he stayed locked up in his room with Fon and Feng talking to a wall.
When I was practicing my moves, Fon brought him. I lowered my leg.
"Today, Kyoya will train with you."
"Fine."
I positioned myself in a fighting stance I knew by heart now, as he pulled tonfas out of nowhere. Wooden tonfas, but they were tonfas nonetheless.
"Start!" We ran at each other.
I threw my leg at his face, but he blocked it with his tonfa. With the other one, he tried to hit me, but I let myself fall on my hands and with my available leg, I kicked his ankle. He started to fall backward, but used his hands on steady himself and jumped back. I got back up and tilted my head on the side.
He was my age, but was way too strong. He was related to Fon, but still.
Strangely, I was pretty sure the same thoughts were going through his brain.
He went back at me, faster than before, and I dodged, as much as I could. He was not holding back.
At some point, I grabbed his tonfas. My hands would bruise later at the impact. Still, I used this opportunity to kick him in the stomach, sending him a few meters back.
Ho got back up and ran at me. I froze for a second when I saw the blood lust in his eyes. It was enough for him to tackle me to the ground, his tonfa on my neck, stopping my breathing.
"Kyoya!" Feng screamed, but Fon stopped her from coming.
I put my hand on his shirt, where his heart should be, and made my flame. Now, it was spread on the surface of my hand only, enough for him to feel the heat and danger, not enough to actually hurt him until I decided otherwise.
Slowly, before I passed out from lack of oxygen, he pulled his tonfa away from my throat. I removed my hand as well and coughed.
"Very impressive you two," Fon told us as he got closer. "For children so young, you have improved a lot."
"The Italian is a carnivore." I blinked at Kyoya.
"Wait, so you speak perfect Chinese?" He shot me an uninterested look. "I thought you didn't speak good Chinese so you stayed quiet."
"I don't like speaking for nothing," he answered flatly before yawning. I got up.
I said it once and I'll say it again: rude.
I was doing my evening moves when the rain started to fall. Fon was in town with Feng, so it was just Kyoya and I. It was more like behind left alone with...he ignored me quite often, that was all. He would pick a fight in training, but outside of this, I was still pretty invisible.
I liked it.
I looked at my right, toward a bush, when I heard a noise. Probably my imagination…
I heard it again.
I inched closer to the bush and raised my brow at the wounded bird in the mud.
"Hey little one," I whispered, kneeling to pick him up, "let's get you fixed up." I hurried inside, where Kyoya was eating. We stared at each other until his eyes landed on the bird. "It's hurt."
Kyoya frowned and disappeared somewhere for a couple of minutes. I blinked in confusion as the first-aid kit and towel he came back with and dropped them on the table.
"Put it in the towel." As I just assisted him by giving him what he needed to heal the bird, I was surprise to see him being...kind.
For some reasons, until the day he left to go back to Japan, he would acknowledge my presence.
Weird kid.
Huh…
I was a weird kid too.
But I didn't even know his last name.
Whatever, I probably wouldn't see him again anyway.
"Mafia Land?" Fon smiled behind his cup of tea.
"It has been three years since you have been here, and from what Reborn told me, Don Cavallone is whining and begging to have some sibling bonding time." I pursed my lips.
I was twelve and a half and a lot more capable of fighting back without killing than before. Unlike Reborn, Fon was actually patient when I was failing at doing something. Like adding weight to the weights around my ankles because speed might be my biggest advantage in close-range fight.
Fon didn't like it when I 'forgot' to make them heavier.
"Do you think Dino will freak out to see I started puberty?" He shrugged his small shoulders. "By the way, I wanted to know..."
"Hum?"
"You're not a real baby, are you?" He raised his small eyebrows and let a small sigh escape his mouth. "Were you all turned into babies by a wizard or something?"
"I guess...you could put it that way."
"For what? Super secret mission?"
"It depends, would protecting the balance of the world be a 'super secret mission' as you put it?" I widened my eyes and he smiled softly. "Well, you have been a great student, maybe I should reward you with some secret knowledge?"
Let's just say that, when Fon and I arrived at Mafia Land, I stared a little too harshly at Reborn-shaped balloons. The Arcobalenos...damn, their secret sucked.
I slightly started when Fon jumped on my head.
"Don't think about it, it is in the past."
"Hn, sure," I mumbled quietly as we reached the hotel. There, in the lobby, was my now...what, eighteen-year-old brother?
"Luciana!" he yelled in glee, running toward me. Fon escaped before Dino decided to show his strength and lifted me off the ground to hug me with a big grin.
"I missed you too," I managed to croak. "Let me breath." He put me down immediately and scratched the back of his head.
"Sorry, sorry!" He looked at me, up and down. "You grew up."
"I even have my period now." He looked disgusted and Reborn kicked him in the head.
"Stop being a child, would you rather have her not having her period? She'd be pregnant." Dino widened his eyes in a comical way and started spluttering things about how I was too young for that and probably didn't even know what sex was.
"I saw two people do it in the street years ago, I know where babies come from." I rolled my eyes when Dino hugged me again and shot Reborn a smile. "Hey Reborn." He smiled back at me.
"Hello, you seem to be doing okay." I nodded and patted my poor brother on the back.
We spent two days having fun doing every single attraction in the park. Reborn and Fon were off doing their own thing, even if I felt Reborn had something in mind. Thinking about it, Dino was giving some weird looks every now and then.
"The back of Mafia Land? Why are we going there?" Fon remained quiet. It was weird. As Reborn was on the island, I didn't think much of the glowing pacifier.
When I had a blond baby with a blue pacifier in front of my eyes, it was a different matter though. Especially with another baby, with goggles though, and a blond man in a suit standing behind him, near Reborn and Dino.
"...hi?"
"Are you Luciana?" the man in a suit asked me. I nodded slowly. "My name is Sawada Iemitsu, I'm the External Advisor of the Vongola Family." I tilted my head on the side.
"Important if I remember well…?" He nodded. "Nice to meet you." I looked down at the two babies.
"I'm Lal Mirch."
"And I'm Colonello maggot!"
"What's going on?" I mumbled quietly, not liking how there was an important member of the Vongola in front of me. Said member seemed surprised.
"You don't know? You are joining the CEDEF, I'm here to assess you skills."
"I'm not joining the CEDEF," I stated with conviction, looking at my brother. "Right?" Dino was not looking at me, staring at the ground instead, his foot playing with an invisible rock. "Dino?"
"The Flame of Wrath was Vongola Secondo's flame, the Vongola Family cannot let it out of its sight. The Ninth accepted you stayed at the Cavallones in exchange of you joining the CEDEF once you were ready," Reborn explained firmly and I glared at him.
It had been decided for years and I heard about it just now?
"I see," I spat icily, Dino wincing at my tone. "So?"
"You will fight Dino." I shot a cold look at Reborn, then at my brother before getting in a fighting stance.
"Wait Reborn, I don't think she's..."
"I'm ready," I cut him off sharply, my eyes glaring daggers at him.
"Iemitsu?"
"Start!" Iemitsu said.
I charged at him, palm opened and fingers bent. In front of him, I slid my right foot to him and tried to hit his shoulder with my hand. He avoided, but his coat was slightly burned because of my flame. He stared at it in shock for a second and frowned, finally taking his whip. Good, he would take me seriously.
I jumped back and cursed in my mind when his whip wrapped itself around my ankle and threw me in the ground. I heard Dino coming to me, but I used the dust to make an illusion of myself and hid myself in the mist.
I couldn't do illusions for a long time. It was only on myself and overusing them or trying to extend them to another person would exhaust me. Kyoya dragged me on the ground to go in the kitchen and let Fon and Feng deal with me.
As Dino was dealing with the illusion, who was avoiding the blows because she couldn't throw a punch, I analyzed Dino's fighting skills. Of course, he had to have strength in the arms, but he also needed a solid footwork as a whip was flexible and he needed to move a lot.
"What..." he started as my illusion disappeared. Yeah, they were really for short period of time.
"It seems you hid something from us, Luciana," Reborn commented. He was next to me and Dino turned to us, but I was already moving.
"It wouldn't be fun otherwise!" I slid in front of Dino and grabbed his whip. He turned his head toward me when he felt me pulling his weapon to me and started to pull back. Quickly, I grabbed his wrist and used it to throw my body in the air and kick my brother in the chin, my illusion around me broken.
Then, as I was still in movement, I managed to get myself on his shoulders and fell to the right, Dino following. As a result, I had one leg around his chest, the other leg blocking the arm with the whip to the ground and my arm on his throat.
"Alright, that's enough." I released Dino at Iemitsu's voice. He got up and cleared his throat before looking at me. Very maturely, I looked away with an angry scowl, ignoring how Reborn kicked him to the ground.
"You still have a long way to go if you get beaten by a twelve-year-old. Don't underestimate your opponent."
"I know but..." He gulped in front of my glare and didn't finish his sentence. Good. "Since when do you do illusions?" I shrugged.
"Years. You never asked, Fon taught me what he could, but he's no illusionist. He said I was a..."
"Shapeshifter. Usually, these people are good for infiltration and assassination." I nodded at my master's words. Yup, I couldn't throw a shit show like Mukuro or Alaric could, but I could infiltrate without anyone noticing.
"It's even better than I was expecting!" Iemitsu laughed in glee before walking to me. I raised my head to properly look at him. "Welcome to CEDEF, we'll take good care of you, Luciana." I shot a look at his hand, then at his face and sighed.
"Do I even have a choice anymore?" I muttered as I shook his hand halfheartedly. His eyes became more compassionate for an instant.
"That's why I'll try to make sure it's good for you." I blinked and raised a brow.
He...cared?
Wow.
That was nice.
"Thank you for the past three years Fon," I thanked the Arcobaleno as he was about to leave, like Reborn and Dino. He smiled at me.
"You're welcome, I am more than happy to call you my student. Do not forget to add weights." I sweat dropped and smirked nervously. His smiled grew a little bit bigger. "But do not worry, if you forget I told Lal to remind you." I tensed.
Oh damn.
"Ana..." Dino tried, but I held up my hand to stop it.
"It was nice to see Dino, but I am still mad at you so I'll call you when I'm not anymore." He looked like a kicked puppy but let it go. "See ya, Reborn." He smirked at me from Dino's shoulder.
"When you come for Christmas, I'll assess your gun skills myself. Don't disappoint me Luciana." I grew tenser. Yeah, I would learn how to use a gun but…
But Reborn assessing my gun skills?
Freaking heck. Wait, I would no longer be living with Fon, so I could curse.
Fucking hell.
"It's...better than I expected it to be Boss."
"Call me Master!" he exclaimed, pointing at him and his stupid grin with his finger. I smiled softly.
"No way in hell I am calling you Master or using some weird ass old Japanese." He sighed.
"I tried. So all of this computer hacking lessons are interesting?" I nodded. "What about Lal's training?"
"I kind of feel like in an American war movie, but it's good. She's a good teacher, and I share my pain with Basil." And oh how we did share our pains.
I could shoot with a gun now though. Lal tried to convince me a riffle was better, but as I had a martial artist background, a gun would be more useful than a long-distance riffle.
Anyway.
I liked being in CEDEF unlike I thought at the beginning. They were an intelligence organization, not a Mafia mafia Family. They were independent of the Vongola. And, the best of all, was that I was putting my brain to use instead of my fighting skills. I still trained, of course, but I was learning the strategy of a battle and stuff like that.
I loved it.
Even if Iemitsu tried to make me believe that poker was a regular part of training to learn how to read someone. Well, I believed it at first but Oregano pitied me and told me Iemitsu just wanted to earn money. Apparently he had a mortgage to pay, because he was married with a kid barely younger than me.
Weird to think of him as a father and husband. Especially because I would see him everyday.
I sent a letter to Dino after three months here. I told him I was mad because I felt like a transaction, but I liked the CEDEF but was busy. His letter though, that I received a few days letter, was long and full of apologies and how happy he was to know I didn't hate him. I had to sigh reading this.
As if I would ever be able to hate Dino, seriously.
I yawned as I was bringing paperwork to Iemitsu.
"Boss, paperwork..." I said flatly, entering his office. I stopped at the blond guy in the black suit in front of Iemitsu. "Oh, sorry for interrupting."
"It's okay Luciana, put these here." I did, and as I turned around, I looked at the guy, who looked back at me. He widened his light brown eyes in shock and I raised a brow.
"Do I have something on my face sir?" He seemed taken back by my words, almost as if he expected me to be rude to him or something.
"No, it's just...you remind me of someone. I'm Federico." I nodded and was ready to leave when Iemitsu stopped me.
"It's Nono's third son and most likely the next Boss, Luciana." I blinked and looked at the man. He was what, in his mid-twenties?
"Oh, sorry Vongola Decimo. I didn't know who you were." He smiled at me, almost in nostalgia of something I didn't know.
"You couldn't know." Then, lower, he added. "I wish you would have."
Huh…
A new weirdo appeared.
Fratellanza
Thanks for reading this chapter!