Disclaimer: I own the OCs, the rest is Akira Amano's work.

Fratellanza

Kyoya stared at me, sprawled on his sofa in his living-room.

I stared at him, just waking up from my nap. Slowly, I raised my hand to greet him. He walked up to me, kicked me so that I was not taking all of the sofa and plopped down next to me. Without a word, he turned on his TV, stretched out his legs in front of him and crossed his arms.

"Did...Did I miss the return from summer holidays?"

"No, it's the day after tomorrow." I groaned.

"Fuck." He spared me a quick look. "Come on, it always sucks. Half of the students are way too talkative about what they've done during the vacations while the other half wish they stayed at home. It's gonna be annoying."

"Then bite them to death." I snickered.

"Doing that at any kind of stuff they do is your thing Kyoya." My eyes landed on him as he kept watching a random action movie. "I'm crashing here tonight, my suitcase is in the usual room." He didn't comment on it and a long silence took place. As the movie was hitting its crucial moment, I was watching it in the end, Kyoya broke it.

"It didn't go well with her." I put my arm on my eyes.

"It took me a long time to convince her I was who I was, then she screamed, was in denial and they sedated her to calm her down."

The good thing between Kyoya and I was, because when we met we were forced to live with each other pretty much twenty four seven, we were pretty comfortable in each other's presence. He never said it out loud, but he didn't kick me out.

Actually, he often just ignored me when I was here unannounced, and when he was at my place I'd just make enough food for two without a word.

Not gonna lie, I was enjoying the relationship between us, and his presence. I got used to it. He would make fun of me, enough for making me want to fight him, or be silent and I'd just have a quiet presence by my side.

"Oh damn!" I almost screamed, eyes wide open, now facing Kyoya. He raised a brow at me. "We really are a fucking married couple! For real!" He stared at me, and stared, and stared, until his eyes went to my chest.

"Not with those." I blushed, got up and kicked him, but he jumped behind his couch and stopped my leg with his tonfas. I was about to attack again but stopped, my leg still in the air. Kyoya cocked a brow at me.

"Not here, I feel there are expensive stuff in this room." He quickly looked around and nodded. He walked back slowly, me following his rhythm. "What, you think I'd attack you in the back?"

"You already did."

"Cause you've never done it?"

Funny enough, Fon didn't comment on us fighting like children when he got here, or on me screaming at Kyoya, cheeks red, that I was a B-cup and not an A-cup like he was insinuating.

The 'Demon of Namimori' was a fucking asshole to his only friend.

Jerk.

I yawned, my bag on my shoulder. I squinted at my Boss as he waved goodbye to his son with Nana. Well...I was surprised to hear he was still in town, on a break from CEDEF, but I didn't think he would call me to walk Tsunayoshi to school. He kept his head down, probably embarrassed by his parents.

"When is he going back in Italy?" he mumbled as we walked away.

"Honestly, I'm surprised he's still here." I yawned again.

"You have dark circles senpai. Weren't you in Italy?"

"Yeah, I came back two days ago. I guess I'm still jet-lagged." I sighed. "I miss doing nothing with my brother." He chuckled at that and I raised my brows. "What?"

"Nothing, I just wonder what kind of person your brother is." I smirked.

"You can't even imagine, we're nothing alike. I mean, he has blond hair with brown eyes." He widened his eyes. "Well, I was adopted when I was seven." He blinked at me.

"I see."

"Although, I know I have a biological brother, but I don't know him." I pursed my lips in thoughts. "It's not totally true. I...knew him but we were separated when I was two and a half I think, something like that."

"You don't remember him then," he stated quietly. I shrugged

"I can't see him anyway."

"It's...sad."

"Hum...I don't know, I'm used to it. That's...how my world is." Then, an arm fell on my shoulders, the same thing happening to Tsunayoshi.

"Hey guys! How've you been?" I put my hand on Takeshi's face between the future Boss and I, pushing him back. He laughed. "We haven't seen each other in a month senpai, don't be mean already!"

"Don't invade my personal space without my authorization then." He laughed again and went next to Tsunayoshi, his hands behind his head. They started a small talk I quietly listened to. I looked to my right when I felt Fon around. I caught of glimpse of Lichi in the foliage of a tree.

"Senpai!" I looked at Tsunayoshi in surprise. "Sorry, but you weren't listening. My dad told me I would have a home tutor soon and that you knew him. What kind of person is he?"

"He's training my brother right now. He...he's a baby like Fon, except his pacifier is yellow and not red. He'll probably brag about how he is the greatest hitman in the world."

"Hiiiieeee I don't want that!" he screamed, plugging his ears, whereas Takeshi blinked sheepishly.

"But Fon is still a baby, how can another baby be a hitman?" I shrugged, knowing fully well they weren't babies.

"That is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." The school was now in sight. Unconsciously, I reached for my armband. Yep, I had not forgotten to pin it to my summer uniform this morning.

"Hibari is glaring at us." I looked up after Takeshi talked, finding the jerk indeed glaring at us from the gates. The other students carefully avoided him as Kyoya walked up to us.

"You're late, and crowding with herbivores." He glared at the two boys, who so nicely left me alone with Kyoya. I watched them disappear from my sight.

"Would you believe that? I am being social and they just leave me alone with you. Little punks." I ducked, avoiding a blow from his tonfa. "Come on, can't you wait 'til noon? I have History class and I like it!"

"Should I care?"

"Kyo-chan you're mean to me!" He twitched, his eyes getting even darker.

"I'm going to bite you to death carnivore." I dodged again.

"But Kyo-chan!" I whined, sprinting away from him when he really lost it.

Well, it felt good to be back in Namimori.

When lunchtime came around, I ate quickly and went to the roof. Kyoya and I had been fighting for five minutes or even less when Ryohei interrupted us.

"Sini!" I tilted my head on my shoulder. "I'm extremely sorry for screaming at you about Kyoko when you were trying to help!" I narrowed my eyes, my brain trying to understand.

Ryohei...screaming? He always was, but at me?

Hum…

Because of Kyoko?

Oh right! Before I left the hospital, he came in my room, furious I had taught Kyoko self-defense. To be honest, I heard him but didn't really listen.

"It's okay. Could you..." He blinked in confusion and looked behind him, getting a tonfa in his face. "Come on now..."

"He was in the way," Kyoya justified his action, running at me.

"Onii-chan, you forgot your...onii-chan, did you challenge Hibari-san again?" I looked back at Kyoko, not dodging the tonfa going in my stomach. I bent over, grabbing Kyoya's wrist. Funny enough, he seemed pissed he managed to hit me.

He shot Kyoko, who was kneeling next to her brother with a bento, a look, grabbed me by my collar and dragged me away.

"Ky...Kyoya?" I called him.

"These annoying herbivores keep disturbing our fight," he grumbled.

"Oh...sure, of course."

I landed on my ass, in Kyoya's backyard. Fon stayed calm, even if I kept failing.

"I'll get it right," I muttered under my breath, getting back up.

"You are keeping the quantity of flames in your hands longer than before. We just have to work on the shape and actually throwing it."

That technique where Fon made a dragon out of Storm Flames? He was teaching it to me. However, if the Flame of Wrath was naturally hard to control and mold as I was doing, now I wanted to pull at my hair every single time I couldn't get that technique right.

"Take a break and drink some water, we have been at it for a while." I nodded. I went to the kitchen and made myself at home. As I was finishing my glass of water in one go, Kyoya off somewhere, my phone rang.

"Arro?"

"Lulu! Lulu, that list of Arcobaleno!" I raised my brows. I had a list of the Arcobalenos I had met. I still had the Cloud, the Mist and the Lightning ones to go. "I...Fuck, come to Chicago!"

"Why?"

"There...with the Boss, there's a baby with a green pacifier! He somehow discovered about the rings and flames and wants to work with us!" I widened my eyes. Reborn had once described the Arcobalenos to me.

The one thing he repeated several times was to stay away from the Lightning one, Verde, because he was a scientist before everything, turning people in guinea pigs.

"Verde," I whispered. "Have you made contact with him yet?"

"No but...it will probably happen. I'm the most comfortable with flames and have two attributes, he will be interested, won't he?" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I mean...if he hears about you, he'll be interested in your flames too, won't he?"

"Yeah, yeah he will." I noticed Fon standing on the table, staring at me with a small frown."I'll see when I can come, it's complicated nowadays." Arro sighed.

"I know Lulu, it's just that...it's a golden opportunity. Who knows what that baby can do if he gets interested?"

"That's exactly a part of the problem," I muttered before hanging up.

"Did something happen to Arroganza?"

"No just...it seems like he's gotten his own Arcobaleno now." Fon frown deepened. "His Family has Verde as a guest...and maybe 'co-worker'."

"Arroganza is good at using his flames, Verde will not let him out of his sight." I nodded. "You want to go to Chicago? If Verde sees your Flame of Wrath, he won't stop pestering you for experimenting." I shivered unconsciously and Fon patted my head, now sitting on it.

"I don't want that," I whispered, "but now these little things emit flames, as someone who's been using them since she was five, I'm curious in the science behind it." I lit up my Mist ring, a small indigo flame dancing on it. It would spread in the entire Mafia one day, it would be a huge mess. I might as well make sure to control it as I could on my side. "Hey, why don't you come with me? At least I won't make stupid decisions!"

"Unfortunately, at the moment I am myself stuck in Namimori." I puffed my cheeks. "However, once Reborn is in town, I would be free of my movements. Would Sawada-san be okay though?" I shrugged.

"Who knows? If...actually, Skies are rare and I have Sky Flames...somewhere. The Weaponries know about them, they might tell Verde and officially ask me to come." My master pursed his lips.

"Hopefully, seeing me with you will make Verde back off.

"It's strangely well furnished for a cell," I commented on the studio apartment Alaric had be staying at ever since the attack, under the surveillance of the CEDEF, and Iemitsu in particular. He wasn't that much on a break in the end.

"I wish they would let me get other DVDs or TV channels as I don't have access to the internet though," he replied, drawing in a notebook.

"You're just okay being here?" His hand stopped and his golden orbs went to my face.

"I do not have a choice Miss," he told me softly. "I had no idea my brother would be here or fight against you." I didn't miss how his hand clenched harder on the pencil. "It's normal for your Family to keep an eye on me as you landed in the hospital." I raised a brow at Iemitsu, leaning against the wall.

"Ooowwww you care about me that much?" He deadpanned at me.

"You obviously can't deal with the people after you on your own, I have to do something. I am not dealing with your brother." I sweat dropped at my Boss.

"Geez, I love you too Iemitsu." He laughed loudly.

"However, that Mist of yours has been nothing but conciliatory so far! Maybe he is honest after all when he says he wants to protect you!"

"I am." Iemitsu's laugh stopped at Alaric's confident voice. "But until you are truly convinced Sawada Iemitsu, I will do nothing. After all, you are famous everywhere." Iemitsu's eyes turned serious. Someone from an unknown family, whose brother had beaten the crap out of one of his subordinate, telling him that to his face in the very town his family lived in, far from the Mafia, was provocation and I narrowed my eyes at my Mist.

"Alaric," I called him coldly. He smiled faintly at Iemitsu, his purple hair hiding his eyes.

"Please do forgive my insolence." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him.

"Luciana, we're leaving." I looked at him in surprise and Alaric raised his head.

"Already?"

"He is in isolation after all." I shot Alaric a look. If he was a man who showed his real emotions, he'd be glaring at Iemitsu. But there was nothing instead. He caught me staring and smiled faintly.

"Do not disobey his orders Miss, I'm used to being alone." I nodded slowly and hurried after Iemitsu, who was waiting for me in the hallway.

I squinted and used my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, following Iemitsu.

"He can't say a thing about the people after you because of the omertà." I mused over that.

"Well, I doubt the Vindice prison has a well furnished, decorated and warm jail. You can't blame the guy for not wanting to go there." I briefly wondered how Mukuro was, in that prison. I had not heard from him since he asked for my help.

"I might just make him work for the CEDEF." It made me stop in my tracks as we neared his house.

"Seriously?" He grinned and patted my head like I was some dog.

"Well of course, if you're here he'll agree! It's not as if he had a choice anyway!" Hum…

If it meant Alaric would stay in town...it couldn't be so bad, right?

However, Tsunayoshi's face when he saw me at the dinner table was precious.

"Don't ask, I don't really know how I ended up here either," I mumbled with a glare for my rice. I thought I heard a small 'hiiee'.

"Tsu-kun, can you believe how the world is small?" He raised his head to Nana. "Your dad is Ana-chan's brother's associate! Isn't that fabulous?" Tsunayoshi tensed.

"Yeah...sure..."

"Thanks for the food Nana-san, it's delicious," I told her, hoping she would drop the subject. She did, smiling happily at me.

"Thank you," he whispered to me a few minutes later.

"You better remember that, favors are expensive." He stared at me and paled in front of my smile.

"Ara, Tsu-kun?" his mom said when his face fell on the table.

"My life's a joke," he mumbled and I snickered.

All jokes aside, his parents somehow made us play video games in his room. I beat him, of course, years of living with an older brother being finally useful.

"Yeah?"

"You knew!" I pulled my phone away from my ear at Dino's loud voice.

"That you could speak as loud as Superbi? Nope, you surprise me everyday brother."

"No! You knew that Reborn would train the Decimo and didn't say a word!"

"Well...you give orders but I receive orders, it's..."

"Cut the crap already, you were laughing all this time at my misery because Reborn was harsher than usual knowing he'd leave!"

"My, what a potty mouth you have." He jabbered something, about me being a bad sister who enjoyed his misery, and I snickered. "Come on, I'll be the one seeing Reborn and his stupid schemes!" I felt my phone vibrating, signaling me I had a text. However, no Dino. "Dino?"

"So my schemes are stupid Bakana?" I tensed, even if he was in Italy. "I'm impressed you managed to hide that from me for months, even if the distance played a huge part in it, but don't you even think I won't train you again once in Namimori." I'd avoid telling him I was currently back under Fon's apprenticeship. My hands were always covered in bandages recently. "What, no snarky comments?"

"I can't wait for you and your student to meet, you'll have a nice flashback of Dino." I stayed on the phone with them for a few more minutes and hung up.

Once Reborn knew that Tsunayoshi already knew, and with what I just said...I was as good as dead, he'd put me through hell just for the sake of it. What could I say though? He told me himself we were alike, it was only natural for me to turn out a little bit like him with time, right?

It was weird to admit knowing he was physically a baby but…

Damn, Reborn did raise me, and for longer than Dad. If that wasn't weird…

Anyway, the text was from Iemitsu, who was leaving today. I would go to Chicago on behalf of the CEDEF, with Fon as my official 'bodyguard'.

"Mom keeps looking at my dad's picture when he left an hour ago!" Tsunayoshi complained, English homework between him and Takeshi, late in the afternoon. I sipped on my Earl Grey, settling for pointing out their mistakes in their work. "I mean, the guy went back to the Mafia and didn't even tell her when now I know!" Takeshi laughed at his fuming friend, taking a chocolate cookie I had bought two days prior.

"I mean, if it wasn't for senpai you wouldn't even know!"

"Actually, he would have known about the Mafia soon, but I can't say for Iemitsu's job." Tsunayoshi pointed a finger at me, still staring at Takeshi.

"See! He would have kept me in the dark even as a successor! What kind of guy does that to his family!?"

"Well...my dad hid stuff from me too..." Tsunayoshi stopped and swallowed back.

"It's...different, he was there and retired." He sat back with a sigh. "I'm sure the next time I'll see him, it will be the end of the world. Or the Vongolas."

"At least, you heard the story from him," I reminded the angry teenager, who grunted back. "It's better this way than discovering it on the verge of a war or some shit like that. Anyway, what did I hear about you and kendo?" Takeshi rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, if the kind of situations we found ourselves in happen again, I want to be able to fight back. When I had that sword in my hands...it just felt right, almost like a baseball bat. My dad knows kendo, I asked him." And he definitely used a sword back in his hitman day, but that was left unsaid.

"And it's just kendo?" He grinned at me.

"I'm not saying!" I rolled my eyes. "By the way senpai, are there people using swords in the Vongolas?" I nodded slowly.

"I know of one, I went to school with him. If you like your ears, don't stay near him. He's too fucking loud."

"Why are you asking this?"

"Hum? Well, if you're the Boss Tsuna, I'm joining too!"

"Hiiiiieee you're not! I don't want to involve my friends!" But Takeshi was totally his Rain Guardian, I even told Iemitsu.

"Haha, but it will be fun! Senpai agrees I should join too!" They both looked at me and I blinked. One was begging me to refute it, the other was clearly too stubborn to hear anything else.

"I agree with Takeshi," I told them quietly. "But don't make me the judge in the future."

I got up abruptly and ran to my room, gaping at Kyoya casually taking his shoes off, sitting on my windowsill. I pointed an accusing finger at him, who barely looked at me and went back to his task.

"You...that's how you get inside so easily! My window's broken! You broke the lock, didn't you!?" He shrugged and walked past me, shoes in hands. I knew Feng went back to China and Fon was still staying at Kyoya's but…

"Hibari-san!?" Oh shit! I ran back to my living-room, where Kyoya already had his tonfa out. He shot me a glare.

"Crowding is against the rules."

"It's my place you jerk!" He snorted.

"So?" Takeshi had made a step in front of Tsunayoshi, who was panicking, pulling at his hair. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Kyoya, no fighting in my apartment!" He wasn't listening. So, as I was still stronger than him, I managed to take a tonfa and hit him on the head with it. Not hard, his head barely tilted on the right, but it was the thought that mattered. He stared with slightly wide eyes, from the surprise, and I sighed. "We are done anyway, they were going home. Boys, be careful on the way." They nodded and left. I waved Takeshi and his obvious worry about me and Kyoya off.

I got a tonfa in the stomach once they were out, and was sent in my wall.

"Come on, you come here at the most random times, I'm allowed to see other people!" He kept glaring.

"Carnivores don't hang out with herbivores." I got up. Pointing out the fact he was the one to decide I was a carnivore would be the beginning of the end.

"On a more joyous note, I think Fon will leave in a few weeks." We stared at each other, he put his weapons away and went in my kitchen. "My brother called me, it has been announced his tutor would come. I'd say...a month maximum." I knew he heard me, but he didn't give any indication he did. "You do know I'm not a restaurant and you can go grocery shopping, right?"

"You don't have beef," he almost accused me with a frown, searching in my fridge. I frowned and crossed my arms, tapping my foot against the floor.

"I ate it for lunch." He growled and opened my freezer. "For fuck sake Kyoya, stop stealing my food!"

"You do the same."

"You do it more often!"

"You take more," he replied flatly. I flushed and gave up, burying my head in a cushion in my couch.

We were a fucking married couple, he knew that but enjoyed making me miserable way too much. I had not even called him 'Kyo-chan' in public at school this week!

It wasn't fair.

Strange.

The only thing Reborn could think of when he set foot in Namimori was: strange. There was something in the air, something he knew he should be wary of. It was almost tension. The kind of tension that would follow a difficult battle and where the aftermath required a lot of attention.

After he dropped a flyer in the Sawadas' mailbox, he went to the address Dino gave him. He had not followed his student and his sister when the latter moved in Japan, taking advantage of their absence to gather information about her mission. There was nothing more on the paper than she had told them. In any case, Dino was clearly heartbroken when he came back. He had been the one agreeing to send her to Japan, and who knew in what kind of situations Luciana would get herself into, yet he was heartbroken. The CEDEF HQ had the advantage of not being far from the Cavallone Mansion, unlike Japan. If it wasn't for him, that idiot would have called Luciana everyday, even with the time difference.

He used Leon to reach her window and picked the lock of the living-room window. It was six in the morning, it was still dark.

It was now early September and Luciana had left for Japan in early March. It had been six months since he last saw the teenager and she better had kept up her training regimen.

Reborn wrinkled his nose at the sight of the disorganized shoes at the door. She was now messy in her whole apartment and not just her room.

He was not going to lie and say he was not fond of the girl he watched growing up. There had been the potential, of course, a potential he had been wanting to polish but couldn't because Dino was taking all of his attention. More than that, it was the look in her eyes.

She had been through hell in her childhood and came back from it. She was a survivor, like he had been so many times in his life. Even when he thought he had everything under control, the Curse fell upon him and he was deprived of everything, becoming a survivor once more.

Luciana had been a wreck before leaving. Even if she had started smiling and acting like she used to, it was the shadow of what it had been. Reborn was against her leaving the country, because then he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her. In China, it was fine as he knew Fon would take care of her. But in Japan? She could walk the wrong path too easily.

There had been signs, even before Federico's passing. From the moment she became his Guardian, she started to be more aloof. Even if it was perfect for the Cloud Guardian, she also had started to drift apart from her brother, who himself was busy with his Family. There was no way he would let her follow her biological brother's footsteps. He had noticed some...moments where she seemed way darker than usual, but nothing so alarming he had to tell someone else.

Although, as she resembled him, he hoped she was not just so good she could hide her true intentions or feelings. If she were to have too much bottled-up resentments toward the Mafia, he did not want to think of what kind of plan she would come up with.

Luciana was smart. She was smart and knew exactly when not to show it. At least, form his point of view as he did not know what kind of persona she displayed at the CEDEF.

Iemitsu did praise her. In spite of her young age, she was a good subordinate. She still made mistakes, but overall she apparently had a promising future among the CEDEF.

He went into her room, changing Leon into a hammer to wake her up properly. However, there was no one. Reborn frowned and went in the other room, as empty as the first one. The bed was made, the blinds closed. She knew he was arriving today, didn't she?

Or she was sleeping somewhere else, which he doubted because that girl loved being at home and had no skills when it came to making friends, or she left before he arrived.

"What do you think Leon?" he asked his partner, who wiggled his tongue. "I should teach her to give a proper welcome to old friends, right?"

She could not feel pain.

But with what he had in mind, she would.

He had decided to train her as a hitman, to make her an official apprentice of Reborn, the Greatest Hitman in the world, years ago, and he would not let her make fun of him.

He would take his anger out on his new student, to greet him.

When he reached the Sawada household, although Iemitsu's wife was shocked when he told her he was the tutor, Tsunayoshi had a second of panic at his sight.

After the fight against his senpai, Tsunayoshi now having been hit twice by the Dying Will Bullet, a boy approached him. Reborn frowned as they went home in the afternoon.

In the files, the kid was a loser with no friend.

"Ciaossu!" They raised their eyes to him. "My name is Reborn, I'm Dame-Tsuna's home tutor." The boy's eyes flashed dangerously at him when he denigrated Tsuna.

"You're Fon's friend, right?"

At that, Reborn went rigid.

They shouldn't know Fon. The only reason they would know would be because of Bakana, if she had asked him to come. But why? Fon wouldn't have come if it was just training.

He clicked his tongue.

In what kind of troubles did Luciana run into for calling for Fon and not him or Dino for help?

"I managed to keep myself from saying that all day and you ruined it!" Tsuna yelled at his friend in despair. "Senpai told me yesterday..."

"Senpai?" Reborn repeated. "This 'senpai' wouldn't be the moron with red eyes I'll murder when she comes back, right?" They gulped.

Reborn was going to kill that idiot.

"She wasn't supposed to make contact."

"So I've been told by my dad."

Now, Iemitsu was involved? He was the one who told the truth to his son? The Ninth had not told him that. Did he know that?

"Where's that moron so that I get an explanation?" They shared a look.

"In Chicago? She said she was visiting Arro-san and..."

"You know that one too?" Reborn growled dangerously.

Screw asking Luciana.

He had a call to make.

Iemitsu would talk, one way or another. One day into his new mission and he discovered many things had been kept hidden.

Reborn was pissed.

Fratellanza

Thanks for reading this chapter!