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

Fratellanza

I had a red bib with a big 'A' on it. My class was put with Tsunayoshi's class. I knew that yesterday him, Takeshi, Hayato and Ryohei trained for the pole knocking thing, and that I was supposed to run with Takeshi an obstacle race.

"You look awful," I greeted Tsunayoshi with a frown. He sneezed and blew his nose loudly.

"Thanks senpai..." I looked at my right when Takeshi joined us.

"Gokudera and senpai fought yesterday and I couldn't hold the pole on my own. Tsuna fell in the river." He looked at his friend with worry. "You got a cold, didn't you?"

"I spent the night...sneezing and wiping my nose..." He sneezed again. "Reborn ended up knocking me out."

"Good morning Tenth!" Hayato greeted him with a big grin, ignoring Takeshi and I. "Are you sick Tenth?"

"I got a cold from yesterday."

And now Hayato was on his knees begging for forgiveness. I had been with Ryohei since I got here, a dozen of minutes before the boys.

Takeshi and I went to the starting line. We were tied up by the ankle and wrist

"Remember, 'one' is for tied limbs, 'two' is for free limbs." He nodded with a confident smile.

"Don't worry senpai, we're going to win this!"

"We better, losing is for trash." He laughed.

The referee blew his whistle and we started running, me saying 'one' or 'two' so that we were in sync, jumping above the hurdles, crawling under a net and climbing a fake wall.

Did I almost fall sometimes because Takeshi sometimes forgot he was taller than me? Yeah.

Did we win? Yeah. Hell yeah.

"We won, we won, we won~!" I sang, clapping my hands with Takeshi's. He was laughing. Again.

"You really like winning, don't you?" I smiled back.

"Because you don't?

"It was awesome you two!" Tsunayoshi complimented us.

"Tch, it was nothing exceptional," Hayato muttered grudgingly. "And your clothes are dirty now anyway." I looked down. He was right.

"We crawled in the dirt," Takeshi reminded him.

During the pole knocking, Kyoya ended up being up on the opposite pole and team B and C joined forces.

I wanted to murder everyone. Especially when two morons dropped Tsunayoshi.

Oh well, whatever.

I stopped in my tracks and stared at the cow kid, Lambo, walking on a wall with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

"Who am I?" he sang happily. "I am Lambo. Who am I? I am Lambo. Lambo, Lambo, the calf child hitman~." Then, he was gone.

I started walking again when I heard some noise above. I looked up, seeing I-Pin randomly training on the roof of a house.

Did no one notice her?

I shook my head but my steps were cut short when Bianchi biked in front of me, what looked to be a snake tied to the pannier rack.

The fuck?

I was used to the craziness, although this town was now on a whole new level, but how come nobody noticed how weird things were?

I sighed, rubbing my eyes behind my black round glasses. I was pretty sure in a few months I'd need to wear them all of the time, and then I would get contact lenses. During Reborn's training sessions, they were at risk anyway.

And Reborn? He was an ass. Sure, he was a good teacher, my gun skills and aim were much better now, and I had Cloud bullets, but he was an ass. I was almost passed out each time we were done with training.

In any case, I was going to Tsunayoshi's. Reborn told me I was needed today.

I deadpanned at the crowd of men in black suits in front of the house.

They were…

"Watch out!" a familiar voice shouted. I raised indifferent eyes to the guy who jumped out from Tsunayoshi's window, his whip throwing the pin-less grenades in the air. He landed among the men, all high and mighty.

I facepalmed. Reborn asked me to come because my brother was in town and I wasn't told about it?

"Haha, that's the Boss, he tried to scare us to show off!" one of the men said.

"That's not it!" Dino replied with an embarrassed flush and I tried to leave quietly. I stopped when I felt his gaze finding me. "ANA!" Now everyone was looking at me. I turned around, cleared my throat and raised my hand as a greeting.

"Princess, we didn't see you!"

"I know," I told the guy, punching him slightly in the shoulder.

The oxygen was pulled out of my lungs when I was in Dino's crushing hug, his face in the crook of my neck.

"We were on the phone yesterday..." I managed to croak, not fighting back.

"I know, but the phone is not the same!" I took deep breaths when he finally let go of me. "Anyway guys, I'm good and I'll see you tomorrow! I'm staying at the Vongola's for the night." I widened my eyes and stared at the men leaving.

"Don't...don't you want to keep at least one?" Dino looked at me sheepishly.

"Why? We're staying here tonight. You know Tsuna already, don't you? He told me you saved him from some bullies because he reminded you of me." He ruffled my hair under my hat. "I'm glad you did it Ana."

"What can I say, you keep saying innocent people shouldn't be involved and all that shit..." I muttered between gritted teeth. He laughed, put his arm around my shoulders and walked me inside the house, where Tsunayoshi and Reborn were.

Fuck.

Dino's clumsiness would be revealed as his men were not here anymore. I didn't want that to happen, even if it was just the Sawadas. In a way, it was my brother making a fool of himself in front of my Boss' family!

I would spend the night apologizing!

"Hey," I greeted them, basically sulking, my head down, Dino's arm on it.

"Hey...senpai..."

Later, during dinner, Nana was very happy my brother was there, said brother saying to Tsunayoshi they were sworn brothers or something like that because they were trained by Reborn, that by extension I was also on the team. I sighed, not having the strength to say 'no'. Eating my food was enough, especially with Reborn smirking smugly at me being embarrassed by the mess Dino was making while eating. I shot him a quick look.

"Okay that's it!" I screamed, getting up and slamming my hands on the table.

"Ana?" Dino called me with wide eyes. He tensed when I glared at him.

Without a word, I grabbed a napkin, put a hand behind his head to keep him from moving and wiped his mouth. He tried to speak, but I was more focused on the rice falling on his laps.

"How many times have I told you to eat properly!? We're invited, don't make a mess, Dad didn't raise us like that!" Tsunayoshi and the rest of the table, apart from Reborn who kept eating, were stunned. "You're worse than Lambo, and he's five!"

"I'm sorry!" he managed to say after grabbing my wrist to push my hand away.

"Don't say that to me but to the host!" I turned to Nana. "I'm sorry for my brother and the scene I just caused." I bowed and she giggled.

"My, don't worry about it Ana-chan. It's adorable to see you taking care of your brother like that."

"I'm used to acting that way," I whispered, straightening back up.

"Bwahahaha! He was scolded like a kid!" Lambo laughed at my brother, who rubbed the back of his head.

"Lambo, not nice to laugh at people!" I-Pin then scolded him.

"I'm n..." He fell from his chair. For no fucking reason whatsoever. "I...must...resist..."

"Is it often like that?" Tsunayoshi asked Reborn.

"Yes. Bakana realized Dino was a klutz shortly after she was adopted and took the responsibility to deal with it, be it at school or in public settings. It's a lot of work."

"I have to admit she had my back all the time when we were at school," Dino admitted with a small smile and I sighed.

"Rather that than you getting flattened by a tree that somehow was falling on you."

"Hiiiie what!?"

"Anyway Dino, where's Enzio?" He blinked at me in confusion. "I need to make sure you didn't let him escape."

"Dino's pet turtle," I heard Reborn saiy, probably to Tsunayoshi. I stared harshly at my brother who was looking for Enzio, and frowned when he paled drastically, his hands searching faster. I wanted to shoot myself in the head.

"He...hehehe..." he started laughing nervously. I spun around. First target, the bathroom, it was the most dangerous room with Enzio roaming around.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME! DINO GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND DEAL WITH YOUR TURTLE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I slid under his arm when they arrived and went to his coat. I heard Tsunayoshi yell in pain, I sighed knowing fully well he was whipped by my brother, and grabbed his checkbook. Nana was staring in wonder toward the bathroom. I wrote a check, leaving the space where you wrote the amount of money empty, forged Dino's signature and gave it to her. "Please use it for the repairs, and I deeply apologize for my brother." She patted me on the shoulder, me not tensing.

"That's okay, don't worry too much about it."

He came back, apologized, and I watched him, with Reborn and Tsunayoshi, drying off Enzio with a hairdryer in Tsunayoshi's room. I decided not to comment on the leather armchair.

"It's funny though, senpai was acting a lot like the older sibling." Dino chuckled, clearly embarrassed, at Tsunayoshi's comment, and I puffed my chest, my arms crossed on it as Reborn was sitting on my laps, sipping on a glass of orange juice.

"Dino usually acts like it, three-quarter of the times, but once his men are not around he goes back to being a klutz. As his little sister, it's my responsibility to deal with it."

"Ana, you're making me sound like a burden you know..." I glared at him.

"Come on, when it's at home I don't do anything, but you do remember the man paying me owns this house, right?" He widened his eyes. "I fucking knew it."

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you!" he yelled, trying to hug me around the waist, as I was sitting on Tsunayoshi's bed, but Reborn took Leon and aimed it at my brother.

"The spot is taken Pipsqueak Dino." He sighed.

"Fine, fine..."

I ended up sleeping between Tsunayoshi and Dino, Reborn above us. I was wearing my brother's clothes to sleep and didn't mind it at all. The Vongola was deep asleep when Reborn jumped between my brother and I, and we both sat up.

"I came to report something to you." Dino's eyes found mine. "Especially you."

"What is it?"

"It seems like Xanxus is back in the VARIA." I widened my eyes. "And...I'm not sure yet about that, but apparently he wants to have a 'talk' with Federico's Cloud Guardian." I plopped down in my pillow, hugging the bedcover closer to me.

"I'm...not ready for that shit, especially if he wants to talk about Federico!" I hissed quietly, not wanting to wake Tsunayoshi up. "I...shit, that's why Superbi panicked..."

"What? When did you see Squalo?"

"When I was out before seeing her. At some point he got a phone call and panicked before asking for my number." He opened his mouth but I kept on rambling. "He doesn't even know shit about me when I'm his Boss' sister and he knows me! He asked me how school was! He thinks I'm a Cavallone!"

"It could actually be beneficial to us later on if Squalo thinks you're still in Italy with Dino," Reborn interrupted me. I curled up on my futon. "That aside, I doubt Nono would just let Xanxus find you, and even if he somehow got in contact with you, your relationship would be kept a secret or it would reveal the truth about Xanxus' origins."

"But won't people suspect something's weird with Tsunayoshi being the heir?" Reborn shrugged in the dark.

"Who knows?"

"Wait, Squalo knows about you!?" Dino asked loudly. I froze, like him, and we shot Tsunayoshi a look, sighing in relief when he turned around, hugging his pillow against him, mumbling Kyoko's name.

"Federico implied it when he told me about Xanxus, and his behavior was making it obvious. Also...at Dad's funerals he came to my room and asked me if I wanted to know about my origins." Even in the dark, I knew Dino frowned. "What, you asked him to come."

"I never did." I blinked in confusion. "I swear once everything's out, I'm going to have a chat with him." He clicked his tongue. "Broaching such a touchy subject to a little girl who just buried her adoptive father...damn."

"The method is not ideal. More importantly, if he's back, we'll need to talk about when and how you'll approach him Luciana." When Reborn would say my full name, at least for the past few years, it was for serious shit.

"What if approaches me?"

"Unless you are ready, he won't. He left you behind after all." I nodded slowly at Reborn's statement. It was...true but…

I didn't resent him for that, or for what followed. Even if we were siblings, he had a shot at leaving the street. It...I was his baby sister, not his daughter and a baby shouldn't be a kid's responsibility. My mother fucked up, not my brother.

"Don't...say that," I whispered weakly. "You don't know him Reborn."

"In any case, end of discussion. Go to sleep." On this adorable order, Reborn jumped in his bed and I closed my eyes.

Obviously, I didn't stick around the next day and left Dino's mess to be handled by Tsunayoshi.

I almost wanted to call the Ninth to have an explanation.

Almost.

Because the day I would meet Xanxus...maybe not immediately, but I would need to tell him I 'contacted' our dear mother.

Also, wanna hear something funny? Tsunayoshi was shot with ten Dying-Will Bullets, thus getting a weird disease that would reveal his biggest shame. As I was Reborn's 'assistant', he made me dress up like the Grim Reaper with him.

"What a shame! Once Ana-senpai was changing in the girls' changing room and I saw her in her bra by accident! Hibari-san bit me to death after!" I froze.

"My, what a closet pervert you are," Reborn chided him playfully as Tsunayoshi blushed furiously. I took a deep breath, trying not to blush in embarrassment. I pulled off the hood of the robe.

"Alright, it's not funny anymore Reborn, I'm going home." I shot the Sawada a dark glare. "And I hope you fucking die of shame idiot!" I walked away, ignoring his stupid apology.

Funny enough, I crossed path with Kyoya. He stared at me, dressed as the Grim Reaper, carrying a foam scythe, and cocked a quizzical brow at me.

"What, never seen someone dressed in a costume before Halloween!?" I barked at him. He smirked in amusement.

"The baby then?" I lowered my head to sulk.

"Don't remind me!" I ran home, with him chasing me for 'shaming Namimori in such a way'.

He kept staring at the picture on his desk, still not quite believing his eyes.

His father had refused to tell him anything about the Cloud Guardian, stating the young girl was still recovering for now. As if he fucking cared if the brat was traumatized, he would give her a reason to be traumatized. A Guardian was supposed to die before their Sky, it was a fucking rule and a trash like her would understand. He would make sure of it.

Xanxus took the picture in his right hand, the left one holding an older one, with several folding marks.

Breaking into Federico's old room had been painfully easy, like he remembered it to be. Yet, walking through the hallways of the place he used to live in knowing three certain people would never be here again was painful. In spite of everything, they had been brothers. Although, once in his brother's room, he had frozen at the sight of a picture on the desk.

Federico, the man he remembered his brother talking about all the time and the girl who survived.

The girl whose eyes and hair color matched his. The girl smirking smugly at the camera, a glint of mischief in her eyes as she was pinching Federico's hand.

His eyes traveled to the other picture, where a red-eyed toddler was grinning at a younger version of himself.

Why would Federico take a random girl as a Guardian?

Because he wanted to keep her close so she didn't disappear again.

Fuck.

Fuck all of that shit.

Luciana was alive.

His baby sister was alive and had been so fucking close!

Xanxus closed his eyes and leaned his head against his chair.

Luciana was alive.

Luciana had been adopted and taken care of.

Luciana had grown up with a brother that was not him and it was pissing him off.

She had been so close yet he had not been there to watch her growing up.

She was fifteen now. She was a teenager.

He didn't even know her.

Chances of her remembering him were too thin to his liking. Did she even know he existed? Had Federico told her? Who would even know if she knew?

He would not ask the Ninth.

Dropping the pictures on his desk, he grabbed his bottle of whiskey and took a big gulp from it.

Federico and Leo died in front of her.

How much had she seen of the world? Of the Mafia? Had Federico tried to shield her, even just a little, from the cruel reality they lived in?

Where was she now?

For the moment, he still had to get back in shape. His Flame still had troubles to appear because of the ice. While he was doing this, he could look for her. She was somewhere. He could not go to the Cavallones directly though, he had to play the right cards.

It would take time. After thirteen years believing her dead, he was not going to lose this chance for a few months.

His sister was alive.

If he had to wait a few more months to get the only person he ever cared about more than himself back, he would wait.

His Luciana was alive he would not let her vanish into thin air a second time.

I sneezed and wrapped my thick deep purple wool scarf around my neck. I enjoyed fall the most, and then winter until after the New Year. Then it was annoying.

"Don't sneeze around me," Kyoya told me coldly without a look.

"You come to my place for a patrol when it's cold outside, just wait a few more minutes and I'll blow my nose." I looked at his back. "Seriously, you should have worn a coat."

"Hn."

"Kyoya, you're going to get sick if you walk around like that in the winter." He sped up. "Seriously?"

"Mind your own business."

"I'll call Arro, I swear to God I will!" He turned his death glare to me.

"I'll kill him." I chuckled nervously.

"You...don't mean it right?" He turned his head, looking in front of him.

"Who knows."

"By the way, you noticed the kid?" Or he didn't hear me, or he pretended he didn't. In any case, I sighed and caught up with him. "Are you doing something for Christmas?" He ignored me, again. "You're meaner than usual."

"And you're a lot more talkative," he shot back. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes as I pursed my lips. "It won't make the things you don't want to think about go away." I kicked an invisible rock.

"I know."

"There you are!" Without notice, my back was against a man's chest. "I'm done helping Reborn, so we can hang out now!"

"I'm...doing something right now Dino." He turned me around, his hands on my shoulders.

"You're just walking!" I sighed, and tensed at the dark aura behind me. "Hum? Are you one of my sister's friend?" Geez, I could hear the happiness in his voice when he said 'sister's friend'. Was it that shocking?

"Honestly he sees me more as a rival he has to beat one day than a friend I think..." I mumbled to myself before peeking at him above my shoulder. "Are we friends?"

"Hn. I'll bite the stupid Italian blond to death." Good, what a way to avoid the question.

Dino pushed me to the side, taking his whip, and I looked around.

None of his men were there.

Oh shit...Kyoya would win this…

"Wait guys, plea..." Kyoya ran at my brother, tonfas in hands. Dino tried, emphasis on the 'tried', to stop him, but the whip was by some weird tricks of the nature wrapped around my hand. It threw me in Kyoya, who didn't see it coming.

I fell on him.

Really on him.

I mean, we were pretty much kissing after all, wide eyes staring at each other.

"I...oh no, you're not getting my sister!" I heard Dino yelling behind us as I moved my head away. He sat up, me straddling him and we didn't look at each other. "An..." As one, we jumped on our feet and ran after him, Dino screaming in fear knowing he didn't have a chance to get out of this situation in one piece, with two angry teenagers after his life. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to!"

"You're dead!" I screamed at him, my whole face red like a tomato.

We ran after him, who miraculously didn't fall, and even ran past Tsunayoshi and his friends. Obviously, he fell at some point, and we took care of him.

After that, I carefully avoided my first kiss.

"Your brother's clumsiness knows no limit Miss." I plopped down in the couch next to Alaric, still drawing in his notebook. I tried to get a glimpse of it, but he turned his body enough so that I couldn't.

"Do you want to spend New Years Eve with us?" He stopped and golden eyes were locked into mines.

"Have you told Don Cavallone we were in contact?" I blinked once, then twice, and facepalmed.

"...no?"

"You should tell him."

"But he'll freak out!"

"Better that than him screaming at you like he will the day he discovers about the Nishimuras." I hunched my shoulders. He knew where to hit to hurt.

"How's CEDEF?"

"I'm being monitored and ordered to control anyone related to the Mafia entering this town, even just barely." He put his notebook down and grabbed his cup of coffee. "No one tried to kill me."

"Yet."

"Fon managed to send powerful people here, and Reborn's reputation is working. He told me so himself."

"He came?" Alaric smiled faintly.

"He was bound to discover it one day anyway." I pursed my lips.

"As long as I'm in Namimori, near Tsunayoshi and Reborn, I should be safe, right?" He nodded quickly, without the shadow of a doubt.

"I am locked in this town as well Miss, I can't relax properly if I don't know your whereabouts."

"I know I know..." I sighed.

New Year came quickly. Arro decided to come, and it was just the three of us in my apartment. Until Arro let it slip he had came a few months ago, and for what.

"The Nishimuras!" Dino screamed at me. "You...you were their target and didn't tell me about it!? Luciana, I can try to understand you would not tell me about Alaric being back in your life, even if it pisses me off, but they're the most powerful group of yakuzas in Japan and are known in the entire continent of Asia and you stayed quiet about it!?"

"Fon came, and I told Iemitsu! I followed the instructions I received when I joined the CEDEF!"

"There's more to it! There's more, otherwise you'd have told Iemitsu sooner! I'm not stupid, you're not stupid, the moment you realized the gravity of the situation you would have called him and you didn't!" Dino was angrier I had ever seen him be. I averted my eyes. "I'm right, ain't I?" he spat bitterly, his face twisted in anger and disappointment. "You can...Luciana, you can tell me anything."

"I can't tell you that." For a second, I thought he flinched. Then, he screamed at me again. Arro was in my room and was probably more than uncomfortable because of us.

I could only stare at my brother, yelling at me for being unconscious, for having acted stupidly, for thinking I could have handled this myself, for being selfish.

"Selfish?" I repeated quietly, Dino stopping ranting.

"Yeah, selfish!"

"How can you call me 'selfish'?" I asked him coldly, my gaze now icy. In the split of a second, it was burning in fury. "You fucking moron! You wanna know why I didn't tell you!? Because even if you're my brother, you're also the Boss of five thousand men! I am a part of another organization. So please, excuse me for knowing fully well you would have dropped your responsibilities for helping me and left them on their own! Sorry for trying to make your life less complicated by dealing with my problems on my own and asking for help, even if it's not to you!" I was out of breath. Shit, asthma triggered by emotional…

I grabbed my inhalator and took deep breaths from it.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I glared at him, who glared back. "I'm the oldest here, I'm the one who's been a Boss for years, if someone knows how to deal with a Family it's me and not you! When did you start seeing me more as a Mafia Boss than your brother!?"

"Probably when I was basically forced to hear people saying what a good Boss you were when I was Federico's Cloud Guardian whereas you barely had the time for me!" I took other breaths as he stared at me with wide eyes.

"Wh...what? Where does that come from?"

"We were closer when Dad was alive and we both fucking know it! It's...It's..." I took other breaths, but my inhalator ran out of medicine. I fell on my knees, one hand on my chest. "I...I..."

"Shit, Arro!" My best friend ran out of the room as Dino was next to me in an instant. My brother threw his phone at him. "Call Romario, tell him to join us at the hospital!" With no shoes or coat on, he picked me up bridal style and ran to the hospital, me desperately trying to breath. I tried to do the same thing as last time, but I couldn't figure out how to do it, how I managed to do it before.

The only thing I knew was I couldn't breath, that my throat was like closed, like someone was squishing all of the air out of my lungs. I thought I was going to die for a second and started weeping like a fucking baby.

It made him run faster.

As we reached the hospital, Dino said stuff to a nurse and I was taken away, an oxygen mask on my mouth but I couldn't process what was said around me. My eyes were locked in my brother's, his hand holding mine so tightly it could break, until I was rushed in a room. My eyes widened in fear.

They noticed it, because a second after I was drifting off to sleep.

"God, you scared us Lulu." I looked down, Arro sighing above me. "Dino was panicked and completely ignores everyone. Apparently Sawada tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, but failed."

"No way," I replied sarcastically. I sat up. "Fuck, I can't even have a fight with my brother without going to the hospital."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly, looking at his hands on his thighs.

"Don't Arro, you're not the one who lied to Dino for months." I looked outside. Small snowflakes were falling on Namimori. Everything looked...so peaceful. "I had it coming. Shit, what a bad way to change years."

"I couldn't have said better." Arro and I looked at the door, where Reborn was. He walked to the bed and jumped on it. "The idiot wouldn't stop saying it was his fault."

"Tell me you kicked him." He smirked.

"Of course, who do you think I am?" I snickered a little, before coughing. "Shamal made sure you'd have at least five inhalators at the same time now." I laid back down in my pillow.

"I'm so sick of this," I muttered to myself. I was tired of the hospital. Reborn patted my knee.

"You've got to hang on Luciana." How long would I be able to do so?

Maybe I should have died on the Estraneos' table after all.

"Reborn, she's..." Arro tried as Reborn kicked me in the knee.

"Shut up Bakarro." Hey, that was new. "And you Bakana, don't start thinking things like this, understood? You already got into a fight with Dino, you don't want to get in a bigger one."

"Yeah, yeah...just...could one of you tell him to come?" Arro left immediately.

"Do you regret not telling us now?"

"No." Reborn just looked at me with these big black eyes of his. "I have to learn how to fight my own battles, alone. Dino's mad, sure, and maybe my reasons were not all that great, but he won't always be here to help when I'm in trouble. I have to..." His eyes were hidden by his hat.

"Well," he started, raising his head to look at me, a small smile on his lips, "I can't blame you for not wanting to be a burden, but you know how your brother is." I returned his smile, my eyes softer.

"I know."

Fratellanza

Thanks for reading this chapter!