Disclaimer: I own the OCs, the rest is Akira Amano's work.
Fratellanza
Arro stared at the cup of coffee I was handing him. Slowly, he took it and blew on the beverage as I fidgeted on my feet.
"You should get your wrist checked too while you're here," I whispered to him. He nodded stiffly.
"Thanks." I smiled faintly and averted my eyes to the side, where Dino was waiting too. So I did the same thing. He took the coffee and made me sit next to him.
"You know, in a way..." he started quietly, "refusing Yamamoto's help for his honor is the one thing that didn't change about him. I don't understand why he's in the VARIA to begin with." I shrugged.
"I don't know. One day he says he won't come back to school to train and the next thing you know, he's in the VARIA and..." I shot the silver-haired teen a look. "And he started a new life without involving the ones there were in it previously. But he...he hasn't changed that much, at least I think. He just became a bigger jerk than before."
Mafia School was a relatively neutral place, all Mafia Families were giving it money and it was known as a place where potential alliances could be formed. However, there was an attack once. I didn't remember the name of the Family, but I was a deep in the school forest with Superbi. He allowed me to follow him when the bullies were around.
We discovered a sword would not stay in my hand for more than five seconds. His near-death experience burned that in his memory.
Anyway, we heard the alarm. I was still new and didn't know what it meant. He did and basically told me to stay close until there were enemies. I had to stay hidden whereas he dealt with it. At some point one guy found me and I bit his hand, so he threw me to the ground and I sprained my ankle, it had a weird shape. Superbi killed the guy before he could grab me again and gave me piggyback ride back to my obviously worried brother. It was the second and last time I let him touch me so casually though.
The Superbi who told Alaric not to touch me wasn't that far from that thirteen-year-old boy.
"Why did you have men there by the way?"
"I was afraid Yamamoto might lose so I took appropriate measures. It's not half bad in the end, I mean..." His eyes went to Arro. Honestly, it was painful to see him so...sad. "However, I'm worried about Yamamoto too. The kid didn't want to kill him and Squalo turned down his help to pretty much kill himself, I'm sure he's blaming himself."
"I'll see him tomorrow."
"Later you mean." I blinked at him. "Ana, it's four in the morning already."
"How..."
"When you got here you sat down and stared at the wall for a long time sis." I frowned. Wow, I was that deep in my thoughts? "I'll probably stay here all day, the Mist battle is tonight, would you mind train with Kyoya if needed?"
"No, don't worry about it."
It was about an hour later the surgery was over and Superbi was sent to a room, out of danger. He wouldn't wake up for several more hours, but I left to have some sleep.
Dino almost screamed at Arro to go to sleep too, so he followed me without a word.
I didn't know what to do. I was standing at the door of the dojo in the Yamamotos' backyard and I was facing Takeshi's back. He was on his knees, his sword on the floor next to him and his head was lowered.
Even if I didn't have my glasses right now, I could see he was shaking. I remained silent for a few more seconds and took a deep breath.
"Superbi has always been stupidly prideful and the sword was his reason for living. You beat him fair and square, what happened once you had the ring...it's not your fault."
"I know," he replied weakly. "But still...I just feel so...powerless...When he attacked for the first time, I couldn't defeat him because it was just sudden and last night I was prepared but...he..." I looked down. "How's Arro doing?"
"He's...disturbed..." Who wouldn't be?
I started and turned around when someone put a hand on my shoulder. It was Takeshi's dad. He silently told me to leave and let him handle his son. I did after one last look for him.
Honestly, what a mess.
As I had not had lunch yet, I went to a convenience store to buy a bento. Then I spent the rest of the day patrolling, feeling weird all along. I considered going to Kokuyo, but went home instead to rest a little. I was...really feeling weird, I was a little bit dizzy.
"You're here," Arro greeted me, getting up. "I can go to the clinic now." I raised a brow, wondering why he couldn't have done so before, but the petite girl sitting on my couch was enough of an answer.
Once Arro gone, I sat down in front of the girl. Mukuro's new vessel if I remembered well.
"Chrome Dokuro," she whispered shyly. I nodded.
"Okay."
"Mukuro-sama...told me I should come and see you."
"Why?" She blushed in shame at my cold voice. I cleared up my throat.
"He...he said he would get back at you for...the recommendation." I blinked several times and laughed.
"Yeah sure!" She was clearly confused. "I'll wait to see i..." I rolled to the floor to dodge the trident that pierced my seat.
"Kufufu..." I looked up at Chrome, now smirking the same way as familiar pineapple. "Do you think I won't?"
"You're a pervert." He stared at me and decided to ignore me. Smart decision.
"I need you to take Chrome to that clinic after the fight." I raised a brow. "She tires easily." I got up.
"It's not ideal. I'll do it. It means you'll win though, right?"
"Oya, are you doubting me?" I shrugged. "After suggesting me for the role of the Mist Guardian?" I smirked.
"Do you know who you're facing?"
"I do, I was there at the VARIA HQ, remember?"
Later, after Chrome was back to herself and left for Kokuyo, I laid down in my couch. I was...exhausted, my eyes were basically closing by themselves.
It was not normal.
Shamal arrived twenty minutes after I called him, for some reasons he also had a key.
"Well," he started to say, for once focusing on his work, "blood pressure low and your flames are literally being used right now."
"What?" I whispered weakly. "Chrome...clinic after though...
"It's almost like they're drained somewhere," he explained, a mosquito on his finger without listening to me. "It's..."
I listened to him for a couple of seconds before drifting off to sleep for good.
"What the..." Arro started, seeing Shamal in the kitchen of the apartment.
"Oh, hey kid. Luciana called me, she's sleeping."
"Sleeping? And she called you?"
"I can't tell you anything, it's confidential. She won't be able to make it tonight though." Arro frowned.
"She's sick?" he asked the doctor while walking toward her room. Shamal grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him.
"No visit, I'm working."
"Wha..."
"Actually, leave the apartment, find Reborn and tell him the same thing is happening, he'll understand. And there's a Chrome who's supposed to be taken to the clinic after something." On this note, Shamal closed Luciana's room door behind him.
Arro hadn't been told important things, he just knew it. However, if Shamal wanted him to report it to Reborn, he probably should get going.
He didn't want to go back to the hospital anyway, his cousin was still unconscious.
I stared at the half ring in my hand with disdain. I was his sister and he just gave me that shitty ring, treating me like one of his subordinate. I wasn't one, I was his sister!
"Ushishi, excited for tonight Princess?" I looked up at Bel, letting go of the ring which fell back against the top of my chest as it was on a chain. "From what Levi said, your opponent doesn't seem very nice."
"I wouldn't be surprised." After all, after tonight...they had Mukuro on their side.
I was sure Xanxus would bring that up at some point. I didn't miss the way his eyes glanced my way when I gasped quietly.
"And anyway, we still have the entire VARIA coming to eradicate everyone related to the conflict after the final battle, and if needed we'll lock the spectators up. We're winning either way!" I scoffed and he smirked, irritated. "Do you want me to skin you alive?"
"It would make it hard for me to fight tonight Bel," I replied idly, going to the living-room with him. Xanxus was not here, but the Mosca was.
I walked closer to it.
"It's so creepy," the Prince commented. I nodded and inched my hand closer to it.
"Don't touch it." I jumped at Xanxus' voice right behind me. I spun around and shrunk under his glare. "Understood?" I nodded quickly, now noticing Bel was gone. He stared at me for a couple of seconds, his lips pursed, and turned around. "Make sure the trash are ready to move."
"Okay."
Right, as if.
This conflict, the title of Decimo...it was killing my brother and instead that...man was there.
I had to do something.
I couldn't let him have the rings. I couldn't let him win.
And I definitely couldn't let him kill a bunch of teenagers or innocent people.
I blinked slowly, the weak glare of the sun hitting me right in the eyes. I growled and tried to hide my eyes, but something in my hand kept me from moving. I looked down, blinked at the needle in my hand, and the tub going up to a drip.
"You had a bad fever, I needed to keep you hydrated," a voice explained from the door of my room.
"Shamal?" I mumbled weakly. He sat down next to me, his elbows on his knees and arms dangling between his legs.
"Your flames were being drained. I don't know where, but something was draining them. Did you have another dream?" I nodded. "So the dreams most likely use your flames, your Sky Flames, to happen."
"Only her Sky Flames?" I looked at my feet. Reborn was standing next to them on my bed.
"Her Cloud Flames too because they're intertwined. Only her Mist Flames didn't budge."
"What day is it?" Reborn moved closer to my face and he put a small hand on my forehead.
"Wednesday, it's six in the afternoon. Mukuro won last night." With great efforts, I sat up. "Bakana, you need to rest."
"No, I have to act in Iemitsu's name, I can't just lay in bed."
"I can't really let you overdo it, as a doctor I can't." I looked at Shamal.
"You can if your patient is in the right state of mind to make decisions." They shared a look.
"If you try to go to the fight tonight I'll take you to the hospital myself," a new voice warned me. I raised my head to see Dino at the door, an exhausted look on his face. "Kyoya is fighting, there's no need for you to come." I pursed my lips, trying to convince him, but it just made him scowl. "Don't make me repeat myself Luciana." I shot a look at the other two and sighed.
"Okay..."
"If there is a battle tomorrow you'll come, promise," my brother added with a comforting smile, trying to make up for my pouting face.
"Yeah right..."
They left after Shamal gave me a check-up, Reborn seemingly thoughtful. Dino brought me a plate of onigiri and other snacks if I was hungry, but I was pretty sure my stomach could not handle anything for now.
The good thing was...I wasn't feeling half as bad as the first time. Shamal even said it wouldn't take as long as the first time for me to recover. Still, I was stuck in bed and I couldn't focus on the movie on my computer. I had this...feeling twisting my inside. Something was wrong.
Something was terribly wrong and that robot had to be related to this feeling.
I had to take care of the… 'cleaning team' the VARIA wanted to send.
"Luciana, hello," Feng greeted me on the phone.
"Hey Feng, is Fon here? It's urgent."
"Of course. Is it about the VARIA being in Namimori? Li told us about it."
"Yeah."
"I'll hand him the phone now, please take care of yourself."
"...I will, thank you Feng." I heard her swift footsteps over the phone and hushed Mandarin before I heard my Master's voice.
"Does the situation require my help?" he asked me immediately.
"I'm afraid so...a lot of things is going on in the Vongolas, CEDEF is involved, I sent Alaric in Italy to help and I'm stuck in bed whereas I know they'll try to...I need protection for the civilians."
"...I see." I bit the inside of my cheek.
"I'm sorry to ask this of you, but please come to Namimori as fast as you can. I need you here to know there will be no casualty." There was a long silence, during which I was tapping my fingernail against my thigh. "Fon?"
"I'm here, I'll be here. But how come you are in charge?"
"There's only Basil and I in Namimori. He's busy helping Tsunayoshi during his training so Iemitsu left me in charge of Namimori security."
"I see. I'll catch the first flight, don't worry."
"Thank you Master," I thanked him before hanging up.
I dug in the onigiri, looking at my alarm clock every two minutes. At around ten thirty, I was still not sleeping, even if my body was telling me it needed the rest.
"Screw that, I'm going," I muttered to myself, knowing fully well there was no one in my apartment anyway.
I left the comfort of my bed, my bare feet now on the carpet, and slowly stumbled to my closet. I wanted a shower too but I didn't have the time for that. I took my shirt off, leaving me in a white bra, and looked for a hoodie and a tank top.
I froze when someone opened my door, my hand around a top. I turned around, completely exposing myself to Kyoya, who was at the door. In an almost comical way, he slowly widened his eyes, like me, and there was a long, awkward moment of hesitation between the two of us.
Then his eyes dropped on my chest. That was when I hid myself and felt my cheeks burning up.
"What are you doing here!?" I shrieked at him, throwing him my shirt that fell pathetically between us. He seemed to go back to normal because he started frowning and closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing out of bed stupid?" I bared my teeth at him when he stepped closer and I stepped back, against the shelves of my closet.
"Nothing that should concern you!" He raised a brow. "What are you doing here!?" He stopped in front of me.
"Haneuma told me I should come to convince you not to go. He didn't trust you." I gaped at him and clenched my fists on my sides, forgetting the fact I was half-naked in front of Kyoya.
"How dared he tell you that!?" He shot me a deadpan look and I averted my eyes, throwing my hands up in the air. "Alright, you caught me red-handed, what are you gonna do about it?"
He smirked and next thing I knew, he pushed me and my legs stopped supporting me. I gave him the finger when I sat up and put the tank top on when he threw it my way.
"You're going to be late if you stay here," I told him as I went back in bed. I pulled the cover up my lap. "Was it all? Then g..."
"Do you think I'm going to lose?" he asked me rudely. I blinked in confusion. "I'm fighting a piece of junk, are you doubting me winning?"
"No, never," I replied honestly, clenching the covers on my lap. "I just...there's something wrong with your opponent, with your fight, it's...I don't know what it is but there's something just wrong about all this and I can't put my finger on it and it's pissing me off! On top of that I'm stuck in a bed to rest, again! It's..." I was interrupted when he slightly hit my head with his tonfa, not enough to...hurt me I guess, but enough to put my head down.
"You have no reason to feel useless." I bit my bottom lip. He saw it then? "You're not even one of the fighters, you'd just be a spectator." I pushed his weapon away from my head.
"So? I can't even do that properly, my body won't allow me to." I sighed and raised my head to him. "Don't do anything stupid tonight please." He frowned and scoffed, so I took his wrist in my hand. "Please Kyoya, Xanxus is plotting something and I...shit, I don't want you to be involved in his schemes." We stared at each other in the eyes for a few seconds and he freed his wrist from my hold to show me the half-ring around his neck.
"You're the one who said I should have that thing, aren't you?" I nodded. "Then stop worrying over nothing. I'll win and these stupid herbivores disrupting the peace will leave Namimori."
"You'll bring the ring back?"
"Hn." There was a knock on my door.
"Hibari, you're gonna be late for your grand entrance." I raised my brows at Arro's voice.
"I don't have the key to your place carnivore," Kyoya said as if it was obvious Arro was with him.
"Is this a request?" He turned away from me and left.
I heard them leaving my place and I sunk in my pillow, taking my alarm clock to stare at the number. My phone rang at one past eleven and I picked up immediately.
"...Miss?" I froze.
"Alaric? Are you okay? The line keeps buzzing."
"Yes...yes, I'm fine. Iemitsu needs medical assistance, but it's nothing life threatening. Listen, the VARIA Cloud Guardian, the Mosca...the battle needs to be stopped." My heart skipped a beat. I knew it, I knew there was… "The Ninth there was at the Vongola HQ was an impostor. The Mosca uses energy to function. The...the real Ninth is inside the Mosca, it's the energy source." I widened my eyes and almost dropped my phone.
What…
But...Xanxus would do that to his father?
"Please tell Don Cavallone immediately and..."
"Schlang, we've got company!" I heard Lal said in the back.
"I have to go." He hung up on me and I swallowed with difficulty, looking for Dino's name in my phone.
"Hey."
"Dino, go to the school with men and a medical team too. The Ninth is inside the Mosca and Kyoya's fighting it. Alaric just called me, it's...shit, just do it." I hung up.
My bad feeling kept twisting my insides, so I laid down and put the sheets on my face. I tried to go to sleep but the only thing on my mind was when my phone would ring to tell me what happened.
Nothing.
There was just the dead silence of the night.
After a while, I heard my window opening. Kyoya was the only one to come through the window like that, so I pulled the covers away from my face and turned on the light on my nightstand.
What was not my surprise to see, not Kyoya, but my brother.
"Xan...Xanxus?" I stuttered with wide eyes.
"Hn." He took off his boots and put them in a corner of my room as if he owned the place. His VARIA jacket landed on the back of my chair.
"How...what..."
"I have my own ways to find things," he explained casually, looking around. I didn't doubt that at all. He stopped at my desk and took a picture in his hand. The one on my desk...my graduation picture with Dino, Federico, Leo and Reborn I believed.
He put it down after a few seconds and sat down next to me, leaning against the dark brown wooden headboard. One of his leg was against his chest, an arm dangling on it, whereas his other leg was stretched out in front of him.
Yeah, that was not the VARIA Boss sitting next to me, it was as plain as day. I sat up too with a small groan.
"You have health issues, don't you?" he suddenly asked me in his husky voice, looking at the other nightstand. I sighed when I saw he was holding an inhalator.
"Kind of I guess, I have a weak constitution, so I have had a strict medical follow-ups for years now. One of the good things that comes with growing up around an Arcobaleno is that he knows a lot of people, so Shamal has been my doctor so far." He kept scrutinizing the object in his hand. "What are you doing here?"
"I told you I'd find you." If he were here though, then the battle was over, so why…
As if on cue, my phone beeped. A text. I took it and read it quickly, cold sweat running down my back as I realized what the man just next to me had done through Dino's text. And Kyoya was injured, fuck.
"You do know that the current events are not giving me the best...impressions of you." He scoffed.
"I don't see you running away." I pursed my lips. I couldn't really anyway. "Did they leave you alone?" I blinked in surprise at the question.
"They told me to rest." He frowned at that. "I have Shamal's number in case of emergency." He still didn't seem convinced.
I wanted to ask him a lot of question. How could he do that, did it not matter to him Timoteo raised him in wealth, did he feel any remorse, did he really not care Superbi 'died'…
Yet, as I kept looking at him, I just...couldn't help but think Xanxus was looking for something and that it was not just a stupid ring or title. If he really wanted it, he would have gone for his brothers years ago, not the Ninth.
I really wondered what was going on in his head.
"Stop staring Ann'," he grumbled, putting his hand on my face. I whined by reflex but stopped quickly.
"I've never heard that one before," I noted to myself. "I have 'Lulu', 'Ana' but 'Ann'' never came up before." He scoffed.
"It better not have." I snickered to myself.
My surprised eyes glanced at him when he literally tucked me in.
"If you're sick, you should sleep."
"Xanxus..."
"Once it's over you're coming with me," he suddenly announced, his hands still on the covers. I frowned at him.
"No." He glared down at me.
"You don't have the choice."
"I do have it. You're gonna lose anyway." He raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Am I now?" I nodded vigorously. He fully turned his body toward me, arms and legs crossed. A playful smirk was on his lips and I fought back the urge to gulp. "Let's make a deal then."
"A deal?"
"If I win, you're coming with me without making a scene..."
"Don't talk about me like a five year-old," I interrupted him rudely but he ignored me.
"And if the scum wins, you'll stay here."
"You seriously think you could take me away so easily?"
Would being with Xanxus be as 'safe' from my...our father as Namimori was?
I didn't want to leave this town. Only God knew Kyoya would kill half the town if he didn't have a good rival around.
"What, you think Iemitsu could do something about it?"
"My legal guardian could," I said back and he scowled. "But I'll take it I guess."
"Good. Now sleep."
"And what are you going to do?" I asked him suspiciously.
"Wait until someone come back," he answered as if it was obvious.
"You're weird Xanxus," I told him bluntly. "When there are people you're a heartless asshole, now you're...I don't know, you're weird, I can't read you well."
"Sleep instead of trying to read me."
"This situation is awkward for me."
"Hn."
Just like that he ended the conversation. I wouldn't get anything more out of him tonight.
So I slept.
I knew what he did. I knew my worries about him, I knew he wanted to...he didn't want to destroy my life, but what he wanted to do would destroy it nonetheless. Yet, I just...didn't want to chase him away.
I didn't like people being in my personal space except when I knew they could be trusted or wouldn't hurt me. I didn't like people being tactile with me. Xanxus did these two things and I did not shy away from it. He was a stranger but...I was comfortable with him.
Was it how it felt to have a blood relative? To have a...a blood sibling?
Fratellanza
Thanks for reading this chapter! Thanks to and AutumnBee124 and Guest for their reviews!