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

Fratellanza

"You keep setting new records." I removed my soundproof headset and looked at Jeremiah. He grinned at me and showed me the time.

There were twenty moving targets. I got them all in a vital spots in forty-seven seconds at ten meters from me.

"Not good enough," I mumbled to myself.

"You've got a score to settle with the cardboard silhouettes or something?"

"Others to beat."

Reborn's record twenty-one seconds with a regular gun and bullets. Xanxus' was thirty-seven. I was still too far behind, even if I had the record of that place.

"What about you?"

"I'm in the top ten." Target shooting clubs were popular in all five universities. We just used the same place for training.

I'd just go there in my free time as well with Jeremiah. We got along pretty well and he didn't blush when I looked at him anymore. That was good.

Zelia and Arro had dates like every two days anyway.

Now that I got to know them a little, I felt bad for Arro when he got his TYL self's memories. Knowing they had been killed…

Two months had flown by in the blink of an eye and the Halloween break was over. November was there and brought with it the coolness of Fall.

"Are you on patrol duty?"

"No, it's my break today." I frowned. "Are you okay? You seem tensed or something."

"I'm fine, I think a cold is trying to get me, that's all!" He waved me off. My eyes remained dubious. "You're going for another few rounds?"

"I don't think so, my eyes are tired." I removed the protection glasses, my regular glasses underneath them.

"Hey...do you want to go take a coffee or something near the harbor?" I raised a brow and shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

So we went.

Because he was acting strange and I had a bad feeling about it. He was silent next to me as we walked back to our respective dorms. I was talking and at some point I realized he slowed down to walk behind me.

I chose a dark alley to go through, still pretending to be unaware of the fact he had a knife in his hand.

"And then, I was sent on a mission where I had to kill…oh, kitty," I said, kneeling to pet a kitty. Jeremiah's steps came to a stop behind me. "Anyway, as I was saying I had to kill a few people and almost got killed by someone I missed, rookie mistake. But he didn't, because he was not a killer and it's rare in our world. It's a good thing you know, for people to be different in order to improve things. That's why..." I got up. "You should drop that knife before I take it from you and put it in your eyeball." I felt him freezing in my back and turned around.

I put the tip of my finger on the blade and lowered it. He was shaking.

"You're not a hitman, your body language was screaming at me to be careful." He was conflicted. "So, what's this pathetic murder attempt about? I hope it was a test or something because the aftermath of killing me wouldn't be pretty for anyone, especially for Arro." He dropped on his knees.

"I...I'm sorry..." His red hair was hiding his emerald eyes.

"It's not an explanation." I took my phone when it vibrated in my pocket.

"Lulu you're okay!?"

"Yeah I'm goo..."

"Zelia shut up, I'm pissed at both of you right now! How could you...urgh, Luciana?"

"I said I'm good, Jeremiah's fine as well, no wounded."

"Bring him to my room."

"Got it." I hang up and put my phone back into my pocket.

I grabbed Jeremiah's arm and pulled him on his feet harshly, not caring about being kind right now.

Twenty minutes later we were in Arro's room. Zelia was sitting on the floor, against the wall and her knees against her chest. Her face was buried between her knees and chest, curly black hair hiding her completely.

Arro was pacing, pissed. When he saw us, he stomped toward us and pushed Jeremiah away before checking if I was fine.

"Seriously, I told you I was fine Arro," I muttered, slapping his hands away.

"Yeah I know, I just...do you know what they'll do to me if something happened to you?" 'They' being my brothers and Alaric.

I nodded and he sighed before turning to his other best friend.

He slapped him on the head before he slid against the wall to sit on the floor as well.

"None of you are fucking hitmen! I get why the Boss ordered you to assassinate Luciana but you should have come to me first!"

"We couldn't do that!" Zelia yelled at him, jumping on her feet. Her boyfriend turned around to look at her but she grabbed his collar to pull him down to her level. "You're biased! You would have said you can do both but you can't Arro, you can't! She..." She pointed at me with a heated, sad glare. "She's all that matters since you met her in Russia and we come second!"

"You don't."

"Yes we do," Jeremiah pipped up. "I mean, everything that happened in Japan and we're not a part of? We grew up together but suddenly you found yourself being important and...we were left behind." I averted my eyes.

It was something I had felt guilty for a long time, taking Arro away from his home.

"You didn't even call once," Zelia whispered weakly. "So of course when the Boss ordered us to kill her to see your reaction, we accepted. You...you've got to make a choice at one point. You can't be with us in Chicago and then take a plane and play Guardian with her. You...you just can't!"

"The Boss said that if your first reaction was to worry about her, it meant your heart was more toward her and her other Guardians." Arro shot me a broken gaze, but I looked away.

I couldn't...really help him on that one knowing I was the reason…

"Of course I'd worry about her first, she was the target," he replied quietly.

Zelia had a wry laugh.

"Because you really think Jeremiah would have managed to kill her? Especially with a knife and not a rifle? There's a reason why he likes so much distance between him and his targets."

It dehumanized them and made the guilt more bearable.

Someone knocked on the door. I opened it without thinking to face Jie. He seemed annoyed.

"You're too loud."

"Yeah sorry," I replied, leaving the room and shutting the door behind me.

I ended up with him in the elevator.

"You got into a fight with your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend." That Jie, he was in the same Martial Arts clubs than me.

He had an extremely annoying smirk tugging at his lips.

In the night, Arro knocked on my door. I let him in.

"...so?"

"I called my Boss. He said that..." He sighed painfully. "If...I can leave the Family and join the CEDEF or whatever you're planning to do without any problem. He said a Sky is prioritized." I looked down. "Don't make that face."

"What face?"

"The guilty one. I already told you none of us knew what was happening that day." I pinched my pendant.

"I know, it's just...I didn't want you to get in a fight with your friends."

"Zelia didn't really like you anyway. She can be very jealous." It was not really surprising. Arro and I's relationship was purely platonic, but of course she'd still feel threatened. "Jeremiah was angry at the fact I was diving head first into danger. Not that much because it was because of you, just because I wasn't thinking before acting."

"I see."

"So after they left, I called Kyoya." I raised my head in a flash. He shot me an apologetically smile and I turned my head away. "Sorry, it's just..."

"You guys are friends of some sort, you're allowed to call him." I bit the inside of my cheek. "What did he say?"

"He told me to fuck off at first because it was the middle of the night in Japan." Of course. "But then, he said he was surprised I was still in my Family. I mean, I love working on Flame-related things and Box Weapons, but...he basically said I should have joined you knowing the Weaponries are in a work relationship with the Vongolas anyway."

"...he's not wrong there." I sat down next to him on my bed. "So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." He grabbed a fistful of silver hair in frustration. "I...I love Zelia, I don't want to lose her because of you..."

There was a slight pang at my heart but I knew very well he didn't mean that in a mean way.

I awkwardly patted his shoulder.

"You should call Dino, and Rick, maybe even Superbi you know." He looked away.

"Hum...I know." I got up but he grabbed my wrist. I looked down at him. "Just...don't go around looking for a new Storm please." I blinked in confusion and gave him a weak smack behind the head.

"When have I ever looked for an Element? You guys just happen!" He snickered.

"True."

Needless to say, things remained tensed for a while.

"So none of you saw him?" We all exchanged looks.

The one in the patrol group, ranked tenth in fighting, had been missing for two days.

"Seriously," Helios muttered angrily.

There was a lot of pressure put on us from our sponsors. Well, Dino was all like 'do your best sis' but yeah, if we did well here it could only be good for them. Also, sponsors must have asked everyone to get some dirt on everyone, maybe try to kill a few people in sad 'accidents' or shit like that.

"Anyway, you all have sport events in January, right? We'll reduce your patrolling time by half so you can focus on them. Dismissed." Helios was still concerned about that guy's disappearance though.

"Where do you think he went?" Arro asked once we were outside.

"Who knows."

"With the pressure from sponsors, maybe he wasn't deemed good enough and killed himself." We both looked behind us, Jie standing there.

"Aren't you aware butting in others' discussion is rude?" Arro asked him sarcastically. Jie ignored him and looked at me.

"We will face each other in the coming competitions Cavallone."

"You're representing the same school."

"So? I'll put her in her rightful place, the second one." He left us with a smirk and my narrowed eyes followed him.

"Okay...so competitions in China?" I mumbled.

I must have met him there and maybe beat him in one of the rare mixed-sex competitions or something because he didn't look like the kid who kept beating me.

"So, how did Dino take it when you told him the news?" I sighed deeply.

I figured it would be better to spend the Holidays on campus. Arro'd be here as well. He hoped to get things right again with his friends.

"Well...I had to make him understand it wasn't him but me."

"You sound like you guys broke up or something."

"Well...it's the first time I won't be celebrating Christmas with him you know. Anyway, I told him that if I were to come back for Christmas, then I would have to visit Xanxus as well because this one is attention-thirsty like a five-year-old. And with this going on," I said, pointing at my bright orange hair, "I'm as good as dead."

"I kind of like your pumpkin look."

They made up during the holidays. Jeremiah gave me a peace offering in the form of chocolates.

When we were celebrating New Year Eve and the start of a new decade, I left my thoughts wander to two years ago when the Shimons issues had just been solved.

I shut down the voice in my head wondering how Kyoya was doing. I was the one to leave Namimori and him behind because I wasn't happy, I had no right to...wonder about him now…

I probably should try to have longer conversations with Tsunayoshi and Takeshi when they called me.

I would send them cards.

"Stop being grumpy Kyo," I told him as he walked in front of me in the woods near the shrine.

It was the Summer Festival. I had spent some time with the kids and teenagers. I went to the shooting stand and smashed the record while Takeshi did the same in the stand next to me with balls and cans.

"Hn." I rolled my eyes. Stupid possessive jealousy…

As if he had heard my thoughts, he stopped and glared at me above his shoulder.

I looked up, ignoring him when I heard the first of the fireworks being shot in the night sky. I immediately laid down in the grass, burned from the July sun. It was the first time I actually spent the summer in Japan. I kind of missed the laid back summer routine I had back home. It was basically doing the work Iemitsu would give me, hang out in the kitchen and watch our cook do his magic, going on strolls with Ebony and sometimes with my brother and his horse as well. There was a lake in the woods behind our house so we would stop there and hang out in there. We also had a pool so diving in for a swim in the morning or sunbathing was awesome as well.

I would also take my bike to go in the village near our house. Everybody knew Dino and who he was, what he did, but as the Cavallones were taking good care of this particular village because it was so close, everybody knew and liked him, so me as well.

I was comfortable wearing dresses there, so it was saying a lot.

Arro also had a bike at home, so when he was here in the summer we'd go in the village together, enjoying the slope there was on the way. Going up after was another story.

There also were the days spent in Palermo I loved.

I missed home.

Japan was great as well...but just different you know?

"Gimme a warning next time," I mumbled, burying my hand in Kyo's hair.

He laid down as well on his back, his head on my stomach.

We watched the fireworks like that.

It felt...peaceful.

"Sports week." I looked up from the program to the stadium, my bag on my shoulder. Arro whistled next to me, his bag and his saber and épée with him, two out of the three weapons in fencing.

"Dino's coming?"

"Dunno, maybe. He didn't say anything and it's not as if I really cared." He grinned.

"You don't want your big brother to see you competing?"

"I said I didn't really care, didn't I? It's nice if he's here, but ultimately it's a college competition, not the Olympics."

In the morning were combat sports, others in the afternoon. Several happened at the same time. Basically, they kind of put combat sports and sports where you had a weapon in the same category. It started with hand-to-hand, then close-ranged weapons, target shooting with handgun, then shotguns, then riffles.

I had trials on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

So...in two hours. It started at 9 a.m.

There was nothing interesting about competitions really. I easily qualified for the next round until the woman finals in taekwondo. Only finals were open to the public actually, and I was taken back by the number of people in the audience. I put on my maroon helmet, there had to be at least one piece of attire with the colors of our school, and entered the fighting area.

I ignored how the bleachers for my school were filled with people screaming at me to win.

Now, taekwondo basic rules. A match was in three rows of two minutes each. The one with more points won, or if they knock their opponent out. We were categorized based on our sex and weight.

This sport was about high kicks and punches. You could punch the torso and kick the torso and head, but nothing below the waist. One point for a basic torso attack, two points for a spinning kick to the torso and three points for a head kick.

I was all for sex-neutral fights.

The fight started. I blocked a torso kick. She went for a head kick immediately and I blocked before getting a torso spinning kick.

The referee came between us once I had my points.

Not gonna lie, all of my previous opponents ended up unconscious. Maybe one of them had been bleeding.

All of this to say, even if her level was clearly better than the others, I beat her.

I was declared the winner of the taekwondo competition.

In the afternoon there was the football tournament where...we didn't win. Arro had been great and a girl from my Asian Mafia History made me take one of those cardboard megaphones to cheer on them.

Arro was clearly disappointed, but the UdA were all in top physical shape.

"You'll do better in fencing tomorrow," I told him from the bleacher, just above the door as he went back to the lockers.

He grumbled something I didn't understand.

The next day I won the karate competition. However, I wasn't free to go. They brought Jie instead.

"It is a surprise final we will see now. You have both won the same competitions but are also both in the same school. As such, we will temporarily forget rules about genders and have you fight with taekwondo and karate in a ten minutes fight."

The thing was I saw Jie's final matches.

The guy was...seriously good.

"Shobu Hajime!"

He started by a kick to the head that I stopped. I winced at the sheer strength of his kick against my arm. It made me step on the side.

He stepped back and attacked again in the torso, then managed to get me in the head. He made me turn it on the side.

It was silent for a few seconds while I spat a drop of blood on the mat.

Okay, time to get serious.

However, I lost. It was tough, there was only one point separating us, but I still lost at the last second.

I rubbed the back of my neck as I watched the referee claiming Jie as the winner, a familiar taste in the back of my mouth.

The bitterness of defeat. Sweet old friend I never thought to see again.

I went to the hallway leading to the lockers and stopped there to watch the fencing final. I wasn't surprised when someone all clad in white with a helmet hiding their face tapped me on the shoulder as they went out.

Of course Arro would be qualified for the finals. The thing with fencing was the attire sometimes made it hard to see if the fencers were a male or a female. Arro was competing in the male category with the épée and mixed-sex category for the saber.

The fight with the épée happened for the girls. One won, then it was boys. Arro won, then mixed-sex. Someone from the UdA won.

Honestly, I knew nothing about swords or fencing. I knew you had to touch the opponent but...I didn't see what was amazing each time the audience would make noise.

I recognized Arro by his footwork though.

Female and male categories competed for the saber. Then it was Arro. He won and removed his helmet with a victorious grin on his lips. His opponent removed their helmet as well and I raised an impressed brow, realizing it was Nadja all along, our coworker at the patrol group. She nodded at Arro in respect and he walked up to her with a stretched out hand. She stared at it for a few second and shook it.

I straightened up when they were close to me and I clapped.

"I don't understand a thing about swords but congratulations." Nadja shot me an amused look with a raised eyebrow.

"Trust me when I say she's damn good Lulu."

"Well, fifth fighter of the island, she's bound to be good with her preferred weapon."

"It's not," she denied with her Nigerian accent breaking her Italian, although it was less pronounced than before.

"Well you could have fooled me. I mean sword and Lightning Flame, seems like a dangerous combination to me." We started walking to the lockers.

"I'm specialized in Dambe." We both blinked at her in confusion and she sighed, shaking her head. "Europeans...it's a traditional martial arts in Western Africa. It's pretty violent as well, more so that the one you do Cavallone. My Flame makes it deadly."

"Remind me to not get on your bad side," Arro told her, entering the guys' locker room.

I changed quickly and decided to go eat outside. I said goodbye to Nadja and Arro, who was staying there for lunch because Zelia had a volleyball competition.

On my way out I heard Jie's voice.

"My form is better than hers, I don't understand!" There was a sigh.

"Then why do you need me to teach you?" I froze at the voice.

It was Fon's.

"Because you are the best in Asia! You said years ago I didn't have what you were looking for in a student and I still don't have it!?" Wow...that guy could throw a tamper.

"Luciana, come here, I know you're listening." I popped my head around the corner. Jie glared at me.

Fon smiled at me, now as a five year-old. I quickly made my way to him.

"Master."

"Tell me what you saw in him during your fight."

"I don't ca..."

"Huh...every movement was perfect." He widened his eyes at me. "I mean, I remember that book you showed me when I started training. His moves looked like it was straight out of it."

"Exactly." He set his eyes on Jie. "To make a move efficient, you have to follow instructions. However, at some point you need to take some liberties to really make it yours. It is something you were lacking years ago and something you are still lacking today. Once you have learned a style you have to make it yours, not the other way around. I'm sure there are moves that your body struggles to do because it is not necessarily made to do them so often. If you stick to competitions you'll do great. In real fights it will be your loss. Because of this, I will not teach you. Luciana," he said, looking up to me, "come with me we need to talk." I gulped, shot Jie one last look to see a thoughtful look on his face, and followed Fon.

"Why are you here?"

"This boy asked me to come saying one of my student would also be competing. I called Reborn to ask him if it was you because you haven't bothered to call or send a letter in a year." I averted my eyes and he sighed. "I know you are uncomfortable because of Kyoya, but there is no reason to be."

"I left."

"You were unhappy, there was no reason for you to stay. Kyoya was unhappy as well." I bit the inside of my cheek and sat down on a bench outside, next to Fon. "Feng was sad to hear you left him at first, but when she asked for explanations and Kyoya told her...what he told you, she slapped him."

"Huh?" I said with wide eyes.

Wasn't I the faulty one?

"Luciana, with the way your relationship was back then, it could have ended up way worse if you had stayed."

"...how so?"

"You are both independent people who do not like when others keep you from doing what you want, aren't you?" I nodded. It was one of the thing I had in common with him. "However, your feelings for each other were very strong and after the dangerous situations you went through, you became very possessive of the other, right?" I pursed my lips. "There are things still complicated for the both of you when it comes to relationship. From what I understood after talking to Reborn, your brother and also Kyoya, I think that you became dependent on each other. But because you're naturally independent, you felt trapped by the other. Of course there are strong feelings, but wouldn't you agree than when you felt trapped, you tended to push others' buttons just the right way?"

"I..." My mouth was dry. "I guess..."

"Being in a relationship after so many fights and the emotions that came with it might have been the base of a toxic relationship once it really started."

"What are you trying to say exactly?"

"You were too young," he summed up with a sigh. "But you are still infatuated with him, as he is with you." I smirked wryly.

"It's not what he said."

"It's Kyoya, he won't say these words easily, especially if he feels pressured to say them." Now that was directed to me. "You both made mistakes that equally resulted in you leaving Namimori, I know that. He may be my nephew, but in human relationships he's really not the best one."

"Su..."

"And neither are you, so call every once in a while." On this note, he proceeded to tell me what was wrong in all of my fights and left.

I leaned my head back against the wall, memories of Kyoya being sweet for no particular reasons appearing in my mind. I took my phone and scrolled down the names until I reached his. My thumb lingered over his name for a few seconds until I sighed, putting my phone back in my pocket.

I couldn't call him now. I didn't know what I would, could tell him.

Fon was right anyway, we were both independent. He'd create the Foundation soon and I was busy with CEDEF.

I guess we both needed to grow up on our own in a way. All of the fights Tsunayoshi was involved in were stressful and life threatening. Of course they'd have an impact on how you'd treat people who were involved.

I missed my shot.

I was in the finals and I missed my shot.

I rubbed my eyes under my glasses, blinked several time but...the targets were blurry.

I finished nonetheless and fell to the fifth place. I slammed my gun on the counter and rubbed my eyes some more. I hadn't changed glasses for a while but still…

Arro found me quickly once I was out of the stadium with worry written all over his face. I was squinting a lot at him too, it was a dead giveaway.

"Lulu? What was that? You missed your last shots like a rookie!"

"Thanks for the reminder," I groaned at him. "Everything became blurry out of sudden."

"Seriously Ana?" I frowned at the voice and turned around. I blinked at Takeshi and Ryohei.

"The...hell?" I returned Takeshi's embrace, dumbfounded.

"Dino-san said you had sport competitions so we came to see you in person! You were great yesterday!" Ryohei clenched his fists by his side.

"It gets me extremely pumped for next year!" he yelled out, a few people turning glares in our direction.

"It's only you two?" Takeshi nodded as Arro was busy calming Ryohei down, or at least trying to.

You bet seeing so many people doing sports would make him like that.

"Yeah, but I think the kid's going to get a video and show it to the others." I sighed, facepalming.

"Wait, so my brother's here?"

"Both of them actually, and Squalo." Arro froze. "He wanted to see Arro fencing!"

Right...that one…

I still couldn't believe he'd dump me. Well, actually I could very well.

Let's not think about that, it's not as if anything more than making out had happened anyway. It never...felt right.

"There you are!" Dino slouched on my shoulder. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Arro being dragged away by Superbi. "You won karate and taekwondo, you did gr..." He shut up when I glared at him.

"Tch." I didn't even struggle in Xanxus' choke hold when he dragged me further away. "What the fuck was that shit show Ann'?"

"I wasn't on the top of my game?"

"You kept rubbing your eyes." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, everything turned blurry and I couldn't aim right." He frowned deeply.

"Maybe laser surgery could be good for you." I immediately tensed, staring at him with wide eyes. "Stop looking at me like that, it's safe."

"No laser is getting in my eyeballs!" He pursed his lips.

"I'm serious Luciana." I almost stepped back at the use of my full name. "You use guns. You can't lose your sight and at this rhythm...you might become blind."

"I'll get new glasses." He started to open his mouth but I pressed my hand on it. "End of the discussion, you're not putting a laser anywhere in my eyes!"

Before leaving, Dino told me he'd like for me to go to a private clinic in Switzerland in the summer. I knew very well why but I didn't want to be stuck in a private clinic with no ways to leave it for a while.

There was Katryna with him too. You know, blond Polish medic in the Future? She was fifteen and hiding behind my brother.

"Right so...Katryna is my fiancee?" I frowned.

"What?"

"Her dad is the Boss of a Polish Family and is pushing for a wedding once she's legal in three years," he said, pushing her forward. "I'm going to find a solution to get out of it, don't worry, but I wanted you to meet her."

"Why?"

"She's your Sun." Immediately I looked at her. Her hair was shorter, she was shorter, and her cheeks were plumper. She was a little on the chubby side but pretty adorable overall.

"Really?" She nodded. "How did you handle the memories?"

"Not very well I have to admit," she replied in a very quiet voice. "I wanted to contact you but...my father said I had dreamed of everything so..." I sighed.

"I see. Well huh...we're not synchronized yet, and I'm busy for now so...huh..."

"She's staying at home." I raised a brow at my brother. "I didn't like the way her father talked about her like an object, so I convinced him to let her live home to become my 'respectful wife'.

"Schooling?" He nodded. "Medical studies?" She nodded fervently. "That's good. Katryna, I'm sorry, I'm really not a gift." She smiled a little.

"It's okay." I smiled back at her, shyly as well because I didn't know her until a thought occurred to me.

"Wait, so Arro and Rick know, don't they?" She nodded again.

These two...sure, TYL Katryna seemed strangely very concerned about my well being but…

What else did they learn from their memories I didn't know?

Fratellanza

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Bye!