Disclaimer: I don't own anything
A/N: I want to first explain that chapter 20 and chapter 21 were deleted because I felt unhappy with the content in the chapters and so I decided to rewrite them in their entirety. I apologized for this and so this is the rewritten version of this chapter. There is some heavy topics discussed as sexual abuse is implied in this chapter, for anyone that feels uncomfortable then you can skip the last couple of paragraphs.
(A few days later)
"Are you okay, Narumi?"
Narumi stared at her oolong tea as Fon looked at her with concern. It had been over a couple of days since Reborn did that weird stunt of his and not once did the hitman try to talk to her about it. He would always leave out of the door and not once did he try to flirt with her whenever they were in the room. Not that she was complaining about it but it still felt strange not to have those smirks directed at her.
Groaning, she took a sip of her tea and looked at the frowning male. Should I just tell him about what happened between Reborn and me? She shook her head and closed her eyes. No, why should she even tell him? Telling him would be admitting the fact that her whole relationship with Reborn was fake. Narumi grimaced.
Then again, the hitman did break the rules of their contract, which meant she wasn't obligated to keep up with the ruse. She took a deep breath and swirled the tea. But if I break the contract then I'll be dealing with Nana demanding that I go on blind dates. A frown formed on her lips and the young woman furiously shook her head.
"I'm fine." She offered him a smile before taking a bite of her gyoza. The aromatic flavor burst in her mouth and the young woman bit back a moan. Damn, did Reborn's friend make the best gyoza that she had ever eaten. Maybe I should bring some for Tsuna and Gokudera. She licked the crumbs off of her lips and then took another sip of her tea. Those two would probably love the food.
Fon looked at her with a frown playing on his lips. His brown eyes did not look one bit convinced, if anything they were daring her to be just a little bit more open about her problems. Narumi snorted. I don't even have a problem! So what if that Reborn kissed me out of the blue? It just meant that he might have been horny. She pinched her nose and groaned.
"Something happened between you and Reborn," Fon stated.
She puffed her cheeks. "Nothing really happened between us."
The black-haired man raised an eyebrow and the blond-haired woman scowled, looking away from the man. What could she even tell him? That Reborn kissed her while she was in bed or that she thought they were having a moment? Nope. If those words came out of her lips then it would spell big trouble for the both of them. But why did that fool had to do that? Balling her hands into a fist, Narumi smacked the table.
A crack formed on the table, a single line running down the table, and Narumi winced. Fon inspected the wooden table, finger tracing the line before quirking a single eyebrow at her. His eyes practically told her that he didn't believe her because of that crack on his stand. Well that didn't really help my case, did it? She inhaled, ribs stretching and lungs burning, and then finally exhaled. Even if he had evidence, it did not mean she had to spill everything.
"That tells me something did happen between you two." The black-haired man tapped the crack and the stand split in half. She winced while Fon offered her a weary smile. "Want to tell me what happened?"
"I really don't want to talk about it," Narumi muttered, dropping her shoulders.
Reborn's friend inspected her for the longest time, brown eyes moving from her hair to her eyes. He thinned his lips but did not say anything to her. It was great because she certainly didn't want to talk about what happened between them. I don't even know why I feel so bothered about it. Another quick exhale and the blonde sunk deeper into her seat.
"Can you at least tell me if the two of you are still talking to each other?" Fon tilted his head and flickered his eyes at the passing pedestrians. Almost all of the female pedestrians seemed to linger, their eyes gleaming with interest for the man in front of her. Narumi couldn't exactly blame them because the male was good-looking.
She grimaced and let out a sigh. "I would talk to that asshole if he wasn't running around like a coward."
Coughing, Fon stared at her with amused eyes and the blond-haired woman lowered her head. That probably did give a way of the fact she was furious with that hitman. Closing her eyes, Narumi tightened her jaw and took several deep breaths. She could feel her heart pounding with rage as it always did whenever she remembered how the man kissed her and just ran away without explaining himself.
"That is the first time I ever heard someone call Reborn a coward," Fon mused. "Then again, no one rarely sees that side of him."
Blinking, Narumi looked down at the cracked teacup and scowled. That hitman was a lot of things from being a sadistic tutor to being a well-known flirt but a coward was definitely not something she would call him. Nope. The man was always preaching and doing things to make her baby cousin faced his fear, yet he couldn't do the same thing.
It just didn't make sense if you asked her.
"I don't even understand why he is so scared," she grumbled, shaking her head. Narumi kicked the smaller broken part of the table and watched as it was sent flying to the building across them. The table smashed against the wall and the wall began to crack, tiny little lines forming like little flower veins, before finally crashing down to the ground. "It isn't like he never did it before! Reborn is a flirt!"
Fon quirked his lips into a knowing smile. "Maybe he finds you different from every other woman he met."
"How am I different from every other woman he met?" She retorted. "The only two differences between me and his last lover is that I'm blond and actually legal while she has pink hair and definitely not legal as well as insane. Wait, that is actually three things."
The black-haired man chuckled, darted his eyes to his wristwatch, and then scanned the street. His brown eyes inspected the passing cars before moving back to her. A smile played on his lips, it stretched so wide that Narumi almost wondered if his face could actually split in half. Why was he so amused anyway? There was nothing funny about what had been just said.
He shrugged. "Well he actually introduce you to me? I never met his fourth lover."
"He invited himself to our meeting," she retorted. "I bet that he would never introduce me if it wasn't for the fact he found out that you were the person that I was meeting."
Fon raised an eyebrow and chuckled before shaking his head. Narumi frowned and curled her lips into a tiny frown, her eyes flashing with weariness as her stomach curled with dread. She could tell from that look in his eyes that he managed to find something interesting about that piece of information she just spilled to him.
Tilting his head, the brown-eyed male offered her a half-smile. "Oh, I'm pretty certain he would have introduced you to me."
"And why would you think that?" Narumi asked, shifting back and forth in her seat. She knitted her eyebrows together and offered him a little frown as she tried to understand the confidence in his tone. Did Reborn introduce all of his previous lovers before her and Bianchi? Wait, why was she even putting herself in the same category as those women? She was nothing but a fake girlfriend.
Humming, Fon smiled and looked up at the sky. "Reborn always did love showing off his beautiful lovers and having people get jealous over the fact that he could get any women."
"And here I thought I was going to get a special reason," she chuckled and shook her head as her cheeks burned a faint shade of red. "Then again that would make sense on why you are certain that the asshole would have introduced me to you."
Brown eyes glinted with faint amusement and Narumi couldn't help but wonder if there had been anything amusing in her words. Maybe I sound like an annoyed girlfriend? Shuddering, the blonde scowled and looked away from the amused man. That was the last thing she wanted to sound like to Fon. There was nothing going on between Reborn and her.
They were nothing to each other except friends.
I can finally look at my new student file.
Leaning back on her chair, Narumi couldn't help but stare at the brown file sitting on the table. Morning classes had gone well without a hitch, especially when she considered the fact that Hibari actually decided to attend her class. It is never a boring day when he comes to class. Another sigh escaped her lips and the blonde darted her eyes to the ceiling.
The fact Hibari decided to come to class alongside a new student making their way to her classroom in the next few days, probably should be a sign that something big was going to happen soon. She exhaled and leaned forward, blue eyes focused on the file. It was never good news whenever there was a new student coming in, and it would be a huge miracle if Reborn had nothing to do with it.
The door creaked opened and Narumi looked away from the file, focusing her attention onto her office door. Light brown eyes peeked through the door, widening just a little bit at the sight of her. The blonde sighed and curled her lips into a slight smile; she wiggled her finger at the brown-haired teen.
Tsuna sighed and slid into her office, clicking the door shut behind him. His brown eyes wavered, almost trembling with nerves, and the whiskered woman frowned. Gesturing to her empty seat, Narumi slid the file into her bag. The brown-haired teen shuffled into her empty seat, brown eyes darting to the windows as if expecting someone to watch them.
Considering the fact that Reborn did have that habit, she didn't blame her cousin for being weary.
"What brings you here, Tsuna?" Narumi asked, frowning. She pulled open the drawer, took out her tin of cookies and offered it to the brown-haired teen. She could only guess what brought her cousin into her office during their lunchtime, instead of being around his friends or even his little crush. It was never good news when he came into her office.
Fishing out a cookie, Tsuna answered. "I just have a question to ask about your relationship with Reborn."
"What? You wanna know how far I went with him?" Narumi asked, raising a single eyebrow at her cousin. She chuckled and snorted when her brown-haired cousin turned a very faint shade of red. He looked almost ready to run away from her with the way he squirmed and looked at the window with eyes filled with disgust. She could only sigh at his behavior.
It was easy to forget that her baby cousin wasn't ready for those kind of jokes.
The brown-haired boy coughed. "Did you and Reborn have a fight or something?"
"What makes you think we had a fight?" Narumi asked, clearing her throat. She picked up her chocolate-chip cookie, twirling it around as her cousin curled his lips into a nervous smile. Was it becoming that obvious something happened between them? Fon noticed it and now her baby cousin seemed to realize something happened between them.
It isn't like something big happened between us. She frowned and nibbled on her chocolate-chip cookie, looking down at her empty desk. Narumi just had to wonder if there was something that gave way the fact that her relationship with Reborn was different. The whole silence thing might had been an indicator but that couldn't be enough to give way the fact something happened between them.
"Reborn has been acting more like a sadistic whenever he trains me," Tsuna explained, frowning. He nibbled the cookie, his eyebrows furrowed together as his brown eyes peered at her. "It seems like something seems to be bothering him and you and Reborn have been acting strange around each other. Reborn seems to be actually avoiding you."
Blowing out a strand of her blond hair away from her forehead, Narumi inspected her baby cousin. His brown eyes seemed to be genuinely concerned over the state of her relationship with Reborn and that only made her grimace. What could she even tell him? That the whole thing between her and his tutor was a ruse to make sure that Reborn's insane ex-girlfriend didn't hurt him.
Her cousin would get upset and if he told it to Gokudera, then Narumi had no idea on how the boy would react to the news.
"We didn't get into a fight," Narumi reassured him. Crumbs stuck to her fingers like glue and with a tired sigh, she licked the cookie crumbs off of her fingers before offering a tight smile to the 14-year-old boy. "But if you're too scared to ask Reborn then I'll ask him what is bothering him. God knows, it has to be something for him to revert back to his old ways."
Tsuna frowned. "Narumi-neechan, I can tell that things aren't right between you and Reborn and I know when you're lying to me."
Thinning her lips, the whiskered woman inhaled and exhaling before closing her eyes. She always knew her cousin was very much capable of being observant when it suited him. It was a skill she would like to think that he picked up from her, because god knew Nana wasn't the brightest tool in the shed. Her uncle was barely any better with how terrible his lies could be.
"Nothing really happened between your tutor and me," Narumi answered quietly. She kept her tone soft and calm, never allowing it to falter as those brown eyes continued to plead with her to open up. "Reborn did something strange but that couldn't be the reason for his bad mood and I'm certainly not angry with him."
He knitted his eyebrows together. "Didn't you tell me if a girl says that she isn't angry then she is actually angry?"
"I said that her tone could tell you if she is angry or not, and that a female will always be angry after an argument if a male didn't even attempt to say sorry…and that definitely did not happen between us," she retorted, clearing her throat. Tsuna frowned and scrutinized her, not looking one bit convinced by her words. Looking away from her cousin's searching gaze, the blonde continued on. "What happened between Reborn and me wasn't some argument."
"Then what was it?" He asked.
"It's boring, adult stuff," she replied, waving her hand at him. She picked up another cookie, imprinting the image into her brain and another sigh escaped from her lips. "It isn't something that you should worry about, Tsuna."
He shook his head and stared at her with worried eyes. "But it is my job to look out for you! Before Dad disappeared, he told me that my job was to look after you and Mom."
I love Tsuna but how long is it going to take for him to realize that his father is still alive? Pinching her nose, Narumi took in a deep breath and tried to calm down her racing heart. This was not the time for her to point this out to him, nor was it the time for her to get upset with Tsuna for being nosey. Ever since Iemitsu left, the boy always felt the constant need to be protective over her and his mother.
She sighed, dropping her shoulder even lower, and looked at the trembling boy in front of her. There were so many things that could be said to him from telling him that she was a grown-ass woman to fretting over the fact that he had those heavy thoughts. I wonder if I had a little brother in my first life if he would be like Tsuna. She shook her head as her throat tightened with sadness.
This was not the time for her to think of what could have been. Narumi balled her hands into a fist and shoved the dream to the side. She knew there was no point to imagine what could have been, not when her second life was giving her things that she never had in her first life. If she thought of what could have been then it would be a mockery to her current life.
"Tsuna, your only job right now is to go to school, be a kid and learn how to be a Mafia Boss," Narumi said quietly, pushing her chair back. She leaned her whole body forward and ruffled his hair. She quirked her lips into a smile and flicked the boy's forehead. "I'm the adult and it is my responsibility to watch after you and Nana, not yours."
Tsuna dropped his shoulders. "Why do I have to be a kid when you have never been a kid? Mom says that you were never a kid."
"Your mother was planning my love life from the moment I came to live with her and your father," Narumi retorted. Tsuna scowled and the blonde allowed a light laugh to escape from her lips. "Don't worry Tsuna, I have no plans of actually moving out of the house anytime soon. God knows the house will become a circus if I'm not there."
Her cousin snorted, looking at her like she made an understatement of how important her presence was inside the house; she could only chuckle. Maybe it was an understatement, but it was never good to overestimate your worth to people as her first life had taught her. She shook her head and stared at the scrawny boy right in front of her.
"I'll handle Reborn so go back and do whatever you do with Gokudera and Yamamoto."
She just hoped that she could corner Reborn before he could run away from her.
"So Tsuna tells me that you have been acting harsher during his training!"
Reborn jerked his head away from his binoculars and peered down at the ground, where he could see Narumi standing right below his tree. Her bright, blue eyes glowed with amusement and a tiny, amused smile played on her lips as if she found it amusing that he sat on the tree with his binoculars dangling around his neck. Knowing that little minx, this was probably not what amused her.
He shook his head and eyed the amused blonde. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"No class to teach," she replied, shrugging. The blue-eyed woman scanned the empty courtyard, before reaching her hand out to the first branch. She pulled herself up like a graceful gymnasium, reminding him again of the differences between the two cousins. His student certainly didn't have the same grace as his older cousin, always fumbling around when he climbed trees. "So that means I can fulfill my promise to Tsuna and find out what is making you Mister Grumpy Pants."
Grunting, Reborn scooted a little bit further away from the tree trunk as the blonde took a seat beside him. He should probably tell the vixen about the reason for his bad mood but it would be a bad idea. How could he just tell her that he had been harsh because his blood boiled with irritation whenever he recalled his stupid stunt? The woman wouldn't get it.
It had been impulsive of him to kiss her the way he did that night. Their contract wasn't meant for him to take advantage of her, not when the main purpose was for him to have Bianchi to move on from him. But that didn't exactly happen because Narumi believed I would sleep with anything. Tightening his jaw, he glanced at the quiet woman beside him, and shook his head.
Out of every woman he had ever had the pleasure of kissing, this inexperienced woman was the only one that could make his knees buckle with emotion. Only this young woman could make him be impulsive or make him want to pull her imaginary pigtails. Reborn thinned his lips and cracked his knuckles.
"Your cousin seem to forget that I'm always harsh with him," he finally said.
Narumi snorted. "He knows the differences between your harsh levels, now tell me what is making you act like an even bigger jerk?"
"I'm not telling you," he grumbled. The blonde didn't scowl or offer any indication of annoyance, only giving him a tiny frown as an indication of her sour mood. Reborn quirked his lips a little before quickly shaking his head. It was definitely not a good idea to give that blond-haired woman any indication that he was amused, not when she would use it as a way to get some information out of him.
Narumi tilted her head and stroke her chin. "Then can I at least guess what is the cause of your bad mood?"
"You get only one chance," he replied. The binoculars juggled as the petite woman twisted her whole body around to face him. Her tiny feet dangled between the tree branch as Narumi placed her hands right in the space between him. Reborn felt his heart pounding against his chest as the woman leaned forward till they were a couple of centimeters away from each other.
She was close enough for him to notice how the lush, green leaves behind her seemed to be glowing from her bright, blond hair. He could also notice that the whiskered woman seemed to have one eye just slightly larger than the other. It was barely noticeable but the distance between them allowed him to take in such details about her.
"I think you're harsh because you kissed me," Narumi whispered. Her blue eyes searched him; her hot breath ghosted his lips, almost tempting him again to press their lips together. Not that he would do it because the first time had been a total accident. Well it shouldn't be a called a complete accident since it was more like he decided to follow his desires.
It had been an impulsive move.
Taking a deep breath, Reborn replied. "I didn't mean to kiss you."
Narumi did not scowl or frown, only squinting her eyes at him like she didn't believe him for one moment. It made sense with how the young woman had a very good sense about his romantic partners. Reborn grimaced and closed his eyes. Tension grew on the sides of his forehead, tightening the side of his head like the strings on a bow.
What did he have to do to convince that willful woman that he certainly hadn't meant to kiss her? The compliments had certainly been true. He certainly was not lying when he told her that she was definitely one of the most beautiful woman that he had ever met. But how could he explain the compliment was sincere while the kiss had been done on an impulsive need to kiss those soft lips.
"I already figure that out," Narumi cleared her throat and smiled. "It was just the heat of the moment for you too, right? I mean it must have been a really long time since you got laid, right?"
He frowned and inspected her for the longest time. The smile on Narumi's face was sincere and her blue eyes twinkled with faint amusement, but his stomach curled with unease. Maybe it was because the second reason made it seem like it had been pent-up frustration, which was definitely not the case. After a couple of seconds, he finally answered. "I don't think that was the reason for me kissing you the way I did. It was impulsive and definitely in the heat of the moment, but I wasn't looking to get laid."
"Then why did you kiss me?" Narumi questioned, frowning.
Wind rustled in the background as blue eyes demanded for the reason for his impulsive decision; he only took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, Reborn tilted his hat downwards as he tried to recall what had been the cause for that action. Temptation had definitely been one of them while the other reason was because…
"You are different from every other woman that I ever had the pleasure of interacting with," he replied. Narumi frowned and knitted her eyebrows, looking like a confused little fox, and the hitman looked away from her. It wasn't a good reason but that had been the main reason for that impulsive desire to kiss her in her bedroom.
If it wasn't for the fact she felt different from every other woman he kissed, he probably wouldn't have stopped kissing her. When every other woman felt the same or near the same then it made it easy for him not to forge any emotional connection to them. Leaving them alone after a single night or a couple of months would be easy. There was no intense desire to build a connection.
Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, Narumi cleared her throat. "I met Fon earlier and he told me that you never introduced Bianchi to him. Why didn't you introduce her to him?"
Alarm struck him down like a lightning bolt as the blonde gazed at him with curious eyes. Should he be pleased that the young teacher decided to change the topic? Or should he curse that Storm Arcobaleno for telling the woman about that detail? That man is definitely beginning one of his sneak attacks. He scowled. There was definitely no telling what that martial artist was planning to do.
"The whole thing between Bianchi and me was never serious or well I never thought she would take it seriously," Reborn admitted. "I was already single while she wanted a rebound after what happened with her ex-boyfriend."
Narumi scrunched her eyebrows together. "Well she wouldn't become this crazy about you if you guys weren't serious."
"Did I tell you that Bianchi and Gokudera are half-siblings?" He asked. She blinked and then shook her head. "Gokudera is the result of her father's affair with his mother, and you can imagine how it must have destroyed her image of her father when he came back with him."
The blonde frowned. "Does she hate Gokudera?"
"She hates her father but she loves Gokudera in her own way," Reborn chuckled when Narumi relaxed her shoulder. "She always understood he never asked to be born, but it made her go chase for love in all the wrong places and all the wrong men. Her first boyfriend cheated on her while her second boyfriend was…abusive if you know what I mean."
A grimace played on Narumi's lips, informing him that the young woman had some understanding of what Bianchi had went through with her previous boyfriend. Reborn grimaced and looked up at the sky. The clouds wandered around aimlessly as if they had no place to go, only trailing after each other like a pair of ducks.
"Then did you have sex with her after what she went through and then break up with her?" She demanded.
Reborn scowled. "I might have had multiple lovers over the years but I'm not that heartless. If anything I was patient with her and I didn't leave her immediately after we slept together for the first time, I stayed with her until I thought she could stand on her own two feet. It turns out that by staying with her longer, I gave her the wrong expectation."
"Well isn't that obvious?" Narumi retorted. He scowled and turned his whole body towards her, legs dangling on either sides of the tree branch as blue eyes looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world. Grinding his teeth together, Reborn reached his hand forward and pinched the young woman's waist.
A loud yelp sliced through the air as the whiskered woman rubbed the side of her waist. A scowl played on her lips; Reborn shrugged and offered her an innocent smile before tilting his hat upwards. What could he have done? He told Bianchi that he would always be there for her even if it wasn't as a lover, but the woman didn't seem to understand.
If he stayed with her any longer then it would grow to resentment and that wasn't nice for either of them.
"Bianchi is terrified over the idea of finding someone who would treat her like how her father treated her mother," Reborn continued on. "And she is scared of finding someone like her two previous boyfriends, which is why when she saw that I wasn't like those three men that she began to cling to me even more."
Narumi kept quiet for the longest time, her blue eyes looked calm and still as if she was deeply considering his analysis on Bianchi's problems. He rubbed the back of his neck, groaning as his bones cracked from the pressure. He certainly did not expect Narumi to understand Bianchi nor did he expect her to think Bianchi wasn't crazy, but it could explain the pink-haired woman desire to cling to him.
"I think I know how to help Bianchi move on from you."
Reborn frowned and eyed the young woman.
"You aren't going to make me cheat on you or anything?"
Narumi snorted and shook her head. Her blue eyes softened and her lips curled into a tiny frown as if she was deeply contemplating over the idea of making him look like an even bigger asshole to Bianchi. He actually once toyed with the idea but it didn't seem right, not when Bianchi had a completely horrible past when it came to her previous boyfriends.
"Don't worry Lover Boy, I won't make you go against your values but I think I can talk to her about having the courage of finding a new man."
A/N: So I decided to give a little bit of a background to explain why Bianchi is clinging onto Reborn the way she is, and the next chapter will hopefully have the introduction of Dino and the talk between Bianchi and Narumi. Do tell me how you see the talk between those two going.
