DISCLAIMER: I don't own KHR or any of the associated characters aside from my OCs.

I was with Squalo when Dino came to me once more. He was keeping his word. If you don't remember what I'm talking about, I mean he's coming with me to tell my mom about his father's promise to clear his debt or something. My mother told me a while back that Cavallone Nono owed us something.

Bruised and battered, Squalo and I were in a terrible mood. We're doing well compared to a few days ago but we're certainly still sore from our long battles. Either way, Dino was relentless about repaying the debt as soon as possible so Squalo and I (together because Squalo was suspicious about Dino approaching us so casually following Sawada's victory) led Dino to meet my parents.

Dino was everything Squalo wasn't when he met my parents. He was smooth and cunning and charming/polite. My mother was extremely happy to see Dino. Taking his face into her hands, she stroked his skin and his hair and she sang praises about how extremely attractive Dino was nowadays.

Which means…. They've met before this occasion. I demand answers.

Mother was extremely blunt with her answer, "What? Don't you know, Kira? Domenico owes me a debt for something he did to you."

Shock hit me like a truck. Murmuring things I couldn't understand, I clung to Squalo-senpai and demanded answers which Squalo obviously didn't have but Dino was not as clueless.

"Kira, this is kind of not a happy story." He admitted, smiling bravely when I finally closed my mouth in silent acceptance, "My dad sold your family out for money."

Now, I believed that immediately. Dino's family was dirt poor. If they needed money, I'm sure selling out my family would definitely give them all the money they need and more but then why did my mother say they needed to repay a debt? If they sold out my father, he would have killed them all.

I needed a clearer answer, "What are you talking about?"

"Ahhh… Uhhh…" He began with nothing but uncomfortable sounds but he got to his point fast, "We needed money so we borrowed from another family but… we couldn't gather the funds to pay them back so we said the money we borrowed was for… your father. And after that you were-"

I remembered. It hit me like a train. I slapped my hand over Dino's mouth and turned a deadly glare onto my mother. If she said these things in front of Squalo-senpai, I would never live it down. He would tease me for years to come. It sounded like a total nightmare.

"Oh, come now." My mother huffed against my wishes, "Everyone has a time when they're helpless. You were hardly old enough to count when they kidnapped you."

I heard the smallest intake of breath from Squalo and I was immediately fisting my hands into his collar and shaking him vigorously, "Don't you dare laugh at me, you hear?! I hardly remember the details!"

A rough hand pushing my head down, Squalo was straight up laughing at me, "I can't picture anyone kidnapping you and I can't picture you as a kid period!"

"Well, I couldn't picture you being cut down by a middle school kid but apparently that happened! Hang up your cape, you phony sword emperor!" I hissed.

"Anyways." Dino interjected, trying to calm our fight that was surely about to escalate into a fist fight, "Your mother was angry at the time and we had nothing to offer her but my father's dying wish was to repay our debts to you and your family so please let me know if there's anything we could do for you. We're much more capable now."

Fingers still curled into each other's shirts, Squalo and I listened and waited for my mother to say something.

Mother had already decided long ago, I could tell just by the way she smiled her sly, little grin, "Tell me, Dino. How old are you?"

"Twenty-two, ma'am."

"Do you have a lover?"

Blushing darkly now, Dino couldn't meet my mother's gaze but he gave me a cautious sideways glance.

Baffled, I couldn't react. I only tightened my grip on Squalo's shirt as if to throw him under the metaphorical bus at any moment.

"No ma'am."

"Perfect." My mother was now also giving me a very scary sideways look, "Take our Kira as your bride."

The sound of my soul leaving my body was so clear… I'm pretty sure Squalo heard it too. He grabbed my suddenly lifeless hands and shook me as if to demand answers in silence.

I only shook my head. I had no idea what this train of events was leading to but I didn't like it.

"Kira, don't be like that. He has looks, money, power, everything! What more could we hope for?" Mother was pushing it and she would not have it any other way, "And with our backing, the Cavallone Family can be the strongest family in Italy."

Those words snapped us back into reality. Squalo was immediately making a sour face and I was just as upset. We were still not quite over our loss to Sawada and this was just a different kind of salt on the wound.

"No way! The Vongola Family reigns over the Italian mafia and we won't have it any other way." I snapped, irked by Dino's silence, "I refuse to service a family where the boss is weaker than me."

"Ouch." Dino was also just pushed into motion. He reached back, scratching awkwardly at the back of his neck, "You'd be surprised, Kira. I'm not the same guy from middle school."

"Is that a challenge?"

Squalo grasped my arm by the elbow as I took a threatening step towards Dino, "He's the boss of an allied family. We can't."

Mother sighed dramatically, "As you can see, our Kira likes to pick fights at every blind chance. If it's with a nice, young man like you, maybe she'll learn how to be ladylike."

Ladylike? Bullshit. My mother doesn't know the definition of ladylike. She's the most abusive kind of person. I learned all my violent tactics from this woman so she has no clue what she's preaching but Dino seemed to buy it. Lost in his fantasy of a person reshaped into a perfect lady, he nodded dumbly along.

I huffed, grabbed Squalo by the arm, and stormed out without looking back. My mother can kiss my ass. I'm not marrying anyone without good reason and my only actual reason would probably be if they said "If I beat you, you marry me" and they proceed to actually beat me.

My mental gears creaked for a second at the thought of someone beating me into submission and then telling me to marry them. For some reason, I had a brain malfunction and I thought of the boss for some reason. It embarrassed me to no end but I tried to play it off as anger towards the whole situation. Squalo bought it.

"Why does that make you mad?!" He roared as I pulled him along, "I thought you were in love with him! This works in your favor!"

"I wasn't in love with him!" I snapped and continued back towards our temporary residence without looking back, "My mother's a crazy lady."

In silence, we returned to our humble temporary abode and got down to rearranging our trip home. Italy would protect me from my mother's crazy ideas.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Italy was ever welcoming for us. Returning home in a big group was better than I could have ever pictured for us just last week. I mean, Squalo was dead, Lussuria lost, Mammon lost, etc. That would normally mean… by our Varia code, we eradicate them all as failures but something's definitely changed since then.

When I first met the boss, he wasn't as bad but this whole ordeal drove him to be the meanest I've ever seen him. Now that everything is settled, he's calmer again. He's back to the boss we knew before the Cradle Affair-lazy, unmotivated, bossy, rude, etc. I like it better this way. I don't think I liked the uncaring, one-tracked, blinded, selfish boss we saw during our ring battles.

…

Although, I have to stop and wonder when I even started to care what kind of personality a person possessed. I usually only cared about whether or not they were strong or weak. Leader or follower. Boss or subordinate. Those kinds of things. I was never concerned with…. No, I suppose I just tried really hard not to care about a person's character or feelings because it was easier that way.

Either way, I was content with returning to headquarters and sharing a meal with my coworkers the way we usually did. It felt so natural with Xanxus sitting at the head of the table and our officers naturally filing in on either side. Levi doted over our boss as usual, Mammon counted his leftover money from buying things in Japan, Squalo nagged about how much I ate while Lussuria and Belphegor laughed at our antics. It felt so… right.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Weeks later, I was sent back to Japan to settle our paperwork with the CEDEF's boss, Sawada Iemitsu. I can't say I like the idea of seeing the man who brought about our defeat. I think I'm always going to be bitter about our loss but I can't help it if it's for work. I got the short end of the stick this time.

I was the last to sign these forms so I was designated to deliver them along with our message of "goodwill" or as good as we can be in our bitter state. I wasn't happy to see Iemitsu in his home but it was the delivery address so what could I do?

When I handed him the forms, he looked down at me and said, "I never expected you to be on Xanxus' side. Do you remember me?"

I made a face, "You gave me the 'scholarship' so I could be your son's Guardian?"

"It was the plan." He grinned, "But I think we got the better deal with the way this worked out."

I felt irritation wash over me but I nursed my bruised pride by convincing myself that yes, Kyoya is a very good Guardian choice. My cute, baby brother is a very, very strong fighter even when you compare him to me so this is not an insult in the slightest.

Fuming, I forgot about our goodwill speech and blurted, "I hope you bite the dust, you crass old man."

Iemitsu was not the least bit upset. He threw back his head and laughed because he was the winner. He laughed without a care in the world, "Where's the goodwill speech, little Kira?"

Little was the taboo word. I smashed his face in and stormed off in a huff. I could feel the steam rising off my head, vision blurring between red of anger and the clear of normal vision. He was rubbing salt in all my barely scabbing wounds. Thoughts of "if I killed Iemitsu long ago, we would never have been made to fight Sawada and his cronies" filled my head.

A hand came down on my shoulder as I stormed through the streets of busy Japan and I spun ready to strike a killing blow. My fist came to a screeching halt just a centimeter or so from Dino's nose. His expression was crinkled into a flinched state as he waited for the blow I had managed to stop.

Nervous, he grinned at me, "How are you? Wounds all better?"

Wounds? My eyebrow twitched. Does everyone have to pour oil over the fire that already hasn't been put out correctly? I glared back in silence, calmly noticing Romario's wary gaze from a few feet behind his boss.

Even more nervous, he rubbed at his neck awkwardly, "Uhhh… I'm just worried about you. Nothing suspicious."

To be worried was an even bigger insult. There's nothing to be worried about. This is my everyday life and I handle it just as decently as the next guy. To be worried means he didn't think I could recover.

"You didn't tell me you knew my mother." I said sharply, changing the subject.

"I didn't know I knew your mother." He said back in all honesty, "I never suspected the lady my father was talking about would be your mother. I met your mother but I never saw your face so there's no way I could have recognized you. Anyways, I'm glad I got a chance to meet her through you. My father was the worst to her and… well, I think it's kind of my fault too."

"Regardless, I'm not marrying you."

He didn't seem surprised by my response but he did look slightly disappointed, "Well, if you absolutely hate it, I'm not going to force you but don't you think we should at least give it a shot? For our parents and for… you know, us?"

"There never was an us to begin with." I only know a handful of things about Dino and our time together. Among the knowledge I have of 'us', I know he never asked for my opinion. He decided things alone, "What you consider kindness is not kindness to me. I have no need for your stupid recollections of the past."

"Not of the past!" He declared, "I'm a different person now, Kira! I promise. I'm not the same weakling you met. I'm the boss of the Cavallone Family now and my family isn't in debt anymore. If you want evidence, I can prove it."

I flinched back when he pulled a bullwhip from behind him and gave it a hard swing ever so close to my feet. My hands were covered and ready to fight in 0.2 seconds. This is a much better way to talk.

If I had been much more wary about it, I would have already noticed that Dino was a different person. He was able to pick fights now. Not only did he swing at me, he was on the offensive.

"If I beat you, you'll give me a shot at dating you, alright?" His lips curved into an unfamiliar smirk between confidence and teasing, "No take backs."

"Tch." Unfamiliar with this Dino, I could only think of the crybaby I protected in middle school, "If you get even one blow on my face, I'll date you immediately, you herbivore."

I never expected him to immediately flail his whip towards my chin. I barely avoided it along with the second flourish. I was forced to move back but there is only one benefit to moving away from someone who uses a longer ranged weapon and that's dodging. I have more time to anticipate his moves but there's no way I can beat him from this distance. I had to move in.

Showing off nothing but speed, I weaved through his rapid succession of strikes and swings. Keeping my body low, I made my first offensive move.

Surprisingly agile, Dino easily pulled away from my blow. His lips curved again at the expression of surprise on my face and then again when I turned and attempted a second blow. He narrowly dodged the fist aimed at his face and retaliated.

Deeply shocked at the way he swung for my face, I twisted and took the blow with my shoulder instead. Stupefied, I slammed my foot into his chest and pushed us away from each other. Distance between us, I was in the defensive position again. Defense isn't my style but if I can turn this into a stamina battle, I can win. I have confidence in my ability to fight longer than anyone else.

Two seconds later, I realized Dino had caught onto my plan but he was still keeping his distance. He couldn't beat me up close but there was no way he could outlast me either. There was only one option left. An all out offensive strike-Dino's forte.

Whip swishing wildly every which way, his feet were planted firmly in the ground. He could see everything from the center of his own storm of destruction. He definitely had me on the run. But there are patterns to people.

At least one out of every three of Dino's strikes are downward. The most momentum is on the downward blow rather than the sideways ones. Taking my chances, I dodged the left swing and the right flail and curled my fingers around his whip on the downward swing sure to come. Leaning back and pulling hard, I managed to briefly unbalance him.

As he stumbled forward in panic, my weight reversed and I sprinted forward to disarm him. He could hardly react to the savage kick I planted in his wrist. I'm certain I heard it crack and give way.

At his pained shout, Romario drew his gun on me. It was a trained reaction from Dino's closest subordinate but it certainly surprised me. I came to a halt and took a half step backward to avoid the shot but unfair or not, Dino was fast to react.

He curled his unharmed hand and slammed it into my jaw from the bottom up. He threw his arms up and cheered victoriously momentarily before turning around to find Romario putting his gun away. Stunned, he was briefly silent.

Knocked back by the unrestrained blow, I sat on my rear in total shock. My hand nursing the blossoming bruise just under my jaw bone on the right. I tried to tell myself this one didn't count but it was definitely my loss.

"Romario!" Dino complained, "How could you?!"

"I didn't shoot." His right hand man shook his head, "It's my job to protect you. If I bring you home with broken bones, I won't hear the end of it from the rest of the guys."

Huffing in annoyance, he turned to offer me a hand, "I'm sorry. We'll call that one a draw so can I get another shot tomorrow?"

I stared up at a mysterious stranger. This was not Pipsqueak Dino from our school days. The man offering me his hand… is Don Cavallone Decimo… The one they call Bucking Bronco Dino. Seething, I was upset but a loss is a loss. I knocked his hand aside, telling myself not to feel bad about the way he winced as his possibly sprained or broken wrist received another harsh impact.

Rising to my feet, I spat at him, "I just have to date you, don't I? Come. I'll buy you a meal."

"E-Eh? Huh?" He turned red from the cheeks down to his neck, "I'm really happy but that's alright! It wasn't a fair-"

"Fair or not fair, I'm proud not blind." I snapped, "One date. Anything after that I expect another fight."

His eyes lit up and he turned to give his right hand man orders, "Romario, get the car!"

:)