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

"I think I found one, Kira-san." Sawada's voice rang out over the earpieces, "Location A12."

"A12?" I buzzed in, "Dino, am I close?"

"Sorry, Kira. A12 is closer to Yamamoto." He told me, probably observing our tracking signals, "How fast can you fly to the clock tower?"

I was in flight. My bike had been abandoned in an alleyway as I took the sky in Cambio Forma. My wings were spread for the first time in a long time.

"Ten minutes?"

Dino hummed, troubled, "Ten minutes? Tsuna's ten minutes from the clock tower so it's going to be twenty before you get there."

"We don't have twenty minutes." Sawada said, slightly panicked, "I think they're burning through the backdoor of that bank."

"Sawada, that's not a bank." I told him, "Dino's men use the backdoor as a storage for weapons. The bank is only in operation during the day. They're in there for the weapons. Stop them."

"... What if I can't?"

"Yamamoto, can you hear us?" I called to the nearby ally, turning around to head for the clock tower, "Yamamoto?"

"Ah! Sorry! It was turned off." He chuckled into the mike, "I'm on my bike and heading over to A12."

"... Yamamoto?" Dino waited for Yamamoto to respond before quietly saying, "Your little tracer dot is going in the opposite direction. You wouldn't happen to have confused A12 for A2, have you?"

"AH!" I heard tires screeching as Yamamoto spun around, "My bad! My bad! I'm bad with numbers so they all look the same."

I groaned as his companions all laughed or insulted him over the intercom. I can't believe these idiots. Why did I have to team up with these brats?!

"Sawada, go in. Yamamoto might not make it on time." I grumbled, "Make sure you capture them alive."

"Kira, you're moving faster than Yamamoto on his bike. Slow down. Tsuna can handle it." Dino mused, "Although, it's cute if you're worried."

"I'm worried about him failing, not his safety." I spat, reaching the clock tower in record time. I was still uneasy when I thought about these guys as equals which is ridiculous cause these are the guys who beat us.

Turns out, I had nothing to be worried about. Sawada caught all three men robbing the bank with the help of Yamamoto who had arrived midway. By the time I landed, Yamamoto was throwing a bound villain to the floor at my feet with a dazzling smile. Sawada was only a short distance behind him, the other two captives being dragged along behind him.

"Did we do good, Kira-senpai?" Yamamoto grinned, knowing full well he did a damn good job, "Not bad, right?"

"You're no Squalo but you'll have to do." I said and little did he know, being compared to Squalo is the highest praise I could've given, "Not bad at all."

"Heh." The swordsman was rubbing at his nose with one finger, expression smug, "Then how about you treat me out sometime?"

The earpiece crackled in our ears as two voices simultaneously called, "Are you hitting on my sister/Kira?"

Flustered for once, Yamamoto put up his hands and shook his head vigorously at me, "Just trying to get to know her! She's going to be our teacher from now on too."

"There's only one thing you need to know about her, Yamamoto Takeshi." Kyoya snarled, "She's mine."

"You mean mine!" Dino shouted, exasperated, "Come on, Kyoya!"

"You both need to get in line." I laughed quietly at the immediate silence they had granted me, "Because I'd much rather belong to Squalo-senpai than either of you."

"Wao. Even over me, Kira?" Kyoya wasn't hurt by the comment, simply surprised, "You've changed."

"Don't worry. You're definitely third on the list." I told him.

"That means I'm number two, Kyoya." Dino said smugly, making Kyoya grunt into the mike.

"Wrong. I just told you. Squalo-senpai is number two." I smiled at the thumbs up from Yamamoto and the low 'Squalo, you lucky dog' he threw out in jest, "My number one is a secret."

"Lucky bastard!" Dino whined, "I'm sending the car around to your location so get those guys in pronto. Romario's got proper handcuffs for you to use if the ropes aren't holding."

"Ropes are fine." Yamamoto cheered, "I did a good job, remember?"

"Yeah but I'd rather discuss how Squalo got to the number two spot and who the fuck this number one guy is…" Dino grumbled, "Romario is en route. ETA five minutes."

"Squalo's a good guy." The Rain Guardian never lost that smile, "Just a bit on the loud side."

"Fine… Squalo aside…" Don Cavallone was just not letting up, totally uncaring about the rest of the Guardians who were listening in, "Which bastard weaseled his way into Kira's heart while I wasn't looking?"

"Someone less herbivorous." Kyoya snorted, "The Monkey King?"

… I still can't get over it. Why does he call our boss the monkey king? Does that imply that he thinks we're a bunch of monkeys?

"Xanxus?!" Dino was dying on the other end of the line, "Seriously?! No way! Kira, I have no problem with Squalo. I know he's a decent guy and he definitely wouldn't treat you badly but Xanxus is a big fat no. I'm not even offended that you don't like me back. I'm seriously just worried about you. His lovers are all just one night stands and he's selfish and abusive. You-"

"I've been rejected anyways." I admitted, smirking at the stunned and almost pitying look I got from Sawada and Yamamoto, "He has no need for failures."

"... Oh, Kira, I'm so sorr-"

"Shut up, Dino. I already got all the 'oops my bads' from Squalo-senpai." I spied Romario pulling up the limo, "Everyone in. We're wrapping it up for tonight."

We returned to the Cavallone estate and I made a note to have them get the info from the subdued and unconscious criminals. Vongola Decimo and his Guardians returned to their rooms to bathe and get some well deserved rest. I promised to return the next day to check up on the info and discuss the next steps to our plan.

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

"Hey. You remember how you gave me Italian lessons when I first joined?" I asked Squalo, putting my fork down after a long meal period, "And I shot to the top of the class?"

"Yeah?" He grunted, lowering the piece of steak he was just about to put in his mouth, "What of it?"

"How did you do that?" I questioned, pushing my empty plate off to the side to replace it with my notebook, "For when I give Sawada's group language lessons."

He put down his fork and in the quietest voice imaginable from this man, he said, "You know, my lessons had nothing to do with your initial intelligence level."

I stared at him, pen ready to take notes but falling short when I realized he didn't say anything worth noting, "A what?"

"Sawada's group is full of idiots. You're not going to achieve the same results." He casually returned to his meal, signalling for me to put away the notebook, "Nothing I say is going to help you."

"Don't be stingy. You know you were technically assigned to teach them too." I said accusingly, "I'm doing your portion of work too so come off your high horse."

Sighing, he put down his fork again, swallowing the lump in his mouth before saying, "I'm not trying to bail on you. I'm just saying it's virtually impossible to expect them to learn at your pace so we should teach them… slowly."

We stared at each other a moment and then ended up laughing our asses off. Which one of us has the patience required to teach anyone anything slowly? Not me. Not him. We're fucked.

"Let's just beat it into their heads." I huffed, putting the empty notepad aside to sit back and empty my glass of water, "This sucks."

"They really added insult to injury here." He agreed with me as usual. He always agreed when it had to do with dissing the Vongola Tenth Generation, "We can ask Luss to help out. I think he's been limping on his left side."

"Injured on a mission?" I was surprised for real. What a surprise that Lussuria would take damage on a simple mission.

"No." Squalo huffed, "The boss threw something at him and it shattered and got under his metal knee platting. Maybe he busted something trying to get it off."

Now that was an annoying thought. We're short handed as it is and here's our lazy boss who refuses to work and insists on putting our officers down while he's at it.

"Great." I snorted, rolling my eyes, "Then we're…"

"Behind on the work." He finished for me, "I'm working double time tonight so you're going to be going to Cavallone's alone again."

"Fine by me." I work better alone as it is or so I comfort myself by thinking, "Then I'll check in with you again tomorrow."

"Sure."

I stood to go, making my way to the door when we heard the singsong tone of Lussuria coming this way, "Squ-chan~"

I opened the door for our coworker, peeking out at him and demanding, "Password."

Lussuria, nursing his left leg, stared at me like I had grown another head. He paused, glanced both ways down the hall, determined this was indeed Squalo's room and then proceeded to scream, "What are you doing here?!"

I grinned, "Having lunch with my beloved Squalo-senpai."

Lussuria pushed the door open, glaring when I didn't let him open it all the way, "Oh come on! Why do you always have all the juicy gossip but refuse to share?"

I rolled my eyes, yanking the door open hard enough for him to stumble inside, "We're just having lunch. Although, if Squalo-senpai keeps turning red, I can understand why you would misunderstand."

Squalo was indeed bright red from the 'beloved Squalo-senpai' comment and he basically roared at me, "Stop fucking flirting with me! You know it pisses me off!"

Our Sun Guardian was immediately correcting him, "Translation~ It gets him turned on!"

"You fucking piece of trash!"

"Anyways!" Lussuria said sharply as Squalo stood up and began swinging his sword about, "Boss said you didn't submit your report."

"How the fuck would he know?" Squalo huffed, settling down again, "He doesn't do paperwork as it is. I've got it with me cause I was going to do the filing in a sec."

"He's been working hard nowadays." Mr. Okama over here sent me a sideways glance, "I'd say it's your fault."

"Me?" I narrowed my eyes on him in a deadly glare, "What do you mean? I've submitted all my reports, Lussuria."

"I mean, it's cause you and the boss had a 'falling out.'" He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest authoritatively, "You hurt his feelings, obviously."

"… The boss has feelings to hurt?" I said it more out of spite than out of honest ignorance. If anything, I was the one hurt by his actions but I didn't want to hear Lussuria nagging, "It's a joke. If it's my fault, he hasn't said anything to me."

Lussuria was giving me a stern look as if to say 'are you seriously saying that right now?'

Feeling guilty, I turned my eyes to the floor, "He's the one who… I mean…"

What did he do? Nothing, I guess. He hasn't done anything wrong. As usual, I'm lost in my one-sided expectations of exclusivity.

"Then let me ask you, Kira-chan." Lussuria was about to teach me another lesson in love, "What does the boss do after you guys have sex?"

I paused, thinking about it. I looked to the bright red Squalo for help but all I got was a shrug and vigorous head shaking. I was stumped, "I don't know."

"Why not?" He prompted, giving me the most condescending expression ever.

I thought about it again. Why don't I know? Am I supposed to know? Does he have a habit or something?

"Uhh… He sleeps?" I tried, intimidated when he lowered his sunglasses to glare at me, "Uhh… I mean, I sleep so I don't know? Does he smoke or drink?"

"There!" He said, snapping his sunglasses back into place, "What did you just say?"

"... He smokes or drinks?" I tried again when he shook his head at me, "That I sleep so I don't know?"

"That's absolutely horrible!" Lussuria screeched in scolding, "If you go to sleep right away, that's extremely inconsiderate!"

I stared at him like he had just told me pigs could fly. What kind of bullshit is this man spouting now? I'm tired so I sleep. What's the problem? If he didn't want me to sleep, he would beat me awake. That's the kind of man Xanxus happens to be.

"Talk some sense into her, Squ-chan!" He said, throwing up his hands when I kept right on staring like the inexperienced dummy I am.

"The fuck should I know?" Squalo was his usual flustered mess but eventually he calmed enough to say, "But you can't just blame Kira. Our shitty boss is just as bad at communicating."

"That's true but… still…"

I kind of get what they're trying to say. Communication requires honesty. Selective honesty is selfish, something we're both notorious for being. I might've confessed aloud but I never once told him I wanted to become his sole partner.

And to be honest, I do feel bad about the whole "going to sleep right after" thing. I always knew Xanxus was the kind of person to mull things over on his own and I never once thought to ask about it.

Memories of our time on the run washed over me. Those countless nights where I caught him staring out the window, mumbling to himself about various things. Even if I didn't say anything, maybe he enjoyed having someone listen.

I wonder when I stopped being awake to listen to him. I can't remember consciously deciding his mumbling wasn't worth listening to. In fact, I value every word. It's just been kind of tiring recently since we work all day and basically all night.

Mulling it over, I realized it probably wasn't just the sleeping.

"When we go back home… can I buy you dinner or something…?"

"No. It's too early for that. Ask me again in five months. I'll think about it then."

I never asked him a second time. If I was in his shoes and he hadn't asked me a second time, I would've taken it as a sign that he lost interest.

"I fell in love with the boss."

Ah. Those words probably seemed like a joke. My actions, or lack of actions, had turned my feelings into nothing more than a teasing ruse.

Come to think of it, even with our nightly trysts, he was always the one coming to me. I never tried to go to him. My excuse was the embarrassment but I also never once thought I should go to him because he conveniently always came to me.

Suddenly, I felt like I had done him wrong and I absolutely hated it. If we're not lovers, I don't owe him anything. I acted like I didn't owe him anything so he gave me a taste of my own medicine. Or was I being hopeful again? I sighed. I hated this feeling of uncertainty.

"Maybe you should bug him." Squalo huffed, recognizing my silence as a sign that I had realized something important, "I'm bad at communicating and so are you but when I come at you honestly, don't you always respond with honesty?"

"No way." I spat, storming away. I refuse to get caught up in my one-sided feelings again, "If he has something to say, he can come say it."

"Stubborn brat!" Lussuria screeched as I stormed away but I couldn't care less.

I'd have to be stupid to walk up to the boss with nothing but assumptions filling my head. That's the number one road to heartbreak and I'm definitely not taking it. I've got work to handle anyways.

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

Back at Dino's place, he had managed to dig the information we wanted from the prisoners. Apparently, all of the captured men were either high school delinquents or homeless men from the streets. They all reported being approached by someone as they complained about how much their life sucked. The men who approached them offered monetary rewards for successful robberies.

"High school delinquents." I turned a grin onto Gokudera Hayato, eyes narrowed to couple my faux-smile, "I see. Well, how about it? Playing as the bait is something you can do for your beloved Tenth."

The Storm Guardian's eyes lit up, sparkling like a puppy waiting to be fed, "Tenth! I'll work hard!"

Sawada just laughed awkwardly as he always does, nodding along to placate his overbearing right-hand man, "But Gokudera-kun alone isn't much of a target."

I turned, making eye contact with Yamamoto Takeshi, "How about it?"

He blinked at me like the innocent high schooler he is and asked, "Can you repeat it? I'm not sure what you're asking me."

Other than being incredibly stupid, I think he suits the job, "I just need you to play the delinquent with Gokudera. Go out and have a smoke together."

"Ah…" He scratched at the back of his neck in discomfort and muttered with a lopsided and nervous smile, "I play baseball so I don't smoke. Is it okay if I just stand there?"

Cute.

I shook my head vigorously trying to dislodge the herbivorous thought. What a cute brat! Jeez. Yamamoto has the kind of smile I want to protect. It pisses me off.

"It doesn't matter what you do." I grumbled, gesturing to Sasagawa too, "The three of you are picked solely for your faces. Just stand around with your meanest face on. Do some shadow boxing in an ally or something. Gokudera can smoke and Yamamoto can just…"

I couldn't finish the sentence. He was just too cute to handle with those big brown eyes watching me. I can almost see a tail wagging behind him eagerly.

"Just try to look mean." I managed to say without stuttering, "Everyone else will be on standby so show me your mean faces."

Gokudera and Sasagawa have naturally intense expressions but Yamamoto was not as used to it. He just stared at me as if I would show him how to do it. It made my heart squeeze the smallest bit. He looked like an oversized puppy. It's adorable. God damn it.

"Think of something that makes you angry?" I offered.

Dino began to laugh in the back as Yamamoto tilted his head to the side innocently. Does nothing make this boy angry?

"How about your precious allies?" I began, unnerved by the way he never took his big brown eyes off me. I realized I thought he was cute because he reminded me of Dino, "Think of them? They must get on your nerves sometimes."

He stared at me, shaking his head, "Not really. They're all nice guys. Even Kira-senpai!"

It was my turn to stare at him like he was an idiot. I punched Dino in the gut for howling with laughter. That shut him up real good.

"I punched you in the face and nearly broke your nose for god's sake!" I spat, "You must feel some resentment!"

"Umm no?" He shrugged, "Sorry?"

"You're going about it wrong, Cannibal." Gokudera sighed, grumbling in complaint despite being the one who offered me his help, "Yamamoto, you know those guys from the big, ugly, rude baseball team you played against last week?"

"Oh yeah." Yamamoto huffed, "Those guys were horrible."

"Yeah and you know how we caught them trying to harass some girl in the back alley?"

Yamamoto's expression turned sour, "Yeah."

"Imagine them doing that to Cannibal or Chrome."

Mr. Smiles-A-Lot was immediately furious, expression falling into a heavy scowl, "..."

"Impressive." I gave Gokudera praise where praise was due and I grinned at Yamamoto who had immediately lost his expression upon seeing my smile, "I'm honored. Keep using that image as fodder for your face until the mission is over."

Gearing up, we hit the streets. Gokudera, Sasagawa and Yamamoto were our main team while the rest of us played as back-up. Hopefully, we catch our guy.

Like I said in my last update, I'm thinking of going onto a third parallel story where Kira ends up with Squalo. A handful of people already said they're for the SqualoxKira fic so I think I'm going to do it after the completion of this one. Please keep your eyes open for it.