Timeline: Daily Life Arc (KHR)

"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life." -Leo Buscaglia

Nana Sawada was a beautiful woman. Light brown hair framed a delicate face, with large brown eyes and an easy welcoming smile.

Shamal sighed. It was such a shame she was stuck with Vongola's External Advisor for a husband. He had only met the man in passing, but he heard enough of his workaholic ways that he knew he was probably an exhausting guy to be around. Though the lady of the house seemed rather energetic herself. As soon as he came knocking she pulled him in and began chatting happily as she cooked some extra breakfast for "Reborns Friend".

He would have written her off as painfully naive if he hadn't caught her subtle glances.

(There was the scar too. Just barely peeking out from her shirt. A bullet scar and not a clean one either. There was a certain stiffness in the way she moved her right arm to reach for things above her head which spoke of damage that couldn't fully heal. She was a woman who had known pain, yet still was able to smile brightly at perfect strangers like him.)

Such a shame she was off-limits.

Shamal put his chin on his hand and glanced upstairs where he could hear some ruckus taking place.

Undoubtedly the baby boss had woken up and had discovered his ailment. Honestly, Reborn should have known to take it a bit slower with the Dying Will bullets. He knew they had side effects.

Then again, he rolled his eyes, that was undoubtedly why Reborn convinced him to fly over to Japan.

(Convinced was a nice way to put it. The little devil of a Hitman had brought up some embarrassing stories he'd prefer not to get out to the mafia gossip mills. Reborn didn't fight fair.)

Well, what was done was done, and Reborn always got his way. He knew that by now. So, he simply resolved to address the side effects and be on his way before Reborn could pull him into anything more. He was a freelancer, and while the Vongola always paid well he'd prefer to keep out of whatever inheritance mess they were dealing with at the moment.

Honestly, propping up a civilian as their next heir, even one related to the Primo, was a truly outrageous move. They were lucky they were such an old and powerful Family. As it was there were rumors and whispers…

(Vongola hadn't made an official announcement about who their next heir was, but he noticed there were more and more secrets slipping out. It seemed Vongola had some little songbirds. He was sure the CEDEF was working overtime.)

Light footsteps descending the steps caught his attention. He turned to greet the new arrival, wondering who'd he see first. Reborn mentioned that several people were living here already, including the baby bosses' older brother.

(And wasn't that an interesting tidbit. The older one being passed over for the younger.)

Instead of the mysterious older Sawada, who made Reborn's voice go flat with annoyance, he was met with a familiar face. She must have followed him here. He had heard she was quite taken with Reborn after doing a few jobs together and Bianchi always loved so fiercely and wholeheartedly. It was both a family and Storm trait, that was amusing to watch and mildly frightening to be on the receiving end.

He shook off his shock and twisted his face into his usual dopey grin.

"Ahh, Bianchi! My how you've grown! You're quite the lovely woman no-"

She didn't even let him finish before attacking him.

So violent. Her father must be so proud.

He laid on the ground allowing Bianchi to savor her supposed victory and waited patiently as feet came pounded down the stairs.

"Hiiee! Bianchi what happened?!"

Reborn implied heavily that he could mess with his student as much as he wanted as long and the boy was not in any serious danger. So, of course, he'd him take up that offer. It was always full to release some stress by messing with people. And really the baby boss made it too easy.

(He was sure Reborn had so much fun messing with this kid. His reactions were so perfectly dramatic and utterly indignant.)

The older one though…

Shamal laughed awkwardly as green eyes drilled into the side of his head and aborted his attempt at flirting with the lovely lady of the house. It was all in good fun, even she realized it by the amused smile on her face, but the older Sawada boy was obviously not as amused.

(Who'd have thought a supposedly civilian teenager would set off his assassin instincts so thoroughly he'd have to consciously stop himself from activating his Trident Mosquitoes. No wonder Reborn sounded tense when discussing the boy.)

"What the hell is going on down here?! Ten- I mean, Tsuna-sama, what's wrong?"

He froze and turned slowly to the source of that familiar voice. Bianchi was one thing. She was obsessed with Reborn right now, so her presence was no surprise, but…

Green eyes blinked up at him in shock.

"Eh, Doctor Shamal?"

He had taken on a more punk-like look since he ran away from home, but it definitely was his wayward student, looking more refreshed and happy than ever before.

"Ahh…" He rubbed the back of his head in defeat.

He healed the baby boss in the end, under the watchful and wary eyes of his older brother, and wandered off to set himself up in town.

It looked like he'd be staying for a while longer.

(Reborn really didn't fight fair.)

*Wave awkwardly* It's been a while hasn't it? I got kind of burnt out with khr for a while, but I started re-reading the manga recently and got some more ideas for this drabble. So, there'll prob be several updates in the next few days. In fact, I'll prob upload another chapter today, just gotta look it over first.