A Note to the Readers: I've been naming my chapters with characters. Lmao! Thanks for tuning until chapter nine! Or chapter ten if you think prologues are considered chapters. (・ωｰ)～

CHAPTER NINE

Kusakabe Tetsuya

In the end, Pasquale begged after he sang his confession. Rosetta wonders if she'll beg too if they changed positions. Maybe, yes, but she won't last as long as he did. She'd bleed out, die of fever. Pasquale had been less of a man and more of an animal when Tetsuya put a bullet between his eyes. She doesn't want to end up like that, emaciated and covered in waste.

They sent Nicodemo his son's head.

"If Nicodemo has any sense, he'll end this feud," Tetsuya whispers in Italian much to Rosetta's displeasure. They're at school, walking to her classroom at a snail's pace. Students litter the hallways, edging around them as they chat before the bell rings. If they mind that the two are clogging the hall, they don't voice it. Her crutches buy patience and Tetsuya's presence wards off unwelcome inquires.

"No," Rosetta says. "The boss wanted a fraction of his hold. Now he'll want something more and Nicodemo cannot afford that. If he's smart he'll die quickly and let his sons deal with the mess."

"The boss will listen to the Gesso's heir?"

"More likely to agree to a truce, the sons did not plan Kuniyoshi's death. Or at least on the outside." Rosetta winces, she should have waited for another day before returning to class. Maybe two days. Or a week. There are deep bruises under her eyes, her chin and around her chest like swarms of purple butterflies. Rumor has it that she was taken by the local gang terrorizing the students and that Kyoya went and destroyed the men that took her. It's a little close to the truth if not oddly romantic and far more glamorous than what had really happened.

"You could have stayed at home," Tetsuya says helpfully, giving her a hand. She hands him her crutch and relies on him instead to walk. It's easier like this. "This doesn't really prove anything."

"Yes, it does. I'm giving the boss the finger," her lip twitches.

"From this far?" He asks, with his eyebrows up. "He's in Palermo."

"Sapienza. He sent me a postcard. Meeting with the Carcassa went well."

"So I've heard –hey! No crowding! Are you asking for detention?" Tetsuya yells at the group of incoming graduates who filters out of the staircase, encircling a cellphone. It's hard to look intimidating while assisting a near cripple. Some of the students roll their eyes at him. Tetsuya frowns, clicks his tongue, and memorizes their features –not that he doesn't know everyone in the school.

"It's the hair," Rosetta says later on at the classroom. She's switched seats with Gokudera who'll take any opportunity to get closer to Tsuna.

"What's wrong with my hair?"

"What's with the bun? What happened to your–" she carefully gestures above her head, not quite knowledgeable about fashion to know what's it called.

"My pompadour."

"Yes! Whatever that's called, you look like you work part-time in the animal shelter. Your intimidation level... Gone."

"The students still respect me," he tries. Gokudera rolls his eyes from her left, eavesdropping.

"They don't. You know that. They feared you, now they don't know what to do with you. Is it because of what happened?"

"You think I changed my hair because my father nearly executed me?"

"Women change their hair for more trivial reasons."

"Well. I'm not a woman and I didn't–," he looks away, grinds his jaw. "The boss made fun of me."

Rosetta's brow scrunches. "After the near-execution?"

"I wish you wouldn't call it that."

"He made fun of you after you nearly died?"

He stares at her unflinchingly. "Yes, like a fool I was enraged at first, then inconsolable. My father tried to talk to me but I didn't wish to speak to him. Then the boss came. He wasn't any better. He jested about the state of my hair, trying to cheer me up."

"Geez, what an asshole," she says. That sounds like Ryuusei in his better moods, trust him to be happy after putting her in a hospital. Tetsuya is about to say something when Tsuna enters the room. Gokudera's chair crashes behind him in enthusiasm. Tetsuya narrows his eyes at the display.

"Don't say that out loud. Your mouth brings you trouble," he says after a while.

"I thought the boss was in Palermo," she mocks halfheartedly, which Tetsuya ignores. They watch Gokudera hurl insults to Yamamoto. The baseball player retaliates by the underhanded tactic of feigning ignorance, the intelligent glint in his eyes masked by his annoying laughter. It works, somehow and Gokudera explodes in fury. Bright and powerful. Tsuna is in the middle, expected to mediate.

"Tetsuya-san, are you all right? After that?" She asks, trying to hide her curiosity.

His mouth twists before he clears his throat, and he speaks as if he parrots: "I am. I'm proud of my father. He can put his loyalty before his blood. The family you create is far more important as the family you're born with." There he is again. Rosetta knows Tetsuya has opinions of his own, but the man weighs it down with his impressive self-control.

"The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," she points out.

"What was that?"

"It's from a German poet. The boss likes the saying," she rounds to him, wincing when her ribs ache. "I've been honest with you, why can't you repay the courtesy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says, feigning ignorance.

Rosetta narrows her eyes.

"What if it happens to you too? What if Mutsuo-san asks you to kill a theoretical child of yours?" she asks.

"Mutsuo is not my boss."

"Not yet. He's the heir though. In the future, you must answer to him."

"Mutsuo is not my boss," he insists, leaning his hip by her desk. She looks at him thoughtfully.

"Have you thought of it though?"

Tetsuya sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He doesn't miss her persistence.

The door opens again. It's the history teacher, she pauses when she sees Rosetta and freezes when she sees Tetsuya. She clears her throat nervously. Tetsuya nudges Rosetta's desk with his waist, eyeing her smugly. The teachers still fear him. It will be akin to infection. Soon enough, the students will learn to fear him again.

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever, just answer my question."

"I have thought of it," he concedes, sweeping his eyes over the students, settling for class. "I'm never having kids."

Rosetta's phone rings during the math quiz. It's a new one; a bright yellow sliding phone to replace the one Benjiro stomped to pieces. It's the boss. She slips out of her chair, hobbling over to the exit as the teacher exclaims in annoyance. The retainers outside open the door for her and drag her a chair as she answers it.

"Mutsuo did well," Ryuusei purrs. "Caterina Provenzano is dead. She was your cousin, was she?"

"Yes," Rosetta says in hushed Italian. Her mother's sister was Nicodemo's first wife. She died at childbirth. Caterina was nearly a decade and a half older than her and from what Rosetta has heard Caterina didn't have a good life. Nicodemo was not pleased that his first wife died to bear him a daughter. He remarried quickly.

"Were you close?"

"Never met her. That leaves us with three more sons," Rosetta says, eyeing a crowd of students who give her curious looks.

"Two, Sergio and Vito, the heir, I don't care for the bastard."

"Byakuran? Boss, the Italian mafia–"

"Relies heavily on blood to choose their successors, yes, that is the case with you westerners. If it wasn't, you'd be of no use." Ryuusei says, tired of the topic.

"That makes him important too."

"He's a bastard."

"And bastards will have power when legitimate sons are dead," she says patiently. "What do you want out of this boss? If it's revenge, you've taken more heads than what's lost. Why not propose a negotiation? You've shown your hand." She knows Nicodemo doesn't want to lose his territories, but surely he knows Ryuusei will not stop unless he grows bored. "Or you can just assassinate the boss and talk to his heir. Vito is weak."

Ryuusei snorts. "A negotiation? You sound like you don't know me at all."

"I can't always agree with you, boss," Rosetta defends, straightening up. She can almost sense his frown. "I'm not Kusakabe-san."

That elicits a short bark of laughter.

"I'm not going to talk," Ryuusei says evenly. "Insults to me are forgiven through blood and life, not words."

"You mock me then," Rosetta breathes, "you pretend that I have a say in your business when I have not."

Ryuusei is quiet for a moment. "That is not entirely true. You're my consigliere."

"Yes, and I'm also your daughter-in-law who is rapidly diminishing in her use. I'm not illusioned by my title, boss. You've been clear. The game continues and you have the upper hand, I'll be watchful of assassins. What about your sons?"

"They're capable of protecting themselves," he says.

"That's because they have their retainers, men you cannot spare." She tries not to sound mocking. "Why not send your heir to Namimori? It's safer here."

"He's my son. People must not see him as a coward."

"And I am a girl so it's fine for me."

"Of course," Ryuusei confirms.

Rosetta wants to throw her phone.

"I'll relay security adjustments to Tetsuya-san," she says instead.

"A good idea. He's better than my son at management."

Rosetta asks details about Caterina, drug logistics, about the casinos Ryuusei requisitioned while Nicodemo mourned about the loss of his children. It's merely a matter of time before Nicodemo asks the Varia or another kill-squad to take her down. There's a large sum above her head now, growing larger as the war trudges on. She merely has to trick herself that she chose to be here even if it isn't much of a choice. She has to trick herself that she's standing on solid ground, or else she'll go insane with worry.

"The bastard son lives in Japan," Ryuusei sniffs. "You said he's important too. You can deal with him."

Rosetta nearly chokes. "You've never given me a mission before."

"You've never questioned your worth," he replies, smug. "Kill him. This should distract you from school."

"I don't need a distraction… besides, this is not the job of a consigliere."

"It is the consigliere's job if the boss warrants it to be. You can use my resources. Don't overdo it. I don't want the Vendicare nipping at my heels."

"Boss," she says, neutral. She's never really won an argument against him, and she will not try on the phone where she cannot see his cues. "Are you utterly sure I am the right person for this?"

"You're my daughter-in-law," he says with a hint of pride, which surprises her. "Learn from me, be subtle, be patient. If you can rope Kyoya into this, then it will be an exercise on how well you work with each other. Good luck, my dear."

"You wake up one fine morning and find out that the famiglia Marchetti is knocking at your bedroom door, demanding a better cut from two of your casinos he's managing after your income rises threefold in a year. Handing management of the casinos was the ninth's gesture of goodwill. What do you do?" Rosetta leans back. Her body doesn't ache as much as it did last week, but she's still irritable from the chronic pain whenever she breathes too deep.

They're in the garden again, sitting outside the greenhouse. Rosetta can spot about seven retainers patrolling the gardens outside. Tsuna is sitting across, chewing the end of his pen, casting nervous glances at Gokudera who Tetsuya finally deemed safe enough to enter the house.

"Stop using my father's famiglia for your examples!" Gokudera pipes in, loud now that Tetsuya has left out of boredom.

The sun is bright above them.

Rosetta casts him a thin smile. "It's useful, besides, I thought you hated your father."

"That's why it's annoying that you keep on using him!" He says this with a grand scowl.

"Then help Sawada-san remember more famiglia names," she says, unblinking. "Sawada-san, remind me to ask you to recite bosses, sons and their families later on."

Tsuna wilts visibly. Gokudera puffs up in comparison, face red with rage. "Stop using me to torture the boss!"

"Can you recite in his stead?" Rosetta asks waspishly.

"I can!"

"Then you've left your boss in the dark, you don't teach him about our world. I try to teach him so he doesn't make a great fool of himself and you interfere," she hisses. Gokudera doesn't look a touch reprimanded, but he sits back, mouth twisted into a snarl.

"Sawada-san, your answer, Benigno Marchetti just caught you in your underpants. He demands a seven percent increase in shares. What do you do?"

"Is he financially troubled?" Tsuna asks after ten minutes of thinking.

"Oh my God, Sawada-san. What the fuck," Rosetta presses a knuckle against her teeth, shutting her eyes painfully. Under the unforgiving light of the sun, she can see the crisscrossing of fine white scars on her fist. It's been three weeks of slow recovery, she's lost about seven pounds, a side effect from her medication. Her collarbones are pronounced and she's had Tetsuya adjust her skirt after she exhausted herself looking for the house tailor.

Gokudera looks pained on Tsuna's behalf.

"Tenth, that was…" It's a difficult pill to swallow, to find out that his precious boss is failing at being at, well, being a boss. Rosetta doesn't care enough to admit it, but she's at least proud of Tsuna for not allowing Gokudera's praises to bloat his ego.

Tsuna hangs his head in shame.

"It's okay," Rosetta says with a smile picked up from her carefully cultured well of patience. "We can try again, where exactly are you confused at?"

"Why does he need more money?" Tsuna tries. It's a rephrase of his earlier question. Rosetta nods.

"Benigno says –hm, Gokudera-san, give me a family you dislike."

"The fucking Lucce."

"All right, Benigno says the famiglia Lucce by your casinos' borders are growing stronger, and that repairs are expensive, despite claiming in his report he's got it all covered." She taps her colored marker on the table, filled with ledgers.

"The Lucce are a bunch of cocksuckers, but not as shitty as my fucking father," Gokudera adds helpfully.

"Your right-hand man has spoken." Rosetta smiles. "What is your verdict, Vongola tenth?"

"Hand over the casinos to Gokudera-kun," he says after deliberating for a minute, moving his lips as he thinks.

Rosetta claps. "And why will you do that?"

"Let's see," Tsuna says, sweating profusely. "Benigno-san is obviously lying in your story and Gokudera-kun said he is a bad person.–

"Fucking terrible," Gokudera hammers.

–If I give the casinos to Gokudera-kun, since he's Benigno-san's son, I don't really break relations with the famiglia Marchetti. But Benigno-san will lose his income."

"A normal don wouldn't care about his income," Rosetta sniffs. "He had the gall to barge in your room to embarrass you. It's your turn to humiliate him. But if you're a smarter boss, you'd hand him a smaller operation to manage. Truthfully, the operation is a guise. You're merely checking on him. He might have been pleading for a larger cut because another family is trying to buy his loyalty."

"And if he was?" Tsuna's voice is small.

Gokudera runs his finger across his throat.

Tsuna pales.

Rosetta smiles genuinely. "You're actually adequate at this theoretical problem-solving."

"It's the Vongola intuition," Gokudera shares to Tsuna's chagrin.

"Hm, yes," she nods at Tsuna. "Now, recite all the families and their bosses in five minutes. Your time starts now."

Rosetta hands him an empty map of Italy later on, to be filled up with names and colored and labeled, first the cities, then famiglia names and territories. The ever-changing abstract of families warring against each other, changing as the tides come and go. It might dishearten him, to see the once powerful Vongola who controlled nearly a fifth of Italy reduced to a smidge in the map. The main fortress stands strong amidst the fighting.

Rosetta has doubts that Tsuna will even take a step to Italy. They have a barbaric custom of naming several children heirs, only to pit them against each other on a succession battle. The Vongola Secondo started the tradition, and oddly enough they followed through. She's thankful she never has to see Xanxus pitted against him, thankful that her original betrothed is rotting in jail… if the rumors are true.

Her room was destroyed during Tsuna's battle. Now she stays in the less secure infirmary. The windows have been barred, and the glass bulletproofed. She's alone, wearing nothing but her skirt. Her bra and blouse are abandoned by the bed as she turns around the full-length mirror to inspect the scars on her torso.

It doesn't look good.

She's never one to really think about beauty, but sometimes she can't help herself. She's a teenager, after all, spending her lunches with the prettiest girl in class. She can't help but find the spider web of scars objectively hideous. The black stitching around her arms and torso is long gone, but she sees the remnants in mostly red and white seams knitted in her skin from cut glass. There are old bruises below her breast, partly covered with her hair, still faint green and mottled. She puts a hand against the largest blemish where her rib broke. The boss miscalculated his strength, next time she'll…

The door opens without a knock. The only reason Rosetta doesn't jump is that she knows Iwasaki doesn't bother to do so. It's her clinic after all.

"Iwasaki-sens–" Rosetta freezes as she picks up her bra.

Kyoya is standing in frozen shock, hand over the doorknob.

His pupils –she can see from their proximity– dilate in panic, and she can see through her terror the clear blue he must have gotten from his mother. Kyoya's eyes move from her reddening face, down her long neck, to the dip of her collarbone, and finally settle to the swell of her barely covered chest.

Rosetta screams.

Later, Tetsuya is chuckling at her as she hurls a spoon at him and just like how she threw a ledger at Kyoya, she misses. The utensil clatters on the floor, the ringing seems to further the embarrassment she feels. Some maids titter in the back, losing composure from the look on her face.

"You're married," he says, grinning as she throws a fork, hoping for his eyeball.

"Privacy exists in married couples," she hisses, reaching for the knife.

"If it helps, he's embarrassed too. Kyo-san locked himself in his study and refused to talk to anybody."

She narrows her eyes, waving the knife. "Wait, since when did you call him Kyo-san?"

"Since I warded off the boss' teasing thirty minutes ago," he replies smartly.

Irritation crawls up her back. "How the hell did the boss know?"

"The household's rumor web is terrifyingly efficient. I'm afraid to say the reports the boss received were highly exaggerated."

"He saw my breasts, nothing else," Rosetta clarifies. Tsuna, sitting beside her, chokes on his ramen. Reborn tips his hat down.

"Oh dear," Tetsuya pales. "A retainer promised me that Kyo-san saw your naked body, fresh out of the shower. I informed the boss–"

"Which retainer was it? He saw my breasts! Nothing else!" Repeating it doesn't make the statement less embarrassing apparently, because the maids titter again whilst Tsuna wobbles in his seat.

"I'll clear it up!" Tetsuya vows, trying to calm her down as he dodges the knife. "It's not that bad, I promise you. Though the boss was expecting grandchildren…"

"I'm fifteen!" Rosetta throws her empty plate at Tetsuya. He catches it and tries to ineffectively pin her with a pointed stare. It's not working when she's snarling at him.

"Ryuusei had Mutsuo when he was seventeen," Reborn points out unhelpfully.

Rosetta slams her fists on the table, face reddening with rage. She's not one to abuse her power, but it's already been three hours and she's exhausted by how the maids look at her and giggle.

"That's it! If another one mentions this, they're fired!"

Kyoya narrows his eyes when he spots her dashing through the woody perennials. Rosetta waves at him tentatively from between a decorative pillar, hands on her knees as she catches her breath. It's too early in the morning that most of the household is still asleep. The sun hasn't warmed the horizon yet but later the atmosphere will clutch at the beginnings of winter, leaving the summer plants exhausted with frost. The gardeners will fuss endlessly.

"Good morning," Rosetta says with false cheer, wrapping an ugly scarf around her neck. Rita has been knitting since she was well enough to move her hands. She lost a kidney from a bullet.

Kyoya eyes her garb disapprovingly.

"Winter in Campania is never this cold," she raises an eyebrow when he focuses on her scarf. It's barf yellow and black, something from a book series Rita likes to harp about during downtime.

"It's not yet winter," he says. "Take it off."

"I'm cold." She crosses her arms. "One day I'll become acclimated. Now, I don't care about fashion as long as I am warm."

"What are you doing here?" He inquires, sweeping a lazy but a disparaging stare at her blue cashmere sweater. Rosetta notices this and crosses her arms, ostensibly covering her chest.

"You wanted to say something yesterday, why else would you barge in unannounced?"

"It's no longer your concern," he says, waving her off as he moves away. His feet barely crunch against the shell-white pebbles on the ground that marks the path between carefully manicured shrubberies. Rosetta follows, rubbing her hands.

"Not after I waited for you and wait! You walk too fast! Give me some credit."

"How did you know to find me here?" he asks, distracted.

"Tetsuya-san expounds on your topic when I keep my silences," she grins.

Kyoya looks piqued at that shred of information. "Sentimental fool," he grinds out as they pass an arch blooming with fragrant purple flowers. Rosetta follows him persistently and nearly bumps into his shoulder as he pauses, spine rigid.

"You intend on following me like a dog? I'm going out for patrol."

"I don't mind," she says, although she doesn't sound convinced. His patrols span the city limits. She neither has the energy nor does he have the patience. She takes it back. "I won't follow you out. It's about five in the morning and it's Saturday," she says. "Why did you come into my room?"

"It's an infirmary," he corrects her. "There are many guest rooms. You are free to choose."

She files that information in her head, biting the swell of her lower lip. "You're avoiding my question."

Kyoya stares at her with eyes carrying what it seems like perpetual boredom.

"Please answer me," she sighs, growing weary.

"I had a proposition. You need training," he says after a few seconds.

"Illusionists are rarely fighters," she tells him halfheartedly and notices the blade of genuine anger beneath his veneer of calm. He doesn't like illusionists then, not after Mukuro. Or maybe it's because of Ryuusei. Hopefully, it doesn't affect their relationship, not that it's substantial at the present.

"Or at least, that's what the boss says. I already use a gun," she continues.

"I can pin you down and hurt you in a blink of an eye." He flexes his fingers.

Rosetta swallows, butterflies flutter in her stomach.

"You can pin anyone I know and hurt them in half the time. Who will train me?"

"I said I had a proposition."

"One look at my naked torso and you take it back?" She expects her words to irritate him and is granted with the sight of his furrowed brows, a small price to pay for the truth. "Is it because I'm female?"

"I'm not my father," Kyoya says with a prominent frown.

"You're clearly not. Why shouldn't I train?"

Kyoya shoves her. Rosetta yelps as she falls back, grappling at him for balance. He catches her elbow in time, his grip painful, and pulls her forward. She gains her balance just as quickly as she almost lost it, her heart thudding with surprise as her face flushes.

"You're too thin and you're too light, your bones are like a bird's, a gust of wind will sweep you away from here," he says without malice, unhanding her. She shakes him off, flustered at his proximity, to have been caught off guard. "Training you to fight will be a waste of my time."

"What if I followed Tetsuya in his morning jogs?" She asks after she swallows, wary.

"No. That would take too long and you don't have patience." He's walking again.

"You don't think I can do it?"

"Your body isn't good for fighting," he pauses, pondering and finds that she's looking at him intently. He seems to remember something and looks away.

"Not meant for fighting…." Rosetta ponders, maybe she'll still join Tetsuya in his morning jogs, force Tsuna to come along too. If it irritates Kyoya, then it's a bonus. She'll spend more time practicing her illusions too, better if she does it in a shooting range to improve her aim. If she only shot Fusanosuke in the head, she wouldn't have had stitches all over her torso.

"What is it good for then?" She asks absently, running an itinerary in her mind.

Kyoya mumbles.

She looks up, eyes wide and curious. "What did you say?"

"Childbirth."

Rosetta doesn't speak to him for a week.

Tetsuya is detail oriented, which means his paperwork is thrice over the amount of his boss. He is, however, efficient, but the weight of his thoughts has been overbearing since the day his father pulled the trigger against his head. A part of him died that day. He always convinced himself that he values work ethics and loyalty over the machinations of the heart, now he's not so confident.

Rosetta knocks and opens the door before he can respond. She pops her head through the small opening and scans the reception room.

"Hello," she says, eyebrows scrunched. "It's lunchtime."

Tetsuya puts his pen down and rubs the bridge of his nose. "Kyo-san is on patrol. You made his lunch again?" If so, just leave it in the trash, he doesn't say. Lately, she's been sticking close to him, watching him keenly for something he doesn't care to ponder about. She's trying to join him in his morning runs too, often running out of breath during his warm-ups. Even Tsuna seems to fair better when showed up with her, only if Reborn is present.

"I feel better now, thanks," she comes in. "But this isn't for Kyoya-san. It's for you."

Tetsuya blinks and sputters. "I didn't help you make it and I don't accept bribes. Did you, did you do something I'm unaware of?"

Rosetta's smile cracks as she slides the meal on his table. "I didn't."

"What is it for then?" He pushes the meal away. He can smell something fried, probably dipped in cheese. Tetsuya's work doesn't always allow him the pleasure of regular meals, particularly, delicious meals. The bland cafeteria food has always been adequate, and he enjoyed the times he assisted her in the kitchens, to be gifted with a well-earned lunch. Rosetta's show of random generosity is suspicious. Perhaps this was what Kyoya felt like? Tetsuya feels closer to his boss.

She looks at him in the pointed way she looks at Tsuna when she's about to lose her patience. "You visited often in the hospital. This is my thanks."

"That was my job."

"You can convince yourself of that and throw it away or you can just eat it," she huffs. "I don't care."

And she leaves. Tetsuya eyes the meal warily before he drags it close to him and takes the lid off, crispy Tonkatsu and pickled vegetables on a bed of warm rice. He sighs. His resolve weakens.

The door opens. Kyoya walks in, lips curled up –a sign of a successful hunt.

"Kyo-san," Tetsuya stands, "you're early."

Kyoya doesn't reply. There are specks of blood on the collar of his uniform. His tonfas are matted with gore and his knuckles are a little bruised. Tetsuya suspects a gang fight. There is no safety in numbers, not when Kyoya is involved. Individuals angling for a fight lose in better shape than a well-prepared ambush of men. He needs to contact the local police, update his records.

"Throw that away," Kyoya says after he spots the familiar bento box.

"Oh," Tetsuya blinks surprised. "This isn't for you, Kyo-san."

Kyoya pauses. He's halfway reaching a rag on his desk drawer. His face goes carefully blank as he moves again with feline grace. Fighting always leaves him bloodthirsty.

"She made you lunch?" He asks, voice oddly somber.

"Yes. I didn't ask her to. She just came and handed it."

Kyoya leans against his desk, eyeing his subordinate. Tetsuya desperately wishes for someone to barge in, or for his phone to ring. He feels like he's in the wrong end of an interrogation.

"You're not going to discard it?"

"I didn't say that," Tetsuya says, going red around the ears.

"Then eat it."

Tetsuya flushes, embarrassed but unsure as of why. He feels like he's been caught sneaking dirty magazines to school. "Now?" He asks, avoiding Kyoya's ostensibly uninterested stare.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Kyoya taps the table twice with a fingernail. It's not necessarily a threat, but a promise of what is coming should Tetsuya flounder once more. Tetsuya murmurs a short prayer as he unwraps the utensils stuck on the side of the box and braces himself for the most uncomfortable meal of his life.

"You're the worst," he tells her later at the park. Nana is talking to Tsuna by their designated bench. The woman brought other children too. A pair of five-year-olds –one of them a mafioso's child and the sandy-haired kid Tetsuya recognizes from Kokuyo land. He looks better now; cheeks no longer hollow from his week of starvation.

She blinks at him, honestly confused as she takes her phone. "Why? Did I do something?"

Tetsuya sighs. The stray dogs bump against his legs, whining for food. They've missed his company.

"Your bento–"

"I didn't poison it!" Rosetta declares quickly, with a small frown. "It's –it's overcooked isn't it? I should have gone for something easier although Reborn-san appreciated it."

To be honest, Tetsuya couldn't taste anything. His taste buds seemed to have frozen in mortification.

"You made him food too?" He tries to look for the tutor, but he's missing.

"Yes," she says, typing something on her phone, her fingers quick. "Rita is leaving the hospital today. I advised her to rest for another week even though she didn't want to. I should have informed you first."

"I was planning to do the same," Tetsuya rubs his face with a large palm. "Was it your idea to give me lunch?"

"It was Reborn-san. He said I should learn to appreciate you better," Rosetta absently pats him on the shoulder, eyes trained to the screen.

Tetsuya sighs. He never outwardly disliked the tutor, but there is something wrong with him –a seemingly young assassin. The sight of him brings him back to his childhood. It was raining when the boss' exiled brother appeared in an unwelcome visit. Tetsuya, having little understanding of the world marveled at his appearance. The man remained young despite being the boss' older sibling, wearing red that matched a glass pacifier around his neck.

He didn't ask questions because they taught him to be quiet.

"Reborn-san also said I should do it so you can learn to trust me," Rosetta continues, tongue in cheek, looking awfully her age. "I think it's stupid."

"How so?"

She taps her phone faster. He looks over her shoulder. Rosetta is updating her recipes. "Well, you already trust me, do you not?"

"I don't trust anybody," he finds himself saying to his surprise. The dogs are insistent, whipping their tails. Some have already flopped to their bellies, confused at Tetsuya's cold reception.

"That's dumb too," Rosetta tucks her phone back, crossing her arms.

"I thought that's the motto of you Mafioso," he tells her. "Surely you have experiences."

Rosetta doesn't flinch although an expression crosses her face. He's touched a sore subject. "Surely you trust my husband, he trusts you. I think." She gnaws at her lip.

"It doesn't have to be mutual," he mutters, mocking her. Rosetta barks out a short laugh that startles the dogs. The kids jump too, surprised. The one with the afro approaches her tentatively, extending a stick at her direction. Rosetta narrows her eyes at the child and says something in a dialect he doesn't know. It sounds Italian though.

"If you don't trust anyone, you might as well go into the forest and live your life as a hermit," she says to him. The kid with the afro wails something in Italian too fast for Tetsuya to understand. "Trust isn't black or white. For one, I trust you to execute Kyoya-san's best intentions, but I don't trust you to save me over him." She pats him on the shoulder again. "Don't let fear shape you."

He shuffles uncomfortably. "Are you calling me a coward?"

She lifts her chin. "No. I'm telling you that it's not your fault that the boss is a massive dick. That your near death wasn't of your doing. You were merely… convenient to use at the moment."

That's not what he expects.

"Rokudo Mukuro–"

"Yes!" She runs a hand through her hair, looking away. "He took over Kyoya-san. And I wouldn't have known too if Iwasaki-sensei wasn't swooning over our imaginary romance. I was just lucky."

"You were just lucky," he repeats. He's thought of this too and felt bad about it. Hearing it brings a sense of relief in his chest even if she's only said it to cheer him up. He'll think of it tonight, when he tries to sleep again, maybe to ward off the insistent nightmares of staring into the barrel of the boss' gun.

"Are you going to stop sulking now? I want a report on Byakuran and you've been slacking off." She stabs a finger against his rib, exactly in the same way the Bovino kid is stabbing at his leg with a branch. He hasn't been slacking off on the contrary, and she knows it. Byakuran is terrifyingly efficient at erasing his steps. She's been mocking him for it since last week. The reminder soils his mood.

"You ruined it," Tetsuya gives her a sour look which she raises an eyebrow at. He ignores Lambo, now surrounded by dogs that try to sniff him. He pats her shoulder too, awkwardly and as friendly as he can manage. "You're also my best friend."

He has never seen Rosetta happy as she is at the present. He allows Tsuna to go home for the weekend through his request. Tetsuya puts three of his trusted men to guard the house, giving them no room for complaint. Later they visit Rita at the hospital and wheelchairs her out after filling out her paperwork. Rosetta unwittingly harasses the hospital crew with her entourage of armed detail. They visit the maid's house, just near the school and go home without a hitch.

"You're happy today," he hears Iwasaki's voice faintly from the balcony above, as Tetsuya recites to Kyoya his daily report. It is early evening. They are by the house entrance as Kyoya's schedule permits. Rosetta is often left alone upstairs with her musings but lately, the doctor has been accompanying her. He never knew that their voices could be overheard from so far above, judging by Kyoya's distracted countenance, he didn't know too.

"Tetsuya-san finally agreed to be my buddy!" Rosetta exclaims with honest laughter.

Tetsuya freezes, tapering off his report. Something sharp and dangerous flashes through Kyoya's eyes, carefully smoothed over with a frown.

"Why did you stop?" Kyoya tilts his head to the side, challenging.

"Nothing, Kyo-san. As I was saying the–"

Kyoya puts his hand up, narrowing his eyes. The sound of Rosetta's laughter spills again into the night. Chime bells, lady-like and to Tetsuya, he thinks with a cold realization that it's the laughter before his head is placed on the guillotine, with her pulling the lever.

Kyoya is jealous.

His boss is jealous.

"Kyo-san, it's not what you think," Tetsuya tries desperately and snaps his mouth shut before he can say anything else, realizing far too late the position he's put himself into. Sweat rolls from his brows.

"It's not what I think?" Kyoya starts.

"Kyo-san–" words fail Tetsuya. Even in the dark, he sees Kyoya's pupils dilate. The man prowls inwards like how a wolf will to a wounded rabbit. Sympathetic nervous system. The fight-or-flight response. And he has never known Kyoya to flee a battlefield.

"And in what world would I have come to that conclusion?" Kyoya's weapons are out.

Tetsuya's face is frozen in the incriminating grimace of an honest man marching to his death.

"Well?"

Tetsuya hears a whimper and cringes outwardly when he realizes that it's his voice. "It's really not what you think," he insists because he knows all of Kyoya's moods and his irrationalities –the twins got better toys when he was younger– and his jealousies only led to two outcomes: violence and seething that often led to violence still.

Tetsuya shuts his eyes and prays for seething.

"I'll bite you to death."

A Note to the Reader: This one has a few cliches. (/∇≦*) To better understand Kyoya's character I actually spent some time rereading the manga, and guess what I saw? The man is an overdramatic drama queen who revolves from poetic sentences, one-liners, threats and poetic sentences. He probably thinks "I'll bite you to death" sounds darn cool and is embarrassed by it in the future. He just can't stop because he's too prideful to admit that he was such a nerd during middle school! I don't know. I made of fun of him for a whole 2 minutes before I realized that I was making fun of myself as well because when I was 13 I thought he was the hottest and the coolest character out there. (I still think he's pretty damn cool)

The update will probably be at the same day next week. I hope you enjoyed this one! Because I had fun writing it!