Hello, strangers and readers! Thanks for taking interest in this fic which bloom from my journey of procrastinating. Jk, actually it's half-half since this was a small bunny for an original OC story but Mukuro came in like a wrecking-ball.

If you guys haven't notice then as ReadingReadererReader suggest, last chapter was in fact placed in the Estraneo laboratory and for extra details a minor 1 year time-skip was place on the last section where the protagonist meets the pre-Kokuyo group.

Well, hope you guys enjoy this update! Until next time! (^_^)/

Amanda paused mid-step and turns around, taking in the first and last look of her previous house. A hollow of a shell. The words sound right in her ears. It never truly was home. The person who was wasn't even there anymore.

"Oi."

She snapped out of her trance and found herself face-to-face with a blond boy. Ken, her mind supplied.

"Sorry," She said, looking straight to his glare. She doesn't blame him for being offensive. Their situation was different as night and day. Just because they're running together doesn't mean they get along.

Ken released her wrist and grunts, nudging his head upfront. Huh. He could just leave her alone in the woods to get maul by but he didn't.

Amanda agrees, Ken is a sweet person.

She toyed with the topic since the seven hours they met. It was pure curiousity. "Why are you the leader?"

He —Mukuro watched her with amusement flickered in his eyes. If he notices the other two flinched at her question, he didn't voice it. Neither did her.

He hums. "I never said I was."

"Well, you implied you were." She paused, tasting sweetness before continuing. "There's also a fact nobody questions you orders before."

"Orders? Must be your imagination." He easily dismissed and smiles. "Don't you think?"

Eyes are windows of the soul. It was easy enough for her to catch the hidden message resides them. It was counterproductive to cause a fraction in their little group. So she drops the topic and continued her assigned task.

She always did knew. From the very beginning. Mukuro was a very bitter boy.

Chikusa was the quiet one between the three. He was also the one who avoid her very existence at all cost. While she doesn't mind it because she understands where his discomfort comes from but having no minimal interaction between them would cause work to be unproductive, rising more problems than accomplishing them.

After finishing observing the boy for a day, Amanda reached a conclusion and decided to be blunt with it.

"Chikusa, are you scared of me?"

"O-of course not." The boy shuttered at the sudden question.

She looks at him unimpressed, "You just averted your eyes."

Chikusa stayed mum while his grip on his dirtied shirt tightens.

This won't go anywhere like this. She sighs, "Enough." Flinching back how at her own tone and guessed he had rights to be intimidated of her. She knows she wasn't the most pleasant-looking person. What can a soothing voice do when you look like death itself? Soothe them to death maybe.

"Chikusa..." Amanda lowers her voice, hoping not to scare him off more. She opens her mouth to continue but the words just wouldn't budge from her mouth. The heavy bitterness pouring onto her taste buds made her realise how crucial this conversation was. One wrong wording and she'll ruin her only chances to change her lighting.

Amanda didn't know she was deep in thoughts until she registered someone's touch, granting a silver sweetness to existence. She snapped her eyes to see Chikusa with a hint of fright in his dark-blue eyes, awkwardly patting her head. Or trying to since she was taller by an inch.

"What are you doing?"

The boy flushed in embarrassment but brave himself to answer. "I –You look sad and… She always does this when I'm sad… So I.." His voice trailed, head lowered. Forcing himself not to cry.

It was sudden and out of place but Amanda felt a certain kinship towards him. As someone who had also experienced both care and the lost.

"Thank you." She poured all the sincerity she could muster into it. He needs to know she really is thankful despite her liability to smile. "You are a kind boy, Chikusa."

He squeaks in embarrassment but a smile bloom across his face. (It was small but still is.)

Amanda resolved, Chikusa is a sweet child and deserves better.

They were strangers, forming this ragtag of a group just to live. Doubts and suspicion hang in the air but Amanda has little care of it.

They came to her, the first of her age. The longest she could remember. If they desire was to survive then It's hers to fulfil.