A/N: Oh, thanks to everyone who reviewed. :D It really boosts me up. But I must say, I get fewer reviews than the previous story, and I'm thinking maybe it's because of the lack of adorableness in it. Hahaha, Fret not, lovelies, the adorableness plus drama shall come into your way after chapter 3, so please be patient. :D

P.S. I realized something…is this some kind of a gary stu fiction? Please tell me! But, but, I am only telling what children looked like when they are left in streets…. :( I hope this is not gary stu because I hate gary stu fictions. =_=

DISCLAIMER: Any names that the readers would see in this fiction are not connected to real people. The authoress has picked Japanese surnames with liberty and does not have any ill-intentions, whatsoever. Moreover, surnames written here are not connected to any of the characters from the other anime.

THE RAINBOW'S GUIDANCE

© Danielle Luna Soulhart

November 2012

GUIDE # 2: The Arcobaleno Household

…:[]:…

Chirp, chirp, chirp…

The sun shone brightly and it penetrated the eyes of a sleeping child. He was curled like a ball under a pile of leaves, enabling ants to freely walk on him and occasionally taking turns of biting the skin only to be swatted by the boy's hand. Because of the light, the boy was forced to open his eyes, slowly but surely, until he was able to fully open them and see the world. Sitting up, he looked around – the leaves were reddish-orange in color, the trees were almost left barren and the wind was getting chilly. The boy made no motion. He didn't quite understand the surroundings. Yesterday, everything was still green, now it's all red or orange. Come to think of it, the sky was rather dark in color. Was it going to rain?

The child was completely oblivious to the fact that winter was coming soon.

Now that the sleeping spell has worn off, he stood and brushed off the leaves and insects that crawled onto him while he was asleep. When one looked at him, his clothes, tattered and filled with holes, could already pass for rags and he was also barefooted. The only thing he cared for was food.

And so, following his instincts, he was led to a hotdog stand. He silently wished that the vendor would give him free food again and allow him to drink sodas to his heart's content. When the vendor saw him, the he immediately gave the child what the wanted – 3 hotdogs, a large soda and a bottle of water. It's a good thing that there weren't many people outside yet or else the vendor would have cursed the earth for letting the child eat at his stall. After 5 minutes, the child was finally finished with his food and the vendor noticing this, literally shooed him away. The child has no choice but to go.

…:[]:…

Meanwhile, the dining hall of the Arcobaleno household seemed to be eerily quiet. There was this heavy atmosphere that surrounded two residents whose heads were buried between their crossed arms on the table. Crushed papers, pens, pencils and rulers were scattered on the table along with the poorly ripped wrappings of junk food. Luce shook her head as she took the leftovers and threw it at the waste bin. That's what you get for not sleeping properly, she inwardly chided.

Moments later, one head moved and it showed a face that looked like it'll fall off. Dark circles were seen under the eyes and the face was dirty from the lead of the pencil. The head moved sideward, absorbing what was happening in the surroundings before nudging the other awake. However, that weak nudge didn't do anything good. Suddenly, a familiar scent travelled inside her nostrils.

"Is that omelet, Luce?" the woman asked.

Hearing the voice, Luce turned around, with a turner* on her hand, and spoke, "You're awake, Lal. It seemed you exhausted yourself all night." Then, turning the omelet, she replied Lal's question, "Yep. Breakfast will be ready in a few.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lal said. She was actually a famous electrical and communications engineer sought out by many. Apparently, she was busy doing a new project and she needed to finish the blueprint today before she went to meet the architect. The blueprint was actually for renovating a museum. "It's a good thing I finished it. It's also thanks to Reborn." Then she nudged Reborn's shoulder harder.

Reborn, thankfully, moved from his position but Lal heard a pained grunt from the other so she moved back. Reborn's hair was sticking up in all ways, making him look like a zombie along with the dark circles around his eyes. For a second, he looked around to catch what was going until his gaze landed on Luce, "Oh. It's morning."

"Good morning to you too, Reborn." Luce said, "I guess you two should've learned your lesson now."

"I swear I'm never taking projects home." Lal commented. She picked up her materials and moved towards the stairs, "I'll just keep these materials in my room, Luce."

Luce didn't respond but waved the turner.

"What time is it?" Reborn asked.

"It's 6:30 am. You have classes in an hour, right?" Luce said calmly, tossing the omelets into the air professionally before catching it with the pan. She didn't receive any comments about the time, but she did hear shuffling sounds and a loud screech of the chair.

Luce was left in the kitchen and the surroundings became lighter. The sun's rays finally settled in and birds were heard from the garden, creating a tranquil atmosphere. Luce loved it. She was a morning person after all. She liked to wake up early to prepare food for her friends and be the first one to see their morning faces too. It's quite entertaining. No one would ever see them like that and she would fight for it. Moments later, she arranged the table and put the plates with two omelets each at its respective places. Then, she made more and placedit in a bigger plate and served it on the table, in case someone wanted/needed seconds. She arranged the table a little more and put fresh flowers as a centerpiece.

Ah, she really was acting like a mother.

A mother to seven adults, to be specific.

She smiled at that thought. She really had wished she had a child, but because of those unfortunate events, she lost hers. Nevertheless, she was quite – quite – happy that her friends were there to help her and she wanted them to be happy; Although, she wondered when that will happen again.

Sighing, she went to the room of a certain person who was very hard to wake. She knew very well that this person doesn't like mornings. But breakfast was breakfast, and it shouldn't be taken for granted. As she was inside, she saw the layers and layers of dark comforter but the moment she went further inside, she shivered from the coldness of the room. Looking at the air conditioner, she saw that it was set to high temperature. She frowned. What was the logic of turning the AC on at its highest if they were going to bury themselves under a pile of blankets?

"Viper," Luce said a little loud, figuring that the occupant of the bed won't hear her. She walked towards the window and pulled the curtains open, turned the AC off and pulled the blankets off, revealing the person she was looking for. "Viper, it's almost seven. Breakfast is ready."

The occupant named Viper grunted and shifted to a different position. Luce sighed. "Viper, don't make this any harder for me or I'll fix your room without your consent."

Immediately, Viper sat, frantically looking around to see if her room was arranged or not. Luce inwardly cheered. So she found the weakness button. When Viper saw nothing was arranged, she directed a cold glare towards Luce, "How dare you threaten me with my room, Luce?"

Luce innocently shrugged, "I don't know. All I know is that I have to wake you up for breakfast. Or," she paused and walked towards Viper's calendar and pointed a date that was encircled in red, "do you want to miss the deadline for your next artwork?"

Viper grunted again and decided to get up. No one could really defy Princess Luce's psychology. "You're heartless. I'm going to charge you for barging into my room." Luce didn't comment on that and just left the room knowing that Viper was not going to really charge her for that.

She immediately went onto the next room and she knew that this person was already awake. This person was not a morning person either, but a turn of events could happen once the curiosity of this person was triggered. When she turned the knob, she immediately saw the strong light coming from a desk lamp. The occupant seemed to be ignoring her and so she took that as a chance to creep inside the room. Like a mother wanting to catch her child red handed, she immediately talked, "Verde, how nice of you to get up without any alarms or my calls today." When she felt the slightest flinch from the said man, she chuckled and continued, "Breakfast is ready. You can do that later, doctor."

Verde raked his hair. Luce was sometimes scary to be with. "Luce…" He said, putting down his pen and facing Luce who was smiling ethereally at him, "The door was meant to be knocked at."

"I know that, but I also know you would not respond…" Then she pointed at something in a small glass dish, "…Now that you have something that caught your interest again."

At the mention of that, Verde immediately diverted his attention back to his study. "Ah, yes. This was actually an antibody cell I took out from the lab. We're trying to figure out how to cure fevers at a faster rate. So far, I managed to-"

Luce didn't bother to comment anymore on whatever Verde was saying simply because she was not listening anymore. Verde was actually a well-renowned doctor and chemist and he has achieved a lot of awards because of his expertise. The only thing that others didn't know was Verde's attitude regarding his observations – he got all talkative until the end of his research. Luce chuckled and patted Verde's shoulder, "As much as I want to know more about your DNA formations, Verde, I believe you should put that back into your mini-ref first and eat breakfast."

Verde seemed not to hear and just went on babbling.

The next room that Luce went into was rather funky for her own liking. Unlike Viper's, this room was relatively clean, although the walls were filled with racing posters and funky accessories. Everything was painted violet and designed like it was going to be a venue for rock concert. This room belonged to one of the greatest actors of this generation and a resident stuntman, Skull. Thankfully, when Luce nudged him awake, Skull moved and opened his eyes. But the annoying part was…

"LUCE! Where's my Personal Assistant?!" Skull screamed and hurried himself out of the bed. "I have a shooting today at Osaka!"

Luce was really tempted to hand chop Skull at his nape. Control… "Skull, honey, it's just almost seven. You have to eat breakfast first before you call Reika-san." Skull looked around and he found out that he was at the Arcobaleno household. He blinked twice before returning his gaze to Luce and sighed, "Ah…so it's morning…"

"You realized now, Skull, dear?" Luce asked endearingly and started treading off the room, "Get up now or else Reborn will eat your share." And with that, she heard the shuffling of blankets as she closed the door.

There were only two rooms left and Luce was thankful that these two guys were not that hard to wake up. She went to one room and smiled, hearing music in moderate volume. When she peeked in, she saw Colonnello doing warm-ups with an enthusiastic smile on his face. It looked like his team was doing a good job too. Colonnello was a coach in track and field and a great athlete in the field of sharp shooting.

Sometimes, it was a wonder how Colonnello was able to juggle between being a coach and an athlete at the same time. Probably because Colonnello was a hyperactive dude that can multitask on any job. She didn't have to get inside knowing that the other was up and just shouted, "Colonnello! Breakfast is ready!" and she received a hyped, "OKAY, kora!"

Right beside Colonnello's, she stopped by in front of the door designed with Chinese carvings. She saw that it was slightly ajar and wind passed by her. When she peeked in, she saw that the window was opened. Beside the window was a person sitting with his legs crossed and hands relaxingly above the knees. His long hair was swaying as the wind passed by. It was quite a breath-taking picture because it drew in a calming state of mind; moreover it made her want to do it too. But alas, she has no time for it as of the moment.

With calm and sure steps, she walked inside and tapped the occupant by the forehead, enough to bring him back to reality. The occupant was named Fong.

"Oh, hello Luce." Fong greeted calmly.

"I'm sorry to disturb your meditation, dear, but breakfast is ready." Luce said, smiling.

"I'll be there in a moment. I just have to tie my hair."

Luce chuckled, "Sure thing." Then she left.

Now that everyone's up, Luce decided to go downstairs. That lot didn't need to be reminded twice and she needed to check if the food was getting cold. By the time she was downstairs, she saw Reborn and Lal eating already and decided that she join in as well. Moments later, the others arrived and ate in silence. Luce smiled

They weren't like this before.

…:[]:…

"AHAHAHA! That's the pathetic child I've been telling you guys!" said the red-haired child while pointing to another child. However, the child made no comment about it and just continued picking up the trash. Because of this, the red-haired child fumed and immediately walked towards the silent child and kicked him at the feet.

The child stumbled a little, but made no other actions.A chorus of laughter was heard and the other children began kicking the silent child. The bullied child, however, made no actions. His facial expression was changing every now and then, but it was a little bothering that his face couldn't draw out any real emotion.

Seeing this, the children were more determined to draw out that emotion. They have heard long ago that this child had never spoken to anyone, but he was not completely anti-social. They could see him helping other poor kids or poor elderly people, or in times like this wherein he was picking up trash and selling it to the junk shop. Despite of that, no one really liked him. His physical appearance and his silence were often misunderstood as being rude.

More often than not, everyone thought that this child was mute.

It took the children thirty minutes to make the silent child cry, and by that time, the silent child was already covered with bruises – awful bruises that started to become dark purple – and wounds from the children's slippers and long toenails. The child's face was also covered in cuts and bruises due to the rocks that kept hitting his face.

The children laughed louder, finally satisfied with what they did and with one last kick from the red-haired child, who was the leader of the group, he shouted, "You're such a loser! You should be dead! You don't deserve this place!" Then they left.

The silent child shed tears and got up. His body was really damaged this time. Even dirt could not cover it for him. He picked up the last trash from the garbage bin and started treading to the junk shop.

…:[]:…

The whole class echoed in disgruntlementwhen they received their bloody essays – as they mostly call due to the unforgiving red marks by their unrelenting professor – and lowered their heads on their tables. No matter what they do, they couldn't escape that analytical stare of their professor, Reborn. He's too much for a perfectionist that they were sure before they could graduate college, they would find themselves sitting in one corner of a mental institution, rocking back and forth as they cried about bloody essays and creepy, analytical stares.

Some of the class muttered secretly about their tactics of copyingeach other's works, some questioned themselves about annotating their work, while others just completely gave up on getting an exemplarygrade from their professor. Reborn, on the other hand, seemed to be taking his student's reactions rather fondly, smirking all the way with the knowledge of what his students were trying to do. He predicted that they thought he couldn't read their 5-page essay in one sitting and so they devised a plan to copy – ah, rephrasing – each other's work and pass it to their professor. Sadly, their little devious plan was easily rotten.

Nevertheless, a lesson was a lesson, and as a professor, he has to constantly remind his idiotic students about one simple thing:

"Cheating could kill you," Reborn started with a stern tone, effectively making his students shiver in fright, "You probably thought I won't be able to finish reading your essays, huh? It's not an excuse that I gave your homework a day later. I'll admit I'm surprised that some of you managed to put footnotes, however it is not enough. Some of were wrong and the web addresses that you provided me were from useless websites. Did you think it would make your grades higher?" He paused for a while and shot a glare towards his students.

The students shook their heads. They knew they're going to fail the subject.

Reborn huffed, "I don't really patronize crappy essays like yours, but at least you're learning." He saw his students' heads slowly rising with a positive hope shining in their eyes, "Only Miyazaki got a B+ for her essay. She was the only one with the footnotes, although I still noticed some of the information she used were copied from several others, and copied from a book that was not properly annotated in the footnotes. A lot of you wrote confusing details, which is really irritating." Then he sighed. "The only upside was, no one got a D."

The students sighed in relief. Reborn could be a strict professor, but what they really liked from him was his forgiving actions and they were always given second chances.

Reborn sighed, rubbing his temples before speaking, "Because of your scores, you have to make up for it." He heard a series of groans coming from his class and so he slammed his hand on the table. Reborn shot a murderous glare at them, "Don't complain, unless you want to fail my subject."

Thankfully, Miyazaki took the courage to ask for her class, "Ano, Reborn-sensei, I believe there are others aside from me who got a B in their essay. Are we still included?"

"Of course. It would be unfair if you will not take the essay again, right?" Reborn replied and faced the whiteboard, writing the topic for their new essay, "But I have to consider your efforts. For those who got B, if your essay is interesting, I will add plus fifteen to your previous scores. As for those who got C; if you do well in this essay, I will add it to your previous score. However, the next time I see incompetent essays, it will be marked down and thrown out of the window and let others know of your crime. I would not think twice."

The class couldn't get any happier.

Reborn tapped his marker on the board to catch his students' reaction, "Okay, listen. Your essay will be about Marx's philosophy on capitalism. I want it on a short bond paper, font size 12 and should be at least 10 pages. I want proper footnotes this time. The deadline of your essays will be in two weeks time since…" He paused and revealed an evil smirk, "…We will be having a two-part quiz next week."

The students wished they could die right now. Only Professor Reborn has the capability of making them insane in a day.

...:[]:…

"Oh Lal. It's a surprise you're here." Fong said as he held a rolled paper on his hand.

Lal huffed. "No one told me you'd be here."

Fong chuckled, "It seems like that." Then someone approached him and handed another rolled paper. "I take it the blueprint is done, engineer?"

Lal took out a rolled paper as well and laid it out on top of Fong's table, "Yeah. Reborn helped me with all the remaining geometric figures last night while I calculated the others." When she heard Fong chuckle again, she sent him a glare, "What?"

"It must have taken you hours before you convinced Reborn." Fong said as he waved a hand to his co-worker.

"It was hell. It's a good thing there was a nearby coffee shop and I managed to bribed him with his favorite espresso." A short silence followed afterwards with Fong watching Lal uncurled the blueprints. When all the blueprints were laid out, Lal spoke again, "So, Mr. Head Architect. Are these okay with you already?"

Fong didn't respond at first and carefully scrutinized the blueprints. He was actually a very famous architect. His designs were the envy of most of the architects around the world. He was well-known for his designs renowned for its contemporary and post-modern architecture incorporated with medieval styles. His artistic style was very unique and that's what clients always search for. He was also very accommodating and easy to talk to so it was not a wonder that clients would be charmed.

It seemed that starting from today until the end of the second month next year, Fong and Lal would be working under one team, with Fong as the Head Architect and team leader and Lal as the Head for Electronics. Lal would be responsible for placing the electricity in areas wherein no matter what weather may come, would not affect the building they'll be making. The client also suggested that the main circuit box should be in a place wherein it would be secured and unreachable from anything that could pose as a threat and at the same time allow an easy access to the employees just in case a fire would break out. Fong and Lal hadn't discussed anything about it yet, and this whole day would be perfect for a nice cup of tea, while discussing the elements of the building.

After a moment of silence, Fong pointed at three figures, "I think we should modify these three, Lal. It's not advisable to put these circuit boxes here."

"So what do you suggest?" Lal asked without looking at Fong.

"Hmm…I think we should call the team now in the conference room. You have the folder, right?"

Lal nodded affirmatively.

…:[]:…

"Reika-san, is everything ready now?" Skull asked politely as he fixed himself.

Reika-san, Skull's personal assistant, smiled at him. She had to admit that Skull was one of the few actors with a humbled heart and was very friendly to everyone. Although there were times that he would suddenly shout, "THE REAPERS HATE ME!" and uplift himself in front of the audience, it was only a show to make the people around him energized. She faced Skull and fixed the collar of his polo shirt. "Everything is ready, Skull-san. Just calm down okay?"

Skull shivered from excitement, "T-this is actually my first time…my first time to have a movie with Fujiwara-sama! I'm a huge fan of his!" Then he squinted his eyes in glee, "I'm getting hyped and at the same time nervous meeting him."

"Ah, but Fujiwara-san requested you to be with him." Reika said, and immediately she saw those childish orbs beamed at her, "Yep. Fujiwara-san wants to work with you too."

"Ooooh, this is so great!" Skull exclaimed, "I'm going to work harder!"

Reika laughed. "I'm greatly hoping for that, Skull-san."

…:[]:…

A javelin was seen flying graciously in the air and a crowd of cheers filled the area.

"Oh! You're improving!" Colonnello said, jogging towards his team member and giving him an acknowledging pat on the shoulder.

Izaya grinned as he panted, hands on his knees and looked at where his javelin landed. "I couldn't do this without your guidance, Colonnello-sensei."

Colonnello laughed, "Everything is on you, Izaya. I just did the coaching."

Then, one of Colonnello's track team members, Tsukishiro, blurted out, "It's all thanks to Colonnello-sensei's Spartan training!"

Upon hearing that, Colonnello grinned. It looked like someone has finally acknowledged his Spartan approach. Well, it would be amusing to see these people exert more effort… he thought. "Well, since Tsuki-kun here loved my Spartan training, why don't we do one now, hm?"

All members widened their eyes and shot a murderous glare at Tsukishiro, silently wishing for his death.

While Colonnello was amused at watching his team trying to strangle Tsukishiro through their glares, his phone suddenly rang, "Good morning, Saisho-san!" he greeted gleefully. Saisho-san chuckled at the phone, "Ah, Colonnello-kun. I just want to remind you that you're registered for the upcoming sharp shooting competition in London in three months time."

"Yes. As soon as the track and field meet is done, I'll fly there and train."

"I'll be waiting for you then. And oh, I hope the proposal is still with you, right?"

Colonnello didn't reply for a minute. That proposal was actually about the upcoming Olympics and he was one of the two chosen to represent Japan in the shooting competition. Everyone knew that he was excellent in handling guns just as much as the rumor going on with Lal, the infamous engineer. However, no one has ever seen Colonnello serious on sharp shooting. Sometimes, people wondered what Colonnello really liked the best: sharp shooting or track and field.

As for Colonnello, he was torn between choosing from the two sports he loved the most. He grew up in the field of sharp shooting, thanks to his dad and Lal, but when track and field was introduced to him, he felt something was renewed in him. And so, as time passed by, Colonnello learned to excel in both sports. But now he had to choose.

Colonnello inhaled sharply before answering, "Ah, of course. But I still want to think it over. I hope you understand."

Saisho-sensei understood that sharp intake of breath. He was sad because he knew his student was forced to choose but was putting up a mask so that everyone would not worry. He sighed, "Of course I do understand. The Olympics is in three years time and we have a lot of time to train. However, I hope you could give me your reply as soon as possible."

"Yes, coach." Then the lines went dead.

After that talk, Colonnello immediately returned to his happy side, not wanting his team to worry about that phone conversation. When he saw them gearing up for his Spartan training, he grinned and immediately joined the fun.

…:[]:…

"VRRRRROOOOOOIIIIII!" A silver-haired man shouted from one room, a brush on his hand, "Has anyone seen Mammon?!"

"Mou, taichou, you're too noisy. I can't concentrate on my artwork." A teenage boy with a bizarre frog hat worn on his head said, "Mammon-sensei is probably in her own world, finishing that artwork for the exhibit."

"Ushishishi~ Mammon-chan really likes to be alone, ne?" Another teenage boy spoke, his grin resembling a Cheshire cat and his hand was currently twirling a paper knife.

"Bel-senpai, knives can hurt, you know?"

"Ushishishi~ I do know, or maybe not," Belphegor said. "Want to try it out to know if it hurts, hm, Fran?"

Fran sent him a bored look, "Nah, don't bother senpai. It's not fun."

"VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIII IIII! Can you two bastards shut the hell up?! My focus is being ruined by your fucking voices!"

"Scum, keep your voices down if you don't want me to kill you." A new voice emerged.

The two men were Xanxus and Squalo. They were the President and the Vice President of the well-known Varia Academy for Arts, as well as very talented artists – Xanxus on Painting and Squalo on Sculpting. Fran and Belphegor were graduating seniors, who already had achieved the positions of President and Vice President of the Junior Arts Society, in the said academy because of their artistic prowess. Both of them were in the digital arts department.

Honestly, the staff of VAA has their own bizarre personalities and because of that, the students could easily tell them off. They were even dubbed as "Varia Quality". Setting that aside, the works of the VAA was sought all throughout the world and students graduating from this academy were exemplary. Only a few students graduated with flying colors, all thanks to the rigorous teachings and uncanny activities that their professors gave them.

Viper – no, Mammon – was actually a staff of the VAA. She was not a professor (and that very thought made her sick) but she was hired by Xanxus as the Secretary and the Coordinator for Post-Modern Nature Arts Department since she was more inclined in painting abstracts and other optical paintings. Not to mention, she has an Extrasensory Perception; meaning she can see the past and predict the future. And sometimes, her ESP was seen through her paintings. Probably it's also the reason why Xanxus took her in.

After all, they were in a lifetime contract – Xanxus will give money to Viper in exchange of information that can be seen in her paintings.

"VRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIII! YOU BASTARD BOSS!" Squalo shouted, splattering the paint on the floor as he waved his paintbrush, "You're slacking off again! Go back to your room and finish that artwork!" Xanxus clicked his tongue, "Tch. Shark-Trash. I didn't ask you for your advice." Then he turned to Belphegor who was poking Fran with his paper knife and the frog hat-wearing senior doesn't even budge. "Oi, grinning-trash, fetch me some steak! I'm getting hungry!"

The paintbrush fell and in an instant, a fencing sword appeared in front of Xanxus' face, "VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! BASTARD! YOU STILL HAVE THE FUCKING TIME TO FUCKING EAT YOUR MOTHERFUCKING STEAK?!"

Xanxus put out his own weapon – a gun. "TRASH. I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU OPINION! NOW SCRAM BEFORE I BLAST YOUR HEAD TO SMITHEREENS!"

Belphegor and Fran sighed. Suddenly, the door opened. "Who took my Prismacolors pencils?" Mammon asked in a low tone. Her arms were crossed and the two seniors somewhat knew that Mammon's eyebrows were raised underneath that hood.

"Not us, Mammon-chan," Belphegor replied. When Mamon turned to Fran, she received a shaking head from the teen. She fumed. If not these two idiots, then she knew only one person who could have messed with her art materials. "Lussuria…" she muttered low and cold. Belphegor and Fran tried not to shiver because they knew Lussuria's going broke any moment now.

As for Xanxus and Squalo, both were oblivious that Mammon arrived. They seemed to be too preoccupied with their love quarrel.

…:[]:…

It was lunch time and Verde was furious. He was currently driving and his hands were tightly clutched on the wheel. He was fighting the strong urge not to step on the pedal too hard because he didn't want to die. He was totally furious. The reason? His intern just blew the test tube that contained an important substance, shoving the Bunsen burner and burning the research papers scattered atop the table.

That research was fundamental for the new medicine!

Verde pushed a button on his garage remote and the electric gate opened, smoothly parking his car and ran inside the house. It only took him three minutes and 25 seconds to get the things he needed – the copy of the research in his personal computer and the test tube that contained the same substance in the laboratory.

He was really furious. He had an operation scheduled this afternoon. He must finish everything before two o'clock. When he was about to return to his car, his phone rang, "Hello?" He gingerly answered.

"Dr. Verde," a female voice was heard. "Dr. Nishitaka is expecting you at 3 o'clock. He needs to discuss the condition of the patient with you before the surgery."

"Alright. I'm just going to finish my research at the laboratory." Verde said, trying his best not to flip and shout at the secretary.

"Understood. And by the way, Doctor, the cells that you've been culturing at your office decayed."

Verde nearly crushed the phone. Seriously, can't his day get any worse?

…:[]:…

After going to the Junk Shop and getting his fair share of goods, the silent child treaded of somewhere he doesn't know. He was tired – both body and soul. His eyes were all puffy and red from crying, and the civilians who saw him didn't even bother to lend a handkerchief or a tissue to wipe his face. Heck, they all avoided the child as if he has a deadly disease. Nevertheless, the child didn't do anything. He remained silent.

A whiff of newly cooked food suddenly reached the child's nose and instinctively, he followed the smell. He sniffed like a dog and ignored the other people who were looking at him in b(disgust and) disbelief. The smell was not like the other foods sold in the market or at the street, but it was more like a freshly cooked, homemade food.

A little later, the sniffing continued until he stopped in front of a big house. It was brown and maroon in color and there were lots of plants outside. The child tilted his head to the side in wonder, then looked around. He wasn't familiar with this area. He noticed that there were several houses and a lot of plants as well. The area gave off a peaceful aura too.

He didn't realize he was already in a residential area.

Suddenly, his stomach growled and by instinct, he tried to climb the gate. But the gate was too high and was too slippery. He couldn't climb it and made sounds in is struggle to climb, causing for the residents to be alarmed.

Opening the small door at the gate, a woman no older than thirties looked around. When she saw no one, she closed the door with an annoyed look on her face. She has barbeque on the grill and cannot be left unattended or it would burn. But the door bumped into something and when she looked down, she saw a child trying to worm his way inside the house.

"I'm sorry but you can't come inside." Luce said gently as she struggled on holding the child's shoulders carefully and closing the door without hurting the child. Yet, it seemed that Luce's words didn't reach the child's ears, which made Luce wonder in thought. Crouching down, she saw the abnormalities of the world through the child's appearance and she couldn't help but pity the child. Without hesitation, she held the child's face to catch the child's attention and thankfully the he did. With a smile, she said, "I bet you smelt the food I am cooking. Could you please wait for me here?"

The child tilted his head cutely, not understanding what she meant. Nevertheless, he didn't move, so Luce took it as an answer and closed the door. Moments later, the door opened again and the child stared at the small plastic box being handed to him by the tall woman. When he saw the woman smiled, he took the box and opened it, revealing the food.

"It's called barbeque." Luce said, "Don't worry, it's yours already. There's so much inside anyway. I'm quite flattered that you like the smell of what I am cooking. I hope the taste is also to your liking."

The child didn't answer and kept on staring at the food he was given. He realized that he was feeling fluttery, unlike the time when that vendor handed him the food and shooing him away like nothing happened. He felt that this woman was nice. With a shy nod, he ran away, probably to eat the food somewhere where the woman couldn't see him.

Luce just smiled. Such a sweet child.

…:[]:…

Evening came by quickly and surprisingly, everyone was home before 8 pm. Luce stared at the seven other occupants of the house who were also conversing normally. She wondered what happened today. And she had a fair share of good time today too.

"Did something happen, Luce?" Reborn asked, followed by a nod from the others, "You're smiling."

Luce raised an eyebrow, "Since when did you get so observant, Reborn?"

"Just before we transferred here in Japan and I was still messing with your plants back in Italy."

"Touché"

"It also caught my interest, Luce," Verde said, "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, I just met someone a while ago. And he's rather sweet."

Luce inwardly grinned as she saw the shocked faces of her friends.

A/N: Ah…finished. If you ever thought that I rushed the ending, well it's not. I really did end it like that way. :P I guess I took long before the update. So…yeah.

I have one question though, what title would you give to your story if it is about life? Send in your comments and perhaps you can be picked. The winner will have his/her title used in one of my character's exciting job. :P

P.S. Thanks to my Beta because she kept on murdering me. :)