A/N: Ah….I really can't get my deadlines right, can I? ==" Anyway, thank you guys for the review. ^_^

BETA'ED BY: Azahkhiel

THE RAINBOW'S GUIDANCE

© Danielle Luna Soulhart

November 2012

GUIDE # 4: Knowing

…:[]:…

There were voices, big voices that he couldn't understand. The voices sounded gruff, worried, angry and mocking. Those were voices that he hadn't heard yet. Those were foreign to him, until he recognized that one sweet womanly voice. Even though he couldn't understand what that woman was saying, he could easily tell who she was.

She was the one who gave him food.

Opening his eyes, the light almost painfully blinded him and so in reflex, he had his arm cover his eyes. That single movement alerted the other persons in the room and loomed over the child. When the light had been finally blocked, the child removed his arm and stared at the people above him.

"The brat is awake." The woman with a seemingly unnatural bluish hair said. He saw those creased eyebrows and he could tell that the woman was angry.

"Thank you, Lal, for stating the obvious," A tall guy with blonde, slightly spiky hair commented. He had this grin on his face only to be replaced with a grimace when the woman beside her slapped him.

"I am not talking to you, Colonnello-baka!"

The child then turned his head to the side, seeing a tall Chinese man whose hair was put in a braid. He saw the man sigh and raised both of his hands towards the two bickering persons, although much more to the woman's side, "Lal, Colonnello, can you be so considerate and tone down your voices for him?" he said. The child almost melted with that kind of mellow voice. It was so soft and the person gave off that kind aura.

The woman and blonde man immediately shut up, however, the man was still grinning from ear to ear.

The Chinese man sighed and diverted his attention back to the child, smiling, "We're so glad you're okay. Luce was panicking earlier on what to do about you."

The woman with a very odd hat (and apparently the closest to the child) loomed closer and examined his temperature. When she found none, she sighed in relief and smiled, "Fong is right, little one. Thank goodness you don't have any fever. Do you want-,"

The child immediately zoned out the woman by the time he got bored listening to her ramblings which he couldn't understand. While that was happening, he glanced at the other side, seeing a green haired spiky person with a creepy smile on his face as he read some paper. Beside him stood an even creepier person who wore a black cape and a hood that was covering the eyes. He couldn't determine the expression that the person was making. The child frowned. He didn't know what to do with this people. He didn't even know where he was or how he ended up here. Fear suddenly crept into his body, thinking that these people may be like the others. He had enough of the mistreatment that the world was showing him. Because of that, he forced himself to sit up and backed away, his back hitting the head board of the bed and bent his knees to his chest, hugging it after. He shivered in fright and when the braided-haired man tried to reach for the child, he closed his eyes and shrunk in further.

Then, there were gunshots afterwards, making the child glance back fearfully.

"How pathetic." The man with a yellow hat that had a yellow stripe commented, putting his gun back in his coat. The man's eyes were steely, and his eyebrows were creased in an irritated manner. That simple expression made the child shiver more in fright.

The woman wearing the weird hat slapped the man in hat's shoulder and spoke, "Don't be so harsh, Reborn! He's just a child!"

"A child who tried to steal my groceries." The man deadpanned.

The word "steal" seemed to click into the child's mind, causing for him to shake his head furiously as he looked at them, while tears were slowly cascading down his cheeks. His hands were shaking and he absolutely no idea of what to do next. He was scared of these people.

To his surprise, the woman beside him defended him and slapped the tall, mean man. He was sure he could see her veins popping, "REBORN! How could you say something like that?! He's a mere child! And even though he did something bad, he should not be beaten."

The mean man retorted, "LUCE! That child almost robbed everything from me!" His loud voice brought more tears to the child, "You know the world today! It's not safe anymore! And even thugs use children in their operations! Who knows if this child was working with some gang or what?"

The other people in the room couldn't intervene, simply because they agree to what the Reborn was saying. The world today was very notorious. One couldn't know who to trust or not. It was a matter of survival of the fittest now, and children were not exempted. However, the woman wearing that odd hat was frowning deeply. Of course, she understood those. She was not blind not to see what was happening in the world today. Heck, she even lost her dearest child because of that kidnapping. Even so, she still believed that change was still possible; and if people would just open their eyes and look deeper into the current situation, they could bring forth that change.

The child watched as the older people fought because of him. He didn't intend to make them fight. He felt guilty; so guilty that he just wished he could die so that people would not be bothered anymore. After all, he's just some trash in the community. Unloved, uncared for and mistreated. For the first time in his life, he wailed hard, hiding his eyes behind his clenched fist while his knees were propped closer to his chest. He might not understand what they were talking about, but because he was there, he felt that he was the source of all the fighting. It had been always like that. He just wanted to end it once and for all.

Because of the wail, the woman and the mean man stopped bickering at each other. The other occupants were stunned as well at the sudden outburst and they couldn't help but pity the child, even though they agreed with the mean man's words. The whole house was put into an awkward silence and the only sound heard was the child's loud crying. Truth to be told, everyone felt so…guilty, including the mean man.

Without hesitation, the woman scooted closer and picked the child up. She didn't care if the child was dirty (the bed sheets could be changed later on), all she knew was she needed to comfort the crying child. Like the mother she was, she gently rocked him and hummed a random lullaby, her left hand reaching his messy, sticky hair and massaged it oh-so gently. The child's wailing was reduced to loud sobs then to hiccups until sniffs were the only ones left. Unconsciously, the child's arms wound around the woman's neck, making her smile sadly and hugged him closer. A few moments later, the child fell asleep.

The other occupants gaped, stunned by the miracle the woman had made. If ever her child had been born, her child would have been very lucky to have the woman as a mother.

The braided haired man put a hand on top of the mean man's shoulder and said, "Let's get out, Reborn. We're not needed here."

Reborn clicked his tongue and glared one last time at the child. He couldn't let this filthy child take Luce with him. He knew he shouldn't be harsh on children, but what was currently happening within the streets nowadays justified his reason for hurting that child. He couldn't let the child ruin everything. With that, he left swiftly and was soon followed by the others.

The woman still cradled the child.

…:[]:…

Reborn sat onto the couch with his deepest scowl on his face. He was followed by the others in the living room, quite troubled but at the same time siding with Reborn's reason. No one could blame him, honestly, because Reborn was the most affected, especially when he remembered Luce's kidnapping. Suddenly, the doors burst open, revealing an overly happy Skull who was holding out a long scarf.

"LOOK GUYS! Fujiwara-san, the ever wonderful actor, gave me this scarf!" Skull exclaimed, his cheeks blooming red because of that happiness, "I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW!"

With that outburst, two gunshots greeted Skull, thankfully it only grazed his cheeks or else he would be dead.

At least he died happily, right?

On second thought…"REBORN! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Skull exclaimed and he was replied with a couple of more gunshots. He hastily took cover behind the couch and peek his head a little.

"Reborn, stop it," Fong lightly chastised, "Don't take your anger out at Skull."

"Che."

Fong sighed and turned to face Skull, "If you want to know the reason, Skull, you better look for Luce."

Skull blinked his eyes at Fong in wonder. If Luce was included, then that meant she and Reborn fought once again. He knew very well how Luce's and Reborn's belief contradicted one another in some cases and because of that difference, they often fought. There was nothing new to it, really, but as he stared at the faces of his so-called 'friends', he knew something was up. With that, he stood and went to look for Luce.

When Skull was gone, Reborn shot a menacing glare at Fong, saying, "Why do you have to tell that lackey what happened?"

"He deserves to know, Reborn, "Fong replied, "He is a member of this family, no matter what you say."

"It's his fault for not being here." Reborn retorted. With that response, everyone sighed. Reborn was so hard-headed.

"But you know, Reborn," Colonnello interjected, "I somewhat agree with what Luce said. It's a kid and kids should be helped, not traumatized, kora." He looked straight at Reborn's eyes, only to receive a hard glare from the professor, "I know you mean no harm, Reborn and we totally understand you, but, wouldn't be better if we help the kid, kora?"

"HELL NO." Reborn spat. That very statement was the last thing in his mind to happen, "Are you crazy, or have the birds harshly pecked your brain to make you stupid?" This made Colonnello scowl, nevertheless Reborn continued, "We can't just afford to let a child inside this house! Who knows where he came from, or from what gang he was with. We don't know, and certainly LUCE DOESN'T KNOW."

"Reborn's right." Lal said. She agreed with whatever reason Reborn said earlier. Besides, you couldn't just trust anybody who was outside your periphery into your world. "Letting someone into our lives that easily could be our immediate death, and it's not very desirable."

Fong sighed. "I know what you two mean," he said, flipping away some stray bangs from his face, "I understand. Even I agree to what Reborn was talking about, but, it is the child we're talking about here. Not just some adult stranger or whatnot."

"Children will just be a waste of money." Viper commented.

"I beg to differ, but that child could be my test subject." Verde spoke as well, adjusting his glasses while looking at his tablet, "Seeing the state of the child, it seems that his life is not that flourishing, so I think I could make use of his body instead."

Colonnello threw a hard glare at Viper, while Fong threw a pillow exactly at Verde's face, effectively knocking his glasses.

"Oi! What was that for?!" Verde exclaimed, picking up his glasses and sent a murderous glare at Fong. "I am merely stating a fact."

"Please, for once Verde, stop being so scientific and think outside the box." Fong said irritatingly. Seriously, science could be fun to study, but equating science into these kinds of discussions was totally nerving. Then he looked at Viper and said, "And you, Viper, shouldn't measure the children's life with money."

"But it's true, isn't it?" Viper, or also known as Mammon, asked. "Children need extensive care unlike adults. They need plenty of food, clothing and toys. You need to take him out at least once a week to an amusement park and in the end you'd sway to his wants. You'll buy everything he wants. Right?"

Fong and Colonnello looked at each other, sighing deeply and Fong reaching his temples to massage it. He didn't know if his co-housemates were mean, plain stupid or childish. It seemed that they couldn't see the point here, and only he and Colonnello were the only ones who were open minded in this situation. True, they could be biased since both of them loved children, but they were still sane enough to think about welfare, not only because they liked children per se.

Fong looked at Viper pointedly, and said, "Viper. Everything is not only about money. We are talking about a child here. Yes, what you say is right, but it's because they need those to grow."

"And then what? In the end, children will be spoilt and disobey us." Viper reasoned out. She had a point.

The group fell into silence and avoided each other's gazes. Everyone, except Verde, made a point and that was just the reality. Everyone was getting worked up just because of a child who grew up in the streets and ended up staying in their household which resulted with their reasoning to clash against each other. Harsh or not, the child was still a stranger and strangers should not be entertained.

A loud bang broke the silence, revealing an irked Skull, which brought raised eyebrows and stunned expressions from the lot. Skull was rarely irked greatly…

…and probably, they knew why.

"THROW THAT CHILD AWAY." Skull said darkly, his eyes covered behind his bangs before storming towards his room, a loud slamming was heard after.

The silence thickened, and the five Arcobaleno occupants looked at each other. This was one of the rare times that Skull could be scary, because Skull hates children. Even Reborn wasn't able to say anything.

…:[]:…

A few hours later, around one in the morning, the child's eyes fluttered open. The edges of his eyes were so red from crying and he could feel snot all over his face. He could also feel his body hurting for all the known reasons. He sighed and tried to move, only to find that something kept him in place. When he looked up, he saw the face of the woman peacefully sleeping, and when he looked down, he found himself on top of the woman. He tried wriggling out of the embrace, but it made the woman stir and her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh," she started, smiling, "You're awake."

The child didn't move, instead he looked into those smiling eyes of the woman. He tilted his head slightly, trying to understand what she was trying to say.

The action made the woman chuckle and ruffled his dirty hair, "You're cute, aren't you?" she said, poking his nose gently, and the child wiggled his nose. The woman chuckled more and stared at the child before her.

Indeed, the child was overall dirty and who knows where he came from or from what garbage can he emerged. But the woman didn't care about that, and now that she was looking at the child closer, she saw those big chocolate orbs that radiated curiosity. She held him in place, and the child stayed still, unlike how other children would try to move away when held. She stared more and wiped away some of the dirt that covered the child's eyes. She was immediately drawn to it. She couldn't explain it. There was something in those eyes that made her feel welcomed and she saw a certain spark of longing within. With that innocent look, emotions begin to spiral into her and tears just flowed out of her eyes.

It made the child tilt his head in wonder and touched the watery substance, before putting his dirty little finger into his mouth to taste that substance. The woman chuckled and said,

"You don't taste tears, child. But it is salty, isn't it?"

The child remained looking at her and the woman just stared back, frowning a little. There was something wrong with the child, but she couldn't determine what it was because the pure innocence in his eyes and body language concealed everything about him. The child was mysterious, or could be more. When she was about to ask one more question, she heard a familiar grumbling sound that came from the stomach of the child. She chuckled when she saw the child held his stomach and tried wriggling out of her grasp to search for food.

"I see that you are hungry, little one." She said, keeping him in place by slightly lifting him up as she sat and place him on her lap. "Let's eat together, shall we?"

The child's attention perked at that word. It was one of the words that he constantly heard from the people. Oddly, he didn't really understand the word "eat" with the other words said, but that word alone was clear enough to mean filling his empty stomach with food. With that, he eagerly nodded his head and bounced on the woman's lap, making her chuckle.

"Okay, okay. We'll eat together, okay? But you need to behave if you don't want those bad people to hurt and get angry with you."

The child's ecstatic expression dropped to a frown and he shivered as he heard the words "hurt" and "angry". Those two words were included in the limited vocabulary he clearly understood, most especially the word "hurt", because practically every person who saw him hurt him without valid reason. Because of that, tears appeared and he began sniffing, making the woman alert.

"O-oh! Is there something wrong? Oh I'm so sorry!" The woman said and panicked a bit. She held the child lovingly and gently rocked him sidewards, effectively making the child hush and stare up at her, again with his curious eyes. The woman sighed in relief, "I thought I did something wrong already," she said and smiled, "Don't do that to me again, okay? Come on, let's eat."

The two left the room.

…:[]:..

The seven other occupants of the Arcobaleno household ate their dinner in complete awkward silence. The only things heard were the slurping of the soup Mammon made (she cooked tonight since it was her turn), the crisp sound from the chicken and the sounds made by the utensils hitting plates. Colonnello and Fong couldn't help stare at each other and observe the others. They couldn't really deny that all of them had a strong pride and personality, so when they clashed, no one would back down easily and this would usually be the result. But what's more surprising was after several years; this was the only time again that they saw Skull so angry. No one knew why he hated children, or probably Luce did, but they didn't expect the extent of his anger will be this much.

The two sighed.

Suddenly, Luce came in together with the dirty child. Truth to be told, she was getting dirty as well. When she walked towards the table, Reborn, Skull, Verde and Mammon threw disgusted looks at her.

Luce scowled, "You're all evil, aren't you?" Then she put the child on the chair who was now reaching for the food. However, Lal took the food and looked at Luce, saying,

"Yes we are, Luce. Look at yourself. You're all dirty because of the child. Go take a bath!" Then when she saw the child continuously reaching for the plate, she grimaced at the child and told Luce, "And take that kid out of here."

"YEAH! Kids are no-good brats that give problems to adults!" Skull exclaimed and threw a bone at the child.

Instead of yelping, the child merely flinched and stared down the floor where the bone landed. He hastily got down of the chair and picked the bone and munched on it, making others grimace in return. Luce, of course, crouched down and took the bone away and scolded Skull.

"Skull! How could you do that to an innocent child?!"

"HAH! Innocent? That child is no innocent, Luce. It serves him right!" Skull said, a smug smile adorning his face. Because of that, he received a crisp slap to the shoulder by Fong and Colonnello. "OOW! Why did you do that?!" he asked aloud.

"Because you are an idiot, idiot!" Colonnello replied before going back to his food.

Fong sighed, "What you did is inhumane, Skull." He said, and at the corner of his eye, he saw Reborn about to speak, "And don't you dare say anything, Reborn. What you did is inhumane too."

"I am merely protecting this family. Is that wrong?!" Reborn burst out.

"Oi. The food is getting wasted," Mammon interjected.

"Shut up, Mammon." Colonnello said.

Luce sighed. She didn't want this to happen, really, but she couldn't understand why they would be so harsh on the child. Fine, the child was a stranger and who knows from what place he came from, but they were capable people who could help this child get better and they could send this child to an orphanage. Because of that, she threw a very rare pointed glare at everyone as she stood and slammed both of her hands on the table, some of the plates falling and messing up the food in it, "I thought you people will understand. I thought you people are different from the others. But I was wrong. And you people are getting all messed up because of an innocent child. HOW DARE YOU!? And you even call yourselves responsible adults! SHAME ON YOU!" With that final exclamation, she hastily took the child and left the dining hall, leaving the whole group stunned.

Fong couldn't help but rake his hair, "I can't believe this is happening…" he muttered.

"That's because of the kid's fault." Skull stubbornly commented. In result, Colonnello smacked Skull's head, emitting a loud, "OW!"

"Just shut up if you don't have anything good to say, lackey." Colonnello irritatingly said.

The others just remained silent.

…:[]:…

The woman was crying as she went inside the bathroom along with the child on her arms. She slid down to the floor and hugged the child close, and for the first time, the child felt something foreign in his chest – something warm and…sad. He tilted his head as he looked at the woman, watching those watery droplets as it fell to her cheeks. Somehow, he felt really down and /made his eyes felt the need to cry as well. But it didn't happen; instead, he raised his hands and placed it on the woman's cheeks, wiping away the tears that continued to fall. It made the woman freeze and looked at the child before her, who was staring at her with those curious brown eyes.

She smiled sadly and wiped her tears away, saying, "Thank you for wiping my tears," then she chuckled, "This is the first time in years that someone wiped my tears away."

The child just continued staring.

"You know, I miss my daughter. She died a long time ago. If she was alive, she could be a year or two years older than you. I really wanted to have a child but it looks like it won't happen anymore."

The child didn't understand anything at all, but he leaned in and hugged the woman, as if understanding her pain. The woman hugged him back.

"Thank you. You are such a sweet child. I know you're not a bad child." The child perked up and his eyes sparkled, wanting to hear those words over and over again. For the first time in his lifetime, someone told him those words, and again, it lit up a new emotion deep inside him.

The woman stopped crying and smiled wholeheartedly at the child and glanced around. "Since we're here inside the bathroom," she said, scooping the child and putting him down at the cold tiles. "Why don't we take a bath, okay?"

The child didn't move or reply, and just waited for another set of words that the woman will tell him. Somehow, he could feel safe around the woman, so he kept himself behaved.

The woman exited the bathroom to get two towels, a bubble bath soap that has vanilla fragrance and a spare toothbrush. Her previous anger had dissipated already because of what the child did. She felt her motherly side awakening again and if fate would just allow it, she wanted to take care of this child. She could feel that the child needed all the attention. Or, another option will be to send him to an orphanage and she would frequently visit him, or hire a detective to find out if the child had a family. She wanted to do something for this child. With everything in her hand, she went back to the bathroom, and found the child curiously looking around the bathroom. He was literally poking everything in the bathroom and letting out a small squeak when the rubber duckie he poked created a sound. She found it cute.

"You like the rubber duckie?" She asked with gentleness. The child was taken aback and he jumped in the process, making the woman chuckle, "I'm sorry if I surprised you, but you are so cute." She said, putting the towels and other bathing items on the counter and scooped the child to her waist. "Let's get you all cleaned up, okay?"

The child remained motionless and listened attentively to the woman even though he really didn't understand what the other was saying. All he knew was that he felt safe around the woman so he was letting her do everything she wanted. His big brown eyes were just staring innocently at him, making him all cute.

The woman playfully poked his nose and giggled, "Don't look at me like that or I won't be able to let you go." She said, placing the child in on the edge of the bathtub in a sitting position, as she turned the faucet and let water fill the tub. "You're so cute to be just abandoned."

The child just remained seated in the tub and watched the water fill it up. Though his expression stayed straight-faced, his eyes showed genuine fascination at how the water rose and cover his body, unlike other children who easily got scared and cried once the water reached their bodies. He remained in his position calmly and moved his arms around until he was already moving around. Because of that, the woman chuckled at him and poured a vanilla-scented liquid into the water.

"You really are so cute!" The woman exclaimed happily as she mixed the liquid to the water and let it bubble. The child, despite of his expressionless face showed amazement when bubbles appeared and bounced on the tub. The woman laughed heartily, "Now, now, don't move too much or you'll slip. You don't want to get hurt, right?"

The child immediately stopped moving and looked at the woman's eyes before nodding. The woman smiled in return and proceeded in cleaning the child. While removing the child's dirty clothing, she was trying to control herself from frowning because she could feel all the scars on his arms and legs. What's more, there are large cuts on his chest, back and even in the stomach. Worse, he was malnourished. 'Probably he was bullied every day.' She thought. She could see how vulnerable and gullible the child was since there was no one there to teach him what was right and wrong. And because of that, she thought that the child didn't know how to react on the bullying so he just kept silent and let them do what they wanted, and he would just cry in the end. She sighed and scrubbed the dirt off the child's body (she did that twice), then went for the hair and scrubbed it with a strawberry scented shampoo. Truth to be told, the child's hair was so sticky and dirty that she had to repeat shampooing his hair four times. After a few minutes, the woman lifted the stopper and the water went straight down the drain. Of course, the child watched the water go down the drain and even looked closer. What he didn't know was he was being stared at by the woman…

…and the woman was blushing and tearing up at the same time.

Slowly, the woman reached for the little child and scooped him up, bringing him to a warm hug which made the child curious. It took a minute before the hugging ended and the woman put the child on the counter to wipe away the water droplets sliding on his little body. In return, the child reached for the woman's face and removed the tears that fell on her cheeks.

"Hahaha, I'm fine, little one. Sorry about that." The woman said as she held the child's hands, "I am just happy seeing you all cleaned up. You look adorable. You shouldn't be treated badly. And, you have a nice aura."

The child seemed not to understand but he nodded and hugged the woman instead. With that, the woman felt something inside that she wanted to protect this child with all her might and teach him all the things that he needed to know. After that, she put a fragrant powder on the child then put on nice clean clothing that she has stacked long before. Then she combed his hair, noticing that his hair was really that spiky. She cooed afterwards.

"Aww! You really are so cute! I want to keep you forever!" She exclaimed happily and put the child down. The child stood still while examining himself. He was all cleaned up and was wearing slightly lose clothing. What made him look cuter was the fact a red hue adorned his cheeks.

The woman lost it.

"I should really keep you now!" The woman said. The child was too overwhelmed that he remained still.

…:[]:…

The Arcobaleno occupants were sitting at the living room and watching some movie. This was their pastime together whenever they weren't busy. But the reason for them watching a movie now was different, because the house became awkwardly silent. And they knew that it was not a very good thing.

"You know, I think we should stop this," Colonnello said without looking at the others. "We know what's right and wrong, but I also think we should trust Luce's intuition and her trust over that child."

Fong nodded and crossed his arms, "I agree. Besides, I can see that the child is harmless."

"Tch," Reborn grunted, "How can you say he's harmless? Fools. He's just acting."

Colonnello sent a glare, "Oi, kora! Don't think of something so rude right now, Reborn!"

"I hate to agree but Reborn is right." Skull said. He was polishing his helmet while talking, "That child is nothing but a nuisance. We should just throw him out."

"SKULL! You shouldn't—," Fong exclaimed, but he cut himself when he saw Luce coming down together with the child.

And for him, the child was simply the purest that he had seen.

"Luce…" Mammon started, "That child…"

Luce looked at Mammon sharply and replied, "Yes. He's the same child that you scorned a while ago." Then she put down the child on the floor and let everyone see him. As for the child, he was indeed scared, but that gentle push he felt from the woman made him felt secure and so he walked near the other adults who in turn looked at him.

The first one to react was Colonnello, and he scooped the child to his waist. "Geez! You could have told us that you're this cute!"

The child made no reaction.

Then, Fong made his way towards the child instead and smiled, "I guess you had a great time with Luce, hadn't you?"

Still, the child made no reaction.

Because of that, Reborn snorted as he stood. He sent the child a cold glare who, in return, clutched Colonnello's jacket in response, "Tch. You're so good in acting, brat. You can't deceive us with that face of yours."

"REBORN!" Luce chided. "Stop saying rude things to this child! You haven't known the child so you have no right to judge him!"

"And so you do, Luce." Reborn retorted back. "You don't know the child so you can't just accept him like a stray cat."

Fong sighed, "Reborn, you can't just compare a human being to an animal."

Skull snorted, "Hmph. That child is nothing. You guys should have left that child to rot in hell." Then he received a hard whack from Colonnello. "What?! I am just stating a fact!"

"Just shut up, lackey." Colonnello spat back, "You're not helping at all."

"Hmph!"

"Children are just a waste of money." Mammon said, but she can't help but stare at the beauty of the child's eyes. "If they get sick, our money will be at a very disadvantageous situation. We have our lives to take care of too, you know?"

"I beg to differ, Mammon," Verde contradicted, "Have you forgotten that I am researching about a new medicine for fever? Since that child's life is useless in this world, why don't we use it to my advantage? I'm going to give him new life by becoming my experiment."

With that said casually, Luce, Fong and Colonnello couldn't help but glare at Verde who just shrugged. Fong was about to chide Verde's twisted thinking when, surprisingly, Reborn fired a bullet at Verde's temple. Verde was taken aback and he fell onto the couch. "What the hell, Reborn! That is a vital part you're aiming, idiot!"

Reborn blew on the nozzle and smirked, "I know that. That's why I did it." Then he glared at Verde, "Even though I hated the brat, it's better for him to be left alone in the streets and die than to be used as an experiment."

Fong seconded, "Please be mindful of what you are talking about, Verde. That is not a very good suggestion. I would rather let the child be left in the streets than to suffer as an experiment for something."

"Hmph! And I was giving the boy another life." Verde murmured afterwards, touching his temple to see if it bled.

"ENOUGH!" Luce exclaimed, eying everyone with such power, "I have decided that whatever you say shall be ignored, unless it is something good and only good for the child." Then she took the little child from Colonnello who frowned a bit, and continued talking, "If you don't want to help, then don't. But I don't want you people hurting the child or I will hurt you people. Got that?" Then she left the living room.

Everyone was left dumbfounded.

"Did Luce just…give us a death sentence?" Colonnello asked rhetorically, his sweat dropping from the side of his face.

No one was able to answer.

…:[]:…

"Have you seen her?" the man in black cape asked sternly. His eyes were looking straight at his informant with such a hawk-like glare that made the informant shiver and stutter in fright.

"N-no. I-I-I ha-ha-haven't s-seen her." The informant replied nervously. This had been the third week of the search and there was still no positive result. "We've searched everywhere b-but-," he was deliberately cut off as a punch collided with his jaw. He stumbled backwards and apologized to his boss.

"I don't take bad results, Miyazaki." The boss said, walking towards the informant and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "I want GOOD results. Got that? Don't return if you don't have anything to make me happy."

"Y-YES BO-BOSS!" And the informant scurried away.

The man composed himself and sighed, "I need to know where you are and where you took him." Then he left.

…:[]:…

Everyone was practically watching the child munch away the food in the table which was specially prepared by Luce, and Luce was having her fleeting moment by watching her little discovery eat everything and dirty himself. The child, on the other hand, didn't care at his surroundings and focused only on eating. After all, if he needed to survive the cruelties of this world, he needed lots of food. And God has given him this opportunity. Moments later, he stopped and a burp followed afterwards, making Luce, Fong and Colonnello chuckle a bit while the Arcobaleno household head wiped away the food particles from the child's face.

"Now, now, we are going in for another round of bath, little one," she said, ruffling the child's hair fondly, "You dirtied yourself all over again."

"Hmph! That's what the child is very good at doing." Skull interjected, "That child has particularly no manners to begin with."

Then Colonnello smacked his head again, making the youngest Arcobaleno wince, and he showed a smug face, "Serves you right, lackey. Just keep your mouth shut, okay?" Then he turned towards the child who was staring at him curiously, making him ruffle his hair too, "Ah! You're so adorable. I wish all kids are like you! And I hope you're strong too! I'll take you as my student for free!"

This time, Lal smacked Colonnello's head, hearing that oh-so-wonderful whine from her junior. "Don't push your luck, bastard. The child won't learn anything from you." She said.

"Tch…" Mammon commented and she left the table. She had pride to maintain anyway. As for Verde, he secretly observed the child's behavior. He was even tempted to pull a single strand of hair or get a swab of saliva from him so that he can use that in his experiment. But Reborn seemed to notice and the professor purposely dropped the pitcher in front of Verde's, much to the other's dismay.

The so called 'observation' took place for another twenty minutes and the whole fiasco was done. The child was so stuffed and he didn't know if he could still move a muscle or what. The child got off the chair and proceeded to the couch and there he fell asleep. Luce couldn't help but chuckle.

"Tch. I can tell you that child will bring no good to this family." Reborn said and he retired to his room. Fong and Colonnello silently bid their goodbyes to the child while the rest just left the dining room. And only Luce was left. She bid the child a silent goodnight and placed a warm kiss on his forehead. She knew it's not right, but she felt something different from this child. Her intuition told her that this child was very different from other children. And with that, she retired for the night.

…:[]:…

The next day, Luce was found brooding in the kitchen, proven by the harsh twists of the ladle. Reborn and Skull were smirking and it seemed that they were agreeing in one matter.

The child left the house. And no one even knew.

"Just so you know," Luce said icily, "He'll return."

A/N: Oh my goodness, I'm more than a month late! Well, at least I updated. Hope you guys like this.