Chapter 2: Introductions
I don't own KHR, it all belongs to the wonderful Amano Akira.
The dinner the night before was pleasant. For Catrina food never felt so good to eat as that moment. The meat was a bit tough, though she didn't mind. Dessert was heaven for her though. Somehow the cake with the strawberry on top of the frosting made her feel giddy. Her hands moved by itself as it picked up the red berry and chomped on it. A warm wave flowed within her cheeks. The girl picked up her spoon and dug into the cake, pausing after each eaten spoonful to close her eyes and enjoy the swirling flavor that was in her mouth.
After Dinner, Catrina fell asleep almost instantly upon contact with the bed. The fluffy sheets felt like clouds around her as she closed her eyes. Outside the room that she was sleeping. Squalo watched with wonder at the girl that he had picked up. Mentally, he was starting to wonder about who she was and why she had amnesia. He took one last look at the sleeping girl before he closed the door behind him, making his steps far more quieter than usual. As he walked, he saw Lussuria happily yet quietly skipping towards the direction of where Catrina was sleeping. Squalo quickly stopped him.
"She's sleeping," Squalo quietly said and narrowed his eyes.
"Oh I know," Lussuria replied with a slight grin plastered on his face. "That's why I'm going to take one peak and guess her size."
"And why would you do that?"
"For her clothes of course! She can't be wearing those huge pajamas now can she?"
"We are not going to keep her though, we'll just send her to an orphanage after interrogation and threatening."
"Are you sure you want to do that Squ-chan?"
Squalo froze on Lussuria's words. Of course he want to yet a small voice inside of his head argued that he didn't really want that. Bloody images of the girl dead, flashed through his head.
"Of course not," Squalo soon replied softly. "But if word gets out we shelter this kid then she'd be an easy target."
"Then train her,"Lussuria said with a serious tone. "Train her until she's Varia-quality, you've already made your choice when you took her in."
"She's just an innocent girl," Squalo hissed, anger starting to boil in his chest.
"That killed those men," Lussuria countered. "She did that, I saw those bodies myself and I saw her hands, those deaths were by her own hand."
Squalo fell silent, the anger starting to simmer down within himself. He couldn't deny the phrase, he had seen it with his own eyes after all. The wounds and the bloody hands of the girl. How she had somehow avoided him and hid her presence before passing out and having amnesia.
"I'll think about it," Squalo said out loud. "Just give me time to think and remember that our shitty boss has the final say in this."
"No he doesn't," Lussuria said with a warm smile as he turned his back on the silver haired man and walked into the direction of his room. Squalo took one last look at the skipping man in front of him before going back to his room.
Squalo woke up with a surprisingly gentle start. Lussuria wasn't there to wake him up with that annoying tone of his. Xanxus wasn't marching up to him with a bottle of sake, ready to throw it at him. There was even no "shshi's" coming from the annoying prince.
"Mister," someone said, the voice was gentle, almost angel-like. "Mister, please wake up."
The silver haired man groaned out of frustration and focres his eyelids to open up. In front of him was the girl, she looked much more better than the night before and saw that the bandages were more cleaner than before.
"Mister," Catrina softly said again, seeing the man's eyes start to droop downwards.
"I know," Squalo gruffly said as he quickly sat up and stretched slightly, feeling his joints pop in satisfaction. His eyes then went over to the girl. She was wearing one of Bel's sweaters along with plain jeans. Her black hair was neatly in a bun that is held by a jeweled clip.
"We need to get you some clothes," Squalo said out loud, seeing the clothing that she's wearing.
"Aren't these okay?" Catrina asked, frowning slightly. Though she felt uncomfortable with the clothes that she was given. A small gut feeling told her that she won't be staying long anyways.
"No," Squalo replied, his eye twitching. "You're going to be staying here a few days anyways."
Once he said those words, he pushed her out of his bedroom and changed into some casual clothing. He donned on a white shirt along with black pants and some black shoes. He took a look at the mirror before he strode out of the door and grabbed Catrina's hand then dragged her out.
Lussuria smiled slyly as he watched Squalo drag a very confused Catrina out of the mansion and into town. He turned back over to the pouting Bel and smiled brightly.
"Alright a deal's a deal," Lussuria said as he clapped his hand together in delight. "You get most of the dessert for tonight."
A satisfied grin replaced the pout on the blond's facial features. He mentally reminded himself to take upon any task that Lussuria has given him in the future for a chance of extra dessert. Sugar heaven here we come.
Catrina saw the many different outfits with wide and sparkling eyes. She had never seen so many nice clothing in one area before. Squalo followed behind her as he observed what she would be interested in the most. He felt like getting hit by a bullet train at the moment. So far, he dragged the girl out into town just to remember that he didn't know what girls would like to wear. It was a very embarrassing thing.
"Hey Mister,"Catrina said, gaining the silver haired man's attention.
"What is it brat?" Squalo asked, noticing the uneasy look on her face. He took one look around just to make sure that there wasn't anyone who would recognize him or if there was any other punk out there with them. It was peaceful with no enemy around in sight or sense.
"Can I get that?" She asked, lowering her voice after each word.
"Say it louder brat," Squalo demanded, feeling slightly irritated by her quietness.
"Can I get that?" Catrina repeated again, slightly louder. She pointed at the shop with the sky blue dress on display.
"Yeah," Squalo casually said. "Let's get that then."
Catrina brightly smiled and hugged him.
"Grazzie mister," She said with a happy squeal. Squalo froze and slowly followed the girl in a slight daze. As they went in, he noticed that the customers gave him an odd look, he just ignored them. Both went past the other clothing until they went over to the aisle with the dress that was on display. He watched as she went through hanger after hanger, looking at the tags.
Finally, after a few minutes of looking. Catrina got the size of the dress that she wanted. Before long, he following the girl pick out other articles of clothing. The shopping in total lasted about 2 hours for the two. Squalo felt his legs start to ache as they exit the shop with bags containing the clothing.
"Let's just get back," Squalo said as soon as they took a step out of the shop.
"Ah okay," Catrina complied, looking reluctant to get back. She followed the silver haired man out of town and back into the mansion with the bags in hand. Squalo smiled a bit as he saw the girl skip to th-her room.
"Are you sure we can't keep her?" Lussuria asked, popping out of nowhere. Squalo glared at the man.
"We can't," Squalo calmly replied as he walked to the direction of Xanxus' office. "Unless we find someone who can take care of her or at least have knowledge."
Lussuria's smile widened into a shining grin. Squalo could even feel the head of the grin on his back as he walked further and further away.
As usual Vongola Nono would get a new stack of paper from the Varia. Most of them were damage and food cost, which was expected. Today though was a bit different. Despite the usual reports there was one document which shocked him.
It was an approval for adoption paper.
Immediately, the old man called the Varia headquarters.
"VOII What the hell do you want?!"Squalo answered, sounding very irritated.
"Squalo," Nono calmly said through the phone, not even flinching from the loud screen. "I want to talk to Xanxus, give the phone to him."
There was a pause from he other side before the usual screaming commence. Nono just waited patiently as the screaming continued along with the sounds of bottle being broken in the background. Soon a gruff voice spoke from the other side of the line.
"This better be important," Xanxus said, sounding very annoyed.
"It is," Nono assured. "Now you aren't planning to adopt are you?"
"We..we were just thinking," Xanxus replied hesitantly. "How did you know?"
"I just got a paper for an approval."
There was silence. "What?! We didn't send shit about that."
"Well it's here right in front of me Xanxus. So please explain."
"Just come here old man, this isn't just for me and you.."
"Alright."
Xanxus hung up. Nono just stood up and calmly strode out of his office. Inwardly he was jumping with joy, being able to temporarily avoiding the paperwork. His inner voice did remind him that when he got back that there will be more.
Upon arrival, Nono got cold looks from the other Varia members. He just smiled warmly at them before heading into Xanxus' office. Once inside, he noticed the silver haired commander along with a petite girl with raven black hair and honey brown eyes staring curiously at him. He just smiled sweetly at her as she clung on to the man protectively.
"Xanxus," He said. "Squalo."
"Nono," Xanxus replied gruffly.
Nono's smile grew bigger. Despite not calling him "father" at least he called him by title, which was much more better that being called "old man." He sat down and crossed his legs then waved his arm to signal the scar-faced man to start. And he did that, beginning from Squalo's mission to Catrina's condition. Nono listened intently and frowned as he learned that she had amnesia, on top of that she barely had any form of identification on her.
"I see," Nono spoke as soon as the explanation was done. "I don't think you two need to worry about the legal stuff. It's easy to make papers for her especially when she's going to be adopted by Squalo."
Both men relaxed just slightly. Nono nearly cried out of joy, seeing such relaxed faces in such ruthless men. The girl really was a sort of miracle to him and everyone around the headquarters too.
"Though," Nono said, making the two tense up again. "You two have little to no knowledge of raising a child, a teen especially. Xanxus give me a paper and a pen."
Xanxus complied and watched as Nono made a list of simple things to do when raising a child.
"Do keep in mind I raised boys," Nono spoke while still writing. "Not all of them are perfect and raising a teen will be difficult especially when they rebellious and they are girls."
"What's her being a girl got to do with all of those?" Squalo asked, frowning slightly.
Nono looked up and looked at Catrina with soft eyes.
"I'm sure you know little lady," he said to her with a small smile.
Catrina nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed that she almost forgot about that. Both men looked at Nono and Catrina with a confused look, not knowing what they were implying about.
"I also recommend having her do a journal entry each night," Nono said, changing the subject completely. "It will help if she remembers something and will forget later on. I believe Mammon can help her with getting her memories back, yes?"
Both men were silent.
"Now I'm sure both of you haven't forgotten about training her," Nono continued. "But I want all of you to start with some introductions and also suspend your missions to spend some time with her."
Finally, Nono was done writing and handed the paper to Xanxus then walked over to Catrina with a warm smile.
"I'm Vongola Nono," he said to her. "I'm Xanxus' boss and adoptive father. You can call me Grandpa though."
"Nice to you meet you," Catrina shy said. "I'm Catrina, thank you so much Vo-..err Grandpa."
Nono smiled bright and nodded. He then gave a small nod to Xanxus and Squalo before leaving the office to go back and do the paperwork.
Upon Nono's recommendation and also Squalo's instance and self-bashing, Xanxus gathered all of the Varia members in the living room along with Catrina. The raven haired girl watched as each members started to flood in one by one, giving off an incredible aura around them. Soon, all of the Varia members sat down in their seats and silently looked at her with curious eyes.
"I'll start," Squalo said then glared at the others who opened their mouths to say something. "I'm Squalo, Xanxus' second in command."
"Hi Sweety," Lussuria spoke up with a bright smile. "I'm Lussuria, call me big sis okay?"
"Shishishi hello peasant," Bel said with his Cheshire grin. "I'm Belphagor, call me Bel or Prince."
"I'm Mammon," Mammon plainly said. "Since our commander forgot introductions, this information is free. Anymore needs to be paid."
"I'm Levi-A-Than," Levi said gruffly then narrowed his eyes at the girl. "You better not harm Boss."
"Just call him Levi," Lussuria piped up and laughed as soon as Levi glared at him.
"I'm Xanxus," Xanxus said, ignoring the chaos that is about to start. "I'm your Boss and Uncle I guess."
Catrina nodded and smiled at Xanxus, he just nodded at her and picked up a bottle. He chucked it upwards in angle. The bottle landed straight at Levi, who's eyes widened as he tried to apologize for the noise. Catrina just watched in amusement as the chaos ensued as Bel made a snarky comment at Levi, who in turn just attacked the boy. Bel dodged the attack along with Mammon, who was just sitting on top of Bel's head. Weapons soon were taken out and Catrina was pushed back by Xanxus, who was also watching with little interest in his eyes.
"Just stay behind me," Xanxus softly yet gruffly said. Catrina nodded and watched.
Vongola. Cielo.
Those words flashed inside Catrina's mind, her eyes widened. Her mind wandered away from watching the fight into repeating the words over and over again in her mind to the point of her just mumbling the words under her breath. The other Varia members, all caught up in their shenanigans didn't notice her odd behavior.