Chapter 8:Interlude A
Warning: OOC Varia
Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn does NOT belong to me, not even in a million years
The mansion was all to quiet for Xanxus' liking. First his silver haired second in command suddenly goes mute and keeps himself locked out in his room then he freaked out the others with his strange behavior. Now with Lussuria in the hospital, the quietness was getting all too worse.
For the first time in a long time, Xanxus got out of his chair and went out to seek his subordinates, which he knew were all in the huge living room. He slammed open the door, only to see them all sitting in the couches in silence. A small amused smirk arose from his lips.
"Where's he?" He asked, not seeing Squalo in the small little crowd.
"His room." Bel replied then shivered slightly at the thought.
Xanxus noticed that the Cheshire grin that the small prince was famous for was replaced with a small scared frown. He could scarcely hold his laugh as he saw the sight before him. Full fledges assassins before him were cowering in fear because of some sort of silence from the once loud second in command. He just left and went over to the man's bedroom.
He tried opening it only to find it locked. His laughter was suddenly dissipated like a burnt out fire. He lifted his leg and kicked with his full force, breaking the poor door into itty bitty shards of wood.
"Trash," Xanxus darkly said as he went into the door.
He was only met with a restrained anger look. Squalo's mouth had gone down into a scowl and his eyes fiercely glowed with a bright fire of anger. Xanxus scoffed slightly, strange behavior my ass, the guy was just restraining himself.
"You haven't acted like that ever since Catrina came by," Xanxus seriously said to the silver haired man. "You can stop acting like that."
That fire in his eyes died down. Xanxus winced slightly, seeing the pain and guilt mixed within those eyes. Both were silent between the two men. One contemplating about the girl, the other just feeling down right bad.
"She," Squalo said then shut his mouth, suddenly breaking the silence and once again gaining the scarred man's attention and curiosity.
"What?" Xanxus asked.
"There might be a chance that she's alive," Squalo said in an almost whisper tone.
Xanxus scoffed a bit and laughed bitterly.
"You were there to confirm her body," Xanxus replied coldly. "She was just a novice, not even skilled enough to fake her death."
"What about the people she knew before she met us?" Squalo asked sharply, narrowing his eyes. "The bodies that I saw didn't lie, she was more of our level before she forgot."
"We would have known about her companions when she was with us," Xanxus plainly said.
"Then what about the three day trip before the day she died?" Squalo reasoned. "We were out of touch with her due to circumstances yet they might have contacted her, might have had her regain her previous memories."
"THEN WHY THE HECK DID SHE CHOOSE THIS THEN?!" Xanxus shouted, finally snapping. "IF SHE'S ALIVE THEN WHY CHOOSE TO FAKE HER DEATH?!"
Squalo went silent, his eyes started to be glazed over with a milky film. Xanxus just huffed and took out a bottle of vodka from under his jacket. He twisted open the cap and took a swig of it and handed it to Squalo. The silver haired man just took the bottle and did the same.
"You know that small brunette girl brat next to that guy?" Squalo hoarsely said, feeling even more tired from saying more words.
"Yeah," Xanxus replied, vaguely remembered the girl glaring at him and holding the other brunette's arm.
"I think she might have connections with our brat," Squalo said.
"Impossible," Xanxus said with a sigh. "She has little knowledge about us, even the trash didn't know much about us based on what you had reported to me."
"I haven't told you everything," Squalo said with a small scoff. "The only reason is because it's something that doesn't need to distract you."
Xanxus opened his mouth to retort about that statement but was stopped by his own mind showing him the previous few minutes. He just shut his mouth. Squalo just gave him a look of 'I told you so.'
"She had told me about our brat being alive," Squalo continued. "On the first day, she had shown herself to be a powerful opponent, even that trash didn't know about her powers. How the heck does one Japanese kid know about our brat in the first place? Well that's only plausible if she was in contact with her before she met us."
Xanxus' mind clicked in understanding. What Squalo said was starting to become believable. Even when they adopted Catrina, they had made sure that her identity was never known. Only the Varia and the upper echelon of the Vongola know about her. They even heavily guarded her information and made her learn to wear multiple disguises just in case she was caught.
"Give me information about that brat," Xanxus ordered then left the room, feeling a weight come off his shoulders.
For now, he should concentrate on the battles and his victory. Squalo on the other hand just sighed and wearily layed down on his bed. In his mind, all these questions about Catrina popped up but she swatted them away. He knew that if his mind was tired, he wouldn't be able to concentrate. Not in the battle nor the search for the ever elusive Catrina.
The moment that the Sawada siblings and reborn returned home, Natsuki had started to calm down. Arriving at her bedroom had made her completely calm yet having regretful thoughts of what she had said out loud. She was not an idiot, she could see the sparks of curiosity fill the eyes of the companions around her despite their best efforts to hide it.
"Stupid," she silently said to herself. "Of course they had to do that, they are the Varia after all..of course the guys would be interested."
"Stupid."
"Idiot."
"Know how to use your brain."
These words came out of her own mouth as tears started to pool in her eyes.
"Stupid," she muttered one more time.
Images of her past life as Natsuki started to invade her eyes as tears fell down. The pleasant fights and the gruesome lessons given by the silver haired man. She missed those dearly yet she couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest as she realized how she shamelessly abandoned that all for a bet.
It's not a game.
Checkerface had told her several times. She just tuned him out and listened to her own thoughts. He had warned her on several occasions. Now here she was, suddenly bearing the weight of her own stupidity, desperately wishing for the clock to turn back. To not accept that ultimate bet that would cost her precious time with her family. To not break these people's hearts and make her feel so horrible.
Alek had sensed the distress with his boss as soon as the battle had ended. Therefore, he left her alone, deciding to watch Decimo's sun guardian by shamelessly freeloading. He approached the auburn haired girl and tapped her shoulder. She stopped and turned around.
"Yes?" she asked, looking up at him with curiosity.
"I was wondering if I can stay in your house for a while," Alek said with a small shy smile. "I could ask my b-friend but I don't want to be an inconvenience to her."
Kyoko frowned, thinking about it. She knew that it was ridiculous for her just to let a stranger in. She was not that naive.
"It's okay Kyoko," Ryohei said, noticing the conversation and stopping. "He can stay with us, you're a friend of Sawada's sister?"
"Yeah," Alek replied with a bright toothy grin. "Sorry about not introducing myself, I'm Alek, a friend of Sawada Natsuki."
Kyoko looked at the man and smiled slightly, still not convinced. Yet, if her brother approved of him, there was no problem. She could see that the blond man was truly grateful judging by his smile.
"Wait how do we explain this to our parents?" Kyoko asked out loud, realizing the factor of their parents.
"I'll talk with them," Alek replied with an assuring tone. "If they refuse then I'll have to look elsewhere though."
Kyoko nodded, slightly feeling more comfortable around the man that would respect her parents' word if they reject. Alek on the other hand didn't care either way, he could always stalk I mean observe the white haired child while he was at school.
In the end, Alek was welcomed into the Sasagawa household with open arms. They found Alek to be a reasonable and responsible man. How, was a mystery to both the blond man and the siblings. After all, all they did was ask him about himself.
The reply was simple, he told them his name, age, and occupation. Then they asked him about his marriage life. A subject where Alek was still a bit touchy about.
"She's dead," was all he could say to them, trying not to reveal the sadness in his voice.
He looked away, missing the eyes of the parents soften slightly as they looked at this man.
"Your friend?" the father had asked.
"She's a bit busy dealing with something," Alek replied, glad of the change of subject. "As for my reason for asking this household. It's only for experience, something that I had done before and I now found out to be rude."
"Old habits do die hard," the father replied with a hearty laugh. "You're welcome to stay."
That was how it went. Now here he was talking with Ryohei about boxing while eating some food. A food, that he noted that had a touch from the sparkle fairy just for appearance. Soon, before they knew it, Kyoko went to bath with Colonello and Ryohei went to sleep.
A small smile reached up to Alek's lips as he watched the father and mother fuss over their children, making sure that they get comfortable.
He remembered doing the same thing when his little son came way he grinned, the way his smile lit up the entire house. Sadness overcame him as he remembered the blood that covered his son and wife. The way their arms reached over to him as. The pain was still etched into their faces. The tears, still going down their eyes. Alek clenched his fists tightly then softly took deep breaths.
"Are you alright?" the mother asked, worry swirling in her eyes.
Alek felt himself slump slightly, he unfurled his fists.
"I'm fine," he said with a strained smile.
"It's fine to let go a bit," the father said with a compassionate smile. "It's very evident that you also had a child."
Alek reeled back a bit and looked at the parents with shock. His blue eyes widened and his lips turned into an 'o' shape.
"It's obvious by your eyes," the mother said with a small delighted chuckle, finding the shock almost comical.
"I..see," Alek replied softly, cursing himself mentally for letting down his guard this much.
"What was the child like?" the mother asked, sensing that the atmosphere around the man starting to tense up.
"He was a lovely child," Alek replied automatically, a small nostalgic smile placed on his lips. "His smile would light up the house and his eyes would always be filled with a passionate light."
An embarrassed blush rushed into his cheeks, suddenly realizing how much he had said.
"It's fine," the father said with a bright grin. "Parents should gush over their children while they have the chance."
Alek groaned and placed his hands on his face. Suddenly he heard a new pair of chuckles, obviously coming from the three who was supposed to be in bed.
"That was poetic," Colonello teased, finding the situation to be more amusing than seeing Mammon and Fon interact.
Alek glared at the rain arcobaleno. More chuckles came from the two parents. The glare then came to the two, who just laughed.
"Tell me again why I'm here?" Alek whined as he tried to have the Sasagawa family plus Colonello to stop laughing.
Unknown to him, his heart had released the sadness from the deaths of his loved to him, he had unconsciously released pure sun flames, something that he hasn't been able to do for a long time.
Omake 2: The chain reaction of the Sawada
It was a normal day in Nanimori Middle school. Everybody was trying to hurry up and avoid getting bitten to death by the head prefect, Hibari Kyoya. On that day, a petite brunet was humming and slowly making his way to the school. All around him, students stopped to look only to be blinded and be shocked by the sparkles and flowers around him.
When the Bell rang, only a few students and the brunet were left just outside the entrance. The petite brunet just hummed happily as he strolled into the gates of the school and met by an angry prefect. The prefect walked up to the brunet and stopped in mid-stride. The reason was the smile that the young brunet gave to him.
"Herbivore," Hibari said. His eye twitched as he wished that he had sunglasses on him. The boy blinked and suddenly his smile dropped. His honey colored eyes widened in realization on who was in front of him.
"H-HIEEE!" He shouted, fear laced within the shout. The prefect inwardly sighed and held up his tonfas.
"Herbivore,"Hibari repeated cooly, betraying no emotion in them. "For being 3 minutes late, I'll bite you to death."
The brunet shouted his girlish scream again before trying to run away. It all ended in vain when the prefect just easily closed the gap between them. Sawada Tsunayoshi winced in pain as the cold hard metal tonfas hit his back. Already he was mentally regretting not writing a will in case this happened.
"I-i'm sorry," he stuttered as the metal tonfas hit him again. Hibari just hit the brunet again ignoring the words that he had said. Once satisfied with the degree of punishment, Hibari dragged the brunet to his class and went back to patrol for any more pr-stragglers.
Tsuna quietly went back to his seat, rubbing the bruises that laced his skin. He was just glad that the prefect did not do any further damage. Unfortunately the silence of the class made him fidget again and made the poor young man look up, his honey colored eyes swirling in confusion.
"I-is s-something w-wrong?" Tsuna asked, stuttering a bit. He looked around the class to felt like an insect being pinned to a board. The students didn't reply, they just looked at him with pity.
After a few seconds of silence, the teacher resumed the lesson. Once again Tsuna was ignored and some of his classmates just went back to listening. This left the young brunet confused on why there was that gap of silent staring.
Further into the lesson, the door slid open in the middle of the class. Everyone's eyes directed their attention to the door. A young brunette girl went in. Her honey colored eyes shifted toward the direction of the eyes uneasily.
"I-i was told that this is my class," she softly said, her voice sounding like small tinkling bells.
"You're the new student correct?" the teacher asked, looking down at the fidgeting brunette. The girl nodded. The teacher smiled assuringly and put down the yellow chalk in it's place.
"Class," the teacher said out loud. He looked at his students, who were surprisingly quiet. He saw the curious look in their eyes, confirming his thoughts that the new student looked a lot like a certain Dame in the class.
"Introduce yourself," the teacher said to her, giving her another of his assuring smiles.
"I-i'm Sawada Natsuki," the young brunette girl said with a shaky smile. "N-nice to meet you all a-and please t-take care of m-me."
"EHHHHH?!"Almost everybody in the class exclaimed. The teacher choked on his spit and coughed violently.
The students started to murmur. Dame-Tsuna has a sister? Wait that means that Dame-Tsuna wasn't the one roaming the halls looking confused. I thought he was crossdressing. Wow, I feel bad for the girl being related to such a lame guy. Yeah.
"I'm sorry?" Natsuki asked coolly. Everyone in the room froze. Head swiveled towards the source of the voice. Their eyes went wide as saucers as they thought they saw a purple miasma surrounding the petite girl.
"What did you call my little bro?" She asked coldly. "What did you call my little tsu?"
Everybody shivered and remained silent. In that moment, they were reminded of the head prefect.
"Well?" She asked loudly, her honey brown eyes narrowing slightly. When nobody answered, Natsuki just narrowed her eyes even more, making the atmosphere in the class even heavier. Almost everybody was trying to breath.
"D-dame-Tsuna!" One of the bullies shouted. The atmosphere was lighter and girl brunette giggled like a little school girl.
"See? That wasn't so hard," she said with a bright and angel like smile. Tsuna banged his head on his table. Stupid little brother complex he thought distastefully. Immediately, he felt the searing hot stares of his classmates, who seem ready to kill him on sight. It's not my fault that she's like that! He wailed to them in his thoughts.
"Any questions th-," the teacher said, trying to get the atmosphere back to normal, yet he was interrupted by the door sliding open. Everyone, including the Sawada siblings turned their heads and saw the head prefect with a bloodthirsty smirk.
"Who's the little carnivore that put out that aura?" He asked. Everybody went silent, Natsuki on the other hand inwardly panicked, realizing what she had done. The prefect's smirk disappeared, he was starting to get irritated. He just held up his tonfas and repeated the question.
"Who's the little carnivore that put out the aura?" He asked once again, his eyes glinting dangerously. Everybody in the room shivered. The students quickly panicked and were about to point at Natsuki only to be met with a dangerous glare from the girl being directed at them.
"Herbivores," Hibari said, irritated by the lack of response. In reality, Natsuki was glaring at the students with an equal amount of evil miasma that the prefect has. The students really were in a tight spot. They either faced being beaten to death by the prefect or they could the daily torture of the new student.
Then the bell rang. Hibari Kyoya narrowed his eyes and left, Sawada Natsuki released her glare and went straight to her little brother. Everyone else, quickly released their breaths, glad for the danger to be over. The teacher on the other hand sulked in the corner of the classroom because he was unable to finish the lesson that he had carefully planned out the night before.
Omake 3:The Commander's little girl
As recommended by his father in that small little note that he had gave her, Xanxus immediately ordered his other subordinates to have a scheduled "bond time" with Catrina. Some of the members hated the thought and others just squealed in delight(*coughsLussuriacoughs*). Yet they couldn't disobey the Boss' orders, so they followed the order.
The first to be put in was Squalo. Despite his respect for the girl, he still had a couple of doubts of her overall being. First was her lack of memory and the second was the way she could barely understand his one-time explanations. Despite that, the time he had spent shopping with her made it aware to him how innocent the girl was to the point of him wanting to baby her. Of course, he would never do that. Squalo knew that the Varia only accepted the best and Catrina wasn't an exception to that high standard.
So on the first day of bonding, he made her train. The girl just grinned instantaneously and proceeded to train without a sour look in her face or any vulgar words coming out of her mouth. The silver haired man was thoroughly impressed. As he thought, her body still retained memory of training. She was clearly showing potential of being Varia-quality in that snippet of time.
Things went well up until the near end. That was when her stomach grumbled loudly, wanting food. Squalo, still impressed decided to take a break to eat, being slightly famished himself. So they went indoors.
When they went in, Lussuria happily provided the two with food plus dessert. The two ate eagerly and silently as they chomped down the food at an amazing rate. Then dessert came and the disaster happened.
"Oh my," Lussuria exclaimed, making the two pause from their almost empty plates. "It seems that there's only enough cake for one person."
There was a huge thud that came from right outside the kitchen door. Squalo looked back as the door opened to reveal Bel, who happened to be passing by. Catrina on the other hand froze then smiled slightly.
"Neh Papa," she sweetly said to the silver-haired man. "You don't mind if I have it, right?" Bel flinched slightly and glared daggers at the girl.
"Nah," Squalo replied plainly, slightly amused by this situation. "You can have it." A dagger was thrown at him, he just dodged it.
"Shishi," Bel said, his grin sharpened. "Luss, I can have it right? Because I'm a prince?"
"Of course,"Lussuria happily said, ignoring the purple miasma seeping out from Catrina. "Though I did promise these two the dessert first."
Catrina grinned happily, the purple miasma disappeared from the atmosphered in the kitchen. Bel just scowled and sharply glared at her. Then a thought surfaced within his oh so smart mind. His trademark Cheshire grin appeared in his face as he brought out his knives. Without a moment's notice, he just threw them at her.
Squalo scowled and immediately swatted the knives away with his sword.
"VOI!" He shouted angrily. "Don't you dare kill MY Catrina!"
Upon hearing her name, the said girl turned around to see Squalo slashing his sword at the blond prince. Lussuria just happily laughed as Bel was trying to dodge the silver haired man's sword, a small look of surprise over taking his features. Catrina watched in utter awe and with wide eyes as she watched her father use a plethora of shark named attacks at Bel.
"That's so cool," she breathed out as her eyes sparkled then shouted. "Daddy, can I learn those cool moves?"
Squalo froze along with Bel, who was relieved that he didn't have to take the brunt of the commander's attacks. The silver haired man smiled slightly and nodded, a proud gleam shone obviously in his eyes. Bel paled slightly, upon hearing those words. If Squalo teaches Catrina the way of the sword, he and the others would have to deal with a mini-commander.
"No way," Bel spoke out loud. "The prince won't allow you."
Squalo glared at Bel, making the boy's skin shiver slightly. This sort of intensity wasn't normal for the silver haired commander except when he was serious. Bel felt defeat as he cowered a bit under the glare and backed away out of the kitchen.
"God help us all," he murmured softly as he left, the image of Catrina turning into a mini-Squalo still in his head. Meanwhile, Catrina ate the dessert with a happy grin stuck on her face while Squalo was mentally planning on the oncoming training that she needed to learn the way of the sword.