Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, to that Amano Akira has every right. I'm merely borrowing them for my own entertainment and make no money out of it. I do, however, own Arica D'Angelo, yay! (And any other characters you don't recognize.)

A/N: I'm baaaaaack! Well, not exactly, but I got an opportunity to update. Thanks for the favs and follows! 3

Chapter 6

The study had turned into something akin to an IT center as monitors and computers littered the room. About two dozen men were also present; some were busy typing away furiously on the computers, others were checking to make sure the large screens against the wall were set up correctly, and yet more rushed to and fro with their noses stuck to instructions and documents. One guy nearly ran Arica out of the ground as she walked into the room if Andrew hadn't caught her arm and swiftly yanked her out of the way, glaring at the man who didn't seem to notice.

The girl searched the room and found Ricardo standing behind one of the typing guys, peering over his shoulder at whatever it is he was doing. She strode up to him and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. The blond boss spun around with a scowl, ready to shoot the bastard who dared do such a thing. His scowl fell away into a smile, however, when he saw who it was. Arica was the only one allowed to touch him so casually and she hated doing so, though he liked it. Shudder.

"Oh, it's you, my dear. I thought you weren't coming," he said, grinning at the impassive brunette. She had wiped her face clean of any expression for she didn't need him pestering her about it if he saw how shaken she was because of her disturbing memories of the past.

"I said an hour, didn't I? When I checked, I still had ten minutes left," she responded evenly and saw a spark of irritation in his eyes, the smug grin wavering. "So, what is it you need help with, Rick?" Arica wanted to throw up as the nickname left her mouth. She hated using it, but he insisted every now and then and eventually it had stuck and sometimes escaped her before she could think of it.

"Straight to the point, as always," he said dryly. "Right this way," he added, gesturing for her to follow him. On their way, they passed a small table laden with snacks and coffee – probably for the hard working men – and he asked, "A snack or something to drink?"

"No, thanks," was her instant reply. Even though all those men have eaten from those snacks, Arica was sure if she took some it would somehow be poisoned or something. They arrived at Ricardo's desk and he walked around it to start rifling through the stacks of paper that were scattered all over. The Rinaldi boss perched herself on the edge of the wooden desk and glanced around while she waited.

Most of the men in the room were Ricardo's, though there were more or less than ten of her own. It made sense that he'd have more of his subordinates; he led the operation after all. However, Arica got the feeling they were also there for security; he didn't trust her or her men completely. He wouldn't even request their help if some of them weren't the best IT experts or mechanics they had available. Andrew was standing at one of the monitors closest to her, conversing with one of her other subordinates. Every few seconds he would glance over to make sure she was still fine. What Ricardo didn't think about, though, was that, if he had more of his men in here, there were less of them out there with the majority of hers. Not that anything would happen, of course, but one should always be prepared.

"Aha, here we go," the devil said victoriously as he quickly examined the sheet of paper he had in his hand before holding it out to her. Arica took it and scanned the contents while Ricardo sat down and folded his hands under his chin as he waited for her to finish. When the girl looked up and handed the page back to him, he started explaining the situation. "I need your help in deciding the amount of Fiamma Volts the tracker has to track. This machine can only track a specific amount of flames and this amount has to be installed at the start and can't be changed afterwards. It can only show us the location of the person when his flame reaches that specific number or bypasses it."

What a crappy machine! Arica thought in slight disgust. Her father couldn't even get the Vongola brats' names or any info at all, and now he expects them to work with this piece of junk? Out loud she asked, "Is there a minimum and a maximum amount?"

"Yes. The minimum is 8000 and the maximum about 100 000," Ricardo answered after a minute of thought. "That's the tricky part. We don't know how strong these kids are at all. We can't put it on the lowest; it could be possible that their flames can shoot past that right off the bat or too fast for even the machine to pick up. If we put it on its highest, they could possibly be lying low and keep their flames to a minimum, or not be as experienced as we think and not even reach that amount. The other downside being that we've never dealt with Flames before so we're not all too knowledgeable on how they work, as much as it pains me to admit."

Arica tapped her fingers together in her lap as she thought for a few minutes. Then, "Maybe you can install the minimum – 8000 FV – and also something in between, closer to the 100 000, like…55 000 maybe. If they're able to bypass the minimum instantly, I doubt they'll pass by the 55 000 right off the bat; the flame would have to build up power. Also, if they are lying low, then it would be better for us to track the minimum. Less than 8000 could probably still do damage, but nothing critical I'm sure. The flames would most likely go a little higher; especially if another Family attacks them and they have to fight seriously."

"And what if you're wrong and they can shoot past the fifty-five? Even past the hundred?" he asked after thinking about her words.

Arica gritted her teeth. You just don't want me to be right, do you? Why the hell did you ask my help then! "I don't think they would use that much power in such a small town and risk getting civilians hurt. The Vongola is just one of those families; civilian safety before anything else. No wonder we're their enemy." The last part was muttered under her breath so Ricardo couldn't hear. Before he could ask what she said, however, Arica continued with her opinion. "I think those are the best choices for this situation. It'll work for low profile as well as small serious fights."

"We can only install one amount of FV. The budget your father provided us with can only afford the one tracker. If we want to track two separate amounts we'd have to buy another machine and there just isn't enough money for that left."

You have got to be kidding me, Arica mentally growled at the blond. He just wanted to sound smart, but to her he sounded like a pain in the ass. Contrary to her feelings, she had been expecting those words. "Almost any program and software can be hacked these days, right? Get one of the men to start on that and see if he can find a gap in the security and mess around with it a little to enter two numbers."

"That'll waste even more time."

Deep breaths, deep breaths…that weren't working. "Then take money from my personal bank account to buy another tracker. That would take two more weeks to install while it would take them about two to three days – at most – to find a way to hack into the program. Now you decide which would be better. Do you want to find them or not?" Arica growled the last few words, slowly starting to snap. If he came up with one more excuse, she was going to lose it.

Ricardo was silent and so was the room as everybody was trying to listen in on the conversation. In her peripheral, Arica caught Andrew and some of her other men trying to hide their smirks, knowing that their boss wouldn't lose an argument to that man no matter what. She made it her goal in life to be at least somewhat better than him in whatever way, shape or form that might be. Then the blond sighed. "Josh, did you hear that?"

"Yes, Boss. We're on it," Rick's right-hand said and Arica managed not to jump at his sudden appearance next to her. He was scowling as he answered, throwing her a dirty look before he went on his way to find someone to start the hacking. He was sulking because his beloved boss didn't rely on him for this important decision.

Ricardo stood from his seat and came around the desk to stand in front of her, smirking mischievously. Arica's body instantly stiffened upon seeing that look and she went absolutely rigid when he nudged her legs apart to stand between them while pushing her further onto the desk. Approximately eleven heads instantly whipped in their direction and eleven pairs of eyes glared at the abusive man; the rest of the room's occupants blatantly ignored their boss' actions. Rick's mouth came crashing down on hers, hard and bruising. There was no love in his actions; only lust and the need to express his superiority and amount of power. Arica's hands clenched into tight fists as his disgusting, insistent tongue forced its way past her resisting lips. She was so temped to just clash her teeth together and bite the offending muscle clean off, but all she did was endure.

In her peripheral, over Ricardo's shoulder, she saw Andrew take a menacing step towards them to pull the other away from her, but she shot him a pleading look, telling him to stay where he was. He gave her a disbelieving look and she also saw some of the others ready to lunge forward when a hand traced up her leg and fiddled with the hem of her purple dress. But the look she gave them wouldn't allow them to take another step closer.

Ricardo's subordinates, unlike her own, didn't care one bit. Everyone in that house and some others back in Italy that had traveled with them before knew how he treated her like a piece of gum stuck to his expensive shoes. In exchange, they also knew how she hated his guts, but no one cared about how she felt about anything. They just continued on with their work, pretending that their boss wasn't harassing the girl right in front of them; for all she knew, they pretended they weren't even there. All of her own men present wanted to help her – would do anything for her – yet she had ordered them long ago never to act against Ricardo no matter what he did to her. He would kill them if they did and she could never let that happen.

Arica's lungs started to burn and beg for air. As if sensing her near death by suffocation, Ricardo pulled back and their lips disconnected with a wet smack. The younger started coughing at the sudden ability to receive air and Ricardo stepped back with a satisfied smirk as he watched her sputter and choke. "I'm sorry to cut this short, my dear, but I still have some papers to check and sign. Thank you for your help." His tone made it clear that she was dismissed.

The brunette hopped from the edge of the desk and readjusted her dress before rushing for the door as fast as she can without blatantly running. She didn't need to be told twice to leave. Andrew was hot on her heels to the door, a deep frown on his face and she knew there was going to be hell to pay when they were alone. When she reached the door, however, something caught her eye and she paused, causing Andrew to almost crash into her. When she glanced over, she saw a ray of sunlight being reflected off one of the monitors on the wall. It was around noon and the sunlight was bright and warm and beautiful. That reminded her…

"Maybe I will go somewhere after all," Arica spoke up and Ricardo looked up curiously from his paperwork. "Do you mind if I go out a little later this afternoon? There's something I want to go check out."

Arica stood in front of the large brown building's gates and stared up at it like she had that first day she came there. The gates were closed but when she stepped closer and reached out to test them, they swung open easily. Shrugging, the brunette stepped inside and closed the gates behind her before making her way to the front doors. Of course, they were locked. It wasn't a surprise since it was the weekend after all. She started to slowly walk around the building to find some other entrance and, after a few minutes, she did. It was a single, old- looking door and it opened with a small creak when she tested it.

Once she was inside the school building, Arica found the stairs leading up to the roof and started to climb them. The school grounds were empty and silent, but a peaceful silence, not the eerie dead silence one would expect from an empty school building at this time of day. The only sound audible were some birds chirping, singing and calling out to each other in the late afternoon sky and the trees down below. There was a cool breeze and Arica shivered slightly, cursing herself for not bringing a jacket. She was still in time for the sunset.

After she had left Ricardo's office, the young D'Angelo had gone straight to her room, followed by Andrew. She had slammed the bathroom door shut in his face and had turned the hot water of the shower to the highest temperature possible for her skin to endure. She had spent nearly half an hour – maybe more – in there, scrubbing her body over and over and over until the water ran cold, but even then she continued to scrape her skin raw and red. She wanted that pervert's touches off of her skin, but it just didn't seem to go away. When she had finally decided to give up and get out, Arica had instead gone to the sink and used about half of the tube of toothpaste and mouthwash to scrub her mouth as she had her body. When that was over with, she contemplated whether she should make herself throw up to get rid of any disgusting saliva that might've entered her body, but decided against it.

She had gotten an hour long lecture from Andrew about letting herself be violated and not doing anything about it, to which she answered like she always did: not yet. It was not time yet. She'll just have to endure for a little while longer.

The girl leaned against the rail and stared out over the houses and beautiful green trees spread out before her, a few sakura trees scattered here and there, and the sun enveloping everything in a golden-red light as it slowly sunk towards the horizon. She was so caught up in her thoughts and the scenery that she failed to notice the footsteps and menacing presence coming up behind her until it was too late.

Cold metal pressed to her throat as the person spoke in a low voice, "You should be bitten to death for trespassing on school property, herbivore."

Her body stiffened and she prepared to defend herself until her brain registered the person's voice and way of speaking. Arica instantly relaxed and glanced to her right where the raven haired teen stood, expressionless and tonfa unwavering at her throat. "Hibari," she greeted calmly before turning back to face the sunset.

"Herbivore," he growled as way of both greeting and threat. "You're trespassing," he repeated stiffly. She had come face to face with the Skylark only once before; that day where she had to stop the fight between him and Gokudera. After that, she had merely seen him from a distance when he would patrol the grounds or beat up some troublemakers during lunch. That, however, was enough to give her an idea of what type of person he was – which was probably obvious anyway.

"If you don't want trespassers you should lock the gates and doors," she replied evenly, glancing at him from the corner of her eye to see a scowl forming. "And aren't you also trespassing? What are you doing here?"

"Working," was the curt reply. A few minutes passed before the prefect finally decided to lower his tonfa, frowning at her in frustration and a spark of curiosity. This is the second time… "You're not cowering like all the other useless, weak herbivores." It was a statement, not a question like how it should've been.

A small smirk made its way across her lips as she kept her gaze turned forward and focused on a distant cherry blossom tree. "I'm not like all those other…'herbivores' – as you so eloquently put it. For one, I'm not scared of you."

Arica could practically feel the other's surprise in the air surrounding them, though it didn't show on his face. "Oh?" It was said a little sarcastically and a thin brow quirked minutely.

"I've been living with someone slightly similar to you every day for the last three years," she elaborated, finally twisting her entire body to face the prefect. "So I'm used to being threatened."

Hibari's eyes narrowed even further as he studied her green orbs for any sign of a lie or elaboration, trying to figure out if she was all bark and no bite. He found nothing but the truth, though. Suddenly, steel-blue eyes locked onto her left cheek and Arica could almost feel the intense stare burning a hole in her skin. The brunette was confused at the prefect's sudden, unnatural reaction, slowly bringing her hand up to feel if there was something on her face that caused him to give her so much attention. Her eyes widened when her fingers came in contact with tender flesh, finally realizing what was going on. Shit.

"Did you get that at school, herbivore?" Hibari questioned briskly, eyeing the fading bruise under her eye. She hadn't covered it up that morning and had completely forgotten about it before she left. How stupid can I be! she mentally chastised herself.

"No," Arica said a little too quickly – even though it was the truth – as she uselessly tried to cover the spot with her hand and turned her back on prying eyes. "It's nothing really; it's almost healed. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worrying, herbivore," hissed the boy, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance. "If it didn't happen at school, I couldn't care less."

How coldhearted, she wanted to say but kept it to herself. Why should she care about what he felt anyway? She didn't want any questions asked and he didn't ask any. That was good. Whatever the case may be, it was still a little unsettling to know that someone she barely knew had found out about that; it made her feel more than a little insecure. "Fair enough, I guess, but it didn't happen at school."

"Hn." Without warning, a tonfa came flying her way and Arica barely had time to dodge it.

"What was that for?" she almost yelled at him. She didn't even do anything and he attacked her!

"If you could dodge that, you could've prevented that injury as well," he answered bluntly, lowering his weapon. Arica picked up on what he really meant: that bruise wasn't caused by accident or with resistance. The Skylark's eyes narrowed as he took in her defensive stance and stared at the slightly shivering girl for a moment longer – her skin was covered in goosebumps – before he spun on his heel and headed for the door.

He had originally gone to the roof to relax for a few minutes before he went home, maybe catch the sunset if he was in time. Then that herbivore showed up and ruined it. He remembered her well from the first time they had met. Even back then she hadn't flinched while standing between a handful of bombs and his tonfas, when a new student would possibly faint in fear. Now she had dodged one of his attacks; even if it wasn't a serious attack, he had done so while she had been looking away. Even more surprising: she had stood up to him every time they met. What a strange and interesting herbivore…

Arica watched the retreating back and raised a brow when the Skylark paused at the door and gave her one last glare while stating, "Get out of here, herbivore, before I bite you to death. If I ever catch you trespassing again, I won't overlook it. Next time, I will fight you seriously."

The girl blinked in surprise, confused as to where that came from. She dismissed it, however, shaking her head slightly – it's not as if she was planning on meeting him again. "Right," Arica agreed, pushing away from the rail, the one corner of her lips tugging upwards in a thankful smile – she also took his words as a confirmation that he wouldn't tell anyone about this. Hibari seemed to stiffen a fraction, almost unnoticeably when she smiled, before shaking his head and striding through the door first. Sighing, Arica stared at the spot where the sun had already disappeared for another ten minutes before deciding to head home as well before Ricardo got too paranoid.

A/N: Hibari has arrived! Again. We'll be seeing more of him in a few chapters *fangirl squeal* I hope you all understood this chapter, like the talk about the tracker's number stuff and all that. I wrote this fic a long time ago and came up to chapter 19, but then, one day when I wanted to continue, my fanfic folders were just GONE *gasp*, everything just completely missing. So I had to start everything from scratch and now everything isn't explained as well as it was that first time, but I tried to remember the most important bits.

Question for everyone: Who else hates Ricardo's guts? I know I do, and if you do, I can tell you now you'll hate him even more in the next chapter. How did I even create that guy… Review and tell me what you think of him and, if you're really into it, how you would make his life hell *evil laugh*