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: Oh. My. Gosh! I am SO sorry! *cries eyes out* I knew I shouldn't have gone on that rant at the start of chapter 5, now everyone hates my guts. I didn't mean it the wrong way, like no criticism at all. I'm just the kind of person who takes great pride in their ideas and work and I guess I got a little worked up over this fic's plot…

And on my birthday I saw I lost one follower so that made my day (note sarcasm). But on the bright side, thanks a million for the review, chibi-chan! I read your bio and I was like, "is this person my clone?" Haha, your review made my day and made me laugh. Thanks again for your continued support as well as all the other readers! XD I've started reviewing a lot of the fanfics I read now too, which I didn't really do before, but it feels good to tell other people what a good job they're doing and I know they're happy upon receiving them :)

Here's the (hopefully) long awaited 7th chapter, enjoy =D (gosh it's been too long!)

Chapter 7

Arica entered the house at around six o'clock and went upstairs to take a nice warm shower against the cold before dinner – she could use another scrubbing anyway. At least Ricardo hadn't ambushed her this time. She picked out a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top along with a pair of underwear since she was going downstairs again. The shower was turned on and steam soon filled the bathroom, fogging the mirror and windows. The water was at a comfortable temperature this time at least. The brunette undressed quickly and stepped under the pelting hot water.

The heat washed away all the tension and unwanted memories of that day and Arica closed her eyes as she exhaled deeply and enjoyed the water washing her worries away, even if it was only for a few minutes. The steam cleared her mind and allowed her to think, however; that wasn't necessarily always a good thing though. She thought about their mission again, about the almost impossible task of finding the tenth generation of the world's strongest mafia Famiglia. It had to be the tenth generation since her father – she couldn't even think the name without sneering – thought it would be better to take on the less experienced ones. Coward, she spat once more in her thoughts.

However, Arica didn't believe the kids to be as inexperienced as her father and Ricardo thought. All the guardians had been assembled already from what they could find out, and a family such as the Vongola wouldn't let that happen and just leave the kids be. They would've had at least some training and experience; the best most likely. They wouldn't wait until the Vongola Decimo and his guardians were expected to take over from Nono and then start training them. It would be like an invitation for every enemy Famiglia to attack in their vulnerability. Probably what her father was hoping for, and she wasn't going to tell him he was wrong; no one ever listened to her anyway and that would be their downfall.

The girl inhaled and exhaled deeply once more as she lathered her body in soap and started washing herself. As she washed her arms, she paused to stare at them, letting the water wash away the suds. As the soap ran from her arms along with the water, it revealed one thin, white line on each arm. The lines were barely visible to anyone who didn't know they were there or who didn't stare at her arms for too long or too closely. The marks were perfectly straight as if drawn with a ruler, and stretched all the way from the wrist bone to just under her elbow on the outside of her arms. If she held her arms up in a fighting stance it would look almost exactly like Hibari holding up his tonfas. Though she doubted that she would be able to fight him even with these things and escape without a scratch.

She has met a few strong people in the two weeks they had been in Japan, Gokudera Hayato and Hibari Kyoya being the strongest out of all of them as far as she had seen. She hadn't really seen Hibari in that much action except for the beating of bullies and delinquents around school, but every time he was in the near vicinity, a sort of aura surrounded him that warded people off. It screamed authority, power and pride and it was prominent enough to make even Arica shiver in discomfort. When they had met on the school roof earlier, she must've been really lost in her thoughts not to have noticed his dark, pressing presence immediately. The way he held himself, the way he spoke, she could tell it had nothing at all to do with empty arrogance, but confidence in skill he knew for a fact he had.

Gokudera's bombing skills – from what she had seen of them – were something that could easily fit into the mafia, although most would prefer guns or grenade launchers. Dynamite just seemed to fit him so well, though – the short fuse, the violent and fierce impact when it exploded. His attitude was that of a Mafioso as well, no doubt about it. If she didn't know any better she'd think they were in…the…Vongola… The soap slipped from Arica's hand and fell to the shower's tiled floor.

No way…

The girl would've started to laugh – a little maniacally if you asked her – if there wasn't a knock on the door. "Arica, are you in there?" the muffled voice called from outside and she hastily shut the water off as she heard the doorknob turn.

Of course I'm in here, idiot! I'm not in my room and the shower is running in the bathroom; where else would I be! "Just a minute! I still need to get dressed; I'll be out soon," she called and stepped out of the shower, careful not to slip on the tiles as she made her way to the towel rack. She cursed when the door continued to open.

"Don't be shy, my dear. There's nothing I haven't seen before," Ricardo said and stepped into the room with a smug smirk before closing the door behind him.

The girl had finally managed to snatch a towel and quickly covered herself up just as he entered. She turned to face him with a glare. "What don't you understand about 'just a minute'? And don't act all innocent; what you have seen that you shouldn't have seen, wasn't willingly done by me, remember?" Arica inwardly shuddered as she remembered that time. The smirking blond in front of her had come to her room once, about a year ago and had cornered her there, on her bed. She had struggled and screamed, but no one came to save her. She didn't want to remember all the vile things he had done to her that night…

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you," he grumbled, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender and innocence. He then moved over to the toilet and sat himself down on the closed lid, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped between them. "I just came here to ask how your little outing went."

"And you couldn't wait for about five minutes? Gods," Arica scoffed and turned her back on him to start dressing. It was a bit challenging to do so while holding a towel in place to cover herself. "But whatever. It was nice. The sunset was beautiful from the roof." She didn't mention meeting Hibari there, of course; Ricardo would overreact again. She wouldn't tell him anyway now that she had had that epiphany…

She hadn't faced Hibari yet nor did she wish to, but he radiated that amount of power wherever he went and her gut told her that that wasn't even half of it. A truly fearsome person. It would be terrifying if there were someone stronger than him. If the Vongola was here and they haven't noticed him yet for his strength, they're not right in the head or blind. The same went for Gokudera. The way he handled those bombs couldn't be something he learned on the streets from some rookies. He was also way too impulsive and paranoid to not be in the mafia or at least know of it.

Arica didn't have solid proof yet, though. How would she find out if they really are what she thought they were? She couldn't just go up to one of them and blurt out, 'Hey, do you happen to be in the mafia?' Two problems: she goes up to them and they really are Vongola, thus causing them to immediately capture or kill her even before she could explain herself. Or they're not in the mafia at all and think she's crazy and then she'd have told innocent bystanders about humanity's Underworld. She sighed and shook her head as she decided that it was best to go with the flow and just watch for signs. As long as Ricardo didn't hear about this…

"What, if I might ask, are you thinking about, my dear?" the aforementioned Mafioso asked and Arica stiffened at the hint of irritation in his tone. She had all but forgotten he was there while she was lost in her thoughts. "Anything interesting going on up there in that pretty little head of yours?"

"Oh, sorry, I kind of spaced out a little," she said with a small chuckle as she pulled her shirt over her head and hung the towel up to dry. "I was thinking about some things, like about the tutoring thing tomorrow and so on, you know? Nothing that you would find interesting." The brunette turned around with a small, fake smile, only to have it melt away as she felt her throat being restricted.

"Don't lie to me, bitch," Ricardo said in a low, dangerously calm voice and a grimace on his lips. His hand was wrapped around her throat, squeezing tighter by the second. Arica's hands flew up to his arm and struggled with it, trying desperately to loosen his grip to no avail. "I've known you for three years now; I know when you're lying. I can see it in your eyes and body language."

"Ngh," was all Arica could say as her chest began to ache and her lungs began to deflate in need of fresh air. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at him. Tears wanted to build up, but she forcefully kept them down. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry over something this insignificant – not because of the pain on her throat but the need of oxygen. Yes, this was nothing. She could handle it. Even though she told herself that, Arica saw the bathroom starting to tilt and swim around. Her struggles against his arm renewed.

Ricardo chuckled and gave an extra hard squeeze, a small spark of something close to insanity igniting in his eyes as he watched her cringe as her windpipe was put under even more strain. Her hands were tugging at his arms in a futile attempt at release and he caught sight of the white, thin lines on her arms. "You're too weak to stop me in this form. Why don't you air those babies out, huh? What has it been? Two and a half years? They should be used once in a while; we wouldn't want them to rust and waste all that money your father paid for them now would we? Come on! Show them to me! I'll kill you otherwise."

Arica didn't know how she did it, but she somehow managed to grit out between her teeth, "Then do it." She would never release those things just to satisfy the sadistic devil holding on to her throat. She didn't want to go through all that pain ever again in her life, though she knew she would have to sooner or later – and she chose later – but she'd rather die right there and then. Even if she was willing to bring them out and defended herself, Ricardo would still probably try to kill her and say it was self-defense.

It was now impossible to breath and Arica saw the world going hazy at the edges and turning almost black. In one last desperate attempt she dug her nails into the arm holding onto her. With a hiss of pain, the blond let go and Arica literally felt every inch of her lungs expanding as she fell to the floor. Only as she fell did she realize he had been holding her at least a foot and a half from the ground. However, just before she hit the ground, she suddenly went flying back. Ricardo had swung back his leg and kicked her in the side so hard that she went skidding across the floor and into the side of the bathtub with a sickening thud!

"Stupid bitch," he growled out as he inspected the bleeding crescent wounds on his forearms. Arica lay sprawled out against the bathtub on the cold tiles. She was coughing and sputtering as large gushes of air filled her lungs, scraping down her sore throat, making her nauseous. Everything was still blurry, but at least it wasn't fading into black anymore like it had a few seconds ago. Her entire body was shaking, trembling with each breath she took. Her whole body was limp and devoid of strength, aching from the kick to the side and her lower back was throbbing.

She heard footsteps slowly closing in on her but she couldn't even lift her head. Everything hurt. But that was nothing. No, nothing at all compared to that time and that place. The blood, the screams, the pain. Most of all the pain. This wasn't the worst she had experienced before, nor was the night he had cornered her in her room. He had even pushed her down the stairs once, but that still wasn't enough to break the fourteen-year old girl. If she could survive that place, she could definitely survive this – she could survive anything.

Gathering what little strength she could scrape together from every part of her aching body, Arica pushed herself up on shaky arms. She gritted her teeth to stop the pained and strained yelp as she slowly but surely came to her hands and knees. Breathing hard and still coughing and choking on said breaths, she managed to say, "They… won't rust. They're made…from the best platinum…and stainless steel in…cough…the world and titanium infused. You know that, Rick."

"Even in this state you still manage to run that troublesome mouth of yours," he spat out, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at the brunette. "So you would rather die than simply showing them to me and save your life?"

Firmer than she thought was possible at the moment, Arica curtly answered, "Yes." Simply, he had said. She wanted to laugh; there was nothing simple about it. He didn't have the slightest idea. "Dying would be quicker and painless. I'm not you who would do anything to live."

"Why you…" Ricardo gave a step forward and pulled his foot back once more.

"Boss?" and angel called from outside the bathroom door. Well, it was only Andrew, but he had just saved her from the kick that could possibly have made her lose. It was enough to make Ricardo stop mid-kick. There was a knock on the door. "You've been up here for a long time so I–" he stepped into the bathroom slowly upon not getting an answer and froze at the sight before him. "What the hell's going on here?" he asked as his eyes cut between the scowling blond and his young boss on the floor. Having spent years looking after her on their travels and actually paying attention to her, he knew her the best out of everyone in the house, even her own father. Just one glance told him she was in pain even though she showed nothing in her expression at that moment. "You bastard!" he growled and rushed forward.

Arica watched with baited breath as her right-hand man tackled the Mariani boss to the floor and started to punch him. Ricardo was on his back, his arms up in a defensive posture while Andrew sat on his stomach, punching any piece of exposed body part he could reach. Ricardo didn't specialize in close quarter combat, preferring guns. This, however, made him defenseless and helpless against Andrew, who was one of the better fighters in the family. This made Arica's head spin a little as she watched the fists fly; if he went on like that he could possibly kill Ricardo.

"Andrew, stop! Stop it!" the girl called out to her subordinate, but her voice was either ignored or not heard because of her sore throat. Whichever it might have been, Andrew didn't let up on his assault. She had to stop him, though; he couldn't kill Ricardo right now! Of course she wouldn't be sad to see him go, but if Andrew went on and killed him, all his men will seek revenge and attack her side. If he somehow managed to escape, he could possibly sneak into Andrew's room and kill him in his sleep – all of them maybe.

Upon hearing the sharp crack of a breaking nose, Arica couldn't watch anymore. She wrung every cell of her being out until she could pool together enough strength to move. Then, as Andrew pulled back his fist to give what could possibly have been a finishing blow, Arica launched herself at the men. Her trusted subordinate's eyes widened and he managed to stop the clenched fist a mere inch from his boss' face. Arica didn't even flinch as she stared up into his eyes, tears brimming in the forest green orbs.

"Andrew, stop it; you'll kill him!" she cried out from her position between the two men. "You can't kill Rick, so just stop. Please!"

The eldest in the room stared at his young boss with utter disbelief written all over his body. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing: Arica was facing him, her arms spread out over Ricardo as she shielded him with her own body, tears starting to tumble over flushed cheeks as she pleaded with him. She was protecting her attacker rather than her savior? What the hell was wrong with her! "Arica, what are you doing? Why do you care whether he dies or not! Get out of the way so I can finish this once and for all! Please."

The girl didn't listen, though, as she feverously shook her head back and forth. "I said no, Andrew, and that's final. Don't hurt him any further. I beg of you." I don't want you to get killed later, she added in her mind and tried to tell him exactly that with her eyes. She wasn't crying for Ricardo at all, she was crying over both the image of Andrew and the rest of her Famiglia dead and also as part of the act she was putting on. Ugh, the partially fake tears were starting to make her eyes itch.

"A-Arica…" a voice said from behind her and she turned to see the completely dumbfounded Ricardo staring at her, speechless. She forced a small smile at him, but her lips quivered. Yes, he could tell when she was lying through her eyes and body language, but never her words or actions like these. A lot of times he can't even see it in her eyes or body language either; that only happened when she was caught off guard like earlier. At that moment he couldn't find any traces of lies as he stared into her tear-filled eyes. He could also never see past her smiles, no matter how small, feeble or fake they were.

"Can one of you help me up, please? I don't really have any strength left at the moment," Arica said softly, forcing a small chuckle and regretted it instantly as it sent a sharp pang down her throat. Andrew had her on her shaky legs within seconds and wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her, mindful of the spot he could see she was keeping relaxed. She glanced back at Ricardo who was now sitting upright on the bathroom floor, looking slightly dazed. "You should go get that looked at, Rick," she added, gesturing towards his face where blood was still slowly trickling from his now skew nose. She saw him frown and open his mouth, but cut him off before a word was uttered. "Don't worry about me; I'm not as weak as you think and you know that very well. Andrew will patch me up, so you're free to go."

Andrew led Arica from the bathroom slowly so she could keep up on her wobbly feet, helping her to her bed where she collapsed with a small hiss. Ricardo was silent as he followed them, hesitating awkwardly at the door for a moment before stumbling out without a word. Andrew was staring at the door as it closed and spoke up as soon as the other was gone. "I don't understand why you had to go and protect that son of a bitch. He could've killed you had I not gotten there in time!"

"He wouldn't kill me; he considers me too valuable. And his men would've declared war if you had killed him, Drew," she countered, speaking as softly as she could, but it didn't do anything for her sore throat. That was going to be the mother of all bruises most probably. "I can't let that happen knowing I could've done something to stop it. You're…the only family I have; I can't lose you all. If I wasn't in this condition I probably wouldn't have stopped you. When they attack us, you'll need me on the front lines and you know it. Like this, I can't even swat a fly hard enough to kill it."

While Arica had been giving her little speech, Andrew was gathering some things he needed to treat her injuries. He sat down on the bed next to her with a long, suffering sigh. "You're telling me all that in there was an act, right? Good. I almost thought you had gone mental from the damage he had caused. Even I couldn't tell that was a lie." The girl chuckled once more as she allowed him to check her neck and various other places for critical damage. "No permanent or serious damage, thankfully," he informed her after a few minutes. "The bruise on your neck is pretty prominent already and your throat might take a day or two to stop hurting completely. The kick landed just beneath the ribs, so only more bruising over there. Nothing in your back is broken, thank god, but it'll be a bit of a pain to walk around too much."

"I have to go to Tsuna's house tomorrow, though. And don't even try to talk me out of it now because I have to go. Don't ask why," she said, seeing the curious look in his eyes. "I'm not sure why myself yet. There's just something I sort of figured out while in the shower. We'll have to wait and see though – I want to observe a few things."

The tone of her voice made Andrew's face light up. "Really? Did you find something?"

"Like I said, we'll wait and see," Arica sighed, settling into the warm, soft confines of her bed.

Another loud moan was heard and Arica closed her eyes briefly as she let out a breath through her teeth. "Oh, that feels so good. Down a bit, down, do- oh, right there! You should become a professional, Andrew." Another, even louder and lengthier moan escaped the brunette's lips.

"Geez, do you have to sound so…erotic?" the man grumbled, a light blush splashed across his cheeks at his boss' unnecessary antics. "And eat your vegetables; they're good for healing," he added mockingly.

"Yes, mother," Arica said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she pushed a piece of carrot around on her plate, but she couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips.

Normal mafia bosses – or future mafia bosses, as the case might be – would be offended if they were addressed so casually by their subordinates. Not Arica. In fact, she liked it. Andrew didn't treat her like this high and mighty powerful person, he didn't grovel at her feet whenever she entered the room. He would praise her when she did something great and he would also scold her whenever she did something stupid. A few of the older members of the family did that and she didn't mind in the slightest. It kept her grounded and didn't allow her to get a big head. When Andrew would scold her, it felt more like what she thought a real father or older brother would be like. It was nice and she felt wanted and loved.

"There you go; all done," Andrew declared as he pulled her shirt back down over her lower back. Arica was sprawled out on her stomach, a plate of food – her dinner – in front of her. Andrew had been rubbing some pain relieving ointment onto the small of her back where she had taken the hit – and it had felt heavenly, mind you.

"Thanks, Drew. I'll just finish dinner and then I'll go to sleep." As if on cue, a yawn pushed its way past her lips and the man chuckled while Arica glared. There was a moment of silence as she ate and he just sat there, watching her. Arica was the one to break the silence again. "How're the men doing?" He was caught off guard by the sudden, unexpected question and Arica clarified. "I feel a little bad; I haven't even spoken to any of them except for you since we moved here two weeks ago."

It was a known fact that Arica D'Angelo cared about all of her men and would sometimes stop to talk and hang out. Some even made it their goal to make her laugh, even if it was a little forced sometimes, while she was on one of her rounds. "Uh, they're fine, I guess. No one's complained so far or killed each other," he began. Then he laughed as he remembered something. "There was one incident though. A few days ago, Druitt nearly smashed the Wii controller. Again. One of Ricardo's lackeys told him to go do some grocery shopping while he had some time off in the game room. And you know how that one gets when he's sent to do something like that."

Arica snickered and nodded. She did know. Druitt, the youngest and newest among the men in the house, was a healthy seventeen-year-old who had freakish superhuman strength. Alright, maybe that was exaggerating things a little, but the boy's physical strength was definitely far beyond average. His self-control wasn't as great as his strength though. He took great offence when being told to do something as menial as grocery shopping; he feels his abilities are going to waste. Then, being ordered by someone not his boss…that was even more frustrating for him. "Nothing drastic happened I hope?" she asked cautiously.

"Luckily Garrett and Neil were there, so no. They managed to hold him back, but barely." Andrew got a mischievous glint in his eyes before smirking and continuing, "But I bet if you were there, he would've melted into a helpless puddle of goo in an instant."

"Ugh, please no," the girl grumbled, taking another bite of food. The older boy had had – probably still has – a crush on her ever since he was accepted into the Rinaldi Famiglia. He thought he was being subtle, but that boy had the subtlety of a stampeding elephant. She had caught him staring quite a few times, even hiding behind a tree once or twice while raking the lawn or something, and watching her from a distance. It should have been a little disturbing, even creepy, but…Arica found it quite amusing, really, and she sensed no ill intent. "Come to think of it, though, I haven't run into him ever since we got here…"

"I've seen him around here and there, once or twice in the study helping with the tracker. That one's always up to something." Andrew shook his head and added, "Whatever it is I bet we'll know soon enough."

The girl nodded in agreement as she finished up her dinner. She had to admit, though, she kind of missed the boy's bright, ready-to-please face. It sometimes even made her day. He had one of the funniest yet cutest puppy dog faces she'd seen so far. He would usually pop out of seemingly nowhere when she was relaxing somewhere and make a total fool of himself. He was one of the people that actually made her laugh without trying. He was natural; all the others tried too hard.

"I'll take that to the kitchen, Boss," Andrew said, pulling Arica from her thoughts. Only then did she realize her plate was empty.

"Thanks, Drew. For everything," she smiled, placing the plate in the waiting hand. "Good night. And please be careful of Ricardo…he might not have forgiven so quickly."

"Is he even remotely capable of something like that?" the man sneered, but sighed in defeat upon seeing the look on Arica's face. "Yeah, yeah. But then you have to promise something in return. As soon as you find out whatever it is you still have to, I want to be the first to know."

"Aren't you always the first?" Arica chuckled, pulling the duvet up to her ears, snuggling into the warmth. She heard Andrew's 'good night' and the light clicking off before the door closed and she was plunged into darkness. Arica closed her eyes and tried for sleep. Everything that had happened that day – had it been only one day? – had messed with her mind and she had quickly become physically and mentally exhausted. As she drifted into the dark abyss, she prayed for a peaceful sleep.

Her prayers went unanswered.

A/N: I just wanna…I don't know, stab Ricardo or something, how about you guys? As much as I hate domestic violence and any type of violence really (except epic battles), this was absolutely necessary. On the bright side, it was the last scene of domestic violence for this entire fic. Though there's still a lot of normal violence in later chapters, hehe, since this is a mafia fic. But the drama and suspense and all that starts about now and we're moving on to the actual plot a lot more…though it will still take a lot more chapters to actually get there. Bear with me!

In other news: I MADE IT TO GRADE 12! *flails like a madwoman* Just one more year of prison- I mean, school and then I'm free…sort of. XP decided I want to go study business management and marketing, so there's another three years…

Question: Who else wants the KHR anime to continue? The manga is even more awesome after the future arc and then the anime just stops, GAH! *flips table* Does anyone know if they will be continuing? Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter and your opinion on the anime/manga business.

Ciao~ Lots of love till next time~