PSN: Well heyo! :D Let's continue with this chapter shall we? Shall we? Oh well. Here it is. (READ THE BOTTOM A/N. *police siren* READ THE BOTTOM A/N. EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED THERE.)


DISCLAIMER: Listen, if I owned KHR, KHR wouldn't be KHR, would it? Genius.~ All rights to Akira Amano.


As a boss, I advise you—no, rather I beseech you! Be more attentive as a boss and do not sleep when one of the major events in your life is unfolding.

Heed this please: Do. Not. Sleep.

I repeat: Do. Not. Sleep.

Especially when said problem concerns your Mist Guardian.

Giotto, Vongola Mafia boss


With his elbows gently resting on his desk and his head buried underneath his massive books, Giotto let out a gentle snore, a chirruping sound escaping his nose as he took mild breaths in-between. Slight drool trickled from his jaw and stained the desk as his mind drifted far away from the problems of his own family. He was feeling a little uncomfortable in his sleeping position and rolled over until the books fell onto the ground with a loud THUD. He was still asleep and had not heard the noise, though the residents of the house had.

"Mmh," he mumbled dreamily. He smiled in his dream, cushioning his arm on his head as he snuggled closer to the desk—not really an ideal bed, but for now it had to do—and dropped the important papers littering his desk on the floor.

Papers were scattered around the room, making the space in the room look messier than it already was. The room had been clean a few moments ago however, cleaned by Fiore, whom after being employed by Giotto under unfortunate conditions had taken the liberty to 'help' them with their workload by clearing up their mess. Giotto was sure this was because she had developed an unholy crush on G who had not reciprocated her feelings—she was too childish, he had told him once when Giotto asked him why he was toying with her feelings when they both knew perfectly well that she was a demon in disguise.

A thing she hadn't disguised ever since she came to the mansion. She was a lot worse than Elena who only had her strops during her monthly visit from the little red sisters*. Fiore was always getting annoyed at the slightest thing—especially if they were Giotto's actions—and she would have a meltdown and scream abuse at anything that breathes, walks or even moves at all. Elena had however, warmed to Fiore and now they could be seen sitting in the kitchen often conversing and giggling together about random things.

Giotto had even heard her once talk about him as though he wasn't there.

"Gio is an idiot. I hate him," Fiore declared suddenly, her arms resting on the kitchen table as she held a mug of steaming coffee in both hands.

"He's alright," Elena said, sipping her own espresso, wincing a little at the heat. She quickly put it down and set it aside at the table.

"No. G is far better and gentlemanly," Fiore said dreamily, her eyes vacant as her imagination galloped far away with her.

A snort erupted from Elena who withheld her judgment.

None of them noticed Giotto listening in on their conversation.

All in all, ever since Fiore had moved into the mansion with her father, the place had become somewhat livelier—and louder— and Lampo had visited more often lately because of it than the whole year combined. In fact, Giotto was a little fed-up with seeing Lampo trail behind Fiore every day. Her father was an additional blessing, albeit in disguise, as he rendered himself as a personal subordinate willing to sacrifice and lay his life down for Giotto. He had even proposed to help him with his workload, but Giotto felt that a step too far. The only person whom he trusted with this task was G, his best-friend and right-hand man. The others were trusted, but Giotto knew that they wouldn't do the job as well as G could—and that was a given.

"Mmnh," Giotto mumbled sleepily, rolling over gently to the other side of the desk, his resting uncomfortably on one of his report books.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

As the footsteps came closer and closer to the office, Giotto vaguely heard a slow knock on his door—one he chose to ignore as his slumber had yet not finished. But the person on the other side was really adamant because the knocks were getting louder and more persistent.

Giotto was getting irritated and growled under his breath to scare the person away.

"I'll take that as 'yes, please do come in G'," the door opened and Giotto cracked one eye open lazily and winced as the light seeping through his office hit him directly in the eye and momentarily blinded him. When his eyes were restored to his normal 20/20 vision, he acknowledged a grumpy looking G standing by his door, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

Quickly Giotto sat up straighter and wiped the drool from his face. He coughed and fluffed up his hair and smoothed down his creased tie and shirt and assumed an air of mafia-bossiness as he regarded his best-friend.

"Yes," his voice was still ragged with sleep. "May I help you G? I am currently busy."

G snorted with incredulity. "Busy sleeping you mean. Honestly, you were meant to work, not sleep."

Giotto 's cheek flared up red with embarrassment. It wasn't his fault really; he never really did get time to sleep lately, so he slept in his office whenever he could. It was because of them he never got time to himself at all.

"Well," Giotto answered self-righteously, "I'm quite sure you haven't come here to discuss my sleeping habits.

G allowed himself to sit down on the chair opposite Giotto and ran a hand through his dishevelled red hair. He blew out a sigh and levelled his gaze to his boss before mumbling, "We got ourselves a problem."

"Oh?" Giotto didn't look convinced.

G nodded.

"So, what is this...problem?"

G blew out another sigh and jumped out of his seat quickly, his palms pressing on Giotto's desk, facing his boss. "Just promise to take this seriously. Whatever I tell you, do not undermine this problem."

Giotto was becoming confused know, a perplexed look on his face. "G, you're scaring me now, how serious are we speaking?"

"Very serious," G said; a solemn look on his face.

All sleep had been erased from Giotto's face as he regarded his best-friend warily. G never acted like this. What, he wondered, was so serious that his face had to be etched with worry? Was it an enemy attack? Giotto wouldn't know how to react to that; he just wasn't prepared at the moment what with the Tortellini incident previously last week.

"An enemy attack?"

"No."

"Did somebody die?"

"No."

"Okay, did Lampo elope?"

"No!"

"Did Alaude destroy a family?"

There was a pause. Giotto's heart was in his mouth, fearing the worst. He didn't want to pay compensation—he always warned Alaude to not abuse his powers.

"Maybe, I haven't seen any complaints though."

Giotto exhaled a sigh of relief and continued.

"Did Knuckle become a monk?"

"Not that I have heard of."

"Oh no! Did Fiore do something horrible."

"No. No. No," G cried exasperated

"But—"

Before he could intercept any further, a loud sound exploded below them and an even louder guttural, almost animalistic moan. Giotto heard a sharp noise and something that sounded like glass breaking and recoiled with shock. His eyes widened with surprise as G sat smugly opposite him his mouth curled up in a complacent smile.

"That my friend is our new problem."

XxX—XxX

It took a couple shots of coffee—Giotto needed to be sober for this occasion. He listened carefully to G, who seemed less and less animated as he explained the happenings whilst he was 'idly sleeping'. Giotto was astonished if truth be told. It always felt like the moment he turned his back, something as preposterous as this happened. How that was possible in itself, was beyond him.

"So," Giotto clenched his coffee mug—the one with 'Best Boss' written on it, a birthday gift from Lampo—and smiled tightly, "you're telling me that this..." his fingers pointed downwards, referring to the floor below, "is happening because Daemon had the unfortunate luck of being dumped by Elena this morning?"

"Uh huh."

"And that Daemon had gone berserk and had been raging all morning, disturbing the citizens of Venice?"

"Uh huh."

"So, Elena upped and left, staying over at her parent's home whilst she sorted out her feelings? And," here Giotto paused purposefully, "don't say 'uh huh'. It's kinda anno—"

"Uh hu—I mean, yes boss. I got it. You basically got the general idea. Daemon was dumped so he went berserk, as you put it," G said. He looked around the room and sighed, "Call Fiore. I need coffee too, before we proceed any further. Damn, I need caffeine."

Giotto rolled his eyes. He quickly pressed the button on his desk and before he could request anything, Fiore rushed forward in a flurry of movements, already by G's side. What on earth was this girl on? Giotto thought, and how had she known? Was she eavesdropping? Giotto wouldn't have been surprised.

"G," she said breathlessly—Giotto doubted it was because of her exercise—and smiled, "did you need me? Coffee was it?"

"Eh," a befuddled look grazed G's face as he evaluated Fiore, "how on earth did you know before I ordered?"

"Your eyes," she said again breathlessly, "beautiful as they are, they yearn for a shot of caffeine. I can tell. I understand the language of your eyes, they call for me."

"Wuh, huh?" G was dumbfounded.

Giotto giggled behind his hand and straightened up when Fiore glared at him, her icy eyes locked on him.

"Two teaspoon of sugar, condensed milk and syrup?" She talked much like a waitress. Though Giotto knew it was only because she had memorized G's schedule and eating habits.

"Yes, please," G smiled gratefully at her.

"Oooh," Fiore blushed to her roots, "don't do that. You kill me, oh you!"

G shook his head. "You are impossible. But thank you anyway, Fiore."

Fiore smiled and toddled of, a happy skip in her steps as she left them to their own device. However, before she disappeared completely, she turned around and pointed at Giotto, assuming an accusing tone.

"Excuse me, mister boss, but you'd like to know that one of your guardian's is trashing your living room. Daddy told me to tell you, so don't think I'm telling you this because I like you or anything. I don't, okay? I got so over you, so don't flatter yourself. I like G a lot better than you, he's handsome, he's cool and he's everything I need in a man. So whatever, stupid boss guy. Dad told me to respect you, but I see no reason to, because you're not my boss are you? Stupid! Stupid! I don't like you Giotto. Why did you do this to me? I thought you liked me. We had fun, right? Even though I like G, I still miss you. Why did you go and have to ruin it for me? Ugh! Go die. I still hate you!"

And with that ending soliloquy, Fiore finally left them, stomping her way out this time as she marched for the kitchen.

"What. Was. That?" G's eyes were wide with disbelief.

Giotto couldn't help but guffaw at his friend's incredulity. He was surprised that G wasn't used to Fiore by now—everybody else was, by now. Fiore may have spouted nonsense, but deep down, Giotto knew that she didn't hate him and that in her twisted heart, she still cared for him.

"Typical Fiore attitude," Giotto answered. "She can't decide whether she likes me or not, so she's feeling conflicted towards me."

G rolled his eyes. "The things she spouts sometimes. What was that? Half of it didn't even sound right!"

Giotto shook his head. "I know. Anyway, Daemon is trashing the house right now. We need to take swift action before he destroys everything."

"Well, I had a plan," G said slowly.

"Yes..." Giotto trailed.

"And it may involve things that you may or may not like," G said.

"And..." Giotto trailed.

"You'll have to co-operate regardless."

"And..."

"If you don't you'll get a trashed mansion."

"And your conclusion is...?"

G smiled, "An amazing one. You'll have to call the rest of the guardians. We need all their co-operation for this. Including Alaude."

Giotto regarded him warily, "Okay. I'm in. Only if you promise that I'll have my reputation intact by the end of it."

Before G could reply, a tray with a mug of steaming coffee arrived in front of him. Fiore smiled brightly at him and set it on Giotto's desk.

"Here's the coffee, G," she sang, standing expectantly in front of him. The sunny smile still plastered on her face.

"Thank you," G picked up his coffee and sipped it. "Really, thank you."

Fiore froze.

"That's it? I get a thank you for slaving in the kitchen, formulating the perfect coffee for you? It's 'thanks' now is it?"

"Eh, what'd you want?" G asked, feeling confused by her rising anger.

"Nothing. I thought you were better G," and with that, she walked off noisily.

Giotto couldn't stop giggling at G's stunned face. He found the whole issue priceless and enjoyed watching the interaction between them. It was better when you were on the sideline and watching, rather than the one playing.

"That's it. I give up on women," G said, raising his hands in surrender. "And here I thought we could use her for our plan. Now, I'm thinking of assigning her role to you, Giotto."

"What?" Giotto couldn't help but exclaim.

"You'll play the woman in this. I have a fool-proof plan," G grinned, sipping his coffee. "All you have to do is co-operate, boss."


PSN: Okay, so I know what you're thinking right now. This chapter is rather short and uneventful and you're like, "Damn, this girl is trolling us. This measly chapter? We waited months for this measly chapter? I can't even feed my family with this, let alone those in the third world."

Or maybe I'm thinking that you're thinking this and jumping to conclusions! :D

Anyway, let me explain myself: Yes, this chapter was short. Yes, it was uneventful, unfunny, un-whatever. Bu-ut, and read this carefully: I decided to separate the next two chapters in two parts. One, the plan for saving Daemon from self-destruction and two, the action of saving Daemon from self-destruction.

This was a little taster. So ciao and look forward to the much sooner-won't-take-years-to-update-chapter, okay?

*Little red sisters—menstruation