05 Reunion
It was a wonderful Saturday afternoon. Hane just had a nice lunch at the garden under the refreshing blue sky, and was lying at the couch watching the season finale of her favourite show, Mafia Wizards. She was just about to take a nice nap when the doorbell rang. She reluctantly got up and went to the door.
"Ciaossu."
Hane did not see anyone at first, but when she heard the cute, perky little voice, she realised that she should look down, and saw a baby in suit in front of her. She wondered how he reached the doorbell.
"Ganauche~~there's a baby outside. Did you knock someone up?" Hane yelled back to the Ninth generation lightning guardian, who almost tripped as he walked down the stairs when he heard her.
"I'm not a baby, dame-Hane." Very unexpectedly, the baby took out a gun and fired at her. Her pupils constricted and in half a second, she dodged it by crouching onto the floor. The baby continued shooting as she somersaulted and used to sofa as her cover.
"Not too bad." The baby commented and returned his gun to his pocket.
"Reborn? Why didn't you say you were coming?" Ganauche was astonished to see the number one hitman visit their mansion.
"Reborn?" Hane peeked out from the sofa. She realized that Reborn only shot paint bullets at her since the white walls were now stained with colours. "YOU'RE Reborn? The best hitman in the world?"
Reborn didn't answer. He reached for his pocket and took out another gun. She recognized it. It was the infamous CT-75 used by the renowned hitman.
"Let's start testing you." He grinned and shot.
"GANAUCHE! VISCONTI! *TASKETE!"
The last scene she saw was Ganauche's face of pitiness as he returned to his room. The next thing she knew, she was running for her life.
"The green that trails Namimori Not large not small, Nami is best Always unchanging…"
Her vision blurred. She moaned at the annoying, a little off-tuned voice and opened her eyes. Then she saw a yellow bird at the side of her pillow, producing the noise.
"What a nightmare." It was a dream about what happened a week ago. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. The little bird hopped onto her legs cheerfully.
"Where's Hibari, little guy?" She gently poked its yellow feather.
"Training!" Hibird replied happily. "School time! School time!"
Hane's head slightly tilted and finally understood the situation. She grinned, grabbed Hibird, tossed it out of the window and shut the window tightly.
'Thanks Dino-nii!' She lied down with a satisfied smile.
She didn't think they would meet each other again in this way.
She was not ready. Not at all. But then she would never be ready for it.
Tsuna and his guardians were anxiously looking for Lambo. The notorious assassin squad could be anywhere and that kid in cow-suit had no self-control. Well, he was only five.
They bumped into Hane in an alley. Apparently she was trying to get food from a convenience store near Hibari's home but lost her way. So she joined the search.
But she didn't know that the day she'd been wishing never to come was right around the corner.
She was rushing along the unfamiliar streets, trying to save the annoying cow-kid when she heard that loud voice. Then she saw a bunch of bangs and an evil grin. The blonde had grown much taller.
"The guardians would fight against each other for the ownership of the ring." The pink-haired women announced.
Finally she saw his red irises.
It had been quite a while. She could only remember their special features, but could not exactly recall their face. Yet she was quite sure that there was no scar on his face. Nor was there so much hatred and bitterness.
Tears gradually filled her eyes. She held her hand against her mouth and mumbled his name.
"Xanxus-nii..."
He heard her. He turned and saw her face. There was slight perplex on his face, but then he linked the white hair and violet eyes to someone from his memory.
"Little trash...?" If someone was looking closely enough, he might see a rare bit of tender in those anger-driven eyes.
"Xanxus-nii." Her breath rate slightly went up and she didn't even care about him calling her with such insulting words. She remembered clearly how she wailed day and night when the ninth generation guardians brought her away from the Varia castle and told her that she could never see them ever again. She remembered how she burst into tears when Ganauche III finally told her the truth, about how Xanxus betrayed his father and got frozen. She staggered towards him with both hope and fear. She was partly excited about seeing him again, but partly scared that he no longer held back his anger for her.
"Piuma?" Squalo took a step forward. She was so different from how he remembered her. She was so fragile, like he could break her with a touch or make her cry with a roar. But now, the hair and the eyes were the only things unchanged.
Xanxus' eyelids flickered. He moved one step forward and halted, struggling whether he should unveil his very slight sense of gentleness again.
Finally, he whispered with an apathetic expression, "Come here."
Hane hugged the muscular man, resting her cheek on his chest. Xanxus' right hand rose in awkwardness and touched her white hair, and his left hand wrapped around her back. Her hair was still soft and shiny, but she had grown so much taller. She was barely taller than his knee last time they met, but now she was at his shoulders. He could not embrace her with one hand anymore. It was like hugging a toy or a puppy in the past, but now he's hugging a woman, which he rarely did.
She was so happy for a few seconds, but then her heart raced as she thought of what he did. Should she ask him if it was true that he was behind "The cradle"? Should she persuade him not to fight Tsuna and his guardians? These struggles had been in her mind since the day she knew that she was going to meet the Varia again. She had had no idea how to resolve this. Emotionally, she wanted to stand on the Varia's side since she only met Tsuna a few days ago, but her rationality told her that Xanxus was wrong.
"Stand away for a while, little trash. I have to deal with those scums over there." Xanxus let go of her and pushed her towards Squalo, but Hane clutched his arm.
He looked at her in confusion when she took a deep breath and said, "Please don't hurt them, Xanxus-nii."
Xanxus' eyes narrowed, "What did you just say?"
"Please, they're my friends." Hane forced herself to continue.
Anger once again swarmed over Xanxus' mind. He felt a sense of betrayal. His mind still stayed in eight years ago, so the images of the baby girl he slightly cared for was still fresh in his mind. He fiercely glared at the girl, but put much effort to suppress his anger, and ordered, "You don't want to get involved, little trash. Get out of this."
"I can't." Hane stood between Xanxus and Tsuna. Tears kept rolling off her cheeks but she kept on. "I don't want to see you guys fight. Could you just…..not hurt them? Please, its not your throne, Xanxus-nii."
"IT IS MY THRONE!" Xanxus roared and pulled out his gun, pointing it straight at Hane. "I am the son of of Vongola Nono. I should be succeeding Vongola!"
"Oi, Boss. Calm down!" Squalo rushed between Xanxus and Hane, and hid Hane behind his broad back again like he did nine years ago.
"One last chance, little trash. Either join my side or stay out of it, or I'll blow you apart."
Hane could only sob. She did not know what to do. She had expected this mess. She thought she could handle it but she couldn't.
"Xanxus, yamero*!" Tsuna, Gokudera and Gokudera all fetched their weapons and put up a defensive pose.
"Xanxus." Reborn hopped forward calmly. "We will fight you in the ring battles. Give Piuma some time."
Xanxus went silent for a moment, then returned the gun to his waist. He turned around and disappeared in the evening shadows.
