I do not own KHR.

Timoteo, the Vongola's Ninth boss, had his hands behind him intertwined as he stared at the azure sky from his office's window when Iemitsu Sawada entered his office.

"Why did you summon me, Ninth?" He greeted, looking seriously at the 70-year-old man. It was a sudden call. Dealing with mafia means dealing with 'sudden' events but this one was different since he had weightfully insisted his presence. He should have been training with Basil in the CEDEF's headquarters by then.

Timoteo gave him a hesitant look which Iemitsu took as a bad portent. "Iemitsu, remind me again why we did not let Tsukiyo be Vongola's tenth boss. Why did we choose Tsunayoshi?" He asked, as if he doesn't know the reason. Only both of them know the real grounds.

"Why are you asking me this, ninth?" Iemitsu looked at him, confused. It wasn't the time to be asking for answers to an already learnt question.

"Iemitsu, did you know that you're daughter. Well, she…," Timoteo paused, judging if he should say that his daughter was nearer than he expected.

"What did my daughter do?" He heard, breaking his thoughtful jam.

He sighed, and turned to him, unemotional. "She's here in Italy."

Iemitsu's brows wrinkled. "She is? Now, that's heart-warming, isn't it? An unexpected visit from my lovely daughter… where is he?" He asked calmly, with a plan to meet her right away after knowing her whereabouts. The fatherly feeling inside him was almost driving him to great commotion. God knows how much he loves his family and he doesn't want the mafia to interfere with their peaceful life. Once he found her, he's going to tell Tsukiyo to go back to Japan. But before that, he needs to know what Tsukiyo was doing in Italy. She doesn't know about the mafia. Rather, she's not supposed to know about the mafia, he should have said.

"She's with Varia," came the impassive reply from the ninth.

"I see. I'm off to see her then," he said and took his steps back to the exit when a sudden realization hit him. "She's with what?" He exclaimed, bringing down his hands violently on the ninth's mahogany table. "Why is she with them?" His voice was getting louder at his words which broke his calm disposition.

"It seems that Tsukiyo learned about Tsunayoshi being the tenth Vongola boss. She was outraged by it and Reborn decided to send her to them – Varia," Timoteo answered coolly, ignoring the belligerent act of his external advisor.

"But why Varia? Of all places, the Death Mountains?" Iemitsu's face was not devoid of agony. He knew the place, it wasn't friendly.

"I was as shocked as you, too, Iemitsu. But that, you should ask Reborn," remarked Timoteo, looking at him empathically.

Iemitsu's shoulders suddenly felt heavy. He had trusted Reborn his family's protection. Is he trying to get his precious daughter killed? "I'm going to get her," Iemitsu declared, storming out of the room but before he could take his exit, Timoteo spoke.

"Xanxus is there, Iemitsu."

He turned to see him. "I know but we're speaking about the Death Mountains here, ninth. You can't trust that place. It's not like I distrust the Varia but the life of my daughter is the one at stake here. I know you do understand me."

"I understand very well. Shall we pay them a visit then?" The ninth said, breaking out a diminutive smile.

Iemitsu looked at him, judging if what he heard was real.

"I'm going with you. I want to see how Xanxus is doing."

_._._._._

Tsukiyo woke up in her room in the Varia Headquarters; of course, she wished she woke up in her divine room back in Namimori, and found that everything was just a horrible dream. But it's just so heart-wrecking to be hit by reality. It was past three in the afternoon, read the digital clock beside her bed. Oh, yeah, she was in Italy, right? Sigh. More realities hit her. Screw life.

She got off her bed, still wearing that gothic maid dress, and got out of her room. She proceeded to the kitchen, deciding that she wanted to eat. She was getting hungry. There might be something edible in there. She'll settle with fruits if there were.

She didn't get a glimpse on the Varia members or their subordinates around. It was quiet – frightfully. She took an apple and proceeded to the living room. They might be there talking or hanging around; unfortunately, there was not a single entity in the room. Could they be in their respective rooms? Siesta time, maybe.

She set off again to the enormous garden behind the castle, and sat on the bench provided near the fountain.

Right. So I'm in Italy now. Now what? She closed her eyes, feeling herself. I'm still sane. She meditated deeper. I'm still alive. She took a deep breath. Metaphorically, I'm dead. She sighed the second time, but deeper. She opened her eyes. "I'm surprised on how I can hold on to myself." She smiled at that self-praise. It was worth it, she thought. I'm risking my life being their, err, toy. Hell, I should be labeled a hero. Nah, legend sounds cooler.

She stared at the cloud-tainted cobalt sky. The sun was still up and it seemed to sing her a lullaby. She yawned. Why did I even get out of my bed?

She saw a figure on her peripheral vision causing her to turn her gaze at that direction. Whatever she has seen made her stood up, and if ever she wanted to escape, it was useless. The atmosphere suddenly felt intense and she can't move an inch.

"B-belphegor," she uttered softly, her breath running out.

"Shishishi. No, I'm Rasiel. Nice to meet you, the maid who slammed the phone while I was asking for my brother on the other line. Was that too much to ask for?"

If Rasiel was indeed real, then Tsukiyo would say they were the exact replica of each other. But he was. She was certain of that. She saw a grin was on his face. She thought resentfully of him after feeling that her consciousness were drifting away.

_._._._._._._

"How long has she been there?" Iemitsu asked. There were traveling by one of Vongola's helicopter, and an hour by now, they will be at Varia's headquarters.

"I have no idea, Iemitsu," answered the Ninth.

The look on Iemitsu's face couldn't be painted "How did you know that she was there?"

"I called the Varia headquarters, and fortunately, she was the one who answered it," he said, remembering her voice shouting at the other line. "She sounded fine although I can sense she's really irate about Tsuna's case."

Iemitsu nodded in agreement, not like there's something to agree about. Tsukiyo was that kind of person; she would dare fight her family's sake even though it means jeopardy to her. How did she call it again – 'family-first principle', wasn't it? She was a stubborn kid, and always will be, he knew. And if ever he's going to see his daughter, the girl would probably scold her for everything because he was also the one of the people in favor of Tsuna being Vongola Decimo.

"Iemitsu." Timoteo caught his attention. "What will you say if Tsukiyo asked why was she not chosen instead? Why not her be the Vongola Decimo despite the same blood flowing in their veins?"

Iemitsu sighed. "I knew this would happen but I did not expect it to be so early." He paused. "If she asks that, I might as well tell her the truth."

Timoteo looked at him, scrutinizing his statement. "And what exactly is this truth?"

"That she's not worthy to be the tenth." The immediate reply came unfeeling, but Iemitsu's face reflected gloom.

"Rude as it is?"

"Tsukiyo will understand. I am sure of that. She's that kind of person. I admire my daughter's sense of adaptation in every situation she is caught in. The mafia isn't an exception."

"This is Tsuna we're talking about, Iemitsu. You know that your son is still stubbornly refusing to be the Decimo despite being through a lot of difficulties. The Vongola needs them – both of your children. If Tsuna isn't willing to be, Tsukiyo will take his place, and so the other way around."

"There will be no problem with Tsuna. He will accept it, for his family's sake. He will come to understand soon. It is him we needed, not Tsukiyo."

"But it's a different story if Tsukiyo learned Tsuna's rejection of being the Tenth and we're still pushing it on him." Timoteo argued, as if pushing Iemitsu to an abrupt decision of fate.

Iemitsu sighed, as if to haul something deep in his heart. "She will take my position."

Timoteo gave him a surprising look. If those eyes were reflecting disagreement or confusion, Iemitsu didn't know but this is only what he can do for Tsukiyo. "She will be the Vongola Tenth's external advisor. That's the only solution I can consider. There's nothing she can do about Tsuna. She might accept it if she can protect her little brother in secure proximity and that is being his advisor."

"What does the girl know about mafia?" Timoteo questioned, as if antagonizing him even more. Iemitsu was quite confounded by the uncanny conversation Timoteo was giving him.

"I told you, ninth. She's a fast settler."

_._._._._._._._.

Belphegor was reclining comfortably on his bed, throwing knives at the ceiling of his room. Another one of his missionless day. He wanted to try again his aiming skills at Tsukiyo but unfortunately, the girl was taking her unnecessary respite resulting from knowing that she's actually in Italy. My, he did not know that. He did not know that Tsukiyo wasn't aware of where she was.

He didn't know why but something was urging him to peek outside his window. He was a lazy person and never in his entire life did his intuition told him to walk over to that windowpane as if it's saying: "Hey, hey, come here and take a look outside. Something interesting is going down there."

Nevertheless, he gave into his premonition and peered outside. He was expecting to see nothing but the fountain and an enormous grass lawn, but that wasn't the case. Tsukiyo was sleeping conveniently in a fetal position down the cold pavement ground near the fountain. Not really convenient. She was not alone though and that made him thought otherwise to what happened to her. There were two more guys in there.

Belphegor was quite surprised at the unexpected visit but a grin drew itself on his face. Why, a missionless day might turn out to be chaotic and that was how he liked it. But still, he thought, Tsukiyo didn't really look good lying in there.

Dear readers, this story won't go exactly as what you had think it would. I'll tell you, the romance isn't actually the main concern here but also family ties and bonds. In other words, the romance between Belphegor and Tsukiyo will progress slowly. (Seriously, there are animes like this. haha.) Peace out.

Review. Criticisms. Are. Appreciated.