"Hwa...what's going on?"
And why didn't her sixth sense warn her about being openly kidnapped today?
Sensing the familiar aura of Daniela, Hotaru had to blink a bit at her wide grin.
"So... you're kidnapping me?"
"I'm retired and bored, and you were the most fun at the party last time."
Hotaru blinked, before a wide grin came across her face.
"So kidnapping in the name of boredom and chaos? Count me in."
Daniela cackled with delight. She knew this girl was a lot more fun than she originally let on.
The two of them clicked in a rather terrifying way. Hotaru had absolutely no issue with being kidnapped in the name of boredom, and Daniela was happy to have another conspirator for her chaos.
It was the talk of mafia politics. The former Vongola Donna had partially harmonized with the aloof freelance hit man Black Cat. Why else would the stray cat allow the woman to regularly 'kidnap' them in the name of hijinks that had most sensible mafia running the other direction at the sheer level of chaos?
Timoteo was happy for his mother...all while cringing at filing out the paperwork.
Then came the day Daniela found out Hotaru (she had reluctantly trusted the older woman with an actual name) had a Flame Seal on her from when she went active as a child, but no memory of the color.
Partly out of curiosity to see if they actually would harmonize, but mostly because she recognized the signature of the Flame holding the girl's back, Daniela broke it.
Only to be very glad she was sitting down, because that was the single most powerful outpouring of Sky she had ever felt, and it was tinged with the distinct feeling of 'ice'...as if the girl had instinctively protected her Flames from being harmed by making a shell created through the Zero Point Breakthrough.
Daniela stared, gaping at the younger girl who had been knocked out cold by the seal's release.
Not being a fool, she ordered a blood test done to find out why the hell her idiot son had sealed a Sky this strong.
Hotaru woke up a day and a half later, feeling freer than she could ever remember and seeing a rather odd look on Daniela's face.
"You're Iemitsu's daughter."
"I don't like to be reminded of that fact, thank you very much," she replied dryly.
"How?" asked Daniela.
"My mother has depression and has deliberately decided to hide behind a fantasy world. I'm not stupid enough to stick around when she was putting a rather strong emphasis on my twin brother because he looks so much like our genetic donor and risk the chance she would use me as a scapegoat. I had a gun and knew damn well how to use it, so I left. As far as I know, the idiot never really bothered to care that his 'happy little family' was fractured," said Hotaru bluntly. "I'm perfectly content to be a stray cat... it means I don't have to deal with any expectations from his narcissistic ideals."
Daniela could already confirm most of her story...she had her Mist go straight to Japan to where she knew Iemitsu had left his civilian family and confirmed that he had twins. The boy was doing well and thriving in a civilian setting, though he was firmly a Latent and the mother was oblivious but doting.
Now if she were younger she would have adopted Hotaru directly...however she was well aware that her time was dwindling quickly.
"I'm old and my time is almost up. And I can see you're thriving as a stray more than you would have the viper's den that is the upper echelon of mafia politics. However there's no way I can in good conscience leave a young Sky as strong as you wander around without some training. Which is why I'm offering you a deal. I'll take you in as my 'Cloud' guardian until I croak and train you how to use them effectively until people figure out what your real Flame type is...though I have little doubt you have a Cloud Secondary anyway. That would allow me to write you in the will so you can have an actual home and keep the worst of the idiots off while staying a stray cat until you're ready to settle down," said Daniela.
Hotaru wasn't an idiot...this was likely the best deal she was likely to get in some time, even if it meant having to stay around Daniela until her inevitable death.
Besides she adored the older woman and this was the only way she'd be allowed in to the funeral when it happened. Timoteo wasn't likely to let a freelancer in otherwise, no matter how close they were.
"I don't have to dress up like a girl, do I?"
Daniela grinned at her.
"I won't do anything too girly, but it would be fun to see everyone's expressions finding out you're actually a female. Besides, I can't wait to see my son's reaction to the fact I took you in."
Timoteo had a decidedly pained look on his face when he found out that his mother had 'adopted' the stray cat as her new Guardian, however temporary it was.
The fact Hotaru actually did have a Cloud secondary meant it was easier to hide what her actual primary was.
Though she would openly admit to cackling at the minor heart attack she gave Daniela when she tried on the Vongola Sky ring as a lark...and accidentally summoned the Primo of all things. And it wasn't just limited to him...with a little effort Hotaru summoned the ENTIRE first generation, including a very startled Daemon Spade who was promptly tackled by an irate Giotto and received a rather spectacular black eye for something he did a long time ago. Or was still doing, if she heard him correctly.
She wasn't entirely sure how to break it to Daniela that she now had a discreet stalker in the form of the first/second Mist Guardian...who was apparently able to stick around through sheer stubbornness. So long as she wasn't required to clean up after him she would happily turn a blind eye.
Though really, who could have expected her to bond with Daemon Spade over losing their respective girlfriends and going slightly off the deep end?
Daemon clearly realized she was a reincarnation of someone else (not Giotto), and when she asked him why he went and kicked Giotto out of his spot, she could only sympathize. It had taken Saya's presence to keep her from brutally murdering Creed, after all. And she had never really 'clicked' with anyone since... something that he could relate to because despite a few flings (while possessing someone else) he had never really found anyone who could match him like Elena had.
"Fancy seeing you here," said Dino cheerfully.
"Not really. Daniela is nothing if not convincing, and at least she lets me keep some of my dignity," said Hotaru.
She had to admit, the reaction of the mafioso upon learning "Black Cat" was actually a woman who didn't want to deal with people assuming she slept with her targets to kill them was pretty damn funny.
"Ciaossu. So you were really a Cloud?" asked Reborn.
Hotaru smirked.
"Actually it's my secondary," she said amused. "I will say Daniela is very pissed off at her son at the moment for his stupidity."
That would explain the looks she kept giving Timoteo. It took Reborn a few seconds to register what he was sensing from the close proximity to the odd stray cat was before he turned to give her a shocked look.
"No."
Her smirk widened.
"I did say Cloud was my secondary."
"So you're really..."
"Apprentice, at least until she croaks," said Hotaru. "Can you imagine the riot it would cause when people find out what my primary is, and that I've been acting as a freelancer?"
Reborn could easily see it. A Sky wandering around like a stray cat acting as a freelance hit man, under a seal no less, hiding in plain sight!
The chaos that revelation would cause would be glorious, especially since people were already in such a tizzy over the knowledge "Black Cat" was actually a woman. A young woman who had yet to hit the legal age among civilians, but still considered an adult purely because of the blood on her hands.
Now that she wasn't hiding her gender, it was pretty damn clear she was quite the looker. He could already see Dino's interest growing in her...she was one of the few females who had taken his clumsiness in stride and found it more amusing than annoying.
Well, he wasn't above nudging his normally idiotic student towards the stray kitten who kept proving more interesting the more hidden aspects she revealed.
Daniela not only approved of the idea of nudging Hotaru towards Dino, she was actively conspiring with Romario and Reborn to see if anything would develop between them.
Not only was Dino a good match, he was also a good man. Just a bit clumsy.
Besides, if two Skies paired off it raised the possibility of their child having Sky flames exponentially, or at least being predisposed to it as a secondary.
"Is it just me or are the two old fogies trying to pair us up?" asked Hotaru over gelato.
"It's not you, and if Reborn or Daniela hear you call them that we're both going to be in for it," said Dino amused.
"Reborn is older than Daniela, mentally at least. And I know you can hear me you old fossil, because you didn't even catch the Pokémon reference I made towards that partner of yours!" Hotaru called out a few feet down from where they were. "She at least caught the joke!"
Reborn scowled at her, while inwardly impressed that she had known he was there to begin with.
"What Pokémon reference?" asked Dino confused.
"I called Leon a Ditto with a penchant for lizard form, and he didn't get the joke," said Hotaru flatly.
Dino snorted, before laughing.
"If Leon is Ditto then Enzo has to be a Squirtle with a weird Ability!" he laughed.
"That or that fossil turtle, but Squirtle does sound like a good fit," said Hotaru grinning wickedly. "Then again you often remind me of a gangly Ponyta."
Dino snickered.
"If I'm Ponyta then what does that make you?"
Hotaru had to think about that for a moment.
"I would say Combuskin, though I'm quickly advancing towards Blaziken. The current lot of 'cat-theme' ones simply don't suit me, but Blaziken is a total bad ass. Though Victini would be a close second."
"I can see it, though Umbreon might work too," he admitted. "What does that make Reborn?"
"Absol, definitely."
"The disaster Pokémon?" said Dino amused.
"Well he's certainly not Kecleon."
"What about Daniela?"
"I want to say Honchcrow, if only because she's a badass who proved girls can be just as effective when it comes to leading a famiglia through trying times as a boy can."
Dino was getting into this now, it was far too amusing.
"Lal Mirch."
"Houndoom," said Hotaru immediately. "Also, totally a tsundere, from what I heard."
"Colonello."
"Blastiose or Braviary."
"Fon."
"Charizard, either regular or Mega form."
"Skull?"
"Gengar, again regular or mega."
"Mammon."
"Mismagius."
"Verde."
"Alakazam."
Dino was having a blast, because if he thought about it he could totally see the comparison. Best of all was the total confusion on Reborn's face. He was not happy that he couldn't get even half of what they were talking about.
"So do you like music or opera?"
Hotaru averted her eyes at that. She had a bit of a shifty look on her face.
"I made the mistake of watching Les Miserables and ended up doing a recreation of the revolution Giotto pulled when he started the Vongola with Daniela flirting with G rather heavily. I didn't know ghosts could blush that hard, and the others were laughing their ass off at the whole thing!"
Dino blinked.
"What?" he said confused.
"Long story short, I apparently have the ability to pull out any generation of Vongola dons or their Guardians from the Vongola rings? The first generation tends to show up the most, but we're rather confused how exactly I'm doing it in the first place."
Namely because she was only related to the first generation don, not the rest. The only thing she could think of to explain what was going on was that the others liked her for some reason, and were more than happy to impart their own bits of advice.
As a result Daemon was going to hide the fact that the 'rings' that the Vongola reclaimed once Daniela died were copies. After all, it was unlikely Timoteo was going to start using his mother's rings instead of the copies he wore now, so that gave them a bit of leeway before the deception was found out.
Besides, the ones Daniela had were the original Vongola rings that belonged to Giotto before Ricardo was forced to have another set made since the Primo's didn't work quite right when he needed them to. They were technically Hotaru's birthright, and this meant she would have to hunt down her own Sky ring later.
"So... you're a Vongola by blood then?" asked Dino.
"Why did you think Daniela took me in as her apprentice, not just as her Cloud guardian? She's been teaching me how to use my Flames when we're not up to mischief. Coincidentally she about ruptured a lung from laughing her ass off when I channeled my Flames into Hades."
That sounded mildly worrying.
"Why?" asked Reborn, interrupting.
"Something about how I'd get along perfectly with her favorite grandson, 'who her idiot son had better release soon or she was so going to haunt his ass when she croaked'. I think she plans to write in a loophole in her last will and wishes so that I have some leeway to insure her grandson Xanxus actually gets to attend the funeral and piss off her son because there's nothing he can legally do without getting into a lot of hot water with the Alliance because he screwed up."
Seeing their intense interest, she shrugged.
"From what Daniela implied, her big scheme involves claiming it's an internal matter with the Vongola as well as sharing some rather incriminating documents about my heritage to the Alliance before letting it slip that the Ninth was responsible for the seal. Of course it means I'll have to demonstrate I'm not just some stray cat that the old geezer can simply brush aside or punish idly, never mind the fact we're only distantly related and I have never claimed the Vongola name. Hopefully that should keep the Vindice from coming down on my ass later."
Daniela wanted Hotaru to break into the Iron Fort, locate and free Xanxus, then deliver the fact that she was acting on her "Sky's" last request before she died to insure the Wrath made it to the funeral, since she had genuine doubts her son would even bother to release the boy from the ice. She suspected the old fool had forgotten about Xanxus entirely until he needed to use him.
The entire Cradle Affair was his own damn fault, for leading Xanxus on and not explaining it to him clearly that he was adopted!
It was as she was walking back to meet up with Daniela's Storm that she heard a sound, and followed it to find a tiny kitten abandoned in a box. It was barely old enough to be away from it's mother, and her heartstrings tugged just looking at it.
She had absolutely no shame in bundling the kitten up and putting it in her pocket...even if Daniela busted her not three hours later for pilfering some food for it.
Hotaru now had a new furry friend that she named Dani, because something about the kitten reminded her a lot of Daniela's impish spirit.