Hotaru had to blink when she found the familiar form of Reborn crashing on her chair, sleeping away like he owned the place. Rather than wake him up...or ask him why the hell he broke into her place, she put up the groceries and went about starting supper.

Ever since she had gotten this place she had slowly started to make her own meals rather than buy the premade kinds that just needed to be heated up. She had gained a few pounds and the food quality was much higher as well.

Reborn woke up around dinner, and she handed him a plate without asking a thing. It wasn't until they were finished and she brought out the booze Xanxus kept stocked in her apartment for when he came over that she finally spoke.

"So... what brought you here?"

"I just wanted to see how you were handling Daniela's death."

"Uh-huh. What's the real reason?"

"Timoteo has recently visited Japan to see Iemitsu's civilian family and come to the unpleasant revelation that the Sky child he had sealed over a decade ago has been missing for some time with no idea where she is. Considering the fact Xanxus had made it clear he would only follow Vongola Decimo, he wants to hedge his bets. He likely planned to bring the girl in to act as a puppet so he could regain control through the shadows."

Hotaru paused and looked at him flatly.

"I see."

"Which brought to mind the fact Daniela was so quick to take you in as her apprentice and even gave you a base to work from as you slowly gained your own Guardians. That plus no one is aware where you came from," said Reborn evenly.

Hotaru said nothing, merely sipping her scotch.

"I know for a fact Iemitsu is a Sky, and it would stand to reason his children might inherit that particular flame. Which is why I came to ask you what your surname is."

"I prefer not to be reminded of that jackass or the fact I'm his daughter. He's embarrassing enough as is," said Hotaru, neither confirming or denying it. "Are you going to tell that senile bastard who I am?"

"That depends."

"On what?" she asked.

Reborn brought out a decent-sized amount of Sun flames on his palm. He had suspected something was going on with how easily he 'clicked' with Black Cat. He didn't take to anyone that quickly.

Hotaru didn't need words to guess what he wanted. She brought out her own flames, and carefully placed her hand over his. For a moment there was nothing, but then the bright gold of Reborn's Sun began to freely mingle with her Sky. It was as something inside them clicked into place, and a feeling of warmth spread through her entire being.

Of knowing she would never be alone again, and that she had someone she could trust completely to have her back. Near her Reborn relaxed into the chair, a look of wonder and disbelief on his face.

It was clear now that he would never tell Timoteo who she was unless she allowed it.

Which meant she could probably trust him with a few other secrets as well.

"Shortly after the seal was applied, I woke up with a splitting migraine and memories that were both mine, but at the same time not. It was as if I had gained fifty years of memories as someone else, never mind the fact it took me a week or two to figure out how to use ice instead of fire. More than that I found it almost instinctive when it came to using Hades when I stumbled across the gun," she said calmly.

Reborn was silent. He wanted to dispute her claim, to say that was ridiculous. Except he was a man trapped in the body of a toddler because of a bright yellow pacifier who used soul fire.

Besides, no one got that good without leaving traces behind. Black Cat had appeared out of nowhere and had taken the underworld by complete surprise with very little information.

"Who or what were you before?" he asked finally.

"I was an Eraser, something very close to a Varia Elite Assassin. We called ourselves the Chronos Numbers and we were very good at what we did. Each Number had a specially crafted weapon made just for them using a very rare and valuable metal... Hades was mine. I was called the Black Cat, and for a while I was one of the best."

"So what happened?"

Hotaru smiled sadly.

"She happened. A Sweeper, or bounty hunter if you will, came into my life and made me realize how tired I was of being just another killer. Of doing the dirty work of the higher ups and being made into a trained attack cat. She brought light back into my life without even knowing it. And I thought maybe, just maybe I could find my way out of the darkness I was in," said Hotaru, pouring a larger amount of scotch into the glass. "But I'm sure you can guess what happened. Good things don't happen so easily for us. Not without a major sacrifice or price for that happiness."

Reborn was silent, drinking his own glass.

Oh yes, he knew exactly what she meant. If something good happened to him like that, then he had to be extra careful to keep it from being taken from him. To prevent the loss of that happiness that could break him in a way he would never heal from.

"I had a...fan...of sorts. A fellow Number by the name of Creed. He was rather...displeased...by the fact she was reminding me of my humanity. That she was helping me regain what light I had left in me and made me smile. So he killed her and I watched her bleed out in my arms," said Hotaru.

A strange sort of silence passed between them. It was little wonder they had harmonized so easily, Reborn mused. They were so alike it wasn't even funny.

"What was her name?"

"Saya. Her name was Saya," said Hotaru.

Reborn was quiet...before he spoke.

"My real name is Renato Sinclair. After I was hit with the curse I was so lost that I couldn't bear the idea of being reminded of everything that was taken from me, so I erased that part of me and became Reborn," he said.

"My original name was Train Heartnet. You can imagine my shock when I realized I had been reincarnated into a girl's body."

Reborn snorted in spite of himself.

"Actually my current appearance isn't too far off from what I looked like before. Even if I have to dye my hair just to get the shade right, and my facial features are a bit different."

A sort of companionable silence settled between them. Hotaru didn't even ask why Reborn decided to share the bed with her. The only thing she could think of was that the newly formed bond between them made him rather clingy.

"You've harmonized, quite recently too," commented Fon. There was a distinct hint of surprise in his voice.

"She's something else," said Reborn, not volunteering any information.

Fon sipped his tea calmly.

"Famiglia?" he asked carefully.

"Officially she's not a part of any. Not at the moment anyway. Unofficially she's a bloodline Sky that's waiting for the right moment to cause an unprecedented level of chaos that will shake up the underworld considerably."

Fon's eyes widened slightly. For Reborn to make that sort of declaration, he could only imagine the sheer amount of headaches in the future.

"I see."

"I could see if she would be interested in letting you visit. She does know a few Chinese dishes and she has a preference for rice."

Fon perked up at that. Reborn typed on his phone and got an immediate reply back.

"She said it's fine, and she does have room for a Storm if you're interested. There's another she's been eyeing for a while, but she's inclined to keep her options open."

The Secundo had confirmed that one didn't need to be a full Guardian to take the post of Right Hand, so even if Hayato didn't end up her Storm he still had a chance to have his dream become reality.

Fon initially didn't notice anything special about Reborn's Sky...outside of the fact that Black Cat was apparently very good at hiding her actual primary.

Though to be honest he should have expected some form of troll in her with how easily she broke through his usual serene persona to make him openly choke on his tea.

"So tell me, did Kyouya ever get a girlfriend brave enough to date that carnivore and get laid, or is he still terrorizing Namimori with his habit of biting people to death?" she asked far too cheerfully for how easily she startled him.

Fon coughed repeatedly as the tea went down the wrong pipe, to Reborn's openly delight and amusement. This was hilarious.

"What?" he said shocked, staring at her openly.

"I said did Kyouya ever get a girlfriend...or boyfriend...brave enough to put up with his biting kink and habit of beating people up for crowding or disturbing the peace of Namimori and finally get laid?" she repeated. There was a distinctly impish gleam in her eyes and Reborn was enjoying his lack of composure far too much.

"How do you know about my son?" he demanded. "For that matter how did you know I was related to him?"

Hotaru cackled the same way Daniela would have after a very well executed prank.

"Really? You're almost a dead ringer for him in looks, except for the braid and the fact you have more of a Chinese feel than Japanese. Besides, he had to get his natural proficiency for tonfas and martial arts somewhere. Wait... did you say son?" said Hotaru blinking. She looked at Reborn oddly, before asking "Can you still use IVF treatments to have kids or something?"

Reborn coughed at that.

"Oddly enough, yes. It's just rather difficult to get the necessary materials since the curse basically white-washed our urge to procreate. However Verde found out that we weren't actually de-aged so much as 'compressed' to the size of toddlers."

Hotaru winced.

"Ouch."

"You still didn't answer my question. How do you know Kyouya?" demanded Fon.

"My surname is Sawada and I'm the small animal that managed to leave his territory. He was a total pain in the ass to get rid of, since he took extreme offense to the fact I left and was therefor going to miss an untold amount of school," said Hotaru simply. "My twin brother and mother still live in Namimori, but I doubt I'll ever forget that carnivore with a biting kink."

Fon actually gaped in disbelief.

"You're the one who gave Kyouya that black eye all those years ago?" he said in shock, before he grinned. "He was so put out that there was someone who could have matched him that was more inclined to leave than give him someone to play with."

Hotaru snickered.

"I might visit sometime in the near future, but I doubt he'd be interested in leaving. From what I know of Clouds, especially classic ones like him they don't like leaving their claimed territory."

Fon had calmed down from the shock, at least enough to answer her initial question.

"Kyouya hasn't found anyone interesting enough to date, unfortunately."

"Damn. I could tell even when he was ten that he seriously needed to get laid."

Fon was glad he hadn't been drinking because he would have choked again.

Reborn was thoroughly enjoying Fon's reactions to his Sky. This was too funny, and an unexpected show.

"So what's it like being a Chinese ninja?" she asked.

"I am not a ninja," said Fon pouting.

"Can you accurately throw shuriken, kunai and use other traditional shinobi tools?" asked Hotaru flatly.

"Well yes..."

"Can you kill people silently and quickly without leaving any trace from the shadows?"

"I am a freelance assassin."

"Can you recreate various hands signs for flexibility exercises?"

"It's not often used, but yes..." said Fon.

"Then you fit the standard definition of a 'ninja', which people so easily forget was a rather specialized group of silent assassins that used martial arts techniques, specialized weapons and the art of silent killing to perform their duty," deadpanned Hotaru.

Fon was openly pouting, because it meant that the term that the other Arcobaleno used to jokingly call him was actually true.

"Best. Sky. Ever," said Reborn, clearly having far too much fun watching this show.

Fon had to admit, while curled up on the couch to take a nap, that perhaps Reborn's Sky wasn't too bad. A bit mischievous but she was a good match for his friend and comrade.

He vaguely felt her putting a light cover on him and softly drifted to sleep. He could see why Reborn had been drawn to her. That gentle, yet confident Flame was very addicting. It was like he was curled up against a playful nekomata, one that was just as quick to anger as it was to purr.

He didn't even realize he had slept the night away on the couch until morning, when he sensed Hotaru about to leave the apartment.

He let out a yawn that made his jaw crack a little. That had been the first time he had slept deeply in many years.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. I'm about to head out to the roof for a bit of light warm up. Care to join me?" she asked politely.

Fon stretched and felt strangely relaxed.

Fon quietly followed her and without a word accepted her offer of a quick ride on her shoulder.

The second he saw what she considered a 'light warm up', he was immediately appalled. His face twitched repeatedly.

"Who taught you to fight like that? You look more like a bar-room brawler than anything."

He couldn't quite keep the scorn out of his tone.

Hotaru looked at him a little owlishly.

"Maybe because that's where I learned how to fight. I'm more like Reborn when it comes to my fighting style and I mostly picked up the odd hand to hand move when it wasn't practical to use Hades."

Fon's love of martial arts cried at the sight of her technique. This...there were no words at how painful it was to watch her fight like that.

"Would you be open to learning how to fight properly?" he asked.

Hotaru blinked twice.

"How much would it cost me?" she asked seriously.

"It's more because just watching that mockery of a fighting style makes me cringe," deadpanned Fon.

"Sure. Learning a new way to fight can only benefit me in the long run, and maybe you can help me find a style that would suit my ice claws."

"Ice claws?" repeated Fon.

Seeing the cat-like claws made of pure ice, Fon had a wicked smirk on his face.

This was going to be fun.