The thirteenth chapter on the spookiest day of the year!

Once again, thank you for all the follows/reviews/favourites! This story has over 50 followers now, and I'm happy to say that with each passing day, the follower count increases! It's quite humbling to know that there are this many people following this story, and I hope I can continue to interest you with my future chapters and have your support!

Disclaimer: FANfiction. I only own the OC. Any changes to the original canon story is due to the fact that this is fanfiction.

Warning: May contain coarse language.

When Riko had reached home, she had immediately gone to find Squalo in his room, fully intending to yell at him for not telling her that her target had been Hibari's family. However, when she got there, she oddly lost all her previous resolve to do so. Instead, the following conversation had happened instead:

"Hey, Kisame."

"VOI! Do I need to fucking rip your tongue off for you to stop calling me that!?"

"Goblet of Fire, just like you wanted."

She tossed the chalice towards him, and he easily caught it without moving from his chair.

"Che."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Squalo looked up from his desk for the first time since Riko had come in, which was littered with paperwork that Xanxus was meant to do but because it was Xanxus, the swordsman had to do it for his boss instead. He was oddly responsible when it came to the temperamental man. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"The fuck're you still for? Don't you need to go fawn over some fucking anime character or something?"

Riko stared at him, but with more curiosity than anger. "Did you know?"

"Did I fucking know what?"

"That it was Kyoya's house."

"Who the fuck is Kyoya?"

"Tsunayoshi's cloud guardian."

"What, Hibari? Of course I fucking knew. It was in the file, bitch."

"This file? The mission file?" She held up the packet she'd been given earlier this morning.

"Did I give you another one? Of fucking course, that's the one! What's your problem anyway? Did you run into him or something?"

"Nothing like that."

Huh. Riko surprised herself. She had lied. Not that she never told lies, but she certainly never lied about something that happened on a mission.

"Then why are you asking such fucking useless questions!?"

"Ciao."

"Wha- VOI! Where are you going!? Answer my fucking question, bitch!"

Riko ignored her captain and left his room.

The file hadn't said anything about the residents of the mansion. But Squalo had said that the file had information stating that it was Hibari's home. Yet, she had looked through each and every page in there at least ten times, and not once had the name 'Hibari' come up in any of the paragraphs.

Odd.

xxxx

"Shall I pick you up after school, Ri-chan?"

"Don't even fucking bother, Lussuria."

"Just give me a call if you need mommy to come pick you up, kay? Have a great day at school!"

"How about I don't?"

"Do your family proud! Ciao!"

"Fuck. You."

Lussuria blew a kiss from the rolled-down window of the car as it drove off, and Riko glared in response. She turned around, and surprise, surprise! Hibari was at the gates, probably waiting for her. He was beginning to familiarise himself with Riko's penchant for escaping, and that unnerved her. Riko clicked her tongue as she slowly walked towards the entrance of the school, taking her sweet time, despite the fact that homeroom was starting in five minutes. The later she was, the better. She wasn't going to be a model student, that much was already apparent.

"You're going to be late, herbivore," was the first thing he said when she was within earshot.

"So are you," she retorted, stopping in front of him with her arms folded across her chest, "No doors for you to slam in my face today. Pity, huh?"

Hibari's expression was cool as he regarded her with indifferent eyes. Riko arched an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for him to say something in response to her snarky comment.

He didn't.

"Well, this has been a lovely waste of time, but I really must get going now."

Waving a careless hand, Riko started walking again, but could only advance a few steps before she felt the sleeve of her shirt being pulled back with a rough tug. With a yelp, she stumbled backwards, and into Hibari, who shoved a hand into her neck to stop her from completely making bodily contact with him.

"The fuck was that for!?" she yelled as she wrenched the unfilled sleeve out of his hand, and attempted to pull his hand off her neck, which was an attempt in futility.

"Your sleeves are too long, herbivore," his fingers tightened a little around her neck, "It's not the proper uniform. And so are these." His other hand reached up to her face, fingers tapping the tinted lenses of her goggles before he pulled them down.

"You're the fucking pot calling the kettle black!" Riko growled, "Your uniform isn't even the school's uniform! At least I'm wearing the one issued by the school!"

It was true. Albeit it was unkempt and messy, Riko was indeed wearing the required combination of the white button-down and cream-hued skirt, although the navy blazer was stuffed inside her backpack. Hibari, however, was wearing the black goukon he had taken to wearing in middle school, which often stood out in the hallways of Namimori High as he walked through them.

"I wear what I want," Hibari smirked, "And a uniform is still a uniform, as long as it's proper."

Riko decided to drop the uniform debate, knowing that it was only going to be a waste of her time. "Just let me go to fucking class already!"

"No."

"Why the fuck not!?"

"Tell me about these."

Riko raised an eyebrow when his free hand slipped into his pants pocket, and pulled out a hand of cards. He spread them with a push of his thumb, and they fanned out in front of her face. He looked at her expectantly. "Well?"

"They're just some playing cards, obviously," Riko scoffed, rolling her eyes, "And you've got an extremely incomplete deck, too. Lost the others, have you? Would you like me to give you some recommendations on where to buy new ones?"

"These aren't mine, herbivore."

"Jesus, did you steal them off someone? Christ, Kyoya, at least have some decency to steal the entire deck! There's nothing more annoying than an incomplete deck of cards!"

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I fucking would! So would everyone else! It's a basic human pet peeve!"

"Would you like them back?"

She blinked. "Wait, what?"

"My mother returned some of your cards to you. Obviously, these are the rest of them. I found them after you left last weekend."

The memories of the events that had transpired a few days ago flashed in the assassin's mind, and cringed as she recalled the particularly awkward tea she had with Hibari and his mother, Suzume.

"I don't want them."

"Well, I want you to tell me about them."

"Why the fuck should I?"

"Because I said so."

His fingers tightened more around her neck, and Riko could feel a prickling in her cheeks as she started to choke from the slowly-receding supply of air in her trachea. A sadistic cruelty gleamed in his grey eyes as they met Riko's panicked gaze. He wasn't going to kill her, she knew, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to torture her.

"C-Cards-!"

"Yes?"

"Kyo-ya…Neck…" She urgently started rapping at his arm with her hands, feeling panic rising in her chest.

Riko inhaled deeply when she felt his grip loosen, the previous hysteria slowly abating as fresh air entered her lungs. If there was one thing she hated, it was being tight spaces, and getting close to asphyxiation was just like being in a tight, airless place. A fingertip tapped against her bare skin expectantly, and Riko glared at Hibari.

"That was so fucking unnecessary!"

His response was to tighten his grip again.

"A-air!" she smacked his arm again.

"What about the cards?"

"St-"

"Hibari-senpai!"

Hibari and Riko looked away from each other to see a panicked boy with a pompadour that meant he was one of Hibari's self-proclaimed lackeys. Hibari narrowed his eyes, but Riko had a suspicion that it was not because he was trying to intimidate the first-year delinquent for interrupting him, but was instead attempting to remember his name.

"What is it?" And had failed at it, apparently. Riko held back a snicker.

"Ku-Kusakabe-senpai's in the hospital."

Riko vaguely remembered the name, but her sharp eyes picked up the slight shift in Hibari's otherwise stony expression. Whoever this Kusakabe person was, he had to be somewhat important if it pulled a smidgen of reaction out of the infamously uncaring Hibari Kyoya.

"Which one?"

"The one on Shiba Road."

A strangled cough left her mouth when Hibari's hand slid down her neck, grabbed the collar of her shirt and started dragging her along with him. The first-year was left staring worriedly after them. Her feet scrambled to match his long strides. "Kyo- let me go! Where the fuck are you going!?"

She did not get a reply, however, as Hibari continued walking very quickly down the pavement, and the school was already fading into a blur in the distance as they got further away.

"Who's Kusakabe?" She decided to ask, having given up on freeing herself from his grip. She knew he was most likely going to ignore her question, but what was the harm in trying, anyway?

"A man that I trust."

His answer surprised her.

And then it clicked in her brain.

"John Revolta?"

His expression hardened.

I debated back and forth on whether or not to split another long chapter, but in the end, I decided to do it. Not a very inspired chapter, I know, but let's hope the next few ones make up for this! This chapter's purpose was to introduce another mini-plot of sorts, so do look forward to my next updates!

Delphoxi