Xanxus was in a foul mood. There was a Vongola ball next month and the old bastard was going to invite a lot of females of "appropriate age" in the hopes it would settle his pissed off adopted son down.
The old man had caved and told Xanxus the truth after three months of pranking hell and finally calling Reborn in for help.
Daniela, the Vongola Ottavo, had almost literally laughed herself sick when she found out what her grandson had done.
Xanxus had no intention of 'settling down' with the sycophants that the old bastard had the annoying habit of bringing around. Potential alliance be damned, they straight out pissed him off.
Which was why he was going to give the old bastard a coronary by hopefully bringing the same woman who kicked his ass and made it nearly impossible for him to eat steak after she broke his jaw.
It didn't hurt that she had gotten his attention by literally slipping into the Varia and showing her open disdain for the old bastard...without any of the ingrained respect that kept people from punching him before this. She had the eyes and bearing of a survivor, one who had been through hell and come out as forged steel.
That she was his Cloud was besides the point. She was the only female he had ever found any interest in. She at least didn't bore him to tears, act like a brainless fool and she understood some of the ingrained habits people took for granted or bitched about.
Finally he located them in an abandoned training room that wasn't really used for 'training' much anymore. From what he got out of the Varia gossip (bored assassins were chatty assassins when it came to 'in-house' gossip...so long as it didn't reach outside ears it was not only allowed but outright encouraged) someone had convinced the Mist division to start up a game for those who were bored or on sick leave and thus unable to take missions.
Something about a dragon and the prince brat.
Xanxus walked in and had to blink.
He found an adult Mammon in a stall looking somewhat bored.
"Boss?" said Mammon in surprise.
"What the actual fuck?"
"Blame Hexe. It was her idea to amuse Belphegor and now everyone's gotten roped in it. I'm pretty sure I saw Squalo earlier," said Mammon.
"What's this about?"
"The basic 'plot' of this fantasy is that the 'prince' ran away from home because he was tired of being ignored in favor of his brother, only to end up publicly captured by the dragon in the mountains. Naturally the kingdom set up the usual ransom payment/reward for his return, except due to a communication error no one who's stepped up to try and claim is aware that the royal they're trying to rescue is a little prince, rather than a teenage princess."
Xanxus snorted in amusement.
"What's your role?"
"I deliver the food and sell off the crap the knights and adventurers leave behind when the dragon eats them, on top of bringing more to the dragon's hoard. In exchange the dragon acts as the guard dog for my own 'hoard' so I never have to fear someone trying to rob me of it," said Mammon.
"What's the dragon's hoard?"
"Books, mostly. That or scrolls. The game became very popular, very quickly when it became known that the 'dragon' didn't mind if the Mist division came to play as well," said Mammon.
After all, who didn't want to fight a dragon at least once? Though at least she mostly just bruised their ego rather than eat them, like she did the Mist constructs.
Xanxus was openly amused.
"How did she convince you to turn her into a dragon?"
"She didn't. Hexe is a dragon animagus," said Mammon.
It was official. He was going to try and court her as his date if it killed him.
Xanxus was positively grinning as an idea occurred to him.
"How would you like to add another element to the game?"
"I'm listening," said Mammon smirking.
When they heard what Xanxus had planned, they started snickering outright.
Mammon was quick to deliver a note to Belphegor about this development, and he was on board immediately. The only one who didn't know about it was Rosethorn.
A few hours later...
Rosethorn only knew a new element to the game had been added when she started hearing about a 'curse' on the dragon.
The 'news' that the royal the dragon had captured was actually a young prince meant that most of the 'sacrificial morons' she ate had dwindled considerably...now the adventurers were trying to find out how to break the dragon's curse and revert them back to human.
Either to rescue the prince or for some other purpose.
So naturally she was very surprised when she saw the black knight come up the mountain. She was so very bored, and Belphegor was well hidden watching TV.
She flew down with a roar, and to her amusement the knight wasn't startled. His mount took off for safety, leaving the knight and his weapons the only things there.
She was positively grinning as her blood ran hot like fire. The knight was very good and had sharp aim.
It was with great surprise that he tackled her in the air and managed to foul up her wings without damaging them. She adjusted in time to break her fall without hurting either of them.
That surprise turned to outright shock when the helmet came off, revealing Xanxus who had a fierce grin and a strange expression in his eyes.
She felt something against her lips and it took her several seconds to register he had just kissed her.
The shock of that caused her to revert back into human form, blushing madly.
Xanxus looked positively smug about the whole thing, especially since he had her pinned to the 'ground'.
"It looks like I managed to break the dragon's curse. What's my reward?" he purred.
"What?" choked Rosethorn, blushing horribly.
"I said what's my reward, little dragon?"
"Shishishi...perhaps the Boss should just turn the dragon into his princess?" suggested Belphegor. Next to him Mammon was taking multiple blackmail pictures for later. This was too hilarious not to record and they knew Daniela would pay a premium for this sort of thing.
"Now there's an idea. The Boss breaks the curse and ends up with a castle of his own, with the dragon as his princess," mused Mammon, head back in the 'game'. "Naturally she would take you with her. Everyone knows the 'dragon' is very fond of the prince she stole. It'll take a few days for the game to reset to the new parameters."
In other words Xanxus had a few days to convince his 'dragon' to act as his date to the ball and shut the old bastard up.
Rosethorn's blush did not abate. It only got worse whenever Xanxus was around. It was a source of endless entertainment among the Elite.
It wasn't that she didn't like Xanxus...far from it. He was very attractive and had all the sorts of qualities she liked with only a few quirks to irritate her.
The problem was she had never been on a date. Not a real one at any rate. Fourth year was a complete disaster, fifth year had been hell and the years after that she was too busy trying to unravel whatever it was Dumbledore had planned or staying alive to care about dating.
It really, really didn't help the way Xanxus kept looking at her. He didn't actually touch, but the looks were bad enough. Outside of the game when he startled her into human form with a kiss, he had yet to do anything too invasive.
When one was courting a Cloud, it was better to leave out a tempting bait and let them come to you, from what she was told. Clouds didn't like being forced into something, at all.
Rosethorn sighed. She was a complete mess and this ball Xanxus asked her to (under the premise she would be a better date than any of the floozies that were almost certain to be there) was in three days.
She openly considered the offer, and once she went to get some lunch from the kitchens she thought it over.
Looking at the tired creature in the mirror actually made her decision easy.
"To hell with it. At least it won't be boring and the Boss won't try anything I don't like."
Xanxus was surprisingly respectful to the females in the Varia. He didn't make any demands he wouldn't have made from the men, and he made damn sure everyone knew he wasn't about to tolerate any sexual harassment (from either gender).
She walked in with her reports (she was one of the rare few who could do so regardless of whether the Boss was in a good mood or not, next to Squalo) she decided to let her actions speak for her. Good thing the office was empty save for Xanxus.
Xanxus looked particularly smug after that kiss.
"I take it this means you'll be my date?"
"Probationary only," she replied. "I've had far too many idiots trying to get into my pants for all the wrong reasons to want to jump into something half-cocked."
"Fair enough," said Xanxus, completely sympathizing. It was actually that reason which had prompted him to ask her in the first place.
Luss was certainly enthusiastic...they rarely got to play 'dress up' with a willing victim. All Rosethorn asked was that it be dragon themed, or at least match the magical tattoo on her right shoulder.
It was a deep red rose that was growing out of a briar bush. The rose's petals grew or fell depending on her mood. When she was happy, it was in full bloom. If she were depressed, then it started to rain petals like the one from Beauty and the Beast. If she were in mourning then the rose would look half dead.
If she were pissed though... the briar would start lashing out and the rose would turned a bloody red color.
She thought it was a highly appropriate tattoo to get, considering her name. Belphegor had certainly loved it when he first saw it.
The evening of the ball (in which Xanxus disgustedly confirmed that a large number of girls his age range had been invited, likely to tempt him into finding a proper wife) had the Boss in a semi-foul mood.
The only reason he wasn't ditching the entire event lay to three factors.
One, he had also confirmed his Nonna Daniela would be there (thus insuring one decent conversation partner). Two, there were absolutely zero missions that were marked urgent enough to get out of the bitch fest from Coyote if he avoided the entire thing. And three, which was the main reason, he had a date for once that he knew would be mostly tolerable.
One who had already proven to have zero regard for the status of the Vongola and would cheerfully resort to violence if the scheming old bastard or his Guardians pissed her off enough.
Needless to say he wasn't the only one staring or gaping outright when his date was released from Lussuria's all too enthusiastic mercies.
Being given free reign (within reason) over someone's wardrobe and look had made Rosethorn the Sun's new favorite person over Xanxus.
Hexe looked nothing like the semi-laid back woman who took the Clouds under firm control and weeded out those who had been in on Ottabio's stupidity.
She wore a very sleek, form fitting dress with thorns all along the trim. It exposed her back, shoulders and both arms...which only allowed the large number of scars to be perfectly visible. Her hair had been brushed and some sort of product put in it to make it look sleek and smooth, while flowing down her back...parts of it had been braided with what looked like miniature black and red roses with thorns, which looked rather fashionable against her deep red hair. The dress itself had a slit against her right thigh, which only went up midway to her hip. She had an odd, scaly necklace around her neck that seemed to dip down into her bust, and a light shawl with red roses around her shoulders.
He was only mildly surprised she wasn't wearing heels, but then again he highly doubted she knew how to walk in such things.
Topping it all off was the light dusting of make-up on her face... the deep red lipstick was a perfect match and complimented her hair color, while the light application of kohl around her eyes only made the green coloring practically pop out at you. The fact she was wearing contacts only made it even more noticeable, as her eyes weren't obscured by her usual frames.
Xanxus was definitely pleased with the transformation. He had known she was a looker when she bothered to dress up in anything that hugged her curves rather than the loose outfits she preferred, but this was a major difference. She was going to outclass every other woman in there save for some of the older generation like his Nonna.
"Well?" she asked, slightly nervous. He was staring at her and hadn't said a single word.
"You are going to make me the envy of the fucking ball the second they find out you're my date," he growled, wrapping an arm around her waist.
Every hot blooded male that was even remotely straight was going to have all eyes on her...and that was before anyone knew she was also a Sky secondary.
If even half of what Mammon had dug up on her in the magical enclaves was true, then Rosethorn was going to be the most desirable female in the entire mafia...and she had no fucking clue about it, much less care.