Target 5: The Mission Called Lucia

"In the end, you were extremely great, huh, Hitomi-chan?" Katsumi didn't look at Hitomi, but the smile was there. The girl was too busy looking around, as if she was trying to find something. Kamiko and Hitomi didn't pay her any mind, though. Hitomi blushed lightly, rubbing the back of her head, fluffing up her hair more.

"Ack... that's only because there was like... I dunno, maybe four people in each class…?" Hitomi thought back to early.

After returning from the nurse, Hitomi was put right into the next event, Basketball Free-throws, due to the lack of kids. There were maybe twenty or so kids left and none of them looked to be in great condition. She could only shiver as she imagined what happened.

"Collins-san and Ryota sent a lot of them to the hospital. They got in the way to the extreme... But nobody really knows why they started fighting." Katsumi explained standing next to Hitomi. Hitomi spotted Ryota sitting on the ground next to Aleydis. The only difference between the two was that he was handcuffed to the tether pole. Skye stood above him, smirking down at him.

"O-Oh..." Hitomi stuttered out, averting her gaze when Skye looked up.

"Yeah, it's extremely lucky that Kamiko and I got away from the warzone in time." Katsumi said, "Although I wanted to fight, I didn't want my dad coming down here or anything…"

"Yeah, your dad would've made a scene and maybe punched a girl…" Hitomi shook her head, trying to get rid of the image, "But… if there aren't that many kids, why are we still going through with this?" Hitomi asked, her eyes meeting Katsumi's.

Katsumi shrugged as the teacher called them all to attention. She forgot to even ask where Emiko was. "We're going to start now, okay?" After that, all the events seemed to blur together for Hitomi, she did, however, remember being used as target practice during the archery portion. She still had cuts and bruises from it.

"It's all a blur, really." Hitomi said. "I don't remember much of it at all." Hitomi rubbed her arm where she had a particularly badly bandaged cut.

"But you did really great, you know." Kamiko unlatched her skateboard from her backpack and dropped it on the ground.

"Yeah!" Katsumi cheered, patting Hitomi on the back hard enough to make her stumble.

"Bye, guys, see you tomorrow." Hitomi said. The two girls said their goodbyes and went opposite ways. Hitomi sighed, resting her arms behind her head as she continued going straight. "Ah, I'm gonna need a nap…"

"Khsssst! Code blue! Code blue! We have a code blue! Khsssst!" Comes a childlike voice from a nearby bush. Hitomi jumped in the air and screamed loudly.

"W-W-Who's there!?" She shouts whipping her head around. The same bush giggles before a small person, who looked no older than 6 years came out. She had auburn brown hair pulled into two low ponytails.

"Hi!" The little girl bounces around, jumping out of the bush and standing in front of Hitomi. The brunette in question looked down at her, a gaze of confusion landing on the girl.

"Um... Hi...?" Hitomi backed away slightly. Was this some friend of Reborn's? She couldn't be all too sure because Reborn knew a lot of people according to her dad. Or maybe, Hitomi hoped somewhere in her mind, this was just some little girl who got lost playing in some bushes. She hoped it was the latter.

"You're Hitomi?" The girl asked.

'Who is this girl?' Hitomi thought staring blankly at the girl. She went silent for a minute, debating on whether or not she should actually tell her who she was. Maybe if she was, in some way, related to Reborn and Hitomi didn't tell her who she was, then this girl would go about her business and leave Hitomi alone. "Uh, yes?" She answered anyway.

"Good! You're gonna protect me! M'name's Lucia!" Lucia gave Hitomi a thumbs-up before clinging to her leg, "Ah! This is nice!"

"Wha? Pr-Protect you? I can't even protect myself!" Hitomi reasoned. She tried and failed miserably at trying to get the small child to let go of her leg. "I don't even—Augh!" Hitomi fell with the girl still attached to her leg. The girl squeaked but didn't let go of Hitomi's leg and in that moment, she knew she was screwed.

And that was how her walk home went. Of course, it was close to dinner time when they actually reached Hitomi's house. She crawled up the steps, Lucia having decided to cling to her neck instead. Knocking on the door extremely lightly, Hitomi was glad to see her dad answer the door. "Dad! Take this child!" Hitomi managed to gasp out. Lucia's hold on her neck was tight, and restricting her breathing almost to the point where she was feeling a little light-headed.

"Um... whose kid is this?" Tsuna picks up the sleeping child as if she was a piece of paper. He holds her out at arm's length while Hitomi gathers herself up and stands, taking in a large breath and rubbing her neck.

"I don't know! I found her in the bushes and she just clung to me!" Hitomi whispered.

"Hm... That's a problem. Well, no use in worrying about it now! Reborn's very angry you missed your tutoring session, sweet pea. He said if you don't have a good reason for it he's gonna kill you... Or something of equal pain and torture." Tsuna opens the door wider for Hitomi to stagger into the house.

Hitomi awkwardly pulls herself through the door and limps into the foyer. She grasps her neck loosely, rubbing it in a soothing motion. "Geez... First field day and now this? And training? I wanna die!" Hitomi mourns.

"Yeah, well you can't. So go on. Your mom got take-out. S'in the microwave." Tsuna closed the door and disappeared into the living room, which was down the hall from where Hitomi stood.

"God-damn."

A swift kick to the back of the head and Hitomi was on the floor. "You're late, Idiotomi." Reborn stated.

Hitomi moaned lowly and clutched her head. "I ran into a problem..."

"So I see you've met Lucia, then." Reborn jumps down from the dresser and stands in front of Hitomi.

"Who's Lucia?" Comes the voice of Kita, who's seated at the small, round oak table in the middle of the room. She's got a plate of half eaten food in front of her.

"K-Kita-San?" Hitomi questions. Kita nods, smiles and waves.

"Who's Lucia?" She repeats. Hitomi shrugs as an answer.

"Some random kid that just clung to my leg and did not let me leave her behind! She was hiding in the bushes!" Hitomi explained what she barely knew. Another kick and Reborn sighed.

"Lucia's the mission, dumb-ass." He states.

"Yay! Mission! I—!"

"Mission?! I never said I wanted to do this mission!" Hitomi yelled, cutting Kita off. Reborn kicked her, yet again.

"Look, do you want to know what the mission is? Because I'll just leave you to figure it out. And if you fail, you might as well flee the country. Because when I find you, you're dead." Hitomi paled at his response.

"What's the mission, Reborn-san?" Kita asked for Hitomi.

"It's simple: You're going to protect Lucia."

"Protect!? I told her! And now I'll tell you! I can't even protect myself!" Hitomi shrieked.

"Dame, Hitomi! Keep it down! Little Luci-chan is trying to sleep!" Solana reprimanded. She stood in the threshold, Tsuna behind her.

"Sorry, mom..." Hitomi apologized.

"Humph. There's some American takeout in the kitchen if you want." She says, turning and leaving Tsuna standing outside the door. He comes into the room. Hitomi turns herself around in a kneeling position. Kita sits up a bit straighter, having learned from Reborn that Tsuna is the current head-honcho.

"You should take Lucia to school with you tomorrow. It'll make your job easier." Tsuna suggests. The room is silent for a minute as Kita looks over at Hitomi, who is opening and closing her mouth at the idea her dad just gave her.

"…What?" Hitomi makes a face before continuing, "Dad, she's like four! I can't believe you'd even—!"

"Tomorrow is take your sibling to school day or something." Tsuna holds up a piece of paper, "It'll be fine if you say that Lucia is your cousin. That way you'll be with her all day."

"What?" Kita and Hitomi share looks and Tsuna sighs.

"You'll be fine," Tsuna nods, "I mean, it's not like they're gonna come attack you at school or anything, right?" The way he says it makes Hitomi think that that is exactly what is going to happen.

Hitomi sits back on her shins and stares at her father. "Fine… it'll be just like babysitting, right, Kita?" Kita nods, clapping her hands.

"Oh this'll be so exciting!" Hitomi nods wearily—it'll be something, but she knows that it won't be exciting—and Tsuna smiles. He bids the two middle-schoolers goodnight before closing Hitomi's door. Reborn is gone from sight when Hitomi turns to face both him and Kita. Hitomi isn't surprised in the least but Kita is mildly surprised.

"So Lucia, huh?" Kita starts. Hitomi nods before getting herself up and throwing her body on the bed, only to realize that it's still wet in some areas.

"Well... Now that my school uniform is dirty and my bed is still wet and I've been entrusted to guard a 4-year old... I think I wanna sleep a bit." Hitomi pulls everything off the bed and is currently trying to stuff it all into the dog shaped hamper she owns.

"Aren't you hungry, Bossu?" Kita's voice is laced with concern and when Hitomi looks back at her, Kita pushes the plate of half-eaten food towards Hitomi's side of the table.

"Please don't call me boss, Kita-San." Hitomi replies. "And no... Now that I think about it, I'm not even hungry."

Kita stands, plastic plate in hand. "Well, it's getting late."

"Mm, yeah. I'll walk you downstairs." Hitomi stops her struggling and walks towards the door, Kita behind her.

"See you tomorrow, Bo—ha-ha, I mean Hitomi-chan. I'll walk you and Lucia to school, Kay?" Kita smiles brightly. Hitomi smiles back and waved as Kita walks down the steps and skips away down the street.

Once she's out of sight, Hitomi closes the door. She sighs and heads up to her room. "Sō fuun! Sō fuun! Sō fuun!" She chants as she gets ready for bed and pulls a sleeping bag she's never used from her closet. Hitomi slowly drifts to sleep.

Hitomi woke up the next morning wondering why she was on the floor. She rubbed her eyes and sat up fully in the blue colored sleeping bag.

"Finally! You're awake, Idiota! I've been waiting for hours!" The high-pitched voice squeaks.

"It's only been ten minutes since you woke up, Lucia-chan." A more matured voice drawls.

"Good morning, guys." Hitomi greets, stretching awkwardly. She fixes her gaze at Kita, who's already dressed in her Fuku. Hitomi's not even fazed by the random visits by everyone she knows. It happens too often to even give a reaction.

"Good morning, Bossu! I'm here to walk you and Lucia-chan to school!" Kita greets happily.

Hitomi rubs her eyes and stands up, swaying slightly. "Mm... Are you ready for school, Lucia-chan?"

Lucia shakes her head and runs out of the room. Hitomi stares after her before turning to Kita. "What's wrong with her?" Hitomi jerks her thumb towards the door.

"No idea. But, I'll leave you to get ready then, uh, Hitomi." Kita stands and walks out the room.

Hitomi sighs and pick up the sleeping bag. She balls it up and tosses it into the closet before shutting the door and heading into her bathroom, but before she can actually head into the bathroom, her father barges into the room.

"Er… hey… Hitomi-chan… um, can I talk to you for a moment? It'll just take a sec…" Tsuna jabs his thumb behind him, indicating the two go into his office. Hitomi sighs before nodding and following her father.

"... And the plane blew up! Can you believe that?" Lucia explains behind her stack of pancakes. Solana pours more syrup on the girl's stack of pancakes.

"Hmm… Interesting, Lucia-chan." Solana comments offhandedly, but it's enough to sate Lucia who tears into her pancakes.

Kita is sitting next to Tsuna, who is watching the TV. Hitomi walks into the kitchen rubbing her right eye. She snorts loudly and takes her place across from her dad and Solana places a plate in front of her before moving back to Lucia's side.

"Ohayōgozaimasu." Hitomi yawns. Tsuna greets her back and Solana ruffles her already messy hair.

"So, I hear Lucia is going to school with you, huh?"

"…Unfortunately…" Hitomi mumbles. Lucia doesn't seem to hear her, seeing as she's too preoccupied with her pancakes. Kita frowns and looks to Hitomi.

"I'm sure it can't be that bad!" Kita tried.

"No, it'll be worse. First, we'll lose her. And then somebody will probably make her cry and then she'll want to run away and I don't think I can deal with that. Learning mathematics seems a lot easier than doing this." Hitomi shivers at the thought of training with her tutor.

"No, I've been through almost all of the training. Believe me when I tell you that this will be easier." Tsuna comments from his side of the table.

Hitomi doesn't respond but instead picks up the fork her mother left for her and begins eating. Kita looks at Hitomi's hands before commenting on it. "You don't use chopsticks here?" She asks anyone that will listen. Solana stops her moving around the kitchen and stares at Kita.

"No, we do. Hitomi doesn't. She's, like, physically and mentally incapable of comprehending the use of chopsticks. But, they're eating pancakes. You don't just use chopsticks for pancakes, Kita-chan," Solana explains. Kita nods in understanding and turns back to Hitomi.

"God, mom… just tell the world all about the things I can't do…" Hitomi mumbles. She places her fork on the plate and reaches for the small glass of orange juice when she's smacked face first into her plate of food by Reborn.

Lucia laughs and Kita waves at him. Hitomi groans lightly and curses under her breath. Tsuna just changes the channel and Solana sighs. "Ciaossu, everyone." Reborn greets. He steps off of Hitomi's head and onto the table. A chorus of 'good morning' follows shortly after. Hitomi picks her head up from the plate, syrup trailing from the plate and Lucia laughs.

"Why do you do this? I barely know you!" Hitomi accuses. Reborn smacks her again.

"You look stupid with your face covered in food. I had to take care of some things, though I don't know why I even bother with replying to you, Dame-Hitomi. From now on, I'm going to be your full-time tutor." Reborn states. Hitomi hangs her head.

"Suddenly, I'm not hungry anymore…" Hitomi mumbles.

"Then you can help Lucia get ready for school after you've cleaned your face, Hitomi." Solana comments. Hitomi sighs and rolls her eyes. She stands and walks around the table to where Lucia sits and grabs the girl by the hand.

"C'mon, then Lucia. School starts in half an hour, so we need to hurry." Hitomi informs her. Lucia nods as she's dragged along to get ready for school.

"… So Lucia likes to wander off. She's very susceptible to people and candy—and she gets kidnaped a lot to the point where she's not even faze, but…" Tsuna trails after seeing Hitomi's face, "Um, just make sure you watch her, okay?" Hitomi shoots him a look before she grabs the two lunchboxes off the counter.

"Yes… dad…" Hitomi says. She turns to pull open the door.

"Don't screw this up, or else." Reborn chimes from his place hanging upside down in front of the door. Hitomi jumps back into her dad startled.

"Why do you do this!?" Hitomi yells at him.

"It's my job. Now go to school, we don't want Lucia to be late." Reborn tells her. Hitomi ducks underneath the small baby and runs the length of her walkway before tripping over the curb of it and falling into the grass.

"Loser…" Lucia repeats happily. Kita frowns and shakes her head.

"No, Lucia-chan. Hitomi-san's not a loser; she's just… um… clumsy. Yeah that's it, clumsy." Kita explains as the two walk down the walkway towards Hitomi, who is sitting up and trying to brush dirt off of her uniform sweater.

"I've got a clean one in my gym locker, Hitomi-san. You can borrow it when we get to school." Kita holds out her hand for Hitomi to take.

"Thanks, Kita-san, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't helping me." Hitomi took her hand and pulled herself up.

"Bye!" Tsuna called from the door. "Have fun at school! And if you lose Lucia, don't bother coming home!" Sweat drops appear on Hitomi and Kita's heads as they watch Tsuna slam the door shut loudly. When they're sure that he's not going to open the door again, Kita turns to Hitomi. It's then that Hitomi notices that Reborn isn't hanging upside down on in front of the door anymore; instead, she feels a weight on her head and already knows it to be Reborn. He promptly sits down on her head and turns to Kita.

"We're gonna have so much fun!" Kita gushes. Lucia frowns and turns to Hitomi. She grabs Hitomi's arm and begins pulling on it, making Hitomi an unstable place to sit for Reborn. He promptly changes his seat to Kita's head.

"Why me…?" Hitomi cries quietly. Despite Hitomi's protests, Kita manages to drag Hitomi to school while Lucia skips happily in front of them.

Emiko follows behind Hitomi, Kita, Lucia and Reborn closely. She listens closely to their conversation, as if it'd tell her who that girl is. Reborn can't believe that they haven't sensed her presence yet. Emiko's not being particularly good at stalking, considering every few minutes she's tripping or stumbling over something.

"Dammit, Hitomi… Why did you lie like that? This is big and you're not telling us?" Emiko mumbles.

Hitomi, Kita and Lucia arrive at the school with no problems, seeing as Reborn left Hitomi to step up an obstacle course at Hitomi's house for the time being. Lucia is staring at the kids pouring into the school with wide eyes. Some are holding hands with younger siblings while others are gushing over them. Standing near the door is Skye with her team of committee members. They're seated at tables and checking in the students.

"Wow, I've never seen so many kids in one place before! There must be like fifty here!" Lucia marvels. Kita chuckles and Hitomi smiles lightly.

"There's plenty more than that, Lucia-chan." Hitomi laughs, shaking her head. Lucia's eyes sparkle as she looks from the students to Hitomi and back again.

"Really? Are there sixty? Or maybe one-hundred?" Lucia questions.

"Nope, even more. Nami-high is the only junior high in area, so a lot of kids go here. Midori Middle School is for extremely smart girls and the Kokuyo Middle school is basically a boot camp." Kita explains. Hitomi nods along with this information and Lucia squeaks in excitement. "Plus there are kids your age here today too."

"Don't get too happy, Lucia. School's not that great. Now, let's hurry to the lockers so we can get our school shoes and go to class. We don't want to be caught in the halls by Collins-san." Hitomi pulls Lucia towards the line that is steadily getting longer and once they've got badges on, they head to the first building's entrance. Kita tries to get Hitomi to stop, but the two girls are already gone. She shrugs before speed walking towards the second building's entrance.

"Who's Collins-san?" Lucia asks Hitomi. Her eyes are full of curiosity and Hitomi's grip tightens a little in fear.

"The head prefect here at school, Lucia-chan. She's super scary and really mean. Don't go near her. She's like the only person here with extremely blonde hair and blue eyes. You'll know her when you see her because she's got a green haired girl following her around and a bunch of big dudes walking around her." Hitomi explains.

Lucia nods along as if she was paying attention and Hitomi pulls out of her school shoes from her foot locker and puts them on.

"Alright, now let's get to class."

"M-M-My name's Lucia Bearegarde, it's very nice to meet you all!" Lucia bows to the group of students. Her Japanese isn't very good as compared to all of the other children introducing themselves in the front of the class. "I'm Hitomi's, um, cousin."

"Bearegarde? Is that like French or something?" Arashi Hinamori, a boy who sits near Hitomi asks. "Hitomi ain't French, is she?"

"Aw, she's so cute! How is she related to Hitomi?" Another girl whispers. Various people begin talking around her and Hitomi sighs, shaking her head.

After the kids introduced themselves, they all sat in the back, drawing on paper and not even paying attention to whatever Hitomi's teacher was talking about. Hitomi pretended to pay attention as Ryota watches the two with interest. He toys with the pencil in his grasp before turning back to the teacher.

"Super Action Baka Rewind Special's on tonight. I can't lose Lucia or else I'll miss it." Hitomi mumbles to herself as she drew a quick sketch of her favorite superhero: Super Action Baka. She looks back to see Lucia talking to some other kids and smiles, well, at least she's having fun.

Hitomi stops shading in his helmet and looks out the window, only to see Reborn hanging upside down with string in a Spiderman costume. Leon, the little lizard, is smiling like usual. He's attached to Reborn's chest acting as the spider symbol of the costume. The sign that Reborn held read: "With great power comes great responsibility, you lose her and you're dead." Hitomi screamed and comically fell out of her chair, much to the amusement of Reborn, Lucia and Hitomi's classmates. Fuzuki-sensei looked about ready to blow a gasket.

She simply pointed at the door and Hitomi stood up and grabbed her things. She slowly made her way toward the door. "Wait!" Lucia called out to Hitomi. Hitomi looked to Lucia with a question on her lips. "Where are you going, Hitomi-chan?" She asked standing up.

"…Detention hall." Hitomi answered taking the slip from Fuzuki-sensei.

"I wanna go too!" Lucia replied much to the shock of everyone. Lucia skipped towards Hitomi and latched onto her arm.

"Lucia-chan, you can't go to Detention hall, you didn't do anything." Hitomi explains trying to release herself from Lucia's grip.

"No! We're going together or you're not going!" Lucia cried.

"Fuzuki-sensei…" Hitomi whined. The pink haired woman just turned her head back to the class and began teaching again.

"Hm… Fine, c'mon then, Lucia-chan. I guess we're going to Detention hall…" Hitomi grumbles and slides the classroom door open.

"Yay!" Lucia cheers. Hitomi face-palms at this and sighs in agony.

"Detention's not a good thing!" Hitomi yelled at her as the two entered the hallway, leaving Ryota to stare at the space where Hitomi was moments ago. He rolls his eyes and leans back in the chair, wondering why he even bothered coming to school that day. He was kind of glad he didn't bring his own sibling. She was too much of a hassle.

"This doesn't look like Detention, Hitomi-chan." Lucia comments. The two are on top of the school's roof. Hitomi drops her bag and plops down on the ground.

"It's not. And how do you even know what detention looks like?" Lucia shrugs, "Well, whatever. We're on the rooftop of the new school building. Collins doesn't like it up here and she chooses to rest on the old school building roof. We'll be safe up here for a while." Hitomi explains.

"Are we gonna go back to class?" Lucia sits down next to Hitomi.

"Nope, well… not that classroom anyway, we're done with English for the day."

"I thought the lady teacher said it was math?" Lucia questions. Hitomi looks up at her and then nods.

"Oh… it's not like it matters, I'm failing both classes anyway." Hitomi admits. Lucia leans her head on Hitomi's shoulder.

"Will we eat lunch?" She asks.

"Yeah, but it's too early. We only got to school an hour and a half ago. After lunch we'll have a few more classes and then we can go home, okay?" Hitomi told her. Lucia nodded slightly, she yawned and snuggled into Hitomi's side.

"Okay… Hitomi…" She slowly nods off to sleep and Hitomi sighs, shifting around slightly to grab her phone.

"Guess I'll play some games for a while…" Hitomi doesn't actually move to turn on the phone. She actually thinks back to what her father had told her that morning.

"So, what did you want, dad?" Hitomi asked. The two were now seated in his office.

"I wanted to tell you a little bit about Lucia. You're kind of curious, aren't you?" He smirked as Hitomi's expression changed.

"A little, actually." Hitomi admitted. The girl was an enigma—Tsuna had only told her that she needed to protect her and Hitomi vaguely remembers Lucia mentioning something about a plane crash earlier.

"Well, she's the daughter of a friend of mine. And—!"

"Wait," Hitomi interrupted, "Is your friend being targeted too? Is that why he sent Lucia away?"

"Well, not exactly. He's got… er, power—a power that people want to get their hands on. Although, it seems as if he's lost his and Lucia's powers are stronger than his ever were…" Tsuna scratches his cheek as Hitomi takes in this information.

"What kind of powers?" Hitomi questions. Tsuna comes around the desk to lean on it and Hitomi takes an involuntary step back.

"Well, you'll just have to see that for yourself. She's only here in Japan because some low life thugs from Italy are trying to take her so they can use her power." Tsuna explains. Hitomi leans back on the chair, her arms crossed behind her head. "Hitomi, this is serious. They'll stop at nothing to get Lucia and her power—they may even hurt her. So, try your best, alright?"

"Why… why me…?" Hitomi mumbles.

"Because as a mafia boss, it's your job to protect those around you." Tsuna explains, "So now it's time for school. Remember, don't lose sight of Lucia, okay?" Tsuna begins pushing Hitomi out of his office. One final push and she's outside the door and landing on her butt.

"Dad! Wait! There's still stuff I want to know!" Hitomi hops up, banging her fists on the door.

"No! I already told you what you needed to know! Just watch out for big guys in nice suits, okay? That's all you need to know for right now!" Tsuna replied. "Bye! Love you!"

Hitomi sighed loudly before trudging away from the door.

"…And he still didn't even really tell me anything…" Hitomi mumbled as she unlocked the phone. She sighed before setting it aside and thinking back to what her father said. "And just what the hell is the 'ranking planet' anyway?!" She mumbled angrily, looking down at her phone.

I do not caim ownership any of the canon characters, places or objects, however, I do own the storyline and the characters that you don't recognize.