Target 23: Let's Begin

Okay! Well here it is! The first chapter to kick off the newest arc. Hope you enjoy! :D (I don't know, but I'm really diggin' this chapter's ending. This chappis is short and late, but it gets the point across)

"Hitomi." Reborn nudges her awake none too gently. The brunette squeals, falling onto the floor with a loud thud. She groans and rubs her head, sitting up quickly and looking at Reborn.

"What? What is it this time?" Hitomi yells, anger laced into her sleepy voice. Reborn crosses the distance between them, still standing on the bed. He looks serious, his black-ish eyes staring down into Hitomi's honey-colored ones. More serious than Hitomi had ever seen him and she can't help but gulp as she looks up at him, expectant.

"I'm warning you." He says, his voice completely serious, "Bad things are going to start happening to you if you don't start going to school more regularly. Not only will you repeat a grade, but your status in the mafia—!"

Hitomi turned away, cutting Reborn off as she spoke, "I told you, after what happened with that stupid curse and Teru… I'm done with all of this mafia stuff. I don't care about school, I'm already a truant. There's no point in going because I know I'm not going to pass." Finals were coming up and this would make or break Hitomi, telling her whether or not she'd become a second year.

To her, it was hard to believe it had been a year since Reborn came into her life and she started middle school. A year was a long time, but it certainly didn't feel like it.

Quicker than Hitomi's thought process, Reborn kicked her in the head and she went flying into the door, hitting it with a loud crack. Hitomi groaned, rubbing her head, checking for bleeding or fractures. "That doesn't matter. I'm here to do my job, Hitomi. And telling you this is a part of it. This is serious now." He says, "So you better take it seriously as well. Everyone else is."

Hitomi looked at him, frowning deeply. "It's just fun and games for them! Sure—Emiko got shot, but that's not the point—I'm the one who keeping getting the brunt of everything! I almost died! Again! I don't have time for any of this stuff that you're doing, Reborn. Can't you just… I dunno, pick someone else?"

"If I could, I would've done that already." Reborn said, "It has to be you, or it doesn't work. Now get ready for school, this is the first and last time we'll have this talk, because if we have to have it again, I'm killing you and you won't be reborn." With that, he hopped off of the bed and left the room, leaving Hitomi alone.

Hitomi had never seen him so serious.

She thinks nothing of it, however, and Hitomi decides to skip school. She can see the disappointed looks on people's faces as she passes them by. She ignores them, however and keeps walking. Maybe she should throw this stupid uniform in the trash and change? Hitomi frowns, she doesn't have enough money for any clothes, only enough for the arcade, where she was currently headed. She couldn't stop her mind from straying towards school, though, when every movement was slightly restricted by the dirty uniform on her body.

The arcade was filled with college students when Hitomi got there. She was surprised to see many of Masayoshi's friends (even if they didn't notice her) there without her brother. She knew the blue-haired boy was probably locked in his bedroom studying or something. She could never understand him and to even try, made her brain hurt and so she gave up, opting to look around the arcade. One caught her eye and Hitomi moved to one of the games, it was one of her favorites: Super Action Baka Myu Myu Fight! 2

Hitomi smirked, loading in coins and pressing start. Even though she felt a little lonely, this was better than going to school. She moved through the character choices, looking for her favorite one as she began playing.

"Hey..." Emiko looked up. There stood Katsumi, who was looking around a little anxiously, "Uh... where's Hitomi?" Emiko shrugged before she crossed her arms, scowling down at the lunch she'd prepared.

"I haven't seen her in days..." Emiko replied, sadness in her tone. "She, uh, hasn't been coming to school either."

"I know, I'm worried about her." Katsumi said, looking out the window, "I mean what if something's happened to her? Or something will happen to her because she's not coming to school."

"She should be fine. Knowing Hitomi as well as I do, I know that she's an otaku and she'd probably be at home, curled up under her cover... even the kotatsu, but I doubt she'd be in trouble..." Emiko said more to herself than Katsumi. In truth, she was probably more worried about Hitomi than Katsumi was. Emiko would've been over there at Hitomi's house trying to get her to come to school had it not been for Yamamoto pressuring her not to.

"She's just going through a rough patch," He's said with that ever-present smile, "She just needs to find herself and any outside help will get in the way." And that was the only reason why Emiko was sitting here eating lunch alone instead of forcing Hitomi back to school. Wasn't it her duty as Hitomi's (self-proclaimed) right hand to do such a job?

Emiko shook her head, looking back up at Katsumi. The girl hadn't moved an inch and it was starting to get a little weird for Emiko. She'd never personally dealt with Katsumi. The girl rarely showed herself to the group, even if she was one of Hitomi's 'guardians'. The older was almost always busy with something else.

"Anyway, don't you have practice to attend? I hear they're practicing the graduation ceremony early." Emiko tried to change the subject.

"Ah! You're right! I've gotta get going then!" Katsumi snapped her fingers, "Well, if you go see Hitomi, tell me what's up, okay?" Emiko nodded and Katsumi smiled, giving a small wave and leaving the classroom. Emiko sighed, turning back to her lunch.

"Dammit, Hitomi..." She cursed under her breath, angrily stabbing at the food in her bento.

Still playing the game was Hitomi. The girl looked a little disheveled in appearance. Her uniform was wrinkled even more than it had been earlier and her hair was a mess from being pushed back so many times, not to mention her eyes were wide with concentration as she smashed at the buttons, unaware of her surroundings.

The loud laughter behind Hitomi did nothing to deter her, if anything, she remained the same as before and continued playing until she was knocked into the machine, sprawling her upper body over it as she heard the loud crash and felt the machine vibrate. "Ga~me Over!" It yelled, but Hitomi was too disoriented to even figure that out.

She removed herself from the machine, staring at it with dazed eyes before they sharpened into a glare. "Figlio di una cagna cassonetto stupro! Questa è l'ultima volta che esco in un posto di merda!" She yelped in Italian, turning around, only to bump into something again, knocking her back and onto the ground. "Ah! Dude, what the fuck?!"

He turned, giving Hitomi a glare she thought she'd never seen before. "What'd you say?" He asked, turning around fully, "Wanna repeat that...?"

"U-Uh... no...?" Hitomi responded, trying to back away, "I don't really..." She turned and tried to crawl away, only to be caught by the ankle and pulled back towards the person. Hitomi could feel her eyes tear up as she tried her hardest to back away slowly.

"Oh, but I think you do. And if you don't…" He smirked, showing Hitomi the glint of his knife, "I guess I'll just have t' force y' huh?" Hitomi whimpered as he chuckled, twirling the knife a bit in his hand.

"Hey… uh boss?" One of the men behind him said. The leader looked back, a glare set in place as he waited for the other to finish speaking, "Check out that tattoo on her leg!" He pointed at Hitomi's right leg which had the Vongola crest imprinted on it in black ink, "She's apart o' da mafia…" Hitomi looked down at it in shock.

W-Where did that come from? She tried to rack her brain for any instance when she had been somewhere near something that could ink her skin like that. Was it a side effect of the Skullitis? She doubted it, but it couldn't be ruled out. It was possible.

"Ah, and dat r'lly big 'un too." He licked his lips, turning his head to look into Hitomi's eyes. "Think we'll get a bounty for 'er boys?"

"I-I'm not worth anything!" Hitomi screamed, "I'm not worth anything at all! Y-You should let me go...!"

"Hm..." The boss said, tapping his chin, "Nah, I think not. Boys." He snapped his fingers, letting go of Hitomi and standing up, dusting himself off. The two behind him grunted, quickly moving to grab Hitomi before she could even move herself.

She couldn't even scream as they dragged her out, seemingly unnoticed by the patrons of the arcade.

Crash!

Solana looked down at the broken dish with wide eyes. She'd never dropped a dish before. Tsuna and Masayoshi peeked in through the threshold of the kitchen. "Hey, what happened?" Tsuna asked, looking from the blonde to the cup that Solana had dropped on the floor.

"I-um, I don't know… something's wrong…" Solana shook her head, "A-Are you sure Hitomi went to school this morning? Did you see her go?"

"Um… well no…" Tsuna replied, "But I'm sure she went…"

"How can you be so sure?!" Solana knelt down, picking up the pieces of the cup, "This is Hitomi's cup. If I dropped it, then something must've happened to her. You need to find her. She could be hurt!"

Tsuna sighed, nodding at Solana before leaving the house, closing the door with a slam as Solana crouched on the ground, breathing heavily.

Hitomi groaned as she was tossed against the wall. The side of her face was bruised from the punch the man had just thrown at her. "Why isn't she speaking? She looks really weak!" He yelled, kicking the chair Hitomi was sitting in moments prior.

"I-I don't know anything!" Hitomi slurred, looking at the man through half-lidded eyes, "I don't know anything!"

"Bullshit, doll." Another said, grabbing Hitomi by the hair, "If y' didn't know anythin', why would y' 'ave th' Vongola tattoo on y' leg, hm?"

"I-I-I don't know!" Hitomi yelped back, wincing in pain, "I don't know!" He dropped her, letting her head hit against the wall once more.

"You don't seem to know anything, do you?" The first man said, "You're really stupid, aren't you?"

"Must be." The second responded, "After all, we did find 'er skippin' school. She's pro'lly a screw-up. Fuckin' dumbass." He spit at Hitomi. "She's pro'lly not even worth this shit."

"You're right." The first chuckled and Hitomi could hear something like a gun cocking, "So I guess it doesn't matter if we kill her, does it?"

"Doubt it." She could practically see the malice dripping from his voice, "But first… maybe we could 'ave a li'l bit o' fun wit' her… if y' know what I mean."

If Hitomi's heart wasn't racing, it surely was now. Who were these guys? Why did they want her? What were they going to do? What she going to die here? All she could think of was her stupid decision not to go to school that day, then maybe, maybe she wouldn't be here, beaten up and about to get raped and killed by some guys who didn't seem to even mind it.

Tears slipped down her face as the men commented their own opinions on what to do with her.

Just then, the door to the room busted open and there stood a dark figure. The killing aura around the person was one that Hitomi never felt before, yet it held something familiar something like… "D-Dad?" Hitomi could barely keep her eyes open due to the bright light emitting from where she was sure her father stood.

"Don't worry, Hitomi." His voice was soft and she could tell he was a little sad—maybe disappointed, "I'll deal with these guys. It'll take but a few seconds."

"Yeah right!" The leader yelled, "See, we've—Ack!" Hitomi closed her eyes, she didn't want to see what was happening to these men, and she couldn't even bring herself to. She knew her father probably wouldn't kill them, but she didn't want to watch them be beat within an inch of their life.

Blood-curdling screams were heard and Hitomi shut her eyes tighter, covering her ears and scrunching up. It hurt to move, but this was the only position she felt comfortable in. And then… it was over. It was only a minute or two, but it felt like an eternity to Hitomi.

"Open your eyes, Hitomi." Tsuna whispered, picking her up, "It's over."

The last thing Hitomi saw was her father's face before she passed out. All she could remember was that his eyes blazed with anger and disappointment.

She'd failed everyone again.

Hitomi woke up to her mother dotting over her. She wasn't aware of the day or the time, but she could feel the overwhelming emotion pouring from her mother in waves. She also noticed that the room she was in wasn't her own room. It was sterile, white and held no personal belongings. Where exactly was she?

Solana's eyes were red and puffy. The woman had been crying. It was extremely apparent when the sniffles returned as the blonde hugged Hitomi. "I-I was so worried!" She sniffed, "I-It's been three days!" Hitomi was shocked to find out it had been so long.

"I-I'm fine now…"

"Hitomi, what were you thinking? You promised me you'd go straight to school and then—you get kidnapped!" Solana couldn't scold her correctly, but Hitomi still felt awful.

"I-I'm sorry mom…" Yet for some reason, Hitomi didn't really mean it.

"Solana." Tsuna called from the door. The two looked up, seeing Tsuna looking just as tired as Solana, "Why don't you go sleep? You've been up just as long as Hitomi's been asleep."

"B-But…" Solana looked from Tsuna to Hitomi. She didn't want to leave, she hadn't even considered it.

"I mean it. Go get some rest." His voice came a little harder than Hitomi thought was possible and reluctantly, Solana stood up, ruffling Hitomi's hair softly and taking slow steps away from her daughter, but glancing back every so often until she had passed by Tsuna.

When she was finally gone, Tsuna stepped in the room, closing the door behind him. "You're in the med-bay." He answered her unasked question. "It's… in the base underneath the city."

Though surprised by the location and the answer, Hitomi doesn't respond and instead looks away from him. "Dad, I know—"

"No, you don't know Hitomi." He doesn't bother covering up his anger, yet his voice is level, "If you knew, you'd have gone to school. If you knew, you wouldn't have disobeyed Reborn and gone off to do whatever the hell you did that got you kidnapped!"

"You act like I wanted this to happen!" Hitomi couldn't stop her voice from getting louder, "I didn't choose to be a mafia boss candidate or whatever and I definitely didn't choose to get kidnapped! But do you care? No! No, you don't! You don't give a shit unless it directly involves you!"

"You think so?" Tsuna questioned instead, "Do you really think that, Hitomi?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have said it." She replied.

"Well you're sorely mistaken." Tsuna shook his head, "I came to get you because I care about you—because I love you! If I really only thought of you as a mafia candidate then I would've left you there to die and said, 'well there's always Lorenzo—or even Masayoshi!' but did I? No the fuck I didn't!"

"Well aren't I lucky?" Hitomi crossed her arms.

"Hitomi—I," Tsuna started, sighing; "I can't even talk to you right now you're acting like a brat."

"Me? A brat?" Hitomi raised her voice again, "Oh, says the one who comes home and drops being a part of a large underground organization on their thirteen year old daughter and expects her to accept it!"

"I'm not talking about this right now."

"Go ahead, run away! Like you did when we moved to Japan!" Hitomi taunted. "It's fine, I don't care."

"I'm so disappointed in you." Tsuna said quietly as he slipped out of the room. Hitomi looked at the door, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah… well you're not the only one…" She whispered to the room.