"Okaerinasai Goshujin-sama! Mistress InsanityEdge has dropped off the next chapter of her fanfiction, 'The Seducing Sky.' She wishes for you to read it and tell her of your thoughts upon it. If I may be so bold Master; I took a quick peek into what she wrote and must warn you of the-!... Never mind happy reading!"

Disclaimer: The day I own KHR is the day Hibari decides to become a Nun and travel to the end of the rainbow in search of a handsome leprechaun to fall in love with. Then have a scandalous affair in which he wishes to keep his vow of abstinence but the lil' Leprechaun's ginger beard calls to him so seductive-like…..So yeah, I don't fricken own it.

Warning: It won't happen for quite some time but I just realised that I don't think I'd ever actually said that this story will eventually contain lemons. Though most of you probably guessed that by the fact it's rated M, others mightn't. This chapter also contains graphic violence so don't say I didn't warn ya!

Chapter 3: Cherished Warmth

So…

I finally met an Arcobaleno.

In all honesty, I totally hadn't been expecting it; I mean sure, I'd completely deviated from the original storyline, but weren't the arcobaleno a busy group of peopl-er toddlers, scattered around various places in the world, far too engrossed in their various illegal activities to have the time to take a break and chat to a random stranger?...

Apparently not.

Dudoodideding!

The doorbell chimed as I walked into the large store. It was one weirdass store.

The walls were a clinical white, as was the floor. There were rows of random objects in glass display cases lined a lime green colour. The items inside ranged from a small, purple-spotted plant munching on a few grapes- doesn't that count as cannibalism?- To a small robot smoking a cigar.

And that isn't even what made the store so odd; the weirdest thing in the place was a green-haired baby typing away at a laptop, while sitting upon a large crocodile (or was it alligator?) that was currently lounging in a random pool which just so happened to be in the middle of the store.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Back the fuck up.

Green-haired?

Baby?

Crocodile?

I think we all know who this is.

Verde guys, Verde! That crazyass In-The-Name-Of-Science lightning Arcobaleno! The dude was a verifiable genius, he-

"Excuse me." He cut me off from my mental rant. His voice was a flat monotone; his face betraying no emotions as light reflected of his glasses and suddenly made his tiny form much more intimidating. "Who are you?" This time there was a hint of a threat within his words.

I smiled broadly at the chibi, completely unaffected by his slight warning tone.

"Sawada Amami, Yorishiku!" He blinked at me, likely taken aback by my enthusiasm.

"I am Verde. What is a little girl like you doing in my store? And for that matter, Hermes?

I grinned deviously,

"What am I doing at the store of what's probably the world's greatest scientist Verde? Pssst, nothing at all my good sir. I definitely wasn't looking at all the various dangerous items while mentally concocting a few hazardous things of my own. I'm far too young to think such things."

We hit it off instantly. He told me he was intrigued by my possibly insane, but intelligent mind. I protested at the insane part, but then he pointed out what normal eight year-old girl would be interested in the process of making a nuke? Needless to say he won that particular argument. We shared various ideas about many different types of technology, discussed numerous topics upon assorted developments in the scientific world and went about designing several theories concerning the inner workings of the Vongola dying will bullet.

Eventually the conversation shifted to more menial subjects, for instance, did you know Verde absolutely loathes the smell of almonds? His favourite food is strawberries and his first ever invention was a door that slammed itself into the faces of people who hadn't been invited into the house.

This went on for hours, the both of us just enjoying one another's company. When we finally realised how long we'd been talking for, it had already become pitch black outside.

"It's too dark outside for you to reach your home safely. You will be spending the night here instead. I have an apartment upstairs." He ashy grey orbs bore into mine with a mostly blank expression plus a hint of concern; I was surprised at the colour because I'd always thought they'd be green like his hair. I gave him a lopsided grin.

"Awww is Verde-chan worried about me? I'll be fine, I can kick ass when the need arises." His gaze intensified.

"Hermes is not the type of city for any child to walk around in during the night. It is improbable that a young girl like you would be able to traverse the city safely during the dark." The finality in his tone signalled the end of the discussion, I playfully rolled my eyes in defeat.

"Hai Hai."

It was now very late. I'd climbed into Verde's bed after finishing up my phone-call with Nana to inform her of my whereabouts. (Well I told her I was at a Kyoya's house, no need to tell her that I was in another city.) Then texted Kyo-chan to notify him of the situation.

Verde's room was very plain, a few bits and pieces scattered around the floor. There was a small, dusty desk to the far corner with nothing on it. Overall the room didn't look very well lived in; the small bed was the only object that looked like it had been touched in the last few years.

Verde walked in the room dragging a futon behind him. He glanced towards my horizontal form then went back to his original task.

"Are you planning to sleep on that?" I yawned as I spoke, drowsiness seeping in.

"Yes." I blinked at him. Dragging myself out of his bed, I walked towards his small body. I plucked the futon out of his hand, picked him up and jumped back onto the bed. He didn't struggle as I moved us under the covers and snuggled him close to my chest. "Amami, what are you doing?" My eyelids began to droop and my voice became lethargic as I replied,

"Mmm… warm."

Tensely, Verde shifted a little bit as he lay in Amami's arms. It wasn't because he was physically uncomfortable -her arms actually made a quite a cosy resting place- It was because that only ever so rarely the cursed baby was touched by another human being, even that was usually someone trying to cause pain. It had been so long since Verde had felt the comfort of a hug; Luce had been the only person to ever show such affection towards him, and she had died many years ago.

So it wasn't physical uncomfortability keeping Verde awake long after Amami had fallen asleep. It was the mental awkwardness that came with the knowledge that for Verde, skin-to-skin contact had happened so few and far inbetween he had forgotten the feeling. His mind was unused to the closeness of another body; hence, it had forced itself into a high state of awareness, refusing to allow any rest.

He sighed as he looked at the face of the peacefully sleeping girl. He wondered about the words she had spoken before leaving him to his mental turmoil. Warm? He was warm? In all his life, no one had ever said something like that to him. Cold was a word he'd been called regularly; mostly concerning his heart but sometimes his eyes or personality. Blank was another word he was familiar with, but warm? Never.

Well, he supposed, warmth radiated of all human beings so it's not like Verde would be different. However, the bed would've been warm enough without Verde's presence; Amami probably wasn't talking about a corporeal type of warm. The idea that Amami called him warm not because of his natural body heat but because that she thought him to be warm in heart and soul brought a smile to his lips.

Of course there was no real way of knowing if that is the type of warm Amami was talking about. But, Verde had a feeling, just an inkling, that Amami was talking about the type of warmth he had concluded.

'Amami.' He thought to himself as he snuggled further into her embrace.

'You're warm too.'

"That doesn't answer my question." I blinked at Spanner's image on the computer screen. We were currently Skyping one another, both of us in the comfort of our own bedrooms, it had become normal routine to do so; Spanner had contacted me only a couple days after our first meeting and we've been talking to eachother daily ever since. Except of course, yesterday when I went to Hermes.

"How so?" I questioned him.

"I asked why you were so bruised. What I got was a story about how you spent the night at the home of the famous Lightning Arcobaleno, otherwise known as the reincarnation of Da Vinci. And as interesting as that is, it wasn't what I'd originally asked you about." I rolled my eyes at him.

"I've told you about bloodthirsty Skylark-kun right?"

"Yeah. The crazy kid that one day out of the blue demanded you be his pet?"

"Yup that's him. Well he was super angry at me for leaving it so late before telling him where I was, as a result, when I got home we had a little…Sparring match" Spanner's eyebrows rose slightly, making him lose his original stoic expression.

"He didn't hurt you too bad did he?" I smiled at his concern.

"Nah, he'd never hit me too hard; he likes me too much. I just got whacked atop the head a couple times is all. Don't tell him I said that though." Grinning, I winked at him cheekily. "Anyways, have you finished your robot yet? I wanna see him!" I pouted childishly as he sighed. He walked out of the camera's view for a couple moments, when he came back he had the cutest Mosca baby in the world. My eyes sparkled as I struggled to keep in a squeal at the sight.

"I was thinking about naming him Pop. It matches with Lolly's name." My eyes snapped towards Spanner. The pure fury in my eyes made him shiver with fear. The blood quickly left his face as I snapped at him.

"No! You're naming it Akambo Mosca, Akamo for short or so help me God I will travel to Italy myself and mutilate you beyond recognition." Spanner nodded his head frantically, fear present in his eyes. I slowly calmed down again. Raising my hands in the air I cheered.

"Yay! Akamo is so cute!" Spanner watched me like I was mentally ill or something equally ludicrous. He relaxed as he listened to me babble about how cute the new robot is.

"Definitely bipolar." He mumbled to himself, sure that Amami wouldn't catch what he said. He was surprised he'd managed to get the redhead angry because usually nothing would make her genuinely mad. Spanner hadn't known her for long but he already knew she wasn't the type to get angry at all.

"Spanner I can hear you." He froze as his eyes locked with hers over the computer screen. He sweated profusely until he noticed the amused glint in her ocean-blue orbs. He sagged with relief when he realised she wasn't angered by his remark. Although it only served to confuse him further as it proved his theory of her being the generally calm type. For a split second he wondered why the name of the robot bothered her so much and how she'd managed to choose the other name he had been thinking of; Mosca. He quickly shook all the thoughts out of his head because he knew he wouldn't ever get an answer. Amami was nothing if not sly and she could change the whole conversation around before he even noticed.

I coughed as I struggled to sit up.

'Oh shit.' I thought to myself. Attempting to peer into the darkness that surrounded me, I slipped a knife out of my sleeve to slice the ropes that were currently digging painfully into my wrists and ankles. It was so dark I couldn't see more than a couple feet in front of my face. Taking a deep breath, I calmly assessed the situation. This wasn't the first time I'd been kidnapped. Well, the old me had been abducted many times, the KHR me hadn't at all. Either way I was mentally experienced in this sort of thing.

I thought back to what caused me to get into this situation.

It was on the way home from a tutoring session by Vinnie in Hermes. I was literally just at the edge of Namimori. I had been walking down a empty street, minding my own damn business when a creepy dude in a flaky-looking suit appeared with a whole bunch of other poor excuses of Mafiosos. I had sighed drearily as I took in the amount of men that were there. I may be a kickass fighter but I was still only nine, I couldn't take on the ridiculous horde of men no matter how shitty they were. Deciding I wasn't going to go down without a fight, I grinned a sharp, foxy grin at the slimeball in the front. He flinched as he caught the bloodthirsty look in my eye. Letting loose an animalistic growl I charged towards the man in the front, determined to take down as many of the bastards as I could.

I grinned a similar grin to the one before as I recalled the memories of me beating several men to a pulp. I had taken out at least half, possibly two thirds; Kyoya would be proud.

My ears twitched as I sensed someone coming closer. Their heavy footfalls were painfully loud compared to the quietness of the dark room I currently resided in. I laid back down and pretended to be asleep. The door squeaked and suddenly there was brightness behind my eyes. I forced myself to stay still as I heard the man walk closer.

'Just a little more.'

"I'm telling you, the little bitch is a monster. She crushed the skulls of about six of our men. And they're not the only ones who're now ten feet under. The shitty little demon got fucking creative." His gruff voiced was laced with anger.

I froze. I had killed them? I mean yeah I went all out but… I didn't think I had killed them. For a second I stopped breathing at this new revelation. Fortunately, I had already killed plenty of times in my past life to be completely okay with the subject. And even if I wasn't, I would have to get used it because the Mafia is a dangerous world to live in. It was a dog eat dog world, as such, I would definitely be killing again in the future.

I heard the rustling of clothes and the clink of his belt as it fell to the floor. The man leaned closer, his breath fanning my neck.

"Tell you what though, the little bitch would actually be worth quite a lot on the slave market. But you'll have to wait until I'm finished with her." I could hear the leering smile in his disgusting voice. Snapping my eyes open, I quickly headbutted the nasty toad. I smiled satisfyingly when I heard a distinct crunch. Drawing my knife from behind my back before he had time to recover, I stabbed him in the worst place I could think of… The groin.

Yes.

I did just stab a man's dick.

He screamed in pain. He dropped the phone but before he could bend over I took the knife out, and restabbed his groin but this time I made sure to get his testicles.

Yes.

I did just stab a man's balls.

He fell to the floor, crying and screaming out in excruciating agony. I grinned cruelly at him.

"Who's the bitch now huh?" I contemplated finishing him off but decided that living with the kind of injury I gave him would be punishment enough. I quickly left the room.; knowing that the man on the phone was either going to arrive soon himself or someone else would be on the way.

In my hurry I accidentally knocked into someone. Before I could react I felt something prick my arm. Suddenly, I felt extremely tired and sluggish. It took all of my willpower to just remain awake.

I was lifted up to meet the face of a rather pretty female. I could tell she had short pink hair and magenta coloured eyes but that was all I could determine because my head was starting to spin and my eyesight was becoming blurry.

"Oho? You're still awake? I put enough in that to knock out any ordinary man." She whistled in what was probably supposed to be a complimenting way. I tried glaring at her but failed miserably. She hoisted me onto her shoulder and began to walk away from the room I'd come from.

After some time we came another room. I was placed on a hard stone chair and straps were placed on my arms and legs, ensuring I was completely stuck to the chair and unable to move an inch.

The coldness of the chair seeped into my skin; it was an almost burning sensation. Drowsily, I inspected my surroundings. The walls were a sickly white colour. Weapons and torture instruments were hung on the wall; I was not impressed by their variety. The floor was made from the same dark stone material as the chair. I was sure that if I could see more clearly then I would be able to find blood stains littering the room.

For some reason, we waited. The woman didn't say anything or do anything; hence I figured we were waiting for someone else to arrive. My instincts quietly whispered that when they did it would not bode well for me.

The door jolted open with a loud thud. Three more figures entered the room. My eyesight had begun to restore itself by now. It was two men and one woman. The men were both quite good-looking; one was blonde with brown eyes and the other a brunette with a darker shade of brown for his own orbs. The last was a woman, she had the magenta-coloured eyes of her female companion and the same pink hair, yet she lacked any type of beauty. She was as ugly as a troll. Her face was red and blotchy with acne; her body was unappealing and was without a single attractive curve.

"So this is the lil' bitch eh?" The brunette looked towards me, smiling oddly as he did so. The blond looked towards him, the corners of his mouth turned up into a vile grin.

"I can't wait to play with her." The brunette smirked in response to the blonde's words. Pretty Pinky rolled her eyes and they both flashed a small grin at her. Pugly Pinky went a little bit red when they didn't even glance her way. Huffing slightly she glared at me.

"You two don't get all the fun! Me and sis are gonna take a couple rounds at it too!" Her voice just screamed attention-seeker. She sauntered up to me, swaying her hips in a disgusting manner. The men behind her made didn't bother to look, the revulsion in their eyes made it abundantly clear they didn't like the ugly sister.

Pugly Pinky sneered at me in a way she probably thought to be intimidating.

"Now then you little shit. Do you have any wishes on which way to be tortured? Or you could just tell us what we want to know." Boredly, I looked directly into her eyes. With a completely straight face I asked,

"How am I supposed to tell you what you want to know if you haven't told me what you want? For all I know you could be asking what day it is, stupid shit." She went a shiny red colour and the three others began laughing. Especially the blonde guy, his laughter boomed throughout the room. She pulled back from me somewhat, her eyes furious. She raised her heavy hand and laid it's back across my cheek. A thin cut on the right side of my face, from my ear to my lip appeared and started to dribble blood. I looked at the hand she'd slapped me with to find the pointy ring on her finger that had cut me.

"You fucking bitch! Don't try to get fucking smart with me! Don't worry, in a moment you'll be fucking bawling!" Pretty Pinky rolled her eyes once more. Stepping up, she put a hand on her sister's shoulder to calm her. Turning to me, she spoke,

"We have information that around three years ago you were seen entering the Vongola mansion and even the room of the Head of the CEDEF. You're the same age as the Head's son. It's most likely that you're a playmate of his. Tell us who he is and where we can find him." I stared at her for a long moment. Then I slid my eyes over to the Pugly Pinky, blondie and the brunette. They were all deadly serious and waiting for my answer. I couldn't help it, these people were so stupid it made me burst out into laughter.

They recoiled at the sound of my maniacal laughter. The brunette's eyes narrowed. The blonde screamed.

"What's so fucking funny you little bitch?!" Finally, my laughter stopped. I shot him an amused look.

"You are. You're all fucking hilarious." He let out a scream of frustration. The Pugly Pinky grabbed a hammer off the wall and turned towards me.

"You're gonna get it now bitch!" I smirked cruelly at her.

"Wait! You said I get to say how I want to be tortured!" She paused, as did the others.

"I want to be tortured by Pretty Pinky over there instead of Pugly Pinky over here. If I'm going to be tortured to death, I at least want it to be by someone who doesn't look like they weren't just hit by the ugly stick, but the whole damn tree." She shrieked in rage, embarrassment flooding out of her. She slammed the hammer down on my hands, smashing the bones within them. I didn't let out a scream or cry. I refused to cry in front of the enemy.

The brunette pushed her out of the way; she landed with a solid thump on the ground. His eyes roamed my body, he licked his lips, not in a perverted way, but sinisterly, he was going to enjoy my pain.

I felt the blond shift behind me, he handed the brunette a small but sharp knife. I closed my eyes in preparation, quietly hoping this wasn't going to be the end.

It felt like it had been going on for hours, but in all likelihood it had only been about one, possibly two. My fingernails had all been ripped out. My toes were bent and crooked at odd angles. There were bits of fragmented bone jutting out my skin. My left shoulder had been dislocated and cuts from the brunette's knife littered my body. Yet still, I refused to scream or cry. The brunette was irritated by my silence and he knew I knew it which just pissed him off more.

He leaned in close to my face, curling his lip at me.

"This is your last chance. Tell me who the Vongola heir is." I smiled mirthlessly at him, swiftly spitting a glob of saliva mixed with blood right into his eyeball. It rolled down his face and in his shock and disgust, it took him a couple moments before he actually removed it.

"You'll fucking pay for that." He turned around and walked off into the far corner of the room. When he came back he was holding a small torture device. "You see this?" He waved it about in front of my face. "I'm going to use this to rip your eyes out of their sockets. After you're blind we'll see if you want to start talking." My eyes widened in fear, I hastily narrowed them again. I breathed deeply to remain calm, and then I prayed; not to God, but to my friends, family, hoping that someone would pull through and make it in time.

He brought the device to my face with an agonizing slowness. My breath quickened when it was only an inch away from my right eye.

All of a sudden there was a thunderous explosion. I guessed it occurred at the other side of the building I was in because an explosion that loud would've been huge. For it not to hit us we must've been quite far away from the cause of it.

The brunette cursed and threw the device to the side. I let out a silent breath of relief.

"Dammit, what the fuck was that!" The blonde cursed. He reached for the door but it flew open with a resounding bang before he managed to touch it. Silence engulfed the room. My torturers stared down at the baby standing in the doorway.

Abruptly, I realised that they must be one of the Arcobaleno. Looking a little harder I recognised the helmet they were wearing; Skull's helmet.

Anger began rolling off Skull's body in waves. My torturers quivered in fear. Even though Skull was the weakest Arcobaleno, that didn't actually mean he was weak. Evidenced by the sheer amount of killing intent he was releasing.

"I'm going to kill you." He spoke bluntly, his voice as cold as steel.

I watched in amazement as Skull murdered the four without any aid from his pet or other Carcassa Famiglia members. When he was finished he turned towards me, taking of his helmet as he did so. Skull smiled gently at my broken form.

"You're safe now." I gave him a heartfelt smile as I passed out.

Skull sucked in a breath as the beaten young girl before him smiled what was perhaps the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen. Even though she was bloody and hurt, she had managed to smile so gratefully at him, like he was some type of hero. Her smile radiated with unspoken gratitude, kindness and appreciation. It was as if the fact she had been tortured no longer mattered because Skull was here, he had saved her and that was all that was important.

'When was the last time' Skull thought bitterly. 'That someone had smiled at me like that?' Thinking as far back as he could, Skull realised nobody had ever smiled at him like that. Yes, Luce had smiled at him with care, but never had she smiled at him like the little girl had. Not once had Luce given him a smile that told him she thought everything was going to be okay, simply because Skull was there. With sour realism the Cloud Arcobaleno consciously acknowledged the fact that those special smiles had always been given to the other Arcobaleno; namely Reborn, Colonello and Fon, but sometimes Viper and Verde.

Skull knew that Luce had loved him just as much as the other arcobaleno, it was the reason he never really fought back against the others when they forced him to be their lackey; Luce would hate them fighting eachother. Even so, that didn't stop the bubble of jealousy rise from his chest when he thought about how he was the only one who hadn't been relied upon.

Focusing his gaze back on the unconscious girl, his jealously completely vanished. He decided it didn't matter that Luce had never given him the special smile, because the girl had. He no longer cared about such meaningless things like being considered unreliable. All Skull wanted to do was to see that breath-taking smile again and again, as many times as he could. He wanted to protect and befriend the young girl that had shifted his lonely world on its axis with one, beautiful smile. It didn't matter if he was weak, because he could train to become strong.

Skull didn't have loved ones or family, but he knew, he could change that, would change that. In that moment, Skull resolved to become apart of the little girl's life and cherish her as much as he could, she would be his only precious person, and that was all Skull would need, because it would be her.

For those who don't know, akambo means baby. This is most definitely my longest chappie and I am crazy proud of it. I hope everyone enjoyed it, I know it might be quite a dark turn from the light chappies we've had so far. Either way, if you feel like it review ;) I thank all who followed and favourited. Peace out! ;3 Kufufufufufu!