The lone female of the Vindice looked at the tiny little thing shivering in the cold, their wrists and ankles rubbed raw by the too tight handcuffs, and in clothes entirely unsuited for the area they were in. There was a distinct lack of food or water in the 'house', and they were arresting all the adults that could drive.
The little thing was so fragile, like a little kitten shoved in a box in the cold winter, that it was impossible to completely put it out of mind.
So much so that she discreetly puts the little one under her cloak and spirited her to Vindicare. She was sure Bermuda would understand that she was merely keeping an eye on the little one until whichever familigia she had been stolen from came for her.
Except no one does. Not for over a month and a half, and by that time the trail is so long cold that it has died completely.
She takes the little kitten to her boss. She couldn't keep her secret for much longer, and Jager had only gone along with it until her familigia came for her.
It was hard to condemn a true innocent to a needless death from inaction, which was why he had kept his silence. It wasn't like the little girl could have possibly warranted such a lonely fate to die from cold, hunger or lack of water.
"What?" demanded Bermuda. He was buried in paperwork, again. Seriously, how exactly did he end up having to do this much paperwork just to run a damn prison?
At least his subordinates were relatively tame in comparison to the mafioso idiots... he didn't have to fill out nearly as many damage expense claims or repair bills.
They forced the prisoners to do it for a reduced sentence.
Then Bermuda looked up from the papers to see... a child?
"...Explain. Now."
She squirmed, before telling him what happened. It was a simple job...they went in, arrested the idiots causing a mess and breaking Omerta, and came back.
Except the location was in such a rural area in the middle of Russia and it was winter. There was no way a little one this young would know how to operate a car, much less fend for themselves without food or a proper water source. And expecting a child under seven to know how to operate a gun was just asking for trouble.
So she had brought it with them, leaving a contact number fully intending to drop the little one off with their familigia once they tracked her down.
But they didn't. Not for a full month and by that time she had stopped checking the house entirely...the girl would have been dead long before help arrived if she hadn't brought with them.
Bermuda stared at the lone female of his group. Then at the child who didn't seem the least bit afraid of him or the woman holding her hand.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and asked...
"Does she have a name at least?"
The woman made a face.
"Whoever her parents are, they are idiots. What sane person gives a girl a name like 'tuna'?" she replied.
"Which familigia is she with?"
"I don't think she has one, or if she did they cast her out. She has a Sky Flame seal on her and I think hers were active when it was applied."
Bermuda blinked.
"How old is she?"
"At least six and a half, and the seal looks to be at least a year old."
Active flames in a five year old. No one bothering to look for her after she was clearly kidnapped and almost left to die in the middle of Russia during winter. Not a single call asking about a little girl fitting her description in over a month.
Bermuda sighed.
He could safely say his subordinate was correct in that the girl was most likely abandoned by her familigia, if she had one.
"We can't keep her. This is a prison."
"She doesn't seem to mind us. I'm almost certain I saw her hugging Jager yesterday," she replied. "And it's not like we don't have the resources to keep her here, so long as she doesn't visit the prisoners."
Bermuda eyed the massive piles on his desk.
"I'll streamline all your paperwork so you only have to deal with the absolute necessities that have to be run by you, rather than the damage claims and budgeting," she offered.
Sold.
"You can keep her, but only as long as she doesn't interfere with what we do. And you're on your own when it comes to schooling her," he said flatly.
She actually squealed, before hugging the little one to her chest.
"Hear that, little flame? You're staying with us!"
The little girl squeaked, but to Bermuda's open disbelief she snuggled into the woman's hold without a second thought.
What the hell.
Bermuda thought he had seen everything.
Apparently he was wrong. Seeing his subordinates wrapped around the tiny fingers of the little girl that his new secretary had rescued from a pointless death was rather surreal...and he wasn't the only one having a mental break down seeing them with the tiny thing cheerfully hugging them like they were still human. Every time they dragged a new prisoner past the little girl openly playing with the Vindice, even when they weren't bandaged up, they would have a "WTF" look on their faces.
It had only been two months since the little Principessa had been brought to his attention, and she had EVERY ONEof his men wrapped around her little fingers.
Then came the day even he fell victim to the strange charm of the little principessa.
After yet another hellish day of paperwork, dealing with idiot prisoners who got far too amped up and tried to break out again, and having to deal with a whiny mafioso wanting one of their idiots out, Bermuda openly twitched when he saw the full desk waiting for him.
It was going to take him HOURS to clean that nightmare off.
So it took him several seconds to register that he was being hugged.
Considering the warmth and tiny (but not Arcobaleno-sized) arms around him, there could really only be one culprit.
"Little Principessa, what do you think you're doing?"
"Hugging you. Mama always gave me hugs when I had a bad day," she said in Japanese.
Bermuda raised an eyebrow.
Considering most mafioso lived in Italy or Europe, he would have expected her to speak in Italian or at the very least English. Not Japanese.
Bermuda found himself being carried to the kitchen where the little one managed to make him a cup of coffee (mostly by pouring some from the espresso maker into a cup, and carefully carrying it to where she sat him down) and picked up some apple juice from the fridge for herself.
Then she sat him down in her lap on the stool, and for some strange reason he felt some of the tension in his body relax.
Not all of it, of course, but as he sat there just relaxing while sipping the glorious cup of caffeine, he felt a lot less cranky and ready to kill something.
He was starting to see why his subordinates had become so attached to the little one, even when they really should be finding out which familigia she was with.
Though if she spoke Japanese that well, then he had a sneaking suspicion who's Family she belonged to.
Bermuda didn't even register when he fell asleep, only that he woke up acting as the little principessa's teddy bear.
Seeing Jager standing there with a camera, he almost growled. Almost.
"I see you've fallen victim to her as well," he commented.
Bermuda tried to extract himself, but the little one had him in a death grip.
She hugged him a little tighter, before she let him slip out.
How long had it been? How long had he gone without having someone fear him, or even dare to give him something as simple as a hug without flinching?
None of his men were the 'affectionate' type, and the lone female was more tomboy than anything. After they were brought back, things like hugs or kindness had fallen firmly to the wayside and were forgotten about.
And yet this little girl walked right past all their defenses, didn't even flinch when she saw even a little past their bandages and chains, and openly hugged them. Didn't even bat an eye at the thought of using someone like him as a teddy bear.
He could see why his men were so taken with her to the point they weren't really putting much effort into finding her familigia.
Jager didn't know whether to bring this up or not, but decided to throw it out there anyway.
"About the seal she has on her..."
"...If we haven't found her familigia within the next month we'll call in an expert to have it removed properly. Honestly, what sort of complete idiot thinks sealing a child not even ten is acceptable, especially if they had active flames?"
Jager would spread the news. He was honestly curious what sort of Flame her foolish former family had wanted to keep from the world.
When they finally managed to locate an expert to unseal the little princess (using a proxy so that no one associated her with them as a precaution), they were all completely shocked when they found out what her flames were.
Shocked and pissed. Any chances of returning the little Sky were dead in the water, as even Bermuda couldn't come up with the resolve to send her back to whoever was stupid enough to seal a baby Sky.
Though it was merely proof that even the dreaded leader of the Vindice had fallen and fallen hard for the little princess, who treated them like the humans they once were and would hug them without an ounce of fear. She didn't even react to their Flames of Night.
"What are we going to name our little princess?" asked Celia (the lone female Vindice of the group).
That set off a panic among them. So far they had been making do with calling her "little princess" or more recently "little Sky".
While his men were having mild panic attacks, Bermuda sighed. At least it was a welcome distraction from the mess on his desk.
Seeing the little one happily sitting on Jager's lap sipping her juice, he had an idea.
"Sora Himeno," he said flatly.
"Boss?" asked Jager, confused.
"She's Japanese, or raised there. Or did none of you actually register that she only knows limited Italian but speaks Japanese fluently?" deadpanned Bermuda.
"Sora Himeno... or if you go by the Japanese habit of using last names first... Oh. Princess of Sky," said Celia, catching on first.
"Which means I won't be hearing any more arguments over new pet names, and it's easy enough for all of you to remember," said Bermuda.
They all looked at the newly dubbed Sora Himeno. Or just Hime for short.
Celia hugged Hime to her chest, and Hime hugged her back. The woman was odd, but very nice. A lot nicer than the people they saved her from or even her own family.
Even if she didn't talk much.
"Hear that, little Principessa? You're staying with us!" she said excitedly.
Having the little Sky in their dull fortress seemed to brighten everyone's mood.
"Which family was she from, anyway?" asked another brave soul. He winced at the look Celia shot at him.
Bermuda rolled his eyes, not that you could really see it.
"Don't you people use your eyes? She's a Vongola, likely Giotto's descendant to boot."
It was like a bomb went off.
Bermuda flared his Flames to shut them all up...they were giving him a headache.
"How do you know, Boss?" asked Jager.
"I was suspicious when she primarily stuck to Japanese when talking to us. The purity and strength of her Sky was a big clue, but it was when I was looking through our old records that I found an old picture of that fool Giotto and saw the strong resemblance. If you recall that man moved to Japan when his nephew forcibly took the throne for himself," said Bermuda flatly.
"We don't have to hand her over, will we?" asked Celia.
"They had their chance... you left them a contact number and once I realized who she used to belong to I went looking for rumors of the Vongola searching for someone specifically fitting her description. There was nothing...and I checked the general area where Giotto settled in when he retired. I found her mother and she's better off with us...that woman is either delusional or under a Mist illusion to believe her daughter is still there."
"And her father?" asked Jager, accepting the little sky back into his lap. Her flames coiled around the room like a warm blanket on a cold day.
"The man is married to his work and a fool besides. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed the amount of work we've had dealing with CEDEF," said Bermuda. "If he's too stupid to realize his own men are going rogue on him, then there's no way he would be responsible enough to raise a child...likely why she was left with her mother until she was taken."
Seeing how possessively Jager was hugging Himeno, there was no way in hell the Vongola were getting the girl back. Not when they showed this level of incompetence just looking for her.
If they had any brains they would have sent out enough 'feelers' that Celia would have noticed and used to return her. Now though...now she was theirs.
And the strangest thing was that the little princess hadn't needed Sky flames to worm her way into what little heart they had left.
All she did was treat them like human beings, despite their terrifying appearance and powers. It was baffling.
Though Bermuda would happily kill anyone stupid enough to claim he was developing a tsundere complex...or perhaps a "Himeno-complex" over a little girl.