Taming the Skylark (A Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction)

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano Akira-sensei does; though, of course, the OC is mine.


That night, Nanami had a weird dream—that she was not herself and her identity was that of another woman.

Her body looked different, she thought as she gazed at her soft palms that lacked callouses. A gust of wind had her hair displaced forward, allowing her to catch a glimpse of an unusual peach color.

"Arianne."

A voice took her out of her reverie. Standing on a tree branch, she looked below and found a blonde boy glaring at her. His eyes bore a wrath similar to someone she knew.

Wait. On a second thought, they actually looked identical. Wasn't that Hibari?

"It's Lady Arianne," she answered as her mouth moved involuntarily. "Seriously, you ought to respect me more. I'm four years older than you!"

The frown on the boy's face did not falter a bit. "I don't care. Remove these spikes immediately."

She looked at the small metal rods that had pinned his shoes. She grinned and waved a gun at him, which she used to shoot the spikes. "I will if you ask nicely?"

"Forget it. I can do it myself," he said begrudgingly before leaning to reach the metal. However—

She hummed teasingly. "Oh, but you'll have to kneel to do that?"

"Nanami."

She heard another voice.

Her surroundings suddenly changed, just like a typical dream that moved from one scene to another without warning.

Nanami was inside a traditional Japanese room seated on the floor and in front of her was an adult man who looked a lot like Hibari Kyoya. She examined him from head to toe, noting his black locks and purple kinagashi. Yes, unlike the boy from earlier, this man was dressed in Japanese clothes. It was surely Hibari!

"I love you."

Okay, that's not him.

Nanami wanted to crawl away, but her body refused to obey her. In fact, she even heard herself laugh. It was only then did she notice the phone that she was holding. Was she recording him?

"Kyoya, who do you love the most?"

Wait. Did she just call him by his first name?

"You."

"What part of me do you like the best?"

"Everything. I love everything about you."

Hearing him say all of that using the same voice that constantly tormented her made Nanami beyond horrified. She wanted to escape, but her body seemed to have a mind of its own!

She snickered as she fiddled with her phone. "Aww, don't get too flustered when you watch this."

Hibari enclosed his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. He asked dazedly, "Who are you talking to?"

Her nose instantly scrunched at the smell of alcohol. Nanami glanced at him and noticed an almost inconceivable blush on his cheeks. She screamed internally. Of course, he was drunk!

"I'm talking to the future you, silly," she teased and pinched his cheeks. She then sighed. "Ah, you'll surely bite me to death for this."

If it was only possible, Nanami would have already smacked the back of her own head. If she knew what would happen, why was she doing this?!

Hibari's eyes bore an unfamiliar dangerous glint and he suddenly grabbed her chin.

"I can do that right now if you want."

He pulled her towards him, and Nanami could feel her heart race as his face slowly got closer to hers. She inhaled sharply.

"Stop, you perverted freshman!"

"Ack—!"

The brunette screamed in her sleep and lunged forward, her forehead hitting something in the process. A loud crash completely woke her up.

Her eyes squinted in an attempt to adjust to the darkness. It seemed that she was in a bedroom and someone just tried to creep on her sleeping figure.

Nanami glared at the direction where she sent the intruder flying. Upon taking note of the outline of his body, she released the spikes from her sleeves and pinned him on the wall. "How dare you try to harass me!"

She heard muffled cries. "Please spare me! I was only trying to kill you!"

Seriously, what made him think that murder was in anyway better? Not that she would have preferred to be sexually assaulted, of course.

"Who are you?" she asked impatiently.

"...An assassin sent for the second trial."

Oh, that's right. She was currently in a competition. How silly of her to forget. It was all because of that stupid dream!

Nanami quickly left the bed to turn on the lights. She then walked towards her quivering attacker, a man who was obviously a lackey at most, as she retraced the events from earlier.

The last thing she remembered was passing out in the middle of dinner. Then, she woke up in a bedroom.

"Whose room is this?" she asked again.

"I-It's yours. At least during the competition."

After he promised not to attack her, Nanami removed the spikes from his clothes. The man immediately retreated to the open window and disappeared in the dark night.

Anyway, that dream still lingered in her mind. It was the weirdest one she had encountered and it was highly-doubtful that anything could ever compare to it.

Second Trial: Sleep to Your Death

Test of Alertness

Nanami: Passed

Lilian: Passed

?: ?


After having breakfast in the hall, the participants were then asked to gather inside the lobby. There, Nanami was reunited with Lilian.

"Are you alright?" she inquired upon remembering how the Chinese lady crashed her face against a plate when she lost consciousness.

"Yes. I'm sorry for worrying you, Miss Nanami." Lilian tilted her head in a small bow. She then flashed the brunette her signature dazzling smile. "Are you doing fine as well?"

Nanami nodded. "I was attacked by an assassin last night, though."

Apparently, the same thing happened to Lilian and the other candidates. She explained, "That was the reason they put sleeping potion in our food. It was to make us completely vulnerable to assassination attempts. Fortunately, only a few died."

Fortunately? Nanami barely refrained herself from making a retort.

She was currently in a different world, she repeatedly reminded herself. If she wanted to go back to her peaceful daily life, she had to adapt and stop whining!

Third Trial: Bring Me

Test of Stealth and Dedication to Mission

Nanami was surprised upon hearing the announcement. She just had prepared herself for a life-or-death situation, so it felt somewhat anticlimactic when it was revealed that the third trial was a simple "Bring Me" game. Again, not that she was complaining.

The brunette followed a queue and while waiting for her turn to pick from the lottery box, her mind wandered to the Sports' Day event in school. In shoujo mangas, there is a popular trope where the protagonist would be asked to bring the person they love. Nanami had always wanted to experience that heart-pounding moment, but if that were to happen to her right now, she would most likely lose and die.

She shook her head. Of course, that would not happen. Love had no place in the mafia underworld.

However, the moment she opened the folded paper, blood instantly drained from her face.

《 The person you love 》

—was written in cursive, with a wink emoticon added at the end.

"Who in the world wrote this?" she muttered weakly.

It was Lussuria.

After everyone had picked a paper, the third trial commenced. The time limit was 6 hours, and they were told to report at the bottom of the mountain upon completion of their mission.

Senritsu Nanami released a heavy sigh. She only had 6 hours to fall in love or else she would die.

What a crazy turn of events.


Nanami remained seated on the grand staircase of the castle. She was thinking of a plan when a familiar blade flew past her and landed on the railing. It had a small paper tied on it.

"Come to your room." It said.

Upon entering her temporary room, she found Belphegor chilling on the bed. "Hi," he greeted with a friendly wave of his hand. "How are you doing?"

"Almost died twice, but aside from that I'm good," she answered, half-sarcastically.

"Great! I'm actually very proud of you for surviving the first two trials," he said, before jumping out of the bed. "To be honest, I was afraid you would end up dead in your sleep. Thankfully, Sharkboy's representative was a blabbermouth and informed you about the poison. Otherwise, you would not have stopped eating and end up ingesting more sleeping potion. You looked so fond of the dishes, after all."

"What do you need?" she asked impatiently, obviously not intent on striking a conversation with him.

He chuckled. "That's my line. What do you need?"

He extended a hand at her. Nanami immediately understood what he meant and gave him a scolding look.

"You can't help me. That's cheating."

"I can. It's not against the rules."

Ignoring her protests, he reached for the pocket of her Burberry trench coat and took the paper himself. The corner of his mouth instantly twitched upon reading the contents. "This is what got you mulling over the staircase?"

"Well, I'm sorry for being single!" she huffed.

"Are you an idiot? You were told to bring a person you like. It can be someone you're not in a relationship with. Even a random person."

Her eyes widened in realization. She gasped. "You're right! It's not like they would know!"

So, the two decided to make up a story. The setting would be that Nanami had joined the competition to prove her love and desire to always be with Belphegor. Obviously, the one who came up with the aforementioned plan was the narcissistic prince.

"I doubt they'll believe that," she tried to argue her way out of the ridiculous situation.

"Oh, they would, don't worry. Everyone knows how lovable I am."

Nanami gave Belphegor a look of disbelief.

He chuckled at her feistiness and pinched her cheeks. "Stop giving me that look. I'm your beloved employer, remember?"

"You're my kidnapper," she corrected.

"You'll die if you don't act like you love me."

Touche. Nanami was reminded once more that winning, and not whining, will get her back to Japan.

Belphegor clapped his hands. "Okay, let's practice! Nanami-chan, who do you love the most?"

The brunette stiffened as a familiar dream flashed in her mind. She answered hesitantly, "You?"

"Wrong!" He wagged a finger disapprovingly. "It should be Belphegor-sama."

"Next! What part of me do you like the best?"

Nanami frowned. The flow of his questions was strangely identical to her dreams.

"Everything," she declared with confidence.

"Nope!" He shook his head. "People will think you're lying if you give bland answers. Put more effort, okay?"

The two continued to practice until the time for the actual reporting came. They descended the mountain.

With Belphegor trailing behind her, Nanami walked up to Lussuria and handed him her paper. His eyes instantly shone in delight. "Oh my. Aren't you Bel's representative? Does this mean..."

Nanami gulped down her little remaining pride. Back to Japan. Back to home, she repeated like a mantra.

"Yes, Belphegor-sama is the person I love the most. He's cool, handsome, talented, and above all, wealthy. He's undeniably the best man in the entire world! Kyah, all hail my beloved prince!"

At that moment, Nanami wanted nothing more than to crawl inside a hole. The cringe was too much, she felt like she was dying!

On the other hand, Belphegor looked completely satisfied with himself. She scoffed. It was him who made her tell all of those things, word by word!

Lussuria was squealing. Will someone from Varia finally get a lovelife? He excitedly turned to their Storm Guardian. "How about you, Bel? Do you love her?"

"No," he deadpanned.

Lussuria gasped at his downright rejection. "Wha—Why?!"

"She's poor."

Nanami gave him an offended look. "Excuse me, I'm not?"

He shrugged and grinned. "At least, in comparison to my royal self."

She continued to glare at Belphegor. Lussuria mistook it for a hurt expression. "Aw, dear, don't be discouraged. Seasons change and so does the heart. He may not love you today, but he might tomorrow."

Nanami was sure that that would never happen. Not tomorrow, nor the day after that, nor in a million years.

"O, okay." She had to at least look disappointed to make them believe her lies. Not that it would have mattered, actually, for they were a group of dysfunctional assassins whose emotional intelligence were probably near zero.

"Bel, you dumbass." Squalo slapped the back of his head. "What would you do if she botched the competition because you rejected her?"

"I know she won't because we made a promise. Right, Nanami-chan?" He gave her a knowing smile.

Yeah. Said promise was him bringing her back to Japan if she won.

Nanami only returned his smile. Ah, how much she wanted to stab her beloved prince right now.

Third Trial: Bring Me

Test of Stealth and Dedication to Mission

Nanami: Passed

Lilian: Failed

?: ?


**EXTRA**

Lilian failed because she picked《 Sawada Tsunayoshi's head 》which was requested by Xanxus. Of course, she was not allowed to kill the successor of the Vongola family, right?

In contrast to Nanami's impression, the third trial was actually the most difficult because the Varia members made absurd requests that were almost impossible to achieve. After that, only 20 participants were left.


Author's Note:

Hi everyone! I would just like to take this chance to thank the people who always leave reviews after reading! I'm very happy to know that you're enjoying the fanfic. You guys never fail to make my day! Thank you very very much! (T u T)

Anyway, Drunk!Hibari is the best? (*o*) Hmm, I wonder if that was really just a dream...

Also, Bel is so much fun to write about. He's slowly becoming one of my favorite characters!