High school went by quickly. I fell into a routine where my only excitement came at the end of the school day. I would show up to school, go through my day, meet Squalo on the rooftop and spar, head home and provide training to Dino's famiglia, and then head out for a mission if there was one for me to take. Rinse and repeat daily.

Squalo knew I was bored with my position. Dino knew I wanted to get stronger. Squalo tried to entice me away from my position with the Cavallone Family while Dino tried to convince me to stay with dates and sweet nothings. Sadly, I spent my entire childhood with Dino and I was unable to refuse his advances.

I found that my heart genuinely laughed and smiled with Dino. When he cried, my heart hurt and when he smiled, it felt as if it would overflow with happiness and burst at the seams. I almost fell into contentment with myself and my situation until one day, the Vongola Family invited us to work with them once more.

Dino was already eighteen and about to graduate from high school. I was just one year behind. We were adults and now, we were being treated as such. We went to war as the Vongola Family's ally.

Our part seemed just as simple as the previous mission, only I knew how much more difficult it would be. Our target was not a warehouse full of corpses this time. We were one of ten attack forces gathered to attack an estate filled with armed and trained mafiosos.

"Well?" Timoteo asked, presenting us with the data, "Your attack force is small so the dangers are much higher to your team than any other team. This is your only chance to back out."

Dino was nervous. I could tell that he wanted to back out more than anything but if we back out here, the Cavallone Family would look bad-really bad. We had just barely clawed our way up to the ninth place seat and we couldn't afford to look weak now.

"C-Can I have a moment with my right hand to discuss it?" Dino's voice shook minimally but the stutter gave him away.

"Very well."

When Timoteo stepped away, Romario immediately was shaking his head, "Boss… This is bad. Really bad. Even if we all go in together, there's only five of us and a hundred of them. There's no way. Even if we call in the rest of the family, I think our chances of winning are slim."

Koge was always critical and spoke honestly. It was his job as the intelligence officer, "Our strength is in numbers but numbers is all we have. If you're willing to risk a hundred deaths for a hundred kills then I suggest you proceed with this mission. Or you could choose to march us to our doom but only five of us will die and we could potentially fail."

"I'm against it." Romario said hurriedly, "Either way, our family will fall from the number nine spot today. I say it's better for us to back out and lose faith from the rest of the alliance as opposed to marching to our deaths. Boss doesn't even have an heir. Our family can't end here."

"We can't back out…" Dino said through gritted teeth, "We just… If we back out and we suddenly lose the trust of this alliance, we'll be crushed next."

That was probably true. Reviewing the briefing in my head, I paused and ran through it again… Squalo wasn't at the briefing.

"Hey." I grumbled, gaining the attention of all four of my allies, "Did you see Squalo at the briefing? What about that flamboyant guy?"

Slowly my allies were shaking their heads. They shared skeptical glances.

"Why aren't they using the Varia?" I muttered, glancing around the room, "Why are they using us instead of their own extremely capable squad?"

Deep down, I knew the reason was Reborn. He was pulling strings behind the scenes and this had probably been his decision. He was testing us.

"We don't have time for this… We have to decide now." Dino was panicking and rightfully so… We were in a tight spot.

We had no choice so we accepted the mission.

During our deployment check, we loaded ourselves into the vehicle one by one. I was the last to get in, hesitating wasn't my thing but something in my gut didn't feel right. Timoteo caught me before I stepped into the vehicle and slipped me a wireless earpiece.

"For you." He smiled, pushing the piece into my hand firmly, "We'll keep communications running through each force. My Guardians won't be able to help you since they're all leading forces of their own but they'll check in to see how you're progressing. If any one strike force fails today, we've failed so they're just making sure our success is ensured."

"I-I-I'm not the boss. Dino is..."

"It's for you." He insisted, "Young Dino would be quick to use it to call reinforcements after all."

Reinforcements. He knew we would need help but he was still sending us. We were definitely a suicide squad at this point. He wanted us to hold out as long as possible and then call reinforcements.

Anger boiled deep in my veins as we marched but Timoteo was right. The five of us weren't enough. Invading the building, even with Koge outside feeding us information, we fell one by one. A hundred skilled mafiosos versus just five of us was an impossible feat.

I wasn't even sure if Romario was dead or not when his body hit the ground next to the corpse of those I had bitten to death. All I know is Romario got shot and fell in the pile.

My eyes were shaking as they swiveled around to take in our situation. We only held out for an hour? Thirty minutes? No… It felt like we had only been inside for five minutes. It happened so quickly I became unable to keep track of the time. Grappling with another mafioso, I saw Dino take a bullet to the arm.

This is… No. Timoteo gave me the key. My pride was the only thing keeping us from being saved but…

"Milady, duck!" Alpha gave me a rough pull, taking a bullet in my place.

When he sank to his knees my whole world shattered. We were supposed to be strong. I was supposed to be strong. When did I become this herbivore?

Herbivore.

I reached up and pressed the button on my earpiece, "Please…"

The squad that came to save us that day was Squalo's. The reason Squalo hadn't been in the briefing was that he had already been briefed. He had been told that a vanguard squad would go in before him and try to thin out the men inside for the Varia to come in and finish them off.

I will never forget that day. The image of Squalo keeping me from death while I was holding Dino's bleeding and cracked skull in my hands was burned into my brain. My heart was thumping so loudly my eardrums might burst.

My ears rang from his battlecry, "VOIIII!"

The Varia was a colorful group. Even as I collected my allies and bussed them to safety, I could tell they were enjoying the carnage. I handed off Dino to Koge and caught a glimpse of a surrounded Squalo. I was about to run to his aid when I realized I was already a forgotten existence. His squad already knew he was in trouble and they were by his side in a flash, teasing him even though they knew he would've found a way out on his own if they let him be.

I tore my eyes away from the strength that was blinding me and focused on recovering my team. We rushed to the hospital where I was the last to be treated.

My pride had shattered into a million pieces and would likely never recover. I couldn't believe I had to call for help. I couldn't believe that I was so weak that I had… I was in a group filled with herbivores and I had become a herbivore. There was no other way to explain it. I always said they were complacent and weak but I was just the same.

Being discharged from the hospital was the least of my concerns. I had to start over. I went through the basics, pushups, situps, and running. I ignored all the warnings from doctors and pushed my body to the limit. Still it wasn't enough.

When I was finally discharged, I couldn't face Squalo. I didn't bother to meet him on the rooftop like we usually did. I called Fon for the first time in years. Actually, he didn't have his own cell phone. Contacting him was a hassle.

I had to call someone in a Chinese village. Apparently, he would stop by once in a while. They took my message and when Fon (who was traveling around China for training) came back to that village that he was using as homebase, he got the message and called me back. He seemed surprised to be contacted. I asked him to come see me and he did. He was happy to train me.

He didn't ask about my problems and he didn't talk if he didn't need to. I could've called my parents but if I had called them, I would've had to deal with all the questioning and insults. I preferred Fon.

"You got strong." He said one day when we were in between sparring sessions, "I'm proud of you, little one."

I shook my head, "There are people here who are stronger."

Chuckling, he came to sit next to me with his baby-sized body, "Kira, in this world, there will always be someone stronger than you. True strength will come when you learn to accept that."

"Herbivore talk." I spat.

He laughed heartily, "Yes, I suppose that's what your mother would call it."

"... How can I beat you?"

He seemed surprised to be asked that question, "Am I your goal?"

"You're the strongest person I know…" I murmured more to myself than him, "And that hasn't changed. I was supposed to be here getting stronger but the gap between you and me is still the same."

"Well, we do have an age gap. I've been at it longer." He paused, knowing he was no longer talking to a child, "Do you know why I travel around during training?"

I shook my head.

"If you stay in one place too long, you become satisfied with your strength. You see that you're the strongest in that area and you consider yourself the winner." His words struck my heart with each syllable, "You stop learning and you stop growing. You forget the thrill of new opponents and new victories and you become afraid of the unknown."

With that, Fon declared he would be leaving tomorrow. I was left with my thoughts. He was right. I didn't question it because I didn't have to. I already knew it was true but if that was true, Squalo had been with the Varia for ages. Why was he getting stronger and not me?

I wouldn't find the answer to that for a long while to come.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Graduating high school wasn't special. I became an adult. After the incident where I had called for help, the Cavallone Family became known as the family who survived after being deemed a sacrificial piece. Everyone knew it and we earned a lot of respect for it. I hated it.

We didn't deserve respect. If they knew I had called for help, they wouldn't think we deserve the respect they were showing us.

Since that day, I couldn't face Squalo and I didn't see him again until … yes. Another damn operation with the Vongola Family. This time it was an all hands operation. Our entire alliance was gathered to defeat an encroaching threat from foreign lands.

Our force was too small to be considered an actual attack force so we ended up being paired up and pushed into another force-the CEDEF. This was my first meeting with Sawada Iemitsu who smiled at me like he didn't have any cares in the world but I could feel the strength hidden deep down.

"Well, I've heard a lot about you." Iemitsu was the head of the CEDEF and he greeted us as if we were beneath him, "We're happy to have your help, Don Cavallone."

"It's an honor." Dino was quick to take the offered hand, glancing about at the odd fighting force gathered here today, "Let me introduce you. This is my right hand man, Romario. Our strongest fighter here is Hibari Kira and her teammates Alpha and Koge. Koge is our intelligence and reconnaissance man. He'll be glad to help you scope."

Iemitsu was laughing as if he had just been spoken to by a child, "I appreciate the offer but the scouting was already done. We just need you to sit in with us for the briefing. Lal! Ready to go?"

I was surprised. There is another baby-sized fighter. Two of them for that matter!

"Ohhh." Lal Mirch seemed surprised to see me. Somehow, she recognized me despite this being our first meeting, "You look just like him."

I stiffened, her gun was much too big for her, "I suppose you know Fon…"

"He talks about you a lot." She mused, "I look forward to seeing you in action."

"Oh!" Finally, the baby-man next to her called out. His gun was even bigger than hers. Ridiculous, "You're Fon's prized niece? He could go on about you for days if we let him! You're smaller than he described you!"

My eyebrow twitched. Fon goes around calling me small, does he? How ironic. These midgets are messing with the wrong person.

Sensing impending spats, Dino cut in with nervous laughter, "Well, it's nice to be famous, Kira. Let's go over the information."

No further insults were made about me that night. In fact, the minute everyone was gathered at the table, these guys were extremely professional. Colonnello was a temporary aid to our efforts and he was revealed to be outside of our family's alliance. Lal Mirch was an official member of the CEDEF.

"We are one of three forces invading the Russian base. We are the only three forces leaving Italy at this time and we'll likely be there without reinforcements for the duration of this war." Lal Mirch explained, "Vongola Nono decided the three forces would be our team here, the Varia, and a small team led by one of his Guardians."

I gestured for Koge to start taking notes as the map went up. It seems we would need it. I didn't realize they would assign us to a force leaving the country. This would be our first time.

"The enemy bases are numerous but we decided on a hit and run tactic. We've only got three groups and nearly five times the amount of bases to hit so we have to be careful." She continued, gesturing to the map she had put up, "Those red dots are the locations. They're relatively spread apart and in dangerous locations but Colonnello and I are experts at this part so we'll be hitting half of them alone."

"If we're doing a hit and run tactic, does that mean we don't have to decimate everyone inside?" Romario was clearly afraid and he had every right to be. Only three groups would be hitting over a dozen bases in the span of two days.

"We're just doing damage." She said sternly, "According to intelligence from the Varia, this group will be gathering their strongest fighters and taking off the day before our assault. They plan to land on a privately owned base on Italian grounds and attack us from there. Our job is just to keep reinforcements from arriving."

"The idea is if we hit all these bases or as many as we can, they won't be able to send reinforcements for fear of losing their home turf." Iemitsu explained, "We aren't expected to do real damage. The real damage will be our forces at home eliminating their main force."

"As I was saying, Colonnello and I will be making an aerial strike on these five locations in the span of two and a half hours." Lal Mirch gestured to Colonnello's tank-sized gun (well, it looked the size of a tank in comparison to his baby form), "The rest of you will be the land strike force and you'll be raiding these two locations. The Vongola squadron led by Visconti will be hitting these three locations and the Varia will be taking these two. There will be no reinforcements for two and a half hours so be resolved to survive or die if you can't succeed."

"With our dying will." Dino murmured, blushing when the attention came to him, "I just meant… Reborn always tells us to do everything with our dying will and that's what we intend to do."

Satisfied, Lal Mirch continued, "We take off tomorrow night in three helicopters. Once we land, we'll be on the attack. There won't be any time to rest. One helicopter will be just mine and Colonnello's. The rest of you will share one with the Varia and Visconti's team will take their own. Any questions?"

We didn't have any questions for her. It looked like Romario wanted to die peacefully in his bed tonight. He clearly thought we were going on another suicide mission.

I swore to myself we would succeed this time. I wouldn't be the one calling reinforcements. I would rather die this time. Last time, I called reinforcements because Dino's life was on the line. This time, he was the one who said it himself-we're doing this with our dying will. If we don't prevail here, we'll gladly die.

I felt a small part of my broken pride patch itself together. I'll prove to them that I'm no herbivore. I will prove to myself that I haven't grown soft. I have to.