The morning after Squalo had offered me a place with the Varia, Koge and I sat together in private. He had just given me some "bad news" and looked awfully shameful.

"So you want to join the police force when we're done with this war?" I shrugged. I suppose I had always known this was coming, "Okay. When we're done, you can go."

He looked thoroughly surprised, "That's it? Just like that?"

I nodded, "Just like that."

"But… But… What?"

"You've done me a great service by coming here to Italy but you were an SS agent to start with so yeah…" I shrugged again, "I'd be proud to let you go if that's what you wanted. My father would probably be overjoyed."

Without Koge, we'd just have to learn to gather info a little better. I mean, we were all pretty okay at snooping and such so it shouldn't be impossible to get by without him. He'd be missed but only for a little while. We'll fill his space eventually. Life isn't that hard without him.

Koge seemed stunned by my response, "Is this just you saying this so I'll let my guard down? Are you gonna kill me off?"

I laughed and shook my head, "No. This is me asking if you'll be a corrupt cop and give me inside info."

He knew I was only semi-joking, "Boss, I'll give you info whenever. You know cops around here don't involve themselves in mafia affairs so I doubt I'll be standing in your way any time soon."

"Not that you could." I huffed but when the conversation was over, I knew he had a lot of inside information.

He could bring this famiglia to ruin if he wanted to. Not that he would ever want to ruin Dino. He got really attached to these people and I knew he and Dino had a similar sense of justice.

I couldn't really picture Koge as a cop you see on the streets. He was tech savvy and good with intel. I don't think they'll waste his skills as an ordinary cop. Either way, I was going to lose an excellent teammate.

Watching Koge exit the room, I allowed myself to admit that I would miss him.

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

Squalo and I sat across from each other at an all-hands meeting. My solo actions were now banned since the Vongola teams were joining us. I didn't want to stop but it made more sense for me to contribute to the larger effort now that we had more capable soldiers.

This meeting is where I met Ottavio. Apparently, Ottavio was an officer of the Varia. Oddly, he resembled Dino. Word on the street, according to Koge, is that Ottavio has a lot to do with the outcome of the Cradle Affair. He was probably a traitor. So then why is he here taking part in an allied mission? Was he given a chance to redeem himself?

Squalo's expression gave nothing away. However, I didn't need him to explain. My own gut was telling me to stay away from Ottavio.

Despite my instincts, Ottavio was the paragon of a kind squad leader. In fact, he seemed to be an excellent ally. He was attentive and smart. He was quick to volunteer and offer his squad's help.

At the end of the day, his one request was simple, "Can we have Hibari Kira come with us on our raid?"

Dino was not opposed, nodding vigorous in agreement.

Squalo on the other hand was very vocal about his protests, "VOI! Why? Your squad is more than qualified! Why do you need help?!"

"I just want some advice from her on sticking to the Cavallone way." He said innocently enough. When he turned a charming smile on me, I kind of forgot he gave me bad vibes earlier, "The way of the Varia might not fit the delicate nature of their operation here."

Squalo's protests fell on deaf ears. Ottavio was dead set on having me. Curious, I went along with him. He showed me how his squad operated as a demo. It appeared to me that Ottavio was not keen on fighting in the frontlines. He didn't once attempt to demonstrate for me himself.

I didn't linger on his lack of desire to fight for long. He was starting to ask questions.

"So how did you meet Squalo?" He asked, "Can't imagine it was pleasant."

"We went to school together." I answered simply, not sure why he was asking me instead of Squalo, "I hope your squad is good. Failure isn't an option tonight."

He laughed, motioning to his Varia uniform, "Varia Quality. We don't fail. But anyways, I hear he's taken an interest in recruiting you. How likely are you to join up with us when this is all over?"

"I'm with the Cavallone for now. No plans to join you guys." I didn't think Squalo had told anyone about his invitation and I never thought he genuinely believed I would leave Dino's side. So how does this guy know?

He seemed almost relieved to hear my answer, "Great. I was actually worried. We have no female officers and hardly any female staff even. I thought it might be too hard on you."

"Don't make me kick your ass." I surprised him but he made a careless statement. He didn't know me well enough to prod like this.

He caught on quickly though, holding up his hands innocently, "I simply meant being with us, an all male group, is different than living with your lover. We're kind of a gross group."

It was a quick remedy. Now, he knew my personality and he seemed less certain. Interesting.

"Anyways, I'm sure you wouldn't want to join us. We aren't exactly in good standing with Don Vongola." He tried not to sound like he was dissuading me and at this moment, I didn't really know what to think of his comments, "You heard about the Cradle Affair?"

I curled my eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue. All I knew about the Cradle Affair is that Squalo took part in it, I might've been invited to join it, and it was a failed mission. Domenico told me to stay away from Squalo because of the Cradle Affair.

He took my silence as his cue, "Well, the Ninth's son, Xanxus, was the leader of the Varia. He took over after Squalo took out Tyr, the old boss."

"So he ordered Squalo to take out Tyr?"

"No. Xanxus was unrelated. After Squalo took out Tyr, we thought Squalo would be the boss. That's our creed after all." He thought about it for a moment and lowered his voice, "But then Xanxus came along. I didn't know someone could possibly be that strong."

Xanxus. The Ninth's son? He's the guy who chased me around with a gun during our first meeting with allied houses.

"If he was so strong then why did you fail?" I asked but I already knew. The failure of someone who is said to be as strong as Xanxus and Squalo would mean that there was someone even stronger than these two. Someone who defeated them.

My spirit was burning at the thought of it. Would there come a day when I could compete with them as well?

A small voice whispered in the back of my head, "No. You won't ever stand on their battlefield as an equal. Not if you stay with Dino."

Ottavio paused for a long moment before he finally answered, "The Vongola Guardians were too strong for them. We lost an officer that night… Silvio. Have you heard of him?"

"No. I'm not good with names if I've never met the person."

"Well that's good!" He smiled a charming smile. Looks wise, he reminded me of Dino-they had the same kind of demeanor, "We've met so you'll remember my name, right?"

"I guess…" I didn't know how to respond to that but I suppose he was trying to be friendly, "But about Silvio?"

"Oh." He was again, thinking about his answer before speaking, "He was a peculiar fellow. He had a sick way of using his weapon to skewer people. You might've heard of him as the Headless Spear?"

"Never heard of him." I grumbled, but it's possible that I just found him insignificant so I couldn't remember.

"Well, it's fine. He's dead and gone now so you'll never meet him."

"How did he die?"

"He was killed during the coup. At Vongola Main Base, he was apparently shot in the back of the head."

"Hmm."

It kind of seemed like he was implying something here. Could it be that Ottavio thinks he was killed off intentionally? Does he think that I had something to do with it? Was that the nature of these questions?

Taking my hesitation as his cue to continue, he got real close to me and whispered, "Some of the members are saying they think he was killed by Squalo."

My initial assumption led me to the conclusion that Squalo's choice of weapon was a sword so it was impossible. If Silvio was shot, it's unlikely that Squalo was his killer. Or maybe that's exactly what he wanted people to think.

He's a professional hitman. He could've easily used a gun or had someone else kill him off.

I glanced down at Ottavio's belt, a look that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde hitman. I flinched, putting some distance between us as he reached for his gun.

At this point, I knew Ottavio was the killer. My gauntlets were over my hands and I shoved his gun up as the first shot rang out. The bullet was embedded into the ceiling.

He was quick to garner the attention of his men now that he had failed in a swift dispatch. He barked orders to his men who turned on me. I was indeed all alone. If he wanted to kill me, now was the right time. Or at least, it would've been if I were a normal person.

I grappled with Ottavio, drawing his body in front of mine as I spun him about, "I can show you something important."

I curled my hand around his gun hand and jerked it down. I kicked the backs of his knees, forcing him down to my height and lower. I pointed his gun at his subordinates who could not fire at me with Ottavio as my shield. I shot them down until the clip was emptied and still they couldn't shoot me.

"You killed Silvio." I said it so simply that it made Ottavio laugh bitterly, "My guess is that you're trying to frame Squalo and it's not working. He's trying to recruit me to replace the officer you killed off and you don't like it so you're trying to either win me over to your side or kill me off. Except you messed up."

"No. You messed up. What you said about me is true but you're arrogant." He snarled, struggling to get out of my grip, "If you kill me here, you're in trouble. You've killed several of my men already so you won't get away with this. You have no good plan."

It was my turn to laugh, "Yeah? Well, I might've agreed with you but you see, I have much sharper instincts than you. If you were even half the Varia Quality soldier you claim to be, you would've already sensed him."

"Wha-?!" Ottavio dropped his empty gun as I jerked his head upward into place.

I grinned up at Squalo who dropped from his place in the rafters into the crowd of Ottavio's remaining subordinates. They didn't know what hit them. In one swift move, Squalo had beheaded most of them. Coming out of the crowd, he killed the remaining soldiers. He was calm despite the bullets going off around him.

Soaked in the blood of his enemies, his long silver hair had turned red. His eyes glinted when he looked down at Ottavio's fearful form, "I knew it was you from the start."

"It wasn't me! You're going to believe one of Cavallone's men over me?!"

Squalo rounded us and opened the door, stepping aside to let his team in, "Cavallone? As far as I'm concerned, Kira's one of us. She just took you out. She'll be taking over your spot. We don't tolerate losses, Ottavio."

"Losses?!" He thrashed against my grip but he couldn't get free, "You all lost at one point or another and then you had your asses handed to you again during the Cradle Affair! You're all losers!"

The fury rolling off of Squalo and his team was making me rethink the situation. They obviously shared something I could not understand. I would never be one of them but apparently, neither was Ottavio.

He specifically said, "You're all losers" rather than "we all lost." He didn't consider the Cradle Affair a personal loss, partially because he disagreed with whatever agenda they had during the coup.

Squalo's allies were just as angry as him. I dropped Ottavio when one man came forward to assault him.

The man was tall and lean with a thin mustache and spiky black hair. He wore his uniform to the T. No one stopped him. They all must've thought Ottavio deserved what he was getting.

I glanced up at Squalo who stood and watched in silence. Slowly, I reached out and gave his arm a tug, "If you want to take a shower, my room is open. I'll find you something to wear."

"No need. Our plans can continue tonight." He said, drawing his allies' attention, "We're much better than Ottavio anyways. We'll suit up and meet you out front. No changes to our raid plans."

"Sure." I trusted them. Oddly, they felt strong and reliable in comparison to Dino's men, "You've got one hour. I'll let Dino know what happened so his men can clean up this mess."

"Again. No need." Squalo said, "We take care of our own. Levi, get your squad to clean up. Luss, take Ottavio to HQ. Lock him up. Bel, gather your men and tell Mammon to meet us there."

I was now lost but I still had to tell Dino what happened. I'm sure the Vongola would want to know what happened to Ottavio so when Squalo and his group took off to take care of their business, I went off in search of Dino.

I found Dino looking over a map with Romario in the strategy room. When I came in, Dino was immediately hovering, worried as usual, "Is that blood? Please don't tell me you picked a fight with the Varia guys…"

"They picked a fight with me." I huffed, shoving away hovering hands, "Either way, plans are going to continue. Only change is Ottavio's out of the picture."

"Wh-What?! Please tell me you didn't kill him…" He looked genuinely scared about the consequences of my not-committed crime.

"No. Squalo's guys took him away." I grunted, "But I did kill some of his men. But they attacked me first!"

"Jeez…" Romario sighed, "Well, if they're still willing to help us, that's great but don't pick fights anymore."

"Were you even listening…?" I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "They attacked me first."

"Yeah. I heard you but did you need to kill them? It'll cause more problems for us in the long run."

Dino was laughing at the situation, shaking his head, "Romario! Kira was the victim here. They attacked her! We'll be fine."

Romario clearly didn't believe me but it really doesn't matter. It's highly unlikely that Squalo will pursue any sort of punishment for my behavior. Squalo saw everything so unless he lied about it, I was safe.

I left Romario and Dino to bicker about the small details and retreated to my room where Alpha was waiting. I paused and looked around, "You're supposed to gather at the end of the hour out front. Plan is unchanged."

"Yes…" He hesitated, "Umm… Superbi Squalo asked me to guide him to your chambers."

I blinked at him owlishly in confusion, "Why?"

"He said you offered." Alpha had clearly taken it the wrong way but also, Squalo could have worded it better, "I had him wait in the lobby. Should I bring him up?"

I laughed, "Yeah! He just needs a shower, Alpha! Get your head out of the gutter."

I watched Alpha scramble off and shook my head. It was a good laugh in the middle of all this bullshit. I left the door to my room open and grabbed a fresh towel. I changed quickly since my shirt had been bloodied. I heard Alpha coming up so I went out to greet them. As predicted, Squalo was still bloodied and needed a change of clothes.

"Alpha, can you find Squalo-senpai a change of clothes?" I grinned at the way my sniper nodded vigorously to hide his blush, "And a rag for his shoes."

Squalo seemed mildly amused, "With the way he talked to me, I'd never have guessed he would act like that in front of you."

"I thought you said you didn't need a shower." I said, ignoring his comment about Alpha, "Or do you have another motive here?"

Blushing darker than Alpha had a moment ago, Squalo flung his bloodied jacket at me, "Shut up! I'm just here to clean up!"

"Sure." I laughed and shrugged, "Feel free to use whatever's in there."

He closed the bathroom door on my face when I handed him the towel. I couldn't help but laugh at him again. He was an awfully shy guy.

Alpha had brought a change of clothes and I laughed again. He would have to open that door to grab the clothes from me and I could just picture it. I spared him the trouble of realizing his haste had caused him another potential moment of embarrassment.

I knocked on the door three times, "Senpai? Clothes are here! I'm going to open the door and drop them in, okay?"

He responded with a muffled "okay" and I did exactly as I said I would and left him to it. While waiting, I quietly cleaned his shoes. They looked old. They'd probably seen lots of combat. I didn't miss the blade tucked in the soles of his boots. I highly doubt he needed to hide blades in his shoes considering that his faux-hand turns into a sword but okay.

I grinned at a freshly cleaned Squalo who looked pretty good in Dino's clothes, "Hey. Your shoes are clean."

"You didn't have to bother." He grumped, "They'll just get dirty again."

I shrugged, "I always clean mine."

He paused, looking around, "You don't share a room with Cavallone?"

"Nah." I grinned, "We've got plenty of rooms so we can have our own space. Why? You have to share with your team?"

"No…" He looked real close at everything and concluded, "It looks normal."

I shrugged, "I didn't decorate it or anything. It was pretty much already like this so I'm just residing here-like a hotel or something."

"Right…" He was clearly feeling awkward.

It didn't feel right to just let him feel uncomfortable. Rather, I felt like this wasn't right.

"So, Ottavio's locked up?" I didn't know where to start. I was kind of clueless here.

"Yeah. If I had known he was going to do something to an ally, I would've got him much sooner." He looked back at me, realizing I had also changed since the incident, "Did you report in?"

"Yeah. I got chewed out." I snorted, "They thought I started it for no reason."

He smiled for a second and shook it off, "So you pick fights a lot?"

"Not as much as I'd like to." I had to pause and correct myself, "Actually, it seems like people are more likely to pick fights with me."

"You better get used to it." He silently debated his actions briefly before sitting on my bed comfortably, "Our officers pick fights with each other daily and Luss is saying he wants first crack at you."

"Luss?" I mused, "The man from the ball."

"Yeah. He's good." He leaned forward to explain, "Lussuria is a little older than us. He's been working on all kinds of martial arts but he specialized in muay thai. He's quick and strong with a tendency to play a little dirty."

"Dirty?"

"His weapon is a metal knee. He won't hesitate to glint the sunlight off it to blind you and give himself the opening he needs."

"Interesting." I glanced at my own metal weapons, "I never would've thought to do something like that."

"We're of a different class." He didn't sound like he was bragging but I snorted at him for it anyways, "I meant, we fight for our lives every single day. We have to use all our resources. Eventually, you might have to do the same."

"Squalo-senpai… You know I probably won't join you, right?"

He shrugged as if he didn't believe me.

"Why me?" I grumbled, "I don't understand you."

"If you saw our boss, you wouldn't be confused." He said, "Xanxus is the strongest man I've ever met. You'd think the same."

"And so you think Xanxus belongs at the top of your chain?" I met Xanxus and I didn't have the same opinion, "You forget that he didn't land a single shot on me when we met."

"Yeah. He was just testing you. If he was serious, you'd be dead."

That's a bold assumption but if someone like Squalo says it's true then I can't just dismiss it. It's not as if I think I'm currently stronger than Squalo so I guess I'll just have to become stronger.

"So where is this Xanxus now?" I demanded, "I want to test my strength."

"He's not with us." Squalo squeezed out the answer as if it were difficult for him, "But he'll be back someday. And we'll be ready. We won't fail him a second time."

Clearly, Squalo blamed their loss during the Cradle Affair on himself. It was a sign of true strength. Only the truly powerful can look at their losses and blame it on their lack of might. The weak would blame it on someone else and deny their loss.

It would not be until much later in life that I discovered their loss was meaningless. Their victory would have been equally meaningless.

Xanxus cannot be the next boss. The Decimo spot was not meant for him but at this point in time, my curiosity was not regarding his lack of ability to take the title.

"So you'll wait for him?" I mused, "Is he in prison?"

"Something like that."

"So why don't you go break him out?" I guess it was easy for me to say. I hadn't experienced the loss they had shared.

Squalo's expression said it all. They weren't confident that they could pull it off. Their loss must've been overwhelming. They probably weren't even close to winning during their coup.

I stood, not waiting for a verbal answer, "It's time for us to go. We have a raid. I'll gather my units and meet you up front."

"Yeah." He grumbled, gathering himself, "Ten minutes. Don't be late."

"I'm never late." I laughed, heading straight for Koge. I pulled my covert-op from his chat with Romario and said, "I need info. Don't mention this to Dino or anyone else. You keep this between you and me."

"I always do unless you order me otherwise." Was Koge's solemn response, "What's this about?"

"I need all the info you can get on the Cradle Affair. I know it's all old news and it's likely that the Vongola Family will try to bar your way but I'm trying to find out where they're keeping Xanxus."

Koge didn't seem surprised, "Okay. I'll start now."

He probably knew I would dig since Squalo was around. Maybe he had already done some digging on the topic himself.

"Good. Also, don't let Squalo see you."

"Good informants aren't really seen by anyone." He said, expressionless as ever, "And you know I'm the best."

I laughed because it was probably true. There was no one better. Koge had a natural talent for gathering information due to his natural lack of presence. He wasn't intimidating nor did he exude the energy of a hitman like the rest of us-he was plain.

Heading out on his newest assignment, he paused, "By the way, the foot soldiers are starting to spread rumors about you and Squalo. I'd be careful if I were you."

"Rumors? What kind of rumors?"

"Cheating." He snickered, "Plans to betray us? Among many others."

"Well rumors hold some truth." I said without specifying which was true. I was in a rush after all.

I had to gather Volore and Alpha before regrouping with Squalo and his squad. We had a busy night to get to and I was eager to start. Hopefully, my allies shared my sentiment.