Morning broke in the Cavallone estate. I groaned. My body was sore from the previous night's sparring. I glanced at Squalo who was sleeping on the floor in my room. I had offered him the bed but he refused over and over. Lussuria had left us alone for the night to begin his plan for bringing our enemies out of hiding.

I laid back down, staring at the ceiling. I was sore. There wasn't a single fighter amongst the Cavallone Family who could give me the same workout. Even my guys weren't that strong. Alpha wasn't much for close combat and Volore was too high tension to be a good sparring partner.

I sat up again, this time the rustling of my bedsheets woke Squalo. I grinned at the dark circles under his eyes and the way he sat up stiffly.

"Heh." I snickered when he glared up at me, "I guess I'm not the only one who got a good workout last night."

"Shut up!" He grumped in his naturally loud voice, "You're insatiable!"

I laughed quietly, laying back down for a moment. Eventually I sat up again, body stiff. I stretched my arms over my head, noticing the way Squalo watched my every move, "What?"

Huffing, he opted not to answer.

"Are you sure it was alright to leave Lussuria all alone?" I grumbled, "I mean, I get that he didn't want to share a room with me since we're strangers but you could've gone with him. You didn't have to sleep on the floor here."

Squalo's expression showed mild disgust, "Seriously? I'm not sleeping anywhere near that guy. Luss does weird shit to his face when he sleeps. Have you ever seen a dude with cucumber slices over his eyes and something that looks like guac on his face?"

I laughed at the image he had drawn in my head, "Apparently, that's called skin care."

"He looks like a fucking lunatic."

Maturity had yet to dawn on us at this point so we didn't specifically understand the need for skin care nor did we care about it. Actually, I can guarantee that even in the future neither Squalo nor I ever came to experience the desire to put cucumbers over our eyes but I digress.

Speaking of lunatic, Lussuria came barreling in with an echoing, fog-horn of a voice, "Oh my god! Squ-chan! How rude of you!"

"Wh-What?!" Squalo had no idea what was going on.

I was just as clueless but I was guessing this had to do with his plan to help us draw out our enemies.

Lussuria continued, unbothered by our lack of awareness, "Don Cavallone graciously allowed us to spend the night and you slept with his lover?! I thought you were friends!"

Dino came running with his men in tow, glaring us down with close-to-genuine hatred. I almost thought he didn't know what was going on but he slipped a couple winks in between. His acting was unbelievably good. I knew him well enough to know why he didn't tell me about the plan beforehand.

I'm a bad actor and Lussuria must've said the same about Squalo. Now, I was panicking. I doubt I have any need to emphasize this but I never had the need for acting skills and clearly, neither did Squalo. Unlike me, Squalo didn't get winks from his ally to let him know. Thankfully, I just kept quiet until I could regain my bearings and hopefully, deliver a convincing line or two.

However, Squalo was genuine in his refusal of the situation, "It-It's not what it looks like Cavallone!"

"And what does it look like?" Dino snarled, looking awfully upset with life for someone who was just acting, "Cause it looks to me like my lover was cheating on me! With him, Kira?! Really?!"

As if he knew I couldn't answer convincingly, he pulled his whip and lashed out. Squalo, suddenly furious with how quickly my lover had pulled the violence card on me, stepped between us with his sword drawn. The whip curled around his arm and he leaned back, keeping Dino from pulling his weapon back.

"Seriously, Cavallone?!" He huffed, holding his hand in front of my chest when I tried to step up and defuse the fight, "I'm guessing this was something I had coming for a long time, huh? This is between us, Kira. Stay back."

Suddenly, Dino's acting no longer seemed to be convincing due to his skills. He was serious when he laughed in a dark husky way. I stepped back as the whip came uncurled. The strike that had been just a warning strike in my direction was a full blown lashing when it reached for Squalo.

"Senpai, the curl-!" My warning was a little too late.

Squalo was stunned when the whip curved around his blade and slapped the back of his head with a sharp thwack, a technique that required more skill than Squalo thought Dino possessed.

Confidence boosted from the success, he swung again but this time Squalo was ready. The professional assassin was no longer holding back. He leaped out of the way and dove in for an attempt at a swift finishing blow.

He came to a screeching halt when the walls began to buzz quietly. He drew back, automatically putting his body in between me and the doorway.

Lussuria's lips curved upwards. He lifted a finger to his lips, "They're here."

Everyone stood perfectly still and suddenly, Lussuria was ushering us towards the bathroom. Once we were inside, he shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell is going on?" Squalo hissed urgently, "Is that Mammon?"

"This is how we leave the Cavallone Family without leaving the Cavallone Family." Lussuria grinned, patting Dino's arm, "I went over this with Don Cavallone last night while you were in here."

"And you didn't tell me?" He grumped, turning away when he realized how stupid he must've looked, "So you all knew?"

"I found out today." I shrugged, "No one told me either."

"Apparently, you're both extremely bad at acting." Dino smiled sheepishly when I glared at him, "No hard feelings, right?"

"Sure." I rolled my eyes at him when he pouted, "So why the bathroom?"

Squalo sighed, plopping onto the floor with his legs crossed. He buried his face in his hands and sighed again.

"Our allies are outside." Lussuria explained, "We have an illusionist on our side. His name is Mammon. He'll do anything if you pay him so I paid him to put on a show."

"Ah…" I finally realized what was going on, "Right. So your illusionist friend is sitting out of sight while his scene is playing out. What's the scene you decided on?"

"A dramatic falling out between your lover and Squalo." He grinned when I rolled my eyes, placing a hand on Dino's shoulder, "I'm going to try to stop the fight. Don Cavallone is going to tell us to leave and take your unfaithful ass with us. Squ-chan is going to try to keep fighting but I'll drag him out and make a phone call to headquarters to send a limo to come get us."

"Fair enough." I sighed, swatting Lussuria's hand away from Dino's shoulder, "Only one question now."

"Oh, did I miss something? Did you want a juicier summary?"

"No." I grumped, "How long do we have to stay in the bathroom?"

"He'll send me a message when it's clear for us to go outside."

I glanced up at Dino who was pretending nothing serious had happened but I knew what he was thinking. This is awkward.

I nodded to show my understanding and snuck a glance at Squalo who had yet to lift his face from his palms. Oddly enough, I knew him well enough to know he was embarrassed. He was probably panicking on the inside.

Now, this situation was just up to me to read properly.

What exactly is it that Squalo thought he had coming for a long time? And how long is a long time really? Did he do something to Dino?

I glanced at Lussuria who was trying so hard not to laugh. Key word there was trying. He was failing miserably.

"What's so funny?" I grumbled, arching an eyebrow when Squalo peeked up at us over the tips of his fingers. With the rest of his face covered, I could only guess he was dreading the conversation to come, "What?"

"Squ-chan, I really didn't think you'd react like that." Lussuria was gasping for breath as he tried to keep his voice down. He didn't want to disturb the VERY realistic illusory scene taking place outside, "What did you think was going to happen?"

Squalo is not a quiet person by nature so he opted for silence. His voice would've broken the believability of the scene being drawn out just outside the restroom door.

Dino's eyes darkened, shifting towards the door and away from me. I watched him for a moment but he simply crossed his arms and pretended not to notice. That was the expression he made when he wanted to have a serious talk. It was usually reserved for mission briefings and meetings with other famiglia's.

My eyes shifted back to Squalo who was watching me as I was watching Don Cavallone and when we made eye contact, he was the first to avert his gaze. Amused, I smiled and kept on smiling when his eyes came back to me, "Are you finally going to tell me what he's laughing about?"

After a long moment, he croaked at me without moving his hands from the bottom half of his face that was surprisingly still partially buried in his hands, "I meant I had it coming because I kept trying to recruit you into the Varia all this time. Don't misunderstand, alright?"

Dino spun on me, "What?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" Lussuria seemed surprised, "We weren't exactly quiet about it. We love her. We'd love to have her on board."

"When were you going to tell me?" He demanded, grasping my upper arms fiercely, "You can't leave this family, Kira. You know we need you."

Uncomfortable, I turned my gaze onto a sheet-white Squalo, "Again, I had no plans to leave."

"I can't have you keeping secrets from me, Kira." His voice dropped an octave as he warned me using a tone he had never used on me, "I know I've been lax but you technically work for me."

My blood began to boil. My previously unamused expression began to freeze as I came to a realization. I hate working for Dino and really, I'm not working for him so much as I'm working to protect something my mind established as important. If I hadn't made friends with Dino, I wouldn't bother staying with a family that considers themselves lucky if they come out alive.

I sighed. This was an argument for another day. Lussuria raised his phone at us in wary silence. The majority of the illusion was over and done with. Mammon was providing cover. We were safe to come out and move to a more secure hiding place.

Dino went to his office and the rest of us went to the basement where we would stay hidden away until it was time to strike. Apparently, Lussuria had already arranged for resources to be placed there for us. Although he hadn't planned for us to sit in the basement in awkward silence, that's exactly what was happening. He apparently wasn't the type to be able to stand it.

"Do you often keep secrets from your lover?" Lussuria grinned when I turned a villain's glare onto him, "We could be stuck down here for days. Might as well get to know each other."

I chose to ignore him. Getting to know each other didn't seem all that important to me. I already knew him as well as I thought I wanted to. He strikes quickly and fights dirty when needed. His entire personality was already on the table for me.

"Okay. Maybe a less personal question then." He tried again, "You have any siblings?"

I thought about it. I'm not sure I wanted an assassin to know about my family. My eyes shifted, watching him warily as he sat down with his legs crossed.

"Don't worry! I won't kidnap them if you have any! Jeez! Are you always this careful with allies?"

"We could be enemies tomorrow." I grumped, watching Squalo take a seat next to his companion, "I don't exactly intend to join you."

"He's not good for you." Lussuria blurted suddenly, holding up his hands innocently when I glared again, "Your dynamic doesn't match. You don't have any respect for him as a leader and you've divided his family unfairly."

"Wha-?" It was an unexpected accusation and I couldn't control my expression, "What are you talking about?"

"Ara~ You didn't do it on purpose?" He mused, "Quite frankly, I thought you'd be more aware of what you were doing."

It sounded to me like he thought I was trying to usurp the throne from under Dino's barely-steady feet.

He grinned when I narrowed my eyes again, "You're offended so I take it that you've done all this on accident."

"It's not her fault." Squalo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "The soldiers gathered around her respect strength. They chose their leader and it just so happened that Cavallone wasn't the one."

I relented, "It wasn't my intent. I came here to test my strength on Domenico's invitation."

"The former don?" Lussuria seemed surprised, "So your family must've been friends."

"My mother might've been here for some time in her youth." I grumbled, "They knew each other."

He hummed and changed the subject, "Did you know I was the youngest bodybuilding champion?"

Squalo looked suddenly disgusted, making a loud faux-gagging noise, "What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Ara~ It's true! And I want Kira-chan to know about me too! It seems we're going to be great friends!"

"Friends?" I couldn't imagine being friends after refusing their invitation to join them but I suppose, I was friends with Squalo. I glanced at him and we made eye contact. I snorted when he averted his gaze, "I'm not joining you."

"We can still be friends!" He dismissed my protests with a wave of his hand, "Do you go to the gym? Is there a gym in this building?"

Little did I know, Lussuria had faith that I wasn't going to refuse their offer forever.

"No." I grumbled, kind of embarrassed, "We couldn't afford it and now… Dino thinks we don't need one. The men spar as they please but we don't have training requirements."

"Did you know Squ-chan doesn't look at his body in the mirror after he works out?"

"Why would I know that?" I was amused by his sudden need to tell me irrelevant information, "Is it some sort of requirement to look after you work out at a gym?"

"What?" Lussuria was outraged, "Of course it is! How else do you know if your muscles are developing nicely or not?! What if he's making his abs lopsided and he doesn't know?! Oh the horror."

I paused. I supposed lop-sided abs would be quite unfortunate in a way. It would make it more apparent to enemies who saw my body that I favor one particular side over the other. My movements would be more predictable. I reached down, pulling my shirt up halfway.

Squalo shouted indignantly and waved his arms around in a fluster manner. I didn't understand a single word that had come out of his mouth but he must've thought it was a sudden gesture from me.

Lussuria on the other hand, was totally indifferent. He objectively pointed at my lower abs and blurted, "See! They're uneven! You could've prevented this if you looked."

"I can't help it…" I muttered, pulling my shirt down as he tried to touch. I was definitely embarrassed. All my secrets were here to see.

"Are you left handed?" He snagged the hem of my shirt and pulled it up, "Or do you just lead with a left hook when you fight?"

Proving his thesis true, I swung a left hook at his jaw. I kept my shirt yanked down as far as it would go and huffed at him, "I'll work on it."

Grinning a grin that deserved to be stuffed full of shit, Lussuria said, "I'll gladly offer you some pointers. Clearly you just need to throw just as many right hooks or do a work out that's the equivalent."

"I get it." I grumbled, shooing him away, "No one can see under my shirt anyways."

"No one? Not even your lover?"

I snorted at him, crossing my arms over my chest. I wasn't about to answer that.

"Alright alright. Not close enough yet." He sighed, "I get it."

I sighed back. This was going to be a long wait.

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

What seemed like a decade of waiting was actually only 3 days. 3 days of sneaking to the corner to use the porta-potty and living off bread and water. We might not have been close when we came in but Lussuria and I ended up knowing everything we could've possibly discovered in that short time.

I never would've thought that Lussuria would snore nor did I guess that he was the type to wake up looking totally different than he did the day before. Mohawks must be high maintenance because it didn't stand up the next morning. In fact, it kind of just looked like a mop on his head.

Actually, Lussuria just looked like a totally different person after the first night. He spent the next two days complaining on and off about how he needed his skin care and how he wouldn't have suggested this plan if he knew our basement was dirty and unfurnished.

I don't know what he expected but I wouldn't expect a basement to be anything other than dirty and unfurnished. It would be a little strange if it looked like a five star hotel down here, wouldn't it?

When the signal came, Lussuria was the first one barging out from the basement to launch a counter attack. Squalo and I stared at the open door and then at each before sharing a sigh. We just wanted this whole ordeal to be over and done with. Coming out of the basement, I glanced around at the devastation.

The building was on fire, smoke was filling the upper floors. Outside the window, I could see the dead bodies of the guards. Clearly, the enemy had come in with their guns blazing. They thought this would be an easy win and honestly, save for Dino, the Cavallone Family was getting stomped on.

"Boss!" Koge came running as if he knew I was coming out at just this time. Actually, I think he already knew. He tossed me a clunky, old set of headphones, "Your lover took the good ones for himself."

My eyes narrowed at the in-ear model Koge was wearing, "And you took the last one?"

"I need it! You don't want my commands to get lost, do you?" He feigned innocence when I glared harder, "Anyways, we had some complications since you went into hiding."

I glanced back at Squalo who was assessing the damage. He probably wanted to know where to jump in and do the most damage.

"Who died?" I grumped, adjusting the headset as we walked towards the exit of the estate, "And where did Alpha go?"

"Err… That's the complication." Koge grumbled, raising his hands innocently when I turned a bewildered glare back onto him, "Alpha and Volore didn't know about the plan beforehand and when they heard you were kicked out of the family, they left."

"They left?!" Just like that they left? I couldn't believe it. I mean, I knew they had no special attachment to Dino but they couldn't have just walked away. Why didn't Dino stop them?

"Don't worry about them." Squalo croaked, "Lussuria had already figured it would happen. Our guys… Picked them up."

"What?!" Something even Koge seemed surprised to hear was rare so when he blurted out his shock, I was equally surprised.

"Do your job, Koge." I rolled my eyes at him, "The Varia got the one up on us."

"I… I didn't even see them approach! Volore and Alpha went in opposite directions! How did you end up…?" Koge sighed, defeated, "I didn't know which of them would be easier to convince and I didn't want them to give away your plan so I didn't bother reaching out to either of them when they left. I simply thought they would hear you came back to join us and they would come back too."

"So we have no complications then." I glanced at a smugly grinning Squalo and pretended not to see the expression on his face, "It appears I owe you another one…"

"I'm getting paid by your boyfriend." He snorted, finally drawing his blade.

I sighed, "Then I guess we better join them before your paycheck gets killed."

And once again, it was unsettling. If Squalo was the one being attacked, I would never be concerned. Honestly, I wasn't even worried about Volore or Alpha at this point. When I looked behind me to find Koge, trailing behind us to mask his presence, I didn't find myself worried about him either. Koge had little to no combat ability but I had so much faith in his abilities that I would never worry about whether or not he would get shot on a mission.

Dino and the rest of his men… I worried about them daily. It was such a waste of my time. If they were competent, I wouldn't have to worry about them and while these thoughts were heavy on my shoulders, I pulled on my gauntlets. Again, this was not the time to have such thoughts.

But when is the right time?