So I mentioned the idea of creating a side story sort of thing that explains what happened to characters/families/etc. in the canon of KHR and I got an overwhelming response of people saying that they'd love to read it.

If you haven't read 'Kyoko' then I guess about half of this would make sense. If you then decided to read it well you would have read a heck of a lot of spoilers. And that would ruin the fun of reading a plot twist-y fic so I'd advise against reading this first.

This chapter was meant to be about the Bovino in general but it turned more into a thing about Settimo urgh sorry if it isn't as good as you expected it to be :(

If it's the Bovino famiglia, they're a rather small Mafia group. I don't associate with those who rank lower.

Reborn, despite his overwhelming arrogance towards any group that he deemed of lesser power than those few families he was affiliated with, did not understate the strength of the family to Tsuna when he first spoke of the Bovino famiglia.

The Bovino famiglia was notorious for such a trait. They were the weakling family. The small ants beneath the feet of almost every other Mafia family within the alliance, who were in turn the ants beneath the soles of the Vongola famiglia who stood atop them all, preaching of kindness and justice whilst squashing them all into the ground.

Many young mafioso as a result found it strange that their name was so well known (this of course being before the rise of Bovino Lambo who made all preconceptions about the Bovino famiglia being weak disappear practically overnight). After all, the Mafia believed strongly in the whole 'food chain' hierarchy system and lions do not pay any heed to the matters of sheep.

Oh but the Bovino were not simple sheep, they were the bulls that'd had their horns broken off, once powerful enough to face off with those lions that prowled around at the top. People still whispered of Bovino Primo, the infamous illusionist titled 'Corna del Diavolo' even before his battle with the third generation Vongola mist guardian-a fight he'd won by a staggering amount. Their powerful fireman arsenal also still existed to this very day; not that it was a threat to anyone since they did not have enough members to fully utilise it and they were all too stubborn to sell any of it in exchange for real power. And they owned one of the six rare hell rings, Coro del Diavolo, which had been passed down to each mist guardian since the very first Bovino generation. Although that fact was often glossed over too since the mist guardians to the Bovino famiglia often committed suicide or went insane-some whispered of the Bovino harbouring some genetic disease whilst others saw the connection between the guardians and the hell ring.

In any case, what the Bovino lacked in power, they made up for in the illustrious history and so, even if they were mocked as feeble cows, many Mafia families would secretly check up on them every now and then just in case they regained their horns.

However, no one paid any particular attention to the fallen bulls when they were approached by a yakuza family that was only now starting to get attention. It was in the crossover period between the sixth and seventh generation of the Bovino that the yakuza boss arrived with an easy smile and dangerous eyes. He brought his family, his blood family as a symbol of trust and lack of hostility-a sly move, even more cunning if one considered that fact that his wife was not unfamiliar to having a weapon in her hands and his son was positively bloodthirsty, threatening everyone wherever he went. The yakuza boss made a request for an alliance, calling for the new Bovino Settimo to accept his offer. His yakuza family did not have that much power really but he made it sound so good a deal and, though unspoken, offered to return the Bovino to the former glory. And-

And it would have been so easy to accept, especially since Bovino Settimo had the sort of drive and greed that had belonged to Bovino Primo, albeit slightly diluted because of how the family he was inheriting was at the bottom and living up to the standards of the first boss seemed practically impossible. Bovino Settimo wanted to believe his promises and believe that's the alliance would benefit both parties greatly. To laugh in the faces of those who called them cows and become strong once more.

But what the yakuza boss was offering wasn't quite enough for him to seal the deal and become allied with his family.

The yakuza boss hadn't grown angry at the refusal, hadn't tried harder to get him to agree. If the bulls did not want to regain their horns then they'd only be mere cattle he'd have to spend his entire time protecting from the world instead of making his bid for the top of the food chain.

Bovino Settimo regretted the choice for years to come.

He despaired over how his family's power was slowly dwindling whilst his greed seemed to only grow in size. The pain only got worse when he heard of the yakuza family's name in tandem with 'growing power' and all the 'what if's' flooded his mind, making him almost as nearly depressed as his mist guardian-a mediocre illusionist who depended almost solely on the hell ring to give him strength and had memories stolen from him every time he did. Settimo's sharp mind and tongue that he'd been blessed with upon birth dulled.

It was around five years on from the meeting with the yakuza boss that Bovino Lambo was born. He was clearly born with the same type of ambition as many Bovino members had inherited from their first boss with how he screamed and shrieked about becoming the next Bovino boss. Oh but underneath those dark curls of his lay a quick and fiercely intelligent mind, covered up by childish arrogance and screeches that Settimo had managed to see through.

When weaponry was first made available to him (the Bovino had so few members they needed to start training from extremely young ages) he took to it like a duck to water. It was undeniable that Lambo was a prodigy and, considering how his parents were high up in the family because of their lineage, it was almost guaranteed he'd become the next boss.

But it was Lambo's greed and arrogance that ended up making it impossible, the toddler shrieking his ambitions aloud to a crowd of mafioso, who were incredibly unamused when, upon being ridiculed, Lambo had thrown a grenade at not one but three bosses. He might have been just a child but in this Mafia world where the arcobaleno existed, you could be held accountable for anything from the day you first held a gun in your own hands.

Settimo didn't have an entirely black heart. Even if he had allowed for Lambo to have a gun pressed into his hands at the mere age of three, the boy was family in both senses of the word and, when his blood was being called for, he felt honest panic for the child. However, despite his efforts, the deal that was cast was so horribly tipped out of Lambo's favour.

If he kills the first class hitman Reborn, we will forget everything.

It was practically an execution they wanted but Settimo had to agree-either that or they lost everything and, as much as he cared for Lambo, he was not willing to give it all up. So they handed Lambo some of the best weaponry they had, even the new, untested 'ten-year-later bazooka' (a result of their contemplated bid for power through insane weaponry) and sent him on his way, pretending that it wasn't towards his death.

Word came back a couple of weeks later that word came back that Lambo was safe and that Reborn was showing mercy-mercy enough even that he sent craftily written letters to those wanting Lambo dead with subtle threats of pain and death the next time they targeted a child who was not an arcobaleno.

Then, a little more than a year on, word came back that Lambo was to be a prospective lightning guardian for the Vongola. And Settimo had cried tears of joy because the regret of not becoming allied with the yakuza family disappeared as one of their own was to become a guardian to the most powerful Mafia family in the world, his greed finally starting to be sated.

Their power grew in time with Lambo's age and the Bovino famiglia's weak status officially disappeared ten years on when the boy single handedly stopped an assassination attempt on the newly crowned Vongola Decimo. And their new status of being strong was only reaffirmed by Settimo's storm guardian with her fierce green eyes and deadly strength. The bulls have regained their horns, people whispered and Settimo had puffed his chest out with pride as he sharpened his mind yet again by being surrounded by the lions of the Mafia.

Regret only hit him again when he caught a glimpse of the yakuza boss he'd refused so many years ago stood beside his son, another guardian on the tenth generation Vongola family and heralded as the strongest no less, and the illusionist who was considered to be the best in the world at what they did. Although the regret didn't hit him because of the power of those he was allied with.

It hit him because the man wouldn't have looked the slightest bit weaker even with the two gone from his side. He radiated power in every move he made, grey eyes glinting dangerously and smirk stretched across his lips as if to say 'I could kill anyone in this room and get away with it'. Even Vongola Decimo seemed to acknowledge this almost natural seeming strength and stood a little closer to his wife, tensed his muscles a little more.

Settimo was never considered the powerful one. Lambo was the powerful one of the family, the one that had dragged the Bovino from the bottom and up to the very top. He'd achieved everything the past Bovino bosses had wanted without even being the boss himself.

And the man found himself wishing that, when the yakuza boss has requested his alliance with a smile that promised him, not just his family but him, the world, he'd have taken his hand and shook it.

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If you think you'll regret something in the morning, sleep until noon.

So details about this chapter you may or may not be interested in...

Deal or no deal: (I've already been over this briefly in my fic but I'll say it again cuz it happened many, many chapters ago) The Bovino accepted the deal with Itsuki in 'Kyoko' because Kyoko was used as a bargaining chip and she already had a high profile in the Mafia world as M.G. so Settimo had more confidence in the alliance. In the 'canon' however, there was no M.G. so as a result Settimo didn't become allied with Itsuki.

Power changes people: Settimo in 'Kyoko'-a manipulative bastard heavily influenced by Itsuki, much more willing to do horrible things to his family in order to increase his power (remember what happened to Lambo?) and will take risks.

Settimo in 'canon'-less manipulative (not Itsuki around to influence him), somewhat more caring of his family and wants to increase his power but doesn't want to take many risks.

Memory isn't what is used to be:"Maybe I should take away your memories?" His hand suddenly went to my head, lips stretched into a grin. "Forgetting everyone you know and even yourself eventually. That would be quite a sight to see."- Bovino Primo, chapter 29 where he is considering Kyoko's payment for use of the hell ring. This time round he used that as payment because he got no Schwarz to tell him that they won't make a deal if he asks for that.

Storm guardian: Mirabella is cool in any universe fullstop.

Any suggestions of which character/group to do next are more than welcome, although I can't do the following characters/groups because there is still information about them needing to be revealed:

Kyoko, Itsuki, Alouette, Schwarz, Momokyokai just in general, Hibari, L'Ordre Dionysus and anyone who hasn't been introduced yet in 'Kyoko' (like the Shimon and Millefiore).

Anyone else is fine...I think...