DISCLAIMER: I don't own KHR or any of the associated characters aside from my OCs.

Squalo and I shot glares at Sawada from our seats at the round table where we were gathered for yet another meeting. Dino and Kozato Enma and his famiglia were all present and attending the meeting with mixed feelings evident on their faces. We were all warily glancing around the room full of allies to take in the bruised and battered appearances of the mafiosos around us. In all the awkwardness, Gokudera Hayato was growling at us like a wild beast wrapped in bandages from his nose down to his neck.

Reborn was the first to speak, "Well Tsuna? You're the boss so speak."

Sawada struggled momentarily but decided that his decision would have to be verbalized, "I'm really sorry but I want you all to lend me your strength! It's time to make the last blow. We're going to war."

"VOI!" Squalo slammed his hand on the table, drawing attention to himself fairly quickly, "We've been telling you that we have to fight from the start!"

"HM!" Gokudera screamed, no words coming out through the bandages around his mouth.

I'm the one who bandaged him like a mummy. He's not injured. We just had a tussle earlier and he annoyed me so I strapped him in bandages and dared his fellow Guardians to try releasing him if they wanted to see how many mummies I could make in a matter of seconds.

"Ahem." Dino smiled kindly, breaking up the fight before it started, "I'll be backing you all the way."

A smile finally breaking passed the nervous look on his face, Sawada told us, "We have to act fast. Now that we've hit them, they'll try to gather themselves up and attack us so we have to strike first. Thanks to the efforts of last night, the hostages are out of harm's way. We took laughable damage last night but our attack today is on a totally different scale. Our goal is the ultimate destruction of every family in the JAWS Alliance."

That sounds like it's right up my alley. I grinned, elbowing Squalo who hadn't expected Sawada to call for blood so easily, "I'm behind you, Sawada."

Suzuki Adelheid, shooting me a challenging look for some reason or another, said, "In the end, you're doing it their way?"

"We've tried it my way. It only cost us more in the long run so we're going to make it so they can never hurt anyone again." He vowed, those childish eyes looking suddenly solemn, "Of course, if they surrender before they're eliminated, all of you are expected to let them live. If they throw down their weapons, we let them walk away. Understand?"

The chorus of "Yes, boss!" from around the table were deafening and I simply nodded, proud of him for managing to garner respect so easily but Suzuki Adelheid was constantly glancing my way with a hideous glare and it made me wonder what I ever did to her. Squalo nudged me and rolled his eyes in her direction. I shrugged, no explanation to give him for the strange challenging looks and hostile glares.

"And if they don't surrender?" Squalo grumbled.

"If worst comes to worst…" Sawada nodded grimly, "If worst comes to worst we'll have to put everything we have into winning so that we can be at peace again. You can kill them all but not before you give them a chance to live."

Naive. I frowned and then finally returned Suzuki's glare. What the hell is her problem anyways?

Suzuki Adelheid narrowed her eyes on me, "If Hibari Kyoya were here, things would be much better."

Feeling the aggression she was directing my way, I snapped, "My brother has better things to do."

"I'm sure he does." She smirked in a way that foretold the coming of another witty insult, "But if he thinks the discipline of his school is more valuable than the protection of his friends, he's nothing but a heartless beast. Similarly, you seem to think that it's perfectly normal for him to be of no use to us during these battles. You're ranked lower than a wild beast."

I growled. Oh I'll show her a damn beast!

She continued, "I may have lost to your brother but I won't lose to you. Ranking Fuuta calls you the mafia's strongest female fighter but your time has passed."

"Adel!" Kozato shouted sharply, "Stop that!"

"This is how the Simon Family can gain fame." His companions chorused, "Just let her do it, Enma. It can't hurt."

Oh I'll show them hurt…

"Guys!" Sawada regained our attention, the tension still hanging thick in the air, "You're dismissed until further notice!"

"Got it." Squalo and I were the first to get up, slowly making our way off the property.

"Hibari Kira!" The voice seemed to be filled with hatred and promises of pain for me although all she actually said was my name.

I paused and turned, "Suzuki Adelheid."

Squalo took hold of my arm by the elbow, "No. Let's get out of here."

"Senpai, we're the Varia. We don't run from anything."

"Suit yourself." He dropped my arm, not putting any distance between us in case something should happen.

Adelheid fixed me with a deadly glare, two of her family members behind her, "Fight me."

Well that escalated quickly. I rolled my eyes and nodded, "Right. Right. I'm going to fight you for what?"

"Adel, cut it out!" A scream from Kozato Enma echoed towards us from down the hall as he approached us, "We can't fight the Vongola Family again. Do you even remember how much trouble we caused them on just a misunderstanding?! Don't do this!"

"This time it's not a misunderstanding and it's not between our families. This is between me and her." She fixed her eyes on me, unmoved by her boss' plea, "You were the one who said we should regain some sort of place in the mafia world to prevent future generations from suffering the same way we did. This will also contribute to that."

"Look, I don't know what you think I did to you but if anyone should be angry, it should be me." I spat, shoving Squalo carelessly away from me as a sign of my intent to fight should she come at me first, "Your family caused my brother some trouble."

"That brother of yours doesn't have the same feelings for you." She spat right back, "Perhaps you should stop obsessing with him and start atoning for your crimes?"

I might've asked 'what crimes?' but I'm in the mafia and on top of that I'm an assassin… I don't think there's any crime I haven't committed aside from drug dealing. "Ohh…. Did I assassinate someone you knew? My bad."

I don't feel bad at all. It's not my fault that a person she knew ended up on our hit list. Maybe that person was just an asshole.

"You're the murderer of Marissa Puttana." She wasn't really asking.

I shrugged, "Maybe?"

I don't remember the names of every single person I killed, man, I don't even remember how many people I killed. It's not important to me. What's important is that I'm doing it for this family and this family benefits from it.

"That happened to be the mother of a close friend of mine."

"Oh. Great." I facepalmed pretty hard, "Look, I don't know what you think I did but if that woman was on our hit lists, she did the Vongola Family some unforgivable wrong. I don't get to choose who I kill. I just kill them."

"I understand. And I just so happen to be standing in front of you with a challenge." She pulled her metal fans on me and that was the last straw, "If I defeat you, you will step down from your position and apologize profusely to our friend on your hands and knees."

"And if I win?" I thought about it for a moment. I don't really want anything from them but it wouldn't hurt to humiliate her, "You will… strip naked and run down every hall in this building singing Namimori's school anthem at the top of your lungs while all of the mafiosos in this alliance are watching."

She narrowed her eyes on me and foresaw an early victory, "You underestimate me but as you wish. If you can defeat me I'll obediently comply with your ridiculous request."

"When I defeat you, you'll obediently comply with my request." I corrected her, pulling my gauntlets over my hands, "Let's take this outside unless you want to pay for damages as well."

Her eyes narrowed further but she remained silent as I lead the way out to the endlessly large gardens of the Vongola main base to begin our fight. People were slowly starting to gather around to see what the commotion was about and I heard Squalo's voice call out to me in his own form of encouragement, "KIRA! IF YOU LOSE I'LL SLAUGHTER YOU!"

"Please do." I grinned as she made her first move.

We exchanged a solid set of blows, testing the grounds for the possible openings and outcomes. I drove her to activate her dying will flame first. The Flame of Glacier was something I had never seen before but it wasn't anything special. It was just as its name states-a bunch of ice.

The sharp ends of the icicles scraped my skin as I breezed by with a speed that shocked Adelheid momentarily as my fist connected with her jaw. She flipped out of my reach before I could land a second blow with those damn long legs of hers, her panties showing as she did so. My eyebrow twitched and my flames took to the gauntlets on my hands, invigorating my assault with angry will.

The crowd around us gathered, thickening further and further. Several cheers went off from all around and it seemed that this brutal fight was turning into quite a show.

"Kira-san!" I heard Sawada's demanding voice, "Stop this at once!"

"VOI! Leave her alone!" Squalo snapped in my defense, "Once she gets that look in her eyes it's not over until it's over!"

Finally deciding that she had enough, Adelheid came for my vitals. I exchanged a glancing blow to the ribcage for a solid blow to her spinal column by means of my fist in the crook of her neck. Taken by surprise once more, she was left to collect herself in the dirt.

Taking firm hold of myself, I reached down and pulled her up by the collar.

Dazed from the blow to her central nervous system via her spine, she could only cough out, "You aimed to kill."

I instantly detached myself from her when her leg came up for my face.

"Adel!" Someone called out from behind her, a hose in his herbivorous hands, "Heads up!"

It was my turn to be taken by surprise. The water from the end of the hose was instantly turned to ice and shaped into an identical clone of Suzuki Adelheid herself. The original hurrying away to hide herself behind the protection of her growing number of icy clones.

I blinked and backed away as the nearest copy took the chance to swing its icy limb in my direction.

"That's dirty!" Squalo growled, taking a threatening step forward.

"I can handle it!" I shouted back and he immediately albeit reluctantly took a step back.

Aquilos surged to life from the depths of my ring. His claws expanding more and more as I fueled my dying will flames into his being.

"Wh-What the hell is that?!" Several bystanders hurried away as my sky hunter continued to expand and snap its jaws threateningly at everything and anything that moved.

Adelheid's expression twisted in shock as my predatory friend took a menacing step forward, effectively shattering a handful of her ice clones with one snap of its mighty beak. I heard her breathe out, "Not all small creatures are weak…"

"Correct." I grinned, well aware that she had probably directly quoted my brother as I took my time with finishing the battle I already knew was mine, "But there are some benefits that come with larger sizes."

Taking her chances and taking advantage of the fact that big creatures were usually slow, she sacrificed all of her clones to charge past my companion's defenses and attack me head on. It came to a final exchange of blows, Aquilos deflating quickly as I became more focused on the flames lighting up my gauntlets rather than fueling the beast's size.

Her fan slammed into my hip at the same time that my fist connected with her nose. Adelheid was sent flying backwards into the crowd and my hip proceeded to burn with pain and I crumpled, clutching my throbbing ilium. My pride prevented me from collapsing completely to the floor as long as Squalo-senpai was watching but the sharp pains continued to come in waves as if my body were begging me to just drop everything and lie down.

My eyes turned up onto the now-normal sized Aquilos, "Grab her."

Claws gleaming in the sunlight, Aquilos snatched Adelheid up into the air and dropped her in a messy heap before me. She coughed and sputtered as soon as she hit the dirt, the air knocked from her lungs.

I glared down at her. I attempted to satisfy myself with her bloody nose to hold myself back from stomping her flat.

She turned a look of pure defiance up to me, unable to pick herself up, "Why do you waste your strength as a murderer?"

"Waste?" I snorted, ignoring the burning pain in my hip and previously wounded leg as I straightened up, "Murderer? We see it two different ways."

"Do you deny that you kill for a living?" She spat, a drop of blood escaping her lips with her words.

"No."

"Then you are a murderer."

I shrugged, "You see it as murder. I see it as eliminating potential threats."

"Do you feel no shame?"

"Why should I feel shame…?" For doing something that protects my beloved family? I would never feel shame for such a ridiculous thing. In fact, this is my pride and joy.

"They call you the Cannibal. They say you're a cold-blooded killer with no feelings for taking lives without blinking an eye." Her voice began to rise in volume, "You take the lives of people that have precious family! Do you not have a heart?!"

The Varia's Cannibal… I don't eat people. I don't see why I should have to put up with such a ridiculous name but I don't mind. I'm used to it and in fact, I've come to like it during all my years as a member of the Varia. I smiled at the thought.

Adelheid, on the other hand, looked disgusted the minute I began to smirk, "I don't understand you! Do you not have any morals or pride?!"

"I take pride in that name. My name." I laughed a little at how cliche it sounded in my head, "My name connects me to all the things I ever need in life. I am Hibari Kira, the Varia's Cannibal. Just as you are Suzuki Adelheid of the Simon Family. I feel no shame in who I am."

She looked as if she was about to say something else but she couldn't find the proper words to convey it so she ended up saying, "That is a terrible thing to call your pride."

Aquilos vanished once more, knowing the battle was over.

"Losers have no right to speak." I told her, not taking pity on her when she looked up with humiliated eyes, "Remove your clothes, Suzuki Adelheid. Run. If I cannot hear you singing at every moment of your run, I'll make you do it again."

She attacked me viciously, unwilling to keep up her end of the deal. I simply laughed, dodging out of the way and back into Dino's open arms. Surprised, I whirled on him and wrestled him down before realizing who it actually was, "Don Cavallone?"

Laughing, Dino picked himself up, "Man, you really let me have it. Jeez. Losing to you is humiliating enough, don't you think? Let her off the hook."

"Only if you run in her place." I said stubbornly.

I'm against letting people off the hook. It's a naive thing to do. How else will they take responsibility for biting up to people clearly stronger than them? I didn't even have to enter Cambio Forma. Imagine if I had done so.

"Oh, boy." Dino chuckled, scratching at the back of his head nervously, "Cut me some slack here."

I stared in wonder as the red-haired boss of the Simon Family rushed up to lower his head in Suzuki Adelheid's stead. He was a clumsy boy, tripping over his feet in a lame manner on his way over. He looked about as herbivorous as Sawada Tsunayoshi.

"Please let her go this once! It won't happen again, Hibari-san!" Kozato Enma's earnest eyes peered up at me when I didn't react right away. He kept his body bent at ninety degrees and only his head was turned up anxiously, "Please!"

"Enma!" Adelheid was clearly upset, being restrained by the rest of their family's Guardians as their boss apologized in her stead, "You know she's the one who-"

"They don't kill people for no reason, Adel." Kozato scolded her weakly, tone shaking as if he was the one being scolded but I knew he was just scared of me, "If the bet means so much to you, I'll gladly take her place."

I sighed, reminded of Sawada Tsunayoshi to the point where I had to admit two herbivorous things. First of all, Sawada had grown on me. I thought he was a cute herbivore. Second, this boy was also a cute kind of herbivore. An herbivore with the will to stand up for his precious friends. I can respect that.

"If you understand, that's enough." I shrugged, gesturing for Squalo to start heading out, "I'm busy too. I don't have time to watch you prance around in your underwear so I'll put it on your tab, Kozato Enma."

Showing me a dazzling smile that matched Yamamoto in cheeriness, he bent himself further and shouted after me as I began to leave, "Thank you very much!"

"You're soft." Squalo murmured as I caught up and matched his long strides, "Boss is definitely going to hear about it."

"Good. I was the winner. He should be damn proud."

He didn't say anything but I knew he was proud of me too. Squalo isn't one to scold me for winning. Good old, Squalo-senpai.