Disclaimer: I own only my original characters and this fanfic. KHR belongs to the mighty Amano Akira.
Chapter 1
Chance Meeting
"Lorenzo!"
A girl covered in soot barely looked up from her work. "What do you want?"
The man's eye twitched at being addressed so rudely. He should have been used to it by now, but he wasn't.
"Reborn is looking for you. He wants you to meet him as soon as possible. He didn't say where though."
She paused, mid-soldering. "Hm."
"Hm?"
"Hmm… is that all?"
He sighed. "Yes."
She waved at him to leave. "I'm going to finish fixing this piece before I go."
He left wordlessly, hands clenched at his side, shaking slightly. When the man left, the girl rolled her eyes as if she knew what was going on inside his head. She then picked up a blade, and with inhuman precision, carved her name into the metal for copyright measures.
"Luciana, Lorenzo. There we are!" Luciana held the strange piece of machinery up at face level and grinned widely. Her reflection grinned back.
She threw off her work gloves and boots and headed down the hall, barefoot. It wasn't odd to see someone walking down the research hallway barefoot. Actually, it was stranger to see someone wearing shoes in the hall! People rarely came out of their lab, but many messengers were sent. Those messengers had dirty shoes. This ticked off the researchers, Luciana included. It was then decided that everyone would enter it the traditional Japanese way. Take off your freaking shoes and either go barefoot or wear slippers. If someone didn't, Luciana would have their neck for it.
Luciana was short for her ethnicity and age, but that was a given. She had her hands full all day and hardly had anytime time outside and didn't eat the healthiest of foods.
She padded down the immaculate halls and spoke into a voice activated locker door to retrieve her outdoor boots. But she couldn't even go four steps without her phone buzzing in her pocket. Luciana sighed and fished it out of her pocket, the other hand rubbing her temples when she saw the caller ID. It was one of her more difficult customers.
"I've been calling you for the past half hour, why haven't you answered?" A gruff voice demanded.
Luciana glared at nothing in particular, "I was—"
"Forget it! It seems I need them sooner than expected, tomorrow actually."
"Hm…"
She heard an aggravated sigh on the other end. "What now? You don't have them ready?"
"No," she replied. "It's not that. I leave for Japan tomorrow, so this is all kind of messing up my schedule."
"Get it here by tomorrow at noon, or the deal's off."
The connection died.
Luciana snapped her phone closed and swore quite loudly, "If he wasn't a customer…"
"Gokudera call you again?"
She didn't have to look to know who it was. "Go away Marco Polo."
Marc Pol just laughed. "Hey, you don't have to start biting my head off. I was just doing some maintenance."
Luciana stopped, turned around, and leaned on the wall. "Why are you still around anyways? I thought I got rid of your kind when I installed the self-repairing bots."
Marc smiled. "They kept a few of us. Besides, with you gone and no one to keep watch for technical bugs, a few maintenance men are good to have around."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Hm, that's true. Well, later Marco Polo, uncle Reborn's got something for me to do."
"Bye, and good luck in Japan."
"Hm…" She resumed her walk and gave him a curt wave. After a series of turns and taking four different elevators, Luciana stopped in front of the back door. She whispered another password and the door slid open soundlessly.
She knew where Reborn was since he had told her beforehand. Luciana was less than excited to go get her hair cut. There was nothing wrong with her current haircut. Sure, there was soot and dust in it, and her scalp had gotten oily, but a good shower would fix all that.
Apparently that wasn't the problem, but the length.
"Reborn, I'm here!"
"Ciaossu, Luciana."
She took the seat right of Reborn. "You're getting a haircut too?"
"I have to remain in top shape at all times. Plus, my hair was getting a little long."
Luciana raised an eyebrow, "Really? I didn't notice since you wear that hat all the time."
"Excuse me, are you Luciana Lorenzo?"
"Hm?" Luciana looked up to see a tall blonde lady drying her hands with a towel. Her hair was done up in a sophisticated yet wild manner. Luciana suddenly felt small compared to her. "Uh, yes. I believe I have an appointment right now."
The lady put her hands on her hips, and her lips quirked up. She didn't look impressed.
"A girl should take more care of her hair! Look at you, you're a mess! How do you go out in public like this?"
Luciana was a little speechless. "I—"
"No, no, forget it! I'll fix you right up. By the way, my name's Ciare."
"Ur, hello Ciare. It's nice to meet you," Luciana fumbled with her words and blinked dumbly at Ciare. She wasn't used to people like this, and Ciare's attitude reminded her of a person from a recent phone call…
"So Luciana, what kind of haircut would you like?"
"Boy-cut."
Both heads turned to Reborn.
"Luciana will get a boy-cut," he repeated.
Ciare looked at Luciana for confirmation, "Really? All this hair will go to waste…"
Luciana shrugged, "Sure, I guess. Something that doesn't require much care would be good. I don't uhhh, really pay much attention to my appearance…"
Ciare sighed, "I can see that. A boy-cut then. I'll try to make it look good, even though it's on you…"
Luciana clenched her fists. This lady was starting to get on her nerves.
Ciare put one of those apron-like things that Luciana couldn't recall the name of around her neck and quickly cut off almost all of her hair. It was left slightly below her shoulders.
"Okay, now get up and come with me."
Luciana did as instructed, albeit a bit reluctantly. She was led to what looked like a sink.
"Sit here and tilt your head back. First we have to wash your hair since it's so dirty."
"Right."
Luciana made a mental note to send this lady a gift later.
She had to admit, the warm water did feel nice. Since Luciana couldn't move, she opted to stare at the clock while thinking about what that customer said. She glared at nothing again. It was strange for an order to be changed. Luciana groaned inwardly. It didn't help that he was one of her regulars. She'd have to do something about the delivery very soon. The last shipment for today was supposed to go at 9PM, and it was already 5PM.
"Hey Ciare, how long do you think it'll take you to finish my hair?"
Ciare paused for a second, "Well, normally it would take an hour, but…"
"But?"
"But I've got other customers, and we're short staffed today so I'll be cutting other people's hair before yours."
"Tough luck…"
"Why, are you in a hurry?" Ciare stopped to drain the water and apply shampoo. "You should have made an appointment earlier then."
Luciana's brows furrowed. "Let's just say there were some last minute changes to my schedule."
Ciare shrugged and kept scrubbing away at Luciana's scalp. Her hair was especially dirty, there was even a bit of tar at the roots. Ciare's eye twitched at how repulsive this girl was. Why was there tar in her hair anyways? What the hell was this girl doing, fixing cars?
After a few more minutes of furious scrubbing and reapplying shampoo twice, Luciana's hair was finally free of the tar. Ciare squeezed some of the water out lightly and motioned for Luciana to get up and follow her. Luciana found herself seated at the salon's hair dryers. Those things were bloody huge, Luciana noted to herself.
"Now just wait here until your hair is dry, I'm going to clean my scissors." And without another word, Ciare left Luciana to her own devices.
Her own devices.
Luciana gave herself a little grin.
"Luciana."
Hm? She tilted her head slightly. "Yes, Reborn?"
"Instead of plotting, you should be thinking of a persona since you are under orders to not reveal your identity. Also, stop staring at the clock, it might burst into flames."
A sigh. "What am I supposed to do for the next hour then?"
Reborn only got up and left.
Without paying.
Luciana had a feeling that he told Ciare she would be paying for him. Luciana groaned and covered her face with her hands. She didn't bring any money, and Reborn knew that. Which meant she should've known, but—wait, why was she worrying again? It took a full three seconds for her to realize that she was part of an underground criminal organization, and so not paying for her haircut shouldn't have made her feel this uneasy.
But it did.
And it bothered her.
A lot.
The haircut went smoothly. The haircut. Luciana on the other hand had made several plans in her head to arrange a separate shipment based on the time her haircut was done.
It was now 6 PM and Ciare was hot on her trail while she ran for dear life. It didn't help that she couldn't just go back the normal way since she would be leading her straight to the secret entrance.
Whilst running, mumbling and fumbling around in her pocket for her phone, Luciana saw the familiar shape of a fedora. Said shape turned her way and she mentally cursed as she saw Reborn holding a Leon-gun—aimed not at her—but at Ciare who had given up half a block back.
Wait, what?
"Don't do it Reborn!"
"You never exercise unless someone slaps you in the face."
Luciana's jaw went slightly slack as she saw the bullet whiz through the air in slow motion, hit its target in the forehead, and the flame of the dying will bullet sprouting.
Why…?
She just wanted a haircut…
She managed to escape with only scrapes and bruises, which thank the lord, pleased Reborn lest he decided to sic another raging woman with scissors on her. They would leave for Japan tomorrow morning, get all their stuff ready at a hotel and infiltrate the Sawada household the day after.
So now Luciana was standing in a crowded airport since taking the private jet would have been too flashy. Her luggage went way over the limit for one person and so she only had the bare necessities with her. It made her feel… vulnerable. She needed to be surrounded with her work!
"Reborn…"
"No whining. Waiting for taxis is also part of your training."
She raised an eyebrow. What kind of training was that? She shrugged. Whatever. "Just wondering when my equipment is going to get here…"
"If you're so bored then go play tetris on your phone."
She grunted. "Maybe I will."
And she did.
Ten more minutes passed by before a honking taxi driver waved them over. Luciana had never been so thankful. There were a bunch of people giving her weird looks while they were waiting—was it because she was blonde?
Or maybe it was because she was literally coated head to toe in sunscreen…
When she got into the taxi, her questions were answered.
"Ah, miss, do you use a lot of sunscreen?"
She settled in the back seat with Reborn and put on her seatbelt. "Yes. I burn easily so I always have to put on gratuitous amounts of sunscreen before I go out. It gets rather frustrating."
"I can imagine."
They chatted more for a couple of minutes before drifting off into a comfortable silence.
Luciana didn't make small talk often, but she found that it was quite enjoyable.
I'd like to do this more often…
They arrived at their hotel not too long after, actually paid the taxi driver as Luciana and Reborn had taken a liking to him and pushed open the double doors.
…
Room 1299.
"Why must it be so high… and so close to sun nonetheless…" Luciana grumbled from her spot in the corner of the elevator. Reborn didn't help the situation by taking a seat on her shoulder and tugging at her hair whenever he deemed she whined too much.
They didn't bother unpacking anything and just made sure they hadn't forgotten anything. When everything seemed to be in order, Reborn spoke up. "Luci, I hope you've thought about what I said last week."
She sat up from the fluffy bed. "The persona thing? Yeah, I thought about it. In fact, I drew up a sheet for you to see." She reached into her bag and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of white paper and handed it to Reborn.
It was dangerous for her to be strutting around as Luciana Lorenzo so Reborn suggested creating a persona for her stay in Japan. Luciana agreed immediately. She didn't want anyone bothering her while she was working.
"Kizuna Kira, male."
She smiled sheepishly. "I thought it'd be better this way…"
Reborn handed it back to her with an unreadable expression, "That's fine, but don't slip up."
Luciana laughed lightly. "I won't. If anything I hope someone else doesn't mess it up for me—and I don't mean you of course!" The last part was added when Reborn turned the Leon-gun on her again.
She didn't change much about herself; just her gender, birthday and name. She knew blending in plain sight was the best kind of disguise—but it didn't hurt to take extra precautions, hence the gender switch.
"So when do we leave for the Sawada's?"
"Six o'clock sharp."
Oh god, I can't wake up that early…
Luciana—ah, Kira—stood beside Reborn as he slipped a piece of paper into the Sawada's mailbox.
"So you'll take care of things here while I go scope out the school?"
Reborn hopped off her shoulder. "Don't forget your other job too."
"How could I?" She laughed. "It's what makes coming to Japan worthwhile."
She didn't waste another second and got into the car parked by the gates, starting it up. Her windows were tinted, but she specially designed it so that there was a separate sheet of glass that wasn't tinted so that if she ever got pulled over she could easily swap it and fake innocence. It was a neat trick, and along with her fake papers and face, she never got caught.
When people played the 'Guess How Old I Am' game, the guesses were all over the place.
Stopping a few blocks away from the school, Kira parked in an alley and activated the cloaking sequence—Vongola family special—and walked towards the school where a few students had already gathered. She noted their clothes and concluded they were part of a club, perhaps sports going by the bags.
She couldn't go this way.
Kira easily found the back of the school with a dumpster that lent her good leverage for climbing and hopping over the ridiculous fence. Seriously? For a school? For a mental asylum, yes, but a school? She did not understand it.
She tried to let herself fall as gently as possible from the top of the fence as she didn't want to try to roll with a bag over her shoulders. When she landed on the grass, she surveyed her surroundings. There was no one in sight. Perfect.
Looking at her wrist watch, she sighed when she realized she only had an hour to report back to Reborn.
First, she focused on the scene before her and began memorizing her surroundings. It wouldn't do to get lost—and god knows with her sense of direction she needed every bit of information she got.
Satisfied after reviewing the image in her mind, Kira ran towards an open window on the first floor. Lucky! She grinned. She didn't have mad skills like Reborn and wasn't carrying anything that could propel her to higher grounds.
She crept through the first floor all the while making mental notes on the best places to build secret passageways and storage compartments for her equipment.
She finished the first floor in 15 minutes and headed for the second floor. She covered that floor just as quickly and headed for the third floor. With only 30 minutes left, she covered the third floor as fast as possible and was left with 20 minutes to report back to Reborn.
Ack, I forgot about the roof! Oh whatever, that's not important.
Kira quickly dumped out all the contents of her bag and whipped open her laptop. Waking it from sleep mode she began punching in codes and sending pre-written instructions to the nano-bots sprawled across the floor. They mobilized in seconds after she hit START and began digging into the walls of Namimori Middle School.
Within 5 minutes they had dug a tunnel, sealed off the entrance and began constructing the rest of the tunnel's interior.
When Kira arrived at the same spot she jumped down from she realized that she couldn't get back the same way since the dumpster was only on one side of the fence. She scratched the back of her head in thought and didn't notice the menacing presence behind her.
"All trespassers will be bitten to death."
Ah. What a strange thing to say.
"Hello." She kept her composure even in the face of a tonfa. A boy a good head taller than her glared at her. Instinctively, she took in every detail of the new face and committed everything to memory—there was nothing scarier than not being able to remember.
"I'll give you ten seconds to explain yourself."
She ignored his tone, having dealt with much worse customers and tried to smile. "I don't need ten. I'm a transfer student and haven't received my uniform yet."
He didn't lower his guard but seemed less edgy. "Do you have proper identification?"
"I do." She turned her bag around and opened one of the smaller pockets, pulled out her fake passport and held it out for him to see. "I brought this just in case."
He took it wordlessly and scanned it before regarding her with suspicion again. "For an Italian your Japanese is strangely flawless."
It wasn't a compliment but a trap. "I've always been interested in Japan as a child and ended up learning Japanese along with Italian! Had something to do with anime, probably…"
He seemed to buy it and tossed the passport back to her before gesturing for her to follow him.
Kira kept counting down the time in her mind and grit her teeth as she imagined what Reborn would do to her when she arrived late. This was all for the sake of maintaining her cover so why did she have to go with some guy with a piss-poor attitude? Yes, his armband screamed that he was part of something called the Disciplinary Committee, but she hadn't been seen or heard breaking any rules, so why?
"Kizuna Kira, correct?"
Her head lifted at the sound of her persona. "Yes."
"Here is your uniform. Go to the front office to get your schedule." He shoved the uniform into her arms and barely gave her a second look until…
"Thank you," she shifted her shoulder so the bag strap would come off and she could put this away for now. But when she reached to unzip the bag with her left hand, she exposed a bit of her tattoo. "You know me, and I believe it is only customary that you introduce yourself as well."
He stared at her with a hard expression, but didn't glare this time. "Hibari Kyouya. I'm the head of the Disciplinary Committee, so if I find you breaking any rules I'll bite you to death. Consider yourself warned."
And with that he left.
Kira scratched at her cheek. Did he just say that again?
I'll bite you to death… How strange to try to kill someone with your teeth…
This is a rewrite of Comfortable Calamity, some of you may still remember it. It's been completely redone and if people like it enough I will continue AND finish it. I swear on my nonexistent grave I'm not lying.
So, review and tell me y/n