WINTERTIDE

Barely two days after returning from the Future, a stranger appears on Tsuna's doorstep looking for Reborn. Wait, what? The Sun Acrobaleno is a father!

Warnings for Gokudera's mouth, Hibari's violence, gender-bender and a little bit of canon-divergence.

Pairings undecided.

000

CHAPTER ONE

It was nice to get back to a normal life after all the pain and chaos of fighting Byakuran in the future.

Tsuna sighed as he chewed on the end of his pencil, it has only been a few days but the trials he went through, the fights, the tears, the blood, sweat and bruises felt like a life-time ago as he stared down at the foreign language represented in his algebra homework. It felt... surreal to be sat here, in his room which was still a little disorderly after the Earth Quake their return caused – nothing too serious, a little ceiling plaster on top of the shelves and a few more books than usual on the floor – doing homework with a can of Melon crème Soda at his elbow and the sound of Lambo and Reborn in the garden outside. If it weren't for the fact that it still hurt when he moved his arms and back into certain positions he would have thought the whole adventure 10-years into the future had been nothing but a very scary dream brought on by the fumes of Bianchi's Poison Cooking. It was known to cause hallucinations through airborne exposure.

Not to mention the bruises and plasters that were still visible, it was causing some weird rumours to crop up at school that he was turning Delinquent, most of them were met with the ridicule they deserved but some people believed it and had started taking to skirting away from Tsuna and his friends in the hallways as though they were Hibari-senpai. Perhaps they were a little deserved, he didn't think any of the others had really given it thought but... Tsuna had killed him... he had killed someone, Byakuran, he had murdered him, incinerated him until not even his ashes remained. Completely consumed in the Flame of the Sky, wiped clean, sanitized and... Tsuna couldn't find it in himself to feel bad about it, he was upset about killing, but not guilty, it needed to be done and he just didn't think any of the others had really realised that he had taken someone's life right in front of them.

"Urgh! Its no use, I can't think," he whined, throwing his pencil down and scrubbing at his already mussed up hair, algebra was hard even on a good day but now, with all his thoughts scrambled and maudlin it was... a hundred times more difficult than usual. He huffed quietly to himself and reached for his drink, he just needed to take a few seconds and not be too loud, if Reborn noticed then Tsuna would be tortured into finishing his homework then and there, correct on the first go or get shot in the head. He didn't want to deal with that and – nuts, he'd run out of soda.

Melon crème Soda was hard to come by, he'd gotten lucky on the way back from school when he spotted the Vending Machine hiding down the side of the little Tea-House, usually you couldn't find it outside of the Nara area. He sighed and crumpled the can, idly tossing it in the general direction of his waste paper bin before heaving himself up to his feet, wincing slightly in pain as he did so. He needed a drink and a break, may as well go and get some tea and see what all the fuss outside was.

He was halfway down the stairs when someone knocked on the front door. Given that his mother was hanging the washing out, everyone else was running riot outside and Tsuna was closest he went to go and open the door, pushing it open he blinked a little in surprise at the obviously foreign teenager who stumbled back a step – obviously not expecting the door to open outwards.

"Hello? Can I help you?" the Tenth Vongola asked nervously, foreigners usually only ever showed up to cause him problems or go after Reborn for whatever reason.

The foreigner was roughly the same height as Tsuna with even an even wilder thatch of black hair, they wore thick baggy clothing that had to be five or six sizes too big and had most definitely seen better days, thick black rimmed glasses obscured a pair of startlingly green eyes as the foreigner blinked at him, looking down awkwardly before reading from a scrap of paper in his hand.

"H-hello. I am looking for a man called Reborn, Iemitsu-san told me he was here," he read rather falteringly.

Tsuna nodded, "Hold on, I'll just go and get him." He tried not to be annoyed over the fact that his father sent this teenager here and yet couldn't be bothered to come home himself and see his mother. His mother who waited to patiently, hopefully, that he would come home and spend some time with her, no matter how small.

"Thank you," the stranger said, smiling brightly as Tsuna retreated back inside and went to go and find his Tutor.

"Reborn? There's someone at the door for you, Dad sent him, apparently," the brunet explained as he came across the altogether rather common sight of Reborn lounging in the back garden, sipping an Expresso while Bianchi sunbathed in entirely too little clothing and both Lambo and I-pin ran riot around his mother's feet as she pegged one of his school shirts to the line. The tiny hitman frowned slightly, setting his cup down.

"I haven't heard anything from him," the fedora wearing infant admitted before snatching Leon off the brim and having he chameleon transform into a gun as he jumped from his seat and made his way inside to the door. Panicking, though not as much as he usually would, Tsuna followed after him hoping against hope that there wasn't going to be a murder on his porch.

"I am Reborn, what do you want?" the Sun Arcobaleno asked as he appeared in the doorway, the teenager blinking at the empty hall before looking down at the toddler at his feet and crouching down, an odd look that Tsuna couldn't understand crossing his face. He got the feeling that the foreigner was upset though, angry and a little tired and defeated?

"I'm sorry, my Japanese is bad. Do you speak English?" the foreigner asked, reading from his scrap of paper as he looked over at Tsuna, seeming to ignore Reborn's presence which... was a little odd given that the hitman was the one he asked to speak to.

"Tsuna doesn't speak English. Iemitsu sent you to me, why?" Reborn demanded, his tiny hand tightening warily on Leon's trigger as the foreigner looked down at him in surprise, an expression of realisation crossing his face.

"I'm looking for Renato Serafino, are you his son?" Tsuna liked to think he was getting better at reading Reborn's moods, his Tutor tended to maintain a very calm and placid expression that rarely ever showed anything beyond amused tolerance at the world around him and very occasionally a sense of 'You're wasting my time'. If he hadn't known Reborn so well, he would have thought him completely unmoved, but Tsuna could tell, whatever the foreigner had said it has shocked him, badly. Completely out of left field as Yamamoto would say.

"How do you know that name?" Reborn asked, Leon shifting back into his chameleon form under the foreigner's strangely watchful eye. Was it Tsuna's imagination, or did the boy just relax at the totally unnatural sight of a gun transforming into a chameleon?

"My mother mentioned him in her Will, are you going to answer me or not?" he asked, actually sitting down amidst the shoes and the dirt of the porch without a care, even Reborn seemed a little surprised by the foreigner's lack of decorum before shrugging it off. Tsuna however winced, why hadn't they invited him in? It was rude to leave someone standing out on the porch, never mind forcing him to sit in it!

"I'm just trying to get all the information first. Why are you looking for him?" the Arcobaleno continued.

There was a moment of silence as the teenager studied the little hitman, Tsuna could honestly swear, hand on heart, that he had started sweating like a pig with all the tension in the room right now. He hadn't understood a single word, well, maybe a few, but not enough to have even the slightest idea of what was going on, whoever this foreigner was, he was looking for someone and Reborn wasn't giving him the answers he wanted, for whatever reason.

"You're not a normal child, are you?" the teenager asked warily, eyes narrowing under his rather ugly glasses.

Was that a smirk of approval on Reborn's face, "Indeed not. Why are you looking for Renato Serafino?" he repeated, the foreigner sighing, his shoulder slumping visibly as he laughed a little depreciatively.

"Let me guess, you're Renato Serafino. Of course, nothing can ever be simple," the foreigner muttered watching Reborn carefully for a reaction, the hitman merely stared at him, impassive. "Two weeks ago I received a letter written by my mother before her death explaining that her husband wasn't in fact my biological father," the teenager began to explain before Reborn suddenly groaned and dropped his head into a tiny hand.

"Sapevo che sarebbe successo un giorno, ma perchè proprio adesso?" he complained, confusing everyone in the room, "Tsuna, go and make some tea, would you? English milk tea if at all possible, and another Expresso for myself," the hitman requested, looking over his shoulder at the brunet with what Tsuna could almost identify as an expression of... well he couldn't identify it, it was too complicated, as if the Arcobaleno couldn't even decide how he himself felt about this situation, whatever it may be.

"Uh, sure, you want me to bring it to the living room?" he asked, assuming that Reborn was going to invite the strange foreigner inside to talk, whatever it was it must have been important.

"No, upstairs in your room. I don't think... What is your name anyway?" he asked in English, turning back to the rather bewildered, and slightly hurt, looking teenager still sitting on the porch.

"Ha- Ariah," he stuttered, clearly correcting himself from saying something he shouldn't have, making Reborn frown in suspicion.

"Ariah is a girl's name," he pointed out, watching as the teenager's face promptly turned red.

"That's because I am a girl," he – no, she, muttered in embarrassment making Reborn double take and frown.

"My apologies I did not – "

She cut him off, "Its fine. I'm not – I mean I know I'm not very... girly, its fine," she assured him, waving a hand to disregard the accidental insult and Reborn's apology away.

The Arcobaleno nodded, "Come in, please, Tsuna is just getting some drinks," he told her, hopping backwards from the doorway so she could follow in after him. A shy smile lit her face up as she got to her feet, evidentially she had been expecting some kind of rejection, Reborn watched as she dusted herself off idly and came in, closing the door behind her and pulling her shoes off upon seeing everyone else's inside. She wasn't much to look at in all honesty he decided, leading her up the stairs towards Tsuna's room where the Cow and I-pin couldn't interfere, and Bianchi wouldn't attempt to poison her in some misguided attempt to remove the competition.

Reborn hopped up onto Tsuna's table, making note of the fact he had been dawdling on his Algebra homework as his... daughter followed in after him, sitting down awkwardly on the floor and fidgeting with the frayed hems of her baggy jeans. Absurdly baggy and most likely second hand jeans if Reborn was correct, her socks had holes in them, her shoes looked as though they were falling apart, her shirt was clearly made for someone several sizes larger and a head and a half taller, her sweater was handknitted and someone had obviously put a lot of love into the bulky emerald tent that was still a few sizes too big. Her hair was a tangled mess of black strands, slightly curly ones at that, her skin was pale as if she didn't get enough sunlight and her eyes were hidden behind what was possibly the most atrocious pair of glasses he had ever seen a human being wear.

She wasn't much. But apparently she was his.

Perhaps her family was poor? Or was she abused? Well, either way, once he obtained a paternity test to prove whether she was his or not, that would change, good clothes, better glasses, they would have to sort out that mop she was trying to pass off as hair... He wondered how Bianchi would react to essentially becoming a 'Step-mom', because he knew that was how she would read this situation once he decided to inform her of it.

"I would like to get some proof of our blood relation before I decide on anything concrete. Would you mind taking a blood test?" the Arcobaleno asked as gently as possible, he got the impression that despite her name, Ariah was rather timid and he didn't want to frighten her off if she really was his daughter.

She shook her head, "No, I would welcome it actually." A stubborn look tightened her face and Reborn was rather fascinated to see himself, twenty years ago, young and annoyed looking back at him in her face, "I want there to be no doubt, at all," she told him, looking at him with those strangely familiar green eyes.

He nodded, "I'll get a friend of mine to do the test." While he didn't think Shamal would be suicidal enough to try and grope the girl if he informed the man that there was a chance she was his daughter, there was also the small issue of Shimal's common sense tending to take a hike when he laid eyes on a pair of boobs, such was his problem with Bianchi.

The girl nodded, looking up as Tsuna came in with the drinks.

"Tsuna, give me your phone. I need to call Doctor Shamal," the Arcobaleno demanded as the teenager slid the tray of drinks across the table, flinching slightly when he realised Reborn had gotten a look at his Algebra homework. Then his words registered.

"Eh? But he only treats women," he pointed out in confusion, handing his phone over none the less.

"And he will be treating a woman. I need a paternity test, the young lady's mother here claims that she is my daughter, we would both like some solid evidence," the baby explained as he dialled up Shamal while Tsuna had a mild freak out in the doorway, his daughter watching with wide eyes and a somewhat alarmed expression on her face, clearly not understanding why Tsuna was reacting so badly.

"Reborn! Mi chiami raremente in questo periodo, qual'è il problema? (You rarely call me these days, what's the problem?)" the Doctor asked from the other end of the line, for once, sounding sober.

"Ho bisogno di un test di paternità. Una ragazza giovane donna si è presentata proclamando che sono suo padre. (I need a paternity test. A young lady has shown up claiming I am her father.)" He could hear Shamal choking on his tongue on the other end of the line, whatever he had been expecting, it most certainly hadn't been that. Reborn probably shouldn't be so amused at the thought of the dirty old womanizer dying from shock, or suffocating on his tongue, it would probably serve him right, a kind of dramatic irony given how that tongue had threatened to suffocate many a beautiful woman.

"Davvero? Una ragazza? (Really? A young lady?)" the perverted Doctor demanded, finally having calmed himself down and now sounding entirely too interested.

"Si. Molto probabilmete è vero.C'è della somiglianza. (Yes. It is more than likely true. There is a resemblance between us,)" the Arcobaleno confirmed, his voice carrying what was an unmistakable note of warning in its tone, one that made Shamal shiver in his seat despite having several miles between them. He made a mental note to keep his hands to himself, the idea of Reborn having a daughter was frightening enough, if the man... baby... hitman, ended up being one of those over-protective Daddies that Shamal was only oh-so-familiar with, then things could get VERY messy. And painful. For him.

"Bene, sarò lì fra un'ora circa. (Alright, I will be there in an hour or so.)" the Doctor declared, deciding that he would be as professional as possible for once in his career. He really didn't want to get on Reborn's bad side, especially if he was going to be as serious about it as he had been about Tsuna's Skullitis – that had been a rather painful period in Shamal's life, the little Hitman had been rather abusive when his cute little student was out of sight.

"Ci vediamo. (See you then.)" Reborn agreed before hanging up and observing the girl claiming to be his daughter. She seemed to have attempted to start communicating with Tsuna, though really it was just making him a cup of English milk tea, they seemed to be getting along, rather well actually, there seemed to be an air of understanding between them that Reborn hadn't noticed before. "Ariah?" he asked only to be completely ignored, that confirmed that it wasn't her real name at any rate. "Miss," he announced, a little louder to catch their attention, though it may have also been the phone he lobbed at Tsuna's head, "My friend will be here shortly, about an hour or so. Would you like to stay for dinner, I'm sure Maman wouldn't mind another mouth to feed?" he offered.

She looked at him in surprise as if the idea of staying hadn't even entered her mind, "I wouldn't want to impose," she hedged hesitantly, clearly she wanted to stay, to spend more time with him, but didn't want to be a burden or interfere, how strangely thoughtful, and yet annoying that she had no spine.

"Its no imposition, really, please stay and join us for dinner." But Reborn wasn't going to say that, he had been brought up better and one should always treat women, no matter what they may look or act like, with respect and manners. "Tsuna, she will be staying for dinner, please go and inform Maman," the hitman told his cute little student who nodded and quickly scrambled off, rubbing at the small lump on his forehead from where the corner of his phone had made contact. Maybe he should go easier on the boy – no, more fun watching him whimper and squirm.

"What is your real name?" Reborn suddenly asked, making her jerk sharply and give him one of those 'Deer in the Headlights' expressions that he had only really seen Chrome-chan do properly before now. "Ariah is not your real name."

She shook her head, "It is. I just..." she trailed off uncomfortably, "My mother had two Birth Certificates drawn up, both of them legal, but one had my Step-father's name on it and the name he chose for me, the other had yours and the name my mother picked. She thought that since you were Italian, my name should be as well." That explained how a British girl ended up with the Italian name of Ariah, meaning 'Lion'.

"What is your other name? Clearly you are more familiar with it," he pointed out, making her flush again.

"Its not really very appropriate for a girl," she admitted, Reborn arched an eyebrow and waited, eventually she caved, "Harry. My name is, was, Harry."

How incredibly unfeminine.

000

Dinner was pleasant, a little chaotic, but pleasant.

Maman had been more than happy to set an extra place for the mysterious Ariah/Harry, she then had to set extra places for Gokudera and Takeshi who showed up in order to spend time with Tsuna. Lambo continued with his own particular brand of chaos until Ariah/Harry scooped him up, out of Gokudera's grasping fingers and proceeded to distract the child so thoroughly that he was utterly enthralled with the foreigner and, Grazie a Dio, quiet for the rest of the evening.

Gokudera had scowled at the girl, leering down at her like a territorial cat as he prowled around, hackles raised and Delinquent Sneer painted across his face, hovering at Tsuna's side, marking his territory, and Reborn could just tell from the look in his daughter's eye that she was wondering if he would calm down and stop hissing and spitting at her if she rubbed the back of his neck. The hitman would have paid money to see what the Storm Guardian's reaction would have been if she had, she didn't, but never the less, Gokudera's reaction upon finding out the person he had been insulting and snarling at over the dinner table was a girl and possibly Reborn's daughter had more than made up for the Arcobaleno's lack of entertainment that afternoon. Even Bianchi was still giggling over her brother's freak out while his daughter, Ariah/Harry, had taken everything in stride, proving Reborn's rather callous belief of her being timid wrong.

Takeshi hadn't treated her any differently than he would have anyone on the street, though he did switch to Polite Speech when he found out she was a girl, regardless of the fact she didn't know any Japanese so it would go completely over her head regardless. He tried to engage her over baseball but she quite clearly had no idea what he was talking about so the conversation dried up as the Rain Guardian laughed self consciously and admitted that he shouldn't have formed such a bad habit of falling asleep in his English class.

The Cow was utterly enchanted with the girl who kept him busy and out of the way. I-pin seemed to be of a likewise opinion though she was less annoying about it.

Bianchi seemed to be the only problem in the beginning, Reborn had considered getting her to back off in the beginning, given that this was possibly his daughter, he was rather concerned about how she would react to find him getting fed by a woman who was closer to her age than his. Ariah/Harry hadn't reacted beyond a casual question of whether or not they were together, which Bianchi answered affirmatively and the girl just nodded, paying no further attention to it as she tried the strange foods in front of her. The rosette haired assassin had been possessive upon deciding that Ariah/Harry was female, that only got worse when Reborn announced that she was possibly his daughter, but by the end of the evening, the woman seemed to have decided to take Ariah/Harry under her wing as the poor thing had never had a positive female influence in her life. Obviously.

Reborn was a sadist, he knew it and he revelled in it, which was why he was so confused when the look of sheer horror on the green eyed girl's face when Bianchi declared that they were going to take a bath before Shamal got there didn't stir anything more than a sudden desire to make sure it never appeared on her face again.

"N-no thank you, really, I don't... I'm not comfortable with..." she spluttered as Bianchi attempted to pull her towards the downstairs bathroom, the scruffy young woman easily darted out of the Hitwoman's grasp and skittered around to the otherside of the table, "Its fine really. I don't like walking around with wet hair! I'll shower before bed tonight!"

"You really shouldn't go to bed with wet hair, you might catch a cold," Bianchi scolded sternly.

Ariah/Harry gave her a flat look, "It hasn't happened before, so I doubt it will now. Really, no thank you."

"Come now, we're both girls, its no problem at all. Besides I want to learn more about you," the rosette haired woman chirped as she made another grab for the smaller girl who rather gracefully danced out of reach again, Reborn was finding himself rather amused and intrigued by his daughter's evasive capabilities, not many could continue to dodge Bianchi when she was dead set on something.

"Bianchi, non affezionarti .Potrebbe anche non essere mia. (Don't get too attached. She might not be mine,)" the tiny hitman warned in Italian, drawing the legitimate heir to the Hayato Family up short.

She pursed her lips and looked over at him, "Naturalmente amore mio. Ma sono interessata, è troppo magra ed ha una preoccupante cicatrice sulla mano. (Of course, my love. But I am concerned, she is too thin and there is a worrying scar on her hand.)" she explained with a pleading look on her face. The mention of a scar had Reborn's eyes snapping over to the young woman, his gaze landing on the odd discolouration of her right hand and what looked like jagged words carved into her skin. Almost as if sensing his line of sight, the hand was discreetly moved out of sight.

He nodded to the rosette haired woman who smiled brightly before finally managing to snag the young girl's arm, "I'm sure you could fit into some of my old clothes, and we'll see what we can do with that hair of yours," the Italian woman cooed, drawing the terrified looking girl against her body, frog marching her out into the hallway, I-pin chasing their heels. Just as someone rang the doorbell. Reborn chuckled at the look of undisguised relief on his daughter's face as Shamal stepped in, this really brought new meaning to the term 'saved by the bell'.

"Reborn, good evening, now, where is this cute little lady claiming to be the unfortunate offspring of yourself?" the Doctor asked boisterously as he kicked his shoes off, he clearly hadn't even looked at the scruffy nestling under Bianchi's arm.

"Right there with Bianchi, her name is Ariah," Reborn explained, nodding to the young woman in question. Shamal's face turned from ecstatic to horrified upon seeing her, Reborn could sympathise somewhat, they were both well known for their admiration of beautiful women and the sorry state that Ariah/Harry had brought herself to them in was something that was quite revolting to their rather delicate sensibilities of feminine beauty.

Shamal nodded, slipping into the role of a pure professional, true his greatest capabilities was in Assassination – Trident Shamal was still a name to be feared, even today – but being in the Mafia required a broad skill set, medicine was one that just clicked with his talents and worked best for him. "Good evening Miss, my name is Doctor Shamal, Reborn here asked me to do a paternity test for you. Think you could take your sweater off and roll your shirt sleeve up as high as it can get?" he requested as he set his bag on the kitchen table, Nana having already cleared it before Bianchi attempted to shanghai the young girl into taking a bath with her.

Ariah/Harry slipped free of the rosette haired woman and tipped forward, looking rather like a wary cat as she did so, reluctance rather visible on her face as she pulled off the metaphorical shield that her emerald green sweater represented to her, revealing a body that was entirely too skinny, almost anorexicly so. It also became apparent that she didn't have a bra and had instead opted to use old fashioned bandages instead given how baggy her neckline was that you could see the bindings, but it was the scars that drew everyone's attention.

In addition to the bandages, a very faded scar was visible just peeking out from under them, it looked as if it ran from shoulder to hip given the angle of the pale silvery pink tissue. Her forearm showed what was unmistakably a slash from a knife, vertically from elbow to wrist, one that was not self inflicted if the way the scar leaned away from her indicated. When she rolled up her sleeve, it only revealed another scar, this one large and dark, the veins around it standing out starkly as if it had been poisoned or infected. It looked like a chemical burn that hadn't healed properly if Reborn could compare it to anything he was familiar with.

To his credit, Shamal didn't do much more than blink and move the tourniquet a little to accommodate for the scar tissue and take a little more care in hunting for a vein before drawing blood. Ariah twitched slightly, staring with a kind of morbid fascination as he slid the needle under her skin and sucked out the required amount before placing a cotton-wool bud over the point of entry and removing the needle.

"Hold this down," the Doctor requested, "Keep pressure until the bleeding stops," he advised, watching as she followed his instructions before he went about bottling and labelling her blood sample and then repeating the procedure on Reborn. "I should have the results tomorrow morning, I'll come and give them to you both at breakfast," he promised with a small smile at the obviously hard done by young girl, she had led a hard life and been treated badly by others. Her arms held the classic signs of malnutrition and starvation over a long period of time, her bones were fragile, almost bird-like under his hands as he handled her wrist and forearm. He almost wanted her to be Reborn's daughter, just because he knew that the miniature Hitman would make sure she was taken care of from that exact moment onward. He may have been a womanizer but he was hardly an immoral pig, little girls should be pampered and taken care of, ladies should be treated like the queens they were and admired for their beauty.

"Thank you," the girl told him earnestly and he couldn't help but glow a little, most of the time when he treated girls they ended up screaming and trying to file lawsuits against him, genuine gratitude was few and far between, he found that he rather appreciated it.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow," he promised before bowing out.

"What happens if she really is Reborn-san's daughter? Will she and her mother come and live here?" Gokudera asked curiously.

Reborn shook his head, "Ariah's mother is dead, that's how she found out about me. Her Will apparently informed her of her true parentage. But yes, I imagine she would come and live here." He would make sure of it, he did not like the current state she was in, it made his insides twist uncomfortably to think that his child could have possibly been abused, attacked, hurt, possibly for being his and neither of them even knowing it. If she was his child, there would be hell to pay for anyone who dared lay a hand on her, he may not have been able to help Tsuna with the majority of his fights due to the nature of them – most of them being attacks against the Vongola Familia, he was forbidden to get involved with them as he was not a member of the Vongola familia, merely a good friend of the Ninth whom had been charged with training Tsuna to become the man he needed to become. He would not have that leash when it came to protecting his child.

"Its getting late," Ariah suddenly announced, looking at the clock, edging a little bit away from Bianchi in a way that fooled pretty much everyone apart from Reborn who was gradually growing more concerned with what else his daughter may be hiding under those clothes that made her so opposed to shared bathing. "I should probably head back, I'm not sure what time Reception closes up," she admitted, ah, she was staying in a hotel, that was strangely comforting, he had visions of her camped out or sleeping on a parkbench.

"Gokudera, Takeshi, could you please walk Ariah to her hotel?" the Hitman requested, looking seriously at the two teenagers, Gokudera nodding immediately, his spine straightening under the perceived orders, his cheeks still flushed with guilt and embarrassment, Takeshi chuckled and nodded, flashing him a thumbs up.

"Sure, can't let pretty girls wonder around after dark alone, s'not safe," he assured the Sun Arcobaleno, prompting a smile from the little Hitman.

"Ariah, Gokudera and Takeshi will walk you back to your hotel," he told her, feeling a slight touch of amusement at the flash of confusion and then annoyance that crossed her face, yes he was giving her an escort, if she really was his daughter then she had best get used to it, he wasn't going to allow anything to happen to her not after spending so many years neglecting her until she ended up like... well, this.

"Alright," she managed to get out, her voice tight with suppressed irritation. They were going to have their hands full with her, she was an independent little thing, he could tell now that his previous estimations of her were wrong, "Thank you Gokudera-san, Takeshi-san," she said to the boys, bowing slightly to be polite. "Thank you everyone, goodnight," she added to the rest of the room before making her way out to put her shoes on.

The Storm and Rain Guardians gave their goodbyes and hurried after her.

000

Sapevo che questo sarebbe accaduto un giorno, ma perché ora, di tutti i tempi? - meaning: I knew that this would happen one day, but why now, of all times?

Grazie a Dio - meaning: Thank God.

I'm using an online translation machine, apologies for any poor or offensive Italian (Mum stole my phrasebook) 8(

And the end of chapter one. Did you guys enjoy it? Its a bit different from how I usually do things, a little less description and a little more character interaction and a whole lot of plot and no scene setting. That's in the next chapter. I want you guys to start scratching your heads going 'What?' before I do a grand revelio.

000

Special Thanks to: Natsukyi and Nekoneko-xyz for correcting my Italian translations. You guys are gems.