It was a 2017 resolution to finish this chapter (but but but what happened to 2016's end of year resolution – ) and I'll…try harder in 2018 :'D

This fic is a joy to write, but I managed to lose my sense of humor in these last few years... (growing up is fun they said). The continuous support over these last few years despite a lack of an update guilt tripped me into writing something so...voila. Kudos to Falcone Kaerva for the most harrasment. This is mark 19 of chapter 35.

Considering the author legitimately thought it was chapter 36 and couldn't even remember what happened in the previous chapter, have a rundown!

The future battles (an arc I had such fond memories of I was sure to speed through most of it) are over! *cue the fireworks*. The Inheritance Ceremony/Shimon Family arc is about to start.

On the way to Japan, Serena finds herself on a flight with Byakuran because…why not.

Enjoy...? :'D

Chapter 35 - Half Time

"Oyakata-sama!"

Iemitsu sat up straight at his desk, finding the need to take in his bearings. I fell asleep? "Oregano. Basil. Turmeric. Lal - "

"We know our own names," Lal Mirch snapped, in one of her worse moods. "Get it together Iemitsu, Byakuran just boarded a plane."

"Well good. We won't be seeing him again."

His subordinates gave each other anxious glances, before Basil spoke up. "Byakuran...just boarded a plane to Japan."

The name slipped out before he could stop himself. "Nana…" The vision of his wife being hunted by mafioso in the world ten years into the future was not something that could be unseen.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault – I couldn't stop him," apologised Oregano, bowing stiffly. "Please let me go after him."

"The 13:00 to Tokyo Narita?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"There's no need. Serena's on board." And if anyone would have beef with Byakuran, it'd be her.

Meanwhile...

"Please, stop, Byakuran," I gasped, light-headed, "I've got a broken rib. Have mercy."

"You sure you don't want to hear about the parallel world of a very gender fluid Tsunayoshi-kun, in which all his guardians compete for his love?"

"No way, even Hibari?"

"Especially Hibari." Byakuran hummed in amusement. "But I'll let you catch your breath first. I didn't think you would enjoy hearing about parallel worlds this much. Since you know, the tragedy of parallel lines never meeting and all."

"Well it's not as tragic as straight lines – meeting once, but only once – " Wait, what was I supposed to be answering? "Just imagine how much easier life would be if Tsuna was a super genius hacker or had a capable twin brother. Come on, you've got to have a favorite to peek on every now and then."

Byakuran smirked and responded without the slightest hesitation. "No need~. It's this one."

"Ha. Good one."

In a pressurised compartment hurtling through the air at 700 miles and hour, a pleasant silence passed between us. Apparently, I was the only one who felt that way considering Byakuran went ahead and ruined it. "Serena-chan, can I ask you a question about the...future battles?"

No, my brain yelled. Was it not traumatising enough living through it once?! "Yes."

Byakuran motioned to my leg and hands…then just gave up and motioned to all of me. "These injuries…"

"God," I responded. "I'm told that the answer to everything."

"You warped into the future before Tsunayoshi-kun and his friends," recalled Byakuran slowly, ignoring my clear distaste for the subject. "You relentlessly chased Kikyo and Bluebell all the way out to Namimori Forest, which requires your health at its peak. Then you disappeared into thin air."

I shifted in my seat so I wasn't facing him. "Believe me if I could disappear into thin air, I'd be doing that right now."

"During that final battle, thanks to Yuni-chan, you all ambushed our pincer attack. Except you weren't expecting me to show up with Bluebell." It was almost as if Byakuran were in a trance. "Chrome ran away – to meet up with Mukuro and his team, now that I think about it. It must've been a sign reinforcements arrived, so you sent Terry-chan to Zakuro's group, leading Bluebell to the Varia and Mukuro. And we were left alone."

"And I passed out without a fight. From pre-existing injuries," I acknowledged grudgingly. The pace Byakuran was going at would leave me in old age by the time he got to the point.

"Then if it wasn't me or my funeral wreaths, and I doubt anyone on Sawada's team would do this to you - who?"

"…You really wanna know? It was a tree. A motherfucking tree." And frankly, that wasn't a complete lie.

Byakuran repeated the words dubiously. "...A tree."

"It was uh…too…embarrassing. The shame. The dishonor? So I pretended I was fine."

"To keep up Tsunayoshi-kun's team's morale, I see," Byakuran translated, nodding before instantly brightening up. "Ooh look, they're bringing out dessert~!" He then proceeded to charm each and every flight attendant for extra ice cream bars. When he was more ice cream than Byakuran, I decided I'd return the favour and make him relive some trauma too.

"So, what exactly is someone with a fear of flying doing on a plane, headed for a new country without so much as a plan?"

"I'm running away from the Italian Mafia," he responded cheerily. "Namely the Giglio Nero famiglia and CEDEF, who want me dead A.S.A.P."

...Seems like happy is the new triggered. "I hate to break it to you...but the Italian Mafia has the ability to take a plane to Japan. Did you have a plan B?"

"You're my plan B~."

"Could you skip to plan C?"

A flight attendant cleared their throat beside us – I turned to see a dark haired woman with impossibly blue eyes and a mischievous smile. "Ciao, I couldn't help but overhear – "

"You're Aria," I blurted, "Yuni's mother."

Aria smiled. "Reborn was right, you do have a gift. Why don't we continue this conversation somewhere a little more private?"

Privacy thirty thousand feet in the air apparently existed in the form of a latrine. Byakuran held me up as we went through a bout of turbulence. By the time we got there, I figured it out. "It's your birthday isn't it? Gee this is awkward. Reborn was lying, I don't actually have a present prepared – "

"Byakuran-san," Aria interrupted fighting back a giggle, "tell me, what do I look like?"

"A young fit guy with light brown hair and green eyes."

Nodding, Aria put her arms behind her back. "Well, at least the disguise works. You see, after seeing what my future was like, I decided to run away from home. Gamma knows Byakuran-kun here can use his power to find me. So I thought – why not run away and hide together?"

Byakuran shut his eyes briefly, sneaking a peak at a parallel universe or something, before nodding. "Alright. Looks fun~."

Aria placed a warm hand on my cheek, smiling wistfully. Seconds stretched into the longest minute I'd ever experienced. "I see," she finally said, removing her necklace and placing it into my hands. "Could you pass this on for me, please?"

This...is her Arcobaleno pacifier. "But - "

Before I could protest, I found myself falling into a dreamless sleep. "I wish you all the best, Serena-chan."

"Oi! Come on, wake up!"

I came to in Tokyo Narita Airport, at Gate 44 with a smarting cheek, where Aria's hand had been. Readjusting my posture in the ridiculous metal seats airports were so fond of, I wondered if I'd gone through clothes dryer or something.

"Gamma. You hit her too hard." A youthful Genkishi loomed over me. Beside him, Gamma bowed immediately, almost headbutting me, apologising profusely.

As I got to my feet, I kneed Gamma in the face, sending him flying back (accidentally, of course) and noticed my eyes were leaking. "The pacifier…"

"You mean Boss' necklace?" Gamma questioned, steadying himself to hold up an orange pacifier tied to a pink ribbon. My heart sank. An arcobaleno won't last long without their pacifier. It didn't appear to be common knowledge.

"Our Boss is missing," Genkishi said outright, earning an urgent 'shush' from Gamma. "What do you know?"

"Aria teamed up with Byakuran. And..." I hesitated. "And she doesn't want you to worry about her."

Gamma harrumphed. "That reckless idiot – how are we not supposed to worry?" But after a long sigh, he turned to his partner. "Genkishi, we're leaving."

"But...Byakuran."

"We'll have to trust Boss on this one." Gamma gripped the pacifier a little tighter. "By the way, we hitched a ride here with some people who were looking for you too."

"God, tell me it's not CEDEF."

"It's not CEDEF," Genkishi muttered, resting his hand on his swords. "Give my regards to Superbi Squalo."

Enma Kozato hadn't slept in over a day.

It had started with an earthquake – which brought down his home. Within hours, the long lost rings of the First Generation Shimon family had been discovered and thrust into his hands. At the same time, an invitation to the Vongola Family's Inheritance Ceremony had arrived on their crumbled doorstep.

Which is why the Shimon family found themselves in Japan, a week early, with the plan to destroy all those who attended the Inheritance Ceremony, in one fell swoop. No longer, would the Shimon be stood upon by others.

There were news crews all over Tokyo Narita Airport when they landed. Journalists were actively stalking shell-shocked passengers who'd apparently been on a flight through hell. "We suddenly lost cabin pressure and started losing altitude…we fell straight into the typhoon. A flock of birds were swept into all the engines and…" The man lost his composure and broke into tears. "We all thought we were going to die."

Aoba was in awe. "A flight from Rome to Tokyo – that could've been us! Thank God we went for the budget airline with laybys."

"It's a sign," agreed Shitt. P. "The UMA are in our favor."

As Enma stepped off the escalator down to the arrivals lounge – his foot was held back. My shoelace… With a grunt, he ripped his shoe free...and kicked his suitcase. And it was hands down, the best kick of his life. The next Ronaldo. The entire contents of his life sailed through the air…and fell directly on someone's head.

...I've killed someone. Weaving through the crowd, he tripped over something. "Itai…" Right! The corpse! Where are – I'm sitting on them, aren't I. "I'm sorry! A-Are...are you okay?" Enma shifted off the victim and gathered up their personal effects – rings and documents – before wondering what a life on the run would be like.

"It was already broken," the girl murmured absent-mindedly, accepting her things as if raining suitcases were a daily dilemma faced by all mankind. "I walk into poles a lot, my head's thick."

Hit by a pang of déjà vu, Enma was about to speak up when Adelheid held his shoulder back with an iron grip. "But Adel – "

"~Ushi shi shi shi~...what do we have here." A lanky blonde (with bangs so long Enma wondered how he could see) knelt down and picked up the girl effortlessly. "I'll take it from here." And the pair disappeared into thin air, as if the whole thing had been a magic trick.

"Serves them right for not paying attention," Aoba scoffed, as the rest of the Shimon family arrived on the scene and the small crowd that had formed dispersed.

"Are you alright?" Raouji asked, eyeing Enma carefully from head to toe. "Are you concussed?"

"N-No, I'm fine..."

"And the ring?" Julie asked, anything but pleased.

"It's fine," Enma responded automatically, reaching into his...empty pockets. A passerby would've thought he was dancing to 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes'. "That girl just then…I must've mixed it up with her rings! And the plans …!" But Adelheid continued to hold on to him.

"Did you see the crest on that boy's coat?" Adelheid asked, softly. Frankly Enma hadn't even noticed he was wearing a coat, much less the finer details. "That was a member of the Varia."

His heart skipped a beat. "That infamous assassination squad of the Vongola family…?"

"If you asked for the ring back now, there's no way they'll miss the word 'delitto' written over the Vongola crest," Shitt P. spelled out for him. "We'd be exposed immediately."

The Shimon family fell silent. "We don't have a choice," Julie declared, oddly enthusiastic for a change. "We stick to the plan and stay under the radar until the ceremony."

"And what, we just pray no one connects the dots?" Enma murmured. Deep down, he knew what had to happen. "No, we need to know who we're dealing with. We might have a chance to retrieve the ring."

"There was a watermark on the spreadsheets she was carrying," Aoba recalled, rubbing his eyes. "C-D-E-F. Maybe it was the name of her school."

"CEDEF." Adelheid corrected. "External advisors to the Vongola family." The scenario just kept getting grimmer.

Silently, Kaoru lifted a student card and Enma was entranced at the grainy photograph. Enma had next to no recollection of his childhood, but he was certain: he'd at least met this white-haired girl. "Serena...I know her name!" He said ecstatically.

"Well duh," Aoba muttered, "it's on the card."

"We enrol at Namimori Middle," Adelheid finally decided, calmly, "and we find out who we're dealing with."

Julie Katou, aka Daemon Spade smiled through gritted teeth. Namimori was the last place in the universe the Shimon family should be – if Enma Kozato met Sawada Tsunayoshi...years of planning could go down the drain. I need to do something. Fast.

Literally 50m away…

"I died and went to hell," I decided, as Bel's face smirked back at me. "This is Satan's punishment for all the times I was nice."

"~Ushi shi shi shi~…ciao to you too, dumbass." And without warning, Bel twirled me around, revelling in the fact that I was too concussed to escape his princess carry. I could feel blood rushing to my cheeks – centrifugal force, of course.

"How romantic!" the women and children whispered.

Clearly they weren't able to spot a kidnapping when it stared them in the face. "Why are you on the wrong side of the world?"

"We had a job nearby."

"…We?"

Bel passed through a set of revolving doors onto Japanese concrete where a swarm of people, suitcases and taxis mingled – it was peak hour. But even so, there was a small area people just instinctively avoided. Beside one cab –

"Squalo!" I grinned, as Bel put me back on my feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Here, as in a ten minute layby for some shitty economy seat to South Korea, instead of a private jet?" Attitude aside, our feelings were mutual.

"…The typhoon?"

"Try again."

I caught Bel mouthing 'birthday' in the background. "But my birthday was a month ago." It was the day I was transported to the future, which hadn't been all worth celebrating.

Squalo sighed. Did a few voice exercises. And then let loose. "VOOOOOI! I'M HERE BECAUSE I HAVE A FUCKING RECKLESS LITTLE SISTER WHO NEEDS AN ANNUAL REMINDER THAT LIVING IS MANDATORY."

There was more, but my ears couldn't process sound after the first line. After a while, Squalo was noticed my clueless smile and switched to sign language, but aggro sign language wasn't very legible. Happy birthday. No dying. He pressed a small gift box into my hands. Use in case of emergency.

"And don't forget about that date," Bel smirked in my ear, before Squalo kicked him away, steering me into the waiting car.

"Voi, get going Serena. I'm sure you have a lot to do."

"Aren't you guys the one on a ten-minute layby?" That said, we were both perfectly content with delaying our farewells to the last second.

"There's a lot I wanted to discuss," Squalo admitted, straightening up, "but it'll have to wait till the next time we meet."

"Until the Inheritance Ceremony then." And they were off. All I could do was watch them leave.

The following morning…

"Why isn't Julie here?" Aoba muttered irritably. "He should suffer with the rest of us."

"Julie's scouting the town," Rauji pointed out.

"I can do that too!"

Adelheid spoke up. "You, of all people, need to stay in school." Applying at Namimori Middle had almost been too easy. To their surprise, they were even allowed to join classes right off the bat. Desperate for any information regarding one 'Serena Knight', they sprang at the chance. "What did you all find?"

"She's absent today," Aoba scoffed, "so I'm sitting at her desk. All she's got under there is a pen, a first aid kit and textbooks. She doodled all over the pages. Look." Aoba flipped through a textbook.

Adelheid sighed. "That's not doodling, that's math." And even though the school year just started, it's completed. "Anyone else?"

"She was a sub science teacher last year," Shitt. P spoke up. "That class did some cool experiments."

"Was?"

"Apparently she hasn't been well these last few weeks," Enma murmured, "so they had to find an actual teacher."

Kaoru hesitated. "She manages the baseball team. Even though she hasn't been around, all the paperwork for the team was finalized in advance."

"I heard she beat bullies to the edge of death," Rauji shrugged. "It doesn't make any sense. Why would someone so accomplished be in an ordinary school like this?"

Adelheid crossed her arms. "The real question is why someone with ties to both the Varia and CEDEF would play 'school' at all." That girl transferred here a year ago – just before the rumours that Vongola Decimo was a Japanese school child began. Could it be…? "Like we discussed: if any of you do see her, don't make contact."

Daemon Spade entered the hospital in a disturbingly good mood. The expression of the receptionist put him back into context, and he tried to look more serious. "My dear, childhood friend was in a car accident last night – Serena Knight?"

"She's on the second floor. First ward on the left."

Gleefully, he waltzed up the stairs and was delighted to see a sign for ICU...pointed to the right. Hospitalised is hospitalised, he chided himself. The alleged ward was a mixture of young men and women. The furthest bed was surrounded by curtains. That's good enough for me, he thought cheerfully.

"I'm telling you, it was a really bad accident! My cab was totalled. The car flipped over and over, and smashed into a tree," one of the older men bragged. A broken wrist and a bruised rib, Daemon noticed.

"You seem pretty unscathed, for such a terrible accident," one of the women muttered dubiously, expressing his disbelief perfectly.

"I guess my passenger and I are just lucky," he laughed. "There was a strange green light the entire time. Maybe the heavens were on our side."

Marching through the room, Daemon ripped open the curtains to see an empty bed and an open window.

I left Namimori Hospital at the crack of dawn.

Aside from a gear-stick shaped bruise and a couple of scratches, the car accident from the previous night was but a distant memory. Crash landing planes, flipping cars – the universe was out to get me, and misfortune like that just seemed like a given. My fucks to give had long worn away.

Dropping by my residence in the abandoned warehouse district, I showered and put on a fresh Namimori Middle uniform. Walking stick. Rings. Squalo's gift. Wallet. Phone. Sliding downstairs, I made a beeline to the door and slammed it shut behind me. The building just felt...lifeless. Of course it does, it's an inanimate object. "Snap out of it," I told myself.

There were only two weeks till the Inheritance Ceremony. I didn't have time to be homesick.

Just as I reached Namimori Middle, an A+ asshole – aka Hibari – slammed the gate shut in my face. Staring straight through me, he walked off.

"Hibari Kyoya, it's only 7:59am and you know it!"

He didn't even bother to face me, as he motioned to the clock on the school building. "Japan doesn't do daylight savings."

8:59am?! I glanced back at my analog watch. …Ah fuck. With a grunt, I threw my walking stick over the school gate, where it landed with a dull clang. That made Hibari turn with his classic 'what are you doing herbivore' face.

"The school rule is 'students who are late cannot enter the school grounds'. So, logically speaking," I stiffly hoisted myself over the gate, landing on my good leg, "if I can enter the school grounds, I'm not late."

But of course, Hibari Kyoya didn't speak logic, so alas, my punishment was to stay school roof with a broom.

So. 'How to clean the roof 101'. From what I understood, it went something like… Step one. Wait for rain. The end. But Hibari was expecting me to do something with a broom. Does one...dust a roof? One gust of wind is all it takes to waste your efforts.

Maybe I was going about this the wrong way. Hibari was expecting me to do something with a broom, he never specified what. ...Maybe he wants me to play quidditch…! No, it's too complex for his tiny brain. I twirled the broom around like a baton. Maybe he wants me to come up with a school dance routine…?

It didn't seem like it was worth the energy to figure it out, so I tried to plan ahead. Two days of school, and summer vacation would start. "Wait." I sat up. It didn't seem to make sense in my mind, so I voiced it out, like it'd actually change something. "If summer vacation starts in two days...how the fuck are they supposed to meet the Shimon family in school?!"

The bell rang for lunch just as the roof swing open, and I tried to look busy with a broom. By that point my mind honestly couldn't give a rat's ass about Hibari's revolutionary plan with a piece of cleaning equipment.

"...Herbivore, what are you doing."

"I'm cleaning the broom."

"..." Hibari pinched himself. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Despite how much I wanted to see how far Hibari would go to wake himself from reality, a new voice interrupted. "Sign this." Adel-whatsisname was standing beside Hibari (towering over the midget, I should say), her red eyes burning holes into my soul. I pinched myself. Once. Twice. Thr – "I'm real."

ARGH. WHEN THE FUCK DID THE SHIMON FAMILY GET HERE? I'M NOT MENTALLY PREPARED. FUCK. WHY MUST YOU SPITE ME LIKE THIS, UNIVERSE?! IS IT SCHADENFREUDE?! ARGHHHH -

Adel attempted to crush me with her heels, but I rolled onto my side, propping my head up with my arm. "What can I do you for? I mean, do you...do for you?" A sheet of paper and a pen were thrust into my face.

From henceforth, Namimori Middle will be protected by the Liquidation Committee. The following committee members approve:

Below, was a list of signatures, next to their respective committee names. And blood splatters. The only blank was beside 'baseball club'. Wait, this is just an approval for their fight.

"Do you need any encouragement?" Adel asked oh-so-politely. "If you're worried about being 'bitten to death' - "

"I can't wait. Fight hard. I'm done with this a-hole." I signed it. If Adel's fighting Hibari...she must not know he's a guardian of the Vongola family. "When are you scheduling this…debate? Next week maybe?"

Hibari strolled past me. "Herbivore, you're the judge."

Adel followed suit. "That is acceptable."

"…Eh?!"

Hopping over the fence that was designed to stop people from falling off the roof they proceeded to do their utmost best to kill each other and toss the battered remains of their victim four storeys down. I didn't exactly know what I was supposed to be judging, since I was pretty sure it was to the death…

The door to the roof burst open.

"Why is Adel fighting that skinny guy?" Aoba scoffed, adjusting his glasses. "He's going to die!"

Ryohei pointed angrily at Aoba, eyes burning with passion. "Hibari won't lose to the extreme!"

Meanwhile, Gokudera was already scribbling notes on Shit...I didn't really know her name, but I highly doubted it ended there. Yamamoto had run up with a baseball in one hand, and Kaoru had a matching baseball bat.

The Shimon family was...avoiding me. They weren't even trying to be subtle. ...Weird. "Serena!" Tsuna ran onto the roof, out of breath. "You're back from Italy already?" At that point he saw Hibari. "HIE! What's going on?!"

I forced a smile."Tsuna. Great timing. This is a fine example of natural selection. The male is defending his masculinity – "

The door banged open one more time, and despite the nightmare of puberty, I recognised Enma's voice instantly. "We need to stop them," came his breathless, composed voice.

Tsuna seemed over the moon that there was someone that wasn't chanting 'fight fight fight' and actually started a conversation. "Kozato-kun, right? I'm sorry about Hibari-san…"

"Ah no…I have a feeling Adelheid started it."

Before they could muster their courage together, Adel-hide and Hibari charged – for a split second, I had double vision – seeing as how Hibari got a foot to the face a moment later, I'd say he saw it too. Though, being Hibari, he still managed to deliver a blow back.

The rest of them seemed by far too engrossed in arguing over who'd be pummelled to death, than giving the actual fight too much attention. I thrust my arm over the fence, between them, before they could start their next clash. "Adelheid. Disqualification."

It was technically a boxing term, so naturally, Ryohei got it. "What? Why?! She didn't do any foul play! Unfair to the extreme!"

"You had no grounds for that!" Aoba agreed.

But Adelheid wasn't arguing. She was watching me, testing me. Too bad I ain't playing your game gurl. "So you guys are telling me Hibari was the only one who saw her panties?"

A tonfa and metal fan flew into the back of my head.

I left the infirmary just after the final bell of the day rang. Concussed as hell, I couldn't tell up from down. The Shimon family is here. And things aren't going to plan. Before I could try my luck with a flight of stairs, Hibari stood me up the right way round – I realised I'd been hand walking. Adel-thing was there too.

"Do I hear wedding bells?" I mused, and Hibari threw me down the stairs. "I was kidding. Grim reapers can't get married."

Adel came down the stairs and folded her arms. "I wanted to apologize for my actions." Her words weren't fooling anybody. If there really was something called blood lust – hell, I was drowning in it.

"Thanks for the sentiment." I prodded the back of my head and tried to ignore the killing intent. "So Hibari, do I get an apology from you?"

"Hn. I didn't strike hard enough, it seems." He headed off to start his afternoon patrol.

"Hang on, I'll come with – " I sat up, only to find myself handcuffed to the staircase, "…or not."

Left with Adel, we seemed to be competing who could stay silent the longest. And fortunately, I won seconds before I played the 'hello, it's me, I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to speak' conversation starter.

"We've met." Adel saw my cluelessness. "I saw you bring Enma to the orphanage, the night his family was killed."

Oh right. I did. I felt like I had to keep the conversation going, or we'd have have another century of silence. But...she didn't ask a question. "The weather's pleasant today." ...Fucking unbelievable. Somehow I'm inclined to believe this conversation would turn out better if I were mute. Be positive. Self-confidence. Who am I kidding I need to find a wall –

Adel took out her fans. "What do you know about Enma Kozato's family?"

"…They're dead."

"Who killed them?"

"I'm not sure." Wouldn't Enma know?

A couple of students walked by, and I tried to look casual with my handcuffs. So trendy. Adel let them pass before continuing the interrogation. "What happened that night?" I almost threw up on the spot, and she decided to try something else. "Why were you there that night?"

"I met Enma by chance earlier that day; he ran me over with a bicycle. I met his family, they were good people."

"You only knew him for a few hours?"

"At the time, I was working for an organisation – "

"CEDEF? Or was it the Varia?"

It was hard not to be a little creeped out. "...CEDEF. They had a similar massacre earlier that day," I paused, taking a deep breath to quash my queasiness, "and Enma's father was the prime suspect. I didn't believe it, so I went to check up on them. By then…I couldn't even tell what was who. I was worried there would be bad blood, so before my superiors arrived at the scene, I took Enma to the only address I could find written down in his home. The Shimon family orphanage."

Adel shut her eyes. "You said you weren't sure who the killer was. But that means you have an idea."

"A dead end." Emphasis on 'dead'. Unfortunately, I couldn't present my hypothesis – 'it's Daemon Spade, 400 years old and ready to screw y'all over' – without landing in a room with padded walls. "But I'm glad," I admitted wholeheartedly. "Enma's still a good kid. I made the right choice that day."

"We ran into yesterday at the airport," Adel spouted, before holding her tongue. But she'd crossed the point of no return. "We know you have ties to the Varia and CEDEF."

My headache doubled its intensity. That explains the odd behaviour on the roof. "And you're wondering what business someone like me would have in a dingy craphole of a school like this." I glanced around to ensure Hibari didn't catch a word of that. "Tell you what, help me out of these handcuffs and I'll show you why."

Adelheid was certain. 100% certain. This 'Serena' was the Vongola Decimo. Despite the concussion, the cast around her leg, the bandaged fingers, probably a broken rib – her guard was still up. There were weaknesses everywhere, but they were obviously a trap. So Adelheid followed her, figuring the silent consensus was to find a remote place and fight it out.

"I need to drop by my classroom first."

She must be collecting a hidden weapon. There was a remedial class going on, but Adelheid was shocked to see Aoba arm wrestling with an annoying loud guy. And they were evenly matched.

Serena walked up to the desk they were wrestling on, rifling around and pulling out...a roll of bandages. So she's already carrying a weapon. The walking stick? No, that's obviously just to help her walk...

"Damn it – Ryohei, you'd better wipe all this sweat off my desk when you're done."

"I'LL WIN TO THE EXTREME!"

"Tch! I'll be the one winning!"

As headed for the school gate, a bunch of baseballers ran up, breathless. "Serena! There's a creepy transfer student hanging around the baseball club!"

Adelheid clenched her fists. Why do people always judge?

"Well obviously, he just wants to play baseball." Serena squinted towards the baseball field. "Look, he's playing catch with Yamamoto. And he's got a great throw."

"But what if he does something violent?"

"...So talk to me if that happens." With that, she shooed them away like pigeons.

They'd barely left the school gates when Shitt. P rushed by, with a stalker hot on her heels. Serena grabbed the latter, who was scribbling hieroglyphics or something into a notebook. "Gokudera, I'm proud you're showing interest in someone other than Tsuna, but what you're doing is illegal."

He shook her off, sprinting after Shitt. P. "I told you, UMA don't have genders!"

"She – fine – it, has human rights. Well...alien lefts. Urgh you know what I mean!"

"I'll keep it to daylight hours!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, that guy is crazy into the extraterrestrial. He actually believes the convenience store owner is an alien who's trying to assimilate with humans."

Adelheid tried to look indifferent. But truth was, Shitt. P had said the exact same thing.

"Hibari! Oi! Over here!" The prefect's eyes narrowed in their direction, as if they'd committed some heinous crime, but Serena didn't seem bothered, and waved him over. "Can you take your handcuffs back? People are giving me very strange looks."

"Good." He walked off.

"...Well if you insist."

There's something very wrong with this child, Adelheid thought, disgusted, and the feeling didn't shift until they passed a park – Rauji was fooling around with some kid in a cow print onesie. Even with such a distance between them she felt irritated from the way he laughed, his lack of hygiene, his blatant disrespect for elders…

"Serena!" The kid ran up and latched onto her, bowling her over. "Give me candy!"

"Lambo! Ouch – broken – ow!"

"Oya, are you ticklish?"

"No I'm – ha ha! Stop! My ribs – ha ha ha – " With a grunt, Serena handed him a couple bills. "Urgh. Just ask normally."

"Gya ha ha ha! Rauji, let's go to the candy store!"

Adelheid almost laughed out loud. "You were just extorted by a brat."

"Just because your friend has the tolerance of the Dalai Lama…"

Adelheid had to catch herself from agreeing, and made sure her resting bitch face was on. "It seems almost too coincidental that you happen to know all these people."

Before Serena could retort, they came to a T-junction – to her surprise, Enma ran past, bag half open. Only a few steps behind was that wimpy kid, Sawada Tunafish or whatever. A split second later, two high schoolers came into view. Serena used the rounded end of her walking stick like a hook, effortlessly redirecting the first high schooler into the second with a sickening crack.

"Itai!" Enma tripped over his own foot. "Tsunayoshi-kun, run away!"

"No, I can't leave you – " Tsuna paused. "Enma-kun...they're gone!"

"I can't believe we made it!"

Adelheid peeked around the corner, watching the two laugh and chatting like the oldest of friends. Not to mention, to see Enma with a smile like that…

"Ano…Enma-kun…do you want to come to my house to clean up? It's just around the corner."

"Sure."

I need to take her out soon. "That's far enough. I know you have a Shimon ring. Return it."

"…I do?" With a worried look, Serena took out a cloth bag and spilled the contents onto her palm, flicking through it. "That's mine, mine, uh…no, that's still mine, have I seen that one – yep, it's got blood on it – AHA." Singling out a bulky ring wrapped in a bundle of paper, she poured the rest back into the bag. "I don't know where I picked it up, I'm so sorry! You have to get this to Enma right away – "

Adelheid snatched it back. "Don't try to fool me – "

"Look," Serena interrupted, sharply, "in my book, you're all honored guests until you make a move. So please stop thinking I'm out to get you."

"You expect me to trust the word of the Vongola family?"

"Pfft no, their word is worth as much as shit. I'm asking you to trust mine." Serena took a deep breath. "I'll be blunt. I'm kind of hoping that you guys might change your minds about you know, interfering with the Inheritance Ceremony and killing everyone there."

Snapping open her fans, Adelheid's eyes narrowed. "As I thought – you saw the ring?"

"The Shimon family doesn't show up for the previous Inheritance Ceremonies; why this one? And seeing how your family has been treated as of late…it's not really rocket science."

"The Shimon have been persecuted for centuries. We do not forget. Nor do we forgive."

"Great! One day you can team up with me and – " Serena let out a dark laugh. "But for now, I'll put my faith in Vongola Decimo and his guardians. And hopefully, no one else will go through what the Shimon did."

Adelheid couldn't keep the skepticism out of her voice. "What makes you so sure we can see eye to eye?"

"Well didn't I say I'd show you? I just introduced them to you. And you guys seem to be getting along great."

"...!" Adelheid forced herself to stay composed. It was a difficult task, when the person beside you was saying ridiculous things like 'are you going through cardiac arrest? I can't keep up CPR to 'staying alive' - how about 'my heart will go on'?'. "Then you are the Vongola Decimo - "

"It's the 'wimpy kid'. I know he doesn't seem reliable but...he'll get there." Noticing a slip of paper on the ground, she knelt down to pick it up, and her eyes widened. "Wait, the Inheritance Ceremony is in seven days?! One week! But…! Fucking hell – you shitfuck Ninth – eight days is not two weeks! God fucking damn it!"

They overcame their shock at about the same time.

"This just turned into the wrong type of half-time," muttered Serena, handing her the Shimon family's invitation to the Inheritance Ceremony. So careless Enma…! "Anyhow, please keep all of this quiet for now. Shimon or Vongola...they're just kids who need a break."

Adelheid's hands itched for blood. All logic pointed to eliminating the girl, right here right now. But seeing Enma...no, all the Shimon family members in such high spirits… "You have one day."

I spent that night on lying Tsuna's roof, studying maps and blueprints of the ceremony's location by moonlight. But I couldn't focus, and instead I cracked open a few bottles of vodka, wondering if I was doing the right thing. Pushing the Shimon and Vongola together, not the alcohol (that was right to the extreme). Morally, I was right – there never was a need to stir up conflict. But inevitably, conflict would lead to growth.

Before my very eyes, a black hole grew into the shape of a man, who materialised into the spitting image of Enma. Putting down my bottle, I turned tail, ready to make a break for it.

Another patch of air burst into flame, and Vongola Primo appeared, cutting off my escape route. "Serena, I present to you my dearest and most highly esteemed friend, Cozart. And Cozart, this is - "

I hadn't forgotten the last conversation I'd had with Primo. "Ciao, I'm a bridge."

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Serena." Cozart stepped forward, smiling, and we shook hands. I took it as his form of a greeting, rather than some silent pact I wasn't informed about. Cozart looked down warmly at the roof tiles. "Friends from day one! That exceeds my expectations." ...X-ray vision. Of course.

Storm flames started raging out of thin air beside them, and suddenly G. was there, laughing and greeting Cozart like they hadn't met in...well, 400 years. Quite literally. G. gave me a high five that made me wish for a piranha instead. "I see you're still alive."

*Glare*. "I hope you died miserably from old age."

Before Cozart could tell G. off for violence against women or something, G. broke into laughter. "It's how young people greet these days. Get with the times Cozart."

I shook my head silently, when Cozart peered at me for confirmation. Cozart was...a proper gentleman. It didn't seem right for him to be corrupted by G.. "Well, it seems like a conversation is long overdue, so I'll just - "

G.'s eyes lit up, as I left the bottles of vodka behind. "The more the merrier!" He held me back and offered a bottle to Cozart. "You've been locked up for way too long, live a little!"

"But you're all dead." They laughed. ...Are they...not dead?

"A drink, for old times sake?" Primo egged on, giving a wink that probably made the ladies swoon.

"Oh…" Cozart grinned, "alright. Maybe just a little." Sixteenth century peer pressure. Oh well. They're just...wills. They can't get drunk.

- Five minutes later -

Blushing, Cozart (already extremely red faced) put his hands on his cheeks and went 'squee'. "My great great great grandson is so cute Giotto!"

"My great great great grandson isn't so bad himself." Primo gave a proud sniff.

"That Tsunayoshi makes up for his height with that gravity defying hair of yours."

"Are you implying I'm short, Cozart?"

"Bah, neither of them are as sexy – or as tall – as my descendant. The ladies can not get their hands off him~!" G. clapped me on the back and almost made me cough up my heart. "Come on, who would you go out with?"

I managed a dry smile. "They can't hold a candle to you three." Flattered, they dropped the topic and started talking about their endless...misadventures. Hearing centuries old great great many more greats grandfathers discuss their wives, children and descendants was plain awkward, at the very least. Now, imagine them drunk. Spirits could not hold their...spirits.

Cozart pointed north. "My time's almost up. I must check on my guardians."

"We can come too," G. nodded, pointing excitedly at himself and a stray cat. "Come on Primo, let's race him there!" The two ran along in a zig zag.

Rolling up the blueprint, I gathered my things. "Allow me escort you," Cozart piped up, holding out a hand as if he were offering dance.

"But - " Before I could inform them I'd beat them all by walking, Cozart took hold of my hand.

Now, how does it feel to be crushed into the size of an atom and then decompressed? Wickedly awesome, that's what. The rush of crippling fear, absolute zero temperature and disorientation unfortunately wasn't Cozart's cup of tea at the moment, and he barfed up rainbows.

Devoid of any sense of direction or gravity, I didn't move and let physics take course. It was the wrong move. I crumpled down a flight of stairs. I don't know how long I was there, but eventually G. blundered into view.

"You're a show off, Cozart. Oi, Giotto, get over here already!"

Primo was standing in the street, looking like one of the those people kindergarten teachers preached never to take candy from. "Cozart, I think you should hold off your reunion."

They had to peel Cozart off the stairs before starting their super serious conversation at the Shimon family's front door. "Giotto, please. For the sake of our family and Cozart's – we must intervene. Daemon is our problem, not theirs." Ah I see, they sensed his presence. Hear hear G.! T'is logical to fix your own mess. Even 10 generations late is fine.

"We made a pact not to intervene. These challenges must be overcome by the tenth generation. It is no longer our battle," Cozart reminded. "Despite the atrocities he has done, is doing and will do to my kin."

Primo nodded darkly in agreement. "It's as you said, Cozart. We must simply have unbreakable faith in our successors." Doing a secret handshake, the two of them bid their farewells as the sun peeked over the horizon, returning to their rings. With a wave, G. followed suit.

Six days till the Inheritance Ceremony. What could possibly go wrong at this point? Drunk or not, the universe caught me out on my cockiness.

There was a soft click! behind me, and I swivelled around in horror to see Julie Katou standing in the doorway…or rather, Daemon Spade. "Perfect timing. I was just about to go kill you."

Congratulations for making it to the end of the chapter. If it was murder to your eyes or if you enjoyed it (and everything inbetween), shoot me a review/PM and I'll try to improve my terrible writing. I honestly can't stress how thankful I am for the support over the years.

There were a lot of plot holes or just unspoken facts that the KHR manga just didn't cover...which I used to base most of this chapter. So there's a lot of speculation and bs that you'd probably be like 'whaaaa the faq'. I could write an essay on plot holes but who'd want to read that XD

Happy new year, have a nice day, ciao~! :3