22. Household

"And then, Lambo-san got blown away again..." Lambo sniffed, on the verge of crying, his eyes teary and his nose all stuffed.

I chuckled. Lambo was in my arms, like a doll, and he was whining about his failures again. He's been complaining since I accidentally saw him in the infirmary, and I've skipped the rest of class.

I took out a tissue and had him blow his nose.

"Well, Lambo-kun," I hug him tighter, "I'm sure you'll get stronger! And one day, you'll finally beat Reborn-kun. I know you will!" I assure him.

(Though, Lambo may probably never get stronger than Reborn.)

"Of course! Lambo-san will definitely defeat Reborn!" the cow child cheered up quickly, making a declaration.

Suddenly, he was kicked in the face.

"Who are you gonna defeat, stupid cow?" Reborn intervened, jumping to my head after landing the kick.

"Reborn, you bastard!" Lambo yelled, "I'll-" he picked out a grenade, pulling out the pin and- found out the grenade was stuck on his hand with some sort of glue. It exploded at his face, luckily not hitting mine, and the cow child was left baffled.

And so, Lambo began crying again.

I sighed. It took me so long to make him stop crying!

-----

"Only members of the Sawada Residence may enter from this point on."

Getting stopped from entering my friend's house in such a threatened way was a first. I'm not sure which was more surprising- the fact that I wasn't allowed passage; I wasn't informed of this horde of men in black; or the fact that all of them were glaring at me now.

Ah- I remember now. If there's so many people, this must be Dino.

"Rei, who are they?" Lambo asked, in my arms. He was just being oblivious as usual, and I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped out and started declaring war.

I hugged Lambo tighter. "Uh," I spoke up, "I'm Tsuna-kun's friend..." I tried. Would they let me in with that? If they didn't, would they kick me out?

"Are you a part of the Famiglia?" they questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"I was invited, I guess..." I mumbled.

"Lambo-san sees Reborn!" Lambo pointed at Tsuna's window, jumped out of my arms, and ran past the men in black and into the household.

"Stop!" the men yelled, "Stop that child!"

Weapons were drawn and- I dashed forward, my hand grabbing the wrist of the man nearest to Lambo before his gun was completely drawn.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" I raised my voice, "I'm sorry but-" Guns were instantly raised and pointed at me, but I tried not to waver as I heard the guns clocking. I gulped. "That kid lives there." I said as quickly as I could, unintentionally swallowing my words, "He lives here."

Uninterested at the situation, Lambo ran into the house.

I held my breath. The mafioso eyed me warily for a long moment before they all withdrew their guns, putting the safety back on and tucking them back into their suits.

I breathed out a sigh in relief. "My apologies," I say, "I should've said that first."

They apologized as well, bowing in sincerity at the 'rudeness' towards an 'honored guest'. They seemed nervous now, trying their best to show their apologies.

I assured them it was alright.

"Wait, guys. Something's-" someone suddenly spoke up, "look up!" was an alarmed reaction that made other heads turn, including mine, towards the window of Tsuna's room.

"What is that?"

Two pink, grenade-looking objects were falling, having been thrown out from the window. The strange colour made the objects look like toys, so the mafioso were confused.

But I knew those weren't toys.

"Those are-!" I said in a loud voice, "Lambo's bombs!"

Just then, someone leaped out from the window. A blonde, older figure, in a green parka- the one and only Dino Cavallone.

"Get down, guys!" he ordered, producing his whip into his hands. With skilled, trained precision, his whip grabbed hold of the two grenades, and he flung them into the sky and away from any objects-

Then, they exploded. He landed on the ground almost gracefully, unharmed and looking cool while he did so. He even gave his men a smile, and apologized lightly for it with a laugh. His men laughed it off as well, complimenting their boss' cool actions and daily surprises.

And I- I was starstruck. That scene had always been cool. Dino, coupled with his subordinates. It was a simple action- but it was very, very important in showing just how much Dino cared for his Family. How far Dino would go to protect his men. How Dino was a Boss worth following.

"Dino, why don't you stay over today?" Reborn's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Hm? Sure, but what about these guys?" Dino shrugged at his subordinates.

"You can just have them go back." Reborn suggested.

"Well, if it's Reborn-san, it'd be fine." one of his men chuckled. "It's a load off our shoulders!" another joked.

At that, Dino blushed. "Man, you guys." he said. "All right, then. I'll stay and give the Vongola Tenth a piece of advice or two."

That was settled quickly.

"Rei, why don't you stay over too?" Reborn's voice intruded into my thoughts again. "Since you're already here, anyways."

I quickly turned up, "Eh?" I said, "I can?" it sounded cool. A sleepover at Tsuna's house. I've never been close enough with anyone except Takeshi to hang out like this.

(But I've been trying to avoid getting too associated with the plot. Should I not? Dino's here after all. I know what mayhem is gonna occur.)

"Of course. Maman has really been wanting to invite you over." Reborn said, smirking.

Oh, Maman. I'd almost forgotten about that woman's unending kindness.

"Then, it's decided that you're staying over tonight."

-----

Staring contests are impossibly boring. It didn't take rocket science to know that. But here I am, indulging myself in an intense staring match with none other than Bianchi.

Everyone except us and Nana were up in Tsuna's room talking about one thing or another, so as Nana was cooking we were left alone in the living room to ourselves.

Deciding five whole minutes was long enough, I brought a smile to my face. "I'm Ninomiya Rei." I introduced myself. "It's nice to meet you."

Still skeptic, but the woman played along. A hand at her hip, she produced a slight smile as well. "I'm Bianchi." she said, "same to you."

Now to one thing I'm still wondering about-

"This may be a random question," I spoke up, in a slightly sing-song tone.

Instantly, my eyes narrowed, going serious. "Why were you aiming for my sisters' lives?" I asked. I wasn't as much angry as curious now. Why? She was, ultimately, a hitwoman. She didn't aim for people discriminately. She needed a motive.

Bianchi's smile fell too. "How do you know of the Mafia?" her response surprised me. "Are you perhaps in league with-- that man?" her eyes were narrowed as well. It was sly of her to answer my question with a question, but she was being entirely serious about the situation.

I glared. That man? How abstract. Playing the pronoun game, are we? Who is she referring to?

She sighed and loosened her shoulders. "That was a tip I got from an outside source," she explained, seemingly deciding I deserved an explanation. "There are rumors that your family has ties to a certain irritating man." she explained, "Perhaps, it is due to your last name, but that man is a dangerous enough presence for me to have taken hasty actions."

My last name. I'm sure 'Ninomiya' isn't exactly the most common name out there, but I'm sure we're not the only Ninomiyas in the entirety of the world. This was a ridiculous theory. She's hiding more, but she isn't even telling me who she is referring to. Omerta, perhaps?

I breathed out. "That does not justify your actions." I say, "What exactly," I emphasized my words, "is this man you speak of?"

She sighed again. "Since you know of the Mafia, for some reason, you should know of the Omerta we have to follow." she said. "And in this world there is one man that is constantly breaking the Omerta-- namely, an information broker."

I froze. This isn't part of the storyline. This wasn't mentioned at all, in the actual canon storyline. An anomaly. Abnormal. --This does not belong. An information broker. That's-- Reborn mentions this at some point. The ones that break the Omerta are captured by the Vindice-- so why isn't this man captured?

"What does this have to do with us?" I spoke, sounding calmer than I felt.

"This information broker is double-edged sword. No one wants him around, and no one should get on his bad side. He's also a master of disguise, and thus far the only thing we've known of him is a name. Ninomiya." she said. "We're not even sure if that's his name, we just know the name links to him."

"And so, you decided to give my sisters poisoned juice because they have the name?" I growled, unintentionally sounding angry. I was angry. Are you kidding me? She's never been reasonable but- are you telling me she's trying to kill us because of some goddamn rumour?

"I must apologize," she suddenly said, surprising me. She bowed lightly, "I gave you information, so could we make peace?" she asked, raising her hands in a mock surrender. "I've come to the conclusion that you have probably no ties to that man whatsoever. I promise I won't touch your sisters again." she said.

Her voice was stuck on a monotone the whole way through, as she usually did when she spoke, but she sounded honest. It didn't feel like a trick- not that she ever made any tricks in speech.

But my instincts say she's being honest. And if that's so- I can trust her. She's a canon character after all, she's naturally a good guy. And so, I raised my hands up, imitating her mock surrender.

"And?" I smirked, "In exchange for that information, what do you demand?"

It was a joke, of course, but I just felt that way- like she was going to ask for something in return. It was great thinking that she would trust me enough and feel apologetic enough to apologize right off the bat, even giving valuable information as a price- but that was just unreal.

"How do you know about the Mafia?" she held no hesitation in her voice. "What on earth are you?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing as her gaze turns stern.

I chuckled. As expected.

"I'm a Magician." I say. "And I've been invited by Reborn into the Vongola Famiglia." I explain. "As for how I know this, including your identity-- let's just assume that I'm not much of a civilian as the majority of this household may think." I smile.

I'm not lying.

She looked confused for a moment, and I smiled back. She seemed very, very unsatisfied with my answer. And so, I sat down on the couch and signaled her to sit down beside me. Bianchi, still skeptic, plopped down by my side.

That was a sign of trust. I felt a little happy to see that. I leaned closer so my shoulder touched hers. She eyed me warily, so I giggled, telling her the wall had ears.

"Hey, Bianchi," I spoke, loud enough for her to hear, but soft enough so the sound didn't travel to the kitchen. I let out a soft smile and a light chuckle.

"Do you believe in the afterlife?"

It's because we can't trust each other that we can believe each other.