Sunset Hue (KHR Fanfiction)

House of Memories

"Hello Master Reborn," greeted the last person the hitman expected in his room after a full day of keeping Nana distracted.

A fox was sitting comfortably in his armchair, drinking his coffee made by his coffee maker. No one touched his coffee. Faster than a cobra, the cup in the fox's hand shattered to pieces, leaving him with nothing but the handle. Reborn tilted his fedora up with his gun, his black eyes glinting viciously.

"What are you doing here?" Reborn asked.

The fox laid the remnant of the cup back on the table. "Please don't shoot the messenger."

"Mia isn't here."

"I know," the fox replied and stood up. His clothes were dirtied and there was a bruise on his arm. His movements were stiff and Reborn noted he favored his right leg. Despite being hurt and weary of the hitman, he maintained a dignified stance. Reborn had to give it to the Order, they chose their agents well.

"Make it quick, I've got work to do," Reborn said briskly.

"The girl was given her first task."

The hitman resisted chasing him out the room. "You people have shit timing."

The brat smiled wryly. "On the contrary, we're right on time. Heard that the Vongola has been having a hard time dealing with a few small Famiglias lately."

As one of the oldest Famiglias in the world, the Vongola's reputation and might was renowned far and wide. To have it challenged by measly small families and not get caught was the worst of insults and this brat had the balls to call on that. Reborn's silence was crushing. The question, 'who else knows?' hanging in the air.

"Don't worry, the Vongola manages a good appearance," the fox said, appeasing his thirst for blood. "When I went to deliver the girl's first order, they ran into a bit of trouble with a hit group. I had orders to assist her with hers so I went to do some digging and ran into a few things you might be interested in. Might I have a few more minutes of your time?"

Reborn never got along well with his kind. Men who stuck to the shadows, living in plain sight that whispered of poison coated heavily with honey. You never know when they'll stab you behind the back. Still, there was some use to working with them and with the way they were right now, CEDEF was running around in circles. Reborn's own network was silent.

"Ten minutes," Reborn granted but didn't lower his gun. "So, what have you got for me? Regardless of who you people are, Mia is still my student. If you sent her out on some ridiculous errand without my approval and she gets hurt, I'll send you back in a shoe box."

The fox's expression crumbled a bit and Reborn was satisfied to see fear through the cracks.

Reborn thought having the Order nearby would be useful. He had originally spared the fox based on that belief. The brat standing before him was able to scout the Varia in less than two hours, their exact numbers, their positions and was able to save Mia too when they kidnapped her from right under their noses. They had ways or collecting intel unbeknownst to them. Since they were interested in Mia, if she could have that same access - her place in the Mafia would be irrefutable. Tsuna would have a network available to him if his other connections failed. Reborn wasn't an idiot, strength was good but knowledge was power.

However Reborn wasn't willing to have his student pay the price with her life for that. He may not be as fast as them in gathering information, but he never failed in a hunt before.

The fox pulled a little leather notebook out from his pocket. "Right so I have an initial list of families. There's six of them. There might be more but as you know, a hit was put out in the black market months ago for the head of Vongola Decimo. Record keeping-wise, there's nothing on the books of who made the request and where the money came from."