On the Road to the Catena Inheritance Battle (Chapter 5) -complete-

Title: On the Road to the Catena Inheritance Battle
From: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Timeline: 10 years later

Disclaimer:
> The original characters involved in this story belongs to me and fellow members of the DeVastella members involved in our KHR DVST Private Project 2011. Do not take them as your own character in your stories unless with our permission~ >:|

> This story is of my own originality and is not associated with any other stories. Any similarities are just coincidence (YOU HEARD THAT?? XDXD)

> All the other characters which originally belongs to Katekyo Hitman Reborn! stays as the original characters of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!. I do not own any of them.

> Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano-sensei and not me!!!! XD As much as I want to own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, I just can't.... >.>

Author's foreword: okay, we're moving on to chapter 5!!!! Let's cheer for chapter 5!!!!!! XD

 

*HOLDS UP APPLAUSE SIGN*

 

Told ya I'll continue chapter 5 right after I completed chapter 4. It's been a couple of sleepless nights before I actually got to achieve all the way to chapter 5 in a matter of 3 weeks. I barely slept last night for the sake of completing chapter 4, so please please pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaseeeeeee forgive me for the crappy ending of chapter 4. *bows* maybe I'll edit it later, so look out for the head title of the chapter 4's post to see if I put up the sign "re-edited" which means that I've edited chapter 4, okay?

So, right now, we go on to chapter 5. I think chapter 5 will be pretty long as well (NOTE: EXTREMELY LOOOOOONG), since this chapter is (SPOILERS!!!) about Iratella's flashback on her first encounter with Dino.

Wanna know how it happened?

Check it out then!!!!!!!

[WARNING: LOADS OF CHEESY LINES UP AHEAD!! XD] 

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||CHAPTER 5||

 

-When I Look At You-

 

"Yeah, when my world is falling apart,

And there's no light to break up the dark,

That's when I...

I...I look at you.......

When the waves are flooding the shore,

And I can't find my way home anymore,

That's when I..

I...I look at you...

 

Coz you appear just like a dream to me........."

 

=================================

 

A ray of the morning sunlight peeked through the sheer curtain of the full length window. Its golden ray reflects on the small diamond situated on the tip of the silver platinum ring slipped through the ring finger of the girl asleep soundly on the bed, making it sparkle. Dressed in a simple white-coloured silk nightgown, the girl changed her sleeping position to the other side, slightly shifting her legs a little higher to support the weight of her body. She hung her hand lazily over a bolster and continued her beauty sleep.

She was in deep slumber when suddenly she felt something touching her hand. It felt hard and dry, rubbing gently against her right hand. Feeling a little uncomfortable with that distraction, she opened her eyes a little. A blur view of a moving green thing startled her. After slightly rubbing her eyes, she finally got a clear view of the thing that was touching her. Enzo puts on an excited look on his face to see Iratella had finally wake up. "Buon giorno, Enzo. Thanks for waking me up." Taking a stretch and combing through her hair with her fingers, she let out a yawn and got up from the Cavallone decimo's bed, knowing the two person that had accompanied her for the past two days have gone out for work.

Gently picking Enzo up from the bed and holding him up in front of her face, Iratella let out a slight chuckle. "Looks like it's just you and me today. Dino and Kyouya are out for the day. There are others who are around...but I doubt they're free to hang out with me. But since you're here, so maybe you can keep me accompanied." Iratella let out a kind laugh when she saw Enzo's four little legs wriggling about in excitement. "Okay, okay. I'll go get myself bathed and changed first while you wait for me here, okay? No matter what, DON'T come in the bathroom, or you'll get into trouble. Know what I mean?" Enzo's slight nod with his little head seemed to indicate that he understood her. "Good. Okay, I shall now go ahead first~~" She got out from the bed and headed straight to the bathroom, leaving Enzo to roam around on the bed as she got herself ready.

*******************************************

Hugging the little tortoise in her arms, Iratella, dressed in an orange-coloured tank top, a pair of acid-washed jeans, a white vest and a pair of black ballet flats with her hair undone, walked through one of the hallways of the massive Cavallone manor, slightly bigger than the Catena manor considering that the amount of Cavallone people is quite big. Enzo's short little legs swayed with Iratella's walking rhythm. "It's been quite a while since I've journeyed around this place...the last time I went around this place with him was 4 years ago. After that, both of us got pretty busy and the places in this manor that I visit frequently are the ballroom, meeting room, dining room, and of course...his room...besides those, I rarely ventured into the other rooms..." she talked to Enzo as her eyes scanned through all the things that were in the hallway. Portraits after portraits passed by her as she walked in her own pace. She observed the furnishings and the little but grand decorations of the place. "You know, to be honest, I don't think Dino did any changes to be place...maybe a few, but I don't think it was that much....everything seems to be the same to me....these portraits of the past Cavallone bosses...it does...kinda used to creep me out a little at times before this, but now...after so many years walking through these halls...I got used to it...and everything is in order and clean like always..." doors after doors passed by her as she walked past them. As she came to a T-junction, she stopped and stood there for a while, looking left, right and left again, trying to decide which road to take. "Which path do you think I should take...? Left or right...?" Enzo didn't give a particular response to her question. He just let out a loud groan, which, to Iratella, must've mean that it's up to her to decide. "Well, then...I shall take this path...where do you think this path will lead me to? Ah, I don't think I have to worry about anything. Dino's men are everywhere. I just have to find for any of them to guide us back to where we started, right? So, let's go~" at her steady pace, she walked down the left path.

The colour of the wallpaper of the hallway she's currently at is the same as the previous one, but the current one is slightly more spacious than the previous hallway. "Hey Enzo, is it me, or I feel as if this hallway is kinda...familiar to me..." Enzo gave another weak groan.

She observed the decorations placed along the hallway, having some memories of the place which she remembers faintly. Not wanting to think too much about it, she just focused on looking for a room to wander into. "I wonder if there's any room that I can wander into..."

Just then, a grand mahogany door with freshly polished bronze knobs caught her eyes. "I think I'll go take a look in here~ ah wait, isn't this..." something crossed her mind as she placed her hand on the knob. Tilting her head upwards a little, she read the sign hanging above her that read 'Biblioteca'. "The library...oh, no wonder this hallway seemed quite familiar in my memory~" slowly turning the knob and swinging the door open, she peeked her head inside a little first before stepping into the library, tightly cuddling little Enzo in her arms.

"Oh my gosh...it's been like forever since I last came in here...I miss this place...do you know that Dino and I would always come in here and sit down chatting and just lazing around for hours? It's not exactly the most romantic place, but it assures very good privacy. Only Dino comes in here more often, bringing me along with him. Romario comes in here only under Dino's order and the cleaning lady just comes in once in a couple of days to do the cleaning. Oh, I miss those times..." she closed the door behind her and walked towards the couch situated in the centre of the library about the size of a basketball court. It isn't so big, but it's packed with loads of rare and precious books and literature collections from 400 years ago until present, arranged in a few rows of grand wooden bookshelves the height of 6ft4inch. Each bookshelves are equipped with a ladder to reach higher shelf levels.

After placing Enzo on a table, she began to walk around the library, recalling the memories of her and Dino together in the library hanging out when they were younger. She let out a weak chuckle as she recalled them. She walked past a few bookshelves, running her fingers over some of the books as she goes.

A smaller bookshelf situated close to the couch caught her full attention. "This is our bookshelf...." She recalls that most of the things placed on this bookshelves are papers, portfolios or books that are considered precious to both of them. She began to look through the shelf, pulling out a few thin books that contained both their handwritings. "Oh, damn, this one is still in here...I thought it went missing or something...oh, he's still keeping this story book too~"

Iratella continued to look through the bookshelf and tried to pull out a pink coloured book. A pile of loosely filed papers fell out together when the pink book was pulled out, making a noisy scruffling sound as they hit the floor. She was startled for a moment there before she took notice of the pile of paper. She placed the pink book on the table beside the bookshelf and bent down to gather up the scattered papers. As she took a closer look of the papers, she realized that the papers aren't just papers; they are music scores and lyrics of songs that she's written over the years and given to him as presents. Slowly, she reached out to gather all the music scores together and lined them up properly. Bringing along the white coloured pocket file that is used to contain the music scores, she sat down on the couch and began looking through all her written music scores. They bring back memories to her one by one. Brief ones, mostly, that just crosses her mind in mere microseconds.

"Look, Enzo, this is the song that I wrote for him for his birthday two years ago. After I gave him this music score, he plays this song back to me occasionally...haha, I miss this song...it's been a while since I last heard him playing this song to me...and this one was ours that we wrote together for my parents' wedding anniversary three years back. Aww, I love this song a lot..." slowly, one by one, she read through the title of the songs and hum a few notes of the song before moving on to the next one. As she proceeded, one of the titles caught her eyes. She paused for a while as she stared at the song title. "Oh my gosh...I never thought I'd actually get to find this again...'When I Look At You'..." as she continued to scan the music score and lyrics of the song up and down, she noticed the little tortoise roaming around closer to her, seemingly interested with what is the story behind the song that she's looking through now. "You know, this is the song that made us fall in love with one another...this song was the beginning of our journey together...at first when we began this song, we'd never thought that we'd actually end up this way in the future...to look at it again, maybe back then....both of us did......" her voice trailed off, recalling the playful smile and charming voice of her fiance, making her blush a little bit when she remembered their first kiss.

Clearing her throat out loud, she snapped back to reality. "Anyhows...you wanna hear the story of how both of us met...? It's going to be quite long though...can you be patient enough for that long?" Enzo nodded his head in delight. "Okay then~ so...I shall start now...10 years ago...."

********************************************

[10 YEARS AGO]

It was a cool, sunny afternoon in the middle of autumn. Iratella was carrying her guitar bag over her right shoulders and her purple coloured sling bag on her left, walking by the river on her way home from the Sasagawa house. The cooling autumn breeze blew past her, making her walk back home much more pleasant. Seeing the beautiful weather, she decided to stop by for a while for a short rest before heading back home.

She chose a comfortable spot on the grass by the river and sat down. It's her usual spot for a rest whenever she's on her way home from anywhere within walking distance. Her light pink spaghetti strap dress and cream-coloured trench coat spreaded out on the grass as she sat. She laid her guitar bag beside her. After unzipping her guitar bag, she took out her light brown acoustic guitar and positioned it on her lap. She adjusted the tightness of the strings and tested the sound by strumming them a few times. After she was sure that all the strings were playing all the right tunes, she began strumming them to a beautiful melody that spreaded across the place. She then began to sing the lyrics of the song that she's written.

Everybody needs inspirations

Everybody needs a soul

A beautiful melody

When the night's so long

Coz there is no guarantee

That this life is easy...

Yeah, when my world is falling apart

And there's no light to break up the dark

That's when I...I...I look at you...

When the waves are flooding the shore

And I can't find my way home anymore

That's when I...I...I look at you...

When I look at you....

As she strummed the last note of her song, she heard people clapping hands. After coming back to her senses, she realized that there are so many people who stopped by to listen to her song. She also hear some people saying saying "Bravo!" As a sign of appreciation, she gave a slight bow with her head to everyone. She looked down to her guitar, blushing with embarressment, heart pounding with excitement, a satisfied feeling in her like she usually does in a number of previous public performances. She didn't know that there was going to be people who would stop by to listen to her yet-to-be-completed song. But considering the number of times she has performed in local festivals, she'd never once doubted that there is no one in Namimori who doesn't know her.

"That's a very sweet song you have there." A voice came from behind her, meant to be said to her.

Iratella was startled by the voice. She looked up to find where did the voice came from. The bunch of people who stopped by just now were leaving from the spot one by one, still amazed by her talent and muttering silently to one another about how good she was, all but one person. A handsome young European with a messy blonde hair, golden eyes, a charming look and a playful smile on his face walked towards her. A guy in his mid-30s with a kind smile and wearing a pair of spectacles following behind the blonde guy.

"Ah...t-thank you..." she gave a smile to him.

"You're welcome. Mind if I join you?"

"Uhh- no...I mean- please do sit down..." shyfully tucking the lock of her brunette fringe behind her hair, the young lad sat beside her.

Iratella got to take a better look at the guy who had just sat down beside her. "Y-you are the guy who came to see Tsunayoshi-san at his house the other day..."

"You saw me before?"

"Uhm- yes...by the time I saw you, you were already leaving and I was about to go to his house to hand over something to him."

"Ah, I see...by the way, about that song....did you write it yourself?"

"Y-yeah...it's still not done yet though..." Iratella took out her music score from her bag to show him.

The young man took it from her hand and scanned through the notes and lyrics. "It's pretty nice so far. No title for it?"

"Uhm...not yet...I...can't seem to think of a name for the song yet no matter how I think of it..." she let out a very frustrated sigh.

"Oh, speaking of name, I haven't introduced myself to you." he turned to face her and held out his right hand to her. "Nice to meet you, I'm Dino."

"Yukino Hayasaka." she took hold of his right hand with her right hand and shook it. Both of them smiled to one another. "You're from...Italy...right?" she asked timidly, afraid that her guess would be wrong.

"Indeed I am. Wow, how did you know?" Dino was surprised that she knew his origins without having to use any efforts.

"it was just a guess...maybe it was because...you have a little bit of Italian accent in your Japanese...but surprisingly, you speak really good Japanese. Have you been learning it often?"

"Yes. It has been about...3 years or so, I think..." he estimated.

"Wow, considering the period of time you spent to learn Japanese, you speak it really good." she complemented and gave a pat on his shoulder.

"Thanks. It's nothing big, I guess~" Dino laughed kindly, placing one hand behind his head.

"How long have you been around here?"

"Just a couple of days ago. To be exact, I've been around since the day before I went to meet Tsuna. I'll be sticking around for a couple more days to check on Tsuna."

"Seems like both of you are into a project or something."

"Something like that~ oh, here you go." he handed the music score back to Iratella.

"Thanks." she took it back from him and kept it into her bag. She then kept her guitar back into the bag. "Uhm....I guess I should be heading back now. My parents are expecting me to be back home soon." she got onto her feet. "Thank you for accompanying me for this short while. It has been nice meeting you." bowing down to him, she gave him one last wave and headed off to the direction of her house.

"Don't worry, this won't be our last encounter." Dino said, waving back at her. She heard his words and waved back to him again, before disappearing from his sight. After he was sure that she isn't in his sight anymore, he walked back to his car and leaned against it, admiring the beautiful and calming scenery for one last time.

Romario, who had been sitting beside the car since just now, was puzzled by the girl whom his boss was talking to. "Boss...don't you think that girl seems familiar to you? I've seen that face somewhere sometime before."

"Really? I don't really know...did I see her before? But...now that you've mentioned it, she does look familiar...who does she look like to you?"

"Well...she looks like one of the mafia girls...but...not just any one of them...she's like...from one of the big families..." the puzzled Romario tried to think of a couple of possibilities. "Maybe the Catena...?"

"Hmm....true....they did mention something about the Catena Nono bringing his family to Japan to hide away from an enemy a couple of years back, but to me, she doesn't seem like a Catena. If you look closely, she doesn't have that silverish-grey eyes like all Catena does, although that face could have be seen in Italy before."

"You'll never know. She does resemble the Catena Nono, don't you think?"

"Romario...let's not try to make ourselves even more tired and confused. Come on, let's go back to the hotel now." Dino opened the door and entered his red Ferrari Enzo. Romario seconded his motion and entered the car as well. "But if that's what you think about the girl just now, then I'll try to find out more about her. She seems like a very interesting girl..." with the rumbling sound of the engine of his car, he zoomed off.

*****************************************

Iratella sat her desk, resting her head on her hands as she tried to think of how to continue her unfinished song. She had been staring at the music score and lyrics for the past two hours with no inspirations flowing into her head. Giving a loud sigh, she scruffled her hair and slammed the desk lightly. Pouting, she continued to stare at the music score with a blank head and zero inspiration. "Damn...I thought I could finish this fast...but I don't think it's going to happen..." she rolled in her wheely chair once and came back to the same position. She placed her head back on her palms and sighed out loud again.

A knock on her room door accompanied with the creaking sound of the door swinging open brought her back to the real world. "A penny for your thoughts." Iratellio walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the bed and lay flat on the bed.

"Nothing much..." she turned to her brother and gave out another sigh. "I don't have any inspirations for this song that I'm working on now."

"So that's the cause of all the sighing I've been hearing from you since just now...don't worry, I know you will somehow get back that inspiration of yours. One way or another, you always do."

"Thanks, brother..." she stood up from her chair and laid on her bed beside Iratellio, flat on her tummy. "I know I've been through this situation before, but I really wanna finish this up fast."

"Why would you want to rush to finish it? It's the holidays for the Namimori festival anyway. One week, girl. One week."

"I know...I just...want to..."

"Workaholic much lately? Even during holidays?"

"Don't say that...I'm not a workaholic."

"For someone who takes MY paperwork from Italy and doing it by your own and giving the excuse that you don't want me to be burdened since my high school entrance exam is around the corner, should really see things from my point of view about you."

"That was the truth, duh~ you were completely stressed out while I was pretty free without any school work or assignments lately, so I might as well keep myself busy rather than just laze around like an idiot."

"All your friends are doing the same, right?"

"Maybe...but- the point is, I just feel that I need to finish up this song faster coz...well, I want to."

"Wish granted. But make sure you don't work yourself out, okay? For now, since all of us are on a holiday, you deal with YOUR paperwork while I deal with MINE. Deal?" Iratellio took hold of her nose and pinched it lightly.

"Hey~ ouch~~~ stop it~~" she pushed his hand away from her and messed his hair up. "Now, we're even~" she laughed as she rolled back and forth on her bed.

"Fair enough~" he laughed along with her. He placed his hand behind her head, gently pulling her forehead closer to him and gave a gentle kiss on it. He stood up from her bed and dusted invisible dust away from his shorts. "I'll leave you alone for tonight. Buonanotte~" he walked out of the room and closed the room door behind him.

"Buonanotte~" she sent a flying kiss to her brother as he walked out of the door. She sat back up on her bed for a while. As soon as she did, suddenly the image of the blonde guy popped up in her head. She stayed frozen for a while before laying back down on her bed. Images of his playful smile and his voice made her heart raced. She was sure that red hot blush was creeping up her face at that time. "Dino..."

********************************************

It was almost like a routine for her to visit all her friends' house during the holidays and spend time with them for the day. It isn't because she was lazy to stick around at home all day, but she likes to do it, and her parents allow her to do so as long as she spend time with them as well.

Iratella walked down the same path again, this time from Shino's house. She admired the beauty and the fresh air of the season, spreading her arms out a little to let the wind take away her stress and worries. Along the way, she greeted some of her schoolmates and people she knows, feeling happy to get to see them. There was a lot of people who are involved in the preparation of the Namimori festival, and she was glad she didn't had to kill her brain for it like the previous years.

Upon reaching her usual spot by the river, she noticed something that catches her eyes - a bright red Ferrari Enzo F470 parked nearby her spot, the same guy with spectacles standing beside the car. "That guy..." she quickened her pace to get to the spot faster, having a hunch in her heart that the same blonde Italian is there, probably just lazing around there or maybe...waiting for her. Her guess was right. He is there, leaning on the grass, taking a nap.

Afraid to startle and wake him up, she walked up to him slowly. When she reached to him, she squatted down beside him and placed her things beside her. Is he asleep...? She thought to herself.

"Looks like I got myself right. You do come here everyday around this hour. Glad that I waited."

His words put a smile on her face. She sat down and rested her slender arms on her legs. "You waited? Well, I'm honoured."

"Of course I did. I wanted to see you again."

Iratella blushed at that very sentence. She never thought that he wanted to see her again, as much as she wanted to see him too. She has been thinking about him for the past two days since they last met. "H-how did you know about my habit of coming here everyday? Except during snowy winters..."

"Oh, I asked one of Tsuna's friend, Takeshi Yamamoto, and he told me about it, saying that you would come straight here everytime after class, from your friends' houses or practically from anywhere."

"Takeshi-kun eh...well, he does know that I'll always be here at this hour, considering he's always having his jog around Namimori at god knows how long..."

"So now that I get to see you..." Dino sat up and looked at her with a smile on his face. It was more of an excited smile rather than just a smile. "I have something that I want to ask you...abo- Yukino...? Why are you looking at me like that...?"

Iratella was looking at him with her eyes squinted a little. Then, without warning, she took his hand and held it in between her two palms. "Oh my...how long have you been waiting for me here...?"

"Uhm...a couple of hours, I think...."

"And you never drank any water since you began waiting?" Iratella quickly pulled out her cellphone to check the time.

"I don't think so..."

"Your voice sounds dry...and your body temperature's raised~ if you keep on going like this, you're going to fall sick! Oh gosh...oh, there's a vending machine nearby here. I'll go get some drinks for you to help cool you down. I can't let you go back to Italy in this condition~"

"Uhm...sure, okay~~ should I g-" before he could continue his words, she left all her things, grabbed her purse and ran towards the vending machine. "Wow...okay..." Dino smiled and leaned back on the grass. "She does remind me of that girl..."

******************************************

Both of them sat on the bench by the river near her spot. She handed him two bottles of green tea and kept one to herself. She twisted the bottle lid open and sipped some tea. She turned to him, observing how he opened one of the bottles and gulping down the tea. It was obvious that he was thirsty. The bottle was already half empty in a matter of seconds. He gave a relieved sigh and leaned back with ease against the bench. "Boy, that was satisfying...green tea is definitely the best way to quench one's thirst. Thank you."

"It's no big deal. It's the least I can do for the person who has been waiting for me for hours." she took another sip of the tea from the bottle. "Besides, I don't want you to bring illness back to Italy and suddenly raise an awareness there that there's an epidemic disease spreading from Japan."

Dino laughed along with the joke. "Yeah...Italians...oh, how much was the tea? I'll pay the amount back to you..."

"No, it's okay. Let's just count this as my treat to you. A treat from me to the visitor from Italy. You're welcome."

"Well...uhm....thank you..." he smiled again and drank the first bottle of tea finish. He placed the empty bottle beside him and proceeded to the second bottle. "I'm so sorry, it's just that I'm so-"

"No, it's okay. It happened to me once too. My brother was the one who saved me back then. I was studying too intensely last year for the final exam until I neglected my health. I had a mild dehydration one day while I was studying in the library. It was by luck that he passed by the library and saw me in torture back then, or else I would've fainted right there and then. His reaction was the same like mine too just now. He quickly ran off to the cafeteria and bought me, well, two bottles of green tea too. He stayed with me until I recovered that day. After that incident, I became really aware of my health and made sure that those around me and myself won't get dehydrated. It's very torturing."

"Well, I get it. That's how I felt back then before you came. But...I was stubborn enough not to go get a drink for myself while waiting for you."

"It's okay. No one's to be blamed for this situation."

"Really? Because I think if there's anyone who is stupid enough to make himself get a heat stroke, it's gotta be me."

"Maybe~ but seriously, it's no biggie."

"Haha, okay~ really, thanks again for the treat on these tea."

"You're welcome. Again." giving him her signature sweet smile, she continued to sip on the tea, crossing her left leg over her right leg.

"So, how's the song coming along? The one that you sang a couple of days back here."

"Well, to be honest, what you've heard so far back at that time, that's how much I've done so far...I don't know, but...I don't feel any inspiration coming to me at all...I don't have any ideas on how to continue the song...no matter how hard I try to think or try to modify some lyrics of other songs and fit them into the song to go along with the current tune, I still can't continue from more than what I've written so far..." she stared into the horizons as she thought of the song, still not getting any feel that could help her on continuing the song.

"Yukino." someone called out to her name, making her turning her head to left and right to find the person who was calling for her. Then, at the right back side, she saw the black-haired guy from her school that everyone fears. Hibari walked closer to her and took out his tonfas all of a sudden, aiming it at Dino in case the blondie tried to fend him off or anything.

"K-Kyouya!!! What are yo- wait, first, put your tonfas away. He's a friend of mine. And a comrade of Tsuna. So, please don't hurt him..."

Hibari, under Iratella's order, kept his tonfas away reluctantly. He smirked and gave a cold stare at Dino, making a drop of cold sweat run down at the back of Dino's head. "The principal has called you to see him. He's waiting at the school for you. You need to go there now. He says it's a matter of emergency, about the Namimori festival." the little yellow bird sitting on Hibari's shoulders fluttered its wings, making one of its feather to drop off and floated gracefully until it touched the ground.

"The...Namimori fes...festival...?"

"Precisely."

"Uhm...can I bring him-" she pointed at Dino. "-along with me...? He's not going to bite..."

Hibari gave a good look at Dino before walking away from her, smirking out loud on purpose. "As long as he doesn't try to hurt you or me...or try to create chaos in the school grounds."

"I'm thinking that he's not the type of person who likes to create chaos like how Hayato does...come, let's go. I'm having a feeling that I'll have to be a volunteer during the Namimori festival..."

"Namimori festival? When is it going to be?"

"This Friday. Ugh...sometimes I wonder why do we even have to celebrate it for, somehow, no good reason..."

*****************************************

In the principal's office in Namimori Chuu, Iratella was given a surprise of her lifetime with the news that the principal had broken to her, recieving it with jaws so wide open it feels as if it's could reach all the way to the ground.

"What?? What...? Wha- oh my gosh...oh my...oh my gosh.....but...I thought you said you'll lay off of me from the festival this time~"

"No matter what, the whole town is going to celebrate it, and you have been the highlight of the festival every year which makes you a must have performance each year for the festival. Although we did decided to lay off of you this year and pick someone else, but we recieved this news just yesterday and we HAVE to tell it to you right away so that you can get yourself ready."

"Why is it again that you need me to perform in the festival?"

"The director of the Sony BMG came to take note of your singing talent from a video of your performance from last year's festival recorded by the school staff that was uploaded on YouTube. Upon watching the video, they made a call to me and asked me if you could perform for them in this year's festival. They want to see your talent performed live in front of them and also offer you a contract deal with them."

"Curse the day YouTube was invented...w-w-wait...Sony...?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you tell them that you were supposed to lay off of me for this year only? So that I can for once enjoy a peaceful Namimori festival holiday and be like all the other residents who only have to think about enjoying the festival and not just thinking about whether or not I will screw up my performance."

"I did tell them, but they wouldn't accept the reason, saying that I'm trying to keep you from being their property."

"I AM avoiding from becoming their property. I don't want to be part of the massive music industry. I have other life purposes than just to make fans scream with my songs. Ugh...why are these people so persuasive??"

"God knows...it's not that I wanted to keep you away from them, but since you've told me that I should lay off of you for this year only, I respected your decision and tried to discuss with them about it, but all I hear from them is 'make her perform because we asked to.' Trust me, I never said anything to them that had made them want to come to see your performance."

"Does my parents know about this...?"

"I told them about your involvement in the performance...but I haven't told them about you having to perform in front of the director of the Sony BMG..."

"I cannot let them know, or else they'll flip..."

"I'm so sorry, Hayasaka. I tried to reason with them but they persuaded me to ask you to perform under any circumstances."

"Can you call them back and tell them that I called them as 'useless assholes'? Or maybe 'brainless dicks'?"

"No need for harsh words now, Hayasaka. What's most important now is that...you are already in the list of performers for the festival and that you have to work on a new song to be performed during the festival."

"A new song...? What...? Why are they so damn pushy??"

"It's easy for them to say so since they are...from a big company like Sony..." Dino tried to calm Iratella down.

Iratella stayed quiet for a while, making a consideration about whether or not she should do it. But she knows, one way or another, she HAS to perform in the festival. "Looks like I have a date with the devil."

"So that means you will perform? And that I don't have to try to reason with them anymore?"

"No need to go through those trouble anymore. I will be the one to deal with them... besides, even if I try to say no, I still have to perform, right?"

Hibari, leaning against the door post of the principal's office, smirked at the sight of Iratella's answer.

*******************************************

"I apologize for all the trouble that you have to go through to find for me." Iratella bowed to Hibari before she walked out of the school. Dino did the same thing to Hibari.

"Don't push it. It is my duty to know your whereabouts and your safety anyway. Don't run into any troubles while you are out of my sight."

"Don't worry, I won't. See you tomorrow." She gave another polite bow to him before walking out of the school gates with Dino. "Who is Hibari to you anyway? Why is he...unsually calm and...kind of...loyal to you...? Like he's your personal bodyguard or something..."

"Let's just say that...an unexpected event that happened between the both of us over one year ago made us unusually close to one another..."

Carrying along her guitar bag on her back and her shoulder bag over her right shoulders, she walked out and headed to the direction of her house, feeling a little depressed with what had just happened.

"What's wrong? You don't seem happy about your decision. Is it because of the fact that you weren't supposed to be performing this year?"

"It's not that...it's just...I have more to life than just becoming only a singer. I have another life responsibility that I'm eternally tied to that I have to carry out no matter what. It's a reality that is flowing through my veins and something that I cannot avoid no matter what..."

Dino took in her words well, knowing the fact that he too, had thought of the same thing back when he was younger. "I know how it feels to know that you have such responsibility...or rather more accurate, a burden that you have to carry for life..."

Tha air around them became a little awkward all of a sudden. The both of them stayed silent for a moment, each thinking about that particular responsibily that they were supposed to carry out, not knowing that the both of them are involved in the same world.

The frustrated brunette pushed those thought aside and focused on what's important at that time. "I'll have to write a new song for the festival too...to sum it all up, I have loads of things to consider now..."

"New song eh...hey, wait...why don't you use the song that you're working on right now as the new song to be performed in the festival? Besides, no one had heard the full song before, so it could be counted as a new song."

"What? Oh, no...I don't think so...I don't have anything coming to me to help me complete the song...I don't know how to continue it..."

"Unless someone chips in an effort with you. Wouldn't it be easier if there was two brains working it out instead of just one? That way, you can avoid from killing your brain at a very young age." he joked, slipping his hands into the pocket of his jacket.

She thought deep and hard, thinking of what her brother had told her two nights before. Both of them were right. She has been working her brain to death lately, even though it was just a song. It is definitely time for her to take some pressure off her shoulders and share it with someone. "So...you're offering your brain to help me continue the song with me...?"

"I still have time left before I'm leaving back to Italy, so why not? I think it'll be so much easier for you."

Iratella smiled with relief to think that she no longer have to bear the weight of the pressure all by her own anymore. "Thank you for offering me your help...it's very much a delight to me..."

"You're welcome. It's good to help those who have helped me." Dino said with his playful smile, sending Iratella's heart to a racing pace again. She avoided from looking into his eyes, trying to hide away her blushing face from his view. Why the hell am I feeling all awkward right now??? She complained to herself, lightly slapping her face. "My brother said the same thing to me yesterday...the one about killing m-my brain..."

"Well, looks like your brother and I are thinking of the same thing then. You really shouldn't try to kill it. It's not very good for you, especially that you are still young."

"True...I still have a long life ahead of me..."

"Good that you realize that. So, start tomorrow then?"

"Of course. If we start it sooner, we can finish it faster. Then rehearsals for the song should be carried out for a few times before the performance to check if there's anything that we should check and repair, the-"

"Wow wow wow, hold your horses, girl. One thing at a time. Although it is good for you to do early plannings, which for this case is pretty late, but doing a lot of stressful thinking at early stage is just going to make you break halfway." his words pierced right through her heart. Once again, his words are true. She always overworks herself when it comes to this type of things, big projects or important performances. Everyone notices so. No wonder everyone always like to take some of my given responsibility and make them of their own...she thought to herself.

The both of them kept on walking and walking without even realizing that her house was just at the next corner. "Ah, I'm already close to home...?"

"So, your house is just around here, eh? I always drive through this area during my evening drive."

"I see...oh, damn!! I forgot...how are you supposed to go back...? Should I send you back to the hotel? And ask your...right hand man...to go back there to-"

"No worries about me. I'm pretty sure he knows where I am."

"A-Are you sure...? Or is that just a phrase to make me less worried?"

"Uhm....both actually...the point is, you don't have to worry about me. Right now, the thing that you need to be worried about is your song and your big performance. Think about it, if you impress the director of the Sony Company, imagine what are the chances for you in the future. You're grabbing a future which no one gets just like that. If you co- ah-" he stopped his words all of a sudden, one foot tripping over the other, sending him to fall flat on his face.

"Oh my god, are you alright??" Iratella quickly squatted down, a little surprised, to help get him on his feet. "You fell down pretty hard~"

"Oh- I'm okay, no worries~ happens all the time~" he pushed himself up to get on his feet, dusting away some little pebbles stuck onto his clothes.

"All the...time...?"

"Well, you see...I'm kind of a...careless person...without...my henchmen around me..."

"Ah, I see..."

"Boss! Are you okay? You seemed to have fel-" faithful Romario popped out of nowhere beside the two with the Ferrari car parked at a corner to aid his boss.

"Don't...remind me of it. I'm fine, Romario, don't...worry...just...wait for me at the car..."

"Oh...okay, boss..." Romario took his position back at the car to wait for Dino.

"When you say that your right hand man will always know your whereabouts, I thought you were joking for a moment there, now, I probably have seen everything..."

"Haha, it's nothing. He's always keeping an eye on me, making sure that I'm always safe from harm. So, tomorrow then?"

"Sure. Where should I meet you?"

"Vellissace Hotel."

"Ohh...okay...is 10am okay for you?"

"It's just fine for me. You just have to wait for me at the lobby. I'll be down by 10am. I shall see you then."

"Okay...nice meeting you today~"

"Same here. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow too~" Iratella gently waved back at him before she closed her house gate behind her, happily trotting into the house.

Meanwhile, the young blonde walked back slumberly towards Romario and leaned against his car. "She is certainly a very very very interesting girl...she's all happy-go-lucky...but at times, I see that...as if she has something heavy that she's carrying on her shoulders...and she doesn't want me to know about it..."

"A responsibility?"

"A lifetime responsibilty, a responsibility which she must carry out no matter what. That's what she said."

"Are you for real...? That sounds almost like she's a-"

"-mafia. I know, right? All teenage mafia heirs have that type of thoughts when they are younger. But when they grow up, they learn to love it and live with it."

"Like you did. Come on, we should head back now. You have a video conference meeting with the Vongola Nono and CEDEF in an hour."

"Okay, okay, coming~ but, I'll drive back. You're too careful when you drive, Romario."

"Because this isn't like Italy where we are given permission from the government to drive on the road like it's ours. Here, we don't get that type of privilege." Romario fussed to him.

"Okay, I get it. So, let's just go."

"Roger."

*****************************************

Iratella lit three tea candle and placed them into a tea candle holder which she made herself. Lightly trotting towards the switches, she switched the light off and trotted back to her bed. She flopped herself lazily on her bed and took in a deep breath. The soft orange glow given out by the tea candles reflected on the white coloured wall, creating a calming and romantic mood. Burying herself in her pillow and within the thick comforter, she cuddled up with herself and laid her hands beside her. Her sight was interlocked with her beautiful acoustic guitar, a 10th birthday present from her father. She had brief flashbacks of the moment she first plucked the strings of her beloved guitar. Such beautiful melody they make. The only instrument in the world that could make her feel as if the world has no hatred, no jealousy, no anger, no war. Only peace and happiness.

Reality is cruel enough to tell her that no such thing exists. In every nook and cranny on Earth, only such situations exists. Only a small percentage of the earth is consisted of a place made of peace.

She rolled on to her back, staring straight up to the celing above her, staring at it as if her gaze could penetrate through the ceiling and the roof tiles and straight out into the skies with no boundaries. She had been telling this to herself at all times, that these type of worries is normal for all teenage mafia heirs. Ones who have been carrying a hope in their heart that a world made of peace and that problems could be sorted out without the need of war are reluctant to accept the reality that their blood have been stained with the fact that they are born as heirs to great mafia families. Ones who willing to accept it sees the world in the other way round.

"Being a daugther...an heir to the Catena family is...a harsh reality...and now...I have the Namimori festival to consider...if they really, really like me and they want to offer me a lifetime contract with them...then...what will be of my responsibility as...the Catena heir...?"

"Penny for your thoughts. I can't fall asleep and I was thinking that you haven't slept yet. Sorry for coming in the room without telling you." the brunette guy walked in and closed the door behind him.

"It's alright...I was just thinking about...the same thing...the song and the...mafia responsibility thing again..."

"You have been thinking a lot lately about lots of things. The song aside, you've been doing a lot of consideration, especially on the responsibility thing. It's years away before the Inheritance Battle. Why are you worried about it? Is there something that you want to tell?" Iratellio sat beside her on her bed and lay down beside her. "You know you always have me to talk about your worries although mom and dad isn't always around. So, what's bothering you?"

Being a spoilt younger sister to Iratellio, she cuddled up to him tight and sighed. "What would you do if there was a big chance that comes to you...the kind of big chance that could change your life...a promising career shining in front of you...what would you do with it...and which one will you choose...? That life-changing career...? Or continue to stay as the heir of our family...?"

"Wow, what a question...is that the exact problem that you're facing right now...?" Iratellio gently carressed her face and played with a lock of her waist-length brunette hair.

"Uhm- well- yeah...that's exactly what I'm facing now..."

"That's certainly a very big decision that you have to make. So, before I start throwing my advices to you...what is the big and promising career that lies ahead of you in your path?"

"Uhm...you see...th-the...d-director of the...Sony BMG Japan came across the video of my performance from last year's festival...they were impressed w-with my performance...and they wanted to offer me a contract...so...they made a deal with our principle...that...I will perform in the festival this year again...and they will judge if I'm really a Sony Company material...and then offer me a lifetime contract with t-them..."

"Oh my god...are you for real...? The director himself who had requested for you to perform in the festival this Friday...? But I though you've discussed with the committee board of the festival that you are to be laid off of this festival and you don't have to perform this year. Didn't the principal told them that?"

"He did...but...it's the director of a big company...compared to the principal...he has more power...and he apparently gave a huge amout of money to sponsor for our festival...so that the principal will, apparently, agree for me to perform..."

"What the fuck?? That's like bribery!!"

"Those people never play fair when it comes to getting their hands on what they want...so we might as well go with their flow...or else...who knows what will happen..." she placed her arm over her head and let out a very heavy sigh, frustrating over the current issue.

Iratellio scratched his chin, thinking of how to wrap up the situation and give her a conclusion. After a while of silence in the air around them, Iratellio finally finished his consideration. "If I were you, I will do the performance. I will do the performance in front of the director of the Sony Company and impress him. BUT, I will sort things out with him, telling him that I will not accept the contract. I will tell him that all he wanted was for me to perform, and that whether or not I want to accept the contract, it's up to me to decide, because I have more to life than just singing all day."

"So...is that what I have to do...?"

"Hmm...not necessarily...but, you should do the performance in the festival. We are all excited to see you do it. Now that your name is part of the performance list, you can't do anything to change it now especially when everyone already knows that you will be performing. But, you do need to make up your mind on which path you will choose: whether you want to be a singer for life, or to take part and try your best to win in our family's inheritance battle."

Iratella tried to take in his words and made them as part of her current consideration. He is always right. Not excluding this too. He always helped her make the right decision, and for this situation, she really hopes that she'll make the exceptionally right one. "I'll see what I can do...I will make the decision...i will make up my mind on the day before the festival...and I will make sure that I choose the path that will assure my future..."

"That's my sister. Now this is the Iratella Catena that I know~ come here~" Iratellio praised her as he climbed on her, supporting his body weight with his arms and legs. "Now that you have at least some idea on how things will go, you don't have anything else to worry about. You just have to focus on finishing your song and also figure out a way to make sure that your future is assured, okay?"

"Okay, I will." she smiled with her answer, feeling much more relieved now that she had discussed the issue with her brother.

"Good girl~" Iratellio smiled, lowered his head closer to hers and gave a kiss on her forehead. "Can I sleep with you tonight? Since I'm feeling a little sleepless tonight...and mom and dad isn't back yet...maybe until tomorrow..."

"Sure, why not~ I really need someone to accompany me through this miserable night..." she cuddled up tighter to her brother and hung her hand over to his back. In a matter of minutes, both of them floated into dreamland.

********************************************

"Thanks for agreeing to go through the trouble of sending me to the hotel~" the young brunette girl removed her black helmet and combed through her hair with her fingers.

"No biggie~ it's for your own good too~ if I were to let you go there all by yourself just like that, mom and dad is going to assume that I'm an irresponsible idiot~" the girl's brother took the helmet from her hands and hung it on the left handle. "Tell me again why are you here?"

"I'm here to meet my friend who has agreed to help complete the song with me~"

"What was his name again? Dino, is it? Familiar name....did he mention his sir name to you before?"

"Hmm....no....he didn't mentioned it..."

"Oh...ohh kayyy~~ so I'll see you later then~ have fun! And of course good luck in completing your song~" Iratellio put on his jet-black helmet and restarted the engine of his heavy motorbike. The rumbling sound made heads turn, but he was used to the attention. Still, he preferred to travel around with his beloved motorbike compared to his bicycle or his scooter.

"Thanks, and I'll see you too~" she lifted her right hand and waved gently to him, watching him giving her back a brisk wave and disappearing from her sight. She turned her back facing the street and walked into the 5-star rated Vellisace Hotel. Upon entering through the entrance, she stopped for a while, giving a last check on her undone hair, floral dress, liquid black leggings and black wedge heels, pulling the strap of her guitar case closer on her shoulder. Hotel guests walked in and out of the entrance, some carrying a kind and happy smile on their faces and some with an arrogant look on their face. Some young children were running around the lobby happily, playing chase across and around some tables and couches. She turned to look at the reception and counter area. A number of people were lining up, lugging along with them big travelling luggages. "They should be in town here to attend the festival...there must be a lot of people this year, considering the amount of people I see now..."

As she walked further into the lobby, a faint melody being played on a piano caught her attention. Stopping her pace, she turned left and right to find for the source of the sound. A group of people gathering around an area made her gaze lock at that direction. The sound of the piano was coming from the direction of where the people are. Curious to know who is the talented pianist, she grimaced through the lobby and gathered along with all the other people there. Peeking through the blocking heads of the crowd, she caught a glimpse of the pianist playing the song. The fingers of the pianist danced gracefully on the black and white keys of the black grand piano, creating a beautiful melody that becomes the reason that people gather around to watch the male pianist perform. The familiar tune echoed across the lobby, catching even more hotel guests' eyes. "It's 'Claire de Lune'..." she told to herself, finally remembering the name of the song that was playing on the piano. Peeking through the heads from another side, she caught another glimpse of the pianist from a different angle. She caught sight of something yellowish, thinking that it was the shirt, but after taking a clearer look, it was hair. The pianist is blonde...a Caucasian, she thought to herself.

The crowd-stopping performance came to an end when the highly talented pianist pressed the last key. Extremely impressed with his performance, Iratella joined the rest in giving him a big round of applause to praise his talent. The pianist then stood up from the seat and gave a bow to everyone. Finally getting to see the face of the pianist, Iratella was even more impressed, now finally knowing the identity of the pianist. As the crowd left the spot one by one, she got closer to the pianist, evading the leaving crowd and working her way through to get to him. "So, you're not joking when you said that you were going to help me to finish up the song~"

"Ah, Yukino~ you saw me playing?" he sat back down on the seat and run his fingers through his messy blonde hair.

"Indeed I did. I never actually thought that you have some musical talent in you~ now considering on how serious you sounded when you offered me your help yesterday, I do believe now that no one should be judged by their looks."

"Don't let these tattoos and playful smile fool you. Why else would I offer my help to you if I don't even know how to read notes?"

"Okay, okay, I get it now, so stop teasing me." Iratella pouted slightly as she looked at his tattoo, catching a glimpse of it everytime she turn to it and not wanting to let him catch her doing so.

"These tattoos are my pride. No, not just mine, but the pride of my entire family. The symbol of speed, precision, strength and loyalty of my family." Dino pulled up the short sleeve of his black t-shirt to show her the full detail of his tattoos, full on his left arm from top to bottom.

"It's nice~ very meaningful too~ I actually like it~ compared to those idiots who get stupid tattoos to catch attentions, yours deserves to be classified as very very nice~"

Dino's eyes widened, staring straight into the delicate and lovely brown eyes of the girl. "Why...thanks...you are actually the first girl to say so..."

"I am...?" Iratella nearly laughed out, thinking on whether his words are true.

"Yup, you are, and I'm not joking about it." he put on his jacket and stood up from the seat. "Okay, put that aside now. So, before we proceed to start on your song, have you taken your breakfast yet?"

"Uhm...not yet...I just drank a glass of milk and ate a few crackers before I dashed out of the door this morning..."

"Is that so? Hmm...that's great then~ care to join me for breakfast?"

"Uhm- can I...?"

"Haha, what are you saying? Of course you can! I needed a companion anyway, since the rest of my people except Romario is around~ so...shall we?"

"Uhm...oh...okay...sure..." Iratella answered in a low whisper, loud enough for Dino to hear.

"Great! So, let's go~" Dino took hold of her right arm and tugged onto it close to him. Iratella was dumbfounded with his actions, blushing so much that she could barely say anything or even look up to him.

Romario, surprised with Dino's sudden actions, held Dino back by his shoulders. "What are you doing, boss? You're making the girl scared!!" he whispered to his boss' ear.

"Relax~don't panic~ I'm giving a treat to her, for helping me curb my dehydration attack yesterday while you stood by one side making sure that I don't trip over my own foot~ and don't worry, I'm not going to hit on her~ so, now, stay somewhere near me so I don't embarress myself in front of her." Dino patted his shoulders and led Iratella to the restaurant in the hotel.

Romario stood there, dumbfounded with what his boss had said. "Not going to hit on her...? At this rate, I think he's going to bring her to the room next and maybe...argh~ I don't want to think about it~ what has been going through boss' head lately? Ever since he came to Japan, he has been acting a little funny~ and until he met her, he has been acting...even more weird and...he keeps mentioning her name and talking about her all the time- oh my god...has boss fallen in love with her without himself noticing it...? Oh my god oh my god~~" Romario muttered at a corner to himself before he decided to catch up with his boss.

********************************************

The Cavallone Decimo and Catena Decimo heir walked to the mini flower garden situated on the top floor of the hotel. Pacing slowly on the stone path of the mini garden, Iratella stayed silent, looking down at her feet at all times, evading eye contact with him. They took a seat on a cooling stone bench which faced out to a vast view of the small but peaceful and beautiful Namimori town. He felt a little awkward with the situation, realizing that he was the one who had made her became the one feeling awkward. She was a little more loose in the conversation with him during breakfast, but right now she's a little stiff, so he decided to be the one to break the awkward silence. He took a glimpse of Romario, standing at a corner not far from where they're at, before leaning back against the bench and taking in a deep breath. "Beautiful, isn't it? Namimori is such a calm and peaceful place. I've never seen such a simple yet wonderful town before..."

Iratella tucked her hair behind her ears, smiling as she thought of her next sentence to reply his complements on her current hometown. "Namimori is very beautiful, there's no denying it. The peace? Thank Kyouya and his clan. They run the order of this place, making sure that there's no one making trouble around the area. We can really thank him for his hard work, not like he's going through any trouble doing it anyway, since he's a loyal Namimori person."

Dino began to feel a little more relieved that she's beginning to feel less awkward in his presence. "Speaking of Namimori...shall we start with the song?"

"Here...?"

"Why...? Is there something wrong with the place? If so, do you want to switch to another pla-"

"No, no, no~ you went through all the trouble to bring me up here, so I don't mind~ it's just that, I'm very fascinated with the place that I completely forgot that the reason I'm here is to complete the song." she rested her head on her palms, looking out into the horizon, admiring the beauty of her current hometown.

"Haha, I see~ "

"Okay, so...enough with the admiration and more on the song, so..." she reached into her bag and pulled a notebook out of it. She flipped a few pages of the notebook before stopping at a page half-filled with words. There was another seperate paper, a music sheet, pinned in between the pages of the page that she's opened to. "...here you go. Well...don't laugh at me, but apparently, since our first encounter, this is what's there is until now..."

"Hmm...." he scanned through the words and notes carefully, slowly interpreting the message given in the first verse and chorus written by Iratella. "Ummm....before we proceed...I want to ask...what was...the feeling in you...that was present while you were writing this verse...and chorus?"

A mixed feeling flooded into her instantly, not knowing where to start. But there was a pint of warmth which stood out among the rest of the other feelings, the feeling that was the strongest in her when she was writing the lyrics and composing the song. "I felt...that everyone out there needs someone to be there for them in order to keep them strong and...to guide them through thick and thin...when one is lost, there will be someone there to help them get through...even if there's no other people for you, but there's definitely at least one person that you hold close to you in life that knows you and loves you for who you are...and that person will never turn their backs to you under any circumstances...that's how I was feeling when I wrote these lines..."

"Hmm...do you have the same kind of feeling throughout writing each song that you've written before?"

"Yeap~ coz...I don't fancy mixing so many ideas into one song~"

"Oh~ well, that's normal, right? That's why we have song titles to indicate what is the song about~"

"Haha, true, true~"

"Okay, so I think I have an idea for what to write in the next verse....uhm...you have a pen?"

"Oh, yes, uhmm..." she reached into her bag, running her hand over the things in the bag to find for her pen. "...ah, here it is~" pulling out the blue pen grasped in her hand from the bag and handed it to him. As soon as Dino took hold of the pen, he clicked on it and began scribbling some words onto the paper. Intense concentration was clearly visible in his eyes, Iratella noted. She gazed at him for as long as his eyes were looking down on the paper. It didn't took long for her to realize how beautiful his eyes were. The bright hazel colour of his eyes are, to her, a plus to his eye-catching charm, making her heart dart around in embarressment, considering that they've only met each other a few days ago and now they're working on her song together.

"Try this out and see. Use the same melody as the first verse, but try and do some minor changes to it." In just a few minutes, he's finished one verse, ready to be tested out on whether it is suitable to be fitted in the song.

Shyfully taking the lyric paper from his hand, she looked through the lyrics that he's written down for her. Dino anticipated for her reaction and comment, a little afraid of what she'll think of his ideas. Almost immediately, Iratella whipped out her guitar and tried out the new lyrics.

I see forgiveness,

I see the truth,

You love me for who I am,

Like the stars hold the moon,

Right there where they belong,

But I know I'm not alone,

Yeah, when my world is falling apart,

And there's no light to break up the dark,

That's when I....

I...I look at you...

When the waves are flooding the shore,

and I can't find my way home anymore,

That's when I...

I...I look at you....

Iratella stopped the strumming on her guitar as soon as she finished singing the last word on the lyric. "Ahh...I accidentally added the chorus right after the verse..."

"No no no...I think it's very good...good combination...and the little changes you did for the second verse there was very nice...okay, let's see if we can do some changes in here..." Dino took the lyrics from her hands and scanned them thoroughly again. Iratella just observed his actions, smiling along with that and soon joined him in the quest to finish up her song.

*******************************************

The next day, it was the same thing for her, going to the Velissace Hotel to meet him at the same time and finally completing the song 100%. She was able to get a hang of herself though on the second and final day of her collaboration with him to complete the song. Her heart darted around the place less and she was also able to crack a few jokes along the way with him.

"Thank you so much for helping me to complete the song~ without you, I might've been mentally torturing myself up until now." she gave numerous bows to him as a sign of appreciation to him.

"No biggie. Besides, it's a courtesey for me to help you out with your song after you managed to 'save' me from my dehydration attack. And with your ability to write songs that touches right into people's heart, I'd say that your songs are the silver linings on the dark cloud." giving his signature playful smile to her, he patted her head gently.

"Really...? Do I really...make songs that reaches out to people?"

"Have you not noticed? On why people would always stop by to listen to your singing regardless on where you are?"

"Not really..."

"Well, that means that questioned has been answered by my earlier sentence. Oh, that's your brother, right?"

"Ah, yes, my brother. Hey, Yukito~"

Iratellio pulled his bike over at the front of the hotel. He removed his helmet and gave a bow with his head to Dino. "Yukito Hayasaka." he held out his hand to Dino.

"Dino. Nice to meet you~" Dino took hold of Iratellio's hand and shook it with hints of friendliness. "Better get going now, it's getting a little late." he then turned to her and patted her shoulder.

"Okay...I'll see you around then..." Iratella smiled weakly at him. As she was about to take the helmet from her brother's hands, Dino took her by her shoulder and forced her gently to turn back to him. Swiftly and silently without warning, he gave a peck of kiss on her forehead. She knew her cheeks was not of the fair coloured that it usually is. It was steaming hot and tomato red. That kiss on her forehead took a toll on her, making her speechless and statued for the first few seconds. "I won't be seeing you until the day of the festival. Right now, all you have to focus on is your performance and how you'll deal with that president of the Sony BMG, okay? I'll see you on that day." Dino gave a light push on her back.

Iratella finally took hold of her helmet from Iratellio's hand and wore it on her head. Upon boarding her brother's bike, he started the engine of his bike. With the loud rumbling sound of the bike, Dino waved at her, watching her disappering from his sight.

Dino's faithful right-hand man appeared from a corner nearby, slowly walking up to his boss and giving out a loud sigh. "Well, you sure do know how to encourage people."

"I'm going to leave her on her own for a few days to concentrate on her rehearsals. Isn't it obvious? " Dino smirked at Romario.

"I don't know...weren't you dying to want to go back to Italy when you first arrived here?"

"Well, sorry to say this, but I've just changed my mind. I feel like staying around longer for her. Besides, isn't this a good opportunity for us to experience a local cultural festival now that we're here?"

"I don't know about you, boss, but it seems that you're in...l-l-l-lo-lov--"

"In love with her?? What?? Wha-what?? What are you saying??? No!! I'm not!! No!!!" he was stuttering as he tried to cover up his real feelings.

"No use hiding it from me, boss. I've watched you grow up since you were born. You have a specific way of trying to hide something from me, and as you know, it's not working on me anymore."

"Thanks for telling me that, Romario. I shall now start thinking on how to fool you next time."

"Not going to work, boss, regardless on how convincing you try to sound."

"Well...one way or another, I will work it out~~"

"Noted, boss."

"Thank you. Now, off to get ready for dinner~~" he stretched lazily and walked back into the hotel.

*********************************************

With only two days before the festival, everyone is contributing whatever they can in the preparation of Namimori's grand annual event. People are bustling about the event venue, bringing things in and out of the place, setting up sale booths, decorating the grand stage and arranging the tables and chairs for the VIPs. All the Namimori residents, big and small, old and young, all gathered at the venue to help out with whatever means they can. The performers are all busy doing their final rehearsals and perfecting their mistakes in order to make their performances a success. Everyone was busy, including the festival's highlight performer, Iratella.

Two days prior to the festival and all she's left with is to continue to practise and fully memorize her first english song. She has Dino to thank for in helping her to complete the song and also Gokudera as her pianist, Shino as her drummer and Yamamoto as her electric guitarist whilst she takes the role in vocals and acoustic guitarist. All except Gokudera of them have collaborated in her performance for a couple of years back, with Ayame as her previous pianist. Ayame couldn't be her pianist for this year as her fingers were injured from a minor accident a couple of days back.

"Once again, I'm really really grateful that you guys actually agreed to assist me in my performance again for this year although I've told you all that my performance for this year was called off." she bowed and apologized to them repeatedly, feeling very regretful over having them to be performing with her again despite before this telling them that their performance was called off for this year.

"Nah~ it's okay~ we don't mind~ besides, we've been your companion in all your previous performances in the festival for a few years now, so you can say that it's kind of like a norm for us. So, you can...uhh...cut the apologies and...just...yea..." Shino accepted her unneccesary apology and took position at his beloved drums.

"Really...?" Iratella stopped bowing and looked at them with a grateful sight.

"Of course!! Why else would we say 'yes' to you?" Yamamoto laughed kindly as he hung his guitar over his shoulder.

"So, can we start now? The day's not getting any younger~" the usual impatient Gokudera cracked his fingers loudly and did some finger exercises prior to the beginning of the day's performance rehearsal.

The daily rehearsal was carried out as usual in the music room of Iratella's house, a specially built soundproof room for music-related uses. The one who uses the room the most is Iratella as she is always working with music.

"No, no, Shino, you are supposed to start after I say the second 'You'.' After I sang it, then only you start."

"Really? Oh, sorry~ I got the tempo mixed up~ can we try it one more time?"

"Okay, sure, no problem. Let's start again from...uhm...here...ready? 1, 2~ 1, 2, 3, 4~"

While they were busy with their rehearsals, the rest of the Namimori Chuu student body are busy helping out for the festival as well. Armed with their limitless supply of physical energy and free time, most of the booths and settings are done by them, including the stage. Everyone was bustling about with things to do at every corner they went. No one was lazing around or fooling around. Everyone had the desire to see the festival as a success as always, and to do so, they have to help with whatever they can.

Iratella's classmates are among those who are present at the festival venue, helping out in the preparation for the festival. Two of them, Haine and Kaede, were being placed under the festival agenda arrangement department. While doing work, they had a chance to take a peek at the festival agenda drafted out by the department's leader, Jun Koruyama.

"Hey, Kaede, look at this. It's the agenda for the festival." Haine was picking up some of her pens that dropped out from her pencil case while she was about to keep them when she found the draft of the festival agenda laying on the table. After hastily keeping all her things, she scanned through her surroundings, making sure that no one was around her before taking the slightly dusty paper in her hands.

"Haine, no! Although it's just a draft, but besides the leader and his helper, no one else is allowed to look at the agenda!!"

"Relax~ it's only the draft~ this might not be the final arrangement for the performances, so even if we memorized the agenda, it's going to be worthless, right? Besides, we are still under the festival agenda arrangement department, so why worry? Hmm...come and take a look with me~ it seems that this year's festival holds a whole pack of kick-ass performances."

Kaede, aroused by the curiousity to know about the involved performances, gave up and admit defeat to the urge and went over to Haine to look through the agenda. "Oh, wow...so many interesting performances...a lot of dances, both traditional and modern involved...and there's also going to be a lot of stage games...let's see...then- eh...?" one of the names on the list catches Kaede's full attention.

"What? What is it?" Haine, a little blur with Kaede's sudden reaction, questioned her on what she saw. Kaede slowly picked up her right index finger and placed it on one of the words on the paper. Curious, Haine read the word that Kaede was pointing, only to be dumbfounded like how Kaede was at the moment.

"O-o-o-oh....oh my gosh...Iratella is performing again...this year...? I thought...I thought she told us that she wasn't going to perform for this year...."

"I know right...? Maybe it was a last minute decision or something, considering that today she isn't here to help us out with the preparation for the festival. She promised us that she'd help us with the preparation this year as she decided to call off her performance for this year, but I guess...that's why she isn't here today...because she's already booked for a performance this year..."

"Maybe something had happened...that made her sudddenly change her mind...it could be possible, right?"

"Whatever the reason may be, Iratella is going to perform again this year...well, isn't that a good thing? We should all be there to give her a 100% support!!"

"Of course we will, Kaede!! Iratella have been working hard all this while, so she deserves our support no matter what!!"

"Kojima!! Matsuno!! What are you two muttering about over there?? You're supposed to help us out with the final touch ups for the entrance banner!!" the loud voice of their leader rang from behind them, making their heart nearly skipping a beat.

"We-we're coming!!" both of them answered monotonously, scrambling away from the spot, hastily throwing the draft paper to a corner and catching up with their leader to do whatever thing they were supposed to do.

**********************************************

Sitting in front of her dressing table, she stared at her reflection on the mirror, looking at herself blankly. She had finished getting herself ready, already dressed in the dress that she'll be wearing for her performance. Her hair had already been done by her mother and her makeup too, done by herself. She decided to keep her appearance simple for this performance, not wanting to exaggerate on her look and to frighten the Sony BMG president away. "Okay, keep it cool, girl. It's a big day today for you, and you can't mess it up at all cost. Even though you are reluctant to do this, but this is for the sake of Namimori's name...and I shall do whatever it takes to make sure that the festival will be a blast like it always does...okay, Iratella? Don't freak out now~" she gave herself a couple of slaps on both her cheeks and stood up from the dressing table, walking over to her bed to answer her ringing cellphone. "Hello?"

"Hey ho, girl!! Are you ready for your big day?" Haine's voice ringed in the earpiece of her cellphone.

"Haine!!! Don't make me nervous four hours before I go on stage!! I'm going to get a panic attack~~"

"Sorry, Yuki-chii...uhm...just wanna tell you that Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto-kun and Shino-kun is here already. They're not expecting you to arrive now, no worries. They just want to hang around the place for now."

"Okay, thanks for informing. I'll be there in a while, okay? See ya there~"

"I'll see ya too~" the two best friends hung up the phone at the same time, Iratella lightly tapping her chin after doing so.

"Iratella? Are you ready yet? We're leaving now~ we're walking there, so we gotta get a head start earlier so that we have sufficient time to hang about there before you go on stage~" Iratella's mother, Arianna peeked her head through Iratella's door.

"Okay~ I'm done~ I'm just getting my bag, then we can go~"

"Okay, honey. We'll be waiting for you downstairs. Make it quick yea?"

"Okay, I won't be long." she watched her mother closed her room door. Hastily stuffing her things into her bag, she grabbed it, hung it over her shoulders, took her coat and stormed out of her room.

****************************************

In the lobby of Velissace Hotel, Dino and Romario were waiting outside the lobby for one of the Cavallone men to bring Dino's Ferrari car to the entrance of the hotel. "Wow, Janevo sure is taking his own sweet time." he smirked impatiently as he adjusted his brown furry jacket. He was wearing rather casual today, to make sure he's comfortable to move about in the packed festival venue.

"Relax, boss. This is what we get for having your own people to take your own car from the basement parking lot instead of the bellboy. They tend to be more careful with their driving, not like those careless and inexperienced bellboys who I observed never had handled a Ferrari before. And besides, you don't trust anyone else but your own men to take care of your beloved car, no?"

"Well- yea... but, that doesn't give him the privilege to take his own sweet time to drive it here, right?"

"You're being a little paranoid today, boss. Is everything alright?" Romario dusted some invisible dusts away from Dino's shoulders.

"Everything's fine, don't worry, okay?" with a hint of paranoid in his tone, he combed his fingers through his messy blonde hair frustratingly.

"Is it because you can't wait to get to the festival?" Romario laughing as he said, wanting to ease off some tension from his boss's mind.

"Do-don't say something unrelated!!"

"Then may I suggest you to stop being paranoid? Because we seem to have found the reason why Janevo is running late." Romario then pointed his right index finger to the direction where Dino's back was facing. They saw a huge crowd of papparazis surrounding an area, taking pictures and trying to interview a guy dressed in black tux entering a black royal Bentley car.

"That's the president of the Sony BMG..." the Cavallone Decimo tapping his chin as he said.

"How do you know?"

"I heard someone saying about him." Dino pointed at two guys standing not far from them, who was still whispering to one another about the same thing. "I heard them saying about it."

"Ahh, I see...well, as I can see, he's pretty well-respected considering how many talented artists he have produced, according to what I've researched."

"Puh-leeze, Romario, if only he knows about our world, he will know how 'not well-respected' he is." Dino smirked with pride.

"Boss...if you were me, you'll see how paranoid you're getting now..."

"Well, let's see who's more paranoid now~" the Cavallone decimo laughed as he watched his beloved red Ferrari being driven up to the entrance by Janevo. When the Ferrari stopped at the entrance, the rumbling sound of the original Ferrari catches the attention of those who were there, turning their heads to look at the pure Italian beauty and whispering to one another. When Janevo stepped out of the car, he gave a bow to Dino. "Thank you, Janevo."

"I'm very sorry for the delay. There was a jam back there." once again, Janevo bowed politely, dared not to look into the eyes of his boss.

"It's okay, Janevo. We knew the reason why. Wait for Romario and I here, or if you want to join us at the festival, you are welcomed to. But, you know what I'm going to tell you next, right?"

"Yes, boss. Have a safe journey."

"Don't worry about me, Janevo. It's just Namimori." Dino entered his car after Romario was already belted to his seat. Dino put on his shades, gave a peace sign to Janevo before driving away from the hotel, the sound of the Ferrari engine echoing through the hotel and the streets.

******************************************

"Are you excited about your performance, honey?" Arianna gave a pat on her daughter's shoulder to cheer her up.

"A little nervous, yes, but I'm also pretty excited. Well...without Iratellio now, I'm feeling kinda...scared..."

"Don't worry, dear, he's there as the opening act, but I know how much he has his support on you. Look, Iratella, I know how much you refuse to perform this year..."

"Don't worry, mom. I won't go all paranoid over this thing. Besides, I enjoy doing it anyway~ and it's also been kind of like a norm for this festival to have me as their highlight performance, no?" she gleefully made a double lariat before smiling convincingly at her mother.

"Okay, I understand. As long as you enjoy, that's the most important thing. Ah- honey, where's your brown contact lenses...?" Arianna realized that she was staring into her daughter's pair of original coloured eyes instead of brown. She nervously stared at her daughter's beautiful silverish grey eyes as she waited for her daughter to respond.

"Relax, Arianna. She might've left it on her dressing table and forgot to wear it beforehand. Don't make her nervous, Anna~ it's her big day today~" Edwarde patted Arianna's shoulders, massaging them a little.

"Damn...how could I be so stupid~~" Iratella scratched her head frustratingly, disappointed on how she could forget something so important to her. "Uhm...I'll run back to get them first~ you can go to the festival first without me~ I promise I'll catch up in a jiffy!!!" she turned away and ran to the direction heading back to their house.

"Iratella, wai-!"

"I'll be there soon, don't worry!! Just get going first!!! And tell Haine to tell my band that I'll be a little late!!!!!" Iratella yelled from the distance.

"Take care of yourself, okay??? We'll head there first~~"

"I WILL~~~" Iratella yelled back at them again, turning in at a corner up ahead.

"We should get going first. You don't want Iratella to see us waiting here or she'll flip. You know how she always asks us to do that and when we don't do it, she'll be frowing the whole day~"

"You're right...uhm...so...we should go first then..." Arianna showed a relieved smile to him and pulled Edwarde gently behind her, going back down on the road that leads to the festival venue along with their neighbours.

One of their neighbour, Mrs. Fujima, came forward to Edwarde and Arianna and complemented their son and daughter. "You know, Mr. and Mrs. Hayasaka, you are lucky to have Yukito and Yukino. Both of them are so talented and they are so well-loved by the both of you. In result, the both of them are well-behaved and they don't go against you, unlike my son, Seishiirou." Mrs. Fujima laughed lightly.

"Seishiirou's growing up now, Mrs. Fujima, so of course he'll have thoughts of wanting to become more independent and having control over his own life." Edwarde said.

Mrs. Fujima sighed. "I know...but...it's getting on my nerves..."

"Hmm...well...the most important thing that you have to know is that Seishiirou now........" Arianna began to gave some advice to Mrs. Fujima as they continued their walk to the festival venue.

********************************************

"Arghhh~~ damn damn damn damn damnnn~~ damn you, Iratella~ how could you forget such an important thing?? How could you risk your own life by forgetting to put on the lenses that all this while have been hiding yourself from being detected by those enemies that have been trying to track us down for ages~~ ohhh~~ damn damn damn~~" Iratella continued to mutter to herself, a little breathless as she continued to pick up speed on the road heading towards her house. Head spinning due to the sudden pick up of speed, she huffed and puffed at every quick step that she took. A drop of sweat trickled down her porcelain fair cheeks, dripping off of her face as she continued to ran. "And I'm beginning to break a sweat hours before I'm due to perform~ great~ just great~ I hope the weather will be a little cooling again this year when I reach there~"

At a steady pace, she raced down the asphalt road hastily, slowing down as she was about to approach the last turn that leads straight to her house in another 50 meters. "Okay, just this turn and another 50 meters, then I'm good to go~" she suddenly felt a sense of determination in her again, suddenly feeling extremely excited to be attending the festival as a performer and not as a background person, wearing a very big smile on her face.

Just as she was about to take a turn at the corner, two guys in black suits, jet black shades, one with light brown hair and the other with black hair but both with a sadistic look on their faces, stood in her way, causing her to nearly trip over as she avoided colliding into them. A little shocked, she took a step back away from them, barely able to look at them into their shielded eyes. With one step back that she took, they take a step forward closer to her, their massive torsos casting a very big shadow over her small and slim body. What the hell...? What are these men doing here at this time? They're costing me time~ she thought to herself.

She tried to cut their way by attempting to take a few more steps backwards and running through the other way that was vacant from the same looking kind of men. Just as she was about to make her brave attempt, her body felt as if it lightly hit a concrete barrier with an obvious thud. She turned quickly to see who it was behind her, only to find another muscular and scary looking guy in suits and shades.

Iratella thought of another way out, wanting to test her luck if she could escape by running away through the open space enough for her to go through on her right side, considering that her left side was already the cement wall of her neighbour's house. Her attempt to escape failed yet again as another guy dressed in black suit but without shades, standing in her way, blocking her only way out. Her usual cool was gone. She was finally beginning to panic. The four guys that surrounded her slowly closed up to her, cornering her against the cement wall behind her. Iratella knew she was in deep trouble when she felt her back hitting against the wall behind her. The rough surface of the wall made her head felt a bit light when it lightly thumped against it.

Scared and panic-stricken, Iratella was trembling in terror right down to her legs. "W-w-who are you g-guys?? Wha-what d-do you want f-from m-m-me??" she tried to stay brave, asking the guy standing in front of her, which is the guy without the shades, staring right into his eyes.

The man smiled at the sight of her eyes. He lifted up her head by the chin with his left index finger and brought his face closer to her. "Oh, so we were right!!! All this while, this beauty here is one of the famed silver-eyed Catena that we've been searching for these 8 years!! Haha, I can't believe we actually cornered one of the most high-ranked one, the daughter of the Catena Nono, Edwarde Catena, and the second in line to the throne of the royal Catena mafia family...what a catch, don't you think?"

"Yes, indeed, Coldane~ it is a big catch~ with her, we can get straight to the Catena Nono and take the whole family down!!" the guy with light brown hair spoke with his deep tone.

"You are not to mess around with me...and you are not to destroy any of the Italian mafias that are associated with the Vongolas!!" Iratella felt a sense of survival instinct burning within her, wanting to take those guys down if she could. She pushed Coldane's hand away from her harshly and tried to push him away with the strength and weight of her body. But her attempt failed, feeling herself being shot by a stun gun on her belly. In a matter of seconds, she felt her head spinning and becoming lighter like a feather. Her eyes flickered a couple of times, her whole body feeling a little numb. But being the lightning flame user as she is, her body immediately coped with the high voltage electricity that was injected into her via the stun gun. Feeling a little more confident and adrenaline beginning to run through her veins after she recovered from the sudden jolt of electricity, she managed to push Coldane away from her, kicking him on his groin real hard. Coldane fell hard on the floor, yelling his lungs out from the pain he was facing.

The other three guys were dumbfounded by her actions, but they soon sprang into action as well. But she evaded their attack well, ducking and swaying herself around as if she were dancing, causing them to trip over and about and involuntarily hitting the lights out of each other. Leaping her way away to a distance from them, she pulled out her pair of Fulmine Fiore guns and aiming at all four of them. "Sorry, but I don't think any of you did any homework on me. Coz, come on, stun gun? They are child's play to me. Regardless of how high is the voltage of any stun gun, it can only do so little to create damage on me. Want a taste of your medicine? Take this~!!!" without another second to hesitate, she pulled the trigger of both her silver guns, its tips shooting out strings of highly charged silver lightning flame, stunning the four guys without any need of extra effort.

The four guys all stayed motionless on the ground, the smell of burnt cloth slowly diffusing into areas around them. "Well, what did I tell ya about not to mess around with me? Heh, so much for being just a sidekick. They can't even use flames. No wonder~ but they sure do pack a punch~ just look at the bruises they had given to one another~" she observed their condition for a moment before blowing the thin line of smoke trailing out of the mouth of her beloved guns and carefully keeping them back into the secret compartment of her coat. "Well, now I know why mom and dad always asks me to bring my guns around~ catch ya later, suckerz~ ah damn, these small fries costed me a whole lot of time!! I gotta rush back home and get my contact lenses~"

She quickly turned away from them and was ready to rush back home when she was given a shock of her life again. There was someone who had somehow creeped up behind her silently and now standing there in front of her, blocking her way. Before Iratella even had the time to think about her current situation, the person standing in front of her held out his hand and placed it on her head. There wasn't any feeling of being jolted by electricity nor a strong blow of punch sent to her head, but when his touch on her head made her lose her light instantly and falling down on the ground like a leaf, motionless and unconcious.

The man smiled devilishly at the sight of her small figure laying still on the ground. He squatted down beside her, gently touching her face. "Looks like your level of danger is a little bit higher than what I've expected. And desperate times call for desperate measures. By all means, you will be taken back to my base..." he continued to touch her face, letting out an evil and eerie chuckle.

**********************************************

The red Ferrari Enzo was racing down one of the empty housing streets that leads to Iratella's house at a speed of 200kmph. It was barely 5 minutes since he left the hotel, but he was already reaching close to her house.

"Boss, are you sure you want to drop by at her house to pick her up? She might've left already, considering that she said she will be there early. She could be in the festival now." Romario was pretty used to Dino's way of driving, always speeding down roads no matter how busy it is.

"Well, no harm in trying to find out, right? Either way, if she's left already or not, I'll still be able to watch her performance." Dino kept his sight locked on the road, but at the same time able to process Romario's word and finding a suitable response in return.

"Well, you are extremely paranoid today, boss, and it's getting to you mentally, in case you haven't noticed."

"Well...maybe it is...oh damn, I'm killing my poor brain~"

"Boss, boss...killing it without notice and killing it on purpose is two different situations, and right now, your condition is 'killing your own brain without notice'. Wait, boss- pull over, quick, there seems to be a commotion happening up ahead~" Romario's eyes caught the sight of the motionless foot of one of the men in black.

"Hey, isn't that the road that leads straight to Yukino's house?" Dino began to decrease the speed of the car and brought it to a halt in a couple of seconds. In an instant after coming to a stop, he saw the last guy standing, carrying a female over his shoulders and still chuckling away.

"Oh my god, what's happening to the girl?" Romario's voice turned to concern.

Dino squinted his eyes a little, trying to get a better sight of the girl hanging over the guy's shoulder. A multi-coloured cuff bangle worn around the girl's right hand became the clue and final answer to the girl's identity. "That's Yukino..." Dino muttered to himself in a whisper.

"You said something, boss?"

"It's Yukino~" he repeated, now saying it with a louder voice. He immediately unfastened his seatbelt and dashed out of the car.

While Dino was about to get to her, the guy that was holding Iratella, still chuckling devilishly, snapped his fingers out loud and clear. With the snap of his finger, the girl disappeared into thin air along with the guy that was making her as his possesion.

"DAMN!!!!" Dino yelled out loud as he got to the spot where Iratella had magically poofed out of his sight. He began to feel a little panicky, worried about Iratella's condition, what were they going to do with her. His eyes darted about the place, scanning through the seemingly silent neighbourhood before finally noticing the presence of the four half-concious guys. Raging with anger, he stomped his way towards them and grabbed Coldane harshly by his collar. "What the fuck??" Coldane yelled in pain. "Can't you see how much pain I'm in now?? All thanks to that little girlfriend of yours..."

"She's not my girlfriend!!! And serves you right for being kicked on your groin~ heh~ small fry~~ I need you to tell me, where is the main base of the Frotizo family??"

"Wha-wha-what???? Frotiz- I have never heard anything like that before~" Coldane nervously defended himself.

"Don't try to lie to me, scumhead~" Dino grabbed Coldane's collars harder. "You are stupid enough to not try to hide the family chain of yours there dangling from your neck~ now, tell me where is the Japan base of the Frotizo family, or you'll get it from me!!"

"Wh-why do you need to know????" Coldane yelled in pain even more as Dino punched his abdomen.

"Because if don't tell me now, I can assure you that your soul will be sent to hell in a matter of seconds by this trustworthy bullwhip of the Cavallone Decimo." Dino warned sternly.

Coldane hesitated for a while. "Ca-Caval-lone...Decimo...? O-Okay!!! I'll tell you!!! I'll tell you!!! I'll tell you!!! Uhh...it's in the outside of town, behind Namimori Chuu!!!"

Dino took another good look at Coldane before harshly releasing his collar and letting him drop hard on the ground. As he watched Coldane fell, he took notice of a white-coloured item laying on the ground just beside Coldane. He bent down and took hold of it, investigating the white cellphone. "This is...Yukino's cellphone..." he could tell that it was her cellphone as he clearly recalls that the little accessory that dangled from her cellphone was a snow flake. "It must've fell out of her bag when she was carried by that guy..."

Suddenly, he felt a presence of some figures behind him, trying to attack him from behind. Apparently, the three guys had managed to get on their feet and is now trying to attack him. Dino, in turn, just smirked, pulled out his bullwhip, and with a couple of smooth swinging and swaying of his whip, he knocked all four of them unconcious. Seeing them all flip and flop all over the place before finally lying unconcious on the ground again, Dino walked away from them and quickly jumped back into the car. Romario, who was leaning against the car and watching his boss's fight all the while just now, was startled by the sound of the car starting.

"Take care of these guys. Send them to the hospital first to treat their injuries and make sure they are sent to Vendicare for attacking and assaulting a cilivant. And oh, the medical bills will be of my treat. I'll be off to go get Yukino first. I'm counting on you, Romario~"

"Yes, boss. But, boss...can you manage on your fight against Reyard without any of us alongside with you?"

"Don't worry, I'll manage somehow. Most importantly is that you deal with those four first to avoid from any problems from arising and creating chaos in the festival. I'll make sure I'll take her back to the festival in time. I'll see you there."

"Okay, boss."

With the white cellphone held in his left hand and the right hand holding onto the steering wheel, he began his race against time to bring Iratella back to the festival in time. "Hang on there, Yukino...I'll be there as fast as I can..."

******************************************

Back at the festival venue, the colourful and vibrant decorations lightened up the situation of the festival. Smiles are worn on every faces of those who are present, regardless of age. The performance that was lined up for the entertainment of the festival goers had just begun, and it kick-started with Iratellio and his dance crew's performance, performing some awesome dance moves to the song "Lucifer" by SHINee. They recieved loud applauses and cheers from the crowd, making the mood of the festival even more heightened.

"As usual, an amazing performance by Namimori's best dance crew! Give it up for the 'Frontiers'!" the emcee, Kyoko and Haru announced with much excitement. The crowd gave them another round of cheers and applause to them. Iratellio was wearing an exremely broad smile, obviously satisfied with their performance. "Great job, guys! Yet another rockin' performance this year!!"

"Yukito?" a kind and sweet familiar voice came from behind him as he was busy praising his groupies. Upon turning around, he saw his mother and father standing there with a proud look on their faces. "Mom! Dad! You saw my dance?"

"Of course we did! And awesome as you guys always are~ oh, and I got it on video too!" Arianna held up her camcorder for them to see.

"Owh, cool!! So we could watch our performance again and see if there's any mistakes in our dance that we could spot out and try to fix~" one of Iratellio's group member said excitedly.

"Of course you can!!" Edwarde praised them happily.

"Oh yea, mom, where's Irate- Yukino? Is she here? She was supposed to come along with you, right?" Iratellio questioned, nearly blurting out the real name of his sister.

"Uhmm...well, she did, a while ago. But then she forgot to take...something important-" Edwarde gave a clue to Iratellio on what was the important thing that Iratella forgot to take by pointing his two fingers at the direction of his eyes. "-so she ran back home to get it. She said she won't be long. And now, it's been pretty...well, not too long, but usually, she would be here by now~"

"Maybe she's a little tired by all the running just now, so she decided to take a walk here. Anyways, she doesn't have to worry about time, her performance isn't on in another 2 hours, right?"

"Yup, indeed. So...we'll just wait for her around here then?"

"Okay~ so...Iratellio, do you want to join us for the walk around the festival?" Edwarde asked as he hung his hands over Arianna's shoulders.

"Uhmm...n-no thanks~ I'll be fine with these guys~ and I'll wait for Iratella then~"

"Okay, we'll see you later~" the two Catena parents walked away from the spot to begin their 'journey' around the place. Iratellio, on the other hand, chuckled as he sees his parents acting like they are just teenagers in love. "Mom and dad...always been like that since before..."

A tap on his shoulder made him came back to his senses. He was greeted with a sense of dark aura protruding from the Namimori Disciplinary Group Leader, Kyouya Hibari, with Kusakabe loyally standing behind him. "H-H-Hibari~ oh, you nearly scared the lights out of me~"

"Pleasant to know that. Where's your sister?" Hibari ignored Iratellio's words and headed straight to the point.

"Funny~ I just asked my mom and dad the same question just 15 seconds ago. And, no, I haven't seen her. Why? You're looking for her too?"

"No need for you to know about what is the reason."

"What the...I'm her brother, and I'm supposed to know what's what with someone and my sister, even if the person is you~"

"You annoy me, I shall bite you t-"

"Hibari-senpai! Yukito-senpai! Have you seen Ir-Yukino? We've been looking for her everywhere~ the principal wants to see her for a moment, he says it's urgent~" Haine, Kaede and Ayame came running towards the two, well, three guys standing about there.

"We don't know, she didn't came along with mom and dad just now. They said that she's ran home just now to take something she forgot and that she'll be coming back here in no time."

"Really? Oh, that's a relief...at least she's coming right?" Ayame asked.

"Of course she is!! Don't say unnecessary things just like that~" Iratellio laughed, completely ignoring the presence of the skylark beside him. Hibari just continued to stand there beside Iratellio, despite knowing that he's being ignored by the Catena Decimo heir. He's just that into knowing Iratella's wherabouts.

"Oh...I just hope she'd arrive sooner...not just because of the principal, but also...Shino and the guys want to do a final rehearsal just to make sure that everything is as it's supposed to be..." Haine rubbed her palms together nervously.

Iratellio tried to keep everyone calm and cool. His right hand fiddled with his family necklace, toying around with its snow diamond cross pendant. He kept on fiddling with it until he looked down into his palms. Some faint lights were reflected on his palms, which looks like light that passes through diamonds. He turned his back facing to the group of people around him immediately, trying to confirm what he sees is real. Holding up the cross pendant in front of his eyes, he got his answer that he was trying to get: the Catena cross pendant, which signifies Iratellio, was shining, bringing the sign that the owner of the necklace, whose diamonds on the pendant are made from the same diamond rock that was used to make his necklace, is in danger. That person, was none other than Iratella. "Damn...of all times, she had to be in danger right now...? I have to find out what kind of danger is she involved in..." he told to himself. "Uhmm...excuse me for a moment, I have to uh...make a call..." in a dash, he ran off from the group and hid in a lonely corner.

"Uhh...sure...is the person that you're going to call Iratella? No answer? Nevermind..." dissatisfied due to not getting an answer from him, Ayame sighed long.

In the corner, Iratellio quickly unfastened his necklace, held it firmly in his right hand and brought his right hand to his forehead. As soon as he did, the necklace glowed in his palm. The necklace is doing what it is made to do: to trace down the necklace that has the same diamond origin as the other and to see where is its whereabouts and current situation of the owner. In his head, he saw what Iratella's necklace reflected. He sees the man, the last man that was standing behind her which made her fell unconcious, taking her away with him. Just when he was about to ask himself the question "Who was that guy?", he managed to catch a glimpse of an important clue - the man's necklace.

"The Frotizo family caught her...? Aren't they the guys who were responsible for making us run away from Italy because they wanted to extract our flames from us...? And...the only reason why they couldn't find for us all this while was because our special made contact lenses not only shield the original colour of our eyes, but also to make us undetectable through their radar even if we used our flame at high power...and we become detectable when we don't wear our contact lenses at other places except in our house...so that means...the important thing that Iratella forgot to take was...her contact lenses...? Oh, fuck...and...mom and dad forgot about the Frotizo family???"

"Is everything okay, Iratellio?" Haine snuck up behind Iratellio, overhearing his silent mutterings from a few seconds back. "I heard you keep mentioning Iratella's name. Did something happened?"

"Haine!!! Oh my gosh, you startled me~~" Iratellio almost missed his step upon trying to get a distance away from Haine who popped out in front of him all of a sudden without warning.

"Damn you, Iratellio. I'm here to ask you about your sister, not play 'Hide and Seek'~ so, what about Iratella? Do you know where is she now and how is she? From the way you sounded just now, it's as if she's not in a good situation right now..." she sounded a bit crossed at first, but her tone died down a little to a more kinder level. She bravely stood in front of him, arms crossed loosely against her chests.

"Well...she...is....now...not in a...very good situation...she's in..." he muttered nervously, unable to think of a way to arrange his sentence to make his sister's situation more acceptable to Haine.

"Trouble now? Of all times, she just had to get into trouble at this one? And among all of us, she's always the one who's less likely to be someone who'd get into trouble!" she let her arms fall to the side of her body freely, hands clenched into tight fists with heavy breathing accompanying the whole suddenly-tensed situation.

"And looks like fate has made her into one who's categorised into that group, thanks to those Frotizo shits~"

"Wait, wha-??" Haine stopped, looking at him straight into his eyes, widening her eyes with surprise. "You mean, she's in trouble because of them...? Those people who were responsible for forcing your family to run away from Italy??"

"Well, yeah~ besides them, who else is hunting down for us?" he shrugged impatiently.

"Oh, damn...this is definitely not good now, isn't it?"

"DEFINITELY, not good." he scruffled his already messy brunette until it was more messy than before.

"So, what do we do now?" Haine began to sound panicky.

"I don't know~~ I'm having a second performance again later in another 20 minutes time, so if I'm missing, people would notice and trouble heeds~~" he kept looking back at the direction that leads them back to join with the rest of the Namimori townfolks celebrating the lively festival.

"And right now, if we don't go rescue her, the highlight of the festival is not going to feature herself again for this year!! It's a matter of life and death right now for her, Iratellio, and if we don't do something to go and save her now, she, as we all know, will die after her flame properties are being extracted for good!! No, wait, that doesn't sound right...she will die after her flame properties are being extracted for evil use!!"

Iratellio paused for a moment, taking Haine's words into his head and trying to figure out what available methods can be used to rescue his beloved sister. "Haine, can you be the one to go rescue her?"

"What? Me?? You really think I could go rescue her from those bastards who could kill both me and her JUST LIKE THAT!!" Haine snapped, thinking that it's a ridiculous idea for her to go face to face with the Frotizo people.

"It's the same if I were to be the one who'd go, right?? I mea-"

"What's the commotion here? What has happened? No one is allowed to create chaos during the festival. If you do, I shall bite you to death." the cold, stern voice along with the unmistaken famous quote broke the two's arguement. Both of them turned their heads slowly and steadily to the direction where Hibari stood, with his arms crossed in front of his chests and dark, scary aura protruding from him. "What has happened to Yukino?"

"Oh crap..." Iratellio gulped his saliva nervously, cold sweat starting to break from his forehead.

The blonde Italian pulled over at a corner nearby Namimori Chuu. The Ferrari Enzo came to a halt with a low schreeching sound. Dino hopped out from his car in a dash, still holding the white-coloured cellphone in his grip. "It's here...I can sense that there's some deathperation flame activity in there..."

He stared at the white cellphone in his grip for a moment, and tightened his grip holding the cellphone. "Rest assured, Yukino...I'll rescure you out of there and bring you to the festival in time...I just hope that...now...without Romario or any of my men around me...I won't mess myself up and end up becoming the damsel in distress instead~"

*************************************

Iratella's eyes darted about in the fairly lit spacious room. She was the only thing that filled the four-walled room. She was still recovering from her drowsiness, her mind still unable to process loads of information at the moment. She tried to wipe of a drop of sweat that was slowly flowing down her forehead and headed towards her right eyebrow, making it feel a little itchy. The moment she tried to lift up her hand, she felt a tug on her hands. After pulling her hands hard for a couple of times, she finally came to her senses that she's being strapped onto a chair with a piece of really tough rope, so strong that it is capable of crushing bones if the struggle against the rope is too strong. The pain awaken her fully, and that's when she finally thought of questions about her current situation.

"Where am I? What happe- oh...right...that...ah, dammit....screw you, Iratella, for being such an asshole...how could you have let your guard down so easily...? Those guys are nothing..." Iratella mumbled and grunted to herself as she tried to struggle her hands free from the rope. But the more she struggled, the more sharp jolting pain that she felt tugging against her delicate skin, leaving light bruises around her wrists. Her flood gates almost bursted open from the pain, before she finally remembered something basic about herself. "Agh, damn you, Iratella...since when you've becomed so stupid to even forget that you can cut this rope without the need of epic struggle to death or even a trustworthy scissors and knives? Heihhh~" after her self-dialogue session, she proceeded to do what she does best - wield her all-time famous lightning flame. In an instant, the thick, strong and tough rope was burnt into ashes. She did the same thing to the rope that binded her legs. She rubbed them slightly at her ankles before standing up to take a nice big stretch. "Heh, what are those guys thinking to actually tie me up with only ropes without knowing the fact that I can cut through them without the need of any tools?" patting away the visible little particle of dusts that was stuck everywhere on the skirt of her dress, she walked towards the metal-framed door. Without any hesitation, her hands reached out for the metal handle of the door. She was about to grab hold of the door handle when it moved by itself all of a sudden. Startled, she stepped a few steps backwards, nearly tripping over backwards.

The door swung open wide, and a guy dressed up smartly like a businessman in a full black tux complemented with a red-blue necktie and a brown-shaded sunglasses shielding his eyes from her view, walked into the room with two other guys with a vicious look on their faces. With every backwards step that Iratella took to get away from the guy, he responds by taking forward steps heading towards her. Nothing but sounds of thumping footsteps bounced of the empty walls as they continued their actions.

When Iratella was barely a few centimetres away from the wall behind her, the sound of the door closing shut echoed across the room, and that was when all of a sudden the guy removed his sunglasses in a dash and pushed her against the wall all of a sudden, one of his strong muscular arms pinning her against the wall to avoid her from esaping and the other gently lifted up her chin for him to get a better view of her eyes. Her pair of silverish grey eyes sparkled like a pure and polished diamond with the amount of light in the room. "Hmmhmm.......this is definitely the eyes that symbolizes a Catena member...not just any Catena member...but one who is descended from the original founder of this mighty and strong family..."

Disgusted with the way his body was against hers, she struggled with all her might to get away from him. "Let me go, you freak!! Let go of me!! Don't touch me, perv!!"

"Hahahahhh~" the guy laughed as he stepped two steps away from her. "I'm sorry for the improper gestures and introduction. Nice to meet you. I'm Ortollani, the 9th boss of the one and only Frotizo family, and it is such an honour to be able to see a descendant from the founder of the mighty Catena family." after the short introduction of himself, he and the two guys beside him gave her a polite bow.

"Frotizo family...? The family...whose hunger and desire to rule the mafia kingdom had forced us to flee from Italy...?" her eyes squinted just a little, flashes of faint memories occuring in her head about the time when her family and her narrowly escaped the Frotizo's attack back when she was still of a young age of seven.

"Yes, that's us~ a pretty harsh way to remember us, but yes, all true and true~ you have such a good memory despite all that you've been through happened when you're just seven years old. Impressive~ now that's a Catena." Ortollani gently applauded for her.

She eyed him with full of disgust and hatred. Her patience, for the first time, have weared down almost completely, causing her anger to increase rather rapidly. "I don't need your applause to make me feel more special or anything..."

"Well well well, looks like this snow is melting fast~" Ortollani let out a weird chuckle before taking both her arms and slamming them against the wall behind her hard, pinning them against the wall with his massive strength. The impact of the slam was nearly strong enough to fracture bones in her hand. She was lucky enough to have them still intact, but the pain was excrutiating. Her once strong flare of courage and bravery had been blown away all of a sudden along with her temper. She now know that she's in fear. She's in trouble. "Don't you try to mess with us Frotizos!! Sure enough you are the respected Catena family and all of you treat us like pests!!! But that doesn't mean that we have no strength to rise and take over the empire!!"

"The mafia empire is to be ruled by the Vongola family and the Vongola family only!!"

"Well, looks like the empire needs a little...REFORMAT..." Ortollani gripped Iratella's hand tighter with one of his hand while his other free hand groped about in his coat pocket to pull out a bronze needle-looking device that looks like a syringe with a needle. He pointed the device on Iratella's neck. "I don't know if your parents ever told you this, but the flames of all the Catena family members are one of a kind. The Snow Property originated from the founder of the Catena family, the resultant of the solid and pure love of the Catena Primo and his wife, Vongola Primo's darling sister...the Snow Property contained in the flames of all of you are a kind of activator which, although no matter how plain or weak the Catena person's flame is, it strengthens them to the point where it is capable of taking down the Vongola's bosses...as they are passed down from one generation to the next, it grows stronger and stronger..."

Iratella's eyes widened. She knew all about the Snow Property in her flames. She knew how much was its destructive power. The only thing that shocks her is Ortollani's plans. She knew, that if he DOES succeeds in extracting the Snow Property from within her, the Vongolas are in big trouble, as she knew that her Snow Property is the strongest ever found in the family.

"You are one big catch, you know that? Because...although you ARE just one with lightning flame...but your Snow Property is stronger than anyone else in your family...it is...so strong...hmmhmmm...maybe...you should be enough..." Iratella was startled, panicked to know that Ortollani detected the level of her Snow Property. She tried to wriggle her hands free, but he just held on to them tighter.

Ortollani gave out another chuckle as he pressed the tip of the needle a bit more deeper into her skin, nearly puncturing a hole on that delicate skin of hers. His heart began to beat faster and faster as he fantisizes everything about what he can do with the Snow Property, and in every beat of his heart, he awaits for the needle to puncture her skin for him to extract the Snow Property.

In all the panic and fear she was going through, she suddenly remembered of something - since her contact lenses was not protecting her eyes at the moment, she is able to use a technique known as the Lightning's Gaze, a special technique only aplicable to be used by any Catena lightning flame wielder which enables the user to transmit electricity into the enemy's body by looking into the eyes (without having the enemy to look back into the user's eyes), and then making them electrocuted from the inside. She closed her eyes, made herself calm and steady, and the moment she opened them again, she looked straight into Ortollani's eyes. Giving the right level of focus into Ortollani's eyes, the technique soon started to take place.

Ortollani, who took no notice of Iratella's silent actions, suddenly began to feel a little wierd on the inside, as if something was sparking in his blood stream. It then slowly felt irritating and hot. And all of a sudden, his body began to jolt about by the electricity in him. As soon as the lightning began to work in full power, Ortollani let go of her, dropped the Snow Property Extractor and screamed about.

"Oh damn, it worked~ and it worked perfectly like how mom and dad showed me before..." Iratella stayed paused for a moment, amused by her success in working the Lightning's Gaze. It didn't took long before the two other men standing behind Ortollani took the opportunity to spring into action. Iratella, however, was one step ahead of them, pulling out her trustworthy guns and shot some powerful voltages at the men. And with no doubt, they fell flat on the floor, hair burnt to the roots. The young girl took the chance to hop over their partially fried bodies and ran for the door. With a heavy kick against the door, it broke open. She dashed out of the room immediately.

"Oh...no you don't...." Ortollani witnessed her easy escapade. Still in midst of being internally electrocuted but still concious, he dragged himself towards one corner of the room where a button protrudes from the wall. With all of what's left in him, he slammed his arms against the button. As soon as he did, warning sirens blasted through the horn speakers throughout the whole building, loud enough for all his men to hear and to take position to stop Iratella from escaping. "Now...see if you can escape this..."

Meanwhile out in the hallway not far from the room, Iratella stopped running, shocked to hear the loud alarm has been triggered and echoing throughout the whole building. "Oh damn, this is not good...and I'm wearing a DRESS!!" without another second to hesitate, she made a run for her life.

She ran from hallway to hallway, making as less sound as possible, evading herself from being sighted or heard by the Frotizo people. Everytime before she moved on to the next path, she hid and slowly peeked her head to check on the situation before tiptoeing herself to safety. She finally know how hard it is to try to not make any sounds of footsteps while wearing heels when walking on mosaic-surfaced floors. Still, she tried to hide herself from them.

At every corner she went, she could hear voices of the men shouting out and about, mostly signaling the people to go to this or that direction to locate her. Their booted footsteps echoed at every corner. Iratella, somehow managed to escape from their sight despite their overpowering number of people sent out to find her. Their bid to find for her so far is not so successful.

All was well. She managed to make herself unnoticable for almost 15 minutes now. Small drops of sweat slowly become visible as they trickle down her forehead and cheeks. Her palms too were slightly sweaty from all the intense suspense that she went through. Then it came to a point where the hallways were of a cross junction, and right ahead of her, two groups of men is coming to her way. Knowing that they were less than 10 seconds away from her, she began to panic, and not noticing that there was a place for her to hide not far from her. "Oh shit!!" she stayed frozen in her position for a couple of seconds before she felt herself being pulled and hugged into a person's arms, all in less than 3 seconds. And just when she was being hidden from sight by the person who scooped her into his arms, the two group of men ran by, not noticing the presence of the two in that corner. The Frotizo men ran by swiftly, assuming that the girl had ran towards the direction they're headed.

A couple of seconds later, they were gone.

Iratella took in a deep breath of relief to see and hear them no longer nearby to her. She then realized the guy still holding her safe in his arms was of someone she knew. She recognized the scent coming from him, but she still dared not to look into his eyes and say out his name, for she fear that she's got the wrong person.

"Are you alright...?" all her guesses were no doubt to be true. She immediately looked into the golden brown eyes of her saviour. Dino smiled with relief to see that she was alright without having her to answer that question of his. His smile, however, faded, when he saw the real shade of colour of the girl's eyes. The faint light coming from the hallway shone right over her face, making her eyes sparkle like a star in the night sky. Iratella noticed his faded smile. Confused with his two different expressions on her, she herself began to feel down. "D-Dino...are you alright...?"

A flashback or two from his past occured. Short, but clear. All focused on one thing and one thing only. She was the girl. The girl from his childhood memory. The girl with the glittery, sparkly and shimmery silver-grey eyes. "A-a-a-ahhhh....it's...nothing...sorry...I didn't mean to stare....it's just...you remind me of a girl...who left a very deep impression in me...with the...same colour of eyes...as yours...." the air around them was awkward. Dino still held her in his arms, the loud thumping sound of his heart clearly audible to Iratella's ears.

The moment was indeed awkward, but then, Iratella soon felt a sense of assured safety in his arms, the same kind of feeling whenever she's in her brother's arms and when Hibari is nearby to her. Her mind puzzled on that feeling, but her heart melted instantly, knowing that he's here for her. The awkward aura soon died down, but as soon as it did, shadows covered the light shining into the small corner they were at. Multiple footsteps were heard. Then she saw him again, standing behind Dino - Ortollani. Iratella's sudden shift of concentration on another direction and her slightly shocked expression made him turned to the back. He nearly stumbled over upon seeing the tall figure suddenly standing behind him.

"Hmm....familiar friend you have there. Oh, the Cavallone Decimo!! What pleasant surprise to see that this...clumsy horse is your saviour for the day...hmph...cocky...." Ortollani smirked, pulling out yet again the Snow Property Extractor. The 5 men behind him pulled out black hand guns, ready to fire at the blonde Cavallone Decimo.

Dino, at a speed of wind, pulled out his trusty bullwhip and got into position to fight them. Iratella was left to sit on the floor, recollecting Ortollani's words. Dino...is...the Decimo boss...of that...family...? THAT....Cavallone family...?"

"Ready for your last words, boy?"

"Oh yea...are you ready to die?"

"Odd words. Ain't those words for you?"

"Too bad it's not. Coz I'm the Cavallone Decimo."

"Cocky. So, what's your bet, Iratella? Death or life for your saviour here in exchange for your Snow Property?"

Dino's heart nearly skipped its rhythm upon hearing the name of the girl. Another name he knew of but never thought that it was the name of the girl he's been so close to with for the past few days. Yukino...is...in fact...that girl...the daughter of the Catena Nono...that young girl...? He thought to himself in monologue. He turned to look at her frantically, witnessing her puzzled face that struck him right at the centre of his heart. Iratella......Catena......

The moment Dino turned, the sound of the trigger of the guns from the 5 guys behind Ortollani was heard to be pulled slightly. Her agility in listening to tiny sounds like those due to years of experience in handling shot guns like hers striked Iratella's attention, and she immediately sprang into action. She pulled Dino by his whip, pulling him backwards and racing forwards to get in front of him, holding one of her guns in her other hand and shooting out more of her Snow Property-filled lightning rays on all the 5 men, narrowly missing Ortollani as he managed to evade the shot in time, but he stumbled over his own feet as Dino took him down with just one flick of his whip. Iratella and Dino quickly took the opportunity to run away from them hand in hand with Dino leading the way.

"Agh, damn...why the hell are they so hard to deal with...? They're just kids and yet, their potential is way beyond imaginable...ugh....GET THEM!!!!" Ortollani screamed towards the army of men that ran past the small corner he's at.

Dino and Iratella ran as fast as their legs could carry them, fast enough to be at a safe distance away from the men chasing them from behind. They had no time to stop and think. They could only afford to run. Those people may just be from a small and not so strong family, but they are famously notorious and shouldn't be underestimated. "Ah, shit!!!" she cried out suddenly, and stopped running.

Her hand slipped out from his grasp immediately as she stopped. He then stopped as well, turning back to her to see what's wrong with her. "Are you alright? What's wrong? Can you still run?"

"Yes, I can...but...there's a group of them heading this way from the front there..." Iratella, panting as she spoke, pointed towards the direction she mentioned. Soon enough, the group of men cornered them in the front. Iratella and Dino took a step back, but then they heard heavy footsteps coming from behind, and soon enough another group of men cornered them. Both of them are now stuck in between the men. "Damn damn damn it..."

"Why am I suddenly feeling all panicky...?"

"Because we're dealing with a lot of notorious people who might kill us in one blow?"

"Good point..." Dino gulped his saliva nervously.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do, what do we do........" Iratella began to chant the words continuously in a state of panic, her mind suddenly blank and clueless.

But just when they were about to get attacked, suddenly, screaming and yealping voices of the Frotizo men filled the air. One by one, the men, both cornering Iratella and Dino in the front and back, are being beaten unconcious and severely injured. Soon enough, the identity of the people who were now their saviour - the Cavallone family members and Hibari Kyouya along with a couple of the disciplinary committee of Namimori, including Kusakabe. Not long later, the whole clan of people that cornered the two girl and guy were wiped out.

"Kyouya!!!! Oh, wha- how did you know I was here??" And...what????" Iratella couldn't think straight.

"Your brother sensed your danger and asked me to come here and rescue you."

"Wh-what a straightforward answer~" Dino was stunned. "and...Romario!! What are you guys doing here??"

"We were concerned that you couldn't make it to rescue her without our help, so we decided to come along and help out. And also to ensure the safety of both of you." Romario answered with a kind chuckle.

"Well, I have to say that the timing of both you and Kyouya was precise~ you guys came in just in time." Dino sounded so happy.

"Could he have been the one making the trouble? Coz if he is the one doing all the trouble, I will bite him to death now-"

"No, Kyouya~~ he came here to rescue me...he managed to get me out of a near-death experience just now, so...no, it's not him..."

"Are you sure? He's just that suspicious-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Iratella placed her hand on Hibari's arm, pushing it down gently, indicating him to lay it off of Dino. Hibari took a good look at the blonde mafia, turning away in disbelief and backed away two or three steps from Dino.

"Another group of men is coming this way. Boss, it's best that you take her away from here now, because even if you stay to fight against all of them, it's not gonna stop Ortollani from getting her. So it's better if you take her somewhere he can't get her within this moment before the Avengers come by to take them." Romario warned sternly, but in a kind tone.

"I entrust in you to handle the situation...I'm sorry for having to abandon y-"

"It's alright, boss. With this young lad here with his guys, I don't think we'll have a problem in handling these people. They're not Vongola or Varia-rated, so it'll be pretty easy. The most important thing is that she's taken out from here, away from his sight long enough until they come." Romario explained further, convincing his boss to go ahead first.

"Thank you, Romario." Dino nodded with gratitude.

Iratella bowed in gratitude towards Romario and the rest of the Cavallone clan, and was about to do the same to Hibari. "Kyouya....thank y-"

"No need for gratitude for the moment now, Yukino. You have to get back there now. We'll handle the rest. You go."

"But, Ky-"

"No 'buts', just go. I'll bite these scums to death and return back to the festival before you even know it. Just go." the Vongola Cloud Guardian positioned himself in battle mode to prepare for any more in coming enemies. Iratella looked at him for a moment, a worried feeling flooding over her, but she knew, with him around, there won't be any problem, moreover that he's in the Namimori school grounds. With one nod of her head to him, she began to pick up her pace together with Dino.

Hibari smirked with relief to see her run off to safety and out of his sight. "Now...to take care of these scums..." a few heavy footsteps later, Ortollani was soon standing in front of him and ready to fight with the youngster more than half his age younger.

"Why are all the people around the Catena girl young small fries...?" Ortollani whispered to himself.

Hibari must've overheard Ortollani's silent whisper to himself, because he soon rushed towards Ortollani, taking the first hit on Ortollani, instantly injuring Ortollani. "Because you're creating trouble in the grounds of Namimori Chuu, and moreover the trouble you created was trying to injure her, I will bite you to death."

***********************************************

Iratellio stood just outside the festival main entrance, fiddling about his hair and his necklace as he waited for Hibari to come back with his sister. There's only 15 minutes left to Iratella's turn to perform and she's not back yet. Shino, Gokudera and Yamamoto have been awaiting for her arrival since Hibari left. He nervously check his watch and continuously chanted, "15 minutes to go....15 minutes to go...15 minutes to go...15 minutes to go...15 minutes to go..."

He still remembered how Hibari nearly bit him to death to know what was Iratella's condition at that moment. At least Hibari still went off to find for her and rescue her instead of just ignoring. Somehow, Iratellio feels as if he's seeing a whole different side of Hibari. "But...that place IS IN Namimori Chuu...right...? So...is he just rushing back to Namimori Chuu to finish off those guys for the sake of taking care of Namimori's safety...? Maybe I should've just be the one who ran off to find for Iratella instead of...telling him everything...ughhhhh...what kind of brother am I...? Can't even take responsibility on my sister..." Iratellio kept slapping his face with both his palms, going over countless of times on how stupid he's been lately.

"So, is she back yet??" Haine ran back to Iratellio to check on conditions. "Ohhh kayyyy....still not here yet...."

"I don't know...Hibari never said anything to us after he's heard the whole story from us. He just ran off...and I don't know if he'll even run there, fight off the guys and rescue her out from there like her knight in shining armour..."

"Man, Iratellio, you're being all paranoid~ you know he'll do whatever to takes to get her back...like how he did last year." Haine patted his shoulder.

"Well...maybe you are right...I'm just being too worried...but...then...she's dealing with the Frotizo family...their rise against us had forced us to run from Italy...mom and dad ran from them to protect us..."

"Which is why now with Hibari, Iratella won't be harmed by them. Hibari sworn to her in front of you last year, didn't he? And although he's a Vongola guardian, he devoted to protect her as well, since she's a half-Vongola..."

Iratellio's ears soon picked up engine sounds from afar that is clearly a familiar and pretty local one to him. Turning his head back towards the road, he saw a red Ferrari Enzo stopping right in front of Haine and him. The low but clear screeching brake sound and the sudden appearing of the car made him narrowly missing his step from startle. Iratellio's eyes widened, shocked that the car appeared so suddenly. But as soon as he sees his sister getting down from the car hastily with the blonde mafia who has been helping out his sister to decrease her most head-aching asset for her big day, he became relieved. "Iratella..."

"Onii-sama~~" Iratella ran towards her brother, hugging him tight and close to tears. Iratellio, too, hugged her tight, afraid of having to lose her and leaving her alone to fight against the guy who was responsible of driving them out of their home country. "I'm sorry...it was my fault...for forgetting to wear my contact lenses when I came out from the house...with mom and dad..." Iratella's voice sounded as if she was about to cry.

"It's okay...it wasn't your fault..." Iratellio smiled with total relief, hugging his sister tightly in his arms.

"Oh my...thank god she's alright..." Haine clapped her palms on her cheeks.

"Haine!! Haine!! Is she here yet?" Shino, Yamamoto and Gokudera came running towards the two girls and guys standing at the festival entrance, with Shino shouting out to the four and reaching to them first. "Ahh, she's here...what happened...?"

"Long story. We'll tell you about it later, but first, rush your lead singer to the stage now now now!!!" Iratellio soon became excited about his sister's performance. Maybe it was because of his narrow lost of his sister.

Iratella pulled her brother by his left arm, pulling him close to her. "But, I thought you yourself was reluctant for me to perform for them~" she whispered to him.

"Reluctant or not, but everyone is here because they want to see your performance, and their desire is much more stronger than my relucantcy. Now, go~" Iratellio pushed her gently on her back, watching her as Haine pulled her by her hand to rush to the stage area. From the distance, he could hear Iratella asking Haine on whether her dress and hair is in good condition and Haine laughing and complementing Iratella's looks.

Dino came forward and stood beside Iratellio, crossing his arms across his chests and smiled. "Thanks so much for bringing her back safe and sound." Iratellio turned to him and said.

"Pleasure is mine, Iratellio." Dino said with his laidback tone.

"Where is that skylark kid, by the way?"

"He's back there...behind the school grounds dealing with them along with my family members. Those Frotizo guys will be sent to Vendicare Prison, so don't worry about it."

"Shall we go see my sister's performance? That's what you've been waiting for, right? Furthermore, you're the one who helped her finish her song."

"That's precisely why I'm here. Let's go. And oh, nice to see you again."

"Nice to meet you again too." Iratellio smiled as he took a step ahead of the Cavallone Decimo.

****************************************

"Oh damn, I see those guys there. They've already taken their seats and ready to catch your performance, girl~" Ayame took a peek from one corner at back stage, seeing the president of Sony BMG taking his seat at the centre right in front of the stage. The other committee of the Sony BMG board took their seats both left and right side of the president. "Ah- the one who looks like some big boss...that must be the boss of Sony BMG..."

"Ayame, please don't scare me right now. I'm about to go up on stage any minute now, and you're telling me that you see those corporate people taking their seats and ready to watch my performance? Coz if yes, then I'm gonna be even more not ready to perform for them. Nuh-uh~" Iratella was feeling pretty nervous, but excited. She held the microphone tightly in her hands, legs walking about to calm herself down, her guitar dangling behind her back. All that's in her head right now is to deliver the song perfectly, not just for the committee board of Sony BMG, but also everyone who came to join the annual Namimori Festival to watch her perform.

Kaede then came to her, patted her on the shoulder. "Are you ready? You're up next in one minute."

"Yea~ I just hope I won't mess up my performance..." Iratella's voice trailed off.

"Don't worry, girl. Just keep your cool and just perform like how you usually do. Assume the front row of people as just....normal Namimori people. Go up there and just do your best. That's the most important thing right now, okay?" Kaede smiled and gripped Iratella's shoulder a bit tighter. Iratella responded with a smile to know that there's a lot of people there supporting her all the way.

Out in front of the stage area, everyone was already filling up every inch and crevasse of available places to watch Iratella's performance live. Iratellio and Dino managed to squeeze themselves through the crowd and get into a perfect spot to watch Iratella's performance. Edwarde and Arianna too got a strategic spot to watch their daughter's performance. Arianna was already prepared with her camcorder, ready to record it all. Kyoko and Haru soon appeared on the stage, excitement lightening up their faces, looking forward to another amazing performance of Iratella's. "Okay, so , now, it's time for the most awaited moment of the whole Namimori Festival. It's been a pretty long day, and everyone has been here mostly because of this." Kyoko said with much excitement.

"Introducing to you, Namimori's most prized possession, the girl with the voice from heaven, the one and only..." Haru made the situation more tense with her tone.

"YUKINO HAYASAKAAAA!!!!" the two best friends announced monotonously. The crowd went wild, cheering out loud and giving non-stop rounds of applause as they see Iratella and her band step on stage. Iratellio's smile was wide, reaching from ear to ear. He was definitely looking forward to it.

Iratella stepped on stage, giving her signature sweet smile, a polite bow and positioning her guitar properly in front of her. Suddenly, she realized something: her nervous feeling were all gone. She was feeling all calm and ready to take the stage like she always does. Her eyes scanned through the crowd as she waited for Shino, Yamamoto and Gokudera to prepare themselves. She eyed on the Sony BMG boss, who was already ready to listen to her captivating voice. She tried to assume them as someone normal and not just someone who will determine her future. She scanned the crowd further. Her eyes then caught sight of her parents, who waved at her when they interlocked sight with her. She replied them with a smile. And not far from them, she saw Hibari, standing at a far corner, leaning against a wooden stall that was empty. Seeing him standing there with his normal facial expression and usual dark aura protruding from him tells her that the Frotizo guys must've been settled and sent to Vendicare. She gave a relived smile to him, and he replied back with a satisfied smirk. It was obvious, he had fun biting those guys to death, or maybe they were just too easy for him. Then, she saw Iratellio and Dino standing together at the opposite end, smiling at her, giving her their support. Her full focus soon laid on Dino, the guy who helped her finish her song and also the guy who saved her in the nick of time just now. She closed her eyes, gathering her full concentration for the song. She knew the guys should be ready by now, so as the person who is the one to give the cue to begin the song, she knocked her hand on the body of her acoustic guitar in four constant beat. Gokudera then began the song with the piano. And with that, she knew, that there was no turning back. It was time, once again, for her. She joined the

melody with her guitar, her slender fingers gracefully strumming the strings of her guitar.

Everybody needs inspirations

Everybody needs a soul

A beautiful melody

When the night's so long

Coz there is no guarantee

That this life is easy...

Yeah, when my world is falling apart

And there's no light to break up the dark

That's when I...I...I look at you...

When the waves are flooding the shore

And I can't find my way home anymore

That's when I...I...I look at you...

When I look at you....

I see forgiveness,

I see the truth,

You love me for who I am,

Like the stars hold the moon,

Right there where they belong,

But I know I'm not alone,

Yeah, when my world is falling apart,

And there's no light to break up the dark,

That's when I....

I...I look at you...

When the waves are flooding the shore,

and I can't find my way home anymore,

That's when I...

I...I look at you....

You appear just like a dream to me

Just like kaleidoscope colours that cover me

All I need

Every breath that I take

Don't you know

You're beautiful.........

When the waves are flooding the shore,

and I can't find my way home anymore,

That's when I...

I...I look at you....

Yeahhhhh, wuooohhhh....

Coz you appear

Just a like a dream to me..............

Throughout the whole song, everyone stayed quiet, captivated by the lyrics, the melody and her voice. The boss of Sony BMG and the whole committee board were also captivated. They gave their full concentration on her whole performance, eyes closed and ears open, heart totally captured by the song.

Iratella was totally relaxed throughout her performance. She felt like she was herself when she was singing, a feeling that she rarely has during her performance every year. The only time she had the same feeling during a performance was three years back when she participated in the district singing competition, when she was only 11 years old but winning against all the others who were older than her, and Hibari had helped her out a lot that time. She strummed the last note of the song, with much relaxation and satisfaction overflowing her. As immediate as she finished the song, the crowd gave her a wild applause and rounds of non-stop cheer, all happy and satisfied with why they were present at the festival. And this was the only reason why Iratella agreed to do the performance, all for the sake of those who love her for who she is and what she means to them. For all that matters...I know...even if I do accept my lifetime responsibility as a Catena heir...and take the family inheritance battle...I know...all those who love me now...will still...love me and trust in me...even if they'll know I'm the daughter to a royal mafia family...a girl's hands who are tainted with blood that will never be washed away...a girl's blood who is either considered blessed because of the luxurious life recieved...or cursed because...she is forever bounded to that lifetime responsibility of hers in order to protect her family...I know...there will be some who will not accept me after they know the truth...but...there will be some of them...who will still...forever love me like how they do now...

Iratella, joined by Shino, Yamamoto and Gokudera, stood in a line hand in hand and bowed down to the crowd and the VIPs who gave them a standing ovation for the awesome performance. The quartet were all in smiles and heart filled with satisfaction as they rushed backstage and hugged one another for their great job done despite the short amount of time that they had to finish off the song and practising it to perfection. All their friends came to them, congratulating them for the great job they've done.

Iratellio came to Iratella and hugged her from behind happily. "Congratulations, sis!! You've done it again!! Although this time, you are, of course, way better than the previous years~ this year's performance was filled with lots of genuine emotion and the genuine side of yourself...something I've last seen three years ago."

"Thank you, onii-sama~" Iratella turned around to hug her brother. She then noticed Dino standing behind her brother, smiling at her. Immediately, she gently let go of her brother and walked towards him. She looked into his eyes, gratitude filling her eyes. "Thank you so much for all the help you've given to me...not just for the song...but also for just now..."

"It's ay-okay. I'm glad to have help you out, at least I did something useful while I'm around." he gave a light pat on her head and smiled to her. "Hai fatto un lavoro davvero eccellenta stasera. La tun canzone giusta tocca nel cuore della gente."

Iratella looked at him, silent for a moment before laughing kindly to him. "But, this isn't just my song. You co-writed it with me."

"Yes, I did, but you were the one who sang it to everyone. Out there just now, I nearly couldn't remember that I co-written the song with you, because everyone, including myself, was left speechless with how much emotion and feelings that you've put into your performance. Congratulations." patting her shoulder as he said.

"Grazie, Cavallone Decimo." Iratella, thanking him in Italian, the first time she'd spoken in Italian to another person aside her family after a few years.

"You're welcome~" the Cavallone Decimo, then all of a sudden, pulled her close to him and gave a peck of kiss on her forehead. Iratella was stunned, and luckily, only Iratellio saw the whole thing. Her whole face became tomato red, heat crawling up her cheeks. She could only afford to blush and listen to her own heart beginning to race faster and faster, and a hoarse male voice calling out to her name from behind made her heart nearly skip a beat. "Yukino Hayasaka. May we have a word with you?" the boss of the Sony BMG, accompanied by the Sony BMG committee board and Namimori Chuu's principal, came to where they're at.

"Oh~ damn..." Iratella whispered to herself.

The Sony BMG boss came forward to her and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you in person."

"Nice to meet you too." Iratella took hold of his hand and shook it, worried sick that her hand might be all sweaty and sticky.

"That was an amazingly captivating performance you have there. Something that we've been waiting to see all these years. That raw talent of yours, it's just...there's no words to describe it. I don't know whether you know it yourself, but all those people out there were definitely your true fans." Iratella nearly laughed out loud when she heard that sentence.

"Thank you for that complement." she just said.

"Since I've seen it all for myself...I know that this will be the right choice. I'm now offering you...a lifetime contract as a solo singer to Sony BMG...worth more than 1 billion yen...this is the right time for you to widen the influence of your talent...and also the amount of income that you get...but I'm sure, with that talent of yours, you will be making big bucks in no time." the boss convinced her.

Iratella, who, before this was in doubt about accepting the contract, locked eyes with her brother first, then Dino. She then looked down to her hand that was placed on her thighs. After a moment of silence for a couple of seconds, Iratella soon looked up at the boss. "I know...that with this contract, there will be more people that will love me for my talent...my singing...my songs that I'll soon write...I will become a young star...a young star that'll be loved by everyone...but I think...that...the current life I'm living now is more than enough...besides...I have another lifetime responsibility that I, sooner or later, have to accept and carry it out."

"But, you can leave that aside, right? Not many aspiring artists, even those older than you, get these rare opportunities to become under the limelight for once in their lifetime. Especially you, a 14-year-old raw talent with the voice rarely found in modern Japan society, who have the chance to become international-"

"You don't understand, sir." she cut him off. The Sony BMG committee board were literally shocked to see her cutting his sentence. "The lifetime responsibility that I have to carry out, sir, have been part of me even before I was born. I've begun to carry that on my shoulders right after I was born. The proof is marked running through my veins. That responsibility cannot compete with the contract that you're offering. That responsibility, that I mention, it's more precious to me than the rare chance to become an honorable artist...something that, maybe if I really were to tell you, you won't even believe." she smirked lightly. She took a peek at all her friends standing not far from them. They were smiling with the explanantion she's given to Sony BMG.

"So...you're giving up on the contract...for that responsibility...of yours...?"

"I guess I am..." Iratella just smiled.

"You're sure that you're just gonna give up on that chance...?"

"I'm pretty sure I am...because I decided...and I'm the type of person who, once a decision is made up, I'll never change it." she said.

"I see.......well......then......I guess......since that's your choice, we just can't stop you, yea? It's okay then...I'm pretty sure that there's more than just you with that voice out there..."

"I'm pretty sure there'll be at least one more person out there with the same amount of talent I have."

"Well...I'm supposed that's true...well...thank you for your entertainment today. It was a real pleasant to see you perform live...and although right now, you stick to your decision...if you ever change your mind, don't hesitate to contact us, yea?" he handed over a white contact card to her, on it stating the office number of Sony BMG. "And we won't hesitate to give you that contract we've offered you."

"Thank you, sir. But...I can't guarantee that I will ever call."

"Okay...uhm....thank you once again...and nice meeting you..." he bowed to her.

"You're welcome, sir. And thanks for the kind offer." she bowed back to him and also the rest of the committee board. She watched them walked out of the backstage area accompanied by the principal of Namimori Chuu. Iratella sighed long then smiled with relief. "Well, at least now I have that thing behind my back now."

"That's really great of you, Iratella....you actually rejected their awesome offer!!!" Shino came to her and hung his hands over her shoulders.

"That's not something awesome...that's just my decision..." Iratella said with a laugh.

"If I were you, I might've accepted it without thinking, but YOU...holy crap, you rejected it for the sake of all of us~" Ayame said, very proud of her fellow friend.

"All of you are more than enough for me. I don't need world wide fame to determine who loves me or who hates me."

"Iratella!!" Arianna's voice rang from behind the group. The Catena Nono came along with Arianna to the backstage to meet Iratella.

"Mom!! Dad!!" Iratella ran towards them and hugged them tight.

"You never told us that you've agreed back to perform for the festival because the Sony BMG people asked you to~" Arianna said sternly.

"I'm sorry, mom...dad...I wanted to tell you, but...I was afraid that if you found out...then you won't allow me to perform..."

"Are you kidding us?" Edwarde sounded out. "We won't be. Because we know...if they DO offer that contract to you, we know that you won't accept it."

"Whoa whoa whoa, what?? And I thought the last time you guys said the other way round~"

"We'd figured that you two are old enough to think wisely. So we weren't worried." Arianna turned to Iratellio and answered his question. "Even if we knew beforehand, I don't think it won't affect us at all."

"Ahh, I see you've got a friend here. And not just any friend, but the Cavallone Decimo. Nice to meet you again, son. I see that you've finally become the desired boss that your father wishes for you to become." Edwarde took his hand out to Dino.

"Sir." Dino shook Edwarde's hand. "Nice to meet you again too. And thanks. If it wasn't for Reborn, I wouldn't even accept the duty to be Cavallone Decimo."

So, I was right....he was that boy whom I've seen from atop my balcony back then...that boy with golden blonde hair...who looked up to me as I frantically waved at him when he seemed kinda down...Iratella recalled. She smiled at the sight of the flashbacked memories.

"Yukino." a stern voice called her from behind. Almost immediately as she recognized the voice, she turned to look into the fierce eyes of the skylark. "Kyouya..."

"It's exactly the same as before...only this time, you were involved in a much bigger trouble."

"Well...what to do...I made a huge mistake that made them coming after me...oh, what happened to them?"

"They've been sent to Vendicare Prison. I'm guessing that they won't be coming out from there any time close."

"That's good news...my family and I can finally go back to Italy without worrying about them..." Iratella gave a relieved sigh.

"Good for you then. And oh, I congratulate you for your yet again astounding performance." Hibari smiled and turned away from her.

"Thanks..." Iratella replied loud enough for him to hear. As she watched him disappear from her sight, she walked back to join the rest of the people. Just as soon as she did, she felt her arm being pulled lightly. Someone pulled her away from the crowd of her friends. Dino pulled her away from the crowd and out from the backstage area where no one was. As they reached, he turned to her and looked into her eyes. Her silverish grey eyes melted his heart instantly. And also, he instantly knew that he's in love with her. He tried to keep his cool, not wanting her to find out about the feeling in his heart. "This week had been a real...roller coaster ride, don't you think?"

Iratella laughed shyly, looking away from him. "Yea, it was...but I liked it...it's nothing like I've experienced before..."

"You...will remember me, right...?" he asked suddenly.

"Well...of course, I will...I will never forget anyone who have done good to me with good intentions...and you definitely...have done that, so of course, you will forever be remembered by me." Iratella, while answering, felt something amiss with the way he asked her the question. "W-why do you ask...?"

"I have to go back to Italy tonight...spero di rivederti presto, principessa mafia..." Dino said to her with a heavy heart. He once again gave another kiss on her forehead gently, this time a little longer. Iratella was slightly shocked with that kiss of his and also his sentence. When he released her, he said to her with his playful smile, "Arrivederci..." turned away and walked away from her.

"Ahh, Dino..." Iratella wanted to give chase, but then her feet didn't move, as if that kiss on her forehead was like a spell casted on her so that she won't catch up with him. "Dino...."

******************************************

"So, is that it? You're ditching her just like that without saying any more? I thought you have feelings for her..."

"I know, Romario...I know..."

"Then why did you just ditch her?"

"I'm not."

"You're not...? Then why are you wanting to fly back to Italy now?"

"Because...she's been through so much shock in less than a week, I don't want her to get her mind mixed up with different feelings at one go...and besides...our flight back is tonight, right? Is everyone ready?"

"They're all ready at the airport since a while ago, waiting for you now."

"Okay...so, you ready to go?" Dino streched his arms.

"If you are."

"Okay then. So, let's go."

"Let's go."

The Ferrari engine sound rumbled, and the car sped off from the festival venue and disappearing from passerbys' sight within second.

*********************************************

"It was pretty weird though...that..within that minute...he was asking me about the week's experience...then whether I'll remember him...then all of a sudden he's saying that he's going back to Italy that very night...it was really...really weird...and awkward, not to mention..." Iratella leaned back on the sofa, continuing to tell her long story about how she fell in love with the small tortoise's owner. After a long sigh, she moved on to the next part of the story. "But then...I kinda found out why he acted like that...3 months later, since we were safe again to go back to Italy, we returned there to attend a gala dinner organized by the Vongola family to celebrate the birthday of Vongola Nono, Timoteo. So, the usual me as a teenager back then was extremely uninterested with whatever my parents were discussing with all the other adults. Iratellio brought me out from the circle of adults and began to roam around the Vongola manor. Soon enough, Iratellio, I don't know how and why, he disappeared in the massive amount of people and left me to wander the place alone. I did met some other old friends, but I didn't stay long to chat with any one of them. I walked about and around, til I heard a familiar tune coming from one of the private music rooms..."

******************************************

The young girl, clad in a baby blue strapless dress with white details, matching coloured thick scarves covering over her shoulder, simple hairdo and baby blue flats, followed the sound of the melody of a song she's performed in one of the previous year in the Namimori Festival. The melody brought her to one of the private music room, with a large single mahogany door with bronze handles. Slowly placing her hands on the door handle, she then pushed the door open also slowly. The melody, belonging to the song "Just Be Friends", was then louder to her. Gently closing the door behind her, she walked towards the pianist that danced his fingers on the black and white piano keys gracefully. He's noticed the entry of the girl, but he continued to finish the song.

Iratella sat on a single-seat couch not far from the piano, watching the blonde pianist playing the song with full passion and feeling like how all professional pianists does. She also observed the movements of the pianist as he played the song on the piano - he's wearing a full black tux but with no necktie. He's wearing a pair of leather shoes that glistens under the seemingly bright light.

He finished the song not long after. After closing the covers of the piano keys, he stood up from the seat and walked towards her. When he reached to her, he took her right hand, held it close to his lips and kissed it gently, a manner of greeting that a gentleman usually does to a lady upon meeting each other. But this one wasn't just a greeting, as Iratella's heart was almost as if it was racing when he kissed her right hand. "Welcome back to Italy."

"T-thank you..." she was stuttering. She couldn't believe that she was actually stuttering when usually she would be just her usual bubbly self whenever around him.

"You wanna know something? I have been thinking about you every day and night...every day while I'm idle, and every night before I go to sleep. I'd always think and remember that beautiful pair of silverish grey eyes...and this face of yours...it's been 3 months, but I still remember this face of yours..."

"Weird....because that's what I was thinking about too...I mean, not me, but you..." she confessed shyly.

"Well, at least that's a relief for me to hear that~"

"Why say so?"

"Because you remember me." he answered, looking right into her eyes. He just couldn't take his eyes off her, moreover now that he wants to tell her something he didn't want to tell 3 months ago.

"O-o-of course I d-do..." she was stuttering once again while answering.

He was happy with that answer of hers. "Ah- there's something on your hair here..."

"Ahh, really...? Where??"

"Let me get rid of it for you~" Dino sought this as an opportunity to tell his heart to her, coming so close to her face and gently blowing away the little dust away from her bangs that wasn't even there. With that distance of his face from her face, she began to feel her heart pounding against her chest and was about to bounce out from her chests at any moment. Her face was coloured in bright tomato red and heat crawled up her cheeks. "D-Din-Dino...."

He looked into her eyes, loving that lovely beautiful pair of eyes of hers at every single microsecond he's looking at it. Those eyes of hers are like rare diamonds. "I know, this may sound pretty...rushing and sudden...but...this was what I actually wanted to tell you back then when I had to leave...but didn't told you for fear that I will add more confusion to that current state of you..."

"W-What is it...that y-you wanted to tell me...? Or as-ask me...?" her heart was captivated by his charm that he's working on her, barely able to concentrate on the words she wants to say to him.

"Can you be my girlfriend...?" that sudden question struck Iratella immediately, her heart nearly stopped pumping blood. She was thrown into a state of confusion, not knowing whether to accept him as his boyfriend. It all happened pretty fast, and she was still pretty young, so she don't know if she is ready to commit herself to a serious relationship. And she also doesn't know whether he could keep his loyalty as a boyfriend to her. "If you don't stop me when I'm about to kiss you...I'll take it as a yes..."

She heard his instructions. She wanted to act. But she didn't. Her mind, her body and her heart couldn't move away or reject him. As he slowly moved his lips closer to hers, she remained in her position, barely moving about. And when his lips was bare minimal millimetres away from hers, instead of pushing him away, she closed her eyes. And then it all happened. The first kiss.

She didn't knew whether she was just blank-headed, but somehow, at one moment, she finally realized that since the first time they've met, she was already in love with him without even knowing.

*******************************************

"Haha, I know that that moment was pretty cheesy...from how he asked me to be his girlfriend to that first kiss...it was pretty cheesy, but...after having that first kiss with him...as I thought back...I finally realized that I had fell in love with him ever since that time...when I first met him by the river..." Iratella took in a deep breath of satisfaction to have finally finished her story to Enzo. "We started out our relationship in a pretty cheesy way...but our relationship lasted for more than 10 years now...so, I guess that destiny works in a pretty interesting way, don't you think?" she thought as she patted the little tortoise's head gently. "But...cheesy or not...both of us know how much we love each other...we both know how much we trust each other...so regardless on how cheesy things will get, we'll still be together...haha, Enzo, don't worry, your owner still loves you more than me, okay? If not, he wouldn't be still bringing you around with him to wherever he goes, especially to other countries. So, no worries, kay?" little Enzo seemed to nod in agreement to her statement. Enzo attempted to jump from the table across to her lap, as what Iratella guessed from watching his movements at the edge of the table. "Okay, no need for you to jump and injure yourself~ come on, I'll carry you~" with an effortless lift, she carried him and tugged him around her left arm along with the file of music scores.

She walked towards the door and was about to turn the bronze knobs when she heard multiple footsteps coming from outside. Voices of multiple males and a female echoed outside in the hallway. The voices were blur and couldn't be heard clearly from inside of the library, so she placed her ears on the door. She could figure out who were they based on the tone of the voices and the pronounciations of the words. They were Dino's guardians.

She didn't want to get mocked by them again after a pleasant afternoon with Enzo, so she waited until they were gone before she decides to step out from the library. She hears the sound of the door from the room next door creaked open, and the voices of the males and female disappeared into the room. When no more visible voices could be heard from the hallway, she then slowly turned the door knob to open the door. She stepped out from the library quietly and closed the door behind her swiftly. She managed to get a glance of the one last person who was about to step into the room where Dino's guardians were, and was literally shocked and almost left speechless to know the person who went into the room and shut the door behind him. She was about to call out to him when the voice she loves most called out to her.

"Ahh, there you are, Iratella!! I was finding for you all over the place and it turns out that you were in the library the whole time with Enzo~ both of you had a great time?" Dino's voice rang from the corner where the hallways crosses path. Her worries disappeared as swift as how it appeared. She ran to him and hung her hands around him tight. Dino welcomed her into his arms and hugged her lovingly.

"Yea, we had a pretty great time...I told him about our first encounter~"

"Ahh, is that so? What do you think of that story, Enzo? Really funny and cheesy, right?" the both of them laughed at the sight of Enzo's little legs swaying about in excitement when his owner asked the question. "Come on, let's go prepare for you to go home. The girls back at your manor is pretty worried sick with your situation now."

"Okay~ come on, Enzo, let's go~ maybe you could help me out with my packing?" Iratella held Enzo tight in her arms as she walked side by side with Dino, who hung his arm around her shoulders.

Katrina's eyes were peeking throught the available spaces between the unclosed door. As she watched the two couple walked away, she slammed the door shut with rage. "Whoa, what's wrong with ya??" Aiden yelled at her.

Katrina leaned herself against the door, hands crossed across her chests. Dammit...she nearly found out about this...she's really a tough one to handle...dammit...we really need to commence the plan as soon as possible...

"Are you okay, Katrina?" Dmitri asked her in his husky voice matched with a hint of Russian accent.

"I am...NOT. How long do we need to continue to postpone the commencation of the next step?? If we continue to postpone it, sooner or later, that Catena girl will find out, and as soon as she finds out, she has enough power to destroy us all, and POOF!! There goes our whole plan!!!"

"Why do you have to be so paranoid all the time, Katrina? Relax...don't worry...that's part of the plan...postponing the launch of the attack...the right time has yet to come...and when it does, it WILL be carried out courtesy of your power." Isvant stood up from his seat and stood beside another person joining them in the room. "When that time comes, she will witness the crumble of the whole mafia kingdom when she's up against the person that she'll never kill no matter what..." the whole room turned their heads to the direction of the person sitting majestically on the other end of the long meeting table. The man rested his chin on his hands, giving out a slight chuckle when he recieves the attention from all his supposingly underling.

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END OF CHAPTER 5

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Author's note: I know....I postponed this chapter for a full two months~ ;__;

I'm at least I'm done with it!!! :'3 well...considering the length of this chapter, two months is...forgivable right...? OwO

If you say that chapter 4 was long, you would scold me for making chapter 5 EVEN LONGER and EVEN more COMPLICATED!!! Well, that's how most awesome novels are, right? XD

*evades flying boulders*

Now that I'm done wtih chapter 5, I will take a break, maybe for a couple of days to rest my almost-dead brain and also to draft out some rough ideas on chapter 6~ :D

and SPOILERS!!! Chapter 6 is where it'll all begin~~ *w*

and of course...they will be shorter than the previous two chapters~

til the next chapter, SEE YAAA!! o(>w<)o