Author's Note: It's only proper to have an author's note on the first chapter and I've also edited it a little bit. First chapter matters, yes? So, A Price to Pay, hopefully will pique your interest and have you stick with Satsuki. It is a very OC-centered fanfiction, with romance on OC/Tsuna and lots of action, so if you can't handle that, then maybe this isn't the fic for you :P

But to those who continue to read, thank you! I hope you enjoy every chapter :)

"Satsuki, you have a long life ahead of you… Many people aren't given a choice. You're one of the fortunate ones who can turn away."

"…and I'm one of those who'd rather be in this."

The cold sweat was a given when Satsuki woke up, ten years through and still having dreams of that time. Sometimes she wondered if she had made the right choice, maybe Reborn was right.

When she looked out the window of her room, everything was the same. The sunlight peeked through the curtains, birds singing songs of the past ten years. Life was good most of the time, being part of the Vongola seemed more like the normal life than anything else, minus the chaos and warfare, of course.

She stretched, her arms reaching behind her then falling back down lazily on her sides. The mirror in the bathroom gave a clear image of her. She sifted through her black, messy, morning hair and sighed at the sight in front of her. Her hand absent mindedly traced the deformed scar on her neck down to her collarbone, every waking morning it reminded her of what had happened as well as what was to come.

She completed her daily morning routine happily, all that was left now was breakfast, and perhaps even that would be chaotic. The Vongola mansion had all kinds of perks and people, but the people were the most troublesome yet enjoyable ones. Hence when she stepped out of her room, a bullet whizzed past her and she froze on her spot.

"Good morning Satsuki."

She grimaced at the morning greeting Reborn exercised on her, the small Arcobaleno tipped his hat down and continued down the hallway without a second word to her, as if he had never fired the bullet in the first place.

"G-Good morning, Reborn…"

She traced his steps with caution, following behind him in silence, it was only in the morning out in the hallways where she could think. It was quiet there, probably the ONLY quiet place aside from her room, to be quite honest, because when Reborn had thrown open the door leading to the dining room, her ears were attacked by different sounds. Plates clattering, people shouting profanities, if it was any other way, it wouldn't have been Vongola. A chorus of good mornings came from everyone, save the aloof people who never really acknowledged anyone, even after ten long years.

"Satsuki, good morning."

One voice stood out among the rest. He was once that clumsy little boy she went to school with 10 years ago, he was now the calm and collected Vongola boss. In so many ways he had changed yet in so many ways he had stayed the same. Satsuki gave a curt nod and sat at the farthest end from him, this was impulse. Breakfast was served on the table, most of it was gobbled up by the boys. Chrome, Kyoko, I-pin and Haru sat together across her, and they all waved, their faces depicting the usual joy.

Everyday was the same. Vongola had been deemed the strongest mafia family. Looking at the peace that had lasted for over a year already, she had confidence that it would last a little longer. Gokudera bickered with Yamamoto, that hadn't changed. Gokudera still pining for the right hand man -or was it left hand- Satsuki couldn't remember or couldn't care less, because she knew for a fact that Gokudera was better than a right or a left hand. He was both hands, a trustworthy friend and a family member. Everyone in the Vongola was that and nothing less. Tsuna needed every single one of them but glancing at Kyoko, she didn't know if everyone was equal in his heart. Satsuki wouldn't abandon the Vongola, not when it was the very reason she was still alive.

Ten years ago Satsuki was already woven into the mafia life. She was only unaware of it. She lived the normal life much like Tsuna did but at the same time Reborn had appeared in Tsuna's life, Satsuki's family had disappeared. She came home to a bloody evening after a normal school day. Bodies littered her house as if they were garbage instead of humans. She didn't recognize most of the dead men who wore suits, she could only pick three bodies out. Her parents lying in a heap together as if not wanting to let go until the very last moment, her father clutching a gun in his hand, and her mother with a tear stained face. It broke her heart into pieces, seeing them crumble like that.

But it broke her heart more when she recognized the little girl just behind them, as if they tried to shield her. Satsuki's little sister, no older than five. Her dress stained with a blood red. She was innocent. She hadn't even seen the world, done nothing wrong and was pure from the very cores of her heart.

That night when she stood there just staring at the bodies, crying silent, shocked tears, she hadn't noticed that another living presence was in the room. Whoever it was, that was still a mystery until this day but they had tried to kill her too. They seized Satsuki from the back and all she could remember was a searing pain in her neck. Had the gentle flame not interfered, she would have been dead by now.

A gentle, orange flame. That was what saved her that night, though she didn't see who it belonged to and for a few days she searched for that orange flame at the same time digging her own past, about her own family that she actually knew nothing about.

Orfeo. That was her grandfather's last name and she had never known she was of Italian lineage. Orfeo was a mafia family, though it was a small one and never fought for power. Her father didn't want to pass on the mafia lineage to his little girls, so he did what he could. He stashed all the previous documents into a safe only he knew the code to, changed his name, cut all ties to the mafia world and rebuilt anew, only to have everything backfire that night. Someone had opened the safe, and it seemed like whoever it was got what they wanted, because for ten long years, they never came back again.

It wasn't long after that Satsuki met Reborn and dying will Tsuna. She remembered it quite clearly in her head because Tsuna was half naked, confronting Kyoko in the middle of the streets. She vaguely remembered turning to the baby, asking him.

"That's Tsuna isn't it? What can I do to help him…?"

"What family are you from?"

"Family…? I'm… I'm Satsuki Minamoto, daughter of Minamo-"

"I'm going to ask you again, what family are you from?"

"…O-Orfeo…"

Satsuki had wanted to think it was all a dream, she couldn't accept the insanity of it all. Losing everything in one night, living on nothing but despair for days and suddenly seeing the light, maybe this was what she had been waiting for. Someone who needed her.

"Satsuki, you have a long life ahead of you… Many people aren't given a choice. You're one of the fortunate ones who can turn away."

"…and I'm one of those who'd rather be in this."

"Then accept everything that has happened, and learn from it. There's a doctor that lives near the school, once you've learned everything from him, come back to me."

Who would have known that the doctor was a pervert. Those few years were a pain with the perverted doctor but regardless of his mannerisms Shamal did help Satsuki a whole deal. By the time she came back to Reborn, she had already grown a whole lot, both physically and mentally.

"You have a flame yet you don't have a ring, interesting."

Was what Reborn first said and some of the guardians standing around her. The next thing, was already down to business. Reborn pointed at a passed out Tsuna with wounds of all sizes, the result of the Varia ring battle. Satsuki did what almost came like instinct to her, a light, rosy pink flame drove out from the tips of her fingers, she traced his wounds and they closed without difficulty. From then on, she followed Tsuna around as much as Gokudera did, only she was more mellowed out than the smoker, perhaps she hadn't completely recovered from the trauma of that night.

Even today as she sat down around her family members she could still see the bodies. Even after ten years the scent of blood could still infiltrate her nose, and even after those years the scar on her neck still remained and she unconsciously reached up to touch it, but was stopped by another bullet that whizzed past her hand. She snapped back to reality, the familiar sounds of chattering filling her ears again and she saw her hand, halfway up to touch the scar. She frowned, thankful that no one noticed anything over the noise and looked farther down the table to Reborn, gun in hand. She sighed and placed her fork down, standing to leave the room, her chair barely making an audible scraping sound above the noise.

Ten years through, and the memories still bothered her.