Chapter 1: The Night, Rising

"HIEEE!"

A scream broke the peaceful morning silence around the town of Namimori. It came from the upstairs bedroom of a rather ordinary house. Laying on the floor of the rather messy bedroom, there was a 14-year-old boy. He was rather ordinary, with gravity defying brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes, though he closed them for the moment in pain.

"Reborn! What was that for?!" the boy said to the other figure in the room when he opened his eyes again. He looked like a baby, wearing a suit and a fedora. On the fedora sat a chameleon. The baby known as Reborn smirked.

"Your gonna be late for school, Tsuna." Reborn said, still smirking. He leapt up and drop-kicked Tsuna. Tsuna yelped when the attack hit. Suddenly, a voice called from the kitchen of the house.

"Tsu-kun! Breakfast is almost ready!" The voice of his mother called.

"C-coming!" Tsuna called back. Then he started running around his room, hurrying to find his things. He stopped when he noticed a small blue and gold box lying on the floor, face down with the lid open. When did that get there? He ran over and picked it up. It was the box for the seven Vongola rings. But when did-

"Hey, Reborn?" He said. The infant hitman looked up when he heard his name. "What's this extra space for?"

Reborn looked puzzled. "What extra space?"

Tsuna showed him the box. "This extra space. Right underneath the space for the Sky Ring." He was right. There were 8 spaces, not the 7 like they thought there were. Reborn thought to himself. Should I tell him now? There hasn't been a word about that ring from Italy... Have they found the-

"I'm gonna be late! Gotta go Reborn!" Tsuna yelped when he realized the time. Running out the door, he completely forgot about the extra ring space. Reborn sighed a bit when Tsuna left. Maybe later. He smiled as he followed Tsuna out the door.

*a bit later*

Tsuna was running to school, still worried about being late. Not paying attention, he crashed into someone at full force. The force knocked him onto the ground. He looked up at the person he had just run into.

It was one of the guys that lived in Tsuna's neighborhood. He was known for being a bully and easily angered. And he looked pissed. Yeek! Of all the people he had to run into, it had him. The guy looked down at him and grinned.

"Just my luck. I found me a punching bag for the day" the guy sneered. Not good. Tsuna covered his head as the guy got ready to punch him when a gunshot rang through the air. Both looked over towards the source, surprised.

They saw a girl who looked about 14-15 years old. She had long blonde hair tied up in a side ponytail right behind her ear. She was wearing a black camisole with lace on the edges and a skull on the front over a purple tank top. She also wore a black and purple plaid miniskirt with black knee-length leggings underneath. She had on black lace up boots, but she didn't have either tied. Strapped across her chest was a black messenger bag. She had midnight blue eyes and what looked like a lollipop stick in her mouth.

The strangest things about her were the bow in her hair and her two belts. The bow was purple and tied around her ponytail, but it had a black skull at the center. The belts were normal black studded belts. The strange things were the things attached. She had twin handgun holsters on them. One gun was in its holster, while the other one was in the girl's had, raised above her head from when she fired the warning shot. She looked even more pissed than the guy.

"Get lost." She said, focused on the guy standing as she holstered her gun. She looked like she was ready for a fight. The guy did too, though he was shaking.

"M-make me! You won't even be a-able to h-hit me!" he managed to stutter out. The girl smirked. All of a sudden, she disappeared. Both Tsuna and the guy's eyes went wide. Where did that girl go?

"Behind you." A voice said. Astonished, the guy looked behind him. There she was, still smirking. The blonde kicked him in the stomach. He fell over, the wind knocked out of him.

"Wh-what the hell are you?!" He said, terrified. "I-I'll kill you!" The smirk melted off the girl's face.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try," She said. She pulled out one of her handguns and pointed it at the guy's head. "At least, before I kill you first. Now, GET LOST!" The guy didn't think twice this time. He ran as fast as his cowardly legs could take him. The girl holstered her gun. Sighing, she then turned her focus to Tsuna, who was still on the ground. He hoped she didn't get mad at him, too.

"You okay?" She asked him. Her midnight blue eyes were blank, but had an edge of worry in them. Tsuna looked surprised. This girl, who was a total stranger to him, was worried about him. "Here," she said, holding out her hand to help him up. Reluctantly, Tsuna grabbed her hand. She was pretty strong, and helped him up with ease.

"Wh-who are you anyway?" Tsuna asked her. "Why did you help me?'

She looked at him with the same blank look in her eyes. "Name's Alcina Notte. I prefer it when people call me Alcee. I helped you 'cause you looked like you needed it."

Tsuna thought for a bit, then asked her, "Are you foreign?" Alcee looked at him with an eyebrow raised, a bit surprised.

"Yeah. How could you tell?" She asked him, with a small smile growing on her face.

"Well, you have a bit of an accent. Where are you from exactly?" he asked, curious.

Alcee reached for her gun. She said simply, "Italy. Sicily, to be exact."

I-Italy!? S-Sicily?! Then that means... "A-are you... in the... M-Mafia by chance?" Tsuna asked nervously. She grinned a bit, checking the clip from her handgun.

"Yup. I'm a freelance hitman," she said, still grinning. Wh-what?! A freelance hitman!

"And not just any freelance hitman." A voice from behind said. The two of them looked toward the voice's owner. It was none other than-

"RE-REBORN!" Tsuna shouted. Alcee winced at the high-pitched sound. True to Tsuna's words, Reborn was on the wall right behind where the two of them had stood. "How long have you been there?"

"The entire time." Reborn said. He then turned to Alcee, who was making sure she still had hearing in both ears.

"Alcina Notte, also known as the Lone Wolf. She is known for her infiltration skills as well as her marksmanship. She is arguably the greatest female gunman in the Mafia world." Alcee smiled slightly at the compliment. "Her close-combat skills are nothing to laugh at, either. She is one of the fastest and most agile hitmen . No one can touch her when she gets enough momentum." He looked to Tsuna. "You saw for yourself, Tsuna."

Tsuna thought for a bit, remembering when Alcee disappeared. So, she was running? That's incredible.

Alcee jumped. "That's right! The Ninth sent me to give you something. I have something to ask you, too." Tsuna looked at her, shocked.

"The Ninth! That means you're part of the Vongola." He said to Alcee.

"Not really." She said as she got out a letter for Reborn. She gave it to him as she explained to Tsuna.

"Originally, the old guy hired me to find a book some idiot stole. I guess it was important to him. I got it back, but he had something besides the book. It was some ring." Reborn eyes narrowed when he heard that as he finished reading the letter. "I showed it to him when I got back to the mansion. He seemed kinda freaked out by it, though. He told me that I had something special in my possession. Then the old guy told me I had to find some 'Reborn' and give him that letter. He said he could tell me what the heck this was." She then pulled out a ring. It was lit with a midnight-blue flame, the shade or two lighter than Alcee's eyes. Reborn's eyes narrowed even more.

Tsuna gasped. "That looks like a-"

Reborn cut him off. "A Vongola Ring. Not just any Vongola Ring, but the Forgotten Vongola Ring. So, now we've got ourselves a Night Guardian."