Hiya everybody! I'm back with a new chapter! I'd like to ask you guys a favor, can ya help me with it? I need some questions from you guys asking about the characters. For example, a question for Val could be: "Why is your name Valentine?" That sort of thing. Just ask any question you like for the characters, and I'll be needing them for a special thing soon. I'm looking forward to the questions you give me~!

I do not own Katekyo Hitman REBORN! All rights go to Amano Akira.

Enjoy the story! :)

"Is she alright?"

"Well, she got hit in the head. You tell me."

"Stop joking you idiotic person for a brother!"

"Onee-chan!"

Valentine's eyes opened slowly, her vision trying to focus on her surroundings. She could see a blur of faces. Many faces, in fact. Why were they all here?

Wait…where was she? With the thought, the girl tried to sit up. But immediately fell back on the bed, the pain shocking her in so many places. What had happened?

She looked around, seeing the worried faces of her Famiglia. She looked down at herself, and saw she was wearing a white gown and was on a hospital bed. What the…?

"…what happened?" Val asked, her voice quiet.

"Members of our Famiglia founded you passed out on the street," Tsuna stepped forward, and Kyoko ran up to hug her eldest daughter tightly. The brown-haired man's face was grim. "We also found a dead corpse not too far away, and a black rose."

Val blinked, the memories slowly coming back to her. She could feel the empty soul in the body covered with blood, and she could still see the beautiful, yet deadly rose. Her face drained of color, and she could only see the color red. Her hands shook, and her mother, seeing this, rubbed her back to calm her down.

"It's okay. It'll be alright, sweetie," Kyoko tried to smile as best as she could for her daughter, but it was hard. When the woman had heard of the attack, and that her daughter was involved, she had immediately left work and came as fast as she could. She could not lose her…not this time…

Valentine started to calm down slowly at her mother's words, and she felt guilty for worrying her parents. Her breathing calmed, and her shoulders relaxed.

"Val, can you tell us what happened?" Reborn spoke as he stood by the door, walking in.

"Reborn! Don't start asking her questions while she's still recovering," Tsuna protested.

Reborn looked at his former student, eyes steady. "We need to know what happened in order for this not to happen again." That silenced Tsuna for a bit.

"It's alright, Papa," Val spoke up, her voice was soft. She smiled at her father when he turned to look at her. "I'm alright. A little shaken up, but perfectly fine." She was lying, and they all knew.

I-pin ushered the younger kids out, following them after giving a reassuring smile to Val. The door closed, and only the 10th – Generation Family and the older kids were left.

Val took a deep breath, and started the story. She told them of her walking alone, and how she had gotten a bad feeling. She described the smell, and how she had followed it to the alleyway. How she found the dead body and rose, and how she was knocked out by somebody she didn't see until it was too late.

The light-brown haired girl felt ashamed of herself for not being able to do anything. She was still weak, huh?

"You were panicking, of course you wouldn't be able to protect yourself," Tsuna reassured her.

"She'll have to train more," Reborn said bluntly. When Tsuna looked at him with a frown, he simply turned to the Vongola's strongest guardian. "Hibari, can you train her next?"

"Fine, infant," Hibari closed his eyes briefly, before his steel-grey eyes fix on Val's. "Can you stand, herbivore?"

Before Val could say anything, Kyoko stood up. "She can't train yet! She's still recovering!"

"This is the world of the Mafia, Kyoko," Reborn reminded her. "There will only be more danger if she remains in this state."

"Reborn! I know the Mafia is dangerous, but this is still too sudden! She just woke up for the first time in three days for god's sake!" Tsuna shouted.

"T-Three days…?" Val's mouth dropped open. Really? She had been out for that long?

"Tenth, calm down," Gokudera spoke up. When his boss looked at him, the silver-haired man nodded as if he understood. "We'll have Yukine and Yukino helping her with the training, and she can start after she rest for a few days." His twins nodded.

"That's right," Yamamoto grinned. "I think Hibari can wait, right?" He turned to the Cloud Guardian, who simply nodded.

"W-Well, that's better I suppose," Tsuna muttered.

"Sawada! Don't worry about a thing! We'll EXTREMELY protect my cute niece!" Ryohei nodded to himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Bossu, I'll be there in the training room too," Chrome volunteered. Tsuna sighed with relief a bit at that.

"If Chrome's there, I think I feel better," Kyoko smiled.

"Any more people and I'll bite you to death," Hibari threaten low under his breath. Tsuna blinked, and nodded slowly.

"Kufufu. We must find the culprit soon," Mukuro looked amused. "He has hurt the little Princess."

"Val, I don't think you need to worry about revenge," Haru laughed a bit. "All of them seem pretty blood-thirsty right now."

"I'm not blood-thirsty," Lambo muttered. "But I am angry."

"U-Um," Val raised a hand, as if asking to question something in class. All of the people in the room turned to look at her. "Can you tell me more on the murder?"

There was a tension around the adults in the room, as if unsure if they should say anything. After a moment, Reborn told everybody to go out aside from him and Tsuna. The door closed behind them, and Val looked at her father.

"I-I didn't want to tell you this soon, but it had already happened to you," Tsuna sat on a chair beside his daughter.

"Lately, there's been murders committed," Reborn went straight to the point, blunt as always. "We haven't seen any particular patterns to them, aside from the fact that the culprit attacks Mafia-related people. They're not just in our Famiglia; they're actually everybody from the Mafia. We don't know what the culprit has against the Mafia, and Mukuro isn't the one behind it."

"Why would Uncle Mukuro be behind this?" Val tilted her head in confusion.

Tsuna sweat-dropped. "When we were younger, he said he wanted to take over the Mafia and the world. Nowadays…well, he hasn't changed his goal, but he's not as strong about it as before."

Val's mouth dropped open. She had not heard this. Before she could say anything, Reborn continued. "We don't know what they're after, but right now, the Vongola are trying to find out what's going on."

"We're protecting anybody relating to the Mafia that isn't a part of the Mafia too," Tsuna added, his eyes serious. "The only thing we know about the culprit, or culprits, is that they leave a black rose near every one of their victims. We have many of those black roses, and our science team is currently analyzing them. So far, it just seems that they're a special breed of roses that will only grow under certain conditions. We haven't found a place where they could grow yet."

Val nodded slowly, remembering how the image of the beautiful black rose amiss the red blood stood out.

"We don't know what the culprit looks like either," Reborn stated. "There were no witnesses at the scene of the crime. For now, the Mafia world is calling them the 'Black Roses'. Well, it doesn't matter what they're called."

"We're doing our best to figure out what's going on," Tsuna said, and Val looked at him more closely. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his posture was slightly lacking. She bit her lip, knowing how such a situation meant a lot to her father.

Since Tsuna became the boss, the Vongola had gradually drifted back to its original path; Primo's path. He's been ensuring the safety of his comrades, and once again, the Vongola became a model organization for the rest of the Mafia world. But because they were changing it so much, the Guardians and Tsuna had to put more time into their work. Val knew her mother and her Aunties disliked that, but they never complained. Some would say the strength of the women in the Vongola Famiglia were truly honorable amongst the females.

Val rested a hand on her father's hand, giving him a reassuring smile. "It's going to be alright, Papa. I know you're going to do it."

Tsuna smiled at his eldest daughter, pulling her into a hug. "Just be safe, Val."

She nodded, but a feeling inside of her knew that she wouldn't be safe for long. Maybe it was because the uneasy feeling in her stomach was coming back, or she was still haunted by the memory of the girl in the sakura tree. Nevertheless, she didn't want her father to worry so she agreed.

"This is a threat to the Mafia, so it's serious business," Reborn said, after giving them a moment. "We'll have to increase your training, Dame-Princess."

"I understand, Uncle Reborn," Val smiled softly. Truthfully, she wanted extra training. After what had happened, she needed to get stronger. Stronger to protect herself, and stronger to protect the others. She will not make the same mistake again.

As if sensing the girl's resolve, her father smiled, but was still worried. It was getting more and more dangerous, and he didn't want to lose his daughter. Not when he had something he could do to prevent it.

Reborn smirked. "You seem much more reliable than your father when he was your age."

"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Tsuna glanced annoyingly at his former tutor, a slight pink hue to his cheeks.

Val gigged softly. The two of them were always like this, and from what she heard from her Uncles, they had always been like this. It was a special bond between them, and she could see the two still trusted each other very much.

Still… she wondered what would become of her if she would be in the way of the Black Roses again. She just hopes they won't hurt her Famiglia…

"How are the preparations going?" A girl, shadowed by the darkness of the room, sat in a tall chair in the room. Her voice was melodic, and the people in the room were standing before her.

"We just killed another person," one of them reported. "Everything is going as planned."

"Excellent!" The girl's lips curved into a smile. "It's been much too long."

The door burst open, and a boy stepped into the room. He had midnight-black hair, and deep blue eyes. A red scarf with gold markings hung around his neck. He had an amused grin as he stared at the girl. "You look happy."

The girl giggled, leaning back in her throne. "Am I?" She looked out the window, a look of wonder in her eyes. "Perhaps it was because I had an interesting encounter lately…"

The boy narrowed his eyes. "Did you sneak outside again?"

"I don't feel the need to stay here forever," the girl shrugged. "You could at least let me play around."

"Whatever. Just don't kill anybody," the boy said.

The girl nodded. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say." A playful smile played itself on her lips.

"I wonder if we can meet again…"

And there you have it! Sorry if my chapters are rather short. They're usually longer, but somehow along the way, I end up breaking them into two different chapters so they become short. Anyway, review the questions please! :)