Chapter five has already been started. While this is driving me crazy, I guess this must be good for you guys.

But I want to thank: TheKawaiiStar21, sourapple2000, and Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja for reviewing. It makes me feel a little better about the killer bunny plot threatening me with its fangs of doom. ;)

Please enjoy!

Target 4

You sigh and pinch your nose, heading back to the apartment complex, taking out a handkerchief to try to clean up a little and catch the blood that was escaping your hold. That idiot Reborn is the one who answers the door when you finally make it back. You glare at the other teen as you press a cloth over your nose. Now that you think of it, that nosebleed was probably caused by that headache you had earlier. You narrow your eyes as you think about what Luce had told you, but you only succeed in making yourself even more pissed off than before.

"This is all your damn fault," you tell the hitman.

Reborn raises an eyebrow. "And how is that? I'm pretty sure if I went, then I would have come back perfectly fine." He leads you over to the bathroom so that you can take care of all the blood before the others see.

You click your tongue in irritation. "Of course you would, you don't have a handicap weighing you down. And apparently, telling you would solve nothing. Now I've gotten stuck with fulfilling another stupid request."

Reborn frowned a miniscule amount, but you were more than capable of seeing it. "So you didn't get into a fight. Then how'd you get the nosebleed?"

"The person's aura was all over the place, gave me a god damn headache." You were in a really, really bad mood right now, making your swearing levels spike abnormally. "You need to really cut down your possessive, super controller, freak stuff."

You notice the other teen twitch, causing you to smirk. It was always enjoyable to push Mr. Always-Calm-and-Cool to his limits. But the smirk was short lived as another spike of pain attacks your head. You're emotional barrier was down because Reborn was around, but you really needed it up right now to protect yourself from the surrounding fluctuating auras. "Reborn, if you're not going to control your aura, can you get out?" You mutter, a hand clasped over your head.

Reborn shakes his head. You take that as his apology for not keeping his emotions in check and lean against the counter. "Reborn, what's your relationship to the kids?"

"Why, jealous?" He asks, smirking.

You raise an eyebrow at the man, but you're a little glad that he has returned to normal. "Seriously. You're a teacher and evil demon overlord to Giotto, but what about Tsuna?"

"He may not be the next Vongola boss, but he's important," Reborn tells you.

"But what is he to you?" You reiterate more specifically.

"He's someone I don't want to die early."

You stare at a dot on the floor so that you can avoid looking at the other teenager. You knew that, that was Reborn talk for: Tsuna is someone I care about. Normally you would tease him for this, but after meeting Luce and confirming your suspicions, you're not sure if this was a good thing. Though, you wonder why Reborn is actually answering you truthfully rather than dodging the question, since he knows that you would usually tease him for such an answer. No, that thought was better left unanswered. You didn't want to get stuck in the conundrum that was Reborn's mind.

You pull you hand and cloth away from your face and are pleased to see that the bleeding had finally stopped. You wash away all evidence of blood on your persons and look back up to meet Reborn's steady gaze. "I'm sure you know that staring is rude, so if you have something to say, you should just spit it out already."

Reborn opens his mouth to say something, but hesitates. "Why did you ask about my relationship with Tsunayoshi?"

You almost frown. For some reason you know that, that wasn't his original question. But you answer anyways. "Your aura flows out with great strength when he's around. I ask because I want to know why you keep trying to drown me whenever the two of you are together."

Reborn nods. "I'll keep that in mind."

You shrug. "It's not anything I can't deal with. This is only a temporary thing right now in any case. As soon as my favor is repaid, I'm leaving. Anyways, we should go join the others before Nana throws a fit." You ignore and refuse to read the emotion flickering in the other hitman's eyes and walk out.

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan!"

You look up to see Tsuna running over to you with Giotto following closely behind. You almost frown as you, once again, think about Luce's request/warning. But you keep an emotionless mask on and nod to the two.

Tsuna smiles brightly. "Come on nee-chan! Mama says it's time to eat!" The little boy grabs one of your hands with two of his own and pulls.

Your eyes soften and you allow yourself to be tugged toward the kitchen.

Dinner was eventful and rather tiresome on your part. It takes a lot more energy than anyone would assume when keeping yourself from killing an irritating person. Iemitsu was loud and annoying, much to your frustration, and he kept calling you Birdy-chan. You know that if you don't make him stop soon, then Tsuna would pick it up and then it'll never leave.

Now after eating, everyone is seated around the coffee table. You are seated on the middle of the couch with Giotto and Reborn seated beside you, Tsuna had claimed your lap as his seat right after you sat down, Nana and Iemitsu were seated on the love seat across from you.

Tsuna turns around in your lap and holds up a box wrapped in yellow with a white ribbon. "Nee-chan! This is my gift to you!"

You refrain from sighing. You really didn't want any gifts, but you accept the box anyway. You pull off the ribbon and tie it around and across the small brunette's head which made him look like a mini warrior, or even a cute delinquent. The little boy laughed and reached up to feel what you had done. You half smile and unwrap the gift. Inside was seated a black bowler hat with a yellow ribbon tied around it in a bow and with the ends long enough for its ends to dangle off a good two feet. While the ribbon could become inconvenient on a job, you did like the hat. You flipped it before settling it on your head, the bow facing the back and the ribbons falling behind your head.

"How do I look?" You ask the child.

"Nee-chan looks cute and dangerous at the same time!" Tsuna tells you happily.

Even though the child's statement was a little weird, you smile and ruffle his hair with a murmured thanks.

Nana claps her hands together, drawing your attention. "You look like a cute version of Reborn-kun!"

You deadpan and tell yourself not to throw the hat away, reminding yourself that it was a gift from Tsuna. But looking anything like Reborn was the last thing you wanted.

Iemitsu laughs. "Now the two of you match!"

You and Reborn twitch. The temptation to kill the moronic blond was almost too strong to resist at this point, but Tsuna squirms in your lap a little, reminding you that showering the room in blood wouldn't do the little ones any good.

Nana and Iemitsu hands a gift to you next. It turns out be an assortment of accessories (many of which you'd rather die than even get caught wearing) as well as a kimono which was for the upcoming summer festival you supposed. But you feel several veins pop in irritation when you see the stupid thing had a bird print, Iemitsu's idea no doubt.

"We thought you would look really cute at the summer festival in that, Birdy-chan!" The blond moron laughs. "And I said we should get the one with the birds because it would match your nickname!"

'Can't kill him! You're not allowed to kill him! Think! Tsuna and Giotto still need a father!' You tell yourself, but Reborn's smirk was making it difficult to follow your thoughts through.

"Here you go JJ," Giotto jumps in, probably to prevent you from going ballistic. He hands you a small slim box. You open it to see a charm bracelet. There are already a few charms attacked, but most prominent of them was a yellow gem shaped like a rose. You thank him with a small warm smile and clip it around your wrist.

"I'm curious," you start while studying your gifts, "as to why all of you seem to enjoy giving me yellow stuff."

"Because nee-chan is so happy!" Tsuna cheers.

You deadpan. You know that most of the time, heck even now, you have a blank face clear of any emotion. So where on earth did this kid come up with that?

"Even though you don't show it, nee-chan is happy and light all the time. Nee-chan also tries really hard to make all of us feel happy and warm too!" Tsuna explains, his brother nodding in agreement.

You sigh and shake your head. What a foolish notion…but…it was nice to be accepted. You smile a little and ruffle the youngest boy's head.

"You have one last gift," Reborn says suddenly.

You look over at the other with an eyebrow slightly raised. "You already gave me something and I don't want anything else from you."

But the raven haired man shakes his head. "My gift to you is freedom. Your favor is repaid. You're free to leave."

A huge vein pops on your temple. That…complete…ASS! He did that on purpose. You grind your teeth as you stare at his triumphant smirk.

"You're not going to leave us are you?" Tsuna pleads and hugs you.

Giotto reaches forward and grabs your arm as well. "I thought you were going to stay and help us deal with Reborn! How am I supposed to survive without someone to balance out that Spartan and help me take care of my injuries after training?" He hugs you as well, hiding his face in your shoulder.

"I don't want you to go! Please don't leave us," Tsuna cries, burying his head into the crook of your neck.

'Death to the stupid manipulative jerk,' you think to yourself. You would have your revenge for this one. You sigh and pat the top of the two desperate boys' heads. "I'm not going anywhere. Who else is going to help you pull off a prank on Reborn one of these days?"

This earns you a cheer and tackle from the kids, as well as a small scowl from Reborn. But he also seems pleased, which pisses you off. He made it near impossible for you to leave. This can turn out very badly, but you can't stay forever. You know that one of these days, your presence is going to become a hindrance to these two. Reborn can get away with it because he's earned the title of being the greatest hitman of this generation, but you're just any other hit woman. You don't scare people enough to make them stay away like Reborn can. There's also the matter that you have other missions to take care of.

You sigh internally, what are you supposed to do now?

"Sure, I can take care of it," you reply into the phone softly. You listen to the other and nod, even though they can't see you. "Yes, that's fine. I'll finish it within the next two weeks…Alright, ciao."

"A hit?"

You turn around to see Reborn leaning against your doorframe with his arms crossed, regarding you carefully.

You nod. It's not like you had anything to hide and the other would have to know about it eventually. "I hear you have a few jobs lined up too. Are you going to take care of those?"

A strange look crosses the teen's face. You're not really sure what he was thinking, it was almost like he was in a daze. But Reborn wasn't the type to become distracted by a memory or thought like that. What exactly was going on with him?

"I think I will," he finally replies. "I don't really need the money, but it'll be nice to exercise my skills."

You nod again. "Well good luck with that I suppose." You get to make sure your guns were in their holsters and pulled your hair up into a messy bun.

"You're leaving now?" Reborn inquires.

You deadpan. No~ you were just getting ready to go clubbing with your dress shirt, slacks, and guns.

Reborn smirks, like he can read your thought process, which he probably can. It's not like you were trying to hide that particular train of thought. "You aren't going to say good-bye to the kids?"

You shake your head while strapping a watch to your wrist, putting on your new hat as well. "Nah, I'll be back soon anyways."

"Want to take Leon with you?"

You chuckle. "Honestly Reborn, you're starting to sound like a worried housewife." You wink and jump out the window before you could pay for your quip. You don't bother looking back before you disappear into the night, knowing that Reborn is watching till you're completely out of sight.

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