Mouse Maestro: Hello, thanks for reading chapter 4! By the way, for the names I chose not to use the Japanese suffixes…I found it too confusing. Also, I decided to use the names characters are called more often, like how characters in my story are using Gokudera's last name to address him instead of his first, even though other characters are addressed by their first names…SORRY for the confusion. I hope you can still enjoy my story? :D

Chapter 4: But Beware

I'm sad to say that school in the Katekyo Hitman Reborn world was just as boring as I remembered school was in my world. The only fun I had the whole day was scaring Tsuna's bullies by glaring at them, which resulted in them running away like the cowards they were. Pretty soon, Tsuna and I had become good friends after I defended him so many times. He was screaming less, too, which was such a relief for my sore eardrums.

Tsuna was also a good companion, believe it or not. The whole day, he talked and complained about the most random things, while I listened and nodded, while making a comment every now and then. Who knew having a friend could make something less boring? In my original world, I've only watched on the sidelines before, and thought the whole friendship thing seemed annoying.

Anyways, at the end of school today as we were walking to the school gates, Tsuna and I were talking about how suspicious it was that Reborn wasn't there at all, and how we should visit Takeshi at his sushi shop. By now, Tsuna was acting pretty casual around me, and, strangely enough, he accepted the fact that I knew almost everything happening. Tsuna even completely forgot the "name" situation.

He put his hands behind his head and whined," Why didn't you defend me when Mochida made fun of me? I t was in front of Kyoko, too!" I rolled my eyes at this, and looked sharply back at Tsuna." Tsuna, I can't always defend you. There are times when you must do so yourself, for your own honor," I scolded him. Surprisingly, he didn't go," HIEE!" like usual, but instead, reluctantly murmured," Yeah, I know…"

Surprised by this reaction, I was about to ask him what that was about, when a quick blur of black and white dropped down in front of us. The figure raised himself up from his knees, and Tsuna yelped," H-Hibari!" I lazily lifted a hand up in greeting, and said," Hey, skylark." As those words left my mouth, Hibari's killing intent flared up quite considerably.

Tsuna worriedly glanced over to me, and said in a hushed tone," Don't provoke him, Crystal! What are you trying to do?" I laughed out loud for everyone to hear (and the few students who were still there did) and replied in a matter-of-fact tone," To keep from getting bored, of course!" My declaration was met with dead silence…and the sound of Hibari charging at me, tonfas at the ready.

At my side, Tsuna tried pulling me out of Hibari's path, but I stayed put. My very first friend gave me a questioning look, and I gave him my confident one. "Don't worry, Tsuna. The arrogant prefect needs someone to bring his head down from the clouds."

Tsuna sent me another look, clearly saying," You plan on fighting the Hibari, and also plan on winning?"

And with another sure nod towards Tsuna, I turned to face Hibari, ready to fight. Just as my opponent threw the first strike, his tonfa was intercepted by Reborn's Leon gun. 'Wow, he sure does know how to make an entrance…',I thought. Everyone was frozen still, waiting to see who would react first, until Tsuna blurted out," REBORN? Where were you for the whole day?" It was as if Tsuna's voice hit a "play" button, sending everyone back into action; Hibari flicked his tonfa away from Reborn, and Reborn changed Leon back into his lizard form. Hesitantly, I slowly got out of my fighting stance I learned in my martial arts class

Addressing Tsuna, but facing me, Reborn said," I was busy finding information on Crystal here." He paused, and stared more intensely with me. "And found nothing." I sighed mockingly, and put my hands to my hips. "Didn't I tell you…that I'm a visitor from an alternate dimension?" Hibari (whom I almost forgot was even standing there) kept a blank look, but in the way he glared at me, I knew he was remembering me saying the exact same line to hom.

Meanwhile, Tsuna smacked his forehead. "Crystal, you're still saying that to everyone? I really can't tell if you're kidding or not. Earlier, you did say that it was your new 'catch phrase'…?" I looked up from my staring match with Reborn to smirk and say to Tsuna," Who knows if I'm kidding or not…how else does Reborn not have any information on me?" Reborn's eyes were shadowed by his fedora for a moment, contemplating something.

Tsuna gave me an "are-you-serious" look to me, and threw his hands up in exasperation from trying to get a straight answer. And…huh, Hibari disappeared somehow while we were still talking. After a long period of silence, Reborn finally looked up with a grin and said," Crystal Clear, you will be a valuable asset to Tsuna's family." Once again, Tsuna and I said," WHAT?" in unison. We both looked at each other, wondering why the heck we both kept doing this. Distracted for a split second, I failed to realize Reborn sneak up behind us. I looked back in time to dodge his kick that was aimed towards me. Tsuna, unfortunately for him, was not as lucky, and was kicked all the way to the school gates, shouting, "OWW!"

The sound created from Tsuna's impact on the gate reminded me (oddly enough) that we shouldn't be "disturbing the peace" while Hibari may be patrolling here. I hastily pulled Tsuna up ( as he let out a faint "eep"), and Reborn added," That's what you get for annoying me, Dame-Tsuna."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We should get out of here fast, Hibari might come back and find us disturbing the peace, and find some reason to fight us.", I said to the two before me. At the mention of the prefect's name, Tsuna shouted, " HIEE!" Then, Reborn changed Leon into a gun and shot Tsuna with him. For a moment, I was paralyzed with shock. He shot the last candidate for Vongola Tenth?

Suddenly, Tsuna's body literally ripped open, and Tsuna appeared, "reborn", in his boxers, with a very noticeable dying will flame on his forehead. The thing that really creeped me out was that tsuna's eyes were rolled back so much that I could only see the white. The dying will Tsuna bellowed," GET CRYSTAL AND REBORN TO MY HOUSE WITH MY DYING WILL!"

Before I could even protest, Tsuna carried me on his back, (similar to what I did to him in the morning) and put Reborn on his head. As Tsuna crazily ran through the streets back home shouting gibberish, I glared at Reborn and demanded, "Why did you do THAT? It was really unnecessary. You know, we could've also walked home?"

Reborn smirked at me, a small glint in his eyes. " But Tsuna being in this mode makes things more exciting, right, Crystal Clear?" I gave the hitman a small smirk of my own, and said," Indeed, you are correct."

I was jolted by Tsuna's abrupt stop, and was immediately dropped onto the concrete ground. Ouch. Tsuna flipped around (smoke still trailing on his forehead) and helped me get up. "S-sorry…", Tsuna sheepishly said to me," Once I get out of my dying will state, I lose all the strength I previously had…"

Reborn turned Leon into a hammer and whacked Tsuna on the head. Very hard. "DAHH!", Tsuna exclaimed, falling back from the pain. "Dame-Tsuna, don't talk of the dying will state with a stranger," Reborn scolded. Though he admitted me into the family, Reborn still didn't have complete trust in me. I don't blame him: after all, he couldn't find ANY information on me at ALL.

His student glared at him, surprising both Reborn and me." Crystal's not a stranger…not as much as before, anyways. I don't know why, but I jave a feeling that she isn't an enemy, but a friend, even though she is very…knowledgeable in some matters." I warmly smiled at Tsuna, proud of seeing him stand up to Reborn. Inwardly, I thanked his hyper intuition for not deeming me as an enemy. Tsuna caught my smile and hesitantly did the same to me.

Reborn's eyes were blank for a moment, but Tsuna and I knew was going on inside the baby's head. Reborn, still with a poker face on, looked to me and asked," Exactly how much do you know…?" Telling him everything would've taken a whole day, so I chose to say," As much as I need. Let's just say… I'm an all-knowing type of person?"

Tsuna sighed in exasperation, but smiled nevertheless good-heartedly," Ah, Crystal! Can't you ever give us a straight answer?" Reborn purposely changed the subject abruptly, telling Tsuna," Dame-Tsuna, aren't you getting cold standing on the street with only boxers on?" Tsuna let out his usual yell, and ran straight into the house. Immediately after his student left us, Reborn's presence changed from that of an infant to one of a man. Reborn looked me directly in the eye, holding me in place." The only reason why I let you into Tsuna's family was to keep a closer eye on you, Crystal Clear. Don't try anything on Tsuna, or you'll have to face ME."

I didn't want to be the one left with a gaping mouth and looking like an idiot, so I commented," I can't wait for the day, sun arcobaleno Reborn…" The baby's eyes sharpened once more, staring at me as if doing so would unravel the mystery that is Crystal Clear. Noticing the tension rising increasingly, I lightly jogged back into the Sawada household. My grin spread another inch as I caught sight of Reborn's mouth agape in a loss for words. I was cracking up a lot in my mind, keeping a cool face on the outside.

That is, until I bumped into Tsuna still standing t the doorway all this time. He turned to me, a devastated expression on his face." I can't believe I almost forgot! I wanted to go visit Takeshi!", he moaned with a tint of self-loathing. I flicked his forehead (ignoring his cry of pain) , and said," Tsuna, you don't need to hate yourself over such a trivial thing. A person like you is bound to forget that, with so many things on your mind. We could go visit him now," I ended with a sympathetic tone. In school that day, part of the complaints he had were about the mafia, and how he really didn't want to get involved. Tsuna sniffled a bit (was he about to cry…?) and nodded," Yeah, let's go visit Takeshi" I turned away from him for a moment, and shouted out to Tsuna's mother," Nana, Tsuna and I are going to go visit a friend, and eat dinner over there. Expect us back by 10." Nana gave a cheery shout of," Okay, you two. Have fun!"

Tsuna looked at me, and said," Crystal, we're just going to visit Takeshi, not intrude and eat dinner over there." I laughed and replied," Even if we don't ask, the Yamamotos will probably insist. They're just like that. So, let's go," emphasizing the next part to Reborn," normally and not with Tsuna in the dying will form." I guessed Reborn was still wondering how I knew his role as sun arcobaleno, because he gave no reaction. Tsuna and I uneasily left Reborn contemplating behind, and reached a safe distance away from Reborn's ears when Tsuna anxiously asked," What did you say to Reborn? He seemed…distant.

" I shrugged and answered with," I simply said something he didn't expect me to say."

Tsuna almost fell over when he heard this, and asked, "You surprised Reborn? " Before I answered, I flicked Tsuna again on the forehead (In this world, I seemed to be doing this a lot. Hey, I couldn't help it! His reactions are hilarious.). " Remember what I said in class about not yelling that much?"

Tsuna rubbed the injured spot in a failed attempt to numb the pain, and mumbled," That it irritates people, which make them want to bully me more…" I prompted," And?" Tsuna smiled, and continued," And it makes visitors from alternate dimensions have headaches." I gave an affirmative nod, with a straight face on (his screaming really DOES give me headaches, trust me), and said," Yep. Those are my words of advice…remember them well!" Tsuna snorted, and said," Yeah, right. That was just you complaining about my shouting!" Our conversation was put to a stop when we heard a loud friendly greeting of "TSUNA!"

Tsuna ran up and greeted Takeshi's father. I lagged behind to stay conspicuous, but the man happened to notice me and said," Hello, are you a friend of Tsuna?" My eyes sparked with a mischievous glint, and I said," Yeah, I'm Crystal Clear…a visitor from an alternate dimension!" For a split second, there was complete silence (other than the sound of Tsuna face-palming), then it was broken by the man's cheerful reply of," That's great, Crystal! Now why don't you two go upstairs to give Takeshi some company?"

I stuck my hands in my pant's pockets, and followed Tsuna up after he mumbled an incoherent reply of," Y-yes, sir" due to his shock at Tsuyoshi's easygoing attitude. Man, I thought that was a real let down; saying my catch phrase isn't fun if their only reaction is a smile that one gives to misled little kids. Tsuna and I walked up a flight of stairs, and found Takeshi's room. Tsuna knocked on the door, and Takeshi's cheery voice came through." Come in!"

We both stepped into the room, and I wasn't surprised to see posters of famous baseball players on his walls, baseball tips and manuals on his bookshelves, and a baseball bat put to the side. Takeshi grinned at Tsuna and said in a light tone," Tsuna! I'm gone for one day, and you go and get yourself a girlfriend! Nice going!" The brunet's face turned a bright red, realizing what Takeshi was implying. I laughed at that, and said," Yep, I'm a girl and also happen to be Tsuna's friend!" Tsuna shot me a grateful look and stammered to his friend," Y-yeah! Takeshi, this is Crystal Clear." The baseball player turned to me (and I was truly thankful to him for not saying anything about my name) and gave me his usual smile. "So, you're Crystal! You must be pretty nice if you're friends with Tsuna."

I smirked and replied," Yep. Being a visitor from an alternate dimension, I have to be nice to everyone." Says the person who lectured her whole class in the morning. Takeshi's expression was plastered with a confused look, but he covered that up by saying," Is that so, Crystal! You know, I hope we can become good friends! I don't know what Gokudera would say, though…"

Tsuna worriedly shook his head, and said," Gokudera's WAY too overprotective over me! He's going to explode -literally!- when he sees Crystal!" I patted the boy's shoulder in reassurance and said," Tsuna, I'm sure he won't do that… on school grounds anyways…", I said with total confidence. Takeshi laughed and happily said," Speaking of school, I can't wait to get back tomorrow! Staying all day in bed with a cold was boring!"

I rolled my eyes and said," Trust me, school is just as boring." Takeshi and Tsuna laughed at that, while I scratched my head in utter confusion; what was so funny about being bored?


Mouse Maestro: Does Takeshi's father have a name? If so, can someone please tell me? :D