Fuuta: *Whistling the Hot Cross Buns song*

Lambo: Fuuta, play with Lambo!

Fuuta: I'm editing for D-San.

Lambo: Oooh? Let the Great Lambo help!

Disclaimer: D-San doesn't own the great Lambo! She only owns her silly character!

Fuuta: For some reason, this disclaimer seems more like an attack...

Lambo: Gyahahaa!


Kokuyo Land

5:09 PM

~ * ( † ) * ~

Tsuna's group had just finished their showdown with the Kokuyo "student" Birds. They emerged victorious, of course, because of interventions from Shamal and I-pin. As Tsuna advanced through Kokuyo Land searching for Fuuta, Tsuna couldn't control his thoughts; they inevitably returned to Shion and her progress with Mukuro. With the picture he was shown, he was sure that Mukuro was a large enemy difficult to handle. Shion—despite having dexterity and a good sense of balance—was a fragile looking girl. She was tall, yet lanky and looked like she could be snapped like a twig. Tsuna hadn't known her long, no. But nobody deserved to be snapped in half, especially girls. A shiver ran up and down Tsuna's spine, making him physically cold. Would Shion be…okay?

"Fuuta! Where are you, Fuuta?" Tsuna was desperate the find the little boy; he was around such dangerous people. Tsuna would feel incredibly guilty if Fuuta got hurt on his watch.

The foliage was thick, and the sun was struggling to break through the tree canopies. Tsuna didn't know where he was going. Frankly, as long as he found Fuuta, this aimless wandering would be worth something. As Tsuna kept following the dirt road, he looked down and saw footprints. Some were smaller, Fuuta's size, and some were larger than yet not as large as a man's foot size. These must be Shion's, Tsuna thought with dread. They led right through the trees, and towards…

A rustle in the bushes yanked Tsuna out of his thoughts. He looked back, praying that it was Fuuta. Instead, it was another boy. His blue hair concealed his right eye, and one innocent blue eye peered back at Tsuna. This eye was filled with hope at finding someone other than a Kokuyo student wandering around. The boy approached Tsuna, and offered him a sweet smile.

"Thank goodness someone came to save us."

"Ah, were you captured, too?"

The boy only stared at Tsuna, and an uneasy lump settled in his stomach. As the two talked, Tsuna's feeling of dread continued to grow. When Tsuna mentioned Reborn, the boy's demeanor changed completely. The boy had transformed from a hopeful hostage to a baleful bad guy, and those were the kind of people that Tsuna stayed away from. Tsuna backed away, the cold wind that blew past and revealed the boy's eye making his blood stop in place. Tsuna's heart was beating quickly, yet it seemed like it was in slow motion. A strange combination to put into words; Tsuna wouldn't wish the experience on anyone alive, though.

"I-uhm-haaah—I have to go get to my friends! I left them behind so I have to go, uhm-bye!"

Tsuna kept eye contact with the male before turning his back to the blue-haired boy and hauling ass out of the area. Tsuna's heart had kicked into overdrive, sending messages to his brain so that it could comprehend what the hell just happened. Okay,so I met this guy, and he seemed nice. In reality, he's a creep! Who wa she? Was he related to Rokudo Mukuro? Did he know where Shion, Fuuta, or Hibari were? So many questions!

As Mukuro watched Tsuna run deeper into the trees, he nodded to himself. Chikusa was right behind him, and it seemed that their suspicions were right. Tsunayoshi was traveling with an Arcobaleno, one of the strongest toddlers the world has ever seen. It made the game so much more interesting. Mukuro and Chikusa retreated back to the base, with Mukuro's laugh reverberating from the darkness that answered him with the same sinister chime.

~ * ( † ) * ~

Shion was dragged up to Mukuro by her hair. He had moved to the theater, into the darkness that Shion could only now clearly see seeping from his being. The room was large, and floorboards were pulled up and the curtains were torn to shreds that hung from rusted beams. Mukuro was sitting on a large sofa that was trimmed with faux gold, lined with dark velvet. It was his disgusting throne. Shion saw nothing but pestilence pouring from the floorboards, blood staining the curtains, corpses creating the chair that Mukuro would sit on. Am I seeingthe future? Perhaps I'm having an out-of-body experience

Shion didn't know who was dragging her to Mukuro; Chikusa or Ken. It was probably Chikusa. Ken would refuse to touch her after what she did. If anything, he valued loyalty the most. And what she had done was a clear breach of the loyalty that the four were thought to have shared. Whoever it was, they seemed to steer clear of the holes and the floorboards, of the protruding nails and the props that were used for one perverse reason or another. They tossed her towards the stage, where her back collided with the wood. Shion tried to see through the darkness, but she could not. This was not normal darkness; this was Mukuro's darkness. He blotted out all hope, and he sucked her purpose out of her. Her hair was grabbed again, and her blood seemed to run like water through her body. Her body was preparing itself to bleed once more.

"Is this round number three, Shion-chan? Or number four?" Mukuro punched Shion in her wounded stomach, the blood that had clotted giving way to new, warm blood. Mukuro kneed Shion in the jaw, and delivered a blow to her face. "Can you stand?"

Shion planted her feet on the ground, and stood straight up. Mukuro started to beat her incessantly with both his fists and his legs, pummeling the girl until her legs just…gave way. "Was your freedom worth this, Shion-chan?"

Shion, enduring the pain of a split lip and her bleeding tongue, let blood run down her chin before replying with surprising resolve, "Yes."

"Remember, Shion-chan, there's nothing you have to fight for. He's gone."

"Mor di, dritsekk."

Mukuro drove his fist into Shion's stomach over and over, relishing her pained groans and small screams when he would hit a particularly tender spot. Sufficiently beaten and silenced, Mukuro personally dragged her back to her place with the "miss", Hibari Kyoya. Mukuro tossed her down, roughly at that, so that her back collided with the wall. Mukuro could have only hoped the crack he heard was the snap of her spine, or the sound of her skull cracking from the abuse she had suffered. Shion's head fell onto Hibari's leg, and in his current state—though he was much better off than Shion—he wasn't in the position to do much either. He didn't move his leg. Mukuro left the two to stomach their pain in the dark.

"Get off of me, girl." After the beating she endured, nothing Hibari could do or threaten to do could ever register as a risk to her. "You were…the one who infiltrated Namimori…and…pulled…the fire alarm."

"That's me." Shion's trembling right hand touched her right eyelid, where there was a cut. The gloves on her hands felt so cold when compared to the hot blood running down her face.

The silence between the two was anything but comfortable. Yet, it was…tolerable. Hibari glanced down at this girl's head, his expression apathetic, but his mind taking in the details. Her hair was dirtied with blood; so much so that he couldn't identify the original color. There was a cut over her right eye, and her left eye was unharmed. It was the color of ice; a strange, slightly haunting color in this darkness. Her skin was pale; so pale. Maybe she was dead. Hibari adjusted himself slightly; his leg was honestly falling asleep.

"Are you dead?"

"No." Shion answered simply.

"That was the second time he took you from here."

Shion chuckled. That was all that came from her throat. A chuckle without sarcasm. A chuckle without derision. A chuckle without emotion. It was just a sound. It seemed to only come forth to reassure her of something. "He can't count. He's a…a…"

"…?"

"Snørrunge. A brat."

Hibari scowled, although…he didn't seem to see the error in that analysis of the malevolent man. The two stayed in the darkness. Shion's breathing was surprisingly calm, although it was choppy and filled with blood. Hibari could hear the liquid filling her throat, her mouth, and even her nose. It was disgusting. It made him grimace. Shion tried to lift her head; she made a grandiose, valiant effort. But she crashed, and her head rested on Hibari's thigh.

"You are Namimori's…you're the Disciplinary Head, Hibari Kyoya." Shion said, her blood starting to fill her mouth again. "You didn't make it onto the list…I don't see why not."

"You're the reason why so many students were getting attacked." Hibari concluded all too quickly.

"I…I didn't finish the list…" Shion started. "I only…got the names…I…the list…Mukuro…he…did…it…"

Hibari and Shion both heard explosions from above, and their gazes turned upwards. "Wake me up when something interesting happens, girl."

Shion sat up, a splitting headache aiming to rend her head in half. She bit back a loud yell, and blood pooled in her mouth again from her throat. She turned away from Hibari, released her bile, and then closed her eyes to sustain her body's balance. She had been beat to hell. She supposed, though, that this was the price of freedom. The Americans pressed through a war with the soldiers from their motherland to gain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Moses led his people against the emperor of Egypt to carry them to freedom in the wilderness. In these, and many more, casualties were sustained. Deaths were mourned over shortly, and then the battle continued on. Shion supposed that this was her price for freedom.

"If it turns out…that my father…is really dead…I'll resurrect him…and then…kill him again." Shion murmured. "Tsuna-san…"

"Hmm?" Hibari groaned from his position; his right knee drawn up with his head resting in the pocket his arms created. "You know the herbivore?"

"…interesting." Shion said. "Most humans are…omnivores…our teeth…are designed for breaking down…meat and…vegetation…Tsuna-san must be…a vegetarian to be a…herbivore."

"…"

"I…broke into his house. H-he was playing one of the new video games…Final blah-di-blah-di-blah…It sucked…" Shion chuckled again, and she heard another pair of explosions and a yell from above. Her ears tuned in. "Chikusa…"

"…" Hibari was silent. Shion continued to mumble to herself.

"Kaki-pi. If…I'd want anyone to forgive me…if you could…I'd be fine…Ken…dritsekk…loyal, idiotic, goofy dritsekk…come out of this hell…Mukuro…" Midori tanabiku Namimori mo

Light poured into the area where Hibari and Shion were sitting. Hibari didn't have to be awakened; the explosion had done that enough for him. Fragments of the stone wall, hot and stirring, hit Shion's skin and seemed to bring the pale flesh to life, for only a moment. The red patches of skin would take on their pale pallor again, but the flourish of color only served as a beacon. Shion would rise up again. As she watched Hibari grab his tonfas and prepare to attack, her left eye glared forward at Ken and Chikusa. They had barely taken notice of her, even when the light was streaming over her. She closed her left eye, and stood up, smearing a blood trail up against the wall…

~ * ( † ) * ~

"She's heavier than I thought!"

"Hmph…tall woman."

Shion noticed that she was being carried by two people. One was the silver haired boy that was at Tsuna's house, Gokudera. The other was, of course, Hibari. Who were the people she was expecting; Chikusa and Ken? They'd touch her only if they were taking her traitor corpse to the grave. Shion planted her feet on the ground, and started to pull her own weight. Her right leg dragged when she made an effort to lift it, but it was because of her own lack of motivation. She firmly placed her right foot on the ground, and put her weight on it. She gritted her blood sheeted teeth, snarled, and then put weight on her left. The pain that shot up from her left leg was almost as unbearable as the pain from her right leg. She shivered, but continued to walk with Gokudera and Hibari until she felt that she could walk on her own. When she could, she broke away from in between the boys and let Hibari support Gokudera's weight on one shoulder while she supported the rest.

"You…" Gokudera snarled, starting to try and wriggle out of Shion's grasp.

"I'd stop." Shion stared forward, her stomach twisting into knots; so many knots. "If we want to protect Tsuna-san, let's not fight."

"Don't address Juudaime so familiarly! I'll blow you up even in this state!" Gokudera raged.

"Your state or mines?"

Gokudera seemed to examine Shion for the first time since their run-in at Tsuna's house. Her right eyelid was split, and blood coursed down her face and ended at her chin. Bruises covered her whole body; her stomach seemed to have been the area where she was wounded the most. Her right leg dragged slightly, even when Shion was trying to put all of her weight on it. She stumbled at times, but she was still holding most of Gokudera's weight. The weak and battered trio wondered how much further they had to go.

"Speaking of states, Hibari." Gokudera offered a bag to Hibari, and then sighed. "It's medicine for that sakura-kura."

"Hmph." Hibari took the medication and let his head hang for a moment.

"We look like rag dolls." Shion commented out-of-the-blue. Gokudera and Hibari both glanced at her, and then stared forward.

"You were the fool that became a traitor."

"What you call betrayal is what I call necessity." Shion stated. "What can I say? I'm a family girl."

"Why are you even traveling with us?" Gokudera snidely inquired.

"My father was held hostage and apparently killed by Rokudo Mukuro." Shion said. "I won't say that my driving force now is revenge or anything like that."

"Then what is it?"

"…dad would have wanted me to keep fighting. He raised me with book sense, not common sense. He said things that would be foolish to do would be possible for me." Shion smiled wryly at the memory, shaking her head.

"Hmm? There's a staircase right here." Hibari nodded to the left, where a narrow staircase nestled in darkness sat waiting to the scaled.

"That leads up to the theater. That's where Tsuna-san is." Shion nodded up, and her left eye narrowed. "It's also where Rokudo Mukuro is."

"Tch. He's no match for us." Gokudera said.

"I'll bite him to death." Hibari scowled, and his eyes seemed to narrow at the memory of getting beaten by Mukuro.

Interestingly enough, all three combatants had the same finite tone in their voices, and their beaten and battered bodies grew strong again with the tiny flicker of resolve that came to live and flourished inside.