Thank you so very much for supporting my story! I'm really sorry this took longer to update. I've been drained and out of ideas lately for the succeeding chapters because the ideas that I've been thinking about are for the future arc. I'll try to end Sakura's training and assessment as quickly as possible so that'll be at least four chapters remaining before I enter the future arc. This chapter sucks, as a result, and I may have altered Hiabri's character a bit. I'm very sorry about that but please bear with me! I ask for your patience and your understanding! Thank you very much!

Also, I regret to inform you that since Sakura's chapter is a little longer than I expected, I will have to split it into two parts. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience! Please don't stop reading though my chapters are getting worse. I completely understand if you choose to give me criticisms and/or stop reading this altogether. Thank you for your patronage. Now for the personal messages:

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Disclaimer: I do not own this awesome anime, Katekyo Hitman Reobrn!


Howling Wind

By: Fire Princess21

Chapter 4: The Assessment: Part One

If I had any doubts whether I would be able to live my life until I grew to a ripe old age, they ended right then and there.

Seeing them all with every intention to kill me paralyzed my logic, my brain and ability to respond immediately.

I had never felt such cold fear grip my heart.

"This should be fun." Belphegor said as he got ready to attack. Producing knives from his hands, he came after me and I was forced to either evade or parry them with my metal pole. Being half induced in fear, my mind would not cooperate with my body and I resulted into getting shallow cuts and scratches all over my arms. They stung and blood flowed out. I took care not to stain my uniform.

Being actually hurt for the first time numbed my courage and will to fight.

After a few minutes of fighting-or my evading, being more precise- Belphegor stopped suddenly. I was panting a bit from the exertion and I felt dazed from the fear welling in my head. I stumbled as I backed away from Belphegor and landed on my rear. Dino ran to me to help but Faye held up a restraining arm.

"If she is to be trained properly, no one must help her." He said in a grim tone. "She should learn to stand up by herself."

"You're taking her by surprise! She doesn't even know how to fight." Dino countered.

"Don't interfere, Cavallone. I know what I'm doing. She can't be always in the protection of someone else. Ignorance was once her shield. Now, she must learn to stand on her own feet. She is not to become weak." Faye replied harshly. Dino kept quiet and watched me, fear and worry etched on his face. Even Basil looked as if he wanted to help. Squalo kept a close eye on him.

I watched as Belphegor stood immobile. I racked my brain for any kind of plan to survive but I could think of none. Then, Belphegor got tired of waiting. Holding the knives in his hands like a fan, he threw them at me. My heart quickened its pace.

This time, I could not evade.

Fear had taken root in my being and I watched in silent acceptation as the knives flew at me.

They were deflected by a tonfa at the last minute, however.

"Che, you're such a weak herbivore. Get up. You look pathetic sitting down there." Hibari said as he stood beside me. I looked up and saw Hibari's cold steel cobalt blue eyes glaring at me. I sat on the ground, too surprised to respond.

"I said, stand up herbivore!" Hibari repeated. Quickly, I stood up and held the metal pole.

"So this is your assessment party?" he asked, looking at Faye. He knew about this too? I glared at him, a bit of anger started to sprout inside me.

He must have told me to clean the school yard so that they could corner me here, I realized.

That little bit of anger grew and I spoke.

"You knew about this? You told me to clean the yard so that they could corner me here?" I hissed at him. He looked at me, his surprise at my sudden change of expression well-concealed.

"So what of it, herbivore?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer but closed it again. I faced Belphegor.

"If you want a fight so badly, then I am willing to give it to you now." I told him. Belphegor smirked.

"Ushishishishi… She's finally ready to play." Belphegor said and ran towards me. I did the same and saw Faye smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Well, well…Seems that she's finally found herself again." He murmured.

I dodged him just as we were about to meet and aimed a kick at his stomach. I wasn't too keen on using the metal pole to actually hurt anyone. He recoiled at the pain and I knew that my kick hadn't been the same as the first time I used on the Shokyouku thugs. I waited for him to stand up. He threw knives at me and spun the metal pole in my hands, cutting the wires that accompanied the knives. I had an idea that if I had just mindlessly parried the knives, the wires attached to them would eventually create a web around me that would paralyze my movements. Belphegor's smile wavered a bit when he realized what I was doing.

"Bel looks like he's about to be beaten." Mammon commented from the sidelines. Faye smirked.

"We'll see." He said.

"You won't escape this attack, girl." Belphegor said. He clapped his hands together once and when they parted, rows of knives appeared and they seemed to be floating in mid-air. Gesturing his hands, the sharp tip of the knives faced me suddenly and then with another few gestures, they all flew at me, intending to pierce me.

I remained unfazed and thought of a plan.

I had seen too many horrors that day that I had somehow become immune to them but only for that moment.

Of course, I rationalized, if I let myself be caught in the tangle of the web of wires, I'd have no chance of survival. I couldn't afford to lose my focus now just because one too many knives showed up.

I calmed myself by taking a deep breath and twirled the metal pole in my hand, parrying the knives while making sure I didn't stay at one place for too long. I vaguely wondered at the number of knives he hid in his body. I felt my leg get caught in the tangle of wires.

Stepping to my left, I caught the knives that were being aimed at me between my fingers. Using the knives, I cut the wires that bound my leg and I was free to move again. This time, I chose to be offensive.

Once I was able to move again, I ran towards him with the metal pole at my side. Usually, I wouldn't condone this act in myself but I had no choice. It was either hurt him or be killed.

I chose the first option.

When I was close enough, I bent low and jumped over him, landing behind him. Then, I hit him with my hand as hard as I could on his neck and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

I once read from a martial arts book that if I were to render a person unconscious, I was supposed to hit him at a portion of his neck as hard as I could or just apply pressure there. I silently thanked my lucky stars that I had read that book. Faye clapped his hands and Squalo picked up Belphegor's unconscious form, swinging him over his shoulder. He glared at me.

"Not bad, Sakura-chan! I guess you can go home for today. Get ready for the next trial tomorrow. Bandage your arms too. Your parents will wonder why you have so many cuts on your arm. Anyway, you passed for today. Ciao!" he said and walked away with Squalo carrying Belhpegor's unconscious form on his shoulder while Mammon floated on ahead. I released a sigh of relief and glanced down at my arms. Fear began creeping back.

How was I going to explain this mess to my parents?

"I'll need cotton, a disinfectant, rolls of bandage and maybe earplugs." I murmured to myself as I surveyed the damage. Luckily, my school uniform remained intact though it was a bit dirty. I sighed and winced when I moved my arm. These cuts would take a long time to heal.

"That was impressive, Hitako-san!" Basil said as he approached him. I glared at him. I still hadn't gotten the ire out of my system. He backed away.

"Okay. Is anyone going to tell me what the heck is going on?" I asked, eying each of them with a glare. "Yesterday, I was scared that I would fail my Math test. Today, I'm trying to defend my life! What kind of game are you guys playing at? I don't even know them and then they come here to kill me? What kind of whacked-up secret is the world hiding from me and why am I involved?"

I was beyond angry, I was livid.

I was angry at the fact that I knew nothing about what was happening. I hated being clueless and not knowing anything. I hated being weak. I hated being insulted. And yet these people come here and say nonsensical things like the Ninth, Vongola Decimo, the Vongola family and the Carmine family. What did I have to do those things? I didn't understand. It was driving me crazy!

"Get yourself bandaged, herbivore. Cavallone will tell you later." Hibari said. I nodded stiffly. "Follow me." He added. He started to walk towards the school and I followed silently. Basil, Dino and his companion followed behind.

The world of Mafia opened to me then and there.

I didn't realize my life was about to change from that point onwards.


"So you're telling me that the Vongola is a Mafia family- one of the most powerful- in Italy? And that you're the tenth generation boss of the Cavallone family, an ally of the Vongola and that Faye is the tenth generation boss of the Carmine family which is an ally of the Vongola family too?" I asked. Dino nodded.

We were currently in the Reception Room (big surprise Hibari let us use it) and I was being treated for my wounds. I was speechless by the next few minutes as Dino related Tsuna's adventures upon being chosen as the tenth generation boss of the Vongola family, possibly the most powerful Mafia family in the world. An even more surprising event was the fact that Hibari was the one dressing my wounds, saying that it wouldn't be healthy for me to go see the school doctor who was a sleazy doctor and only treated ladies such as me.

It would have shown a nicer side of Hibari if he hadn't poured alcohol all over my arm and threatened to bite me to death if I dared scream, twitch, complain or blow on the stinging pain. Yes, even when trying to be nice, he still finds a way to be sadistic and cruel. I had to bite my lip and stay very still while he put ointment on my wounds.

"And Tsunayoshi is the tenth generation boss?" I asked. Dino nodded again. "So what am I? Why am I involved in this?"

"We're not sure. The Ninth never said anything to me or the External Advisory Team." Dino replied. I nodded. I winced when Hibari had pulled the bandage on my arm too tightly.

"Ano, Hibari-san, I think I should bandage myself. You're going to cut off my blood circulation as it is…" I murmured. He glared at me but decreased the pressure. I sighed in relief.

"Hitako-san, art thou fine?" Basil asked. I nodded and gave him a smile of reassurance.

"Yeah, I am. Thanks for everything! Now I'll just have to think of a workable excuse for my parents." I replied. "Maybe I'll tell them that I fell on broken glass on my way home."

I flexed my arm as I stood up and winced at the pain. I bowed deeply as I thanked Hibari, Dino and Basil.

"Thank you very much for helping me! I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. I promise to make it up to you guys." I said. Basil and Dino smiled and Dino ruffled my hair. Hibari blinked at me but otherwise said nothing.

I was about to leave the room when Hibari called me.

"Herbivore." He said. I turned back; sure he was addressing me, and was thrown a black jacket with the words with a red band pinned to the sleeve that said 'prefect'. I caught it easily and gave him a questioning look.

"Wear that until you get home to hide your arms." He said. I nodded slowly and slipped it on. Dino chuckled.

"Wow, Hibari! You do care." He said, grinning.

Hibari glared at him and drew out his tonfa. I escaped the room before I heard the sound of Dino's whip meeting Hibari's tonfa.


I arrived home without much event.

Most of the people I met on the street and saw me wearing the black jacket just ran away like they were being chased by hell hounds. I stifled my laugh. I didn't know Hibari had that much influence over the town that his mere jacket would be an enough cause for panic. I reached home faster than I had expected.

My parents looked at me questioningly when I got home. They were used to seeing me home earlier than they were, innocently doing my assignments in my room. They were even more surprised to see me wearing a jacket with a red band and the words 'prefect' embossed on it attached to the sleeve. My mom was the first to ask questions.

"Sakura-chan, did you join your school's Disciplinary Committee? I don't remember you mentioning that to me." She asked worriedly. I gave her a smile of reassurance.

"Iie, oka-san. I just borrowed this from my friend who was a member of the Disciplinary Committee. I'm sorry I'm late. I met trouble on the way and he gave me his jacket to hopefully scare them." I lied; I was fiddling my thumbs behind my back, hoping that they wouldn't be suspicious enough to ask again. "It worked like a charm!" I added. They nodded doubtfully but did not ask again.

"The Irie family is here to have dinner with us." My father told me as I climbed up the steps to my room. I nodded and proceeded to get changed. I would have to wear long-sleeved shirts for a week or two.

When I entered my room, I saw the familiar red head of Irie Shouichi, sitting on my desk in front of the computer. I smiled when I saw him. Quietly, I tiptoed over to him and covered his eyes. I didn't expect the reaction he would give me.

"AAAAHHHH! GET OFF ME!" he screamed shrilly. Quickly, I uncovered his eyes and stepped back and looked at him worriedly. He fell off the seat and was on the floor, with a terrified look on his face. He almost seemed near to tears. I walked over to him slowly and carefully, making sure not to startle him.

"What's wrong Shouichi? I'm sorry I startled you. You weren't this jumpy before…" I asked as I stretched out a hand to help him stand up. He seemed to have regained his composure when he noticed that it wasn't some assassin from his dream and pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and accepted my hand. I pulled him up with ease and he laughed nervously.

"I-ie… It's okay. Sorry I scared you." He said, scratching his head.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked him as he settled back into my chair and I on my bed. I refused to take off the jacket because he would worry and might probably tell once he saw the bandages covering my arms.

"Oh… Well, your parents have something to talk about with my parents so they invited us to dinner. Sorry about using your computer. I remembered you saying you wanted to upgrade a few things so I took the liberty of doing it." He said. I grinned at him.

"Really? Thanks! And it's no problem. We are friends, aren't we?" I replied. Shoucihi relaxed a little and smiled. Then he left the room to let me change before we ate dinner.

Shouichi's dad and my dad were classmates and friends way back in high school so we knew each other well enough. It was a tradition for our families to spend vacations together so even if our houses weren't near each other and even if we did study in different schools, we always had a chance to meet and catch up on each other.

I wore a long-sleeved shirt and carefully folded Hibari's jacket on my table to wash later and went to dinner.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk about, Narumi?" Shouichi's dad addressed mine as we ate dinner in silence.

"I was wondering if I could ask a favor from Shouichi. My wife and I would be having a business trip in Okinawa and we're not sure when we'll be back. Probably it would last a month at least. We have some business deals to close there and we were wondering if your son could keep an eye out for Sakura for us. If that's not too much to ask, of course." My father said. I kept quiet. I knew about their upcoming trip to Okinawa but I didn't know that they were still worried about me going to school and getting into some kind of impossible scrape.

Parents. They will always be paranoid though they didn't know how close to the truth they were.

Shouichi choked on his food. "E-eh? Me?" he asked. My father nodded.

"Since Sakura cannot be supervised by her grandmother in school, we thought it best for Shouichi to look out for her. I hope it's all right. Both of you are friends after all." He replied. Shouichi swallowed and then nodded.

"A-all right, sir. I'll do my best." He said. I stifled a laugh.

Shouichi guarding me was a joke.

When we were young and when we used to go to the park together, I would defend him from his bullies so that they didn't have to move and I didn't have to lose my best friend. Shouici glared at me.

Dinner was finished without much even and the Irie family went home. My mom did give me a curious stare once, when she noticed my long sleeves but chose to say nothing. They were tolerant parents, as far as they were concerned, but they had sharp senses too. Almost like a sixth sense, especially my mom. Maybe I inherited that sixth sense from her.

After washing and drying Hibari's jacket, I finished my assignments and went to bed.

I had a nightmare of Belphegor chasing me down with knives in his hand and I woke up half an hour before my alarm actually rang. I groggily got up and prepared for school.


On my way, I dimly remembered something horrible about yesterday's fight. It was something about what Faye had said…

"Not bad, Sakura-chan! I guess you can go home for today. Get ready for the next trial tomorrow. Bandage your arms too. Your parents will wonder why you have so many cuts on your arm. Anyway, you passed for today. Ciao!"

Get ready for the next trial tomorrow…

Tomorrow was today. That meant…

I was in for some major butt-kicking today.

I almost went back running home before I remembered that escape was useless. I could already feel hidden eyes watching my every movement. I took a nervous look back.

Hopefully, I would survive the rest of the school day without much event. Speaking of surviving, I looked down to what I was carrying.

Hibari's jacket lay in my arms, folded, freshly washed and ironed. I thought of giving it to him before classes started to avoid the eyes of speculation so I proceeded to the Reception Room once I reached school.

I saw Hibari sitting quietly on the sofa of the Reception Room, reading a book when I knocked on the door and opened it softly. He raised his head to meet my gaze and I immediately bowed.

"Ohayo, Hibari-san! Thank you for lending me your jacket." I said as I bowed. I walked in and placed the jacket on the couch beside him, bowed once again and said a "Sorry for intruding!" and was about to leave when he called me-or rather what he calls everyone else.

"Herbivore." He said and I turned around nervously. "Why are you early today?" he asked. I blinked. Why was he so interested?

"Um, I almost couldn't sleep last night and this is usually the time when I wake up." I answered. He looked at me for a few minutes before looking back at his book. I took that as a sign that I should leave.

The day rolled by as usual and I was relieved to get at least a passing but very low grade in my previous Math test. Well, that was to be expected. Like I said before, I did excel in my studies but that didn't mean I always got a perfect score for Math. That was my sour point on the whole but I made the most of what I had. Anyway, I did notice a few of my classmates look at my arms-even my teachers did- and asked what happened. I gave them my excuse that I fell on broken glass yesterday and they left me alone.

My last period for that day was Physical Education. An hour of grueling physical activities was enlisted in our teacher's head and I was happy enough to face them for that day-Tsuna being absent gave us more chances of winning because there was always the fear that he'd get assigned to our group- until Hibari decided to pull me out of class.

We were already in the gym, doing warm-ups for five minutes when Hibari suddenly entered. All conversations stopped right then and there and even our teacher had a scared look on his face. He walked towards Hibari while the rest of us shrank away in fear. I stood by and watched with interest.

"I would like to excuse Hitako Sakura from your class today." Hibari said to him. Whispers started to spread as my name was clearly heard. I raised an eyebrow. What was he up to now?

"H-Hitako!" out teacher called me. I jogged over to them innocently. "G-go with Hibari-san." He said. I could see him sweating now. Was he really that nervous?

"But sensei, I will miss your class for today." I reasoned. Hibari gave me a look and nodded to the teacher.

"You're excused for today, Hitako. Just go with Hibari and make sure you attend your soccer practice tomorrow." He said. I nodded and grabbed my things before following Hibari out of the gym. I was aware of the whole class silently following me with their eyes.

I followed Hiabri up to the rooftop and I was already taking deep breaths, trying to make myself ready for the next trial. Who would I face? I knew that the floating infant Mammon was an illusionist. How was I supposed to beat illusions? Maybe I could concentrate on reality.

That was easier said than done.

Would I have to rely on intuition then? That wasn't very safe. Though my intuition was often right, it could still be wrong. I just hoped this isn't one of my 'bad days' where I mess up in everything I do. I sighed. Suddenly, this didn't seem at all like a good day for me.

When we arrived at the rooftop, Basil, Dino and Romario (I learned his name yesterday) were already there though there was no sign of Faye or any of the Varia. I let out a sigh of relief.

That was until I learned the reason for my being there.

"Oh, hello Dino-san, Basil-san, Romario-san! What brings you guys here?" I asked with a smile.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! We wanted to train you before your next trial today." Dino said. I could detect some uncertainty in his voice.

"Train me? In a short amount of time?" I asked in surprise. He nodded gravely. "Kyouya will start followed by me and then Basil. Each of us will get twenty minutes." He added. I saw Hibari with tonfas out already and I shuddered. Dino tossed me a retractable metal rod. I caught it in my hand and examined it. It was sturdy.

"That'll be your weapon for now until we find something more suitable." He said. "Begin." And he clicked a button on his timer.

I was so dead.

Hibari charged at me and I did a handspring, flipping onto my hands and with my feet following and landed behind him. I tried to hit his back but he turned around and blocked my attack with his tonfa. He smirked.

"You have to be more creative than that, herbivore." He said and proceeded to strike me. I dodged his attacks, moving backward as I did so until I slammed my metal rod into his tonfa. He pushed his tonfa towards me so that he could hit me but I was putting up a fight. We finally jumped away from each other and started a whole new round.

He was quick and agile. I couldn't get a chance to attack! All I did was defend and parry as I couldn't see an opening.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! Attack! Think about soccer." Dino said.

Soccer… Of course! If I thought of this as soccer, then things would me much simpler. I took a stance, and imagined Hibari as one of the Shokyouku thugs. We charged again at each other.

Just as we were about to meet, I feinted to my left and when he fell for it, I ducked and swung my leg out to kick him. He jumped and evaded my attack but I was able to slam my metal rod into his stomach.

I finally got a lucky hit.

Too bad it wasn't enough to bring him down. In fact, it didn't even bruise him.

He merely touched his stomach as if nothing had hit him and said, "Good job, herbivore. You're going to need more than luck though." before he charged again. I earned a bruise on my arm for that attack, adding to the scratches I received yesterday . I guess he was just surprised by my sudden show of aggressiveness.

We continued like on like that for the whole hour, eating up the time Dino and Basil were supposed to use to train me. He even snapped at Dino when he had pointed that his twenty minutes were up.

"Ah, Kyouya, I don't want to break your fun but your twenty minutes are up." Dino said nervously. Hibari aimed his tonfa at him and Dino held it back with his whip.

"I don't care, herbivore. Who said I was going to agree to your rules? I'll bite you to death if you interfere." He warned and we continued fighting. I was beat by the time the one hour was up and I sat on the ground, panting and covered with new bruises. Though only slightly noticeable, Hibari was panting a bit too. I smirked at him.

"I didn't go down that easy, did I, Hibari-san?" I asked. He simply looked at me and said nothing. He approached me slowly, his tonfa still at his side and when he was near enough, and he swung his tonfa at me. I jumped up and evaded it just in time. I saw him smirk slightly before he proceeded to the door and left.

'That was… odd." I muttered to myself.

I was dusting myself off when I heard the door of the rooftop open once again. I looked up into the eyes of Faye who had a deadly smirk on his face.

"Time for round two, cousin." He said.

I stood up straight and took out my retractable staff, holding it to my side. I wore a nonchalant expression on my face.

I was ready for whatever he had in store for me this time.


Thank you so very much if you've already reached the end of this chapter! I know that this chapter was very long and not as good as you expected it to be. I'm really sorry! Please leave a review though. Criticisms are appreciated.

Also, I was thinking of changing the rating to T. I wanted to ask you readers first on what you would prefer: the current rating or if it's okay for me to change it to 'T'. I know I sound really lame but I want to put a bit of romance between Sakura and Hibari, if that's all right with you.

So enough of my incessant blabbing! Thank you very much for having patiently read through this chapter. I'm really sorry if this didn't meet your expectations! I was having a major writer's block and a case of the lazy-butt syndrome so I took this long to update. Please leave a review!

P.S. Ignore this, it's perfectly fine with me.

On a sad note, I didn't get a line of seven in my card but I was removed from the star-section because of my inability to keep up with their standards. Oh well, I knew it would happen, sooner or later. I could probably meet more people this way, being transferred to a regular class but I will miss getting advanced lessons. It kind makes me feel that I have an edge compared to other students. I just felt that I needed to get this off my chest. Thank you if you have read up to this point!