Sorry its been so longggg. I was... busy? Going camping this weekend, so yeah.

Yamamoto: Can I come?

Tatsuki: Of course you can. :)

Don't own, don't sue.

-tick... Tock... Tick... Tock-

That annoyingly loud clock... it needed to shut the hell up. It was just 3rd period, precal, and already I was bored out of your mind. Today was so nauseatingly droll compared to the events that happened yesterday. I couldn't help but reflect on the announcement over the p.a. this morning that snagged my attention, as well as that of the Vongola.

"...ROCK, Rock, rock, (rock), FEST, Fest, fest, (fest)..." The voice echoed. "Corny much?" I muttered under my breath. The fact that this was a yearly occurence for Rockfest made it all the more irritating.

"Good morning, KHS!" the principal said with enthusiasm that the rest of the school certainly did NOT feel that morning. Half the class was already passed out on their desk, drooling in their sleep.

"Yesterday, during school, several of our students went missing. On behalf of our faculty and staff, I would like to remind you to be careful and stay safe. If anyone has any information on this incident, please call crimestoppers at 1-800..."

Peripherally, I saw Tsuna flinch. Certainly, nobody would link this incident to them... Would they?

SMACK. "Owwwww!" I rub my rapidly reddening forearm, glaring accusingly at Tri, a happy go lucky guy (like Yamamoto... But meaner, lol) who sat next to me in precal. He beamed at me innocently, as if completely oblivious to what just happened. "Tri!" I jabbed him in the arm with my pencil, HARD. "What the heck was that for?" A red welt was forming on my arm, distinctly in the shape of the pencil he held in his hand. "Oh... Sorry, Allison." He looked sincerely apologetic, and attempted to ease the pain by rubbing my shoulder. (How does that help?) I recoiled from his touch, bristling. "Geez, Tri. You are SO WIERD." Huffily, I returned to my work, trying to rub the welt down. It wasn't working very well.

Timidly, the person sitting behind me tapped on my shoulder. Couldn't this guy see I was in PAIN? I whirled around to face him, still disgruntled from Tri's idea of fun.

"What the hell do YOU want?"

He stared at me, startled, maybe even a bit scared. I honestly didn't blame him. "Oh... Um... Sorry, but could you help me with this problem?"

My gaze softened, and I realized that I had never seen him before; I really failed the first impression thing by snapping at him. Actually... Who knew? Maybe he WAS a new student... I never noticed that someone sat behind me; maybe it was because he was so soft spoken. In spite of my... Daydream... He was still sitting expectantly, peering at me through his small waterfall of light blue hair. He had his blue and white hoodie sleeves rolled up, and his pencil was poised over the worksheet in anticipation.

"Oh. Right. Lessee... You impose a log on both sides... Then bring the powers down to the front. Uhmmm... Now you move the variables to one side, factor them out, then solve for x. Ta-dah! Done."

"Oh. I get it now... Thanks."

"No problem." I turn back, finding it hard to focus on the worksheet, so I go back to the drawing I started the day before. Ah, Yamamoto... With your carefree nature, and happy-go-lucky attitude... I pause, my pencil tip hovering over the face. My thoughts return to the boy behind me. How long has he been sitting behind me? A day? A week? A month? Who knew?

Mentally, I berated myself for being so oblivious. How could I have missed him? His shocking blue hair would've attracted the teacher's attention immediately, so why didn't I notice when I sat right in front of him? Worst of all, I didn't know his name.

I whirl around again, staring curiously at the name scrawled in the blank. Daisuke. Hm... And to think, I hadn't even known his name.

"Hey," I ask him. "Its... Daisuke, right?" His brown eyes flick upwards momentarily, locking onto mine. "Mhm... Thats right."

"Are you a junior, or a senior."

Poofing his hair out of his eyes, he murmurs, "Junior." His pencil moves on the paper furiously, tackling the problems with ease.

"Um... Daisuke... How long have you been here, exactly?"

"Since freshman year."

"...Wow. How on earth did I never notice you? Is that your natural hair color?"

"Yeah. It is. And I don't blame you." He had replaced the pencil in his hands with a calculator. Preoccupied, he responded slowly, "Its okay. Im used to this kind of thing."

A flash of light glinted off a shiny object, straight into my eye. I blinked, and it was gone; the light came from something on Daisuke's hand.

"Hey, Daisuke. Whats that on your finger?"

"Oh this?" He pulled off a beautiful ornamental ring. The diamond shaped gem caught the light, sparkling with facets that drew the light towards the air pocket in the centre. Some miracle of nature had embedded a bubble in the aquamarine in the shape of a rain drop. The stone was set in a platinum band, and three words were engraved on the inside. Dattero di mare.

"Whats... Dattero di mare?"

"I dunno. It was on the card I got with it, too. Its pretty plain, but says Ame on the front."

I hold the ring in my palm, and I can feel the ring emnating... Some sort of energy, that called to my own. I felt, that if I ran some sort of energy through it, the power would resonate with the power of the ring, and a sort of physical energy would appear. Sorta like... A vongola ring.

"Do you know what the Vongola are, Daisuke?"

"The mafia from Katekyo hitman reborn, right?"

"Mhm... So... The Vongola are a kind of Italian clam... Used in pasta dishes and stuff."

"Really?" He chewed on the end of his pencil thoughtfully. "Didn't know that."

"Ahaha. I looked it up on wikipedia. And... This Dattero di mare... Is a kind of clam too, I think."

Daisuke looked at me sheepishly. "Whatever. I don't really care... The ring looks cool though. Its just..."

"Just what?"

"I wonder who would send something like this to me? The jewler said its worth at least $500."

"What? $500... Wow. Was there a return address?"

"No... Thats what makes it so wierd, ya know?"

"Yeah... But-"

-ding, ding, ding, ding-

"Ugh. Class is over? Already?" I groan, stuffing my papers into my backpack. Daisuke slides the ring back onto his finger, flexing his hand as he admires it.

"Well... See you tomorrow, Allison."

"Later, Daisuke."

I make my way outside the classroom, and Yamamoto was already there, waiting for me. Already? I thought. The bell rang less than a minute ago. "Hey, Alli. What's up?" Wordlessly, I handed him a kopiko candy, cappucino flavor. (BEST CANDY IN THE WORLD. SUPER ADDICTING. :D)

"What's this... Kopiko... Thanks, Alli. Next time, get milk candy, mkayyy?"

"Ahaha... actually, Yama-kun, there IS milk in there... sorta."

He paused while opening the candy wrapper, un-crinkling the plastic cover. "Oh really?"

"Yup. Milk powder."

He chuckled. "Silly Alli. Milk powder doesn't count as real milk."

"I am NOT silly. And anyway, Yama-kun, it SO DOES." I called back to him as we made our way down the crowded stairwell. He turned his face towards me, popping the two-layer candy into his mouth. "Mmm... Thanks again, Alli." I pushed open the glass door (with difficulty. He had decided to give me a hug from behind, and breathe coffee scented breath into my face.), and headed outside to 4th period. I could see Andrew strolling in the courtyard with a freshman named Kellie. (no comment.)

Ah, 4th period. Spanish 3. So fun... not) Yamamoto followed me inside, then left me to sit with Gokudera and Tsuna at another cluster of desks. Why... only yesterday, I had dashed outside to fight off the Kream Clicc members..., and Reborn really did convince Hibari to change everyone else's schedules.

Isabella's entrance broke my reverie, followed by a wide eyed, pale faced Jason. I could hear him murmuring to himself, "He... He's so SCARY." Ignoring the scared-out-of-his-wits junior that trailed behind her, she sat down, depositing her backpack on the floor. Tenderly, she placed a small, yellow ball of fluff onto her desk. It looked like a giant pom pom with wings and a beak.

"What the heck is that thing?" I asked, poking it as it hopped cheerfully on top of the desk. Peeping happily, it sang snippets of Namimori's theme as it attempted to flutter about in the air. "It's obviously not Hibird... I doubt that Hibari would part with it willingly, under any circumstances. Anyway, its much smaller, and it doesn't know as much of the theme as Hibird does..."

Isabella cradled the golden puffball in her palms, beaming as it cheeped. "Hibari gave it to me this morning."

"Hibari? Who's that?" Dana asked.

"Isabella's boyfrienddd." I snickered, poking her arm with a pen. "Hehehe. Squishy." I continued to prod her arm as she blushed lightly. "Umm... he's just a friend, guys."

"Pshh... now THAT'S a HUGE lie."

A screeching, grating falsetto pierced through all the side conversations in the room, bequeathed with a thick Russian-esque accent. "Hello, class, I am Mrs. Blaise. I am your substitute for today." (insert eerie smile here.)

A voice from the nearby table grumbled, "Like we even care." A smoother, slightly deeper voice hushed him. "Chill out, Zero. Subs are cool, too."

"Shut up, Sorin. Nobody even asked you."

"Calm down, the both of you." The speaker was a boy with spiky blue hair, with orange tips. How he got away with THAT one was anyones guess.

I looked at the trio. Hmmm... they looked like they were new to this class too. Purple schedule sheets lay pinned under Sorin's elbow. Zero, the rambunctious one, had gravity defying, black, spiky hair. Sorin had relatively medium length purple hair (NO COMMENTS.), with sound-proof earphones dangling from his neck. The nameless blue-orange haired one... wait. Not so nameless after all...

"I can do whatever I want, Nick. Just because you're the storm guardian for our family means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Just wait until Alex hears of this..."

"Alex won't care for your meaningless tangents, Zero." Nick said offhandedly, twiddling with a bamboo chopstick.

So... storm guardian? All three had glittering rings on their hands, all similar to Daisuke's. Sorin's was purple, Zero's was green, and Nick's was red. The Dattero di mare had the cloud, thunder, and storm sitting together in my spanish 3 class... oh joy.

Dattero di mare... are they friend? Or foe?