Chapter 7

Hana is a strange mix of utterly terrified and wondering what the hell is going on, and it's definitely not a combination she enjoys.

Then again, it's not everyday she's held at gunpoint while a friend is kidnapped before magic fire saves them, so she thinks she's perfectly justified to be stunned silent for a while.

She shifts her gaze from the bones to Tsuna, who looks appropriately confused, terrified and about to pee his pants, then to Heza, who looks equal parts horrified, relieved, and like she actually has an idea of what just happened.

A-ha. Target locked.

"Heza-chan, I'm sure we are both very grateful, but I would really appreciate it if you explained the fire and crazy ninja skills. And you," Hana rounds on Tsuna, whose sudden high-pitched screeching is getting on her nerves, "stop that. Why would anyone want to kidnap you anyway?"

His shrieking dies down to gibbering, which is still annoying.

Hana will take it anyway, because he should get some leeway for the trauma of having someone burn to death in front of his face- and nope she's not going to think about that- but seriously, boy, get a grip.

"I don't know!" Tsuna wails, shuffling further away from his would-be kidnapper. "I didn't do anything, honest!"

That was… not exactly a surprise. Tsuna barely knew his hiragana and couldn't run two rounds around the gym without collapsing.

Heza continues staring at her hands and flexing her fingers. "That… I think I did that," she breathes.

Hana wants to scream. Yes, we have established that, and if we don't get an explanation soon I'm going to-

"How," she demands instead, crossing her arms. "How did you set a man on fire?"

Heza falters, suddenly looking extremely confused. " I- I'm not sure," she says hesitantly. "He was going to kill us, and I was so scared. I didn't want us to die and Tsuna get taken away, so I just wanted the fire- and it came."

Strange magical fire powers. Hana can work with that. "Was it the first time you've used it? Can you control it?"

"Yes… and I don't know. I've never done it before."

Heza's starting to look increasingly frazzled and worried, so Hana decides she can throw her a bone and back down.

"Now, explain your whole flying ninja ass-kicking thing, then we can go eat cake. I need sugar after the last ten minutes."

She doesn't manage to get all her answers, but the answering smile Heza gives her is worth it.

-x- -x- -x-

Tsuna is used to bullies, children who look down on his clumsiness and slowness and decide to push him around because of that. He's used to condescending adults who deem him stupid and useless and judge him and Kaa-chan because Otou-san is never home.

No one has ever tried to kidnap or kill him before though.

If Heza-chan and Hana-chan hadn't decided to become his friends, he would have been caught and taken far, far away from home and Kaa-chan and Namimori. The thought makes him cringe, and his nails dig deep into his palms.

But why would anyone want to kidnap him anyway? Him, useless no-good Tsuna, whose father never comes home and whose mother has given up on him?

His family is not poor. They always have money for food and clothes and whatever toys, books and treats he wants, but they are not rich, and there are wealthier people in Namimori who would be able to pay a higher ransom.

Tsuna has definitely never done anything bad enough to warrant being kidnapped and attacked by foreign men with guns, and he highly doubts that kind, trusting Kaa-chan has either.

That leaves Otou-san as the most likely culprit, but how much trouble could a construction worker working traffic in the North Pole get into?

He slumps suddenly, feeling drained of all energy. Even though he doesn't know for sure where the fire came from or how he escaped being burnt himself, he's just thankful he's alive, and all other questions can wait until he's not feeling like the walking dead.

-x- -x- -x-

Okaa-san takes a dainty sip from a china cup before placing it on the table. "The bodies have been taken care of," she says, perfectly calm and unperturbed. "What happened?"

Harry wants to cry and scream and let everything she's been bottling up for hours out, but she pushes it back with some effort.

"I made fire," she says instead. "It burned and burned and then there was nothing left but bone."

Okaa-san looks at her knowingly, but doesn't probe deeper. "Do you think you could light the fire again?"

Part of Harry wants to refuse, wants to lock away her memories and never use her fire again, but a larger part of her wants to know.

She raises a hand and stares at her palm. Fire, she thinks, fire, fire, fire. When no flame appears, she shuts her eyes and sinks deeper – 1, 2, 3 breathe, 1, 2, 3 breathe. There is liquid silver in her veins, and it whispers together with her. Fire, fire, fire.

She follows the silver to its source, a glimmering lake that bleeds into fire in the distance.

When Harry opens her eyes, bright orange flames flare to life.

-x- -x- -x-

Lei stays rooted to her spot for almost an entire minute, eyes drawn to the shifting fire like a moth to a flame.

Orange. The color of kings, of emperors, and conquerors.

The color of a sky.

Pure, overwhelming joy fills her, along with the thought that Kyoya might have a sky, and she wonders why she hadn't seen it before.

But when she moves a hand closer, her heart sinks and she knows that Harry will be so disappointed.

"Harry," she says gently, placing a hand on her daughter's cheek. "These are not dying will flames, but they are extraordinary all the same."

The look on Harry's face is heartbreaking. "They're… not?" She whispers, eyes wide. Her fire flickers and dims.

Lei gathers her into her arms, petting her hair gently. "It is likely to be part of your other powers, which don't seem to have any limitations. You can do anything you want darling, and you will always be my precious girl no matter what. It's not a bad thing. You will find your dying will one day soon, I'm sure."

-x- -x- -x-

They never talk about it again after that day. The bodies don't appear on the news, and Tsuna is not attacked again. The closest they've been to the subject is Heza mentioning her fighting lessons, and Hana and Tsuna both deciding to sign up for basic self-defense classes.

Life seems to go back to normal.

But there are some things you can't really go through without becoming good friends, and fighting off kidnappers is one of them.

"Do you want to pair with Tsuna for this, or shall I?" Hana asks lazily, lounging on her seat. They've dropped honorifics with each other, and Heza has asked them to call her 'Harry', something that will take some getting used to, but otherwise everything is almost exactly the way it was before.

It's English class, and they have to split into pairs for the next assignment. Harry is topping the class, and Hana is no slouch either, but Tsuna is lagging behind and has the unfortunate label of 'partner no-one wants'. The obvious solution is that one of them will have to partner with him, but it also leaves the other scrambling to find someone else.

"It's your turn," Harry replies absently, already scanning the room. She's barely more popular than Tsuna is, but is at least able to make sure the assignment is done well and stop people from stomping all over her.

In the end, she sits and waits through the chaos. It doesn't matter who her partner is- she has no friends besides Hana and Tsuna, and it will be less troublesome to wait for the remaining kid to be assigned to her.

Harry ends up being assigned to Yamamoto Takeshi, who has been absent for the past few days.

Hana knows it is because it is the anniversary of his mother's death, but also knows that Harry would not, so she mentions it in passing. "He will probably be back tomorrow," she says nonchalantly. "Don't worry, you still have the rest of the week."

Yamamoto-kun's family runs the best sushi restaurant in town, and his mother was a lovely lady, loud and cheerful and welcoming. Hana had liked her, and had cried at her funeral with the other children who felt the same way.

"We should go eat sushi one day," she says instead.

-x- -x- -x-

Hana is right, as she usually is in matters like this.

Yamamoto Takeshi was back the next day, smiling in his seat like always. Harry watches him through the first few classes out of the corner of her eye, taking in the way his smile drooped and he fiddled with his pencil case the way Tsuna tended to do when lost or bored.

She approaches him at lunchtime, standing in front of his desk while he fishes out his bento, and waits for him to look at her. "Hello, Yamamoto-kun. I am your partner for the English assignment due on Friday. When are you free to work on it?"

"Oh? Oh, haha. I'm free tomorrow after school. Do you want to come over to my place?" He pastes a smile on with admirable speed, but it is a little too wide, too fake, and his forced laughter is jarring.

"Yes. Then please read the required chapter before tomorrow. Bye." Harry escapes to the backyard with her own bento, away from the boy with the plastic smile and crying eyes.

-x- -x- -x-

When they spar, Kyoya never hesitates to beat her down, although it takes a little longer each time.

But he also never hesitates to help her up and go through all her mistakes, showing her little tips and tricks to improve or get the upper hand, so despite the smattering of bruises she gets, it's some of her favorite parts of the week.

Sometimes they trade weapons, but Kyoya manages to be scarily proficient at anything he tries, while Harry finds his tonfas unwieldy and awkward.

"Your grip is wrong," he announces flatly, disarming her smoothly with his tambo before ducking and rapping the back of her knees. "But your stance is better than last time."

He doesn't give out much praise, but Harry treasures the little he does, because she knows Kyoya means every word he says.

Despite Kyoya's reputation as something of a demon, he's never been anything less than kind and considerate to her. In fact, sometimes he is downright protective and doting- being an older brother seems to suit him.

She never tells anyone, but she's seen Kyoya whistling to birds and stopping to pet strays during his patrols. She's just an extension of that she guesses, something smaller and weaker and cute that needs his protection until she's ready to fly by herself, though she knows she'll always go back to him too.

-x- -x- -x-

Takeshi has never paid any great amount of attention to Potteru Heza. She's just the quiet foreign girl in his class who's friends with Kurokawa Hana and Dame-Tsuna, of all people.

He knows a few of his friends don't really like her, calling her annoying and stuck-up and weird, but she seems alright to him so he doesn't really care when they're assigned to work together.

At least he'll get a good grade out of it.

She follows him home from school and they walk in silence. Takeshi feels his smile slipping off his face, and doesn't bother to paste it back on until Takesushi comes in sight.

"Hi, Oyaji!" He chirps as he bounces through the front door, ignoring the emptiness in his chest when he doesn't hear the cheerful Welcome back, Takeshi! That used to greet him until a year ago.

"Oh, Takeshi, you're home!" Oyaji calls back, loud and gruff and familiar as his knives flash behind the counter.

"This is Potteru-chan from my class, we'll be upstairs studying, okay?" He replies, grinning and waving cheerfully at all the regulars before bounding up the stairs.

He hears her greet his father politely before following him up, but they still don't talk until they're settled at the table in his room.

"So, how should we do this?" He asks, not particularly eager, but his mood brightens slightly when it's clear Potteru-chan is well prepared.

They're done in two hours, a new record for him since Potteru-chan seems immune to all distractions and focuses on their work with a single-minded intensity Takeshi finds both impressive and scary.

She's not that bad, for all his friends' complaints, though she's a little serious and boring. Takeshi wouldn't mind working with her again though, and tells her so when he walks her out the door.

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself," she replies, pausing just outside the gate. "But you don't have to smile if you don't want to." She's gone the next minute, and Takeshi is left staring out onto the road.

Odd girl, he thinks as he turns to go back into the house.

He gets his first 'A' in English, and his dad is so proud he brings him out for ramen.

-x- -x- -x-

It just so happens that Harry is the closest to the door that day when the doorbell rings, Kyoya having disappeared into his room after a day of disciplining crowding herbivores. No one else seems to be near, so Harry shrugs and pulls the door open, and promptly stops and stares.

There's a baby staring back up at her.

After a long pause, she bends down to pick him up, scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary. No parents or note, just a tiny bag and a…monkey?

"Well hello there," Harry coos, trying to remember what Aunt Petunia and all the other mothers used to do back in Surrey. "Who's a cute baby? You are!"

She's interrupted in her attempted fawning by a firm but squeaky voice. "Actually, I am your Uncle Fon. You must be my new niece. It is nice to meet you."

Needless to say, Harry nearly drops the baby.

"Nice to meet you!" She rushes out, depositing her now identified uncle back on the floor and bowing frantically. "I'm so sorry! Please come in!"

Luckily, Uncle Fon doesn't seem to take offense, following her calmly into the house with his monkey trailing behind him.

Okaa-san sweeps into the room just as Harry is serving tea. "Big brother," she says warmly, erasing any doubt from Harry's mind and telling her that he is exactly who he says he is, "it is good to see you. I'm glad you finally decided to visit."

"It is good to see you as well, Lei." Uncle Fon replies, "Where are your husband and Kyoya?"

"Ryusei is out, but Kyoya is in his room. Harry, will you go and get your brother, please?"

-x- -x- -x-

Kyoya hates it when Uncle Fon visits.

He's looked like a baby for as long as he's known him, and that monkey of his is a menace.

"I don't want to," he sulks to his sister as he stomps down the hallway, reluctant to see his uncle but also not willing to disobey his mother. Harry pats his shoulder comfortingly.

Uncle Fon might be a baby, but he is also a master of dozens of martial arts styles and extremely proficient in at least fifty more. Being beaten into the ground by someone who looks like an infant is bad enough, but being forced to sit around and drink tea with him and his monkey after that is simply too much, especially since Uncle inevitably begins spouting off Chinese proverbs while the monkey launches biscuits at him.

Kyoya's all for training, but Uncle Fon is simply too annoying to be around for long.

"Carnivore." He jerks his head in a shallow bow and ignores his mother's glare. His uncle nods back, unperturbed.

"Ah, Kyoya. You look well. Have you been keeping up with your training?" When Kyoya does nothing but glare in reply, his uncle places his teacup down and jumps off the table.

"Let's see your progress, then. Harry, please come along as well."

As Kyoya stomps along behind his uncle, he notices his mother hiding a laugh behind her sleeve.

Traitor.

Otou-san is a traitor too, for flying off for "work" the day he heard Uncle Fon was planning a visit.

Everyone's a traitor.

Beside him, Harry trips on the monkey's tail.

-x- -x- -x-

Harry realizes within the first five minutes of their training session that despite Uncle Fon's cherubic face and infant body, he is clearly the devil incarnate.

"If your mind is not balanced, your body will not be either," he says serenely, rapping the back of her ankle with a chopstick. Harry collapses from her one-legged contortionist stance, limbs tangled as he drones on. "…and that is the value of inner peace."

Beside her, Kyoya sticks stubbornly in his own position, face turning red as he balances on his head and forearms.

The redness is most likely due to anger though, since Uncle Fon's monkey is busy waving its bottom in front of Kyoya's face and tickling his nose with its tail.

"Get up and hold that position for another five minutes." Harry doesn't manage to dodge the reprimanding rap on her knuckles, and winces.

Still, she pushes herself back up to try again. If Kyoya can handle it, so can she.

She's come a long way from the scared little girl in the cupboard, and she's not going to let something like this stop her.

-x- -x- -x-

Fon always enjoys visiting his little sister in Japan.

Teaching Kyoya is enjoyable, and he has the feeling it will be the same with his new niece.

He watches Harry push herself back on her feet despite the trembling in her legs, and glances at Kyoya snarling at Lichi.

How lively it is, he thinks to himself, and smiles. I should visit more often.

-x- -x- -x-

Author's note:

Holy crap. It's short, late and not my best chapter, but it's done.

Sorry about the wait, it was really busy this month. I had a presentation and two exams last week, and was at home sick this whole week. I have another exam next week, and a research paper due the week after. I'm so dead ugh.

On a side note, I need a little (okay, a lot T-T) of help with my paper. I have a couple of ideas but I'm worried they're not enough, so. What do you think about the family law in your country? Or more specifically, what do you think is the best part? I'd really appreciate any replies I get – it can be just a few words or a line or two, something like: 'I think my country has really great support for single parents,' or 'my country really looks out for the kids' welfare when there is a divorce' (please also name your country, if it's not too much trouble!) – something like that would be great! Or any other criticism you have for a country's family law would be really helpful to start me out. (:

Okay so back on track, Takeshi and Fon have finally made their appearances, not much but I tried haha. Next chapter is probably going to be a bit more magical, if you know what I mean, but it's not set in stone and things happen, so yeah.

Oh yes, and I just posted a new story, The Ocean Never Ends. It's a One Piece and Percy Jackson crossover; so if you're interested or just curious please do take a look! It's been bouncing around in my head for ages, so I simply had to get it out quick. It was supposed to be short but it sort of grew and grew so I decided to make it a chapter fic in the end. It's supposed to be one of those happy, funny stories, so there's little to no angst (cause I am so bad at that), so yep if that's what you're into feel free to check it out!

As always, if you have any suggestions or want a character to appear more often or you really want a particular scene- like, 'I want to see Tsuna burn his eyebrows off!' or 'I want to see more training sessions!' – please do drop me a line and I'll see what I can do! ;) I'm not a miracle worker, but I'll try my best, and if I really like your idea but can't fit it in, there's always that side fic of oneshots I keep thinking about writing and talking about but haven't done anything with yet oops.

Really long A/N, but I think that's all! Do let me know what you thought about this chapter (and if you have an answer to my question up there please let me know too!) and I'll see you next update!