Author's Note: Sorry for the really late chapter. I wrote this a bunch of times, and I'm still not too sure how I feel about it. I guess writer's block is my punishment for putting my project off for so long. I've pissed off the writing gods it seems D:

(Wow, ton of feedback last chapter. Don't know what I did to deserve such awesome readers :) Thanks MidnightMirror, kristingreen, YamirooAlice, Animefreak1145,angelcorus, tabemono604, brokenmaelstorm, Inveigler, Ice queen, Haddleigh (oh my glob! you didn't have to do that much, but thank you!), and Sayonara Yasashii Akumufor reviewing. You guys seriously made my week. Glad to see some new faces as well!)

Target Seven:

The Lucky Ones

She could have killed me, Setsuna realized as she stared at the bowed shape the fence had taken since she had been slammed into it.

While there had yet to be an incident because of it, the teachers had insisted that no one go up on the roof until the fencing be replaced as it had become brittle with age. Until now, she hadn't really believed there even was a problem to begin with, but now that she could see the very real possibility of falling her toes clutched anxiously at the sturdy ground beneath her.

"Are you sure you're okay, Setsu-chan?" Tsuna asked, as she still had yet to steady completely.

Since her 'fall' all of Setsuna's injuries roared back to life at full force.

Every step sent new waves of pain up her battered legs, and the reopened scabs on her arms were vivid with fresh crimson. As much as it hurt, she also covered the burns on her biceps with crossed arms. They were very obviously hand shaped, and would raise unnecessary questions if people were to see them.

Thankfully, when Tsuna had seen them at first her sleeves had shielded them for the most part, but every few seconds Setsuna noticed his eyes drifting towards them.

"I'm fine, Nii-chan," she insisted, although truly she wasn't. She was trying her best to put on a tough face to keep Tsuna and Gokudera calm, but on the inside she was absolutely freaking out.

Not only had she almost died for the second time this week, but somehow the ghost had burned her with a simple touch. Never before had she met a spirit capable of making music, breaking glass, throwing things or burning people. All of this was new to her - and quite frankly it was terrifying.

On multiple occasions now she could have easily died. Had she been a foot to the left. Had the ghost felt so inclined to push rather than grab her. Such simple things really had been the difference between life and death.

You have more important things to focus on, Setsuna reminded herself before the growing fear could consume her completely.

During their exchange, the woman had revealed that she was in fact Gokudera's mother. Deep down, Setsuna had suspected as much but now that she knew it to be true, it was utterly heart wrenching. Despite her reluctance to face the apparition again, she was determined now more than ever to help her move on.

When she thought about it though, it was obvious that Setsuna's attempts at placating the spirit thus far had been the wrong way to go about things. While all some spirits needed was a little therapy session, there were those, like the little girl she had helped the other day, that required a more hands on approach. Every ghost had something that was keeping them here - whether it be a mental or a physical problem.

Setsuna just had to figure out what this specific one's trouble seemed to be, and who better to ask than the ghost's own son?

"Hayato-kun?" the blonde called out, as the group migrated back towards where their lunches had been laid out. The silver haired boy quickly whirled to face her. The moment their eyes met however, his jade orbs were taut with a wild mix of emotions. Pity instantly laced through Setsuna's veins, and she couldn't deny the anger that was beginning to boil inside her.

"Yes, Setsu-hime?" he strained out, still as overly courteous as always.

"Do you think we could talk... alone?"

A sudden blush dusted his cheeks. "I-if Juudaime says it's okay."

Tsuna quirked a brow at that, having not paid attention to the conversation. "What?"

"Can I talk to Hayato-kun alone?" Setsuna relayed, simultaneously irritated and amused at the notion. "Apparently we need your permission."

Tsuna eyed them both skeptically.

Lately, everyone seemed to be having private conversations with Setsuna. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have thought much of it. But, as he didn't want to bother her with all this Mafia insanity he didn't really trust anyone from the Mafia alone with her.

A haphazard chuckle escaped the brunette's lips.

After all this time, it seemed his protective older brother instincts were finally kicking in. Too bad it was, you know, after his sister already went off the deep end.

"Go ahead," Tsuna drawled after a second. Regardless of his hesitation on the matter however, he'd already mentioned to Gokudera not to bring up anything Mafia related around Setsuna. Even though he hadn't really known Gokudera all that long, for some reason he felt that he could trust him.

"A-are you sure, Juudaime?" Gokudera sputtered. Usually in a Famiglia, the Boss's blood relatives were held in ridiculously high esteem. To be trusted enough to actually be alone with someone like the Boss's sibling was an honor Gokudera had never really been granted.

When Tsuna gave a bewildered nod, Gokudera looked ready to burst from happiness. "Thank you, Juudaime!"

Setsuna watched the scene fretfully, an errant feeling blooming in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't too sure why Gokudera seemed so excited at the prospect of a private conversation, but it only made it that much harder when she remembered just what they were going to discuss.

So, when the bell for the end of lunch period pierced the air, Setsuna actually heaved a sigh of relief.

Gokudera on the other hand looked positively crestfallen.

"We can talk another time," she offered sheepishly at the pout on his face. Maybe it was for the best that he not be included in this after all...

-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-

Even though Setsuna knew it was probably a bad idea to skip the rest of the school day along with detention, she hardly found it in herself to care.

No matter what she did her limbs echoed with pain at the slightest provocation. Not to mention she wanted to cover the burns as quickly as possible. Even if Tsuna wasn't outwardly voicing his suspicions or concerns over them, his furrowed brows whenever he glanced her direction was difficult to ignore.

Just this morning Tsuna had finally approached her at school, yet all too soon the wall that separated them slipped back into place. If it weren't for Gokudera they likely wouldn't have even had lunch together to begin with.

Sighing, Setsuna studied her handiwork in the mirror.

A thin layer of gauze was tied loosely on each of her arms, from wrist to shoulder. While she had to admit it made the injuries look worse than they actually were it was the only way to cover the burns without looking too suspicious.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she trudged out of the bathroom and down the stairs. Before she could really even tell where she was going she found herself once again on the porch. Whenever something was bothering her she always ended up on the same familiar stretch of wood.

Despite herself, she half expected to see Giotto perched at the edge, swinging his tiny legs like he had in his child form - but years of lonely disappointments had prepared her for the empty yard that greeted her.

Plopping onto the rickety boards, she tuned her ears to the noises drifting in the mid afternoon breeze. After such an eventful day it felt nice to just do nothing.

But her solitude was quickly disturbed at the arrival of a certain spiky haired spirit.

"Rough day?" he asked sheepishly as he materialized in front of her. Setsuna started at the sight, jumping near completely out of her skin.

Muttering a string of curses at the biting pain that blossomed across her body, she restrained the strong urge to slap her great-great-great-grandfather upside the head.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Giotto crouched to inspect the purple marks that dotted her thin legs.

"Define okay," she grunted.

At that Giotto scowled, taking note of her bandaged arms. "What happened?"

"I fell," she offered lamely, hoping he would accept her excuse as simply as the other two had. Instead however, he hadn't believed her for even a second.

"And you get on my case for hiding things from you," he teased delicately, as if he was afraid to push her too far. "Now really, what happened? This looks more severe than the your typical bout of bullying."

Memories of the few beatings she had gotten in her youth reeled across her mind. Before people at school had become afraid of her, they had taken to bashing her around when they could. Whenever she was particularly upset about it, Giotto would show up to comfort her.

Letting out a pent up breath, Setsuna rolled the tension off her shoulders. "I got into a fight with a ghost... and the ghost won."

"A ghost did this to you?" he arced an incredulous brow.

"Yeah," Setsuna anxiously wrung her hands as Giotto sat down next to her. "I've never met a spirit this strong before. If she wanted to she easily could have killed me twice now..."

Giotto stiffened at the thought. "Why don't you just leave this one alone? You don't have to help every wandering spirit you meet, Setsu-chan."

Groaning, she eased her back onto deck. "If only it were that easy. I can't leave her alone because I'm not the one seeking her out. She's the one that keeps attacking us."

"Us?"

"Tsuna and I," she clarified quickly, much to Giotto's dismay. "For some reason she targets anyone that gets close to her son - and guess who made his first friend?"

Giotto's lips pressed into a firm line.

While he had expected Tsuna's life to get more hectic with the gathering of his Guardians, he hadn't however expected him to garner the attention of a vengeful spirit. The blonde wondered offhandedly what Guardian he had attained first, but had a sneaking suspicion it was G's reincarnation. Even in another life he was pretty sure G would be pissed if he hadn't cinched the position as second in command.

The memory of his closest adviser left Giotto nostalgic and wistful. Not the time, he reminded himself dully, forcing his attention back to Setsuna.

"So, what're you going to do, Setsu-chan?"

"I honestly don't know," she admitted thoughtfully. "I should be at school watching over Tsuna-nii and Hayato-kun right now, but I had to cover these burns before either of them could notice them."

His amber orbs narrowed dangerously. "Burns?"

Setsuna shook her head, sending her flaxen locks into disarray. "When the ghost grabbed me, I don't know how she did it, but she actually burnt my skin."

"You really should stay away from this one," he warned after a moment, his voice thin and stripped of emotion.

"I can't," she insisted. "If I don't do anything she'll keep going after Nii-chan... Not to mention what she's doing to her own son is just plain awful. The poor kid thinks he's cursed."

Giotto hummed in the back of his throat. "At least try to avoid direct contact with her if you can. Those burns can get pretty nasty."

"What even are they?" Setsuna wondered aloud, pushing back into a sitting position. "Can all ghosts do it?"

"Only ones that mean to harm people," he replied somewhat vaguely. "I told you in the past that the longer a spirit is around the stronger they get, but that's really only half right. Usually with time comes bitterness. The closer a spirit gets to completely losing their sanity the more they despise the living, and with that they become what you might know as a Poltergeist - a spirit with physical abilities. If the one you're talking about still has a normal form then they're likely on the borderline of completely making the transformation."

Setsuna absorbed his explanation with a mute sense of fascination and growing trepidation. "So, Hayato-kun's mother will become a Poltergeist if I don't find a way to free her?" she asked quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Heaving a sigh, Giotto downcast his eyes. "That wasn't necessarily what I wanted you to take from that, but ultimately yes."

Tugging at her hair, Setsuna gave a mangled groan. "Now I really can't leave her alone, can I?"

Giotto regarded her with a sideways glance before drooping in defeat. He never could deter Her, so he wasn't quite sure why he thought her reincarnation would be any different. "I guess not," he finally agreed. "It's a little late to ask you to be careful now though, isn't it?"

"A little," she conceded. "But to be fair, there wasn't much I could do about having a desk thrown on me."

"A des - never mind," Giotto shook his head. "I'm sure I don't want to know."

-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-

The next day at school Setsuna had hell to pay for ditching out the day before. The stunt had garnered her an extension on her detentions, and of course the permanent distrust of her teachers.

From this point on, school was going to just be an eternal damnation. All because Gokudera's mother felt like being an annoying bitch. Sure, Setsuna assumed the woman was probably a really nice lady in her own right, but after everything she had been put through in the past week calling her a bitch made her feel a hair better about the situation.

Well, as good as she could feel about a ghost haunting all of her son's friends until he was left to utterly self-loathing solitude.

So, when Setsuna found herself in the middle of absolutely mind numbing detention, she was pissed off, irritable and aching all over.

So far, today was just not her day.

That morning Reborn had completely ignored her, disappointed in her for leaving her post of watching over Tsuna and Gokudera. Then at lunch, even though Tsuna and Gokudera had offered to sit with her again she got called to the principal's office to further discuss her sentence. At least Gokudera's mother hadn't shown up again, but Setsuna couldn't decide whether that was a good or a bad thing.

Leaning into her upraised palm, the blonde peered out through the window. It really was such a nice day outside. A shame she had to spend the next few hours in this forsaken classroom. Hell, even the teacher on watch didn't want to be here. The man's snores were just as maddening as the detention itself she decided.

Ignoring the twitch that had started to form in her eye, Setsuna searched for something more interesting on the school grounds. Classes had let out long ago, and for once the place was empty for the most part. While she had to admit it made the school have a peaceful kind of air to it, it was also strangely eerie. Especially when she knew that ghosts often walked the halls.

Amber orbs wandering over towards the field, Setsuna didn't quite realize what she was seeing until an all too familiar chill raked her frame.

It seemed most of the team had already left, but there was one person left on the field, practicing his pitching. Even from this distance Setsuna could recognize who it was.Yamamoto Takeshi. The popular, happy go lucky, jock that everyone seemed to fawn over. Even teachers - despite his less than stellar grades.

While she hadn't had a class with him since elementary school, his reputation was one anyone in Namimori had heard of. 'He'll be famous one day!' she remembered an older woman say once. Honestly, Setsuna wouldn't doubt it. In this world the ones that typically excelled were those graced with luck, which Yamamoto seemed to have no limit of. Both in the genes department and just in general.

Basically, he was the type of person the blonde hated the most. But no matter what her feelings were towards him she wouldn't wish on him what was about to happen.

In the distance the scene unfolded as if in slow motion.

As Yamamoto bent to pick up the next baseball, someone appeared beside him. A woman from the looks of it. With billowing dark hair, and what appeared to be strikingly bright crimson eyes. Unbeknownst to him, as he wheeled his arm back for the next pitch the ghost reached forward and gripped his throwing arm. With one hand on his forearm and another on his wrist, she snapped his arm up like a twig.

When the boy fell to his knees, nursing his now broken arm, the spirit gave a sickeningly sweet smile before disappearing in a twist of shadow.

Setsuna rushed to the window, unable to tear her eyes away from the baseball field. Had she really seen that right? There was no way that just happened...

I'm just seeing things, she attempted to dissuade herself, but it was hard the ignore the boy currently writhing in pain on the ground. Why is no one helping him?

Then she remembered that most people were gone by now, including club members. Heaving a sigh, Setsuna's eyes slid over towards the passed out man at the front of the classroom.

This is a really bad idea, she noted immediately - but that did little to stop her as she snuck out the open door.

-Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ-

Author's Note: So, in the end I actually kind of veered away from what I originally planned to do with this chapter. While I'm not wholly sure if I liked the way it came out I think this was the best version out of all the ones I wrote.

(I know it may have been somewhat jarring to introduce Yamamoto and yet another ghost while we're still knee deep in Gokudera's troubles, but for the timeline of things to work along with not disturbing canon too immensely events have to overlap a little bit. I hope it wasn't too out of place. If it was be sure to let me know so I can edit at a later date to make the transition more smooth.)

Thanks for reading! See you again soon! :D