idea getthe: I wanted to have something in there about the six hells, and my mind had blanked out by the time I reached Mukuro's part, so…

foxchick1: I couldn't wait for the moment when I get to write in Natsu because he's pretty cute.

konan248: I was planning on trying to get interactions with all the Vongola members before the Shura Intro chapter, so since I already got Hayato and Kyoya, I'm working on the other members.

Poll so far:

Hibari Kyoya: 4

No one: 1

Suguro Ryuji: 1

Please vote if you haven't already!

Since no one said anything yet, I will start adding hints of Shiemi/Izumo. However! Unlike my other stories, I don't have predetermined pairings yet. So if you want/don't want a particular pairing, feel free to message me or leave it in the reviews so I would know and avoid/add in that pairing in if I can!

I don't own Blue Exorcist or Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Punishments and Tests

"Good morning." Tsuna blinked and turned to look at the speaker. It was Izumo.

She raised a hand in greeting, since she was in the middle of brushing her teeth. Izumo moved forward until she stood next to Tsuna.

"Listen, okay?" Izumo started. "You are not to tell anyone about how you saw me crying yesterday."

There was an awkward silence until Tsuna cleaned her mouth of toothpaste. "I would never tell anyone something embarrassing about another person."

Izumo remained silent for a few moments, then shoved a piece of clothing at Tsuna. "Here!" She averted her eyes and blushed slightly. "Thank you…for letting me borrow it. If you hadn't shown up, who knows what might have happened to me and Paku…" She took a deep breath and let it out. "I…I am thankful for that, all right?!"

Tsuna held the shirt in her hands. It was the shirt that she had given Izumo yesterday, and it didn't stink of sweat like she thought it would. "Did you wash this?" She smiled. "Thank you very much!"

Izumo's cheeks only turned redder and she turned away with a huff. "I only did it because it was filthy!" Tsuna giggled. How cute.

"Good morning." Tsuna turned to the stairway to see Ieyasu coming up. He looked at Izumo. "Kakimi-san, you can see Paku-san now."

"So what happened to that demon yesterday?" Tsuna asked as she walked down a hallway with Ieyasu, letting Izumo have some time with Paku alone. Natsu was, once again, sprawled comfortably on her head.

"We're in the process of investigating how it got in and where it went." Ieyasu responded. "That was an above mid-class ghoul."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't something like that be repelled by the Academy's wards?"

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Occasionally, there might be a hole that a demon can use to slip in. That's why we have to keep our guards up."

She nodded, then spotted the stairs that lead to the roof. "I'm going up to the roof for some practice. I'll be back in a bit."

Ieyasu murmured an agreement, and the twins split up.

Tsuna paused once she reached her destination, enjoying the cold breeze, then sat down at her usual spot. She thoughtlessly went through her vocal warm-ups, thinking about what the ghoul from yesterday had said. It was obvious that the demon was after her, but who sent it?

Finishing her warm-ups, Tsuna decided to sing one of her favorite multi-part songs. She started with a slow chorus, then shifted into higher pitches for the duet part. Moving on, she sang lightly and happily, a smile on her face. For each part, she changed speed and pitch to fit the part's mood. As she finished the song with a cheerful lilt, she heard someone gasp.

"…Shiemi-chan? What are you doing up here?" Though she can guess, with the laundry basket that the girl was carrying.

"I was just bringing up everyone's clothes up to dry!" Shiemi chirped.

"Do you need a hand?"

Shiemi shook her head. "I'll be fine on my own. Right, Nii-chan?" Her familiar squeaked in agreement.

Tsuna stood up. "I guess I need to get to class now. Stay safe, alright?" She headed for the exit.

"Ah, Tsuna-chan?" Tsuna turned her head to show that she was listening. "You sounded really nice when you sang."

She grinned. "Thank you."

Tsuna whimpered quietly as the weight of the baryon increased, Natsu whining in sympathy atop her head. The day had turned out fine so far. She had entered the Vongola training room to find Takeshi there, who taught her how to grip a sword properly and guided her through some forms. Then, she had gone on a run with Ryohei, which felt like more of a race. During Holy Scripture Recitation Class, she had finally figured out the first line of Mika's song. Homework in that class was usually easy because of her ability to memorize most things as long as they had a certain rhythm to them.

But then, Izumo and Suguro had gotten into an argument. When she tried to stop them, she had gotten punched in the face. And Ieyasu was there. So the entire class had to share the punishment.

"The aims of this training camp are twofold." Ieyasu sighed. "Firstly, to increase your abilities, and secondly, to deepen your relations with your fellow students."

"I refuse to get along with these brutes!" Izumo stated.

Ieyasu massaged the side of his head. "I'm afraid you'll have to. No exorcist can fight alone." Lowering his hand, he continued. "Making use of one another's specialties and compensating for each other's weaknesses, fighting in a party of two or more is basic procedure for any exorcist. If you were to fall out like this on the battlefield, the collective responsibility you would face would be much more than just this. I would like for you to think about that."

He glanced at his watch, checking the time. "Now then, I have a minor mission to attend to, so I will be out for a few hours. Because of the ghoul attack yesterday, I will be locking and putting up wards around this building."

"Locking up the building…how will we get out?" Suguro asked.

"There will be no need for you to leave. I would like for you to stay as you are for the few hours that I'll be away." Ieyasu smiled. It seemed a bit too friendly. "Cool off your heads a little and get along." With that, he left.

"What a monster!" Shima groaned. Tsuna would have laughed if she didn't have the heavy baryon on her lap.

"You and that teacher seriously related?" Suguro gave her a look.

"Of course!" Tsuna wheezed. "I do that too. It's no big deal."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Well this is a fine mess someone got us into."

It was obvious that that was aimed at Izumo. "Says the one who was manhandling me by the chest back there!" She snarled.

"You're the one practically begging for a fight!"

"Guys." Tsuna sighed, the familiar feeling of her intuition making itself known. "Can you please stop arguing?"

They didn't listen. "You're a real nasty piece of work." Suguro growled.

Izumo laughed. "I'm aware of that. And?"

"You'll make everyone around you run for the hills if you keep acting like that."

Tsuna shivered, intuition telling her to run away from the place. But why?

As if in answer, the room became pitch black.

There were several screams and thumps before someone turned on their phone. Tsuna didn't bother, since Natsu provided enough light for her to see.

"Did that idiot teacher cut off the lights too?" Suguro wondered.

Izumo gasped. "A blackout?"

"No." Tsuna walked over to the window. "It's just this building."

"We should go check out the corridor." Shima suggested, moving to the door. "To tell the truth, I like little incidents like this." He opened the door, the light from his phone screen allowing others to see what was beyond it. "It's like a real life test of courage…" He stared at the doorway, then shut the door. "…That's odd. Am I seeing things?"

"That's real!" Suguro yelled. "That's the real deal!" Shima screamed and dived away from the door just as it was destroyed by a ghoul.

"Didn't Sawada-sensei set the wards?!" Konekomaru panicked.

Part of the ghoul exploded and Tsuna had to cover her face from the liquid that spurted out.

"Nii-chan!" Shiemi called. "I need a una-una-kun!" From the greenman spirit's abdomen, thick roots shot out and spread across the room, forming a barricade. "Thank you, Nii-chan!" She swayed a bit, coughing.

The others began to cough as well. "What's wrong?!" Tsuna asked.

"It's the liquid that the ghoul sprayed at us." Izumo coughed. "Are you not affected?"

Tsuna didn't get a chance to answer before Shima spoke up. "It looks like…thanks to Moriyama-san's quick thinking, we're safe for now. But when Moriyama-san runs out of stamina, this tree barricade's gonna disappear. When that happens, we're really done for."

Tsuna tried calling Ieyasu. He didn't pick up. She cursed and tried it again. No luck. She scrolled down her contacts list and stopped at Hayato's name. Yes, that could work!

It only rang once before she was greeted with heavy breathing. "Jyuudaime? Do you need something?" She could vaguely hear Takeshi as well.

"Oh, uh, I don't really want to bother you if you're busy."

"This is kind of a life-threatening situation here." Suguro hissed.

"Life-threatening situation?!" Tsuna winced at the volume. "Jyuudaime, where are you?! We'll get over there as fast as we can!"

"No, it's fine! You can't get here anyways, it's protected by wards!" Tsuna spoke fast, not wanting to waste too much time. "I'm in a room with my classmates, there's a blackout and ghouls are trying to kill us, Shiemi-chan made a barricade but we don't know how long it's going to last!"

"Are there any sources of light where you are?"

"There's cellphones, and…oh!" Tsuna realized. "There's Natsu! It's a sky lion."

"Ghouls are less active in light, so they won't want to get near Natsu. Send him out to find the switchboard for the lights."'

"But-"

"Sky lions, if summoned, can create empathic bonds with their tamer. Plus, they're stronger than most people think. Natsu will be fine."

"I see. Thanks, Hayato. You can go back to making out with Takeshi now." She had the enjoyment of hearing Hayato's splutters and Takeshi's sheepish laughing before ending the call. She gently removed Natsu from her head and looked at it in the eyes. "Can I count on you?"

Natsu meowed, and the feeling of determination flooded Tsuna's mind. So this is what Hayato meant by empathic bonds. It wiggled out of her grip, and easily bounced from one tree root to another. There was a flash of orange fire once it got to the other end of the room, and the light faded. Natsu had escaped.

Tsuna reached for a tree branch, and hauled herself up. "What are you doing?" Suguro asked.

"There's an…" She searched for the right word. "…incantation that I can use to damage the ghouls, but I need to be able to see them for it to work." Climbing to one of the higher branches and making sure she could see the ghouls, she started singing. "Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze~" A small pool of dark liquid bubbled up under one of the ghouls' feet, and it screamed in agony. The pool disappeared soon after, so Tsuna repeated the line.

She was vaguely aware of her classmates making a plan, and then chanting coming from Suguro and Konekomaru. Minutes passed, and one of the ghouls have finally been completely submerged in the dark pool. She smiled in satisfaction and was about to sing again when she heard the sound of someone hitting the ground. Tsuna fell, her perch having disappeared, and landed on her back. She gasped in pain, felt the dryness of her throat that came from too much singing, and struggled to get her breath back.

The ghoul charged at Suguro, but Shima blocked it with his khakkhara. It knocked it away, and was delayed momentarily by Izumo. That gave Tsuna enough time to get up and punch the ghoul away from Suguro. The ghoul screeched and flew at her, and she barely managed to hold it back. Just then, the lights came on, and the ghoul weakened.

Suguro finished his recitation, and the ghoul vanished. Tsuna dropped to the ground, arms shaking from the effort of keeping the ghoul away. A bark alerted Tsuna to Natsu's presence just as it hopped onto her lap.

Tsuna laughed and pet it. "You turned on the lights, didn't you? What a good lion you are." She cooed. Natsu purred loudly.

"Well done, all of you pages." Mephisto dropped in from the ceiling. Ieyasu and one of the teachers showed up by the doorway. "There's a reason why I would allow the invasion of upper-class demons!" He snapped his fingers.

On cue, several exorcist popped out of their hiding places in the room. Some from hidden doors, some from the ceiling, even one from below the floorboards.

"These Doctor Class teachers will treat everyone's wounds." Mephisto then spread his arms out dramatically. "Don't you see? This training camp has also served a purpose as the Exorcist Authorization Exam!"

"So it was a surprise test…" Tsuna sighed. They were now in the infirmary, watching over Shiemi as she slept. A cup of warm water was in her hands, to sooth her throat. Natsu was curled up on her lap, deeply asleep.

"We should have at least considered the possibility." Shima said.

Konekomaru rubbed at his eyes. "I wonder if I did okay…"

Suguro snorted. "It's useless to be thinking about that stuff now."

"Bon and Shima-san are gonna be fine! When I comes to me, I can barely stand on my own two feet…"

"You guys will be fine, right?" Izumo joined in. "Before the exam, Sawada-sensei kept reminding us about working as a team. In other words, the ability desired for exorcists is the 'ability to cooperate while fighting'. And so that means I'd be the worst out of all of us, right?"

"You sure ain't the worst ones here." Suguro glared at the two students that Tsuna had not spoken to yet. "Those guys decided to sit off to the sidelines the entire time! Got anything to say for yourselves?!"

The student in the hood only continued to play their game, and the student with the puppet started insulting them using ventriloquism. Shiemi stirred, and Tsuna focused her attention on her. "Sorry, we woke you up."

"No, it's okay." Shiemi sat up. "I'm a lot better now. What's everyone talking about?"

Shima answered. "We were talking about the exams."

"I'm sure Moriyama-san will be the honor student out of us." Konekomaru praised.

"I shudder to think what could have happened to you, Moriyama-san." Suguro bowed to Shiemi. "Thank you so much."

She blushed. "T-that's very kind of you!"

"Oh, yeah. Sawada-san, what incantation were you singing?" Konekomaru asked. "For it to be able to defeat a ghoul even though it wasn't a Fatal Verse."

Tsuna laughed, a fond and nostalgic smile creeping across her face. "It was part of a song that someone important taught me."

"Tsuna…" Someone was calling her name. She grumbled, slowly blinking her eyes open.

"Ieyasu..?" She slurred out, still mostly asleep.

"Get up, Tsuna. You need to hide." She blinked, suddenly wide awake.

"What? Hide? Why?"

"No time to explain. Come on!" Sensing Ieyasu's urgency, she quickly got out, scooping Natsu up as she did so. Shiemi was at the door, waving at her.

Tsuna rushed over to her. When she looked back, Ieyasu was putting pillows under her blanket. Shiemi tugged on her arm. "I'm supposed to take you to a safe place."

The safe place, it turns out, was a room over. Tsuna and Shiemi huddled there, trying to make themselves as quiet as possible.

Then they heard it. The sound of footsteps. Only, they were too heavy to be Ieyasu's, so who was it?

The footsteps stopped, and Tsuna could hear the creaking of the door. Then, it was quiet.

The two girls waited five minutes for any other sign of movement, and flinched when they hear a loud thump. Then, the sound of running footsteps. Two of them. Tsuna slammed open the door and chased after them, leaving Shiemi behind.

She arrived at the rooftop, and once she saw the danger Ieyasu was in, she immediately unsheathed Kurikara and threw it at the demon. It went up in flames, and she found herself bathed in blue and orange flames again. She stared in surprise at one who had summoned the demon. "…Neihaus-sensei?"

The teacher threw a grenade at her and she leapt away. It exploded, holy water flying everywhere, some landing on her skin. She hissed in pain, steam drifting up from the points of contact.

"So holy water still works even though you're clothed in human skin!" Neihaus laughed manically. "It seems you can hide your true character after all. Still, it doesn't do a lot of damage, huh."

Tsuna was not prepared for the giant ghoul she had stabbed earlier to come rushing at her and try to tear her limbs off. She screamed in pain, and Natsu tried breathing fire to stop the ghoul. All of a sudden, it disappeared thanks to Ieyasu erasing its magic circle, and Tsuna landed on solid ground. She picked up the dropped Kurikara and held it to Neihaus' throat, Natsu hissing from the top of her head. "Who are you!?"

Neihaus shoved his sleeves up. "Sensei! For the sake of your body, stop summoning high-class demons!" Ieyasu cried out. "Do you want to die from blood loss?!"

"I am…" Neihaus started, glaring at Tsuna. "…A survivor of the Blue Night." Tsuna gasped. "Just for a moment, while I was possessed by Satan," He lifted his eyepatch up, revealing a burn mark. "I lost my eye, and I lost my family, who approached me to try to help me. Satan, using these hands, murdered my family." He laughed. "I will never forgive Satan and all of those who go by the name of demon! Not to mention someone like the child of Satan!" He started mumbling. "I'll kill you…even if I have to exchange it for my life!"

Tsuna felt something stab into the side of her stomach. Her eyes drifted down. It was one of the demon hands that Neihaus had summoned from the circles on his arms. She coughed, tasting blood in the back of her throat. Internal bleeding, that wasn't good.

She couldn't help but smirk at the teacher's horrified expression. "Are you worried?" She maintained a casual tone, as if getting stabbed was a regular occurrence in her life. It might as well be, with all the shenanigans the Vongola get into. "It's fine if you keep fighting me, but please," She sheathed Kurikara, extinguishing her flames. "Don't get innocent bystanders involved!"

Neihaus gritted his teeth, and turned to leave. "You really think it's over just like that? There's another guy who's like me, you should prepare yourselves!"

Ieyasu rushed over to Tsuna. "Nee-chan, you could have dodged that easily!"

Tsuna smiled. "I couldn't. And besides, it's healed already." She lifted her shirt up. The injury was covered in blood, but the wound has already almost closed up. "I guess this means that I don't need immediate first-aid, huh?"

Of course, once Shiemi reached them, Tsuna had to let her treat it.

It turns out that everyone had passed the exam and became exwires. Therefore, Mephisto invited all of the class to monjayaki.

And when Tsuna told the Vongola members about it, there was a party in the training room. And, in typical Vongola style, the party was ruined when Kyoya and Mukuro got into a fight again. Which meant that Tsuna had to fight both of them to get them to stop.

All in all, it was one of the best times of Tsuna's life.

Tsuna may have taken Rin's place, but Tsuna is not Rin and will not do what Rin would have done. Unlike Rin, who is generally reckless and is the type to try to draw the ghouls away from his classmates, Tsuna is used to fighting with people of equal or higher strength than her, and had to make different decisions based on that.

She instinctively labels her classmates as 'people who need to be protected' because they are not the Vongola and do not have her trust in their abilities like the Vongola do. There were two ghouls, what if only one ghoul chased after her if she tried to be a decoy? What would happen if Shiemi ran out of stamina? Izumo has troubles with her byakko, and Tsuna doesn't know what the combat abilities of the others are. She couldn't take the chance of 'what ifs' If lives are at stake.

At least, that's how I see it and that's my interpretation of what Tsuna would have done in that situation.

Also, Tsuna would totally tease Hayato about trivial stuff because he gets flustered easily.