Hi everyone! Here's another chapter! I'm really happy that I have so many hits and all, but i would really love to read more reviews! Hint, hint!
Thanks to those who did review! It made me very happy!
Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter X
"Hailey-nee," Fuuta turned toward Hailey specifically, "Please! Can you and Alicia-nee protect me?" Fuuta gave her his puppy eyes. Alicia could practically see the colorful sparkles twinkling around him and an angelic glow caressing his face.
Alicia recognized a critical hit in Hailey's small ability to say no to kids. "Why us Fuuta?" She asked since Hailey was frozen, and probably in a heated battle with herself.
"Because Hailey-nee and Alicia-nee is ranked 2 out of 872 in the 'overall strength and intelligence'! And even though Hailey-nee and Alicia-nee is ranked tenth from last in the 'cannot refuse when asked'. Hailey-nee is ranked 1 in the 'cannot say no to kids'. Hailey-nee and Alicia-nee are also ranked as number 3 for 'no ambition in the mafia'. So I can trust you two. Hailey-nee please help me!" Fuuta jumped up and hugged Hailey.
Whatever was left of Hailey's ability to say no after the puppy eyes was shattered by now.
"Alicia…" Hailey said slowly.
"No!" Alicia said firmly.
"Just for a few days."
"No!"
"We could still find a way."
"No!"
"But he asked us first."
"No!"
"But-"
"No means no dammit!" Alicia glanced down at Fuuta who was still hugging Hailey. "I'm sorry Fuuta, but we can't be the ones to protect you. Who's second on your list to ask for protection."
"Hailey-nee."
"Third?"
"Hailey-nee."
"Forth?"
"Hailey-nee."
"Fifth?"
"Hailey-nee."
"Sixth?"
"Tsuna-ni."
"Wow Hailey. Did you hear that? You're so pathetic you take up the first five slots all on your own," Alicia said sarcastically.
Hailey sighed. "I know, I know! It's just when they're cute, I just feel so bad!" Hailey turned her attention back to Fuuta, "How about we protect you until we reach Tsuna's house ok?"
"Alright Hailey-nee," Fuuta said slightly rejected.
"Don't worry squirt, Tsuna will be a lot more fun and interesting than the two of us." Alicia winked.
Hailey held Fuuta's hand and conversed with him all the way to Tsuna's house. Alicia, on the other hand, was more alert of their surroundings and watched for any suspicious mafia members.
"Good morning Sawada-san!" Hailey called cheerfully when Nana opened the door. "We're classmates of Tsuna-kun! Actually we're escorting this boy who was looking for Tsuna-kun and since he's in school right now we decided that it was best to bring him here!"
"Ara? Thank you very much! I'm so glad Tsuna has so many good friends. Please come in! You can all wait for Tsuna up in his room!" Nana said happily.
'You're kidding me! Isn't she concerned at all that we're not in school right now as well?' Alicia thought in bewilderment, completely mystified by Tsuna's mother's naivety.
The three kids took their shoes off at the front all and were greeted by Reborn.
"Ciaossu."
Alicia raised a hand in a motionless wave. "Yo."
"Good morning Reborn!" Hailey greeted with a smile. She bowed to Nana. "My name is Kiyomizu Hailey. This is my sister Alicia and this young boy is Fuuta. Thank you for having us Sawada-san!"
Fuuta bowed politely. "It's nice to meet you Sawada-san and Reborn-san."
Nana smiled and waved her hand up in down in embarrassment. "Such polite friends! You can call me Nana! Or mother or mama!"
Hailey just giggled.
"Well why don't all of you wait upstairs and I can bring up tea and snacks!" Nana rushed off to her kitchen before they could reply.
Reborn hitched a ride up in Hailey's shoulder as the headed up to Tsuna's room. "So ranking Fuuta is going to be staying here now."
"Yup!" Hailey said cheerfully.
"Hey he hasn't even asked Tsuna yet," Alicia said exasperated.
"There's no way he's going to be able to say no to this face," Hailey said as she knelt down to Fuuta's height and gazed up at Alicia with him.
Alicia sweat dropped. Poor Tsuna…
The four of them talked about Fuuta's situation and the possible events to come while they waited for Tsuna. Just as Nana promised they were provided with tea and snacks, which they happily munched on. After a while Alicia got tired of waiting and hopped onto Tsuna's bed to take a nap while they waited. When they heard the door open Fuuta got tense.
"What's wrong Fuuta-kun?" Hailey asked.
"I'm a little nervous," the little boy admitted, suddenly finding his knees very interesting.
"It's okay! Just work that cuteness you have and there's no way Tsuna can say no!" Hailey winked and gave a thumb up.
"Hey," Alicia warned and opened one eye, "Don't tell him that! He'll turn into a manipulative freak like you."
Hailey giggled and smiled brightly at her sister. "Whatever do you mean my dear precious sister?"
Alicia sweat dropped again.
Tsuna's bedroom door was swung open. Tsuna sighed. "I'm so tired. Huh?" He had finally noticed the others occupying his room.
Fuuta stood up and shook both of Tsuna's hands. "I finally get to meet you! Nice to meet you, Tsuna-ni!"
"Eh. Tsuna-ni? Who are you?"
Reborn suddenly appeared, kneeling, on Tsuna's head. "He seemed like he had a favor to ask you."
"A favor?" Tsuna asked as Reborn jumped off.
Fuuta looked up at Tsuna with a sad face and his hands together as if in prayer. "My name is Fuuta. The mafia is after me."
"Haah? Hey, Reborn!" Tsuna asked in disbelief. But when Reborn didn't answer Tsuna jumped a little in shock. "O-oi! Wha- Ii- He's serious?"
"Just sit down and listen already," Alicia commanded from the bed.
"Eh! Risa-san! Hailey-chan! What are you doing here?"
"We're the ones who brought Fuuta over of course!" Hailey said joyously. "We promised to protect him till you got here!"
"Haah?"
Hailey closed her eyes in a brighter smile. "Just sit down and Fuuta will explain!"
Tsuna joined Hailey and Fuuta at his table.
"Vongola the tenth, Tsuna-ni, please take me in!" Fuuta said desperately.
"W-What are you saying?" Tsuna said roughly. "I can't take on the mafia!"
"I know that," Fuuta said without missing a beat.
"Eh?" Tsuna was taken aback by that remark.
"Because Tsuna-ni's…" Fuuta pulled out his enormous ranking book.
"Huh? What is that?" Tsuna muttered with a tired expression.
"His combined combat prowess and intelligence are both ranked 872 out of 872, the lowest!" Tsuna opened his mouth in shock. "But your 'cannot refuse when asked' rank is number one, versus Hailey-nee and Alicia-nee who ranked tenth from last!"
"What was that?" Tsuna yelled.
"He's also known as 'Ranking Fuuta'," Reborn informed Tsuna, "He's an information specialist who has no equal when creating a ranking."
"Another weird one has come to me," Tsuna muttered to himself.
"Fuuta's ranking accuracy is 100%," Reborn continued. "Meaning, if one was to use this ranking book to create a strategy, he could win any battle, and it would be easy to take over the world."
"That's just scary," Tsuna muttered to himself again.
Fuuta clapped his hands together pleadingly. "Tsuna-ni, help me!"
"Eh," Tsuna turned his attention back to Fuuta. "It's wrong to come to me just because you know I can't refuse."
Fuuta and Reborn looked at each other. "It's not only that," Fuuta said as he and Reborn shook their heads. They held up a one finger at the same time. "Tsuna-ni's also number one when it comes to 'bosses with no ambition'. You wouldn't take my ranking book, so I can trust you!"
"That's somehow not very cool," Tsuna sobbed.
"Would you throw a small, pitiful animal," Reborn held up a picture of him in a squirrel costume, and then flipped it to a picture of him in a lion costume, "into a field with fearsome carnivores?"
"Small animal?" Tsuna asked. He turned to Fuuta who was looking at him with big puppy eyes surrounded by sparkles and bathed in an angelic light. "I-I can see him as one now."
"Tsuna-ni," Fuuta said pleadingly.
Tsuna sighed.
"So, it's decided," Reborn said with his arms crossed.
Tsuna caved. "All right."
Fuuta threw his hands up into the air joyfully. "Yay! Thank you Tsuna-ni!"
Hailey hugged Fuuta. "Isn't this great?"
Tsuna looked at Hailey with deadpan eyes.
"Don't worry Tsuna," Alicia said yawning and sitting up, "Hailey was way worse. She was ranked number one for the inability to say no to kids. It was so bad that she alone took up the first five slots in Fuuta's people to go to for help. That and both of us were ranked number three for no ambitions in the mafia. And I'm positive that if I wasn't there Hailey would have given in to Fuuta. Heck, she caved with just a puppy eyes and a hug."
"But he's just too cute!" Hailey squealed and nuzzled her cheek against Fuuta's. Fuuta didn't seemed bothered by it though, actually he seemed pretty happy that Hailey liked him so much.
Alicia sighed. "Well we need to go now. See ya."
"Bye Tsuna-kun, Reborn, Fuuta-kun! See you later!" Hailey gave Fuuta one last hug and waved to Reborn and Tsuna.
Tsuna waved back unenthusiastically.
"Alicia, wait," Hailey called after her sister.
Alicia turned back to face Hailey. Her sister sounded pretty serious. Hailey handed something to her.
"When Tsuna and his family save Fuuta, you and I will step in to dispose of the Todd Family."
Alicia smirked. "Okay, let's go."
The two girls disappeared.
A large group of guys in grey suits were gathered outside the Sawada residence.
Yamamoto and Gokudera stepped out the front door. Yamamoto was carrying what looked like a lime green pillow with a stripped scarf hanging out of it.
"Let's start this off lightly," Gokudera said as he took out a handful of dynamite.
"Yeah," Yamamoto agreed, "The signal to start the sports festival."
"Take that!" Gokudera yelled and threw the lit dynamite.
"Now," Yamamoto yelled and the two boys used the smoke as cover and escaped the men.
"I can't see anything!"
"Ah! Boss!"
"They're running. After him!"
All but three of the large group ran after Yamamoto and Gokudera, who were really holding Haru.
Meanwhile Tsuna and Fuuta slipped out back.
Two figures stood on top of the roof of the Sawada's house. Both had black hair tied up and wore skin tight black clothing. The two looked exactly the same except for their masks. One was a black cat mask and the other a white cat mask. The eye holes were just horizontal slits.
The two watched as the a large portion of the men gathered in front of the house ran after two boys in a yellow school uniform. The boy with black hair was carrying a green tube.
"I suppose you want to take the larger crowd?" The figure in the white mask asked and giggled.
The one wearing the black cat mask nodded. "I'll leave the small fry to you."
"The Todd Famiglia boss would be offended if he heard you," The one with white cat mask sang.
"You should take this more seriously. When the mask comes on, we become hitmen. Not who we usually are."
"Fine, fine." The figure with the white mask waved the other away. "Happy hunting."
The figures jumped in opposite directions and out of sight.
Fuuta used his ranking abilities to try to turn the three Todd family members against each other, but it didn't last very long. One of the three grabbed Fuuta as the other two prepared to beat up Tsuna, but suddenly the boy fell back.
"Did you do that?" The boss yelled, perplexed. But his two subordinates shook their heads, also confused.
"Reborn!" Tsuna jumped up in dying will mode. "I will protect Fuuta with my dying will!"
"Tsuna-ni! no! You have the lowest ranking! You can't beat them!" Fuuta yelled. But to his surprise, Tsuna took down the two subordinates.
"Why you!" The boss yelled and tried to punch the boy in his underwear. But with a backflip kick, Tsuna took the boss out as well.
"It's like a dream," Fuuta said softly, "This is the first time my rankings have been wrong."
Tsuna stood up straight and back to normal. He sighed. "W-we didn't die."
"That's amazing!" Fuuta said, walking up to Tsuna. "I'm so happy that you made my rankings wrong!" Fuuta jumped up and hugged Tsuna around his neck.
"You're happy to be wrong?"
"I want to stick with you and become even more happy! Can I stay here?"
"Eh!" Tsuna pulled Fuuta off of him.
Fuuta pulled his hands together in front of him again and looked up at Tsuna with cute and watery puppy eyes. "Tsuna-ni," he said pleadingly.
Tsuna knew he couldn't refuse this kid.
One of the mafia guys started to stir. Tsuna freaked out and pushed Fuuta and himself back a distance. Fuuta hid behind Tsuna again. But just as the guy started to push himself off the ground a figure came out of nowhere and stepped on his head. Tsuna could see that they were wearing a white cat mask.
"You're not going anywhere Rossie," the figure said. "Enzo, Paulo, and yourself will be coming with me."
"The-the white panther!" Rossie yelled, completely terrified.
'White panther?' Tsuna thought. The figure looked up at him and Tsuna went stiff with fear.
"Ciao!" There was a sudden burst of smoke and the figure along with the three men disappeared.
Tsuna coughed and looked around. In the place of the three men was a neatly folded school uniform.
Yamamoto and Gokudera were running by the river, still leading the large pack of men.
"Is this good enough?" Yamamoto asked.
"Yeah!" Gokudera said, then took out a bunch of dynamite and threw into the crowd of men. "Explode!"
There was a loud explosion and a bunch of smoke. Yamamoto and Gokudera waited for the smoke to clear so that they could check their handy work. Gokudera took out a few more sticks of dynamite when he saw a couple of the men had survived the blast, but froze when roped appeared out of nowhere and wound around every single member of the enemy family.
"What the-" Gokudera shouted.
A figure with a black cat mask jumped in front to the boys and pulled on the rope.
"The black panther!" One of the still conscious men yelled in fright.
"The Todd family is no longer any of your concern," the person said coldly, turning to Yamamoto and Gokudera. With another burst of smoke the person and mafia members disappeared.
-A few days later-
Hailey had just dropped the kids off at their school and was now walking to school alone. Alicia had been roped into meeting Kyoko and Hana early this morning and Hailey had wanted to make sure the kids had gotten to school safely so the two split up.
"Namimori Middle School Class 1-A, seat number 32: Kiyomizu Hailey," an emotionless voice said from behind.
Hailey sighed. She was afraid of this. "Kakimoto Chikusa, aren't you supposed to be targeting number three right now?" Hailey turned slowly to see a pale skin boy wearing a beanie and glasses, and with a barcode on his cheek, standing with a slight slouch and his hands in his pockets looking at her.
"Byon, let's get this over with Kakipii!" A boy with wild blond hair and a large scar going across his face walked over. They were wearing the same green school uniform.
"Ah, and I see you brought Joushima Ken with you too. And I was sure he was going after number four," Hailey said calmly. "The fact that you're here and facing me right now tells me that you already most likely know who I am. If that's the case, then you should also know that you two aren't a match for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm really not in the mood to fight." Hailey made a run for it.
She could just straight out fight them, but Hailey was afraid that she would screw up the story line if she did that. So in the end her only choice left was to run. But she made a wrong turn and ended up running through an empty street.
"Cheetah channel," Hailey heard Ken say. Suddenly Ken jumped out in front of her and tried to attack. Hailey dodged and pulled out her staff. She whirled it around and blocked Chikusa's incoming needles.
As Hailey avoided more attacks she realized that they weren't attacking her seriously either. They were leading her somewhere. 'This isn't good. I get a bad feeling that if I keep going wherever they're pushing me to, I'm going to end up in a lot of pain.' Hailey looked around and tried to find a good escape route. She wasn't going to go on the offensive unless she absolutely had to.
Hailey spotted a side alley and dove for it. She sprinted as fast as she could, but the two Kokuyo boys were hot on her heels. Dashing out of the end of the alley, Hailey found herself now running through Namimori park.
"Was it wise, not to go onto the offensive?" A smooth and horribly familiar voice said out of nowhere.
Hailey felt her heart beat become more erratic. Her breathing became labored, and she felt like she couldn't get enough air. Hailey collapsed to her hands and knees, one hand clutching her chest. Her vision was going blurry. The unfortunate girl looked around and saw she was surrounded by lemons. No…they were illusions.
Hailey forced herself to stand up and tried walking forward, but was only able to manage a couple steps before she started to fall again. This time an arm caught her around her waist. Hailey looked up and saw a flash of red and heard a creepy laugh before she completely blacked out.
Alicia tripped. She looked around and became extremely infuriated. She had just pulled a Tsuna and tripped on air! And for some reason her heart was racing. It made her feel uneasy. She walked forward unconsciously, thinking about what could possibly have made her feel so anxious.
She looked up at the sound of Nami middle's school anthem. It stopped once Hibari answered his phone. Behind Hibari was Tsuna and Reborn.
"Yeah, that's right," Hibari said to the person on the other side of the phone. He turned to Tsuna, who freaked out a little. "Isn't Sasagawa Ryohei one of your friends? They got him."
Tsuna jolted in shock. Ryohei was one of the strongest people who knew! How could he have been taken down? Tsuna raced to the hospital with Reborn standing on his shoulder. Alicia and Hibari trailed behind him.
"Herbivore."
"I'm not going to answer you unless I get some respect tonfa boy. We're evenly matched when fighting, so I demand to be upgraded to carnivore."
"Hn. I know you know where the leader to these attacks is."
"I might, I might not. What's it to you?"
"Tell me where they are."
Alicia pondered for a little bit. Should she go ahead and tell him? She was expecting Hailey to do it for her so that she wouldn't have to deal with the blood thirsty tonfa brat…. "Kokuyo Land, in the theater. You should look for the guy with blue hair cut like a pineapple, he's the leader."
Without a word of thanks, Hibari turned and left.
Tsuna ran into the hospital and burst into Ryohei's room. "Big brother! Are you alright?"
Ryohei looked over. He was covered in bandages and had a cast covering his left hand. "Oh, it's you, Sawada. It's a little pathetic, but he got me."
Alicia leaned against the wall next to the door, while Reborn hopped up onto the stool next to Sasagawa's bed.
"Hiiie!" Tsuna clutched his head, "Why did this happen to you?"
"How are you doing?" Reborn asked.
"I've got a few broken bones," Ryohei raised his bandaged hand to his chest, "Even though I had my guard up, he was a fearsome man."
"Eh! You saw the culprit?" Tsuna leaned forward a little bit.
"Yeah," Ryohei continued calmly, "The uniforms are from Kokuyo Middle School, from the next town over."
"What? They're middle-schoolers?" Tsuna asked in astonishment.
"Yeah. You be careful too, Sawada, Risa."
"You too?" Tsuna raised a hand in protest, "But I'm not involved in this."
"But damn. I WANT THAT GUY'S PUNCH IN MY CLUB!" Ryohei suddenly yelled.
Tsuna stared at the older boy dumbfounded. Boxing at a time like this?
Reborn held up a golden pocket watch. "Is this yours?"
Ryohei calmed down again. "No, I heard it was on my chest when they found me."
Reborn flipped the watch open and looked inside.
"Changing the subject," Ryohei said, turning his attention back to Tsuna, "I haven't honestly told Kyoko about this yet. She worries a lot. Please don't let this get out."
"Huh?" Tsuna started to ask, but the door slid open again.
"Big brother," Kyoko said as she ran in, "why did you climb the bathhouses' chimney?"
Tsuna's mouth dropped open slightly. 'What kind of story did he tell her?' Tsuna thought flabbergasted.
'How on earth does she actually believe those kinds of lies?' Alicia thought sardonically.
"Big brother, is it really just a sprain?" Kyoko asked worriedly.
"Yeah," Ryohei lied easily.
'That's too unbelievable!' Tsuna thought in shock.
"I don't believe it!" Kyoko argued, "Do they make you stay at the hospital for a sprain?"
"It's a really bad sprain," Ryohei supplied with ease.
"But, I'm so glad," Kyoko sniffed and wiped her eye, "that you're still alive."
"I told you not to cry," Ryohei said uncomfortably.
"Un," Kyoko nodded. "Tsuna-kun, Reborn-kun, Risa-chan, you came to see him too! Thank you."
"Yeah," Tsuna nodded.
Alicia turned and left the room with Tsuna and Reborn following after so that they could leave the siblings to themselves.
'Why did he have to get attacked? What in the world is going on?' Tsuna shouted incredulously in his mind while clutching and his head.
"You aren't the only one who's panicking, Tsuna," Reborn turned and told his student. Tsuna looked around and noticed a bunch of kids from his school hanging around the hospital.
Reborn walked around to the other victims to view their condition while Tsuna talked to another student. When he came back the two boys were cheering up from the news that Hibari went to confront the attackers. Suddenly Leon's tail fell off and onto the ground.
"Ah! What's that?" Tsuna said panicky.
The tail wriggled on Reborn's hand. "Leon's tail was cut."
"Do chameleons lose their tails?" Tsuna asked sarcastically, crouching next to Tsuna.
"This occurrence is… ominous," Reborn looked up slowly. He glanced over at Alicia who had sighed and looked out the window with knowing eyes.
'So Hibari has fallen,' she thought to herself. 'I guess Hailey is at Nami middle right now, ready to lead Yamamoto to Gokudera and Tsuna later.' Alicia turned and watched as Leon changed into different objects rapidly. Tsuna was freaking out and demanding why Leon was acting that way and Reborn was explaining.
"Out of the way!" A doctor yelled. "Another Namimori student was attacked."
Tsuna watched as another disciplinary member was rolled passed him.
"That's the vice chairman of the disciplinary committee, Kusakabe-san!" A student cried out.
"They say he was attacked as soon as he left the hospital," another student said worriedly.
Reborn tossed Leon to Tsuna to look after while he went to go check out Kusakabe. He jumped up and took the watch that was lying on the vice chairman's chest. Clicking it open, he found the time pointing at four o' clock. Reborn walked over to Alicia. "What does this mean," he held up a list of names and the watch.
"I'm sure you figured it out already," Alicia said smoothly, without looking toward him. She reached into her bag and pulled out a file. She tossed it to Reborn. "Hailey said to give this to you later and that she would be expecting a favor in return. She also said to call Dino to collect the rest of the information that she sent to him."
Reborn glanced quickly at the contents and frowned a little. "Hm."
"Hey, what are you doing?" Tsuna asked as he walked up with a rice cooker Leon.
Reborn looked back at the watch. "There's no mistake. They're trying to pick a fight with you."
"Eh? Picking a fight with me? What do you mean?"
Reborn held up the watch and explained to Tsuna about the list found and the order that they students were being attacked. Then he explained how it was all to draw out Tsuna, since he was the next Vongola boss.
Alicia stood up and walked over to Reborn, observing and analyzing the situation. Suddenly Alicia started coughing violently and collapsed against the wall for support.
"Risa-san!" Tsuna yelled. "Risa-san what's wrong?"
"Shut up….I'm fine…." Risa panted. She froze as her heart gave a jolt. Her eyes widened. "Hai…ley….?...Hailey!" Alicia stood up and pushed away the nurses that had come over to check on her. She staggered toward the door.
Reborn jumped in front of frantic twin. "Hold it Alicia. Take Tsuna with you to Nami middle."
"What? Why should I? I'm not even going there!" Alicia protested, holding her stomach.
"Tsuna needs to find and warn number three. Meanwhile you should look for number two."
"I don't have time for that dammit!" Alicia shouted, "They got Hailey!"
"What?" Tsuna started to freak out even more.
Reborn remained calm. "If you find number three and two, you'll probably meet the culprits and find out where your sister is."
Alicia knew he was right, and now that she calmed down a little she knew that Hailey would want her to make sure the story line went the way it was supposed to by taking Yamamoto to Tsuna and Gokudera. She clicked her tongue and motioned for Tsuna to follow. The two of them ran out of the hospital.
After running for a while Alicia sent Tsuna down a different street to look for Gokudera while she went towards their school to find Yamamoto. She burst into the classroom.
"Kiyomizu-san! What on earth- where have you been?" The teacher shouted.
Alicia ignored him. "Yamamoto! Come with me," she grabbed his arm and dragged him with her.
"Oi! Risa, where're we going?" Yamamoto said, walking unsteadily behind her. Both of them ignored the teacher yelling after them.
Alicia let go of his arm and broke into a run again. "You need to help your friends."
Yamamoto became more serious and followed after her.
"Here," Alicia tossed Yamamoto's special bat to him as they ran. "You're probably going to need this."
Yamamoto smiled and nodded. He swung the strap around his shoulder and the two ran toward the shopping district and his friends.
"It's not over yet. Two times the bombs!" Gokudera yelled and threw the bombs.
"What a one trick pony," Chikusa muttered. He threw his yo-yo's and put out the dynamite that was thrown at him, but three smaller sticks were hidden in the mix and hit the Kokuyo boy sending him to his knee.
"Eat that. You were taken by a simple trick," Gokudera said smugly as he sat up. He explained his trick to the enemy before him. "Don't underestimate the Vongola. Die." More sticks of dynamite rained down on Chikusa and detonated.
Tsuna finally spotted Gokudera and ran up to him, shouting his name.
"Hm?" Gokudera turned around, "Juudaime! Why are you here?"
"Well I…I came to tell you that you were being targeted by guys from Kokuyo Middle School."
Gokudera looked elated. "You came all the way here just to tell me?" He sat up in a respectful manner. "I'm overjoyed. I just took him out!"
"Eh!"
Gokudera looked over at the smoking spot on the street where Chikusa had gone down. "I killed him, right over there." The smoke from the explosion cleared. "What? He's gone!"
"You saved me the trouble," the emotionless voice said to their side.
Tsuna turned to see a bloodied and battered Kokuyo student. "Hiiiiee!"
Chikusa threw his yo-yo and several needles at Tsuna who just squeezed his eyes shut and raised an arm to block his face. Tsuna looked up as he heard the needles hit flesh, but felt no pain.
Gokudera had taken the hit for him.
"Gokudera-kun."
"Juudaime…please run." Gokudera collapsed.
"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna shouted in concern. He knelt by his silver haired friend and shook him, trying to wake his self-proclaimed right hand man wake up. "Are you alright? Gokudera-kun? Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna stood up with a small shriek as Chikusa limped toward him.
"I'll break you, then take you with me. Let's get this over with," Chikusa said wearily.
Tsuna could only stare in fear. He was too afraid to even run.
Chikusa threw his yo-yo again.
Tsuna shrieked. But before he could get hit someone pushed him down. Tsuna looked up to see Yamamoto sitting next to him.
Yamamoto smiled. "We've slid over to home plate, safe and sound."
"Yamamoto!" Tsuna said thankfully.
"Risa and I were running by and heard the ruckus. We came and…" Yamamoto's eyes narrowed angrily, "What's happening isn't good." Yamamoto looked up and glared at Chikusa furiously.
"You're in the way." Chikusa threw his yo-yo again only to have the yo-yo cut in half, by Yamamoto's bat turned sword.
"He cut it!" Tsuna shouted, "Since when did Yamamoto start carrying a bat around!"
"I see." Chikusa put his glasses back on, "You're Namimori Middle School, 1-A, seat number 15: Yamamoto Takeshi."
"What of it?" Yamamoto said coldly.
Chikusa threw another yo-yo, but before Yamamoto could cut it there was a shot and the string yo-yo burst into pieces. Chikusa, Yamamoto, and Tsuna turned to see who had shot the weapon.
Tsuna shrank back a little. Standing off to their side was an absolutely furious Alicia holding a gun. She pointed it at the Kokuyo boy. "Where is Hailey?" Alicia demanded. Her voice could cut steel.
Chikusa stared at her. "Kiyomizu Hailey is not here."
Alicia shot the ground by his feet. "Where did you guys take her you Kokuyo bastards!"
"This way officer!" A citizen leading the police yelled.
"What are you kids doing?" An officer yelled at them.
Chikusa looked back at Yamamoto. "You're Ken's target. Fighting you would be a pain." He turned and started to walk away. "I want to take a shower."
"Hold it!" Alicia yelled and started to run after him, but Yamamoto held her back and shook his head. "Damn it!" Some tears slid down her face. Alicia went limp and Yamamoto let go of her.
Yamamoto and Tsuna turned their attention back to Gokudera.
"Gokudera-kun! Are you alright?"
Yamamoto shook the silverette a little. "Hang in there, Gokudera!"
Alicia bent down and pulled and arm around her shoulders. Realizing what she was doing, Yamamoto did the same. "Follow me," Alicia said stiffly. She led them to Nami middle's nurse's office.
Alicia and Yamamoto set Gokudera down gently on the bed. Since Shamal didn't want to deal with guys, Alicia tended to Gokudera. She cleaned and wrapped his wound as well as provide him with an oxygen mask to ease his breathing a little. When she finished she went off and sat by the far wall so that she could think. She ignored their antics and the arrival of Bianchi.
She watched as Tsuna stepped outside the room. She knew that he was regretting looking for Gokudera and that Reborn was going to explain the breakout to Tsuna. Alicia figured that she would end up leading Tsuna and his friends to Kokuyo land in the place of her sister. But she would have to avoid the fights. If Hailey was with her, then she would just lazily sit out of the fights while Hailey sat by Reborn and watched. But Alicia knew she couldn't act like that when she felt so anxious.
Perhaps she could use that. She was too pissed off to fight the small fry, therefore leaving the fights up to the others to take care of. She could even taunt the enemy a little. But first she had to discuss with Reborn about telling Lambo, I-pin, and Shamal about watching over Kyoko and Haru.
Hailey opened up her eyes to see a dimly lit room. She was sitting on the floor, propped up against a dirty, old, green couch. Her wrists were tied behind her back. She looked around and tried to work out the kink in her neck.
"Kufufufu, it seems the little white kitty is awake."
Hailey stiffened. 'Ugh, that annoying laugh.' She looked around to see Rokudo Mukuro sitting in the armchair beside her. She sighed. "How irritating. And I was planning to stay out of the mess you made, too."
Mukuro laughed again. "If you answer my questions, I might just let you go free."
"Sure. Go for it," Hailey said before yawning.
"Oh? So easy? Then who is Vongola the tenth?"
"A person."
"Where is he?"
"A place."
"What is his name?"
"Something his mother and father decided."
"Kufufufu, you have a rather smart mouth." Mukuro said amusedly.
"Hey, you said I had to answer your questions. You never said how. At least I didn't lie. Now if you'll excuse me, seeing as how I kept my end of the deal I would like to go."
Mukuro laughed again. "I said I might let you go free. I never said I would for sure."
"Ah, too bad! Cause I'm outta here!" Hailey jumped up and ran, the ropes falling off her wrists. The minute she woke up Hailey started cutting her bindings.
She ran the building, fully aware that Ken was chasing after her. Hailey knew she couldn't get away because she was still weak from the relapse. But that wasn't her aim. She spotted the door that would lead her to her target and dove inside, closing the door after her.
She looked around the dark room and spotted Hibari lying on the floor unconscious. She had to work quick, Ken would find her soon enough. She took out a small roll of bandages that she had started carrying with her a few days ago and started fixing up Hibari's wounds. Suddenly his hand shot up and grabbed her wrist.
"Hold still Hibari, I'm going to take care a few of your wounds. We need to set the broken bones properly so it doesn't heal crooked."
Hibari let go of her arm. "Not needed herbivore."
"If you want another chance to fight the jerk then you need to have healed some amount! You won't get another chance if you can't walk!" Hailey was panting. She was running out of energy pretty fast.
Hibari studied her a little then turned away. Hailey figured this was his way of agreeing so she bent down and bandaged as much as she could. She used nearby poles lying on the ground to help set the broken bones properly and cleaned up a few of the more major cuts. When she finished she collapsed on the floor next to Hibari breathing hard.
"Found you, byon!" Ken came into the room. He picked Hailey up and threw her over his shoulder, dodging Hibari's tonfas as he left.
Hibari propped himself against the wall and looked down at his hand. Before the animal boy had taken Hailey away, she had slipped a small note into his hand. Hibari unfolded a note and felt a small pill fall onto his palm.
Hibari,
Since you don't really seem to mind pushing your body so hard I figured I would leave this medicine for you. It has some healing properties, but more than that it is an extremely strong pain reliever. It'll take a while for it to take effect, so you should take it right now. This way when you get your next chance to fight Mukuro you won't be distracted by something as simple as pain.
Have fun beating the crap out of him,
Hailey ;p
Hibari smirked. This herbivore was definitely amusing. He swallowed the pill, then started to plot out a way out of the room to get his revenge.
And that, dear readers, would be the end of another chapter. Let me know what you think!
Oh, and I must apologize. I have a really bad attitude of going with the opposite of whatever anyone tells me to do. I mean, your answers helped me decide, but I'm sorry if it's not the pairing you hoped for.
I decided that I would pair Alicia and Tsuna, then Hailey with Hibari since Hailey's the only one who can really tolerate him and avoid getting bitten to death. When I looked at the major battles that I wrote out, I found that Hailey's true feelings didn't fit very well with Tsuna, that and the idea of Alicia bullying/being a mother hen to Tsuna rather amusing.
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Buh bye! (^w^)v