On a side-note, I would like to thank the people that have been editing my stories so far! Grenouille-85 and Saiyukigallie! You are both mega-awesome and always catch the mistakes that I always forget are there.

On another side-note: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! does not belong to me, nor anyone that I know personally, it belongs to Amano Akira; now let us all pray to the giant flying spaghetti monster above that s/he continues Reborn!

~8~

Katsura was a very happy girl. She loved animals, flowers, and rain because rainbows always appeared afterwards. Katsura claimed that she could find a happy thing in anything, in fact she often made it a game. For instance, today was her school's first day of summer, which was a happy thing, but all her friends left with their family on vacation, which was a sad thing, but she would be going to the beach next week, which was a happy thing!

Today she decided to get ready for her beach trip by going to the Namimori Shopping Center to get a bathing suit. Katsura loved shopping because you could always get new thing.

"C'mon Hanabi-chan, go ahead and show me!" a voice said, Katsura turned around and saw a red-head girl who had her hair tied up in a ponytail with a blue ribbon, the girl was talking to a changing room at the store Katsura was at.

"No way!" another girl said from within the changing room, "It shows too much skin! It's embarrassing!"

"Hanabi-chan, do you want me to go in there?" the red-head warned.

There was silence from within the changing room before it's red curtain slid open to reveal one of the prettiest girls Katsura had ever seen. She had long silver-white hair and porcelain skin, but her pale-green eyes were filled with rage and she was scowling as well which almost ruined her image of beauty. The girl was trying on a bikini that was black and white with a Spades print on it.

"How pretty!" Katsura breathed, she was apparently heard by the silver-haired girl who shot a glare towards her and everyone else in the store.

"Waaah! Hanabi-chan it looks so cute on you!" squealed the red-head in delight, "I'm so jealous of your pale skin!"

"What's there to be jealous of Megumi?" Hanabi asked, "It only makes things more noticeable. From pimples, to bruises and even scratches!"

"That's why you have to be really careful and take care of your skin," Megumi pointed out, she picked a hanger that was apart of the bundle of clothes she had brought for the girl to try on and handed it to her, "Try on these pants! They come with a belt with skulls on it, I thought you might like!"

Hanabi suddenly looked more interested in the pants now and said, "Eh? Really?"

She took the hanger and closed the red curtain; Katsura took this chance to try and talk to Megumi so she too could join in on the conversation and probably make new friends.

"Excuse me," she began, Katsura soon realized that she had underestimated the girl's cute cheeriness; when Megumi turned around her cute smile almost blinded Katsura with a radiance only the sun could possibly have.

"Yes?" the girl asked cheerfully.

Wha-what's up with these two girls! Katsura gawked, They're like models from a magazine!

Megumi gave her a curious look and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Eh? Ah, n-no! Not at all!" the girl shook her head and quickly left them to be. She quickly took the clothes that she had gotten to the register and quickly left the store. For some reason she felt oddly embarrassed that she could even think about being friends with such perfect looking people!

"What was I thinking!" she sighed miserably and immediately tried to think of something that would brighten her day, she remembered the bathing suit she got and cheerfully opened her bag to look at it, "I knew getting this one was a good idea! I'll go to the beach next week and have tons of fun!"

~8~

Katsura was a very happy girl, she loved clothes and ice cream and the park. So it was no surprise that she was currently walking in the park after her shopping venture and eating mint chocolate-chip ice cream. She licked the cone happily while humming a tune that was the theme song of her favorite TV show.

"No! No way am I doing that!" a voice yelled from a distance, but it sounded like it was getting closer to Katsura, "NOOOO!"

"C'mon Hide, all you have to do is wear this shirt for the Boxing Club!" another voice pleaded.

"No! I am not wearing a shirt that says 'The Underwear Guy belongs to the Boxing Club!'" the first voice said even more stubbornly.

Katsura, curious by the strange conversation, walked a little further and behind the trees saw two boys with obvious height differences arguing. Or the argument seemed slightly one-sided since the other boy, the taller and scarier one, was pleading while the shorter boy was just refusing.

The taller boy had a huge build and looked pretty scary, but he was wearing a sweater vest, which detracted from the scariness, and Katsura thought that anyone who would get down on his knees to ask for something wasn't a bad guy. The shorter boy was much more feminine looking and was blonde haired, which made Katsura wonder if he was half-Japanese.

"Please Hide?"

"No!"

"You should do it Hide," said a squeaky voice, a small baby wearing a black suit with a fedora and a yellow pacifier was peacefully relaxing on a rock, "Think of it as a lesson."

"What a cute baby!" Katsura immediately exclaimed, she ran over to the baby and started awing at it, "Hello there!"

"Ciaossu," the infant greeted.

"My name's Katsura! What's yours?"

"Reborn."

"Waaah~! How cute!" Katsura squealed in delight, "Why are you dressed in a suit Reborn-chan?"

"Because I'm a hitman," the baby answered.

"Reborn!" Hide hissed, "I've told you to stop saying those things in public!"

"It's only the truth."

"Look miss, I'm sorry for-," the boy began but stopped when he was slapped in the face.

"How dare you!" Katsura began shakily, Hide and the taller boy gave her questioning looks while she continued with her hand still raised, "A child is the most innocent thing in the world! How could you boys corrupt such a delicate angel!?"

Did she just call Reborn innocent and delicate? Hide wondered but said out loud, "I'm sorry miss, but I have no clue what you're talking about!"

"Excuses!" Katsura claimed and pointed an accusing finger at them, "In the name of the Katsuragi family I will not allow this to continue!"

"Huh!?" the boys gawked.

"I challenge you…um…" the girl stopped yelling and asked, "what was you're name?"

"Eh? Uh, Sawada Hideyoshi?"

"Then I, Katsuragi Katsura, challenge you, Sawada Hideyoshi!"

"Wait, your name is Katsuragi Katsura?" the taller boy asked.

"My parents aren't very good with names," she explained and then shook her head to get the anger back in, "That's not the point! I'll get you one of these days Sawada Hideyoshi!"

The girl stormed away from them, or at least tried to but she tripped and fell face first on the grass, she got back up and ran out in both embarrassment and anger. Hide gawked at the exit and noticed that the girl had dropped her ice cream cone on the ground when she had fallen.

"Hide, did you know that girl?" Sakuraba Morita asked.

"No, and I don't think I want to!" he quickly said.

~8~

As it turned out, Katsura quickly forgot about the whole thing as soon as she passed by a pet store and decided to fawn over the cute puppies in the store's window.

~8~

Hide was jogging around the town in the beautiful early morning, if by jogging you meant being chased by two professional and if by beautiful you meant that it was pouring rain.

"C'mon Boss, you have to run faster if you want don't want to be beaten up," said Adam as he ran after the boy with a baseball bat in his hand, "And I really don't want to break your legs."

"Then don't!" he yelled back to him.

"It's okay Adam," said Reborn from the foreigner's shoulder, "You can go a little faster and push the threats more, think of it as target practice."

"Are you sure?" Adam asked, he immediately caught up with the soon-to-be-Boss and whispered darkly, "Who's ready to die?"

"Eeeeeek!!" Hide shrieked and quickened his pace.

"Oh, it worked!" the foreigner brightened as he ran faster.

"Maybe this will work as well," said Reborn as he shot the ground around Hide's feet.

"Quit shooting!" he screamed.

The boy ran faster but soon his foot hooked onto the back of his other leg causing him to fall straight into the mud. Hide wiped the mud off his face and looked up at the helpful hand that was being held out by Adam.

"Looks like you're a little tired Boss," he said while he helped him up.

"Who wouldn't be tired at six in the morning?" Hide said tiredly.

"Well when we get home, you'll be able go back to sleep," the boy said brightly.

"Ah! You!" a voice exclaimed, Hide looked at the source which was a girl with short, black hair wearing a bright blue raincoat.

"It's you!" Hide replied while pointing at the girl, "Katsuragi-san right?"

"And you're, uh…?"she tried to grasp a name for a second before exclaiming, "Sanada Hiroshi!"

Hide's sweat dropped and he said, "Um, no, it's Sawada Hideyoshi."

"Is this girl a nuisance to you Boss?" Adam asked.

"A little," he sighed and then said to her, "Are you here to challenge me like you said yesterday?"

Katsura's face went red and she said stubbornly, "O-of course!"

Now in all truth, Katsura always woke up at six in the morning every day, even on weekends and vacations. Loving rain so much, she had decided to go outside and splash in the rain in her brand new rain boots. And that was when she saw Hide and Adam. It should also be noted that Katsura had completely forgotten the events that had happened the day before.

"Look now, can we just sort of forget about the whole thing?" Hide asked, "It's really early and I'm tired, plus it's too troublesome."

"Are you afraid you might get beaten up by a girl Hide?" Reborn asked, the boy's face immediately went red and he yelled:

"Of course not!"

"Seems that way to me Boss," Adam agreed.

"Me too," Katsura nodded and then suddenly realized something, "B-Boss!?"

"Oh yeah, I've told you to quit calling me that Adam-san!" Hide scolded.

"Can't help it Boss, its instinct!" the foreigner joked.

"It attracts too much attention!"

While their little argument was going on many thoughts ran through Katsura's head: Boss!? Is he some sort of gang leader? This foreigner guy is handsome, but he looks so mysterious! He mustbe part of the same gang as this guy! And that other guy yesterday was pretty scary looking, no wonder he's in the same gang…And so the thoughts continued to run through her head until she summed up that they're whole goal was to be a bad influence on Reborn, which doesn't make sense no matter how you see it but, hey, this is how the story's supposed to go.

"Waah!" she screamed in horror, "G-gang members! Are you guys yakuza!?"

"Yakuza?" Hide gawked at the sudden outburst.

"No we're mafia," Adam automatically answered.

"Don't say that!" the young boss yelled.

"Mafia!?" the girl exclaimed.

"No! We're not!" Hide quickly said and was slapped for the second time by the girl.

"How dare you!" she repeated, "I now remember why I was so mad at you! You corrupt the minds of young children by influencing them to join your gang!"

That's so wrong! he grimaced.

"I can just tell from the look on your face that I'm right!" Katsura yelled.

That's wrong also!

Katsura shot a glare towards Adam, which made even the assassin take a step back in fear, and she stomped over to Reborn and said:

"This child is in no circumstances to be in your care!"

She tried picking him up but Reborn quickly maneuvered himself away and said, "Don't touch me so easily."

"Huh?" Katsura blinked and tried to get the baby again, but this time fell face first in a puddle.

"I told you not to touch me so easily," he repeated.

"Ack!" Hide paled, he quickly held out a hand for the girl to try help her up while saying, "Sorry Katsuragi-san, but Reborn doesn't like to be touched."

The girl slapped his hand away and glared, or at least tried to glare, at him.

"Then don't you touch me," she said in a low tone, Katsura stood up while keeping her fixed gaze on Hide and continued, "It's obvious that this poor child doesn't want to be touched because he had some sort of mentally scarring event happen to him!"

No it's not! Hide screamed in his head, He just doesn't like to be touched!

"Don't worry Reborn-chan!" she continued, "I'll save you from this horrible, horrible man!"

"I don't need saving."

"This poor, poor child!" she exclaimed before running away, leaving both Hide and Adam utterly confused.

"Was that a friend of your Boss?" Adam asked.

"No!" the boy shook his head hurriedly.

~8~

Katsura went back to her home and thought up a plan to get Reborn away from Hide. Since the infant was rather quick for his age, it would be impossible to just take him; if Katsura had tried to bribe Reborn with candy and food, then she would be just as bad as that Hide! Plus he was a gang leader, which would probably mean death if she just outright won in a challenge against him. So Katsura's smarts and years of watching crime dramas led this girl to come to the conclusion that she would have to kill Hide and become a Mafia Boss herself.

Of course this conclusion would make no sense to anyone else other than Katsura.

"I will kill Sakada Mutoshi!" she proclaimed while also forgetting Sawada Hideyoshi's name again.

~8~

Hide yawned as he walked across the shiny, wet sidewalk idly with a grocery bag dangling in one hand. The rain had stopped about an hour before and right after it had stopped, his mother had asked him to go to the super market to buy lettuce. Adam was out on a different errand from Hide's mother and Reborn was taking his afternoon nap, Hide rarely stumbled upon a chance to be alone these days so he quickly took it before Reborn had woken up from his nap.

His sneakers squeaked as he walked across the bridge on the way home and stopped when he saw a bizarre figure stumbling towards him. The figure was wearing a red ski mask and elbow and shin guards tied around the sweat suit it was in. Hide coudn't help but gawk at the display as the figure was blindly swinging a hockey stick in his direction, though the person was still too far away to actually hit Hide.

"Great, another wierd person has shown up!" Hide muttered while feeling oddly embarrassed for the figure.

The figure said something that was incomprehensible to the human ear, the figure swiftly took off the mask, revealing a girl underneath, and started to breathe heavily.

"W...Wakada...Hitoshi...here to...kill...you..." she panted.

"Are you here to kill me?" Hide asked.

"Y-Yeah," she said while still panting, she swallowed some air and stood up straight while exclaiming, "Takana Hakeda! I am here to kill you!"

"That's not even my name!" he yelled.

The girl looked confused for a few seconds and said, "Eh? It's not?"

"No!" Hide yelled in frustration, "Sa-wa-da Hi-de-yo-shi! Sawada Hideyoshi! And why are you trying to kill me!?"

"Because you are corrupting the morals of young children by influencing them to join your gang!" she stated, "You are endangering Reborn-chan's life just by being near him!"

No, that relationship is the exact opposite between me and Reborn...Hide thought.

"Now," she said before she pulled the ski mask on, "prepare to die, Sawada Hideyoshi!"

Katsura swung the hockey stick down on Hide, who barely avoided it and repeatedly barely avoided it. Each swing was strangely accurate as Hide tried to avoid them by screaming and flailing about, he continued to do so until he backed into the handrail on the bridge. He shut his eyes as the stick came down but when nothing happened and when he heard the girl scream out, he opened his eyes and saw Hanabi's silver-white hair in front of him. She had one arm extended, the hand holding onto the stick, Hanabi sent Katsura an evil stare but when she noticed Hide looking at her, she immediately brightened and turned her glare into a happy-go-lucky smile.

"Don't worry Boss! I'll take care of this nuisance!" she said with confidence.

Katsura had let go of the hockey stick by now and was backing away, "Ack! The pretty girl!"

Hanabi reached out to grab Katsura, but the girl tripped and fell off the bridge. No thanks to the rain from before, the river's current was now rough and dangerous causing Katsura to be carried away by the river.

"Help! Help!" the fallen girl cried out.

Hide and Hanabi ran to the handrail and watched the girl be carried away.

"The current's too fast!" said the silver haired girl, "She'll drown before we get any help!"

"This all my fault!" Hide wailed.

"Then why don't you save her?" the boy didn't have time to reply or turn around to see the source of the voice, but he could take a rather well guess as to who it was.

The bullet went through Hide's head, causing the now unconscious boy to fall into the river. Many thoughts went through Hide's head as his body went over the rail, he was gonna die if not by the Dying Will Bullet then by the river. Hide's body flew down towards the river, he was going to die with a girl too, a completely innocent bystander! The cold, muddy water splashed as he fell into it, if only he had the strength to save her...if only...

~8~

Katsura was going to die, or she was dead already. She wasn't entirely sure since she had blacked out, but she could still remember some vague memories. She could remember Hide diving into the river to save her, and he quickly swam out with his surprisingly bulk muscles.

Aaah, that would've have been nice of him to do that...Now, she could hear her name being called out. "Katsura! Katsura!" she could hear, must be her dead relatives...but she was pretty sure that a bunch of old people didn't sound like that young boy. She opened her eyes and saw the really pretty girl and her saviour, Hide.

"Katsuragi-san! Katsuragi-san, are you alright?" he asked with sincere concern.

"Y-yeah," she nodded, her face felt hot and she could feel her heart beat fast.

"Thank goodness!" he sighed with relief, "Who knows what would have happened if you were hurt!"

Katsura's face went a deep red, this feeling...was it...?

"Say your thanks to the Twelfth," Hanabi ordered, "If something would have happened to you, you wouldn't even be alive."

The girl clutched her shirt and said outloud, "This feeling..." they all leaned in to hear what she was saying, "Is it...love?"

"HUUUUH!?" Hide screamed.

"What!?" Hanabi gawked.

"Yes, that must be it!" she nodded confidently, "You saved me even though I threatened to kill you! Surely you are the one I am meant to be with!"

"No! That's a complete and total misunderstanding!" he said quickly.

"At first I thought you were a bad thing!" she continued, "But now I can see that you are a good thing! An extra special good thing!"

This girl is completely out of her mind! he thought but said, "Weren't you going to save Reborn or something?"

"I can easily forget about your mafia-thingy, Hi-de-yo-shi~!" she said cutely.

"Look here Katsuragi-san..." Hide began cautiously.

"Please! call me Katsura-chan, or Katsu-chan, or anything you want! Oh, and I can call you Hide-kun right?"

I'd rather not be called that anymore for some reason...he thought.

"Hide-kun~!" Katsura giggled.

Insane! She's completely insane! Hide screamed in his head.

~8~

On another side-note: Skywards, however, does belong to me except for the Reborn!-related stuff, that's Amano Akira