Ahhhh! Another super long chapter! Gosh, sorry guys, I just have been cramming more and more details and making the chapters longer and longer . I'll try to get over this annoying habit of mine so you won't have to strain your eyes and stare for like, 15 minutes.

Good news is that I finally figured out how to separate sections to prevent confusion,(yeah, I'm pretty slow) though I won't re-upload the other chapters (too lazy, sorry) I'll be separating sections in all my future chapters.

10:00 pm

All-Highton Hotel

Reborn absentmindedly sipped at a glass of wine, ignoring the glances and gossip he was attracting from the rich women in the room. His mind kept wandering to earlier that day, when Tsunade had revealed her deeply-buried secrets to him. Although the information could be extremely important, he thought, leaning back in his seat, I still haven't told anyone yet. I just can't bring myself to reveal her secret that causes her so much pain. He hid his eyes in the shadow of his fedora so no one could see them soften. And I can't bear to see her hurt in anyway.

A waiter accidently bumped into Reborn, startling him out of his daze. The waiter muttered an apology and took Reborn's empty glass. Right, thought Reborn, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind to deal with later, I'm here to assist the trade off, not to fawn over a girl like some love-struck 13 year old!

He analyzed his surroundings. The client chose to meet at an extravagant gathering with many wealthy families. After receiving the signal, Reborn and his men would slowly filter out of the main ballroom and meet on the roof for the actual tradeoff. It's been a while since I've attended a tradeoff in person, thought Reborn nostalgically. He noticed two women staring at him and he winked at them, causing them to dissolve in a fit of giggles. What a joke, thought Reborn with a smirk, losing their composure with a small gesture. His smirk was quickly replaced with a blush as he remembered his own reactions to Tsunade's smile.

A glint in the corner of the room caught his eye. Someone's watch was reflecting the light of the chandeliers above. Ah, the signal, thought Reborn, slowly getting up and casually leaving the room. Finally, it's time for the fun to begin.

Reborn felt the cool air hit his face as he opened the door and stepped onto the roof. Everything seems to be in place, he thought. As he walked up the stairs, he had checked to make sure his subordinates, dressed as the other rich people at the gathering, were spaced around the only stairwell leading to the roof. On the outside, special sensors and security cameras that could detect even the smallest movement on the walls, making it impossible to even pass near the building without being noticed. If there was any sign of violence or struggling, Reborn would immediately notified and would take the client and the weapon through a secret exit.

He walked up to the client, a pale, nervous middle-aged man with black hair that was slowly transitioning into gray, and flashed a charming style. "Good evening, Mr. Watashi," said Reborn smoothly, "I understand we have some business to take care of."

Watashi fidgeted, looking around anxiously. "Yes, yes," he said nervously, "I have the money. Are you sure you won't be foiled again by the Hunter?"

Normally, Reborn would've bristled at the name of the cursed Hunter, but this time, he felt surprisingly calm and—resigned? No, no, no! thought Reborn, I can't admit defeat yet! "I assure you," he said calmly, suppressing his doubt, "we'll get the transaction over in no—"

Just as Reborn said those words, a bullet came out of nowhere and hit Mr. Watashi in the head. Reborn froze in horror when he heard a computer generated voice chuckle in his ear piece.

"Don't worry," said the mysterious voice, "he's not dead. I merely knocked him out with a special bullet of mine. He'll wake up in a few hours with a pretty bad headache, but otherwise unharmed."

"Who are you?!" demanded Reborn, nearly shouting into his mouth piece.

"Why, I'm your greatest threat," said the voice smugly, "the Black Hunter."

Reborn's heart beat faster. He's here! he thought, amazed, he's here and he managed to get past my men. Wait, but if he's communicating through my headset, Reborn thought, realization dawning on him, then he is disguised as one of my men! Reborn ran back to the staircase.

As he went from person to person, verifying their identities, he heard the voice chuckle again.

"I see you've discovered how I managed to disguise myself," the voice said mirthfully, "but can you find me? You brought so many of your men that it turned out to be a weakness."

Reborn gritted his teeth. Dammit he's right, he thought, frustrated, at this rate, I'll never find him.

The voice sighed. "Sadly, I don't have time to keep on playing hide-and-seek," the voice said regretfully, "So I'll give you a hint: the end is only the beginning. I'll be waiting." Reborn heard a crunch, then the line went silent.

He broke the headpiece! thought Reborn angrily, how am I supposed to find him now?! Reborn stopped running to collect his thoughts. Calm down, he thought, taking deep breaths, think! 'The end is only the beginning', what could that possibly mean? He could be taunting me by saying the end of this operation is only the start of many more, but that wouldn't reveal his location! It's as if he's saying the beginning is the—

Reborn froze. That's it! he thought as he began running back the direction he came, he's not saying the end is beginning, he's saying the beginning is where it ends! So if I'm correct, he thought as he sped up the stairs back up to the roof, the Hunter should be, Reborn swung the door open and saw a figure clad in a suit and a red fedora, right here!

"Chaos," said Reborn triumphantly to the figure standing in the middle of the roof.

"Chaos, huh?" said the figure, tipping his red fedora in greeting, "Word on the street says that once you've heard the famous Renato's 'chaos', it'll be the last thing you'll ever hear." The figure smirked. "I guess I'll be the first one to hear it and live."

Reborn drew his gun and walked closer to the Hunter, "Not likely," he said, aiming.

The Hunter just laughed. "How are you going to shoot me if you don't have any bullets?" he said smugly.

What? Reborn checked his gun cartridge. It's empty! he realized, when did he—the answer hit Reborn as if he was struck by lightning. The waiter! When the waiter—or should I say, the Hunter—bumped into me, he replaced the gun cartridge with an empty one. Reborn looked at the smirking figure in grudging admiration. He really is good.

"It was fun going up against such a formidable opponent," said the Hunter, "but I have to go. There's nothing else for me to do here."

"Wait!" shouted Reborn, "Why are you straying from your usual pattern? Don't you usually change the fate of the last one standing?"

The Black Hunter was silent for a moment, then he chuckled. "You're observation of my habits is impressive," he said, "Usually I would change someone's fate, but this time, our fates are entwined." He looked up, and Reborn saw a glimpse of the Hunter's bright green eyes. "Goodbye, Reborn Chaos. You can have your bullets back now."

All of a sudden, a shower of bullets seemed to fall out of the sky where the Hunter was standing. By the time the last bullet fell, the Hunter was gone, leaving only a black rose. Reborn picked up the rose and twirled it thoughtfully. "He's even better than I thought he was," said Reborn, voicing his thoughts aloud, "I learned little and found so many more questions to ask." What did he mean by, 'Our fates are entwined'? Is it because of Tsunade? Reborn shook his head and began walking back to the stairs.

Tsunade winced in pain and cursed as she sprinted away from the hotel. My shoulder is causing me more pain than I thought, she thought, clutching her shoulder, the blood is slowing down my rate of recovery. If I get a fatal wound once my blood completely changes, I won't be able to heal at all. She located her get-away car where Iemitsu was waiting and slipped into the car, greeting Iemitsu with a dip of her fedora.

"The operation was successful, I see," said Iemitsu, starting the car.

"Yeah, definitely," said Tsunade breathlessly, "Nice job disabling the sensors on the building and hacking into their communication feed."

"Well, I wouldn't be the top computer hacker the Interpol has if I couldn't handle such a simple task," said Iemitsu proudly.

Tsunade stared out the window at the sparkling lights of the Tokyo city line. The thrill from finishing a mission never gets old, she thought, content, although this time, I feel something…different…as well. Is it because Reborn attended the trade-off this time? she wondered, but why would I feel different? And what is the feeling that's making me feel so different?

She nearly jumped up, startled, as her phone vibrated. Tsunade picked it up and flipped it open, revealing that she received a message from…Reborn?

Well speak of the devil, she thought, smiling at the coincidental situation. She opened the message and read it:

Hey Tsunade-chan, I meant to ask you this earlier at the gun range, but with you getting injured and all, I never had a chance. Anyways, Keiko wanted me to ask you if you and Iemitsu-kun wanted to go with us on a short, 2 day trip, to Hokkaido after finals. You can share a room with Keiko and Iemitsu can share with Leoko. Interested?

Tsunade's heart skipped a beat as she read the message a second time. A vacation with Reborn-kun and the others? She had never been on an actual vacation before, having worked almost 24/7 being in the Interpol. It would be an interesting experience, she thought, and since I can't see how any information may be revealed over the course of the two days, it should be mostly risk-free. And, she thought, temporarily giving in to the thoughts she tried so hard to ignore, Reborn will be there. She blushed at the turn her thoughts took and returned hastily to her original reason to go, using it to cover up her jumbled up feelings.

"Hey, Iemitsu-kun," she said slowly, a happy grin spreading on her face, despite her attempts to suppress it, "what do you say to a few days in Hokkaido?"