Author's Note: Here is chapter. Sorry it's shorter than I normally make it, but finals. I shouldn't have wasted study time on this, but hey, procrastination. Thank you Pure Red Crane for looking it over. Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review! Especially review. They make me smile. Ciao~

Chapter 11

Stop getting attached to people so fast, because attachments lead to expectations and expectations leads to disappointment.

Staring up at the overlapping branches of her tree, Leora decided that this is what it felt like to be hit by a truck. Her hip was throbbing with a sharp, stabbing pain from the injuries she had just gotten today because the baby Cloud she was fighting was a dick and went after the injuries he had inflicted the day before. Actually, her entire body was throbbing. The hip was just more noticeable. So was her back, now that she wasn't purposely ignoring her injuries. The muscles burned and ached from supporting her weight while evading, and from the grazing hits Kyouya had managed to get in.

Frankly, she felt like shit.

It was an oddly comforting sensation. Nostalgic.

Circus wasn't easy. You would end up injured one way or another; bruises from the steel, blisters and skinned hands that would turn bloody because they were ignored, strained muscles and the occasional broken bones. Circus hurt.

It was kind of the first rule of circus, that it was going to hurt. It never stopped hurting.

It was a small price to pay to be able to fly.

But Leora wasn't going to be flying anytime soon, so the pain wasn't appreciated. A bit nostalgic, yes, but not appreciated. No matter what Fin said, acrobats weren't masochists, and Leora didn't like being in pain without a good reason.

The satisfaction of revenge only took her so far, and she was looking forward to the end of her daily beat- sparring sessions.

Nearly inaudible grumbling had Leora turning away from the branches to focus on Kyouya, who was sporting a rather magnificent black eye. He really should have known better than to only pin one of her arms, especially when it forced her back to face him and lined her elbow up with his face.

She might have lost this match, but she wouldn't go quietly.

Climbing painfully to her feet, Leora limped to the two water bottles she had brought with her today, and tossed one to Kyouya, who caught it with a questioning glare. Leora sent a silent thanks to her brain for translating Glares, capital letter fully intended. Kyouya's weren't that different from Afi Viktor's, and the old Icelandic's varying glares were a language all their own.

"We just spent thirty minutes trying to kill each other. If I'm thirsty then you must be too."

Kyouya's glare was unimpressed. "I don't need anything from you."

"I didn't say you needed it." Leora pointed out from around the lip of her water bottle. "I just figured you'd like one you didn't have to share."

"I don't want it."

"Then give it back." Leora countered easily enough. She only had a limited access to water bottles right now and would gladly take his. It was only years of acting as water-girl during practice that had her bringing the extra bottle anyway.

The idea of giving anything up – never mind that it was something as insignificant as a cheap water bottle – seemed to raise the Cloud's non-existent hackles. Putting his tonfas away, wherever he stored them on his person, he purposely broke the seal of the lid and sipped. The look he sent her practically dared her to try and take it away.

Leora had to hide her amused snort with a cough.

Territorial people could be surprisingly petty, and it was hilarious to watch them get worked up over the little things, at least when it didn't directly affect you.

"So, are you going to get around to introducing yourself?" she asked instead, chugging the rest of her water.

"Hn."

"Nice to meet you, Hn-san. I'm Idoni Leora." Tossing the bottle in the nearest recycling bin, Leora ignored Kyouya's mildly annoyed look and gave him a half assed salute. "Well, I'm off to ice my everything because frankly, you hit like a sledgehammer. I recommend icing your eye. See yah tomorrow."

Turning on a heel, Leora proceeded to limp out of the park, not even bothering to look back at the skylark.

She had roughly four hours before she was supposed to be at Tsuna's house. She fully intended to spend that time soaking in cold water.

Standing outside the gate of the Sawada residence, Leora's eyed the latch as if it would come to life, like something out of a Christmas Carol and bite her. To be honest, she kind of hoped it would. That would prove that this place was the gateway to hell and she would have a legitimate reason to run away screaming at the top of her lungs and never look back.

She was tempted to do it anyway.

It wasn't too late to change her mind, she reasoned as she continued to stare at the gate. She could watch out for Tsuna from a distance. She didn't have to interact with him. She wouldn't have to go into his house. She wouldn't be exposed to the crazy baby Mafia recruiter.

She liked that plan.

Turning sharply, she made it two steps away from the gate before it was thrown open with a bang. Flinching, Leora turned and just managed to brace herself before she was bowled over by something fluffy and brown as it tripped in its haste to get to the street.

Tsuna landed half sprawled across her, face slamming into her sternum while the hands he was trying to use to catch himself were digging into her badly bruised hip.

"Owwww," was mumbled into her shirt, slightly dazed and muffled. Leora couldn't hold back the whole body twitch as the boy shifted, pressing more into her injuries.

"Tsunayoshi." she wheezed after a moment of forcing her lungs to work properly again.

"Y-Yes?"

"Get off of me."

"HIIEEE, I'm so sorry!"

Escape plan foiled, an unwilling Leora was ushered into the house by a smiling Nana and shown to a chair at the kitchen table where she was promptly given an insane quantity of food that she didn't do more than nibble on. The tea she was given was slightly more appreciated. Tuning out Nana's chattering about how cute Leora was, the carney turned her attention to scrutinize the little brunet across from her now that he wasn't causing her excruciating pain.

Tsuna's black eye was considerably better than last time, more green and blue than the dark purple as she remembered, and the swelling had gone down almost completely. He did winced every time Nana let a plate or utensil clatter against the table or counter, and when the kitchen light reflected off the kettle his mother used to refill the hot water. Considering he was always clumsy, she wouldn't be able to tell if it was from the after effect of the concussion or not, but the slightly dazed look in his eyes when he glanced at her indicated that he was probably worse than normal.

He wasn't going to be fully functional for a while, a few weeks at least, a few months a worst. Playing poker at the hospital had been a good distraction, but probably hadn't been a good idea for his recovery. Thinking too hard after a head injury tended to make things worse.

Frankly, all he should be doing right now was taking naps in a dark room, and lazing around until he felt better.

Seeing as she was practically in the same boat as the brunet, she was more than willing to oblige. She loathed to admit it, but his house felt a lot nicer than her apartment. Comforting. It made the paranoia in her sit up and pay attention because there was an undercurrent of wrong with the comfort, but her body didn't seem to care. She was exhausted, her body relaxing at the feeling of safety, warmth, home that made her eyelids drop.

With a resigned sigh, Leora went back to picking at her food.

Might as well enjoy it. The air conditioning was really nice.

When it was finally deemed acceptable, Nana released them from her tender mercies and waved them in the direction of the stairs with orders to go play.

Closing the door, Tsuna didn't get farther than pointing towards the pile of games he had in the corner of his room before Leora was pointing at the bed.

"Get in bed." she ordered sternly, watching impassively as the younger boy fumbled with the games, blinking in confusion as it took a moment to properly register the words.

"H-Huh?"

"Your head hurts and you're tired." Leora explained slowly, careful to keep her voice at a reasonable level, "So get in bed. Take a nap."

"B-But-" Tsuna tried to argue, but the carney cut him off with a look.

"You're still recovering, Tsuna. You're supposed to be sleeping."

To Leora's surprise, Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed and his face set into a stubborn scowl that would have been easily mistaken for a pout if not for the bruises across half his face.

"B-But you just g-got here."

Leora raised an eyebrow at the petulant tone, but allowed her mouth to twitch into something just shy of a smile.

"I'm tired too, Tsuna. I can nap here just as well as I can at my place." Gesturing towards his bed again, Leora gave him an expectant look. When he still hesitated, Leora rolled her eyes before bodily maneuvering him towards the bed.

Tsuna squawked like a strangled chicken as he was hoisted up and dumped onto the mattress, much to the carney's amusement. He tried to argue with her – insisting that they should at least get out futons, but Leora wasn't going to give up the chance to sleep in an actual bed – but that was solved easily enough by smooshing his face into his pillow and covering him with a blanket. He subsided with a pout, but snuggled into his pillow easily enough.

Closing the curtains, Leora made sure that Tsuna was mostly settled in before turning off the lights. Crawling into the bed with him, Leora settled down on the other end, head cushioned on her arms near Tsuna's feet.

She wasn't expecting to get more than an hour, if that. The going trend of the last few days was to go to sleep, have nightmares about the crippling loss, grief, and fire, and then wake up to either stare at the wall or the ceiling until it was time for the daily beating with Kyouya.

At least she was going to be in an actual bed this time.

There wasn't much of a transition between sleep and being awake. She wasn't covered in a cold sweat, or her heart racing to pump adrenaline in a fight or flight response, or lungs heaving like she had for the last week. It wasn't in increments either, sensations and sounds trickling in bits and pieces in a gradual process that left her fuzzy. It was instant. Between one heartbeat and the next she was awake, blinking in the darkness that was Tsuna's room, only broken by the robot nightlight that was plugged in by his desk.

Shifting her gaze to the alarm clock, Leora stared dumbly at the red numbers telling her it was a few minutes shy of four in the morning. Scrubbing a hand over her eyes, Leora looked again. The seven turned into an eight, just two minutes shy of the hour.

It had been two when she had arrived at the Sawada house, closer to three when she had bundled Tsuna and herself in for a nap. A nap that had lasted almost a full thirteen hours. With no nightmares.

Pinching her arm hard enough, her watered eyes proved it wasn't a dream.

Leora wasn't sure what to think of that. On one hand, she wasn't bone dead exhausted anymore. On the other, she apparently felt safe enough to completely conk out in what should only be described as enemy territory. That did not bode well.

Rustling of the blankets, and the warm weight that she assumed to be the covers shifted with them, reminded Leora that she was sharing a bed.

Tsuna had moved sometime in the night. He had shuffled down a bit, forgoing his pillow in order to curl around Leora's legs. His face was smashed into her thigh and a leg was thrown over both of hers. He gave off little puppy snores every few breaths.

That's adorable was the first thing that popped into the carney's head. It was followed closely by No, nonononono, bad thoughts, bad thoughts.

She could not think he was adorable when she was going to have to interact with him much closer than she wanted for the next couple of years. She would get attached when she would normally be objective. He would be one of hers and that couldn't happen because she would be leaving before the shit hit the fan a la Reborn. She could not afford to continuously check up on him like she would want to if that happened.

Curling her lip, the carney outright glared at the small boy. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, you little shit?"

Tsuna's response was to press his face more firmly into his makeshift pillow and tighten his grip on her legs with a content sigh.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Leora told him flatly. Shifting, the carney settled back down so she was facing the clock. She would give it a few more hours before she got up to stretch and meet Kyouya.

She would raid Nana's kitchen first though. There was a chance that the housewife would either have instant or honest to god real fucking coffee. She really hoped it was the later. She would chew the beans if she had to.