IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE! PLEASE READ!

A/N Ok…Silver's been MIA for the past month, I've been sending her emails to help me beta but so far there haven't been any replies so I thought that I take matters into my own hands. Here's the next chapter, :D Honestly speaking I was kind of depressed when I wrote the last part so be prepared for some angst!

Special thanks to those who had reviewed, followed and favourited this story. ^^ I love you guys, ^^

Another thing, Because silver has been MIA, I'm looking for another beta. Updates will be at least be once every two or three weeks. But be prepared for some random one-shots thrown in once in awhile. ^^ PM me if you're interested please! Desperately need one.

AND SO! MOVING ON WITH THE STORY! :D

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS, JUST MY OCS AND STORYLINE. ^^

Continuing from last time…

'Very well then,' he said, topaz eyes now blazing with determination. 'I'll leave Master Giotto and the rest of his guardians in your hands, Diuro. Lilia.'

The red haired man smirked, his equally red eyes twinkling with mischief. 'You don't have to tell us twice.'

Giotto's POV

'This way Master Giotto,' the girl, now identified as Lilia, ushered. Her lilac hair swirled around her like a mini whirlwind, green cat-like eyes that flashed with a hint of annoyance as she took in the lazy image of her temporary partner.

'Diurno,' she said in a quiet yet sickeningly sweet tone. 'You heard Decimo's instructions. You would do well to act them or I will tell you on your sister!'

'Yes Ma'am.' Diurno meekly said.

Diurno, Lilia plus the seven of us were currently running to the scheduled meeting area as Shiki, Questo and Rick had stayed behind to act as a decoy. After the first announcement that Gokudera had made, the mansion was still engulfed in utter chaos and the destruction of the once beautiful mansion was disastrous.

As we continued running, I mentally made a note to thank Knuckle again for sharing his sun flames with me. The training with Lal had required me to push past my limits and go full out at the training menu that she had created on the spot. But I was glad that she hadn't slackened my training just because I had just recovered from the effects of the strange smoke. I wanted to quickly learn everything I could about the future, if I could accomplish that I would be able to protect my guardians. And most importantly, Alaude.

A loud explosion knocked me out off train of thought before it literally knocked me off my feet. I immediately felt Alaude's arm snaking around my waist before we flew to the nearest concrete wall and hit it with a loud slam. I softly groaned in pain before shooting a worried look towards my lover. His eyes were tightly scrunched closer as if he were trying to bit back a scream. I gently stroked his cheek before softly cooing to him that it was going to be ok.

Several meters away, I could hear G and Ugetsu coughing due to the thick layer of smoke. I strained my ears further and thankfully was able to pick out the soft whining from Lampo and curses from Daemon. I heard a grunt just next to us and heaved a sight of relief was I had managed to pick out the faint outline of Knuckle's body.

Titanium blue eyes met my sky blue ones with concern but hardened at the sound of footsteps stepping on broken debris. The fallen debris had pretty much blocked my line of vision, but it was enough for me to see that the strangers were a young man with long wavy green hair and a young girl with long blue hair. Both were wearing black coats with silver linings. The way they were scanning the place freaked me out and raised the goose bumps on my arms. It was as if they weren't human.

'Ohohoho. What do we have here?' a curious voice asked.

'Boo Boo! It's that stupid girl who always thinks she's better than me!'

'You sure? Because I always thought that was the truth.' Diurno spat.

'Why you-!'

'Enough.' The first voice demanded. 'Our orders were to find them. Where are they? We know that you and the Miss Snow are in charge of escorting them to the Decimo. Where are they and don't lie or else,' the sound of slapping reached my ears. I heard Diurno grunt in pain and a soft gasp.

'Stop!' the voice that I now recognized as Lilia's. 'Please don't hurt him!'

'Nyuuu!' the second voice fumed. 'What makes you think you're in a position to be ordering us around? Stupid girl!' now a gasp of pain sounded from Lilia. Diurno loudly cursed and demanded to be let go.

I too, was furious and started struggling to get up but was held back by Alaude's iron grip. 'Don't Giotto,' he ordered in a low voice. 'You must not let them know you're here. You're still exhausted from your training and have yet to fully comprehend the basics of battling in this era. Don't be reckless; don't let the girl and brat's sacrifice go wasted.'

I don't care! Was what I wanted to scream, Lilia and Diurno didn't need to go through all this for us. Because of us, they were getting hurt and I couldn't forgive myself for that.

'If you're done tormenting my teammate and senpai, I suggest you take a step back and prepared to be stabbed!' Rick's voice suddenly resounded. The thick layer of gray smoke was suddenly blown away and left me gaping at the gory sight in front of.

Thick green vines had tightly curled themselves around Diurno as he frantically tried to pry them off with his left hand. His other arm lay limp by the side as trails of blood slowly trickled downwards, creating a small pool of blood under it. Diurno's previous stark clean uniform was now stained a bright red and he was panting heavily, his face turning paler by the minute. Purple flowers had now bloomed from the vines and were glowing a bright purple as every moment passed by.

Lilia was also in a similar state but was unconscious. She looked as if all her life force was sucked out off her as the purple flowers continued glowing brightly, as if mocking me.

'Untangle them Kikyo.' Came Shiki's cold voice.

'Boo Boo! Or what?' the childish voice taunted.

'Oya Oya? So tormenting children is your favourite past time now? You have such bad taste.' A familiar voice mocked. 'Whatever is that stupid boss of yours teaching you.'

'Rokudo Mukuro.' The man now identified as Kikyo smirked. 'I have come to check on something and seeing you here confirms it.' He stalked over to where Lilia was tied before gently patting her cheek.

'And as for you Miss Snow,' he said. 'Our playtime ends here.' A huge gust of wind suddenly swept into the room and before we knew it, the odd pair had disappeared.

'Mister Giotto!' Rick loudly exclaimed. 'Are you here?!'

'Shut up you noisy boy,' Mukuro snapped. A metal card suddenly swiped itself against Mukuro's throat and left a thin red line. Shiki's emerald eyes were now dangerously glinting as he glared at Mukuro.

'Who are you and what have you done with the real Master Mukuro?' he asked in a dangerously low voice.

'Nufufu, to think that a mere child saw through my illusion. I'm impressed.' A whirl of purple mist appeared and swirled around Mukuro before dispersing to reveal a smirking Daemon.

'Daemon,' I breathed out with a sigh. Alaude grunted before pushing himself out off the debris with me in his arms. My eyes immediately squinted from the sudden burst of light, but soon quickly adapted to it.

'So nice of you to join us again, Giotto, skylark.' Dameon lazily drawled. 'Anytime today would be nice you idiots.'

'Cheh. Yeah whatever bastard.'

'G!' I worriedly exclaimed. Using Ugetsu as a support, G was hobbling over with a slight limp on his left leg. There was some dried blood on his and Ugetsu clothes and that made me launch immediately into mother hen mode.

'Alaude,' I commanded. 'Put me do-'

'No you stay there Giotto. And you better make sure he does you bastard.' G said while eyeing Alaude. 'I'm fine. It's those two kids that I'm worried about.' Lilia and Diurno. I gave a small gasp before trying to jump out off my barricade.

'Relax Master Giotto, we're good.' Diurno said from the floor as Shiki was wrapping his injuries up. Before I could say anything, Alaude walked over to where he and Lilia were before gently putting me down.

I grabbed his hand and put it in mine. 'I'm so sorry.' I whispered.

'The fault is ours Master Giotto,' came Lilia's soft voice. I turned and met the blazing gaze of forest green eyes. She was using Rick's lap as a pillow while Shiki's jacket was Diurno's. 'We were careless and let our guard down. If Master Daemon weren't here, he might have taken you away. And that defeats the whole purpose of us being here.'

'We're sorry too Mister Giotto.' Rick echoed. 'If we had only arrived here earlier…' his voice trailed off and shifted his gaze to the silent Lilia.

'It's ok kiddo,' Diurno grunted. 'You did your best.'

'Rick! Shiki! Are the-! Oh my!' Selestia exclaimed as she burst into the room.

'Rick, Shiki, can the two of you bring Lilia and Diurno to the infirmary?' Questo asked as he ran towards us. 'Mikazuki's already there. Oh and Rick? If they need you to help out there, you may stay.'

'Yes sir.'

'As for Master Giotto and the rest of you,' he said while turning to face us. 'Master Tsuna would still like to meet all of you at the core. He wants to explain who those people were and what would be happening from now on so as to prevent something like this from happening again.'

Tsuna's POV

Vongola Mansion, Core

'Damn!' I angrily slammed my fist down on the table. Damn that Byakuran! Sending the funeral wreaths was not part of the plan that he had told me about. Does this mean Byakuran knows? Damn! That's even worse! I angrily raised my fist again to slam it against the table but was caught by a much larger one. Slightly chapped lips placed a soft kiss on my knuckles before it was gently put down.

'Calm down baka-Tsuna.' Reborn said. 'Getting angry over this would be exactly what the marshmallow freak wants. So he found out. What you should be focusing on right now is how to step up the first generation's training so that they would be able to help us in this battle with Byakuran. That's the whole point of us bringing him here. Do you understand, Tsuna?'

'Calm down?' I yelled. 'I was careless! And because of that, Lilia and Diurno got injured, at least one third of the mansion is destroyed plus they found out that the first generation is here. How the hell do you expect me to calm down!?'

'Tsuna!' Reborn thundered.

I stared at him in shock. Reborn never raised his voice at me, not even when we argued. 'I-I'm sorry,' I started. 'I'm so sorry Reborn, it's just...' my voice trailed off. I nervously bit my lower lip as I and stared into those black eyes of the man I loved with my life.

'I'm scared Reborn. He nearly took out the entire CEDEF. He nearly took out the main wall of Vongola. He nearly took out my Dad.' My voice cracked as a familiar pricking feeling started. 'I don't know whether I can handle that again. Nor do I know, whether I'll be able to if it were going to be Hayato or the others. Or even worse, you. And I don't want that to happen! I just can't!'

My vision was starting to blur and my entire mind was in a mess. I had no idea of how to proceed from here. I was tired and had enough of playing mind games with a freak who eats marshmallows twenty-four seven.

But before I knew, a strong pair of arms gathered me and pushed me against a warm and familiar chest. 'I know it's hard Tsuna,' Reborn said in a soft voice. 'But if you give up, the entire familigia is going to suffer. And it includes your family. I know you hate violence, I know you do. But we've come to a point that it's either we stand up and push on or we surrender now. And you and know that if that happens, Vongola would cease to exist. And your guardians wouldn't have become who they are now. In fact, most of them met their other halves because of you Tsuna, when you were chosen to become Decimo. And, it was also because of that I met the most cutest man on earth and fell head over heels for him.' I stopped sniffing and looked up, only to lock gazes with the most beautiful man on earth and the one who was only allowed to see me like this.

'And even though we had a really rough beginning,' he continued with a fond smile. 'I don't regret any moment of it. It was because of you that I realized even a cold-hearted hit man like me still needed to be loved. And it's all because of you Tsuna. Remember that we love you and we'll always be with you.'

'Always.'

I couldn't hold it in anymore. My breath suddenly hitched and the turmoil of feelings raging inside of me broke free. I cried into his arms and let myself drown into the warmth that Reborn had provided. I wept my heart out and desperately held onto him. Only Reborn was able to see me like this, I was only allowed to break down in front of him. Just as how only he could do the same for me. Though I loved my guardians, I just wasn't comfortable enough to show them this weak side of mine because I was suppose to be their sky, the one that showed them love and support when they need it the most. And I was grateful for Reborn, because I knew, no matter how much I cried or how much he was going to complain later about me soaking his suit, he would never tell anyone about it.

'Thank you Reborn,' I softly said with a sniff. 'Thank you for always being here for me.'

'Anytime il mio amore,' he inched closer to my lips. 'Anytime.'

A/N Hands up to those who found that traumatizing? It's my first time trying this style of writing so I wanted to try it out. Lemme know what you think of it in your reviews? Oh! And here's a good piece of news! As Valentine's day is nearing, I'll be dropping some one-shots of some of my favourite pairings. ^^ And my fifth reviewer would be given the honors of having a valentine one-shot special of her favourite pairing as a gift. ^^ SO start reviewing my wonderful readers!

REVIEW! LOVE YOU GUYS~! 3