AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for following my story this far. We've hit the end of this segment except for the Epilogue, which will be posted on October 9th (I need to go through and reread, edit, and mess with it a bit). I keep taking liberties with how the rings work ^^;

For the record, KHR doesn't belong to me, it's the property of Akira Amano. The storyline, original characters, and such belong to me.

Thank you for taking time to read (and review if you've a chance) this story.

Until next week...Ciao!

Target 20-02: This is my Famiglia

RAGE.

Red hazed Haru's vision as the girl she'd considered her friend since she was six years old smiled at her and calmly ordered tea through a different terminal. She twisted her hands in the metal cuffs and her eyes fell on the ring that adorned her left hand—she'd not taken the ring she'd gotten from Tsuna's father off when she'd dropped the rest of her weapons.

The realization of Emri's betrayal fanned the flames of Haru's anger to new heights even as the battle on the screen started. Those were her friends there, people who'd taken care of her for these past two years and they were about to be killed. She couldn't let it happen. She felt a crackle along her left arm and glanced down and saw the green Dying Will flames crackling around her ring and she concentrated harder, pressing her fingertips to the mechanical chair.

"Haru, what…" Emri began.

The cuff suddenly retracted and Haru pulled her hand up transferring her energy to the other side to cause that side to malfunction too. "I'm not going to let you harm my Famiglia," Haru hissed and sprang across the space between them knocking Emri from her perch on the chair.

The girls skidded across the floor and Haru's eyes were caught by a flash of metal around Emri's neck. She reached out and yanked the necklace, feeling the press of four rings against her palm. The links on the necklace broke, throwing Haru off for just long enough for Emri to get her bearings and strike back. They rolled over the floor and Haru dipped her hand into one of her boots and pulled out one last drugged needle and slashed it across Emri's cheek.

The girl screamed and moved to attack, but Haru pulled away and rolled across the floor and to her feet even as Emri's body suddenly became still. Haru's chest heaved as she caught her breath and then she scrambled across the floor to the control panel and hoped that what she was about to do wasn't going to cause further harm. She let the Lightning Flames crackling through her hand on the control panel and sent a surge of electricity through it. There was a sudden high pitched squeal as the components heated and Haru jumped back just as the panel caught fire and all the lights in the room went out, the whirr of the machines falling silent.

She turned towards the door and hesitated a moment before going to where Emri was lying helpless and grabbed her arms; dragging her towards where she remembered the door was. Even if Emri had betrayed her, they still had over a decade of history behind them and she couldn't just leave her to possibly die if the fire spread to other areas of the room—she wouldn't be responsible for a death like that.

Haru stopped at the door and dropped Emri, hauling the mask of her uniform up to try and filter out the smoke. Her hands found the edge of the door; lightning flames crackled from her finger activating the mechanism just enough to get it open wide enough for her to get herself and the other girl out. The door snapped shut just after Emri's feet cleared the threshold.

She dragged Emri through the room, hoping she remembered the path well enough to get them through. When she found the other door it was half opened and she could hear the sounds of a battle on the other side and she propped Emri against the wall and popped her head out of the door to get an idea of what she was walking into. All of her weapons including her box were still where she'd piled them when she gave in to Emri's demand.

The fighting was concentrated in the corridor up ahead.

Her eyes flew to a form outlined in the emergency lighting that finally kicked on and her breath caught and she raced across the floor dropping to her knees next to Akai. She reached out to check her friend's pulse and her wrist was caught in a steely grip and she immediately found herself pinned to the floor. "You think you're going to—" Akai trailed off. "Haru?"

"Thank goodness you're all right," Haru said.

"Where's that girl?" she snarled.

"Unconscious in another room, she won't be moving for a while," Haru said. "Are you okay?"

"A headache and some cuts and abrasions, probably a few bruises and I can't entirely focus so there might be a concussion, but nothing I haven't worked through before. You?" Akai asked.

"I'm fine, she only landed a couple hits before I managed to knock her out with one of the needles in my boot. Can you let me up? Gokudera, Judaime, and the others are up there fighting and Emri had the rings, I need to get them to them…"

Akai rolled aside and pulled herself to her feet. "I'll go with you."

"No, stay here, you're injured worse than I am and someone needs to keep an eye on Emri and make sure she can't cause any more trouble," Haru said.

"There's one surefire way to make sure she doesn't come back to haunt us," Akai said icily.

"No!" Haru exclaimed. "She…she used to be a really good friend. I can't…"

Akai glared down at her and sighed in exasperation. "You and that Judaime of yours are a match made in heaven apparently…"

"Is it a bad thing to not want to end lives on a whim?" Haru asked.

Akai scrubbed a hand through her hair and finally shook her head. "Probably not," she said. "Where's the girl?"

Haru gave her quick directions and Akai made her way towards the room Haru left after promising not to do anything permanent to her and Haru collected her weapons, including the box and raced down the corridor. She pressed herself back against the wall as another explosion echoed and closed her eyes taking a deep breath.

She could see shadows moving on the walls up ahead and knew that she was almost to the fight itself. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Haru really wasn't ready for the intense fighting up ahead, but she had to get to Gokudera and Judaime and get the rings back to their proper owners. Once they had the Vongola Rings everything would be all right…wouldn't it?

Haru glanced down at her ring that was still sparking with the Dying Will Flames and then glanced at the box—maybe it would work this time?

She pressed the ring to the box and watched as it sparked to life and a relieved smile lit her features as the vines exploded from the box and crackled down the hall towards the battle.

Gokudera drove his fist into another enemy's face, smiling a bit at the satisfying crunch as his beringed fingers smashed into the guy's cheekbone and sent him reeling back. Two more replaced him and Gokudera swore, the lights going out had provided a necessary breather, but now that the emergency lights were on the battle was picking up.

There was a sudden crackle down the hall and his eyes went wide as a familiar set of lightning vines crept down the hall and wrapped around the ankles of the guys on the farthest edge of the group currently attacking them. "Haru?" he whispered.

He knocked the next guy skidding and bounded towards the source of the vines, dodging more enemies as his strides ate the ground between him and the girl. Who knew if she was safe and the others had things pretty well under control. Gokudera slipped around the encroaching vines and nearly ran smack into Haru.

"Haru!" he exclaimed.

Haru's face lit up in a smile he could even see in the dim emergency lights. "You're all right, thank goodness…what about the others?" she asked.

"Still fighting, there's too fucking many of them," Gokudera growled.

"Maybe these will help a little bit?" Haru asked, holding up the necklace she'd wrenched from Emri's neck.

"Are those…"

"Yeah."

Haru pulled the rings off the chain and Gokudera snatched them out of her palm, his expression lighting up with glee. "These should even the odds. I don't have the Sistema CAI yet, but it'll help…especially the baseball idiot and turf top."

He paused for a moment and extracted one of the rings from the pile and put it in her hand. "You hold onto the stupid cow's ring."

Haru's hand closed around the Vongola Lightning Ring and she continued her path towards the others who were fighting.

In a sudden burst vines came up from the ground around the Vongola fighting as Gokudera returned and Haru concentrated on the vines for long enough to let them get their rings and activate them before they faded out and she staggered, her head pounding. She slid the Vongola Lightning ring on just a moment before darkness encroached on her vision and she tumbled to the ground in a heap.

"Haru?"

She came to slowly, her eyes fluttering open. "Gokudera?" she mumbled and turned her head, flinching at the pain that arced through it.

"Stay still, Haru."

It was Dr. Tanpopo's voice and Haru closed her eyes. "So…everyone is all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine."

Gokudera's voice this time accompanied by a light stroke to her hair. "According to Dr. Tanpopo you overextended yourself with the Dying Will Flames," he informed her quietly.

Haru opened her eyes again and saw Gokudera watching her with a worried expression. His head was wrapped in a bandage too and one of his arms was in a sling across his chest. "What happened?" she gasped.

"We won, barely," Gokudera said. "That big guy, the others called him Claude showed up and things went bad for a little bit after you collapsed. Judaime pulled us through. We went to get that girl Emri after the guys retreated, but she was gone."

"Is Akai okay?" Haru asked.

"She's a little worse off than you, she got slammed by some debris, but she'll be fine in the long run," Gokudera said. "Judaime is back home with his family and reclaimed the lightning ring from you to return to Lambo. Ryohei and Yamamoto are fine too and safe."

"I'm glad," Haru said.

"How did you know where I was going that morning?" Gokudera asked.

Haru closed her eyes again. "I saw the message Yamamoto sent you," she said. "I told you I didn't see it because I wanted to see if you'd tell me yourself. You'd just finished lecturing me on going off and doing things alone…"

"It was our battle to fight, we let them get the rings," Gokudera stated flatly and then sighed, "but you're right. We probably wouldn't have made it if you hadn't informed Judaime and came to the base after us—though next time you try tangling with guys that big you need some more practice."

"Probably," she agreed, "hopefully this will be the last test of our skills for a while. That got pretty bad…"

"Yeah, it did," Gokudera agreed. "Dr. Tanpopo says that she'll probably keep you here tonight to make sure you're all right. Tomorrow morning, I'll be here to pick you up and escort you back to the house."

"Okay."