A/N: So close….

I mean, we're almost at the end, I can't believe it!

You know… something funny happened to me yesterday.

I had this very brief lapse of interest in my planning and I decided to plan a bit on another fanfiction that I haven't gotten around to writing for a while, only when I tried to, I couldn't get past a few sentences before I was back to planning the rewrite for this.

It's insane! That had never, ever, happened to me before!

I have been working on this for so long that, I couldn't just move on to another story like that.

Well… I guess that means you lovely humans are lucky that you've gotten round to reading the one story that I actually, legitimately, feel motivated to write.

And so, without further ado.

Please.

Enjoy.

Chapter 25:

Saved in the nick of time

The two women had been walking for some time before the woman finally leaned Tsuna up against one of the walls, removing the mask from Tsuna's head before she removed her own and stuffed them back into her pocket.

The woman looked over Tsuna, taking in her general appearance.

If possible, the girl was even paler than she was before, her eyelids slipping closed and her breath even more labored than it had been earlier.

This worried the woman.

Tsuna had been practically dragged the entire way, how could she be even more exhausted than before?

Looking down at the girl's legs, the woman got her answer.

Tsuna's ankles and the skin leading up to her shins had a more purpleish hue to them that honestly didn't look healthy.

The woman felt like slapping her forehead.

The girl had said that she had more sensitive skin than the regular person, and after standing with her feet submerged in the smoke for two minutes, how could she not be affected by it?

Even though it was just a knock-out gas, the woman really needed to do something if she was going to get the girl out before someone caught them.

Quickly, she reached a hand into her pocket and pulled out a beautiful crystal perfume bottle filled with a light purple colored liquid.

Crouching down in front of the girl, the woman spritzed the liquid over the girl's legs, watching with satisfaction as it immediately took effect, the purple facing away into nothingness, replacing it with a much healthier shade of pale than the one that had marred the girl's face.

Looking up at Tsuna's face, the woman was pleased to see a more relieved expression in her eyes.

Standing back up, the woman wrapped Tsuna's arm around her shoulder again.

Tsuna made a small noise of discomfort.

"I know." the woman muttered, mouth close to Tsuna's ear. "But you have to push through it." she moved them away from the wall, dragging the weaker girl down the corridor.

In her defense, Tsuna did try to actually walk a few steps.

"We have to keep moving."

A few turns down the obvious maze, Tsuna managed to gather up enough strength to force her legs into movement, actually helping the two of them move down the corridors. They were moving at about twice the speed as they were before, but it still weren't that fast.

Suddenly, Tsuna planted her feet on the ground, forcing the two of them into an abrupt halt.

The woman immediately knew what was wrong, and she turned to Tsuna, seeing her face morphing into an expression of terror.

"What are you feeling?" the woman asked frantically, Tsuna's fear rubbing off on her.

She didn't get the chance to answer.

Tsuna glanced at the woman from the corner of her eye, then, her face changing into exhausted resignation, she moved her attention over to the closest turn, just as three familiar figures stepped out from behind the turn.

Beside her, Tsuna heard the woman release a silent curse.

Ponytail guy raised his hand, making the two women draw attention to the gun he had clutched in his grip. He pointed the weapon at the two females, the woman in particular.

The woman had to force herself to appear calm.

"Hello Dylan." she said, nodding to ponytail guy, she turned her eyes towards the stick-figure. "Vincent." she moved to the dwarf wrestler. "Simion." she adjusted her arm around Tsuna's waist, holding her closer. "What are you doing here?"

Tsuna raised her eyebrow at the given names.

So much intimidation points were removed once their real names were given.

Then again, it just proves that they were real humans once.

Dylan narrowed his eyes at the woman, his finger tightening on the trigger.

"I could as you the same thing Bianchi."

Huh… Bianchi?

Tsuna glanced at the woman again.

Yeah, it suited her.

Apparently, Dylan wasn't finished talking.

He jerked his gun in Tsuna's direction.

"That girl is our ticket to become initiates, why are you taking her away?" his voice grew louder and louder with each word that passed through his lips. Which Tsuna now noticed had a scar running over his upper lip.

Bianchi just chuckled, thought Tsuna could feel her shake a little.

"I would be an awful sister if I allowed my brother's friend to be killed for my own ambitions." her voice was strong, surprisingly so, but she couldn't fool Tsuna.

The woman, was afraid.

Simion took a step forward, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What did you do to Tony?"

Bianchi shrugged, her hold on Tsuna tightening even more.

"He came on too strong." she said, speaking as though it meant absolutely nothing. "I just put him to sleep for a while."

Vincent tightened his long fingers around the sniper rifle he had clutched in his hands.

"How can you be sure the girl even knows your brother?" he asked, glancing accusingly towards Tsuna. "She could be lying to get to you."

Bianchi, rightfully so, glared at the man.

"She told me my brother's name, appearance, and personality before she even knew my brother, she had only noticed our slight physical similarities." the women watched as Vincent's glare lessened slightly, though he still looked ticked off at what Bianchi was doing. "My brother hasn't allowed anyone to get to know him for a long time." Bianchi's eyes narrowed in determination, her muscles tensing. "I won't let you have the girl."

Dylan let out a long sigh.

"That's a shame." he said, moving the gun so that it was now more accurately aimed at Bianchi's head, his finger tightening even further around the trigger.

Both Tsuna and Bianchi paled at the sight.

"You have been such a valuable member to us." he said, keeping his voice cool and somewhat regretful, though his eyes held none of that. In fact, they appeared rather pleased to have been given the opportunity to get rid of the woman holding up Tsuna. "But I think it's just about time that you part your way from the riptides."

Suddenly, a feeling flooded Tsuna's system.

However, it wasn't like the feeling of dread that she'd been having for the past few minutes.

This feeling, was one that filled up with a sensation of warmth, but not the one she had become oh so very used to with the fire flickering inside of her. It was the warmth of familiarity, joy, and most of all. Safety.

Despite the situation, a smile spread across her face, lighting up her exhausted features.

Taking a deep breath, she raised her head towards the men.

"I agree." she said, voice ringing out clear in the corridor.

The group of four all snapped their attentions towards her, confusion clear on their faces.

Dylan raised his eyebrow at her words.

Bianchi on the other hand, seeing the calm smile on Tsuna's face, allowed herself to relax along with her, not knowing what was about to happen, but she knew that it would be in their favor.

She just hoped it would be there soon.

Tsuna tilted her head to the side.

"Although..." she spoke with a questioning tone, letting her lower lip catch between her teeth as she studied the men in front of her. "I'm not sure if it'll be by your hand."

For a moment, there was absolute silence between them, everyone staring at Tsuna in different forms of absolute confusion, including Bianchi, whom had gotten used to the idea of Tsuna somehow being able to tell when something was coming.

Finally, Dylan let out a loud, barking laugh, snapping everyone out of their bewilderment.

"You don't really have a choice girl."

He straightened out his arm, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

Two shots sounded through the air, one shortly followed by the other my like half of a second.

Tsuna felt something zoom past her ear right in the middle of her and Bianchi's heads, right before a pained scream sounded through the corridor.

Funnily enough, it didn't come from either her or Bianchi.

In front of them, two fingers were blown off of Dylan's outstretched hand, sending the gun skidding out of his hand and his blood spraying over the floor.

Frantically, the injured man clutched at his injured hand, furiously trying to stop the bloodflow as he sunk to his knees under the horror filled gazes of the other four.

What the hell just happened?!

Another shot rang through the air, and Simion doubled over, clutching at his left shoulder, he too moaning in pain.

Suddenly, two figures ran into the corridor from where the three men had entered.

Two, very, very familiar figures.

A gun came down on top the back of Simion's head, cutting off his pained cries before he slumped unconscious to the ground.

Vincent didn't have time to ready his rifle before a bat came crashing towards the side of his head, but luckily for him, it wasn't a wooden one, and definitely not a metal one, or else things would have ended really badly for him, so in stead, he was only sent to the ground.

Still in terrible pain, Dylan turned towards the offender on his left, the one with the gun, trying to get a look at the face of the man that had forced him to his knees.

He was greeted by the sight of the barrel of a gun pointed right in between his eyes.

"I'd prefer not to kill in front of Juudaime." a gravely voice spoke from behind the weapon. "So I'd appreciate it if you didn't force me to pull the trigger." the voice held the tony of a promise, a promise that Dylan had no doubt the offender would keep no matter what.

Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes, surrendering.

The women looked over the two men, taking in their appearance.

The both of them had blood speckled over both their clothes and faces, some even splattered over their weaponry, and they looked absolutely murderous where they stood hunched over the three men on the ground.

Yamamoto, holding what appeared to be an old beginners bat in his left hand, glaring down at Vincent, giving his unconscious body a kick to the side for good measure.

And Gokudera, hair ruffled and face morphed in anger as he held Dylan at gunpoint in front of him.

Both of the teenagers were breathing a bit heavily, but neither of them looked injured in any shape or form. Well, aside from Yamamot's cast but that didn't count!

Slowly, Dylan let out a deep breath.

He opened his eyes to glance up at Gokudera.

"How did you catch us?"

Surprsingly enough, Bianchi was the one who decided to answer.

"We snatched her in the middle of training." she stated sounding almost smug about the statement, making the boys turn towards her. "Her tutor must have tracked us with whatever trace we left behind being fresh."

This surprised Dylan, making him turn his attention towards Tsuna.

"Who is your tutor?" he asked, sounding as though he dreaded to know the answer.

Much to Tsuna's surprise, she saw a smirk spread across Gokudera's face.

"Reborn." was his simple and quick answer.

The result was instantaneous.

Dylan's breath left his throat as his face turned paler than freshly fallen snow, his entire being beginning to tremble from the sheer amount of fear he felt from the name alone.

And he had been one of the people that kidnapped his student…

Beside Tsuna, Bianchi's own face turned a bit pale as well, though to a much lesser extent than the man that had called himself her leader.

She threw a quick glance to the young girl she was still supporting.

"I'm so glad I picked the right side..." she whispered, low enough that Tsuna wasn't able to hear more than her quickened breathing.

"Should've done more research." Gokudera sniggered before he brought his gun down over the man's head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Seeing that the man's hand was now freely bleeding, the young delinquent let out an irritated sigh and rolled his eyes.

Bending down, he ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the bleeding wound, securing it so that it wouldn't fall of at any minute.

Wouldn't want the man to bleed to death, no matter how horrible he'd been.

Slowly, Tsuna dislodged herself from Bianchi's side, standing weakly on her own two feet and stumbling a few steps forward just as her friends turned towards her.

Gokudera broke into a run within seconds, his gun disappearing into his back pocket before he pulled Tsuna into his arms, tightly hugging her to his body, not caring that he was covered in splatters of blood.

"Thank the gods you're alright." he whispered into her hair, tightened his arms around her even further.

Bianchi watched this exchange a few steps behind them, her eyes pinned on her brother's absolutely relieved expression with a pleased smile on her own face.

Gently, Gokudera put his hands on Tsuna's upper arms, gently pushing her away from him so that he could have a proper look at her body.

He froze at the sight of her face.

Slowly, he lifted his hand, allowing it to fall on her cheek as he took in the various bruises and cuts that littered what had previously been her flawless features, dries blood and dirt marring her pale skin along with beads of sweat that really shouldn't belong there.

"How dare those bastards hurt your like this." he cursed, eyes narrowed, though he didn't take his gaze off of her, looking as though he believed she would vanish from sight should he look somewhere else.

Tsuna just shook her head at his action, lifting her own hand to put it over his, allowing herself to wallow in the sense of being near a person she knew for a fact would never raise a harmful hand against her.

It was a nice feeling.

"I'm fine." she insisted, smiling gently up at him. "I'm just a bit exhausted."

Yamamoto frowned as he walked up to the two of them, moving his bat from his left arm to the right, being able to at the very least grip the bat.

"Why are you exhausted?" he asked, very much bewildered.

"I had to melt the shackles." Tsuna answered, realizing too late that she probably shouldn't have mentioned anything about being shackled to the two young men that had both proven to be somewhat protective of her.

She was right of course as she watched their eyes move down to her wrists.

And there they were, skin bright red and surrounded by fresh and well-pronounced bruising that she was sure would last for several days.

Slowly, Gokudera took her hands into his, lifting them up between the two of them as he studied the thin limbs they were attached to.

Cautiously, he allowed the tip of his thumb to hover over the reddened area, not knowing whether it would be alright to touch or not. He chose to leave her wrists alone, in stead, wrapping his fingers around her hands as he let out a low growl in fury.

He turned his attention towards the unconscious men, fully intent on walking over there and beat them up more than was strictly necessary.

Tsuna sighed heavily, knowing very well what her friend was thinking of doing.

With great difficulty, Tsuna wriggled her hand free from Gokudera's grip, lifting the limb to put her fingers to his chin, turning his face back towards her.

"I'm fine." she insisted, smiling gently at her friend. "I just want to get out of here."

"I agree to that." Yamamoto stated as he walked up to the two, almost completely brushing off Gokudera as he wrapped his one arm around Tsuna's shoulder, pressing her up against his side in a one-armed hug.

Tsuna could practically feel the intensity of Gokudera's glare, even though her eyes had shut when Yamamoto pulled her towards him.

"I'm glad your okay." the athlete breathed, finally letting her go.

Tsuna closed her eyes, mentally debating on whether or not she should jut say it right then or wait until later.

She opted for the former.

"I almost weren't." she said, making the worry return to the boy's faces.

"What do you mean?" Gokudera asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna looked down at the unconscious men.

"There's one man missing from this group." she noted, even though she had been aware of that face from the start, and it showed in her voice.

"That's true." Yamamoto agreed, his relieved expression replaced by a look of puzzlement as he looked out over the men.

Gokudera looked as well, before he turned back towards Tsuna, his hands moving to rest on her forearms as he manually turned her attention back towards him.

"Where is the fourth one?" he asked, sounding as though he was forcing his voice to stay gentle.

Tsuna took a deep breath, slowly allowing herself to meet her friends gaze.

"In my cell." she answered. "Knocked out and bound."

This made Yamamoto frown, taking a step closer to his fellow classmates.

"Why is he in there?"

Tsuna had to swallow before she could bring herself to answer.

"He...eh…." she glanced down at her still-open sweater, bringing her hands to reattach the sides to the zipper. "He was more… eh… hot-blooded, than the others." as she said this, she self-consciously zipped up her sweater well over her chest, all the way up to her neck.

She was shielding herself, even though that should no longer be needed.

Of course, the boys noticed this action, and they did not like it one bit.

Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, his fingers tightening around the bat. Gokudera's own fingers tightened around Tsuna's arms, a light growl escaping his lips.

Seeing how the boys were letting their anger take over, Tsuna quickly put her hands of Gokudera's upper arms, making him look back up at her.

"He was stopped before he could actually do anything." she insisted, trying for a smile as she pointedly looked over her shoulder at the woman that had been left practically forgotten.

The boys followed her line of sight, and their eyes landed on Bianchi.

Whom, looked over their little group with her arms crossed, eyes glinting with a teasing expression that she was forcing herself to keep in.

If possible, Yamamoto's eyes narrowed even further, his fingers tightening around the handle of his bat to the point where the material dented under his grip.

With it being his old, light-weight practice bat from when he was younger, he wouldn't be able to actually do any real damage to the woman, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give it his best shot if he had to.

"Yo." he greeted her halfheartedly.

"Yo." she greeted right back, though her greeting was a lot more playful and smug, as shown by the smirk playing on her blood-red lips.

Gokudera however, stiffened where he was standing.

Swiftly, he yanked Tsuna behind him, her reflexes forcing her to grab onto the back of his shirt so that she wouldn't fall onto the ground by the force of his pull.

This seemed to go unnoticed by Gokudera, or he simply brushed the reaction off as caused by something entirely different, as he focused all of his attention on his sister, openly giving her the most hateful glare one could ever hope to accomplish.

The woman however, seemed non-phased by this, and instead, opted to smile warmly at him in return.

"Hello brother." she greeted, voice heavy with affection.

This only made Gokudera growl back at her.

"Stay away from Juudaime." he ordered, holding out his arms on either side, preventing the woman to reach Tsuna should she attempt to do so.

But Bianchi just crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head as she took in the scene that played out in front of her.

She took in her brothers protectiveness of the girl, and her smile grew all the more kinder.

Tsuna turned her head back and forth between the two siblings, not really knowing what to do in that sort of scenario, and even if she tried to, she didn't know if she would have the energy or even strength to make any form of difference.

Finally, she turned her attention backwards, towards the men still knocked out a few feet away from them.

She didn't particularly like how close they still were to them.

Gently, she put her hand on her friend's shoulder, making him snap his attention away from his sister and move it to her in stead.

He glanced at her from over the shoulder her hand was resting on.

"Gokudera-kun..." she muttered weakly as she glanced over to Bianchi. "Bianchi saved me."

She watched as Gokudera's olive eyes widened at her words.

She threw another glance behind them towards the men.

"Can we not fight this moment?" she looked up, right into the one eye she could see from where his head was positioned. "We still need to get out of his building."

Gokudera looked between the two females, his mind obviously whirling before he finally relented, letting out a long breath before he reached up his hands, ruffling his hair in irritation.

Bianchi's eyes widened at the actions.

"I don't like this..." the delinquent grumbled, turning back towards Tsuna. "But I'll go along with it." he watched as Tsuna's face lit up into a pleased smile.

To both Bianchi and Yamamoto, it looked to them that Tsuna became happy that he was going along with her wishes, but Tsuna and Gokudera both knew that she'd become happy because Gokudera had admitted that he actually didn't want to.

A groan cut through the air, making the group of four turn towards the three men on the ground.

Vincent was stirring.

Obviously, Yamamoto hadn't hit the man from the right angle to knock him out good enough.

Rolling his eyes, Gokudera fished his gun back out from his pocket, marching up to the man as he started to get up into a sitting position.

The man didn't get the time to even clear his eyes before Gokudera brought down the but of his gun at the back of the head, sending him once again tumbling to the ground.

Growling, he turned back towards the other three, keeping his gun clutched in his hand as he looked over them.

Deciding that they probably had wasted enough time, Gokudera stalked right up to Tsuna, carefully schooling is expression to a calmer one before he gently took her hand into his, careful not to touch her wrist, scared at not knowing weather or not they would still be warm after what must have been a long time of concentrated flame power.

He shared a look with her, seeing her understanding his hesitance before he turned his attention towards the other two.

"Time to go." he said, voice authoritative.

He shared a look with Tsuna before he gently lead her away, dragging her down the corridor.

The other two followed them, though Bianchi stopped moving shortly after they rounded the corner, staring after the retreating figures.

Remaining a few paces behind the two other teens, Yamamoto threw a guarded look behind him at Bianchi, watching as she furiously blinked away what appeared to be unshed tears as she stared at her brother's retreating back.

"Let's go!" he called after her, motioning with his good arm before he too took off after his two friends, not wanting to be left behind in the maze.

Bianchi however, remained standing for a short moment, still staring.

Letting out a long breath, she allowed a smile to spread across her painted lips.

"I'm happy for you little brother." she whispered, watching the teenager's backs. "You're finally allowing your heart to heal."

Still smiling, the woman took off after the teenagers, the sound of her heels hitting the concrete ground echoing over the walls.

A/N: Well… that was… erm…

Anywho…. After this, there will be only two chapters left.

Two chapters!

It's like…. I just can't….

The next chapter will be up by Thursday.

Until then, please be patient and tell me what you think of what I've written so far, not just the chapter, but the story in general. What do you think could be changed? Get your idea's out now as I'm still just working on the outline of chapter 3.

Until next time.

Love.

Me!