Katekyo Hitman Reborn

My Fate is Certainly Uncertain

Chapter 26: My Morals

Overall warnings: Swearing, disclaimers and other things. You know, the finer things in life.

[Written to: Emma Marrone - Cercavo amore. (Epic song Btw.) ]

~o0o~

I was delighted to find out how happy Skull was to see me. It had been years. Years since I had left the kid - or man in a child meatsuit. Or an adult with the mentality of a child in a child meatsuit - and honestly, I had missed his bubbly demeanour that changed the aura of the place. He wasn't the type of person to let things get in his way. (Although, how he reacted was sometimes questionable.) But, despite the constant poundings he would get from the other Arcobaleno, he would always end the day with a smile.

He tackled me with a massive hug after I had climbed out of the bushes. Not something I'd be doing anytime later, since my face and hip hitting the ground isn't exactly my definition of 'fun'. My definition of fun is lying in my room with my headphones on, ignoring the rest of the world. Or just listening to music in general was the best way for me to calm down.

"Finally made it!" He yelled, clinging to the bottom of my legs. My reflection looked back at me in his helmet, and I wondered how on earth he was able to keep that on all day, every day. Wouldn't your hair get all greasy and yuck? Or maybe he's wearing it to hide the fact that his hair is gross? Being a stuntman, he would have to wear one anyway, but not all the time. Ah, well, as Momma said: Do it good the first time so you don't have to do it a second. However, this is an extreme side of commitment I'm getting from him.

"I did! Did you miss me?"

"Of course! I still need a stunt partner, right?!"

"Right!"

"Let's hunt!" Al yelled, jumping up and down happily and then he sat down, thinking. "No wait, I'm supposed to dislike you."

Reborn turned back to us after examining Tsuna and the other two. He shook his head at the radiating endearment and smiled. "Tsuna has a certain king of charisma, doesn't he Lal?"

"Yes." She agreed, and I blinked at how small she was again. Then I realised that no, she wasn't tall yet. "He's got that aura that attracts all sorts of people."

"Ah, Reborn!"

Tsuna and the others, in their passing words, finally noticed that the Arcobaleno were here. Poor thing, he was pretty worried about the state of his guardians. For nothing all that worrying was for. Dino, at times, would have the same problem but after Reborn had left, that problem seemed to go with him.

"Was that the end of the trial?" He asked, almost out of breathe. "What the test this time?"

"It was a test of charisma." Reborn replied.

"Charisma?"

Lal nodded. Was she the procurator of this test? "Yes, and you have successfully passed it. Now take the ring seal!"

And then, they pushed Skull forward, telling him to get on with it already. Honestly, sometimes Al and I both wondered who on earth was the mentally wiser one in the family. I treated the Arcobaleno sort of like my own. (The Archabelano consisting of Reborn, Lal, Colonnello and Skull.) Mammon and Greenie, I didn't so much have a lot of contact between, so no go zone there. Spare Fon, who - even though I didn't really talk to because I've only met him once or twice - he was very polite to me. It was only fair to do the same for him.

And for the Sky Arcobaleno? I have mixed feelings. I mean, I kinda know her but at the same time I kinda don't. At the time, Reborn was reluctant to tell anybody of my family status with him so I was ceremoniously shoved into a closet when she showed up on his villa doorstep, back in the state of Tuscany. He owned one in the countryside and only ever showed me. I thought it was nice for him to get away from everything. After all, dad's constantly need to get away from the chaos of their days, even if Reborn was still catching up with his fatherly duties.

"I got it!" Skull grumbled, rubbing his sore back, in the spot where they pushed him. He turned to Tsuna and puffed out his chest. "Here."

Tsuna stepped towards the cloud Arcobaleno, treading over broken twigs and took off his cotton mittens, holding out his ringed fist. An indigo beam of light, not flames, but a lingering light emerged from Skull's pacifier and rebounded into Tsuna's boss ring, which reacted to the light of the cloud. His glow remained for a couple of more seconds after the connection broke. Behind him, I noticed Chrome looking at hers, as it glowed in unison with Tsuna's. She looked a little better, and I smiled happily. He hand completed what I asked of him to do yet, but he should. Soon.

"Alright Tsuna, so you've cleared the trial of charisma." Reborn crossed his arms and Leon, who was in the brim of Reborn's classic fedora almost licked his entire face away. Poor fella must have been getting hot.

"That's right!" Tsuna yelled, thinking of something completely irrelevant. He looked around for whatever had gotten him into this state and sighed with immense relief when he found it. The boxes were wrapped in a purple cloth and the only thing I could come to guess was a bunch of bento boxes. Tsuna's mother always made too much of something good, whether it was breakfast or just a snack. The woman was very doubtfully oblivious to certain things, but she was most certainly not to an empty stomach. And it seemed that the young Vongola had inherited the same trait.

"Here!" He said, handing the boxes over to Chrome. She seemed so surprised, despite her somber face. "I heard that you weren't eating properly, so I got my Mom to make a lot for you. And the others too! You can't just eat junk food from the store, too much is bad for you."

"What we get her is fine!" The blonde yelled, baring his oddly sharp teeth. I could bet a good ten bucks that he hadn't seen an orthodontist in his lifetime. "We don't need your homemade crap!"

"It's okay, Ken. Thank you."

Tsuna was thankful that she took them, and he suggested that there was plenty, so everybody could have a meal of their own! He was a little worried that she wouldn't take them and he didn't know what he'd do if she didn't. It made me laugh that he actually considered eating it all before he got home if she didn't.

"It's true." Lal said, as we watched the group squabble between themselves. Chrome enjoyed it, certainly. Things were much brighter since meeting the Vongola. She was extremely thankful. "He does have a wealth of charisma."

Reborn smirked knowingly, and pulled the rim of his fedora down so that it covered his upper face features.

Behind us, Skull failed to sneak away.

Even Al could see it, and he was looking the other way.

As were the rest of us.

"Hey Skull, where do you think you're going?"

"T-The trial's over, so I thought I-I'd be on my way….."

"You were certainly talking bug to us before, weren't you?"

Colonnello blinked, grinning evilly. In fact, they all were. It was a little scary. "Oh, that's right. I almost forgot. You said you wouldn't screw up the way I did. Kora."

"For all your talk, is that all you got?" Reborn asked, finally turning around to face the shaking Arcobaleno.

"I'll see you at home." I said, making my way back to Tsuna's house. I wanted to say hi to everybody, as a surprise. "Have fun."

"P-Phillipa! H-Help!"

"Sorry soul-brother, you walked yourself into this one. Or, your mouth did. Either way, I'm not stupid enough to get in Reborn's way."

"We'll talk later." He said, and I nodded.

What a nice reunion.

~o0o~

"So, you want me to go pick her up?"

"Yeah, just stay with her till Fon gets his trial over and done with. He's a very lax person, so I don't know when he'll turn up." Reborn sighed. "Hopefully before the end of the week."

"Alright then." I said, putting on my jacket. "I'll go to the airport then and see when her flight gets in."

"Not yet."

I paused. "Why? What else is there to say? Do you want some food as well?"

He shook his head. "Tell me what happened."

"Why?" I said, forcing the word. "It's none of your business."

"Your business is mine. You're my only daughter. The only one that I would die to protect. What went down in Italy?"

The thing with Reborn is that once he gets an idea in his head, he's like a cow chomping down on grass. You won't be able to move him. But, unlike a cow, he will do anything to see it through. I couldn't lie to him, and even though I didn't want to, I couldn't not tell him. He loved my mother probably more than I did.

So I sat down on the mattress, and thought about it.

"Well, I started in Italy. Actually, no. After a lead I got from Verde-"

"You went to Verde? Alone?"

"Like the idiot I am, I know. But it was necessary. After the lead, I got to Italy, which got me to England. That's where he lives. Or rather, lived."

~o0o~

"You must understand, my dear granddaughter, that this information cannot be released to the public. When the research and development was being carried out, I leaked money from the company who hired me to stay at the university." He inhaled and slowly, released the tension in his shoulders and transferring it to his jaw. "They could make an army of super soldiers if they wanted to with the plans that I developed myself. I burned every physical memento of the experiment that I could get my hands on, but nothing can stop them from trying to take it from my mind." He shrugged sadly. "And science is the future of the human race. It will only be a matter of time before man walks on the moon…..or heck, even time travel, if they're stupid enough to think anything like that will end well."

"So what's with the gun?" I asked, knowing what he was going to ask of me. I could see it in his eyes. His hope had long passed its expiry date. He was now just a shell of his former youth, laying waste to his niche that he occupies.

"You already know. I can see it in your eyes." He said, slowly and with articulation at its max, the way that Italian is pronounced. There's no slurring. It's all very sharp. "I need you to get rid of me before the Vindice, or someone worse comes to get me."

"And what of the woman?"

"She doesn't know anything. She genuinely thinks I'm a retired doctor who has no family left to dote over. She lives next door, she does, that's why there's no car in the driveway."

"You want me to kill you?" I asked, making absolute sure.

"Am I slurring my words?" He shot back at me. "Because I'm not, my girl."

"I'm not your girl." My eyes glared at him and the teeth in my jaw clamped so hard against each other that my cheeks were starting to get sore. I only ever allowed four people to ever call me that in my life and that was it. I wasn't letting a man I had just met order me around. Who does he think he is? "And, and I will not lower myself to what you think I am. Asking that of someone so that you don't have to work up the nerves to do it yourself is preposterous, You must realize that I am not my mother. I am not an assassin and I do not kill senselessly. And in turn, my mother was never Mary. You should never have created her."

"So you're saying that you didn't want your mother to exist? That I shouldn't have had a second chance?!" He slammed the table again.

"Call it what you want but nobody gets second chances with death. We all die and that's a fact." I shrugged of the temptation to speak ill of that girl, Mary. It's not polite to speak bad of the dead and even though I'm not into that supernatural jazz, I just think that the respect that you had for them when they were living should remain when they die and after. And I respected my mother a lot for what she, what I now realized, tried to protect us from. This man and the Vindice. But I also had a lot of anger for her. She wasn't the type of person to tell it all.

Much like Reborn.

"And for the not existing thing, I wouldn't have cared because I wouldn't' have existed, I wouldn't have a conscience. I wouldn't be standing here, trying to defend myself against someone I have not met yet. I would have a normal life, if my mother and father were not who they were. I might have had a normal, naive life but I would be happy."

With that, after a lonely girl poured her honest heart to an aged, lonely man who himself tried to escape but never could, I left. I didn't say goodbye because I don't like them. So I left quietly and closed the door behind me. In the shade of the night, I could see headlights enter through the uncurtained second floor windows.

And then, he killed himself.

"The man killed himself?" Reborn asked, as he sat beside me, his arms outstretched behind him for support. This was a story I would only tell him - and only him - once in my lifetime. The man didn't deserve the sad, loneliness that he got. Nobody ever deserves to lose a child like that. So I respected him for trying to hang on to a happiness he once held dear. My respect was lost though when he took it upon himself to go further than the average widower.

"Would I have stopped him?" I said out loud, more to myself than Reborn, but I wanted him to hear it as well as myself with my own two ears. I shook my head once. "No. I wouldn't have. That's probably just as bad as killing him though. But I didn't want to know him, or help him. Indirect anger. But I had no idea he was going to do that. The rejection was quick on my part, so I guess his decisions were like a game of snap."

He nodded with understanding.

"But you stood your moral grounds, and that's a good thing to me." He lifted his hat off carefully - as Leon was napping on the brim - and petted his hair down. He put his hand over mine, and looked forward. The way he looked seemed like he could see the future and I wondered if he really could. "Many people go through this life, swaying, being influenced badly by others who think they can manipulate with a flick of their egotistical mind. I'm proud of you for how you acted. It may not have been the best to you, but you chose the better option out of a bad situation. You didn't kill him. You didn't cause it. It was his decision."

His decision among men that influenced others resulted in my mother and I. Everything is connected in a way, so I can't say that I did or didn't. That's not my place to say.

"Be that as it may, you've just got to let it go now."

"You know I can't. There is still people out there who put the hit on Momma. I'm not going to rest until I know that the world is safe so that I can go get Mason back."

"Have you ever wondered what he thinks?"

"Of course, every day."

"Then has it occurred to you that maybe he doesn't want to come back?"

~o0o~

I hadn't talked to Reborn since two afternoons ago. I didn't react very well to his suggestion and I practically avoided everybody like the bloody plague till today. I think I just gave off this body image, or a very present aura of piss off that made sure to everyone that I didn't want anybody to talk to me.

Yes, I acted like a child, so sue me. I didn't agree with him. That's what families do.

But, I got myself out of that runt today. It wasn't fair to the people around me to be stuck under a roof of anger.

So I decided to be myself today.

So I woke up with Al on my chest.

And got dressed.

And went downstairs.

I said good morning with a brave face.

And ate it quietly, under the sounds of Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta. (Who was all too pleased to see I was back, seeing that he thought I spent too much time in Italy, with Dino.)

And then, I apologised.

It had been a while since I had, but I didn't stick around to see what Reborn would say next. I was already late enough as it was to get to the airport. So, at the next street corner, I nicked the first car I could and drove it to the airport. I left the vehicle with a sorry note and five thousand yen in the boot and headed to arrivals.

Personally, I hated to fly. Really, I hated airports in general. It was just so so busy and everybody's minds were on full buzz. It got hard sometimes to sit there, waiting for someone, while a pounding headache was begging at my feet. Al came along as well. I kept closer to him, more than ever, now that I knew his secret. Truth was I didn't want to let him out of my sight. We were on friendly terms,

"He'll be here soon." He said, sitting on the sign that I had made in the car. His mood was undoubtedly brighter than mine, now that he was out of the house. The children loved him, but the feeling wasn't mutual.

"She." I corrected, pulling the sign out from under his belly and holding it up. We were just outside of the arrivals bay, where all the crowds were accumulated. Waiting for loved ones, waiting on prominent businessmen or women. Everyone was waiting on someone and right now, there was nothing more I wanted than for the kid to get here already. I didn't even know her name. All I know is that she's Yuni's mother, a child who I have not had the pleasure of meeting.

But my gut was telling me otherwise.

"Here come some people!" Al told me, stretching. "Do you see them!?"

"I do."

"How exciting. I've never been a chauffeur." He sat himself back down. "Won't do it again though. Gets too boring."

What a contradictory kitty. I thought to myself, with one hand supporting the underside of my chin. The crowds thinned as more and more people trickled through the customs gates, no doubt in my mind that some of them were stopped for 'random checks' and whatnot. Every country had their ways about going through customs, but I found that Japan's was rather quiet. It didn't bother me as much as the others.

Like a dripping faucet tap, the crowds dispersed into the airport, going off to wherever they were going to. Maybe some of them were going to a wedding, or going on their first OE, their first experience overseas.

But I knew I had found the person I had been sent to pick up when a woman stepped through the doors with an orange pacifier on her chest. It was clearly unmistakable, but I really couldn't believe my eyes. She was an adult, and not a baby. That, in itself, made me wonder how Reborn felt about it.

I guess they got that I was there for them.

Since I didn't know her name, I ended writing 'Sky Arcobaleno' in a thick vivid pen that I had found in the glovebox, on a piece of cardboard.

The woman with the strange tattoo under her eye wasn't alone. I felt a baring, yet subtle red thread connecting from Gokudera to the man, in a sense of loyalty. So, he must be her understudy? No, that's not the right word. She's his boss, right? She must be the head of a family. The family that joined forces with Byakuran. This was the man that attacked Gokudera, right? I wonder what occurred for that to happen…..

His stance against me was more or less a defensive one. You could see it in his fists and on the disappearing glimpses of his breath.

"Who are you?" He ordered, speaking to me in such a sharp tone that I sat up slowly, and tilted my head to one side. "Why does your sign say Sky Arcobaleno? That's a major risk!"

Al spat out a laugh and I breathed out.

"Why does your face scream control freak? And roll back the attitude, you're not going to boss me around like that." I shot back at him, winning the battle. He shut his mouth and mine tightened. These were guests, I reminded myself. "I didn't volunteer to do this, but the last time I met with Reborn, he asked me to pick the Sky Arcobaleno up. Said something about not leaving her hanging. Though I didn't expect someone like you to walk through."

"Did you expect someone shorter?" The lady asked, laughing at her own joke. I didn't feel an annoyance towards her, and her aura felt homely. It felt like Tsuna's, where it pulls you in. "I'm sorry I didn't call ahead."

"No biggie." I held out a hand. "I'm Phillipa, Reborn's daughter. How's yours?"

The looks on their faces were so tragic and crushing shocked. I had no intention to, you know, hurt them, but the way they looked. For starters, they didn't know I was his daughter, and the man, on top of that didn't know that the woman had a daughter. She would be around three year old, I'm guessing? In reality, I had no idea. I hadn't met her yet anyway.

Crap, I'm going to have my ass handed to me on a silver plate when I get home.

"I think you broke them."

"Oh hush Al, I'm sure they're still alive. They're not robots." I looked up at the woman, who had regained her composure, but still was a little shaken up. "You're not, are you? Please say you're not."

The woman laughed loudly again and this time, shook my hand with a firm grasp.

"I see a resemblance in both your looks and crazed attitude. I'm Aria, the administer for the sky trial for Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The man straightened, his annoyance clear in his voice. "And I'm Gamma, m'lady's closest bodyguard."

"Charmed." I said, throwing the board away and picking Al up. "We should get going. The other are probably waiting. We could go back to the house in the car that I took to get here, but like I said I took it and it actually isn't mine…"

"We're getting a rental." Gamma said, straight away at the mention of a stolen car.

"That's fine with me." I replied. "I'll drive."

"No, I will. I don't trust a child to drive."

"A child?" I repeated. "I'm twenty, you asshat."

"Twenty?!" Aria said, in utter surprise.

Really, what's the surprise in that? Honestly!

"I'm still driving. I don't trust you."

~o0o~

Aria.

A weird name.

And a odder situation, since she wasn't a baby. Did this mean she somehow bypassed the curse? Or was she even, at all, the original Sky Arcobaleno.

My thoughts clambered my find as I sat in the back seat along with Aira. I wanted to drive first off, but the man named Gamma was having none of that, so I got demoted to being a passenger. And then I wanted to ride in shotgun, but nonono. Aria, this time, wasn't going to let me sit there because she wanted someone to join her in the back seat and guess who was the poor unfortunate soul?

She smelt slightly of vanilla beans and Al didn't have a problem with her, as he had stated while we drove back to Namimori in silence. I didn't know she liked cats, but Al was fine when she petted him, and that's not something he usually did.

The touching part, not the 'every-girl-is-like-a-pretty-snowflake-and-I-will-try-to-do-anything-for-her-attention' side of his impenetrable ego.

"Here." She said, pointing to the sidewalk, just as we had gotten into the town's borderlines. I didn't have time to react to her pulling me out the door and running away to the high hills in the distance, and neither did Gamma, judging by his face. And he couldn't follow us either, since he couldn't park the car anywhere in the vicinity.

And boy, was she a runner! You wouldn't expect a lady to run in the heels that she wore but man…...I have a newfound respect for people who can do that. And is Tsuna ended up doing the exact same thing, he'd get my respect as well.

"Sorry!" She squealed, slowing down as we entered the residential district of Namimori. Right then, I almost bowled over two petite schoolgirls. I caught the brunette before she hit the ground, so it was starting to be an okay day. No bloodshed, generally in my book meant a good day.

"Oh you caught her!" Al yelled. "Hwaaa~ Phillipa's so dreaaaamy~"

"P-Phillipa, you're back!"

"How was your trip?" Kyoko asked.

"It was good." I said, smiling as I nodded. "Some surprises, but nothing I couldn't handle."

Aria paused to glance over the girls and she smiled widely. "Oh, who are these two?"

"They're Tsunayoshi's friends." I replied, and then linked arms with the green haired woman. "So, girls, can you show us where Tsuna's house is? I've got a little bit of a headache and I can't remember where it is…And Aria," I looked up at her and then back at them. "Well, this is her first time in Japan. She's an acquaintance of Reborn's."

"Ha-hi! You know Reborn!"

"We can get you there." Kyoko nodded, and turned back the way the girls came. "We were going to go to the shops, but we can get you to Tsuna's house in no time!"

The girls were as polite and lovely as always. They would make good mothers, they would. Maybe if Haru left the costume making as a job the kid might have a chance at a normal life….because look at how I turned out with a cosplaying father.

It took us around ten minutes to walk there. It would've been shorter, if Aria didn't stop every two seconds to look in the window and ask non-stop questions. She smiles and they laugh along with her. She had the enchanting vibe of being able to entice anyone to talk and chat with her on the pull of a heart string. That's weird, how every Sky can do that.

"We're here." I said, opening the gate. We all trickled in and Kyoko rung the doorbell. I could hear some commotion upstairs, so it was nice to know that at least somebody was home. Having to wait on someone sucks, and I don't like to spend my days waiting on the front doorsteps for someone to come home with keys to the house.

Ding-dong!

Ding-dong!

It was Tsuna who opened the door. Usually, it was his mother that did the door opening and the greeting and the ceremonious 'welcome-to-my-home' gag, so it lead me to believe that she was probably out shopping with Lambo, I-pin and Fuuta. (Though there was the absence of screams coming from the house so it may have been that as well.)

"Kyoko! Haru! A-And Phillipa! What are you doing here?!"

"What's cookin', good lookin'?" I replied, looking past him. "Is Reborn in?"

"Is this the visitor?" Yamamoto asked, while Ryohei followed him down the stairs to the ground floor of the house. Kyoko didn't expect to see her brother here, but she said hello to him and gave him a hug.

Reborn, on the other hand, knew all too well that making an entrance was as good as the coffee beans he blended every morning. He sent Tsuna into the floorboards with one swift kick. I never saw the reason why he had the need to keep doing that.

"This is Aria, and she's here for Tsuna." I looked down at the man that I shared half of my genes with. "This is her, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Good, because I don't want to go back to the airport."

"You wont have to."

"Well I won't then!"

"Fine." He said.

"You two sure are lovey dovey this week. I wonder what Dino would have to say about this if he heard you two…."

"Come on you two." Aria said, grabbing both of the girls by their shoulders suddenly. "Family's love each other, not bite the other's head off. And don't ruin my first day here, that would suck!" She chuckled out a smile and I took off my dirty sneakers. I hoped the owner would get their car back. I left the keys in the glovebox. "So, girls, how's about you show me around?"

"Sure!"

"We'd love to! We were about to go shopping anyway."

"You go with them Tsuna!" Reborn ordered, kicking him out of the house and Tsuna, who had no idea to what was even was happening, followed the girls in his confusion. I wished him good luck, as the trial had already started without him noticing.

Damn, she's good.

"Well if Juudaime is helping them, so will I!"

"I'll come too!"

"You can't." Lal told them out from nowhere. She sat on top of the clothesline, keeping an eye on Starfish and his harpoon of harpies. "The trial has already begun. Tsuna has to do this on his own."

Oh boy. A trial filled with pretty girls?

Damn Tsuna, what a score.

~o0o~

So, as it turned out, I wasn't allowed to do anything. I wasn't allowed to interfere with the trials nor was I to be within a twenty mile radius of it when it was taking place. Reborn said it was because I wasn't a guardian, so I had no business here.

He thought to leave me to my own senses while he, very hypocritically watched the trial. (Mind you, he was Tsuna's teacher…)

And I was bored, for once.

Nobody was home.

Even Al had ditched me to watch the trial.

So I called Dino, just for a change.

The receiver was picked up on the seventh ring, and for me, that was pretty quick. With this being an international call, it would take a lot longer for him to pick up sometimes. I didn't hear his voice, but I definitely heard sniffing, and then the closing of a door.

That made me really interested.

"You're not watching Bridge to Terabithia again, are you?"

"Eh!" He gagged, and managed to reply with a laugh. "No, no! I'm not!"

"Really, then why are you sniffing?!"

"It's just a cold." He said, sniffing again. "Probably from you."

I smiled. "I'm sorry princess, did my girl cooties hurt you?"

I could hear him smiling through the phone.

"Eh, no, not yet. But maybe if you come over and kiss me again I might be~"

"Ha, you trying to seduce me?"

"Yeah. Is it working?"

"Oh pur-lease~"

"How could I tame a cute wild horse?" He asked. "Babe, I'm the bronco of Italy. You love it and you can't say no to me~ Not with my puppy eyes…."

"I know." I confessed with a sigh, lying back against the brick wall I was hiding behind. It wasn't like I was going to go out of my way to watch it when I had been told not to. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No."

"Okay."

"Heh…."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright then, I just wanted to check up on you."

"If you wanted to check up on me, you'd come over in a cute nurses outfit!"

"Dino, I'm not cosplaying for you! It's just a cold, probably the man-flu. You'll grow out of it and become the best boyfriend I could hope for again. Just - I don't know - eat some soup, or play X-box in bed or whatever boys do."

"Please Phillipa, I promise I won't tell anyone! Reborn will probably applaud your efforts for the cosplaying community!"

"Tough luck mister. You'll have to do with Romario in a maids outfit spoon-feeding you like the sickly puppy you are because I'm in Japan at Reborn's request."

"Japan!" He shouted. "Oh, come on. He's not your boss, you don't have to be with his twenty four seven!"

"No love, I know, but Tsuna's going through some trials with the Arcobaleno and I can't, I really can't skip out on it."

"Does it have something to do with the CEDEF?"

"Yes," I lied, closing my eyes. "I promise, once everything is over, I'll come home."

"You better." He said childishly, and I got the impression from his lisp that he was puffing his cheeks out. "Love you."

"I know." I said. "Bye-bye."

"Hurry back quickly."

Reluctantly, I ended the call and shoved the phone back in my pocket. I really did want to go over and see if he was okay, because Dino wouldn't usually admit to being sick. That poor, lovesick fool.

As I shook my head at the thought of my man lying in bed with the covers up to his neck and a thermometer in his mouth, my dancing duo appeared. Except, they weren't dancing at all. They both just jumped on top of the wall, and I stood, checking if there was dust or mud on the back of my pants.

"That was cute, how is our hunk?"

"My boyfriend is a little sick, but he's fine." I blinked. "Thanks for asking Al. How did Tsuna go Reborn? Did he pass?"

"He passed Aria's trial. He possesses a pool of tolerance."

"He can afford to spread such wealth. From such a small fellow, he's a constant supplier of the stuff."

Well said, my feline friend.

Up ahead on the path, I could hear the clicking of heels and the bobbing of Aria's fringe. She looked happy, and we all turned to meet her.

"Thank you for doing this Aria. I'm sorry I had to ask you."

"It's no problem Reborn, really. It's my duty as the Sky Arcobelano to carry out my mother's will. And I hope my daughter can grow up to do the same." She smiled widely at her resolve and with the hands on hips, she gave me a hug goodbye. "It was a real pleasure to meet you.

"No, it was all mine." I replied, over the sound of Al crying don't leave me with these people, oh goddess! "Your daughter sounds adorable."

"She is! She loves people!"

My laugh echoed hers and we waved goodbye to Aria as she walked away. I hoped that Gamma would be able to find her before he lost the plot.

Reborn breathed out a huge sigh, but he still wasn't happy. I got the idea that his trial was the next to dawn down on Tsuna, and that it might get difficult.

"Everything will turn out fine." I told him, trying to give him hope. "I know it will."

"All we can do is hope for now Phillipa."

All we can do is hope.

Hope and pray that what we end up with are the right regrets.

~o0o~

I really hope I didn't kill you all with the last chapter because I miss talking to a lot of peeps :(

Replies:

Wiki: *Waves fan* Just breathe, the arc is over. You don't have to deal with it no-more!

Akayuki Sawada: Yes, that is the general consensus. ;D I was like "Ohoho, I'm being an author now! *evil laugh inserted here*" Well, not all that evil, but you know.

LeoInuyuka: Oh, preach it gurl! I laughed when they kept getting kicked out of everywhere for fighting!

natachoco: You're not the only one. I think I may have killed half or the reader count with the last chapter. And, well, nah. Originally I planned to but a lot of the get changed or morphed when I'm writing. Nothing is ever truly permanent until I publish the chapter.

I Am Alys: Well, here you go for the update. I'll see what I can think up, but everything may not get in there. So just no promises, but definitely the fluff you desire will be in here.

And did all you Duckies see my Boys win their first award! They were so shocked and they were crying onstage! I was just like "Good job B1A4. You deserve this." And I'm just been unresponsive for the past day.

Alrighty then, I'm going to go now!

Toodaloo~

-Verdigurl