Secondo Briefing:

The door must have been loose, because before I could listen further, the door creaked open ever so slightly. The conversation stopped and I didn't stay around to see what the adults would do if they found I was listening in on them. I really didn't want to see what dad would do if he found I was out of bed.

I quickly made my way back to my room and under my covers, feigning the sleep I was supposed to be in. A few minutes later my door opened and closed, but I didn't feel anyone else in the room. Since all of this started, I'd been starting to get a sense of the environment around me a lot more than when I was home, and the assassination attempt just made that sense boost ever higher.

I did finally fall asleep for honest rest, but the night of the raid on the mansion plagued my dream. I was alone in the dark, just wandering about when I found Kame's box lying on the ground. I went to pick it up, but it started turning in place, shooting out water, and finally becoming a flood. But the water wasn't its normal blue aquatic state. It began to burn, and then steadily turned red, the torrent slowed and pooled around me, standing up into the flaming corpses that I had seen, wielding knives, guns, and pieces of shrapnel.

The more I cowered; curling into a ball to escape the nightmare, there was a gentle tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see a smiling Sugu, not as a teenager, but as the innocent seven year old when dad stopped by often from work. She grabbed my hand and led me off to mom and dad, who were waiting at the picnic blanket, smiling understandingly. When looked down to sit, when I looked back up, suddenly everyone else was around.

Sugu, Katsumi, and Azzurra were chatting away while Tazia seemed to be berating Hotaka for something that he had just done, Hideki and Kirata seemed to be in a heated debate over sword styles, and Ryona was sitting next to me, simply smiling at the bunch. As I took the same approach, I laid back and closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, I found that everyone I had just seen, minus Sugu, was sitting in my room, waiting patiently.

"Well don't everyone crowd in at once." I smiled. There seemed to be a huge sigh of relief come out of the room as everyone seemed to lean back and Hotaka laughed.

" I told you guys he was going to be fine! Lambo even told us he had already been up and around this morning." Guess I was busted for that.

"Don't you play it off so lightly." Hideki mocked. "You were pacing his door every second you were home."

"No I wasn't!"

"Please, I'm across the hall." Azzurra sighed. "I remember having to tell you to leave more than once."

"I was training." Hotaka defended weakly.

"Sure you were." Hideki patted Hotaka on the back.

"It's good to see you're up Sanget." Katsumi said politely. "I'm sorry I wasn't of much use during the-"

"You have nothing to apologize for." Tazia cut Katsumi off. "You were just scared and startled. No one can blame you for being shocked still."

"But if I had acted faster, Sanget wouldn't have had too-"

"Enough you two." Ryona stopped the blame game. "We're all just happy to see that you're up now." Ryona smiled. It was still a sympathetic smile that also said 'I'm sorry', and it was starting to bug me.

"Don't you start too." I sighed. "I had a job to do and I did it, all repercussions aside."

"Glad to see you're still stubborn as ever." Kirata spoke up. "You looked like crap when we came in."

"Yeah." I looked away from everyone. "It's still kind of fresh in my mind, to say the least."

"And I would have to say, I am nowhere near versed in any sort of sword style." Kirata smiled.

"Well, don't blame me for- wait, what?" I took a second look at Kirata, and then took a slow look around the room. Everyone had a knowing smile.

"You're sister looks adorable." Katsumi cooed.

That settled that question. "When and how?" Was my next question, directed directly at Kirata.

"Like I said, you looked like crap. So I made a sort of dream machine, or more accurately a collective mind, and we all helped you get out of it."

"Sounds like a bunch of hooey." I deadpanned.

"Join the club." Azzurra said. "But once we were in, it looked like you needed the help."

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard to protect us." Ryona said. "We don't need you taking every blow if it means that you'll end up like this."

"And don't you dare blow that off as 'it's a job to do'." Tazia cut me off before I could start. "If you want to keep that family dynamic of yours alive outside of your head, then you're going to have to trust us on our own fronts."

I just looked around to each of them, and they all seemed to have the same defiant look in their eyes. I just sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine, I'll try not to push myself so hard next time."

"There better not be a next time." Hideki said. "Honestly, having a box animal out for over an hour, and then opening dad's Water box. How did you even do that anyways?"

"Well, I had spare Rain Flames in my ring, so I used those, simple as that." I shrugged.

"Easy?" Hideki scoffed. "Do you know how concentrated you have to make Flames to open boxes? Not to mention one that wasn't even your type. I'd call that a damn miracle."

"Where did you even get Rain Flames?" Tazia asked. "I never saw you take any from the guy you tackled."

"I got them trying to defend Yamamoto."

"Trying?" Hideki raised an eyebrow.

"It was right of Ryona and Tsuna to try and keep us to sneak attacks. When I tried to go face to face with one of them, I got knocked on my ass."

"But at least it was enough of a distraction for dad to get him to leave." Katsumi defended my position.

"You were there?" Hideki suddenly turned to Katsumi in an abrupt, almost aggressive way.

"Well, yeah. When dad yelled in pain, I ran to him."

"And I followed." I added.

"And we were left in the dust." Hotaka tacked on. "Honestly, Tazia and I had no idea where you guys had gone."

"But at least you were safe, for the most part." Hideki sighed, all tension leaving his body. "And so that's where you got the Rain Flames?"

"Yeah, but it was kind of weird." I said as I flexed my hand. I could still feel the sudden deflection as if a small explosion had gone off in my hand.

"Weird how?" Kirata asked.

"Well, when I grabbed the guy's weapon, it was only a second or two until my hand just flew off."

"Like he had forced you away?" Azzurra asked.

"No, like, there was too much there to take. I don't know how to describe it. Like, like pushing down on a spring until you can't hold it down anymore. You know?"

"Hmm." Ryona seemed to consider what I just said, folding her hands in front of her. That's when I noticed that her hands were bandaged.

"What happened to you though?"

"Hm?" Ryona looked up and noticed I was looking at her hands. "Oh, this? I was holding that mask we had when it spontaneously combusted."

"And it was fairly impressive of her to put the Flames out with her own." Kirata commented.

"It wasn't that impressive." Ryona said dismissively. "It's just what I could do."

"But, wait, the mask just burst into flames?"

"Yeah, just like… everyone else did." Tazia said slowly. "We determined that what they were wearing was a last resort. Uncle Reborn was right to say they were professional."

"And not surprising for that either." I sighed. Everyone gave me a questioning look, so I explained. "Does the name's Basil or CEDEF mean anything? Because CEDEF sounds like a company to me." Now, instead of confusion, shock and understanding came over everyone.

"What about them?" Ryona asked.

"I… overheard our parents talking about how CEDEF and Basil had turned against us."

"That's bad." Azzurra sighed. "Now we know how they're so good at covering their tracks."

"This is really bad, and it also explains how they knew you were here, Azzurra." Ryona said. "One of the things I had to do to confirm that I was going to become the next boss was to account for each Guardian past Basil."

"So, could you explain to me why Basil is so important?"

"He's basically the second in command of the Neo Vongola family." Hideki said. "For the most part, he and CEDEF don't do much to interfere with the main family, but important things like war and inheritance has to be passed by Basil."

"But it's just so confusing." Katsumi shook her head. "We've known Basil since forever, he was even trained by Ryona's grandpa, it doesn't make sense for him to turn against us."

"He could have always been a deep cover agent." Hotaka suggested.

"Ever the pessimist I see." Kirata smirked. "And if he were, he did a fine job of it. He's one of the reasons Tsuna is the boss now."

"It just seems counterproductive." Azzurra shook her head.

"But wait, I don't think that would be entirely possible." Tazia gained our attention. "What about Lal Mirch? She wouldn't turn against the Neo Vongola, or if she did, Mr. Colonnello wouldn't be at school still."

"All right, I'm obviously missing a piece of information here." I said, stopping that line of conversation before it took off.

"Lal is Colonnello's wife, and a controlling one at that." Kirata informed me. "She's also one of the worlds leading weapons experts. So tack her up there with Reborn for people you don't want coming after you."

"All right, so what does she have to do with this?"

"For one, she doesn't take any type of crap from anyone." Azzurra said. "It's a mystery how she even began working for CEDEF, but she sticks to her principles, and what Basil just did was definitely against them. If she were a part of the assault, I don't think we would've gotten through the night. She probably would have kept Mr. Colonnello with her as well."

"So has anyone tried to get in contact with her?" Tazia asked.

"I think they did. Gokudera said that nobody was picking up the phones when they tried to call CEDEF. But a question of mine comes up. What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Hideki asked.

"Well, the Primo family is taking the official route, checking with other families and following leads, so what can we do to help? It's not like this didn't involve us."

"You do have a point, on both fronts." Tazia acknowledged. "We are involved, but it's not like we can do anything about it."

"But it's not like we don't have connections." Kirata said. "I think a few favors need to be called in."

"What are you talking about?" Hotaka asked.

"The Primo family might have the high road, but we have the low road to explore." Ryona smiled. "Families can hide and lie about anything they want, and it would take time to uncover anything hidden, but who wants to bet how tight lipped an egotistical high school student can be?"

"All right, but how are we going to make people talk?" Katsumi asked. "It's not like we've made ourselves all that publicly accessible."

"I just have a question for you then." I said. "Have you realized how popular you actually are?"

"What are you on about?" Tazia asked.

"The Neo Vongola might be strong, and that might make you looked up to, but the three of you are extremely popular. If you wanted to, you could probably make anyone talk."

"I think you might be over exaggerating a bit Sanget." Hideki said.

"Ask Azzurra if you want to doubt me." I turned everyone's attention on her. She stared daggers at me as her face flushed a deep red.

"What's she got to do with them being popular?" Hotaka asked.

"I might have, sort of kind of, followed them around, for a short bit, to gather information." Azzurra said as she tapped her pointer fingers together, trying to make herself sound innocent.

"So she stalked you." Kirata said outright.

"I'm not a stalker!" Azzurra snapped.

"And then there's also Ton-Ma and Spadda." I cut in. "They can have their own connections to go through."

"Right." Ryona nodded. "So tomorrow, we start our own investigation. It's been sitting for a bit, so some might find it safe to drop even the smallest detail. We find them and piece together what we can. But we also have to keep an ear on what the Primo's are doing."

"So we're going to spy on our own parents?" I asked.

"More or less." Ryona shrugged. "If they don't share what they know with us, then yes. If they do, then we share what we know, if any of it is actually helpful."

"Grand." I sighed. I really didn't feel like weaseling information out of my dad, and I just didn't feel right making any of the other parents talk. I especially did not want to come into contact with Hibari or Mukuro, They would probably notice what I was doing immediately and make me pay for it.

"Don't worry about it so much." Kirata patted me on the shoulder. "You've gotten plenty already. If anything, we need to make up for it."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I think that's enough for one day." Hotaka said as he headed for the door. "Who's up for dinner?"

"Count me in." Azzurra said, making a bit to hasty retreat.

"We should all get going." Ryona said as she stood up. "We'll see you out there then."

"Sure, see ya." I waved. When the door closed, I put my face in my hands. This was all getting ridiculous; I wasn't even sure how I got here any more. Mafia dealings, Espionage, other worldly abilities and technology, what was next? Top all of that on self-preservation and helping those around me, life was getting hectic.

But the more and more I thought about it, the more it made me smile. Life had been so boring before this, the main highlight when dad came home, from coincidentally enough from the mafia. Now, there didn't seem to be one day without something happening. I chuckled a bit and shook my head, I didn't know if it was just me, but I don't think I would trade this time of my life for anything, danger and all.

I got out of bed and changed out of the clothes I had been sleeping in and combed out my bed-head, not that it would matter too much in a few minutes, but an effort was needed at least.

I fixed my ring on my finger, examining it a bit; finding it still had a strong blue tint in it. I cleaned up the room a bit, putting the chair back and picking up the knife that had fallen under my bed. I would run it by someone eventually to see if it was anything special, but no high hopes were held. I picked up Kame's real box and tucked it away in my pocket and headed to dinner.

These were going to be some interesting times.