A/N: Last Friday was midsummer, I was at my Dad's place for most of the day. When I came back home to my computer I was so emotionally exhausted that I just went… "Fuck it, they can wait another week", if you don't like it, it's too late to change it now.

Summer has made me lazy, but that's kinda normal.

Spring and Autumn are the seasons for productivity, Summer is the season of Chill, and Winter is the season of depression.

I'll just leave you to it then…

Enjoy.

Scene 35:

Gathering Reinforcements

Gokudera kept up a neck-breaking speed until they reached a sleek black sports car car parked just outside of the local park.

He had gone faster than was could possibly be considered legal.

Yamamoto had been clambering onto the back of the seat, which proved to be difficult with his injured arm. By the time they actually reached their location, his hair was a tousled wind from the wind, his eyes squeezed shut in fear.

Gokudera must be seriously panicked for him to have broken the speed limit like that.

Reborn was already waiting for them, leaning against the car with his one arm crossed in front of his chest, a grave expression on his face as he spoke to someone through his gem.

Gokudera killed the engine and was off the bike within seconds, almost knocking Yamamoto odd along the way as he hurried over to the suited man.

Yamamoto could do little more than follow him.

At the sight of them, Reborn quickly cut off the connection, stuffing the gem into his pocket as he stepped away from the car.

"Is it true!?" Gokudera demanded, stopping close to the tutor.

"What is?" Yamamoto asked, looking between the two of them.

For a brief moment, it appeared as though the other two would ignore him. Sighing, Reborn tilted his head in Yamamoto's direction, not meeting his eyes.

"Tsunako's been abducted."

All color drained from the teenager's faces.

A loud growl escaped from Gokudera's lips, turning away from them as he restlessly began to pace a short distance away from them.

"How the fuck did that happen!?" he screamed in a mix of panic and anger.

Yamamoto looked at Reborn in increased worry, not knowing what to do.

His hand tightened around his bat.

Reborn rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily.

"I had laid out precautions for us to not be found were we were." he said slowly, giving the boys a painted look. "They must have followed us when we left." he crossed his arms over his chest in contained anger, a pained expression flashing through his eyes. "Tsunako and I… we had something of an argument." he allowed himself to grimace at this. "Training wasn't going as well as either of us would have liked." he let out a long breath. "Eventually, both of us snapped in our own ways and she ran off." he leaned against the car again. "That must have been when they snatched her."

Gokudera could no longer contain himself.

Rushing forward, his hands closed around the lapels of the taller man's suit jacket.

"Why haven't you done anything?" he practically screamed, yanking on the jacked. "This isn't just some crazy test, is it!?"

Reborn's eyes darkened, effortlessly throwing Gokudera off of him, sending the teenager stumbling backwards towards the decorated metal gates surrounding the park.

He pinned the silverette with the closest to a glare both teenagers had ever seen on him.

"I will have you know that the use of such extreme measures is nothing more than a rumor started by a rather jealous acquaintance of mine." he almost spat at him. "My methods may be extreme but I always ensure that my students come out of my teaching with their body, mind, and emotional state in perfect condition."

Gokudera gritted his teeth, looking away from the older man.

Reborn stepped away from the car again, straightening his jacket.

"I haven't done anything yet because they were too clean." he admitted, voice booming. "They left very little at the scene and I'll need something more than a footprint to find her.

Yamamoto tapped the top of his bat against the ground anxiously.

"Then what do we do?" he asked through a heavy breath.

"Erm..." a small, feminine voice suddenly spoke up from not too far away from them. "Excuse me?"

All heads turned towards the voice.

There stood a girl, dressed in artistic, most likely self-made clothing consisting of plenty of ruffles, lace and ribbon in pastel colors, her light chocolate brown hair tied up in a high ponytail with a pastel yellow ribbon. Her arms and back was weighted down by a multitude of bags looking to be filled with fabric bolts and other sewing materials, making the men wonder just how physically capable the young woman was.

She had a bright blue gem in her hands, tightly clutched to her chest.

Gokudera recognized her on the spot.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?" he asked loudly. "Go away!"

Yamamoto frowned at his reaction.

"Who is that?" he asked, looking between the girl and Gokudera with a confused expression.

The girl bit her lip, her fingers tightening around her gem.

"I'm Miura Haru." she answered, her voice barely louder than a shaky whisper.

Reborn raised his eyebrow at her.

"What do you want?"

Haru's shoulder tensed, her throat seeming to lock up for one long moment before she gulped loudly, straightening her back.

"That girl..." she raised her voice a little, her eyes constantly shifting to their surroundings. "The one who was kidnapped..."

"How do you know about that?" Reborn immediately cut off her trailing voice, stepping up to her with long strides. "You weren't close enough to hear us."

"I saw it happen." the words flew out of Haru's mouth, her lip finding it's way between her lips. She practically pried her hands off of her gem, glancing down at it as her hands moved across the surface with practiced ease, opening something that the three men weren't able to see from where they were standing.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the gem around towards them.

"I took a couple of pictures."

Reborn practically snatched the gem from her hands, quickly swiping through the pictures available, just to see how many of them there were.

He glanced at the girl from the corner of his eye.

From the looks of it, she'd spotted them out of sheer luck and recognized Gokudera from the encounter Lambo and Tsunako had told him about. The road through the park was the road Tsunako usually took when going on a grocery run.

A lucky guess on her part.

"What kind of pictures?" Gokudera asked, gravitating in Reborn's direction.

Haru shifted where she stood, eyes still wandering.

"A group of people in black taking her away in a black van." she answered, her voice falling back to her original volume.

"Show me." Gokudera asked, peering to the gem's surface.

Tilting the device slightly, Gokudera was hit full-force with the sight of the scene.

Sure enough, right there was the still picture of two black dressed figures carrying the limp body of someone sporting a familiar head of messy golden-brown hair, surrounded by even more black dressed, masked figures all heading towards a large black van.

Reborn looked up over the device towards Haru, giving her a rare smile.

A blush spread across her face at the expression, her eyes quickly turning towards the ground.

He fished his own gem back out of his pocket, holding it next to Haru's as he quickly transferred the pictures she'd taken to his own gem, deleting the connection info from it's memory the second he was done before handing it back to the brunette.

"Go back home." he ordered calmly as she took the device from his hand. "Lock the doors, close the curtains and make sure no one can see you until further notice."

At her confused expression, his eyes hardened.

"You never know if someone saw you."

She paled at his words.

Despite her obvious unease at the situation, the possibility of her having been seen had apparently not been something that had crossed her mind.

She shook her head of those dark thoughts before she began backing away.

"I hope you find her." she said kindly.

"Oh we will." Reborn replied with clear conviction. He gave her another smile. "You've been a great help." she returned his small smile.

Seeing that she understood, Reborn turned his attention back towards the two young men.

"Get in the car boys." he ordered, looking through the pictures with a much more focused expression, quickly sending a few to his contact. He watched as Haru turned around, her gem again clutched to her chest as she hurried away from the scene.

The two teenagers turned towards one another, sharing a look.

The second that followed, the two boys almost attacked the vehicle, throwing the doors open and settling down inside, not even bothering with seat belts in their hurry.

Seconds later, Reborn got into the drivers seat.

"Where are we going?" Yamamoto asked, his hand tightening around his bat.

Reborn silently turned off his gem, allowing it to slip back into his pocket before butting his hands on the wheel.

"We'll go to the scene of the crime." he answered, his hand closing around the keys still in the ignition. "But first, we'll need to pick up another young man."

The engine roared to life.

"How many will be involved in this?" Gokudera asked, leaning over.

Reborn allowed himself to smirk despite the situation.

"Oh, just one more."

She would probably say that it was the headache that had woken her up.

She groaned as she slowly pried her eyes open only to find herself with even more darkness, only this time, it was more fuzzy shades of dark gray than anything.

She also couldn't feel her arms. They were being suspended by something from above her head that jiggled whenever she moved. It must have been quite some time since they were put there as she could actually feel the effort her body was putting into pumping her blood upwards.

Finally, after a short while, her sight started to clear.

She was in a weathered concrete room bathed in shadows, the walls cracked and obviously not as strong as they had been when they had first been created. There was even ivy climbing through what could only bee air holes high up on the wall, other than that, the only light in the room coming from a small lantern at the corner of the room, standing on top of an old wooden table with a matching, simple chair next to it.

Other than that small bit of light, the room was encased in darkness.

Mind still fuzzy, Tsuna attempted to stand up, only to find that she couldn't. This time, the jiggling sounds caught her attention, and kept it.

Looking up, Tsuna saw something looking very much like old metal with spots of rust lining the edges above her, something cold and thick that was attached to her wrists.

She was chained to the wall.

What in the world?!

How did this happen?"

Feeling sluggish, Tsuna desperately tried to recall her last memory.

She remembered reaching the cabin, pausing in the foyer to inspect the cut on her temple in the small face mirror hanging next to the door when she'd suddenly felt a sharp sting in her shoulder. After that, everything had just become fuzzy, she recalled desperately trying to grab onto something as her knees buckled under her weight but her wandering hands found nothing but wall.

She remembered arms around her before she really hit the ground, remembered her nails clawing at the walls as she was dragged out.

She shook her head.

She couldn't understand it.

Why would anyone want to grab her?

The sound of rattling keys brought her out of her thoughts.

A thick metal door swung open in front of her, showering the room in a blinding white light that sent Tsuna into a frenzy of frantic blinking.

"Oh look, the Princess is awake."

A man's voice reached her ears as five Silhouettes appeared within the light, casting their long shadows into the room as they entered.

She couldn't help but to try to press herself further into the wall in the presence of the figure.

From the looks of things, the group consisted of either four men and one woman or three men, one obvious woman and one lanky non-gender. The tallest figure was the lanky one, slim with what appeared to be a buzz cut, a glittering earring dangling from his right ear and wearing what Tsuna could only guess was glasses. The shortest man was bearmode, a wrestlers build that appeared to be bald. Another man was athletic in shape with a head of straight fiery red hair as seen when the light shone on it. The last man was a muscular one with what looked to be long hair tied back in a ponytail. The woman was tall and shapely with long hair flowing down her back and shoulders in what could only be described as luscious tousled waves.

It was hard to say, but Tsuna got a feeling that the five of them were at least between the ages of 20 and 40. The woman and the redhead appearing to be the younger ones of the lot.

Baldy crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You look pathetic." he said, his voice coming out gruff and surprisingly high pitched.

Glasses pushed said glasses up his nose, tilting his head to the side.

"Don't you even think about escaping." he said, his voice revealing itself to be a dark bass. "We've made sure to take away your Medior so you are not going anywhere anytime soon."

Tsuna's brow twitched into a frown.

Medior?

What in the world is a Medior?

"What?" she asked, shaking her head in confusion, trying to clear it of the lingering cloudiness.

The red haired man loudly snickered at her response before walking straight up to her with a cocky swagger to his steps. A walk that brought a look to Tsuna's face that clearly portrayed:

Oh, come on. Seriously?

The man crouched down in front of her, clearly smirking.

His breath was absolutely horrendous, almost making Tsuna feel the need to gag.

He grabbed her by the chin with a rough hand, forcing her head up to his own, bringing her face-to-face with him.

"Relax." he cooed mockingly. "We're not going to kill you." he moved his hand to stoke her over her cheek just below her messy bangs in what would have been an affectionate gesture had the touch not had a rough edge to it. "At least not yet." he obviously found all of this humorous. "We're going to wait until you're directly in the view of the Warden." his fingers closed around her chin as a playful frown passed over his face. "Or is it… Grandpa?" he theatrically mulled over his question before he patted her lightly on the neck. "Then we'll kill you."

Warden?

Grandpa?

What the fuck are they talking about?

Stars! Gokudera's language is starting to rub off on her!

Even more questions piled up inside her head the more the people kept talking.

She didn't get to think much more about it though, as she felt the man place his hand firmly against her cheek, the pressure increasing just before her head was brutally shoved into an incredibly uncomfortable position, her neck clicking as the side of her head violently collided with the concrete wall behind her.

The searing pain from the force of the collision knocked the breath out of her lungs.

"What are you doing?" a fourth male voice spoke up, angry.

"She was giving me a funny look." the red-head sounded as though he was wining.

Desperately keeping her mouth shut, Tsuna felt the tell-tale stinging sensation that followed scraped open skin.

Breathing heavily, she glanced back towards the man.

The muscular man angrily stormed over to the red head, violently ripping him away from her before hitting him over the head with a force strong enough to send the man practically flying to the side, crashing into the floor in a similar manner to what he had just done to Tsuna.

The muscular man growled down at the red head.

"She's not supposed to be injured." he instructed with a voice similar to that of a military commander. "Not until the com-link is established."

Tsuna could feel his eyes flicker towards her, no doubt checking to see her reaction.

She stubbornly kept her mouth shut and her expression blank.

Unbeknownst to Tsuna, the woman raised an eyebrow at this.

"She was already injured," the red haired man whined as he lifted himself off of the ground. "What is a few more going to show?"

The muscular man only groaned.

"We don't have time for this." he muttered, obviously agitated. "You!" he pointed towards the woman, snapping her attention away from the girl they had chained up against the wall. "Guard the little Princess."

Tsuna could imagine the woman's eyes rolling at the order, her arms crossing over her chest to the sound metal clinking against metal.

Was she wearing bangles?

Bracelets?

A soft but irritated groan could be heard from the woman before her silhouette turned towards the muscular man.

"Don't order me around." she said with no nonsense tone of voice.

The man obviously ignored her, though they did make a point to back away from her, showing clearly that this was a woman that the men at the very least didn't want to cross if they didn't have to.

This was actually quite the refreshing sight to Tsuna.

Even though the world had become a lot more equal were the genders were concerned the past two hundred years, there was still an overwhelming amount of male authority figures through history when compared to the women.

To see a woman hold a silent kind of power over men that otherwise were clearly in change of their group that clearly was anything but sexual…

If Tsuna wasn't currently being help captive by this woman, she would have really liked her.

The muscular man quickly regained his composure, turning his attention towards the other men in the room.

"Let's go." he barked, jerking his head towards the door.

As the men slowly made their way out of the room, the woman remained behind. Tsuna couldn't help but notice how the red haired one threw a quick "seductive", glance back at her, sending furious shivers running down her spine.

The door slammed shut behind them with a surprisingly smooth motion, sending the room into semi-darkness once again.

Sitting down on the old chair by the table, the woman turned her full attention towards Tsuna.

Tsuna took this time to fully study the woman.

She was tall, slender with a perfect hourglass figure, long, shapely arms and legs, the latter of which she crossed as she sat down, making one foot dangle in the air. The foot in question bore shoes that Tsuna herself wouldn't be caught dead in.. because she would definitely die from a fall if she attempted to. The slick black stiletto heeled pumps had a multitude of straps lining the upper side of her foot, leading up to the start of her ankle.

Her leather pants only reached her shins with seams lining the front of her legs, splitting just below her knees. Her belt was studded and just hanging on her hips, useless. She wore two tops, the base layer being a red tube-top whilst the outer layer was a ripped up black t-shirt with a white, gray, and red colored print that was impossible to identify. Multiple silver bangles glittered around her wrists, crystal and silver forming decorative daggers hanging from her ears, rings clung to her long, bony fingers and a black ribbon sporting a large ruby set in a silver frame acting as a choker.

Tsuna was surprised to find that the woman had obvious aristocratic features halfheartedly hidden under layers of dark make-up framing her eyes, blood red lipstick applied to her sinfully full lips.

She had long, ash brown hair that had obviously been died some shade of pink at one point, the tinge was still there. Her long locks waved gently as it fell down her back, stopping just at her hips.

Eyes dark in the light of the lantern, the woman studied Tsuna as well.

"Don't even bother trying to escape." she said with a bored tone, lifting up her hand to pick at her blood-red colored nails, sharpened to a point. "We've pumped you full of a special drug that dissolves Anima energy in your bloodstream." she brought her hand down to fish her gem from her back pocket. "We only took your Medior as a precaution, but you should know already that trying to access your flames would be useless."

Tsuna frowned at her words.

"How do you know about the flames?" she asked, voice calm despite everything that was happening to her.

Apparently, her tone surprised the woman.

"Everyone in Ombra knows about the flames." she answered, sounding annoyed.

Tsuna looked even more confused.

"Where?" she asked, her head tilting to the side.

A surprisingly natural looking frown morphed it's way onto the woman's features.

"Didn't your tutor tell you anything?" she asked, sounding moments away from exploding at the younger female chained to the wall.

Tsuna frowned right back at the woman.

"Only things were Anima and my ancestor was concerned." she answered, her voice coming out almost hesitantly.

To Tsuna's surprise, the woman threw her head back, letting out a loud, clearly frustrated groan at Tsuna's response.

Just what was Reborn keeping from her?

Walking into his large, exquisitely decorated bedroom, Hibari was practically peeling off the cardigan he had taken to wear that day.

In the most careless more that could ever be expected from someone like Hibari, he threw the cardigan over the back of his desk chair. His hand moved up to loosed his tie when his eyes caught onto something hanging on the wall above the desk like so many times before.

A picture frame containing a small, pressed flower.

A daisy, to be precise.

The sight of the flower brought a pained expression onto Hibari's features. His hands fell to the surface of his desk, a long breath escaping his lips.

Why did the world have to be so cruel?

"Rough day?" a voice spoke up from his side.

Within seconds, Hibari had a tonfa in hand, arm raised up in an attack position as he spun around to face the speaker, ready to strike down his intruder.

His intruder had the nerve to chuckle at his reaction.

A tall man stepped out of the shadows. A man with messy black hair visible under an expensive looking black fedora decorated with a yellow ribbon lining the bottom. Dressed in an equally expensive looking tailored suit over a yellow dress shirt and a black tie. His skin was pale and his eyes couldn't see his eyes from the shadow the rim of his hat cast over them.

His eyes narrowed the sight of the man.

He knew him.

The mysterious new teacher that had so far only accepted one student into his mysterious course and still accepting student applications well into the year.

His only student being the only one Hibari really paid attention to.

Reboyama Kidou.

"You should save your energy for later." the teacher said stuffing his hands casually into his pockets.

Hibari frowned at the man.

Just what was this teacher playing at?

"Why should I do that?"

The teacher remained silent for a long, nerve wracking second, taking almost forever to look around the room before he turned his attention back to the eighteen year old.

"Sawada Tsunako has been kidnapped by a group of professionals."

Hibari's eyes widened, his hand tightening around his weapon.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at the man.

"What could kidnappers possibly want with her?" he demanded, keeping his voice at a normal talking volume was proving to become difficult. "She's a middle-class citizen."

"I can't tell you." the man answered with a tone hinting on amusement.

Hibari's temper suddenly flared, his arm raising as he took a step towards the man, openly glaring at him this time round.

"Why can't I know!?" he demanded, not even bothering to try and keep his voice down anymore.

"I haven't even told Tsunako yet." the man immediately answered, running a finger over the dressed he had wound up standing next to.

"Tell me anyway." Hibari remanded, annoyed at the man's casual demeanor.

Almost amused, the man took a step closer to the shorter man.

"Why are you so concerned for Sawada Tsunako?" his question echoed through the large room, the amusement clear in his voice, thought his face showed nothing but honest curiosity.

Squaring his shoulders, Hibari looked right into the man's deep dark eyes.

"I can't tell you." he said, throwing the teacher's comment right back at him.

The man tilted his head.

"Why?"

"Because Sawada Tsunako herself has forgotten all about it." Hibari answered, almost throwing the words out as quickly as he could, his eyes twitching as thought the words themselves were physically hurting him.

Groaning, he let his arm fall to his side, the tonfa along with it.

Despite himself, he allowed his eyes to drift over to the pressed flowing once again, the teacher following his gaze.

Looking back at the eighteen year old boy, the man stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I'll tell you everything." the man said, causing Hibari to snap his head towards him. "But only after Tsunako herself had been informed."

For a moment, Hibari appeared enraged. Slowly, he allowed his shoulders to relax.

"I'll hold you to that."

The teacher straightened his back, looking down on Hibari.

"Now." he said, crossing his arms. "Will you help with the rescue mission?"

Not saying a word, Hibari snatched his cardigan back up from his desk chair.

He turned back to the man, eyes blazing.

"Lead the way." he practically ordered. "No one messes with my Little Rabbit."

Already putting his cardigan back on, the prefect practically stormed out of the room on absolute rage, his steps sounding through the house long after he left the room.

The man raised an eyebrow at the name Hibari had given the missing girl, but a smirk slowly took it's place, his eyes shadowed under the rim of his fedora.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna gave the chains an experimental yank.

Well, considering the fifteen other experimental tugs she'd done, by this point, they could probably no longer be considered experimental.

The stinging sensation rushing over her skin informed her that she wasn't doing anything to help her case.

Again.

She couldn't help the quiet whimper of pain that escaped her parched lips, mentally cursing herself for already having sensitive skin.

Why did super-sensitive skin have to be the side-effect of being fireproof? Like, yeah, fate made you immune to fire so we'll increase your ability to sense things by touch and make you super sensitive to everything around you. Nice try trying to find cosmetics that won't cause you to develop a real nasty rash!

One cannot be too immune to damage apparently.

Oh stars, the pain was making her even more sarcastic than she already were!

The side of her face was still pulsing from the last strike dealt against her. She was sure the cut to her temple had long since stopped bleeding, she could tell that much, though it did itch something fierce. She was also sure the scrape on her cheek had stopped stinging some time ago but it did still pound a bit.

Again, fuck the sensitivity!

"That's not going to work you know." the woman's naturally seductive voice rang out from the other side of the room, making Tsuna turn towards her. "The chains are too strong for a simple yank to break them." she didn't bother looking up from her gem as she spoke, the device lighting her face with a whiter light than the lantern did.

Tsuna let out a heavy sigh.

"You don't say?" she shot right back.

The woman finally tore her eyes away from the gem, raising a questioning eyebrow at Tsuna.

"Why do you keep yanked on them then?"

Tsuna glanced up at the chains, a desperate look washing over her features at the sight of them. She had already lost the majority of the strength in her arms from their awkward position, she really wanted to bring them down, but of course, that wasn't possible.

Sighing heavily, she turned her attention back to the woman.

"It's against human nature to not want to survive." she answered, or was she stating it? She shook her head as she felt her mind fogging up again, squaring her shoulders as she gave the woman the most piercing look she could muster. "Why did you take me?" she asked, watching as the woman's face took on a slightly annoyed look. "I'm not important."

That caught the woman's attention.

Raising an eyebrow, the woman's eyes traveled over Tsuna's awkward position.

"You don't know?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"I think we've already established that I'm clueless." Tsuna immediately retorted, feeling sparks of irritation flare up in her chest. "Now mind giving me a few answers?"

For a moment, it looked like the woman was going to do just that, only for her to be cut off as the distinct sound of rattling keys came from the other side of the door.

Soon enough, the slab of metal swung opened, once again showering the room in a bright light that practically blinded the women for a short moment. For the woman, this was the first time this happened, for Tsuna it was the second.

She was already growing tired of it happening.

Why did they have to put her in a dark room of all things?

"Dinner time ladies."

Oh no…

It was the red haired one, still silhouetted by the light, but this time, he was carrying two lidded trays in one of his hands as he stuffed the keys into his pocket. Tsuna was puzzled to see a pair of long, thick chains hanging in loops over his shoulder.

Leaving the door open, the man walked over to the table, settling one of the trays down in front of the woman.

"Bon appetite." he said, his accent absolutely horrible, his smirk even more so.

Rightfully for the woman, she pushed her entire palm in the man's face, shoving him away from her, but not violently enough to make him fall over and drop the second tray to the floor.

She couldn't deny their captive the nourishment.

Ignoring the woman's obvious rejection, the man turned to Tsuna, his one hand gripping the tray as he allowed the chains to slide down to the floor. It was at that moment that Tsuna noticed that the chains bore shackles.

Just what was he planning?

Smirking, the man settled down the tray on her side.

"A meal worthy for a princess." he said with a mocking tone.

Once again, Tsuna felt herself become incredibly confused at his choice of words.

Just what was up with theses people?

Tsuna frowned at the man as he reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small key.

Smirking at her, the man wrapped his hand around one of her shackles, inserting the key into the small keyhole on it's side.

Tsuna continued to grow more and more confused as her arm dropped down from where it had previously been suspended. She immediately felt her blood rushing back into the limb, making her skin tingle.

"Don't get any ideas." the man said, lifting the new chains up to the wall, expertly loosening the chains from the wall with another key, exchanging them for the new, longer ones. "I'm just switching your chains." he looked down at her, keeping a firm hold on the chains but still keeping his grip around her wrist. He smirked. "You can't eat with your hands above your head now can you?" with the chains in place, he crouched down in front of her again. "If you don't eat, you'll starve, and that means you'll dive ahead of time, and we can't have that."

Lifting her wrist, the man attached the new shackles to her wrist, never once taking his eyes off of her. Only, when the shackles were in place, he just let go of her like a normal person. In stead, the man let his fingers to slide down her forearm before he allowed her limb to drop.

Unpleasant shivers ran over her skin at the touch.

The man was more than just a little repulsive.

Immediately, the man unlocked the second shackle, exchanging it with the new one. He did the exact same movement before he let her second arm drop into her lap.

The blood now washed back into her limbs, making the tingling feeling she got from them next to unbearable.

Another thing that was unbearable, were the shivers got from the mans hands.

The man just smirked at her reaction.

For the second time, the redhead grabbed a hold of her face, raising her up to his own.

He studied her features for a long moment, his free arm raising to roughly brush her hair out of her eyes, breaking her natural mask.

After a moment, the man released a long, appreciative sigh.

"It's a shame that you are what you are." he commented, moving his hands so that they cupped either side of her head, stroking his thumbs over her cheeks. "You are just too adorable for your title to match up to it." he brought his face in even closer to hers, eyes flickering down to her dry lips.

"I wonder if it'd be alright to have you..." he whispered lowly between the two of them, making Tsuna's eyes widen. "Just once."

The man slowly ran his thumb over her bottom lip, his own tongue peeking out to lick his own lips.

Tsuna was scared, she was scared of this man, scared of what he might do to her.

Her skin was heating up as her flames instinctively seeped into her bloodstream.

It did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, would you look at that." the man cooed, locking his eyes with hers. "The drugs are starting to wear off." he stated as though talking to a little kid, rifling through one of his pockets as his fingers tightened on her chin. "We can't have that now can we?"

He pulled out a small phial, barely bigger Tsuna's own pinkie finger filled with what looked to be a clear liquid that seemed to be thicker than regular water.

Before she knew what had happened, the man had forced her mouth open with a violent jerk on her jaw and poured the liquid down her throat.

The effect was instantaneous.

Her mind clouded over completely for a second, it cleared up enough for her to actually register her surroundings, though she did notice that the heat in her veins suddenly froze over before it could actually build up to a fire she could use.

It hurt.

Why did it hurt?

It felt like she'd been made to swallow liquid pain.

Stubbornly, she refused to let the pain show on her face until it finally faded away.

"Hey." the woman called out, calling the man's attention towards her, she gave him an annoyed look. "Shouldn't you have let the girl eat before you dosed her?"

The man paused, before chuckling in a mock guilty manner.

"Oops." he turned his attention back to Tsuna. "My bad." his expression was anything but sorry.

His thumb was back on her mouth, tracing her lower lip.

Was he leaning in closer to her?

Before the thought really passed through Tsuna's mind, she had opened her mouth, retracted her chin and viciously bit down on the tip of the offending appendage.

"OOW!" The man ripped his hand away from her mouth, glaring down at the bite mark she had left behind on the thumb.

Growling, the man snapped his attention back to Tsuna.

"You bitch!"

The next second, Tsuna's head snapped to her side at the punch that suddenly collided with the side of her face. A stinging sensation spread over her cheek as she felt yet another piece of skin tear open at the tiny piece of metal he'd been wearing.

A ring?

Back by the table, the woman clearly recognized the look Tsuna had had on her face, as well as the seemingly reflexive action.

Despite herself, her fingers tightened around her knife.

Unaware of the woman's actions behind him, the man reached down over Tsuna, his hand coming down to entangle his large fingers into her already messed up hair.

Desperately holding in a cry of pain, Tsuna allowed herself to be raised up from the ground by the hair, forcefully brought up to face the man directly.

Tsuna felt that familiar sensation of what little food still remaining in her stomach crawling back up her throat as the man's breath hit her in the face, over, and over, and over.

He chuckled at the sight of her face.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be doing anything drastic." he spoke through a low whisper, his fingers tightening around her hair. "The only reason you're still alive is because we need you to be in order to become initiates."

Initiates?

Initiates for what?

She didn't get to ask many more mental questions as the man apparently grew tired of staring at her face. Still keeping a rough grip on her hair, the man raised his arm and threw her onto the ground as hard as he could, making her head bounce the slightest on the concrete.

Great.

Through her now fuzzy eyesight she could feel the cut on her temple open up once again.

So much for unharmed…

Vision starting to clear up a bit, Tsuna heard the man get off the ground, his shoes stomping out of the room before the thick door slammed shut behind him.

Well, at least he had actually left.

Groaning, Tsuna picked herself off of the ground, knowing perfectly well that she would develop plenty of bruises from the harsh treatment, but she just couldn't bring herself to care quite as much anymore. She'd been bullied for over a decade, she could take a few punches.

She could feel the woman's eyes on her as she turned her attention to the covered tray.

Sighing, she lifted the lid with shaky hands.

There wasn't much. Nothing that looked at all appetizing at least.

Mashed potatoes with a burger stake soaking in a thick, lumpy gravy, a small pack of ketchup sat in one of the corners, a side of canned vegetables and a lidded cup of water.

Not really caring about the food's general appearance, Tsuna picked up the rectangular piece of plastic and calmly settled it down in her lap.

It may not look all that appetizing, but she was starving.

A/N: A little bit more on my shipping rant from the previous chapter. I absolutely DESPISE All27, more due to the execution of it in the fics I have read. In my opinion, if you're going to do a harem, actually allow it to be a harem with all the characters openly being in a relationship with the same person and being okay with it instead of forcing us to read chapter after chapter of characters mindlessly fighting for the affections of one person who doesn't even realize what's going on.

I will NOT make this one of those fics, I actually have ideas where romance is concerned especially where Tsuna is concerned, but as it stands right now, nothing official will happen until the third ACT at the very earliest.

No… that is a lie, there WILL be some minor shipping fuel going on in the upcoming sequel spawned from gay panic but other than that… not really. I don't know for sure where things stand right now of course as I don't have EVERYTHING planned out in detail, just ideas and hunches.

To put it simply, I'll go with the relationships that feels right to me as they come along.

When it comes to Tsuna's relationship with Reborn, I don't know the extent of how deep their relationship will grow as the series progress, I only know that it won't become anything remotely romantic. The girl's lovelife is the one thing I have developed the most so far and I look forward to writing it when my body allows me.

I like to think of my writing style is that I plan the plot but I never plan the character actions in detail. Case and point, I had planned for a future character to be the embodiment of a creeper only for me to write the dialogue for a scene and they came out capable of charming the spots of a leopard.

I love it when those kinds of things happen, makes them feel more alive.

Anyway, I have been steady loosing motivation to upload the chapters for the past weeks, but I will try and keep them constant.

Until next time.

This has been:

A message from Her Ladyship.