DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN

Natsuki's POV

"Looks like they really aren't going to join us." I took a sip of my water as the members of Varia sat around the dinning table.

"Can you blame them? They probably collapsed in their rooms after that diagnostic training you gave them. You should remember that, before today, they never even stepped onto a training field." I flipped through my notes on each girl, ignoring Lussuria's comment.

"This is only the beginning. They should get use to it. Neither Mistress Celeste nor Squalo-sama held back on me and I don't attend on babying them. I'm going to put all of knowledge and resources into them."

"Are those girls really worth it? You can just trade them in for the Storm Arcobaleno and the other one. Even just using them as a shield would be okay. Teach Sawada his place in our world. It's obvious that he has a teenage crush on Sasagawa's sister. I wonder how he'll react to her death."

"I'm sure that he's already scarred for life with the way I left him. He'll probably tackle Kyoko-chan when he sees her at school tomorrow. If she can handle it with her sore body. Hopefully her brother won't try to heal her muscles, it'll slow down her training. I'm not going to stop him though, let him realize how much of a hindrance he is to me. Sasagawa-san is the primary reason why Kyoko-chan's body is unable to protect herself."

"What about the other two? The brown hair girl looked like she was going to cry when she looked at Sawada. The Poison Scorpion kept glaring at all of us if we moved any muscle. Boss would be okay if they died." Levi looked over to Xanxus seeing that his statement was true.

"All of them are going to be difficult. I wouldn't risk a Vongola- Varia war if I wasn't confident though. I can't mold the three of them to be Varia quality in a week. I can, however, work on their skills that they already have. I just need them to behave long enough." Bel leaned over my side, seemingly scan my notes. He picked out one of the sheets looking it over.

"These are pretty big plans for them. You even decided on the leader for the side group. Isn't that a bit risky? Shouldn't you at least wait until you know their skills? You know that side leaders could think differently." I snatched it back returning it into it's rightful spot.

"She won't. She wants I-pin back that she wouldn't think to test me. As long as she follows my teachings then she would be able to prioritize what's important. Ah but while all of you are gathered I have one more thing that I need you guys to do for me. If that's okay?"

"You already got those girls. What more is there to your plan?" I didn't meet any of their eyes, taking a bite of my meal.

"I already have Mammon and Xanxus-sama's permission but I need all of you to agree with my plan. It's risky to say the least. I already said that I would take on any consequences onto my shoulders so don't worry about me bringing you down. I need to know that you guys will not stop me. No matter what I plan." They all collectively met my gaze giving me a signal that they gave their permission. All except Bel.

"You're putting a lot of faith into these girls. If that's the case, then I won't stop you but I'm not stupid like Sawada. You have to swear that you won't die." Bel said with a serious tone. Just the same with Mammon, these two understood me the most.

"I swear. I just need some support for you guys." He paused.

"Then I'll support you." I placed the journal onto the table letting them all see it. I flipped to my pages.

"This will be in my possession until I leave. However, to make sure that they don't sense us when we get to their base I'm going to leave this in the hands of Tsunayoshi-kun or Yuni. Giving them a chance to read their own section as well. Can you make sure that this reaches one of them? Taking it with something covering it should be fine. I want to ensure that it's in a safe spot when I leave. Azazel can sense it so you have to be careful that this doesn't go anywhere that they shouldn't know about."

"We'll take of it personally." I nodded at Squalo. I looked at my Stelle ring. I lit the small white flame. I saw that each of them reacted. I gripped the book grabbing a handful of pages, minus the map.

"I'm really glad that I have all of your support. Once all of this is over, I have some trust that I need to regain. If they're willingly to give it back to me." With that I ripped the pages out, burning it with my Sky flames. Both flames completely disappeared as I felt myself tilt off my chair. I felt a familiar psychic power wrap itself around me as Bel's hands rested on my sides to keep me up right. I took in heavy breathes not fully hearing what they were saying to me.

Mammon used his telepathic talk to have his words reach me. 'What was the purpose in that? No one can even read your pages. Ripping them out and burning them with two types of flames could have killed you.'

I didn't have the mindset to respond back using my Mist flames. Instead I closed my eyes not responding to any of them. I felt Xanxus's flames come closer, behind me.

"Fia." With his deep voice, he clearly projected himself to give his message. "I don't know jack shit about the Tri-Ni-Sette but if you continue to play these dangerous games don't think you can easily regain my trust. Keep this in your mind as you go on."

I sat on the training ground with Bianchi. I showed her my mainline phone that had Unus and Duo's report on Kyoko and Haru. "There. They both made it to school. Now are you willingly to start training?"

I pushed myself off the wall, standing up to face her. She stood up towering over me. "Fine, but there's nothing that you can teach me. If we aren't going to murder any one, then what could you possibly teach me?"

"How about some respect? Gosh I should have just taken Gokudera-san. At least he has more experience than you."

"How about you forget this ridiculous plan and just leave it to Tsuna to fix. The only reason why he had to follow you was because he didn't have enough time to come up with anything. Reborn and him could have figured something about if you hadn't intervened."

"And by that point I-pin is dead and Fong broken in every possible way. Reborn is a great hitman but he's not a miracle worker. Besides he wouldn't dare touch me knowing his commitment to my father."

"Your father?"

"Yes, he can be very influential. Reborn lays one finger on me without my consent, Xanxus-sama reports to him and he turns from world's greatest hitman to the highest bounty ever listed."

"I highly doubt that your 'so called Father' could do something like that. Why else would you be in Varia? You're probably as sinned as they are."

"That's true, but I chose Varia on my own. My father was not pleased when he found out, not that he could stop me. See, unlike you and Gokudera-san, my Father actually wants to protect their child."

"And what's that suppose to mean?" She glared at me taking a step closer to me.

"It means that I know everything about your family relationships. Lavina was her name? Gokudera-san's real mother? Fell to her death off a cliff on the way to his 5th birthday party, the one day that she was allowed to see him by Mafia law. Tragic story, really. How does it feel to see your brother- sorry- half-brother everyday, knowing full well that he's the product of an affair against your mother? That your father let him roam free while you were expected to be the next heir? He can't even stand to see you without getting sick to his stomach. You can love him all you want but your family is just as rotten as your food."

Bianchi reached at my neck. I grabbed her right hand, twisting it behind her back. I swept my leg under her, knocking her off her feet. I released her, with a final kick landing her a few meters away. She took a second to stumble to her feet holding her stomach in pain. "Bitch."

"Am I joke to you Bianchi?" I dropped the honorifics, fed up with her attitude.

"Not at all. I'm treating you with the same respect as any other Mafioso. You haven't earned my trust so why should I give you anything more than my minimal effort? I'll listen to you if that's what you want. Just don't expect me to be fully compliant."

"No, that's exactly what I want. Like you said yesterday, we aren't going to be friends. That doesn't mean that I'm going to deal with this. Ultimately, it's my decision to train you for the mission or let you die out there. It doesn't change my overall plan. Understand this, I didn't want you here. I only let you come because I knew that they and Tsunayoshi-kun would feel a bit better with you here. When in comes down to it, I don't care who you think you are to talk to me like this. I can and will leave you to rot if you continue this way."

She dusted herself off walking up to me. This time she didn't make a move to attack me. "You are a joke to me. Pretending to be all that because you're an officer of Varia. You guys are nothing but a bunch of backstabbers that abandon their comrades that don't meet your so called 'Varia quality'. The Mafia being no different. That's why I'm going to protect Kyoko and Haru from it."

"You done? We already wasted enough time as it is. We shoul-" I was cut off.

"Like I said before, what can you possibly teach me?" I held back my hand reaching for my staff.

"And like I told you, you have to work on attitude. One major flaw in you that I saw even before yesterday is that you constantly let your emotions lead you to drastic actions. Just now was only one example."

"That's only because you were already testing me. In a real situation where I know my boundaries then I'll be fine." I half listened to that statement knowing that if was false.

"Didn't you come to Japan to kill Tsunayoshi-kun knowing that he was the up and coming Vongola Decimo? Also known as the most powerful familiga in Mafia history? All for the sake of Reborn who had no intention of leaving his position of being his tutor. In what boundaries were you sticking in there?"

"Love has no boundaries." I rolled my eyes at her. It was strange to think that I was on the other end of calling someone reckless based on emotions.

"Right, but something that does have bounds is your life. During this mission I ask that you put Fong in front of everything else and then yourself." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"What about Kyoko and Haru? Shouldn't I be watching over them as well?"

"Not necessarily. You're only goal is to get Fong, that's all I care about. Besides I'll be taking care of them this week that each of you should be able to stand your own ground. If you or them can't then the blame is only on the person. That's how you survive. If that way doesn't work, then think about it like this. If you manage to live and free Fong, then you'll be able to reunite with your lover Reborn." She shook her head at me.

"Not at the cost of those girls' lives. I wouldn't be able to live knowing that I was a reason for their death."

"Strange? I thought that you said that love has no boundaries. Does that mean you don't love Reborn enough? Then you're okay with not seeing him for the rest of life or letting him down?" Her nails stabbed into her palms in way to keep her from attacking. I kept my face static.

"Do you understand what I mean about your attitude now? The smallest of details tick you off and in any case, that's the last thing you want to happen." She reluctantly nodded. In this state I was on top of her in every aspect. I crouched down to pick up some dirt. I held it in my palm, showing it off to her.

"Keep a close eye on this." Her attention focused on the pile. "In our eyes, all of you are on the level of civilians."

"So you're saying that we're nothing more than dirt to you?" She took her eyes off the dirt to glare at me. In a swift motion I threw the dirt at her face, having a bit of dust fly into her eyes. She tripped backwards rubbing her eyes and outfit at the same time.

"The fuck are you doing?!" She coughed as tears were building up in her eyes.

"Lesson 1: Just because you're Mafia born, doesn't mean that you're doing any better than the other two. That's what I meant by saying you're civilian level. I told you to keep a close eye on it, yet the second I changed the topic you adverted your attention away from your target. The main difference from the two girls is that you somewhat more knowledge, not experience. You're fighting focuses on poison usage so it's always been a clean job. You haven't run into any problems thus far but if you did, poison can't save you from every situation."

She managed to clean most of herself off, not happy at me. "Was throwing dirt at me really necessary?"

"People have been known to learn better when there's a consequence involved. Shall I re-demonstrate?" I offered. There was the murderous glint in her eyes that made me excited.

"No thank you. I have something I want to teach you." She stepped forward, closing the distance between us. Her eyes stared me down from the height difference. Her hand moved to brush my sleeve. I slapped her hand away, not breaking the stare down as her glare got harder.

"I propose something else. Lesson 2." I placed one hand on her back pulling her close to me. In my other hand I took out my blade to her back. She realized the danger and used all of her strength to push me away. I smirked seeing her reach for the spot that my blade touched. Her eyes widened looking at the ground. Parts of her hair were spread out onto the floor. She pulled her hair forward seeing that half of it was long and the other half was horribly chopped off.

"Lesson 2: If you're close enough for your poison to work, then you're close enough for combat. If I pushed my blade just a bit further your person could have been stabbed deeply. Sliced in half if I had a sword."

"Is every one of your lessons going to be like this? I can learn without the repercussions."

"Show me that side of you then. Not this bratty child standing in front of me. Let's do this then. Try this exercise, keep your eyes looking forward. Imagine that pole there is a target. If you fail this exercise then you cannot backtalk me anymore. Understand?" She nodded as I dragged my staff behind me.

I scanned over her as I circled around her. In a mere five minutes into my lesson, minus waiting for Unus and Duo's reports. She irked me to no end. I knew that between the three of them, she would be the most difficult to handle. Yet I figured she would eventually lighten up with a bit of rough training. When she would conform would depend on this.

"In your eyes, what are your own strengths? How do you self-train? Do not repeat any of my statements." She kept her head straight.

"I'm constantly working on new techniques that could work in any environment and no matter who they are, if they hurt someone I care about then they will suffer." Her eyes twitched wanting to glare at me behind her.

"Would you say you're merciless?"

"If nothing is at the cost then I see no reason why I should show mercy. The dirt-bag probably deserved it if I'm already attacking them in the first place. Those people that took I-pin are only one example. You are another." I overlooked that last part walking up to her back. She flinched when I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Are you willing to kill in front of those girls?" I could feel her muscles tense up. Whether it was from my touch or the question, I couldn't tell.

"If it's the only method, then I would be the one to take the blame. Their minds may never forget what can happen but their hands should never know the feeling of a bullet going off or of a knife puncturing someone."

"I can't promise anything. That's why you're going through training." I swung my staff like a bat, making direct contact with her side. She didn't stand a chance rolling a few feet away. She let out a groan getting back up. "Fail."

"What do you mean fail?! You're the one that suddenly attacked me!" I walked over to her pulling on her shirt to make her reach my level. I pinched her two lips tightly.

"You were to think of that pole as a target and not take your eyes off of it. That does not mean that no one else is going to attack you from any other direction. That's a basic Mafioso practice and you still couldn't focus. So with our deal, you can't back talk me any further. This will be your only warning before I kick you off the retrieval group." I released my hold, roughly throwing her back. She gritted her teeth hard enough to almost them snap. She slowly straighten her back, lowering her head to me.

"You don't have to be tense Haru-chan." I led her into one of the indoor training rooms. She had just finished school and returned immediately to start her training. I let Bianchi off the hook for the day and took Haru first while Kyoko did her homework.

"Hahi, I can't help it. What happen to Bianchi's hair?"

"She was being too rebellious for my liking. Haru-chan won't be like that, right?" She nervously shook her head. I didn't mean for that to sound intimidating but I could see how Haru was suspicious of everything. It mainly due to the two girls witnessing the outside training grounds having many poisonous holes fill the place. Bianchi's rough appearance probably didn't ease them either.

"Um can I ask a question before we start?" She twiddled with her fingers, watching me move around the few items for her.

"Go ahead."

"Do you only want I-pin-chan back because of your deal with Tsuna-san?" I doubled checked that the targets were in a good position before turning to her.

"If you're asking if whether I value I-pin-chan's life then it's a yes. Though she is the apprentice of Fong, I don't believe that she has any relation to be dragged into Tri-Ni-Sette drama. She's shown me that she's innocent and does not deserve to be there. However, if you're asking if I would be willfully go to rescue her without Tsunayoshi-kun's request, then it's a no. Above all, I've learn my priorities in life and she is not one of them. Please do not use this answer as something to sway your determination though. I am putting everything it this. Any further questions?"

She regretfully shook her head. I sighed running my head through my hair. "What answer were you hoping for?"

"I thought that being our friend, you would have thought a bit more of us."

"Why do you think I choose you and Kyoko-chan to help me out? I've always been looking at you two as fighters. That's why I'm no longer going to hold back on anything you need to learn. Unlike Tsunayoshi-kun who does the fighting for you, I'm going to teach you how to defend yourselves. I may not prioritize your lives over others but in the end, you will be able to do it yourselves. In a way, that's what you both hoped for when you wanted to support Tsunayoshi-kun."

She cracked a small smile looking at me. I could see the determination in her eyes once more as she readied herself. "So what's first-desu?"

I handed her a small box and three gray sashes. "Your weapons."

"I-I get weapons?" She shakily took the items out of my hands. She opened the lid of it, confused at the thousands of sliver pins, no bigger than the average finger, inside. She carefully picked one up, squinting at the tiny object.

"Is there something special about these? They almost look like sewing needles without the eye."

"Exactly." I gestured for her to follow me to the human mannequin. "Honestly, working with pins requires exact precision and focus. Not many people are able to work with it and if they do, it's more in the technique of throwing multiple at once to create a higher chance of hitting the target. You, on the other hand, have impeccable sewing skills. We just need to expand a bit further to throwing at the right spots. You attend Midori all girls school, right? Quite prestigious of you."

She embarrassingly rubbed the back of neck at the flattery. "With a minimum 85% average to attend. You, with the highest grade in the school. At first glance, I would have labelled you an air head."

"That's rude-desu. Besides, I'm sure you would have had a higher grade if you were in my school." I nodded, agreeing that school work was nothing compared to Verde.

"That's besides the point. I'm merely disclosing this because with the proper strength and aiming, needles can do a lot more than you can image." I picked out one of the pins. I took a few steps away from the mannequin asking her to step back. She rushed to get a sufficient distance away from it. Holding the pin like a dart I flung the thing forward.

The pin stuck out just beneath the throat with enough force to knock the mannequin over. I grinned seeing her mouth open in amazement. It was a bit off from the chest, where I was aiming towards but was still efficient enough to cause damage to a real human. Haru meekly raised her hand.

"Um Natsuki-chan? If it's alright, I would prefer if I don't- um... you know."

"You don't want to kill?" She didn't meet my eyes, nodding.

"I'm not going to ask you to. That's why I'm making sure that I have your academic history correct. There's three types of points in your body that you can poke and cause a reaction. One is immense pain to the point of death, something that Koyo Aoba can find easily, one that you want to avoid if you don't want to kill. Then the two that I'll be teaching you, often used in acupuncture."

"Acupuncture? Isn't that usually for treating pain?"

"Typically yes. Related to that are pressure points that cause muscles relaxation. Even without your Rain flames, you can render your opponent's body useless or unwillingly to move. Then finally is a... euphoric sense. You can take advantage of that to catch them off guard. However, you can only do this if you study these places in the body, properly. Hit the wrong one and you can create big problems."

She looked at the needles, gripping the box tightly. "Alright then."

"I like that answer." I took the sashes off her hands, demonstrating how to wrap one around her wrist. "Here you have three sashes. I left them gray so that you customize them as you please. It's up to you how you want to carry your pins but having something to stab them into to hold them is the most convenient way. One on your wrist, ankle and waist are the most common places but this week you'll see how you favour."

She rotated her wrist, looking over the material. "When you said weapons I thought that you would have given me a gun or knife. This makes me feel a bit more comfortable."

"That's important. We would need to work on keeping you calm in a stressed situation as well. There's an old joke that Mafiosi can smell fear."

"T-that can't be true." She tensed up, realizing who I was. "You can't do that, right?"

I tilted my head side to side. "Not exactly like you would imagine but there's always signs of fear that make it easier to tell. Fear is one way that people use to find someone because the work becomes sloppy. Don't worry, even though it's your first time going out I'll make sure that everything is covered to the smallest details."

She didn't ease up. "A week is a short amount of time. My body still hurts from yesterday."

"In one week there's seven days, 168 hours, 10,080 minutes. Even outside the training room, there's always little things that can improve your skills. That's why I said you can customize your sashes. Whether you choose to embroider it or stick beads to it and whatnot, it'll require you to be focus and improve your precision. Then as you are in school, surrounded by hundreds of people, watch them, make yourself disappear. Even in your sleep, your muscles and brain are still working. Little things."

"You're really putting in everything into this. It doesn't sound like you have any holes."

"There are multiple. The key thing is just not to let anyone know."

I sat on the table, swinging my legs waiting for the last trainee to come in. She weakly knocked on the door, peaking in to see if she had the right place. I waved her to enter. Kyoko shyly entered in her track outfit, slowly closing the door behind her. "Take a seat, Kyoko-chan."

I gestured to the seat in front of the table. She carefully made her way to the chair, taking a seat. "How was school today? I bet Sasagawa-san was happy to see you alive."

She loosened up with the topic of her brother. "Yes, he asked a bunch of questions about our training- ah- but I didn't answer anything specific like you told us to do. He wasn't really happy about that. Tsuna-kun didn't say a lot today."

"That's reasonable. I pushed their buttons by bringing the three of you here. Tsunayoshi-kun should be feeling the most guilt for letting it happen." She nodded. "You have a question for me?"

Her body shook a little at my comment. It was somewhat my Vongola intuition that said that she was hiding something behind the way she sat. "Seeing the way that Tsuna-kun was looking at me today, I wanted to at least tell them what you had in mind for us. You know, just to ease them a little. They can even input possible strategies that they could think of."

I glared at her. "No. That's not an option. Tell them after the mission is complete for all I care. As of now, they are to know nothing."

I rubbed the corners of my eyes to stop me from scaring her any further. "What I mean to say is." I gave out a sigh.

"I'm sorry." She apologized with her head down. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"I know that you want to make everyone happy Kyoko-chan but that is literally impossible. As long as I have you three working with me, there is no way for Tsunayoshi-kun or Reborn to forgive me. Know that I'm denying them access for our own safety. I trust that they won't reveal information but I'm not risking anything in this."

She put her hand on mine. "Are you okay Natsuki-chan?"

I pulled back my hand, nodding. "There's more stress on me than I say."

She paused before speaking again. "I get that there's a lot of pressure on us to succeed but aren't you trying too much?"

"Three of my men of my squadron were attacked, Kyoko-chan. I didn't hang out with them outside of mission. I only know them by their code names, and any information on Varia documents that I found. I knew nothing of who they were. Yet when it comes to missions, they would be the first people that I depended on to support me. And, likewise, they looked to me to lead and protect them. It was because of me, that they now rest in a coma. I'm want to make those fucking bastards grovel at my feet for laying one finger on them." I clenched my fists at the thought of the three of them in the sick bay.

"I... I had no idea that they meant that much to you." She quietly spoke. "Can I ask one more question? I promise I'll focus right after."

"Go ahead." She took a deep breath in.

"You seem so use to everything happening. How old were you when you first joined the Mafia? Why aren't you scared?"

"Since the day I was born. My early childhood days were complicated, so I wasn't always so threatening. I guess I officially joined when I was your age. Over two years now. I never said that I wasn't scared though." I placed my hand over my chest where I could feel the locket resting. "Even before I joined the Mafia, people have died around me. That's something you can never get use to."

I met with her eyes that looked at me with pity. "Any thing else you want to add?"

She remained quiet, shaking her head. I removed my hand, reaching for my notes. "To be blunt Kyoko-chan, out of the three of you, you are the weakest, and has the lowest potential in battle skills. It'll take months to develop any useful muscle. Even your Sun flames are weak since you've never use them. That just makes it more difficult as I had to find you a new weapon."

Originally Kyoko was going to have a variety of seeds that she can activate with her Sun flames to sprout at her command. Unfortunately, both girls though resolve firm, had difficultly in lighting their flames for long. And when they did, it was too explosive for them to control. Unlike with Haru's weapon, Kyoko's couldn't work without the flames so I had to choose something else.

I took out a black fountain pen, handing it to her. She spun the top, popping out the tip. "A pen?"

"For this mission, you will be doing more thinking than fighting. I will be teaching you some self-defence, but the majority is going to revolve around how to think on your feet. One of your stronger points is in your innocent. The school's ever popular, Sasagawa Kyoko." She blushed at her title. "This time you'll be using that image to mislead enemies. Perfect a lying face and you'll be the ideal leader for your group."

"Leader?! Wait a second, what about Bianchi-san? Wouldn't she be better?"

"She doesn't have the proper mindset. When it comes down to it, she'll most likely betray me to save your butts. She also has a known name. The enemy will be focusing on her over you. At that point, you can do a lot more than she can. Like I said your innocence is your strong point. The best kind of leader is one that works behind the scenes. However, neither of us will be telling either of them that you are the leader."

"Why not? Doesn't that kind of throw off the authority that I have?"

"Not at all. The two of you already look to Bianchi-san for guidance, the only difference now is that you are able to offer some advice. I'm going to be teaching you specifically how to take advantage of different situations and how to read more into things. If you can really be a leader, then your ideas will be the ones to stick out over hers. This just lessens the pressure on you to be expected."

"And this pen?"

"Just a regular pen. Take notes with it at school if you want. I want you to keep it on you at all times though. It'll come in handy when you least expect it."

"Doesn't that make me basically defenseless then?"

"You want to focus extra hard then."

Kyoko's POV

A week flew by in a blink of an eye. I nervously rubbed my hands together, sparing a glance at Natsuki beside me. I looked at her tired eyes.

We had only flown into Italy this morning. Natsuki said that she had some last minute details to deal with that she had to return to her main base for the duration of the day. She gave us permission to roam the streets with Unus as our guide but all us were too nervous to leave the hideout that she intentionally brought us to. By the time that she came back, night had taken over and we were off into enemy territory.

I drew my attention back to the abandon prison. The gate was left wide open, with no lights on. "Hahi, are you sure that this is the right place, Natsuki-chan?"

"Positive. I even had Yuni confirm Fong's location this morning."

"Security seems lax." Bianchi said, looking at the lack of guards on the courtyard.

"According to the locals this place hasn't had anyone in it for decades. It's the ideal hideout for hostages. They're most likely in the lower parts or inner parts where citizens can't detect them. From what we've seen so far, this group favours free lancers so the amount guards shouldn't be anything concerning. We should focus on not alerting the higher ups though." She touched her small ear piece.

"You guys in place?" She waited a few seconds. Her eyes seem to sadden when she nodded. "We'll be heading out then."

I figured that she was speaking to Unus or Duo through the other end as they were going to be a part of the retrieval group after we succeed. She picked the piece out of her ear, throwing it on the ground. She stomped on the item crushing it into it's separate components. 'She really meant no communication.'

"I managed to find a blueprint of the place. There's a control room on the fifth floor that we should check out first. We'll most likely split up at that point. Everyone ready?" We all collectively nodded even if I didn't, personally, feel prepared. I felt my heart beat out of my chest as we rushed in. With Natsuki leading, she made sure to check every corner before crossing it. I didn't question her directions knowing that she had most likely memorized the blueprint beforehand.

We went down five flights of stairs until we got to a floor with lights. It was surprising empty for a hideout. The lights were too dim that even when we almost ran into someone, Natsuki was able to get rid of them without a sound.

We finally made it to a room that had a closed door that was most likely the control room that Natsuki spoke of. Her eyes slanted, leaning into the wall. I caught her hand glowing in a faint light blue light. The light quickly disappeared making her click her tongue in frustration. She held her hand up, signalling us to wait.

Her hand reached for her staff. I felt my breath shorten as she bent forward. In a second she flew into the room, closing the door behind her. I made eye contact with Haru who was equally worried. We waited nearly one minute when the door opened again. I saw Haru put a hand on her flower embroidery sash and Bianchi getting into a battle position when Natsuki came out.

We quickly followed inside, closing the door behind us. There were five men lying around the room, none of them have signs of conscious. I adverted my eyes when I saw that her blade was out with blood dripping down it. I, instead, focused on the screens on the wall.

Most of the screens were black with only one section of the cameras actually working. On them were all the angles of the man in white puffy pants without a shirt. His breathing was shallow, his head hanging low, unlike his arms that were chained up. His body looked malnourished with multiple cuts and bruises on him. The number one thing that caught my eyes was the clear pacifier hanging off his neck.

"Is that him?" I asked. Natsuki nodded, typing a few things on the computer.

"He's on the lowest level, three floors beneath us. Still alive." I looked at the rest of the black screens, then at the rest of the room.

"Where's I-pin-chan?" Haru asked before I could.

"I can't seem to figure that out. Most likely, they wanted to keep a closer eye on her rather than cameras. I'm going to have to go back the floors and look for her by myself." She walked over to the men. I looked away seeing her move each of the bodies into a normal sitting position around the room. She cleaned her hands onto her shirt, hiding the blood in the black.

"This won't fool anyone who looks closely. I don't know how often they do rounds so we should move quickly." Bianchi nodded, jutting her head to the two of us. I gave one more look at Natsuki. She didn't see me as her eyes went hard.

I took a deep breath in, looking at Bianchi. She peeked out the door first then motioned for us to follow her. We followed the signs pointing to the stairs, always stopping at any noise or disturbances that we felt. With only two hostages here there was a lack of worry in those checking the halls to check every corner. It was like what she told Tsuna about us being able to hide our presences without a killer intent.

I stiffened at the sounds of multiple men partying on the final floor. They were laughing loudly with the sound of glasses clinking together in cheers. Bianchi stuck her head around the corner, instantly retracting it before getting caught. She signaled us that there were 12 of them in front of Fong's gate.

This was probably where they partied since the rest of the place was deserted. The three of us simultaneously understood that we wouldn't be able to avoid them. Haru was the first one to move, placing a hand on her sash. My eyes weren't fast enough to catch everything. All I saw was her hand swiping to the side with a few silver streaks coming out.

I heard the sound of a few bodies crashing onto the floor. "Heh light weights."

One of the men chuckled. "Wait a minute. What's sticking-"

The voice was cut off with more of Haru's fast weapons cutting through. Another body toppled onto the bottles of alcohol littering the floor. "It's an attack!"

Bianchi ran out of the corner grabbing some purple cupcakes out of her pouch. Haru chased after her into the battlefield. I rushed in with her, first heading to the door keeping Fong in. They were clear walls that gave a view of the poor state that he was in. Different from the other cells that we past, this one was updated to have a proper electronic lock on it.

My mind suddenly screamed out in a recognizable danger. I rolled backwards, just barely missing the knife that came down on me. I held my breath as one caught me in between their arms, lifting me off the floor.

I flailed my feet in an unless attempt. Somehow my body knew how to react, throwing my weight upwards. I wasn't larger than the man but the sudden change in weight, threw him off balance enough for me to take advantage of it. With the leg exercises that I worked on all week, I pulled my legs in closer to my head.

The man fell hard onto the floor, his head cushioning mine. That was enough to loosen his grip on me, letting me escape. I spared a glance at Bianchi who was being ganged up from behind. "Bianchi-san!"

She heard me, turning her head fast enough to avoid the hand reaching for her hair. Fortunately, Natsuki had cut off enough that it wasn't something that could be grabbed at. She kicked the side of the man's head, knocking him to the side.

I didn't let my guard drop as someone aimed a punch at my head. I curled into a ball, knowing that I couldn't punch him with enough force to hurt him, I aimed for the feet. I stopped when I saw a light reflect off his shoes. I knew that Natsuki had said that most protection was hidden in clothing so I had to quickly change targets and hugged the man's ankles.

I wasn't strong enough to lift a man this size in a normal situation. But with the adrenaline in me, training from Natsuki and the element of surprise, I stood up. I pulled him forward with the strength in my legs, just enough for him to lose his footing.

I staggered backwards releasing him, taking in heavy breathes. "Enough of this shit!"

I ducked behind the couch at a mad man shooting his rifle around the room. As I was hiding from the bullets, one managed to grab hold of my arm. I couldn't pull it back nor attack without being shot. The bullets stopped and the one holding my arm pulled me to my feet, tightening his hold. I looked seeing that Bianchi and Haru were in the same position one way or another.

The one holding the rifle motioned for the remaining five that weren't poisoned or paralyzed to put us right in front of Fong's doors. He pointed the gun at us, his finger not moving from the trigger.

"Hands up!" We listened as we heard the cock of his gun. "I recognize that technique, Poison Scorpion. Vongola Decimo sent you?"

Bianchi snarled at the man. Knowing that she was going to say something that could put us in more danger, she shut her mouth.

"We came here by ourselves." I announced. The girls looked at me with their eyes wide. The one holding the rifle was skeptical until he met with my eyes. 'My innocence is my strong point.'

"Oh really now?" I was quick to agree. Bianchi lowered her hand to comfort me, thinking that I was breaking down. The man saw this, pointing his rifle once more at her. They all thought that she was leader.

"Only her. Come here." My wobbling knees weren't acting as I came closer to him. I shuttered as his hands roamed my body only to find my pen on me. The man scoffed at the thing.

"A pen? That's you're only form of defense? Seriously? No wonder you're so scared. At least the other one had her needles." The man's alcoholic breath came closer to me. I held my breath but in a way, I wasn't scared.

I was scared that he would suddenly shoot. Even more terrified that he would kill the two girls behind me. Of all of us dying after all that we've trained for. Not of him though. Compared to the way Natsuki talked to Tsuna. Compared to Natsuki that night at the hotel when she was ready to kill. This random guy was nothing. My heart was calm realizing that the real monster was not here.

"I can't kill with a pen." I whispered to him. He and the rest of the men burst out laughing at me.

"Well you're right there girly!" He grabbed the pen with both hands in a manner that looked like he was going to break it. A thought came to mind making cover my ears, cowering away. I peeked at the girls following my lead.

That's when I realized what Natsuki told us at the beginning. No one knew of each other's training. To them, they only knew that my pen was a weapon in some way. So if I was scared of it breaking, they would be as well.

The man stopped, taking a closer look at it. I released a fake sigh of relief making him grab my arm. "What's special about this pen?"

"I-I'm just suppose to keep it on me at all times. But I heard Reborn-kun say that it's dangerous if I let it break."

"R-Reborn?" I felt the room get tense at the mention of Reborn. I knew that he had influence but only his name was enough to make these people quiver in the shoes. However, it was my signal to the girls that this was all a bluff. Only we knew that he had nothing to do with this. Today, we were not from Vongola Decimo like they thought.

Amidst of their fear I jumped at the man. He held the pen out my reach that he didn't realize that I was aiming for his sniper. I managed to get it out of his grip, holding it tightly. "Bianchi-san! The door!"

She understood me, turning around to acidify the door the was holding Fong. A hole quickly formed, filling the room with poisonous gas. The men raised their arms to cover their faces, backing away from the purple smoke. "Haru-chan! Their arms!"

Haru took a quick breath, throwing her weapons at what seemed like random spots on their body. They lost all strength to uphold their arms, breathing in all of Bianchi's smoke. They tried to stumble their way to attack us when I directed the sniper at them. I wouldn't dare shoot but at this point they weren't aware of what I could do.

Bianchi made a big enough hole for us to jump into to grab Fong. She handed the both of us masks. She melted his chains letting him free. Haru and I grabbed an arm, waking him up. He groaned, weakly opening his eyes. "What...? You're... "

"We're here the help you Fong-san. Natsuki-chan - ah- Shadows is working right now to get I-pin-chan, so you don't have to worry about her."

"I know who you are." He powerlessly smiled. I nodded at Haru as we both brought him to his feet. Most of his weight was put on us.

"Here, let me take one arm." Bianchi offered to one of us. I shook my head at her.

"Bianchi-san we should move quickly. You're taller than us so it'll be harder for us to move. Plus, you would do better at leading us so you should be at the front. Haru-chan's weapon also looks like it's better when she's a distance. We need to put a mask on Fong-san as well."

Bianchi seemed to be fine with my idea, taking out another mask for him to use. She then moved first to grab my pen, slipping it into her pocket. All the men in the room were knocking out by the gas letting us leave as fast as possible. We didn't care much about being caught any more as we had to get out.

Dragging the older man up all the steps was the real trouble. We couldn't lift all of his weight that he had to do most of the stepping for us to finally get out. Surprisingly enough we didn't run into anyone but had seen more damage and cast aside weapons than when we first past through. I could only think of it as signs of Natsuki rampaging.

We made it outside without any trouble. With the worry of enemies popping out lessen and no more stairs, we broke out into a run. We made it to one of the rendezvous points having Unus and another man come out of hiding. They immediately took Fong off our hands, helping him into the car.

"Is Natsuki-chan back yet?" I went up to them as soon as Fong was put into a comfortable position.

"Not yet but we have orders to bring you back to Varia headquarters. We put our trust into Natsuki." I entered the car having them speak into their ear piece that I recognize the same as Natsuki. An hour passing let our bodies finally relax from all the pressure that had built up.

We pulled up to the headquarters with her friends waiting outside. We got out first having her colourful friend, Lussuria, run up to the car. He grabbed my shoulders shaking me. Bianchi got out pulling me out of his hold.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Lussuria! Calm down!" The second in command, Squalo, told him, grabbing him back.

"W-what's wrong?" Haru stepped out of the car, coming to our side.

"Where's Nat-chan?!"

"S-she's-" I stopped talking seeing her blond friend, Bel, holding her usual jacket and mask. I knew that those meant a lot to her that I couldn't understand why they were holding onto it to welcome her back. Unus and the other man stepped out of the car walking up behind us.

"W-Wh- How are you awake?" I looked back at them, both hanging their heads. Three more people jumped up out from the forest. I recognized one of them being Duo and the other two unknowns. I looked as one was holding I-pin. I ran to the man taking her off his hands.

He bowed to me letting me check up on her. I-pin was in a better condition Fong, still sleeping. Haru came up to me giving me a hug as she saw I-pin in my arms. I looked up from her to see all five men, kneeling in front of their boss. Unus was the only one that stood up, still with his eyes glued to the ground.

"Unus speaking for Haunting Shadows full squadron. With the return of members Tribus, Quattuor, and Quinque, we report the rescue of the Arcobaleno Fong and her apprentice I-pin. " I looked at the men realizing that these three were the one that were attacked. Yet from what I heard, their comas weren't curable. I guess that would explain why her friends were so shocked.

The boss, Xanxus, walked in front of the group. "What did Fia do? How did she fix you?"

"While I was watching over her temporary squadron, Duo remained with her as she used her Stelle flames to heal their injuries. According to her, the journal revealed more about her ring that let her formulate a theory. Duo was then to inform them of our final mission after she collapsed for over 8 hours. Even when she awoke for her mission, she couldn't produce the smallest flicker of flame in exhaustion."

"VOOOOI WHERE IS SHE NOW?!" Unus flinched at the man yelling at him.

"When the enemy first confronted us they offered her a spot on their team. Natsuki has decided to take them up on that. The plan that only her squadron was aware of. She traded the life of the apprentice for herself, while these girls got the last variable that she could not secure by herself." My eyes widen hearing that she joined the other side.

"No, that can't be true." I turned to her group. "Can't you guys do something? We know where their hideout is so we can take you there. Then you can bring her back."

"We can't do that." The one in the black cloak, Mammon, spoke for the first time.

"Why not? She's going to get herself killed! Look at Fong-san, he's beaten purple."

"It's because she played us as well." I closed my mouth. "She made each of us give our word that we can't intervene with anything she does. Even if your mission is complete, her plans are not. This explains why she tied up all loose ends with her squadron and you girls. Finally, leaving her resignation note with Checkerface's journal, making sure that we would see it."

"FUCK THAT NOTE AND JOURNAL!" Squalo with gloved hands grabbed the small paper and ratty book off of her jacket and mask. "'I'M RESIGNING', MY ASS!"

He crumbled the paper throwing it at her squadron. They probably could have spoke out to defend themselves. Argue that they couldn't fight against what Natsuki wanted from them. They didn't though. I knew that the bond between them was strong. They trusted her to make the right decision for everyone. I saw how tired she was today after healing them. There was nothing that anyone could do to stop her from joining the other team.

The angry second in command. then flipped through the book to what looked like a few pages had been forcibly ripped out. "AS IF WE EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS THING!"

Like with the paper, he threw the item but this time at Unus's head, just barely missing him. I hated seeing them like this. I knew that they were Mafiosi but when they were around Natsuki, I sometimes forgot that. They were a family all together that use their foul language and violence to express themselves. I looked at Haru who had this hurt look on her face. Like me, it was heartbreaking seeing such a close group breaking apart.

We both took shakily steps away from Bianchi. Unus looked at me, wondering what I was thinking. I gave him a weak smile. I bent over to carefully pick up the journal. But with I-pin in my arms, I handed it over to Haru. She dusted the dirt off of it, holding it close to her chest.

"I-I don't mean to be rude b-but if I learned anything from Natsuki-chan this week, it's that she really loves you guys."

"K-Kyoko-chan is right. If she gave you guys this journal, I-I think you shouldn't throw it around."

They stared at the two of us. Xanxus came up to us, looking down at our hands and then to the book. "How were you two able to hold onto that journal?"