The very first thing Kazumi noticed when the child wearing cow printed clothing ran through Tsuna's bedroom door, was the presence of Lightning Flames. She was so taken back by how powerful this child was that she barely noticed the conversation that transgressed. And then another child, quite a few years older by the looks of it, came to drag the former back down stairs. He too had Flames, leaving Kazumi to wonder who in the hell these children were.

"Sorry Tsuna-nii!" The older child had shouted once his mission was successful.

"Aha, thanks, Fuuta-kun." Tsuna called back with an exasperated sigh, yet Kazumi noticed he couldn't keep the fond expression from his face. "Sorry about him Kazumi-san. He's a bit of a loud and spoiled child." Tsuna turned to her, falsely reading her mortified expression. What struck her though before she answered was the name of the older child.

Fuuta… Fuuta… Why does that sound so familiar?

"Honestly, I don't even know what I just witnessed, so I'll just pretend it didn't happen." She had never met a child with Flames as strong as the cow-child's. What was his name? Lambo? And Kazumi was a bit unnerved by the whole idea. That boy would be strong once he was older and could learn to properly control those Flames.

After that, everyone was able to finish all of their homework, or most of it in Takeshi's case, before dinner. They had all managed to migrate downstairs where Tsuna and everyone kept the children out of his mother's hair as she cheerfully cooked away in her kitchen.

"Um, is there anything I can help you with Sawada-san?" Kazumi asked after watching Nana bustle around the kitchen at a pace that could rival the chefs back at the Famiglia's headquarters. She was impressed, to say the least.

"Humm? Oh, no that's alright. You're our guest Kazumi-chan. Please rest and make yourself comfortable." Kazumi wasn't sure how to go about such a kind hearted rejection. I mean, who rejected help when it came to feeding one, two, three… NINE growing children? How was this kitchen even big enough for that amount of food?

Having had no success in the kitchen, Kazumi returned to the back door and sat down on the veranda to watch as everyone simply kicked a ball around the yard. She didn't even notice when she started smiling at the sight of the children laughing and yelling excitedly when they were suddenly being chased instead of kicking the ball, until Reborn randomly appeared at her side.

"You seem fond of children." Kazumi let out a surprised 'eep' and help a hand over her suddenly frantic heart.

"I-I guess." She managed. "It just… It makes me happy to see children happy." All things considered. She added mentally. She heard Reborn humm thoughtfully beside her, but she dared not think about where his line of thinking might be taking him. She didn't want to know.

It wasn't long after that that Nana called everyone to dinner and everyone ran inside to quickly clean up before seating themselves at the absurdly large table. How did it even fit in here? Kazumi really had to stop asking questions and just accept everything at face value. The Sawada household was… strange.

And dinner, as it turns out, was not a quiet affair. Kazumi, having been so used to quiet, stiff, and formal settings was very much unprepared for the chaos that ensued once the food was served. She was so distracted that her untouched, last piece of meat was stolen right from under her nose. She looked at her now empty plate which she had previously moved away when she saw tiny hand's reaching for it. Clearly that was just as much a mistake.

"And it tasted so good too." She said, placing her plate back on the table dejected. She had to admit, Nana's food was amazing. Probably some of the best she's ever had. From across the table, Tsuna seemed to laugh at her.

"Sorry, if I had known they wouldn't show you mercy, I would have told you to guard your food with your life." He explained apologetically while somewhat hunkered over his own plate. "I thought, well hoped, that since you've never been here before they would have been nice to you, but…" Tsuna gave Lambo at the far end of the table a hard stare, which the child promptly ignored. "I'll make sure he apologises to you once he's settled down."

"That's alright. I should have expected something to happen. Kids are like that." Kazumi answered with a hint of humour in her tone. "You have a nice family Tsuna-kun. You're lucky." Such a contrast to my own. As she continued to watch the young children bicker with one another at the far end of the table, the thought of her own family brought a ghost of a smile to her face. From across the table, Tsuna was able to both see and sense the sadness that came from her, and made him wonder what her home life was like to make her look like that.

xXx

"Good morning Takeshi-kun. Did you manage to finish all of your homework on time?" Kazumi asked as she greeted Takeshi by the school lockers.

"I did, thanks to your help with the rest of it yesterday." Takeshi answered appreciatively upon hearing Kazumi call out to him.

"No problem. I had fun in the end, despite how reluctant I was to go in the first place." She laughed a little as she switched her shoes and made sure she had everything she needed for class. "But you know, next time it might be a good idea if you started working on it earlier, rather than leaving it for last minute." Takeshi made a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Together they closed their lockers and made their way to class, waving to other school mates as they went. There were a few of Takeshi's teammates who stopped him for a second, and he cheerfully obliged them. Inside the classroom, everyone was gathered into their own group of friends, catching up from the weekend before class began.

All in all, it was the start to a very good, very normal day.

"Hey, Kazumi-san, are you doing anything after school today?" Tsuna asked at lunch. Kazumi had been lost in her own thought, once again forgetting about her lunch sitting in front of her on her desk.

"Humm, no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"Well, after you left yesterday, we made plans to go to the arcade today. And since you weren't there when we came up with the idea, and none of us have your number, I thought maybe you might like to come too." Tsuna explained, his cheeks flushing from slight embarrassment.

And here I thought I was going to have to resort to stalking. Yet they're the ones inviting me out like they would any of their regular friends. Kazumi thought. "That sounds like fun. Count me in!" She grinned after a moment. "And for the record; I kick ass at the racing games."

"Humph! I'd like to see that." Hayato muttered. "I've seen the top score; no way could a woman like you beat it." Kazumi raised a brow to that, narrowing her gaze.

"Oh really? Is that a challenge then, Gokudera-kun?" He didn't answer. Oh, did he know how to rub her the wrong way. "What about a high stakes challenge then?" That seemed to get his attention.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I'm willing to part ways with 10,000 yen if I can't beat the high score of this game you're talking about." She offered.

"Interesting. And in the unlikely event I'm wrong?"

"Doesn't matter to me. Whatever you got."

"I'll match your bargain then."

"Challenge accepted." They shook hands while everyone else watched, completely bewildered. "I hope you're prepared to kiss that 10,000 yen goodbye."

xXx

After school let out, everyone waited by the school gates for anyone who hadn't been able to get away from class yet. Tsuna and Hayato were already wait with Ryohei as Kazumi and Kyoko made their way towards them, deep in discussion.

"Oh, you would probably like Zeppole then." Kazumi suggested as she fished out her phone to bring up images of the pastry in question. "It's kind of like a fritter, and it's usually filled with either a custard, jelly, or cream. Personally I like the cream best, but others will likely give you a different opinion."

"That looks so good!" Kyoko said excitedly. "I'll definitely have to remember to try it some time."

"If I remember, I'll make some one of these days and share with everyone." From beside her, Kyoko gasped excitedly, their conversation finally catching the attention of everyone else present.

"That's extremely nice of you!" Ryohei all but shouted.

"You can make these Kazumi-san?" Tsuna asked as he managed to see the image on the screen of Kazumi's phone.

"I think so?" She laughed. "I mean it can't be that hard as long as I follow a recipe, right?"

"That's right! You shouldn't ever give up, even after trying! And you have to keep on trying until you get it. Practice makes perfect!" Ryohei cheered encouragingly.

"Right! Thanks Sasagawa-san." Kazumi grinned.

"So then, you've never actually made them before." Hayato asked with a deadpanned stare.

"Well, no…" Kazumi admitted. "But there's a first time for everything, right? And it's like Sasagawa-san said, if they're not edible, then I'll just throw them out and try again! It's not like I'll be missing out on anything, since I'll be about 10,000 yen richer by the end of the day." Kazumi remarked with a sly grin pointed at Hayato, and she watched as his face began to turn red from irritation.

"Hayato-kun, please calm down." Tsuna requested the moment he saw the signs of his Storm getting ready to unleash. "And Kazumi-san, please don't antagonize him." He said almost sternly, chastising. Kazumi was a bit taken back by the sudden change.

"Sorry. It just came out." She found herself apologising, looking to Hayato as she did. It was then that Takeshi came jogging out of the school building, shortly followed by Hana and Chrome.

"Sorry we're late. Shige-sensei was pretty strict on us today. Are we ready to go?" And just like that, with Takeshi's arrival, any tension that may have had the chance to rise up was snuffed out completely. "Is everyone here?" He asked, looking around.

"I think so, so let's go!" Together they all made their way to the arcade center in the heart of Namimori. Before long, they were all inside, exploring the maze of games available. Some split off to grab food and drinks for everyone, while others grouped together for the agreed upon racing challenge.

"So this is the one?" Kazumi asked, sizing up the game, complete with a more or less realistic car seat, reasonably functional steering wheel, gas pedals, and shifting gear. She test the steering wheel, seeing how far it would turn, before making a satisfying humm and sitting down into the game seat. "Alright, let's take a look at the top score… 380,000?" Kazumi asked, surprised by the high number. "Is 400 the max, or can it go higher?" Everyone shrugged instead of answering. "Okay. Only one way to find out then."

Kazumi inserted her game coins and waited for the loading screen for the game introduction. When the game let her pick her one out of four options for a car, she let out an excited noise before selecting one. When the countdown began, Kazumi drew in a breath as she put one hand over the plastic wheel and the other on the poor excuse of a gear stick. Just before the count ended, she easily let out her breath, and when the count hit zero, she put the pedal to the floor and the race was on.

With the limited control of the game, Kazumi made a few mistakes after leaving the start line, but she was able to quickly catch up after quickly figuring out how much to turn the wheel for each turn, and when to apply more gas versus when not to. The game did most of the hard work, she was beginning to wonder if the gear stick was merely accessory, compared to a real vehicle. Kazumi came up to a speed boost on an awkward angle, but was able to steer her digital vehicle over to grab it. Next she was flying though the virtual track, racking up points and taking the lead on the course.

Without even knowing, a crowd had gather around the game, which among locals had become known as the hardest racing game to beat. Whispers started to fly around as Kazumi's score got closer and closer to the current one to beat. And finally in giant letters across the screen, 'FINISH' appeared. Everyone waited in anticipation for the total score to calculate…

379,900.

"What?! What did I miss?" Kazumi shouted with disbelief before grumbling and slouching into the seat.

"You could always try again." Tsuna offered.

"NOPE!" She shouted, righting herself again. "Gokudera-kun won fair and square. If I tried again, I would definitely beat it. And that wouldn't be right." With that she dug a 10,000 yen bill from her pocket and presented it to Hayato. "Thanks for taking up the challenge. I'll accept my loss this time."

"I don't want it." Hayato said, looking away, hands in his pockets.

"What?" Kazumi asked blandly.

"I never planned on taking your money, so keep it." Kazumi blinked. Once, twice… Three times and laughed. Finally Hayato turned to face her again, confused. "Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"B-Because!" She couldn't breathe. "I-I was… Planning on… doing the same thing!" She laughed hard enough that she was leaning against the game machine to support herself, until she calmed down. "But seriously, I took it out of my account to be used here or to give it to you, so just take it anyways. Or I'll use it to buy you food, and I promise it's going to be the most disgusting thing I can find on the menu."

"Urg, fine!" Hayato grumbled snatching the bill from her hand, face turning just the slightest shade of green as he did. The threat was enough to remind him of his sister's poisonous cooking, and that was a sight he did not want to risk showing here. Both Tsuna and Takeshi laughed, knowing exactly what was going through the Storm's head, as the crowd finally dispersed. Kazumi skipped along to find another game to play.

"Oh! Who wants to play air hockey?!" She practically shouted as everyone started to go to their own games. Fifteen minutes later, Kazumi was approaching the concessions counter.

"How can I help you today?" Greeted a young and cheerful worked.

"What is the most disgusting food item you guys sell?" Kazumi asked with a demonic grin on her face.

"Excuse me?" The poor boy asked.

"I'm one hundred percent serious. If you can't think of anything, then just throw something together, but it has to taste as absolutely horrible as you can possibly make it." She pause. "It's for my friend over there. He lost a bet." She lied, and the boy sent a sympathetic look in Hayato's general direction.

"Well, if that's the case…" The boy trailed off for a moment. "Then I think I got you covered with a secret menu item. It looks perfectly edible, but has the most awful after taste you could ever imagine."

"Fucking. Sold."

Kazumi had NO idea what she was looking at, but it DID look edible, so she brought it over to the general area everyone was hanging out in. She could have sworn it was just an ice cream sundae with extra toppings, but the words of the employee had her concerned. What could possibly be in a SUNDAE that was less than desirable?

"That looks good, what is it?" Hana asked, joining Kazumi with her own concession snacks.

"No idea actually. Secret menu item according to the staff member."

"Eh, I didn't know they had secret menu items here." Tsuna muttered, overhearing the conversation. Kazumi shrugged as she scooped a healthy amount onto her spoon and took a bite without hesitation. Almost instantly she froze as the taste hit her tongue.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

She carefully put the tray down on the nearest table before running to grab a cup or a garbage, or anything she could spit into.

"THAT IS DISGUSTING! What is that?! Wasabi and peppermint?!" She turned and accusing eye to the employee. "And don't get me started on the strawberry syrup."

"You didn't…" Hayato asked, starring at the obscene sundae accusingly, as his face began to turn white with a hint of green. Kazumi could see him practically already gagging.

"Oh but I did. You see, just because I'm not going to force you to eat it, doesn't mean I'm not going to pass up a hellishly good idea that's so horrible, you'll never forget it." She explained, smirking devilishly. "Anyone else want to join the fun?"

"Sure! I'll try it!" Takeshi was the first to volunteer, and like Kazumi he didn't hesitate to take a bite. His confident expression faltered, but for his part, he at least managed to swallow. "Well. That was different." He laughed weakly, putting his spoon down and silently walking away.

"Yosh! My turn then!" Ryohei cried, grabbing a spoon of his own and going in for the kill. Another healthy portion of the sundae gone, and another one down for the count.

Geez, if I had known that all it took was one little sundae to cull the Decimo's Guardians, I would have done this a lot sooner. Kazumi thought humorously. "Hana-chan?" Kazumi offered the one closest to her a spare spoon.

"No way. I'd like to keep my taste buds, thank you. Kyoko, don't follow your idiot brother's example." Hana dictated the moment she saw Kyoko take an interest.

"Humm, you're probably right. Sorry Kazumi-chan, but I'm also going to have to pass."

"Me too." Chrome said softly, seemingly trying to stay as far away from the cursed food as possible.

"I guess… I will?" Tsuna said, putting on a brave, yet apprehensive face. With his spoon, he took from a different section of the sundae and starred at it warily before finally digging up the courage to just shove it in. He gagged almost immediately.

"That's not caramel syrup." He managed before running for the bathroom. Kazumi watched him run, both amused and surprised.

"If that's not caramel, what is it?" She wondered, braving the sundae once again to find out. Ah, the things you did out of curiosity. Once again, Kazumi's mouth enclosed around the ice cream and her face scrunched up. "Mustard…" There was a unanimous groan from everyone.

xXx

A few hours later, everyone had split their separate ways to head home. Going in the same general direction, Kazumi walked most of the way back to her place with Tsuna, Hayato, and Takeshi until they reached her street corner.

"Thanks for inviting me. I think that's the most fun I've had in a while." She said, genuinely pleased.

"No problem, we had fun too. Though I don't think I ever want to experience tasting anything remotely similar to that sundae ever again." Tsuna muttered, sighing heavily.

"I make no promises." Kazumi laughed. "Thanks again, I'll see you tomorrow." She waved goodbye one last time and allowed her feet to carry her the rest of the way home as a grin remained on her face. Before she knew it, she was in her apartment and organizing herself to settle down for the rest of the evening.

By the time she got into more comfortable clothing and had a glass of water in hand, she could hear a phone ringing. It wasn't the apartment phone, and it wasn't the personal phone she carried around with her. The only other option was her professional phone. Instantly her good mood died as she dug the device out of a bag and looked at the hidden caller ID.

"Hello?" She answered in a professional tone.

"Kazumi." The person on the other end greeted simply. Her eyes widened and her throat closed up. She had to carefully set her glass down on the table before she dropped it and cleared her throat.

"Father? What has you calling so early?"


For the record, I've never actually tried Zeppole myself, but it looks really good, so why not?

As for this ridiculous sundae concoction I came up with… I have no excuse. I literately thought of those bean boozled jelly beans where the same colour could be one flavour or the other (specifically the toothpaste one, which is okay, but still really gross), and kinda went from there? I mean, next came the wasabi, and then the ice cream. And I knew that mint and wasabi flavoured ice creamed existed out there. Somewhere. And then what's a sundae without sundae syrup? Strawberry… And then the mustard came from some lovely people in a Facebook writers group. So you have them to blame for that one. xD

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to leave a review!

Rahxe