There was something off about Kazumi the days following the outing with everyone to the arcade. Tsuna noticed how she suddenly seemed more distant than she had been before, and it was such a stark difference that at first, it left him concerned that something had happened. Only every time Tsuna tried to approach Kazumi about it, she was always taking off somewhere before he could even get close. She had also stopped eating lunch with them and instead spent most of the hour away from others.

"Kazumi-san?" Tsuna finally found a chance to speak with her!

"Humm?" But all he got was barely an acknowledgment.

"Is everything alright?" She had been texting, or looking for something on the internet, until he managed to squeeze out his question which made her stop and look up to him. That was the first time he noticed the change in her expression as well. The person he had come to know as always having clear and cheerful eyes, was all but gone. The green which was once like liquid emerald, was now frozen and cold, and if Tsuna had been worried before, he was even more so now. Especially since NOW his hyper intuition was ringing alarms that screamed danger.

"Everything's fine." Even her tongue seemed sharper, for such a simple answer. Tsuna couldn't help but stare. He didn't believe her answer at all, and it seemed she could tell. She let out a heavy sigh and relaxed into her chair a little bit. "There's nothing for you to worry about. Something happened back home that made me angry. Sorry." A half-truth, Tsuna could tell. She was leaving out something, and that something was the actual reason behind her sudden change in demeanor.

"Are you sure? I don't know if I'd be able to help, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always willing to listen." He offered with a tilt of his head as he tried to catch her expression again after she looked away. Her lips curved into a frown as her eyes narrowed, and it was only her eyes that moved when she looked at him from the side.

"Sorry. I have a call to make." She got out of her seat, brushing past him abruptly as she made to exit the classroom. Tsuna didn't chase after her, as much as he wanted to.

"She hasn't said anything to me either." Takeshi said from his own desk. Tsuna turned to his Rain, only to find his hardened stare following Kazumi through the door; that stare which only appeared when he thought something serious was going on. "And she hasn't been paying as much attention in class either. Not that I think she ever really did, but she's been writing a lot less notes."

"I'd like to say that it's the simple answer, which is probably bullying," Hayato added as he approached Tsuna's side. "But even without your intuition, Juudaime, I think it's something far too complicated to be just that." Tsuna nodded in agreement at his Storm's deduction. Kazumi was definitely not the type of person to just let someone bully her, regardless of the reasoning behind it. "I think, we're finally starting to see what Reborn warned about. And if that's the case, she might be receiving pressure to get the job done. Which means…"

"She's trying to figure out how to kill me." Tsuna finished, sighing. He could only hope that that wasn't the case.

xXx

The next few days remained much the same. At every chance he got, Tsuna approached Kazumi, asking if everything was alright, and offering her support if she needed it. He always got the same response; everything was fine and there was nothing for him to be concerned about. Every day seemed to be a repeated cycle, until Friday, when Kazumi didn't show up to school until the afternoon.

Lunch was just coming to an end when Kazumi sat down into her seat, and rather than the cold and stoic demeanor from the last couple of days, there was a nervous fidget instead. During class her foot tapped the floor with nervous impatience, and occasionally she would start playing with her pencil; rapidly tapping it onto the page, or clicking the mechanical part.

"Pst," He barely heard Takeshi whisper, being the closest out of all of them to talk to her. "Are you okay?" Kazumi stopped her fidgeting, and it was the first time she didn't answer right away.

"Yes, I'm fine. I've just had some things on my mind." Well, her tone was still sharp as a knife. But Tsuna still couldn't help but wonder what could have possibly happened during the last few days to make Kazumi go from one extreme to another. And the only way they would ever know was if they could get Kazumi to open up about it.

Tsuna was surprised at the end of the day, when pretty much everyone else has already left the classroom, and Kazumi approached him with a gift bag in hand, but not looking him in the eye.

"An apology." She offered. "It's not much; I just happened to see it when I walk past the convenience store on my way here this afternoon. You've been a good friend to me and I've been shutting you out, so I wanted to say sorry. And thank you, while I'm at it. But it's still an issue with home that I have to deal with. It's nothing for you to worry about."

Tsuna didn't know how to respond, but it seemed the longer he just stared at her and the gift, the more awkward Kazumi started to feel, if the light blush that started to appear on her cheeks was any indication. Slowly, Tsuna reached to accept the bag and looked inside, and he was delightedly surprised by its contents; the latest issue of Shonen Jump Weekly, a couple boxes of assorted sweets, and a cute lion keychain.

"W-wow, thank you. You didn't need to get all this."

"To be honest, other than the magazine I didn't really know what else to get, so I just grabbed the first things I saw. They keychain was just cause I thought it was cute. If you don't like it you don't have to keep it."

"What? No! I actually really like it!" He laughed. "Plus it was a gift from a friend. I'll always cherish it." He gave her a smile, and he could only hope that would be enough to encourage Kazumi to open up to him. When he saw her wide-eyed stare, he also saw the original warmth return in them for a moment before she quickly looked away and began muttering something incomprehensible. When she returned to her desk, she brought out two smaller gift bags and set one of each in from on Takeshi and Hayato respectively.

"The two of you fight like cats and dogs, which is what made me choose those for you." Kazumi was definitely blushing now, and Tsuna couldn't help but take notice in how cute it made her look. "I would have gotten you all a magazine, but I figured you'd probably just end up sharing that one, if anything." She continued, pointing back at Tsuna.

"Oh, this is great!" Takeshi exclaimed as he pulled out a dog keychain. Tsuna noted that it was designed in a similar style to the one she had gifted to him. Curiously, he looked at Hayato's gift, and sure enough, it was a cat keychain in the same design. Tsuna laughed at the irony of it all.

"You know us really well, Kazumi-san. Somehow you managed to pick out our favourite animals." The surprised look he got in return seemed genuine enough, so perhaps she didn't know about their box animals.

"Are you serious?" She asked. "I mean, you're not pulling my leg and just saying that to make me feel better about it, are you?"

"No, he's right. Dogs are my favourite." Takeshi confirmed. "But do you know if they had a bird one? If they do I'd like to grab it on my way home to go with this one." Kazumi blinked in surprised.

"I did not peg you as a bird person. That Hibari-person, yes, what with that bird that follows him around, but not you. Which brings me to why I chose the dog; you're a loyal friend Takeshi-kun."

"So, why the cat?" Hayato asked, holding up his keychain.

"Oh… Well, cats are assholes, and you can be a bit of an arse from time to time." She answered with a straight face, which she couldn't hold for long once she noticed his temper starting to crack. "I'm mostly kidding. Honestly I thought about giving you the dog at first, but I figured you were more of a cat person. While dogs tend to have unconditional affection, cats are prickly and only trust those closest to them; you're friendships with Tsuna and everyone else are testament to that. And I know you don't exactly like me, Gokudera-kun, so I hope you'll still accept this despite that."

"Tsk, whatever." Hayato said with a roll of his eyes. Despite that, Tsuna noticed he put the keychain in his pocket. Kazumi seemed to notice as well, judging from the happy smile that once again lit up her face. Tsuna himself quietly sighed in relief. It may not have been much, but it seemed like reaching out to her every day worked in their favour. Hopefully, whatever happened with Kazumi, it wouldn't cause them any more trouble.

"Thank you, Kazumi-san. These were really thoughtful of you." He smiled and watched as she face slowly started to match her hair.

"Don't mention it." She said, looking away quickly and proceeded to leave them behind in the classroom.

"Haha, I didn't think Kazumi was the type to act shy." Takeshi laughed as the three of them watched her leave. "Anyways, are we doing anything today?"

"You mean other than homework?" Tsuna asked with a groan. "Maybe I should have asked for Kazumi's help again. It went so much faster last time…"

xXx

Reborn had been watching the entire exchange between Kazumi and the boys from one of his many hideouts. Over the course of the week, Kazumi had grown to be a more pressing concern as the aura around her seemed to darken with each day that passed. At first Reborn was concerned that Kazumi would act rashly and out of the blue, fueled by whatever desperation was keeping her going.

At this point, Reborn was convinced Kazumi was exactly who he thought she was. She just proved to be better at her job than he initially gave her credit for. She was calm and calculating, and knew when and where she could take risks. But the change from the beginning of the week was new, and seemed to originate from something out of her control. Or at least that's how she explained it, and that was what lead Reborn to his concerns in the first place.

Reborn recalled Hayato's deduction from earlier in the week, and he couldn't help but agree with the Storm's deduction. Assassinations were normally quick, in and out jobs. Kazumi had already been in Namimori for nearly a month and a half. Any regular employer would think the job had been taking too long at this point, so the chances of her receiving pressure to get it done was quite high.

Reborn smirked with that thought in mind. If that was the case, then it was clear that Kazumi felt threatened by the constant presence of Tsuna's Guardians, and therefore hadn't been able to act freely. He felt a tingle of pride run through him as he thought of ways he could possibly reward them for doing an outstanding job.

Maybe a day off? No, they would actually like that. Having a day of training would make the point of a reward redundant. He'd have to think on it for a while. At least until the threat that was Yamashita Kazumi came full circle. He couldn't have them getting lazy now, while she was still here and very much a danger to them.