"Oh man! I overslept!" A voice ran through the Nakamura household.
"Looks like Kiyomi finally woke up." Saiyuri stated with a smile as she placed Hatsuharu's breakfast in front of him at the table.
"Least it's not happening too frequently like before." He added before he started to eat.
Kiyomi quickly ran down the stairs while pulling her hair back in usual ponytail with her schoolbag in her hand. She made her way towards the kitchen counter which had her bento waiting for her.
"Why didn't any of you guys wake me up?!" Kiyomi whined as she grabbed her bento and placed it inside her bag.
"I tried about four times." Saiyuri said as she sat down at the kitchen table.
"Next time try five times!" Kiyomi exclaimed as she ran passed the table. "Gotta go!"
"It's a shame that you don't have time to eat this delicious breakfast, Kiyomi." Hatsuharu stated which stopped Kiyomi in her tracks and turned towards her little brother who was slowly taking a bite of his eggs. "So good~"
Kiyomi growled before she ran towards the front door. "That's just mean!"
"Have a good day, Koneko-chan!" Saiyuri laughed.
"Why did it turn out like this?" Kiyomi whined as she walked down the street. "Maybe I should just go back to using my phone as an alarm clock like before. Then again, I do sleep through it a lot. Not to mention I do enjoy sleeping like most cats do…maybe I'm cat!" She started to laugh at her own joke until a growling sound filled the area.
She stopped on her tracks and sighed to herself. "Wonder if I have time to grab something on the way to school?" She asked herself.
Suddenly, her nose twitched a bit which caught her attention. "Huh?" Kiyomi began to sniff around the area. "What's that smell?"
She looked to the side to see a street vendor parked with one person behind the vendor which she assumes is the owner.
"Why is there a food stand here?" Kiyomi wondered. She sniffed at the direction again and sighed in bliss. "Then again, who am I to judge where vendors park if they can serve delicious food like this one; especially when I'm hungry. Thank you, Kami-sama!"
Kiyomi walked towards the vendor and said, "Oh wow, that smells so good!" She looked down at the gyoza with glee. "Mister, can I have one please?"
The owner nodded before he began to prepare the gyoza for her.
"They all look so good." Kiyomi added as the owner placed a tray of one hot and steaming gyoza in front of her. "Thank you mister. How much do I owe you?"
The owner shook his head 'no' just as Kiyomi was ready to pull out her wallet. He pushed the tray further towards her.
"Are you sure?" Kiyomi asked. The owner nodded 'yes'. "Thank you very much, mister!" She took the gyoza with a nod of her head. "Enjoy your day!" She said before she walked off.
The owner watched her leave till he could no longer see her. Just as he was about to take the tray away, he stopped when he noticed a ¥1000 on top of the plate.
'When did she had the time to…' The owner wondered as he snapped his head at the direction Kiyomi walked off. 'Interesting.'
"Mmm! So good!" Kiyomi cheered in glee as she took a bite of the gyoza.
"Arf!"
"Huh?" Kiyomi looked down to see a small Chihuahua sitting behind the gate of one of the houses. The dog was staring at her with its tongue out. Kiyomi looked at her gyoza then back at the dog. "Oh, you must be hungry too, huh?" She asked with a smile which the dog barked in agreement.
She kneeled down at the dog as she teared off a small piece and slipped her hand through the bars towards the dog. "Here you go." She watched as the dog sniffed the small piece of the gyoza before it accepted the food. "Pretty good, huh?" The dog barked before it rubbed its head against her hand.
She giggled as she petted the Chihuahua's head. "You are just too cute."
Suddenly she heard a growl coming from her side. She slowly looked up to see a Doberman standing beside the Chihuahua.
"Whoa!" She jumped a bit by surprise appearance of the Doberman until she noticed that the dog was staring at her gyoza as well. She sighed to herself before she broke the gyoza in half and offered one of the half pieces to the Doberman. "You want some too?"
She watched as the Doberman began to sniff the gyoza for a while. She assumed that maybe the dog didn't want it and was about to pull it away from it until the Doberman licked the gyoza off of her hand and ate it.
"My, you two must have been hungry for something other than dog food." Kiyomi joked before the Doberman licked her hand and rubbed its head against her hand as like the Chihuahua did before. She could guess that it was Doberman's way of saying 'Thanks'.
"You're welcome." Kiyomi looked down at her watch and gasped. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!" She quickly jumped up and ran off before she shouted to the dogs, "Bye bye!"
Luckily, Kiyomi made to school in time just minutes before the bell rang. Right now, it was break time as Kiyomi was making her way towards her friends' classroom.
Just as soon as she opened the door, she heard Gokudera's voice, "Supernatural powers?"
She walked towards Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto as Tsuna said, "Yeah, he was all like, bam, without even touching the dog."
"Is that even possible?" Gokudera wondered as Kiyomi stood beside Yamamoto. "10th, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
"There's no way! I'm sure he was all like-"
"Who was all like what?" Kiyomi asked, grabbing the boys' attention.
"Whoa! Where did you come from, Kiyomi?!" Tsuna screeched.
"From my classroom." Kiyomi simply said.
Yamamoto laughed as he said, "You sure know how to sneak up on us, Kiyomi!"
"Not like I mean too." Kiyomi shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe we should get you a bell." Gokudera joked.
"What do I look like, Gokudera? A cat?"
"Maybe."
Kiyomi stuck her tongue out at Gokudera before she turned her attention back to Tsuna and asked, "So what were you talking about, Tsuna?"
"On my way to school, I was having some gyoza when I got into some trouble with a large dog."
"Large dog? You mean the cute Doberman along with the cute Chihuahua?" Kiyomi asked.
"Yeah! Wait, how did you know?! What do you mean cute?!"
"Because I ran into them and shared some of my food with them. They looked like they were hungry." Kiyomi simply said with a smile.
"I'm surprised they didn't attack you at all." Tsuna said in amazement.
"Even mean animals like the Doberman need a little kindness too, you know. Anyway, so what happened next?"
"Oh, right, anyway, this little kid came out of nowhere and did some kind of moves to the dog. Next thing I know, the dog just float up in the air and back inside the gate."
"Tsuna." Reborn popped out of nowhere from Tsuna's desk, scaring Tsuna as usual.
"Reborn!"
"Hello, Reborn. Good to see you." Kiyomi greeted with a nod of her head.
"Likewise." Reborn turned his attention back to Tsuna and said, "Tsuna, everyone goes through a stage where they believe in such things."
"I don't wanna hear that from a baby!"
"Now hold on, Tsuna. Maybe Reborn is on to something." Kiyomi said, grabbing the boys' attention again.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe you're over thinking about what you saw with the kid. For all we know, it could be just a simple little thing and we don't even know what it is." Kiyomi said with her hand resting on her chin.
"As always, Kiyomi is so smart." Yamamoto complimented as he rubbed his hand on top of her head.
"Hey, Baseball-freak, don't you dare touch her so casually like that." Gokudera growled.
"Now, now. She doesn't seem to mind."
"Why you!"
The day of school has ended and now everyone in each class is cleaning up their classroom and in the hallway. Right now, Kiyomi was sweeping the floor in the hallway while humming a small tune.
"Hey." A voice called out to her.
Kiyomi looked up to see Hibari standing in front of her with the same intense stare on his face.
"Oh man, it's Hibari Kyoya!" One of the students whispered in fear.
"What does he want with Kiyomi-chan?!"
"I don't know! I just hope it's nothing too bad!"
"Yes? Can I help you?" Kiyomi asked as she narrowed her eyes at Hibari.
"It appears that baby isn't here today."
"Baby…You mean Reborn? What about him?"
"Since he isn't here, I'll settle with you." Hibari charged at her. Kiyomi's eyes widen as she was pushed up against the wall with Hibari's hands resting against both sides of her head, causing her to drop the broom she held. "Fight me."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Kiyomi sighed before she asked, "And what would be the point of all this?"
Before Hibari could answer her question, a voice called out, "Kiyomi!" Both Hibari and Kiyomi turned to the side to see Gokudera and Yamamoto.
"Are we interrupting?" Gokudera asked with a glare.
"No." Kiyomi answered as she slipped out of Hibari's arms and looked over her shoulders and said, "It looks like I'm needed elsewhere. Perhaps we should continue this conversation some other time, Hibari."
Kiyomi turned towards one of the students from her class asked, "Do you think you can cover cleaning for me till I come back?"
"S-Sure!" The student exclaimed with his face completely red.
"Thanks." Kiyomi turned back to Gokudera and Yamamoto and asked, "What's up?"
"We need your help in finding 10th."
"Finding Tsuna? Why?" Kiyomi asked with an eyebrow risen up.
"He's been gone a long while since he ran into some kid." Yamamoto replied.
"Wait, what kid?" Kiyomi asked.
"Some kid came up and said something to 10th in a language I can't understand and left with him." Gokudera explained.
"Hmm, then might I suggest we split up and search for him. I can start by looking up at the roof." Kiyomi suggested.
"Good idea. I can look for him around the halls." Gokudera said.
"Then I'll look for him at the fields." Yamamoto said.
"Let's go." Kiyomi ran off with Gokudera and Yamamoto following her as Hibari watched them with the same intense stare.
"What are you standing around for?" All of the students jumped in fear as Hibari stared at them. "Get back to work or I'll eliminate you."
"Yes!"
Kiyomi jogged up the stairs that led up to the roof until she noticed Kyoko walking up ahead of her. "Kyoko-chan?" She called out.
"Hmm?" Kyoko turned around and said, "Oh, Kiyomi-chan."
"What are you doing here?" Kiyomi asked as she walked up to Kyoko's side.
"I'm looking for someone."
"Who?"
"A kid."
"Is everyone looking for a kid today and I wasn't included?" Kiyomi joked.
Kyoko laughed and said, "I'm looking for the kid because he forget this." Kyoko showed Kiyomi a small bindle in her hands.
"Oh."
"I remembered that he and Tsuna-kun were making their way towards the rook. So I thought I'd return it."
Kiyomi smiled and said, "You sure are kind, Kyoko. That's a good quality of yours."
"Thank you." Kyoko smiled with a blush.
"Would you mind if I tag along?"
"Not at all."
"Great. Just give me a second to tell Gokudera and Yamamoto since they were looking for him." Kiyomi said after she pulled out her white cellphone and began to text a quick message to her friends. If you're wondering how Kiyomi got their numbers, it's simply, she and the boys exchanged their numbers after the whole 'Haru' event.
Once Kiyomi was done with texting, she and Kyoko made their way up to the entrance of the rook and noticed Tsuna, Reborn and the kid everyone was talking about.
The kid is mostly bald except for a single braid on top of his head. His eyes appeared to be closed and is wearing a red cheongsam-style shirt with white sleeve cuffs over dark shorts. Kiyomi also noticed red sports on his cheeks and noticeably no ears. Based on appearance, she could guess that the kid is Chinese.
"Oh, there you are!" Kyoko called out as she and Kiyomi walked towards the kid. "You forgot this." Kyoko presented the bindle to the kid.
"Kyoko-chan! Kiyomi!" Tsuna called out.
The girls turned towards Tsuna. "Tsuna-kun."
"Why are you sitting on your but for?" Kiyomi asked.
Suddenly, the kid jumped on Kiyomi's leg, causing her to look down at the kid. "What's wrong?" She asked before she noticed marks on his forehead that looks like Mahjong tile pieces' characters representing numbers. "What the?" She muttered to herself when the number changed from eight to seven.
"During the countdown, I-Pin clings to people for reassurance." Reborn explained.
"He does what?!" Tsuna screeched.
"Countdown? What countdown?" Kiyomi asked.
"Kiyomi, you're in danger!" Tsuna jumped up and ran towards her in fast speed. He grabbed a hold of I-Pin and tried to pull him off of Kiyomi's leg. After a few attempts, he was able to successfully pull him off just before the number changed again. Tsuna screamed before he threw I-Pin up in the air.
"Hey, 10th, here you are." Gokudera said as he walked towards the group. "Thanks for the heads up, Kiyomi. Hmm?" He noticed I-Pin was falling down and caught him in his arms.
"Gokudera-kun, watch out! Toss that kid!" Tsuna shouted.
"O-Okay. Here you go!" Gokudera tossed I-Pin back to Tsuna.
"Not to me!" Tsuna caught I-Pin and noticed the number on his forehead is down to four. Tsuna screeched as he tossed I-Pin again.
"Yo, Tsuna! There you are. We've got make-up classes again." Yamamoto appeared through the entrance and noticed I-Pin coming towards him.
"Yamamoto!"
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and caught I-Pin. "Catcher! Back home!" He threw I-Pin towards Tsuna like he was throwing a fast ball in a baseball game.
"I got it!" Kiyomi got in front of Tsuna and tossed I-Pin up in the air with a high kick in the nick of time. Just seconds after I-Pin was launch up, his body glowed in a bright light and exploded like a huge bomb.
"You okay, Tsuna?" Kiyomi looked over her shoulder.
"Yeah. Thanks a lot, Kiyomi." Tsuna sighed in relief.
"What was that?" Kyoko asked.
"What just happened?" Yamamoto added.
Kiyomi looked up to see an unharmed I-Pin falling down from the sky. Kiyomi held out her arms and caught I-Pin and cradled him gently. I-Pin slowly regained consciousness and noticed Kiyomi smiling down at him.
"Glad to see you're okay." Kiyomi sighed in relief.
"Who is this?" Tsuna asked. Everyone looked to see Tsuna was looking at a picture. Everyone gathered around him to see a man with a big head, chin…well big everything.
"What a scary old man." Kyoko commented.
"It's you, the target. I-Pin kill you!" I-Pin answered in broken Japanese.
"Me? This doesn't look anything like me!" Tsuna exclaimed as he showed the picture to I-Pin.
"Try these." Reborn placed a pair of glasses over I-Pin's eyes. I-Pin started to focus for a minute until he finally noticed the difference between Tsuna and the man on the picture.
"You're someone else. I-Pin messed up."
"You seem to be ultra-near-sighted." Reborn stated.
"You targeted 10th by mistaking his identity. I won't forgive you!" Gokudera growled at the kid.
"So you were after the wrong person? That happens a lot." Yamamoto said with a laugh.
'Not that often.' Kiyomi thought with a sweat drop on the side of her head.
"A kid on a job…" Tsuna muttered before everyone started to laugh.
Kiyomi was standing in front of Tsuna's door with Gokudera and Yamamoto standing behind her as she rang the doorbell. Yamamoto thought that it was the weekend, it would be a good idea for everyone to get together and work on homework since Tsuna and Yamamoto got extra homework…again.
"Hello!" The door opened to reveal Tsuna. "Huh?"
"Hey, Tsuna, we're here. Gokudera had some free time, so I asked him to come too." Yamamoto greeted.
"I was worried to just have Yamamoto with you and Kiyomi. I would've been fine by myself…" Gokudera said.
"Come on, it's a lot more fun if we all do our homework together." Yamamoto stated as he entered Tsuna's house.
"Anyway, come on in." Tsuna said.
"Thank you, Tsuna." Kiyomi said as she entered inside.
Kiyomi and the others made their way to Tsuna's room before I-Pin entered in the room with Lambo following him.
"Go away!" I-Pin shouted.
"Monster!" Lambo shouted as he chased after I-Pin.
"That's…What are you doing in 10th's room?!" Gokudera snapped.
"They must be here to have fun too." Yamamoto said.
"More like Lambo is scaring I-Pin on purpose." Kiyomi said.
Gokudera charged towards the kid and grabbed Lambo from behind. "You…"
"Don't get in Lambo-san's way!" Lambo shouted before he farted on Gokudera's face, causing him to release Lambo.
"You stinky cow!" Gokudera glared at Lambo before chasing after Lambo and I-Pin. "Wait right there!"
"Watching Gokudera acting like this with kids is too funny." Kiyomi said as she covered her laugh with her hand.
Gokudera was able to grab Lambo again and started to strangle him. "Stupid cow."
"Hey, cut it out, Gokudera!" Kiyomi walked towards him and took Lambo.
"How dare you, Gokudera-san!" Everyone turned towards the door to see Haru. "You're horrible for bullying a kid."
"And another annoying person's here…" Gokudera muttered.
"Be nice." Kiyomi muttered with a gentle kick to his back before she placed Lambo back on down on the floor.
"Haru, why are you here?" Tsuna asked.
"I came to play!" Haru stated before she noticed I-Pin. "Oh, there's another cute kid here!"
I-Pin was silent for a moment for he pointed at Haru and said, "Shumai monster!"
"Eek!"
"Well, that was…random." Kiyomi said with a sweat drop on her head.
"I'm broccoli!" Lambo shouted.
"Repel, now!" I-Pin did a stance and pushed Lambo back until he hit the bedroom wall and fell down on the bed.
Reborn was kind enough to explain to Kiyomi and the others about I-Pin's abilities. He doesn't have psychic powers, it's actually Gyoza-Kempo. It's a technique that allows the user to send a wave of garlic scent straight to the enemy's brain. It numbs the brain, which makes the muscles of one's enemy move involuntarily.
Lambo slowly got up with tears began to form at the corner of his eyes. "Gotta…stay…calm…Messy haired Lambo-san won't be defeated by someone with a funny head!" I-Pin flinched at the comment.
"Lambo, that is not a nice thing to say!" Kiyomi said with stern in her voice.
"You're just a Tail-Head! Tail-Head!"
I-Pin was sweating so much, his head glowed to reveal the Mahjong countdown.
"It's the countdown!" Tsuna screeched.
"Crap!"
"That dangerous game again?" Yamamoto asked with a smile.
I-Pin jumped on Tsuna's leg which terrified him while Kiyomi was trying to calm down Lambo.
"Lambo, please calm down." Kiyomi rocked Lambo in her arms while ignoring the background noise. However, Lambo wasn't listening as he began to dig in his hair. "Lambo, what are you doing?"
Everyone turned towards them to see Lambo pulling out a familiar bazooka.
"There's no time! What should I do?!" Tsuna cried out.
"Let's do this." Reborn appeared from behind Kiyomi and kicked Lambo on the back of his head, causing him to launch the bazooka on I-Pin and fired it on him, filling the room with smoke.
"You're using the 10 Year Bazooka on I-Pin?" Kiyomi asked as she gently placed the unconscious Lambo on the bed.
"Right, so the explosion took place in the future."
"Then the person here is…" The smoke cleared to reveal a…girl?! A girls was standing in I-Pin's place with long black hair in two braids and a pair of black eyes while wearing a white uniform with a matching headscarf and holding a large container.
"What gives? I was making a delivery and I ended up here?" Older I-Pin asked in perfect Japanese.
"No way, I-Pin's a girl?!" Tsuna was just as shocked as everyone else in the room, except for Reborn.
"I-I don't believe it." Gokudera muttered.
"You're telling me." Kiyomi agreed.
"Who's that? Someone you know?" Yamamoto asked.
"She's cute!" Haru added.
"This is bad." I-Pin said as she looked at her watch. "The ramen is going to get soggy. Mr. Kwahira's really fussy about them."
"She's fluent in Japanese too. Impressive." Kiyomi commented, grabbing I-Pin's attention.
I-Pin gasped and exclaimed, "Kiyomi-onee-san!"
"Kiyomi-onee-san?!"
I-Pin bowed to Kiyomi and said, "I want personally say thank you for everything you've done for me after all these years."
"Uh…you're welcome?"
"What is she talking about, Kiyomi?" Tsuna asked.
"If I has to guess…probably something that'll happen years from now."
I-Pin turned her attention to Tsuna and greeted, "Oh you're Sawada-san. Good afternoon."
"I-Pin, you're…a lot more feminine."
"What are you saying? Flattery will get you nowhere, but nice try! I guess your lessons got another one, Kiyomi-onee-san."
'She's getting embarrassed like a normal person…all thanks to my lessons?' Kiyomi thought with her head tilted to the side.
"Then, what about the Mahjong Mega Bomb? And what about kempo?" Tsuna asked.
"Geez, Sawada-san I gave that up a long time ago, didn't I? I have to work lots to save up for college."
"I-I see."
"When I decided to quit kempo, I had my master seal the Mahjong Mega Bomb with a trigger word. After that, I asked Kiyomi-onee-san to teach me in the ways of feminine."
"Me?" Kiyomi pointed at herself.
"Yes! I better get going before the ramen gets soggy." I-Pin said as she walked out of the room and the house with everyone following her. "Anyway, I've got to make this delivery."
"Hey, what happened to the Tail-head?!" Lambo shouted as he ran outside the house.
"Oh, Lambo, you're done crying?" Kiyomi asked. When I-Pin noticed Lambo, she gasped as her eyes widen in fear. "I-Pin, what's wrong?"
"Broccoli monster…"
"Huh?"
"Ahh! My head!" I-Pin cried in pain while holding her head. Suddenly, the Mahjong countdown appeared on her head.
"Don't tell me the trigger keyword was 'Broccoli monster'?!" Tsuna shouted in fear. "Everyone, run for it!" Suddenly, I-Pin jumped on Tsuna and wrapped her arms and legs around him.
"What are you doing to Tsuna-san?! Tsuna-san is mine!" Haru screeched as she tried to pull I-Pin off of him.
"Let go of the 10th!" Gokudera shouted as he helped out.
"You sure are popular, Tsuna!" Yamamoto commented.
"In this case, it's not a good thing, Yamamoto!" Kiyomi exclaimed.
"Hi." Bianchi greeted while walking by.
"Crap. It's Sis." Gokudera groaned before falling down to the ground unconscious.
"Hi, Bianchi." Kiyomi quickly greeted.
"Hey! Where did Tail-Head go?" Lambo asked again.
"Let go, let go!"
"Listen to me! Where did Tail-Head go?"
Kiyomi groaned as she placed a hand on her head. "You all right, Kiyomi?" Yamamoto asked.
"Yeah, just getting a major headache right now."
Suddenly, a huge light and explosion filled the area, blinding everyone that was in the area. Once the smoke cleared up, everyone was on the ground covered in dirt and groaning in pain.
"I'm definitely going to be feeling this in the morning." Kiyomi groaned out.