Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or stuff.

Word Count: 7186

Part 27: We Had Time

Friday, Saturday.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

With the days passing by the less she saw of Tsuna, the more time she spent talking with her father, the stronger her mother's hugs became. This whole Ring Thing that was going on was apparently becoming a much bigger deal, not only were Takeshi and Hayato disappearing off to who knows where, but Ryohei had been very come and go at the house.

Natsume rubbed her face, lightly flinching at the tenderness when her hand brushed over her nose. An irritable sound left her before she continued on getting dressed, being the last one to leave the locker room.

She had been warned today by Mirai (the Vice-Captain) that if she didn't start focusing she wouldn't be in the game rotation and dammit she had been working too hard to not play.

Hana had already asked her over lunch if she was fine, noticing how spacy she was, meanwhile Kyoko had wondered aloud what exactly her brother had started doing because he was coming home at odd hours with a small child in tow.

"School hours are over," a deep voice spoke up, and had it been over a year ago she may have been surprised, but though Kusakabe's steps were light and barely heard, she could still hear how his heel lightly dragged against the gravel.

Natsume looked at the taller teen, who quirked one brow at her, "Quick question Kusakabe-san," the tall teen only blinked and she continued on, "What has Hibari-san been up too?"

Kusakabe looked as if he was about to say something, instead his eyes flicked over to the roof of the school, before looking back at her, "He's busy."

She made a light popping sound with her mouth, nodding because she kind of understood (and knew, kind of sort of) what exactly was keeping the head prefect busy.

"Well I guess I'll be going then."

And she left.

Instead of making the usual right to go home, Natsume went left.

Now usually she would have gone over to bother Kawahira, but the way he had gotten at the end of the last lesson made her rethink that decision. Instead of making a right at the third light that would take her to the market district, she continued onward.

In ten minutes she found herself nearing a spot she hadn't been to in a good couple weeks. The peacefulness of the area was still there and she let her senses stretch out, her flames coming out and floating above the ground like its namesake.

She sat down, pulling her knees up so she could rest her chin on them, one arm wrapping around them, while her right hand came up, palm up and fingers curling in as if she was beckoning something forward. From the mist rose an animal larger than Emi, its tail flicking to and fro before it bounded off through the mist and began to search the area.

Reborn and Tsuna should be around here somewhere along with that other kid (her father's apprentice). She wondered if she would be able to see or get her creations memories; she was able to use them to communicate, so receiving whatever they had seen shouldn't be too different right?

/|\

When the little fox she had created came back to her, it melted under her touch and she felt for a moment if she could recall what the creature had seen.

Not much came to her and she decided to leave that for now; pushing herself up she began to make her way out towards her home. She huffed a little as she wrapped her arms around herself to stave off a bit of the chill that was beginning to settle.

Coming home a little later was not unusual for her, her mother and brother rarely commented on it when she did, but it seemed her father wasn't at all pleased, even though it was barely past seven (time sure does fly when you don't bother paying attention to it at all.)

Iemitsu didn't say anything though, only looking her over to make sure she was fine, before lightly flicking her forehead, "You should call to let us know you'll be out late."

Her mother clucked her tongue at them, just having come down from upstairs a basket filled with dirty linens in her arms, "Tsu-chan is responsible, there's no need for that as long as she's not out too late on a school night."

Natsume was about to add in that Tsuna was usually the one that stayed out late (or the fact that she really didn't have the phone seeing as the one Dino had left behind had suffered a terrible fate when Lambo had accidentally knocked it out of Tsuna's hands and it fell into his cup of water), but decided that maybe that wouldn't help whatever was happening between her parents.

"She may be, but there are people out there who aren't –"

"Oh? Exactly who are these people Iemitsu –"

Feeling uncomfortable, Natsume bailed out of there as quickly as possible, heading upstairs and to her room. She could still hear her parent's voices, though they weren't loud or being rude with one another, they were talking, and from what she could make out her mother was making rather barbed remarks.

'I know what to expect of this town more than you, so what say you Iemitsu?'

'Yes you do, but I just don't feel comfortable with the kids being out this late especially with there being a high possibility of someone trying something.'

'This is why I stayed out of what my cousins were doing; no good or peaceful mind comes from this life.'

'…..I never wanted this for any of you.'

'I'm sure, but secrets tend to get rather nasty when you hold them too close don't they?'

It reminded Natsume of the times when her mother would have to show up to the parent teacher conferences in elementary school with the other parents when either child (mostly her) had gotten in a physical fight with the others.

She almost felt sorry for her father, he had kind of brought this on himself and if he had to deal with a snippy Nana until all her mother's pent up anger was out, then so be it (her mother would feel bad, because she disliked letting her anger get the best of her, but really who in their right mind would push the calm woman's buttons?)

Her cat chirped at her, pulling Natsume from her thoughts and she finally dropped her school and gym bag on her bed.

"You want a snack, Emi?"

The amber eyed cat stared at her unblinkingly, taking a seat right where it stood while its owner walked over to her desk and opened up one of the drawer's. A yellow baggie was pulled out, the packaging crinkling as she opened it and picked out a big fat treat and held out to the cat, who only stared at the offered treat.

"Just take it out of my hand."

This time the cat blinked, its paw lifting up to tap at it before swatting it off Natsume's palm and sending the fish-flavored snack under her desk. Hearing the clattering sound it made across the floor, the cat was chasing after it; completely missing her owner's bemused expression.

"My cat's an idiot," she realized, as she watched the black cat play with the treat instead of eat it. Buzzing her lips, Natsume decided not to think too much on her cat's silliness and instead headed towards her closet where she pulled out her night clothes.

Without further distraction (at least ones that didn't include her accidentally eavesdropping on her parents or musing over her cat), she headed towards the bathroom. Before she did though, she peeked into the spare bedroom and saw both Lambo and I-pin knocked out on their futons, with Fuuta sitting not too far from them in a beanbag chair reading a book.

The nine year old looked up and gave her a big smile, which she noted was missing a tooth. She smiled back, though hers was probably more tired, but she did wiggle her fingers at him, hand underneath her chin as she did so.

"Goodnight, Natsume."

"Goodnight to you too, Fuuta," she responded, her Italian accented and a little bit fumbled (she blamed that on Jasmine, Spanish though it was similar to Italian was not the same and it still tripped her up if she didn't think about it.)

The kid nodded in approval, so she probably didn't fail to badly – it was just a phrase so really she shouldn't have done too bad at all – before returning to his book and she closed the door, though left it open enough so that there was a slight crack.

With that curiosity sated (because the kids usually were running rampant or doing book stuff that her mother brought up) Natsume headed to the bathroom, were she would happily soak away the next hour or so.

Later on she would realize that even though she had had a slight aversion to Fuuta, the kid was growing on her.

(Much, much later she would realize that the kid actually looked up to her and actually strived to be like her – which she would question, because she was an asshole or at least she thought of herself as such.)

/ | \

It was Wednesday morning and Tsuna was getting ready for school.

He could probably get away with missing today seeing as he had been going the last few days, even after the hellish training that Reborn had been subjecting him too (and Basil, who knew the other teen could put up so much of a fight?)

Finishing getting dressed, he opened the door to his room only to run into his sister, whose hair was frizzy and wavy, looking very disgruntled with the feline that was trailing after her.

"Morning," he said to her, receiving a response back, though she did pause on the first step down as she cast him a rather puzzled look.

"You're still here?" her voice was a little deep from just having woken up, making her sound just a little off to him.

"Reborn let me sleep in," he answered, following her downstairs, noting that she was half ready. "Says I need at least a day to cool everything down."

"That baby is wise," Natsume responded and Tsuna could feel the corner of his lips quirk up at the quip. The next couple minutes passed, Tsuna unknowingly following his sister as she let the cat out and refilled Emi's food and water bowl.

The pair made their way back upstairs (or more like Tsuna followed after his sister like a little duckling) this time into Natsume's room, where Tsuna let himself fall face first into her bed, while she changed her long sleeve shirt for her uniform.

He appreciated the normality of it, especially when she lightly dug her knuckles into his side, "Hey flamethrower, leggo."

"Have you even brushed your teeth?"

His sister made an exasperated sound, "Who do you think I am, Lambo or something?"

Tsuna barely managed to keep from frowning at the six year old's name as he pushed himself up and off her bed, "Or something," he responded with, taking the jacket she held out to him (why did she have his school jacket?)

"Yours is warmer."

"..did I say that aloud?"

"Uh-huh."

Tsuna took his jacket from her, her own already on and he pulled his on as he made his way downstairs, "Packets are due Friday," Natsume said as they walked towards the door, easily slipping on her shoes, "Have you been working on them?"

"..maybe."

Natsume shook her head, opening up the front door, "Oh what are we going to do with you No Good Tsuna."

He stuck his tongue out as he passed her, caught her rolling her eyes, "Careful Clumsy Natsume, don't trip over the welcoming mat."

It had been something that hadn't happened since they were in elementary school, where they would each call each other the name's the other kids would give them – because they didn't mean anything, they were just names.

Reborn watched as the pair walked off, Iemitsu beside him leaning forward against the short gate that led towards the back, "What do you think?"

Iemitsu didn't respond right away, merely taking in the feel and the flow – of the situation at hand and his children, "Everything pushes and pulls, but it will never tear."

Reborn stared at the blond, before looking back in the direction the twin's had left in, "How sure are you about that?" The Sawada's would not be the first family he had seen be pulled apart, loathed as he was to see that happen, but even the best of them fell apart when there was too much pressure.

"My wife, my children," Iemitsu began, a hand coming up to rub over his goatee, "Stubborn and will put up a fight, but family sticks Reborn, no matter what, because if we don't have each other –"

"Then we have nothing," Nana finished, coming up from behind him, arms crossed beneath her chest. Iemitsu nodded, turning so that he wasn't giving his wife his back. She looked between the two, before her gaze settled on Iemitsu and Nana smiled (and maybe he was a little scared, because Nana looked like she was about to pounce and beat him.) "And really dear, you think I'm stubborn?"

The woman shook her head as she walked towards the gate, stopping so she could just reach up and pat Iemitsu on the cheek, "Maybe just a little bit." The light pinch that accompanied the end of that sentence didn't really hurt, but it could have gone much worse.

Nana walked past the two, her thoughts going to her garden and how her bushes needed some tending.

Both Mafioso watched her go, "I can see where the kids get that from."

Iemitsu was lightly rubbing at his cheek with his left hand and nodded slowly, a dopey smile curling the corners of his mouth, "Yeah," the blond sighed out.

It was one of the many things he loved about her.

Part 28: They Arrive

Leviathan was the first to start moving around the town of Namimori, the others had no issue dragging their feet and it slightly irked him, because these people (fucking kids) were already playing games with them.

The chase that they had Squalo go on and then getting duped with fake rings, what else would these brats and the people watching over them come up with?

"Commander Levi, the guardian with the lightning half of the ring has been spotted," came over the bud in his ear. The swarthy skinned man couldn't help feel smug; already they were going to have one up on these brats.

"Details?"

"Target is one Lambo Bovino, six years old – " where these people serious? A child, to be chosen as a guardian, Leviathan didn't feel a bit of remorse for what he knew he was going to do to the child, but wasn't it a bit absurd to make such a decision?

Well at least it made his job easier.

"- currently with Poison Scorpion Bianchi, Fuuta De La Stella, and one unknown child."

The Poison Scorpion didn't hold a candle to him, but he'd rather not drag that one in especially if she has been hanging around the so called false Decimo.

"Tail them; inform me when the Poison Scorpion is out of sight."

Leviathan was impatient, but for this he could wait.

/ | \

"Hey Hayato you look a little –"

"Crispy."

Takeshi got a snort from Natsume, who quickly smothered the following giggles by fake coughing. The silver haired teen promptly ignored them, hands stuffed in his jackets, an unlit cigarette hanging between his lips, "So tenth,"

"Tsuna," Natsume got out between her coughing fit.

"So tenth," Hayato repeated, ignoring said boy's sister and turning to Tsuna, who noted the slight twitch of the teen's brow. "Who are the others? I know the baseball idiot is one –" Takeshi made a noise of protest, if it was to what Hayato called him or Natsume smacking his hands away from her, most people wouldn't really know. "And the lawn head since I ran into him training with Reborn-san's friend."

"I, well I know who the others are, except for one."

"Who are they?"

Feeling everyone's gaze on him made Tsuna want to shrink in on himself, but the teen kept himself from doing that, instead he stood straighter, shoulders relaxed instead of hunched and tried to keep his head high, "Hibari-san and Lambo-kun are the other two; I really don't know anything about the Mist Guardian though."

There was a moment of silence as everyone mulled over the new information, there was a spike of irritation from both Hayato and Natsume, while Takeshi seemed to be pretty calm, though if Tsuna looked at the baseball player he would have seen that the teen was not at all happy to hear that.

"Hibari, I understand," Hayato began, pulling out his lighter from his pocket and fiddling with it as they neared the gates. "The idiot cow though?"

"Lambo," Natsume stressed the name, slightly glaring at the silver haired teen, before looking at Tsuna, "Is six years old."

"I know."

"He's a kid, Tsuna."

"I know."

"What's he gonna do, go in and bite ankles?" Natsume questioned, hands clutching at the straps of her bags to keep them from falling off her shoulder. "We took all his shit away from him, even that damned bazooka," which always found its way back to the toddler in the most unexpected of ways. "How is a kid supposed to –"

Tsuna turned to his sister, eyes narrowed at her, which cut her off because Tsuna never really glared at her, "Natsume I know, I'm pissed as well." It was neither Italian or English that he spoke and it made the girl realize that her brother wasn't at all happy with whoever made the decision.

She let her head fall back, a groan escaping her as her other hand came up to run through her loose hair, "Damn it Papa."

"Why do you think I haven't even bothered to talk with him, he's already brought us into this, but now he wants to drag in Lambo?"

"I'm sure that's not –"

"Are you defending him?" Tsuna snapped, getting Natsume's attention back on him, a frown marring her features.

Takeshi and Hayato shared a look, both lost on how to act because even though they didn't understand, Tsuna's tone spoke much for itself.

"I am not," Natsume responded back evenly, this time in Japanese, "There has to be a reason, Papa wouldn't just pick some six year old to do this."

Tsuna closed his eyes, breathing in deeply, "Well when you find out, let me know so I can understand then, because this is ridiculous." The brunet swiftly turned around and began to walk away, leaving behind his sister and his friend's without another word.

"Takeshi could you…?" Natsume didn't have to finish what she was about to ask of the teen, he was already waving at them and following after Tsuna.

The silver haired teen was about to go after him, but Natsume called him back, "Hayato wait." She bit her the inside of her lower lip, still staring in Tsuna's direction before turning to Hayato, "Tsuna's probably not going home yet," she began, "Could you go home and watch the kids with your sister?"

"At least until I get home, please?" she added.

Hayato's brow rose at that, the cigarette moving up and down as he contemplated it. He knew he would say yes, as much as he liked to complain and argue with Natsume, she was his friend and if she asked this of him (when she rarely ever really asked anything of anyone) he would do it.

Plus it gave him a nice cover to make sure that the cow brat was okay.

"I suppose," he grumbled out, his left hand coming up to pick the cancer stick between his lips and fumble around with it. He used it to point at the girl, who gave him appreciative smile, "You owe me."

"Thank you," she sighed out, hiding a knowing a smile as the teen turned his back on her and began to exit, waving his arm in a jerky motion instead before he disappeared around the corner.

Intermission 11

"Lambo," the twins had the five year old's attention.

After four months of living with them and Auntie Nana, it had taken a bit of work (and lots of tough love) to at least get Lambo to break some of his bad habits (which was still a work in progress). When the kid had first started living with them he had been a bratty, loud, selfish little thing that hardly took into consideration of the others around him – which was understandable, what kid wouldn't act the way he was?

He who had been given almost everything he could possibly ask for, only to have it taken away so that he could learn and hopefully grow up (another act of tough love, but one that failed, terribly.) It had left Lambo to act out even more, to be loud and demanding, to forgo his training and lessons just so they could see him.

He was five, what exactly did he know?

The Bovino still cared for the disinherited heir, judging by the care packages they sent every now and then (and another that got worked around because the poor red head had such luck to come across Lambo when he was in one of his moods and decided to run away from the Sawada home because they weren't giving into his every demand like he had been used to others doing.)

"Lambo," it was Natsume's voice that caught his attention and he tried to listen to them again. "Mama wants to know how you like it here with us?"

The five year old pursed his lips, hand coming to rub at his chin in that thinking gesture he had seen Quinto do often.

"Lambo-san likes it! But –" he hesitated, his face scrunching up as he really thought about what he was going to say.

"But?" Tsuna repeated, leaning down against the table where he had crossed his arms and resting his chin on top of them.

"Lambo would like his weapons back."

"How about," Natsume spoke up after a while, mulling over her words carefully because Lambo could throw a hell of a tantrum when he wanted too. "Every other Sunday, we go out to the forest and use whatever the Bovino send you?"

"My bazooka…."

"Will be where we have told you it is."

"….it's special….."

Lambo's eyes lit up because his siblings hadn't really seen how cool his bazooka was, had they?

"Can I show you? Please, please, Lambo-san promises it will be cool!" he had slipped into Italian without realizing, the twin's glancing at each other as they picked up on certain words.

"It won't be bad will it?"

"No, no!"

"I don't see any harm,"

"..Tsuna…"

"Tsume…."

The elder of the two barely refrained from rolling her eyes, her gaze instead moving from her brother to Lambo, who wanted to squirm because Natsume could be a bit intense sometimes.

"Go get it."

Lambo cheered, standing up and scurrying over to the shared room he had with I-pin, before carefully making his way back, with a case he used for his bazooka and ammo dragging behind him. He flicked the case open, humming a merry tune as he loaded his favorite weapon and turned it on himself.

"Ciao!"

"Oi, Lambo what are you –"

"That's not safe –"

There was a poof that came when Lambo pulled the trigger, the spot he had occupied filled with a plume of pink smoke which quickly faded away and in his spot was –

"Oh, Young Vongola, Big Sis –"

"It's nice to see you again," a ten year older version of Lambo stood where the six year old had once been, Natsume didn't bother holding back from face palming, because really what the hell was the sixteen year old wearing.

"It's a cow Kigurumi, you got it for me actually."

Her forehead hit the low table and she counted by a couple seconds, before she lifted her head and stared at Lambo, who smiled at her, the markings on his cheeks crinkling as he did so, "I honestly thought I wasn't going to see you again."

The older Lambo faked a wounded look, holding both his hands over his heart, "Thank you for believing in me Ane."

"Moving on to more important matters," Hayato interrupted, taking a seat beside Natsume, who let her head fall back onto the table (the surface was cool and it helped soothe the oncoming headache a little). "Do we all get through whatever is happening in one piece?"

"Define one piece and what is happening?"

"The Ring Battle of course! And answer the question properly!"

She moved her head so that it lay sideways and she could look between the two, "Hayato, he can't do that."

"And why the hell not?"

She clucked her tongue at him, "You know for being such a sci-fi nerd, you haven't really taken into account how this is pretty much messing with time."

"…Your point?"

"Fine go ahead, fuck up the timeline."

"Ane has a point."

Hayato emitted an odd sound, one that kind of grossed Natsume out, while Lambo merely tucked his hands into the pockets of his onesie.

"Fine."

The trio fell into an odd silence, before Hayato seemed to give up, "I'm leaving then."

"Bye Hayato, and again thank you," Natsume called after him, the teen gruffly responding in turn after he put his shoes on and left.

"I think everything should be fine," Lambo spoke up, reaching a hand over to ruffle Natsume's hair, earning a hum of approval from the girl. "Please be careful," the teen whispered, mimicking Natsume's position before a plume of smoke enveloped him and his six year old counterpart returned.

Bright green eyes stared at her, seeming a little astounded with her before he smiled brightly and made his way around the coffee table and hugged her, "Lambo?"

"You look sad, Ane."

"I'm tired actually."

"Hm," he didn't let go, instead resting against her for a while longer and she didn't realize when exactly she set her head down again, but she knocked out right there, liking the little peace that had settled.

It was a scene that Tsuna had happened to walk into at the same time his father opened the door to his mother's bedroom, there was an awkward tension, before Iemitsu spoke up, "You take one I take the other?"

Tsuna harrumphed, walking over and picking up Lambo, who was roused by the movement, "Ne, ne, Tsuna-nii, can we go to the park later?"

"Sure," Tsuna answered as he carried Lambo upstairs, his father behind him with his sister in his arms. When the pair had been put into their respective beds, Tsuna taking longer to cover Lambo up, though he still ran into his father in the hallway. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Tsunayoshi," Iemitsu spoke his son's name levelly, not at all affected by the glare that was cast in his direction. "Be careful."

Tsuna almost snorted, but held it back as he headed to his room, "You don't have to say, I already know, no thanks to you," and he snapped the door shut.

"Didn't know you had a temper," Reborn commented from his place on Tsuna's bed. "That's actually more Natsume's thing."

"Yeah, well, I have things to be angry about now."

"Save the teen angst for later," Reborn chided, Leon morphing in his hand into a fly swatter when Tsuna sat beside him and smacked him with it, "You need the help you can get and Iemitsu can help you."

Tsuna didn't make a noise of any type, not after being swatted or lightly berated, "I'm going to the park later with Lambo, if you want to tag along."

"What do you take me for a child?"

"I honestly think you're an old man," Tsuna answered a bit sarcastically, in hopes of getting Reborn to shut up. "But you're too weird."

Reborn blinked, "I am the World's Greatest Hitman," he paused, to add a little affect and when Tsuna's left brow quirked up in a 'aannnd?' sort of way he continued on, "I can do what I want."

"Chyeah, no kidding."

Reborn mockingly sniffed at the boy, "I expect this from your sister not you."

"….We are related, what did you expect?"

"To be able to beat you around a little while longer, you kids are no fun, taking everything too seriously."

Tsuna cast Reborn a deadpanned look, "Am I not supposed too? I'm pretty sure that guy with the sword would have seriously killed me –"

"Like I haven't done so?"

Tsuna pursed his lips, "You don't have intent."

There was a pause and Tsuna felt a chill go up his spine as Reborn cocked his head a bit forward, his fedora shadowing his features, "Do you want to feel my intent?"

"Hiiee, I'm good, seriously you don't have to –"

Reborn looked up as if he hadn't been casting a rather ominous shadow and gave Tsuna cutesy smile, "Then stop complaining," he hopped off the bed and made his way towards the door, though before he left he looked over at Tsuna, that same weird smile twisting his features, "Because I can make Superbia look like a small fish in his own waters."

And he left, overhearing Tsuna mumble, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

/ | \

It was nearing eight by the time Tsuna and Lambo left the park, the six year old tuckered out as he let his head rest against Tsuna's shoulder.

"The Lightning Guardian has left the park."

Levi didn't bother responding, instead he took out the ear bud he had in, his hand clenching around it along with a brief flare of green flames. The tall man began to make his way, already having an idea of which paths the brattling and his handler would take.

Nearly halfway home and Levi took that chance to intervene, stepping into the kid's path, the brunet giving him a questioning look. Tsuna was about to go around the man, but Levi was already ahead of him, pulling out one of his parabolas and holding it out to block his path.

"Excuse me."

Levi sniffed, before he swung his parabola at the teen who didn't hesitate in jumping back, stumbling a bit as Lambo jerked awake at the sudden motion, "You have something I need."

Tsuna set Lambo down, the afro haired kid staying behind him, shaking like a leaf, his eyes wide as he felt the animosity that was directed at him from the big man.

"Who are you?" Tsuna asked, his hands held out, palms facing towards Levi in case the man swung again. The parabola in the man's hand flared with a crackle, the sound it made reminding Tsuna of lightning.

"I won't say it again," Levi spoke, completely ignoring Tsuna and jabbing the point of his weapon at Lambo, "You know what you have, give it to me and I won't make your death too bad."

Tsuna's instincts flared, his hands lit with his own inner fire when the man moved forward, aiming bat him aside and get to Lambo.

"Lambo run!" Tsuna called out, feeling himself being pushed back by the man before him. The man didn't even seem to be straining against him, merely raising a brow before dismissing him.

"Lambo-san, with me!" A familiar voice called out, "Watch out, Sawada-dono!" The whistling of something going through the air was enough for Tsuna to pull away from the man before him and a boomerang would have taken Levi's head if the man hadn't tilted his head to the side.

"Che, kids, you want to play that way?" He reached behind him, pulling out another parabola and gave them a disdainful smile, "We can play that way."

"Help is on the way Sawada-dono," Basil breathed, catching his weapon when it came back and giving Levi a hard look, "We must hold out long enough for them to get here."

Tsuna didn't get a chance to respond as he was once more moving aside, the speed with which the man moved completely going against his size. The teen latched onto the feeling of warmth that sprung forth, bringing it forward as he was taught to do so in his times with Reborn, beside him he could feel Basil doing the same, though with the aid of a pill.

"Don't look down on me!" The man yelled in Italian, irked that these brats thought they had a hope of standing against him. With a grunt Levi swung his parabola's once more, this time doubling the force he used and the two before him were brushed aside leaving an opening for the Italian man to get to Lambo.

"This is completely uncool!" another voice rang out and Levi could feel a tick begin to develop in his eye as he looked at the teen that was running to them. The tick turned into a severe twitch as the man noted exactly who was following after the intruder.

"Haa, were these guys with you?"

"Fucking bastards."

His underlings grunted at the way they were handled (and how could they let a bunch of brats get to them? This wouldn't do, when they returned to Italy there would be punishment awaiting these three….and that's if he was kind enough to let them live past this.

He wasn't.)

Apart from the twitch Levi didn't show any of his aggravation, instead he took in the kids that appeared before him, noting how the other two and the small brunet stood at the front, eyes gleaming and ready to fight.

"Oh Levi~"

Said man let his weapons hang down at his side, side eying his fellow Varia members that just had to appear.

"Seems like you brought them all to you Levi-chan~."

The pierced man's mouth twisted in distaste, "You bastards drag your feet too much."

Lussuria gave him a mocking giggle, a hand resting on his hip as he cocked his head to the side, "Just enjoying the sights~"

"Voii."

Tsuna felt his skin prickle with the amount of chills that passed him, but he didn't take a step back (he refused too; he couldn't show weakness, not now and doing that would show a lot of how he felt than he wanted them to know.)

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," the one with the meanest look called out and Tsuna looked at him, not letting his gaze waver from those scarlet ones. The man dismissed him right then and there, his hand coming out, pointing his fingers as if it were a gun at Tsuna, "Die scum."

/ | \

It was the sound of something whistling loudly that woke Natsume and she looked around her room, feeling completely disoriented because last she recalled she had been in the living room. Pushing herself up from her bed she made her way to the window, pushing it open and trying to place why the outside world was whistling so loudly.

The whistling went up in pitch and she felt herself wide awake.

"Shit, shit, shit," she scrambled over to her desk and pulled one of the drawers open, quickly pulling out a green and white candle that she lit with her flame unconsciously as she moved and set them in the small space she had in her room.

She clasped her shaking hands together, focusing on the dancing indigo lights, as the smoke that curled from it twisted up before disappearing. There was a quiet meow beside her and not really thinking it she reached over and rested her hand along her cat's spine.

The feline's ears merely twitched, sitting still beside its mistress, it's amber eyes on the curiously flickering flames.

"I speak to those who listen," she murmured, "I ask for luck and success for those I care about," the green candle flickered for a second before it burned brighter – whether because she was hoping for it to do that or what, she didn't know. "I wish for the truth and peace, though I have no right to ask since my own tongue tells half-truths., I ask not for myself, but for those around me."

"I give to you myself, an offering of my will."

Both lights flickered and only the green light went out, while the white candle burned the same as ever. Emi moved from her side and sniffed at the smoke that emitted from the candle that had gone out, before moving on and heading towards the open window.

Her cat cried and Natsume let loose a heavy sigh, "I know, maybe next time?"

It was one thing she knew, that she had learned under Kawahira in the last year, that as long as you gave something, it was eventually returned, though often it was in the least unexpected of ways. She nudged the unlit candle, letting the other one burn and fill the room with a sugar cookie scent.

Natsume brought her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them as she wrapped her arms beneath under her thighs and sighed again.

She sat there staring at the indigo flame, not moving until loud footsteps were heard pounding their way up the stairs, followed by a frantic knocking on her door. The light haired brunette pushed herself up, shaking her legs a little to get some feeling back into them while she went to answer her door.

It was her brother, who had a sniffling Lambo in his arms, "Why does it smell like cookies in your room?" Her brother asked sounding a little breathless, letting Lambo move to her when the boy reached out for her and she grabbed him, resting his weight against her hip.

"It smells good," she answered, giving Tsuna a concerned look, "What's up with this one?"

Tsuna's shoulder's sagged, one of his arms coming up to rub the back of his neck, "There are people who really want us dead and Lambo got caught up in it."

Natsume bit on her lip, eyes going from Tsuna to Lambo and she wondered if her brother even realized the connection he had with the kid, hers would have probably been stronger with the kid if she had allowed herself to accept him.

She of course had no intention of having guardians. The only reason her brother was starting to bring his in was because she was starting to accept them and with her pretty much giving the green light, Tsuna's flames latched onto the people he had long ago taken in and considered his.

"Does it have –"

"Yeah, it's gotten worse," Tsuna sighed, leaning his back against the doorway, hands tucked into his pockets. "It seemed that Nono changed his mind and has elected his son Xanxus, dad continues to side with me."

"…are you mad at him for that?" she asked, stepping back and gestured with her head to her bed. Tsuna moved without much prompting and settled himself on his sister's bed, taking Lambo from her and letting him rest in his lap.

"I want to be, but I understand why," Tsuna began, the one hand that wasn't supporting Lambo picking at her linens. "Something isn't right, but we don't know what." Tsuna looked up in time to catch the contemplative look on his sister's face, "I don't want you getting involved Tsume, these people aren't playground bullies, they're trained assassins, they'll do anything to get ahead and if that means –"

"I won't do anything stupid Tsuna, not if it's going to have you throwing a fit over it."

"I am not throwing a fit."

She hummed, couldn't quite help from keeping a knowing smile from appearing on her mouth, "Of course not." It was quiet after that, Lambo blinking slowly and just leaning his head against Tsuna's chest.

(Lambo himself didn't understand why everything that happened that night happened, but he knew it was dangerous with the way everyone had been acting. He sniffled once more, looking up and only really seeing Tsuna's jawline, before looking over at Natsume.

With them around he would be safe though, he knew that much and he hoped that whatever bad things happened his big brother and ane would be there for him.)

"You know that cookie smell isn't so bad," Tsuna spoke up after a while, Lambo long since having knocked out and was drooling on his shirt. Natsume looked over to where the candles she had lit had gone out, her eyes widening as the white candles fire wavered, the purple flame becoming bright gold.

"Say Tsuna how bad would you say you wanted to know the truth, or y'know keep this peaceful?"

She turned to Tsuna who was giving her a funny look, "It's not that I want it, it's that we all deserve it," he answered, wondering what brought his sister to ask him that. Really if it hadn't been for Iemitsu lying and keeping things from them, there probably was a high chance of avoiding the situation.

Or at least whatever was happening wouldn't go down.

Or maybe it all would have gone the same way, but they would have been better prepared and would have had a better understanding of the Underworld's Customs – or at least Vongola's.

His sister looked back towards her closet and he considered that maybe she was seeing shapes in the darkness.

Natsume wasn't at all surprised to see the flame gone, "Why do you ask?"

She turned to him, her hand coming up so that her finger could tap against her cheek in a thoughtful manner, "Curious, very curious, you see –" (1)

Tsuna narrowed his eyes, having a feeling of where his sister was going with this, "Are you going to quote something?" Judging by the way she pursed her lips and a sheepish glint entered her eyes. "This is serious Natsume."

"I know," his sister responded, the sheepishness fading away quickly, "You know if you give enough, the world has a weird way of rewarding you."

Tsuna frowned, not really following with his sister thought process at the moment, "Okay, and?" The world in general hadn't been nice to them, so why would it start now?

The situation they were in just screamed that something was against them.

"Just keep an open mind, Tsuna," his sister said, reaching up and pinching his cheek, earning a pout from her brother. "Everything has a way of coming out."

Author Notes:

(1) Ollivander~~~ from Harry Potter.

So the symbolism, color meaning of the candles I got from this website and white: is the destruction of negative energy; peace, truth, and purity. green: follows along the lines of luck, health, success, fertility and money...I should also start writing down what I want to say within the actual chapters too, damn I forgot what I was going to say. -.-

oh well~

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and that everyone had a decent holiday and new years. Big thanks to the reviewers, the favorites and story alerts, every time I see a notification from ya'll I get super excited. ^^

Until Next Time~

Sorugao