Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or stuff.

Word Count: 8395

Part 36: It is Not Cliché, But When it Rains

"Hey Hayato, hey Ryohei."

"Yo Natsume!"

The silver haired teen was startled, the sudden tensing making him feel the pain his body was in much more acutely. Jade eyes turned to give the fair haired brunette an unimpressed glare (he was pouting, he knew he was pouting, Natsume knew he was pouting, hell even the lawn head knew), "Natsume."

She gave him a half smile, leaning against the doorway of Takeshi's room. Her eyes took in his form, taking in the bandages and the way he gingerly pushed himself up into a sitting position, "Healing good?"

He nodded and was happy that she asked that instead of the 'how are you' 'how are you feeling'. Tsuna had asked him, had been the first one to do so, so Hayato hadn't judged him, it was Ryohei who had been constantly asking him that had made the simple phrases so irritating (he knew the boxer was just making sure he was fine, but still…)

"I should be good by the end of next week."

Natsume hummed walking into the room and taking a seat on the beanbag that was by the bed, which Ryohei could have been sitting on, but the boxer preferred to just lay on the floor, "Did you train today Ryohei?"

The teen shook his head, "Tomorrow I'll be able to start again." It was a lot sooner than he would have given himself, seeing as he had been pretty hurt; those nurses that Colonello had told him to visit at the hospital had been very helpful in furthering along his healing process.

He should probably ask about that when this was all over.

"Oh hey," it was Takeshi, who looked surprised to see her there. "I didn't know you were here."

"I just got here."

"Where's Tsuna?"

"Should be coming back with Reborn any minute now," Hayato answered, deciding to lay back down again.

"Say Natsume," the girl stilled in what she was about to do, looking up at Takeshi, who decided he wasn't going to sell her out to Ryohei. She gave him an inquiring look as she nudged Ryohei's side with her toes, earning her a curious glance from the boxer.

"Yes?" she had forgotten he wasn't ticklish like the others.

"Are you going tonight?"

"I thought there was no…" she trailed off at when the baseball player rose his brows at her, his face saying what he thought about that (really?), as if she was really going to care what the rules said or not. "…should I go?"

Takeshi smiled; head tilting slightly as he decided how he should answer that, "It would be nice." Hayato scoffed at that, turning over onto his side carefully; the baseball player was just dragging the girl into unnecessary danger, which was why he had refrained from finding her yesterday and asking if she would come to his (then again….he fiddled with one of his rings….he still had questions to ask her so maybe she should go.)

It was enough that she had had to be there for Lambo, that she had to witness that brutality, so why was the baseball player being selfish? Then again with Natsume there, she had insured that Lambo was safe and had protected her brother when that Xanxus-asshole took a shot at them. He was also pretty sure she had done something to that one Cervello to get a reaction out of Xanxus.

"Ah, sure?"

Why not? It wasn't like she had anything else planned to do that night apart from sleep.

/ | \

"Something is very wrong, Boss," Oregano spoke quietly into the phone. Turmeric, along with one of the Mists they had snagged along with them was keeping watch as she looked through the many files they had come across. "Nono, he's sent out all of his Guardians, along with the regular guard that keeps watch over him."

"What?"

"Boss, I would urge you to come back, something definitely isn't right and at the moment we don't have many of our own with us right now."

"What has been happening to our subordinates Oregano and why are you informing me of this now?"

The woman exhaled, "Lal Mirch said so," she answered the latter first. "I already said Nono has been sending people out. Once his regular guard was out, he's started calling on ours and we haven't heard back from them."

"Who is still there?"

"Apart from me, it's Tumeric, Rosemary, Lal Mirch, and Anise."

CEDEF wasn't large like Vongola or even the Varia, they were much smaller, with at least four main subordinates that directed anything that Iemitsu handed over to them to their own people. More than anything they were the 'paper pushers' of the Vongola, keeping track of anything and everything that may or may not come their way.

This was why the front of being a business worked so well; there were some civilians that worked for them that did the basic work, though that was still heavily edited. The ones that knew what the business really was were the ones that 'checked in' with other famiglia's, or picked up on a scene that Nono wanted them to check out.

"What about Lavender and Cicely?"

"We can't reach them after they went off to wherever Nono sent them."

Iemitsu cursed, Oregano could picture her boss running a hand over his face as he thought up on what to do. Right now the man was between staying and assuring his family was safe or fulfilling his duty as the head of CEDEF and investigating the matter of the famiglia.

Both important things that no one should have to choose between.

Oregano pitied the man, knowing what the man would decide to ensure that whatever was happening did not occur and hurt anymore people.

"I will arrive as quickly as I can, in the meantime continue looking into whatever is happening."

"Of course boss."

The line ended there and Oregano sighed, turning to Anise who was leaning beside the doorway, ensuring that no noise would escape the room they were currently in.

"So?"

"The boss should be here by tomorrow night at the latest," Oregano spoke, eyes going to Tumeric and giving the man a piercing look. "We'll carry on as we have until we get to the bottom of this."

"Is no one going to try to speak with Nono?" Anise asked, the curly haired woman flicking a piece of hair out of her eyesight.

"We allowed Lavender and Cicely to go and we haven't received word from them," Tumeric spoke up, voice low and a little slow, as if he was thinking over what he was saying. "I hate to sit on a situation like this, but it'd be best to wait for the boss who can actually get out of whatever Nono has been doing."

Rosemary, a short haired red head man sighed heavily, "Perhaps a pair of us should investigate the Varia headquarters as well instead of just focusing here on the main house."

"Splitting up isn't a good idea," Oregano responded, crossing her arms against her chest, fingers tapping against the back of her arm as she did. "You think you can solo it?"

Rosemary gave a sharp smile, "Awe, sending me off alone Oregano?"

The woman snorted, "We cannot allow to fall short two more people Rosemary."

The man raised one shoulder in a half shrug, "I'm capable, but the Varia are inherently nasty people."

"Hurry up and decide, someone's coming," Anise snapped.

"I'll go, I'll go, don't worry about me."

Whatever illusion Anise had cast up was dropped, the files that had been spread out gathered by Oregano as she shook her head at Rosemary's back. The blond woman just hoped something came up, because if these files were anything to go by, Nono had either started losing touch with reality, or someone else was pulling the strings.

This Mosca that was mentioned in one of the documents didn't sit well with her at all and if she couldn't get down to what it was, hopefully Rosemary was able too. If not they'd have to wait around on Iemitsu and she felt that by then it may be too late.

/ | \

Natsume went home after spending some time talking with the guys, making sure that the two who had already gone were at least okay (she would have waited for Tsuna to get there, but he was taking too long and she really wanted to nap.) She didn't get why Hayato kept giving her suspicious glances, nor why it looked as if he was going to ask her something only to back down at the last second.

"I'm home!" she called as she entered her home, not bothering to take off her shoes.

She was greeted by the sight of her father shouldering a travel bag and tugging along a small suitcase. She blinked, not at all expecting him to leave just yet. Her brow wrinkled in confusion, mouth slightly opening, before closing, "….are you leaving?"

Iemitsu's face was odd, she had seen him be serious, but never had he looked so cold or angry, "Something came up that needs my attention."

Natsume licked her lips, eyes moving from her father's person, to her mother who had just come out of her room, arms crossed and mouth turned down into a frown.

Iemitsu walked up to his daughter, settling a hand on her head and ruffling her hair, before it settled on her shoulder, "Do you trust me Natsume?"

Her father's eyes had always been pretty, even now in this state that he was in. She didn't know exactly what he was looking for or why he was asking her that, hadn't she already said she did?

"….I do…"

He nodded, wrapping his arms around her after her quiet admission. He didn't want to promise anything to her yet; he didn't want to say that he would come back, that he would be okay.

"Watch out for them."

Iemitsu pulled away and gave a smile, the way his mouth twisted made it seem as if he had tried something bad, making Natsume huff a short laugh, "Family takes care of family," she poked his cheek and gave him a halfhearted smile. "Please take care papa."

The man nodded, giving her a final kiss on the cheek before he opened up the front door and left.

"Auntie," Lambo's voice piped up in the odd silence that followed the six year old tugging at Nana's pants. "Why are you crying?"

For a second Natsume felt old, flashbacks of a different woman crying over very different reasons, overlapping with the image of her mother, who was crying because now she knew what her husband got up too and the possible danger he was involved in. The teen felt frustrated, because once again in her life (or lives) she felt like she couldn't do much of anything to help her mother.

All she could really do was walk towards the woman and hug her, Lambo picking up on it and wrapping his arms around his auntie's thigh and leaning his head against her hip. Nana gave an odd, watery laugh, placing a hand on her daughter's back and one on top of Lambo's head.

"Oh you two," Nana sniffed, pulling away and using one of her hands to wipe at her face. "I really should be better about this…you all have so much more to worry about."

Lambo made a pitiful sound, "I worry about Auntie, Auntie shouldn't be crying!" He even stomped his foot to try to get his point across.

"Lambo why don't you call the other two and have a sleep over in mama's room?" Natsume suggested, one arm still around her mother, though she didn't look at the woman as she cleared her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Good idea!" the brat of a child turned around, took in a deep breath and yelled, "I-pin, Fuuta! Sleepover in Auntie's room!"

Natsume resisted the urge to face palm, though she couldn't help the corners of her mouth quirking up at Lambo's action, "Hey, if you were gonna do that I would have just called them."

"You do it to Tsuna-nii all the time ane!"

"Shhhh."

Nana couldn't help but giggle and feel a little bit better, that even after her husband left she still had more than enough people to fill in the spaces he left behind. (That and the soothing warmth that filled her was so calming.)

Part 37: It Pours

"Where is Iemitsu?" Reborn asked, the question getting Tsuna's attention and having the brunet give a quick glance around to see if his father was anywhere around. Even when Iemitsu didn't show himself, there was a presence, but right now it wasn't there.

"He left," came Natsume's voice as she pretty much appeared out of there, making Tsuna jump at the suddenness of her appearance.

"Did he say why?"

"All he asked was if I trusted him and he left."

Tsuna scoffed at that, earning a narrowed look from Natsume, "What Tsuna?"

"I don't know how you can stand him sometimes, I mean he's our dad and all, but, ugh," Tsuna trailed off, lips curling in distaste as his hand went through his hair, making the already fluffy mess even messier. "I just can't stand that he does things like this."

"Papa always leaves and comes back."

"And he always hurts mama and doesn't explain anything to us."

Natsume rolled her eyes, "He would explain everything to you if you just bothered talking to him." Seeing that Tsuna was about to rebuke that, Natsume held up her hand, looking actually upset with him for a split second. "No, I don't want to hear it, I get it your mad, he lied, he dragged us into this, but you being stubborn and a little shit about it isn't going to fix it."

"You make it seem as if I'm wrong for feeling like I do."

Natsume spared a glance to Reborn, as if trying to have someone that felt that Tsuna was being a brat about it. She wasn't exactly good at reading the hitman yet, but going by the way his mouth was drawn she could assume he probably thought similarly.

Or he didn't care and was just annoyed by this.

"It's not wrong, go ahead, get lost in your feels," she tucked her hands into the pocket of her grey hoodie. "But you have to talk to him."

"Why?"

"You just gotta."

"Your sister may have a point."

"See this is why I'm the elder sibling," she said prissily at him, sticking her nose up in the air.

"You're only older by like twenty minutes –"

"Thirty five minutes, young one."

"Hey guys!"

The scene Takeshi, Hayato and Ryohei came upon was one were Tsuna had his arms crossed against his chest, one hand held up covering his eyes and shaking his head, while Natsume looked a touch smug. Breathing in deeply, Tsuna pulled his hand away from his face, making a point to ignore Natsume while greeting his friends.

"Everything alright Tsuna?" Takeshi asked, thumping the shorter teen on the back. "You never showed up when you said you would."

"Oh," he had forgotten he would do that, too caught up in his training especially after Basil had given him one of those pills he had been using, which wow, had been a rather thrilling experience and had made it a lot easier to slip into what Reborn had started calling Hyper Dying Will mode.

He had done it once with Mukuro when Reborn had shot that bullet at him and though he knew he could use the aide of the pills or Reborn's bullets, Tsuna wanted to be able to do it himself, without the help or 'cheats' that had been made.

Now that he had been able to experience a longer time in that mindset, he had actually been able to slip in and out for a few seconds on his own merit.

"I…got caught up in doing something."

Reborn refrained from rolling his eyes, what Tsuna had just admitted being an understatement. Basil had long since left and Tsuna ended up washing up in the nearby river they were training by because he had decided to meditate and maintain Hyper Dying Will mode on his own.

Which good for the teen, because he was succeeding, downside was he probably wouldn't be able to maintain it for long on his own.

"Are you ready Takeshi?" the brunet asked, moving on from his thoughts and focusing on his friend, who gave him his usual bright grin and a thumbs up. Hayato shook his head at the rather carefree way the baseball player responded, hands tucked into his pockets, while Ryohei seemed to approve.

Tsuna seemed in-between on how to feel on his friends response, so he just decided to nod slowly while giving the dark haired teen a considering look, "So Tsume," he turned his attention back to his sister, who he didn't feel as exasperated with as he had before. "Why are you here?"

Here Takeshi grinned, leaning over and putting an arm around Natsume's shoulders, "I asked her to come for moral support!"

Natsume clucked her tongue, seeming unimpressed with the taller teen's actions and elbowing him in the side to get him from leaning his weight on her. "He's not wrong, but if he insists on using me as an armrest, he's going to wish I was here for moral support."

Takeshi stopped putting his weight on her, but still kept his arm around her, earning a rather pointed look from Tsuna. The baseball player shrugged, but he did pull back his arm away from Natsume, the hand now resting on his hip as he stood to his full height.

"I'm ready for whatever comes."

"You better hope you are," that was Dino, the teen turning to look and giving the blond a bland look. "I trust that you are prepared Yamamoto, but Squalo leaves no survivors."

Natsume was surprised at the almost frosty look that Takeshi gave Dino, having known that the two got along well. This was new, something she had obviously missed and probably wouldn't be told about as it seemed to be just between the two.

"I'm sure Tsuyoshi-san made sure Takeshi had a chance of winning," Natsume said, not really liking the vibe that was being put out.

Dino cast her quick look, before shrugging his shoulders, "I know Squalo," the blond sighed out, a hand coming up to run through his hair. "Just, be careful."

Takeshi nodded and began walking in, the others following behind him.

Only Natsume stayed behind, the others not noticing (though Reborn did, but he didn't say anything). One of her hands coming out of her pocket to pull on the silver chain that she wore around her neck. The purplish pink crystal in her hand was warm, she grasped at the long piece (one of the first that Kawahira had given her) and offered up a small prayer, "To they who listen, I ask to not let our rain yield beneath the shark that awaits him."

"Interesting words Sawada," Natsume sniffed, eyes looking at an oddly smirking Hibari, who eyed the soft glow in her hands before looking back up at her, "I still have yet to see if the little kitten has some bite to her."

"Bite me, Hibari."

The teen's smirk looked wicked, "I want to see what you're capable of Sawada," he moved in closer, trying to intimidate the shorter girl with his height, though she remained unfazed. "We should fight."

"Why? I haven't done anything wrong."

"I will find you soon," and he brushed past her, heading into his school to see what the big fuss of these fights were to be tearing apart his school.

"What the absolute fuck?"

You know what, maybe she would fight him, just to punch his smug ass face in.

/ | \

Takeshi felt light as he was guided to where to go for his battle.

He didn't feel as nervous as he thought he would, not even once the battle started. Not even when Squalo was bearing down on him, or when the water falling from above began to pour down on them, making everything blurry and heavy.

Squalo was a different level of beast that he had ever faced, the cut across his abdomen aching, along with the pain that flared every time he moved his left arm. He was knowledgeable, able to counter the few forms of the Shigure Soen that he had already used.

Takeshi felt as if he should be panicking, how he should have listened to Dino, how he should have had a backup to this in case this failed. He had been so sure and now it was being proven wrong to him.

But, his grip tightened on the pommel of his sword, eyes narrowing as he took in Squalo's relaxed form. The man only raised a brow, sneering at him as if asking him what else he had.

"Is that all you got for me shit stain?" the man yelled at him, voice barely heard over the roar of rain above them and the blood pounding in Takeshi's ears.

No.

His father said that it was all about his want, about what he was willing to give.

"Let me guess, Autumn Rain?" the man taunted, readying himself for whatever the brat threw at him. Takeshi had no clue what the man was talking about as he moved forward, watching as Squalo brought up his sword to pierce right through him, only for Takeshi to duck under the strike and slash up inside Squalo's guard.

"Pouring Rain."

The Varia Rain couldn't help but smile sharply through the pain, not at all caring about the way his body protested his moving, easily ignoring the feeling of blood dripping down his stomach (it was a shallow cut, but the intensity had been there, both by the way the brat before struck and how far it had thrown him back.)

"Well let's play for real now scum."

/ | \

Takeshi had managed another good hit with the form he had come up with on the fly, but it appeared that was the end of the baseball player's luck as he was forced down on one knee.

Tsuna couldn't do anything else but helplessly stare at the screen as he once again watched one of his friends backed into a corner, this time with no way to turn it around. Squalo rested the flat end of his sword on the baseball player's shoulder, showing that if he could he would take off his head right there.

They couldn't hear exactly what was being exchanged, but the rising water and the panicked looking Takeshi whose mouth curled in disgust (whether with himself or at the situation) had everyone on edge. Without much prodding, Squalo yanked the ring around Takeshi's neck, and with another move he grabbed the teen and tossed him away into the ground level that had filled up.

Dino cursed, already moving towards the doors, Tsuna right behind him not at all hearing the announcement of Squalo's victory.

"How the hell do we get inside of this?" Dino yelled as the main entrance had been blocked up to ensure that no water or anything would get out into the grounds. Tsuna tried racking his brain for another way to get into school building, but couldn't think of anything.

"I have an idea," Natsume murmured, staring straight ahead at the doors, the calmness in her voice catching everyone's attention.

"Natsume what –" but his words fell on deaf ears as his sister moved forward, hands resting against the side of the building, taking a deep breath before she phased through the thick, solid, concrete wall.

"A Mist is capable of anything their mind decides they are able to do," Reborn spoke up in the silence that followed the supposedly impossible feat. "Gokudera, Tsuna, don't you remember Mukuro and what he was capable of?"

Tsuna frowned, while Hayato scowled.

Of course they had an idea of what people like Natsume and Mukuro could do, but there had to be a limit. Conjuring fire wasn't odd, Tsuna did it all the time, it was when reality was twisted in ways it should never be, that shouldn't be possible that made it hard to believe that there were people who could do it and use it so casually.

It wasn't hard finding Takeshi after she let her flames search and have them lead her to him. There was only the presence of a dangerous animal that she was sure had been released already and was only taking its time to hunt down its prey.

She found Takeshi trying to keep himself afloat, the shock of having been thrown aside like that not settling as he was more focused on living.

"Natsume?" the teen gasped as the girl swam over to him. She didn't say anything, merely placing her hand over his mouth and nose, a purplish blue fire drifting over his skin and forming a breathing mask of sorts.

"We have to go now, before that thing finds us," she said as she did the same for herself, knowing that it would take longer to swim through now that she had the injured person she was looking for.

He nodded and followed her, though found it hard to move, his body beginning to protest as the adrenaline wore off. She looked at him, hair floating around her, eyes seeming to glow as they narrowed at him before she grabbed him, holding him close to her as she began to swim back the way she had come.

It was a lot slower the way back and Takeshi was already heavy under normal circumstances, right now he was literally dead weight. Keeping an eye out for the animal that she knew was looking for them was also another thing, seeing as Takeshi had already fallen on unconscious.

She felt the currents shift and she stopped, turning her head around to see where it would probably come from. The shark (a fucking shark, why….why did these people have to go to such extremes? Wasn't potentially drowning already a for sure way to send someone off to die) circled about them, looming closer every time.

"Ugh," her eyes brightened, a flame forming on her forehead as she held her left palm out as the shark decided to finally head straight at them. "Go away," she hissed, pulsating her flames outwards to push the shark back. With a snap of her fingers, another shark appeared this one in hues of purple and gold which attacked the other, the distraction was enough for Natsume to continue on, pushing on as best as she could until she finally got to the place she had come through.

She breathed deeply, letting her mist cover Takeshi and herself, believing that they would walk through the wall as if nothing. She righted Takeshi, so that his arm was around her shoulders, hers were around his waist to support him and nearly crumpled underneath his weight once her feet touched solid ground.

Dino caught Takeshi before he could fall on to the girl, Ryohei moving in to help as Hayato and Tsuna crowded around to get a better look at the baseball player. Natsume stepped back, leaning against the wall breathing deeply and shivering as the night air hit her.

That was tiring.

Then again swimming while pretty much dragging along Takeshi wasn't an easy feat, apart from being tall, the teen weighed more than her. Being in water hadn't helped at all, but it was nice to know that instead of feeling that 'flame exhaustion' as she had dubbed it earlier in the week, she was just feeling physically tired.

It probably meant she should be doing more than just volleyball, which she would probably get back to doing after the season ended. She was only fifteen; she could only do and focus on so much, before she felt as if she didn't have time to herself.

(She needed her 'me' time, even if it was spent just locked up in her room going through YouTube and listening to whatever popular music came on, or reading the fantasy books she enjoyed so much.)

"Doing okay Natsume?" Hayato asked once he made sure the baseball idiot was going to be fine. The girl blinked slowly at him, looking down at her clothes and back up at him and shrugging.

"I'm cold," she wrapped her arms around herself, her trembling getting worse. Her gaze drifted over to Takeshi who was getting checked over by Basil and Romario (when the hell did he show up?). "I'm letting him know that he needs to lay off the junk food."

Hayato coughed, hiding a snicker, because now was not the time to laugh, "I thought you could handle anything."

She squinted up at him, before shrugging, "I can handle you."

Hayato stopped his laughing, outright glaring at her (what was she trying to say by that?), "What's that supposed to mean?" She shrugged once again, raising her arms and looking at him expectantly.

"I'm cold," she said again, eyes flicking over to the group where Tsuna was being assured that Takeshi would be fine.

"And?"

"You are a terrible friend," she huffed, feeling her teeth clatter. "He'll be fine right?"

"Yeah, he's just in bad shape," Hayato answered, glancing off to the side where the others had gathered around the baseball player. "They're planning on keeping it quiet so they don't come back and try to finish the job."

Natsume wrinkled her nose, moving closer to Hayato to at least steal whatever warmth radiated off of him, "That's so fucked up."

The silver haired teen let her get close, deciding that maybe she needed his sweater more than he did, zipped it off and draped it over her. He saw her eyes zero in on the bandages around his arms, her right hand reaching out for his left and grasping it. Her thumb brushed over the red stone he wore on his middle finger and he thought she was going to let go, but didn't, just kept holding his hand.

"Your hand is cold as hell."

Natsume looked rather offended at him stating the obvious and pinched the fat part of his middle finger, "Stating the obvious genius boy."

"I have a question….."

"Don't we all?"

"I'm being serious."

"Is now really the time to ask?"

"I used those flames; they were red, not like Tsuna's gold or the baseball idiots blue."

Her expression didn't change, just her brow raising higher as if saying to get on with it, "I've done that before, but I didn't remember until last night, I used it on you once."

"Flames are an odd concept," she said after a few seconds pause. "They don't manifest often, but when they do it's because that person defied something or they were experiencing a strong enough emotion to call them out."

"You probably forgot the first time because your mind wasn't able to process what was happening, it's an exhausting thing to do y'know, maybe something just clicked in your head and everything made sense?"

"Or are you trying to say I did something to you?"

The hairs on his arm raised to the chills that he felt in that moment and he would decide to blame it on the cold breeze that was beginning. When Natsume finally turned to look at him, it was to see her eyes lit up with a purplish blue color, speckled with bits of gold, "Well?"

This was the girl who was able to stay back and watch them fight amongst themselves, who liked to separate them and twist things around with a flick of her wrist. She was also the sister to his best friend, who had been stubborn and protective of her brother, who had judged them long before accepting them.

She had said once if she hadn't liked them, they wouldn't have gotten to the point of meeting her mother (so it wasn't only her brother she was protective of, but her mother as well and he wouldn't put it past the girl to fight tooth and nail for her family.)

Hayato had a feeling she would have done something to ensure they wouldn't be able to be friends with Tsuna.

"I was going to ask you how I can get better with them," these flames seemed useful and he wondered what more they could do apart from burning others.

Her thumb tapped against the band of his ring, "Y'know I didn't choose that just because I thought you would like it."

"Show me."

The lights from her eyes flickered away, hazel hues back and glinting with mischief, "Gotta get through all this first though, then maybe~"

Part 38: An Excuse to Fight

She regretted mentioning to Kawahira about last night as she was sent across the room with what her teacher liked to call a 'love tap.' She switched with one of her clones before she hit the wall of the ring that had been set up, knowing that if she touched it being kicked around would be the least of her worries.

The clone dispelled as she took its place a few paces away from where Kawahira was, twirling a long pole into existence as Kawahira bore down on her.

"You've been neglecting your skills," he commented as she staggered back, wincing at the pain that travelled up her arms and made her hands shake, dropping the illusion of her weapon. "I give you a chance to move onto another choice of study and you neglect this?"

And he had been allowing her that, instead just testing the strength of her flames and illusions, letting her bring her own creativity, prodding that until it was more than what mere books and games could give her.

She was finding a nice little niche for herself and perhaps she was getting too comfortable.

He moved, satisfied to see that she was quick to put up a guard against him, though she barely managed to push him back.

"You are distracted," he said as he sidestepped out of her reach, swatting her hands with his fan. "Focus."

"I am sick," she hissed back at him, voice raspy due to her sore throat.

"Only a fool would go swimming so late at night in October," he appeared behind her, having had enough of the fumbling she was resorting too, tapping her shoulder with his fan, "Enough then." Perhaps he may have put too much into that last 'tap' seeing as she just crumpled down, a groan escaping her as she laid out on the floor, body perhaps happy at not having to deal with holding itself up.

"Cool down stretches, don't just lay out on the floor, hasn't your coach told you this."

Her response was a groan as she rolled onto her back, lifting both of her legs up and holding them as straight as she could. He had no clue what she was doing, so he just turned his back on her, snapping his fingers so his living room could go back to how it had been before.

"Since you are sick, you won't be having tea today."

"I am so sad to hear that," he heard her mutter and he refrained from rolling his eyes. When was the last time he had to deal with a brat like this? Wonomichi had never been like this, then again, Wonomichi was more than a bit addled.

Really, why was he in this situation again?

Ah yes…..curiosity.

Damned curiosity.

"What have we learned?"

"Don't let old men beat you."

Kawahira closed his eyes, his thumb and pointer finer pinching the bridge of his nose, a physical sign of his annoyance. There was a shift in the girl, one that was more apologetic rather than the sarcastic and bitchy air she had about her.

"I need to manage myself better."

"Yes," he said a bit tersely, opening his eyes and giving her a dark look as she settled on the recliner, where she pulled out the lower half so her legs could rest up. She leaned back into the seat, letting her recline, though the way her chin was nearly resting on her chest and the frustrated (and very tired) look made for a picture.

And she said she didn't pout, yet here was the perfect example of her doing so.

She was only fifteen to his…..well, she wasn't wrong about him being old.

"I understand that you want to have your fun and by all means go for it, explore, do what pleases you," he had his chance in his youth to do so, he knew what it was like to be hotheaded, to be intrigued by different things and to be overwhelmed by them.

He at least was lucky to be able to deal with them as he wished, he had time, and he had the peace to do so. Sadly Natsume didn't have the same luxury. It wasn't exactly moments like these that made him question what exactly the elders were thinking in splitting the stones, the last remaining relics of his people, nor would he ever understand why Sepira had decided to divide them further and hand them over to the humans.

This whole mess could have been avoided if that hadn't been done.

Then again the world would probably be a very different place.

He rested his elbow against the arm rest of the couch, letting his chin rest in the palm of his hand, his fingers curling against his cheek as he did so, "Natsume, tell me what is it that you wish to gain from this?" A part from a few lessons that she still needed to go through, which was more of the old practice of flame users than actual techniques and advice; she was set to go off on her own.

The girl blinked slowly at him, raising her head at him, before she let it rest back against the head of the seat, where she was looking more at the ceiling than him.

"Peace….I want to protect my family and myself and give them the chance of peace," she answered slowly, brow furrowed as she mulled over her words. "I want to be one less worry for my brother and I also want to help him, even if he seems like he doesn't want it."

"I want to actually grow up and see the world," she muttered quietly, not as quiet as she thought it might have been, but he didn't comment on it.

As far as answers went, it wasn't a bad one, still thinking of her family instead of what learning and working with him could gain her.

What a sweet child.

/ | \

Natsume was almost home when she noticed a blurry looking figure leaning beside the entrance of the front gate. Getting closer revealed that the figure was Hibari and she wondered what exactly he was doing there. She stopped, knowing that the older teen had seen her, trying to think on why said teen would be outside of her house –

Who was now moving towards her, his weapons out and oh shit he had said he wanted to fight her hadn't he?

She honestly would have loved to do so, just to see where she stood with the prefect (who was a terror and a half, managing not only a middle school, but also a small town), but she was exhausted, had already had her ass handed to her and did not need that to be done again so soon.

She barely had time to think about creating the short staff she had preferred using, tossing her bags aside and holding up the conjured weapon and blocking Hibari's swipe against her abdomen. She grit her teeth as she took a step back to take in Hibari's force, already knowing her arms were going to ache tomorrow.

A better decision for next time would be to avoid actually blocking the third year (or had he graduated already? She didn't really know…he was just always around.) She backpedaled, letting Hibari follow her, the prefect gearing up to take another swing at her, which she made it seem like she was going to block but instead she ducked, moving past him, the teen not noticing what was happening until his swing went right through her image.

She hit the back of his knees with her short staff, letting her flames go and actually materialize, where they pooled at her feet and easily made their way towards Hibari. Like she had done to Chikusa (and she was sure he was going to recall this) the licks of flame turned into tiny tendrils shaped like hands, a soft whisper of 'stay' accompanying them as they curled around Hibari.

The prefect did not like this.

He tried to move, to struggle against whatever the hell she was doing – and unlike Mukuro, who he could break through easily he found that her power wasn't that easy to resist.

"Hibari-san, please," the prefect was still able to turn his head to look at her, his slate grey eyes narrowed and if Natsume noticed that there was a light film of purple over them, she easily ignored it. "Not now, its not a good time."

He rose a brow, the sneer on his mouth less harsh, though his lips were still twisted in distaste. She sighed, crouching down and tapping the end of her weapon against the floor, "This is not a good place, I –" the girl paused, not at all taking her eyes away from his, "Seriously, not a good place, I – I know another…."

"…where I can go all out."

And there was a promise there, the hands that he could feel actually digging into his clothes as they held him in place lightly twitched and the murmur of something more reverberated somewhere in his head. The prefect sniffed, finding it in him to break away from the hold over him, knowing that her power had lapsed.

Taking a closer look at the girl, he noticed that she was much more bruised up than she first appeared – her lower and upper lip were split, a cut at the corner of her brow, and a yellow, almost brownish bruise forming against her upper left cheek. She didn't get up from her crouched position, but her eyes followed his movements.

"Don't make me wait too long, Sawada."

And he turned around with that, knowing that the blond fool (who wasn't a half bad fighter, but still annoyed him by trying to follow and teach him of all things, to do) would be coming to look for him to try to convince him to join those others.

Natsume was left where she was, the girl using her conjured weapon to lean on so she wouldn't be resting all her weight on her feet (and thus she wouldn't fall onto her ass like she usually did when she was in this position). She let her cheek rest against the warm metal, watching Hibari until he rounded the other street corner.

A few seconds ticked by and the girl sighed, shaking her head.

With a quiet groan she got back up, disliking the way her legs ached and how her entire body just seemed to want to give out on her. She let her weapon disappear, stiffly walking over to her bags and picking them up and headed towards her house, passing by the gate and opening up the front door.

"I'm home!" she called out, her voice seeming a lot louder as it bounced off the walls.

When no response came, she figured that everyone was out (and giving a brief pulse to check, she was proven right.) She set her bags down beside the small table where her mother put her keys and purse, toeing off her shoes before making her way to the kitchen.

There was a familiar pounding in her head and the wave of nausea that was accompanying it, clued her in that she wasn't going to have a good night.

When all this was over, she was going to tell Takeshi off, it was because of him that she was like this (also…shouldn't have Takeshi won the Rain Battle? And Hayato, he, he should have lost, no it was more like he let the Varia member have his half of the ring that one time….)

The cupboard she had opened closed with a rather loud click, the ache in her head much more noticeable and she was lucky she was near the sink, where she leaned over and promptly vomited. She shuddered, a chill going through her, could hear a familiar chuckle that made her clench her hands.

"Kufufu~"

She gagged, spitting into the sink as she turned the water on so it could wash down the mess she had made. She could feel her brow twitch in annoyance, a familiar, but not so familiar brush of a flame going over her.

"So sad that you won't join us tonight, do rest well Princess."

Natsume spat, gagging over the sink as her eyes began to water (she hated throwing up, it was the worst and so what if she cried? This shit was terrible) "Mukuro."

His presence wasn't here, she would have noticed, and then his laughter rang out again, "We have a connection Princess, it took a while, but I figured out what you did….and my, my, who would have known –"

"Shut up."

The running water helped to distract her from the noise and ache going on her head, her hands held the side of her head, fingers rubbing at her temples to help soothe the ache.

"…it would be interesting for you to meet my Chrome one of these days."

…What?

She of course didn't get the chance to ask what he was talking about, the front door opening up and the babble of children made her whimper. It was Bianchi who came upon the sight of her puking once more into the sink, the bottle of pills she had been going to take laying on the counter.

"Hey," Natsume managed weakly, at the taken back look on the magenta haired woman's face. "I feel like shit."

"You look like it too," the woman answered making her way over to Natsume's side. "Come on, lets get you upstairs, I'll help wash you up."

"A dark, quiet room would be nice."

"You'll have that too," the woman murmured, shutting off the water and putting a hand on Natsume's back. "Your mother stopped by Yoshiro-san's house to drop off some groceries; did you want to wait for her?"

The girl shook her head, pushing herself off of the edge the counter and breathing in deeply, "She'll just worry more," especially cause she was sure the illusion she had cast on herself to make her look as if she hadn't been roughed up had long since fallen.

Her mother was already worried about Tsuna and her father, no need to have her worry about her too.

"You should probably tell her I have a migraine though, she knows what to do when I get like this."

Cause if this headache was anything like before, she was going to be in for a long night.

Intermission 15

It had gotten easy to ignore and push aside the niggling feeling of 'this is just a story', sure I still had the occasional moment where an image of Jasmine's past life would show itself, like the other night with my mom, but the story idea, that my life was fictional in another world, I had pushed that aside because that was something I didn't want to deal with.

I had an idea of how this would end, didn't really want to know what the true ending was, but I know that Tsuna will win.

And even if that story had been written to go Tsuna's way, the Tsuna I knew would have it go his way because his power, his will and what he believed in was purer than Xanxus'. Though Xanxus was powerful in his own right and had the flames to back it up, Tsuna's were something else and eventually whether he wanted it or not, Xanxus' would give into them.

It was why a person's intent when using their flames was so important, if it wasn't strong enough it would eventually fall under another's. If the intent wasn't pure enough, if it was tainted with emotions that threatened to darken the aspect of 'light' that the flames where known for, they would fall.

And Tsuna…..

Oh my baby brother was so sweet.

He was like me, though different..

(I was willing to fight and give my all to those I cared about, whether I realized it or not. Tsuna didn't like fighting, didn't like hurting others.)

My brother was being pushed to do this, his family, his friends, his life was being threatened.

And I had already witnessed Tsuna jumping in and fighting on behalf of those he cared about. Tsuna didn't fight to prove a point, he fought to make sure everyone would make it through and the sheer amount of power my baby brother had, the amount of love that he had for his friends and family, would overcome the spitting rage that was Xanxus.

Because a Sky was meant to harbor their elements, to give them a place to be, to offer them protection, a Sky was not someone who used his elements for his own gain.

It honestly made me wonder what had been done to Xanxus to make him this way and I knew what had been done and I could feel myself relate to the man, but I would rather not.

It was because of him this whole thing had started.

Hopefully it would end with him as well.

Author Note:

This took awhile to get through.

I kind of put this over my presentation that I have to do, but eh.

I've proofread some of this, I'm not the best at catching mistakes, but if anything seems odd, please let me know.

Other than that hope you guys enjoyed!

Sorugao