Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or stuff.

Word Count: 8302

Part 53: Small Things

It wasn't obvious at first.

It was weeks after Nono had left; Tsuna and the rest of them had been trying in their own ways to return to how they used to live their life. Things weren't so carefree anymore, sure they all had their moments of lightness and acting like the teenagers they were.

But something had changed them all, much more than the interaction with Mukuro had.

"I'm sorry Haru," Tsuna apologized, holding his hands up in front of him, between wanting to hug the girl to show that he was sincere, or maybe because holding someone would ground him. "I didn't mean to do that."

The brunette girl gave a pained smile, holding onto her wrist as she leaned back from Tsuna. Haru hadn't wanted to believe what Kyoko had told her the other day, that their friends seemed a lot more strung out, always seeming as if they were looking over their shoulder and ready to fight at the bat of an eye.

"It's, ah, okay," Haru said, gingerly cradling her hand to her chest. "Tsuna-san are you okay?"

Tsuna sighed, guilt settling and he felt absolutely horrible. He rubbed the back of his head; eyes locked on Haru's reddening wrist that he had twisted when she had come up behind him and tried to cover his eyes. She had done that various times before, covering his eyes and asking him in a sing song voice 'guess who' and it should have been an innocent surprise.

And he had hurt her instead.

"I just have a lot on my mind," he said honestly.

It wasn't like he was over what had happened only three weeks, it wasn't like he had been given time to come to terms with what had happened with Mukuro. It had been one thing after another, because he hadn't been able to pick up on this change in him until now.

Who else was he going to hurt?

(Lambo? I-pin? Natsume….his mom?)

Haru's wrist ached, a flare of pain and then it started going down. "Hahi, maybe you want to talk about it?" she offered up slowly, bringing her hands down and fiddling with the edge of her skirt. "I was coming up to you to ask if you wanted to catch up, I haven't seen you in a while."

"…are you sure?"

She rolled her eyes at him, letting go of her skirt and holding out her good hand to him, instead of just hooking her arm with his, "I wouldn't be suggesting it if I didn't want to Tsuna-san."

His eyes flicked from her hand to her face, giving a tentative shrug before he held out his arm to her. She gave a bubbly laugh as she hooked her arm with his and began to lead them towards the coffee shop she and the girls liked to hang around.

A warm feeling filled Haru and the more she felt herself wrapped up in it, the less her wrist ached. For Tsuna, he was just making sure that he would be able to keep tabs on who was who.

(He also wanted to see if he could include Haru in the group of people he felt were familiar. He wanted to know if he could extend that to others and see if he could feel out for who was friendly and who wasn't.

Like in video games and how he could tell who was on his side and who was his enemy. The unmarked people who snuck up on him or tried anything would be in for a rather nasty surprise.

He was just happy he got himself before he could flip Haru over his shoulder.)

/ | \

They really hadn't talked about much, Tsuna mostly complaining about catching up on all his school work and maybe that was what had him on edge, while Haru clucked her tongue at him.

"You're so lucky to have someone like Reborn around," she had said, one hand wrapped around her drink, while the other moved around her straw to mash up the blended drink so it'd be easier to drink. "I mean, for a kid, he's really smart."

Tsuna had agreed, not that he would ever admit it to Reborn's face.

They had also talked about other things, like the costume making competition Haru was entering, along with a bunch of pictures she had taken on her phone of when she and the girls had their sleep over at Kyoko's.

It was a breath of fresh air to be around someone so out of the loop and normal compared to the rest of his friends that Tsuna felt a lot better and a touch guiltier as a thought hit him. He couldn't exactly continue being friends with Haru, not if he wanted her to end up on someone's watch list just because she was associated to him.

It probably wouldn't happen for another couple years, unless someone decided to stir up rumors. Not only would that make everything worse, but it would show that someone within Vongola wasn't doing their job in keeping things quiet.

Like that the Varia had lost. That Xanxus had lost. That Nono had almost died.

So far everything had been well enough, that maybe he could continue being friends with Haru. At least see her off through the rest of their school years and that she stayed safe long after he was gone from Namimori.

Kyoko and Hana would be harder to do, more so Hana who had recently stopped being nosy and trying to get answers out of him.

(He suspected Natsume had told her, or had said enough to keep the dark haired girl satisfied.)

If anything he could count Hana as also knowing what was happening in their lives and he didn't know if he should feel annoyed or upset at Natsume if she had broken the news to Hana.

"Don't be such a stranger Tsuna-san!" Haru had said to him before she headed home, giving him what she considered a calming smile.

He had waved her off, quietly agreeing and also wondering what the hell was his life now that he had to make decisions of whether or not he should cut someone off to protect him. It'd have to be a slow one, eventually Haru would find another clique of friends that she would mesh better with.

Sighing, Tsuna turned to start heading home.

As he walked past the shops he noted the antique shop his sister apparently liked to frequent. Patting his pocket lightly to feel out his wallet, he decided that now was as good as time as ever to get his sister a belated birthday present.

The bell above the door chimed, but the man behind the register didn't bother looking up from his book, merely waving a hand in greeting, before bringing it down to turn the page. He eyed the first couple tables, the simple bands and rings, jewelry boxes and the odd mask or two that adorned the two front tables.

He passed those up, looking over to his left hand side and quickly dismissed the clothes and chests filled with toys. The tables behind the first ones had more masks and palm sized or bigger chests filled with either baggies of colorful stones that had a note tucked into them or jars filled with dried out flowers.

One of the cases that had been set up in the middle of the table caught his attention. Two wooden sticks were in there instead of a typical plastic flower, he leaned down closer to inspect them noticing that they both had engravings in them, their meaning completely lost to him.

He picked the lighter colored stick, noticing that the base of it had a gnarled look to it, how it seemed like they had gotten smaller branches and intertwined them together. A small triangle was etched into the very flat end of the wood; the rest of the length above the base would have smooth if it wasn't for the circular carvings that wound around the wood.

He decided on getting her that (because not only would she like it, but it was fun to feed along to her 'witch' like tendencies), along with a pouch that was only filled with two reddish brown stones. Of the crystals, or stones, or whatever it was she had and that he had seen, he was sure she didn't have these.

With a bit more confident stride and hoping he didn't go broke, Tsuna walked up to the counter and put down the two items. The man closed his book, looking over the two things, one side of his mouth quirking up as his brows rose in amusement.

At least he hoped it was amusement.

"You are Nastume-chan's brother?"

"…Yes…" should he be worried that the shop keep remembered him or was that just how much time Natsume spent in here.

"I'll give you her discount," and Tsuna held his breath as the man rang up the normal total and then cut it in half. What would have come up to be over eleven thousand yen only came up to five thousand.

(He would make a note to be nice to his dad the next time he saw him, if it wasn't for him depositing into his bank account for his allowance, there was no way he would have been able to pay for this.

The thought irked it, but for Natsume it was worth it.)

"Is this really an antique shop?" Tsuna asked as he watched the man count the money he handed over before giving him his change. "I…don't think I see what most would consider antiques."

Weren't antique shops supposed to have…antiques? Sure there were somethings Tsuna could point out that could be considered that, like the porcelain dolls lined up against the wall near the clothing racks, or some of the tapestries he saw hung up on the wall.

The white haired man smiled as he handed Tsuna his bag, fingers briefly brushing as Tsuna grabbed it, "It all depends on who enters my shop, you will see what you want and you will find what you seek."

Tsuna blinked, not knowing what to make of the man's words.

Maybe he was just weird like that.

"Oh, ah okay, uh," he nodded, fumbling a little over his words. "I'll be going now."

And if it was a touch rude with how quickly he left, especially after posing such a question to the owner, Tsuna was out. As the door closed behind him, he couldn't help but shiver, goosebumps appearing on his skin as the feeling of something completely and totally other rushed over him.

There was no way it was the odd shop keeper, his sense of danger didn't go off like it often did when Reborn decided he wanted to test him by stalking him. It must have come from nearby and he was to the point right now that he didn't want to deal with whatever that 'danger' was, so he hurried home, careful to cross the streets on his way there.

Kawahira meanwhile shook his head as he sensed the little Sky dart away. Natsume's brother may have a good sense of right and wrong, could easily follow along his instinct and the guidance of his predecessor's.

But not bothering to take him into account of being a probable danger after that little trick he pulled?

Now that was foolish.

/ | \

Natsume made this sound that was the equivalent of stepping on a squeaky toy. He didn't have enough time to figure how high she would go, nor figure out how she managed that before she tackled him down in a hug.

"You really shouldn't have, but this is the best thing ever!"

Especially because she had wanted the wooden wand the first time around and Kawahira had told her no. She didn't know exactly what led to Tsuna going into Kawahira's shop, but whatever had she was kind of glad for it.

Her grip slackened a little on him as she fumbled with the pouch, trying to open it one handed, before shaking it up to him, "Take one, it's for your own good."

"But it's your present –"

"And I said take one, trust me on this."

Tsuna knew there was no putting his sister off of this so he took the other stone and just held it out, not bothering to move out of Natsume's hold as she tucked the pouch into her jacket's pocket. Her hold on him resumed and she ended up dragging him down onto his bed so that they could sit side by side.

Her fingers lightly poked his sides and there was a curious look in her eyes, "So what's got you all bothered?" Was he so obvious? She reached up with her hand and bopped him on the nose, "It's not just you Tsuna," his sister sighed, pulling back from him and moving herself over to the head of his bed, where she leaned back against it.

She set the wand aside, lacing her hands in her lap, "Stuff has happened and I think the only people who bounced back from it are Lambo and Ryohei." Colonello had stayed awhile after; Kyoko had mentioned him still being around and even had pictures of the tiny soldier following Ryohei around to make sure he was fine. Lambo was doing a lot better, Fuuta having decided to watch over him and it helped that I-pin was there too.

Tsuna stared at his sister, who stared back.

It was so odd seeing his sister act so much older than she was and he couldn't help but blame himself a little for that with her always having to watch out for him and help him out. He fell back against his bed, bouncing lightly, "I hurt Haru on accident," he murmured, fiddling with the reddish stone, spotting the tiny flecks of green and orange within it. "She snuck up on me and I hurt her."

He heard Natsume suck in a breath, her legs stretching out in front of him so she could put her toes underneath his thigh, "Tsuna…."

"She apologized and I felt so bad, I didn't even realize…shouldn't I have noticed this change in me?"

Natsume bit the inside of her lip, not at all knowing how to help her brother. She was the type to push everything aside and not deal with it, continuing on like nothing until something happened that made it impossible to avoid everything.

Physical fights, she was down to do.

Fire-y magic shit, sure why not.

Dealing with a previous lifetime (that she was more or less accustomed too and didn't feel so weird about), dealing with all the wild shit and murders she had committed, witnessing her friends fighting for their lives?

Yeah, that she hadn't signed up for.

But here she was.

"I think the best we can do for ourselves," she murmured, voice very soft that Tsuna had to shift over to hear her, his head resting against her thigh as he looked up at her. She was doing that thing where she picked at the skin of her lips and tore it off with her teeth, "Is try not to lose ourselves? I don't know…" Her hand settled into his hair, running through it and giving him a strained smile that quickly faded away.

"You," she poked lightly tapped her finger against his nose again, "You should really not work yourself into a corner, don't hide, I think if you talked to the others about this and just tried to work through it together you'd all have an easier time dealing with all this."

"That sounds easy, but no one likes talking about their feelings Tsume, the guys are so….ugh," he really didn't have much of an issue talking about himself or his feelings. But his friends sometimes were hard to get to open up, especially when something was bothering them.

"Then don't talk about your feelings?"

He glared at her, "Really?"

She shrugged, throwing her hands up as she did, "You're going to have to push them to do that Tsuna, so start off small, ask them their thoughts about what's happened." She sucked on her lower lip, tasting the blood, "You can't take their 'Oh I'm fine' as an answer."

"I think we're going to have to beat it into their heads what it exactly means to be part of our family," Tsuna muttered after a while, getting a hum of approval from Natsume. He felt better now after talking with his sister; it was always easier to get his thoughts out around her especially when he was in a slump he hadn't noticed he was in.

Now it was just getting the others to do it.

Not them talking to his sister, but just talking between themselves.

"I'll figure something out."

"I'm sure you will Tsuna."

Part 54: Family Matters

"I still find it hard to believe," Hana muttered, leaning back against the building, watching as Tsuna and the others made their way out. She looked beside her to Natsume, who wasn't as short as she used to be, the girl merely shrugging at her comment.

"You wanted to know and I told you," the teen responded nonchalantly. "If you want to believe it or not, its fine, but you have the decision of whether you want to be our friend or not now that you do."

Hana snorted, nearly bristling at the way she was spoken too. It wasn't the first time Natsume talked to her like that since she explained what exactly what had gone down that one week. (Natsume was her friend, she didn't understand the why, but she wasn't going to leave her just because of this.)

The Mafia, not only that the Italian Mafia.

She didn't know much about it, but Hana knew they weren't good people. There were enough movies dealing with the idea of the underworld that made her wonder how much of it was the truth and what was fake.

"You still want to go to Kokuyo Land with me?" Natsume asked her kicking off from the wall and almost twirling to face her.

"Why are you leaving Kyoko out of this?" Hana asked instead of answering, moving off the wall and gesturing for her to lead the way. "I thought –"

"That's up to Ryohei and Tsuna, she's instantly associated through her brother and it's their responsibility to make sure she's safe," that sounded kind of cruel, didn't Natsume care for the girl too? "I adore Kyoko, I really do, but I can't go ahead and do that."

"So why was it fine to tell me?"

"If I didn't and crazy stuff kept happening and we weren't able to tell you, you'd figure it out and probably end up in more danger because of it," Natsume slanted over an amused grin as Hana sniffed. "So if I tell you now, you'll be safe and like I said you can decide if you want to stay or dip out."

"And if I wanted to leave? How would you make sure I kept my mouth shut?"

The smile Natsume gave her wasn't anything like the crooked or dorky smiles, the way her eyes took on a weird shine and the sense of 'danger' made Hana remember that Natsume could be a not so nice person when she wanted to be.

"It's not that hard to make someone forget, Hana-chan~"

/ | \

Tsuna should really consider giving this little area a nickname, always remembering it as 'the place he and his sister went off on Reborn' was too long. If anything he was going to call it 'Kyne's Grove' if only because he had recently completed that Divine's quest in Oblivion for the Knights of the Nine and this area was peaceful and very Kyne-like.

That was his excuse and he was sticking to it.

Not that anyone was going to ask him what this place was called; they would just think it was a nice little spot.

"Are we doing something today with Reborn?" Takeshi after setting his bags down, hands at his hips as he looked around the area, trying to figure out the spots Reborn could be using to be hiding in or where he might come out from.

"Can't us guys just hangout and be one with nature?" Tsuna asked, grimacing a little at what he had just said.

"Fresh air is never bad for the body!" Ryohei agreed, "Colonello-sensei always said to admire the stillness of nature, because what often follows is the most devastating."

"Please explain lawn head," Hayato yawned, already having set his bags down and was laying his head down on it, one arm slung over his face, covering up his eyes.

"Well before an earthquake hits, you know how you get the sense of something's going to happen, but you don't know what and it's kind of calm," Ryohei started turning towards Hayato, "And then out of nowhere it's like bam! No more peace, like that."

Hayato actually lowered his arm to give the white haired teen a skeptical look, before covering his face up and merely grunting. He wasn't going to be the one to tell Ryohei that that made perfect sense.

"That does make sense," Takeshi said, taking a seat beside his things and bringing his knees up to his chest.

Tsuna sat opposite Takeshi and Hayato, mimicking Takeshi's position, resting his arms against his knees. Now that they were all here he was kind of unsure of how to continue on – he had a feeling if he just asked Ryohei would be the one who was very upfront, while Takeshi and Hayato might need a little more prodding.

"Guys, I…I want to talk about what's happened lately," he mumbled out at first, shaking himself slightly and raising his voice towards the end. He resisted the urge to look at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs and looked at each one of his friends who now stared at him. "I want to know that we aren't going to be hung up over things, that because of what's happened to us we won't hurt others."

Hayato had sat up, his arms behind him holding him up. Takeshi was more attentive now as was Ryohei, who stayed standing, merely resting his hands at his hips.

"I want us," Tsuna gestured to them all, "To be able to talk no matter what and work through whatever comes our way." He cleared his throat, wiping his hands down on the knees of his jeans, his hands feeling sweaty all of a sudden. "You're all my family and if I know anything, family takes care of each other, helps each other up when we're down."

"…so can we do this?"

Ryohei since he was already up was the first at his side, kneeling down, left hand on his shoulder and squeezing it lightly, "We can." The boxer looked over at the others, raising his brows and holding out his left hand for either Takeshi or Hayato to get. "Right guys?"

Hayato scoffed, narrowing his eyes slightly, but still reached out to grasp Ryohei's hand, if only to give it a brief shake, "I'm only letting you agree for me this time, get it lawn head?"

The boxer only beamed brightly at him, before turning to Takeshi, who actually looked a little taken back not at all having expected any of this. The baseball player could feel everyone's gaze on him and even though they weren't pressuring him, he felt like he couldn't breathe.

For a second it felt like he was in the water again, suffocating and being left for dead.

"Oi," Hayato called to him and the teen's jade eyes were vibrant as Takeshi glanced at him, "Cat got your tongue or what?"

Takeshi gave a brief smile, huffing lightly before it slipped away. He looked to Tsuna, who was watching him carefully and he felt warmed by the attention. That even though he had lost and messed up, Tsuna hadn't fretted over that at all.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Anything to help ease the feeling of hopelessness that crept up every now and then, judging by Tsuna's stance something had happened to the brunet that had led him to realizing that they were all a little much more messed up than they had believed they were.

Tsuna smiled, eyes crinkling shut as he did so, "Awesome, any ideas how we can start guys?" They all would come up with their own ways to help themselves and each other.

/ | \

Meeting Chrome for the first time, Hana found the younger girl adorable. How Natsume met someone like Chrome and hadn't managed to upset her, was something she was still trying to figure. Whether Natsume admitted or not, she could be particularly blunt sometimes and come off as rude and Chrome looked like the type to get hurt easily.

That was until the two stood beside each other at the center of the picnic area, which looked to have long ago been cleared of the tables and just stood there, talking in low voices before Natsume moved to stand in front of the girl.

What came next really shouldn't have surprised Hana, but it did.

What looked like purple fire erupted from the trident that Chrome had had at her side as she pulled it out from the make shift sheathe she had it in. It elongated, balanced on top of a staff, while Natsume didn't at all look bothered.

If anything her friend pulled out a whitish stick and just held it out. A piece of wood obviously would not hold out against a sharp, metal weapon. Hana was on her feet about to go to her friend's side when she lazily flicked the wand and a beam of indigo shot out at the tip, before expanding and covering over the both of them.

Inhaling deeply, Hana slowly breathed out as she took a seat, hands fisted tightly in her sweater's pockets as she watched the very odd and unreal scenario that had cropped up in front of her. The two didn't really fight as Hana had expected them too, but they did try to outdo one another with whatever it was they were doing.

When Natsume stepped out whatever the hell she erected, she found Hana's sudden attention on her very odd or would have if she hadn't noted the green coloring in her usually dark brown eyes. The fair haired brunette walked up to her friend and gave her a cheeky smile.

"Hana are you jealous?" Natsume asked, prodding the dark haired girl who wasn't pouting and didn't at all feel excluded that she couldn't do even half of what the purple haired girl and her best friend were doing.

"I am not."

Natsume snickered, managing to prod Hana's cheek before she turned away, slanting a Cheshire grin to Chrome who merely blinked at the interaction once she stepped closer to them, "I think she's jealous, what about you Chrome?"

The girl looked at her, blinking cutely as she considered her words, before nodding slowly, "Maybe a little Sawada-san."

"Am not."

Natsume sighed, pinching her friend's cheek who had surprisingly not slapped her hand away, "I can't promise that you can do the same as us, but we can figure something out."

Clucking her tongue, Natsume gestured for Chrome to come closer and the girl did, standing a foot or two away, "Chrome are you hungry?"

The girl hesitated a bit in answering, so Natsume assumed yes and without another thought there was a clone of herself there, "Go get us food and some for the boys as well." Hana gaped as her clone went off to do as she said, turning a bewildered look to her.

She only wiggled her fingers at the dark haired girl, "You can do it too, just, not to that extent….I think."

"You think? Then what do you think I can do?"

Natsume pointed to her neck, where she still wore the necklace she had gotten her for her birthday, "You can spark that piece of jade, so I'm sure you can do more with lightening."

"huh?" was Hana's intelligible response to that. "What do you mean, what can lightening do?"

"When you can answer that question, I'll help you figure out the how's," Natsume smiled at her, pulling away and walking towards one of the benches nearby and laying out across it. "For now let's just relax yeah?"

Hana and Chrome had gone to the restroom, leaving Natsume to relax in the shade. Her clone should be coming back by now and when she heard the rustling of clothes she assumed it was her double. Opening her eyes she shut them quick to ignore the second person that accompanied her clone.

"Sawada."

"Hibari, why?" she cracked an eye open to stare at the prefect who stopped at her bench, giving her that smirk of his. He looked ridiculously pleased as he held up the plastic bag with their food.

"I wanted to know why you felt fake, I got my answer."

"Fake?" she shot up, bristling at the jab. "My clones do not feel fake!" Kawahira had made damn sure in knowing that she knew how to seamlessly make her clones as real as her.

The prefect just continued smirking, "I beg to differ."

Natsume scowled, righting herself so that her feet were on the seat of the bench, about to push herself off when she realized why exactly Hibari may have gone to the extent to come this far out and insult her.

Lips pursed Natsume got off the bench and with one hand on her hip and the other one nearly jabbing Hibari in the chest the girl said, "You really want to fight me that bad, huh?" The prefect didn't even get the chance to respond as with a neat flick of her hand he was pushed back up against one of the trees, the girl still standing where she was but a wicked smile curling her mouth.

Stepping away from the bench, she left another clone of herself (and another to take up some food to the boys at their main hang out) there to let the girls know what had happened. Right now she was more than itching to punch Hibari in the face.

Maybe then he'll stop appearing in places she didn't expect him to be.

Intermission 21

More or less, I was in shock.

I mean, I expected my friends to be up to some underhanded things but the Mafia? That was shocking. I didn't know if it was cruel or not to consider Tsuna as the head of one of the most well-known criminals in the world.

The Godfather of them all.

Absolutely ridiculous, my respect for their father goes down and I only met the man once.

Did I even want to be their friend?

Did I want to be a part of their dangerous lifestyle? There was no escape for them, no matter how hard Tsuna tried to keep Natsume out; she was as elbow deep in it as he was. But us, especially me, there was still an out for us.

Was that out worth it?

Losing our memories of everything that had happened between us? If we decided to do that, would we just remember the Sawada's as the rumors had deigned them? Average, klutzy and useless kids who would eventually amount to nothing? Who had aspired for just average?

I don't know why I get upset at the thought of that happening.

Natsume was my friend.

One of my best friend's.

Would this come between Kyoko and me? She's been my friend since elementary and keeping something like this from her, when her own brother was involved….it didn't sit well with me. It wasn't my place to tell Kyoko anything and with the way I see things going, I doubt Ryohei will be telling her any time soon.

This sucks.

Why do boys have to be such idiots?

Don't they realize that they aren't the only ones in danger? Do they think because they keep us out from what's happening, we won't get hurt?

Stupid, stupid monkeys.

/ | \

Natsume hissed through her teeth, eyes narrowing at Hibari who was wiping at his mouth. She shifted her stance, right foot sliding back, bending both knees slightly as she brought her left hand up, palm held up towards Hibari, while her right hand faced down and went behind her back.

Hibari tilted his head at her stance, recognizing it as the one she opened up with. He hoped she did something different this time around, even though that first move had been interesting. He moved towards her, keeping an eye to her right as she could probably summon and control a wave of that liquid mist and try to smother him with it.

His tonfa clanged against a shimmery shield, his other one came up to strike at it again in hopes of breaking it down, but her left hand came up swiftly, a just as shimmery short staff coming up to block it. Her left hand lowered to accommodate her move, the shield crumbling as her staff clanged against his tonfa.

Since he was taller and had more strength than her he thought he would be able to push her back, but she held steady.

Admirable.

She was much more interesting than that fool Mukuro and she didn't grate on his nerves like the pineapple haired teen did. It seemed sharing similar powers, didn't make them all the same.

With a grunt the girl grasped her weapon with both hands, sliding it down and moving with it so that she could crouch and then swing out at his legs. He jumped up with enough force to front flip over her, righting himself quickly to get at her back.

His tonfa went right through her and the smirk the clone levelled at him before it became nothing but tendrils that swarmed up his arms.

There was that murmur again that she had done that first time, forcing him into a lull, to relax, when all he really wanted to do was push her to the edge and see how far she could go. A heavy breath beside him had him struggling to turn his head to see her, "I think we're good with that, Hibari." She gave him a hard stare, which was ruined when she began to yawn.

With a half assed wave, the tendrils fell away and he was able to move as he pleased. A tiny, tiny voice in his head that sounded like hers still suggested leaving it at that. "I think there should be some extra food, my clone got a lot more than it should have."

The prefect blinked down at her, before he shrugged one shoulder and began to fold away his weapons. A tiny chirp came from above and then a little yellow fluff was settling on Hibari's shoulder as the teen led the way to the picnic area they had strayed from.

Where she and Chrome had been going through stances and mock little fights to see how they held up while in motion earlier.

"We should do this again," Natsume murmured hands at her back as she pushed them back in hopes of cracking her back. "You're ridiculous you know that right?"

Hibari merely harrumphed, pausing far enough they were still noticed by the two girls who were already eating and to consider if he really wanted to sit near someone that was being used by Mukuro. Not sensing any of those Mukuro-ish vibes, Hibari continued forward, sitting on the opposite end of the bench.

"Uh, Natsume…"

"Yes Hana?" Natsume said as she sat down beside her, reaching in the bag for the last container of food. Tearing the top off she put a bit of her own food in it and slid it down to Hibari who nodded his head in thanks and began to eat, while keeping a close eye on Chrome.

"Why is he here?"

"You didn't wonder at all why I was gone the last twenty minutes?"

"Are you okay?"

Natsume nodded, picking up one of the dumplings in the box and popping it in her mouth, "I mean, I should be." Hibari hit hard and the parts of her body he had hit were beginning to throb, her left wrist especially since she fumbled in the beginning when trying to block him and failed to bring up a shield in time.

The teen was ridiculous and here she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, before shaking her head and bringing her attention back to her food.

If anything came to worse though, doing these things with Hibari would mean she'd have a hand over people trying to fight her.

Really, the guy was an absolute monster when it came to fighting.

She wondered where he learned it from.

Part 55: We Start Believing Now

When Tsuna got home later on that day, it was to find the couches from the living room pushed up against the wall. In the very middle of it all was Natsume and his mother, standing back to back yet swaying in time together and snapping their fingers.

Natsume leaned down moving her shoulders, motioning for Lambo to join her in grabbing her free hand, where she spun him and had him stepping along with her. Next was I-pin who was spun in and Fuuta was last.

Bianchi sat at one of the couches, lightly swaying to the beat of the song, smiling and shaking her head when one of the kids squealed loudly in glee or did an odd little jig. (Currently Lambo was trying to do what he had seen some dancers do on tv but was just spinning himself in circles on the floor.)

"What's, uh, what's happening?" Takeshi asked curious as to the mini dance party going on. It was a first for them to come in on this type of scene.

"It's been awhile since Mama's decided to do something like this."

When was the last time his mother had done this? Was it the last time his dad had come down to visit? He gestured for Takeshi and Hayato to come in, both of them not knowing what to think, following after Tsuna who took a seat on the arm of the couch that Bianchi was on.

"So what brought this on?" Tsuna was surprised he didn't hear Hayato nearly dying at the sight of his sister, but he would look at that later.

Bianchi shrugged, both of them turned to look at the sound that left Natsume as the next song began to play, much more alternative than the last one. "Your mother was finishing up in cleaning and decided to put some music on, when Natsume got home it became this."

There was a put out sigh from his sister when Nana changed the song, the girl throwing herself on the floor and just sitting there as she pouted up at her mom, who started voguing, which then transitioned into a short jig were she shimmied to the side and spun, snapping her fingers to pass it off to his sister.

Natsume gapped at their mother and shook her head as she stood up and pointed at Nana and pointed her thumb down. With the straightest face she could keep, his sister stuck out her pointer and middle finger in a v-shape and began to draw them over her eyes while bopping her head in time with her hand motions.

She had yet to notice them, so it wasn't until after she finished that, followed by bumping her right hip up three times and did a half spin to point at Bianchi did she notice them.

Her eyes were wide, looking absolutely flustered and she turned to her mom immediately, "Mama, why didn't you say people were here?"

Tsuna snickered, if anything Natsume didn't like was other people seeing her dance, if only because she danced like a 'total idiot'. Which was true, his sister did the oddest shuffling and motions that shouldn't go with the song, but ended up making some sort of sense.

"Mama," his sister had gone up to hide behind their mom, who looked fairly amused, even as Natsume rested her head on her shoulder as she continued swaying.

"You should be more aware Tsu-chan~"

"That's mean, Mama."

All Nana did was shrug, not at all bothered when her eldest wrapped her arms around her waist and just held on to her. Instead the woman waved over to the boys, "Come on you three!"

Takeshi instantly held up his hands, shaking his head, "I can't dance…"

"…I only know ballroom dancing," Hayato admitted, looking completely embarrassed to admit that.

"Really?" Takeshi asked, surprised.

"Yeah."

"Huh…"

Nana only hummed, tapping her fingers against Natsume's hands who let go of her so she could move over to the music player and look through her songs list, "I don't know what's popular," she admitted, scrolling idly through the silver gadget in her hand. "I really need to update this old thing."

The song she clicked on started playing and only Natsume brightened up, but still resisted to start dancing.

"Ara, Hayato-kun knows how to ballroom dance, maybe we should all give it a chance?" Nana said, setting down the silver device and smiling warmly at the boys, who of three only two fidgeted.

"Tsume-nee is mine!" Fuuta called, the young boy quickly claiming Natsume who blinked at the suddenness of it, but let herself be led by the young boy into a waltz.

"Mama, it's happened, my prince has finally come," she teased, biting on her tongue to keep from laughing as Fuuta blushed. The song was short and ended with Fuuta being spun.

"My turn, my turn!" Lambo began to demand grasping at Natsume's left hand which was currently free, even though he had gotten most of Natsume's attention earlier.

"Oh you two, stop being so shy," Nana went up to Takeshi, who tried to put his hands behind his back, but wasn't quick enough. "Takeshi-kun, don't worry, just follow my lead, okay?"

At that Bianchi stood up and was about to take Hayato's hand, but decided against it when she noted his pale skin and instead looked to Tsuna who offered up his arm.

"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream~"

"You're obsessed with Sleeping Beauty, Tsume."

"Excuse you that I appreciate the shit out of that movie," his sister responded in English, before she started singing along again. Somehow they all came to the agreement to spin and change partners, so Tsuna ended up with Lambo, Nana with Bianchi, and Takeshi with Natsume.

The baseball player felt even more apprehensive now, but seeing as Natsume was no longer fazed (or was it because the dancing was more structured), he decided to just follow along, the two stepping away before coming back together.

They didn't stay together long as they switched, Bianchi taking his spot and finding it not so awkward to end up with Tsuna. The two shared a look and without fail, both grabbed at Hayato when they moved to where he was and had him join in for a short second, before spinning him off towards Natsume.

The silver haired teen spluttered, but ultimately let himself be Natsume's partner since she had already spun his sister away. Her hands reached for his and without much thought he shifted so that he was in the leading position, instead of her being the one to do so.

Natsume actually laughed in surprise at one point when he lifted her off her feet at the height of the music, turning the both of them around before he set her on her feet and resumed his hold on her hand. The song ended soon after that and he pulled back, bowing to Natsume and though she wouldn't get why he was doing, he winked at her and kissed the back of her hand before turning around and giving Takeshi a smug smirk.

The baseball player merely narrowed his eyes and if anyone asked, no, he wasn't pouting. Hayato counted that as a win, especially since they had dragged him into this.

"How charming~" her mother cooed, clapping her hands together, looking over all of them with a bright smile. "Oh I missed seeing my children being so loose."

Natsume and Tsuna shared a look, one scrunching up their face, while the other winced at that. Nana sighed, seeing her children's reactions, but not acknowledging them. Instead she put on one last song, a calm song with a guitar strumming in the beginning.

"How about a hug before you all go off upstairs, eh"

/ | \

After that day everything continued on as it had.

Tsuna getting his friends together on his own terms, it was a struggle sometime. They ended up butting heads more often than not, but eventually everything would be resolved, whether it be getting their pent up frustrations via physical work or just hashing it out as best as they could with their words.

Reborn more often than not oversaw them, merely guiding them every now and then to make sure they weren't doing anything too stupid.

The Hitman wouldn't outright say it, but he was proud of how far his student had come and prouder of the fact that the teen had stepped up to something he had always been reluctant about. From his last update from Vongola, Xanxus was currently under the eye of the Cervello (of all people) though the mysterious organization kept themselves well out of the man's way.

With the way things seem to have gone and the appearance of the odd women – both as proctors and now overseers of the Varia – it made Reborn wonder what exactly had been going on there. While the others had assumed that the women had been playing to the Varia's strengths, some of the things they had done and their rather sterile approach to the situations that had been presented was kind of miffing.

CEDEF had already looked into the matter, the Cervello coming out clean and being exactly who they had stated themselves to be.

Well it was somewhere in that report, Iemitsu had gotten rather long winded especially with being pretty insistent on finding out the unknown tutor that his daughter had acquired. It seemed young Basil had pointed out a few things to the twin's father and now (because Iemitsu couldn't just outright come here and start tearing through Namimori) Reborn was being pressured to find out who it was.

Pushing and prodding Natsume to come clean about something she had never lied about, only omitted would be akin to forcing Lambo to share a piece of grape candy.

Either a migraine inducing journey on the best of days or simply impossible on the worst of days.

From what he had gathered from Tsuna, the girl would eventually come around with her teacher, when, he didn't know, but he would rather wait for it than force the issue.

He had already tried that and had been redirected countless times. As prideful as he was and chaffing a little at not being able to find out something, Reborn knew when he should keep his nose out of things.

This was one of them.

"Sawada-kun~~"

There was a choked sound and Reborn resisted the urge to sigh.

When Longchamp had returned three weeks ago Natsume had gotten into the habit of grabbing the teen in a chokehold before he could try to 'glomp' her as he had tried various times to do. Reborn was sure it was the only way for Natsume to deal with the boy after he had boastfully presented her a gift in front of their class, making rumors spread that they were secretly dating.

It was amusing to see that Natsume actually wore the Minnie Mouse ears with the leopard print bow (as obnoxious as it looked), but served her well to keep her hair out of her face when she was doing chores around the house. The frame of the Fairy Godmother silhouette from Pinocchio was put up in her room, right over her desk, along with a note that had made the girl smile crookedly as she rolled her eyes after reading it.

(No one had read the note and when Tsuna had tried to find out what it said, he had found himself, along with Takeshi and Hayato in an odd situation.)

Reborn moved towards the small group that had gathered, blinking cutely up at Hana who shivered, before turning his gaze to the twin's. Natsume let go of Longchamp, the girl rolling her eyes as the blond began to whine at the treatment.

"Hey little guy are you lost?" Kyoko asked, crouching down to be closer to his level.

Reborn heard Tsuna sigh, he could see Natsume give him a deadpanned look from over Kyoko's shoulder and he just smiled even brighter up at her.

"Maman said the Sawada's would be taking care of me."

Judging by the exasperated sighs that followed that and Kyoko cooing at him for being so adorable, Reborn knew that at least somethings hadn't changed.

(He would eventually figure out how the twin's always knew it was him while everyone else was so easily fooled.)

Author Note:

For the little fun dance scene, I don't remember the music I was listening too, but it was for sure some 80s or late 70s. How am I assuming this? Because Nana passed those quirky dance moves to her daughter. I can for sure guarantee Walk Like an Egyptian was one of them. Anyways the Sleeping Beauty one, is what is it, but its Valse from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite.

I've gotten a couple questions about Natsume's Guardian potentials or if she'll actually have any and at the moment that's not a thing, mostly because Natsume has outrighted stated that she's not interested.

Uhh, i feel like I'm forgetting something...and as always I can't remember what it is.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed the story!

Til Next Time

Sorugao