Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

That morning, Mia woke him up by body slamming into him. It was an interesting morning to say the least. He had almost locked her in a chokehold in retaliation but she slipped from his grasp and yanked him down the floor. She laughed at him.

"Morning," she said brightly.

He couldn't bring himself to be annoyed with her. Her laugh was a good wake up call. "Good morning," he replied and sat up. She watched him get up and turned around to let him change into his uniform.

"Hey Tsuna?"

"Hmn?"

"What's up with your mom?"

He fixed his vest. "Why?"

"You should see for yourself when you go down."

As soon as he was decent, they went down and were greeted by a feast fit for a king on their dining table. He looked towards his mother who was still cooking and was more cheery than usual. "M-Mom? What's going on?" He couldn't keep his face from freezing into a state of disbelief.

"I've never seen Aunty like this before," Mia murmured beside him.

"Tsuna, what's the meaning of this?" Bianchi asked him.

"Did Tsuna-nii do something worth celebrating?" Fuuta asked. Both child and hitwoman looked towards Mia. She stared blankly back at them.

His cheeks went warm. "T-That's not it!" he exclaimed. Fuuta and Bianchi went back to eating their tempura, disappointed. He sighed then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But I don't think I did anything to deserve this." He thought back to yesterday. Yesterday was pretty normal, as normal as his life could get. Nothing in particularly interesting happened.

"Then what happened?" Bianchi wondered.

His mother continued to cook, oblivious to their conversation and was humming cheerfully under her breath. "Mom," Tsuna called. She didn't appear to have heard him, lost in her own world. "Mom!" Tsuna yelled. His mother finally looked at him but dangerously waved the knife in her hand around.

"Tsu-kun!" his mother called out to him.

"Mom the knife! That's dangerous!" Tsuna scolded her but she only made a terrible pun of his words. "What's going on? What's with all this food?" he asked her as she turned back to her cooking. "You're acting really weird."

"Really?"

"Definitely weird!"

"I suppose Tsuna has yet to understand an adult woman's emotions," Reborn commented as he suddenly appeared.

"And you do?" Tsuna shot back.

His mom gave a delighted gasp and faced him. "Oh! I haven't told you yet."

"About what?"

"Dad's coming home!" Tsuna started at that. "For the first time in four years!"

He didn't know how to feel about that. He settled for worry. He looked towards Mia, a similar expression of alarm was mirrored on her face. "Tsuna…" she started. "Your dad's been found?"

"Found?" his mother asked with a tilt of her head. "What do you mean from that Mia-chan?"

"But mom," Tsuna interjected. "You told me Dad disappeared!" Both Bianchi and Fuuta reacted to this. They both started to suggest different scenarios that seemed like they came from a movie. Though their guesses were probably off the mark, Mia and he had a better idea. When he had first learned of his heritage, Mia had come to the conclusion that perhaps his Father was part of the Mafia. His mother certainly wasn't mafia material but on the other hand, his missing father who he didn't see often… he felt a hand touch his wrist and turned to see Mia looking at him in concern.

He knew what she was thinking. What if their theory was right? If so, he thought a little heatedly, he owed his dad a fist to the face.

"Oh Tsuna. Did you really think he disappeared? Who do you think has been paying for your tuition, our food, the mortgage, and our costing for living? We've been in contact in years!" Another thing he was annoyed with himself for not thinking about ealier. "Tsuna's dad is always out of the house earning money by digging in an oil field. He's a man of the earth!"

Tsuna loved his mother very much, but sometimes she was just… Mia coughed behind her hand. "Benedici tua madre, Tsuna," she said with a grin and he groaned ("Bless your mother Tsuna"). It was obvious that Mia did not buy what was probably crap that his father fed his mother.

"How ordinary," Bianchi sighed in disappointment. How was being a man of the earth ordinary? "Well, I can understand why Tsuna misunderstood. But I thought that talking about Papa was a taboo since Mama never did."

"I thought he died!" Fuuta added.

"B-But mom! You told me that dad disappeared!"

"Oh that?" His mother sighed dreamily. "Well, before he left he said…"

He could feel Mia shaking in laughter beside him. He couldn't believe his deadbeat father. Who the hell tells their wife to tell their kid that he disappeared and became a star just because it sounded romantic? What kind of person does that? As if he would be satisfied with that! He ran a hand down his face.

"What an interesting Papa," Bianchi commented. Mia snorted softly.

"So when is he coming home?" Fuuta asked.

"Soon!" his mother happily replied and pulled out a postcard from her apron. Tsuna sidled closer to his mother to get a closer look at it, curious as to where it was sent from. Goddamnit. Freaking. Alaska?!

He couldn't help himself from saying, "Is there even oil in this place?" He jabbed a finger at the postcard.

"See! It says he's coming home soon!" She turned back and resumed her cooking. Tsuna stared at his mother, wondering how in the world how she could be so… airheaded about this.

"You don't know when he's coming to come home but you're already starting to cook?" he could feel the headache coming and groaned. Mia tugged on his sleeve.

"Come on," she said. "Have a little bit of breakfast." He glanced at the assorted dishes on the table. He somehow didn't feel like eating. All that food made him a little sick. A feast. That's what's going to happen until his father comes home. A feast every day. Somehow he didn't feel well. Everybody sat down to continue their meal except for him and Mia.

"Can't. I've lost my appetite." He said to the floor. She took the postcard from his hand and pinned it on the fridge.

"Go on, get your stuff ready. I'll make a sandwich," she said and pushed him out to the hall. A few minutes later she handed him a simple sandwich to eat. He took it gratefully from her. They said goodbye and left for school. They met up with Hayato and Takeshi on the way, the sandwich now gone. He broke the news to his friends.

"It's great that your old man's coming back!" Takeshi exclaimed.

"So the Tenth's father is coming back? Once he returns, I, the Tenth's right-hand man, must be the first to greet him!" Hayato said.

"There's no need for that." Tsuna exhaled grumpily. "You don't have to do it for that irresponsible guy."

"Irresponsible?" Takeshi asked with a tilt to his head.

"You mean that weird shit your dad used to tell you when you were young?" Mia frowned at him. Tsuna nodded at her. His father was often a favorite topic of his to rant about. Mia didn't have a great opinion of his father after all she heard from him. "Didn't he tell you that he worked at construction sites and managed traffic around the world?"

"Eh? That's pretty wild!" Takeshi said.

"It's stupid," Tsuna corrected. "Ain't it?"

"Er… well…" said Hayato nervously.

"It's bullshit," said Mia.

"It's bullshit," he repeated in agreement with her. He looked up at the sky. "He says a lot of weird stupid things. Besides, it's just unthinkable that he couldn't return even once in four years. No letters, no calls. Nothing." He kicked a stone away bitterly. "To be honest I don't want to see him again."

Takeshi rubbed the back of his head. "Hey! Want to go hang out somewhere?"

"You mean skip school?" Mia raised a brow. Takeshi nervously evaded her gaze.

"Nice going baseball idiot! Let's do it Tenth! My Lady!" said Hayato eagerly.

"Eh?"

Hayato smugly placed his hands on his hips. "It's best not to worry so much about family issues."

For once, Hayato had given some wise advice. Mia was impressed. He grinned reassuringly at them and gave them a thumbs up, saying, "Besides, my family is messed up beyond recognition!" Mia did not know how he could have said something so disturbing while being so cheery. They didn't have a reply for that. Tsuna gave a sigh and smiled expectantly at Mia. She shrugged at him as if she were saying that it was his call.

"Since today is a review day…" he grinned. "Let's head out then."

Mia disapproved skipping. Surprisingly for some people, she was a stickler to rules. Education was important to her parents. Her mother, who had nothing but her brains, fought tooth and nail with her parents to go study in a privileged university by working two jobs and earning a scholarship. Her father had always been a smart man. It wasn't a surprise that when she came along that she would take after her parents. Even if today was a review day, she was still a bit reproachful over the whole thing.

But Tsuna was depressed. Maybe she could loosen a bit for him. It was just one day, she told herself.

From everything that she heard from him about his Dad, Mia was already forming a rather negative opinion about him. He wasn't a horrible parent like Chrome's mom but he sure did suck at it. She often wondered though what kind of person he was but never asked. He never asked about her mother and she didn't ask about his dad.

As they headed towards the promised meeting point with the others, Mia's thoughts drifted towards Eisen and wondered how things were going on with them. She had left both Chrome and Ian in his care when she left Tokyo. Last time they had contact was the day before when he informed her that Ian had flown back to England. Did he follow her advice? She hoped he did. As for Chrome, Mia had tried to follow up on her promise with Mukuro but came up with absolutely nothing. She didn't understand how he would even think that she had any say whatsoever over anything. What can a Middle Schooler do?

"My Lady? Is something the matter?" Hayato asked her. She blinked and then cursed herself for getting lost in her thoughts. She waved him off with a smile but he didn't seem to buy it. He came closer to her and lowered his voice, "Having trouble sleeping my Lady?"

In an equally quiet voice she replied, "I've been sleeping alright Hayato. I just have a lot on my mind."

"If you ever need an ear I'll always be here to listen."

She giggled a bit, always endeared at his eagerness. "That's sweet Hayato. I'll remember that." He blushed a bit and stuttered a reply that was incoherent. Tsuna looked back on them from over his shoulder and she waved at him. He didn't seem reassured by that and fell back to walk in step with her. He didn't say anything when she raised a brow in query and eventually decided to ignore his strangeness. Ever since they made up Tsuna had been acting a little – who was she kidding? – extremely over protective. He wasn't the only one as well. If Tsuna was bad, Hayato was worse. Usually it was Tsuna who he hovered over but since they were neighbors, he had more chances to hover over her more. Takeshi had also begun a habit of carrying his bat-sword around as well. There was nothing she could do about it. She decided to put up with it until this whole thing blows over.

She idly wondered who Takeshi had called in and she had to agree with Hayato on point – not the moron part but the noisy part – that calling Lambo was anything but a good idea. He was loud, obnoxious and was making her babysit him for the day. Tsuna had only given her a look of sympathy as she apologized to a store owner because Lambo thought it was hilarious to play with bras. He thought he could fire off imaginary lasers from the pointed tips. Thank goodness that Fuuta and I-pin were there otherwise she would have borrowed Leon from Reborn and put Lambo on a leash.

"Mia-nee look!" Fuuta pointed towards a shop. "Didn't you say the other day you wanted one?"

"Hahi! It's so dangerous over there!" Haru exclaimed.

"You were interested in that kind of stuff Mia?" Takeshi asked her.

Mia didn't reply, too interested with the models the shop had in display. She had never taken an interest with guns before until she had asked her uncle to give her lessons. Unfortunately possessing a gun wasn't allowed in Japan but what was allowed were air soft guns which were basically guns loaded with pellets. These 'toy' guns were used in gun games and when she heard of it, she had mused of owning her own gun for the heck of it – after all, knowing how to use one proved to be useful.

"You guys go ahead, I'm going to go check out a few things!" she said before going inside. Tsuna was going to leave with the others when two idiots passed by and he really couldn't help overhearing them.

"Did you see that?" a guy eagerly said to his friend in a hushed tone. "A girl went in!"

"Damn she's cute."

"Looks like my type."

"Dude, I dare you to ask her out." He stilled for a moment then spun around on his heel to look for Mia. He entered the shop and stared warily at the guns all around. Usually guns and violence caused unease for Tsuna even if they weren't real. He didn't like them. Period. However, catching the sight of Mia turning a Draganov Rifle in her hands and testing its weight was incredibly… well… stimulating. He didn't want to admit that she looked hot with a gun with her hands. He didn't want her to think him crude. Actually, he didn't want to encourage her interest in weaponry anymore than she already did. Reborn was there with her giving her advice. She kept nodding as she listened to him.

"Mia." She looked up at him then placed the gun back on the shelf. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His finger itched from wanting to do it himself. "You done?"

"Pretty much." She went to reach for his wrist when he caught her hand instead. His fingers immediately laced around hers and he smiled innocently at her. Her cheeks reddened but didn't scold him. Instead, she squeezed his hand a bit in return. They left the shop and passed the two guys he overheard earlier. He felt a smug sense of satisfaction when they grumbled in disappointment. Reborn hopped on to his shoulder and nudged his ear approvingly. He couldn't help but grin.

As soon as they were back with the others, Mia had pulled her hand out of his faster than a king cobra could have attacked. He wanted to ask of her what was wrong but she didn't give him the time as she went straight ahead to Kyoko and Haru. Tsuna wanted to sigh at the lack of warmth while Mia desired the feel his stronger hand around hers.

Mia had to smile as she watched Tsuna laugh. He had a really lovely laugh. It reminded her of her Mama. It was nice to hear. He had probably seen her eyeing him from across the arcade and bounded towards her.

"What's wrong?" he stopped in front of her. "Did I have something on my face? You were staring at me."

She shook her head. "Nothing really, just glad to see you cheered up."

He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Yeah… I know you didn't really approve of skipping but thanks Mia for going along with this."

"What are you talking about?" she smacked his shoulder. "You don't need my approval to do anything!"

He winced as his shoulders stung but smiled widely. "If that's the case then come here!" he dragged her towards a photo booth. If someone were to ask what the best part was that day, it would have been in that small booth. Mia would fondly look back and say it was when they were taking their picture. Her favorite one was the last. In it she had her arms around his neck, her cheek against his as they faced the camera, laughing and – in Tsuna's case – blushing. Why? Because it looked so innocent. In that one moment they were just two best friends who were enjoying each others company.

Afterwards, as their luck would have had it, change had begun its move. They were only taking a break then, when explosions rocked the whole district. Kyoko had screamed that someone was falling from the sky. The body landed on their table, causing the structure to break under his weight. Mia rushed to the stranger's side. He was injured. She was about to check on his vitals, to see if he was alive, when she stopped at the sight of the blue flame on his forehead. A Dying Will flame! What was someone like him doing here?

"Ugh…" The person didn't look much older than she did and he obviously was a foreigner. She shook her head. No, now wasn't the time for her to suspect him. She got down beside him and lifted his head gently.

"Can you hear me?" She held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

He squinted through his long bangs. "T-Three."

"What's the color of my eyes?"

"Cornflower blue or steel blue."

"Wow, that's pretty accurate. Can you get up?"

In response, the boy pushed himself up. Tsuna stood next to her. He was tensed at the sight of the blue flame on the boy's forehead. "How is he?"

"He didn't seem like he has a concussion. Most likely disoriented instead." She replied. "Know anything about a visitor?" Tsuna hauled the person to his feet while she supported the other side.

"Not that I remember." He muttered to her to keep from Kyoko from hearing them. At the sound of his voice, the guy that they were holding looked up at him and jerked in their grasp exclaiming "Thou!"

"The hell?" Mia said, clearly unable to understand the older dialect. Tsuna was pretty startled as well.

"He said, 'Thou'," he translated for her in English.

"Tenth!"

"Mia-nee!"

"Tsuna, Mia, you guys alright?"

Several voices exclaimed in worry. Their friends had come back. Mia stepped up to be embraced by Fuuta. "Are you okay?" she asked him and the boy nodded fearfully. She nodded herself. "Okay, okay." Her eyes searched their surroundings and saw everyone else evacuating the area. She handed both Lambo and I-pin to Kyoko and Haru. "Girls, go and hide okay? Fuuta you go with them. It looks like something went wrong. A transformer exploded I think."

"But what about - ?" Kyoko was cut off as another explosion almost blew them away.

"He'll be fine." Mia assured her. "Now go!" They were hesitant to leave but one look from Mia sent them running away with the rest of the evacuees. Once they had gone from her sight she turned back around just as the boy was getting his bearings. She rushed back towards him. "Easy," she said. "You took a hard fall."

"Voiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" A loud cry pierced the air. They all looked up. Standing on top of the building, was a man in an all-black uniform with long silver hair. He had the air of a predator around him with a matching feral grin. He pointed a long double-edged sword at them that was attached on his arm. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of them and said, "What's this? A bunch of outsiders are starting to make a crowd. Any piece of trash that gets in my way will be cut."

Mia felt the boys behind her react at his words. "Don't you guys dare to engage him!" she hissed at them.

"What the hell is going on?" Tsuna asked out loud. He looked towards his tutor.

But Reborn did not give them an answer. "I feel a storm brewing." Was his grim premonition.

"Get back!" the man shouted and raised his sword up high. With the force of only his strike, the man had them guarding against the torrent of air strikes that were strong enough to blow them off their feet. He continued to assault them. Mia nearly fell over herself if Hayato and Takeshi hadn't put themselves in front of her. As dust began to rise, Mia could faintly smell gunpowder but was unable to process this little tidbit of information due to the circumstances at hand.

"Mia! You should have gone with them!" she heard Tsuna's voice. Mia bit back an angry retort. Now was not the time for them to argue!

"I apologize Sawada-dono! I was followed!" the boy said ruefully. Mia fought her way through the wind to push a shocked Tsuna aside. She stared down the boy in front of her, her hair billowing around the place like angry rays of the sun.

"Mia!"

"Explain now!" she demanded. Surprise filled the boy's face at her sudden fierceness.

"That I cannot do."

Before Mia could say anything, Tsuna grabbed the boy's shoulder, his expression dead serious. "Just do as she says," he ordered. The ground near them exploded and Tsuna grabbed Mia by the waist to pull her away.

The boy said, "I-I have been looking for thee but I must apologize for I have brought thee into a dangerous situation as this." Another slash and the ground between them erupted into a heavy cloud of dust. The boy blindly grabbed onto a wrist and began to pull away. "Come this way!" There was a cry and suddenly they were running. The voices that shouted after them went unheard as they escaped the dust plumes. "We must go to a safe place – there I have something to tell thee!"

"That's nice – but you've got the wrong person!" Mia screamed from behind.

"What?!" the boy stumbled just in time too, as je was nearly sliced in half. Their escape was suddenly blocked by an accurate air strike from above. Concrete exploded and if it weren't for the boy's grip, Mia was sure she would have been really blown off her feet. The crazy whacko intercepted them from behind. The boy suddenly released her and she lost her balance, fell and now her ass hurt.

"So who is that?" demanded the man while he pointed his sword at her.

He readied himself for battle and raised his odd weapon. Despite having his back at her, he directed a very sincere apology towards her. "I apologize for dragging thee into this." Mia very much wanted to express her annoyance but was cut off as the man spoke again in a low undertone.

"Now tell me!" He raised his sword high. As the boy tensed for a fight, Mia looked around herself for anything to use as a weapon. She caught sight of gleaming silver that was soaring high over the man's head towards her but she will never be able to catch it in time – the man suddenly swung his sword. The boy moved so fast she was barely able to comprehend what happened. First he was in front of her, and then suddenly he was knocked aside into the nearby building and crashed through the glass.

"No!" she cried out towards him.

"That's right." She turned back to face the man. "What's your relationship with that brat? Spill it or I'll cut you." He threatened her with his sword.

"Mia!" she could hear her friends cry out. But she didn't pay them any notice as her eyes were drawn to a crest pinned upon the man's breast. A crest that she faintly recognized. The object that she had seen had clattered loudly against the stone beside her. It was a gun. She grabbed it before he could chop her arms off and rolled to the side where she turned the safety off and began consecutively firing shots at him. It was only a single moment but his eyes widened at her. He jumped away from her but with skill that she could have only seen in movies – he began to parry her bullets like they were tennis balls. But if she didn't get him then she hoped Hayato would. Bombs rained on him but the man was more skilled than she thought as he leap away and bouncing off of walls to evade the bombs. A cold realization went through her. Their opponent was of higher caliber, the likes of which she was sure the boys couldn't handle it.

"Nice shooting Mia!" she heard and looked through the smoke. She saw Hayato and Takeshi.

"Don't even try to lay a hand on the Lady!" Hayato shouted at him. "Or else you'll never walk away!"Mia wanted to shoot the bomber. Her fear of that nickname coming to haunt her had come true and the man shot her a narrowed look before facing her friends.

"We'll take you on!" Takeshi goaded them.

"No!" she said. "Don't fight him you idiots!" But they didn't listen. A hand firmly gripped her shoulder.

"Mia, they can do this." Tsuna appeared beside her. She glared at him.

"No they can't!" she told him at the same time the boy cried, "Please do not! That is not a person you can handle!" Hayato and Takeshi continued to ignore the boy's warning. The boy turned to them instead and pleaded, "Please, he is simply that dangerous. You must stop them!"

"But who is he – " Tsuna never got to finish his question as Takeshi rushed towards the man. They clashed, their swords tangled with each other. A few seconds after the fight began, Takeshi was engulfed into smoke and gunpowder as the area around the two fighters exploded.

"Explosives!" Hayato exclaimed.

"Takeshi!" Both Tsuna and Mia cried, horrified. The smoke cleared and they saw their friend fall. Tsuna had gotten up, his fists curled. Hayato raised his bombs but wasn't even given the time to throw them much less detonate them as the fuses were sliced off. The man flipped and landed a heavy blow upon Hayato's shoulder with his leg. He collapsed hard to the ground.

"Hayato!" her voice had grown frantic. Both of her friends were down and now it was only just Tsuna and her.

"Not even worth talking about later on," the man said with a huff as he swung his sword. He raised his sword over Hayato. "Just die!" The fatal blow was blocked by the boy from earlier. His injuries were great but he held strong against the other man's strength. "Hey there trash," the man said conversationally. "Feel like spilling it yet?"

"I refuse!" the boy cried.

"Then this will be your grave!"

But the boy was at his limit and could not guard. He succumbed to his wounds and the flame on his head extinguished. He fell to the ground like their friends and was unable to get up any longer. They made a move to go help him but the man turned to them once more.

"He's just a stray dog," he said. "I'll hear what I have to from that girl over there."

"Tsuna no!" she tried to grab on to him but Tsuna was faster than her. In a blink of an eye he had his gloves on and in another blink he lost all of his clothes. It hadn't even registered that the bullet was fired.

"REBORN! I WILL DEFEAT THE LONG HAIRED BASTARD WITH MY DYING WILL!" he roared.

"Eh?" stunned, Mia could only stare as a half-naked Tsuna engaged the other man in battle. The only thing that could run in her mind was 'I haven't seen that in a while.' Tsuna had grabbed on tightly to the other man. The man stared at him.

"I see now. He came to see you!" He began to chuckle. "What are you up to? I'll have you tell me and then die! You're weak!" He let out a guttural growl. They exchanged blows and it was obvious that Tsuna had improved but in this form he was too single-minded. His emotions were overwhelming him. He was out of focus. His attacks were simple and primal. If Mia could see that, then the man could too. He batted Tsuna away with a heavy strike and he collided with the building. Hard.

"Tsuna!" she cried. He got up again and charged once more and again, he was knocked aside. When he got up for a third time, Mia knew his efforts were futile. Brute force wasn't going to beat this guy and she didn't want Tsuna to be hurt any longer. But what can she do? A truck couldn't stop Tsuna when he was in this mode, what could she do? She glanced towards the boy and went to his side. She rolled the boy so that he could look at her.

"Why are you here?"

"I-I…"

"This is not time to hesitate! You brought him here so you have something that he wants!"

The boy began to get up. He glared at her. "Only Sawada-dono is permitted to receive – "

She cut him off with a glare of her own. "If you don't give me what you came here for there won't be a Vongola Decimo to give whatever you have to!" She never noticed it, but the boy did and he could have sworn that her eyes sharpened in color, freezing him. He stared at her, then at the losing battle that Tsuna was fighting.

"B-But my Master said – " she took him by the shoulders, her grip firm.

"Tsuna's life is more important." He looked at her once more before taking a sleek box from inside his coat. On it, the crest of the Vongola was etched upon its surface with gold. The boy opened the box and inside was seven half-rings.

"My name is Basil and I came here to deliver these to Sawada-dono. Reborn-san knoweth what to do with this – "

"The Vongola Rings," she whispered in awe.

"T-Thou knows what these art?" She snapped her gaze from the rings to his eyes.

"I know a lot."

Astonished, he could only hand her the box. "Who are thou?" he asked her.

She stood up, her face set in deep resignation. "Just a dumb blonde," she answered him and paused. "Thank you," she told him before running in a different direction, holding the box up high and screaming "I got the Vongola Rings!"

That caught the man's attention. He turned towards her, a sudden hungry look coming into his eyes at the sight of the box in her hands. He knocked Tsuna down one more time and it seemed like it would be the last as the flame had finally extinguished. He dropped to the ground on his hands and knees. The man looked down on him.

"I'll finish you later. After I'm done with the girl."

Tsuna looked up in panic and saw Mia hugging a black box to her chest. The man strode towards her. He wanted to move but all his injuries were making it known to him as pain seeped into every inch of his body. "Mia!" he called out. "Mia!"

Mia took a step back as he came closer. "This isn't an emergency I can't let go," he said. "I'll kill you and get those back!" Mia had no wisecrack to say to him, so she just flipped the bird. He threw back his head and laughed. "I'll tell ya one thing girl. You've got spunk!" he lunged at her and she rolled to the side. She continued dodging him but his blade grazed her shoulder and hissed. Her blood splattered the ground and she faltered. "I got you now brat! This is the end for you!" he slashed at her and she ducked. She wasn't that fast and was caught. Half the length of her hair was sliced off. The strands littered the ground around her like threads of gold but she was radiant in her defiance.

"Give me the rings!"

"Kiss my ass old man!" she yelled at him and was surprised at how angry she sounded. Well, maybe her hair getting cut got to her. The old man things must have gotten into his nerves because his expression turned murderous. She was certain then that he was going to kill her. Before he could lay a finger on her, a voice cut across the fight.

"You haven't changed, Superbi Squalo."

"Dino!" Both Tsuna and Mia cried.

Dino Cavallone stood along with his men. The sight brought hope to Mia because she just knew that he wouldn't fail them at this moment! "You haven't changed Squalo. Getting so serious against children…" his eyes wandered to Hayato and Takeshi to Mia and Tsuna. His gazed hardened and he pulled on his whip. It cracked in his hands. "Aren't you embarrassed?"

Squalo seemed to hesitate on taking Dino on. Mia wondered if Dino's "Bucking Horse" title actually had influence. "If you insist on continuing your tasteless little game… I'll take you on." She wanted to cheer. For once Dino was letting his good looks put to good use! She might actually swoon if she didn't exactly know how lame he was sometimes.

"Voi! It'd be fun to take you here and now, Bucking Bronco! The boss won't like it though if I take on the Family Alliance." That piqued her interest. Was Squalo from another allied family? "So I'll go home quietly… There's no way I'd do that!" He suddenly grabbed her by her hair.

"Ah!" He laughed at her pain. Well Mia had other thoughts… wouldn't she just love to shave his hair. She could hear Tsuna's voice calling her out.

"Let go of her!" With a crack, Dino's whip slashed across the air. Squalo intercepted it. Boom! It went. Smoke filled the area, leaving the whole place completely in a state of confusion. Mia couldn't defend herself as she was violently flung away, the box wrenched from her hands. She bounced on the ground and rolled. She was caught by Tsuna just before she hit a couple of vending machines. He cradled her in his arms, his hands touching her face to see if she was alright.

"Mia?"

"Gek." Was her intelligent reply. She was too dazed to give an answer and her scalp stung painfully. The smoke cleared and Dino ran towards them. Squalo had disappeared along with the Vongola Rings.

"Are you alright?" Dino asked them.

"Soft as ever. Bucking Bronco!" Mia looked up. Squalo was standing on top of the building. He sneered down at them. "For your sake, I'll leave their lives in your hands. But I'll take these with me!" He flashed the box at them. There was a gasp when Basil saw it. Mia and Tsuna jumped to their feet. Squalo flashed them one last grin, turned, and disappeared. Basil tried to go after him but he dropped, no longe having the energy to follow.

"Pursuing him wouldn't be smart," Reborn sharply said.

"Reborn!" Tsuna turned towards his tutor, angry. "Why didn't you help us?"

Mia put a hand against his bare chest to stop him. He looked at her. "He can't attack him Tsuna," she said and grunted as she sat up. She answered the question that was so obviously written on his face, "Because he's probably part of the Vongola Family as well. Is he?" She directed towards their tutor. Reborn only nodded once. The shock was so deep he barely could make a reply.

"Tsuna, let's talk later. We need to take care of their wounds first." Dino had picked Basil up. The rest of his men handled Hayato and Takeshi. Seeing his friends hurt, Tsuna bit down whatever he had to say at that moment. He looked down at Mia who was watching Dino's men move about. Their friends began to stir by then. They had wanted to go after Squalo but Reborn had thoroughly told them, in the bluntest of ways, that they were outmatched. It hurt her to see the expression of loathing over their own weakness on their faces. The arms around her tightened and she felt Tsuna's head bump into hers. She looked at him but his face remained turned away from her. She sighed. Tsuna felt the same way they did. They were all bummed.

Sirens began to approach the area where they were at. They decided then to leave before the police started to ask questions. Hayato and Takeshi were cleared to go home. They shortly left after with the deepest of grimaces on their faces. Mia however, under both Tsuna and Dino's persistence, went to the hospital although she suffered only minor injuries. She sulked when they didn't let her join in on their super important boss meeting in Basil's room and stayed outside. She wished she could hear what they were talking about but Reborn strictly told her not to come inside until he told her to. She didn't have to wait long as the door slid open and Romario beckoned her to come in. Tsuna had a very troubled expression on his face. He was also wearing a spare uniform. She wanted to ask what was wrong.

"Mia, you recognized the rings at sight didn't you?" Reborn asked her.

She glanced hesitantly at Tsuna before answering, "Yeah, I did."

"Wait, wait, wait. How come Mia knows so much?" Tsuna demanded from his tutor.

"Let's just say that she was granted by the Ninth privileges to know certain things." Reborn turned to Mia. Tsuna shot her 'we-need-to-talk' later look as Reborn went on, "Explain to him."

And so she did. Originally, the rings were supposed to be bestowed on Tsuna once the former Boss retires as it was at tradition that he should inherit them. Reborn had added it was supposed to have been given in two years. It was the Vongola's greatest treasure. She spared him of the gory details of the feuds that were incited by the rings but told him that they had a very dark history. Tsuna always believed her so he never asked. He sighed in relief instead.

"I'm glad that long-haired guy took them then."

"About that…" Dino sheepishly pulled out a familiar-looking box. "I have the real ones here."

There were several reactions. Reborn barely reacted. But point was he did. Tsuna looked like he would have screamed and Mia didn't know if she wanted to strangle him or kiss him. She settled for a nervous laugh. "Glad to know that I didn't just give away a priceless heirloom to a bad guy."

Dino smiled tenderly at her. "What you did today was brave Mia. You chose to protect Tsuna instead of the rings."

She turned pink. Compliments were hard things to accept. She didn't think she was brave. "I think you meant stupid." She blurted out. Tsuna had this look that he agreed with her one hundred percent but Dino merely chuckled.

"Bravery is often taken with a grain of stupidity." He strode towards Tsuna and offered the box. "Here. A certain individual asked me to give these to you."

Tsuna didn't take the rings. He stared at it. Mia knew he had more or less accepted the position but that didn't mean all of his doubts were gone. Then he took a hold of it. "Mia?"

She was right there by his side. "Yeah?"

"Will you stay over at my place tonight?"

He still sounded so unsure about this, about everything. Her heart hurt for him. "Sure." He smiled faintly and took the box from Dino's hands. After that, they left. There was a somber silence that surrounded them as they headed towards his place. He didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified. Terrified in the sense that it was too sudden and he was lost at what to do. With Mukuro, at least he had a goal. The rings brought nothing but trouble to him. Said thing was in his bag and even if it only weighed a few grams, it felt like he was carrying the whole world.

"Are you worried about the rings?" she asked him, jolting him from his thoughts.

His grip on his bag tightened. "Yeah."

She gave him a careful look. "Don't be. Those are yours."

He shook his head. "I know but why do I feel like that something is wrong? Reborn said it so himself – I was supposed to inherit these when I'm seventeen – why am I being given them now? I really have a bad feeling about this."

Mia frowned. "I'll be honest – I'm not sure of it myself but I think I have a hunch."

"My Intuition's got nothing. What is it?"

"The process of selection for the next boss was very strict. For a candidate to be chosen, they had to have three things." She raised three fingers. "One, they must be a legitimate heir to the Vongola. Two, the current boss must approve and three, the External Advisor as well."

"External Advisor?"

"He's the Legolas to his Aragorn." She blushed a little at Tsuna's blank stare. "The External Advisor isn't really part of the Vongola. He's actually the head of a separate organization with close ties to it. Basically, he's the one person outside of the Family that the boss can trust to call him out on making a bad mistake. You know, an advisor."

"I didn't know that." Tsuna frowned. "How much do you know?"

"Enough to know how things run like clockwork."

His frown deepened and she feared he would pry. He didn't, to her relief. "So what's the hunch?"

"Well… the Vongola Rings are kept in their half forms, one goes to the Boss, and the other goes to the External Advisor. Both parties must agree on a single candidate. My hunch is that probably whoever the External Advisor is – doesn't like you."

"Great, just great!" he threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "If he doesn't like me, why the hell am I the heir?"

"It's just a speculation. I might be wrong."

"You know what bothers me the most? That Squalo guy that tried to kill us was Vongola. Basil isn't. How screwed up is that?"

He stopped walking. She did as well. He stared at her with a face that was just begging for answers and Mia? For all that research that she had done, she could only look back at him in utter helplessness. Mia wished she had an answer for everything. But the longer she thought about it, the more confused she became. Some things were not adding up – Reborn had said that Tsuna was the only living candidate left. Who else was there? Or better to be asked, what would there be to disagree about? Tsuna released a groan and tried to resist the urge to pull his hair out. He tried focusing on the street instead.

She raised a hand to run her hair through when her fingers felt nothing but air. A sense of loss came over her when it finally sunk in. She was immensely grateful that it was only her hair and not her head that was lopped off but she couldn't help but feel saddened about it. She instead played with the ends of her hair and noticed how her thick locks had already begun to curl in.

"Mia?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to be sick…" he covered his mouth and leaned against a street light. His usual tan complexion was pale, his shoulders were hunched and his eyes were spinning as nausea threatened to overcome him. She quickly went over to him and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

"What's wrong? Did you eat something?" Tsuna looked up at her, his expression teary and pitiful. Mia suddenly felt a familiar feeling welling up inside her.

"It's just… it's so damn scary." He whimpered. She bit her lip to keep herself from smiling. There were times but not often, when Tsuna would revert back to his timid self. It doesn't happen a lot. Only with her. She brushed his bangs out of his face.

"Maa, maa," she said comfortingly. "We'll deal with this like we'd always done – together. As corny as that sounds."

"B-B-But…"

She placed her hands on her hips. "Don't mind it for now. If I've got nothing then you shouldn't over exert your brain thinking about something that would just make yourself sick."

He leaned back on the street lamp and hugged the thing. "Ah... times like these I wish I wasn't Vongola Decimo."

She stared at him for a good long while and sighed. "Sometimes I wish for that too," she murmured to herself.

Replies:

To nahc24 - I'm always happy to converse with my readers. Personally I always love a good talk but when I tried to reply to your comment your messenger was disabled. So here I am! I did, as a matter of fact, read your reviews on the previous chapters and have taken notes from them. Thanks a lot for those!

To Seere Klein - Huh, now that you've brought it up I have a different scenario running through my head though not quite as you would expect. I bet a lot of people would want an overly-jealous Tsuna but instead I thought about having Mia be french-kissed by a woman and have Tsuna be frozen in shock somewhere in the background. That was inspired by the anime Nobunagun. I can't help it lmao, I still want to keep the spirit of KHR comedy running. I always laughed at the fact that Tsuna lost his kiss to Dr. Shamal.

To hotxhotguy - you win this chapter for the funniest comment. I chuckled for almost ten minutes man. TEN MINUTES.

Thanks for reading!