It's been a long time and there is really no excuse for the tardiness. I apologize deeply. Thank you to those who still keep up with this story. I appreciate all of your support.

"I am so terribly sorry, Tsunayoshi-san." Kaminika bowed so many times that a few lost count.

"How many do you have?" Skull leaned over to whisper to Colonello.

"Lost count after sixty-three. You?" the rain asked.

"Going on after one hundred twenty-one...one hundred twenty-two...one hundred twenty-three." Skull spoke with a slight smirk.

"Hmm."

"I swear it's alright, Kaminika-chan." Tsuna said waving his hands back and forth to tell her he was okay. She didn't buy it in the slightest.

"Tsunayoshi-san you are bleeding; you are most certainly not 'alright'." She fired back in an antsy tone. "Your wounds need to be treated. I will be back with a kit." She set off to retrieve said item while everyone else turned back to Tsuna.

"Now how'd this happened?" Reborn demanded his student sternly, not at all pleased with the situation.

"Well it just...happened."Tsuna answered, cringing slightly. "I think he got my eye."

"How."

Tsuna looked up at his tutor holding his left eye with care. Reborn didn't look like he wanted a petty excuse. Tsuna looked back down to the floor thinking.

FLASHBACK

"Hmm? Hello." Tsuna saw a little kitten approach him with what seemed like a confident air. The boy slid down from his seat and crouched cautiously. He carefully placed his hand out slowly so the kitten could smell him first like his mother once told him to do.

"Don't worry, I'm nice. Where did you come from, hmm? Haven't seen you around this whole week I've been here. Are you lost?" As the feline came closer, Tsuna noticed the little unnatural characteristics. The kitten was your regular run-of-the-mill black feline, small and fluffy. What made it stand out from others, though, would had to be its face. It had steel grayish-blue eyes that were pretty sharp and it had a funny 'X' shaped scar on its cheek; plus it had a crescent mark on it's forehead. The way the cat moved and stared at Tsuna was all too familiar to the boy. In fact, if the boy didn't know any better, he would have thought that Hibari was turned into a cat.

The kitten stopped about a foot in front of Tsuna, bringing him out of his thought. The don watched as it sat down staring at him mercilessly as a predator would its prey. The brunette noticed that the feline didn't even attempt to make a move to "get to know him", and, with that in mind, he retracted his hand. He found better use for it supporting his chin as he stared back, thoughts consuming his head from last night.

"What is Reborn thinking, leaving all of a sudden?" The teen sighed heavily as he spoke aloud. "If you ask me, this is all nonsense. It's so nice here and the people are very kind. I mean, I can't even imagine what would happen if we didn't run into a person like Kaminika." At this, the kitten's ear twitched, not escaping the boy's notice.

"Hmm...you're her cat aren't you," he questioned with honest curiosity. The cat didn't move an inch but kept staring at the don.

"I'll take that as a yes...you have such a compassionate guardian." The cat's ear flicked in, what Tsuna took as, agreement. The teen cracked a small smile before sighing once more.

"I still don't get why we have to leave." Tsuna began stretching from sitting in a slouched position. "Well, whatever Reborn was talking about I'm practically positive he's paranoid." He began to scratch the back of his head in aggravation.

"Gah! Saying that this place and it's residence are evil; give me a break! He was all for staying here a week ago!" While Tsuna rambled he failed to realize the kitten's eyes narrowed at him and without much movement pounced on his face.

"HIEEEEEE!" Not even seconds later did the it begin scratching him.

FLASHBACK END

"I think that I might have offended him." The brunette spoke seriously, gaze at the ground in front of him. Reborn gave him a blank look as the others hid snickers behind their hands. On the other hand, a few of them actually took the boy's story into serious thought. Enma felt sorry for Tsuna like a friend should but at the same time he felt that the boy deserved what he got for saying that kind of thing out loud even though it wasn't his own words.

"Kyo did that to you?" Heads viciously snapped to the door. Dustin was leaning on the door frame as unamusement shown in his eyes. Several of the groups members stiffened their stances just in case the worst happened.

Tsuna nodded slightly staring at the boy for what felt like forever. No one moved as they gazed at each others faces. They broke away at the same time and Dustin let out a sigh.

"Darn cat. Always causing trouble for people. I don't blame you if you hate him; many of us do."

"That cat does live here?"

"If that wasn't clear before. He's aneki's."

"A-aneki?!" Tsuna's voice rose a notch as Reborn and a select few others narrowed their eyes. Dustin rose a brow at the boy.

"Yeah, Kaichi."

"...?"

"Kaminika." Tsuna made an "O" shape with his mouth in understanding though his eyebrows were still knit together in clear confusion.

"S-s-s-so she's a gang member? Forgive me for asking!" Dustin's eyes shot wide open as his face gained a look of surprise.

"What?! What do you-oh! Oh, no no no no no!" The teen shook his head furiously in an attempt to clear up the misunderstanding. "When I say 'aneki' I don't mean it like that. Believe me, I know the difference between 'onee-san' and 'aneki'. It's her...personality perse that makes me call her that. She's no gang member!"

Tsuna released a small breath of relief that he didn't even know he was holding finally getting what the other was saying but then questioned what on earth about Kaminika's personality labeled her as a gang member title.

'From what I've seen she's a far cry from that,' he thought with a sigh. Soon footsteps rang in the halls and Kaminika appeared in the doorway.

" I have retrieved the bandages for you Tsunayoshi-san. Good morning, otouto." She spoke in a hurried tone then greeted her brother who was facepalming himself after that explanation. Dustin grumbled a greeting back taking a look at the kit in her hands.

"Oh, I forgot all about that," the brunette stated sheepishly, lightly touching his face. She began to approach the boy with a small smile gracing her lips.

"I find that hard to believe. You must be hurting quite a bit." Tsuna chuckled a little the blunt yet thoughtful statement. As she got closer she slowed her walk slightly hesitating. Catching Reborn's eye, he narrowed his at her as if daring her to take another step. Changing her direction a bit, she shuffled toward Reborn and handed him the kit.

"Maybe you would rather do it, Mr. Rinato. You are much more suited than myself for this, are you not? Besides, I still have some work to do." She gave him a smile and a bow before exiting. Dustin rose a questioning brow to his sister then to Reborn and back.

"Excuse me; you all seem busy." Dustin did a formal bow as well before leaving after his sister. Silence ensued for a minute until Reborn threw the kit at Yamamoto who instinctively caught it.

"Patch him up," he ordered leaving no room for discussion. "Now I'm not going to repeat myself anymore. We are all leaving tonight so pack up your things. You two," he scowled pointing to Shoichi and Spanner, "are coming whether you want to or not. It's not up for debate. As for the rest of you who so valiantly stood up for this girl, good luck finding your arses back home should you still refuse budging, because if you still want to stay, consider yourselves stranded." No one made a move to go against the hitman making Tsuna worry quite a bit. Taking a quick glance around the room he saw some of the group shaking in silent fury; even Enma looked like he wanted to fight back but couldn't find the courage and knew better.

"We gather in here at eleven tonight-" Reborn stopped at a loud bang against the coffee table. All attention turned to Fong whose hands were planted firmly on the table in front of him. His eyes shot open into a harsh glare that could cut, in Tsuna's opinion, over in Reborn's direction. The two stared at each other for an eternity until Fong made a move to leave.

"I hope you're happy," he spoke in a low tone forcing those in the room to step back.

"And where are you headed?" Reborn questioned in a demanding voice although it didn't faze the martial artist.

"To gather my belongings seeing as you're forcing everyone into your demands."

"Find out were your loyalties lie, Fong," Reborn hissed at the man.

"Oh, I know quite well where they do, Mr. Hitman." Fong spat back just as venomously.

"You could've fooled me."

"Go f*ck yourself." The man stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him. Tsuna gazed at the door solemnly as Reborn let out a sigh walking towards the door himself.

"Eleven sharp; be prepared," and he exited the room.

"I've never seen Fong act that way," Yamamoto stated, kneeling down and opening the kit. He rummaged around for cream and bandages. Colonello snorted half amused.

"That's true, but I guess, when you think about it, is it all that surprising? He is a storm after all; it should be expected that he would bring forth all of that anger sooner or later. Well, seeing as none of us have a choice, I'm going to go pack," and with that, he left slowly followed by others.

"This is ridiculous."

"I'm with you on that."

"SUCK IT UP ALREADY!"

"How about you shut the f*ck up already?"

"It's about time this happened."

"Shut up, Verde,"

"..."

Enma slowly stood from his seat with a breath.

"I guess-I guess I'll go pack."

"Enma-kun," Tsuna called out to his friend in remorse. Enma turned to his friend tiredly to see a torn Tsuna. "I don't want to go either...but it's probably for the best." Enma held himself.

"I just don't understand, Tsuna-kun. None of you ever treated my family this way when we posed a threat. Why should this family be any different?" The brunette nodded at the redhead in understanding. "It's just not fair," he spoke softly then left as well. Tsuna felt his shoulders sag as he couldn't help but agree with that.

"I understand, really I do," he spoke aloud, "but I just do want this to be the thing that splits our families apart so I will go along with it for now." He was brought out of his thoughts by Yamamoto whom had placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's get you patched up, yeah," he smiled at the don and then got to work.