Hewwwwwwwo!

Chrihistie: Thank you for the review. Pointing out my mistakes is very well appreciated. On the 'ohiyo' note. I did that without thinking actually. It's a thing I myself do. Basically it's just a slurring of 'oh, hi you.' It's how I always great everyone. Kind of like how Reborn (in his adult form, it's noticeable) is actually greeting people with 'Chaos' but because of his childish voice it comes out ciaossu.

Chapter 3: Grumbles, Fumbles, and What Happens When She Stumbles.

"A-and then he just knocked my desk over!" Tsubuki took a large bite of her sandwich, chewing with a content smile. Her green eyes closed as a slight breeze ruffled her copper colored hair. "I didn't even do anything!" What a nice day it was turning out to be. Tsubuki was glad to be eating lunch outside. She was even more glad to have remembered the small spot underneath a tree, behind a bush, at the very farthest corner of the school grounds that she had spent her first year of middle school eating in solitude at. "Buki-chan?" She stretched, flopping backwards and then curling onto her side, snuggling the soft green grass. "T-tsubuki?" Green eyes slipped shut as a small snore escaped thin pink lips.

"Looks like she fell asleep." Tsuna leapt away with a shout as Reborn lowered himself from the tree branch above them.

"R-reborn! Wh-what are you doing here?" Reborn kept his black eyes on the lanky female, curled into a small tight ball, like a small animal. She looked weak, ridiculous and weak, but she looked every bit the fragile girl she was supposed to be.

"If you're going to be a mafia boss, you need to work on your presence." Tsuna shouted his refusal, but was ignored. "Don't you have a volleyball game to get ready for?" Tsuna scrambled for a minute unsure of what to do before settling on waking Tsubuki. As he reached for her shoulder to shake her awake, a pale slender fingered hand gripped his collar tightly before tossing him away from her. Reborn's lips quirked in the corners as the girl rolled over and curled herself into the tree, cuddling the rough bark.

Pastel green eyes snapped open in terror. She sat up, trying to meld with the tree, to blend in with it's bark though her pale skin and nearly fluorescent hair color made that impossible, but she was going to try anyway. Tsubuki sensed a familiar demon boy. The places that were once smattered with bruises began to ache. She dared to peek around the tree only for her pastel green to lock with cobalt grey. Like the frightened prey she was, her short hair frilled out before she tore off, running for her life. Hibari was after her.

Tsubuki heard explosions and in a hope that something more serious would catch her hunters interest and spear her body the pain of this hunt, ran in the direction of the sounds.

"This is stupid!" Tsubuki growled, hiding behind a low fence. The explosions had stopped before she could lead her vicious predator to it. "I don't even know what I did wrong!" She picks a piece of grass from her skirt, moving her hand up to correct some fly away strands of hair. "I've only been back to school for three days! Three days!" Tsubuki peeks from her hiding spot, the beast of a boy nowhere in sight, she prepares for a final flight to safety. "I'd rather be seeing Tsunayoshi in his underwear than this!"

She springs up, long legs and lithe form carrying her fast and far. Her strides uneven and clumsy, in the back of her mind, she thanks every god she can think of for her ability to walk, to run. She thanks them for each huffing breath she takes. Tears began to well in her eyes as she realizes she had done more running in the last three days then she had ever done before. Tsubuki decided that she liked running. She liked the burn in her thighs and sting in her lungs. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her running became sloppier, more clumsy as she hiccupped. She would like everything she experienced from now on. She had no right to complain and grumble about any of it. Tsubuki rounds a corner, her feet catching on each other. She stumbles around before falling over. She's vaguely aware of three other people looking at her, but her tear clouded eyes are locked on her underwear clad friend. A rough raw laugh escapes her lips, it sounds half mad and startles three of the four looking at her. She hears a stutter of her name and launches herself at her friend.

Tsuna without thought, shouts in fright, he'd never seen Tsubuki so distraught and out of sorts, she had always been very happy. Even when she had to spend months in the hospital with wires and machines and doctors, being injected, examined, poked, prodded, and operated on. She had always smiled at Tsuna. And it had always been a real honest smile.

Gokudera had not known what to think of the girl when she fell before them. She looked sad, sadder than he had felt before. The half mad laugh, and sudden tingle to his senses had made him act. She didn't seem dangerous, but he could feel a natural underlying power in her, so when she lunged at his Tenth, he moved to block her and protect him. Her arms curled around his shoulders, he grabbed her waist without thought. He fell backwards, her slender body on top of him. He tried to wriggle away at the last minute before they hit the ground.

Tsubuki curled her arms around Tsuna, her eyes were closed, she was trying to will the tears away, but even so she could tell something was off. Tsuna felt too tall, too muscular. Tsuna wasn't supposed to smell like smoke. Maybe it was a fluke, she moved to bury her face in his soft hair, but her face never met the soft brown locks. Green eyes snapped open and locked with startled grey eyes. Both sets of eyes went impossibly wide as his back slammed onto the ground and her lips smashed against his. It wasn't just their lips though. Their noses bent, teeth cut into their lips, foreheads collided. Tsubuki rolled off of him, whimpering, her lips bleeding and forehead bruising. Gokudera grasped at his aching nose, scrubbing the girls blood from his own mouth.

They stared at each other. Varying degrees of anger coming across both of their faces. This was a horrible first meeting and Tsuna had no doubt that his old friend and new friend would clash very often after this. His mind raced though, wondering if he should call an ambulance or Yuya-san (Tsubuki's mother, who refused to be called by anything other than her name.) Tsubuki was fresh from the hospital and if memory served him right, her bones were brittle and broke easily. Tsuna himself had once put her in the hospital when they were young. It had obviously been an accident, a spider had crawled across his hand, it's eight legs tickling his skin and multitude of eyes mocking him. In his fright, (and in his defense, Tsubuki had shrieked at the sight of the spider too) he flung his hand away wildly. The back of his hand smashed into her small nose, shattering it on impact. Little fragile Tsubuki back then hadn't even cried, she just smiled (though it was tight and painful) at him through the river of blood coming from her ruined nose and told him that it was okay. Tsuna eyed her face, pausing at her nose and feeling a pang in his heart. Her average length slightly pointed nose crooked to the left and had a large off colored scar across the bridge and smaller scars dappled about. They had to do slight reconstruction on her nose, not the entire thing, but his small hand had done enough damage to her porcelain body to required surgery. That was the first time Tsuna had thought he was truly no good.

"Hey are you alright?" A boy with black hair and brown eyes asked, kneeling before the bleeding and stunned Tsubuki. "You hit Gokudera pretty hard." He laughed, smiling a pretty smile at her. She smiled back through bloody lips and red stained teeth. The effect was less reassuring and more disturbing. The raven haired boy just kept smiling.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." She pulled some tissues from her bra, the boys turned slightly red at the sight of her digging in her shirt, not that she stuffed her bra, it just made for very convenient pockets, and began wiping her mouth. "But that grey haired guy got in my way."

"You! You idiot woman!" Gokudera was on his feet, growling and waving dynamite at the still seated Tsubuki. "What the hell were you trying to do!? Are you trying to kill the Tenth?!" Tsubuki blinked green eyes up at Gokudera.

"Yes." Tsuna laughed nervously, moving to quell Gokudera's anger in hopes to keep him from blowing up the older female. "I'm Tsubuki." She bowed her head politely to the black haired boy as he helped her to her feet.

"I knew it!" Gokudera lit his dynamite, a murderous gleam in his eyes. "I'll take care of her for you."

"With love." Both boys paused. "I was trying to kill Tsunayoshi with my love."

"Like the Tenth would want anything from you! And don't address him so casually."

"Gokudera-kun, please. Tsubuki's my friend too." The silver haired boy made a sickened noise in the back of his throat.

"I'm more than his friend." Tsubuki's green eyes sparkled with mischief. Tsuna paled. "I'm his life partner."

"I'm Yamamoto Takeshi." The raven haired boy finally introduced himself. "Are you part of Tsuna's group too?"

"Group?" Green eyes turned from Yamamoto to Tsuna before landing on Reborn. "You mean the mafia thing you were talking about?" Reborn watched her with careful eyes and she watched him with equally as careful eyes.

"Yeah!" Yamamoto pumped a fist in the air. "I asked if I could play! And since you're dating Tsuna, you have to be part of the group!" Gokudera choked on his own spit, while Tsubuki shook with a rumbling laugh. Yamamoto blinked, taken by surprise at the masculine sound of her laugh, but smiled brighter, it suited her, he decided. It was different and different was always good. Either way she seemed nice and she was funny, so it didn't matter to him if she had a few quirks to her.

"You can't be dating the Tenth!" Green eyes closed in a mocking grin. "He would never date such a manly woman!"

". . . Manly?"

"Now, Now, Gokudera, don't be mean to her."

". . . I'm. . . Manly?"

"It's true! The Tenth deserves better than a dyke!" A killing intent filled the air, it focused on Gokudera. Green eyes burned with an anger so intense that they seemed to glow. Tsuna fell backwards with a small shout. Yamamoto felt sweat bead on his forehead. Gokudera swallowed thickly before taking a firm stance and preparing for a fight. The anger vanished, the killing intent vanished just as fast, a sparkling smile lit Tsubuki's face.

"You're just jealous that I'm closer to Tsunayoshi then you." She flipped copper hair at him, discreetly flipping him the bird as well. "But no and no. I don't really want to play any game that involves killing, but I'll hang out with you guys, except the old man over there. I don't wanna hang out with him, he's too grumpy. And Tsunayoshi and I aren't dating. We've just been friends for a very long time." Tsubuki met Reborn's eyes, something told him she knew it wasn't just some game, but he could accept her answer. Being a non-combative part of the family was good enough for now.