A/N: …wooohhh(wipes off fake sweat)… seventh chapter… I know that I'm not that good at writing but I'm just so thankful to all that has kept on reading this fic of mine… a-ri-ga-to! ^-^

Disclaimer: I haven't been doing this for the previous chapters except the first so… KHR does not belong to me; Amano-sensei has all the right with the characters… I only borrowed them to make a fanfic of my own…


Recap:

"…Gokudera-kun… no, Hayato… you're my friend… my best friend," his Boss' smile widen.

He couldn't help but be happy. He felt honored that his Boss has even treated him as not only but a friend but his best friend. What made him happier is that his Boss has called him in his first name for the first time.

"Juudaime… you've just called me in my first name," he said in astonishment.

"Oh… uh… is that a-alright?" his Boss stuttered while rubbing the back of his neck.

He nodded enthusiastically with so much delight.

"You could call me Tsuna now, too," his Boss suggested but he quickly shook his head.

"No," he answered flatly then reverted back to his usual self, "I cannot do that. I'm not worthy."

His Boss had tried to convince him but he strongly refused until his Boss just sighed in resignation.

"Ara~ Gokudera-kun… why don't you just sleep here tonight. It's already dark," his Boss' mother advised with a smile but he declined and had gone off to his house.

"Thank you for having me… and sorry for intruding like that," he bowed before leaving.

"Ie… Its fine," his Boss said and had waved him goodbye as he left completely.

He walked silently in the dark sky with a smile, that's right… Juudaime is family…. My family.


Chapter 7

"Oi, dame-Tsuna," Reborn called while looking at his Leon-timer with a bit of disappointment in his tone.

Tsuna leaned on the wall while drinking the water on a bottle that he has carried, and waited for his tutor to continue.

"You've slowed down by 12 minutes from yesterday's time," Reborn commented while Leon shifted back to being a chameleon.

"That's because you added a half more weight of what I've been carrying with me since day one!" he pointed out with a look of disbelief.

Leon morphed into a rifle almost immediately and shot him with a bullet. He could have been caught by it if he didn't accidentally fell down when he had stepped on an empty can.

He sighed in relief as he looked at the bullet hole on the wall beside him.

"Hmph. Your senses and reaction time is slow," Reborn said in an unsatisfied way, "We have to do something about that then…" A familiar look appeared on his tutor's face that he doesn't ever want to see looking at him. Chills crawled down to his spines as the baby hitman smirked and loaded his Leon-rifle.

He gulped heavily and sweated in a fast pace.

"A-Anou… Reborn… y-you don't mean… we're… you're not going to…" Tsuna stuttered in his nervous state while forcing a smile, suggesting it to be some kind of a joke. He gulped once more as Reborn covered his eyes with his fedora and his smirk widened.

"Going to do what, dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked, acting innocently with a fake puppy face, and pointed the rifle to him.

"Oh no," he gasped as he realized his tutor wasn't joking.

"Yes, that's right…" the baby hitman said darkly, "I highly recommend that you should start running."

Tsuna didn't waste time and ran as fast as he could. He would glance back to his tutor every once in awhile if he'd need to dodge any bullets.

He'd jump up, left and right as he ran, trying to keep out of the bullets' way. He grimaced as he imagined his tutor's evil laugh, scaring the heck out of him.

After awhile of running and dodging, he managed to get ahead of his lunatic-of-a-tutor, and hid on a secluded alley. He looked around him like a paranoid rat running away from a cat, while hiding himself on the shadows.

He had kept himself on a dark alley that he could see many escape routes. He leaned against the wall and had made himself almost unnoticeable through its dark side.

Then, in a corner of his eyes, he saw a glint of light flash and a familiar object pointing to his direction. He stepped out of his hiding place, evading a bullet in a whim in the process.

It was like that for a couple of hours, jumping through shadows from alley to alley, keeping himself alert and aware of his surroundings. This routine went over and over until he has arrived on the mountain behind the town.

He carefully strode on the forest, taking every rustling sound in account as if Reborn would suddenly appear there and aim at him with the rifle.

And as he was expecting, he heard a rustling sound from the bushes behind him. He readied himself for the worst that would come out.


Yamamoto yawned openly as he kept one ear listening to their teacher's lecture. He glanced at the class and stopped to his friends' seat.

Tsuna's not here today as well, he thought while staring bored at the board, he's really training hard. Even Gokudera seem to have decided to do something to too… I wonder if he's alright now… I haven't talked to any of them after Gokudera ran away. But I guess everything will be fine… but they sure are doing their best... hmm… Maybe I should start training too. But what should I do? What kind of training should I do? And who's going to help me and train me?

The baby is out of the question. He's training Tsuna right now… Maybe I should ask Otou-san, he frowned at the thought, Otou-san have already established that he can't teach me anything further considering that I have learned all eight forms of Shigure Soeen Ryu from Otou-san. I've even already have added a few new forms to it.

He sighed, Should I make another form?

He leaned his back to his chair and tapped the point of his pen to a paper. No… I don't think I could form something new just out of the blue. But it's possible if I could get someone to fight against… Squalo? No, he's in Italy… probably busy with something, too. I certainly can't ask Gokudera and Tsuna. They're occupied. Hibari? I can't ask him that… Maybe I could ask Sasagawa-sempai… I wonder if he'll accept.

He kept on tapping his pen while searching for more names in his mind in case Ryohei isn't available.


Tsuna slumped down his shoulders to his side and released a disappointed sigh as he watched a wild rabbit come out of the bushes.

This is too troubles-

A pointed object pressed on his back.

"Never put your guard down especially if you're aware that you're being hunted," Reborn said as he gave out a grunt, "Complaining now, aren't we?"

"Mou! We've been doing this for hours now and I haven't eaten breakfast yet!" he exclaimed, getting annoyed but all that frustration were drained when his stomach grumbled.

"Hmph. Fine," Reborn lowered his rifle and carried Leon to his fedora, "But a hitman will not wait for his target to eat and get more energy to escape."

"Whatever," he said in a low voice, hoping he was not heard.

"What was that, dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked dangerously.

"N-Nothing," he quickly responded and jogged his way back home, I can't believe my endurance and stamina increased for the past three days. Normally I've already passed out in exhaustion in a lot shorter period of time. And this sort of thing could only happen whenever I'm in my Dying-Will-Mode or in the Hyper-Will-Mode…

He stared ahead, making sure he goes the right way to his home. As he reached his destination, he went to his room. He went inside alone as Reborn seemed to have left off to somewhere.

During my training for the ring conflict, Reborn mentioned that the First have gone through that same training so he could go into Hyper-Will-Mode on his own… But I wasn't able to do that even though I've gone through it… But why?

He ran his fingers through his hair and took a towel. He went inside his bathroom and went to undress himself for a shower.

"Ahh…" he relaxed his shoulders in his side as hot water draped down on his body, Maybe I should try understanding things first.

He looked up and closed his eyes, letting his face get hit by the now warm water.

First and foremost, a flame is a person's condensed life energy. It could be one of the seven flames or a person may also have more than one of which, like Hayato.

Sky, storm, rain, sun, lightning, cloud and mist… Each has their own characteristics. But a flame could still vary from each other even if it's of the same attributes, depending on its holder. Like mine and Xanxus' sky flames.

A sky flame is harmony like mine but Xanxus' flame is of… wrath, he sighed and dumped a towel to his wet figure as he finished his shower. He then took his gaze to his rings (A/N: I've been pointing this so many times now, haven't I?) on his table then frowned, A flame could be lit by the holder's determination, will or focus… Whichever works for the individual. But that doesn't answer my question.

He got himself dressed and took his rings to his hand and called out his box animal.

"Natsu," he murmured with a soft smile. The said individual appeared to his sight and played with his hands, He walked out if his room and into their dining room (A/N: I've been taking a lot of the scenes here whenever his at home… sigh… but this time it's not much of a scene really).

He ate in silence as the three kids in their house went playing out to their yard so he was eating alone. While doing so, he observed his little friend's body ooze with flames. Then, he looked at his tutor's seat on the table, With the Dying-Will-Bullet, my body limiters are being removed externally while with the Rebuke bullet, it awakens or removes my body limiters internally (A/N: Please correct me if I'm wrong at this)…

He heaved another sigh and took his used plate to the sink, so now… how can I remove these body limiters whenever I want?

Then, he heard a buzzing sound from the stove.

"Tsu-kun! Could you turn that off?" Nana asked politely from their yard and smiled at him.

"Sure, Mom," he answered back and went to the stove. Turning the switch off the stove, the fire it emits slowly lowered down until its gone.

If only I could get a switch and… Wait! he paused and looked at his hand, What if I could just create my own switch? Maybe I could… that's right.

He clenched his fists in determination as he has thought of something. Maybe I could do that…. I could try, he told himself and called out for his mother. He took Natsu back to his ring before jogging out of his house.

He ran off to the exact same place where he first learned the technique of the First's Zero-Point-Breakthrough.

Tsuna stood there with his ring on his finger and the mittens, on his hands. He closed his eyes.

Here it goes, he told himself and concentrated.


"I wonder where Juudaime went?" Gokudera asked no one in particular as he strode around. He went to his Boss' house but his mother said the person he went looking for already left.

He continued to walk around, hoping to find his precious Boss while giving everyone else a scowl. For him, it's only his Boss was worthy of his time. Then, as if on cue, he caught eye of his Boss running to somewhere.

Gokudera was going to call out for him, when he noticed the other's stern face. So instead of disturbing his Boss, he decided to just follow from behind.

They ended up in an open space on the mountain behind town. He watched silently as the soon-to-be-Tenth stood there in silence as if thinking deeply.

For awhile, they stayed like this, his Boss standing motionless and him, observing in silence.

Alas, after awhile a period of time, his Boss slowly opened his eyes.

Gokudera blinked and rubbed his own eyes. He isn't sure but he saw a flame burn out of his Boss' eyes in a mere second.

"Hayato, you could come out now,"

His eyes widened in surprise and awe as he went his way to his Boss.

"Juudaime," he muttered with appraisal lingering on his voice.

"What are you doing here?" the brunette asked and sat on the ground so casually.

"I was looking for you," he grinned, "I want to know what kind of training Juudaime's doing."

The other nodded in understanding.

"What were you doing anyway, Juudaime?" he asked.

"Oh… uh… How do I explain this?" his Boss ran his fingers to his hair, "I'm trying to find a way to go to my Hyper-Will-Mode without getting shot by Reborn's bullet or swallowing any deathperation pills."

"Amazing…!"

"It's not that amazing… really,"

"But it is! You're doing it without anyone helping you,"

You just don't know how amazing you are, Juudaime, he thought, Anyone could see that. That's why I'll follow you whenever you may go.

"But I still can't get it right… I don't know what it is that I'm doing wrong…" his Boss sighed, almost hissing in frustration.

."Don't worry Juudaime. I know you could do it!" he said, trying to encourage his disheartened Boss.

The other smiled with a thank you and stood back up.

"Alright I'll do it again,"


"Sempai?" Yamamoto called while peaking from the door of the Boxing club, careful not to disturb anyone at all.

Then, he heard a faint sound of punches. He followed it and has arrived at the back of the said club's room.

Whoosh

Whoosh

Pang

Whoosh

Pang

Boom

"Extreme!"


Concentrate, he chanted behind his mind while picturing an image of his flame flickering brightly inside. Tsuna focused on containing his flame and compressing it. Again, the flame flickered but slowly it became calm. He started to keep the container enlarge while keeping the flame serene. In the first few minutes it was alright considering he did it bit by bit. But when he has reached twice the size of the latter compressed state of the flame, it began to stir a tad wild.

Relax… and concentrate harder… his mind repeated. He let himself get a peaceful mind. Unconsciously, he lifted his arms as his intuition acted. His hands neared each other and made his fingers touch each other like of its position during his Zero-Point-Breakthrough-First-Edition.

The flame kept on flickering. In a matter of what seemed like hours, in which in reality it has only been a few minutes, he has kept it to his hold and has tamed it gradually. He lifted his eyelids and waited for the right timing as he let his imaginary container open. And in a matter of seconds, bright orange flame glistened on both his head and hands.

"That's a lot better, dame Tsuna. Now, for your next training,"


Otou-san- Dad

Sempai- Senior