I'm super glad everyone enjoyed Iemitsu's little bit there and we may never know what happened to Shiro and the monkeys...more importantly, here is the next chapter! i hope it's not too rushed, but whatever. oh, and happy fourth of july! (even though it's technically the fifth now) ^^

Running from Tsuna's house with an empty stomach was a horrid idea. Hopefully, the couple of suckers I found lying around should give me enough energy later should I need it. We had already ran into Kyoko and Haru who'd informed us about Lambo, I-pin, and Futa which only put me in more of a hurry. Those kids had really connected with me despite their obviously faults, and there was no way girly-man or anyone else was going to take them away from me.

Needless to say, I ran fast than I thought possible in my condition, dragging Tsuna with me while Reborn sat on my shoulder talking to him. Although I couldn't read what they were saying whatever it was had Tsuna freaking out, but none of that mattered when I rounded the corner and spotted the three kids running from a black cloaked man wielding a saber, fencing-like sword.

I released Tsuna's hand, just barely realizing that I'd grabbed that in our hurry to reach the kids, and was about to dash over there as the man attacked. I was about a third of the way there, knowing that I was not going to make it, when something knocked the man away.

"Vongola Famiglia's guardian of the sun and Colonnello's best disciple Ryohei Sasagawa, is here!"

I didn't recognize this guy at all, being the first time I met him and swiftly took in everything I could; from his wrapped hands to the scar on his left eyebrow. Obviously a boxer and one of the extreme type judging by the wrappings and sheer mass. Guy must constantly work out. Unfortunately, I was a bit distracted until a movement flashed a bit off to the right and another cloaked man jumped from a nearby tree. He too was knocked down and a third was blown up as Gokudera and Yamamoto showed up.

"Geeze, why does the dumb cow have a ring."

"You guys are safe now."

Ring? I'll have to ask reborn later. Shaking off my thoughts as Tsuna ran past, I stepped out of my defensive stance and headed over to the kids, still keeping an eye out for more attackers. One can never be too careful. Kneeling down to I-pin, I check the small wounds on her head with a frown.

"You should be more careful. Nana will be sad if you come home hurt, you know."

She nodded looking sad for a moment, but I smiled and pat her on the head before glancing back towards Tsuna to find Lambo rolling on the floor. With a sigh, I stood and picked him up staring at him with a monotone expression as he stared back. We stayed like that for a few silent moments, everyone around us trying to figure out what was going on, when Lambo spoke.

"I'm hungry~! Piggy back~!"

I rolled my eyes, hating myself for this, and reached in my pocket and pulled out one of the lollipops I'd found at Tsuna's house. They were probably his anyway, but whatever.

"You want it?"

"Uh-huh!"

"What do you say?"

It took him a while to say the simple 'please', having to go through his tantrums and him repeating over and over again 'Give it to Lambo' 'Lambo wants it', but I eventually gave it to him and reluctantly handed the other two to I-pin and Futa, leaving me with none. They took them, glancing at me to make sure it was okay but hey, what can I say? They really grow on you…Like parasites…but in a good way!

Suddenly though, I felt someone nearby and announced that someone was here moments before Reborn could and a few minutes before the man revealed himself. He was an odd character too, not surprising since he must be friends with girly-man, but still.

He carried maybe eight of those saber swords and had extremely spiky black hair. He also seemed to really like belts too, and the chain that connected his lip to his eyebrow had me wondering if all girly-man's friends were like this. Chuckling slightly to myself, I muttered something under my breath that Reborn must've heard since he snickered as well.

"Kinky man plays with belts~ I'll call him Kinks."

I soon stopped my laughter though, when he began reaching for his swords only to find more people jumping down to meet him. Looking at them, I realized that girly-man did have a lot of weird friends. Pointing to each of them, I spoke out loud if only to rid the area of the tension.

"Gay Peacock." The man in the fur rimmed coat and odd haircut. "Smokey the Bear" The huge guy with the gas mask. "Prison Prince." The kid with a crooked crow and striped shirt. "Kinks." Of course. "Bell Baby." The baby looking kid with a bell-shaped head.

All eyes turned to me, either murderous glares or shock, when someone I recognized showed up in front of them all.

"Voi! How dare you trick me you piece of trash!"

"Girly-man!~ I missed you so much!~"

He began yelling at me so excitedly that I couldn't understand a word he said, so I just smiled and waved a little as his buddies snickered in the background about his nickname. Apparently they approved of his and completely disregarded their own, so I guessed they liked them. Finally, he seemed to calm down a smidge and looked around our group.

"Which of you wields the ring of rain?"

Someone stepped forward next to me, who I discovered to be Yamamoto. Glancing back and forth between the two, I noticed the little sparks made when their gazes clashed and promptly took a step back to watch the show with Reborn and Tsuna, who was freaking out again.

I took an undignified plop on the ground as the guys up there shoved each other around and a new face came out from the back. He looked pretty strange too, with the scars covering his face and the fox tail and feathers hanging from the side of his head, but he was normal compared to the others. Nudging Tsuna's leg, he bent down and I questioned him.

"What do you think, Fox-tail or Scar Face?"

Turning to him I caught him mid-EEIIIII? And suddenly felt something heading in my direction, easily leaning slightly to the right as a sword pinned itself in the ground centimeters from my nose. Looking up with a raised eyebrow, I stared bored at Fox-tail and ignored his deadly expression.

"What did you call me?"

"Fox-tail. Unless you prefer Scar Face."

The look he sent our way had Tsuna falling to the ground and the others frozen in fear. Even I had to admit, my heart skipped a beat, but I've dealt with similar looks before. It was then his eyes caught Tsuna's and he raised his hand as it began to glow. Feeling the power from where I was, I stood quickly and took my place in front of Tsuna with a quick look at Reborn.

"This is bad! Run!"

Facing Fox-tail again I frowned as the tekagi-shuko appeared on my hand, speaking to Reborn in a confident voice.

"I'm not leaving them here frozen in fear, Reborn. I don't want to lose those close to me again."

"Die."

I tensed, but a flash in my peripherals had me relaxing somewhat as a pickax landed before Fox-tail and stopped his attack. Iemitsu finally showed up and with reinforcements as well. Realizing that I wasn't quite needed at the moment, I sat on the ground next to the three kids as my weapon disappeared again. Things were starting to blur for me; exhaustion, hunger, and just plain laziness keeping me from focusing on what was being said. A small tug on my sleeve kind of woke me up a bit and I turned to find Futa, not tugging on my sleeve, but shaking with his fist gripping it tightly.

These idiots. Leaving kids here just hoping they won't know what's going on. They're smarter than they look. Even I remember the ignorant adults who thought I wouldn't understand what my parent's line of work was or what really happened to them. Fools. I pulled the three of them on my lap and ruffled Futa's hair, smiling and rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine, I'll make sure of it, okay?"

Futa smiled back at me, still a bit nervous, but I'm not good with comforting. It wasn't long before Lambo and I-pin were asleep in my arms, Futa trying not to but failing. The only part I had managed to catch of the conversation was the last of it.

"Those with the same rings will have a one-on-one battle."

I couldn't help but wonder though. Just where was my part in all of this? My eyes slowly slid closed and my breathing matched the three children in my arms as I fell into a restful sleep.

Tsuna couldn't believe what had just happened in the span of a few minutes. Not only was his dad part of the mafia and had pushed the fact that he wanted him of all people to be the tenth generation boss, but now his friends were being dragged into this and could rotationally be in a lot of danger! I can't do this? What if they get hurt? Not only that, but I could die! Any one of us could die! Gokudera, Yamamoto, Lambo, even…Natsu…

With that thought, Tsuna realized how quiet it had been without her comments and funny nicknames for the group they were to fight. Looking around, he began to get worried that something had happened to her when he spotted her bright red-orange hair peaking up beneath Lambo, I-pin, and Futa. Coming closer as quiet as he could, he realized that all four of them were sleeping peacefully and just how calm Natsu looked without the bored expression she always put up. Tsuna smiled lightly to himself at the sight, when a small, squeaky voice spoke up from next to him.

"So she does sleep…Tsuna, we need to get them home. You carry them."

"Eh? All of them?"

Tsuna's friend heard this and came over; Gokudera ranting about how he should carry one to help his precious judaime and Yamamoto taking the other two kids, leaving Tsuna with Natsu since Ryohei had headed home. A small blush lit up his cheeks, but he picked her up and carried her all the way to his house, trying to keep the heat in his face down to a minimum before Reborn got any ideas.