Whoo, i finally got his done and I'll apologize beforehand if it ended on a cliffhanger. *rubs back of neck nervously* I seem to be doing that a lot lately...cliffhangers...anyway, please review and i hope I kept Natsu in character. she's a hard one to keep track of. ^^

I woke up early the next day and began packing as many weapons as I could into my clothes. I was still a bit upset that Tsuna and Reborn hadn't told me anything about this person who was watching me, and decided to go after this man on my own today while everyone else was watching the mist guardian's fight. I already knew who would win anyway. Mukuro was not one to be beat so easily.

Maybe I shouldn't go though. I have no idea who this guy is nor his skills. Not to mention that no one knows where I'm going so if I'm hurt, it's up to me to get myself some help. I frowned to myself, locking my door and walking down the street. That, and my shoulder still hurts a bit. It's gotten better, but I still favor it. Maybe I should tell someone where I'm going.

Sighing, I changed my direction towards Tsuna's house. He shouldn't have left for training yet, so now would probably be the best time to at least let them know I wasn't going to be attending the upcoming battle. Even the walk there was tense though. I could still feel eyes on me, but I was completely alone. No one else was walking around, and that only made me feel exposed.

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down, releasing the tension in my shoulders and climbed up the tree in Tsuna's yard to reach his window. I knocked and patiently waited, wincing when I heard a yelp and the sound of Tsuna most likely being kicked off his bed by Reborn. Not long after that, Tsuna opened the window with a confused look on his face as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Natsu? What are you doing here?"

I climbed over and sat on the window sill, while Tsuna sat on the edge of his bed with a yawn; Reborn sitting on his shoulder in his pajamas.

"I am here to tell you I will not be at the battle today. I have something…important I need to take care of."

Tsuna, still half asleep, nodded. "Okay. I'll let everyone know."

Reborn though, did not seem convinced and frowned. "Is something wrong, Natsu?"

I glanced at him and kept my face neutral. "No. I am simply looking into something and may not return for a little while."

He continued to stare at me, almost as if he knew I was planning on doing something stupid.

"I…plan on being there for the next match, Reborn. Promise."

He nodded at that, I having just given him a timeline. He now knew that if I wasn't back by the next match that something went wrong with what I was doing. The only issue with that was, now he had reason to worry about what I was planning. I didn't give him a chance to stop me though, and nodded to them both before jumping down and running off. Sorry. Reborn, Tsuna. But this guy is my own problem and you all have other things to worry about. I can't have my problems becoming yours. With that thought in my mind, I steeled myself and ran to the forest, finding the perfect place to confront whoever had been watching me for the past week. Standing in the clearing, I shouted to the empty space around me, already knowing that he was there waiting.

"Come on out! I know you've been watching me this past week and that you've tried to attack me once already. Well, here's your chance! I'm wide open and no one's around to stop you this time! Come and get me!"

The wind shifted behind me and I leaned my head back, grabbing the throwing knife between two fingers as a figure walked out from the foliage, a monstrous grin stretched along his face.

"Heheheh. I've been waiting for a chance to play with you, but it looks like you just made my job easier."

Turning to face him, I glared, flipping the knife over in my hand and sending it right back at him; just past his face and into a tree.

"Glad I could help. Now let's get this over with."

Reborn was, surprisingly, slightly concerned for Natsu. He hadn't expected her sudden visit to Tsuna's room earlier that morning and there was something bothering him about what she told them. Or hadn't told them, in this case. From what she said, it's obvious she's doing something but didn't want Dame-Tsuna to worry, or else she most likely would've told us.

"Hm, as I thought. It's still bothering me."

Reborn frowned, when he came upon an interesting sight. Tsuna was passed out on the sidewalk and Ken was standing over him, kicking him.

"Ciaossu." He said, catching Ken and Chikusa's attention. "Long time no see, Kakimoto Chikusa, Jyoujima Ken."

Ken squatted down to his level. "There you are, arcobaleno home tutor!"

"What happened to the other one?" Reborn questioned. "The guardian of mist for Tsuna?"

Chikusa pushed up his glasses with a slight smirk. "Off to see Hibari Kyoya."

Reborn was surprised at that. "Really? If Hibari finds out, there'll be a big commotion."

Ken huffed. "Whatever, pyon."

Reborn looked down at Tsuna and then back at Ken. "Hey, put Dame-Tsuna on the bench."

Ken scoffed. "Hmph, fine."

Once Tsuna was there, Reborn relaxed a bit. "Hm, when you guys are quiet, you look like regular junior high punks."

"Uh?! You didn't have to say punks!" Ken pulled out a set of teeth. "If you underestimate us, I'll shove you!"

His nose turned into that of a rhino, but Reborn smirked.

"Oh, it's out. The hippo channel." He teased.

"No it's not! It's a rhino! This is a horn! I'll kill you!"

"Stop that, Ken." Chikusa scolded. "We have other things to do."

"Shut up! I'll kill this one and the Vongola too!"

Reborn knew he wasn't serious and smiled. "Tsuna is so woeful. I thought he would be happier. After the fight at Kokuyou, Tsuna was very concerned about what happened to you. Natsu too. Tsuna thought I knew something and every time he remembered that battle, he kept asking me 'those guys weren't killed, right?' Seems like he was really worried about you guys. Natsu though, I caught her going back to Kokuyou a few times. She was leaving food there for you it seems."

The two of them were quiet for a moment, when Ken got frustrated.

"Geh! What's he made out of? Why is he so annoying?! If I touch him, I'll get his annoyingness transferred to me. That girl too. Making such good food." He muttered, before turning to walk off. "Let's go, Kaki-pi. Tell the Vongola that the guardian of mist is too good for him! We'll see you tonight."

Reborn smiled once more as the two hurried off. He then looked down at Tsuna and frowned. How am I supposed to get him to the gym?

Damn he's fast. I thought, gritting my teeth against the ache in my shoulder as I threw another blade at him. We'd been at it most of the morning and afternoon. I could tell I was slowing down, but he was just as bad.

"What do you want? Why are you following me?" I called out to him, just as I had been for a while now.

He ignored me once more, his sword clashing with my tekagi-shuko as we struggled against each other's strength.

"Tell me." I growled, sweat dripping down the side of my face.

He smirked, green eyes shining dangerously. "Surely you've already figured it out. As intelligent as you claim to be. I'm here to kill you."

I shoved him back with a growl, launching another group of throwing knives at him, only this time, there was a little present attached to them. I jumped backwards and grinned as I released the energy of my flames that I had wrapped around the knives, thus causing them to explode. I'd purposely been lazy with my small knives and had only half-heartedly been throwing them in order to get him to let his guard down. A waste of weapons, sure, but as long as the explosive power of my flame does its job, it was for the best.

I spotted a piece of paper flutter towards me and snatched it out of the air, confused until I saw what was written on it.

"Don't get cocky, brat."

I felt the air shift behind me and turned, just a bit too late as a sword sliced through my abdomen. Jumping back to put distance between us, I clutched at my wound as it dripped steadily onto the grass below me. The man in front of me simply laughed and swung his sword to get rid of the blood.

"My, you're awfully slow, Tachibana. I expected a bit more out of you, although I must say, you certainly have endurance on your side. And that trick you did with the knives was interesting."

"Shut up. Who are you? How do you know my name? Who hired you?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Still asking questions? Can't you find anything else to do? Entertain me more."

He charged once more and I managed to dodge even with my wound. I was still slow though and he managed to get a good kick to my shoulder, knocking me down before making his way over and grinding his heel into it.

"Agh!" I shouted, the pain growing worse between my shoulder and stomach wound.

I grabbed his foot, but I was loosing strength fast and couldn't seem to lift it off me.

"If you really must know, I suppose I could tell you. Since you're going to die anyway." The man shrugged, lightly dragging the tip of his sword along my chest. "I am Lance. Here to kill you, as I stated before, and as for who hired me…Well, let's just say he's a fan of your mother."

"M-My mother?" I questioned, secretly gathering my flames in the palm of my hand.

Lance grinned, allowing his sword to dig into my flesh as he slide it down my ribs. "He seems to have a thing for her. Shame your father had to get in the way, but then again, she probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway with boss's violent tendencies."

Something clicked in my mind and I stared at him with wide eyes. "H-He…He killed my father? My mother?"

Lance sighed. "Oh damn. Seems I said too much."

Uncontrolled anger flooded my veins and I struggled under the man's foot, shouting at him. "That bastard! He killed my family! He deserves to rot in hell for what he did! I'll-Ah!"

Lance stabbed my thigh with his sword, a hateful expression on his face as he twisted the blade in my leg. "Don't you talk about him like that! The boss could destroy you in an instant! He wouldn't put up with your crap! I'll kill you for talking about him like that!"

He yanked the sword out of my leg and swung it up to kill me, but I had other plans. I brought my hand up, orange-grey flames compacted tightly in a ball, before his sword cut into it, forcing them to expand at an accelerated rate. Raw power flooded out, exploding outward and engulfing Lance and I in the intense heat of the flames. I'm sorry, Tsuna.

Mukuro had easily defeated the baby arcobaleno before disappearing and leaving Chrome to Tsuna and the others. What's more, they just discovered that Hibari was going to be fighting up next, but something wasn't right. As they were passing by, Tsuna looked over towards Natsu's house to see just how dark the place looked.

"Hey, Reborn?"

"Hm." The baby hummed from atop his head.

"Did Natsu ever say where she was going?"

Reborn frowned. "No. Something doesn't feel right, Tsuna."

Tsuna nodded. "Yeah…Wait! What if she was attack by whoever tried to kill her?! She could be in danger, Reborn!"

Reborn hopped down onto the wall beside Tsuna and aimed his glance over towards the forest.

"Tsuna, I think I know where she is."

"W-Wha?! How?!"

Reborn, tired of Tsuna's yelling, kicked him in the head. "Shut up, Dame-Tsuna." He then whistled and a group of beetles suddenly came out of nowhere and stuck to his face.

"Hiiiiii!" Tsuna shouted. "R-R-Reborn! There's bugs-"

The bugs suddenly flew off and Tsuna immediately closed his mouth at the look on Reborn's face. "Let's hurry, Tsuna. Something's wrong."

Tsuna, deciding not to question his tutor, nodded and hurried off, following Reborn's instructions as they headed into the forest on the edge of Namimori. Huffing and puffing from the amount of running that he'd just done, Tsuna looked around, confused. "Now what, Reborn? I-I don't see anything."

"That's because you're not looking." Reborn scolded, jumping down and pointing at a tree that had a knife embedded into it.

Tsuna pulled it out and his eyes widened. "T-This is Natsu's! Reborn, could she be-"

"Sh!" reborn shushed him, and as they grew silent, they could hear the sound of crackling flames nearby.

"A f-fire? Ah! Reborn!" Tsuna hurried after Reborn, only to stumble to the ground when he tripped on a root, landing headfirst into a clearing. "O-Ouch." He muttered, sitting up to hold his head, but when he opened his eyes, everything seemed to freeze in that moment.

The clearing they had stumbled into was completely barren. The grass was gone and the trees seemed to have lost all their leaves on one side. A small group of bushes were still burning, but even Tsuna knew that the flames were odd. For one thing, they weren't burning anything. The leaves on the bushes were gone, but the branches were still a healthy brown. What's more, the flames were an orange-grey color; a color which Tsuna remembered Natsu describing to them once before.

"It changes. Sometimes it's orange like Tsuna's and sometimes it turns black or grey."

"Reborn, aren't these…"

Tsuna left the question unfinished, reaching out to touch the flames, only for them to suddenly disappear. Blinking in confusion, he went to go ask Reborn about them, only to turn and see the baby missing.

"R-Reborn?"

"Tsuna!" Reborn hurried out of a bush nearby with a dead serious expression on his face, one Tsuna had not seen before. "Call Dino. Tell him to meet us just outside the forest."

"Wha-Why? What's going on, Reborn?"

Reborn, frowned. "Don't ask questions. Hurry."

Tsuna nodded and hurriedly pulled out his cell phone dialing the number he'd grown familiar with after having the bucking bronco show up for his friends on numerous occasions. Once the call was made, Tsuna hurried off to where he saw Reborn disappear and began calling out to him.

"Reborn! Will you tell me what's going o-" All words died in his throat and his eyes widened when he took in the scene before him.

Slumped against a tree, was a figure, hardly recognizable in this darkened area of the forest if not were it for her bright red-orange hair. Natsu laid there, face hidden by her hair, wheezing in a small pool of blood. Her hand was draped over her stomach, bloodied, while the other was a startling shade of red; burned from her palm all the way up to her neck.

Tears started to fall from Tsuna's eyes as he was suddenly hit with the fact that she could be dying. He might lose a friend before these battles were even over. And she wasn't even a guardian…How can I hope to protect my friends when I can't even help her?

"R-Reborn…What do we do?"

Reborn glanced at Tsuna over his shoulder, fedora covering whatever expression he was making.

"We find who did this and we hope that she'll be okay."

Tsuna nodded, wiping his tears before walking over and picking Natsu up as carefully and gently as he could. As he cradled her close to his chest, Reborn on his shoulder, he couldn't help but wonder what made Natsu go off and do this all on her own. Why didn't she tell us? I thought…I thought we were her friends. As if reading his mind, Reborn tapped Tsuna on his head with his knuckles.

"Don't over think it, Dame-Tsuna. Let's just hurry and get her taken care of."

He nodded and a new determined look overcame his features as he stepped out of the forest and back onto the road where Dino was waiting for him. As he handed Natsu over to him, Tsuna draped his jacket over her small from. Don't worry, Natsu. We'll figure out who did this and we'll definitely win.