Phew! This one took a while and I rewrote it at least once, but I think I finally got it ^^ hopefully everyone's still in character, including my OC. and please review and tell me what you think! i'm sure a lot of you will like the bit at the end ;)

I woke up in an unfamiliar place and felt my heart beat erratically as I internally panicked. Where am I? I thought I was safe! I-I remember Reborn, but then I must've passed out. Was I wrong? I sat up, cringing as my side sent a sharp pain up my spine and I looked around the room. It seemed to be a normal hospital styled room, which made sense seeing as my shoulder was bandaged up, but I had no idea how long I had been asleep or where anyone else was. And if Reborn is here, does that mean Tsuna and the others are here too? I need to find them.

I got up and climbed out of my bed, changing clothes as best I could into some loose pants, a shirt, and the hoodie I had taken from my future self. I then spotted the watch, rings and boxes I had also taken and grabbed them, though this time I took a closer look at what exactly I had picked up. One box was black with gold lining the edges and the other was the opposite of that; gold with black lining. Then, there were the rings. One of the rings I had appeared to possibly fit into an indent in the box both of which were shaped like a fox. The second ring I had though, was a bit odd. There was nothing special about it. It was all black, but what caught my attention was the detailed engraving of a dragon going around the outside.

Deciding I would try to look up information on them later, I put them into my pockets and grabbed my backpack, pulling out some pocky I had taken from my future self and chewing on it as I placed the bag over my uninjured shoulder, I left the room and began searching for the others. The place I was in was bigger than I had thought and I thought I was lost until I found myself in the kitchen, where Haru and Kyoko were talking and making food. They're here too? Not wanting to be spotted by them for now, I left the kitchen and began walking once more, only to feel something crunch underfoot. Looking down, I found a broken grape sucker and I raised a brow.

"Lambo?"

Assuming that it was his, I looked for more dropped candy and found myself following a trail of candy wrappers and sweets. They stopped at an elevator and I frowned, knowing that this was going to be where my trail dead-ends since I had no idea what floor Lambo had ended up going to. I was about to turn around and sign myself over to Haru and Kyoko, but the elevator doors opened then and a portly little man stared up at me in surprise.

"Oh! You're awake!"

I slowly nodded, not sure who this man was, but assumed that he knew where Tsuna and the others were. If they're here at all. "Do you know where Tsuna is?"

He nodded, smiling. "I do! Take this elevator down to basement 8. They are training with Reborn and Lal. Ah! But do be careful! You're still injured!"

I nodded back, still confused as to who this little man was, but did as he said while silently vowing to look him up later as well. The moment the elevator doors opened though, I found myself in an odd looking room just as Tsuna was kicked by Reborn into one of the walls. Blinking in confusion, I stepped into the room silently deciding to just watch what was going on until I felt it was time to reveal myself. I'm glad Tsuna and the others are okay though. Tsuna may be hurt, it seems, but at least he's alive. I shifted my gaze to Reborn and Tsuna and tried to read what they were saying from where I was at.

"Don't try to act cool, Tsuna. You're not the sort to be a hero, are you?" Reborn said. "You and your reasons for enduring this training to bring everyone back to the past, or to defeat your enemies-they're not you at all. Your feelings were a lot more simple at the time, weren't they?"

"At the time?"

I mentally sighed. Tsuna, you're loosing sight of what you want to do most…Though, I suppose I am as well.

"The time when you first ignited the flame in the ring. What were you doing then?" Reborn asked.

"I was only…I was only protecting Kyoko."

"Good answer." Reborn smiled and I smiled slightly as well. "Don't you have people you want to protect now?"

Tsuna stared seriously at his ring and a flame the color of the sun came out, lighting the ring. So that's how it works. Resolve or something, right? I headed over to where Tsuna was at, Reborn being one of the few who noticed me, and I knelt down to where Tsuna was on the ground.

"Oh. So that's how these things work." I said, watching in amusement as Tsuna jumped with a squeal.

"N-N-Natsu! Why do you always have to sneak up on me like that?!"

I looked up at him and gave him a blank stare. "Because it's funny."

"Ah! Natsu!" He whined, before suddenly noticing that I was eating pocky. "Wait, where'd you get that?!"

I tilted my head, watching as his face turned a slight pink. "My future me's place."

"What?!"

I nodded, before digging in my pockets and pulling out the boxes and rings. "Found these too."

Tsuna's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, suddenly shouting something that I couldn't make out, confusing me. Then, Reborn kicked him, knocking him aside and standing before me, pointing at the boxes and rings.

"Can you use the rings?"

"Don't know." I said, putting the rings on and thinking. What is my resolve? I mean, I want to get stronger to protect Tsuna and the others, but then there's him…I frowned, remembering the man I had fought not long ago and how I believed him to possibly have something to do with the man who killed my parents.

Suddenly, the rings on my hand light up with flame. Oddly enough, one was lit up orange and grey and the other, the engraved one, was lit up a dark black. I glanced up at Reborn, gaze hard and he gazed back equally as serious, when Tsuna broke the tenseness in the room, saying something I didn't catch that caught everyone's attention. I silently calmed myself down, before realizing Tsuna was talking to me.

"Hm?"

"I-I was asking if you're okay…You, um…You're still hurt, right?"

I nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. "Yes, but I am fine, Tsuna."

He nodded, though giving me a look that said he didn't completely believe me, but I was distracted. Those flames…they seemed different. Darker and almost…sick…I better stick to my usual flames for now…I don't like those ones…The black flames.

Reborn was suddenly concerned. The feeling that Natsu's flames had given off had something stirring in his stomach that had set him on edge. There was just something about that darker set of flames that made him nervous. He didn't have much time to think about it though, before Lal began moving on.

"All right, now it's time to open this box."

"Leave it to me. I'll wrap things up here." Gokudera said, over confident.

Lal tossed him the box. "Try it then."

"Come on out!" Gokudera said, punching his ring into the box only for nothing to happen. "Hm? T-This is…An inferior product. I know from experience."

Tsuna gave him a disbelieving look as did Natsu, though hers was a bit less expressive. Yamamoto decided to try it then, but ended up with the same result.

"Oi! This really is broken, isn't it?!" Gokudera shouted, getting annoyed.

"No, it's not." Lal reassured. "If a box cannot be opened, there can be two reasons. One, the flame is too weak. And two, the type did not match."

"Type?"

Lal explained. "There are seven types of flames the rings can emit. Like the Vongola rings; the sky, storm, the sun, cloud, mist lightning, and rain. These are the seven classifications. Similarly, the types of boxes are classified with the same seven attributes. The attributes of the ring and the box must match for the box to open."

"Sounds like a lock and key." Yamamoto commented, but Gokudera wasn't convinced.

"Oi! Wait a second. The future Yamamoto didn't mention anything about that. He went on and on about the wave energy."

Natsu spoke up then, having been in deep thought as Lal was explaining.

"Perhaps the wave energy is how much flame required to open each box."

"Correct." Lal said, eyes narrowed at her.

"Erm, so what does this all mean?" Yamamoto asked, obviously lost.

"Just remember this." Lal said, simplifying everything. "The wave energy, the ring, and the box. The attributes of these three things must harmonize. Other wise, the box cannot be opened."

"So that box," Natsu said, pointing at the one Lal had given them to open. "it's not storm nor rain attribute nor what your attribute is, correct?"

Lal hesitantly nodded. "Yes. My mist ring cannot open it either…It's your turn next, Sawada."

Gokudera began complaining and even Tsuna was skeptical, but Lal silenced them.

"Among the seven attributes, the sky is the only one which can open all boxes. That's the advantage of the sky. It's very rare for a person to have the sky wave energy."

After a bit of encouraging, Tsuna went to open the box and, surprisingly, the box crumbled, leaving a pacifier in his hand. Something changed in Lal then, and she quickly grabbed the ring from Tsuna before heading towards the elevator.

"That's all for today. Go have your dinner."

Natsu was confused, though suspected that the pacifier had been something important to Lal or else she wouldn't have tried so hard to have the box opened, and sighed quietly before heading to the elevator as well. She would find though, that while in the confines of the elevator with the others, that Tsuna wouldn't look at her or that when he did, there was something about his expression that worried her. Tsuna though, wasn't so much worried as he was somewhat angry with Natsu.

I don't understand why she would've gone out that one time to fight someone that dangerous without telling anyone. He looked at her as she stuffed her face full of food at the dinner table silently, eyes fixated on the red scaring that was on her neck, face and hand. She was so injured before. I thought I was going to lose her, but she still hasn't said anything about it. With all that's going on, I understand, but…I need to talk to her. As soon as dinner was finished, Tsuna went to talk to Natsu, only to find her place already empty from the table.

"E-Eh?! Where'd Natsu go?!"

Reborn gave him a bored look. "Dame-Tsuna. Weren't you listening? She said she was going back to her room. Though I doubt that's where she actually went."

"Huh? What do you mean, Reborn?"

Reborn hopped down from his seat and began walking to the door. "Figure it out yourself."

"Ah! Reborn! Wai-" Tsuna was cut off as the door slid shut and he sighed.

He never tells me anything. Once he bid farewell to Kyoko and Haru, Tsuna left the room and began thinking about where Natsu could be. Well, she hasn't been here that long and she just woke up. So there's no way she'd be going to her room because she doesn't have one yet and the only other place she knows is… Tsuna headed to the elevator, hoping that Natsu wasn't where he thought she was, and he pushed the button for basement 8. When the doors opened, he was surprised to find Natsu breathing hard with sweat rolling down the side of her face; her tekagi-shuko on her hand and knives scattered on the floor around her. Just then though, she cringed, falling to one knee, tekagi-shuko disappearing as she gripped her side, blood and sweat dripping on the ground.

"Natsu!" Tsuna shouted, though she couldn't hear him, and he hurried over, looking over her worriedly. "What are you doing?! You can't do this! You're still injured!"

Natsu stood up though, wincing, and glared seriously at him. "I have to. I'm not strong enough."

Tsuna stood up as well, a frown evident on his face. "No you don't, Natsu! Why do you need to get stronger?! You're not a guardian!"

"So what?!" Natsu yelled, surprising Tsuna, who very rarely heard her yell and even then, it was never out of anger. "So what if I'm not a guardian! That doesn't mean I'm going to stand by and watch you get hurt when there's something I can do about it!-Argh!"

Natsu suddenly doubled over, hand gripping her side as Tsuna grabbed her and carefully lowered her to the ground. He understood now though, why Natsu was doing this, why she was getting herself hurt. She's just like me…She can't stand seeing others get hurt and just wants to help…and I…I've been treating her like I do Kyoko and Haru. Like she's something fragile that shouldn't be involved in this, but…She's different, isn't she? Natsu, she's…been through this before. Reborn told me about her being a part of the mafia before and while he didn't explain everything…I have the feeling that she's lost people close to her and that she just doesn't want that to happen again…Is that why she went out last time?

"Natsu…" Tsuna said, moving his hand so that he had her attention. "Why did you go off on your own the other night?"

Natsu looked down, eyes sadden. "I didn't want you involved. It was my own problem."

Tsuna made her lift her head. "But we're your friends! We could've helped!"

Natsu shook her head. "You don't understand…It has to do with my parents."

Tsuna was confused, but things were slowly clicking into place. She never speaks about her parents. Could they be…

"I don't know if I ever told you…I think Reborn is the only one who knows, but…My parents were killed…by the mafia."

Tsuna swallowed, staring at Natsu in worry.

"My dad was a boss and my mom an assassin sent to kill him. That's how they got together…Heh, odd, but it worked. But then my mother was taken by a rival group and my father protected her and she him…Both of them died in the process…The man I fought that night…He had been following me days before. Murkuro told me about him and I went to confront him, but as we were fighting…The man said he worked for the one who killed my parents."

Tsuna's gaze hardened, hate and fury building up inside him for the man who made Natsu this upset, but she wasn't upset. She was furious. That dark angry hatred having already burned itself into her soul from the moment of her discovering that her parents had been killed years ago to now.

"I couldn't tell you. It was my problem and I didn't want you or the others being hurt because of me." Natsu's hand fisted around her shirt. "That's why I'm doing this. I need to get stronger. To protect you…and to defeat the man who killed my parents."

Tsuna didn't know what to do. Natsu had a reason for doing what she did and, though it wasn't quite right to him, to her it was different. He couldn't say he understood why she did what she did, because he didn't know what that felt like, to have ones parents taken from you and then to find out the man who did it was still out there. He suddenly realized how hard it must be for Natsu to go to his home where he had his mom there and the others as well. And her being deaf…She's had it this hard and I…I never knew.

"Natsu, I…I'm sorry." Tsuna said softly. "I-I don't know what you're feeling or anything, but…I still think you should tell us next time. I don't want you getting hurt again."

Natsu smiled a bit and nodded. "Alright, Tsuna. Sorry for worrying you."

Tsuna mentally sighed in relief as he helped Natsu up, bringing her to the medical room so he could help her bandage her side, before showing her to her own personal room.

"We, uh, would've put you with Kyoko, Haru, and I-Pin but Reborn said it'd be better to give you your own."

Natsu nodded, placing down her backpack beside the bed, but just before Tsuna left the room, she called out to him.

"Tsuna?"

"Hm?"

He turned, but was surprised to find him standing right in front of him, almost nose to nose with her.

"U-U-Uh, y-yes Natsu?"

He had a hard time looking at her, feeling blood flood to his face and his heart pumping five times faster that it should. Her blue eyes were watching his far too intently for this to be comfortable and he could feel her body heat with how close they were. Just then, he felt Natsu take his hand and he could feel his face get redder.

"Thank you." Natsu said, before stepping back and turning her back to him, closing the door to her room and leaving Tsuna dumbstruck in the hallway.

W-What just happened?! Tsuna looked down into his hand and flushed an even brighter shade of red. In his hand, was a red box of pocky and, while it might not seem much, Tsuna knew it was far more important than one would think. After all, Natsu loved her pocky and for her to give it to someone could only mean one thing- No, no, no! Stop it! Don't think about it! Tsuna thought, walking down the hall in a panic. I-It can't mean what I think it means! N-No. Natsu was just, uh…giving me a gift. Yeah. A thank you gift… Needless to say, Tsuna did not sleep well that night, too busy thinking about what Natsu meant by giving him the simple box of pocky.