haha, sorry about this! i should probably be updating some other stuff, but i had an idea for this after reading My Heavenly Judgement and ended up writing a new chapter for you guys! i hope you enjoy the bit at the end there though some of you might hate me for it :/ but let me know what you think!

I had only slept for a few hours at most, before I pulled out the laptop I had and began searching up what I could about Irie. I swear it was him who was inn the hospital room and sent me here, but why? Him and I had met back when my parents were still alive and we had visited Japan for some business they were taking care of. I had felt suffocated by my brother's over-protectiveness and had run off when he wasn't paying attention, and quickly found myself running into trouble. Irie had been getting bullied and I couldn't help but jump in and do my best to fight them off and we had become mutual friends at that point.

I often sneaked out after that and met up with him, finding the nervous boy to be really smart, similar to myself at that young age. He didn't make fun of me when I spaced out or when I asked him to repeat things, and he even went out of his way to learn sign language and teach me some. He was the first real friend I had and once my family left Japan, I tried to stay in contact with him through letters, but that died off after my parents died.

Why would he send me here though? And does this mean he sent the others too? I tried looking him up, but what I found was…odd. It said he was a part of the Millefiore family and in the upper ranks as well. My eyes widened as I kept searching, using my future self's hacking program to get into the Millefiore system and finding bits and piece of information about a project called the Tri-ni-set. I couldn't find much though before I was forced to get out of their system before their firewall caught me. It still had me wondering though, just what was going on?

After putting my things away, I went ahead and went down to the basement to try out the rings and boxes I had. I soon discovered that I couldn't open the boxes in my confused state of mind, and focused more on my rings. I noticed though, that the engraved ring wouldn't light and it had me wondering if it was because of the negative feelings I was expressing before that had lit it. I gave up on thinking about it after a while and instead did what I could with what I had.

I had been down there for hours, when I noticed that the room had a red tint to it. Wiping my sweaty face with the towel I had around my neck, I looked up to see that it was a red emergency light, letting me know that something had happened and I should head back upstairs. Once I had gotten up the elevator, I very nearly ran into Gokudera, Yamato, and Lal, who dragged me along with them shouting something I couldn't quite pick up. We headed into a room and saw Tsuna, Reborn, and Giannini in a slight panic.

"Big trouble!" Tsuna shouted. "We received an SOS from Hibari's bird!"

Gokudera and Lal said a few things, but I was too focused on the screen and Giannini's talking.

"Right now, it's in the 7th district, present speed 37 km/h. It's altitude is decreasing…25...20...I-It's gone!"

"Giannini, could you transfer it's signal to my computer?" I asked, pulling out the laptop I had in my backpack and setting it down next to his keyboard.

He nodded. "I'll send it to you now."

I glanced at Reborn then, seeing him speaking. "Where did we lose the signal?"

I glanced at Giannini as he typed away. "Please wait. I'm looking for it now."

I just got the information to my computer and began typing away as well, finding where the signal was last seen.

"Namimori shrine." I said, brows furrowed as I pulled up the reading from the signal that we had just noticed.

That's odd. It's altitude was decreasing so it was heading towards the ground. Could be multiple reasons for that, from it moving to land on something or maybe…I turned to Giannini as he spoke about possibilities of why he was getting weaker.

"It's possible that the emitter's battery just ran out of power"

"On the other hand, it could have fallen into the hands of an enemy." I spotted Reborn saying, before he caught my look. "What do you think, Natsu?"

I furrowed my brows, turning back to the info on my computer. "Is it possible that the signal was getting weaker because it was heading into a building?"

A nod from Giannini confirmed that and I frowned puzzled.

"And Hibari…could it be possible to use his own flames to possibly cover up the signal?"

"Certain flames could cover the signal if they were strong enough, yes."

"What are you thinking, Natsu?" Reborn asked as I glanced at him.

"Perhaps…the bird flew into a hideout of Hibari's that was hidden by his flame and the SOS was just a signal being sent out because there were enemies close to his base?"

Lal took a step forward then, catching my attention. "It could also be a trap set by our enemies."

Tsuna began freaking out and I went back to looking at my screen, seeing that there was a number of enemies in the area around Namimori shrine. I tried to track the signal from Hibird a bit further, calculating for the effects that could have blocked the signal, but it was virtually hopeless and I was forced to give up, pulling out a yakisoba bread from inside my backpack and munching on it with a frown. I wonder what happened to breakfast… Giannini tapped my shoulder then, catching my attention with a smile.

"I finished that research you wanted me to do, Natsu. Do you want it now?"

I nodded and he passed me a set of papers, which I flipped through as Tsuna gave me an odd look. I felt a small smile growing on my face and gave my thanks to Giannini, as Tsuna came over looking confused.

"What did you ask for?"

"My jacket was…odd. I am not used to the technology here and asked Giannini to look into it and the other things I brought from my future self's hideout."

I glanced at Giannini, who smiled.

"It was a great opportunity to get an idea of what she's been creating in the future, and I discovered that the jacket was actually a cloak that hid any and all flame emission as well as preventing facial recognition with the hood up thanks to a thin layer of mist flames and makes her presence virtually untraceable!"

I smirked ever so slightly at Tsuna as he gapped.

"B-But how?! You don't have mist flames!"

"But Murkuro does." I said, making his gawk even more than he already was. "I found a sample at my future self's home. She must have done research on flame attributes or something."

Tsuna began pulling at his hair, shouting something so crazily that I couldn't figure it out. I mentally snickered at his confusion, when I jumped, the vibrations of the door slamming open surprising me. Standing there, was a frantic Haru.

"Kyoko is missing!"

I frowned as she read Kyoko's note that she left behind and I quickly began trying to think up something to do. With Hibird sending out distress signal and Kyoko missing, things are going to need to be split up or done based on priority. Splitting up is the best bet, but who's going where comes next. Tsuna and I are injured, so we should go find Kyoko while Gokudera and Yamamoto go to check on Hibari. But then again, none of us are good for combat and sending two injured out in a possible combat zone would be a bad idea, so we'll need a combatant with us. Lal, maybe? I zoned back in and found that a plan was exactly what they were trying to come up with and I spoke, catching their attention.

"I believe we should split into two small groups and go after Hibari and Kyoko separately."

"You think it's so easy, Freaky head?! The boss is still injured and so are you!"

I frowned at him. "But would Hibari really send out an SOS signal if nothing was wrong?"

Gokudera reluctantly gave in. "You have a point there…"

Suddenly, they all turned to Tsuna, who had been zoning out until this point.

"What should we do, boss?"

"You should decide, Tsuna!"

"Eh?! Me decide?!"

"Of course." Lal commented.

"You are the boss."

"Come on, Tsuna." Haru said, and Tsuna looked over at me.

"B-But Natsu is the one coming up with strategies…"

I yawned, slouching in my chair with a shrug. "But the ultimate decision on what to do comes down to you."

Tsuna struggled for a moment, but then looked up confidently. "Then I'm going too! Kyoya and Hibird-we'll go after both simultaneously!"

I smirked a bit, taking another bit of my yakisoba bread as everyone got excited and Tsuna began briefing everyone.

"All right, then. I'll announce your duties. Lal Mirch, Natsu, and I will go after Kyoko. I would like Gokudera and Yamamoto to search for Hibird."

Once everything was decided, I quickly grabbed my jacket from my room nearby and headed with Tsuna and Lal out one door while the other two headed out the other. As we ran though, Tsuna tapped my shoulder to get my attention.

"U-Um, can I ask you something?"

I nodded as he chewed on his bottom lip nervously.

"C-Could you possibly g-go after Gokudera and Yamato should you think something's wrong?"

I raised a brow. "I will, however, why base this on my instincts?"

He chuckled nervously. "Well, y-you seem to always know when something's going to happen a-and, um, you're stronger than most of us a-a-anyway so…I just assumed-"

I ruffled his hair with a small smile. "Okay. I understand."

His face turned a nice shade of pink and I chuckled a little. It took us a while to reach Kyoko's house and Lal made Tsuna and I stay back as she checked on Kyoko's status. Thankfully, she hadn't been captured yet, but we were forced to take cover when a flying ball of, what looked to be, electricity flew overhead. According to Lal Mirch, it was Gamma, someone I remembered looking up while I was going through the Millefiore's files, and I frowned when I saw the direction he was heading towards. Standing, I followed him with my eyes and Tsuna grabbed my hand, concerned.

"Natsu?"

I turned to him. "You trust me, right?"

He hesitated, but grew serious, nodding.

I ruffled his head. "Then let me go. I'll help them."

He looked down, but nodded, releasing me as I pulled my hood up and we separated. They headed to continued searching for Kyoko, and I quickly headed towards Namimori shrine in the hopes that I would reach Yamamoto and Gokudera in time. Something tells me they won't be in the best of shape when I get there though…Those two don't get along very well and…unless they team up, I doubt they can beat someone like Gamma. And I only know that from what I read about him in his file.

Needless to say, that didn't prepare me for the amount of destruction that I walked into when I showed up just on the edge of the battle ground where Yamamoto and Gokudera had been fighting Gamma. My eyes scanned what I could as quickly as I could, knowing that they were in eminent danger. Yamamoto is unconscious with multiple lacerations and burns. Gokudera is the same, but still conscious and in gamma's choke hold. Gamma has a pool stick as a weapon and two electric foxes that I should avoid touching. Long distance attacks should be best, but it looks like speed is the better option. I don't know if I could land a hit on this guy.

Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and quickly threw a few knives at Gamma, glad when he dropped Gokudera and turned my way. Got him distracted, but he can't see me yet. Best move. I hurried away from that spot, moving to another as I pulled out more knives and threw them at him, ignoring the way he dodged them almost effortlessly, and focusing instead on where his foxes were.

"You should just come out, coward. You wouldn't want me hurting your friends here, would you?"

He swung his pool stick down towards Gokudera, but I just managed to get underneath it and block it with my tekagi-shuko, face still covered by the dark shadow of my hood.

"Oh? A mysterious dark-cloaked figure. A bit cliché, don't you think?"

He swung again, but I easily blocked it, not even surprised when the two foxes showed up behind me and came after me. Taking a chance, I jumped upwards, hanging upside-down just in front of Gamma with a hand pushing off his pool stick and hitting the two foxes with one of my specialties; an exploding ball of flame. They took a direct hit, being launched across the clearing and into a couple of trees and I launched myself up and over Gamma's head, landing in a crouch behind him and taking off towards the trees once more.

Something quick was flying at my head and I tilted my head to the left just enough to see the electric 9 ball fly past me and hit a tree, erupting in sparks. Oh? So that's why his weapon is a pool stick. I jumped up into a tree and proceeded to get back around to where Yamamoto and Gokudera were without Gamma noticing. I seemed to be frustrating him though, and he sent out some more pool balls in odd directions in an attempt to catch me. Taking my chances, I sent out a few knives depending on where I was at and, once I landed beside Gokudera and Yamamoto, he didn't know that he was already ensnared in my trap.

"You're a real pain, I hope you know that." He complained as I went to check Yamamoto's pulse.

Still there. Good. Hang on. I looked back up at him as he glared at me and went to aim his pool stick at me.

"I wouldn't do that." I said, making him scoff.

He stopped scoffing though, when I raised a hand and a cut suddenly appeared on his cheek, making his eyes widen.

"You-"

His eyes glanced around and he finally understood that I hadn't actually been trying to hit him as much as I had been trying to trap in in thin, barely visible wires. Thank you, future me. I thought, and as he turned to me with a glare, I gave him a smirk.

"Boom."

My flames raced up the wire and by the time he realized he couldn't escape, it was too late and the wires fell limp as an explosion rattled the area. I doubted he was fully taken care of, but I needed to check on Gokudera too and hurried over to him. He didn't seem too bad and he glared at me.

"Che, stupid freaky head…you're supposed to be with the tenth."

"He sent me here. You should be glad." I chuckled. "He's worried about his right-hand man."

Gokudera rolled his eyes, but I was suddenly on high alert when I felt the static in the air raise up. Moving away from Gokudera to keep him and Yamamoto from getting dragged into the fight, I eyed the dust cloud that was settling. Unfortunately, I hadn't been paying attention to the ground and when a 10 ball suddenly shot up and hit me in the stomach, I was taken completely off guard. As electricity shot through my system, I struggled to keep an eye on my attacker and his two foxes suddenly wrapped themselves around me, causing me to cry out as more electricity passed through me.

I shoved the ends of my tekagi-shuko into the ground, giving the electric current a way to pass out of me, but it was too late and Gamma had his pool stick pressed against my throat. He was definitely not very pleased, his jacket scorched and bits of his hair fringed, and he pushed the end of the stick on my throat, gagging me.

"You're going to pay for that little exploding trick, pest."

He pressed it against my throat more, making me cough and choke as I tried to breath, when he suddenly turned and jumped back, his foxes blocking something. I rolled onto my side and held my throat as I coughed, catching sight of who was standing there and mentally groaning.

"I'll give you a hint about what you want to know. They came over from the past." I'm not so stupid as to be replaced, of course."

The man closed his box and seemed to reply to something Gamma said then.

"There's no need for that. I'm in a very bad mood. So right here, right now, I'll bite you to death."

I sighed, coughing as I sat up and pulled out a juice box from my jacket. "Are you ever in a good mood, Hibari?"

He eyed me with a frown as I drank from the box. "Hm. Don't think I won't bite you to death too, Natsu."

I choked on my drink, sputtering indignantly as I pulled the hood back from my face. "What?!"

He scoffed again and turned to Gamma, who had said something that I had missed once more.

"So what if I am?"

They talked for a bit more, ignoring me, it seemed, and I sat back and watched as they began fighting. Hibari seemed to have some sort of hedgehog or porcupine or something and it had me curious, but I just settled for watching them fight silently, Hibird landing on my shoulder with a chirp, letting me scratch his chin. As I watched, I noticed that Hibari seemed to use up a ring and then toss it aside as it shattered. What's more, Gamma was so busy paying attention to Hibari, that he didn't notice the hedgehog behind him slowly growing larger and his foxes getting weaker inside of it.

So he uses the hedgehog to make the battle ground smaller almost, taking advantage of the person's focus on himself. Just then, I was forced to jump back, Hibari having been hit by a 3 ball and tossing it my way.

"Hey!" I called out, just barely having dodged it, and Hibird having flown up into the trees.

He glanced at me with a smirk. "I'm not letting you opt out of this fight, Natsu."

I frowned, crushing the juice box and assisting Hibari by using my knives in a similar way as he was using himself. As a distraction to push Gamma back closer to the spiked hedgehog. He only needed a little more pushing, so I threw a concentrated amount of my flames at him, him intercepting it with one of his pool balls, but jumping back the same time it exploded, spearing himself on the spiked animal.

"W-What is this?…"

I frowned, moving to stand beside Hibari as I glared at him. Using me to help him move things along, the pest.

"Didn't I already say, you cannot escape."

"The hedgehog…"

"That's right. He used the flames from your foxes to grow all these spikes. Just like how clouds are formed by condensing onto particles in the atmosphere."

"I see…A characteristic of boxes with the cloud attribute…is…propagation." Gamma said. "But I've never heard of propagating organic matter like that from our own cloud users…this box is nonsense…"

"It's because of such fantastic powers, that they are of great interest." Hibari said, glancing at me. "Something the future you said when she was helping me with her research."

I blinked, surprised, but it made sense. The things I had seen on that computer I borrowed and the samples I had found in my future self's hideout seemed like a lot of research on something and I always had been curious about how things worked. But I worked together with Hibari of all people?! As I contemplated that, I sat down on the fence post with furrowed brows and Hibari charged to finish Gamma as the two of us spotted Tsuna and Lal coming out from a set of bushes. Once Gamma was defeated and Tsuna and Lal hurried out in the open, I watched as Hibari turned to him with a smirk.

"What have you been up to, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"Hibari!"

"Ah." I said, catching Tsuna's attention. "You might want to check up with Gokudera and Yamamoto. They were pretty hurt when I got here, but I was busy so I couldn't do much."

I scratched my cheek awkwardly as Tsuna understood what I said and hurried off. I bowed my head with a sigh, feeling as though I should've done something more to help them when I had a chance, but I didn't have long to think about it when I was suddenly poked in the forehead and pushed backwards off the fence post. Looking up from the dirt in shock, I stared back at Hibari as he looked down at me.

"You did what you could. Don't be an idiot."

I blinked a few times, in surprise, before he turned away and spoke with Lal about something. W-What was that? Does the future Hibari usually act like this? I pushed myself up off the ground and watched as Hibari walked through a wall of the shrine, confirming my suspicions of a secret entrance. I shook off the thoughts of Hibari acting strangely out of my head and followed after him, Kusakabe, and Tsuna as Lal went to take care of the rings and pick up Kyoko. Unfortunately, it wasn't something so easily forgettable and I struggled to get my head around why Hibari was treating me so oddly, even as we reached the conjoining entrance to the Vongola base.

"Ah, Reborn." I mused, ignoring the idle chatter from Kusakabe and him as we began to bring in Gokudera and Yamamoto for treatment.

Reborn jumped up into my arms so I could carry him and still read his lips. "Are you're injuries alright?"

I nodded. "For now, but…" I frowned slightly. "…Hibari, the future one, he did something odd."

Reborn tilted his head. "Well, you two often worked together here, according to the data Giannini had on you from before the tenth's death. It wouldn't be surprising if the two of you forged some kind of bond."

"O-Oh." I said, felling heat make it's way up my face for some odd reason. A bond?…With Hibari?…