Here's the next chapter! a little sad, but sometimes things just got to happen. and...i should've posted this one sooner, but i thought it was incomplete and apparently it was finished O.o oddly enough i don't remember finishing it...but please enjoy and review! ^^

Tsuna woke up to the scent of Japanese tea and wearily looked around in search of his mother, only to see a man holding a cup and a piece of paper with an odd name written on it.

"Su…hana?"

The man gave him a look. "It's 'pa'. Spanner."

"Ahaha." Tsuna chuckled with a yawn. "That's right…I missed the 'p'…sorry, I'm still half-asleep…"

"No problem."

It was then that Tsuna noticed the Mosca standing near by and he freaked.

"Mosca!" Turning to Spanner, Tsuna shouted, "You! It was you!"

"You'll catch a cold like that." Spanner said, drawing Tsuna's attention to his state of dress.

"Wah!"

Tsuna immediately grabbed the blanket he was under to cover himself, though he'd been caught more than once in just his underwear, so he soon got over the shock as Spanner handed him a jumpsuit.

"You can borrow this. Drink some tea."

Tsuna noticed his things hung up to his right. "Ah, my clothes!"

"They're all wet." Spanner explained, until Tsuna noticed his other things and began to worry.

"My lucky charm!" He went to grab it, but his arm was stopped by the clattering of handcuffs that had him chained to a pipe in the floor.

Spanner set his cup down and pointed the gun at the back of Tsuna's head. "Take it easy, Vongola 10th boss. Right now, you're missing in action, understand? Well…" Spanner nodded over to the left. "You and your friend are, anyway."

Tsuna rounded about to see Natsu, unconscious under some blankets nearby and his eyes widened.

"Natsu!" He rounded on Spanner with a glare, surprising him. "What did you do to her?"

"Technically…nothing. She actually attacked me. Though I suppose it's because I was pointing a gun at you…"

Natsu shifted with a groan, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face, worrying Tsuna.

"W-What's wrong? What's wrong with her?!" He asked, a knot forming in his stomach.

Spanner sighed and got up, heading over and placing a hand on her head with a slight frown.

"She's got a bit of a fever, that's all. She's one hell of a kid though." Spanner gestured over to a rather large pile of things on the ground nearby. "She sure knows how to hide some weapons and her hacking skills are pretty good too. There's some files on that laptop of hers that even I can't get into."

"I-Is she hurt though? Will she be okay?"

Spanner scratched the back of his head. "Truthfully, it'd probably be better if she got some better medical treatment. I can only to the basic first aid stuff and with a broken rib just floating around in there I don't think-"

"B-B-Broken rib?! Is there anything you can do?! Please! You have to help her!"

Spanner blinked, surprised by Tsuna's care for this girl-Natsu-but it wasn't his concern. Though Irie might be interested later.

"I've done what I could and bound her ribs, but she probably shouldn't be doing much fighting or anything until it's either healed or the broken rib removed."

"R-Removed?" Tsuna paled and Spanner nodded.

"It's either that, or the rib punctures a lung and she could possibly die." Spanner sighed then, grabbing a small towel that was in a bowl not far away, and laying it on Natsu's forehead. "Like I said though, she'll be okay as long as she doesn't move too mu-"

He froze, feeling cold metal against his skin once more and glanced to his right to see Natsu once again threatening him; though this time it was with a small pistol and not her usual weapon, seeing as he removed it earlier.

"Let us go, or I'll kill you." She said, deadly serious despite her one arm chained to a pipe like Tsuna's and her breathing a little erratic.

"N-Natsu!" Tsuna shouted, not really sure what to do in this situation.

Spanner though, was relatively calm…sort of. "H-How do you have a weapon? I thought I removed them all."

"There's always a few places nice guys don't look." She said, sending a light blush to Tsuna and Spanner's cheeks.

"You, uh…You got me there." Spanner responded. "Though it'd be nice if you didn't point that at me. I didn't kill you or your boss, remember?"

Natsu breathed heavily for a moment, eyeing him. "But you tried to…You tried to kill Tsuna!"

Natsu strained against the handcuff, before suddenly doubling over and coughing, spitting blood on the floor.

"Natsu!" Tsuna shouted, going to get up and reach her, only for his own handcuffs to remind him that it was impossible. If only I could get my gloves.

Taking this as his chance, Spanner took the small pistol from Natsu and disarmed it, setting it back down and tossing the bullets over to the pile of things he'd taken off her earlier. Natsu slowly raised her head and wiped her chin, glaring at Spanner who flinched when she picked up the emptied weapon and pulled the trigger, it was aimed right between his eyes.

"You, uh, you do know it's empty, right?"

"Doesn't mean I can't enjoy pretending what it could do to you." She growled, making Tsuna looked between the two in worry.

"U-U-Um, are you okay, Natsu?" He asked, shifting and drawing her attention away from Spanner, being silently glad when her glare disappeared back into her usual blank expression.

"I have a broken rib poking my lung, Tsuna. I could be better."

"R-R-Right…Sorry."

"Natsu, was it?" Spanner asked, waving a hand in front of her to get her attention.

Natsu turned back to Spanner, glare returning though not as badly as before. She was too tired to be threatening now that he'd disarmed her last weapon and she realized the severity of the situation.

"Do you…Do you know Irie?"

Natsu froze and Tsuna recognized the name, looking between the two of them in shock. Natsu saw this and grit her teeth. He can't know. If Tsuna finds out…If he realizes that I had been planning to stop them from killing Irie then…

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Spanner frowned a bit. "No. I know you know him. I saw it. On his desk. A picture of you and him as kids. You were friends with him, weren't you?"

"I-I…" Natsu's resolve was diminishing, worried that if she lied and said she didn't know him that-not only would Tsuna's intuition catch onto her-but should Irie be listening in somehow, she could ruin whatever chance she had of saving him and her friends.

Not only that, but if she told the truth, then Tsuna would surely lose trust in her and she would be alone…again…and she couldn't let that happen. But she couldn't lie either. Natsu had to make a very difficult choice and it was tearing her apart.

"Natsu?"

She hadn't heard him, but she knew he'd spoken and one look at Tsuna was all it took.

"I…knew Irie when I was just a kid. Before my parents were…He was being bullied and I …I couldn't watch so I jumped in. After that, we became friends and helped each other out. We were smart and understood each other. I didn't know that he would…That he was…"

Tsuna shook his head, eyes sad. "No. I saw it. When we talked about finding him, you…you would make this expression…Natsu, you were going to stop us…weren't you?"

Natsu bowed her head, eyes clenched shut in a vain attempt to shut off her senses. Yet she could still feel it somehow. She could feel his disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna. He was my friend and…I can't just sit back and watch him die." Natsu lifted her head, arms slumped at her sides as she looked at him; eyes filled to the brim with fear and worry.

Tsuna couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that one of the people he trusted would actually be using him just to get to this Irie fellow and save him after they were all trying to stop him.

"I thought we were friends." He said, looking back at her as he felt something break inside. "I-I thought…I thought you'd trust us. That you'd help us."

"I was!" Natsu shouted, not realizing the volume of her voice. "I was helping you! I just didn't want to loose someone else, Tsuna! Please! You have to understand!"

"Understand what?! I trusted you!" Tsuna cried out, tears pricking his eyes. "I thought you said…you'd said you'd be my strength! That you'd always be there for me!"

"I am! I was trying to! But how am I supposed to do that when all of you are running away from me?! I'm trying so hard to catch up, but all you guys are doing is getting further away! Don't you get it, Tsuna?! I'm different! I'm not like you and the others! I'M NOT A GUARDIAN!"

Natsu stopped shouting, doubling over once more and clutching her side as she coughed up more blood, but Tsuna couldn't do it. Tsuna couldn't be concerned over her anymore, because she was right. She wasn't a guardian. Tsuna had forgotten that. He'd forgotten that she'd just jumped into the 'mafia game' without a piece to play on the board. He could only remember the stares of distrust she'd gotten from the future Vongola members when they saw her. The way she used him to get to Irie. How easily she was able to hack into the servers of the Millefiore base and seemed to know so much without ever having any real evidence to back it up. How he never saw her unless it was him who needed help. Or him who called out for her. She only showed up when he needed it. All for him.

"You're right…" He said, once she'd lifted her head enough to look at him with sad, unfocused eyes. "You're not a guardian so what are you doing here?"

It was like ice had cut right through Natsu's veins, chilling her to the bone and leaving her with an empty, hollow, broken feeling. Tsuna didn't trust her anymore. Tsuna didn't want her around anymore. He hated her…There was nothing left for her anymore. She was alone.

Spanner had gone back to his research after the two upset teens had dressed and gone to their two separate ends of the room, and he'd explained to Tsuna that he wanted him to perfect the X-Burner. He kept hearing this clicking noise though, but he already knew what it was. Natsu was cleaning the small, empty pistol she had with her own set of overalls. She'd been doing it for the past hour or so and every once in a while, he'd catch her just staring at the weapon with such sadness that he worried what she would do if it was actually armed. I suppose bringing up Irie with the both of them here wasn't such a great idea. The atmosphere in this room is too thick.

"Excuse me!" Tsuna called out. "Can I ask you something?"

Spanner ignored him, he was right in the middle of a very delicate point in his research and the kid could wait a few minutes.

"I guess not…"

Spanner finished and spoke to Tsuna, not bothering to turn around as he fished around on his table for another part. "What?"

"Um…That is…What happened with the others…That is, outside!"

"Outside?" What is he talking about?

"I mean, everybody else! Have you heard any news about them?"

Spanner lifted his protective goggles over the top of his head, giving Tsuna a look.

"Um…Also, I don't understand what you said earlier. Why do you want to make me the perfect technique? You're a Millefiore, aren't you?"

Spanner turned back to his work. "Don't talk all at once."

"Eh? Ah…sorry."

"I already told you, didn't I? I'm making you perfect the technique because I want to see it. I didn't kill you and your friend back there because it didn't feel right. That, and she was threatening to kill me."

"Huh?"

Spanner turned back to him and noticed Natsu paying attention in the background. "I don't really mind killing over the remote monitor, but doing it live is just not my style."

"What are you saying?! Killing is bad whichever way you do it, right!"

Spanner looked a little surprised. Odd kid. He says that, yet his companion over there has no qualms about killing it seems. Either that, or she's all bark and no bite.

"Ah! S-Sorry." Tsuna apologized, taking his stare as something else.

"…By outside, do you mean outside this room?"

"Yes! That's right!"

"No idea. Shoichi seems to be running around though."

"S-Shoichi! You mean Irie Shoichi?!"

His yelling is too loud. Spanner glanced over at Natsu. I wonder… Spanner picked up his gun off the table and pointed it at Tsuna, keeping an eye on Natsu as he did so.

"Be quiet."

"S-Sorry!" Tsuna apologized, scared, but Spanner noticed Natsu had glared and shifted position, looking about ready to rip his head off should he actually go through with hurting Tsuna.

So she still cares for him even though he's basically said he hates her. Interesting. Spanner put the gun away and turned back to his table.

"But, I'd advise you not to provoke Shoichi. Although I've known this since we were both in the international high school robotics competition…but, Shoichi, he's really sharp. He's always been able to see the whole picture. He's an incredible guy."

Just then, the whole building shook violently, things being toppled and moved around and, while Tsuna freaked out, Spanner and Natsu were relatively calm, though Spanner could tell from here that Natsu was thinking intensely about something.

"Ow, ow, ow." Tsuna complained from where he'd fallen, now that the shaking had stopped.

Spanner though, realized something and began shifting around.

"What's the matter?" Tsuna questioned.

"I lost an important part."

Spanner already knew that Tsuna's weapons and such were within reach now, but he really needed that part and…and he was curious about what Natsu would do now that her things were beside her as well. Oddly enough, the first thing she grabbed was her laptop and the first words out of her mouth-just as Spanner found his piece-was…

"I knew it."

Spanner threw a small piece of trash on the floor, bouncing it off the side of her head and making her turn to him with a frown.

"What?"

Spanner smiled. "So what did you know?"

Natsu turned to her as well, and she sighed, spinning her laptop around on her lap and showing them the screen. A screen that showed them an image of the building's schematics.

"Before." She said, before typing a few keys and changing the image to another one. "After."

There wasn't much difference between the two images, but Spanner caught it and couldn't help the smirk on his face. Oh, she's smart.

"I-I don't…" Tsuna frowned. "I don't understand."

Natsu just shook her head. "You wouldn't. Like I said, Tsuna, I'm clever. It's the reason I know more than I should. You may think it's because I'm the enemy or whatever, but…perhaps this will prove it to you. Watch."

She began typing, showing the two of them a 3D model on the floors, one by one, before stacking them on top of one another in order and pointing to an area where there was a black box.

"Remember those black boxes we saw, Tsuna? How we didn't know what they were?"

Tsuna nodded, hesitantly. "So, what are they?"

Natsu smiled a little, though her eyes were still sad. "It's a puzzle box."

"A what?"

Spanner nodded. "You're right. I'm really surprised you figured it out. No one really got it when Irie explained it to them."

Natsu nodded. "It's what you said that helped. I haven't been around Irie in ages, so I'd forgotten what he was like. But what you said, about him seeing the bigger picture-"

"You applied it to the building schematics to make it a 3D puzzle box."

Tsuna groaned, messing up his hair in confusion. "Gr! What's a puzzle box?!"

Natsu turned the laptop towards him and pointed at the screen where a black space was. "This is the black box we saw on the blueprints. This black box is actually just a big empty space."

"Why build an empty room?" He questioned, still lost.

"So you can do this." Natsu touched the screen over a room and slid it over into the black space and downstairs to another and so on until that room she'd moved was all the way on the other side of the building, three floors down. "You can move the rooms wherever you need them if you can figure out how to get them there."

Spanner couldn't help it, he smirked and knelt down in front of Natsu, who was sporting a small smile as well. "Oh, you're so cool."

"I try."

Tsuna looked between the two, a frustrated feeling growing in his chest, opening his mouth to get angry, but Spanner turned to him first.

"Go ahead and enter your hyper mode."

"Eh?!" Tsuna shouted, having lost all anger and replaced it with complete confusion.

"So you can do an actual test."

"Eh? No! But! If I enter my hyper mode, I think I would try and escape!"

Spanner gave him a look. "What are you going to do when you escape? Our guys here are really strong, you know. Next time, you'll be killed. Especially with your friend there out of commission."

"Eh?"

"Spanner has a point. If you don't complete the X-Burner, you're going to have a really tough time ahead of you." A squeaky voice said, drawing everyone's attention to it; though Natsu had noticed it first.

"I-I know that! Hm? Eh?"

"The only problem is, you don't have much time." Reborn said, lounging back comfortably beside Tsuna.

"Reborn?!"

"Ciaossu."

"When did you-"

"Ah, Tsuna, he's a-" Natsu got cut off as Tsuna tried to grab Reborn, only to pass right through him.

"Eh?! It passed through! Ei! You!"

Natsu sighed. "Hologram."

"Correct, Natsu."

"Hologram? Like…a projection or something?"

Natsu gestured to his headphones, which were projecting the image. "Giannini installed it into his headphones, right?"

Reborn nodded. "Into your laptop too, though we weren't sure that you would keep it with you, so we made sure to have a back up. My 3D image is being transmitted from the Vongola hideout."

"Wait, there's such a function?!"

"It was installed inside that, which is why your headphones are so large. Actually, I wanted to contact you much earlier, but the interference was terrible."

"Eh? Ah! The earthquake! Didn't you feel it over there?"

Natsu sighed, wiping sweat from off her brow with a grimace, hand still holding her side. "I swear I just explained to you what that was."

Tsuna frowned over at her, making her tense, before looking away, and he looked back at Reborn. "Then…everything over there…"

"Yup. Everything's fine here."

"Thank goodness!"

"You should worry about yourself first." Reborn said, losing Tsuna once more. "Spanner, how much more time will you need to perfect the X-Burner?"

"Hm?"

Tsuna pointed. "Don't tell me you actually know this guy?"

"Never met him." Reborn said, making Tsuna panic a little.

"You're being really familiar with him though!"

"Well, I've been eavesdropping on you since you were captured with Natsu, so I can roughly tell what sort of person he is."

"That's why-"

"Besides, whenever I leave you on your own, things never get done unless Natsu's around to kick you into shape." Reborn pulled out his gun. "You're always slacking."

"Ei!" Tsuna wailed, panicking at sight of the gun out of reflex. "Wait, Reborn! T-Time out!"

"Fine." Reborn turned to Natsu, gun raised and eyes set into a glare, but she didn't move. "Natsu, everything you said is the truth."

Natsu hesitated, but nodded. "Yes. I wasn't going to betray everyone, I just didn't…I didn't want him to die if he could be changed…Back to the old Irie."

"Not everyone can change for the better, Natsu. That is a lesson that you will have to learn, but for now, I will trust you, since you still seem dead set on protecting Tsuna even now." He frowned then, fedora shadowing his gaze, though Natsu visibly tensed. "But should you try anything, don't expect myself or the others to just sit back and watch."

"…Yes…Reborn."

"Hm." Reborn put his gun away and returned to his usual self, tucking the serious Reborn away for now. "Can you hack into the security feeds, Natsu?"

"I…I can try, but if Irie is already moving rooms around, it's possible that he has the controls at hand and could…do a number of things. He could hack me back and find our location if I don't prevent it, or he could withdraw any data I have on this laptop if I'm not careful."

"Do your best, but the moment you start getting hacked back and are unable to stop him…"

Natsu nodded, bowing her head and starting to type. "Right…"