Whoo! I am on a roll today ^^ i'm super glad my laptop's working, i guess. but here's the next chapter! i hope you guys like it, sorry for any typos, and please review! i want to know what you guys think. especially that ending ;)

I typed away diligently, putting in codes and hacking through the firewalls one by one, but my mind was still focused on what Tsuna had said to me.

"You're right…You're not a guardian, so what are you doing here?"

I bit my bottom lip when I mistyped something and had to quickly fix it before the firewall threw me out and sounded an alarm, thankfully it worked okay and I went onto the next one. It's not like I don't want to help. Kyoko and Haru are helping and they're not guardians, but I'm not good at any of that girly stuff. I can cook, but most of the other stuff they do is something I'm not used to. That, and I wouldn't be able to stand back knowing what Tsuna and the others are doing. I got through the fifth firewall and moved on to a more difficult one, briefly glancing over to see Spanner, Tsuna, and Reborn talking about something. I hate not being a guardian, but I can't help that. My flame is weird and even if I can fight, I guess…I'm just not good enough to be one. I try to help them in any way I can, but Irie was my friend. How am I just supposed to sit back and watch him get hurt when there's something I can do about it? I…I never wanted to choose between my friends…But I guess there's no choice, anymore.

I felt the familiar warmth of Tsuna's flames, and looked up to see him breaking apart the handcuffs he had on, only for me to stare down at my own with a slight frown. I'm a traitor to them now…it's no surprise that no one will bother with removing them. I continued to type for a while longer, before I finally got to the final firewall. This one was extremely difficult and I was having trouble with it for a while, before someone began fighting back.

"Not good…" I muttered under my breath, catching Spanner and Reborn's attention unknowingly.

I picked up my pace in my typing, doing my best to combat the person trying to out hack me-Irie, most likely-and didn't even look over when Spanner began speaking, making me frown.

"I don't know what you're trying to tell me. I'm deaf and I would need to read your lips, but I can't because this needs all my attention at the moment, Spanner."

He stepped away as I typed and came back, holding a paper next to my laptop screen so that I could glance at it and not shift my focus too far from what I was doing.

Is someone hacking you back? Where are you at in the security?

"I'm at the final firewall and yes, someone is hacking me back. With this sort of skill, I can only guess it's…Irie." I frowned slightly, struggling with a code he threw at me, but so far I was keeping up, only half a step behind him. "I don't like the way this is going though. I'm keeping up with him, but it feels too easy. Like he's testing me before he-Damn!" I cursed, eyes scanning the screen and fingers flying across the keys quickly as I tried to battle what he'd just sent at me. "This is bad. He's suddenly changed tactics."

The paper popped up next to the computer again, and I scanned it very briefly.

What do you mean? Is it really that bad?

"He's upped his game. It's really bad, because it means I was right. He was testing me. Trying me out to see what I could do before adjusting accordingly and-Crap. Wiping me out."

I hated what I was about to do next, but I had back up files on my other laptop in the base and I picked up my laptop before smashing it on the ground, destroying it and ripping out it's parts to prevent Irie from getting anything from it.

I grit my teeth, breathing ragged as my side ached and I scowled down at the laptop. "Damn him. He beat me."

Spanner tapped my shoulder and I gave him a look before he pointed at Reborn's hologram as it spoke to me.

"Were you able to get anything before you were hacked back?"

I shook my head, clutching my side as I shifted position to face him with a wince. "Nah. Nothing more than what we already had. I couldn't even get the camera feeds for more than a minute. The most I saw was a flash of Yamamoto fighting someone, but it was brief because the video feed was flipping through all the cameras, so I didn't even see who he was fighting or anything."

"Yamamoto was fighting?!" I saw Tsuna screech and I nodded, struggling to take deep breaths suddenly.

Not good. I looked over at Tsuna, but he was speaking with Spanner again as the man went back to his computer. Since they weren't paying attention to me, I fingered my ribs carefully, finding the gap where my other rib should be, but finding just the ragged end of it just below my skin. Really not good. It's moved. The end of it will be pointing right at my left lung, if not trying to puncture it already. One wrong move and I'm… I shook the thought from my head, thinking through my options, but only finding one. I need to remove it…but how do I do that without them worrying? I looked over at Tsuna and Spanner, just in time to read the last thing he said.

"They call it time travel."

"I-Irie was trying to make a time machine?" I questioned, though it went unheard over Tsuna's shout.

"Time travel?!"

Looking over at Reborn, I tried to figure out what was going on.

"The two points have finally connected. Irie Shoichi was researching time travel, so that he could return to the past for his target."

"It seems impossible to return to the past, considering what time we came to using the Ten Year Bazooka. With this clue, we came here knowing that Irie Shoichi would be here." Tsuna said, worrying me.

"I have a feeling that Irie isn't the main cause of all this. And if this clue is correct, this device that's used to travel to the past has a deeper connection."

Tsuna nodded. "I knew it. We can't mess up this invasion and now I clearly understand that Irie Shoichi has to be defeated. We need to capture him so he can tell us how to return to the past."

Reborn nodded in agreement, but I grew really nervous and worried. Tsuna must have sensed this, because he turned to me with a frown, making me flinch back and turn away, but I really didn't want them to do this. I understood trying to get Irie to take us back to the past, however defeating him was the part I was worried about. He's not a fighter. He never has been. He's the type that hides behind a plan in a room and moves the pieces from the background. To physically defeat him is… Suddenly, the ground rumbled and I turned to see a woman with four large men having entered the room. It didn't take a genius to see that they weren't here to play around.

"Are you ready, Vongola boy?" Iris asked, unzipping her suit slightly as Tsuna tensed in preparation to fight.

Spanner though, was trying to convince him otherwise. "Stop it, Vongola. The Death Stalk Unit isn't a suitable enemy for you right now."

"Is that so?" Reborn questioned. "But Tsuna is about as strong as your king mosca, right?"

"That's why." Spanner elaborated. "Previously, I borrowed the Death Stalk Unit's combat data to simulate a fight with king mosca. It was destroyed."

"Hm." Iris hummed. "It isn't wise to give them advice before they die, Spanner. Well, it doesn't matter. A traitor like you will die here too."

"Eh…" Spanner clutched his laptop close, sweating in worry.

"Well, let's go, servants." Iris lit up her whip with flames and hit each of the Death Stalk Unit. "Burn!"

Immediately, they grew twice their size, muscles bulging, and Spanner stuttered.

"I-It's them…the Death Stalk Unit's cloud propagation of their bodies."

As they panicked a bit about that though, Iris sent a transmission to Irie.

"As you can see, boss, that fool Spanner leaked information about this place. Can I kill them all?"

The camera zoomed in on Spanner and Irie sighed. "I never thought…All right. Permission granted. However, killing the Vongola and retrieving the Vongola ring remains your top priority."

"Gotcha~" Iris said, before Irie spotted something and held a hand out.

"Wait! Go back to that transmission."

The people around him did as he asked and he gestured to a certain area.

"Right there. Zoom in. Who is that?"

The camera zoomed in on a face that Irie thought he might never see again, one that he almost wished he hadn't seen again in this situation.

"Natsu…Could it be that she was the one hacking into the system before? But she…"

He shook his mind out of those thoughts and went back to the problem at hand, just as someone informed him of Hibari's return. He couldn't worry about Natsu right now. There were other problems he had to deal with. Tsuna was in a similar problematic situation.

The Death Stalk Unit attacked Tsuna and he blocked their hands, but wasn't prepared for the amount of brute strength they had when one of them swung a leg and kicked him into the next room.

"I told you, it's impossible." Spanner said, holing a hand to his face in slight worry.

Reborn though, had a bit more confidence in Tsuna, but glanced over at Natsu in curiosity as to why she didn't jump in to help him like she usually would. What he spotted had him frowning in concern. Her face was pale and her breathing pattern wasn't right and she was clutching her side and struggling against a set of handcuffs that had her stuck where she was. Blood slowly dripped down her bound hand as the cuffs cut into her wrist, showing that she really did want to jump in there, but even Reborn could see that her situation with her rib was going to cause her to have to sit this one out.

"Spanner, what are you doing?" Tsuna's voice rang out as he wiped the blood from his bottom lip. "Hurry up and finish those contacts."

"Eh?" He was lost, confused at why Tsuna would ask him that when everything seemed impossible.

Reborn knew what was going on though and encouraged him. "Your policy was, nothing will change you completion time, right? Hurry up and fix it, Spanner."

"But…You heard what I said, the Death Stalk Unit is stronger than my king mosca. This is impossible."

Tsuna rushed past him and, much to everyone's surprise, began beating the Death Stalk Unit back. Reborn though, expected such.

"His movements are not like the Vongola I know." Spanner muttered.

"There are two major differences between this and the king mosca fight." Reborn explained. "The first is the experience he gained from defeating the king mosca that has given Tsuna an incomparable development in his fighting ability."

"But, he is fighting at a level way beyond just normal progress." Spanner questioned.

"Right. The other difference is, that his opponents are not machines. They're living human beings. Because they are living human beings, there is a certain degree of predictability in their movements. Tsuna can sense all that. That is the ability passed on by the blood of Vongola. The 'ability to see through things'. It is also known as hyper intuition."

Spanner seemed to understand and nodded, taking out his laptop and typing away to try and finish the contacts for Tsuna as quickly as he could.

"In the midst of work, Vongola has once more surpassed my expectations. I'm anxious to see the completed form of the X-Burner that he created. Just wait a bit longer, Vongola."

When the Death Stalk Unit were defeated, Iris whipped them again and they grew even stronger, causing Tsuna to think up a new way to attack them and thus creating a new move, the X-Stream. Iris whipped them again and Reborn reassured Tsuna that given a bit more time, he could defeat them with that. The only issue was, a new enemy arrived.

"Naïve…Too naïve."

"Too slow, Ginger bread!" Iris shouted after the puppet attacked Tsuna.

"Be careful, Vongola." Spanner warned. "That Ginger is not the real body. It's just a doll. Your hyper intuition is useless here."

"Ah, Spanner." Ginger Bread said. "You really are a traitor. The result of not minding your own business is…death!"

Flame covered spears were launched his way and Tsuna warned him, desperately, knowing that he wouldn't be able to save him in time.

"Quick, Spanner, get out of the way!"

Spanner couldn't move in time though and the spears hit, exploding. Tsuna grew worried, but as the dust cleared, even he was shocked to see who was standing there. Natsu stood, flames licking at her jump suit as she panted holding her own smoking hand covered with flames out; Spanner still on the floor behind her, completely unharmed.

"N-Natsu…" Tsuna stuttered out. "But how? You're rib-"

He looked at her side then and his eyes widened, seeing the blood dripping through her fingers as she clutched at her new wound.

"There…There was only one way…" She said, smiling slightly. "Sorry." She then turned to Spanner. "Keep going. I'll keep you safe."

"Those two are doing something weird. Better get rid of them first, Ginger." Iris said, and Ginger attacked again, making Tsuna desperately try to do something to save them, but he was stopped by the Death Stalk Unit.

"Run, Spanner!" Natsu shouted, following behind him as he did just that and using her own flame attacks to try and destroy the second round of spears before they hit.

The explosion resulting was bigger than the first, due to the combination of Natsu's condensed flames and the exploding spears, and even Spanner was a little caught up in the blast. He was still doing his best though.

"Just a little bit more." He finally smiled. "Completed!"

"Spanner, Natsu! Above you!" Reborn shouted and they both looked up just in time to be hit by the spears.

"Hahaha! This is the fait of traitors! Serves you right!" Iris laughed, but there in the flames, was Natsu and Spanner.

Natsu's jumpsuit was covered in blood and flames-unconscious, it seemed-but Spanner was alright and gently got her off him with worry in his eyes, before looking at Tsuna and throwing him the contacts wearily.

"I won't let you!" Shouted Ginger Bread, attacking.

"Quick, catch Vongola!" Iris ordered, but everything missed and Tsuna already had the contacts in place.

"Pay attention, Spanner." He said, catching Spanner's attention as the man laid Natsu down gently. "Now, I'll show you the beautiful and completed X-Burner."

Ginger Bread attacked Tsuna, but he dodged until he found a place over Spanner and Natsu, and began operation X.

"Immediately in the air?" Spanner mumbled to himself, as Tsuna prepared his stability flame behind him, confusing his enemies; all of them, except Irie.

"Ginger! Iris! Can you hear me?!" He called out to them through their communicators. "According to the data analyzed from the black Mosca's battle log, we can assume that Vongola's attack is a tactic that releases a huge energy in front of him. Taking him from the front will be dangerous! Dodge! Dodge now!"

Iris ignored the warning and had the Death Stalk Unit combine into one mass, but it was all for naught when Tsuna finally launched the completed X-Burner.

"R-Really stable." Spanner stuttered, staring at the destruction in complete shock., but Tsuna had heard something and picked up a communicator.

"Is that Irie Shoichi? I know it was you who sent us to this era from the past."

"Is this Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna ignored the question. "Where is it? Where is the research lab and the round machine?!"

Unfortunately, before Tsuna could get a response, the communicator shorted out and the connection was lost. Sighing, he dropped it and headed back over towards Spanner and Natsu in a hurry.

"H-How is she? Is she okay?" He asked, looking worriedly at Natsu, and causing Spanner to raise a brow.

"I thought you hated her because of Irie?"

Tsuna stiffened, remembering what he'd said and feeling a little guilty. She had after all, just saved Spanner.

"But…I can't help but still be worried." He said softly, eyeing the burns and cuts that seemed to entirely cover Natsu.

Spanner sighed with a small smile and nodded, pulling some bandages from a tool box full of medic supplies that had apparently survived the destruction. "She should be alright. I mean, she's got to be pretty tough to stab herself and pull out a broken rib."

"What?!" Tsuna shouted, pointing at Natsu's side wound that, surprisingly enough, wasn't bleeding as bad as he thought. "S-She-"

Spanner nodded. "That's what it looks like. She even tried to cauterize it." Spanner then lifted up her hand, showing the half of a handcuff that was still hanging from her wrist. "Shot the handcuff off too, though her wrist is pretty bad from pulling against it. Smart and tough. You've picked hard person to deal with, Vongola. I feel bad for the enemies you guys come into contact with if she's on your side."

Tsuna smiled a bit. "Y-Yeah…"

I woke up, feeling light-headed and in pain, but I hid it well, with only a wince. I then spotted a head of brown hair and sighed as Tsuna looked my way and managed to give me a small smile.

"You're awake."

I nodded, bringing a hand to my head and cringing at a tender spot. I then noticed that Spanner was hooking himself up to a couple of parachutes, leaving me confused.

"What's going on?"

"We've got the location of the research lab." Tsuna explained. "Spanner insisted on going and came up with the idea of me pulling him and you with my flames and these parachutes.

I blinked, taking the harness Spanner offered me. "Oh…alright, but…" I looked down at the harness and back at him in worry and slight fear. "Are you…sure? I mean…I still want to save Irie. I really don't think he'd become like this without a good reason, but…I don't want to lose you too, Tsuna."

He stared at me and I back at him, afraid that he'd leave me here or wouldn't understand what I was trying to do. I wasn't trying to betray him. Irie was a friend, just like him and if Tsuna turned to the other side, I'd want to help save him too. And I'm sure he'd do the same for Yamamoto or Gokudera or them. His eyes softened then and he turned away, not giving me a chance to read what he said, so I turned to Spanner in confusion.

"Ah, he said, 'You're my friend, it's not like I can leave you here'."

I felt a grin rising up on my face and I tackled Tsuna from behind, surprising him and making him stumble, but I couldn't help it, even with the pain that shot up my side.

"Thank you, Tsuna. Thank you. It means a lot." I released him with a blush on my face, embarrassed that I'd acted so out of character so suddenly, before I remembered something and reached into my coat, passing a wrapped half a sandwich to him. "Um, here. It's not much, but since you'll be carrying Spanner and I…"

God, I sound so lame. I sound like Kyoko. I sweat dropped. If Hibari heard me, I'd probably be bitten to death for talking like an idiot. Before I could discourage myself more though, Tsuna accepted the sandwich with a small thanks and I felt my heart thump in my chest rapidly. Oh man, maybe I am an idiot. I thought, watching Tsuna for a moment before I started to put on the harness, cheeks red. If I'm acting like Kyoko, does that mean…No. Impossible. I can't like Tsuna…can I?