Haha, hello again! ^^ Look! I got in the mood to write the next chapter! I actually read a nice Reborn fanfic and got this little demon nagging in my head telling me I should come up with a new idea for a Reborn fic, but then i decided why make a new one when i can update this one again? So ta-da! here you go!

I'll warn you though, it's definitely got a cliff hanger at the end there, but i hope you all like it :) let me know what you think!

Today was the day. The sun had just risen up over the hills of the forest and I stood beside Tsuna with as much confidence as I could muster. We'd come up with a basic enough plan, but there was far too many holes. We'd split everyone up into three teams. Gokudera, Lal, and Gamma in one team; Ryohei, Lambo, Basil, Tazaru, and Nosaru were in another over by the lake; and Tsuna, Reborn, Futa, Kyoko, Haru, Irie, and Yuni were in the final group. So many things could go wrong. Two enemies could converge on one spot. The groups might not be able to defeat the enemy in one hit, and the battle could go on and we'll be defeated instead because of everyone's injuries. The enemies could completely bypass either one of the groups and come straight for us. The plan might not even work. People could get hurt, killed even. And if anything happens to Tsuna… I felt myself tense, clenching my jaw tightly as my hands fisted at my side near my box weapons on my waist. I might not be ale to only use my usual flames. I might have to rely on… No, don't think of that. It's a last resort. Using my black flames… It's not going to happen.

"Natsu? Are you alright?"

I flinched slightly, turning a small glare to Irie for speaking up, since he had now gathered Tsuna's and Reborn's attention.

"I'm fine." I muttered, turning my gaze back out to the forest, though they drifted to Tsuna's hand as he eyed the landscape nervously.

My fingers twitched, almost wanting to take his hand, and my brows furrowed in confusion as to why I would even consider such an action; before a deep rumble shook the ground and my eyes went to the forest as a cloud of smoke came up out of the trees. The group around me started panicking a bit, the unease of our group growing, but I pulled out my phone and waited for word from the group. I'd managed to hook it up wirelessly to Tsuna's headphones so that whoever spoke to him, their words would be typed out on my phone for me to read. I need a distraction. The more I think about everything that can go wrong, the less I'm thinking about a way to fix things if they should. Another explosion went out and I spotted Tsuna fidgeting nervously at my side, before I begrudgingly gave into my previous temptation and grabbed his hand in mine as I turned my gaze back out over the forest. He paused, staring at me for a moment, before he smiled a little and looked out along with me as another explosion happened.

Alright, now think. If two enemies converge on one spot, the most we can do is send myself over there to help. Tsuna needs to stay with Yuni because her safety is the important part right now. And if the enemy bypasses one of the groups, we can have them regroup with us as we hold them back. The only good thing that could happen, really, is if Yamamoto, Hibari, and maybe even Pineapple-head show up to help. Girly-man might even be useful, if he's alright. I winced at the thought, tightening my grip on Tsuna's hand as two more larger explosions went out across the forest. There was a buzz in my other hand and I lifted my phone to see what Gokudera was telling Tsuna.

"Can you hear me, Tenth? We were saved by Varia. Right now, they're battling against Zakuro and Bluebell."

I felt my lip twitch up in a slight smirk. Reinforcements, prefect. Even better, considering two enemies converged like I thought.

"Yes. They're as crazy as ever. 'Beneath the flag of Vongola, they will assist us', says Xanxus."

Scar-face too? Great. I lifted my gaze from my phone, only to feel the half-smile on my face drop at the sight of another explosion in the direction of the lake. I frowned, immediately not liking what the situation could be over there, and not just because Lambo was over there either. They're facing Sassy-pant and he seemed the most confident of the group, so I'll be he's the top dog. And we still have no clue what the boxes in their chests do. Without being there in the fray, I can't really give either groups the support they need. I began to grind my teeth in frustration, but a slight pressure on my hand snapped me out of it and I turned to Tsuna, who was giving me a small smile.

"It's okay, Natsu. Trust them."

I nodded, relaxing slightly as we caught sight of even more explosions across the forest where Gokudera and the Varia were. I felt something off though. I wasn't sure what it was, but there was just something nagging at the back of my head and when I glanced at Tsuna, he seemed a little puzzled too it was then that another buzz came from my phone and I looked at it in surprise at what Gokudera was saying.

"Yeah! It's the real thing that came out of the Vindice cells! His apprentice said so himself! The explosions are causing static! I'm going to hang up."

Pineapple-head is here. I felt a smirk come over my face as I stared out at the forest. No wonder. With him, Hibari, and the Varia working with the others, we might actually stand a chance. The smile fell off my face though as a shiver went thorough my body.

"Something's wrong." I muttered, catching Tsuna's attention.

"W-What?"

"Something is very wrong." I repeated, taking a step forward and releasing his hand as I tried to figure out what this feeling was. "I don't know what it is, but… it isn't good."

I turned around and caught Reborn's frown as he spoke.

"Hm, Natsu's intuition is almost on par with yours, Tsuna. Don't take her words lightly."

My phone went off again and I quickly looked over what the others were saying about some new enemy called 'Ghost'.

"A real 6 Funeral Wreath that sucks away our flames! That's right! Our rings and boxes don't work against him! The opponent is too dangerous! Take Yuni and get away from here as quickly as you can!"

I frowned, knowing that my intuition had been right and I prepared myself to head off.

"Tsuna, you stay here with Yuni and I'll—"

"No!" He cut me off as I frowned at him. "I'm not letting you go alone!"

"The last thing we need is for you to get attacked by this thing." I argued, not understanding why he was so against me going. "We need someone there to figure out the weakness of this guy, but we need you here to protect Yuni. For all we know, this is something he brought over from one of the parallel universes! Something that could kill you, Tsuna!"

"And it could kill you too!" He shouted, making me jolt back in surprise. "You're important too, Natsu!"

I wasn't sure what to say. His words put this pressure in my chest that I didn't understand, and it made my mouth dry as I struggled to form even a coherent thought as to how to reply to him. He spoke again though, however it wasn't to me.

"Reborn, who do you think is more capable of protecting Yuni right now, me or Natsu?"

I looked over at Reborn as his fedora shaded his eyes.

"Natsu."

As grateful as I was for the praise, I felt less than pleased about Tsuna doing this and I stomped past him; knocking shoulders with him roughly before sitting on the floor cross-legged with my back facing him, frustrated about having to sit on the side-lines once more. After a moment or two, I knew he'd gone—the familiar warmth of his flames fading—and a moment later, Reborn harshly kicked the back of my head, making me face him with an angry frown as he spoke.

"Your turn will come soon enough, Natsu. Rushing in will only get you killed."

"I wasn't going to rush in." I snapped, turning away and crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm just tired of being useless."

A gentle hand touched my shoulder and I turned to Yuni, eyes softening, though only slightly as she spoke.

"You may feel useless now, but I assure you, you will play one of the biggest roles in this battle, Natsu. You are not useless and never will be. You will become very important to the Vongola Decimo. More than you know."

Tsuna was frustrated as he flew off to the others. How could Natsu think she can go out there like her life isn't worth anything?! She is probably the strongest out of all of us, but she was willing to just rush out here and possibly get hurt or killed for what? To protect me? Yuni? The others? His scowl softened slightly. She's so hard to read sometimes. My intuition helps, but… He let out a soft sigh. I just wish she'd rely on me a bit more. His thoughts drifted to when she'd taken his hand and he felt his chest swell, remembering how confident she looked though there was that bit of doubt. He'd figured out something was wrong when her brows furrowed slightly, guessing right upon assuming that she was worried for the others. But when she offered herself up like that, willing to just run headlong into the fray without a second thought, there was just a part of him that knew he couldn't let her do that. He wasn't going to let Natsu get hurt. Not anymore.

As he approached the battlefield, he caught the sound of voices.

"He could get to Yuni in seconds flat?!"

"His power should be immense right now, having sucked up all out flames! This is bad!"

Tsuna grit his teeth, before shouting right back. "I won't let that happen!"

As he got closer though, he noticed that his flames were beginning to get absorbed as well and quickly came up with a plan; diving headfirst at Ghost and starting up his Zero-Level Breakthrough. They collided and, after a moment, Ghost completely vanished and Tsuna landed in a crouch on the floor, brows furrowed in confusion as the others cheered.

"Woot."

"So Ghost was just a ball of flames."

"Good job, Tenth!"

"Sawada..."

"Wow."

"That was great to the extreme, Sawada!" Ryohei shouted, starting to head over before Tsuna called out.

"Stay back."

"What?!"

"Eh?!"

"Something's not right." Squalo said, Mukuro agreeing as Dino explained.

"Zero-Level Breakthrough is a tactic that absorbs the opponents flames and turned them into your own. But Tsuna's flames didn't grow, even after having absorbed Ghost's flames."

"That's true." Kikyo said, surprised.

"Now that you mention it..."

"There's no mistake that Ghost had a great amount of flame power. After all, it devoured not only our flames, but the flames of the real sixth funeral wreaths. We're all woozy now." Lussuria said.

Tsuna frowned, muttering quietly under his breath. "Where did all those flames go…? What would Natsu think?"

"I don't know, but you better explain it to me and maybe I can help." A familiar voice came over Tsuna's headphones and he stiffened in surprise.

"N-Natsu?"

"Yeah, I'm borrowing Reborn's earpiece and using my phone to read what you're saying, but stop wasting time and tell me what's going on."

"A-Ah, um. I absorbed Ghost. He was made of flames."

"What did he look like? A weapon? A person?"

"H-He, uh, actually looked like Byakuran."

"...say that again."

Tsuna blinked in confusion. "He looked like Byakuran?"

"Tsuna, I know where the flames went." Natsu replied, though the tone she used made Tsuna's blood run cold.

"You know… where they went?"

"Remember what I said? What if Ghost was something he'd brought from a parallel universe? I don't know how he could have done it, but if it were possible to bring something back, what do you think he'd bring?"

Tsuna paled as her words sunk in and realization dawned on him. "No..."

"Impressive indeed!" A cheery voice called out, making Tsuna turn to see Byakuran floating above the field. "You defeated Ghost so easily.~ I'm honored to be in the presence of so many notable faces." he chirped. "The boss of the Chiavorone Family, Vongola's independent assassination group, Varia, Mukuro and his followers, the Guardians of the Vongola, Vongola's Tenth and..." He paused, looking around with a pout on his face. "Oh, we're missing one. And here I was rather looking forward to seeing the orange haired one."

"Leave Natsu out of this." Tsuna snapped, making Byakuran grin.

"Ooh, protective of that one, are we? You know, Tsunayoshi, you really are a curious person. To be able to coerce Mukuro and Xanxus to submit to you, when they too once tried to kill you. That couldn't have been an easy feat."

"Hey, scum." Xanxus snarled. "Whoever said I was submitting to him?"

He shot flames at Byakuran as Mukuro chuckled as well.

"Kufufu, he's got that right. I'd thought that the only ones who would take my word and actions at face value would be an ignorant little girl or a foolish young boy, but I see you've put me with the mafia too. How insulting."

He too shot an attack at Byakuran, but both attacks were shattered.

"I see, so sorry." Byakuran apologized. "Anyway, it looks like you're all quite worn out. What was that feeble attack just now? Well, I guess it can't be helped since you had most of your flames sucked dry by Ghost. You're all running on empty right now."

"Everyone, stay back." Tsuna said, standing tall before them. "I'll be his match."

Byakuran laughed. "Ahaha, do you have any clue why I came here, Tsunayoshi? It's because I'm ready now. Both my heart and my body.~"

"I've been ready for ages."

Tsuna shot off and appeared in front of Byakuran, kicking him hard in the chin and then kneeing him in the face before preparing to hit him with a Sky flame covered fist; just as Natsu's voice rang out over his headphones.

"Tsuna! Don't go rushing in to attack Byakuran! If he brought himself from a parallel world, it's possible they can share techniques! They're the same person, so it wouldn't be a stretch to assume—"

Tsuna blocked out her words as his fist was stopped by a single finger.

"Oh, what's wrong? Is this all you've got?" Byakuran mocked, before his ring started to glow. "Now it's my turn.~"

Understanding dawned on Tsuna then and just before Byakuran hit him, Tsuna used his flames to dodge to the side just as Byakuran shot at the place he had been and made a large crater in the ground.

"Ara?" He hummed, eyeing Tsuna. "I'm surprised you dodged that, though I still haven't even used a tenth of the flames that Ghost absorbed."

The people down below were shocked to hear this, but Tsuna couldn't help the small smile that came onto his face.

"I got lucky. Natsu figured it out right when you were about to shoot."

"Ooh, she is clever." Byakuran said, as wings sprouted from his back. "To have guessed that those flames were inside my body.~"

Tsuna nodded, explaining to those below the two. "Natsu heard about the parallel universes and how you had knowledge of them, so she guessed that Ghost may have come from one of those universes. She didn't know about the flames until I described Ghost."

Mukuro frowned, understanding what he was saying unlike some of the others. "If you say that… If the dying will flames of everyone of us, with the exception of Sawada Tsunayoshi, have now been obtained by Byakuran… the total amount of that flame is unmeasurable!"

"What are those wings?!" Gokudera shouted. "The intense flames are taking the form of wings?!"

"Oh, this wing isn't any ordinary flame. It's a symbol." Byakuran hummed. "It's a symbol that I'm a being above humans. Proof that I am something more.~"

"What're you talking about?!" Dino shouted as Squalo scowled.

"Are you saying that you're a god?!"

Kikyo chuckled. "God? Byakuran would be better described as a demon worthy of worship."

Byakuran didn't argue, simply chuckling as Tsuna spoke up.

"It doesn't matter what you are or what means you use, I'll defeat you here."

"I admire your spirit, Tsunayoshi." Byakuran smirked. "I've been waiting for this fight for a long time."

Flames sparked on both of their rings and the fight began.

I scowled down at my phone as it translated everything it could from Tsuna's headphones; the background noise making it hard for the phone to distinguish words despite the filter I'd used to help. I felt glad that I'd prevented Tsuna from possibly getting injured earlier and my chest swelled with pride at his praise before I stuffed it down and focused on what info I could gather on Byakuran's abilities. Okay, so he's protected pretty good thanks to the flames he's gathered, making his attacks an unmeasurable amount of times stronger than before; though any abilities he has are the same. He has a dragon box weapon, giving him long range attacks as well as short range. And this… I stopped for a bit as Tsuna apparently did a very powerful attack, only for Byakuran to take it easily.

"The white Applause is the ultimate defense technique that will destroy any kind of attack. How was that, Tsunayoshi? I bet you have never fought a fight where you'd feel the difference in powers so big. Very scary, ain't it?" Byakuran mocked and it was in that moment that I felt something in me snap and I tossed the headphones back to Reborn as I took off into the forest; not even noticing the smirk on the little baby's face.

Trees past in a blur and before I knew it, I sped past the group of tired, injured comrades and let out a shout as I threw a compressed ball of my flames at Byakuran, who was heading straight for Tsuna on the ground. The ball exploded as I quickly didn't give Byakuran any time to catch onto what was going on and quickly called out all three of my animal weapons; having Shi stick by Tsuna as Aki and Yuu rushed around to the other side of the clearing to attack from behind. As they hurried forward, I pulled out a number of knives and wires and threw them at Byakuran, my foxes catching them and jumping around Byakuran as the smoke from my exploding ball began to fade away and they pulled the wire tight. I lifted my lips in a snarl and placed my hands on the foxes' backs, causing the flames on them to burn brighter before it raced up the wires to Byakuran and exploded. It was a quick, haphazard plan that I'd barely pulled together before I'd gotten there, so I wasn't too surprised when Byakuran came out of it with barely a singe on his cape.

"Oya, oya! I've been looking for you, Natsu.~" He chirped with a smile as I scoffed.

"Marshmallow-head... Where's my ice cream sundae?"

He laughed loudly as Gokudera smacked his forehead off to my right side and began shouting nonsense at me, but I kept my gaze focused on the laughing man before me; trying to come up with a plan based on what I'd heard about his attacks.

"You are fun!" He laughed, before smirking down at me. "Shame though. You're no match for me."

He swooped down and I pulled out my other box weapon, allowing the kitsune mask to fall over my eyes as I focused on my surroundings. A slight rustle of my hair here. Dodge. The feeling of something heading my way on my right side. Dodge, counter attack. My fist hit something solid and I brought my weapon around, but I felt the way Byakuran's weight shifted and I ducked low to the ground as something flew over my head and I twisted midair to slice my hand upward. I felt it catch on something, but then the weight disappeared and I didn't have time to react before I was kicked harshly in the stomach and thrown to the ground. My kitsune mask falling off allowed me to see that Byakuran wasn't too pleased about me ripping a part of his cape and he'd been forced to take it off mid fight, hence why he was able to hit me pretty good.

Growling, I forced myself up as quickly as I could and began trying to land a hit on the man once more, to no avail. I realized as he landed some more hard hits that I was doing it again. I was holding back. I didn't want to kill Byakuran, just as I didn't want Lussuria to die back when we first met the Varia. For all I knew, before this whole thing, Byakuran was just some normal marshmallow loving person. And I didn't want to kill him. A memory of my stalker popped up in my head, his flesh burnt to a crisp and the smell burning of burnt flesh in my lungs forced me to lose concentration as Byakuran hit me hard with a blast of his flames and I hit the ground and coughed up blood as I felt ribs crack and pain raced up my spine upon coming into contact with the ground. I-I can't. I can't kill him. I can't use my flames like that. I remembered that Hibari had taught me how to make my flames not burn, but what use would liquid flames be on my opponent if they didn't burn? Before I had been afraid of hurting myself or my friends, but now I was faced with an enemy and I still couldn't do it.

Byakuran came over as I struggled to get up and come up with some way to attack him without killing him. Without using my flames. Aki and Yuu rushed over to try and stop him, but they were thrown aside easily and sent back to their boxes as Byakuran slammed a foot down on my chest.

"Oh, tuckered out already? I expected more of a fight from you."

His foot shifted so that it was on my throat and I winced as my airway was blocked off, before Tsuna spoke up from further away.

"Leave her alone."

Byakuran turned to him, leaving me be for now, and he was gone in an instant before popping up behind Tsuna and grabbing him in a headlock. Shi wasn't there, but I knew where the panther was hiding and didn't worry about her for now, because with their position, I knew that Byakuran had the capabilities of killing Tsuna. I couldn't get up though. I struggled through the pain in my body, but I couldn't get onto my feet and that nagging voice in my head told me that even if I could, I still wouldn't know what to do. Tsuna began struggling though and I felt my throat tighten as his flames grew along with Byakuran, who seemed more than pleased and my gut told me that he was up to something. Their flames clashed, sending Tsuna's familiar warm flames outwards along with Byakuran's icy cold flames, before something strange happened. A high pitched whistling sound echoed from their rings and a barrier began to form around them. Not only that, but there was a third barrier heading their way and I immediately knew that it was Yuni.

Everyone began doing what they could to stop the barriers from merging, but none of their attacks could penetrate it. Not only that, but I was having a hard time making out what was being said by Byakuran and Yuni inside the barrier. Everyone was talking all at once and I couldn't focus on any of one them, so I instead turned my gaze to Tsuna just as Byakuran did what I feared most and any and all self control I had snapped the instant he dropped a lifeless Tsuna to the floor.

"Tsuna!"

Byakuran smirked, more than pleased as he stood after finishing off Tsuna. "No matter who should revive, I wouldn't lose. But it would be a waste of time, no?" He smirked, talking about the returning Arcobaleno's that Yuni was reviving from their pacifiers. "No one else can enter these boundaries. You're mine.~ Crying won't get you anywhere either. The Arcobaleno won't defeat me for you."

"That's right." Reborn said, his fedora shading his eyes after having hurried after Yuni. "The ones who'll defeat you aren't the Arcobaleno. It'll be my students, Tsuna and Natsu."

Everyone's gaze turned to him in shock, a few looking around for Natsu only to see that she was missing suddenly.

"Did you say Tsunayoshi and Natsu will defeat me?" Byakuran asked.

"That's right."

"Haven't you been watching, Reborn? Tsunayoshi was just taken down by me! And Natsu wasn't even inside the barrier!"

"Don't underestimate the strength of Tsuna's dying will and Natsu's bond with him. Besides, I'm not talking about whether you can win. Tsuna, you've got no other choice than to defeat Byakuran. Natsu, you already know that now."

Byakuran laughed loudly. "Haha! What a surprise! Your last resort at a time like this is to try and slap some fighting spirit into them?!"

"This is my method." Reborn replied simply. "Listen, Tsuna. You're not the only one who's fighting a battle of dying will. Yuni's sacrificing her life in order to return you all to a peaceful past."

Everyone gaped in shock as he went on.

"The revival of the Arcobalenos does more than bring back order to the world. It's the key to returning you to a peaceful past. And Yuni intends to sacrifice her life to achieve that."

"Eh? Is that so?" Byakuran smirked as the others panicked and Yuni turned to Reborn in surprise.

"Uncle… why do you know?"

"Of course I know." He stated, a sad frown on his face. "I guess as much. You and your grandmother Luce are two peas in a pod. And Natsu is very similar as well."

"Hm, then I must stop you from doing such a foolish thing." Byakuran smirked, moving towards Yuni. "After all, Yuni's life exists for my sake."

"She won't let you, Byakuran."

Byakuran lifted his head, confused at Reborn's statement.

"If there's anyone more than willing to lie down their life for their friends, it's Natsu. So you better get up, Tsuna, because she's not holding back this time." Reborn said ominously, his fedora hiding his eyes. "And she might very well kill him. And you know she would hate herself if she did that."

Byakuran frowned, getting annoyed. "Kill me? That pipsqueak? She barely managed to clip me and even then, it was practically a tickle! What could she possibly…"

Byakuran stopped as he suddenly felt a murderous intent coming from where Tsuna lie on the ground, making him turn in surprise. After all, Tsuna wasn't moving, so it could hardly be him giving off the killer intent. But there was another thing that bothered Byakuran, Tsuna's shadow was moving.

"Wha..."

Pitch black flames poured out of his shadow as a large snarling black panther climbed out of it, followed by a figure in a dark tattered cloak with white gloves over their hands and bandages across their face; their dark boots barely visible through the black flames at their ankles. Their icy blue eyes were sharp and filled with so much anger and hatred, that even Byakuran was forced to swallow thickly as fear edged it's way up his spine. Because this? This was not the same orange haired brat that had attacked him half-heartedly before. Oh, no. This was someone else. Someone… who had nothing else left to loose.