Okay! I'm back with another chappie! We're going to have a little more insight into Karasu's secret and past! Though, it's going to be a little angst in the end. (You've been warned)

DISCLAIMER: Look dudes, you should all know by now what's mine and what belongs to the manga by now. Karasu, Alana, Pocky, Jung-won, Ricardo, and the original scenes ALL belong to me!

Okay now, enjoy!

Warriors Don't Cry

Chapter 11: The Supernatural – Karasu

I'd like to say that my sudden fever went down, but it didn't. Instead, it got worse the next day. I had stay home alone all day miserably drinking chicken noodle soup while trying to take a nap despite of the racket that Lambo and I-pin were making.

The good news is, my nightmares and strange dreams suddenly stopped.

"Lambo wants Karasu-nee to play with him! Lambo's going to be the boss!" The little cow climbed over my sheets and plopped down beside my head. "Play!"

I cleared my hoarse throat with a painful cough. I grimaced at the minor pain and the sickly taste in my mouth. Ugh, no one in their right mind would want to be sick during such a nice day. "Sorry Lambo-kun. Nee-chan can't play with you right now."

"Why?" He whined. "Lambo-sama's bored! I demand you to play with me!"

"Stop it, Lambo!" I-pin chided. "Karasu-nee is sick so you shouldn't bother her!"

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to sleep. I was so exhausted but my body couldn't seem to rest! I finally gave up and slowly opened my eyes. "Hey, Lambo-kun, I-pin, would you two like me to tell a story instead of playing? That should entertain you."

Lambo's eyes brightened at the mention of a story. "Lambo wants to listen to Karasu-nee's story!"

I-pin also perked up in interest and politely sat cross-legged in front of my face.

I cleared my throat and began my story. "Once upon a time, there was only "space" and "nothingness". From the space was born "thought"…"

I stared quizzically at the little kid standing in front of my bed. He looked absolutely adorable (like Pocky adorable), but I had no idea who he was. "Err, do I know you?"

After telling the children the story, they had dozed off with me. By the time I woke up, the little children were gone and the strange yet cute boy was standing in front of me.

"I'm Futa! You must Tsuna-nii's twin sister!" The little boy introduced himself. "Futa? You mean the boy who makes precise rankings? Le Petite Prince Futa?"

The boy nodded. "Uh huh, that's me."

I propped myself up and smiled. "An honor to meet you then, Futa-kun. I'm going to guess that you know Tsuna very well judging how you refer to him as your 'big brother'."

"Yes. Tsuna-nii saved me yesterday and also defied my rankings!" Futa told me happily. At that moment, Tsuna ran into my room and grabbed Futa. "Ack! I told you not to bother Karasu! She's sick so she can't deal with you!"

"It's fine!" I assured my brother. "Actually, I was getting a bit lonely. It's nice to see a new face. You haven't visited me since last night so don't leave too quickly, Tsuna."

Guilt filled Tsuna's face and he sat down in front of my bed. "Sorry about that, Karasu. Everything is just so crazy lately."

"Nah, I understand. Being the future Vongola Boss is a tough thing. Sometimes I wish you had a much more normal life so you can relax and spend time with me, though." I added a bit sadly.

It's true. The last time I had a heart-to-heart talk with Tsuna was my second day back from America. I was a bit distracted too so I was also to blame.

Tsuna's determined face appeared into my sight, breaking me from my train of thought. "I have time right now so why don't I spend some time with you, Karasu?"

At his suggestion, my face broke into a huge smile. "I'd love that, Tsuna!"

"Tsuna-nii and Karasu-nee is ranked number 1 out of 475 twins that have a very close relationship." Futa added in randomly.

"Really?" Tsuna asked in surprise.

I lightly punched his shoulder. "Is it that surprising?"

"Karasu-nee is also ranked number 5 out of 7 on being the strongest of the Megumareta." I threw Futa a warning look and he slapped his hands over his mouth. "I'm sorry, Karasu-nee! I forgot that the Megumareta is ranked 1 out of 46 of being the most secretive groups outside the mafia!"

Tsuna turned to me. "You're part of that important-sounding group, Karasu? Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I…" I bit my lip and looked down into my hands. "I wanted to tell you all of that when you weren't as stressed. It's pretty confusing actually and the information that I'm allowed to tell you about out group is very limited."

Tsuna placed his hand on my shoulder. "Then I want to hear the things that you can tell me and worry about the other things that I can't know later."

I dug into my mind and slowly spoke. "The Megumareta is a group created by the Vongola Primo's twin sister." At this, I smiled at the irony. "She created this elite group of seven for the purpose of supporting her brother in his dream of creating a great family. But that was just the official part of it."

"What was the other reason?" Tsuna interrupted suddenly. He looked very interested and even enraptured by the simple tale that I was telling him. I distantly thought that he looked a bit like the young, defenseless Tsuna I left four years ago who had a normal life.

"I was getting there." I patiently told him. "The Primo's twin actually did this to break an ancient curse that she was born with. Six others also bared the curse. There were many others before her who had tried breaking the curse alone and failed. Her idea was to gather the others and try breaking the curse together while also supporting Vongola's dream."

"Wow." Tsuna said breathlessly. "So did they break it?"

"No," I told him in disappointment, "They weren't able to do it because there was a traitor within the group. She ruined the Megumareta's chances of breaking the curse and the cycle started anew. The Megumareta weren't able to reassemble until this day because the members wouldn't last long enough."

Tsuna gulped. "W-What do you mean?"

"They would either die an early death, or they would just accept the thought that the curse would be impossible to break." I told him grimly. "It's either those two or the fact that the curse bearers liked the power that they gained from the curse too much."

Tsuna shivered a little and paled. "So…if you're part of the Megumareta, does that mean you have the same curse? What does it do? Wait, is this story even real?" Tsuna regained his common sense and looked at me a bit skeptically.

My heart sank. My brother needed proof.

I looked at my hands and looked up at Futa. "Can you keep what you see in this room a secret? If anyone knows that you saw this, they'll be after your life more than ever, Futa-kun. Better yet, can you leave this room so you don't have to bear this secret?"

The child shook his head. "I can keep another secret."

I reluctantly opened an energy channel that I had closed off a long time ago. I knew that once I used this, it would be hard to stop. But the secret was out now and I needed my brother to see.

I needed him to believe.

I needed him to not fear me.

I lifted my right hand and pointed my finger at Tsuna's face. I flicked my finger at his way and a strong breeze flew into his face, causing his hair to be in more disarray than usual. He blinked and his mouth fell open.

"Wow."

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. I could do many other things with it too. I can make strong air barriers, whack people with sharp gusts of air, and even fly if I concentrated hard enough! Sometimes, I unconsciously cause everything to be windy when my feelings are a bit unstable."

"That's amazing, Karasu." Tsuna said in awe. "I mean, it's really, really, great that you can do all these things."

Futa stared in awe. "If Karasu-nee can do this type of power, then what can the other members in the Megumareta do?"

"Wait, isn't Alana part of your group?" Tsuna asked in a slight panicky voice. I nodded. "Yeah, but her curse is a little bit different. She has power over the "living" earth. Don't worry. She promised that she wouldn't overdo using her powers. She knows the consequences of overusing her curse during unimportant situations."

"Alana Kim is ranked 7 out of 7 of the strongest members of the Megumareta." Futa told us, making Tsuna relax visibly. I shook my head. "There must be some mistake, Futa-kun. Alana is stronger than me. I'm the weakest of the group."

"Hiii!" Tsuna shrieked. "Really?"

"But my rankings are never wrong." Futa told me with a pout. I shook my head. "I think your rankings might be little off on this one. There's no way that I can be strong enough to be number 5. I can only control Air, a weak element compared to the others."

When I woke up from my recent nap, I was floating.

My head bumped harshly against the ceiling and I felt the pain. "Ouch. I don't think this is a dream. It hurts to much to be one."

"Yo, dude! Feeling better yet from the fever?" I heard an amiable voice. I saw Alana floating right next to me with no care in the word. Pocky floundered over her head pathetically, puzzled at his current predicament.

I nodded. "A little."

We all abruptly stopped floating and I conveniently landed back onto my bed. Alana landed on her feet and snatched Pocky from the air by his tail. "Gotcha."

"Karasu! You're awake!"

I turned and waved lightly at my brother and smiled politely at Haru. "Hello Haru. Sorry for looking like a mess. If I knew you were coming I would've dressed up more decently."

"No, no! You're sick so that's understandable!" She assured me worriedly. Alana patted me on the back. "Don't worry about that, buddy. Haru's cool so she's not someone to worry about those things." She aimed her next sentence at Tsuna jokingly. "Better take good care of her, Tsuna-fish. Girls like her are hard to come by."

We all know that he likes Kyoko. It's now a well-known fact. I'm surprised that the girl hasn't noticed by now by my brother's interest.

"What was with the floating earlier?" I asked. Alana easily answered that for me. "Futa here was doing his ranking thing."

"Ah…I see."

"Juudaime!" I heard Gokudera's voice sound from the front door. "Why didn't you tell me that the ranking kid is here?"

Tsuna ran out of my room to greet him. I heard Takeshi say something too. I grinned. Today wasn't going to be another boring day after all! I wasn't surprised when Gokudera requested his ranking of the people suitable to be Tsuna's right hand.

"Let's see. Hayato-nii's ranking is…"

The tension in my room became very thick. Pocky lifted his ear and leaned in as if he understood how important this piece of information was. Well, to Gokudera at least.

"Out of range."

Ouch. Was his chances of not being Tsuna's right-hand really that low? And I thought that it would a bit higher than that. Wait a second. Is there even a ranking for that?

"Is there really a ranking like that?" Tsuna asked, voicing my thoughts.

"I didn't say it was out of range for the ranking." Futa told us. "It's atmospherically out of range."

Is that even possible?

Takeshi laughed. "Another funny guy!"

Such an oblivious guy, I guess that was one of the reasons why I liked him before. I laughed along with him just to humor him. Takeshi heard me and zeroed his attention onto me. "Karasu-chan! Are you all right? I heard that you got sick. Sorry for not being able to visit you."

I waved his apology away. "Please. You might've caught my fever. I wouldn't want that to happen to you." I didn't notice Haru leaning into our conversation in interest. Takeshi patted my head. "I'm so lucky to have such a kind friend."

"Hayato-nii ranks number 1 out of 82,203 for people suitable as a kindergarten teacher." I overheard Futa say. I sweatdropped when I saw Alana and Pocky falling over simultaneously. "WHAT?"

"After all Hayato-nii is number 2 out of 82,203 of people who likes kids. It's the most suitable job." I threw Futa an incredulous look. Gokudera hated Lambo. Even I knew that!

Futa's ranking skills might not be as good as we thought. "Your ranking might me a bit messed up, Futa-kun."

Futa shook his head. "My rankings are never wrong."

"I commend you, Futa! Great ranking skills!" Takeshi said enthusiastically. I shook my head. This might be the reason why it was so hard to tutor Takeshi four years ago. He's just so oblivious to everything but baseball.

"But the most important thing is love." I squeaked a little when I saw Bianchi floating above me. Alana slapped her hands over her face. Bianchi had shown a lot of affection for my Korean friend during the past days and seemed adamant in reminding her that love is the strongest thing in the world.

I understood her pain. I would get tired of that too if I heard that all the time.

I sweatdropped once again at the sight of a petrified Gokudera and was reminded of Gokudera's unique reaction every single time he saw his sister's face.

"Take this opportunity to make a love ranking. It's time to clarify who loves who." Bianchi suggested. Reborn, who I didn't really notice until now, spoke up. "Seems fun. Do it, Futa."

Yeah, like him to make things worse.

"Then to start off, let's begin with Karasu-nee's love ranking." Futa said, making me blush furiously. I shook my head at the little boy. "Let's not begin with Karasu-nee's ranking, Futa. Start with someone else."

I felt Takeshi and Gokudera (he recovered) looking at me. I grabbed my pillow and hid my face, praying that this would be over soon. "Karasu's number one love interest is…"

"Ricardo Fernandez."

I froze when I heard that name and slowly looked up. I didn't see the reactions that Takeshi and Gokudera had and didn't really care. Alana had 'oh shit' expression on her face.

Oh shit, indeed.

I kept my face straight as Haru asked me excitedly who Ricardo was and what he was like. I calmly turned to her. "Futa isn't always right, Haru. Just because he says this doesn't mean that it's so."

Haru looked a bit confused but had her attention drawn back to Futa's ranking in who Tsuna's love interest was.

"Tsuna-nii's number 1 love interest is…"

"I bet my whole year's allowance that this answer is going to be as absurd as the last." I said bitterly. Reborn nodded, taking my statement seriously. "I'll tell Maman that."

"Leon." Futa said. I gave Reborn a look. "See? It's absurd."

Haru cried tragically at the answer. "Haru has lost to such an opponent. Haru's heart is like the sky; a rain storm!"

"Rain?" Futa snapped back from his ranking trance and everything fell, gravity regaining control.

"Ugh, I hate rain." Futa whined. "It makes my ranking s go all wonky."

Tsuna and the others voiced their surprise. I think I saw relief pass through Takeshi and Gokudera's faces. I understood why Gokudera was relieved but was Takeshi really that concerned that Tsuna's love interest might've been a lizard?

"I knew it." I stated flatly. "No wonder you were making so many wrong rankings. It must have started raining since you said Gokudera's ranking or even before."

"How did you know, Karasu?" Tsuna asked, not seeing Alana's frantic waving. She slapped her forehead. Pocky whimpered and hid his face into his paws.

I sighed and looked away.

"I knew because of the ranking Futa gave for my love interest question. That answer would be impossible."

"Hey Crow-girl, don't cry like that. Warriors don't cry remember? We can't let them have the pleasure of seeing our tears no matter how much they beat us. It's just a little scratch, no biggie."

"But Rico, you're bleeding real bad! And it's all because of me!"

"Nah, that's just your crazy imagination. I'm stronger than that."

"But Rico-

"Hush now, can't you see it? I think there's a little bird's nest right there up in that oak tree. Can't you see it? It's…directly under…the sunlight. Man, that's a beautiful sight…right there."

"That's crazy, Rico. You know there's no birds or trees here."

Haru butted in. "Is it because you had someone else in mind? Or do you hate that person?" I bitterly laughed and shook my head. "No, I mean yes, I do have someone else in mind but I don't hate him."

"Rico? Rico! Wake up! You know you shouldn't sleep when you get scratches like that! I won't be able to hang on without you!"

"It's because…"

"Rico…please wake up. You still got to tell me…"

"Ricardo Fernandez is dead."

"You got to wake up and tell me where that tree with the birds nest is."

"Because I can't see it."

Youch, that was pretty depressing.

So, I hope y'all liked this! I worked hard on this one despite of having handfuls of tests thrown at me.

Next will be our favorite Korean American on her 'normal' day as a Nanimori disciplinary committee member! (Accompanied by her trusty puppy, Pocky)

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