"I wish more schools had an additional weather policy for really good days, instead of just for inclement weather. 'Students will be excused from classes today because it's sunny with a light breeze, and no chance of rain, go play outside.' "

-SKSKSKane

"Unless there is something completely unbelievable ( ie, unicorn, ark of the covenant, etc) at the top of that mountain; then no, I actually don't want to go hiking with you."

-johnwqreenjr


A day of no school no matter the reason is a day coveted by any student no matter the circumstance.

Ashlynn and Ran were hanging out in the backyard at Ran's house in casual clothing, rocking back and for the on the swinging bench that sat on the patio overlooking the grassy area. In front of them was a small glass-topped patio table with stacks of colored paper surrounded by either successful attempts at animal figures or crumpled balls. Ran had attempted to teach Ashlynn the finer points of origami. But other than the being able to make a cootie catcher that was norm for every young American girl to make, a handful of tiny stars, a little heart-shaped box and a folded diamond that was supposed to be a paper football; Ashlynn for the life of her could not grasp how she was supposed to fold to get more complex figures that Ran made look increasingly simple that the other girl was trying to teach her.

The two had ended up on opposite sides of the table playing with the paper football flicking the diamond over each others fingers shaped as a goal post. Here Ashlynn had to teach Ran the finesse of flicking the paper to make it soar.

When that was no longer amusing, i.e. Ran tossing the stars that Ashlynn had created into her face, they went snooping around the shed to find something else to do and while Ashlynn was looking through a box that had some old board games Ran snuck behind her with a bright green pool noodle and hit the other girl in the rear. Ashlynn squealed in surprise dropping the board game back into the box and ran out of the shed grabbing a bright pink noodle on her way out. They began a mock duel with pool noodles in the grass with Ran's Aunt snapping a few pictures with a camera from the sliding door.

Ashlynn dramatically raised the pink noodle above her head to the heavens. "By the honor of the Meagher family and descendant of Ireland, I shall defeat you! Prepare yourself!"

Ran laughed as she ran out of the way of Ashlynn's charge and towards the tree that was in the corner of the yard. "You will do no such thing, my dear opponent. There is something that I with Japanese blood of the Hiraoka family have that you do not!"

Ashlynn snuck an attack around the trunk of the tree to Ran's backside then pulled the noodle back to face on Ran's counter-attack. The two awkwardly pushed the noodles to overpower the other. Ashlynn pulled back again and then spun once smacking Ran's arm.

"And what is that?"

Ran ducked under a shot at her shoulder and got a smack at Ashlynn's legs before she rushed back to the tree and lifted herself onto the lowest sturdy branch. "Not only do we have samurai, we also have ninja and their prowess for being sneaky! Ninja technique!get my ass up the tree!"

"That may be so, descendant of Japan, but your ninjaness must come down from that tree sometime!" Ashlynn whacked the side of the tree with the noodle and reached with the noddle to Ran's feet dangling from the tree.

"Ha! No I won't!" Ran called but then squealed when Ashlynn reached to poke her bottom from behind her. She slipped forward off of the tree and braced herself a little shakily from the shock to her feet. Ashlynn took the chance by lightly smacking the back of the other girls head. Ran laughed turning around to be met with a poke in the stomach. She fell to her knee's holding the 'wound' then fell onto her back on the grass. "You have...slain..me honorably...Descendant of Ireland...but be warned..You may have defeated me on this day...but there will...be...still..more to come!"

Ran closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out in mock death. Ashlynn snorted at the ridiculous gesture of death and poked the ground at her feet with the noodle and placed a hand over her heart. 'Descendant of Japan. Although you had stooped to use such undermining tactics it was a good battle until the very end. I shall honor you and pray that your warrior spirit rests in peace. And may my own soul meet you in the afterlife."

"Nnnnnngh Brains!" Ran jerked up and grabbed Ashlynn's ankle.

"No! I said 'Peace'! Bad zombie, bad!" Ashlynn used the noodle to smack Ran on the top of her head as she tried to escape the zombie's clutches. It was in vain; Ran had bit (Mockingly) her ankle and passed on the zombie virus.

Ran smiled when they both laid back on the grass and looked at the clouds in the sky."You know if zombies really were to take over the Earth, all of the non-video gamers would die off first. The rest of us would have no problem thanks to the training that zombie games give us."

Ashlynn stood and offered a hand to help the girl up. "I'll make sure I'm next to you when that happens, you've got the highest score for beating back those monsters."

"Sure thing. Hey, are you really from Ireland? When you transferred here they never said where you were from." Ran took the proffered hand and lead Ashlynn back to the swing.

Ashlynn shook her head and mentally berated herself on the slip up. But then again someone was going to ask sooner or later. "My mother went into labor in Ireland, yes, but did not go to a hospital until she made it back to the States (I grew up in Illinois). My Grandparents and parents on both sides of my family were born in Ireland though but my parents left for the States when they got married."

"Oh, so your parents are they...?

Ashlynn tensed and looked away. She didn't really want to talk about this, sure they were still alive when she had been there but she didn't know if anything had happened, and even if nothing had, she was no doubt still dead to them.

Ran placed a hand on Ashlynn's shoulder. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought that up. It's just that some people I know live by themselves and their parents live in Tokyo or something and they trust their kid enough to live alone. I just thought it was the same for you."

Ashlynn shook her head. "No, it's alright. I should have at least said something."

Ran gave a small smile then grimaced when her phone went off. "ugh, it's probably someone from work...it's supposed to be my day off..."

"You work?"

Ran froze and stared at her then shook her head. "...Yeah...sorry, I never told you did I? I thought I did...It's just some odd jobs but the boss' assistant calls every once in a while. Sorry, I'm going to take this."

Ashlynn waited as Ran answered and talked to the person on the other line. Just as Ran had predicted it, it was her Boss asking her to come in. When she hung up the phone Ashlynn asked her. "Where do you work? I could walk with you if you want?"

"No that's okay, really..." Ran trailed off with an odd tone in her voice. "What I do most of the time while working...well...I don't think...you might not want to be seen there..."

Ashlynn frowned. "You're not selling yourself are you? Or anything along those lines?"

"What! Oh, N-no! Nothing like that at all!" Ran was shocked at the thought. "Ashlynn, just trust me okay? That's all I ask."

"Alright, I'll trust your word on it...I'll let you go get ready then. I'll see you later, yeah?" Ashlynn waved goodbye to Ran and left for the front door and told Ran's Aunt Suzu she was leaving as she walked out of the house shutting the door behind her and started walking home back home.

She stopped as something hit her in the small of the back and nearly knocked her over to the ground, the strange thing was that whatever had hit her was now clinging to her. Ashlynn reached her arms around her back and was able to untangle a pair of small arms and legs and carefully moved so that she was now holding a small child in her arms that she quickly recognized as I-pin. She was crying, her face was red, and her pinzu-timer was activated with only five pinzu's left on the countdown before the little Chinese assassin exploded.

Ashlynn immediately sat down with her back leaning against the closest wall and hugged the girl, rubbing her back and began to hum an old lullaby to calm the child in her arms. She wasn't really sure what else she should try and throwing her away into the air seemed cruel so she settle for trying to comfort the girl who had tears streaming down her cheeks.

I-pin drowsily looked up at the older girl that had comforted her curiously as the pinzu's disappeared from her forehead. No one other than her master had been able to calm her after activating the pinzu-explosion. "謝謝你的安慰."

Ashlynn looked down at the sleeping assassin in her arms. Well now what she supposed to do? Should she take I-pin to her apartment and wait for her to wake up or should she go and take her to Reborn? She had no idea where I-pin stayed before she began living with Tsuna...

"Thank you for your comfort."

Ashlynn stopped humming and looked to her right to see a small red clothed figure sitting next to her with his back leaning against the wall. There was a red pacifier hanging around his neck and a small...baboon...quietly chittering on the baby's shoulder. She gave him a questioning look before looking down at I-pin. "Is that what she said?"

"My name is Fon. I apologize if I-pin has been any trouble." He bowed his head to her.

"Ah. No trouble. My name is Ashlynn..."

Fon's cheeks dimpled into a serene smile but then looked down curiously as the red pacifier around his neck began to glow. "Ah, it looks to be someone I know is close by..."

"Ciaossu." Reborn smirked at the other baby from the top of a lamp post. His pacifier was glowing a soft yellow. "I haven't seen you in a while Fon. Keeping an eye on I-pin's assignments?"

The storm Arcobaleno nodded closing his eyes and exhaling softly. "The same could be said to you old friend. Miss Ashlynn if you will excuse me I shall be taking I-pin from your care and relocating her to her new residence."

"Oh, of course. "Ashlynn gently transferred the sleeping child to the baby. He nodded to the both of them before running across the street and over the wall on the other side. Ashlynn looked at Reborn who had landed next to her as Fon left. She wondered if she could get some information of the Arcobaleno this early. Even with the sites, manga and anime there wasn't all that much known about the seven.

"...Hey, Reborn...?"

"Fnn?"

"...Both of you...your pacifiers..." Ashlynn trailed off a little unsure how to ask. "Is there some kind of connection to the two of you being-"

He interrupted her with a smirk. "Another time Ashlynn, perhaps I will tell you. Ciao."

He left in the same direction no doubt to meet up with Fon to explain to Maman that I-pin would be staying with her.


She was right. The next day she went to Tsuna's house and on the way Ashlynn had met Gokudera who was accompanying Yamamoto who was going to do supplementary class homework with Tsuna. And since she was going to the same place she walked over with them. They waved to Nana as she got in her car and drove away from the house.

Yamamoto opened the door and allowed her to enter first. "Hey Tsuna! I brought some reliable helpers!"

Gokudera shut the door behind them. 'It's good to be here."

"Welcome! Sorry, I kind of need to stay home today." Tsuna scratched the back of his head.

Yamamoto smiled. "That's okay; I'm fine with any place."

They congregated around the low table in Tsuna's room and Ashlynn had smiled widely when there had been modeling clay laid out on the surface. She may not have been able to make origami to Ran's standards but modeling clay was something she could work with. And she had always loved playing with Play-doh like every American child always did.

Gokudera just stared at the materials in front of him while Tsuna and Yamamoto got on to work crafting their assignment for their art class. Tsuna looked over at him confused. "Gokudera-kun, is something wrong?"

"…I didn't think…that the supplementary class would be for art." Gokudera grabbed the modeling clay and began to pile and carve.

Yamamoto laughed at the structure. "Haha! What is that supposed to be Gokudera?"

The boy crushed the small stick he was using to carve in detail. "Shut the hell up! Can't you tell! Obviously it is Mt. Fuji, you idiot!"

Ashlynn smiled as she worked to make little chibi replicas of the boys with her. Tsuna was making what looked like a little puppy and Yamamoto was making miniature baseball equipment. They worked silently save for Gokudera's grumbling about how stupid Yamamoto could be for not recognizing a mountain.

The door of Tsuna's room slammed open as I-pin ran in, running away from Lambo who was chasing and taunting the near-sighted child. The kids jumped over the furniture as they ran around the room. I-pin jumped over the table and its occupants from the desk and fled from the room. Lambo tripped and crashed over is feet, when I-pin cleared the jumped after the child and slid across the table completely destroying Gokudera's Mt. Fuji.

Gokudera pulled Lambo up by his afro and began to shake him. "You aimed for mine on purpose didn't you!"

Ashlynn sighed. "Come on Gokudera-"

"What are you doing Gokudera-san!"Haru appeared walked through the open door and grabbed Lambo away from the seething boy. "Why can't you understand that it is very wrong to bully children! No woman would want to be married to you!"

Gokudera scoffed. "Another annoying person has arrived…"

"Tsuna-san's mother was worried so she asked me to come over sometimes. And a good thing too since Gokudera-san is a bully to children and Subordinate-san is a deceitful person and definitely not a good role model for impressionable kids!"

Ashlynn gave Haru a bland stare. "Miura-san, my name is Ashlynn, not 'Subordinate-san' and I will thank you not to say such things about me. I am not romantically interested in Tsuna."

Ashlynn glowered when the younger girl ignored her and was kneeling to be at I-pin's height who was peeking into the bedroom. Haru smiled at the child. "Hi, you're I-pin-chan aren't you?"

I-pin leaped to hide behind Ashlynn and pointed in fear at Haru. "這是一個劭邁怪物!"

"What did he say?" Tsuna asked Reborn who was watching from the bed.

"'It's a Shiu-mai monster' "Reborn translated the traditional Chinese. Ashlynn snorted at the description and quickly covered her mouth with a hand and looked away when Haru whipped her head in her direction. Haru fell to the floor next to Tsuna with a sob.

"I'm not a Shiu-mai! This is entirely your fault Subordinate-san. Teaching a child to call people names! "Haru pointed at Ashlynn.

Tsuna tried to grab her attention away. "It's not her fault! I-pin is just really near-sighted and sees things he's afraid of."

"Eh? Near-sighted?" Haru reached into her courier bag she brought along and pulled out a pair of nondescript glasses and offered them to I-pin. "Those are for near-sightedness."

Yamamoto tilted his head confused. "You wear glasses, Haru?"

Haru shook her head. "No, they are for my father. I was asked to go to the eye wear shop to pick them up."

I-pin looked at Haru with the glasses over her eyes. The pair was many too sizes so I-pin had to hold them up with both hands. "在肇邁走了,現在我看到一個女孩"

Reborn pointed at Haru and translated I-pin's words. "The shiu-mai is gone, I see a girl now."

Lambo decided it was time again to try and scare I-pin again, he staggered towards the Chinese assassin. "I'm going to get you!"

"我看到一個白痴."

" 'I see an idiot'." Reborn smirked.

Gokudera glanced over. "If you're near-sighted then why don't you always wear glasses?"

"因為我的耳朵不是大到足以容納他們的地方."

" 'Because my ears are not big enough to hold them in place.' " Reborn explained.

Ashlynn nodded. "Well, that makes sense, but why not contacts then? Oh, well they can be uncomfortable for some. I particularly do not like them."

"You've used contacts?" Yamamoto asked.

Ashlynn nodded. "Halloween costume some years ago, I was sailor Jupiter from the 'Sailor Moon' series. I wore these really bright green color contacts. And I absolutely hated them and that was because Flaithri kept teasing how I'd poke my eye out if I wasn't careful enough them."

I-pin gave the glasses back to Haru as Lambo approached and stood tall. "Listen newcomer! Don't ignore Lambo-san!"

I-pin grabbed a gyoza bun and took a smile bite and fell into an attacking stance. Tsuna watched in shock as this was happening. "Now that I-pin knows that Lambo isn't a broccoli monster, He's going to attack Lambo!"

I-pin reached an arm out and struck Lambo sending the Bovino across the room. Gokudera looked on impressed. "Wow that was Gyoza-ken. This is the first time I've seen it up close."

"Poor Lambo-chan!" Haru gasped.

Lambo lifted himself from the carpet with tears. "To…ler…ate…Lambo-san! Shaggy Lambo-san isn't going to lose to a funny looking egg head like you!"

"Hey, Lambo stop that! Don't say anything to embarrass I-pin otherwise he'll explode!" Tsuna admonished the boy.

It was already too late, I-pin was sweating profusely at Lambo's taunting and the Bovino child wasn't done yet. "You look like an egg with a tail! You Tail-head! Tail-Heeaad!"

Nine Mah-jong tiles appeared on I-pin's forehead indicating the pinzu timer and how much time they had left to get out. Tsuna screeched and tried to get everyone out of the room and pleading with I-pin at the same time who attached to Tsuna who was closest. "Everyone needs to get out! I-pin, please stop the human bomb! What! No! No, No, No, Nooo!"

Gokudera clamored to the window moved the curtains out of the way and opened the window. He glared at Yamamoto who was laughing and not heeding the boss' warning of danger. "Here! Juudaime, throw him out the window!"

Tsuna turned and threw the Chinese assassin out of the window. He sighed in relief until he noticed that I-pin was hanging from the overhanging gutter over his window by the tail of his braid. The Pinzu timer now showed five pins changing to four pins. Tsuna tried to reach and grab the child. "Hieeek! I…I can't reach him!"

Gokudera pulled him back away from the window. "Juudaime! Let's get out of here!"

Haru stood up from her seat angrily. "Tsuna-san! Just what on earth are you doing to I-pin-chan!"

"Now isn't the time Haru! When the pinzus on his head become one, he will explode! Hiiiie, there's only three pinzus left! Everyone lets' go! Crap! Lambo! What are you doing!" Tsuna yelled.

Lambo was still crying and was pointing the ten year bazooka at his face. Tsuna grabbed onto the other end and tried to pry it away from Lambo. "We only have two more pinzus left! Augh, there's no time! What are we going to do!"

Ashlynn stood from her place and took the bazooka from Tsuna and aimed the out the window at shot at I-pin. "We do this."

The bazooka collided with I-pin just as the human bombs pinzu count was at one. There was an explosion of pink smoke and everyone shielded their faces from the smoke.

Tsuna screeched. "D-did you…did you just fire the ten year bazooka at I-pin?"

"Uhh, yeah…I did. So the explosion must have carried over to the future." Ashlynn placed the bazooka at her side and picked Lambo with her other arm.

"Hiiiie! Really? Th-then this will be the I-pin from ten years into the future?" Tsuna looked to the figure that was in I-pin's place, obscured by the smoke.

When the smoke disappeared, it was a girl in an entirely white uniform carrying a ramen delivery box. "Huh? Why…Why am I in a bedroom when I am in the middle of making a delivery to Kawahira-san?"

Tsuna fell over in shock. "Hiiiie! I-pin is really a girl?"

"…You really didn't know that?" Ashlynn deadpanned.

"Hahi? Do you guys know this girl? Is she another subordinate? How did she get here and where is little I-pin-chan?" Haru looked about the room as Yamamoto laughed. He thought it was all a part of a new game.

The older I-pin looked at her wristwatch. "Oh, no. the ramen is going to grow cold and the noodles will become soggy. Kawahira-san is very strict about being on time…Ah! It's Sawada-san! Hello."

Tsuna walked over to the window. "I-pin…um…you became very….girly…"

"Eh?" I-pin blushed and smiled. "Sawada-san! What are you talking about so suddenly out of the blue? You're so silly, Sawada-san!"

"Ah! I-pin! What happened to your Pinzu timer, and your gyoza-ken technique?" Tsuna asked the now older girl.

The older I-pin tilted her head. "Eh? Sawada-san, don't you remember that I had quit? I have to earn money to pay for my college tuition. You had offered to help out, but I want to do it by myself. And the 'Pinzu timed super explosion' was sealed by master who lives in China when I quit. Along with the password that unseals it."

"Huh, so you really are normal now…I wonder how long it actually took for that to happen or if it actually all of took ten years to accomplish…" Gokudera murmured.

Ashlynn let Lambo go as she asked I-pin a question she had always wanted to ask. "Hey I-pin, you said you're going to college. What are you majoring in?"

I-pin smiled. "Hello, Ashlynn! I thought you knew already? I'm going to study to become a teacher and Birdy-chan is studying to be a lawyer for the family."

"That's great I-pin; I think you'll make a wonderful teacher. Good luck to you." Ashlynn complimented the girl.

I-pin smiled widely. "Thank you very much! Well then, I have a delivery to make, so I'll see you when I see you…"

Lambo stomped onto the low table irritably. "Hey! Where did tail-head go?"

"Gasp! Th-that! The Broccoli…monster…! Aughhhh! My head!" I-pin dropped the box containing the ramen and grasped at her head in pain as she began to shake and sweat. Then the supposedly 'sealed' Pinzu timer appeared on the older I-pin's brow.

"Wha? The password is 'Broccoli Monster'! "Tsuna screamed. 'Hurry everyone we may still have time to—"

There was no time as the Pinzu on I-pin's forehead switched immediately through the pinzus and ended at one, she exploded taking the room and group with her. Reborn was the only one who had escaped the destruction of the explosion. Apparently the awakened 'Pinzu timed Super Explosion' would become faster and even more powerful in the future.


Another day of work and Ashlynn was actually really busy cranking cake after cake out of the oven. Fukano's bakery was having a buy one get one half off for the simpler made cakes. It was just one of those days that it got really busy and it wasn't anytime near the normal rush hour time. At least she had convinced the other employees working in the back with her to let her plug her I-pod to the radio. They were interested enough in American music and she had set it to play Avenged Sevenfold.

The two employees with her dropped to hide underneath their workstations when they heard someone screams in the front area of the bakery. Ashlynn looked over to the clock on the wall next to the door.

'Funny…Hibari usually doesn't come by until four o'clock in the afternoons…' Ashlynn watched as the door to the baking area opened but instead of Hibari appearing as she expected, but Reborn followed by Tsuna and Fukano-san. The employees let out a sigh of relief. Whenever Hibari came in the unfortunate souls that worked with Ashlynn usually got bitten to death before he threw them out.

"Attention my cute little minions!" Fukano-san announced cheerfully. Ashlynn smiled at the 'endearing' term. Fukano-san had taken to calling all the employees her minions and Ashlynn was the only one that actually played along with it.

Fukano-san motioned for Tsuna to go to the workstation next to Ashlynn. "This here is Tsuna-kun, he'll be working with you for awhile to pay back for his friends little…mess. Be nice and have fun!"

Fukano-san waved as she and Reborn left to the woman's office. The other employees went back to work as Tsuna looked over to her. "Ashlynn, I didn't know you got stuck with having to pay for damages with me. This is just like how Reborn and Bianchi took me out for sushi and ran out on the bill."

Ashlynn shook her head as she grabbed an extra work apron from the storage closet and slipped Tsuna's head through the hole then turned him around so she could tie a single knot in the back. "Um, no. I actually work here."

"R-really?"

Ashlynn smiled. "Yeah, really. Now, today we are having a buy one get a cake half off today, so we're very busy. There's a set of recipes in your workstation drawer. If you have any questions make sure to ask, okay? I'll help you if you need it."

"O-oh, okay. Thank you Ashlynn."

They looked up as the screaming started again in the front room. Ashlynn looked at the wall clock again before going to one of the cooling racks and brought out shortbread then went to the fridge and took some of the stocked coconut juice. Tsuna watched confused as she did so. How come no one was doing anything about the screaming?

He got his answer when Hibari entered through the door and attacked the employee closest to him and then made his way towards Ashlynn's work station. As the other employees lay beaten on the ground he set his gaze on Tsuna who was now standing next to Ashlynn and started to advance with a raised tonfa.

Ashlynn sighed. "Well, there goes the rush. Hello Hibari. If you must beat them then could you try not to do any lasting damage to their hands and fingers? We kinda need those limbs intact for them to do their work. Aim for their toes or something."

Hibari smirked. "I shall keep that in mind, Omnivore. But it is no longer busy as the sale has ended. There will be no crowding of herbivores while I am in this establishment."

Tsuna stuttered. "O-omnivore?"

Hibari's attention was brought back to Tsuna. "I am a Carnivore. The Omnivore is an Omnivore. And you are an herbivore. And I hate herbivores that crowd."

Tsuna was once again sent to the hospital for his injuries from Hibari and the employees of Fukano's bakery blamed her because Hibari had started targeted the worker's toes and feet, sending them complaining to the boss. Luckily Fukano-san had seen Ashlynn's logic so she hadn't got in trouble for it.


"I'll see you later!"

Ashlynn waved as she and Ran split off into different directions after they were released from school. Ran had to go work her shift at the place that she refused to tell Ashlynn where and what it was. Ashlynn herself didn't have work for the next three or so days. Fukano-san had announced to her 'cute little minions' that she was closing down because she was going out of town and that everyone could have a break. So Ashlynn was going to take her canvas shopping bags to the supermarket today.

Ashlynn fortunately had the foresight to give an 'appeasement' of sorts to Hibari. Yesterday she had left after she had eaten during her lunch hour after she had told Ran where she was going. As she walked through the halls of Namimori middle she had gotten a lot of stares directed her way. Since she had her high school uniform on she wondered if it was because the high schoolers didn't normally visit the middle school but when the underclassmen fearfully cleared a path for her between them, she remembered that she had been seen walking with Hibari to the reception room and that there had been a crowd watching when she had fought with the prefect. Ashlynn lifted her head confidently as she walked; she was here with a purpose after all. She smiled at a few of the students and waved when she saw Kyoko and she sighed when most of the students winced when she even glanced in their direction.

She had gone up the set of stairs and was about halfway to the reception room on the floor with the upperclassmen when someone had addressed her. Quite loudly.

"Extremely good morning, Senpai!"

When Ashlynn turned around she saw Ryohei standing right outside one of the classrooms with many of the students watching from the door. Ashlynn grinned. "Good afternoon You are Sasagawa Ryohei. I saw your match with Tsuna, you were both impressive."

Ryohei punched his fists together happy at the recognition. "Thank you extremely! Would you like to join the boxing club?"

"I'm sorry, but no...But you are welcome to join me along with Tsuna and few of his family members when we train in the mornings. We start again in a few days." Ashlynn quickly offered when the boy deflated at her decline to the boxing club. "Do have a piece of paper and a pen I could use? I'll write address for you, we normally meet at the courtyard at the apartment complex that I live at."

After writing down her contact information for the boxer, Ashlynn resumed her trek to the reception room. A thought occurred to her as she opened the door and entered, why hadn't any members of the discipline committee stopped her on the way? She didn't go to this school, didn't have a pass and she stuck out because of her uniform. Was it because they also recognized her from before?

Hibari raised an eyebrow at her presence in his school, of course he had known when she had approached his territory and he had ordered his committee to leave her be. He would see what the omnivore wanted. Perhaps he would be able to fight her today.

Ashlynn stepped forward to the desk and placed down the box that she had been carrying and the bag with coconut juice and explained that Fukano-san was closing down the bakery for the next few days. The prefect nodded his consent and opened the box placed in front of him and found that it had been filled with shortbread. Ashlynn stood still for a few moments before she made her way back to the door, saying she needed to return back to her campus if she wanted to get to class on time.

The next morning she found herself very, very glad that she had made the impromptu delivery when Fukano-san had tested her, (She had to remind herself that the woman had all of her contact information) that she shouldn't be surprised if Hibari made an unexpected visit to her home. Fukano-san explained that she had closed down a couple times before and Hibari would visit one of the employees to make him shortbread and since he preferred her (Ashlynn) the most, Fukano-san said it would be her that he would 'visit'. Even with her nice lock, Ashlynn was not at all confident that her door could withstand the force that the prefect. Now she wouldn't have to worry about such a visit since she had crammed enough shortbread to last a person at least four days, just enough time until Fukano-san came back from her trip out of town. Funny, the woman hadn't said where she was going to. She would have to remember ask her about it when she came back.

Ashlynn had bumped into Bianchi who had a list of things that Nana had asked for. The two chatted to each other as they found and paid for their things and Bianchi helped Ashlynn take her things home to her apartment. After everything had been put away and a change of clothes she and Bianchi each carried a bag and walked to Tsuna's house.

When the two turned around the final corner they were met with the sight of a group of men all in black suits guarding in front of the house they were going to. Bianchi didn't even falter at the sight and kept walking with Ashlynn speeding up to keep up with her. One of the men pressed forward and greeted Bianchi.

"Miss Bianchi, I didn't know that you were here in Japan."

"I came here to help my Reborn with the Juudaime's training to become the next Vongola boss."

Everyone looked up when they heard a yell from the open window on the second floor. Three pink grenades, Lambo's, soared out of the window and down toward the group in front of the house. Only seconds later a blonde man in street clothing and winter jacket jumped out with a bullwhip in his outstretched hand, he yelled out for the men to take cover as he cracked the whip and pulled two of the grenades into the air where they exploded away from the group, before he landed easily on the ground.

Ashlynn slipped her right chakram bracelet off, activated the blade and threw it into the air towards the forgotten third grenade slicing it in half causing the it to explode in midair. She pulled the flying weapon back by a wire attached to the handle, seamlessly caught the handle and retracted the weapon back to its jewelry form on her wrist and switched the grocery bag she was carrying to her other arm in a fluid motion. Ashlynn mentally patted herself on the back for a job well done while looking so freaking awesome at the same time. She smiled widely when Bianchi gave her an appraising look.

The men had laughed and joked at their boss expense when they saw the spinning chakram take out the grenade and watched in awe as Ashlynn pulled the weapon back. The blonde man smiled as her approached her and Bianchi.

"You see, Tsuna? The Boss will willingly risk his life for the safety of his family. And protecting the allied family's forces is no laughing matter either." Reborn brought everyone's attention to him when he spoke to the unwilling Vongola heir from the concrete wall surrounding the house.

"Don't relate everything back to mafia situations!" Tsuna sputtered at the hitman.

Reborn ignored him. "Bianchi, thank you for getting the things that Maman requested."

Bianchi smiled dreamily at the thanks then took the bag that Ashlynn had been carrying and went inside the house. Reborn then looked to the man who approached Ashlynn and began to introduce the two.

"Ashlynn, may I present Dino, the tenth generation boss of the Cavallone family of over five thousand members and ally of the Vongola family. Dino, this is Ashlynn Meagher, a member of Tsuna's budding family."

Dino placed his hands on shoulders and kissed her cheek. "It is a pleasure to meet you and I thank you for protecting my men. I hadn't realized that there had been more than two explosives thrown out here."

"What...?..oh...sure thing?"

The men around them started laughing at her intelligent response. Reborn smirked. " Dino you should know better; you cannot kiss an Irish girl unexpectedly. You can only kiss her sooner than she thought you would...or so the saying goes. You're lucky she didn't slap you for it." He turned to the former American and began to explain the custom before she decided she wanted to hit the boy though he wouldn't really stop her if she did. "Ashlynn, it is a custom to grant a kiss in greeting and also as a thank you in Italy."

"Irish?" Dino asked but shook off the slight nervous feeling with a laugh. "I'm sorry; I don't know very much of Irish customs or many Japanese ones for the matter. You're supposed to bow in Japan right?" Dino bowed. "But what is the custom of greeting in Ireland? Many have had a bit of trouble with meeting with the Irish mafia families for some reason."

Ashlynn nodded. "Greetings tend to be warm and friendly but you would normally greet someone with a handshake and an appropriate hello according to the time of day. Also keeping eye contact denotes trust and is maintained during your greeting. Though I'm not sure if this would still apply among members of a mafia family."

"Ah, I'll have to I remember that."

"Dino." Reborn called back their attention to him again. "You should stay over tonight, I've already got permission. You too Ashlynn, Maman had mentioned that you have yet to stay over."

"Hmm. I'm alright with that but what about these guys?" Dino motioned to his men around him.

"You can let them go back and relax."

"Wait! Hey, why are you deciding things by yourself!" Tsuna yelled.

Dino's men started to joke again at their boss. "We won't have to worry about you if you're with Reborn-san."

"And especially this cute little warrior." One of the men pointed towards Ashlynn.

"Yeah!"

"It will be a big load off of our shoulders."

"Y-you guys~." Dino blushed. "Alright, alright. I may as well give the Vongola tenth boss a piece of advice or two."

The men filed out of the street as Reborn led Tsuna, Dino and Ashlynn into the house. Dino walked forward and held the door open and allowed Ashlynn to enter first before he shut the door behind him. Nana met them from the bottom of the stairs and welcomed them into the house. Ashlynn took the older woman to the side and asked if it was okay if she could stay over for the night even though there was school the following morning. Nana couldn't have been happier and Bianchi had offered to let her borrow something to wear to bed.

I-pin and Lambo had also been delighted that she was staying over and Ashlynn spent her time playing with them, coloring pictures while she half-listened to Reborn and Tsuna talk with Dino about some things that Reborn had Dino do as training . The baby hitman certainly had the two bosses wrapped tightly around his finger and Ashlynn was sure that if Reborn ordered the two to run, they would do so without asking how far they were supposed to go.

Ashlynn placed the crayons and colored pencils into their boxes when Nana poke her head out of the kitchen and called out that dinner would be ready in a few minutes. She looked over the pictures the two kids made and smiled. Lambo had drawn himself beating up Reborn in many ways and there was also a picture of him and Maman and also one of himself with her. I-pin had drawn a picture of another baby dressed in red with a monkey resting on his shoulder and there was Chinese written on the bottom. She definitely recognized him from a few days ago when she had been able to calm I-pin down from her pinzu timer.; the Arcobaleno: Fon.

She shook her head and placed the papers in a pile then went to join the others at the kitchen table as Nana placed dished in front of each person before she sat down herself.

Dino looked over at Tsuna who was sneaking glances from across the table. "You know that you can ask me anything you'd like, my cute sworn brother."

"Erm...uh..." Tsuna faltered. 'This is a dilemma. I'm glad that Dino-san likes me but I still don't want to be involved into the mafia!'

"Oh, that's right, have you gathered any more members for your family?" Dino asked the boy.

It was Reborn that spoke up before Tsuna had a chance to once again deny any involvement in the mafia. "There is Ashlynn here and also Gokudera Hayato, the younger sibling of the poison scorpion Bianchi, and a Yamamoto Takeshi. There are also two candidates that show real promise; Hibari Kyoya and Sasagawa Ryohei."

"No! They are all just friends and upperclassmen!" Tsuna glared at the hitman. "But why did you come to a person like me, Reborn? You seemed to being just fine with training Dino-san."

"That's because the Vongola is at the core of our families alliance. That's why it gets first priority above all others in every aspect. So even so Reborn hadn't finished with me I had to let him go so he could come train you." Dino explained.

Tsuna looked down at his bowl. "The Vongola is that influential?...I'm even more concerned now."

"Dino, you're spilling food all over yourself." Ashlynn pointed out to the boss from her place between Lambo and I-pin. The rice seemed to be everywhere except his bowl. Dino looked down in shock, he hadn't realized he had made such a mess.

"Without his men Dino only functions half as well." Reborn told them. "He is the kind of person who can only use his prowess for the family or in front of the family. Without even a single member within his sight, his athleticism drops dramatically. Almost more than fifty percent in fact."

Dino scoffed at the description made of him. "Really, Reborn? Saying stuff like that again. Do you honestly want them to believe all of that? It's because I normally use a knife and fork so I m having a little difficulty using chopsticks."

Ashlynn smiled to herself. 'Poor Dino, of course I believe it. I've seen it for myself.'

"If you're done, Dino-kun, I ll go prepare the bath for you." Nana said as she cleared away the children's plates and took Ashlynn's away before she could finish standing up.

Dino nodded. "Thank you, Maman."

"KYAAAAAA!"

They all jumped up at the sound Of Nana s scream from the bathroom, save for Reborn. Dino s chair slid backwards and fell to the floor as he stood up and pulled out his bullwhip. "What just happened! Maman, are you alright?"

Dino took a hurried step forward and promptly fell to the ground in a heap. Tsuna stood up and gave a hand for fallen boss. "D-Dino-san? Are you okay?"

"Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow, I-I tripped on my own foot..."

"You see?" Reborn nodded to Dino. "Without his men Dino is just a big klutz that can't do anything right."

Nana burst into the room and hid behind her son. "In the tub! In the tuuuuub!"

Tsuna led Dino and Ashlynn to see what had frightened Nana. When he opened the door they were met with the sight of an enormous turtle that was happily munching away at the side of the bathtub. It looked up at them and gave out a roar.

Dino slapped a palm to his forehead and groaned. "Crap~ That Enzio. When did he escape from me?"

"Hiiiie! You mean that that turtle is the same one from before! That can't be!" Tsuna grabbed the sides of his head.

"That's right. Enzio is a sponge snapping turtle. He swells up when he is immersed in water, then the enlarged Enzio becomes feral and will devour a house whole." Reborn explained with a whiteboard with a picture equation. Enzio plus water equals feral monster Enzio.

"Hmmm, isn't there a movie quote that can go with this?" Ashlynn wondered under her breath.

Dino pushed forward to stand in front of them. "Stay back and no one interfere. It will be a disgrace for the Cavallone Famiglia if their tenth boss can't control his own pet. Calm down Enzio!"

Dino cooly cracked the bullwhip towards his pet and hit Tsuna across the face. Tsuna held onto his cheek in tears. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Tsuna! I'm so sorry, I slipped." Dino

Reborn shook his head and stood next to Ashlynn. "Don't you understand? He's not fully himself without his men around."

Dino attacked with the whip again and it hit Tsuna again and the place where Reborn had been before he jumped to sit on Ashlynn's shoulder. Enzio took another bite out of the edge of the tub big enough that he was now crawling out and onto the tile. Tsuna scrambled out of the bathroom to avoid being hit again and looked up pleadingly to Reborn.

"Can't you do anything? At this rate Enzio is going to eat the entire bathroom!"

"Fnn, he did say not to interfere...well, I guess it can't be helped. It's Leon's turn." Reborn held out the tiny chameleon and Leon hurtled to Tsuna's face and transformed him to look like one of them men that were seen amongst Dino's group.

"Romario!" Dino yelled when he saw the disguised Leon on Tsuna's face. "What are you doing here? I thought you went back with the others! You idiot! Stay back and leave this to me! Don't think too badly of me Enzio."

Dino used the whip to grasp Enzio around the neck and used one of the hanging light fixtures above them to lift the amphibian into the air, cutting off air supply and making Enzio pass out. After he made sure that Enzio would not attack again, Dino lowered him to the floor then turned around and frowned when 'Romario' disappeared. Leon vaulted off of Tsuna's shoulder and bounded his way up Ashlynn into her hair shifted in the strands on the top of her head before settling and poked his tiny head out to watch the surroundings.

Enzio was returned to his original size after being blow dried from Bianchi's hairdryer and the situation was finally settled. However there was the destroyed bathtub to take in account. Surprisingly enough Nana seemed to completely erase the entire ordeal from her mind and suggested that since there was such a large group, then they should all go out to the public baths down the street. After she handed out buckets and washcloths and made sure that everyone brought a change of clothes with them, the set out to the public bath.

Ashlynn walked between Bianchi and Dino on the way. Dino had a perpetual smile on his face and when Tsuna asked from his other side. Dino proudly announced that it was his first time using a public bath and even though a little nervous about the custom, he was happy to try something new.

"It's also Ashlynn's first time using them." Reborn told the group.

Ashlynn blushed and looked away. 'Seriously? You just had to announce it didn't you? What the hell, Reborn? Just because you haven't tortured me with training yet, you're going to humiliate me?''

When they arrived to the main room Tsuna and Dino went towards the male section of the baths while Nana, Bianchi, and Ashlynn took the kids to the women's section. Ashlynn paused as everyone started to strip themselves of their clothing in the locker room. This was...new. Of course she had changed before in a locker room full of people before in school, and it had showers but no one used or admitted to ever using them. And she certainly hadn't left that locker room nude. Or removed her undergarments in front of them. Not that she had been picked on for being chubby or anything, she was rather fit. But none of her school mates was a man in an infant's adorable little body. Ashlynn found her anxiety coming from the fact that Reborn was with them and that she hadn't bathed with another person since she was five years old.

Nana and I-pin stayed behind while Bianchi and Reborn went into the bathing area. Nana had untied I-pin braid and was now diligently taking all of the things out of Lambo's afro and she believed it all to be an impressive magic trick.

"Are you feeling alright, Ashlynn-chan?" She asked.

Ashlynn quickly nodded then began to undress herself and shook her hair out of the ponytail that held her hair up. She immediately stopped when she felt Leon scurry to the top of her head. "'gasp' I'm so sorry Leon, I didn't know you were still with me." She apologized to the chameleon.

"Oh, Ashlynn-chan, you look nice with your hair down. You should leave like that more often."

"Thank you Nana-san."

"Now now, you can call me Maman. Everyone else does."

"Oh...Thank you, Maman."

"You're welcome, dear. Could you take I-pin-chan in while I take care of Lambo-chan? We'll be out in a few moments." Nana asked placing all of Lambo's things inside a locker.

"Alright. Come one, I-pin." Ashlynn held the child's hand and the two made their way past a few other bathers to the individual stalls with very low stools and faucets. Ashlynn sat on the stool next to Bianchi and I-pin on her other side and began to wash herself and helped I-pin scrub her back and washed the child's hair, mindful of her eyes then used the bucket to slowly rinse her off. When she was finished, I-pin went to sit beside Nana washing Lambo. Ashlynn glanced around as she scrubbed her skin before she shot her head to the side, eyes searching along the wall they were facing.

'Was that a flash?' She thought, pausing with the bucket. She shook her head. It must have been the steam or something. She hoped it was the steam.

"Here, I'll wash your back." Bianchi offered and motioned for her to turn the other way.

"Huh? Oh, okay."

Leon leaped from her hair and scampered towards Reborn on Bianchi's other side. "Fnn, thank you for watching Leon. He seems to really like you, Ashlynn."

Ashlynn tensed at being addressed before forcing herself to calm down. Bianchi looked at her curiously before continuing washing the girls back. "You're welcome, Reborn. And I like him too." Ashlynn answered.

Bianchi handed back her little towel and rinsed herself off before taking Reborn with her to soak in the pool of water with Nana and the kids, leaving Ashlynn to finish washing her own hair with the soap that had been laid out by maintenance. Once she had rinsed herself with the bucket she walked toward the water and poke a toe into the surface and quickly pulled it back out with a hiss.

It was flipping scalding!

Ashlynn looked towards the group and found that the heat didn't bother any of them. She huffed, then very slowly immersed herself into the hot water wincing with every inch until the water came up to her shoulders and stayed very still while her body adjusted to the temperature. It was nice to just soak but she figured she liked her western styled bathroom opposed to a bath like this in public better, but it would be nice to do this every once in a while.

She didn't know how long they had just soaked until they finally got out and returned to the locker room. According to her cell phone, Ashlynn was amazed that they had at least stayed for almost two hours. She changed into the orange tank top and blue shorts that Bianchi let her borrow for the night and once everyone was dressed they met Dino and Tsuna in the main room before making their way quietly back to the house. Ashlynn trudged feeling lethargic, a glance around showed her that Lambo was already asleep in Nana s arms and I-pin was dozing off in hers, Dino was practically asleep on his feet surprisingly not tripping over himself (Perhaps he was also that kind of person whose motor skills are greater when asleep or drunk.) Reborn, Tsuna, Bianchi and Nana seemed to be unaffected. They set up cots in the living room and prepared for bed, Ashlynn immediately fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.


Her eyes opened blearily. It was still dark and a quick squint at her cell phone she read that it was two in the morning. Ashlynn looked over to the hallway, there was a light on coming from the kitchen and she could hear someone shuffling around. She got up and tiptoed her way across the room, careful not to step on anybody on her way and went into the kitchen. Ashlynn blinked her eyes to adjust to the brighter light of the kitchen. She looked to the table and saw Lambo from ten years in the future in cow printed pajamas, sitting and drinking milk

"Buongiorno, Aneue."

"Good morning, Lambo."

Ashlynn reached into a cabinet for glass and poured herself some water before quietly pulling a chair out and sitting across from the time traveler.

"What are you doing here so early?"

"Well, I wasn't able to sleep so I tried drinking some milk when I suddenly came back ten years to the past...the younger me had some really bad sleeping habits. He probably fired the ten year bazooka in his sleep. I'm sorry if I woke you up Aneue."

Ashlynn shook her head. "It's alright. How are things for you in the future?"

"...You know that I can't exactly tell you anything too specific about the mafia. And even what I can tell you it could probably change or not even happen when the time comes."

"That's fine."

"Well, right now I'm working on an assignment with Yamamoto and Gokudera. It's going well so far. I-pin told me that she had told you guys she had quit and is working for college tuition along with Birdy-chan who is studying to be a lawyer. And you...well..." Lambo trailed off.

"I'm not dead or anything am I?"

Lambo quickly shook his head. "No! No, nothing like that at all Aneue. You're getting married really soon. The entire family and our allies are in a hype about it. I heard that the previous Vongola Boss, Don Timoteo cried tears of joy when you asked him if he would walk you down the aisle."

"...You don't sound too happy about it."

"It's not that I'm not happy for you, I am really. It's just...You're my Aneue. I don't want anyone to take that away from me."

Ashlynn smiled. "That's sweet of you Lambo. But that's not all there is to it is there?"

"Hehe, you always know when I try to keep information to myself. Well... I used to have a bit of a crush on you a couple years back, according to my time anyway. I never really did like any of the men that tried to get your attention whether the intent was romantic interest or not."

"Lambo..."

"...My five minutes is just about up. You should go back to sleep Aneue, we can talk again another time. This certainly won't be the last time that my younger self fires the ten year bazooka. Buonanotte. "

Ashlynn nodded and downed the rest of her water and placed it in the sink. "Good night Lambo, sweet dreams."

Lambo smiled before he disappeared in smoke and was replaced by a sleeping five year old Lambo on the table with the bazooka leaning against the chair. She cradled Lambo in her arms and took the ten year bazooka and went back to the living room. She laid Lambo back on his cot and placed the bazooka on the table nearby then she took her cell phone with her as she turned off the kitchen light and navigated her way back to her spot in the room next to Bianchi and I-pin.

...She was going to be married in ten years. But who was the groom?


Ashlynn shot her hand out from underneath her covers to quickly turn off the alarm off her phone. She had forgotten to turn the volume down. With a quiet yawn and a few stretches she got up and folded up her cot and placed it back into the closet that Nana had pulled it out of then she went into the bathroom to change out of Bianchi's things back to what she had worn yesterday. She folded the tank top and shorts and placed them in the laundry hamper. She peeked into the living room and sighed in relief. She hadn't woken anyone up from her getting up but the cot that Reborn had laid in was empty.

She found him in the kitchen sitting at the table petting Leon on his outstretched hand. "Ciaossu."

"Good morning. Reborn, I'm going to head back to my apartment to get my uniform. I should be back in time to walk with Tsuna but can you tell Nana just in case she worries?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, I'll see you in a bit." Ashlynn waved to Reborn as she left the kitchen and made her way out of the house. When she walked to the street she saw Dino's men scattered around in front of the house. Most of them were polishing their weapons and another group was crouched over a game of cards on the ground.

"Buongiorno Miss Ashlynn." Many of the men greeted her and she smiled and waved as she passed them by. She made it to her apartment with no delay and changed into her school uniform and grabbed her bag before re-locking her door and heading out again with a muffin in her mouth. As she stepped out of the complex and red sports car parked on the street right beside her

"Miss Ashlynn, please allow us to escort you back at the Sawada household."

"Huh? Oh, um okay."

Dino's subordinate allowed her to enter and shut the door behind her before entering the front passenger seat. The man sitting next to her in the car was holding a lasso. He noticed her staring and gave her a grin.

"Reborn-san is allowing the Boss to test the other members of your Boss' family. Reborn-san is going to tell them that you and Sawada-san had been taken hostage by the local yakuza group, the Momokyo-kai gang. But really, we are the ones who shall do the abducting. After we secure Sawada-san we will return and wait for our Boss' signal."

Ashlynn nodded but pointed out to the men in the car. "Alright, but knowing Reborn there is a chance that this gang is real. We should be prepared for a confrontation on the chance that it is. If it's not then its not but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. Do you know the address of the supposed hideout?"

The men gave her appraising looks. Of course they hadn't thought of the possibility of the gang being real. They decided they would be close on standby just in case any problems; this was quickly agreed since none of them actually knew where exactly the hideout was. They drove through the residential area and when they passed Tsuna's house and then sped towards the end of the street where they saw him walking with Gokudera, Yamamoto and Haru. The man sitting with her opened the door and lassoed the boy, somehow also blindfolding and gagging him at the same time; and pulled him into the back seat and shut the door. The man at the wheel turned sharply at the next corner and circled his way back and parked on the corner and waited for the signal. It didn't take long; as soon as Gokudera and Yamamoto left Haru with Reborn and sped down the road and Dino walked out from his hiding place behind a nearby tree to Reborn, the car pulled out into the side of the street. Ashlynn let herself out of the car and helped untying Tsuna from his restraints.

"Hiiiie! W-what's going on! Dino-san!"

"Hahi! You weren't really taken by that gang? What a relief!" Haru cried dropping to her knees.

"I'm sorry but I wanted to test your family, Tsuna. We were going to have you join the other two, Ashlynn, but you had already left the house. So we told them that you were taken hostage as well. I liked what I saw. Their minds were completely focused on rescuing you two. Sure, they lost their composure, but they're trustworthy enough."

"B-but wait! What about Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto! They left to go fight a gang!"

"Don't worry so much Tsuna; Momokyo-kai is just an imaginary yakuza group that Reborn made up. They have probably given up and are on their way back right now. Tsuna, Ashlynn, you are very lucky. Lately there haven't been many family members that who are so thoughtful for their Boss and their comrade."

"Wait... they're not family... they're just my friends."

"Ah. I forgot to tell you guys." Reborn announced. "Momokyo-kai is a real existing yakuza in this town."

Ashlynn shared a knowing glance with Dino's men. "I called it."

"What! Then, they really went to the Yakut's territory?" Tsuna screamed.

"What are you thinking Reborn? The opponents aren't just any regular punks or delinquents! There's no way that those kids can win against them!" Dino admonished.

"Fnnn, that's true. I heard that many of them are skilled in martial arts. There will be a fight no doubt if Gokudera and Yamamoto are serious about finding these two."

Dino sighed wearily. "God Reborn, why do you always do extreme things like this? This is not a joke!"

"For real! What are you going to do when they get hurt!"

"Hey Reborn! Are you even listening!" Dino and Tsuna yelled at their tutor. Reborn look straight across at his eye level then suddenly he and Leon began blowing a bubble from their noses.

Dino gritted his teeth. "Fine then. Come on Tsuna, Ashlynn. This time we are going to go after them. Don't worry; I'm going to go with you."

The three arrived with Dino's men at the Momokyo-kai hangout and stealthily went up the stairs and came to a set of double doors. Din's forces left Dino with them as they went to scout the other levels of the building. Ashlynn and the two Bosses went above and found Yamamoto and Gokudera's schoolbags laying against a wall next to a set of double doors.

Ashlynn slipped on the metal rings from her bag and laid hers right next to the bags on the floor. Dino looked at Tsuna and Ashlynn before he opened the were a bunch of men. beaten up and groaning on the floor, leaning against the sparse furniture and the walls.

"Come on dammit! Spill it you punk! Where is the Juudaime! If so much as a hair is damaged I will send you on a one-way ticket to Hell.""

"Can you tell me where Ashlynn is?"

Both Gokudera and Yamamoto were holding up a man each trying to find the whereabouts of their Boss and friend. They both looked up when the door opened and the people they had come to rescue were coming into the room unharmed with Dino. Gokudera sighed in relief and dropped the man he was trying to make talk. Yamamoto smiled and laid the man down and stood next to Ashlynn.

"Juudaime! Ashlynn! You're safe!"

Yamamoto fluttered around Ashlynn, eyes roving to find any injuries" Did they do anything to you? Are you hurt at all?"

Ashlynn shook her head then looked as the doors on the other side of the room opened up to reveal group of larger tattooed covered men led by one man that had the kanji for 'Boss' written in bright red on his clothing. He surveyed the room, his men beaten on the floor and the small group that certainly wasn't apart of his gang; they were all wearing a school uniform except for one male.

"The Hell is this?"

"These Bastards...they just keep showing up." Gokudera dropped the finished cigarette and lit another.

Dino placed himself in front of them. "Wait, they're aren't like the youngsters you just beat up so please leave this to me." He looked to the boss of the yakuza group and started to negotiate. "I am the tenth generation boss of the Cavallone family. It is my fault that this has happened. I apologize. I will pay for everyone's medical fees as well as the fee to repair the room. Please accept that offer and allow us to leave."

"Huh? Family? What are you yapping on about? This is Japan, you moron. But we'll take the money, but you guys aren't going anywhere, especially the girl."

"So you've broken off negotiations, then. I guess that I shall have to return with force. I here I go!" Dino cracked the whip. It slashed at Yamamoto, Gokudera, Ashlynn and himself. Tsuna was the only one on their side that was still standing. The opposing yakuza laughed at their misfortune.

"Hyahahahaha! What the hell was that? What a fool, he just hit himself! Let's go boys,beat the guys but leave the girl. Even if she's got a plain face we don't want to ruin that pretty little body!"

"Hiiiiiie! No! No! Wait! Somebody help!"


"The person who is going to help, is the Boss. And that, Tsuna, is you." Reborn shot the sniper Leon from the building across from the Momokyo-kai building. "And these are the additional bullets. If it hits the front side of each hand, it becomes the clenched fist bullet."


"REBORN! DEFEAT THE YAKUZA WITH MY DYING WILL! HYAAAAHH!"

The yakuza faltered in their attack when Tsuna's spirit broke free from his body only clad in heat printed boxers and retaliating against them with enlarged fists, punching and throwing broken furniture at the gang members.

"What the fuck is with his hands!"

One of the punks snuck behind Tsuna rearing back to slam a bat against the boy, he was cut off short when Yamamoto elbowed him in the face and out of reach from Tsuna. Gokudera punched back from Tsuna's other side and Ashlynn kicked away a man trying to attack Dino, in the chest.

"The area save for this is secure Boss." Dino's men reported in the room. "Why are you slacking off by yourself? That's so uncool."

Dino stood back on his feet. "You guys, God you're so noisy. Okay! Let's have some fun!"

"Aaaaahhh!"

And thus the Momokyo-kai was defeated in their own territory.


"I'm impressed! I can leave Tsuna to you guys with no doubts or worries."

Gokudera smirked. "Hehe, I don't need you to tell me that, I'll always protect, and be the right hand man of, the Juudaime."

"Gokudera-kun."

"Well, it was a good thing that no one was really hurt. "Yamamoto pointed out. Ashlynn nodded, of course, their group had gotten away unscathed save for the welt that had come with Dino's attack but that was healing now. That couldn't be said for the Momokyo-kai gang.

"Well, I'll be leaving now," Dino stood up from his seat and walked out of Tsuna's bedroom.

"Eh, already?" Tsuna asked.

"Hm, I'm busy with my work as a Boss too."

"Wait a second, Dino-san? Why did you decide to be the Boss?" Tsuna followed the older male down the hallway.

"It's because I care for my family. I thought, if I could, I should protect them. You feel the same, right?"

"…"

"Tsuna."

"Yes?"

"I trust that you will become a great Boss."

"..Dino-san, the stairs!~"

Dino tripped over his foot and felled down the stairs. Tsuna rushed after him and slipped on the second step down and landed at the bottom next to Dino.

"My, you're so lively, Tsu-kun." Nana poked her head out of the kitchen. "I bet you're still excited that you have an older brother now. Dinner's almost ready so will you call everyone down? Dino-kun you can stay anytime. I'll bring out a fork and knife for you too."

"Hai, thank you Maman."

Tsuna looked over to him. "Will you stay tonight as well?"

"I think I will. Maman's cooking is very good. I'll call the men and tell them the change in plans. I think that they'll like to have another break."

"Juudaime, are you alright?"

Tsuna looked up and saw everyone at the top of the staircase looking down at them.

"Maa, something smells good! Are we allowed to stay over, Tsuna?" Yamamoto grinned.

"Dinner won't be for a while." Reborn cut in.

"Eh? Why?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side. They all jumped when the floor shook and the bathroom door slammed open. Enzio had escaped from Dino again and had found water from the bathtub once again. It was a wonder how the turtle got away since Dino had been holding him just a few minutes ago. Enzio gave out a roar and charged at them down the hallway with Reborn riding on top of the amphibian's shell.

"Everybody run!"


Ashlynn smiled when she went to open the door of her apartment in the early morning and allowed a happy Ryohei and his sleepy sister Kyoko into her home. She helped the drowsy girl untie her shoes and brought the two into her living room where they let Kyoko lay down on the couch. She laid a soft fleece blanket around Kyoko as the girl fell back asleep then placed the girls' bag withing sight on the low table.

"You are earlier than I expected you to be here Ryohei. The others won't be here for at least another hour and a half." Ashlynn whispered mindful of the sleeping girl.

"I was extremely excited for today! And when I told Kyoko she said that she had met you before! So I brought her along with me!" Ryohei yelled in a whisper.

Ashlynn shook her head with a grin. She should have expected this. "Have either of you eaten yet?"

"I had three extreme breakfast bars! But Kyoko hasn't eaten yet..."

Ashlynn nodded then made her way into the kitchen with the boxer following curiously behind her. She had bananas that she had laid to the side to ripen and become mushy so she could use it to make banana bread. A quick glance at the clock showed she had just enough time to make the bread.

"I'll make banana bread, are you or Kyoko allergic to anything that you know of? I don't want to make you guys something only to find that it will make you sick or the chance that it could kill you."

"Extremely nothing that we know of!" Ryohei loudly whispered.

Ashlynn nodded, she had asked the same thing of Tsuna's family and also with Dolly and Birdy. She asked because while she was still in her original world, she had a friend that had celiac, which was a hereditary allergy to gluten that results in damage to the small intestine. The girl couldn't eat wheat, barley, and rye because of a protein called gluten, which is responsible for the springiness and stretchiness of bread. Without gluten, the bread turns out heavy and dense. Basically, her friend had to literally watch what she ate because if she didn't, she was susceptible to cancer in her intestines.

making banana bread was very easy, she had learned from helping her mother in the kitchen when she was a child it and was one of the recipe's that she didn't need to look off any directions. Ashlynn pulled out a large mixing bowl and measuring cups and spoons and placed them on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. Ryohei sat down in a chair at on the other side of the island and watched as she went around gathering and measuring all the ingredients and pouring everything but the bananas into large mixing bowl. She preheated the oven then peeled the bananas and used a separate bowl to mash them into mush before she added it to the mixture and stirred until it blended all together. Ashlynn took two loaf pans and greased them before pouring and using a flat spoon to get all the batter into the pans. She put them int the oven and set the timer for thirty minutes, just enough time for the bread to be done and cooled down a bit when the boys came over. Ashlynn started on the dishes and was pleasantly surprised when Ryohei came beside her with a small towel and began drying what she washed and placed them next to him in small stacks and piles, it was a nice silence from the younger boy that she hadn't expected. When the last dish was washed she started putting the washed things away in their respective places.

"Kyoko! Extremely good morning!" Ryohei greeted his sister.

Ashlynn turned and found Kyoko sitting at the island rubbing cutely at her eyes and looked around the kitchen area curiously. Kyoko smiled at her brother and hugged him. She looked towards Ashlynn. "Good morning Ashlynn-chan."

"Morning."

"That smells nice, what are you baking?"

"Banana bread. It should be just about done now." Ashlynn opened up the oven and poked a toothpick into the middle of the bread and checked if the middle was still gooey. When nothing showed on the toothpick from either loaf she grabbed each pan with pot holders and brought them to the cooling rack laid out on the counter. While she waited for the pans to cool off she grabbed a knife, a small stack of paper plates, and a small tub of butter out of the fridge. The three of them looked up when they heard knocking on the front door. Kyoko got up from her seat and sent her a small smile.

"I'll get it for you."

Ashlynn nodded and turned back to the bread, she turned the pans over and gently tapped the sides until the loaves fell out then she took the knife and began cutting even slices.

"Good morning Ashlynn~."

Ashlynn brought the slices of bread, paper plates and butter to the island table. She tilted her head in confusion. Yamamoto was the only one that came over? "Hey. Where are Tsuna and Gokudera?"

"The kid told me that he was going with Tsuna to see that Dino person for training. And I'm not sure where Gokudera went, I guess I missed what he said, ha ha. " Yamamoto took a bite out of the offered buttered bread and smiled at the pleasant taste. "I still want to run with you, so I came today. Hey Sasagawa-Senpai, why are you and Kyoko here?"

"I was extremely invited by Senpai to train in the morning since I have yet to convince Sawada to join my extreme boxing club!" Ryohei punched the air a few times.

Yamamoto looked at the boxer in confusion written on his face. " 'Senpai'?"

Kyoko giggled. "He means Ashlynn-chan of course. Have you forgotten that she is our upperclassman? She does go to the high school."

"Haha! I totally forgot! I always wondered why we never saw you at Nami middle and you keep walking past the school every time we walk to campus together."

Ashlynn sweat dropped. "And you never noticed that I wore a different uniform than the rest of you?"

Yamamoto laughed again. "I guess not!"

When everyone had enough bread, Ashlynn wrapped what was left with cyran wrap and put away before she led Ryohei and Yamamoto into the courtyard. Kyoko had declined to join them and asked Ashlynn if she could write down that recipe for the banana bread before she left saying that she would see them all later.

Training with Ryohei was...'Extreme' to say the least.

Whenever she called out a stretch and how many she expected from the boys he tried to do double the amount in the same time all the while counting out loud. Really loud. Some of the other residents of the apartment complex actually walked out to see what they were doing. Ryohei had then 'extremely' greeted them and invited every single one of them to join in and even asking that they would join his boxing club. Nobody wanted to do either. Even Dolly and Birdy had come out to see what the commotion was all about and explained to a few disgruntled residents from being woken up earlier than they wanted to.

'It is important that young people take interest in their health and be active.' Then Dolly joined in with Birdy following her mothers' example. They stayed a while until Birdy got hungry and Dolly took the child back inside. After their stretching the three made their 'Extreme' way sprinting to the canal on the side of town. Ashlynn wasn't sure if she found the fire in the boxer's eyes disturbing or assuring. A quick stretch again to cool down from the sprint, Ryohei once again tried to do double the amount for every stretch. Then came jogging up and down the step stairs in front of the canal. Ryohei had taken to counting every time he went up and down the steps. Ashlynn glanced at Yamamoto and the two nodded before they caught up to Ryohei's number until they were all in sync and counted out loud how many sets they did.

They certainly gained a few curious glances from the other early risers in Namimori. Three kids jogging up and down the steps by the canal, were they training for some kind of sport event? All three looked very athletic.

Ashlynn found that she didn't mind people staring when she ran in sync with the two boys. It was becoming a lot more fun and the boys felt the same from the wide grins on their faces. After another few sets Ashlynn called the boys to a stop and they cooled down again with stretching before they sprinted back to her apartment.

"That was Extreme, Senpai! Thank you very much for allowing me to join you in your training!" Ryohei happily exclaimed when they made their way to Namimori Middle school's gate, each in their respective school uniforms. Ashlynn shook her head very had a lot of fun and she told him so.

"I'm glad that you took me up on the offer Ryohei. It was a lot of fun this morning. I hope that this will become routine fore us."

"Of course! The other members of my extreme boxing club don't train in the morning, so please expect me to train with you from now on!" Ryohei yelled and had actually bowed to her in thanks before he ran through the open gates of the school and yelling about his 'Morning to the Extreme'!

Ashlynn turned and waved goodbye to Yamamoto and made her way to Nami high school. Surprisingly, Ran wasn't at the school gates like she usually was when she got to school before Ashlynn did. She looked around the front of the campus looking for her wayward friend. Ran had always made a point of being punctual when she was meeting with Ashlynn anywhere. She shrugged, maybe she wasn't coming today, it certainly wasn't the first time that either of them had skipped school. Though Ran skipped much more Ashlynn ever did and the girls' grades suffered a bit because of it but Ran explained that sometimes it couldn't be helped. Sometimes she had work and couldn't get out of it.

Ashlynn was proved right at the end of her homeroom class when she got a text from Ran telling her not to worry because she was at work and that she would see her on Monday at school. Ashlynn sent a text back that she would see her then and she sent a happy face emoticon with it. Ashlynn sighed, one of the reasons why she didn't skip much if she could help it was to be with Ran during the school day. Without the other girl with her, Ashlynn had to go through the school day practically alone. She didn't really have other friends since she had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't going to abandon Ran because of her sexual preferences. Her peers in her year left her alone after that but a some of the upperclassmen found her loyalty endearing and allowed her to sit with them during the lunch period and they made pleasantries with each other. Other than the very small mixed group of second and third years, everyone else basically gave her the cold shoulder. She didn't mind but she was beginning to get bored and wanted to talk to somebody.

She sighed but busied herself during her free moments of class when she finished her work with writing out that recipe that Kyoko wanted and drawing doodles in one of her extra notebooks.

Once school finally let out she found Yamamoto waiting at the school gates. A lot of the high schoolers gave him curious glances, mostly appraising looks from the girls, those looks quickly turned to glares when they saw Ashlynn walk towards the boy, although Ashlynn never noticed them. He smiled when she walked up next to him.

"I got a call from the kid, He said that Tsuna got injured during training and everyone is going to visit him. Do you want to come with me? We'll stop by my dad's restaurant to take something to bring to Tsuna. I'm sure he'll appreciate it the thought and gift."

"Sure, I'll go with you. Where's the restaurant?"


"Takeshi welcome back! And you've brought a lovely friend with you! Welcome,welcome! My name is Yamamoto Tsuyoshi. I'm Takeshi's great Otou-san!" Tsuyoshi deftly flipped the knife he was using into the air, spun around and bowed to her in greeting before straightening and catching the knife out of the air and continued making sushi on the preparation table. Ashlynn was holding a small box of cookies she got from Fukano's bakery on their way to Takesushi, whistled impressed by the little trick and was awarded with a large smile from the sushi chef. He was working on a large, long boat filled with all kinds of sushi and it had a bansai tree on one end. "I'm just about finished with it Takeshi, then you can go on and take to your friend."

"Thanks. Dad, this is Meagher, Ashlynn. She's a good friend and upperclassman of mine and Tsuna's." Yamamoto patted the top of her head as he introduced her to his father.

The man looked at the two of them and flashed another sweet smile while putting in the last finishing touched of the sushi on the boat. "It's finished, go on ahead and take it. Ashlynn-san it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Ashlynn smiled as Yamamoto took the sushi boat and the two made their way out of the restaurant and went to the hospital. The girl at the reception desk happily gave them the number for Tsuna's room and allowed them to go right ahead to the ward where Tsuna was resting. As they were walking down the hallway they heard a woman's voice reprimanding the person that they had come to visit.

"Sawada-san! Please do not let in suspicious people! What was that just now...? Exorcists and priestesses? The other patients will think that someone was possessed and become frightened. We do not want that in a hospital Sawada-san!"

Yamamoto allowed himself through the open door. "You seem well. Look we came for a visit!"

Tsuna looked up shocked. "Yamamoto and Ashlynn came together?"

"My Dad told me to bring this, it's for you! And Ashlynn brought you some cookies too!" Yamamoto laid the sushi boat at the foot of Tsuna's hospital bed while Ashlynn placed the box at Tsuna's bedside table. Tsuna was looking at the boat of sushi with something akin to shock and possibly horror.

"Is...Isn't this really expensive?"

"Don't worry about it. Dad really likes to give people things."

"Oh, well thank you. Both of you."

"Haha, don't mention it."

"Oh? The young Vongola is injured? How terrible." The Lambo of the future sauntered into the room with his fingers rubbing against his forehead. He waved to Ashlynn as he sat down in the one of the chairs next to Tsuna's bed. The nurse blushed a dark red when he passed her to sit down.

"Adult Lambo?" Tsuna asked.

"I went back ten years so suddenly that I didn't have time to prepare anything as a get well present...Ah! I'll give this to you, young Vongola." The older Lambo pulled out an object that was covered with a handkerchief. He pulled the piece of cloth off revealing a small, golden toilet figurine. "Every month my family gives awards for excellence. This one is the 'Good job in cleaning the bathroom' award. Do you like it? It's shiny."

"Juudaime! Are you okay, Juudaime!"

The room's occupants looked over to the source of the shout and found Gokudera leaning heavily against the side of the door completely covered in his own blood and holding to something being crushed to his chest. He coughed and spat out blood from his mouth. Tsuna yelled extremely alarmed as Gokudera shut the door and wobbled towards the bed.

"Ask yourself that question first!"

Gokudera smiled but it looked like a grimace in his state. "Juudaime...I'm so glad that you are alright... I was in such a hurry when I found out that you had been injured that I got ran over a few times on my over...Oh...Juudaime...This is...a gift for you...I'm sorry...They were white roses earlier but..."

Gokudera presented a ruined bouquet of blood splattered roses to Tsuna. "I think that you should go see a doctor, Gokudera-kun. There's so much blood..."

"I'm perfectly fine, Juudaime. This is nothing compared to your wounds." Gokudera wiped a hand over his brow unknowingly spreading blood across his face.

Yamamoto crossed his arms. "You shouldn't stress yourself too badly."

Tsuna looked down at the gifts in front and beside him. 'Before...I wouldn't have gotten any visitors beside my mom, let alone being given gifts to get better...I really owe it to Reborn... even though this is mostly his fault.'

Everyone looked towards the door again as they heard scuffling and everyone jumped when the door actually fell off the hinges as a group of nurses fell from leaning against the door trying to eavesdrop on the conversation in the room. The nurse in the room stared the younger girls down and demanded what they were doing.

"This is totally unfair, chief!" One cried out trying to get out from underneath the pile of bodies.

"Yeah!" Another girl quipped. "you're taking all the pleasure for your own eyes! Not fair!"

The 'Chief' looked affronted at the accusations. "What!"

In the end, they were all kicked out of Tsuna's room for 'causing a ruckus amongst the staff.'. Ashlynn hadn't done anything, she had actually been quiet the entire time she had been in the room but since she was in association with Tsuna and the other boys in the room, the 'chief ' asked Ashlynn and Yamamoto to leave while she had one of the hospital staff take Gokudera to be checked by a doctor. Yamamoto offered to walk her back home. As they were leaving the war they heard the head nurse chewing Tsuna out.

"This will not do, Sawada-san! Please do not invite visitors who might seduce our nurses!"


Ashlynn tucked her scarf a little tighter around her neck and placed her hands in the pockets of her winter jacket as she walked with Yamamoto across a long wooden bridge with a duffel bag slung across her shoulder. It was two weeks after Tsuna had been admitted into the hospital. Luckily he had only sustained a very slight sprain. Dino had picked her, Gokudera and Yamamoto up from their homes after being told via text message by Reborn, to dress warmly and to pack for two nights, they were going on a camping trip. They would be provided with tents, sleeping bags, toiletries and food so they didn't have to worry about those. He and Tsuna had already gone on ahead and would meet them at a place that Dino supposedly knew how to get to.

She had given the allied Boss a skeptical look when he told her that none of his men would be joining them and had laughed when she asked if that was such a good idea. Ashlynn was reserving the right to say 'I told you so' when the time eventually came which she knew she would. Even though she had knowledge of what was going to happen, she was still very nervous and tried to pack accordingly for what was supposed to she was packing for the trip, Dolly had given her a few things to bring along with her: A pocket knife, a compass, a lighter, flint, and tinder. The older woman was about to hand Ashlynn her pistol before she changed her mind. She would see about getting Ashlynn a permit to legally carry a firearm. Even if she was part of a budding new generation of a mafia crime family and had her chakrams, some permits here and there would most likely go a long way. And if she was ever stopped by the police she could subtly rub it in their face.

"Ugh...so cold! Why the hell are we going to a mountain in this kind of weather?" Gokudera grumbled.

"Yeah, but we don't normally get a chance to see nature like this though, I think its nice..." Yamamoto grinned.

Ashlynn ignored the two and allowed her mind to wander, thinking about a scorching desert with a volcanic eruption was making it seem a lot warmer than it really was. After living in Illinois all of her life she was rather used to the cold but thinking of warm things was a habit that she got from Flaithri during a bad snow day coming home from school once. Dino looked behind him at them.

"This is an un-explored region that's not even on the map. As an apology for hospitalizing Tsuna during training, I thought that this would be a good place to have a heart to heart talk. Spending a few nights in a place like this deepens the family's unit and builds trust amongst its' members."

"You'd think we do that every morning before school when I have to help Gokudera to do a split." Ashlynn snickered then added as an afterthought. "Though ever since Ryohei has started joining us we've become more lively in the mornings. I've gotten a few complaints from the neighbors..." . Yamamoto looked over and grinned."

Gokudera lit a cigarette."What the hell are you talking about, you worthless bastard! Where's the Juudaime? Is he really out here?"

"Don't worry. He's already gone ahead with Reborn. Guessing from the time, they're probably having lunch right about...now...hmmm? Reborn! What on Earth are you doing? We weren't going to train today!"

"Heeeelp!" Tsuna pleaded. He was tied upright against a tall boulder under a waterfall and his hands were also tied so his hands looked like he was meditating under the cold water. Reborn was sipping slowly from a thermostat on the ground next to the pool of water, completely dry. He looked up at the group as Gokudera, Yamamoto and Dino dropped their bags to the ground. Ashlynn kept hers on one shoulder.

"Ciaossu. It's boring to just have a heart to heart talk on a mountain. And it took you guys a while to get here, so I decided have some fun while we waited."

"Don't use me as your toy!" Tsuna yelled when he was released by Gokudera.

Reborn leaped up onto Dino's shoulder and showed off the turtle in his hands. "Fnn, you're right. No training. Now, let's 'play' with Enzio."

Reborn tossed Enzio in Tsuna's direction who was just getting out of the water. He missed catching the turtle and Enzio plopped into the pool underneath the waterfall. Ashlynn groaned in dismay. 'This what I was worried about!' Enzio sponged up the water and towered over the treetops and roared at them. Yamamoto looked up in awe. "What is that?"

Gokudera made a hand sign. "It's the spirit of the mountain! The spirit of the mountain is angry at us! Please, Great Spirit, Calm down! Be at peace! We mean no harm to you or the mountain and the forest! Peace!" He started to chant to himself.

"There's nothing that we can do now that he's that big! Everyone! To the other side of the bridge!" Dino ordered dragging Gokudera from his spot before the Gargantuan Enzio stomped on the boy. Yamamoto grabbed Reborn from Dino and ran to the bridge following after Ashlynn. Dino turned around at the edge of the bridge and brandished his whip in front of himself. "I'll buy you some time so you guys go on ahead of me!"

"Wait!" Gokudera called out. "Your worthless whip won't be effective against that thing! Juudaime! Get behind me!"

'He's right!' Tsuna thought in a panic. "Without his men, Dino-san can't do anything!'

"Stop talking nonsense and get out of here okay! Just leave it me!" Dino cracked the whip at the fast approaching Enzio and slashed the ropes that tied the bridge to the ground. "Oh No!"

"You fucking moron!" Gokudera screeched as the bridge collapsed on itself.

Ashlynn panicked, she had been farther in the middle of the bridge than everyone else. The dufflebag fell off her shoulder heavily to the ground beneath them. Her stomach dropped and her voice caught in her throat as they all free falled. 'Dino! I fucking told you so!' The boys managed to hit some trees on the way down but Ashlynn landed hard right into the deep and fast water current of the river.

"Ashlynn!"

Someone was yelling out to her, she couldn't tell who it was over the roar of the waterfall. She was struggling to keep her head above the water as it mercilessly dragged her farther and farther away from the rest of the group. Ashlynn desperately tried to kick her legs up so that she could position herself to float but the rapids kept pushing her all around; her legs and feet were being dragged against small boulders underwater. She heard another yell before she smashed into something hard and she blacked out.


"Ashlynn!"

Tsuna groaned in pain as he lifted himself from the forest floor. He could see Yamamoto yelling as he ran beside the river trying to keep up with the figure that was immersed in the water. 'What! Figure! Oh no! Ashlynn fell in the water!'

"Ashlynn!"

"WAIT! Yamamoto!"

Tsuna looked up in time to see Yamamoto far ahead of them jump into the river and disappeared in the distance.

Tsuna stumbled to his feet. "Yamamoto?"

Where were they? Was Ashlynn able to hold onto something and Yamamoto was able to help her out of the water? Tsuna put a hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun as he looked for his friends. No luck. They were both gone.

"J-Juudaime! Juudaime, are you alright?" Gokudera shook his shoulder.

Dino stumbled to his feet. "Guys, I'm so sorry! Is everyone okay?...Guys?"

Tsuna grabbed Ashlynn's dark blue duffel bag that had landed just on the edge of the water and trudged back to where the others were sitting.

Gokudera snapped. "You fucking bastard! 'I'm sorry' isn't enough to cover all of this shit! We're missing two people now!"

"Gokudera, that's enough." Reborn ordered. Gokudera glared at Dino but relented when Tsuna sat heavily down on the thick branch that had fallen from the tree he had smashed into. Reborn looked at all of them before his eyes were shadowed by his fedora. "We need to remain calm. Right now we don't know if we can get home from here..."

"You're right!" Tsuna panicked. "Where are we anyway! And we need to find Ashlynn and Yamamoto!"

Gokudera pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, fortunately it hadn't been broken by the fall. "If we can call for help we can get a search and rescue team to aid us...Shit. No reception!"

"Hiiie! No way!"

"I'm sorry, Juudaime!"

"Wait a second, my phone can get a signal even in the middle of a desert. It's a satellite cell phone." Dino reached into his own pocket for the phone. What he pulled out was the phone snapped in three places and only being held together by a wire from inside the phone. Dino shook his head in guilt. "...It's broken. At least Enzio is back to his original size."

"We lost our bag of food too. All of our things were at the camp by the first waterfall." Reborn informed.

Tsuna grabbed at the sides of his head. "Are you serious!"

Dino sighed sadly. "We have no way of getting back to the camp and it looks like all we have is Ashlynn's bag."

"Open it. We'll see what we'll be able to use." Reborn kicked the back of Tsuna's head. The boy was beginning to panic too much.

Dino carefully undid the zipper around the bag and started pulling out each item for the hitman to inspect before he set them in different piles.

There was a medium sized, zippered bag that had a piece of tape on the top clearly labeled 'Change of clothes'. He immediately placed that to the side. Next were two light blue fleece blankets; he set those on his other side along with a compass, a pocket knife, and two zip-lock baggies. One had a lighter and a small box of matches and the other had pieces of paper and a handful of what looked like straw but was thinner and kind of springy.

Reborn nodded in approval. Even though the camp had things provided, Ashlynn had smartly packed essentials just in case for the worse scenario. He nodded for Dino to continue. Gokudera and Tsuna sat down and watched somberly as Reborn either modded at the item or shook his head indicating that something was not to be used.

The cell phone from the bag worked but like Gokudera's mobile it had no connection but it hah made Dino laugh when he saw the wallpaper. When the others gave him questioning glances he recited from the background picture. "Windows error, cannot comply. Windows was unable to comply with the 'Go to Hell' command that you specified."

Once everything was sorted Reborn had Dino place everything back into the bag with the most useful items on top then looked to the other two boys.

"We have a few things to make this more manageable: But we are still in the middle of a forest." He jumped on top of Dino's head dressed as a caveman with a hatchet, Leon had transformed into an elephant."If a bear were to appear on a day like today...Then it becomes a game of survival. We will have to be very careful."

Tsuna screamed at the hitman. "You're the only one who's getting the most out of this! This is all your fault anyway!"

"Calm down, Tsuna. We'll figure something out." Dino placated the boy.

"Look." Reborn pointed. "It's a cave."

Dino sighed relieved. "We could take shelter here to avoid the cold. But careful now. Don't get too close to it. It could some animal's nest." Dino warned. "I'll go look inside-"

"Wait! I can't leave this to the like of you. I'll go in." Gokudera stepped in front and made his way towards the cave and clicked open his own lighter.

"If anything happens scream really loud, okay?" Dino asked.

"Che. Who'd do that you moron?"

Gokudera entered the cave and walked inside until the three outside could no longer see him.

"GYAAAAAAA!"

"Hiiiiie! That was Gokudera-kun's scream!"

Reborn pulled out a gun. "Somethings coming this way."


Ashlynn groaned and clenched her eyes shut and tried to reach her arm to her head but something was keeping her from doing so.

"You okay?" the question came almost breathlessly.

She was on top of someone and that someone had their arms around her body and her head was tucked under the persons chin. "

"Yamamoto...? Ugh, my head hurts but I guess that's to be expected. Other than that I can't really tell..."

"Oh. Sorry." Yamamoto let go of her and allowed her to roll off of him to his side on the sand.

He had been worried that she wouldn't wake up since she had hit one of the boulders and then he had panicked when he saw her go underwater and not come back up for a time. He had jumped in and swam after her and pulled her to his body with one arm and tried to grab onto anything that may give them purchase. But as nothing held on too long for him to be able to pull the both of them out they were swept away further downstream so he had to wait until the river calmed enough that he was able to swim them over to the rivers edge and laid there with her in his arms on the sand and waited as he caught his breath and wondered what he should do.

"Do you know which way we came?" Ashlynn asked.

Yamamoto sat up and pointed to their left. "That way is upstream. We're pretty far away from the group by at least a good five miles at least. I wasn't able to get us out while the current was so fast."

Ashlynn nodded and shivered. The both of them were still wet from the water and the sun was beginning to set. She unzipped her jacket and pulled it off. "Though they're not all that wet, we should take our clothes off an use the sun to let them dry before it gets too dark."

"You're right. If we have to camp out here with no real supplies, the cold weather will be the worst thing. Do you think we should walk along the river back to the others?"

Ashlynn stripped down to her tank top and panty shorts and rung out the excess water from her hair. She had various scratches that had cut through her jeans to her skin but nothing too serious. She took a deep breath and despite being a bit roughed up she was very lucky that her skull hadn't been cracked open when she hit that boulder and that Yamamoto had jumped in after her otherwise she might have drowned. 'Calm. I need to stay calm. We know which way is upstream but we don't know if the group already moved on...what happened in this chapter...? The best course of action would be to stay here and wait for someone to find us...In this chapter they found a cave...and they find Bianchi who is with Haru, Lambo and I-pin. They were lost because of Lambo. They decide to make a fire...Gokudera tries to help but looks at Bianchi and drops dynamite (why would someone use dynamite to light a fire? They should have my bag with them!) Then Lambo throws grenades to help and they start a forest fire and...shit. That's all I remember.'

She looked at the setting sun and sighed. "We should stay here." She told Yamamoto. "They may have already moved from their spot. But I'm all for going if we see any kind sign that there's anyone in the area, like a campfire or something."

"Yeah you're right." He agreed quickly turning away. "Hmm? Oh, like that over there?" Yamamoto stood only in his boxers and pointed behind them at the faint outline of smoke rising above the treetops. Shortly after seeing the smoke there was a resounding boom from that direction.

"That sounds like Gokudera's dynamite and Lambo's grenades." She observed. "Looks like we won't have to stay here after all. Give a few more minutes for our things to dry then we'll start heading in that direction."

After poking her clothing and deeming them dry enough Ashlynn slipped on her jeans and long sleeved shirt and opted to tie her jacket around her waist since it was still a little damp. She turned to see Yamamoto do the same and when finished she handed him one of the chakram bracelets that she had placed on her ankles under her boots instead of on her wrists and couldn't be more happy with that decision. She would have lost them had she had them on her hands. Yamamoto wasn't too surprised by the weapon's second mode and explained that not long ago Reborn had given him a baseball bat that could turn into a katana but he didn't think to bring it with him.

After a quick drink from the river the two started through the tree lines towards the smoke in the distance.

By the time that the sun had fully set both of them had put their jackets back on as they trudged slowly between trees, roots and bushes. They had gone as far as they could go with what light they were able to get and tried to keep moving with the light of the rising moon.

"We should stop now. We're tired and we can't see not to mention that there are probably animals that could attack us." Yamamoto said quietly and helped Ashlynn to sit down at the base of a tree.

" Sorry. "She said and rubbed at her forehead dizzily. "I should have put more in more thought before we just started walking through."

"It's alright. Right now since we can't make it all of the way back to the group we should make our own fire. I'll look around for wood to use. Will you be okay right here?"

"Yeah." Ashlynn nodded. "Just be careful. And if you need me make sure to call. Give me a few minutes and I'll clear a space here that we can use."

Yamamoto started in the immediate area and two piles; one for sticks and wood and the other for dry leaves that they could use as tinder. Ashlynn stood up after a few minutes and started clearing a space and made a circle of rocks and put the pile of dry leaves in the middle.

"This is what I could find." Yamamoto laid down a good armful of dry wood then took one and kicked the middle of it making it snap in half. Then he made a newer pile of the halved pieces.

"Give me the chakram real quick."

He handed her the bracelet and watched as she took one of the steel rings and hit it against the other.

"I should have had some kind of quartz on me. That would have made a definite spark though I guess steel on steel will work and—ah there we go. Thank goodness." Ashlynn stooped low and lightly blew on the sparks that had landed on a dry leaf and helped it become a small flame. She stuck another leaf close to catch a bit of the flame before she set it next to the one that was quickly catching to the other leaves in the pile. Yamamoto handed her a few sticks and twigs and two of the branches.

Ashlynn sighed as they were able to successfully get the branches to catch on fire and immediately felt the warmth from the flames. She laid down on her side at a safe distance and cradled her head on her arms.

She looked up sleepily as an echo resounded in the area. "Sounds like they're just a biter farther along ahead."

"If we stay maybe they'll see the smoke..."

"Mmmhmm." Ashlynn agreed putting her head back down and stared at the flames.

"You can go ahead and sleep for a while if you want. I'll keep watch."

"Thanks Yamamoto."

She closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of the fire and was out in no time.


Ashlynn woke up staring at the familiar too white hospital ceiling. She turned her head to see Dr. Ozumi shuffling papers at left side of the bed she was on. When he looked over he looked surprised that she had opened her eyes and told her so.

"This is the second time you've come to this hospital with a concussion Meagher-san, I hope you weren't doing anything too dangerous. Cross-san and her daughter were in here just a little while ago." Ozumi motioned to the flowers that were on the nightstand on the right side of the bed. In one vase there was a small bunch of yellow flowers that actually looked like weeds but she recognized the other; a sprig of pear were also a few other flowers that looked out of place in the vase: a single sunflower, a purple flower with a yellow middle that she didn't know the name of, another purple flower that she knew to be a crocus and a purple hyacinth. Next to the flowers were a couple handmade cards made by the kids, mostly covered in hearts and 'Get well soon' in capital letters on the front and inside.

"They all have meanings you know." Ozumi said nonchalantly looking over her medical chart. Ashlynn nodded, everyone knew that flowers had meanings though she didn't know many of them herself. She looked over the vase again. Though it looked stuffed and a little ridiculous because of the extra flowers, Ashlynn appreciated the sentiment and thought it might not have been coincidence that most of the flowers were purple.

"The small yellow ones that look a bit like weeds are called colts foot: they mean maternal love and care," Ashlynn nodded and smiled. That one definitely had to be from Dolly. Ozumi continued. "The sprig is a cluster of pear blossoms..."

"Health and hope." Ashlynn said quietly. She knew that one, it was her mother's favorite fruit.

"The hyacinth when they are purple have a few meanings but generally mean the same thing. 'I am sorry, Please forgive me, and Sorrow.' The sunflower means homage and devotion, and the smaller purple flower, a crocus means 'youthful gladness, attachment and cheerfulness. The lighter purple flower is called aster, a flower for daintiness and a symbol of love. And this here, "Ozumi walked to the other side of the bed and pulled out a smaller vase that had been hidden behind the other cluster of flowers. It had a small bouquet of iris'. "Iris is also a flower with many meanings. 'Valor, Wisdom, Faith, Your Friendship means so much to me.'"

Ashlynn grinned and looked up at her doctor. "How long was I out? What time is it? And...how did I get here?"

"The prefect, Hibari-san and another boy admitted you here before they left. I couldn't hear much of what Hibari-san said but the general gist was something on the lines of herbivores and stupidity. You've been out for two days and as of right now it is a quarter after nine pm. I came to check on you before leaving.

I'm glad that you have woken up Meagher-san. You were suffering from more than just a concussion; you were covered in scrapes and gashes that luckily did not get infected and a case of hypothermia. I must ask that you be more careful for your health from now on."

"I will try Ozumi-san but I cannot make a promise I can't keep."

"...I guess that's the most that I can hope and ask for Meagher-san. We'll keep you here over night under surveillance to make sure that nothing more is wrong. If you're feeling up to it I will call Cross-san in the morning to have you discharged. I advise for the next few days that you do not partake in any strenuous activity, so please do try to get some rest. I'll call a nurse to have someone bring you something to eat."

"Thank you, Ozumi-san."


Ashlynn could not believe what she had just seen in front of her.

It was another few days after she had been discharged from the hospital and she had just left the place after getting a cursory appointment for a check-up with Ozumi-san and he had asked her again to try to be more aware for her safety. She hadn't seen him since that day when they went out to that stupid mountain to have a heart to heart talk that never freaking happened and once again Dino was back in Namimori to visit. Its not that she wasn't happy to see him, she was really and he was a really nice and sweet guy and all.

It's just she kept finding herself becoming concerned when she saw him without his men and it seemed that disaster was just peeking around the corner to look for a chance to cause mayhem. It was Saturday afternoon and she had nothing really to do since she was supposed to be taking a break from her normal training and Ran was working overtime at her job. So she made her way to Tsuna's house to drop off a batch of cookies that would be lucky to last an entire week like they were supposed to, then she would go back home and probably do laundry, being told to rest was entirely boring and she was feeling restless and that was being shown by how many batches of things she baked in her little apartment kitchen.

When she had turned the final corner to get to Tsuna's house, Ashlynn saw Dino. Getting on a bicycle. And none of his men were in sight.

She saw where this was going...

After only a few measly pedals that looked like it greatly boosted his confidence, Dino ran over a pebble. A pebble. Somehow trips, crashes into a light pole and falls off the bike. He quickly recovered himself with a slight stumble and then frantically looked around him to see if anyone saw his fall. Ashlynn made sure to make direct eye contact.

Dino blushed and look down dejectedly at his feet. She wasn't supposed to the see that at all. Ashlynn walked forward and brought the bike upright and gave him the handle to keep it upright. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Ashlynn nodded then turned to walk towards Tsuna's house again and stopped when she heard the bike crash and felt his hand on her shoulder. She looked behind her curiously.

"Ashlynn, I want to say that I'm really, really sorry about what happened, if I had at least Romario with me then I would have been able to control Enzio. Actually, I should have never chosen an unmapped location in the first place. And I'm sorry tha-"

"It's okay, Dino, no one is at fault for this ,but if it would make you feel better; I forgive you."

"Thank you." Dino reached forward and kissed her cheek. She grinned and shook her head as he took the bike and got on it again.

Ashlynn decided that it would benefit her health and not embarrass the Boss by not asking what he was doing so ignored his yelp when he tripped again as she entered the Sawada home and presented the treats she brought to Maman and the kids. She was met happily with hugs from the kids and surprisingly also from Yamamoto; the boy had actually lifted her up in the air and span them around in circles. She ended up getting generally the same treatment she got from Dino minus the kiss on her cheek and she had to continually persuade them all that she was fine and that no one was at fault, not even Reborn, when Tsuna had glanced over to the hitman sitting on the low table in the room. She waved goodbye to the kids and Maman on the way out as the boys took it upon themselves (per Reborn's order) to walk her back home. Once they had all left she decided that laundry could wait until night time and she got back to work on baking; she wanted to give something to Hibari since he was most likely the one that had collected them from the mountain.


Note:

Famiglia = Family

Buongiorno = Good morning

Buonanotte = Good night

I ended up introducing Fon a lot early than I had originally intended but this has worked out very well. I want to point out that Ashlynn will ask questions even though she may already know the answers to, that way she may get new information and it won't seem that she knows something without anyone becoming suspicious that she knows.

'Shiu-mai' is steamed meat dumplings that is a regular delicacy in Dim Sum

I know that in the manga I-pin says herself that she doesn't have ears…I changed it to not having them big enough, because her ten-year-later self has ears…