Okay! I'm wondering if I lost readers with that last chapter. I know I lost one… well, for those of you who have stuck with it!

"Nekko?" Nikko tugged at my sleeve, pulling me out of my thoughts. I realized that the light had changed and we were allowed to cross. I gathered myself up. As I was about to take a step the light changed back to red. I couldn't help sighing. We had missed our chance to cross, for the third time.

"Nekko? Are you okay?" He was so cute, with his worried eyes. I wondered what those eyes would look like if he knew what had happened with Hibari. I stared at him, contemplating my answer.

I was many things. I was: confused, pissed off, happy, floating, contemplating, and carefree. All of it was Hibari's fault. Was I okay though? I opened my mouth to speak an unknown answer, when the light changed. We scurried across the street before we could miss our chance. Again.

We walked the rest of the way home I silence. Not because the conversation had died, but because Nikko was still waiting for my answer. He would go until the next day without speaking unless I replied. I would do the same if he was the one questioned. He wasn't rushing me though. He was giving me a chance to think. That was something I needed to do, but with him.

It wasn't long before we were home. It was still too early for dinner, so I curled up on the couch in the living room. With my eyes closed, Nikko assumed I was sleeping, so he wasn't particularly quiet when he snuck up to look at me.

"Sit." I commanded, startling him so much he stumbled back onto his butt.

"Nekko! Don't scare me like that!"

I opened my eyes and sat up at that point, patting the couch beside me. "Sit down. We need to talk." I was relieved when he took his place beside me without a moment's hesitation. We were silent again. I would have to start.

"Nikko... how…how do you feel…about…" I was struggling to complete the sentence. I was just going to force it out. "HIBARI." I blurted and cringing immediately followed. Once I regained my composure I turned towards Nikko, who had looked away, hiding his face.

"Well, what about Hibari? Did something happen?" his mumbling was barely heard.

"Well… I guess you could say that." I watched carefully for his response. It was extremely surprising when he jumped around and his eyes were lit with excitement. He made no comment however, feeling it best that I continue. "Well, you see, I was considering-maybe- a possible relationship with him?" I couldn't help allowing my voice to trail off and become softer and softer towards the end. Unfortunately, it was immediately apparent that heard and understood everything.

"Really?" He was way too excited. This wasn't the fury and sullenness I had expected. He was happy?

"Nikko, what aren't you telling me?" Something was definitely up.

"Well, I was kind of expecting…or hoping…" The sentence trailed off but there was enough of it for me to grasp his meaning.

"Wha…? Are you kidding me? Who are you and what have you done to my brother?" I questioned exasperatedly. I sat back and listened to the long stuttered explanation of my dear brother's insane plan.

Sigh. Why was I doing this? I don't know. Was it because I truly had feelings for Hibari? Am I being influenced by my brother? The answer was unknown. That didn't stop me, however, from ending up on the roof the next day at school.

I sat down, Nikko, unfortunately with me. When I made up my mind to do this, I hadn't considered the fact that Nikko was still coming to school with me. If I didn't go to class, he wouldn't either. He was going to have to sit through everything that happened between me and….

I shook off the thought of the ominous meeting that loomed ahead of us. It would involve talking, listening (if he talked), and possibly being "bitten" to death. Definitely not something I wanted him to be there for (especially the talking).

I was practically shaking with nerves. After some deep thought, I decided it was best to just wait until he found us. The last thing I wanted was to barge into something important and put him in a bad mood. I decided I'd wait on the roof, since that seemed to be one of his favorite places to hang out. We were bound to see him at one point in the day.

As I expected, the roof was abandoned when we got there. I realized that we would probably have to wait a couple of hours before we saw him…that is, if we saw him. It was just more poor planning on my part. I immediately sat down, preparing for the long day ahead of us.

Nikko, to my surprise was more hesitant.

"Are you… sure I should be here?" I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him.

"What do you think we're going to do? Besides, it's not like you have anywhere else to go."

"With Tsuna again?"

"No way. Tsuna's nice and all but I can't trust him… he's way too… useless? I guess that's the word I'm looking for. It doesn't seem like he's good at anything. Plus, a lot of weird people hang out with him. Hmm?"

"Still…"

"It's fine! It's fine! Don't worry about it!" After some more reassuring Nikko finally calmed down. He was still slightly tense though, and quiet. I, on the other hand, was extremely tired from yet another sleepless night. I am a rather impatient person, who usually makes attempts at sleeping when bored (most of them unsuccessful). Thus, it was difficult to resist the drooping of my eyelids, the yawning, and my aching back. (I'd "slept" on the couch). It wasn't long before I found myself drifting into the land of nod, or sleeping if you want to put it simply.

It wasn't long before I was haunted by another nightmare though… I never had the same one twice, but all were terrifying. They were always about different things, sometimes seemingly random. Today was no exception.

This time was somewhat realistic. A memory actually. I was in the reception room, with Hibari and Nikko. Hibari had his tonfas out and Nikko was still cowering on the couch. The difference was I was losing. Fast. Unlike before, I hadn't lasted a minute against the skylark. He beat me down with a malicious glint in his eye and went to massacre the life of my younger sibling.

There was so much wrong with this dream. The person I was going to… anyway... he was striking my brother and me. Also, my brother and I were being beat. Not a good dream. Fortunately I woke, to an unfortunate scene.

I woke with a jolt. I felt sharp pain on my forehead. My eyes snapped open to assess the situation. I heard shouting and it wasn't long before I found the source. Nikko was shouting at Hibari, who was calmly ignoring him. They were a couple feet away.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? LOOK! NOW SHE'S BLEEDING!" Nikko went on and on with his criticism. Hibari was staring at me, a bloody tonfa in his hand. Me? I was tenderly prodding a bloody lump on my head. It wasn't hard to piece together what had happened.

Hibari had probably walked in at the peak of my nightmare, where I was thrashing or screaming or some combination of the two. After Nikko's failed attempts at waking me, Hibari had opted for a well-placed tonfa to the head. Thus waking me all while enraging Nikko.

"Did you have to hit so hard?" Maybe he had gone a little far by drawing blood.

"You were going to hurt yourself anyway." His face was calm and betrayed no emotion. Meanwhile, Nikko was still ranting, oblivious to the conversation.

"Come on Nekko! We're leaving!" My younger brother made an attempt to drag me to my feet. I held still however, and he quickly gave up.

"You wanted this." I mentioned, and his energy immediately died out. He continued to glower, but he remained quiet. Presently I turned my attention to the prefect who was quietly sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"So… um…" it occurred to me that I had not planned what to say. Maybe that's what I should have done instead of falling asleep and becoming prey to another nightmare. I glanced pleadingly at my brother. Yes, I was begging an eight year old boy to help me confess. I was that pathetic.

Fortunately, Nikko understood the level of my uselessness, and intervened with only a minimal eye roll.

"How do you feel about my sister?" Could he have been blunter? I think not. Hibari, being Hibari, refused to speak until he had more information.

"It's…possible-yes-possible that she may-or may not- have certain...affectionate feelings for you, but she refuses to say anything until she knows if those feelings are returned?" He looked at me pleadingly as his voice trailed off into a question, wondering if he was doing well.

My cheeks must have been on fire. I felt like curling up and dying. That had not been what I had been planning on saying. I was just going to ask him to a movie. It was bad-very bad-idea to leave that up to Nikko.

I gazed at him in horror. Hibari smirked and looked amused. His attitude was not helping the situation.

"Nikko!" Nikko paled, realizing he had said the wrong thing, but being as stubborn as he was, plowed on.

"So do you?" I was going to strangle him, but didn't get a chance too. I was frozen in place by Hibari's silence. Was he mad? Did he think I was a complete idiot? My heart nearly stopped as I considered another option. Did he really like me back?

I shouldn't have been so worried. He had goddamn kissed me. If that wasn't proof enough, I didn't know what was. At that time though, he had vanished before I could get a word in. Of course I was bound to wonder if I had been hallucinating. I wondered if maybe he regretted it. Maybe he didn't like me and it was just a part of his brutal personality. I desperately needed to hear his feelings out loud so I could confirm one of my theories.

The silence was nearly painful. I tried reading his face but it was composed in a perfect mask of indifference. Or was that what he felt? Indifferent. Just as his mouth opened to speak (my heart jumped) Tsuna and some kid with an afro came bursting through the door.

"Lambo! Wait!" Tsuna shrieked.

"Stupid Tsuna!" Just then, another kid popped up, this one wearing a fedora. When Afro spotted him he shrieked "Die Reborn!" I was utterly confused and made more so when Afro pulled out some very real-looking hand grenades. He pulled out the pins and made an attempt to toss them. Fortunately for Fedora and unfortunately for us, they slipped out of his hand and went backwards. They were flying right at us.

Although it was logical to think that they were just toys, I jumped on top of Nikko to protect him. To my surprise, Hibari jumped on top of me, encasing us just in time. There was a loud explosion and a bright light. Thanks to Hibari, neither of us were hurt.

Hibari righted himself almost immediately, as did I. There was a look in his eyes that seemed to be asking: Does that answer your question? My smile was small but true.

Okay. Either this story ends here… or we go on to the future arc. If I don't get any requests to continue… it's over. Okay? Thank you for reading…

P.S. Does anyone know if Na-Tsu is a boy or a girl? Uri? Do boxes even have genders? Please let me know!

P.P.S I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of the characters. I only own Nekko and Nikko.