Another double-chapter treat everyone! I'm loving this more and more as we draw to a close! I am finally done with our finals, and getting closer to vacation!

Chapter 27

Himeno felt something holding her right hand. Willing her eyes open, she managed to open her eyes in a few seconds, but slowly. She realized that she was wearing an oxygen mask and some medical contraptions were attached to her. Turning her head a bit, she noticed a spiky mass of brown hair, the person's face was directed to her, and eyes closed and fast asleep. She then noticed some orange hair on her left and saw a beautiful woman with a peaceful smile, also asleep, whom she assumed to be her mother through the picture she picked up at the Vongola Base, as if neither had left her side at all.

'Decimo-sama…? What's going on…?' she thought.

Her eyes drifted at the clock. It was still seven in the morning, which means if she is in the hospital, then the beginning of visiting hours were eight. They must have persuaded the hospital staff they wanted to stay in her room for the night, and she has a pretty good idea why they want it to be that way.

As if on cue, by the moment she moved her right hand, the man stirred and opened his eyes. Brown eyes met caramel and not a second after that, Tsuna was widely awake by now, "Himeno, you're awake!" he said gladly. He then reached out to take off her oxygen mask. The woman on the other side woke up also, and was wearing a look of relief in her face.

Himeno slowly sat down, her chest still feeling a little stingy, "What…? How long have I been out?" she wondered.

"You have been in a coma for over a week. It took a long time to get all the poison out of your system, and it did a bad strain in your body. Julian already woke up the other day," he explained.

Himeno nodded and looked away, "I see…then what happened to Byakuran?" she asked.

Tsuna looked at Himeno guiltily, but he had to tell her any other way. "The X-Burner that I shot at him incinerated him," he said.

Himeno closed her eyes, recalling her last memory before she had blacked out in the middle of the fight. She had seen him doing something and released a huge and dangerous amount of Sky Flames towards the man before she closed her eyes.

The room stayed quiet for a while. But Tsuna had something to tell her, and he was not going to let this slip on the long run. "Himeno…I think we have to tell you the full truth about…why we sent you away," he said.

Himeno expected this much. She knew that she can't hide from this all her life, and it was high time that she learn it directly from the source, as she has been misinformed by Byakuran. "Go on. I want to hear it," she answered.

"Fourteen years ago, you were born to us, and not long after, the Millefiore attacked so suddenly. At first, we thought it was just a faulty ambush, but it had carried on for the next three days." Himeno tried to listen quietly while she puts the pieces together. Three days. That was how old she was when the doctors had tested when she was born. "But on the third day, they almost got you and Kyoko," he revealed. "If it weren't for Bianchi who was guarding her from a distance, I don't have to tell you what would have happened…I don't want you to experience fear on living in the mafia world, nor do I want you to be on the brink of getting killed every single day. I had to do something to keep you safe, so we sent you away," Himeno just closed her eyes, trying to absorb the story.

"I sent Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto to send you to a place where you will be safe, without telling me where they had left you, but they assured that you will be safe from harm that the mafia world creates. As much as possible, I really didn't want you to get involved in the mafia at a very young age." He continued. "But after Ieyoshi was born…it gave us the hope that we could be a family again, so I sent every people I have at the Vongola's disposal to search for you, but nothing came up. The Millefiore seemed to always have been one step ahead of us and everywhere we look, they follow," he explained.

"That's because Byakuran found out where I am earlier than you," she informed. She remembered by the time her little brother was born, she and Julian had already met at that time.

Tsuna nodded. "We had tried to search for you without them knowing, but as it turns out, they knew everything ahead of us. We tried everything to comb Italy clean to know where you are, but we had to start with the entire Europe and that took years…" Himeno noticed that the man was looking rather grieved, "But as it turns out, by the time Ieyoshi turned eight, his weak heart finally gave up…and he died young…"

"It was as if we are not meant to raise a child on our own, most especially in the mafia world…" Kyoko said suddenly, fighting back tears. "That's why we became discouraged in trying to find you, fearing that we would lose you in a more painful way."

Himeno looked away, "Did you…do it just for him...? Did you even love me?" she wondered. She had to know what made her parents search for her only after six years has passed.

"That's not true!" Kyoko said in surprise of the words of the girl. "We have loved you since the day you were born! Your protection ring proves that!" she stated.

Automatically, Himeno's hand went to touch the ring around her neck. She didn't realize it before, but she had the ring around her neck at all times ever since she could remember, but after her eighth birthday, she stopped wearing the small trinket unless she was on missions. It always makes her wonder why she decided not to throw the ring away; it was as if it was attached to her somehow. Now she knew that the ring possessed a power with protection of some sort, and the moment she had taken the blow of the poison stake in the place of Tsuna, only to find out that it merely pierced a small part of her chest has proved that the ring has been protecting her all this time. "This ring…?"

Tsuna nodded, "I had it made for you the day you were born, and I made sure that you had it the day we sent you away. We did it so that you would never forget that your real family loves you and protects you. Should we never meet, you will always have it with you no matter what." He explained. "The day Ieyoshi died, we stopped searching for you fearing that you will suffer the same fate as him. But last Christmas, while we were on a last-minute errand, it was as if we were given an apparition of a younger girl version of me. On that day, we decided to follow that girl, but she disappeared the same way we saw her. Not long after that, we had seen the girl again going to the airport, but we were stopped by a Millefiore attack. The girl we had seen was none other than you, as your foster parents had confirmed," he revealed.

Himeno looked down, "That time…we were in Italy for a yearly family reunion that is being hosted this year by Nicola-nee's parents…we were also on a last-minute shopping for presents for our little cousins…" she informed.

"They had told us that also. But we only got to investigate further about you when we sent my guardians's children along with the Varia's. We didn't know which school you go to, so we split them up. It was a surprise that Yohannes and his squad were sent to where you are, and in the process, you managed to get under their skin quite easily. And then your other identity showed up. Back then, we didn't know that you and White Lotus were the same person, and we were having conflicts on who was the real one. You had my looks and White Lotus had my bloodline skills. We didn't realize that both were the real ones…"

"At that time, you didn't know which is which…to think that both identities would lead me to the truth…" she mused."It's quite a lot to take in for now…"

Tsuna looked at her solemnly. "Himeno…I'm sorry…because of me, you wouldn't have accumulated the Flames of Depression in such a rampant stage…it was my fault…" he apologized.

Himeno stayed quiet. It was all too much to take in. Going back to what Byakuran said to her, she just couldn't brush that off that easily. But when she looked at her parents' eyes, she knew that they were telling the entire truth about her past, and why she was sent away. Somehow she felt warm inside, a feeling that she had felt with Mori and Nori ever since she was a child.

Parental love…

Himeno somehow felt happy in realizing that. She had thought that she would hate her parents forever for abandoning her, but now she knew that she was sent away out of love and not of hate and disappointed.

"You had me sent away because you fear that I will be killed. You had risked the opportunity in seeing me grow in order to keep me safe from the Millefiore, but had done the best you could just to find me, wanting to protect me yourselves in the mafia world, to prove that I was not left alone with resentments. You even gave me a protector in order to make sure that I would live properly and keep me safe from harm even if you were not by my side…and to top it all off, you risked your lives to save me when I was in grave danger of being captured and used and to prevent the Flames of Depression inside me from wreaking havoc." she stated. "I don't think I could hate you right now because of me being left behind. In fact, I should thank you for doing that…"

Tsuna and Kyoko looked at Himeno as if not believing what they were hearing. "If it weren't for that incident, then I would never had the chance of being raised in a happy and exciting environment as an agent, I would have not met Julian and change his view of his father, nor would I have become a high caliber agent of Vindice…and most of all, I would never have had the feeling of being loved by the people who wanted to protect me more than anything else, to the point of sending me away in the exchange to keep me safe," she said with a smile.

"Himeno…" Tsuna said in surprise, but he was also glad that she had understood their real motive.

Himeno in turn, smiled at them, "I understand everything now. I forgive you for all these years," she assured.

Kyoko was so overwhelmed by this, that she immediately stood up and pulled Himeno into a tight embrace, "Himeno…thank you…" she said between sobs, until she had cried in relief altogether.

Himeno smiled as she hugged the woman back gently. She realized that she was the one who was most caught up in all of this mess, and knowing that Himeno had forgiven them released all her worries about it. Himeno looked at Tsuna who was smiling warmly at the two of them, but his eyes were fixated on Himeno. The girl winked at the man with an assuring smile, as if saying 'You still have the rest of my life to make up for the fourteen years that you were not by my side,' and then returned to comforting the woman in her arms. "Maa, it's not good to cry at the one who is injured," she joked, but Kyoko had kept on crying.

…

Julian smiled at the scene before him, with Lennan pushing him on his recommended wheelchair. Just like the Sawada couple, Lennan had stayed behind to watch over Julian in place of Yuni, who had some things to do regarding the organization. By the time that Julian woke up, he had nagged Lennan into bringing him to Himeno's hospital room to check up on her again, and they stumbled upon the scene with Himeno forgiving her birth parents.

He was happy that she was able to do so, what with having to listen to her rants about her being abandoned ever since she was eight. Seeing that he was not needed right now, he looked at his brother, "Let's head back," he said.

Lennan complied with his wish and pushed the wheelchair back to his little brother's hospital room. "That was a wonderful scene, won't you agree?" Lennan asked as they were headed to Julian's room.

"You bet it was…" he said. "I'm quite relieved that she had managed to forgive her parents and learning the truth," he stated.

"But you knew the truth from the beginning. Why didn't you tell her anyway?" Lennan wondered.

"Because it's better if she finds out for herself." He said, "And it would be dangerous should she find out at a young age, and the fact that telling her would blow all of my plans to exposure," he explained.

"You're quite a schemer, I would say," he teased.

"And it tends to have satisfying results," Julian replied. "I wouldn't complain about it if I were you," he advised.

Lennan could only smile.

…

By the time the first minute of visiting hours struck, Mori and Nori appeared in Himeno's room like someone had just come back to life. Kyoko had calmed down by then and the two were talking about almost everything before they arrived. Himeno had taken an instant liking to Kyoko the first time she had called down from crying. Tsuna was dragged out of the room by Reborn with a green rope that was Leone to finish some work that he had skipped in order to stay by Himeno's side the previous night. Now the man was in another room finishing it with Gokudera.

"Himeno!" Nori shouted with worry.

The two women who were talking just stared in surprise as the woman had burst in the room and Nori taking Himeno in her arms. "I was so worried! The entire time we thought you would never wake up!" she said.

Mori sighed and smiled as he calmly went to the three, "Your mothers have been too worried about you since you were confined here in the hospital." He informed.

Himeno smiled. Who knew she would be cared about too much. But she is not to complain. It's better being fretted over than ignored. "You worry too much. I've been on worse situations like broken bones," she stated.

"But this time it's different! A complete single shot could have killed you!" Nori said with relief on her eyes.

"Hey, at least I was still alive!" she reminded them. She then reached for the chained ring hidden in her hospital gown, "It's thanks to this little trinket that I was still alive." She said as she admired the ring like she had before.

"That's right…" Mori said as he remembered something, "Himeno…now that the truth is out…what will you do next?" he wondered. "Now that you know your identity as the daughter of the Decimo…are you going to take up the mantle as his heir?" he wondered.

Himeno tilted her head. She forgot about that one. "Um…well…I kind of forgot that bit of detail…but…"

"It's alright if you don't want to Himeno," Tsuna said, who was leaning on the doorframe, as if he had just escaped from the pits of hell known as paperwork. "It's alright if you don't want to, I understand, I will just have to find a suitable future boss if you don't want to be the Eleventh," he assured.

Kyoko stared at him unbelievably, "Tsuna!" she warned.

It was then when Reborn had appeared behind Tsuna and grabbed his ear, "You know better than to say those words, Dame-Tsuna,"

"R-Reborn, stop treating me like a kid!" he complained, rather embarrassed to know that Himeno was watching her own father get dragged and bullied by his tutor.

Reborn ignored him and looked at Kyoko, "Kyoko, the car is waiting. We need to come back to the Castle for the preparations for next week," he informed.

Kyoko nodded and stood up. Himeno was rather intrigued by this, "What for?" she asked.

The woman smiled at her, "Next week is Yoshi-kun's supposed tenth birthday, and we are preparing to visit his grave," she informed.

"Can I come?" the words seemed to get out smoothly from Himeno's lips.

Kyoko smiled, "Of course. Ieyoshi would love to meet you," she said. "Well then, we'd best be leaving. Mori-san, Nori-san, I leave Himeno to you," she said and left the room, but not before giving Himeno's hands a squeeze as a sign of goodbye.

"So, what do you want to do now that you are awake?" Nori asked.

One thought came to her mind, "I want to see Juls,"