Trigger: N/A
Warnings: N/A
Important Stuff:
Small OC Cheat Sheet
Spirits:
Zephyr -The wind spirit that Reborn met in the Spirit World.
Kamikawa - The origami spirit that Reborn exchanged information with.
Engetsu - Silver kitsune that Reborn met in the Spirit World. Knows Ayame.

Ienari's Guardians
Matsushita Hachirou - Ienari's best friend. Captain of the Judo Club. Lightning Guardian
Akemi Kaori - President of Ienari's fanclub. Black Hair, Purple Eyes.
Kakusu Hideki - Former student council president, son of politician. Red Rimmed Glasses.
Koujin Fuun - Ninja assassin. Dark purple hair, crimson eyes. Kunais as weapons.
Inmen Hisen - Mochida's cousin. Ienari's crush. Hime-cut black hair and ocean blue eyes.

-flailing- 413 reviews, 921 favs and 1033 follows this story is now ranked second in overall stats in the ten plus years I've been writing. Thank you so much!

Namimori Middle School Strongest

Reborn picked up the piece of paper that had been fluttering on the ground as he half listened to what Tsuna was explaining to his friends. Tsuna had already given Chrome an overview as they had searched for Gokudera so the information wasn't new. To simply summarize, Ayame had informed him that Rokudo Mukuro had come to Japan along with a group of subordinates, searching for Vongola Decimo. Said group of subordinates were the three that had just attacked, Joshima Ken, Kakimoto Chikusa, and Strongest Man in Northern Italy, Lancia. Tsuna had only managed to deliver the information to Hana and was in the process of calling Hibari when his Hyper Intuition kicked into overdrive with worry over Hayato and Hana.

He unfolded the list, taking note of the title. It looked like one of Fuuta's ranking, the paper and handwriting being a match to similar notes in Fuuta's Ranking Book.

Namimori Middle School Strongest Fighters

1. Sasagawa Kyoko

2. Hibari Kyoya

3. Sawada Tsunayoshi

4. Yamamoto Takeshi

5. Sasagawa Ryohei

6. Kurokawa Hana

7. Gokudera Hayato

8. Sawada Ienari

And so forth

So Ienari didn't even make the top five. Gokudera's street fighting experience was what placed him higher than Ienari and if Tsuna and Ryohei had active Flames, it would not be a far stretch that the rest of them had active Flames as well. Then Reborn's brain skidded to a halt, and his eyes snapped back to number one. Sasagawa Kyoko was the strongest fighter in Namimori Middle?!

While Reborn knew women could be equally dangerous in the mafia, look at Bianchi, he was having trouble trying to picture soft spoken and gentle Kyoko was the strongest fighter in Namimori Middle. For goodness sake, she beat out Hibari! Hibari! Then again, Luce was part of the I Prescelti Sette and that was not just limited to her ability to see the future. Oh sure, that was the main reason and Luce preferred peace talks over violence, but Reborn had seen her actually get angry once, -it involved a child- and the end result was nasty. Still Kyoko of all people. And Namimori was suppose to be filled with civilians. Reborn made a note to talk to Nono about his spies, they were so off target about Namimori wasn't even funny.

Reborn eyed the piece of paper suspiciously. Perhaps Fuuta had made the ranking while it had been raining? Over the last months Fuuta had stayed in the Sawada Household, that particular flaw had been revealed to Reborn.

"So what now Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked.

Tsuna pondered it briefly. "I think we should strike preemptively. I mean, it's pretty clear that they're attacking us in some sort of order of strength."

Reborn cut in then. "They appear to be following this list," he said, holding out the piece of paper.

Tsuna took the sheet, reading over it. "This looks like one of Fuuta's ranking."

"The baseball idiot ranks higher than me?!" Gokudera howled.

"I'm not on the list," Chrome said depressed.

"I remember this ranking. It's months old. You hadn't met Fuuta yet, Chrome. That's why you're not on here," Tsuna said. He frowned. "At least, this tells us why they were attacking in the order they were attacking."

"Wait," Gokudera cut in again. "Why is Kyoko ranked number 1?" He looked over at Hibari with a tint of amusement. "You mean she's stronger than Skylark here?"

A bloodthirsty smile spread across Hibari's face. "She is very good. I'm more than willing to admit that she's a carnivore," Hibari said.

Reborn stared. Wait, wait. It was his understanding that to Hibari, omnivores were people who could fight, but preferred not to, like Tsuna. Carnivores on the other hand, were people who love to, thrived to fight. To call Kyoko a carnivore… THIS WAS SASAGAWA KYOKO! The girl who loves cake, was nice to everyone, smiled brightly and there wasn't even a tint of bloodlust that could be felt from her. Were they really talking about the same Sasagawa Kyoko?!

"How's Hana, Oniisan?" Tsuna asked, looking over to Ryohei and Hana.

Ryohei looked up at Tsuna from where he was crouched on the ground. His hands flickered with bright yellow Sun Flames, coating the still unconscious Hana. "She appears to be stable," Ryohei said. "But I extremely suggest she still see a real doctor."

"Shamal will be the best. He has experience with Flames and the people who have been going around attacking," Tsuna said. "Can you get to him without any trouble?"

Ryohei nodded. "Yes. He was actually at my house discussing my next lesson before I ran out here to grab Kyoko something from the market for tonight's dinner."

"Good," Tsuna said, nodding in understanding. "The rest of us will focus on stopping Mukuro and his gang. I don't want to the rest of us getting ambushed like Hana was."

"Should I send Kyoko?" Ryohei said.

"NO!"

Tsuna, Yamamoto, and to Reborn's surprise, Chrome both shouted that. Hibari on the other hand, looked like his birthday had come early if the gleam of excitement in his eyes meant anything.

"Good idea," Hibari said.

"No!" Tsuna shrieked. "Bad idea!" Turning to Royhei, he said, desperately, "We haven't hit the Kyoto Spring Trip Threshold yet!"

"The what?" Reborn asked.

"It's the FUBAR limit," Yamamoto said wearily. His smile twitched and wavered at the mere thought. "Kyoko is only allowed to join the fight when everything is fucked beyond belief and adding a couple miles of collateral damage isn't going to make a difference. Also known as the Kyoto Spring Trip Threshold."

Off to the side, Chrome was crouched to the ground, slightly rocking back and forth.

"Seriously, what happened on the Kyoto Spring Trip?" Gokudera asked.

Reborn would like to know too. It came up far too often in a strange context to pass off as a simple field trip filled with embarrassing things that no one wanted to speak about.

"Just… just have her on standby, Oniisan. Like she was for the Yousei attack," Tsuna pleaded.

"She found that extremely boring, Tsuna," Ryohei pointed out.

That was an interesting tidbit to know. Reborn had wondered what the girls were up to. He had figured Tsuna had wanted them out of the way in case they had gotten hurt, but still close by that they could help with the rescued kids afterwards.

"And Neesan said if Kyoko-chan caused any more damage, not only are we going to get stuck with the paperwork, Neesan promised to send all of us to hell for the summer," Tsuna pleaded.

Reborn blinked at those words. Normally that would just be an idiom, a phrase, but the way Tsuna had worded the last couple words. "Can she do that?" Reborn found himself asking.

"It's Neesan," Tsuna replied as if that would explain everything.

In hindsight, that wasn't a completely unreasonable explanation. Especially considering the walking mystery that Ayame was. Reborn wished he just understood how.

Ryohei gently picked up Hana and headed off towards his house where Shamal was, leaving behind Tsuna, Yamamoto, Gokudera, Chrome, Hibari and Reborn.

"How are we going to find them?" Chrome asked, her hands gripping her skirt tightly.

"Kokuyo is a decent sized place," Yamamoto said.

Tsuna groaned. "Neesan picked a really bad time to be out of town. I don't suppose you found their hideout, Kyoya-sempai?"

"No."

"You would be there beating them up if that was the case," Tsuna said. He pondered for a moment. "I… guess we'll ask Meishi."

"Who?" Gokudera and Chrome chorused together.

On the other hand, Reborn remarked, Hibari and Yamamoto didn't look confused. So while Chrome most likely knew a good deal about what Namimori was, her distance probably separated her from the majority of the core issues. Now who was Meishi and why did that name sound familiar?

Tsuna didn't answer the question, already on the phone, dialing.

Talking To Myself

Bianchi looked around the empty house. Odd, where was everyone? Where had they gone? She had just stepped outside into the yard to answer a phone call and when she had come back in, the house was empty.

A note on the fridge read that Nana had taken the kids out to the park for playtime. So that explained most of the silence. Reborn and Ienari had left earlier and probably were not back yet. That left Tsuna and their guest for the week, Chrome. No note to explain where they would have gone and it wasn't like Tsuna to just up and leave without saying anything.

The phone ringing and being the only person in the house, Bianchi answered it.

"Sawada Residence," Bianchi answered.

"Bianchi-san?" Tsuna's voice came over the phone.

Bianchi amended her earlier thought. If Tsuna did leave, she could always count on a phone call with an apology for leaving so suddenly.

"Sorry for rushing out of the house."

This was exactly what she meant.

"But is Kaasan or Fuuta home from the park yet?"

"No, not yet," Bianchi answered.

Here Tsuna hesitated. Bianchi waited patiently for his response.

"This is going to be an odd request then," Tsuna said. "I need you to call out in a loud voice and say 'Meishi please come to Kinga Market. Tsuna needs your help'."

Bianchi blinked. "What?"

"Please," Tsuna pleaded.

Bianchi frowned, but complied. In a loud voice she repeated the words. "Meishi please come to Kinga market. Tsuna needs your help."

To her surprise, a chirp of acknowledgement and suddenly something shifted in the air. Nothing had actually changed, but it was like the atmosphere changed, the way a mood of a crowd could go from quiet to tense. Nothing tangible, but just a sense of feeling.

"Tsuna-kun," Bianchi said slowly in the phone. "What is going on?"

"Don't worry Bianchi-san," Tsuna tried to reassure her. "We'll be okay." He hung up before she could grill him further.

Bianchi scowled at that. Oh no, if they were going to go looking for trouble, she was going to be there right with them. Plus, knowing Hayato, he was already at Tsuna's side and would be joining whatever fray they were about to get themselves tangled into.

A Dish Best Served Cold

Ienari looked down at the still bodies of his friends. Hachirou had been in the hospital for the longest and only woke long enough to reassure the doctors that he would make a full recovery. His parents were quite relieved by that fact.

On the other hand, Inmen and Mochida had yet to wake. Ienari didn't care about the DC members (always siding with the monster), but he knew Kaori was being kept in a medically induced coma due to the severity of her injuries.

"I see they have yet to awake," Hideki said, entering the room. He placed two vases of flowers down with generic get well soon cards attached to them.

"No," Ienari growled. His fists were squeezed tight, knuckles turning white.

"Do you know who is responsible?"

"No, but my tutor is checking in out," Ienari said lightly. He was confident that Reborn would find out and them Ienari could hunt the bastards down.

"And then?" Hideki asked.

"Revenge, of course."

Hideki pushed his red rimmed glasses up; the light reflecting off them. "Would you like some help?"

Ienari looked at him. "You don't fight, Hideki-sempai."

"Let's just say the pen is mightier than the sword."

Meishi

Tsuna waited patiently for Meishi to show up. It should be any minute now….

"SAWADA TSUNAYOSHI WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

"Hieee! Bianchi-san!" Tsuna yelped as the Poison Scorpion appeared out of nowhere, storming at him.

"Aneki," Hayato said faintly.

Bianchi stopped her tirade at Tsuna long enough to look at Hayato who was still covered in blood. "Hayato!" What happened to you?"

Tsuna turned around, paled. "I forgot to ask Oniisan to heal you before he left!"

"I'm fine," Hayato protested.

"No, look Oniisan isn't that far away. We'll drop you off," Tsuna said.

"No!" Hayato said, fidgeting. "I want to help. I don't want to be sidelined."

Tsuna stared at him, wordlessly. Hayato was already injured! Why didn't his friend understand that he had nothing to prove to Tsuna? Before he could answer the sound of fluttering wings could be heard.

On the metal railing separating the sidewalk and the road, landed a sea green falcon. It trill at Tsuna, letting a soft chime of musical notes.

"Meishi is here," Tsuna said.

"Where?" Hayato, Bianchi and Reborn asked.

"I had no idea falcons could come in a sea green color," Chrome remarked at the same time.

"You can see her, Chrome?" Takeshi asked, slightly surprised.

Tsuna has suspected that Chrome actually could see spirits. She kept glancing in Giotto's general direction far too often for it to be a coincidence. However, neither her or Ayame (and Ayame had to have known) had said anything so Tsuna hadn't brought it up before.

"Ah… yes?" Chrome said meekly. "Is that… strange?"

"Not at all," Tsuna said. He quickly glanced at the two very confused siblings and one very resigned looking Reborn. "We can too, but Hayato, Bianchi-san and Reborn can't."

To the side, Kyoya snorted lightly.

Ignoring him, Tsuna turned towards Meishi and said, "Meishi can you shift down to the others can see you?"

Cue two squawks from Bianchi and Hayato as Meishi shifted down to the physical plane.

"A green falcon," Reborn said flatly.

"Is that a UMA?!" Hayato shouted.

Tsuna smiled slightly at their reactions. "This is Meishi," he introduced the falcon. "She helps Kaasan around the house. Her ability is Absolute Sight. She can see everything and everything within a certain radius."

"The one always watching?" Reborn asked.

"Yes," Tsuna said. Meishi always watching. She was the one that allowed Nana to know where her sons were which in turn allowed Nana to defuse any potential fight before it happened. It was not a perfect system, but as it prevented the majority of the potential fallouts between Tsuna and Ienari, it was an acceptable one. Tsuna could, in turn, rely on Meishi to keep his mother company and keep an eye on the kids as well. Especially Fuuta, who had a higher priority than Tsuna these days due to his high risk factor.

Yes, Meishi fit well into the Sawada Household.

"Meishi, we're looking for Rokudo Mukuro and his gang. We know they're somewhere in Kokuyo because they were wearing the school uniforms," Tsuna explained. "Do you remember the pictures Ayame-nee showed you?"

Meishi let out a positive chirp.

"Good," Tsuna said. "Can you find them?"

Meishi let out another chirp and took to the air. She circled around in the air once, twice, before turning to the east.

Kyoya took off first, followed by Takeshi and Chrome. Tsuna looked at Hayato and said, "You don't have to come Hayato. We're not going to think differently of you. Please don't push yourself. It would be different if I had remembered to ask Oniisan to heal you."

Hayato shook his head. "It's not that bad of a wound. I won't slow you down Tsuna-sama."

Tsuna bit his lip. He had a bad feeling about this, not unlike his Hyper Intuition, but not the same either. There wasn't time to convince Hayato otherwise and the months Tsuna had known the bomber, Tsuna knew Hayato could be relentlessly stubborn. Just look at Hayato's insistence of calling Tsuna 'Tsuna-sama'.

Against his better judgement, Tsuna relented. He offered his hand to Reborn, letting the hitman climb aboard his shoulder. Bianchi frowned at Hayato, but did not say anything.

"Let's go," Tsuna said.

Kyoko kicks butt, just saying. And here's what happened to the missing page from Fuuta's book. Ienari wasn't attacked because they were going to leave him for last (Tsuna was included since, you know, twins). Hayato is being a stubborn butt. Let's head towards the final confrontation against Mukuro. :3

General Notes:

Meishi is the 'one who is always watching'. That leaves 2 more to go! Meishi was first introduced (by name) in Chapter 7: Birdsong and first by appearance in Chapter 13: Falcon. While not based off a particular spirit or god, Meishi's falcon form was chosen specifically because falcons (much like hawks) are known for their keen eyesight.

Bilingual Bonus

Meishi – Clarity of Vision

Also if you're interested, I've opened an online store (remove #) seiartsu.#storenvy.#com There is also a giveaway over on my Instagram(seiartsu) and Tumblr (seitsokusha) too. (only a week left to enter the giveaway and until the store closes!)

Guest Reviewer Response

Kokomi

The time frame is a little fluid. It's notable that Mukuro and his friends escaped, despite the fact that it has been a couple weeks since then. Ahaha good! You can join me on the ship. -bricked-

just another sky

There be plans for Chrome. -ninja- True, she could have come in later, but it's more fun this way -bricked-

Guest (10/22)

Ienari's lower on the list just because he has no practical experience. He's strong as a fighter, but he's not use to being in life or death situations like Hayato (who would have fought on the streets to defend himself) and everyone else has a higher mastery of Flames than him. Spirits can fight living humans, but it takes quite a bit of power to do so. Namimori is partially charged with spirit particles which means Giotto and company could get in a few good punches before being sent back to the Spirit World, compared to Kokuyo were they weren't even be able to shift down to the physical plane compare to Mt. Eiki where they are indistinguishable from a normal living human. As for when they do finally meet Mukuro... ahahaha. Well that will be a fun chapter to get to.

Lacie

Nope he does not. He'll learn eventually though.