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.
Meishi - A green falcon that lives in the Sawada Household

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.

Roommates

Tsuna knew he was in trouble the minute Ayame walked into the Sawada Household, stopped and stared. To the side, Reborn looked gleeful, no doubt pleased by her reaction.

"Neesan," Tsuna said, fidgeted. "This is Rokudo Mukuro, Joshima Ken, Kakimoto Chikusa and the Strongest Man in Northern Italy, Lancia." He gestured to the three teenagers and one man sitting in the living room. "They… need a place to stay?" Tsuna finished lamely. He watched her carefully, worried about her reaction. After all, he was asking her to house four dangerous criminals. Before Chrome, Tsuna knew without a doubt that Ayame would have accepted (no matter how stunned she was now); Ayame could take care of herself.

Because despite Hyper Intuition telling him to not let Mukuro go, Tsuna didn't trust the purple haired teen. (Couldn't trust, Ienari, Iemitsu, Tsuna has been let down so many times it was difficult to trust. If Tsuna was still working on trusting Hayato of all people, whose loyalty was physically visible, was it any surprise that Tsuna couldn't trust Mukuro?)

Chrome was okay with it though, and if it wasn't necessary to keep an eye on them, Tsuna knew Ayame could have it arranged that they live elsewhere. (But trust…) No, Tsuna needed someone he did trust to keep an eye on them. Ayame, despite her busy schedule, fit the requirements nicely. (Kyoko would kill them dead if they so much toed the line and Ryohei would help, Tsuna could already see Kyoya and Mukuro would get along like cats and dogs and there wasn't any more room in the Sawada Household. Hana was still unconscious, not to mention her family was still mostly civilians and the same went for Takesushi's customers.) 'And Neesan can crush them all without lifting a finger,' Tsuna thought. For worse case scenario purposes.

Tsuna did not survive Ienari's hate all these years without becoming calculating in his own way.

Ayame made a wordless distressed sound which morphed into a resigned sigh. Tsuna felt a flinch of guilt. Ayame always gave in to Tsuna's requests.

"Only you, Tsuna," Ayame said, voice warm and fond.

But at least, Ayame didn't seem to mind in the long run.

"Kufufu, please take care of us," Mukuro said.

Tsuna paled as he saw the subtle tick signaling an oncoming headache (the same one Ayame got when Nezu or even poor Dino received when mentioned). Oh dear. This was going to be interesting.

Sleeping Arrangements

How peculiar.

Three days since Mukuro and his friends had moved into Ayame's apartment. The sleeping arrangements were… odd. Chrome retained her bedroom, Ken, Chikusa and Mukuro were shoved into the guest bedroom, but strangely Lancia got Ayame's bedroom.

As there wasn't a couch or another futon in the house, Mukuro had no idea where exactly Ayame was sleeping.

That was answered when, one afternoon, Chrome returned home with a cellphone in hand. "Neesan," she said quietly. "Takeshi-kun said you forgot your cellphone when you slept in his closet last night."

She slept in a closet…? At another person's house?

"Ah, thank you Chrome," Ayame said. "I was wondering where I had left it."

Ken, in a fit of childish temper, reached out to swipe the phone from Chrome.

Mukuro's world exploded with color. When his vision finally cleared, spots still dancing, he found Ken was cradling his hand; it was blistering red and raw.

"Neesan?" Chrome asked, eyes wide.

"What the fuck?!" Ken roared. "That hurt!"

A thin smile appeared on Ayame's face. "Consider that your only warning. Try to hurt Chrome like that again and I promise I'll make what the Vindice and Estraneo did you seem like sunshine and puppies."

Mukuro narrowed his eyes. This one was dangerous. How cunning of Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Report V

Nono,

[Attachment: 1 CD Disc]

Please watch attached video. I have taken precaution to send this via the messenger hawk to ensure that it would not be intercepted.

I strongly recommend that Sawada Tsunayoshi be considered for Decimo candidate. He is not only much stronger than his twin, please see the evidence of his mastery of his flames and how he neutralized the threat of Rokudo Mukuro. His friends work well as his chosen guardians with most of them showing mastery of their own respective Dying Will Flames. While Ienari does show promise, it is ultimately lacking, his various personality issues with Tsunayoshi withstanding. Your chosen heir thought it would be wise to attack the Vindice, that alone speaks of his mindset.

I repeat, Tsunayoshi is the stronger candidate.

Reborn

Report V Revised

Nono,

[No Attachment]

Rokudo Mukuro has been neutralized. All is well in Namimori.

Reborn

Punishment

Ienari fell to the ground, bone weary exhausted. Reborn was not pleased when Fon had informed him about Ienari running off to confront the Vindice. "What have I taught you about blindly rushing into a battle when you don't have all the information?" Reborn said, shooting a bullet at Ienari.

Scrambling to dodge it, Ienari swallowed hard. "Not to." It was a miscalculation to attack them like that without knowing all the facts. But Hisen had gotten hurt and Ienari wasn't going to let that stand by.

How was he supposed to know they were the mafia police?

Reborn held up a taser; its end crackling with electricity. "It seems we still have much to teach you."

Ienari paled. This was going to hurt.

Let's Talk

Ayame nursed her head as she stared down at her evil paperwork. The pile never seemed to get any smaller, no matter how much she worked at it. Why couldn't she just quit her job?

Oh, right. Bills weren't going to pay by themselves and she had been accumulating more bills than usual lately. If she came home today to find another piece of her furniture broken by those boys, she was going to scream.

'Note to self: Get those boys enrolled in school so they at least have some stability and are out of my apartment for a couple hours a day,' she thought viciously to herself. Of course that would need more paperwork, some hacking too, to make sure all of that was in proper order and everything. It didn't explain what to do with Lancia, but there were plenty of part time jobs that he could go out and get.

There simply wasn't any time to work on anything. Ayame had so many different projects going on and simply, she was exhausted. Tsuna's request, bless him, to house Mukuro and his friends had long term consequences.

Namely, Ayame couldn't sleep in her own house anymore because she didn't feel safe. Ayame had been on her own for so long that she was unused to living with people, much less people she didn't trust. Chrome was okay because Tsuna trusted Chrome; their bond built in the insanity that was the Kyoto Spring Trip. (Still, if she was honest, Chrome's presence drove her from her home more frequently than previously. It wasn't too bad. Before Chrome, Ayame could potentially go the week without hiding in someone else's house. After Chrome that became maybe once or twice a week, still doable.) Adding Mukuro and his friends, who made Ayame's instincts snarl and made her want to slice their throats if only for her peace of mind, Ayame hadn't slept in her own bed in a week.

Yes, she was grumpy and exhausted. Not to mention people kept calling her to complain. Apparently, Koumei got ordered to chew her out the stunt she had pulled. Lots of people panicking. How was that her fault?! All she did was fill out the proper paperwork for something they should have seen coming years ago. It wasn't like she made it any secret!

"What the hell is this?"

A file, a very familiar file that should have been locked up, was thrown on her desk. Ayame looked up to see an angry Giotto. The Sky was angry enough to have his flames lit. His orange eyes glowing with power.

"Fallout," Ayame answered bluntly. Hyper Intuition was a pain, nothing she could do but be honest. Damn long reaching consequences. Where had the days gone when she could just burn everything to the ground and not worry about things like fallout and consequences?

"I thought the goal was to avoid this," Giotto snapped.

"I'm making the best of the situation!" Ayame growled back.

"Neesan? Papa?"

Both stopped to see Tsuna entering the room, warily looking at them. Ayame pinched the bridge of her nose. It was going to come out eventually, might as well get it out of the way now.

"Have a seat Tsuna," Ayame said, gesturing to the empty seat. "Let's talk."

Fight

If he hadn't seen it himself, Reborn would have been flabbergasted by the events that were unfolding.

Tsuna and Ayame were fighting.

It wasn't completely obvious per se. It was just until it was gone, Reborn hadn't notice how often Tsuna mentioned Ayame or Neesan during a day. A full week had gone by and Tsuna appeared to be giving Ayame the cold shoulder. He was upset, but clearly hiding it well.

Ayame hadn't been around as often. (And after meeting her, Reborn noticed how frequent her visits were. Chrome, Mukuro and his gang were still dropped off for every meal.) When she was, Tsuna didn't stay long and Ayame would basically mope.

Ienari remained obvious to it all. Though to be fair to his student, Ienari seemed to be taking his role as candidate far more seriously. He seemed to be testing the waters in Namimori, gathering 'low level grunts' and coming into a possession (though Hideki) with a building that would serve as their 'headquarters'. As a result, outside of Reborn's training and time spent at the hospital, Ienari spent much of his free time in his new headquarters, laying out plans and requirement ideas to spread his influence even further. If Reborn wasn't so attached to Tsuna, he would be proud of his student's ability to take initiative.

But still, Ayame and Tsuna fighting. Reborn didn't think he would ever see that happened. They were so largely codependent on each other, and Ayame always seemed to give in to whatever Tsuna requested, Reborn didn't think they could ever have a fight serious enough that would warrant this kind of reaction.

All of Tsuna's friends had picked up on the stressed situation and they appeared to be as lost about it as Reborn. No one said anything, letting everything run its course.

Vibrant Colors

Mukuro hissed and pressed a hand to his right eye. His world blurred again, bursting with bright, vibrant colors. The colors were bright and vivid through his right eye, only slightly duller through his left. After a few minutes, everything returned to normal.

He ignored the teenage boy with dead eyes holding a bloodied basketball from the corner of his eye.

Mope

Ayame moped, hiding under Hana's table. The Kurokawa family was out and Ayame had let herself in. It had been a week and Tsuna was still upset with her. She understood why Tsuna was upset and why it was his right to, she also thought he was overreacting. Just a little. Maybe she should have asked. Maybe. Probably.

She groaned and hung her head. People. Social interaction. Sometimes she missed being isolated.

Ayame thought about that last sentence before something really dark and ugly grew in her heart. White, white, white...

'No,' she thought, depressed. 'I do not miss isolation at all.'

Strength

"I want to get stronger," Hisen announced.

It had been two days since she, Mochida, Kaori and Hachirou had been released from the hospital. Several other students with more severe injuries were still in there, two weeks after the attacks had ended. She pinned Ienari with a sharp look. She knew the key laid with Ienari.

"Matsushita-kun has implied that you know a method," Hisen announced.

"Hisen-chan," Ienari said, with eyes wide.

"Do not lie to me," Hisen threatened.

Fuun snorted to the side. "If it's what I think it is, why should you learn something like that?"

"I don't ever want to be that helpless again," Kaori said. She had been unnaturally quiet since her arrival, not even once fawning over Ienari like she would have.

"None of us do," Mochida gruffly spoke.

"Perhaps then you should tell them," Hideki spoke.

Ienari looked at his friends and hesitated. It could be dangerous to involve them. Was it his right to drag them into the dark world of the mafia?

Reborn's words rang in his head. 'Eventually you will need to collect your guardians. This will be your inner circle, the people you trust absolutely to be at your side.'

Ienari didn't trust everyone in this room. (Fuun was more or a rival and if there was any truth to him being a ninja assassin, very likely, Ienari doubt he would ever trust him. Kaori was going to be a crazy fangirl forever in his head). But he much rather have people he knew, who didn't have any previous loyalties to him.

He felt his Flames grow warm, singing. Power… Strength… Right there at his fingertips.

"Right, so the first thing you should know is that I'm going to be a leader of a mafia family."

Color My World

Mukuro prowled through Namimori like a caged animal. His head throbbed, aching as the growing headache that refused to relent no matter what Mukuro did. Everything was so… bright in Namimori. Like a someone was shining multi colored spot lights all at the same time, blinding like the sun.

And there was clearly an illusion over this town. What kind of fox was silver and walked around with seven tails?

Spark a Storm

"What do you want, woman?" Hayato asked, irritated. Hana had told him to meet at Takeshi's family dojo after school.

Immediately a fist came out of nowhere and hit Hayato on the head. "Brat! Don't talk to Hana that way!" G shouted.

Hayato snarled at the appearance of the ghost. He was still trying to wrap his mind that ghosts existed and why didn't anyone tell him? Hayato ignored the small voice that whispered that Tsuna and his friends were just using him, laughing at his ignorance behind his back. That wasn't true. Hayato refused to believe it.

"Enough you monkeys," Hana cut in. Looking at G, she pointed at Hayato and said "Teach the bomber monkey how to use his Flames."

"What?!" Both teen and ghost exclaimed.

Hana scowled. "Look, Ayame-nee said he's got Storm Flames. If you taught me how to use to Storm Flames you can him, G-sensei." Turning to Hayato, she continued. "Don't you want to learn?"

Hayato scowled. He didn't need any pity!

"It's not pity," Hana said, reading his expression. She matched Hayato's scowl. "Look, two weeks ago, Mukuro and his gang attacked you and me. We both lost. Don't deny it! If Tsuna hadn't come you would have been as badly injured as I was."

Her words softened. "Look, I don't have the overwhelming power that Kyoko has, the resilience of Ryohei, Takeshi's natural instincts and definitely am not a fighting prodigy like Kyoya-sempai and Tsuna. Even Chrome has better control over her Mist Flames than I have over my Storm ones. I'm okay with trailing behind them, but I refuse to get left behind. Is that not the same for you, Hayato?"

Hayato stared her, startled at the use of his given name. Hana had never referred to him other than bomber monkey. Still, he couldn't be suspicious about this. "What do you get out of this?"

Hana looked at him, stunned, before she turned towards G, smacking with the flat of her naginata. ('Where the fuck did that come from!?' Hayato thought.) "This is all your fault, baka-sensei!" Hana said, irritated. "Tsuna wanted to introduce you to the bomber monkey months ago! After we knew for sure he was going to stay with us."

"How is that my fault!" G shouted back. "Ow! Stop hitting me!"

Hayato felt a lot better in the knowledge that Tsuna wasn't purposely keeping the whole spirit thing from him. Then again, would Hayato would have really believed in spirits without proof? His basis of belief for UMA were rooted in science and ghosts were… supernatural.

"Are we going to do this or not?" Hana demanded to know.

Hayato threw a glance at G who just glowered back at him. "Fine," they snapped together.

Hayato didn't want to get left behind either.

Group Chat

'Corna Famiglia is -'

'Dibs.'

'Why do you get dibs?!'

'Because I'm sick of babysitting! It's not fun at all!'

'Enough you two.'

'It's not fair! I'm stuck babysitting too!'

'And I'm doing all the paperwork. Would either of you like to trade?'

'But you're good at that!'

'Do you still want to trade?'

'No.'

'No.'

'I don't care which one of you does it, but you both can't go. Take care of the Corna Famiglia and return. Understood?'

'Yeah, yeah. Remember, I called dibs now, so I'm going.'

'I will fight you for the right.'

'Hah! I'm not stupid.'

'You two…'

Temptation

"Oniisan come play with me?"

Mukuro ignored the honey sweet words. He knew if he looked to the left there would be a small girl in a pink dress holding a doll. The high collar of the pink dress hid the ugly bruises around her neck.

"Oniisan please?"

Mukuro continued to ignore the child. He refused to shuttered when the girl reached out her hand, only for it to pass through Mukuro's.

Namimori… What a strange place.

Anger Management

"You are angry about something."

"Fon-san," Tsuna greeted.

The Storm Arcobaleno jumped up on the wall that Tsuna had been walking next to, on his way home from school. "Do you want to talk about it? Fon asked, once he was eye level with Tsuna.

"No."

"I-pin is worried," Fon tried.

Tsuna winced at Fon's words. He hadn't meant to worry the kids. Sighing softly, Tsuna ran a hand through his hair.

"What did Ayame-san do to upset you this badly?" Fon asked, curious.

"Are you familiar with the phrase 'It is better to ask forgiveness than permission'?" Tsuna asked.

Fon nodded. "So you're upset that she did something without your consent?"

Tsuna shook his head. "I'm upset about that a little, but really, that's just Neesan's nature. And since she has my best interest at heart, I don't really mind. She's just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Plus, once she explained why, I would have given her my permission anyways."

It was just the way Ayame was. She was far too use to getting her own way, consequences be damned. Most of the time, Tsuna didn't mind. Often, there was little time to sit around and wait for an answer, the explanation taking too long. Action first, then when everything settled, explain. Ayame saved more lives that way.

"Then why are you angry with her?" Fon asked.

"Consequences," Tsuna said flatly. He clenched his fist. He didn't want that responsibility. How could she even ask that of him? Never mind the slim possibility that it ever would happen. What a heavy burden… How did Ayame even live with it?

Then he sighed. "Despite that, I probably still would have agreed," Tsuna said quietly. If it was the only way to do so…

But another wave of anger surged within him. Tsuna felt his inside curl with the heat. He would deal with this another time. He left Fon behind, deep in thought as he stormed off.

Snipe

-Bang!-

Kyoko watched through the scope as another Triad member fell to the ground. She frowned, concerned. Normally Ayame took care of Triad members, but she had been distraught lately by whatever was she and Tsuna were fighting about.

She called Tetsuya. "Hey Tetsuya-san? I got another one that needs to be escorted out of Namimori. Hmm, yeah. No, I'm using traqs today. Down by river. I'll keep you updated."

Kyoko hung up and went back to surveying. In the meantime, she would be the one to protect Namimori.

Gathering

"Sir!"

Mao looked down at the newest batch of Triad members to arrive. There was something strange going on in Namimori. Not every set of reinforcement made it all the way into Namimori and the ones that did, some were sniped down before they could reach the meeting place. Very strange. But to put on a proper collar on Hibari Kyoya and remind the Storm Arcobaleno of his place, they would need as many members as could be spared.

A total of ten members. This might be enough to take down Hibari Kyoya.

Apology Flowers

"I'm sorry!" Dino apologized. He held out a handkerchief for Ayame to wipe her face. Thankfully, Dino had been drinking ice coffee instead of hot coffee.

As a testament to how often this had happened to her, Ayame calmly accepted the handkerchief and wiped her face. Her clothes were once again ruined, but that was okay, she had a spare in the office.

"How is it that I keep running into you when you have some sort of drink or food in hand?" Ayame said dryly.

Dino flinched and let out a nervous laugh. It wasn't like he meant to keep tripping and spilling all over Ayame. In fact, today was an improvement because he hadn't knocked her down in the process. "I'm sorry?" he offered again.

"..."

That… wasn't how it usually went. Dino blinked, concerned. Normally by now (no matter how calm she started off), at this point Ayame would be hurling death threats at him. (Actual death threats that she would have gone through with if given the chance.)

Instead, she looked kinda miserable, in a depressed exhausted type of way. The bags under her golden eyes were fairly pronounced and that vibrant spark, that fire that burned within her, seemed to be smothered.

"Are you okay?" Dino asked, reaching out hesitantly.

"I'm fine," Ayame said.

"You're really not," Dino said. He smiled brightly. "Normally you're hurling death threats at me."

Ayame huffed at his words, but Dino could see the corners of her mouth twitch upward. "You're such a silly man," she said fondly.

Dino bowed and handed over the bouquet of a dozen red roses (that Romario had delivered while they had talked). "My apology flowers," he said with a flourish. Since Ayame would never let him take her out for dinner as an apology, nor let him pay for the cleaning her clothes, red roses had become his signature to give to her.

To his delight, the corners of Ayame's mouth twitched even further up into a smile. "You silly man," she repeated fondly, accepting the flowers.

"Maybe one day you'll let me take you out to dinner as a proper apology," Dino hinted at.

"Keep dreaming."

But Dino didn't miss the small smile.

Drowning in Petals

"Another bouquet?" Shoichi said as Ayame entered the office with another dozen red roses. That had to be the fifteen bouquet this month and it was only the 12th!

Ayame's smile tightened just a fraction, causing Shoichi to worry that he insulted her. Instead, she handed the bouquet to Shoichi. "Find somewhere to put that," she said tiredly.

"We're running out of room," Shoichi pointed out.

"I know. I put the last one in the women's bathroom," Ayame said.

Privately, Shoichi wondered why Ayame always accepted the flowers. She never kept them in her office, or anywhere where she could see them. They were always placed in the lobby, in the staff rooms, the bathrooms, hallways, or other people's offices/cubicles. The other workers were delighted to see the flowers and rumors were at an all time high (not that Ayame knew about them).

Ignoring that, he focused on his boss instead. "Are you okay, Ayame-san?" She looked like she could use some sleep. Shoichi worried she was going to collapse on him.

Ayame waved her hand, dismissing his concerns. "It's fine," she said. "We have work to do right?"

"If you say so," Shoichi said softly. He sincerely hoped Ayame and Tsuna made up soon.

Overwhelming

"Ah, Mukuro-san?"

Mukuro hissed as he shifted his head to look up. There stood Chrome, standing worried to the side. She placed a cup of hot tea in front of him, frowning slightly. "Are you alright?" she asked.

For a split second, Mukuro's vision shattered, draping Chrome in a wild assortment colored strings. Pain surged, pulsing behind his right eye and dark spots dancing in his vision.

"Mukuro-san?" Chrome's voice took an edge of panic.

Mukuro meant to answer her; to give his signature kufufu and twist her concern away from him. But suddenly the world tilted and spun. He dimly registered that he was falling; vision turning dark. The last thing Mukuro registered before falling unconscious was Chrome's panicked shout and the thin arms that caught him.

"Mukuro-san!"

And he knew no more.

Oh boy. So Triads are a growing problem, Mukuro you stubborn boy, and Tsuna and Ayame are fighting. Hayato finally gets his Flames and Ienari has gathered his guardians. -pats Dino- You'll wear her down eventually. Things are starting to pick up. owo b I meant to ask this last chapter, but what are your current theories and suspicions so far? We are steadily progressing to the Ring Battle, I kinda wanna know what you guys think. (At least two people are correct on two separate major theories and a bunch of you have picked up on a few smaller ones.)

Guest Reviewers Response

Guest (Jan 8, Ch 12, 14, 18) I assume you're the same person haha

That's a good question :P And yush, only adult results have been observed. He probably thought it was a good idea at the time. -ninja- Doesn't make him right though.

IceMaize

Thanks!

Lacie

No, no. Just one big holiday present for everyone :P