Chapter 53: Settling Changes

There was something nice about sleeping back in their attic rooms once again. A weird sense of security Shinichi supposed. And there was coffee. Oh God there was real Italian dark black coffee waiting for him when he woke up. When was the last time that happened? Two weeks ago? Three? Shinichi couldn't be bothered to remember. He cringes as he reaches his arm out. He'd forgotten the injuries he had sustained in the fights against the Vindice.

"Hey be careful." Chides a voice across the room. Shinichi looks up and finds the coffee giver, Kaito, watching with a sympathetic smile on his face. "I'd hurry up and drink that if I were you. The others are getting ansty. Make sure to have your Detective Hat on."

Shinichi was about to reply that he didn't have a Detective Hat, nor did he want Kaito to provide one. Although he would need his wits about him to survive the interrogation the others were sure to give. So instead he climbs out of bed a little more before reaching for the coffee and taking a nice large gulp of it. Ahh, that was better.

Feeling more awake already, Shinichi shoos Kaito out of his room so he can get dressed. Eventually the pair make their way down to breakfast.

Which to Kaito was looking rather gloomy. Considering he'd just 'brought' Tsuna back for them, they should have been happier in his opinion. It was a good thing he was here to fix that. He couldn't live and work in a depressed place after all. He turns to Shinichi and gives a quick signal. Shinichi rolls his eyes but one look inside the breakfast room makes him allow it.

The Vongola at the table jump when smoke enters the room but calm down when it's of the usual pink variety. And like they suspect, Kaito (dressed as KID today) and Shinichi are sat down when the smoke dissipates. There are a few additions though. For starters, Haibara (dragged there by Chrome who seemed to have taken custody of the girl) had a huge Hawaiian flower behind her ear. Everyone was sporting a KID doodle on their cheeks along with a rather strange variety of hat. How they got in here Shinichi wouldn't know, he never knew how Kaito could hide so many of them, but every person there had a snowy white dove sat on their head. Even Shinichi and Kaito themselves had the latest Hat fashion trend.

The dove on Shinichi's head jumps down to sit on his shoulder, rubbing its head against Shinichi's cheek. Shinichi can swear he feels the Box in his pocket shake in anger. Hmm, he didn't imagine himself as the jealous type.

The Vongola look at each other in silence for a few moments. It's Lambo who makes the first snort, a shaking finger wavering in Gokudera's direction. Gokudera though, is too busy trying not to laugh at the picture Ryohei made. And them Yamamoto had to make things worse by actually laughing out loud, a hand pointing at Hibari of all people. Like a chain reaction all the Vongola present start to giggle, helped along by the addition of laughing gas which Kaito had hidden in his smoke entrance earlier. He nor Shinichi were affected since he'd warned the detective beforehand.

It took a few minutes for them all to calm down again, not helped by the doves' hilarious poses and actions. They were Kaito's doves, so they knew how to perform. Finally the snickers die down as do the comments about how silly they look. When a reasonable silence returns, Kaito smiles broadly. "That's better! I was worried your faces would freeze in that look. Tsuna wouldn't be happy with that, would he?"

"Yeah, you're right. Tsuna would want to see us smiling." Agrees Yamamoto, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck in silent submission to Kaito's idea.

"Some studies show that having a positive environment around can help someone to heal quicker." Comments Haibara, taking the flower out of her hair to admire it. KID had a rather good sense of fashion.

"Extreme Healing!" shouts Ryohei, pumping a fist into the air. The dove still sat on his head lifts the same wing up to copy the pose of its current seat.

Chrome lifts a hand up to her head and encourages the bird onto it. She carefully lowers it to the table before pointing it in Kaito's direction. Mukurowl was definitely jealous, she could feel him in her pocket since Mukuro had returned the Box Weapon back to her. Then again Mukuro could be an envious person at times, despite how he passed it off as self-beneficial. The dove doesn't go back to Kaito, but insinuates itself on Shinichi's other shoulder.

Breakfast from then on continues in a far more cheerful manor than before. Haibara sits there and people-watches, often nibbling on her own breakfast as she did so. Shinichi had said that Tsuna was different from everyone else, and to her it seemed implied that so were the rest of this gang.

"Ne, Shinichi, what happened to your neck?" asks Yamamoto, pointing to the spot on his own neck. Shinichi resists the urge to place his hand over the bandage. Trust Yamamoto to spot that, hidden under his collar as it was. Well, Reborn did say he had hitman senses. Yamamoto had these odd moments of brilliance, too bad it came at the wrong time.

Shinichi purposely looks away from Haibara when he answers. But he doesn't sugar coat the reason. If she was going to stay then she needed to know these things. Destroying the Organisation couldn't be built upon a wavering foundation of half-truths and slight trust. It had to be all or nothing. Either she stayed here and learnt about this or she went home and remained partially oblivious. Although she couldn't really turn back now, especially now that she knew about Flames and the Mafia. From that moment on, from the moment Yamamoto had entered her house, she had been brought back into the dark. Shinichi expected that Haibara was half prepared for something like that to happen; she was a realist.

"During a fight I was stabbed in the neck." He says bluntly. There is a moment of shock since no one had expected that before Lambo and Fuuta throw their chairs back and run over to where he is sitting. "Hey, it's nothing to worry about. It missed everything vital or else I wouldn't be here." Despite that, Lambo still claims a place on Shinichi (some of his 5 year old habits were hard to break), before pulling the collar down so he could get a better look.

Which then lead to the revelation of the bite marks on his neck. It looked like a wolf had tried to eat him for dinner. Kaito hissed, not having seen them yet. Whilst the bite marks themselves were clean due to Kitty's sharp teeth, there was still bruising from the force she had used to remain in place when Shinichi tried to shake her off. Not all of their training had been done with the Vindice as partners, they had fought a few times between themselves also. As such, Kaito actually had beak bites and scratches on his face, especially his nose, all of which the thief had covered with make-up.

"Wahh! Shinichi-nii, where did you get those from?" asks Fuuta, pushing Lambo away to get a better look.

"A-ha-ha… well you see…" starts Shinichi, wondering how to play this.

"Those are not any normal bites. What did you get them from?" asks Haibara, currently sitting next to Shinichi, so she had a good view.

Shinichi looks over to Kaito and sees the small nod. "You have that to thank for these." He tells Haibara, not wanting to face her wrath. He says the 'that' in such a way as to sound offensive. She never liked it when he got injured. She knew just the right way to pull a plaster off to make it sting in revenge. Kaito can take her ranting and lecture over getting hurt. Shinichi had heard it far too many times during his time as Conan.

But when Shinichi had said 'that', he had truly meant that. It was even more offensive to say It. Since the revelation of these bite marks had drawn all eyes to Shinichi, no one noticed what Kaito was doing. So when they all follow Shinichi's hand pointing across the table from him, they are met by a very… s-s-strange sight. It literally took some of the Vongola's breath away.

They are all staring at Kaito and his sudden transformation. And they keep on staring for they looked so real… A sudden girly titter brings everyone out of their trance to finally look at Kaito's face. Shinichi was going to need to have a word with Kaito about Kitty's modesty around the house at least. Outside the house, sure, fine, it would provide a moment of distraction they could exploit. But they needed to be focused around the house, not staring at Kit's well-endowed body. Although Shinichi supposed it could be worse, at least she was wearing clothes.

Haibara snorts. "You know Shinichi, this isn't looking good. Bites and role playing, who knew?"

Shinichi glares at her and her insinuation. "We are not, thank you very much. I'm sure that you can tell what these are really from."

The Guardians try to follow the conversation, deciding to look anywhere but at Kaito.

Haibara smiles sharply. "That makes it even worse. I worry for your sanity Shinichi." When all she gets is another glare and a very unhappy look, Haibara sighs before propping her head up on her hand. "Those bites are not from a human. Now whilst I am no zoologist, I'd say they came from something along the lines of a wolf or a fox."

"Wow. Extreme training! I fought a bear once though since the lion was busy!" Ryohei reminds, remembering that time all the way back when they first met.

"No Ryohei, I did not fight a pack of wolves."

There is a crashing sound before a growl is heard. Everyone looks back across the table to see Hibari with his tonfa under Kaito's chin. The crashing sound had been the chair falling backwards. 'Kaito' was still growling, lips drawn back. Hibari quickly jumps off before two steel coated cards fly into the floor where he had been.

"Who is that?" asks Hibari looking at a window sill where KID was sat.

"You just had to ruin the fun didn't you? Or weren't you enjoying the clueless look on their faces?" Pouts Kaito. "Here girl," he gently calls, holding a hand out to his doppelganger. 'Kaito' gracefully rises up from the floor, sending a glaring look at Hibari worthy of a regal KID before walking over to Kaito and accepting the hug.

"I suppose I had better get to the point of my story then," Shinichi says, watching as Kaito checked Kit over for any injuries. "What you are looking at is the newest design of Box Weapon Technology, created from scratch rather than from the Over-technology designs of Lorenzini. This is the one and only Kitsune Della Luna in the world. She also has the Vongola Upgrade as you can see when she is in her other form." At the cue, Kit transforms back into her fox-like form.

"Hibari, apologise to Kitty." Demands Kaito, looking over to the disgruntled Prefect.

Instead Hibari just readies both tonfas, crouching down slightly in an attacking stance. "Hn, fight me." Kit turned around and growled at Hibari once again. He was supposed to be an ally, not an enemy.

"Nope." Replies Kaito, annoying Hibari even more. So Hibari just turns around and storms out of the doors, suit jacket floating in the breeze as he walks away.

"You have a box weapon?" asks Gokudera, coming forwards to take a closer look at the Animal. "When did you get one of those? No, actually, who from? We don't create Box weapons here at Vongola. We don't know where the plans for them are."

"Not for lack of trying though. The only person who knows where they are is Verde." Thinks Shoichi, looking at Spanner for confirmation.

"That's who we got them from." Says Kaito, warily watching Gokudera. He had that gleam in his eye that meant that at any moment now the glasses would go on, his hair would get tied back and a white board would appear from nowhere. He wanted to study Kit, Kaito was sure.

"Oh, we went to see Verde too, well Gokudera and some of the others did," says Yamamoto. "He didn't say you visited."

"He doesn't seem like the type to mention that." Comments Shinichi. Verde was very point-orientated. If they had asked for Tsuna's whereabouts, then that's all the information they'd get. Why waste words on something that doesn't answer the question. Saying that Shinichi and Kaito had been by did not tell anyone where Tsuna was.

"So what were you doing at Verde's place?" asks Chrome, since Shinichi was supposed to be at the Vendicare. Mukuro-sama wouldn't be happy to find this piece of information out.

"Igotpoisoned." Shinichi says as quickly as possible. Haibara was going to smack him he knew.

"You what?" asks Ryohei, not understanding what Shinichi had just said.

"I said I got…"

"WHAT?"

"I got poisoned!" Shinichi knew that all day could be spent in a verbal shouting match with Ryohei; Gokudera seemed rather close to making that a reality. Like Shinichi knew, Haibara turned to him.

"Really now? Once wasn't enough?" The delicate eyebrow gets raised and Shinichi gets that look again. He hates that look.

"Shut up. I thought it was a drug not a poison." Before the others can ask why Shinichi was sniffing drugs, he continues, looking at them since they'd understand better than Haibara would have. "It was part of my training, to try and identify a killer based on the signs my Flame picked up. I saw the vial and a syringe so I went after him. This was in London."

"Che, Shamal told me you'd come by and told me about what happened. We were going to bring you back in, but when we next saw you it was when you solved that case in America and you looked perfectly fine. Before we could find you again to check you were alright, you'd gone off the map." Gokudera explains, now having sat back down since Kaito wasn't letting him anywhere near his Box Weapon.

"I went back to Verde to get cured. Afterwards he took a sample of our Flames and made these box weapons for us. We've been training with them ever since." Explains Shinichi.

"So that's why Shinichi-nii disappeared." Smiles Fuuta. "I was enjoying watching you solve cases on the TV. I got worried when you didn't do anything for nearly a week."

"Are you going to show us your own Box Weapon?" asks Chrome, gesturing towards him with one hand.

"You're already looking at them," informs Shinichi. There are two puffs of smoke on his shoulders. The two doves that had been occupying Shinichi's shoulders had been replaced with two Black Ravens. "Meet the Corvi Delle Stelle, or Huginn and Muninn."

Before anyone can ask more about these new additions, Gokudera's phone buzzes and he picks it up. A few flicks of a finger later, he stands up. "Juudaime's awake again." Everyone else smiles in relief before standing up too and making their way out of the room.

"Are you coming too?" asks Shinichi when Haibara lays down her napkin and stands up.

She looks up at him. "Of course I am. All of my experiments are back at Agasa's place so I have nothing to work on. I have nothing better to do."

Nodding, Shinichi then asks. "Does Agasa-hakase know you're here?"

"Yes, he does. But as far as he knows, I'm helping the V.F Corporation work on their latest pharmaceutical since you came and got me. He was fine with it, telling me to keep an eye on you. I think he saw it as some sort of progression."

"What about school? Aren't those kids that follow you going to notice you're gone?" asks Kaito, holding the door open for the three of them.

Haibara thanks him as she walks past before following Shinichi down a corridor and up a flight of stairs. "As far as the school is concerned, I'm off on holiday. The Shounen Tantei think so too. I called them up and dealt with it. That way they aren't going to bug Agasa about it." Actually, thinking about that, Haibara wondered whether she'd have to 'drop out' of school. It wasn't like she needed to be there. She guessed that it all depended on whether she stayed in Italy or not.

"How is Juudaime, Doctor?" asks Gokudera, sitting down next to his boss.

The doctor, slightly scared by the presence of all the Guardians (what an honour to be in the same room as them!), quickly lifts up a clipboard, eyes scanning over it. "Well, to start off with, he has signs of Hypothermia, but we've already started to treat that. In addition, his Flame was at dangerously low levels, almost totally wiped out. This, along with the hypothermia was the reason he blacked out not long after coming back here." Sadly, Kaito and Shinichi weren't surprised by this. The Vendicare was freezing, with mist and ice everywhere you looked. Plus, not only had Tsuna been fighting with his Flames, he had also been using them to counteract Bermuda and the Vindice's Flame Pressure.

" In addition, there are numerous cuts and bruises all along his body. No broken or fractured bones. Decimo tells me that there are no torn ligaments or over stretched muscles."

There is a sigh of relief throughout the Vongola. It seemed like their friend was going to be okay. That thought is thrown to the wind as the Doctor coughs to bring back their attention, having a sheepish look on his face. "There are also traces of 3 different drugs in his system, although they are fading fast. However I fear that more than just those three were used. Decimo refused to speak more on the subject until you were all here."

Eyes turn to Tsuna who was sitting up on a cloud of pillows. There were bandages all up his arms and wrapped around his chest. Plasters littered his face and fingers. He was looking pale and tired too. At the mention of the drugs Tsuna freezes and rubs his arm. He didn't freeze for the reason that most people thought though. Whilst the Vongola in the room assumed it was from bad memories (and some of it could have been that, it wasn't a pleasant experience after all), he actually froze because he was now treading on thin ice. One mistake with this could compromise the deal he and Verde had made. Reborn wouldn't hesitate to reprimand Verde for what the scientist had done, and Tsuna didn't want that.

"Do you want us to explain Boss?" asks Shinichi from the back of the room since they were the last to enter. Tsuna nods. He had never been good at lying, plus Reborn had the ability to read him like an open book. The World's Best Hitman hadn't left his side since he'd gotten back here- or so he'd been told.

The pair walk across the room to stand next to Tsuna's bed, backs against the wall. Reborn kicks Lambo and Fuuta off the bed where they had mobbed Tsuna earlier, and claims his seat to watch from, leaning against the foot board with a cup of espresso in his hand, stroking Leon with the other.

"This is what Tsuna told us when we were on our way back." Kaito starts, hands behind his back. "He'd been talking on the phone to Haru and Kyoko, but he had really bad signal, so he went to find a place with better reception. His intuition warned him something bad was going to happen, but assumed it was because of the question that the girls had just asked him. So he wasn't prepared for when someone jumped out in front of him and sprayed some gas in his face. The next thing he remembers is waking up lying down on a metal table."

They had been over this story quite a few times during their down-time at the Vendicare. Kaito said that the best lies were the ones based upon the truth. Tsuna had thought long and hard about the series of events, trying to remember in as much detail as possible. And so far, every single thing Kaito had said was true.

"That would have been Verde's work." Growls out Gokudera. He looks up to his boss and explains. "After I found you gone, I searched the area and all I could find was this shiny substance on the wall and some scuff marks on the floor. It turned out to be a tranquiliser. I managed to save enough of it before I passed out that we could try and disassemble it to see if it held a clue as to who kidnapped you."

"Since Shoichi and Spanner, nor our Doctors, could find out what it was made of, we went to find your friend Shinichi. You had said she was really good at chemistry and stuff so we assumed that she could help us. We went pretending to be the V.F Corporation and had no intention of talking about the Mafia, but there was an accident and Ten Years Older Lambo ended up spilling the secret." Explains Yamamoto to Shinichi, since Shinichi would have wanted to know.

"In it she found a Lightning Flame used to bind the ingredients together and strengthen the effect. We didn't tell her what the Flames were but she managed to find out anyway. Since Arcobaleno Flames are slightly different to normal ones, we tracked it down to Verde. He told us that he'd recently sold a tranquiliser to a Mafia Family but didn't know who it was that he'd sold it too." Shoichi continues on the explanation.

"Hmm, that makes sense." Thinks Kaito out loud. "We found Tsuna by accident through one of Shinichi's assessments. We entered a lab run by scientists who were doing human experimentation. Some of the Paperwork looked a little dodgy, but I didn't see a name of a Family on them. They must have been backed by someone in secret."

"H-human… Experimentation?" asks Chrome, shocked. She glances up at Mukuro (who had joined them after breakfast) to see shaking fists and gritted teeth. This was a sensitive topic for him.

A flicker of white catches Tsuna's eye. From his position next to Kaito, he was sure he was the only one who could see it. But it was definitely there, a white Flame curling around the Moon Ring. Tsuna's eyes widen a fraction. When he had told Kaito about what he thought the Moon Flame was used for, he had never thought Kaito would take it literally. And use it on the family too. But this was for their own well-being and for Verde's protection, so Tsuna couldn't argue.

"Yes. When we found Boss they were in the middle of an experiment. From what Boss tells us, it was the last of many. They had been testing the effect of a variety of drugs, from poisons to sleeping gas and itching powder." Explains Shinichi, a small bit of pain and pity on his face. He knew it wasn't a comfortable experience for Tsuna, even if Verde had had the countermeasures there. Tsuna's Flame could only reinforce his body so much. Every word of what Shinichi had said was the truth so no one, not even Reborn, could pick up on a lie.

Tsuna watches as Kaito's Flame grows slightly, preparing for the part that was basically one whole lie. "We entered the room to try and save Tsuna, but the scientists fought back. We had no choice but to defend ourselves and to stop them attacking Tsuna to get back at us. When the scientists realised that they were going to lose they…" Again a truth wrapped in a lie, helped by the fact that they really had fought against a scientist- Verde. Not due to the experiments mind you.

Kaito takes in a deep breath, pretending to be shocked by the lie he was about to say. Shinichi and Tsuna look away. They knew the script, knew what was coming up next and Reborn would surely notice if they didn't react to it. The truth was very rarely pretty, so a realistic lie had to be ugly too. And a Lie about the Mafia, well that had to be blood red.

"They destroyed as much of their work as they could before committing suicide. They shouted out something about protecting their research. I… We… couldn't react fast enough to save them." There is silence throughout the room. Hibari clicks his tongue over the weakness of herbivores, whilst Mukuro smirks since they had gotten what was coming to them. Too bad he didn't know who they were or else he'd take a trip down the Paths and make sure that their afterlife wasn't pleasant either.

"Since we were on one of Shinichi's assignments, Bermuda said he'd take care of the clean-up. He destroyed all evidence of the scientists and their Laboratory." Kaito finishes with. That was insurance against them trying to find the place. If the Vindice had had a hand in things then the Vongola and Reborn would be assured that nothing was left for them to find. They wouldn't go looking deeper into things and find holes in their lie- such as no missing Laboratory.

"Heh, you really are Dame aren't you. Getting kidnapped by chance." smirks Reborn, insulting his student. Really, how bad was Tsuna's luck to be the one kidnapped. Who knows how many hundreds of people had walked through that alleyway, and it was him who had been captured. Reborn supposed it might have been because Tsuna still looked feminine and weak. He'd have to add some more muscle to the ones Tsuna already had. Vongola didn't need a girly Mafia Boss.

Fuuta runs over and tightly hugs Tsuna, crying into his shoulder. He might be 15, but the events told were still shocking ones. He might have been brought up in the Mafia, but knowing that his protector had gone through something so traumatic was more than he could take. "So all the scratches were from that fight at the end? Did they hurt Tsuna-nii more?"

Tsuna gulped, not wanting to lie to Fuuta, but knowing he was going to have too. "Some were from when I fought against the Scientist during the experiments and some were from when I fought with Shinichi and Kaito." Which again was mainly true. Most of these injuries had been sustained when fighting with Kaito and Shinichi against the Vindice. Some wounds, like the scratch marks down his arm, were from Verde's experiments.

Tsuna strokes the boy's hair to try and calm him down a little. Lambo was already crying into Gokudera's shirt and for once Gokudera didn't mind.

"What were you doing at the Laboratory to have found him?" asks Haibara to Shinichi. It sounded a little too coincidental to her.

Shinichi turns to her, having to look down slightly- which to be honest was something he hadn't done for a very long time. Her and Conan were of similar height. It felt weird to finally be looking down at her- a reminder that he really was cured. "I was looking over a case file about a series of kidnapping in the area. My Flames had found some details that no one had noticed- that's what my Flame does- so we went to investigate. Those kidnappings must have been the other victims of the Scientists' experiments. We were shocked to find Boss there."

"Maybe Bermuda gave it to you on purpose since he knew about it. He had that weird looking glass that sees everything right?" offers Kaito.

"The Vindice do see all." Recites Reborn, remembering what the Ninth had told him before. And if Reborn believed it, then the other's trusted his judgement.

Shinichi and Kaito wait a few moments to see if any more questions were going to pop up. None do. However, Shinichi does receive a push from Haibara, directing him towards a bed across the room.

"Sit and take the jacket off." She orders. Shinichi sighs and does so. "And the shirt too." Shinichi feels slightly embarrassed since her order had been heard by everyone in the room. "Don't think I didn't notice. Those bite marks aren't all the injuries you have. Agasa told me to look after you." Shinichi submits and lets her do as she wishes.

"Ne, Haibara, one of the other doctors can do that." Comments Yamamoto.

Haibara shakes her head. "I'd like to do it myself. I don't want anything they administer to him to react to the Apo-toxin. I've done some tests on the most recent strain of it so I have an idea of which ones to avoid. I'm going to need more information on how the way you cured him affects the body's immune system just to make sure."

"Flames generally slow the process down." Tsuna comments, deciding he might as well be helpful. He forgets that that then brings the attention of the room back onto him. "Umm… I found that out during the experiments. The higher my Flame the slower the process. Some weak poisons were totally burned off too."

"That would explain why your Flame levels are so low then Decimo?" asks the Doctor, to which Tsuna nods confirmation.

Haibara nods too, looking up at Shinichi to see if he thought it was the truth too. She didn't know what these Flames were scientifically and therefore couldn't have a well formed accurate opinion. Shinichi explains to Haibara what Verde had told him about the Apo-toxin's way of saving him from such poisons, although Shinichi didn't know how it would affect positive drugs like paracetamol.

Whilst Haibara starts working on cleaning and dressing Shinichi's wounds, Reborn jumps over to sit next to Shinichi. "Haibara's now Family." Reborn explains to the others. The Guardians are shocked by this revelation. They thought it was going to be a one-time thing, obviously none of them had thought ahead.

"Ahh of course!" says Yamamoto loudly, clapping a fist into his palm. "Adult Lambo mentioned that she became part of the Family.

"Well you'd all better get used to seeing her. If she's been Shinichi's doctor this long then she's good enough for the rest of you." Reborn explains, looking out from under his fedora.

Tsuna leans forwards in a panic. "Reborn! There you go again, recruiting people into my Family. Have you even asked her if she wants this? You know that she-" Tsuna stops himself before he can say the damaging words.

But it doesn't matter, Haibara knew where that sentence was going. "Whilst I was mainly their chemist, I did do a little bit of Doctoring. I know how to remove bullets and such. Your wounds can't be much different from theirs." She says so quietly, resigning herself to her fate. Tsuna feels really bad now for mentioning it. He could hear how much it hurt her to say that and offer up services that may only remind her of times she wished to forget. Yet another broken soul he'd have to fix.

Tsuna had noticed a while ago what the Mafia was really made up of: broken souls. This was even true where his Guardians were concerned. He had fixed their broken souls during the early stages of getting to know them back when he was 14. It was this fixing that had made them care about him so much. Admittedly not all of them were broken in the traditional sense. Gokudera was one of the more obviously damaged once due to his tragic past. Yamamoto had tried to kill himself when they first met properly, Hibari was alienated due to his nature as was Ryohei, Lambo had become a hitman at the age of 5. Mukuro was lost on a path of revenge and suffering, Chrome had been mistreated by the people who should have loved her the most. Shinichi's life was in ruins and still is, Kaito was fighting for a lost past and a dead-end future.

"At least Chrome will have another Sister whilst down here in Italy!" smiles Yamamoto. Haru, Kyoko and I-pin were all down in Japan leaving her all alone with the boys. That breaks the tension of the room and Haibara smiles slightly before continuing on with her work.

Once finished with Shinichi, she turns to Kaito. "You too." She orders, pointing towards the bed.

Shinichi gets up and smiles as he passes Kaito. But the thief didn't like that smile, it wasn't a happy one. "Have fun." Shinichi says, in a tone that meant the exact opposite was going to happen.

Nah, what was the worst she would do? Kaito wondered.

Shinichi smiled at the yelp Kaito gave off as the first of many plasters was removed.

Next chapter will be with Boss!Tsuna in it! So look forward to that.

See you then!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 17 October 2012

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