Author's Note: Ah, for any of you who don't remember, the little thing down there with the Millefiore guy, Giaggiolo,is in episode 85. His appearance is brief and insignificant because, I guess in Minako's eyes, he's just another guy getting beat up by Hibari. Anyways, happy birthday Hibari!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

I look at the screen, barely managing to hold back my annoyance as the green-haired male with the frog hat on the other end continues to laugh in a monotone, mocking way. I am Hibari, Minako. I shouldn't be mocked like this! I clench my hands and hold back my annoyance with what little shred of control is left. My right eye twitches a little. "Are you just about done yet?" I ask with a glare.

"Wait…" he starts. "Hahaha… I just can't… Minako-senpai as a kid is so weak. She can't use illusions," he continues in a monotone way. "I can't believe that the Varia's Cloud Guardian could be so weak."

I finally snap. "That's fine. I'll be on my way then. Have fun telling your boss that he needs a new Cloud Guardian." I smirk at him now as I start to leave the room.

"Fine, fine. I'll teach you, you ugly, old hag. Boss will get mad and throw things at me if I tell him something like that," he says.

I walk back to the screen so he can see me again. I've managed to calm myself down and I reply, "I'm younger than you, you warty toad."

"I know…" Pause. "And Senpai, I'm a frog."

"I know."

I sit on the bed in my current room and I let out a sigh. My head is pounding- I have a headache. I frown. Why is it that it's so hard to hold up illusions? It shouldn't be this physically draining. I refused to give up before during the lesson until Fran finally forced me to stop by ending the video conference. Then, I finally retreated back into my now locked room. I can't let anyone see my weakness. I continue to frown, but I finally get up and walk out of my room to go help out with the house chores. Haru and Kyoko have been taking care of everything recently. I glance at my right hand and I put the box weapons in my pocket. I have to train more…

An alarm starts to ring and I look around blankly, wondering if I set it off. Onii-san comes over, looking slightly anxious until he sees me. "Onii-san, what's going on?" I ask.

Kusakabe walks over and reports, "It seems that someone tried to open the C-Hatch by force in the main base and triggered the trap."

"I'm going to head over to the other side then," I reply.

Onii-san nods. "Tetsu, go with her." Then he walks away. I frown as I watch him go back to the other room.

"He's only looking out for you, Mina-san," Kusakabe says. He looks at me with a slightly worried expression.

"I know, Onii-san was always like that," I reply, "but it's like he can't be bothered to protect me with his own hands anymore." My hands wrap around the box weapons in my hand tighter. "To the C-Hatch," I say.

When we reach the C-Hatch, we find Lambo there, surrounded by the others, rolling around on the floor and crying about wanting a lollypop. I automatically distance myself from them. Lambo says something about being bored and wanting to go outside as well. I can connect to that. "Lambo-kun," I start. They all turn to me and Lambo stops crying and instead, looks at me with wide, teary eyes. "You feel like you're stuck here, right?" I ask. I continue without waiting for an answer. "I don't have a lollypop, but I'll show you a cool trick I learned today. Okay?" I ask gently. I seemed to have piqued the others' interest too.

I put my right hand behind my back as I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. I feel the indigo flame ignite on one of the rings and I start to create the park that I remember going to with Onii-san as a child. I use my memory to help make the illusion look as realistic as possible. I exhale slowly and I open my eyes to find the others looking around in shock at their surroundings. It looks like the park that we're all familiar with. Lambo and I-Pin run around excitedly and start to play on the equipment.

Reborn walks over to me. "Not bad, Minako." I nod, but I can't do much else. I start to feel weaker. I extend the illusion as long as I can and then, I let it go slowly. Haru, Kyoko, Lambo, and I-Pin look around blankly as the base appears again. I let out a quiet sigh and Kusakabe looks at me a bit worriedly. I shake my head slightly.

From around three feet away from me, Kyoko says, "Amazing, Minako-chan! How did you do that?" She looks happy.

"Just a little trick I learned," I reply. I start to walk away, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way."

I look up from the notes on tactics that my future-self created as someone comes into the room. I look blankly at Onii-san, who seems to have changed into a suit. "Onii-san? Is something wrong?" I ask.

"We're heading out. Come on," he says.

I reply a bit hesitantly as I get up from the desk, "Okay…" He hands me several Mammon Chains and says to put on a B-Class ring and a C-Class ring for both mist and cloud. I nod as I switch the rings and follow him out. What's he doing…?

When I asked Onii-san what we were doing on the way, he replied by saying that we were going training. Now I completely understand. I watch closely as Onii-san prepares to fight the guy. It takes one hit. "Hibari-san!" Tsuna exclaims. "You came to save us!"

Onii-san kneels down and takes the man's rings. "I'm taking these cloud attribute rings." As we start to walk away, he says, "Minako, here." I catch the small object that Onii-san threw over his shoulder at me without much trouble and I look at it blankly. It's one of the Cloud rings…

"Thank you, Onii-san," I say. I smile at him as he turns around to look at me. He turns away from me again, but I notice that he seems a bit pleased. I continue to smile.

One week later…

I smirk. I've got it all down. My stamina has increased by a lot and on top of that, I can take a few hits before I start to lose concentration. Although, I don't plan on relying on illusions, I came to the same conclusion as my future-self- I'll use illusions as something to surprise people. After reading the notes left behind, I figured out why my box weapons are a cloud attribute crow and a mist attribute raven. I can't wait to try it out on someone. It's a bit draining, but that's okay. That, I can overcome easily.

"There's a limit to how much you can learn about illusions through a video call like this, and I'm glad to say that we reached that limit. I finally don't have to deal with you anymore, you wimpy version of Minako-senpai," says Fran.

I reply, "That's fine. I've been getting tired of your teasing anyhow, you warty frog."

"That's hypocritical, Senpai," he replies.

"I'm not teasing you, so it's not," I say. "Anyhow, I'd like to thank you for taking the time out to train me." I bow my head a little. "Thank you." I laugh a little. "Good-bye, Fran."

He waves his right hand. "Bye, Minako-senpai." He cuts the connection. I turn the monitor off and leave the room. Now, onto mastering the techniques that were left behind for me.

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