A/N: Well, I did take me longer than I expected to post this... simply because of the length of this chapter. (I'll say the same as on my profile: If you want faster but shorter updates, see my tumblr.)

I tried to include a lot of the typical fluff that defines KHR and contrasts the heavier aspects of the storyline.

And just so you know, I've read so many Tsuna or Giotto cake-addiction fictions that it has become cemented in my headcannon.

A lot of stuff goes on in this chapter: Big Brother Sasagawa arrives at the base with Chrome and the decision about the invasion of the Melone base is made. Oh, and Haru and Kyoko actually know more than you think, Tsuna.

She just entered the kitchen to her the tail end of Lambo exclaiming to have seen "a boobie-load of boobies". She chuckled when the boys spluttered. Instantly the boys attention switched from the mental image they had conjured when the boy uttered this to the blond.

"Hine-san! You've returned! You were gone for three days! Are you alright?!" Tsuna asked in worry. So what if he still felt guilty for blaming her last time?

Yamamoto chuckled at the his friend's exclamation.

"Maa, maa, Tsuna, she probably just lost track of time." he tried to assure him.

"But- the flame zombies!" Tsuna objected frantically to which Takeshi laughed even more.

"Did you watch too many horror movies again?"

Hine smiled softly as she crossed over the room, setting down the plastic bag she had been carrying and placing her hand on the brunette's hair to give it a small tousle.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun. I know when to run and can do so when I have to."

Then she turned to Yamamoto with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Takeshi, over the last years something we call 'flame zombies' has emerged. You'll recognise them for what they are when you come across them. They are dangerous, so you must never let them come close to you, ok?"

Yamamoto nodded uncertainly, probably mulling over the admittedly rather ridiculous idea.

Whenever Tsuna tried to come up with what they might look like, he ends up with a generic walking grey rotting corpse on fire. He was however also certain that was not what they would look like. That would be seriously ridiculous.

Furrowing his brow at Hine's answer because it was anything but convincing Tsuna was about to say something but he was quickly distracted by her next sentence. Tapping a finger to her chin with a wide grin on her lips she asked: "Ne, ne, a question: didn't you guys circulate adult magazines in your clubs and classes in middle and high school? The schools I attended did, you know. Well the boys did. I've always wondered if they did in yours as well, because you seemed way too innocent in high school. Even now your future self still does, Tsuna-kun. And both of your reactions to Lambo's statement was rather cute too.", she pointed out curiously.

The boys both spluttered blushing even more madly. Hine smiled without a care in the world.

Somehow Tsuna could now believe she had lived with the Yamamotos'. Only someone affiliated with the Yamamoto household could bluntly ask such a question without regard for social decorum.

Both Tsuna and Yamamoto spluttered trying to evade the question until Hine seemed to give up on it.

"Well, if you don't want to answer, that's alright too. I think I'll be joining the girls in the bath as soon as I put away this stuff." she announced as she left the kitchen not seeming to realise what kind of mental image she evoked with this statement after what Lambo had said beforehand.

Needless to say the boys were red as tomatoes for quite a while that evening.

Fuelled by their worry for Gokudera, Takeshi and Tsuna rounded up all of the current inhabitants of the hideout for their planned bonding activity.

Lal Mirch had declined, as had the funny little man Giannini. Hibari was nowhere to be found and his second in command from the disciplinary committee, Kusakabe, wasn't to be found either.

In fact only their group from the past and Fuuta had agreed to join in the actual making of the sushi. The little guy had agreed to watch them as they did it and Tsuna had for some reason gone an interesting shade of green when Takeshi suggested to ask Gokudera's sister for help. The only person left to ask was Ayumi whom they found checking the supplies in the infirmary again.

Surprise showed on Ayumi's face as they brought their idea to her. Then a smile broke through and she openly laughed.

"I guess I'll help you. Since Takeshi is actually hopeless with food."

Takeshi blushed. While it was true that he couldn't cook, his father still owned the best sushi shop in all of Namimori. And he had taught him how to wield his sword style. He was bound to have at least picked some of his sushi skills up, right?

As if reading his thoughts Ayumi smirked at him.

"I told you didn't I? Tsuyoshi-san hired me to help out in the shop. Why would he do this if you could help?"

Takeshi groaned but left it at that while Tsuna looked back and forth between him and Ayumi in confusion. Meanwhile Ayumi was listing things they'd have to consider.

"...Also we can't make the sushi with fresh fish, because the merchant who usually delivered the fish has closed shop. And we'll have to be careful with Lal's portion, because she's picky with her food."

"Eh." Tsuna spoke up in surprise, "She is?"

Ayumi nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, there's a couple of foods she will not touch and even only seeing them will put her in a bad mood. One of them is octopus. Or anything with tentacles really. Another is any type of bird you still recognise as bird upon serving. There are a couple more I know of."

Takeshi hummed.

"That's surprisingly childish." He remarked, "but luckily neither are needed for sushi."

Ayumi smiled wrily.

"Yes, we're lucky in this case. Especially Tsuna-kun. She gets very creative in her training methods when she's in a bad mood." Then she sighed, "I think I might have spoiled her too much..."

The two boys just looked at each other and decided not to react to the last statement. It was probably better for their sanity anyway.

"Thank you for helping out with the chores, Hine-san." Haru enthusiastically thanked the older girl as they were doing the washing, "you must be really busy with the boys always getting hurt during training, yet you're going out of your way to help us!"

The girl in question however just waved it off.

"No need to thank me, Haru-chan. Our Tsuna-kun asked me to look after you as long as you're here, so I'm just doing as I promised him. And call me Ayumi, as I told you already I'm good friends with your future-selves."

The girls looked at her uncomfortably. They didn't mind calling the older girl by her given name, but they could tell the girl was forcing herself to be comfortable around them. And they didn't want her to feel like that. They wanted her to open up to them for their own merits not for the friendships or the promised she made with their future selves.

The only ones she seemed to be remotely comfortable around were Yamamoto, Gokudera and unsurprisingly Lambo but the little boy was just too adorable. With Gokudera however it seemed to simply lie in their lack of interaction. She rarely addressed him and he ignored her except for the occasional undignified outburst whenever he felt Tsuna's integrity was threatened. The girls figured she was probably not too terribly close to this time's Gokudera either, so she had an easier time interacting with his past self because she didn't expect very much.

Kyoko looked like she was about to say something to address the issue but was ultimately stopped when suddenly a very loud shout of "VOOOOOOOOOIIIIII!" sounded all the way to the washing room they were in.

Rubbing her ringing ears Hine grumbled a little under her breath before announcing, "I'll go check what that was supposed to be about. Do you want to come with me?"

The two girls nodded in agreement and followed a short distance after her towards the computer room they knew the boys would be in. To their surprise they found Kyoko's older brother there.

Hine, seeing the unconscious girl in his arms, instantly walked right over to him.

"I'll take care of her." Hine told future Ryohei as she took the girl from his arms.

"Ah, please, extremely do."

Tsuna knew Hine had treated Gokudera's and Yamamoto's injuries after they had been defeated by Gamma and treated all of their training injuries but Onii-san's level of trust in her was still astounding. Moreover Chrome's case was definitely more complicated than a couple of scrapes.

Worried Tsuna stopped the girl as she was about to leave the briefing room.

"Hi- Hine-san...we- well Chrome Dokuro is..."

Tsuna thought he could see an expression of hurt flittering across her face, but it was gone too fast for him to be sure. He floundered to find the correct words, but couldn't seem to find a way not too reveal too much if she didn't already know.

Hine interrupted him but not unkindly. Instead she smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-kun, I am very well aware of Chrome-chan's condition. After all I'm friends with this time's Chrome-chan. After I finished my studies she entrusted me with her secret. Therefore she'll be perfectly fine with me looking after her."

Then she turned towards the two girls who had come into the room with her.

"Could you please ask Bianchi to help me in the infirmary when you've caught up with your brother, Kyoko-chan?"

Both Kyoko and Haru nodded quickly upon which Hine left with her new charge while future-Ryohei entertained his sister and her friend.

"I brought the cake!" Hine announced as she entered the underground training room with a delicate looking ornate silver tea tray stacked with cake slices, colourful cupcakes and cookies.

Tsuna didn't quite know what to make of that, as he was in the middle of training with Lal Mirch and was supposed to decide if they were to launch the attack on the Millefiore in five days time. Even if she wasn't aware of the mafia, with Chrome in the infirmary how could she even think of cake?!

Though that cake did seem very enticing...

"How's the girl doing?" Lal Mirch asked turning to Hine and taking in the tray laden with goods.

The blond frowned before putting on a seemingly carefree smile again.

"She's stable. Her injuries weren't too bad. Mostly scrapes. All she needs is a good rest and she'll be fine..." Hine replied, "well as fine as she can be while still missing her intestinal organs."

While still rather apprehensive, even after hearing the blond was a certified physician (look at that pervert Shamal, he's supposedly one of the best...),Tsuna felt relieved at that information. Which was obviously what his trainer had been aiming for as she turned back to him with what Tsuna swore was an bloodthirsty smirk.

Without looking towards Hine any longer the CEDEF operative motioned her towards the back of the training room.

"You know where you can set it up."

Hine smiled.

"Of course."

Rather dumbfounded Tsuna watched the blond walk to where Lal Mirch had indicated and pushing a single button hidden behind a small panel invisible against the rest of the monochrome wall while balancing the tea tray in one hand easily. Then unfortunately he found himself object of his trainer's wrath for not paying attention to her.

When he finally braved another look to where the blond stood, his eyes bulged as he saw the new addition of a round tea table on spindly legs and two comfortably looking armchairs in that particular corner of the training room. However he paid dearly for that moment of inattentiveness.

"You're to decrease your time doing the slalom by a third." Lal Mirch announced mercilessly.

"Hieeeeee!"

Tsuna's eyes instantly whipped back to his current trainer.

"But that's impossible!" He whined. He had been doing various obstacle courses during his training with the CEDEF operative while Yamamoto and Gokudera had yet to be cleared to leave the med bay again. Unfortunately that meant she knew his times using his old gloves. Little to say, she didn't take well to the fact that Tsuna couldn't control his new gloves' flame output as well as the old ones'. She seemed to take it as a personal slight and put him through more training because of it. With the additional spars with future Hibari though, the training had become a lot more straining. He had to constantly push his limits when sparring the adult skylark. Tsuna had thought their Hibari was scary, but future-Hibari was the incarnation of hell. Back to his problem however, there also seemed to be a silent competition between Reborn and Lal Mirch to see which one of the two could prepare their student for the upcoming battles better. And the CEDEF operative was a very harsh task master.

Tsuna shut his whining instantly when he saw the menacing aura around his trainer daring him to defy her again. He knew from experience that she'd make him regret it if he did defy her again, so he wisely swallowed his protest and got started on the slalom course again.

Completely out of breath he looked up to hear his time after completing the course as fast as he could, only to find his trainer wasn't where he had left her.

Instead she was sat on one of the armchairs across a smiling Hine and frowning into a cup of dark liquid that could be either tea or coffee. Judging from the colour of the milk-diluted version of the drink Hine held, he would guess coffee though.

How was that even fair?

"Too slow. You barely managed to get the same time as last time. And you're nowhere close to the time you had with your old gloves."

Tsuna heaved a sigh. He just knew this was going to be really hard.

A light chuckle drew his attention back to the blond sitting across from his trainer. In her hand she held a small plate with a heavenly looking piece of rich chocolate cake.

Ayumi followed his glance and smiled a saccharine smile.

"Isn't this the reception level course?" She asked the young woman in front of her, "are you going soft, Lal-chan? You haven't even started him on the boss course yet. Don't you think having him practice on the more difficult course would help him with his time on this one?"

Hearing this Tsuna groaned. There was an even more difficult course? How was he ever even going to survive training?! And why was she edging his trainer on even more? Lal Mirch was plenty bad on her own!

Hine tutted gently placing the plate back on the table. And gave him a reassuring smile.

"Now, now, Tsuna-kun, it wouldn't be bribery if you didn't do anything for it, now would it."

That instantly made the fourteen-year-old look at the slightly older teen hopefully. She knew his fatal weakness: cake.

Again she chuckled.

"Yes, I made enough cake for all of you to have some too. But only after your individual trainers deem you finished for the day. After all you need something to look forward to. Something to lift your spirits. So give it your all, Tsuna-kun. You have to win your fight, don't you? "

All of a sudden Tsuna found himself more motivated to complete the obstacle course.

Forgotten were all thoughts of how cruel the blond was to entice his trainer to up his training even more. She was obviously an angel sent from heaven.

If he got some of that cake, deciding if they would join the Vongola's counterstrike against the Millefiore in 5 days didn't seem quite as daunting anymore.

Hine had gathered the girls in the kitchen to lighten their spirits a bit and they were now watching attentively as she brought a large chocolate cake out of the fridge.

With a large smile she placed it on the table in front of them and passed out pieces to each of them. In the meantime Kyoko passed out cups of black tea and Haru placed a small jug of milk and a pot of sugar on the table. With the exception of Hine all of them had a large piece of cake in front of them.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed by Kyoko.

"Hine-san, you didn't take any cake, even though you went to all these lengths to make it. You know you should indulge in cake every now and then. Even Haru and I do so every month. Dieting all the time is bad!"

Hine chuckled lightly behind one hand.

"Don't worry, Haru-chan, I'm not on a diet. And I do actually regularly participate in self-appreciation day with your future-selves. But I already had quite a few treats with Lal-chan earlier."

"Hahi!" Haru exclaimed, "with the bitter, pretty lady? With the cool gorilla shoulder accessory?"

Ayumi smiled softly.

"Yes, it's become a bit of a habit of ours to catch up with coffee and cake. And this cake is a bit too rich to have another piece of it."

The girls nodded uncertainly.

Hine chuckled lightly.

"Try some and you'll know what I mean."

That was all the encouragement they needed to start their pieces of cake. Their eyes lit up when they tasted the rich, velvety chocolate flavour.

"Hahi, this cake is really good." Haru complimented the older girl.

Ayumi smiled bashfully into her cup of tea.

A couple of seconds silence reigned as they savoured their first bite before the conversation started up again.

"Onii-chan said he was at a sumo tournament." Kyoko remarked uncomfortably.

"But the boys said something about 'Varia'." Haru supplied just as unhappily.

"And Hana-chan said he told her he was out of the country for work and visited a place with a queer man. There's no sumo outside of Japan." Kyoko followed up on their discussion.

In sync the two looked at the older girl for confirmation.

Hine hummed noncommittally.

"I feel like they're trying to keep secrets from us." Haru added unhappily.

The blond sighed and set down her teacup. Her face was blank as if she was far away in her mind.

"You know, there's always a reason when someone has a secret." she said in a melancholic tone, "it might be, because they're embarrassed by a particularly bad test score or because they don't want to admit to making a mistake. Sometimes however, they keep a secret for someone else. They keep the secret because they were asked to do so or because they know that the knowledge they are keeping a secret might hurt someone. So if you want to find out somebody's secret you always have to think about whose secret it is and why they might be keeping it, Haru-chan, Kyoko-chan."

Both Haru and Kyoko looked at Hine in surprise. Before it morphed into guilt.

"I didn't even think of that." Kyoko admitted remorsefully squeezing her eyes closed and berating herself for her thoughtlessness.

She opened them again when all of a sudden she felt a warm hand gently tousling her hair.

"Things like these are often forgotten especially when one is young. It's part of growing up to be reminded of them every now and then." Hine said smiling gently.

"Hahi! We'll think of that before we try to find out more!" Haru promised which earned her a proud nod from the older girl.

Fortunately their somber mood didn't last any longer, because just then Fuuta entered the kitchen carrying both I-Pin and Lambo in his arms as if they were each a sack of flour and with black marker doodles all over the young man's and I-Pin's faces.

Instantly the girls broke out in giggles.

"What happened, Fuuta-kun?" Hine asked with mirth dancing in her eyes. The girls figured she could probably tell by the looks of things but wanted to hear it from the older teen.

Fuuta threw her a small glare as he huffed indignantly.

"I fell asleep while I was watching over their nap time and Lambo woke up first." He admitted slightly disgruntled.

Still giggling at his misfortune Hine got up from her chair and indicated the older teen to take her seat. Then she rummaged in one of the storage cupboards before handing him a bar of soap and a wash cloth. She grabbed another set and a small basin to fill with water and returned with her set of items.

"You should know better than to let your guard down around Lambo. Our Lambo would still do that to you if you gave him the chance." She told him, "go wash up. I'll look after the kids."

Sighing deeply Fuuta did as he was told and walked over to the door. When he was almost out of the kitchen he turned around and said, "but save me a piece of the chocolate truffle cake!"

Hine just chuckled as she pulled out two cupcakes with colourful buttercream topping and placed them on a small plate each. Setting the plates in front of the children who had been surprisingly quiet and obedient since they entered the kitchen.

"Thank you, Ayumi-nee-chan!" Lambo exclaimed happily before folding his hands to say, "Ittadakimasu!"

I-Pin did the same in Chinese before both of them gladly dug in.

Stunned Haru and Kyoko watched the small children and then looked over to Hine who was now gently removing the permanent marker doodles off I-Pin's face with the face cloth and soap.

"You're really good with children, Hine-san." Haru remarked in surprise, "I don't think even Nana-san can make them behave as well as this."

The blonde froze for a moment before she smiled a slightly strained smile.

"I had younger siblings" She admitted, "there's a couple of tricks."

Kyoko frowned. That was past tense.

"Had? What happened, if I may ask."

Sadness tinged the already strained smile as Hine continued cleaning the doodles off I-Pin's face while she was munching on the bright red icing of her cupcake.

"They... I lost them."

The switch in that sentence had been obvious enough for the girls to realise that 'lost' was most likely a euphemism for death because the older teen couldn't bear to speak out their true fate aloud. Imagining her big brother dying Kyoko looked at the older teen with shock and pity and Haru just looked at the girl in pure shock.

Seeing the younger girls' expressions she hurried to show them a happier smile and added: "But that was a long time ago. It's okay now."

Instantly the girls from the past frowned.

"You shouldn't lie, Hine-san." Haru said seriously.

"If you're not okay, it's alright to show it. You don't have to act as if everything is alright if it's not." Kyoko added.

Hine sighed and dropped the smile exhaustedly.

With a wane and forlorn expression she looked at the two. They could see the insecurity shining in her eyes clearly.

"It's just hard to deal with without a mask, you know?"

Slowly she got up and placed her cup in the sink.

"I'll excuse myself. I think I need some time alone."

The next time Haru saw Hine was when she stormed into the infirmary accompanied by a loud high pitched beeping. Which stopped once she entered the infirmary. Gone was the insecurity from when she had left them in the kitchen, replaced by a worried frown.

They were all high strung, Tsuna more than the others, because he had even snapped at Lambo and Haru! But then Reborn-kun had brought him the news that somebody they had called Chrome's condition had worsened and they rushed over to the infirmary. To Haru's horror it turned out to be the girl Kyoko's brother had brought to the base lying there on the bed in the centre of the room and coughing blood.

"What happened?!" Hine asked Bianchi who was standing next to the girl's bed clearly worried.

"She's losing her internal organs!" Bianchi replied frantically.

Haru watched in horror from outside the door where Tsuna and the others couldn't see her. Hearing those words though she turned away. She didn't dare look any longer. She didn't want to see anyone dying. Why did her organs fail? Surely this Chrome wasn't any older than them! She couldn't die yet!

Tsuna was holding Chrome's hand, so much Haru could make out from the sounds inside, before she ran off with Lambo in her arms. Away from the commotion and the scary idea of someone dying.

Tsuna looked at his female mist guardian in frantic worry. How could they help her?!

Hine was flitting around the room frantically checking different medical equipment and looking more and more stressed with every passing second that Chrome continued coughing up blood.

She was currently looking through several vials of liquids trying to find the one she was searching for when Hibari entered the room and lifted Chrome from the table.

"If you die, we'll all be in trouble." He stated calmly, while Kusakabe came over to Tsuna asking him to leave the infirmary.

All Tsuna noticed before he left was Hine handling a syringe filled with a transparent blue liquid and injecting it into Chrome's arm.

About an hour later they were all waiting in the briefing room. Tsuna had been herded there by Bianchi after the woman had been kicked out of the infirmary as well and had gone to inform the rest of the Guardians as well as Lal Mirch, Fuuta and Giannini. They were now all rather anxiously waiting for news on the only girl in their group of Guardians.

Only then Future-Ryohei joined them with Kusakabe.

Instantly Tsuna looked to Hibari's second-in-command for an update on Chrome's condition.

"Chrome Dokuro is out of immediate danger for now. Kyo-san and Hine-san have managed to stabilise her." he told them.

Relief coursed through all three of them and Tsuna exclaimed, "really? That's wonderful!"

Reborn however had to question it.

"What did they do to pull her through that condition?"

"The Vongola ring," Kusakabe explained to the infantile tutor, "Hibari made her draw upon her own flames to create illusory organs for herself."

Surprised the Guardians and Boss from the past looked at the Foundation's second-in-command.

"Is such a thing even possible?" Gokudera voiced the same thought Tsuna had had.

Kusakabe frowned.

"At her current strength the illusion is incomplete so she is barely hanging on with Hine-san treating her with medication to keep her body from repulsing the illusory organs."

Tsuna gulped. Their friend was still on death's door.

This however placed them in a difficult situation with the planned attack on the Millefiore base in 5 days time. With Mukuro's condition largely unknown that took Chrome out of the equation.

"Don't worry. I will stand in for Chrome." Lal Mirch stated firmly.

Surprisingly it was Reborn who spoke against her participation.

"You've been exposed to too much of the Anti-Tre-Ni-Sette-Radiation. Your Body is breaking down."

The bluenette was just about to retort angrily, when a calm voice was heard from the door.

"You know they're right, Lal-chan."

Instantly all eyes were on the door where the resident blonde teen was standing.

"Hine-san!" Tsuna voiced his surprise as had long since become his habit.

Hine smiled wanly at him before turning her attention to her friend.

"You know your body is at it's limit. You are not taking part in anything."

Anger flushed Lal Mirch's face.

"Then give me some medication to fix it!"

Hine shook her head slowly.

"What you want is not something to fix it, since you know such a chemical compound does not exist. You want something to treat the symptoms so you can wreck your body even further. You have to stop exposing your body to the radiation!"

That broke all self restraint Lal Mirch might have still had.

"But the ones emitting the Anti-Tre-Ni-Sette-Radiation are the Millefiore!"

Hine took a step back unhappily watching as Lal Mirch pleaded her case to the others seated at the table with her. Tsuna could clearly see how to her everything that happened was the Millefiore's fault. The Radiation and also the people dear to her that the radiation killed. She kept on blaming them, although the others tried to reason that there was no proof for these accusations, until she collapsed.

Not even a moment later Hine was crouched next to her making her drink a light golden liquid of which the bluenette coughed out half of. Yet despite the condition of her own health she argued she was fine and they should carry out the attack.

Tsuna watched with mixed feelings as Hine tried arguing with Lal Mirch but eventually had to leave the room to get her more medication when her friend started to cough again.

Finally he gritted his teeth and came to a conclusion.

"No, let's do it."

Most likely attracted by the noise created by the large explosion Gokudera's training had caused Hine came to the scene already equipped with a humongous first-aid case.

"Is everyone alright?!" she asked in obvious concern. Then she laid eyes on Gokudera and clicked her tongue admonishingly.

"Gokudera-kun, didn't I tell the two of you to try not to get into my care again too soon? Do I seriously have to tie you to one of the infirmary beds?"

Was Tsuna seeing things or did Gokudera look to the side and grumble like a little child just then? The look disappeared just a moment later though when Hine started bandaging the silver haired bomber and teasing him relentlessly that he didn't raise his cat properly.

"You know, I think I could find you a spray bottle to spray the little thing every time it does something it's not supposed to." She chattered on to a more and more irritated Gokudera while Yamamoto was sitting next to Hine laughingly agreeing to her ideas. Which in turn had Gokudera bristling and spitting insults at Yamamoto. However Hine didn't seem to like that. Her relatively harmless teasing stopped abruptly.

"Would you stop moving around while I disinfect the wounds?" Hine interrupted Gokudera eerily calmly, "Or I might change my mind about not giving you the rabies shot. After all I haven't seen the little one for quite a while he might have picked up something."

Of course, that shut the bomber up rather efficiently. Even if it was rather macabre to threaten someone with a rabies shot.

Once the scratches and bites were sufficiently treated, (they only needed to be disinfected anyway as they were superficial at best), they relocated to the kitchen, to let Giannini deal with the wall of the reference room Gokudera's explosion had broken. (It needn't be said that the small rotund mecha-artist had been so very close to a heart attack when he saw the wall. Or rather the lack of it.)

And while Gokudera didn't seem to get along with his box weapon at all, Hine was able to pick up and carry the cat to the kitchen without any problems whatsoever. In fact it even purred and rubbed against her!

Funnily enough when Hine saw this, she threw Gokudera a superior smirk. It was gone after a fraction of a second, but it had been there nonetheless. And Gokudera had seen it too, since he was now silently fuming. Was there some kind of rivalry between future-Gokudera and Hine? Or did he offend her somehow? Their Gokudera and Hine hadn't interacted too much yet, so was it something future-Gokudera did? Hine didn't seem to be the childish type to hold a grudge against someone who didn't even do anything yet though. In fact she didn't seem much like a 17-year-old at all. She seemed way more mature than that. More mature than the future versions of his Guardians he met.

Tsuna was interrupted out of his thoughts just then as future-Ryouhei ran into the room announcing, "We need to discuss the next... Uh, sumo wrestling tournament! Come to the briefing room!"

Kyoko frowned in confusion.

"Sumo wrestling again?" She asked just as the boys filed out of the kitchen and left them behind once again. A crack was heard when the last one out closed the door after them.

Moments after they had left Hine walked over to Haru and gently pulled her hands open.

"You shouldn't hurt yourself." She chided gently as she pulled the glass shards from her palm and disposed of them in the rubbish bin. The glass she had just been gripping moments before now no more than glass shards. Then she pulled the obviously upset girl back to the table and sat her down so she could take a look at the injured hand.

"There's a person in the infirmary who was close to dying and they still want to participate in a Sumo tournament!" Haru cried incredulously.

Hine paused in her practiced motions as she looked at the up to meet the girl's eyes with a calmness that seemed to rile up Haru even more.

"Have you thought about my words from before? About the reason behind a secret? Since that is obviously what this is. A cover story for a secret."

Instantly Haru closed her mouth and looked down in shame.

Several moments there was a tense silence in the air while Hine treated Haru's hand and gently applied a salve and wrapped bandages around it.

It was Kyoko who finally broke the silence.

"I have," she said solemnly, "they obviously want to protect us from something."

Hine looked up and met Kyoko's eyes with a certain pride in her gaze. So Kyoko continued.

"I talked to Bianchi-san, because there were blanks in my memory."

Another look of hurt flashed across Hine's face for a moment. Kyoko felt bad for this, but she resolved, she couldn't do anything about it anymore. She could however try to keep it from happening again. She could give an effort to get to know the older teen so she didn't feel so left behind anymore.

"But now I remember. Back when we first got to the future. Tsuna protected me from this scary man. So I want to believe they are keeping secrets from us to protect us!"

Suddenly Haru looked up again to meet Kyoko's eyes.

"Hahi! You're right. Tsuna-san wouldn't be keeping secrets from us if not to protect us!"

Hine smiled at the two of them gently.

"That's what I think too." She said as she wrapped her arms around them and pulled both of them into a hug, "and because you figured it out, I will tell you something: the fighting part of the sumo competition, as well as the opponent part is true. But it won't be easy for them and there will be no rules protecting them. However these fights they are getting into, it's to bring all of you back to the past. And they didn't tell you so you don't have to worry."

Hen she smirked mischievously, "they are underestimating us though: we know they'll manage just fine because we believe in them, don't we?"

The two girls who had been surprised to finally get some information after having been in the dark since their arrival in the future looked at Hine with surprise written all over their faces. Then they smiled and agreed, "you're right, Ayumi-san."

The sliding door opened silently as Takeshi was immersed in what was shown on the small screen of the laptop. He didn't notice someone entered until he felt a weight on his shoulder and looked up in surprise.

"Ayumi?" Takeshi asked wondering why she was here.

From where she was watching the screen over his shoulder, Ayumi grinned at him.

"You're watching this old thing? I still remember when you got it. That guy was really persistent and creepily accurate with keeping up with the changing addresses for someone who never visited."

Takeshi smiled at the older teen.

"Yeah, I haven't improved quite as much as the others, so I'm watching this to perhaps learn something new."

The blonde's grin softened into a smile as she lifted her head off his shoulder to look him straight in the eye.

"Don't overdo it, ok?" She told him gently patting his shoulder, "you know, when you got these parcels every now and then, you were trying out for the major league from university. And suddenly you said you would give up baseball for the time being and finish your studies in Italy. I really worried about you that time."

Surprised Takeshi took in her now obvious look of worry and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I only want to go back to the past after this is all over to play some baseball with my dad and friends. That includes you, once you come to Namimori."

Ayumi sighed but smiled back wryly nonetheless.

"That actually seems like a good plan."

Takeshi frowned at the wording.

"That sounds as if I never make good plans." he whined.

The blond just smirked in reply.

"Oh, you caught that? Well, from my experience..." she let her voice trail off in the end to leave her point for him to interpret.

"Mou, that's just mean." he moaned.

Ayumi didn't reply to his jibe but rather smiled.

"But I think my past self can look forward to that too even if she's not aware of it."

Then she met his eyes with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Don't stay up too long. And good luck." With those words and a small supportive smile on her lips she got up and left the room again.

That's it for this chapter.

Please leave a comment on your way out. I'd really love to hear what you think about this fic. It would help me improve if you can tell me, what you dislike and it motivates me a lot even if you only post a short comment like "good chapter". (If you write "bad chapter" I'll accept it, but you might find yourself with a PM asking for some details.)