A/N: the reason I took so long with this chapter... Tsuna decided he wanted to grow as a character.

Yes, all of the character tend to have their own minds. Hine and Dino too.

Warning: offscreen non-canon death :D

Tsuna stopped his bike when his hyper intuition nudged him to look to the door just as a figure- probably Bianchi as she had rather obvious female curves, visible despite the heavy motorcycle gear she wore- entered.

Watching the boys for a moment she stood next to Giannini.

"It seems you've managed to contain the Storm flames' disintegration aspect. And you've managed to bridge the problems you had powering the motorcycle with the rain flames' tranquility factor... Looks like you've properly adapted the bikes to all 7 flames. Did you update my bike too?"

Her voice was quite muffled by the helmet she wore but still sounded distinctly female therefore confirming his suspicions that this must be Bianchi.

Looking up slightly disgruntled the small rotund man huffed.

"Of course I did. I obviously need the opinion of an experienced test driver to get an accurate reading of what needs adjusting."

The woman hummed.

"Your bike is where it always is." Giannini added which elicited the smile evident in her voice when she said, "I guess I'll have to take it on a test drive then."

Seeing nothing wrong with that and quickly deciding he'd probably imagined the intuition part, Tsuna returned to his own practice since he still hadn't gotten a grip on how not to fall from his bike. At least it wasn't too heavy, Tsuna thought to himself. He had heard motorcycle accidents could be pretty dangerous because of the sheer weight of the bike falling on the driver. Giannini had obviously thought of the dangers they we likely to get into and made them from some light but ridiculously sturdy alloy. He wasn't going to ask what it was though, the technobabble would go straight over his head and he still had to learn how to properly balance the bike.

Tsuna wasn't really making any progress on that end. It didn't surprise him though. He hardly had enough sense of balance for his own body, how the heck was he supposed to figure out how to balance his body with the addition of a motorcycle in such a short amount of time?

Incidentally his drifting thoughts didn't help either, as he found himself losing control of the bike while trying to turn so he wouldn't smash straight into the wall of the training room they were using. And while he couldn't figure out the balance yet, he had a very good grip on knowing when he messed up on it.

Right now? He had messed up big time. He was probably going to wind up in that wall head first or scraping his leg off and still crashing into the wall if he knew his luck.

He was saved however when suddenly a bike came up next to him and it's driver - the completely obscured Bianchi - leaned over and proved she had at least the same amount of genius when it came to handling a motorcycle if not more than her brother because she managed to steer his bike away from the wall by leaning it onto hers and gently pulling both bikes around.

"Now slowly decrease the speed and call it a day", she instructed through her helmet, "I know I will... You're too tired to concentrate."

Tsuna did as told while she drove her bike over to where she had probably gotten it from. And having most likely planned her timing precisely, when he finally pulled to a stop in front of Reborn and Giannini, Bianchi popped back in to inform them the welcome party for Basil and Onii-chan would start soon, therefore saving him from his Tutors well meant tur-tutoring.

Tsuna could only think of one thing as he sat in the med bay as Hine provided first-aid for his many scrapes, bruises and burns he got from opening his box weapon.

Good thing she and the girls hadn't been there, because he would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to them.

Hine wore a mild smile as she carefully dabbed the salve on a particularly nasty bruise on his cheek and asked, "How ever did you manage this? You weren't injured from practicing on your bikes earlier on and we only just finished the welcome party for Ryohei-kun and Basil-san. You didn't even have a half an hour since…"

Tsuna scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. He did feel kind of bad to have to rely on Hine to patch him up again only three days after the raid on the Melone base. Especially after Bianchi had managed to keep him from getting injured earlier on.

"I kind of tripped… and collided with the stove?"

That was another issue, if they were to train with their boxes they would need credible excuses for their injuries if this event was any indication.

Well, having Hibari around, who is always known for biting people to death, was in some cases rather handy after all.

Hine chuckled good naturedly and ruffled his hair gently.

"You have to be more careful, you know. Did you at least check the stove was still turned off or will there be another surprise for me when I'm on my way back to my room?"

Tsuna huffed. Somehow he felt like Hine was treating him like a little child just now.

"Basil and Yamamoto were there two, you know," he defended himself truthfully, "oh, and then a guest arrived!"

Hine hummed and placed some gauze on an burned gash she had just closed with steri-strips and fixed it with medical tape.

"Really, who came?", she enquired almost absently.

"I did," Dino suddenly spoke up from the door making both Hine and Tsuna look up. A smile lit up the blond teen's face when she visibly recognised the person entering the room.

"Dino-san! It's good to see you again!" Hine exclaimed delightedly as she brushed her sidebangs out of her eyes with the back of her right hand.

Dino, now holding a bouquet of white gardenias - which Tsuna had no idea where he had gotten them from since the last time he'd seen the other had only been five minutes ago - entered the room without stumbling once- so Romario probably got back into Dino's 1 km radius- and handed the flowers over to Hine.

"Bella, it has been too long," Dino greeted enthusiastically pulling Hine into a hug, mindful of the flowers in her arms and kissing both of her cheeks.

He earnt himself a slap to the arm for that, but Hine didn't look that upset when she admonished him, "how many times do I have to tell you, it's not normal to greet someone like that in Japan?!"

Instantly Dino deflated with an almost childish pout.

"Sorry," he admitted sheepishly.

Smiling gently Hine patted his arm as if in acceptance of the apology.

It all seemed to be in good humour, but it did make Tsuna wonder what was up with all of her nicknames…

"There's cake in the fridge, if you want some," Hine mentioned casually as if she hadn't just admonished the older blond, "that goes for you too, Tsuna-kun."

Well, Tsuna guessed she had probably just happened to accumulate them. However it was quite a feat to keep track of all of them… but the mention of cake definitely had him up in no time.

As they made their way to the kitchen, Tsuna asked what had been on his mind, since Dino had appeared in the med bay.

"Hine-san, how did you and Dino-san meet?"

Hine blinked in surprise. But then giggled.

"Dino-san used to frequent the Takesushi whenever he was in town to visit you. And after I started working there he tried flirting with me the next time he came."

Tsuna was quite surprised by that admission. Hine was quite a few years younger than the blond mafia boss. Perhaps Dino had assumed her to be older since she acted so maturely?

"His attempts were dreadful, I'm sure his men will agree. I even think Romario-san was debating if he should gag him," she added lightly decidedly making Dino groan.

"Ayumi!"

She giggled.

"At least until I mentioned I was underage. Then Dino-san floundered around some excuses and we've been friends since."

Tsuna looked at his self-proclaimed big brother skeptically while Dino buried his face in the palms of his hands.

"Ayumiiii~", he whined eliciting a light chuckle from the girl in question.

She looked at him in mock seriousness.

"But Dino-san, I couldn't let Tsuna-kun think you were one of those creepy foreigners whose greatest ambition is to bed a highschool girl! I mean your tattoos make you look like a yakuza already..."

The blond man groaned resignedly but didn't retort. Apparently that topic had been breached before. Tsuna knew that reaction well, because it was the one he showed when his mother once again tried to convince him of something he would never be seen dead doing.

Tsuna laughed slightly embarrassed by the girl's antics and shared a pitying looks with Dino.

"Ayumi, you're messing up my cool mature big brother image in front of Tsuna." Dino tried to reason with Hine.

She gave a mischievous grin and shrugged.

"I think being able to laugh about your faults is plenty cool. And I know Esmeralda agrees with me."

She was obviously thinking another complaint would come in reply to her comment because Hine turned to Dino expectantly. But she wasn't prepared for the look of utter heartbreak on his face. Instantly she stepped closer to the Cavallone boss, cupped his downcast face in her hands and asked, "what's wrong? What happened, Dino-san?"

In that moment Tsuna felt like a total outsider. Uncomfortable he debated if he should leave but he froze when he heard Dino's next words.

"Ayumi... My Mamma... She's dead.", Dino told her in a barely audible pained whisper, "The Millefiore killed her."

His eyes were positively broken as he met her shocked gaze. And then the shock wore off and deep grief filled the sapphire orbs.

"No, Esmeralda... No...", she whispered even less audibly as tears gathered and dripped from her eyes.

The two shared a short look, full of mutual pain before tears fell from Hine's eyes freely and Dino stepped in to wrap his arms around her to lend her his shoulder to cry on. Dino held her tightly and buried his face into her hair in what Tsuna deemed an effort to hide his own tears.

It was a heartbreaking scene. And Tsuna felt he'd be intruding if he stayed any longer, so he chose to give them the privacy they deserved in order to mourn as he silently headed to his room.

While he was walking he couldn't help but mull over the situation.

He didn't know how Hine knew Dino's mother but it was evident she had been rather close to her. Close enough to be absolutely heartbroken because of her death.

Dino's mother had been a victim of the Vongola (allies) hunt. Even if he didn't believe anyone other than his own father would actually pull through on leaving his wife totally oblivious, he didn't think the Millefiore would have spared her had she not known. They were ruthless enough to hunt anyone close to an ally of the Vongola.

But not only was anyone close to him in danger, no, even the ones safe from the Millefiore were affected.

Hine had known Dino's mother despite being civilian and had now been confronted with losing someone she obviously held dear.

Tsuna frowned.

Death was obviously a very real aspect of mafioso life.

Once again Tsuna resolved to keep his mother and his civilian friends as far from the mafia as possible. Because the pain Hine was obviously in from knowing a friend of hers died was horrible. He might not be able to avert his own fate of becoming mafia, but he would do his damn best to keep Haru, Kyoko-chan and his mother from having to deal with death more than absolutely necessary.

Which meant he had to get all of them out of this alive.

Haru looked around in the kitchen curiously. Both Kyoko and Chrome watched her do so with equal curiosity - though the latter tried to hide it with how shy she was.

"What are you looking for, Haru-chan?"

"I'm looking for Ayumi-san, she's always already awake when we get to the kitchen!"

Kyoko hummed in approval and gave the kitchen they were in her own cursory glance.

"Maybe she overslept?" She supplied carefully, "She'll probably join us before breakfast."

Breakfast came and went, but Ayumi was not to be seen. Instead the girls were introduced to an Italian man named Dino who claimed to be Tsuna's big brother and was an excessively messy eater.

It was however cute to watch him interact with their friends in such an enthusiastic and openly friendly manner, so they overlooked his clumsy table manners.

When breakfast finished and Ayumi still hadn't shown yet Haru chose to voice her concerns to the rest of their group.

"I haven't seen Ayumi-san yet today."

Most of the group looked around in confusion, as if they only just realised the blonde teen wasn't around. That alone made Haru feel insulted. It was as if they weren't important enough unless they needed something from them.

"Che, making people worry. She's probably out for supplies again. That's what happened last time," Gokudera scoffed.

Haru was just about to chastise the delinquent for bad mouthing the absent blond but Yamamoto butted in.

"Ha ha, she might just have decided to sleep in."

Affronted Haru turned to the two.

"Hahi! Ayumi-san, wouldn't do that without telling someone! Last time she told Fuuta-san!" She told Gokudera before looking at Yamamoto with less anger stating, "and she never sleeps in. Not once in all the time we've spent here."

Fuuta nodded absently. An unhappy frown marred his face.

"That's true, Ayumi-nee never sleeps in and she always at least tells someone if she leaves the base."

Tsuna looked decidedly uncomfortable.

But it was Dino who got up from the table before any more could be said. There was now a deep set sadness to his eyes, that had Haru rub at her eyes because she was sure it hadn't been there just a second earlier.

"I'll go and get her."

Hine watched their group with a smile from her spot at the door as Dino told them he'd assign each of them their tutor. Romario was nowhere to be seen, nor were any of Dino's other subordinates, but for some reason Dino still acted like the confident mafia don he was around his subordinates. Strange...

Why Reborn next to him was dressed up as... He called it a tutor fairy, right?... Tsuna really didn't know, but it must be to take the tension away somewhat. Or he was giving his tutor more credit than he deserved again and it was simply a fetish of his.

Oh, damn, by the look the small hitman just threw him he had read his mind again.

"Sorry for being late, by the way. I wanted to come here to help you train right after the ceasefire was called," Dino apologised to the group as he rubbed the back of his head abashedly, "I would have come earlier but there was a group of flame zombies on our trail and we had to loose them first lest we'd lead them right to your doorstep. You do know about flame zombies though, don't you?"

Hine's snort was heard all the way over from the door. It was a mild snort, as if she thought he was indulging in a bad habit. She probably thought so of his needless apology.

But Tsuna couldn't help but think it had an edge of sadness in it that hadn't been present 24 hours before.

She walked up to the blond mafia don as she casually informed him, "yeah, unfortunately they found us first, Dino-san. There was a whole group at the middle school two days ago."

Instantly Dino's face fell from mildly apologetic to downright remorseful.

"Are all of you alright?"

Hine held up her hands in what was supposed to be a calming gesture but seemed to worry the blond mafia boss even more. She sighed but let Dino fuss about her.

"We're all fine. Luckily we were all in the school when they tracked us and I could round up all of our group to leave via Foundation headquarters before they got to us," she explained, "however that means they are probably still in town and will be a very real danger to your men."

Dino frowned.

"Noted," he conceded, "it's not like we expected to be able to evade them for long. So my men know to be careful and adhere to the rules. But I'll notify them."

Hine seemed relieved to hear that as a small smile lit up her face before worry darkened her features again when a small ping resounded in the training room they were occupying. With a sigh she whipped her phone out, followed by the sound of several buttons clicking.

Another sigh followed when she found what she was looking for and she turned to Dino with a apologetic smile.

"Lal-chan needs to take her medicine now and she won't take them unless I'm there to kindly force it down her throat."

Dino waved her off.

"Don't worry, I've got this. I'll make sure they're okay."

With a small - was it only Tsuna or was it slightly disbelieving - chuckle she left the training room.

"As Reborn's number one pupil…" Dino recommenced stepping closer to them. But then he stumbled and fell face first onto the floor. Thus his following words were rather muffled.

"I'll be in charge of pairing up everyone with a tutor for their training sessions."

Ah, there it was again, Dino's clumsiness when his subordinates weren't around.

Tsuna didn't like the situation one little bit. His head hurt thinking about his current problems.

For one, there was the girl' boycott.

Then there was the approaching fight with the Millefiore and the fact that he'd only get trained once he managed to open his box weapon.

Which lead his thoughts to the uncontrollable flame beast he'd unleashed the last time he had opened his box weapon. (Again his box weapon shook angrily.)

And then there was Hine. Or more accurately the contradictions she presented.

She seemed to know as little about the mafia as his mother and the girl's, but then again she didn't seem surprised when Dino told her his mother had been killed by the Millefiore. Nor did she ever ask where their injuries came from. Or what they were training for.

Basically her behaviour didn't make any sense unless she was as scarily oblivious as his mother was. Something in his mind however denied that notion.

(Vongola hyper intuition the same something remembered Reborn's words.)

With a great big sigh, he returned to the task at hand and thought back to what Dino had given him as a clue to open his box weapon.

"You have to make sure you and your box weapon are in harmony unless you want more trouble like last time. The user has to always make sure to keep their box by their side, no matter what."

No matter how many times Tsuna thought about it, he couldn't make any sense of that clue.

But Dino had made it clear he had to first open his box weapon before his training could continue.

Well maybe he could try to solve his 'problems' one by one.

Therefore starting from the most approachable one… Hine seemed pretty close to Dino, so he'd probably know if he asked.

Without much ado Tsuna tracked down the blonde Cavallone don and waited for him to take a break from training Hibari.

When he finally did and jogged over to Tsuna there was a light smile on his lips.

"I won't give you another hint, Tsuna. Even if you my little brother."

Not even offended - the thought to ask for another clue had crossed his mind - Tsuna shook his head.

"There's something else I wanted to ask you. To be honest, I'm confused. Does or doesn't Hine-san know about the Mafia?" Tsuna asked his big brother figure.

Dino blinked.

"You're only asking now? Hasn't Ayumi been here since you guys got here from the past?"

Embarrassed Tsuna rubbed the back of his head.

"Shortly after and she did disappear for supply runs for several days a couple of times… And I didn't know who to ask, since it would have definitely been bad to ask her directly if she didn't know!"

The blonde Mafia don chuckled lightly as he ruffled the boy's hair.

"Right you are. But you needn't worry. She's in charge of the base infirmary, isn't she? Ayumi has been part of the Vongola ever since she finished her stint as a private doctor. That's a story for another time though."

Tsuna looked at the blond slightly confused.

"How is that a story?"

Dino chuckled.

"Well that was right after she finished her medical degree and she didn't appear at a job interview. Apparently she had met her patient, a young lady from a distinguished, wealthy family, when she escaped to town and was promptly hired. Her employers didn't want it to be known that the young lady was ill so she was not allowed to impart the name of the family or her location. Your future self almost had all of the allied famiglie up in arms and on the lookout for her."

Tsuna looked at his brother figure incredulously. Dino seeing this chuckled and ruffled his hair again.

"There had already been several attacks on several low level members of famiglias allied with the Vongola. Maybe I'll give you the unabridged version some other time. God knows our Tsuna could have used the foreknowledge."

That made sense. He could imagine he'd be frantic with worry if one of his civilian friends suddenly disappeared after there having been connected attacks on the alliance. But it was the next sentence that made Tsuna want to bash his head against the closest wall.

"But you know you could have asked Lal Mirch about Ayumi, right?"

Tsuna facepalmed instead.

Now that it was mentioned Tsuna seriously could've hit himself for not thinking of it. If they were close enough to have coffee and cake over his training, Lal Mirch was sure to know.

"Thanks, Dino-san."

"How are you feeling, Lal-san?" Tsuna asked as he sat down on the chair next to the infirmary bed.

The blue haired lady just scoffed.

"Shouldn't you be training?" She asked right back.

Of course Tsuna cringed. Yes, he was quite aware of what he should be doing. He was however also aware of the fact that he was making zero progress.

"So you know you should," she stated plainly, "that at least means I won't have to tell you, since you do actually know. What brings you here then?"

"Well… The girls have declare they'll boycott-"

At that his former trainer bit out a bark of laughter.

"It's not like you didn't deserve that."

Again Tsuna cringed. He knew that too.

"But that isn't the actual reason you visit. Having trained you the past weeks, I know it'll probably be something stupid like you feeling responsible for my current state."

And that might aswell have been the knockout blow, if this had been a fight. As it wasn't Tsuna just visibly shrunk in on himself and looked miserable and ashamed.

It kind of was his fault for deciding to go on with the invasion of the melone base and for allowing her to come with them, despite knowing her fragile condition. And while not going along with the invasion would have probably been a mistake, letting her come along had definitely been.

The blue haired woman snorted and met Tsuna's eyes defiantly.

"It's not like a brat like you could have stopped me. I'm an adult. I make my own mistakes. I chose to disregard my treating physician's professional opinion. And I am bearing the consequences." She said encompassing the IV and several bottles of medication standing close to her with a dismissive wave of her left hand, "don't think too highly of yourself. For all that your future self is Decimo, the head of the famiglia doesn't have any power the CEDEF."

Tsuna was thankful for her attempt to make him feel better (hidden as it had been) but that didn't change anything.

Except somehow it did.

Suddenly it all fell into place.

It had started out with the nagging feeling of not having all information.

At least that is what he'd believed it was.

In reality, he had known - subconsciously at least - that here in the future he was the boss. No matter how much he wanted to deny it and no matter how many efforts he must've made in the ten years following up to this not to become a mafia boss. He was Decimo. His word was absolute when it came to the famiglia. (At least it was supposed to, but Xanxus was never good at doing as he was supposed to.)

He'd recoiled from the idea of holding so much power and so much responsibility. Much like he did in their time. That was the main reason he did not want to become a mafia boss.

But he'd still known that he held this power in his future self's stead as long as they were stuck here as they had effectively taken the places (and taken on the roles) of their future counterparts.

His hyper intuition had been nagging at him to get the information he needed to fill his role.

He hadn't which was why his subconscious had been making him feel immensely guilty and that in turn made him look for scapegoats to shift the blame on. A despicable thing to do in hindsight but entirely human.

It was his responsibility. If he used his power or not. He realised as much now.

Determination settled in his mind. It by no means cleared away the insecurity he felt. (That would take a very determined army or three at this point.) But it was a start. It wasn't a solution but a path which could possibly lead him there.

He returned Lal Mirch's gaze with surprising ease despite the gravity of the issue he'd realised.

"That does not change the fact that you were injured because my silence allowed you to join a famiglia operation. I can not afford to make mistakes any longer, there is just too much at stake. But to be able to do so I need information."

"Information you think I have."

"Yes. I need to know about Hine-san's role in the famiglia."

"Wouldn't it be better to ask her directly?"

"Something tells me, she wouldn't tell me the full extent of her abilities."

"The rumoured Vongola hyper intuition is spot on again. You're right. She keeps her knowledge close She's a rain attribute and she can sense flames from quite a distance. She has completed my boss training course in a decent amount of time for a fighter without the use of her flame but I've never actually seen her fight."

"Hie! Why did she have to take your training courses?"

"She expressed her interest."

"Wait, didn't she say, she had no flame?", Tsuna asked utterly bewildered when he finally realised what had been nagging at his mind since he'd talked to Lal Mirch in the infirmary earlier.

They were currently convened in the kitchen and eating lunch. Or, well, what should have been lunch but now consisted of instant food.

At least they wouldn't run out. They didn't even make a dent in the supplies of instant food in the pantry despite having had the last three meals from there.

"She who?", Gokudera next to him asked like always eager to help him.

"Hine-san."

His Guardians nodded.

"Yeah, when Giannini went on about her getting into the base without being detected.", Gokudera supplied.

Tsuna scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Then why did Lal Mirch say Hine-san has a rain attribute flame?"

Bianchi who just walked past the kitchen that moment looked at them almost dispassionately.

"She emits no flame wavelength. But she cannot not have flames otherwise she wouldn't be alive. All living beings have a flame. Ayumi just doesn't broadcast them or particularly like to use them. We know she has rain flames because before the destruction of the Vongola rings our Yamamoto had made her take the Vongola Rain Ring whenever she went on potentially dangerous errands for the Vongola. He wouldn't do that if she couldn't light it. Since Yamamoto was the closest to her, we figured he would know her flame type."

Tsuna nodded in understanding as she continued to where she was off to and looked at Gokudera's unconscious form on the floor next to him with mild concern.

Hine, who Tsuna had not noticed entering the kitchen at all despite Lambo toddling after her and was just passing with what smelled like a pot of heavenly spaghetti, chuckled.

"While I don't emit a flame wavelength, that doesn't mean I can't ignite a ring, boys. You just assumed. That's a bad habit to have by the way. Especially for a mafia boss, Tsuna-kun."

Then she left the room taking the pot with her and the boys' hopes for good food with them.

As always, please review or drop an ask at my tumblr. I don't bite. Though I'll probably answer ;).