Chapter 93

But as Long as Your Friends are There

I think I had better warn you all that updates are going to be a little erratic from now on. I'm no longer in a routine and therefore I'm all over the place. I don't think I'll stop for the whole summer holidays like I did last year, but updates may no longer always be on Thursdays and Sundays. I'm busy with work which means that I have to go to bed earlier than usual or else I'm tired all day. Since I usually write at night and well into the morning, this cuts into my writing time.

This chapter is so late because of how many blocks I hit. If I didn't love my laptop so much I would have thrown it across the room in frustration. A lot of thanks to Erephen for her help in getting over those blocks!

Although I suppose it balances out since this chapter is longer than usual.

Bang!

"Now when you mix red paint and blue paint-"

Thump!

"You get purple paint."

Stomp!

"So if everyone wants to give that a go and paint it on-"

Bang!

"The last spot on the circle. After that you're free to leave."

Tsunayoshi had to commend the teacher for continuing on despite the banging and thumping coming from upstairs. None of the class had any clue what was happening up there but it happened rather frequently. Although Tsunayoshi only saw a Vindice jump past the window on the odd occasion these days.

He looks at the colour wheel before him and thinks and thinks. There was a problem you see, both Viper and Skull were purple, but there was only room for one type of purple. He supposed that he'd just have to split it in half like he had done for the blue as well. For that one he had done a light blue for Colonnello and a dark blue for Lal. So he got to work making a red purple for Skull and a blue purple for Viper before painting it onto his piece of paper. Yeah! That looked good. His colour wheel covered everyone, from Bermuda's black in the middle to Reborn's yellow as one of the insides and Luce's orange in one of the outside parts. Perfect!

He put his piece by the window to dry off before washing his hands and then taking the apron off. After that he collected his bag and waited outside for all his friends to finish too. It wasn't long before everyone had finished.

"Ah! Tsunayoshi! Where are you going?" Asks Shoichi, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him back from a stair case.

"Hmm, I'm going to see some of my friends and ask them if they know who keeps on creating all that noise." Tsunayoshi replies, looking at Shoichi innocently and with confusion.

"But we're not allowed up there!" The mechanic cries, looking in fear up the staircase. "All the big kids are up there. They're really scary!"

"But Ryohei-nii is up there."

"Julie, Koyo, Rauji, Kaoru and Shittopi-chan are up there, and Adel is another floor up."

"Byakuran and Daisy are up there too."

Okay, so maybe that list didn't help, only proving that some scary big kids were up there, but Tsunayoshi was determined to go anyway, they were all his friends.

"There's no need to be scared of any of them." Hayato chimes in, although he didn't know any of the names mentioned on a personal basis apart from the odd Mafia Row wide party. Plus, he'd rather be going upstairs than downstairs. The lower floors belonged to the 4th and 5th years, which sadly included his sister. He'd be very grateful not to meet her. Luckily he hadn't so far.

"No one said we couldn't go up there." Kyoko adds, smiling encouragingly at the worried mechanic.

"So let's go then desu~ All that noise is annoying Haru." The girl explains with a stomp of her foot.

Tsuna takes Shoichi's hand before running up the steps.

"But you don't realise that any first years coming here get beaten up!" Shoichi whines, tugging against Tsunayoshi.

"Maa maa, I'm sure it'll be alright. I bet they say that just to scare us." Smiles Takeshi, a hand against Shoichi's back pushing him upwards.

When they finally get upstairs, it's to find the second years also on lunch break, milling around or walking between classrooms to find friends to eat lunch with.

"Ne, Shoichi, do you think that it would be better to go with a square design here or a curved one?" Spanner asks, tapping his best friend on the shoulder before pointing to a drawing he was working on. Tsuna smiles, seeing that Spanner was trying to distract Shoichi from his fear.

"Oh. My. God. I don't believe it." Tsunayoshi looks over at Hayato, seeing the boy with an open-mouthed disbelieving look. Tsunayoshi looks down the corridor but doesn't spot anything unusual. But before he can ask Hayato what's wrong, the bomber's expression suddenly changes into that of an excited five year old, jumping up and down whilst flapping his hands. He turns excitedly to Tsunayoshi, eyes bright with a huge grin on his face. "Tsunayoshi-sama look! It's a UMA! There's a UMA at this school!"

A UMA? Where? Tsunayoshi takes another look down the corridor, expecting to see an alien or Big Foot or Nessie or something. But all he sees are normal students. Maybe one was in disguise and Hayato had managed to detect it anyway? There had to be something there or else Hayato wouldn't look like Luce does after dressing Tsunayoshi up in her latest outfit.

A shadow is cast over them as someone jumps over their heads and lands on one of their number.

"Ahh! Shittopi-chan!" Enma cries, falling to the floor from the force of the hug.

"Enma~" She sings, "You came to see us!" She bounces up and down, her multi-coloured hair bouncing too. "And you brought Tsunayoshi along too." She turns and bounces- yes bounces, not skipped or ran but bounced- over to him before leaping on him too. Tsunayoshi laughs and gives her a hug, not caring that she's pushed him to the floor too. Arrivals at the Shimon house usually ended up in a dog-pile.

"No! The UMA's attacking Tsunayoshi-sama! She's going to take him for experimentation at her home planet!" Hayato cried, trying to pull her off of Tsunayoshi.

"Don't be so stupid byon." Ken scoffs, "It's obviously a weird girl, not a UMA. Are you blind or something?"

Tsunayoshi stands as soon as Shittopi-chan lets him. "Everyone, this is my friend and Enma's sister, Shitt P., although she prefers Shittopi-chan."

"Wow what an individual style desu~. So unique!" Haru cheers. Shittopi-chan looks over and smiles broadly, glad that someone likes her choice in fashion.

"So are you really an UMA like Hayato says P-san?" Asks Takeshi, smiling with a silly grin. He didn't know that the second years played dress-up! Or maybe they were playing charades, although he didn't have a clue which character she was supposed to be. Or maybe it was part of the drama class?

Shittopi rolled her head, looking from the girls over to the boy who had just spoken. Hmm. She opens her mouth and…

"Ah! It-it's Morse code!" Hayato jumps up and starts to search for his notebook to note down the sounds. He'll crack the message of the UMA in no time!

Only when the sounds became really quiet did he realize that his prized specimen wandered off... somewhere.

"Wait, come back please!" Hayato shouts, running off after her, he couldn't let the first UMA he had met just run away! "It that a distress call? Are you asking for backup? Are even more UMA's going to appear?!"

"Ooh, he said please, that's unusual." Comments Spanner, having watched the scene whilst Shoichi was busy drawing new additions to his robot.

"Hoooh, so even in this world he's interested in space aliens. Some things never change."

Everyone but three jumped when a voice sounded from behind them. When had someone gotten there?

"I feel sorry for those first years if Byakuran's gotten to them."

"They'll be gone in no time, scared out of their wits no doubt."

"Daisy's the only one who isn't ripped to shreds by his tongue."

The second years felt sorry for the first years who the white haired devil had decided to prey upon.

"Ah! Byaku-chan!" Tsunayoshi sings, being one of the few people who hadn't jumped at his arrival. He weaves through the crowd and takes the offered marshmallow before giving Byakuran a hug. "I wondered where you'd be. You always seem to find me before I can find you." Byakuran always won games of hide and seek at his house.

"Hmmmmm, well that's because I know you better than you might think," Byakuran said with a sly smile. Tsunayoshi wanted to shiver, there was more to that remark than met the eye. Byakuran then wanders over to his mechanics, putting an arm over each of their shoulders. "Now if these two go missing for more than an hour, I always know where to find them. We just have to check inside all their robots. Shoichi had an extended stay in one just this weekend." He chuckles as Shoichi splutters and turns red.

"You don't have to tell them that!" He demanded, hitting Byakuran lightly with the book of paper he was drawing on.

"It's okay, Bubu doesn't like being in the dark either." Daisy consoles, moving his bunny rabbit to pat Shoichi's shoulder.

"I am not scared of the dark!" Shoichi protested whilst the group around him laughed.

"Is that… an actual smile on the Devil's face?"

"What, Byakuran, smiling like a normal person… wait he is!"

"Oh, it's that boy again, you know, the one who got the three gang leaders to stop fighting with just a few words."

"What, that kid? No way, he looks far too docile for that to be true."

"No, no, I was there, I saw it."

"Really? Then maybe we should do talk to him. No one knows which Family he's with right? Papa would be proud if we got such a strong person in our Famiglia."

The chatting boys nodded and were about to step over and join in the conversation. They froze in their tracks however at the look and smile Byakuran was giving them. Err, maybe now was not the best time for a chat… They quickly hightailed it out of there before Byakuran could do worse.

"Kufufu, well that would be no trouble for someone of my abilities." Mukuro laughs, smirking as he leant forwards.

"Well that's fine with me, très bien." The girl smiles, resting her hand on Mukuro's arm whilst giving a malicious smile to the girls across the classroom. "I can keep ces filles away from you." Mukuro puts his hands around her waist before pulling her closer. She just smiles, pretending to be flustered to make the girls across the room even more jealous. After all, her protection detail only covered female obstacles, and despite how pretty the knife that had just flown across the room was, it's owner was certainly not a girl.

"M.M. why don't you take a seat, I'm sure this'll be great entertainment." Mukuro says quietly, releasing her before stepping forwards around a desk, eyes looking around the room for the source of the attack.

Mukuro barely had a moment to dodge the next attack, one coming from… the window?

"The Prince is bored, therefore he commands that the pineapple magician entertains him." Belphegor explains, grinning as always. He was comfortably sat on the window ledge, letting the sun warm his back. He didn't care that this was the second floor, such a measly height would never matter to a Varia member.

"Kufufufu, what an annoying little bug that has appeared." Mukuro smiles, not letting his annoyance at the pineapple comment show. He extends his hand, the trident appearing softly into reality before spinning it and preparing to tap it against the ground. His classmates, who had already started to edge towards the exits at the Prince's arrival, all quickly made a mad dash for the door the moment the trident appeared. Even after a two weeks with the illusionist, they all knew not to ever mention that particular fruit. And now the trident was about to be tapped on the floor. They might have stayed otherwise, a normal fight between the two was interesting to watch for those that could stomach bloody violence, but hardly anyone would stay and watch when his 'magic' was involved. The last time they had stayed when the 'magic' had come out, the entire class had had to go home immediately, crying endlessly and refused to show for class the next day.

Within ten seconds, hardly anyone was left in the classroom, only the most courageous had remained. M.M. draped herself over one of the empty desks, out of the way and ready to watch. Her darling Mukuro would win of course.

"Ushishishishi, the peasant dares to be cheeky? Well, the Prince will have to rectify this foul misdeed and teach the peasant to respect his betters." On the last word the third year leaped from the window ledge, knives glinting in the sun. Over tables and chairs he jumped, not caring if they turned or flipped, someone else could clean the mess up later.

And as the first clash of trident against knife resounded, both had the same thought on their mind. 'It's time to teach this brat a lesson.'

The whole group look confused when suddenly a whole classroom emptied in a matter of moments. All the students had looks of fear on their faces and were trying to get down the stairs and away from the classroom as quickly as possible.

"What's happening? Is something wrong?" Tsunayoshi asks, looking at the chaos around them.

"Haahaa, maybe it's a race to get the best spot on the school field? It is rather sunny today." Supposes Takeshi, laughing even as he took a step to stand infront of the girls so they weren't hurt.

"Che, look at them, like a pack of rabid monkeys the lot of them. And they're supposed to be older than us." Hana scoffed, arms folded across her chest. Stupid kids.

"Oh, well if they are just monkeys then you go in there and sort them out." Mochida hisses, glaring angrily at the group. He was not staying in the same room as that annoyed magician, he was already on the lunatic's bad side for bullying the girly brat he liked so much. Tsunayoshi glared at the bully, he didn't like the way he was talking to Hana. The boy turned away and left with his other friends, trotting down the stairway. Tsunayoshi immediately released a breath and suppressed a shiver. He could always fight back against Mochida when the others were around but the boy still scared him.

Thump! Bang! Crash!

Tsunayoshi's eyes widened before he made his way to the front of their group. Whatever was happening in that classroom must be the cause of those noises! Now he could find out who it was and ask them to stop.

"Ah, Tsunayoshi-dono, thou doth not want to venture into that room. A duel is occurring inside and I dost not want thee to be harmed by accident." Tsunayoshi smiles when he saw Basil walking their way.

"There's a fight going on in there?" Tsunayoshi asked, tilting his head. Although he supposed that nothing else made noises like that. He wondered who could be fighting so often.

"There is indeed Tsunayoshi-dono." Basil agrees, nodding sagely. "That is why I dost believe it is in thy best interest to descend back to the ground floor."

"Ne, overly cute one, is he a time traveller? Isn't it a few hundred years too late for that language?" Asks Fran, peering out from behind Tsunayoshi.

"I dost believe thou are confused." Basil said with a smile. "I am not a time traveller, this was merely the way my Master taught me to talk. I care not to change it now."

"Um excuse me, we need a translator over here!" Fran said, raising his hand in the air and waving whilst looking around the corridor.

Basil and Tsunayoshi giggle. "Thou art a comical one." Basil says once he finishes laughing. He offers his hand to Fran. "My name is Basil. How may I address thee?"

Fran lets go of Tsunayoshi's shoulders from where he had been leaning and instead takes a step to the side. "My name is Fran, lost time traveller."

"Well, it hast been very nice meeting thou Fran. However I do believe that thee and thine should leave before the battle can progress outside the classroom walls." Basil took a look at the classroom in question, wincing at the sound of a rather large crash.

"Don't worry Basil, we'll be careful. I'm looking for more of my friends." Tsunayoshi explains, smiling reassuringly at the older male.

"But thy parents would not be happy if harm did come to thee Tsunayoshi-dono." Basil says in worry. He feared what the Arcobaleno would do if Tsunayoshi got seriously harmed. It was one thing to be bullied, it was another to get in the middle of a fight that didn't concern him. But he could see the look in Tsunayoshi's eye, it was one that Lal and Colonnello often got. So he sighed. "At least allow me to accompany thee Tsunayoshi-dono."

Tsunayoshi beams brightly at Basil for finally allowing them to go, before turning towards the door. He was going to tell these naughty people off for creating such a ruckus.

"Yeah, go on, get him!"

"That was pathetic. I could do better, in the end!"

Enma's eyes widened before he put his head in his hand. His family were enjoying the fight and cheering them on. What was he going to do with them? Although he was relieved that they were not the perpetrators to begin with. Hearing the voices he recognised, Tsunayoshi tilted his head slightly whilst he thought, before shrugging and opening the door anyway.

"HEEEYYY! KYOKO DON'T GO IN THERE IT'S DANGEROUS!" The loudness made everyone wince and cover their ears. Ryohei thundered down the corridor having been in a different classroom earlier on. He skidded to a stop next to the girls and Takeshi, a frown on his face. "It's extremely not safe for a girl like you Kyoko. Those are two extreme fighters who extremely don't care who they hurt. I don't want you getting hurt by accident."

Kyoko looked at her brother's face and then towards the door where all the noise was coming from. "Okay then Onii-san. We'll leave." She then turns to Haru. "I'm sure that Tsunayoshi has this covered. Why don't we go and start eating lunch. I've got this raspberry bavarois I want you to try."

"Oh, is it the one from Marie's shop? I've always wanted to try that one." Haru says excitedly.

"Hmm, Miss Marie does make good desserts." Takeshi agrees- his dad employed Miss Marie so he knew who they were talking about. "Did you want me to come with you or are you going to be okay?"

"Nah, we'll be fine desu! Nothing can get between Haru and her dessert!" She proclaims, hands on hips defiantly. "Isn't that right Hana?"

"Urgh, anything to get away from these violent monkeys." She mutters, already turning away and walking towards the stairs.

"We'll see you later. Bye Bye desu~" Haru waves, following Hana and Kyoko down the stairs.

Tsunayoshi felt better now that the girls were safe, although he didn't doubt that everyone here could protect them. So finally he opens the door and steps inside. The first thing he sees is the rest of the Shimon Famiglia sitting in the chairs occupying the corner closest to the door, watching the fight enthusiastically. A few chairs away from them near the door at the front of the classroom was the girl that Tsunayoshi didn't really know yet- M.M. He'd seen her when Mukuro had visited them in the playground, she was always clinging to his arm. Other than that, he only knew her from stories Mukuro told.

"Kick his ass Mukuro!" Ken howls, jumping onto a vacated desk to get a good view. Chikusa followed, before leaning against a wall nearby to watch too.

"Oh dear, Kyoya isn't going to like the state of this classroom." Tsunayoshi murmured, looking at the mess it had become.

"It might be interesting to have the lesson whilst looking at the ceiling instead of the board." Fran adds in, sitting on one of the upturned desks.

Hearing the new voices talking about the state of the room, both fighters pause, turning to look at the newcomers.

"Ah Kitty!" Belphegor shouts, flipping over Mukuro acrobatically before jumping over the mess of desks with graceful ease and coming to a stop before him.

"Good Afternoon your Majesty." Tsunayoshi says, giving Belphegor a bow.

"Ah, the Kitty came to be by the Prince's side. Good, very good." He swept Tsunayoshi up in a hug, the little boy's feet leaving the ground, before rubbing his cheek against Tsunayoshi's like one would do with a fluffy kitten.

Illusionary vines lift Tsunayoshi out of the Varia member's grasp and over to Mukuro's side, depositing him into Mukuro's princess-style hold. "Kufufufu~ You're delusional, maybe you've gotten smacked one too many times on a mission. Especially if you believe that Tsunayoshi is here for you. My dearest Tsunayoshi is obviously here to support me." Mukuro smirked, tightening his hold on the boy.

"Ushishishi~ No way. The pineapple magician must have fallen for his own petty tricks. The Prince's Kitty is here for the Prince." Belphegor countered, grinning madly as he slowly advanced on the pair.

"What do you mean petty trick?" Mukuro growled. He was an excellent illusionist thank you very much.

"Oh, did the Prince touch a nerve?" Bel asked condescendingly. "You are forgetting that the Prince had Mammon all to himself for far longer than you have. Your illusions are like smoke and mirrors compared to hers." He scoffs, looking away in disgust.

"Oya Oya, you poor misguided soul. You believe you still have her? A bond between student and teacher is far stronger than that of co-workers," Mukuro sneers, an eyebrow raised.

"Wait a second I'm confused." Takeshi whispered loudly to the crowd watching. "Are they fighting over Tsunayoshi or Mammon?"

"They were fighting about hair styles earlier on." Comments Rauji.

"Before that all they were doing was laughing. That was creepy." Adds in Kaoru, shivering slightly.

"One fight I never got was the one about Blood Oranges and Pineapples. Why fight over fruit, in the end?" wonders Koyo, resting his chin on his hand.

Tsunayoshi manages to wiggle out of Mukuro's hold, especially now that he wasn't the topic of the fight and calmly walked back over to his friends. Belphegor comes in with another attack, throwing a flurry of knives in quick succession straight at Mukuro as he jumps over the last desk between them. Spinning his trident, Mukuro defends himself and the knives fall to the floor. He runs forwards, trident raised to strike downwards at the menace. Running to the side, Belphegor dodges the attack and comes in for one of his own, sending ten knives all at once towards the lowly magician. As Mukuro defends himself once more, Bel runs forwards straight towards Mukuro, coming in far too close for Mukuro to manoeuvre the trident easily. However he is close enough to watch the Kanji roll and change into the Path of Beasts, two hounds appearing out of the thick mist before biting at the prince's leg.

The others watch the fight, wondering whether they should interfere or not. Half of them were too busy watching and enjoying the fight and the other half were too scared to move.

Belphegor grabs one of the hounds before walking towards the window and dropping the dog out of the window. It disappears in a cloud of mist before it can hit the ground. The other hound lunges at Belphegor, but the Prince just grins, giving the dog a crazy glare from under his bangs.

"Sit."

The dog, scared of the glare it caught a glimpse of, immediately sits. Mukuro clicks his tongue before waving a hand and the dog disappears. The Kanji changes again, and Mukuro taps the trident on the ground, vines bursting out of the floor by his feet and chasing after the annoying Varia member. Belphegor grins once more, giggling quietly before jumping from desk to desk towards the back of the room.

"Ne, Kitty, why did you seek the Prince out?" Bel asks, his voice steady and even, not sounding at all like he had been fighting for the past twenty minutes.

"I wanted to introduce all my friends to each other." Tsunayoshi replies, more than used to having a conversation whilst someone was sparing. It was practically the only way to talk to a Varia member, plus some of the Arcobaleno sparred often to keep their skills from getting rusty. "And I really wanted to introduce them to you Big bro Bel."

"Ushishi, impertinent child." Bel laughs, bopping Tsunayoshi on the head as he jumped past. "You didn't call me Majesty. Oh well, the Prince will allow that name too because he likes it." He jumps onto a line of cupboards at the back of the class, walking along it whilst not stepping on anything. "You have the Prince's permission to make introductions. They can forego the bowing just this once."

So Tsunayoshi set about introducing each of his friends to Belphegor, telling the Prince a little about each of them as he did so. The Varia member just kept on walking around the class, leaping out of the way of the vines that kept on diving towards him. Since he was talking to Tsunayoshi he stayed down that end of the class, away from Mukuro's trident. Plus he'd already thrown some knives earlier on to pin Mukuro's trousers to the floor. Mukuro didn't want to rip the trousers since that would anger Luce. And angering Luce was a big no-no.

"And finally we have Shoichi and Spanner. Verde teaches them lots of things, but they are the best at mechanical stuff. They design robots for games and such. Oh, and they also design lots of tools to do chores with." It was amazing what the pair had designed to get out of household chores.

"Ushishi~ The Prince could do with some of that. Mother is always nagging about clean rooms." Bel comments, his grin twitching. Tsunayoshi burst out in full on laughter, knowing that the mother being referred to was actually Squalo not Lussuria. Plus, Bel's room was a tip, clothes everywhere, knives like darts on pictures pinned to the walls. In fact the only clean place in the prince's room was the bed and the bedside table, and that was only because the bedside table was reserved for his 'crown'.

So taking an interest in these rather innocent looking children, Belphegor cut the two vines chasing him around the room to ribbons before leaping over the heads of the Shimon family, rolling over the desk Takeshi was sitting at and ends up lying on his stomach, head propped up on a hand, grinning as innocently a possible-for him at least. After all, the pair, the red head especially, looked rather fragile. But the robot they had drawn looks anything but.

"Oooh~ The Prince likes this. What's it for?" He asks sweetly.

"Well it's a design for a robot for one of the war games we play." Shoichi answers, a blush on his face. They didn't play with dolls like most people thought, but with painted models. Since normal soldiers were boring, they'd created their own, including some robots. And being only children, they let their imagination run away, often influenced by movies the others watched. "It can fly, and it's got rockets coming out of it's back, and a laser in it's chest and really really thick armour."

"We reckon it could take out an army by itself." Spanner adds in. "Our next design would be a robot to fight this one so both sides are balanced."

"Maybe this one should have a pilot and maybe be shaped like a lion? We could call it Liger Zero Schneider!" wonders Shoichi, looking at Spanner for his opinion. Spanner shrugs his shoulders, rips the top page off and places it on the desk before starting to draw the new robot.

Belphegor picks up the discarded piece of paper and takes a look at the humanoid robot. Wow, if only this could be created in real life. Imagine how strong the Varia would be then! But these two were rather interesting little mechanical geniuses. He's have to keep an eye on them, especially if Verde was the one teaching them. Belphegor had tried a few times to break into Verde's lab to steal some of his secrets but hadn't managed to even get past the Arcobaleno's wall yet.

"Hoooh, we're going to have to create new rules for Choice if you keep on making stronger fighters." Byakuran comments, leaning over Shoichi's shoulder to watch the drawing take place. Choice was the name of their little war game because the choices made were so important. One single choice would win or lose the battle.

"Kufufufu~ I think you've forgotten someone." Mukuro smirks, having freed himself from the knives and was now standing over Belphegor, trident poised to spear the arrogant prince through. The Varia member though was unphased, instead rolling over onto his back and throwing a handful of knives at the same time, one slicing a line across Mukuro's cheek.

"That reminds me, does anyone know why Belphegor came to see Mukuro in the first place?" Tsunayoshi asks, watching the pair start their battle once more.

"Hmhmm, why that's easy Tsu-chan. Bel is bored in his classes so he likes to leave and find things to do. Annoying Mukuro is one of those things." Byakuran explains, pushing Spanner to the side by a few inches so a knife slides on past him. Spanner was too absorbed in his drawing to really care.

"TSUNAYOSHI-SAMA! You've got to catch her!" comes a shout from outside, in the corridor. Those not watching the fight turn their heads to look in the direction of the door and the corridor, only to see Shittopi-chan fly in, bouncing over a few desks before sitting infront of Enma.

"Hey Shittopi-chan. Having fun with Hayato?" Tsunayoshi asks, they had been gone for a while after all.

"Yeah, he's rather funny to listen to." She laughs, turning towards the door in time to watch the huffing and panting Hayato lean against the door, a smile on his face.

"As expected of Tsunayoshi-sama, you've caught her. I swear that I'll figure out her code soon." Hayato pants, catching his breath after the long run- that UMA could move fast.

"Why do you want to catch her so bad Hayato?" Asks Takeshi, placing a hand on Hayato's back to guide him to a seat. Hayato's too tired to brush the annoying baseball-nut off.

"Because… I thought that it would be good for me and the Professor to examine her and find out what type of UMA she was." Explains Hayato, still keeping an eye on the UMA incase she tried to run away again.

"S-so you and Verde can do what?!" Squeaks Tsunayoshi, eyes wide.

"Nooo! You can't give us to Verde!" Enma continues in a very scared voice, immediately hiding behind Rauji to defend himself whilst quivering like a scared kitten. "Verde already wants to experiment on us because of our unique pupils and irises, not to mention the weird Flames that run through our bloodline. He hasn't so far because Cozarto won't let him."

"Yes Hayato. Shittopi-chan is our friend, you can't do that to her." Tsunayoshi demands.

Hayato looks down. "Okay Tsunayoshi-sama. But I will crack her communication code!"

The group laugh at Hayato's enthusiasm, the second years and Tsunayoshi already knowing how to 'crack the code'. Obviously Hayato hadn't been listening to Tsunayoshi properly. But the laughter dies down as two very annoyed auras smother the room.

"For destroying a classroom,"

"And disturbing the peace,"

"You shall all be liquefied respectfully.

"You will all be bitten to death."

…

…

…

Uh-oh.

Lots of foreshadowing in this chapter too, I wonder how many you can spot? In this fic I want the family circles to be broken down a little bit, hence why some of these conversations are between unusual pairs. Look forwards to the next two chapters, they are one of the key plot points of this arc!

See you next time!

Phantom Hitman 1412

First Published 22 April 2013