Chapter 6: Of Beginnings

"Of course I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in."

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Fuck! I missed Tsuna in Dying Will Mode?!"

"Okay, I know that you think you won't get scolded if you curse in another language," Dino told me in only vague exasperation, watching as I fell back onto the bed , "but it's still pretty obvious that you're cursing."

"I could be saying bread-loaf for all you know," I responded, my voice muffled from the large pillow I was now hugging to me. Dino opened his mouth, held up a finger, blinked, and then wisely moved on from the subject.

"Well, it's not like your adventure was any less exciting with this Hibari guy," Dino reminded me, bringing up the story he got (forced) me to tell him earlier that night. This was a common occurrence; a brother-sister talk of sorts, where one would go to the other's room, and simply spend time together. It was a break for Dino, and so I was happy to give him these small moments.

"He's pretty though," I said casually, even shrugging a bit as I rolled on my side. Dino's eyes narrowed and he frowned.

"Don't tell me you want to flirt with this kid whose first instinct is to attack – "

"I said he's pretty not that I'm attracted to him," I snapped, popping my head up over the edge of the pillow, "I can make a comment on someone's appearance without wanted to fu-"

"Watch it."

"Date them," I finished, puffing my cheeks slightly. Dino gave me a look, clearly distrustful, but then sighed and seemingly dropped the subject. A moment of comfortable silence. Then, I spoke again:

"But that Yamamoto guy is pretty cute, in a I-would-totally-date way."

"…. No."

"Cloud."

Reborn jumped on my shoulder as we were walking towards a clearing in the woods; Dino decided to take a part in Tsuna's training, and I came along to watch shit hit the fan, like we all knew it would.

"You fought Hibari, right?" he asked, making himself comfortable on my shoulder. I huffed, glaring over at him.

"You wanted me to fight him, didn't you?" I hissed, the injury on my chin throbbing as a reminder of the fight.

"Of course," he clipped with only a hint of a smirk, "He's a possible candidate for Tsuna's family. I knew he was already a good fighter, but I wanted someone's opinion who was an expert on hand to hand combat."

I blinked, face going blank, completely caught off guard by the compliment. I then blushed, not aware of the fact that Reborn held me in such high regards. Now rather pleased as opposed to annoyed, I mentally reviewed my fight with Hibari in detail. Reborn waited patiently on my shoulder.

"He relies way too much on brute strength," I informed the tutor after a while, "and he rushes into battle without thinking. He's not that good against fluid styles like mine, because he just focuses on attacking and not defending. His swings are wide and easy to get under and overall, he's just aggressive," I finished with a small shrug. Now that I was thinking about it, if it had been a serious fight and I actually wanted to win or even kill him? I could have, easily.

"If an assassin," I explained again, thinking of the Varia, those with tactics like Bel used, "or Hell, even an illusionist fought him? He'd lose, the way he is now. But, he does have a lot of potential," I admitted, "If the right person trained him, I guess. But I doubt he'd take well to anyone trying to teach him, you know?"

Reborn nodded, deep in thought. He rose suddenly, jumping off my shoulder as we reached the clearing.

"Thank you, Cloud. You've made a remarkable guinea pig," the hitman called back. I scrunched my nose, not liking the feeling of being used. Feeling pouty again, I walked over to Dino who only gave me one questioning look (having noticed Reborn and I talking) before turning back to Tsuna.

"We've traveled all the way to Japan to see my cute little brother," he said, retrieving his whip from under his coat and wrapping it around one hand, pulling it taut with the other, "so I thought I could pass down my whip-handling skills to you." I scrunched my nose and sat down on the grass.

"That sounds a little kinky, Bro."

He kicked me lightly, silently telling me to shut up, his expression only barely faltering. I did as I was told and watched for the time being, allowing Dino this small bit of obedience. Dino then handed Tsuna his old whip, looking at it rather fondly before handing it to the younger with a smile. The things that leather has been through, it's a miracle that it was still in tact. But I wasn't surprised Dino kept it, nor was I surprised he was allowing Tsunayoshi to use it (Dino had always been a bit sentimental).

"Here, try it," Dino attempted to encourage Tsuna, "It's fun."

I snorted at this, but covered it with light coughing after a look from Dino.

"First," he said, turning his attention back to Tsuna, "you put water on Enzo, the sponge snapping turtle." He then reached into his jacket once more, placing Enzo on the ground and poured the water bottle handed to him by Romario on top of the turtle, careful of the amount.

"But if you put water on Enzo..." Tsuna trailed off, watching with wide eyes.

"His size and aggressiveness varies depending on the amount of water you pour on him," Dino explained with a bare smirk, handing the bottle back to Romario, "He will be your sparring partner." The now cat-size turtle let out a fearsome (cute) roar, causing Tsuna to jump back and yell out in fright.

"Don't worry," Dino waved him off casually, "without any water, he won't grow any larger. When things get dangerous, my family will come and help you." I tilted my head, leaning forward on my intertwined hands.

"Wasn't it the point not to make things dangerous?" I asked sweetly, earning another glance from Dino, and a chuckle from Romario. Enzo scrambled towards Tsuna, who naturally, panicked and lashed out while squealing. I frowned, almost a pout, somewhat feeling sorry for the poor kid.

"He's pretty fast!" Tsuna remarked with fear, raising the whip as he closed his eyes, "HIEEEK! Go away!"

I blinked, genuinely surprised he managed to fling Enzo. Perhaps, I thought, he's not as unlucky as I originally thought.

"Hey! You have good instincts," Dino complimented, thinking along the same lines as me and even going up to Tsuna, giving him a pat on the back. Tsuna seemed relived, even proud in that moment, looking down at the whip with a slight glow.

"Where did he fall?" one of our men asked, looking over at the structure that the turtle was flung into

"That's a well," another answered, happily at first, but then weakly when he realized (we all realized) the severity of the situation.

"Well...?"

"Fuck," I finished for them.

"Crap, Tsuna! Get away from there!" Dino yelled out just as Enzo burst from the ground, the previously cat-sized turtle now about the size of a house. I allowed Dino to pick me up from the ground and he began running after he flung me over his shoulder. I didn't mind this at all, actually enjoying the fact that I didn't have to run myself. The other perk (or maybe consequence?) of this transportation is that I got front row seats to see Tsuna get nearly trampled by the ginormous turtle, and then thrown across the clearing. It was almost impressive, how far he was flung, and in a way, I thought this was Enzo getting his revenge.

"Hey, Bro," I tapped Dino's back, getting his attention:

"I'm pretty sure that Tsuna needs a hospital."

Considering Dino was the one who put Tsuna in the hospital (well, technically, Enzo was, but it was much easier to put the blame on the owner as opposed to the pet), I decided it was be nice if I visited the poor kid and apologize on Dino's behalf. And seeing that Dino and his men had already left for the day, this was a better option than doing nothing. The pleasant thing about Namimori is that there was an abundance of kind old ladies to ask for directions, and soon enough I had managed to find my way to the hospital. I paused before going in, however, hearing a familiar voice call out to me:

"Yo! Cloud, right?"

"Yamamoto Takeshi, yeah?" I answered back with an easy smile, turning and looking up as the tall teen approached.

"I see you're still around, huh?" he said, shifting the large sushi boat he held and titling his head, his grin large and eyes glinting with humor.

"I'm standing in front of you, aren't I?" I teased back, then questioned, "You visiting Tsuna?" His eyes barely widened in surprised before he recovered.

"You too?"

"I figured he would appreciate it," I said with a shrug, turning and walking first into the hospital. Yamamoto quickly caught up, with his much longer gait. "You know," I continued, "with the fact that my brother was the one who put him in here. Or, really, Dino's turtle, but that's not the point."

"He's your brother, huh?" Yamamoto said with a light laugh, looking curious about the other details that I hinted at.

"You already guessed that," I called him out, causing his grin to falter slightly before it widened.

"Smart one, huh?" he hummed as we slowed, nearing the door, "Wish I was too, haha! Can't say my grades are too good."

"I'm sure you're smarter than you let on," I said with a wink, gesturing for him to enter first. His smile titled, turning into far more of a smirk, before he mocked bowed and entered.

"You seem well," Yamamoto greeted as he leaned in, "We came by for a visit."

"Yamamoto!? Wait, we?" I heard Tsuna exclaim. I peeked around Yamamoto and gave a casual wave.

"Yo, Tuna-fish."

"Cloud?!" I smirked and nodded, fully entering with Yamamoto. Tsuna looked between the two of us, curiously (almost cautiously) before he was occupied by what Yamamoto was carrying.

"Dad told me to bring this," Yamamoto presented the magnificent sushi boat, which left Tsuna gaping.

"Isn't... this really expensive..?" the future-don asked, concern creeping onto his future, memories clearly running through his head.

"Don't worry about it," Yamamoto assured him, voice light and happy, "Dad likes to give people things."

I smiled softly, moving to sit on the end of the bed, watching the exchange. Tsuna seemed genuinely happy, and Yamamoto immediately reflected this mood. It hit me then, the reason why Tsuna seemed so calm and relaxed and happy around Yamamoto;

Yamamoto Takeshi was his most normal friend. He was one of the few people that remained by Tsunayoshi's side that wasn't already connected to the mafia. It almost made me sad, thinking about this, thinking about what Tsuna must feel about this. Could he have a normal life, normal friends with this daunting inheritance? But ah, I already knew the answer to that.

I opened my mouth to question Tsuna, to ask about how he was doing, but was interrupted by someone else entering the room, leaning on the doorway in such a casual, blasé fashion.

"Young Vongola is hurt? How terrible..." the figure drawled, a sultry yet bored voice. His tone matched his appearance, the young man wearing a loose, slightly unbutton cow print, and a large rather obnoxious bull belt buckle. My eyes narrowed, somewhat recognizing him.

"Adult Lambo?" Ah, that explains it. Briefly, I wondered what Lambo could have gotten into that resulted in him using the bazooka. Adult-Lambo pushed off the door and sauntered over to Tsuna.

"I went back ten years so suddenly that I didn't have time to prepare anything," he said with only a slight apologetic tone.

"Oh, it's okay," Tsuna was quick to wave him off, "You don't have to do that."

Yamamoto stepped back, watching the other man with slight confusion, observing him carefully, while maintaining a casual outward appearance. Confused, clearly; but there was no proper motivation for inquisition.

"Ah!" Lambo called out, holding a triumphant finger up before digging into his pocket, "I'll give you this." He pulled a clothed figure out, presenting it, "Every month my family gives awards for excellence. This," he revealed the gold toilet trophy, "is the 'good job on cleaning the bathroom' award," Lambo finished with pride. Tsuna looked at it in horror, mortification even.

Yamamoto and I exchanged amused looks before the door burst open once again.

"Tenth!" I winced at the volume, reminded of Gokudera's typical loudness (we've got to get that boy a mute button). We all turned towards the door, shocked to see a bloodied and limping Gokudera trying to pull himself in. "Are you okay, Tenth?"

"Ask yourself that question first!" Tsuna yelled back at him, showing evident concern over his friend's well-being.

"I'm glad... you're fine..." Gokudera aid, nearly dragging himself forward, "I was in a hurry so I got run over a couple of times."

"A couple?" I repeated with flat disbelief. His head snapped to me, already glaring.

"Your idiotic brother did this to Tenth!" He snapped at me with malice, attempting to storm over, but was too injured to get very far. Instead, he turned back to Tsuna, as if recalling, "Oh… this… is a gift." He pulled out blood red, trampled looking roses, and presented them to his boss, "I'm sorry. They were white roses earlier, but..."

"I think you should go see a doctor, Gokudera!"

"I'm fine. This is nothing," he chirped back, clearly not fine and continuously bleeding onto the floor. I blinked, being reminded that I brought something as well.

"Here, Tsuna," I dropped a bag of chocolates in his lap, "Just a little apology for my brother."

Tsuna features morphed from shocked, concerned and extremely embarrassed, taking on a much warmer tone to it; still embarrassed, clearly, but glad and happy to have friends who cared (I didn't have the heart to tell him my gift was from the snack fridge in the hotel room and that I just grabbed it as a last minute thing as I left).

This moment was ruined, however, hearing a commotion on the other side of the door. Soon, it caved in, dumping a small group of nurses on the floor.

"THIS WON'T DO AT ALL SAWADA-SAN!" the head nurse bemoaned after entering. First, she ushered the nurses out and then turned to us with a forceful smile, clamping her hands together. "I'm sorry but you all must leave immediately," she told us through clenched teeth. Wisely, we did as we were told and made our way out of the room quickly, not wanting to anger her anymore.

Gokudera was immediately taken by other nurses (as soon as they noticed his condition, which was not hard to miss), leaving Yamamoto, Lambo and I to walk out together.

"It's good to see you so young again, Big Sis," Lambo turned to me, smiling warmly. I blinked looking up at him cautiously.

"Yeah… it's good to see you so… old?" I tried, earning a laugh from him.

"You just met us, right?" I nodded, noticing Yamamoto's look of confusion and evident (yet still causal, refrained) focus on our conversation

"Ah, then I haven't latched onto you yet," he mused, walking out the front door with a knowing smirk. I stepped forward, wanting to ask him what he meant by 'latched' on (and slightly concerned by the word choice), but it seemed the five minutes were up. With a 'poof' and a cloud of smoke, the handsome, suave young man was replaced with a snot nose brat. Losing interest (and not keen on playing babysitter today), I turned to Yamamoto, who put on an oblivious front.

"You got any plans for the rest of the day?" he asked me curiously, deciding not to comment on the conversation.

"Not the type to plan," I told titling my head as I looked up at him, "but I could probably go for some lunch about now. You up?"

His smiled came easily, fluidly, and his eyes glimmered once more with mischief.

"I think I know a place."

I couldn't help but feel there was more motive to Yamamoto hanging out with than he let on. And the connotation of it? It wasn't negative or malicious; Yamamoto exuded curiosity, but it was without inquiry.

His father was similar to son (or should I say son was similar to father?); warm and kind, but blunt and straight forward, happily so. His skill with knives was impressive, and I made a mental note to bring Bel here (he would truly appreciate it, plus he would love the sushi). There was an obvious background, and most likely a bloody one behind Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, but one that was also clearly left behind (there was always the thought, always the question; what was it that made him do just that? No one walks away with clean hands, after all, no one walks away with consequence).

He seemed happy though, with his son, with this life. It was endearing watching the two interact, and I was content in their home. Tsuyoshi exuded the same calmness as his son, if not a bit more weathered. Again, I was reminded of Squalo, and I wondered,

Was this the feeling of rain flames? Pure rain flames? And suddenly I wondered what that meant for me.

(The Yamamotos were calm and relaxing, a gentle wash on a cloudy day; Squalo was the rain that washed away blood from open, gushing wounds)

Yamamoto only got to his true motive an hour so later, after we had eaten and while we were playing video games:

"So… you know Reborn, right? The kid?" He asked with an edge of caution, and suddenly it clicked what he wanted to talk about.

"You're going be pretty awkward getting to the point, aren't you?" I asked just as my character beat his. He chuckled nervously, his smile forced and his eyes flickering, but all together refusing to look my way.

"What do you mean?"

"You know that there's something more serious going on, yeah?" I called him out as I picked out our next venue in the game, "Even though you still want to act like this is a game. But you're worried, concerned about Tsuna specifically. And you were hoping you'd get it out of me."

"Well, I mean, it's not like that–" he was quick to correct me, frowning when I made my last assumption.

"Don't worry about me getting offended, it's fine," I assured, sending him a soft smile, and then added with a wink, "I know that's not the only reason you wanted to hang out. But," I said, rolling my head slightly to look back at the TV, " either ask Tsuna directly and get what you want out of him, or keep playing it off like you're oblivious. Which, by the way, you're pretty good at that. Just waiting and watching. I only noticed because I'm the same," I admitted, looking him down again before glancing back at the game.

"Trust Tsuna, or just ask him. Either way, know that me and my brother aren't going to harm him, if that's what you're worried about. In terms of games," I said, choosing the tag-team option, Yamamoto's character dropping out of the screen, and then landing again beside my own character, facing the two computer opponents,

"Know that we're on your side. So, you good to play?" I asked, titling my head slightly as I turned to look at him. Yamamoto blinked slowly as his fingers hovered uncertainly over his own controller; a glance to the screen, then his eyes went back to me, an easy grin on his face as he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm game."

"I come bearing sushi!" I announced as a peace offering, entering Dino's room. Dino looked up from the papers scattered across his bed and Romario from his book.

"Yo, Cloud," Dino greeted with a smile, which was slightly tainted with confusion as his eyes went to the bag I was carrying "Did you order room service or something?"

"I didn't know they had sushi here." Romario said, hand on chin. I blinked at them, my expression going blank.

"Where exactly do you think I've been all day?" I asked flatly. Dino looked confused.

"You've been in your room... right?"

"I went out," I answered simply, "You guys were gone, so I just kind of… left?" I said with a lazy twirl of my hand, "Visited Tsuna. Hung out with Takeshi," I relayed with a shrug, sitting on the small part of the bed that wasn't covered in papers.

"Takeshi?" Dino repeated, suddenly suspicious and alert.

"Yamamoto," I elaborated, "He said I could call him Takeshi now."

"He – You went on a date?!" Dino said, leaning forward. I hummed, ignoring his slight anger easily.

"I don't know if I'd call it that…" I said trailing off, putting my hand on my chin, "We're keeping it chill, yeah?"

"I didn't say you could go out, let alone go on a date with some guy–"

"One," I listed off, counting off with my hand, "It's not like you told me where you were going–"

"We left a note–"

"-a note I did not see," I shot back before moving on, "and two…. Well, I mean, I do what I want? And you know Takeshi, right? I mean, you've talked to him at least once, so it's not like I was with some stranger. And his dad was there the whole time, and it's not like it was actually anything. We just hung out and played video games, getting to know each other, you know? Now, next time might be a date–"

"Cloud…" Dino said, sighing and running a hand through his hair, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Let me do what I want without consequence?" I asked hopefully.

"… No."

"Hey, Cloud, you wanna come?" I looked up, over the edge of my book at the upside down image of my brother.

"Where're you going?" I questioned, keeping up with the conversation after returning to reading.

"Tsuna and I are going to have a heart-to-heart talk up on the mountains," he explained with an air of warmth and pride.

"No thanks," I replied flippantly, "Sound kind of boring, and you know Reborn's going to find a way to mess it up."

Dino's face changed, and he opened his mouth before realization hit him. He sighed in defeat, knowing this to be true but accepting it, and turned to walk out the door.

"Okay then," Dino acknowledged, "I'm going to get Yamamoto and Go-" I flipped over suddenly, landing easily on my feet and tossing the book on my bed. I turned to Dino with a brilliant, yet obviously sly smile.

"Of course, it's always entertaining to see how Reborn's plots fold out," I said with an amused hum, moving past Dino to get a coat from my suitcase, "So I suppose I'll tag along. You know, for support."

Dino sighed, bringing his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I regret asking…"

"Ugh... so cold! Why are we going to a mountain in this weather?" Gokudera crossed his arms and looked around, his irritation showing.

"We don't get to see this nature like this very often though," Takeshi commented, an attempt to lighten his friend's mood. He then blinked, looking down at me beside him, smiling warmly before asking, "You good? Warm?"

"Totally," I said with a grin, leaning into him a bit more.

"And since when did you two get so attached?" The bomber turned his head, glaring back at us. Takeshi laughed lightly and shrugged, moving me slightly with how I was holding his arm. Dino sighed, ahead of us, giving me a warning glance.

"Anyway," he said carefully, moving his eyes away from us and to the path we were walking, "as an apology for hospitalizing Tsuna last time, I thought this would be a good place to have a heart-to-heart talk. Spending a night in a place like this deepens the family's unity, yeah?" he said, forming a smile as he took in our surrounds with bliss.

"What the heck are you talking about, you worthless bastard!" Gokudera spat, clearly not happy with the situation and ruining the peaceful mood, "Where's the Tenth? Is he really here?!" Gokudera questioned, his eyes glinting with suspicion.

"Don't worry," my brother assured him with a light chuckle, finding the bomber's mood humorous, "He's already gone ahead with Reborn. Guessing from the time, they're probably having lunch."

"Or Reborn's torturing him," I guessed flatly. Dino's chuckles turned nervous.

"I'm sure that's not the-"

"HEEEELP!"

Dino stopped in his tracks, staring up in only vague disbelief at Tsuna, only clad in boxers and strapped to a boulder set just beneath a waterfall. Reborn sat nonchalantly just to the side of it, sipping his warm drink, content and completely dry, even bundled up in a small coat.

"TENTH!" Gokudera called immediately running forward to help his boss.

"Typical Reborn," I muttered. Takeshi tilted his head to look down at me as Dino was nagging Reborn.

"Come on, looks kind of fun, right?" he asked me, a glint of humor in his eyes, "Good for the immune system, right?"

"Like in the shower," I said, bumping him with my hip lightly, "But I don't think that applies here."

"Waterfalls are like big showers," he said with a shrug and a grin. I blinked, my expression deadpanning.

"I'm only going to ignore that, because in a way, you're right."

"Don't use me as your toy!" Tsuna complained as he got untangled from the rock. He then shuffled over to us, shivering. Takeshi immediately went to his bag, giving an extra pair of clothes to a extremely grateful Tsuna, I moved over, asking quickly before checking his signs, slightly concerned about his state, seeing how much he was shivering.

"That's true," Reborn chirped, jumping up onto my brother's shoulder, "Then let's play with Enzo." I blinked, one single blink mind you, and Enzo was in the Demon Tutor's hands.

"Ah! When did you..!?" Dino was confused by his magical-Reborn powers as well, patting his jacket and pockets before looking back at his tutor. A twinge of a smirk, and Reborn tossed the turtle into the water.

"If you throw Enzo in the river...!" Tsuna stated, watching the ripples in horror. It took a moment before anything happened. Then an enormous Enzo, the biggest I've ever seen him, surfaced.

"THAT'S HUGE!" Tsuna shrieked, stumbling back.

"What the heck is that?" Takeshi looked up at it nervously, eyes flickering to me in question.

"It's the spirit of the mountain!" Gokudera shouted, planning. I raised an eyebrow, looking over at him.

"No, that's just En-" He interrupted me, however, falling to his knees and clapping his hands together in prayer.

"The spirit of the mountain is angry with us! PLEASE CALM DOWN!"

"No, that's not it!" Tsuna tried to calm his friend as well, waving in hands uncertainly. I looked around, and blinked, noticing that no one was moving.

"So, should we be running, or...?"

"Cloud's right," Dino said, looking around at the group and making the decision to step forward, "There's nothing we can do once he grows that big. Let's go to the other side of the bridge," Dino ordered, gesturing behind us. Following our advice, the group ran to the bridge. Takeshi picked up Reborn on the way (the little bastard was completely calm in the midst of all this chaos). I remained with my arm around him, looking back with slight concern as the turtle slowly stepped forward, each one wobbling and uncertain, unused to this size, but consequently, shaking the ground due to his weight. Tsuna seemed to notice this fact as well.

"HIEEK, IT'S SHAKING!"

"Calm down, Tsuna," Takeshi tried, but was panicking a bit himself, his eyes darting around, looking for an escape, a solution.

"UWAA, I'S COMING!" Tsuna cried out, looking back to see Enzo gaining on us.

"I'll buy us some time here. You guys just go on ahead!" We turned back to look at my brother, who was preparing his whip. I grew concerned suddenly, remembering a crucial fact; none of our men were around, which meant -

"Wait! Your worthless whip is useless!" Gokudera scolded, having come to the same conclusion.

"Yeah, noble sacrifice and all, Bro, but you're going to do more harm than good!" I yelled back at him.

"Stop talking nonsense," he chided back, smirking confidently. "Leave it to me!" He lashed his whip, immediately cutting the ropes holding the bridge up.

A moment. An uneasy smile from Dino.

"Oh, no."

And there was just enough time for me to sigh, and lament over the fact that I was used to this before the bridge gave out from under us. Takeshi pulled me and Reborn closer and turned, so that he would take the brunt of the fall, but I switched us, taking the impact with much more skill than I knew he would, rolling slightly, and pulling him and Reborn to me.

He stared up at me, shocked, his mouth gaping slightly, before I rolled off, immediately looking to the others, who I had heard screaming as we fell.

"Um…" the baseball player said, a light blush on his face, clearly still shocked, "Thanks?"

"No problem," I said with a wink, moving to help Tsuna (who had fallen onto and was now writhing awkwardly) from the bush he had landed on. Gokudera, however, nearly pushed me away when he rushed over to check on his boss. I huffed, but backed off, going to Dino instead, who was rubbing his head, his hair covered in twigs.

"Are you okay, Tenth?" Gokudera asked, frantically checking his boss for injuries

"I..I'm alive," was his pathetic response, still baffled that he made the fall.

"Enzo shrank too, thanks to the sun," Reborn informed us looking over at the now-small turtle, looking rather content in a patch of sunlight. I stared at the hitman blankly.

"Well thank you for that tid-bit of information, Mr. Guy-who-got-us-in-this-mess-in-the-first-place," I stated dryly, narrowing my eyes.

"If you want to blame somebody, blame Dino," Reborn said, pointing an accusing finger at my brother.

"Sorry, My hands slipped," Dino excused himself rather pathetically, pushing himself up.

"Bastard! 'My hands slipped' isn't enough!" Takeshi quickly moved forward to hold Gokudera, who was having a hissy fit, back.

"Calm down," Takeshi tried to sooth the bomber, "Everyone's fine, so it's okay, right?"

"Sorry," Dino mumbled again, turning to me. "You alright, Cloud?" I looked up at him, not answering at first.

"I told you would do more harm than good," I huffed and walked away, moving to stand by Takeshi again.

"We don't know if we can go home from here," Reborn pointed out, looking around the forested area we had landed in.

"Now… now that you mention it, that's true..." Tsuna muttered, glancing around as well before asking, "Where are we?!" Gokudera pulled out his cellphone, holding it up before clicking his tongue.

"Nope. No signal."

"No way!" Tsuna bemoaned, clutching his head.

"Calm down," Dino walked over to Tsuna and Gokudera, "My phone can get a signal even in the middle of a desert. It's a satellite phone," he said with a reassuring smile, digging into his pockets only to pull out the mangled carcass of his phone. "It's broken..."

Tsuna gaped at it in horror. I sighed, and then stepped forward slightly, my hand going to my own pockets.

"It's fine. I have the same phone as him," I informed them Tsuna gazed at me hopefully, his eyes nearly sparkling.

"Cloud... thank you!" I waved him off, pulling out my phone.

"Can't rely on him for anything..." I trailed off, staring at the blank screen. "... it's dead." Tsuna's mouth fell open.

"We lost our food bag too," Reborn chirped.

"SERIOUSLY!?"

"You're just the bearer of bad news, aren't you?" I noted, looking down at Reborn, "And fun fact, I still blame you."

"If we camp out here, the cold night weather will probably be the worst thing," Takeshi informed us. I groaned lightly, running a hand through my hair.

"Which means we need to find shelter, warmth," I tutted, already surveying the area for essentials. I was confident I would survive, and I had vague memories of an event like this happening in the manga, and yet looking around at our group? I had my doubts.

"If a bear comes out on a day like this," we looked down to see Reborn in full jungle mode, wearing a loin cloth, "then it becomes a game of survival."

"YOU SEEM TO BE GETTING THE MOST FUN OUT OF THIS!" Tsuna went off, forcing Takeshi to move forward, catching the boy before he could fully lunge at his tutor, "THIS ALL HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Calm down. We'll figure something out. Let's enjoy it." Takeshi chided, smiling pleasantly as he held a frantic, struggling Tsuna with ease.

"Look," Reborn pointed, catching our attention, "it's a cave." The mood of the group suddenly lightened significantly.

"Maybe we can take shelter in here to avoid the cold," Takeshi suggested walking us towards the entrance.

"Don't get too close to it. It could be a nest of some ferocious animals," Gokudera said, throwing Takeshi a nasty, hostile look. Naturally, Tsuna panicked at this, grabbing my shoulder and putting himself behind me.

"I'll look inside," Dino volunteered, stepping forward. Gokudera grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

"Wait, I can't leave it to you. I'll go!" the bomber stated, holding his head up proudly. Dino shrugged and let him go ahead, coming to stand beside me. He put his arm on my shoulder, leaning on it.

"Oh, well," he said with a shrug, amused by Gokudera's insistence.

"If anything happens, scream loud," Takeshi advised. Gokudera flicked his lighter, producing a flame.

"Who'd do that, you moron?" He snapped and then entered the cave. We waited a moment. Then we heard a scream.

"That's Gokudera-kun's scream!" Tsuna shrieked, leaning out from behind me. Dino and Takeshi pushed me behind them and took defensive stances (which caused me to raise an eyebrow; out of all of us here, I was technically the most experienced and reliable in a situation like this. And yet?). Reborn held his gun up, ready to shoot if necessary. Meanwhile, having vague memories of what will happen, I stood back with my hands in my pockets, simply observing as I usually do.

"Oh," a placid voice stated simply before Bianchi walked out of the cave, carting an unconscious and sick looking Gokudera.

"BIANCHI?!" Tsuna shrieked, causing me to wince, turning to give him a harsh look for yelling right into my ear. He gave me an apologetic smile, immediately upon realizing what he did.

"Welcome, Reborn!" She abandoned her brother, dropping him cold in favor of hugging Reborn. After fretting over his friend for a bit, Tsuna turned back to Bianchi, questioning her.

"Why is Bianchi here?!"

"I ended up here while I was collecting poisonous mushrooms three days ago," she explained simply. "It's an enjoyable place. Even when I tried to go back, I still ended up coming back here." She laughed lightly, clearly not wanting to admit (or maybe not even knowing?) that she was lost. Ignoring Tsuna's outburst, I unhooked arms with Takeshi and approached her.

"Yo, Bianchi, It's been a few years right?" She smiled at me.

"Cloud," She hugged me, surprising me a bit, "It's been too long. I'm still grateful to you for reuniting me with Reborn." Ah. So that's why she likes me.

"M-Meeting you in a place like this..." Dino smiled at her nervously, "Poison-Scorpion Bianchi." She glanced at him rather indifferently.

"Oh, Dino, you're here too?"

"I was almost killed by the poison scorpion several times when I was still Reborn's student." He explained to Tsuna, and then turned to me. "How do you know her, Cloud?"

"She was in China and we ran into each other," I explained, leaving out the part where I accidentally set the older girl loose on him. Luckily, he seemed to accept my explanation.

"By the way, what did you eat for those three days?" Takeshi asked Bianchi. He seemed to still be focused on survival, the only one of out the group to be doing so.

"Poison mushrooms or...poison mushrooms," she answered, as if it were a normal thing. A feeling of shock and disbelief washed through our group. Bianchi looked back at the cave, remembering something.

"You guys can come out," she called gently. A noise came out of the cave, sounding a bit like crying.

"Wh-what's that sound..?" Tsuna sputtered.

"There are others?" Takeshi took another defensive stand in front of Tsuna and me, but relaxed when Ipin and Lambo came out.

"You guys! Why are you guys here!?" Tsuna exclaimed. "I saw you guys this morning at the house!" Suddenly a dark shape darted out of the cave and latched onto Tsuna.

"Tsuna!"

"Haru?" Tsuna cried, staring down at the dark-haired girl who was now practically wrapped around him. I blinked, then moved on while Bianchi was explaining how they trio arrived, going over to Ipin.

"Are you alrighti?" I asked, concerned as I bent down to her level. She nodded, smiling softly and holding her arms up.

"What happened? Why are you guys here?" Tsuna asked, trying to pry Haru off him.

"Haru found an article about a delicious cake shop up in the mountains," I translated as Ipin explained, holding the small girl in my arms, "So the three of us decided to go together. But Lambo lied about knowing how to get there, provoked a bee's nest for fun, and we ended up here because he fell off a cliff..." I trailed off as I finished, sweat dropping.

"Everything's Lambo's fault!" Tsuna shrieked, pointing out the obvious. Takeshi looked at me in surprise.

"You know Chinese?" I nodded.

"I spent two years training in China," I replied, bouncing Ipin lightly as she turned to my shoulder, "We have the same master, so we're basically sisters." He smiled and nodded, then began picking up sticks. Tsuna seemed to notice this after explaining to Haru that we were lost too.

"Yamamoto, what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking we could burn some wood. That way we have some SOS signal, get some heat, and scare away the animals," Takeshi explained, looking back at Tsuna. Lambo seemed to notice I was holding Ipin as Tsuna gushed over Yamamoto. He ran over and clung to my leg. I looked down at him, my eye twitching in slight irritation. I shook my leg, but he only tightened his grip.

"What," I hissed, "are you doing?" He sniffled.

"Y-you're comforting Ipin so you h-have to comfort me too!" I blinked.

"There's absolutely no logic in that what-so-ever," I responded flatly.

"HIEEK! FOREST FIRE!" I looked up to see that, yes, there was indeed a forest fire. I immediately grabbed the sniffling brat and backed up to where Takeshi and Tsuna were. Lack of logic or not, I wasn't going to let him get caught in a forest fire.

"The fire's spreading really fast! Let's take shelter in the cave!" Dino advised. I was about to move, but Lambo began shifting in my arms. I looked down to see grenades in his hands.

"I'll help make a fire as an apology!"

"Lambo, no-" I tried to stop him, but he already threw the grenades. Luckily, I stopped him before he could throw any more. "No more grenades!" I scolded him, and he sniffled in responded, poorly attempting to wipe away his tears.

"O-okay, Big Sis..."

" We're surrounded by fire!" Dino yelled out, scowling as the group backed up, the fire expanding rapidly.

"LAMBO YOU FOOL!" Tsuna yelled out, turning to glare at the child in my arms. Still holding the kids, I stepped towards the center of the currently flame-free clearing, eyes scanning for an escape.

"We're done for!" Tsuna shrieked.

"I don't want to die!" Haru joined him in his panic. I twitched, feeling a head ache forming. Fortunately Lambo wasn't acting up out anymore, seemingly content in my arms.

My head snapped up, hearing a gunshot; I looked up just in time to see Tsuna get hit with dying will bullet. I watched in amazement (and bewilderment) as Tsuna jumped out of his clothes and dashed off.

"REBORN! EXTINGUISH THE FIRE AS IF I WERE TO DIE!"

Witnessing this for the first time… was odd. Very odd.

Leon jumped to his aid, turning into dousing rods. Briefly, I wondered if the bullet enhanced intelligence as well, seeing how easily Tsuna utilized this new tool to effectively find water. He followed the direction the rods were pointing, and yelled out again. After two more bullets, his fists swelled, and he punched the ground, practically shattering it, causing a large burst of water to spring from it. The geyser of water produced a rain like effect, dulling the fire until it dwindled completely.

The others yelled out happily, looking up with smiles and giving Tsuna a myriad of compliments. I smirked, looking over at the boy, now back to normal and staring up at disbelief as well.

"I guess he is good for something," I muttered, watching as the Ipin and Lambo, still in my arms, held their hands out to feel the rain. Tsuna, hearing my remark, smiled shyly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Thanks, Cloud..." I looked over at him, noticing his lack of clothes.

"You might want to put something on, Bro." He squeaked and scrambled for his bag, bringing out extra clothes.

"Oh no…" I heard my brother mutter, and looked over only for my expression to fall.

"Run!" Dino shouted, turning away from a once-again-gigantic Enzo, who had absorbed the water from the geyser.

Deciding not to waste any more time, I began running. The others soon followed, deciding that my idea was the smartest thing to do at the moment.

"You really should take better care of your pet, Dino!" I scolded him.

"I said I was sorry!"

Lambo had taken a liking to me, and I now knew what his future self's words meant. However, when he said he was going to 'latch on to me', I didn't think he meant it literally. Then again, I had fallen into a bad habit of doubting people lately. The good thing about Lambo clinging to me throughout this little 'adventure' is that I prevented him from throwing anymore grenades. Between me and Tsuna keeping Gokudera and Lambo in check, Takeshi managed to start a fire safely. Another job I was tasked with, along with watching Lambo, was making sure Dino didn't cause any more problems until we were rescued. Somehow, I had become a babysitter, a fact I was not entirely happy with.

"Ah, Cloud?" Tsuna asked hesitantly, casing me to turn to him. At the moment, we were all sitting peacefully around the fire, waiting for Romario to rescue us (because we all knew he would be the one that would actually do the job).

"How come Dino is clumsy around you too?" Tsuna question, rubbing the back of his head, "He's not clumsy when he's around his family, right?"

Dino looked confused from beside me (he made a point of sitting between me and Takeshi, even pushing himself between us, making his own spot).

"I don't know wha-"

"I don't count," I answered bluntly, interrupting Dino as I petted Lambo's afro softly as he slept, "It kind of sucks, but I guess he's too used to me? The only time he isn't clumsy around me is when my life is in danger or something, which happened a few times when we were kids…" I trailed off, meeting Haru's eyes. This was my first time interacting with her; she seemed bubbly and kind, obviously taken with Tsuna, even sitting beside him now, hugging his arm (a fact that Tsuna looked rather uncomfortable with). However, blatantly, she was staring at me and had been for a while. I blinked, then spoke up.

"We haven't met, yeah?" I started carefully, "Cloud Cavallone, you?"

"I'm Haru Miura!" she chirped happily, despite the current situation, "It's nice to meet you!" Her expression, however, then changed drastically, "But if you try to steal Tsuna-san's heart, you'll regret it."

I laughed, loudly, causing Tsuna to look mortified.

"You didn't have to laugh so loud!" He complained, face red and embarrassed. Haru's own expression morphed into one of slight shock.

"Sorry, sorry," I waved Tsuna off, lifting my hand to wipe a genuine tear from my eye, "But seriously, do not worry about that. I'm not interested in Tsuna at all."

"What the hell!" Gokudera snapped, standing up from across the fire, "You've been flirting all day with fucking baseball freak, and yet aren't even interested in the Tenth? Unacceptable!

I scrunched my nose in response.

"He isn't my type," I answered simply, causing Haru to beam.

"Which means he's all Haru's!"

"I'm not anyone's!" Tsuna retorted, leaning away from where Haru was snuggling up to him, "and I don't want Cloud to like me! I mean- " he retracted, realizing how that sounded, "She's pretty and all – but, I don't like her! I mean… like she said!" he pointed to me again, giving me a pleading look.

"Can we please stop talking about my sister's love life while I'm here," my brother interrupted, looking between me and Gokudera tiredly.

"You're right Dino," I said, eyeing Gokudera defiantly as he grumbled, returning to his spot. I smirked and then leaned out to look at Yamamoto, sending a wink,

"We'll talk about when you're not around."

Dino groaned loudly in response, allowing his head to fall into his hands. Tsuna looked over at my brother with pity.

"Poor Dino…"

"I've learned martial arts moves that are less complicated than thi- arck!" I made a choking sound as the ribbon around my waist was pulled tighter. "Tight, tight!"

"Sorry princess, but it has to be tight," Bono apologized behind me. "And you wanted to wear it, anyway." I huffed as he began to tie another ribbon around me, manually lifting my arms when they began to lower from where I was holding them up.

"It's not really that I wanted to wear it," I admitted with a sigh, "it's just that Dino got it for me, asking me if I wanted to wear it. Since he got it for me, and I didn't think getting it on would be so complicated, I decided to wear it," I explained, Bono having moved on to tying the obi at this point.

"All done, princess," He stepped back and gestured to the mirror. I looked at my reflection, turning to see every angle. I smiled, surprising myself and admiring the dark green pattern of the yukata.

"Good job, Bono. I didn't even know you could do this." he shrugged, and responded,

"I asked around, and a couple of extremely gracious elderly women taught me."

"Nice," I said, laughing a bit as I twirled one last time, then made my way out the door to meet Dino in the hallway, Bono following faithfully.

It had been a couple of days since we had been saved from being lost in the forest and before I knew it, it was three days after New Year's. Dino grinned and put his arm around my shoulder when we approached him.

"Looking good, Cloud," he chided as we began walking out. I snorted, and lifting a hand to smooth any stray hairs that weren't put in in the elaborate up do that Ivan had styled my hair in.

"I always look good," I teased, putting up a false air of haughtiness, but was unable to hold it, grinning a bit. He rolled his eyes, equally amused. "Anyway," I moved on, shaking my foot a bit, unused to these sandals, "What are we doing? Isn't New Year's only a day for us?"

"Yeah, but Reborn asked us to compete against Tsuna's family in a Vongola-style New Year," he explained. I blinked, tilting my head.

"Are you sure we should do this? Anything that Reborn is involve with usually turns out to be dangerous." My brother sighed, nodding a bit in agreement.

"You and I both know all too well that you can't just refuse Reborn's request."

"Oh," I nodded, blinking, "Yeah, you're right."

"And I've been thinking, Cloud," Dino started as we were nearing Tsuna's house. "You need some girl friends."

"So do you, but you don't see me saying anything." I thought further on the subject, and spoke again, "And I thought you were against me and the whole dating thing. Because, you know, you're taking Takeshi so well." His look soured, but he continued:

"I meant you need some female companionship. You only hang out with guys. You need some female friends," he explained. "And besides, you're becoming a bit… boyish only hanging out with guys." I stared up at him, a bit miffed.

"Boyish?" I questioned, suspicious and slightly offended, "Is this why you got me this yukata?" He rubbed the back of his head, caught.

"Well that was some of it. I just thought it would be fun, and I wanted my little sister to look cute on New Years, you know?" I wriggled his arm off my shoulder and crossed my own, a little pissed that he would dare call me boyish... even if it's a little bit true.

"I have Gabriela," I reminded him curtly, out to prove him wrong.

"Gabriela? Ah, you mean the girl you met the time you messed u-"

"Yes," I interrupted before he could remind me, "That Gabriela. Wait, you guys still haven't met? I mean, we mostly email, but you two really should meet sometime."

"She's my age, isn't she? You need some friends your own age, Cloud."

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but before we could pursue the point further, but we had arrived at Tsuna's house.

"Cloud and Dino... and all his men?!" Tsuna called out, turning to us in shock.

"We came here to play New Year's 'Family vs.' battle in Vongola style," Dino explained to the surprised Tsuna, stepping out in front. He glanced back at the group behind Tsuna noticing a few new faces. "It's my first time seeing some of you. Nice to meet you," He acknowledged them, giving his usual charming smile. Haru dashed over to me and pulled me over to their group as Reborn was explaining the battle.

"Cloud!" She pulled me over to stand next to another extremely cute girl; her hair bobbed slightly when turning to me, short and orange toned, and she smiled brilliantly, the air around her almost glowing. She was cute all around, and dazzling in personality I could already tell. I could clearly see how she was the school's idol, and I could clearly see why Tsuna had a crush on Kyoko Sasagawa.

"Cloud," I introduced, countering with my own suave smile after Haru introduced the other girl. Kyoko blushed slightly before taking my hand, clasping it with both of hers.

"Nice meeting you! I'm Kyoko Sasagawa and this is my older brother, Ryohei," She chirped happily, turning back to look at the muscular figure behind her. He waved at me, dazzling as well, but in a much more intense sense than his sister. His hair was white, and his skin was tanned, littered with small scars and scratches (nearly blended, coming across almost as freckles with their subtly). He waved at me excitedly, and I waved back.

"Ah! Cloud, I like your kimono!" I looked down, forgetting I was even wearing it.

"Thanks," I said, barely awkward, "It's my first time wearing one."

"Well, it looks good on you!" she complimented, picking up one of the sleeves and inspecting it lightly. I smiled back at her, not really knowing what else to do, not used to this whole chitter-chatter thing (it was something I tried my best to avoid during any social gathering I was required to attend). I glanced behind me only to see Dino giving me a very bright smile. My expression fell, and out of spite I managed to flip him the bird without the girls noticing.

"Yo, Cloud!" My slight-awkward mood changed immediately, and I brightened.

"Yo, Takeshi!" I called, turning to him. He raised his eyebrows, and I allowed him to raise my arm as he inspected my kimono as well. I laughed lightly as he spun me.

"I see you're dressed up for New Years," He commented, humor evident in voice and shining in his eyes. I smirked, opening my mouth to respond, but interrupted by Tsuna:

"THE WAY YOU SAY THAT IS REALLY ANNOYING!"

"Geez, Tsuna. You always get angry over a child's game." Yamamoto chided, still in a light, teasing mood.

"The event feels very New-Year like. It seems fun," Haru smiled at the future-don.

"One million dollars is such a wonderful dream…" Kyoko muttered, a dreamy look on her face as she thought about the prize money for the event Reborn had been explaining. Tsuna sunk into a depressed state due to their obliviousness. I approached him, sympathetic, and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tuna-fish. I'm on your side," I comforted him.

"T-thanks Cloud..." he muttered, leaning into me a bit for support. I shrugged.

"That what sisters are for, yeah?" My statement seemed to make him feel better. I looked up, noticing the group starting to move.

"Since we don't have room here, we'll go to a different location," Reborn announced and started walking, leading the way. Dino appeared beside us, and paused before walking forward, turning back to look at me.

"You coming, Cloud?" he asked when he noticed I wasn't moving. I scrunched my nose.

"I don't really want too. I wouldn't really be participating anyway if I came," I admitted with a shrug. He mirrored this action.

"I guess that's true..." He then looked towards his men, "Well, if you're going somewhere, take Ivan and Bono with you." I huffed, but relented gesturing for them to join me. An idea popping into my head, I quickly moved to catch up to Haru and Kyoko.

"Hey," I called, causing them to turn back to face me with curious expressions,

"Can you guys give me directions to the Namimori Shrine?"

"Ah, stairs; my eternal enemy."

I glared coldly at the stairs leading up to the shrine, lifting my head with distaste. Luckily, Kyoko's directions were clear and accurate, so we didn't have any problems arriving. Now the only thing standing in between us and the shrine were stairs. It's not that I had a problem climbing stairs (Fon made sure of that) it's just that ever since China and those wretched stairs that went up the mountain, I just had a vendetta against them (I'm pretty positive that it runs in the family; stairs are the number one to keep Dino away from when his men aren't around).

"Um, Princess?" Ivan snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned back to look at them with a blank expression. "Are you going to climb the stairs?" I blinked.

"Oh. Right," I turned back and started walking up to the shrine. "I was just making sure they knew that they were hated." They sighed and followed me, used to my weird explanations.

"So, why are we coming here, Princess?" Bono asked, curious. I shrugged.

"I just know that people go to shrines in this country and I heard that Namimori's shrine is pretty, so I thought why not, right? While we're here," I stated as I topped the stairs. I was surprised when there was only one other person at the shrine, since it was New Years. I was even more surprised when he addressed me. I walked up to the shrine, slightly distracted as I inspected it, finding it rather pretty.

"Hey, aren't you that foreign girl...?"

I turned around warily, not recognizing the voice. Bono and Ivan tensed. Looking up, I inspected his face and then larger frame, blinking suddenly when I recognized him.

"Oh, yeah!" I exclaimed, my memory returning, "You're that guy that showed me to the roof at Namimori!" Ivan and Bono relaxed when they realized I knew him, but they remained alert, hands still under their jackets. I scoffed, and waved them off, assuring them that it was fine.

"And you're the girl who Judo flipped Hibari-san," the older teen stated. I rubbed the back of my head, laughing nervously.

"Yeah, I didn't exactly mean to do that..." I peeked around him and scoured the area. "He isn't here, right?" He laughed, startling me a bit, and shook his head.

"No. Hibari-san doesn't enjoy festivities with a lot of people," He explained. I raised an eyebrow, and gestured vaguely around us.

"But there isn't anyone else here," I reminded him. He shrugged, a casual, rather heavy movement, and then lifted his hand to readjust the blade of grass between his lips.

"Usually there are more people here, so the president doesn't come," he explained simply.

"Ah," I nodded, allowing an awkward silence passed between us.

"Kusakabe Tetsuya by the way," he introduced himself. It took a moment before I registered this. I introduced myself with a start, once I realized that I was supposed to respond.

"Cloud Cavallone," I returned and gave a little bow, "And this is Bono and Ivan." I gestured to my body guards. He nodded to them while I mulled over his name, disliking the number of syllables.

"Yo," I called his attention back to me, "You mind if I call you Tetsu?" I asked bluntly. He gave me a strange look, but seemed to accept it, giving a stiff nod.

"The guy you defeated last time was Hibari Kyoya," he informed me. I scrunched my nose.

"I wouldn't say I 'defeated' him exactly, just... flipped him," I argued, the previous encounter with the prefect still making me rather apprehensive. Tetsu chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"It's just amazes me that a girl could do that to Hibari-san." I looked up at him and crossed my arms.

"Are you saying girls are weak?" I questioned him, offended. Ivan and Bono even stepped forward, ready to pull me back if needed (let's just say that similar instances have happened and have not ended well, primarily, for the men who dared to doubt me). Tetsu shook his head a little too quickly.

"No, it's not that. It's amazing for anybody to do that to him. I've never seen it before," he explained simply.

"If it helps any, I really didn't mean too," I inputted, crossing my arms and shrugging, "Instinct, yeah?"

"Well, that was good instinct," he praised. His face then grew serious, "But, just a warning, you might not want to hang around here anymore. If the president finds you, he won't show any mercy." I laughed, doubling over.

"Like he showed any before!" I wiped away a fake-tear and stood back up. "And besides, I don't go back to Italy until Dino does. And that's..." I trailed off, looking back at Ivan and Bono for the answer. They shrugged, not knowing either. I clicked my tongue and turned back to Tetsu, an indifferent look on my face.

"I'll be fine," I reassured him with an easy smile, "I'm a pro at getting out sticky situations, and if worse comes to worse, I'll offer Dino as a sacrifice to him; he's stronger than me, after all." Ivan and Bono shared a look, and Tetsu sighed.

"Your funeral, Cavallone." I cocked my head and scrunched my nose.

"Just call me Cloud, man," I said, reaching up to push his shoulder. He blinked, surprised with the casual contact. I continued, "I'm not Japanese, so using my last name sounds too formal."

"If you say so, Kumo."

"Cloud," I corrected him, slightly confused.

"That's what I said." I blinked, then shook my head.

"Whatever, close enough. Just don't tell your president that you saw me," I said as he was walking away.

"You know, I'll have to if he asks," he called back, turning his head slightly.

"Then just make sure he doesn't ask!" I advised simply. He shook his head, smiling lightly, amused.

"Then I hope we meet again, Kumo. And good luck if you run into Hibari!"

I waved as he walked off, then turned back to the shrine, hoping to enjoy the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, I would be running into the prefect sooner than Tetsu thought.

"This is troublesome..." I looked up from my manga to see Dino snapping his phone shut with a frown on his face. I narrowed my eyes.

"Trouble back home?" I accurately guessed. He nodded, leaning his head on his hand, deep in thought. His phone beeped, breaking the silence. He flipped it open and scanned the screen. His eyes widened slightly and looked back up at me.

"Looks like Le petite prince Futa is here in Japan, and with Tsuna of all people." I mulled over the name for a bit, until I remembered the ranking child.

"So he's at Tsuna's house?" I earned another nod.

"A convenient coincidence," Dino muttered thoughtfully. I remained silent, knowing that he was formulating a plan. "Cloud," he snapped suddenly, "I need you go to Tsuna's house and try to convince Futa to give us information on the Gospella Family's most influential weapons dealers, so we can stop them from handing out any more weapons to hoodlums and bringing harm to civilians. I would go, but it's better this way, so I can get a head start while you get the information."

"Aye, Aye, Captain," I saluted. He gave me a grateful smile, then rose from out of his chair and turned to Romario.

"Gather some men to go with her and get a suitcase of money in case we need to buy the rankings."

I watched as Dino continued to give out orders with precision. It was amazing how responsible and boss-like he can be when things get serious. He turned back to me once he was done, explain in a much kinder tone,

"After you get the rankings, you can stay at Tsuna's if you want. Just be sure to give it to one of them so it can get to me as soon as possible," He smiled, dropping his earlier seriousness entirely, and ruffled my hair, "I don't want you to get any more involved than you already are." I hopped down from my chair and waved him off as I made my way out the door, his men following.

"Whatever you say, Bro."

(it was endearing, him saying things like that; but it was sad, thinking that it was already too late)

"Oh, Cloud!" Nana stuck her head out of the kitchen as we passed. "I haven't seen you in a while! How have you've been?" I forced a smile and waved at the kind woman.

"I've been good. I'll come down later and catch up," I lied, clenching my teeth slightly and then turning quickly to start up the stairs, "Dino needs something from Tsuna right now, so I gotta go get it so these guys can give it to him," I called out the rest of my excuse. She nodded in understanding and returned to the kitchen and I wasted no time opening the door to Tsuna's room.

"Yo, Tuna-fish," I announced, entering.

"Cloud! And Dino's men!" I smiled, used to Tsuna's introductions. "Huh? Dino's not here?" he noticed, leaning to look behind me, and then to the men that stood behind me. I shook my head as I stepped further into the room.

"That's actually why I'm here," I explained, placing my hand on my hip. "I'm running errands for my brother, per say." I looked at Tsuna's side, spotting the small child. Smiling softly, I knelt down to his level.

"You're the ranking prince Futa, right?" He nodded shyly, slightly weary of me. "I'm Cloud Cavallone," I introduced, holding out my hand which he hesitantly took and shook, "My brother is the boss of the Cavallone Family, Dino. We actually need your help right now; we need to purchase the rankings of the Gospella family's top weapon dealers. They've been causing trouble for us and getting innocent civilians involved. We are willing to pay up front," I gestured behind me where one of Dino's subordinates presented the case of money. I ignored Tsuna's shock, in full business mode. A smile lit up the kid's face as soon as I mentioned Dino.

"That won't be necessary," he said, pulling a huge book out of completely nowhere (side bar, what is up with kids and doing that? Lambo, Reborn, and now Futa all seem to have that strange ability, it's fucking insane). "Dino ranks number 1 out of 82263 when it comes to Mafia members who care for the welfare of civilians! I like that kind of boss," he leafed through the book and showed me the rankings. I whistled, impressed, and he continued, "and besides, Dino's Tsuna sworn brother, so is also my brother and that makes you my sister, right?" He smiled warmly up at me. I laughed and ruffled his hair, taken by him.

"I've always wanted a cute little brother!" I teased, thanking Futa as he gave me the ranking, then turned to the men behind me, nodding. "You know what to do." They returned the gesture and left the room. I turned around and plopped on the bed casually. Tsuna looked at me, confused.

"Aren't you going with them, Cloud?"

"Nah, they've got it covered. Besides, Dino doesn't like me getting involved in that kind of stuff," I waved him off, "but, I usually end up getting involved anyway," I added as an afterthought. Reborn jumped up on the bed beside me.

"It's hard to come by a chance like this, so why don't you get some rankings too, Tsuna? You too, Cloud," he said, getting comfortable as well.

"Eh, me?" Tsuna asked, pointing to himself.

"Fine with me," Futa happily complied. I shrugged.

"Sure," I relented, leaning my elbows on my knees and propping my head up, "Not like I can get out of it anyway, seeing that this is Reborn's idea."

"That sounds like fun!" Our heads snapped towards the new voice. Haru peaked her head in, her eyes glimmering with excitement. "Is it a new type of fortune telling?"

"HARU!" Tsuna shrieked, aghast that she was here. I sighed, my hands at my temple, giving Tsuna and accusing glance.

"Thank you, Tsuna, for that marvelous introduction," I patted him on the shoulder. He sighed at my comment and approached the other girl.

"Why do you always come in uninvited?" He accused her.

"It looked like it was going to rain, so I took in Tsuna's laundry," she chirped, leaving a dumbfounded Tsuna behind as she rushed over to me. "Cloud!" I stiffened at her hug, "It's so nice to see you again!" I smiled at her, albeit a bit awkward.

"N-nice to see you too, Haru...chan?" Fuck, I'm so awkward around girls my age. Tsuna seemed to notice this, his mouth barely twisting in humor. Luckily for me, her attention was drawn to Futa again.

"Oh yeah, please tell Haru's fortune too!" She begged the child.

"You're Big Brother Tsuna's friend so... okay," He agreed a bit hesitantly. His statement shocked the strange girl.

"Hahih? Big Brother...? You're not Tsuna-san's illegitimate secret brother are you?" I chuckled at the group's reaction to her accusation.

"If it helps any," I put in from my spot on the bed, "I'm technically Tsuna's sister."

Of course this caused even more of a ruckus. Tsuna sent me a glare as he calmed the girl. I shrugged, my amusement already fulfilled. Soon, we returned to the topic on hand.

"Okay, so Haru wants her charm point rankings," Futa summed up. "Here I go." I made an small noise as random objects around the room began to levitate, including Reborn, who floated off the bed beside me. Not wanting to follow, I hung onto the edge of the bed as Futa was mumbling in front of me. "This is Futa. I can hear you ranking planet."

"WHAT!? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING FUTA!?"

"Volume," I snapped at Tsuna, sending him a look, "What are you, a dying bird?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Reborn said, casually floating by a mortified Tsuna, "He's contacting the planet."

"You think I'm going to believe something occult like that!" Tsuna shot back, but at a much more acceptable volume.

"It's romantic..." Haru countered, sighing dreamily.

"It's hella cool," I agreed, lifting slightly up from the bed, but remaining anchored.

"Haru's number one charm point out of all 8 is..." we all listened intently, "It's your hair whorl."

"Wha-how did you know?" She threw an accusing glance at Tsuna. "Tsuna must have-"

"How would I know it would be your hair whorl?" he defended. A shocked look slipped onto Haru's face.

"HAHIEEK! FUTA-KUN IS AMAZING! WHAT A GIFTED FORTUNE TELLER." Tsuna and I winced at her volume, sharing an exasperated look. "Okay, then please tell Haru the top three things she likes about Tsuna."

"Right..." Futa paused, gather his information. I snickered and nudged Tsuna.

"This should be good, right Bro?" He sighed, shaking his head.

"The top three things on the list of 'what Haru-san likes most about Tsuna are... his assertiveness… " I began to giggle. "His strength…" I straight up busted out laughing. "And number one is his gentleness." My laughs died down. I shrugged.

"Okay, I'll give you that one." I turned back to Futa while Haru and Tsuna were have... a, uh, moment or something (you never really know with them). "Can you rank me now, Futa?" I asked, wanting to get my rankings out of the way since I vaguely remember his rankings going crazy because of the rain sometime after this point.

"Rankings for Cloud are..." I waited, patient. The boy frowned, a troubled expression appearing on his face. "There... there are no rankings for Cloud...?" I cocked my head, confused as well, a cold feeling washing over me.

"What does that mean?" I asked, almost hesitant. Before Futa could answer, Ipin and Lambo interrupted with their presence. Futa moved on, ranking Ipin and forgetting about my rankings, or lack of rankings. It was an oddity, but I decided it would be too much trouble to think about it. Reborn however, gave me a look, signifying that he had heard our exchange and that the subject interested him as well. Ignoring the demon tutor, I pushed myself towards the door, floating past Tsuna on the way.

"Since I no longer benefit from this," I placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm out." He tried to grab me as I went.

"Wait, Cloud! You're the only other sane person here!" I laughed at him as I opened the door and stepped out, gravity taking me again.

"Aw, that's adorable; you actually think I'm sane." He stuck his the upper half of his body out the door, watching exasperatedly as I walked down the stairs. It was that moment that Gokudera decided to burst in and almost run me over. Takeshi trailed in behind him, at a far more leisurely pace.

"TENTH! Why didn't you tell me that the ranking kid is here!?" Gokudera shouted in greeting, completely ignoring me and going straight to his boss.

"Gokudera!" Tsuna cried out, embarrassed on his friend's behalf.

"I bumped into him a while ago," Takeshi explained, making himself known. "It seemed interesting, so I tagged along. Glad to see you're here too," he said, nodding to me, and even slinging an arm around my shoulders, "You staying?"

"Unfortunately, not. On the way out, actually," I said watching as Gokudera stormed into the room yelling something about being 'the tenth's right-hand man' (when is he not yelling something about that?), "You better get up there, though. Don't want to miss anything exciting, right?" He laughed and nodded, rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess you're right." He looked back at me before entering the room, "Some other time, yeah?"

"For sure," I said with a small laugh. It died down however, seeing Takeshi leave and turning back to the kitchen. I hesitated, my hand on the doorway, and leaned in slightly, spying Nana inside, happily working and humming lightly, a picture of warmth and serenity. I opened my mouth, only air escaping it, gripping the doorway tighter,

("Call me Mama! Everyone does!")

and stepped back suddenly, like a wince, immediately going to the door.

(I wasn't ready for that yet)

"Closure. We all seek it. We seek the end of things and also the beginning of new things. Those things we can't find closure on, they haunt us. They pop up in our dreams, and creep into our thoughts in idle moments – like a mind bender that's beyond our mental capacity, a mystery that just won't be solved."

-Lisa Unger

"Watch out for the ice, Bro," I warned Dino as we made our way to Namimori Middle. He waved me off.

"Please, Cloud, as if a little ice is going t-" I caught him just in time before he hit the ground. Dino straightened and them promptly glared at me.

"I told you s-" He put his hand over my mouth and dragged me inside the school gates. I wriggled out of his grip pushing him playfully and laughing as he nearly slipped again, proving my point further. Feeling pity, I steadied him and continued forward. I glanced around as we walked, shuddering when I caught sight of a certain tree. "This place brings up bad memories," I chattered, hugging myself and rubbing my arms.

"Hey, Cloud, over here!" My brother and I looked away from the tree to see a waving Takeshi not too far off. As we neared we saw that Gokudera and Ryohei were with him. Much to Dino's dismay, I clung onto Takeshi's arm as soon I was within range.

"Yo," I greeted casually and as per usual, he responded by smiling and ruffling my hair. Dino sighed and grabbed my scarf, yanking me back to his side. I crossed my arms and pouted.

"You're Ryohei, right? We met at new year's," Dino greeted the boxer, adamantly ignoring my look. The boxer smiled and nodded.

"Yeah! I remember you!" His gaze fell on me and he cocked his head, "You're Cloud, right? Kyoko talked about you!" My eyes widened, surprised that she even mentioned me.

"Smoking-bomb," Dino moved on, greeting Gokudera, who simply clicked his tongue at us and continued waiting for him beloved tenth. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long.

"Huh? What's everybody doing here?!" Tsuna approached us, kids in tow. Ipin, after spotting me, immediately ran to me, Lambo following. I knelt down to greet them as Dino was explaining our reasoning for being here.

"We thought we should play with the kids once in a while," my brother clarified, leaning in and smiling.

"If you think about it, the Tenth is always the one taking care of the kids," Gokudera admitted, smiling as well.

"At least on a day like this, we could give you a hand," Takeshi laughed agreeing.

"You should've just asked, Sawada!" Ryohei yelled, being extreme as usual. I picked up Ipin, earning a small whine from Lambo.

"And we really had nothing better to do," I admitted. This earned a rough shoulder bump from Dino. Ignoring my last comment, a joyful look broke out on Tsuna's face as he thought about how much they were helping out. Of course, that look turned to one of disbelief as the guys turned competitive.

"If we're gonna do something it should definitely be a snowball fight."

"Oh! That sounds exciting!"

"One packed snowball, coming right up."

"FIGHT?! MUSIC TO MY EARS!"

Picking up the whining Lambo (who was getting annoying clinging to my boots) I walked over to the horrified Tsuna.

"Really, Bro, what did you expect from this group?" I asked him, offering my shoulder to lean on. He gladly took it.

"We'll have to divide into teams," Takeshi stated, his sport's mind activating.

"What do you do to team up in Japan?" Dino asked. Reborn appeared out of nowhere (as if summoned), fully garbed in samurai armor and unrolling scroll.

"I already decided for you," he announced, earning a surprised squeak from Tsuna.

"You did, Reborn?"

"That aside, what an outfit." And there was Tsuna, focusing on the important things. A fake innocent look washed over Reborn's face as he looked up at his current student.

"I put a lot of thought into making sure the teams are balanced out and had to stay up all night. I didn't get much sleep. Look at my eye bags."

"WHAT'S THIS PLAN OF YOURS THAT'S MAKING ME FEEL SO GUILTY?!" Tsuna bemoaned, glaring down at the tutor. The rest of the group seemed fine with it however;

"If Reborn says so, I'm okay with it," the bomber admitted. Takeshi agreed from beside him.

"You're not gonna listen to us anyway," Dino relented.

"I don't mind," Ryohei chimed in.

"EVERYBODY'S TOO EASY ON THIS ARMORED BRAT!" Tsuna turned to me, almost pleading. "What about you, Cloud? You're not okay with this, right?" My expression dead panned.

"Tsuna, do you really think you can change Reborn's mind once he's set on something like this?" The future don sighed in defeat.

"Anyway, the east troop is Tsuna, Yamamoto, Ipin and Futa. You wear white scarves. The opposition is the west troop: Dino, Gokudera, Ryohei and Lambo. You wear red scarves," the tutor explained, handing out the respective scarves.

"Wait a second, Reborn! Why am I on a different team than the Tenth!?" Gokudera shot forward, displeased with the arrangement.

"That's a mystery," was the tutor's vague reply.

"THAT'S NOT YET SOLVED?!" Ignoring Gokudera's outburst, Reborn moved on explaining the rules of getting Leon and only having 30 minutes.

"Yo, Reborn," I inputted when he was done, having finished helping Lambo with his scarf, "Where do I stand in this battle?"

"Oh, that's right," Dino said thoughtfully, "You never said where Cloud goes." Reborn turned to me, a smirk that I didn't fully trust on his face.

"You have a special job, Cloud." He pulled a rifle looking object out of nowhere and handed it to me after I let Ipin and Lambo down. "This is a snowball sniping gun. You can pack snow in it and it shoots snowballs with the accuracy of bullets. You are the 'sudden death' in this game. You are an individual player whose sole purpose it to knock other teams out. Of course, you could also go after Leon and win too, if you want." I evaluated the gun in my hands, a smile slipping onto my lips.

"Sweet." Dino paled from beside me.

"T-this will not end well..." he muttered taking a careful step back.

"Huh? Can Cloud snipe?" Tsuna asked, eyeing me warily. Dino nodded.

"Yeah... and she's no amateur either." The two paled. I gave them a wicked grin, hefting my new toy on my shoulder.

"It doesn't matter how many times you get hit with a snowball, but you're out if you lose consciousness." Reborn informed us before he dismissed. "Okay, both teams go dig a trench and make some snowballs. Cloud, just go where ever. It'll start in 30 minutes."

Using my thirty minutes wisely, I gained high ground and positioned my sniping snow ball gun, shooting a few shots to see how good it was and how fast I could reload. I also set up a rope (borrowed from Reborn. He seemed more than happy to help the 'sudden death' in the game) where I could easily lower myself to the ground quickly if I see a chance to get Leon. Although, my original objective it to take down as many people as possible, if I see a chance, I was going to take it; winning does feel good after all.

"Let's start then." I leaned on the ledge, deciding to wait before I started my attack, letting them have their fun for now... or at least until I get bored. Reborn blew the horn, signalling the start. For a bit, no body moved. I could tell that the teams were talking amongst themselves below. Then someone dashed out.

"IF WE DON'T GO AFTER THE ULTIMATE GOAL, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO WIN!"

I stared in disbelief as Ryohei ran out in the middle of the clearing.

"That guy is another kind of stupid," I muttered. I watched as he and Takeshi faced off for a bit and then fought Ipin. Boredom took over me after a while. After watching Dino mess up his throw and send it hurtling behind him, I positioned my gun, and zoned in on my target.

"Might as well take the idiot out of his misery," I mused to myself as I hit Ryohei in his forehead. He went down instantly. "Oh shit," I muttered, just now realizing just how compact the snow was.

"HEEIH! WE FORGOT ABOUT CLOUD!"

Picking up my gun, I moved along the roof, picking out another possible target. At that time, explosions lit up Dino side. Ignoring them, I stopped and got ready to pick on Tsuna's side this time. Unfortunately, someone seemed to notice this. I whistled as I dodged a snowball coming right at me.

"Good arm there, Takeshi!" I called down, "but you can't kill death itself!"

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE, CLOUD!" Tsuna yelled up at me. He squeaked and dove for cover, barely missing my snow bullet.

"PROTECT THE BOSS!"

I barely had time to look over to see Romario, Ivan and Bono burst out of the snow before I was forced to jump off the roof, using my rope, thanks to the dynamite that was thrown up to my nest. I glared at Gokudera when I hit the ground.

"That was for the Tenth! DIE!" He threw more bombs in the air at me and Dino's newly formed team.

"IT'S CHANGED FROM A SNOW FIGHT TO A FIGHT ON THE SNOW!"

Using Dino's confrontation with Gokudera as a distraction, I scanned the area looking for the prize, not even bothering to look up when Bianchi revealed herself, and her newly formed team.

"You're willing to join too, Cloud." I looked up to see Bianchi facing me, holding out a uniform. Dino scoffed.

"It's no use, Poison Scorpion. She'll definitely be joining her own family's team." Avoiding both of their gazes, I watched as Leon turned into Turbo Leon in Reborn's hands.

"WHAT, IT RUNS?"

"Sorry, guys," I waved them off, an apologetic smile on my face. I slung my sniper around my arm and took off running after Leon when he started to move, surprising them. "But I'm going solo on this one!" I performed various cart wheels and flips, avoiding the poison cooking and snowballs (Dino wouldn't dare use the bullet filled ones on his sister, and his men weren't willing to shoot them at me either). Luckily, Tsuna soon took their attention. I focused solely on speed, happy that I was catching up with Leon.

"Oh, come on! Stairs? Really, Leon!" I relented, spying the accursed objects up ahead.

"Yo, Cloud! Sorry, but I'm going to pass you!" Takeshi broke my concentration, appearing beside me.

"I'm going ahead too," Dino popped up from beside Yamamoto.

"Traitors!" I called out.

"Hypocrite!" My brother responded immediately. I clicked my tongue, trying to increase my speed, but both of them passed me. I watched helplessly as they rounded the corner. However, I stopped in my tracks when Yamamoto came running back, followed by snow ball packed Dino.

"I MISSED IT!" Dino cried out. I didn't even have time to wonder what the hell he did to fuck up badly enough to make a snow ball that huge. Thinking quickly, I flipped onto the railing, doing a handstand, barely missing Yamamoto and Dino as they rolled by, effectively not getting plowed over. I flipped over to the stairs again and let out a victory yelp.

It died down, however, as I watched a giant Enzo rise up from out of the snow. I stood there, frozen as he fell over, due to him being asleep (I didn't even know turtles hibernated). His impact lifted a sheet of snow, completely covering me in it. By the time I had crawled out of the pile of snow I was trapped in, Tsuna was chasing Leon down. I scowled as they passed the stairs.

"No you don't!" I jumped over the edge and landed on top of Tsuna. He squawked at the impact and with me on top of him using him as a sled, we slid until we reached someone picking up Leon, stopping Tsuna with his foot. I twitched, really hoping it wasn't who I thought that was.

"What's this? And that huge turtle?" Tsuna and I looked up hesitantly. I swallowed, my throat going dry.

"HIBARI!" His eyes met mine and they flashed.

"Oh? You were actually dumb enough to return? Do you want to die?"

I laughed nervously and gave a slight wave, my hand dropping down to behind my back. Still focused on winning despite the threat to my life, a plan formed in my head. An incredibly stupid plan, but a plan none the less (usually, my plan would be to talk my way out of this, but this guy just cannot be persuaded with words and reason). Tsuna looked back and forth between us.

"Huh? You know each other?!" I gave one more nervous chuckled. A pause. Then I nailed the prefect in the face with a snowball, grabbed Leon from out of his hands and ran off.

"Tsuna, you're my sacrifice!" I called back, sending an apologetic look.

"WHAT?" I quickly and smartly ran out of the gates, vaguely hearing Tsuna 'HIEEEK!' behind me. Of course, I didn't look back, couldn'y risk that. Reborn jumped on my shoulder, startling me.

"Congratulations, Cloud. You won," he informed me, "but it was at a cost."

"Okay, just FYI, he wanted me dead before this, so it can't really get worse" I hissed at him, still touchy about the subject. I groaned as a thought popped into my head. "And I kind of feel back for leaving Takeshi!"

"You also left your brother behind," Reborn chirped helpfully.

"He'll be fine, they'll both be fine" I huffed, knowing that there was no way I was going back there. An explosion sounded from behind us, the blast ruffling my hair.

"...yeah, they'll be fine."

"Huh? You want to talk to Cloud?" Dino glanced down at me, phone in his hand. Reborn had called a few minutes ago, telling us to come to Namimori middle to help with Takeshi's training, but I was surprised to hear my name specifically being brought up. "Okay, if you say so..." he handed the phone to me with a bit of reluctance.

"Yes, Demon Tutor?"

"Cloud, you know Hibari right?"

"The guy that tries to maim me every time I see him? Yes, I'm familiar with him..." I trailed off, not liking the feeling I was getting from this conversation.

"So he chases you every time he sees you? Well, this will make things easier then."

"In exactly what direction are you taking this in, Reborn?"

"I need you to distract Hibari while we're training. Since the school's closed for today, he might not like us on the grounds disturbing the peace."

"No."

"It's either that, or shoot at Yamamoto with the others."

"... death it is."

"I knew I could count on you, Cloud." I could almost hear the smirk on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, just know that you owe me for this big time," I hissed into the phone and shut it. I handed the phone back to Dino and put on my coat, clearly miffed.

"Where are you going, Cloud?"

"To meet my doom at Namimori Middle," I answered blankly, causing Dino to sigh.

"Is Reborn owing you really worth it?" I snorted and turned towards my brother.

"Bro, you and I both know that Reborn owing you is totally worth it."

I arrived at the school before the others, following Reborn's instructions. All I had to do was keep Hibari away from the baseball field and the roof facing the field, so that he wouldn't see Tsuna and Takeshi or Dino and his men shooting at Tsuna and Takeshi. It seemed easy enough, and I was good at evading, and yet it still felt like a suicide mission. I shrugged and easily climbed over the gate to the school and turned around to pick at the lock, opening it for the others. At least this was better than shooting at Takeshi.

I glanced around the space, noting how empty it looked and wondering if Hibari was even here today. I mean, it was closed, so nobody should be here anyway, yeah? I thought about my last sentence carefully; maybe that's why he would be here in the first place? Pushing those thoughts aside, I entered the school, picking locks as I went and merrily skipping through the hallways. After clearing a path of unlocked doors for Dino leading to the roof, I decided to focus solely on my original mission:

Find Hibari and distract. Yeah, I could do that. I might end up dying, but I could do it. After walking around for about half an hour, and not finding the prefect, I went through my options to draw him out.

"I could vandalize something..." I muttered to myself. "But that's not my style..." I thoughtfully stroked my chin, deep in thought.

"Oh? What's this?" I whipped around, seeing the prefect step out from around the corner. "I was patrolling and I happen to come across a little entertainment. This must be my lucky day." He brought his tonfas up, a blood thirsty smirk on his face.

"Hey! Now I don't have to look for you!" I smiled at him, folding my arms behind my head. He raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Do you want to die?" I frowned.

"Not really," I told him, rubbing the back of my head, "but, if this means that Reborn owes me, I'm willing to get a few scratches and bruises." He snorted and raced forward to meet me.

"You'll get more than that, Herbivore. I'll bite you to death!" I turned and ducked as he swung at me, starting off our fight.

He was resilient and brutal right off the bat, giving me no time to rest, no room for error. I was completely fine with that however; fighting him gave me an exhilarated feeling that I didn't get often. It was also a confidence boost to me to know that I could easily dodge his attacks. Dodge, not defeat him. Even though I wasn't up to his level of strength I could get by on my wits and tactics.

Which is what I ended up using when I slammed a door in his face. He managed to slow down before he hit it, but he hit it none the less and with a rather impressive thunk at that. He let out a growl as he rubbed his forehead, stepping forward to unleash hell once more.

Then we heard explosions off in the distance, causing his attention to turn away from me. I paled, knowing it was coming from the baseball field. Hibari's eyes narrowed as he looked towards the sound, contemplating whether he should stay and fight me or protect his beloved school.

"As much as I'd love to bite you to death," he started running towards the sounds of chaos, "I have a job to do." I cursed and ran after him.

"Hibari, wait!" I thought of the first insult that popped in my head, "You mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elder berries!"

(I blame Bel, entirely, seeing that Monty Python was the last movie we watched together; there was a time and place for Monty Python references, but this was neither)

Hibari paused and turned around, slowly. I'm not sure if he understood what I said, but I know he understood one thing;

I just insulted him.

"I'll bite you to death!" I squeaked and started running, the prefect right on my tail.

(Reborn soooo owed me for this)

Tetsuya Kusakabe was enjoying his day off from school. Yet, he didn't mind bringing some papers to Hibari per the prefect's request. He was always happy to help out the president anyway. Oddly, his mind wandered to the strange foreign girl he had formally met on New Years. He sincerely hoped that she took his advice and stayed away from the school. Hibari was quite the prideful person after all, and Kumo was a nice girl. Nice, but lacking a bit in the head. Evidence of this ran by him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" A very familiar looking foreign girl with strawberry blond hair raced by him and turned the corner, nearly skidding as she did so. His president soon followed, an intense aura surrounding him. Tetsuya blinked as the couple disappeared. He continued to the reception room, almost mechanically, set the papers on the desk and sat down. He sighed and cradled his head in his hands.

"What am I going to do with them?"

My phone rang. I jumped as the prefect tried to take out my feet and landed on another desk.

"Buddy the elf, what's your favorite color?" I back flipped, landing on the floor and rolled out of the way his kick, still listening to the other line. "Ah, you guys done?" I then glared as I dodged another yet another tonfa. "Hey, Kyoya! I'm on the phone, so just pause for a minute, will you?"

He narrowed his eyes at the use of his first name. I shrugged, nonchalantly.

"What"? I think we're at that point now." I squeaked as he charged at me again, and I returned to my conversation, "You were saying, Reborn?"

Hearing the baby's name made Hibari pause, luckily giving me time to talk to the tutor (but I still kept my defensive stance, not knowing whether Kyoya would attack or not). Luckily, he seemed interested in the conversation.

"Good job, Cloud. You kept us from being disturbed."

"Yeah, but at the moment," I hissed into the phone, eyeing Kyoya carefully, "I need a little help getting out. I'm pretty sure that he'll chase me back to Italy if you don't intervene."

"Okay." I blinked as we disconnected. Paling, I turned back to Kyoya, who, noticing that the conversation had ended, was preparing his tonfas once more. I put my arms up in defense.

"Now, Kyoya, let's talk this out..."

"Cloud's right," Reborn chirped, jumping in the room from the window. "Let's talk."

"Baby," Hibari greeted Reborn. He let his tonfas fall to his side, tamed for the moment.

"Reborn, I could kiss you right now!" I knelt down, smiling at my savior.

"Sorry, but you're too young for me." I blinked, confused by his words for a moment. He ignored my confusion and turned to the prefect, arms behind his back as he looked up. "Hibari, if you are willing to let Cloud go, you can face an even stronger opponent later."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow, intrigued. I continued Reborn's explanation, immediately seeing where he was going.

"Yeah, if you don't bite me to death now, I'll let you fight my brother," I quipped, smiling at him hopefully.

"Your brother?" he questioned warily, and I nodded.

"He's the boss of a mafia family, and way stronger than me. He also has a different style, so he doesn't just dodge like I do," I explained, hoping to appeal to him. He smirked, considering.

"Sounds interesting," he admitted, retracting his tonfas. "I suppose I could wait to bite you to death for now, Kumo."

And with that, he walked out, coat billowing behind him, leaving me and Reborn in the room. I shrugged, just glad I was no longer being targeted by Kyoya... I think. Maybe? He didn't really make himself clear.

"Well, thanks for calming him down, Reborn," I said to the baby as we walked out. He jumped up on my shoulder and shrugged.

"I owed you after all." I froze, my head snapping to face him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that was not me using your IOU."

"Of course, it was."

"No," I corrected him, grabbing him from my shoulder and holding him up, "that was all one big thing. That was still when I was doing my mission for you which is why you owe me in the first place. That last thing did not count."

"How about I still owe me, and now you owe me again?" he suggested innocently. I was about to argue again, but at this point, I realized that this was as far I was going to get with him. It was better to quit while I was ahead, and it was a miracle I even got ahead when dealing with Reborn. I huffed and put him back on my shoulder.

"Fine." He smirked, triumphant, now and always.

"Glad you can see things my way, Cloud."

"Looks like you've had a rough day," Dino commented as I plopped down on the bed. I shrugged, staring up at the ceiling blankly.

"Yeah, it was okay. You know, chaos as usual." He chuckled lightly in response. "Oh, shit!" I shot up, remembering an important fact.

"Language."

"Okay, so this kind of affects you," I moved on, ignoring his comment. He nearly winced at my words.

"...What did you do?"

"Nothing too bad," I said, looking to the side, "but I just thought you'd like to know…Yeah, well we kind of used you as a bargaining chip to get Kyoya to stop trying to kill me, so if you ever see him, be prepared to be attacked." He blinked, processing this. A moment.

"What?!" I tried to calm him.

"Calm down, Bro! It's all for the greater good!"

"You used me for your own gain!"

"Well, yeah, but don't you feel good knowing that you saved your sister's life? And really, since we're family and brother and sister and really, aren't my problems also yours?"

"No! Your problems are your problems, Cl-" he stopped himself suddenly, sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose before falling back completely onto the bed. I patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"If it helps, Reborn was the one to first bring it up."

"… of fucking course he was."

"Language, Dino."

And I was promptly hit with a pillow.

AN:

get rekt Nikita

Decided to update again since I'm in the mood to update LAC and to try to update as much as possible before I get slammed again. And I wanted to get a majority of the daily life arc out of the way, and then possibly finish this arc in the next chapter? I want to move on, bruh.

Since people have been asking, I may post the original separately, but only after this one is completely, since the later/ending chapters are going to be pretty much the same and I don't want to spoil too much for new readers. Thoughts?

As always, thanks for the reviews, and let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Review Response:

Guest: Like I said above, if I post the old story, I'll do this after this one is done (even though I don't like it lmao, but if enough people want it, I'll post it for you guys) Thanks for the review!