Finally~ Here's the next chapter (I know I am on hiatus, but what the heck, Imma post up the next chapter!)~ Thanks to TransparentAnswer, Kuroi Rin, Kei and Guest for reviewing! :D

SHOUTOUT to Guest here, if you ever reach up here, I'd like you to know that I'm not going to take your advice the wrong way, y'know. There are times when a chapter doesn't turn out well, and it varies with a group of people, so I won't blame you for not liking the chapter, it is your opinion and I respect that. Though I'd like to thank you for reading Crossfire. :)

Now enjoy the chapter~

Another three days of hell has gone by and I'm still alive... That's pretty... hold on, I'm having a vocabulary hardship moment...

Anyways, after my realization three days ago (about my house taking six months and Mukuro coming in, what? Three days now?) I decided to speak to Reborn (I was hoping to god, or whatever other entity that was out there, to let him hold his sadism for a few peaceful moments until after I have given my request), right after my realization and he agreed (without the sadism, hallelujah!).

He told me that today was the day that he would take me over to see over the construction of the house (I was surprised he even proposed that, thought he'd forbid me to even go look at it). I told Chrome of this and she agreed to come along, and somehow it involved Lambo coming in for the ride, Tsuna was somehow dragged into this as well (and so was Takeshi and Hayato when they arrived at the doorstep).

I (honest to god) could have cared less about the expanded company, and was pretty excited with the idea of looking at the house (my house).

On the way there...

however, I did not expect to bump into the Student Council President from my school, a third year Middle School student with the curves that any other girl would die for, her looks were not that bad either, minimal make-up with her black straight hair pulled into a high tail. She was the one who noticed me first, since I was too busy being happy. "Cannon! There you are!"

I turned around, and so did everyone else, and smiled. "Oh, if it isn't Ms. President! What can I do for you?"

She faltered in her steps, her eyes wide. However, being the regal person she was, a rumor that I heard that she had come from a long line of noblemen, she immediately recomposed herself and came over. "When did you learn how to speak Japanese? Last time we saw you, you were practically struggling with the language!"

I blinked, then thought for a moment. It was true, I had hardly spoke to them with the flow of events, and it was partly because of the reason when they sent me to Kyoya for the alliance. "Oh well, this and that happened, and here I am speaking in Japanese."

I laughed, rubbing the nape of my neck. The President didn't buy my explanation that much was obvious. She crossed her arms and huffed. "Anyways, where were you? You have practically ruined your attendance record, with not showing up at school!"

"Ah, about that," I grew serious for a moment as I thought through an explanation that wouldn't sound so crazy. "I had to go out of the country for personal business, and then, my house burned down-"

"Your what?!" She cut me off, her expression in complete shock.

"My... house?" I put in uncertainly. Clearing my throat, I continued. "Anyways, I had some back-up plan and am now renovating it."

I was surprised when she suddenly took my shoulders and stared at me dead in the eye. "Cannon you are coming over to my house to stay."

"Um... is there room for declining?" I reply, sending a glance over to the group behind me, their expressions portraying various amounts of shock.

"No, there isn't! Your attendance record is already in the dumps, plus my house is near to the school grounds!" She nearly shouted, shaking me senseless.

"Can... you stop... shaking... me?" I managed to get out. My vision was starting to spin, and that wasn't a good sign.

Thankfully she did stop, and pulled me by my collar, her face uncomfortably close to mine. "So you're coming over to my house. Period."

I opened my mouth to object, I still needed to go check up on the house, but someone else beat me to it. "I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

I swear I have heard that tone of voice before... "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because Cannon is staying over at my house, that's why, it's rude to just grab people off the streets and push an offer into their face." Ah, that's right, Tsuna spoke like that back in the future too... "Giving them no choice is not considered an offer either."

I blinked the last bits of dizziness away and refocused on my situation. First things first, get out of the grip. I took hold of her hands, making her snap her gaze to me, and I gave a smile. "I'd appreciate it if you would let my collar go, Ms. President."

She clicked her tongue and released me, making me drop down on my ass, and it hurt goddamnit! "Ow~ I don't know if this is better than falling from a set of stairs or not..."

Takeshi was there to help me up, and I thanked him wholeheartedly. Tsuna then spoke up. "Cannon, I believe introductions are in order."

"Mm, okay then." I couldn't place my finger on it, but Tsuna's tone had something else in it. I pushed the thought away. "Tsuna, this is the Student Council President, Ms. President, of the school I go to. Ms. President this is Sawada Tsunayoshi, a dear friend of mine, who also kindly made room for me in their busy household."

I was then smacked upside the head. I didn't waste my time turning to glare at who had hit me, and it was none other than Ms. President. "What the heck was that for?!"

"I have a name, you know!" She yelled back. "And why does that scrawny guy get a longer introduction?!"

"That isn't something you should be worrying about!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "Hitting me because of that is like abuse!"

"You are the Council's dog." She glared.

I stared back at her, eyes wide. She just admitted that I was merely an animal to them. This must the most craziest moment of my life, a confrontation that slaps the word 'dog' on my face. I felt like I could laugh at her face right there, but withheld it. Instead, I straightened my posture, and gave a curt reply. "Consider this the last time you would see me, Ms. President, as an American at heart, I do not take a fancy to being called a dog. This last encounter of ours is also confirmation of me pulling myself out of that terrible school of yours. So long."

I then turned on my heel and walked off. I didn't care for the shouts from behind me, I only stopped at a tug on my pant leg. Glancing down, I noticed Lambo looking up. I let out a wry smile, picking him up and resumed my walk. Turning around a corner, I picked up my pace until I was in an all-out sprint. I didn't stop until I reached the park that I had been so familiar with. I sat down under a tree, letting Lambo sit down beside me. It was a while until I spoke up. "Hey, Lambo,"

I didn't mind if the kid was listening or not, I just felt like talking. "Do you think I'm a dog?"

Ah, my voice cracked…

To my surprise, it wasn't Lambo who answered. "No, Cannon is Cannon, and you won't be anything else other than yourself."

I looked up and was met with Tsuna, smiling. I saw the faint traces of him having run the whole way here, but didn't question it. I looked down at Lambo, who was curled up sleeping. I brought up my knees to my chest and looked straight forward at scenery I missed for so long. It took me a while to keep my voice from cracking. "And what makes you say that?"

"Why would you question it?" I felt him sit down beside me. "I am your 'dear friend' who has given you a place to stay when your house burned down."

I gave a snort of laughter. "Never did thank you for it though."

"You don't need to, besides, I've had freeloading experience." I glanced at him perplexed, and he elaborated. "Nearly everyone, other than my mom and I, is practically freeloading since the time they've shown up."

"Ah," I looked back at the scenery. That made a lot of sense.

It was silent for a while, and I used it to the max for reorganizing my emotions. Sometime during the process I allowed my head to fall onto Tsuna's shoulder. He jolted a bit but didn't push me off. I'll have to apologize to him later. A while after reorganizing my emotions, I let out a sigh, lifting up my head in the process. "Alright, it's best we get going."

"Going?" Tsuna parroted.

I nodded. "Yeah, I still have a renovation to see. Don't want to miss that."

I picked up Lambo, and stood up. "I bet the others are waiting for us."

Tsuna nodded, getting up as well. "Right,"

We then made our way to my house's location. I expected to see a construction going on, but I ended up seeing a much larger two-story building on my plot. "What the hell?"

"That's quite a renovation, Cannon." Tsuna agreed, nodding.

"But... What the heck? Where's Reborn?" I looked around for the hitman, but strangely he wasn't there. Neither was the rest of the crew. I gave up, and muttered instead. "We came this far, might as well go inside then."

"Agreed," Making our way inside, I nearly had my heart stop at what I was seeing. The whole house had become much too expensive than the last one I lived in. "did you make the changes, Cannon?"

"N-no!" I took off my shoes and began to run around, taking in what they did. The lobby where you enter is big enough to have at least five people standing side by side, going farther, I turn into the kitchen and the whole appliances have gone up to the most expensive models in stores, the dining room had a make-over, with the wooden cupboards and china sets in them. I shook my head and ran into the living room, on the other side of the kitchen, they completely bypassed the walls, making room for and island in the center of the kitchen and a bar counter that faced the kitchen from the living room. The living room, on the other hand had a set of leather seats, sofa, loveseat, and an armchair, a glass coffee table in front of the sofa, and a couple of side tables in the corners behind the seats, the carpet was a soft beige, that allowed the floorboards to show. Across from the seats, there was a flat screen TV hung on the wall, a small black shelf under it, leaving a huge breadth between the two, with a DVD player sitting innocently in it. On both sides of the shelf were tall thin speakers. Across from me, was a huge window pane with a patio in the backyard, even the garden was well made. "What the heck did they make?"

"A pretty good house." I jumped, startled.

Turning I found Tsuna there. I let out a sigh of relief, a hand over my chest. "Geez don't scare me like that, Tsuna."

"Sorry, couldn't help it." Tsuna let out a laugh and took my arm. "Come on, let's go and look upstairs!"

I let him drag me along, noting that the stairs were also wooden. The second level of the house was pretty long, in a sense. If you looked at it either way, you'd think that they would go on for miles. Luckily that wasn't the case. What did shock me though, was that there was an extra amount of rooms than just two, and that made me wonder on who placed them all there. "That would be me,"

For the second time that day, I jumped up, startled. I was scared that I might have dropped Lambo, while doing so. I turned and found Reborn standing there. "A question, what the heck did you do to my house?"

"Why? Don't you like it?" Reborn countered, a raised brow.

I blinked, then looked away, flustered. "I-I l-like it! But did it have to change completely from the original design?"

"This design was proposed by Vongola Nono." Came the reply from the hitman.

This time I stared, Tsuna was the one to have an outburst. "Grandpa did?!"

"Yup, he said that it was for a healthy alliance between them, Cannon, and the Vindice." Reborn piped. I narrowed my eyes. That information wasn't easily affordable, so where on Earth did he receive it from?

"The Vindice?" Tsuna exclaimed. That reaction was acceptable, since the only time he should have been in contact with them was when he had defeated Mukuro. "What have they got to do in this kind of situation? Especially when Cannon is involved!"

I vaguely wondered where on Earth the others went, if Reborn was here. The hitman spoke up, his gaze piercing me. "That's what I'd like to find out."

I groaned. So this was the catch between me, him, and the newly built house? That is some extensive work there… though it was projected by Vongola Nono… "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Reborn, it's under the law of the omérta."

"Though," I continued without pause, ignoring the disbelief coming from Tsuna. "I'd like to know where you have heard of that kind of information, it's not so easily accessible."

"Why should I tell you that, I don't easily give out information." I wanted to snort, but went against it.

I let the scenario process and figured out a small loophole through the omérta given to me. "I'll give you the fact that I am in charge of someone, and that's all I can tell you."

Reborn let his fedora shadow his face, and it was a while until he answered. "Fine."

I let out a breath, relaxing my stance. "So, do I have to pay for the house?"

"Nono already took care of the financial need, its mortgage is done, so you can rest easy." That was a surprise.

I turned to face Tsuna and found that he had a calculating look in him. I gave a small smile, he does have the right to suspect me. "Don't worry, it's not in a harmful way."

Some tension eased, but he was still guarded. I gave a shrug and headed downstairs…

I managed to ask Reborn on where the others went, and he stated that they decided that going to the market would be the better choice for the day, after my little scenario (I should go apologize to them later).

I told Chrome of the house renovation and she seemed eager to go look at it (I promised her that we would move out and head over there soon). It was about time we got ready for Mukuro's arrival (I wasn't going to let him go unscathed, never did forget my revenge on him either…). I had told Reborn that we would be moving into my house tomorrow morning, and thanked both Nana and Tsuna (he still seemed distant, and that was worrying) for having both Chrome and I at their house until my house had been finished. Nana gave a smile (as always) and congratulated me for the renovation (she also said something about Chrome and I visiting sometime).

Lambo asked to me to allow him to live with me, I declined (he had I-Pin, and Fuuta to play with here) and promised him that if he was a good kid then he would be able to visit whenever. He was saddened, but accepted my terms (he's such a sweet kid). He made me promise that whenever he did come over, I would have to make him the grape biscuits for him, I, of course, agreed.

That night I slept pretty well, though I must have been way too tired when I imagined a firm kiss (that's just creepy you know)… Yup, definitely tired.

It's about dawn now… might as well catch the last remaining sleep that I have before I move out.

P.S. I got to find a job…