A/N: I'll admit, I was stuck on how to write this chapter and rewrote it twice. Special thanks to foxchick1 for getting me out of my writer's block long enough to finish this chapter. Also has a brief nod to Yu Yu Hakusho, one of the first anime I watched besides DBZ. Happy holidays everyone, and feel free to leave a review!

Stand Together

"Shizuka, I swear if you keep looking over my shoulder I will give Keiman permission to attack whenever you're solid." Verde growls, Shizuka pouted. "But I'm bored! Everyone has gone off for training, including my brother." She complains, eyeing the crocodile warily. Kyoya, much to her annoyance, barely reacted to any of the pranks she tried that day. He'd only give her an annoyed look and had the Disciplinary Committee clean up the mess she made. Chrome was invited to the movies by the girls and Meifeng was visiting one of her relatives.

"Go bother your other guardians. Shouldn't you be training as well?" Verde asks, Shizuka sighed. "It's a Mist battle, all I can really do is meditate and hope for the best. I'm entirely made of flames so it isn't like I need any practice using them." And Meifeng wasn't in town so training with the woman was out of the question. "I really should have asked for Masahiro for his number." Shizuka grumbles. "While you're out, you might as well test this out." Verde says, handing her what looked like a compact mirror. Shizuka grinned. "Told you manga was a good source of inspiration."

Verde raised an eyebrow. "Noted. And get some more ramen while you're out." Shizuka sighed. How an Arcobalenco seemed to survive on just cups of ramen and coffee was a mystery. Not that she could cook either. All the ingredients usually caught fire whenever she made an attempt. It was a miracle she hadn't burned the house down. "Or you could just visit okaa-san and get some real food." She says bluntly, Verde scowled. "Not while that hitman is still in the house."

XoXoXoXo

It wasn't often that Shizuka wandered the streets of Namimori by herself, fifteen years of exploring meant that she knew the place like the back of her hand. Among the Namimori residents were cloaked foreigners. "Christ, no wonder Kyoya didn't want to play. It's like a foreign infestation." Shizuka shivers. As blood thirsty as Kyoya was, there was no way that his men could chase them all out without disrupting the peace and putting it's residents in danger.

Shizuka was surprised to see Xanxus of all people walking around town. She followed at a distance, unsure if the intimidating Sky could sense her. Not surprisingly he had gone to a liquor store for… sake? She thought he'd go for something more familiar since he was Italian, it wasn't like they didn't sell wine or beer. The thought of the man daintily sipping a glass of wine made her snicker. Crimson eyes narrowed, looking in the direction Shizuka was in.

She froze, wondering if Tsuna's flames triggered her into turning solid against her will. "Come out trash, I know you're there." Xanxus states, Shizuka gulped. The Italian watched as the air distorted from a concentrated amount of flames, revealing Tsunayoshi's Mist guardian. "Relax, if I attacked you outside of the battles I'd be disqualified." He says bluntly, Shizuka scowled. "That didn't stop your men from trying to poison my cats." She retorted. "And you attacked my Storm and Mist. What did you expect from a group of assassins?"

Shizuka deadpanned. "They have the same maturity level as I do, and I have the impulse control of a child." She says bluntly. It was strange, talking to someone that probably wanted to kill her family and not fleeing in terror. At least with Kyoya she knew that he didn't want her head on a pike. "Why do you think I drink?" Xanxus says dryly, she eyed the bags. "If you want to die of liver failure instead of more violent means then go ahead. To each their own death I guess." She grumbled.

"So when was that moron going to mention the brat isn't his only child?" Xanxus asks bluntly, Shizuka laughed. "Wondered when someone would notice. Technically speaking I don't exist, therefore I have no claim to Vongola. Not that I'd want it, I like the Baku." She admits. All the Hibari treated her like family and unlike her brother in their younger years they could look after themselves. It was nice, being able to run to someone when she got in way over her head.

Xanxus raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty fucking obvious, you don't mesh with your fellow elements at all." The compact in her pocket rang and she fished it out of her pocket, seeing a disheveled Verde on the screen. "What is taking you so long to get ramen? Are you that incompetent?" Shizuka winced. "Come on, we both know that's the lack of sleep and hunger talking. For the love of god, take a nap or something!" Shizuka orders.

Shizuka and Xanxus both heard the sound of tires squealing, Shizuka recognized one of them as a Baku member. Masahiro wasn't kidding when he declared me to be under Baku protection. Shizuka thought, at least now she didn't have to wander around the city to find the older Hibari. "I guess I'll see you during the Storm battle then?" Xanxus scoffed, eyeing the suited that glared at him. "Whatever trash."

XoXoXoXoXo

The ride to Baku headquarters was tense and awkward, Shizuka couldn't help feeling touched at the concern they had for her safety. Then again she was the Sky of their next leader and her death would be… a disaster to put it mildly. The headquarters wasn't too far from Namimori, being located in Kokuyo. Compared to the quaint atmosphere of Namimori, it was more like a city than a town or village.

"I am well aware that Namimori is my brother's territory but he isn't experienced enough to drive out a group of assassins without casualties." A low voice says irritably, another person sighed. "It's your call Masahiro. You have the safety of your Sky to consider as well." A gruff voice states.

One of the men knocked on the door. "We've retrieved Miss Sawada." He reports, there was a loud creak from the other side of the door. "Well done, you may go back to your posts. We need to speak to Shizuka for a moment." Satoshi states matter-of-factly. "Understood." The men said in unison, leaving Shizuka to walk into the room by herself. She opened the door to what looked like an office with a large mahogany desk, black leather chair and a leather couch to match. Shizuka squirmed when both Hibari men looked at her. "So what's going on?"

"The Varia have encroached on Hibari territory. As you've probably seen, this would put any Cloud on edge." Satoshi states, Shizuka nodded in agreement. "We are well aware that Reborn will likely recruit Kyoya into being the Cloud guardian for the Ring battle, which is why Masahiro and our men will ensure that things don't get out of hand."

Shizuka winced. "I knew there was something I forgot to tell him." The compact in her pocket trilled and Shizuka facepalmed. "I forgot the mad scientist demanded a ramen run. You mind if I go to the store real quick? I don't want to be eaten by a crocodile."

As expected, Kyoya was furious that the Varia being in town was technically the Sawada sibling's fault and tried biting Shizuka to death. Only Masahiro's presence stopped the situation from further escalation. "Don't take your anger out on the Sawada's, they're only the catalysts. If the hitman hasn't already mentioned it, Tsunayoshi needs a Cloud guardian." Masahiro says, blocking a tonfa strike. "And?" Kyoya asks cooly. "If things take a turn for the worse, you can go after their leader. He looks tough." Shizuka added helpfully.

Kyoya appeared to think this over. "Very well carnivore, tanuki. I'll play along." Shizuka glared. "I am not a raccoon dog!" She snapped. Masahiro noticed Kyoya's smirk as Shizuka silently fumed. I wonder if either of them recognize that Kyoya gave her a term of endearment. Masahiro thought in amusement.

XoXoXoXoXo

When the Varia and Tsuna's friends arrived at the school, they were not expecting turbines to be in the classrooms. "Kyoya is going to kill you guys if you damage the school. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up yet." Shizuka comments. "Maybe he's a deep sleeper." Yamamoto suggests, Tsuna deadpanned. "I can attest to how not true that is. I had cracked ribs to prove it."

"Shizuka, you've run into the Storm and Mist before. Anything I should know about?" Gokudera asks, Shizuka thought for a moment. "He went psycho when one of the cats drew blood, and he uses knives. He also bragged about being a fighting genius so don't let down your guard." Shizuka advised. He was eerily similar to Shizuka before her brother had gotten her to stop attacking students.

The challenge for both Storms was to navigate the classrooms and retrieve the other half of the ring before five minutes were up, activating bombs that were planted in the building. "Jyuudaime, does Hibari know that he's taking part in the Ring battle?" Gokudera asks nervously. "Honestly, I was terrified he'd bite me to death if I asked." Tsuna says sheepishly, Reborn sighed.

XoXoXoXoXo

The match between a reckless dynamite user and a psychopath with knives went about as well as expected. If Masahiro hadn't been there to restrain his brother, his younger brother would have attacked the Storms. The fact that Gokudera lost didn't raise morale either. "Which battle is up next?" Shizuka asks, hoping it was Cloud. Kyoya looked ready to commit a murder. "The next battle will be between Rain guardians." One of the Cervello representatives answered.

Shizuka groaned. "Great, it's taking forever to get to Kyoya and me. I just want to get this over with." She grumbles. Violet was already tending to Gokudera's wounds, healing the various cuts scattered on his body. Thankfully none of them were life threatening. "You'll still feel fatigued but that's normal. Make sure to get some rest." The Sun orders, Gokudera scowled.

"Don't worry, we'll duct tape him to his mattress if we need to." Shizuka quips. "Like hell you will!" Gokudera snapped, Tsuna gave him a concerned look. "You do look tired Gokudera. A nap wouldn't hurt would it?" He asks. "Of course not Jyuudaime! I will go straight to sleep!" He exclaims, shocking everyone by immediately closing his eyes and doing just that. "Anyone feel like carrying sleeping beauty to his apartment?" Shizuka asks dryly.

Future Business Ventures with Shizuka and Verde

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Let me see if I heard you correctly. You want ME to help come up with more invention ideas because you can't be bothered to read manga." Seeing the taser Lambo in the future had been given, she would admit it would be pretty cool to see other "innocent" objects turned into potentially lethal weapons. "As long as you help me find new ways to prank Kyoya. He's become jaded to them." She says bluntly.

One of their ideas was inspired by one of Shizuka's cats, Kuro. "Shizuka, does that feline have dying will flames?" Verde demands, she scooped the black cat into her arms protectively. "Maybe. He is constantly around me, maybe my flames latched onto him." She says with a shrug, scratching Kuro's ears. The cat eyed Verde warily, unnerved by the gleam in his eyes. "Give me the feline." Verde says bluntly, Shizuka and Kuro bristled. "No way am I letting you experiment on Kuro. You can do whatever weird experiments you want on me but I draw the line at the cats." She says stubbornly.

Kuro refused to be experimented on without a fight and Shizuka made things more difficult by creating copies of the original feline with her flames. So when Reborn went to extort another invention from Verde, he was greeted by the sight of his fellow Arcobalenco fending off a swarm of black cats. Keiman was swatting them away with its tail, looking annoyed. Reborn pinched the bridge of his nose. "He isn't trying to make another invention that will kill us all is he?"

"Just give me the damn cat!" The scientist yells irritably.

"You are not touching my babies!" Shizuka shrieked.

"They're just animals!" Verde snapped.

"How about I make Keiman into leather boots then!" Shizuka retorts.

I'll just get it later. Reborn thought, not wanting to deal with chaos he didn't have a hand in creating.