Please read and review if you have the time!

"Tsuna?"

I wanted to look up, really I did, but my entire body was shaking so much that I couldn't control myself.

"Tsuna?"

Again, I didn't look up, too lost in fear and turmoil to react to even the sound of my own name.

"Juudaime!!"

"Ack!" I screamed, my papers scuttling off my desk into a messy heap on the floor. My eraser soon followed them. "Gokudera-kun, ah, what's up?" Finally, I managed to look up from the dejected pose I had my head in. Both Yamamoto and Gokudera were looking at me with worried expressions on their faces, their eyes slanted and brows furrowed. I could only stare at them and manage a sketchy smile while I tried to gather the rest of my papers from off the floor.

Yamamoto gave me a quick stare before bending down as well, picking up my forgotten eraser and placing it on my desk. "Tsuna, you don't look so good."

"Of course he doesn't baseball idiot, he's been like that since yesterday!" Gokudera piped in, shoving himself in front of me protectively. I failed to remind him that I had been feeling like this for the past week, only now, it was ten-fold.

"Oh no, guys, it's nothing, ahhh…it's just this, see," I scuffled through the pile of papers on my desk, finally picking out a paper with a bunch of red marks on it. I pointed to the paper dejectedly, hoping they would buy it.

"Ah, Juudaime, you got a 27!" Gokudera cheered, a vibrant smile consuming his face. "It went up two points!"

'That's not supposed to make me feel better,' I thought off handedly.

"It's okay Tsuna, look at mine," Yamamoto chirped in with a wide smile, holding his exam paper in front of my face. I stared at the paper also riddled with the same red marks. On the top right corner, a number was circled in bright red: 14.

'And he's happy why?!' I thought manically, fisting my fingers in my hair. Sometimes I wondered where Yamamoto carried that care-free attitude of his. How did he store it all up without it leaking out on him; how do people even do that (considering if anyone else constantly walked through life without a care in the world).

An exasperated sigh escaped my lips while I crashed my forehead into the surface of my desk, resulting in a loud thud that reverberated throughout the classroom. I could feel a depressed aura radiating off me like a lethal chemical gas, propelling my anxiety and churning my fear. Unfortunately, the last bell of the day was going to ring in about ten minutes, and then, the ultimate biting would inevitably be waiting just around the corner.

'Argh, I can't do this anymore,' I thought dismally.

"It's okay Juudaime, we won't tell Maman about your score," Gokudera added in, smacking a hand to my back. Instead of choking this time, I spat.

"We'll even keep it secret from Reborn," Yamamoto agreed, his index finger jabbing into my shoulder.

'I wouldn't be surprised if he knew already, but that's the least of my worries.' I rubbed the back of my head out of habit; I would gladly take a kick to the head from Reborn than a bite from Hibari.

"Thanks guys," I whispered hurriedly. As the minutes ticked by, I found myself growing even more restless than before. My body wouldn't sit still in its chair and I was constantly fidgeting and fumbling with my hands beneath my desk. The last remaining five minutes of class would be tolerable if I didn't have an aura of doom hovering over my head that was impossible to escape. Hibari was going to bite me to death and hopefully I wouldn't get killed during the process.

"Gokudera-kun," I whispered hoarsely. Gokudera immediately turned around, an eager smile brimming on his face.

"Juudaime, what's up?" he asked pleasantly. I gulped down a wad of spit that I was having difficulty in swallowing.

"When the bell rings, you and Yamamoto can leave without me," I whispered to him. I didn't want them getting caught up in my mistakes (although I've done nothing), and getting them involved with Hibari would be a major disaster. Besides, Hibari wouldn't actually kill me, right? He was apart of my family, my Cloud Guardian, he wouldn't kill the boss. Despite reassuring myself, the doubts in the back of my mind were far much stronger.

"Juudaime, we were gonna' walk you home though, is there something you need to do after school?" Gokudera asked with a hint of worry in his voice. "We can wait up for you, no need to rush."

"Ah, no!" I practically screamed. Gokudera eased back into his chair, his fingers rummaging through his scraggly silver hair.

"What?" he asked, cocking his head.

'Great, he thinks I'm gonna' murder him!' I thought in despair. "Wait, what I mean is, I have to talk to the teacher about my score, ya' know? Uh, it would be too embarrassing for you guys to have to watch that." For some reason, I was getting fairly good at lying.

Gokudera smiled a wonky smile, his green eyes alighting with awe and for some reason, praise. "Ah, Juudaime, so modest!" He pressed a hand to his chest and gripped at the fabric there- talk about dramatic.

I simply smiled at him and tried to follow along without rolling my eyes. Sometimes, Gokudera could be a tad bit too extreme, sometimes even more so than Ryohei.

I picked up my head as the bell suddenly rang throughout the hallways, students immediately getting up from their seats to start their trips back home. Of course, I wouldn't be joining them, I had other plans (however reluctant I was to meet them).

I waved goodbye to Gokudera and Yamamoto and watched them as they left the classroom, then, with a deep sigh, I got up from my own desk and grabbed my book bag.

'This is suicide, I'm going to kill myself by just willingly walking into the hands of my murderer,' I thought to myself while exiting the classroom, slinging my book bag around my shoulder. While walking through the hallways, I tried to blend in with the horde of students exiting their own classrooms, but it seemed as if I stood out. I had a death wish hanging over my shoulders and they didn't even know it.

'Not as if they would do anything, no one would want to willingly mess with Hibari-san,' I thought gloomily, nearly ramming into a girl who was walking next to me. She glared at me and quickly walked away. I sighed sullenly to myself as I readjusted my book bag strap around my shoulder- this day wasn't going to get any better.

'Ack, I think it just got worse!' I screamed within my mind, my heart pumping like a raging river. There, at the end of the hallway, stood Hibari Kyoya, uniform jacket flowing behind him as he stealthily prowled the halls. He didn't seem to have noticed me yet, for his eyes were elsewhere, probably scanning the hallways to make sure that all the students quickly made it off school grounds. I clutched at my book bag, digging my fingernails into the sturdy material. What was I going to do? Should I really just hand myself over? Get it over and done with, assuming that I make it out alive?

'Just keep walking Tsuna, don't stop. If he doesn't notice you, then you're home-free,' I thought encouragingly. I didn't feel the least bit relieved, but it was a plan, no matter how simple and stupid it seemed.

I continued my slow pace through the hallway, trying to keep my eyes from landing on the Cloud Guardian steadily getting closer and closer. Had he noticed me yet? I didn't even know; I was trying my darn hardest to keep my eyes away from him.

Right when I thought I was home-free, and much to my deep displeasure, a quick whack to my back nearly sent me hurdling into a nearby wall. I braced myself for impact and shot my hands out in front of me, my palms smacking against the cool surface of the wall. I cringed as my book bag also met the wall with a resounding thud.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, trying to escape?"

'Oh my God,' I thought frantically, sweat starting to form at the nape of my neck. I wanted desperately to pick up my hand and wipe the sweat off, but I really didn't want Hibari to see me doing that- would he be disgusted?

I made to move away from the wall, but something round and hard suddenly pricked into my back, causing me to gasp and hit the wall with full force.

"H-Hibari-san, what are you doing?" I asked shakily, my body trembling in muted fear. I couldn't help but feel this new surge of fright and panic that seemed to well within me, before it altogether seeped over and bubbled about the ground like a witch's foul brew. I would gladly drink a witch's potion if only it would spare me a fight with Hibari.

"Wao, it seems that you will now face a biting to the second power for escaping. Be prepared, herbivore," Hibari growled, one of his tonfas (I assumed it was his tonfas) pressing into the bridge of my back. I cowered against the wall in fear and pain as I could feel the tonfas' steely jaggedness press into my flesh. Good thing I had a school uniform on or it would have undoubtedly left a nasty mark.

"I wasn't trying to escape, Hibari-san, honest!" I countered, receiving another harsh prod to the back. I didn't want to lie to him, because escape was the only thing that was on my mind when I had tried to pass him, but this was the opportune moment. Speaking the truth would only add a biting to the third power.

'I suck at math too,' I thought gloomily.

"Follow me then," he said indifferently and retreated from me, hiding his tonfas from view underneath his uniform jacket. I turned around and stared at him with anxiety coursing through my veins. I finally managed to contain myself as I gulped down a large wad of spit, somewhat settling my stomach in the process. Actually, it would be a good thing if I were to get sick, then I wouldn't have to deal with Hibari and his menacing aura.

Too bad I was feeling perfectly healthy.

18181818181818181818181818181818181827

The school roof- I should have seen this coming. It seemed that everything happened on the school roof nowadays. Were we even allowed up here?

I pressed myself against a nearby wall, staring up through my bangs at my Cloud Guardian who was standing at least eight feet away from me. His polished, black hair framed his face like a wild flower, a few stray tendrils floating against the gentle breeze. Despite this calm-like image, his eyes looked murderous; cold, dark, and menacing.

I continued to just stand there, clutching my book bag to my chest while my fingers fumbled with the straps. I bet my face was turning red because it was a bit embarrassing just standing there in front of someone without either one saying anything. It's not like I can easily strike up a conversation with someone like Hibari, my words would probably crowd him, however that worked.

"Uhh, look, Hibari-san," I stuttered, my cheeks burning a crimson red. I ran a finger or two through my spiky brown hair, my fingernails scratching away at my scalp. "Please, let me just explain to you what happened." I looked up at him, brushing a few stray strands of hair away from my eyes.

"What's there to explain, it's evident that you're the only culprit," Hibari coolly countered, projecting his tonfas, which flashed brightly against the sun's vibrant rays. "And now you must be bitten to death."

I gulped and clutched at my book bag for dear life, my heart starting to ram against my chest like a raging bull. "Please, Hibari-san, don't do that! Just let me explain, I'll make it fast, I promise!" I was literally starting to tremble and shake in fear, my knees knocking into each other as my brain switched into survival mode. If only Reborn were here to help me calm Hibari down.

"You have two minutes to explain, after that, it's over," Hibari said curtly, lowering his tonfas down to a certain degree. He stood there and stared at me ruefully, his head cocked to the side in waiting.

"Ah, yes! Um, you see, while I was walking around the school, I happened to stumble across this guy," I began, my voice starting to crack under the pressure. "I didn't really know what he was doing until I got closer, then…I saw what he was doing. He was, uh, spray painting those words on the wall, like a tagger I think. Yeah, a tagger."

"What did this guy look like," Hibari asked, shifting his weight.

"Um, he had black hair?" I managed to say stupidly.

There was a momentary pause after that, as if everyone in the whole entire world had been ordered to shut up.

"Sawada, the whole population of Japan has black hair," Hibari stated sharply, squinting his eyes in irritation. I gulped and looked at him like a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh, yes, I see. Sorry, Hibari-san," I apologized, rubbing at the back of my head. Stupid, so stupid of me to say something that retarded. I should probably think next time I make to speak.

"Go on then, how did you happen to obtain the spray can?"

"Oh yeah, well," I continued, eager to explain my part of the story. "As I walked towards him, I screamed because I read the words on the wall, which in turn scared him. So then, he walked up to me and pushed the spray can into my hands, saying that it was "my problem" or something like that."

I stared across at Hibari, a smile forming on my lips. Surely, after hearing my side of the story, he would let me go, right? Hibari should have some sense of logic and mercy, or else he wouldn't be taking care of Namimori High so carefully.

"Wipe that smile off your face, Sawada," Hibari spat, raising his tonfas. I quickly did as he told and replaced my smile with a frown and an expression of fear.

"But I didn't do it, Hibari-san!" I squeaked, pressing my back further into the wall. It was hurting my back, but hey, Hibari was starting to get closer for some strange reason- it probably had to do with the fact that his feet were moving.

"You could have called me," Hibari said, his tonfas raised and his pace getting faster. Soon, he was standing right before me, glowering down at me as if I were the most lowest scum of the earth. "Simply shout my name and I would have been there to punish the lowly culprit who happened to tarnish the walls of Namimori. Or do you simply not care for our school?"

'Not really,' I thought, but I wasn't going to say that to him. I gulped as I stared up at him with wide, trembling eyes. I could bolt it right out of here, all I had to do was run, reach the door, and tear down the stairs, but I was too afraid to do something like that. Hibari would probably beat me to the door anyway and furthermore bite me to the 4th power. 'No more math please.'

By now, I was practically one with the wall, I could feel it and it could feel me. I was breathing shallowly, my chest huffing up and down as I tried to stabilize my sense of reason. Hibari equaled bites, bites equaled pain, pain could sometimes equal death, and that was as much as I had so far. Trust me, I suck at math.

Hibari glowered down at me like a stone statue, his eyes glinting ruefully and his hair shuffling around his face. I bit my lip and tried not to think how cool he looked right now, despite his being ready to bite me to death.

He leaned into me, his face inches from mine. I could practically feel his hot breath hitting my cheeks, which were probably red by now since I was starting to get really warm. Why was he so close anyway?

'Oh, to bite me,' I reasoned dismally. Where was he biting then?

I found it rather difficult to keep eye contact with him, because whenever I did, I felt an electric shock run through my body. It wasn't a painful shock, but it did unsettle me to some degree and I didn't like feeling uncomfortable like that.

"Hibari-san," I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper.

I didn't even know why I did it, but it was as if my arms were stuck on auto-pilot. My fingers grazed across something fluffy and soft and all I wanted to do was tangle them up in there.

I had grabbed at his hair and now I was clenching a black, fluffy tuff of it as if my life depended on it.

The initial shock sprawled across Hibari's face was too good to pass up. If I could, I would have smiled, but I figured if I did that, I would soon die. After a few moments, the shock on Hibari's face quickly vanished and a stern, cold expression replaced the previous momentum of surprise. His eyes squinted to a new degree and his lips were straightened into a thin line, I tried to do the same when I felt his hand yank at my own tuff of spiky, brown hair.

"Ahh, ita-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta--!" I howled, clenching my teeth. The water that welled up between the corner of my eyes was hard to control, but I managed to gulp it down along with the pain in my head. Hibari's grip at my hair was so strong that I thought he would rip my hair clean off.

'Hiii! That would be horrible!' I thought, appalled. How would I manage to live my normal school life (minus the Vongola) with a bald spot on my head? The thought was too horrendous to ponder upon. Another yank at my hair blew me away from that horrible thought and brought me back to the present.

"Ah, Hibari-san!" I yelped, closing an eye in pain. My scalp felt as if it were on fire and the tugging at my hair didn't relinquish. The only thing I could do was to pull back, and that I did.

It would have looked pretty silly if someone were to walk in on us and find us centimeters apart from each other's faces, both of our hands entangled into each other's hair. Just thinking about it reeked of the word idiotic, childish…gay. But what else was I supposed to do? I couldn't win him in a fight now, as unprepared as I was. The chances that I had were far too low to gamble with.

The tension between us was thick and hard not to notice. Actually, it was a bit like a staring contest to tell you the truth, but a more aggressive one. His crystal colored eyes were hard and stone-cold, and slanted as they were, I couldn't help but get dazed by just staring into them. It was amazing that he had the power to daze a person into a fear drunken stupor just by looking into his eyes. If I had that kind of power, I would be rolling.

Just as I was getting used to his overpowering aura, a menacing veil of danger that seemed to hover around him and over myself, suddenly seemed to tense for one final second, before it dropped all together. In a split second, he released his tight grip on my hair and jumped back, his head cocking to the door on the far side of the roof.

I turned my head along with his, face flushed and expression questioning. What was up with him, did he hear something?

'Or someone,' I thought dully. 'It'd be kinda' bad if someone were to catch us up here. I don't think I really wanna' explain what's going on.'

A sudden bang and creaking of a door woke me up from my thoughts and got my attention back under wraps. A crop of caramel colored hair, tinted with an orange-like hue, entered in through the door and stepped outside onto the roof. I immediately felt relief and happiness surge through me like a cool breeze on a blistering day.

"Kyoko-chan!" I called out in joy, my face brimming with pure and utter happiness. Kyoko turned to me and put on a bright and merry smile, her pink lips full and eyes brimming with that same elation she seemed to carry about her presence every day.

"Tsuna-kun, what are you doing up here? Oh, you're bleeding!" she chirped in alarm, putting a delicate hand to her face.

'Ack, what?!' I thought hoarsely. A sudden sticky wetness seemed to be dribbling down my nose. I brushed the back of my hand over the moist area and brought it to my face, eyes widening in alarm as a shimmering coat of vermilion blood dashed across my hand like a stroke of paint.

"Ah, I'm bleeding!" It seemed that I always stated the obvious, but that was what I did best most of the time, in case people didn't quite catch on. Was I that happy to see Kyoko-chan standing there, her face warm and welcoming and her aura totally opposite from the one that I was previously wrapped up in?

"Hibari-sa--!" I suddenly remembered, and whirred my head around, but my eyes met with nothing. Just the vast expanse of the school roof and the clear sky up above.

"Ah, Tsuna-kun, what are you talking about? Is Hibari-san here with you?" Kyoko asked pleasantly, her own caramel colored eyes scanning the remaining roof.

I didn't bother answering her- I was too busy looking for Hibari. Where had he gone to so suddenly, and why when Kyoko had popped up?

"Tsuna-kun," her melodic voice rang through my ears like sweet music, I couldn't help but turn to her and smile my most best smile. "I was looking for you around the whole school, I'm so glad that I found you."

My heart hammered in my chest and I nearly cried out in intense happiness. She was such a wonderful girl, rummaging around the whole school all in efforts to find me.

"Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun sent me to find you," she chirped and I nearly fainted out of despair. "They're waiting outside for you, so you should go meet up with them. I'll be leaving then, okay? Take care and get home safely!" And with that she left, with my heart broken to pieces.

'I told them to go home,' I thought dismally, hanging my head in shame. 'Oh well, at least they waited up for me. But, about Hibari-san…' I took the time to look around the roof once more, cocking an eyebrow in confusion when I came up empty handed yet again. He had disappeared so fast that I nearly made a fool out of myself by saying his name in front of Kyoko. I was glad that I wasn't going to get bitten to death, much to his disappointment, but I still couldn't help but wonder on his whereabouts. I merely shrugged and walked to the roof's exit. I guess I could always find out later, but I wasn't going to go around snooping, I should be glad that I at least made it out alive without dying, ridiculous as that sounded.

Walking through a door never felt so good.

1818181818181818181818181818181818181827

"Tsuna, wake up."

"Wait a couple," I mumbled into my bed sheets, curling my fingers into the fluffy pillow under my head.

"Silly Tsuna, you need to wake up. Now."

And a harsh jab to the head was all it took to get me out of bed and onto the floor howling in pain.

"Reborn!" I whimpered in agony, clutching my head in despair. I hated it when he kicked me in the back of my head and I've told him many times to boot, but it seems that whenever I complain about his cruel actions, he either goes to sleep or tunes me out entirely. "Ahh!! Reborn, what the heck are you wearing?"

Reborn stood still on top of my pillow, fully clothed in an outfit so outrageous that it nearly blew me into the next dimension.

"Fiesta girl," Reborn chirped, shaking a pair of colorful maracas. I stared at him in shocked awe, marveling at the way he wore such strange costumes with such vigor. A hat piled with tons of different fruits sat atop his head like a heavy weight, yellow bananas, glistening oranges, and bright red apples all compacted together to create an ensemble only Reborn would wear. Colorful and bright patterns adorned his clothes and it seemed that every time he moved, he jingled, besides the rattle of the maracas in both his hands.

"Get dressed, Tsuna," Reborn said, shaking his maracas again. He pointed one at me, twirling it in a circular motion. "Today is the Fiesta."

My mouth nearly dropped.

"What Fiesta?! No one ever told me about a fiesta!" I hollered at him, ruffling my fingers through my hair. Why did Reborn always wait until the last minute to inform me on any special events, like fiestas for example? He always picked the most inappropriate times to host these events too- I never wanted to do any of them, because usually they were too far fetched to do.

"Stupid Tsuna, the Vongola Fiesta, don't tell me you've forgotten?" Reborn explained lithely, shaking a maraca at me.

"You never told me!" I countered shrilly, nearly losing my resolve. "We can't- -I can't have a fiesta, especially a Vongola one, it'd be too suspicious!"

"I have it covered, the fiesta will be held in this house," Reborn said simply.

"That's even worse!" I almost screamed. I swiftly got up from the floor and trudged my way out the door, trampling down the stairs like a loaded tiger ready to pounce. I immediately went to the kitchen to find it littered with all sorts of eccentric and bizarre foods.

"Mom!" I yelled across the chaos.

"Tsuna, care to try my new pineapple cake recipe," Bianchi offered graciously, placing a plate of steaming and sketchy looking purple cake in front of my face. "I just made it this morning, it's still steaming for some reason."

"Get it away from me, why's it purple?!" I screamed, desperate to get the steaming pile of poisonous food as far away from my mouth as possible. I literally ducked around Bianchi to get to my mother, who was at the front of the kitchen chopping away with her knife on the wooden cutting board.

"Mom, are you helping?" I asked her as soon as I was close enough to converse with her without yelling halfway across the room.

"Hm?" she mumbled, snapping her head towards me and nearly cutting me with her sharp looking knife. I backed away from her a bit to protect my self from getting skewered and asked her again,

"Are you helping…with the fiesta?"

"Hm, oh, Tsu-kun, good morning dear!" she chirped, thrashing her blade around like a mad woman. "I'm so glad your up, you can help prepare for the fiesta this evening!"

I placed a hand on the counter to stabilize myself from falling. A dejected aura billowed over my head much the same as Hibari's own menacing one did. So this really was a fiesta then, we were really going to have it…in my house, with all the Vongola…in my house.

"Tsunaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Lambo-san has arrived! La, la, la!"

I felt something get stuck in my hair, something with very, very sticky hands. I quickly shot out my hands and pried the thing off my head, bringing it in clear sight. I was gripping Lambo's poofy afro hair, lollipops and other childish treats (and bombs) stuck in his hair like a fly to a spider's web. I then stared down at his hands in shock.

"What's that, Lambo?" I asked wearily.

"Fish, Lambo-san is helping to make fish for Maman!" he explained giddily, waving the fish around in the air. Once or twice it slapped me in the face, in which I quickly grabbed the flopping thing out from his hand and threw it across the room (where it then landed on top of Bianchi's pineapple cake and melted).

"Wahhh!! You ruined Lambo-sans fish, you're so mean!" he wailed, flapping his arms much like the fish. "Tsuna's so mean, he ruins fishes! Maman, Maman, fish!"

"Here you go Lambo-chan," Mom said from beside me, handing a brand new flopping fish into the greedy little hands of my, I'm sad to say, Thunder Guardian.

"Hah-Hah! Nyah, nyah, Lambo-san has another fish!" he boasted, waving it around in the air again. I quickly let go of his afro hair in disgust. He landed on the floor with a skip and hopped off somewhere. "I-Pin, I have a fish!"

I could hear I-Pin in the background reply in a hurried voice, "Lambo-chan, put fish down!"

"Mom, are we seriously going to participate in this?" I turned my head towards her and gave her a patronizing stare, hopefully she could feel it, but I highly doubted she would. Once she was in a cooking frenzy, no one could stop her.

"Why not, Tsu-Kun?" she asked happily, turning to the cutting board and chopping up the rest of the red tomato that was now practically squashed into it. I watched as the tomato's clear, red liquid ran across the counter top to spill on the floor. "It's going to be fun, everyone's coming!"

'That's the problem,' I thought crudely.

"Plus, my koibito-chan is going to be there! Ooh!" she gushed, bringing her knife to her chest. Her expression was drenched with love and passion, her cheeks practically on fire and her eyes glossy. "Oh, but I must continue making the feast! Tsu-kun, be useful and get dressed. You can run over to the market district and get some fresh eggs, can't you? We ran out."

"But, I don't--!" I began, but a tremendous kick to the head made me shut up in an instant. I cupped at my aching head, turning around to see who the culprit was. I had a funny idea who it was, but I just needed to make sure. Lambo also had the motif and potential to kick me in the head.

"Listen to Maman, lazy Tsuna," Reborn commanded in that blasé voice of his. It was hard to take him seriously when he talked like that. I gave him my best glare and walked away, leaving the kitchen to scramble up the stairs in irritation. Fine, I would go get the eggs, but that's all I was doing, nothing else. If they made me participate in any events during the Fiesta, I was going to outright refuse and just sit there. Unless they threatened me or something, which was highly likely to happen.

Once inside my room, I hastily walked to my closet and slid it open, still grumbling under my breath.

"Geez!" I yelled, yanking a white men's tank-top and a pair of beige khaki pants from off a nearby hanger. I quickly changed out of my pajamas and threw the clothes on, dumping the PJs onto the floor somewhere near my bed. I could never get out of things easily, why? I mean, teachers told you for the better half of your life that only you can control your future, but it didn't look likely to me. I had a horde of mafia members constantly on my back and it was quite hard to choose things for yourself. However, that idea changed drastically when it came to protecting my family, I would do anything for that- to keep them safe.

"Eggs," I breathed crudely, heading out my bedroom door and scrambling down the stairs to the kitchen. "Mom, I need the money for the eggs."

"Of course, Tsu-kun," she replied, digging into her apron to fish out a couple of shining coins. I walked over to her from across the kitchen and once beside her, she handed the money to me and continued chopping a bright orange carrot.

With a weary sigh and few farewells, I exited out the main door and walked out into the outside world. I looked up and smiled when I found out that the sun wasn't as vibrant today- no hot weather. There were a few hazy looking clouds dotting the sky, as if by any moment they could swarm in together and completely wipe the sun out altogether. Would it rain today? Not very perfect weather for a fiesta if you asked me.

With the cool air brushing across the exposed skin of my arms and neck, like a dry, yet cold shower, I walked through the narrow streets towards the market place. As I continued my pace, I noticed that the density of people seemed to thicken. That would only happen, since it was the market district. Once I officially entered it, an assault of food scents ravaged my nose and caused the taste buds in my mouth to start watering. So many flavors wafted through the air like a buffet on takeout. Raw meats, some cooked, others not, the ripe perfume of fresh fruits, the sweet smell of baked bread and desserts, all made me flick my tongue in hunger, since I had not eaten breakfast yet.

I smiled as a more happier mood seemed to lodge within me, what with seeing all these happy looking people going about their daily shopping routine. Most of the people were old, like old grandmas and old grandpas accompanying their wives and what not, and that made me smile to see them so…old. And carefree!

I looked from market to market, eyes scanning across local liquor stores and meat counters, but only one shop seemed to catch my eye.

"Tamago Land?" I mumbled, piquing an eyebrow in interest. "Is this thing new, never seen it here before?" I looked from side to side, eyeing the adjacent shops next to it. On the right side was a meat shop and on the left side was a desserts shop- none which would serve a purpose to me. "Mmm…Tamago Land it is then."

I walked into the little egg shop, a waft of egg-scents immediately hitting my nostrils as soon as I stepped foot inside. My mouth dropped as I observed the store around me, shocking me to the bone.

'Eggs everywhere!' I yelled within my mind, my mouth still open and gaping like an idiot. There were egg breads, egg cake, fruit-egg salads, chocolate eggs, egg muffins, double egg omelets, deviled eggs, egg tea, and all sorts of products involving egg. I couldn't believe that so many things could be made or combined with egg! It was sort of disgusting, like egg tea or fruit-egg salad for instance, but I wasn't going to buy any of that, so it settled me somewhat. I wondered if the shop just had a carton of eggs to buy, because I wasn't seeing any.

'Eww, egg soda?' I thought as I passed by an aisle containing different flavors of soda. 'Who would even drink that?!' I continued my search throughout the store, passing by frozen food aisles and the like, all in search for a single carton of eggs. At the end, I couldn't find any so I had to ask a worker where they were, and when he showed me I almost died of disbelief because I had not only passed by them twice, but three times in my effortless search to find them.

After paying the guy at the register and safely securing the delicate carton of eggs in a plastic bag, I thanked him and exited out the shop to immediately halt in my tracks.

"Wha-what?!" I shouted, nearly dropping the eggs. I brought them to my chest as a shiver ran down my spine, my skin practically chilled like an icicle. "How can it be raining, when did this happen?!" I stared up at the sky and focused in on the swirling rain clouds above me, tiny droplets of water pouring from them like a medium-powered waterfall.

I continued to stand under the shop's little sun roof, temporarily sheltering myself from the pounding rain. As time ticked by, the rain pummeled down harder and the colder I got. After three minutes of standing, I was shivering and trembling, a white men's tank the only piece of clothing shielding my upper torso from the rain's bitter cold. If I continued to shiver any longer, I bet the eggs would crack.

'Should've brought a sweater, anything,' I thought remorsefully, chattering my teeth like a scared child. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid Tsuna. Stupid No-Good-Tsuna.' I looked down and shot a bitter glare at the eggs in my arms, blaming them for my freezing misfortune. Reborn and his stupid fiestas.

"I guess I'm gonna' have to deck it out then," I mumbled crudely to myself, rolling my eyes in irritation. I didn't want to run out there in the pouring rain and drench myself on purpose, but if worse came to worse, that's what I was going to have to do anyway. Mom needed the eggs for whatever creation she was going to conjure and if Reborn found out that she didn't get them from me, then I was going to have to say hello to one of his painful kicks to the cranium. And I did not want that- at all.

Bracing myself for arctic impact, I sucked in a long breath and closed my eyes. Finally, with the courage not of a ferocious lion, but a diseased one, I shot out into the rain and ran my merry way.

I practically screamed when water touched skin, the icy prickle jabbing cold blades of ice into my flesh. My teeth were chattering like a hamster trying to get a seed into his mouth but was having difficulty trying, as I continued to jog down the street, carton of eggs pressed to my chest much like a mother with a child. I could easily bet that my clothes were sticking to me, especially my tank top, what with its thin material. My hair wasn't much good either; it was matted to my neck and hanging in front of my eyes, tampering with my vision.

"C-cold, cold, cold, c-cold," I muttered as I continued jogging. "Cold, cold- WHOA!"

The carton of eggs came tumbling from my arms and fell smack to the floor, eggs cracking and leaking their fluids all over the pavement like broken skulls.

"The eggs!" I cried, staring down at them dazedly. "Oh no! What am I gonna' do, Reborn's gonna' kick me!" I bent down, closely observing the cracked eggs skeptically. I was too shocked to feel the menacing aura behind me beginning to crackle and swirl into existence, too distracted to feel the vengeance that accompanied along. I was only focused on the broken eggs swirling in their separate puddles of gooey death.

I could feel the rain pelting against my back, the water running down and dripping off my already soaked shorts. The cold was starting to make itself remembered as I continued to stare down at the eggs, my teeth starting to chatter and my lips trembling from the icy chill. My exposed knees were starting to knock together too. Any longer and I would catch cold, but I didn't care about that right now.

All my hard efforts, the strange Tamago Land shop, the ten minute search to find the darned eggs, the pounding rain with my lacking protective clothes, and now this. What else then? What could God possibly have down his sleeve to cause me even more discontent than I already was in?

"Sawada."

'Thanks,' I thought sarcastically, gritting my teeth in aggravation. What an amazing finale, the juicy red cherry to my sundae, the fluffy whipped topping to my pie, the fat lady for crying out loud! Why?! Was it me, was I defective or something? Did my body give out tempting pheromones that said, "Kill me if you like, I'm here to serve"?! What then?

I slowly lifted my chin, still dripping with tiny droplets of water, and stared up at the one person that I did not want to see right now, never ever in fact. My wet hair was billowing down over my eyes and it was starting to really bug me, since Hibari's view was skewed. I finally brushed the wet mess of hair away from my face and tucked it behind an ear, where it rested there without complaint.

"H-Hibari-san!" I squeaked, my cheeks flushing red.

Oops, I think I may have gone a little bit over board with this chapter. I just didn't want to rush into the lemon so quickly, that would be lame.

I guess it won't be a two-parter, but a three-parter. Hm. Interesting.

There will definitely be a lemon in the next chapter. The final chapter. That's usually how it works.

So look for it then.

Thank you for reading and please review if you can!