*SCREECHING NOISES ABOUT FINALS*

IF I OWNED KHR I WOULDN'T HAVE TO STUDY FOR FOUR EXAMS NEXT WEEK

Chapter Twelve: Teeth

Dear Mama,

Thanks for the notice. Will be sure to keep well out of the way of any escaped Mafia convicts, and will talk to Reborn. And stop whining about not coming out, you visit often enough and Jasmine will be fun to have around (one month!).

Yours,

Lucrezia

The call came at eight in the evening, right after dinner.

They were hanging out in the living room, Lucrezia and Tsuna playing a multi-player fighter game with the kids (minus Fuuta, who had left a few days ago on business.) She was happy to play it through, as it had been on a list of games Jeff had wanted her to look at for him. She had just pulled a finishing move on him when her phone began to hum the Addams Family theme song, the ringtone set to alert her to a call from the Black Magic Hibari fanclub. Ignoring Tsuna's groans of defeat, the blonde flipped open her phone.

"Talk to me."

"Boss, there's an emergency."

The urgency in Suzu's voice made Lucrezia excuse herself from the room. As soon as she was in the hallway, she demanded the details.

Apparently Chiyo and Hibuzawa, her Disciplinary Committee boyfriend, had been out for a walk together. As they were walking back to her place, a pair of strange teenage boys had approached them, one wearing a toque and glasses and with a barcode tattoo on his face, and the other a blond with a scar on his nose and weirdly pointy teeth. They told Chiyo to leave. Of course, Chiyo was of the romantic sort and refused to leave her boyfriend's side, even when Hibuzawa also told her to go.

At that moment, the blond had struck.

Hibuzawa had shoved Chiyo out of the way just in time and the attacker had missed her but managed to land his foot in the prefect's face. Though Hibuzawa had tried to put up a fight, he had quickly been overwhelmed. Chiyo ran off, hoping to find help, and when she came back Hibuzawa was unconscious and twenty of his teeth were missing.

By the time Suzu had finished the story, Lucrezia was out the door.

Tomie, Suzu and Kokoro were waiting for her on the sidewalk outside the hospital. A nauseous feeling settled in her stomach as she walked by it, by she pressed on to the girls who were clearly going to be looking to her for guidance, as the 'boss'.

Sigh. If she knew minions would be this much work, she would've thought twice before press-ganging them into the family.

"Why is she even necessary?" Muttered Tomie, kicking at a rock.

"Because Boss is a big Mafia bosses granddaughter, and she knows about these things." Explained Suzu as though she was explaining to a small child why they couldn't eat a bug they just found on the ground.

The girl wasn't convinced and latched on to something else. "And why is everyone calling her boss? She's not your boss! She doesn't even go here!"

"Yeaaaah, right behind you." 'Crezia waved awkwardly as the three jumped and turned around. Well, two of them jumped. Kokoro, the club's vice president and doujinshi circle's head artist, just turned her unnerving gaze on the Italian-American, who shivered. The tiny girl kept her voluminous black hair in two braids, which lent to her aura of 'creepy child from a horror movie'. It was from her that the Black Magic Hibari Club got the 'black magic' part of the name - she had an unhealthy obsession with voodoo dolls and 'ghost summoning spells'. Even Lucrezia, the most obnoxious person around, was wary of her.

But the blonde decided to ignore the creepy girl and get down to business. From the sounds of it, Hibuzawa was going to pull through just fine, but he would need to get fake teeth put in and would have to stay in the hospital for the next week or so. They all winced when they thought about how Hibari was going to react to that. The head prefect tolerated no weakness from his men.

That was when Chiyo left the hospital, wiping tears away from her eyes as Arisa, the screentoner, kept her arm around her. Both of them made their way over to the small group when they spotted them. Immediately, all the girls other than Lucrezia and Kokoro began to try and comfort Chiyo, asking about how she was holding up, and if Hibuzawa was doing any better, and if there was anything they could get for her.

Before she could answer any of the questions, though, Lucrezia shoved a picture in front of her face. "Are any of these guys the ones who attacked you?" The picture was a mugshot of three teenage boys, two of whom Chiyo instantly pointed to.

"It was that one and that one, the blonde and glasses guy. I didn't see the guy in the middle."

Lucrezia quickly made note of the names written at the bottom of the page: Ken Joshima and Chikusa Kakimoto. Fantastic. Two of the escapees from the high-security Mafia prison were confirmed to be in Namimori. She bet it had something to do with Tsuna. Everything irritating and Mafia-related had to do with Tsuna. It was a law of the universe or such.

Her internal whiny monologue was interrupted by a siren. The girls all moved out of the way as it sped into the emergency entrance, Arisa chasing after it to find out what was she returned a few minutes with a grave face, she announced that the newest victim was Kawamura. While the other girls gasped, 'Crezia simply ignored them and turned her attention to the approaching figures on the sidewalk.

"Hm? What's this crowd doing here?" The former fanclub froze in their spots as their boss shouted gleefully at Hibari and was met with a tonfa to the face. He glared at each one of them in turn until they all backed up a few feet, "Disperse before I put you all in there."

"Don't be rude!" Lucrezia scowled, still rubbing her sore cheek, "Hibuzawa is dating one of our friends. We're moral support."

His menacing glare was turned on her. "Dating is against the school rules."

"Please, just because you can't get laid doesn't mean nobody else should be allowed to - PUT AWAY THE SPIKY TONFAS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU."

With a snort, Hibari shoved the tonfas back in his jacket. He coldly surveyed his fanclub until they stepped out of his way, allowing him to stride past them and up to the hospital, where he would either fire Hibuzawa or put him out of his misery. Just thinking about Hibuzawa losing his place in the Disciplinary Committee made Chiyo burst into tears again, and Suzu and Arisa decided to take her home. After they left, Tomie turned to Lucrezia.

"I don't like you," she began, "You're incredibly rude, and something of a bitch."

"So are you." Lucrezia pointed out.

Tomie shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. But you know how this gang warfare stuff works, and, even though it very much pains me to say so, you have more influence on our head prefect." Her hand shot out and grabbed Lucrezia by the collar, pulling her face close. "Destroy those bastards that tried to hurt Chiyo and get Hibuzawa back on the committee."

For a moment they just stared at each other, until another ambulance siren snapped them out of it. Lucrezia pushed aside Tomie's hand, but held onto it. She looked into the other girl's eyes and gave her sharp nod.

Yanking her hand away, Tomie spun around, heading back to her home. Kokoro made to follow her, but paused, glancing back at the strawberry-blonde with her terrifying emotionless eyes.

"If you get any of the blond man's hair, give it to me."

Lucrezia shivered.

When she was finally alone, she peeked around the hospital gate, ignoring the queasy feeling in her stomach as she pulled out her cell phone and dialled her one of favourite numbers. Luck was on her side when it was picked up after the first ring.

"What do you want, herbivore?"

"You to use my actual name, and you to come down here and talk to me."

"No and no."

Why couldn't he be like Yamamoto or Ryohei, who were relatively easy to push around? She sighed. "Okay fine, call me herbivore in spite of my passion for Teen Burgers, but at least come down. I know some things about what's going on here."

"Anything you know you can tell me over the phone."

"Yeah, but I can't show you their faces over the phone."

A curtain fluttering caught her eye, and she saw his face in a third floor window. She held up the photo and waved it at him.

He sighed on his end of the phone and hung up. A few minutes later he came out of the entrance and stood there, silently ordering her to come over to her. Hell no I'm not going near that hospital. In response, she waved the picture at him from the gate. His eyebrow twitched. She waved it again. Instead of coming over to get it, he turned around to walk back into the hospital.

"Nooooo!" She moaned, and, keeping her eyes averted from the building, ran over to him.

When she reached him, he snatched the picture out of her hands, ignoring her mutterings about rudeness. "These are the ones who did it?"

Lucrezia nodded, feeling herself go pale as she noticed the nurses and doctors just inside the door. "The blond and the glasses-dude. Chiyo said that the man in the middle wasn't there, so he doesn't seem to be involved at this point."

"Their names?"

Right, he couldn't read English. "Ken Joshima, Chikusa Kakimoto, and Mukuro Rokudo."

Hibari folded up the picture and shoved it in his pocket. "In spite of the panic that will no doubt rise over night, school will still be in session tomorrow. Be there." A frown crossed his face. "Are you sick?"

"Ha ha, noooo, I'm fine!" In spite of her attempted bravado, as soon as she turned her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, her stomach swirling. A moment of silence stretched between them.

"…What are you doing?"

"Shut up, Hibari, and drag me over to the gate."

Walking home, Lucrezia fumed. Now Hibari knew about her antiquitis and her phobia of hospitals. Even if he was her future boyfriend, she didn't want him knowing all of her weak spots. As she walked, she bumped into someone and stumbled backwards.

"Hey, you! The foreigner who lives with Sawada!"

She stared at the guy she ran into with narrowed eyes. "Do I know you?"

The boy in front of her had his school uniform on despite it being Sunday and was carrying a bamboo sword on his back, which looked awfully familiar. He jerked his thumb at himself. "I'm Mochida! I told you back in February to tell Sawada to watch his back, and you never did!"

She stared at him blankly.

Growling, he kicked the sidewalk with his toe. "Whatever. I'm gonna walk you home, okay?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

"You live with Sawada, don't you? This way I can warn him myself." Shrugging he turned to stand beside her, "Also, I heard someone was attacking Namimori Middle students. I can't let a girl walk home by herself at a time like this."

In return for this little speech he got a deadpan stare. "Thanks, but no thanks," Lucrezia told him, "I don't want you knowing where Tsuna lives and I'm more capable of handling these guys than you are."

"These guys? What are you-"

A movement in the corner of her eye caught Lucrezia's attention and she shoved Mochida out of the way before jumping back, narrowly dodging a flying weapon. She landed on the ground hard, groaning as she tried to push herself up. The two students looked over to see a boy their age wearing a toque and a pair of glasses, with an odd barcode tattoo on his face. Lucrezia immediately recognized him.

"Shiiiiiit," she swore, not even caring about how much she owed the swear jar at this point. Slowly, not making any sudden movements so as not to alarm the approaching Mafioso, she shuffled over to Mochida. "You need to go," she told him pulling him to his feet, "This guy is bad news. Leave him to me." Okay, she knew how to make the tough speeches she had heard from dozens of main characters on her sci-fi shows and anime, but she had no idea how she was going to handle an actual hitman. Her family wasn't powerful enough for her to bluff her way out of a fight, and there was no way she could actually take this guy on.

Mochida gave her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? You couldn't beat this guy at all!"

Ah, good, her pathetic weakness was common knowledge.

The other teenager finally stopped just in front of them. "Kensuke Mochida, correct?"

Her eyes flickered between them. So he wasn't after her. That was both good news, and bad.

"What of it?" This Mochi dude was way better than her at the bravado thing, totally unfair.

Instead of responding, Chikusa, as she remembered from the picture, pulled his weapon out again. Apprehensively, she glanced at it, trying to see if she could come up with a counter-strategy that would exploit its weaknesses –

"A yo-yo." She said flatly. "Your weapon is a yo-yo."

Chikusa turned to stare at her. "Who are you?" He asked, menacingly twirling his yo-yo.

Hmm, would identifying herself as a mafia family member work in her favour or against it? She decided quickly when she noticed the little needles sticking out of his weapon. "Lucrezia James, and who are you?" She snapped.

He didn't answer her question, only cocked his head. "You… are not on the list. Get lost."

A list? They were using a list? She stood behind Mochida, deciding to stick around for as long as possible to get more information. The kendo club member had already taken his sword off of his back and held it out in preparation.

"How about you just keep moving along, before I beat your face in?" Ah, the arrogance was strong in this one. Mochida looked back at her. "And he's right, you should home, even your idiot host brother could fight this guy better, 'with his dying will.'" He mocked.

The escaped Mafioso looked at her dead in the eye. "You are associated with the tenth Vongola?"

Suddenly she didn't mind so much if Mochida was beaten to a pulp. "Thanks, jerk." She muttered, lightly kicking the back of his shin. When he turned around to snap at her, Chikusa struck.

The yo-yo whipped around their heads, grazing Mochida, who pulled away, and striking Lucrezia's ear. The needles created cuts along it, but mercifully didn't catch on any of her piercings. Gasping, she clasped her hand against it and ducked down, making herself a smaller target as her mother once told her to do if she was ever in a fight.

Shouting angrily, the kendo player charged, bringing his sword up high to strike. Chikusa took advantage of the opening and kicked him in the stomach, knocking Mochida backwards and bringing his yo-yo back around for another strike.

Mochida got his wind back just in time as the yo-yo slammed down into the pavement where his head had just been, cracking open the ground. Both Namimori students stared at the damage in alarm, and immediately they began to back away from the Mafioso.

"No." Said Chikusa, and another yo-yo flew out of his hands. He sent a yo-yo at each of them successfully hooking Mochida around his leg, but barely missing Lucrezia as she dived away. Chikusa used momentum from the missed attack to launch it back at Mochida, who attempted to strike it away with his sword but didn't land the hit; instead, the yo-yo struck him in the jaw with a resounding crack. Mochida dropped to the ground.

Gulping, Lucrezia tried to smile weakly at Chikusa. "Y'know, when he said 'with his dying will,' he actually meant 'with his cousin Bill.' I totally understand the confusion, but I really don't know any Vongola dudes-" She yelped as she ducked under another yo-yo attack.

"You will give up what you know of the Vongola Tenth's family and location, or you will join him." The hitman looked over at Mochida. Lucrezia took advantage of his distraction to reach into her back pocket.

"I have no idea what you want with some spaghetti alle vongole, but I can assure you-" This time he used both yo-yos when he attacked. Offering up quick prayer that she could manage to this without screwing up or accidentally killing herself, she slid under the yo-yos and their strings as though she was sliding in a baseball game, then pushed herself up, nearly tripping along the way, and jammed her homemade taser into his chest.

The effects were immediate. He collapsed to the ground and she took advantage of the moment to kick the yo-yo strings off of his hands before releasing the taser and running. He was instantly back up and after her, but she had the advantage of knowing the area. She thought guiltily of leaving Mochida lying on the sidewalk, but promised herself that she would call an ambulance for him as soon as she was safe.

He was almost on her when she reached an alleyway she knew led towards Haru's home, as Tsuna had mentioned once. At this time of night, it would be heavily populated with less than savoury types, but in this case it could work in her advantage.

Luck was on her side again, as there were plenty of tough-looking yakuza types inside. They all grinned when they saw her, ready to make lewd comments or worse, but she bolted past them. Chikusa was less interested in leaving them unscathed and she heard the sound of a yo-yo striking flesh.

"Hey! He hit Tora!"

"Let's beat that little twerp into the ground!"

She didn't wait around to see any of the fight, however one sided it would be. As soon as she was out of the alley and around the corner, she took her shoes off with shaking hands and carried them so her footsteps were silenced. Her heart pounded in her chest and she was sweating, and she tried to hold back her heavy breathing as much as possible. The last time she was this terrified was when she four and a small rival Mafia family had tried to attack the Bovino home. At least then she had her sister with her, but here she was alone.

After taking as many random detours as she could, Lucrezia finally reached the street that Haru lived on. As she crept towards the house, she heard the quick footsteps of Chikusa approaching from afar. She booked it towards the fence and, in a moment of athleticism she knew she would never again achieve, she leapt over Haru's front gate and landed in the grass garden, rolling away into the shadows. For a moment she held her breath, not even daring to breathe as she heard Chikusa's footsteps approach. He slowed down and paused at the corner, causing her heart to beat so fast that she could have sworn he'd be able to hear it.

At last, he ran off again, down the road opposite of the house and Lucrezia finally allowed herself to let out her breath, with the last of the adrenaline running through her, she dragged herself over to the door and knocked. Inside she heard Haru call out that she would get it and come over and open the door, gasping when she saw her friend.

"Haru," Lucrezia said weakly, "I need your help."

After hearing what happened, Mr. Miura immediately called an ambulance for Mochida and set off to the hospital to make sure he was okay, leaving Lucrezia in the care of Haru and her mother. They cleaned up her ear, which had been bleeding throughout her run. Once it was fixed, she made sure to call Nana, telling her that the hospital visit ran late and she was staying overnight at Haru's because of the attacks. Although Mrs. Miura disapproved of her lying, she understood when Lucrezia said that she didn't want Nana worrying all night, or sending someone out to get her. Especially Tsuna or Reborn, though she didn't mention that. She promised to tell Nana in the morning when she went to pick up her uniform.

Haru brought her some ice packs for her legs, saying that since Lucrezia was unused to running long distances, her muscles would be very sore in the morning. The Italian-American was incredibly grateful, as her legs were already beginning to ache. Silently she promised never to be rude towards Haru for stalking Tsuna again.

When Mr. Miura returned, he informed them that Mochida's parents were with him at the hospital, and though he had been badly injured, the doctors expected him to make a full recovery. More disturbingly, he added, fifteen of his teeth had been pulled out of his jaw.

Lucrezia had a futon set up for her in Haru's room, just in case any of her injuries acted up during the night. As they tried to fall asleep, Haru turned to look down at her guest.

"'Crezia?"

"Mmm?"

"Are the people causing the attacks after Tsuna?"

For a moment, Lucrezia marvelled at Haru's ability to be randomly and extremely perceptive. "No," she responded softly, "It's just another school trying to pick a fight. Don't worry about him, he'll be okay."

It seemed she was doing a lot of lying that night.

She swore to god that as soon as she got to school she was going to suck up all of her rabid dislike for the man and go ask Shamal for some painkillers. Even with the ice the night before, Lucrezia felt like she'd been mauled by a rabid bear. Getting back home was a pain, because she wanted to avoid Nana as much as possible so she wouldn't have to explain what had happened and why she had a bandage over her ear. Fortunately, no one caught her when she snuck in through the back door and changed into her uniform, throwing on a newsboy cap to hide the injury as best she could.

On her way to school, she noticed all of the prefects patrolling around and frowned. If there were this many out, then Hibuzawa, Kawamura, and Mochida weren't the only ones who'd been attacked. Ahead of her she spotted Tsuna, and though she nearly cried from the pain it caused, she jogged up to him.

"Hey guy," she panted, throwing her arm around him, "What's happening?"

"Lucrezia!" He gaped, "Where were you last night? And what happened to your ear?"

So much for hiding her injury. She blatantly ignored his questions as she looked at the flyers he was carrying. "Martial arts? Seriously? They'd eat you alive."

He gave her his best unimpressed look. "I know that. What happened to you?"

Instead of answering she just pointed out the prefects. "How come so many of the Disciplinary Committee are out? I've only heard about two of them being attacked."

"There've been eight attacks on prefects so far." Reborn informed her.

"I bet it's just a prefects against prefects thing…" Muttered Tsuna.

"It's not."

The three of them spun around to see Hibari standing there. Reborn greeted him while Tsuna quickly swore that he was going to school. For once, Lucrezia stayed quiet, not really in the mood for squeeing and jumping all over him.

"As far as we know, anyway." Hibari continued, "We think it's something more insidious." He saw Lucrezia and was about to speak when out of nowhere, the school's anthem began to play. Though Tsuna looked around confused, Lucrezia just rolled her eyes at Hibari's choice of ringtone as he answered.

"You're busy, so we'll…" Began Tsuna, but he wasn't given the chance to continue.

"Am I right that you know Ryohei Sasagawa?" Asked Hibari, "He's been attacked."

"Kyoko's brother!" Shouted Tsuna. He turned to go to the hospital. "Come on Lucrezia, let's go!"

She shook her head. "You go on, I'll be there later. I'll pick up homework for us, Ryohei and Kyoko."

Tsuna ran off with Reborn right behind him. Finally, Hibari spoke to her. "You were involved in the fight that put Kensuke Mochida in the hospital."

"I was." She gave him a quick rundown of what had happened the night before, minus the parts where she was completely terrified. After she finished, he in turn told her what they knew.

"There appears to only be two people causing all this damage, and they've been seen wearing Kokuyo Middle School uniforms. They've been leaving a countdown in the removal of the victims' teeth. So far there have been nineteen victims."

Rubbing her chin, Lucrezia thought on this. "It's a countdown with only nineteen victims, but Hibuzawa had twenty of his teeth removed."

"So far the most amount of teeth we've found missing is twenty-three."

The math was done instantly. "So if they've been counting down from twenty-three and we have nineteen victims, then there are four more to come." She frowned, "Why are you telling me all of this? It's unusually chatty of you."

"You gave me the names and faces. I've now returned the favour. Herbivore," reaching out, he tugged on her hat, "Hats are forbidden on the grounds of Namimori Middle."

With a small pout, she gently lifted the rim part that covered her wound. "I was just going to wear until I got to the nurses office for it to be treated properly."

He looked almost slightly impressed. "You received that in the fight?"

"Right before I tasered the glasses wearing punk."

He gave her a considering look, one that Lucrezia would always pretend meant she had earned a bit of his respect.

"Get to class, herbivore, after you see the nurse."

She went off happily, the warm glow in her chest almost making up for the soreness in her muscles.

The only person she knew in the classroom when she got in an hour later after seeing Shamal was Yamamoto, and he was asleep. Judging by the teacher's grumblings, Gokudera had ditched the class about ten minutes before she arrived. Not even Hana had showed up, probably at the hospital with Kyoko.

Since there didn't seem to be any point in the seating arrangement that day, she quickly slid into a seat next to Yamamoto, jabbing him with her pencil. He shot up with a jolt.

"Eh? 'Crezzy?" He blinked at her, "Your seat's in the back."

She shrugged. "I don't care. Everyone's at home because of the attacks?"

"Yeah, I guess."

They sat boredly for another half hour, the teacher not even bothering to try and teach when only five students showed up. At noon, it was announced that school would be closed for the rest of the day. Hibari would be pissed, she knew, but chances were that he'd be too busy chasing down the gang attacking Namimori to get at Tsuna. She almost felt bad for the attackers. Almost.

As they stood, Yamamoto gave her a light smack on the back. "Why don't you come over to my place and hang out? It'll keep us both out of trouble."

It was more the temptation of sushi that made Lucrezia agree, though the following promise of video games was just as agreeable. Besides, she rarely just got to hang out with Yamamoto without Tsuna and Gokudera, and he was probably the most normal person she knew. Maybe, just maybe, she could play video games and hang out like a regular teenager for once, instead of having to deal with family business-related stuff.

It wasn't meant to be, however. As they neared the shopping district, girls in their school uniforms hurried by, whispering about a fight and worrying over how much damage the explosions would cause to the shops. The two stopped and looked at each other, Yamamoto alarmed and Lucrezia resigned. "You were saying something earlier about keeping out of trouble?"

He ignored her. "It's got to be Gokudera." With a new look of determination, he took off running at full speed, Lucrezia trailing behind him at a much slower pace, even with less painful muscles.

She managed to catch up faster than she'd thought. Chikusa Kakimoto, much more bloodied and battered now from his apparent fight with Gokudera, stood at a stand-off with Yamamoto, who was defending Tsuna and Gokudera. At least that's dealt with now, she thought, guiltily relieved that she would no longer be a target for her information about the Vongola. The coward in her made her back up and partially hide behind a wall, watching the boys. There was a single attempt by Chikusa to attack, but it was repelled by Yamamoto's sword-bat. A few cries alerting police officers to the scene attracted everyone's attention, and as soon as the hitman stumbled off, Lucrezia ran over to help them with the fallen bomber.

"Take him to Shamal, he's the closest." She ordered as the boys picked him up, "I'm going to go home and deal with a few things, okay?"

"Lucrezia, you should come with us!" Tsuna stared at her in a panic, "That guy is still out there, he could come after you!"

Shaking her head, she turned away to run off. "I already ran into him. Now that he knows you're the Tenth, there's no reason for him to bother me. Call me later, okay?"

"Wait, is that why you didn't come home last night? Lucrezia!" As she took off, she almost missed him complaining, "She never answers me when it's important..."

Halfway home, her cellphone rang, Kyoko's number flashing on the screen. For once, she actually hesitated to answer it, knowing that she was most likely about to be dragged into some huge Mafia thing and not wanting to involve her friend in any of it. Finally, she flipped it open just before it went to voicemail.

"School was cancelled, right?" Her friend chattered eagerly, "Hana is at the hospital with me, and since my brother sounds like he'll be okay, we were thinking of going out! Do you want to come with us?"

Biting her lip, Lucrezia considered this opportunity. She could easily avoid being dragged into this mess even more if she agreed to go with her friends, but at the same time she couldn't help but want to go and help Tsuna. If they didn't nip this in the bud, who would be next? Nana? Lambo or I-Pin? Or even Fuuta, when he eventually returned to them. If she was there, it would certainly go a lot faster than without her. Besides, who else could provide the biting wit?

She made her excuses, but a thought struck her before she hung up. "Kyoko, how many teeth did Ryohei lose?"

"His teeth? Big brother, how many teeth did you lose?"

In the background, Lucrezia heard Ryohei protesting. "Don't be ridiculous, Kyoko, I fell - AH! KUROSAWA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING - ARRRGH!"

After a pause, Kyoko returned to the line. "He's missing five."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later, alright?" After hanging up, she switched to calling Tomie.

The fanclub president was snippy when she answered. "I thought you were supposed to stop this fighting or something?"

"Ha ha, screw you too," responded the blonde, "Tomie, do you know who was admitted to the hospital after Ryohei Sasagawa?"

"Of course I do! Arisa has been there since this morning reporting to me." Apparently Lucrezia had not just taken over a fanclub and doujinshi circle, but also a successful spy ring. She figured it wasn't too surprising, given the object of their affection's reaction to fangirls. "The person after Sasagawa was Kusakabe, and no one's come in since."

"Oh, that makes sense. How many teeth did he lose?"

Tomie was sharp enough to catch on. "So that's important, is it? We've only heard of Hibuzawa, Kawamura, and Kusakabe losing teeth."

"They must keeping it quiet, then. How many did Kusakabe lose, and did you find out?"

"Sawada and his cousin were there and they checked. He lost four." She switched to another subject, "Hibari has gone after the culprits. He... he will win, won't he?"

Ah, even after the sting of rejection, dumb young love-slash-obsession carried on. "Thanks. And of course he will, don't be silly." She didn't mention that Hibari had never responded to her text, which while not entirely unsurprising, was a little worrying. "I think I might be joining some others to see if he needs any back-up, once we figure out where it is he went."

She could almost hear Tomie's look of condescension. "What good would you be? You're not a fighter."

"More good than you just sitting at home~"

"I'm with Suzu, keeping Chiyo company." The brunette replied stiffly, "When you see Hibari, make sure you have Hibuzawa put back on the committee."

"I'll do my best." Sighed the American as she hung up. She thought on what she had just learned. If Ryohei was five, and Kusakabe was four, and no one else had been taken to the hospital, that meant Gokudera was three. So Yamamoto must be two, meaning that number one... She froze on the spot. Meaning that number one was Hibari, and she had led him into a trap by giving him all the information she knew. Swearing under her breath, her mind rapidly made plans to try and figure out a weapon stronger than her usual taser. By then she had reached the Sawada house and spotted Nana in the doorway. Judging by the look on her host mother's face, Lucrezia would be grounded for life if she didn't do some fast talking. She gulped and approached the house.

"Lucrezia James, do you know how worried I've been?" Lucrezia didn't dare try to answer, already slinking back from the tone of Nana's voice, "Last night you didn't even come home, and this morning you snuck in and left without saying a word to me!" She stopped when she saw the bandage on the girl's ear, the wound dressed better now by Shamal. "Were you attacked?"

If only she hadn't sworn to Haru's mother that she would be honest. "Last night, I was walking home with a guy I know from school, Mochida, who I ran into on the way home. Then the attackers came and were beating him up, and they accidentally hit me, so I ran to Haru's place." And break out the big sad eyes, "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you last night, but I didn't want you worrying!"

Thankfully, Nana excused her with that, and agreed to let Lucrezia go out with Hana and Kyoko later. Lucrezia snuck off to her room, building a new, stronger weapon until Tsuna returned with Reborn and Bianchi. Reborn found her with her work.

"You're planning to come with us?" He asked with a single raised eyebrow. The toddler waked over and picked up her project. "Is this a cattle prod?"

"Nonno sent it to me." she answered, still working on connecting wires.

"...Where did you get that car battery?"

"The neighbour's car. I'm sure they won't miss it."

With a snort, he stood in front of her, a grave expression now on his face. "Lucrezia, this is not going to be a real battle. You've never truly seen action before. Are you ready?"

She paused, suddenly unsure. What would her mother do if she was seriously injured? Could she withstand that shock? Would she spend months and months on end just lying in bed again, unwilling to face the world?

But then she thought of Tsuna, and the way that he spent his evenings with her and the kids playing video games. How he made her feel like she was a part of family again, like a bratty younger sister. And how if they didn't stop these people now, she would lose the place that made her feel like she was home.

She smiled at Reborn, her eyes full of confidence. "Let's do this."

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