Triads

ONESHOT

…

A new and improved chapter! I'm sorry for the lateness. Graduating, driving tests, blah blah and all that. There's a rather long author's note at the end that I suggest you read if you are interested in my future KHR! FF work.

…

REMINDER: THESE ONESHOTS ARE NOT CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER IN ANY WAY, NOR DO THEY FOLLOW ANY PARTICULAR ORDER.

Timeline: After the Ring Battles. It's a parallel universe in which the Future arc did not happen.

Summary: AU. Rina Emi had enough of the Triads in Hong Kong. As a last resort, she escapes to Namimori, Japan, where she thought she'd be free of her responsibilities and of the gangs. When trouble follows, there's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. The only option is to fight. But fighting in Namimori is strictly prohibited by the Disciplinary Committee unless you were Hibari Kyoya himself.

Six Months Ago

A girl of seventeen pulled her suitcase behind her as she left the airport. Her dark brown hair and clothes were slightly out of place. A pale blue tank top with a cartoon character and bright green shorts kept her from overheating.

She stopped for a moment as her bloodshot eyes hidden beneath her bangs darted in every direction. She held the suitcase firmly and her hand twitched occasionally whenever she saw a sudden movement. Carefully blending into the crowd, she went through security and walked through the automatic doors.

She let out a sigh of relief and took in her first deep breath of Namimori's morning air. "A nice and peaceful town. It's just what I need to restart my life."

"Hey, little miss," someone called out to her. She turned and began to glare at the man with her cold, brown eyes.

I swear, if there are perverted doctors here, too—

It was just a taxi driver asking if she needed a lift. She smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"So where you from?" the driver asked. "I think I hear a Chinese accent!"

Damn, she thought in a panic. She held onto the arm rest as the taxi went onto the highway. Her right leg began to tap on the car floor nervously but she steadied it with a hand. Is my accent that noticeable? She calmed down and thought rationally. He picks up lots of foreign passengers often so he's probably used to hearing Chinese accents. She raised her eyebrows slightly. "You have good ears, mister. Yes, I came from Hong Kong. I'm coming here to stay with my other relatives."

"Ah! Then I welcome to Namimori, young lady."

"I hope I'll like it here. How are the people?" she asked, distracting herself from the worries that were making their way out of the murky waters of her mind.

The driver shifted and looked at her on the rear view mirror. He shrugged and avoided her gaze. "The people are decent enough. It's rare to find trouble here. I heard that there is a Disciplinary Committee, but I haven't met them yet, thank kami-sama."

"Disciplinary Committee? I thought that was just a club within the school that made sure students followed the rules."

The man laughed nervously as he stopped at a red light. "Oh sure, maybe at other places but here, well, I heard that the leader is very fierce and strict with enforcing the rules. I'd worry for my child if I sent them to Namimori Middle School."

The girl leaned back and looked out the window. "Odd. I thought this place was normal."

"Normal? Who said anything about normal? We may have no trouble here, but it is far from normal." The driver chuckled and shook his head.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the apartment complex she was staying in.

The taxi driver thanked her and with a wide grin, named the price of the ride. She practically screamed at the outrageous amount but she grudgingly paid the taxi driver.

"Thanks for the business!" he said and pulled off.

…

Present Day

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Hibari walked the streets of Namimori looking for troublemakers.

To preserve the peace in Namimori, I will bite them all to death, Hibari thought darkly.

He was near the shopping district when he heard running footsteps coming from a side street to his right. This street led to the residential areas and it was usually quiet—not filled with screams and frantic footsteps.

One boy, a few years younger than him, with brown hair and a scrawny figure, was chasing after a young child wearing traditional Chinese red with her hair braided from the crown. He noticed, as she stood in front of him, that she wasn't out of breath at all while the older herbivore was trying his best to stay standing.

He recognised them and glared fiercely.

"Hiiiiiiiiie! It's Hibari-san—get away from him, I-Pin—!"

BOOM!

Hibari only had enough time to raise his left hand to shield his face from the sudden blast that came from nowhere.

They were engulfed in grey smoke and he heard the herbivore cough. "I'm so sorry, Hibari-san, it won't happen again, I swear—cough."

Hibari observed the wreckage, ignoring the herbivore for now. The walls were streaked with ash and there was a small crater on the pavement. The girl was gone.

The herbivore, Sawada Tsunayoshi, had a few scratches of his own. Hibari didn't, but his arm band which distinguished him from the others was gone. The pin that held it in place must have been blasted away, the arm band along with it. Not a trace remained.

Tsuna noticed Hibari's sudden stillness and looked for the source. He followed his Cloud Guardian's gaze and let out a small shout. He knew how much the prefect loved that 'Discipline' armband. Skull was able to steal it once and Hibari was ready to chase him to hell and back for it.

Hibari pulled out his weapons and a dangerous aura surrounded the prefect. "Herbivore…for disrupting the peace of Namimori…"

"I-It wasn't my fault," the herbivore said desperately as he backed away.

Hibari ignored him. "For destroying things that aren't yours…"

First they practically demolish the school because of that stupid ring battle all the herbivores participated in. On top of that, he had his daily prefect duties. And on top of that, this herbivore dared to disrespect him, Hibari Kyoya, in this manner. "…I'll bite you to death."

"Hiiiiiiiiie!" The herbivore ran as fast as he could while shouting apologies over his shoulder, hoping Hibari would reconsider his promise of death.

Hibari gave chase and was gaining on him. They passed numerous shops as he tried to hit the herbivore but the herbivore's reflexes were faster than he remembered.

The herbivore ran into the zoo, where citizens were leaving due to the late hour. Only a few were left to see the chase.

"Reborn, this is your fault. Save me!"

Reborn was flying above them using Leon as an air craft. "I don't fight my student's battles, Dame-Tsuna. Take care of it yourself. Mama's dinner will be ready soon. Be back soon or there'll be none left. Ciao ciao!" Just like that, the baby left.

"REBORN, DON'T LEAVE ME HERE—hiie!" He ducked as Hibari's right tonfa grazed his head.

Rain suddenly began to fall on them in buckets. Shouts of surprise rang out as people began to run for shelter. The rain was so heavy Tsuna and Hibari had a hard time seeing in front of their feet.

The herbivore turned a corner quickly, hoping that he could lose the pissed off prefect this way.

Not even stopping to think, Hibari continued to run straight. He took a turn which led to the artificial jungle that was made for the monkeys in residence. He squinted through the rain and spotted the small gap between buildings that would serve as a short cut. He jumped over a few crates and ran through. The rain might have obstructed his vision, but his memory was flawless.

The path the herbivore had taken led to the goats. Beyond the goats were the sea lions, where he would have to double back. The exit from the area of the sea lions was hard to find without the sign—and knowing this herbivore, he wouldn't even remember the way he got in. With this weather, the sign would be as good as invisible. It was perfect.

When Hibari took another turn, he saw the dark figure of Sawada Tsunayoshi running towards him.

The screech from the herbivore was no more than a muffled shout with the rain but it didn't matter. Hibari gave the herbivore a nice, solid blow with his tonfa.

He fell but got up quickly. Hibari started to go after the herbivore but his jacket was snagged by something, forcing him to see what the problem was. That distraction was all the herbivore needed to escape from him. Hibari looked up from the jacket he had just freed from the hook and found that the herbivore was long gone. He snarled at the crate with the hook and bit it to death.

Not feeling better at all, Hibari decided that he should just leave. He began to walk towards the entrance area when he heard someone shout. He stopped and looked around but didn't see anyone. Or maybe there was someone he just couldn't see. Shrugging it off, he began to walk.

"Hey, wait!"

Someone was shouting at him. Who would be stupid enough to do that? He paused and looked behind him.

"Could you help me?"

Hibari glared at the figure he could barely see. He turned his back to the herbivore and began walking again.

"Oh come on—you're at the zoo! If you came all the way here, you can't be that heartless towards animals! And they're just little babies too!"

Hibari stopped walking and glared at what was in front of him: rain. He turned around slowly.

"What?" he asked bitingly.

"These hooligans came over earlier and vandalised the support beams!" she—he figured the herbivore was a female from the voice—had to shout in order to be heard over the rain. "The roof collapsed and missed the cages, so the animals are safe for the moment but I need to bring them to a more secure location out of the rain!"

"Get your coworkers to help you," Hibari said and began to turn away again.

The girl swore and shouted back to him, "Damn it, they all left for the day! The manager is already hiding in his stupid office. And if you are even a bit human you should help—I'm not asking you to kill for me or anything."

Hibari just stood there, feeling the heavy rain pour down, soaking him to the bones. Now that he was paying attention, he could hear the soft whimpers and cries from the animals in their temporary homes of carrier cages.

He was suddenly next to the girl, looking down on the animals to see how he could carry them.

"O-Oh…thanks!"

Hibari grunted and looked at her face to see which herbivore had the nerve to shout at him. He frowned when he didn't recognise her.

"Here. You take the hedgehog and kiwi birds. If we're efficient, we'd only need to come back two or three times to get the rest."

She herself had taken the baby monkeys which took up four small cages.

Hibari looked at the other cages that they were supposed to come back for. They all had a plastic covering to keep the animals dry. He bent down and stacked a few more to his two cages and picked them all up.

Hibari followed the girl down the road towards the main building. He felt some of the animals scratch his hands in a panic when they were moving. In response, he growled a warning at them and they stopped instantly.

When they entered the building, the girl pushed the doors open with her back and stumbled into the warm room. She carefully placed the cages on an empty table. After doing the same, he turned and got a good look at the girl. She wore the green uniform the zoo required, complete with the green cap which covered her brown hair that reached to her shoulders. While people who were the same height as him avoided looking him in the eyes, she didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"Oh my, what happened?" a woman cried out from behind them. Hibari turned and saw a herbivore that was probably part of administration.

"I was stuck in the rain a bit," the girl said. She turned to Hibari and smiled. "Thanks for the help…?"

"…Hibari Kyoya."

She nodded. "Thanks, Hibari-san. I'm Rina Emi. Shall we get the others?"

"Hn." Hibari turned right around and walked towards the door without waiting for the girl.

After going twice more, all ten cages were safely under a solid roof.

"Thank you so much, Hibari-san!"

Hibari just stared at her. This herbivore is clearly not from around here. "Hn."

"Wait! Why don't you just stay here and wait until the rain stops?" Emi asked when Hibari began to leave. "I could lend you a towel. I can, can't I?" she asked the woman.

"O-Of course you may," she stuttered, looking at Hibari with fear.

Hibari ignored them. He gave the creatures he just helped one last look before walking back into the heavy rain.

I'll get Sawada Tsunayoshi tomorrow, Hibari thought. It's his fault I was in the rain for so long.

…

His house was a large traditional Japanese home owned by his parents who were always absent, which he didn't particularly mind. Ever since he was a child, he had been alone for most of the day with only seeing one of his parents occasionally.

The housekeeper paused and bowed to him when he entered. "Kyoya-sama…"

"Hn. Don't disturb me," he said to the woman and continued on his way to his rooms.

"As you wish, Kyoya-sama."

The woman was practically useless in the house. He didn't understand why his parents insisted that she stayed with him while they travelled on business.

On his way to his room, he was met by Kusakabe who immediately noticed that his chairman was drenched from the rain. He found a towel and handed it to Hibari who took it without a word.

"I'll be leaving now, Chairman, unless you have something you'd like me to do?"

"That's all."

The first thing he did when he was alone was lift his jacket to let Hibird out. Hibird chirped his thanks and flew to his food bowl. Hibari then made his way to the bathroom to take a hot shower before getting dressed into a black tee and pants. Once he settled down in his bedroom, he booted up his computer to review the applications for possible new recruits sent to him from Kusakabe.

He grunted when he saw the number of application forms. Usually, Kusakabe was good at filtering the nonsense ones, which left only a few for Hibari to look over. But this time there were more than the usual number.

Many were brave souls daring to join. Others were cocky and confident of their abilities. Usually only a tenth of the applicants were actually chosen due to their fighting experience and their background. The majority of them he simply crossed out. Some sparked his interest, which he left aside for further reading.

When he was left with just a handful, he began to delve into their past in earnest.

Hours later, Hibari finished his work with a total of four applicants that he was willing to let pass the first stage. He sent the names off to Kusakabe and turned the computer off.

…

Midori tanabiku namimori no

Dai naku shou naku nami ga ii –

A hand shot out to grab the phone on the desk. "What?" Hibari said roughly into the phone from under the covers.

"Chairman, there are some disturbances within Nami-chuu. I'm on my way there myself," Kusakabe reported.

"Who called it?"

"One of the new members of the Disciplinary Committees."

"Hn." He closed the phone and stayed still for another moment. Then he got up and changed into his uniform.

…

Emi snapped awake when she heard voices outside her door. In just a t-shirt and shorts, she grabbed a long knife out of its sheath and sat up. Other than the small stream of light coming in through the curtains covering the window, the room was dark.

She clambered out of bed barefoot and had her back against the wall by the window. She used a finger to push aside the curtain ever so slightly and peeked out.

There weren't any suspicious cars lying in wait. In fact, there were no cars, period. She lived in a working class neighbourhood and everyone was already driving or biking to work.

She let the curtain fall back into place and slowly made her way to the door where the voices were getting louder. Too late, she realised that if she was going to arm herself, she should have grabbed for the stunner instead of the blade. Blades were too bloody and she wasn't used to wielding them.

Gingerly, she leaned in and looked through the peek hole to see two men standing outside knocking on the door across from her apartment.

"Yeah, that was an awesome night wasn't it? Too bad the kids couldn't have come with us," she heard the one to her left say.

"Your little sis' would never let them to go with us, even if they sang lullaby songs."

The conversation went on for a little while longer as a young woman opened the door to greet them. After a few pleasantries, they were allowed into the apartment.

Emi exhaled and relaxed. She made sure her own bolts were in place before going back to her room to sheath the knife.

She yawned and stretched her arms. "Jeez, why do people have to come home at such an early hour? It's only seven-thirty!"

Grumbling to herself, she stumbled to her closet. If she was up, she might as well go out for the day.

She put on a light sweater, matching it with shorts and concealed a collapsible weapon in her pocket. She reached for her makeup kit but decided against it. Six months ago, she wouldn't have even thought to go through a day without applying makeup but now, going without makeup would be the best disguise she could rely on. Facing the mirror she put on a white cap tilted to the side slightly.

Taking one last look around the apartment, she grabbed her keys and left.

Since she was on the second story, Emi just jogged down the staircase all the while wondering where she should go first.

I still have a bit of homework to finish later, she thought. So I can't stay out too late…maybe I can go to that cake store Haru suggested a few weeks ago. The kouhai she met when she entered Midori was a very helpful guide to the sights and restaurants that were the best in Namimori. The list was so long, Emi only had time to visit the first ten places.

Keeping a lookout for any trouble, she headed to the cake shop after consulting a map for directions.

Everyone seemed to be minding their own business. Mothers were shopping for groceries with children trailing behind them while some couples were making their way to food stalls. She even saw a jogger run by her shouting something she couldn't make out. Someone else was riding a bike making a delivery of some sort.

The teen who was on the bike recognised her and waved. She waved back. He was from that sushi restaurant Haru took her to some time ago. She almost forgot.

A few minutes later, she stopped in front of the cake shop to look into the window display of the cakes.

They look tasty, she thought hungrily even though she just had breakfast. A few bites wouldn't hurt anyone.

The bell chimed as she swung the door open. Pop music played softly in the background as she saw people clutter about, either lining up for their order or sitting down with friends.

Why is everyone up so early? She thought incredulously. What the hell?

She decided to look over the cakes before buying one herself. That was when a girl a year or so younger than herself approached. Emi was instantly wary.

With a friendly smile, the stranger said, "Good morning, I haven't seen you here before."

Why is she talking to me? "A friend of mine introduced me to this place. She says it's wonderful." Emi said.

The girl had light brown—or orange—hair. She was on the thin side and wore a cute shirt and skirt that matched perfectly. She held a purse in her hands and widened her smile.

"Your friend has really good taste! Has she told you about the chocolate-strawberry special they are offering this week?" the girl asked excitedly.

Emi leaned back when she leaned in. "I think…?"

"You must try it. It's absolutely delicious! I'm so excited since I haven't had chocolate cake in a few weeks."

Emi stared at the girl. How did she survive without chocolate? Is she insane?

"Y-You…" Emi stuttered. The girl suddenly gasped and let out a giggle.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet." She bowed. "I am Sasagawa Kyoko. It's nice to meet you."

Emi returned the bow awkwardly. "I'm Rina Emi. So why haven't you had chocolate in weeks?"

Kyoko looked embarrassed. "I only eat a lot of fattening stuff when it's Kyoko's Appreciation Day. It happens to be today, so I'm meeting my friend here to buy a lot of cake."

Emi bit her lip and nodded. She guessed that this appreciation day was to prevent them from gaining too much weight…but why didn't they just…she shook her head. Not my business.

She half listened to what Kyoko was saying while she scanned her options. She was ordering the cake she wanted when she heard Kyoko shout out someone's name.

"Haru-chan, I'm over here!"

Emi turned around as she received her cake and saw Miura Haru, the kouhai who had shown her this place.

Haru looked just as surprised to see Emi as she was to see her.

"Hahi! Emi-senpai is here too?"

"Hello, Haru-chan…"

Kyoko was standing between them. "You know each other, Emi-chan, Haru-chan?"

"Kyoko-chan, she goes to my school-desu!" Haru said. "You finally came, Emi-chan! What did you buy?"

Kyoko suddenly remembered the excitement of cake and waited for the answer as well.

"It's…" Emi looked at the cake. "Some kind of chocolate thing…it looked good, so I bought it. I don't know what it's called," she said a bit defensively when the two girls just frowned.

"It's okay," Kyoko said with a smile. "I'm like that sometimes. Oh, it's my turn in line. Haru-chan, what should we get?"

"I'll uh, get going then," Emi said and pointed to the door. The girls wanted her to stay and eat with them but Emi declined as politely as she could.

"Well that was interesting," she muttered to herself when she was out the door.

She had taken a few steps when she bumped into someone who seemed to be in a rush. She hit the wall and held onto her cake so it wouldn't get destroyed. Instead, her hat hit the floor.

"Tch…sorry," she said to the person. Damn, that hurt.

"Go-mun-ees-aaeei," said the teenager who was her age, just a month younger. He had jet-black hair with a streak of blond and a thin, small scar on his chin that came from when he was trying to climb a tree when he was just six years old. His father had spanked him for that. It wasn't long after when he tried again, this time breaking his left arm.

He had a swallow, a type of bird, tattooed on his left shoulder, similar to the hawk she had on her right shoulder. Those tattoos marked them as the heirs of their fathers' Triad gangs—or rather, in her case, the heir until a son was born.

Yes, she knew this teenager. Max. Maxie, if she was trying to tease him.

He straightened and gave her the handsome smile she grew up seeing. She took her cap slowly and put it snugly on her head.

"Thanks!" she said, pitching her voice higher than normal. His accent was terrible. He probably didn't know more than a handful of words. Hopefully, he wouldn't recognise her voice. She bowed slightly and scurried off as though she was embarrassed by his actions.

Why is this street so long? She held onto the cake box tightly and continued walking. Just a bit more…don't recognise me, don't recognise me, don't…she continued to chant in her head for the next two minutes.

She was just about to round a corner when she heard him shout, "Yu!"

Emi groaned and bolted down the lane without a second thought. She heard people shouting behind her, complaining about the rudeness of the teen who was trying to get them out of his way.

"Yu, stop!"

"Don't follow me!" Emi shouted back.

"Stop!" he repeated.

"What was that? You wanted some of this?" Emi lifted the small box of the cake she just bought. "Too bad, I think I like awesome chocolate cheese cakes!" She quickened her pace.

But unlike her, he wasn't burdened by an awesome chocolate cake. He nearly grabbed her arm but she twisted and ran down another street.

"I know it's you!"

She tsked. "Leave me alone!" she said in Cantonese.

"I'm supposed to take you back. Come with me!"

She jumped over the barriers placed around an open man-hole and ran on. She heard him do the same without breaking stride.

"I don't want to!"

"You're annoying, you know that?" he said and tried for another grab but she was just out of his reach. She turned again and knocked down a ladder leaning against the wall. Regretfully, she had to let the cake fall as well.

Quickly! She looked around her as she ran. I have to find a place to lose him fast.

She spotted a large building up ahead. It looked like a school. Since it was Sunday, it should be unoccupied, right?

Glancing back, she saw that he was still untangling himself from the ladder.

Emi sucked in a breath and jumped. Her feet hit the top of the gates lightly before she jumped again to clear it.

"Whoa—!" Max skidded to a halt before he crashed into the gates and watched Emi run into the building. He placed his hands on the gate and jumped. He was over it in seconds but lost precious time. Now she could be anywhere in the school.

She just had to run in here, he thought with a shake of his head. He jogged towards the entrance which was opened to the shoe lockers. He went up the steps two at a time and grabbed at the wall as he made his way to the second floor. Then he saw Emi at the other end about to disappear up another staircase.

…

Why does he have to be so persistent? Emi thought. She was breathing heavily by the time she reached the third floor. This time she didn't run. Instead, she slid open a classroom door and shut it quickly behind her. She was in an art room where easels were up with half finished projects and stools stacked to the side.

Two seconds later the door opened and she spun around to face her childhood friend.

"There you are," Max said and heaved out a breath as he gripped the doorframe for support. "You run way too fast. Where the hell does the fat from eating all that chocolate go?"

Emi's eyes darted to the second door of the classroom on the other side of the room. How was she going to get there? "How did you find me?" she asked.

He laughed. "Pure luck. Dad sent me here to deliver some merchandise while he went to Shanghai."

"Maybe it's about time to join him," Emi said and began to move towards the door slowly. Max recovered and began to move with her, ready to run at a moment's notice.

"How did you know it was me anyways?"

Max raised an eyebrow.

Emi sighed. "I'm not wearing make-up. When have you ever seen me without my make up?"

"Every day before you turned thirteen?" Max said and walked towards her. She quickly brought out a rod with her hand on a button.

"Not another step or I'll shock you with this."

Max stopped and raised both hands to show that he was unarmed. "I just want to talk."

Emi found this hilarious. "No you don't. You're trying to take me back."

"Just…come on, it can't be that bad. We can go back to how we always were. Your dad misses you. We all do!"

Something in her snapped. "I WANT TO LEAVE IT," she screamed at him and swiped the rod in front of her in a wide arc. He flinched when it almost touched him. Then she began to walk backwards.

He followed her. "Yu—"

"If he really loves me, if he really misses me, then he shouldn't have done that to his own daughter," she said shakily.

Max frowned. "What?"

Emi shook her head and her hand steadied again. "I overheard them loud and clear. He was going to marry me off to a murderer."

Max stiffened. Then he said slowly, "Yu, what are you talking about? I didn't kill—"

"He's breaking that contract," Emi hissed at him just as the second door to the room opened.

Both their heads turned but it wasn't fast enough to avoid the tonfa that hit them both.

Max groaned and clutched his jaw as he sat up to look at the attacker. "What happened?"

"The two of you broke the rules by intruding,"someone said. "Especially when neither of you are students of Nami-chuu."

Emi looked up angrily at the one who knocked her down. "What the—hey, aren't you…Hibari-san?"

...

Hibari came into the room expecting to find the baby and the herbivores doing something stupid again. But to his surprise, he heard a girl shouting at a boy as he approached the art room.

He slid open the door and with his tonfa, hit the girl on the shoulder to make her drop the black rod and then smacked the other tonfa into the boy's jaw. Both of them went sprawling.

"I will bite you to death for intruding."

"Wait a second!" the female herbivore said.

The male herbivore said something in Cantonese but the female herbivore ignored him.

"You're Hibari Kyoya aren't you?" the female herbivore said and pointed at him. "You're that guy from the zoo yesterday."

Hibari stopped and looked at the female herbivore again. He stared at her, trying to figure out whether he really did see her at the zoo yesterday. He remembered …animals? Yes, something that had to do with animals.

"Herbivore."

She blinked. "Uh…yes?"

"You and the other herbivore are trespassing on private property."

"Um…okay…? We're sorry."

The male herbivore whispered something towards the female herbivore. It sounded as though he wanted an explanation for what the conversation as about. The female herbivore translated and he looked affronted from something she said. She shrugged in reply.

Hibari raised both tonfa. They got to their feet quickly. The male herbivore said something in a panic, his eyes glued to the pair of tonfa.

"Hibari-san, what are you doing?"

"I'll bite you both to death."

Her eyes widened. The male tugged her shirt, waiting for a translation. She said something to him as an answer. The male herbivore looked like he wanted to protest but Hibari didn't give him the chance to.

"Max! Hibari-san, what are you doing?!" Emi—Hibari finally remembered that she was named Rina Emi—approached them only to be pushed away by Max.

He shouted a command at her. She snapped back and didn't move. Max rolled to the side as Hibari his hit side. Max grasped something and repeated the order he shouted to Emi as he raised the rod she dropped.

Emi pressed her head with both hands for a second before angrily letting go. She growled. "Aargh! I hate you!" she said and ran.

Max was back on his feet, blocking the attacks that Hibari threw at him. When they separated, Hibari looked over his opponent again. He didn't care for the female herbivore if this one was worth biting to death. And he still had to make this herbivore pay for ruining a room in Nami-chuu.

After deflecting both tonfa, the herbivore activated the stunner on the rod and shocked Hibari through contact with the metal weapon, even if the handles had a coat of rubber.

The pair of tonfa clattered to the floor and Hibari stumbled back a step. His hands were shaking from the shock but he clenched and unclenched his fists. Oh, this herbivore was in for it. Not only was he trespassing, but he was also using a dangerous weapon within Nami-chuu…at least…dangerous towards other herbivores.

Hibari smirked and picked up his tonfa. He spun them around once and and gripped the handles firmly. Then he charged at the other teen, aiming to land him in the hospital.

…

Kusakabe turned his head and saw the Chairman carrying someone like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder.

"Chairman," he greeted. Hibari grunted at him and dropped the teen just outside the doors of the art room.

"Would you like me to question him while he's at the hospital?"

"No." Hibari turned and walked down the flights of stairs. He had an easier target to question for the mean time.

He found her lurking outside the school, out of view of anyone who was not serious about hunting down herbivores. He walked up to her while she was looking away and waited for her to notice him—which took less time than he thought it would.

"H-Hibari-san…" She stepped back and looked over his shoulder. "W-Where is Max?"

"Hn."

"What does that mean?"

"Hospital."

She looked at him in shock for a moment before she showed anger. "Do you just walk up to people and beat them up so badly that they need to go to the hospital for treatment?" she demanded. "That's not right!"

"Are you questioning me?" He hated it when people questioned his morals.

"Yes, I am!" she said defiantly with fire in her eyes. "You just hurt one of my best friends and I demand an apology."

He glared at the herbivore. How dare she question his authority and how he ran things? This was his Namimori. This was his school. He will do anything to protect it.

"You, herbivore, why were you in the school?"

"I don't need to answer to you," she said.

Hibari's glare cooled the air around them a good ten degrees and she shivered from the annoyance pulsing from him. He could tell that she was reconsidering her previous answer. As an extra push, he decided to repeat his threat. "I will bite you to death if you don't tell me."

"I—I was just running away from Max. I thought the school would be a good place to hide, since no one goes to school on Sundays," she said quickly.

There was his answer. Though why the herbivore was being chased was a mystery—not that he cared—as long as they did not purposely infiltrate Nami-chuu with the intent to do harm, he could care less for their situation.

"Hn. Don't approach Nami-chuu ever again."

He proceeded to patrol the streets with the intent to flush out any more disruptions in his town.

Encountering crowds of herbivores, he bit them to death; with the occasional mafia herbivores, he left alone unless provoked. He had better things to do than to deal with the constant source of trouble in Namimori. As long as they weren't attracting any trouble at the moment, he would ignore them.

He kept a look out for the mist user but there was no sign of him or his group of herbivores. Satisfied that everything in Namimori was peaceful for the time being, he returned to Nami-chuu. He passed by a delivery van, finding it full of men moving boxes into one of the old buildings just outside downtown.

He stopped for a moment to observe the herbivores. He didn't understand why they were moving into such a shabby building when there were newer, cheaper, and better maintained ones not far from this location. He walked away, noting it down so Kusakabe could have a committee member report anything suspicious.

…

Emi wanted to ask Hibari which hospital Max was in, but was afraid that he would "bite her to death", whatever that meant. Why does he even say that? It just wasn't normal. She hoped he wasn't one of those people who were obsessed with vampires. He seemed like an okay-sort. Anyone who was willing to help animals on a rainy day went into her good books.

But harming her friends puts that person on the top of her hate list. Filled with anger, she didn't control her voice as she asked the nearest passerby, "Hey, where's the nearest hospital?"

The blond haired child cowered behind the teenager she was talking to. With his cow printed shirt and lazy look, he seemed pretty cool but she wasn't interested in making a new friend. She wanted directions.

He simply stared at her with a bored look before giving clear directions to Namimori Hospital. "Cross that street and turn left, then continue walking until you cross another road." Then he mumbled darkly under his breath, "That is, if I remember correctly."

She walked off after hearing the directions, not bothering to listen to his last comment. Emi arrived at the hospital within ten minutes. She went up to the front desk and asked about Max.

"Are you sure? He was brought in by Hibari Kyoya this morning," she said when the woman shook their head. The nurse's eyes widened and she quickly showed Emi the elevator that led to Max's floor. Then she went back to her work, looking more nervous.

When Emi was alone, someone called out her name from the stairwell. Cautiously, she opened the door: it was just Max, bandaged from head to toe.

"MAX? What are you doing there?"

"There's no way I'm staying in a hospital."

"Well you're not going anywhere with me so you're forced to stay in the hospital," she said and let the door swing back into place.

Max let out a frustrated sigh and said, "Could we at least talk for a bit? I want to know what you were saying back in that classroom."

She glared at him. "Fine." She glanced behind her to make sure that no one was paying any attention to them. She tilted her head towards the back door.

"Why is the Disciplinary Committee such a big deal?" he asked as he followed her.

"I'll tell you outside," Emi said and carefully opened the door to lead them to a park she walked by on her way to the zoo. As they walked, Max undid his bandages. He explained that they were unnecessary but they automatically assumed that he was critically injured when the big man with the weird hairdo brought him in.

Emi snorted. How many others have they hurt in the past year? Better yet, years? They're starting to sound like a gang, she thought.

She told him about the Disciplinary Committee and admitted that she didn't know much about them herself. Most of what she told him was what others have warned her about. Until this week, she never had a run-in with them.

Once they were settled on a bench, Max crossed his arms and stared at her, waiting for the explanation.

"So your dad is breaking our marriage contract. Why?" he asked. "I thought they worked it all out before we were born. This is a very sudden change and will affect our alliances with other Triad gangs."

He left out the part of their personal relationship coming to a definite end, but she knew he was thinking about it too.

"I don't know what has gotten into him. Last I heard, he was serious about the first contract and even made sure that I didn't have a secret boyfriend," she said bitterly. "Now I'm supposed to marry the boss of the Tigers."

"The Tigers…I heard about them."

"How did you hear about them?"

"They only caught the attention of the bigger gang a month after you left. I should be asking how you know them."

Emi watched him reproachfully. "You really think I don't know what's going on around me, do you? I know because long before they came to power, I had contacts who knew of them. Obviously I cut my ties wish those contacts."

"…"

"I should go now," Emi said. "I'll…see you some other time. And don't call me by my old name out in the open. Here, I am Rina Emi."

…

Two days later, Hibari and his right hand man were receiving reports from his members about suspicious activities in Namimori.

Near the end of the meeting, a particular topic was brought up that he had never heard of before.

"Chairman, I'm representing the lookout for the people who just moved into the old buildings two days ago."

"Why are you reporting so soon?" Kusakabe asked.

"It's because I found something that I thought was too important to wait until the end of the week, sir!"

Kusakabe gave him the go-ahead and he began his report.

"It was rater suspicious that they only brought in a few boxes and none of it was furniture. I've asked the landlord, who claimed that they have only started to move in yesterday and have not brought in anything that is usual in a living space.

"We found that they owned the moving truck and traced it back to the owner, Nagashima Juno, but this person doesn't exist. My partner decided to tail the men yesterday, but they didn't go anywhere, only sending one person out to collect food once a day.

"This morning, a man we have not seen before was waiting outside the building. Then one of the targets came out and they started to talk."

"And?" Kusakabe prodded when he hesitated. "What did they say?"

"They were speaking in Cantonese so I had to record the message and have it translated while my partner stayed to watch the building. I found out that the group is part of the Triads in Hong Kong."

This perked Hibari's interest. As far as he knew, the Triads had no dealings in Namimori. The closest ones resembling underground Chinese members in Namimori were that other baby and the girl herbivore—and he was sure that they were part of the Italian Mob, not the Triads.

"What did they want?" Kusakabe asked.

"They are looking for someone who ran away. They suspect that the person has been hiding in Namimori and have come to find the person."

"Did they hint at any fighting that might have to be done to retrieve this person?"

"They said that they must take the person back no matter what."

"Is that all?"

"Hai!"

Kusakabe turned to see the Chairman's expression. When he found it blank and indifferent, he knew that he wouldn't be listening to the rest of the meeting.

"That's enough for today. Good work, everyone."

The members began to straighten their papers and push in the chairs. They filed out and closed the door quietly behind them.

"What happened to the herbivore in the hospital?" Hibari questioned when they were alone.

"He was released from the hospital yesterday. Do you think he's connected to this?" Kusakabe asked.

Hibari let out a grunt. "Double the patrols," he said before moving to the sofa for a nap. Kusakabe took that as his cue to get out.

…

"Charman!"

Hibari glared at the person who just barged into his office. "What do you want?"

"S-Someone's been fighting in the shopping district! There are two men lying unconscious on the ground with bruises, cuts, and broken bones. A-A-According to witnesses, two teenagers were fighting them and then they ran off!"

Hibari's face was shadowed. The herbivore finished with his report and was waiting for him to say something. "Leave."

He heard the door slide shut as the murderous aura surrounding him thickened. If this mess was because of Sawada Tsunayoshi again…he swore that he'd bite him to death if it was the last thing he did. But two teenagers meant that someone was with him …and since none of them would tell on each other there was no way of knowing who the two culprits actually were. This meant that he'd have to bite all of them to death.

"In case you're wondering, it wasn't Dame-Tsuna who caused that minor inconvenience. It wasn't any of his guardians either," a squeaky voice said.

Hibari glared at the baby who was sitting casually on the window sill.

"Oh?"

"Hm," Reborn said. "If it was the Vongola, there would be much more damage done. That is how we do things."

Hibari's eyes narrowed when he saw the sense in that. He wouldn't be getting a report about the disturbance if it was that herbivore who caused it; he would hear it happening and would already be on the scene himself.

"Baby. You know who it is."

"Can't say I do," Reborn said seriously. Then with a glint in his eye he said, "But I'm going to find out. Unless you find who it is first."

"Oh?" Hibari smirked.

Reborn returned the smirk. "I have to get back now. Mama's cooking is almost finished. Ciao ciao!" He jumped off the ledge and started home. With his supreme skills, it took him only a few minutes to reach the Sawada residence. Tsuna was in his room playing video games with Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"Tsuna, where's your homework?"

"HIIE!" Tsuna leaped to his feet and looked at Reborn, who had appeared out of nowhere yet again. "I was going to work on it after playing a game!"

"Work on it now. Or did you want more training?"

"I'll work!"

"Training sounds fun, kid!" Yamamoto said.

"Juudaime needs to focus on his studies! After that, we could continue training," Gokudera snarled at Yamamoto. Then he turned to Tsuna with a very bright smile and said, "Right, Juudaime?"

Tsuna tried to hide his horrified expression at the prospect of training again so soon.

"No! Stop, thief!"

The three boys rushed to Tsuna's window to see what was going on. Tsuna's neighbour was running after a man dressed in black who was carrying a large bag over one shoulder.

"Please, can somebody stop him?" she shouted. "My family heirloom is in there!"

"That's an amateur," Gokudera said with a scoff. "How did he even let himself get caught?"

"Maa, maa, Gokudera! You know better than to steal from others," Yamamoto said.

"Tch! I'd never steal! Juudaime, don't listen to a word he says about me!"

Tsuna sweatdropped. "A-Ah…"

"Tsuna, you should do something about it."

"Hiiie! I don't want to chase thieves again!" Tsuna shrieked.

"But as the boss, you're supposed to protect your people," his tutor said.

"Let the police handle the burglar!"

Leon turned into Reborn's gun. Tsuna's eyes widened. "No! I don't want to do that—"

Reborn ignored him and pulled the trigger.

BAM!

"RE….BORN!" Tsuna rose up from the dead and with fire in his eyes and ran out of his house in his heart-patterned boxers. "I WILL FIND THAT THEIF WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"Go, Juudaime!" Gokudera cheered. "Oi, baseball freak, we have to help Juudaime!"

"Haha! Fine by me," Yamamoto said cheerily and followed Gokudera down the stairs.

…

Emi let Max lead her down a street were shop owners were closing down for the day.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. "I thought you went home."

He gestured for her to wait as he caught his breath.

"How did they find me?" she asked, referring to the two men who were following her.

Max raised his hands defensively. "I didn't tell them, if that's what you think. As for why I'm not home, my dad told me to stay here a while longer."

That didn't sound right. If anything, Max's father liked having his son next to him whenever possible so he could teach him the ways of the Triad. "Something's going on," he said.

Emi glared at him. "Yeah, like I'm being chased by the Tigers!"

"I'm sorry for that," Max said sincerely. "If I could, I'd help you go somewhere else but at this point, hiding's not an option. We need weapons to fight."

"I don't think Namimori has an underground weapons dealer," Emi said. "We're not going to be able to get guns or anything like that."

"What do you have at home?"

She didn't have a lot with her. It was tricky enough to get it shipped here without any of the Triad finding out. She only had a sword, a stunning rod (which was probably lost by now), a few stun guns, and her baton. As she went on with the list, Max realised that she had nothing fatal. "Oh, and let's not forget the pepper spray."

"Would you happen to be May Yu? Please say yes, because I want this job over and done with." She and Max gasped and backed away from two men who were just a metre away from them. One was large, with big muscles and a very intimidating face. The other was just as tall, but was much thinner.

Both had tattoos covering their entire right arm, as if that would help disguise them. She looked at their clothing closely and saw bulges near their belts, giving her the impression that they were armed with a weapon.

"Who are you?" she asked innocently. I swear we just finished fighting with a few of these men's friends...

One of them chuckled. "Are you May Yu?"

"I don't understand what you're asking." Emi could feel epinephrine course through her body as the men were getting more confident and were closing up the distance between them.

"You speak Cantonese," the big guy said.

Okay, so they heard us talking so there's no point in denying that. Which also means they heard what we were talking about.

"So what if we speak Cantonese? What does that mean to you?" Max asked.

The skinny guy shrugged and stepped closer. They stepped back into an alley.

"Listen, I'm not whoever you think I am. My name is not May Yu," Emi said. She looked behind her. She felt more hopeful to see that this alley wasn't a dead end.

The two men shared a look before the big guy—Buff—grabbed Max, while the skinny guy—Scrawny—held onto Emi.

"Hey!" Emi shouted.

"See, there's just one problem with your answer," Buff said. "We don't believe you."

"I'm not May Yu!"

"Let us go!"

Scrawny laughed. "We know that May Yu has the tattoo of her gang."

"I don't have a tattoo!" Damn that stupid tattoo!

"Let's see about that," Scrawny said and pulled the collar of her uniform shirt to reveal the tattoo of a hawk on her right shoulder.

"So you are May Yu!"

"Let go of me—Max!" Emi shouted only his name as a warning before she head-butted the man holding her—breaking his nose in the process—, and tossed the gun he still had in his holster at Max who caught it swiftly and aimed at the gun at Buff.

But unlike Scrawny, Buff was ready for whatever Max might do to him so he let go of the teen immediately and went for his own gun while crouching down to avoid being shot at. While he was in that position, Buff shouldered the teen into the wall.

Max groaned and pushed himself off the wall before Buff could fire his gun. Then he tackled the big man, knocking them both to the ground. They wrestled for the gun with him trying to pull the gun away from his head. Buff was too strong for him. One of Buff's hands was wrapped around his neck while the other was holding the gun with the thumb slowly moving to disable the safety mode.

This isn't good, Max thought and tried to use both hands to move the barrel of the gun away.

"Gotcha!"

Emi yelped when Scrawny pulled both her arms behind her back and forced her to her knees.

"I have her!"

"Good. Let me just finish this brat off."

Emi's eyes widened. "No!"

"Who sent you here?" Max sputtered. "Who are you?"

Buff laughed. "Who else would want you dead…little bird?"

"You—you stupid Tigers…should've—known—"

Emi twisted and pulled but instead of having Scrawny releasing her, he pushed her until she was flat on the ground. She grunted and turned her head to see Max trying to push the gun away.

"Yes, well it's too late for you now. The boss wants you out of the picture since you're a wild dog after his future wife."

"Whoever said I was going to marry your boss?" Emi screamed. "That fat, old, and ugly—" Scrawny's foot pressed down on her shoulder.

"Shut up! Do you want me to break this?"

"Don't you dare—" Max choked and made one last effort to kick the man off him.

Emi let out a piercing scream.

Buff glared at Scrawny. "We aren't supposed to hurt her."

"I didn't, she yelled for no reason!"

"Damn it, she's trying to draw attention to us."

"Not that it'll work. No one's on the street—"

"Herbivores wielding weapons and abusing Namimori residents will be bitten to death."

Emi jerked her head as high as she could and smiled with relief when she saw the head prefect.

"Damn, someone came! What do we do now?" Scrawny asked.

"Just kill him." Buff started to raise the gun. When it cleared Max's head, Max grabbed it so the gun wouldn't be aimed at the teen that came to save them. Suddenly coming up with an idea, he bit the arm holding his throat and didn't let go until the man screamed.

Hibari brought out his tonfa and knocked one of them into Buff's head. When he was down, Hibari glared at the exhausted looking Max. "I didn't need your help."

Max grinned up at him and shook his head. "I don't understand a word you said, but thanks."

"Don't move!"

Max sat up and glared at the man still holding Emi. They were both standing with Scrawny using her as a shield.

"If you move, I'll seriously do something to her!"

Max narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? Like what?"

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

…

Reborn followed Tsuna as he charged over the rooftops in pursuit of the burglar who was making his escape on foot.

"STOP!" Tsuna roared. People from office buildings looked out curiously and covered their eyes at the sight of a teenage boy running in his boxers.

The burglar looked up and his eyes popped out of his head when he saw the teen. "What the hell is with this kid?"

"I WILL MAKE YOU GIVE BACK THAT HEIRLOOM WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"Yeah right! G-Get away from me!" the burglar shouted.

Tsuna roared and jumped towards the next building. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING away with that…!"

Reborn looked at his stopwatch. "Oops. Five minutes just passed."

Tsuna was suspended in mid-air for a moment and he looked down at the dark alley he was currently flying over. "HIIIIIIE!" He struggled to make himself go forward a bit more, to reach the other end of the building, but while he struggled, gravity took over and he plummeted to the ground.

"Reborn!" Tsuna screamed as he tried to latch onto something. WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?

He shut his eyes tight as he waited for impact—

THUMP.

"Ite-te…" Tsuna winced and sat up…from the man he flattened. "Hiie! I'm so sorry!" He quickly got off and started to bow until his head hit the ground. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Tsuna looked at the man to make sure that he wasn't too injured. "Are you alright…eh?" Tsuna trailed off as he looked around him.

The man Tsuna flattened was still on the floor, groaning while trying to rub his back. Right next to him stood a seventeen year old girl who looked relatively unharmed but she sported red marks on her arms and had scratches covering her legs. Tsuna turned to the next person, another man on the floor, unconscious. Nearby was a gun that wasn't on safety mode. Tsuna gulped. Then he looked at the other two standing figures. The teenager was also about seventeen years old, with black hair. Now he looked worse, as if he was in an intense battle.

Tsuna turned his gaze to the final figure. He didn't even have to look at the face to recognise the teen. All he had to do was look at those shiny pair of tonfa.

Reborn jumped down and landed next to Tsuna. "What's going on here?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

Hibari…was here. With his weapons out. "H-Hibari-s-s-san?" What's he doing here?

The girl let out a small shriek. "What happened to your clothes?"

Embarrassed, Tsuna muttered, "I-It's not like I go out like this all the time!"

"Baby," Hibari said, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "If you're going to tell me to fight that herbivore, it will have to wait until I bite these herbivores to death."

Reborn lifted his fedora slightly and jumped onto the indecently dressed herbivore, who was beginning to stand.

"You," Reborn said to the girl. Emi pointed to herself with a questioning look.

"Me?"

"You're May Yu, daughter of the Hóng Ying's boss in Hong Kong, aren't you?"

Hibari's eyes narrowed at that statement and at Max, who still hadn't relaxed since the appearance of Reborn. Could he know of the baby?

Tsuna tried to look at Reborn who was still sitting on his head. "What do you mean? T-Triad? Here, in Namimori? Isn't the Mafia enough for you!?"

"What do you mean, Dame-Tsuna? My job is to make your life hell. Didn't you know?" Reborn's fedora shadowed his face and his expression.

Hibari flicked his pair of tonfa and retracted them. He knew the Triads were looking for one of their members, but he didn't know that it was the daughter of one of their bosses.

Max stepped in front of him. "I have a question."

Tsuna was looking at him cautiously.

"Why is Reborn in Japan?"

To no one in particular, Tsuna asked, "What did he say?"

Emi blinked. "Who's Reborn?"

Max understood that much. "Reborn's the deadliest assassin in the Mafia. Number one, I think."

Emi took a fearful step back and watched Tsuna and the baby carefully. "Why is the number one assassin of the Mafia a teenager?" she asked. "It doesn't make any sense!"

Reborn's mouth turned down in a scowl. He jumped up and kicked the back of his student's head.

"Ite! What was that for!?"

"I just felt like it," Reborn said. Then to Emi he said, "I'm Reborn and don't you forget it."

Emi stared at him. "I'm sorry...?"

Max snorted, which made her scowl at him. "What are you doing here?" Max asked again. "Are you here for a job?"

Reborn turned to Max. "Yeah. I'm Dame-Tsuna's tutor."

Emi frowned. "Wait, why is Reborn a tutor? I thought you said he was a hitman," she said to Max.

He was just as shocked as she was. "But he is one!"

Tsuna was rubbing his head.

Hibari's own nerves were fraying from the constant switching of languages and the crowding of herbivores. Plus the two on the ground were beginning to stir. He'd have to do something about that. But first…

"Herbivores."

"Hie!"

"Vandalising property in Namimori is a serious offence and will not be tolerated. You will all be bitten to death!"

And without further ado, he proceeded to bite Max and Tsuna to death under ten seconds. Emi gasped at them. "Why did you do that to Max? He was already injured!"

"Hn." He collected the two Triad members and Max.

"Wait, Hibari." Hibari glared at the baby. Reborn turned to Emi. "You're going to stay at Tsuna's house."

"Reborn!"the herbivore screamed and instantly regretted it, since he was already falling back to the ground. "You want another gang member in my house!?"

"Are you forgetting that you are one too?"

"I'm not going to be a Mafia boss!"

Hibari was losing his patience. He held onto the herbivore at his feet by his collar. "Baby, what do you want?"

"May Yu and Max are going to be under our protection, that's all I wanted to tell you."

"Hn. Why do I care?"

"Because that means you can't beat them up and you'll have to protect them like any other Namimori resident."

"No," Hibari said flatly.

"Are you saying that you can't protect two more people?" Reborn inquired.

Hibari and Reborn stared at each other for the longest time before Hibari grunted. "I'll bite them to death if they don't follow the rules."

"But that's ridiculous!" Emi shouted. "What rules are you talking about?"

Hibari ignored the herbivore. The fact was, the closer they were to his territory, the closer he could watch them and make sure that they behaved themselves. At the same time he would also vanquish the Triad gang in Namimori.

"Baby, you owe me."

"Tsuna owes you," Reborn said.

Hibari considered this as the herbivore began to scream at his tutor. "Hn."

"I don't want to fight again. Xanxus and the Varia finally left not too long ago!"

"Too bad," Reborn said in his most innocent voice.

"What's going on?" Max mumbled from the floor.

Emi was startled by the voice. "You're awake! They want me to stay at…Tsuna's house." Wait, why does the name sound so familiar?

Max blinked up at her and took a moment to process the words. "Oh. Is the hitman going to be there?"

"I guess…?"

"You shouldn't go. We don't know who they are…and it could be a trap." he winced and touched his head.

Hibari glared at Max. "Shut up, herbivore." Then he left, dragging three bodies behind him.

Reborn jumped onto Tsuna's stomach. "Come on, Tsuna. We need to tell Mama that there's going to be one more person staying with us."

"I could just go back to my own apartment," she started to say.

"No, you'll stay with us. Bianchi will make sure that you have the proper clothing for the night."

Who's Bianchi? "Fine, but I'm only staying tonight! I'm going home in the morning, okay?"

Reborn smirked. "Sure. And Dame-Tsuna, hurry and put something on before someone calls the police again."

"Hiiie!"

Still cautious but confident that she could escape if things started to look dicey she followed them to the Sawada residence.

During the walk, she took the time to examine both of them. The baby—Reborn—was wearing a suit and a fedora. On the fedora was a green chameleon. If he wasn't wearing a suit and speaking properly and not known as the top assassin in the Mafia, she would have considered him cute.

Her gaze shifted to Tsuna, who was now dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that his tutor had conjured up from somewhere. He was a few inches shorter than her, which was probably because of their age difference. Whenever he looked at her, she saw nervousness in those large brown eyes, but there was also caution in them.

From the way he and Reborn communicated, she could tell that they had a comfortable relationship, despite Tsuna's constant complaints—Tsuna. Reborn. Tsuna…Tsuna-san. Her mouth opened slightly as she remembered why his name sounded so familiar.

Tsuna is the guy Haru kept on going on about. She was going to be his future wife one day. At that, she frowned. Does Haru know that her boyfriend is part of the Mafia? Does she know what she is getting into? Emi gritted her teeth, suddenly feeling protective of her kouhai.

As though he sensed her sudden change, Tsuna stopped at the gates to his house and gave her a startled look. Emi smiled at him and he shook his head. It must have been my imagination. "I'm home!"

"Tsu-kun welcome home. You ran off so suddenly I couldn't ask where you were going. Then Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun both ran off as well." Nana giggled. "I thought you were playing tag."

Tsuna sweatdropped. "Sorry, kaa-san. Reborn made me run after a thief…"

"Ara! Tsu-kun, you're so brave," she cooed and went back to her cooking. But she stopped when she realised that they weren't alone. "Who is this?"

"Mama, May Yu will be staying with us tonight."

"My name is Rina Emi," Emi said quickly and bowed to Nana. "Thank you for having me over. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Nana waved her away with the tip of her knife. "Oh, don't worry! I'm always glad when Tsu-kun and Reborn-kun bring home friends!"

Emi backed off at the sight of a waving knife but the woman seemed to have total control over it.

"We should find Bianchi…" Tsuna said to Emi, who just nodded.

When they entered the living room, quiet's worst enemy made an appearance.

"Lambo-san wants candy!"

"Shut up, you stupid cow. You can't get everything you want! And stop complaining when Okaa-sama is cooking us dinner!"

She gaped at the rudeness of the boy with silver hair.

"BUT LAMBO-SAN WANTS HIS GRAPE CANDY," the baby in cow prints screamed again.

"Maa, maa, Gokudera, Lambo, we shouldn't be fighting in Tsuna's house." Emi recognised him as the boy from Take-Sushi. He was the son of the restaurant owner, if she remembered correctly.

"Lambo bad," another baby scolded.

Emi looked at the child in surprise. Sure enough, the baby was wearing traditional Chinese clothing with her hair braided back along her head. And she could never mistake that voice for someone else's.

"Is that you, I-Pin?" she asked politely in Mandarin.

I-Pin looked up at her name being called. Emi knelt down so I-Pin could see her better. She waited nervously, as the child was known for mistaking her friends and acquaintances as the enemy.

I-Pin suddenly smiled and nodded. "I-Pin remembers Yu-san!" she bowed in greeting.

Returning the bow, Emi said, "It's great to see you again, I-Pin! But please call me Emi here? I'm kind of hiding from the Triad," she whispered to the child. I-Pin nodded solemnly.

"Emi-san staying with us here?" I-Pin asked.

"For tonight," Emi confirmed. Internally, she was sweating. She had no idea why an assassin would be staying in Tsuna's house.

"She is part of Tsuna's family," Reborn answered for her.

"What!"

"W-Wait, I-Pin knows her? How?" Tsuna asked in astonishment.

Emi shook away her surprise and answered his question. "I met her in my father's summer home; her master had some business with my father and she tagged along."

"B-Business?"

Reborn hit him. "Stop being a baby, Dame-Tsuna. Fon and I-Pin are well known over there. It's not a surprise that they met each other at least once before, with May Yu being part of one of the biggest gangs.

"Juudaime, you're back," Gokudera said from beneath Lambo and Yamamoto.

"Yo, Tsuna!"

"Gokudera-kun, are you alright?!"

"Hai! We also caught the thief and brought him to the police station," Gokudera said proudly. "Mission accomplished!"

"R-Right…"

Someone with pink hair and green eyes walked into the room. "Oh. Tsuna's just in time for my new recipe."

"A-Aneki," Gokudera stuttered before fainting.

"Oi, Gokudera!"

"GAHAHA! Tako-head fell asleep again!" Lambo laughed. "You will all be my subordinates!"

"I don't want to try anything on that plate," Tsuna shrieked and backed away.

Bianchi kissed her teeth in disappointment and narrowed her eyes at Emi. "And who's this?"

"I'm Rina Emi. It's nice to meet you," Emi said with a bow. Bianchi frowned slightly, wondering if this could be a rival for Reborn's love. But then she decided that it was nonsense. Reborn was faithful to her and her alone.

"Well then. I hope your stay is comfortable." Bianchi glanced at her brother. "Hayato. What are you doing on the floor? Are you sick again? Here, let aneki help you up."

Gokudera covered his mouth. After the spasm passed, he tried to refuse help but he fainted when Bianchi picked him up. "Such a troublesome little brother. I'll put him on the couch."

Emi pointed to them while looking at Tsuna. "What was that?!"

Yamamoto laughed. "Gokudera seems to be unwell whenever his sister is around!"

Weirdo, Emi thought.

"Let's get you settled in," Reborn said suddenly.

Emi jolted in surprise. "O-Okay."

"Follow me," Bianchi said when she returned from helping Gokudera onto the couch.

As she let Bianchi guide her to the room they were to share, Emi's mind wandered to the two attacks she encountered six months after she moved to Namimori. Half of those were with the Triad—within a few days of each other—and the other half, one may ask? Was the result of being caught by the Disciplinary Committee. That wasn't much better.

…

The next day after school, Emi went straight to the hospital to visit Max. He looked surprised. "You came to visit."

Emi heaved out a sigh and dropped her school bag on the visitor's chair. "There's no point in avoiding you now. How are you?"

"As good as anyone could be after being hit by an elephant. We have to talk about the Triads."

"We? I told you before, you can just go home. There's no need to stay here."

Max shook his head. "You can't do this alone. We have to fight them. Maybe we'll have a chance convince your father to break the contract—or not sign it officially yet."

She was moved by his resolved tone and expression but she knew she couldn't go back.

"Max, you should go home."

"We've gone over this before," Max said stubbornly. "Something's not right and I'm not about to just let you get handed over to the Tigers because of something your dad signed."

"Have you forgotten that we have no means to fight?" Emi asked lightly.

"That guy who beat me up seems fine on his own."

"Hibari Kyoya? He's just one person! And this is an entire gang we're talking about. Who knows how many Tigers are here looking for me?"

"Then that's the first thing we should find out," Max insisted. "And try to get that guy in on it! As long as we're careful, none of us will get hurt."

"He's just some high school student. You can't drag him into our mess! How old is he, seventeen, eighteen?" Emi cried out.

"I thought he was in middle school," Max said.

Emi paused for a moment. "He looks old enough to be in high school—that's not the point!"

"Reborn's here too," Max said slowly.

"So…?"

"He said he was training a boss, wasn't he? A boss has allies to fight for him."

"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking. That kid he was training is at most fourteen. There is no way he is up to fighting an entire gang."

"Who knows? He might be. We have to ask. Reborn knows his student's limits. Surely he'll refuse if he thinks it's too much. Just go ask him."

…

Emi left the hospital and kicked the wall before pulling at her hair. "Why is this happening to me?" she shouted.

Pedestrians stopped and stared at her but scurried off when she shouted at them. "What are you staring at?!"

She began to walk down a random road while trying to remember how to find Tsuna's house. She was consulting a map when she saw Hibari walk down another road from the corner of her eye. "Hibari-san!"

Hibari stopped and glared at her. Hadn't she caused enough trouble? Why couldn't she just leave him alone? Emi stopped in front of him and hesitated. Why am I doing this again? Right, right. Because I need reinforcements. A bunch of teenagers against a gang. Like that would work.

"I just need some help. I will understand if you don't want to since—"

"Hn. Find someone else."

"The Triads. You must know about them by now since Reborn mentioned them before."

Hibari's curiosity was slightly peaked. He remained silent, unwilling to shed light to the fact that he already knew about the Triad gang before the baby announced it. He continued to glare until the herbivore felt uncomfortable enough to start shifting on her feet.

"Well…I was hoping that you could help Max and I…get rid of them?" she finished hopefully. "Or at least scare them off."

Hibari narrowed his eyes. They wanted him to fight against the Triad gang of herbivores? Why would he do that with them? He continued walking.

"W-Wait. You're pretty strong right? You won't really have to do anything. Maybe just take one or two of them. We just need a few extra hands to make this work. I mean, one or two isn't that much—"

The herbivore continued to ramble on as Hibari tried to ignore her but some of her words trickled through. Who did she think she was talking to? He could take out the entire group of herbivores on his own, without help.

"But I guess if you're worried about getting injured we understand, but if we work together—"

Did she really think that he was refusing because he was afraid of getting injured? Only herbivores got injured from a measly fight. Annoyed, he brought out his tonfa and faced her.

She took a hasty step back when she saw the weapons. "What? What did I say?" she asked desperately. She was tired of seeing tonfa in her face! I swear, after this I'm never going to look at a tonfa the same way again.

Without answering, Hibari swung his right tonfa into her gut but she jumped back just in time. He'd show her. There was no way he was working with others and there was no way he was weak. When was he ever weak? He couldn't even remember.

He continued to fight her—if anyone could consider dodging as proper fighting—for a few seconds before he finally landed a blow that glanced off her side.

She stumbled back. "Okay," she said and gasped. "So you don't want to fight against them, fine—"

She still didn't understand? That wasn't the issue here. Why was it so hard to get the point across to this herbivore? Did he actually have to spell it out? He raised his left tonfa—

"Hiie! What's going on?"

Hibari let out an irritated sigh as he recognised the voice. He stepped back and gave the other herbivore a look which stopped him in his tracks.

Next to the herbivore was Reborn who was analysing the situation. He saw Emi backed into a wall with Hibari about to hit her—again, if the hand holding her side was any indication of a previous hit. Either way, her father would not be glad if his daughter was harmed by a Vongola Guardian. Not that Reborn particularly cared for a Triad boss' opinion, but it would be better not to make unnecessary enemies.

"Hn."

Emi shouted after him as he stalked off. "I don't understand! Why won't you help?"

Hibari ignored her and turned a corner.

"E-Emi-san…are you alright? He didn't hurt you too much, did he?" Tsuna asked anxiously as he looked her over. Seeing that there weren't any bruises or beaten up parts to her, he reckoned they weren't fighting for long.

"It's just a bruise. But damn, it hurts!"

Tsuna winced, understanding her pain.

"What was that about?" Reborn asked abruptly. "It's not like him to get riled up like that for no reason."

"I don't know!"

"Something must have happened," Tsuna reasoned nervously. "Did you break into Nami-chuu or something over the weekend?"

Emi flinched. Sure she did, but that wasn't why he was provoked right? "No…I just asked if he could help Max and I scare off the Tigers. Maybe fight them a bit. I just want them to leave so I could live in peace."

Tsuna's eyes widened. "You asked Hibari-san to fight with you? But that means destroying some parts of Namimori! He was never going to agree!"

Emi's jaw dropped. "No, that's not what I meant," she said in protest.

"What did you mean then?" Tsuna asked sceptically. He wasn't convinced that destroying Namimori wasn't part of this 'fighting'. Besides, they just fixed up the field in Nami-chuu so Hibari was obviously going to be more protective, right?

"But a little fighting isn't going to destroy anything," Emmi insisted.

"Dame-Tsuna, you should know your guardians better," Reborn said.

"Guardian?" Emi said. "What guardian?"

"Stop saying that, Reborn! And what are you talking about?"

"Hibari doesn't work well with others," Reborn told them both. "Since he's your Cloud Guardian, you should know that by now."

"He sucks at teamwork?" Emi asked exasperatedly. "That's why he won't help?"

"Wait, hold on! Why are you going to fight the Triad gang in the first place?" Tsuna shouted. "You can't go looking for trouble like that! You'll get yourself killed!"

"I have to," Emi said. "If I want them to leave me alone, I have to drive them off!"

Tsuna just gave her a confused look.

Emi sighed. Max did tell her to ask Reborn and his student to help them. "Listen, I have a request for you two."

…

"Hiie! I can't take on an entire gang," Tsuna said when he and Reborn heard Emi's plea. They were in his living room, siting on the carpeted floor with a table in between them.

"Of course you can," Reborn said as he sipped his espresso. "If you can't, I'll just throw you in there to let you fend for yourself."

Tsuna stared at his tutor. "You wouldn't!"

Reborn's eyes glinted. "Of course I will." After a few days of training him and his guardians, that is.

Emi looked at them back and forth. She fingered her cup of tea nervously. "So will you help?"

"No!" Tsuna shrieked.

"Why is the gang after you?" Reborn asked, knowing that his student was only saying 'no' because he was used to it. That was another habit he would have to break him of, Reborn noted.

They want to hear everything? I don't want to tell them everything. But I guess it's only fair.

"Fine. You know that I'm the daughter of the Hóng Ying gang's boss. I don't want to be in the gangs anymore, nor do I want to be the heir, so I just left."

Tsuna gaped at her. He was sort of envious of her freedom to run away.

"I don't know why but my father is planning an arranged marriage between me and the boss of another gang, the Tigers. It's not like my father at all and I really don't want to marry that man. I came to Namimori around half a year ago, hoping to escape from them.

"But the Tigers somehow found out that I was here and are trying to take me back with them. They won't stop until I'm caught or if they suddenly change their mind, which is what I was hoping to help them do."

Reborn turned to Tsuna. "So what do you say, Dame-Tsuna?"

"M-Me? Well…I don't know…it seems pretty dangerous. Can't we just avoid them?"

"You can't avoid trouble forever," Reborn scolded. He knew that Tsuna would eventually agree. Reborn was pleasantly surprised to find out from the battles Tsuna had gone through that he would risk his life for his friends.

But Hibari was another matter. If Reborn wanted Vongola Decimo's guardians to be the best out there, they had to know how to cooperate with others and to provide help when needed. The Cloud Guardian, while aloof, still has the responsibility of working as a team with the other guardians, whatever form that cooperation will take. The Hibari Kyoya now hasn't reached that level yet. But this might improve things.

"Hibari can fight them on his own," Reborn said. "Perhaps he'll come out with a few scratches because he's just that reckless but he's capable."

Emi leaned back and stared at Reborn. "Is he really that good?"

Reborn smirked. "Why would he have been chosen to be Vongola Decimo's Cloud Guardian if he wasn't that good?"

"Vongola? That sounds familiar…"

"It's the number one Mafia family in Italy," Reborn said helpfully.

"H-Him? He's the next boss for the top Mafia family in Italy?" she asked with a finger at Tsuna's direction.

"It's not like I asked for it!"

Reborn kicked Tsuna, sending him sprawling on the floor. "Stop complaining, Dame-Tsuna." Then he turned to Emi and said, "You'll have no problem if you can convince Hibari to go with you."

"Excuse me, but I already tried that."

"You didn't try hard enough and you didn't say the right things."

"What do you mean?" Emi and Tsuna asked.

Reborn set his cup down and asked them, "What's the main reason why Hibari won't help?"

"He hates working with others but loves to fight," Tsuna said. His tutor smirked. At least his student knows that much about his friends.

"Figure the rest out on your own and with your other guardians then."

"But you were just about to tell us," Tsuna protested.

"I'm not going to be around forever. You have to learn to figure out how to handle your own guardians."

"Speaking of Gokudera and Yamamoto…where are they?" Tsuna said aloud. Yamamoto-kun…I think he said he was going to the park to practice baseball…but where's Gokudera-kun?

"Maybe he's at that new underground shopping centre—no wait, that's not open until tomorrow."

"Juudaime!" they heard his voice from outside.

"Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said in a startled voice. Moments later, the doorbell rang and Nana went to answer it.

"Gokudera-kun, it's so nice to see you again!"

"Okaa-sama! Is Juudaime home?"

"Hai, hai, he's in the living room with Emi-chan."

"That girl again?" they heard Gokudera mutter. "She's nothing but trouble…Juudaime!" he greeted when he saw Tsuna.

"Hey, Gokudera-kun," Tsuna said and sweatdropped.

"What's she doing here?" he asked harshly.

Tsuna quickly explained the situation before Gokudera could pull out his dynamite and threaten the girl and ended his quick explanation with the trouble with getting Hibari to agree to help her.

Gokudera digested the information and said, "I'm surprised he didn't already 'bite them all to death' before today."

…

"Kusakabe speaking."

"Meet at the building. We're raiding the Triad herbivores."

He heard Kusakabe choke on his drink. "We're going to what? But Chairman, there's no time to assemble—"

"I don't need anyone else," Hibari snapped and hung up. Kusakabe was being ridiculous. Why did they always think that he needed help? He knew that there were probably going to be some Mafia herbivores on the scene but he sincerely hoped that they wouldn't interfere.

He glanced at the time on his phone. It was near dusk, a perfect time to observe the herbivores before attacking. He glanced to his left and saw that Kusakabe was jogging towards him. He focused on the building ahead and continued walking rather than wait for his subordinate to catch up.

Kusakabe joined Hibari in the shadows and said, "I went around the area a few minutes ago. There's no movement outside. According to the landlord, they're in room 300." He nodded at the window with closed curtains.

Hibari followed his gaze. "Hn."

"There are six of them but only five are present. We also found out that their boss is here as well but he's staying in the hotel in suite 710. He has a few body guards with him and obviously they will be armed."

Hibari approached the building. Kusakabe opened his mouth to protest but shut it. He sighed with a resigned smile and followed him in. When they reached the third floor, they listened and found that the five men they were about to ambush didn't care for anything. Kusakabe cocked his head and knocked the door sharply.

One of them shouted something in Cantonese.

Kusakabe's eyebrows shot up in question. Hibari tried to turn the knob. Finding it unlocked, he strolled through while Kusakabe waited outside.

The men were playing cards while smoking and drinking beer. They glanced up at the open door and frowned in confusion when they saw an unfamiliar face. They said something that sounded like a question and Hibari branded his weapons.

They noticed the tonfa and shot to their feet. They said something and one of them stopped another one of them from reaching for his pocket. They still didn't act—probably to see what the teenager would do. That was their first mistake because Hibari didn't give them another chance to defend themselves.

…

Hibari walked out of the building ten minutes later with Kusakabe sighing quietly behind him. He heard hurried footsteps and saw Sawada Tsunayoshi, Gokudera Hayato, Rina Emi, and Reborn.

"Chairman," Kusakabe said to bring his attention to the newcomers. Hibari gave them a glance before turning away.

"Hibari-san!"

The streetlight next to Hibari flickered on as the sun set. "What?" he said to the leading herbivore.

"D-Did you…?" Tsuna stuttered and looked at the building and then back at Hibari.

Hibari snorted. "Weaklings," he said in reply and looked down the street, waiting for the sixth herbivore to make his appearance.

Gokudera went up to the prefect and grabbed his shirt collar. "Oi, you damn bastard, don't you know that you had Juudaime worried?"

Hibari frowned and shoved the herbivore off him. "I don't answer to you or to him," he said as he spotted a herbivore make his way to the building with a bag of take-out. He was about to pass their group when he saw Emi. He stared at her for a moment before Hibari saw signs of recognition appear on his face.

"Aren't you—?"

Hibari bit the herbivore to death before another word was uttered. There. All of them were bitten to death. And he didn't even feel satisfied. No, not at all.

"Hiiiie!"

"Don't follow me," Hibari said coldly to the herbivores before heading to the hotel. He was looking forward to a good fight.

"Should we follow him?" Emi asked when Hibari was out of sight.

Tsuna shrieked again. "Didn't you just hear what he said? He said not to follow him!" Do you have a death wish?! Tsuna thought, stared at the foreign girl in dismay.

Emi shrugged. "He's fighting these guys who are my problem! The least I can do is make sure that he's fine, right?"

Gokudera scoffed at her question. Reborn spoke from his perch on Tsuna's head. "A boss should always look out for his guardians even when they don't need it."

"Y-You're not suggesting what I think you are suggesting…are you? Ne, Reborn!"

Reborn smirked at his student's queasiness. He jumped off and kicked Tsuna, propelling him forward a few metres before falling flat on his face. "What are you two waiting for? Go after him."

"Hai, Reborn-san!" Gokudera said immediately. "Juudaime, allow me to help you up!"

…

"Boss, something happened to the guys!"

A young man of twenty who was eating his dinner in his hotel suite swallowed quickly. "What do you mean? Who did it?"

"We don't know! It was some teenager who just barged in and started beating them up with a pair of tonfa."

"Tonfa? Who fights with tonfa nowadays?" their boss asked as he stood.

"He does, apparently. And he might be heading over here. I've got some guys guarding the front but we should still leave now while we can."

The boss snorted and checked his gun. "You're telling me to run from a kid? Do you know what will happen to my image if I do that?"

"But boss!"

"No, I'm staying here and that's final," he said firmly and continued eating.

…

After the short hassle at the front desk and getting an unoccupied elevator, Hibari imagined what he'd do to the one who was responsible for all the trouble happening in Namimori.

It didn't take long for him to reach the floor he wanted since the elevator didn't stop for any other floor but it did take a few more minutes to take down the body guards that were guarding the suite. The first man who came at him had a bat decorated with spikes that Hibari guessed were supposed to intimidate the opponent rather than do actual harm, since all Hibari had to do to unarm him was a good solid hit to the wrist and a kick in the gut, which pinned down two other body guards, who wielded a gun and a sword respectively.

The fourth one stayed behind and took aim with the gun. He only fired once before Hibari pounced and knocked the man unconscious.

"Hn. And you call yourselves body guards," Hibari said to the pile of twitching bodies. The elevator chimed and the doors opened to reveal Kusakabe.

More footsteps came as a man who looked like a boss and five more body guards rushed out from another room. The boss shouted something and his men charged. Just as Hibari had swung his tonfa, the man in front of him stepped to the side and the man behind him took his place.

Hibari, surprised for just a moment, took a second to balance himself and managed to just avoid the knife aimed at him. He closed in and landed a blow on the man's jaw but the man knelt and tried to trip Hibari, who jumped just in time and blocked the knife that was coming at him again.

Simultaneously, he was attacked by the other three while the last one remained standing next to their boss.

It was like a dance, Kusakabe noted, as Hibari spun around to land another blow before directing his attention at another dance. He was sure that Hibari's moves were less wasted and were quicker. It must have something to do with all the days he fought against Dino Broncho leading up to the Ring Battles.

Kusakabe saw that the boss was becoming more unsettled with each man Hibari defeated. He himself wasn't so sure that he could take those men down, but Hibari was doing it so easily that he would fear for his own life if he had to go against the Chairman.

When all four joined the first pile, the last body guard brought out his gun. Kusakabe sighed. When will they learn that guns didn't exactly work on Hibari? Didn't the man see Hibari easily unarm two other men who had guns and that not a single shot hit their mark?

This last man went down as well, leaving the boss totally unprotected save for his own abilities which Hibari waited to see. When none came—he ignored the shaking hand holding a gun—Hibari shrugged inwardly and proceeded to bite the man to death as he screamed for mercy.

Finally, battered black and blue with whatever else Hibari had given him, the man whimpered and said in Japanese, "Just who are you?"

Hibari said, "Hibari Kyoya, leader of the Disciplinary Committee." He flicked his tonfa a few times before collapsing them.

"That—That ring on your finger—" the boss stuttered and tried to point but his arm was broken. "That ring!"

Hibari ignored his stuttering and said, "Listen carefully, herbivore…if you or anyone in your herbivore-gang ever set foot in Namimori again for any reason, I will bite you to death!"

The boss, having seen the Vongola ring when the boy came in, thought it to be a fake. But once he saw the boy in action he was worried that it might be the real deal.

"Are you really the Cloud Guardian?" he asked anxiously. Even the Triads had heard of the Vongola though they barely had any contact with them. He didn't want to get on the bad side of that family, especially if they had members like this boy—a boy. If the Vongola trained their young like this, he didn't want to meet the more experienced members.

Hibari glanced at the ring the man was talking about and grunted. I guess the ring is useful for something even if it's misrepresenting me, he thought. After all, he didn't associate himself with those herbivores. But since he learned that the ring represented power, he didn't mind wearing it.

Hibari sent a glare at the man. "Have you heard my warning? I won't be repeating it."

The boss nodded quickly and tried to shimmy away.

Pathetic.

…

"They what?" Max said blankly to Emi. She sat down on his visitor's chair.

"He just…beat them all up," Emi told him again with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know how he did it, but it worked."

"Let me get this straight…" Max said and pushed himself into a more comfortable sitting position.

-Flashback-

"Hibari-san, don't tell me you went up there, fought the boss, and came back down…unscathed?" Emi said, coming to a halt next to Tsuna and Gokudera.

"…"

"You did, didn't you?" Tsuna yelped. "You could have gotten hurt!"

Needless to say, Vongola Decimo wouldn't be rising from his hospital bed for quite a while.

"You."

Emi flinched. "Y-Yes?"

"If you cause any more trouble I will bite you to death. That is your final warning."

They fell into a hushed silence as Hibari and Kusakabe left after doing her a very big favour—wait. He didn't. Not yet, anyways. "Guys, I'll be right back," Emi said and dashed up to the suite she knew the boss was staying in, thanks to the previous investigations she conducted.

"W-Wait, Emi-san! What—where are you going?"

She jabbed at the elevator button and saw that Reborn was forcing Tsuna and Gokudera to join her. "You don't need to come," she said as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"But we'd miss the performance," Reborn said innocently, a bowl of popcorn appearing in his hands.

Emi brushed aside the comment and stepped into the elevator, waiting for Tsuna and Gokudera to join her before pressing the button for the top floor.

"I just want to make sure that he will give up on finding me," Emi said. Tsuna wanted to interrupt her but she continued quickly, "Hibari-san might have come for his own reasons, but I'm going to just add my own threats to whatever Hibari-san had given him—since I'm assuming the prefect would have threatened the Tiger boss."

"Che. As if that bastard would have ever helped you with anything," said Gokudera.

Emi smirked. "The man we're about to talk to doesn't know that."

Ding!

She turned back to face the room and the smirk on her face froze when she saw what carnage Hibari had wrecked in his wake.

"R-Right…Hibari-san did this?"

Tsuna nodded shakily. "A-And that's why you need to be more careful around him. We've actually seen him do worse with less time!"

"That's the boss," Emi said and pointed at a figure that was sprawled half on the carpet and half on the couch. "Oi," she said and kicked his side gently.

He screamed in pain and she winced unsympathetically. "My bad. I guess you're more hurt than I thought."

He groaned and opened his eyes slowly.

"Listen, you," Emi said before switching to Cantonese, "If you don't stop trying to find me to bring me back, you'll face Hibari Kyoya again! And it'll be worse. Perhaps he'd also just decide to torture you for the fun of it? The point is, if you come after me again, you will wish that you died today."

Reborn jumped off from Tsuna and with a wide smile he said, "And you'll have the Vongola to answer for. The new generation of Vongola Guardians, that is. I have one of them right behind me. The other is the tenth Vongola boss. And you just met a third earlier on. Do you want to meet all of them?"

The man was clearly frightened from what the two of them said, though neither Tsuna nor Gokudera knew what had just happened.

"We're done here," Emi said cheerfully and stood from her crouch next to the man who looked ready to wet his pants.

"Oi, what did you say?" Gokudera asked curiously.

"Nothing really, just that the Vongola, namely Hibari-san, will come for him again if he tries to look for me," Emi said.

"But—"

"Time to go!" Emi said before Gokudera could give anything away. Sure, the boss wasn't fluent in Japanese, but he still understood enough to put a sentence like "he wouldn't help you" together.

"It's crazy how much influence the Vongola has," Tsuna exclaimed when they were in the elevator, going down. "I mean…Reborn always tells me that they're the most influential famiglia but still! To make that man fear you just because you mentioned the Vongola…what have I gotten myself into?" He whispered the last part, though everyone heard.

"Juudaime, I know that you'll be a great boss!" Gokudera said, his eyes gleaming though it was filled with pride and confidence.

Emi laughed and elbowed Tsuna in the ribs. "Just use the power for the good. After all," she leaned down to whisper, "once you're boss, you can do whatever you want to the organisation, ne?"

Tsuna turned his head sharply, eyes questioning.

Emi had decided, after observing Sawada Tsunayoshi for a while, that the young boy could do no harm to the world even if he tried. It just wasn't part of his nature to do so. Haru would be in good hands if she stayed with him, even if he was in the mafia. "What I mean is, who's going to stop you from destroying the Vongola after you take control?" She gave him a wink.

"Hiiiie!"

Reborn gave Emi a glare and was satisfied when she blanched and stepped away from the Arcobaleno. "D-Don't take what I said seriously!" Damn, I forgot about the baby.

"Yes, Tsuna…if you ever try anything like that…" Reborn let his sentence trail off, knowing that his pupil understood the threat.

"Juudaime would never do that!" Gokudera screamed at Emi, shocking the other passengers in the elevator.

"Okay, okay!" Emi squeaked and backed away from all of them. "I was just joking!"

-End Flashback-

"That's what happened," Emi said. "Obviously Tsuna was thinking pretty deeply near the end but I'm not a mind reader so I can't tell you what he was thinking about."

"You're basically free then," Max said slowly.

Emi shrugged. "I'm still not going back with you."

"I…I know. You've made a life here."

Emi hummed and let him think that. "You'll be going home soon?"

Max slammed a bandaged fist against his leg. "As soon as the majority of these injuries area healed I'll be on my way. I can thank your friend for that."

"He's not my friend," Emi muttered. She cleared her throat and gathered her school bag. "I won't see you off. Stay safe, Max."

Max pulled her in for a one-arm hug and released her with a sad smile. "I'm sure we'll meet again."

Emi grinned." If I have a say in it, we wouldn't. Once I pull out of the Triads, I intend to stay out of them."

…

She zipped up her suitcase and looked around her sparse apartment. There wasn't much to begin with anyways—the only additions to the tables were any pictures she had taken with Haru, her coworkers, and the animals from the zoo. The frames sat empty, the memories safely tucked away in a photo album.

"I haven't actually thanked the Vongola yet. How did that slip my mind?" she asked herself and laughed.

Upon crossing the street, she saw Hibari. She stood where she was, waiting for him to approach. He glared at her and passed. "I want to thank you, Hibari-san. Would you mind relaying the message to Sawada?"

"Don't presume that I'll be your messenger."

She took a deep breath and turned around. "I think you should know that I'll be leaving Namimori soon. Don't worry, I definitely won't cause any trouble."

He continued walking, though she thought she saw him tilt his head towards her when she said that she was leaving. Guess I have to find Sawada myself...not that I actually thought the Great Hibari Kyoya of the Vongola would do it for me.

She watched him leave with a small smile. All in all, her six months in Namimori wasn't that bad. She was truly free from the Triads, with the help of some Mafia members, who she believed were the same as the Triad. But no. It seemed like Sawada Tsunayoshi and his friends might be a little different.

…

Nine years and eight months later… (A/N:Remember that this is AU)

Monica Lee, also known as Rina Emi, also known as May Yu, came home from work feeling nerve wracked. Someone had just tried to attack her. Luckily, she managed to get away but she couldn't say the same for her car.

The woman who tried to kill her had shot flames at her car. She had run the rest of the way home, losing the woman a few blocks away.

Why was someone after her? The woman clearly wasn't from the Triads—and she had no trouble with them for almost ten years. Why would they find her now? No, it wasn't the Triad.

She brought in her mail and entered her flat cautiously. Trying to find some sense of normality, she flipped through her mail. It was the usual—bills, advertisements, bank statements—and a letter to one Monica Lee with no return address.

She put it under the light in an attempt to see what was inside before opening it. After a few more minutes, she decided that it wasn't going to kill her so she sliced it open.

Out tumbled a single card.

She stared at the message written in a very familiar script, though not in a language she would have expected: English.

She stared at them for another two minutes before she slowly slid to the floor and let silent tears fall from her eyes. After five minutes, she rubbed the tears away and went to her bedroom. She opened the closet and removed the false bottom to reveal a packed backpack which she refreshed every six months. Beside it she had her weapons—these were not the pepper spray and stun guns she had with her ten years ago. These were meant to kill. And she planned to use them in the near future.

Before leaving, she went back to the kitchen to collect her keys and to burn the card which had fluttered beneath the table.

Emi—

Juudaime is dead. The Vongola-Hunt has started. Hide.

H.

THE END

A/N: WOW. FINALLY. FINISHED. That's all I can say about this after working on it for months. I apologise if you find any inconsistencies or just scenes that don't make sense together. Please tell me if you find either things.

…

Some of you were wondering, so I'm going to tell you guys what I'm going to work on while I'm gone. It's kind of—no, not kind of. It totally is an AU fic, with mostly Tsuna. I don't know how to word it so that it sounds different from some other fan fictions that might go along the same sort of idea, but there's more to it than that.

Here's the thing. Tsuna dies and is reborn into another world. Sounds clichéd doesn't it? But I'm also creating an after world for him. In my story, he is (I hesitate to say) an angel, though there's no religious connections to the angels that I am creating.

I thought of just giving you guys a short explanation of what it's going to be about (I don't have a summary yet—sorry) but I decided to not spoil so much. This is also not related to the tragedy poll that I have up on my profile. That one's for a KHR! fan fiction that's only half thought out at the moment.

See, it's mainly Tsuna and a bunch of OCs but there are canon characters at any-which-way you turn.

To sum it up in two words: Mafia wars, angel wars, dying will flames, wings, parallel world, character death, reincarnation.

He also might have a romantic interest towards an OC. Tell me now if this is a very bad idea so I wouldn't include it or else…what do they say…forever hold your peace (shrug)? I'm not too excited to write about romance myself but hey, I've never tried it. I might as well start with KHR! though I'm leaning towards not having romance. Tell me what you think.

I won't be publishing the story until I finish writing at least the first draft of the entire fic so the only thing I'll be publishing, if anything, will be oneshots.

Thanks for reading!

Ja ne~

…

(Random question: Are people sure that when Tsuna calls Ryohei "onii-san", that it's not just a mistranslation from him actually saying "Kyoko's big brother" ("Kyoko no onii-san") or something like that?)

-LLM

Uploaded 2014-07-05th