Foreword: I bid thee WELCOME!...to the end. ^^ It's been awesome writing this. Largely due to the fact that this the first time I have ever started a story with the mind to finish it, planned it from point A to Z over time…and actually finished it. XD And of course it's also because I had such great reviewers. Around the time when I was half way into the plot of this story I had two goals. The first was to get 5,000 views. …and thanks to these last few days, I've met that goal! :D My second goal was to hopefully coax 80 reviews out of you guys…not because I'm asking/begging you all to, but because by the end of this epilogue here, it's my hope that I've done my job well enough that you people just feel COMPELLED to say something. I guess we'll find out how well I've done now, hm? (Also…you might notice…I changed the summary a bit. XD)

-Beta'd by: PhantomHitman1412

Disclaimer: You have been shot, torn up by sharks with lasers and even had lenses permanently (and painfully) graphed onto your eyes. …and yet, you still ask me if I own Katekyo Hitman REBORN. …I respect your persistence, sir/lady…but regardless! I only have one thing left for you. *lifts harpoon gun* Sayonara, sucker. *shoots in face* ….[Later when the forensics team examine the harpoon that went through that persistent asker's skull they notice a message engraved onto the spear portion: I DO NOT OWN KATEIKYOUSHI HITMAN REBORN.]

The Nature of the Beast

Epilogue: G.T.F.O.

Kyoya stared as the faceless figure suddenly sported a lax smirk and a full head of dark and intentionally tousled hair under the growing light of dawn. He took one look at his face and let a small frown cross his features. "Kaoru."

"Kyoya-sama." The suited individual now known as Kaoru bowed to his superior.

"…No wonder all the herbivores have gone missing." His tone was mildly annoyed. He'd been looking forward to finishing off the herd, but instead his employees had taken care of it, namely, the one in front of him, Nozumi Kaoru. It wasn't a fact that he liked.

"Is that a problem, Kyoya-sama?" Kaoru cocked his head inquisitively. "We assumed that you were preoccupied…" he trailed off and his eyes slid over to the female mercenary's body.

Kyoya snorted. Hardly. If he really wanted that woman out of the way, she'd have been dead before she even began using her flames—regenerative abilities or not. Kyoya paused then, his thoughts drifting to the most prominent female in his mind. "There was a woman out here, a …" he hesitated on his word choice. What could he call her? It would be almost insulting to call her a civilian and there was no way he could call her an innocent as he highly doubted the term would have fit her, even before she took a man's life. He glared for a moment, before relenting to just the facts. "She's the owner of this reserve. She was caught up in the attack." He began moving in what he believed be her direction. She should have been closer to the cabin than he was.

Kaoru gave an understanding nod as he trekked behind him a few steps. "Ah," he intoned in agreement, "you're referring to Charlene Thompson, correct?"

When Kyoya didn't correct him, he continued, "Tetsuya-san should be coming upon her now."

A frown etched its way onto Kyoya's face. "Tetsu?" He paused in his steps, "Why wasn't he the one to meet me?" He wasn't upset by the lack of his second's presence, but rather he found it somewhat unusual…and preferable to present company.

"When we arrived, we were aware of two battles taking place, Kyoya-sama. And in both, there were cloud flames detected." He slowed as Kyoya gave him a poisonous look, but continued when the stare persisted. He cleared his throat and pressed on, "We were unable to determine which one was you from a distance, so we split up. If I found you, then it's likely that Tetsuya has found the reserve owner…or at least her body." Kaoru had been putting it bluntly when he spoke as he knew well what the chances of a normal person surviving an encounter with a mercenary were, let alone one using dying will flames, yet he blinked when his superior suddenly snorted at his words and continued moving, "Kyoya-sama?"

If only she'd been that easy to get rid of. She was by no means a threat herself, but she wasn't normal…not by most standards anyway. She was surprisingly capable and not just skill wise, she'd adapted to the situation remarkably well…although she seemed unwilling to kill at first. He hadn't been surprised when the wolf had been killed, but he had been surprised when she reacted the way she did. Part of him had been hoping that she'd just break down and turn out to be just exactly what he thought she was: an herbivore. He'd been wrong…but she wasn't like him either, she was not a predator. She was…

"Kyoya-sama?" Kaoru's questing tone cut into his thoughts and the acknowledgement of his personal name grated on his mood.

Kyoya looked back at him. "Nozumi…"

The man in question blinked, "Yes, Kyoya-sama?"

"You have been warned repeatedly against referring to me so closely." He eyed the rich, dark fabrics of his employee's clothing. No doubt another tailored Armani suit. Nozumi Kaoru was known for his obsession with material possessions. "Your pay is docked by half for the next six months."

He stumbled over a tree root in his surprise, "K-Hibari-sama?" The confidence in his tone had completely dissolved to disbelief.

Kyoya would rather have simply left his most agitating subordinate laid out on the ground, courtesy of his tonfa, but knowing what he did…Nozumi would probably like it. He narrowed his eyes at the thought and pressed on at a quicker pace, not willing to be around him any longer. Masochist. Just the mere thought of the fact left a bad taste in his mouth, so he turned to the lesser of evils—the only other thing on his mind: the woman. Was she actually still alive? Sure, she'd held her own earlier, but as the night wore on she seemed to get closer to death with each encounter. He wondered just how well her luck had held out...especially against a flame user. If she was dead, then his obligation to her was null and void…but if she had in fact died…then he'd failed at his self-appointed task of keeping her alive—of returning the favor and ridding himself of the life debt. Perhaps, Tetsuya had not been too late.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So let me get this straight..."She rubbed at her temples, attempting to ease the migraine building behind her eyes from fatigue and stress. "You actually work for that asshole?" She gave the pompadour decked man an incredulous stare.

Tetsuya had the decency to humor her with a small uncomfortable smile, "…Yes."

She snorted, "He must pay well, then."

Tetsuya watched her from the corner of his gaze as they trudged steadily toward her home, "Kyo-san," he hesitated as he stumbled over the Japanese suffix and remembered he was speaking English, "Kyoya pays decently, yes, but why do you say so?"

She gave him a disbelieving stare, "Because, Kyoya is a dick."

Tetsuya blinked at her matter-of-fact tone and her comfort at speaking the former prefect's personal name. Perhaps it was just because she was American and simply didn't know Kyo-san well enough to know how he'd perceive her usage of it?

"Personally, I don't see how anyone would want to work with a psycho jackass like him, let alone work for him."

…or perhaps she did and was just unconcerned with her safety…

Tetsuya let out a slight chuckle, it was nervous and uneasy. He'd never had to defend or even explain his longtime friend and boss' personality. Most people were either too afraid to question it or were a part of some criminal organization and seemed to respect Kyoya's nature. This woman, however, who had undoubtedly witnessed not only his fighting ability and personality, but had inhabited the same space as him for nearly a week—but not before saving his life as she had explained—seemed completely unafraid of him. Was it just an act? …or was she just really suicidal? Tetsuya grimaced as he felt his own headache coming on. "Kyo-san..." he hesitated at the suffix again, but continued when no confusion surfaced in her gaze, "is not the easiest person to work with, I must admit, but really it's not as bad as it seems." At her dubious look, he added on, "Trust me, I've known him for over a decade, now. He used to be a lot worse when he was younger."

She nearly stopped entirely to give him a wide eyed look of awed disbelief, as if to say 'Worse? How could he possibly get worse?!'

Tetsuya only gave her a placating smile and continued onward, stepping past the tree line and into the clearing surrounding the main house of the reserve. The early dawn light shone clearly onto the area and he allowed himself a sharp inhale at the sight of what was once likely a rather picturesque cabin, but as he studied the shattered glass windows, the log walls riddled with holes and pock marks from endless sprays of bullets—not to mention the trashed ATV in the middle of the clearing—he realized that the cabin, much like it's owner had suffered throughout the night. He spared the woman next to him a glance, awaiting what was likely to be a rather explosive reaction, he just wasn't sure of what kind.

His expectations were denied however, as she merely stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, a drying blood stain beneath her limbs drawing his attention to her injured wrist. Her reaction was not explosive, but it was there, he noted, as she stared seemingly dead eyed at her property and it would have been a believable expression if not for the tenseness in her shoulders and the slow simmering rage building in her gaze the longer she stared. His eyes remained on her, on the snarled mess her hair had become, leaves and twigs ensnared in its length—either she'd been rolling around in the debris or she'd been dragged— at the scratches that crossed over her arms, the faint darkening over her arms and over her cheek bones—the beginning of what was likely to be some rather nasty bruises. He lingered on the reddened flesh around her neck. Had she been strangled at some point? She clenched her jaw suddenly and he could see the subtle movement as she ground her teeth. His gaze slid to her mouth, her bottom lip was slightly swollen and badly split, the wound just beginning to seal.

All in all, Tetsuya decided after several moments of study, the woman was lucky…exceptionally so. It was a wonder she was even alive at all, let alone walking around.

"Ms. Thompson?"

She gave him a bland stare, but acknowledged him.

"Don't worry about repair costs. We'll be covering them."

She stared at him longer, before looking away, "Whatever." She left his side then walking over to the side of the cabin where she promptly took a seat on a stump that was normally used for splitting firewood. He followed her with a sympathetic stare before taking out his phone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He nearly wanted to sigh in relief when the cabin came into sight. His relief, however, was quickly replaced with annoyance when he noticed how populated the area was. Nevertheless, he ignored the emotion as he took note of what was going on. Several of his employees were quickly moving about, making minor repairs to the property, while a few others were cleaning it up and a much smaller number seemed to be calculating the damage costs. Tetsu's doing, no doubt. He looked for said man and found him next to the woman, off to the side of the cabin. They seemed to be having a conversation of sorts. The snap of twigs reminded him of his current company and he decided then to interrupt their conversation, lest his most recent annoyance decide to speak up.

"Tetsu," he spoke as he neared the two. Both looked at him, but only Tetsuya bowed in greeting, "Kyo-san," while the woman scowled up at him from her seated position.

Kyoya took in her injured state and briefly wondered if she had in fact looked that bad the last time he'd seen her and he'd been fooled by the dim lighting or if she had just accumulated new injuries while he was away. Deciding he didn't care, he gave Tetsuya a pointed stare and began walking away from the crowd. As expected, his second followed without a word. As expected as well, the woman leapt to her feet in protest and as such Kyoya was prepared. "You," he gestured to the nearest worker, a young man busy picking up the metal remains of a dismantled ATV who instantly paused in his actions to stare up at his boss in surprise, "Make sure the woman gets medical attention, immediately." He added on as he could practically feel her intent to follow them.

Tetsuya waited until they were a decent distance before he spoke up, "I've already arranged for everything to be taken care of. A larger clean-up crew will be here shortly. Unfortunately considering the time restraints and the distance from civilization, I had to contact Vongola for assistance. Sawada's going to want to know what happened."

Kyoya frowned and Tetsuya was unsure if it was from the growing crowd or because he was going to have to divulge his personal information. "What did you find out?"

This time it was Tetsuya who frowned. "Not much. Whoever set this up—and I assume it was a setup," he continued at the Foundation leader's grudging nod, "was pretty thorough in the removal of evidence. There really wasn't much to go on. In fact, I'd have to say we were pretty lucky to have made it here when we did. If Kaoru-san's team hadn't been monitoring the phones of every authority station within 700km, we probably never would have made it."

Kyoya wasn't pleased by this, but was rational enough to except it as fact.

"Kyo-san?" Tetsuya hesitated for a moment. "What exactly happened? As far as we could tell, you took out two locations in Las Vegas and returned to the air strip, but never took off. From there we tracked the call you made to a diner 48km down the road from the airstrip. After asking around a waitress said you had left with a trucker." He paused when Kyoya only continued to listen, although he scowled at a loud protest from the reserve owner, "Kyo-san?"

"What?"

"About that waitress…"

Kyoya narrowed his eyes, "What about her?"

Tetsuya quickly decided not bring it up, "Nothing. Uhm, right well we found the report of the incident with the trucker, we confirmed your presence when we found traces of your blood," at Kyoya's raised eyebrow, he tacked on, "we've taken precautions to foil that particular evidence."

Kyoya nodded in acceptance.

"We were able to track your movement to a small town where an elderly man running a gas station reported some sort of attack involving men in suits. After that, however…we lost you."

Kyoya was silent for a long moment, almost as if he were hesitant to say his next words. "I traveled here on foot. I was pursued for most of it and then I lost them—scavengers—"his lip curled at the word, "just on the outskirts of the reserve, near the highway."

Tetsuya nodded in confirmation, but his eyes were studying his superior. He recalled quite well the injuries Thompson-san had described and he was quite suspicious, even Hibari Kyoya shouldn't be on his feet that quickly. However, before he could question the former prefect, a sharp cry rang out and Tetsuya was immediately drawn from his thoughts when Kyoya suddenly flinched and clenched his right hand. Kyoya glared at the origin of the sound, the rather angry and obviously pained woman as she fought to snatch her wrist back from the medic treating the ragged tears that her flesh had sustained, yet Tetsuya was hadn't taken his eyes off of his boss, or rather he hadn't torn his gaze from Kyoya's cloud ring. He remembered when Kyoya had figured out how to revert it from the Vongola bracelet as he refused to wear the largely noticeable accessory on school property and as it was he still had to alter the school rules in order to allow rings. It hadn't pleased him to do it, but even he knew by then the importance of the ring. And right now, Tetsuya could just barely see a faint purplish haze drifting off the piece of Vongola inheritance. Why would he still be generating a flame? …and one so small? Unless…. Tetsuya jerked his head up to meet Kyoya's annoyed stare. He'd obviously noticed what had held his attention. "Kyo-san…you didn't," he trailed off with a question, but already knowing the answer.

Kyoya didn't answer; he only glared and silently commanded him to drop it. Tetsuya frowned, but didn't press the issue. Instead, he cleared his throat and asked, "about your injuries?"

"They'll be tended to later." Kyoya's response was quick and final.

Tetsuya gaped for a moment, but accepted his words with a resigned nod. Before he could change the subject, however, he was interrupted.

"Hibari-san, Tetsuya-san," each greeting was followed by a quick bow before the operative gave his report. "We've begun extracting the bodies. We uncovered two animal boxes, four weapon storage boxes, and five average grade rings: cloud, rain, sun, storm, and lightning. Amongst the bodies we also found two animals. Given the nature of this reserve and the manner of their deaths we've determined that it's best to remove the wolves from the property so as to avoid suspicion from any possible authorities." The Vongola member had been quick and precise in his delivery and despite speaking entirely in Japanese, his loud voice had drew the attention of the woman and Kyoya was annoyed when she seemed to recognize something in his speech.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Charlie was gritting her teeth and just barely keeping herself from mauling the man who placated her with broken English as he bandaged up the most noticeably prominent of her injuries. "A Minute, jus' one more." He gave her a smile, hopeful that she understood him.

She scowled and looked away, tuning him and his work out. She wasn't really home, when she noticed them. A decently large group of men had stepped out of the forest, each wearing gloves and all of them dragging bodies. She narrowed her eyes at the sight and chose to ignore the morbid truth of the scene unfolding in front of her and instead she focused on the fact that they were different from Kyoya's workers. Unlike the group that had accompanied the Kusakabe guy, not all of them were of Japanese origin and several of them looked American, although of various ethnic origins. She watched as one of them, a man who looked as if he were part Japanese himself, broke off from the group and headed over to Kusakabe and his bastard of a boss with purposeful steps.

She hadn't intended to listen in, but it's hard to ignore a loud person in a forest clearing where loudest sound competing was the strained grunt of laborers. And even then, she excused herself, you couldn't really be counted as eavesdropping when you didn't actually speak the language. Or at least that was mostly true. Her father had spoken the language fluently and as such she'd picked up a few nuggets of knowledge, mostly greetings, both respectful and informal and a handful of obscure vocab words. There was however one particular word that she could say in five different languages and therefore hearing it Japanese made her snap her head over to them quick enough to nearly give herself whiplash. Ookami. Wolf.

She wasn't stupid. The group the man split off from was working to remove the bodies from the woods and he just happened to go report to his higher ups and mention wolves? Charlie was on her feet quicker than the medic could account for and he just barely managed to stumble back before her head slammed into his chin. Kyoya was giving her a look of ill-disguised annoyance as she marched up to the three of them, but she ignored him and instead turned her attention to Kusakabe, who she'd noticed immediately, was the more diplomatic of the two. "Leave them."

Tetsuya blinked in surprise, "Na-…" he cleared his throat as he prepared himself to switch back to English, "I'm sorry, but…leave what?"

"The wolves."

"Oh, I see." Tetsuya gave her an odd, but appraising stare, "I didn't realize you spoke Japanese—"

Charlie made to cut him off, but Kyoya beat her to it, "She doesn't."

She narrowed her eyes, but ignored him a second time, "I don't." She spoke as if Kyoya hadn't said the words at all and she tuned out the sound of his snort. "I'm just familiar with a few words, but that's not important. Leave them."

Tetsuya's stare turned to one of understanding as he took in her determined expression. "Ms. Thompson, due to the nature of their deaths, it's in the best interest of your reserve and likely your job for us to simply remove them from the premises."

"No. I'll take care of them."

"Bullet wounds will look suspicious especially when coupled with the multiple gunshot reports called in to the authorities."

She frowned, but didn't allow that to deter her, "I know what they'll be looking for. I'll take care of it."

When she continued to stare up at him stubbornly, Tetsuya sighed, "At least let us bring them to the cabin—"

"No. Leave them where they are."

This time Tetsuya gave her a disbelieving stare and part of him wondered if she was intentionally being difficult, the other part was beginning to see how she'd survived a week with Kyoya, which of course made it all the more miraculous that he hadn't been the one to injure her. "They aren't anywhere near the cabin, Miss. They're deep within the woods—" He was cut off again.

"I know. I know where they are. I know exactly where they are." Her tone was grave and Tetsuya would be a blind fool not to notice the pain spreading in her gaze.

He had just opened his mouth to debate further when Kyoya cut in, "Leave them. If she says she knows where they are, then she knows where they are."

Tetsuya turned at Kyoya's unexpected interjection, "H-hai, Kyo-san." He shot a look to the mystified Vongola member who had been watching their volleying conversation with a look of bewilderment. "You heard him."

"Yes sir." He gave a short bow to Tetsuya and followed suit with Kyoya, "Hibari-san," and quickly made his way back to his group.

Tetsuya looked back at the woman and had expected her to seem relieved, perhaps even contemplative; instead he balked at the intense stare she was giving his boss. She seemed to have given up on ignoring him. The stare was muddled with so many emotions; Tetsuya wasn't sure which one was dominant and was concerned when Kyoya met the stare blankly.

She clenched her jaw as a look of dawning realization colored her expression; the look was mirrored by her grey eyes. "It's your fault, you know. It's all your fault. If I...," she swallowed thickly, "If I hadn't saved you…then… Dakota…."

A new emotion was beginning to surface in her gaze and before Tetsuya could identify it, Kyoya spoke, "Then maybe you should've done the smart thing and just left me." His tone was coarse and agitated, something that surprised the second in command. Kyoya was often accused of things and it was in his normal behavior to either ignore them or simply smirk in amusement. He'd never seen him so annoyed at having a finger pointed at him; in fact he'd never seen him so irritated without attacking or at least threatening violence, even in the last few years.

Turning to look at reserve owner, Tetsuya nearly tripped over his own feet as he backpedaled a step or two. Whatever emotion that had started to make its way to the surface had obviously gotten lost on the way, because there was no way that the vehement glower that was directed in Kyoya's direction belonged to any other emotion besides anger. She scowled and her lip curled in disgust, "You—"

"Me?" Kyoya spoke calmly, his expression cool, but the provocation was clear.

Tetsuya knew it was coming as her rage seemed to pour off of her, but still, like just about everyone else within the clearing he'd gawked unabashedly at the sharp sound of flesh impacting flesh that rang out.

"Get the fuck off my property, Kyoya. I better not find you here, again, because if I can't leave you to die next time around…I'll kill you my damned self." She spat her last words viciously and walked back to the cabin with a furious march.

Slowly, Tetsuya turned to look back at the man who was known for terrifying full grown mafia men just by sheer mention of his name. Kyoya had remained staring in the direction the surprisingly strong slap had snapped his head to for a long moment and when he turned back to stare at the woman who had dared hit him and then walk off like it was within her right to do so, Tetsuya froze. He took in the intense and pointed gaze and the small but barely there curve in the corner of Kyoya's mouth and suddenly he felt worried for the woman. Tetsuya had only ever seen that look induced by one person and that person was Sawada Tsunayoshi. So when the expression abruptly faded so quickly it seemed as if it was never there, only to be replaced by a narrowed eyed glare and an annoyed scowl, Tetsuya quickly let out a sigh of relief.

The action drew Kyoya's attention and he turned to his second. "Did you find any leads?"

He couldn't help it, he stared, all but lost by the swift change in topic.

"Tetsu." Kyoya glared at him. He didn't like repeating himself and wouldn't hesitate to brain his longtime subordinate if he couldn't pull himself together.

"Ah," he cleared his throat and quickly recalled Kyoya's question. "No, nothing worth mentioning. As far as we can determine this was likely an attempt to weaken the Vongola by attacking you. We don't believe this attack had anything to do with Foundation or our research."

Kyoya nodded at his words, "Yes. I had already assumed as much when…" he scowled and trailed off as he noticed the medic attempting to speak up. "What is it?"

"Uhmm," he looked nervously between his two superiors.

"I don't need a medic so if that's what this is about, leave." Kyoya all but threw the words at him.

The medic swallowed and was beginning to sweat nervously, but he shook his head.

"Is this about Thompson-san's injuries?" Tetsuya, always the more tactful one, asked.

"Yes!" The medic was relieved, but quickly tensed and quieted at Kyoya's look of agitation.

"Is something wrong?" Tetsuya prodded, hoping to draw his attention.

"…well, I've done all I can, but I was only able to treat the flesh wounds. Thompson-san has what I believe may be several hairline fractures along the radius and ulna of her right arm, just above the carpals and what I'm sure are a few severely bruised, if not cracked ribs. There's also what appears to be some type of lightning flame related venom sting in her upper back between the shoulder blades. Unfortunately, without the proper facilities or equipment, there's nothing else I can do."

Kyoya scowled, annoyed that he was interrupted for this. "The cabin has a medical facility in the rear."

Tetsuya shook his head. "Most if not all of her equipment was ruined in the gunfire. We're still cleaning up in there."

As if on cue, the woman's voice quickly came shouting from the house, "Somebody get this goddamned body off my living room floor!"

Kyoya rolled his eyes before turning to look at the medic pointedly.

"Eh? …what? …wait…me?" The medic asked cluelessly.

When Kyoya raised an eyebrow at his questioning, he quickly stopped, "Yes sir," and ran off without another moment's hesitation.

"Tetsu…"

"Yes, Kyo-san?"

"Are we prepared to leave?"

"Shortly; I only need to make a phone call to confirm the jet will be ready to go, but provided we leave Vongola's men to finish the body removal and minor repairs, we should be ready to go within the hour."

Kyoya nodded, "Do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya frowned when he dialed the number again, eager to be done with this particular business, so he was relieved when they finally picked up on the fourth ring of his third call.

The voice that answered was severely out of breath, "Uh….uhhh…airstrip?" The voice was faintly familiar despite the frequent pants interrupting it, "This…this is the airstrip. Uhm, this is Joey?" Joey was obviously unsure of what to say.

Tetsuya's frown shifted to confusion as the recognition of the voice clicked with the addition of a name—Joey—the new hire who'd been painting the building. "Joey…I wasn't aware you worked in the office."

"Ah! Oh, I don't. Don't I know you? " He seemed almost relieved that he knew who he was speaking to.

"Yes, we met a few days ago when I asked you about a jet, but you said you had just gotten the job recently."

"Oh yeahhh." He could almost imagine him nodding along.

"…listen, Joey? Is there anyone around?"

"Ohhh, well no. That's kinda why I'm answering the phone. George left out like an hour ago and Chris—"

"Chris?" Testuya cut in.

"Yea, the guy who's normally in the office around this time. He's running late, I think."

"You think?"

"Uh, well, yea…I just got in the office a minute ago. I haven't had time to find out anything, besides it's not as if anyone would actually tell me, they're running late. I just run maintenance."

Tetsuya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I mean…is there something I can do for you?"

Tetsuya blared at the forest floor, "I was calling to see if my jet had left yet."

"The luxury one?"

"Yes." Tetsuya tried not to get too hopeful.

"Hmm, ya know I think that one left like two hours ago."

"You think?"

"…Mmm, hold on…let me see if he wrote it down…"

Tetsuya frowned as he listened to papers shuffling about. "You were there two hours ago?"

Joey's voice was distracted as he answered, "Well, yeah. I told you, I'm a night shift worker normally. I don't do well in the sun. Pale skin, ya know?"

Tetsuya only grunted over the twig in his teeth.

"Aha! Let's see…it looks like it left out at about 3:45am to…Bert Mooney Airport…where's that?"

"It's not important. Anyway thank you, that's all I wanted to know."

"Oh." The mild surprise was evident in his tone. "Well, alright. If you ever deal with us again, make sure you tell the higher ups that I went above and beyond my job!" The tone was jovial despite the seriousness of his words.

"Sure. Thank you again."

"No problem."

Relieved, Tetsuya headed back to the cabin, by passing the few remaining foundation members and the Vongola cleanup team. He'd left Kyoya napping in the car. He knocked lightly on the cabin's front door before entering. The noisy creak of the hinges told him it probably didn't see much use—not surprising considering most of the business seemed to be conducted in the rear of the building. Despite the loud noise, she hadn't budged an inch. The second in command let out a long sigh. It was both a sigh of agitation and relief. While he'd have preferred to conduct his business in person, he was rather relieved he wouldn't have to talk to her face to face. Not after the results of his last conversation with her. The image of Kyoya's sharply turned head would remain with him forever. And even more memorable was the bruise the action had left behind. Of course, it helped that it was still present on Kyoya's face.

Shoving the disruptive thoughts from his mind, Tetsuya walked over to the twin sized bed shoved into the corner, up against the wall and stared down at the woman lying in it. She was for all purposes dead to the world, resting on her back, her injured wrist lying on her stomach. Tetsuya continued to watch her for a moment longer before letting out a resigned sigh and reaching into his pocket to pull out a small gold signet ring, a yellow stone embedded in its center.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours later, Kusakabe Tetsuya was beyond grateful to be several thousand feet in the air and on his way home. He'd had enough of America for the time being and if he had, he knew Kyoya had. Still, Kyoya didn't look very pleased as Tetsuya gently pushed the steady stream of Sun flames from his box. He fought the urge to scowl back at him. The technique that Kyoya had used was entirely experimental—still in the theoretical stage really—and even then it had only ever been intended for short term usage not to completely heal oneself and go into an all-out battle. It was during times like this that Tetsuya truly hated that he served under such a stubborn man. The technique in particular utilized the propagation qualities of the Cloud flame to temporarily clone the healthy cells in one's body—a rather proactive, but still temporary band-aid really. But, of course, Kyoya had to overdo it.

Not only, had he healed himself fully and maintained the technique for several hours if not longer, but he'd also utilized his flames for battle. Truly, it was a wonder he made it to the jet before his wounds started reopening. Tetsuya stared at him intensely and tried not to glare as Kyoya seemed ignorant of his annoyance. Instead he was fiddling with his Vongola ring and staring intently at a strange cut the circled his middle finger just beneath the band. An odd place for an injury, Tetsuya wondered if it was a side effect of the technique. Still, Tetsuya quickly decided it wasn't worth his time or effort to heal it, he had much bigger injuries to worry about. He almost wished he hadn't used his flames on the civilian woman, as he was barely keeping up with Kyoya's rate of blood loss.

But then, he'd remember the way she'd looked when she stepped out of the forest into the light of day and decided that he did the right thing…even if it did cost Kyoya several risky hours of unconsciousness. When he'd done all he could to close up his most dangerous injures, Tetsuya stood and sunk into the chair on the other side of the cabin. He watched Kyoya fiddle with the ring for a few minutes before speaking up. "That woman, Thompson-san…"

He noticed Kyoya stop fiddling with the ring, but he didn't look up.

"It's a shame really that a civilian had to be exposed to such things. I wonder if she'll recover."

Kyoya didn't respond for several long seconds, but when he spoke it wasn't what Tetsuya was expecting. "That woman," he lingered on the word with such dislike, Tetsuya wondered if woman was his actual intended word, "is not a civilian." He then turned away from the ring to gaze out the window.

His let the statement dwell in his mind for some time before deciding he couldn't decipher just what the Foundation head had meant by it. Looking up at him to question him, Tetsuya immediately stilled his tongue. He'd finally fallen unconscious. He sighed and prepared himself for a long, quiet, and hopefully uneventful flight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The moment she realized she had drifted off she jumped to her feet and nearly stumbled back onto the bed for it. Instinctively she threw her hand out to catch herself. A split second after she had, she winced and prepared herself for the pain that was surely to come as she'd stupidly used the hand belonging to her injured wrist. The pain, however, never came. Charlie blinked and allowed herself to sit on the bed. She looked at her wrist and found it still bandaged. It didn't feel like the mangled wrist she'd fallen asleep to. Turning to look back over her shoulder, she noted that the sun had risen much higher in the sky and that it had to be around noon. Getting to her feet, with no chance of falling this time, she took in her cabin. It looked like it always had, but there was just something not right about.

Before she could continue to search the room, her eyes landed on a folded piece of paper lying innocently on her night stand. Plucking it off the wooden surface, she unfolded the uppermost portion and began to read:

Ms. Thompson,

It is with my most sincere apology that you and your residence have suffered the events of the last few days. While we cannot return everything that was lost to you, we have and will attempt to do our best to repair everything to its previous state…provided, of course that you keep the happenings of the last 24 hours to yourself.

She snorted. Oh yea…like anyone would believe her, anyway. She continued to read the note.

At the bottom of this letter, I have written a phone number for you to call when you're ready to have the complete repairs done. For now we have only given covered up the damage so as to avoid suspicion.

She narrowed her eyes at the wall on the other side of the room and noticed that a few spots were darker than the rest of the room.

However, if you have decided to decline our help, I have also enclosed a check with an amount equivalent to the estimated damage, there is however room for error. In the case that you do decide to accept our help, you are also welcome to the funds for whatever purposes you wish. Consider it payment for your care of our mutual associate.

She snorted at that one, but unfolded the bottom half of the letter and barely caught the check before it fluttered to the ground. Her eyes bugged at the sight of the amount. Sure it wasn't like she was suddenly a millionaire or anything, but who the hell threw around that kind of money? She frowned then, as her mind immediately answered her question for her: career criminals of course. Sighing she read the rest of the letter.

I also took the liberty of healing your wounds.

She blinked.

While there was nothing too severe, I figured it was the least I could do for your troubles. Again, I must ask that you do not reveal what has taken place in these last 24 hours and I ask that you dispose of any suspicious evidence lying around—this letter included. Should anyone question the source of the funds, the check is already noted as being a donation, please refer to it as such.

She looked back at the check noticed that sure enough it said it was a donation in the note section and even more interesting was the name at the top of the check: Namimori Foundation. She quickly finished reading the note.

It is my hope that you are never burdened by such a happening again, but should you have any problems of this sort, please refer to the same number.

-Kusakabe T.

(213)586-XXXX

Charlie stared until she was looking through the letter. She didn't really know what to think at this rate. She'd taken in and essentially nursed some type of mafia member…probably Yakuza actually, he was after all Japanese back from the brink of death. And in return…what did she get? A shitload of trouble. Her reserve was shot up to hell, she nearly died numerous times in one night, had …she had killed people…and worst of all…the one companion she had left…she'd lost him. She clenched the letter tightly in her grip and just barely forced herself not to bawl it up. She tried not to think about how he was just lying out there in the forest…waiting for him to put him to rest. She turned her thoughts to her payment. He'd healed her. Just fucking healed her…how the hell was that even possible? Her mind flashed back to all the strange things she'd seen the previous night and she shook the thoughts away and decided she simply didn't want to know.

Pacing into the kitchen, she saw that everything had been returned to its rightful place. Kusakabe had even seen to returning her firearms that would have been lost to the woods. He'd placed them on the kitchen table just as she asked. She lingered for several minutes…procrastinating…putting off the inevitable and letting her mind wander as she searched for something she seemed to have forgotten. She had just walked into the study, past the chair where Kyoya had sat calmly, wearing…

She blinked. …wearing her father's suit. That bastard! He was still wearing her father's suit!

"HIBARI FUCKING KYOYA!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Out in the woods there was a sudden shudder from the pine tree canopies. A flutter followed the noise, followed by another…then another…and then there was an abrupt echo of numerous flutters and the image distorted. What was once the unmarred view of tree tops was suddenly a swarm of thousands of moths, each one trailing a wisp of indigo light on its wing tips.

"Ughh," There came a grumpy sound. "…loud woman."

A figure was lounging on a branch thirty feet up in the air, in the vicinity of the once hidden scenery. The figure shifted and groaned as he cracked his back. Reaching his fingers into his shirt pocket he pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number he knew by heart.

"…it's me."

"He got away."

He flinched at the sudden loudness that came from the phone as he pulled it away from his ear.

"Calm the fuck down."

He scowled at whatever response he received. "Please…just because I didn't rush to my death like those idiots doesn't make me useless. In fact, I daresay it makes me the smarter one."

He snorted. "No, trust me. I don't know what he did to himself, but by the time we arrived, we were incapable of defeating him, at least not one on one—that much I know for sure."

"Hah! As if that would work. Those prideful amateurs couldn't work together if their life depended on it…and what do you know, it did. Besides, I told them not to go."

"The only decent one was Yui and he was just toying with her."

He scoffed, "Frankly, you should just be happy that you have someone to give you a report!

"Tch! Put the boss on the phone, asswipe!"

He was quiet for a long moment.

"No, sir."

"For the most part it was just Hibari."

"There was a woman, Charlene Thompson, I believe, she owns the reservation that he took refuge on. I'm guessing she also patched him back up."

"Well yea…"

"Mmm…She's a decent shot, but that's about it. Hell, the only reason she accomplished what she did was because no one took her seriously."

"Do I think she's a threat?" The male scratched at his skin. Napping in a pine tree hadn't agreed with him and he plucked at the fraying name tag on his faded blue coveralls to distract himself from the sudden need to scratch. He really needed to change out of this thing. "Tch, not at all."

"Keep an eye on her?" He turned green eyes in the direction of the cabin, his sandy blonde hair falling in his eyes. Annoyed by the loose strings, he finally tore the name tag free from the uniform and stared at the name of his previous alias. "Sure. No problem." And 'Joey' hung up.

Afterwords: Holy geezus fuck! O.O I had no intention of having this epilogue be so damned LONG! ….Sure I had it all planned out…but damn…I didn't realize that it would be so lengthy! WOW.

Well…let's see….it's over now. ^^ The Nature of the Beast has completely come to a close and I hope that every one of you all, my reviewers and annoying lurker readers who never review…but have still contributed to my hits (XD) have truly enjoyed the fruits of all my hard work and sleepless nights! I hope you all are satisfied with this ending…and if not, well…don't worry, there's a sequel and with that, I present you this:

Tooth & Nail: The underworld is no place for innocents. One cannot simply trespass there and leave untainted. So when it comes your way, you had better run…of course, sometimes, the underworld comes running after you. And when that happens, there's no escaping it. Rating: M, Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure. KyoyaXOC

Thank again so much for all of the feedback and support you all have given me!

Until Next Week! (Update! As of 3/23/2013, the Sequel is UP!)

-S.T.