It's been well over a year, but let's just say I like to go through my old stories when it's the school holidays.

Last updated: 25th October 2015.

This chapter, uploaded: 19th December 2016.

…

"We'll be continuing disregarding of the previous event. Announcing, Gokudera Hayato and MM to take position."

"Oh finally, it's my turn, let's get it cracking…" said the red haired girl. Gokudera snarled at the girl. All he could deduct from her was that she was a bitch.

"I'll make sure we win, Niina-sama," said Gokudera to Tsuna.

"Be careful. Just because she's a girl, you don't go easy on her," replied Tsuna, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Tch." I'll show you how great I can be.

Tsuna sighed at the silent act of arrogance and grimaced as the silverette made his way to the stage.

"Demonstrating musical talent, let's get a round of applause. You are to choose your preferred instrument and our judges will give a ranking while taking the audience's opinion."

"Music? Haha, you've lost this one bitch," smirked Gokudera. MM went red, ready to burst out her arrogance, but she was pulled back by the beanie guy called Chikusa.

The girl scowled.

Gokudera noticed how the girl had already chosen her instrument, the clarinet. Interesting. But he, for sure, would win.

Despite how much Gokudera could be extremely rash, he was a genius piano player. Tsuna was a bit surprised but he assumed it was something of his past time. The moment Gokudera stepped on stage, something caught Tsuna's attention.

MM's stance was off. Not off, but suspicious. Her feet were a bit wide apart and one was slightly in front of the other. Her back was just bit hunched as if getting ready for something, but what alarmed him was her rounded shoulders and bent arms. Sure, that could be a way to play, but this was something he has seen many times. You would see it when people were getting ready for races, you would see it when someone was getting ready to bounce and jump and you would definitely see it when you were trying to stay planted in the ground after a strong gust of wind. It was as if the girl was expecting some sort of invisible force to push her back or to the side.

Tsuna scanned the area. There were no such instruments that could cause such an incident. Instrument… Instrument….

He snapped his attention onto her clarinet. Of course, why didn't he think of that? He couldn't warn Gokudera. It was too late. The two had already gotten into position.

MM was going first, this was bad. He wouldn't have enough time to figure out what she was going to do. Gokudera and Tsuna made eye contact. Gokudera, noticing the worry and deep thought on Tsuna's face, looked at MM who had just started her performance. He knew there was a catch. He was smart, a bloody genius, after all. Okay, not really, when you have considered how he often acted. He was the 'educated but not smart' type.

"You may begin!"

The song she played was loud. Her cheeks were dusted a light pink, as if she was actually trying. The angle of her clarinet was rather close to a 90 degree angle which was unusual. The audience was already cheering and were clapping to the beat, that's when she moved. It wasn't that noticeable, but she had slightly moved towards her right where Gokudera was. After that, she did a twirl to gain the audience's attention.

Think. Think. What is she doing? Thought Gokudera. He looked at Tsuna. It seemed that Tsuna had already figured out what was going on and it was up to him to figure it out. This was his fight and he wouldn't let his Niina-sama down.

The girl was moving around in a circular motion. If he represented her song in a line, he drew it out in his mind; it was like a spiral. It was continuous, hypnotising and it came in waves of sounds. He noticed how the audience started to get lulled by her song. That was her intention! The girl pulled a final note, much louder than before and it was directed at Gokudera.

Silence. That was all Gokudera could hear, but everyone was clapping and cheering. Tsuna's little worried/sarcastic clap was in his sight, but he could not hear it. He started to panic slightly. It was a new sensation, something that he had never experienced. Tsuna looked at him and gave a smile as if wording, "It's okay if we lose. She's already got the audience. And the judges have been rigged despite our efforts."

Gokudera was extremely let down from that. He never knew that his Niina would give up so easily and nor had he ever backed down from a fight.

"Gambatte," said Tsuna with a smile.

Gokudera placed his fingers on the designated chords and played a melody that he was once taught by his instructor. It was a song he had played countlessly and flawlessly. Even without being able to hear for that current time, he would at least attempt playing the song by counting a rhythm in his head.

Some of the audience members snapped back and were starting to smile and enjoy Gokudera's performance but by then he had already finished.

"Thank you everyone and thank you, MM and Gokudera for your lovely performances. We'll have a minute's break for the judges to finalise the score."

"Nice job, Hayato," said Tsuna. Gokudera looked down. He still had to train harder. Even if was such a thing as playing the piano, he would work hard.

"THAT WAS EXTREMELY AWESOME!" shouted Ryohei. Tsuna laughed nervously as Gokudera ignored the boxing fool. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY EVERYONE WASN'T LISTENING." Gokudera glared at him and stormed off.

"Best leave him alone for a while…" murmured Tsuna, as he guided his loud friend towards the next area for the competition between Namimori and Kokuyo. He had truly believed in 59's efforts and knew how much he had wanted to win. It was just rather unexpected for the red haired girl to have such an ability with a clarinet. It, of course, was not a 'friendly competition' anymore, but rather a race to protect the people he had with him. Yamamoto was already out of action and Gokudera was reflecting on… whatever he was thinking.

"Due to some circumstances, MM has dropped out of the competition due to poor health. By default, Gokudera Hayato is the winner!"

The result was positive. They had won but it probably upset the silverette more. He hadn't won due to his own abilities and it was rather clear how the scoring would favour the girl rather than him. Such a heartfelt performance to be disregarded was no more and no less than disappointing to Tsuna. He couldn't express how he felt about the situation and he couldn't begin to imagine how Gokudera was faring. He picked up graffiti because he hadn't been able to express himself in the way he wanted to and he found it calming. He wasn't surprised that his body had automatically moved towards the school gates.

No, I can't run away. That demon would have thrown me half way across the world, he thought. He then sweat dropped – that demon had already kind of done that already.

…

"Look you won either way, Hayato," she said. Gokudera growled and obstinately sat, facing away from her.

"No one needed your help. If I lost then… I lost."

"Hey, I just wanted to help my little brother out. Even if it meant just touching the girl's clarinet."

"You're outrageous."

"You are too. Just moping here won't help you. Why can't you at least focus on moving on? This is why I'm worried that if you idolise 27 as much as you do, it'll be deteriorating to your future. You'll stick to him like glue and never move on if he disappears or something," she said.

"He would never do that!" exclaimed Gokudera, turning around in a huff. He was glad that his sister was wearing goggles, or he would have blacked out the second after he saw her bare face.

"And you say that as if you understand him!" she retorted. Bianchi wasn't really the type to fight verbally, especially with her brother, but she wanted, no, needed, her brother to understand the big picture. If it wasn't now, then it would be too late.

"So what? Do you understand him?"

"I may not know him personally as well as you do, but 27 is not someone who stays in one place. He may treasure the lot of you, but he's unpredictable. And… I know that well, considering who had taught him all the basics he had wanted to learn…" she said, trailing off. She sighed as Gokudera remained silent. "Look, I'm not saying he will actually leave you nor am I saying he's a bad person, I'm saying this as your sister, although you may not see me that way. If you truly want to go for it and follow 27 to the ends of the world, it is your choice and I will not stop you from doing that. So, please, just for the sake of someone who truly cares for you, please make sure you know what you're doing and… have some respect for your efforts, even when you lose."

The silverette ruffled his hair and stood up from his seat.

"Okay."

…

"The next will be an arbitrary fight between Hibari Kyoya and Leonardo."

Tsuna looked around. Both of the participating members were nowhere to be found. Some of the panic ensued as no one was able to find either of the following participants so the competition was moved on. He knew the demon prefect was very eager on 'biting them to death' but he thought that Hibari would have remained patient enough to wait his turn. But then he realised that no predator would let his prey go, no matter how long he waited. If he had to guess, then the opposing person, Leonardo, had done something to piss off the prefect.

"Please ready yourselves, Sasagawa Ryohei and Chikusa Kakimoto. We've had an athletic round and had an artistic talent round, this time… it's a fun one! Hide and seek!"

Tsuna glanced at the silent opposition, who simply pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He wasn't as weird or outgoing as his other team members but there was still something about him that unsettled Tsuna. It was just his sort of instinct or intuition going off.

"The rules are very simple. Each person has a time limit of 3 minutes to target small paintballs at each other. Rather than hide and seek, it's more of who can get more paintballs on each other. First up, Chikusa!"

Ryohei, pumped up and ready, shouted out a few words of self-encouragement and 'extreme!'

"Senpai, be careful please. Make sure you dodge them and don't try and hit them away or something…" Tsuna said. The upperclassmen reassured his junior and said that he could leave it to him. It only further worried Tsuna. And as if his worries were answered, halfway through Ryohei's and Chikusa's round, Ryohei fell to the ground, barely conscious. He had done well for someone who had been running around a small set up field of obstacles and covers and avoiding the paintballs that were hurled at him in precision.

He had only been hit twice but the white haired teenager knew something was off. Although that something being thrown at you would most definitely hurt to some extent, the pain was not meant to linger. Nor was it meant to spread. After a minute and purposely getting hit for the second time, Ryohei inspected the latest hit on him, to find a dribble of blood from what could only be, a small puncture wound. He gritted his teeth. Tsuna was watching him. He didn't want to seem weak to his underclassman. Not like this. Before he could make another move, to move away from the silent teenager who threw a few more paintballs at him, he felt something hit his neck. And that was the end of that.

…

Tsuna ran. He ran so fast, faster than every other person who was getting the first aid or whatever they were in hopes to help the unconscious teenager. This was the second time already. The second time that someone had hurt his friends. His family. Anger seethed from his body as he held the older teenager. He combed through the paintball hits, finding one on his neck which still had a needle inside him. He wasn't surprised when the competition was stopped but Chikusa 'aimlessly' threw a paintball at him, which came dangerously close to his feet. Just as the silent teenager was about to leave, he snorted, humiliating both Tsuna and Ryohei.

Looking down, he refused to show any rage or general emotion. They won the first round, lost two and one was unknown, since both people had not appeared. It was his turn. If he lost then it was over. And if he lost, then his family and friends getting hurt was… for nothing. He watched as Ryohei was pulled onto a stretcher and taken away.

"… We have reached the final match of the day. Sawada Tsunayoshi and Rokudo Mukuro, please come forward."

Tsuna walked slowly towards the next area, where his and this 'Rokudo Mukuro' were going to compete. He eyed the teenager, who looked more like a full grown man. He had some sort of emptiness in his eyes and it only made him further believe that there was something more than just a bunch of other kids who wanted to hurt his friends.

'When in doubt, act it through,' he said.

'Aren't I supposed to think it through?' replied Tsuna, doubting his teacher's ways.

'Well, not in my world at least. The thinking comes with the acting. Whether you regret it after or not, that's your own decision to make.'

Tsuna grimaced. Stupid hitman.

"This last round is perhaps the hardest of all… be excited everyone, because we're going to have triathlon with a twist. First course is a skateboard race, moving towards the obstacle course and finally… a surprise task."

Tsuna clenched his jaw as he heard the last bit. He, overall, was confident in his skills in the first two parts of the race. His opponent may have size and strength, but this time, it was a race of agility, balance, skills and, ultimately, wits. He may not be 'educated' in the way of studies, but undeniably, he was sly. If the hitman said so, then that was enough to say that he was sly. He felt a smile as he thought about the man only to supress as Rokudo and he were led towards a different area of the school.

"I will knock you off your feet, boy. You cannot beat me," stated the Kokuyo student.

"Then I hope your will is stronger than mine, because if it isn't-" said Tsuna, grabbing the collar of the other student. He cringed inside since he had never been so rough. "You will be the one who will get knocked off."

…

Guest Reviews:

Alice: Thank you very much! And, finally, here's the next chapter.

Guest (November 4th, 2015): Thank you and I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far. It's been a year plus, but I hope this will do.

I just really want to say how much I've appreciated the support for this story. I had abandoned it, being stuck on this chapter for so long, but out of a whim, I decided to pick it up and write something for it. Personally, I find all my stories rather cringey, but deep down, I'm very proud of it. Thank you for your positive reviews and a little bit of beef and drama or critique is always welcome. I respect all your opinions and it's not like I'll stop writing if someone tells me to.

I, till this day, am still not sure if I will continue this since all of this was spontaneous, so I believe it won't be a good idea to have high hopes. Thank you for your understanding, either way.

Thank you for reading and I've hoped you've enjoyed.

Zaira Swift.