So…this chapter's maybe a bit late. XD Better late than never, I suppose. On the plus side, maybe this update will motivate you to reread the series! ;)

Guest: You'll find out what Sora's weapon is next issue. Get pumped!

Valery-chan: I suppose he is kinda like Byakuran in that he acts pretty friendly. Squalo's missing arm will be explored in the future, so I can't say any more than that. As for the mall…eh, I hadn't thought about it. Sure, why not?

…

Reborn! Again

Target 26 – Confrontation

Sora had never felt this exhausted before in his—albeit short—life. Every muscle from his head to his toes ached, urging him to surrender. To give in to the pain and rest—but he couldn't. Not after the sacrifices his friends had made, and certainly not with his little brother's life on the line.

So he picked up speed. He ran faster down the murky halls of the mall, willing himself forward. When at last he spotted the videogame store that Bat had revealed as the location of his brother, he felt overcome with joy, not fear. Whatever awaited him there, he could beat it.

"Be careful," Reborn warned from his resting spot on Sora's head.

"Talk less, run more," Sora retorted, not slowing down.

It was in that moment that he began to make out his brother's silhouette in the distance. Soon enough, he could see his metal restraints, and the gag that kept him from speaking. Finally, he reached the entrance to the store, and ran right through its neon-lit entryway, his survival instincts lost to fatigue.

Sora ignored the many monitors situated around the room and the eerie, tiger-skinned manikin he passed as he entered. He didn't so much as scan the area for potential threats. No, Sora's first move was to ungag his brother, whose eyes had only widened in fear as he neared him.

"Kori!"

"You idiot!" Kori scolded. "He's right behind you!"

As if out of a horror movie, Sora turned around just as the door to the store was shut and locked. The perpetrator—the manikin. In his delirious state, he'd missed the doll's face. Truthfully, it wasn't a manikin at all, but rather a thin, middle-aged man with wild hair dyed the many colors of fire and a suit made from a tiger's pelt. Sunglasses blocked out any hint of humanity in his eyes. The man smiled wickedly at Sora, unveiling his blade-like canines. For all intents and purposes, he looked like a demon.

"After all this time, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sora," the tiger-suited man greeted, bowing like a butler with one arm crossed over his chest.

"You're him, right?" Sora wondered, his body tense with as much fear as exhaustion, "You're the head of Le Bestie?"

"That's my official job description, yes," the man agreed, straightening his posture. "And I suppose you could call me Tiger—"

"Really? Wouldn't have guessed that was your gimmick," Sora sarcastically muttered.

"Ooh, so the stories are true. You do have quite the mouth on you," Tiger said. "Only I hope you'll be a little politer once you realize who I am."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded as Reborn watched on, his gaze unreadable.

"I hoped to save the reveal till all four of you Nakamura siblings were in the same room, but it seems my employees are far more competent than I realized," Tiger rambled. "You see, Reborn-san and the Vongola Tenth have been keeping a very important fact from you all, including your older siblings, for fear of how you'd react."

"While I go by the alias Tiger, my real name is Nakamura Naozumi, but I hope you'll call me Uncle Nao."

-XI-

"Kimiko! Sora!" Makoto called, struggling to find his way through the darkness.

"Over here, dumbass!" Kimiko yelled. She immediately recoiled, clenching the wound in her gut. Speaking hurt…a lot. "The others?"

"They're fine. Oh my God," Makoto muttered, kneeling down after he located her and saw her injury.

"Sora and Reborn went on ahead—agh," Kimiko grit her teeth in pain.

"Try not to speak. They really did a number on you," Makoto muttered as he ignited his ring's Sun Flame.

"I stabbed myself," Kimiko spat back.

Makoto paused, then shrugged, allowing his hands to hover over her wound. "We're gonna have to talk about your battle tactics later. For now, relax…"

After a few moments, Kimiko felt her wound begin to close as the pain lessened. After her vision cleared from the fog brought on by blood loss, she noticed Makoto looked ill, like he could collapse at any moment.

"You're overworking yourself," Kimiko noted, concerned.

"Yeah, well you guys haven't been making things easy on me. You didn't have to go and get yourselves beaten half to death all at once. It's like a sad little masochist club," Makoto half-heartedly quipped.

"Take it easy," Kimiko let her big sister instincts take over.

"I will, after we're done here," Makoto replied, his voice suddenly stern.

Kimiko pushed him away, breaking his concentration and therefore eliminating his flame. "I'm fine. You need to save some energy for our brothers."

Makoto nodded, and crawled over to his sister's side. The two helped support one another on their way up. Then, as quickly as they could manage, they left in search of their little brothers.

-XI-

"This has to be a trick, right?" Sora looked down at Reborn, wide-eyed. "Right, Reborn?"

The hitman didn't respond. He didn't so much as meet Sora's gaze.

"Our uncle died in a car crash as a boy," Kori jumped in.

"So the story goes," Tiger agreed, beginning to pace around the two boys.

"If you're our uncle, why the hell would you try to kill us?!" Sora exclaimed.

"As I preach to my subordinates time and again, only the fit survive," Tiger stopped within arms-length of Sora. His grin disappeared from his face. "I was hired by an organization that is very invested in the future of the Vongola. What better cover is there for an exam to test the aptitude for survival of each boss candidate than the use of the world's deadliest killers as the exam's proctors, they thought. Of course, my subordinates couldn't know the truth. For the exam results to be truly accurate, they had to believe the contract required the assassination of the Vongola heirs."

"So, what, you went around killing innocent people?" Sora retorted, face flushed.

"The boss candidates we killed were far from innocent. Regardless, you should be thanking me. We cleared the line of succession for you," Tiger noted.

"By murdering people!" Sora roared, although he kept his feet firmly planted in the ground. "And then you tried to kill my friends, my siblings—me!"

"You must understand, as an assassin, I have a code. The contract must be completed," Tiger explained, "The exam's rules must be enforced, regardless of my relationship to its participants. Celebrate. You've already done far better than the others—"

"So what? We passed?" Sora interrupted.

"Not quite. The test, frankly, doesn't concern a boss candidate's Guardians. It's just a happy coincidence that yours got involved and helped you along the way. No, you see, Sora my boy, you must still complete the exam," Tiger stated.

"I have to fight you," Sora realized.

Tiger suddenly erupted into laughter. "HAHAHAHAhahaheh…whoo, I needed that. Sora, you won't fight me. You'd never stand a chance. No, my beloved nephew, you'll fight my son."

The two Nakamura's eyes widened in shock. Even Reborn appeared surprised, blurting, "What?"

"Yes, I did try to keep him a secret from the world. It's a cruel place, you know, and bad things happen to good people all the time." To emphasize his point, Tiger removed his sunglasses, revealing the scarred remains of his eyes. "The car 'accident' left me without my sight. The person who did this to me certainly wouldn't spare my son if knowledge of his existence leaked. Of course, since he's completed his training, I think it's high time I brought him into the light…"

Before any of the others could speak, Tiger extended his arm and flicked his wrist, removing a remote from his sleeve. Then, with a click of a button, he freed Kori, who instantly sprang to his feet.

"Wait wait wait! I'm so lost. Can we go?" Sora wondered.

"Of course. You won't fight my son now. That would hardly be fair. You're half-dead," Tiger said. "Get a good night's sleep. Rest up. The exam's final stage—the battle—will take place tomorrow evening. The details will be sent to you shortly. Oh, and do come alone this time. Wouldn't want something horrible to happen to any of your injured friends, would you? Or worse, your mother…"

"You evil son of a—" Kori began, only for Tiger to stop him with a wave of his hand.

"Ah ah ah. I don't want to have to kill you, Kori, dearest," Tiger said playfully.

The pink-haired boy stepped back, quiet.

Sora held Tiger's blank gaze for what felt like hours, hoping his rage could be interpreted through the silence. This man claimed to be his uncle, and yet had threatened everyone Sora held dear. Regardless of whether or not they were tied by blood, he would never consider this man his uncle.

"C'mon, Kori, let's get you home," Sora wrapped his arm around his brother's shoulders, and allowed him to help him out of the store.

"So long, my sweet nephews!" called Tiger.

-XI-

Needless to say, the return trip was laden with tense, awkward silence as they all tried to process the news Sora had provided. This was made worse by the fact that Eiji had disappeared before the Nakamuras returned to the entrance of the mall.

Throughout the walk back, Reborn refused to answer any questions they had in regards to why the Tenth would keep Tiger's identity a secret, how the Nakamura siblings' uncle became a world-renowned assassin, and just who might be behind this whole psychotic exam.

The one thing he would clarify: "No one inside the Vongola hired Le Bestie."

Whether Sora believed him or not was still up in the air. If he'd kept a secret like this from him, then he'd certainly have no trouble lying to him.

"Everyone, throw your bloody clothes in the trash. I'll go get a change of clothes for each of you from upstairs. Be quiet. We don't want to wake our mother," Kimiko ordered as they neared their home, the sun just beginning to rise on the horizon.

"Yes, ma'am," the others agreed.

"Don't talk about what happened. We'll discuss our next move tomorrow," Kimiko said.

"Yes, ma'am," they repeated.

Within the hour, they'd all cleaned themselves up and found places to sleep. Most succumbed to exhaustion, quickly passing out. Even Sora, for all his angst, couldn't hold out. Only Reborn remained awake.

The tiny hitman creeped out onto Sora's porch and stared up at the night sky. Trillions of stars twinkled back at him.

Fingering the yellow pacifier that hung from his neck, Reborn said, "What is it you're planning? Why hire Le Bestie and create this insane exam? …why do you hate the Vongola so much?"

Silence.

Reborn frowned, then declared, "The Vongola will not go quietly into the night. I'll make sure of that."

The hitman released his grip on the pacifier and reentered the home without another word. Meanwhile, a shooting star passed by overhead, edging ever closer to Earth.

-XI-

Confession of an exhausted writer: if the twist felt like it was out nowhere…that's because it was. While Tiger's appearance, personality, and son had always been planned, and the exam side of the twist had certainly been seeded earlier on, the whole familial aspect of it was something I came up with recently. Part of the reason it's been so hard to write this is because I wasn't emotionally invested in this arc. Then, I came up with that slight tweak to Tiger's character (making him the Nakamuras' uncle), and everything got way more interesting.

Anyway, I hope you liked it! While the uncle twist may have come out of nowhere, it does play into my plans perfectly.

NEXT TIME ON REBORN! AGAIN: The Final Exam

Sora- You all have done enough. I'm going to face Tiger's son alone.

Kimiko- We're not just going to let you leave without a backup plan in case you lose the fight.

Sora- You don't have a choice. This is my call.

Kori- What the hell is happening to Leon?

Reborn- It's time.