Kurokawa Hana sat bored at her desk, fingers drumming against the surface, she scanned around the room, hoping that maybe something would catch her eye. But no, all the students looked just as bored as her while they sleepily watched the teacher lecture on the lesson. Rarely anything out of the ordinary happened around Namimori, the last being a strange group of transfer students whom only stayed for about a month or so before practically vanishing off the face of the earth. Although, that didn't really matter anymore since it was all the way back in middle school. Life had become dull like usual, and what better way to bide her time that scan the room once more before the bell rang and dismissed school for the weekend. Observation was one of Hana's strong suit's as she always had an eye for noticing the out of place.
She yawned softly before flinching slightly at a sudden flash in the corner of her eye, almost instantly catching it. Quickly she darted her eyes for any sign of where the flash came from. After a moment of confusion she focused on the source. It was an ornate looking ring with a large red stone in the middle of it, Hana trailed her eyes up to the student wearing it, Gokudera Hayato. Before she could attempt to put two and two together, the final bell rang, and in an instant all the other students were rushing out into the halls to either go to their club, out with friends, or home to get a jump start on homework. The dark-haired girl waited for the frenzy to end before laxly strolling out into the hall.
"Hana-chan!" She heard the voice of her best friend call.
"Hey Kyoko." She replied, turning around.
"Ready for the weekend?" Kyoko asked, obviously excited about something.
Hana merely nodded her head with a slight smile.
"So...Uh, did anything interesting happen in class today?" The light-brown haired girl asked, attempting to make some idle conversation as the two left the school.
"Actually...Yes." Kyoko's dark-haired friend replied, looking her dead in the eye, "It was just last period, nothing too interesting was happening, but then, I saw something. A ring of some sorts. Gokudera-san was wearing it. I mean, yeah, he always wears rings and chains, but this was too odd looking for even him to own."
Kyoko's eyes widened slightly, knowing exactly what what Hana was referring to. She looked away and bit her lip, planning her next words carefully. She wouldn't dare bring her best friend into the world she had been. No, she couldn't burden her like that. The tension quickly grew thicker and Hana grew more suspicious.
"Haha!" Kyoko laughed, breaking the heavy tension, throwing Hana off her guard, "Gokudera-kun is always wearing weird things!" Her giggles trailed off.
"Yeah. I guess you're right Kyoko." She looked at her watch and feigned a surprised look, "Oh! My mom wanted me home early! I'll text you later Kyoko!" Hana called, jogging off down the sidewalk.
The younger Sasagawa sibling just waved and smiled sweetly as Kurokawa Hana faded in the distance.
"I've gotta let Tsuna and the others know. This isn't good..." Her smile slowly sunk into a frown as her hand dropped to her side. She slowly meandered home, taking as long as possible to get her thoughts into place.
-
"Big brother?" Kyoko's voice called out to Ryohei whom was throwing punches at the hanging sandbag, he couldn't hear her over the thudding of his knuckles against the hardened nylon.
"BIG BROTHER?" She called louder, hoping he would hear her this time around. The sun guardian looked over at his younger sister, grabbing ahold of the sandbag to stop it. He wiped the sweat off his brow and shook any remaining perspiration out of his short white hair.
"Yeah Kyoko?" He asked taking a drink of water.
"Um...Well...you know Hana?" Her voice quivered slightly as she kneaded her fingers together in worry. Her brother raised an eyebrow in thought then nodded as he recalled the dark-haired girl that his younger sister often hung out with, "We-well, after classes today, Hana and I were talking...and she said that she had 'noticed something odd'..." Her voice trailed off, she really did not want to burden her brother with her suspicion, but the safety of her friend may end up in danger if she didn't.
The boxer scrunched his face and scratched his head in thought, the gears in his mind trying to figure out what his sister was so worried about.
Meanwhile...
Hana took a small detour on her way home, stopping by Takesushi, knowing it was a popular spot for Tsuna and his band of friends. About five feet from the door she heard the usual jovial laughter, stressed speech, and angered grumbling that she had become slightly accustomed to after have being acquainted with the small group. She cautiously made her way into the small restaurant, being cheerfully greeted by the owner.
"WAAAAAAAAAH! LAMBO WANTS CANDY! NOT FISH!" The loud cow-print youngster wailed angrily. Hana's eye twitched as she could already feel her tolerance dropping. She would have to make this quick. The dark-haired female took a seat at the front bar and glanced over at the group of teens, specifically at Gokudera. Yes, he still had the ring, her eyes darted away when another familiar glint caught her eye. Tsuna and Yamamoto also had similar rings. Something was definitely up. The commotion next to her got louder, causing her fingers to tap agitatedly against the wood of the bar.
"Alright...Focus Hana...All three of them have similar rings...Okay, what could rings stand for? This is troublesome..."
spquishhhh!A large splash of soy sauce landed right on her sleeve, breaking her from thinking any farther. Hana ceased her soft drumming and scowled harshly, knowing exactly who caused it. She slowly turned her head, her eyes glinting with annoyance as she glared violently at Lambo.
"MONSTER! SHOO-SHOO MONSTER!" He cried, hurling everything nearby him at the angered girl. Hana gritted her teeth and trudged her way out, not wanting to make a scene.
A silence fell over the group as a small voice made itself present. Reborn paced along the bar, a slight frown across his lips as he made his way to his student. Tsuna looked at the hit man with a slight questioning in his gaze once Reborn held a Leon-formed cane above his head.
"Reborn what is-OW OW OWW..." He groaned as the cane swiftly struck across his knuckles.
"Dame-Tsuna." Reborn scolded, "You need to be more aware of your surroundings."
"What?" The young mafioso replied, rubbing over the stinging red marks on his hand.
The arcobaleno just shook his head and sighed, obviously disappointed in his student. He took his leave without another word.
-
Back with the Sasagawa siblings, Ryohei was still utterly confused as before, now sitting on the floor, loudly grumbling about his "Extreme" confusion.
"Hana said that Gokudera-kun was wearing an odd ring." Kyoko added, tapping her ring finger trying to give her older brother a hint. The sun guardian looked up at her then at his hands.
"Ring? Octopus-head always wears stupid rings." He said furrowing his eyebrows.
"No. I think she meant. A ring like the one you have. Like Tsuna-kun's and everyone's."
Ryohei's eyes widened slightly, finally understanding the "odd" thing his sister's friend noticed. He blinked a few times, no this was not good. Nervously twisting his sun ring around his finger, random facts began piecing themselves together in his mind. In the future, Hana was his girlfriend. "Did she know then? If so...when will...what about Kyoko? Those two are friends. Could it hurt Kyoko too?" His mind became a whirlpool of broken thoughts that caused wave after wave of confusion.
"AGH! THIS IS EXTREMELY TROUBLESOME!" He groaned as the thoughts began to subside, "Sawada! He's gotta know what to do!" The idea flashed through his head
Kyoko looked worriedly at her brother, concerned that perhaps she should have just kept to herself, but it was too late now. She looked down at the floor, feeling slightly ashamed, regretting ever asking her best friend that stupid question. What of they ceased being friends? No, Hana was not that fickle, sure she had her moments like every other girl, but was for the most part level-headed. The sound of the door slamming behind her broke Kyoko from her worrying, noticing that her brother was now gone, probably running to find Tsuna. Maybe if she went after him she could convince him to wait a while. Without a second thought, the younger Sasagawa sibling was out the door as well, sprinting to try and catch up with her brother. Her lungs began to burn as she took short and sharp breaths, Ryohei quickly vanishing over the horizon. Kyoko slowed her pace to a jog, panting in exhaustion, there was no way she could catch up to him now. A few frustrated tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
"Why did I have to tell him? Why did I have to ask Hana?" She exhaled bitterly and plopped herself down in a small patch of grass by the sidewalk.
"Because it was the right thing to do." A voice piped up from above her. It was reborn floating in from a strange green parachute, "Sometimes the right thing goes against what we believe."
Kyoko wiped away the small tears and gave the baby a puzzled glance.
"I know you hate burdening others Kyoko, but what you did was necessary."
"Wait...how did you...know..."
Reborn held his hand out, a cicada buzzed into his palm, its wings twitching around.
"I have my ways." He smirked slightly, shaking the insect from his small hand.
-
"EXTREME EMERGENCY GUYS! SUPER EXTREME!" The sun guardian nearly roared as he barged into the sushi bar.
"HEY! KEEP IT DOWN TURF-HEAD!" The storm guardian yelled back.
"Everyone settle down." The sky guardian said firmly, standing up, and silencing his right-hand who mumbled something along the lines "Sorry Tenth".
"Now. What is this about Big Brother?" He continued, preparing himself for another bout of "extreme" yelling.
"KYOKO THINKS HER FRIEND HANA IS EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS OF US!"
Tsuna slightly flinched at the amount of urgency in his friend's voice. The other two guardians looked at each other with a mixture of shock and confusion.
"Hey, do you mind taking this up to Takeshi's room?" Yamamoto Tsuyoshi asked, "The dinner rush will be coming in soon and I don't want the customers to get scared off."
"A-ah, sorry." The Vongola heir bowed in apology before following his fellow guardians up into the teen swordsman's room. After the crew got resettled upstairs and the door behind them was shut, the messy-haired brunette leaned back a little and thought. This had happened before, of course it was a few years ago, but the situation was vaguely familiar.
"Well, what should we do Tenth?"
"Yeah Tsuna, what do we do?" Yamamoto repeated and rested his chin in a palm.
Tsuna pursed his lips and sighed, really, what should they do? He didn't know how much Hana knew, nor did he know what may happen if she was kept in the dark. Would she keep pursuing her suspicions? That in its own could get her hurt if she ended up looking to deep and got into trouble. What if they told her? How would she react? People were so unpredictable. Even if she was responsible for the Foundation's Emergency Signal in the future , meaning that she had to have some inkling of what was going on, but was she supposed to learn now or later? And wasn't there the whole aspect of the "parallel universe"? All these variables had to be considered.
"We...We need to know how much she knows..." The sky guardian mentioned, looking over to Ryohei, "Did Kyoko tell you what Hana was suspicious about?"
"Uh...RINGS! SHE WAS SUSPICIOUS ABOUT OCTOPUS-HEAD'S RING!" The boxer exclaimed, pointing at the guardian in question.
Knock, knockAll the guardians looked at the door, silence befalling them.
"Who is it?" Tsuna asked, doing his best to sound calm.
"K-Kyoko..." His crush said softly from the other side.
The guardians exchanged glances then looked back at Tsuna. His fingers clicked the lock open and the door swung in, Reborn slammed his foot to the unlucky teen's forehead, knocking him back. Gokudera ran to his Boss' side, throwing an aggravated glare at the hit man. The baby stood back onto Tsuna's chest and stomped his foot.
"Always be cautious." He scolded.
"I...Guess...Brother told you all..." Kyoko said, dropping her shoulders into a slight slump.
-
Kurokawa Hana lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly as the events from earlier tried to make a coherent idea of what she had seen. After a few more moments of silence she opened her laptop and brought up a search engine.
"Identical rings in a group of people." She mumbled as her fingers typed the key words in the search bar. She tapped the "enter" key, sending her inquiry out into the internet, receiving thousands of responses. None of which really seemed relevant, as many were advertisements for popular jewelry companies, definitions for the word "ring", and a stray ad or two for adult-content websites.
Then, an interesting topic crossed her vision.
Gangs.Could those rings really be an indication of a dark secret? But, those boys seemed so innocent, except maybe Gokudera. Looks could be deceiving after all. Following her curiosity, Hana clicked the link.