It was a rainy Saturday morning in Namimori. The rest of a dull, wet day was still ahead. The streets were empty, save for the occasional person or two running to cover with umbrellas and coats.

Ami Sawada was just one of many kids stuck inside on this miserable day. It wasn't all so bad though! Dad was sick, so staying home and being able to care for him felt good. He hadn't told her his death was more or less assured at this stage, so Ami was blissfully unaware, hoping he would get better with time. For now, they were both happy to spend more time together even if it was mostly small talk about Ami's school life.

Today wasn't always planned to be spent at home though. Hinata and Ami would be bowling right now if not for the bad weather, so Ami called it off. After all, she couldn't drive and usually screwed up riding bikes, so she ran places instead. ...So not today, nope.

"Hey, Ami?" Sora broke the silence between the two after a lengthy phonecall. His voice was hushed the whole way through, probably didn't want Ami to hear anything. He always wore that calm smile of his, masking the pain he felt.

"Did you need something else?" Ami asked politely as she set a tray of tea down on the table beside Dad.

"Heh. I know it's not nice outside, but... Would you mind going to your friend's house for the day? What's his name..."

"Hinata?"

"Yeah... I've got visitors coming over, you see. For business." Sora said, his tone lowering, "...I don't want you here when they arrive."

Ami didn't really want to argue about it, "If you say so... He won't mind. At least I don't think so. Should I come home before dark?"

Sora stiffly shook his head, "Wait until I call you personally, okay? Just.. stay there for as long as it takes."

"I can't have a sleepover at a guy's house. People might get the wrong idea!" Ami said, turning her nose up at the thought of it. It's not like Hinata was her boyfriend, he was just a really good friend, ...who happened to be a boy. "But, if you think so... I'll explain it to his parents. What's so important about this business meeting of yours?"

"...I'll explain everything after we're done, okay?" Sora said with an honest smile. Even so, it was pretty obvious something weird was going on. Dad had never acted like this before. All Ami knew was that he had a lot of weird foreign pals. Italians, Russians, Americans, but mostly Italians.

Ami didn't know what to say. It was a sudden 'get out of here' message, but not really hostile in any way. Besides, she was too young to leave the house! And with Dad needing care, why send her away unless it's really really important? She couldn't ask anymore questions, because she knew she wouldn't get any answers easily. All she could think to do was hesitantly nod and agree, "Okay."

And within the next few minutes, she was out the door and walking with an umbrella through the heavy rain. All she needed was to go to 'Nata's place, nothing could go wrong could it?

---

Meanwhile at the airport not too far from the town, a private plane in all-black touched down. It's occupants were some CEDEF Agents, a and a baby in a Mafia costume, sleeping with his hat covering his beady eyes. ...But these weren't on their way to meet with Sora Sawada, the Vongola Dodecimo. At least not yet. There was going to be an attack, and Sora had specifically told his close allies to wait until that happened - recon, no violence until there were confirmed enemy family movements in Nami town...

Among the little squad was Leonardo Mancini, the boss man of the CEDEF. A subordinate of his, Ruby Chambers, not-so-womanlike and drooling in her sleep. The notorious Home Tutor Hitman, Reborn! And last but not least, ...whoever that shady figure was at the back of the plane. Black hair, gleaming red eyes - might as well be Alucard himself.

The crimson eyed, black haired individual was sat reading through various documents on Namimori. Namely maps and information on the various areas, to be precise. The individual, answering to the name "Calthorn", was memorizing various details; Building heights, shape, etc, along with roads, alleyways, dead ends. Mainly just so he knows which way he's going while in Namimori, in the event that a surprise attack or a swift exit becomes necessary. He'd been at this since the plane first took off.

Anyone in their right mind, however, would stay well away from him, on account of the giant sword by his side, that looked more like a massive chainsaw in the shape of a sword, if anything.

It was raining rather relentlessly today, which meant Hinata couldn't go out to practice swinging around his shinai. It was a shame, and since Ami cancelled their bowling plans for today, the brown-haired young man was totally and utterly out of things to do for the day. Sure he could've practiced kendo inside the house, but his parents were pissed since last time he tried, he ended up knocking over a rather expensive vase. Sure, they were gone for the umpteenth time because of their 'business trips', but Hinata really didn't want to risk it. And so, he lay on the tatami mat in front of the TV, watching anime with his shinai leaning against the coffee table.

It wasn't a bad way to spend your Saturday for a virtually friendless loner like himself, but not exactly how he pictured spending it... "Wait a sec," Hinata exclaimed upon having viewed an inspiring scene on TV. The brunet jumped up from the ground and began to rearrange furniture, finally clearing off a rather large space by moving most of the obstructions to the sides of the room. He grinned before picking up his shinai and assuming stance before going through his 'forms'.

---

The blue-haired CEDEF 'boss man' in question was currently snoring soundly with some kind of magazine on resting on his head, covering his eyes from the sun... or lack of it, since it was raining excessively in good old Namimori. The ride to Italy was long and boring, that was for sure, so Leonardo might as well have gotten something out of it other than something to complain about. Playing Cat's Cradle with his wires was a good time waster, but eventually he ended up nodding off.

"...Hrr..." Leonardo groaned as he came back to his senses. He could hear tapping, and cracked open an eyelid. "...Oh great! I go to some backwater town in the middle of Japan, and it's raining. How fun," he declared sarcastically. He had to wake up early for this flight, in order to, what, wait out a potential battle? At least they were doing recon, which was okay, but he'd done enough of waiting on this damn plane!

The rain falling on Namimori only got heavier. It really dragged Ami down, even with her umbrella keeping most of it off her casual sweater & jeans outfit. It dawned on her quite early on that this just wasn't natural! In fact, when she paid closer attention it looked like the rain was faintly glowing... Sparkling.

'That's odd... I feel like taking a nap... Right here on the sidewalk...' Ami thought to herself, but despite the sudden urge to fall asleep on the spot, she pressed on towards Hinata's place. She broke into a run, forcing the random fatigue away. Upon reaching her best pal's front door she weakly knocked a few times. Now there was this threatening feeling hovering in the air around her! This stuff definitely wasn't natural!

'Come on... The lights are on in there! Nanami Hinata, you better not be sleeping!'

---

"Keep your wits about you. Namimori looks like a peaceful town at a glance, but it's far from it when you know what you're looking at. I doubt there's more than one hostile Family waiting in or around this place." Reborn made a point before stepping out of the private jet, his pet chameleon morphing into a baby-sized green umbrella without any kind of command. As an SUV pulled up and a suit opened the door for him, Reborn hopped in.

"Don't whine about it, boss. You'll set a bad example for your loyal subordinates. A true mafioso has to be prepared to fight anywhere at any time... But this recon stuff in the pouring rain does sound kinda terrible actually." The pink haired chick seated opposite Leo murmured, still pretty much half-asleep from the flight. "...Forget I said anything." Noticing Reborn was already out of the plane, the young lady grabbed her sword and exited the craft to get into yet another sleep-inducing vehicle. It wasn't motion sickness for Ruby Chambers, it was more 'motion tiredness'.

Calthorn stowed the maps inside his coat, grabbing his sword and stowing it into a sheath on his back as he stepped off the plane, heading towards the SUV.

"Good grief... The weather looks about as grim as I feel right now." Calthorn said, as he proceeded towards the SUV, leaning down so he could see Reborn.

"I can't fit myself and my sword in there without causing discomfort to everyone else in that thing, so I'll see you at the destination. Ain't the first time I've snuck out of an airport, though usually I'm travelling in the cargo hold." Calthorn said, as the flames on his mist ring burst into life, before spreading across his body. When the flames disappeared, he'd completely vanished, though footsteps would be heard walking away from the SUV.

Unfortunately, Hinata was quite engrossed in his training, and combined with the sounds of falling rain, he couldn't really hear Ami's pitifully weak knocking on his door for the first dozen minutes or so. "Hie!" he chanted between swings. Sweat was building up on his forehead, but his jammies were loose enough to keep from letting the young man overheat. Eventually though, when he got a bit tired and paused, he heard a sort-of knock. He listened in on it, and heard another. "Wonder who that might be," he genuinely asked himself, "it's a pretty bad day, who goes around in this kind of weather?"

Upon opening the sliding door of his old fashioned, traditional Japanese home, Hinata could be seen with the most 'wut' expression on his face. Outside on his porch was... Ami Sawada. "....Hai," the brown-haired young man greeted his best friend somewhat awkwardly, scratching at the back of his head. "Ah... Come on in; you'll get a cold if you stay out there!" he insisted, opening the door completely so Ami could actually enter. Once that happened, he slid it shut and asked, "So... Why exactly are you here? And why did you walk?"

---

The bluenet snorted and gave a good roll of the eyes, at Ruby's attempt at scolding him. But she was kind of right, he had to look on the bright side of things! At least he wasn't doing paperwork back in Italy, that would've been a nightmare! If there was anything he hated about his dad going off and dying, it was that he died. Died and left the work to a kid who's barely old enough to buy alcohol in some countries. It was a humbling experience for the young man.

Leonardo yawned and got up from his seeat to stretch his legs, before heading on down the aisle to take a seat in their fancy schmancy armored Vongola SUV. The irritable young man grit his teeth. He really hated having to sit down for so long....

Kaji Kamigami stared up into the raining clouds. The down pour chilled him to the bone but the rain storm captivated his soul. For a moment, he closed his eyes, embracing the wind and rain. He didn't know what he loved about it but as it got heavier and heavier it was like his issues were being washed away. Standing in the rain it didn't matter that he had no cable to watch Saturday morning cartoons. It didn't matter that his mother quit fighting with him about his behavior and just let him do what he wanted. It didn't matter that there wasn't food in his stomach... ok scratch that, that one did matter as his stomach growled in protest. He opened his eyes once more trying to remember where his destination was supposed to be. He swung his bat over his shoulder and started walking again. It was nice that the streets were empty of people for the most part. That way he could hear nothing but the downpour all the way to the store.

"you again, how many times do i have to tell you to stop coming here?" the store owner yelled as soon as kaji stepped through the door. Kaji simply glared at him through his wet hair and continued inside anyway. "didnt you hear me?" the shop owner yelled louder

"yea dill-weed i heard you the first years worth of times you open that catchers mit of a mouth and in case you aint get it then, im paying there fore your shutting the hell up. " Kaji snapped back as he browsed for something to eat.

"thats it I'm calling the Police" the shop owner spat back

"go right ahead, and in the 20 minutes it takes them to show up its just you and me, soooo how is that fixing anything exactly" That shut up the shop owner long enough for Kaji to pick something out and drop the money on the counter and walk out. once outsidethe door he looked around, seeing that there was no one there he turned around and pissed on the front door. After he zipped up his fly he knocked on the window to get the keepers attention, flipped him off and walked away.

"Dad threw me out," Ami said, tilting her head at Hinata curiously after stepping inside the traditional home. "Well, sort of. He was really polite and stuff about it. See, he has these business guys coming around! But he didn't want me in the house when they arrive, not even up in my room. That's a weird thing..." 

"As for walking, I can't ride a bike and hold an umbrella at the same time. And Dad's just too weak to drive." Ami shrugged before hopping forward, her face only inches from 'Nata's with a cute-serious expression, "So if it's okay with your parents, do you think I might be allowed to stay here for a little while? Just for a night or so! Business meetings shouldn't take that long should they?"

---

Outside Hinata's house, a figure stood atop an abandoned building nearby, his long blonde hair was pulled down by the rain. His own 'rain' had failed to stop young miss Sawada in her tracks, and he wondered if she was aware of the Rain Flame's attribute. But given the girl didn't even look around to see who was trying to put her to sleep, the man assumed she knew nothing - just like the intel suggested.

"Next time, then. I'll just increase the flame output..." He said quietly to himself in a calm voice. "...It is so much better to have a capture order for once, rather than a kill..."

---

"Calthorn, do me a favour and watch over Sora. I want to know immediately if the rogue families meeting with him make a move." Reborn called out the window before the SUV sped off into Namimori. Destination: Vongola Base.

"Leo, you and Ms Chambers can take the car once we reach Vongola Base. In case things go south, I'd like you and Ruby to be near to Sora's kid at all times. Apparently the girl's collar has a tracking device in it which I should be able to see from Vongola Base's monitors. We could be on the verge of war here, and the Vongola are simply spread too thin these days to cover their own territory like they used to." The mafian infant explained-slash-commanded.

"So we'll be like those stalking cops in the movies and follow Sawada around everywhere?" Ruby muttered as the vehicle rolled on through streets that would usually be busy on any clear day.

"...Now that I think about it, that's exactly what you'll be doing!" Reborn grinned and looked out the window.

"The irony of this~" The pink-haired swordswoman declared boredly.

"Ah... Well they just left today for Tokyo..." Hinata explained sheepishly, directing his gaze to the side uncomfortably, "...So it'd just be you and, ah, myself for... Ah.... Now. And, and I didn't really, ah, set anything up for visitors... Though I guess you could use the guest room..." And there the young brown-haired man continued to ramble on, making little sense with his rapid fire words and mumbling. Upon realizing this, he decided to shut himself up and force out a quiet, downward directed and defeated sounding "...okay..."

Hinata gave out a rather long sigh before saying with arms outstretched, "Well, make yourself at home I guess!" He looked behind him to the ghetto dojo floor made by clearing off furniture and laughed unconvincingly, "I...ah...Kendo." He said the former as if basically answered all of Ami's potential questions. Which, given their friendship, probably did.

---

"So it's babysitting," Leonardo said nonchalantly as he looked outside the window to kill time as the SUV made its way through town, "fun." Truthfully, he was looking somewhat forward to this job. After all, it's not a question of if the kid would be attacked, but rather, when. And when that 'when' happened, he'd be right there; wires out, Nest active, and Flames burning hot. The bluenet stopped looking outside the window and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. Now if only he could get out of this stupid van...

Calthorn, though invisible, was running towards Sora's house as fast as his legs would allow, per Reborn's instructions. His mist flames were preventing him from being seen by the naked eye, but he was taking caution to avoid being out in the open just in case someone who COULD see him got any bright ideas.

"I know I owe Reborn a debt, but I didn't think I'd get dragged into the midst of Mafia Family strife. No use complaining about it now, considering where I'm going could be a literal hornets nest." Calthorn thought to himself, not slowing his pace.

Amalea glared at the strangers she passed as she walked through the town of Namimori. She had been sent here by her Grandfather, saying that she had to watch the brat child of the Vongola boss. She personally thought it was ridiculous. The only reason she had been sent was because members of the actual Varia didn't give two shits about the female, so she was sent in their place. Quite frankly it pissed her off to have to locate some girl, in the middle of Namimori, and it was just Amalea's luck that it was raining. She had no idea where the stupid girl could be or who would even know her. The woman pulled the picture out of her pocket and stared at the picture, it was of the Vongola child. Amalea didn't care enough to learn her name though. She cursed adjusting her 'borrowed' Varia jacket, she was defiantly not in a good mood and when she did finally find this girl she would let her know that.

When she walked past a convenient store she noticed a teenager flipping off the store owner, she chuckled and decided to enjoy herself before finding the kid. When the boy started to walk off she grabbed the back of the boy's collar. "Hey brat, i gotta a question for you and you're gonna answer it."

When someone grabbed the back of his collar on Reflex Kaji swung an elbow back toward who ever was dumb enough to grab him but stopped, right before breaking a nose, when he realized it was a females voice. so instead he sighed, relaxing his shoulder and let his bat fall in an arch into her shin. Gravity did it, not him so it doesn't count as hitting a girl. At the same time the probably painful hit occurred he spoke "you must be new around here?" he turned toward a window to she the reflection of the trick who had her hands on him. A woman with a pretty cool looking jacket and a face that made kissing a shark seem like the thing to do. Other than that there wasnt anything special about her. clearly a foreigner since everyone local stayed at a distance from Kaji. except of course the disciplinary committee but no way this chick was one of them. Hibari wouldnt have sunken that low to send a chick for him. Would he?

The hit didn't hurt at all compared to the things she had felt while training with the Varia. "Well aren't you a ball full of sunshine,brat." she said with a scoff, obviously mocking the male. With a roll of her eyes she lifted up the picture she had of the Sawada girl. "Have you seen this girl at all today?" her tone of voice showed that she wasn't in much of a hurry to find her, and truly she wasn't. If the girl was a Sawada. "And if you try and hit me again brat, i'll make sure you regret it." she told, a confidant smirk on her face as she waited for the stranger to reply.

Off all the smart remarks that came to mind Kaji settled on Spitting on the picture. Childish it may have been but the other responses were far from pg 13. He let go of his back for a second so he could lift his arms and slid out of his wet shirt by ducking. Picking up his bat he swiftly turned around and stepped to her face. "you will have to be a bit more friendly if you want the pants too. I get the feeling you bite. " he chided her with a smirk that matched hers a bit too well. She seemed older than him, which didnt work in her favor at all. with all the respect he normally held for females, adult females were the ones he couldnt stand the most. he could hit a male of any age, hitting a woman went against his code so adult women tended to be extra spiteful in his eyes. She wasnt much taller than him, so the eye to eye death glare staring contest begun.

"And here he is... Sawada Sora, the most powerful man in the criminal underworld. And he's not even a criminal, hehe. It's a wonder you're still alive, what with that 'spell' I cast on you. Coupled with that spiritual disease you got, I figured you'd be dead by now!" A young man with firey red hair chanted along as if incredibly pleased with something. He was by no means a popular face, but his name was definitely something most families had heard of. Something even the most ancient and powerful families feared, ...'Diavolo'.

"...What are you waiting for, demon?" Sora chuckled, "I figured you would be scarier than this. No flames to show off? How about your army of loyal minions?" He asked, putting his hands together calmly.

"Man, that's so cliche! I'd rather not be called a bad guy or a demon, I'm just out for blood so I can take what's rightfully mine!" The young man cheerfully laughed. "It's fair enough, right? Of course, you don't get to play a role in any of this other than giving me information, seeing as you're gonna be a corpse sooner or later."

"It's fairly insane, kid... I think I'm getting the idea of where this is going. You.. want.. my.. daughter.." Sora said, his last four words were heavy and threatening.

The firey-haired man shrugged, "You're walking dead. After you go, there's only little Ami to worry about. Oh, I wouldn't kill her or anything! I just want her to step down and let me take over the Vongola Family without any bloodshed~"

---

"I figured," Ami giggled, "But that's just what you enjoy! I kinda wish I had some sport I was good at... One day I might have to learn to defend myself, y'know? Unless you do all my fighting for me..." The girl threw an arm around her bestest pal and grinned fiercely. "You could be like my right-hand-Samurai!"

---

After Reborn and a few agents left the SUV, Ruby looked at Leo, then at the steering wheel, then back to Leo. "...You drive, or I'll kill us before the party even starts." The pink-haired young lady stated with an honest expression. It's not that she was unconfident with driving... She was very confident that she couldn't drive! Ruby got out and reentered the vehicle in the front passenger seat. Luckily there was a GPS in this thing, Italian too. Getting around Namimori shouldn't be a problem, and Reborn was going to direct them towards his new student's position anyway.

Calthorn arrived outside of the Sawada household, stopping to catch his breath as his invisibility faded.

"Alright, I'm here... Now let's hope the old boss is alright." Calthorn thought, as he made his way near to the side of the house where Sora was, trying to find a way in that would make the least amount of noise and not give his presence away.

"I'm not normally one for sneaking around, but in this instance, I can't risk any harm befalling Sora. I don't know if he's alone or not, but..." Calthorn thought to himself.

"Of course. We wouldn't want to get crushed by an airbag or end up getting driven into a store while stalking someone," Leonardo agreed, unbuckling his seat and opting to push his way up front by climbing all over the SUV instead of taking the easy route and opening the door twice, "not that slamming into walls in a car is a recommendable act in any situation." Heput his hand to his chin, as if he was seriously taking it all into consideration, "Though I suppose if one was taken hostage in a car, or needed an over-the-top assassination, they could do so if they wanted. Anyway..."

Leonardo calibrated the Italian GPS before twisting the keys and shifting into drive. His hand hovered over the radio for a moment before he pulled away, shook his head, and said, "...Like hell I'm going to be listening to some J-Pop bullshit." And with that, he stepped down on the gas and whisked the CEDEF group away to go locate Ms. Ami Sawada.

---

"Oh I'm sure there's some kinda sport you're good at..." Hinata pointed out, as he slid out from under Ami's arm and began rearranging furniture to relatively proper positioning. "You probably just haven't tried to join a club or anything!" said the young man who spent most of his teenagerhood attempting to join a club to no avail, "You could always try Kendo like me! Or even Kyudo, so you could be like, the long-range to my short range with a bow. Haha." Sliding the last bit into place, "but yeah, I don't think you'd want me to do all your fighting for you. There's only so much one guy can do with a wood sword!"

The woman scoffed at the boys words giving him a look over. "I can honestly say i have seen much better." she mocked. Amalea didn't back down when he stepped toward her, what she did do though would probably piss the boy off. And at this point she didn't care. She took the picture that he had spit on and rubbed it on his chest. "Maybe you should try those lines on a little brat that's your age and.....down on your level." the smirk on her face only grew as she looked down at him, trying not to flat out laugh in his face at this point.

This was getting her no where though and she needed to find the stupid Sawada girl. So she'd entertain the boy for a while longer and then continue her search.

"and yet you already cant keep your hands off me" the wiping of the photo didn't phase him and to be honest it wasn't even close to the worst thing done to him. She must have thought she was being cute, but she wasn't. He held out his hand, presumably for his shirt, unless she wanted to keep it for some twisted reason. Even though he actually liked the shirt in she hand but she was welcome to keep it to remember him by. "shirt," was all he spoke next.

"Wow, as ass with a smart mouth. What a shocker that is." She tossed him his shirt with a roll of her eyes. "Yeah you might want to put that back on before someone hurls." she retorted, obviously no longer amused with the conversation.She put the picture of Ami Sawada back in her jacket pocket. "If you're not going to answer my question, then im leaving. I hate talking to boring people." She said, pulling her phone out of her pocket to look at the Sawada child's file to find out possible places she could be at. When she thought about it, she should have tired that first instead of getting into a conversation with a brat that thought he was all that. "Bye bye Brat." she said as she sauntered past him, not sparing him another glace, as she pasted though she made sure that she hit him with her shoulder. It may have been childish, but since when did she claim to be mature.