"Uwah~!  He looks so cute!"

"How did the birds and cats get in here?  It's raining outside too..."

"Who cares?  Someone get a camera!"

Sunset-orange eyes blearily opened.

Tsuna blinked in surprise when he found his students--the girl population mostly--looking at him with amusement and sparking eyes.  His bandages were off now, and everyone was surprised to see unscarred skin when he came to school without them.

The brunet heard a chirp and found that a few finches and sparrows were fast asleep on his head, shoulders and stomach; a few cats were sprawled along his lap.

Tsuna sighed with amusement.

'For some reason, birds and cats have taken a big liking to me...'

The girls whined when Tsuna had awakened before they could take a picture.

The animals seemed to have also awaken; they gazed at Tsuna with forlorn looks.

The brunet sweatdropped.

"Gomen...but you guys have to get off."

The birds and cats got off of the brunet--but with a lot of 'hesitation'.

Tsuna ruffled his hair, picking a few stray feathers out; the girls giggled and the boys chuckled.

The brunet frowned playfully at them.

"Stop laughing at me."

Karma walked up to Tsuna, picking up a kitten that was still sauntering around the brunet's chair.

"Neh~why do they crowd around you like that?"

Tsuna chuckled as the kitten wriggled out of the redhead's grasp and hopped back onto the brunet's lap; the teacher started to rub the feline's ears.

"Maa...I'm not very sure myself, but animals are very friendly to me--I even found a bear sleeping next to me when I was in the forest."

"Dame-Tsuna, you sometimes emit your Sky flames when you're asleep.  Try to learn how to control them."

The class sweatdropped while Karma continued to smile.

"Heh~how interesting."

Tsuna smiled back before glancing at the clock.

"Ah.  Koro-Sensei should be coming here to start class soon."

Most of the students whined, but they all went to their seats.

Tsuna looked away from them in time to see Koro-Sensei appear right next to him.

"Nurufufufu~Ohaiyo, Tsuna-kun."

The brunet nodded his head in return, placing the kitten on his lap onto his head; some of the girls 'kyaa'ed.

"I'll be going to the teachers' break room then."

Koro-Sensei and some of the students waved goodbye--sans Ryoma's group.

As Tsuna walked down the hallways with the kitten on his head, he spotted a man dressed in white; the brunet felt the kitten on his head tense.

I don't like him, nya.

Tsuna glanced up briefly at the feline before looking at the man that was slowly approaching as he also walked closer.

And...they walked past each other--but not before giving each other a polite nod of the head.

Once Tsuna turned the corner he let go of his stoic expression and frowned.

'That man...emits too much 'danger' to my liking.'

The brunet sighed before glancing out one of the windows in the hallway; he blinked in surprise.

'A young boy?'

00(???'s POV)00

Big brother, big brother, big brother, defeat, defeat, defeat, rain, rain, rain, rain....stop?

I blinked before looking at the sky--but there was something in the way.

Umbrella...

I looked at the hand that was holding it before following it to an arm, then to a shoulder, then to a face; an unfamiliar one.

"You shouldn't be out in the rain like this; you'll catch a cold."

"Stranger...what cold?  I am invincible."

Sunset-orange looked at me with amusement.  What was so funny?

The weak(?) man chuckled softly.

"Even the most invincible will have their downfalls."

Downfalls?  No such thing.  No such thing.  No such th--

"But it doesn't necessarily mean that you're weak."

I blink my eyes again.

...This man...was...weird...

I study him; he has brown hair--it looks fluffy.  There's a kitten there--brown like his hair.

He has an aura; a calming one.  His eyes are very...warm.

I feel....peaceful...why?

"Who are you?"

He smiled at me.

"Ah, my name is Sawada Tsunayoshi.  What's your name?"

"......Horibe Itona."

00(End of Itona's POV)00

"Horibe-kun, neh?  What are you doing in the rain?"

Tsuna noted how the white-haired teen actually had not a single drop of rain on himself.

'How strange...'

Itona's gold-green eyes gazed into Tsuna's own sunset-orange ones.

"I am waiting for orders."

The brunet tilted his head with confusion.

"'Orders'?"

The human's really funny, Tsuna, nya~!

Tsuna glanced up briefly at the kitten, chastising it with his gaze alone.

The brunet sighed before looking back at Itona.

'Then he must be here to assassinate Koro-Sensei...' "I apologize if I have disturbed you..."

Itona slowly shook his head.

"No..."

Tsuna noted how the teen's eyes looked much more relaxed than before; the brunet smiled mentally.

'Looks like my Sky flames are working.' "Good."

Itona blinked again.

"You're weird," Those blunt words kinda stabbed Tsuna's head; the brunet laughed nervously. "But it's what makes you interesting."

Tsuna blinked in surprise.

Itona's face was still stoic, but there was something like curiosity and warmth in him calmer eyes.

The brunet smiled softly.

"Haha, arigatou, Horibe-kun."

Suddenly, Itona's eyes became frenzied once more; he gazed at the school wall.

"I have no time for weaklings like you."

Tsuna frowned; he was about to call out, but the teen suddenly walked right through the wooden wall.  Itona smashed right through.

The brunet stared at the new hole with bewilderment, nearly dropping his umbrella.

'Horibe-kun...wasn't 'there'.'

Tsuna frowned once more; his thoughts flashed back to the man wearing all white.

'....'

The brunet stood there in the rain for awhile longer before heading back indoors, shaking the umbrella out when he was inside.

~~

Something prickled his Hyper Intuition.

Tsuna set his pen down while narrowing his eyes slightly.

'School is almost over...what could be happening?' His eyebrows furrowed slightly. 'Could it be Horibe-kun?'

The kitten from before had already left, leaving Tsuna alone with correcting a few papers that Koro-Sensei gave to the students.

He got up from his seat and picked up his suit top, buttoning it up as he exited the teachers' break room.

He heard a loud crash as he walked over to Class E's main teaching room; the brunet broke out into a sprint when he heard an angry, battle cry.

Tsuna slammed the door open and widened his eyes in surprise.

He wasn't looking at the mess the classroom was in.

Nor the shocked faces of the students when they saw him.

He was looking at the furious Itona, who had black tentacles whipping around in rage.

Itona lashed out randomly.

The students and Koro-Sensei widened their eyes when the tentacles were about to hit Class E's shortest members.

"Nagisa-kun, Kaede-chan/Shiota, Kayano!"

Slash!

Everyone stared at the scene with shock.

They all missed the brown blur that stood in front of the two students.

Drip....drip...

Red drops of blood fell to the ground from Tsuna's bleeding arm.

The brunet's arm was currently holding two of Itona's black tentacles in his right hand.

Tsuna stared directly into Itona's wide, gold-green eyes; the brunet's expression was soft.

"Horibe-kun...calm down."

Itona gazed at the blood that was slowly dribbled down Tsuna's arm; his eyes slowly calmed and the tentacles turned white--like his hair.

Tsuna gently let go of the tentacles as Itona staggered backwards; the teens eyes were wide with shock even though he was calmer.

Suddenly, the man dressed in white appeared behind Itona and knocked the teen out.

"I apologize for Itona's actions."

The man looked at Tsuna and gave off a sheepish aura.

Tsuna narrowed his eyes.

'Fake...' "Who are you?"

"Ah~you can just call me Shiro, since I'm wearing all white an--"

"What have you done to Horibe-kun?"

The man seemed to freeze slightly before going back to his happy, cheerful act.

"Eh~?  What are you accusing me of?  What makes you say that I put those tentacles in his head?"

"...Intuition."

The two stared at each other; the students started to feel the intensity.

And then Koro-Sensei broke the silence.

"Shiro!  Where did you get those tentacles!?"

The man regained his cheerful aura as he lifted Itona onto his shoulder.

"That's a secret, Koro-Sensei~!  Now, I'll be leaving with Itona."  Shiro's eyes glowed slightly as he looked at the octopus. "And Itona will kill you for sure next time~!"

In a puff of smoke, Shiro was gone.

Tsuna stared at the one spot, clenching his uninjured hand; it was then that Nagisa remembered the injury inflicted on the brunet's right hand.

"Ts-Tsuna-Sensei!"

The brunet blinked and turned to the bluenette; he smiled gently to the other, eyes filled with slight worry.

"Ah!  Are you alright, Nagisa-kun, Kaede-chan?  You aren't injured or anythi--?"

Nagisa grabbed Tsuna's right arm, raising the bleeding hand to view; the brunet blinked in remembrance.

"Ah.....I forgot about that..."

The students and the teachers--Karasuma and Irina appeared in time to see Itona lose control with Tsuna to stop him--gave incredulous looks at the brunet.

Sugino marched up to the teacher.

"You can't be serious!  You're bleeding all over the place!"

"Oh.  Gomenasai, those stains will be hard to get out--"

"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT!"

Koro-Sensei quickly appeared before Tsuna and gently wrapped his tentacles around his right arm, pushing the suit sleeve back while turning the brunet's injured hand around; the octopus's face was blue with worry.

"My goodness, Tsuna-kun!  Why are you always getting injured?"

Tsuna simply laughed; Nagisa looked at the injury and winced slightly.

"Doesn't it hurt, Tsuna-Sensei?"

The brunet's other hand twitched slightly.

'You're supposed to be 'Dame', Baka-Tsuna!' "Ahaha......ouch...?"

Everyone gave the brunet disbelieving looks; Tsuna sweatdropped.

"Eto, it...stings?"

Irina sauntered over, glancing at the wound with a grimace before turning to Tsuna.

"Looks a lot more painful than a 'sting', Tsuna-kun."

Karasuma also glanced at the injury before looking at the brunet with a serious gaze.

"Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Tsuna waved his other hand in the air, smiling brightly.

"Honestly, it's just a scratch!  Just wash it, put some salve on, bandage it, and I'm good to go!"

Karasuma frowned; Tsuna could see that that the other was thinking of something.

"...Okay..."

The brunet grinned while Koro-Sensei disappeared for a brief second to get a first-aid kit.

The octopus quickly cleaned the wound; Tsuna didn't even flinch as the alcohol on the cotton ball was wiped across the cut.

Koro-Sensei then placed salve before wrapping bandages over it; the octopus sighed in relief.

"Wah~just make sure to change the bandages at least twice a day, Tsuna-kun."

The brunet nodded and bowed to the other, smiling brightly.

"Arigatou, Koro-Sensei."

Tsuna then glanced around the room.

"Ah.  You still need to fix the room.  I'll hel--"

Karasuma placed a firm hand onto the brunet's shoulder, dragging the other out; the ravenet sighed.

"Sawada, just go home.  You've been through enough today."

"Eh?  But..."

Tsuna's protests and Karasuma's voice drifted away as the rest of the class started to clean up; some were grumbling that Shiro should clean this all up.

~~

Karasuma frowned as he reread the report of 'Sawada Tsunayoshi' for the nth time of the day.

It was nighttime now as the ravenet sat at his desk at his own house.

He sighed with frustration as he scratched a few raven locks.

"They're all wrong."

He sighed once more as he placed the folder down; he spun his swivel chair around away from the desk as he placed a hand under his chin.

'Sawada Tsunayoshi shows qualities of an.....assassin...'

Karasuma frowned at his own thoughts.

'It simply...adds up.  He shows remarkable speed and grace in his movements; he's immune to simple injuries like the one from today, and he can teach students perfectly.'

The ravenet sighed once more.

'And then there's Terasaka....that kid told me that Sawada hit his head with a piece of chalk from across the room?  It's too suspicious.'

Karasuma ran a hand through his hair before turning back to his desk; he picked up the folder and put it into a cabinet.

'I'll just have to investigate some more...'