Would it be surprising if Ryuuichi were to wake up to Knuckle staring at him? Apparently no. Though, he did yelped so loud that he accidentally woke up the neighbor. Fortunately, that dude immediately slept back after that. Unfortunately, Yuuichi came running into his room to check on him, already clad in his uniform. He was wearing a blue apron, looking particularly concerned. "Ryuu?! What's wrong?!"

The said teen quite disheveled from tossing and turning around in his sleep, his baggy shirt hanging of his shoulder. He quickly shook his head, nervously ruffling his messy hair and chuckled sheepishly. "N-no. I thought I just saw a... cockroach. Which is actually the dust!!" He quickly added.

Yuuichi looked around his room, before frowning. "Really?" "Yes!" He stared at his brother for a few moments before slowly walking out. "Al.. Right... Come down for breakfast afterwards, okay?" Ryuuichi nodded, smiling. He waited for a while, before rushing to see if his brother was still there and closed the door, locking it. 

He turned around and leaned onto the door, giving Knuckle a 'Seriously?' look. The man gave him a small smile, but was amused. He rolled his eyes, looking towards the digital clock before huffing, using his hands to brush his hair. "Soooo...." He softly said, not wanting to alert his brother for talking too loudly. "What pleasure do I have to have you staring at me while I'm sleeping?" He sharply asked.

Knuckle raised an eyebrow before blinking. "My apologizes" He laughed. "It's just that you looked so peaceful that I don't feel like waking you up" The teen frowned. "You can, though." He mumbled. His hand raised up to cover his mouth when he yawned. He breathed in deeply, giving Knuckle a questioning look.

"Ah, no. I'm just here to check on something." Ryuuichi frowned at that. He wondered why the man would come to his house, and stare at him in his sleep. He had wanted to ask further, but decided against it. He simply hummed, walking off to get ready for the day. For some reason, he didn't give a damn to these things anymore. (A lie, because he definitely was annoyed and crept out by it)

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"Ryuuichi?" Tsuna called out for the teen with a concerned frown on. The teen had been fidgeting non-stop the whole day, and was quite jumpy as if something was following him. (Technically, there was) Ryuuichi wasn't normally shaken by most thing and when he does, he would always show something quite fascinating to them. The brunette, although was amused, was no doubt worried too. 

He wasn't exactly the sharpest one, but he did noticed that Ryuuichi wasn't like his usual self these days. Perhaps right after the Choice. Tsuna scowled inwardly at the memories and shook them out. Instead, he focused on Ryuuichi. 

Ryuuichi snapped out of his reverie and blinked at the brunette in questioning. He twitched a little when he felt a small chill ran through him. "Yeah?" "Are you alright?" He blinked again, nodding at that but said nothing more. He peered to his back and scowled. For some reason, he could felt the First Generations' presences more than when Asari was following him. Perhaps it has something to do with the acceptances and all, but still, it's quite creepy. 

Like, who likes it when there's actually something following you around all day? And the fact that you can't see it? 

Well, Ryuuichi certainly doesn't.

But sadly, he can't do anything about it.

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The door to the rooftop was suddenly pushed open, surprising two students who were reading comic books. They stuttered as they quickly scrambled away and out of the roof, and definitely away from the certain prefect. He had said nothing tho, but they simply just ran away. His attention were immediately taken by an aura as he whipped his head towards the direction, eyes narrowed. 

Purple flame suddenly appeared before a man was seen. Hibari had taken his tonfa out from who-knows-where as he went into fighting stance though, Alaude had no intention on fighting him.

"Don't jump into conclusions. I've no intention to fight you." Hibari, as stubborn as usual, rushed forward to hit the man, only to miss as Alaude jumped back and onto the higher part. He unintentionally (or not) provoked Hibari that he wasn't strong enough to warrant the man's attention. (But who was he lying to? Hibari did gained his attention. Though, not on this)

"Besides, I may have been a member of the First Generation Vongola Family but I despise being affiliated with anything. However, I am required to see if you are worthy of receiving the inheritance of the Guardian of the Cloud Ring." 

"Though, I do not plan on using Trial by combat" That had killed Hibari's motivation on even participating the trial. If there's nothing in it that would at least sate his blood lust for a bit, it's simply nothing but boredom to him. 

That attitude of his had reminded Alaude of himself. The man was once like him, everything must be according to the law- his own law- and the cause of thrill would always be fights. Until he showed him that violence isn't everything. He sighed inwardly as he closed his pocket watch. 

"I suppose I should still tell you" Hibari stopped his track to the door. "I shall deem you worthy of my inheritance if you somehow demonstrate your value as the Guardian of the Cloud Ring. I will allow you to choose the method" Once he finished, Hibari simply continued walking. Though, he stopped yet again when the door opened and Ryuuichi stepped in.

Ryuuichi blinked in surprised when he saw Hibari and Alaude, even more towards the man. 'Oh. Right' He suddenly felt awkward when both look-a-like stared at him with the similar, indifferent eyes. Yet, Alaude's held something more. "Erhhh, hi..?" He greeted, sounding a little stupid but the tensed atmosphere was getting onto him. 

Alaude wasn't exactly expecting to meet Ryuuichi. At least, not now. His eyes turned solemn as he watched the teen tried to lower the tension. Suddenly, he suddenly appeared from Ryuuichi. Alaude blinked twice and frowned lightly when he disappeared. Perhaps it was a trick of light. 

"Umm--- Alaude-san...?" He looked at Ryuuichi, who was frowning too. In concern, if he had not read wrongly. Hibari, on the other hand, had turned to him and literally gave him a glare. He gave the prefect a quick narrowed eyes before turning to the youngest of them all. 

"Not yet, Shiroki Ryuuichi"

The said teen raised an eyebrow at that when Alaude suddenly disappeared before he jump away to dodge an incoming tonfa onto his face. His eyes wide in surprise as he gave Hibari a 'What-The-Hell' face. 

Hibari snarled. And growled. He didn't know why, but there was this growing rage in him when he saw Alaude and Ryuuichi interact. He hated that, and hated why it was affecting him this much. His annoyance grew as he stared at Ryuuichi. The younger had his hands up, clearly surrendering to whatever Hibari was going to do, yet his legs were ready to run if anything happen. He snarled one more time and had promptly stalked away without a word. He has some biting to do after all. (That, and he might accidentally kill Ryuuichi if he stays there with the emotions running him wild)

Ryuuichi blinked, trying to process what had happen. Like, one second, Hibari was simply calm, but a tad bit annoyed for some reason, and the next, the prefect was like a hissing and angered cat. He silently was relief when Hibari did nothing though, was concerned. He briefly wondered what was with the prefect. Then he remembered Alaude.

He put two and two together and finally get it. Hibari was perhaps more annoyed than he had thought he would be when Alaude refused to fight him. That must be it. Ryuuichi sighed. He seriously hoped that Hibari could lower his blood lust sometimes. Then again, he wouldn't want him to be any different then he is now. He huffed, before going back down from the roof top. Looks like his plan to irritate the prefect worked. One way or another.

(Sadly, Ryuuichi doesn't know the truth why Hibari was annoyed. Honestly, he could seriously be dense at times)

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"I refuse to take orders from you" "P-please hold on- Ack!"

Tsuna groaned in pain when his back hit the door and had literally broke it. Of course Hibari would hit him. How stupid is he to not know that? He grunted as he wait for the pain to subside while Yuni plead for the prefect to listen to the brunette. Hibari, though, didn't paid a single heed to it and walked away. He was stopped by the bomber, followed by Yamamoto along with Fon and Colonello. 

Yamamoto and Colonello tried to talk some sense into him, asking him to participate in the test. The time limit giving to him was running out after all. Hibari, for some reason, was even more annoyed then he actually was. Fortunately for Yamamoto, he didn't take his tonfa out and hit him. He simply just walked passed him.

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A little while later, Tsuna, Yuni, Yamamoto and Gokudera gathered at the roof top. The Arcobaleno were there too. They were wondering what to do to convince Hibari, and suddenly out of nowhere Ryohei got absolutely fired up. His eyes burned as he stalked out of the roof top to find Hibari, determined to get him participating. Tsuna tried to hold him up first but the older teen was already gone. 

As Ryohei walked out, Ryuuichi appeared. He had his headphones on, and hands in his pocket. He was staring at the disappearing back of Ryohei's before turning to the rest. "Why is he so fired up?" Tsuna gave him a slightly wry smiled and explained. Ryuuichi nodded and looked back to the stair case for a while. He could briefly see Knuckle following the older teen. Finally, the man decided to leave Ryuuichi alone. 

He shrugged and walked towards the shade. He leaned back onto the wall and slid down. The rest were giving him a confused look. "Don't mind me" He waved his hand nonchalantly. He decided to stay there til the commotion starts. And he did. The others had went down to find Hibari, trying to persuade the prefect yet again. Damn, was Hibari stubborn. Though, he wouldn't want him to be anything but himself. He chuckled softly at the thought.

He looked up to the azure sky and watched the clouds drifted pass. Things had been going the way he hadn't expected. He had first joined Tsuna and the others in this wild and dangerous chase to find his answers, and to spectate, of course. That was the initial motive. Now, it has changed. It changed into the want to protect them, to be their shield, and to be with them. It has changed when he realized that he loved all of them so damn much that it hurts, and the answers were no longer his priority. 

He realized it after G and Daemon's test for him. The realization had wrecked freaking havoc and chaos in him. Which explained why he was so weird recently. It was foreign and a tad bit scary to him. It made Ryuuichi so edgy that he just wanted to destroy something. Okay, not to that point but yeah. Yet, he didn't mind it.

That was one. The other one was the freaking thing about Byakuran wanting him. Just because he interested the White Marshmallow Freak. He shuddered at that thought. Definitely not a good thing. He doesn't get which part of him interested the man into this obsession. (That sounded a bit weird that Ryuuichi immediately frowned at) Perhaps Yuni, but not him. Definitely not him. So why? 

He huffed. Because of that, he was literally dragged into the light without even a tiny bit of warning. He had lived his whole life as in the shadow of the others, so this was a whole new thing to him. He wasn't used to it, and was crept out by it. But, he somehow liked it. In a sense.

Ryuuichi sighed at that. His mind drifted to Knuckle. The man probably was going to give him his test. Either that or he was just going to give him his approval. He didn't exactly understood why, but perhaps it was guts feeling. Or instinct. Whatever it is. Then again, what was this test all about in the first place? He knew he was taking it for the answers, but why was it given to him was something he didn't know. 

Honestly, he hadn't thought that he would make it this far. Of course, he had thought of this before, heck, even declared that he would reach for his answers and nothing could stop him, but he hadn't exactly expect it to come true. Not fully, but reaching. His hopes and expectations doesn't usually happens, so he wouldn't be surprise if he didn't succeed. And yet, he did. Well, when does life ever goes the way one expects anyway.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, Yuuichi crossed his mind and he paled. How was he going to explain all this to his brother when it's over? He groaned at that when his parents slowly appeared in his mind. He groaned even louder. Once all this ends, he's so screwed. 

He sighed again, closing his eyes as he leaned his head onto the wall. Everything was just so calm right now. It was so quiet that it was a tad bit unsettling. This was like the calm before the storm, or in another term, the calm before hit the fan. Not literally. Okay, the last term was slightly unnecessary but it had Ryuuichi laughing out loud briefly.

"What are you laughing about?" "AHH-!" Ryuuichi yelped in surprised. He groaned loudly at the man, trying to calm his beating heart down. "Can you please stop that. The others too--" Knuckle chuckled at that. Seriously, Ryuuichi is someone very amusing to tease. So scarily similar to him. 

Knuckle gave the younger a looped sided smile and apologized. Ryuuichi grunted in acceptance, but was no doubt fed up with it. Like, they had been scaring him by popping out of freaking nowhere without prior notice and it was like ghost jumping out of the freaking closet to scare some unfortunate homo sapi- humans. Oh wait. They are ghost. Ryuuichi face palmed so hard that it left a small red mark.

Knuckle laughed at that as he moved to stand beside Ryuuichi, leaning against the wall. The younger looked up and gave him a raised eyebrow, but he didn't looked back at him. He simply stared at the sky where the sun was starting to set, giving it an orange red and yellow splash of color. Ryuuichi blinked at the solemn look, but turned towards the sky as well.

They silently looked at the sky for a moment, before Ryuuichi broke it. "Why?" Knuckle finally turned to him and made a questioning sound. "Why is it that you look sad everytime you see me? Not just you. The rest of the first generation too" Ryuuichi asked, voice unwavering. They thought that he doesn't notice it, but he did. Every time, he could see a flicker of sadness in their eyes. 

"....... Because you---" "No, it's alright." Ryuuichi pulled his legs to his chest, hugging it close. "I don't expect an answer now.... Ne, Knuckle-san" 

"As the sun will rise each day, the moon shall too. Both leave marks that will never disappear, no matter how different they are each day. Don't you think so?" 

Knuckle blinked at that. He wondered by Ryuuichi suddenly said such thing out of nowhere, but something in him was put on ease. He didn't know what it was, but Ryuuichi do. The younger could see that the man still haven't fully let go of the fact that it was no longer his time, no longer his live. His time, has long stopped. Ryuuichi saw it. The changes, after all, would leave one baffled. He was one of them after all, so he knew.

"I guess"

Ryuuichi smiled. 

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Ryuuichi clapped softly once everything was over. It was an impressive combi-fight from Hibari and Ryohei. Though, he doubt that the prefect would admit it. He made his way to the ground where the rest were. When he finally reached, he saw Knuckle appeared from yellow flames. He walked up to stand beside the Arcobaleno as he watched the man give Ryohei his pass.

"I deem you extremely worthy of my inheritance as the Guardian of the Sun Ring. I was shown the entire chain of events" Tsuna wondered what could he meant by that. What has they done to show the First Generation of Sun Guardian? Like, the man hadn't even showed up and told them what to do in the first place. 

"Guardian of Sun Ring for Vongola Decimo, Sasagawa Ryohei" The said teen greeted back. "You never back down when you were pushed away, and used your extreme optimism to try to persuade the Guardian of Cloud Ring. And you stood against adversity without any fear, for the sake of your friend. As a result, you were able to save the school and successfully persuaded the Guardian of Cloud Ring, a feat no other family member was able to do."

"Your actions show you to be a bright and shining sun that smashes adversity with your body! And you didn't need me to tell you I was evaluating you, as you do this on daily basis. I accept you as the Guardian of Sun Ring, to the extreme" Right after Knuckle ended his 'little' speech, Ryohei yelled in excitement and happiness.

Suddenly, another flame appeared, a purple one to be exact. Alaude materialized as the flame dispersed. "This guy's the Guardian of the Cloud Ring, Alaude" Knuckle introduced. 

Ryuuichi glanced at I-Pin, who was blushing upon Alaude's sight, and laughed silently. She looked at Alaude, then to Fon, and then to Hibari. Oh dear, a boom was soon to be set off.

"Guardian of Cloud Ring for Vongola Decimo, Hibari Kyouya. An aloof cloud that guards the family independently. You were able to refrain from fraternizing with the family, while adapting to the situation and protecting these people. I laud you for your wise judgement. I deem you worthy of the Guardian of the Cloud Ring's inheritance." Everyone was relief, but the said teen couldn't care less as he took out his tonfas and demanded for a fight from the man.

The rest then tried to stop him from doing so whilst Ryuuichi laughed out loud at that. Alaude and Knuckle peered at him, but said nothing.

Alaude then engaged into a staring contest with Hibari when Knuckle commented that the prefect was similar to his younger self. Alaude didn't say anything, and didn't deny it, which made Ryuuichi snickered harder.

"Guardian of Sun Ring for Vongola Decimo." Ryohei turned to the man. "Guardian of Cloud Ring"

"I now bequeath your inheritance." They both said at the same time in unison, before turning into flames. There, Hibari and Ryohei gained their passes as their box weapon glowed. 

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Ryuuichi was about to crash into Hibari's home when yellow flames flared in front of him and Knuckle appeared. "Oh, hello again" Knuckle smiled at that, but turned serious. 

"Shiroki Ryuuichi. Do you, to the extreme, will continue moving forward and not stop, for whatever comes in your way?" Ryuuichi was taken aback by the question. He wasn't sure how to answer it since he didn't know if he was still in static, or has begun. But, he nodded, saying 'yes' with a determined voice. 

"And will you push them up when they're down as how would they push you up when you are down?" 

"..... Yes" Knuckle's lips tugged upward.

"Then, I, Knuckle, accepts Shiroki Ryuuichi to the extreme" Ryuuichi's body glowed in yellow. One of the colorless rectangle in his ring turned yellow, leaving two left. When the glowing stopped, he looked at the ring and scrunched his eyebrows. He wondered when will Alaude give him his. He knew that Giotto's will be last, but having Alaude and Daemon's switching was weird. It should be Alaude's first before Daemon's, if it were to follow Tsuna and the other's tests. But after the slight changes, it was all weird.

Knuckle could see his conundrum and chuckled. "Don't worry, Alaude will give you his. I'm sure"

"May we meet again, Shiroki Ryuuichi" The said teen wasn't be able to say anything before Knuckle disappeared. He just stared at the empty spot where the man once stood and his ring. Suddenly, a hand were brought down and hit him on his neck, rendering him unconscious.

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A/N= *laugh nervously* Ehh---- Yeah. I'm harsh, aren't I? Finally updating and a cliffhanger was given. *Sweat drop*

I apologize for not updating for so long. I was busy with my exams and stuffs thrown to me by my teachers. Like, I'm still having exams even after two weeks! *groan* and there's like another two weeks too... *sigh* Anywayssss-

Knuckle had somewhat appeared in the morning in Ryuuichi's room to 'check on something'? Yeah, will explain it later.

And yes, Ryuuichi could feel their 'presence' even they hid it very well. Though, it sounded a bit creepy and weird for some reason.

Hibari was jealous, but he didn't realized that. 

Ryuuichi didn't really like changes, but he didn't dislike it too. He just couldn't get why it happens sometimes as it was hard to grasp. That, and changes is sometime ty.

I've absolutely no idea what should I do for Knuckles so I kindda ended up with him asking questions instead. Also, Knuckle trust Ryuuichi. Which is why he could give him his acceptance just like that knowing that Ryuuichi wouldn't disappoint him. 

The crashing into Hibari's house was something that I don't even know why I write that.....

Alaude's acceptance will occur in the next chapter because of various reasons. *winks*

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]