From the Inside [Solo]

[Sometime after slaying Sifvorrah]

"Hey Rin! What's this thing?" A cheerful voice of youth sprung up as a child, wearing traveling clothing for children, holds up in her hands a lavender-colored plant with a green stalk. Rin broke camp for the evening underneath a small canopy of oak trees. His bag set against one of these trees and was searching for something light to eat when this little girl shower him the plant. Rin's red eye shifted over to the child and only glanced at the flower before recognizing it.

"That is called a Blazing Star. They're quite common in this environment." As he went back to searching through his bag, the girl beamed as her amber eyes almost seem to sparkle. She quickly set it down and picked up another kind of flower to hold it up to him.

"What about this one?" The next flower was more on the purple side and it fanned out into multiple petals. Without looking, "That's Aster." bringing out three apples, four pieces of bread, and two strips of dried meat. Turning to the girl, Rin hands her share of the food which consists of 2 apples, 2 pieces of bread, and 1 strip of dried meat. Of course Rin gestured for the flower to be dropped, but that didn't seem to be necessary as she practically glomped the first apple.

"Easy Tsuna. We're not going to run out of food I promise." He remarked, but then again they have been traveling for quite some time now. They were maybe half a day away from reaching the Land of Fire's border. If it was just him, Rin could make that distance overnight.

"Aw c'on! e'fe 'een 'alkin 'ince 'ornin!" The little girl retorted with her mouth full of food. Rin grasped what she was trying to say, but he pretended to not.

"Try saying that without food in your mouth." Tsuna took a moment to swallow half of an apple.

"I saaaid! We've been walking since morning! Is traveling always this tiring?" She was getting smart with him now, probably from annoyance. Were all six year olds like this? Rin wondered before leaning back against the tree.

"You'll get used to it eventually. Traveling is exhausting on the body, but for now we rest until dawn." Unfortunately this girl doesn't know how to rest either as she was spending minutes over at a nearby flower garden. Hence is how she managed to acquire the Blazing Star and Aster. Her eyes were wild as they danced from thing to the next be it movement or something shiny. As Rin had quickly found out earlier since Tsuna previously attempted to steal his bow of pure platinum.

Tsuna quickly ate her food while Rin was patient with his. His eyes looking out to the East where the Land of Fire was at. Without meaning to, Rin's mind started to experience flashbacks. Back to his days in the shinobi academy, Rin remembered how he would always have trouble with conjuring up a believable clone. How each time the kids would laugh at the sight of each failure he made. Yet Rin would just laugh it off without a care in the world. When it came to training his chakra control and balance. Rin lost count of how many times he fell into the water alone. Not to mention the number of times he fell from trees and he couldn't even move up higher than 6 feet. Yet his persistence and resolve prevailed as that little boy would just get back up and try again.

"Hey Rin! What's that thing?!" Tsuna pushed against Rin's shoulder as he hadn't realized that she was even speaking to him. However there was urgency in her voice as her eyes were looking up.

"What…" The young man began to mutter before he suddenly felt a tingling heavy pressure. One that certainly made Tsuna very tense as she tightly gripped on Rin's arm. Alert, Rin swiftly picks Tsuna up from her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hip. Her jet black hair smooth as silk brushed against Rin's skin as her small horns protruding from the sides of her head lightly press against him. Standing up on his feet, Rin stepped outside of the canopy and looks up at what Tsuna was looking at. High in the sky, there was something of a bright blue with a tail. It took Rin a second to realize that is actually a comet, but he's never seen one before.

"I believe that's a comet. Although it's odd that we should see one so close to this world." Tsuna turns her head to face Rin as she was still worried.

"Then why does it feel like… like…" Tsuna struggled for the word of it that she even closed her eyes trying to summon up the word. Rin lightly chuckled before saying it.

"Compress?" The little girl opened her eyes and expressed confusion with a tilt of her head.

"Copress? What does that mean?" Rin looked up at the comet once again as the pressure from the air continues to weigh down on them.

"Com-press. It means condense pressure." Breaking up the word in parts so that it'll be easier for Tsuna to understand. She even repeated the word several times before frowning.

"Can you write it down? Also what does condense mean?" Tsuna plead as Rin patiently nodded his head in agreement.

"Condense means abridge. Abridge means shorten." The lad beat the child to the punch from asking about that question. She frowned as she was still confused about something.

"But this doesn't feel like… compress? I mean, the trees would stir from it too right?" That was a good point, Rin noticed that if the air was truly affected the trees would rustle like crazy. Perhaps even the branches be pushed down if that was the case. The only thing that Rin could think of that had this similar effect was the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Fair point. It's possible what we're feeling is actually chakra. Raw chakra from the feel of it." Then, a stir of Rin's consciousness as he felt a sinister presence from within before a monstrous voice that belonged to a giant creature.

"That is… something that I have never seen before. Yet this chakra feels like it could be equivalent to my own, but it's hard to tell from this distance." It was a bit surprising when Kurama drops in randomly into conversations. Especially when it seemed to be trivial that Kurama doesn't bother to input his comments.

As they watched the comet sail in the far distance, Tsuna turns her head to stare at Rin.

"Is it possible to wish someone back to life?" She asked as her heart was brimming with hope. There was a saying that making a wish as a comet went by was a sign of good luck. Rin's memory flashed back to his meeting with Menza, and there was a bit of sadness following up.

"You could, but bringing someone back always comes with a heavy price. Something that might affect everyone around you and you might not even notice it." Tsuna tilts her head as she was confused on where Rin was going with this. Shifting his eyes over to the child in his arms.

"What kind of price and how would it affect others?" That was a hard yet simple question to answer.

"For example, any or all of your family members and immediate friends are at risk of being killed to bring someone back to life. Unless you give something of equal value to the person you made a deal with. However, it varies as it might not always be the case." Rin tries to explain in small words for her to understand. After all, he is having to deal with someone's debt of doing just that. If he hadn't done so, Yui would've lost her brother again and perhaps all of Konoha including her family would be destroyed.

"I just want to bring my parents back… if it wasn't for that stupid dragon they would still be here with me!" There was truth in that. Had Tyrsas not demand the lives of her parents and even her own. They would still be traveling through Grass and who knows what they were doing. Had Rin not intervene when he did, Tsuna would've been with her parents in the afterlife. Had Rin not killed the dragons and Loyalists Tsuna's life would have ended. So much blood was spilled by Rin's hand of human and dragon alike. All just so that he can protect Tsuna. Indirectly, Rin also saved the remaining Yoru in the village back in the Land of Birds that chose to fight alongside him.

"What do you wish for?" Tsuna's words broke his fixation of the past as Rin blinked before thinking about his answer. A thought occurred to him that brought a smile on his lips as he looks back up to the comet above them.

"I wish that I have the strength to protect the prosperity and peace amongst these lands for this generation and future generations. Whatever threat comes my way, be they from another world or once an ally. If they threaten the world, they will have to go through me if they can." The little girl watched in awe like a kid watching their favorite superhero with stars in their eyes.

"So you're like a hero then?!" Rin could hear Kurama burst in laughter which was surprising to hear. Come to think of it, there was a time Rin didn't think a Bijuu would beg to be let go. Genuine fear it was, and Rin is reminded that Bijuu does feel things aside from hatred and rage. If only Rin could have Kyuubi experience the positive things instead of focusing on the negative. By this point Kurama was rolling over to his side before he began mocking Rin.

Oh please mighty hero save me from distress! I'm dying over here! Kurama laughs again, and frankly Rin shrugged his shoulders with a hint of a smile on his lips.

Only if you promise chocolate chip cookies. Rin jokes as Kurama continues to laugh. The irony is that Kurama kept calling the boy a hero as well, and yet he denies it. Just now however, Rin spoke as if he was one thus contradicting himself.

"I wouldn't go that far, but this is my wish. I've always wanted to protect my home, but then as I traveled and trained. I learned that there are other places that needs to be protected as well."