Title: Inscrutable Yearnings
Author: XXiMentallyXunstable
Rating: T for *cough*implications *cough*
Pairing: 1827; one sided 6927
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance
Summary:

"If you were a sea animal, and I was the land monster, I would gladly cut off my legs to be with you in the sea. Don't you understand? Please, just for now, look at me. Because...as long as you're here, I know my place..." Sequel to Inscrutable Truths (which has been edited for grammar/spelling mistakes now.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn. If I did, I won't be writing fanfiction; I would be out there in Japan making 1827 scenes all over the manga.

•••

"I can't explain myself at all.

And all the wants
And all the needs
All I don't want to need at all."

Tsuna had always interested the trident wielding guardian. Truthfully, Mukuro had known the small brunette for a long time, even before his attack on Namimori middle school. When he was a kid and still in the Mafia world, he had overheard the scientists in the room talk about the future Decimo before and how they wanted to take him, too, and experiment on him; saying that he may not turn out to be a failure like the rest of the children that are six feet under.

The next time he heard of the Decimo, he had learned his name: 'Sawada Tsunayoshi'. They had begun looking up all sorts of information on him, preparing to kidnap the child, but unlike the children they had taken before him, they decided to cover up any traces at all that pinpointed them as the kidnappers, he was, after all, the future heir to the prestigious Vongola family. They would not be as easily fooled as the police are in their investigations and will search thoroughly until they found them. Although they were determined to take this new kid, they certainly did not want an all out mafia war against the Vongolas.

The third time he had overheard their conversations about the young boy, they were ready to abduct the boy. They had pictures of him scattered over the conference table. One photo fell next to Mukuro's foot. He decided to pick it up; upon picking up the photo, he saw a boy with unruly auburn hair. His eyes were a bright honey color that still had life in it and so much ahead of him. He was everything Mukuro wasn't. And they were going to take it all away from him. Mukuro's free hand, that wasn't holding the picture, slowly curled up to a fist. If he allowed their plans to follow through, Tsuna would become a monster like himself. He wasn't about to allow that to happen.

Suddenly, in a rush of adrenaline, he started wrecking the whole lab (often used as a conference room), including all the inhabitants inside. Before he knew it, everyone in the room was dead and all the research papers were ripped into unrecognizable pieces, the walls were partially torn down and there was only enough left to support the ceiling from falling down. The only survivors were his friends. There were a total of three people who survived, out of the millions sacrificed.

In contrast to all the blood around him and the large amount of blood on him, he felt good. He was able to save his friends from further experiments that may deform them even further and kill them eventually. Not only that, but he also saved a child that had much of the future ahead of him. He could be someone that Mukuro could have been, wanted to be.

He decided to go and look for this future Mafia boss. Maybe he could bring an end to the corruption of the Mafia world. As he walked out of the building for the first time in years with Chikusa and Ken, he saw the blaring, bright yellow sun shining down on them as if to welcome them back to the outside world. Smiling to himself, he motioned for his two companions to follow as he told them his intentions to meet the future Vongola boss. They agreed and they had searched for years (Mukuro eventually wished he never tore all the papers in the lab that probably could have told him Tsuna's address. But then again, those papers held information as to how to make monsters like him.) Along search, Mukuro accidentally killed a few civilians (okay, a lot) and got restrained by the police. Even though he could have easily gotten out of their grasps, he decided to play along as he felt that it was best not to make a big scene.

During his time in confinement, Mukuro did some thinking. No matter where he went, all the Mafioso had bad intentions, so what made this Tsuna, which he never met personally, so great? In the end, he decided he would just take control of Tsuna by possessing him. The next thing he did was to use his illusion powers to look for any clues. Eventually, he pinpointed Tsuna inNamimori,Japan. So, he broke out of jail with his friends, called Lancia over and his fellow jail mates and went against Tsuna and his family. However, after his fight he realized he could trust him, he silently at cursed himself, why didn't he believe his first instincts about this boy?

Now, he was captured by Vendice. He thought he was going to be stuck there forever, until he opened his eyes to see the blue sky again. But instead of the sun welcoming him this time, it was Tsuna, smiling down at him with his hand outstretched, waiting for Mukuro to take his hand. He looked to his right and saw Ken and Chikusa grinning at him (with Ken showing all his dangerously sharp teeth) and Chrome was to his left, smiling at him as well. Seeing Chrome meant that this was no illusion. He was free. After that, he had devoted himself to Tsuna and helping him with the workload and other took any of the jobs that Tsuna was too busy to deal with. He was devoted, but not as bad as Gokudera, of course (Gokudera challenged him at this, feeling that his position as the right hand man was being threated.). Eventually, this feeling of admiration had grown to something more. Perhaps it was already there, but he just never noticed it.

So, it hit him the hardest when he had accidentally found the Cloud guardian and Tsuna in the corner of an empty hallway. The skylark was cornering Tsuna and every step Hibari took, Tsuna took one more step back, until his back was against the wall.

"Hibari-san..."

Mukuro immediately thought Hibari was bullying Tsuna right away. Just when Mukuo was about to step in and save Tsuna, Hibari said something that caught the Mist guardian's attention and he decided to hide behind the wall behind the two in the corner in order to listen further.

"Omnivore, what did I tell you to call me when we're alone?"

"Uhm... Kyouya...," the brunette started hesitantly, but not before blushing a bright red on his cheeks.

"Hmm?" The ex-prefect asked. He already knew what Tsuna wanted to say but decided to humor him anyways. "What is it?"

"Let's not do that here...It's kind of—," Tsuna made a fake cough. "—a public area here."

"Hnn... No one's here to watch," stated Hibari. "One kiss before I go out on another mission won't hurt." Hibari smirked.

"Or if you're worried about kissing in a public place, we could always move to my bed..." Hibari's smirk grew larger as

Tsuna blushed a brighter hue on his cheeks.

"K-Kyouya! Not tonight!"

Mukuro felt like he died a little inside. He always thought that he would take all of Tsuna's firsts.

"Why?" Hibari leaned closer. "It's not like you don't like it."

"I have a meeting with the Millifiore tomorrow," Tsuna partially exclaimed, but kept his volume low enough at the same time. "And I don't want my ass sore."

Hibari huffed out a "Fine" and dove into Tsuna for a chaste kiss before heading out, leaving Tsuna there to break down from embarrassment.

Mukuro glared at Hibari from his spot as he saw that.

"You should go to sleep early then," Hibari said as he walked opposite of where Mukuro was. Tsuna just nodded silently (but it wasn't like Hibari could see it anyways since his back was already turned.) After a few minutes Hibari left, Tsuna started to get up. Mukuro saw this as his cue to come out of his hiding spot and go to Tsuna,

"Kufufufu..."

Tsuna felt a chill down his spine.

"Mukuro... How long have you been there?" Truthfully, Tsuna had felt his Mukuro radar go off before, but he was too preoccupied with the skylark to do anything about it.

"You haven't told me that you were going out with the birdie... Kufufufu..."

"Ah... Well..." Tsuna's guardians already knew, but Mukuro hadn't since he wasn't out of the Vindicare at the time the rest of the guardians found out. "It...Just slipped my... mind?"

"Kufu... It hurts my heart that you've forgotten about me—"

"No! Of course not! I'll never forget you," the brunette exclaimed.

"Kufu. I know, I was just teasing you." He smiled at his boss. Tsuna smiled sadly.

"Is something the matter," Mukuro ask after seeing the sad smile.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Of course," Mukuro said as he walked closer. He put his hands on Tsuna's shoulders playfully and steered him to the direction of the Vongola mansion's garden.

It was getting close to midnight and the stars were visible in the dark blue night sky. Mukuro pulled a chair out from a table in the garden and motioned for Tsuna to sit down. As Tsuna sat on the offered chair, Mukuro pulled the chair opposite of Tsuna and sat on it, facing him.

"Want anything to eat or drink?" Mukuro motioned his hand on his eye, telling Tsuna that he can make real illusions of food for him.

Tsuna, who was flabbergasted at his new way for using his illusions declined with a "No, it's okay."

Mukuro shrugged. It wasn't like he was going to poison it (that was him from years ago) it just merely set the mood.

Mukuro waited there until Tsuna decided to talk.

"What would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?" Tsuna looked at Mukuro with those large doe eyes filled with seriousness.

Mukuro stared back with the same amount of seriousness in his eyes, contemplating the question. His boss wasn't about to kill himself, was he? No, he wouldn't do that and leave everyone behind. The heterochromatic guardian closed his eyes and opened them with a smile. He walked over to behind Tsuna's chair and patted the mafia boss's head.

"Well, I would write letters to everyone that cares about me, it might let them feel less alone. And since death is inevitable, I would let others be ignorant of my death, lest they over worry themselves."

Mukuro kneeled on his knee and took Tsuna's hand.

"M-Mukuro?" Tsuna had no words to the man that was currently kneeling down on him right now.

"Please don't do anything stupid to yourself tomorrow at the Millefiore meeting, we all love you and would hate to see you die."

The mist guardian kissed his Sky's knuckles and stood back up, his hand never leaving Tsuna's hand.

'Ah...did he figure it out,' Tsuna pondered, hoping that he didn't. Mukuro's nest sentence answered his question.

"Ah, but you're stronger than them, so that wouldn't happen, right?"

'Good, he doesn't know.'

Mukuro glanced at his watch. It read 11:55 P.M.

"Well then, it should be about time we get you to bed now!" He decided to have some fun with the young boss and picked Tsuna up by his arms and carried him bridal style towards the exit of the Vongola garden.

"M-M-Mukuro! I'm not a kid!" Tsuna was blushing from embarrassment of being carried like this. He wasn't used to being carried like this by someone other than Hibari.

"Kufufufu... But you sure look like one!"

"You're only saying that because you look like an old man right," Tsuna asked playfully.

"Kufufu this one has a backbone.'

"Oya, oya, I'm hurt." Mukuro clutched his hands over his chest.

"I look like an old man to you," Mukuro responded, following Tsuna's playfulness. They continued to joke around some more, and before they knew it, they were in front of Tsuna's door. Mukuro opened the Tenth's door and sat Tsuna down on his bed.

"Well then, sweet dreams." Mukuro said and ruffled Tsuna's hair before planting a goodnight kiss to his forehead.

Tsuna gave a glare to Mukuro, but it turned out more like a cute pout. Mukuro slightly blushed at the cuteness of it.

"Well then, see you tomorrow," Mukuro said before heading out the room and into the hall.

"Yes... Thank you and good bye," Tsuna said before Mukuro went out of hearing range. Mukuro's eyes widened as he heard 'good bye.' He turned his head around only to see the other body sleeping soundly.

'He probably meant good night, seeing as how sleepy he is right now.'

But somewhere in the back of Mukuro's head, he felt like that wasn't all.

The next day, Mukuro came back from his mission early because the storm guardian had informed all the guardians to come back to the Vongola mansion. Needless to say, Mukuro came back as soon as possible, in fear that something had happened to the boss, since Gokudera was calling the meeting instead of his beloved tenth.

The news that greeted him was not very pleasant. Tsuna had apparently died in the hands of the Milifiore head, Byakuran. Mukuro couldn't decide what he was feeling. Disdain towards the opposing family? Overwhelming grief of his boss? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that his emotions were in a mess so he decided to keep quiet to sort him self out. He was still this state during the usual type of sermon the priest would be giving to the deceased. It wasn't until later that night that he snapped out of his trance. It was then that Tsuna's loyal dog knocked his door. Mukuro went up to answer the door.

"Oya, what might the loyal pup be doing here?"

"I didn't come here because I wanted to either," the storm guardian practically yelled (well actually he did yell,) at his fellow guardian.

Ouch, he sure felt the love. (Though, it wasn't as if he really cared anyways.)

Wait, did he just say either?

"What do you mean by 'either'," Mukuro inquired.

"Both you and that bastard are assholes, if it wasn't for the tenth's will, I wouldn't be here." Bastard? The guardian across from him called everyone that, so he couldn't tell which bastard he had meant. But Mukuro decided that it wasn't important anyways.

Ah, yes, he did remember something vaguely about Tsuna's will.

"Kufu, so what did he leave me? A mission?" Mukuro doesn't believe that Tsuna would actually leave him anything, but if he did, it was probably a mission. Secretly, he had hoped that he would leave him something to allow Mukuro to remember Tsuna by, but even if Tsuna was the kindest person on Earth, he was still a bad person and after all that he's done to Tsuna, trying to take his body, he really thought that there won't be much. But on the contrary, he also wished he was left with a mission; one that would pertain to the Millifiore that murdered his dear boss.

"I don't know," Gokudera answered as he flung a manila envelope towards Mukuro, who caught it with ease.

"Kufu... quite a disappointment for a self proclaimed right man."

Gokudera's head flared in red with anger.

"Tch," he didn't have time to deal with the pineapple, so he pivoted his foot and slammed the door behind him; leaving a few screws unscrewed from the impact.

"Oya, oya. Looks like I'll have to fix that," he said as he used his illusions to fix the door. When he was done with that, he took a look at the envelope that the storm guardian had just given him, carefully noting how the envelope was flat, meaning only a paper or two were in there. He opened the envelope and slid out the piece of paper.

Dear Mukuro,

It read. 'A letter?' he wondered.

How are you? I hope everyone's faring well.

'And why would we be okay with your death?' He thought bitterly.

I took your advice and left a letter in my will for everyone.

Mukuro's eyes widened at the statement he just read. '

He knew...' His eyes lidded slightly. 'He knew... And he rushed into the base anyways... Didn't he know that his guardians would do anything for him? They wouldn't let him die, not like this.' His hand crinkled the neat piece of paper slightly as he read the next sentence.

You were right, when you said to not let anyone know, I wouldn't like it if you were to sacrifice yourselves for me.

'That idiot,' Mukuro thought as he furrowed his brow.

I remember the first time I met you. We were on such hostile terms, but as we got to know each other more, I would like to think that it's no longer the case anymore. I trust you, now, so very much. I hope to see you again in the future.

I know I will.

Ci vediamo dopo.

'See you later... hmm... ' Mukuro could only wonder what his boss meant, but for now, he needed to spy on the Millifiore famiglia.

Mukuro left the mansion with out a trace for the rest of the Mafioso men to track him down.

•••Omake I•••

When he saw the man he was going to be spying (for his own reasons outside of a Vongola mission) he felt like he was mentally smacked in the face. He thought the Vongola Decimo could fight better than an old man! Mukuro had first seen Byakuran from the back and immediately noted his pure white hair and thought that he was at least Nono's age already.

When Byakuran turned around to face Mukuro—

"Ah~! So you're the new recruit, Leo, right~?"

—He felt like smacking his head on the clean, white walls of the room, right there and then (and sufficiently dirtying the walls with his blood from abusing it too much). 'Shit.' He had to work for a weird guy with a playfulness of a five year old, and white hair like an eighty year old to boot. 'I want Tsuna back...' He at least looked his age, front and back, he wasn't so sure about the inside, though.

•••Omake II•••

Mukuro decided it was high time that he went back to the Vongola mansion by now. It was a good time to visit Tsuna's resting place too. As he neared the said place, in the woods, he realized something was wrong with the lid of the coffin, it was opened.

'Shoot,' Mukuro thought. He knew it was a better idea to cremate the body, lest the rest of the Mafia do anything to the dead man's body, but the stubborn cloud guardian was dead against it.

'Necrophilia?' Mukuro mentally chuckled at the thought. He always did think that the bird lover was a strange one... Mukuro shuddered. In contrast, it was quite a scary thought, not even he was into such a thing, and he'd rather not smell a corpse if he could help it...

Mukuro quickly walked out of the forest, ready to tell the other family members about this.

As he went inside, he felt the floor rumble slightly.

'That's odd,' he thought.

He identified the cause of the rumbles from the sparing room from the basement. He decided to check it out. 'Just who on earth is doing that?'

The only time this happened was when Hibari and Tsuna were sparing. Not even Hibari alone could make the floors of the Vongola mansion shake. These were after all, high class materials that made up the building. However, when it was Hibari and Tsuna, it was a different story, with Hibari's destructive power, and Tsuna's X-burner, the place was usually a mess after the fight. So, who could be making the ruckus now that Tsuna wasn't here, he pondered.

He went closer and closer to the room being used. He could hear Hibari's tonfas in action and his porcupine expanding. What's more was that he could hear the all nostalgic noise of a flamethrower type of sound. He could sense a sky flame with the cloud flame in the room too. He quickly hurried towards the said room and his eyes widened at the sight.

There stood Tsuna, of ten years ago, training with Hibari. He couldn't believe it. It was Tsuna. It wasn't his eyes playing tricks at him, and it wasn't his illusions activating without his consent to create a spitting image of a Tsuna ten years ago. Yes, that explained the coffin. It explained the letter. It explained everything. He felt his knees go week at the sight before him.

He let his first tear fall down.

...

...

'I missed you so much

...

...

Did you know, Tsuna?

...

...

That I love you... Tsuna...'

But, he knew, he knows, he could never be with him.

"If you were a sea animal,

And I was the land monster,

I would gladly cut off my legs to be with you in the sea.

Don't you understand?

Please, just for now, look at me.

Because...as long as you're here, I know my place..."

So ...This is the sequel to "Inscrutable truths," as mentioned earlier in the summary of this fic. This is more like another side to the same coin than a sequel, I guess though. I'm not sure if it'll be a trilogy, even though I said it I was thinking of it, but I don't know if I will anymore since I thought up some more ideas...but the possibility is still there.

Also, you may see that I kinda changed my writing style, I was kinda reading William Goldman's "The Princess Bride" and I guess I got influenced with the parenthesis and all... I think I added too many? Anyways great book, if you watched the movie, (which I haven't...) you should read it too, if you want. I'm also thinking of a parody for KHR with the Princess bride. I think I'll start writing around this week/month/ soon...

So...Let me know what you think by reviewing!