Chapter 1

"Takudome-san?"

The door creeped open and Tsuna looked out into the hallway, his hand clutching his silver cross. He pushed the door more open, the creaks echoing in the silent house. He closed it and walked down the hall. The faint sound of the piano flowed in his house, filling the air with sweet, eerie notes

"Takudome-san?" Tsuna said quietly, entering the living room.

He saw the bloody woman sitting at the piano, her pale fingers gliding swiftly on the keys with ease. She stayed silent, lost in her own world.

Tsuna smiled. "Do you like it, Takudome-san? I bought it yesterday just for you."

He tensed when she stopped, her fingers lingering on the keys. Her head bent backwards, a sickening crack breaking the tense silence.

"Bought...for me?" she whispered in a deranged tone.

Tsuna kept his calm as she twisted her head slowly to face him evenly in the eyes. Her skin was pale and littered with lacerations, her lips blue and her eyes completely black with dark vein-like marks extending across her face: the sign of a corrupt spirit.

"You say that all the time!" she shrieked, lunging at him.

Tsuna thrust his hand out towards her quickly and raised his cross. "Eximo!"

Wind rose around him, white light flashing from his hand and glowing around his cross. The spirit screamed in pain, raising her arms to cover her face. Her form glowed and everything started to peel away before a small ball of light was left, flickering with a radiant flare.

Tsuna smiled and gently took ahold of it. "Now you are free, Takudome-san."

He raised his hands and spread them apart, the ball fading until there was nothing but darkness again. At least, it was a weak spirit. He walked back to his room when he felt a tug at his leg. He looked down to see a faint hand of a child.

"Kin-chan," he said softly, "is something wrong? Is anyone else here?"

The transparent child shook her head and led him to his bedroom, pointing at his untouched bed. She placed her hands together and brought them to her ear, pretending that it was a pillow.

Tsuna shook his head. "I can't sleep, Kin-chan. I have to keep an eye out for the others. I'll tuck you in if you want."

The girl beamed and ran towards the bed; but once she touched it, her hand went through. She widened her eyes and looked back at him in fear and confusion.

Tsuna immediately understood what it meant, but smiled nonetheless. He walked to her side and sat down on the floor, patting his lap. She frowned and went down to take a seat. She snuggled into his chest and looked up questioningly.

"Don't worry, Kin-chan," Tsuna said, rocking her back and forth gently in a comforting rhythm. "It'll be okay. Just go to sleep. I'm right here."

Kin nodded happily, her hand gripping Tsuna's shirt. It was a faint feeling but it was there. Her eyes closed slowly before she finally went to sleep.

Tsuna grimaced, a heavy feeling in his chest. Her presence was too weak in this world. She was purified months ago but never seemed to leave his side like most of the children spirits that he encountered. He couldn't quite understand it. There was nothing special about him. He never turned them away though and allowed them to stay by his side.

He never knew how much time passed after that, but he did see the sun slowly rising outside of his window, the sky having a slight tinge of orange and purple.

He looked down at Kin who was fading slowly away. She must've noticed as well when she opened her eyes and looked at him frantically. He hugged her close, but didn't feel anything. She got out of his hold and tried to reach her hands up his face, only for them to pass through. Tears cascaded down her cheeks freely.

"Don't cry, Kin-chan," Tsuna said soothingly. "It'll be okay. You'll be able to join your mama and papa. You'll be able to see them again."

Kin shook her head quickly and started to weep silently, looking down at the floor. Tsuna reached out for her but she disappeared completely.

An ache bloomed in his chest and he unconsciously gripped the silver cross around his neck, trying to find the warmth of his mother's touch within it.

He hugged his knees to his chest. He hated his duty, he hated his life. Why couldn't he be born normal like the others?

There was no answer. Just silence, the all-too familiar silence.

Tsuna walked to school numbly, ignoring the other people's disgusted stares and whispers. His mind was somewhere else, replaying Kin fading away over and over again. No matter how much he tried to forget what happened to her and to the other children before, he was still overcome with grief each and every time; but, he knew that they couldn't stay here forever. This wasn't where they belonged. That was why his mother entrusted him with this duty to carry out, to help the stray, corrupted spirits to their world and he would do it no matter what, whether he hated it or not.

"Strange noises came from his house again," a woman said.

"I was too afraid to check what was going on," her friend said.

He sighed and forced a smile on his face, looking up to the sky for comfort. It's okay. Just keep walking. Ignore them.

When he arrived at the gates of Namimori Middle, he suddenly realized that he forgot his science homework at home.

Nezu-sensei will have my head again, he thought bitterly.

A familiar sharp tingle went up his spine and he looked around to search for the unearthly presence. He followed it, pushing through a crowd full of students.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please excuse me. Sorry."

He instinctively took out his silver cross from his shirt and raised it in the air, about to say the word until he froze.

He was in front of Hibari, the Demon of Namimori and the most feared person in existence. However, he didn't find himself concerned with the glowering prefect nor was he even afraid of the boy. His eyes were on the small child by his side, her eyes pure black with vein-like markings stretching across her small pale face. She smiled eerily up at him and placed her hand on Hibari's arm, her form stretching into black tendrils and wrapping around the prefect.

Tsuna saw Hibari try to mask a wince and a shiver by glaring even more harshly down at him. He had to get rid of the spirit before Hibari would get hurt or worse, be killed. He considered talking to the prefect about it, but who ever listened to him?

He struck the man in the chest with his cross and heard gasps from the students behind him. He didn't pay them any mind as he watched the girl fly out of Hibari's body before catching herself in the air. She laughed wickedly, almost in amusement, and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

He sighed and reached a hand out to the stunned prefect. "Thank goodness, Hibari-san. If she stayed in your body much longer then - "

Pain exploded in his cheek and he reached up to touch his face. He widened his eyes when he saw blood on his fingertips. He struggled to get up but a leg came down to kick him in the stomach. A gasp escaped his bloody lips.

"For once, I think Hibari-san is justified in what he's doing."

"Dame-Tsuna, you're crazy!"

"You fucked up piece of shit."

Tsuna weakly rose to his knees when a blunt force struck him across the face and another slammed into his chest. For a second, he thought his heart stopped as he fell backwards to the hard ground. His whole body ached profusely, but not so much than his heart.

"Tsu-kun, it's important that no one else knows, okay?"

"But why, Mama? Won't it be better if they knew? Then they wouldn't look at you with scary faces."

"It's for the best, Tsu-kun. Just promise me, okay?"

"Okay..."

Tsuna gritted his teeth as he stood up when he suddenly felt something snap from his neck. He widened his eyes when he saw Hibari take a hold of his cross.

"Wait, Hibari-san!" he said, desperately trying to take back the sacred item. "You can do whatever you want with me, but please don't take that away! I beg of you! It's my m - "

Hibari kicked him in the head and he fell down with a thud. Black spots danced hazily in his vision.

"Herbivore, you disobeyed the school dress code," Hibari said coldly. "You even had the nerve to lay hand on me."

Tsuna reached up weakly, wishing that the cross was back in his possession. "Please, Hibari-san. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

He turned his back on him and walked away, his black jacket fluttering behind him. Students walked by, some even kicking Tsuna with a sneer.

Once everyone went inside the school building, Tsuna summoned all of his willpower to stand, his knees shaking beneath him. Once he was on his feet, he walked towards the school and stayed close to the wall. He winced every time he took a step, getting closer to the window of the Discipline Committee's office.

He leaned onto his hand heavily as he looked up the window blankly.

Once I get it back, I think I'll have to purify him too, he thought blandly.

A/N Another story...TT^TT Don't ask. Bunnies are mean.

Tsuna is NOT related to the Vongola Family whatsoever nor is he some kind of lost twin or relative of the current Decimo candidate. However, he will be a prominent role for the guardians and the center of this story. Whether or not if he will become Decimo or a possible candidate will not be answered until the story progresses further. I apologize for that.

Pairings, not sure. Suggestions are welcomed.

Don't worry! I'm not abandoning any of my stories. I just keep making new ones...-_-

Eximo - Latin for "release" (Not sure if it's right...)

Silencium - Latin for "silence, peace"

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you can!

See you in the next chapter!