Author's Note: Back by popular demand. It's undergone some revision and I combined it with a different plot bunny I had. Most of it is already scripted out. I just need to get it out on paper. Let's see how well I can stay on task.

After Nana becomes deathly ill, Iemitsu begs her mother and father (Tachibana Evaria and Tachibana Sosuke) and offers the service of his young cousin as payment. Sawada Kosen was Sawada Iemitsu's only living relative-his half-brother's son and a confirmed Sky. He was a few years older than Tsuna but had already been through a lot and he hoped that Tsuna would be a good influence on him.

It never crossed his mind that Kosen would be a bad influence on his Tsunayoshi.

If only they knew the truth about us.

Tsuna jerked as phantom limbs wrapped around him from behind in some sort of twisted action of romance. Tsuna felt the other comb his fingers through the back of his hair.

I think you should grow out your hair.

Tsuna grit his teeth and fought to ignore the other.

You shouldn't bottle up your rage, Tsunayoshi. You don't want to turn into Xanxus, now do you?

"Like hell I'll let you out." Tsuna snarled, already sensing his intent. "I never want that side of me to come out in front of them."

The other shifted in displeasure. He never liked Tsuna's Guardians. They numbed him, blocked him away… but recent events brought him back and now Tsuna couldn't quite get rid of him.

His Wrath.

He called it the other because it was part of him. It was everything he loathed about himself—his weaknesses, his faults, his flaws… and his most sinful desires.

Desires that involved his Guardians.

Dominating his Guardians.

Tsuna shivered with disgust and self-loathing. He'd never show that side of him to anyone. Never again.

Now you don't mean that… after all, you already let a small portion of me out when you go into Hyper Dying Will mode, remember?

You can be much stronger if you let me out to play for a little while…

Tsuna closed his eyes and set his pencil down so he could palm away the sting that prickled behind his eyeballs. He suppressed a groan.

"Slacking off again, Dame-Tsuna?" A squeaky voice asked from somewhere above him. That was all the warning he got before Reborn jump-kicked him in the side of the skull. Tsuna was sent flying and knocked his head on the side of the bed. He whimpered at the pain.

'If you want to come out and play, you can start by GIVING ME A LITTLE WARNING NEXT TIME!' Tsuna thought, making sure to make his mental voice echo the same way it would as if he was shouting through a megaphone. He felt the other wince.

As you wish.

Yeah right, Tsuna thought privately. The other liked seeing him in pain. He liked watching Reborn smack him around because every time he did, every time Tsuna kept his mouth shut about the behavior, the other grew stronger.

Anger.

Impatience.

Irritation.

The negative emotions added to the other's power and that put Tsunayoshi in a compromising position because when the other got stronger, he became difficult to fight off in Hyper Dying Will mode and those moments were crucial because the other was a source of power that was hidden deep inside of him. Those negative emotions had a negative effect on his body. The effect was physical because there was nothing to take the mental strain off. The mental strain manifested in an alternate persona (because Tsuna had never been good at spelling out how he felt, he suppressed the negative or what he knew society viewed as unnatural and put up walls to protect himself from rejection and abandonment. It helped to hide behind that when his strength failed him. Thankfully, that had yet to happen so no one knew about this side of him but when the shadows in his mind became too much and the demons banded together, they created something dark. In a last-ditch effort to save his sanity, his Hyper Intuition made it manifest in a form he could fight.

(Although, at this point, he wasn't sure if it was his Sky Flame that did it or his Hyper Intuition that did it-hell, he could have done it himself. He certainly had the discipline for it; his grandfather made damn sure of that.)

But that darkness, Tsunayoshi quickly learned, was the only curse of being a Sky. It compelled him to do certain things-made him physically ill if he didn't comply with those demands. It was a long and torturous process and his Guardians weren't ready for that kind of thing. They were too immature-too inexperienced...

...too forgetful.

Tsuna shivered, feeling an icy ache fill his heart. They were connected, the eight of them, and none of them knew it. They would never know, if Tsuna had his way. They didn't need to know the details. The only thing that mattered was that they were here now and they were going to be his.

You shouldn't try to bury the past. It always has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass.

'And what the hell is that supposed to mean?' Tsuna got the distinct impression that the other was smirking.

You'll see.

"Mama wants you downstairs." Reborn said frankly. Tsuna blinked at him before he processed the words.

"Okay." Tsuna stood up and walked down the stairs. When he was half-way down, on the eighth step, Reborn jumped and landed on his head. He flailed and lost his balance, tumbling down the stairs and landing in a heap. "Owwwwww!" Tsuna whined, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "What did you do that for, Reborn?"

"You were taking too long."

"Probably because I didn't want to trip." Tsuna sniped before he lunged forward and dodged the rubber bullet that would have left a welt on the side of his head. "What did y—" Tsuna cut off, feeling ice roll through his veins when Nana grabbed him in a hug and began sobbing, the othe's words echoing hauntingly in his mind.

You shouldn't try to bury the past. It always has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass.

Between her hysterical cries and unintelligible words, Tsuna could barely make out the four words he feared the most.

Sawada Kosen was dead.

Tsuzukeru.