It was a beautiful evening. The sun had almost completely set, leaving the sky painted in shades of pink, orange and purple, getting darker the further up you looked, and the hills at the outskirts of town were seemingly blanketed in fire, glowing in fiery, wild tones of orange and gold. From the ceiling-high windows of the only Italian restaurant in Namimori, this view was utterly unobstructed and more than ready to leave any unprepared client of the not-too-classy-yet-not-too-casual establishment utterly breathless.

It was the perfect setting for a date.

And yet, Sawada Tsunayoshi could not bring himself to enjoy it.

A week ago, he'd finally (About time, Dame-Tsuna.) finished working up the courage to ask his Sun Guardian's sister, Kyouko, out on a date. Yes, all-powerful Vongola Decimo (candidate!), who had gone through countless battles and prevailed, had needed three years to ask friendly, cheerful, doe-eyed Sasagawa Kyouko out.

Yet the day after, he'd started getting faint nudges and hints from his subconscious that he'd long since started to relate to his Hyper Intuition acting up, which left him antsy. To his frustration, throughout the whole week, nothing happened, but the nudges where starting to turn into a full-out headache that the handful of painkillers he'd taken before walking out of his home could just barely restrain.

Therefore, instead of relaxing and enjoying his very first date, he was forced to be on the constant lookout for trouble while donning a cheerful mask in front of his date. He may have agreed to inform her of all the trouble he got into whenever she was involved, but that did not mean that he wanted her to be involved. At best, he was hoping to deal with whatever it was when Kyouko was not present.

But when did Fate ever listen to his pleas?

Just as he'd been starting to relax into the conversation she was successfully trying to pull him into, she had to depart for the bathroom for a short while. His Hyper Intuition flared and he looked around, searching for something amiss, but finding nothing. It was just the usual scene inside a restaurant: people sitting at tables, eating and talking and generally having a good time, waiters walking from table to kitchen to other table like bees at the orders of their queen, guards in black suits standing inconspicuously at different spots of the restaurant- wait, guards? There hadn't been guards before. Plus the whole group seemed to be composed of foreigners...

Oh hell.

At the same time that thought shot through his head, a bullet shot through the air.

And all hell broke loose.

Kyouko was having the time of her life, her mood only slightly dampened by the fact that Tsuna-kun apparently wasn't. She'd enjoyed every moment of the evening and basked in the calming warmth he seemed to radiate. She'd cheered inwardly when she'd managed to shift his attention completely to their conversation and away from whatever was worrying him and had been very regretful to have to leave for the bathroom, if only shortly. But, hey, when a girl has her needs, she has her needs.

Therefore she had definitely not expected the sight that awaited her outside of the bathroom. It was total chaos. Screams, some angry and some terrified, the sound of very valuable objects breaking, and, most importantly, gunshots. She finally connected the dots when she saw a swarm of men in black suits, holding guns, chasing after a trail of blazing flames.

Now, Kyouko liked to think herself an EXTREME optimistic, as her brother so loudly put it and took pride on always thinking of the best case scenario first and foremost. However, as airheaded as she admittedly could sometimes be, this did not make her stupid. She knew when to give up on optimism and start worrying about the situation. And this was one of those times.

Without a second thought, she ran for the entrance, where she'd seen most of the men go. She had to make sure Tsuna-kun was alright. She just had to. As she emerged from the entrance, she belatedly realized that it was raining. It had probably just started, but that didn't matter right now. What did matter was finding Tsu- ah, there he was. It was a bit hard to miss the orange beacon of light in the gray darkness of the evening. He was alright, he wasn't hurt. Kyouko felt her shoulders sag in relief as she processed that thought.

Then, she made a quick sweep of the men in black suits – Mafioso, her mind supplied – and made her decision. It pained her to leave him under these circumstances, but, sadly, she'd seen Tsuna-kun face far worse opponents and come out without a scratch on his person. She knew he could handle this and she had faith in him. The only way she could help him right was getting out of the way. She wasn't as foolish as to think that she could aid him in battle an she didn't want to be a hindrance, so she dove back into the restaurant to wait it out.

Or at least she tried to.

Out of nowhere, a hand grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards. Something cold and narrow pressed itself against her back and she froze in panic.

This was not supposed to happen.

Hands clenched as if in prayer and a frown marring his face, Vongola Decimo (candidate, darn it!) stood suspended in the air, his mind whirring with information, trying to make sense of the current situation while letting his body react on its own and dispatch the threats one by one.

He had no idea where they had come from. He had no idea who they were. He had no idea why they had come- no, scratch that. It was pretty obvious. But why? Why were they attempting to kill the arguably most powerful man in the Mafia, or at least the Heir (possible!) to that position? He had had to deal with very few attempts on his life since Reborn had come and turned it upside down, simply because such an act was widely regarded as suicide.

But here was a famiglia that deemed itself powerful enough to challenge the Vongola. Or maybe they had thought that kidnapping their last heir, who they had heard was a small, wimpy kid with absolutely no connections in the Mafia. If the latter was the case, these guys were either pretty new in the business or had a horrible informant. If the former was the case... there would at least be some flame users in this group, so that was out.

He was brought out of his musings by an authoritative shout, "Vongola Decimo!" His enemies suddenly retreated, which probably meant that the man shouting was their leader. He turned his head to exactly who that was – and his breath caught in his throat. "We've got a hostage. The woman you fancy if I am not mistaken. Surrender now and we might let her go." The man holding a gun to Kyouko's back sneered.

Three years ago, he might have complied. Three years ago he would've been devastated and frozen in shock and self loathing. But right now? Right now he was just angry. Outraged, somewhat fearful, yes.

But mostly angry.

Without an ounce of hesitation, he charged at them fully intending to save Kyouko. But he did not count on the reaction of an opponent unprepared at the sight of him going at speeds far beyond normality. It had, after all, been quite a long while since he had fought an opponent without an ounce of knowledge about flames. So he never expected the man to accidentally pull the trigger out of sheer fright.

No.

As his eyes widened in horror, he could do nothing but watch her eyes widen in shock and her back arch in pain. He could do nothing but see her body falling as if in slow motion, a far away part of his mind absently calculating if he'd be able to catch her before she hit the floor. He could do nothing to save the life that was quickly fading from those beautiful, beautiful eyes or to stop the redredcrimsonred stain blooming on the front and back of her summer dress.

He could do nothing. He was helpless to watch.

When he finally reached her, an arm found its way around her shoulders to support her while his other hand grabbed the man's face, letting him feel the burn of his flames before throwing him into a wall. It then reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. His hand was trembling, but he managed to dial the right number, all the while looking anywhere but that horrible stain. After what felt like an eternity and a half, someone picked up.

"Juudaime? Is something wrong?"

He didn't waste a single breath "Get me Onii-san!"

"Juu-"

"Now!"

"What's wrong?" His tone of voice turned strict and demanding, something he had scarcely used on his beloved Boss simply out of principle. It left no room for argument.

"It's... it's Kyouko, she... I can't..." Tears started prickling the corners of his eyes and his voice grew incredibly faint, "... help... she... she's..." he couldn't continue but he didn't need to either.

"I'll get turf top. We'll be there as soon as we can. Don't worry Juudaime." And the line went dead.

Tsuna stared at his phone in trepidation. Dare he hope? Was Kyouko really not going to... to...

His train of thought was brought to a halt when he felt soft, trembling fingers on his cheek. His hand found hers and pressed it against his cheek as he looked down at the girl lying on his lap (and since when was he on his knees?). His breath hitched when he took in her unnaturally pale complexion and her irregular breathing. But her lips. Her lips, bloody and pale as they were, were stretched in a smile.

"Tsuna... kun." She said in a voice so faint he could barely hear her.

"No! Kyouko-chan, don't talk. Just- just hold on and wait. Onii-san will be here any moment and-" But she shook her head gently, almost imperceptibly, and his brain stopped working.

"I loved... the time I... could spend with... you and ev- everyone." Now he was shaking his head, not noticing the trail of hot tears on his face, but his eyes never left hers. "You... made me... very happy."

Tsuna gritted his teeth in frustration. No. This couldn't be happening. No. But she continued, even as every breath she took felt like liquid fire, she continued.

"I don't... blame you... I- I actually wan... wanted to thank you... for sharing so... so much with me. So don't... don't let me stop you... your life... live it with... without regrets." More tears poured out of his eyes like a river and he leaned forward, because he knew he could not miss a single word. Light was quickly leaving her eyes as she got two last words out.

"Goodbye... Tsu-kun..." With those words her eyes unfocused as she looked beyond him and the sky, to a place where he could not reach her.

Tsuna let his head fall in despair as the drops of rain pounded mercilessly on his back. "Kyouko-chan... Kyouko..."

And so, Sasagawa Kyouko died under the heavy rain with a smile on her face.

The men who had originally attacked the restaurant were frozen in place. Their leader was down for the count, which had never occurred to them when they were planning an attack on the Vongola Decimo as a show of power from their relatively new and admittedly weak famiglia. They had heard the Vongola was a big shot in the Mafia and their sole weakness was the heir, who lived in Japan and supposedly was not suited for the position of Boss at all.

Then, the boy had suddenly caught on fire, under the rain, and god knew how they were supposed to react to that. But they were nothing if not relentless, so they kept on attacking. And then their leader, their saviour of saviours, had found leverage against the young Boss who was surpassing their expectations in every way. For a moment, relief had washed over them.

And then the boy disappeared, only to appear right next to the leader right as a single gunshot resounded throughout the street. He'd grabbed him by the head with a flaming hand (in retrospect, this should not have been so shocking, seeing as the boy could fly)and thrown him into a wall.

That had never happened before.

Their current leader was the second-in-command of the whole famiglia. The man was strong and fearsome (of course they couldn't compare since they had barely ever seen other, more powerful famiglie in action). He was pretty much invincible. And he was currently lying unconscious in a whole in the wall he'd been thrown into, surrounded.

For the men, who had never really seen what people in their world were really capable of, this was the equivalent of the end of the world. Therefore, they were too shocked to react to the blatant opportunity given to them when the boy held the girl as she undoubtedly died in his arms.

However, they were shaken out of their stupor when they noticed the boy standing up.

This rain did not calm any hearts, nor did it wash away any sort of anxiety. No, this rain disguised. It disguised his face, it disguised the tears, it disguised the sorrow, and it made him feel as cold outside as he felt inside.

He didn't like this rain, but he didn't hate it either.

As he slowly turned around and deliberately walked over to the men standing a ways away from him, he didn't look up to take in their reactions, nor to measure which points in the body to attack. He kept his eyes shadowed by his bangs and his posture relaxed (sagged, slumped) as he ever so slowly approached his attackers. The change was gradual.

The first thing that stood out to them in the dark, rainy evening was the small flame on his forehead.

Three more steps. Now his hands – fists – were burning.

Five steps closer. Some eerie glow emanated from below those bangs of his.

Four steps. The flame on his forehead grew, became wilder.

Two steps.

Six steps.

Three steps.

A gunshot.

Time stopped. He did too. A faint line of red, blood traced his cheek. A stray shot out of nerves and tension.

He lifted his eyes – and the men froze. Those eyes. Those glowing, intense eyes. They were the eyes of a god of destruction on a warpath searching for those who had incurred his wrath.

And finding them.

For a moment, nothing moved. Their hearts did not beat, the rain did not fall, the flames did not flicker.

And then, he disappeared.

The men had no time to even scream.

Hayato was panting. He'd had to find that stupid turf top for Juudaime since apparently something had happened to his woman, who also happened to be the idiot's younger sister. The problem was that the insufferable, loud imbecile could never find it in himself to get himself a freaking cellphone. Therefore, he'd been forced search through half the town until he found him jogging in the park.

Convincing him, at least, hadn't been so troublesome since all he had to do was mention his sister. After that he was completely willing to follow him to where he knew the Juudaime's date was supposed to take place at – which was at the other side of town.

At some point, they'd ran into the baseball freak and, after listening to what they knew from turf top, who was uncharacteristically serious, he decided to tag along just in case something happened.

By the time the neared the restaurant, Hayato was ready to pull his hair out in impatience. Juudaime, he'd sounded truly desperate and completely terrified on the phone, to the point where he'd had to use what his sister called his 'authoritative voice' to get anything out of him. Every, second he spent away from the Juudaime's side was another possible tragedy.

And he had a very bad feeling.

If it were not for the fact that they were still needed, he would have collapsed from relief when they finally reached their destination. That is, until he actually saw what was going on.

Countless bodies littered the street. Mafioso, judging by their attire and the guns in most of their hands. A knot formed in his stomach but he ignored it in favour of looking for his Boss. But when his gaze finally found him, it was definitely not what he'd expected to see.

Tsuna was holding a man by the throat. His other hand went through the man's chest. The man was not breathing.

What.

The lifeless body fell from his grasp and Hayato finally noticed what he hadn't before. The blood. While being somewhat washed away by the rain, the blood was still there.

And it was everywhere. His hands. His clothes. His face. His hair. Everywhere.

What.

No. This was impossible. There was no way- He couldn't have- He- He- No! Tsuna- Tsuna would never have done that. Never. He was too kind, too compassionate, too adamant on valuing life (too naïve, whispered his subconscious). So this couldn't be-

Tsuna turned his head to look at them and suddenly he could not think, could not even breathe.

The flames were gone now, as was the glow, leaving Tsuna as his core. And his eyes... they didn't look at them but through them. Those eyes were hollow, void, with only a flicker of emotion – grief? Despair? – and so completely and utterly broken it made himself feel heartbroken.

Something had happened. Something so horrible that Tsuna had forgone his own morals and beliefs, everything he stood for. And it had left him broken, possibly beyond repair.

Minutes passed as Tsuna just stared at them while they stared at everything, trying to process what had just happened. Of course, after a while, the silence was broken.

"Sawada." said boy turned to look at his Sun Guardian, who levelled him with a serious if somewhat fearful gaze. But it wasn't fear of him. It was fear for- "What happened to Kyouko?"

He just stood there, frozen. His eyes widened as tears gathered in the corners and his face contorted as if in pain. He lowered his gaze so he didn't have to look the other in the eye, but his trembling frame gave everything away.

And Ryohei recognized the meaning behind his actions perfectly. But he wasn't one for denial, nor was he one to put the blame on others. So, instead of all that, he simply did what he always did when he needed to alleviate his feelings. He punched something, namely the street beneath him. And he moved. He ran and ran and kept running because if he didn't completely exhaust himself right now, he would break down into a million pieces and that's not how older brother's were supposed to act. And while he- while he did not have a little sis- sister any- anymo- anymore, he still had a little brother. And he'd be damned if he couldn't take care of him because he was too busy moping around.

So he ran. And with his sweat and the rain, nobody saw the tears.

Tsuna watched his 'big brother' go with an even heavier heart. He'd failed him. He'd failed Onii-san and Haru and Bianchi and Lambo and I-pin and Hana and Oh God He'd Failed.

And he'd failed Kyouko-chan.

A voice brought him back to reality. "Tsuna..." He turned his head, this time to his Rain. "What... what happened here?"

What? What did he mean? It was so damn obvious! Kyouko-chan was de- dead and- and-

He looked around.

Bodies. There were bodies everywhere. And blood. So much blood, diluted by the rain. Like that stain on her dress.

How... ?

And the memories of minutes ago came rushing back.

He stared at his hand. It was covered in blood. He looked at his clothes. Splattered in the same substance. He stumbled back, disbelieving, eyes widened in horrified realization.

What had he done?

What had he done?!

He'd taken lives. Multiple lives. He hadn't been thinking. He'd been so empty and so cold because-

Kyouko.

Kyouko.

He'd killed. She was dead. He'd taken lives. Her life had been taken. He had mindlessly killed. He had not protected her.

Tsuna fell to his knees and looked up at the almost invisible clouds hiding the night sky, trying to flood the world. The moon could not be seen and it's absence made the night even darker. Somehow, this fact filled him with more despair.

And he cried out to the heavens themselves as if his heart was being torn out of him.

Because it had.

That night was a night grief, loss and despair. A night that was locked away in the deepest confines of the hearts of those present.

Because neither the Rain nor the Storm nor the Cloud that had been watching could console their Sky.

Author's Note:

So, an attempt at a darker take on the whole. I'm still sad that I had to kill off Kyouko. Also, i have no Idea where this is going. Tee hee~