AN- Me: Chapter one. The chapter that just would not stop

Muse Kitty: Meow

Me: Another fic

Muse Kitty: Angry meow

Me: Fine. *Clears throat* *Cackles then runs away*

WARNINGS: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Gore, Character Deaths, OCs, and angst

ADOPTED from wolfsrainrules

Disclaimer- Reborn isn't mine. The idea wasn't even mine.

Chapter 1

It was one of the rare days where Tsuna wasn't running from bullies, or limping home from a beating just holding back tears. It helped that he was taking the day off from school with permission from his mom. He took a vacation day every once and awhile, when the whispers and shoves and insults threatened to break him emotionally. He had long since resigned himself to forever being Dame-Tsuna, but he wasn't going to let them ruin anything else after they trampled over his self confidence.

He sighed, kicking at a rock in front of him, and running a hand through his hair. Tsuna didn't know where he was going, just that he wanted to be out of the house and away from the school. The street he was on was packed with people going to work, school, or home, and he let the current of the crowd direct him. He kept his eyes to the ground as he walked, until he bumped into someone.

He glanced up, ready to stammer out an apology, but it died as he realized who he was talking too. The Namimori Middle idol tilted her head at him.

"Oh," she greeted him cheerfully, "Good morning Sawada-kun!"

"M-morning S-sasagawa-chan," he replied, giving her a short bow in greeting that she returned.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, turning and starting to walk alongside him. He blushed, and glanced at the ground again.

"J-just going f-for a walk," he mumbled, trying his best not to embarrass himself again, though his shoulders slumped with a resigned air. It would probably happen anyway and then Kyoko would never want to talk to him again. She would probably start calling him Dame-Tsuna as well.

She smiled at him, and said, "Onii-san goes for a run every morning too! Is it something that boys do all the time? Spend time outdoors?"

Tsuna blinked, trying to figure out where she had connected the two as the girl chattered on about her brother and the other workouts that he did on a daily basis. He didn't even know why she was still talking to him at all.

"Ano," he cut in hesitantly, and Kyoko stopped her chatter to smile at him again. "Wh-why aren't you at school Sasagawa-chan?"

She clapped her hands together, "Oh, well I was going to meet some friends at a cake shop near by. They happened to have the same day off of school, and one of them I've only talked to online so I was so excited to meet them I just couldn't wait."

"T-that sounds nice," he said, giving her a weak smile in return. He wondered what it would be like to have friends. Would it be like right then? Walking and talking as they walked down the street, just without the underlying fear that anything he said could scare them off? Or would that fear be even worse because if he said the wrong thing than he would lose a friend rather than just the opportunity of one?

Kyoko started to chatter again, but in the middle of one of her sentences, a man came sprinting out of nowhere, shoving his way between the two of them roughly, a panicked look in his eyes.

"They're coming! They're coming!" he screamed before turning down a corner, his crazed shouts echoing in the distance.

A silence fell on the street before someone snickered. "Probably drunk," another one muttered and slowly everyone went back to their business. But Tsuna still felt an undercurrent of unease from everyone, and he was tense.

"Well, that wasn't very nice," Kyoko said with a frown, pulling him up from the ground.

"H-he sounded scared of something," Tsuna whispered, his eyes cutting down the alleyway that the man had burst out of. He could only make out slow movement in the shadows and couldn't hear anything of the noise of the street, so he brushed it off, turning away from it. "What d-do you think he meant by 'they're coming'?" he asked her.

"Maybe he had some friends that was excited to meet?" she suggested as the two of them started to walk again. Tsuna chewed on his lip as he thought. The man had sounded to scared for it to be something he was excited about. Tsuna couldn't bring himself to relax even when Kyoko grabbed his arm to tug him along faster. Normally, he would have been excited to be that close to his crush, but he was more relieved that they were moving away from the spot that the man had come from.

Something about the alley and the movement from it unnerved him, and he wanted it to stop.

They had only made it a couple of steps before they heard a woman scream. Instinctively they turned to see what was going on, and followed her pointing finger to the alley way. A small child shuffled out of it, groaning. She was covered in blood, a large bite mark on her neck and shoulder still bleeding so that it look flesh. Her yellow dress was torn in several places showing off her unnaturally pale skin. Her mouth hung open, and her green eyes were dull in a way that made Tsuna step back.

"Don't scare her like that," a woman snapped and stepped forward. Tsuna bit down the warning that sprung to his lips. He didn't like the young girl and he took another step back, the movement making Kyoko step back as well.

"Sawada-kun?" she murmured.

"Hey there," the woman said gently crouching in front of the child, holding a hand out, "Why don't we get you some help and then we can find your parents."

The child groaned even louder, shuffling closer to the woman. The woman smiled reassuringly at her, and as the child shuffled closer, grabbed the girl's hand. "See? It's going to be alr-" The woman was cut off as the girl surged forward with surprising speed and dug her teeth in the flesh of the woman's arm, She screamed as the girl ripped backwards taking a chunk of the woman's flesh with her, the muscles dangling from her jaws.

The crowd screamed, and everyone started to shove everyone else away from where the woman clutched at her bleeding arm. Several people fell as they were pushed in the confusion, and others were trampled in people's haste to get away. The groaning increased and more shuffling people emerged from the alley way. An old woman hunched over and missing an arm, her humerous bone shattered and sticking out at an odd angle. A middle aged man to her right, his stomach torn open and his small intestine trailing out behind him, leaving a bloody path like a snake.

Tsuna shoved the quaking Kyoko behind himself, feeling his own muscles seize at the sight. More and more of the strange people were pouring from the alley, and they tore into the woman and anyone else unlucky enough to be standing by it. Those still on the ground were simply sitting ducks that left blood and entrails scatter across the street. Tsuna grabbed Kyoko's wrist and dragged her away from the scene, ignoring the fluids that they stepped in to leave the carnage behind. He didn't want to think about what it could be.

He clamped down on the scream that threatened to burst from his lips, noticing that the undead followed after the people making the most noise. One unfortunately, heavy set man screamed profanities at them, and a large part of the horde descended on him. From where they were turning the corner, Tsuna could hear the crunch of bone as the undead already tore off his flesh. The screams turned even more high pitched until they stopped altogether.

Tsuna's feet slammed against the sidewalk as he sprinted away, Kyoko following after him. Whenever he heard groaning, he turned in the opposite direction, fear and adrenaline driving him to go as fast as he could for as long as he could.

"S-swa-ada-kun," Kyoko managed to say between harsh breaths. "I-I c-can't."

Tsuna pulled them to a stop in the shade of an empty alleyway, glancing in both directions, his own chest heaving before nodding his agreement. He leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, while Kyoko double over behind him, bracing her hands on her knees.

"W-we sh-should keep moving," Tsuna breathed after a few minutes when he speak without having to take a gulp of air between each word. The groaning echoed everywhere in Namimori, and Tsuna was worried for his mom, scared to death for them, and shaking at the very thought of running into the shuffling people again.

The groaning grew louder, and Kyoko nodded, the two of them flinching at the sounds of explosions and gunshots that were added to the cacophony of screams and groans. Tsuna wondered if Namimori had simply been transported to hell for some reason and that's why this was happening.

Clutching at each other's hand this time the two pre-teens took off once more only to skid to a halt after several feet, turning around the corner was a horde of the shuffling people, leaving bloody footprints behind them. The middle aged from before was leading it, his intestines torn off now, leaving only a gaping hole in the middle where Tsuna could see the bottom of his lungs and heart. He fought back the urge to gag, whirling around and running the other direction, Kyoko at his side.

They stopped in horror as another horde came from that direction as well, trapping them between two groups. Kyoko whimpered in fear, and they backed away from the second group, the groans ever present, grating on Tsuna's ears. Two pre-teens pressed themselves to the wall as far from both groups as they could.

Tsuna's eyes flickered around the buildings and alley for anything that they could use to escape, but the only ladder that was there had already been shattered, its wood long rotted like the skin on the shuffling people heading towards them.

Kyoko gripped his arm tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"I-I don't want to die," she sobbed, pressing her face into his back. "Onii-san!"

Tsuna was shaking, every part of him quivered in fear. He was Dame-Tsuna what could he do in this situation? Horror was pressing down at all sides, death was in the air, the smell of blood heavy, the tang of iron on his tongue.

But Kyoko was crying behind him, and his mother was waiting for him at home.

If he had been alone, maybe his resolve wouldn't have been enough. His mother probably would have expected him to die in the carnage, a predictable end for her no good son. He had no reason to live for himself. His life was one disappointment after another, never managing to get anything right.

Truthfully, he wouldn't have minded dying.

But Kyoko was behind him. The one person in the whole town who had never looked down on him, who had never called him no good, who had always greeted him with a smile was the one standing behind him.

Tsuna may not have been able to live for himself, but in every other world, in every other situation, it wasn't himself that he fought for, that he rose up for.

It had always been for someone else.

It would always be for someone else.

One of the shuffling people reached for Kyoko, and she screamed, flinching back from it.

NO, Something in Tsuna shouted. THIS IS NOT HOW IT WILL END. NOT FOR HER!

And there was a crack sounding in Tsuna's ears as the world was flooded with orange.

The world swirled around him, a whirlwind of color. The shuffling creatures closest to them, something in him said they weren't people anymore, screamed in agony, before collapsing into ash around him. The world became sharper to his vision, the fear that had been clawing at him burned away to leave only the Resolve and Will to get Kyoko out alive.

He leaned down and flashed forward, moving faster than he ever had before, grabbing one of the creatures by the head, near the eyes away from the snapping jaw, and slammed it into the wall. It exploded with a crack and brian matter flew everywhere, but Tsuna was already moving again.

The creatures were slow until they got in range, where they moved with terrifying speed. So Tsuna would just have to be faster. He was a blur, ducking under snapping jaws, tearing of waving arms, and finally slowed to a stop in front of Kyoko when the alley way was clear.

He should have been breathing hard, but he wasn't, something warm in the center of his chest flowing out to the rest of his body giving him strength that he didn't have before. He grabbed her wrist again and led the stunned pre-teen away from the scene of massacre, headless of whatever caked his hands. They didn't move at a sprint, Kyoko wouldn't have been able to keep up, but they moved fast. Something in Tsuna whispered where to turn, the directions back to his house with the least amount of creatures in the way.

Their numbers seemed to be growing he noted from the calm he was in, and he could feel Kyoko still shaking in his grasp and that was all the reminder he needed. There was one small horde a block from his house, and he carved through it like he had the other one, leaving Kyoko a little ways behind him and away from the fight. The creatures actually faltered for a second when looking at him before continuing their shuffling forward. Kyoko would later tell him that his eyes had been gleaming a brilliant amber, the color of fire before it destroyed everything in it's path.

Destroy Tsuna did, before they were off again, running to his house, leaving another stack of bodies behind them.

They burst into his house, Tsuna already crouched low to defend Kyoko from any creature that could jump out at them. They stood there listening to the creaking of the door behind them before he straightened, closing the door behind them, and striding into the house.

"Mama?" he called, turning to towards the kitchen where frantic movement could he heard. Nana came rushing out, her hair in disarray and a wild look in her eyes. Her shoulders dropped at the sight on him, and the fry pan that she held at the ready dropped to the floor with a clang. Her apron was blood splattered, and her knuckles still white from how tight she had gripped the pan,

"Tsu-kun!" she cried, reaching out for him, and he stepped forward, gripping her tightly in a hug that she returned.

He stepped back and ushered both of the females to the kitchen, half listening to Nana babble.

"He just- The man just came in and- and he wouldn't stop! He groaned and he- he reached for me! So I hit him with the pan, but- but he wouldn't stop! I hit him again and again and again. I-I think I hit him in the head, and he-he collapsed, so I d-dragged him out back."

Tsuna nodded, carefully sitting her down at the table, and determinedly not letting his eyes drift to the stain on the floor that looked like drag marks. Calm was what they needed right now, and that was what they would have.

"Mama," Tsuna said, listening to the warm whisper that had kept them alive this long. "This is Sasagawa Kyoko. She's in my class."

Nana latched onto the normalcy like a lifeline, turning to the girl, and starting to ask her about her family and what she liked to do. Kyoko answered shakily, still terrified from before, but she was starting to calm down the longer Nana talked. Tsuna nodded to himself, and left them to it, heading upstairs, grabbing three bags along the way.

Tsuna started in his own room, grabbing only a couple pairs of clothes since the warmth was whispering that there were things more important than that. The next thing he grabbed was the first aid kit that he had hoarded in his room, stuffing it into the bag as well. Then following the warmth, he headed to his closet, and knocked on the back it three times, watching as it slid back. Any other time, he was sure he would have screamed, but the warmth left him strong and certain, so all he did was pull the gun and ammo out carefully, setting the safety and adding it to the bag as well.

He went to Nana's room next, grabbing clothes for the females as well as any medical and feminine supplies that he could. Then he spent the next ten minutes wandering the house and pulling out the various caches of weapons and supplies. He ended up grabbing a fourth bag to hold them all as well as all the canned food in the house.

He slung that one over his shoulders, heading back to the kitchen with a small armoury on his back, and the other three bags in his hands. Nana was trying to get Kyoko to eat some leftover food from the fridge, rice balls from the look of it. They seemed to have calmed down a little bit though they were still jumping every time the groans grew louder.

Tsuna handed them the three bags, and they took them carefully, standing up when he nodded and motioned for them to follow him. He took a moment to study their stair banister, before ripping part of it out of the wall and handing to one of the girls to carry. He would do it, but he needed his hands free for when they stepped outside.

Nana seemed to understand what he was thinking, even if he didn't and hurried upstairs before coming back with a pile of metal poles from the curtains and shower. She nodded at him and gave him a strained smile, and they were off, Tsuna leading the way.

They stepped outside to an empty street, and they hurried in the direction Tsuna led them, towards the loudest groans for once. The girls gulped but followed after him, trusting that he had a plan. They would occasionally stop at houses that were silent and grab more poles or anything that looked like them along the way, until Kyoko and Nana couldn't carry anymore and still move at a reasonable pace.

The females faltered for half a second when they caught sight of the horde that was surrounding the building Tsuna was leading them too. It was packed, the creatures pressed up against one another, and stretching out for almost a whole block. A few in the back were already turning to face them, dull eyes focusing unnervingly on them.

Tsuna turned to them, his eyes still gleaming amber, and pinning them with unnerving focus as well. "Do you trust me?" he asked. They nodded, their eyes darting back and forth between him and the creatures, but Kyoko relaxed as she remembered what had happened in the alley.

"Of course Sawada-kun!" she chirped, giving him the same brilliant smile that he had gotten when they ran into each other before the chaos broke out.

He nodded back at them and said, "Then just run for the entrance of the school, don't hesitate and don't look back."

They nodded again, and when he turned and rushed forwards, they were right behind him for as long as they could.

Tsuna knew that he would have to work in a circle, that once they reached the center of the horde there would be the most danger, but as he tore the jaw off of one creature and threw it back into the group before flitting to the creature behind the females and delivering a devastating kick to its head, he thought that they could manage it for now. They could only move so fast, weighed down by the supplies they had, but they kept a steady pace forward, Tsuna a blur once more as he kept the area around the non combatants clear.

He rushed forward again to clear the next space, when something yanked on his back, leaving him sprawling on the ground. One creature had managed to get its arm tangled up in his bag, and he hissed in a mix of anger and fear. He rolled out of the way of the shorter creatures that tried to descend on him blocking out the screams of his name from Nana and Kyoko.

The creature on his bag was pulled with him, until its arm was simply ripped off, the rotting flesh unable to take the strain. Tsuna swung the bag off his shoulder and hurled it at a creature that had once again gotten too close to the others. The moment flung the creature back, giving him the time he needed to sprint up to it, and crush its head with his hands.

He picked up the bag and simply flung it at the door, listening to it clang against it before he went back to work, keeping the girls safe. It took an excruciating fifteen minutes, but they made it to the door, which Nana flung open and they all piled in.

Tsuna grabbed his bag, pulled it in and slammed the door shut and shoved one of the poles into the handlebars to keep it closed and another one just in case. Then the three of them turned and began to head deeper into the school. Every door along the way was shut in the same manner the entrance was. The poles wouldn't hold for long, a couple days at most, but it would slow the creatures down which was all they needed.

On the third floor, they were greeted with a near feral Hibari, who swung his tonfas first and asks questions never in the defence of his territory. Tsuna ducked under the strike, deflected the one from the women, and despite the heaving of his chest, looks the Committee head in the eyes. The room held its breath as the two most dangerous people in the room stare each other down. After a long moment, Hibari lowered his tonfa, Tsuna nodded, and the whole room relaxed.

Glancing around at the terrified remnants of Namimori Middle, Tsuna's warmth murmured to him.

Here, it said reassuringly, Here they will be safe. We are done for now.

Grateful, Tsuna let go, and sank into oblivion.