Warnings (do not read to avoid spoilers if you have no triggers): hints of abuse


Burning Bright

Dying Embers

He trudged along the road, dragging his heavy lead feet, forcing them to move forward. He was so tired, and he did not look forward to facing another day with his relatives. Every day, he saw the happy family of three, content with their lives, while he was slaving for them and meeting their every demand. Every day, he was simply reminded about how unwanted he was with every shout, how unnatural his mere existence was with every snarl, how he should never have stepped into this world at all with every sneer. Every day, he was reminded of how unloved he was with every laugh, and how he would most likely never ever find love with every look. Because, why would there be someone out in the world willing to accept him, to love him for who he was, and let him love them in return? As was kindly brought up by his relatives almost every single day, he had no one after all, since even his parents left him behind in this world. He knew, they didn't need to spend so much effort in reminding him how alone he was in the world. He'd come to terms with it.

But it still hurt to know even people who were supposed to be his family hated him.

His long dark lashes fluttered down as he closed his dulled jade eyes tightly in a vain attempt to let them rest, albeit briefly. He paused and leaned on a brick wall, in front of a two-stories tall yellow Western-styled house with red tiled roofs, a large yard filled with flowers and green grass sprawling around the walls. Breathing in deeply, the clean fresh air from the Sawada residence's garden filled his lungs with a hint of frangipanis[1] and salvia flowers[2], he tried to distract his mind from the sharp hunger pains he felt and stop his dizziness. He controlled the pace of his harsh breathing, and slowly relaxed his tense body, smiling slightly at the tiny gentle warmth he could feel inching towards his core.

This was unique to this family only — the warmth of a loving family full of acceptance that he always wanted to be part of. Walking past this place every day was both a torturous and wondrous procedure. There was always some commotion of sorts, with screaming and shouting, some explosions here and there. But it was always saturated with warmth. He hadn't been part of a warmth like this for so long, he didn't want it to go away.

Perhaps, this can be my only present.

So, he stood there just a bit longer, leaning against the wall, holding on to that special feeling for just a while longer, keeping his eyes closed so he didn't chase the growing warmth away. He could feel himself thawing, and a smile crept up his face unknowingly. This, this was what he wanted all his life, and perhaps, one day, he might just have it. All he thought of was the treasure he didn't have, and the bittersweet taste of the warmth from the home.

But he never knew that during that one little moment where he had his guard down, he would be attacked and swallowed whole in the darkness of a weapon.

Before he could even realize he was being moved and before the shouting voices could reach his ears, a loud explosion rang in his brain.

Seventeen-year-old Harry Potter disappeared in a loud pink gaseous explosion, and he was gone.

x

"Oomph," he groaned out as he fell heavily on a cushioned chair, biting his tongue to keep from shouting, keeping the pain in as he cradled his throbbing leg. It was only after the pain had somewhat subsided that he realised that there was something wrong with this situation. Hadn't he been beside the road, outside that ((lovely)) family's house?

Looking up quickly, green eyes stared at the orange glow that caught their attention. His breath got caught in his chest, and he held it in tightly, as though it were the only thing keeping him sane and alive, that stopped him from falling down a slippery slide.

Candles. Lit, and happily burning on top of a cake.

A layered cake, extravagantly big with bright red ruby-like strawberries and silvery dollops of cream, decorated with a chocolate writing: Happy Birthday Harry!

His eyes just wouldn't stray from the sight, and for some reason, he didn't understand ((lies lies lies he knew exactly why)), he felt tears welling in his eyes. His shoulders shook, and he bit his lower lip so hard he could taste a bit of blood being drawn out. A sudden "tsk" disturbed him from his tunnel vision, and he instinctively brought up his arms to protect himself against any blow. He could vaguely hear the little background noises of exclamations and talking turn into a deathly silence, but his only focus was on his defence. But he could only hold it up for so long before he grew curious at the lack of movement towards him. So, he peeked up, and green met orange, and his soul quivered.

Sawada Tsunayoshi, only not quite him.

This was an older, taller version of him, but it was him. Spiky brown hair he always thought would be extremely fluffy but longer than he knew it to be, a kind face with a gentle smile that matured without the baby fat he was used to seeing, an aura that just pulled him in. Only his eyes were entirely different, a pale sunset orange, but the look in his eyes was the same: determined, strong, accepting.

"Harry?"

And this person knew him. Him, the typical jumpy bullying victim, the foreigner everyone strayed from, the one everyone whispered about. He wanted to weep. His chest hurt, from something he barely ever had a glimpse of. The barren land of his heart had a few tiny seeds that were growing into tiny saplings, unknown to him, hidden in the depths of his inner world, waiting to bloom under the bright and warm sunlight that was to come after the suffocating darkness of the night.

Behind this blinding person, he saw a huge banner, splattered with colourful paint where there were clear disagreements on the colour choice, hanging up from the ceiling above so, so many staring people, saying, "Happy 27th Birthday!", and in a smaller size, "you're still alive, aren't you proud of yourself?".

How could such little ((humongous)) things take his breath away like this? He never imagined he would have this, not in a million years.

He finally brought himself to reply to this being slowly, "Yes? Where am I? Am I... dreaming?"

Someone snorted, and he felt more tears building up and his throat burning, tides and waves of memories drowning him.

But warm hands grasped his, and held him tightly, glowing orange eyes holding his eyes. Sawada smiled at him so gently, he almost blacked out from how long he had been holding in his breath. "No, Harry, you're not. This is your reality, well, in ten years' time." He could hear some derisiveness in the orange tones, as though Sawada thought Harry wouldn't believe him. But he wanted to, and when he looked over to the people behind Sawada who were all somewhat smiling at him in their own ways (with smirks, half smiles, glares, grins, but all with such warm eyes) he managed to choke out from all the emotions he was feeling, "Really? I'll have all this - this future is mine and m-my life, it means something?"

Something happened.

He was being hugged. It was so tight it hurt, but he could smell the soft brown hair that was pressed against his cheek, feel the body warmth that he had never felt from anyone for so long, the security from these strong arms and shoulders, the familiar soul-warming aura he always felt from the Sawada residence. The embrace hurt so much, tears threatened to leak out again but he was so happy he revelled in the pain. He balled up his trembling fists, grabbing the shirt on this deity's back, unable to breathe properly.

The hair was just as fluffy as he always thought it would be, and the smell even more intoxicating than he ever thought it would be.

"Ah, you'll never be alone again. Trust me, trust us." Someone muttered something ("only one minute left"), and Harry could feel Sawada giving a small nod before speaking again. "Just help us out when you're back in the past, and trust us then too. Don't worry, we will always stand by you. You're my ever-present Hourglass, and we're your family after all."

He was a fool for even trying to stop the dam from breaking. That last sentence did him in; ugly tears rolled down his cheeks in unabashed streams, and he just lost it. His breath stuttered, and he just kept smiling so widely he thought his cheeks would forever ache and remind him of this moment. His overjoyed eyes just peered over to all those precious, precious people standing in front of him, all suddenly gathered around them in a protective circle. Black purple red brown yellow grey white silver blue green orange — a rainbow with so many hues he could never dream of naming them all.

He closed his eyes, and soaking in all these for one ((final?)) time, and promised wobbly.

"I'll wait, for as long as it takes, to have you with me."

I'll hold this close to my heart so I never lose warmth again, no matter what.

And he was gone again, in a pink cloudy boom.

x

He landed on the hard cement floor — no, there was something soft on the ground. He opened his eyes and saw yet another huge group of people surrounding him. Nervously, he bunched up the grass underneath his fists, and stood up quickly, dusting his pants. Looking around fervently, his green eyes landed on caramel ones.

His heart died a bit when he saw the lack of recognition that had lighted up his future self's. But Harry still tried and attempted a small smile. "H-hi... Sawada-san? I-I..."

His voice trailed off when he saw the lacklustre response to his greetings. There was nothing bitter in how he felt though, after all Harry knew he would never truly have a future that was as wonderful as the one he saw (or did he dream that one up?), and was perfectly happy with just those few moments he shared with the gentle kind divine being. So, he bowed awkwardly and left the garden through the open gates (when did he even go in?), with the intention of simply going on with his life, and going through the horrible routines with that small ember of happiness burning in his heart.

But then he fell in a blur of intense pain and slipped into an abyss of darkness. Before he became fully unconscious, he saw a glimpse of people rushing to him, and his last thoughts were: I knew I should've drunk more from the water hose in school.

x

Tsuna could do little more than simply sigh as once again, Lambo was being the child he was and trying to aggravate everyone. After they had defeated Byakuran and returned from the future, the tenth generation of Vongola Guardians and Boss put themselves into meeting every week to have more advanced training to better themselves. They never wanted to be as vulnerable as they had been when they first went into the future. In a sense, Tsuna supposed they had an advantage, going into the future and taking a glimpse of what it would be like, and preparing themselves to face that future. As of now, the definite future was unknown to them, after they created a disturbance by travelling into the future and did more than just slightly interacting with it. But he had a feeling, that no matter what they did, there would always be that one major problem that threatened to endanger their Famiglia.

So, call it his Intuition or whatever, he was going to prepare his Famiglia to face any danger in the future, and was not going to lose this preciously small circle of people to anything other than Time itself. He even managed to convince Hibari and Mukuro to join this new tradition, albeit there were a lot of conditions that they insisted on… Bianchi, Kyouko and Haru all suddenly popped in one day as well, and never left. Hana had followed the week after that, grumbling about how she could never leave Kyouko in ambiguous hands.

This week was supposed to be the same as any other: they would spend the whole day together training their physical endurance, and push their limits, spar with one another and play around with the properties of their Flames, taking breaks in between to just chat or do some homework together. They had been doing this until they reached Lambo's turn. Perhaps Tsuna and Gokudera, who had helped arrange the sparring schedule, should have taken more care in their pairings. But they had underestimated how Lambo was still very much a small child who was vulnerable to his own feelings, and how disheartened he could already be, let alone when he was with Reborn. True to his character, Reborn was near merciless with the child, and Lambo, unable to hold in his tears, had reverted back to his habit of running off while wailing.

The Famiglia expected Lambo to take out his Ten-Year-Bazooka and escape into the future, but no one expected there to be an inconspicuous rock in his way, or that there would be a passer-by, or that Lambo would trip. Even while he was trying to warn the foreign-looking boy and trying to catch the bazooka, strangely, Tsuna's Intuition remained silent.

All their attempts of interception failed, and Tsuna caught a glimpse of shocked bright green eyes (darker than Gokudera's, his mind voiced), and smoke enveloped the whole area.

The smoke lifted, and a man in his twenties appeared, clad in a black suit, with a light grey dress shirt and a silver tie, surrounded by an open school bag with its spilt contents.

The man, with stylishly messy black hair and pale skin, and a curious colourful birthday hat on his head, looked up from his collapse on the ground, and bright green eyes pierced into caramel eyes.

A warm smile lit up his face, and Tsuna could feel his face warming as well. Absent-mindedly, he could hear the shuffling of clothes and his Guardians slowly moving to his sides, and smell the metallic sharpness of weapons being drawn. But he couldn't take his eyes away from this person from the future.

"Hello, chibi-Tsuna!"

His Intuition and Flames sang.

x

They shifted to the lawn, away from the public's direct line of sight, with Mukuro and Chrome working together to weave an illusion. Once everything was set up, action was taken. Gun cocked at the man, Reborn questioned him with his trademark poker face. "Who are you? We never saw you in the future."

The man just sighed in the face of death and smiled teasingly at the Arcobaleno. "I'm hurt Reborn. I'm Harry. Harry Potter. Or well, Potter Harry according to the Japanese language. You never saw me in the future, because, the future is always changing, isn't it? Simply said, if you hadn't gone to the future, you wouldn't have such training, Lambo wouldn't have had a chance to throw a tantrum just as I was walking by, and you wouldn't have met me. It works like a parallel universe: after you travelled to the future, you essentially changed the mechanics and the course of your universe, and so now you have me in your Famiglia as well."

Turning to Tsuna and the rest of his Famiglia, Harry's smile softened into a genuinely sincere smile. "I've missed seeing all of you, before puberty fully hit you," he confessed cheekily. Met with still mistrusting eyes, he sighed exasperatedly and brought his hand up beside his face, his palm facing himself. With a shift of the hand, the sunlight hit and glinted off something, revealing a ring they never noticed before, in the same shape of their own Vongola rings, but with a figure of an hourglass etched in the shields instead. Wanting to make sure, Tsuna stepped forward, and ignited his own Flames, lifting his own ring to the unfamiliar ring.

The following resonance of the orange and white flames dancing and the warmth bubbling within his body just confirmed what Harry already said. The ring was authentic. He was a member of the Vongola Famiglia, one of his Guardians, but how? How could there be another Guardian whose element was unknown to him all this time?

What else was the Vongola hiding from him?

"Perhaps you could ask that predecessor of yours about my position, hmm?"

Looking up in shock, Tsuna narrowed his eyes at Harry.

Suddenly, there was a gust of wind that swept up dust and dirt, swallowing up Tsuna and the smiling foreigner in a mini-whirlwind, muffling the sounds of panicked shouts, leaving a strange silence between the two. Bringing his fists up in precaution and out of reflexes more than anything else (because how could he fight someone when his Intuition was screaming at him to stop?), Tsuna watched Harry. With a small gentle smile, Harry spoke and voiced Tsuna's worst fears. The Vongola heir trembled a bit, before relaxing his stance.

That was all the others could see: shadows of the duo's figures moving without any threatening body language showing. Gokudera was relentlessly trying to find a way to combat the wind, shouting at Yamamoto to help him, while the others just observed quietly, gripping their weapons tightly.

x

"There isn't much time left, so I wanted to talk to you alone.

"Don't worry, your current fears will never come true."

Tsuna stared at Harry with his breath held.

He was met with a pair of determined eyes.

"You'll never become the you that you encountered in the future you saw.

"You're different, just keep being yourself, and staying true to yourself, and you'll never lose sight of what you wanted the Vongola Famiglia to be."

"But how do you know?" his voice broke, strained and weary.

The bright grin that answered him swept his worries away and filled his body with hope.

"Because, why else would you have kept me with you?"

x

The whirlwind died down, and the familiar pink gas filled the lawn, causing everyone to start coughing.

The boy from earlier was in the place of the future Guardian, his eyes swollen and red, his cheeks still not dry from what they could easily discern to be tears. Dismissing him as a threat, what with his body language that just screamed vulnerability, and eyes still wet, the other Guardians stood back a bit, except for Gokudera who rushed to Tsuna's side and Yamamoto who did much the same, but with his fake and too wide grin in place. Tsuna couldn't help but stare at this younger Harry, who looked so similar yet different from the one he had been talking to. He still had so many questions and Harry was gone, leaving behind this person. How could they be the same person, when the eyes Harry had were so strong, while this Harry had such vulnerable eyes?

"H-hi... Sawada-san? I-I..." The teenager had on a weak wobbly smile, that slowly died as Tsuna was unable to respond. Biting his lips, the shaken teen stood up and bowed, smile barely intact, and left the residence.

His Intuition screamed at him, and he rushed to Harry but it was too late; Harry fell to the ground, unconscious.

This was really too much to take in.

x

Gokudera and Yamamoto helped carry Harry into the living room, placing him on the couch. Nana, as carefree as ever, just looked over and smiled happily, "Is your new friend here for a sleepover? That's great! I'll put a new futon out for him in the guestroom!". Tsuna just laughed shakily in response, bringing in the school bag with him. All the Guardians filled the room as well, and Nana busied herself with making tea and bringing out more snacks for everyone, making sure to have enough of everyone's favourite treats out.

Everyone seemed to be dismissive enough, going about what they had originally been doing. Reborn was back to egging Lambo on, standing on the arm of the loveseat, with the onesie-lover squealing in the lawn with every bullet he barely dodges. Hibari was lazing around in his corner in front of the glass doors of the veranda where no one ever disturbed, under the sun. Chrome was sitting on the armchair reading Bianchi's fashion magazines, while Mukuro sat perched on an arm of the chair, reading more of the books on secret Vongola illusion and torture (?) techniques. Yamamoto and Gokudera were playing video games, competing against each other, with the silver-haired male shouting out profanities every once in a while, the spiky-haired male laughing constantly, and Ryohei watching them avidly, shouting "Extreme!" every time someone pulled a highly skilled move. But they all kept an eye out for the sleeping body, always being alert.

Only Tsuna was obviously staring at the sleeping male, still holding on to the school bag as he sat on the loveseat. Abandoning his attempt at controlling his curiosity, and admitting to himself that he wanted to know who Harry was, he dug out an ID card from the school bag and read to himself out loud. "Potter Harry, 17, Permanent Resident of Japan, a student of Namimori High School… his birthday is today?" Digging further, he saw a slip of paper that stated his area of residence, supposedly as a guide to ask anyone the way home if he were lost. It was horribly crumpled and had seemingly been smoothed out multiple times, with some of the ink on the paper smudged. Eyes scanning the directions, Tsuna nudged Reborn. "Reborn, Harry lives nearby, we should bring him home. It's near evening now." The statement was just that: a statement to be followed. A glint of satisfaction in his black eyes, Reborn jumped off the loveseat and Tsuna asked Gokudera and Yamamoto to help him. With a flash of light, Leon transformed into a green stretcher, and the three shifted Harry, who slept like the dead, onto the stretcher, the two Guardians carrying it while insisting that Tsuna not do anything. After reporting to his mother, Tsuna then led the party, Reborn on his shoulder.

I'm sure his family must be worried, Tsuna thought as he watched the sun set, colouring the town in a deep, bloody red.

x

"Who are you?"

Spit practically covered his face once the door opened. Wiping his face clean with his sleeve (he could hear Yamamoto calming Gokudera down), Tsuna tried to smile at the grotesquely obese man with the similarly horrendous moustache. Speaking in heavily accented English, Tsuna explained, "Erm, we came to bring Potter-san back to you, I'm sorry we only brought him back so late."

A glimpse at the still body actually made the man laugh. He laughed, seeing Harry lying on the stretcher. Tsuna narrowed his eyes subconsciously, his Flames coming to life just beneath his skin, triggering the two Guardians to also have their hackles raised. Gokudera's pockets started smoking, and Yamamoto's smile grew wider, revealing his sharp canine teeth. Reborn stood on the stretcher, hand casually holding onto the handle, body visibly tense to those who knew him extremely well.

Perhaps they were overreacting; it was strange to see someone being carried around town on a stretcher by lanky boys. The other residents have long grown numb to the antics they were always up to, and simply took everything they did in with resigned acceptance. Perhaps it was normal to laugh at weird situations. Yet they had this strong feeling, that this man was definitely not laughing because of that.

The man continued to laugh boisterously, his disgusting layers of fat jiggling with each heavy breath he took. "Look at him now, pathetic. Why did you bother bringing him back? Continue with what you were doing to him, don't come back with him if you can! Hah, throw him in some dump even, he deserves this. Just be smart about it, here I'll even bloody pay you to get rid of him! To think I cursed the day when I had to bring him here with my family, this was a blessing in disguise!"

Without another moment lost, the man turned his back to them and went back into the house without a second look.

But he didn't manage to close the door, because a foot kept it open. Turning back to the boys, the man looked questioningly at Tsuna, who had on a pleasant expression with burning eyes and a deadly smile. "Of course, sir. But first, we should erase any evidence of him living here. Mind letting us take it off your hands?"

Another bout of laughter arose, then the man looked at them as though they were idiots. "He doesn't have anything," then there was a pause, "except for a bit. PET!" He shouted back into the house, face becoming red just from the short shout. A tall blond woman walked towards the entrance, stopping a short distance away, enough for the boys to see her. The long sallow face that reminded them strongly of a horse (as seen by Yamamoto's barely hidden snorts, and Gokudera's disgusted look) peered at the obese man. "Go and take the freak's things. He's finally getting out of our hands." A light clearly sparked in those eyes, and the horse dared to smile when she heard the news. While waiting for the woman to gather everything, they had to suffer from the heavy breathing of the man.

Finally, it was done. "There, hurry take this and burn them with his body." The man pushed the small plastic bag he got from the woman, which looked like one from a typical convenience store, filled with only a few things, to Tsuna forcefully, as though a second longer would cause him to be contaminated with a deadly disease. This time, Tsuna let the door slam shut.

Body absurdly hot, the young Vongola heir turned on his heels and stalked off to the direction of his home, the other two following. With a dark look on his face, Tsuna muttered to Reborn, who had jumped onto his shoulder once the door was shut. "Reborn, if you can, can you investigate this household a bit?" I want to find some scandalous evidence to destroy their lives, was left unsaid. He got a hard knuckle on the head, leaving him shrieking from the pain and shock a bit, and he looked up at Reborn who had a smug smirk on. "Of course, No-Good Tsuna. I am the World's Greatest Hitman after all." Smiling gratefully, Tsuna glanced back at Harry, wondering why he had such a reaction, and if this was how things started to unravel.

I'll have to thank Gokudera-kun, no, Hayato, for the gruelling English lessons. I guess I'll have to study harder for the Italian, French and Chinese lessons.

x

When he returned to his house, all the Guardians were curiously still there. He did stumble a bit at the thought that Kyouko, Haru and Hana weren't here, before his mind blearily reminded him that they didn't come today because of their "Outsiders' Day Out", as Kyouko called it to make him flustered. Six pairs of eyes and one swivelled around to stare at the group that just returned, looking like a group of wolves, with their eyes glowing in the darkness of the twilight. Mukuro sighed when he saw Harry with them and exchanged a look with Chrome. "I knew you would bring him back."

"How?"

This time, Chrome was the one to speak up. Softly, her eye staring at a faraway place, she whispered, "Because he's like me. The me from before I met Mukuro-sama."

Tsuna wasn't the only one whose eyes widened in shock. The new knowledge just steeled his determination further and made his Intuition whisper against his skin: protect his newfound family member.

The children stayed silent.

"Mama," the brunette started, making Nana peek her head out from the kitchen where she had been making dinner. "Is it okay if our family increases by one?" Her face immediately brightened. "Of course, Tsu-kun, it's already done."

x

After dinner, everyone was still lingering, trying to rest their fuller than full stomachs. Suddenly, Hibari cocked his head and looked up towards the stairs, eventually climbing up after a short pause. When they couldn't hear any sound for a long while, Tsuna made his way up warily, hoping that Hibari didn't kill their new member in an attempt to see his combat abilities. But no one could've expected to see what he saw up in the children's room. Upon reaching the door that was ajar, Tsuna stood still in shock for a moment, before he leaned against the doorframe and smiled.

Fuuta and I-Pin, who had both been missing immediately after dinner, were sleeping on Harry's right, their heads on the futon while their bodies laid on the floor. Hibird had made Harry's fluffy hair a nest of its own, and Hibari slept while sitting against the wall on Harry's left. Correction, he thought wryly to himself as Hibari opened one eye, Hibari was merely resting his eyes. Once Hibari registered Tsuna's presence, he tilted his head, and looked at Harry's frowning face.

"Ngh," he groaned, turning about in his sleep. "N...no…"

"Harry?"

A loud inhale and wide open eyes signalled his waking. Harry quickly sat up, clutching his head in pain from the sudden movement, eyes darting around wildly, while Hibird escaped to Hibari just in time to avoid being rudely dislocated. Tsuna tried to put him at ease by inching closer while holding his hands up in a defenceless stance, and the newly awoken teen slowly relaxed. "Sawada-san?" Full of confusion, Harry peered at Tsuna, then the people in the room. Hibari simply continued laying in his position, not interested enough yet to move, Hibird now perched on his shoulder. Fuuta rubbed his eye sleepily while I-Pin gave a slight whine at her disturbed rest, both of their faces brightening when they saw the open green eyes. Grabbing his tome close, Fuuta excitedly leaned towards Harry. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Fuuta, what's yours?" Blinking and struggling to face such exuberance in his drowsy state, Harry managed to say, "Harry. It's… nice to meet you too."

"My name is I-Pin! Harry-san, Ni Hao!"

"O-oh, hello, I-Pin."

With sparkling eyes, the young boy offered, "Would you like me to Rank you?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Please, let me!"

"W-wait, I don't quite –"

"I really want to, please?"

"Well…"

"Why don't you let him?"

"Sawada-san…"

A shrug later, Harry just smiled helplessly at Fuuta. With a gleeful giggle, the wind picked up slightly, and the boy levitated with his tome, shocking the raven-haired youth into silent staring. "Harry Potter, in Namimori, Ranked number one in terms of desire for a family, Ranked number four in terms of kindness, Ranked number five in terms of killing intent –"

"Ah, Fuuta-kun, maybe that's a bit too much to share," Tsuna interrupted him, gesturing towards the pale Harry shifting uncomfortably. It seemed the last bit of information revealed piqued Hibari's interest as well; Tsuna could see how his eyebrows were raised and the new light in which he looked at Harry. "Harry – Harry – Nice to meet you –!" The chirp came from Hibird, and drew Harry's attention to Hibari.

Green eyes immediately sharpened into blades of emerald, unyielding from the steely gaze. A tense moment passed, then progress was made. "Hibari Kyouya."

A slow gulp, then a stiffening of the body. His fists clenched so tightly he could feel his skin giving way under his nails, Harry tried to shrink into himself. He only managed to bite out, "Potter Harry. Pleased to meet you."

"Herbivore."

Harry flinched a bit, but continued keeping his head down. He didn't see the narrowed grey stare, preoccupied by his own thoughts.

He'd been called worse names before, this was nothing compared to being called a freak, maniac, scum. But he didn't know how to react to this strange person, the president of the disciplinary committee of his school. Hibari Kyouya wasn't anything like the bullies Harry was used to; he was different. He may have fierce eyes, but they weren't full of desperate cruelty like his other classmates; they were arrogant and confident, assured of his power and abilities. Those eyes didn't lie, they were calculative, yes, but not deceitful. If anything, they were thoughtful. He wasn't tainted like the others; perhaps, he just didn't know any other better way to express himself.

An annoyed and exasperated sigh sounded in the room, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. "Hibari-senpai, no, Kyouya, isn't it time for your nightly patrol?"

Smirking a bit, Hibari stood up, walking towards the door. Just before he left, his parting words were, "Don't think I acknowledge you yet, Sawada Tsunayoshi. So, don't get too comfortable with calling me by my name, herbivore."

Tsuna sighed heavily once the door closed behind the extremist prefect, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry about his behaviour, he isn't the best at human interactions."

An awkward silence reigned, before Harry offered quietly, "I can see. May I know where I am?"

"Ah, this's my house, and this is the guestroom." There was a short pause. "Or, well, it's kind of your room now."

"I see, I'm sorry for disturbing.

"I'm sorry, but why am I here?"

Clearing his throat, Tsuna didn't reply for a while, fiddling with his fingers. "Ahem," he coughed, looking away. "I kind of brought you back to your house but then someone really, really oversized said he didn't want you so I took you back?" He ended questioningly, his voice going squeaky near the end as cold sweat ran down his neck.

The lack of a befuddled or confused response let Tsuna slowly look back to Harry, who had his head bowed, and his fringe blocking his face from being seen clearly. When he replied, Tsuna could barely hear the slight tremor in his voice. But he did.

"I see. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble I caused. Thank you for your kind hospitality." The formal tone caused Tsuna to sharpen his gaze and he stated seriously, "No, Potter-san. You're now part of us, there's no need for thanks."

While he did expect some kind of a response, he did not quite expect the bitter laugh that burst out shortly, brokenly. In retrospective, Tsuna supposed telling someone that he was family after his own blood kin essentially threw him out to strangers was not the greatest idea he ever had. Not that he usually came up with good ideas, but still. This was exceptionally insensitive of him. His concerned gaze just made the expression on Harry's face more twisted, before it vanished behind a stoic mask.

"I'm sorry, but I don't quite see how or why."

"E-eh? But you went into the future…?"

It was like two daggers were stabbing into his still body, as Harry turned to look at Tsuna in the eye. "Yes. Let's say that future is true, and we become… a family. Why? You don't know me, nor do I know you. Why do you want me with you?

"You know what my biological family is like. So how do I know you won't be like them? How do you know I'm not the one at fault?"

"I don't."

"…" The short yet sure reply stopped Harry from continuing to ramble on.

Taking this chance, Tsuna hurried to explain himself. "It's true I don't have a proper reason for helping you. It's true that I don't know you, and that you can't be sure that we won't be like those people. It's also true that partially, I'm only doing so much because the future you are part of my Famiglia." He paused, realising he was only digging his own grave.

"But, there's no need for a reason to help someone in need, is there?"

Caramel eyes burned bright orange, and imprinted themselves into Harry's soul.

x

"Oomph," a soft grunt sounded, as the owner landed upon the same cushioned seat, back in his true home. He rubbed the side of his pelvis slightly, before looking up at his family. Meeting their concerned eyes, he gave a soft smile. "I'm home?"

Beside him, he heard a sigh and then saw light brown hair shift. The future self of that little small insecure Tsuna was standing strong in front of him, with a smile full of confidence and love, and not the timid and awkward stretch of the lips from the past. His Boss bestowed upon him a gentle tight squeeze, and he smelled that divine fragrance again, the one that saved him all those years ago. It felt like it was a lifetime since then, but to think it was only ten years. Tsuna grasped his shoulders, and looked at him in the eye, sunrise eyes sparkling.

"Welcome home."

Everyone else kept silent, understanding exactly how he felt. But they all stood where he could see, and he could feel their Flames reaching out to his, intermingling, resonating. And he smiled.

Harry's eyes shone, filled with a mixed plethora of emotions he could hardly bring himself to articulate. So instead of doing the impossible, he just repeated what he said, with a full heart.

"I'm home."


[1] Shelter, Protection – portrays security for someone so they will be free from any harm or wrongdoing

[2] In Latin, it means to heal