A/N: Procrastinating on studying = Fic spam!

Vongole = Plural form of Vongola (I think?)

First of all, some information about this AU.

1) Rings and boxes don't exist.

2) Vongola Empire is the ruling Empire - the only Kingdoms still not vanquished by it being the Mist Kingdom, led by King Daemon Spade, the Dragon Empire, led by King Byakuran and its allied Kingdoms, which include the Cavallone (or Chiavorone - what you will) and the Shimon Kingdoms. The Cloud Kingdom and the Varia Kingdom are autonomous kingdoms under the Vongola.

3) Flames, though, do exist, but only among the royal bloodline.

4) The timeline here is messed up. It's the tyl!timeline except for Mukuro and Chrome, who are 15 and 14 year old respectively, and Lambo, who's 25-year-old.

5) This is an AU where Mukuro doesn't have the Hell Eye (that's his red eye, eh). But he's still spirited and strong - but not an illusionist yet (I'll decide whether or not he will become one afterwards, when I'm not surviving on sugar overdoes), not the Monster Tamer! Verse Mukuro. 'Cos as cute as I find him, I don't think I should make him like that in every fic, under fear of being impaled by a trident.

6) Also, the reason everyone either looks down upon, hates or has some aversion to Mukuro is because the Mist Kingdom and Vongola Empire have had a long rivalry, and as a village that belonged originally to the Mist Kingdom, everyone is prejudiced against them.

7) And since my friend asked me about the females going to war thing, seriously! Women have fought side by side with males in many places, and especially since Mukuro's village, being a village, has a very small population, it needs all the fighters it can get.

Ahem, yes. To the story. Any confusion is to be directed at the reviews and not to a PM or an email, I always lose stuff in my inbox since it's kinda crowded in there!

Warnings: Possible OOC-ness, possible incoherency (you're free to criticise me, I'll accept the truth. But if you flame... well, I'm sure if you're the type that flames, you'll flame me regardless of what I request xP), the prologue's a little (or a lot) on the short side.

Acknowledgements: The title is taken from a Bengali (that's a language spoken in India and Bangladesh) proverb, stemming from the fact that the lotus plant finds its roots in the muddy stuff at the bottom of a pond, and means something like "To have a beautiful thing, one must accept its darker, filthy side too." Or at least that's what I take it to mean.

Reviews are much appreciated, but whatever. Review if you want to, and I can't exactly make you if you don't. ne?

The Lotus Blooms in Mud

(Prologue)

[What Would You Give To Protect That Which Is Dearest To You?]

Fifteen-year-old Mukuro grabbed his sister's hand and ran out the moment he heard the sound of galloping hooves. He didn't need someone to tell him what this meant. Their fathers and brothers, who had rebelled against the Vongola Emperor, didn't have luxuries like horses. They fought on foot, with spears and arrows made from wood. Horses would mean their line had been breached and Vongola soldiers were heading for their village.

While many things could be said about the Vongola Emperor, no one could actually say he was tyrannical or unsympathetic to his people – or anything that could garner a rebellion, really. But the people of Mukuro's village hadn't forgotten – they seldom forgot – the prejudices they had always been subjected to, ever since their village, part of the Mist Kingdom originally, fell to the Vongole, and never quite did accept the Vongola. Fuel was added to the fire when the Vongola had invited their Council to the court to hold peace talks, and then killed them ruthlessly.

Mukuro personally thought they were doing well the way they were, living a happy, if simple, life. But after the fall of their Council – of whom his father was one – at the hands of the fearsome King Xanxus – the ruler of the Northern Realms, he ruled under the Vongola – while visiting the Vongola Court, he saw the futility of his thoughts and actively supported the rebellion, although they hadn't taken him along to fight since he was too young, leaving him behind along with some other children.

The village was a small one, and as such there were only a few people in it, and even fewer children.

Running through the small village to the woods at the very edge, he spotted a few other boys and girls and ushered them to him, there was safety in numbers. And anyway if what he had heard about the Vongola Generals was true, no one should really stay in the village, and since their mothers had gone to fight alongside the males, and he couldn't see anyone else, he supposed he might as well direct them to relative safety.

Once they entered the woods, the risks would be much lower, and they could easily slip into some other village under cover of the the forest.

Not even three metres from the edge of the forest, Mukuro felt a cold hand squeeze his heart as the sound of hooves got louder. Letting go of his sister's hand, he came to a halt and looked each of the children in their eyes.

"Ken, Chikusa, Fran, M.M., Nagi." His eyes softened a little at the first two and his sister, but he immediately hardened them. "You're only going to hold me back. Let's split up and escape from here on. If you use the cover of the forest, you can come to other villages, and finally the Mist Kingdom. I don't really care what you do."

With that he ran into the woods, stopping once he was safely hidden within the trees but still with the other children in his sight. He saw them take off in another direction, and smiled a soft smile to himself. It wasn't like he was sacrificing something, he just wanted them to be safe, and he had absolute faith in himself. He would be able to hold them up and still escape, and even if he didn't, certainly the safety of his sister and friends were worth it.

"This is all we found." Tetsuo reported back to his Master, holding the frail body carefully. Even if his Master was generally acknowledged as a ruthless man taking the utmost pleasure in slaughter, Tetsuo still had some reservations about killing children, and he knew that his Master did, too.

However, this was an exception. The boy, despite looking delicate and fragile, had opposed and challenged their soldiers. Tetsuo had a sneaking suspicion he was doing it to buy someone else time, but the soldiers had fallen for it. As such, he was pretty badly beaten up. What was even more surprising, though, was that the boy had made no attempts to run away, fighting ( or holding them back, as Tetsuo suspected was the case ) even with heavy injuries, right until he passed out.

"…..one boy?" The infamous Cloud General of Vongola, known to be brutally efficient and the strongest man in the entire Vongola Empire, raised an eyebrow eloquently, surveying the damage. "Why did you beat a child up?"

Gulping, Tetsuo repeated the way thye had come across the boy, adding that the village was smaller than normal and maybe there weren't too many people in the first place.

"What with the women gone to fight as well …. " he trailed off, trying to decipher the look on his master's face.

"Kyo-sama….?"

"Have someone tend to his injuries." The raven nodded, the smirk on his face rivaling that of the time he had fought the Vongola King in all his glory, closing his eyes, "And see that nobody disturbs me."