Declaimer: I don't own KHR
I thank and give credit to Cazuki for Beta'd
Edited: 01/18/2017
Giotto knew. He was done. He would be sold as a slave. He was an orphan; his mother was dead from overwork. The place where she worked was small, cramped and dusty. His mother knew that, but no other place wanted her. She needed to support herself and her child. She worked in that place, making her lungs worse and Eventually,she died. She assured him that his aunt would pick him up, so he didn't need to be afraid when she was gone.
But fate was cruel. Before his aunt came to get him, a hoodlum came to retrieve the debt his mother owed. The hoodlum didn't even care. His mother was already dead, and he just wanted to get his money.
"Look, kid," the hoodlum said. "I'm sorry your mother died like that, but debt is debt. Either you pay or you come with us. My boss will kill me if I don't get the money."
Giotto didn't have the money, so the answer was clear. He was taken away. The man told him to pay with his body which meant he would become a slave. He shuddered at the thought. In this era, becoming a slave was the worst. You were lower than animals. You couldn't talk back. You couldn't fight back. Giotto had seen the violence. He remembered a slave who once dirtied the cloth of his master, and the answer was punishment. The man whipped the slave until he died and tossed him into the street. True, he and his mother were poor, but they were just normal civilians. But being poor was a crime. Being weak was a crime, too. His thoughts were already filled with the worst possible outcomes.
The man dragged him against his will. Giotto screamed, kicking and punching, but unable to get out of the man's grip. He was thrown into a large cage. He wasn't alone either, there were other children. They looked like corpses: hollow eyes and bruised bodies. Will I become like that? He thought.
"Are you new?" A male voice greeted him cheerfully, laughing. It was weird. He took a step back from the boy, unable to stand the strangeness. His voice sounded so cheerful, but there was a hollowness in his eyes and in his voice. His accent was weird too, and that boy didn't look Italian.
"I'm not a weird person," the boy said. "Ah, let me introduce myself. I'm Asari Ugetsu."
"You're not from around this area, are you?" Giotto asked him carefully.
"Nope! I came from a country called Japan!" Asari explained. "My family were framed as spies. So our fortune was taken, and we were all exiled and sold to be slaves in another country. How about you?"
He was still cheerful despite the story.
Giotto tried to be calm. Actually he wanted to bawl his eyes out. But it was no use."My mother had debt." Giotto simply said, but there was more to it than that. To put simply, his mother had borrowed money from no-good people because there was no one else who would lend such large amounts in such short time.
And each month, the interest accumulated crazily until his mother couldn't pay it anymore. His mother had taken many jobs despite her falling health. Giotto had helped too. But it was no use. They were simply powerless.
After some time, which felt like forever. Giotto saw a girl pass at The cage. The girl was sobbing, clutching her left face in pain. Her leg and hands were chained, preventing her from rebelling and running away. And Giotto saw some letter on her face but the cage was too dark. But Giotto understood what the meaning was. It was for Human Branding. It was used to identify ownership and punishment. There was a sudden rise of anger in Giotto's heart because they treated humans like animal.
"I want him" an aristocrat said, pointing his finger to Giotto.
"He's new and good. You have good eyes." The slave trader rubbed his hands greedily, certainly happy.
After that, he was placed on a marble stone. His hands and feet was already chained, and his mouth was gagged by some sort of cloth. The hot slave branding iron almost made contact at his body. Giotto knew he was already finished. He would become like the children in that cage, without a future and without hope. He was just a disposable tool. When he was already resigned to his fate, a cloud of pink smoke appeared suddenly, and that was the first time he met his hero.
"I didn't apply for this position in the first place!" Sawada Tsunayoshi shouted. Dame Tsuna, also known as Vongola Decimo was still in denial even though he was currently the head of an underground mafia group. He was twenty years old.
"Don't say that, Nono was so glad you decided to man up and become Decimo," Reborn smirked, the hitman enjoying every minute his student panicked. "He even cried tears of happiness at your ceremony."
"You tricked me!" Tsuna slammed his fists on the table, enough to make the poor table crack.
"I did not, so shut up and do your paper work!" Reborn pointed his pistol at his useless student. Maybe he needed to torture—he meant, tutor Tsuna all over again. His student was already being too cheeky and was beginning to talk back to him, too much for his liking.
"Don't shoot! I'll do it!" Tsuna shouted.
"Good! I will get my coffee. So before I get back, try to finish it or..." The word was left hanging, but Reborn's voice promised torture and pain if Tsuna could not do it.
"That's impossible! Reborn, are you…?" Before Tsuna finished his complaint, his tutor had already gone into the kitchen. Tsuna raked a hand through his hair frustrated. It was impossible to finish it, with fifteen minutes left or probably less. Reborn knew that, and enjoying his activity of torturing made Tsuna crazy. Tsuna was dead either way. So he did what would Dame Tsuna do. He ran away.
A little later, the greatest hitman Reborn found that the window from his student's office was open. The white curtain fluttered like it was mocking him. It was certain his useless student had run away again. He sipped his coffee quietly and finished it, as a dark shadow appeared near the Reborn's face.
"Dame Tsuna. You are dead."
Tsuna ran away to the only place he could be saved. It was none other than Gigelo Nero's mansion. Enma's place was already crossed out from the list because Tsuna hid in his place so much and Enma was a terrible liar. The last time Tsuna hid at his place, his friend could only give him away to The Vongola Familigia.
"I'm sorry Tsuna-kun, I can't have your overprotective family destroy my mansion." Those were Enma's last words.
Uni greeted him with her usual warm smile. Without her power she must have known he would come. Multiple telephones were ringing, either from his guardian or Reborn searching for him.
"I've been waiting for you Sawada-san, but unfortunately I can't hide you this time," the ex-sky Arcobaleno said. "Because you will have an important mission."
"Eh why not ?!" Tsuna thought, Uni always be his allies. "And, what mission? Don't joke around, Uni. It'snot funny!" yelled Tsuna. Considering Uni's request in the past and how serious she was right now. The mission Uni would give him, it was either difficult as hell or painful.
"It's not a joke Sawada-san." Uni said, pointing the TYL Bazooka at him.
"Wait, Uni. We can talk it out." Tsuna tried to negotiate his way out. "At least, explain The mission to me!"
"I'm sorry Sawada-san. We don't have much time." Without haste, The former boss Arcobaleno shot the TYL Bazooka. But Tsuna dodged it with ease. Uni wasn't much of a fighter. And there was no way he would obediently let himself get into trouble. Based from his experience, Tsuna learned to say "no" when situations called for it.
"As expected as of The Vongola Decimo," Uni already out of breath. "I guess, it's no waste to call all The Arcobaleno expect Reborn-san here."
The Vongola Decimo gulped. Tsuna hoped, he misheard what Uni had said. But, reality betrayed him. All of The Arcobaleno expect Reborn surrounded him, preventing his way out.
"Greetings, Vongola Decimo." Fon bowed at him politely.
"Just let yourself get shot, Kora. it won't hurt." Colonelo said.
"Be a man, and accept The Mission. Sawada." Lal encouraged him.
At first, Tsuna wanted to force his way out at Verde, but considering the baby was sitting at Gola-mosca with fully upgrade than before, Tsuna scraped that plan. And the only plan to escape was to force his way out with Yuni as as hostage. But doing so, it would be bad for his conscience. And Tsuna doubted, he could escape with his limbs intact if he dared to do that to the former boss Arcobaleno. Tsuna sighed. In becoming an adult, he'd learnt when to give up on some things. "Shoot me. When I come back, I will confiscate that TYL Bazooka."Tsuna accepted his defeat.
The former Arcobaleno nodded "I hope you can safely return, Sawada-san," Uni prayed, shooting Tsuna with the TYL bazooka.
"Where am I?!" Tsuna shouted. His infamous shriek drew attention, and he realized he didn't know where he was. The area didn't look like a good place. What would the future him be doing in a place like this? Tsuna was thinking. Could it be, ten years later he was truly the bad guy?
"Kill him!" A fat man ordered his men from his throne like chair. A horde of men came at a confused Tsuna, but of course he defeated them single-handedly. Tsuna was Vongola Decimo; they didn't stand a chance against him, Tsuna maybe looked cute and weak. But the man who was being trained by the greatest assassin himself would not go down easily without a fight.
Finally they realized they didn't stand a chance. A man who looked like a hoodlum took a hostage, a boy around thirteen years old. A blond boy whose face looked like his.
"If you want this brat saved, give up or he will die." The shaken man took a knife and held it against the boy's neck. But in an instant, the brunette was already behind the man and grabbed his hand. The man screamed, mumbling incoherently , but from the look of it he was in so much pain. His knife had already dropped and the boy had run away. Tsuna punched him in stomach, knocking him unconscious.
"Thank you, Mister," The boy said.
"No problem," Tsuna smiled softly. He released the boy from his chains with the key in the hoodlum's pocket. What were the chains for? Tsuna was wondering.
"I'm Giotto. Are you the family of Asari?" He asked. "You look Japanese. And your accent is strange like his, too."
"No."
"Then can you help the other children, too?" The boy asked. "There are other boys and girls who will be slaves too."
"Slaves?" Tsuna's eyebrow raised. He was wondering if the future him truly became the bad guy in the future. It made him so depressed. Tsuna was disappointed with his future self. What is the monster he will become?
"Of course," he said. With that, he destroyed the cage that was holding so many children. Tsuna considered burning down the shop but if he interfered in the Past too much, it would be no good. Also Tsuna needed to take care of the children first. So, Tsuna held himself. Even if he was disgusted with the act of human trafficking.
After everything was done, Tsuna filed the details to the police, letting them take care of the children. But finally, he realized something. Tsuna blinked, looking at his surroundings. The building was so old and Tsuna doubted he was in future. Considering, how many times the TYL Bazooka malfunctioned it wouldn't be a surprise. He could be in The distant past if his memories served him right. Tsuna remembered, the boy had introduced himself as Giotto
"Thank you, Mister," The boy that looked like him thanked him again.
"Say… What's your name again?" Tsuna asked, a bit suspicious. Maybe, just maybe his suspicions would become true, which he hoped wouldn't happen. His guardian and his tutor was probably turning Italy upside down to search for him. But could it be he was in Primo's time?
The boy looked disappointed and puffed his cheeks cutely.
"Don't forget again," the boy said. "I'm Giotto."
"Hieee! I'm trapped in Primo's time!" With that, the cool hero-like man fainted on the spot.
