Disclaimer: Characters used from the Katekyo Hitman Reborn franchise belong solely to Akira Amano. Alternate Universe setting, storyline and any Original Characters (OCs) are all mine.

Beta'd by Crystal Woods (my younger sister)


Maius, Year 149977 - Arcadia Continent

A small child with a puff of chocolate brown locks fidgeted nervously as he heard the mercy filled cries of his younger brother echoing off the walls.

The tiny one struggling to escape their father's devious hands.

The boy descended the stairs with nary a sound when his brother's hoarse shouts died.

At the bottom of the staircase the brunet began pacing in the hallway at a loss for what to do before spinning around to peek into the living room. The little boy was mildly horrified to see his younger brother seemingly dead with their father laughing loudly like a lunatic over his sprawled carcass**.

Nine year old Tsunayoshi Sawada wondered not for the first time, where on Zara Asa, had his decidedly normal father abandoned his sanity.

Eyes the colour of burnt umber landed on the little boy with a curious gaze, the man's victorious laughter trailing into silence.

Taking that as his cue, Tsuna began inching into the room warily. He hoped to God that his father wouldn't make a grab for him and torture him the way he did to his baby brother.

The man's lips twitched in amusement.

When the brunet was a safe distance away but still close enough to talk to his father without seeming rude, he took a deep fortifying breath.

His father blinked in surprise, already figuring out that his son wanted to ask him a question.

"H-Hey papa?" he stuttered. "Did you learn about the 'Hunt Millesimum' when you used to go to school?"

A purely startled look overtook his father's face.

"Papa?" Tsuna questioned worriedly.

The man shot him a strained grin before gently rearranging the body of Tsuna's unconscious baby brother to rest more comfortably on his lap.

"Oh, right… Its almost that time." the blond muttered faintly. A tone of grim recollection in his voice.

"That's an interesting question you brought up little fishy, papa practically forgot about it you know. When I was young the kids in my generation hardly talked about it." The man said with a shrug. "But apparently, every one thousand years there's this event for those Dolls that you're so fond of."

Tsuna felt excitement expand like a balloon beneath his breast.

"It's like a scavenger hunt to collect an item of some sort." He says unsurely. "I don't really remember what it's supposed to be or what it looks like, but it's a thing called Thyme."

He cocked his head with a confused look, "Or was it Time?"

His father shrugged carelessly causing the curly haired bundle in his arms to let out a croaky noise of protest.

The blond man patted the little one gently until he settled back down into slumber.

"But regardless of what the thing was called, this event is actually a fight to the death amongst the Dolls."

The little boy's excitement popped.

"Fragments of that Time thing are hidden inside of the Doll's bodies and every one thousand years they weed out the expired ones. Basically it's to get rid of the older or inferior Dolls. At least that's what I think."

His father lost him at 'fight to the death'.

Tsuna shuttered, "But papa. Dolls don't die!"

The blond sighed heavily, "Tsunayoshi."

The brunet flinched at the patronizing tone.

"You are a big boy aren't you?"

A meek nod answers him, "Then think about it logically."

Honey brown stared wide eyed at the man he calls father.

"Someone who isn't smart wouldn't notice it right away because of the popular Dolls that appear in our history books, but what about the other Dolls? The wallflowers that lurked in the background, did you ever notice that they never showed up again?" he questions.

"Gone. Erased completely from the books. Forgotten because of the shiny new Dolls taking their places."

"Papa?" Tsuna internally cringes at how high his voice comes out.

His father was scaring him.

"Tsunayoshi, those Dolls you like so much are flawed." His father says darkly.

Tsuna glares at his father, "Take that back papa!"

"Those Dolls aren't meant to be around forever Tuna. With the Hunt coming up, even more are going to disappear. It's basically an execution event!" "Lies!" Tsuna screams.

His younger brother startles and blinks sluggishly at him, not fully awake to compute the situation.

His father's hardened face softens with regret at his harsh words but before he could say anything…

Tsuna grits his teeth and rushes back out of their living room space, narrowly missing a collision with the other house's occupant.

He ignores his father's and brothers' alarmed shouts and stormed off to his bedroom, the door slamming loudly after him.

.

.

.

The bang of the door rang loudly in his ears, even as his eyes began to cloud and blur. Tsuna locked the door.

Wide childish eyes land on his secret guest, the person standing forlornly in front of his small work desk jammed into the corner of his room. The brunet's unfinished homework was scattered across the top.

The tall figure dressed to the nines in a finely pressed white and silver three piece suit and tie, turned to face him, startled at his abrupt return.

"Papa was just being mean to me. He was only lying." He tried to say.

The aristocratic male frowned sympathetically, "I told you that you wouldn't like what you heard."

Tsuna's already wobbling legs gave out on him, "You can't be serious… It's just… I can't!" his words then strung together in the form of incoherent protests.

A disappointed sigh, "Tsuna…"

"Is this really what you want me to do?!"

The man flinched at his high pitched shout but said nothing to deny him.

The child's lips parted as if to speak but could do nothing for a moment. Only trying desperately to control his uneven breaths and shake off the numbness of his sudden fear.

"…I hate you." He says impulsively.

The man tightened his grip on the jewel topped cane. "I am truly sorry little poppet."

Tsuna fought back a sob at the way the words made his tiny chest ache.

The hurried banging made the two snap out of their sudden dolorous state. Tsuna could hear his older brother's angry-worried calls and his younger brother's hoarse pleading for him to open up the door.

The two no doubt worried about his yells.

Tsuna could feel the jack rabbit pace his heart was pounding away at as the man turned to leave.

"I hate you so much right now." The child choked out.

The man let his feathery white bangs shadow his eyes. Hiding the tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

"But for you, I'll still do it."

The man raises his face to stare at the child in shock. A single tear escaping.

"Only for you."

TBC…


A/N: This is the rewritten version of the Prologue. I added and changed around a few things about it. Such as writing it completely from Tsuna's perspective, even adding a date and changing the title of the 'Battle Royale' cause it was too tacky. I even added the name of the Alternate Universe.

Zara Asa – The name of the world

Zara Asa has 10 named months Martius "March", Aprilis "April", Maius "May", Junius "June", Quintilis "July", Sextilis "August", September "September", October "October", November "November" and December "December" (I am using ten months to make up the year in this fic minus January and February as they do not exist in the story. Also 25 days make up a month).

Zara Asa also has seven continents called Zazibir (North Pole), Oceania, Arcadia, Sunda, Lativia (Equator continents), Rohan and Slaka (South Pole).

Hunt Millesimum- Thousand Year Hunt


Crystal Woods: **As a side note Tsuna's dad and his little brother were only playing at the very beginning if anyone was worried. Twas only a tickle attack in which Lambo has passed out from lack of air :o

Crucifix HiME: *rolls eyes*