Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is not mine.

"Kill them all."

Tsuna gaped, unable to believe that such a statement had come from gentle, bullied Enma.

Past unseeing eyes, the Shimon family massacred his Guardians. He fumbled for his third Dying Will pill of the day, needing to protect his family.

Then Enma attacked Tsuna, orange flame burning brightly. In the face of Enma's conviction, Tsuna's own flame grew dimmer.

This was power.

Tsuna gasped for breath. He had been in this situation often before, with schoolyard bullies and then more deadly bullies.

This time was no different – at his current level, Tsuna was no match for Enma.

He tried to look for that place inside of him that he'd discovered only after countless battles – the place that he could only reach when he had nothing left to him except that one regret, that desperate need to fight.

Tsuna couldn't find it.

"Why?" he croaked, looking into Enma's crimson eyes.

Enma's eyes burned, and he swung his fist into Tsuna's midsection. He felt himself thrown into a wall with incredible force. It felt as though some of the bones in his legs had fractured. Several of his ribs were definitely broken.

"Why are you doing this? I thought…"

Enma appeared, faster than Tsuna's blurry eyes could see, in front of him and his delicate hand – attached to such a thin arm that was stronger than Hibari's – wrapped around Tsuna's neck.

"I wanted to help you!" Tsuna choked as the hold on his neck got tighter.

"Look at them." Enma spoke, yanking Tsuna around to stare at the results of the other fights.

Gokudera had fell face down on the ground, not moving. Tsuna took little note of the girl standing over him, just seeing the pool of red spreading under him. He willed Gokudera to get up, get up, but he didn't.

His head was jerked again, this time to look at Yamamoto – and Yamamoto had a bloody smile painted across his throat. As Tsuna watched, Yamamoto's head seemed to fall back and fall off. Behind him, Hibari was still moving even with his arms and legs completely shredded.

Ryohei's words had stopped sometime in the past few minutes, but Tsuna only noticed now how quiet it was. He thought that he'd also heard Chrome scream "Mukuro-sama," only it had gotten cut off before she could finish.

Tsuna wanted to close his eyes, block his ears. Out of some horrified fascination, he took in all the information that he could, straining for any sound or sight that proved they were still alive.

At least Lambo was safe.

"Do you really think that we needed your help?" Enma asked softly next to his ear. He loosened his grip, allowing Tsuna to gasp and choke on air.

"You said…" Tsuna paused, trying to remember. "You told me that there was a mafia family that was trying to kill you."

"That's correct."

"You asked for our help. I wanted to help you, so I…"

"So you gathered your closest family members and went to war. Because I wanted you to."

"Yes," Tsuna answered bleakly. He was so tired of betrayal, of people who seemed sane and kind until they stopped pretending.

"Yes… just like we did for Vongola Primo."

Tsuna's eyes snapped open. He couldn't recall ever hearing anything like this before. He'd never even heard of the Shimon family before they appeared at his school.

"Your ancestor sent us to fight another mafia family before. We, because we thought of the Vongola as brothers, went. Guess what happened, Tsuna-kun?" Enma smiled. Tsuna thought that Enma's smile was worse than the look he had had on after getting his face beaten to a pulp.

"They betrayed you?" It wasn't too difficult to make the obvious inference.

"We waited for backup for hours – hours upon hours, we kept fighting because we believed that you would come."

Enma paused, bringing his face closer to stare into Tsuna's eyes. His flame danced in the wind.

"You never came."

"You're wrong. The Vongola Primo would never have done something like that," Tsuna whispered tiredly.

From the fanatical look in Enma's eyes, there was nothing he could say that would convince him to believe it. But Tsuna had seen Giotto's infinitely strong, infinitely merciful eyes. He knew that the man would never have betrayed someone who believed in him, just as he knew that Enma would never believe it.

"You can't possibly know that," Enma raised his chin, stubborn and completely sure in his truth. "So this is my – the Shimon family's – revenge."

"You wanted us to know what it's like to be betrayed?" Tsuna shook his head. "Just because of what some people who died before we were even born did?"

Enma's eyes hardened. "Then why don't you end this cycle of revenge?" he asked as he pressed Tsuna's hand to his own neck.

Tsuna hesitated, unable to press and hold and break. This was Enma; they shouldn't be enemies merely because of their ancestors.

"What are you doing?" he heard Adelheid cry, then the swoosh of fast legs coming towards them.

"Stay out of this, Adelheid!" Enma commanded. She stopped in her tracks.

"Well, Tsuna-kun? You can get revenge for your family by killing me."

Tsuna's X gloves started to burn again. He grabbed hold of Enma's shoulders, refusing to let him break away, and pressed their foreheads together. Flame against flame. Dying will against dying will. He couldn't hear anything anymore. He couldn't see anything but the crimson – just like blood, just like the rose – eyes in front of him.

He poured all of his desperation and hopes into his flame, praying for something Tsuna couldn't even name.

Tsuna felt, more than saw, Enma's ring break. He felt, more than heard, the rest of the Shimon family's rings break.

Without their rings, they were nothing.

Tsuna broke easily through the rest of the Shimon members because without their rings and disoriented from the destruction of their symbol for revenge, they couldn't possibly withstand him. Somewhere in his mind, Tsuna was aware that he had killed them.

Enma was still alive.

The hatred in those brilliant eyes was so much better than the look of self-righteous judgment that Enma had possessed before.

"This is my revenge," Tsuna said quietly, looking down at Enma. "Now you have a real reason to want me dead."

A/N: This is a response to the latest chapter. I couldn't stand the Shimon family before, and I dislike them even more now that they've gotten some super-important, shouldn't-this-have-come-up-sooner role! Honestly, why is it that Tsuna's gone through so many tough opponents and he always finds that the latest batch is so much tougher than the last one? Can't he just once not be the underdog? Please, just don't let him end up beating them up and making it up with a kiss so they can become best friends.