Author's Note: I question my own sanity at times... so the basic point of this story is that Tsuna was the one to kill Federico in self-defense but Xanxus was the one to reduce him to bone and that's why the Ninth had to go to Japan. Since it's implied that Xanxus was the one to kill Federico, I thought 'what the hell' and put my own twist on it. This took me all of twenty minutes to write and I'm debating the merits of writing a follow up. Well... we shall have to see, yes?

I don't know if this could be considered X27... preslash maybe? I guess it depends on the reader's viewpoint.

"Blah" - Italian
"Blah" - Japanese incorporated in Italian sentences
"Blah" - Specific emphasis
'Blah' - Thoughts/Intuition

They had met once before the Ring Conflicts—before the Cradle, even. Tsunayoshi often wonders if he remembers it but doesn't question it.

It had started out as an ordinary day, skipping along the path he usually took to school when a black car pulled up behind him and a man jumped out. He had fought and staggered under his weight, a hand clasping over his air passages so he couldn't scream. There was a cloth that had a strange smell on it that made something in Tsuna's mind scream 'DON'T BREATHE IT IN!'

But he couldn't hold his breath for long and the moment he did breathe, his vision faded to black.

When he woke up, he was in a strange place and his head felt funny. He felt cold and very thirsty. He tried to move his head but it took too much work so he closed his eyes again to try to get the room to stop spinning like it did after Papa threw him in the air. When it did, he opened his eyes again but he was still cold.

There was a man standing over him. He was ugly but not in the physical sense. Tsuna couldn't really tell how he was ugly, all he knew was that he was. His hair was the same color as honey and it was slicked back. He spoke with strange words that Tsuna had never heard before.

His body had moved of its own accord the moment he saw him. He had shot up out of the chair with speed that wasn't his. He had kicked something—a bucket?—and there was a splashing sound like water hitting the floor. Tsuna had ripped something off of his arm—no, more like out of his arm—and lunged for the ugly man. He grabbed for something in his haze and thrust it upward, into the man's throat.

It was a knife.

Red covered them both and the man's dying screams gurgled to a stop.

Tsuna panted with exertion as the haze that caused his body to move dimmed but didn't fade. Something whispered in his ear and he turned to look at an enshrouded place. His vision was tinted with an orange hue so he could see in the dark. It should have been weird but it wasn't. The door burst open to reveal someone with the same orange glow that he had seen on his own tiny hands before. There was another man with white hair and a blue tint standing behind him and a boy that was maybe a year older than Tsuna with blond hair that covered his eyes and a red tint.

"Who are you?" Tsuna asked, speaking in the same funny words that the man had used.

"Nakama." Comrade. The one with the orange tint said this. "We are allies." There was no cold feeling that Tsuna got when someone told him a lie. He was telling the truth. Tsuna stood up and walked over to them. He saw the leader—because that was what the orange tint signified, he knew—approach him warily. He knelt down. "You have power."

"As do you."

"You are too young." He said, raising his tinted hand. The tint took on a different form though. It was a flame now, not a cloak of color that covered his whole body—though the other was still there. "I will seal it. Are you alright with that?"

"No!" Tsuna reared back, the haze overcoming him again. His eyes flashed dangerously and he held up his hands. He cried out with pain when the haze turned into a burn that focused on his hands where he tried to turn his own tint into a flame but he ignored it for the sake of questioning the man in front of him. "How do I know that you won't do the same as he tried to do?" Tsuna demanded, his voice becoming shrill. The blue one and the red one both flinched.

"Because I have the same power as you. Because we are nakama, as you say."

"That means nothing." Tsuna hissed. "That man had the same power. He tried to do the same." Because he did. Because he was ugly.

"I have more honor than he does—did." He quickly corrected. "I do not kill children. He is testament to that." He jerked his chin towards the blond with the red tint.

Again, there was no frost. He was telling the truth. "…name…" Tsuna said quietly.

"Hm?"

"What is your name?" Tsuna repeated, louder, firmer.

He seemed to debate this for a moment. "Xanxus," He finally said.

"Xanxus…" He repeated, tasting the name himself. "Very well." He closed his eyes. "I accept my fate."

Xanxus looked at him through crimson eyes before he called on that tint again and pressed it against Tsuna's. There was a flash of heat before he collapsed to his knees and all faded to black.

The next time Tsuna had woken up, he was in his own bed and there was no more blood on him. He didn't feel cold and his vision had returned to normal. There was no trace of the man—Xanxus, he corrected but Tsuna could still feel his flame coursing through his veins. It was hot but not in a bad sense. It didn't burn like Tsuna's flame had when he tried to materialize it.

"Tsu-kun! It's time to go to the airport to pick up Papa's boss!" His mother called into the house. Tsuna blinked and sat up.

"Hai!" Tsuna chirped in response, getting up and heading down the stairs. His clothes must have been changed while he was asleep because they were no longer covered with red.

And as they piled into the rental car, Tsuna wondered if he was going to see Xanxus again.

Owari.

Thanks for reading~!