Prologue

Drip drip drip

The sound of something wet dropping down to land on the red and white tiles had become a familiar sound to her.

"Tell me. What's 1000 – 7?"

How long has it been now? 5 months? She wasn't sure.

"Answer me!"

IthurtsithurtsiTHuRTs

"993"

She had learned not to stutter when answering. Even when she'd managed to get to 0 her torturer hadn't relented and had instead made her start over.

"That's right… You know, our time together has been fun but I have to clear this chair today…"

Was he insinuating what she thought he was? Would she finally be freed from this torture?

"I have always wondered how you would taste. You managed to keep a clear mind for so long~"

She was happy. She wouldn't have to live and remember any of this.

"But I'm also curious as to what would happen if my new play thing saw you first. I bet he'd show me such a nice face~ Neeee #%*?"

Her name… what was it again? FORGET IT! WHY WASN'T HE FREEING HER?!

"JUST LET ME DIE! KILL ME! EAT ME! I DON'T CARE! JUST LET ME DIE!"

"HAHAHAHA"

That laughter of his.

It was sickening.

"I'll do it myself then"

She'd at least be independent in the end. Growing up, she'd been praised for her independence.

Before he could protest against her, she bit down on her tongue hard and felt her mouth fill with a bitter and disgusting taste. Spitting it out, she was happy to be feeling herself go dizzy. Her regeneration wouldn't work since he hadn't been feeding her properly.

She was surprised that she hadn't gone crazy from hunger yet.

Feeling herself go cold, she grinned when she saw her captor rip off her blindfold and she got to see his face. He was furious.

"You were too slow to kill me, Yamori"

And then everything went dark for her and she felt herself go very cold.

Her surroundings stayed that way for a long time. The coldness had faded away and she had become enveloped in a warmth that seemed to shield her from any harm. There was the occasional rumble every now and then and she heard extremely muffled sounds which led her to think that she was inside some kind of stuffed room or something.

When she was sure that her irritation of having to be in this stuffed room for however long she had been there would spike, she suddenly felt everything around her begin to constrict in on her. It was a terribly familiar and terrifying feeling and so she tried her best to resist whilst praying that she had succeeded in killing herself and that she'd gotten away from Yamori because she didn't want to go back (Shecan'tshecan'tshecan'tshe'llbREaK)

Feeling herself be pushed through a tight opening, she blinked a few times to right herself before she noticed that everything around her was bright now. Had she finally gotten through? Was she officially dead?

"Congratulations! Here's your daughter Mr and Mrs Sawada"

Japanese? Trying to open her eyes quickly, she felt frustration building up within her when all she saw were shadows and blurry figures that didn't make any sense to her moving around.

"What should we name her, dear?" Name her? She didn't quite remember her name so a new name would be appreciated but she first wanted to know where she was exactly.

Feeling herself be shifted around before feeling a soft warmth beside her, she instinctually moved closer towards the warmth since everything had been feeling cold once she'd been deposited from her stuffed room "Hmm~ How about Yukihime? She's a winter baby and she's our little princess~"

Hearing a lot of cooing sounds going on around her, she thought she could detect a hint of the familiar smell of gunpowder and the warmth beside her smelled vaguely of vanilla which, surprisingly, didn't make her want to gag. Now that she thought about it… her sense seemed as though they dulled down a bit and she felt like she was missing something important… Ah, she was too tired to think about it right now.

Feeling herself slowly drifting off, she couldn't help but hope for no nightmares concerning what she had left behind before being…reborn 'such a strange thing to think'

*7 Months Old*

It had been quite a few months since her second birth, the first birth that she can actually remember unfortunately, and she had somehow grown an aversion to being held or touched. It wasn't at all surprising to her seeing as she had been tortured for months on end before being squeezed through another woman's nether regions but her new parents seemed concerned with it.

Her idiotic new father, Iemitsu, had somehow convinced her mother, Nana, to take her to a child psychiatrist to see what was wrong. She had grown to become quite attached to her new mother since she lost her old one from her past life quite early on but the moment Nana placed her down in front of the old man who claimed to be a 'miracle worker', she swore vengeance. The session had been boring all throughout and the only interesting part of it was when she got to use her new bottom tooth by biting it into the psychiatrist's hand.

"Well, your daughter's aversion to being hugged or touched may be due to a rare disease that only around 80 people in this world have called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. It's a condition that allows the patient to remember every moment of their life up until the day they die. So, Yukihime may not like being hugged or touched right now because she remembers being pushed through a narrow space but it is nothing to worry about as she may come around to it as she gets older" Interesting. She wasn't really interested in the types of diseases that the humans in her past life got so this new information interested her greatly.

She was aware that she probably didn't have the disease and that she just had good memory due to her overly developed mind but it would be interesting to read more into the types of disease that humans could contract now that she, herself, was human.

Upon arriving home that evening, she was glad to be put to bed in her crib so that she could sleep but before she could doze off she was disturbed by the sounds of a bed creaking along with some other rather disturbing sounds 'Are they celebrating my health? Oh no…'

*1 Year Old*

'She's big'

It had been subtle at first but now that her mother was into, what she guessed to be, her 8th month of pregnancy, there was no use hiding it.

She was going to become an older sister. It was something that gave her mixed emotions because she had been the younger sister in her last life but, then again, she wanted to see her new sibling. It was an odd emotion that had begun to occur within her and she wasn't sure if it was just traces of her rather territorial personality from before but she could tell already that she wasn't going to let anything happen to her new family.

Seeing her mother shift around a little before freezing up, she tensed up and went straight to her "Ma?" It was a rather endearing name but it wasn't what she wanted to call her. She was only forced to due to her still developing vocal cords "It's ok, Yuki-chan~ it just seems that your little brother wants to come out haha"

Sensing that she was feigning her cheerfulness, the now young girl didn't hesitate to stumble to the kitchen and practically scream at Iemitsu "Da!"

"Oh?! Yu-chan~ you know you aren't allowed in here whilst someone's cooking~" Inwardly rolling her eyes at his predictable response, she slammed her hand on the wood at the doorway a few times before replying "Ma! Ma! Baba!" She was impressed that she managed to get out the syllable for Ba since her tongue usually fumbled that one up.

Somehow getting the message 'Finally' she watched as Iemitsu's eyes widened before she was scooped up along with the hospital bag kept near the front door.

Once they had retrieved her mother as well and had gone off to the hospital, everything after that seemed like a blur.

Hearing the cries of a young child, she straightened in her seat waiting outside of her mother's room and was beginning to become impatient just when Iemitsu appeared and carried her inside to see her mother and new sibling.

Ignoring her mother's smiling face for now, she looked down intently at the baby being held and subconsciously held her breathe at how ethereal he seemed to be. From what she could see, he was like the male mirror image of her except her hair was a darker shade of brown and her eyes were a little narrower and she could see that her brother would have a more tanned complexion as he grows. Slowly reaching out towards her brother, her eyes brightened up when he curled a hand around two of her fingers "This is your little brother Tsunayoshi, Yu-chan~" Ignoring Iemitsu, she couldn't help but smile and let her first word slip from between her lips

"Mine"

"Eh?"

*4 Years Old*

"No"

"But Yuki-chan~ everyone needs to go to school. It's where you learn to be a big girl~"

Despite her love for Nana, she wasn't backing down on this one. She had just gotten the news that she was to begin going to kindergarten the next day and she refused to do so. The first reason for refusing was clearly because she had no desire to be around slobbering infants and the main reason was because she refused to leave Tsuna.

Over the past 2 years since his birth, she had found herself growing closer and closer to her brother until eventually she became what Iemitsu had so lovingly called her as 'Tsuna's guard dog'. Whenever Nana decided to take them to the park to play, she stayed by Tsuna's side at all times and when another toddler attempted to bother her sibling, she outright growled at them.

"Please? ~ For Mama? ~" Goddammit, Nana knew that her daughter couldn't seem to resist doing anything for her 'Mama'

"…Fine… But I'm not wearing any skirts" Inwardly sulking when she heard her mother cheering her on, she glanced over at her brother playing with his building blocks and mourned the time that she would lose spending with him.

XXX

The next morning when everyone was up and about, Yuki was forced to go along with what she had agreed to and found herself standing in front of Namimori Kindergarten with Nana, Iemitsu and Tsuna.

Looking herself over, she silently approved of the dark blue blouse and beige shorts that Nana had picked out for her since there was little chance of her getting any bad stains. Staying planted in her spot in front of the gates, she groaned when she was forced to move onwards when she saw Iemitsu carrying Tsuna in with Nana towards the main classroom for introductions.

Once they'd made it inside of the classroom, she couldn't stop herself from grimacing at the sight of the other children running around with a two frantic teachers flailing around near the middle of the room 'Wonderful…' Turning to Nana and Iemitsu who was holding Tsuna, she pleaded with her eyes for them to not leave her in this hellhole and only got amused chuckles in return. Scowling when her hair was ruffled, she righted herself before returning the hug that her mother gave her.

Watching them walking away from the room, she wasn't able to say it out loud due to her pride but she felt an ache in her chest along with a feeling of longing upon seeing that she had to be independent again.

Looking back to the classroom, she surveyed her options for where she should sit and noticed that the children were avoiding sitting near a table that held a single boy with black hair who seemed to be glaring at every one of them 'Perfect'

Casually strolling over to his table, she put her bag down before plopping herself down opposite him and felt the full force of his glare being directed towards her straight away. Looking at him, she quirked up an eyebrow, waiting for a reason as to why he was being hostile

"What are you doing, herbivore?"

Upon hearing what the boy had called her, she couldn't help but snort in amusement from it. It was ironic, being called an herbivore despite what she was in her last life. Relaxing in her seat, she rolled her eyes when she noticed that Mr. Herbivore hadn't stopped staring.

"It's rude to stare…" Lowering her gaze to the name tag attached to the boy's shirt, she continued "Hibari-san"

The boy seemed a little caught off guard for some reason but that didn't stop him from replying "You didn't answer me, Sawada" Raising a brow in surprise upon hearing the lack of honorifics, she frowned in response "I'm sitting down, Hibari"

"Why are you sitting here?"

"Because I can't stand the other slobbering creatures in the room. Plus, I hate bodily contact"

"Leave. Crowding is annoying" Seeing that she was getting nowhere and fast, she resorted to provoking him to see if that would get him to leave "No. I have a right to be here, Hibari-chan"

Noticing how that visibly angered the boy, she felt excitement run through her veins briefly before she continued, unaware of the boy clenching his fists "I did notice the lack of honorifics when you addressed me, Hibari-chan. Why don't you try calling me Sawada-sama?"

Dodging to the side out of instinct, she smirked when she saw her seat mate standing in front of her holding two metal poles 'They look like tonfas… Interesting'. Moving to the side again, she waited until the boy swung at her before she ducked down rather awkwardly, still not used to her boy's lack of muscle, and then she swung forward with her hand to land a palm strike against the boy's abdomen since she wasn't a fan of bruising her inexperienced knuckles.

Waiting for him to recover, she felt another sliver of excitement run through her when she saw the predatory gleam that had appeared in the boy's eyes "Wao"

After his short praise, they both returned to their small tussle before they were eventually forced to stop when one of the teachers ran over and put them in separate corners for time out.

XXX

At the end of the day when Iemitsu was the one to pick her up, she thought he was going to faint when he spotted the black eye she was sporting and then he quickly switched to disappointment when the teacher informed him of her prior activities.

"Yu-chan… Mama isn't going to be happy when she hears that you made an enemy on your first day"

Looking at the man in confusion, she tilted her head to the side slightly before answering "Enemy? I made an ally! He's strong so I can spar against him to get stronger and protect Tsuna!" She didn't see any faults with her logic. After all, if they had been enemies then she would've tried to kill him as per natural selection. "Ally? Wouldn't you normally call him a frie- wait, it's a boy?" Watching the man warily, she noticed how he began to mutter to himself, weirding her out, before he then turned to her with teary eyes "He can't take my Yu-chan! You're my only daughter~ He'll have to fight me to have you!" Giving him a blank stare in return, she simply sighed before walking on ahead "Hai hai…"

*5 Years Old*

Dropping down to avoid an overhead swing from Hibari, she waited a second more before springing up and pulling her nun chucks around forcefully only for them to clash against Hibari's tonfas "You seem different today, Omnivore"

Ignoring him, she pushed away and created some distance between the two of them before adjusting her grip on her weapon and licking her dry lips "How so?"

Throwing her guard up when Hibari sprinted towards her, she defended against a hit from him before she managed to hit him in the abdomen with one of the ends of her weapon. Feeling a punch from him hit against her side, she winced in pain before they pulled apart again "You're more aggressive, angry."

Hating that he'd guessed correctly, she clicked her tongue before lowering her weapons, him doing the same "The idiot left yesterday 'to become a star'. I don't understand how digging up oil is becoming a star though… it's suspicious"

"An affair?" Shaking her head, she walked over to where they had left their lunch before she sat down and waited for him to join her before she resumed eating "He's too loyal to our mother… I think it's something darker. I remember he sometimes used to come home smelling like gunpowder when we were younger"

Glancing at her sparring partner, she saw that he appeared to be thinking it over as he ate "Do you have any ideas?"

Looking down at her lunch, she pushed around her rice with her chopsticks before sighing "I'm almost positive that he's involved in some sort of organisation. I've seen a strange logo on some of his stuff before"

"Hn" Rolling her eyes at his response, she looked over the rooftop that they were sitting atop and couldn't help but to frown at the sky 'Stupid old man'

*7 Years Old*

"Tadaima"

"Nee-chan!" Looking up from slipping her shoes off, Yuki smiled when she saw Tsuna running towards her. Happily returning the hug that he gave her, she hummed before they separated and both headed towards the kitchen to greet their mother "How was your day at kindergarten, Tsuna?"

"Umm… Tsu-kun thinks that he maybe isn't as smart as the other kids…" Feeling slightly alarmed at the downtrodden way that her brother was speaking, she stopped and looked down at him only to frown "Tsuna, I can help you with your homework if you need it. I finish mine quickly anyway"

"Thanks, Nee-chan!" Happy that she had cheered him up for now, she continued on her way to the kitchen and was surprised to see her mother cooking up a feast "Are we expecting guests, mother?"

"Mhm! Papa's coming home with his boss to visit!" Tensing up when she heard what exactly had been said, she forced herself to smile, however rigged it may have looked, and excused herself for a moment before she left to go upstairs and go to her room.

Once in her room, she could feel her anger slowly rising ever so steadily so she pushed it aside before placing her bag at the bottom of her bed, not forgetting to grab her nun chucks beforehand. Hearing the door downstairs opening, she didn't hesitate before she left her room and walked down the stairs as quietly as she could as she watched the exchange between her mother and Iemitsu. Seeing Tsuna hiding behind her mother's legs, she could feel her anger rise again. The stupid old man had been away for that long that Tsuna wasn't sure if it was even him!

Clearing her throat when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she felt her ego swell up slightly when Tsuna ran to hide behind hr despite her only being a few centimetres taller than him "Oh! Yu-chan~ Come to daddy~ I haven't seen you in so long~" Turning her gaze on her father, she decided to take a page from Hibari's book and degraded him "You don't look familiar, insect". She may have degraded him more than Hibari usually would but he deserved it and she felt satisfied upon seeing him visibly deflate.

"Ara~ Yuki-chan why don't you go play out back with Tsu-kun?" Obeying her mother's wishes, she dragged her gaze away from Iemitsu and over his boss before she gently grabbed hold of Tsuna's hand and led him out to the back garden.

She had probably been entertaining Tsuna for at least a few minutes before they were interrupted by Iemitsu coming out to the back porch to sit with his boss. Passing the ball back to Tsuna idly, Yuki narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the two adults before she was forced to pay attention to her brother to catch the ball thrown to her.

"Ne, nee-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Is it true that you and Hibari-senpai beat up people?" 'Ahh~ how to avoid this question…?' Merely humming in response, she only shrugged her shoulders and found amusement at the unimpressed stare she got from Tsuna "They only get beat up if they break the rules. It's nice to live peacefully, right?"

Receiving a hesitant nod of agreement, she smiled and was about to change the subject but stopped when she heard a rustling sound and saw a small Chihuahua walking around the side of the house "Ahhh!" Whirling back around to see what was wrong, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she saw that Tsuna appeared to be afraid of the dog. About to puff up her chest and scare the dog off, she was forced to stop when the dog ran off and Tsuna had a flame flickering about atop his head.

Seeing that he was crying, she moved over to help him but was stopped when Iemitsu scooped him up and Iemitsu's boss walked over as well. Feeling a sense of foreboding hit her, she watched as the two men discussed something as Tsuna drifted off to sleep, probably tired himself out, before they both seemed to come to a decision and the old man held out his hand towards Tsuna before his finger lit up with the same orange flame that Tsuna had had and her mind suddenly screamed at her 'DON'T LET HIM SEAL OFF THE FLAMES' Unsure of what the voice even meant, she merely grunted in reply before running forward and standing between Iemitsu and his boss "Don't you dare touch him"

It was probably going a bit overboard but she couldn't help the killing intent that seemed to be rolling off of her in waves. They were planning to 'seal' her brother's 'flames' and her instincts were screaming at her that it would only damage her brother.

"Yu-chan… My boss is only going to make Tsuna all better!" Turning her glare towards her father, she snarled as a warning before she gripped his trousers with one hand tightly and let her anger course through her, though it was beginning to feel like boiling water that begging to be released "Let him down before I tell Mama that you've been lying to her about your job"

Seeing both of their taken aback expressions, she inwardly rolled her eyes before staying put and waiting for her brother to be put down.

After a few tense seconds, Iemitsu put Tsuna down and she relaxed a little before cuddling him against her "Yukihime what did you mean by lying to your mother about my job?"

Glancing at Iemitsu, she scowled before giving a short reply "I don't care about Omerta because I'm not a part of your organisation so I have no qualms against revealing everything I've found out over the last 2 years to Mama"

Feeling the atmosphere around both of the men darken slightly, she huddled Tsuna closer to herself "Why did you stop me from helping your brother?"

Turning her attention to the old man, she didn't hesitate to answer with venom practically dripping from her words "You were going to seal his flames! That's not helping!"

Realising that answering straight away due to anger wasn't the best choice, she immediately shut up afterwards and decided to think through her answers now since telling them that the voice in her head warned her wouldn't end well "How do you know that that was what I was going to do?"

Thinking it over carefully, she tried her best to think of answers that would help her before she improvised "I… don't know. My instincts told me that you were going to impede him in some way…"

Noticing the old man suddenly exchanging a shared look with Iemitsu, she waited a few seconds before she was taken off guard when the old man suddenly laughed and patted her on the head "You're quite perceptive, child. I should be going now but I hope to see both you and your brother in the future ohohoho"

Watching Iemitsu guide the old man out of the back garden, she barely responded to Nana when she came out to check on them because of how deep in thought she was 'Am I surrounded by weirdos?"

*14 Years Old*

"I refuse"

Quirking up a brow, clearly unamused at Kyoya holding out a red armband towards her, expecting her to just put it on, she ignored him despite the growl that seemed to have rose up from his throat. "I've already decided to revive the school's archery club so I don't have time for your disciplinary committee"

"…Hn" Watching him march away, clearly going to sulk, she waited until he was out of sight before she turned and slid the door of her classroom open. Sliding the door behind her closed, she glared at the people in the class staring at her before she strolled over to sit in her seat near the back of the room.

It wasn't like she didn't want to aid Kyoya with his disciplinary committee, it was just that she felt that he would be strong enough to do it on his own so she ventured out and established her own territory at the archery club as its new president since the few members remaining were incompetent and she couldn't have that so she didn't hesitate to usurp them.

XX

At the end of her day, she had to go through Kyoya to get to her club because he was being annoyingly persistent but afterwards, she had a peaceful afternoon before heading home for her evening.

Upon entering her home, she first dropped her things off in her room before heading down stairs only to meet Tsuna as he was coming through the door.

Her brother had…changed in the last couple of years. She had helped him with his work at first but then he caught up on his own before he then began to annoy her with his slow but gradual personality change to the…narcissist that he now was.

She still loved her brother, yes, but when he was always bragging about his looks and how successful he was now, she honestly felt like pummelling him into the ground to establish that he was, in fact, not perfect.

"Hey, Nee-chan~ how was your day?" The short reprieve that she had was that he still called her in the same way that he always had (probably because his intuition warned him that he would regret not doing so). Waiting until he had slipped off his shoes, she smiled and ruffled his hair before answering "My day was ok. How about you?"

"I had a great day~ the soccer team recruited me so that's why I was late getting home today" Happy that he was being active, she congratulated him before directing him to his room to get cleaned up because he was all sweaty.

Seeing him disappear upstairs, she turned and made her way into the kitchen before casually making her way over to the fridge to look for something to cook for their dinner since their mother was out today with some friends and would be spending the night with one of them.

Her gaze landing on some meat along with a few other things, she thought it over briefly before deciding that curry would be the best choice since her expertise in cooking was mediocre at best.

Beginning to chop up some vegetables, she left them for a second before moving to begin on the sauce and silently thanked Tsuna when he came back to help her with finishing with chopping the vegetables and dicing up the meat.

"Isn't this beef? Don't you need chicken for curry?"

"You can make different types of curry. I just picked beef because we don't seem to have any chicken to use"

"If you can cook this well then why don't you try making bentos for Hibari-senpai? I thought you two were together?"

"What was that?! No. Kyoya and I are simply friends"

"Close friends?"

"Tsuna. Refrain from trying to bring up such a ridiculous subject again unless you wish to starve"

"H-hai!"

*16 Years Old* -Yukihime's POV- (Our main character's point of view~ Spicy~)

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Slamming my hand down to get rid of that retched sound, I blearily opened my eyes before seeing that I probably needed a new alarm clock again "Dammit… The third one this month…"

Rolling over slightly to push myself up, I saw my shoulder length hair sway forward in front of me before I pushed it back and sat up straight. Looking around my room, I slowly thought out what I had to gather for the day before getting and heading to my bathroom to wash up.

XX

Coming out of the bathroom, I stretched out my arms a little to get rid of the stiffness that was usually there in the morning before I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs to have breakfast.

Getting to the bottom of the stairs, I yawned a little before walking into the kitchen and smiling at the sight of my mother "Morning, mother"

"Oh? Good morning, Yuki-chan! Would you mind getting your brother up for me? It's the first day back and I don't want him to be late…" Not wanting to bother her, I nodded in agreement before strolling back upstairs and casually kicking the door to Tsuna's room open. Seeing him lasing around still sleeping, I rolled my eyes briefly before walking over and pulling him up by his ear "Wake up"

"Itai! That hurt, Nee-chan!"

"It woke you up, didn't it? Now hurry and get dressed. It's the first day back and if you're late even I can't stop Kyoya from 'biting you to death'" Hearing him 'hieee' before rushing to go to his bathroom, I sighed before going back downstairs and slumping into a chair at the table "I got something interesting in the mail today, Yuki~"

Humming in interest, I looked up to see what Mama what talking about and squinted my eyes in confusion upon seeing a very brief flyer about a home tutor "They'll accept pay in the form of housing and warm meals? Sounds like a scam… I don't need a tutor and Tsuna is doing pretty well in his studies, mother"

"Hmm? But he said that he'd be able to get Tsu-kun's studies up to your level, Yuki-chan~ and he even said that he was a friend of your papa's~" Oh. I see. So, instead of coming to see us himself, that stupid old bastard sent his friend to 'tutor' Tsuna. I obviously couldn't say this to her directly because she loved the man too much so I simply replied with an 'Hn' and focused on eating my breakfast.

Hearing Tsuna coming down the stairs, I moved my plate to the sink to wash later before strolling out into the hallway to wait on my younger brother. Making sure my uniform was nice and neat, I furrowed my brows in confusion when I heard the doorbell ring. We weren't expecting anyone to come this early in the morning. The only friends of Tsuna that know where he lives is Kurokawa Hana, Sasagawa Kyoko and Yamamoto Takeshi and I certainly wasn't expecting anyone since Kyoya is always at the school at this time along with Kusakabe and I don't get close enough to the members of my archery club to let them know where I live.

Staying put in my place, I glanced to my left and saw Tsuna looking as confused as me "Tsuna! Yuki! Can one of you get that?!" Making eye contact with Tsuna, I was determined not to answer that door and so I promptly intimidated him with a glare. Getting a scowl in response, I inwardly smirked at my victory before watching him open the door.

Seeing nothing but fresh air once the door was opened, I felt the need to look down and felt my eyes widen in surprise upon seeing a small infant wearing a black suit along with a fedora stroll in "Ciaossu". Keeping quiet as the small child (?) spoke, I made eye contact with Tsuna again and could tell that we were both thinking the same thing 'Why is there a random baby in our house?'