Warm water cascaded over tear-stained cheeks, washing away any evidence of sorrow. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to protect them. They were all supposed to laugh and watch the fireworks together. They were all supposed to be safe...

But they weren't.

They had been taken from him.

It wasn't just his Elements. If it had just them, he could have gotten them back. It had been his backup and his support.

The Varia and the Arcobaleno had been taken as well.

Cruel. Ruthless.

Fast.

They were gone by morning, taking them all in a matter of hours. They had all been drugged so heavily that their Flames had trouble burning them off-the same drugs Tsuna had been forced to take what seemed like an eternity ago.

And then they had stolen them. One by one.

When Tsuna woke, it was to a very familiar face.

"How does it feel to be powerless, Decimo?" Leto asked, clawed fingers curling around a very familiar green gun. Leon looked so lifeless. Why wasn't he with Reborn?

Tsuna had torn from his bed, seeking out their Flamma Wavelengths which were all gone. Each empty bed sent him closer and closer to the edge.

They were all gone.

He remembered collapsing in Xanxus' en suite, the final place he searched, with a growing sense of loss.

He remembered feeling so broken.

Leto's cruel laughter rang out from somewhere above him. "I'll leave you with this reminder." He threw a familiar box next to him. Tsuna had asked Talbot to make replicas of the original Vongola Watches. He had done something else. He had given them the originals with a few added features. Talbot revealed that, on the night that the First Generation Vongola revealed themselves after signing a temporary contract with Yuni after the Arcobaleno trials, Giotto (in his phantom form) had asked that Talbot give them the watches as a gift when Tsunayoshi finally took up the Vongola Mantle.

Talbot's gift to them had been to make replicas to present to the rest of his Family-for the Varia and for the Arcobaleno.

The box that had been thrown was the box all 24 of the gold and silver trinkets had resided in before they were given to their respective owners.

"I won't kill you, Decimo. Instead, I will leave you to wallow in your self-hatred." Leto grabbed Tsuna's hair and yanked him up, snarling into his ear. "You should have killed me that night. The humiliation I've faced because of you is nothing compared to what you'll face in the years to come. I know the pain of loss very well, Decimo, and I know that this much loss can drive a man insane." He dropped Tsuna who fell limp against the ground, all the while hoping against hope that this was all just a terrible nightmare.

But it wasn't.

It had all been real.

It had taken time, almost a year of being in his mother and father's care, but he recovered. His Flame was damaged and would never really recover without the aid of his Elements (which meant it wouldn't manifest externally until he was given proper resolve once again) but he was still honed in the means of defending himself so he wasn't in any danger should any of his old enemies rear their ugly heads.

And that was enough to give him the strength to take him back to the place it all began.

Shizume City.

Cash was not a problem but when he saw the apartment he had once been held captive in on an ad-listing while he was looking for a place to stay, he really couldn't resist.

They even kept the cat flap.

Tsuna made sure to turn the back room into Natsu's personal play area.

"Mrrrrrow!"

The sound of his Box Weapon crying outside of the bathroom door pulled Tsuna from his reverie. "Alright, alright. I'm coming, Natsu. Don't claw at the door!"

He turned the water off and wrapped a towel around his waist. Outside of the door, Natsu peered up at him with wide eyes.

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

"Gao!"

Tsuna leaned into the bathroom and picked up the Vongola Ring. He held his hand out for Natsu and let him lick at the tiny Flame he managed to manifest every day to feed his partner. It wasn't enough for battle but Natsu wasn't here for battle.

He was here to keep Tsunayoshi from giving up.

Natsu required constant attention. If his Flame wasn't constantly replenished, he'd return to his box. It took a tremendous amount of strength to summon Natsu but less to keep him outside of his box. It was an exercise to help him get used to his Flame as it was. So far it had helped.

Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough to have Natsu use his full battle mode. His hope was that, one day, he would be.

At the moment, he could only manage a small Flame to feed him every day. It wasn't much but it was more than before and he considered that progress.

At least now he had a companion while he sought answers.

But first, he had a debt to take care of.

The Red King felt the moment the bullet pierced his Temperance's chest. It was an unpleasant and sharp feeling that sent him to his knees. "Find that idiot." He remembered snarling at Izumo before his vision went black.

Images flashed in his mind but what he remembered most was the scorching heat that threatened to burn his flesh and a vibrant orange flame.

He jerked in place, cutting off his Aura before anyone got hurt in the same moment it took for the door to swing open.

Izumo had returned. In his arms was a very familiar brunet. Mikoto stood and inspected his Temperance. It was as though nothing had happened...

But...

"He will scar but I hardly think that matters to you."

Mikoto felt his lips twitch as he turned to the source of the slightly deeper voice. "Balls finally drop?"

"Bite me." Tsunayoshi said, stepping into the bar. "We are even now, Red King. I've saved your Temperance. My debt has been payed."

"Indeed it has. At what cost?" Mikoto cocked his head. Tsunayoshi swayed where he stood, his head tipping to the side as though it was too heavy to hold up.

The kid had aged well. His body was lithe and flexible, angled in all the right places for flight and speed. His eyes had narrowed and he stood at shoulder-level, whereas before he stood at Mikoto's chest. His hair was longer, a tail sweeping down to the curve of his back, held by an ornate silver clasp. On his neck, Mikoto could see a tattoo of a black flame with an X in the center of it just above his collar bone. Above it was a white leather collar that had black chains connected.

Something told Mikoto that those chains weren't normal chains. He figured they had something to do with why he couldn't sense Tsunayoshi's Flame at all.

"The cost was at my own risk. I knew what I was doing."

"And what, pray tell, were you doing?" Izumo asked.

"I was healing him." Tsunayoshi said carefully, turning copper eyes onto the bartender. "Fire, for me, can mean more that destruction. I'd have thought that much would have been obvious."

He was baiting Izumo. While the bartender knew better than to take it, Yata was not. Mikoto put a hand on the back of his vanguard's neck, calming him before he could get riled up. Tsunayoshi's lips twitched in amusement. "I've yet to see that." Mikoto said. He cocked his head towards Tsunayoshi when his eyes slid blindly over where Mikoto stood. "Until you can walk a straight line, I advise you rest here." He said.

The gratitude in Tsunayoshi's eyes told him that he made the right choice. He released his vanguard and caught Tsunayoshi's arm as he swayed dangerously to the side. He guided him to the empty couch, the other being occupied by Tatara, and let him fall limp, already unconscious.

"No one is to harm him." He said clearly. "He is to be treated as an ally. If I hear that you've gone against him, I'll punish you myself."

Those that were present murmured their affirmative before departing to fill in those that weren't, leaving Mikoto alone with Anna, Yata and Izumo while Tatara and Tsunayoshi recovered on the couches.

Mikoto downed a shot of whiskey that had been left by one of the patrons.

"Grab a drink, boys. We got a long night ahead of us."

It wasn't as though Tsuna knew where he was going when he tore through the streets after a very familiar piercing ringing started somewhere in the back of his mind. The sound warned him when trouble was near-dangerous trouble, the kind that ended with a bullet through the chest-but the very familiar heat that he associated with the Red King's mark washed over him and he knew that he couldn't stay away.

So he kept careful track of the change in pitch as he moved, letting the sound guide him. The closer he got, the louder the ringing became.

He underestimated how loud it would get. It became almost blinding until it was shoved away in an instant when he felt the presence of another King only this time, the presence was icy cold to the point of dying everything with a negative tint. Color was drained from his vision until all he saw was negative.

Except for the color red.

There was so much of it, thrashing under the surface, desperate to be released. Those wounds would be healed in an instant, burning, scabbing and scarring as soon as that Red was released for the first time.

But he had no trigger. His Strain and Aura fought for dominance. If his Strain ability had been activated before his Aura had been recieved, the two would have corresponded... but as it was, the two were fighting for dominance, both trying to save his life.

There was no harmony.

Maybe...

The ringing got louder when the gun turned to him. "Who's there?! Show yourself, Sky Child! You can't hide your presence from me..."

Don't make eye contact! The ringing kicked up a notch and Tsuna leaned his head forward so his hair obscured his vision. He was careful not to meet any part of the Colorless King's gaze.

"Yes... you will make a fabulous host." The gun went off and Tsuna's vision went orange.

Dying Will Flames sprung to life on his fists and forehead as he dodged the oncoming trajectory, 'Hah. You'll never be as good as Reborn.' He sneered mentally before knocking his feet out from under him and throwing him over the railing. That wouldn't kill him, his intuition supplied, it would only damage the body he was in and those wounds would heal soon enough (he didn't let the chill behind that thought get to him-he didn't have time to).

He spun and knelt desperately over Tatara's body. "You were undeveloped. Your Strain and Aura are fighting for dominance where there should be harmony... I will supply that for you." Tsuna placed a blistered hand over the wound and called on his Flame.

This would hurt, his Intuition whispered.

Even though he went into Zero Point Breakthrough to absorb most of the damage, it really did.

He let the Aura roll through him, forcing his Harmony into the untamable Red that had been taken from his King.

Tsuna's eyes widened.

"So that's your ability, little Strain. You take the burden off of others by soothing with your own. Your ability to convert that power into a concentrated form will allow you to better protect yourself and those around you. Use your new power well, little Strain. I've broken all kinds of laws by granting you this power. Don't waste it."

Tatara gasped as his Aura and Tsuna's Dying Will Flame, for one brief moment, became one.

And then everything burst into flame.

When Tsuna woke up, the first thing he felt was the bone-deep exhaustion that came with overtaxing himself with his Dying Will Flames... and it was the best damn thing he ever felt because it came with the knowledge that both he and Tatara were alive to see another day.

He forced his heavy limbs to respond, pushing himself into an upright position and then gnashing his teeth down over his tongue to keep from crying out when he forgot about the burns on his hands. He looked down to assess the damage and noticed that not only had his hands been bandaged (which were rapidly turning red after he opened something when he put his weight on it) but his clothes had been changed to a pair of cotton sweats and a white t-shirt as well.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." Kusanagi said from behind the bar where he was tidying up. "Our King has stepped out for a moment but has asked that you not overtax yourself."

Tsuna nodded his head, ignoring the way his Will flared from somewhere deep inside of him. It was an odd but familiar feeling that he welcomed. It had been so long since he'd last felt it that now that it was responding (however defensively-although he wasn't sure why. Mikoto wasn't hurting him and it wasn't as though he was ordering Tsuna to take it easy...), it felt different.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"How is he?" Kusanagi asked as Tsuna inspected the wound he had overtaxed himself to heal.

"Out of danger." Tsuna said. "Keep the wound clean and dry. Make sure you rub some antibiotic cream on it and whatever you do, don't let him twist, pull, push or bend. That will tear what has already been healed. I managed to heal the inside of it but the surface is very tender and can reopen easily." Tsuna shrugged into his jacket. "He won't wake up for a few days. I put him pretty deep under, although that was not my intent."

"What was your intent?" Yata asked, his eyes narrowing into slits.

"I told you before. I was healing him." Tsuna said, his eyes narrowing into slits. He broke out into a cold sweat and had to back away to hide the way his burnt hands trembled. Overtaxing his intuition left his head foggy and his limbs were uncoordinated because of it. He was in no condition to fight. He stumbled back, feeling for the door blindly as panic began to claw at his throat.

His vision doubled, one eye becoming the negative vision he had seen before with the same Red he had seen before.

He covered it before the Red could stain his vision entirely. He could see their Aura, dormant under their skin. He could feel the heat against his skin, could feel the way his Intuition prickled in warning. These were not his people. They could turn on him.

But he knew they wouldn't. The top three—the King's Court, he joked silently and then had to bite his tongue to keep from snickering—had gone out of their way to help him. He had repayed them. As far as where they stood, it wasn't on negative grounds. The Vanguard had no reason behind his anger.

So Tsuna clenched his jaw and met Yata's gaze evenly.

"Tch." He turned away. Tsuna resisted the urge to smirk and assert his dominance. This was not his domain.

He felt someone tug on his hand and fought against the urge to lash out. He turned slowly, blinking when a little girl looked up at him from where she was undoing the bandages from his hand. He moved so that she could finish and focused on her work instead, welcoming the distraction.

"Thank you, little miss." Tsuna whispered while Kusanagi scolded Yata.

"Anna." She said softly.

"Anna-chan, then." He winked. Anna's lips turned up in an almost imperceptible smile.

"If Anna-chan likes him then he can't be all that bad." Bandou said, nudging Yata with his elbow. "Ease up a little, Yata. He's not in a condition to stand up to you right now."

"Any other time and he'd probably wipe the floor with your ass." Kusanagi informed him cheerfully. "He's a Sky—they are on the same level as Kings themselves. Don't underestimate him."

"Heh... some King I am." Tsunayoshi said bitterly. Kusanagi blinked and turned towards him.

"What do you mean?" Bandou asked.

"It doesn't matter." Tsunayoshi said dismissively. "Give your King my apologies for not sticking around until he got back but I think that it would be best if I sought professional medical care for the burns I sustained." He reached into the blazer he had been wearing and pulled out a card. He had meant to give it to Hana when he reached out to her (which he completely forgot about... oops...) as it had all of his personal contact information but he could always write another one. It was written on the business card to her law firm located here in Shizume City. Kyoko worked there as Hana's ADA. "Please let him know that if he finds himself in a position where he is unable to make change himself, I would be more than happy to come in and straighten things out for him. I extend that offer to anyone from the Red Clan."

"I appreciate that. I'll pass on your message." Kusanagi said, inclining his head. "The same for you as well. Should you need anything, the Red Clan would be honored to assist you."

Tsuna's lips twitched. "Thank you." He said, bowing at the waist before turning and making his exit.

He had to feed Natsu soon.

District Attorney Kurokawa Hana was not happy.

Four days ago, Sawada Tsunayoshi called her office and left a message asking her to meet at a cafe not too far from her firm and he didn't show up.

Her foul mood abated somewhat when she saw a bouquet of pink carnations—her favorite—and a note with an apology written on it. "Who're they from?" Kyoko asked, leaning into her office after she skimmed the note with a different address. This time it was a bar on the edge of the business district, just across the street from the park.

Called Homra.

"Kyoko..." Hana said, catching her assistant's eye. "Tsunayoshi is in town and has asked that we meet him at that little bar on the other side of town... should we dress nice?"

"I don't think it's that kind of call, Hana." Kyoko said, giving her friend a look. Haru was the wild child. Why was Hana playing her role?

Hana rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't dress up for him anyways." She said, waving a hand. "It just says meet him at that bar, Homra, and to bring you. It doesn't say what it's about."

"There must be a reason if he's reaching out after all this time." Kyoko said. "It's been so long since we last heard from him."

"Yeah..." Hana said quietly. She knew. He hadn't spoken to anyone since the day they had all disappeared. She hadn't expected such a severe reaction from him but the last time she had seen him, he had been almost catatonic. No one had known what to do with him so they handed him over to his parents in the hopes that they would be able to help him. Their prayers must have been answered if he was reaching out after all this time.

And yet... something unsettled Hana.

Why was he reaching out?

That question weighed heavily on her mind. "Hana?" Kyoko looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"No." Hana admitted. She wasn't okay. When she went home every night, she downed half of a bottle of scotch that cost more than she made in a month-bottles that were supplied by the hotel she was living at while her penthouse apartment was under repair. They wouldn't charge her for them. She saved the owner from having to sell the place when his ex-wife filed for divorce. The prenup had been mostly iron clad but Hana had found a way out of it and got a hefty cut from the case. It had been one of the first cases she had worked and while divorce court had been entertaining, it wasn't what she was looking for.

There were still perks of the job, she thought as she contemplated the hot tub on her balcony. An unlimited tab at one of the most expensive hotels in Japan was one of them.

That still didn't answer the question of why Tsunayoshi was reaching out, however, and Hana found herself at odds with what she should do. On one hand, the monkey had all but abandoned them after his people had been stolen from them... on the other, he may have found clues that told him the location of his Elements and needed help collecting evidence. Hana had the connections to make that happen. Private detectives, a hand in the Blue Clan since law enforcement and District Attorneys ran hand-in-hand... she had more than enough man-power she could call on.

She closed her eyes and sent a short prayer up.

They'd find out soon. He asked them to meet him at one. It was almost eleven thirty. "I say we at least look presentable. Let's go back to the hotel." Haru would be asleep as she stayed up to finish her notes for the final exam that would put her on Scepter 4's roster. She knew that her intentions were anything but pure so she didn't think she'd be accepted into the Blue Clan even if she was offered a position but she couldn't help but try, even if the rejection would be painful.

They could surprise him by bringing Haru along too. The girl had left to Shizume City before the incident happened, diving head first into law school. When she heard about what had happened, she hadn't had the courage to look at a defeated Tsunayoshi so she made up every excuse in the book to avoid going and seeing him (and it tore her apart every time).

This time, however, Tsunayoshi reached out to them and Hana was going to drag that girl kicking and screaming if that's what it took.

Thankfully, that was not what it took. Kyoko had whispered encouragingly in her ear, waking her up gently and coaxing her through a shower. Hana waited on the edge of the bed, watching a sitcom that reminded her of those easy days in Italy (which were anything but-but she enjoyed them nonetheless). When the door opened, Kyoko and Haru were both done up and wearing a pair of sweater-dresses they had gotten from a boutique that they had frequented every time they got paid. "Your turn." Kyoko said, beaming at Hana.

Hana rolled her eyes but complied and stepped into the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, she stepped out with curled hair, eyeliner and a thin layer of lip-gloss. Her outfit was professional-a pencil-wrap skirt with a white button-up-but sexy because it hugged her in all the right places.

Hana pulled off the sexretary-look well, Kyoko thought while resisting the urge to giggle.

Lussuria would be so proud.

It had taken Tatara exactly four days to recover. The first day he spent in a near-death coma next to Tsunayoshi. The second day, Tsunayoshi had left to get professional medical care for his own injuries while Tatara recovered from his which were healing at an accelerated rate. On the third day, he woke up long enough to get down three bottles of water before he fell unconscious again. On the fourth day, Izumo walked in to see Tatara sitting up and rubbing his head while blearily taking in his surroundings. "Morning, sleeping beauty." Mikoto said gruffly from the stairway. Tatara turned his head and looked at his King before his head tilted dangerously to the side.

"Don't overdo it, now." Izumo said, catching him before he fell and aggravated his injuries. "You lost quite a bit of blood before help got to you. It'll take some time to recover from that, even if your wound is mostly healed."

"What happened?" Tatara asked, his voice cracking. Mikoto brought over a few water bottles and pushed one towards him. Tatara took it gratefully and downed it without taking a breath.

"You got shot." Mikoto said. "Tsunayoshi-the young Sky we encountered while we stayed with Izumo-saved you."

Izumo's eyes narrowed. Was Mikoto not going to tell him?

Sharp red eyes cut into his vision.

No, Izumo thought as he all but read Mikoto's thoughts. He's too weak to experiment with an ability that could do more damage to him. They'd tell him later. Right now, it was best to let him focus on healing and then they'd talk about his new-found Strain ability.

"Tsunayoshi was here?" Tatara looked around hopefully but found no trace of the brunet.

"He was... but he had to leave. His hands were severely burned and he was worn to the bone. He told us to call him when you woke up, though." Izumo rolled his shoulders as he made up a cocktail before joining his Clan on the sofas.

Tatara's shoulders slumped. "Wait to call him. I'd like to do that myself."

"Since you're awake now, I can open up my bar again." Izumo said, nudging Tatara playfully. Tatara flushed.

"I couldn't help it. I was bedridden."

"Couch-ridden." Yata said and then broke down into snickers.

"Right." Tatara nodded. "What he said."

"King... what're we gonna do about the Colorless King? We have to warn the other Clans about this." Tatara said, getting serious when Izumo turned the closed sign around and pulled open the blinds to let some light in. In a matter of minutes, the bar was full of its afternoon regulars. The usual bright atmosphere covered their conversation well and prevented Mikoto from losing his temper. He picked a good time to address the issue.

"Don't worry about it until you're completely recovered. In the mean time, I'll see if I can rile Munakata up a little bit. If we're both still in one piece after the fact, I'll be sure to pass along a message that there is a new enemy to the Clans."

"You aren't going to talk to the Gold King directly?" Izumo asked. "Don't you think that this kind of situation calls for it?" As a King, Mikoto had free entry to the Gold King's domain as long as he remained at the Gold King's call. Last time Izumo had checked, Mikoto had accepted the Gold King's alliance and therefore was at his call.

"Why the hell would I do that when I can stir up some trouble with the local law enforcement?" Mikoto asked, an almost sinister smirk making Izumo groan.

"Do you have to? Really?" Izumo asked, attempting to keep the desperation out of his voice. "I don't want to bail you out of jail again."

"Then I won't get caught."

"That's not what I mean." Izumo said, his eyes narrowing. Mikoto rolled his eyes. He wasn't fighting because he was losing control. He was fighting because he wanted to whoop that sissy-King's ass. Knock those damn glasses off of his face and see how smug he was then.

Dominance. That was what he wanted. Munakata thought that he was on top of the world but Mikoto wanted to knock him on his ass and teach him a lesson he wouldn't soon forget. Flaunting about his territory and claiming things left and right. Scepter 4 may be run by the Blue Clan but the Blue Clan was a separate entity entirely and it was time that Munakata remembered that.

But it was okay for him to forget from time to time. After all, why else was Mikoto around if not to remind the Blue King that no, he was not on top?