A/N: aha, I might have accidentally been too obscure there. this is an AU Tsuna who's had no mafia contact ever. I was hung up on the idea of some random, normal Tsuna being forced to fill the shoes of older mafia one and how that would go down

An - idk if that's a typo or smth, but idk?

ty for the reviews o/


Japan, Tsunayoshi concluded, was fucking hot. Sure, he heard about his mother's birthplace before - she'd speak of it with a fond sadness he learnt to classify as nostalgia - but they never actually visited. She had fled the country just before he was born, and never had the chance really to go back. Tsunayoshi wondered if she had been planning to, at some point, visit the country with him; heritage had been important to her and she diligently taught it to him as he grew up despite them being so physically removed from it. It's most likely she had, that is, if she hadn't fallen ill.

Tsunayoshi shook his head, as if to erase the negative thoughts from it. He felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead, and he cursed. Heritage or not, Japan was still too fucking hot.

"Jesus christ."

Tsunayoshi didn't often swear, but being lost in a country on the other side of the world, apparently two years in the past seemed to call for it. Tsunayoshi still wondered how far his phone had to glitch to make it appear like it was still 2014. Like, there was no way that could seriously happen, right?

'Just like there's no way for you to randomly wake up in Japan.' His mind supplied. Tsunayoshi told it to shut up.

His mind decidedly refused, and continued to speculate over the chances of him having travelled through space and time - quite literally.

Pushing through some more shrubbery, Tsunayoshi finally decided that it was the least of his worries. Besides being hopelessly lost, he also had no money or means to contact home. Well, at most he had a couple of pounds, but they were as good as nothing in Japan. Plus his phone lost signal ages ago, and Tsunayoshi had given up trying to get it back. The brunet idly wished he'd woken up somewhere more convenient, like, America for example. Wasn't the 2014 exchange rate pretty good? Or maybe that was the 2012 one? Tsunayoshi couldn't quite remember, and while thinking up useless information helped stop him from panicking too much, it didn't get him out of the forest he was in.

The brunet decidedly announced to himself that he was not lost.

'Bullshit.' His mind spoke up with another unnecessary answer, and he told it to shut up again.

Besides, you can't really be lost if you had no idea where you were in the first place, right?

Tsunayoshi grumbled to himself while pushing past more foliage. He shoved himself through a particularly annoying cluster of trees before the forest finally gave way. Civilisation. At bloody last.

The slightly run-down children's park couldn't really be classed as the pinnacle of civilisation, but to Tsunayoshi's deprived eyes, it was a haven. A haven that had a fountain.

Stumbling out of the forest, Tsunayoshi hurried over to the fountain to take a well deserved drink. Usually he'd never go for anything so public and potentially unhygienic, but weird fountain water germs or not, the brunet was far too thirsty to actually care.

'Come at me, germs. Do your worst.'

Maybe he was more dehydrated than he thought.

Having finally drunk his fill, the brunet wiped his mouth and checked his phone again for signal. Tsunayoshi thanked various lords that it did indeed have signal, and that it hadn't ran out of battery quite yet. He went to his contact list, and almost clicked 'mum' before he realised what he was doing and quickly scrolled past. Picking another name at random, Tsunayoshi held his breath and pressed dial.

Before he even got to the first ring, an automated voice message played into his ear.

The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number, and try again.

Shakiky, Tsunayoshi hung up and tried again. He didn't bother listening to the entire message when it played once more, immediately hanging up and trying a different contact.

The number you have dialed is not in service.

Gripping his phone tightly, the brunet pressed end call and tried again, his breath hitching when the same message played into his ear.

The number you have dialed...

Shaking his head vigorously, Tsunayoshi closed his contacts and put his phone back in his pocket. It was simply a coincidence, that was all. Just because he woke up in another country, didn't mean that he was two years in the past and unable to contact anyone he knew, let alone get home.

He heaved a sigh, and forced himself to relax. Maybe it was simply all a prank, and his phone had been tampered with. Japan? Did he seriously think he'd woken up on the other side of the world? Obviously he was being messed with. There was no way this was happening. He was probably getting punk'd or something like that.

The excited chattering of passing children met his ears, and the brunet's hopes sank and the obvious use of the Japanese language.

Taking a deep breath, Tsunayoshi decided the best thing he could do was determine his next set of actions. Obviously, there was something going on here that he couldn't explain. Maybe if he actually had been two years younger, he'd have broken down in panic, but he had matured since then. His mother's death had practically forced him to grow up.

The best course of action would really be finding a police station. Not for the first time did Tsunayoshi thank his mother for raising him bilingual, so at least he could explain his situation properly when he found one.

The brunet firmly denied entertaining the various thoughts and explanations for his situation. Agnosticism gave him the right open mindset for these things, but he honestly didn't want to comprehend the full impacts of travelling through time - or, god help him, anything worse.

Huffing a breath, the brunet went on his way, picking a random direction in which to walk towards and hoping that he'd run into the police station - or someone who could take him there, at the very least.

Somehow, the heat became even worse.

Tsunayoshi staggered through the streets, cursing whatever gods were out there for making him appear in Japan in during the peak of summer. He must have appeared particularly dead to the world, for he hadn't gone far before being approached by a nice old lady.

"Oh dear, are you okay, young man?" She asked sweetly, or at least, he thought that's what he said.

Tsunayoshi blinked, wiring his brain to Japanese. It had been a while since he really spoke it with anyone else.

"Ah, yes, I'm fine." The brunet rubbed his hair sheepishly, before remembering to add, "thank you."

The woman seemed surprised, and Tsunayoshi had to wonder just how odd he sounded. It can't have been that bad, right? His mother had been a native speaker, and she didn't really have fault with how he spoke.

"Ara, are you not from around here?" The lady asked, and upon seeing the brunet's surprised expression, laughed. "It's a small town," she explained. "And you seemed lost."

Thank the heavens for old ladies. Tsunayoshi nodded, relieved. "I am. Would you mind telling me where the police station is?"

"Oh, of course dear." She rummaged through her bag. "Here, let me write them down for you."

Tsunayoshi smiled and thanked her. After having received the directions, the brunet waved goodbye, before checking the paper to see where he had to go. He almost face faulted, when he saw the mess of kanji he didn't understand.

— X —

Huffing, Tsunayoshi looked upon the unassuming beige building, and let out a sigh of relief. It may have taken him an hour, and asking another person, but finally, he had made it. The police station. Finally.

The brunet wasn't quite sure how protocol went in Japan. Was he allowed to simply walk in, and say that he was lost? But then, he couldn't really give them an address to direct him back to - he was sure if he said he lived in England, then they wouldn't take his seriously. Then again, he was a minor, at least, he was fairly sure that he was. Japan had an age of the majority of twenty, didn't they?

Tsunayoshi didn't quite know if he would hate being put into a home more than being rejected. The brunet absolutely detested having to rely upon people - he was prickly enough with people he knew, nevermind having to rely upon strangers. Sadly he had to do something. There was not a chance he'd survive on the streets in a country he wasn't familiar with, in a small town no less. Japan had a fairly low crime rate, but again, he didn't know the country well so he couldn't be sure. Maybe if he was in Tokyo, he might have given it a try, but he wasn't, and Tsunayoshi was fairly sure he'd be quickly caught here if he tried the usual tricks homeless kids pulled. All it all, it wouldn't go down well, and he'd rather turn himself in before he was dragged in by the scruff of his neck, to face some sort of consequence he would have almost certainly been unaware of.

Taking a deep breath, and fixing himself up a little - sure he wanted to look lost, but not like a bum off the street - Tsunayoshi pushed through the dainty little doors that led to the inside of the office. Almost immediately, he sighed with relief at the air conditioning. Screw being self-sufficient. He'd stay in a home any day if it meant that sweet cold air being directed right at him.

He must have closed his eyes in bliss, because an awkward sort of cough came from nearby, and Tsunayoshi's head quickly snapped around to meet the sheepish expression of a secretary. If he'd been the type to blush, the brunet might have been beet red by then, but all he could manage was an awkward smile and attempts to actually maintain eye contact. He rubbed the back of his neck, and tried to convey his apology with his expression, but the brunet wasn't quite sure if it worked. He wasn't that bothered if it hadn't.

"Hello," the secretary started with a smile, bright toned and professional. "How can I help you?"

How to explain...? 'It would be great officer, if you had some magical device to return me back to the future to the other side of the world. That would be helpful.' Maybe not.

"Ah, well, I'm lost." Tsunayoshi fidgeted a little, as if he was embarrassed by the admission. Mostly he was unused to human interaction, having holed himself up the past few months.

Some sort of understanding smile was plastered onto the secretary's face, and the brunet had to wonder how real it was. These people were far too nice and understanding to be possible.

"Well why don't you tell me what happened, and I can see if we can get you home again."

That would be impossible, but Tsunayoshi didn't say that. Instead, he went forwards, wondering just how he could spin this while revealing the least amount of truth possible. Maybe he could say he woke up in an alley? That could work. He didn't get as far as opening his mouth before another officer walked through the doors, calling out a casual greeting as he went past. The brunet glanced at the officer in curiosity, before dismissing him once more, but the police man had stopped in his tracks.

With a shaky voice, full of disbelief, he posed a question.

"Dame-Tsuna?"