Chapter 8

Tsuna and the First Generation

"Lal!"

Said toddler had, after returning her mind to her physical body, staggered and almost collapsed.

"I'm fine, Colonello, Aria. What's more important will be what I'm going to tell you know."

She looked at them seriously before speaking. "There are foreign flames in Tsunayoshi, five which the mind is relentlessly trying to kick out, and his mind is a literal prison. I need you, Aria, to seal, permanently seal away the five flames, which are all but Sky and two Mists. Colonello, calm him down enough for me to forcefully alter his mindscape into something less... disturbing... After that, I'll tell you about his memories."

How could a prison cell be disturbing? They didn't know, and don't want to know.

"Alright, kora! Come on, I'm ready kora!"

"If you're ready, Lal, I am too." Aria said, the tight, worrying squeeze on her heart slowly loosening as they could finally help the child.

"...Then let's start."


And for the infinite time in his six years of looking after Byakuran, Michaelo found himself questioning why must the world be so cruel to these three children.

Byakuran, chosen holder of the Sky Mare Ring, and apparently, after reading the Gesso's family's history, he discovered that the ring actually permits the holder to travel between parallel worlds. And for some unknown, horrifying reason, only his Byakuran can communicate with other Byakurans of different parallel worlds. Dealing with one hyperactive, mischievous, marshmallow-addict was more than enough already. He really didn't want Byakuran to start sharing stories which he received from his parallel selves, exaggerated to a point as usual, and his Young Master would probably even gather up insane ideas and wreck havoc on both mansions.

The downsides? Michaelo was afraid that with all the foreign knowledge, his Young Master would one day break. It had taken Byakuran quite some time to get used to the Ring and the abilities it brought about, and Michaelo had stuck with Byakuran through it all. And Michaelo also worried about the similarities between every parallel Byakuran his Byakuran had told him about, that all of them aren't satisfied when they become too bored.

With Byakuran's extra knowledge of many possibilities, Michaelo was afraid that Byakuran would one day have this insane idea of ruling the world.

Next would be the unconscious brunette, Tsunayoshi, last name unknown. He had suffered being an Estraneo's experiment for who knows how long! And he was just a mere child at that! Tsunayoshi was a Japanese citizen, and was born there, how did he come to be in Europe, away from Asia?!

He had asked Gamma the following hour for the details once Signora Giglio Nero had walked out of the brunette's room, face full of relief and exhaustion, along with two of the Arcobaleno. However, it turns out that even Gamma wasn't informed.

Michaelo would never be able to forget the painful, tormented screams that also spelled out a child in need of dire help, but was declined any, more like he had no hope back then. The child was still crying, he had realized early on, and it definitely was a miracle he wasn't dehydrated at all.

Being a flame user himself, an Inverted Storm, and adding on the fact he was sensitive to others' flames, he could sense the child, like Young Master Byakuran and Yuni Giglio Nero, was a Sky, who had clearly bonded with a powerful Mist unknowingly. He could tell, the lingering Mist Flames that was detected was definitely one whose owner's had resolved to protect the child at all costs, no matter how far apart they are.

The Mist Flames clung to him like an adult holding their child in their arms protectively, but, Michaelo thought, with what he understood so far, that wasn't the appropriate comparison considering his living situation before Italy.

It was clear, the trauma would stick with him for a long time, most probably, for eternity.

He was a year younger than Byakuran, yet, Michaelo believes though it was mentioned countless of times, it had to be said, Tsunayoshi looked three rather than five. And that was certainly not a good sign, and if that wasn't, well, you can take into account how long he has been asleep for.

Lastly, was the youngest of the three, Yuni Giglio Nero. Though all looks well right now, Yuni would lose her mother to the Arcobaleno's Sky curse and would be forced to bear the curse herself. And whoever who started this trend with her grandmother, Luce, would expect Yuni to bear children at a young age just so the curse can be passed on to them.

Yuni is expected to live a short life, and once the cursed pacifier got placed with her, she will be plagued with visions, much like Byakuran, however she won't be able to control it, unlike Byakuran.

These three children really, really don't deserve a life full of suffering.


After the sealing of Tsunayoshi's foreign flames, Aria had immediately climbed onto the couch and knocked herself out, leading to Gamma who sighed and dragged a blanket on her, as the room's temperature was very low at the time. Lal and Colonello had collapsed on two separate beds in one of the many guest rooms located around the huge mansion.

"How's Tsu-chan?" Byakuran asked, peeking slightly in the room where the little brunette was now sleeping, peacefully, for once. "He's alright~~ yay!"

The albino skipped over to the brunette after closing the door behind him, leaving the two children as the only ones in the room. "I can't wait to know you, Tsu-chan~~"

Lal and informed Aria and Colonello of Tsuna's life before Estraneo and after that as well, since the Mist Flames were preventing the memories of the time period during Estraneo to surface, they wouldn't be able to find out what had happened back then. Byakuran, being the sneaky child he is, merely stood behind the door and listened in on the entire conversation, a tad grateful that they had ignored his presence, thinking that a child wouldn't be able to comprehend or even effectively listen to what they were saying, as they had toned down their voices.

However, before the two adults stuck as toddlers arrived, Byakuran had bugged the room with four listening devices, one on each corner on the ceiling, and was listening from the receiving point of the devices.

Byakuran is a sneaky child indeed, and apparently Michaelo had forgotten to mention it.

He recalled one of the older Byakuran's memories where Tsunayoshi had became the Vongola Decimo, and Ieyoshi had left both Japan and Italy, no matter in what parallel worlds, one of the Sawadas would always inherit the position.

"I'll make sure you inherit Decimo Vongola, then you, me and Yuni-chan can be the successors together~~!" He whispered into the younger's ear excitedly and was pleased of the reaction.

Tsunayoshi had unconsciously cracked a barely noticeable smile and his features seemed so much lighter and relived of pain, unlike before. This was also the first time to get a reaction, albeit small, out of Tsunayoshi.

"Byakuran?" the door opened slightly as a sleepy voice rang from behind it. "Is Tsuna awake?"

Yuni stood at the entrance, dressed in small pyjamas and rubbing her eyes sleepily, it was approaching midnight and apparently, the adults went out for some business, and to cut off their alliance with Vongola, because of Iemitsu's actions. No doubt the ninth boss would be very much confused and desperate to maintain any alliances they have, with the ninth generation being worn down by old age and the doubt of the wisdom of each decision made, alliances were slowly starting to be broken off. Until an acceptable tenth boss steps up, the broken alliances will just remain neutral.

"Yuni-chan~~ sadly, Tsu-chan is still unconscious... but! But look! He reacted to my words~~" Byakuran wrung his hands in dramatic gestures that dragged a giggle out of Yuni, who stumbled over to Byakuran's side next to the bed.

"I want to be friends with Tsuna, like with you, Byakuran..." Yuni muttered sleepily as her eyelids got heavier and heavier, until she couldn't hold out anymore and collapsed into a deep sleep on the blanket.

Byakuran had a fond smile on his face as he looked at the other two children younger than him. "Skies together..."

And with that last comment, he fell asleep next to Yuni, and on the blanket as well.

They remained like this throughout the night and slept through breakfast, it wasn't until noon when the two of them woke up, the eldest smiling contentedly when he spot the smile on the sleeping child's face.


Aria and Gamma, along with Michaelo had returned to the mansion, as the two Arcobaleno went to do some digging on the Estraneo. When they reached the mansion, the first thing they had done was check both children's room and the three were in a state of panic when they couldn't find them any sight of them, and to add to the worry, the mansion was entirely silent and dark.

The last place they checked was young Tsunayoshi's room and though the room was dark, they were a little surprised to see the door ajar. They opened the door and Gamma immediately took out his camera and snapped a picture of the cute scene.

Along the way, the three children had somehow ended up cuddling each other and their worries lifted when they spot Tsuna's smile, and the fact that his hands were slightly out of the blanket, meant that his health was improving.


Two days or so later, Tsunayoshi awoken and was being watched over by the main residents of the mansion, upon the sight of unfamiliar company, had instinctively shrank back, hands raised over his head, cowering, as if to protect himself and entire body shivering in slight fright. Though when they caught a glimpse of his doe brown eyes, they had a small hint of confusion within. Then slowly, slowly but surely, as the rest of them gave him some space, he started to let down his hands and faced them, body still tensed but instead of preparing to defend himself or attack them, they were preparing to flee.

Gamma suspected Hyper Intuition, though it must've been in its weaker awakening stages.

They tried to get close to him, to talk to him, and were thankful his first action once he stumbled down the stairs weakly due to unbearable hunger, wasn't to flee, but worse, it was to completely avoid them. It seemed like he deemed the mansion safe from whatever was haunting him, scientists, Gamma had voiced. And to add insult to injury, Tsuna had adamantly refused from even stepping one feet out the mansion. Furthermore, the ones who still weren't informed of Tsunayoshi's traumatizing past from Aria, Lal or Colonello, claimed more evidence the following days after he awoken, there were scars around his arms, and like their observation before, Tsuna's body was unnaturally small for a five-year-old, in fact, if Yuni was just a little taller, she would probably be mistaken for his elder sister instead.

It took quite some time before they finally got the truth out of him, and they even had to get Lal and Colonello to help, and when they did, all of them were furious. Colonello had used his Rain flames to calm the child down while Lal would use unfamiliar soothing words. The two toddler sized adults were flaring their flames dangerously and protectively as Lal vowed to make Iemitsu suffer more than ever.

The child had suffered some physical, verbal and emotional abuse even BEFORE Estraneo. It had mostly done a tremendous impact to the child's mentality, but it seemed as if some skilled Mist Flame user had calmed the boy down countless of times before, if the lingering Mist Flames that seemed to cling on the boy's mind was any indication. At least, that was what Lal had finally revealed to them, finally.

Tsuna finally relaxed in their presence and opened up after another week, and Byakuran and his butler would visit daily, sometimes spend the night until the two were as close as twins, unlike his real twin. And Yuni would be the younger sister that they became overprotective of, but the claims to Tsuna's small stature from Byakuran would always make the brunette sulk.


One month later, seven ghosts materialized behind Tsuna when they were having lunch at the Giglio Nero mansion. Byakuran took it stride, Michaelo took one look at his Young Master's face before promptly returning to his food no questions asked, however, the three Giglio Neros were either on guard -Aria and Gamma- or fascinated and curious -Yuni-.

"Tsuna, Nana and leyoshi has noticed your disappearance." Before Tsuna could protest to the blonde haired spirit doppelganger, he continued. "leyoshi may not care, but your mother certainly does. No matter how air-headed she is, even the most oblivious of people wouldn't simply write off rumors and gossip about your disappearance as 'nothing at all'. Especially after the police force and Disciplinary Committee came banging on her door."

"But...I don't want to go back to...that place..." Tsuna ended his sentence as his voice fell down to but a mere whisper.

"Hold on, who are you seven?" Gamma demanded. The spirits turned to him as embarrassment overcame the blonde.

"A-ah sorry for not introducing ourselves but we are-"

He was cut off by his descendant. "The blonde one w-who was talking just now is Giotto, the one whose standing the furthest away f-from everyone is A-Alaude, the teen who has green hair is Lampo, t-the pink haired one," Tsuna ignored the splutters from said ghost, yells of 'It's red! Not pink!' and unmistakable taunting as he continued to talk,. "Is G a-and the Right-hand man of Giotto. The one who is fingering his f-flute is Asari Ugetsu. The black haired one with a bandage is Knuckle a-and the one over there, the Melon-head, is Daemon Spade."

If Tsuna was introducing anyone to anyone at all, he would remove all honorifics as to not give a clue of their relationship with him. No matter if it was family members, girlfriends, close friends, seniors or brother-figures.

"Ir's red, brat! Not pink!"

"Nufufu~~? Who are you calling melon head, Tsunayoshi-kun~?"

Tsuna ignored the confused and astonished glances from Aria and Gamma and just replied innocently. "B-but G-nii said that calling you 'Melon head' suits you more and G-nii, Daemon-nii said that your hair was originally pink a-and would like it to be called such."

By this point, the two spirits were already glaring at each other as another brawl started. Asari tried calming them down but it was useless, it was second to the legendary clashes between Daemon and Alaude. Lampo promptly ignored everything that's happening and instead opt to curling up on the floor and immediately fell asleep. Knuckle, thank everything holy, hadn't joined the fight, but instead tried yelling at them to stop. However, this led to disturbing Alaude who's already chasing after the priest with his handcuffs. Giotto, on the other hand, just lingered behind Tsuna and tried ignoring the chaos his Guardians were causing.

"Tsuna-kun~" Byakuran began with a smirk as he flew over to Tsuna with his white wings. "You did that on purpose didn't you? Ooh, how sneaky of you, Tsu-chan~"

Tsuna flushed but beamed at the elder. "It's fun!"

Forgetting about the situation on hand, Gamma face palmed and Aria just calmly ate, Yuni laughing in the background. "You pit them against each other just because it was fun?!"

"Mm... Tsuna-kun is such a sadist, don't you think, Giotto?" Lampo who had pretended to fall asleep turned around to look at the blonde ghost with sleepy eyes.

"More so than you, Giotto. Hahaha!" Asari laughed as he threw a hand behind his head sheepishly when Giotto sent him a dry stare.

It was at that moment that Alaude returned, dragging a beaten up Knuckle with him. Daemon and G were still somewhere in the mansion causing havoc. And once Alaude fixed them all with a piercing glare, he went back to lean against the wall. Gamma suddenly realized something vital. "Wait, you're telling me these spirits are the First Generation of Vongola?!"

"What's Vongola?" Tsuna asked in a timid voice.

Byakuran floated behind him smiling mischievously, Michaelo had already learnt to ignore his Young Master when Byakuran got into this mood of his. "Come on Tsu-chan, Yuni-chan, I'll tell you~"

He didn't bother waiting for a reply as he dragged the two of them by the hand. As they were leaving the room, the adults heard a clear but soft, "What's 'chan'?"

That snapped Aria out of her daze. "Gamma, follow those three and make sure Byakuran has the right information. And Michaelo, aren't you supposed to be his butler?"

The butler sighed before placing down his fork and spoon as Gamma raced out the room with a pale face. "When the Young Master becomes like that, mischievous and dodgy, it's best to leave him to do his things. Nothing good nor bad would come out of interfering. In short, it's pretty useless. Young Master Byakuran is a stubborn yet intelligent and knowledgeable child after all, I trust he knows what he's doing."

The ghost of Vongola Primo -Giotto, Aria reminded herself, everything strange seemed to happen once the albino Gesso got here, first Tsunayoshi, the Sawada household's exposure, then the ghosts of the First Generation- just shook his head in defeat. "Right, I imagine you want to know why am I here? Or why are we familiar with Tsuna-kun?"

Aria nodded seriously, and Michaelo turned to look at them, his reply was. "I'm only doing this to ensure that my Young Master won't be in any danger."

Such denial... he's curious too. Aria thought as she snickered inwardly.

Then, all three simultaneously flinched when they heard an explosion. Giotto's face flushed before bowing. "I am so sorry for my destructive Guardians Aria-san."

Aria sweatdropped. "They are ghosts, can they still destroy things?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But they can't harm or touch people, but they can touch Tsuna. And I suspect that is due to him being my direct descendant, since they harmonized with me, and that he has pure Sky Flames, though now diluted with another." Giotto admitted before wincing when another explosion was heard. "Alaude, can you please take care of them?"

Giotto shrunk back from the glare he was receiving. "Hn." Then, with a burst of Cloud Flames, the platinum blond ghost was gone.


"So, kiddos, listen up!" Byakuran had made the other two sat down as he remained standing, a plastic long stick in hand and a whiteboard -where did he even get that?! Oh never mind, it's Byakuran- behind him. His mischievous yet gleeful grin that reached his eyes never leaving his face.

Tsuna sweatdropped. "Umm... B-Byakuran, aren't you a kid yourself? Well, the correct term w-would be c-child..."

Byakuran's face scrunched up. "Aw! Tsu-chan, there's no need for details!"

As he was about to start his 'Vongola Introduction Speech', Gamma, who had heard the last two sentences rushed in and fixated a tired glare at the eldest of the three children. "Details are important, Byakuran!"

"Gamma~~" Byakuran whined. "Come on, I can handle this myself!"

Gamma just averted his gaze to the gigantic whiteboard behind the albino, which was surprisingly legible and... oh, this was from 400 years ago, it hasn't been updated since Secondo's reign.

Gamma just sighed deeply before pulling Byakuran to sit with the other two and picked up a marker to add some new information to the board. Aria did say Byakuran has been chosen by the Sky Mare Ring, which allows him to view other parallel worlds and visit other Byakurans, but how did the albino child get lost information and history from 400 years ago?!

"I know you can travel to parallel worlds, but how did you get the proper history from 400 years ago?" Gamma asked dryly.

Byakuran smiled cheekily, his smile could've been splitting his face. "Parallel worlds have different timelines you know~~?"

Gamma wanted to bang his head against the board, but he didn't want to inflate Byakuran's head even more, nor does he want to answer any questions about his weird behavior from Tsuna or Yuni. "You only got the Primo's history, you totally forgotten about Secondo through Nono." he grumbled.

"Oops."


"You're saying that Iemitsu hated Tsunayoshi for no reason?" Michaelo turned to glare at the ghost, his heart sinking when the ghost just nodded sadly, confirming all of their thoughts. They had tried to deny the truth when they first heard it.

"For no reason, yes. Honestly, something must've happened before we arrived but I really don't see what sort of trouble a one or two-years old could cause to make their father hate them."

"And the twin? The mother?" Michaelo remained the only one demanding while Aria just sat in silence, internally fuming.

"The twin is a spoiled brat, and doesn't appreciate anything. Of course, he know about Tsuna, but since he's at an impressionable age right now, he's more likely to be influenced by Iemitsu. Nana... well, I've never met a more oblivious person in my entire life! Though, right now, I'm sure she regrets forgetting about Tsuna for years." Giotto admitted.

"Nufufu~ I'd give that damn CEDEF endless tormenting nightmares if only Tsunayoshi allowed me to." Daemon sighed heavily in disappointment that he wasn't able to torture the man.

If only leyoshi wasn't influenced by Iemitsu, he might've been a better Sky than he is now, he might've been able to help his twin.

"And that laptop? That was one that Verde invented, was it not, Lal?" Aria turned to ask the female infant who had just arrived.

"Where-" Michaelo stood up and faced the infant in surprise, but a hand from Aria stopped him. He relaxed but still asked. "How much did you hear? And how long have you been there?"

"Enough to know that Iemitsu deserves more than the paperwork hell I gave him." She stated darkly. "Maybe I should throw him to Mafia Land for my idiot student for a month. And to answer your question, Aria, yes, I vaguely remember Iemitsu requesting it for quite a high price to give to his youngest. How wasteful of him."

"The features... I think that it was untraceable, and had a relatively strong firewall. The network flow isn't bad at all, and if I remember correctly, the laptop's indestructible as well, right?" G trailed off thoughtfully, until he heard a snort, to which he spun around angrily to face the source.

He growled. "What?"

The green-haired teen just waved it off as he turned around to hide the smile on his face, however his shaking shoulders gave away that he was laughing. "Oh nothing, just thinking that being thoughtful or politely talking doesn't ever suit you, G! Hahahah- ACK!"

He was cut off by a sharp smack to the back of his head by an angered G. "Shut it, you."

Aria just chuckled. "Ignoring that and moving on, yes, those were the features of the laptop. Only Verde and us Arcobaleno are able to trace it, using our flames from the pacifiers."

Giotto coughed a bit to redirect the attention. "Yes, the laptop is here, if you wish to see. I'd promise Tsuna to bring it over to him lest he finds himself in a predicament."

He wilted back slightly from three glares -Aria, Michaelo and Lal-. "Then why didn't you find Tsuna earlier when he was still in there?"

Giotto looked to his Guardians for help but alas, he was ignored as they either left the room or looked away with innocent expressions on their faces. You traitors!

Giotto slowly turned back to the three others. "W-well..."

He started his explanation, after gathering up the courage that was lost immediately once he was met with the glares.

"I couldn't track Tsuna for the first year, and I sensed someone else hunting for him. A few days before the Estraneo Massacre, my Hyper Intuition told me to visit the Gesso heir and recently instated Sky Mare. That was when I heard that Byakuran had the future knowledge of the massacre. I couldn't find the Estraneo base and I wasn't sure which lab was Tsuna in, but with Byakuran's help, we got there in time to see kids escaping, Tsuna being carried by a boy just a bit older than him with heterochromia eyes and a trident. When Byakuran and Michaelo was getting closer to him and before the explosion that separated them, the boy had been carrying the boy and shielded Tsuna from the worst of the blast before being forced to separate."

Aria suddenly said as the glares died down and Giotto sighed in relief, he could relax again. "Wait, a boy with a trident and heterochromia eyes? A trident?!"

"Weird choice of weapon." Lal commented. "And just a bit older than Tsuna?" It sounded like the Mist user, but Lal wasn't sure as she couldn't peer into his mind clearly due to all the flames everywhere causing interference.

"Y-yeah... oh, and he was covered in blood. B-but it doesn't seem that any of the children were injured so I have reason to believe that he was one of the masterminds to Estraneo's downfall!" Giotto hurriedly defended himself as the glares returned the moment he mentioned that the boy was covered in blood.

Giotto mused to himself under his breath and was relieved that no one heard him. "He looked a bit like Daemon, but with pineapple-styled hair instead..."