"You're a foolish man, Lancia. Why would I return when I have just escaped? Take your gift. It's my thanks for being such a good tool."

Tsuna's head hurts. Why is everything so dark?

"Mukuro, we must atone! All those lives lost. Have you no conscience left?" It's Lancia's voice. Tsuna is surprised to note how loud it is. The man was so soft spoken before.

Before….

"Kufufu…. Kuhahahahaha! A conscience! Those, I left behind. With them!" The other voice bites, snarling. "What they took I will return a hundredfold! This whole world will burn. I am not the one to atone. They are. If death will not return what is mine, I will give it more than it can handle."

The guy sounds nuts. It distracts Tsuna. Why is he here? What this furry thing under his ha – oh. Cat. Tsuna open his eyes blearily. His cat's green gray eyes almost glow in the dim setting. No. They're actually glowing. Huh. It squeezes underneath Tsuna's arms and places a paw on Tsuna's cheek.

Tsuna huffs a laugh. His cat is so human sometimes.

"Oh? It looks like our guest is awake." The voice notes.

Tsuna freezes. His bad mojo meter is going off the charts. Hesitantly he raises his eyes to look around. They're in a run down looking building, with ridiculous red drapes spilled around everywhere. He's lying down on one of them.

Four others are in the room with him, Lancia, another man, and then two children. Children? Yes. They're children, anywhere from five to ten in age. The two sit, slumped despondently on the ground. The unknown man sits on the only furniture in the room, a plush couch eaten through by moths.

A single red eye stares Tsuna down with contempt. "Pitiful human." The man says. It's the voice. "I can smell the death coming off you in plumes. You are not long for this world." He says. "And your pet…. Kufu." He giggles, eye narrowing. "Stupid thing. Have you degraded so far that you no longer have any pride?"

Tsuna's cat hisses, a growl deep in its throat. It stands in front of Tsuna, but doesn't move beyond that.

"Attached. I see." The man snorts. "Fool. The man practically invites his own reaper into his home. Do you really think you can prevent that?"

This man… is talking to Tsuna's cat, not Tsuna. Okay.

"Tsuna…. I'm so sorry." Lancia turns towards Tsuna, face crumpled with distress. He stays where stands, half kneeled at the red eyed man's feet.

"Is this… what you had to do?" Tsuna asks.

Lancia nods minutely, grimacing.

Tsuna sighs. Another "do first, ask later." He needs to hold a lecture on this kind of thing. Forget Grudge Monsters. This is the true Neo Venetian curse here.

Tsuna pulls himself off the ground, surprised to see he hasn't been hogtied or staked to a pole or cross or something. It's the mood.

It's the mood.

Right. So now what. Tsuna doesn't suppose these guys will let him go home. "So, uh, what are your names?" Tsuna starts. "I'm Tsuna."

The unknown man blinks. Then falls back in laughter. "Oh, an interesting one you have picked up, Lancia!" The laughter fades into chuckles and eventually the man says, "I am Mukuro Rokudo. These two," The man's voice turns soft. Kind almost. "Are Chikusa Kakimoto and Ken Joshima." He then turns to Tsuna, interest gleaming in his mismatched eyes. " Tell me your full name, Tsuna, so I may provide the epitaph for your grave."

Yikes. Morbid isn't he. Tsuna swallows thickly. "Sawada. I'm Sawa – er, Tsunayoshi Sawada." Westerners and their darn reversed names. It gets awfully confusing.

"Oh? Japanese?" The man asks, switching languages.

Tsuna blinks. "You speak Japanese?" Maybe there's a lot of Japanese immigrants here? Though that said, Rokudo Mukuro. Strange name for an Italian person. For anyone.

"Hmm," The man, Mukuro, hums. "Surname Sawada, huh? I see. Very interesting indeed."

Lancia looks as lost as Tsuna feels. For different reasons.

For prison escapees, Mukuro and the others are very… unexciting.

Tsuna doesn't know where they are exactly, but somewhere as run down and creepy as this? He'd think this is the kind of place people would check first. And yet nothing continues to happen.

The two children, Ken and Chikusa, don't move. Tsuna can't be sure if they're even breathing.

"Uh, Mukuro? What are you guys going to do…?" Tsuna asks at last, unable to keep to himself any longer. Lancia keeps edging away if Tsuna tries to approach, and Mukuro says nothing, absentmindedly petting the child bodied convicts like dear pets. It's. It's creepy.

"For now? Nothing. None will find us here. Eventually we will make our move, but not yet." Mukuro grins unsettlingly at Tsuna. "Perhaps I will kill you. Yes. I have no doubt a Grudge Monster of your type will be magnificent. Too dull for a tool, unfortunately." The man sighs. "A shame. I may have wanted to keep you."

Tsuna contains a squawk. People really need to stop talking like he's dead!

Tsuna's cat hisses at Mukuro.

The man laughs. "And you think you can protect your human?" He raises a hand, a soft indigo flame arising from the tips of his fingers and spreading out horizontally like a kitsunebi. The flames disappear to expose the long handle of a trident staff, and suddenly Tsuna is thrown into the air.

"Gyahh!" Tsuna shrieks. There are – there are. Vines? Yes, vines twining around his wrists, his abdomen, his legs. Vines that lead to strange, large pink flowers and wide brimmed leaves.

Tsuna's cat yowls, fur standing at end. It attacks the vines, red flames catching where it scratches, but to no end. The vines simply regrow and multiply.

This is too much. "Hey! Let me go!" Tsuna demands. Logic has flown out the window. There are tentacle plants, and his cat burns things with its claws. No. "Mukuro – !"

The vines disappear, shattering into indigo-purple particles, and Tsuna crashes into the ground, groaning. He lies on the floor, face pressed into the scarlet drape under him. He's really not ready to try and process what the heck happened.

The decision is taken out of his hands. "Tsuna!" Lancia cries, large hands gently scooping him up and turning him on his back. "Tsuna, are you alright?" The man asks, frantic.

Well, at least he's talking to Tsuna again. "Fine. Just please tell me I was hallucinating?"

Lancia blinks, and then lets out a reluctant chuckle. "Unfortunately, no."

Tsuna sighs dramatically. Ah. A no go then. "Ugh."

Wait. This isn't a Grudge Monster thing. The ones that have strange powers – "You're a Paragon." Tsuna says, turning to look at Mukuro.

"Of a sort." Mukuro agrees. "Does that change anything?"

Tsuna thinks. "No." And thinks more. "… Maybe. What do you mean to do?" Tsuna asks again.

Mukuro considers Tsuna's statement seriously. And then spouts, "World domination."

A beat of silence.

"Excuse me?" Tsuna coughs.

Mukuro smiles indulgently. "What better seat to watch the world burn than from the very top? I hate this world full of disgusting humans, Sawada Tsunayoshi." This man is having way too much fun with Tsuna's full name. "Better it burn than continue to exist. And then maybe perhaps my wish may be fulfilled."

A Paragon's wish? "What did you wish for, Mukuro?" Tsuna asks. The only thing that made sense from the man's insane spcheal.

Mukuro's smile turns brittle. "I wonder? Some days, I cannot remember at all."

It's a lie. Tsuna lets it go.

Two days. Tsuna hasn't eaten in two days.

It's hard to tell the passage of time in the dark enclosed space, except for Tsuna's watch, which still keeps time. Lancia gets Tsuna water, but food is more difficult to acquire apparently. Or Mukuro means to starve Tsuna to death. Whichever.

Tsuna's cat hasn't tried to threaten Mukuro since the first time, and Mukuro's friends haven't moved the entire time Tsuna's seen them. It's frightening. It's as though they're empty, Mukuro simply lugging around their bodies for his own comfort.

Perhaps they are.

Tsuna attempts to walk out once. It's not Mukuro who stops him, but Lancia.

It's often silent but for Tsuna's breathing and the cat's occasional growls and hissing. Lancia comes and goes, but Mukuro doesn't move from his seat, the couch a sort of throne.

It's sometime in the afternoon, Tsuna thinks, when Lancia returns, but this time with a boy in tow.

There is something wrong with the child, fair-haired, long scarf pulled around his neck, and large tome held tightly in his hands. His eyes almost look to twinkle, strange patterns swirling in their depths. The boy is mumbling, gaze fixated on nothing in particular.

"Lancia. The Strongest Man in Italy." The boy says, smiling absently. "Ranking second out of 86,200 members of the mafia in creepiness factor…."

Tsuna tries not to laugh. His breath catches in his throat instead and he ends up coughing.

Lancia looks pained. "Fuuta de la Stella. The Ranking Prince. We should move now, Mukuro. Leave Tsuna behind."

Tsuna's gaze sharpens. "What do you mean to do with this kid?"

The boy, Fuuta? Hasn't acknowledged the occupants in the room outside of his last statement about Lancia.

Mukuro laughs. "Very good, Lancia. But you know we can't do that. He will be used as a distraction as planned." The trident appears in Mukuro's hands again, the butt hitting the ground with a dull thunk. The man gets off his throne, leaning on it lazily.

Lancia frowns, the most aggressive he's been towards Mukuro as so far Tsuna's seen. "You agreed to let him go."

Mukuro smiles. "Never alive."

"Mukuro, what are you going to do with Fuuta?" Tsuna cuts in on their staring match. Conversation about his death later. Mukuro is kidnapping a child. Illegal member of society or not this goes against Tsuna's morals even more than everything else that's transpired. The two children slumped by the couch are more than enough warning to the dangers of children left to Mukuro's tender mercies.

"This is Ranking Fuuta. He holds a wealth of knowledge, from the smallest speck of dirt to the largest star, the boy will rank them all in any category you ask of him." Mukuro explains, grin widening. "In the mafia, knowledge is power. This boy died many years ago, Sawada Tsunayoshi. You needn't worry for him." He giggles. "A Paragon, whose only wish was to know everything. No stabilizing ring means he can rank forever without hindrance. It's impossible to know and rank all when all is infinite. He will never fade, but his humanity died years ago."

Tsuna turns to look at Fuuta again, the new knowledge leaving him stricken. Another examination reveals what Tsuna hadn't noticed before. The boy's eyes are vacant other than the strange patterns swirling along the iris, his face largely slack with hollowed cheeks, unnatural in a young child's build. There really is nothing left except for the boy's body – sprit? – and his powers.

It occurs to Tsuna that this is why the others consider a decayed Grudge Monster or Paragon not worth saving. There really isn't… anything left. Death may be the kinder option.

Tsuna's cat yowls, and Tsuna looks up, realizing how close Mukuro has approached. The man holds his trident loosely in one hand, the butt end dragging on the wooden floor. Lancia is frozen at the other end of the room, Ranking Fuuta still hung loosely in his arms.

"I won't lie when I say I have truly enjoyed our conversations, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Do you have any parting words? A request perhaps?" Mukuro smiles, voice almost kind.

Before Tsuna can utter a word, another's cuts in. "I do. Die."

A shot rings through the air, followed immediately by the metallic sound of ricochet.

Tsuna gapes. Mukuro just blocked a bullet with his staff.

Though perhaps that detail is less pressing. Reborn stands in the doorway, gun held out, with Yamamoto and Ryohei standing behind him, glowing in their full Grudge Monster and Paragon glory.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto cries, immediately making to move towards him.

Mukuro twirls his staff and slams the butt against the floor, a stream of fire bursting from the ground in columns before him. They stop Yamamoto in his tracks, sending the man hastily retreating to prevent being burned. "Ah, the cavalry. I wondered when they would show. Here to retrieve Ranking Fuuta?" Mukuro glances at Tsuna and adds, "Or Sawada Tsunayoshi?" The man turns to the two children still slumped by the couch. "Ken, Chikusa, it's time to play."

Tsuna stares Ken and Chikusa rise slowly from the ground, limbs limp as though hung on strings. As one they stand to attention, looking at Mukuro. And then they relax, slumping slightly, though this time, not despondent. The blond haired child slouches, the stance of a rebellious child or gangster. The other boy pushes up his glasses, pose lax. They both smirk at Mukuro.

"Okay, pyon!"

"As you wish."

And then they explode into action.

Immediately, Ken rushes at Yamamoto, slamming into the man and then pushing him into the wall. A cloud of dust goes up around them, obscuring further view.

Chikusa pulls out a pair of yoyos (?) and fling them at Ryohei and Reborn. Tsuna gapes as needles shoot out from the toys, targeting the two left standing.

Ryohei ducks, the needles stabbing neat rows into his forearm. Reborn simply jumps away.

"Onii-san!" Tsuna yelps. This is the first time he's seen the boy get hurt. He may be older than him in years but – his body –

"I'm extremely fine!" Ryohei shouts back. He bounces childishly and shrugs off the injury. "Get out of there, Sawada!"

"Lancia, if you would please?" Mukuro commands.

Lancia nods, letting Fuuta drop gently to the floor. The man explodes into red fire and draws a strange ball and chain monstrosity from the flames as Mukuro had for his trident. He doesn't hesitate to rush Reborn.

Leaving Mukuro free to finish what he was doing. Namely, killing Tsuna.

"Sorry, Sawada Tsunayoshi, but it appears we don't have time for pleasantries. Your Grudge Monster will serve me well." Mukuro says.

As if Tsuna's going to let the man kill him? "No thanks." Tsuna says, scrambling to his feet. His hunger is forgotten in a wave of adrenaline powered energy, and Tsuna ducks under Mukuro's trident. It seems Reborn's training actually came in handy.

Duck, duck, side step – Tsuna wheezes as the butt of Mukuro's trident rams into his stomach, winding him. He stumbles back, nearly tripping over Fuuta, still mumbling to himself with his book clutched in his arms.

"If you resist, you will only make this more painful, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Mukuro informs him. "Hold still." The trident rises into the air, aimed unerringly at Tsuna's chest.

Fuuta is behind him. If he dodges or moves out of the way –

"Hayato Gokudera. Rank forty seventh of 86,201 in the mafia for – "

A loud growl rends the air and the pungent scent of cigarettes invades Tsuna's nose.

"Oya? So you will perish for a dying man?" Mukuro laughs.

The Grudge Monster Tsuna met the first day he arrived in Neo Venice roars, its back to Tsuna, red tinged flames bleeding from its partially open mouth. Its green gray eyes flick to Tsuna before turning back to Mukuro. And Tsuna knows this monster.

"It's you." Tsuna breathes. Somewhat inappropriately he thinks, no wonder the cat didn't like cat food. And all the instant ramen wasn't killing it.

"Foolish creature," Mukuro chides. "The last vestiges of your humanity fade daily and your final conscious days are spent attaching yourself to a human? I will put you out of your misery."

The Grudge Monster growls, falling on its front paws, and charges Mukuro.

The two clash, the long handle of Mukuro's trident to sharp teeth. The force of Grudge Monster's charge sends them both careening across the room.

Tsuna blinks, still a little in shock about what just happened. Then Reborn shouts, "Tsuna!" from across the room and. Right. He needs to get out of here.

Tsuna turns to the only non combatant. Fuuta. He can't leave the kid here, dead for years, lacking humanity, or whatever notwithstanding. "Fuuta? Fuuta we need to leave. Come on." Tsuna urges, awkwardly pulling the unresisting boy to his feet. The boy is but dead weight in Tsuna's arms, the only muscle tone in the arms clutching at his book.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada. Ranked 86,202th out of 86,202 in the mafia for strength." Fuuta reminds Tsuna cheerfully as Tsuna attempts to put the kid in some kind of bastardized fireman's carry. Tell him something he doesn't know.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada. Ranked 86,202th out of 86,202 in the mafia for intellect."

Tsuna sighs. He can reflect on his rock bottom self esteem later. As it is, his attention is largely divided between avoiding the flying debris from the various battles – it's all monsters against monsters, and the collateral damage is… amazing, frankly. Tsuna squeaks and hastily ducks under a chunk of airborne wall and plaster. Out, out, out – why is it that the more he moves, the further the exit seems to get?

"You cannot escape so easily, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna just about shrieks, whirling around to find Mukuro behind him, trident braced like a spear. Tsuna trips over a loose plank of floor, falling on his backside as the sharp edge of Mukuro's weapon flies overhead. Fuuta spills from his arms, momentarily startled from his constant rankings, but seemingly unhurt.

The Grudge Monster born from Tsuna's cat is slumped on the ground, flames from its mouth smothered to smoke and sparks. There is no visible wound to be seen from its back, the only side visible from Tsuna's position.

Tsuna blanches.

"You should worry about yourself first, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Mukuro advises. He stalks slowly towards Tsuna, weapon in hand. "Do not resist."

Tsuna looks around the room. Yamamoto rises from a crater in one of the walls, wings drooping and leaning heavily on his sword. Ken doesn't look any better for the wear, bright yellow oozing from wounds over his small body.

Ryohei, covered in needles slumps over a piece of debris, unsteady arms pulling him up. Chikusa doesn't move, down on the ground, tangled in a mess of his own yoyos.

Lancia bleeds red flames, pulling his weapon towards him with a tug of the metal chain.

And Reborn doesn't even look at his opponent, eyes locked on Tsuna.

The man smirks, holding his garish green handgun aimed not at Lancia or Mukuro, but on him.

"I see you won't even face your executioner as you die. Disappointing. Goodbye, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The gun goes off.

As Tsuna turns to face Mukuro again, the surprising thought is: "I don't want to lose against this guy."

Mukuro's trident bounces off, sending him skidding backwards from the force. The man. Reborn. He just shot Sawada Tsunayoshi. Considering the man's history, the probability of it having been a Dying Will bullet is high. Either way, Mukuro's goal is accomplished. Partly. He has yet to bring Sawada Tsunayoshi's monster under his control, but no matter.

The Arcobaleno is foolish to think he can survive the battle with a rampaging Grudge Monster in their midst.

Mukuro knows his limits. He will take his one hit against Sawada Tsunayoshi and take Ken and Chikusa. There is nothing to be gained by dragging this confrontation on longer than it has already.

Sawada Tsunayoshi's Grudge Monster rises from its crouched position on the floor. Mukuro tenses. It's humanoid, but whatever form means little amongst monsters. A black cape flows from its shoulders, flames lining the collar and bottom edges like fur trimming. A fire lights on the monster's forehead, but the most striking of Sawada Tsunayoshi's features aren't the garish flames.

It's his eyes.

Clear, un-muddled with the madness of the monster he should be, Sawada Tsunayoshi stares Mukuro down, resolve burning in brightly glowing eyes – and it's then that Mukuro realizes this isn't a Grudge Monster.

It's a Paragon.

In a dark situation like this, with his allies all but beaten, starved, about to be murdered, and the man becomes a Paragon.

He can't help it. He laughs. "Kufufufufu…. Kuhahahahahahaha!" Mukuro tosses his head back, indulging in Sawada Tsunayoshi's foolishness. "Truly you are fascinating, Sawada Tsunayoshi!" Mukuro crows. This is simply beyond his expectation! But ah, what a chance! What an unexpected gift! "But, this stunt of yours will not save you." He readies his trident, cursed eye flickering to the number one.

Paragons leave their bodies behind when they die. It is no different for those born of Dying Will bullets.

Throwing an illusion of an attack at the Paragon, Mukuro dashes for the body of Sawada Tsunayoshi crumpled on the ground. Just a nick of the trident's edge will do, but why stop there when he can kill the man in one go?

And inexplicably he finds himself clashing against an immovable force, sending his body flying. It's the Paragon, flame covered hands cooling to show the red orange metal gauntlets used to block Mukuro's attack.

Mukuro grimaces. It's fast.

"Mukuro," The Paragon speaks, voice echoing in the suddenly silent room, "Until I defeat you, I can't die even if I wish it!"

Bold words for one about to fade. "You simply spell your own doom!"

Tsuna moves with certainty. Not a single stray thought crosses his mind, thoughts clear but for his goal.

Defeat Mukuro.

His body is lighter, faster. Stronger. The culmination of his dying wish, his last purpose filling his body with the ability to fight. To win.

Nothing else matters.

Tsuna can hear the commotion of the others in the room, returning to their battles after the distraction of Tsuna's own. The thought stops at the observation of sensory perception.

Tsuna clenches his fists. Defeat Mukuro. He grabs a hold of Mukuro's staff before it can hit him, super heating the metal and bending, twisting the straight bar into a right angle. The man gasps and pulls away, shuffling back out of Tsuna's reach.

Mukuro grips the right side of his face, hand dyeing indigo, and a single red eye gleams between the man's fingers reading the number five.

The man charges Tsuna again, aura darkened, and somehow stronger. The illusion of flame pillars and the ground crumbling beneath Tsuna's feet are easily ignored, sensory data and nothing more. A fist draws back and impacts against Mukuro's face, sending the man careening into a wall.

As the dust settles, Tsuna can see the man crumpled against the ruined wall. The man coughs. There is blood.

Tsuna stops. Paragons and Grudge Monsters do not expel blood with injuries. Just the strange flames that seem to be what holds their form together. And yet.

"Surprised?" Mukuro pulls himself to his feet, stance wavering. "I am not yet dead. A human, implanted with powers of Grudge Monsters and Paragons alike, with all the memories of past lives suffered." The man grins, teeth bloody. "An experiment. Just like Ken and Chikusa here. They suffered with me, but died. No stabilizing rings, they withered away until they became the puppets you see now." Mukuro glares, holding his trident in front of him again, battle ready. "I hold grudges as well as any monster. I will not lose."

His single-minded resolution broken, Tsuna staggers, blocking the trident, only to be pushed back with the handle. Mukuro advances, pushing his advantage against Tsuna's reluctance to fight a human opponent. Strong though the man may be, the body is fragile. Tsuna cannot – he can't fight someone when he can just as well kill the man accidentally as well as purposefully.

"What is this? Have you lost the will to fight, Sawada Tsunayoshi? Where has that resolve gone? Where is your will?" Mukuro taunts. The man forces a retreat out of Tsuna, one step at a time. He cannot do this forever.

"Idiot-Tsuna!" Reborn's voice cuts through Tsuna's mind like a knife. "What was your regret? When the bullet hit you, what was your answer?"

That's right. Defeat Mukuro. It doesn't have to be through pure strength. That dark aura. He just needs to purify it. Remove the Grudge Monster influence and the pressure on the mind will ease. Humanity will return.

So resolved, Tsuna moves in for his attack. His flames thrust him through the air, faster than human vision. It's a simple matter to slip behind Mukuro. As the man turns in surprise, Tsuna grabs a hold of the man's head with one hand. And with his flames, he pushes.

The dark aura, the grudge fueling Mukuro fades. It's done. He's defeated Mukuro.

Defeated…?

Tsuna's flame fizzles out. The five minutes are over.

He collapses.

"Great job, Tsuna! I knew you could do it!"

It's a strangely familiar voice. Tsuna doesn't know how to place it, but he imagines a shady figure, muscular arms, and the sensation of something rough rubbing against the skin of his cheek.

He thinks he hears his mom, her laughter brighter than it has ever been the last ten years.

"One of these days, you'll grow as big and strong as me! Bigger even!"

He's lifted into the air. It's terrifying, being so high up, his feet meters from the ground. But the warm arms encircling him promise protection. His mom's laughter tinkles somewhere nearby.

It's safe, Tsuna thinks. He's okay. He's with –

"Dad," Tsuna says aloud.

It takes a few moments for him to realize where he is. Soft intermittent beeps shatter his concentration and there's someone nearby, holding onto his hand tightly. Tsuna blinks his eyes to look at a drab white ceiling before turning his neck to see who is cutting off the circulation in his right hand.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada." Fuuta greets. "Ranked first out of 86,202 in the mafia for kindness."

Tsuna breathes out a sigh. So the boy isn't truly there then. And yet.

"Hello, Fuuta. How long have you been here?" Tsuna asks, throat protesting the use. He feels like he's swallowed a rock, the walls of his airway irritated and dry.

Fuuta blinks. It's then that Tsuna realizes that the strange patterns in the boy's eyes have disappeared, leaving them a warm brown. They stare at Tsuna's face with purpose, but hold no particular emotion.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada. Ranked first out of 86,202 in the mafia for kindness." The boy repeats, as though unaware he's said that already. No answer for Tsuna's question is forthcoming.

"He won't say anything else. I suggest you leave it." Another voice interjects. Tsuna looks up to see a white coated man saunter into the room, a clipboard in hand. "I'm Dr. Shamal. You should be thankful I owed Dino a favor. Men aren't my preferred choice of patient." The doctor says, tone bored. "It just happens to be that not many are knowledgeable enough in Grudge Monsters and Paragons to treat cases like you."

The man gives Tsuna a moment to take that in. Tsuna hesitates before blurting, "Am I dead?" He flushes when Dr. Shamal simply raises an eyebrow at him. "I mean, am I a Grudge Monster or a Paragon now or – "

"You would know if you were." Dr. Shamal deadpans. "So no, you're not. You were close as hell to fading away though. I don't know what Reborn was thinking shooting you with a Dying Will bullet in that kind of situation. I suppose no one expected a Paragon to come out of you." The man eyes Tsuna, frowning with real concern. "You weren't supposed to do that, you know. Even Reborn was surprised you became a Paragon."

Tsuna blinks, uncertain what to make of that.

"Anyways, you've got a clean bill of health. We'll need to do a mental screening on you to make sure you haven't lost anything, putting a foot into your grave like that, but otherwise you're good. Any questions?" Dr. Shamal putters around, squinting at the many monitors surrounding Tsuna's bed, nodding to himself. The man hardly looks at Tsuna all the while.

First thing. "How is… everyone else? Are they all okay?" Tsuna asks. A note of anxiety creeps into his voice. "They were really beat up and oh! My cat! Is he okay too?"

Dr. Shamal stares at Tsuna. "They're all fine. Your cat. Uh." The man pauses. "I'm a physician, not a vet." The man gives Tsuna a very strange look. "If you really want to know, it's probably with Reborn or something. Are you sure it's yours? It's practically feral." The man grouches, surreptitiously rubbing at a long red gash across the top of his hand.

Somehow the idea that his cat is well enough to attack people reassures Tsuna. Grudge Monster or not, he's bonded with his dinner stealer. Hopefully Reborn hasn't eaten it alive or something.

And then there's…. Tsuna looks at Fuuta, still repeating the one sentence. "Uh, Dr. Shamal?" Tsuna asks.

The man, still worrying over his small injury, grunts. "Yeah, kid?"

That one gets a pout out of Tsuna before he can help it. He's twenty something. A man! "It's about Fuuta…." Tsuna starts, but the man cuts him off.

"The kid's in fine physical condition. Paragons don't need to eat or sleep like humans do." Shamal eyes Tsuna meaningfully. "I'm a physician, not a psychiatrist." The doctor turns away, heading for the door. "Besides, I think you've done more for him than anyone else ever could already. Don't worry about him."

The door shuts, leaving Tsuna with more questions than answers.

"Chao – "

"Where's my cat?" Tsuna interrupts.

Reborn huffs. "You're really worried about that thing? I left it with those police friends of yours."

Tsuna's blood runs cold.

And then Reborn continues with, "They don't know." The man gives Tsuna a significant look. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it'll be more dangerous the longer you don't talk."

"It'll be okay." Tsuna says, resolute. He might be flimsy like a crinkled paper on lots of other issues, but this is one he's not willing to back down from. His cat isn't dangerous. It's his friend. There are other issues at the moment anyways. "Reborn, what's happened to Lancia and Mukuro and the others?"

Reborn hesitates, visibly surprised for the first time since Tsuna's seen him, and his words are measured as he answers Tsuna's question. Demand. "They will be handed back into Vendicare custody and locked up in a higher security cell. Everything has been handled alrea – "

"No," Tsuna says, gaze steady on Reborn. At the very least, Lancia doesn't deserve such a fate. There was something strange about the man, so reluctant to follow Mukuro and yet submissive in a way that had little to do with his dilapidated sense of agency. "It hasn't. I won't let it." It's… unfair. And possibly the worst thing to do to them after all this. "I need to talk to them. Reborn, where are they?"

Reborn frowns at Tsuna. It's about five seconds before Tsuna realizes what exactly he's said.

"Er, I mean." Tsuna pales. Oh man, patient or not, Reborn will kill him. It's just – for a moment he felt just as he had when he was shot with the Dying Will bullet, back during the fight. Nothing but his goal and the tools to achieve them. "I really need to speak with Mukuro and Lancia! Especially Lancia. He's a good guy. Really!" Tsuna pleads, already rising from the bed. The change in position temporarily makes him dizzy, the blood rushing from his head due to gravity.

Fuuta still hasn't let Tsuna's hand go.

It's probably that hesitation that gets Reborn to push Tsuna back into the hospital bed, hands firm against Tsuna's shoulders. "… Later, Tsuna. As it happens, you do have the right to ask one thing of the Vindice for assisting in the capture of Mukuro." Reborn scowls, displeasure evident. "But for now, we need to talk."

Tsuna blinks. "Uh, okay." Usually Reborn doesn't give him warning before he launches into Tsuna's physical torture regimen or lecture on his stupidity or both. This is new.

Tsuna definitely means to encourage it though.

"What were you thinking, when I shot that bullet at you?" Reborn asks, blunt and to the point.

It's not the kind of talk Tsuna was expecting. "Uh, I was mostly panicking, I guess." Tsuna winces. He really had been panicking. Everyone was hurt, his cat wasn't a cat, Fuuta was kind of really creeping him out – yeah.

Reborn stays silent. So Tsuna adds, "And Mukuro! I – I don't know." He huffs. "He kept painting himself up like a villain character, making everyone fight, and… I just wanted to win. I didn't want to lose to Mukuro." Speaking like this, it sounds stupid. If Mukuro's the villain, what did that make Tsuna? The hero? The line of thought makes Tsuna flush.

"Most people would hate Mukuro." Reborn says, looking at a point just past Tsuna's shoulder.

Tsuna doesn't know what to say to that.

Then, "What were you thinking when I shot you the first time we met?" Reborn asks, voice soft. "Did you hate me then?"

Tsuna thinks. The first time was honestly the most traumatizing. Each subsequent transformation since was mostly borne on his annoyance at Reborn for making him do ridiculous and tiresome things but. That first time he…. "Dino-san and Basil-kun. I was thinking about them." Tsuna admits.

Reborn's eyebrows rise.

"Not like that!" Tsuna adds hastily. "Just, I thought I was really dying, you know? And that the police were killing me." (Reborn scowls at the implied association.) "And I just learned recently that they really didn't… like them. Because of what happened with Dad."

Tsuna stops talking.

"So you were angry that I would not hesitate to kill you, just as I had with Iemitsu." Reborn finishes, eyes far away.

Something like that. "Honestly, I wasn't thinking straight then either. I'm really bad under pressure." Tsuna admits, sheepish.

"Tsunayoshi Sawada. Ranked first out of 86,202 in the mafia for kindness." Fuuta says in the resulting silence.

Tsuna laughs helplessly. "That's a little backwards considering our conversation." He gently pats Fuuta's head, roughing up the boy's hair slightly. "I'm curious, Fuuta. Why do you keep repeating that?"

"Because that's the last ranking he'd taken before closing off his heart." Mukuro's voice spills from Fuuta's lips and Tsuna practically screams.

"Gyahh!" Tsuna's hand, still gripped tightly in Fuuta's, prevents him from moving too far away.

Reborn's gun is immediately pointed at Fuuta's head, the man looming over the boy.

Fuuta, still in Mukuro's voice, says, "I wouldn't shoot if I were you, Arcobaleno Reborn. This is still Ranking Fuuta's body after all, and all you would kill is this Paragon. I am still safely ensconced in a jail cell."

Tsuna reaches over, hand covering the end of Reborn's gun when the man's aim doesn't waver. He shoots a disapproving look at the man, but Reborn's attention is only on Fuuta. Mukuro.

"What do you want, Mukuro?" Reborn asks, eyes hard. Tsuna rather hopes the man won't try and shoot through his hands to get at the other. It'd hurt. A lot.

"Kufufu," Mukuro giggles, looking really strange in Fuuta's child body. "I was simply interested in Sawada Tsunayoshi's reasoning as well. You are a strange man, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Tell me, what do you wish to speak with me for?"

It takes a moment for Tsuna to realize the man (boy?) is referring to his first statement to Reborn. "I wanted to know." Tsuna says. "What did you make Lancia-san do that he would have to atone?"

Mukuro blinks, surprised. "Oh? And why would you think I would have made Lancia do anything?" The man's tone turns wry, "He is a mafia man, Sawada Tsunayoshi. There is little he wouldn't have done that isn't worthy of needing atonement."

There's something to the twist of Fuuta's mouth that makes Tsuna irrationally angry. "He mentioned that the both of you needed to atone." Tsuna says, his mouth set. "And I've seen him. He's not happy following your orders, so why does he?"

Reborn's calculating gaze makes unnerves Tsuna.

Mukuro's eyes narrow. "What other reason than to keep you alive? You forget you were my hostage."

"Stop lying!" Tsuna demands. He can't – he can't think straight. He clutches the side of his head and stubbornly continues, "There's something keeping him from disobeying you." The hand still captured in Fuuta's squeezes painfully. "Is this… one of your powers?" Tsuna's not sure if he's referring to the pulse pounding between his ears or Lancia's obedience.

The headache disappears.

"Kufufu," Mukuro laughs, voice breathy. "You haven't died and truly become a Paragon, have you, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna quashes the panic down. Dr. Shamal said he wasn't. He'd know.

"One of my abilities." Mukuro admits. "Possession. Lancia's one of my oldest puppets, but not my only." (Tsuna's mind flashes to the children, Ken and Chikusa.) "I had him kill his Familigia and many others besides." Mukuro's heterochromatic eyes stare Tsuna down. "Does that suffice, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"Mostly," Tsuna says. "And what about Fuuta?" His voice softens.

"What do you mean, he 'closed off his heart'?" Reborn asks, interrupting their conversation for the first time. "Fuuta de la Stella lost his humanity nearly fifty years ago. He doesn't have the will to do such a thing."

Mukuro laughs. "Oh, indeed! Tired of becoming the mafia's tool, he let his humanity go. He saw the true nature of the men who used him and decided it was better not to deal with the responsibility of his heart's weakness." The man says, his voice mocking. "And yet even so, he hasn't lost all of his humanity. It seems he simply locked part away." He says softly. "Maybe to come back the day he catalogues the impossible or perhaps," Mukuro eyes Tsuna meaningfully, "To wait the day he finds someone who defies his expectations. Goes against the grain and destroys the absolute in his data."

Can't the man say things more frankly? "So then what does it mean that he does this now…?" Tsuna asks. "Does this mean he'll come back? He'll find his humanity again?"

Mukuro shares a look – a look – with Reborn.

"You're too stupid to be a student of mine." Reborn says, their elected spokesperson.

Tsuna feels insulted. "What? What did I say?"

Mukuro sighs. "Perhaps it was a fluke then that you defeated me." He sounds wistful. "Maybe you can shoot him again?" Mukuro says, eyes hopeful. "His Paragon may prove more intelligent."

Reborn scoffs. "Miracles only happen once."

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Tsuna cries.

Mukuro shakes his head. "Nothing. I am done here. I'll see you again, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

And with those terrifying words, Fuuta slumps over, his eyes fading back into brown.

Tsuna still feels offended.

"Mukuro's gone!" Kyoko comes in to inform them, about an hour later.

Reborn huffs and Tsuna hides his face with his free hand. Of course.

/Solves Mukuro in one chapter. Good job me.