Warnings: Death, mentions of torture, death by fluffiness. You have been warned.

Disclaimer. I don't own KHR, I don't even own my own story since I haven't registered it… I'm sad now… ¬¬

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Chapter 3: The day I met the darkness

Tsuna opened his eyes slowly and winced at the pain in his body. He whimpered at the marks in his arms from the needles. His skin was a mixture of red, purple, green and blue, he didn't like those shots, they made him nauseous and his head hurt a lot whit those. He winced when his arms started feeling too hot. As if burning from the inside. It subsided in a minute and left him trembling and strangely thirsty.

Across the room a movement caught his attention, his cell mate was awake. When he woke up in the small room, after his kidnapping, he had remained quiet and drowsy, confused at the place he was in. And the first thing he had seen was a single blue eye staring at him from under blue locks of hair. He had tried to talk to the other child, but he had not received an answer.

Tsuna tiptoed to the other boy and noticed that he was trembling as if too cold. The boy had been dragged out the room the day early that day and was dragged to the cell hours later. The men in the long white cloaks had dumped him unceremoniously in the plain mattress across his and left. The boy with blue hair looked to be in pain, and his lips were blue tinted. The brunette noticed that the other had a new eye patch and that the skin around it was red and inflamed. Tsuna suddenly felt sad and scared for the his cell mate.

He didn't understand what was happening to them. Where he was? Why them?. Silent tears blurred his vision but he kept silent, the only time he had dared to cry in front of the other boy, he had fixed him with a one eyed glare that had made him shut up in an instant.

But now, the boy seemed to be in a lot of pain, one trembling hand touched a pale arm and Tsuna felt the skin cold and clammy. Surely that was bad?. So Tsuna did the only thing he could do to help; he climbed the mattress and hugged the boy with careful stroked the head like Giotto did with him when he had a nightmare. The trembling boy opened one glazed eye and tried to glare in his direction, and Tsuna hummed one of the lullabies that Aunt Alessandra had taught him. The boy stiffened for a second, but then relaxed in his arms. Taking this as a good sign, he continued the action ignoring, the pain and tremor in his own injured arms.

"I hope, for you wellbeing, that this time everything is fine?"Asked the boss of the Estraneo. The head of the research team hid his hands behind his back, in an effort to conceal his trembling fingers. "Yes sir, with the new subjects we have been doing a steadily progress, Number 8-b seems to be very promising. Even though it looked weak at first glance." He watched as the terrifying man went through his report, until he came to desired page. "He has a flame? A sky flame?" He sighed when the man made a pleased sound.

"Yes sir. It was surprising, especially since he seems… well weak. But we are trying to bring it forth; we have managed to get some bursts lately. Also number forty six-A has finally integrated the implants. We had trouble with the second incisive, but they have come along nicely. We need for it to scab over, and then we can start to fine tune the other 'chanels'." He noted with relief as the eyes of his boss lost the murderous intent and became interested in the report in his hands. "What about number 69? How is he coming along?" And his luck ended with that question.

He intertwined firmly his fingers to stop the shaking. Showing weakness now would only serve to enrage further the man. "He...well we are confused about him really. Sometimes we get high readings of a mist flame from him, and the implant in his eye is completely integrated, but every time we tried to activate it, well... it becomes messy sir."

"Clarify messy for me" He barely surprised a shiver at the tone. The scientist gestured to the man to go to the end of the report. " The readings start to climb up nicely and then he seems to hallucinate and convulse. Until now we have been unable to stop the process once it starts. Every episode is slightly different in time and intensity. We caught him screaming in a different language once, however, every one ends the same.."

The eyes of his boss widened slightly as he read the report. The man knew exactly which part he was reading. The boy ended dead after every episode, no sign of cardiac, or brain activity. Then he would suddenly breath again after twenty minutes, long past the ability of the brain lo live without blood flow. The first time, they had been expecting a vegetable at the very least. Yet, the child seemed to be mentally intact. It was scary to watch. "I see… It could be a useful ability… Perhaps the seventh time will do the charm?" Said his boss in a commanding tone, so he only looked at him and nodded."Once more then, if you don't find something useful this time, make sure he is dead at last. I have no use for resurrecting boys" Said the man and threw the report at his face. He excused himself and left the room suppressing the desire to run.

The head of the Estraneo smiled, things were finally looking up for them. The Vongola had suddenly stopped the war with them; there were rumors that the leader of the CEDEF was in quarrel with the ninth. And his soldiers were almost ready. Yes, things were finally looking up.

Iemitsu was at his wits-end. He couldn't remember clearly the last time he had sleep more than three hours, or ate anything besides coffee and a hasty made Panini that Oregano would force on him. But he refused to stop his chase; he knew that the more time Tsuna went missing it was less and less likely to rescue his child.

It had been two long and torturous months. He had even suspended the final signing of the peace treaty with the Camorra. When the Famiglia started making ridiculous demands and petty excuses.

He chocked on his coffee when he continued reading the last report. His heart stopped and he saw red when he assimilated the words from one of his men. He had felt anger many times, but he had never felt this kind of hate before. His world narrowed at one objective and one clear path: The Estraneo would become less than ash by the end of the day.

Tsuna glared at Aoi until the other finally opened his mouth. Smiling the brunette pushed the spoon past the previously closed lips. Tsuna winced in sympathy when the boy tasted the lukewarm, brown puree they were given as food every day. Two times a day through a flap in the door. The thing tasted less horrible if left to become cold in the icy room temperature, but the texture would then become gag inducing.

The blue haired boy shook with suppressed disgust at the food and Tsuna took pity on him and gave him water, leaving the half finished meal by the door. After giving up on making the boy to talk to him, Tsuna had just given him a name: 'Aoi' -Blue- in Japanese, as he had explained the other boy. For the color of his visible eye.

Three more times the other boy had been dragged out of the room and every time he came back cold and trembling. Every time Tsuna would cradled him and comfort the other to the best of his ability. He would take care his cell mate, rubbing stiff and cold limbs and feeding the other until he could recover the movement of his arms, which usually required three days.

The boy with the eye patch for his part, was intrigued by the small boy who tended him with gentle hands and was always smiling. The brunette was dragged from the room every three days, and he was always returned in the same condition: a silent and passive mood as if half sleep or deeply drugged. He would curl in his small cot and stare at nothing. Sometimes, his eyes seemed to become a bright pale orange, as if burning, then and just as suddenly, it would fade to a dull caramel once more. The boy usually stayed in this state for half a day. Then he would blink and look around like a lost puppy, until his eyes found him. The small boy would then smile at him and chatter away once more as if nothing had happened. But he could see the immobile arms and the trembling legs, and the pained winces the boy let out once in a while.

Tsuna, he had told him. It was a somewhat cute name and it fitted the small being. At first, he had ignored the boy, sure that he would not last a week. Now, two months later the child was still alive and Aoi was even more intrigued at the child. One morning Aoi had woken up form one 'session', expecting the cold and stiff trembling muscles and the nightmares to start. Instead he found himself enclosed in warmth, and someone giving soft touches to his head. There was a small voice humming off-tone lullabies that were more appropriate to babies that to his ten years. But he had been too tired and too cold to care, so he finally drifted off to sleep without nightmares.

'Perhaps I will take the boy with me when I leave this hole…' He considered. At the thought of freedom his throat seemed to close up and his hands clenched. He could feel the anger and hate under his skin as if it was a living beast prowling under the surface. Ready to attack at the smallest chance. He was getting sick of being in this place. His plan was almost ready, he could feel it, the power in him, the whispers in his ears and the burning of his hate consuming all hesitation for destroying the ones he had called family once.

"Aoi?" The huge caramel eyes were staring in concern at him. "Are you okay?" Really, this boy was very intriguing. There wasn't even a hint of hate in the clear eyes. Even thought the child looked tired and scared, only when the scientists came for him, Tsuna would scream and his eyes would narrow in rage.

"Are you feeling sick again?" Asked the child, frowning cutely at him. Tsuna put his small hand on his forehead checking his temperature. "You're warm… Giotto said that it was not good to be too warm" Said the boy taking a dirty piece of cloth that they used to clean themselves, and drenched it in the small bucket of ice cold drinking water.

"Here, put this on your forehead." He took the cold cloth without protest, because it really felt good and dulled his headache a little. The boy smiled at him, with that little idiotic smile that somehow left him feeling less bloodthirsty. He smiled at the boy and chuckled internally at the delighted laugh that it got him. The first time he had smiled at the small boy, he had been so shocked and flustered that he had almost, almost!, made Aoi chuckle.

His musings came to an end when the door of their cell opened and the dreaded white coats appeared at the door. No! It had been only two days! He was not even recovered from the last time. "No! Leave him alone!" Screamed Tsuna. The boy hugged him, shielding him with his small body. Tsuna had been taken just that morning and he was nowhere strong enough to put a fight.

There were two men. Tall, with hard faces and emotionless eyes. One of them off ripped the small boy from him and then pinned Tsuna to the floor by his arms, aggravating the fresh punctures in them. The boy screamed in pain and rage, his scared eyes looking at him in despair. "Stop hurting him! Please! He is not fine now!" The boy was trashing around for all his worth, while the other man clasped his hand to pull him out the room.

"Aoi! No! Leave him alone…." Sobbed the boy and kept struggling "PLEASE! PLEASE! STOP IT!" Screamed the tiny boy, which had, somehow, become important to him. A disgusting snap and a scream of pain filled the room and he looked back to find the child biting his lip to stop a howl of pain. The right shoulder looked deformed and the arm was twisted and trembling. He felt the monster inside him snap out of its chains and his heart skipped a beat when the man gave a sharp tug to Tsuna's arm to relocate the shoulder earning another scream of pain for the now sobbing boy.

Strong and cruel claw-like fingers closed on his shoulder to take him out again, and the monster inside him opened his jaws in preparation for the kill. Then he saw a flash of light and heard a chocked scream behind, he turned to see a blurring ball of flames pass by and slam into the other man grabbing him.

He gasped at the sight of the small Tsuna staring passively at the man under him, his small fist engulfed in a brightly orange flame; just centimeters away from the now unconscious man's head. His eyes were flickering between caramel and a jewel-like orange. Clear tears were still escaping from the eyes, and then, the boy gasped and looked at him in confusion and anguish only to fall unconscious the next moment.

The blue haired child smiled gently at the boy and with effortless grace walked to his cot, he lifted the measly cushion and took out form under the mattress a trident. He had painstakingly made it from whisps of mist flames. Every day since the first time he had discovered his illusions. It was a very condensed type of mist flames, kept tight with his resolve, blood and hate.

He came closer to the man who had hurt the little brunette and raised his weapon making an arch in the air, staring with an amused eye at the rapidly escaping blood from the man that had hurt his poor Tsuna. He passed over the body and calmly struck at the other man. Chuckling softly at the men he had once feared. He left the cell, lifting the small body of the other child over his shoulder.

The beast under his skin rejoiced at the freedom, delighted at the sight of the crimson blood of his offenders. It was time to play outside.

"What did you say?" Screamed the head of the Estraneo his eyes crazy and teeth clenching. "The Vindice and Vongola are here?" A panicked young man was in the monitor. Behind him a series of explosions could be seen and heard. The man seemed to be about to faint. "They came five minutes ago, they are killing on sight. We can't hold them back!" An explosion appeared behind the guard and the communications failed. With an enraged shout the boss opened the main communication channel, they needed to retreat for now. "All the men, retreat to the main house, protect the low levels with your miserable lives!"

He cut the transmission and grabbed a black phone with a direct line to the low levels, a panicked voice answered. "Help! Please send help! Everybody is dying here!" Said a desperate shout behind the line. "What?" Asked the head of the Estraneo. Surely they couldn't infiltrate the house so fast? "What the hell is happening down there?"

"Please send help! I don't know wha….." The line died the next instant and he screamed in frustration and rage, he opened his cell phone and dialed once more. "Moria! Take your team and twenty men downstairs the code for the door is '6996'. Find the figlio di puttana who is there and eliminate it!" He closed the phone and took his two guns from his desk, he opened his door almost yanking it off his hinges and nodded to his personal team that immediately fell to his back. He would show those bastards of the Vongola the might of the Estraneo.

Iemitsu Sawada was a name respected among the Mafia. He was an independent and obscure part of one of the most powerful families of the international Mafia. The CEDEF played in the shadow of the conflicts and mostly did it behind desks and phones and computers. But once in a while, they would engage in battle. Accounts from this rare events declared the leader of CEDEF and his team as fast, clean and deadly.

But no one had seen the man in full rage until the day the Estraneo family fell. The man had entered and infiltrated the house in a record time of ten minutes. Even faster that the Vindice and had shot down the boss of the Estraneo with a single, well placed bullet, without giving the man time to open his mouth. Then, he had led his team to the basement where they had found an internal war between the Estraneo, and carnage inside of the lower levels. The place looked to be a mixture between a medical facility and a house of torture.

He had emerged from the place with his team intact and four children. One of them cradled in his arms like the most precious treasure in the world. When he had almost killed the doctor who tried to examine the child, they had given him a wide berth to the helicopter that transported the party to a safe house.

Incidentally it was the fall of the Estraneo that made the Camorra families to finally sign the peace treaty.

When Tsuna opened his eyes, he saw one blue and one red eye staring at him calmly and amused. "Aoi! He tried to say but found his mouth dry and only a raspy whisper escaped it. "Hello Tsunayoshi Sawada. Please, call me Rokudo." The boy stared in confusion at him and gratefully accepted the cup of cold blessed water that was pressed to his lips "It's my name, Rokudo Mukuro, at your service."

"Mukuro…" Smiled Tsuna. Happy at finally knowing the name of the one he considered a friend. Then, he panicked and looked fearfully around the darkened room, remembering the last time he had seen his friend. A pair of arms enveloped him and the face came closer. "We are at the Vongola. Your… father came to help us." Mukuro grimaced in disgust at the admission. He had eliminated the scientists and some of the other monsters, but then, a new group of the Estraneo had arrived. Leaving them in a tight situation. He had not used his new power for such a length of time and his two companions were just as weak. So perhaps they had been assisted by the Vongola…

"Dad came?" Asked the child in a quiet voice. He remembered waking up once, hearing shouts and feeling the smoke burning his lungs. And he remembered his father´s face, but he still wasn't sure that the man had been his father; the face had been too thin and scary…

"Are you okay?" He finally asked Mukuro who blinked at him and then chuckled at the boy. "Yes, let me introduce you to the other two. They're like us you see…"Across the room he could see two other figures hunched in another bed. Two pair of eyes stared back in curiosity at him. One boy, tall and lanky and with a poker face came closer to examine him. "Hello Tsunayoshi" He said in a plain voice and after that a blond boy appeared at his other side, watching him warily and… sniffing at him?

"They're Chikusa and Ken, they were there with us, although you never had the chance to known them." Mukuro explained."We saw you, several times, but you seemed to be… out of it most of the time." Explained the tall passive one, and Tsuna nodded and came closer to the sniffing one. Tsuna squinting his eyes at him. Mukuro compared the image to a bunny staring at a puppy.

The brunette for his part found the two boys familiar. Like meeting someone you had only seen in dreams. "I-I think I know you, but… well nice to meet you!" He finally said to the other boy, before hugging the life out of Ken making the other boy freak out in embarrassment. "Agh! Let go of me –pyon!" Screamed the boy and Tsuna let him go and looked at Chikusa "Pyon?" He asked in confusion and the other boy patted his head. "He has some problems with proper speech, please excuse him."

"What was that you idiot?"

"Are you okay? You're not injured?" Asked Tsuna, circling first Chikusa then Ken. Searching for injuries. He noticed a lot of bandages and the smell of antiseptic on then, and he winced at the sight. "You are injured…"

"Don't worry Tsunayoshi. Those responsible are death." Said Mukuro in a happy voice and Tsuna stared at him in surprise. "Dead?" The other boy nodded and Tsuna felt his eyes tearing up. The blue haired boy patted the head of the smaller boy and asked in confusion "Oya, Oya! Are those tears of joy?" The small boy shook his head and clutched the hem of his new shirt. "…No, I just… I don't like when people die… it makes me sad."

"Even if they hurt you?"

"I…yes…"

"Even if they hurt US?" The boy sobbed and nodded. "I just wanted to them to stop. I'm happy that you're alright, but it's still sad… I didn't like them! and… I know they were bad people. I just feel sad… I don't know why, sorry" He said miserably and looked at his friend with guilt. "I'm sorry…" The boy laughed at that and grabbed the boy in a bone crushing hug. "Mmmm, I think you're naïve and a little idiot Tsunayoshi, but that's what makes you so fun! Kufufufu"

The boy half-glared at the words. "TSU-NA" Said a sniffling child, the blue haired boy stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Call me Tsuna! Tsunayoshi is too long… and I don't like my friends to calling me that!" Said a very indignant boy. Mukuro once more chuckled in amusement. "Oh? Kufufu are we friends now?"

"Of course!" Say a bewildered boy as if responding to a very stupid remark. "And Ken a Chikusa also! They're your friends, so they are my friends also, right?" Ken sputtered and blushed and threw a pillow at the boy which missed his target by at least five foots. "Hey! Who wants to be your friend shrimp!" Chikusa calmly picked up the pillow and nodded slightly. "That's fine by me…."

"Kufufufu, they're my subordinates Tsuna, but they can be your friends I suppose" Finally declared an amused Mukuro. Tsuna smiled, pleased at the verdict and started bombarding Chikussa with questions and kept trying to catch Ken to give him a friendship hug. The blond kid seemed half terrified half mad at the strange child.

Chikusa watched in amusement and wonder at the boy. He had seen the boy trashing in pain and fear every time the bastards punctured his arms, and would wince when the small body would twist and convulse as the drugs were pumped to his veins, leaving the child limp and pale in the metal table.

After the first 'session' He had thought the child too small and weak to survive that place. But survived he had. The boy seemed a bit skinny and pale, perhaps a little bit jumpy and wary but not the catatonic doll he had expected. CHikusa looked at the one he had pledged his loyalty. Vongola had helped them, true, but it had been Mukuro-sama who had destroyed the monsters. He would follow Mukuro, no one else.

"Aghh let go, let go! Stop it! Mukuro-sama!" Tsuna had finally caught the other boy and started to coo at him like one would to a cute dog, which made the other boy go beet red, somehow Chikusa got the feeling that the blond boy was secretly enjoying himself.

Mukuro smirked and tripped the blond boy, making him and Tsuna roll around in a squealing mass of limbs. Yes his little underlings were such fun toys.

"Kufufu…"

TBC

According to the KHR manga Mukuro was 10 yrs when he escaped from the Estraneo Family and it was them who designed the bullet of possession.

Anyway any observation, is greatly appreciated..

Next chapter: The day We learned…

-Bows- Thank you for the reviews.