Disclaimer: I do not own KHR. If I did Tsuna would be a true super uke and smarter, sorry as much as I love and will write about the lovable idiot, Goku and Naruto have made it so too many main characters are idiots.

Summary: Nono, his parents, and the Arcobaleno are all dead. Trapped in a future that's falling apart, Tsuna must fight with both himself and the dreaded Millefiore famiglia. Sequel to Hacker.

Chapter 6: Testing the Waters

Dust filled the air as Tazaru's large form slammed into the warehouse floor, the weak lights dangling from the ceiling flickering as they swung side to side from the force of his impact.

"Damn brat."

Tazaru grumbled as he shook his head to get rid of the fuzziness that accompanied his trip through the wall. Tazaru forced his aching body to his feet, taking in the damaged caused by his involuntary flight. A quick once over told him nothing was broken, his injuries relatively minor, but he'd be hurting for days. That finished, now he could try and find out who the hell…

"You know there's a saying about picking on people your own size." Tazaru jerked his head up and spotted Tsuna gently hovering in the air, suspended by his flames. "I don't think that's possible in this situation though."

Tazaru growled as he saw the floating boy smirk in his direction. While the glowing orange eyes and obvious sky flames were unnerving, he couldn't help but be pissed off as Tsuna taunted him.

"Damn brat!"

Tazaru lit his flames and took off into the air, attempting to catch Tsuna off guard, only to be thrown off balance as Tsuna propelled himself faster and more efficiently than Tazaru had ever seen another manipulate flames. Tazaru had to swallow the lump in his throat as a nervous anticipation clawed at his insides. Not only was Tsuna a sky flame user, but it was also clear that he was well adapted to using those flames in combat situations. Even worse, Tsuna's eyes showed a cool focus that spread a chill through Tazaru's body and made it difficult for him to concentrate.

'Damn it all to hell.' Tazaru squared his jaw as he truly took in Tsuna's appearance. 'He's tiny… and girly looking, so why the hell am I sweating so much!?'

Tsuna was far from physically intimidating, but something about his presence set off warning bells in Tazaru's mind. Tazaru could tell this… child was dangerous. No matter what Tsuna looked like, Tazaru knew the fight would be far from easy.

"Are you having trouble, Old Man?" Tazaru gritted his teeth as he saw Tsuna's lips quirk into a satisfied smile. "I was hoping you would provide me with a bit of a challenge."

'This kid…' Tazaru increased the density of his flames. 'He isn't normal.'

Tazaru could only hope he was wrong as he prepared to face a child who's eyes glowed with fire but were as cold as ice.

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"Oh shit!"

Hayato stared at the much younger Yamamoto Takashi with an acute horror that he may have found humorous if not for the pink haired man holding a scythe. Takashi didn't know how he was suddenly transported to the factory district of Namimori, but that could wait until the obvious danger was resolved.

"Hayato… what's going on?"

Hayato jerked as if he'd been stuck, before shaking his head and beginning to speak.

"Your sword! Do you have your sword!?" The words were panicked, not angry, something that made Takashi bite his lower lip slightly. "Answer me!"

"No." Takashi shifted his stance with his baseball bat as he narrowed his eyes at the confused looking pinkette. He may not know what was going on, but Takashi knew Hayato wouldn't be asking about his sword (and technically asking Takashi to join the fight) if this was just another of his random fights. Whatever was going on, it was serious. "I'll just have to use this for now."

"Oi!" Nosaru shouted as he flared up the flames on his scythe. "I don't know what just happened, but don't take me lightly you bastard Vongola."

Takashi's eyes widened as Nosaru swung his scythe in a downward arch, sending a red glowing mass of flames toward him and his friends. He didn't understand what exactly it was, but he knew it was dangerous.

"Get down!"

'No!' Takashi dropped his bat as he race towards the panicked cries of his non-combative companions. 'Please… let me make it in time!'

Takashi could feel the burn as the red flames passed over head and impacted the ground only inches from body. The air being sucked out of his lungs was the last thing Takashi was aware of as darkness claimed him.

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Tsuna propelled himself upward, gracefully dodging his larger opponent as he hurtled threw the air, with little regard for Tsuna's superior speed.

"Is that all you can do?" Tsuna knew he was dancing on a fine line by taunting his adversary, but also knew that an angry opponent was more likely to make mistakes. "Maybe I should have left you to Lambo, you hardly seem the challenge."

Tsuna smirked as his opponent growled and made a wide arch with his scythe, far too slow and clumsy to even hope of hitting him. As Tsuna danced around the air, avoiding clumsy attack after clumsy attack, he took in how Tazaru utilized his flames and obvious physical power and was not impressed. While the man was at least twice as big as Tsuna and outweighed him by quite a bit, he didn't know how to properly take advantage of the size difference and instead give Tsuna more room to work with by not closing the distance between them. While Tazaru's size wouldn't have given him too much of an advantage, as Tsuna was more than used to fighting people much bigger than himself, it would have at least earned him a bit of respect.

The different colored flames were still a new concept to Tsuna and he needed to understand how this new enemy utilized these weapons. The only data Tsuna actually had on someone other than a Vongola using flames were Primo's guardians and the Vendici, neither of which would help him in this future world.

"Damn it! Hold still!"

"You think I'll let you hit me?" Tsuna could see fear in the older man's eyes and started to wonder if his lack of efficiency had less to do with a lack of actual skill and more to do with panic induced by the situation. "What kind of idiot are you?"

"Damn brat! Respect your elders!"

As it was, Tsuna was not impressed that future grunts were no more intelligent than the ones of the past. He sighed and gathered the flames in his right hand, seeing no reason to prolong the fight any further, there was no more useful data to be gathered. Tsuna couldn't help but falter, however, as he heard something that made his blood turn cold.

"Tsuna-kun?"

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Hayato coughed as the dust began to settle. He was lucky to escape major injury, but he couldn't help but grimace as he looked down. In the confusion he only managed to cover I-pin.

"Yakyubaka-" Hayato let out a breath as he saw Takashi's prone form covering two smaller ones. "This guy… He didn't even know what was going on and was still able to cover Ahoshi and the Onna."

"Oh~ is the grey haired brat still awake?"

Hayato scowled as he stumbled to his feet. Nosaru was really starting to piss him off.

"Like you have any room to talk, Pinky."

"Bastard!"

Nosaru growled and raised his scythe again, causing Hayato, who now knew the affects of the flames, to turn and run in the opposite direction. He didn't make it far before Nosaru unleashed another attack.

"Damn it!" Hayato barely managed to avoid a direct hit as he dived and smashed into the unforgiving earth. "Now what?" Out of the corner of his eye, Hayato noticed a small box covered in scratches, just within his reach. That's the…

"It's over." Nosaru appeared above Hayato's prone form, scythe raised and prepared to strike. "Time to die!"

Hayato didn't think, he just grabbed the box and shoved his Vongola ring into the small hole. He was unprepared for the glowing red light that emitted from the box, surrounding his arm and forming into a skull shaped barrel. He couldn't help but stare in shock, taking in his new… appendage, but quickly shook it off as the words 'Feed Me Bullets,' formed over the barrel.

"Just disappear already!" Hayato shoved a stick of dynamite into the mouth facing him and aimed his new weapon at the shocked pinkette, bracing himself as a red blast of flames shot out of the second skull. "Take a look at my Flame Arrow!"

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"Tsuna-kun?" Tsuna could only stare in horror as he took in the confused face of a young Sasagawa Kyoko. "What's going on?"

Tsuna's mouth pressed into a firm line as he lowered himself in front of Kyoko, momentarily forgetting about his opponent as he tried to figure out what just happened and how it was the Kyoko of his time ended up in the future.

"What's this?" Tsuna's head jerked up and saw Tazaru wearing a shark like grin. "Looks like an easier target decided to show itself."

A flash of red was the only warning Tsuna got as he grabbed Kyoko and dived away from the degenerating storm flames.

Enough playing. Tsuna decided as he set down Kyoko, not seeing a separate flame light on his ring, and launched himself back into the air. Tazaru didn't even notice as Tsuna came up behind grabbed Tazaru's scythe and froze it before he could react. I feel light.

"What!? But that's-"

"Zero Point Breakthrough – First Edition."

Tsuna barely even registered the growing dread on his opponents face as Tsuna gather higher density flames into his right fist. Tsuna felt an overwhelming calmness wash over him and whatever urgency there was to kill Tazaru vanished. The sounds of Tazaru's breaking nose and the site of soaring body filtered through his numbed perception.

'What is this feeling?'

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"Not bad for a couple of brats I suppose." Lal Mirch snorted as she spotted Tsuna and his group walking back into the base on the monitor, none sporting any injuries more extensive than a couple of scrapes and bruises. "Looks like they can hold their own against some grunts anyway."

"You shouldn't underestimate them." Reborn warned from his spot on the sofa. "They have an annoying habit of destroying all expectations."

"So I've heard."

"How well do you know the Tsuna of this time?"

"Not that well." Lal admitted as she took a seat across from her fellow arcobaleno. "In ten years I've only met him a handful of times and those meeting were brief, but still…" She paused as if in deep thought. "But still, after the first time I couldn't help but want to follow him. Even now, the younger one makes me feel the same."

"Tsuna does have that quality, doesn't he?" Reborn smirked as he thought of his student, before he frowned in thought. "Still, his secrets worry me."

"He… doesn't hold out for long." Lal winced at the sharp look Reborn threw her way. She had no intentions of telling Reborn what those secrets were, but maybe she could take some of the pressure off of Tsuna so he didn't have to keep dancing around Reborn's suspicions. "It's nothing to dangerous, but it's better if he says it."

"When?" Lal tried not to shrink under Reborn's intense gaze and struggled to meet his large black eyes. Reborn only frown as he repeated his question. "When?"

"Our Tsuna had a private meeting with Nono in the aftermath of the ring conflict. What was revealed then was only told to some of the highest ranking members of the famiglia and is still a jealously guarded secret of the Vongola famiglia."

"So he lied."

(A.N. Hey guys, I'm sorry it took so long. I had planned on having this chapter up months ago, but my computer had some problems and all of my work was deleted. I had to rewrite this entire chapter and I know it's short, but I hope this will help me transition back into the story. My Nana passed away and things have been pretty hectic, so I'll probably update once a week, instead of every day like I did before, but I will be updating as often as I can. Thank you all again for continuing to read and review, ja ne.)