On waking up, his first thought, after a good long stare at the depressingly familiar ceiling, was, 'Well, do I fake my death immediately, or try something new?'

After a quick check he established that he was a Sky primary again, which meant he had four flames to play with. He would ponder things over the next few days or a week, then decide.

Tsuna got up, took care of the usual morning things, and wandered downstairs and into the kitchen. His mother was there, humming, fixing breakfast, so he slipped into a seat and waited patiently. She had food on the table and was halfway to the door to call him down before she realized he was there, which was … odd.

He wondered if each dimension was just that little bit more off from his original norm that it all became increasingly surreal, and in consequence, made his mother into that much more of a caricature of a person.

"…Tsu-kun!" she said after a pregnant pause. It was like she had to take a moment to refresh her memory as to what her son looked like.

Well, he assumed he was still her son. Why else would he be there? Perhaps he should have actually looked in the mirror during his time in the bathroom—just to be sure? He gave her a blank stare out of confusion.

"Go wash up," she said. "Breakfast is ready~!"

He looked at the table, where he had watched her put plates of food in place, then back at her. "I did before I came down. Like I do every morning."

Nana's expression showed skepticism, but for all he knew she could be puzzling over who the small child was in her home. Then again, maybe this dimension featured a Tsuna accustomed to wallowing in filth and he had displaced the wretched excuse.

Nah.

"Okay!" she said enthusiastically. "Let's eat!"

'What the everloving fuck?' he wondered as he muttered, "Itadakimasu," and tucked into his meal. The second he could he was out the door and to his usual training ground, only to blink in surprise when there was a house there instead of being that small park no one ever seemed to frequent.

'Well, shit. Uh…' He cast around in his memories for an alternative and came up blank for the moment, so instead he went to the library. Maybe settling in with learning yet another language would help him to relax and think a bit more clearly after the shocks of the morning.

. . .

It took all of a week before he was thoroughly fed up. He had actually made it into his twenties last go around, so being treated like the five year old body he was inhabiting made him want to commit physical violence.

This version of his mother was even more of an airhead than usual, and seemed genuinely surprised each morning to notice him sitting there round about the time she made it halfway to the hall to call him down.

'Are other people getting crazier, or is it me?' he wondered.

He knew that the old man and the sperm donor would be arriving soon and contemplated how to handle the visit this time. In the end, he decided to, as usual, conceal the fact that he was a Sky, definitely conceal that he was active, and also pretend to be dumber than a box of rocks.

That way, in theory, he would never be under consideration for Decimo. Vongola could not afford to have a moron in charge, right? Maybe if the main branch candidate proved to be incompetent, Timoteo would be more proactive in getting his sons married off and procreating? Maybe?

He could hope.

When they did show up, Tsuna put on his best imbecile face and smiled vacuously.

"My little tuna-fish!" Iemitsu cried joyfully.

Tsuna promptly screamed in terror and hid behind his mother. "Nooooo! No eat Tsu-kun! Mama save Tsu-kun! Bad man wants to eat Tsu-kun!"

Nana just smiled vacuously herself and welcomed her husband home. Oh, and that strange man she had never before met, but that her husband swore was just like family.

Tsuna made a right nuisance of himself during the visit. Every damn time Iemitsu so much as glanced in his direction he would let out a piercing scream of terror and hide behind whatever was closest, whether it concealed him or not. And when not doing that he was smiling vacuously and holding conversations with potted plants.

Occasionally he would loudly say a prayer, asking whatever Japanese god he could think of offhand, for safety from the strange blond man his mother took pity on such that he would not be eaten as a meal.

Iemitsu went from beaming and happy to confused and pouting and more than a little disgruntled.

Tsuna also felt a bit vindicated when he overheard Timoteo quietly say to Iemitsu, "I do sometimes wonder at your choices, my boy."

"I just wanted you to meet my adorable family," Iemitsu said plaintively.

"…Yes, adorable." The look on the old man's face clearly said otherwise. "Well, I am a busy man, so…"

"Yes, of course. Let me say good-bye to my wife and—" Iemitsu suddenly stopped and huffed. "I'll be right back."

Tsuna didn't even pause in his spirited debate with a bonsai tree regarding the merits of kitties versus turtles, and did it want some tea?

Iemitsu returned a few minutes later and made the mistake of looking Tsuna's way; he was rewarded with another piercing scream of terror and his "little tuna-fish" begging the bonsai to protect Tsu-kun from the bad man.

Iemitsu heaved a heavy sigh and departed with the old man.

Hopefully Tsuna would never see him again, but he was not foolish enough to hope for such liberty from idiocy.

. . .

He realized after some thought that it was all very well, the idea of sending spies to keep an eye on the Iron Fort and its inhabitants, but at such a distance it was just as likely the spies would not survive long enough to impart much of anything to him.

And if he got close enough to ensure it, it would mean that indeed, he would have to fake his death again. True, he could fashion that such that the incredibly dense façade he had presented earlier would mostly account for being so stupid as to mistakenly drink antifreeze because of the pretty colour…

Except for there needing to be a body, which is why he had "died" last time due to a shark attack. He supposed he could drown, but being allegedly eaten by a prehistoric killer was a far better option. And really, he didn't think he could convince his mother to take him on safari so he could conveniently fall prey to a lion.

(A lion not his sperm donor, that was.)

Shark attack it was, then. He could play up his apparent stupidity at the beach, "die", and be free to go spy on the Vongola. Or do something else, like make the world burn. Or perhaps just the mafia. There were times when he could see his way toward partially agreeing with that Mukuro fellow.

'That seemed like a lifetime ago,' he thought wearily.

There had been a moment, when he learned of Reborn's death during Byakuran's steady rampage, that he faltered. He had had so little time, comparatively speaking, with Reborn, but… He left an impression, for good or ill.

'Well, I've got some time. I can get in some prep work this time, rather than scrambling the way I did last time,' he thought. 'Hit up the local yakuza for money or other supplies, maybe a bit farther out. Hit some of the corrupt places I know. Make sure I have a good foundation before I off myself and go start spying.'

He was subsequently very surprised when he realized, after looting the Momokyokai base in town and going to store his acquisitions Between, everything he had stored there when he was part of the Varia was still in there.

'Kami-sama,' he thought. 'All those supplies I had when I died, and I still have them? And all my money?' He broke into a fit of cackling, though he quickly got control of himself. 'Okay, so I don't need to prepare quite as much as I figured, but I will still make sure my skills are sharp in this new body, toss in anything else I might need, replace some stuff…'

. . .

He had found another unused spot to replace his customary place at that park no one ever seemed to frequent but was now a home, and had been using it to hone his skills in his latest incarnation.

Tsuna was reminded that it was not necessarily a good practice when he was attacked. Not by bullies, for he had not particularly been noticed by other children at or around his age, but by adults, men who were clearly mafia.

They also clearly knew exactly who he was, what bloodline he held, and just how much money they could make by kidnapping him and selling him. Or breeding him, he supposed, after brainwashing him into compliance?

He was a bit … angry. After setting up a Bounding Box, his Earth Flames were brought to bear and one by one their legs and arms were crushed. Tsuna smiled slightly. He figured it would be difficult for any of them to aim a gun at that point. Flames, on the other hand… They sounded like they were in a lot of pain, so that might prevent any use, assuming they were active.

Would they have sent actives after him? He shrugged, then trapped three of them in an illusion, the pain they were experiencing making it almost too easy. The fourth one he trapped in a separate illusion, one in which he was present, as an adult.

"So what's your story?" he asked, wearing the face of a nondescript Japanese male of around twenty. "I mean, why go after some little kid?"

The target stared at him stubbornly, despite clearly being confused. One moment in agonizing pain, the next pain free but unable to move, and his comrades nowhere in sight.

Tsuna smiled. "I might not be able to make you answer my questions satisfactorily, but I can make you scream until you shred your own throat lining and burst the vessels in your eyes from the force of it. If you're feeling particularly shy about talking, I can give you a demonstration. But, you know, it would get worse, of course." His smile widened and took on an edge more commonly seen on the likes of Prince the Ripper.

"So, the kid? What's the deal, man?"

It took some persuasion to get the guy talking. Tsuna carefully propped the man upright and then wrapped him in what seemed like miles of metal wire, the ends of which were all attached to a windlass.

"Sure you don't feel like talking?" he asked, then shrugged and smiled again. He set his hands on the crank and started turning it. "Those nice wires are going to get pulled tighter and tighter, and slice into your skin. Eventually, they'll slice right through you and you'll be in so many parts, just like a puzzle. A really gory puzzle, but… I'm sure some people out there would love to play with one like that."

It took several cranks before the wires bit enough for the man to start babbling. He still did not seem to realize he was in an illusion.

The Vantarsi Famiglia had, through a series of overheard words, spotted paperwork, and—the big kicker—Iemitsu bragging loudly at a public café about his "adorable little tuna fish", come to the reasonable conclusion that the blond was not referring to something the man kept in his salt water fish tank, and was in fact speaking about his offspring.

Tsuna's smile sharpened again, this time in anger at his useless father. He had to wonder if his mother would have been harmed or even killed had he been at the house when this lot showed up to do the snatch.

"Maybe I just didn't go wild enough last time," he muttered, eyeing his victim. "Definitely gonna have to… Right, well, time for you to die." He dropped the illusion and the man screamed in pain again, the effects of his crushed limbs pressing in on the man unabated again.

The other three had been reduced to mere whimpers and moans.

"But, before you die, I'm going to rifle through your pockets for loose change," Tsuna said cheerfully.

. . .

He took one last look at his hometown and boarded a train to Tokyo. Once he got to Italy he would find a place to live and start setting out spies, one set for the main CEDEF office and one for the Iron Fort.

Tsuna—Heul, again, should anyone ask—had every intention of assassinating Iemitsu. But he also wanted a very good idea of how things worked at both those places so he had a better idea of the consequences.

He was tempted to off Timoteo, simply for the crime of sealing a Sky in so many dimensions. He had avoided it…? He thought back, trying to remember clearly. Things started to blur after a while. He had been sealed in his first three lives, but not the other three. But Ieyoshi had been during the life he had a brother. Four out of six was not a good average. Two thirds of the time sealed? Very bad.

Timoteo had other crimes to his name, though none quite so directly personal for Tsuna.

Working for the Varia, and eventually becoming Cloud Officer, had not given him a clear enough picture of exactly how those two worked. He knew the Varia inside and out, but the Varia operated on an entirely different set of rules, customs, and expectations.

'Ooo, now there's an idea,' he thought. 'Maybe I should see about pulling a Basil and getting recruited for CEDEF? Hide right under their very noses? As a Cloud, I think. Anything else would be… Yeah, Cloud. But…' He frowned. He would need a much better way to disguise himself. Holding up an illusion for hours was fine. He had plenty of experience in doing that. But twenty-four-seven?

'Maybe I can figure out how to anchor an illusion disguise to an object?' Tsuna absently accepted a can of Sprite from the flight attendant along with a plastic cup of ice, giving her a nod of thanks, and went back to figuring out his latest self-imposed challenge.

By the time the plane landed he decided to attempt anchoring a disguise to flame-reactive metal—a ring, to start. And if that worked, a piercing would probably be better in the long run, so long as it was someplace that would remain unnoticed.

He had enough experience to be subtle enough to slip past Mammon's exalted skills and senses and was practically immune to illusions himself. That might have more to do with his soul being jumped around dimensions than tons of hard work on his part, though. Maybe all the reinstancing had done something like made his soul denser or whatever, and therefore less susceptible to trickery?

He shrugged. Philosophy wasn't his thing.

It was only after he gave customs and security the slip and made his way out of the airport and to a shady hotel that he cracked. Approximately two minutes after the Bounding Box was in place and he was contemplating what to have for dinner that he picked up and flung a cheap vase across the room to shatter against the wall.

"Gonna fucking kill the bastard," he muttered roughly. "He practically led them straight to us." Tsuna fetched a set of glasses from Between he wasn't sure why he had and, one by one, flung them against the wall. "Fucking trash. So smug and confident, and then he boasts in public where anyone could hear. I'm surprised it hasn't happened in more worlds."

In his other lives—the ones where he stayed in Namimori and actually lived beyond a certain point—

He paused to laugh a bit hysterically.

Under the right circumstances, assassins did start showing up in Namimori, but only after Reborn had come and the level of secrecy had lessened. It had surely not gone unnoticed that Vongola personnel and the Cavallone Famiglia had developed an interest in a sleepy little Japanese town.

Curiosity killed the cat. Or possibly the cat's prey. Or in Tsuna's case, his cats had the stuffing beat out of them and were presumably shuffled out of view by an emergency visit from a Vongola clean-up crew.

Or something.

For all he knew, Reborn had a super secret ray gun that ran off Storm Flames and zapped them out of existence the second Tsuna's back was turned.

But back to the sperm donor.

"Okay, first. I need to get spies in place. Concurrently, I need to get my hands on an unaligned or Mist ring to test my anchoring idea. Third, find a decent hole in the wall to live. And last, consider the idea of hiding under their noses." He took a deep breath and set about cleaning up.

. . .

An illusion anchored to a ring seemed to work fine, but testing it was a different matter entirely. It was bad enough being in the mafia's homeland as a five year old pretending to be an adult. Tsuna shrugged and tested it locally first, around people he was reasonably certain weren't active.

When that passed muster, he moved on to an area with a light mafia presence, some of whom were known to be active. That was also fine—or at least, no one did any obvious double-takes or started speaking into cell phones or ear pieces in a suspicious manner.

That being so, Tsuna tried one other test, this time after tracking down Mammon in town near the Varia mansion and strolling by while window shopping. Again, no reaction. He found it hard to believe the Mist would flat out ignore a strong Mist presence right there in Varia territory and he could sense no spies from the Arcobaleno following him.

'Well, worst case is I'm captured and tortured until my brains explode into insanity or dribble out my ears. Best case is that it really does work. Fuck it.' He returned to his apartment and set up a video camera (amusingly, one from a future) to record him while he slept, to ensure it wasn't him keeping the illusion going without realizing it.

When he was finally well enough satisfied (he tossed in his sleep a lot, it seemed) he slipped a disguise ring over one of his toes and called it good. If people couldn't see it, they wouldn't think about it. It was harder to change on the fly, but that was a downside he could live it. A piercing would be even more difficult to quickly change out.

. . .

For his next trick he purchased several panes of glass, such as for a photograph frame. They were placed Between, but one of them was not stored, not exactly. His spies at CEDEF had located the archive, which meant he could move forward on his reading.

The pane of glass Between was situated on the line, the edge, the border between Between and not, one face peeking out in front of Tsuna, with the other face peeking out inside the archive. His spies were responsible for placing material (for they were limited in just how much they could do aside from observe, even with the boost of Earth Flames) in front of the glass.

For Tsuna it was like reading pages through a window. A bit awkward, because he was imparting instructions to his spies while holding the pane of glass in position on the edge of two parts of space, but it enabled him to read classified documents without having to personally infiltrate the room.

He could do the same with computers, but he had yet to track down which machines were connected to the file server. Still, quite a bit of information was already stored in the archives, so he would still get a good grounding on CEDEF.

Tsuna was still iffy on the idea of infiltrating CEDEF as a recruit, but he might be able to figure out some other job he could take that would bring him into semi-regular contact with the group. He didn't need to do it, but wanted it as an option.

He could build up and memorize the layout of the place using his spies, so if he ever needed to sneak in or storm the place, he would be able to plan ahead of time based on the knowledge he gained now.

Then he found out about the Flood of Blood, and cracked a second time.

. . .

His job with the office supply company was going well. Not only did he get to make regular deliveries to CEDEF (they used a lot of sticky notes and paper clips), he was also unlikely to ever run out of paper products, pencils, staples, and so forth for the conceivable future.

And Vito in accounting was in for a rude shock. Short his pay and expect to get away with it? Tsuna smirked. When the next audit was done, Vito was looking at dismissal, if not jail time.

Absolutely no one needed to know that Tsuna had learned, after his glass experiments, to reach through Between to grab things long distance. Or, say, plant manufactured evidence.

Now if he could just figure out how to step from place to place using Between rather than taking the long way through it…

Whereas the main CEDEF office was laid out more like a normal, sane building (at least the aboveground floors), the Iron Fort was a confusing maze liable to send most screaming off the deep end. Visitors were escorted through the labyrinthine hallways to whatever meeting room had been chosen.

The roof of the Iron Fort had a very clever feature. The central block of the building was constructed along more normal lines, like a manor in miniature inside the external square. Between those two parts of the whole was a hallway of sorts, an outdoor area, also in a square. An oddly shaped courtyard, for all intents and purposes. The "roof" above all of it was mere illusion, fashioned to seamlessly blend with the roofs of the internal and external parts of the whole.

It was also an interesting weakness to be taken advantage of by anyone aware of it.

Tsuna had spent the last several years, in and around doing his mundane job of delivering office supplies, refreshing his knowledge of Italy. What families, their territory, their allies and enemies, and what, if anything, they were known for.

It was all very good exercise for his memory, if nothing else, something he had begun when he joined the Varia, though his focus then was somewhat different. Some families truly did seem to care for the people in their territories. The Cavallone Famiglia was one, though they were not the shining example they became under the leadership of Dino.

The Scorpione Famiglia, while considered on the "good" side, were rather neutral toward their people, and the current Don was… Tsuna's spies had found proof that Hayato truly was a bastard child. For all the noise and fuss in the mafia about adultery and bastards, the Scorpione Don apparently had no problem being a hypocrite.

True, Bianchi's mother was dead, so it was not an affair in that sense; Lavinia was not married to him, nor did she plan to do so. Tsuna wondered if part of the reason their father had gone wonky was because both of the man's loves had died on him.

Tsuna supposed he shouldn't be quite so judgmental over the fact that even the "good" famiglie had sometimes serious flaws. Compared to a family like Estraneo they were veritable saints.

He was adding information about the Tomaso Famiglia to his map—normally stored Between—when one of his spies sent a pulse to catch his attention. A quick check told him it was one active at CEDEF. Unfortunately, it would have to wait, as his lunch was almost over and he had deliveries to make.

That evening he grabbed take-away from a local restaurant and went home to his quiet apartment, checked on the anchored Bounding Box he used for security, then sat down to eat. As he did so he investigated the spy which had alerted him to new and presumably interesting information.

Someone had fired shots into houses of bosses who were closely allied to Vongola. CEDEF was set to investigate, with Iemitsu as the lead. Not so odd in that Vongola had enemies. Not so odd even that this enemy would go after them obliquely, by working to shatter the alliance.

'I'll just have to keep an eye on the situation.'

He was alerted again, multiple times, and condensed the information into a bullet list.

• The CEDEF investigation discovered that the bullets used in the
attacks could be linked to a Makoto Kozato, a dealer of fine arts.

• Kozato was the boss of the Shimon Famiglia, based in Japan, not
all that far from Namimori, coincidentally enough, and if not exactly
an ally of the Vongola, certainly not an enemy.

• Shortly after the start of an investigation into Kozato, twelve CEDEF
members were slaughtered in an odd form of paint job, wherein their
bleeding corpses were all stuffed into a hotel lift.

• The incident was given the name "Flood of Blood" for the way their
blood dripped down from the top floor to the very basement.

(Tsuna thought the mafia was more than a little over-the-top dramatic at times.)

• Kozato's gun was found at the scene of the crime and Iemitsu
Sawada disappeared.

• That very same night, Kozato's house was attacked and he, his wife,
and their daughter were killed. Only the son, Enma, was left alive.

• When questioned by Timoteo about the incident, Iemitsu denied any
involvement, despite there being eyewitness accounts to his presence
on scene.

• Timoteo declared the incident unsolved without investigating further.

And Tsuna cracked.

. . .

Memorizing the layout of the Estraneo compound took him a few weeks. Tsuna had plans to start his own "Flood of Blood" with a family he had every reason to despise. He figured he would do a few test runs before going after CEDEF and the Vongola.

He was sick of the lies and the hypocrisy and the arrogance and the belief that Vongola had the right to do so many of the things they did.

Tsuna was still sane enough (and capable of reasoning) to realize that someone could have been impersonating Iemitsu, but for Timoteo to just not bother to get the truth of the matter? Was it because he did not want to find something that would tarnish Vongola's reputation, or because it involved the old man's favorite pet?

No matter.

For Estraneo he wanted to try something new, something that wouldn't necessarily peg the killer by a particular flame type, but first he needed to get any children out of the way (which sounded funny even to him considering he was coming up on being nine years old himself). He did remember from his encounters with Mukuro that the children were unwilling, or at least had never been asked to be used as lab rats.

In a rare show of common sense, the Estraneo scientists did not work round the clock. They relied on their security to keep their test subjects contained at all times when not otherwise actively being experimented on.

What he was going to do with them, however… As silly as it sounded to him, an orphanage would have to do. When Mukuro and his two tools had escaped originally it had been 2010, so Mukuro was already close to the breaking point. Tsuna knew if he did this there was every chance that Mukuro and his "friends" would do something similar to the one he'd originally known, but if he did not interfere it would happen anyway, most likely.

'Now I'm just playing word games in my mind,' he admitted. 'I could kill them, too, for how dangerous and unstable they are, but they're victims right now. They deserve a shot at freedom and to choose their own futures.'

To that end, after he was sure the experiment ward was locked down for the night and the majority of the Estraneo were safe and cozy in their beds (guards excepted), Tsuna started, after sedating the children, transporting them through Between to an orphanage he had picked out and leaving them for the moment in a Bounding Box just inside the front door where they'd be safe.

For the rest of Estraneo he had a little gift for them. Thallium salts, much like arsenic, were considered a poisoner's poison, and for good reason. Colourless, odorless, and tasteless, water soluble, and a fantastic way to kill, quickly or slowly.

After making sure he himself was safe from the stuff, Tsuna released his poison into the ventilation system using his spies, in quantities heavy enough that medical help in time to save them would be extremely unlikely. Each sleeping person got a nice sprinkle just in case, since the poison absorbed nicely through the skin.

The guards on duty were handled a little differently. It was entirely possible that those outside would be adequately poisoned once they came in off duty (likely confused as they had not been relieved on schedule) and experienced all the "dust" in the air, but he preferred to be proactive and ensure their deaths.

Another round of spies was sent out, each wisp of Mist-Earth Flame encasing another dose of the poison. Each spy targeted a guard and burst, showering the unfortunate Estraneo with its payload.

The ones with the best chances of survival would be active Suns, but…

Tsuna kept an "ear" out for news regarding Estraneo, to see how his visit played out. If it all went wrong he would be fleeing the Vindice, after all. If he could fool Mammon he might well be able to fool the Vindice, but there was no sense actively inviting a test.

While he waited to see the fallout, he wondered if the portals the Vindice used were doing essentially the same thing as he did moving through Between, just via a different method. Those portals were super cool and all, but awfully flashy (or intimidating, depending).

Eventually, after nothing much of anything happened except "good" famiglie rejoicing that the Estraneo had been anonymously wiped out, Tsuna chose another training target by the expedient of tossing a dart at a map of Italy and checking to see what "bad" sorts lived there.

"Sometimes I think all this being alone stuff is bad for my mental health," he muttered as he started the work of planning out his attack on the Todd Famiglia. "Or maybe the dying and waking up part. I can't exactly blame Mukuro for being bugnuts considering the kind of crap I've been through, though he's always had it far worse in the immediate sense what with all the torture."

A part of him wondered if this Mukuro would go down the same path as before, though who he would target was a curiosity given that there was no longer a convenient, young, presumably still weak heir to the Vongola. He supposed he would have a better idea of things if Mukuro went after the Serpente Famiglia again.

The Todd Famiglia was taken down in a very similar manner to Estraneo. It would clue in anyone paying attention that it was likely the same killer(s), but given his methods, the odds of anyone being able to trace it back to him were low.

It did make him wonder, though. He had targeted two "bad" families, so he expected the "good" ones would not worry overmuch about themselves. Still, he would not be the least bit surprised if Vongola and others did a rework of the ventilation systems for their compounds and outlying installations.

It would not stop him.

. . .

Iemitsu was having lunch at the café he favored. Using thallium salts again was out of the question. There was too much risk of an innocent getting dosed and ending up in the hospital, if not dead. Also, it was likely that the sperm donor had enough sense to check anything intended for consumption for poisons or drugs.

There were plenty of things he would like to test as assassination techniques, but he was no longer Varia with a steady supply of targets, so he was going for something he knew would work and could not endanger anyone else.

Tsuna was in the building across the street (having arrived there via Between) and watching the blond from two floors up, far enough away to not be noticed, but close enough for his flames to get the job done. He concentrated and had his flames propagate the man's platelets as quickly as he could.

Iemitsu dropped dead over his quail and rice.

Tsuna smirked as CEDEF personnel rushed toward their boss from their nearby base, and stepped Between to make his exit.

Back in his apartment he grabbed a drink, took a seat on his couch, and sighed. "So now I'm a kin-slayer," he muttered, then had a sip. "I really miss the Varia. They're all mad, but… That just made it easier to fit in. I'm starting to understand how Reborn can be so chaotic. Sometime it's all just too much and you have to do something.

"I don't think I should be alone next time. It's pointless this time, with my plans, but I don't imagine things will go any different. Something will kill me. If I'm a Sky again, I think I'll play along, sealing aside, and see how far I can get. There has to be an ultimate point to all of this. Why am I stuck in this loop? Is there something I'm supposed to learn? Or stop?"

He sighed again and drowned his sorrows in his juice. His mind might be that of an adult with too many years, but his body was still a child. No booze for him. Not yet, anyway.

. . .

It was just about the time that his army of Mist-Earth wisps (each carrying a payload of thallium salts) were exploding in the faces of the Vongola adults that Tsuna got a very peculiar visitor.

He was tall and dressed very strangely. A checker pattern dominated his clothing—shoes, gloves, tie, his jacket—and the right cheek of his face. His hat looked like iron (which had to be an uncomfortable weight) and also carried that same pattern. His left cheek looked like it had been scarred by fire, but even as he looked it faded away.

'Mist?' he wondered.

"You've been causing quite a lot of trouble," the man said, his voice like silk, smooth and fluid.

"And you are…?"

"A name is meaningless, but you may call me Checker Face."

He hummed, not quite sure how to react or even feel about the intruder. "You don't look like the Vindice, so why do you care what I'm up to?"

"You are messing with the balance of the world, little one."

Tsuna blinked. Was the guy actually seeing his real form, or…? He eyed the guy up and down. "Right," he said skeptically. "The balance of the world."

Checker Face's mouth twitched. "You humans are so ignorant. Balance is required, and you just wiped out the holders of the Vongola Rings, one third of the Tri-ni-set. The three forms of the Tri-ni-set serve as the foundation of this world. They guide the growth and development of life on Earth while maintaining a balance in its life force."

Tsuna's brow went up. He knew the Vongola Sky ring was blood-locked, but if what this yahoo was saying was true, it was a huge risk to take, the assumption that the Vongola would always be. The arrogance was staggering.

Then again, he had no idea what Giotto had been thinking at the time, so who knew? He might have been trying to keep them in a family that could be trusted with them. If so, the joke was on him considering what Ricardo and later generations had done in the name of the Vongola.

"Three forms?" he asked.

Checker Face nodded. "There is a song: 'The Sea knows no bounds; the Clam passes down its form from Generation to Generation; the Rainbow appears from time to time before fading away.' Each part serves a different purpose."

"The sea… Are you referring to Giglio Nero?"

Checker Face nodded again. "A clever deduction. And the last part?"

"The Arcobaleno pacifiers. You're saying that the Arcobaleno… They're going to die, aren't they. Be replaced."

"Yes. The holder of a pacifier can only serve the role for so long before they are … unable to serve."

"Like a non-rechargeable battery?" he guessed, feeling a bit sick. "Once it's sucked dry, that's it, time for trash heap? And then you choose another seven suckers?"

"Such indelicacy," Checker Face said disapprovingly. "Humans serve their purpose, for the privilege of even existing on this world. There are certainly enough of you. One hundred fifty thousand of you die every day, but twice that are born. You're a plague. It's only right that you should serve as part of what keeps the balance."

His nose wrinkled in distaste. "The Vongola rings are blood-locked. Is that what has you so upset? Your system just crashed and burned? You failed?"

"Due to your actions this world is dead. Perhaps not right this moment, but its end is inevitable. You can boast that you're the World Ender. Are you proud, little human? All our work through millions of years, and it ends here."

"All things end," he replied. "To think otherwise is to delude yourself."

"You will end," Checker Face said threateningly.

"I'm aware of that."

"I could let you live, to witness the end, but I think not. I'll have enough to deal with trying to fix the Vongola rings in time for it to make a difference, and I don't need you getting in my way and destroying what remains of the balance." Checker Face waved his hand negligently.

Tsuna was quite literally scared to death by illusions. Checker Face was clearly exponentially more powerful with Mist than any normal human he had ever encountered for him to be so affected. As his heart failed and the life left him, he wondered if the Mist before him would or had figured out that he was dealing with not only a child, but a bloodline Vongola child.