Author's Note:I am so sorry for the delay. I meant to have this posted yesterday but I was so worn down from coughing that I didn't get to go much of anywhere.


Tsuna looked down at the gloves on his hands, curling his fingers as though to test them. 'Oya, Oya… how interesting.' He almost jumped, hearing Mukuro inside his mind before he reminded himself that it was only natural that Mukuro be able to contact him from a distance (although, there was a tiny, almost unheard portion of him that questioned why it was normal because he couldn't do anything like that). He stared at the gloves for a few moments longer before he looked up at the group that was staring at him oddly. 'Tsunayoshi, send them away for me.' His 'voice' came out like a silky purr.

"Who are you?" He asked. He saw two of the people in the group rear back as though they had been hit. He felt his chest pang oddly and put a hand over the place that hurt.

Funny… why did their horrified shock bring him pain? He pushed it to the side. The only one who mattered was Mukuro and Mukuro wanted these people gone.

The blond he'd seen briefly before—Ken, his mind supplied without him having to sift through his thoughts—leapt and landed beside him. "These are the intruders, byon. Mukuro-san wants us to eat them."

Tsuna blinked slowly, his mouth curving oddly, as though smiling was an unusual expression for him in this state. "You are the only one who wants to eat them, Ken. Mukuro wants us to send them away."

"Shut up, Vongola! I'll do whatever I want, byon!"

"You'll be scolded."

"I don't care! You sound like Kaki-pii." Ken huffed, crossing his arms.

"What are you doing, Dame-Tsuna? Quit fooling around." The infant said, his eyes narrowing. Tsuna blinked as the name he was called—Useless-Tsuna—sent waves of pain through his mind.

"It's all because of you that we lost, Dame-Tsuna."

"Yeah! Can't you do anything right?"

Tsuna stumbled back, clutching his head. "No…" He moaned, tears pricking at his eyes. He wasn't useless—he wasn't! He was perfectly capable of supporting his own weight. It was them—they were the useless ones.

Heat curled under his skin and he found himself lunging forward, lashing out at the one who called him such a foul name. "D-Don't… Don't call me that!" He snarled, baring his teeth as he lashed out over and over again.

But the infant just kept dodging and making the heat under his skin that much worse.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to defeat me, Dame-Tsuna." The infant sneered, disdain twisting his features in a way that should have been impossible. "I don't submit to traitors."

'Traitors?' Tsuna thought foggily as he lashed out with a foot, aiming to kick the child hard enough to send him flying through a couple of trees. 'I don't know them… do I?' The child moved forward as though he was going to attack and Tsuna leapt back to put some distance between them. 'They're intruders, right?'

That loss from before welled up inside of him again only this time, it brought with it a wave of nausea that had Tsuna swallowing back bile. 'Don't look at me like that.' He thought, staring at the two teens that were looking at him like they didn't know him anymore.

Anymore?

Why would he think something like that? He'd never met them…

"Hey, Tsuna. I don't agree with everything that you said. I don't think you're useless."

"Juudiame!"

Tsuna clenched his teeth together as images flashed through his mind causing an eye-splitting pain to shoot through his head.

If he'd never met them before… why did they seem so… familiar?

Why… did it seem as though he knew them?

"Yo, Tsuna! Do you want to come over? We can finish tonight's homework in my room!"

"Idiot. The tenth doesn't need to study. He'll pass all of his tests with flying colors!"

"The amount of faith you have in Tsuna's abilities knows no bounds, does it, Gokudera? Dame-Tsuna! You need to learn to appreciate your subordinates. A good boss knows when to reward them!"

"But I don't want to be a boss!"

Tsuna groaned as an ear-splitting noise that only he could hear pierced through the air. Why couldn't he escape from this hell?

'You don't know what hell is.' Mukuro snarled.

"D-Damn it!" Tsuna spat, stumbling back. "What the hell are you doing in my head?"

'Oya? Kufufufu! It would seem that I underestimated your resolve. That is not a mistake I will make again.' Tsuna's limbs trembled as he tried to expel a force he could not see, hear or touch.

'I don't need any of that. As long as I can feel him, I can fight back!' Tsuna's resolve burned brighter until his Flame became hot enough to ignite the dead undergrowth—but the display of power was nothing compared to the struggle that was going on underneath the surface.

How did Hibari-san manage to expel him from his mind?

Reborn watched in awe and horror as the Dying Will Flames burned hot enough to catch on the overgrown weeds that had been left for so long. Was this what the Vongola was capable of? Was this the potential that Tsuna held?

Raw Sky Flames burned around them, the blazing inferno becoming hot enough to splinter the glass. "Fall back!" Reborn called out, sucking in the last gulp of clean air he could get before acrid smoke filled the area.

But Reborn didn't follow the group as they retreated. He stayed where he was. "Fight him, Tsunayoshi. Don't let him win."

"R-Reborn…" Tired sunset eyes sought out pitch black. The Flame on his forehead flickered before dimming. "He's gone." He said before he fell to the ground. Reborn cursed under his breath before calling Leon to his side and ordering him to hide their presence until the authorities—that had just arrived onto the scene—were gone.


Reborn sighed to himself. Hibari was in critical condition. Tsuna didn't have any lasting physical damage but mentally, the two of them were so torn up that they were rendered comatose. "I don't know when they'll wake up." Shamal said. "The amount of damage done to both his mind and that Hibari kid's… it's severe, Reborn. There's a chance that neither of them will wake up at all." He really wished Shamal hadn't told him that because now, this fell on him.

What was he supposed to tell Nono? Hell, what was he supposed to tell Iemitsu?

He should have known that Tsuna wasn't ready for an opponent of that caliber. He didn't have the kind of mental training to fight against an illusionist—Vongola blood or no.

"What are the authorities saying caused the fire?"

"They believe that a cigarette caught on the dried brush." Shamal looked at Reborn. "Do you want me to treat your burns?" Tsuna's Flame had made his skin hot enough to burn. Reborn wasn't worried about it though. They would heal when he slept. It was the only plus that came from being an Arcobaleno.

"They'll be gone by morning." Reborn said dismissively while his mind mulled over the various outcomes telling Nono about Tsuna's loss at Mukuro's hand would have. None of them were favorable.

He waited until he heard the door to the stark hospital room latch before he ran his hands through his hair and sighed.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Tsuzukeru.


Notes: None.

Thanks for reading~!