Warning: Angst, gore, blood and vulgarities. A fair share of it.

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"And the room's hush-hush, now's our moment. Eyes on you, eyes on me."

- All About Us by He is We feat. Owl City

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Her eyes were blazing, uncut rubies in the fog. The round glasses she wore had slight sheen in the dark. Before anyone could notice, she had her katana out, slashing wildly through the air to press tightly against a slender, white neck.

"You bastard," she spat.

Tsuna frowned. He could get away. He knew it. However, firstly, why was this girl—Anri-chan, he reminded himself—so angry? For hurting the tall lady with the cat-eared helmet? It didn't seem so… Tsuna raised a hand and coincidentally also realised that his cheeks were still wet. His eyes widened and he checked his hands, which were… dripping with blood. Ah… that's right.

He had killed a person. His body wrecked with shudders. He had a killed a person. He had a killed a person.

He was a murderer.

Suddenly, all background noise grew muted. The worried calls of his famiglia fell on deaf ears.

"Tenth!"

"Boss!"

"Sawada!"

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna!"

"Sawada-dono!"

"Stupid Tsuna?"

"Eh? Tsu… na?"

Yamamoto blinked, whipping his head from side to side to dispel of the lingering images. His body jerked at the bloody scene in front of him. A high schooler lying in a steadily-growing puddle of crimson, a black-clothed lady struggling to get up, bodies (corpses?) strewn around them and his brunette friend at sword point of a spectacle-wearing girl. His grip on his limp katana tightened at the latter. His friend at sword point of a spectacle-wearing girl. His vision slowly focused and he took a double take. He realised just who the girl was. Hesitation stiffened his body.

What should I do?

Yamamoto's gaze wandered to his panicked friends. Gokudera was practically beside himself with enmity, his bombs nearly cracking under his white knuckles. Chrome was so frightened that tears were gathering in the rims of her indigo eyes. Ryohei gritted his teeth, his fists clenched at his sides. Lambo seemed to have finallynoticed just how serious the situation was and started bawling his eyes out. Basil was caught between worrying about Tsuna and comforting Lambo. Reborn had his lips pressed together in a tense grimace. Even Hibari had held himself back from attacking the enemy. Most likely because a student of Namimori Middle was being threatened.

Yamamoto uneasily looked towards Tsuna. His kind, innocent friend—too innocent to belong in the black-painted world—was at the mercy of a hostile swordswoman. The poor kid looked haunted, nauseous and on the verge of giving out. His cheeks glimmered. Tsuna was crying.

What am I doing?

Coward! Your friend is going to be killed and what are you doing?

Your past is irrelevant. A liability. A distraction. Completely unnecessary.

Protect your friend! Rage! Destroy her! Hurt her! Maim her!

Kill her!

Just like that, Yamamoto disappeared and reappeared behind the busty female, his katana lightly slicing in to the skin of her pale neck.

":Let Tsuna go."

His voice was cold, emotionless. There was an underlying tone of brutal, heartless violence underneath that ran shivers up Anri's back. He really meant it. Anri gained a fleeting look at the deadly katana that she could just barely see out of the corner of her eye. She studied it worriedly. Thoughts belonging to both Saika and herself hummed quietly in the back of her mind, a subdued tangle of wills. She knew. The sleek, but a little chipped blade was jeopardous. She frowned when she noted the hardly recognisable, but definitely there pale blue shade of the metal. Where had she seen it before?

Oh. A swallow.

Anri gasped. A swallow. Shigure Kintoki. Yamamoto.

Gokudera's jaw grew slack. What was that idiot doing? What if that woman decided to slit—no, he could not even think it—the Tenth's neck? How could the idiot account for that, then? Gokudera scowled, opening his mouth to yell at the man.

"You stupid—"

He was cut off by a tonfa socking him in the face. He choked, pain rocking through his facial muscles. He fell on his butt in a rather clumsy manner and groaned, pressing a hand to his face in order to stem the blood flow that originated from his newly broken nose.

Gokudera hissed, "What the fuck, Hibari?"

The aforementioned man shot him an icy look. Gokudera cussed as a well-aimed leg kicked him in the gut.

"That is not Yamamoto Takeshi, you herbivore," he curtly informed.

Gokudera 'tched' as best as he could with the air knocked out of him, "What are you talking about—?"

This gained an excruciating kick to his face. Darkness closed in on his vision when he was once again knocked to the ground by the school prefect. He took a while longer to recover this time, and then grudgingly took a closer look at Yamamoto.

All traces of the usual joking mannerisms were gone. Not even hidden. Just… not there. Gone. His stance was absolutely serious… like an assassin. The katana in his hand was steady and unforgiving, almost like he had no qualms about killing someone. His normally bright and pure chocolate-brown eyes were dulled to a blank, bitter shadow of its original. Damn, Hibari was right. This was not Yamamoto Takeshi, certified baseball idiot and happy-go-lucky Rain Guardian, that Gokudera knew. After years of mindless squabbles the duo always engaged in, somehow, the bomber knew that Yamamoto would never, ever hurt any of them. So… Gokudera knew.

His silver-grey eyes widened to Bambi size.

This was a… a hitman that stood before him.

"Y-Yamamoto-kun…?" Anri whispered cautiously.

Yamamoto made no sign to show that he had heard her, "Let go of Tsuna, or I'll be forced to hurt you."

Anri gulped. Was this the sort of person that her best friend had turned in to? Her thoughts trailed back to Kida. The always-smiling blond who now lay in a pool of so much blood.

I'm sorry, Anri.

No, she couldn't back down. These people had hurt her friend. Put a hand through his stomach. If these sort of people were the sort that her ex-best friend now associated himself with, then she no longer wanted anything to do with him anymore.

You don't have to worry.

I'll love him for you, since you can't anymore.

I'll cut him open for you.

Since I know you actually love him a lot.

Anri feinted to the left and removed her katana from the brunette's neck. Tsuna promptly crumpled to the ground. Anri flipped around a bit before bringing the sword up to meet Yamamoto's. Equally emotionless eyes met hers. Good. If Yamamoto was now a monster, then she'd be killing a monster.

Screeches of metal meeting metal resounded in her ears. Their fierce sword battle raged on. They dodged, leaped, ran and attacked with crazily fast movements that left the Vongola in awe. Shigure Kintoki cut through the dress sleeve, ripping it off just before she jumped away. Saika slit through the back of Yamamoto's jacket. They were just like two killers in the night.

Chrome watched the exchange with terribly worried eyes. No. Nonononono. This was all wrong! The feeling was just… off. What should she do? Stop the battle? What? The Rain Guardian might just really die at this rate!

"Yamamoto! Cease your extreme fight! This feels extremely wrong!" Ryohei beat her to it, hollering.

They both paid him no heed. Yamamoto flung his arm out to the side, igniting his luminant blue flame. Anri dove right in, swooping under his arm with the grace of a gazelle. She stabbed her katana forward, attempting to hit his heart. However, Yamamoto hopped out of the way, causing Anri to only puncture thin air, and then he was on her again. Anri growled, kicking Yamamoto's feet from under him.

He was poorly caught off guard and fell roughly on his hands and knees. In a flash, Saika pressed against his neck, a very real threat. Anri paused, unable to go any further and actually cut Yamamoto down. I mean, he was Yamamoto. Anri had a sharp intake of breath. She really couldn't do it, even if Saika was currently prodding her brain to do so.

"Stop!" Chrome screamed.

All eyes focused on her immediately. Chrome hiccupped, choking on her own tears.

She sobbed, "Just… stop. M-Mukuro-sama said that y-you're not a bad person… so p-please don't kill him? Boss is very, very, very nice and kind and… I know he didn't mean to h-hurt your friend so please? I beg you…"

Anri halted, her eyes straying to Tsuna for confirmation. Pitiful, dazed eyes met hers. She nodded, and then she let her katana fall to her side.

Just like this, Yamamoto's emotionless façade crumbled. Tears streamed down his cheeks endlessly, like a dam that had decided that it was safe to break. His mind was all messed up and muddled up and Anri was in front of him and Tsuna was okay and… oh, gawd, he didn't know what to think anymore…

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry…"

He just continued chanting that word like it was a prayer. A spell of forgiveness that would erase all his sins, which even he was not sure what. Huge pearly tears rolled out of the wide-eyed girl's now warm, brown eyes.

Reborn surveyed the area. Blood-splattered containers. A few hundred bodies. Three people bawling their hearts out—wait, make that four since the stupid cow was still crying. The Vongola Tenth Generation all looked like lost sheep. He sighed. Where was his expresso again?

It was needless to say that this night was very, very somber.

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Author's Note:

Ohmygawd, it's done. This was done in my Korean planner, as it will be from now on. Are you guys happy with this update?

When I start a story, I will get inspiration from something, and have a few scenes and a basic concept in mind. This part, where Yamamoto and Anri had this sword fight, was one of those scenes. It was really not that… good, per se, but acceptable.

'Kay, I need to go to bed now before my mom comes back to chase me. Good night!

R&R?

-Rin-