A/N: Again late... I was supposed to post this on last Friday, but FF is not being nice to me! Friday is rather late too though, but I will not excuse myself anymore. Although doing the storyline IS getting difficult. I had to kick out the Inheritance Succession Arc (My fave *sob*) to make the entire thing fit.

I'm not good at First Person... 1st time trying. And I should think you can tell who's thoughts it is right? He's still very confused... another unwelcome something, fighting against your conscious isn't fun. And this is slowish, filler chapter type... so bear with me. It's long... I hope. XD

Did you hear about Japan? It's the worst thing that could happen EVER. I do hope everyone is safe there! Everyone should pray for Japan, for without them, there would be no anime, sushi, sashimi... and definitely no KHR!

Enough ranting. Anyway...

Thanks to SaraSamaOfDoom, jen-jen713, phuongly, Genmyounai Hikaru (I know it sucked, chapter 9, but I just wanted to get Hibari rescued from the marshmallow freak quickly), XXxKHRObsessionxXX, 18plusForMe, Butterfly Illusions, Ai Minamoto, Lady Psychopath, xxyaoifangurlxx and Usasa-tan for reviewing! More than 10 reviews for that one chapter, thanks so much! :D

Now, I present to you, the 10th chapter!

Chapter 10: Turmoil Inside Out

The artificial lights of the Vongola headquarters were bright, though it was already deep into the night. As she stealthily walked down the corridor towards the medical ward, she noted how quiet and different it was from the morning, especially that particular morning, when they had discussed everything entailing every matter since the disastrous Choice battle…

"The main problem would be WHEN they will be able to repair the transport system and get here." Different from his usual demeanor of fear, Sawada Tsunayoshi carefully was assessing and explaining the situation to the present people. She admired his calmness; for a fourteen year old, he was already acting like the boss of the strongest mafia family in Italy.

At those words, Gokudera Hayato frowned from his position at Tsuna's right hand, "Knowing their numbers and technology, Tenth, it could be in less than a day…"

"I personally doubt it; we did do a certain amount of damage to the machine." Spanner spoke up as he sucked one another of his lollipops, "I'd say about a day or two, tops."

"Does it make any difference from 'less than a day'?" The silverette hissed at the mechanic, but Tsuna put a hand on his right hand's arm and said, "Enough on that. So we established about less than a day to about two days."

"Now on to the fighting strength," The bespectacled Irie Shoichi said from his bed. He had insisted on being in this meeting, much to Bianchi's disapproval, as his wounds were still quite bad. To minimize the movement, the meeting was in his ward.

The present guardians', herself included, expressions dropped at that. Gokudera, Tsuna and Yamamoto Takeshi were still a little exhausted from the Choice battle, Lal Mirch was still injured from the Merone base attack, and Lambo was obviously too young to fight. Even Rokudo Mukuro, though he had not left yet, was extremely tired; he leaned on her shoulder weakly, eyes nearly closed.

And of course, there was Hibari Kyoya.

And there was his Cloud ring.

As soon as Yamamoto voiced it out, the room tensed up. In this time, Tsuna of this era had destroyed all the Vongola rings to protect them from Byakuran, but without them, the Vongola was very much weakened. The guardians from the past all had their rings, but Hibari was from this time; his ring was gone.

Just like his spirit.

Chrome softly slipped into the darkened room, where the raven lay, unconscious and barely alive, after he was rescued by herself, Dino and Mukuro from Byakuran. The white-haired male had inflicted so much torment on him that he seemed entirely different from what he was before the Vongola's attack on Merone Base. She herself had seen his broken gaze; it was so… surreal, to see the Vongola's strongest in such a manner.

Byakuran had even shot him; his cruel eyes as Hibari had crumpled into Mukuro's arms, hand still gripping the smoking gun. Memory of that sparked anger in Chrome, something she usually did not feel. It was a reason why she was here, the other being Mukuro-sama's request to "take care of Kyoya, Nagi… I know I can entrust his safety to you." She had simply nodded as her master faded into mist.

He was just an illusion after all, a real illusion, but one nonetheless…

She spent the rest of the night next to the skylark's bedside, thinking and eventually going to sleep.

Three in the morning, and the outside world slept.

He, however, was wide awake. The meeting earlier that day was in his mind, contemplating what they had discussed. The main thing he could not put out of his mind, though, was Yamamoto's enquiry about the Cloud ring.

Hibari's Cloud ring: that was destroyed.

The prudent thing would be to switch Hibari with his younger self and get the younger's Cloud ring, but everyone knew they could not leave the injured Hibari in this state. "He looked so lost and shattered," Dino had said sadly, "almost as if the fight had drained out of him entirely." It was a terrifying notion; nearly implying that the Vongola had lost their strongest guardian.

Damn Byakuran. Damn the Millefiore. Damn the fact that he had to be boss. Damn that Hibari's and the other family members' lives were at stake.

"Argh! Just damn everything!" Tsuna snapped into the darkness.

"Tenth…"

"Tsuna."

Tsuna winced as the other two occupants of the room answered his frustrated cry; he had not meant to wake them up.

"It doesn't matter… we were awake too," Gokudera answered wearily to the unspoken thought. The meeting was also giving him and Yamamoto so much to think about, they could not get a wink of sleep. The fourteen year old raven below Gokudera's bunk simply nodded.

"I can't just stay here! Somewhere out there, he is waiting, that vicious fucker!" Tsuna cursed, surprising both Yamamoto and Gokudera.

Tsuna never cursed. Never.

Everything had changed because of the Millefiore, and Byakuran.

Sighing, Tsuna's anger deflated as he thought of how he could defeat Byakuran. It was against all odds, but he had to try.

He had to.

For the family, for his friends, for everyone.

First Point of View

There's someone else here.

I'm awake; I can feel the bed beneath my fingers, the pillow under my head. The constant beeping of the machine next to my bed. And worst of all, the stabbing pain up my rear; it hurts a lot.

But I can't seem to open my eyes.

There's someone else in my body; it's not even concealing itself. It's taking over, slowly but surely. It's stopping me from opening my eyes; I just realized that.

I don't understand why it's here. I should be the only one in my body, my own conscious. Unless Mukuro is the one possessing me… but he wouldn't, would he? The last I saw him, he had this weird gentle smile on his face as he looked at me. No one has looked at me that way before; it's always fear, and respect, not gentle and… loving?

What a strange feeling… for my rival to show in his dual coloured eyes.

No, this presence is different. It… seems familiar…

No… N-no… It can't be! I thought he wouldn't bother me anymore! He should not be h-here! No! Don't! Stay away from me!

I can't hear the beeping anymore… I can only sense… numbness… the soft pillow covers… it's gone… Everything is fading… fading…fad-

Master said to kill the guardians and get the rings.

Starting with the girl sleeping next to me, the female Mist guardian.