Reply to FluffyCanaries: Yeah, it has been a while. Thanks for your awesome review! Yes, there is some new stuff, and I also love seeing G and Giotto together. Hibird might exist, but he won't be in the past, so it won't impact the story even if he does exist. Sorry.

When he first found himself 400 years in the past, Takeshi thought that this must have been some sort of sick, stupid joke. Maybe Kyoya dying was a joke too. Maybe this was all just an awful, horrible dream that he would wake up from any second…

But it was real. The startling pain that had shocked him when he had accidentally tripped over a dog (but to be fair, he was trying to avoid tripping over a little girl) and landing—hard—on the ground had ensured his realization. When he had conjured his flames, the sick feeling in his stomach just churned all the harder.

He had stumbled around, asking people the date, but they all just gave him the same date—the same, wrong date, and questioning looks.

He felt himself getting tired, could feel his resolve winding down… Takeshi closed his eyes. Why? How? His mind turned to the project that his father had been protecting—the big one, that the Bovino had been working on. Was this it? Time travel? If so, was there a way back?

Did it even matter? If Tsuna wasn't there when he returned to his proper time…

No. Takeshi shook his head, feeling disgusted with himself. Tsuna was a murderer—why would Takeshi care about him? This was a wonderful chance. Now that he was separated from Tsuna, he would be free. And if Tsuna was in the past, his father would be free.

Takeshi ignored the twist in his gut that said maybe he cared about Tsuna, even just a little.

He's nothing to me. He tried to kill my father. He's just a stupid, heartless…

He was just stupid, heartless… famaglia.

Then the sound of fighting reached him, and the stupid (why was he so stupid?) thought of Tsuna was the first thing that popped up in Takeshi's mind.

Maybe it's him. Maybe he's protecting someone. Maybe he's confused. Maybe I can find him.

He loathed himself for thinking so much about the man who had taken everything away from him… but at the same time, the desperate wonder of is he okay? Resounded nonstop in his head.

When did he become so important to me?

Did it even matter why Tsuna had suddenly become his world?

Did it even matter why that… that murderer… had become his life?

He's not just a murderer. Takeshi closed his eyes. Father… he had been a murderer too, hadn't he?

But that didn't make him something other than famaglia. It didn't make him any different… it wasn't as though he enjoyed killing, something that he had confided in Takeshi hundreds of times.

If the fight might lead him to Tsuna… Takeshi wanted to loathe how he didn't think twice, but he found that the only thing there was hopeless desperation that he could find part of his growing family.

He raced over towards the scene, where a crowd had already began gathering, and then his stomach dropped when he realized that it was simply a swordsman fighting with a pale haired man wielding—were those handcuffs? No, it didn't matter. It wasn't Tsuna, it wasn't Hayato—it wasn't anyone he knew.

He sighed (why had he even bothered thinking that? The chances of it being them were so slim—to find them so soon was stupid, and yet why had he hoped?), and turned to leave when the whispers of, "It's actually happening! Asari-sama is fighting Alaude-sama!" and the complaints of "The loser has to treat the winner to takoyaki, doesn't that seem cheap for a battle so great?"

Asari and Alaude… Takeshi's eyes widened as he spun around. No... no, it can't be. There's no way that it could be... He mentally calculated and cursed when he realized that the math was right—he must have been stuck in the time of Vongola's original founding.

But if they were stuck in this time… if the others were also in this time (Takeshi's stomach lurched when he realized that there was no definite possibility that the others were still in this time—or even alive)… would Tsuna try to kill the founders of Vongola?

Wouldn't that change the future?

But if Tsuna killed Giotto, his ancestor, then he would also cease to exist…

Tsuna wasn't stupid enough to do that… right?

But Takeshi knew that Tsuna, in his stupidity, also cared about people, was self-sacrificing…

Was he willing to erase his own family line and existence just to change the mafia?

But the mafia would still be there… Vongola would just be replaced by another famaglia, right? It wouldn't change anything… surely Tsuna wouldn't do anything stupid… But what if he wasn't thinking clearly?

"Hey, boy." A scruffy looking old man shuffled over to him and held out a basket. "Who do you bet on, Asari or Alaude?"

Takeshi stared blankly at the basket for a moment before shaking his head and forcing a smile onto his lips. "Ah… no, I'm not betting."

The old man's eyes sharpened as he asked, "Why, wouldn't you like to make some nice cash?" Takeshi shook his head again. "Come on, just a little money's fine." The old man coaxed. "It's all in good fun."

"I don't have any money." Takeshi held out his hands, the fake smile beginning to feel as natural as it had before he had met Tsuna. "I couldn't bet even if I wanted to."

"Oh, that's rich!" The man laughed. "Don't have money, do you? I'm sure that you have a little…" His hand inched towards Takeshi's pocket.

Takeshi's hand whipped out and before he knew it he had the old man's wrist in his hand, bent at an unnatural angle. "I said I don't have money." It was almost eerie how he could tell that the smile was still on his face.

True fear began to seep into the old man's face and he quickly pulled his wrist away. "Alright." He replied quickly. "You don't have to lie about it, though. Those clothes you have are mighty fancy, and that ring looks quite expensive too—no one's going to buy that you don't have money."

Takeshi stared at his ring. It was still there… but Primo's rain guardian must have also had his. Was that a paradox? If so, what if he changed the past? Was he messing everything up just by being there? In that case, should he kill himself? No… he couldn't.

What would Tsuna do?

Why was that stupid thought always coming back to his head? Didn't Takeshi have a brain and life of his own? Couldn't he do something without Tsuna? This was so frustrating.

He was so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that the fighting had stopped, and was cut out of his thoughts when a voice called out, "Hey, boy, let go of the old man's wrist!"

"Sorry." He let go of the old man's wrist, mortified when he realized that he had almost broke it. "I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it." The old man replied gruffly as he rubbed his wrist, eyeing Takeshi warily. "I know not to try to goad you youngsters around anymore… these old bones can't take that like they used to…"

Takeshi flushed as a hand tapped his shoulder. He spun around and froze when he came eye to eye with Primo's rain guardian—Asari Ugetsu. Nonononono… my day could not get any worse than this…

"Young man, why were you attacking that elder?" Asari demanded.

"I… um…" Takeshi stuttered, and flushed when he realized how much he was stuttering. "He was trying to get me to bet, and I didn't have money, so I just—" He paused midsentence when he realized that his excuses weren't really all that good. "Sorry."

"Sorry's not a very good excuse." Asari sighed. "Just be careful not to injure anyone next time, alright?"

Takeshi nodded and smiled nervously. "Yeah, alright." He agreed. "Thanks for the advice. Bye!"

"Wait a minute." Another voice cut in.

No… it's not… it couldn't be… Takeshi turned around slowly and inwardly groaned. It is! Could this day get any worse?

Alaude frowned at him as he pointed at Takeshi's finger. "Where did you get that ring?"

"I… nowhere." Takeshi swallowed. "It was passed down in my family. I got it a long time ago."

"Really?" Alaude raised an eyebrow. "Because that looks an awful lot like my friend's ring."

Takeshi laughed. "Well, a lot of rings look similar." He pointed out.

"Not to that extent." Alaude replied. "Do you mind if we check it out?"

Say no… "Actually, I do mind." Takeshi replied sharply. "It was a gift from someone who was very important to me, and I'd rather not give it to some random strangers to touch."

Alaude narrowed his eyes. "For defying me…"

"It's fine." Asari cut in, with a frown. "Completely fine. We won't pressure you or anything. It's just that your ring looks very similar to mines… they're practically identical."

Because they are the same ring. Takeshi bemoaned his luck. "Yes, that's very interesting." He agreed nervously. "But I'm sure that you're much too busy to just stand around talking about some ring, right? Don't you have some other things to do?"

"Oh, yes!" Asari nodded. "Alaude, we've got to go find that 'Tsu-nii' of Lambo's, remember?"

….What?

"What?" Takeshi demanded.

Asari turned and blinked at Takeshi. "We're looking for a teenage boy, around your height, but shorter, and with brown hair and a ring. Have you seen someone like that?"

"Tsuna." Takeshi breathed. "You know about Tsuna? Why? What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything." Alaude cut in, glaring at Takeshi suspiciously. "Why so curious?"

Takeshi frowned impatiently. "Because I'm searching for him to." He replied honestly. "Why are you looking for him?"

"Wait a minute…" Asari stared at him. "Are you one of Lambo's big brothers? The one who Lambo said looked like me… Sushi-niisan?"

"You know where Lambo is?" Takeshi demanded, hating the way that his voice was beginning to crack in relief.

"Yes." Asari smiled. "And we can take you to him right now!"

Takeshi couldn't help the smile that burst onto his face.

He had found part of his famaglia.

Maybe he'd find Tsuna soon as well.

A/N: Feel free to hit me… honestly, if I were you, I'd want to hit myself. It's short, and bad, but… um… yeah…