IMPORTANT: Yeah, I know. This chapter is very short. But there are many reasons for that. First of all, warnings that I should've put a while ago, thought I haven't expected for the story to go this way. Anyways, first of all, story is now rated M, mostly because of this chapter. It's M because of violence, blood and stuff such as that. If you don't like reading those kind of stories, turn back. NOW!

Second, I think I probably forgot to mention it in the last chapter, but time in Present, where Reborn and the Arcobaleno are is flowing a bit differently from the time where Tsuna and the gang are. Even though I'd sometimes switch from present to past and vice versa, events in present and events in past ARE NOT happening at the same time. Reasons will be discovered soon.

Poll will be closed once I post the chapter 12. Vote if you want! Anyways, it was only there for my curiosity. There'll be no pairings in this story (It DOES NOT APPLY for possible sequel or spin-off)

Enjoy the chapter, and leave a review~

"Oh, so you're saying that Tsuna and Gokudera went to look for Lyn on the attic?" Yamamoto asked, looking at Chrome partly confused. "But why didn't they come to tell us?" he wondered out loud. Actually, the moment he asked that question, he got the answer. They sent Chrome to do it. That still didn't explain why. Or that's how he understood it.

"Boss was very worried," Chrome shyly replied, blushing a little. She was present… she saw how uneasy boss felt. That was enough for her to agree immediately. She disliked seeing her boss like that. He had the same look in his eyes like when he suddenly ran onto Chrome on the staircase. The worry… uneasy feelings… wariness… they were biting him inside and Chrome wanted to prevent that at any cost.

"That's so like Sawada… always extremely worrying too much," Ryohei concluded knowingly.

"Haha, that sentence fits to Tsuna perfectly well, sempai!" Yamamoto chuckled. "We shouldn't stay behind then, right? Why don't we go and join Gokudera and Tsuna?" he suggested.

"YOSH!" Ryohei exclaimed."Where is Sawada to the extreme!" Without waiting for the answer, Ryohei headed towards the stairs.

Yamamoto scratched the back of his head. "I better go get him before he gets lost. Tell Tsuna that we'll join up with him soon!" Yamamoto shouted, waving off to Chrome.

Without any better idea but to agree, Chrome reservedly nodded, turning to Mukuro and Daemon who were a bit further. "Mukuro-sama?" Her face filled with worry when she noticed a scowl on both faces. Well, except that Mukuro's eyes were closed and a deep crease appeared on his forehead. He opened his eyes, realizing that Chrome was watching him worriedly.

"Kufufufu~ there's no need to be worried, my dear Chrome," he reassured her. "Daemon Spade is just being little rebellious."

Chrome's eyes flew to the possessed body of Daemon Spade. He looked normal, along with the scowl that melted in his face nicely. Chrome, though, was quite doubtful in Mukuro's words. Not that she knew why, but she was sure that whatever Mukuro seemed to be worried about, it wasn't Daemon Spade. But she didn't want to intrude.

"Are we going to help boss, Mukuro-sama?"

"We'll see, my dear Chrome…" Mukuro raised his hand, trying to gesture at something, only to let it fall away at his side. Why he couldn't move his muscles fully, he had no knowledge of. His eyes couldn't fixate on one single dot and his sight was getting blurry. Did he overdo it with possessing Daemon? Possession was never meant to last that long… and with so little rest after possessing so many people at the same time. But Mukuro was sure that it wasn't just that. It was like something was intervening with his senses. He no longer felt attached to his body. Before getting a single chance to even think about what has been going on… he saw area around him shifting for ninety degrees before being overwhelmed with darkness.

Chrome was unsure of what Mukuro was trying to tell her when his hand fell down. She knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Not when Mukuro's eyes seemed so empty like as if there was no life in them. "Mukuro-sama?" she approached for a step, only to step away seeing that Daemon's body crushed down on the ground. "Mukuro… sama…" It wasn't good. Why would Mukuro ever release Daemon Spade so easily? Why? Chrome couldn't comprehend it. She wasn't holding grudge against Daemon or anything like that… but… "MUKURO-SAMA!" she screamed once the blue-haired illusionist fell on the ground right before her eyes despise the fact that his eyes were still half-opened.

"Mukuro-sama! Mukuro-sama!" she shouted, quickly kneeling next to him and trying to wake him up, but no reaction was there. Mukuro looked like he was peacefully asleep and that there was no way for him to be waken up by noise or Chrome's shakes. She couldn't even connect to him in any way that she could before.

"How long… was I-?" Daemon, who had just awoken, stopped in the middle of the sentence, meeting with Chrome's confused eye glaring at him while tears were forming in it. "Oya, oya…" he stared confusedly. Then he became aware of Mukuro on the ground. The girl didn't think that he did it, right?

"P-p-please…" Chrome's voice trembled when she spoke. "Please help Mukuro-sama!"

Daemon grunted. That confirmed that it wasn't his fault. However, he didn't want to help her. Well no, actually, he didn't even care, to put it simply. Or it would only be, he wouldn't care… that his Vongola Mist ring didn't start shining. Earring on Chrome's ear reacted to the light that Daemon's ring was glowing with and Mukuro's Mist earring as well. To put it simply, Vongola Mist earrings, version X were resonating with Daemon's Vongola Mist ring.

"What… is going on?" Daemon blurted out.

Mist flames erupted out of his ring and Chrome's and Mukuro's earrings, draining their energy insanely fast. Too insanely fast.

"Let's go, Rick. Your dad needs to learn that Catia and Manolo are not as stupid as he is. Well, excuse Manolo, actually." G said firmly, gesturing the teen to follow him.

Ricardo couldn't help but smile a little to that. Even the gun that his father took out wasn't fast enough to erase the smile from the teen's face. G also noticed the gun, but it was possibly too late. The shot was fired, hitting its target.

Paolo victoriously smirked. "That, is what you get for messing up with a Capelli!"

G groaned, insanely cursing before he even fell on the ground. Bullet in his chest was making it hard for him to breathe and there was just so much blood around. His gut was telling him that he'll die rather from the blood loss than anything else.

"G!" Ricardo exclaimed, tilting over G and pressing his chest hard. Soon his hands, sleeves of his shirt and pretty much hi knees were drained in G's blood, but he couldn't think of a way to stop the blood flow. G's eyes were half closed and a bitter smile was playing on his face. Ricardo desperately kept trying to make the blood stop flowing out. He was thankful that his father had such a bad aim. Otherwise, he didn't want to know what would have happened if the bullet pierced G's heart. Luckily, it missed it for more than ten centimeters.

That didn't erase the fact that G was still losing his blood too fast.

"G! Come on, you can't die on me! G please! You promised to take me to a fair next month! You promised that even if dad or Giotto dislike me smoking, you'll still give me a cigar! You promised that you'll always be there! You can't break those promises!" Ricardo torn up his shirt, pressing it on the small wound in G's chest. Teen was completely oblivious, no ignorant to the presence of his father.

"You little runt…" Paolo hissed. "Even if I raised you… even if I gave you food, shelter, water… even if I gave you your damn fucking life, you're turning to idiots such as Vongola?" He scowled, anger bursting out of him. "I gave you fucking everything, yet you had decided to turn to the Vongola!" His pride was shaking. He did not raise his own child to become a pet of Vongola! Gun in his hands started shaking as he was aiming it at his son. It didn't matter. He would not linger. If needed, he will shoot.

Ricardo's fist clutched on his torn shirt that he was using to stop G's bleeding. He realized that it was probably useless. It was impossible for the help to arrive in time. Who could he call for help anyway? Those two Japanese brats? They wouldn't do a damn thing. Tear was slowly going down his cheek as his father's words were deeply engraving in his brain, one by one. By each word his anger rose up for a degree. His desire for revenge grew stronger.

It was nothing to be surprised about. Ricardo… ever since he first met Giotto and his Guardians grew to have a friendly relationship with everyone, even Alaude and Daemon, except for G. G was the only one not approvable of Ricardo as a probable heir to Vongola. So once Ricardo stole G's cigar once, they started talking. Slowly, even G grew to be attached to Ricardo, and out of everyone in Vongola, Ricardo grew to be closest with G. Not ever did Ricardo dare to tell his struggles to anyone else but G who seemed to have understood. But now, as Ricardo seeing his friend… his relative…his big brother… dying. He couldn't sit back and stay quiet.

Flick

Ricardo clutched his fist tighter. Since he was a child, his father had been torturing him mentally. Forcing him to do stuff he didn't like and forcing him to back away from the stuff he loved. Ricardo never had friends because of that.

Flick

Not ever did Ricardo want to see anyone… ANYONE… dying before his eyes. Ever since he saw his mother die, he had enough. Out of all people… for that to be G… he could not forgive. Who cared if it was his father who was at fault.

In his fist, a spark appeared. And then another one… and then it burst into a flame. An orange flame, with darker orange stripes. Paolo's eyes widened in the sight. H-he has… Sky flame?

Slowly, before the flame got to burn too much of Ricardo's torn shirt, he released his fist. Behind, the part of the shirt that was caught in flame was left in ashes.

N-no… that… that is not a Sky flame… Paolo stepped away. Not ever did he felt such killing intent coming from anyone. Especially not his own son. He flinched as Ricardo made a step towards him, his eyes hidden in shadow.

"I… despise you…" weak voice came out of the teen's mouth. Flame created in his palm grew bigger, stronger… fiercer… Paolo couldn't understand. Did his son secretly train under Giotto for all the time Ricardo had spent with him? Or was it that the boy was just bursting out without any knowledge?

"I… detest you…"

Paolo felt like he couldn't move anymore. He was good ten feet away from his youngest son. How Ricardo appeared right in front of him, he could not explain. Fireball of orange flames was heading straight for his head. Paolo could feel lone desire to kill pushed into that small fireball. Hatred… gore… wrath… he knew that it was over.

"DIE!" scream echoed through the hall when Ricardo put every single bit of feelings that he had into the small fireball. He felt that he hit something. Something that was resisting. He wanted to make that resistance shatter… but he had no strength to do so. He overdid it already. Light show that was created in the living room felt wrong, and Ricardo gave up. He stopped forcing his flame to struggle, falling down on his knees and panting.

Wiping away his sweat, he could see his father pushed aside… being protected. His resolve shattered. Every single bit of him was put into that one attack. For his attack to be countered by a mere bystander… Ricardo felt disappointed… crushed. It was like he was fighting the lost battle. He felt destroyed… he failed.

He tried to see who countered his attack, but all he could see were bone-like loops… two of them. There was something in it…reminding Ricardo of a weird, invisible flame that was letting him see behind the loops. He grunted, recognizing the person as the silver-haired dude who was accompanying G earlier. He didn't know the name. All he knew was that the guy was down on one knee, not easily taking that attack.

Paolo was pushed away by Gokudera, moment before fireball of Wrath was aiming to hit him. Gokudera used his bone loops to protect the black-haired dude, at least until he finds out what made Ricardo go berserk, by the G laying behind Ricardo was an answer Gokudera was looking for. He panted a little, before he stood back on his feet. Force of Ricardo's flame pushed him down pretty hard. But he encountered worse than that.

"… the hell… was that?" Gokudera grunted, letting his bone loops to return where they were before. He looked at the teen on the ground who was clutching his fists, looking towards Paolo with obvious hate. Gokudera turned to Paolo too, seeing that the guy once again got a reach of his gun, though his hands were shaking too much for him to get a clean hit. Especially because he wasn't sure whether to aim it at Ricardo or Gokudera.

Gokudera didn't need a lot of braining to do to guess what happened there. Before Paolo got to do anything, he approached the man, kicking the gun away from his hands.

"W-wa… weren't you on my side?" Paolo stuttered, taking a step back from Gokudera. The teen was reminding him of G too much. It couldn't be…

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "Who the fuck would be on your side? Bastard… I should fill you with dynamites right now!" And even before he finished the sentence, bunch of dynamites were already prepared in his hands. He wondered whether to make the man swallow them or just to stick them all to the idiot's back. Gokudera scowled. Yeah. Making the guy swallow it should do the trick.

Ricardo's eyes slightly brightened. Maybe not everything was lost.

Drip… drop… drip… drop…

Continuous sound of water dripping was all that Tsuna managed to hear. There were a few gasps here and there as well, but he couldn't register whose. Not like it mattered, anyway.

Slowly, Tsuna was regaining his senses that he had lost in a short while. Along with his senses, one, not thing that he was eager for, had returned as well.

Pain.

It was too strong. The spitting headache he had was killing him. Was he hit on the head so hard? But Tsuna couldn't remember. Last thing he knew was that he found Lyn after a while of searching, but that she was tied badly.

"Alright, it was five times… but I swear, no one died!" her voice was resonating in his head. Was that only thing he could remember? But it didn't matter. Tsuna had to help her now. There was no time. He had a feeling that something really bad was going on.

Tsuna clutched his hand in fist. He could feel something unknown around his wrists now, despise the pain that was blinding his head, shoulders and wrists. Now where did all that come from, he wanted to know. He needed to get up and go and find Gokudera. He remember the shooting. Someone was hurt. He couldn't just lay there. In his attempt to push himself into a sitting position, Tsuna tried to move his hands… but he realized that he couldn't. Something was stretching him, tightly wrapped around his wrists, pulling them away from his body as most as possible. He tried again, opening his eyes a little to find a reason why he couldn't move.

Tsuna felt confused, finding that he wasn't even lying. No. He was literally hanged. His arms were fully stretched, unable to move at all. That's why his shoulders were in pain as well. All the pressure was on them. His legs couldn't even touch the floor. He tried to blink, but light was disrupting him.

Before he knew what was going on, icily cold water splashed him whole, making him shiver in cold. He coughed out the water that ended up in his mouth.

In between a splash of water and his coughing, Tsuna also heard someone loudly gasping.

"Finally, the brat is awake. He can start answering our questions now," someone muttered in a language that Tsuna recognized as Italian. Even though the picture Tsuna could see through his eyes was sort of blurry, he could discern two shapes, most probably people.

"Stupid. Boss ordered just to keep him here until he comes," woman's voice replied, as well as in Italian. The conversation turned into an argument from which Tsuna couldn't recognize any single word.

"So, how about you tell us your name, boy?" the male voice asked. Tsuna's vision got sharper, and he could see that the person had brown hair of shoulder length. It sort of reminded him of Genkishi's hairstyle, except for the color and the fact that the guy had no bangs. And his face looked a lot… pointy.

Not understanding what the man said, of course Tsuna couldn't respond. He heard the man repeating the same word two times before suddenly feeling dull pain in his stomach. Even if he couldn't determine what it was, Tsuna somehow felt that he was probably hit.

"TSUNA!" familiar scream made him avert his gaze in the other direction. It sounded like Lyn. But she wasn't there. Tsuna couldn't get a sight of her. Oh… he found her. She was in pretty much same position like Tsuna, right across the room.

"No one told you to speak!" second woman in the room released her voice. Tsuna blinked. He had a feeling that Lyn was now in trouble. Because of him.

"Are you fools insane?" Lyn shouted back at the woman. "He doesn't speak Italian! Stop it!" she screamed.

"Oh… I thought you were claiming that you didn't know him?" woman pinched her eyebrows. "Were you lying?"

Lyn groaned. "Yes, I was lying! But I never thought you'd actually fall for such lie. Why would anyone try to set me free if I didn't know them?" Her voice was utterly sarcastic and she rolled her eyes. Woman forced away irritation that hit her with Lyn's attitude. Tsuna was now sure that Lyn was in big trouble. He tried to release himself from the chains, but failed. It was useless. Chains were too tight.

He gasped seeing how hard the woman kicked Lyn.

"Alright, then you'll answer the questions," the male, brunet guy, said. "Who is he?" he gestured towards Tsuna.

"Jyuudaime," Lyn calmly said.

Tsuna was surprised how normal her voice sounded even after she was kicked so hard.

"Repeat that," male guy raised a brow. "I thought you called him Tsuna."

Lyn rolled her eyes. "Baka~" she sang in low voice. Tsuna panicked immediately.

"L-Lyn! Y-you can't just go insulting torturers!" he cried, using last bits of energy to speak. Two heads turned to Tsuna, excluding Lyn's. She did something that Tsuna reminded of a shrug. A failed shrug.

"It's not my fault that they're stupid," Lyn replied in Japanese. "And besides, even if I tell them the truth, they-" she gasped for air in middle of her sentence, receiving another kick from the woman. "T-they… won't believe…" she finished her sentence, panting.

For the first time, Tsuna wondered what were they asking Lyn. He promised to himself that, if he ever gets out alive from that thing and returns to future, he'll nag his tutor to teach him Italian.

"And how about you translate the little conversation the two of you were having," woman offered, patting Lyn's cheek. Lyn sighed.

"He told me that I can't go around and insult torturers and I replied that it's not my fault that you're stupid."

Woman's vein popped and she was just about to kick Lyn again.

"Enough."

Short word, not even so loud, was enough to stop the woman's leg in mid air. Lyn gasped. Even though she never received a kick in her stomach, force that was supposed to hit her left her breathless even without hitting her.

"Boss," the two torturers immediately bowed to the newcomer.

Tsuna turned his head a little, trying to see who it was. That he could, he would've cover his mouth in horror. He had seen that man before. He was sure of it. The only problem was… he couldn't remember where. He couldn't remember when. All he knew was that he did see that scarred face and dark eyes before… in woods…

"What did I say about torturing our guests?" the man asked, looking from Tsuna to Lyn, from Lyn to Tsuna. Both his subordinates bowed their heads lightly.

"We truly apologize," both said in union. Woman stood up first. "We had no choice, Mateo. He," she gestured towards Tsuna, "didn't want to speak up anything, and she," she gestured towards Lyn, "was lying with every little molecule of her body."

Lyn mechanically rolled her eyes. "As if!" she spat. "You never asked from me to tell you the truth!"

Chills passed down Tsuna's body. Was Lyn trying to get them killed? Because her 'I speak what comes to my mind' attitude definitely was aiming to kill them.

Seeing the look Tsuna was giving her, Lyn lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she said politely. "I'm not strong enough to use illusions to get us out of here. Actually, I'm not strong enough to move. But I promise, I'll… I'll get us out of here… somehow…"

"Eh…" Tsuna blinked, completely forgetting about the other three people in the room. "B-but… it'll get us killed! N-no, Lyn… it… it's okay… we'll get out of here somehow… don't push yourself," Tsuna said awkwardly. Lyn once again tried something that looked like a failed shrug. That obviously caused the newcomer… and boss, apparently, or so Tsuna though, to chuckle.

"Eh, you Japanese people…" he sighed. "I guess we started on the wrong foot, Miss…?" he questionably stared at Lyn. Lyn blinked.

"Clara Walsh."

"Alright, Miss Clara. My name is Capelli Manolo. In my own unit, most of members call me as Mateo Chelsea," Manolo replied politely.

Lyn's lips curled into a skeptic smile. "I'm known as Queen of the Shadows."

Tsuna blinked. Once again, he made a promise to himself that he'll learn Italian. Whatever Lyn was saying, Tsuna was sure that it'll get them into a very big mess.

"I don't think I ever heard of you," Manolo said knowingly. Lyn chuckled.

"Hence the nickname," she explained.

"I wouldn't agree," Manolo replied. "Actually, I think you're lying."

Lyn grimaced. "Now where did you get that? Do you have Hyper intuition or something?" she asked skeptically, purposely emphasizing the Hyper intuition part.

Tsuna didn't need to know what Lyn said… nor that guy. Anyways, he was sure that it hit the spot. The guy with scarred face seemed very irritated. As in very, very, VERY irritated.

"I should've known." Manolo rolled his eyes. "Vongola."

Tsuna and Lyn, along with the two Manolo's subordinates raised their heads, staring at Manolo unquestionably. There was no need for Tsuna to know what that meant. Look in Manolo's eyes told him far more than needed. Terrified face on Lyn told Tsuna even more.

"I want you to get every single information you can out of them," Manolo said in harsh voice, turning to leave the room. Before walking out, he stopped on the door, shortly glancing at his two subordinates. "Any means necessary."

Smirks and sneers overwhelmed the composed face of the two that were now the only ones left with Tsuna and Lyn in the room.

"Well then, let us begin."