Disclaimer: I don't own KHR

"Do you think we're too late?"

"Stop worrying. If we're late, we're late."

"Shut up, Julie. If you hadn't taken a stroll around the rec room, we would have been able to meet up with Sawada earlier."

"…."

Smack.

"OW! What as that for?"

"For looking at me weird."

"I wasn't looking at you weird, I was minding my own business! It's not my fault you're a maniac."

Enma sighed, letting his friends bicker it out themselves. The elevator dinged, signaling their floor. The doors slid open, but the two behind the redheaded boss hardly noticed. Reluctantly, Enma turned around and cleared his throat, catching his guardians' attention.

"Adel, we're here."

The black-haired girl straightened up to her full, towering height instantly, ceasing her argument with Enma's more laidback guardian, Julie. She swept out of the elevator, leaving behind an irate desert-flame user and an exasperated boss.

"Let's go, Enma," she ordered, leading the way down the hallway. Enma didn't really have a choice of whether he was going to follow or not. Besides, Adelheid was the only one who had been to the base before. She was the only one who knew where they were going.

Enma and Julie trailed after her, following her warily into a room with a long table surrounded by many chairs, a few which were occupied by vaguely familiar members of the Vongola. It looked like a room set up for meetings with important delegates—which Enma supposed they were, but he would much rather sit down in Tsuna's bedroom and chat than meet with the Vongola Decimo and his entourage.

Still, this topic was too important to not include the rest of the Vongola. They were at war, after all.

Adelheid let out a small, impatient breath, and Enma could hardly blame her. They'd been standing in the doorway for almost thirty seconds now and the geezers sitting at the far end of the table had done nothing but glance at them briefly and return to their conversation.

Julie snickered. "And you thought we were going to be late, Adel," he said, grabbing his stomach as he almost doubled over from trying to keep his laughter to a minimum.

Adelheid glared at the fedora-clad man, stopping his silent laughter in a heartbeat. "We are late, you idiot. But apparently, so is everyone else, by the looks of it. Or maybe they just got tired of waiting…."

The last part was more to herself, but the other two heard it anyways. Enma glanced around the room, and seeing no sign of a meeting being held—wasn't there usually food and papers and such?—he turned to his guardians.

"Maybe they forgot," he suggested.

Adelheid raised an eyebrow. "Forgot? About a meeting that's been planned for a week already? I highly doubt that Hibari Kyoya or Reborn would let Sawada forget something this important."

"Or maybe they're taking a break," Julie cut in. "That's what I should be doing right now."

For once, Adelheid just ignored Julie in favor of the problem at hand, of which Enma was actually pretty grateful for. If Adelheid was right, then that meant something was wrong with Tsuna and his family, and these old geezers in here either weren't aware of it, didn't care, or were in on it.

That worried Enma a little. He knew that some of the higher-ups in the Vongola weren't too happy about Tsuna taking the mantle of the Family, and some had even turned on him before the war had started, but after the war, there really hadn't been much resistance from the older generations.

"Kozato?"

Enma turned around, curious as to who was calling him. Adelheid and Julie peeked back as well, taking in the visage of one Gokudera Hayato, who was just standing there, blinking at the Simon Family like he couldn't believe they were actually here.

Another glance over the Storm Guardian of the Vongola led Enma to believe that Gokudera had just finished fighting. Not sparring, fighting. He was bleeding from scratches all over his face and he was holding his wrist gingerly, like it was sprained or broken or something.

"Gokudera Hayato," Adelheid drawled, her hands settling on her hips. "Nice of you to meet us. Now where is Sawada? We weren't expecting to stay too long, and the Vongola being late to this meeting has set us back too far already."

Enma didn't point out the fact that they were the ones who were late to the meeting, and that the Vongola just hadn't shown up. He figured it wouldn't go over well with either Adelheid or Gokudera.

Scowling, Gokudera just scoffed. "We've got bigger problems to deal with than your scheduling mishaps." Pushing past the three Simon, Gokudera stalked over to geezers sitting on the other side of the room. In Italian, he asked, "Did you guys find anything? If you say no, I swear I will blow you to pieces and feed the scraps to the dogs."

One of the old men, the oldest it looked like, rubbed his temples, just sighing. "No need to let your temper get away from you, Hayato Gokudera," the old man said. "We were just about to wrap things up here. If you would give us a few more minutes-"

"We don't have that kind of time!" Gokudera yelled, switching back to Japanese—probably not on purpose. "You guys said you would find this guy! Tsu- The Decimo gave you all that information and you're just going to waste it?!"

"Calm down, boy!" Another geezer snapped—in Japanese as well—standing up to tower over silver-haired teen. "These things take time! When we find the information, your Decimo will be the first one to know!"

Gokudera scoffed and stepped back, the fire in his eyes dying a little. "He's your Decimo, too, you know."

The second man was red in the face as he spluttered incoherently at the Storm Guardian, but the first geezer was quick to put a placating hand on his shoulder and mutter a few calming words in Italian. After that, the first man smiled wanly at Gokudera.

"It'll take time, Tempesta," the first man said in very accented Japanese. "Just wait another hour and we will have your information."

Gokudera clicked his tongue but said nothing more. Instead, he spun back around and marched towards the door. When he reached the Simon Family, he grabbed a very lost Enma's arm and led the redhead and his guardians out the door.

Enma sighed. "Should I even bother asking?" he asked Gokudera as he was dragged along.

"We've had a situation." Gokudera's shoulders were tense as he pulled them into the elevator and jabbed the button for the 24th floor.

"So we've noticed," Adelheid said drily. "Want to fill us in?"

"Not really," Gokudera replied shortly.

"Then can we just go home already- OW! Adel! What the hell was that for?!"

Ignoring his own guardians, Enma watched Gokudera's stiff form curiously. Something big was going on, that was for sure, and the way Gokudera was acting, it was obviously not being handled very well. Not to mention that the Simon Family presence probably wasn't helping in the least.

There was something else that was bothering Enma, though.

Tsu- The Decimo gave you all that information and you're just going to waste it?!

"Are you and Tsuna-kun fighting, Gokudera-san?" Enma asked softly, just so Adelheid and Julie wouldn't hear if they weren't listening. And they weren't. They were too preoccupied with their own argument.

Gokudera inhaled sharply and gave him a suspicious look. "What do you know, Kozato?"

Enma shook his head. "Nothing," he said, and he really didn't. But he wasn't an idiot, either. He could guess something was wrong by just listening. "You just called Tsuna-kun, Decimo. You never call him Decimo when you're talking in Japanese. He told you he thinks it's too formal and you promised not to call him that. I was there."

Shaking his head, Gokudera just muttered, "It's complicated, and you should stay out of it."

"Fine," Enma sighed. "But can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"The Guardian's training rooms," Adelheid supplied. "The twenty-fourth floor."

"And just how do you know that, Adel?" Julie asked. "You didn't seriously memorize the whole layout of this giant place, did you?"

"Of course I did!" Adelheid exclaimed. She turned to Enma just as the elevator doors slid open. "And I expect you to memorize it, too, Enma!"

"What?! Why do I have to?" Enma complained.

"Sawada memorized it."

"Tsuna-kun lives here," Enma argued. "I don't live here."

"Just let Enma do what he wants, Adel," Julie cut in. "If he doesn't want to memorize the floor plans, he shouldn't have to do it."

Enma sighed for what felt like the millionth time that morning. He was just grateful that he didn't have Tsuna's eccentric guardians. He had no idea how the timid brunet dealt with them day in and day out. Enma didn't think he would be able to handle the stress.

Continuing to follow Gokudera down the corridor, which was starting to look really repetitive, Enma noticed that the normal quick to temper silver-haired teen looked lost in thought.

"This is it," Gokudera grumbled, stopping in front of a door that looked identical to all the others around it. He hesitated before going in, though, which Enma thought was really abnormal. Sure he hadn't seen the Storm Guardian in a while, but wasn't the guy all about charging into things?

"Gokudera-san?" Enma asked.

"Just…just brace yourselves for the situation in here," the bomber muttered. "Things are really complicated and there's no easy way to explain it. Just don't be offended."

"Offended by what?" Julie asked.

Gokudera didn't answer. Instead, he let the door slide open to reveal a scene that the Simon Family had walked in on too many times before. The Vongola Guardians fighting in one of the training rooms.

But there was something different about this time. There wasn't just fighting, but arguing, too.

Hibari Kyoya and Rokudo Mukuro were fighting each other to the death—which wasn't all that surprising—but, again, there was something different about this time. It was like they had a reason to battle rather than fighting just because they hated each other.

Sasagawa Ryohei was trying to calm the two down, but boisterously screaming "extreme" every two seconds was doing nothing but provoking both violent guardians further.

Chrome Dokuro was doing nothing but standing there, but she looked rather angry as well. Enma couldn't even imagine what had happened to get the usually shy, soft-spoken girl angry enough to show it.

The redheaded boss looked around for the two missing guardians, but found only one. Yamamoto Takeshi was crouched in front Tsuna, who was curled up in a ball instead of stopping his guardians from trying to kill each other. The two looked like they were arguing themselves, which was odd because Tsuna didn't fight with his guardians. He was too timid to really call them out on their chaos and they respected him too much to try and convince him of anything he wasn't willing to do.

Enma frowned, but decided he would dwell on that later.

Lambo Bovino was nowhere to be found.

He continued to look around the room.

The Cavallone boss, Reborn, and Tsuna's father were a standing a few feet from where Tsuna and Yamamoto were. They were bickering, but seemed a lot less physical about it than Tsuna's more violent guardians, but a lot more vocal than Tsuna and Yamamoto. Next to them was a boy around his own age that Enma had come to know as Basilcum. The teen looked nervous, but wasn't saying anything, and Enma could definitely imagine why. Who'd want to be in the middle of a boss fight?

"What the hell?!" Julie exclaimed, catching the attention of only poor Chrome.

Adelheid instantly punched the desert-flame user in the arm. "Shut up, Julie. Have some consideration."

"For what?" Julie asked, rubbing his arm. "This is chaos. Why isn't Sawada doing anything?"

"Shut up when you don't know anything," Gokudera muttered from next to them. Strangely, the words were kind of flat and lacking any of his usual ire. "He's…He's doing the best he can, okay? It's been a hell of a couple of days."

"Hayato! Stop him!"

All fighting and arguments came to a screeching halt at Yamamoto's urgent yell, everyone's eyes immediately drawn to the teen. The Rain Guardian's eyes were wide as he nursed what looked like a bruised jaw. But what Enma really noticed was there was a distinct lack of….

"Tenth!"

Enma jumped at the loud call from his left, turning quickly to see one of the strangest things he'd ever seen in his life: Gokudera was man-handling the Tenth.

Okay, so that wasn't really true. It was more like Gokudera was trying to keep Tsuna from running out the open door as Tsuna tried his best to struggle out of his guardian's grip. Which still didn't make any sense, but it made more sense than Gokudera intentionally hurting his boss.

"One of you, quick!" Gokudera yelled to the frozen Simon Family. "Close and lock the door!"

Adelheid suddenly came to life from next to Enma, following Gokudera's instructions quickly and without hesitation.

"NO!" Tsuna screamed. "Let me go! That bastard's got to pay! He can take me home!"

"Not yet- Tenth!" Gokudera yelled, as he curled an arm around Tsuna's middle and pulled him up so his toes were barely dragging on the floor. "You don't have any information about this! There's nothing you can do!"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Tsuna screamed as he squirmed in Gokudera's grip. "You don't know anything! You didn't hear him!"

Finally, Enma had had enough. He didn't know what was going on, or why Tsuna was acting like someone had just been killed, but the redhead couldn't watch Tsuna yell at the one who had stood by him through thick and thin.

"Tsuna-kun!" he shouted, feeling desperate and panicky for some reason. "What're you doing?!"

Tsuna froze, brown eyes wide as they found his unusual red ones. The two stared at each other for a moment before Tsuna's grip on Gokudera tightened and the bomber let him stand on his own two feet. Tsuna didn't let go, though. He just kept on staring at Enma like he was a stranger.

"Sawada!" Adelheid yelled, fed up with his odd behavior. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Tsuna turned startled eyes to rest on Adelheid, instead, before they glanced at Julie and over to the approaching Yamamoto, who had more than likely come over to diffuse the situation.

"Man, Tsuna," Yamamoto chuckled as he stopped next to Gokudera. "You pack one hell of a right hook."

Guilt-ridden and freaked out, Tsuna tightened his grip on Gokudera's arm and took a miniscule step back into the Storm Guardian's protective person. Gokudera winced slightly, and Enma imagined that Tsuna's grip wasn't all that pleasant.

"Tsuna."

Tsuna's head snapped up to meet the onyx gaze of his tutor, releasing Gokudera. "Reborn…."

Enma took one look at the ex-Arcobaleno and took a step back, terrified. The man was absolutely livid. If there was one thing that Enma knew, it was that Reborn was really scary. He had never experienced the absolute terror that was an angry Reborn, but he had had about it from Tsuna after the Inheritance Ceremony (the second one, not the one the Simon had crashed). And now it looked like he had front row tickets for himself.

"If you even think about stepping a foot out of this base, I will string you up and shoot you so many times, you'll be begging the Argine to come and kill you, you hear me?" Reborn hissed. Tsuna flinched, but didn't back down.

"He has all the answers-"

"He almost killed you!"

"Then I'll train!" Tsuna yelled. "I'll do whatever the hell it takes to-"

"Shut up, Tsuna!" Reborn shouted. "This is not your decision! At the end of the month, we will take you to the Argine base and go through with the resonance of the rings. No later and definitely no sooner. Got it?"

"But Reborn-"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi!" Reborn glared at his student. "Do. You. Hear. Me?"

Tsuna grit his teeth, but finally looked away. "Yes," he murmured, his shoulders falling and the fight draining away. Now he just looked exhausted. "I hear you."

Reborn's eyes flashed dangerously. "Good. If I hear anything about you sneaking out of the base, I'm leaving you out of the attack."

And with those awful words of parting, Reborn was gone, Iemitsu yelling obscenities after him. No one in the room moved as Tsuna clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. Enma could tell immediately that Tsuna was beyond frustration, though. No, it was more like…despair.

"Tsuna?" Yamamoto called, standing in front of the brunet and taking the boy's hand and leading him back towards the spot they had been in before. "Let's go sit down, yeah? You're still injured, after all."

Tsuna went with him without another word.

Enma looked to Gokudera in askance. The bomber just sighed. "It's a long story, Kozato," he said quietly. "It's not pleasant, it's complicated, and has so many different perspectives that I don't even know everything."

"Someone infiltrated the Vongola base?" Adelheid guessed. "Do you have spies? Is that what all that was about?"

Gokudera's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Yeah, we have a spy. The higher ups are looking into it now. But more than that, we have a former high-ranking Family member teaming up with the Argine. He infiltrated the base and almost strangled the Tenth to death. We're still trying to figure out who it is, though."

Julie raised his hand. "Not that I'm altogether curious or anything, but does Sawada look a little shorter than I remember?"

Enma started, gaze snapping to Julie's before looking to Tsuna's world weary form as the teen—no, it was more like boy—sat down next to Yamamoto and curled back up into a ball. Now that Enma was looking, he could see what Julie was talking about.

Gokudera sighed. "I'll explain that later. We have more pressing issues," the bomber said. Straightening up, he looked each of the Simon in the eye, falling into his "right hand man" mode that Enma knew Tsuna appreciated so much.

"What's going on, Gokudera-san?" Enma asked softly. "I've never seen Tsuna like that before. If I can help, I want you to tell me."

Nodding, Gokudera gestured for Chrome to come over. When she did, he turned back to Enma. "First, I need to hear what information you brought back about the convergence."

Enma figured Gokudera was stalling a little, but didn't push the subject, instead nodding at Julie to tell the Vongola what they had discovered. Helping Tsuna would have to come in its time. Maybe Yamamoto just needed some time to calm the brunet down, or something. He wasn't too sure how else this was going to help Tsuna right now.

"There's not really much to tell," Julie said, stretching casually. "Basically, all we found out was what we've known for weeks. The Argine Family is converging on Halloween for some sort of major power up."

"Yes, but we did discover something weird," Adelheid reminded Julie.

Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "Weird how?"

"There're rumors of the Argine experimenting with time travel," Adelheid informed Gokudera. "We checked into it, and…." She trailed off, her eyes widening as she turned back towards where Tsuna was sitting. "They didn't."

Irritated, Gokudera clicked his tongue. "We've figured out they've succeeded already. Anything else?"

"They've got something weird planned for the convergence," Enma added thoughtfully. "From what our informant told us, it's supposed to be a counter measure for the Vongola's resonance plan."

"So they do know about our plans," Chrome said softly.

"Apparently," Gokudera said. "The only thing that could make this situation any worse is if the training doesn't pan out."

"Or if Boss sneaks out to try and get home," Chrome suggested.

"Right. That, too."

That's when it clicked. Argine. Time travel. Tsuna was shorter than before. The Argine had a counter measure for the resonance plan….

"Oh."

Everyone's eyes turned towards Enma, and the redhead found himself shifting uncomfortably under all of the attention, his cheeks reddening slightly. He hadn't meant to say that out loud at all, but it looked like his mouth had betrayed him, bringing everyone's focus onto him.

"What is it, Enma?" Adelheid asked.

"It's just…they said they had a counter measure for the resonance plan, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well, what if bringing Tsuna from the past was the counter measure? It makes sense, right?"

("Wait, what?" Julie asked. He was ignored.)

Gokudera hummed thoughtfully. "That would make sense, but I don't think we should operate as if it's the case."

"You're probably right," Chrome said. "It could be dangerous to get overconfident if he figures out how to get the rings to resonate and we go into battle thinking that they don't have any defense. We should assume they've planned for us continuing the plan, even with a younger Boss and continue that way."

Before anyone else could say anything else, a loud roar of "EXTREME!" was called out, catching everyone's attention. Well, almost everyone. From the corner of his eye, Enma could see that Yamamoto was still trying to coax Tsuna out of his little ball.

Enma turned his full attention to the middle of the room, where Hibari Kyoya and Rokudo Mukuro were glaring daggers at each other. Both of their hands twitched and Enma thought that if Sasagawa weren't standing in between, the two would already be at each other's throats.

"Extremely slow down!" Sasagawa was yelling. "What would Sawada say if he were here?!"

"The Omnivore has no hold over me," Hibari ground out, grip tight on his tonfa. "And the stupid illusionist needs to pay for letting the intruder get away."

"Kufufu, I think you've got it backwards," Mukuro laughed, his voice light and calm, but his expression strained. He looked as ready for a fight as Hibari. "You need to pay, Hibari Kyoya, for putting my dear Chrome in danger. Because of you, Chrome was almost killed."

Enma was confused. They were talking about the intruder, but it seemed as if the guardians had fought him, and yet the guy had still gotten away. That didn't make any sense. Especially with Hibari and Mukuro fighting.

"What happened?" Enma heard Adelheid asked Gokudera from behind him.

"The intruder attacked the Tenth while he was alone in a training room, almost killing him. I guess the guy was injured before he came to the base or something, because I met up with him next. He was still way too fast for me, so when he got away, I pulled the alarm and we all went after him." Gokudera clenched his fists. "Even with me, Chrome, Mukuro, and Hibari, he was still too fast and managed to get away. In the process, Chrome was hurt and now Mukuro and Hibari are blaming each other."

"If I may be of assistance," a voice said, and Enma turned to see Basilcum standing slightly off to the side, looking wary of coming any closer to the Simon. Enma didn't blame him, since they had just met a few months prior. The Tenth Generation Simon and Vongola were a disconcerting bunch while together.

"What is it?" Gokudera asked, frowning slightly.

"We need Tsuna-dono to break this up," Basil said. "Hibari-dono and Mukuro-dono won't listen to anyone else. Sasagawa-dono won't be able to keep them from fighting much longer."

Enma believed that. Sasagawa was a loud, violent person himself. He just wasn't cutout for peace-making. He really just encouraged more than placated. Enma was afraid that Basilcum was right in this. They really did need Tsuna. But was that possible right now?

Gokudera sighed. Taking Enma's wrist, he turned to the others and said, "Don't move. I'm going to see if we can snap the Tenth out of it and make him see some sort of sense." When nobody protested, he dragged Enma across the room stopped just before Yamamoto, who was sitting in front of Tsuna, softly speaking to Tsuna, who was still curled in on himself.

Enma stared down at the boy had saved him and his Family from his hatred, feeling sorry for the boy who was thrown into a world he knew nothing about. He couldn't imagine how it felt, but he still felt sorry for Tsuna.

"Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked. "Please answer me. Reborn isn't mad at you, you know that, right?"

Tsuna just shook his head and tightened his arms around his knees.

Yamamoto's face fell as he looked up at the two who had come over to whip Tsuna back into shape. "I don't know how to get through to him. It's just like…." He trailed off, unsure how to breach the topic that had been all but forbidden since Tsuna's recovery.

But they all knew what he was talking about anyways. For weeks, Tsuna had been unresponsive, too overwhelmed and caught up in what he had done to act like a human being.

And now, this was a kid who hadn't even gone through all of that being denied his way out. In Tsuna's eyes, Reborn and the rest of them were keeping him from returning back to his time. Enma wished desperately he could help out his friend, but wasn't all too sure what he could say.

"Let me go! That bastard's got to pay! He can take me home!"

Poor Tsuna.

Crouching down in front of the friend who didn't know him quite yet, Enma sighed. "Tsuna-kun," he called softly, mentally preparing himself for what was about to come.

As he predicted, Tsuna immediately stiffened and peeked up at Enma with wide, strangely innocent, brown eyes. Man, was that what Tsuna had looked like all those years ago? He really looked young. How come it had taken Julie pointing it out for Enma to actually connect the dots?

"Tsuna-kun, are you alright?" he asked.

"Who…who are you?" Tsuna asked hesitantly. "Do I know you?"

Enma rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "I…guess. We don't meet until a few weeks after you come back from the future. At least, that's what you told me."

"So, you're someone I will meet?" Tsuna asked. "But...who are you?"

"Oh, right," Enma said, feeling kind of silly. Tsuna didn't know him. "Kozato Enma. I'm your friend, Tsuna-kun. We had our fair share of fights," he ignored Gokudera's mutter of "that's an understatement" and continued on, "but we made it through great friends at the end."

"Why are you here?" Tsuna asked. "Do you need me for something, too?"

Enma shrugged. "Why not? I don't really want to do anything, so if you just want to hang out here, that's fine. Is that alright with you?"

Tsuna glared at him. "I'm not five. You don't have to treat me like I'm a child."

"I'm not," Enma said as he settled down next to the brunet. "I'd just rather be over here than over there with Adelheid." He pointed over to where Adelheid was slapping Julie around, probably to waste time while she waited for Enma to come back. "Sometimes she can be worse than Hibari."

Tsuna cracked a wry smile at that. "No one can be worse than Hibari-san," he said. "He's a monster. He's the one who trained me when we were fighting the Millefiore, and let me tell you, it was absolute hell. I'm just lucky I had all the support of my friends."

Tsuna's smile fell, and Enma blinked. So that's what the problem was. Judging by the surprised looks of Gokudera and Yamamoto, the two hadn't realized that Tsuna was homesick, just that he wanted to get home, probably believing that he didn't want to fight more than that he wanted to be surrounded by people who he was familiar with.

"You're friends are great," Enma found himself saying. "Without them, I don't think you and I would have become such great friends."

"Really?" Tsuna asked, successfully distracted. His arms loosened around his knees and he lifted his head a little higher to glance at Enma in surprise.

Enma nodded. "They really came through for you when you needed it, and I think since you thought of me as a friend, they thought of me as a friend, too. I think that really helped where our feud was involved."

Tsuna looked curious, but seemed to know not to ask about any details.

Both of them were silent for a few moments before Tsuna seemed to gather the courage to ask whatever had been bothering him.

"Hey, Kozato-kun, do you think that I'm going to be able to get back home?"

"Just call me Enma," the redhead said. "And, I hope so, Tsuna-kun. I want you to be able to get back to your friends just as much as I want to the Tsuna-kun that belongs in this time to come back. Because he's my friend, and in your time, the younger me is out there, in need of a friend. None of this is really fair."

"No, it really isn't, Enma-kun," Tsuna murmured, resting his chin on his knees.

"But you know what?" Enma said, gazing up at the ceiling. "I think, everything is going to turn out okay. We'll make sure of that. We always do, in the end."

Tsuna smiled softly. "I hope you're right, Enma-kun. I'm really glad that you decided to talk to me. I feel a lot better. Not as…angry."

Enma nodded. "That's good. Anger…anger does nothing but hurt others around you. It consumes until there's nothing left but hate and negativity. It eats away at everything until no one wants to be around you. You start to keep people at arm's length, and then you end up someone who you swore you'd never become."

There was silence from next to him, and Enma moved his gaze from the ceiling to rest on Tsuna, who was staring at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"Did that…happen to you?" Tsuna asked uncertainly.

Enma shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. I don't really remember much about what was happening around me back before I met you. I know I was concerned with holding onto the anger so I could take revenge. But when I met you and I got rid of my anger, my world looked a little brighter, especially with the people I had in it with me."

Tsuna was looking at him in awe now, and Enma couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

"You're amazing, Enma," he whispered. "How did you do that?"

Enma shifted uncomfortably. "I already told you. It was you. You helped me figure it out."

"Tsuna." Both Enma and Tsuna looked over to Yamamoto, who was staring at the brunet with his bright amber gaze. "Tsuna, this is for your own good, okay? Reborn didn't say it in the right way, but he means well. We just don't want to lose you, again."

Tsuna grimaced at the topic change. "You're talking about the Inheritance Ceremony, aren't you?"

Yamamoto shook his head. "Not just the Inheritance Ceremony, Tsuna. Think about it. If you go after the Argine now, while you can barely control the original ring, what do you think is going to happen? And how do you think your friends will feel when you don't come back to them. They probably miss you just as much as you miss them."

"I know, but what if he could get me home," Tsuna croaked. "The Argine brought me here, so they should be able to get me back, right?"

"They brought you here to mess up our plans," Gokudera reminded him. "Not for fun. If you go there now, they will kill you. And then how will you change the Vongola? How will you get back to your own time, then?"

"I don't…." Tsuna trailed off, looking lost.

"Tsuna-kun," Enma called gently. "If it were up to me, I'd charge into the Argine's base and help you get home in a heartbeat, but we don't have the power. We have to wait until we're all strong enough."

"And that means we have to wait a month," Tsuna said, seemingly starting to understand the situation. "I get it."

Enma sighed softly, letting his head fall back against the wall and closing his eyes. Why did this day have to be so stressful? He wanted to go back to bed and wake up when the war was over. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Oh well, it was good to dream.

"Hey, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked after a moment of silence. Enma cracked his eyes open to look over at Tsuna, curious as to what the brunet was going to ask the swordsman. The boy tilted his head to the side curiously. "Why're Hibari and Mukuro fighting like they're going to actually kill each other?"

Groaning, Enma just let his eyes slide shut again. Again, he was glad he didn't have to deal with guardians like Tsuna's. He just wouldn't survive.

Ha. Haha. Hi.

So, how's everyone doing? Sorry for the long wait. I'm not going to promise it won't happen again, because it probably will, but I should have something else out before Christmas. I took full advantage of my Thanksgiving weekend and I hope that this chapter was enough for you guys, because I'm am really really sorry for leaving you guys hanging like that. Seriously. I feel so horrible.

Anyways, what did you guys think about this chapter? I have to say, writing from Enma's POV was actually pretty fun. I think I made him a lot more exasperated in this time, but I think after years of dealing with both his and Tsuna's guardians together...wouldn't you be just done?

So, tell me what you think in a review please! And I'll get the next chapter up sooner this time.