Author's Notes: Whew...close call. Tornado hit town yesterday along with a hailstorm. No worries though, the tornado hit across town from me and the hailstorm missed us by a mere mile. My mom, who lives less than two minutes away, got hit though. :( It was bad from the videos I saw. It was like someone was had a machine-gun shooting golf balls everywhere. Thank goodness for storm cellars (she and my little sister were already safely stashed away when the hail started). Every single one of the windows of every house on her block got knocked out, but at least their houses are still standing and no one got hurt.

Anyway, last night was scary and horrible, but I somehow got lucky and our apartment was spared from the storm. I also somehow managed to still get a chapter written. LOL How messed up is that?

"You can't really blame him for wanting to hide," Yamamoto moaned, accepting the drink that Gokudera offered. "I mean, those were some pretty--"

"EXTREME PICTURES!" Ryohei roared, tossing back another shot from his normal seat on a barstool in front of his wetbar. Yamamoto simply nodded in agreement while Gokudera shot him a look full of loathing.

"I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if those had been pictures of me and Matsu," Yamamoto continued. "I'm sure it's even worse for Tsuna considering..."

"Considering he's married," Gokudera grumbled, sitting down with his own drink in hand. "Considering the idea of Boss with...with...a guy... It's just fucking insane. I mean, you or even lawn-head over there... It wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Boss..."

"What's the big deal about Tsuna screwing a guy?" Yamamoto asked, offended by the double-standard. "I thought you were just upset because his privacy was violated."

"I am," Gokudera asserted with a blush. "I-I just--"

"Just never thought of Tsuna being with a guy," Ryohei interrupted, understanding Gokudera's reaction. "He's always been chasing Kyoko and he married Haru. He's never showed any inclinations for anything but women. For us to find out by seeing a picture of someone's dick in him...it's fucking extreme."

"And the ball-gag..." Gokudera added with wide eyes. "I never thought Boss would--"

"Ball what?" Yamamoto asked in curiousity.

"Ball-gag," he repeated. Yamamoto gave him an open look that said he didn't understand what Gokudera was talking about. "The thing that was strapped in his mouth," he finally explained with a sigh of resignation. Yamamoto nodded, having glimpsed the third picture before Tsuna had fled the scene.

"I wonder if maybe Xanxus did rape him," Yamamoto mused. "Otherwise, why would he have been gagged?"

"N-No," Gokudera interjected while biting his bottom lip. "No matter how much I dislike it, Boss was consenting in those pictures."

"How can you tell?" Ryohei asked while he poured himself another shot.

"His hands were always free," Gokudera groaned. "That model of ball-gag isn't hard to get off if he'd really wanted to."

"How do you know?" Yamamoto asked innocently. He raised his eyebrow and grinned widely in comprehension when Gokudera tried to hide a bright red blush with his drink. "Have you and Sangia been getting freaky?" His grin widened even more when Gokudera choked on his drink.

"I-- She--" Gokudera stuttered, turning even brighter red while Yamamoto burst out in laughter. "She likes to experiment!" Gokudera blurted in his own defense. This only sent Yamamoto into another burst of laughter.

"Damn," Ryohei chuckled. "I guess my sex life is normal in comparison."

"Oh, you're a fucking saint," Gokudera grumbled sarcastically. "Mister 'I like hiring out every girl at Pink's and see how many I can screw before I fall over'."

"I like a challenge," Ryohei replied with a grin. Gokudera groaned while Yamamoto continued to laugh so hard that tears began forming in his eyes.

"The point is that I never thought Boss would use one of those," Gokudera growled, bringing the attention back to the topic of their conversation. "And to have it used on him by Xanxus. It's a disgrace."

"Says who?!" Yamamoto snapped, going from laughter to anger in a single moment. "Are you a disgrace for using those kinds of things? He obviously never meant anyone to see that! It's a disgrace that someone took those pictures and it's a disgrace that they were released! Don't imply that Tsuna himself--"

"Shut up!" Gokudera growled. "I never meant it like Boss was a disgrace, you moron! I meant that Vongola's been disgraced because they were let out!"

"Screw Vongola," Yamamoto yelled back. "You need to get your head out of your ass and start thinking about Tsuna personally! The two don't always go hand-in-hand!"

"Actually," Ryohei interjected calmly. "I've got to agree with Octopus-head over there. In this case, Tsuna and Vongola do go hand-in-hand. Vongola is going to get hit hard because of those pictures of Tsuna. Just as bad, Tsuna's going to get hit hard because of how Vongola's going to be affected."

"E-Eh?" Yamamoto asked, willing to listen since someone other than Gokudera was talking. "What do you mean?"

"People are going to start gossiping for starters," Ryohei replied, tossing back another shot. "They're going to say that Xanxus threw the Sky Battle and let Tsuna win."

"But that was years ago!" The swordsman gasped. "There's no way--"

"Yes, there is," Gokudera grimaced, taking another drink of his glass of Vodka while he leaned back uncomfortably into his seat. "It doesn't matter how long ago it was. This is going to jeopardize Boss' position as heir. People are going to say that the win was bought with sex and try to use that as a foundation to start trouble. People will start banding together in belief that Boss is really just weak and didn't get his position due to his own power. Then there are the problems this might cause with some of our Allies. Prejudices are going to come out and we might loose whole Families. Plus, Vongola's reputation isn't very high right now, so we're going to lose contracts to our Rivals. Street warfare is probably going to skyrocket, too. People are going to be saying shit about Boss and most of our men won't let it stand even after seeing the pictures for themselves."

"T-That's..."

"That's what I meant when I said disgrace," Gokudera said mournfully. "Shit is about to hit the fan and there's not a damn thing we can do to stop it. We can do damage control, but most of the damage has already been done."

"C-Can't we just do that 'superimposed' picture thing again?" Yamamoto asked, finally understanding the problems that they were facing.

"It wouldn't work," Gokudera groaned, wishing it was that simple. "It worked before because we said that the identity of the real person had to be hidden, so there was no way that people could compare the two. Regalia isn't that big of a person for people to argue. Boss is too big in the Mafia world for people to let it slide like that. They'd want to see the 'unedited' photos to verify."

"Can't we just edit--"

"Wouldn't work," Gokudera repeated with a sigh. "Boss' scars and tattoos make his body too identifiable. As much editing as it would take, even a novice would be able to tell that the photos were tampered with."

"You're the brains, Gokudera," Ryohei piped up. "Figure something--"

"Are you in here?!" Basil cried, bursting into the room. He stumbled to a stop in relief upon seeing all three Guardians together. "You must come with thee! Sawada-dono--"

"What happened?!" Gokudera shouted, jumping to his feet. Basil shook his head and immediately began running out the door with the three men running behind him.

"From what we can tell, Sawada-dono and the Ninth had a fight," he explained in panic while running down the halls at full speed. "Both of them are in critical condition! We are unable to tell what ails the Ninth, but several of Sawada-dono's ribs have been broken and one has punctured an organ. He is in surgery, but the doctors fear that--"

"Don't even think about suggesting that Boss won't make it out!" Gokudera snapped. He froze outside the surgery room, as did everyone else.

The whine of alarms inside was unmistakable.

Tsuna went running for the lakeside at full speed. He had to hurry, before Mukuro or somone else appeared to stop him. Before the Chains tried to stop him!

With a gasp, he made it.

He yanked Timoteo free of the shallow depths of where he stood and mercilessly sent him tumbling backward onto the dry shore. Tsuna threw him away from the final decent with such force, however, that the momentum unintentionally sent him stumbling into the waters himself. He was allowed only a moment to acknowledge that the shallow depths of the area suddenly became a bottomless trench with his feet having nothing to stand firm on. He flailed into the water, unable to steady himself enough to control his fall.

Peace settled over Tsuna. The burdens of his heart lightened and he felt completely free for the first time in a long time. He could feel his memories draining out of him like he was a sieve in trade for the contentment that wrapped around him. He forgot his panic. He forgot the need to fight. He forgot everything but the warmth and soothing weightlessness that infiltrated his very soul. He was nothing. He was everything. He felt himself being called deeper into the dark depths of the waters with promises of--

"Butcher."

"Betrayer."

"Unfaithful."

"Filth."

"Lier."

"St-op..." he mumbled to the accusing voices which assailed him from the darkness.

"Murderer."

"Defiler."

"Lawbreaker."

"Terrorist."

"Stop...!" Tsuna begged.

"Impure."

"Corrupt."

"Tainted."

"Slanderer."

"Felon."

"Hypocrite."

"Hedonist."

"Slaughterer."

"STOP!" He screamed, feeling as if his very soul was being ripped apart with each accusation. His mind screamed for something to save him from the dark depths that he'd been lured into. He didn't know who or what. He didn't know how or why. He just screamed in hopes that he would be heard.

Arms wrapped around him and the water rushed past in a deafening roar. Tsuna gasped as his head broke through the waters and he was dragged onto the shore. Shivering from a cold that seemed to penetrated his very being, Tsuna stared at the strange man slowly standing up beside him. Tsuna felt that he should know him, but couldn't instantly identify his dripping wet savior. Nor could he identify the second, older man standing behind him with a vine in his hand which was tied to his savior's waist.

"Tsunayoshi," the older man cried, running forward to him while the other untied the vine from his waist and tossed it aside. "I thought we'd lost you to the lake-dwellers!"

"La-ke-dwell-ers..?" Tsuna repeated in confusion.

"They were stripping you of your impurities," his savior growled. "Another moment and you would have been lost."

"Mu-ku-ro?" Tsuna asked in partial recognition with his memories slowly beginning to return. Mukuro blinked and gave Tsuna a suddenly understanding look. Giving him a moment to settle his mind, Mukuro turned to the Ninth who was worriedly hovering over his heir.

"You must return," Mukuro ordered. "Much longer and your anchor will disappear completely. Your body is weak, but it is not beyond resuscitation if you go now."

"Very well," he agreed softly, looking down at where Tsuna continued to shiver in a daze. "Duty calls me still. I'll ask that you help Tsunayoshi return, as well."

"I'll make no promises," the Mist Guardian replied. The Ninth looked at Mukuro for a long moment before nodding in understanding and gently closing his eyes. Tsuna stared at him when he began to become transparent before disappearing completely as if he was made of nothing but dust motes. The moment that he was completely gone, Mukuro slowly approached and knelt down next to Tsuna. Arms reached out and once again wrapped around him, only this time in order to gift him with warmth and comfort. Unquestioning in his daze, Tsuna accepted the gift and sagged against him, letting the man's warmth fill his cold core.

He felt nostalgic in the man's arms, like he'd done this before. Then, as more of his memories began to resurface, he remembered that he had. More than once. Mukuro was different here. He comforted and soothed Tsuna here. He helped Tsuna to rest when he visited here. He...He loved Tsuna here. The sudden realization left Tsuna feeling dizzy in the man's arms. Mukuro. The man who'd tried to take over his body. The man who'd sworn hatred of the Path Tsuna walked and the Mafia specifically. The man who had--

"What am I doing?" Tsuna gasped, jumping up out of Mukuro's arms. "Y-You betrayed...me..." Tsuna froze upon looking at his enemy, struck speechless by the tears in his eyes. "W-What...?" He asked in confusion.

"I almost lost you again," he answered with a sad chuckle, so unlike his normal, mocking one. "You've always been a mere finger's length away from me, no matter how many lives pass. I've come so close to grasping you this time around and you were nearly lost to me once more. How long must I suffer for my mistake?!"

"I-I don't--" Tsuna blinked in confusion while an insane part of his mind wondered what had happened between them in lives long past.

"You were never meant to enter the lake," Mukuro said with a bowed head. "You were never to walk a Path at all. It was my own naive believe in our superiority that destroyed what we had. It was my mistake that turned you from a Gate-keeper into nothing more than another wretched soul bound to the cycle. I swear, no matter how many lives it takes, I will break you free."

"Muk-uro...?" He asked in shock, blushing over the feeling that he'd just been somehow confessed to but not understanding a word of it. That feeling became certainty when Mukuro grabbed his hand and pulled him back down into his arms. Before he could even yelp at the sudden movement, he found himself frozen under Mukuro's penetrating stare. He found himself blushing once more when the arms around him tightened and pulled him close. Warm lips pressed up against his neck, making him flush unbearably despite himself. "Uh...um...eh..."

"I understand, my dear Mafia Boss," Mukuro whispered pressing his forehead instead of his lips against Tsuna's neck in resignation. "It is not meant to be in this cycle. Until I break you free, you will be unable to--"

Tsuna didn't really understand what made him do it. Maybe it was the sadness, or maybe the heartache, or maybe even the restrained passion in his voice. No matter the reason, Tsuna found himself with his hands on the nape of Mukuro's neck, tilting his head back so that he could gently claim the man's lips with his own. Mukuro's lips parted in surprise and a small smile twitched at the corners before the arms around Tsuna tightened once more. Pressing forward, Mukuro turned the gentle embrace into a passionate one. The illusionist tilted his head to better claim Tsuna's breath until Tsuna felt himself begin to get flush from the heat he could feel coming from the other man. That feeling only deepened when Mukuro finally broke off the kiss in effort to nibble Tsuna's lips and try to reclaim him all over again. With a gasp, Tsuna pulled his head back out of Mukuro's reach, deciding that it had already went farther than he'd intended.

"Oya?" Mukuro mumbled in confusion, sensing both Tsuna's desire to stop along with how he was reacting positively to Mukuro's attentions. "Why did you--"

"I-I thought it was what you needed," Tsuna replied with a blush. "I didn't mean to--" He blushed even harder when Mukuro threw him onto his back and pinned him down in anger.

"What a cruel jest you play, my dear Eve," he growled. "To tempt me with such fruit before claiming that I may not have it. To allow me to taste it before telling me that it is forbidden! You are too cruel."

"F-Forgive me," Tsuna gasped with wide eyes, seeing the intense look of heartache in Mukuro's eyes. "I...I just thought it'd make you happy." Tsuna blinked in surprise and confusion when Mukuro began laughing hysterically at his words.

"No matter the Path," Mukuro chuckled, "You are truly an unique creature. Pity for your enemies. Forgiveness, even. But a moment ago, you were ready to strike me down where I sat. Now you only wish to ease my suffering." Tsuna blushed deeply, unable to deny the accurate summation. He didn't really understand himself at times.

"I don't like seeing people hurting," Tsuna finally whispered. "I-I don't really understand why your hurting, but I felt like it was something I could do something about. E-Even if you betrayed my trust, I can't just leave you alone. I don't know why, but I feel like--" Tsuna broke off in confusion, looking up into Mukuro's unearthly eyes. "I don't know what I feel," he admitted. "I just can't leave you alone."

"I will make you mine again," Mukuro swore softly, making Tsuna's eyes widen. "Let me free of my wretched, earthly prison and I will make you mine."

"E-Eh?"

"I was too greedy before," he replied, staring down at where Tsuna lay pinned beneath him. "To claim one's body is to claim control of one's soul. I was too greedy in my attempt to claim you and destroy the Path that I knew would bring you such pain. Free me and in turn I can break you free of this cycle that holds you prisoner."

"No," Tsuna replied simply. "It might be painful at times, but I don't want to abandon the Path I'm on. I won't free you, Mukuro. You have given me no reason--" Tsuna gasped at the feeling of something digging through his mind a moment before pleasure exploded from every direction. As if every pleasure center in his body was hit at once, he was blinded in sensation and addictive ecstasy. He could faintly feel Mukuro's lips on his skin, adding yet more sensation to that which already overwhelmed his mind.

"Perception can be such a tenuous thing," Mukuro whispered while Tsuna began to moan and writhe under him. "The perception of pleasure more so than any other. Touch without sight. Taste without smell. Mind without body. To make one percieve only the things that would give them delight without any of the unnecessary realities attached to flesh. You remember this, don't you? I let you sample but a moment of this enjoyment and then I stopped your perceptions at your peak. This is but child's play for me, my dear Tsunayoshi. Free me and I can show you even greater indulgences. Free me in the flesh and I--"

"I'm not a toy!" Tsuna cried out. He forced himself not to reach out for the man above him in order to satisfy the need already making his body fevered and flush. Even so, his self-restraint was barely up to the task. The words changed something with his would-be ravisher, though. Ghostly fingers paused in their erotic caressing of his skin. The invisible pressure eased from his pleasure centers. The taste in his mouth faded away, along with the heady smell that had been wafting around him with every breath. Slowly, Mukuro pulled back his mental hands from Tsuna's mind and stopped subverting Tsuna's perceptions completely.

Mukuro rolled off of him without saying a word, but Tsuna merely continued to lay where he was. He was panting and his body felt like it was on fire with need, but he knew that reaching out for gratification would be one of the greatest mistakes he could ever make.

"I'm not just a toy for you to play with," Tsuna repeated while his body screamed its conflicting desires. "When will you learn that, Mukuro? When will you stop thinking of humans as nothing more than playthings?"

"When they give me a reason to," he replied nonchalantly. Irritated at the response, Tsuna clenched his jaw shut along with his eyes in the decision that it was long past time for him to return to his body. They snapped back open and he grew instantly cold. Sitting up, Mukuro raised an eyebrow at his suddenly pale face. "What's wrong?"

"I-I can't feel my anchor," he answered in shock.

"You won't be able to until you do what you've been tasked with," a voice behind them growled. Startled, Tsuna jumped in place and turned to face the owner. Before he could catch sight of him, however, Mukuro put a hand over his eyes to blind him.

"Don't," he gasped before Tsuna could pull them away. The barely restrained panic in Mukuro's voice made him decide not to argue. "What are you doing here, Yas? You should be guarding the Gates right now."

"Delirium returned," Yas replied in his guttural voice. "He took over so I can herd the Mindless Ones into the lake. Fear gets them moving faster than coaxing will. I came because I felt the presence of Havik. So you finally found him, eh? Is he ready to return?"

"He is still bound to the cycle," Mukuro spat. "Even worse, the Vongola have claimed him."

"Ouch," Yas commented. "So, he's a Flame-keeper now. Never would have expected that of him. Not after how he and those other three ran off. Oh, well," Yas added with what sounded to be like a shrug. "That explains why he has the Chain at least. It's about time they sent someone back over to this side. It's been harder and harder to watch over our Gates. The Mindless Ones keep slipping through patrols since there are so few of us left now. You know...you should give up on this one since he's one of the Flame-keepers now and come back--"

"You speak too much," Mukuro snapped. "Go to Hell."

"I was actually thinking of taking a trip back," Yas chuckled. "Since Delirium finally returned, it shouldn't be too problematic if I make it short. Anyway, take Havik up to the Gates to work. I'll have Ish and Kri pull back so that he doesn't have his mind broken. Humans aren't meant to view the denizens of Hell."

"Have everyone pull back," he corrected. "He is not ready to see those who walk in the shadows of this world."

"Alright," Yas agreed with a grumble. "Symphonia is going to be upset that she won't get to--"

"Enough," Mukuro warned. "He is not ready to hear of such things. She'll get to see him once he is free. Until then, just have everyone pull back out of sight."

"Very well," Yas sighed. "Although even you should know that he can no longer return to us. If he is a Flame-keeper now--"

"I do not wish to hear such things from the likes of you!" Mukuro snapped. "Go away from this place, foul creature, before you do damage that can not be repaired."

"Touchy," Yas grumbled. Mukuro sighed after a moment and pulled his hands away from where he'd been covering Tsuna's eyes. Tsuna looked around in curiousity, but their visitor was already gone.

"A single glance and your mind would have been broken," he explained at Tsuna's questioning look. "He walks Hell almost exclusively, so he is but a nightmare incarnate.You no longer have the mental fortitude to withstand his mere aura, let alone looking directly at him."

"I don't understand," Tsuna mumbled, feeling strangely like he'd just listened to a conversation he hadn't supposed to have heard.

"No matter," Mukuro soothed. "Let us go so that you may return as your heart wishes. Prometheus is a fickle creature. He is anchoring your body to life, but refuses to let you return until your task here is complete."

"So I'm not really dead?" Tsuna asked. He sighed in relief and all the tenseness ran out of his body at Mukuro's soft nod. "Thank goodness."

"One day your attachment to the Path of Humans will fade and you will be mine again," Mukuro mumbled so low that Tsuna was almost positive that he'd misheard him. Tsuna looked at him in askance, but Mukuro merely shook his head and grabbed his hand. Before Tsuna could even blush at the sudden touch, the world began to spin. When it finally stopped spinning, he found himself sagged against Mukuro's chest in a different place. Looking around in confusion, he gasped at the sight of the lake glittering in the distance and the bright aura glowing from it that he had always been too close to see before.

"W-What--?"

"Kufufufu," Mukuro chuckled at his wide-eyed wonder. "It's true nature is that of the Essence of Water which cleanses souls intended to reach the other side. It is as much a living creature as anything else in this world and you almost filled it's belly, my dear Mafia Boss."

"Where are we?" He asked curiously, having never left the banks of the lake before.

"Not far from the River Styx," Mukuro chuckled. Tsuna merely looked at him without understanding what was so funny about the statement. Mukuro sighed at his blank expression and once more grabbed his hand. Tsuna clutched it tightly, expecting for the world to begin spinning again. "Oya?" Mukuro paused for a moment with a smile twitching at the corner of his lips and Tsuna blushed in realization that Mukuro had grabbed his hand just to grab his hand...and he'd just squeezed it in return.

"Stop that!" Tsuna squealed, pulling his hand away from the playful creature that Tsuna swore he'd never be able to understand.

"Kufufufu," Mukuro chuckled.

While Tsuna tried to control his blushes, Mukuro led the way through the woods surrounding them and down a path that only he could see. Tsuna followed hesitantly after a moment, remembering that there was something he was supposed to do before he could return. That unnamed task suddenly became clear when they exited the woods into a meadow holding seven large doors inset into the ground like a circular set of trap doors. Six of them held glyphs that Tsuna recognized as ones matching the symbols that appeared in Mukuro's eyes when he used his unearthly skills. The seventh door lay shattered in pieces with tufts of grass sticking up in the cracks, proving that that particular door held nothing behind it and was connected to nowhere. A red chain crawled and writhed across the broken pieces, keeping them from reforming.

But that itself wasn't Tsuna's task. The staffs at the head of each door held the reason for why he was needed. A single chain wrapped around them and bound them together, it's surface dull and washed out compared to the bright red flames covering the broken Gate. There was a faint flicker of Mist Flame crawling in the shadows of the links, but its energies had long been sapped away.

"These are the Hidden Gates," Mukuro explained quietly while Tsuna continued to look over the strange scene. "When Prometheus bound the Path of Essence to the Path of Humans and gave the Flames to humanity, he created the path of death for them, as well. These Gates became forgotten and the Gate-keepers' duties became to simply herd souls into the Lake rather than be indiscriminate judges.

By the time Prometheus finished his work, many were weary of the endless waltz between Paths. The thought of oblivion in order to make everything new became the Path that many chose. Those who refused either stayed on this side of the Lake where we could use the old Gates to continue our diversions between Paths like those of old. On the other side of the Lake, only those of Flame and souls who have been cleansed can pass through and be reincarnated in their ignorant oblivion like they chose.

The Flame-keepers guard that side, as we guard these Gates, in order to keep the Paths balanced against those that would destroy the Cycle that has been created. But those who choose oblivion and to be bound to the cycle increase with each turning. There has become a need for the Flame-keeper's aid to keep those bound by the cycle from finding this place and breaking themselves out unnecessarily. The Mist Chain's power has weakened recently. It must be replaced, else the balance of the Paths will be at risk."

"T-This is what you intend for me...isn't it?" Tsuna asked quietly, walking around the circle of doors at a safe distance. "You want me to go through one of these Gates instead of going through the Lake like everyone else."

"That is indeed my wish," Mukuro admitted softly. Tsuna felt a blush rise into his cheeks when he looked up to find Mukuro staring at him with bedroom eyes. He started to open his mouth to automatically deny the desire to cheat death itself, but Mukuro's small smile made him snap his mouth shut. "Don't be so quick to say no," Mukuro chuckled, already knowing what Tsuna had been about to say. "I will leave you to the Path you have chosen...for now. When your true death comes, perhaps you will not be so quick to deny my offer of freedom."

"I-I'll worry about it when I'm dead," Tsuna murmured, lost in thought. "Is this what Prometheus meant when he said Ari didn't pass through Limbo? Did she go through one of these Gates?"

"Ari?" Mukuro asked with narrowed eyes.

"She corrupted Timoteo," Tsuna replied. "We got into a fight and I freed him. That's why we are both here. Both of us got hurt pretty badly but the point is that Ari supposedly returned without going through Limbo. Or at least that's what Prometheus told me. The only thing I couldn't figure out is how she'd returned so quickly and how she still had her Black Flame. The Black Rings were destroyed, so there was nothing left to give either her corruption or her memories back to her if she'd went through the Lake to be reborn."

"She never came through here," Mukuro replied after a moment of thought. "One of the others would have told me if she had passed through either here or the Lake. The Four Horsemen were an interesting diversion for us to watch for quite some time. I watched particularly because of certain one that... Never-mind. Prometheus was correct in his words. Ari never passed through Limbo. Neither through here or through the Lake."

"Then how...?"

"She must not have died," he answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"That's not possible," Tsuna murmured. "I froze her in Black Ice and the Vendiche--"

"Ari's corruption was known to be the darkest of all," Mukuro interjected. "If you didn't personally oversee her death, don't assume that she couldn't corrupt something already corrupted. She is most likely walking free at this very moment." Mukuro's eyes darkened for a moment as a thought occurred to him. "You say that Timoteo was corrupted?" He asked. He bit his lip at Tsuna's nod and Tsuna once more found himself blushing at Mukuro's reaction in the knowledge of the cause. Namely, the actions that Mukuro had taken where Tsuna's bedroom games were concerned had been on the promise that Timoteo would free him. Hearing that he was corrupted meant that such promises were void. The expression on Mukuro's face said he wished he'd had pushed harder in his attempts to seduce Tsuna into giving him his freedom.

"I-I think I should replace this Mist Chain and head back," Tsuna mumbled before Mukuro could decide to act on those thoughts. He blushed deeply at Mukuro's responding chuckle, but turned his mind to the task he had to complete.