l'usurpatore

A/N: I apologize for the much delayed update. Yours truly just came back from a loooong vacation in a place where internet connection doesn't exist. Thankfully there's electricity so I was still able to continue my story in offline mode. I just arrived 5 hours ago and still have jetlag and feeling dizzy but I want to update ASAP, so here it is. And now that I'm back, please enjoy.


"Ready?" Gokudera's voice echoed inside the large training room. All the Vongola guardians formed a circle around a small table where a single box weapon is. 24 hours after their meeting, Hibari was able to find 3 box weapons and immediately sent it to Talbot. The old blacksmith was able to finish his part by the next day. And because of the determination of the Vongola technician and inventor to create the gears for the guardians to use as soon as possible, they were able to finish it within 3 days. And now, the same people who were present on the meeting few days ago and a little addition were once again gathered in one place. All of them felt anxious of the outcome of their plan, and each of them silently prayed for success.

Yamamoto blinked his eyes and wiped the tears forming at the corner. He has never used a contact lens before and is quite uncomfortable now that he is using one for the very first time. But the Rain guardian just chose to be silent about it. "I don't care what happens to my eyes, as long as we can revive Tsuna…"

"I'm ready, and I think everyone else as well," Mukuro answered and the rest of Vongola guardians voiced or hummed their confirmation as well.

"Alright everyone, start releasing your dying will flames at the lowest level possible," Spanner instructed, his eyes focused on the three monitors placed at the corner of the room.

The room was filled with various shades of light when the Vongola gears ignited.

"Lambo! Ryohei! HIbari! You're flame output is too high. Try to lower it down!" Soichi warned through their headphones.

"I'm trying!" Lambo yelled back.

Reborn gave out a small sigh of frustration. "I've expected things to be difficult for those three. Lambo is too young and inexperienced in controlling his flames. Ryohei was always releasing dying will flames and was totally unaware of how to control it. And obviously, Hibari's flame was too strong."

"This is extremely difficult, but I won't give up!"

Hibari closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Holding back his dying will flames was a feat he had never done before. It's totally against his nature since he is used to taking control of things by force. A strong and violent force to be exact. But now…."If I have to go against my nature, so be it. I'll crush my whole being for you, Tsunayoshi…"


Dino's face fell as he watched the guardians struggle to harmonize their dying will flames. He glanced at his wristwatch and noticed that thirty minutes had passed when they started igniting their flames. The Cavallone boss knew that it's very exhausting. Releasing one's dying will flames continuously and for a long duration takes a toll on their body.

Tsubasa observed this as well. Lambo was already gasping for breath. Gokudera, Yamamoto and Mukuro were sweating profusely. Hibari and Ryohei seemed fine but if you look closely, there's a slight tremors on their body.

Seeing that there won't be a great development, Byakuran fled the scene and went back to where Tsunayoshi is.

"That's enough. You can stop your dying will flames now," Shamal ordered while monitoring their vitals and other parameters concerning their health.

Gokudera outright protested. "Not once have we reached a stage of harmony! We should continue until we learn how to control our dying will flames in sync."

The others seem to agree with Gokudera on this. No Vongola guardians had put off their flames.

Tsubasa intervened this time. "Take a 15 minute break then you can continue. I don't want you depleting your dying will flames on the first day."

They seem to see the brunet's point, and reluctantly turned off their dying will flames. Lambo immediately collapsed on the floor.

"Lambo!" Chrome rushed to his side along with Shamal.

"I-I'm fine. Y-you just see. After fifteen m-minutes, I'll be b-back to full force again…"the Lightning guardian assured in between his heavy breathing.

Tsubasa quickly assessed the guardian's condition and can't help but feel irritated. At this rate, it would take them a while just to control their flames, and even more time will be consumed for them to fine tune it to reach synchronization. Noticing that his phone was vibrating, Tsubasa brought it out to answer the call.

"Yes Byakuran?"

"The ice was melting again,"

The brunet tightened his grip on the phone. "I'll go there right away."

"What happened?" Reborn asked.

"It melted once again," Tsubasa replied stiffly.

"Again?! That would make it twice for this day!" Yamamoto exclaimed in horror.

"I better go with you and give Sawada more flames," Ryohei got up from where he was sitting, not minding that he was extremely tired.

"No, you stay here Ryohei. I'll go there instead," volunteered Reborn.

And the two went out with the eyes of the remaining people on the room following them until the door closed. A brief silence filled the room as each was filled with worry for their boss, and was abruptly broken by Lambo's sobbing.

"I can't wait for fifteen minutes. Everyone, please! Let's go back to training after five minutes instead!" the youngest Vongola guardian pleaded.

"Of course! This is no time to slack off," Gokudera agreed with vigor.

"I don't even need those five minutes. I could go on without taking breaks," Mukuro added smugly.

"Show off," Hibari grumbled.

"I hear that, skylark,"

"Guys, guys, let's get along now shall we?" Yamamoto placated the two.

"No," Hibari and Mukuro answered in chorus.

Talbot coughed a little to draw attention to him. "Unfortunately, I think you have to work on that aspect as well. You'll never achieve harmony of your dying will flames if there's a discord among you."

Nobody dared to refute what Talbot said and just keep their silence.

"I got an idea," Spanner brought up. "Why don't you try holding each other's hand? Maybe that way, you'll be sensitive to each one's dying will flames, making it much easier for you to harmonize."

Soichi nodded. "That's a good plan, Spanner," he paused and quickly made an input on the computer. "This will be your arrangement. Lambo should be in between Yamamoto and Gokudera so he won't be overwhelmed. Ryohei should be in between Yamamoto and Hibari since he could take the strong force of Hibari's dying will flames. Mukuro, you will be between Hibari and Gokudera for the same reason as Ryohei."

The other guardians looked at the Mist and Cloud in uncertainty. Hibari can't even stand the illusionist being in the same room as him, how much more holding his hand? They watched nervously when Hibari slowly raised his right hand.

"What are you waiting for, pineapple herbivore?" Hibari asked, much to the surprise of everyone. Even Mukuro was taken aback by the Cloud guardian's behavior and did not even mind that he was called pineapple. He eyed the outstretched hands skeptically for a brief second and decided to just take it. The rest observing the scene had a look of disbelief on their faces.

"He is really throwing everything so we could save Tsunayoshi. I did not expect his feelings to be this deep. As if he…" Mukuro chose not to continue his line of thoughts. But a growing suspicion was formed in his mind.

Following the example of two strongest guardian of the tenth generation of Vongola, the rest wasted no time and joined hands as well. As usual, they formed a circle surrounding the box weapon.


"That should do it," Tsubasa shifted from his Hyper Dying Will Mode once he was done reinforcing the ice on Tsuna. But he did not leave. He stayed facing his twin with sorrowful eyes.

"Please, Tsunayoshi. If you can hear me, please don't try to melt the ice anymore. Save your dying will flames, and try to live. All of us are working hard to bring you back. Please give us a chance to apologize for what we have done. As for me, I will not dare ask for your forgiveness. Just…please, just live!" Tsubasa did not bother to hide the tears falling on his face. Byakuran and the rest who were present averted their eyes from the scene, thinking it rude to stare at Tsubasa's moment of anguish. The brunet placed his hands on the ice and brought his face closer, trying to see his twin clearly and silently wishing he could see a barest sign of life. He almost jumped back when he found himself staring directly at brown eyes, only to discover that it was only his reflection that he was seeing.

Tsubasa continued staring at his reflection which superimposed to Tsunayoshi's sleeping face. He never realized that many minutes had already passed and still continued watching his reflection.

Byakuran was bothered by Tsubasa's peculiar behavior. He silently observed the acting Decimo and decided to watch him more closely from now on. He just hoped that the little doubt on his head will not become more concrete.

Despite everything that Tsubasa had done, Byakuran doesn't wish to see him lose his sanity.


Those watching the Vongola guardians were startled when just a few minutes after they lighted their dying will flames, they suddenly jerked and let go of each other's hand as if scalded.

"What's the matter?" Spanner asked.

"I-I don't know but it's like I can hear all my nee-san's thoughts," Lambo replied.

"I felt so…exposed," Gokudera added.

"I can feel other's emotion at that same moment, when we were holding hands and used our dying will flames," Yamamoto answered in daze.

"Does this mean that as we try to harmonize, all our thoughts and feeling will be open for everyone to see?" Mukuro asked with a frown.

"That might be true. Your senses was already heightened because of your dying will flames, so it's possible that as you work to harmonize your flames, even your most private thought in that moment will be sensed by others as well." Talbot supplied.

"But that was so close," Soichi interrupted. "A little bit more and you could have reached the stage of harmony."

"I know it would be very uncomfortable for all of you but can you please endure it?" Dino begged, ready to even fall on his knees if needed.

The guardians exchanged look with each other.

Ryohei decided to speak first. "I don't care. I have nothing to be ashamed of if it's only you guys who will see my innermost thoughts,"

"You'll see nothing but my regret as a failure of a right hand man to Judaime, you don't even need harmonization to know that," Gokudera bitterly said.

"You're welcome to explore my mind and heart," Yamamoto was nonchalant on the other hand.

"It was me who always invades people's mind. I think it's time for a change, isn't it dear Chrome?"

"Yes, Mukuro-sama!" Chrome nodded eagerly.

"You don't even need to ask, Dino-nii. I'll do anything for Tsuna-nii,"

The blond man smiled at the teen, "Thank you, Lambo," he turned his attention to the still silent Cloud guardian. "How about you, Kyoya?"

It took a while for Hibari to answer, but when he did, everyone was curious.

"Don't tell Sawada Tsunayoshi anything."

"What do you mean Kyoya-nii?"

"It means that whatever you learned from him, you should not tell Judaime," Gokudera explained. Although everyone was itching to ask why, they did not voice it out. They will soon find out anyway.


Once again, the Vongola guardians tried. This time around, everything went smoothly. And as their dying will flames became close to harmonization, their private thoughts and emotions was conveyed to all of them. Indeed, Gokudera was filled with guilt and regret for not being able to fulfill his role as Tsuna's right hand man, as a guardian, and most especially, as a friend. It became easier for them to reach the same level of dying will flames because their feelings were similar to Gokudera's. And suddenly, Hibari's emotion washed over them.

Ffor some unexplainable reason, they felt suffocated and an even heavier, unknown feeling pervaded their senses.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for not believing in you. I'm sorry for all the things I've done…."

The apologetic thoughts made the rest of the guardians stunned. Never in their wildest imagination that they see Hibari like this. He was always so strong and self-righteous. Even on circumstances that the ex-prefect was wrong, he made it seem right by instilling fear and violence. Not once did they saw him being sorry for whatever he had done except now.

The guardians were able to glimpse a scene where Tsunayoshi was inside the conference room with Hibari but was cut short when someone else's thoughts and emotions came in.

"Look, Soichi! Their flames started to merge and turn to an orange color!" Spanner excitedly point out. The red-head smiled at their development and checked the monitors. True enough, their harmonization level was at 99%.

"Good work guys! A little bit more and you'll reach 100% harmonization," Soichi informed.

A few minutes passed and the flames became even more orange, it was a sight to behold that the guardians were enveloped in sky flame rather than their individual ones.

"100%! Great! Now, slowly inject your flames to the box weapon," Spanner instructed.

The sky flame surrounding the guardians swirled until it resembles a cyclone. After a while, it formed a tail and it slowly descended to the box weapon.

They never expected what happened next.

As soon as the sky flames touched the box weapon, a bright light burst out of it and Tsunayoshi's image emerged. Everyone was elated of their success when suddenly, the image exploded, along with the box weapon. It scattered on every direction, wounding everyone in the room. At the last minute, the guardian let go of their intertwined hands to cover themselves, preventing the small pieces of the box weapon from reaching their eyes.

"Good thing there's two more remaining box weapons here," said Talbot in the middle of silence while everyone was in state of surprise. "Would you like to use it?"

"I-I'll go to the wash room first. E-excuse me," Gokudera hastily left.

"I'll go get a drink," Ryohei offered in an unusual quite tone. He left after Gokudera.

Yamamoto watched the sun guardian's retreating back. Right after, he sat on the floor, pulled his knees together with his arms around it and hid his face. The shaking of his shoulder is a dead give-away though.

Lambo went to Yamamoto's side and embraced the older man. Both of them were crying now.

"I'm afraid we have to move the next training this afternoon," Mukuro said in a hushed tone so that only him and the two Vongola inventors could hear.

Soichi sighed with frustration. Just when they thought that everything's going well. "I'll check again the data and figure out why the box weapon exploded even though it's a sky flame that was injected. Just inform me of the time the training will resume."

Talbot stood up from his chair, his eyes following Hibari who was walking out of the training room. "I should go ahead as well. I'm sure the Cloud guardian is on his way now to search for more box weapons. Unfortunately, he must search as much as he can if the boxes continue exploding everytime you train."

Mukuro looked up to see Hibari's back before the door closed. A look of pity crossed his face. During the training, even though all of them got a glimpse of each one's inner turmoil, things were different to Mukuro. He was able to delve deeper into Hibari's heart and mind even though he did not meant to. Maybe because he was directly in contact with the Cloud guardian or maybe because probing mind was his forte. Whichever it is, the Mist guardian was greatly surprised by what he has discovered. The most private moment of the Cloud guardian was revealed to him.

Hibari claimed the Decimo's body in two circumstances. And the second one was done out of anger. A misplaced anger on his opinion. He never expected it was Hibari who violated Tsuna inside the conference room. To think that they pushed him out of the Vongola castle because of that embarrassing scene inside the conference room when all along, it was Hibari's doing. And the conversation which transpired before that made Mukuro realize something and made his guilt even greater.

"Hey, Hibari-san, the truth is, I'm Tsunayoshi,"

"The one who was with you for six years was Tsubasa, my twin,"

The person inside the conference room was not Rez anymore. It was Tsunayoshi. Mukuro was not sure how but it seems that at that time, Tsunayoshi got his memories back.

It was Tsunayoshi that they turned deaf ears even though he was speaking the truth during their confrontational meeting.

It was Tsunayoshi that they kicked out in the pouring rain.

It was Tsunayoshi that they attacked without holding back in Death Mountain.

And not once did he attempt to defend himself or even fight back…

"…Mukuro-sama!" Chrome shook the unresponsive Mist guardian forcefully. "Are you alright?"

Mukuro blinked and was brought out of his lapse. He gazed in daze to Chromes worried face.

"Chrome? I'm sorry , I'm just deep in thought,"

"So I noticed," Chrome had a feeling that Mukuro won't tell anything even if she asked.

"Thank you for not asking, my dear Chrome. But it's better if you will not know. I'll just take this burden alone,"

Chrome was reduced to tears but nodded anyway. She looked around the room and noticed that it was only them plus Yamamoto and Lambo that was left. The two was still crying but a lot calmer than before. And she can't blame them. When the box weapon and Tsuna's image exploded in front of their eyes, it was like a nightmare was replayed. They were brought back to that time when their combined dying will flames hit Tsunayoshi, and the appearance of his mutilated body afterwards…

"No, please, no! I don't want to remember that scene!" Chrome shook her head violently as if doing so would make her nightmare go away.

If only it was that easy.


Things went downhill thereafter. Every after training, the Vongola guardian gets more and more depressed. Everytime the box weapon explodes; the terrifying memory of them attacking Tsunayoshi comes rushing back to them. Eye bags and dark circles on their eyes screamed of sleepless nights. Their haggard appearance was the result of balancing their training and completing their missions for Vongola. And the ice wrapping Tsuna was melting less frequently than before, making Tsubasa afraid that his twin's dying will flame was nearly reaching the limit.

The Foundation was pushed to the limit with Hibari's almost impossible demand to search for at least 10 box weapons every day.

Byakuran was growing worried as well. Tsubasa was pretty normal when in front of people, but on closer look, his gaze seems to linger on anything that had his reflection. If he continues to act like this or if it gets even worse, the Giglio Nero boss will make sure that Tsuna's twin doesn't end up like his future self.

He knows too well what it's like to lose your mind with so much power at your disposal. And he's pretty sure that Tsubasa will tear the world apart without hesitation for Tsunayoshi.

A month passed by and no one had smiled since then.