Chapter 7
Yin Yang: The saint and the devil
Back to the present,
Tsuna rested in his cage, having been converted from suspicious mafia spy to hopeless experiment subject because of his temper. Yeah, he was stupid saying those stuff...
He even got his neighbor as Rokudo Mukuro as a consequence.
Said Experiment 69 glared across him after hearing all the snark the scientists told the brunette. If you were curious, they basically said that he had got what he wished for since they interpreted Tsuna's threat as a claim for wanting to steal the experiment. If only he hadn't phrased it that way...
Now, the constant cries around the boy didn't let him make clear decisions. It didn't help that the experiments caused bodily harm. Even if Tsuna passed out from pain when it was conducted, it didn't mean wounds disappeared into thin air...
And Rokudo wasn't helping either.
He glared at the brunette and in turn, the irritated brunette glared back.
They were like cats and dogs with how hostile they were to each other.
The night passed and Tsuna slept to the noise of anguish.
The next morning, the cages opened automatically as per schedule and the kids robotically got out of the cage and queued up.
They'd be electrocuted if they didn't. It wasn't the amount to make a person pass out, unfortunately. It was more of painful jolts, like the electrocute pads for CPR.
Tsuna observed his fellow inmates, the day being his 3rd day in captivity. He had been noting down the steps from the experiment chambers (for group experiments) to his cage and the intersections along the path.
So far, it looked like they had no windows to escape from, the vents were too high up to access and there were no remote tools to utilize. The doors were activated by their torturers by their personal card which they hung around their neck (like it was taunting him). Now, if Tsuna was athletic, he could use the bracelets against them by making contact when they pressed the button to control them and electrocute them. But he wasn't, so he couldn't spiderman his way up the vent either, or sneakily move through there even if he could.
But... that didn't mean he gave up.
There were somethings which lead him to believe that he could, in fact, get away from the place.
Now... other than the fact that the brunette felt his wounds sting when he woke up, his life was very peaceful. No one bothered him and no one bullied him. He wasn't teased and he could have food and rest. He was basically useless to the scientists since he shut down when the experiment started. And his body didn't react much to anything like it was living up to his reputation- Dame-Tsuna.
In fact, it was the first time in his life that he was glad to be no good.
But he didn't want to stay there.
When he opened his eyes to look around, he saw only grief and people who wore the same expressions he did. He did want to feel like he belonged... but... he didn't want to wish upon others his pains and troubles.
Tsuna believed that there were two kinds of people. He knew so when he looked at the person his delusion considered family.
There was him, a bullied kid who was knocked down any peg he could stand on and be pushed down life's stairs. The victim who hated himself so much, he can't stand another him.
Then there was Rokudo Mukuro, one of the oldest survivors in the famiglia. The victim who wanted the ones who bullied him to fall down to his level and make others... just like him.
They both shared the same sentiment having known the character of each other. They didn't like each other was the understatement of the century.
'I dunno why 'Tsuna' considered that guy his family of all things. I don't want anything to do with him.'
Nights from then, he woke up with the sounds of cheer to see that Rokudo got his hands at the keys to their cages and had opened the cages of the kids. They were sitting around him, waiting for him to speak.
A mist was in the air and Tsuna understood what transpired.
The pineapple-head had a plan apparently.
"The night's young. So we have enough time to put those Mafia scum in their place... down in hell."
They all cheered in delight at the chance to get away from the hellhole.
Tsuna scoffed at the dramatics. The teen turned his way to the caged cellmate and spoke belittlingly,
"I forgot about you... You're already put in your damn place."
Tsuna rolled his eyes, not willing to rise up to the taunt.
"They took our names, our families, our identity... our soul!"
They cheered loudly,
"The pain we feel... no one can ever understand...
The sheer injustice! Why should we suffer when they can strut around while we bleed and toil. They bathe in our tears. They wring us dry. They give us no grave to rest in. We will not rest in peace.
Why should they live on our deaths?
Why should they live without suffering?"
The children were getting riled up. There was a chatter fluttering in the air. Unrest and anger filled the air-
"Why are we letting them get away with such atrocities?
Why can't we stand up and fight?"
They were yelling and screaming their support. It felt fanatical.
"Let them pay their due price. We will take, take what we want right from their grubby paws.
From this day on, we will start a rebellion."
Tsuna felt skeptical in the beginning, but then as the other put his speech forward... something crackled in him.
"We have lost countless. They gave no way of fighting back. But I can fight for your will."
The room became were hushed silent as they waited with baited breaths and fingers crossed. They hoped desperately that they could be saved.
"With my power, I can obliterate every last member of the Estraneo scum. But that wouldn't be satisfying would it?"
Tsuna felt a wave of blood-lust pass him, like his disdain of the famiglia evolved to something more sinister. And he wasn't alone. Rage filled every corner of the building.
"Wouldn't you like to see them suffer? Writhe in agony?"
The atmosphere was vengeful.
"Sell your soul to me and I'll grant you... your freedom and justice."
They nodded and pumped their fists up eagerly, just itching to do something... anything if it meant changing their predicament. Pleased that he got their absolute cooperation, he smirked, ready to put out his plan forward. The room was chaotic and felt unsettling.
"Then get all the weapons in the building. We'll let them have a taste of their own... 'medicine'.
No one will stop you. We are just in our motives.
The pain we felt, the suffering we underwent.
Why would we want to run away like dogs with their tails tucked away?! They deserve pain!"
They stood up in their excitement and uproared.
"We want to see their blood! We'll strip their organs and give them a painful death.
Do you want to let them go just like that? Don't you want revenge?!
Are you fine with letting them murder your families, your friends?!"
They screamed in outrage.
"Then we'll show them what monsters get when they live in our world. What do trash like that deserve?"
They chanted-
"Murder! Murder! Murder! Murder! Murder!"
Death threats flew in the volatile air.
"Show me what you want to see on their faces"
They bit their skin, tore their bandages, scratched their skin away to show him.
blood.
"Then swear your fealty to me and I shall help you with your justice." he raised his materialized trident towards them.
The crowd scampered forward and dyed the weapon red.
As blood dripped onto the floor, Mukuro looked at them with a sinister smile as their pupils dilated...
and cackled-
"Kufufufufufu
fufufu
Kufufufufu"
Then a voice penetrated through the laughter,
"Are you satisfied with just that? Rokudo Mukuro."
The illusionist turned his head towards the source of the noise, to see glowing amber eyes aimed at him.
"Afraid you'll be lonely in here when the Estraneo die? Don't worry, I'll personally stab you to death tonight."
"I'm afraid. I won't be satisfied with dying here."
"Why? Because it's not the place where you're destined to die?" he mocked.
"I have my own agendas with the Estraneo."
"Oya? You want to lend a hand in murdering these scum?"
"No. If I have my way, They won't be dying anytime soon."
"...
You mafia are all the same. Do you want to use them for your famiglia? After you've personally experienced what we go through...
You want people like them to live?" his eyes glowered with pure hate as he zeroed in on the brunette who was still infuriatingly calm.
"You're quite a saint, aren't you? Rokudo" Tsuna mocked.
He thought the other was playing hero, thinking the other would preach him on the values and virtues of life, say...
He was completely startled, his guard lowered and the illusion he cast around the institution wavered for a few seconds.
Amber glowed as the other spoke to him patronizingly,
"Why would you kill someone and end it that quick when you can make them suffer for life?" he laughed humorously.
"You think that it ends with death? They'd be sent to hell!"
"They're researchers for the mafia. What do you think they'd work for? World peace?"
The other snarled at him-
"Besides, they didn't traffic you guys... they were sent as presents by the other famiglia. That's why the Vindice won't capture these guys... but they'll capture you and the ones still living and you'd be a lab rat with no goal this time."
"I'll just have to take over the Mafia."
"You in what army?"
"I just need a good vessel. I'll take the Vongola Decimo candidate and make the Mafia collapse from the inside-"
"You think that's going to work since the Vongola's the most powerful famiglia in the world right now? Do you even know what's going on right now?" He asked incredulously.
Getting no response and seeing that the illusionist was bristling and defensive, he continued.
"Varia's Xanxus murdered two of the candidates for the succession. No one pinned him down for it yet. And the Nono's too sentimental to accept the truth that his very son was murdering all his others to get into that list... because he was adopted. And guess what, even if he kills every last one of them, he still won't be selected.
If that happens, the next in line would be a civilian. Isn't that ridiculous? That is going to be your vessel." he laughed hysterically.
"You know what that civilian is known for in Namimori? For being absolutely useless and failing horribly to do basic activities. He's called dame-Tsuna, for petes sakes."
"You could be lying like that Mafia scum you are! If things were really that bad, the famiglia would have heard about it!"
The brunette didn't even flinch.
"Use your trident to break the cuffs and I'll show you how."
Feeling suspicious, but curious at the basis for the confidence the brunette showed. He broke the cuffs with the trident, feeling surprised that the other didn't flinch when he did so. The brunette had personally seen him possess the others by taking their blood... so why did that mafia b*tch offer him the power to control his body (practically on a silver plate)
"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, that civilian." he said removing his shirt.
There were scars and bruises littered all over his body, cut scars plentiful in number... a telltale story of what the brunette experienced and what he was trying to pull off.
"If I was killed, Vongola collapses and the Mafia is in chaos. Simple right?
Then someone else will take over and your plan's thwarted."
Seeing the other observe his body seriously, he added.
"I've failed in killing myself, so if you can kill me, please... please do." he choked.
Mukuro's eyes widened in shock at how the boy he thought apathetic, sniveled like a baby.
"I've not been there like you've been... but I want the Mafia destroyed.
I've seen monsters beat a small animal to flesh and bones in my had me as a substitute until they found a bond between me and a cat for petes sakes...They just loved the fact that I was showing emotions like a normal human.
And I'm damn sure there are others who would do the same to see that reaction from me again.
I've seen a kid who's rejected by his family because he didn't approve of his family's experiments. If there's one Estraneo... there are others.
Estraneo is just one of the other Mafia famiglia.
You know what the Vongola was? A Vigilante. Funny, seeing how far they dropped!
And I'm supposed to inherit that blood! Do you know what they do to the boss that betray the famiglia? They break their bones from each part and take the organs, probably to the black market.
They do that over a month. There is no easy death.
I've been drowned by civilians, I don't know what the Mafia would do to me!
The moment you murder the Estraneo, you'll be hauled in by the Vindice. Then what? If you're the worst prisoner they got, you're going to be drowned" he shivered, his body reacted automatically, fueled by his trauma.
"And you're never going to feel sensations from that body of yours." he pointed at the other.
"Your best alternative would be going through one vessel after the other, as they hunt them all down like they hunt ducks for sport.
That would the only way you wouldn't be a vegetable, would be by using another corpse to live on like a parasite."
A trident got lodged right at his neck, he ignored the burning sensation at his throat as he used it to get up, ignoring the burn his sensitive hands felt when they cut against the sharp pain. He continued desperate and hysterical.
"I want to show that these kind of dealings are nothing but injustice. No one should have the power to use beings like wooden toys like it's an experiment to find what tinkers.
How can you force someone to drink the blood of a person you wanted to help out? That person didn't even have a motive to do that! If I knew that something like that was going to happen, I wouldn't have dare helped them! Forced to suck them dry and watch their nails painted blood red like it was some damn show!
This is not the right way to gain power! That's no way to treat a person who looks, breathes, eats, sleeps like you!"
"Then you're saying that we should just say the system is wrong?! That the whole reason why we were stuck in this hell hole for 13 years was just that we were unlucky?!
That we couldn't do anything about it?! That we shouldn't even try?!
There is no peaceful, bloodless solution for it. They should get just what they deserve and feel and live through what we lived through."
They glared at each other, seemingly at a deadlock.
Then Tsuna stepped up with a huff and just when Rokudo could smirk a victory, the brunette shuffled through his hair picking up a coin. (He learned a trick from Lambo)
And said with an absolutely straight face-
"Then let's flip a coin"
"Huh?"
"Well, if you don't want to... you could always kill me to see if I said the truth or not... and get to Vendicare prison. Kind of redundant, isn't it?"
The illusionist glared at him.
"Pick."
'What an idiot! Making me pick with my hyper intuition and all. Well, he doesn't know and I'll keep it that way as far as I can.' Tsuna thought, biting his lips to hide his laugh.
"Heads."
They flipped the coin, only for it to land, obviously on its head.
Mukuro couldn't believe it and when he looked at the other's smug look, he opened his mouth to protest, to claim that the other cheated-
"Are you going to whine, Rokudo?"
And promptly swallowed any words. He smiled a smile, not quite reaching his eyes.
"Of course not, Tsunayoshi-kun. What makes you think that I of all people would say so in a game obviously totally fair, right?" he stressed those words to get a confirmation, kind of like a low-key whine.
"Totally fair, Rokudo."
Stuffing down his amusement at seeing the other twitch, he said seriously.
"I want to sabotage them with libels and malarkey, to be frank."
The other elegantly raised an eyebrow, prompting him to elaborate,
"How much do you know about Estraneo?"
The other snorted. Tsuna tried again.
"Come on, I'm new here. Do you-"
"I know the place inside out. Come on, how long do you think I lived here?"
"Yeah, ok. Then I need to broadcast the experiments to all the mafia famiglias, alter the face images a bit... so that it's hard to find you if they try to drag you back. It'd be like picking a needle from a haystack.
But there should be a resemblance."
Mukuro looked outraged-
"Tsunayoshi-kun, what kind of fool do you think we are? Hmm? One that'd like to sell us all to the black market quickly and easily? "
"You guys probably already had a bid on you anyway. If you put all the information out, they'll be violating customer privacy.
Estraneo's the go-to guy for the Mafia right? Then if we ruin the trust with their clients-"
The illusionist's eyes widened.
"You don't have to baby me. Who do you think I am? We'll get Estraneo as the number one target of their wrath. Chikusa."
The silent teen at his side nodded as he moved forward.
Tsuna looked surprised.
"I wouldn't possess everyone. That would be stupid.
But I needed you to reveal your true nature, in case you thought that you could 1 up me. Not that you can ever do that, in your life." he said looking at him patronizingly.
They were planning on sending the information about the weapons, both biological and technological with the number of orders along with the client list out there for all the famiglia's to see.
Lambo had told Tsuna that not even the Vendice could do anything about the Estraneo since all the famiglias usually did business there. There weren't any other famiglias that serious about human mutilation and mutation.
Verde focused on automation, believing the power of devices rather than people. And the Bovino dealt mostly in explosives and other innovative devices (ten-year bazooka).
(And Talbot was hidden from most of the Mafia. The Millefiore didn't exist, yet... so no Spanner or Shoichi)
The collapse of the Estraneo would bring chaos... that's what Tsuna wanted.
The next day, experiments took place as normal with the scientists unsuspecting of the state of their subjects.
At night, Tsuna's cage was open as the illusionist beckoned (high handedly with his fingers) to sit across him.
Two other people sat in their circle. Everyone else was dazed and the institution was misty.
The brunette took the bread he saved and tossed it to Mukuro who caught it instinctively.
"What's this for?"
"Eat it. You've been using that mist and keeping up with the possessions for two days now. You need the energy.
Anyway, how did the scientists not figure out that you guys messed with the products?"
The two looked at the indigo haired teen in surprise, as the other looked intensely at the brunette for a moment.
The blond haired teen said.
"That's obvious, pyon! We deleted all records of tampering with the machine."
The brunette sighed with relief. He then looked like he was deciding whether to say something or not.
"Oya? It seems like you've got the next part of your plan ready. Do tell us, or else that toss would have been pointless."
"...We could break the glass cover of the biometrics panel or the glass from the emergency exit button and fix it in the recognition panel, so when the torturer-" he shut up, embarrassed he said that out loud, ignoring the snickers and the amused look Rokudo shot at him and continued after a deliberate cough.
"-tries to verify their id, they'd get pricked. They can either think it's static charge or you could stay there and immediately possess them."
The illusionist's brain was ticking and Tsuna did not like the conclusion he was sure the other would come to.
Chikusa piped up instead.
"Mukuro-sama, that Possessed sc*m can gain access to the weapons room and get the weapons and shoot every last one of them. "
The brunette paled.
The illusionist smiled and said,
"It'd be better to let that sc*m possess the others. Then we just have to take control of the lab entirely and show them what they're messing with."
The other two were on board that plan. He saw the brunette searching for something just then and he smiled wider.
"Looking for the coin? Sure, let's play it again, same stakes. But I'll toss it."
'Nice. He hasn't figured it out.'
"Tails."
And it landed on tails. Mukuro and Ken gaped at him.
"I win. Back to the topic... We'll make the guy possess the rest of them and get them to spit out what each door holds. There ought to be a storehouse for the personal details for the employees. Sell their stocks and empty their bank accounts to other sources at once. We'll let the police know."
Mukuro couldn't stop gaping at him.
"Well, yeah... this is like exposing the existence of the Mafia to Italy, maybe the world. But that works out for us. The Mafia will be rushing to cover their asses since Estraneo's pretty much gonna out itself to the world.
Right, we need a reason. Otherwise, the Vindice will hunt us. Let's create a trail that Vindice hardcoded in case of emergencies, and show that the trail got misdirected over time. Is that possible, Kakimoto-san?"
The teen nodded.
"I can make it link with computers, change the timestamps and make it seem that some civilians change the link to a public side and it got exposed.
But I'll need a day minimum."
When the brunette looked at the illusionist worried the other scoffed.
"Please don't insult me like that. I can keep in control of my powers for far longer."
"Then hold on until we find sleeping pills. We'll make enough for two days of sleep." and not noticing Mukuro and the others bristle at the thought of the others ingesting it.
"And give them to most of the scientists. Let's leave one for manipulation and information." he then looked at how tense they were and gave a questioning look.
"We could sell the locations online later after we escape-"
"I'll make a delayed bomb. I checked last night, the Estraneo downloaded their attachments automatically. I could fill the computer downloads with viruses of varying strengths."
Tsuna looked surprised that the black haired teen initiated a conversation on his own remembering that the delusion said the other didn't talk to 'him' unless prompted. He asked instead of thinking on it.
"You won't be coding them all right?"
Ken replied angrily.
"Kaki-p keeps them on the computer already, pyon! We needed information, so he got better at cracking the computer and hiding files. We just need to uncover them. Stop worrying so much, pyon!"
"Hmm... Ok then. You could do one thing, you could create a fake account and slowly transfer the money from other dummies like you could keep one or two illegal accounts and use it to fund yourselves if you're going to travel from there to a place you want to live.
You guys could slowly get into civilian life. Could be more peaceful."
Looking at them stare at him, he hastily said.
"A-Ah, the account may have Mafia links, but you guys deserve it more than they do. So you can, if you want to, use them to do whatever you want.
You'll be free to do that then.
Yeah, but a civilian's life might not be bliss... take it from me."
Ken started laughing then and the brunette averted his face to avoid showing the blush sporting in his cheek.
'They definitely think I'm a softy now.'
"You could also leak the locations of their home and their family. You can choose what to do because you've been more personally affected than anyone else, so I can't force you to accept my choices here."
Chikusa looked at him and said,
"They'd be found by the Mafia either way when we do those."
"Yeah, but you can choose whether you want to do that or you want the Mafia to do that."
Mukuro noted amusedly.
"You know, for saying that the system has to be changed, you're the one, in the end, making the more extreme decision."
Tsuna looked at him sardonically.
"That's why I said you were an angel, Rokudo-san. Estraneo can be put up as an example for the future famiglias if they went too far. So that's why I thought of this."
In the next few days, the plan had been put to motion and easily executed.
Mukuro had looked as refreshing and energetic (throwing cynical and sassy remarks as usual) as he usually was and Tsuna ignored all protests as he gave him extra bread and food to eat, claiming that he hadn't felt hungry.
Tsuna grimaced as he entered one room, there were corpses everywhere. Mukuro had tagged along with him claiming that he was bored and everything else was finished.
"We've already evacuated the rest of them you know and scrambled more images with confusing data about us, they'd probably ignore us if they see us thinking that the Estraneo was hacked by desperate famiglia.
Those stupid Mafia will never discuss it in detail since it would confirm a lot of plans."
Tsuna grunted as he approached the fresher corpses and brought them down.
"So why are you still here? We'll be leaving. Don't you want to go back to Japan?"
Tsuna looked at him in shock.
"You forget that I knew about you from the files after those sc*m were screeching at you."
He nodded, chastising himself for being so distracted he forgot that the other searched him up when the 'researchers' were gloating to him.
"Yeah, I remember now. Sorry, it's just that I have some last minute preparations. I'll have to mutilate these and lay them around the base and make sure the floors are soaked with a lot of blood."
Mukuro scoffed.
"With you looking that pale? I don't think you can do that."
"I have to. Or the Vindice will figure it out."
"Let them. They'll turn a blind eye to it."
"The Vindice?!"
"Idiota, you forget that they couldn't capture them because it had a lot of strings. Now they're all cut loose."
"Ah... yeah. But what if?"
"There won't be any proof tying us down to here. We're already being taken down from the black market and the files here are burnt.
Kufufu...We can be the needles in the haystack.
Oh right. Let's make one last bet, Will we go hunt down every Mafia family or take a little vacation and spend the useless piles of paper in our accounts?
I call tails."
He said as he flipped the coin towards Tsuna.
"Kufufu. A vacation it is."
Tsuna looked surprised at the coin which showed a tails
'Why he... figured it all out... then wait, what-?'
He whipped his face towards the illusionist who was smiling a bright smile. The brunette relaxed and smiled back cheery after the two week ordeal.
"Besides... the Mafia have other problems."
The illusionist turned and moved ahead saying,
"The Vongola's Xanxus killed the other two. He's been put on trial under the charge of getting rid of the only candidates for succession."
Preview:
The teen huffed a cigarette as he looked the moping brunette in front of him
"I could get you a ticket back to Japan without 'em tracking you if you left that topic alone"
A/N:
There are two kinds of justice being talked here
retributive justice and restorative justice
Retributive justice is basically an eye for an eye. If a person does a crime, then they have to suffer the same pain the victim went through, to be called even. Mukuro was advocating this
Restorative justice is one where the crime doer would be forgiven but has to atone for their crimes in some way or the crime is the focus, not the criminal. Tsuna was advocating this in the bigger picture, he was letting the 'researchers' live and forced the Mafia to prevent such power hoarding and also forced them to change their sources, it won't solve the problem but it could let the Vendice regulate their trades better
Let's put a quick question for fun:
How do you think Rokudo knew about the Vongola at the end? Normally this kind of thing would be kept hush hush