Yamamoto took them to a secret, underground base with a hidden entrance that was like something out of a spy movie, complete with the sliding doors and computerized security and several floors below ground level. The fluorescent lighting – somehow so normal that it just seemed out of place with how extra the whole thing was – of the base might have made things easier to see, but didn't change Tsuna's initial impression of Yamamoto – that some things about him had changed over the years he'd been shot forwards. The eyes that were older, the scar that he was scared to ask about, the weight of the air around him.

The changes did absolutely nothing to stop Gokudera from punching Yamamoto in the face when Reborn – the Reborn from their time who was safe and alive, to Tsuna's crushing relief despite the fake that he first tricked Tsuna with and then the kick that he was greeted with – confirmed what Tsuna had been worrying about all this time.

That ten years later, he was dead. Not of old age or sickness or an accident, but because he was killed.

It was news that made Tsuna freeze, because he wasn't sure how to react in the face of information like that. Death was, well. Death. It was supposed to come when he was an old man, not soon, not like this.

Before he could think too much on that, however, Gokudera sprang into action, enraged, and his first and foremost action was to punch the Yamamoto of the future in his face.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna yelped.

"What the hell were you doing, you bastard?!" roared Gokudera, grabbing Yamamoto by the front of his shirt and pulling him down. "How could you let him die?!"

Yamamoto didn't even struggle, and Tsuna knew he was just punishing himself for something that wasn't his fault. That was why he wasn't doing anything, even as Gokudera reared back to punch him again.

"Stop!" he shouted. Just because Yamamoto wasn't interested in stopping Gokudera from punching him in the face didn't mean Tsuna was just going to watch it happen.

"That's enough, Gokudera." Reborn didn't approve of this either, clearly. "Remember, Gokudera, your future self couldn't stop this either."

And he didn't pull any punches. Tsuna winced at the reminder of his death while Gokudera let Yamamoto's shirtfront slip out of his grip. The fury was sill there, but now it was also directed at his future self. Or maybe that had been the focus from the start and Yamamoto had been an effort to distract himself until Reborn cut through it.

Reborn didn't let them dwell on that too long. His method, unfortunately, was to reveal more facts about the future to them.

"Currently, the Vongola might as well be ninety percent destroyed," he said crisply. "The assault that was started might not have been more than a few days ago, but in that time they struck all the key points and hit us before we could respond."

Tsuna opened his mouth, but shut it before saying anything. He didn't want to ask whether other people in the future had also died, and didn't want to know the answer to the question he was biting down on.

That wasn't enough to stop Reborn, though, who probably read him like an open book. "I-Pin and Lambo went to get Sasagawa Kyoko and Miura Haru under protection. Last we heard from them, they made contact and were extracting them."

Okay, okay, that was good. Tsuna exhaled in relief, because that was at least four names who had ties to his life that were safe. Hopefully.

Reborn's face was grim, however. "The same can't be said for others. Timoteo and his guardians were attacked, and their status is currently unknown. Longchamp's Family and Mochida haven't been in contact since the initial attacks started on our allies, and some have been confirmed killed. Yamamoto's father being one of them."

His breath turned to lead in his lungs. Tsuna stared before he could stop himself at Yamamoto. Ten years older, a scar on his face, in a suit with a sword that he wielded so easily, there was a weight in his eyes and on his shoulder. And the reason for that weight was –

Gokudera grimaced, and tried to change the subject. "What about Tomoe?"

Reborn sighed softly, and the pain in Yamamoto's face deepened, before he smoothed it over.

"We cut ties a while back," he said, voice so even that Tsuna immediately knew that whatever had led to the cut, it wasn't good. "She should be safe, but we don't have the manpower to be sure."

"'Cut ties'?" repeated Gokudera, incredulous.

"She's a civilian, Gokudera," Yamamoto said evenly, but there was a silent warning there, to not cross that line. "She didn't need to be involved."

Gokudera looked like he wanted to say more, but Tsuna poked him before he could. They already heard that Yamamoto had lost his dad. Now was not the time to be asking about Hotaru.

"Now isn't the time to be focused on civilians, Gokudera," said Reborn. "Tsuna, your parents were on vacation when this started. CEDEF has also been struck, and the only ones we were able to get in contact with were Basil and Lal. The rest are out of commission for now."

One restless, sleepless night wasn't enough to orient Tsuna to the news that the ten years in the future was not kind to him.

But he had to focus, if only because he, Gokudera and Yamamoto were to go and pick up Haru and Kyoko and the kids. The kids, who were going to be the same people that had always come to see him from the future with the bazooka.

Back then, it had just been a slight inconvenience or a dash of chaos into what he had always thought was a relatively normal life. Now it all just felt like it had been flipped inside out, and everything Yamamoto told them about the future didn't really connect.

"The Vongola Rings are broken?!" After everything they had to go through to get them? Somehow, that news was shocking enough to cut through the haze around his head, the one that kept him a step removed from reality, as if everything was still a terrible dream.

"Yep," said Yamamoto, too carefree about this. Apparently ten years made one forget what one went through for a trinket. "You made the decision to break them, actually."

Gokudera, who had been about to rage, settled down immediately at that addition, but now Tsuna wanted to sputter, because his future self had clearly made some terrible decisions. Like becoming the Vongola Boss, for one, and also, breaking the damn rings they worked so hard to get. Not that he wouldn't want to get rid of them, but really? Just – breaking them?

Was his future self a five-year-old Lambo?!

"Why did I do that?!" And why did no one stop him? Reborn should have and would have kicked him in the head and shot him, after everything he put Tsuna through to get the rings in the first place. What the hell?

"They were the most well-known rings that can light Flames," said Yamamoto with a shrug. "And given that a lot of people wanted them, you didn't want to fan the fire and make further conflict for the Family."

It was a nice line of reasoning, but Tsuna still couldn't help but think 'I'll break it so no one can get it' was a bit twisted, as far as reasons went.

"I can't believe they were broken," mumbled Gokudera, unable to be angry if it was the him of the future who had made that decision, but in the same shock as Tsuna. Possibly more, if the way he glanced at the chained Storm Ring was any clue.

"You did disagree when Tsuna first brought up the idea," said Yamamoto cheerfully, some of his old self shining through, "but Tsuna was adamant, and you decided to support him."

"Obviously I did," said Gokudera immediately.

There was a wistful twist to the grin Yamamoto shot them, and when Tsuna recognized it as nostalgia, he realized yet again the weight of the ten years that was between them, the ten years that had made a difference between the Yamamoto he knew and the Yamamoto before him now.

The difference that those ten years made was even more stark, when, amidst the sudden explosions that came from attacks, Lambo in his grown-up form that he'd seen before came barreling through.

Lambo should have been familiar at least, with all the time travelling he did with the bazooka, but Tsuna was used to seeing as a little sleeker than his five-year-old counterpart until something happened to reduce him to tears. He was not used to the teenager bleeding from a wound barely staunched running with a woman at his side, or almost lashing out at Tsuna with wild eyes.

"Easy, Lambo," said Yamamoto, taking a step forwards so that he was partly shielding Tsuna with his shoulder, while Tsuna flinched from almost being punched in the face. Lambo breathed hard, but the sight of Yamamoto must have calmed him enough, because his eyes focused.

"Tsuna . . . ?" he said, before his face twisted up.

"Tsuna-san?!"

The 'someone' that Lambo had been running with side-by-side peered over Lambo's shoulders. Her hair was short, in a neat chin-length cut, and taller than the person he knew, but just like how he had recognized Yamamoto despite the growth and change that had happened in the span of the sudden ten years, it only took Tsuna a second to place her.

"Haru?!"

The Haru of ten years in the future was short as an adult – not as tall as Yamamoto or Gokudera had become – but she was taller than Tsuna, and more mature. The same as the others, she had grown as well, and had the changes to prove it.

And like the others, there was a myriad of emotions that washed over her face before she shut it away, as if wiping it off her face like one would wipe down a table after finishing a meal.

"I forgot how much smaller you were, back then," she said quietly, lips turning up in a wistful smile.

Before Tsuna could protest at that unexpected attack to himself – it was ten years, give him a break – Haru shook her head lightly, like she was trying to shake off everything unimportant like droplets of water.

"Lambo and I split from I-Pin and Kyoko," she said to Yamamoto briskly, rattling off words like she was rapping. "We were supposed to be the distraction but the big one went after them anyways, so I-Pin put up a fight and Kyoko did what she was supposed to do and hid herself."

Yamamoto nodded. "I'll back I-Pin. Tsuna, Gokudera, can you go grab Sasagawa? She should be hiding-"

Haru kicked Yamamoto's leg.

"What?" she demanded while Tsuna gaped.

"What?" Yamamoto said. "Also, ow."

Haru rolled her eyes. "Don't 'what' me, Takeshi. You can't make Tsuna get her."

"Um," said Tsuna.

"And we can't send you back to get her either," pointed out Yamamoto, which made Haru scowl. "Hey, I didn't make the rules or make you know important things."

"'Important things'," Haru repeated. "Byakuran's already gotten to my senpais in CEDEF, and nothing I know is more important than the actual boss, who is also the person you are sending to retrieve Kyoko. It makes more sense for me to-"

"Well, would you look at that," came an unfamiliar voice from the sky.

In one fluid motion, Yamamoto turned as one hand raised a box – one of the Box Weapons Lal and Yamamoto had shown them yesterday – and slammed a fist into it. Haru immediately tackled Tsuna and Gokudera, knocking them off balance. While they stumbled and tried to not fall, Haru shoved them behind the nearest corner with all her weight.

"What the-" began Gokudera when an explosion interrupted him. They might have been around the corner, but they still caught sight of the fire and smoke that washed over where they would have been.

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna flailed.

Haru hissed something in Not-Japanese that made Gokudera do a double take at her.

"Alright," she said through gritted teeth. "I just messed up my ankle again, so change of plans. Ha – Gokudera-san, I need you to go get Kyoko. She should be hiding somewhere, and in all honesty she probably won't show herself, so just – hum the Namimori school song-"

"Who are you and what have you done with Miura Haru?" said Gokudera flatly, which, Tsuna kind of understood.

Haru huffed. "It's the only thing I could think of! It's not my fault that you and Kyoko don't really have much in common ten years ago that could carry over to the Kyoko of now, and I can't risk Kyoko trying to brain you or something because she thinks you're a Millefiore in disguise-"

"What," said Tsuna, because what.

Once the wall of water cleared, Takeshi got a better look at the scythe he was blocking with his sword, as well as the wielder. A young man with wild purple hair wearing the black uniform of the Millefiore, red Storm Flames burning at his shoes to keep him defying gravity.

Takeshi swung his blade, and the young man just barely scrambled out of his reach, the only thing cut on him being his uniform. He hid his irritation behind a smooth face.

I-Pin was safe. Well, her limbs were all intact and she wasn't bleeding too seriously and she was able to move well enough that the Millefiore that had been trying to kill her had failed his job, so Takeshi was going to count that as safe for now.

For now.

"Sorry," she apologized, glaring at the younger of the two in the sky. "I tried to lead him away, but . . ."

But the other one had signalled him, and he had come to join in, forcing I-Pin to follow against her original plan.

"No problem," said Takeshi, because it really wasn't a problem. This way he could keep an eye on everyone instead of worrying about whether they were okay out of his sight, or about them being ganged up on by possible reinforcements.

As for their chances of sweeping them all up because they were in the same place, well, he wasn't the Rain Guardian because of nepotism or childhood friendship.

The opponents in the sky apparently thought that this turn of events was favorable for them as well.

"That's Yamamoto Takeshi," said the older one. "One of the Vongola's two best swordsmen."

Ah, infamy. Although he supposed Squalo would be easier to recognize. Long silver hair was usually pretty distinct, and so was his loud voice. In contrast, he did tend to be less notable unless he had a sword and some Rain Flames about him.

As for who was correct on having the upper hand in this current scenario . . .

He might no longer play baseball, but peripheral vision was still something key in his life. Tsuna was no longer there, so Haru must have sent him to get Sasagawa. It was a better call now, with the Millefiore agents here and not after Sasagawa.

But Gokudera was here, and that meant there was still something he could give.

"Watch, Gokudera," he said. There was really little he could give to his friends from ten years ago, except the knowledge of what this future was like. What to expect, what to be wary of, what to work on.

It was really too little for his liking, but it was also the only thing he could give right now.

Haru didn't like it, but when Yamamoto told Gokudera to watch, she made a face and let Tsuna go.

"You especially need to watch," she told Gokudera when he tried to go with Tsuna. "Besides, you need to stay here and back up Takeshi so they don't go after Tsuna-san."

And Gokudera was not going to not listen when Haru brought up Tsuna.

So it was Lambo that went with Tsuna, while Haru and Gokudera stayed.

Lambo led Tsuna away from the fight, but Tsuna couldn't help keep glancing at the wound that Haru had quickly secured.

The Lambo of the future noticed, though, and gave a little smile.

"This is nothing," he said. "I mean, Reborn put me through worse."

Lambo was trying to make it a joke, and Tsuna just wanted to rip out the hair from his own skull in stress because that was not what he wanted to hear right now.

Gokudera had stayed behind despite his reluctance if only because Haru pointed out that someone needed to back up Yamamoto and make sure they didn't follow Tsuna while he retrieved Kyoko.

The warehouses all looked the same, but Lambo apparently found some significance invisible to Tsuna's eyes for two of them in particular.

"Kyoko-nee's probably in one of these two," he said, and then paused.

"So," said Tsuna when Lambo's pause continued instead of breaking. "We should, um, split up?"

Because that would probably be faster, right . . . ? And with crazy flying people flinging explosives around, it was better to find Kyoko sooner than later.

Lambo slowly sucked in a breath. "I mean, yeah . . . Yeah. You know what, Takeshi-nii is going to hold them off and I guess he has Gokudera-san with him, it should be fine."

It sounded like Lambo was trying to convince himself more than explain the line of thinking to Tsuna, which didn't exactly inspire confidence, but the sooner they found Kyoko, the safer she'd be.

"Okay," said Tsuna before either of them spent too much time doubting themselves. "I'll go to the right one, you check out the left. Stay safe."

His words, Tsuna thought, were rather reasonable things to say in this situation, but Lambo looked like he was going to cry at that.

Tsuna gave an awkward fist pump to try and smooth over the moment before he basically flung himself into the right warehouse to get away from all . . . this.

"Kyoko-chan?" he called, as he stepped into the warehouse, and turned left to check the first room-slash-space. What had Haru said – sing the Namimori anthem? But why-

Something swung at his head, and he yelped, leaping backwards. For once in his life Tsuna thanked the heavens that he wasn't very tall, because it didn't take much to dodge the swing.

The person who had tried to hit him with a metal pipe gaped at him, and though she had long hair and almost wild-eyed, it didn't take Tsuna long to recognize her face. He was getting rather used to subtracting the changes of ten years to find familiar faces.

"Kyoko-chan?"

"Tsu-kun?"

Their words crossed, but he still heard what she called him. Not that he had a chance to flail internally over that, though, because she threw her arms around him after tossing the pipe aside.

She's trying to crush me with her arms and the side of her face, Tsuna thought dumbly, and also noticed that the skin of her cheek, pressing against his own, was very soft. Important detail, that.

Except no, odd – impossible – as this situation was, she was, in fact, hugging him very tightly. And judging by the small sounds she was making, crying.

"Kyoko-chan?"

"Tsuna," she choked out. "Oh my god. Oh my god."

He made a sound and then had to try again because that wasn't a word in any sense of the meaning. "Kyoko-chan . . . ?"

"I won't let you get hurt this time, Tsu-kun," she murmured, grip not loosening around him at all. "I won't."

In a way it was a good thing she wasn't letting him go, because his face was really hot right now. With a shaky hand, he patted her back.

"I," he said intelligently, "um."

Kyoko slowly let him go, though she still kept a hold on his shoulders, and she was smiling with watery eyes at him. He squirmed and blushed because she had a similar look that Yamamoto had, back when they were picked up by him. The kind of look that said she was drinking in the sight of him, as if they had been dying of thirst and he was an oasis.

And just like when Yamamoto had first found him, they were still in danger.

"Kyoko-chan," he said urgently, brain working and able to produce more than 'um, good' now that she had let him go. "We need to get out of here."

The awed light in her eyes disappeared, replaced by sharp determination.

"You're right," she said, lowering her voice into a whisper. "Hopefully they don't have any heat vision or sonar, I'm still not good enough to trick machines or use Real Illusions."

Not good enough at what now? Mouth agape, probably doing his best goldfish impression, he looked at her.

"We have to be quiet and sneaky, Tsu-kun." She grabbed his hand and his mind blanked. With a force of will he didn't know he had in him, Tsuna managed to pull himself out of his brain freeze, though it took a lot from him.

She noticed, and gave him an apologetic look. "I'll explain more later. But basically I'm a second-rate illusionist at best, and we should rejoin the others under cover."

Kyoko could use illusions, ten years in the future? Was that why he had almost been brained by a pipe?

But she pressed a finger against her lips and Tsuna focused on being quiet and following where she was taking him, which was where she had been standing when she ambushed him. There, Kyoko waited quietly.

Not a moment later, one of the attackers – the tall, big one who identified Yamamoto – came into the room, slowly searching. His eyes crossed right over where he and Kyoko were standing, and somehow didn't hear the sound of Tsuna's heart being obnoxiously loud with each and every beat. The treacherous thing even sped up, despite Tsuna internally begging his heart to slow down lest the sound give them away.

But Kyoko, still holding his hand, squeezed it once, and when Tsuna looked at her with wide eyes, she kept looking forwards, keeping a close eye on the big man with the burning scythe in his hand searching the room.

There wasn't much to search in the warehouse, and after sorting through what places someone might feasibly be able to hide in violently – by slashing his scythe through boards and debris that might have hidden a body or two – the man turned and began to move on.

He seemed to move too slowly, as if on the lookout for any ambushes, and Tsuna's throat, drier than a desert, throbbed with pain and anxiety. Still, he did eventually reach the entrance, and finally stepped through, all without once noticing them hiding behind Kyoko's illusion.

Kyoko gave him a reassuring smile as he slowly but still quietly released a breath of relief.

And then, with an almost obnoxious exploding sound, she was engulfed in smoke.

"Oh no," said Tsuna.

The smoke cleared, and Tsuna never thought this would happen, but seeing Kyoko's face filled him with utter despair.

"Tsuna-kun?" said the Kyoko who was definitely from his time, looking very confused.

Don't get COVID it sucks guys.

But that's not why I'm late, it's more writer's block. I swear I'm trying to not be repetitive but also make sure enough details are left in so that when reading it progresses smoothly and in an A+B=C kind of way but my mind is like so when are we writing that Sailor Saturn Arc?
My mind is a fucking traitor that doesn't want to cooperate.

TYL Haru has connections to CEDEF and Kyoko can use illusions. Make of that what you will because they're about to have their past selves swapped in and any / all details will be revealed in the next interlude, which will probably take forever at this rate to actually come up.

I like to HC that Kyoko has Mist Flames, but she isn't a very good illusionist. Because KHR is filled with illusionists with so much talent, I figured there can be one character who's not a genius at illusions.

This is because Kyoko's mental state is too stable to be a good illusionist. As mentioned by Kawahira, any illusionist worth their salt needs to be a bit insane, and Kyoko is too sane. It might feel weird because throughout this story Kyoko has always been shown to be insecure, but that very insecurity stems from how she's sane. It's the insane that do stupid things with certainty bordering on madness (see: Kawahira, Mukuro).
What she is good at (if her talent is expounded on and she's taught), however, is breaking illusions. More of a defensive player / debuff removal than an offensive one / debuffer.

In earlier drafts/plans for the story Haru had a prosthetic leg because of previous violence but that felt gratuitous and unnecessary and not enough time to explain to make it fit naturally (and also after seeing patients who didn't have a limb or two I really didn't feel like I could write it well enough) so out that went. She just sprained her ankle (again).

+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+

TL;DR
TYL Haru: *swears in Italian after twisting ankle* *I don't have f***ing time for this MF-ing BS*
Gokudera: who dis

TYL Kyoko: I won't let you get hurt this time, Tsuna
Tsuna: Um.
Irie Shoichi: This feels like a good time to switch the Sasagawa Kyoko of the past and the future.

+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+

Sweet Dreams~