I don't own KHR.

"Alright Tsuna, what are you feeling? Jeans, shorts?" Hayato asked when they finally reached the pants section. They didn't even walk that far but because of the pain in Hayato's chest, they were forced to walk so slowly. He really did try to walk quickly but in the end, he just couldn't. Hayato felt guilty that he had forced Tsuna to go so slowly with him but he also felt really grateful that Tsuna faithfully stayed by his side the whole time with no complaint.

Hayato adored his brother.

"Um...shorts I guess?" Tsuna replied as he lightly pursed his lips. Then he looked back to where they had come from. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"Who? Takeshi and Asari?" Hayato questioned.

"Yeah." They had realized that Takeshi had stayed behind with Asari about a quarter of the way to the pants section and frankly, Hayato wasn't worried. He hadn't been spent that much time with Asari but like G and the others, he truly didn't seem like the type to hurt a kid for no good reason.

And also, he knew that Kyoya, Ryohei, and Mukuro were keeping an eye on all of them. Takeshi should be okay.

"I don't know, they're both swordsmen right? Maybe they're geeking about swords or something," Hayato answered as he turned his attention to the nearest rack of shorts.

"So you have friends that are into that sort of weapon?"

In an instant, Hayato's heart leapt to his throat and threatened to jump right out of his mouth. His green eyes went wide with shock and horror as he tried to keep his breathing under control, not with much success. Hayato's hands trembled beyond his self-control as he slowly turned around, hoping, wishing that he was wrong. It has been about two years after all, maybe he was wrong.

But as soon as his eyes landed on her, Hayato knew that he couldn't deny the truth anymore.

Martina had found him.

"I mean, guns in my opinion are just more modern and efficient than old-fashioned swords," Martina explained as she fingered the right edge of her short black leather jacket. Then, with her green eyes full of intense hatred, Martina glared at Hayato, specifically at his chest. "At least...more often than not they are."

"H-Hayato, who is she?" Tsuna stammered with fear as he gripped the back of Hayato's shirt tightly. At the sound of Tsuna's terrified voice, Hayato gritted his teeth and forced his emotions to stay under control.

He had to get Tsuna out of here. He had already put one of his siblings in danger because of his past, there was no way Hayato was going let that happen again.

"C'mon," Hayato began as he reached behind him to grab Tsuna's arm. "We-"

"Are not going anywhere." A startled gasp left Hayato's lips as he turned to his left to see a blond burly man in a black suit staring him down menacingly. Desperate and on the edge of panicking, Hayato swung to his right to see another man in a black suit staring down at him with a sinister leer.

"Face it brat, you're surrounded." Hayato swung around again to see a third man in a black suit with a scar on his cheek right behind Tsuna. "So just accept your fate like a man. It's what you should have done a long time ago."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Martina agreed coldly as she carelessly flipped a strand of her pink hair over her shoulder. Hayato, who had pulled Tsuna close to his chest protectively as soon as he saw the mafioso behind his brother, turned just enough to glare at his stepmother.

He should have accepted death a long time ago? Why...why was it his fate to die?! It wasn't his fault that his father cheated on Martina, he didn't asked to be born, he didn't asked for Martina to be jealous of him! All he wanted was to live happily with his beloved family, with the people who loved him unconditionally despite his faults and his past.

Was...was that too much to ask for?

"Please..." Hayato stopped glaring at Martina to look at his brother, who was only a month or so younger than him, and saw that there were tears in his brother's brown eyes. "Please don't kill my brother."

Even though Hayato knew ever since the orphanage how much Tsuna cared about him, he was still taken aback to hear the desperate plea in his voice.

Tsuna...

"Brother? With this bastard?" Martina repeated in disbelief. Then she laughed heartily, like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard in years. "Oh, honey, you must be a delusional child if you think that something like that could be your brother."

"Tsuna is not delusional!" Hayato defended furiously.

"And Hayato is not a something, he's my brother!" Tsuna exclaimed. "And I don't care what you think, he deserves to live, you miserable, ugly ole witch!"

Tsuna immediately gasped but it was too late to take back his insult. To Hayato's dread, Martina's mocking smile quickly turned into a stone-cold frown.

"You know...I was thinking about letting you live," Martina stated. "But now..."

Martina snapped her fingers.

Before Hayato could react in any shape or form, Tsuna got torned from him by the man with the scarred cheek. Tsuna opened his lips to scream but the scarred man quickly closed his brother's mouth with his hand, effectively muffling his cries. Hayato, chest be darned, instantly reached for him only to be held back by the man with the blonde hair. The nine-year-old tried to fight back but the blasted man was too strong for him, especially with his gunshot wound, which was now aching badly.

But indefinitely more worried about Tsuna than his stupid chest wound, Hayato also tried to scream but before a single high note could leave his lips, the blonde-haired man clasped his big beefy hand over his mouth. Hayato tried to scream anyway, but it came out too muffled. He tried to bite his way out but the mafioso had forcefully closed his mouth so tightly that Hayato couldn't even pry open his lips a millimeter, let alone chomp down his teeth on the man's fingers.

"Mmph!" Tsuna emitted with tears falling down his face and his arms pinned down helplessly by the mafioso's arm. The second mafioso, still leering, then walked towards the two as Tsuna desperately kicked at the scarred mafioso holding him prisoner. But no matter how much and where he kicked, the scarred mafioso didn't budge.

When the leering mafioso stopped and pulled out his gun, Tsuna's brown eyes began to have an amber-gold glint to them. Hayato was instantly reminded of how Giotto's eyes changed into a similiar color when he commanded everyone to be quiet just a few nights ago. As the glint in Tsuna's eyes became more noticable, Hayato felt an inkling of hope.

Is...is Tsuna gonna activate his dying will flames? Is-

Then, in one swift motion, the leering mafioso lifted his gun high in the air before bringing it down right on the back of Tsuna's head. The amber-gold glint immediately died as Tsuna's eyes rolled back into his head before his whole body slumped over the scarred mafioso's arm. Then the mafioso finally let go of Tsuna, causing his brother to crumple to the ground like he was a puppet with broken strings.

"Mhm?" Hayato uttered a poor pronunciation of his brother's name as he stared at the bright red blood dripping down from Tsuna's head unto the blue carpeted floor.

Tsuna didn't reply.

At all.

"MHM!" Hayato screamed into the blonde mafioso's hand as he struggled even harder against the mafioso's arms.

Tsuna got hurt, his brother got hurt, Tsuna might even be...no, don't say it, don't even think it, just get out, get free, make them pay for making his brother bleed, and save Tsuna!

However, despite pushing himself so hard that his chest began to scream in agony, Hayato couldn't get free from the mafioso holding him captive. He couldn't even pry an arm free to reach towards his brother. Even so, he didn't stop struggling and screaming into the mafioso's burly hand.

And Hayato didn't stop till he felt a slim hand on his shoulder.

"You know...it is my policy to not kill children unless it is absoluetely necessary," Martina admitted to him in a low voice. Her words struck such a cord within him that Hayato had to tear his teary green eyes away from Tsuna to glare at his stepmother.

Really? Than what about Bianchi?! How in the world was killing her absoluetely necessary?!

"Don't give me that look," Martina said, her silky voice full of fake patience and sadistic glee. "I am currently holding your...brother's life in my hands after all."

With those words, Hayato went completely still as he instinctively stopped glaring at Martina.

"That's better," Martina practically purred as she gripped Hayato's shoulder so tightly that it hurt. "Now, I want you to come with me. No struggling, no screaming, just complete obedience as we escort you out the back. If you do, I promise that I will spare his life."

Hayato looked back at Tsuna, who was still lying on the floor, unconscious. If Tsuna was conscious, he would have told him no, he would have pleaded with him to not sacrifice himself. If the rest of his family were here, they would have told him the same too.

"You don't want another sibling's blood on your hands do you?"

Hayato's eyes widened as a memory of Bianchi smiling at him as she ruffled his silver hair flashed by in mind.

No...anything but that.

Never again.

So with his green eyes steeled with reluctant and saddened resolve, Hayato exhaled deeply through his nose and nodded.

"Good," Martina replied as she gave Hayato's shoulder another painful squeeze before standing up. "Then let's go. Gabriele, stay here by the unconscious brat and make sure the Vongola don't find him too quickly. Or be on stand by in case Hayato misbehaves, whichever happens."

"Understood," Gabriele accepted with a nod as the burly blond mafioso finally let him go.

"Speaking of which, it's one thing that the storekeepers haven't noticed us," the leering man commented as he walked towards them. "But the Vongola? Aren't they supposed to be the strongest famiglia in the world?"

"Either they really aren't the strongest famiglia in the world," Martina began to explain as she, her mafioso, and Hayato began to walk towards the back of the store. "Or they actually don't care what happens to the brat. I suspect it's both."

Hayato didn't respond, too focused on walking right behind Martina, too focused on resisting the urge to fight back against the blond mafioso's hand against his back, too focused on fighting the temptation to look back at Tsuna.

Because no matter what, Hayato couldn't back down on his word now.

He had finally accepted his fate.

Yeah, this isn't good. Not one little bit.

So what did you guys think of the chapter? Did the characters' actions and motivations make sense? Were there any parts in the chapter that didn't make sense to you? Please leave me your thoughts in a review and I will update next month. Till then, have a good day or night!