AN:- A gift from me for enduring with my irregular update schedule for months! Another update just a few hours after the previous one! Ain't I amazing *flips hair*

WARNING- mentions of dark themes, blood, gore, violence, angst, mention of character deaths and well, Mukuro's general creepiness and mental insanity. You have been warned.

~O~

"Kaa-san?" Kyoya asked hesitantly as he stepped into Nagi's room, and eyed his little sister who whimpered and moaned in her sleep.

Yuna changed the damp cloth over her daughter's sweating forehead and gave her son a reassuring smile. "Ah Kyo-chan, Na-chan will be fine. Why don't you get some sleep?"

Kyoya pursued his lips and shook his head. Like hell he can sleep without any worries while his sister is suffering!

Yuna seemed to have read his thoughts as she rolled her eyes fondly and waved him in. Kyoya walked over and crawled into the bed and sat near Nagi. He hesitated and asked, "Is it Fiamma overload?"

Yuna's eyes narrowed as she asked, "How do you know?"

Kyoya stared impassively at her, his grey eyes didn't even flicker with any emotion. Yuna stubbornly stared at her son imploringly, but when he didn't give away anything, she sighed wearily. "I don't know how you know that, or why you even know about Flames, but Kyo-chan, I will trust you." Her grey eyes flashed with love and affection as she mumbled, "I hope you can come to me when you're ready."

Kyoya stared at her blankly.

She once again let out another tired sigh as she patted Nagi's hair and said, "Yes, it's fiamma overload. I don't even know why or how her Flames are overloading. I think some external factor is responsible for it." Her fists clenched tightly and her grey eyes flashed with worry. "Her body isn't accustomed to having such large amounts of Mist Flames, which that is why it is forcibly trying to adapt to such huge amounts of Flames to prevent it's self-destruction, which is taking a toll on her." She squeezed her eyes shut as if in pain, and mumbled in a sad tone, "I can't even help my own daughter, how useless am I?"

Kyoya's eyes narrowed and his grey eyes flashed amethyst for a second. He clenched his fists, digging his nails into the palm of his hand. If only his opponent was materialistic, then he could smash them with his tonfas and be done with it. But how can he overcome a sickness? He was a fighter, not a healer. What is the meaning of his power and strength if he can't even help his loved ones?

He was so useless. So utterly useless.

For a carnivore, he was ashamed to have such a herbivorous weakness.

Yuna's phone rang, snapping both mother an child out of their trance. Yuna quickly pulled out her phone and glanced at the caller ID, and answered Kyoya's questioning look. "It's your Tou-san." She then picked up the phone and walked out of the room, so as not to disturb Nagi's fitful sleep.

Kyoya wasn't interested in his herbivorous father's arrival. He was quite displeased with the fact that the man wasn't here when his daughter was severely ill. Granted, Seiji had been in Tokyo for the last few days for the impromptu Clan meeting, and had ditched the meeting to return back home as soon as he heard about Nagi's condition. But well, the point was that he wasn't here, and being busy dealing with the annoying herbivores of their clan was no reason to not be there when your loved ones need you.

Yes, Kyoya knew he was being petty. But so what? He was Hibari Kyoya, he can be petty all he want, and no one can stop him.

(Kyoya remembered in his past life when his mother had been admitted in the hospital for the first time, his father wasn't there. He was busy pleasing those annoying, useless Clan elders while his own wife was in the hospital, wheezing in pain and coughing up blood. He remembered smashing his neighbor's doors at the dead of the night, threatening them to get his mother in the goddamn car and drive them to hospital on that stormy night. He remembered clinging to his mother, reassuring himself that nothing will happen to her, that everything was fine, that she will be fine-

-only to have his wishes shatter like fine glass when the doctor told him the results of the diagnosis. Leukemia. He had said.

And you know what was worse? His fucking father hadn't been there when the doctor informed a ten year old Kyoya that his mother was dying from Blood Cancer.)

Hibari Seiji was a kind, passionate man with strong morals and a high sense of duty, who loved his family to death. But he had just one unfortunate flaw. He is never there when his family needs him the most.

And Kyoya hated him for it.

Nagi walked forwards, her indigo eyes stared dully ahead in a daze –as if they couldn't quite take in her surroundings-

(Gunshots. A mutilated corpse. A cackling laughter.)

She kept walking forward, the soles of her boots made horrible squelching sound as she marched forward on the path filled with-

(Corpses. Mutilated limbs. Blood.)

Her tears were dried long ago. Her throat was hoarse. She had long since exhausted her limit for fear and horror. Now she felt nothing.

(Corpses of people killed by suicide. Rape. Murder)

Her body felt heavier and heavier each step she took forward. But she dared not stop. She didn't know what was at the end of this path filled with this horror- this kind of inhumane place.

(A pile of dead bodies of children lying in a pool of blood.)

But she knew this will end. Soon.

(Greedy people buying human lives. Killing others for their own pleasure. Treating them as slaves.)

Something was waiting for her at the end of this path.

(Branding them as if they were their property.)

No, someone was waiting for her at the end of this path. Someone important.

(Killing them like animals.)

She wanted to meet them. No, she had to meet them.

(Kidnapping young, innocent children. Torturing them. Killing them.)

And that's why, she won't stop. She will endure.

(Experimenting on them.)

That is her resolve.

.

.

.

And suddenly, the darkness was washed away as the world was set on fire that burned with indignant indigo flames.

.

.

.

(And in the distance, the figure of a pre-teen smiled.

Hetero-chromatic eyes –one red and one a darker shade of blue- gleamed and reflected the indigo fire as the pre-teen spoke, "Welcome, Nagi-chan.")

Nagi tilted her head and stared at the boy standing before her. He was a few years older than her, having pale skin –even paler than Onii-sama's, and that's saying something, heterochromatic eyes, and dark blue –indigo?- colored hair that was strangely styled like a pineapple. He was very thin, and looked malnourished. He wore a hospital gown and stood bare feet over the blazing indigo flames, but for some strange reason, they didn't burn him.

"You…." Her eyes flashed in recognition and she stepped back warily, "You're the one I always see in my nightmares."

The boy raised a dark blue brow and chuckled. "Oya, I wasn't aware I was plaguing your dreams. I apologize for making you watch those horrible things, but in my defense, it was out of my control."

Nagi nodded. "I know. But doesn't mean I have to like it, though. " she then narrowed her eyes, "Don't think I'm not aware of what you have been doing all this time."

"Oh?" The boy asked cockily, "And what have I been doing, Nagi-chan?"

Nagi clenched her fists and she said angrily, "Do you think I'm an idiot? Those nightmares… those headaches….. those times when I blank out for even hours and remember nothing about what I have done at that time…. It was all your doing, right?! You somehow possess me, right?" She stared at him warily, "What are you, a ghost? A poltergeist?"

"Kufufufufufufu~" The boy couldn't help but chuckle at her words. "You think I'm a ghost?" He walked towards her and leaned over her, his faces inches from hers. "Are you afraid?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"No." Nagi said resolutely. "I'm not afraid of you."

the boy stared at her in amusement. "How brave of you." he said mockingly as he backed off from her. He didn't seem to believe in her.

Nagi stared at him impassively as the boy walked away from her leisurely. "I'm not lying. I'm really not afraid of you" she spoke. "How can I be afraid of someone who has been hurt so much that he's even afraid to call for help?"

The boy just glanced at her humorously and chuckled. "what pretty words you speak, nagi-chan."

"You should know if it's a lie or not, right, Experiment no. 583978?"

Finally, the indifferent smirk on the boy's face morphed into something else- a look of utter fury and disgust as he hissed under his breath in a tone of utter loathing, "Don't. call. me. that!"

Nagi resisted the urge to flinch as his heterochromatic eyes gave her a glare full of hatred and malice, as she bravely took a step forward and spoke softly. "I don't know why, but I heard your cries. Your pleas. Your cry for help." she tilted her head and asked, "That is why I am here, aren't I? Your fire cried out to mine for help, and that is why I was summoned here. To help you."

the boy didn't speak as the girl walked towards him, and barely flinched when her soft hands grazed his cheek.

"What did they do to you?" She asked sadly, as if feeling his paindespairsadnessmalicehatehatehATEHATE-!

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips as he shoved her away from him, but she quickly grabbed his arm –sensing that if she let him go now, he may never appear before her. He was fleeting, confusing, decieving- just like the Mist. And Nagi understood him well.

After all, she was a Mist too.

The boy frowned and tugged away from her harder. He wanted her to stay away from him. What would she know? After all, she had a loving family –doting parents, a loving brother, an affectionate best-friend, kind friends- what more could she want? She didn't know what it was like to be betrayed by your own parents, to be sold by them to despicable human beings who experimented on children… to be treated like guinea pigs….. To be tortured every day in the name of 'science'….. To live a life even worse than animals….

What would a pampered girl like her know about the hardships he faced every day?

(The indigo fire beneath his feet darkened and raged, as her own pale indigo flames tried to soothe it down. As her fire interacted with his, she could –for some reason- feel what feeling. And suddenly, she understood.)

"I know." She whispered. A sad smile escaped her lips as she mumbled, "I know what it is like to be betrayed by the ones you love…. to be treated like dirt by a so-called family."

Images flashed through his head- of a toddler Nagi being verbally abused for simplest of things by her parents…. of being slapped for even speaking out of turn…. of being forced to do household chores, and even then being scolded when messed up… of being treated like a servant by her own birth parents….

-of being sold by her own parents to a minor Mafia famiglia looking for flame-active kids….. of being imprisoned for weeks with meagre food or water along with other children… of losing hope every single day and feeling utter despair….

And then the image before his eyes changed as another scene flashed in his mind-

"But I also have been lucky enough to be saved by someone." Nagi spoke.

-…..of being saved by a child with dark hair, grey eyes glinting with compassion and bravery, and his violet fire that curled around her in a protective embrace.

"You also know how that feels right?" Nagi said with a small smile on her face. "You have been saved by him too, haven't you?"

the boy's breath hitched as deep grey eyes flashed in his mind and familiar words echoed, penetrating deep in his bones.

.

.

.

"la mia nebbia…. I'll protect you, I promise."

.

.

.

He wasn't supposed to fall for this trick. He is the very incarnation of Mist-he is supposed to deceive others, instead of being deceived by others. But deep, deep down, he knew that no one was deceiving him. The warmth slowly pooling inside him didn't lie.

He knew that he wasn't being deceived. His heart was being stripped bare before this tiny creature, this mere slip of a girl who –for some reason- could understand him much, much better than he could understand himself.

The boy choked out, "How did you know?"

Nagi smiled warmly at him, "Your fire doesn't lie, Mukuro-kun." She gestured to the side, and he stared, startled as his own darker indigo Flames were now mixed with her lighter ones.

Her small, dainty hand, clutched his slightly larger one and she asked, "So, I'll ask again, Mukuro-kun." Her eyes flashed with concern, which only made him feel even warmer. "What did they do to you?"

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips and his heterochromatic eyes momentarily flashed with pain as he spoke. "They killed me." He said bitterly. She gasped. "They killed me, and then brought me to life. Again. Only to kill me, again and again, and again ."

This time, it was the lighter indigo flames that raged.

A boy and a girl sat together, finding solace in a world that blazed with various shades of Indigo Flames. "How could they….?" She whispered, her voice quivering with rage, and pain –for him. "How dare they-!"

The boy with heterochromatic eyes –"Mukuro" the flames seem to whisper in her ear- lightly bumped his shoulder with hers, and said indifferently, "The first time I was killed was about a year ago." Nagi smothered her rage and quietened down as he spoke, feeling that whatever he's telling her is important. "They shot me with a gun. the bullet had clearly pierced through my brain. I thought I would die." Her fingers clutched his sleeves a bit tighter at his words, and his eyes flickered to hers. "But then I found myself before your precious Onii-sama, and he was conversing with me normally, as if he hadn't realized that he wasn't facing his sister anymore. That was the first time I met him."

He wearily stared at the vast sea of indigo flames that blazed around them, and mumbled, "After that, every time I was killed by them, I found myself in your body momentarily, and when my original body recuperated, I would find myself back in my body –floating in that tank with disgusting chemicals. After the third time that happened, I managed to learn how to control and possess you on my own, and after that, I would occasionally switch my conscience with your body –just so I could get away from those monsters."

Nagi shifted her knees closer to her chest, and let her head rest on them. Mukuro continued on blankly, "A few days ago, they injected something in me, and the sensation that followed was similar to the times I had been killed by them." His heterochromatic eyes flashed with loathing as he hissed out, "they've already killed me five times by then, Nagi. Five times. And each time I'm killed, my soul has to pass through literal hell –and do you know what's worse? I remember every. single. moment. of. it." Her fingers clenched tighter into her fist, and she knew that if she dug her nails any deeper into her palm, she might even start bleeding. But did she care? Nope.

"this is the sixth time. they expect me to wake up once again, the bunch of fools." Mukuro sneered, "What would they know of the utter agony I have to go through every single time they kill me and force my soul to remember past lives and atone for sins I've never committed in hell? What would they know of my pain and struggle to defy death and to just keep breathing?! They know nothing!" He took in deep breaths and glanced at Nagi and gestured to their surroundings that were now nothing but a sea of indigo fire –but once was a field of scenes so horrible that would terrify even the most ruthless Mafioso- and he said, "I thought I would die this time. For real. That I would not breathe again, would not wake up- would not even get the chance to enact my revenge. The Sixth path, the Path of Human is the worst kind of hell I could suffer." He shuddered.

"I didn't mean to drag you here." He admitted as he side-stared at her. "For some reason, our Flames are connected, and in desperation, they summoned you here in this hell, with me. I didn't mean to drag you in this mess."

"I'm glad I'm here, Mukuro." Nagi said quietly as she patted his shoulder. "I'm glad, because, at least, now you're not alone."

A lone indigo eye snapped open, and blearily gazed at the white ceiling. The disgusting smell of disinfectant and other chemicals wafted through his nose, reminding him of his current location. The machines attached to his person through various tubes and needles were giveaway too. He is back. back in the lab.

Back with those inhumane scientists who dared to experiment on him….. to murder him again and again for their petty reasons.

He distantly heard those scientists cheer as they took in his conscious state, and discussed and argued about the next step for this experiment. Now, now, he can't just let them carry on with this, can he? they had been generous enough to gift him again and again with death, he should also gift them something in return, right?~

His hoarse throat let out a chuckle as he flushed his system with Flames to put off the effect of the various drugs affecting his body –decieving himself into thinking that his body was perfectly normal, and that he hasn't been drugged for years-and he willed himself to sit up and pulled off the wires and tubes attached to his person.

"What are you doing?" one of the scientists exclaimed.

"Stop him!" another spoke out harshly.

"Kufufufufufu~" he chuckled mockingly. "Now that won't do."

Indigo Flames burned as a trident materialized in is hands, and her voice rang in his mind-

"I promise I'll help you."

He pulled off the bandage wrapped around his right eye, and smirked condescendingly at the scientists as he twirled the trident in his hand and said playfully "I haven't even started playing yet~"

He slammed the trident on the ground, and reality seemed to warp itself as the floor, and the walls, and the ceiling warped, making the scientists –and the guards who had now rushed into the room at the sudden alarm- feel dizzy and unable to stand properly.

Mukuro tsked at the stumbling fools and mumbled, "How disappointing, is that all you've got?" His red eye flashed with kanji of number 'Three' and Mukuro spun his trident. Light indigo Flames flickered over the trident and washed over the room, materializing poisonous snakes and wild dogs as they attacked his opponents, splashing the white pristine walls of the facility with blood.

Mukuro's lips twitched upwards as he unleashed his –and Nagi's- flames and enacted his much awaited vengeance. Only when not a single adult in the facility remained alive that he finally let go of his flames. He flinched as his limbs ached with utter exhaustion, and his body seemed to hurt everywhere. But still a satisfied smile appeared on his lips as he caressed his trident fondly.

Wary footsteps sounded from the hallway, and Mukuro turned curiously towards them, wondering who could it be. His Flames weren't warning him against them, so that means the people approaching him were not threat to him. Besides, even if they were any threat to him, Nagi's Flames –that he had now suppressed into the trident- would definitely deal with it. She was over-protective like that. Her still remembered her words before they parted-

"After all, you're my other half- the other Mist."

That Onii-sama of hers must've rubbed off on her. Tch, what an idiot.

Still, a fond smirk made his way to his lips as he stared curiously at the barely hanging door, and soon enough, two young boys hesitantly walked into the room, eyeing the scene of utter massacre –what with corpses of scientists and guards lying on his feet, and their blood pooling on the floor- with wide eyed disbelief. How adorable~

"Oya, oya, what do we have here~" Mukuro spoke leisurely as he turned to them and smiled creepily, "two lost little lambs?"

He held out his hand to them and purred, "Would you like to come with me to the dark side?" he asked mockingly, "We have cookies~"

A/N:- And... Ladies and Gentleman, this is how a single chapter can destroy the whole cannon into pieces. XD I know, I know, I'm such an awesome author! Bow down before the greatness that is me and my brain! LOL

Ahem, let's get down to business, shall we? So... Yup. Many of you speculated that Mu-kun might have memories of the canon-verse, as well as the future our Kyo-chan is from. Well, that isn't true here. Mu-kun isn't the Mu-kun from Kyoya's past. He doesn't have memories of being Vongola Mist Guardian. he's just like the other chibi-vongola. Since Kyo-chan's actions have knowingly or unknowingly changed many a things till now, it's a given that the relationship between Nagi and Mukuro will obviously change. keep in mind that this Mu-kun hasn't been hardened by Estraneo's experiments, because of that lucky,coincidental (cough,cough) possession of Nagi the first time he was forced to go through the Path of reincarnation, and encountered Kyoya's soft side. After that, he kept dropping in to watch the chibi-Vongola's madness, and got addicted to their kind of craziness. so yup, this Mu-kun isn't gonna be as creepy, elusive and tsundere as canon!Mukuro is. he's gonna be sassy, hilarious, and an utter creepy-ish sis-con pineapple.

P.S. by the way, how did you find Mukuro's classic 'Welcome to the dark side' greeting? Hilarious, isn't it?

P.P.S. Reviews? Anyone? Not even for our creepy, lovable pineapple?