khr ain't mine.

Thanks for the reviews ^^

As for the ratings, I think I'll be keeping it T until or if I decide to be more explicit with the dark themes. Right now, it's all implications- but it might be better that way ;) The story would probably be narration heavy, sorry bout that. It seems like it's the best way I can express what I want to do with this story.

BuryMeDeeper, you predicted a PoV O.O (that's coming up next)

All right, back we go to the story! Hope you like the story, and feel free to post your opinions on it- I'll eventually reply to em (cos PMs seem a bit too privacy breaching- maybe that's the coward in me who's saying that lol) in the author's notes part here

Warning: long chapter

Chapter 6

The entrance to the path of a serial killer

'Maybe it failed because Mochida Kensuke died having a grudge on Tsunayoshi...

I should get the next one to fall in love and accept his next self.' The doll mused at the brink of sunlight.

Yamamoto had left, looking ragged; but Tsuna wanted to focus on more important things.

'The next one should be taken care off without the prefect. I don't know what that guy's thinking.

If the people feel like pigs in a slaughterhouse, they'd rebel and try to break out of his control- even more so, if he's one of the perps.

Maybe... if I reinforce his rule, it'd be a win-win situation...'

his eyes gleamed under the sun, as he thought of the impending school trip- the ticket to freedom that the students achieved for two weeks without the threats of the prefect.

It was advertised to them as "the chance to experience Nature in all its wildness." and "to let us see how it would be like to live without the convenience of modern progress."

He picked up Amore and removed all of her decorations, and marked her forehead with her name. Then he took a glowstick and stuffed it inside her. It glowed in the dark and her name was easily readable and could be the only light source in a dark room.

Tsuna then went and removed more stuffing to create a door like contraption that he could pass a small pipe through for transporting material.

He had finished the preparations for the main event and just in time to leave for school.

When he walked downstairs in uniform, he looked mildly surprised to see Yamamoto at the dining table having a merry chat with his mother. She looked far happier than she ever did with him. It was a perfect picture- Yamamoto Takeshi certainly had his way with people. In fact, if he was the artist, he'd have painted himself out of the picture by now. But obviously, someone didn't have any taste.

The jock's ability to recover instantly from any hardships made the doll feel almost jealous. It was annoying how it felt like it was only him who was stuck deep in a mire.

Even as a doll, he still wanted to search for company- even if he was the most unique- the only living doll the world could offer. At least, if not for company, then maybe it could serve as a test subject to see if the past could only remain as the past.

Maybe then, Tsunayoshi could have the company he wanted- he himself could be a much better company in this form.

Yamamoto's arm slung over the doll's shoulders, breaking him out of his reverie. Two pairs of eyes were on him. His mom's eyes were filled with relief and directed at him. It was something he didn't remember seeing on her.

It was obvious that he wouldn't have recognized it when he was alive. There was no original to compare to. The doll felt like his throat was constricting on him for some reason as rage bubbled into him.

Obviously, it was all phantasmic. Why had his imagination have to compensate for the real thing?

"...Let's head out, Tsuna. Hibari'd have our ass if we reach there late."

Tsuna avoided meeting the worried glance of Yamamoto and reached for the door. He had to ignore these things. There was no point in pondering over ifs and buts. The present and the future was the only thing that mattered for the world.

"Oh right, Tsuna. About that Mountain trip, they say that we can go pick out mushrooms- like Shiitake and the grand prize, the Matsutake mushrooms. Some people even said there might even be truffles.

Rather than the nature trip the teachs' want it to be, most of us are treating it as a gold mine. That is, if we don't mistake and pick the poisonous ones instead, ahahaha.

At least the botany teacher's gonna get a blast from it, regardless of our actual motivations. He even goes all 'Only the ends matter, not the means'. It's almost like the lines movie villains spout, haha.

So, how about it? Wanna team up with me? It'll be real fun!"

Tsuna's eyes glinted as he replied, "...Sure, that sounds interesting."

"Man, they're so right All that glitters is gold." Yamamoto laughed merrily as he butchered a phrase. That saying never stood a chance in the presence of the jock.

Sasagawa Ryohei was running past them, but stopped abruptly when he heard the word team. He enthusiastically said,

"What?! You guys are making the mushroom hunting thing into a team competition?! Count me in! We'll reach for victory!"

"Yeah! The Gold is ours!"

The flash team formation took place near the gates, causing a ruckus that stalled the students enough to miss the last bell.

Hibari looked at them with irritation as they were the sole perpetrators to ruin the one day that the school could have perfect attendance with the pace they were going.

Sensing the bloodlust aimed at them, Yamamoto picked up Tsuna by the collar and dashed like mad to the classroom. Sasagawa got riled up at the advance made by the prefect, thinking it was an impromptu match- becoming an excellent distraction for the deranged bird.

Nedzu started off their homeroom droning on and on about the trip and its potential dangers, instead of bragging about his credentials for once.

"-You people best stay away from the off-limit areas. They've put fences around the cliffs because idiots like you decide that sky diving is the way you want to enter heavens-"

Tsuna peered out of the window to look at an annoyed Hibari that didn't seem to look any satisfied by the person who didn't put much of a fight but was as resilient as a cockroach.

'Well, Sasagawa Ryohei is the closest you can get to a real-life zombie after all.'

"-I don't want any complaints from the local authorities or from the guests regarding you people monkeying around late night, or even doing food fights, or harassing any of the locals. Don't pick any fights either. You're going there as a representative of the school. I don't want a second Mochida Kensuke-"

He then looked across the classroom abruptly when he caught the eye of the prefect.

'That surprised me. I never thought that the guy could get distracted from a fight.'

His eyes wandered over a Hana that was mime-ing the homeroom teacher and then to a giggling Kyoko who was desperately trying to keep a poker face(and failing it badly).

It then met with Takeshi's eyes that looked at him thoughtfully, before turning into crescent moons as he waved over.

"-And for pity's sakes, if you're going around picking up random plants for food from the mountain.

1. We have a well endowed cafeteria open 24/7, so you can damn well use it! 2. At least show it to the botany teacher so that he can tell if it's poisonous or not, and he won't try to take your find for himself... I can't believe that I have to say this explicitly!

This is not even my job..., It's not even in my contract!-"

His eyes looked at his now spotless desk and he wondered why were things so different from what he remembered. Change was something truly difficult to accept. Maybe it was much easier for an actual human- the people around him seem to adapt just fine.

He let the drone of Nedzu become the buzz that surrounded him as he zoned out until the bell rang.

Recess came by, and the brunette left before the jock could catch up to him. He planned on going to the library, which was mostly isolated at this time.

His feet moved towards the botany section as his mind came up with ideas to run side quests when he was in the trip.

The period ended and he realized that he needed to get books on top of his desk, now that people didn't avert their gaze from a crime scene. The pristine wood wasn't a sight appreciated by the teachers.

And it made a good excuse for Yamamoto to head over and share his books with him. He didn't know what was more distracting- the jock's chatter or the scribbles that conquered the text painstakingly made by the authors and the publishers. His eyes twitched at the various beards and mustaches over the ladies, and the detailed makeup on the macho males in history text books; the cartoon flip books at math text books with dramatic emoji near the math figures... There was even stray shakespeare comments and quotes near some of them.

Some of them had comments from the other people Yamamoto had lent the books to. It looked like a tumblr page- it even got its very own peanut gallery.

When he looked twice at Yamamoto, he saw that the other was doing something that looked like a grip exercise. Noticing the questioning look, the other replied,

"Ah, this? I'm working on a training regime right now. I've gotta get much stronger than I am right now."

'Looks like someone is devoted, no, smitten with baseball. Looks like its baseball to Yamamoto, like its dolls to Tsunayoshi.' the thought, strangely enough, made him feel a slight camaraderie with the black haired teen.

'It's much lighter without any books. Might as well keep it this way for a bit...'

A couple of days later, he saw Hibari in the quiet library. Come to think of it, it was the kind of place the guy would visit, given its nature. The chairman's gray eyes fell on the title of the book and Tsuna had an urge to shut it and search for another.

"You don't need to draw the line and define boundaries."

'I'd refrain from asking you for help for investigation of the plants I need to find. I don't want to be completely reliant on you as my one and only source of information. Especially, when I know that you'd betray me instantly for your precious Namimori.'

"You don't need to look at a gift horse by its mouth. At this rate, you're no different from him."

The brunette's eyes narrowed at that. His shoulders withdrew into himself as he became defensive.

"Actually, you don't even have to do this. Why don't you look at what you actually have instead of searching for something new? After all, what's his is yours. You are him after all. Why do you try to separate yourself into separate beings?

It's even more strange, if you're the one he put his everything into. Why can't you do the same? Why can't you accept him?-"

"I can't believe you'd put us together in one box-"

"Then where would he fit?-"

"You should be asking where would I fit-"

"You are his future. You are what he became. Yamamoto is not you. His idea of Tsunayoshi is his own. It's an existence which overlaps with yours, but it doesn't have to be what you think you are.

If what you plan is what you think, you as Sawada Tsunayoshi should do, I'll lend you a hand."

Saying that, the prefect left the upset brunette behind, unbothered by the chaos whipped up by the cloud.

When Tsuna reached the mountain, he brought a doll- Amore and a bunch of miniature dolls, some made of cotton, others made of straw. He wanted to test his theories and he desperately put the words of the prefect out of mind. They were nothing but a hindrance.

He didn't need to carry any of their expectations.

He would be busy either way, since he was the only arbitrator of both of his plans.

In the hustle and bustle of the movements of the students who were rushing to set up base, his eyes tracked the cafeteria ladies who were stacking stuff up. They were preparing for a heavy dinner, knowing that the students would give a preliminary sweep over the grounds they'd be searching for treasure in.

"Tsuna, even you bore your eyes through their skull, dinner will be only later. I've got a snack you can munch on while we set up our room." Yamamoto piped up as he dragged Tsuna's head by his arm. Sasagawa Ryohei was carrying most of their load as a challenge for himself and rocketed towards their room. The three had handed over their names as a team for the trip. Luckily, they had the choice to make that, instead of being paired up by the teachers.

Those groups usually lead into chaos if the people in them didn't get along.

The boxer's speed eventually made one of their baggage fly straight into the brunette's kisser, as he lamented the fact that he let the overgrown kid off easily to do his own things. At least, he didn't feel pain.

"That was an extreme catch, Tsuna! But, doesn't your face hurt?" if Tsuna felt pain, he would probably let him know that he had beaten Hibari's tonfas at something at least.

Yamamoto tried to get some of the luggage from the guy after that, but the boxer was having none of it. So, the brunette grumbled out an excuse for the jock- he didn't need another person who knew he was a doll right now.

"Yamamoto justs wants to have the race to our room on even grounds."- this worked like a charm. But the Kyoko-Hana pair that heard his statement put their luggage in his hand, as Hana piped up,

"Oh is that so, Sawada? In that case, you should take our baggages so that the number is equal for all of you. You're getting no handicap.

I'll let Kyoko's oniichan know about the time you take to reach our room, so that you guys can see who won out of you three."

If Tsuna could frown, he would whine like a dying seal at the prospect of running to their room and running back from there to his actual room...

The brunette did join the two on the mountain walk later on, but he strayed from the group (which was quite the easy task given their nature) and moved towards picking the most dangerous of herbs he could sight. He then crushed them into powder, and slipped into the deserted cafeteria to lace a small vessel filled with food with an handful of the powder and sap.

He then stuck the dolls under the tables, intending on retrieving them later, to erase evidence. At least, these were disposable. He ignored the eyes that he felt were on him during the whole event.

Tsuna reunited with the two teens later who were covered in dirt and grass. Yamamoto had an odd smile as he shoved the basket full of mushrooms in front of him.

"I was lucky to find these many, but it looks like you weren't able to find as many." his voice had an oddly accusatory tone in his words. He continued with that tone seemingly vanishing into thin air,

"Well, at least I found these many."

"Hahaha! Yamamoto! I've got thrice as much as you've got! So I win this round!" the boxer shouted proudly as the two looked at his rainbow-colored harvest and Tsuna wondered how many of them were actually usable.

"You shouldn't have dawdled too much! You could have collected way more that way." he admonished with his loot that could possibly make their botany teacher jealous at the variety he collected. Chances are, there was something rare inside that mini mountain he heaped up.

"Guess I got a bit sidetracked, huh? ahaha."

The cafeteria was filled with hungry little ghouls that were evolved from the teens who spent the entire evening fueled with greed and a sense of adventure — or filled with the unfortunate souls that were dragged along by their friends' hype.

Tsuna easily avoided the spiked meal option and tracked the few who chose that particular dish. If it goes really well; the remaining part of the trip would be too chaotic to continue or maybe, just maybe, they'd continue it to save face.

He saw faces turn slightly into that of discomfort, and thought that it was only a matter of fact. So later into the night, away from prying eyes, he collected the dolls and threw them into a campfire someone from their class lit to 'fit the atmosphere of their camps' and disposed of evidence.

The next day, a furious Nedzu gathered them up, which surprised the brunette.

'I can't believe he would directly address us if something went horribly wrong. Wasn't he the type to shift the blame and try to put dirt all over a bad situation to cover things up?'

"Ok, if the one who put laxatives into yesterday's meal better 'fess up! Else I won't go easy on you if I catch you.

This kind of thing is bad, even if you intended it on being a prank! You hear me!? This kind of stuff is not something to laugh over!" the teacher was red with anger, ready to burst a couple of fuses.

The students looked slightly amused at the daredevil's antics, as Yamamoto whispered into Tsuna's ears,

"It seems like someone could have picked some of the plants from the mountain and mixed it with the food as a practical prank.

It's ok that they seemed to be not poisonous enough to do bad damage, but the botany teacher is freaking out over the possibilities. And Nedzu's caught his paranoia..."

'Oh... That's too bad. I thought those would be effective enough. Looks like it's plan B'

The jock looked straight at the slight sigh that the brunette gave out, but he didn't say anything.

Before he finally decided to follow up his words with something, Sasagawa moved into Yamamoto's line of sight with just fury, as he said,

"Yamamoto, come with me! Let's find the guy who pulled this. What if it was Kyoko and Hanan who ended eating that!

That guy was so not extremely cool! I can't let things be this way, even if Nedzu's fine with letting the guy off with a scolding!" and he dragged the other off with him.

Tsuna smiled slightly in gratefulness at the other's intervention and moved towards the mountain and to a small, unstable cave. He first planted Amore inside the walls and dug a hole to the outside from its cavity. He then placed a wireless audio transmitter in a corner that a person could not find if he just blindly felt around the place. He then took a pickaxe that he packed for the trip and dislodged the rocks at the entrance.

He then made the slope slightly slippery and staked nearby with an audio recording of a wild animal growling.

When he saw a small team of two looking around nervously, he played the recording and rustled the grass. The terrified two split and started running away from the supposed beast.

Tsuna chased the more scared one of the couple from the bushes, leading the other like a pied piper to the slippery slope.

When the other slipped, the impact was enough to send the loose rocks tumbling downwards to seal the frightened teen inside the dark cave with the glowing Amore.

The teen wouldn't destroy the one thing that gave light, even if it was stuck in place. The brunette would even reward him if he treated his new body properly.

If he targeted the female, the people would have made an even bigger fuss than if it was the guy who got lost. If it was the girl, she might have been more susceptible to trusting the doll as the only source of light and survival; and less likely to destroy it. The guy looked and behaved less aggressively, so he felt that he was ok to target, hopefully, his judgement was right.

If not, he would increase the vibration of the transmitter to bury him underground and lure a girl instead, regardless of the consequence.

That day, the adults looked tense as they tried to arrange a search team to find the lost student. The students were relatively unconcerned as they were kept in the dark with their reassurances.

The next day, they were warned to go easy with the exploring and go in groups to prevent more students from getting lost.

Tsuna decided to organize his days for the week to stagger the times for his visit to the lad to feed and provide him drinks, to avoid suspicion. With Yamamoto away on a wild goose chase with Sasagawa-kun, he was free to become as much of a shadow as he pleased.

He placed the closed package of food and water without any labels to associate it with the cafeteria and shoved it through Amore to push them through the cave. This way, with only Amore as the most important source of survival for the boy, the doll would be significant enough to haunt his thoughts...

The brunette heard all the signs of life that the other sported through rasping breaths, curses, screams, whispers, surprised gasps at the food, stomach grumbles and others.

Something made him hesitate a bit hearing those sounds, the sounds that begged for survival. The ones he made, he remembered making...

But he prepared so much for this... How could he just stop now? What about Tsunayoshi?

He couldn't turn tail now, he had to will it through! Either way, this was Tsunayoshi's cowardice, not his. That guy didn't know what was good for him. He knew. That's why he was the Magnum Opus, not his creator!

In the last three days, he heard his victims words and breaths as a whisp of the wind. It seemed like he was staking near the doll- down to his final moments.

But somehow, that was the trigger that made Tsuna's doll joints tremble in intense regret. Would Amore hate him for doing this to him? The boy was her companion in his last moments. Would she feel the despair that he did in that starry night?

But he was as desperate as she would be in this situation. It was something that seemed like a cycle that would perpetuate with new victims and new perpetrators for every loss.

The next day, the search team finally spotted the cave with a dirty doll that did not move and a rotting corpse in the stage of rigor mortis. Tsuna remembered seeing the condition it was due to the damp nature of the cave.

He remembered the shrieks of the curious souls that tailed the team to the cave as they saw nature do its work to integrate the living with itself in the form of the cave's tiny inhabitants.

He remembered the crushed look that Yamamoto sported, the broken look he gave him a beat later.

The students accused the teachers for not bringing Hibari along. They claimed that the prefect would have prevented a tragedy like this and the laxative incident from ever happening. They whispered this amongst themselves, mimicking the thoughts that the teachers themselves had. Despite Hibari's method of handling things, he was good at his job.

This was going just as he intended. He paid Hibari back for his help, and saw how his experiment went this time.

Would he have felt better if the doll was alive from the ordeal?