khr ain't mine.

I guess with the last chapter, the story got quite grim, huh? Well, it ain't over yet ahahaha...

Hope you like the story so far, let me know of your ideas or suggestions or comments on it. It'll be much appreciated hehe.

Ok, let's get on with it- It's show time! (๑✪ᆺ✪๑)

Chapter 7

The raging of a calm storm

Tsuna was quiet among the hustle and bustle created by the excited students who had seen quite the sight during the trip. He looked at Yamamoto who looked slightly lost, but also seemed to be dead set on avoiding meeting his eyes.

His classmates seemed to reach a consensus to visit the Namimori shrine when reaching back to cleanse themselves of whatever haunted their trip to make it go awry like that. At the very least, it could put their mind at ease, since there was nothing else they could do about the situation.

They were not to investigate the scene that seemed like a site for diseases because of the lack of disinfection. They were also put into surveillance under the teachers to remain calm and not kick up a fuss. They were not let in on what the detectives found from the site, instead, they were offered a single explanation-

"It was an accident. The pair was chased by a wild animal and one of them ran into the unstable cave which collapsed on itself. With no food or water, he died of thirst and hunger- with the unhygienic conditions from the cave."

Tsuna had removed any wrappers and retrieved the doll by then. It was somewhat simple since their eyes simply could not leave the desecrate figure alone. The panicking students effectively hogged the attention of the supervisors and gave him space and time to maneuver around.

When the bus stopped in the bus stop, Yamamoto finally looked at the descending Tsuna and spoke, his voice laced with spite-

"Tsuna, you might want to get back to your house instead. If you head over to the shrine, you'd be mistaken as an evil spirit and cleansed by the shrine's deity."

His classmates snickered amongst themselves, easily agreeing to the notion of Tsuna's very existence leading to their misfortune. Well, in a certain sense, they weren't wrong.

Tsuna looked at the figures who looked like they were put in a fisheye lens with how warped they looked, how their warped self seemed to form a rift between them.

He was feeling slightly light-headed from the whole ordeal. It was like reality was laughing at him, Amore feeling heavy in his bag. He felt like if he pushed his hand in that, fur would detach itself from its body, then crawl and wriggle over his skin.

It would turn as sharp as needles and prick his skin, accusing him of treating it worse than Tsunayoshi did, given that they were comrades and soulmates inside that small room.

Tsuna felt that at this moment, he understood why Tsunayoshi felt like the silent dolls were much better company than anything in the world.

There were people who glared at him sharply after Yamamoto's words. It was Mochida Kensuke's best friends- or former best friends. It seemed like the jock's words flipped a switch.

The brunette quietly nodded and left the scene, his footsteps were too brisk for his tastes, too loud for his ears; only adding to the cacophony of human voices. It was all noise, and it made his blood boil making him desperate for more personal space.

Fon sat in the DC committee room, his unimpressed eyes glaring at his nephew. It was an unpleasant surprise to come back to Namimori, only to see that there was a chameleon donning his personal acquaintance's skin; it then proceeded to commit homicide aided by the one person he pegged as a stickler for maintaining peace; and then proceeded to go to a trip without said person- clearly aiming to propagate more chaos.

"This is the calmest I've seen you be in my presence."

Kyoya was sipping tea while sitting lackadaisically on his armchair. Usually, his mere appearance would ruffle his feathers- so much so that his visits to Namimori required him being in disguise at all times- because the disturbed Kyoya had no qualms of letting the other know just how unwelcome his existence was.

"To get straight to the point, you can't just keep indulging that thing. It would only want more.

It's already the shell, a husk of what Tsunayoshi-kun was."

"It has all the functionalities that a human should have, and whatever it lacks is what Tsunayoshi deemed unnecessary for him. Essentially, it was him evolving to a better form, losing his vestigial features.

I see no reason not to let the baby carnivore grow into his new skin."

"Maybe you accept his creation as his new form because it's aligned closer to what you wanted him to do when he was being harassed by those people.

I don't think that this is what Tsunayoshi would have wished for. It's not in his nature."

"That's just what you expect from him. He was far too bruised to heal enough to think of the possibility to take what was rightfully his and teach them to never to mess with him."

"I do not have to be in his mind to understand his actions and feelings. If I had to do just that, people wouldn't even need to communicate- if it was so pointless.

You're just trying to corner him so that he can only take that one path.

You know how dangerous people who belong to the triads are. You even reject me for being a part of that-"

he ignored the growl his nephew made from that and pressed on,

"You can't go back after having blood in your hands. It's not strength to wield power to take someone's life."

"That's rich, coming from you."

"That's why I hope you won't let him have his way. That child chose to be blind to protect himself. Why would you make his first sight a blood bath?"

"That was his decision. I didn't influence him the slightest."

"You might as well, especially since you had the power to stop him in his tracks.

The Tsunayoshi-kun that I know would be far too pained by his actions when it's directed at someone else. He feels like it was him as a doll maker that attracted the fascination of people.

It was just his growth, what he was as a person at that time which brought people close to him. But he thinks that his one identity, discounting his personality or his experiences or his behavior and such was the one solely responsible for the people who were his potential friends.

Even though he could stretch that logic to his beloved dolls- he treated them differently-"

"It sounds like you have a grudge against him."

"I'm just frustrated that things are going this way. What is he to you Kyouya? Your doll to dress up?"

Hibari's eyes glared at him darkly, daring him to add something to that line of thought. Fon sighed, but continued,

"It's fine to give a person you consider freedom to test new things... But shouldn't you also help him out if you think he is straying from his path?

Are you just going to observe? Do you think he'd be fine regardless of whatever he'd try out?

Some choices are nothing but painful. They just lead to misery.

And this is one of them. Think about it a bit, Kyoya."

Fon got up from his seat and left through the window.

Fon, being an expert martial artist saw the Arcobaleno's curse for what it truly was. His cherubic cheeks and now tiny frame gave him the freedom to change his disguise to any form of any height, given his baby figure. His fists and skills were far more powerful than it had previously been.

It was like he doped to receive the level of strength achieved by being the Storm Arcobaleno- his limits were removed.

But, at the same time his strength was broadcasting its magnificent brilliance to the world and he'd have to forcibly seal every single thread that leaked into the world to keep his peace. There was a bunch of tactical advantages that he'd lose for being so overt and showy, like the chance to observe his surroundings without notice, to sneak out of unwanted situations or to not intimidate organizations and individuals so strongly.

You see, even if its flies that circle and swarm around a predator- they can cow a beast by sheer persistence. Or even, if attacked strongly enough, they can make them flee the scene from sheer annoyance. They were small and almost unending in number, difficult to aim at and tiring to eliminate. There were countless strategies that cowards could use against the strong- like stealing kills, retreating and reorganizing, trapping, poisoning and weakening, attacking them when they're defenseless...

Fon was familiar with the tactics that the triads employed against him, and it only grew stronger and more frequent when he became an Arcobaleno.

It needed him to constantly stuff his new power away- power that leaked away in droves. It was power that he felt was the compressed form of what he was capable of in the present and in the far future and it made him feel like it was a tap that was emptying the tank that represented his life.

His hypothesis only actualized a bit later, when the dear companions that accompanied him through the trials saw their beloved Luce succumb to the curse- only for that noose to be passed on to her daughter, Aria.

They had such dark faces on, that Aria could not help but don one of carefreeness to soothe them from the knowledge of their impending doom, and she was on the fast lane.

The six scattered off to search the vast corners of the world to find Checkerface or a cure.

The news made him feel out of sorts enough to seek refuge in Japan, Namimori- home to his nephew, and land of quiet and peace. Maybe that was thanks to his nephew's efforts.

He wore a purple mandarin coat with dark sunglasses around the maneuverable exoskeleton to rest for a while to gather his bearings.

His 'allies' were trying to keep distance from him to avoid making themselves into targets. His proteges, like Ipin, were kept at distance to avoid being caught in the crossfire. His 'family' scorned him for being caught in this sticky situation, and his nephew would definitely not be pleased to find him in Namimori.

The Arcobaleno were off on something that could amount to nothing but a wild goose chase. Maybe it wasn't right for Fon to be this defeatist right off the bat but after Luce's death and Aria's establishment as the new sky Arcobaleno...

He remembered the look of Gamma, the one he gave Aria, the one that showed that he would hang all the stars into the sky for her. The soft huff Aria would give the man back like she didn't know what she would do for the helpless man.

He remembered the hardened look of the hitman, the strongest man he'd ever known, the one that showed that he'd been gritting his teeth to simply accept what would inevitably happen.

He was then snapped out of his memories by eyes that stared right at him. It made sense if the child was wary of the strange man in the depths of an alley.

It was these auburn eyes that seemingly stayed right on his figure for days on end.

Finally, the child did something other than gawk at him. It was the loud sound of footsteps that set the boy to action.

He didn't run away from the strange man, but ran towards him, to his greatest surprise, and hid in his noodle cart- the final accessory to his disguise.

The civilian seemed to be leading a life similar to his very own, as there were children with hateful eyes that scoured the area for his lithe figure before resuming their chase elsewhere.

It seemed like, whether Mafia or civilian, life was the same.

But... why did the child choose to stay under his protection, from the man he kept that kind of gaze on?

The child's auburn eyes peeked up on him from the cart, with a slightly disturbed look. Maybe it was on impulse?

"Uncle... You've got to take better care of your business. If your cart's empty at this time of the day and at this location, you're having surplus demand but not enough supply..." the child solemnly advised him.

It definitely caught him off guard. It seemed that the child was bothered by the lack of noodles in the hiding space, that ultimately helped the boy successfully escape his pursuers.

Then the child walked out from the slot and moved to a partially empty trash can and hopped into it, and then proceeded to topple it to a side and roll away to safety. He had as much subtlety as Reborn had with his more outlandish disguises...

The next day, Fon came back from a small break to the sound of angry children, and the sight of a Sawada Tsunayoshi camping inside his cart with a couple of instant noodles. On the sight of Fon and his calm demeanor, Tsuna offered the man a cup noodle before saying,

"I'll replenish your stock a bit for a short stay here a day." Turns out, Fon had a profession change from a noodle seller to an innkeeper.

Fon obliged to this slightly strange exchange by bringing in Oolong tea canisters to have tea with the noodles with the child. He had to bring cups after that, when he was slightly appalled by the lad's idea of mixing the tea with the noodles for a more convenient way to have a meal. But the idea was good enough for him to sneak in tea with the noodles, not that he'd let the brunette know that.

It was somewhat comforting to know that, even with the way he was, he could still protect something.

He even volunteered to wheel the brunette around to places he wanted, if he'd just give up on rolling around with trash. His nephew was getting riled up from the idea that the thorns on his side stooped to passive attacks like kicking down trashcans to oppose him. Now Fon might have justifiably earned the wrath of the prefect with the path he chose to walk in... but he wouldn't be the one to let the kid know about some of the hobbies that his citizens picked up through living in the town.

When he came back to the town in a year later, he saw that the child stopped by his cart to leave dolls in it as a safe, to be unharmed even if the owner got hurt from the vicious chases in town.

It first made him feel like the brunette didn't trust him anymore to keep him safe, but later he realized that it was because the child trusted him that he left the dolls in his protection. He didn't know which made him more upset.

He left town a lot sooner than his earlier stays. It was definitely because he was getting more busy with his jobs.

The very next year, he had to hurry back to the town. His baby clothes no longer fit him. Things took such a sudden change. Aria had the six meet with her with teary eyes as she told them what happened. Her body donned her relief as she laughed breathily as she told them to not worry anymore. The curse would no longer haunt their thoughts.

He saw the shadowed eyes of the brunette and the stark contrast from his first meeting with the child. Tsunayoshi had very casually lifted the heavy burden that was destined to plague them to their graves.

That was their savior right there, yet why was he so scarred that he chose to run away from Aria. That he'd not risk the chance that she was there to be another source of pain and suffering, that he was so willing to label her as a threat and be done with it.

Tsuna came home, to his room- to the smell of burning plastic. It had been arson, one instigated by Mochida's friends. They had been so tense and winded up by the two incidents, that they beautifully adopted Yamamoto Takeshi's words and decided to purge the source of evil.

Tsuna's meticulous doll collection that the artisan had worked terribly hard on, enough for them to almost seem lifelike- had rubbed them the wrong way.

Not only that, Tsuna had left notes and plans with their names in his desk. They would have definitely seen that with the ransacking that they had done. It was a case of violence begetting violence.

Tsuna stared at the burning dolls in chilling silence. He was as still as a doll.

He simply watched the remaining bits of the dolls complete their combustion- alas, chemistry wouldn't have it. There was ashes that pooled around them. Rubbing alcohol lay open near his bed, his first aid boxes were wide open.

Evidence was against him, and no witnesses could catch the culprits. The brunette had rushed to his house this day, feeling an odd sort of premonition. He wanted to catch the arsonists in the act, to prevent the damage before it was done.

But that feeling of dread hampered his movements, the recent events played back as they taunted him.

Just then, his door opened as the figure of a long braided man with a striking similarity to Hibari entered his room in a quiet manner. The other spoke quietly,

"Torture, brainwashing, and strong suggestions can be used to influence someone to follow any unreasonable request. In fact, you don't even need them to think and incorporate a type of thinking with force to make them learn a behavior.

Money is a great incentive. It's one of the easiest solutions to a problem. Fact is, you could solve many of them by throwing money at them. If that doesn't work, you could simply throw more at them.

Say. Would you like to employ such methods on the children who did this? For people like me on the other side of law... we have quite a lot of ways to get away with such unscrupulous methods.

So, what would you want to do?"

The man didn't even seem to want an answer. It seemed like the darkening aura that radiated from the doll was enough of an answer for him.

Fon quietly made his way to the doll and murmured, "I see."

With that, he gently moved his fingers and grabbed the doll's hand and dislodged it from its socket.

Tsuna jerked his head towards the man in shock. But, undeterred, the martial artist continued to dismantle other parts of the doll's arms.

When the brunette finally came back to his senses, he leaped back and made an attempt to dash towards the doors.

Nana was away for grocery shopping after her meet up with her old friends. No wonder his assailants could be this bold.

The black haired adult simply kicked hard at the boy's knees, cracking the porcelain underneath and sending the doll to the floor.

There was no emotion of anger or rage on the man's face. It was like this was usual business for him.

When Tsuna attempted to speak, Fon's hands dislodged its jaw. He intended on hearing no words from the teen. It was like the practitioner needed no words from him, like as if his very existence was disregarded.

Fon didn't bother looking at the questioning and frantic shivers that the doll gave him, the wordless pleas, accusations, and attempts of reasonings that the doll would try and give him. His eyes looked at the still moving dismantled parts and wondered what he could to make them lose the signs of life.

'This sham has gone long enough. Those children have indulged this imposter in defaming and soiling his existence long enough.

This doll has done enough damage by loitering around and masquerading around as Tsunayoshi-kun. This doll has done quite enough by skinning that child and acting in his stead.'

It was the practiced movements of a professional clean up that reduced the teen to the form that the martial artist thought was best suited for him.

He finally wrapped the parts in foil after coating the parts with resin and preservatives, making Tsuna back to the doll that he truly was. Fon wouldn't give him the right to be the human that the fateful night made him ought to be.

He couldn't swap existences with their and his savior, not if he could have anything to say or do about it. Not if this was what he wanted to do with the child's will, not that the doll could ever fill in his footsteps.

Tsuna could only gaze on the burnt ashes- the remains of their little Eden, their little-boxed garden- the place of such beautifully dear memories. He was not allowed to feel disdain or spite for the perpetrators that ruined and disfigured their paradise.

The ones that claimed to be on his side would not let him take justice for his master, nor let him try to try bring things back to what they were. His master didn't deserve the things they did to him. His master didn't have to sit there and take it like a b*tch. His master was only reduced to taking that kind of action because of how they crippled him to that! Why should he be the one to let things go, if they'd do this if he stopped his rampage?! What more did they want from him?! What more will they need from him before they are satisfied?!

Why did his master say that he was his masterpiece and his ideal? The people around him wouldn't even dignify his words and actions or his existence with even a voice.

Fon looked at the new form of the doll, its most incomplete form yet with a detached look as he closed the lid to the container.

He had to find someone to remove the soul from it, so that he could lay the Tsunayoshi-kun he knew to the rest he deserved. This time, the doll would not be allowed to corrupt his master's life any longer- not in that form. That hate that engulphed the doll would be the ruin of any change that Tsuna would want for himself or for the ones he'd care for. There was only one destination for those who would willingly stain their hands in blood.

This was what he had to learn- enough to be deeply ingrained to his very bones and roots.