Chapter 26: Child of the Sky

"Good morning," sang a voice, several pitches higher than its original tone.

"Morni..ng…hnngh," Tsuna dug her face further into her pillow, then lazily flipped over. Her arms felt around for her phone before she gave a vocal command.

"Time check," she muttered, voice scratchy and throat dry.

"I apologise, I cannot do a dime Czech," said the same voice again.

"Huh," something caught on to her. Reaching behind, she felt something warm and smooth. She moved her hands upwards, and found them shuffling through tangled strands of hair.

"What the fu-…" Tsuna shot up immediately, turning towards the figure. But it was too dark to make out its details, only its form – but that was enough for her to recognize him.

"Good morning!"

She immediately kicked the figure, and her phone fell out of his hands.

"Mu…Mukuro-san!"

Tsuna scrambled to pick her phone back up.

"Time check!" she said desperately, shaking the device.

"It is four A.M. It is four A.M," chanted back a mechanical voice. Too early.

She glared at the figure who had now made his way to lean against her door.

"Is there any service that requires my urgent attention, sleeping in my bed or otherwise?" she said through gritted teeth. While normally polite to her superiors, she did have another temperament when it came to someone doing something like trespass into her private territory and invade the threshold of impolite and inappropriate social behavior.

"Don't know, I was bored. Figured I'd wake you early. There's this time difference thing you see, and I can't really sleep," he coughed.

Tsuna sighed, resigned.

"Please give me some time to get ready. I'll prepare breakfast for you," she said, climbing out of her bed.

When all that had been done, she finally found herself in the kitchen preparing omelets and toast for the needy man. She sloppily placed it in front of him - fork and knife and spoon clanked in harmony as she dumped them beside the plate. Quite noticeably peeved about the previous fiasco, Mukuro noted in glee.

"Anything else?" she asked as politely as she could.

"Human company! What else," he chuckled, "I need you to carry my bags later. I'm going shopping for some items."

Thus the remainder of the time was spent, Mukuro merrily observing Tsuna's other side. Well, it was only human to get angry at that after all. He chuckled to himself, earning puzzled looks from the naïve girl seated opposite him.

"Nothing, I'm just closer to my plan's completion," he smiled.

"Plan? You aren't planning to assault another woman are you?"

"Oh no, trust me when I say I only gain an edge when I assault you."

"Please don't say that so casually."

He let out a strong guffaw.

"It's the truth."

Tsuna started to ignore him after that.

"Please…please slow down, Mukuro-san," Tsuna panted, releasing bursts of white smog each time she said a word.

"Tut, tut," he said. Tsuna could not see his eyes beyond the sunglasses – they were meant for deception. Of the general crowd, that was. She could feel his emotions though – a tattle-tale dance of playfulness, a pinch of annoyance…

"What are you getting?" she said, quickly shoving her hands back into her jacket's pockets as soon as she was walking again.

"Don't know," he shrugged casually, peeking around here and there. Robots manned the counter of every shop at that time of the day – but it was necessary that the human owners came back for at least six hours later in the day in order to keep the business running. The streets were sparse, being six o' clock. Also, it was a rather high-end place with a lot of boutiques around – not somewhere that an average person would hang around at that time.

"I'm bored," he finally said.

Tsuna wanted to slap her face, but resisted the urge to do so.

"Aren't you from this place?" Mukuro stopped in his footsteps. She could feel something grow heavy within her as soon as she shot off her question. He turned back however, lips – as she could see, were straining – to a wry smile.

"I came from the sky," he said, as he walked.

Tsuna snorted. The only land she knew of in a sky was an industrial area. A research facility.

"Really, and then you're going to tell me they poured in a bunch of chemicals and created the perfect little boy who grew up to be a sarcastic demon?" she added.

"I don't know who's being sarcastic more often – you or me?"

Tsuna looked to the ground. Honestly, she could not answer. Perhaps it was just Mukuro, but being around him made her want to shoot off many snide remarks. Contagious, she noted. Dangerous.

She glanced back up, in any direction but Mukuro's face.

"I'm not as scary as you make me out to be," he said, slowing his gait so that he could walk beside the shorter girl.

"You haven't called me midget all day."

"Right you are, midget," and then she felt a large palm shuffle her hair around, just as Yamamoto often did.

"Yamamoto treats you like Jirou, hm? You seem to enjoy this a lot."

"P-Please stop that."

The pair had walked a lot further than they realized, and soon found themselves in the designated green space of the city. It was compulsory for every city to have a minimal area in proportion to its size dedicated to greenery. Bullshit, Tsuna called. You had a green space, but you never had blue skies again.

"I bet I'm seriously from the sky, though. Cursed on the very day I was born."

"Now that sounds like the start of a fantasy story. But…" Tsuna remembered the initial awkwardness when Yamamoto had willingly divulged his past to her.

"Let's see, where should I start?" Mukuro pondered, completely ignoring what she had said earlier, "I was an orphan – that was the earliest thing I remembered."

Tsuna nodded. Now she was genuinely interested in hearing. The pair had made themselves comfortable in a park bench, thankfully, Mukuro had decided to keep out of her personal space, so they sat at an appropriate distance from one another.

"I…had a cousin too. She was orphaned with me. Both of us probably had shitty parents – I just had two pairs of them. Birth parents left me to my aunt and uncle, but they sold the both of us away – to the government. To the research facilities."

Tsuna could feel a burning rage work its way into his movements. He shook a little, eyebrows furrowed. A few creases had formed on his face –

"Wait, the government? How could they permit that?"

"The government is scum," he leaned back, "scum. Look at this country. Look at Japan. Look all over the world. We all look the same, no? Same companies, same products, same standards all over the world. It's all homogenous. The government is a corporation. If it were for profit – why, bending the rules would be okay for those corrupt bastards."

"You sound like you're making a conspiracy – implying every country has the same government," Tsuna, by then was incredulous. Mukuro only raised a brow.

"Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. Maybe the governments just change over time. They performed experiments on me. Branded me – iron and fire and all – just like a farm animal. Just a farm animal.

Somehow, Chrome – that's my cousin – she and I escaped the facility. We were taken in by a kind man named Lancia. There were other children – Ken and Chikusa, ah, I can still remember their features clearly. Ken – treated like an animal, acted like an animal. Chikusa, always with a blank, listless eyes. They broke us."

By that time, Tsuna felt as though she should not be listening, but she heard every word like a colorful note, twisting in different emotions, pitches, accents. He continued.

"Lancia was killed. They were bent on making my life hell, you see. Maybe I was too valuable to let go. Lancia was the only one who ever took pity on us – he was rather wealthy, and it was a short and happy four years we lived. Shot, instantly, and everything was taken away again.

I was taken in by a different corporation, well – that was when Chrome started going ill. Thanks to all those experiments. Fucked up her brain. Don't worry – she stays alive. But she's probably as good as dead now," he said, standing up, "still in a coma."

Tsuna had been so enraptured by his story that she had not noticed her surroundings.

"I'm sorry, Mukuro – " suddenly, she was grabbed by a pair of thin arms. She saw a flash of blue before her eyes were covered.

"Thanks a lot, Rokudo," snickered a familiar voice.

"I failed to mention this, Midget. I could escape that facility because I killed everyone,"

Tsuna, struggling to get out of the bonds that had been placed on her, went into shock.

"Huh?"

"I hate corporations you know, with a passion. They've tossed me around – blackmailed me for the cure to my cousin's disease. Heh, disease – that makes me laugh. Virus."

Tsuna could feel herself get dragged off further and further. Bluebell – that was the voice she recognized. Her heart sank, and a giant lump swelled in her throat.

"Bluebell? Is that you? Why are you doing this? What are you doing here? Let me go!" Tears escaped her eyes, but she was not willing to show weakness in her voice as she demanded an explanation. Her voice cracked.

"Let me go! Bluebell! Mukuro, help me! Help me out here –"

"But that's alright. I found another organization that's willing to help me, you know. Bring out your latent potential. The same one you share with me. That'll help me get Chrome awake again."

As she heard his voice fade further, her head started ringing. One tone, sharp enough to bring her to her knees. Tsuna desperately screamed, tried to shake her hands out of her shackles, tried flailing her legs, but she was being taken away, further and further. The screams weren't desperate any longer – they were desolate. Broken cries.

"And I know what's weakest to you. Betrayal," Mukuro laughed, his voice resounding through the empty park.

Tsuna's eyes widened.

Tap, tap, tap.

There were no more frantic cries or despair.

Tap, tap, tap.

"I didn't need to make her fall for me at all, Byakuran."

The white haired man approached Mukuro from behind, watching as Bluebell dragged the body – no longer struggling – away.

"I guess you got it figured pretty well. Good for you."

"You were trying a pretty roundabout way of doing things you know; I guess you gain a little bit of her trust and betray her – that's enough. As soon as her body experiences emotional stress, she seems to covert – or rather, revert. Natsusa is her original form after all."

"She's weak, but her alter ego – no, her alter ego is weak. It is her true form that I want data from."

"And my reward?"

Byakuran placed a small chip into Mukuro's palm, and then stalked off.

"Tell me when you wish to administer the cure."

A/N: Sorry, things turn from here.