A/N: Ciaossu, minna! Sorry for the very late update, I was…distracted by school work. Anyways, as usual, any ideas for a new chapter will always be welcome via PM or review. Also, as Reborn will be having memories within a flashback in this chapter, whenever that happens, the second flashback will be in both bold and italic; while thinking in a flashback will be underlined. Enjoy the 9th chapter!

Chapter 9: Painful Memories

"Ro…Rodolfo, snap out of it!" a boy shouted to his best friend as he was cornered to a wall in the large training room, once a room filled with weapons and young Mafioso eager to grow stronger in order to follow their parents' footsteps. Now, there was nothing but the bodies of those Mafioso covering every inch of the floor and crimson blood on the walls. All in all, it was a terrifying sight.

Rodolfo neither heard nor cared about the boy's pleas, and chuckled menacingly in a voice the boy didn't recognize. "Don't worry, this won't hurt one bit after I put a hole in here." He pressed a gun to Leonardo's chest, where his heart was. Rodolfo's eyes were a crimson red, instead of the onyx color it used to be.

"Rodolfo…" Leonardo, or Leo for short, tried to fight back tears as he realized that Rodolfo had completely lost it and that he was no longer the same person that stood up for him when he was bullied, or the top student of the Mafia's Academy who always tried to spare his opponents if there was a chance. Rodolfo had failed to go into Modalità lupo Alfa, the Lupo Famiglia version of "Hyper Dying Will Mode". It was a special ability that gives the user the instincts, swiftness, stealth and many other characteristics of a wolf, meaning they have better accuracy, can hide themselves better, have extraordinarily accurate animal instincts…well, you get the idea.(A/N: By the way, Lupo means "wolf" in Italian. And Modalità lupo alfa means "Alpha Wolf Mode".)

But, only the descendants of the Lupo Famiglia's leaders and core members have the right to unlock this special ability inside them. Even so, few have tried and less has succeeded in controlling the mode. That was because Alpha Wolf Mode can also give you the mind of a wolf, meaning that if you fail to control it, you practically turn into a human without any emotions, feelings or conscience, and you lose sight of who should or shouldn't be killed. Rodolfo had failed to control this ability, and so did many others before him. However, none of them had dealt so much damage as he did, annihilating almost all of the Mafioso in the academy, regardless of age or strength. Although certain rumors have been said that some had found a way to control themselves even after going amok, nobody had figured out how to this day.

"Rodolfo, I'm…I'm your best friend. You promised we'd stick to each other, remember? When our parents were killed, the last time someone failed to control Alpha Wolf Mode? Remember that?" Leo locked eyes with Rodolfo, searching for a hint of remembrance or anything that indicated Rodolfo was coming to his senses. Rodolfo moved his finger to rest on the trigger, but suddenly he clutched his head painfully.

"Don't pull the trigger; don't pull the trigger…" Rodolfo kept muttering, as if he was trying to force himself to spare Leo. "Rodolfo, is that you?" Leo asked hopefully. Rodolfo suddenly stopped clutching his head and grinned. "Nope. Gotcha."

BANG

"LEO!" Reborn sat up abruptly, panting heavily. He looked around and realized that was a dream, a mere memory of the painful incident. "What is it, Reborn? Nightmare?" Luche sat down next to him. Reborn looked at Luche, who was now in adult form, and remembered Talbot giving the Arcobaleno a pill which was supposed to keep them in adult form for 24 hours, minus sleeping time. Reborn nodded weakly while Luche put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let it go, Reborn. It's been 17 years. You were only 10 when that happened." Luche frowned. "But no one understood my suffering. Even my remaining relatives disowned me." Reborn laughed bitterly."It's my entire fault. I shouldn't have taken the risk. I should have passed the offer. Leo wouldn't be dead if I hadn't done this." Reborn said. Luche listened without commenting at all. She knew that what Reborn wanted was a place where he could pour his feelings out undisturbed, not advice on how to overcome the guilt of killing the majority of his friends, except Luche.

"Hey, Luche." Luche lifted her head up to meet Reborn's gaze. "Thanks. If it weren't for you, I would never have snapped out of it."Luche allowed the corners of her lips to form a smile. "I know. It wasn't easy though."

Flashback

BANG

Luche whimpered at the sound. Rodolfo turned his head round as his ears caught the whimpering coming from under a body. Rodolfo marched over to the body and kicked it aside. Luche quickly backed up in to a corner not far away. "Rodolfo, wake up…look what you did. This isn't you." Luche said. Rodolfo merely pointed his gun at Luche. "Rodolfo, don't you remember all of us? When we were training with you? Playing with you when we were younger? All of our friends who stood by you when you were in trouble…how could you do that to them?!"Luche suddenly shouted at Rodolfo. A wave of memories with Leo and the others suddenly flooded Rodolfo's mind.

"Tito, leave him alone!" Rodolfo yelled, attracting Tito's attention."Well, well, if it isn't the top student and top delinquent of Mafia Academy's 6 year old group. Can't blame you really," Tito threw a glance at Rodolfo's clenched fist."I guess there's nothing else to take your anger on, isn't it? After all, you and Leonardo were the only remaining members of the Lupo…OOF!"Tito was cut off by a punch to the stomach, which sent him crashing in to a wall. Before he could stand, he saw a green gun barrel right between his eyes, with the purple insignia of the Lupo Famiglia on the slide of said gun.

"No…no way. You're not going to fire that thing."Tito stuttered. Rodolfo chuckled."Ah, so you know what this gun is. It was given to me by my father. You know who my father is, right? No? What an idiota."Reborn raised an eyebrow at the cowering Tito. "He was the top hitman and right hand of Lupo's last boss. I'm sure you have heard Father's name before… Does the "Alpha Emerald" ring any bells?"

Tito's eyes widened in realization and fear at the name. "Alpha Emerald" was a hitman feared by many, because he was known to use the gun Rodolfo was holding to execute people during assassinating missions, and he never missed. Even the elite members of every mafia family in existence respected him as one of the only few who succeeded in controlling the Modalità Lupo Alfa. That is, until the last person who had failed to control it accidentally caused a major explosion in the Lupo mansion, annihilating all members of the Lupo Famiglia, except Rodolfo, his father, and Leonardo.

"I…I…I'm sorry, Rodolfo. Um, I assure you what happened to Leo here won't happen again, I swear." Tito stuttered."Good." Rodolfo pulled the trigger and released a bullet, which planted itself dangerously close to Tito's groin." If you ever come near him again, I'll be moving the gun's position one inch up your sorry ass." Rodolfo growled. Tito hastily climbed up and ran off to safety.

"It's ok now, Leo. They won't bully you again. You're safe now." Rodolfo put a hand on Leo's shoulder. "But…they'll still bully me when you're not around. I don't know what to do then." Leo sobbed. Rodolfo sighed and gave Leo's shoulder a squeeze. "That's why we have to stick to each other. We can watch each others' backs, right?" Leo wiped his tears away and nodded."Yeah! We'll always be together…to protect each other!" Rodolfo grinned. "Now, come on. The cafeteria's selling mint chocolate chip ice cream today. Let's get some before the others do."

"Leo…" Rodolfo turned his head and saw the boy he had just shot. He refocused his gaze on Luche and remembered the first time he met her at Mafia Academy, when the academy was under attack. And yes, rival famiglias do attack the academy to have their revenge and other stuff.

"Ugh. This has to be the worst ambush on Mafia Academy in all 127 years it existed. Look at all the casualties this time." Rodolfo gestured to all the bodies and Mafioso bandaging their wounds while Leo fetched some bandages for him.

"Yeah. Out of 3000 students and 100 instructors, almost 10.25% were killed." Leo scanned the room. Rodolfo looked at Leo incredulously. "Where did you get those statistics? All you did was scanning the room." Leo just shrugged and replied: "Well, it was simple. Each enormous tile of the infirmary can hold 15 people and as you can see," Leo gestured to the throngs of people, "the whole place is packed. So, as the infirmary has some 21 tiles filled with bodies, 21 x15 make about 315 dead people, excluding 2 over there by the corner." Leo pointed to a corner. "So, that makes about 10.25% of our students and instructors dead." The 8 year old finished, leaving Rodolfo dumbfounded by his best friends' light speed calculations.

"Wow, I didn't know Leo-kun could calculate things so fast. Good job." A cheerful voice said. They both turned and found a girl smiling at them. "And you are…" Leo asked. "Luche, future boss of the Giglio Nero Famiglia, correct?" Rodolfo finished. "That's right." Luche smiled again. "…Why are you still smiling? Don't you know 315 people just died? If anything, you should at least be sorrowful." Leo asked.

"Well, I do feel sad for those who died…" A frown appeared on the girl's face, "But my mother told me that even though I feel sad, I must keep smiling to cheer people up!" Luche's smile was plastered on once again.

"Well, good to know that her smile wasn't super glued onto her." Rodolfo whispered to Leo. The two boys proceeded to snicker while Luche wondered what was so funny.

"No…" Rodolfo turned around only to see the whole training room filled with blood and dead bodies all killed by a pair of merciless hands…his hands. "AAHHHH!" Rodolfo clutched his head as he recognized the faces of all those he had killed. Instructor James Stark, Leo, and worst of all... his own father, who had come to witness his son's success at controlling the Alpha Wolf mode. Rodolfo had become like a monster, just like the last member of the Lupo Famiglia who had lost control of the Alpha Wolf mode.

"Rodolfo, this isn't your fault. Control it, before it's too late. Your father did it before, you can do it again." Luche encouraged him. Rodolfo turned around to look at Luche and nodded. He looked at his blood-stained palm and clenched his fists.

"Son, to control the Alpha Wolf Mode, don't think about the things you want to do with this power. Think about the people you need to protect, your reasons for wanting to control this mode. If your resolution is strong enough, only then will you be granted this ability, as I did."

"That's right." Rodolfo thought as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. "When I was trying to go into Alpha Wolf Mode, I was thinking about how I should bring an end to the person who killed the majority of the Lupo Famiglia, not the people I should protect." An aura began to form around Rodolfo. Luche watched as the aura grew more intense and smiled. "It's working." Luche whispered.

"Leo, I'm sorry I didn't snap out of it earlier. If I had one more chance, I would use this power to protect those that I care about and carry out the goals of the Lupo Famiglia, nothing more…" Rodolfo's eyes slowly turned back to its' original color. Rodolfo looked at the Lupo insignia that appeared on his arm, and smiled. "I did it…" Rodolfo smiled and collapsed.

Flashback ends

"Come to think of it, I was out for a pretty long time, huh?" Reborn asked. "Mm hmm. You were out cold for…what, a whole week? Very long, for a top class hitman." Luche teased. Reborn glared at her, but his smile told Luche that he wasn't the least bit mad.

"Even so, why didn't you say that you knew me back when we were turned into Arcobalenos?" asked Reborn. "After you went into Alpha Wolf mode, you said that you wanted to start over, right? That's why you changed your name to Reborn, wasn't it?" Luche said.

"So that's why you spread the rumors that I killed myself out of guilt when I finally "woke up" for an "unknown" reason. You also convinced the Ninth to accept me into his family without revealing my true identity." Reborn glanced at Luche. "Correct again. No need to thank me." Luche smiled. "Like I would want to thank you for that. Now everyone thinks the Lupo Famiglia's completely wiped out." Reborn snorted. "But thanks anyway." Reborn added.

"Don't forget, you still have to protect those you care about, including me." Luche elbowed Reborn's shoulder. "What can I say? You're one of the people I care about. Not to mention you're the sky Arcobaleno, which means I still have to protect you." Reborn shrugged.

"Anyway, it's about 3 am now. We should go back to sleep." Luche got off Reborn's bed and climbed back into her own. "Oh, Reborn, I almost forgot. Catch!" Reborn held out his arm instinctively and caught a gun. "Emerald Wolf…I thought I threw it away after that incident." Reborn fingered the gun. "I knew it was hard for you to just throw it away so…I just carried it with me for safekeeping. Nobody suspected a thing." Luche watched as Reborn kept the gun in his pocket as if it was the most fragile thing in the world.

The next morning, Tsuna found Reborn sleeping with his hand curled up around a gun. Tsuna was so scared he ran out of the room for fear that Reborn would accidentally shoot him, thus failing to notice the Lupo's insignia on the gun. Even after the Arcobaleno were turned back into babies, no one knew the truth about Reborn's true identity. No one except Luche and Reborn.

And that's just how they like it.