This chapter has been beated once more by Sylvia-san. Please thank her for her endless patience with me, since it's thanks to her that this fic is getting better XD

Thanks for the reviews and favs. We are amazed at your support of this story.

Special Thanks to certain Carrot ;)

Just to clear things: About the strength of the 10 gen, they are currently 12-13 years old, and only Gokudera, and Mukuro are really 'trained' Tsuna is also weakened (2years in a bed).

Chapter 8: Fight and protect

When he heard the gunshots, Tsuna almost jumped out of his skin. His hands became sweaty and his heart tried to escape through his throat. Then, the screaming started. The boy went to the window in order to see what was happening and proceeded to freeze at the sight.

There was a group of strange people in white suits. They were in front of the emergency room. All of them were heavily armed and seemingly waiting for something. Then, the people from the emergency area started to run out of the doors. He saw in horror how some managed to pass the human wall, but many didn't. Tsuna clenched his hands on the windowsill. He couldn't hear anything more than the screams, until one of the men screamed something and more of the people in white joined in.

Suddenly, Tsuna saw a flash of a flame; an orange blur that attacked the group. He felt his stomach clench and his own flame jump in surprise. "G-Giotto?" he whispered in a broken voice. How? When? He had only managed to take a peek, but those flames were unmistakable.

He gasped when something went flying out of the place in an impressive explosion of glass and pieces of metal from what used to be the doors. His wide eyes stared at the bleeding man that seated himself in the pavement and then began to laugh at his own wounds. He looked to be swaying as if drunk, and Tsuna let go of the windowsill to step back. Then he saw his face. He locked his eyes with him and Tsuna felt a shiver of fear and revulsion making him choke. He knew those eyes! He had seen them every day, from across his and Mukuro's cell. That pair of crazy, hungry eyes that stared at them every time the door opened. That is until one day, he had disappeared.

He saw the man grin at him and Tsuna screamed in fear when a hand grabbed him by the waist, dragging him away from the window. "Tsuna-sama! We have to leave. Now!" It was Hayato he noticed. He seemed pale, but resolute. He had a gun in his hand and Tsuna could see some sticks of dynamites on his belt. He seemed ready for war.

"Hayato! What is going on?" he asked in a rush. He let the other boy push him to the wheelchair and put a black cap on his head.

"I don't know, but it is bad. They are crazy! They just started killing anyone on sight. We are leaving through the service area," Gokudera explained. It was the only way to leave without being exposed to those bunch of lunatics. He paused and looked at his friend in the eyes. "Tsuna-sama, it seems that they don't know about you, so keep your head down please," he pleaded while passing Tsuna a smaller gun. Tsuna looked at the thing with reluctance. Yes, his family had taught him how to shoot a gun, but he had never liked the loud things. Plus, the rebound always made his arms hurt.

"Don't leave my sight. If I tell you to run, you do it. In your state, you are an easy target…And we don't even have a bulletproof vest." Tsuna stared at the fierce eyes and nodded numbly. He could only walk small distances and his arm strength was a joke. He couldn't argue with that.

Should he inform Gokudera about Giotto? He wondered. Then, he gasped when he felt a pulling sensation on his wrist. He squinted when several strings of light appeared before his eyes. They were tense and pulling at him. He could almost hear the voices calling for him.

"Okay. Let's go," Tsuna said. He wasn't ready to see them just yet. He needed more time; just a little more time to think. Gokudera maneuvered the chair with a mysterious skill. He evaded hysterical patients and medical staff, as well as annoying the security personnel that were trying to evacuate the people to the stairs.

'Idiots,' Gokudera thought. This was not an earthquake. This was an attack. Evacuating through the front doors was the worst thing they could do.

He felt an arm reaching for him and he almost shot the idiot in the head. He barely managed to stop himself when he recognized the younger of the Yamamoto brothers. Takeshi or something. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled while continuing his route. The other was pale and looked pretty confused at the situation.

"Goda-kun!" he exclaimed while looking nervous and scared at the situation. However, he didn't seem ready to run around in panic yet. "I came to tell you that my brother is fine. It was a misunderstanding. You seemed pretty panicked, so I thought you would like to know that he is alright… Hey…W-what's happening here?" he asked and Gokudera dragged him along. Meanwhile, Tsuna was looking at the other in wariness and curiosity.

"Some psychos are attacking the hospital. We need to leave, so keep your mouth shut and follow us if you want to live." Gokudera couldn't understand why he was letting this idiot follow them. Two non-combatants would make his mission harder. He ought to just push the other away and leave him behind. He should…

"My child, how are you?" came a creepy voice when they almost reached the second pair of stairs. Gokudera glared at the deformed man that appeared before them. He was carrying needles in one hand and darts in the other that no doubt had some kind of drug or venom. He pushed the wheelchair behind him and faced the monster.

"What do you want?" he asked, while trying to cover as much of Tsuna as he could. The man's eyes were fixed on the small boy. His neck was extending like a snake, trying to get a look at the child.

"My child of course," answered the man in an oily tone. Gokudera shivered at his eyes. They looked feral. He didn't hesitate anymore and shot three times; two at the arms and one to the face. He saw the bullet penetrate one eye and watched in disgust as the blood almost instantly became a thick glob of smoking goo.

"Hey… Yamamoto. Can you carry Tsuna-sama on your back?" he asked to the teen. The other boy looked at him with wide eyes but nodded, his eyes getting a determined glint when he noticed a shivering and pale Tsuna staring at the monster in front of them. "Yes," he answered. He grabbed Tsuna from the chair, hoisting him to his back.

The assassin continued to stare at them, ignoring the wounded eye and the holes in his arms. He seemed to be to gone in his madness to not feel the pain."Give him to me," he whispered, along with the hacking laugh. Gokudera snarled at him. He saw a group of the men in white appearing behind the lunatic and swore.

The bomber heard a man in the back of the group scream in pain, followed by a white blur that slammed into a wall that slid to the ground, leaving behind a bloody trail.

"For breaking the rules of Namimori, I'm going to bite you all to death..." said an enraged voice. Gokudera would deny for the rest of his life about the relieved smile that appeared on his face when the tonfa demon appeared behind the group.

He gave one look at the other prefect and saw Hibari giving him a slight nod. Gokudera grabbed the baseball idiot and dragged him to the stairs. They needed to run. Now.

"Wait! Hayato, wait!" yelled a panicked Tsuna. He grabbed his hand in a surprisingly strong grip. "Help him, Hayato! That man… I know him. He was with the Estraneo. I know he is dangerous. I can feel it!" He said with flame in his eyes, and Gokudera wavered. He shouldn't leave them alone. He really shouldn't.

"Please!" exclaimed his boss, with a fierce look that made the other unable to deny his request. He looked at the fight behind them. They couldn't escape like this. The exits would be blocked by now.

If Hibari was here, then the police would follow and they only needed to gain more time. "Run to the ceiling and wait for me there. Got it?" Gokudera clenched one hand on Yamamoto's shoulder and gave him his most menacing glare. "If anything, anything happens to him, I'm going to give you so much pain that you will be left looking worse than that freak. Do you understand?" To his surprise the Yamamoto kid didn't argue with him and just nodded with a strange and sharp smile. He let go of the shoulder and slightly pushed him, staring at them until they reached the stairs.

Grumbling, he went back to the corridor and saw that Hibari had defeated all the men in white and was currently fighting the deformed bloke. Gokudera stared at the fast and violent fight. The man gave the impression of being boneless; diving and bending at impossible angles. He was like some kind of reptile freak. He saw the prefect spin around and plant one tonfa and then the other into his stomach and neck. Gokudera winced at the sound of bones breaking in half.

The man finally slumped to the floor and remained immobile there. He saw the other come closer to inspect his victim. Gokudera immediately saw the ruse for what it was.

"Don't get closer!" he warned, but it was too late. One hand of the man reached for the others ankle. It had been barely a brush, but the bomber was sure that he had got him.

"Damn it!" He swore. He saw the perfect stumble back, his jaw clenched and his hands twitching with spasms. 'Venom, a fast one,' he realized. He saw in dismay how the monster got up, all his wounds closed and his broken arm dangling at his side. The assassin gave the appendage a quick tug to realign the bone and smirked at him. Five of the men were regaining consciousness, no doubt accustomed to a beating more than the average miscreant of Namimori.

Gokudera launched himself to the fight, his explosives collapsing to the stairs behind them to avoid for reinforcements-to-come. He took out one of the men in the process. He danced between the remaining men while keeping his sharp eyes on the hands of the assassin. The other two of the Estraneo pointed their guns at him and shot. He dived to the right and let a barrage of dynamites fly and spread, and took out another two. But in the middle of his movement, he lost sight of the others. He heard a rustling sound to his left and only managed to take a look at the flying needles coming in his direction. He wouldn't be able to evade them, he realized.

There were two gunshots and the needles were broken cleanly in half, dropping to the floor in a harmless fashion, followed by two cries of pain. Gokudera landed hard on his shoulder, wincing at the impact, but immediately scrambled to his feet sensing someone behind him. He glared at the image of a tall, imposing man wearing a fedora. "Chaos." said the man. 'Hit-man,' corrected his mind.

Gokudera had his hands already full of dynamite, just in case. He tried to put some distance between him and this new man. Was this another enemy, or an ally?

"Gokudera, you still need more practice. I will report this blunder to Tumeric," he said with a sadistic smirk. The boy stared. He knew that smirk, and the green gun was impossible to forget. "Signore Reborn?" he questioned in half-confusion and half awe at the sight. The other smirked and nodded, his fedora hiding his eyes. He looked around and noticed that in the time it took him to reach the floor, not only had he stopped the two needles, but also took two of his opponents with the same bullets.

Gokudera gaped at the scene. This was the skill of the best hit man from the Vongola, Reborn. He stared at the smirking man. He looked as fresh as the rain and beyond calm, but the boy could see the murderous glint in those eyes when they were focused on the monster before them.

"Somehow, he knows Tsuna-sama. He is after him. Don't let him get close. He has some kind of poison," he babbled. His mind was filled with myriad questions about the arrival of the hit man. Reborn tossed him a syringe with a yellow liquid.

"He is the Taipan. An assassin from the Gesso family and one of the failed experiments from the Estraneo. That's the closest antidote we have. Give it to him."

Gokudera looked confused for a second and then remembered that Hibari had indeed been poisoned. He looked behind him and saw the other curled in a ball. His lips where bleeding from the strain to keep his mouth shut and his whole body was tense and twitching, but he was silent. Gokudera reached for him and almost lost a finger from the wildly lashing tonfa he received. He heard a chuckle and saw Reborn looking at Hibari in silent wonder. Gokudera caught the lashing arm, injecting the antidote before he could retaliate. "Stop it! I'm trying to help you, you bastard!" he shouted and felt Reborn place himself in front of them.

"Where is Tsuna?" he asked in a calm voice. "I sent him to the ceiling," answered the boy and saw the other nod. "Go to him, and take this one with you. Barricade the entrance and stay there. Got it?" Gokudera didn't answer and just hoisted the now limp Hibari on his shoulder. He turned around and almost missed the last whisper of the hit man. "Good job, Hayato." He paused in surprise for a second and continued running with his cargo, a strange feeling of pride in his chest.

Reborn looked in disgust at the Taipan. The individual was coiled on the floor. His teeth bared at him, almost hissing at him in wariness, just like an animal sensing a larger predator. "I will show you what happens when you target a Vongola," promised Reborn, in his darkest tone.

"Really, Reborn. It's bad manners to take a lady's target," said Bianchi, appearing at his side with a bloodthirsty look in her eyes. She was glaring daggers at the monster that had almost killed her brother. Reborn took her hand and gently rested his smirking lips on it. "What about sharing, my lovely lady?" he asked gallantly while pointing one gun at the man.

Bianchi smiled sultrily at him and said, "You charmer… Fine, but ladies first."

Mukuro ignored the blood in his eye. Daemon had done something to seal its power. Every time he tried to use it, he felt an unbelievable amount of pain from it. The pain was almost as bad as when they started their experiments with him.

"Nufufufu. That's all you have?" Daemon laughed from the shadows. Mukuro barely avoided the chimera that attacked him. The monster looked rabid and perfectly capable of tearing him into ribbons. Mukuro grabbed his trident and pushed it aside, destroying the beast into a shower of ashes. He would not be pulled into this nightmare.

He saw thousand pairs of eyes looking at him. A legion of monsters and demons were staring at him from the infinite darkness that surrounded him. The other illusionist had used every trick in the book. From using images of his subordinates to shadows of the scientists of the Estraneo.

Mukuro closed his eyes, focusing all his flames into the ring. He let the pain in his eye be an anchor to maintain his own perception grounded. This was a battle of the mind. "Kufufufu. I'm going to make you taste the very tang of hell," he promised to the other. And then, the world around him changed.

His own beasts and creatures started devouring the others. He flooded the desert with black and purple waters, making the desert into a swamp. His favorite lotus vines appeared among the waters, trapping and destroying the rest of the creatures. "Good! Marvelous!" That annoying voice laughed and Mukuro smirked.

'There you are.' He invoked a curtain of fire, causing a flooding of light into the darkness, trying to surprise his enemy. He sent his trident flying and heard with satisfaction, a small gasp of pain on his right. A portion of the shadows parted and Mukuro saw with amusement how his trident was deeply inserted in that hateful body.

"Kufufufu… Look at you. Is this the extent of your power? How disappointing." He taunted the other and pushed his trident deeper inside, making the other wince in pain. The world around them spun and reformed. It was replaced with twirls and spirals of colors and sounds, all directed at overwhelming his brain.

But Mukuro was beyond these tricks. He focused on his pain and on his enemy. "Nice work, Mukuro-kun. Nothing to criticize at the best pupil of the famous Croquant. Nufufufu." Mukuro frowned at the unpleasant smile and he made the world around them change over and over again. He Wrapped layer after layer of illusions to try and break the defenses of the other, his concentration all on breaking the mind before him.

"He is what? The number two? Nufufufu… Yes, he is one of the best, isn't he?" Mukuro snarled at him. He wanted to distract him, no doubt. The young illusionist continued his assault against the mind of Daemon and saw with satisfaction how the rest of the creatures suddenly melted and vanished while the other gave an agonizing scream of pain.

The world around them exploded in a rain of sounds and images; monsters and beautiful images. All of them imploded when one of their pillars fell into madness. "Kufufufu. I win," He declared to the thrashing teenager before him. He knelt at his side and stared at the vacant eyes, smirking at him. Daemon's body suddenly exploded into a shower of black substances. Mukuro saw in alarm, something black and viscous drenching him. This was not an illusion. This was a real attack. He felt some of the liquid bind itself to his neck, like a collar.

"Nufufufu… Tell me. Did Croquant ever tell you who is the number one?" Mukuro touched the now ring of metal around his neck. It was chocking him and greedily sucking his flames. His eye started to hurt once more. He saw Daemon appear in front of him, holding a black chain in his hand. "I am," he whispered with a smug smile. "I have been the number one for four hundred years now. Do you think you could defeat me with this eye when I was the one who created it?"

Mukuro felt the collar on his neck heating up, sucking greedily on his flames and leaving him gasping for air and weak from the draining. "Nufufufu… Don't you like this little chain I took from the Mafia?" He pulled on the chain and Mukuro felt a large portion of his flames disappear into the collar. He glared weakly at the other and spit at him. "Nufufufu. Yes, it will feed on your flames until it bleeds you dry. But don't worry. I'm sure Tsunayoshi-kun will agree at the price for your freedom." Mukuro snarled at him. He was going to use him against Tsunayoshi?

"Nufufufu. He is such a nice boy after all."

Tsuna felt a pounding headache and he could almost smell the burning flesh from his wrist from the heat that the white strings were giving. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see a myriad of flames around him. They were all agitated and angry. All of them were fighting each other.

"Hey! Are you okay?" asked the guy carrying him. Yamamoto. Hayato had called him that. But Tsuna didn't know him and he was making the other risk his life for him. It was wrong. "Just hang in there. This is the last floor," said the other. He seemed barely out of breath from carrying him up the hundreds of stairs. Tsuna felt ashamed at his own weakness.

"I think this wasn't such a good idea," breathed the other guy and Tsuna agreed with him. In front of them and spread around the roof, were a group of men dressed in white. All of them were heavily armed. But the one that caught his eyes was the one in the center. He was huge, and muscled, the kind you see as a champion wrestler.

"Sir! We have some intruders!" One of the men growled and someone grabbed Yamamoto and flung him to floor. He didn't let go of Tsuna. Instead, he grasped him more firmly, protecting the other from the fall.

Tsuna got up, or tried to because Yamamoto grabbed him in a protective hug, glaring at the obvious enemy before them. "Well, they are only two brats. Should we kill them?" The thin man laughed, his gun already pointed at them. Tsuna looked around the roof and saw the plastic packages deposited in each corner. They had blue and green wires coming out from them and they joined in the middle of the roof, and into an even bigger package.

'Explosives,' his mind supplied. He had learned from Hayato all about explosives, since the other was a veritable fanatic of them. They were trying to collapse the building from the top.

Even if they didn't managed to collapse the building, they would take at least half of it. "Stop looking at me you scum!" He heard the thin and bald man screaming at them and saw as the one dressed in white hit his protector with his gun. The other gave a grunt of pain, but didn't let go of Tsuna to protect himself.

"Just kill them already. We have to finish with the explosives!" barked the giant and Tsuna felt an immense surge of anger inside him. Hayato was just a few floors under him. And Hibari. And hundreds of innocent people. He sensed his flame bubbling under his skin, like a rumbling beast ready for the hunt.

The man continued to rain blows on Yamamoto, laughing at the pair of boys under him."So nice of you to protect him!" Tsuna felt one of the arms encasing him breaking, the sharp noise of the bone shattering. He heard the other scream in pain and Tsuna snapped. 'No more' He thought fiercely.

He felt his flame surge from his hands and forehead, his flame running free through his body, encasing his weak muscles and still debilitated bones, giving him strength. He knew he couldn't last long like this. But he pushed forward, his anger giving him fuel.

He took out the man before him in a flash, and then another. He kicked the rifle from the hands of a third, and punched him square in the face. He saw somebody pointing his gun at him and he sprinted, disappearing with the speed of his flame.

He felt something snapping in his ankle, and a wave of pain. But he ignored it, too far gone in his adrenaline and anger. He saw the giant screaming something and going for the package of explosives in the center and the obvious detonator device on top of it. He took out another of his enemies with a flaming fist and launched his small body against the biggest man.

"Ugh!" He planted his knee on the others nose and felt with satisfaction the grinding of the delicate bones breaking into pieces. A heavy hand swatted at him, like trying to kill a fly. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" Tsuna felt his lungs burning and his muscles slowly tearing under the strain. He grabbed the detonator and broke it in half, tossing the pieces aside. The giant made a scream of anger and launched himself at him and Tsuna retaliated. 'Just a little bit more' He begged to his tired body.

On the hospital grounds, the battle was becoming a battle royal. G could only stare at the smoking craters on the once beautiful gardens and the burning bushes that were once full of flowers. Reborn had called some allies from the Vongola in Japan, involving the Yakuza into the madness. It was rapidly becoming a nightmare. He could only groan at the sound of the police sirens. The Ninth was going to have them killed. He was sure of it. After hours of torture that is.

He saw a blur of flames slamming in the middle of a fighting group and easily taking out the ones in white. "Giotto!" screamed the red head, finally reaching the side of his friend. The blond took out his last adversary and turned to look at him. G paused at the image of his friend.

"G, my friend…" was the only thing Giotto said and yet, something about him made him uncomfortable. He had known Giotto all his life. They had been practically inseparable for years. Because of that, he detected instantly the subtle differences in his friend. His movements and the way he fought were different. They were now much more fluid, more precise and graceful.

However, what worried him the most were his eyes. They were sharp and cold, burning with anger and filled with strange knowledge and wisdom. They looked like the eyes of the Ninth; old and deep. Darker.

"G, behind you!" He turned around and punched the stomach of his attacker. He turned around to look for Giotto once more. Something had happened to his friend in the short time he had been away. Something bad.

Suddenly, G felt a sharp wrench on his chest, as if someone had seized his heart and yanked it. He felt his eyes going automatically to the roof of the hospital and heard beside him when Giotto gasped in wonder. "That's Tsunayoshi's flame…"

It was the name that made him tear his eyes from Tsuna's flame. Giotto had never called the brunette by his full name. Never.

Before he could say or do anything, Giotto was flying towards the ceiling, leaving him in the middle of the still raging battle.

Gokudera couldn't believe his eyes. The hospital had become a battlefield. Outside, the police were fighting the Yakuza. How, when and why had they come, he didn't know. But they were now in the battle.

On the ground, he could see dying will flames and mysterious sounds that marked the fights of the Vongola. Inside the building, the disciplinary committee was fighting alongside the security staff and some civilians, against the men of the Estraneo.

It was nothing but chaos. He dodged a pantry and what seemed to be the remains of a television. He barely dodged again when someone flung at him a scalpel with horrible precision. Some of the members of the disciplinary committee tried to stop him, seeing the form of their leader draped over his shoulder. But he didn't turn around and he continued his race. He felt relief at finally reaching the last floor, but sprinted when he heard the screams.

He opened the door to the roof and saw the sushi idiot cradling a broken arm and his Tsuna-sama beating a gigantic man to a pulp while three more men in white tried to pin him with their weapons. With an angry scowl, he tossed Hibari to the floor and sprang in their direction, attacking left and right with practiced efficiency. He turned around to help his boss. He started running when he saw the giant fall off the roof, dragging by his hand a surprised Tsuna with him.

Gokudera didn't doubt. He launched himself to them and flung a pair of mini bombs to the man. The man, startled, let go of Tsuna's arm, his hands instinctively covering his face. Gokudera realized then, that not only were they still falling, but that it was the top frigging floor of the building. He felt Tsuna hug him and he looked at him.

"Don't let go!" screamed Tsuna but his flames were flickering. Tsuna's flame finally died when he tried to lift them up and Gokudera grabbed the smaller body against him. He would not fail. NOT AGAIN. He closed his eyes and twisted his body in the air. He had to be the one to hit the floor first. His body should be enough protection for the other.

"I got you." He felt someone grabbing them both and stopping their fall. He found himself unable to breathe and unable to speak. He raised his head and saw a pair of burning amber eyes.

"Giotto?" Gokudera heard from Tsuna's direction. Then, the boy cried out in pain, his eyes rolling back into his head.

TBC

I really hope you enjoyed and yes, I'm eeeevil. XD

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