Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman

A/N: Thank to xXHalfPrinceXx, Wolferunning123, blacklightningwolf, Guest 1, Guest 2, TheYoungStrega1999, xxOMGgalxx, Chi-tanda, Shanagi95, Hopelesslyhope, ArcobalenoCanvas, ShiroHachi to KuroHachi, Pokermaniac039, Herbblood, Loveless23, Kanrei, Breathless02, KuraiArcoiris, Ayz283, Narutopokefan, TsunaHibari1827, KitsuneNaru, Guest 3, Xj9, Mad3lina, sUSHI SHI, RawR, scarlet rose white, Guest 3, BOOMSHAKALAKA, for reviewing!

Woooow! That is a lot of names! Thank you all for reviewing! I'm glad you all like the story so much. When I first started this story, it was just for fun. I never thought it would be this popular. I am glad you all like it as much as me.

The Shadow Demon

"Talking in Italian"

"Talking in Japanese"

'Thinking'

Chapter 6

This could possibly be one of the worst experiences that Takeshi ever found himself in, and once more, he was a Mafioso! But to him, any situation that gets Tsuna dragged into the underground life was a horrible experience.

He was in a black car that had tinted black windows with Reborn driving (at least his driving wasn't insane like Tsuna's). Colonnello was in the passenger's seat but was turned around to keep an eye on the Millefiore Mafioso that Reborn found alive. He was tried up and thrown to the floor. Lucky for them, he was still unconscious. Takeshi was sitting behind Colonnello with Tsuna lying on the seats with his head in his lap. His head was turned to side so he could get to the injury on his face. Blood was pouring out like a faucet. He had already used his jacket and Tsuna's to get the blood flow to stop. Since it wasn't stopping, he was hoping to clot the wound with dry blood. [1]

"How's your friend?" Colonnello asked, a bit concerned as he watched Takeshi toss away Tsuna's blood soaked jacket.

Takeshi grimaced. "It looks pretty deep and won't stop bleeding. I'm worried that he might have a concussion. And we're not friends, acquaintances."

The blonde haired Arcobaleno was silent for a moment before he suddenly threw his jacket into a surprised Takeshi's face. "Use that. It will hopefully be enough until we get to Vongola mansion." He explained when the Rain guardian heir got the jacket off his face. "And, you might as well just call the boy your friend. It's obvious you care for him as much as one."

Takeshi chose not to reply. He just looked down at his acquaintance, pressing the jacket into his wound as hard as he dared. What Colonnello said made sense, but it was not that simple. It was Tsuna's wish to not have friends for whatever reason. None of the guardian heirs could deny him that. He was too stubborn for his own good. So the guardians respected his wish, but since he interested them, they became his acquaintances since that was as close as he would let anyone to him. The guardians wished to be friends, but again, he was too stubborn to accept that. Takeshi was curious as to why that was, but Tsuna would never tell him. Was it trust issues or something more?

Colonnello sighed when Takeshi ignored him. "Takeshi, you need to prepare yourself. The Millefiore is after your fri–acquaintance for some reason. This is going to cause everything between you to change, for better or worse, who knows?"

Once again, Takeshi ignored him. He knew that everything was about to change. The moment he saw the Millefiore look at Tsuna as their target, he knew that nothing was going to be the same. Tsuna, the most precious person to the guardian heirs, was in danger. He was now involved in the underground world. Or was he always involved in it? How else could the Millefiore know about him? The only way was for him to have been involved it from the start.

That very thought caused a grimace to appear on Takeshi's face. He didn't even want to think about his small, innocent friend ever being involved in the underground world. It just didn't seem possible.

"What will you do?" Colonnello asked, frowning. "You are devoted to this acquaintance of yours, but you also got to think of the Vongola."

Takeshi blinked and looked up at him. "A choice between Vongola and Tsunayoshi?" He frowned. "That is…."

"Goes to show how much you are devoted to this boy." Reborn interrupted, glancing in the rearview mirror at the black haired boy.

Takeshi's frown darkened as he turned his gaze to Reborn. "You think I would betray the Vongola for Tsunayoshi?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't?" Colonnello retorted. "For someone that you only call an acquaintance, you are really loyal to him."

"I've known him since I was five. I only started to get close to him when I was seven. I've known him longer than I have been a part of the Vongola Famiglia. Of course he is important to me." Takeshi argued, glancing back down at his unconscious acquaintance. His hand that wasn't pressing the jacket to Tsuna's wound tensed slightly as it gripped the back of Tsuna's head. It was a horrible choice to make: Vongola or Tsunayoshi. He just hoped the choice never had to be made.

Unbeknown to him, Colonnello and Reborn had shared a very quick look. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Even though the choice seemed difficult to Takeshi, they both know that he would help Tsunayoshi in a heartbeat if he needed it, even if it went against the Vongola. He just didn't realize it because the moment hasn't come up.

"We're here." Reborn declared not much later as he pulled the car to a stop in front of the Vongola Mansion.

Takeshi looked up in surprise. He hadn't even realized they entered the forest as the Vongola Mansion was in the middle of it. If one didn't know where the mansion was in the forest, they would most definitely get lost. If they were lucky, they would stumble upon the mansion, but then they would have to get passed the wall, then there was the matter of security and traps. It would be difficult for anyone to survive an unauthorized trip through Vongola ground.

Takeshi gathered Tsuna up in his arms after opening the door. He looked over his shoulder to see Colonnello dragging their still unconscious prisoner from the car. Reborn walked ahead of them and threw the doors to the mansion opened.

And it was just Takeshi's luck to see Hayato, of all people, walking up the stairs to pause when he heard the doors being thrown open. He spun around on his heels, box weapon already at the ready, but stopped when he saw who it was. Though, the relieved look left his eyes when he saw Takeshi carrying someone. He couldn't tell who it was because he had…..was that Colonnello's jacket being used to cover the person's face and soak up that blood? Hayato was now completely surprised and worried.

"Who is that?" Hayato asked in a deadly calm voice.

Takeshi grimaced a bit, but approached Hayato nonetheless. When he was close enough, the Storm heir gently peeled the bloody jacket from the face of the boy, already having an idea of who it was, but was desperately hoping he was wrong.

When Hayato saw the pale face of Tsunayoshi, he saw red, literally and figuratively. If it wasn't for Takeshi holding the boy, he would have punched him right in the face. "What the hell happened? You were supposed to protect him." Hayato snarled angrily, taking the smaller boy from Takeshi seeing as the Rain heir couldn't properly protect him.

"There was only so much I could do without my sword, and this," Takeshi waved at Tsuna's face. "Was not my fault. The motorcycle he was driving crashed!"

For a moment, Hayato's anger dissipated to be replaced by curiosity. "Motorcycle? He was driving a motorcycle?"

"I'll explain later," Takeshi replied hurriedly, glancing as Tsuna. "We need to get his wound looked at and explain what is going on to Giotto." [2]

Hayato sensed a deeper meaning to those wounds, but didn't press his friend for information. Right now, Tsunayoshi was more important than information as they were all safe at the moment.

*The Shadow*

"So let me see if I understand this," Giotto said once Takeshi finished explaining what happened when he was at school. "This favorite acquaintance that you all have," He glanced at all the guardian heirs that were standing in line near the dining room table. His own guardians, except for Knuckle, were sitting at the table, watching the heirs with varying emotions from curiosity to anxiousness to uncaring. Reborn and Colonnello were both sitting at the table as well, wanting to get the full story of what happened since they only knew from when they appeared in the battle. "Tsunayoshi Sawada, the boy who we hear about all the time, that you all swore to keep out of the Mafia may actually be involved in the underground world already as the Millefiore admitted to you that they were after Sawada?"

Takeshi nodded. "That is right, Giotto, sir."

"And you told him you are in the Mafia, showed him box weapons, used them in front of him, ran from Millefiore soldiers, Sawada stole a motorcycle, drove it illegally, you went with him which makes you an accessory to this crime, you crashed at the warehouses, Sawada got injured from the crash, Reborn and Colonnello saved you by killing most of the Mafiosos, then you decided to bring back a Millefiore agent to interrogate and Sawada because he got hurt and you think it would be safer even though you promised not to get him involved in all this." Giotto clarified, staring at the Rain heir with a thoughtful frown, but other than that, betraying nothing of what he was feeling about the situation.

"Yes sir. That is what happened." Takeshi replied, avoiding the gazes of his friends/fellow heirs. They were all upset to hear about Tsuna's injury and the fact that he was in danger, though Kyoya and Mukuro didn't show it at all. He was too, but they felt he was partly responsible for the crash, even though it wasn't his fault at all. He felt guilty enough as it was.

"Why?" Lambo asked the question on all their minds. "Why is the Millefiore after Tsunayoshi?"

"That is something you will have to ask your friend." Giotto replied.

"Acquaintance," Takeshi, Gokudera, Ryohei, and Lambo corrected.

Before Giotto could reply, Knuckle entered the dining room, frowning. "I understand that you would like to know why the Millefiore is after your," He glanced at the guardian heirs, seemingly amused by their stubbornness on this matter. "Acquaintance, but there is a problem with that."

"Is there something with Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro asked dangerously.

Takeshi looked at him warily.

Knuckle, though, looked unconcerned with the tone. "He has woken up, but it seems he has a concussion, which has caused amnesia in him." Before any of the guardian heirs could interrupt, the Sun Guardian hurried on. "I don't believe it is too bad, but I do not know him personally. Since you all know him, you need to talk with him and see how much he remembers."

*Demon*

Knuckle looked down at the brown haired boy that was lying in a guest room in Vongola Mansion. It looked like the big bed covered in silk covers was swallowing the small body up. The left side of his face was covered in a lot of blood with more appearing. Colonnello's jacket was thrown to the floor. He figured it would be set on fire later. He didn't see any way to save it now.

To begin taking care of the boy, who he was informed was the famed acquaintance of the heirs, Tsunayoshi Sawada, Knuckle started gently washing the wound and the dry blood away. The water in the basin on the nightstand starting to turn red from all the blood he was washing away.

Once the wound was cleaned, Knuckle was relieved to see that the wound wasn't as bad as it seemed so he could easily heal it. Tsuna's face shined with bright sun flames as the cut on his face slowly started to close up.

With the gash healed up, Knuckle started to clean away the rest of the dry blood. As he was doing so, brown eyes slowly opened. Upon seeing the man, who looked like a priest, standing above him that was washing his face, he blinked in confusion. His eyes being opened must have alerted him because the priest stopped what he was doing and gave him a small smile.

"I see you are awake." Knuckle said kindly, putting his washcloth back in the basin.

Tsuna gave a small nod of his head. "Where am I?"

Knuckle hesitated for a moment before replying, "Vongola Mansion."

Somewhere in Tsuna's mind the words 'Vongola Mansion' caused panic and worry. What was he doing in such a powerful Mafia's mansion? How did he even get here? They hadn't found out who he was, did they?

But when he looked around and found himself in a comfortable bed in a bedroom he found something to be strange. He looked back at the priest with a frown. "Why am I here?"

"You and Takeshi were attacked by Millefiore so you were brought back here by Reborn and Colonnello after they saved you." Knuckles explained briefly.

'Attack…? I don't recall ever being attacked by the Millefiore.'

The confusion must have shown in his eyes because Knuckle suddenly frowned. He sat on the edge of the bed. "Tsunayoshi…..do you mind if I call you that?" Knuckle asked as he lightly touched Tsuna's head where there was a faint scar from his earlier wound.

"No."

Knuckle nodded and was silence for a moment when he found the bump on Tsuna's forehead. "Tsunayoshi, I believe you might have a little bit of short term memory loss. Since I do not know you, I cannot help you determine how bad your memory loss is. I will ask Takeshi or one of the others to come talk to you."

"Others?" Tsuna asked confused. What others? Was he with someone else besides Takeshi when he was attacked? How stupid could he be? He wasn't supposed to be with his acquaintances outside of school for this exact reason! Just being with him put them all in danger!

"I'll be back in a little while. For now, just rest, Tsunayoshi." Knuckle told him before leaving the room.

As Tsuna watched the door close, he wondered what he should do. It was dangerous for him to stay in the Vongola Mansion. What if he had somehow revealed he was the Shadow Demon in the event that caused him to lose his memory? But then, what about Takeshi and whoever else he was with? He couldn't just leave them here while he escaped. They had no part in the underground world. It was all his fault that they got dragged into this world.

Still, was keeping his secret more important than his acquaintances? If he was found out, he would be in a lot of danger, but so were his acquaintances. They weren't a part of this world. Who knows how much danger they could be in because of him?

If that was the case, maybe he should leave. He could just be putting his acquaintances in more danger by staying here with them.

Tsuna sat up, but did so too quickly because in the next moment he had his hands cradling his head. Pain was flashing through his head. That priest had said that he had short term memory loss, so he most likely had a concussion. What was he thinking when he sat up? Of course pain was going to flare in his head if he did something like shooting up.

That was the position he was found in when the bedroom door flew open and Takeshi came charging in to skid to a halt next to the bed. "Tsunayoshi," He cried in relief.

Stifling a groan at the pain that flared in his head once more from the door slamming open, Tsuna lifted his head to look at Takeshi. "Hi Take-kun," He murmured, reverting back to Japanese without realizing it.

The Rain heir blinked in confusion for a moment before smiling. Tsuna had never once talked to any of his acquaintances with a nickname. He preferred to use their full names. To hear a nickname for him from Tsuna, he couldn't help but have his heart filled with joy, even if the name mostly just came from him not feeling too well. Maybe Reborn and Colonnello were right. Maybe they could be friends with Tsuna. "Hey Tsunayoshi. How are you?"

Tsuna gave him a grimace. "Fine mostly, just have a killer headache. What happened? Who else was with us when we got attacked?" He asked worriedly.

Takeshi laughed lightly and quietly so as to not hurt Tsuna's head even more. "No one. It was just the two us. Why did you think there would be more than us?"

Confusion shined brightly in Tsuna's eyes. "Well, that priest man said he would have you or one of the others come talk to me to see how many memories I lost. It confused me as to why he said that. I don't know anyone in the mafia."

Takeshi was amazed at what he was hearing. He had just admitted to Tsuna a few hours ago that he and the others were in the mafia. And now because of a freak accident, he had forgotten all of that. He wasn't sure if he should be happy that Tsuna no longer remembered or distressed. If he didn't know that they were involved, it would make the whole situation with the Millefiore after him a lot more difficult to handle. On the other hand, he was glad that Tsuna didn't have to remember the dark world or the fact that his acquaintances were involved in it.

"Take-kun," Tsuna said hesitantly.

"Tsunayoshi, what is the last thing you remember?" Takeshi interrupted sharply.

Tsuna frowned as he tried to remember the day he just had. "We had class today. It was an eventful school day because Hayato got into an argument with Mr. Nazel in the middle of math. He ended up jumping onto a desk and yelling. Then Kyoya showed up because of the disturbance. He tried to beat Hayato to death, but he ran out to the hallway with Kyoya following. Explosions followed because I think he brought out his dynamite to fight him."

The reminder of that day caused Takeshi to sweatdrop. There was no doubt in his mind to what day that was. It was pretty hard to forget that day. "Okay, that was two months ago. So you only forgot two months. That's not too bad."

"I think forgetting anything is bad." Tsuna muttered.

"Of course."

Tsuna leaned back against the headboard with a thoughtful look. "Takeshi." Just hearing his full name told Takeshi that Tsuna was beginning to think clearly once more. "What happened when we were attacked?"

The Shadow Demon was now the one acting alert. He pushed who he was, Tsunayoshi Sawada, aside for a moment. He had to know what happened during the attack. Was the attack because of who he was? Was the fact that he was the Shadow Demon now known? There wasn't a single move that he could make without knowing what his acquaintances and enemies knew about him. If he made one move without the proper knowledge, it could end in a lot of trouble for him.

The question wasn't a surprise to Takeshi, but he wished it hadn't come so soon. He wasn't sure of what he should tell Tsunayoshi yet. Should he remind him that he was part of the mafia or leave that part out? There was much that he didn't understand, like why the Millefiore was after Tsuna. If they were after Tsuna, then did that mean he had a role in the underground world? If that was true, then maybe it was safer if Tsuna didn't know about him and the other guardian heirs.

"Takeshi?" Tsuna said when the Rain heir didn't explain.

"Sorry, Tsunayoshi. I was lost in thought." Takeshi gave the brown haired boy an apologetic grin. "We were at school, working on our English project when Millefiore agents showed up. When we saw their guns, we ran from the school. They ended up chasing us for some reason. We ran into the back streets. At one point you saw a motorcycle and hotwired it so we could escape on it. Or that was the plan. Apparently there were Millefiore Mafiosos waiting for us because we ended up getting chased by them on motorcycles through the backstreets until we hit the warehouses. There, you crashed the motorcycle and got your injury which knocked you out. The Millefiore caught up to us. I was all ready to die to protect you because I discovered from them that they were after you for some reason, but before they could attack us, Reborn and Colonnello showed up and saved us. They were the ones to bring us here."

Tsuna nodded his head as the story was finished. It didn't seem like there was any way for them to discover his secret in that story. And if they tried to ask him about why the Millefiore was after him, he would just say he didn't know, which was in fact, very true, considering his amnesia. As for hotwiring a motorcycle and driving it, that was completely new to him. When did he learn to drive one of those things?

Takeshi was looking at Tsuna with a guarded look. He was hoping that he didn't realize anything was missing in the story. He only left the fact that he was a Mafioso and his box weapons out of the attack so there shouldn't be any reason for Tsuna to be suspicious, but this was Tsunayoshi he was talking about. He was always observant, but he was hoping the amnesia would stall him.

Unbeknown to Takeshi, Tsuna had more important matters to deal with. He was more concerned with finding any holes in the story that would reveal that he was the Shadow Demon. That was all he was looking for. For once, he was ignoring all the other worries he had so all they worry he had would go to his secret. Not a single thought went to the holes that could tell him something was missing and finding out the secrets of Takeshi and his other acquaintances.

"What do you want, Tsunayoshi?" Takeshi asked after a few minutes of silence in which Tsuna kept glancing around the room.

"I want my memories back and I want to go home." Tsuna replied.

The answer, obviously, caused some worry for Takeshi. He didn't want Tsuna to leave the protection of Vongola mansion when he had the Millefiore after him, but Tsuna just seemed to, like always, disregard his own safety. So if Tsuna wouldn't protect himself, then the Vongola or the guardian heirs would have to protect him.

"Can we leave?" Tsuna asked.

'Damn, forgot he doesn't remember I'm in the mafia.' Takeshi thought, a bit frustrated. "Actually, Tsunayoshi, I'm not sure. It's the decision of the boss of Vongola. He seems like a nice fellow so everything will work out fine."

Tsuna stared at Takeshi in disbelief. Nice fellow? Since when were there nice Mafia bosses? This was the mafia! No one was nice in the underground world. What was going on in Takeshi's head?

"Tsunayoshi?"

"I'm not staying here." Tsuna hissed. "I don't want anything to do with the Vongola Famiglia."

Those words instantly put Takeshi on alert. Not staying here? Just what was Tsunayoshi planning? Didn't he realize how dangerous the Mafia was? He knew that the boy was good, but even he couldn't escape from the Vongola, could he?

A/N: [1] I forgot to mention how bad the head wound was in the last chapter…..I really should have remembered to mention all the blood pouring out of it last chapter since I just had a head injury a month and a half ago. I learned firsthand how much blood comes from head wounds. I did end up bloodying 6 towels and a pillow case at that hotel. Stupid hotel for having a water park! Made even more fun cause I was on a trip with my classmates. Traumatized them! Yeah! (I didn't care I got hurt. Great story to tell people and an interesting experience. I had classmates amazed that I wasn't crying or complaining. Some even called me a beast. *snicker* Ironic too since I'm the level-headed and closest to being sane one of my group of friends and always tells the others to stop before they get hurt…..maybe that's what my one friend meant when he said he couldn't believe I was the one to get hurt….just took over a month to figure that one out.) Can't believe I forgot that fact. I use my experiences/jokes/conversations/etc. or the experiences/etc. of others around me as I watch them cause they are friends and family for my stories.

[2] I know it would be more formal for Giotto to be called Nono, but it just didn't feel right to call him that so we'll just say that the Guardians and Guardian heirs are close enough to their boss to call him Giotto.

I had thought about changing this chapter so Tsuna didn't have amnesia, but then, while I was making cookies cause I have an obsession with baking for no reason, I thought of an amazing idea to do with how he get his memories back. It should be a lot of fun…..and it means I don't have to rewrite this chapter.

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