THE POLL IS DONE! RESULTS ARE AT THE END!

I apologize beforehand! I'm still new to writing stories (this is my second story) and I have yet to gain a writing style, you may see it changing throughout this story or/and any of my other ones (if I have any) until I find one I like. Anyways, hope you all enjoy the chap!

Character ages:

Tsuna - 6 years old

Nagi (Chrome) and Mukuro - 7 years old

*Last minute changes as to not have Ken and Chikusa in this chapter. Sorry, but there's a reason for this that you'll see later on!*

Previous Chapter's Location: Namimori, Japan

Current Chapter Location: Somewhere in Italy

Warning: OOC!Nagi and possibly slight OOC!Mukuro

Disclaimer: I do not own KHR!

Chapter 2- The New 'Me'

-8 months later-

"A-re~?" The scientist said in a very creepy sing-song like voice of his. "Have we finally managed to break you, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" The sadistic grinning scientist asked the bloody body of Tsuna's that was currently laying there on the lab table. "No. Not now… and not… ever…" Tsuna croaked his voice sore from screaming every day for the past few months now. Even though his whole body was sore, exhausted and in unimaginable pain, not once had the look of defiance left Tsuna's face. Just that fact made all of the scientists around him become even more crazy and insane with their attempts to break Tsuna.

It has already been months since they, the Estraneo famiglia, whom his so-called 'parents' had sold him to, had captured and brought him here. It was a daily basis for him to be brought to the lab to be experimented on then brought back to his cage with his hands bounded (yes, they lock him in a cage and bound his hands together. Before, he was just locked into his own cage since he has attempted to escape so many times and since they had a lot of trouble capturing him since he was so quick and nimble. Even when they did that, he somehow manages to pick the lock and escape, so they were forced to bind his hands together with rope). Tsuna thought that it was a bit strange and slightly unfair how he was the only one that had to be experimented on every day while the others were experimented on every two days at the most; heck, there were a few of them who were lucky enough to get passed a week or two without being chosen.

Perhaps it was because his blood is that of a Vongola's… Tsuna swore to himself that once he escapes from this hell hole, he will find out what 'Vongola' is since not only did Iemitsu mention it but the scientists that were experimenting on him too. It's too much of a coincidence for it to happen considering the circumstances of each situation their being used in. Or perhaps it was because he wasn't 'broken' like how they wanted him to be. Even though they had put him through so much pain, he had never once lost that glint of defiance and the will to live in his eyes. That he had never lost hope of eventually being able to escape this hell hole. He refused to be their 'broken doll,' whatever that meant. But little did they know that he already broke – that he was already in the process of breaking in the hands of his 'parents' and completely broke in their (meaning Estraneo's) hands. That he hid his broken self (his HI told him how) under a real-fake personality* in order to protect and prevent himself from breaking anymore. Even though Sawada Tsunayoshi already broke, it doesn't mean that he can't be broken down even more.

With his 'experiments' though, they didn't do anything to physically alter his body. They just experimented on his body to find out more about this 'special' and 'rare' bloodline of his. They would – as painfully as possible – make many cuts all over his torso to test his recovery speed, inject weird things in his body that would make him feel excruciating pain, drain him of most of his blood for research purposes and the worst part of it was when they would 'test' his fighting ability (read: get info. on Tsuna's HI and see how in tune he is with it compared to Vongola Primo's HI through his records) after all of the things they did to him every single day.

Today was supposed to be an ordinary – or as normal as it could get – day for Tsuna. Well, maybe excepting the fact that the previous night, he had somehow managed to escape the cage even though his hands were still bound together. How did he do it? Even Tsuna himself doesn't know; for him, it was like one moment he was in the cage and the next he was running from the scientists that were chasing him. Hands still tied. Though he did question how he got burn marks on his hands and how the lock on the cage melted when there was no fire. When the scientists found this out about that, they seemed quite... happy at this revelation.

Anyways, today when they came to get him from the cage, they attached a burnt orange ear cuff that had a golden X on it to his left ear. They told him that it's a tracker so that they'll know where he is at all times so that if he does somehow manage to escape, they'll be able to track him down and bring him back. They also told him that he wouldn't be able to take it off since it was designed so that only the creator of the ear cuff will be able to take it off. Tsuna knew why they told him; they were trying to make him lose hope in ever being able to escape from their clutches. He also knew that what they told him were true (thanks to his HI), but that didn't stop him from trying.

After they finished explaining the ear cuff, they undid the ropes on his hands and roughly grabbed him by his arm, dragging him out to go to the lab. While he was walking (read: being dragged by one of the guards), he decided that he might as well try to escape since he really hated being experimented on, so Tsuna bit the guard's hand, causing the guard to release his grip on Tsuna's arm and allowing Tsuna to run.

After running constantly around whatever you would call the place they were keeping them in, Tsuna had a few rough ideas of were the exit might be (via his previous escapades around the place). As Tsuna kept zigzagging through the hallways, being careful to avoid the scientists and guards that were situated throughout the building, he heard a girl's scream. Even after all of the things they put him through, Tsuna himself hasn't changed much (despite his slight change of personality). So being the kind and soft hearted boy he still is (don't know how he's still kind even after being through all of this but he still is), he ran in that direction with the intention of helping whoever was in trouble; though not before he hides to see what's going on (staying in a place like that has taught Tsuna to think before you act… even though most of the times he doesn't and just acts upon instinct).

When Tsuna arrived to the source of the scream, he didn't know what to expect. If it was anything, then it would have just been a girl crying her heart out and shaking/cowering in fear; but definitely not a boy protecting the girl that was behind him. Strangely enough, both of the kids' hair was shaped like… pineapples? They looked like siblings too (twins, perhaps). The only thing different though was that the boy had a blue and red eye, with the red eye having the kanji for 'one' in it while the girl just had blue eyes. There was something strange though. He felt some sort of unexplained connection to them. It was as if they knew the same pain he felt...

"You stupid kids… when will you learn your lesson?" One of the scientists asked the kids as they cornered the kids. With each step the scientists took to get closer to them, the boy began to growl more and more. "Don't touch us with those filthy hands of yours, you mutt." The boy with mismatched eyes snarled. One of the scientists then grabbed the boy's chin and lifted it up, forcing the boy to look directly into the scientist's eyes. "What did you say, brat?!" Then the scientist grinned evilly as a sly idea popped into his head.

"Since punishing you directly does not seem to affect you, I wonder what would happen if we did something to your twin!" The man stated gleefully as the other scientists agreed with his idea whole heartedly. "You wouldn't dare…" The boy growled. "I would, and I could. In fact, why don't we punish her by having her do the very same experiment we're doing on you at the moment, hmm?" The scientist taunted as the other scientists began to reach for her, ignoring the boy's attempts to stop them. "P-pl-please l-l-let g-go!" The girl stuttered as she began to thrash about, trying to escape from the adult's grasp. "Sorry, but no can do, sweet-y~. You see, it's your turn now. Your brother already had his." The scientist that had her in his grasp said in a sickly sweet voice that sent shivers down all of the kids' backs. "NO!" The girl and boy yelled as the girl's eyes began to water and struggled even more.

At that moment, Tsuna decided to make himself known to help the kids. "Get your hands off of them." Tsuna said as he walked towards the twins (kneeing the men who were holding them in the process) in order to stand in front of them. "Oh great, another escapee…" the scientist that was previously holding the boy's chin sarcastically said. "I leave you guys for a just one year only to find out that some of our experiments are on the loose?" The scientist stated angrily, clearly ticked off. "We are very sorry, chief!" All of the scientists said as they bowed in front of the chief. The scientist – now identified as the chief – began to approach Tsuna to inspect him.

"Well, well… aren't you interesting… you clearly have been here for some time now," The chief said as the twins began to notice that the lab gown that Tsuna wore was full of holes and had a lot of blood and dirt on it, "yet you aren't broken. How intriguing… Tell me, little boy, what's your name?" The chief asked as he tilted Tsuna's chin up. "Like I'd tell a mentally deranged pedophile like you, baka~" Tsuna insulted as he sacked him (LOL apparently Tsuna grew a back bone to talk back and rebel, don't ya think). The twins behind Tsuna found it hard to resist the urge to laugh at the insult that Tsuna threw at the chief. As if sensing their amusement, Tsuna turned his head towards them and grinned happily. The twins couldn't help but to feel a bit at ease by the smile that Tsuna gave them.

As Tsuna turned his head to face the twins behind him, the scientists managed to see the ear cuff that was forcibly put onto him. "Ah!" One of the scientists said in recognition, "Chief, this boy here is test subject #27, the experiment that we got about four months after you left! Ever since he came here, he has always on the loose. He kept on trying to escape so many times that we were forced to tie him up and lock him in a cage! Apparently that wasn't enough since he somehow got out of there yesterday and we had to put a tracker on him! He's the Vongola boy we managed to buy from Vongola's 'Young Lion' secretly!" The scientist explained as he whispered the last part to the chief. "I see… no wonder I found him interesting. The Vongola never ceases to impress me..." The chief said.

'Again with the Vongola? *Sigh* Seriously, as soon as I get out of here, I swear, I will find out who they are...' Tsuna thought to himself (just to let you know, Tsuna heard what the scientist whispered to the chief.) 'So Iemitsu's known as the 'Young Lion', huh...' Tsuna thought one moreas he slapped the chief's hand from his face and said, "Don't touch me, pedo." That earned him a few giggles from the girl and a huge-ass grin from her counter-part. "Kufufu~ I would've said that he's a shotacon, but since we're not in Japan, I guess pedophile would have to do." The boy mocked with a fake frown, earning a giggle from Tsuna.

"You boys better shut up now if you don't want to be tested on every day." The chief threatened. The threat got the boy to stiffen a bit but it didn't affect Tsuna one bit. After all, he's already doing it every day. "Been there, done that. Err... still doing it, I mean." Tsuna said lazily then looked at the chief straight in the eye. With a sly grin and eyes flashing orange, he taunted, "Got anything else?" The chief just looked a bit bewildered and confused, as if he didn't know that Tsuna had been tested every single day since he came there.

One of the scientists caught onto this and said "You see chief, #27 is already being tested on every day; ever since he came here, to be exact." The scientist then took a glance at his watch. "In fact, you should have been in the lab already." Then the scientist sighed, "So how did you escape this time?" Tsuna grinned, now realizing that that scientist was in the group of scientists and guards that were always chasing him whenever he escaped his cage. Figuring he (Tsuna) owed him (since the scientist didn't seem that bad) at least that much for the trouble he (Tsuna) caused him (the scientist), Tsuna explained, "You know, I always thought that adults always had a higher pain tolerance than us kids, but today I found out that I was wrong! I made a HUGE discovery! With one bite to the hand, I was free!" (You know what, scratch out everything I said earlier about Tsuna not changing much, since we can all tell that his personality has changed from a shy one to a bit more out-going and troublesome one since the Estraneo famiglia took him) The twins, chief and the rest of the scientists had to resist the urge to face palm at the surprisingly-still-able-to-smile-happily brunette's answer.

Already getting tired of what was going on today, the chief decided to step in. He said, "#27." Tsuna turned and looked at him, "We won't experiment on the girl go for a week if you don't cause us any more trouble today." "Both of them." Tsuna said. "What?" The chief asked. "I won't cause any trouble for anyone or do anything for a week if you don't experiment on the girl and boy for a whole week, and of course food being provided for them." Tsuna clarified. The chief just sighed, "I don't think that you understand what position you are in right now, #27. I make the deals. You either say 'yes' or 'no' to the deals." the chief growled, a bit annoyed now. "On the other hand," Tsuna began, "I'm the one who causes trouble. You guys are the ones who have to fix it. I can do a lot more than just run around the building." "What could you possibly do?" The chief snarled, ignoring the sudden feeling of dread that entered his mind that clearly became evident on his face before he changed his facial expression in a split second, hoping that no one noticed.

Unfortunately for him, Tsuna did notice; as a mischievous glint became visible in Tsuna's eyes. "You know, I find it very hard to always be careful... with all of these wires on the ground and priceless machines all over the place... when adding my natural abnormal clumsiness and accident-proneness into play... " Tsuna began, a smirk growing on his lips as he noticed that the chief was now getting what Tsuna meant. Tsuna continued nonetheless, now with a devious smirk playing on his lips and narrowed eyes twinkling with mischief, "Who knows what may happen?" The chief's eyes narrowed too as he growled, "You wouldn't dare…" (A/N- déjà-vu, anyone?) Tsuna giggled a bit. "And I quote from what you said earlier, 'I would, and I could'." Tsuna quoted with a smirk still on his face.

"It's true, chief." One of the scientists said, "Truth be told, he did it before. In fact, it was the day right before you came back." Tsuna's face began to redden all of a sudden. "What?!" the chief yelled in disbelief and then looked at Tsuna, "I thought that an experiment that went wrong caused all that... destruction..." At that comment, Tsuna's face became beet red from embarrassment. "That was by accident! I didn't mean to! I said sorry!" Tsuna said. The looks of disbelief spread from the chief to the rest of the scientists. "That was an accident?! You didn't mean to?! It looked like the place went through war and just came out of it!" The chief exclaimed, then whispered to himself, "Oh God... if that was an accident..."

The chief looked towards Tsuna then sighed. "Actually, I can see that happen after reading the half-assed info the 'Young Lion' gave to us about you. It's still a wonder though as to how you managed to get friends at all." Tsuna's mood went from playful and mischievous to serious and deadly in a matter of seconds, yet he still kept his face the same. "Maybe we should also take them to see what makes them so different from everyone else... It'll be interesting..." The chief continued.

At that comment, Tsuna snapped. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Tsuna harshly said at the chief. "And why not?" The chief inquired. "Because the day you do is the day you'll die." Tsuna said eerily, causing the chief to shiver knowing that if it was this boy, he would do it; since from what he saw so far from the boy, he is someone who would not hesitate to harm someone in order to protect those whom are important to him. "Plus, your boss and I made a deal with me promising the safety of my friends from you freaks and if you were to do anything to them, you would be breaking that deal." Tsuna added.

"Hahahaha!" The chief laughed. "So you were the one that caught the Boss' attention! He wouldn't stop talking about how much trouble a boy he recently bought from the boy's parents caused him so much trouble to catch and how he had to make the boy willingly come with him in order to capture him!" The chief then wiped a tear from his eye "And here I thought you were just interesting... now you're downright entertaining! You know, I think I'll take you up with that deal you proposed, just to entertain you." The chief finally said. He turned to face the rest of the scientists then pointed at a group of scientists and said, "You guys take #27 to the lab. The rest of you (which were only 3 scientists) take those twins to #27's cage. I have a feeling that he'd want them there to make sure that we're upholding our end of the bargain." Turning back to face Tsuna, he saw Tsuna nod in agreement before he was dragged off to the lab by the group of scientists, leaving the twins that were behind him to stare at his back before they themselves are being dragged to his cage. Somewhere in the back of the chief's mind was a lingering question, 'Since when did his mood change?'

Truth be told, the only ones that noticed when Tsuna's mood suddenly changed were the somewhat-forgotten twins behind him, while the rest remained oblivious due to Tsuna's skill at being able to hide his emotions well. The only reason as to why only they were able to tell the difference in his attitude was because they were like Tsuna -more so the girl than the boy though.

Like Tsuna, from a very young age they were able to see through people's facades. Heck, even their families were practically the same. Their parents gave love and praise towards their eldest, the boy while they hated, scorned, and abused their youngest, the girl. The boy also had the same sense of overprotectiveness towards his younger sibling too. The only thing that was different though was that the girl, even though she was also bullied, never managed to get any friends and that the boy knew of the way that their parents would treat his sister.

The day that their parents decided to sell the girl to the Estraneo famiglia as a lab rat was the greatest mistake of their lives. Not only did they 'lose' their daughter, but their son went along with her. The boy truly loved his sister very much. The way he saw how their parents treated his sister made him feel sick to his stomach. He wanted to kill them so bad. The only thing that was stopping him was his adorable sister, for she still loved them despite the way they treated her. She made him see that their parents could've done much worse things to her than they were doing now; 'At least they aren't that cruel,' she said.

He wanted to believe -oh, how much he wanted to believe that his sister was right- that they did have some compassion within them for his sister somewhere. But as quickly as that hope came was as quickly as that hope went. All of his hope went out the window because of that day.

He was still home that day; when they came for his dear sister. He saw how his parents just gave her (while she was still sleeping) to them. He saw the greed on their parents' faces when they were given the money in exchange her. He saw the twistedness that was in them that his sister refused to acknowledge. He saw all of it. That's why he went with her even though he fully understood that where he was going to go to was probably going to be a place similar to hell. He couldn't just leave his innocent little sister to face whatever they were going to face on her own, just because of their 'parents' greed she had to suffer. He found it unfair and not right. That's why he left them and went with his sister, seeing that it was too late to try to save her, the least he could do is be with her and ease her with whatever they were about to go through; for he's an older brother, and older brothers are supposed to protect their younger siblings.

Only about 20 to 30 minutes after entering the lab, Tsuna was already a bloodied mess. Today, it looked like they were going all out because after being tortured every day for months he began to learn that the number of injuries he sustains a day is linked to what mood they were in and apparently they were in a bad mood today - it was probably because he didn't come to the lab on time like he was supposed to.

Tsuna quickly snapped out of his musings when one of the scientists came towards him with a syringe in his hands containing some sort of strange clear liquid in it. Tsuna's HI was sending off warning bells to his brain, trying to tell him to get as far away from it as possible; but seeing the position that he was in now was impossible. From what Tsuna could tell from his HI was telling him, what that clear liquid was going to do to him was something that wasn't supposed to happen to him until he was much older later on in life. "This here," The scientist said as he gestured to the syringe he was holding, "is something we call the midnight clear serum. We only give this to those we deem worthy and think may survive it's... side effects. And even then so far no one has survived it. But since you're of Vongola descent, were placing a lot of our hopes in you. Don't you dare disappoint us, #27." The scientist said with a sickly sweet smile upon his face as he injected the liquid into Tsuna's body.

Usually, Tsuna would be able to handle any sort of pain that was given to him due to having a high tolerance for pain. But this was pain was completely new to him. He had never felt anything as painful as this before. Whatever the scientist injected him with -the midnight clear serum was it? - made his blood feel like it was on fire. It felt like all of the bones in his body were being crushed by some unexplained force. Hell, it even hurt like hell whenever he tried to breath. He tried to keep it in, he didn't want to let the scientists feel any pleasure from his pleads for them to stop and screams in agony, but he couldn't keep it in any longer. A blood-curling scream escaped from his mouth and echoed throughout the room. He was pretty sure that that scream was load enough to be heard anything in this building.

Tsuna kept screaming in pain as he felt his body heat up even more, if that were possible. Not only did his blood but now his entire body felt like it was on fire. Little did Tsuna know that his body actually was on fire. In fact, it was melting the away at the restraints that were hold him down to the table. What Tsuna did notice though was that all of the scientists around him were grinning and gleefully yelling stuff like "It worked! It actually worked!" and "We finally found someone who can withstand it!" and "We managed to unlock his sky flames as well!" While all of that was going on, only one single wish passed through Tsuna's mind before he completely passed out from pain and exhaustion. 'Sky... The sky... Let me be free; free like the everlasting, untouchable, unreachable sky... Caelum...'

After Tsuna fell unconscious in the lab, the scientists decided that that was all they were going to do to the boy today; after all, they didn't want to kill the child that was finally able to withstand the midnight clear serum. So a scientist lifted him up and brought him back to his cage.

Currently, the two twins were in Tsuna's cage, waiting for the said boy that helped them to come back so they could thank him.

"Mukuro-nii..." the girl said to the boy, now identified as Mukuro.

"What is it, my dear Nagi?" Mukuro asked his sister.

"That boy... will he be alright?" Nagi asked, "I... he... even though he's younger than us, he helped us, even saved us in a way. Since we're older than him, shouldn't we've been the ones to help him instead of him helping us? I-I want to help him... to be there for him. I don't know why but I feel like I should be protecting him..." Nagi continued.

"I do too, dear Nagi, I do too." replied Mukuro.

There was something unexplainable about the boy they just met. There was just something about him that made them want to protect the boy from the people who want to hurt him. The first time he laid eyes upon the boy he knew that that boy had a rough life even before he came to this hell-hole. In fact, he was pretty sure that the boy had it tougher than they had it. Just by looking at his eyes, he saw the look of defiance. The only type of people that Mukuro could've think of who would act like that even in these sort of situations were people who hated the way how they were forced to live and grow up and just wanted to be free from the unfairness of the world, someone who truly cursed their fate, someone like them. Usually the stronger that type of person was the more unfairness of the world they faced and survived through. Age does not matter when it comes to cruelty.

While Mukuro was trying to calm down and reassure Nagi that the boy will live, he couldn't help but wonder if the boy would actually survive. After all, there is no guarantee that you'll live to see tomorrow in this hell-hole. So when they heard a blood-curling scream coming from somewhere in the building, they couldn't help but feel dread setting in. That scream - they could tell that it was from the very same boy that helped them. Even though they just met the boy today, the boy had a unique melodious voice that made his voice easily recognizable if heard once again.

As that one boy kept on screaming for what seemed like forever to them, all they wished and hoped for was that the boy didn't die in those bastards' hands, not after they finally found someone that accepts them - the both of them. The little boy didn't deserve to have this done to him. They themselves didn't deserve to have it done to them as well. But the unfairness of the world said 'too bad' to them and just allowed them to suffer.

By now, the boy had stopped screaming. They were worried sick about the child, like a mother should be with her own. All they could do now is wait and hope that the boy didn't die and that he would come back to them.

All of their hopes and prayers were answered once the door opened to reveal a scientist carrying the same child they saw earlier except… bloodier. Mukuro and Nagi felt mixed emotions once they saw the boy's condition. They felt relief wash over them once they saw the boy's chest raising and falling in the scientist's arms (he was carrying Tsuna bridal style) yet enraged at how injured the boy came back.

Once the scientist came to their cage and opened the door, Mukuro didn't waste any time snatching the boy from the scientist. "Don't let #27 die yet. He's the one we've been waiting for all these years now. He's the first one that finally survived that serum." The scientist said with a smirk as he saw the horrified look on Mukuro's face then left. 'No… it can't be! No one's should have been able to survive that! From what I heard, they all died from the excruciating pain that they felt. Does this mean that this boy has a monstrous amount of tolerance for pain?' Mukuro thought to himself while he looked at the unconscious boy in his arms with a look akin to pity and concern in his eyes.

Nagi just looked at her brother in confusion. "Mukuro-nii," Nagi called to her brother, "do you know what that man is talking about?" Nagi asked.

"Yes, I do dear Nagi. It seems like they gave that serum to our little saviour here. What it does to its victims is something I can't be certain about since he's the first person that actually survived after taking that thing." Mukuro said. "Mukuro-nii, what is the serum that you're talking about?" Nagi inquired.

"That serum, my dear Nagi, is something that they call the 'Midnight Clear' serum. It is a serum that they, along with another scientist that goes by the name 'Verde' I believe, made a few years ago that unlocks the hidden power in a person that would usually take years to do normally through training. Just before the completion of that serum though, the scientist Verde heard about their hidden agenda to use that serum and take over the mafia world. Since it was too late to destroy the serum, he tweaked it a bit to make it so that those who take it will be in such unimaginable pain that 99.9% of those who take it die. Those who endure and survive the pain though are supposed to be unimaginably strong on the other hand." Mukuro explained. Nagi was shocked to know that the very boy that saved them had so much inner strength; seeing how he was able to survive that serum they injected into him.

"Mmmnn…" The boy in Mukuro's arms groaned as he was waking up. Mukuro let the boy sit on the ground as the boy blinked his eyes a few times before looking to see where he was. "Ah! It's you two!" The boy said. "Are you guys alright? They didn't hurt you or anything, right?" He asked concernedly. The twins were stunned once again; never in their life until this moment have they met someone as selfless as the boy right in front of them was. They felt a little bit guilty and unworthy to be in front of the boy.

Don't get them wrong, they're glad that there is someone in this world that cares for the both of them equally. It's just that from what they've seen from that person already, they can already tell that he is too selfless, too kind, too forgiving. It's something that would be seen as weakness to other people's eyes; but in the right situations, that very same weakness can be the greatest offense.

When Tsuna woke up, he found himself being held by someone. He blinked his eyes a few times to get the blurriness out of his eyes. It wasn't until when his sight became clear again that he saw it was the boy that he saved and on the other side of him was the girl.

"Ah!" Tsuna exclaimed. "It's you two!" Then Tsuna realised how warn out and tired they were. "Are you two alright? They didn't hurt you or anything, right?" Tsuna asked.

The girl pouted a bit and lightly hit Tsuna on the head. "We should be the ones asking you that question, silly." The girl giggled a bit. "My name is Nagi Dokuro Spade."

As if catching onto what his sister was trying to do, her counterpart joined in. "Kufufu~ and my name is Mukuro Rokudo Spade. What's your name, usa-chan?" Mukuro asked.

Tsuna thought for a moment. He didn't want to say the name they gave to him, but he also didn't know what name to call himself. "Since I don't wanna use the name that they gave me, just call me Tsu or Caelum." Tsuna said after a brief moment of thinking. Mukuro and Nagi nodded their heads.

"Well then Tsu, how old are you?" Mukuro asked.

"Hmm… I think I still should be about 6 years old. At least that's how old I was the last time I checked." Tsuna replied.

Nagi gasped and looked at her brother. "Mukuro-nii… does this mean that-"

"Yes, yes it does, my dear Nagi." Mukuro answered.

Nagi squelled in delight as Tsuna looked at them in confusion. "Oh sorry about that, Tsu. Mukuro-niisama and I are twins. Since we're older than you, you can call me 'Nagi-nee' or 'Oneechan' or something along those lines; same with Mukuro-nii." Nagi said.

"Hai Nagi-nee, Muku-nii." Tsuna answered cutely. Before anyone could say anything, Tsuna yawned sleepily.

"Kufufu~ Looks like it's time for Tsu to sleep, doesn't it Nagi?" Mukuro asked.

"So it seems, Mukuro-nii. Now, let's sleep, Tsu." Nagi said as she crawled towards Mukuro and Tsuna.

"Hai. Oyasumi, Muku-nii, Nagi-nee." Tsuna said.

"Oyasumi, Tsu." Mukuro and Nagi said to Tsuna as they watched Tsuna begin to nod off to sleep. Once they were sure that he was sleeping, Nagi looked at Mukuro.

"Mukuro-nii…"

"Yea, Nagi?"

"He'll… survive, right? We'll all make it through this together and escape from here, right?" Nagi asked as she began to shake, no longer able to keep up the strong front she wore in front of Tsuna.

"Shhh, shhh…" Mukuro began, trying to calm Nagi down. "I can't guarantee you that, but I'll try to make it so. Now let's go to sleep, we won't want Tsu to be worried, now do we."

"Hai. Arigato, Mukuro-nii. Oyasumi." Nagi said.

"Oyasumi." Mukuro said as they too, began to drift off to sleep.

(A/N- I suggest you read this since it might be referred to in future chapters)

Extra: How Tsuna Chose His New Name

Timeline: a week or so after Tsuna was captured by the Estraneo famiglia and (mostly) the TYL Future.

A 16-year old brunette was running around the Vongola mansion, laughing his head off while being chased by an infuriated melon head, an annoyed pineapple head, a female pineapple head, a smirking skylark, a policeman (Alaude for those who don't get it), a trigger-happy raven (Reborn), a marshmallow, an overprotective bomber puppy, a happy-go-lucky baseball-idiot, an EXTREME boxer, a red head (Enma), a snickering idiot-cow, a ranking prince, a tail-head (I-pin), a shark that goes 'VOI', a prince (Bel), a frog, a gay, a loyal puppy (Levi-A-Than), a drunkard boss (Xanxaus) and the rest of the rainbow people (Arcobaleno). Throughout the mansion laughter and the occasional explosions and what not could be heard. Where was brunette going to you may ask? Well, to his *coughoverprotectivecough* sweets-loving brother, of course.

"Gio-niichan!" A childish voice yelled as the doors to the dining room opened and revealed a cute, short brunette that had untameable hair. "Save me from those fruit-heads!" The brunette said as he jumped into the older blonde's arms and pointed at two cosplaying men. One of them was dressed as a melon and the other as a pineapple. To make it even worse, not only were they dressed as one, but their hair were dyed and their face were painted to complete the look!

With one look, all of the people in the dining room were laughing their heads off. "Pftt- Hahaha! You guys look amazing! Hahaha! I knew you guys could have done it if you tried! Now, be free, fruit-people! Be with your kind out there in the world!" The blonde joked, causing even more laughter throughout the room.

"Nufufu~ now you have done it, Giotto. Not only will Tsunayoshi be facing my wrath but you as well." The melon grinned evilly.

"Oh can-it, Daemon-nii." The brunette -now identified as Tsunayoshi- said. (A/N- Get it, get it? 'Can-it'? Canned fruits, anyone?)

"Kufufu~ he got you there, Daemon-nii." The pineapple said to the melon -now known as Daemon.

"Hmm... I wonder if there is there any canned pineapple too. What do you think, Mukuro?" Giotto -the blonde- wondered out loud with a humongous grin adoring his face.

"Kufufu~ you're pushing it now, aren't you Giotto. Do you think it's time to possess Giotto's and Tsu's bodies to take over the mafia yet, Daemon-nii?" Mukuro -the pineapple- grinned at his brother.

"I think it is." Daemon grinned.

"Whao~ the fruit-people have just been promoted to the perverted fruit-people." the skylark surprisingly commented while the policeman just hnn-ed in agreement.

"OH MY GOD!" The pink octopus head yelled and a priest interrupted, "Don't say God's name in vain TO THE EXTREEEEMMMEE!" which was ignored.

"Kyoya and Alaude have just agreed on something without being violent in any way! Either the world's going to end or hell's frozen over!" that comment just earned a tonfa to the pink octopus' head, whom the latter just dodged and the tonfa ended up hitting the cow.

"Gotta *Sniff* stay *Sniff* calm" Lambo said.

"Holly shit! It began! Everyone, SCATTER!" Giotto told everyone as they all began to run in different directions. "I can't!" The cow yelled as he pulled out a purple bazooka from his hair.

All sorts of voices could be heard around the room now.

"Jyuudaime, run! I'll find safe place for you!"

"Baka-G! You better do something quick! It's your fault that it hit ore-sama's little brother!"

"Maa maa Hayato, we're just playing hide-and-go-seek."

"EXTREME JOGGING!"

"Kufufu/Nufufu~"

"Nii-sama…"

"Hnn."

"Ushishishi~ the prince shall play with you peasants."

"Bell-sempai~ why is there a knife in my hat?"

"Shut up, trash."

"VOIIIII!"

"I'm not getting paid enough for this…"

"Chaos."

"Run, kora!"

"Brat…"

All Tsuna could feel is dread wash over him. Thanks to his HI, he knows that no matter where he goes, the bazooka will somehow hit him. So Tsuna just stopped dead in his tracks and called out to Giotto, "Gio-niichan!" Giotto turned to face Tsuna and saw that Tsuna stopped running.

"What are you doing Tsu-chan?! Come on!" Giotto yelled at Tsuna as Lambo just fired as he fell due to I-pin tackling him in attempt to stop him.

Tsuna just smiled and waved, "See ya in a while!" before poofing into pink smoke as a result of getting hit by the bazooka.

Everyone stopped running around the room and came closer to look at the pink smoke, wondering what Tsuna would look like as a 6 year old child. Giotto, the baseball idiot Takeshi, the skylark Kyoya, the boxer Ryohei and the two pineapple twins Mukuro and Chrome didn't though since they were with/have already met Tsuna when he was 6 already. When the pink smoke finally cleared up, what everyone saw made their stomachs' churn and happy moods drop. In the middle of the room was a heavily injured 6 year old Tsuna who looked like he was currently on the run since he was breathing heavily.

If Tsuna was in a different situation, they probably would have fawned over him. After all, when Tsuna was younger, he was a downright adorable child. With his naturally spikey brown hair and big brown doe eyes, to top it off with his petit structure and girly face, he was like the symbol of innocence. He could've even been mistaken as an angel! But alas, the situation that this 6 year old Tsuna was in wasn't in a very good one.

What he was wearing and the state his body was in was what threw everyone off. He was wearing a dirty hospital gown stained with patches of blood, no one needed to ask who's blood it belonged to since they saw how Tsuna too was bleeding. Around his neck was the same bruise that Nana gave him when she chocked him just before he was taken by the Estraneo famiglia, same with the bruises he sustained on his arms; excepting that now the colour. They saw a lot of bruises, scars and cuts that were still healing littered all over his torso and on his back peeking through the holes in his gown. What alarmed them the most though were his honest eyes still were. Even though his eyes shone with life, if you looked deeper, you could see how broken he is.

What they saw beyond his 'mask' wasn't something they liked at all. They hated it, in fact. Beyond his mask they saw all of his insecurities and pain, how unloved and lonely he was, how much he wished to be free of his horrible fate, how self-less he truly is; and most of all, they saw how strong Tsuna was on the inside even back then. They knew that if it had been another child in Tsuna's place, living his life, they would've probably have died already. If not dead then broken, if not broken then their state of mind probably have been messed up. They wouldn't have been able to go through all of the things Tsuna went through and still want to live. Hell, even they didn't know if they could do it either.

Then they noticed how guarded Tsuna's posture was towards them. They couldn't help but feel a little bit surprised when his guarded posture slowly became more and more relaxed. That action then leads them to believe that Tsuna already activated his HI, which was quite an accomplishment. Tsuna looked a bit hesitant before looking towards each and everyone one of them in the eye as if he was looking through their soul and asked them a question that ringed throughout all of their minds, a question that he himself has probably never been asked enough times in his life, if he was even asked at all. Tsuna breathed in and out; as if trying to settle his nerves and gather his courage. He then looked at them again with clear eyes that only showed concern for them.

"Are you alright?" was the question Tsuna asked.

Before Tsuna came to the future, he was running. Why was Tsuna running? To try to escape from the Estraneo famiglia, of course. It has already been about a few weeks since he was taken by them yet he's already on his tenth escape attempt. That's how much he hates it - how much he hates being experimented on, how much he hates being mistreated, how much he hates getting hurt by other people, how much he curses his own fate. If Tsuna has learned anything in his life; it would be to never trust anyone, specifically adults.

That's why when pink smoke suddenly engulfs him while he was running in search of an exit and then clears up to reveal a bunch of teens and adults staring at him made him put up his guard. Then he noticed that they aren't like the adults that he has seen before. They don't look like they want to hurt him. In fact, they look like they want to help him, but they just don't know how to.

Tsuna let his guard drop a bit after realizing that nothing bad will happen to him. Then he drops it more and more as he stares at all of them and realizes that none of them wants to hurt him and not all of them had the best of childhoods nor pasts either. In fact, it broke his heart when he found saw how emotionally damaged most of them were on the inside even though he knew that all of them were a lot older than he was. He was a bit hesitant, afraid that someone may feel a bit offended and lash out at him but he couldn't help it; he just had to ask.

Gathering his courage Tsuna asked, "Are you alright?"

To Tsuna's surprise, all Tsuna could feel from them after he asked that question was guilt. 'What are they feeling guilty for?' Tsuna wondered then began to feel uncomfortable under the stares of everyone else. As if sensing this, the raven stepped out of the crowed and approached Tsuna and then proceeded to lightly hit Tsuna's head.

"Baka-Tsuna, you're not supposed to ask that question to adults when you on the other hand is obviously injured. Worry about yourself more." The raven said.

"It's ok though." Tsuna replied, "I'm used to it."

"Then get unused to it." The raven demanded.

"I can't." Tsuna said.

"And why can't you?" The raven asked.

Tsuna just shrugged, "Don't know, but I just know that I can't since it'll continue for who knows how much longer. You could say that a feeling that's always right is telling me this."

The raven just sighed, now understanding that Tsuna was confusing what he was asking him to get unused to. "I'm not asking you to get unused to the pain-"

"You aren't?" Tsuna interrupted.

The raven just continued as if he never got interrupted, "-you're going through right now. I'm asking you to stop caring about others so much and start caring about yourself more."

"Why?" Tsuna asked. "Why should I care about myself if everyone around me just wants to hurt me?"

"Because..." The raven began, kneeling down to Tsuna's height and putting a hand on Tsuna's head, "later on in life, you'll find people who don't want to see you get hurt and who'll want to protect you. In fact, you're proof is right here, in front of your very own eyes. Everyone who are here are a part of those people you'll meet sometime in the future; people who will do anything in their power to protect you. Just believe and keep on living, everything will be alright in due time."

Tsuna looked up to the raven with teary eyes. "Really?" Tsuna asked.

"Yeah, really." the raven promised. Glancing back at his watch, he then continued, "Well then, soon you'll get back to your time."

'My time? What does he mean by that? Why is he saying 'in the future' and such?' Tsuna thought to himself.

"Remember this too, Tsuna. No matter what is going to happen or has already happened to you, you'll always be our sky; the sky that has gave us a reason to live, a reason to protect, a place where we're wanted, our dear Caelum. So never give up and survive with your dying will, Caelum." The raven said, smirking at the name he chose to call Tsuna.

'How did he know my name?' and 'Who's 'Caelum'? Is that supposed to be another name for me?' were the only thoughts that went through Tsuna's before he was once more engulfed in pink smoke.

*POOF!*

When the pink smoke cleared up once again, they saw the Tsuna of their timeline standing there grinning.

"What the hell happened to you, Tsuna?" The raven asked as he noticed that Tsuna hair was even more messed up and clothes were ruffled up and a bit dirty.

"Hehe~ nothing much, Reborn." Tsuna said before he showed a peace sign to Mukuro and Chrome. "I just got some sweet revenge at a famiglia that treated us quite... nicely when we were younger."

Mukuro quickly put the pieces together and figured out what Tsuna meant. "Kufufu~ that's no fair Tsu~ I'd also like to have my revenge too..." Nagi just nodded.

Everyone looked at them confusedly. Sure, they knew about Mukuro and Nagi and their horrible past of being experimented on when they were younger. So if both Mukuro and Nagi wanted to take revenge on the same famiglia that Tsuna wanted when they were younger, plus seeing the state Tsuna's younger self was in, that only meant one thing.

"Tsunayoshi," Giotto called (Giotto only uses Tsuna's full name when he's being serious or angry).

"Yes, Giotto-niisan?" Tsuna asked (Tsuna also changes his way of addressing Giotto when Giotto's in that mode or if Tsuna is serious or angry too).

"Were you also..." Giotto trailed off as he didn't really want to say it but he knew he'd have to if he wanted answers. "Were you also experimented on by the Estraneo famiglia?"

"... In a way, I guess?" Tsuna finally answered as he looked away as everyone looked at him in surprise at this revelation.

"What do you mean?" Giotto asked.

Before Tsuna could respond, Mukuro intervened.

"Tsu means that yes, he was taken by those bastards and forced to survive in that hell-hole, but technically he wasn't 'experimented' on. He was more so used as... something similar to precious research material to find out more about Vongola's mysterious bloodline." Mukuro said, "Though Tsu wasn't physically altered there unlike the rest of us test subjects that were there, I'd say that he had it the worst there. You see, unlike the rest of us, Tsu was in their lab every day, being tortured and pushed to his limits so far that he faints."

Tsuna, sensing that he wasn't going to like where this was going to end, decided to stop Mukuro. "Mukuro, that's enough. Don't tell them anymo- rrff~" A hand covered Tsuna's mouth, preventing him from speaking. Tsuna looked up to see who it was only to find out that it was Reborn.

"Continue what you were saying, Mukuro." Reborn ordered.

"Hai, hai, arcobaleno." Mukuro said as he continued, "As I was saying before, he was being tortured every day. Hmm... To put it nicely, let's just say that they just loved to test his HI skills, healing capabilities, and how tolerant he was to pain. I'm pretty sure they did a lot worse to him than that to him though since every day when he came back to our cage -yes, cage. It was his personal cage before he saved us. He looked dead on his feet, hell... sometimes he was carried back unconscious with severe injuries. I always found it strange how he was still able to run around that hell-hole after all of that in search for an exit. I always thought he was an idiot for not conserving his energy for the next day in hell." Mukuro finished.

Tsuna -who finally freed himself from Reborn- grinned, "Well, this idiot here was the one that finally found our exit to freedom." Tsuna said that in hopes to lighten up the mood a bit, but instead to them, Tsuna just admitted that everything Mukuro said was true.

There was a long moment of silence and Tsuna just looked around, confused.

"Why? Why didn't you tell us that this happened to you before? Don't you trust us?" Giotto asked Tsuna, breaking the silence.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that... well... let's just say that I don't really like telling anyone about my past. After all, some things are better off being forgotten." Tsuna replied.

Catching onto the deeper meaning of Tsuna's words, Reborn decided to make it known. "So that means you're hiding a lot more secrets about your past than you're letting on, right Tsuna?" Reborn stated.

"A-ahahaha~ W-what could you p-possibly mean, R-Reborn? I-I'm not h-hiding a-anything else a-about my p-past." Tsuna chuckled nervously as he silently cursed himself for stuttering.

Everyone else in the room face palmed at how obvious Tsuna made it to them that he was lying since they knew when Tsuna stuttered like that, it meant that he was lying.

"You know what Tsuna?"

"W-What?"

"You suck at lying."

Tsuna scratched his cheek nervously while everyone was coming closer and closer to him as if to try to trap him to get him to tell them about his past. "W-Well... if you l-look at the time... I… gottagonowbye!" Tsuna said as he ran off to only God knows where.

"COME BACK HERE TSUNAYOSHI!" Giotto yelled as he began to run after Tsuna.

Everyone else were just standing there, contemplating on if they should chase Tsuna too. He was like a brother to all of them. Well, a troublesome brother who always manages to attract trouble. They should respect his privacy, but then again, he was also known as Caelum Perla, mafia's most wanted (whether the rest of the mafia knew it or not). He was known as the infamous Yozora whom is also being sought out by the mafia. In the end, curiosity got the better of them with wanting to know Tsuna's mysterious past and soon they too began to chase after Giotto and Tsuna.

You would've thought that they would be smart enough to figure out if they pieced together all of the encounters and times they spent with Tsuna, they would've been able to figure out majority of Tsuna's past. Well, I guess they just wanted to hear it out of Tsuna's mouth.

Thus begins another adventure for Tsuna, but that adventure will be for another time now...

*Real-fake personality – The personality that Tsuna adapts to isn't much different from his original one. Some prominent differences between both personalities are that Tsuna's new one is more out-going, confident, mischievous, stubborn, childish (does not mean he acts greedy and spoilt though, it just means that he is… playful), and is able to control his emotions better (ex: even if he is sad, he's able to trick everyone into thinking he is happy). Other than that, Tsuna is the same – very selfless, loyal, still (a bit?) naïve, kind, reckless, etc.

Poll Results:

No Romance-20

Yes Romance-24

Slight/Implied All27-35

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Word count: 9 448