Chapter 21

"It's been a while since we last saw each other like this in the middle of a mafia war," Yuni commented, her face as calm as ever. She was staring straight into Byakuran's eyes, piercing, to be exact. She has always had this kind of power to everyone she meets. With just a look in the eye, she could see the souls of the people she looks at.

"The same goes for some of us," Byakuran returned. "Now I see why your name has not been uttered in the underworld for the past fifteen years or so. You were under a new persona," he commented. "I wouldn't be surprised now that your entire family is now fighting at the main door of the base with the rest of the Vongola and the agents that you have recruited over the years…"

Yuni smiled, "I have complete faith in my agents. Even in the ones you have recruited…that has now backfired…" she said, pressing the button on her wristwatch. "I have the authority to make my agents backfire their clients disregarding the rules…" she smirked.

…

At the main entrance of the base, all of the rival agents they were supposed to fight had their wristwatches glow red. It was a sign to change allegiance; the absolute command of the Vendetta Leader.

"Change allegiance!" one of them said.

As it was said, the former agents on the side of the Millefiore began to attack all of the Millefiore soldiers.

…

Byakuran's smile returned to his face and gave out an amused laugh. "You've become quite stingy, Yuni…" his face darkened, "But I don't care if they change allegiance. I have already gotten what I wanted…" he said as he nudged Himeno awake.

The brunette stirred awake, completely conscious this time. She found herself drained and weak because of the contraption she was in a while ago. Smiling, Byakuran let her see everyone in the room. "Everyone!" she shouted. She was about to go to their side if it wasn't for Byakuran who pulled her back.

"Ah, ah, ah, Himeno-chan, you must know what they are hiding first before you go to them…"

The girl's brow rose, "What…what do you mean…?"

At that moment, Tsuna, Yuni and Julian paled. "Himeno, don't listen!" Julian shouted.

"Ugh…Juls…" she managed to let out.

"Do you know who you really are?" Byakuran asked, earning a shocked reply from the girl. "You are none other than Himeno Sawada, the supposed eldest daughter of Tsunayoshi, the Vongola Decimo…"

"No way…" Himeno was beyond shocked at the revelation. But she couldn't believe it right then and there. But when she looked at her foster parents, Tsuna and Julian, and also the others looking worried and guilty for they had known the truth, she confirmed that the albino man was telling the truth.

Byakuran's smile turned sinister, "But then…why were you sent away? Do you know the answer to that?" he rubbed in and chuckled. "Well…I do,"

"Byakuran stop!" Tsuna shouted from the top of his lungs, but the man didn't pay him any heed.

"Tsuna-kun was disappointed that he got a daughter instead of a son to replace him…" it sent an emotional surge in Himeno as she heard every word. Sure she wouldn't care if they sent her away, but she didn't prepare herself to know the 'Why' part of everything. "He planned in having you killed in a mock accident, but if it weren't for your mother who begged him to spare you, he resorted to send you away with no identification whatsoever…"

Tsuna was in a rage control limit right now as the man was feeding her lies about the reason why he sent his daughter away. "That's a lie! Himeno don't listen to him!"

"Himeno!" Nori shouted her name shivering. She feared that the dark side of her power would come to rekindle because of the man's words.

Byakuran just smiled as if he didn't hear anything. "And you know the best part about it? He ordered that once you return to the mafia world, to save face from the public for sending you away and to keep up his 'pure' side, he issued an order to his guardians to kill you if you ever return. And that was decided when your little brother, Ieyoshi, was born…"

Himeno was an emotional wreck right now. She was having a hard time absorbing everything she was hearing. She kept telling herself that the man was lying, but for some reason, she couldn't.

"But then he got his karma when the boy died of heart failure due to a weak heart at seven. That was when he changed tactics and went searching for you so that you could replace him…which was a last minute decision,"

"That's enough Byakuran!" Yuni shouted as she took out Bullet in his box. "Assault!" she commanded, but as she did, everyone felt a familiar aura coming from Himeno herself. Bullet sensed this and stopped midway.

"Himeno!" Risa, Shinkiro and Ai shouted at the same time. Julian was gritting his teeth.

Himeno was feeling absolute rage inside her, and it was uncontrollable. The anger was surging in her entire being. She kept telling herself that he was just playing with him…but she couldn't help but succumb to his words that easily, like she was being sent to a warp that promised nothing…it was what she was thinking before her mind became completely blank.

Everyone stared in pure fear as Byakuran had let Himeno go as she was glowing orange with tinges of black flames.

"Oh no, Himeno's going in berserk mode!" Ai shouted. "Vongola Decimo, get away from her before you get incinerated!" she warned.

Before Tsuna could ask, balls of flames came rampaging around the room, destroying anything vulnerable in its path. There at the middle of a cylindrical shaped flame, was Himeno, her eyes blank, but her face was full of sadness and anger. Tsuna could easily register that it as Byakuran's doing that made her like that.

But he was about to see that what the man had done would cause big disaster.

…

At the outside, the ground started to shake. Everyone felt as if a massive earthquake was taking place at the wrong time.

"What the? No one said that this area is prone to earthquakes," Rinsel complained.

"No, this is not an earthquake," Anju replied.

"I can feel strong energy coming from underground…" Martin stated. "This is not good…"

In just a split second, the earth just below the base shook even more, and out burst the orange flames with tints of blacks in a rampage. The flames didn't choose any people in particular to attack, but if you don't possess a strong flame defense, you could consider yourself incinerated, just like the middle of the Millefiore base.

As they watched the whole occurrence, they couldn't help but make put a shape of a person floating inside of it, as if encasing her in a warp. It was then when Tsuna and the missing agents went out of the base via the hole with the use of Bullet to transport them without getting hit by the rampant flames.

"Tsuna!" Reborn raised a brow to see every one of the agents was rid of their masks, "Yuni?" he wondered.

Yuni looked at the hitman, "There is no time to explain Uncle Reborn. Right now, we have to stop Himeno's outbreak," she insisted, letting the subject drop.

Nodding, Reborn observed the flames coming out from the young girl going berserk. Orange flames with tints of black…Reborn's eyes widened as he recognized the flames. "The Flames of Depression," he muttered.

Tsuna's head snapped to look at Reborn, "What?"

"The Flames of Depression, it is when you emit dangerous flames due to negative emotions, making your flames release black ones. It is the pinnacle of negative flames. Only a person possessing a powerful amount of flames would be able to emit them, and it could be dangerous once the person is sensitive of his emotions and is unable to control it,"

Yuni looked solemn as she looked at the ground. "This is the same thing that happened when she turned eight. That's why we had Deathgazer teach her to control her emotions to seal those dangerous flames," she confessed.

It was then when the guardians, who got out immediately, noticed that Tsuna was already out of the base. "Tenth! What's all this?" Gokudera asked as they approached Tsuna.

Narumi looked at the figure inside the massive flames, "Is that Himeno-chan I see?" she asked.

Mukuro took out his lenses and searched the large mass of flames, "Yes it is…but she seems to be in a trance. She is unconscious of what she is doing. In other words, she's lost her control over the flames…" he informed.

"We need to find a way to soothe her…and Rain flames won't work. The Sky flames will just neutralize them," Yamamoto explained.

Tsuna looked at Himeno's foster parents who were just as worried as him. He knew that they were afraid that something bad would happen to Himeno, what with giving her the love she needed from a parent when Tsuna and Kyoko were grieving for their loss. "Wait…Nori-san, Mori-san," Tsuna called the couple. "Just how did you subdue Himeno back then?" he wondered.

The couple looked at each other, and then at Tsuna. "When she was in a flame rampage, all we did was embrace her to calm her down, since it has worked every time she had nightmares…" Nori answered, "But at this state, it would take more than an embrace to soothe her. And no flame could penetrate through her sky barrier but the sky flame itself…"

That's where it hit Tsuna. "That's it!" he shouted, then huddled the others to listen to his plan.

Byakuran looked at the show in front of him in wonder. The girl had so much power that it awed him. Not even himself could create and release such enormous amount of flames. No matter how much he had wanted to fight the main people of the Vongola, he figured he would only come down once the young brunette calms down, and he would deal with her leftovers. He smirked at that thought.

…

Himeno was stirring inside herself. The last thing she remembered was that Byakuran told her the reason why she was sent away from the world she was born to. All because she was a girl unfit to inherit the Vongola title. She felt really hurt and disbelief since the man that she had discovered to be her biological father could look so innocent, but at the same time, think sinisterly and heartless. It was thanks to her mother that she was spared an 'accidental' death. How could her family do that to her? No one protested when she was sent away, and no one bothered to check what was happening to her. But then…why would they care if they never wanted her in the first place? Why would she bother to think that they are watching over her? There was nothing to watch about her besides her possible entrance in the mafia world…

It was then when she heard a soft voice of a boy. Himeno tried and pried her eyes to open, but as she did, she was met by a ray of sunlight, but was blocked by something. Slowly, she opened her eyes, only to see a mass of spiky orange-red hair and caramel eyes staring at her. Judging by the features, the boy looked about seven to eight years old and resembles someone she saw before. She swore she has seen that face before.

"Hi…nee…Himeno-nee, are you alright?" the boy asked.

It was then when she remembered the boy. The child in the family photo she has seen at the Vongola base on the first day they were sent to the living quarters. "Ieyoshi…?" she muttered softly. She was feeling a little numb at the moment, maybe from the amount of sleeping gas that was made for her to inhale twice or thrice was the cause of it. The sleeping gas may also be the reason that she was seeing her brother in front of her who was supposed to be dead. She closed her eyes completely again and grunted, "Ugh…why of all people am I hallucinating the face my unknown brother…?"

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the boy frowning a little, albeit cutely. "I'm not an illusion you know," the boy commented.

Opening her eyes quickly and getting her sanity back, she sat up hastily and looked around, only to see the familiar garden where she has frequently seen Giotto. It was then when she realized what was happening. "Why am I always brought here in every predicament I have these days?" she wondered.

"For the sake of your sanity of course," the familiar voice of Giotto explained. Himeno turned to look at him, who was looking worried, "Your vessel is currently on a Flame of Depression rampage, so I did the safest thing to transport your mind here to be safe," he explained.

Himeno looked down, "I see…" she replied. "But it was because I found out the truth why my biological parents sent me away…"

Ieyoshi raised a brow, "And that is?" the little boy questioned.

"I…I was sent away because I was born as a girl, and our so-called father wanted a boy, so he planned to kill me in a mock accident if it weren't for our mother who protested…"

Ieyoshi's eyes widened, "Eh? That's not true at all Himeno-nee!" he retorted.

Himeno looked at her brother, "What makes you say that?"

"Because ever since I was very young—younger than seven that is, they always talk about you when I ask if I really have a big sister! They have an album all about your first three days of being born, being carried by Daddy's guardians and the others!" Himeno's eyes widened, "They always said that they will find you to the ends of the earth once the second war with the Millefiore is finished, just to be with you,"

Himeno stayed silent. Giotto knew the reason, "You fell into Byakuran's mental trap and manipulation since you had a weak mental defense at that time. I guess he knew that from the start, which is why he made you inhale such large amounts of sleeping gas,"

Himeno did not say a word. She was tricked by the bastard that calls himself Byakuran, the father of Julian. No wonder he decided to go against him. He was worse than a devil. And he much sense than to follow him. "How the hell could I believe such a lie?" she muttered.

Ieyoshi looked at his sister with concern. Ever since he was hospitalized for the last time, he kept thinking of wanting to see his sister at least once. But now that he got the chance, he was feeling a little sad. He was expecting to see her in her state of happiness, but he first saw her in close-up with a sad and confused facial expression. Oh what bliss…not.

Giotto could see the concern in Ieyoshi's eyes. He was really worried also, that was why he did all he could to transfer her mind to this place. A soul was different from a mind. A soul, when separated from the vessel, the body dies. But if the mind is separated from the vessel, it will only take off the consciousness and the sanity left inside the person until a certain amount of energy could bring the mind back. And that would take a great deal of emotion to penetrate the blunt side of Himeno's emotions.

But what could he do…?

And then it struck him. It was time to travel…

"Himeno, Ieyoshi," he called. The two looked at Giotto, "Why don't we go on a little time trip?" he offered.

The two looked at each other, then at Giotto. They were going to travel in time? How cool was that? But both knew that it has some painful setbacks. But what the heck, at least they will see what was the past of the former generations of the Vongola, or just the tenth generation. With that, they would never know until they find out for themselves. And Giotto's offer might just be the chance for them to get a glimpse of their family's history.

"Sure," they replied.

Giotto smiled. He then reached out for the hand of the two, who took it willingly as they stood up from the soft grass that Himeno had lied on earlier. He suddenly emitted a white orangey light that also spread at the siblings. "We're taking a little trip of a few years ago…" he inducted, and the three were gone from the garden.

So…how was it? I thought that Himeno needed a few understanding on what has happened to Tsuna over the years, and I will include my favorite scenes from the original anime. I was thinking on not mentioning the outside world for a while and pay attention at the trio for a while. But…tell me what you think.

REVIEW~!