At Vongola's base

"I see. So you have business with the boss" a subordinate spoke to Neve in the front yard. "I'm afraid he and his guardians are on a mission. They left hours ago, so I think they will be back soon. I'll try calling boss to inform your presence. In the meantime, would you mind waiting?"

"I'll wait at the garden"

"Okay. If you need anything or a drink, just call us" he said and then left her.

However, after the man went out of her sight, instead of going to the garden first, she went to Tsuna's room without letting herself get caught while entering. She went there for only one purpose: the dagger. She opened the cupboard, cabinets, and drawers beside the bed, but she began to feel agitated when it wasn't there.

Then in the midst of that search she saw a file on the bed, she opened it. She was taken aback as she read the content thoroughly. Tsuna had been trying to find out about the person who gave him the dagger, who saved his life. She never knew he would try hard to find his savior, but according to the file, he stopped his search and seeing the date when it stopped, it was the date she came to Vongola.

Then, she put it back and headed towards the garden, waiting. After seeing the file, she felt she wanted to tell him about the savior, that she wanted to be with him, but then she shook her head in disagreement, knowing what she must do instead of what she wanted to do.

She sneezed over the cold weather, but as she looked up to see the sun, suddenly, another painful heartbeat attacked her; however, this one was more painful than before. That pain managed to make her collapsed instantly. While maintaining her blurry vision, she winced in pain. Her two visible eyes were closing slowly. Before her eyes were completely shut, a figure rushed towards her.

Turned out the figure was Tsuna himself. Without further delay, he carried her to the sickroom. Gently, he put her on the bed and then let out the dagger under his blazer to put it onto a side table next to the bed. The doctor was out that time, so he had to deal with it himself. Worried, he called the doctor for suggestion as he faced the window. He was too focused on the call to the point he didn't realize a danger that about to get him.

Neve abruptly opened her eyes and raised her body upright. With motion, she grabbed the dagger and with face that was covered with shadow, she slowly walked towards him.

Fortunately as she swung the dagger diagonally, having sensed a hostile aura, he instantly whirled around and dodged it. He was surprised to see her cold, narrow, and resentful eyes glared at him. He immediately gripped her wrists with the same force as her, but with a smirk, she kicked him in the stomach brutally and then walked two steps back as he kneeled in front of her while holding his stomach while blood flowed from his mouth and eyes looked into her cold heterochromia eyes.

"What's with that look?" she questioned.

"…Where's Haru?"

"You don't have to worry about her. She's still inside of me" she replied. "However, I'm Haru too. So, it depends on wha—"

"No" he cut off. "…I don't know you"

Having heard that, she sneered and said "This is why I want you dead"

The girl named Haru snapped and regained her conscious, only to see her tattered surroundings and the dagger she was looking for in her hands. Her face expressed confusion as she looked into the dagger.

"Hey, you're back?"

Her eyes grew wider as she heard the familiar voice and when she looked in front of her, her face turned pale seeing Tsuna leaned against the wall with bruises.

He stood up, "It's okay, it's just—"

"…No…" she dropped the dagger and backed away as he approached her. "…Stay back"

"What?" he stopped. "I told you—"

"Don't ever come near me again!" she shouted and then ran away from him. "Ah! Wait!" as he was about to run, the pain on his stomach made him fell one knee.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Ryohei rushed to the sickroom and surprised when they saw the room and Tsuna.

"One of you, please stop Haru…" he said as he winced in pain. "Got it" Yamamoto left.

"What happened here, juudaime? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" he tried to stand upright. "Please don't force yourself" Gokudera said.

"What's going on here?" Reborn appeared, but Tsuna didn't answer, just lowered his head without meeting anyone's eyes.

"It's Haru, isn't it?" Reborn's guess made him flinch. "What? What did she do to you, juudaime?"

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto went back. "Sorry, I lost track of her"

"What! How could you let that happened?" Gokudera yelled.

"She's too fast. I can't keep up with her"

"Everyone" Tsuna voiced. "Call Hibari-san, Mukuro, Lambo, and Chrome to the meeting room. I'll explain there"

With that said, everyone gathered in the place. Tsuna told them what happened, how he found her, and every detail he told about her assault. Everyone couldn't believe their ears about their friend, especially Chrome.

"Onii-san, you didn't take Kyoko-chan here, right?" Tsuna asked to ensure. Ryohei nodded, "She's at Japan"

"But Haru-chan would never do that to you!" Chrome's voice startled everyone. "I know Haru-chan. Maybe it's her other self that did that to you, boss!"

"Not necessarily" Reborn voiced. "Psychopath or not, it's still a part of her. She was born with it; therefore you can't eliminate the fact that it's not Haru who hurt Tsuna. In the end, they're both Haru"

"We'll continue this talk later. After the mission and hearing my story, I'm sure all of you need refreshment" Tsuna ordered and thus, everyone scattered while having that thought.

At that time, Reborn, Tsuna, Hibari, and Mukuro didn't left the room.

"What action will you take upon this assault?" Hibari questioned. "For now, tightening the security" Tsuna answered. "What about confronting her at her place?" he asked again.

"She won't be there"

"How do you know?"

"I just have that feeling"

"Well, if Tsuna says so, then she won't be there" Reborn voiced.

"Oya, oya. What's this?" Mukuro voiced, which caught their attention. "Something's about to come"

~#~

"Tch. That woman!" Gokudera punched the wall in the hallway. "How can she betray juudaime's trust like that?"

"Don't talk as if you know her"

Suddenly, along with that voice from nowhere, an attack came and hit Gokudera, creating a brief tremor, much to Tsuna's surprise.

"What the...! What was that? What's coming, Mukuro?"

"Juudaime!" Gokudera barged in with wounds around his body. "Gokudera-kun? What happened?" Tsuna approached him.

"Don't come near him, juudaime!" all of the sudden, he heard Gokudera's voice, but this Gokudera didn't open his mouth. To his surprise, this Gokudera was attacked with bombs, but he dodged it. Then, another Gokudera appeared in front of the door. Seeing that, he walked out, only to see two Gokudera.

Then, the Gokudera that dodged the bombs suddenly covered by mist and as the mist was gone, it changed to Covart.

Then, another blast was heard and Tsuna with Reborn went to the blast, again, only to see another fight between Mare and Vongola; Yamamoto and Ryohei between Luogo and Altro.

"We're okay here, Tsuna! Just go!" with that said by Yamamoto, Tsuna ran back to secure the place. But all of the sudden, he was startled by something that just crashed the wall at his left, and it was none other than Hibari and Riku, though a moment after, they disappeared from Tsuna's and Reborn's sight.

"What's going on here, Reborn? Why are Mare guardians attacking us?"

"If so, then Haru and Vel must be here, but knowing them, they should've confronted you already. Tsuna, let's go find Irie. He might have an answer"

With that, they went to the gears collection room and found Shoichi there with Spanner.

"Shoichi-kun, Spanner, what are you doing here?" Tsuna asked.

"W-Well, when we heard the blast, we immediately get here to get this" Shoichi showed a high-tech-looking helmet. "We wanted to give this to you when we find you, but since you're already here…"

"It's an amplifier helmet for your lightning guardian. It amplifies the power 9 times more powerful" Spanner explained. "Anyway, we need your guardians to gather the Mare guardians to the backyard. Do you still have your earpiece on, right? What about them?" Shoichi asked.

"They just got back from mission, so they must have their earpiece on. But what about Lambo? Where's he?"

"I'm here" Lambo appeared as he walked from the corner.

"We found him hiding here" Spanner voiced.

"Hiding?" Tsuna blinked.

"That's what I did first, but if this helmet can finish them off, I guess I'll do it"

"Then that settles. Tsuna, go make a call"

With Reborn ordered, the plan started at the beginning Tsuna made contact with his guardians. It took them not too much time to gather them. Mare guardians and Vongola guardians stood across each other with battle stance, but then Lambo appeared walking from behind the Vongola and started electrocuted them.

While Tsuna, Reborn, Shoichi, and Spanner watched from the second floor, they looked at the situation. The Mare fell on their knees while looking paralyzed. It worked. All were giving a victory smile.

However in the midst of it, all of the sudden, another lightning abruptly struck Lambo and the others, much to everyone's dismay. A little girl appeared standing all by herself, as if took no side. Tsuna's eyes bulged in surprise as he saw Rieta. With eyes expressed emptiness, she walked towards her family side and stared at the massive power of lightning that continuously made suffer to the Vongola guardians. While kneeling down over the pain, several cuts appeared on their faces, arms, legs, even their attire got cut and they were bearing that much of pain as helplessly as the ones who were watching from above.

"This is not good" Reborn voiced. "That much power could kill them soon"

"Step aside" from behind, hyper mode Tsuna immediately dashed towards the window, broke it to pieces, and jumped down to where the battle took place. However, as his foot reached the ground, he instantly got electrocuted as well, making him also kneeled like his friends.

Rieta diverted her eyes to him, "Who are you?"

"It's me, Tsuna... Stop this, Rieta!"

"You're not. The Tsuna I know has brown and gentle eyes, like what Neve onee-chan's eyes used to have. One that calm me"

Having heard that, while struggling against the pain, he walked slowly to her, although he couldn't set his body upright, and then grabbed her shoulders.

Shoichi noticed the flame on his forehead was gradually disappearing, "What is he… is he going to turn off his hyper mode? He can't! If he's hit by normal mode…"

Spanner and Shoichi watched it anxiously, but Reborn maintained his calm and watched his student.

"Don't… do this…", as his dying will flame completely wore off, as she saw the color of his eyes, the void on her eyes disappeared, but after she undid her power, he gave a slight smile before he collapsed.

While the other guardians were on their each room with bandages, Tsuna was taken to a distinctive part of the sickroom for his condition was worse. Three doctors were there, but when they heard the sound that anyone didn't want to hear the most on the medical monitor, all action froze until one of the doctor grabbed defibrillator, "His heartbeat has stopped! Quickly, we need to bring his heartbeat back!"

Meanwhile as the attempt to save Tsuna was on process, the Mare guardians were at the dungeon, all together in one cell.

"Hey, have you heard about boss's condition? Do you think he can make it?", Rieta immediately set her ears into the conversation of the two Mafioso that guarded the cell. "I don't know, but I heard his condition is worse than the others. I hope he's okay" the other one replied, which made her flinch.

The expert did everything to bring back his heartbeat, but Tsuna didn't flinch let alone move. The permanent straight line on the monitor made them concluded the outcome. "We need to inform this to Reborn-san and Tsunayoshi-sama's parents" one of them said low-spiritedly and then they all left.

As soon as they left, unbeknownst to anyone, Rieta entered the sickroom and sat on the bed beside him. Gradually, from her hands to her entire body emitted a radiant and warm glow as she cupped his cheeks. Bit by bit her face turned paler in the process, but she remained doing what she was doing until his heartbeat returned and his eyes opened.

The first sight he saw was Rieta, and to his surprise, she was glowing, but it wasn't a beautiful glow as her lower body was disintegrating. He set his upper body upright to sitting position, seeing what was happening to her, but she immediately collapsed in his arms before he could speak a word.

"Thank you…" Rieta voiced in soft and low voice. "Thank you for giving me this power, because… I can get to heal you…"

"Don't! Please don't say anything! You'll get be—"

"Tsuna"

"What…?"

"Save Haru nee-chan" with her last smile, her body completely disappeared from his arms, from the world.

Afterwards, the door was abruptly opened and Reborn, Iemitsu, and Nana were on sight. What at first were tears of sorrow from his parents turned into happiness, and Nana immediately hugged him. When the doctors came to the room, but they stopped at the door with confused looks seeing Tsuna was alive.

While his mother was hugging him tightly with tears of joy, Reborn noticed the mirthless looks on his face, indicating something had happened. "Reborn… can I have a word with you?" Tsuna's sudden request made Iemitsu instantly realized something had happened, "Let's go, Nana. I'm sure Tsuna needs a rest" after Reborn jumped from his shoulder, he escorted his wife out.

Then, Reborn noticed the lightning Mare ring on Tsuna's hand. "Rieta… she was given the power of healing by that experiment, but as the result she…" Tsuna clenched the ring with shaking hand, "First Haru and then Rieta. All their sacrifice for me, I let them because I'm not strong enough. Does my role as a friend mean anything when I can't even protect them?"

"Tsuna…"

"I want to talk to Haru's guardians. They need to know what happened to Rieta, too"

All of them heard Tsuna in so much shock that words didn't come out.

"Why did you attack us?" Tsuna immediately asked, but no one answered. "Did Neve order you?"

"Juudaime!" Gokudera and all his guardian friends (except Mukuro and Hibari) ran to him. "I'm so glad you're okay" he sighed in relief. Tsuna also relieved to see his friends were still as energetic as usual.

"No, Neve's not our boss, Haru is" Covart's sudden reply made Tsuna divert his eyes to him. "So, you know about her?" Tsuna asked and he nodded. "Then Haru ordered you, am I right? But what I want to know is why? And where's she and Vel?"

"Vel was worried about her, so he went away with her. I don't know where" he paused briefly, "For years we obeyed her command and we love doing it. We love every order she gave and did so wholeheartedly"

"Except this one" Altro added. "What do you mean?" Tsuna questioned. "I can't tell you" Covart answered.

"But I can" from the entrance of the dungeon Vel made his appearance. "Vel! Do you really want them to know?" Covart questioned with a bit tone of disagreement. "I was thinking the same, but this is the only way to set the boss free"

"What do you want?" Gokudera glared. "Please save your murder intent. He's not here to fight" Shoichi also came. "I know you have questions, but you can ask that at my lab"

With that, every one of the Vongola and Vel came to the second version of the white round device. And when they got there, Hibari and Mukuro were already there. "Just like you suspected, he came here for this" Shoichi stated. "How did you know about this device? It should be top secret" Tsuna asked.

"Never underestimate the power of Mare to seek information" Vel simply replied.

"Why are we here?" Yamamoto asked.

"To go to the past" Vel answered. "Why do you want us to go to the past? And what time to be precise?" Gokudera's question was delayed to be answered, since at that question, Vel averted his eyes, which puzzled them, "Everything before 2 years ago. There's something you need to know, especially you Sawada Tsunayoshi. Let us begin, Irie Shoichi"

With the device was activated, they were sent to the world 3 years ago. With the new version of the device, they were only able to see the event without having their body experienced the past. It was more like they were seeing the memories of the past in person, the fragment of those memories of the Mare Family.

What were shown were the smiling faces on Haru's guardians. Everyone was taken aback, especially Tsuna seeing the bright and sincere smile from Haru in each of the memories. She was happy. Even the dark past of her guardians still made them able to feel much happiness being with her. The Haru in those memories were like the Haru they all knew and what made them recognized that was her smile.

Her sincere, gentle, and cheery smile that didn't fade away that time. She was very happy spending her time with her family, and so did her guardians. But in the midst of seeing that joyful memories, suddenly, the scene changed to a sorrow memory; when 2 years ago, she lay on bed in coma state. Neither of them knew, except Vel that after waking from her deep coma, after 2 years of sleeping, she woke up as a newborn Haru. That last memory was their last journey. Afterwards, they returned to their time.

"The Haru you know is like an infinite. She's there, but she's not really there. We don't know who the real Haru is, but we want the kind Haru, who gives us home and a lot of her warm smile, who gathered us and treat us like a real family"

"There's something bothers me. What exactly happened before she went in coma? And why did she?" Tsuna asked.

"2 years ago, the world strongest mafia family was assaulted by an unknown force. That incident led the boss's death, but somehow, the boss lives"

"Wait, do you mean…" Tsuna voiced and Vel nodded, "And the history will repeat itself. She will come back, as the harbinger of your death"

"She almost killed me?" Tsuna's reaction indicated that he was having hard time to believe those words. Seeing that, Vel said "And yet, she didn't. Her infinite kindness is the only reason why you're alive. And she gave you that dagger, so that one day, she hoped you would find out the truth yourself and kill her, but she changed her mind. She doesn't want you to bear the sin of taking life"

"Then, the one that attacked Tsuna and saved him, all that was Haru?" Reborn questioned, which gave another shock to Tsuna. "You ask why she was in coma state. There's only one reason I can think of: she intentionally shut down her body so that she won't have to hurt anyone again. But it doesn't mean anything anymore, now that she's fully controlled" Vel added.

"What do you suggest?" Tsuna asked.

"Kill her—for saving the Vongola, yourself, and her. It has to be—"

"Me? Don't joke with me… there's no way I would do that, especially to her. There must be another way" he spoke while clenching his fists tightly, holding the emotion he felt.

"You're in no position to say that, when you killed an unfortunate soul of a human monster that your family created. And no—there's no other way and you're the only one that can do this"

"I refuse to believe that!"

"Your friends will be next if she successfully kills you"

"I will never kill her for any reason!"

"I wouldn't ask this if I didn't love her!" Vel's sudden remark surprised them.

"You live with your blindness to see her heart! You have no idea what it's like to see her suffer every day and every night just because of something she never wanted inside her body! You don't know what it feels to see her tormented every day without shedding one single tear, but she lives with that because she's always thinking about you all the time, thinking that her pain is nothing compared to your hardships for being a mafia boss! You're her strength to overcome her pain, and yet you keep blabbering about keeping her alive with that pain…" his voice softened at the last sentence.

"...Why me?"

"You love her more than anything, more than anyone, and you're also the target. At December 25th, she will return for your life. I'm not giving you a choice, this is something you must do. She will return not as Haru anymore"

"December 25th?" Tsuna flinched over that familiar date. "You're familiar with that date, aren't you? Because that's the day when her ancestor committed massacre in front of Vongola primo. It was also the day she disappeared from history"

"Technically, this is 'her' uncompleted task" he added. "I know it's still several days left, but you have to think of a plan soon. So, what's your answer, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"I…"

~#~

Elsewhere in a mafia mansion in the middle of the forest, scattered a group of corpses in the front yard. Amongst them, a young woman was standing still with her body and face painted with the blood of the dead bodies. She killed those souls coldly for warm up, didn't care about the family they left one bit. She licked the blood from her hand with unnerving red eyes that stared at the dead bodies below her.

"I'll be back for you, Tsuna-san"

Thank you for reading.

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