Hello to my lovely readers~ Sorry it took this long to get this update out and also sorry for the shortness, I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up with (mostly math) and asdfghjkl deadlines. Finals are coming up as well in about a week or two so for anyone reading my other ongoing fic, it might take a bit longer than usual to update.

Thanks for the reviews, faves, and follows!

Belated/Advance Happy Birthday to Xanxus, Reborn and Tsuna!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Tsuna opened his eyes and tried to blink away the blinding white light he was met with.

"Ugh..." he tried to move his hands and feet but found that he couldn't. With a quick look, he realized he was chained to a cold, hard bed. "What the-?"

The brunet was terribly confused. What the heck? And where was he? The last thing he remembered was...planning an escape..?

'...What.'

His stomach growled.

Damn, he was hungry. When was the last time he had eaten?

He surveyed the room as much as he could. The walls were a blinding white, almost like a hospital, and he was lying directly below a big round fluorescent light. 'Huh. No wonder it was so bright.'

The light was on so he could see a cart beside him. There were needles, test tubes, vials filled with substances of varying shapes and colors. There were also a few gadgets which he had never seen before, as well as a pair of rubber gloves discarded carelessly on a tray.

His head throbbed, and for the first time since he regained consciousness, he realized his torso was wrapped with bandages. 'I probably look like a mummy…'

The sound of a door sliding open made the boy turn his head. A man looking to be around his mid-thirties came in with his eyes focused on the clipboard he was holding. He ran his fingers through his dark hair as he walked over to the cart and set down the clipboard. He then noticed that Tsuna's eyes were open and staring at him.

The man scowled. "So you're finally awake." He picked up the board again, turning to another page as he fished his coat pocket for a pen. "Took you like, five days." He scribbled something on it,then set it down again.

Tsuna frowned. Five days? But more importantly, "where am I?" he asked.

"Estraneo Research Facility," replied the man.

"Where are the others?"

"What others?" the man leaned down and peered at his face, then straightened up and shrugged. "I wouldn't know, I'm just an intern, and you're the only one I'm looking after."

"Oh. Can I get out of here?" he asked innocently.

The man answered without thinking. "Of course you―" he stopped himself as he realized he was being tricked. "No."

Tsuna pouted and the man looked away. "Stop giving me that look."

The brunet's stomach growled again. "Can I get some food then?" he asked hopefully.

The man eyed him for a moment longer and sighed. "Fine," he huffed, then turned and promptly left.

~~~Somewhere else…~~~

"Hey!" A man yelled. "The stuff you asked for is done!" he went over to whack a man on the head. He groaned and rubbed the sore spot where he was hit. The streaks of red in his hair stood out as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Great," he grumbled. "Took you long enough."

"Well it wasn't easy," the man shot back. "Do you know how many times we failed?"

The red-haired man smirked. "Maybe you just aren't good enough for this," he grinned slyly. The guy sputtered.

"You try building something that's never been built before and is supposed to be one hell of a weapon without any prototypes then," he retorted. The other laughed and stood up, stretching as he started walking out the door.

"Thanks anyway, I appreciate it."

He could hardly stop himself from jumping in joy. Designing was not easy, let alone getting new ideas for something that was bound to be as destructive as this.

They also still had those four children who had flames, although the one he kidnapped was sent to the research facility to stabilize his condition and to make sure he would still be a suitable power source. Well, he didn't really care.

He was so excited that he nearly skipped to the creations room. There was only a handful of people inside when he got there, an overzealous new guy quickly directed him towards his designs.

He nearly jumped in joy seeing the two large robots surrounded by a bunch of small glass containers that looked like lamps. "Perfect!" he shouted loudly, complete with a fist pump. The man immediately rushed forward and began checking the contraptions for himself.

The man's cheshire grin made the new guy who had stayed with him fear for his life.

"Contact the boss," he said to no one in particular. "It's time."

XXX

Ken stuffed his face with cookies. Beside him, Chikusa sighed and ate one at a slower pace. The cook smiled fondly at the two as though he was used to such antics, which he probably was.

He was, after all, working for the Vongola Family, the family which had the most destructive children. If those kids were never hungry during, before or after a fight, he would probably start questioning his existence.

There was, of course, no way to be so crazily destructive and loud without ever getting hungry right? Right.

Back to the topic at hand, the Gesso Famiglia's boss had wandered off to hunt down the Vongola boss who was not in his office, doing paperwork like he should be doing. The man was being accompanied by the head butler so there were no worries about anything bad happening. Or at least he hoped so.

The chef paused. Well, maybe the boss would get an earful from the head butler for not doing his duties, but that seemed like the only bad thing that could possibly happen.

Not that it was actually bad.

...Nor was it completely out of the ordinary. In fact, it happened so often, everyone started either ignoring it, or having a good laugh about it, except Boss himself of course, who he often saw getting dragged back into the direction of his office by the head butler with a pout on his face.

He sympathized, really. Even just seeing the kids fight would cause him to imagine the mountain loads of work that would end up with the Vongola boss, and it was not pretty. What more if you added his guardians into the mix?

He shivered and chuckled lightly at the mental image of the young boss pouting as he threw a tantrum about his paperwork.

"Tish cookish ae gaet!"

The voice broke through his train of thoughts and the man snapped back to attention. He gazed curiously at the blonde boy, whose mouth was still full. He must be the one who talked then. The other boy was beginning to munch on another cookie.

The cook looked at the cookie plate only to find it empty. He quickly placed a new plate of cookies in front of the two who dug in immediately. The man laughed. "You two must be quite hungry eh?" he smiled fondly. "Reminds me of the young masters... Just tell me if you're still hungry and food will be on the way!"

Ken made a happy sound in the back of his throat as he continued filling his stomach. Chikusa on the other hand swallowed and thanked the chef. At that moment, the door slid open to reveal the very exhausted-looking boss of the Gesso Famiglia. He stumbled in and collapsed on a stool as he mumbled about people who were good at hide and seek. This made the two escapees raise their eyebrows.

"Don Gesso," the chef greeted with a polite bow. "Is there something I can get you?"

"Water would be nice, please," he nodded tiredly. The cook nodded respectfully and fetched the mafia don a glass of water. The man nodded in thanks, took a sip, and sighed.

"My apologies for the wait," he said to the children, "but Don Vongola is being a bit...uncooperative right now."

The two kids looked at each other, then at the man, without saying anything. "Uh―"

"-them already!" an exasperated voice sounded from outside the kitchen. A mutter was heard right after, the words spoken too softly to be deciphered. The door slid open and revealed a blonde man and a man dressed like a butler. The young blonde was drooping slightly looking as if he had just been reprimanded by the one dressed like a butler.

"Sorry," he mumbled, hanging his head. The older man's stern face softened and he smiled professionally.

"Time to greet your guests, sir," he nodded towards the two children.

"Right, of course." He turned to the runaways and smiled pleasantly. "Good day, gentlemen."

I'm not sure I got their characterization right?

Sorry again, it's been quite busy, and I have been getting little sleep due to the homework I have. I didn't have time to edit this chapter; apologies if there are mistakes. Please do point any out to me and I'll fix them right away.

Thanks for reading and please tell me what you thought~!