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!IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!: This story is semi-complete. Please read the note in chapter 16 for more details.

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Title: Descend into Darkness

Author: Ankaris123

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn is property of Akira Amano.

Summary: Alternate Universe. Human with the blood of a vampire, Tsunayoshi Sawada is the last successor of the Vongola Clan. The question is which path he'll chose: to cling onto his waning humanity or to defect willingly to the darkness? Main pairing: 1827.

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WARNINGS [PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING]:This story contains dubious consensual male-male relationships, implied one-sided male-male relationships and some canon heterosexual relationships. There are also descriptions of blood.

Main pairing: 1827
Side pairings: One-sided all27, 27 Kyoko

This chapter depicts dubious consent of a non-sexual nature.

Read at your own discretion.

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Prologue – Feeding

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Summer heat radiated from the cracked sidewalk as people swarmed across them in droves, minding their own business. Nothing unusual here, just a normal Friday afternoon. As typical with crowds, the streets were awash with buzzing murmurs and shoes on pavement. No one could possibly have heard the laboured breathing that came from a barely noticeable alleyway.

No one except Tsunayoshi Sawada.

With below average height and beyond below average grades at the healthy age of 14, Tsunayoshi, more commonly known as Tsuna or No Good Tsuna, was fighting the dense crowd while concentrating on blocking out the noise that nobody else could hear. Normal people generally couldn't, not with the distance involved and the general clamour they themselves were already causing.

Don't think about it, don't think about it…

This short mantra he repeated fervently in his head. It was no use though. It wasn't something he could control.

Tsuna was an ordinary boy in most aspects. He hated schoolwork, was interested in making friends and had a love interest as most boys his age did. But there was one little tiny aspect about him that set him far apart from the average male middle school student.

The heavy breaths sounded clearly next to his ear, louder and louder as he approached the source. He gripped his standard issued school bag at his side tightly with both hands, walking with quick longer strides as to pass by the alleyway opening (in which he could sense the origin of the breathing) as soon as possible.

In, out. In…

In, out.

A shudder.

More broken breathing.

His vision sharpened suddenly, causing him to wince from the intensified glaring of daylight. Instinctively, his body sought out the shadows of the alleyway to escape the sun.

No!

Fighting his body's reaction he kept his focus on the path straight ahead.

His legs however seemed to have a mind of their own.

Several steps in, his brown eyes adjusted instantaneously to the dimness. Everything flooded into sharp focus; the sound of laborious breathing, now consisted of sharp gasps, grew to a deafening level, easily over-powering the reverberating echoes that Tsuna's sneakers made when he stumbled in.

With little choice and a touch of curiosity, Tsuna decided grudgingly to investigate.

He crept along the cool plaster wall deeper into the alley, quietly in fear that any sudden movements or noise would provoke an attack. It was impossible to make out the end of the alley, if there was an end to it. His ears picked up a dull thumping sound which mingled in with the breathing; much like a heartbeat but paced slower than any he'd ever heard in a living creature.

As abruptly as all this occurred, it ended. The sounds of uneasy inhaling, the thump-thud of the sluggish heartbeat and the clarity of his sight vanished. Replacing them were the footsteps and distant mingled voices of the crowd behind him and the darkness of the alley in front. There was a flash of two white spots the size and correct position for a set of eyes.

He shivered.

Unable to see through the darkness, he toed an uneven crack in the pavement and pitched forward in an ungraceful tumble.

"Whoa-!" he started to say.

The rest of his words was lost as he landed in the lap of a stranger.

"Ow…" Tsuna whimpered; his knees throbbing against the unforgiving cement.

Gingerly, he looked up to see who it was he landed on. What he saw was a young male, around his age, with black hair that stuck up in short jagged spikes. He was dressed blandly in a dark t-shirt (the colour was hard to decipher in the shadowy recess they were in), with a white unbuttoned shirt on top. The black wristbands he wore looked like the sort Tsuna saw athletes wear. His features showed that he was very much a Japanese person but what was probably a handsome face was currently contorted in pain.

Hastily, Tsuna scrambled to his knees and addressed the person with a stuttering voice.

"A-are you okay?"

The teen replied with a groan, curling inwards.

Not the type to meddle in someone else's affairs, Tsuna was surprised to find himself examining the pained stranger in front of him with concern.

There were no signs of blood so he was obviously not injured. What could possibly be causing this guy to breathe so irregularly? An illness? Internal injury? Food stuck in his throat?

The black-haired teen clenched his teeth and opened his eyes briefly to look upon Tsuna. They glowed ominously in the dark in a shade of brown so light it was almost yellow. At that moment, Tsuna knew exactly what the affliction was.

He scrambled backwards in such a hurry he collided heavily with the damp wall opposite, pressing his back against it to distance himself fully.

The oval, slit-like pupils.

The red tinge to the corner of his eyes.

The sharper than average canines.

He was a vampire.

It was at this sort of time that Tsuna would and should freak out and bail, run home to hide under his bed and pretend it never happened, if he was who he used be a year ago.

In the last year he had had nearly all the details about vampire characteristics crammed into his brain enough times that even he, who failed all his school tests and quizzes on a regular basis, could spot a vampire (or half-vampire) suffering from a case of escalating bloodlust in front of him.

And unfortunately for him, he also knew the one cure.

Hesitantly, he approached the sitting figure again, touching his shoulder to alert him of his presence. The shoulder was cool, emitting far less body heat than a regular human. The vampire flinched at the contact and stared at him with unfocused eyes.

Tsuna swallowed hard, bracing himself for the confrontation.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" he stated rather than asked; voice barely more than a whisper. But it was enough.

The vampire gave him an indecipherable look and coughed his way through a chuckle.

"What-," he coughed, "-are you-," he coughed again, "-talking about…?"

"But-"

"There's no way I could-," he coughed into his weak hand, "-be a vampire… It's just a game. You're in on it…with those other guys too, aren't you?" He laughed again, breaking off into a hacking fit. The perspiration on his face gave away his evident pain.

"Stop denying it! If you don't do anything about your bloodlust soon-!" Tsuna broke off in confusion. How could this guy possibly not be aware of what he had become? There was no way someone like this could exist.

Caught up in his train of thoughts, he only just noticed that the vampire had slumped to the ground, lying on his side curled up, both arms crossed over his stomach.

"H-hey! Are you okay?!" No response; the young vampire's face was pinched in a heavy grimace. Despite this he had the gumption to say,

"Must be…something…I ate…haha…" He looked close to passing out. The short sleeves of his button shirt were tearing where his hands were clutching them.

"H-hey! Pull yourself together! Uh, um…" Tsuna was running out of options.

If he left him alone, the vampire might attack someone in a blind, hunger-induced rage and kill them in the process. If that happened and humans didn't catch him afterwards, the vampire head of his clan would kill him for being irresponsible by ignoring his apparent needs. Considering the clans he knew of in the area and the fact that he'd already gotten himself involved, things wouldn't end easily for Tsuna if he backed out now.

With gritted teeth and resolve, Tsuna thrust out an arm; his wrist turned towards the vampire's face. The teenaged vampire gave him a hazy ludicrous look and attempted to push his offered wrist away with a weak hand. He fell short a few inches, relapsing in a coughing, wheezing fit. The red tinge in his eyes was more prominent than ever.

"Come on! Don't be stubborn! You have to drink!" Tsuna berated the reluctance that the vampire was showing, his voice gradually rising to a louder, higher pitch of panic. The fear of what could happen if he gave his blood, and if he didn't, caught up with him, materializing as pinpricks of tears that stung at the corner of his eyes.

He sniffed, rubbing his face dry with a quick, rough swipe of his arm. His wrist was still held out for the vampire prone on the dank concrete ground to take. The expression on the vampire was a soft look of surprise.

"You have to drink…" Tsuna repeated, brushing his short chocolate brown hair out of his eyes as to camouflage the wiping of his tears. "I…I don't know how you become a vampire or why you got like this…but you have to do this."

I've got to do this.

"I-if it makes you feel any better, I'm one too. S-sort of…it's kind of complicated but um. I'm a willing d-donor, right? It's not like you're doing it against my will, so it's okay…"

The vampire was silent, giving a blank look.

"…what's your name?" Tsuna asked, trying to speak with a gentle coaxing tone. They sat there for an unbearable minute before the questioned answered.

"…Takeshi Yamamoto."

The name registered faintly at the back of Tsuna's mind but he shook it away to focus on the task at hand.

"Then, Yamamoto, please drink." Tsuna's fear ebbed away a fraction, the tiny spark of relief that this 'Yamamoto' was finally listening to something. "Just a little is okay. It'll make the pain go away. I promise."

He gestured with his wrist again, out of words he could say to persuade him, but it looked like he was going to give in. Tsuna was generally a good judge of character, he can trust this person.

Yamamoto sat up with some difficulty and finally took hold of Tsuna's wrist. The strong grip hurt only a little and Tsuna clenched his eyes shut so he would not have to see it happen.

There was a shuffle and he was yanked forward by the rough hand. In his surprise, he pitched forward; breath of warm air tickled the skin of his bare neck.

"W-wha-?! Wait-!"

The moment the warm moist mouth touched his neck, there was a flash of pain as the skin was pierced through. Tsuna cried out and bit down on the flesh of his bottom lip as the pain subsided slowly to a dull throbbing. The vampire drank from him steadily without restraint.

With each swallow he could feel himself grow weaker.

The hand that he had initially offered was still held in the other's vice grip. His vision blurred and became peppered with black spots.

At this rate…if he doesn't stop…

"S-stop…you can't….just…" Even as he said this, his strength was failing him as he slumped against the stranger attached to his neck. He grew limp and his breath came out in ragged gasps.

A drained, weighty feeling in his eyelids forced them to fall shut. He fought hopelessly to stay conscious, believing he still had a chance to thwart the vampire's feeding from lasting any longer.

…Losing…too much…blood…

He managed to feebly grasp the fabric of the other's shirt before shutting his eyes against the vampire's shoulder. His last attempt came out as a choked sound stuck in his throat as he sank into the darkness of unconsciousness.

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To be Continued