Title: Cosmic Karma

Summary: AU - It was all a game, Tsuna realized, and for some reason he was a key player. Apparently all of his friends were playing, but being told to play or not was a decision that he had to make himself, and Tsuna didn't know which side to take. On his shoulders sat the angel and devil with variables in between, but Tsuna was only human. No one seemed to get that.

A/N: I've just done a Danny Phantom self-insert adventure and now I'm in a Reborn mood. I'll get back into DC/MK in a little bit.

If you watch Puella Magi Madoka Magica, this intro will probably make more sense. Probably.

Chapter One: As If We Met In a Dream...

"If you want to change the world, you just have to accept your fate."

Wide chocolate diamond eyes turned from the horror in front of him and to the baby beside him, fear apparent in his eyes. "But…"

"I can't force you, but only you can prevent this future. Watch."

He turned, needing to watch as by request by his companion. There was someone there, fighting the battle and contributing to the chaos. Catching a quick glimpse of blue and red, the brunet blinked once more, watching the figure fall along with the debris.

"Remember this, Tsuna," the baby said, "Remember that you can prevent this… Only you accept your destiny of becoming Boss can you prevent this future."

Tsuna blinked awake, the morning sunlight from his window streaming along his face. He brought his pillow to his chest, bending his knees and trying to remember what reverie he had last night.

Being unable to recollect anything, he just shook his head and got up from bed, having to get ready for the day so that he won't be late for school.

Every day is the same old, same old. Every day is the same routine. Performing the same mundane tasks every day. There was nothing special about him, nothing special about his life.

Those were the thoughts swirling in Tsuna's mind as he ate his breakfast, stabbing a cherry tomato before placing it in his mouth, savoring its sweet juices as he bit it apart.

But he preferred it that way.

"Something bothering you, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna blinked, dropping his fork onto his plate before shaking his head, smiling softly. "Nothing, Kaa-san. Just trying to remember my dream from last night. Something tells me it was different."

Nana placed her own plate of food down next to her son before taking a seat, leaning in close to him with a concerned look on her face. "Different? Different as in good or bad?"

Tsuna shook his head once more, playing with his egg. "Don't remember."

"Hmm." Nana looked up, thinking of how she could help. She went back to her plate of food before turning to her son, eyes shining with an idea. "How about this? Keep a notebook by your bed. If you were to dream the same dream again, as soon as you wake up, write down anything that you can remember, as well as any words that come to you." She smiled. "When you read it later on, perhaps you'll remember what you dreamt about."

Allowing for the idea to sink in, Tsuna nodded, placing his fork in his mouth to take the last of the rice on his plate. "Hmm, next time then."

He wasn't so sure if he wanted a next time, though.

"So then I told them, 'If you want to take a banana, might as well take the whole pie!'"

Tsuna laughed as prompted, while his other companion blinked in confusion as the other just grinned with the brunet.

"What if they wanted the kiwi instead?" the red head asked curiously. "Or mangos or maybe even pineapple?"

"Wah, Irie-kun, it's just a joke," Tsuna explained.

"Yeah, Shoichi, I'm just kidding. If you want, after school I'll get you the kiwi you wanted. Or pineapple, or mango, or whatever fruit you want!" Byakuran laughed, patting Tsuna on the back before pulling the brunet closer to him. "Thanks for the support, Tsu-chan! After school we'll all get some fruit pastries!"

Tsuna smiled as they approached the school, thoughts about the vague dream forgotten as Byakuran and Shoichi continued their discussion on various types of fruit, with Tsuna occasionally adding his own thoughts on the topic.

Tsuna used to be an average student, but it was thanks to the tutoring of Shoichi that he was able to pass the class that he was currently in in the first place, albeit slightly borderline failing.

Regardless, he believed he could be a good student. If he just understood what the teacher were talking about…

"And as I was saying," said their homeroom teacher only by the name of Spanner, munching on a lollipop. Bets were done every day as to what flavor it was. Today Tsuna bet on lime.

"Never mix almonds and potassium cyanide together. One is the nutlike kernel of the fruit of either of two trees, Prunus dulcis, commonly known as sweet almond, or P. dulcis amara, commonly known as bitter almond. Both of which grow in warm temperate regions. The other is a white poisonous granular soluble solid substance used in photography and in extracting gold from its ores with its formula being KCN."

See, and this information wouldn't even be on the test! What was the point of even teaching it?

"Don't go dying on me, it's annoying paperwork. Trust me, I know."

Statements like that make Tsuna curious as to how Spanner ended up as a teacher in the first place.

Spanner took out his lollipop, and - moment of truth - the flavor was orange. Tsuna couldn't help but let out a sigh, taking the pencil out of his mouth to hopefully take some notes that will be helpful later in his life. There went his slice of chocolate cake.

How did Byakuran always know what flavors to pick? Perhaps it was from eating so much sugar - he could just tell what flavor Spanner had just by glancing at the unorthodox teacher.

"Oh yeah, and there will be a new student joining us today, " Spanner added off-handedly, replacing the candy with a lime flavor this time. So Tsuna will get half his chocolate cake. He was okay with this.

All eyes were to the door as the new student walked in with a flamboyant air around him, slowly taking his time to get to the center of the room. When he turned to address the rest of the class, everyone let out a soft gasp as the new classmate blinked his eyes open, revealing them to be mismatched ruby and sapphire.

"Rokudo Mukuro," Mukuro introduced himself, eyes looking straight into chocolate diamond before turning and writing his name on the board.

A flash of a blurry figure flew through Tsuna's mind before fading away into obscurity, and he could only stare at the new classmate who smirked back at the rest of the class before Spanner told him to take his seat.

"So I guess I owe you chocolate cake, don't I, Tsu-chan?"

Tsuna smiled as he retracted the lead in his mechanical pencil. "Yep!"

"Well, half a slice, technically. You were lucky, he usually takes a lemon pop as a second choice after his first flavor, to clean his palette. Consider us even for the fruit parfait I'll buy you later," Byakuran said, leaning back his seat to bring Shoichi into the conversation, who was distracted by the new classmate.

"Whatcha think of him?" the white haired man asked, all eyeing the new student now that the attention was brought to him.

"Well, he seems to be pretty cold, considering the fact that he's ignoring the students crowding him. I can't really hear since we're in the back and he's in the front," Shoichi told his companions of his observations, putting away his notebook to get ready to leave.

"You guys wanna get together after school? I'm not too keen on going home just yet," the red head asked, needing some time to kill before having to leave for cram school.

"Sure," Tsuna replied, with Byakuran nodding in reply. "We can go to the mall," Byakuran added his two cents in, eyes trailing to the new student. His lips curled into a smirk. "Maybe we'll catch Rokudo there."

Three students were confused, or at least Tsuna and Shoichi was, when said student got up and made his way towards them, directly to his seat.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, you're the Class Health Representative, right? Would you mind taking me to see the nurse? My eye hurts." He pointed to his ruby eye.

Tsuna stared before slowly nodding. "S-sure, Rokudo-san." He stood up from his seat and grabbed his bag. "I'll meet up with you guys at the food court."

Before he could say anything else, however, Mukuro grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room, causing for the brunet to go 'Gah!' as he was being led down the hall.

"R-Rokudo-san, w-wait a sec." Tsuna could barely be heard as they ran across the hall, Mukuro leading the way to the nurse's office with no direction. "H-how do you - "

Suddenly, the new student stopped, causing for Tsuna to collide straight into him. "Iiitte te!" Tsuna rubbed his head. "Ow…" He blinked, looking to his escort. "Rokudo-san?"

Mukuro grabbed the brunet's hands and pulled them close to him. "Tsunayoshi, do you believe that you have value?"

Tsuna blinked. "E-eh?"

"Do you believe that you are you?"

The brunet looked away. "I… I don't understand…"

The hetrochromic wouldn't relent. "Do you like you for the way you are now?"

"Yes?" Tsuna answered quietly, slightly scared.

"You know that people want you to stay the same, right?" Mukuro continued, "That you have an impact to everyone as the way you are now."

"Yes?" Tsuna was still scared.

Mukuro finally released him, breathing a sigh of relief. "Good. Don't you forget it."

"U-um, Rokudo-san - "

"Just call me Mukuro, Tsunayoshi." He smiled. "Please don't forget what we just discussed." And with that, he walked away towards the Nurse's Office without further direction.

Tsuna stared after him until the bell rang.

"So what did Rokudo-san want, Tsuna-kun?" Shoichi asked the brunet, who swallowed his tangerine before answering.

"Nothing really, just told me to call him Mukuro," Tsuna replied, scooping up some custard before bringing it to his lips.

"He's interesting, wouldn't you say, Tsu-chan?" Byakuran asked, stabbing his fork in Tsuna's, but self-claimed, slice of chocolate cake before bringing it to his mouth, grinning. "With his eye and everything?"

Tsuna shrugged, placing the spoon in his mouth to suck on the cream. "I guess, but I don't really know him enough to say anything."

His company nodded, but Byakuran wasn't done yet. "How about you? Do you need your medicine?"

Tsuna shook his head, shrugging. "I'm fine. I did it earlier." He smiled. "Thanks though."

Shoichi was to say something, but his white haired companion gave him a look to silence him before glancing at the clock. The red head checked his watch before moving to get up, grabbing his plate now devoid of his fruit salad as paid by Byakuran. "I have to get going." He made a face. "Cramming school and all that."

Tsuna and Byakuran nodded, waving as Shoichi took his leave.

After he left, Byakuran jabbed Tsuna on the shoulder before pulling him in for a hug. He whispered in his ear, "Tsu-chan, let's go check out the bakery. I wanna see the new recipe for their marshmallow pie."

Tsuna nodded, sighing in indifference and wishing that he could get up himself. "Sure."

Tsuna was pretty full but he didn't mind accompanying Byakuran to the bakery, looking at the pastries with what appeared to be an interested expression but was actually of boredom. He ended up wandering off, leaving an excuse of having to buy something for his mother. He wasn't so sure if Byakuran heard him, but he didn't wait for an answer before leaving.

The brunet found himself by the exit, just about to go home, when he heard a gunshot.

He turned towards the sound, legs shaking, when he heard a voice.

Tsuna.

He blinked. Now he was hearing voices. This was not a good sign.

Dame-Tsuna, hurry up and get over here!

He followed the voice, sounding rushed and in need of assistance. And he could hear the faint traces of annoyance along with it. Tsuna found himself moving up the stairs to a section of the mall that was under restoration, following the voice as to where he'd last heard it.

He was surprised when he caught a baby sharply dressed in a tux with a strange necklace charm shaped like a yellow pacifier shooting at the wall, causing for Tsuna to blink.

"…What…?"

The baby turned to Tsuna's voice and shot a bullet to the left side next to his head. He jumped in response, avoiding the bullet by two good millimeters. In order to avoid tripping over the boxes, he sidestepped away from them, but didn't catch the pole to his right and ended up tripping. He fell to the floor ungracefully on his bottom, mentally cursing himself for not seeing the pole.

The baby tsked. "Took you long enough, Dame-Tsuna."

"Tsunayoshi, get back!"

Tsuna turned to see the new student with a trident in hand, raised against the baby.

"Wait!" Tsuna stood in front of the baby, protecting him from Mukuro. "Mukuro-kun, what do you think you're doing?"

"Get out of the way, Tsuna," Mukuro commanded, holding the staff threateningly. "This is between him and me."

A red-brown flame gathered around them, and Tsuna jumped when he heard a voice from his right, "Reborn, is everything okay?"

The brunet turned. "K-Kozato-san?"

The red head looked over to Tsuna, raising his fist engulfed in flames. "So it's you next, Sawada-kun? I never would have guessed." He smiled. "Then again, I never would have guessed that I myself would be one as well."

"It's over, Mukuro. You lost," The baby that Tsuna deemed to be Reborn said, climbing onto Tsuna's right shoulder, making him flinch.

Mukuro tsked, but couldn't do anything about it as his eyes shifted from the baby to the red haired teen in between him and Tsuna, arm raised defensively to protect his target as well as protect Tsuna from a line of fire.

He narrowed his eyes. "For now. Don't think that this is over yet, Arcobaleno."

Reborn smirked. "Wouldn't count on it."

The heterochrome cast one last look at Tsuna, and mouthed, "Don't forget," before fading into the darkness.

Tsuna stared at where the man was previously before he shivered, getting an odd premonition about his surroundings.

Reborn raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as Enma distinguished his flames. "Sawada-san, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Tsuna managed to answer, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm himself. "K- Kozato-san, what are you…?"

He smiled softly before eyes hardening, turning. "Who's there?" He raised an arm, ready to fight and defend the two with him.

"Just… observing. Don't mind me." A voice came from the shadows, emerging to be Byakuran. He took Tsuna by his right arm, sliding the baby off his shoulder. Reborn jumped onto Enma's as Byakuran brought Tsuna's waist around him.

"Tsu-chan, I can't believe you abandoned me like that! Come along," Byakuran pulled the brunet along, "It's getting late, almost past your curfew. Your mother will be worried."

"Eh?" He looked at his watch. "O-oh, you're right…" Tsuna was pulled along, too powerless to resist, not that he was resisting in the first place, as his friend was right.

Byakuran grinned, not sparing a glance at the baby and their classmate. "Let's get going then!"

"O-okay!" Tsuna managed to work his feet to stay side by side, and Reborn and Enma watched silently as the brunet was pulled away, unable to do anything to prevent him from leaving.

"So he's the one, Reborn?" Enma asked quietly when the pair left.

Reborn nodded curtly, lowering his fedora over his eyes. "He's the tenth one I've found, and the most promising one I've ever seen, even more than the first. Hopefully he'll last longer than the others."

Enma laughed. "Then what about me?"

"You don't count, obviously." The baby narrowed his eyes at where the pair left from. "His company is troubling, however. You're in the same class, right? Take advantage of it."

Enma's eyes grew strong, looking over to where Reborn was looking over, were Tsuna was. "Right."

"Tsu-kun, you've almost had me worried!" Nana pulled her son into a hug.

Tsuna could hear Byakuran chuckle from behind him. "K-Kaa-san!" he exclaimed, embarrassed that his friend had to see that. He wanted to push her away, but couldn't do so at his angle.

Nana didn't care for his son's embarrassment, too happy that he has finally arrived back home. She released him. "You do this again, so help me…!"

He lowered his head. "S-sorry, Kaa-san," he mumbled, no longer caring for his embarrassment.

He really had nothing to worry about, he has known Byakuran for so long and was used to the routine. Still, this was the first time he cut his curfew so close, usually Byakuran would have reminded him sooner.

"Byaku-chan, thank you again!" She pulled him for a hug, which he accepted.

He smiled in reply. "No problem, Nana-chan, anything for Tsu-chan!"

After she released him, he bowed slightly. "I better get going, it looks like it's going to rain and I don't want to keep Tsu-chan up too late." He winked. "See you tomorrow, Tsu-chan!"

"B-bye, Byaku-san," Tsuna quietly said goodbye before he was escorted back inside.

"Tsu-kun, we've been over this," his mom started her lecture. "You can go wherever you want after school, but you must be home before the sky starts to turn orange. You're not allowed out at night."

"S-sorry, Kaa-san. I lost track of time…" Tsuna had an excuse but he knew his mother wouldn't accept it. He wasn't going to tell her what happened, she already had enough troubles by his own fault without adding his own personal problems.

What was he even to say anyway? That the new student hated children enough to want to kill them and his classmate can spontaneously combust his hand in flames without burns? Or perhaps the fact that he was almost killed by said baby that the new student wanted to maim?

She sighed. "Tsu-kun, I'm doing this to protect you. You know I love you, right?"

W-what's with this all of a sudden? "O-of course, Kaa-san! I love you too!"

"So please follow your curfew and come home on time. If it wasn't for Byaku-chan, who knew what time you would have been home? You never answer your phone, I would have been so worried!

"So please, please, don't do this to me. Don't make me worry."

Tsuna looked away. "S-sorry, Kaa-san…"

She smiled softly. "It's fine, just don't do it again, okay?"

He nodded. "I promise."

"Good." She kissed him on the forehead. "Now do you want dinner or would you like to go to sleep now?"

He blushed, couldn't help but be embarrassed. "I-I'm older now, Kaa-san. I can stay up longer."

She looked at him carefully, feeling his forehead. "I don't know, Tsu-kun, it feels like you're having a slight fever."

He felt himself burning up. "M-maybe I'll go to bed now." He kissed her on the cheek before turning to his room. "Good night, Kaa-san."

She smiled. "Good night, Tsu-kun."

A ring.

A burning sensation.

His house on fire.

His school on fire.

The whole town of Namimori on fire.

Kozato Enma standing on top of the ashes, hand burning.

Someone in the shadows.

People behind the curtains, strings in between the fingers with marionettes under their control.

That baby with that strange pacifier smiling through it all.

"Don't forget."

Tsuna panted, blinking awake. He sat upright, running his hand through his sweat soaked hair, hand resting over his right eye.

It hurt, it hurt so much.

It hurt too much to bare.

He wanted to gorge it out.

He stabbed his fingers into his eye, screaming as he attempted to do what he wanted. He bit back the pain, knowing that taking out the source will make the pain of taking it out worth it.

His window was suddenly forced open, and Tsuna felt a hand remove his own hand over his eye as rainwater fell into his room with the gush of leaves to follow.

"I told you not to forget, but it would seem you did," a voice whispered into his ear. Tsuna shivered, the pain fading away.

"W-who - "

Fingers laced themselves into his wild, sienna hair, and Tsuna found himself slowly being comforted before falling asleep under the gentle message.

Mukuro smiled as he heard Tsuna's even breathing, indicating that he was asleep. His smile turned into a frown as his hand glided over Tsuna's left hand to feel a ring on his middle finger. He narrowed his eyes out the window.

"Don't worry, Tsunayoshi," he murmured, "I won't let you fall under them again." He tightened his grip on the boy in his arms.

"No matter what."

A/N: Unbeta'd because I can't read this over again.

I've decided to combine a bunch of my Reborn bunnies into one. Hopefully this will lead into a better plot. If this were to continue, anyway. Meh.