A/N: Mhm. Your average Pudding-esque fanfic. I start them and I get a new idea before I finish 'em - Helium is still on my mind. I just don't know if I want to continue that fic, so... this is my new distraction. 1827 or G27, guys?

- x -

KAKERA

CHAPTER ONE

It's time, Primo.

His eyes flickered open in the darkness. The familiar feeling of the void welcomed him- the void beyond the reaches of passing time and its effects. There had only been a handful of times in which he, Vongola Primo, had been called on in that way. But there was always one consistent reason for his calling- the succession ceremony. Certainly this was the reason for his calling- he hadn't sensed by danger to the Vongola ring as of late, anyhow. And the current boss's time was nearly up, as well- Primo had enough experience to guess at the reason this time.

His eyes closed, eyelids covering irises in the color of the sunset as it began.

- x -

"You fucking asshole! Let Juudaime out!"

Hibari didn't pay the angry guardian any attention. Gokudera had always been a hot-headed idiot when it came to his supposed "boss", but apparently he had forgotten just how much of an idiot he was in the past- or how dirty of a mouth he had. Hibari had an urge to stuff a bar of soap down the silver-haired man's throat at times like this.

His indifference wasn't about to earn him any points from Gokudera, who wanted nothing more to rush at the man and knock him out cold with a punch. "Are you even listening to me, you bastard?"

This time Hibari tilted his head back to give the storm guardian a glare. "Why?"

The single-word question enraged Gokudera even more. "What kind of stupid question is that? 'Why'? Honestly- Juudaime's going to fucking die in there if you don't let him out!"

Hibari gave an amused look as a smirk tugged at his lips. "So? The weak can die. Only the strong can survive." Honestly speaking, Tsunayoshi had been nothing less of a disappointment for him. His flames were weak, and his techniques were weak and predictable. In this sort of world where the Millefiore swarming everywhere, Tsunayoshi was not going to survive if he couldn't pick things up. Hibari would help with that, and this was going to be the first step. Reborn had muttered something about an inheritance test earlier (not that it mattered much to Hibari). Test? Of course. Hibari was not going to hold back.

Still, if the herbivore died here... that would be most troublesome.

- x -

"Hah..."

Precious oxygen filtered in through Tsuna's nose again, and now there was less and less of it around. He could feel the heat from his gloves receding as he tried to break from the prison that Hibari had built for him. Not being able to breathe was a horrible feeling. No, this feeling was even worse than the countless times Xanxus slammed him into buildings and such. It was even worse than the helpless feeling he had felt when Mukuro had been possessing their bodies. This was the feeling of impending, tightening death around his lungs. He was going to be in serious trouble if he didn't get any air soon. Were Hibari's flames really this... solid and impenetrable?

"Herbivore." At least sound was able to penetrate into the dark enclosure, though that was of little relief to Tsuna. Great. This Hibari from the future was nothing short of a demon. Despite his light-head and racing thoughts, Tsuna wondered how his future self dealt with such a person. Then again, he was definitely much stronger in ten years' time and could defend himself from such a monster! "You will die if you don't break out soon."

'Like I need you to tell me that!' Tsuna thought to himself as he pressed his gloved hand onto the inside of the enclosure again, willing flames to surge onto the surface again. A new burst of flames appeared, though they weren't enough. The moment Tsuna melted away a layer of cloud flames, it would repair itself almost immediately. 'Propagation...' This was bad. Bad. Bad. If Tsuna didn't find a way out, Hibari would really be dragging out a body later on. There was only a little bit of the cloud flames that was continuously being burned out, but it was only near his ring and wouldn't be enough.

His head swam, and before he knew it, his mop of brown hair hit the floor hard, knocking him out completely.

- x -

Red. It was everywhere.

It tainted the floor, gathering in huge puddles near bodies. The smell of death hung on everything, and Tsuna could feel it hanging on him as well. At first, it was confusion. What was this? Then, as his vision expanded, it was horror. Red tainted the once pristine-white tablecloth, the rich wooden furniture, and swam in what may had been a delicious soup. It replaced butter on the bread that had been scattered over the room, splattered on the food that had been upturned during what appeared to be a fight. It hung on the chandelier above, dripping down on the bodies below occasionally. Tsuna's eyes were cast down on his gloved hands, which were stained with blood. If it wasn't for the fact that he was freaking out, he would have noticed that they weren't his gloves at all.

And then everything changed.

A blazing fire. Everything seemed to be crumbling down for some reason, though this time Tsuna was watching from afar. Wood lighted immediately upon contact, and Tsuna watched as the fire spread like a disease before enveloping the entire building. And as it did so, Tsuna heard something other than crumbling wood and stone. Screams. Human screams. At first he thought that it was his imagination, but then they got louder. And louder. And louder.

"Save me!"

"My child! My wife! My family...!"

"Save... save me!"

Tsuna's hands came over his ears. The fluffy white material of his mittens was hardly enough to cut the noise out. Even as he tried, the screams came louder, cutting through his ears like a knife through hot butter. It left the same sticky, icky wound behind. Tears streaked down his face despite himself, and his throat was dry from yelling. "STOP IT!" More yells of protest and streaks of blood came as his answer. The scenes were shifting quickly now, and the emotions they brought on in him escalated out of control now. Flashes of light, horror, and violence passed by Tsuna's eyes as the images burned onto the back of Tsuna's skull. He was reduced to a quivering mess, wrapped up in a fetal position on the floor as the tears streamed from his cheek and dropped onto the floor "STOP IT!" Tsuna yelled again, his voice breaking from his sobs. Why was everything so horrible? Everything came back to him with renewed vigor, as if challenging his words.

"This is the fate of the successor to the Vongola."

Tsuna's eyes opened wide. That voice- who was it? He didn't recognize it at all, and yet... the words pulled at something inside him, long forgotten and compressed below in a deep part of himself that he had never been able to let free on his own. Now he pushed it down before it could flare up again, but it was like the spark to a flame as it caught fire inside, spreading like an uncontrolled wildfire.

Why? Why was this happening to him? Why was the Vongola like this? More specifically...

"Why me?" Tsuna's voice cut through the screams of agony, and he willed it to reach the voice that he had heard earlier. Was that voice the cause of all of this? The yells and screams of agony didn't cease, thought that only succeeded in enraging Tsuna even further. Why were these people getting killed? Was death always the first sort of punishment in the mafia world? Tsuna wasn't ready to face it. Even if that was the truth... he wasn't willing to accept it. If it was indeed what was going on... he would have to do everything in his power to stop it. He was only one person, yes. But if he worked enough- if he tried hard enough, perhaps- something could be done about it. It was a hopeless case, really, but Tsuna didn't want to sit by and do nothing. Life was precious.

"I won't!" His voice broke free through the chaos and confines of his own mind as he looked up. His tears blinded and blurred nearly everything. Was someone there? It didn't matter anymore- he had to free himself. "I-If that's the truth, then... I'll destroy it!" Tsuna all but screamed at the top of his lungs. That voice... that voice. What was it? Was it the enemy here? Tsuna's thoughts were so muddled now- it was hard to tell anything apart.

"I'll destroy the Vongola!"

- x -

He felt the surge of flames- the mass of concentrated flames and energy. These were much more powerful than the last time he had felt the foreign flames surge in this sacred spiritual realm, though this time the flames seemed to be more of a wild, unharnessed power, of hidden potential that had yet to be expressed fully. This was a wild mustang that needed grooming, training, and most of all, a breaking-in. Primo would be able to successfully do the painful last one... or break this mustang in the process.

For him, the second was not an option.

Primo's eyes closed, and a bright orange flame appeared on his head as he opened up his mind to the void. The void... the void that was now a little bit more. The flow of emotions, thoughts, and onslaught of memories caught up with him, flashing through his mind as if everything had just happened yesterday. Memories that were his and the few select others whom had felt these same emotions, feelings, and, most of all, the pain. The memories that recorded the history of the Vongola, to be specific. Hallucinations were going to start, of course, and then the pain would start settling in with the past. Primo didn't hold back. He had never had a reason to do so before, and although this time the flames felt somewhat new- young and inexperienced for sure, he was in no position to make exceptions. The boss of the Vongola had to be perfect and flawless in every way, or the hard work that had been built up for the past four hundred years would all be gone- not only because of the new Decimo, but because of the arrogance of Primo. He was not about to let that happen.

As the images filtered through, however, Primo's flames started licking at his blonde strands in a way that had him hesitating more than he should have. 'There's something wrong?' He frowned, then dismissed the outrageous idea a minute later. No. That was impossible. How could something go wrong now? Potential bosses before this had either fought against the memories, blocking them out until Primo disqualified them and rejected their blood, or accepting them. This... this time, it was something else, though Primo had no idea what. The flames from the potential Decimo were too suppressed and weak to tell. Primo only squeezed his eyes shut, fighting to keep his few happy memories from mixing into the bloody ones he was now feeding into the spiritual void. There were so few glimpses but the feelings and emotions from them were quite vivid, as well.

"Ne, Primo, why don't we take a break?"

"Nufufu... I doubt that crazy boss of ours takes breaks."

"Boss! Let's head to the beach!"

"You're all crazy! You know Primo's drowning in paperwork!"

"Maa, maa, more the reason for us to make excuse, right?"

The voice he was waiting for never came, however, because a moment later, Primo felt a consciousness meet his and nearly gasped. His flames surged inside and streaked out on his forehead. His hyper intuition confirmed what he had already knew.

It was a child. His figure was crumpled on the ground in front of Primo, wrapped up in a fetal position on the floor. Wild brown locks hid most of his face, and white woolen mittens covered the boy's hands. 'Where is his weapon?' Or... did he even have one? Primo shook off the idea. No, this potential Decimo was nowhere close to Segundo. There was no way that he would be weaponless- but those ridiculous mittens couldn't possibly be of any defense, let along offense. But something else had distracted the blonde from this, and he didn't dwell on the matter. Primo heard the sound of sobbing- sobbing that didn't come from his own mind for once. His flames were all but put out by now as the guilt, helplessness, and despair settled upon him. Primo could only watch in shock. It was a child? He was the candidate chosen? How? Denial made its way to Primo's thoughts before being swiftly replaced by disbelief. So Nono had chosen a child. A mere child for the task. What had they been thinking? This one couldn't possibly be more than fifteen.

"STOP IT!" A surge of flames suddenly awakened within the small body. "STOP IT!"

Primo could only take a step back before closing his eyes to calm himself again. He had already went this far. It was time to tell the kid what he was in for, at least... he couldn't go easy. Not even on a child, though he was pretty sure that he'd regret it later. "This is the fate of the successor to the Vongola."

There was a deadly moment of silence. A moment of contemplation, of a choice to be taken. Primo expected things to go in the negative, of course. He was so young. So different from the others that had been here before. This was no bloodthirsty man, no battle-hungry or vengeful bastard. This wasn't one who wanted power for himself. Fifteen years- that was nothing. This child was best out of the mafia world entirely. He readied his mind to reject the blood of his descendant, but just as he did so, a determined yell sounded out in his ears.

"I won't!"

Shocked, Primo's eyelids lifted of their own accord and met the large brown eyes looking up at him and overflowing with tears. That expression said everything, and Primo felt his heart clench in a way that it hadn't done in ages.

"I-If that's the truth, then... I'll destroy it! I'll destroy the Vongola!"

Primo's intuition flared. Resolve. That was what he was testing for, and now the kid's determination was only too obvious. But did he really want to drag this child out into the mafia world? Darkened images swirled in Primo's head at the very mention of that. He couldn't say. He was Primo, the first sky boss. He was supposed to be wise and to help future generations. If this child was chosen, then he was competent enough to have at least made it to this stage. There was no reason to fail him.

"Your resolve... has been accepted."

The words left a sour, guilty taste in Primo's mouth. For once, he didn't know if he was doing the right thing anymore as he accepted before pushing Decimo's consciousness out.

There was now a lot to think about.

- x -

A/N: For those of you who know the succession chapter well, you would have noticed that I changed a number of things there. It was hard to get detailed and now change stuff, lol. WHY MUST I HAVE SUCH A STUPIDLY DETAILED WRITING STYLE. I HATE IT D8

So a lot of things probably made no sense whatsoever, especially when it was from Giotto's point of view.