Chapter 1: It's Not Your Fault Those Hands Are Freezing

Hello dear reader!

Thank you for taking your time to read this story. This is my second time writing an actual story and I do consider myself a rookie so please don't be too harsh on me.

Now please enjoy!

Black dots clouded my vision and I fought back the urge to collapse. The dizziness made my head spin and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood to bring me back to my senses. My ragged breath was all I heard. I was kneeling down on the ground, blood dripping from the cuts and slashes that scarred my body. Everything was burning. My head hung down low as strands of hair clung to my face thanks to the sweat from my brow.

I panted as my shaky fingers clenched into fists on the ground and I gazed up at the white haired man before me with fiery eyes.

His light purple eyes, like lilacs, gazed down at me with indifference but the smile on his face was laced with bitterness.

"It's no use Eli-chan. To be honest I didn't expect this of you. What did you think you would gain out of this if you betrayed me?" Byakuran taunted, his voice resentful.

"This was my only choice Byakuran. Look around you!" I flung out an arm to the clear glass window and the destruction behind it.

The world outside was one of fire and destruction. The damage was severe. Mass buildings were turned into rubble and the streets were cracked like a broken mirror. The air was polluted with smoke and grey dust covered everything in sight. The sky was painted red. A blood red.

Byakuran turned back to me with smile. "This was needed. In order to gain the ultimate power, sacrifices are to be made. The world I will make will be perfect!" He spread out his arms and preached like he was the savior of the world.

"You promised me you would stay by my side until the end."

My heart clenched. "Killing people and taking innocent lives isn't power. I thought that you would change if I stayed by your side. I thought I could save you from yourself." I grounded out and gritted my teeth. I couldn't lose consciousness. "But I was wrong. You left me no choice."

"Is that why you betrayed me? Only a high ranking officer could have let a rebel group slip in without anyone noticing. You let them in and helped them destroy my base." Byakuran let his arms fall to his side and his voice was quipped with annoyance.

"You're extravagant plan didn't work and you failed to kill me. What are you going to do now? You can barely move with the wounds I gave you and all your allies are dead."

"I told you that one day someone would defeat you. I'm not the one who has the power to stop you. You will meet him in another world. He will defeat you and you will fail." My mouth curved into a smile with defiance as my eyes blazed with fury.

Byakuran's smile on his face faded and the slits of his eyes suddenly opened to reveal cold and merciless intent. "I wonder who is this person you speak of and have so much faith in, but it's no use. I will continue to travel world to world, leaving behind a trail of terror and destruction." He slowly walked towards me with an ominous grin.

He put his hand into his pocket to take something out.

It was a gun. Byakuran looked down on me as he pointed the barrel of the gun at my face. His eyes were cold as ice. Byakuran put the tip of it to my forehead and I felt it's cool steel against my skin.

Before I die, I needed to know. "Why? Why did you take away my family? My world? My life?" I whispered desperately.

"I did those things because I love you."

My heart stopped at his words and I froze. What? He couldn't. He wasn't. If he truly did, he wouldn't kill my family. He wouldn't destroy my world. He wouldn't do this to me.

"But you betrayed me Elise. It pains me to do this but you're the one who turned you're back on me."

How dare he?! What right did he have to say that?! Memories of us laughing, smiling, and just being together made my stomach twist in disgust. This wasn't love.

I felt a single tear fall from my left eye. "No, Byakuran. I turned my back on the world. And now I did what I could to save it. Everything I did... I did to save you as well."

Byakuran was silent and his eyes glistened for a split second before they hardened. "If only you would have listened and just stayed quietly by my side. Goodbye Elise." Byakuran smiled at me one last time. It was strained. His eyes met mine and that's when I realized I would miss their pretty color gazing at me with affection.

I watched him pull the trigger. A shot rang. And the world faded to darkness...

If I had any regrets, it would be just one. I regretted how I loved the way he smiled at me like I was everything.

I didn't believe in parallel worlds or people with mysterious powers. Things like that were made up stories in comic books or movies. They were works of fiction.

It wasn't until he showed up that I started to question everything I believed in. I had met Byakuran one day, in a small coffee shop that I frequented after school. He was a foreigner in the life he lived in my world.

He entered the café but he couldn't read English. I thought what harm would it do if I helped the poor young man and offered to help him with his dilemma. I was shocked to see him in my world, where as his world was a work of fiction. I thought I was going crazy and he was just someone who looked eerily familiar to the antagonist until I started to see him more and more at the coffee shop. Any doubt was erased from my mind when I saw the way he talked and acted. It was just like in the anime series. Shortly after, Byakuran approached me and we chatted. It was inevitable that we would grow closer. Soon, it grew into a friendship.

I befriended him easily and we became inseparable. Of course I knew of his true nature. He was aloof, carefree, and cheerful in the eyes of many. But underneath all that he was cruel, ruthless and toyed with people's emotions.

Throughout our friendship I hadn't allowed him to discover the anime series.

The more time I spent with him, I thought I could change his mind about world domination. I actually considered him a friend, family. He smiled with me every day. He told me his fears, his worries, his ambitions in life. He told me that I was special to him. I was too naive. I truly thought that if I stayed in his life, he would find a reason to change.

But I was wrong.

One day he told me of his abilities and what he could do with them. He had the power to gain knowledge from parallel worlds and share them with his other selves in each of them. He had a goal and told me but of course I already knew.

He wanted the ultimate power. The Tri-ni-set.

When I asked him why he was telling me this, his reply made me wish I never met him.

"Isn't it obvious? I plan on taking over every single world and of course yours as well. But don't worry Eli-chan. I won't let anything happen to you if you stay by my side."

How could I be so stupid? Did I really think he wouldn't destroy mine if we became friends? It didn't matter if the world he was in was my home. He had every intention of destroying it and I trusted him... I loved him. I fell in love with him even though I knew he would ruin me.

He slowly gained power. He gained a military, medical treatment that hadn't even existed yet, and knowledge that helped him take over everything.

I became his right hand, the person he trusted the most. I was a high ranking officer within Byakuran's organization tasked with overseeing everything his soldiers did. I followed orders without question. I was a puppet on strings and Byakuran was the one pulling them.

Then he killed my family. The people who invited him to our house and loved him as much as I did.

"I know they were you're family, but who needs them when you have me Eli-chan? We only have each other in this world."

"Didn't you say we'd always be there for each other?"

"Come on Elise, they're just toys!"

"You promised you'd never leave me."

I tried so many times to escape, to leave him, or to run away. Every single time I wanted to leave him, he would always give me a reason to come back.

I couldn't take it anymore. I was disgusted with myself when he killed and I just watched. That's why I planned to take Byakuran down. I helped a group of rebels plan to kill him. I had no combat experience but I had access to every entrance and exit to the organization. I could get them in and out of his base. It all went wrong when he discovered the rebellion group and he destroyed them all.

That was how I ended up dying. I betrayed Byakuran and he killed me but...

After he let me burn, after I had to numb all my wounds, and after he tore my faith apart... I still loved him.

We both ended up betraying one another in a different way. I wondered if it's because we both loved each other that this happened. I loved him so much that I thought I could save him from himself. He loved me so much that he thought he could keep me by his side by taking away everything I cherished.

You know when you're in a state of conscientiousness and unconsciousness? It's like you're dreaming and you're aware of it but you just can't wake up.

That's how I felt. I couldn't see. It was dark all around, a void almost.

I remember smoke, ashes, the ground beneath me and the color red. It was red everywhere. And I remember Baykuran's smile before a shot rang through the air and then nothing.

My ears were ringing and I could make out muffled voices in the distance. Still, all I could see was darkness.

"Timoteo, look. It's a girl!" A woman voice called out with enthusiasm.

"She looks exactly like her mother." A man's quiet voice soothed.

"It's such a shame. You will be taking her in right? The child won't be able to survive if she's left alone. Remember what her parents did and the sacrifices they made. It's the least you can do for them." The woman murmured.

There was a moment of silence.

What are they talking about? Who was Timoteo?! And why can't I see?

I wriggled my body around to gain some mobility and inwardly sighed in relief when I felt movement in my hands and feet.

"Oh my! Look, she's reaching out to you." The woman cooed.

I heard the man chuckle before a shift of movement and I was suddenly engulfed by something that was warm and oddly familiar. It was a pair of arms holding me close.

Was I being held?

I scrunched up my face and tried to open my eyes but it was like they were glued shut. Small whimpers escaped my lips as I struggled and realized they were more high pitched than usual. They sounded almost like a baby. Almost.

I finally felt my eye lids flutter open. A blinding light came into view and my vision was slightly blurry. A figure came into focus. They were leaning over me and they appeared to be very big.

I blinked once, then twice. An elderly man who looked in his 70's was gazing down at me. He had grey spiked up hair along with a brittle mustache. His almond like eyes were soft and an even softer smile was on his lips.

His eyes twinkled once he noticed I was staring up at him.

"Why hello little one. I've seen you've awaken." The man hummed.

What the hell.

I peered down at my body only to realize I was wrapped up in some blanket type cocoon. My body was tiny...tiny as a baby's.

Wait a minute. My voice and body. It couldn't be...

I was a baby. But how was it possible? I thought life after death was in heaven. But if he was able to come to my world then rebirth and reincarnation were also possible.

I concluded that after I died in my world I was reborn again into a different one.

But the only problem was, was that I didn't know which one. I could be in a reality where zombies walked, magic was real or the world was dystopian future. A million possibilities ran through my mind and I slowly started to panic.

Okay don't freak out! It's going to fine! You're just trapped in the body of a baby and you're parents in this world are dead.

That's when I remembered what had happened recently.

Byakuran. Collapsed buildings. Smoke filled air. People dead because of me. A blood red sky. Bodies on the ground. My family- No. Nonononnonono! Thiscantbehappening. IhavetogetbackIhavetosavethem!

I erupted into tears and started wailing a whiny, fretful cry.

The man, who I assumed was Timoteo tried to shush me. But it was so to no avail. The man literally tried everything. He rocked me back and forth, lifted me up in the air, sang to me (He actually wasn't that bad), and made funny faces.

I continued to cry. I couldn't stop. Not after all that happened to me. I was betrayed by a man that I fell in love with. My family was killed because I trusted him and the world I knew came crashing down on me. I died and was sent to a mysterious world I knew nothing about.

I didn't know who I was or who I was supposed to be.

A warm touch on my forehead quieted my small whimpers. My tears subsided as I stared in curiosity at the man. He had put his forehead against mine without word while his eyes were closed in content.

Timoteo smiled once I quieted down and pulled back a little to look at my face.

I don't know why but I felt a little fondness for the old man as he gazed at me. Maybe it was because he had comforted me or maybe it was because I had no one else but him.

"Do not cry little bambina. You are safe now. You will become one of my own and lead a happy life. Your name shall be Elise." He whispered with such tender care that I giggled and reached out to touch his cheeks.

Elise was my name in my last life. Could it be I was reborn in a world a parallel me existed?

He put his hand over my smaller one and leaned his cheek into my palm.

For some reason, I had feeling that this man was going to become someone very important to me. Maybe one day I could tell him all about my past. But for now, I'll let him take care of me.

"Welcome to the Vongola Family." Timoteo smiled.

Well shit.

You would think that life as a baby would be carefree and easier but it's not. Your reaction time is slow and your body is small because it's undeveloped so it's practically useless. You have to crawl everywhere and someone is always carrying you. Not to mention the ungodly times you have to pee and poop. (I will never forget the embarrassment I felt when getting my diaper changed.)

Although my body was that of a baby, I still had the intelligence level of a sixteen year old. This helped me to learn things quicker. Like potty training, learning to walk, and of course, speaking. Much to Timoteo's amusement, my first words were "poop."

I was taken in by Vongola Nono, otherwise known as Timoteo. He was the ninth-generation boss of a mafia family called the Vongola. My "birth" parents were members of the Family. My father had died in a mission and my mother from child birth. I didn't know much about them and they died beforehand I could meet them. I was sad but I had Timoteo. All I knew was that their last name was "Sno" and I could tell it was painful for Timoteo to talk about them.

Timoteo was a kind old man that was responsible for the world's most strongest mafia family. I became his adopted daughter and was brought to one of the Vongola Mansions in Italy. There, I was given a care taker, a set of servants, and everything else for a growing baby.

Of course Timoteo was there but he was only there for the first half of my childhood. I stopped seeing him around the age of three and deduced he was busy dealing with the Family.

My main care taker was a woman named Maria. She was a little younger then Timoteo, maybe around her 40s and she was the woman I had first heard when I awoke as a newborn baby. Maria was a kind woman, with chocolate brown locks tied into a bun and deep blue eyes. Her skin was fair but wrinkled with age.

Maria had carried me into the bathroom for a bath one day and set me down in the bathtub to grab some towels. There was a mirror right behind me and that was the first time I had gotten a look at myself.

The person that looked back at me in the mirror had sun-kissed skin, a mop of long, midnight hair that cascaded over her shoulders. Brown colored, almond shaped eyes stared back at me in the mirror with a curiosity and a innocence only a child would have. To say I was baffled would be an understatement.

I had looked exactly the same as I did in my original world. Then, I realized why.

I was reborn into a world where a parallel me existed and took her place.

On that day, I cried. I had been given a second chance.

I was a quiet baby. I rarely cried and asked for attention. You could leave me alone in the room for five minutes without hearing a single cry. This baffled some adults but it was then concluded that I was an intelligent and intellectual child. There was nothing I could really do besides draw with crayons on blank sheets of paper, read the books in the library or hang out in the garden. Sometimes when I was bored, I would follow Maria around in the kitchen or around the mansion.

"Hey Maria?" I was laying on my stomach on the ground with my elbows propped up and my chin rested in the palms of my hands. I swung my small legs back and forth. A book was laid out in front of me.

"How come I don't go to school like normal children?" I asked in a timid voice, testing the waters to see if it was too much of a question to ask.

Maria stopped her knitting and gazed at from her rocking chair. She pondered on what to say for a minute.

"It's because your father would rather have you be taught by people we can trust. The Vongola have excellent teachers in the Family." She continued knitting her scarf.

I hummed and flipped a page. "How come I can't trust the teachers at the schools?" I was slightly hoping she would tell me something about the mafia. I already knew everything but something about being kept in the dark by everyone irked me.

"You can dear, but you know how your father is. He's very protective of you. He just wants you to be safe." Maria answered.

"Then why isn't Papa around anymore?" My small voice asked in a whisper. The words sounded innocent but they held depth to it that meant much more.

I was making it clear that I was aware of things.

At first, I tried to understand that Timoteo was busy. No one told me why he was always gone but I knew. It still kind of hurt though not having him around. I was still technically a child and I had the want for an adult figure to love and care for me. I was the only child in the mansion and was home schooled. I didn't interact with any other kids my age and couldn't confide in any of the adults. I began to feel lonely.

Maria stilled and all you could hear was the flipping of pages in my book. I heard her stand up and walk over to me but I kept my gaze down at my book.

She knelt in front of me and I looked up. A sad smile adorned her lips. "Your father loves you very much. But his job requires him to be away from time to time. I know it must be hard since you don't have any one to play with. One day you'll understand why your father is always away and why he wants you cooped up in this mansion." She moved a strand of hair behind my ear and patted my cheek.

"I know you are smart girl. You see things differently than a normal child does. A kind, warm, and loving girl like you doesn't deserve this harsh and cruel world. Promise me that when the time comes for you to step out into the real world you won't ever change." Maria held my chin so that I was forced to look her in the eyes.

If only you knew what I've been through.

The corners of my mouth turned up into a smile.

"I'll try my best."

I caught on to things quick and already knew my times tables by the age of four. I excelled in every subject taught to me by my tutor and already passed classes meant for a middle schooler.

Timoteo was pleased and often wrote letters to me when he was away. Of course, I wasn't told about the mafia and all things related to it were to be kept a secret from me. I was amused at how all the adults acted like it wasn't the foundation of the Family.

Whenever I asked what business Timoteo worked in they evaded the question or lied. Well what did I expect? They weren't about to tell a four year old that the family she was adopted into was associated with the underworld.

I spent my days like a normal child but then it dawned on me that I was in the anime and manga series Katekyo Hitman Reborn. That meant I was in the same world as Byakuran once again. It also meant that I was in a world where Tsuna and his guardians, the Varia, and Arcobaleno existed as well.

I soon grew worried though. If I had been born as a normal citizen, I could easily avoid interacting with the plot and it's characters. But since I was adopted by a major character, it would be downright impossible to avoid messing with the storyline.

My very existence could cause ripples in this world.

I had no intention of becoming part of the plot. Tsuna's fate to becoming the Vongola Boss, going on his adventures, defeating his enemies and being the main character was already set it stone. If I interfered with that, it could cause major changes. A part of me knew I was also just scared to face Byakuran again. He had memories and knowledge from his other selves in parallel universes so he would recognize me in an instant.

Deep down I was afraid to face the man who had murdered my parents and sent me to my death. I didn't want to have to go through that again so I decided to live quietly as possible.

"Now, you are not allowed to go to the East Wing- Were you sleeping again Elise?"

My head snapped up from dosing off. "Huh? I mean no- I mean yes?" I gave her an apologetic smile.

"Were you staying up late last night? It's very important that you listen because you're old enough now that I don't have to babysit you." She tried to chastise me with a reprimanding tone but it came out lighter than she had intended. Maria was establishing new house rules since I was old enough that I didn't need a caretaker to watch me like hawk every now and then.

I had already spent six long years in this world.

"It amazes me how often you fall asleep like that. You're always napping somewhere and now I know it's because you're awake past your bed time."

"I'm sorry. There was a really good book I found last night and I couldn't take my eyes off of it." I replied with a shrug and small laugh. "You shouldn't worry Maria, I promise I'll go to bed early." I reassured her. I refrained from telling her the contents of the book.

I stumbled upon it in the library. It was a small book in size but the contents made up for it. The book held the history of the Vongola family.

In situations like these, where you're wisked away to a parallel world and you know it's past, present, and future along with the turn of events that would take place, there are certain rules you must follow.

Number one: Don't involve yourself with the plot.

Who knows what could happen if someone that wasn't meant to be there became a part of the story.

Number two: Don't grow attached to the characters.

In this world, they're real, breathing people with thoughts of their own and emotions. They're more than characters in a story and creating bonds with them was dangerous. It would make me want to change things, change the story, and disrupt the balance of things.

Number three: Never reveal information regarding future events that could alter endings.

This comes from my experience with Byakuran. I told him that the path he took would bring him to ruin and that someday, someone would stop him. I didn't tell him who it was because he could alter reality and the plot would be destroyed. Not only would it affect this world but other worlds as well. It was like the domino affect. Whatever happens in this world, will surely have influence on the next.

Maria's fingers waved in front of my face and snapped me out of my reverie.

"Elise? Elise! You always daydream dear and I'm starting to get worried. Now you aren't allowed to go to the East Wing and don't ask why. Only adults are allowed. You already have enough play space to adventure in the mansion." Maria picked up a stack of blankets and walked out into the hall.

I followed her and smoothed down my bed hair. It had grown to the middle of my chest and my height was starting to grow as well. The baby fat I once had disappeared and my body was that of a healthy six year old child.

I was probably taller than Reborn by now. I couldn't help but giggle at the image of me and him standing face to face. I would have to look down.

Maria turned around and raised an eyebrow at me. I stifled my laugh and motioned that there was nothing wrong.

I wonder what Reborn is up to right now.

I hope everyone who read this first chapter enjoyed it!

This is my first story and my first time writing for an anime so any advice or good criticism is deeply appreciated.

Please leave a review and comment because I want to know your opinion!