Disclaimer: I do not own K. Hitman Reborn. All rights to the characters and world goes to the author Amano Akira.

This is just a simple fanfic I've been writing for fun. This is work is incomplete! Reviews equals love!

Author's Notes:

This story picks up directly after the events in the Fanfic "Flames and Family 3: Crimson Curtain". I strongly suggest reading the predecessors to this story first since there will NOT be a summary chapter.

Chapter notes will be posted on my myspace account. Sometimes they're in-depth notes. Sometimes they're just a few lines to say the chapter is up. Feel free to read it or not. It's not required to enjoy the story, but sometimes I can use it to clear up questions that come in after a chapter is posted. It's also a place that I can update when my writing schedule is screwed up. Take the spaces out of the following line to go there:

myspace. com/ gamerwitch

Flames and Family IV was inspired by one of my previous reviewers, Yamamoto Kou, who suggested a Bazooka accident that brings younger-Tsuna into the future in order to see, and be forced to face, what he's done on the wrong path that his future self walked in my Flames and Family stories. I let that plot bunny sit for a good, long time and it has mutated. The beginning of this story is the result.

Flames and Family IV is also dedicated to my buddy, Mr. M (you know who you are). Your story threw me for a loop and I can't help but want to let it inspire me, too.

For the sake of those who've asked many times in the past, I don't mind in the least if you make fanart or fanfic of my fanfic. We're all fans in this together. As long as you're not ripping my stuff off, I'm happy if I've managed to inspire others like Amano Akira has inspired me. I do ask that you PM me or hook me up with a link if you do, however. I like the warm, fuzzy feelings I get when I see such things. If you make fanart and post it on deviantart, feel free to message me on there (madashes2ashes) and let me know. I'll add it to my collection.

I would also like to request that you guys help me keep an eye out for people ripping this story off. I'm not stupid. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is uploading this in an attempt to take credit. If you see any plagiarism, please let me know. I do have a backup copy of the first story on Deviantart, but other than there and here... there should be no other copies. If there are, I'd like to know about it. Linking isn't minded without permission, but taking the whole story is.

Warning:This will be rated M for Mature Features such as Violence, Blood, Gore, Language, Alchohol, Tobacco, Drugs and Sexual Encounters. Do NOT read this if you can't understand the word MATURE. Mature means adult frame of mind, people. I.E. Don't read this if you're not allowed to, or don't prefer to, watch R rated movies! You have been warned!

Thank you for taking the time to read the above. If you didn't, go back up and read it! LOL

And now...

We begin again...

Gokudera's fingers rambled across the small piano in the room, continuing his attempts to find the right music to serenade the sleeping one behind him into wakefulness. It never worked. It never did, but he hoped that perhaps it gave his sleeping Boss good dreams. As it was, playing the piano was the only thing he could do for him. He thought it was amusing that the one faucet of his life that he'd tried to abandon so many times was the very thing that allowed him to be at peace with his Boss in such a state. The one thing that let him continue to believe that he was of some use to Vongola's own Snow White.

"Time's up," a voice growled from behind him. Gokudera paused in his playing, hating the fact that he could only stay by his Boss' side for such a short amount of time.

"Thanks, Xanxus. Is Basil ready?" Gokudera asked quietly.

"Yeah," he replied, yanking his normal chair over to Tsuna's bedside. "He's waiting for you in the Boss' Office." Gokudera stood while Xanxus sat, nodding in acceptance of his duties. "How long are you going to keep this shit up?" He asked curiously without taking his eyes off of Tsuna. "Toshi's good, but you're going to have to let the truth out at some point. The brat is going to have to take over at some point anyway."

"Maybe next week," Gokudera replied.

"You keep saying bullshit like that but you won't do it," Xanxus grumbled with his expression giving lie to his displeasure. Gokudera smiled, knowing that his determination that Tsuna would return was the foundation of hope for the rest of the Family. No one would give up before Gokudera. At the same time, everyone would give up the moment that Gokudera did.

"He'll wake up," he said firmly. Xanxus nodded, accepting the words silently. Trying not to let himself get depressed in the presence of his sleeping Boss, Gokudera quietly left the room. The moment that he was gone, Xanxus let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples.

It was getting hard. It was getting really hard to keep himself from falling back on rage in order to protect himself. More than anything, he wanted to rip the room apart and scream in Tsuna's face until he had no choice but to wake. Yet, he didn't. He knew better now. Doing such a thing would only bring misery. For Tsuna's sake, he had to keep himself calm. He had to take chances and let himself believe in the worthless pieces of trash around him.

And he did. But only for one selfish, secret reason. It was a reason that few knew other than Gokudera. It was a reason that kept him balanced and calm enough to face every day. It was a reason that made him lock the bedroom door so that no one would intrude on the little bit of peace he could grasp.

Xanxus smiled in self-satisfaction when he got to crawl up into the bed next to Tsuna and rest next to the one person that he had allowed himself to fully believe in. It felt good to hold him in his arms again. It felt good to look into Tsuna's face and take pleasure in how Doctor Shamal had restored his age. It felt insanely relaxing to let his guard down so that he could fully enjoy simply sleeping in the same bed as the one he loved.

The moment that his internal alarm went off, Xanxus woke. Stretching lazily, he smiled to himself over having been able to get another good night's sleep with Tsuna all to himself. Not that Tsuna knew he was--

Xanxus' mind went blank upon realizing that he was the only one in the bed. Absently, he lifted up the tangled blankets as if the missing person that should have been in it would magically appear. When Tsuna didn't, Xanxus snapped back to himself in a rush.

"Oh, fuck," he gasped, jumping out of the bed. Forcing himself to calm down despite the urgent need to have a panic attack, he fell back on his hitman senses. He couldn't have been kidnapped. An intruder would have woken him. He couldn't have left, because Gokudera would have arrived to chew his ass off within a few seconds. That meant that he was still somewhere in the room.

Somewhere in the room, awake.

"Tsuna...?" Xanxus called worriedly, heading for the bathroom at a run. "Did you wake up? Where the fuck are you?" Not in the bathroom. The closet? "This isn't funny! Where the fuck are you?!" Not in the closet. The wardrobe? Not there either. No sign of him on the balcony. The hallway. He was just gone! Xanxus' temper snapped, angry at himself for having missed the one moment that everyone had been waiting on.

A scream of fear erupted from under the bed at the same time Xanxus' fist shattered it. Scorched feathers filled the air alongside wooden debris, while a figure scrambled out from underneath it before it could crash down on top of him.

"Tsuna...?" Xanxus asked in shock, lowering his fist with wide eyes. Overjoyed by simply seeing Tsuna moving around, Xanxus didn't even bother asking why he'd been hiding under the bed. Instead, he rushed forward to capture the panicked Tenth Boss in two large arms and forced him to stay still so that he could do the one thing that he'd been wanting to do for months now.

It felt sinful, the amount of enjoyment he was able to get out of kissing a moving, thinking, and responsive Tsuna. His lips were moist and warm. They seemed pliable and enticing under his own. He'd waited so long to feel them again. Tsuna's warm body pressing against his own. Tsuna's hands on his shoulders. Tsuna's scream in his mouth--

Wait.

Xanxus pulled back in surprise at the same moment that Tsuna started screaming again.

"Reborn! Save me!" Tsuna screamed on the top of his lungs while attempting to push himself out of Xanxus' arms. Xanxus let go in shock, not having incited such a reaction in the past. That reaction only got worse when Tsuna scrambled away into the farthest corner of the room while scrubbing his mouth. There was a look of fear and panic on his face, completely at odds with any reaction he'd gotten from him in the past.

"Tsuna...?" He repeated in concern. Reaching out with a step forward, he paused when Tsuna cringed backward into his corner with a look of pure fear on his face. "What's wrong?"

"What did you do with Reborn?!" Tsuna squealed.

"Reborn is in Japan," Xanxus murmured in confusion. "Why--"

"Where am I?" Tsuna yelled. "Why did you kidnap me?!"

"I didn't kidnap you!" He shouted back, getting another cringe for his angry tone. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You're acting like you don't even recognize me!"

"I recognize you!" He cried. "You're Xanxus! You're the Ninth's son and you're the one that's trying to hurt all of my friends!"

"Hurt your friends?!" Xanxus repeated in a roar. "I haven't done shit like that since--" Once more, Xanxus' mind went blank for an instant. When he got it working again, only one question was on his lips. "Tsuna. What's today?"

"Today's the first match for the rings," he answered with a tremble.

"Oh. Shit."

"Xanxus!" A voice called cheerfully from the locked door. "Rise and shine! I brought coffee!" Slowly stepping backward in order to keep Tsuna in his sights, Xanxus reached behind himself and unlocked the door. Yamamoto entered with a broad smile on his face, one which fell alongside the cups in his hands when he saw Tsuna standing in the corner. For his part, Tsuna merely stared back with wide eyes, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Yamamoto," he mumbled in a combination of shock and confusion. "You got big. Did Lambo hit you with his Bazooka?"

"No," Yamamoto replied with a quick glance of askance at Xanxus.

"He's got amnesia," Xanxus explained quietly while trying to hide how hard it was to think or move with Tsuna acting so strangely. "He thinks that we're still in the fucking Ring Battles. I can't go near him without him screaming his ass off."

"Tsuna," Yamamoto called carefully with an absent nod in Xanxus' direction. Slowly, he walked forward to Tsuna with a look of concern on his face, unable to hide his worry with a smile for once "I didn't get hit with a Ten-Year Bazooka. You're not in middle school anymore. The Ring Battles ended a long time ago. I know that this is going to sound crazy to you, but you were in an accident."

"Eh?"

"Look in the damn mirror," Xanxus growled, getting another automatic flinch and a lurch of fear. Xanxus found himself unable to hide the way his lip wanted to twitch in disgust for Tsuna's gutless reactions. "You're twenty-two, brat. You've been in a coma for the last three months."

"EH?!"

"Xanxus," Yamamoto said while Tsuna ran to the dresser mirror to look for himself. "Call Gokudera and the doctor. I'll--"

"What happened to me?" Tsuna mumbled with wide eyes, staring into the mirror with a hand touching the scar on his face. Yamamoto grimaced slightly, knowing that things could only go downhill from such a statement. And it did. Tsuna's attention went from the scar on his cheek to the scars on his exposed arms. From there, he chased them up to his shoulders and then pulled his shirt out so he could look down it. When he saw what lay beneath his bed-shirt, the tears began flowing freely. "What did you do to me? Why is my body like this?!"

"Tsuna--" Yamamoto interjected worriedly before he could begin to have a panic attack. Reaching out, he attempted to stop Tsuna from pulling at his clothes in order to see the extent of the damage done to his flesh. He froze in shock when Tsuna tearfully slapped the hand away.

"Don't--!" He yelled while his tears broke free. "What happened to me, Yamamoto?! Why do I look like this?!"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled at a complete loss of how to answer such a question. Tsuna continued to look at him with an expression full of misery while he tried to think of some way to explain the horror of his own life to him. The silence became thick while Tsuna began to cry into his hands, which made Gokudera's entrance all that much more of a relief.

"BOSS!" Gokudera cried, bursting into the room while still wearing his pajamas. Yamamoto flinched slightly at the sight of the crowd behind him, but Tsuna didn't even seem to notice it. Without hesitation, Tsuna threw himself forward. Gokudera was in complete shock when he fell to a stop at the impact of a sobbing Tsuna around his waist. "Eh?" He asked blankly, surprised beyond belief. "Aren't we supposed to be the ones crying?"

"Who are you?" Tsuna asked obliviously to the doctor that was checking his vital signs. The man's expression took on a look of heartache for a moment. It was a look that Tsuna was slowly getting used to seeing, since many of his innocent questions seemed to receive them. It had taken him nearly an hour to calm down after Gokudera had arrived and it had only been after Gokudera had broke down crying with him. He didn't really understand anything that was going on, but the sight of his own body had been like an emotional train-wreck. One that made him repeatedly ask himself the same question.

What in blazes happened?!

Gokudera had answered some of that. He'd been in an accident. Early guesses were that the accident had caused him to lose his memories. Of course, none of them wanted to tell him what kind of accident, but he couldn't deny the explanation when he'd calmed down after an hour and realized that there was no way he'd been hit with Lambo's Bazooka like he'd hoped. He was confused. That wasn't helped when Gokudera said that his body had gotten like it had over time. Apparently he'd gotten them all while protecting his friends. Or so Gokudera said. There were so many though.

He still couldn't make sense of Xanxus, either. After he'd calmed down, he'd noticed that Xanxus' scars were missing. He supposed that they'd somehow gotten transferred from Xanxus to him, but that didn't really make sense. Not when it only explained a third of the scars. The big, black X on his chest wasn't something that could be explained in such a way. That kind of explanation didn't explain why Xanxus had been sleeping next to him. It didn't explain why Xanxus was kissing him either! That had been his first kiss, too! Tsuna blushed and stared at his hands while trying to push that thought away. It was gross. A guy had kissed him. He'd even felt his tongue. Just the thought made him want to gag.

"I'm Sakura, Tsuna," the doctor finally answered, pulling away his stethoscope. "I've been with your Family since right after the Ring Battles. You really don't remember me?"

"Sorry," Tsuna replied with an apologetic expression, seeing how his question had hurt the man. "I don't remember you. Were we friends?"

"Yes," he nodded with his expression continuing to resemble that of a hurt puppy. "Tsuna. I'm going to try something. I want you to tell me what words you recognize and which you don't. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, seeing Gokudera's encouraging nod out of the corner of his eye. Gokudera seemed so much more mature in the future. His hair seemed far more tailored. He didn't have the tremendous excess of jewelry that he used to. He still had some, such as a bunch of rings and his earring, but he was missing his belts, necklaces, bracelets, and chains. Then again, none of that would have really went with the suit he was wearing. It was kind of weird to see Gokudera in a suit, but Tsuna had to admit that it kind of fit him. The only thing was that it made him seem so... adult. It was nothing like Tsuna remembered from the last time he'd seen him.

"Bianchi," Sakura said.

"Where?" Tsuna asked instantly, looking around in fear of the woman's poison cooking. He wasn't about to let that woman around him without his guard up! The last time he had, she'd stuffed something awful in his mouth!

"No, Tsuna," Sakura chuckled, reaching out to calm him. "I'm just asking to see if you recognize the name."

"Oh," he blushed. "I recognize it."

"Good," he replied. "Let's try another. Matsu." Tsuna shook his head with a shrug. He had no clue who Matsu was. "Shamal." Tsuna nodded with a wide smile, glad to hear a name of something he knew. "Haru." Tsuna nodded again while wondering what that girl had done with herself. Maybe she'd become a costume designer like she'd wanted? "Hotaru." Tsuna's face fell and he shook his head no. That wasn't a name he recognized. Neither were any of the ones that followed. "Sangia. Ieyasu. Elario. Father Robert. Pandora. None of those are ringing any bells?"

"Sorry," Tsuna repeated in disappointment, curling his legs up on the bed that they'd made him sit on. "I'm supposed to know. Aren't I?"

"It's okay, Tsuna," Sakura soothed. "Let's try a few harder ones and see if they trigger anything. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed sullenly.

"Mukuro," he said carefully. Everyone jerked when Tsuna nearly leaped out of his skin at the name.

"Mukuro!" He squeaked. "I thought he wasn't coming back!"

"He's free, Boss," Gokudera soothed with another expression of concern passing across his face. "You freed him and brought him into the Family. He was in the same accident you were. Don't you remember?"

"NO!" Tsuna blurted, crawling forward to stare at Gokudera with wide eyes. "Why did I do something like that?!"

"A lot has happened, Tsuna," Sakura soothed once more, making him sit back in his bed once more. "Let's keep going. How about Kitsune?"

"Kit-who?"

"Kitsune," Sakura repeated. Tsuna shook his head. "Ari." Another head shake. "Kyoko." Tsuna's face lit up with a smile and he nodded energetically.

"Of course I know Kyoko. She's--"

A shrill scream filled the air.

"Tsuna?" Sakura asked worriedly when his face slowly fell. Tsuna blinked and attempted to finish his sentence.

"Kyoko is--"

"Help me, Tsu-kun!" Kyoko screamed with her nails clawing into his ankle. Kyoko's screams continued to fill the air while three men continued to hurt her at the edge of Tsuna's watered vision.

"Tsuna?!"

Blood sprayed across his feet, making him weep despite his resolve not to. He couldn't take it anymore. He tried to tell them to stop. He tried to tell them that he'd give them what they wanted. His mouth wouldn't work, though. He couldn't even lift his head and the enemies were too distracted with their prey to notice that his will had been broken. All he could do was continue to sob while he watched them continue to hurt his beloved Kyoko.

Her scream continued to pierce the air.

"K-K-Kyoko--" Tsuna gasped with tears running down his face. Before he could say more, another scream ripped through his mind while bringing darkness in its wake.

Tsuna woke to find himself alone and safely tucked in his bed. Night had fallen already, making him wonder what had happened. One minute, he'd been in the middle of being questioned by Sakura. The next, he'd passed out. He thought that it had something to do with Kyoko, but he couldn't remember. All of it was hazy like a dream. One moment he thought he could remember it and it was gone the next.

"...and don't try to trigger anything," a hush voice commented as the door opened, making Tsuna dart back under his covers for some unfathomable reason. Closing his eyes, he stayed still and pretended to be asleep while wondering why the urge had hit him to do such a thing. He wasn't normally prone to eavesdropping. Was he? "I think that he's shut his memories out in order to protect himself," the voice continued, entering the room. Tsuna remembered that voice. It was that guy Sakura who'd questioned him earlier. The doctor. "I've contacted White. She said that she would look at him, but she won't be able to arrive for another two days."

"Can't she get here faster?" A new voice asked. "It can't be good for Tsuna to be like this."

"I know," Sakura sighed. "I'm not sure what they did to him, but the trauma of seeing Kyoko killed must have snapped something in his mind. He's went back to a time before anything really bad happened to him. For him, it's like he's still fifteen. Everything past that is just gone."

"I wish Mukuro were here," the new voice mumbled. "Xanxus can't get close to him, but maybe Mukuro could."

"I don't think so," Sakura replied. "Back then, Mukuro was just another of his enemies, too. He'd probably blow another gasket if he had to deal with either Xanxus or Mukuro. Not that we could ask him to help anyway. He's still in a coma from whatever Ari did to him. The only fortunate thing where he's concerned is that he managed to kill her before going down. As for Tsuna... For now, it's probably better to just keep him isolated with a few people that he knows and trusts until White can come."

"Alright," the newcomer sighed. "Well, you better go get some sleep. I'll watch over Tsuna and call you if anything happens."

"Thanks," Sakura sighed before leaving the room.

"Tsuna," the other called, tugging the covers back cautiously. "You need to wake up and eat some-- Oh no."

Tsuna covered his face with his arms, not wanting the stranger to see his tears.

It wasn't true.

Kyoko wasn't dead.

It wasn't true.

"Tsuna..." the red-haired man whispered, pulling him into his arms while he continued to cry in hiding behind his arms. Tsuna let out a sob, trying to deny what he heard while something inside him kept telling him to accept it. Tears streamed down his face while he fought another sob that wracked his body.

"It's not true," he cried while pathetically attempting to push himself out of the stranger's comforting hug. "Kyoko's not dead!"

"I'm so sorry, Tsuna," he replied in a choked voice while Tsuna continued to cry. "You weren't supposed to hear that."

"It's not true!" He screamed in denial of the sorrow piling down on him.

He didn't like this. He'd cried more in the past day than he could remember crying in his whole life. First he'd cried over how his body had been made to look so hideous by all the scars covering it. Then he'd found out that Kyoko had been murdered.

Murdered.

Not some accidental death. Not some health issue. She'd died because someone had killed her. There mere thought of someone hurting Kyoko brought tears of anger and frustration to his eyes. For them to have killed her made him want to weep every time he thought about it. How could he have let something like that happen? Kyoko was the most precious person in his life. Wasn't she? That much couldn't have changed in a mere seven years.

As much as he was depressed over what he'd been told, he was just as confused. Nothing was making sense. He was in Italy apparently. More than that, he had taken up the position as the Boss of Vongola. Then there was the red-haired guy that had held him until he'd cried himself out. He'd explained later that his name was Matsu and that he was Yamamoto's husband. Even creepier was that he and Yamamoto had a kid together. A kid that had been named Yoshi in honor of Tsuna. How that was even possible was completely beyond Tsuna's range of comprehension. Then there was still that nasty kiss that Xanxus had given him that he didn't understand. Plus, there was Mukuro's freedom that he felt the need to question.

It was an overload. Nothing was making sense. What the hell had happened in the past seven years for everything to have turned out so screwed up?! Next thing he knew, someone would be trying to tell him that Gokudera had gotten married or that he'd had a dozen kids! Oh, God. He didn't even want to think about something like that. Considering how screwed up everything else had been since he woke up, the nightmare could always get worse.

Curling up on the couch in his room, Tsuna was determined to put all of that out of his mind. He needed to stop thinking of such things. They said that he'd get his memories back in two days. Everything would make sense then. All he had to do was stay calm and keep himself from crying anymore until then. Stay calm and keep his mind away from questioning this crazy world. He felt like he'd scream if another surprising revelation hit him. He'd had more than his quota today.

Using the remote, he flicked on the television while ignoring the plate of food that Matsu had left for him before exiting to allow him some privacy.

"Tsuna!" A voice cried out, making him jump out of his skin once more with a loud scream. Looking around the room, he tried to figure out where the voice had come from. He'd thought that he was alone. "Over here, Tsuna. I'm on the T.V." Feeling that he was in a strange horror movie, Tsuna slowly turned in place until he could see for himself. What he saw was nothing he expected.

Hence why he got an immediate nosebleed.

"Oh no!" The woman on the television cried, her French Maid outfit bouncing in a way that only made Tsuna's situation worse. "You better go get a tissue!" Tsuna nodded and scrambled for the bathroom while trying to keep his nose squeezed shut. It took several minutes to stop the bleeding, not helped in the least when the woman's voice followed him into the bathroom and kept giving pointers like she could see him.

"Who are you?" Tsuna asked curiously when he'd finally managed to settle back down in front of the television with a blush. Keeping his eyes averted, he tried not to let the woman see how flustered he was. Maybe it was one of those high-tech video conference things that he'd heard about?

"I'm Pandora," she answered with a chuckle. "Your vital readouts are above average, Tsuna. Is there anything bothering you?"

"Um... No..." Tsuna answered with another blush.

"Your temperature just spiked again," she admonished. "If you're coming down with something, perhaps I should wake the doctor--"

"No!" He gasped, waving his hands hurriedly at the screen. "I'm fine. Really. It's just that your clothes..."

"Would you prefer something else?" She asked with her head cocked in curiosity. "I have a whole data-file of wardrobe choices for you to choose from. This was always your favorite, though. I can change it if you wish."

"Datafile?" He repeated in confusion.

"Yes, Tsuna," she confirmed with a smile. "I'm the artificial intelligence program formerly known as CICI. You are currently in the process of manufacturing a body for me in return for my management skills with the Vongola Database. As it has been said, your wish is my command. I also perform regular maintenance on most of the household systems in exchange for access to surveillance and communication outlets."

"Wow," Tsuna murmured in awe. "Amazing!"

"I try my best," Pandora replied with a small curtsy that made Tsuna remember his previous predicament once more. "Your temperature is rising again, Tsuna. Would you like to choose a new outfit for me or would you like me to choose?"

"You can," he answered while once more averting his eyes. "Just.. um... maybe cover up some more?"

"How's this, Tsuna?" She asked. Tsuna looked up and immediately looked back down. While the skin-tight outfit indeed covered her more, it also left less to the imagination.

"You have anything that's not... um..." Tsuna blushed, not knowing how to phrase the word sexy in any other way. "Do you have anything like a formal suit or something?"

"How is this, Tsuna?" She asked once more. Again, Tsuna looked up with more hesitancy than previously and sighed in relief at the image on the screen. The woman was finally clothed in something that was both pretty and decent. The kimono that she was wearing made her look extremely cute but not in a way that made him feel like he'd get a nosebleed. Not when compared to the previous two outfits.

"That's better," he sighed. "Sorry about that."

"It's no problem," she chuckled. "I haven't had a chance to use this one yet. Yuki said that it would be better to wait until we had something to celebrate."

"Is Yuki a friend of yours?"

"Yes. He's the one that made me to help you."

"Help me?" Tsuna repeated. "Like how?"

"I help you manage the Vongola Database," she replied with another smile. "Thanks to me, you don't have to even lift a finger to retrieve information anymore. We worked together a lot before you were kidnapped."

"I was kidnapped?"

"Yes, Tsuna," she answered with her head cocked to the side once more. "Would you like a summary of events?"

"Please!" He gasped, finally glad that someone was willing to tell him what had happened.

"Four months ago, intruders from the Todd Family broke into Vongola Headquarters in order to successfully kidnap you. A simultaneous strike stole your wife, Sawada Kyoko, out of the Japanese Headquarters. You were retrieved two days later but your body was in critical care. After two weeks of recovery, you began showing signs of paranoia and loss of emotional stability. The Family began tearing itself apart by the actions you took during that time. I am still unclear of some details, but one month after your initial kidnapping was when what the Family calls 'The Accident' occurred. No files were reported to me and the surveillance records from that time have been deleted along with the backup copies up until two days after."

"What happened after that?"

"You were in a coma, Tsuna," she answered with a shrug. "So was Mukuro. Kyoko's body was found and buried. Gokudera has been working in collusion with your shadow and Basil in order to repair the rifts in the Family and to keep the Family running under the cover that you were perfectly fine, but a few trusted individuals within the Family has been permitted access to you in order to ensure your continued health and survival until you woke."

"Trusted individuals," Tsuna mumbled with another blush. "Like Xanxus?"

"Exactly," she replied with another smile. "He was particularly adamant about caring for you daily. While you've been asleep, both he and Gokudera were the only two to have refused all assignments taking them outside of the city. They have been at your side regularly for the past three months."

"I understand Gokudera," he replied, absently leaning forward to pick at the plate of food on the table while he talked. "Gokudera is just crazy like that. But why Xanxus? I can't figure it out. We were enemies."

"You were," she confirmed with a nod. "Until you became lovers." Tsuna choked on the first bite of food that he'd attempted to eat, splurting it out on the carpet in his shock.

"NO WAY!" He finally blurted. "That's... That's just gross! There's no way that I'm gay in the future!"

"You're not," she confirmed, making his sigh in relief. "I believe the correct term is bi-sexual."

"That's not any better!" Tsuna squealed, tensing up once more. "You're lying! There's absolutely no possible way that I'd... I'd... do that... with a guy! Especially not Xanxus!" Tsuna shuddered, getting freaked out by even thinking about something like that. He wasn't naive. He knew that two guys could have sex. He also knew that he wasn't one of them!

"I assure you that you are," she replied with a look of surprise.

"Prove it!" Tsuna squealed in denial.

"Accessing Database VV dash Excaliber," she replied with another head cock. Tsuna choked at what appeared on the screen a mere moment after she disappeared.

"Tsuna--" Xanxus gasped with his head buried in Tsuna's neck around a fox-tail charm attached to his hair. Tsuna gasped in a combination of pleasure and surprise as he was pushed down on an office desk with a wide smile. His pants were already down and Xanxus' hands were already firmly wrapped around--

"STOP!" Tsuna cried with a bright blush. "Stop! Stop! Stop!" Flustered and embarrassed, Tsuna ran to his bed and hid himself under the covers. He didn't just see what he thought he'd seen. That was... That was just wrong! Xanxus had been touching him down there! What the heck had he been doing these past seven years?! He was a hentai! He was a pervert! Who knew what else he was?!

Tsuna's mind went blank as an epiphany struck. Pandora could tell him. She knew something that personal about his future self, so maybe she could tell him about the rest of his life. Why he'd accepted being a Mafia Boss when he'd sworn up and down to Reborn that he wouldn't. What he'd been doing for the past seven years.

She could tell him everything.

"Pandora," Tsuna mumbled, crawling out of his bed once more with his covers still wrapped around his head. Peeking out, he saw that the woman was back on his television, having already wiped away that dirty footage from before.

"Yes, Tsuna?"

"Who am I?"

Tsuna clutched his stomach as he heaved once more into the toliet. Less than two minutes. In less than two minutes, he knew too much about himself. Things he'd never dreamed that he was capable of. Murder. Torture. Orders to cut people's lives and limbs into pieces. Financial ruin of his enemies. Lives and reputations completely ruined. The sheer number on the file that Pandora had pulled up had been overwhelming.

Vongola Tsunayoshi
A.K.A. Vongola Decimo
A.K.A. Black X
A.K.A. Beast-Tamer
A.K.A. Sir Yoshi von Gola
A.K.A. Orange
A.K.A. The Fucking Firecracker

Vongola Hitman Rating: 10/10
Successful Assignments: 13510/13510
Refusal Rate: 0/13510
Failure Rate: 0/13510

Assignment Breakdown:
Execution 1658/13510
Punishment 2795/13510
Warning 3854/13510
Negotiation 4081/13510 (Preferred)
Infiltration 360/13510
Other 762/13510

Combat Ability: 9.99/10
Combat Primary Style: Vongola Special-- X-Gloves Version III
Combat Secondary Style: Ranged marksmanship-- Glock 42 Custom

Tsuna hadn't been able to read very far into the mission summaries. The numbers were too high. The summaries were too grotesque, which made it all that much worse when he saw that he'd been the one to write them. To think that he even owned a gun. And the word Execution. The thought made him sick. So sick that he couldn't even take the time to wonder what the heck could fall under the 'Other' category.

He'd killed people.

He was a murderer.

He was a horrible, horrible person.

Nothing... Nothing could make up for what he'd done.

Tsuna heaved again into the toilet as the image attached to the first summary popped into his head once more. From the date on the summary, it had been a mere day or two before he'd fallen into a coma. That poor, poor woman. How he could ever be capable of such a thing was beyond him and the report hadn't helped. It was sickening. The way he'd enjoyed hurting that woman. It was there, written in his own words. He'd killed her and the only thing she'd done wrong had been to call him short.

He had to turn himself in.

That was the right thing to do. But if he turned himself in, they'd give him the death penalty. Even if he couldn't remember, he'd killed over a thousand people. He was a mass murderer! Tsuna began to panic as his thoughts continued to spiral downward. He had no clue what his future self would do, but he couldn't do those kinds of things! He didn't want to even remember doing those kinds of things! He--

Oh no. He was going to get his memories back in two days. He'd have to remember all of those horrible things he'd done. They said that they were going to fix him! He didn't want to be fixed, though! Not if that was the kinds of things that he had to remember if he was fixed!

He'd run away.

That was the only solution he could think of and he latched onto it like a drowning man latched onto a life-raft. If he ran away, they couldn't make him get his memories back. He didn't really have anything holding him here but a life that he never asked for. Gokudera and Yamamoto and everyone else... he'd miss them, but they were just friends. Reborn had been the one trying to force them all to become closer! If it hadn't been for Reborn, he never would have made them as friends anyway! He could go back to how life was just a few years ago. He could go back to being just the guy that everyone ignored. That hadn't been such a bad life! Not in comparison to this cruel and sickening one that his future self had led!

He'd run away.

His mind made up, Tsuna ran into his bedroom and his eyes immediately went to the cameras. They'd try to stop him if they knew. He couldn't let them stop him. If they stopped him, they'd make him remember. He didn't want to remember!

"Pandora," Tsuna called, running up to the television once more. "Pandora? Are you there?"

"I'm here, Tsuna," she said, popping up on the screen. "Did you need something? I can call Matsu for you."

"You said that you were made to help me! Right?" Tsuna exclaimed in a rush.

"I was," she confirmed with a smile.

"Then help me!" He yelled. "Make it so that no one can see what I'm doing and don't tell anyone!"

"I'm not sure--"

"Just do it!" Tsuna shouted.

"If that is your orders," she replied in doubt and confusion. "Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

"Tell me if anyone starts to come in here," he said before running into his closet. He paused for a moment upon entering, his eyes going wide at the sheer number of suits he owned. It was almost like he wore nothing else! There had to be something, though. Some type of normal clothes. He couldn't wear suits all the time!

After several minutes of searching, he found his way into a large trunk of clothes stored at the back that was full of folded blue-jeans and t-shirts. Throwing a pair on, he tried not to get too curious as to why they felt new nor did he wonder why the shirts still had the tag on them. Surely he had some regular clothes somewhere that he wore to relax in, but he wasn't willing to waste time looking for them. At first, he was hesitant about taking the clothes, but then he remembered that they were his. Using that as justification, he grabbed a duffel bag that was also stored inside and began cramming extra clothes inside. Then he reached up in order to snag the one normal-looking blue-jean jacket from a hangar before grabbing the sole pair of sneakers sitting next to a long line of dress shoes.

What kind of freak had he turned into?! All of it was too orderly. Too neat. Too organized. It wasn't him! He was the guy that his mom yelled at constantly to pick up his room! He was the guy that thought a hamper was a spare trashcan. He was the guy that used his dirty clothes as a protective measure for when he fell out of his bed! He was the No-Good guy that everyone made fun of and THAT WAS FINE! He'd rather be No-Good than be a murderer!

Running back into his bedroom with the duffel in hand, he tossed his wallet, some spare sets of boxers, and a few other necessities into his bag before he was satisfied. He ignored Pandora's questions, keeping his mind focused on trying to find the last two things he needed in order to escape. The first was easy to find after a curious question to Pandora around her counter-questioning. Slipping the fingerless gloves on that she specified, he looked at them curiously for a moment in wonder. They weren't like his old mittens but that was okay as long as they worked.

That found, he set to looking through his future-self's belongings in hopes that he had what Tsuna needed. His future-self had to have something to make him go into Dying Will Mode. Since they'd said that Reborn wasn't around, he hoped and prayed that maybe Basil had given him some of those Dying Will Pills that he'd taken during their training sessions together. He knew Reborn. The guys that he was running away from were probably just as bad. The only way he could even dream of outrunning them was to get a little bit of a boost.

There!

Tsuna found what he needed, tucked in the back of a locked drawer that had the key in it for some stupid reason. It was no wonder that it was locked, though. Especially when it was full of knives, weapons, and other nasty-looking items. Admittedly, not all of them looked nasty. Just most of them. There were a few boxes that piqued his interest, but he didn't bother opening. Reaching past them, he grabbed the bottle laying forgotten in the back and popped it open. Dozens of round capsules looked back at him, giving him the final piece he needed.

Popping two into his mouth, he flinched slightly as the power of his Flame overwhelmed him for a moment. It was strong. So much stronger than he remembered. That was fine, though. As long as it could let him fly, he didn't care. He just had to get away to safety.

"Where are you doing, Tsuna?!" Pandora cried again.

"I'm leaving," he finally answered, slinging the duffel over his shoulder. "I refuse to commit such atrocities anymore. Thank you for telling me the truth, Pandora. Now, please tell me how to get out of here without anyone seeing me."

"I guess I don't have a choice," Pandora mumbled in dismay as part of a wall slid away in order to reveal an escape tunnel. "I'm not allowed to disobey you. It is part of my programming now."

"If they ask, tell them that I said goodbye," he replied with a nod. Before Pandora could respond, he was already gone.