Sunset-orange eyes snapped open.

When Tsuna breathed in, he immediately started coughing.

The air was thick and polluted with....ashes....?

Tsuna blinked in surprise and sat up.

'...V....?'

His mirror image was no where to be seen...

Tsuna coughed again and stood up, covering his mouth with one ha--....

His hand....it has....bandages on them...?

Tsuna then looked down at his clothes.

'This....this is what V was wearing...!'

The brunet looked at the cloak that was wrapped around him and quickly placed a hand onto his face.

...It wasn't scarred like V's....so....

What happened?

Tsuna glanced up.

Ashes fell from the gray sky. White snow mixed with it.

He couldn't see a hint of blue or any other color to make a guess of the time--but he guessed it was somewhere in the daytime if there was some light past the heavy clouds above.

Tsuna shifted his gaze back to his surroundings.

Fallen trees...

Snow and ashes everywhere....

The brunet frowned and started to walk, his feet crunching on the snow and ashes; he used his Hyper Intuition to try and piece things together.

'I must've switched bodies or something with V. But I still have my own face and my own arm....'

Tsuna halted and glanced around once more.

'....Where the he** am I...? Maybe I should disguise myself a bit more like V....'

The brunet sighed softly and stuffed his hands into his pockets; he was slightly surprised he was wearing slacks.

He then noticed he had a roll of bandages in his pocket; the Decimo smiled slightly.

'Looks like V's prepared...'

The brunet rolled out the bandages and proceeded to lightly wrap his head, mouth and right eye to look a bit more similar to V.

Tsuna put the roll of bandages back into his pocket and blinked his left eye and glanced around.

'....Huh....good thing I have Reborn.  He trained me to fight half-blind and completely blind.'

A cold breeze blew by; Tsuna shivered slightly and watched his breath fog in the air.

He fumbled with his cloak and found that he had a hood; his tugged it up and sighed thankfully at the added warmth.

'I guess I'll look around for a bit....'

~~

As Tsuna continued to walk through the area....he noticed how the fallen trees had a slight pattern to them--unlike dead trees that just simply shrivel up and fall naturally.

Scorch marks littered the gray bark as Tsuna gently brushed a hand against it.

'....A fight...?'

Tsuna drew his bandaged hand away and looked down the long path free of looming trees; he studied the broken trunks here and there.

His Hyper Intuition whispered slightly.

...Flames...

...Black....against orange....

Blonde hair....

Fight.....

WAR.

Tsuna jolted at the last word.

The brunet clutched his head and fell to one knee, gritting his teeth.

Takehito...Hito...needs to be safe

Where is he?

Don't know, don't know.

Safe?

....Injured....

He's hurt.

Not badly...but he's still hurt.

Tsuna snapped his eyes open and quickly stood up.

He briskly walked forward.

Soon, his ears could detect the sound of running water.

'A river?'

Tsuna stepped through a line of trees.

When he stepped through, a bitter smell of iron his his nose and he flinched violently.

'What the h--......oh no.....'

Tsuna leaned back onto the tree behind him, finding some stability as he looked at the scene before him in slight horror.

Judging by the suits, the men lying on the snowy floor and floating in the river were mafioso.

Blood dyed the snow and ashes.

The river was near black with the blood that tainted it..

Tsuna shakily walked away from the tree and gritted his teeth behind his mask of bandages, neutralizing his expression as he walked around the dead bodies.

WAR.

The brunet frowned slightly as he looked down the riverbank--more dead bodies littered the area.

Tsuna clenched one of his hands into a fist.

'........'

Suddenly, there was a sound of rustling leaves.

Tsuna tensed up and glanced to the side--a large boulder was right next to him.

Without making a sound, Tsuna quickly hid behind the boulder and tugged his hood lower.

"--I'm tellin' ya. Our enemies don't stand a chance against u--f***in' he**! What's with this smell!?"

Another gruff voice answered, tone filled with scorn.

"Bah! It's the scouting team that we lost contact with!"

"D**n...boss is gonna be mad--....wait...is that....the Cavallone patch?"

Tsuna froze.

He lifted his head to look at one of the dead men closest to him.

Sewed onto the suit of the man's unmoving chest....was the Cavallone symbol.

'....One of Dino-nii's men...?'

A boot suddenly came over the dead mafioso's chest and stomped harshly.

Tsuna felt something snap in himself.

Tugging his hood down further to hide his identity, Tsuna slowly stood up; he heard two yelps of alarm.

"Who the f*** are you!?"

Tsuna turned to face them, but he didn't respond.

Suddenly, chains made of Night flames formed into his hands and thumped lightly on the patches of snow next to him.

Looking at the two before him, Tsuna let his obsidian eyes be seen briefly before he dashed towards the men.

"Your Reaper."

~~

Tsuna barely managed to restrain himself from killing the enemy mafioso.

He wrapped the unconscious men up in chains and leaned them against a few of the trees.

Tsuna then looked over at the dead men; he kneeled beside one of the Cavallone men.

The brunet looked down at the other sadly.

"....I wonder if Dino-nii knows...."

~~

Tsuna managed to gather and separate the bodies of the enemy mafioso and the Cavallone.

For the Cavallone, he burned their bodies with his pure Sky flames quickly to ashes.

He also burned the bodies of the enemy mafioso too with his Sky flames.

Tsuna watched the embers die out.

'...Well....this day has been turning sh**tier and sh**tier by the second.....'

Tsuna spun on his heel and looked over at the mafioso that were alive and knocked out; he kicked one of them in the gut to wake them up.

"Gah--who the f**--!?  Wha--!?"

The mafioso raised his gaze to look at Tsuna.

First, it was filled with anger and resentment.

But that soon vanished.

"...Y...Y-You...are a V-Vindice...!"

Tsuna stepped threateningly on the man's shin--not putting pressure on it yet.

"I've got one question for you. Answer it, and I may let you go free. If you don't answer truthfully.....then you might become a boneless blob of meat."

The enemy mafioso trembled violently and frantically nodded his head.

Tsuna let his obsidian eyes glance to the side momentarily before looking back at the enemy mafioso.

"Your Famiglia. Who do you work for--your leader?"

The man seemed hesitant before speaking.

What the man ended up saying caused Tsuna to become deathly still.

Silence filled the area--except for the sound of rushing water and the trembling mafioso's breathing.

Slowly....Tsuna lifted his foot from the other's leg and stepped back.

Tsuna spun on his heel and walked away before stopping a good few meters from the other.

"O-Oi!? Is that really all you needed to know!?"

The brunet called over his shoulder--only his eye was visible.

"If I were you.....I wouldn't stay in that Famiglia if it's this corrupted."

The man frowned.

"Why not? It's a strong Famiglia lead by an equally strong man...."

Tsuna shut his eye and simply turned to face forward once more.

".....I would advise you to join someone else. His actions will soon lead him into Vindicare."

The man yelped in surprise as Tsuna disappeared in burst of Night flames.

Head to Namimori....

Hito's there....

~~

Tsuna stepped through his Night flame portal and took in his surroundings.

Snow was also falling in this area....except there was no ash or fallen trees littering the area; the brunet's eye faded to a sunset-orange as he took in his surroundings, smiling with slight fondness.

"....Namimori...."

The brunet made sure he was out of sight of the civilians as he teleported to Namimori Hill.

A bit drained from using Night flames so much, Tsuna's shoulders slumped as he looked over the city with his sharp eye.

"....I wonder if he's at home now....."

Shutting his eye, Tsuna tried to focus on any Sky flames that were present within the area.

He felt a strong one brush against his senses.

Tsuna opened his eye and looked into the direction of the familiar Sky flames he sensed.

'...That's the direction of Hito-kun's home.'

~~

Tsuna teleported himself to the Tachibana household; he wandered to the side of the house so he could see Hito's bedroom window.

The brunet saw it was closed and locked , causing him to frown thoughtfully.

He then snapped his fingers when an idea came to him.

He focused his Mist flames to form ghost-like hands, within Hito's room, by the window latch.

Tsuna used the hands to flip the latch and open the window.

The brunet stepped back slightly before taking a running jump into the window, dispersing his illusionary hands.

Tsuna landed without a sound and took in the appearance of the roo--

"Eh!?"

The brunet swiveled his gaze to find a face he hadn't seen for a year; Tsuna smiled beneath his mask of bandages, activating his Night flames discreetly to make his eye obsidian like V's.

'Hito-kun....'

Sky-blue eyes were wide with surprise.

"Wh-Who are y--!?  Wait...that cloak....Sawada-Sensei....?  Reborn's really making you dress like the Vindice, haha...."

Hito scratched the back of his head nervously as he turned his gaze to the side.

Currently, the blonde teen was doing his homework, sitting down on a futon before his low desk.

Hito had grew a bit in one year, looking taller despite sitting down at the moment.  His blue eyes and face were sharper; his cheeks have lost some baby fat.

The blonde's fingers looked a bit callous--probably from fighting and training--as he played with his mechanical pencil.

Hito smiled anxiously at Tsuna.

"E-Eto....how was Italy...?"

So that's where Tsuna was before; the brunet tugged his hood off and smiled through his mask of bandages.

"Ah.  It was fine, Tachibana-kun.  Are you doing your homework?"

Hito laughed sheepishly.

"Er, yeah.  Enma was gonna come over and visit to study with me."

Tsuna felt a glow within his chest.

Hito took his last words to mind and went to go find Enma--and the two sound like they're on good terms...

"Where's Reborn by the way?"

Hito inclined his head at Tsuna's question.

"Eh?  Don't you remember....you were going to meet him by the Namimori Canal when you were done with your mission?"

Tsuna sweatdropped and laughed nervously.

"A-Ahaha....silly me, I forgot!  Welp, see you later, Tachibana-kun!"

Before Tsuna could jump through the window, Hito grabbed the edge of the brunet's cloak; the blonde looked worried.

"Are you alright, Sawada-Sensei?  Is your head hurting?  Is....i-is it your eye and arm....?"

Tsuna paused at the slight tremor and....guilt in the other's voice.

The brunet looked down at Hito with a frown and saw that the blonde was no longer looking at him; the teen was looking at the wall with sad eyes.

"But everything went to he**.  Iemitsu got into a hissy fit.  He tried to kill Tachibana-kun.  I fought back."

Tsuna blinked in remembrance and quickly ruffled Hito's hair.

"Come on, Tachibana-kun!  Don't be like that.  I'm fine--I'm just forgetful."

Hito looked up at Tsuna in shock; the brunet then gave a two-fingered salute to the blonde, smiling warmly.

"Send my regards to Kozato-kun.  Jaa ne!" (See ya!)

Hito watched his open window in a slight daze before touching his head, where Tsuna had ruffled his hair.

".....Sawada-Sensei had never ruffled my hair like that since....one year ago when....."

Hito trailed off, too shocked beyond words.

Ding-dong.

"E-Eto...Take-kun....are you home...?"

Hito immediately recognized the nervous voice calling out for him downstairs.

"Coming, Enma-kun!"

~~
<<(With Tsuna)>>

'Goodness gracious.....I'm about to see the Reborn of this world....again.  He'll probably notice in an instant or something. But then what if he's not there? Maybe he's gone off to do something else important rather than meet up with m--'

"You're late, Dame-Tsuna."

The brunet had one foot and his head stuck out of the Night flame portal; Tsuna sweated slightly.

'D**n it....he's here.'

Tsuna stepped all of the way out and laughed nervously, waving at an adult Reborn, who was leaning against the arch of the small Namimori Bridge over the canal.

"You said you would meet me at 6:00 PM. You're thirty minutes late.......may I ask why?"

Tsuna idly counted the amount of meters between Reborn and himself, calculating how much time he had to escape the other as he responded as casually as possible.

"I forgot and ended up checking on Hito-kun first. Sorry to worry you, Reborn."

Reborn stared at Tsuna with an unreadable expression, but the brunet saw something familiar in the onyx eyes that met with his temporarily obsidian ones.

Curiosity.

A curious Reborn.....was an equally dangerous Reborn.

Reborn tipped his fedora over his eyes to hide some of his emotions.

"Dame-Tsuna....."

Tsuna took a minuscule step back.  Reborn's tone of voice was now neutral--no longer a slight drawl of irritation towards the brunet.

"Yes......?"

Reborn hummed for a moment before speaking once more.

"Since when have you started to came Dame-Take 'Hito-kun'? You've always called him 'Tachibana-kun'."

Tsuna sweated.

'Sh**. That was such a careless mista--'

"And when have you decided to call my name so casually? Usually you would be so nervous and say 'Reborn-san' instead...."

The brunet would've facepalmed himself for that.

'Two mistakes. How was I supposed to know that V was such a shy person compared to m--?'

"Tell me, Dame-Tsuna......what were you doing in Italy?"

'Gee, Reborn, I don't know--maybe talking to a parallel version of himself before transferring that said parallel person into his body.'

Tsuna took a visible step back when Reborn stepped forward.

The hitman raised his head so his eyes could be seen.

Amusement.

An amused Reborn was known as a trigger-happy Reborn.

Oh dear. He found out about Tsuna from just two blunders that most people would dismiss.

But of course, Reborn wasn't most people.

"I can sense that you are still Tsuna but not the one I've been training for the past year...."

There was a Leon-gun present in the hitman's right hand.

Reborn inclined his head at Tsuna's weary expression.

"So, Dame-Tsuna, how have you been in your original world for the past year?"

Tsuna raised his hands up in surrender.

"Now, hold up, Reborn--hold up. Don't shoot--because I know you will--hear me out for a bit and then you can try and fill me with bullets for your own sadistic amusement."

Reborn raised an eyebrow before clicking the safety back onto his gun, letting Leon transform back into a chameleon.

"Go on."

Tsuna sighed and lowered his arms; his eyes finally faded to the color of sunset-orange.

"So...to keep it a bit simple...the Tsuna of this world, which I'll have you know that I call him V, has approached me when I, um, fell unconscious in my own world. We talked about....a few problems that were happening in this one." Tsuna gestured towards the bandages on his face and arm. "I don't have every detail on what's happening, but I've been informed enough that this is some pretty sh**ty business that's going down."

Reborn pursed his lips, frowning slightly; he looked off to the side and tipped his fedora down over his eyes. Tsuna furrowed an eyebrow at the reaction.

"Reborn....?"

A few moments of silence ticked by before Reborn let out a long sigh, barely audible as he looked up at the sky; the wisp of warm breath from his mouth vanished into the air surrounding him.

Snow started to fall from the gray sky.

Reborn's onyx eyes watched the snow.

".....A lot can happen in one year, Tsuna."

Reborn looked over at Tsuna; the brunet saw a hint of tiredness in them.

"....Let's head back to Dame-Take's....I'll fill you in a bit more of what's going on."

Tsuna merely nodded, following the ot--

Bang!

The brunet dodged to the side, looking at an innocent bullet embedded into the freshly fallen snow behind him, before sending an incredulous look of shock at Reborn, who was smirking, mirth glowing dimly in his eyes.

"Just testing your reflexes, Dame-Tsuna."

"'Testing your reflexes' my a**! You don't do this to V, right?"

Reborn chuckled as he started to walk up the slight slope surrounding the canal, calling over his shoulder as he let Leon transform into a chameleon and rest on his fedora; the ravenet stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I do shoot him; he screams instead--like a little girl. I find your exasperation far more amusing."

Tsuna huffed and tugged his hood on, jogging to catch up with the other.

"You're such a bully, Reborn."

Reborn snickered and loosened his tie slightly, peering over at Tsuna.

"...It's been a while. I hope you have some of your own stories to tell me, hm?"

Tsuna blinked in idle surprise before smiling amusedly.

"Eh, nothing too big happened, so I hope I won't bore you."

"Heh, we'll see. Now just teleport us home."

Tsuna deadpanned the hitman.

"......You're so lazy."

Reborn shrugged, a small smirk on his lips.

"Maybe."

Tsuna rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers; his eyes switched to obsidian for the nth time of the day.

The two found themselves in front of the Tachibana household.

Suddenly, Tsuna felt a warm weight on his head; the brunet blinked in surprise and looked up through his bangs.

Reborn was ruffling the brunet's hair; the ravenet then walked ahead, a small smirk on his lips.

"Good to have you back, Tsuna."

Tsuna was stunned as the hitman opened the Tachibana household's door and went in, closing it behind himself.

The brunet huffed before smiling, muttering to the air.

"Thanks, Reborn."

Tsuna went to the door and placed a hand on it to ope--

It was locked.

Tsuna facepalmed himself while keeping his other hand on the door.

"Reborn......open this door."

Reborn's voice came muffled through the door, but Tsuna could hear the plain amusement in the other's voice.

"Nope."

Tsuna thumped his forehead onto the door.

"I hate you."

Reborn merely let out a soft chuckle, which Tsuna smiled exasperatedly at.

"Just let me in, ya' jerk."

"As long as you make me espresso."

"Deal." Tsuna then muttered to himself. "With the devil."

"I heard that."

"You want your espresso or not?"

Reborn purposefully made a long thoughtful noise.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....I guess so."

Reborn finally opened the door, letting a glowering Tsuna in.

"Espresso?"

Tsuna rolled his eyes before smiling fondly.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go wait in the living room or something."

Snow drifted from the sky outside...

...Falling onto the ground....

...Fresh, new and pure.