Tsuna blinked twice, sight finally sharpen after the second. He pushed himself up and looked at the surrounding, finally noticing the arcobaleno that was standing beside him. "You're finally awake" He asked the hitman where they were, voice slurring a little in which Reborn told him that they were in the combat field for the Mist Battle, their school's gymnasium. 

"Juudaime! How are you feeling?!" Gokudera suddenly popped out, making him jump a little. Ryohei, Yamamoto and Basil was present too. The baseball star had an eyepatch on one of his eyes and was fine and dandy, fortunately. Tsuna felt relieved when his friend was alright. 

"Worry about yourself before others. Everyone were worried because you had been asleep this whole time." Reborn said. 

Tsuna was confused. He didn't know he was asleep the whole time, and he had a fleeting feeling that he had met someone before he out. Really, how do you erase a memory of what happened in a day just by sleeping? "By the way, Juudaime, the Mist guy hasn't shown himself yet." Gokudera said, much to Tsuna's horror. The others started doubting that the Mist guardian existence. It was quite bad too, since the Varia had arrived. 

Tsuna finally looked up, and saw the Cervello, an infant and the Varia. The memories before he out finally came back to him, but it was hazy. Though, his thought was broken when a voice called out. "Sorry for being late. Was doing something" Everyone looked towards the entrance of the gymnasium, and saw Ryuuichi. 

"Eh?! Ryuuichi's the Mist Guardian?" Tsuna exclaimed. Ryuuichi blinked and halt his steps towards them before chuckling. "No no. I'm not. Your guardian is that one" He pointed behind him and two teens in Kokuyo Middle's uniform appeared. Everyone tensed up as Gokudera took out his dynamites. (Ryuuichi laughed at their faces)

"Calm down, you guys. they brought the Guardian of Mist" Reborn interrupted, promptly stopped a war from happening. Realization hit them. "T-then could the Guardian of Mist be..." Gokudera stuttered a little. Yamamoto added his own thought "Yeah, if they're bringing him... Could it be?"

"I can't believe it. Is the Mist Guardian.. R-rokudo Mukuro?!" Ryuuichi chuckled again, making them more puzzled than they already were. "Well, let's just say, you guys are half correct." He peered behind him as a teen shorter than Ken and Chikusa with the same hairstyle with Mukuro appeared. "Nay" 

A girl in Kokuyo Middle's uniform and with an skull-imaged eyepatch was holding a familiar trident. "My name is Chrome. Chrome Dokuro" She had a splitting image with Mukuro if not for a few differences. They could pass off as a twins if they want to. Gokudera was stubborn on the fact that Chrome was Mukuro because of their similarity, making Ryuuichi sigh. 

The bomber had thought that Mukuro was possessing the girl, which wasn't exactly true. The girl looked dishearten when Gokudera didn't believe her and stated out his reasons, until Tsuna interrupted him. "Not Rokudo Mukuro" The brunette must have felt that the presence of Mukuro wasn't on her. Ryuuichi smiled at that. 

'Your hyper intuition really helps, Tsuna' 

"You defended me? Thank you, Boss" Chrome said as she ran up towards Tsuna, looking a little bashful. (She looked more like emotionless, rather than bashful) She leaned in and gave the brunette a kiss on the cheek, making Tsuna blushes, much to Ken and Gokudera's chagrin, while Yamamoto, Ryohei and Basil sweated. Ryuuichi laughed out loudly at the red brunette. The girl must have been accustomed to foreign greetings, rather than the usual Japanese one. 

He looked towards the Varia with a smirk that he couldn't stop but had it on. They were clearly underestimating Chrome, seeing that she was a girl. Well, it's their lost anyway. 

Xanxus had his usual poker face on. He narrowed his eyes a little at the smirking teen. There was something about the teen that he couldn't pin point what ever since they first met. He not only wasn't afraid of his flame, but he had actually whistled in amazement with a grin. He wasn't faze when their gaze met just now too and if not, the teen's smirk had gotten larger. 

Ryuuichi looked away from the Varia boss and towards the Mosca. His smirk dropped and he frowned, narrowing his eyes at it. 'Please, wait a little longer...'

"And, what will you do? Will you let her join us?" Ryohei asked, to which Gokudera rejected strongly and ended up riling up Ken and Chikusa. "Ken, Chikusa, calm down. It's not something for you to decide" Chrome stopped them and turned towards Tsuna. "Boss, am I unfit to be your Guardian of Mist? I want to fight as your guardian, but if you say no, I'll obey" Strangely enough, this girl is the polar opposite of Mukuro. 

"That's a little sudden. I-it's an important matter" Reborn jumped onto Yamamoto's shoulder with great ease. "But Chrome is the only one who can fight as your Guardian of Mist" 

"R-reborn-san, you too?! We still have Ryuuichi!" Everyone looked towards the said teen who sighed and had his hands up. "Yato, don't drag me in. I'm not suitable to be a guardian.. And I am not the one who should be" The last part was muttered softly. Tsuna felt that Reborn was right. Not to mention that Ryuuichi's statement had meant that Chrome is the one who would be fighting as his guardian. Besides, it was Iemitsu who chose her, including Gokudera and Yamamoto. 'And this girl...'

"All right then, it's up to you" Of course, Gokudera wasn't accepting it. "I can't really put it into words, but I feel like it has to be her" Chrome smiled, grateful and relieved. She thanked Tsuna with a smile.

Suddenly, Reborn's pacifer glowed. "So he's curious too" They looked up and saw a infant carried by an eagle. "Colonello!" "Master! Shouldn't you be asleep at Kyoko's by now?"  (Ryuuichi briefly wondered how the hell the infant managed to speak while blowing bubbles through his nose. Then again, he might as well not know.)

Colonello's bubble popped as he had a serious expression on. "However, I need to figure out whether that the mysterious kid is an Arcobaleno or not" Ryuuichi walked towards the side where the others will be standing later and sat down on the floor, crossed legged. His eyes glinted in amusement. It would certainly be a show later when they found it out. He yawned when the Cervello explained the Mist Ring Battle field. There wasn't any special stuff installed for this match, as it would be a battle of illusions and creations after all. 

A metal rimmed into a cuboid shape slowly lowered onto their perimeters, a few meters away from Ryuuichi, as they were all enclosed with infrared laser to prevent anyone from getting out of the spectator area. Varia had the same treatment on their side.

And, the battle started. Chrome rushed forward with her trident, twirling it before knocking it on the ground, casting an illusion as the ground broke into pieces. All of them, except for Reborn, Colonello and Ryuuichi, panicked as they were 'falling'. Mammon went nearer the girl, when blue tentacles suddenly appeared from his hood and wrapped around Chrome.

The illusions of the ground breaking disappeared. Chrome was strangled by the tentacles, much to Tsuna's and the other's horror. Ryuuichi, was as usual, not worried. He smirked because the supposedly strangled girl turned into the basketballs' basket as the real one appeared behind the infant. 

He basically ignored most of the other's talk because he wasn't interest in it at all. Instead, he leaned back, supported by his hands that was holding him up, and enjoyed the show. Suddenly, a chain fell down from the inside of Mammon's black cloak and Phantasma, Mammon's frog turned into a reptile. An Indigo pacifer appeared. Mammon is an Arcobaleno. 

Reborn's and Colonello's own pacifer glowed. "That spiral frog and that indigo pacifer. He was alive, kora!" 

Reborn had suspected much. It wasn't everyday you see an infant sized human talking like an adult after all. "He is the Arcobaleno, Viper!" Ryuuichi sighed inwardly. That arcobaleno is a greedy one. He was also very materialistic and usually work for money. 'One consumed by the sin, Greed, huh....' He looked at the Varia. To be honest, all the member in the Varia had reminded him of the sins.

Lussuria as Lust, Leviathan as Envy, Belphegor as Sloth, Squalo as Pride, Mammon as Greed and Xanxus as Wrath. 'Though, the mosca..' His thought was brought back when he saw Mammon wrapped by snakes at the corner of his eyes. He scoffed and shook his head when Gokudera and Tsuna just have to compare Mukuro and Chrome and link them together. 'Then again, they are linked... One way or another, that is'

Hot lava burst out of the ground here and there. One burst just behind Ryuuichi, making him sweated a little. They looked real enough with his untrained eyes on illusions alright. Another moment next, everything was frozen. The whole gymnasium looked like an ice cave. It was quite a sight. 

Though, it was an illusion. Ryuuichi realized it a second after Colonello speak up. Chrome's leg started freezing up, before she was thrown off and fell onto the ground, her trident landed not far from her grasp. She quickly reached for it and brought it nearer to her. Mammon seemed to have found her weakness, and had broke the trident into pieces.

"No!!" 

Chrome coughed and collapsed, her stomach caving in. Everyone was confused, even Mammon. 

"This is an illusion. What's happening? What's with this girl?" Ryuuichi knew why. That girl had lost her internal organs after getting hit by a truck for trying to save a cat. Her parents had one way or another abandoned her. They were one of the type of people Ryuuichi hated, and still hates. It was Mukuro who had helped her. Mukuro had made her organs with his illusions. He was the one who saved her from dying even when he was in Vindice, locked up in the water.

A dreaded and familiar feeling hit Tsuna like a bullet train. He knew that feeling. Mist suddenly appeared and surrounded Chrome. "He's coming." Tsuna said. "He's coming! It's him! He's coming!" The previously shattered trident slowly reappeared out of nowhere onto the hand on the ground as the hand turned black(A.K.A Glove). "Mukuro is! Rokudo Mukuro is coming!" 

True to what Tsuna felt, Mukuro was there, though not physically. Ryuuichi was a bit taken away. He knew that Tsuna could feel Mukuro's presence, but he hadn't expected that he himself would feel it too. Perhaps it's because Mukuro had tried to take over his mind before. But the chance of him feeling it was very slim just because of that. 

Mist gathered and swirled around the girl's form, shielding whatever was within it. "Kufufufufu~" The trident slammed down the floor again, and it cracked, towards Mammon, hitting him at the same time. The mist dispersed and finally, a guy appeared instead of the girl. "You all seem lively as ever, little mafiosi." 

It was Mukuro. Ryuuichi smiled. "It's been awhile. I've come back from the edge of transmigration" Mukuro turned towards them. His heterochromatic eyes met dark brown ones. He smirked at the teen, before turning back to the Arcobaleno. 

"Rokudo Mukuro?" Mammon floated from the ground. "I thought I'd heard the name somewhere. I remember now. About a month ago, someone tried to escape from the Vindice prison. His name was Rokudo Mukuro. But I heard the escape ended in failure and he was then thrown into the lowest level of the prison, where even light and sound couldn't reach him"

Ryuuichi smile faltered. If he remembered correctly, Mukuro...

"I see that the Intelligence of Varia, the prided Vongola Special Assassination Squad, is pathetic." Mukuro retorted, smugly. "In reality, I am right here" 

A snow blizzard happened, freezing Mukuro, who was amused. "Oh, my" Basil gasped as the blue haired teen was completely frozen in ice. A hammer appeared from the hood of Mammon's, as the arcobaleno rushed forward towards the frozen teen. But before he could even hit him, Mukuro's red eyes changed into the kanji one and lotus wrapped around Mammon tightly. 

The ice encasing Mukuro slowly melted and evaporated into steam. He chuckled. "Who is an illusion?" The lotus wounded tighter around Mammon, suffocating and hurting him. Ryuuichi smiled. So much for underestimating the mist of the Tenth generation of Vongola family, huh. Mukuro was clearly more powerful than Mammon, and perhaps, on par with Hibari. Ryuuichi sweated. Luckily Hibari wasn't around. He doubt the prefect would not have a war the blue haired teen alone after all that.

Mammon's pacifer glowed again and the lotus loosen around him. "Don't get so elated!!" Ryuuichi scoffed. Mammon had created an illusion out of anger, resulting it too be weaker than usual. Mukuro's red eyes glowed as he slashed all the Mammon clones. 

"A magician that use martial combat? That's blasphemy! I won't accept the transmigration of souls either! Human repeat their lives infinitely, over and over. That's why I collect money!" Ryuuichi narrowed his eyes at those words. It's true that human lives over and over again. They are either reincarnated, or is like Ryuuichi. He still haven't had the proof that he really was transfered here. There's no clue, nor firm confirmation on it.

His head hurt when his surrounding started swirling. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temple, feeling a little nauseous. He tried to concentrate on the match, rather than the motions, (He had a mild case of motion sickness) but he couldn't open his eyes. The sound of Mukuro's illusion didn't help either. The pain doubled when Mammon froze everything. Tsuna was the same as him.

They both felt like their head was going to split into halves. An image was played in their mind. The image of Mukuro being locked up in Vindice, the moment when Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were escaping from the Vindice guards and the moment when Mukuro was using Chrome to conversated with Iemitsu. 

Ryuuichi had his whole body curled up as he tried to push back the pain. He panted when it ended, teeth gritting the whole time from trying not to groan. 'Why me too, Mukuro? What were you implying?' He looked at the two illusionist that was fighting before closing them again. He took deep breathes to calm himself down, the pain slowly let up. 

When he finally managed to open his eyes, Mukuro had already won. He saw a trial of dust escaping out the gymnasium. Mammon hadn't die. He actually saved enough energy to escape in the first place. How shrewd. Ryuuichi noticed that Mukuro took note of the mosca, and had knew about it. He shook his head and sighed loudly. 

Mukuro walked towards them, eyes meeting Ryuuichi's for a moment before they turned towards Ken and Chikusa. "Mukuro-sama" "Amazing! You're so strong!" Gokudera had his dynamites out, wanting to bomb the teen.

"You should be cautious of me. I don't intend to become friendly with the mafia. I became a guardian because it would be a more convenient way to take over your body, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Ryuuichi scoffed at that. 'Prideful much, Mukuro?' He twitched when the teen turned towards him, and smirked. "And easier to understand you" 

The others didn't managed to question the last sentence before Mukuro collapsed and disappeared, Chrome taking his place. 

'.....'

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The next night, Ryuuichi was already there before the others' arrival. He was texting on his phone with the Cavallone boss(He had practically snatched the boss's phone and copied his number. Also, forced him to give Ryuuichi his private number too), typing furiously and in an unbelievable fast pace. He was very tensed, so tensed that he was giving out an 'approach-me-and-die' aura. Even the usually dense, airhead Ryohei could feel it. Tsuna wasn't present. He was training til the last minute with Basil and Reborn. 

Ryuuichi peered towards a certain prefect. He bit the bottom of his lips and turned away, feeling impatient. The battle better start soon before he blow a fuse. A loud thump across from where they were brought their attention there. Ryuuichi clenched his hands as he watched the mosca.

The cloud ground was very wide, planted with mines and gatling guns that would shoot at anything that's within 30 meters from it. In another words, a battle field. Ryuuichi heard Leviathan and Belphegor's mocking voice, and had promptly glared at them. The two had to suppress the urge to shiver as the temperature around them dropped. If looks could kill, they would have died. 

Ryuuichi clicked his tongue and looked away. He wasn't in the mood to deal with idiots at the moment. He watched the match that started with narrowed eyes. 

The mosca rushed towards Hibari and fired bullets at him, but he wasn't a bit worried. Hibari expertly dodged the bullets and rushed towards the machine, breaking off one of it's arm. As expected of Hibari, he had taken down the mosca in matters of minutes. 

Ryuuichi wasn't a bit fazed at it and when Hibari literally told Xanxus to fight him. He kept his eyes on the mosca as Xanxus and Hibari fought, well, more like Hibari was attacking while the Varia boss was dodging. He could see the light from one of the eyes of the mosca glinting. 

The light glowed a little. Ryuuichi gasped as a laser was shot towards the prefect. "Hibari watch out!!" The prefect was a second too slow and his side was hit. Bombs were shot out of nowhere as they all jumped away to avoid it. 

He tched. The mosca was going haywire and started shooting bullets and bombs here and there. Chrome just had to run into the battle field and would be blasted because she stepped on a mine, if not for Ken and Chikusa who pushed her away. The gun were pointing at them, ready to shoot as the mosca stomped towards them.

They would have died if not of Tsuna's sudden appearance. He was in his Hyper Dying Will Mode, using his flames to block the attack from the gun and the mosca. The mosca rushed forward towards him as Ryuuichi shouted.

"Don't use your full strength, Tsunayoshi!!!" 

Xanxus narrowed his eyes at the teen while the other wondered why was he telling the brunette not to use his full power. Reborn who was running towards them had heard the shout, and narrowed his eyes. 'What..?'

He gritted his teeth as he watched Tsuna attacked the mosca. He quickly got out his phone and called Dino. After the second dial, the boss had taken up. "Hello?"

"Hello my ! Where the hell are you!?! Hurry up and come here you idiot!!!" He yelled. "Wha-" He was too late. Tsuna had chopped the mosca into half. "ENOUGH S! JUST GET HERE!" He hung up and rushed towards where Tsuna was. An old man was in the mosca, surprising the hell out of everyone. He managed to grab onto the old man before he fall onto the ground.

"K-kyuudaime" "Hey! Are you ok?"

Reborn rushed towards them with a with a first aid box. "Oi! Get a hold of yourself!" He clicked his tongue and looked at the mosca. Ryuuichi quickly moved away the restrains on Timoteo, trying to be as gentle as possible. Timoteo's powers were used to function the mosca, so he's probably in the verge of dying right now. He glared at Xanxus as the boss said the Tsuna had attacked the Ninth. 

They were all panicking. Ryuuichi was suppressing himself from shouting again. 'Where the hell is Dino?!?!' His being trembled as in anger as he listened silently at Xanxus's word. 

"Who mercilessly punched that old man? Who scorched the mosca into two, along with the old man?" He brought his attention towards the old man in his arms when he moved. A hand reached towards Tsuna, as the hoarse voice of Timoteo's stopped whatever the brunette were thinking. "No. It was my fault" 

"Kyuudaime.."

"We're finally able to meet, Tsunayoshi-kun" He softly said. He apologized. "All this happened because of my weakness. My weakness woke Xanxus from his long slumber. "Slumber? What do you mean? After Xanxus left the 'crib', he left the Family and should have been placed under heavy surveillance by Vongola"

Reborn said, voice full with seriousness. "The greatest coup d'etat attempt in Vongola history occurred eight years ago. The dreadful fact that the Ninth's son was responsible was kept secret. Only the tops of Vongola and the elite who fought in that battle knew of it."

Ryuuichi felt his heart calmed a little, finally able to control his emotions. Xanxus had been sleeping for eight years. And the cause of it was actually the old man. He watched in silence as the Ninth talked to Tsuna, having a flame over the forehead of the brunette's. 

He watched as Tsuna and Xanxus conversated as everything went by as a blur to him. The declaration of the Sky Ring battle, the compulsory present of all the guardians, everything was nothing but a buzz to him. Right now, Ryuuichi couldn't really function. He was in the process of snapping, when suddenly all the desire to had gone, making him a little lifeless. It wasn't an unusual thing for him. It had happened before. 

"Were we too late?" Dino's voice broke him out of his reverie. "You, take the Ninth and any injured" He ordered as his men went into action. Ryuuichi helped the Ninth onto the stretcher, as the old man was taken away. He stood there, staring at the surrounding, feeling empty. 

"Ryuuichi?" Dino called out. The teen looked at the Cavallone boss and made him flinched. The dark brown eyes were blank. "Ryuuichi? Are you alright?" He watched as the teen slowly nodded. He slowly opened his mouth before closing them, repeating the same movement twice. 

Ryuuichi didn't know what to say. It was like all his thoughts and emotions suddenly cut off. "I'm ok..." Slowly, his mind started working again. He looked towards the infant, who had his eyes shadowed by his fedora. He could see the anger from the arcobaleno. He bent down and picked up Reborn. He saw the questions swirling in the dark eyes of the hitman. 

"... I can't interrupt...." He said. Reborn looked up and into his eyes. He was promptly taken away when he saw hesitation and regret along with a few that he couldn't tell. Why would the teen felt regret? What is there to regret? Everything had happen, they couldn't do anything.

But he knew. The hitman knew that if Ryuuichi had interfered, none of this would happen. Though, a part of him knew that Ryuuichi couldn't. One couldn't simply interrupt whatever fate has thrown to them after all. Nothing good will happen if they do.

Reborn just silently sat in Ryuuichi's embrace. He patted softly on the arm of the teen's. 

'No one blames you, Ryuuichi..'

Him, along with everyone else in the field, looked towards Tsuna. 

'Tsuna will fix it..'

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A/N = Wow. This could be the longest chapter I've ever written. Going to hit 4k. 

Again, Ryuuichi's behavior will be explained in the later chapters, not now. Not yet. 

Ryuuichi would frequently blank out, but he's not broken. 

By the way, because this is the chapter on the first day of 2016, here's a little bonus.

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"Hibari! Stop being so stubborn!" Ryuuichi pulled at the prefect's arm, trying to drag him to get a check up. Of course, Hibari refused to but Ryuuichi wouldn't let him off. 

"You're getting checked on your injuries no matter what! Don't. Even. Think. About. Running. Away" Hibari wasn't afraid of the darken tone of the teen's. No. He wasn't and never will.

"No" He stubbornly said as he tried to get out of the teen's vice grip. 

"Hibari" Stop.

"...."

Sometimes, he wondered if he should call the small animal a carnivore, rather than small animal.

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A/N = And with that, Hibari was dragged to get checked on. Side note, he tried to hit the teen with his tonfa, only to find out that they weren't in his grasp, but in Ryuuichi's.

I might not be able to update on my usual pace now because, reasons stated before. 

[I apologize for any grammars, spellings, etc.etc. mistakes. ]