A/N: Ahh, I'm really sorry to confuse you guys. It surely wasn't my intention- so I guess I just don't know anything about building up suspense. T.T Anyhow, I'm always very, very thankful for those reviews, views, favs and follows- and I want to do a mad dance around my house each time I get a new one. THANK YOUUUU.

Anyway, there's a bit of "Painter Tsuna" here, along with another tid-bits that would hopefully clear some parts of the confusion. I'm not really proud of this chapter... but still, please enjoy and thank you once again.! :3

The night went by and morning slowly crept in. Unbeknown to both of the occupants of the house, they both were wide awake, one suffering from nightmares and one out hunting for clues. They were, of course- none other than Tsunayoshi Sawada and Reborn.

Dark circles marring his eyes, Tsuna painted on and on, lying on his stomach, the haunting memories of various ka he had encountered- the memories that wouldn't let him sleep any day, any night; and he could do nothing but endure them- days after days.

Yujin-san kept him company through these hours of distress and loneliness, and occasionally, his mother. It was Tsuna who refused her requests to stay awake; she worked so hard through the whole day- she deserved every little chance of rest she got.

Yujin-san had been beside him through the night, materializing in the pitch black darkness as he softly petted him on the head; his amber eyes glowing slightly as he examined the drawings.

He often wondered… if- if Tsuna hated painting? It was obvious he loved drawing and coloring as a child- he hadn't met him then, of course, his memories supported his theory.

What about now, then?

Tsuna would then flash him a brilliant smile and say, "Of course not, Yujin-san! If I hated it, I wouldn't keep doing it still now, right? Have you ever seen me unhappy anytime while painting?"

He had no answer to that.

That day, unfortunately, wasn't so nice for either Tsuna or Yujin, all because of a certain baby hitman who went with the name 'Reborn'. It was after a lot of sighing, smirks, dodging and running after that he finally arrived to his school, and Reborn (thankfully) decided to just explore the grounds and observe him from distance.

Tsuna boredly rested his head on his palm as he watched the minutes tick by, his eyes almost closing from sleepiness. Yujin-san would be there to wake him up again and again; he hated doing this, but he knew he had to do it for Tsuna.

He had to, didn't he?

.

.

.

Bored out of his mind as he saw that the brunet wasn't doing anything beside staring at the board (or was it the clock?) half-heartedly, got chalk chucked toward him and laughed at by his classmates, Reborn decided to look around Namimori for a bit. There was still an hour and twenty three minutes- to be precise- left until lunch break, so a little look around couldn't really hurt.

He found nothing noteworthy in Tsuna's room- except the silver orb that he dared not disturb (for whatever reason. God.) And quite a lot of crayons and varieties of pencils that he wasn't expecting to be in Tsuna's room of all people. What did he exactly do with them?

He walked through the various secret alleyways and roads of Namimori, looking out for anything interesting. The town was relatively calm compared to any other he had ever encountered. It was as if nothing mentionable went through it, nothing interesting-

He blinked curiously as he watched people after people walking toward an art gallery, excitedly (and albeit comically) chattering and talking among themselves. The crowd wasn't really light, either- there had to be at least nine hundred to one thousand people, and it was obvious to see the attraction wasn't bound to a single age group. Children to mothers to adolescents to teenage girls and even some businessmen mixed in, it would have to be something very interesting to pique all their interest.

Reborn shifted his eyes to look at the wooden sign-board just placed on to show which artist's exhibition had been going on. Mephistopheles was the title, and the artist was… Hemel. Hemel? Such a peculiar name- though he remembered reading something about that person. He (or maybe even she) had never showed his (or her) face to the public, and supposedly painted 'amazing and vivid otherworldly' pieces that left critics speechless.

Well, let there be a test, eh?

Reborn thought, jumping down from the tree to land on the ground perfectly as he, too headed toward the entrance, and for once, thanked his size so no one could notice him or that he had no ticket. He smirked amusedly.

…

Needless to say, he was surprised. His mouth hung open slightly, his eyes unblinking as he almost devoured the paintings placed around him. The rumor mills running around him were true, and his eyes were almost overwhelmed as they tried to take all of them at once. It was beautiful. Goddamnit- it was amazing.

The violet phoenix with arched wings and angry eyes almost seemed to glare at him, and Reborn had the distinct feeling that if it was real, it would tore right through him. There was another one; something shrouded with darkness, and only the vague outline of a veiled being could be seen. Even with that, he could see emotion pouring out of the piece, as if they were created from the heart-

Reborn shook his head.

What the hell was he doing- almost fanboying over art pieces? Fine- they were good- very good- but he still had duties as a home tutor to fulfill; and if the watch on his hand was any indicator, he ought to get back to school soon, because it was just seven minutes sort of lunchtime.

.

.

.

He's gone! Yujin-san yelled victoriously and they both did a mental fist pump. Grinning slightly, Tsuna crept out of the classroom, ducking behind and crawling through the benches on the back, and was only noticed by the disgruntled students sitting there. Their growls made the teacher throw chalks at them as the brunet successfully went out- invisible to none but Nezu-sensei.

He sure was going to get a good dose of beating later…

Tsuna gulped. Better not to think about it. Yujin-san gave him a consolation pat. Walking down the hallway, looking out for Hibari or anyone from the student council, he ventured up to the fifth floor, the last room where piano classes were held.

The piano teacher was slightly crazy- and had very sensitive skin so he got severe sunburn when exposed to the littlest of sunlight. Hence, the room would be always darkened and the sole window was covered with black blinds. Tsuna thanked whichever deity was up there to make their piano classes to be held in a separate room.

He shut the door behind him, taking care to lock the latch, and straightened up. There was a faint hum of magic and an orange glow beside him, signaling Yujin-san was materializing. The ka gave him a grin as he stretched his body, the joints creaking with each movement after being unused for at least hours.

Yujin-san was almost completely similar to him, except that his eyes were the shade of burning wood, his brunet hair longer and spikier, and his posture more regal, taller and literally gave of charisma and confidence.

"Gosh, Tsuna, you make me sound like some prince-y-prat." Yujin-san giggled, making the brunet in turn go tomato in embarrassment. Why do you hear my thoughts!?

"Weeeell, because my mind is literally connected with yours?"

Tsuna pouted, and commanded him to just begin his work, which he did gleefully, all the while laughing his ass off.

Closing his eyes as he rested his hand on the wall, he began muttering foreign words, shadows curling around him and flicked into wisps of light, providing the room with twinkles of magical glow. The wisps merged with one another, forming into bigger and greater balls of light. There was a terribly sweet scent in the air, and Tsuna could feel something tugging at his body.

Trudging over beside Yujin-san, he joined the man as he placed his hand over his. The flame surrounded them, and the wall started to open up. Thousands and thousands of tiny beams of shadow shot out toward them, grasping their forms in synchronization. Tsuna let him be pulled toward the portal, and everything around them faded into darkness.

He could see nothing except that halo of light encircling them, flying with unimaginable speed, and unbeknown to himself, smiled at the familiar feeling of traveling through dimensions. Yujin-san's arms were wrapped around his waist as to not let them fly away somewhere far, and he was sharply looking out for any enemies. Tsuna often wondered how he could see- and Yujin-san's answer would be always just a mysterious grin.

The light slowly faded away, and gravity was tugging at both of them before they crashed unceremoniously on the wet ground. Tsuna sputtered. "Yujin-san! Can't you- can't you make the portal land us in a better place!?"

"G-gah- er-" He spat out the mud on his mouth, but more caked his face in hilarious fashion which he tried to wipe with ineffective results. "S-sorry! Yuk!"

Tsuna laughed, wiping his own face with his uniform sleeve. "It helps to wear… less revealing clothes, you know, Yujin-san."

"I'm not wearing revealing clothes!" He growled out. Tsuna smirked, because it was evident to everyone. Who would call a cape wrapped around the throat coupled with shorts 'not revealing'?

"Hmpf." The ka crossed his arms and stood up, offering a hand to Tsuna who had yet to do the same. "Let's just get going."

The brunet giggled again, accepting the outstretched palm as he hefted himself up. "Yeah!"

Together, they both headed toward the 'Market district', passing various alleyways, roads and curves- and the diverse range of demons that loitered in there. Most of them were pretty much harmless- too busied with their own schedules to bother the duo.

Every human had a demonic and a humanoid part of their soul, and it was not metaphorical. The 'evil' in their mind and soul manifested as their demonic counterpart, known by a single word- 'ka'. The ka grew up on the realm of the shadows as their human equivalent did on Earth, side by side yet so far away.

Many human died without ever meeting their ka.

Most ka were mindless, violent, greedy- selfish, true to the source of their birth. But there were always exceptions. More intelligent, more powerful and more human-looking ka could be born- but only if the human was the same.

And that was the relationship was of the two brunets currently walking side-by-side.

Tsuna and Yujin had what they wanted at the lowest part of the realm- sleep potion. Waving at the familiar demon, Yujin stood to lean on the wooden bar.

"The usual."

Vials of all shapes and sizes were carefully arranged on the bookshelves behind the demon, labels containing runic words slapped on them. A variety of smell lingered around the little store.

Odomos, the demon had a long, sharp beak where his mouth was supposed to be, and a black tail was coiled around his otherwise human-looking, but impossibly black body. Nodding at Yujin, he grabbed a phial by his tail and threw it straight flying toward the demon.

Yujin grasped it with ease, passing it to Tsuna who in turn passed him a little white case. It was given to Odomos, who sighed pleasantly as he opened the box, a mini-sized perfect portrait looking up at him, mirroring him almost entirely.

Grinning, Yujin tugged at a flustered Tsuna to drag him off back to the portal.

"Why are you so embarrassed?"

"W-What if he didn't like my painting?" The brunet managed to sputter out.

He shot Tsuna an incredulous look. He discredited himself too much. Their created gateway was almost-closed, the remaining lights fading into darkness. The taller brunet crouched on the ground, mumbling spells as it began to open up and glow.

Soon, they were back to the human world.

Telling the brunet to be careful as he prepared to dematerialize his physical body, he patted Tsuna on the head when a sheepish smile was sent his way. He didn't like being just a simple entity and floating around like a lost soul in Tsuna's mind, but it wasn't really bad either-

"What is going on?"

Time seemed to stop as both brunets froze in place. The squeaky voice of Reborn had become cold as stone, and it was more than enough to send shivers racking through their spinal cords. Yujin could hear both his and Tsuna's heart furiously beating thump! thump! thump! Adrenaline coursed through his vein, and his body was in a lockdown as the little voice spoke that one simple sentence.

How had he known?

He had went away, didn't he?

A clock on the nearby classroom ticked on, as if ticking on to his demise.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Tsuna was the first to recover, whirling around as he faced the baby hitman. None of them knew when Reborn had entered, there was no light, no sound- no aura to even alert them someone was there. The golden wisps floating around Yujin was the sole source of light in the whole room.

He could see the vague outline of his supposed-to-be home tutor, jaw set hard and eyes fierce as a wild predator.

"R-Reborn!?"