Sacrifice

Summary: "I gave up my humanity." Tsunayoshi said emotionlessly, "Could you do the same for our famiglia?" Dark AR, involves TYL Bazooka

It had only been two months after the trip to the future that Tsunayoshi Sawada got catapulted into it again: by being shot by Lambo's Ten Year Bazooka.

"HIIIEEE… eh?" As soon as the pink smoke disappeared, he stared, bewildered, at his surroundings.

Yet again, he was in a forest, but there was no coffin, or even anyone in sight. The moment he had seen, in the past, the missile fired point-blank at him by Lambo, he expected to be surrounded by his future friends. However, he was alone, and the air seemed sombre and foreboding.

Had he… ended up in a parallel world? He almost tore his hair out in frustration, more trouble?

"You are dreaming." Someone said from behind him.

Tsuna bit back a yelp of fright, and turned to see-

"P-Primo?" He squeaked out, surprised. Because, standing in front of him was the normally cool-faced Giotto Vongola, wearing a black suit… wait, why was his hair brown, and not the usual golden blonde?

However, the man shook his head, "No. Rather… I'm you."

Tsuna gasped. Him? His future self looked so much like the Primo Vongola Boss!

"Wait," Tsuna said, a thought nagging at him, "If we are both me – ah, I mean, you, or each other, ahhh, wouldn't time self combust, or something?"

His future self shrugged, "As I said before, this is only a dream. Perhaps it does not matter when we are sleeping, more like when our physical selves meet."

Tsuna stared more closely at himself: when had he – Tsuna? Tsunayoshi? - become so calm and cool? He decided to call him Tsunayoshi, feeling more than a little confused at the chaos in his head.

"What do you mean? Are we really dreaming?" He asked.

Tsunayoshi replied, emotionlessly, Tsuna noticed with a worried pang, "As soon as I realised the tug of the Ten Year Bazooka on my consciousness, I immediately brought you here. Currently, your body is lying unconscious in your present."

Tsuna gaped, that would mean… Gah! Gokudera would be freaking out! And most likely Lambo would be getting the blame for it! He almost felt like crying.

He shook his head, and asked, "So what're you doing in your, er, future world?"

Tsunayoshi frowned, eyes growing dark, at which Tsuna yelped in fright, "I used my power so we wouldn't switch places. I don't want you to witness my… shame." His speech sounded strangled, as if he were forcing the words out.

"You're… shame?" Tsuna repeated, suddenly feeling panicked.

Tsunayoshi nodded, "You do not need to know." He said quietly, "This, I hope, will not be your future now. The things I did…" His face showed no expression, but Tsuna could see the pain in his eyes. No… it was more like his future self was trying to feel anguish at whatever he had done.

"What happened?" Tsuna asked softly. Tsunayoshi looked at him before sighing.

"Maybe I should tell you, so that you won't make the same mistakes." He said slowly, "After you defeated Byakuran, the worlds went normal. However, in several other worlds, he had a plan B, that, surprisingly, escaped Yuni's sacrifice." He sighed again, "A powerful clone of himself. The technology he used was monstrous. I took action immediately, and defeated him. But the method I used…"

Tsuna's eyes widened, "H-how? What happened?"

Tsunayoshi gave him an empty smile, "I got more power, but I sacrificed the things that made me, me."

"What do you mean?" Tsuna began to get a very bad feeling.

"I gave up my emotions; my ability to feel anger, shame… happiness." Tsunayoshi's blank eyes seemed to dissect Tsuna's every thought.

"I gave up my humanity."

Tsuna gasped, horrified, "B-but how can you… I don't understand!"

Tsunayoshi looked away, "I sacrificed what was most precious to me – the joy of laughing and being with my famiglia. I was granted more power than I had ever known. With that power, I defeated the Byakuran clone."

Tsuna waited, feeling the horror at what his future self had to do, to sacrifice. And I'd do the same in a heartbeat, he thought, if it were for my friends.

"The next part… I try to feel self-loathing, but I'm an emotionless vessel now." Tsunayoshi clenched his teeth, but Tsuna felt no real feeling coming from it – and that scared him more than if there had been anger.

"But, you need to know that… after I defeated Byakuran, our famiglia," he closed his eyes, "- had found out about Byakuran's clone, and came to help. By then, I had already defeated him myself. They tried to heal my injured body, but…"

Tsuna frowned; his future self looked like he wanted to cry but was unable to. He felt sympathetic, and wondered just what had happened.

"That was probably the first time my powers took control of my mind."

Tsuna gasped; his powers taking over? "But, the Dying Will Flame…"

Tsunayoshi shook his head, "I told you I sacrificed my humanity in order for power. But what I got was much darker, but much more powerful." He opened his eyes, and, instantly, a black flame appeared over his forehead with an inner purple fire.

Tsuna gasped at the amount of energy he felt the flame radiating, his knees were shaking from it! At the same time, the energy felt… blank? More like, devoid of any emotion: even resolution.

Tsunayoshi deactivated the flame, and Tsuna regained control of his body. "And that's only five percent of the Dark Ambition Flame." He said, voice robotic.

"What happened when the flame took over?" Tsuna asked shakily, afraid to know.

Tsunayoshi frowned, "Such bad things… one moment, I was in darkness, the next… Ryouhei was trying to defend himself from me, yelling at me to stop with Gokudera and Yamamoto hovering over… Kyokou's body, lifeless eyes just staring at me."

Tsuna froze. He had killed Kyokou? Kyokou, his crush? How? How could he do that?

"I killed her." Tsunayoshi's eyes were distant and emotionless, giving him the look of a heartless killing machine giving a report on his target. "I killed her, and I can't even grieve."

Tsuna collapsed to his knees. Surely he would never do that…? His sweet, adorable Kyokou…

"The Guardians," Tsunayoshi continued, and Tsuna noticed belatedly that he didn't say my Guardians, "We had a fall out after that. They were scared… of me. For my part, I decided that it would be safer that we should never meet again."

Tsuna was finding this all hard to comprehend. The Guardians had been scared of him?

Because you killed Kyokou…

Tsuna shook his head furiously; he would never allow that to happen in his world.

"But… where are you now?" Tsuna suddenly remembered. This, he felt, will be the worst shock of all. He just knew it.

"Vendicare." Tsunayoshi said emotionlessly. As Tsuna's eyes widened, he continued, "I was too dangerous. I asked the Vindice to chain me up."

At this, Tsuna felt sick and too stunned to speak.

Tsunayoshi said sombrely, "It has almost been ten minutes since you came here, your friends will be worried." He turned away, "Goodbye, younger me."

"Wait!" Tsuna said, "I… I will try to help you!"

Tsunayoshi turned back to him, eyes dead, and said, "There can be no help for the damned. After all, this is the price I paid to keep my famiglia safe. Well," He gave a bitter chuckle, "Most of them safe."

"But-!" Tsuna started.

Tsunayoshi interrupted calmly, "When the time comes, what will you be willing to sacrifice, Tsuna? After all…"

The world around them was beginning to fragment, and Tsuna could feel himself fading from the dream world. Tsunayoshi's words followed him regardless:

"… We would do anything for our family."

Tsuna woke with a gasp. It took a few seconds for him to process that he was back in his own home, with Gokudera, Yamamoto and Reborn calling his name. Reborn… what had happened to the infant in his future self's world? Had he turned on his student like the other Guardians?

No, Tsuna thought, it wasn't the Guardians fault. It's more mine… ours.

He shook his head. He'd save his cold, future self, but for now…

He sat up, feeling relief at seeing his familiar home.

"Tenth! Are you alright?" Gokudera asked wildly, critically checking his Boss's body for any injuries.

"I'm fine." Tsuna assured him with a smile. He looked around, "Where's Lambo?"

Gokudera gave a wicked smirk, and Yamamoto smiled sheepishly.

"Gokudera-kun punched him and he fell out of the window." The Rain Guardian said with a small laugh.

Tsuna shook his head, smiling slightly, "You guys…"

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn interrupted, and Tsuna yelped in fright when he turned only to be met with a pistol in his face.

"W-what are you doing, Reborn?" He yelped.

"What happened?" His home tutor asked, and Tsuna knew him well enough to see that he was happy that he was pointing a gun, but serious in his question.

Tsuna wondered if he should tell them. Would they abandon me the moment they find out I'm capable of such a thing? He suddenly frowned, disappointed at himself: when had he started doubting his friends?

"Well, I went to the future, and…" Tsuna hesitated, but quickly went on when Reborn cocked his gun. "I met myself."

"WHAT?" Gokudera yelled, "But wouldn't that result in a time explosion of some sort?"

Tsuna shrugged, "Apparently, we were both dreaming, and time didn't explode. Anyway… he told me that… things were going badly in his world."

Yamamoto frowned, "His world? Wait, you went to a different world other than the one we faced Byakuran in?"

Tsuna nodded, "Byakuran had a plan B, an unstoppable clone. My future self… he, er, sacrificed his humanity for more power to use against it." He finished the last sentence so quickly that it took a few moments to figure out what he had just said for the other three. Then it took a few more seconds to process the information.

The first one to react was, of course, Gokudera.

"Y-YOU WHAT? TENTH, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT, LIKE, LITERALLY?" He yelled in panic, jumping up.

Reborn instantly hit him in the head, and the Storm Guardian fell back on his butt hard. "Quiet. Continue, Dame-Tsuna?" The brunet saw the sudden change in Reborn's attitude. Tsuna saw that he was worried, if not concerned about what had happened.

"R-right, anyway, I - ah, the future me defeated Byakuran, and afterwards… well, this is the weird part. The flame he got after sacrificing his humanity… it was black, with purple in it."

Yamamoto frowned, "A black flame…?"

Reborn looked unhappy, "I've heard a little bit about it, but it's dangerous and hard to control… what happened afterwards, Dame-Tsuna? Don't leave anything out."

Tsuna swallowed nervously, and his hands fidgeted with the bottom of his T-shirt., "He told me that… he'd killed Kyokou." He felt tears of anguish coming to his eyes.

"Kill her? But the Tenth would never do that!" Gokudera said, concerned.

"The flame had taken over me, and I killed Kyokou…" Tsuna said thickly, feeling tears coming down his face now.

His Guardians looked alarmed at his sudden sobs.

"Tsuna…" Yamamoto whispered, shocked.

"Tenth," Gokudera said with worry, frowning.

Once again, Reborn took action. He whacked Tsuna over the head with the butt of his gun, just like with Gokudera, "Stupid Tsuna," He scolded, "You are not him, and, under my eyes, you will never sacrifice your humanity for the Dark Ambition Flame."

Tsuna nodded, sniffling; he already felt somewhat better from Reborn's words. He decided to continue, his friends had to know why he wanted to go back there, "The older me decided that he would endanger his friends' lives so he…" Tsuna swallowed hard, breathing rapidly, and found it hard to say the next words.

Gokudera knelt next to him, and Tsuna could see his own anguish reflected in his Storm Guardian's eyes. The older boy smiled, although it was shaky, "Tenth… all of us, your Guardians, Dino, I-Pin, Fuuta, Basil, Shamal, my sister; heck, even the Varia – we'll be there for you!" He said determinedly, "We'll try especially hard to support you! After all, we are family."

Tsuna smiled, "I… thank you, Gokudera-kun. But… my future self made sure to keep away from his Guardians and his family." Tsuna sighed wearily.

Yamamoto looked truly worried now, "You don't mean… Vendicare?"

Tsuna hesitated, and then nodded once.

"NO!" Gokudera exploded, leaping up once more, "I-I won't allow the Tenth to – to rot in that place! I won't!" His eyes were full of pain and defiance.

Reborn had gone absolutely still when Tsuna had confirmed his fears. The moment his student had mentioned the Dark Ambition Flame, Tsuna had seen Reborn get warier with each passing second. The brunet came to the conclusion that Reborn had already known the end results the moment he heard that the future Tsuna had given up his humanity.

"What happened to your Guardians at that time?" Reborn asked, voice low.

Tsuna felt like crying all over again, glancing over at his friends' already distressed faces, sans Reborn, "You guys… I don't blame you for being scared of me. I'd have been scared, too…"

"We… abandoned you?" His silver-haired friend's expression was tormented, "I abandoned the Tenth…" He looked down, a shadow over his eyes. Yamamoto just sat back, face clouded over; unreadable.

Tsuna shook his head wildly, "No! You didn't abandon me! My future self, he chose to leave! It was more like me abandoning my friends…" He bit his lip.

Gokudera looked up instantly, shaking his head, "Tenth! I know you! We all know you! The only way you'd ever abandon us is if we abandoned you first!"

Yamamoto frowned, "If we had been scared… I'm sure we didn't leave you… right?" He looked as if he was trying to convince himself.

"It doesn't matter, anyway!" Tsuna said, "If I were a danger to my friends, then…"

"You want to save your future self." Reborn suddenly interrupted; it wasn't a question.

Tsuna said nothing, silently grateful that he didn't have to argue it out with his friends. A flicker of determination in his student's eyes was all Reborn needed to proceed.

The infant hitman said to Tsuna over Gokudera's spluttering and Yamamoto's nervous chuckles, "Obviously, you will be going alone." Tsuna nodded, looking afraid but resolute.

"What? Why?" Gokudera asked loudly.

Reborn replied, whacking him over the head yet again, "Because after the rescue, the future Dame-Tsuna will need the support of his Guardians in that timeline. Other than rescuing him, present Dame-Tsuna will need to re-establish their friendship.

"Anyway," Reborn continued, now addressing Tsuna, "once you get into the future, gather your future Guardians once again and launch an attack on Vendicare."

"An attack?" Tsuna asked shrilly.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn reprimanded, "what were you planning to do once you were in the future? Ask the Vindice kindly to release your older self?"

"Uh…" Actually, Tsuna hadn't thought that far ahead, even if it was the whole brunt of his mission. He was just planning to improvise.

Reborn went on, "I've already called Shouichi and Spanner to prepare –"

"W-when did you do that?" gasped out Tsuna.

Completely ignoring him, Reborn continued, "When you get there, you will arrive in the dream world again. Tell your future self to start fighting from the inside; try to convince him somehow since, knowing you, you'd probably refuse and choose to sulk in that prison for the rest of your miserable life." Tsuna glared at him for that, but he was ignored yet again.

"You have approximately one week in the future," Reborn said happily, "According to Shouichi, he'll be able to transport you into the future, with your older self still there. He'll place you as close as possible to the nearest Guardian." He put away his gun, and hopped onto the window sill.

"Ciaossu, Dame-Tsuna," He waved, "You're going tomorrow."

A/N: Sequel is up~

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