Title: Incandescent

Rating: T (Subject to change)

Summary: When the mass evacuation of civilians from Tokyo begins, any sane person would turn heel and run like hell. So does Tsuna –but in the opposite direction. It's his family at stake here, after all. [AU]

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Tokyo Ghoul.

Warning: This story may not be compliant to the events of Tokyo Ghoul:re.

Incandescent

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01: "The Crimson City"

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At first, no one had noticed anything… off.

And to be perfectly honest, he hadn't realized that there had been anything wrong, either. For one, it hadn't exactly been obvious –they lived in Namimori. Namimori, a small town located far out in the suburbs, a modest city that was the exact opposite of an active metropolitan center. It was a minuscule, often overlooked quality that happened to make all the difference in this case. If nothing else, then for the simple fact that news reports that would stir up weeks' worth of gossip in large cities easily passed through Namimori with nary a ripple.

(The evacuation of Tokyo, for example.)

That wasn't to say that Namimori was backwater enough to have never heard of the capital city's nightmare before. In fact, one would have to have lived their entire lives under a rock not to know of it, to not know of the ones hailed to prowl the streets of Tokyo whilst leaving only death and destruction in their wake–

Namely, ghouls.

"Creatures that take on the form of humans, born with the innate tendency to seek out and feed on the flesh of men." Reborn had commented idly that day, leaning against the doorframe in a faux-casual slouch as the news footage flashed across the television screen in front of them. His eyes had gleamed with a touch of something unnaturally sharp as he slanted his gaze towards him and let his lips curl into a velvet smirk. "But you would know all about that by now, wouldn't you, Dame-Tsuna?"

He did, to a certain extent. Tsuna freely admitted that he could be rather dense at times, but that didn't mean he was oblivious. And one would certainly have to be more than a little oblivious to not know of the existence of ghouls and their choice of sustenance, particularly seeing as victims of ghoul attacks were now constantly being aired on the news in the name of "raising awareness" and "contributing" to the "nationwide counter-ghoul measure."

Not to mention, the mafia had always been acutely aware of the existence of their inhuman neighbors as well.

"Vongola Secondo had a Guardian in his inner circle who was actually a ghoul, not a human. Quite the controversy at the time, but he was very adamant about it. Those who disagreed with him on that topic received very unfortunate ends to their careers. And their lives, I suppose." A flick of the wrist, and Leon instantly morphed into a gun over Reborn's fingertips. There was something strangely disconcerting about watching a young teenager handle a firearm so expertly –though not as strange as it had been a few years ago, back when Reborn and the others had still been afflicted by the Arcobaleno Curse and trapped in the forms of infants. "Congratulations. You're the second Vongola Boss to take a ghoul as their Guardian."

Finding out that Hibari Kyouya was actually a ghoul honestly hadn't been as much of a shock as it should have been. Or rather, could have been –seeing as the bloodthirsty prefect hadn't exactly bothered much with hiding his more violent tendencies around them. Or around anyone, really. And for all the initial panic of oh-my-god-Hibari-san-hadn't-been-joking-all-those-times-with-his-"bite-to-death"-threats, Tsuna knew that Hibari was not a mindless monster. The Cloud Guardian was not someone who existed solely to gorge himself on the dismembered corpses of innocents, nor one who would slaughter without reason. In fact, ever since Hibari had taken it upon himself to "keep the discipline" in Namimori upon his arrival, crime rates had dropped to an all-time low.

And if Tsuna was ever disturbed by the mental image of Hibari feasting on human flesh, predatory eyes dilating as the sclera morphed black and iris bloomed into a brilliant vermillion–

Well.

Man-eating ghoul or not, Hibari was also family. And in his mind, family would always outweigh anything else.

(At least Tsuna had finally learned the reason why Hibari hated other people crowding around him. There was no doubt that Hibari held impressive control over his more primal instincts, seeing as Namimori was still well-populated, but only a fool would try testing the limits of a ghoul's self-restraint.

… No wonder he called them all "herbivores.")

Truth be told, Hibari was a bit of an anomaly amongst ghoul-kind. After all, most ghouls were all contained within the 24 wards of Tokyo by the Commission of Counter Ghoul. To this day, he still didn't know how it was that Hibari had gotten out of the CCG security net stretching over Tokyo –but then again, "impossible" and "Hibari" pretty much went hand in hand with each other. Add in "Mukuro," and it would spell "disaster."

(… That, and "extensive repair bills." Oh, the paperwork.)

Regardless, Tsuna trusted Hibari, which was a lot more than what he could say for other ghouls, especially after seeing news reports on those like the Binge Eater a while back. Ghouls were natural predators of humans, but there was a difference between hunting for food and massacring indiscriminately simply because one liked the color of blood, or the thrill of slaughter.

Although the high concentrations of ghouls living in Tokyo meant that other areas in Japan remained relatively safe, it also meant that Tokyo was dangerous. Arguably more so than any other city in Japan. So when Ryohei had mentioned that his family would be leaving for Tokyo to stay with their relatives for the summer, Tsuna had been concerned. Understandably so, in his humble opinion, though the white-haired boxer hadn't seemed to share the same mind.

"You worry too much, Tsuna!"

Only because you don't worry enough, he had wanted to wail, but the words somehow got stuck in his throat and he ended up choking instead. It probably had something to do with the hearty slap that Ryohei had delivered to his back, one that held all the force of being trampled by a herd of elephants.

Kyoko hadn't been much better, even if she happened to be more reasonable about it.

"We're going to be staying in the 20th ward with our uncle. It's the safest place in Tokyo, so everything will be alright." The cheerful girl had delivered a sweet smile and clasped her hands behind her back endearingly. "We'll be back before you know it, Tsuna!"

…

(As it turned out, that hadn't been the case. Far from it, really.)

At first, everything had seemed to be fine. The Sasagawa siblings left Namimori with their parents via train, but still kept in contact with the rest of them on a daily basis. When the messages began dwindling in number –that was understandable, they had mentioned that they were lending a hand to their uncle at work– Tsuna would admit to the first stirrings of unease in his chest. But still, perhaps he was simply overreacting. A symptom of Reborn-instilled paranoia, probably; Dino could certainly attest to that.

Surely, surely if they had ran into any trouble… they would let him know at first opportunity, right?

(And eventually, the messages had trickled to a stop. When he then tried calling them, what he had received was the standard "the number you have dialed is not in service" response. This left him with mixed feelings; on one hand, maybe the phone had only gotten destroyed. Again. The alternative, however…)

To his credit, Tsuna hadn't truly started panicking until Shouichi had burst into his house one day to deliver him the news, neatly tripping over Gokudera in the process as he stumbled across the living room. According to his intel, Tokyo was going under lockdown for a widescale CCG operation. Civilians were now in the midst of rapidly being evacuated from the city, and he had checked more than a dozen times and there was no family with the surname of Sasagawa recorded on the list of evacuees.

Tsuna still vividly recalled that particular conversation.

"I-I hacked the CCG database, since we've been keeping a closer eye on Tokyo lately. Y'know, since Ryohei was going to be staying there and all." Shouichi had admitted, fingers twisting together apprehensively. "When the list came out, I made a copy of it and…"

And he had nodded, mind dizzy and awhirl with the possible implications that this carried. That somehow Ryohei and Kyoko were still inside Tokyo, a Tokyo that was on the verge of turning into a veritable war zone, by the looks of things. And Tsuna would always remember those brief, horrific glimpses of what he had witnessed in an apocalyptic future that would never come to be, of fields upon fields of blood and carnage stretching as far as the eye could see. Should the same thing happen to Tokyo, where the Sasagawas still remained…

"… Be careful, okay? This operation they're planning in Tokyo, it –it's something big." The redhead had bitten his lip, a telltale sign of nervousness. "It'll take me awhile to crack their code and get the details, but from what I've gotten so far, apparently this is a mobilized response to some organization of ghouls. I haven't found the Sasagawas tagged anywhere in CCG's databanks yet, so they should still be safe. Just… Tsuna, be careful, alright? Something big is going on in Tokyo, and I don't want you to get caught in the middle of it."

Ever since a certain fedora-wearing hitman had crashed into his life in middle school, Tsuna had always felt that his life was just one gigantic roller coaster –the kind that looped upside-down on every other crazy turn with absolutely no end in sight. Always being thrown headlong into danger, always standing in the center of the chaos… selfish as it sounded, Tsuna had been glad when old Nono had offered the young Decimo to-be and his Guardians a place in Italy while Japan clamored over the "ghoul operation" staged to take place in Tokyo.

(Of course, that had been before his Sun Guardian had gone AWOL on his trip to Tokyo. And Tsuna would be damned if he just left Ryohei there to fend for himself and the rest of the Sasagawa family while the rest of them escaped to Italy.)

"Looks like your Cloud Guardian is ahead of you, Dame-Tsuna."

"I guess so, Reborn."

The duo waited another heartbeat in front of the empty Hibari residence. Knowing Reborn, though, the hitman had probably known that Hibari had already left, and had just wanted to string him along this useless trip for the heck of it. The Hibari residence was located on the outskirts of Namimori, a fair distance away from the heart of the city, after all.

Tsuna tried to turn his mind away from the reality of getting tricked by Reborn again, focusing instead on the topic at hand.

"… Did Hibari-san stop by and tell you that he was going to Tokyo?"

Reborn snorted, "Hibari doesn't tell anyone anything; you should know that by now. I simply checked the ticket records at the train station earlier. He and Kusakabe left for Tokyo two days ago."

Well, at least that explained why he hadn't noticed his Cloud Guardian's disappearance, if it had only been for two days. Hibari certainly seemed determined to live up to the title of the "aloof, drifting Cloud" –so much to the point that sometimes Tsuna considered sticking a GPS tracker on him just to be done with it all.

… Of course, considering Hibari's personality, he would undoubtedly be bitten to death for such a transgression.

Tsuna instinctively winced at the thought.

"Wipe that expression off your face, Dame-Tsuna. You look–"

"–Stupid, which is absolutely unacceptable for a mafia boss." Tsuna automatically finished the line, receiving a rubber bullet to the forehead for his efforts. He had long since learned his lesson in dodging rubber bullets; better to take the random abuse Reborn decided to dish out the first time instead of dodging and receiving a Leon-hammer to the back of the skull.

"Getting smart with me, eh?" Reborn clucked his tongue, though there was no real heat behind his words. "Keep that backbone for when you get to Tokyo. I hear that most ghouls there like to crunch on the bones of the mouthy ones."

"Reborn!"

The hitman smirked unrepentantly.

"Go home and start packing, Dame-Tsuna." Leon melted back into a lizard-like shape and shimmied up the length of Reborn's arm, leaping and curling around the brim of his fedora. "Gokudera and Yamamoto are getting ready, too. Lambo is in China with I-pin, and Mukuro took Chrome to Italy for training –it'll take them awhile to arrive, so we'll be leaving first. Did you send them the missives yet?"

Tsuna nodded as he easily fell in step next to his tutor –former tutor, officially speaking– as the hitman turned and began walking down the street, retracing the path they had taken to get here on silent footsteps.

It took him a moment to voice his next question.

"… You're not going to try and convince me not to go, Reborn?"

The response was swift and blunt.

"Would you listen?"

"…"

"Thought so," the hitman rolled his eyes. "I'm not like Nono. Personally, I think it's better to keep you in my sights where I can actually see what you're doing, instead of having you run off behind our backs again and wreak havoc wherever you go."

"The incident with the Hanajima-kai wasn't my fault!"

"I didn't even mention it yet, Tsuna." The hitman pointed out smugly, "You're only proving my point. Or would you rather have me jog your memory about the time during Christmas a few years back when you–"

"I thought we agreed to never mention that again!"

"Correction: You asked, but I didn't agree. Therefore, your argument of us having an agreement to never speak of it again is null and void." Reborn smirked at his student's embarrassment.

(Tsuna could tell this banter for what it was, though. It was Reborn's attempt at lightening the mood, to distract his thoughts from lingering on the Sasagawas and working himself into a frenzy over his worry. He appreciated the gesture, certainly, though Reborn really could have chosen a better topic to try and distract him with.)

"… Feeling better?"

"A little," he admitted, then paused. "… I'm still rather surprised that Hibari-san actually left before us, though. He and Ryohei have never really… unless, it's related to something else? Hibari-san… Shouichi mentioned some sort of CCG operation in Tokyo, right?"

"Perhaps," Reborn allowed. "Do keep in mind; Hibari may be your Cloud Guardian, but he is also a ghoul. It is entirely possible that his goals for traveling to Tokyo differ from ours. It would be prudent to find him as soon as possible after arriving in Tokyo, though, since he would undoubtedly be privy to certain information among ghouls that would normally be impossible for us to gain access to. Also, it's highly likely that his resources would provide aid in searching for the Sasagawas if they have truly run afoul of other ghouls."

A heartbeat of silence.

"They are strong. Have some more faith, Tsuna."

The duo crossed the asphalt street together as the lights changed.

"… Kyoko said that their uncle was in the 20th ward." Tsuna spoke quietly. "It's a little strange, though. My intuition is telling me that we should be heading to the 11th instead."

"The 11th?" Reborn arched an eyebrow neutrally, voice dry. "Those two wards aren't exactly very close to each other."

"I know, that's why I said it's strange," Tsuna ran a hand through his hair, turning his gaze towards the hitman at his side. "But… I don't think I'm wrong about this, Reborn. If we go to the 11th ward, we'll find something important. I can't really explain it; I just know…"

"Hyper Intuition?"

"Something like that," Tsuna tilted his head back and stared upward towards the sky, "I just hope we make it there in time."

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…

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Author's Notes:

This story is inspired by reading Leelhiette's Daybreak. (Check it out if you haven't already! I definitely recommend it.) Whereupon I then went and blitzed through the entire Tokyo Ghoul manga, and then this plot bunny wandered into my garden.

Voila, welcome to Incandescent.

(The idea of ghoul!Hibari here also comes from Leelhiette. Honestly, the catchphrase "I'll bite you to death" has never made so much sense before…)

Obviously, this is rather AU, which you can probably tell by now. Timeline check: set around the Aogiri Tree arc of Tokyo Ghoul. Around… 5 years after the end of the KHR manga, give or take, so Tsuna is about the same age as Kaneki.

Yes, I realize that the Tsuna here is probably a little OOC from canon-Tsuna. I figure that would be a given in some sense, since the Tsuna of this story would have a lot more experience under his belt at this point.

Aside from that, this is also my first time writing a non-OC-centric story, and I apologize if some parts sound really awkward or make no sense whatsoever given a character's canon personality. Please let me know if you find something that sounds really weird to you here, and I'll do my best to fix any errors. Pointing out grammar errors would be greatly appreciated as well. :D This chapter is a little short, but I figure it's a decent start for trying at a non-OC-centric story. :3

Yup, Reborn is a teenager. I'm going with the theory that after getting un-cursed, the Arcobaleno age at a rate much faster than that of usual babies –he and the other Arcobaleno are all scattered around in their teen years, currently.

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… Well, I hope this turned out okay in general. Not sure if I should continue this story, given that there aren't very many people in this fandom, anyways. Or maybe I should just treat this as practice, I guess…?

Leave a note and tell me what you think, please. Constructive criticism is much appreciated. :D

-XxZuiliu