Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn for it belongs to Amano Akira.

Enjoy the story. R&R, plz!

Chapter 8: Lucifer's Revenge

Being an artist, especially a leading one, had never been an easy job, in Tsuna's opinion. He had to constantly pay attention to the ranking chart, watch out for potential rivals, seek inspiration and material for his songs and beware of nosy paparazzi. In other words, he had to always stay in the game so as to remain at the top of the food chain. And one way to show his relevance was to keep releasing new hits.

That was why Tsuna was now at the rehearsal room, made specifically for him, at the Gesso Idol Agency Headquarter, preparing to rehearse and making adjustments to a song that was going to be featured in his incoming winter album. It was common knowledge that releasing an album required lots of effort, time and money, to the extent a singer might spend a year just to produce one satisfactory album. Aware of this, Tsuna had begun composing songs for his new album since the beginning of this year and now, all left was to record his final song and then promote his album.

Whether the albino favored him or just wanted to annoy him, Byakuran had converted the entire floor, to the envy of many idols, into a big sound-proof rehearsal room, enough to accommodate an orchestra, and reserved it for only Tsuna's use. The interior could be compared to a mini opera house, with grand stage, red curtain, audience seats and instruments available for practice. Tsuna had once complained about the young Director's biased treatment towards him, but the white-haired teen just waved it off, saying that the brunette deserved this.

Silently sitting at his chair, Tsuna looked up from his music sheet and saw his manager Hamada approaching him with a glass of lemonade. The young man smiled at his charge before handing him the beverage, gesturing for him to drink it. Downing his favorite drink in one gulp, the young idol sighed contentedly, relishing the mild sourness on his tasting buds.

"Are you ready, Tsuna-kun?", Hamada asked and accepted the glass back.

"Ready like I've never been, Tadashi", Tsuna flashed a broad grin to the older man and went to the stage.

Standing on a raised podium in front of an orchestra- Tsuna internally sighed- was Byakuran, dressed in his pristine white penguin suit and holding a steel baton. In every rehearsal of Tsuna, Byakuran insisted that he be the conductor guiding the orchestra to make music for the brunette and be called Maestro Byakuran- Tsuna mentally snorted. To Tsuna's shock, the Agency Director had proven himself to be very adept at directing the whole band, which he explained he had learned it just for Tsuna.

The star made his way to the center of the stage and gave signal to Byakuran to start the music. Soon, the entire floor was drowned in the majestic orchestra sound. And Tsuna began singing the final piece of his album.

Twilight smiles at me in a bitter shower of tears

In the darkness, crime and regret are unclear

Response to a lie…

Blooming beautifully, the crimson rose is a reflection

Of an existence pricked with heartless thorns

The following week, one article on the newspaper had taken Japan by storm and by the end of the week, Namimori had become a hotly debate topic of people.

"Hell in White Heaven? Not as White as One is Painted?

Monday was supposed to be a normal day for me and my department, with us doing the same old routines searching for newsworthy information and writing satisfactory articles. However, upon arriving at my desk, I found myself staring at an inconspicuous orange thick envelope addressed to nobody particular. Curiosity eventually won over me and I opened the folder and was in for a major shock of my life.

According to the anonymous informant, the famous local orphanage in Namimori, White Heaven, often known as Namimori Orphanage for short, is in fact not as bright as its name. The supposed "Heaven" is nothing more than a mere cover for the cruel sadistic madness and depthless depravity.

After recovering from the initial shock, I decided to check the validity of the information provided by traveling to the Namimori Orphanage. Two days spying at the place was more than enough for me to come to the conclusion and strengthen my resolution to bring this evil to justice.

The White Heaven was established 50 years ago to provide shelter for the local orphans but soon opened its door for all unfortunate children from across Japan. Thanks to a newspaper article back in 198x, this place soon rose to its fame for having accepted and cared for orphans, abandoned babies and children deemed uncontrollable or accused of petty crimes regardless of their backgrounds. However, that was its prime and now, the orphanage unfortunately finds itself in wrong hands of wrong sorts. Mori Ken, third Director of the Namimori Orphanage, has been using the orphanage to cover for his misuse of the donated funds for his own personal gratifications. Gamble, drinking, excessive expenditure were made but hardly more than a quarter of the donation was spent to improve the orphanage's conditions. The man skimmed the budget for food and supplies and cut the children's portion by a third to cover the fact. His atrocious crime doesn't stop there as the children was under constant abuse by him and other willing caretakers. They would use canes, sticks and leather belts around their waists to hit the children for various reasons, ranging from simply talking in the dining room to scoring badly in the exams. Attics and cupboards have found their own niches in that hell for they become the "prison" for the "deviant" or those unlucky to be spotted while the caretakers are angry. Many poor children have become withdrawn due to this abusive behavior.

Ruthless and insane selfishness on the part of the Director and the unfounded depravity on the part of the caretakers are the defining characteristics of those who ran the orphanage.

…

The videos and pictures of the abuse can be viewed on the newspaper official website…"

The very same day, Mori, along with many orphanage caretakers, was arrested for further investigation of their crimes.

The usual quietness of Namimori was shattered by the police's siren call, screaming for innocence and the entire neighborhood's gossip that haunted the place for the later weeks. It had to be expected, of course. Namimori was usually a quiet place, as far as the average citizen knew. The same scenario had happened three months ago when the Omae Company's misdeeds came to light, but then its impact was not as grand as that of the current one. After all, this one involved the human's morality and children's well-being.

Tsuna looked with poorly-concealed sadistic glee at the picture of the loud fat Director and crying caretakers being escorted into the police car on the front page of the newspaper. The writer had certainly done a marvelous job in describing the crimes and attracting the publicity to the case and it wouldn't be very long before another nasty can of worms involved both the orphanage and Omae Company was opened. That would teach them a lesson for discussing their shady business in a place full of impressionable children.

It was by pure accident that Tsuna stumbled upon the little secret of both the orphanage and the company. When Tsuna was nine, the bullies at the orphanage grew bored of the normal bullying and decided to increase the difficulty level of "Tsuna Beating" to "Tsuna Hunting". One day, in order to avoid the bullies, the brunette hid himself in an old wardrobe inside the attic and planned to stay there until dinnertime. It was dark and frightening in there. Dust and decaying smell haunted the basement, rats and spiders lurking in the dark, scaring away many children and adults who ever treaded there. Yet, it was ironically the safest place in the entire orphanage where Tsuna could hide without being beaten. It was not long after that Tsuna fell asleep in an attempt to avoid the impending fear and momentarily forget his suffering.

An hour later, the small brunette was woken up to the sound of people's talking in hushed voice, which immediately rang an alarm to the hiding boy. To his relief, the people in the attic were not the bullies but, to his surprise, the Director and the orphanage's main benefactor, Omae Sakaki. What came next was beyond Tsuna's understanding at that time, but even at that age, he was sure of one thing: he wasn't supposed to hear that conversation.

However, it was not just a one-time thing. Eventually, despite not understanding, the brunette still registered some specific parts of those conversations into his childish mind and brought the knowledge along when he grew up.

Years later, Tsuna gradually realized the meaning behind those shady conversations in the attic. The fraud annual reports, the illegal investments and, most outrageous of all, money laundering. It turned out the prestigious company Omae had participated in several questionable trades with the yakuza and earned quite a sum from them. In order to hide the source of their criminal wealth, Omae Sakaki had approached and struck a deal with Mori: in exchange for Omae's continuous donation to the orphanage and freedom for Mori to use the fund to his likings, Mori had to secretly returned two-thirds of the money to Sasaki's bank account. That way, the illegal income would be made legit and escape the police's notice.

The skeleton could have remained in the closet for longer hadn't it been for Tsuna's interference. Due to the "debt" he owed to Tsuna, Detective Kurokawa promised to provide the brunette with his best assistance in the investigation of the organization's misdeeds. Once a full report of Omae's wrongdoings had been compiled, it was anonymously sent to the Tokyo Police Investigation, which prompted them to open a large-scale investigation of the company. Eventually, everything was brought into the light of justice and the company went bankrupt, starting the chain events leading to Mori's financial situation. With his major donator gone, Mori struggled to manage both the orphanage and the collective debts from his gambling habit and expensive expenditure. And that led to the event of him inviting Tsuna to the orphanage in order to ask for money in disguise of giving the brunette his mother's memento.

Leaning his back against the sofa, Tsuna absent-mindedly traced his finger at Mori's picture and sighed contentedly before abruptly tearing the newspaper into pieces with an innocent smiling face. When the final piece of the newspaper fell onto the ground, his eyes fell onto a dark bottle and an envelope on the coffee table. Time to carry out the next part of his revenge scheme.

Next to the bottle was the old notebook, on which the name Mori was crossed off.

Broken wings have been nailed to the cross, doomed to die and rot away

The light has faded and hope has been long forgotten

(Response to a lie…)

Namimori High School, 11 p.m

A black suspicious silhouette could be seen inside the Student Council Room standing by the President working table. The spy pulled a dark bottle out of his bag and another bottle from the drawer and proceeded to swap the content. The swapped gelatin pills looked exactly the same as the original ones, so there was little chance that the owner ever recognized it.

After the swap had been done, the spy quickly closed the cap and returned it to the drawer. Then he hastily made his retreat, a satisfied smirk on his handsome face.

The "gift" had been delivered. The stage had been set. And the revenge continued.

An eternity is given to the soul that is deemed dignified

Creating a corrupted birth to nightmares and maddened lies

Keeping inside the cracks of my mind, despair and sorrowful secret

Mournful memories, chaos and suffering

Taking away all of the warmth…

It was on a beautiful sunny Saturday that the peaceful Namimori was once again stirred up. The video of Kimura's shameful cheating on his fiancée was anonymously sent to Sajyou household and delivered straight to the brunette's target, Sajyou Chiyo. It was with his sadistic pleasure that Tsuna also found out Chiyo was among his bullies and the most hypocritical person he had ever met. Like her pretentious fiancé, her ladylike demeanor was nothing more than a convenient facade to hide her twisted sense of benevolence and arrogant wish to be above everyone. While spreading her false words about friendship and kindness, the girl didn't spare Dame-Tsuna a single glance but instead joined in humiliating him with her so-called fiancé. That wench was so obsessively smitten with Kimura that she was always the one covering up for Kimura's bullying Tsuna by claiming the brunette to be the one causing troubles. Teachers always fell for it- Tsuna gritted his teeth in sheer hatred.

However, that obsessive puppy love of hers, which she was always so damn proud of, would be the cause of her downfall and the start of her beloved's misery.

Since young, Chiyo's constitution had always been weak, coupling with her fragile heart condition, rendering her frail against mental shock. Therefore, it came as no surprise that upon watching the scandalous video of her supposed beloved's philandering, the girl suffered a heart attack. And she passed away in her room after that and wasn't discovered until the evening, an expression of pure agony and betrayal clear on her face. Lying next to her was a white card; written neatly on it was "From Kimura's best friend."

Conflict and grudge were soon sparked between two families. The Kimura and the Sajyou had always been known to be among the wealthy families of Namimori and have great relationship with each other. Sajyou was the main distributor of the confectionary company Kimura, with Kimura supplying most goods. Once the Sajyou couple found out the treacherous reason behind their daughter's sudden death, the parents decided to severe the business relationship between two companies and swore upon themselves to make hell of Satoshi Kimura and his family.

Tsuna was astonished at the extent the Sajyou was willing to go for revenge but, nonetheless, took delight in the pandemonium before him. The Sajyou had revealed to the public how Kimura Confectionary had added cheap harmful chemicals to the sweets in order to cut down the budget and lower the price and the unhygienic productive process behind every cake. Tsuna had to prevent himself from puking upon learning the unpleasant truth because he, in fact, was quite fond of the Kimura chocolate cookie despite his animosity against that family. Kimura Confectionary's sales plummeted drastically during the first week after the revelation and many people signed the petition to sue the company. However, it was the icing of the chaotic cake that Tsuna took particular pleasure at tasting it. In the process, the Sajyou also revealed Satoshi's shameful philandering activities to the press and by some fortunate stroke of luck, the news made it to the headline. And the world became aware of Kimura's little filthy secret.

Tranquility is slumbering in a sea of tears

In the darkness crime and order are unsteered

Response to a lie…

Flickering blue flame, glowing faintly like an ice flower

Cold and merciless as the night

Through the grapevine that was called Judo's gossip mongers, the little idol managed to spread a false rumor that Kimura Satoshi only befriended with Akihiko Mizushima for the money and Mizushima maintained his friendship with the other for popularity and protection against bullies. The rumor could be correct if looked from certain angles. Back at the elementary, Akihiko had always been the weak nerdy pupil that could easily become the bullying target of bigger children were it not for the fact he was friend of Satoshi, who was strong and athletic. At that time, the Kimura was not particularly well-off while Akihiko was the pampered heir of the Mizushima corporation. Over the course of their friendship, Mizushima usually gave Kimura various luxurious treatments while receiving the protection from the other. Therefore, although the rumor was false, it couldn't be easily cast off as baseless rumor.

Inevitably, a seed of doubt was planted into their beautiful friendship. Two once close friends began to become distrustful of one another. Suspicious glances soon turned into minor conflicts; minor conflicts eventually erupted into heated argument. Mizushima doubted his friend's loyalty, Kimura being angry at his friend's supposed betrayal of his secret. The card "From Kimura's best friend" and the gossiping Judo members had certainly done their job well.

Days passed and the faithful judgment day finally came to both Kimura and Mizushima. The Student Council Room descended into complete chaos. During one of their arguments, unable to cope with the stress, Mizushima suddenly fell prey to a panic attack. The poor boy began to hyperventilate, his facial expression convulsed into extreme pain, panic washing over him. In panic, the teen asked his friend to bring him the anti-depressant and the supplement without knowing the upcoming terrible consequences.

Once the medicine had been swallowed, Mizushima calmed down for a moment, only to go into seizure and begin foaming uncontrollably. Inexperienced fellow council members ran to call for teachers' help in fear and an ambulance was immediately called to bring Mizushima to the hospital for treatment. Students gathered around their perspective classrooms' window to see their President being carried on a stretcher to the vehicle.

Unknown to everyone, a pair of insane orange eyes was watching the entire scene unfold with sinister gleam.

A frozen heart has been bound and tattered by the heavy chains of fate

All wishes have died and hopes have been long forgotten

Mizushima's treatment of his depression consisted of two types of medications: Elavil and Vitamin B compound. Elavil contained Amitrityline, a strong ingredient used for depression treatment while vitamin B compound was proven to enhance the effect of the antidepressant. That was what the bully was supposed to take until Tsuna swapped the Vitamin B with something else.

The swapped pills was a combination of concentrated essence of Goat Weed, Indian Snakeroot and Panac Ginseng- a deadly combination that should never be taken with the Amitrityline. While generally good for health, ginseng, when combined with anti-depressant, could prevent the enzyme conversion in liver, increasing the drug's density in blood and thus, causing overdose and even drug poison. Goat Weed, despite being capable of treating depression, was advised not to be taken with Amitrityline because the interaction between two ingredients could cause toxin and seizure. Use of Indian Snakeroot with antidepressant would only lead to more unstable mind and psychotic depression.

Those little pieces of knowledge was acquired by Tsuna when the brunette came across a medical article of what should not be taken with antidepressant. Upon confirming that Mizushima's treatment did have Amitrityline, the boy quickly drew up a plan of swapping vitamin B with the forbidden combination based on his research. Byakuran was extremely helpful in this case. The albino promised Tsuna to deliver him the requested pills in three days and even went to make the combination more toxic than original.

Day by day, without noticing anything, Mizushima ingested the toxic combination, convinced his condition would improve, only to let the toxin pile up bit by bit until his body could not take it anymore and prompted it into a panic attack. Two weeks was more than enough to let the poison sip through his system and poison his nerve. And now, the bully ended up in coma at the intense unit care of Namimori Hospital. Chances were that his condition could improve and the bastard could wake up any moment.

Tsuna wouldn't allow that.

Vanished to hell, a sinful soul fell, the cycle repeats again

Going round in the endless phase of life filled with terror

Keeping the mind closed far behind a dark prison of sorrow

Mournful memories, trembling and fearing

Everlasting force, rise up high…

6 p.m

At the moment, Kimura was walking alone with a bouquet of fresh white roses to Namimori hospital to visit his friend. Truth be told, guilt had been plaguing him since the incident at the Student Council Office. For a single second, he had let anger and doubt take over him and said hurtful words that was no doubt the trigger of his friend's panic attack. Since then, he had done a lot of thinking about their relationship and resolved to make up with his friend once the guy woke up. He would frequently visit Mizushima at the hospital until the guy recovered from his coma. He would offer the most sincere apology and they would have a proper talk to settle their dispute and mend their friendship.

Yeah, that was what he should do for now. With firm resolution, the teen held the bouquet tighter and walked faster and cut through a rather dark alley- a shortcut to his destination.

So caught up in his own thought, Kimura failed to realize someone was stealthily following him. Before the teen could notice the ominous presence, a hand, quick as lightning, shot out from darkness and pressed a handkerchief to Kimura's nose. Once the sedative entered his nerve system, Kimura helplessly succumbed to unconscious state and fell to the ground.

Then, the assailer took out his phone and made a speed dial.

"Hello, Tsunayoshi-sama. I've done what you requested me. The target has been secured and is ready to be transferred to the Torikabuko's location."

"Well done, Kikyou-san. Now, make sure that nobody notices you and him, okay? The success of my plan depends on you."

"Understood."

"God of Darkness, reveal your form!

Spin my song into a shard of night; sharpen the shard into a blade;

Let this Blade of Darkness incise my enemies!

Fulfill my rage into an impervious tempest around me!"

Namimori Hospital, 6:45 p.m

A lone figure was quietly walking down the hospital aisle with a flower bouquet. Reaching the room number 6, he stopped and slowly pushed the door open, his eyes warily peeking at the room. To his surprise and delight, the teen found a nurse inside taking note of the patient's vitality, so he quickly bowed and greeted the woman.

"Good evening. May I ask who you are?", the nurse politely asked, her eyes training on the young's man.

"Good evening, ma'am. I'm Kimura Satoshi, a friend of Akihiko. I just wanna visit my friend and check how he has been doing", "Kimura" flashed his charming smile and looked at the prone form of Mizushima sadly.

"Oh, the poor boy hasn't woke up since he was brought here, although his condition has been somewhat stabilized. It will take a while for his system to recover from the toxin."

"Excuse me, what do you mean by toxin?"

"I don't know much detail but there is something about the amytrityline interacting with some substances, creating some kind of nerve poison. Well, I'm just a nurse; all the medical expert knowledge is beyond my field."

"It's okay. I just hope my friend will recover soon. Many people at the school have missed him greatly", "Kimura" smiled and turned his gaze to a vase near the window, "Excuse me, does the hospital allow flowers?"

"Yes. Those are some pretty flower you have there, young man. And a rather strange choice for visiting a sick friend", the nurse inspected the bouquet curiously before turning on her heels, "Anyway, I have to go now. My shift is almost over. Remember, the visiting hour limit is 8 p.m. After that, you're not allowed to say here."

"Kimura" nodded and walked towards the vase, all-too-gently putting the flowers into the container. The flowers did make a nice contrast to the white pristine room, "Kimura" thought.

After the flowers were nicely arranged into the vase, "Kimura" made his way to the patient bed, his gaze scanning the sleeping prone form. The once proud handsome Student President was now reduced to a motionless sickly patient though his peaceful sleeping features betrayed the horrible condition he was experiencing.

He looked so tranquil, so peaceful, so fragile, so detestable.

Suddenly, "Kimura"'s handsome features twisted into an expression of pure hatred and sickening wickedness. His hands slowly crept its way to the patient's vulnerable neck, the sharp nails gleaming ominously near the delicate throat.

"How easy for me to just strangle you here and finish that pathetic life of yours! Oh, how badly I want to do that! But I won't let you die so easily, Mizushima-san! Not until I show you the hell I went through."

After putting on a pair of gloves, "Kimura" made his way to the monitor device and plugged off the cab connected it to the central patient monitoring system to prevent the alarm going off. Then, the teen proceeded to take off Mizushima's oxygen mask and administered a clear mixture of antidepressant in liquid form with essence of ginseng and goat weed into his mouth. Once satisfied with everything, "Kimura" quickly left the place, leaving behind an agonizing patient breathing rapidly and clawing at the bed sheet.

Near the window, the dark red roses and orange mocks seemed to glow under the eerie moonlight.

Imprisoned fallen angel—

La La La…

Once the hospital was at a considerable distance from him, "Kimura" went into a unnoticeable spot devoid of people after making sure nobody was following him. Were somebody there, they would have freaked out at what was about to happen.

Normally, if someone pinched his facial skin, the skin would normally stretch out under the fingers' grasp. However, when Kimura did so, it was as if an elastic layer was pulled up, separating from the flesh. Then, "Kimura"'s hand pulled upwards, dragging the skin off the face, revealing a pale complexion underneath and a mop of brown hair.

Standing the moonlight was not Kimura Satoshi anymore, but instead Tsunayoshi Shirosaki.

Tsuna let out a relieved sigh after the latex mask was successfully removed off his face. An evil smirk found its way to the idol's face as he imagined the chaos that was in store for tomorrow.

However, when his gaze was turned to the latex mask in his hand, his expression turned sad and regretful as his master's word rung inside his mind.

"I'm sorry, Master. I cannot be saved anymore."

Words of power are exposed to the soul that is deemed dignified

Break free from the shackles made from nightmares and maddened lies

Enclosed in a dark prison, all the despair and sorrow

Releasing timeless wandering command

Mizushima's worsening condition was eventually found by doctors the next morning, but it was too late. He managed to survive the ordeal, but the prolonged lack of oxygen and toxin had damaged his nerve gravely. In the end, the doctor defeatedly declared him as brain dead.

Kimura was later arrested for murder charge. Despite him pleading innocent, the video footage of security and statements of many witnesses, including the monitor nurse, all pointed to him as perpetrator of the crime. In the end, he was driven to insanity and committed suicide, forever remembered in sneer and disgust.

After that even, chaos didn't cease in Namimori. Like a contagious pandemic, it spread from people to people, haunting the minds like a deathly curse. Some even called Namimori a cursed town.

Unbeknown to everyone, the real perpetrator was laughing manically at their stupidity.

Unbeknown to everyone, the puppets were merely dancing in the palms of his hands, moving according to whims of the puppeteer.

Once he delivered his vengeance to one person, his hatred transferred to another. The vicious cycle would continue endlessly until this peaceful paradise turned into living hell.

Anyone who had dared trample on him those years ago would scream and cry in pain and agony. However, some just died so easily, filling him with so much regret that he wouldn't have a chance to torture them more.

But, that was alright. Because this was just a prelude to Prince of Lucifer's revenge.

Eternal Darkness

TBC

Dark red rose == Flower of Death, Hatred, Farewell

Orange Mock == Flower of Deceit

Song lyric inspired by Eternal Force Blizzard, Namine Ritsu

Tsuna's revenge had actually begun a long time ago and was first mentioned in chapter 2. It is actually a event chain, like Domino effect.

I also apologize if the medical knowledge in this chapter offends any readers who work in medical field. My knowledge on that aspect is very limited and was obtained through sheer research on many websites. The effect of the drugs is true but may have been over-exaggerated. I have tried to keep this as realistic as possible but well, sometimes, fiction is just fiction.

About Enma, well, he is one of a major characters in later chapters, that's all I can say though a keen reader may pick up on something.

Anyways, Reborn is coming in next chapter so stay tune!