Chapter Four – You're Sure Of A Big Surprise

The hallways were dark with blood, red and slick. Somewhere, in the near distance, someone was sobbing softly. The overhead lights were flickering sporadically, buzzing and clicking whenever they lit up and making a soft 'thunk' sort of noise whenever they dimmed.

There was a body slumped against a doorway, limp and quiet but eyes open and alert. They were breathing, wet and wheezy, as something loose rattled in their chest.

Vaguely, Tsuna knew he was dreaming. Trapped in a body he couldn't control as he walked down the corridor, his fingertips trailing against splattered walls. It was a strange sort of detachment, like witnessing what was happening without being in control of any actions.

Part of his mind was screaming that this was very, very wrong. The compound was impenetrable. The amount of blood and scattered body parts suggested a lot of people had died.

Slowly, he moved his hand to his mouth and couldn't even find it in himself to gag as he dabbed his tongue against bloodstained fingertips.

The body gurgled loudly, the noise echoing down the corridor, and Tsuna felt his head turn in their direction. There was a stump where the left leg was supposed to have been, a hole in their abdomen that should have killed them but…stubbornly they clung to life, glaring defiantly at Tsuna.

Tsuna felt the urge to turn, to glance over his shoulder because, certainly, he didn't deserve such a hate filled gaze? But his body wandered forward without his permission, arms periodically twitching by his sides as he walked closer at a shuffling gait.

Buzz! Click!

The lights hummed back into life throwing the corridor into sharp relief, shadows dancing up and down the walls.

The sobbing continued.

Tsuna stared numbly at the sluggishly bleeding form of his father, eyes dragging down to where the man was loosely holding onto a knife as if he had the energy to make one more attempt at fighting back.

The screaming part of Tsuna's mind was becoming deafening and he felt his left eye briefly flutter, his eyelid rapidly flickering like a camera shutter would. He wasn't too sure what he was supposed to be worried about though.

Crookedly, like a puppet on strings, he crouched, his bloody fingers reaching forward to steal the knife in a movement that was far too easy, tossing the sharp weapon to the side and hearing it clatter down the farthest end of the corridor.

Iemitsu's mouth opened and closed rapidly, his words falling on deaf ears as Tsuna cocked his head to the side and observed quietly.

He didn't fight the urge to reach forward, fingers cruelly digging into the hole, fresh blood gushing out over his palm and speckling Iemitsu's lips in a strange pattern, dark red against pale skin as the man coughed in pain.

Unbidden, Tsuna licked his lips.

The sobbing continued.

His mind screamed louder and louder as if telling him that something was wrong, so very wrong, what are you doing?

Tsuna smiled even as Iemitsu cursed, reaching forward with his free hand, blood caked under his fingernails.

Iemitsu's ragged swears fell quiet on the tail end of a gurgle and the light above them clunked its way back into darkness.

There was a flicker of movement down the corridor that Tsuna turned his head to face, eyes connecting with his mother's wide, frightened gaze.

He smiled wider, showing bloody teeth and dropped what remained of his father's windpipe onto the floor.

Tsuna woke up screaming, thrashing in his sleeping bag and clawing his way free, feeling suddenly stifled in the closed environment that was his tent.

There was muffled cursing and banging from his left, a shadow crossing the front of his tent and then the zipper was being harshly ripped up. Tsuna didn't even let whoever it was get in, shouldering his way past and managing four steps away from the tent before he was throwing up at the base of a tree, shaky hand pressed against the bark.

"What the fuck?" A bleary eyed Colonello roared as he stumbled from his tent, hand wrapped around the handle of a long blade, more of a machete than anything else.

Tsuna felt rough fingers tug his hair back from his face as he hopelessly heaved, one arm curled around his stomach while the other was digging into the tree.

Pulling his arm away from his stomach was surprisingly difficult, his skin sticking wetly to the material.

That was when he and Reborn both noticed the blood and Tsuna didn't struggle as he was violently wrangled out of his night shirt, Reborn yanking him back towards the tents.

The sudden flash of a torch made Tsuna cringe as it light up right in front of him but he glanced down at himself, at his pale skin patterned with red blood.

He'd clawed himself up, the wounds already healed but leaving the blood behind, tacky and sticky and oh so cloying.

Reborn's expression was carefully blank but Colonello had something close to pity twisting his sleepy face as he looked Tsuna up and down, hand holding the knife loosely dropping to his side.

"Nightmare," Tsuna offered croakily, holding a hand out for his shirt. Reborn passed it back along with a canteen of water and a quiet instruction to clean up.

"Well, it's not unexpected," Colonello offered, yawning softly. "You did encounter a Caster, kora. It really had it out for you too, so no doubt it got in your head."

Tsuna poured the water over the shirt and used it to start scrubbing at his shoulders and chest, trying not to remember how it had felt to crush a windpipe between his fingers. The fact it had belonged to his father made the sensation so much worse.

His stomach roiled and heaved wildly again and he was hard pressed not to bring up anything else.

"Do you need to talk about it?" Surprisingly, it was Reborn who asked and Tsuna tightened his fingers around the shirt, scrubbing more ferociously at his arms as he defensively hunched his shoulders.

"It's better to clear your mind than to let it linger," Reborn added, looking impeccable and unperturbed despite being awoken by Tsuna's screaming no more than five minutes earlier. Tsuna briefly took note that he had a gun shoved into the waistband of his night trousers.

"Before I…killed it," Tsuna started.

"Mulched it, you mean," Colonello muttered with another yawn and ignored the sharp look Reborn gave him.

"Before I killed it, it mentioned going after my family to kill them too," Tsuna wrung his hands together absently, twisting the shirt around his fingers and wrists. "That's what the nightmare was about."

"The Caster killing your parents?"

"Me killing them," Tsuna mumbled in reply, swallowing the lump present in his throat. "Pretty vividly. I-I couldn't control it. There was blood and body parts everywhere. Just killed dad, was going after mama…"

"It must have gone straight for you and ignored the both of us," Reborn murmured, "For you to have experienced something so strong."

Tsuna swallowed again, lifting one hand free from the shirt, to scrub at the base of his throat. Abruptly, he flexed his fingers and tried to ignore the sensation of blood trickling onto his palm, of his nails digging into unprotected muscle and flesh.

"Try not to let it get to you, kora," Colonello advised, scratching at his shoulder and blinking blearily. "The effects will linger for maybe like, two days, and then you'll forget it ever happened."

Tsuna nodded slowly, holding his shirt to his chest and watching as Reborn gave a cursory glance around the small campsite and then disappeared back into his own tent, zipping it up tightly.

Colonello on the other hand, while he had disappeared into his tent briefly, came back out lugging his sleeping bag and making his way to Tsuna's tent. Tsuna quickly found himself crossing the clearing to intercept him and asking, "W-What are you doing?"

"It's four hours until sunrise, kora. You're not going to get any sleep unless there's someone else there is my guess. So I'm going to be the biggest, most muscular teddy bear you've ever had so you don't wake Reborn again. Hell hath no fury like a Reborn who hasn't had his recommended eight hours of beauty sleep."

There was a muffled curse from Reborn's direction and Tsuna found himself laughing quietly to himself, glad that Reborn could apparently act as human as the rest of them.

Colonello swung his arm not wrapped around his sleeping bag onto Tsuna's shoulders, ushering him towards the tent.

"I hope you don't kick in your sleep or anything, kora."

"I wouldn't know, I've never shared my sleeping space with anyone else before."

Colonello gave a lecherous grin, waggling his eyebrows as he nudged into Tsuna. "So I'm your first, huh? Good to know, kora."

Tsuna spluttered and elbowed him in the stomach with more force than necessary, Colonello doubling over and wheezing despite the grin still in place on his face.

Clambering into his tent and fumbling for his torch, Tsuna shone the bright white light into the space he'd been sleeping. It looked like someone had been murdered, blood scattered this way and that. Colonello, sticking in his head, crinkled his nose and grunted in disgust.

"We'll have to bunk in my tent. I've a spare bag, you'll have to use that, kora, until your shit is less…gross."

"Thank you," Tsuna found himself saying numbly, flashlight unwavering as he pointed it at the wet patches of blood, the wide, frightened eyes of his mother flashing through his mind.

The urge to reach out a hand to trail his fingers through the blood was a strong one and Tsuna bit down hard on the inside of his cheek instead, until he could taste copper and iron and then after grabbing his gloves as a precaution, Tsuna ducked back out of the tent, leaving his wet shirt behind as part of the mess to be dealt with in the morning.

"You alright sleeping shirtless or do you need to borrow something?" Colonello asked, appraising him from the corner of his vision. "Don't be afraid to say if you need anything, kora. We're not going to begrudge your weakness for getting nightmares 'cause of a Caster."

"I keep remembering," Tsuna said quietly. "Like it actually happened. And to be honest, I'd rather not continuously relive what exactly the contents of my father's abdominal cavity felt like." His fingers twitched, unbidden, and Colonello's hand shot down to grip his wrist.

"That's very particular," Colonello agreed quietly, tightening his grip when Tsuna tried to pull free. Colonello's fingers overlapped around Tsuna's tiny wrist, his thumb easily reaching the first knuckle of his index finger.

"Colonello," Tsuna said, keeping his voice low but warning, once again trying to pull his hand free.

"It's a quiet night, isn't it, Tsuna?" Colonello asked suddenly, turning to face Tsuna and unperturbed by the angry look he was being given.

"If you don't let go, I'm going to use force," Tsuna responded, giving one last tug on his wrist.

"I don't think there's any reason to argue, kora," Colonello insisted, grip shifting a little looser, not completely letting Tsuna go, but so he could press his thumb to the pulse in Tsuna's wrist.

"There isn't," Tsuna agreed bitingly, his other hand curling into a fist. "So long as you let me go."

"In fact, I think you should relax, Tsuna. Rough night, kora. It's time to go back to sleep."

Tsuna felt the scathing remark on his tongue, felt the annoyance bubbling away inside of him but, abruptly and almost worrying, it washed away leaving him feeling loose-limbed and relaxed.

Colonello smiled knowingly, letting go of Tsuna's wrist in order to rest his arm around Tsuna's lower back, keeping him supported as the younger hunter swayed on the spot, suddenly exhausted and strangely wobbly on his feet.

"W-What did you do to me," Tsuna slurred, almost eagerly leaning into the warm line of Colonello's body, grateful for the heat, the exhaustion becoming stronger and stronger with every heartbeat.

"I'll tell you in the morning, kora," Colonello replied soothingly, guiding him forward.

Tsuna just nodded dumbly, feeling his eyelids drift. Colonello managed to get him inside of the tent and then into a sleeping bag with the ease of someone who had done it before.

Tsuna fell asleep to the sounds of Colonello zipping up the tent and then quietly climbing into his own sleeping bag, the material rustling softly.

Waking up was difficult. He was warm, almost unbearably so, and he felt undeniably comfortable. Blearily opening his eyes, Tsuna was surprised to see it was still dim despite the fact it must have at been morning already.

That was when he realised it was dark because he had his face mushed into something warm and heavy, something that was breathing evenly and was rustling his hair with every exhale.

The memories of the night before came back quicker than he expected but his attempt at sitting up was impeded by the arm – Colonello's arm his mind reminded him – that was settled over his waist.

"Colonello-san," Tsuna hissed, leaning back as best he could. His cheek, stuck to Colonello's pectoral muscle due to sweat and prolonged contact, peeled free with a noise that made Tsuna grimace.

"Colonello-san, get up," he wriggled fruitlessly, jabbing with elbows and knuckles until he finally got somewhere sensitive enough for the blond to grunt and jerk away, Colonello abruptly rolling onto his other side and throwing the arm previously around Tsuna over his eyes with a pathetic groan.

Tsuna freed himself of the sleeping bag as quickly as he could, hand fisting in his trousers to hike them back up from where they'd slipped slightly down his waist and over his hips. He had just reached the zip, one hand on the tab of cold metal when fingers closed around his ankle and he had to bite his tongue to stifle the yelp.

"S'too early," Colonello grumbled at him, hand tight despite how tired and lethargic his voice was. "Not goin' anywhere yet, go back t'sleep."

Not to be swayed from his goal, Tsuna tugged the zip down and said, voice firm and unwavering, "I need to pee."

"If you don't come back, m'comin' to get you, kora…" Colonello warned sleepily, letting his hand fall away as he burrowed under his sleeping bag and hid his face into the pillow.

"Sure you are," Tsuna muttered to himself as he climbed out of the tent slowly, stretching fully as soon as he was free with a pleased groan.

Almost immediately there was a soft shriek to his left and the clattering sound of many things trying to get away at once, and Tsuna jerked his head to the left, towards the noise, and watched as low level Fiends, the largest the size of a Labrador, many smaller, scurried away from where they had been pressed up against the barrier, curious.

Tsuna snorted under his breath as he walked towards his tent and promptly stopped, staring at the small thing at his feet.

"Human," it greeted, many eyes blinking up at him. "You survived your encounter."

Tsuna stared for a long moment, wondering how the tiny little thing had gotten past the barrier Reborn had set before they had gone to sleep the night before. Then, almost violently, he scrubbed at his eyes for several moments, convinced he was hallucinating from exhaustion. Lowering his hands showed it still there.

"Good morning," it said cordially to him, blinking again but much slower.

"What the actual hell," the words fell from Tsuna's mouth before he could stop himself. "How did you get in here, there's a barrier up, you shouldn't be able to…"

"Barriers have never been an issue." The creature cocked its head to the side, staring so unnervingly that Tsuna shifted on the spot. "You encountered a Dread Creature of some strength and dispatched it. I came to investigate."

"Why?" Tsuna asked, trying not to sound hysterical and glancing towards Reborn's tent and then Colonello's, paranoid one of the two would hear him apparently talking to himself in the dark, guttural language Fiend's possessed.

"It affected you in ways you cannot understand," the creature told him placidly. "So long as I can be certain no lasting damage has been done, there is no need for my being here."

"How did you get in though?" Tsuna waved a hand wildly. "What do you care for?" It had helped him find the Dusk-Kin during his Right and now it was back? Had he failed in his etiquette somehow? Did demons care for etiquette when it came to deals?

The tiny thing started to wobble, popping and crackling and then stretching until, quite suddenly, it was standing on two legs, taller than Tsuna and looking wholly human.

Tsuna was hit with the frightening knowledge that only powerful Fiends could hide in human form but, as much as he tried to open his mouth, sound would not leave him. He couldn't warn Reborn or Colonello.

He was going to die.

The creature paced around him, hands clasped behind its back and eyes bright and unreadable. Tsuna tried not to cry as cold, claw tipped fingers combed through the fine hairs at the back of his neck, the sensation of ice water trickling down his spine making him shudder.

"The Caster caused more damage than perhaps you were prepared for. You aren't quite ready yet."

Almost affectionately, it set its hand on Tsuna's head, as if about to ruffle his hair.

"You did well human, to face a Caster head on and survive. A weaker willed mind would have succumbed."

Tsuna still couldn't speak, his voice trapped in his throat and his chest tight with fear as the creature circled back around to face him.

"But, I think we've spoken enough."

He couldn't even flinch back as it reached out clawed fingers to tap his forehead.

Tsuna woke up with a start, throwing his arm out automatically and catching Colonello in the nose with his elbow, wondering how he'd managed to get back inside the tent, his heart beating hard enough to nearly jump up his throat.

Colonello rolled away with a gargled yelp, hands flying to his nose and inadvertently smacking Tsuna in return. Blood was already dribbling through his fingertips.

Ignoring the cursing blond, Tsuna threw himself out of the tent and into the clearing, chest heaving violently as he glanced around first at the ground and then towards the barrier.

The small creature was there again, staring at him from the outside edge of the barrier, closest to the Stone, and Tsuna found himself waking over, stumbling over tree roots and ignoring as his feet dug into sharp rocks.

The creature turned away and started to hop away.

Tsuna broke into a run before he could stop himself, reaching out and crashing through the barrier with little finesse. He made it about a dozen steps, slapping branches out of the way and breaking them down with the force before he was tackled about the waist, landing face first on the ground and getting a mouthful of dead leaves.

"Whatever you can see, it isn't what you think it is," was muttered in his ear, a warning palm settling on the back of his neck. "Close your eyes, focus on my voice. The Caster is still lingering, so don't follow it."

"Reborn," Tsuna spat out the mess in his mouth, trying to twist out of the hold, a knee firmly in his lower back. If he really fought he could get free. There was also a twig digging into his stomach somewhere in the region he reckoned his liver was, which was really uncomfortable.

"Can you hear me?"

"Reborn, there was – "

"There was nothing." The warning hand on his neck pressed harder. "Forget about it. Don't fall down the rabbit-hole, you aren't Alice."

"Reborn – "

"Nothing, Sawada. Do I have to send you back and tell the Chieftain you fell to Caster madness? That wouldn't be a very good first impression now, would it?"

Tsuna curled his fingers into the leaves and soil below him, closing his eyes and taking in deep breaths of the earthy smell and listening to Reborn's heavy breathing, the rustle of the trees above him and the distant calls of waking animals unaffected by miasma and Fiends.

"Are you calm?"

"I am," Tsuna replied, sounding more level than he felt. It was apparently believable enough as Reborn was standing, hauling Tsuna gracelessly to his feet, fingers tight around his upper arm.

"Colonello isn't impressed you broke his nose."

"I'm sorry," Tsuna bit back, trying to swallow down the anger and hysteria. He was streaked in muck and dirt and stray leaves and couldn't stop the urge to chase after the creature even now.

"Don't be. It was funny."

Reborn's voice was so blank that Tsuna had to glance at his face to make sure he wasn't being mocked. However, there was some semblance of amusement in Reborn's eyes and Tsuna, inexplicably, found himself relaxing, lifting a muddy hand to scrub against his face.

In retrospect, it wasn't a smart move, but Reborn's gaze softened even further and he herded Tsuna roughly towards the barrier, towards where Colonello was staring at a pile of tinder and trying to will it into fire with the force of his gaze, one hand holding a wad of tissues to his nose.

"Sorry," Tsuna found himself apologising to Colonello, flinching almost automatically when the taller hunter turned on him, eyes narrowed and unreadable. But then, like a switch had been flipped, Colonello grinned, punched him in the shoulder with his free hand and replied, "We've all been on the receiving end of a Caster, kora. Can't blame you."

Tsuna nodded, hesitatingly briefly and then blurting out, "Did I leave the tent and come back?"

Colonello looked at him strangely for a moment and Tsuna heard the rustling that was Reborn in the background come to a stop as the other man listened in.

"Yeah, kora. Went for a piss, came straight back in."

"Right." Tsuna scratched the back of his neck. "Just can't remember actually climbing back into sleeping bag, let alone the tent."

"S'not an unusual symptom," Colonello offered weakly, but his gaze was jumping between Reborn and Tsuna, an unreadable twist to his brow that Tsuna identified as worry.

"You don't sound so sure," Tsuna accused, taking a step forward but Reborn's hand slapped down on his shoulder pulling him to a stop.

"Sounds to me," Reborn began mildly, "that Colonello did something he shouldn't have."

Colonello gritted his teeth, a muscle in his jaw jumping as he lowered his hand from his face, falling into a defensive posture.

"It helped him sleep, kora. No good if he can't sleep because he keeps reliving the murder of his parents in his dreams."

Reborn made a disapproving, clucking sort of noise, almost dismissive. His hand, tight enough on Tsuna's shoulder to hurt, belied the anger he must have been feeling.

"And did you ask?"

Colonello drew himself taller, overall countenance loosening as if he was getting ready for a fight and that was when it clicked for Tsuna who twitched in remembrance.

"You did something to me last night."

"To help you sleep," Colonello shot back and was surprised when Tsuna shrugged and muttered, smiling awkwardly if thankfully, "Well, it worked."

"Good," Colonello said warily, glancing between him and Reborn again, eyes flicking periodically as if he was expecting an attack for either direction.

"What was it?" Tsuna asked, voice calm and relaxed, face loose and not showing anything remarkable.

Colonello chewed the inside of his cheek, seemed to receive some sort of invisible signal and muttered, "Secondary ability. Forces calm on everything in the radius. If I focus it, it knocks 'em clean out, kora. I've been told it's like going under a general. Can't remember anything."

"Well, I'd have to agree with you there," Tsuna nodded, lifting his head just slightly to make eye contact. "Do it again without my knowledge and you won't be able to have children, Colonello-san. Ever."

Tsuna was pleased to see Colonello go pale, fingers loosening in shock but it seemed that Tsuna was threatening enough in his own right, at least.

Of course, Colonello had seen him punch a monster to death and that was probably an incentive enough for the blond to not make the same mistake of presuming he could do what he wanted for the perceived "greater good".

Reborn, ever so surprisingly, gave Tsuna a slap on the shoulder and laughed, shortly and lowly, before turning to his tent, presumably, to get changed.

He'd given chase to and tackled Tsuna in his pyjamas. Tsuna was sort of in awe for his dedication to doing what he had to.

But remembering the mess of his tent and his currently messy self, covered in mud and pieces of plant matter, he was reminded he had cleaning up to do and, with a hefty sigh, trudged to his tent.

Colonello still stood stock still in the clearing where he had hesitantly returned to staring at the tinder.

By the time Tsuna had returned from the cold stream, his things as clean as possible, his tent had been packed up for him alongside the others and Reborn was shoving a bowl of something into his hands that Tsuna had to juggle with his wet clothing.

"What is this?"

"Breakfast. Eat it, pack up, then we're going."

Tsuna eyed the bowl warily, but dumped his wet bundle with his packed tent and backpack and accepted the spoon Colonello passed to him, the blond in mid-process of scraping his own bowl clean.

It was very filling, surprisingly tasty considering it had been made out of the disgusting field rations every hunter was equipped with. When he was finished, Tsuna helped the others clean the utensils with a canteen of water and a ragged cloth before he lifted his pack onto his back, shifting the straps until he was comfortable.

"Today we go for the second barrier. Don't let your guard down. Colonello and I have the estimation that this stretch of land was the Caster's territory, so we shouldn't face much on towards the next barrier."

Tsuna nodded, falling into step as they began their march deeper into the woods. The miasma here was becoming thicker and thicker now until, an hour after they had set out, it felt like they were wading through shin deep water, a little resistance that was noticeable but not difficult to pass through.

"The barrier will take about fifteen minutes, then we're to follow the northern perimeter, right?" Tsuna asked once they'd stopped for a water break. The niggling from the day before regarding the barrier stone was back, digging at his stomach just behind his belly button.

"When the barrier is made, we'll set up camp then, kora," Colonello answered, handing over the bottle to Tsuna who took a grateful swig. "You'll get the exhaustion after setting it up, obviously, so you won't be too good. Might even need a nap, kora. Yesterday the adrenaline got to you soon."

"If you end up needing to sleep, Colonello and I will do a check for about two kilometres around and pick off what we need to. After that, we head north and swing back around towards the compound in the opposite direction we came from. If there's anything out of place, we kill it and continue. We should return to the compound by tomorrow evening if there are no complications."

Tsuna remembered, very briefly, the little creature from the camp that morning. In response, his hand violently twitched as he passed the bottle back over to Colonello, but ignored the concerned glance he was given when the water sloshed over the other's hand.

"Can I ask a favour?" Tsuna suddenly asked, hiking his bag a little higher on his back, rubbing at his shoulder where the strap was digging in. Before he was given acquiescence, he continued, "If my mum and dad ask what happened, you two killed the dangerous things, okay? I don't want them to know if they don't have to."

"Momma's boy?" Colonello laughed.

Tsuna turned to face him and said, utterly serious, "You're damn right. My mother is a force of nature and shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Nana Sawada is a frightening person, Colonello, I would advise getting on her bad side," Reborn interjected and Tsuna looked at him in surprise.

"I was on the hunt that nearly permanently incapacitated your father. Your mother is five foot two inches of pure fury when incited."

Tsuna snorted in agreement and then muttered, "Its worse when she cries at you."

Reborn gave him an odd look and murmured, "I can imagine it is."

"Reborn came back looking like he'd faced hell and survived," Colonello made a curious noise between a cough and a chuckle. "Entirely shell-shocked. Never knew it was because of Mama Sawada, kora."

Tsuna felt himself relaxing, unsure when he'd gotten tense. The hunt so far hadn't gone entirely as expected but at the very least, he could now feel comfortable around the other two.

The next step he took hit him like a bolt of lightning as he felt the inane urge to go to the left right now and before he could excuse himself from the conversation, he was striding forward off the slightly beaten path, ducking under branches and squeezing between tightly packed trees.

The hole in the barrier was more noticeable than the one before was. What Tsuna noticed as he fell to his knees and heaved at the sensation of wrongness was the miasma from beyond the barrier pouring through the gap like a wall of black smoke, spreading into the surrounding forest, a creeping sickness.

At this point it was even a battle to breathe in it, though Colonello and Reborn looked unfazed at the cloying scent of rot and death, resolutely ignoring the clammy sensation of miasma seeping into every pore unchecked.

"Is there anything nearby this time, Tsuna?" Colonello asked, checking and rechecking his rifle in unhurried movements, before lifting his eyes in time to see Tsuna shake his head. As soon as his head went still Tsuna groaned pathetically at the ache in his stomach.

Colonello looked sympathising again, glanced at Reborn setting up the barrier, and then chose to crouch next to Tsuna, soothingly rubbing his back again.

"You're really sensitive to this stuff, kora. More than I've seen anyone else react. You aren't going to drop dead from the miasma, are you?"

Tsuna rolled his eyes and his head swam at the motion, his stomach rolling in rebellion, inciting him to duck over further, arms wrapped around his stomach.

"It's just so wrong," Tsuna muttered. "Like an infection you gotta get rid of before it reaches everything else."

"You'll get used to it," Reborn said firmly from his position setting up the stone and then stepping back when it was placed correctly. Almost immediately, Tsuna felt the ache in his stomach ease as the barrier slowly spread outwards, cutting off the flow of miasma in small patches.

Tsuna grunted and doubled over until his head was almost pressed to his thighs, shuddering briefly.

"It's pretty bad," Colonello said quietly, most likely to Reborn, and then he asked softly, "Are you sure there's nothing nearby or coming in this direction?"

"There's nothing. It's the miasma or something, I don't know, it's just so wrong." Tsuna moved to wipe the back of his wrist against his mouth, muttering a thanks as Colonello passed him a water bottle so he could swill the acidic taste out of his mouth.

"It's his first time feeling a broken barrier. It's also his first official hunt, Colonello. That means he's never been this deep before and he's still sensitive to the miasma. As soon as the barrier forms, it'll get easier."

"I guess, kora…" Colonello sounded unsure but kept patting Tsuna's back, as if doing so would dislodge whatever was making him feel so ill.

Tsuna stayed curled up until the barrier reconnected and snapped back into place, his gut still roiling like a storm but less painful. When he eased back onto his heels, he accepted Colonello's helping hand up and had to fight the sudden urge to yawn.

"Is that it, done?" Reborn asked, watching him closely, and Tsuna nodded, scrubbing at his eye gently before something flickered in the corner of his vision. Whipping his head around startled Colonello into lifting his rifle as the blond turned at the same time.

The little thing was there, no more than two foot away. It had been watching from the inside of the barrier, barely visible in the blackness of the miasma.

Tsuna's stomach twisted violently, the pain doubling again, more intense.

"Oh," Colonello said, relieved. "Just a Midge. Silly little thing to get frightened of, kora. Shoo." He waved his weapon at it.

It continued to stare at Tsuna, unblinking and then after a long, tense moment, it turned away, disappearing into the miasma.

Almost on automatic, Tsuna couldn't stop himself as he barrelled forward, passing over the barrier with little difficulty and making Colonello flinch away from him at the sudden and explosive movement.

"Sawada!" Reborn barked, hand moving to his pistol as he stepped closer.

Tsuna was too focused on trying to keep the small glimmer that was the creature's eyes in sight, his eyes downcast towards the forest floor, and so it was a surprise when he slammed into something solid.

Glancing up in shock, he had to tilt his head to make eye contact with the monster he'd crashed into, something that was very thin and very tall.

As if in slow motion, it lifted an arm.

Two seconds later, Tsuna's feet left the floor as he was lifted up, blood gurgling past his lips and Colonello shouting in anger and horror as the small brunet was speared on the sharp tip that was the creature's arm.

Tiny eyes glittered in the distance.

So! I've had a few questions regarding the ranking system in this AU.

The HIGHER the number, the WEAKER the Fiend/Equipment.

The lower the number, the stronger the Fiend/Equipment.

Ten = Weakest

One = Strongest

WEAKEST Decimo - Nono - Ottavo - Settimo - Sesto - Quinto - Quarto - Terzo - Secondo - Primo STRONGEST

Anything else that doesn't fall into this category is either ridiculously strong and should be avoided at all costs, or weak enough not to tip the scale.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Much thanks to weisskreuz for betaing this one!