Enma and Tsuna come later below. the main part of this chapter is setting the scene, i guess.

Vongola Territory, 2243h

A dark haired male easily slipped past the guards and security measures and into Vongola's castle. Stealthily, he walked through the halls, hand outstretched and holding onto a particular black gem. When it pulsed green, the man stopped and grinned, pushing open the doors of the room he was standing in front of.

He stepped into the room.

Immediately, the door vanished behind him, trapping him in the pocket of dimension space created. He took in the scene in the space. Blue stretched out as far as he could see, interrupted by scatters of white puffs of clouds and translucent mist. From above, a large yellow orb shone down, illuminated the entire area. The man dug into his pockets to retrieve a pure white gem and glanced down at his hand. Following instructions, he tossed the gem into the area in front of him.

The space reacted. The clouds turned dark and mist turned opaque, wrapping around the gem and dragged it into a cloud. Green lightning crackled and sound of something breaking was heard. The man hummed in amusement. He expected as much; no matter how idyllic the space seemed to be, it was still dangerous for it had been created by Vongola's Ruler to protect their Stone.

"So that's how it is! Hohoho!" the man exclaimed. "If that's how you wanna play…" The black gem started to glow, growing brighter as the seconds ticked by.

"Then…" The light turned blinding and flooded the entire space. "Let's play."

-o-

The sound of a large explosion startled all the workers in the castle. Giotto's eyes widened ass he realised where the sound had originated from. He quickly stood up, disregarding the paperwork he had been doing, and ran towards that room.

Instead of a door, a gaping black hole of nothingness greeted him when he got there. The created dimension had been destroyed and there was nothing left. Vongola's Stone had been stolen.

Giotto had reached there too late.

-o-

Suolo Territory 0029h

Shaking hands tightened their grip on a backpack. There would be no turning back after he stepped through those gates. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if this was really what he wanted to do. If he would be better off back where he came from, but his resolve strengthened itself.

He didn't want anything to do with this.

Decision made, he walked through the gates and into the world outside.

-o-

Vongola Territory 0599h

"You were too careless, Giotto!" a voice chided. It was coming from a translucent figure standing in the Vongola's meeting room. After the theft of the Stone, Giotto had mobilised all of Vongola's forces, trying to retrieve the Stone before harm could be caused. When Vongola's forces delivered no results, he contacted the other three Rulers. It was only recently that one of the Rulers received the connection.

It was Cozart, the Ruler of Suolo.

"I know I did wrong, Cozart! But I never thought that someone could actually get through the created dimension, much less destroy it and come out alive," Giotto sighed. His eyes were a bright orange now, rather than its usual muted colour, a testament to how worked up he was.

"Not many know about the Stones, and those that do are either trusted personnel, or are no longer alive." Luce, Ruler of Arcobaleno, had entered the conversation. "I am of firm belief that our trusted personnel would never betray us," she continued firmly. Cozart and Giotto unconsciously nodded in agreement.

"Apparently not, considering that someone actually stole the Stone. Considering the efficiency in which the theft had been carried out, the thief probably knew what to expect. Only someone in the know would be able to supply such accurate information about a Ruler's created dimension," a new voice rang out as a translucent figure of a young man with white hair and a crafty smile faded in. Immediately, conversation ceased and the atmosphere turned strained.

"Byakuran," Giotto greeted with a forced smile, trying his best to sound welcoming. Cozart and Luce both gave a nod of acknowledgement. Byakuran continued to smile in return, giving no hint that he was affected by their slight hostility.

"Wait." Cozart blinked and his gaze turned a little accusatory. "How did you know that a theft had been committed?" Byakuran raised an eyebrow but did not react badly to the implied accusation.

"Gossip travels fast between the territory maids. One of the maids working for me recently received a Communication from her friend in Vongola who told her everything. Does that answer your question, Suolo?" Cozart winced at being referred to by his territory name. 'Suolo' still reminded people of their previous Ruler, an all-consuming shadow that Cozart couldn't escape. He just hoped that his successor, Enma, would be able to pull out of Suolo's shadow.

"Mare." Giotto's eyes were cold as he spoke. "Do not stir up hostility between the territories."

"Yes, considering that we have an unknown threat directed towards all of us, we cannot afford to squabble amongst ourselves like children," Luce agreed. Byakuran, still smiling, inclined her head forward in a nod.

"I apologise for speaking out of turn. It had slipped my mind that he doesn't like to be referred to with his territory name," he said, voice dripping with mock politeness. It was obvious that Byakuran was not sorry, but the other Rulers dropped the subject.

"I would like to request that all of you keep an eye out for possible suspects and Vongola's Stone. Be careful, we don't know who or what we're dealing with," Giotto said. The three other Rulers nodded in agreement.

Byakuran was the first to leave, claiming that he had a meeting he needed to attend. When his figure faded out, Cozart sighed, tension seeping out of him.

"That man… I still don't know how to deal with him," Cozart sighed. "I… can't really stand the manner in which he acts. Not to mention that unlike us, who had to fight for the right to rule our territories, he merely inherited Mare's throne through luck…"

"You should keep your views to yourself," Luce said seriously. "You don't want to cause another war, after all." Cozart nodded sheepishly and looked away in shame.

"C'mon, Luce!" Giotto whined good-naturedly. "Let Cozart say what he wants! Byakuran isn't around to hear it."

"You still have to be careful. You never know who might be listening in," Luce answered immediately. "Especially seeing that your loss of Vongola's Stone was due to carelessness on your part, you should try to be more alert." Luce's words made Giotto deflate a bit.

"Remember, always be on the lookout and don't get complacent." With one last warning, Luce's form vanished as well, leaving Giotto and Cozart alone. As Cozart was about to cut the Communication, Giotto heard the noise of someone forcefully throwing open a door.

"Lord Cozart!" a voice panted. "Lord Enma is missing!"

-o-

Suolo Territory 0902h

This was the first time Tsuna had gone to Suolo territory. Usually, his deliveries were to Vongola and Mare territory, rarely Arcobaleno territory and never Suolo territory. If he wasn't wrong, wasn't it only a few decades ago that Suolo territory had a new Ruler? Previously, no one ever wanted to deliver things into Suolo territory for both the deliverer, sender, and recipient would be killed by the Ruler. While there had been a recently change in Rulers, Tsuna was still wary. After all, only a monster would be able to defeat a monster, so the new Ruler should be just as terrifying.

Still, money was money and Tsuna had been paid handsomely to carry out this delivery.

It was going better than Tsuna thought it would, and Tsuna was more inclined to believe that the new Ruler of Suolo was not that bad of a person.

"Please sign on the dotted line," Tsuna told the package recipient. Obediently, they did so and the signature glowed orange for a moment before turning dark brown, signifying that the sender acknowledged that the post had been delivered. Almost immediately, Tsuna was notified that nine hundred thousand Rings had been transferred into his bank account. Wonderful, that would be able to last him for another quarter century or so, if he were to spend it wisely.

"Thank you for choosing Sawada delivery," he chirped. "Have a nice day!" The package recipient nodded distractedly, more focused on the package than Tsuna. Tsuna didn't really mind, he was used to it after all.

Tsuna took out his Communicator and scrolled through the list of jobs he had taken. The next delivery was to Vongola territory. It was convenient that Vongola territory was right at Suolo's border. Tsuna turned around to walk back to his transportation…

…and smacked right into a hooded figure. Both of them fell to the ground, holding their faces in agony. Tsuna, being used to pain, was the first one to recover. He stood up and stuck out his hand to help the other up.

"Thanks," the person in the hooded figure mumbled. "Sorry."

"It's alright," Tsuna said. He was about to walk off when the hooded figure spoke up.

"U-um, are you going out of the territory?" he asked. Tsuna tilted his head to the side as he looked at the figure.

"Yes I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well… could you give me a lift?" the figure asked hesitantly.

"How much are you willing to pay?"

"Maybe… one hundred and fifty Rings?" Tsuna gaped.

"W-what?!" That was so much! Was this guy loaded?

"Is that not enough?" the figure seemed flustered. "I can raise it to three hundred if you want!"

"…" Now that the hooded figure had Tsuna's attention, Tsuna could see that the fabric of the hood was quite good, something one might have if they were of noble birth. Tsuna could easily piece together the pieces now; this person in front of him was probably the son of a high ranking person and ran away for whatever reason. Tsuna sighed and gestured for the person to follow him. The hooded figure did so without hesitation.

They stopped in front of Tsuna's transportation. A small lion with fire as its mane pounced onto Tsuna excitedly. Tsuna spared a few moments to entertain the lion before turning back to the hooded figure.

"You're running away from home, aren't you?" he asked. The hooded figure froze up.

"Please don't tell the Ruler," he whispered. Tsuna hummed noncommittally.

"Look, you really should go back. You don't really know how to survive over here, and you'd probably die in less than a week," Tsuna told him bluntly. The hooded figure shifted.

"No, I can't go back! I won't go back! I don't want to be forced into a role I never wanted, a role I never asked for. That's why I'm here. If I don't know how to survive, I'll learn. If I die, at least I'll die free," he said firmly. Tsuna was suddenly reminded of how he used to be, and he gave in.

"Alright then, where do you want to go?" The lion purred and jumped to the ground before orange flames engulfed it and it turned into a sleek white motorcycle.

"I don't know. Anywhere, as long as it's out of Suolo territory."

"I'm going to Vongola territory," Tsuna told him as he slid onto the motorcycle. "Is that fine?"

"Yes."

"Then hop on." The engine revved. "My name is Tsunayoshi, but you can call me Tsuna. You?"

"I'm Enma."

"Well, then, Enma." Tsuna smiled brightly. "You'd better hold on tight. I tend to speed when I'm on Natsu." Enma obediently obeyed, wrapping his arms tightly around Tsuna.

"One more question before I go."

"What is it?"

"Were you seriously going to pay me three hundred Rings for a ride out of Suolo territory?"

"Yes… I mean, I paid one hundred Rings to get from the capital to this town, so…" Tsuna turned around to stare at him incredulously.

"One hundred Rings?!" he exclaimed. "That's way too much! You got ripped off!"

"O-oh…" Enma seemed a little miserable, making Tsuna feel bad.

"Well, if you want, you can work under me for a while," Tsuna offered. "At least until you know how the world works."

"Really?" Enma's eyes widened. "You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah…" Tsuna turned back to the front, readying himself for the long trip to Vongola territory.

I used to be just like you, after all.

Author's note

i wanted to write a serious story for once in my ff career life

How old is Tsuna? idk. are they human? probably not. this is a khr reboot of one of my original fics i wrote a few years back. enma and tsuna are the same age, though. i wanted shimon territory, but the territory name had to be paired with negativity and i couldn't do that to shimon.

there is a traitor. i will not tell you who it is. i will hint, though. also, this story follows enma and tsuna.