A/N: I usually put ANs at the bottom, but this is here as a warning. It should be obvious enough but this is an antagonistic OC and it's not going to be sugar-coated - especially in the next, and last, chapter. Don't like, please exit.

There is no pairing, despite what may be.

On another note, I originally planned for this to be a two-shot, but, well, this happened. So this is going to now be a three-shot and I'll try my best to finish it up.

我本桀驁少年臣，不信鬼神不信人
I am but a recalcitrant youth, with neither faith in demons, in gods nor in humans.

沙海
Tomb of the Sea

.

I never thought I would see the woman again, but there she was, the same way I saw her all those years ago: clothes torn, hair disheveled, skin caked with dirt and filth, a desperate and pathetic look in her eyes.

My eyes narrowed as I watched her, huddling in the corner of the streets, tears in her eyes and a child in her arms. Stick and bones, wearing tattered rags that I once wore on my back, scratches decorating her delicate skin. She looked only slightly better than our shared mother, a little cleaner, a little better fed and a little more hope in her eyes.

Perhaps, I once looked like that too.

"Feeling sentimental?" The mocking question led me to stray my eyes to the figure next to me, a complete contrast to the woman I once called my mother: dressed in pristine white, an arm around my shoulders and a disgusting smile on his face.

I shook his arm off roughly, throwing a glare in his direction. "It's none of my business."

I didn't stay to see how Byakuran approached the mother and child and didn't care to find out what he did afterwards. I turned my back on the scene, walking away, one step after another.

.

Two days later, I arrived in Japan, all thoughts of the woman gone from my mind.

.

"This, is your new pet Mukuro-kun?" Byakuran's tone was mocking as he set his eyes on her, a smug smirk on his face as he looked down at her petite frame, clicking his tongue in distaste.

"This is Chrome."

I dropped a hand on her head possessively, smoothing my fingers through her locks. Nagi turned her wide doe eyes at me and I offered her a reassuring smile, my hands settling on her shoulders.

"So yes, your new pet."

I stared at Byakuran. "Kufufu…if Chrome is my new pet, then what does that make you?"

The smirk on Byakuran's face widened at my question, his gaze turning from Nagi to me, a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Woof."

I rolled my eyes. "By the way, is Lancia back yet?"

"Isn't he still in France? It's only been a few days, what are you worried about?"

I shook my head with a slight grimace. Byakuran might not understand, but one could never be careful enough when there was a shounen manga protagonist walking around.

.

Namimori was quiet, peaceful, a nice morning that was greeted by the chirps of the birds, the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze and the sight of a high school boy running around in his boxers yelling with all his might.

To think that this was the future Vongola boss - that one day, given the correct circumstances, he would become the strongest leader of the mafia was a frightening thought.

"The power of the protagonist halo…huh."

How envious.

How easy it would be to simply finish him in the moment. A carefully calculated illusion to trap him and pull him astray and then a trident straight through his heart. Or perhaps the possession bullet that I haven't used in so long.

There was no Vindice to hide away from. There was no mafia to avoid. Sawada's lackeys were but glorified jocks at this point. Sawada Iemitsu was still in the process of dealing with Xanxus' post-release tantrum. There was no one to stop me except…

Click. "Who are you?"

"... the arcobaleno, hmm."

I grimaced slightly as I turned around where I stood. Reborn stood before me, safety off, bullet loaded and the gun pointing at me. I wouldn't say I was surprised. I wasn't masking my presence or hiding my killing intent, but nonetheless, I suppose he didn't earn his reputation based on nothing.

"What do you want with Tsuna?"

"Would you believe me if I said nothing?" The warning shot hit the ground next to my feet, leaving a blackened mark where it made contact. "Good point. Many don't, though I have no idea why. I've never lied. It's quite disheartening, you know."

Reborn didn't say anything but he glared at me under the shadow of his fedora with a look in his eyes that no one would want to see from a baby.

"Take a guess, arcobaleno." I chuckled, knowing that there was no way I could get through Reborn's guard. "What could I possibly want from the Vongola X candidate?" Sarcasm was dripping from my words like venom, a syrupy coating that only served to make the look in Reborn's eyes darken even further. I flashed him a pleasant smile, one that he didn't buy into even the slightest.

"I repeat, who are you?"

I chuckled, bringing a hand to my chin as I thought about the question. "Kufufu. You know, arcobaleno, I wonder about that too."

Click.

"My, my, aren't you an impatient baby. But don't worry, arcobaleno Reborn, I don't plan to start anything. Kufufu…I promise."

The bullet fired shot straight through the illusion, leaving Reborn standing alone, smoking rising from his gun and the remnants of the dissipating mist.

.

The flush in her cheeks was nothing short of adorable. She stood there in the Kokuyo uniform, hair hanging below her shoulders, staring up at me with a slight disappointment in her eyes.

"You're not coming with us, Mukuro-sama?"

"No, I have something to check out but Ken and Chikusa will join you." I smiled softly, raising and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears, recalling the effort I had put in in order to stop her from cutting it to match my own hairstyle—which was not, and I repeat, was not the embarrassing pineapple updo.

"Mukuro-sama, I don't want to go to school either-byon."

"Of course, Ken's an idiot so school might be hard for you."

"You wanna fight, Kakipi?"

Chrome managed to break the two of them up before it ended in a fight and I watched as the three of them made their way to Kokuyo Middle School through the broken window, hearing Ken's yells all the way from the second floor.

"And so, Mukuro-kun?" Byakuran asked from where he lay on the sofa, lilac eyes opening lazily and staring up at me. "What is that something you have to do?"

"Oh," I titled my head as I turned to look at Byakuran, rolling my eyes, "like you don't already know."

He laughed in return, sitting up against the sofa and narrowing his gaze at me, an eerie smile on his face. "About that, you see, I don't, Mukuro-kun, surprisingly. That's why I'm asking."

I turned away from the windows, facing him completely. "What are you trying to say, Byakuran?" I asked, my tone low, arms folded in front of my chest.

He didn't reply immediately, humming softly as he fingered the packet of marshmallows lying open on the table. I frowned, assessing the taunting smile on Byakuran's face and his languid movement. The corners of my lips turned down ever so slightly.

"You're different," he said eventually, cheerful as ever. "Parallel worlds exist under rules, laws and in order, like everything else in the world. Naturally, they are not for certain, as is nothing in the world, but you are an anomaly that behaves completely outside of conjectures and natural patterns."

"Hmm." The reason behind that was more than obvious. To me, at the very least.

I leaned against the floor length windows, gazing sideways at the empty amusement park grounds, the sight overlapping with the long-distance pan shot that I was so used to seeing of the run-down building with the slanted Kokuyo Healthy Land logo.

"And so? What do you think?"

At my question, Byakuran throws his arms up animatedly. "Who knows? I've got nothing. I was hoping you would know."

I shrugged. "Kufufu…who knows?"

Byakuran laughed again, his voice echoing in the derelict building.

.

The class bells chimed, emptying out the students that wandered around in the halls and the school grounds, ushering them back into the packed classrooms. Namimori Middle School was the same as picturedl. Middle school, how nostalgic.

"Loitering on school grounds is an offense."

I couldn't help the slight smirk that plays on my lips. It hasn't even been two minutes. "I see. Shame."

I heard the tonfas before I saw them, the sound of the shaft of the weapon cutting through the air was a warning of the imminent attack, one that I dodged with ease. The attacks were unstoppable, raining down on me one after another as Hibari Kyouya switched to offensive stance, a predatory smile across his face. I evaded the blows one after another, light on my step as I flitted across the grounds in a zig-zag pattern, never breaking eye contact with the Namimori Middle School Disciplinary Committee leader.

"Fight back, why don't you?"

I tilted my head at the same time I skipped to the left, dodging yet another blow aimed at my right arm. "Are you sure? This is still school grounds. I don't want to be held responsible if anything gets destroyed." I shrugged, landing on the sandy ground of the school sports ground, a small cloud of dirt wafting up in the air.

The attacks stopped at my question, Hibari taking a moment to consider the point in my words. He stood straight again. "Hmm, you're right."

"You can come find me at Kokuyo Land."

"Kokuyo. I see, that's why you don't look familiar," Hibari narrowed his eyes at me. "You're strong, but you don't seem a threat for now. I'll spare you today."

I chuckled softly, "Kufufu, well, thanks."

"Tell me then, what are you doing here, if you are from Kokuyo? Depending on your response I might retract my decision."

"Relax," I held up my arms in surrender, "I'm just checking out the area. Namimori is very interesting, don't you think? You don't ban tourists here, do you?" I flashed him a smile, a cheerful, blindingly bright, and fake one.

"Hmm," Hibari hummed before turning around, losing interest, "what a disgusting smile."

I stared after him, a chuckle on my lips. "Kufufu. I know, I think so too."

.

"Hey, Mukuro-kun," there was slight exasperation in the tone along with resignation, confusion and amusement. Byakuran lets out a sigh, staring at me with judgement behind his gaze. "I understand that you make it a hobby to adopt orphans and dying children, but what is this meaning of this?"

Lancia had returned from his trip to Jura, France, and had dropped off the baggage that I requested before leaving to Italy again—also on my request. The less time he spent in Namimori, the better.

The 'this' that Byakuran was gesturing to, was the emerald-haired boy that lay curled up in one of the tattered couches in the room with an apple hat around his head.

"His name is Fran."

"He's barely out of primary."

I fixed Byakuran a stare. "Then you can teach him. I need him in my plan, it's not up for discussion."

I stood up from where I sat, setting down the book in my hands and heading for the exit. He blocks me, the white of his shirt filling my sight. I didn't realise until that moment, that Byakuran had already grown taller than me, standing a head taller than me and staring down at me with the same smile on his face.

"So you do have a plan, Mukuro-kun. Care to share?"

I glanced up to meet his gaze. We were at a stand-still for a moment, seconds, close enough that I could see the rise and fall of his chest, feel his breath against the top of my head.

I find myself mirroring his smile. "Fufu, you're right. It's not something I can do alone."

When I saw the incredulous gaze Byakuran gave me, I couldn't help but laugh.

.

"Ah, you here, Hibari Kyouya."

His eyebrows twitched. "I don't remember telling you my name."

"Oh, you know, I have my ways."

.

One thing that was good about having a run-down amusement park as headquarters was the space and the lack of need to care about what was or was not there, what we could or could not break, destroy and blow into smithereens.

Hibari Kyouya was strong, stronger than what I had expected despite knowing the depictions of his strength in the original works. But what he had in raw power and skill, he lacked in experience. Trapped in a small city with nary a person around to match his strength, it was both impressive and amazing what he could do.

It was however, much to Hibari's obvious dismay, not enough to defeat me.

I've had too much experience in areas that he lacked, abilities that he doesn't possess and a cheat book inputted in my head that neither he nor anyone else had.

We fought until the sun set and continued until the moon rose high into the sky. It was Byakuran who came to stop us, having restrained Hibari against a pole, owing to the element of surprise.

"You should probably stop there, Mukuro-kun. Chrome is getting worried and your disciple won't shut up, besides," Byakuran's gaze was sharp as he continued, "he's out cold."

I turned to look at Hibari, who was still chained to the pole but wasn't making any attempts to escape. His tonfas were still tightly gripped in his hands but Byakuran was right, at some point during the fight, Hibari had lost consciousness.

"Huh."

"You must be pretty out of it yourself to not have noticed, Mukuro-kun."

By then we had been at it for the majority of the day and with the adrenaline wearing off, I could feel the fatigue settling in. "I guess…you're…right."

.

It wasn't until I woke up the next morning did I find out that I, too, had lost consciousness right after saying that and it was Byakuran that carried both Hibari and I back into the building.

Hibari had already left by then.

.

There were guests at the door apparently. Somehow, they had still managed to locate me despite my lack of involvement. I invited them in, humoured them and listened to their request. They had no bargaining chip against me, and they could offer nothing but stability. It was quite a peculiar conversation, throughout which, I could only imagine what the look on their faces would be like when they realised who I was, what I had done and what I was going to do.

I turned down the offer, a sickly sweet smile on my face as I waved them goodbye.

"Master, I know the reason behind your smile but other people might think you're a creep with that weird smile on your face. Did your face cramp up or something?"

"Fran, shut up-byon!"

At this point, I could definitely sympathise with canon-Mukuro and Belphegor for their actions towards Fran. It was a very tempting idea to stick my trident straight through his apple hat—an illusion which he stubbornly refused to dispel—in that moment. I merely shook my head in irritation before walking off.

"Mukuro-sama, is it time?"

I looked down at the soft-spoken girl matched my pace, my gaze softening as I ran a hand through her hair, watching as the familiar red blush tinted her cheeks. "Kufufu…Indeed, dear Chrome, it's almost time. Finally."

.

"Vongola succession candidate, Sawada Tsunayoshi! Second Vongola succession candidate, Xanxus! The ownership of the Vongola rings that are necessary in order to claim the title as the legitimate heir of the Vongola family will be determined by a battle between Tsuna's family and Varia."

CEDEF. Vongola X Family. Varia.

And unbeknownst to them, we stood on top of a rooftop nearby, staring down at the scene, Mist masking our presences. It was a sight; the gathering of the most of the prevalent recurring characters in the series. Had I come into this scene with a different mindset, with different experiences and a different goal, I wonder how different the future would have changed.

Next to me, Chrome gripped onto my shirt, watching with fascination in contrast to Fran who was staring in disgust.

"Master, you want me to be that? No way, it goes completely against my sense of aesthetics."

"Your sense of aesthetics is screwed to begin with anyways," Byakuran responded cheerfully. "Now be a good boy."

"Master, I think we should just ditch the marshmallow freak, I know Ken-senpai will agree with me."

I spared the two of them a glance, rolling my eyes before turning back to look at the Cervello explaining the rules.

Soon.

.

Canon-restoration was something that I had expected. The idea that despite whatever changes irregularities might cause, the storyline will always attempt it's best to repair and restore itself to canon - because the canon was the rules, the logic and the order that dictated the world.

In the end, the Vongola failed to find a Mist guardian, and as a result, was force to forfeit the match. In return, however, Gokudera had won his battle against Belphegor which brought the score back to 3 : 3 by the Cloud battle.

I watched over the Cloud battle from afar—as I did every other battle—standing alone on top of the school roof. I was not completely unnoticed, at the very least the arcobalenos have noticed and I do believe Xanxus glanced my way once or twice. I wasn't keeping track.

It went as expected, following the exact script laid out. It was a one-hit KO in favour of Hibari, who had then challenged Xanxus directly. Gola Mosca went on a rampage and then finally, Sawada Tsunayoshi arrived at the scene.

And then, with a smile, I took my role and joined in the skirmish.

.

I must have been smiling widely as I landed on top of the charging Gola Mosca.

Despite the intense propulsion from the rockets, it was held in place by Sawada Tsunayoshi, the dying will flame alit on his head. His eyes widened as he registered my appearance, confusion and suspicion swirling in his eyes.

"Here, Vongola," I said, trident in hand, staring down at the crumbling metal cage under my feet. "Let me offer you a hand."

It was satisfying, hearing the crunch of metal and bones as the Mist flame-coated tips of the trident speared right through the engine of Gola Mosca, right through the body and reappearing on the other side of the piece of junk.

The blood seeped through the open holes, trailing down the silver of the trident and pooled on the ground where Gola Mosca, having lost its energy source, broke down and collapsed.

The smile on my face spread even wider, a maniacal grin on my face as I pulled my trident free, splatters of blood following its trail. I was exhilarated, trying my best to hold back the hysterical laughter bubbling inside of me. It was ecstasy like that very night the Estraneo family was wiped clean. The same intoxicating euphoria that I had felt as I watched all of Northern Italy fall under my feet.

I turned to Xanxus, stepping off the motionless Gola Mosca, watching as the expressions on his face warped into a mess while every other onlooker stared in confusion.

To everyone else, I was a random stranger who had jumped in at the randomest of moments, and helped Sawada Tsunayoshi stop the rampaging Gola Mosca. Those more observant would notice the faint blood trails seeping out of the robotic suit.

But in this moment, until the truth is revealed, right here, there were only two people who knew of exactly what just transpired in the split-second.

"Come now, Xanxus, why the glare?" I taunted, smirking as his face twisted into rage, a fury that threatened to set the world on fire.

"Isn't this exactly what you wanted?"

.