khr ain't mine.

Thanks for the review ^^. This chapter gives the strongest hint of why the fic is called Dollhouse. It ain't because of anything pretty ;)

With how I'm planning on going on with this story, I doubt you'd sympathize or empathize with Tsuna. Most probably, you'd agree with what Fon tried to do last chapter. Well, if you do agree- lemme know why. I'm curious if or why you'd appreciate this Tsuna (genuinely)

Hope you enjoy the story :)

Chapter 8

A doll's gotta do what a doll's gotta do

It was so dark in here. His fingers and toes were uninhibited, but it never felt like they were there together as a whole. It was at least much better than the past.

It made his knees numb as he tried to integrate his limbs to his torso. His hips vaguely hurt as he put them closer to each other, there was simply not enough space to let them hang loose.

He was those children's dirty secrets, ones that they needed to stuff into chests and closets- any place small enough to reduce his small frame into one unassuming figure, one that could not provoke anyone anymore.

He was the manifestation of their maliciousness, ones that was framed into a big painting and strongly advised by the elders to never become.

It became so close that his school seat became too vast, and the lights of his classroom felt like spotlights. He couldn't shrink enough to fit into his natural habitat. No street corner could ever be small enough to walk into. He couldn't bear to glance at the mirror to stare at the reflection that piqued those people's ire like so.

He could only bring himself to put the lights in his room so that he could look at the details of his dolls.

He needed to shrink and become smaller. He needed to occupy as less of space as he could. He didn't want anyone's eyes to pass through his. But how could he, when even flies or mosquitoes with that size attracted almost a universal hate for their species?

Funny how it turns out that even in this form, he was back to this again.

He remembered the awkward and tense look that his master sported when he tried to model him to his current look. That was the only time when Tsuna acknowledged the mirror he had in his room.

The first time the teen decided to use the mirror as a reference came as a shock to the doll. The child glanced at the mirror and stayed stunned for a minute or two and there was no recognition in his eyes. Slow trails of tears dripped down as Tsunayoshi hung his head down, unable to face that expression on his face.

There were no sobs as the teen sat still as he weathered the tears down.

Tsuna thought that he needed to rethink his current situation again. Things were different from when his master was present.

He was no longer his master's doll. They were no longer his master's dolls, now that he died and the rest of them were cremated, immolated just like him.

He was the sole survivor of their garden.

He was effectively in someone's lost and found counter and there were people looking at him, wondering if they could adopt him.

So, he couldn't act like he was Tsunayoshi's doll anymore. No one like second-hand goods, or someone else's leftovers and used goods.

He had to be their perfect make-believe character. The characters who stuck out like a sore thumb would be fired first.

'First things first, gotta make myself whole again. Then I can play along with their charades.

Even if I could talk, who was the man? How did he know about him?'

Even if he was completely immobile, there was a difference between Tsunayoshi and Tsuna.

'Regardless of what version of me existed, it seemed like I wasn't a person who the surroundings could decide to kill or let live.

But still... They could try to dismember me into dying, just like how he was cornered into leaving a will in the form of a person. But, try as they might, I'm still living and breathing.'

But the doll realized that his 'life' was a ticking time bomb right now. The stranger/abductor wasn't keen on the inheritance the former human left, and was planning on forcing resettlement- even if that meant that there would be nothing remaining in the end.

'If this guy finds some sort of ghost leaves medium solution, the body would be safe... But I doubt that he has any qualms in settling things by immolation.'

Tsuna was a sitting duck, but there was something he could use at the moment- the spirit like wisps that gave him life. The orange sky flames were free to be manipulated by him, so he decided to let it roam outside a bit and get a feel of their surroundings.

'I got to be careful, since it's not an unlimited resource- even if it can be regenerated by time.'

The sky flames couldn't touch or interact with the physical plane in his current state. It made sense since he didn't have any body part to direct the flames, thus reducing it to mere aura.

The exploration got cut soon as the wisps curled around the one thing it could touch- the storm flames of the kidnapper.

With a gasp, the casket got dropped and the case broke open with light flooding into Tsuna's vision.

The only other companion for this spectacle, Irie Shoichi looked on in abject horror, which was quite understandable, given the contents of the box. The teen only paused for a moment before heading towards the direction of the doll parts with pure impulse after giving a deafening scream in that small interval.

Fon had no choice but to retreat at that instant, given that Hibari Kyoya would come to investigate the noise source after some time.

The anxiety on Irie's face turned to shock as he looked at the joints and sockets that indicated that the lifelike doll remains was nothing but that- a stupid doll.

But, he couldn't leave it as it was- due to its striking resemblance to a friend. Irie morbidly wondered if he'd still choose to put the parts together into a whole they were actual human body parts while working on making a doll back to a human.

He looked on at the doll, as he wondered why would the brunette create a doll like himself if he hated himself so?

But then when he slipped the jaw back to its position, the moving eyeball made him tumble backward.

"Irie-san, you really helped me out there. I'm sorry that you had to be put in this situation.

I'm still Sawada Tsunayoshi, even though I look like this now. You see, I was working on a project with an embarrassing amount of passion... and I've neglected to pay my body the attention it required.

When I finally got hold of myself, I was being chopped into bits by that suspicious looking man from earlier.

...It must have been something that I must have done unconsciously during the time gap between the two events." he spoke with shyness tinting his voice, as his face morphed into one Yamamoto gave out of embarrassed gratefulness. His face looked sheepish as his body followed up on the expression to complete the body language that the doll wanted to convey.

He needed to veil his intentions and plans, and thankfully- his thoughts and his body were not in sync.

Tsuna glanced apologetically at the man who was struggling to collect his marbles at the absurd situation rolling in front of him.

The first ones to come to the scene was Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Ryohei. The boxer had decided to drag the jock out for a run since the other was moping around from the recent incident.

The jock immediately looked unwilling when he spotted the doll, but Ryohei moved towards the duo without a pause.

"What's wrong, Irie?! We heard you scream so we dashed here!"

Tsuna looked at the white-haired teen in shock. 'I didn't know that these guys knew Irie. How do they even know each other? They're from different schools.'

"You guys know each other?"

"Not the time Sawada! We've got find what was the problem first! What if it was something serious?!"

Irie's mouth flapped up and down as he wondered if words could do justice to what happened in the past 15-30 minutes. But it was like his hands had a mind of their own, as they surged forward in support of the questions that piled on top of each other in his scientific mind.

Maybe it was an influence with his peers, but he'd unconsciously treated the being in front of him as what it physically was- a doll- and proceeded to pluck the arm right out of its socket.

'Damn! What the heck is Irie doing in front of these guys?!' the brunette panicked as he briefly thought the teen in front of him was going to be the second coming of that mad stranger.

Yamamoto looked on at the scene stupefied while Ryohei had froze, his further actions thrown into the trash.

"It's not a prosthetic arm! Tsunayoshi-kun had become a doll during one of his artisan phases! I didn't even know that this kind of thing could happen or was feasible with the physical constraints of out world! Look at this!-"

the hysterical teen reached for the head and popped it right off the place.

"Irie-san?! W-what's gotten into you?!'" Tsuna shrieked as the other proceeded to act in a way that would bring the other two into a state of chaos. But Irie gave the brunette's words no mind as he babbled out what lead to the situation-

"When I found him, he was in nothing but parts. That was this really fishy old guy who dropped a case. I thought it was like one of those sick murder cases where the killer cut up their victim into pieces and kept them as a trophy!

Turns out he could be pieced back together into the living breathing person himself! What the hell is going on?!

Tsunayoshi-kun can't even recall what happened during his doll making time until that guy's freaky actions!" he clutched his head as he started mumbling out other things that didn't make sense.

"You guys didn't tell me anything, so he would have to be fine until now. But Tsunayoshi-kun says that he doesn't know what happened in this huge gap!

Then... who was it that was living as him until now?! How did he get himself turned into a doll?! I thought that the saying 'love something until you become one with that something' was not to be taken literally?!"

Yamamoto's head whipped towards the confused looking brunette who was put back together, as memories of those days flooded into him. This was too good to be true. But certainly, those things were uncharacteristic of the brunette.

His mind niggled at him, saying that this line of reasoning was fishy, but at this point- this was the best solution that could resolve all his worries. His shakey voice piped up, trying to strengthen this truth-

"Tsuna-kun... was being possessed by a very evil ghost. It probably left its host because of whatever that guy did." his voice wobbled throughout that sentence, as he slowly made his way forward towards the brunette.

Yamamoto then wrapped his arms around the brunette as he pulled the other into a tight hug, relief coloring his words.

"I'm so glad you're back, Tsuna"

Tsuna felt his shoulders getting soaked wet, as his face morphed to a look of astonishment. His fingers wrapped around the jock's shoulders as he tried to support the other's weight as the teen wept into his shoulders.

Irie and Ryohei looked dumbfounded at Tsuna's physical transformation and the weakness that the jock openly displayed.

Normally, Yamamoto held back his true feelings like he was a jailor to his prison cell.

It was a gesture that seemingly awoke something that laid dormant to 'Tsuna'.

The brunette's fingers tightened, as they curled around the baseball lover's shoulders in something akin to fondness. It was a feeling that he had when he was with his master.

But now, that master was gone in flames- and like a pharaoh- he took his belongings with him to the afterworld.

So the abandoned doll looked up to figures who, if he played his cards right, could become the new family he could become a part of.

There was no need to compromise on his various little plans to get revenge on those that bullied 'Tsuna'. After all, his master was dead, but he was the one who had to live on with the memories of their actions- and had to simply sit there and watch the perpetrators roam free.

Tsunayoshi may not have the ability to give himself justice, but there was no Tsunayoshi anymore. There was only Tsuna left. And Tsuna couldn't be put into his place even if he was hacked into itty bitty bits.

Affection leaked from the brunette's stance, as he comforted the distraught Yamamoto.

'These poor, poor people had been left behind by Tsunayoshi.

Well, it was inevitable. He couldn't relax in their presence and could only think of their words and behaviors as they simply forgiving him for existing in their sight and amongst their senses.

Well one man's trash is another man's treasure. Since he left these behind, I might as well pick them up.'

From a perspective, this intention could be looked like a delinquent picking up strays. At least, that was what was closest to the brunette's intentions.

Tsuna chose to erase the other's existence- just like what the master fantasized when creating his magnus opum. But this time, it was for a completely different reason.

The doll figured that a relation built on two parties not facing each other was ultimately fragile and worthless. It was a gap that he could easily fill and take over- so much so that Tsunayoshi would be lost from the world in the truest form.

'I would definitely appreciate them far more than he could ever.' the doll thought.

Sawada Tsunayoshi had a fiery burial. His funeral was attended by no human. After all, no one knew and no one was invited- courtesy of one doll. It would be made into reality as this gap would be treated as the blemish of one evil spirit.

'Sawada Tsunayoshi' still lived, and would keep living.

Turns out, even if you obsessively work on one desire, it could easily throw you away. Not all love is requited. Too bad that even if the doll maker would know of the decision his treasure made and would make, he would still be his Magnum Opus.