Leer – Whoohoo! Yes, the last chapter was my favorite chapter too, well besides this one. There's just something about this one I like quite a bit. Yay! Thank you for noticing that! In KHR, that's a reoccurring theme I've noticed happens quite a bit.

Yes, I killed Xanxus in personality, but I tried. XD Squalo (since I adore him) and the others were a piece of cake compared to him. And fiddle-sticks I did it again with the same word usage/metaphors/things! –slaps forehead- I'll try working on that in the future. That's a major issue of mine. All in all, thanks a bunch for the critique as well as the review! I swear I never notice these things, lol.

Anywho…onwards to the last chapter! I won't make you guys wait. xD

Twisted Dream

Finale

"Well, that settles it," Mukuro replied happily, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The other guests moved off, trying to put a great deal of distance between themselves and what was considered the 'battlefield'. "Little Vongola, your chances of survival have just increased by one percent. You should be overjoyed." He heard the older boy say, although his body was nowhere to be found.

Tsuna should have been, but he wasn't. He was absolutely terrified.

"H-How am I supposed to fight without a weapon?" he asked, still stuck behind Squalo like glue. The older man hadn't made a move to shove him off, so that was good…

"I would lend you something, but it would cost you some money," Marmon said boredly with that same apathetic tone of voice he used for just about everything.

"In other words…you won't help…" Tsuna sweatdropped.

"Don't worry! Use your fists!" Ryohei bellowed.

As much as Tsuna would like to take him up on that offer…fighting Hibari with your fists seemed like an invitation to get whacked upside the cranium with enough force to down a dragon.

Hibari tilted his head towards one of his disciplinary members who had walked out with a large club. Tsuna tensed. Was he supposed to use that?! It looked rather heavy…much too heavy for him to hold.

Gently, the man laid the club on the ground, nodded at Tsuna and walked back over to the other committee members.

"VOOOOI! It seems you got yourself a weapon now! Anyway, time to let go, spikey." Squalo, twisted his hips, throwing Tsuna's grip off him. "Usually I don't let people touch me. You're lucky I'm in such an awfully good mood right now."

Tsuna really didn't see how that was lucky. It seemed more like sympathy than anything else.

"All right! Positions everyone!" Fuuta called, his voice magnified by a large megaphone.

Tsuna picked up his club with a lot of effort, walking over to where Gokudera and the others were. They pat him on the back, offering him comfort in an urge to calm his speeding heart.

"Remember, for this battle your goal is to survive for one whole minute! If Tsuna is knocked out before one minute, you all lose."

"WHAT?!" Several people exclaimed, Tsuna and the others included.

"Ushishishi, adding a rule at the last minute? Pure genius your majesty!" Bel said with his perpetual grin.

Squalo laughed moving away from the battle zone to stand next to Xanxus. "This just keeps getting better and better! Spikey, I don't care much for your friends, but don't die! That defeats the purpose in me harassing you later!"

Tsuna sighed. Death was around every corner now…

"You didn't have that rule the first time, so it doesn't count!" Ryohei roared, balling his hands into fists.

"Sorry Mister…but Xanxus came up with the idea while you were talking to each other. His majesty must like it since he hasn't said anything against it…so um…" Fuuta trailed off. "Anyway, get ready…FIGHT!"

"W-Wha--!" Tsuna didn't get a chance to finish before something metal almost whacked him on the head. "HEEE!" he screamed, falling backwards.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto yelled, blocking the next blow aimed for his head with speed that matched a striking snake.

Hibari glared at him. "You're in my way."

"Haha…so I am. Uh…sorry Hibari, but I can't let you--." Yamamoto smoothly got out the way as a tonfa came from his right towards his face…or at least he thought so before something hard and cold struck him on his left side.

"Y-Yamamoto!" Tsuna yelled as his friend passed out on the ground.

"Six seconds!" Fuuta yelled over the commotion.

Just six seconds and Yamamoto was already knocked out?! Tsuna thought. Could it be that Mukuro was sadistic enough to make dream Hibari a lot stronger than the real one? This was an illusion…and as such the older boy did have the power to do that, but what was the point? What was Mukuro trying to accomplish in this?

Tsuna barely dodged another blow. The club was weighing him down, and was basically garbage in terms of protection since he could hardly hold it.

"Che! Stupid baseball idiot!" Gokudera took out armfuls of dynamite, throwing them everywhere in his excitement to destroy the one person who was really getting on his nerves.

"AHHH! Gokudera, that's too many!" Tsuna wailed.

"Eh?"

Explosions sounded here and there with dust flying all over the place.

"Octopus head, this is extreme, but it's a bit too extreme even for me!" Ryohei yelled, dodging an explosion near him with inhuman speed.

"Fuck! I didn't mean to throw so many!"

And thus Gokudera was still…Gokudera. His blind loyalty and commitment to Tsuna once again almost got the poor boy killed. There was one good thing about his random dynamite throwing though. During the chaos, Tsuna was able to run over to Yamamoto, and drag him a small (very small) fraction away from where most of the dynamites were going off.

"My own friends are tying to murder me," Tsuna said, staring at the dynamites that were setting off a chain reaction against each other.

"Octopus head, make 'em stop!"

"I can't, dammit!"

Tsuna sighed. Well…Hibari wasn't biting anyone to death right now, and that was--wait a minute…where the hell was Hibari?

He never had a chance to blink before something hard connected with the side of his face, knocking him at least five feet from where he had been standing a few seconds ago. He felt as if a train had just collided with his face, and honestly didn't want to get up anymore. "Oww oww oww…"

"Oh come on, brat! The king gave you a baby tap!" Squalo shouted.

"That's not a baby tap!" Ryohei hollered back. "Hey, stay still! He can't hurt you if you go in fetal position!"

"Isn't that for bears?" Xanxus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh…good enough for this situation," Marmon said, tightening his small fingers in Bel's hair, much to the young 'prince's' discomfort.

Gokudera reached into his pinstripe suit for another dynamite, but he stopped when a sword was at this throat. "You bastard…" he snarled, glaring daggers at Squalo. "I thought this was just between us and Hibari!"

Squalo gave him a toothiest grin Tsuna had ever seen. To anyone who knew Squalo, this was not necessarily a good thing.

Gokudera growled at him a bit before turning his anger on the one person who seemed to know the rules. "Fuuta, dammit, this isn't fair!"

Fuuta appeared a bit nervous as his rabbit ears twitched up and down. "I…well, the rules changed, so…uh…"

"You can't go changing the rules in the middle of combat!" Ryohei howled, punching his fists together.

Fuuta opened his mouth to say more, but Xanxus took over. "There are no RULES, idiots. We made all that up."

Tsuna slowly forced himself off the ground. This pain felt seriously real...this wasn't just a dream anymore…it was something else entirely. But Tsuna couldn't explain what it was. Then again, if he believed in the pain, then that made it real even if it was an illusion, right?

"You're weak," Hibari muttered, watching him struggle with unrestrained displeasure.

Tsuna didn't answer back as he continued to stand up again.

With a frown, Hibari continued. "You weren't even a challenge. The croquet game would have been more enjoyable."

"Wait…Hibari…" Tsuna rasped, forcing himself to ignore the throbbing feeling on his head. "I can still fight you."

Hibari's frown twitched into a half-smirk as he attacked Tsuna again. This time Tsuna was able to block it, though just barely. He could feel the force of the blow, and went flying against the ground once again.

"TSUNA!" He heard Gokudera roar, but his gaze was getting fuzzy and everything sounded a bit distant…

A voice that reminded him very much like Ryohei said, "get up, Tuna! You can do it!"

That made Tsuna laugh a little. Tuna. Of course dream Ryohei never really learned his name...although the boy's name had been screamed the whole time.

"VOOOI! Spikey, get up! You're boring the hell out of us!" Squalo shouted, his sword still pressed against Gokudera's throat.

Even as everything began to get blurry, Tsuna oh so wanted to tell Squalo that he could take over and 'entertain' everyone, but he knew nothing would come of it. Instead, he just lay on the ground staring up at the sky and noticing just how very blue it was, and how odd it was that the colors were starting to mesh together like paint.

I wonder if people think about stupid things like this before they are attacked by a bloodthirsty animal... he thought.

Hibari waited patiently for a few seconds…but he never really was a patient person to begin with, so that ended in failure. "How dull. I'm just going to bite you to death right now."

Tsuna knew he'd do it too.

Well…at least I did something, right? For some odd reason…although he knew he'd probably get bitten to death thoroughly to the point where he'd more than likely never walk again, he was a bit proud that he had at least stood his ground against someone as aggressive and cold as Hibari…even though this whole situation could have been avoided if a certain cat-eared Guardian hadn't decided to interfere…

"WAIT!" Fuuta's voice cut across the field like a knife. "One minute has passed!"

"There's no rules, brat!" Squalo barked in annoyance.

Fuuta's rabbit ears twitched. "Um…his majesty never said that there weren't any rules. Xanxus just sorta…um…took over…"

Xanxus glared at Fuuta, but the rabbit eared boy refused to meet his gaze. All he did was stare straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"Well…a deal is a deal, stupid herbivore. You and your friends are safe…for now." Hibari didn't bother to look at Tsuna as he walked away, heading back towards his throne. That small yellow bird from earlier came back, landing on his shoulders and singing the school song once again.

The song…for once it was oddly comforting…or would have been if everything wasn't spinning.

Good job, little Vongola boss. That was highly entertaining…came that voice again. It sounded like it belonged to Mukuro, and yet it's tone was that of a very tired person, nothing like how the older boy had sounded earlier.

"What? HEEE!" Tsuna yelled, suddenly as the ground began to crumble. Soon, he was tumbling through a large crater, Gokudera and Ryohei calling for him as he quickly disappeared in total darkness…

"JYUUDAIME!"

Tsuna's eyes flew open.

Standing above him were Yamamoto and Gokudera who regarding him with confused and worried expressions. Gone was the top hat, pinstripe suit, and the hare ears. Instead, there were two perfectly normal people looking down at him.

Apparently Tsuna had become tangled in his sheets and they had tried to help him out of it, only succeeding in making him fall out of his bed. He winced, feeling like he cracked his broken rib even more…and his head was throbbing as if Hibari's tonfas had really whacked him…

"Are you all right, Jyuudaime? We've been trying to wake you up for a while. Not even Reborn could get you up," Gokudera said gently, he and Yamamoto helping Tsuna off the floor and back into bed.

Reborn hopped on the edge of it, smiling from under his fedora hat. "You've slept awfully late, Dame Tsuna. You do know that means double training for you, right?"

"WHAT?!" Gokudera exclaimed. "Why?! Jyuudaime's hurt and tired! I'll take all his punishment!"

Yamamoto laughed. "Another game, eh baby? Well that sounds like fun. Count me in!"

"It's not fun, idiot! And this isn't a fucking game!"

Reborn just looked at Tsuna, with that sly cat-like smirk. "Well, if the both of you take his punishment, what sort of boss would he be, hmm?"

Tsuna could feel his heart stop with that wicked smile. Flashbacks of being blown up, electrocuted, and various other torture methods flashed in his head. "No not again!" he wailed, covering his head with a pillow and wishing he'd just go back to the dream world. However, after the whole drama with that dream Mukuro had trapped him in, he wasn't sure sleeping anymore was the best idea.

At that moment of pure terror, Tsuna swore he'd never ever read Alice in Wonderland again. That book was getting thrown away or burned as soon as he was able to do it.

Amidst the arguing in the background between Reborn and Gokudera, mainly the latter, Tsuna wondered…what was the point in all that? Was there a particular reason Mukuro had made him go through what seemed literally like hell?

And that's when it struck him. Mukuro hadn't done it out of malice of any sort (if that were possible), but maybe, just maybe somewhere in that black heart of his, he was trying to test Tsuna, trying to see what decisions he'd make in the dream world so he'd better know him in reality.

That can't be it…he thought. It was too simple, and Mukuro was not a simple person. Besides, he more than likely failed the test as the new Vongola boss if that was the case…

Slowly he closed his eyes, falling back asleep despite the fact he promised himself he'd never sleep again.

Outside, Chrome looked at Tsuna's window and smiled before walking away. Mukuro would never say it out loud or even explain what had just transpired to her, but whatever the older boy had done, she was sure there had been some good in it since he had put so much energy into creating a dream for the Vongola boss.

"It seemed this plan of yours was a success Mukuro-sama…"

Although she couldn't see him, she could sense him smile as well.

Finale

Author note: See Tsuna, Mukuro cares…in a weird way? o.O

Thanks for reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story, guys! You're all awesome possums times ten! Now I need to figure out what else to write…x.x;; –has too much free time for her own good-

If you guys have any ideas, just send me a PM or something.