Title: The World, Ten Years Ago

Author: leriko

Rating: M (for blood, violence (in laaaaateeeeerrr parts), implied nudity and sexual activities, time paradox theories, and some thing children should not read)

Spoiler: As the title shows, it will contain spoiler for the Future Arc.

Character: Almost everyone from the future who switched back and some people from the present time.

Genre: General/Romance.

Summary: It's been twenty hours, twelve minutes and thirty-five seconds since he switched with his younger self from ten years back but there's still no sign of him returning. He wonder how the younger Tenth was doing, how his younger self was doing and what the fucking hell he's going to do if he meets the younger baseball-idiot.

I came here via Ten Year Bazooka. The boss is dead in my time. Let's kill Irie Shoichi.

Disclaimer: Should I write this? Maybe I should or someone would kill me if I don't. Huf! I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! The characters, the Ten Year Bazooka, the box weapons, and the rings are Akira Amano's greatest ideas. Heck! I didn't even own the PC I used to write this! It's my brother's. I only own the fingers I used to type the story.

10/10/08 EDIT: Edited the grammars. Big thank you to my beta-reader!

Chapter 1 Lost in Past Memories

A trail of smoke followed him as he walked slowly past the riverbed he recognized as the place where the Tenth and the Cavallone Boss had played the New Year's Family versus Battle Vongola Style some years back. He sighed and turned away from the painful memories that forced themselves to be remembered.

He didn't have time to dwell on the past. He had to think about what he was going to do next.

It's been twenty hours, twelve minutes and thirty-five seconds since he switched with his younger self from ten years back but there was still no sign of him returning.

A few children ran past him when he reached the road to Namimori Junior High School, if he remembered it correctly. One child cast a confusing look in his direction, and no wonder. It's not everyday you see a foreigner with silver hair in an expensive Armani suit, wearing an enormous amount of gothic accessories, walking around aimlessly in the middle of the day when most adults should still be working and have no time to idle.

He paid the children no attention and kept walking to his destination. He wanted to make sure the others from ten years ago were still safe and maybe he could find that Irie brat and do what he had told the younger Tenth to do when he returns to his time.

Gokudera stopped in front of the school gate. He wonder how the younger Tenth was doing right now, how his younger self was doing right now and what the fucking hell he's going to do if he meets the younger baseball-idiot; what he's going to tell him.

I came here via the Ten Year Bazooka. The Boss' dead in my time. Let's kill Irie Shoichi.

"Tch!" he spat. "Like that idiot would even understand half of that."

As far as Gokudera remembered, that baseball-idiot thought that the Mafia was just a role playing game. Yamamoto had always kept that thought in mind until he was forced to face the fact when they were in high school.

He saw with his own eyes, when Gokudera had to literally shove his mini bombs into one foolish assassin's mouth and four of them, he, Gokudera and Tsuna with Reborn in tow, ran away before the bombs exploded.

Not only that, when another assassin showed up, he reflected and swung his bat (it changed into the Shigure Kintoki) and slashed the assassin's neck.

Yamamoto never said it was a game anymore after that.

Gokudera put out his cigarette and waited. The watch on his left hand showed it was already twenty past three in the afternoon. The school should be over right now and he could look for the baseball-idiot, or the lawn-head and maybe Hibari, though he hoped it would not be necessary.

Then his eyes caught a glimpse of the many rings on his left hand. The one on his thumb was a copper band with skulls carved in. The one on his middle finger, a gold band with big red Ruby, the ring the Tenth had given him as a replacement for his destroyed Storm Vongola Ring.

Each of the Guardians got one. The baseball-idiot got a blue Sapphire. Lambo got a green Emerald. Lawn-head got a yellow Topaz. Hibari got a purple Amethyst. Mukuro (and Chrome) got an indigo Agate. The stone's color represented their respective flame colors.

He sighed at the smallest and simplest ring on his hand. It was a pure white silver band with a two carats diamond.

His wedding ring.

It has only been three months since he had that ring but it felt like it was never there.

He left his newlywed wife and honeymoon plans to follow the Tenth together with the baseball-idiot to Italy to discuss what they were going to do with the threatening situation caused by some unknown Mafia family with the Ninth.

The next month, he came back to Japan for only two weeks to inspect the new underground base facility. But he didn't even have the chance to meet his wife.

Three weeks before today, back to Italy, he had to send his own investigation squad to look for Hibari and Mukuro/Chrome because of the Tenth's order.

Two weeks with nothing, after the Tenth sent lawn-head as a messenger to the Varia and chose a spokesman for the negotiation initiated by the Millefiore, he along with the Tenth and the baseball-idiot returned to Japan only to find that the Vongola hunt had begun.

The main headquarters in Italy was attacked and the spokesman chosen to represent Vongola in the negotiation was killed.

The hellish week started.

Reborn-san died. The Tenth died. Yamamoto's father died. Iemitsu hid his wife in Italy with the excuse of having a holiday. All of Vongola's affiliates and allies were attacked. His sister (his stomach churned) and Fuuta were sent to investigate Millefiore's Japan branch's hideout. Lambo and I-pin were sent to rescue their acquaintances. And he had to recover his boss' dead body. He also heard that most of the Arcobaleno had died too.

Gokudera sighed again. He just hoped that his wife and the younger Tenth were safe.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, his only hope was the baseball-idiot. No other guardians other than Lambo (but even he had his own mission too) were present in Namimori at his time. Hibari's and Mukuro's (Chrome's) locations were still unknown. Lawn-head was still in Italy with the Varia. Only Yamamoto and Giannini were the ones left in the underground base.

A few girls walked past him and giggled but he ignored them and concentrated on looking for the baseball-freak. He always wondered what those girls saw in him; they all tended to fawn over him and adore him.

Once, he had asked his wife (fiancée at that time) why lots of girls and women liked him. She would laugh heartily (his heart would skip a beat seeing her laugh) and say It's because you're such a good-looking-foul-mouthed-but-loyal-brave if not stupid-kind-hearted-bastard.

He would scoff at her and say That's the worst possible answer someone could give!

She would pout (he would have to swallow as he thought about those lips) then protested Do you want me to say those girls and women fawn over you because they think you're a hot Italian thug? Why did you ask anyway?! Do you want another woman?!

He never knew how to read women's minds. It wasn't that he wanted to have another loud-mouthed woman at his side. One was enough. And this one was already a tough one to deal with. When he kept silent after hearing her protest, she would sigh and say I will never know why I agreed to marry you.

Then he would ask her why did she agree to marry him and did she know what he did for a living? (He knew what her answer would be every time, though.) She would frown and check his temperature and asked if he was alright or if he had bumped his head somewhere, because he's acting weird that day.

When he shook his head she would say I've known you for almost ten years, of course I know what you do for a living. If not, why else do you think I can keep up with your super-duper tight schedule? Have you ever wondered why I never ask when you will suddenly leave me in the middle of our date when you receive calls from God-knows-who? It's because I love you too much that I never asked. I know you will tell me if you think it's necessary. And here you're asking about the reason I agreed.

He missed his wife. As he thought about it, he felt the blood rush to his cheeks. Maybe he had really chosen the worst possible time to get married. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about that right now, but it's not a sin to think about your own wife right?

As he waited by the gate, Gokudera's eyes scanned the ever so peaceful school. His eyes shot up to where the reception room would be, if his memory was right.

Should he or should he not look for Hibari? He bet Hibari would 'bite him to death' if he even dared to knock on the door to his reception room.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of someone watching him from the school roof, with a long gun pointed at him. Gokudera cursed and quickly run away from the sniper's shooting range. A shot was released and couple of girls screamed. Gokudera turn to the left and run as fast as his long legs would allow him, his mind full of thoughts about what the fucking hell a sniper was doing on the school roof and his heart beat faster thinking about what could have happened to the others.

He knew that Hibari would take care of whoever disturbs the discipline. But he shivered when he thought about what the sniper was doing on the roof. Maybe pointing his gun at the baseball-freak or lawn-head or lawn-head's sister or maybe even at…

"Hayato?" a woman's voice called him. Gokudera stopped running and felt his stomach churn. "Hayato, is that you?"

Gokudera turned around slowly. He let out a small sigh of relief when he saw his sister was wearing goggles to cover her face. She brought a small bag of groceries with her.

"Aneki," he responded. He attempted to escape from his sister's bone crushing hug to no avail.

"Hayato!! Where have you been?" Bianchi wailed. Her groceries fell to the ground. "Reborn and Tsuna are gone too! I was so worried, Hayato!"

"Aneki! I'm fine! Let go of me!" He struggled to relieve himself of his sister's iron grip. The sniper could have called his friends and other assassins could be following him right now. He had no time to listen to his sister's wails.

His turned his head left, right, front, back, and as far as he could see, no one followed him. He grabbed Bianchi's wrist and dragged her along.

"I have no time to explain. You have to go home and protect Okaa-sama and the kids. Don't go out even if an earthquake is happening. I will look for the others and bring them to Boss' house," he said in one breath.

"But, Hayato…!"

When they reached the Sawada household, Gokudera stopped suddenly and his sister bumped into his back. Just like yesterday, Gokudera was stunned and didn't know whether he should go in or not. After he heard what his sister had said just now, he was sure the Tenth's body was not in the house.

Yesterday, after realizing five minutes had passed and he still hadn't gone back to his time, he had been observing Boss' house from the neighbor's rooftop. He didn't even dare to sleep and kept his eyes open for any strange movements from inside the house. Other than the kids screaming, Okaa-sama and Bianchi's panicked voices searching for Reborn and Tsuna, he didn't notice anything else.

"Aneki!" called Gokudera suddenly. "Round up the kids and protect the house, okay! There's a sniper in the school. I will go and check if there's something wrong there."

Gokudera pushed Bianchi inside the house and then quickly ran to the direction where he and Bianchi came from. Ignoring his sister's call, he lit up his cigarette and flipped out his mini bombs.

"I'll show those bastards who the fucking hell they're screwing up with!" he hissed.

Author's Note:

The first ever fanfiction I've written and published on-line. So… a big apology for any grammatical problems and plot errors (English is not my main language). What do you guys think? Is it good enough? I wrote this because I always wondered what happened to the characters who were sent to the past. What are Gokudera, Yamamoto, Haru, Kyoko, I-pin and Lambo doing in the past? What happened to TYL!Chrome? And to make this idea harder to write, I read chapter 205 that the present Hibari was sent to the future. Gah! I also added some of my own ideas about Gokudera's relationship. Three guesses of whom his bride is (not OC).

Reviews are welcome with a big hug! Flames are used to ignite Dying Will Flames, bake my experimental cakes and cookies, and burn useless paper.