10 Year Mishap

22

Emotions, Tsuna had learned before he was even old enough to remember, were bad. Emotions would get you n trouble. He'd learned the same about attachment, but he'd allowed himself to get attached to two people: his Fratello, Byakuran and his sorellina, Yuni. The three had been in the same cell when the were in the Estrano Labs. Sure, they'd been put there at different times, but they were all they knew.

In a strange world surrounded by strange people, Tsuna had allowed himself to feel and to show what he felt. He had let himself go against the two things he'd learned before he could even remember learning. He knew about the wrongness of emotion and attachment more than he knew about his own mother! And yet, he'd thrown those lessons - the only familiarity in this strange, new world - away at the promise of safety.

Never again, he swore. The only two people to ever make him feel safe would be his fratello and his sorellina. No one else, not even their look alikes. He didn't care how hard these people tried, they didn't want him here, so he didn't want to stay. Sure, he'd played with the thought of never getting to go back, but now all of those false hopes were dust in the wind. They didn't want him around, so he was going to hide until they figured out how to get him home. Sure, he lived on the streets in his home world, but at least the people there didn't give him false senses, hopes and promises of safety and comfort!

Tsuna didn't know where he had ended up when he stopped running. All he knew was that no one was following him any more and no one was going to find him. He made himself comfortable in the darkest corner of the small room he'd found and let himself fall into a pseudo sleep. He was awake enough to be alert and ready to bolt at the slightest sign of danger, but he was also going to get some rest. It wouldn't be a good rest, but it was rest all the same.

***

"Fuck, shit, damn it all!" Tsuna swore up and down under his breath as he tried to be as inconspicuous as he could be. His messages to his Reborn had gone through to this worlds Reborn. And, despite his best - abysmal and punishable by rock climbing without safety gear - efforts, the still cursed hitman had tracked im and was now looking for him in Namimori, Japan. The second his Hyper Intuition informed him of the baby hitman's arrival in the town, he took apart his phone and hid each piece in a separate location so he couldn't be tagged. In town, he picked up a burner phone so he wouldn't be suspicious.

So far, he'd managed to allude the cursed hitman for a day. He didn't know how long he'd manage to keep up this game of hide and seek or die, so he was praying to any and every cosmic deity he could thing of - yes, even the ones he didn't believe in - that his Family would get him home sooner rather than later. In the back of his mind, he was slightly hopeful that Reborn would leave before he was switched back so that his parallel self wouldn't have to deal with him, but that wasn't a thought at the forefront of his mind. Right now, he was being hunted down like a mouse and survival is his top priority.

***

Like most other castles, the one the Vongola has taken up residence in as it's fair share of secret passageways and servent halls. Now, no one in the Vongola has ever had a reason to find these, so no one has ever bothered to see if there really were any. No one, that is, aside from Kyoya. With the knowledge that he is the only one who knows about - let alone how to access them - the halls between the walls, you can imagine his surprise when he finds the parallel child version of his boss sleeping in a dark corner in one of the crossways. He hadn't noticed him at first, but when he did, the panic throughout the castle suddenly made sense.

"So this is where you ran off to?" Kyoya frowns when the child - who looked like he was sleeping soundly - jolts awake and is standing in a defensive position, ready to run at any given moment.

Tsuna refuses to let any emotion show on his face. He tells himself that he has to fall back into what's familiar, what's safe. Emotions and feelings are unsafe and harmful. Attachment is, too. He holds himself low to the ground with his right foot back and his head down, looking at the man through his eyelashes.

Another frown when he gets no answer. But, Kyoya has learned to be patient. He knows these hallways like the back of his hand, so he'll be able to find Tsuna if he runs. That being said, he deliberately sat on the floor in front of the path that lead to the dungeons and armory. 

The sign of submission - as that's what he was taught that was - made Tsuna back off a bit in surprise. He'd never interacted with this man before but he could tell just by looking at him that he isn't the type to back down or submit to anyone without a fight. But, the placating gesture was appreciated and Tsuna returned it by sitting back on the floor. Though, he was still ready to run or fight should the need arise.

"Everyone's looking for you." This time, Kyoya didn't expect an answer. Tsuna didn't say anything, so Kyoya saw no point in continuing to speak. He wasn't good with words, anyway. If he had to comfort someone, then he sat by quietly and waited for them to talk first. Usually, whoever it is talks within a few minutes, but Tsuna had always been different. He suspects that Tsuna will be the in that regard.

"I'm not going back out there." Tsuna said after about an hour of silence. "No one wants me here. I was wrong to let myself get attached. I was wrong to let myself feel safe. This place, no matter how you all try to sugarcoat it, is not my home. I'm an inconvenience to you."

It was slightly unnerving to see the child express nothing by blank apathy. The child, from what Kyoya had seen, was rather expressive. So to see him completely empty like this was strange. Could his Tsuna turn off his emotions like this? He doubted it, but he'd have to find out later.

"You aren't an inconvenience." Kyoya stated, "Who told you that?"

"No one told me. I just picked up on the context clues."

Context clues? Yeah, right. As if that's the entire truth. Someone had to have said something for the kid to feel like this. Actually, was he even feeling at all? Kyoya didn't know. "Who told you that." He wasn't asking anymore. Unfortunately, Tsuna picked up on the hostility in his voice and stopped talking. The child quickly stood and bolted down the passage to his right.