Tsuna blinked and immediately closed his eyes when bright light assaulted his eyes, sending a sharp pain to his temples and dotting his vision with hazy white spots. He groaned, nursing his throbbing head.
"My my, Tsunayoshi-kun, what predicament have you found yourself in this time?" "Byakuran!" Tsuna exclaimed, looking at Byakuran in surprise.
Before him stood, in all his glory, Byakuran, with a pack of marshmallows in his hand, cheerfully munching away. They were standing in what looked like a completely white space. He immediately noticed he had to look up to the other Sky and felt himself panicking. He reached for his hair and ran his fingers through the strands which were noticeably too short. He patted his hair to make sure and reached towards his face with wide eyes. This didn't feel like his face… Not only were his hands too small, his face seemed to have shrunk as well. He could feel the panic rising like bile in his throat. What had happened? What had Byakuran done this time?
"No need to work yourself into a frenzy, my dear Tsunayoshi-kun. Marshmallow?" He held out his bag.
Tsuna ignored the sweets, still feeling too unbalanced by the situation to pay attention to that. "What happened? How did I get here? And how do I get back!? Why am I so small!?"
"Ah… Well, to be blunt… You died. That's your new body now, get used to it." The other smiled cheerfully. He leaned towards Tsuna and patted him on his head. If Byakuran was trying to reassure him, he was failing. If was trying to irritate him or to make him panic, he would get full points!
"What?" asked Tsuna blandly. He tried to stay calm and wanted to avoid becoming hysterical. The other Sky was having enough fun with the situation as it was. It wouldn't be the first time Byakuran had made him panic because he thought Tsuna's reaction were hilarious. Though something told him that Byakuran knew exactly how he felt right now and the older Sky was clearly enjoying his sorrow.
"Yes, you died, quite heroically as well, and somehow ended up here, in this world which is strangely parallel to your own." Byakuran peered through his lashes to watch Tsuna's reaction, chuckling softly.
The guy was just waiting for Tsuna to start freaking out!
Not wanting to give the other pleasure of seeing his fear, he shoved the casually thrown 'you died' to the back of his mind and focused on something else. He crossed his arms over his chest, mostly to keep them from flailing about hysterically.
"How is this world 'strangely' parallel?" he asked sceptically, raising an eyebrow.
Byakuran shrugged, not falling for his calm posture. "Well, it's nothing like our earth to start. One might almost think you got stuck in some sort Edo-period like Japan. With ninja; apparently, there are shinobi everywhere." He smiled brightly. "Somewhere along the way someone discovered chakra in this world and started teaching others how to use it. Flames are still something that exists in this world, but either no one ever found out about them or people forgot. Wars broke out, of course, so no one is really sure what exactly happened and when it happened." He shrugged again. "It was before my time, so your guess is as good as mine." The albino had the audacity to wink.
"And why am I so small, exactly?" he asked with a grimace, dreading Byakuran's answer.
Byakuran hummed. "Think of it as recycling. You're in the body of a child who died and whose spirit already passed on. This happened quite a few years ago, actually. You're only now remembering your last life." He said calmly, chewing on a marshmallow without giving any signs that he heard Tsuna sputtering at that blunt explanation.
