Characters: Takeshi Yamamoto, Tsuyoshi Yamamoto

Word Count: 997

Warnings: None

A/N: Merr... So... Umm... Well... I was in a writing mood last night, and so I asked for ideas. This is what my dear "Sensei" in the FFN KHR Community suggested. (Thank you, SV Speedy.) Kind of, anyway. I think? I need some sleep myself... Anyway, please feel free to review. I'd love to hear what you think, be it praise or what might be able to be improved. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: (I really do think these pointless... Look at the name of the site...) KHR does not belong to me. Sadly.

He should have been asleep a while ago. The plane left at four, so they had to be there by three-thirty. He knew this, so why…?

Takeshi rolled over to look at the clock. It was almost midnight. The alarm would be going off in about two and a half hours.

He rolled over again, this time to look at the wall. Something was keeping him awake, and he knew exactly what it was.

Dad…

It was a frightening idea, leaving his father alone so soon. They had only been back from the future-that-would-never-be for a couple of weeks. Every night, he had dreams of the only caretaker he had disappearing. During those two weeks, Takeshi had tried his best to be the son his father deserved.

With a sigh, the boy sat up in his bed. Brown eyes wondered aimlessly across the room, landing on the door. Running a hand through his short black hair, he pushed the covers back and moved to leave the bedroom. Maybe a warm glass of milk would help.

When Takeshi reached the kitchen, he wasn't fully surprised to see his father already waiting for him with two cups of tea in front of him. Really, in hindsight it was clear this would happen before leaving.

Tsuyoshi wasn't stupid, by any stretch. He knew something was going on. His son, forever smiling and talking about baseball, had grown quite. Instead of baseball after school, it was practicing in the dojo. Video games were put aside for text books. While he still saw Tsuna and Gokudera, it was now in the shop where the child had taken to working at almost full-time instead of in the family room with some movie on.

The man had been hoping to wait until his boy was ready to talk to him. That plan was cut short, however, when Reborn announced that the Ninth had asked Tsuna and his Guardians to come to Italy.

"Takeshi. I was thinking it shouldn't be much longer before you came down. Talk with me?" the man gestured to the chair beside him, pushing a cup in front of it. Takeshi walked over silently, sitting and reaching for the tea.

The two sat in the quite for a while, enjoying the peace of the night and the warmth the tea provided. Soon enough the quite ended, though.

"Takeshi…What's going on in that head of yours? You've been so quite since you came back from that trip with Tsuna and Gokudera. Now, I don't want you going on this trip Tsuna's Grandfather was so kind as to fund for you all if you're going to be unhappy the whole time."

Takeshi grimaced at the tone of his father's voice. He was trying to be a better son, but all he did was make his dad worry more. But what could he say? I traveled to a future where you were dead, and there was nothing I could do about it. I ended up as part of a war that wasn't really mine to fight, but had to keep strong so my friends wouldn't break. I vowed when we finally came home I would be the son you deserve so much.

He couldn't say those things. He just couldn't. If his father knew what he had chosen to be a part of… If he found out what his son had already seen and done because of it… Since meeting Tsuna, so many people had become important. And fighting to protect them wasn't easy, but it was something he was more than ready to take on. But protecting his dad, the man who raised him, much harder. Is this what Tsuna felt like talking to his mother? Worrying she might find out, fearing how she would react, and terrified as to what would happen should she actually become involved?

"…"

He knew he had to say something. He had to reassure his dad that everything was fine, that he would have a blast in Italy, and that he was sorry for worrying the older man. But nothing would come. It wasn't until strong, warm arms wrapped around him that Takeshi realized his dad had moved. It wasn't for another few moments that he realized he was crying. Tears ran down his face as he tilted his face to look at the one holding him.

"O-old man…"

Tsuyoshi just shook his head. He knew the child in his arms needed to be just that during the moment, a child. And so he didn't say anything else, just let the boy cry.

They stayed like that for a while. Finally, Takeshi pulled away and wiped his face off with the sleeve of his night shirt. "S-sorry," he stuttered.

"There is nothing to be sorry for. Just remember, I'm here for you. And I always will be. No matter what, I'll always love you. You're just a teenager. Don't try to take on everything yourself, you hear:"

Brown eyes filled with tears again at hearing those words. Sometimes, it really did feel as if the ol' man could read his mind.

"T-thanks, Dad. I… I love you."

The sushi chef smiled. "Alright. Off to be with you. Alarm will be going off soon enough, and you don't want to sleep the whole plane ride do you?"

A bright smile crossed the teens face as he stood up. "Of course not! I have a new game to show Tsuna." As he got to the door, he turned to face his father one last time. "Dad… Thank you." And with that, he walked away, the older man smiling behind him.

Sleep came as soon as brown eyes slid shut. The nightmares of the future they had fought so hard to prevent did not come as they had been, instead sweet nothing greeted him. When the alarm signaled it was time to get up once more, a smile found its way onto his face.

Today was going to be great.