Bomber and Dame-Tuna

Gokudera had always been alone because he ran away from home after he found out that his real mother had died. He had lived in the dark, back allies in Italy, and because of that, he had become a natural fighter. He could produce bombs from any part of his body, and somehow manage to light them without even a lighter. Eventually, he even became known as the Hurricane Bomb Hayato. His aim was fairly decent, and could hit what he wanted most of the time. But for gang-up attacks, he used his fists, of which he was equally able to use efficently.

Ever since he had left home, he had been alone, and at first, he thought that that was ok, and that he was fine with that. He didn't need anyone else. He was just fine being by himself, and he sought no one's company. And he trusted no one. Because out in the back streets in Italy, what was one day your friend, was the next trying to kill you over a spare scrap of food.

So he moved alone, walked alone, and was ultimately unconcerned with what was going on around him and in this messed up world that he lived in.

But that all changed when he got a contact from Reborn-san, saying that he was to be summoned to Japan at once to come check out the next mafia boss for the Vongola Family. At first, he was just planning to ignore the stupid summons, but the fact that the letter was sent by the most powerful baby hitman in the whole world himself, he figured that he'd be hassled if he didn't comply to the letter.

And so, Gokudera dragged himself away from Italy, and found himself in a small town named Nanimori in Japan. It was nothing special. Just another useless small town somewhere in a foreign country. I mean, who was he to care about a family that was completely unrelated to him? It wasn't any of his buisness nor concern what happened to the soon-to-be mafia boss.

But even with that in mind, he still allowed himself to be directed to Nanimori Middle by the baby Acrobaleno of the yellow pacifier, and was assigned a classroom. Earlier, when Gokudera had first arrived in Japan, Reborn had met with him, and gave the delinquite a picture of a caramel-haired boy, with large, round, chocolatey eyes that gave you the impression of a dog. An utterly weak appearnce, by way of the rest of the mafia bosses. "That is the next boss, Vongola the 10th. Please feel free to go all out on him if you wish," said the baby in a chil-like voice.

Gokudera just glanced at the picture, and scoffed. "There's no way a whimp like this could inherit such a well-known mafia family." Reborn just smirked as Gokudera stuffed his hands into his pant's pockets, and practically stormed out of the airport.

But here he was now, standing in front of a bunch of whimpy-looking kids, and his cold and fiery temper getting a bunch of blushing and giggles from the thrill-seeking girls. Gokudera just glared daggers at them, and muttered angrily to himself, "Tch. Girls. They wouldn't know what was bad for them if it kicked them bit them in the butt." So, he gave the usual custom introduction for new people in Japan, except he left out all formalities and didn't even bother to tell about himself.

He was given a seat right behind the caramel-haired boy from the picture, and he plopped right down in his seat with a huff. He crossed his arms behind his head, and he put his feet up on his desk. The teacher tried to stutter a scolding to him, but was cut off mid-sentence when Gokudera looked up at him with a killer glare. He gave the proverb, "looks can kill" a whole new meaning.

So, he watched unoticed as he checked out Volgola the 10th during the day, and he was exactly as he seemed in the pictures. Frail, delicate, clumsy, and most certainly lived up to his "No Good Tsuna" nickname. BUt for some reason, that didn't annoy Gokudera as much as he thought it would. In fact, he found the smaller boy's clumsiness even a little endearing as the brown haired boy always got back up and tried to laugh it off along with everyone else.

But Gokudera wasn't fooled. After living for many years alone, he's learned to read people's true feelings and intentions so well, that sometimes the people themselves didn't even know about them yet. He could see the pain and hurt hidden behind those large chocolatey eyes and that fake laugh. It hurt the boy to be laughed at, to be the class clown, to be called No Good Tsuna, and for some strange reason, Gokudera got this idiotic urge to actually defend the useless 15 year old. Gokudera didn't really know the reason himself, but he guessed that it was because he almost felt like he could see a bit of himself reflected in those eyes. A hurt boy that had no one to talk to, and therefore had to keep all of his troubles locked up inside of himself.

Gokudera walked home after the last bell of the day rang, and all of the students swarmed out of the doors, eager to get up and out of school. Well, almost everyone. One lone boy was forced to do after-school cleaning because he lost at a rock-paper-scissors game. The silver haired delinquint left along with the other students, but didn't go very far. He always stayed close enough so that the young boy was constantly in his line of sight, and yet he was out of the boy's. He watched as the smaller boy did the chores of cleaning the chalk board, taking out the trash, smacking the erasers, and whatever else it is that had to be done.

But no matter how long Gokudera watched the brown-haired teen, a smile never reached his lips. He always looked out of the window with a longing gaze, almost as if he wished someone would just come and take him away. But no such luck. He finally completed his duties just as the sun was beginning to set, and a few minutes later, he walked out of the school's large front doors.

Gokudera, of course, just huffed up, and walked in the opposite direction of the smaller boy as if he just happened to be walking by by chance, but his act didn't throw off the young boy. "U-um, excuse me?" the boy asked hesitently, his voice not yet growing deep like most boys' voices do at that age. Gokudera didn't respond, so the boy just tried louder. "U-um? I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I just wanted to ask if you've been watching me all day?"

That got the bomber's intresst, because he stopped dead in his tracks, and a slight blush at being caught faintly colored his cheeks. he didn't say anything. But then he heard a slight chuckle from behind him, and he couldn't help but to turn just a fraction of a bit so that he could see why the boy was giggling. "Well, thank you for waiting for me to finish up after school, and I'm sorry if I held you up or anything. I tried to finish as fast as I could so that I wouldn't be keeping you waiting too long."

The boy's open honesty and sincerety was certainly a new mystery to Gokudera, for he was not used to such open words or kind consideration. Because even though the boy didn't know what Gokudera was doing, exactly, he still thought of his not-so-secret silent watcher.

"Oh, my name's Tsuna, by the way. What's yours?" introduced the young Volgola the 10th. Gokudera was a little surprised at Tsuna for even considering him, so he stuttered a little, "G-gokudera. Gokudera Hayato." "Oh, well, nice to meet you, Gokudera-kun!" replied Tsuna with a riddiculously large smile on his face and his eyes closed. Wow. His face looked down right angelitic with the setting sun coloring it, and Gokudera had to look away to hide his slight blush.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Gokudera-kun?" asked a worried Tsuna, his smile dissapearing and replaced by a concerned frown. Realizing that he was causing Vongola the 10th to worry over him, he quickly turned back around and quickly denied, "N-no! Nothing's wrong. It's nothing. You don't have to be concerned about me!" This caused Tsuna's face to scrunch up in confusion, but he just shrugged his shoulders, and they fell into a comfortable silence as they both walked towards their own homes.

Tsuna's house came up first, so the small brown-haired boy broke off first, and said with a large smile, "Bye, Gokudera-kun! See you again tomorrow at school, ok?" Once again perplexed by this teen's obvious enjoyment as seeing him, he flushed for the millionth time that evening, and stuttered back, "Y-yeah. I guess. Bye." Tsuna then walked into his house, and gently shut the door behind him, as well as a stone-shocked Gokudera.

Unsure of how exactly to react in situations like this, he just turned on his heel, put his hands in his pockets, and continued home. At his door step, there was a little baby in a grown man's suit and a yellow pacifier around his neck. "So? What do you think of Vongola the 10th?" asked Reborn-san. Putting up an act, he just turned his head to the side and said, "Tch. He's completely hopeless." But then, almost as if he was compelled to say something else about the young boy, he added quietly, "But he notices things that most people don't, and he hides a deep pain inside his chest that he can't share with anyone else. And despite that, he still manages to laugh normally and have a good time with those that make fun of him."

Unknown to the downcast eyes of the silver-haired bomber, Reborn hid his own smirk. "So, are you willing to join the Vongola Family and become Tsuna's right-hand-man?" asked Reborn, a knowing hint making itslef known in his voice. Gruffly, Gokudera said, "Yeah, fine. Whatever. Besides, if I;m not there, he'll just get trampled all over by everyone else. He's so completely useless, that he won't even be able to protect himself should he ever come under attack. But that's why he needs a right-hand-man! And who else if more fitted to the job than I? The great Gokudera Hayato!?"

And with that, reborn hid his eyes under his big black hat, and whispered to himself, "That Dame-Tsuna sure is something else entirely."

A/N: So, what did you guys think? Please review! :3