Here is the Reborn! story I told myself I'd write. It didn't turn out like I first intended, but it turned out somewhat decent. Please excuse me if the characters seem OOC at all. It is my first try writing with them. Constructive criticism is allowed, but please no flaming. Enjoy!

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Gokudera Hayato was somewhat of an enigma to almost everyone he met. No one truly knew what lay behind that ever-present scowl plastered face and those deep set emerald eyes. All they saw was his intimidating and harsh exterior. Gokudera was fine with that. He felt he didn't need people, didn't need to be loved. The only affection he harbored was for the Tenth, of course. He felt the need to be his right-hand man, to be there for him at all costs. In Gokudera's mind, everyone else might as well not even exist. Everyone except for the one person he saw as a threat to his position as the Tenth's right-hand man. That one person was Yamamoto Takeshi.

Despite Yamamoto's seemingly oblivious and carefree personality, he sensed this troubled trait Gokudera had adopted. He knew how potentially traumatic Gokudera's childhood had been and became slightly concerned. Although he was glad Gokudera had someone he could care about, he thought his attitude towards his other peers was extremely childish and immature. He had decided to casually bring up the subject at school the next day. He wisely chose against a full-on confrontation. He didn't want to get blown up.

Yamamoto found the Italian adolescent on the school's roof. He cautiously approached him.

Yamamoto saw he was in the middle of a sort of reverie, and hesitantly placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yo, Gokudera," he said as the shorter boy jumped slightly at the sudden contact.

"Did I startle you?" Yamamoto asked, chuckling softly.

"Of course not, baseball idiot! Now what do you want?" Gokudera spat out, a look of clear annoyance on his visage.

"I just wanted to see how you were. Why didn't you show up at luch?"

Looking straight ahead of him, the silver-haired teenager responded, "I wanted to be alone. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Of course I don't, although there's no need to be rude." Yamamoto said, starting to get annoyed as well.

"Yeah, well, who are you, my mother?" Gokudera snapped.

"No, but I am your friend, I hope." The dark-haired boy said, risking getting himself blown up by placing his hand once more on the shorter boy's shoulder.

He felt Gokudera stiffen under his touch. Sensing his discomfort, Yamamoto released his grip.

"I'd blow you to smithereens here and now, but that would only sadden the Tenth." Gokudera snarled.

Yamamoto couldn't help smiling at this. "Typical Gokudera," he thought to himself.

"Actually, that's sort of what I wanted to talk about," the baseball fanatic said.

"What, the Tenth?" Gokudera asked sharply.

"Yeah, and why you're so loyal to him and so distant to everyone else."

"Well, he's the boss, isn't he? He deserves loyalty." Gokudera said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I think you've forgotten exactly what he's the boss of. The Vongola family. A family involves more than one person. You don't seem able to acknowledge that." Yamamoto retaliated.

Gokudera's face seemed contorted in frustration. "Who are you to tell me all of this, you oblivious idiot?" he asked angrily.

"I want to be your friend, if you'll let me. But all you do is create tension and cause all of the fighting among everyone." Yamamoto shot back. For once, Gokudera seemed lost for words.

"I hope what I've said made some sort of impression on you." Just as Yamamoto turned to leave, Tsuna, the tenth generation Vongola boss, walked in through the door.

"Hey, I wondered where you two went off to. Is something wrong?" Tsuna asked, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"No, boss. Yamamoto and I were just discussing something. Everything's fine." Gokudera forced a smile.

"Oh, okay," Tsuna responded. Just then, the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. "We should get going." He said.

"Right. Coming," Yamamoto said. Gokudera remained stationary. "Are you coming to class?" he asked him.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Gokudera answered.

Tsuna and Yamamoto headed down towards their classroom.

A couple of days passed and Gokudera had been acting tense and untalkative. Well, more than he usually did, anyway.Tsuna took notice and asked Yamamoto if he knew the reason behind it. He said he might know something.

"Can you talk to him about it? I'm no good with these types of things."Tsuna said timidly.

"Sure, I'll see what I can do." Yamamoto said, flashing his signature smile.

He found Gokudera after school.

"Hey, Gokudera, can we talk?" he asked him.

"What about?"

"About the other day. I realized I was a bit too hard on you. I'm sorry." Yamamoto said.

"What you said had some validity to it, I'll admit." Gokudera said, looking uncomfortable.

"Maybe, but I was too rash. I I should've said what I had to say in a more controlled way. Can we start all over? Tsuna is getting concerned." Yamamoto said, holding out his hand.

"If it's for the Tenth," Gokudera grumbled, taking his hand and shaking it grudgingly.

"Well," thought Yamamoto, "it's a start."

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Wow; after reading that, I've realized how short Gokudera and Yamamoto's conversation actually is! Oh, well. Please review! And thanks for reading 