I rewrote the first chapter and changed a lot of things that will affect the plot. If you want, re-read it~

I don't own KHR or ORANGE.


Reborn yawned and straightened his tie as he sat down at his desk. Today had been such a boring day. He had gotten a boring lady whose husband was cheating on her, a boring doctor who complained that none of the ladies would go out with him, and a boring fifty-year-old man who lamented over the fact that he could never display his love and affection for Barbie dolls because everyone ostracized him and looked at him funny.

That being said, the doctor hadn't been a patient; just an old 'friend' who had dropped by to invite Reborn for a drink and to hook up with a couple of ladies. Reborn politely declined, and the doctor left with Reborn's biggest, heaviest, and sharpest pen sticking out of his arm.

Reborn sighed. He was bored. Life as a therapist didn't suit him at all. But, orders were orders…

'I guess I'll check up on Tsuna,' he decided. He opened up his laptop and went to Tsuna's page.

Tsuna was one of his favorite patients. For some reason, Reborn was constantly intrigued by the young boy.

He'd had plenty of crazy patients who entertained him to no end (there was one who had come saying that every time he woke up, there was the same dead cat in his hands; Reborn had had fun with that; after all, he had been the one to put the dead cat in the poor guy's hands), but none like Tsuna.

There was something inside the boy, Reborn could tell, something that the therapist desperately wanted to pull out and hold up to the light. He wanted to see how it would sparkle, how long it would shine, and what it would look like when it lost its light.

He had fun doing things like that. He had fun poking and prodding at his patients to see to what point he could bend them before they broke.

He smiled. Maybe life as a therapist did suit him.

Timoteo and Uni knew him well.

Reborn frowned when he saw that Tsuna hadn't been updating his blog regularly. The last post had been yesterday, and the post before that had been on the fourteenth, two weeks ago.

[April 30

Hi… Sorry I haven't updated in a while! A lot of things have been on my mind lately, so I forgot… Especially to you, Reborn, I'm sorry hii! Please don't stab me with a pen next time I see you!

And the letter I mentioned last week… Reborn, was it you who sent it?! It's not funny! Y-san, the transfer student, hasn't come to school for two weeks now, and I'm getting worried! Quit stalking me and get your work done!

The letter also said that something bad would happen tomorrow… I really hope it's not true.

This is too scary. I'm going to bed.

Goodnight, everyone!]

Reborn frowned, eyebrows arching and mouth curving down. What was this letter Tsuna was talking about? Reborn hadn't been the one who had sent it (although, Tsuna had good reason to accuse his therapist. Reborn had snuck a love letter from 'Kyoko' into Tsuna's shoe locker once for a good laugh, which resulted in Tsuna crying in a small corner.).

Judging from what Tsuna had written… the letter had predicted Y-san's absence, and also told of the future…

"Intriguing," Reborn murmured. "I like it."

He hit the comments button.

[Stupid Tsuna, who would stalk you? Don't think so highly of yourself. Your life is so boring and pathetic that it would be a complete waste of time to stalk you.

Also, I was not the one who sent you that letter, I assure you.

Come by soon. I have a new pen, which is really quite heavy and lovely. I want to try it out. Ciao—Reborn]


"Dino-sensei, it's pouring outside," Hana said disgustedly. "We can't do pole-knocking in this sort of weather."

Tsuna sighed and Yamamoto laughed. The two of them had just gotten back from the storehouse with all the pole-knocking equipment in their arms.

"I used to do it in the rain," Dino said somewhat proudly. Upon seeing the incredulous are-you-crazy-Dino-sensei-we-know-you're-joking-and-it's-not-funny expressions on his student's faces, he said, "What? It's true! I promise you! My mentor made me compete in a pole knocking competition when it was forty-two degrees Fahrenheit outside and storming. I thought I was going to die!"

"Whatever, Dino-sensei," Yamada laughed. "I bet you were one of the guys trying to knock the leader off the pole anyway."

"I was the leader," Dino said. "And the pole was seventy feet high!"

"No way…"

"Really. I'm telling you the truth. Well, I'm not my mentor, and it is raining pretty badly… school is almost over, so why don't all of you go head home?"

"You're the best!"

"I love you!"

"I love me, too," Dino said, much to the disappointment of the girls who had confessed their love to him. He turned serious, though, saying, "Be careful now, alright? You heard what happened to that Kokuyo student. Go home in groups, avoid isolated areas, and if you find yourself alone and see any suspicious people suddenly, call the police right away. Understood?"

"Yes!"

"You guys are all too cute," Dino chuckled. "Alright. Get out of here. Stay safe."

As the rest of the class excitedly packed up their stuff, Yamamoto came over to Tsuna, slinging his already-packed schoolbag across his chest.

"What happened to Kokuyo?" Yamamoto asked.

"You didn't hear?" Tsuna said. "Yesterday, a Kokuyo student was found on the street, murdered. My mom kicked up a fuss about it, saying that I should stay home… but…"

Tsuna cast a glance at Yamamoto. 'I wanted to see if you really had come back.'

"Wow, that's pretty horrible," Yamamoto said gravely. "Was it close-by?"

"Yeah. Kokuyo's about forty minutes away from here by bus," Yamada said. He was rummaging around in his bag, looking for something. "Dang, I think I forgot my umbrella."

"Y-You can have mine," Tsuna said shyly. "I think onii-san has an extra one, so…"

"Nah, it's okay," Yamada grinned. His boyish features lit up, and he ruffled Tsuna's hair. "You're a good kid."

"I'm not a kid! I'm the same age as you are, sixteen…"

Yamada chuckled. "You're younger by three months. It's okay, I'll just run home in the rain. My house isn't too far anyways, and I like getting soaked."

"Are you going home alone?" Yamamoto asked. "Dino-sensei said…"

"I'll be alright," Yamada said, smiling in a carefree manner. "After all, it's not likely that these things will happen to anyone, right? My chances of staying alive are pretty good."

Tsuna grew uneasy. No matter what, go home with Yamada.

"A-are you sure? We can go home with you…"

"You guys all live in the opposite direction," Yamada said. "I'll be okay. Promise!"

No matter what…

'It… should be okay, right?'

"Yo, Sawada! You ready to go home?" Ryohei roared from the doorway. The classroom was quickly emptying out. "My teacher let us out early, too."

"Y-yeah! We're coming… Can Yamamoto and Yamada come, too?"

"Who? Oh, sure! If they join the boxing club, then it's no problem at all, to the extreme!"

Yamada grinned. "Don't sweat it Tsuna. I'll be going first. You guys get home safely, okay? See you tomorrow!"

Before Tsuna could say another word, Yamada dashed out the door. Now, only Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Ryohei remained in the classroom.

…go home with Yamada.

With an uneasy heart, Tsuna left with the other two, bidding goodbye to Dino when they ran into him in the hallway.

"Oh, take care, you guys," Dino said, hastily stuffing something into his bag. "See you tomorrow."

They dropped Ryohei off first. It had taken fifteen minutes to reach his house. By that time, the rain was pouring so heavily, that they could barely see five feet in front of them.

When they reached Tsuna's house ten minutes later, Tsuna's mother demanded that Yamamoto stay over, claiming that it was far too dangerous to let him go home by himself. After calling his father and getting the OK, Yamamoto cheerfully joined them for a bath and dinner. It had taken ten minutes to get his father's consent, because Yamamoto's father had a lot on his hands with all the students taking refuge in his sushi restaurant.

They were halfway through dinner when the phone call came.

It was seven forty-three.

"Tsu-kun, could you get that?" Nana said. "I'm frosting the cake."

"Alright."

Tsuna hopped off his chair and padded to the phone. "Hello?"

"Ah… is this… Sawada Tsunayoshi-san?"

"Yeah, that's me," Tsuna said. He was instantly worried. The female voice on the other side of the line sounded panicked, desperate. "Is there something wrong?"

"Can I ask you… what time did you get let out of school today?"

"Around three thirty? Uhm, may I ask why…?"

"You're Yamada Haruto's friend, right? I've been calling Haruto's friends, but none of them have seen him. I'm so worried!"

Tsuna suddenly felt like he had been plunged into a pit of ice water. Yamamoto rose from his chair, seeing Tsuna suddenly break out into a fit of shivers.

"Are you alright, Tsuna?"

"Did something… happen to Yamada-san?"

"He hasn't come home yet."

The phone dropped out of Tsuna's hand. Yamamoto grabbed Tsuna's shoulder, turning him around to face him.

"Tsuna, are you okay? What happened? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Tsuna stared up at Yamamoto, eyes horrified. "Y-Yamada-san… I should have told him to come home with us… no matter what, I should have gone home with him…"

No matter what, make sure you go home with Yamada.

"What's wrong?" Yamamoto repeated. He gripped Tsuna gently, trying to comfort him with a calm gaze. "What happened to Yamada?"

"He hasn't come home yet, Yamamoto," Tsuna whispered. "It's all my fault… this is all my fault…" He broke free of Yamamoto's grip and ran to the kitchen. "Mom! Mom!"

"My, Tsu-kun, what's wrong?"

"I'm going out for a bit!"

"In this weather? And what about the murderer?"

"I—this can't wait! I'll call if anything happens!"

"Tsu-kun! It's dangerous!"

Tsuna pulled on his raincoat and grabbed his cell phone from his bag.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Yamamoto called, running after him. "Tsuna, where do you think you're going?"

Tsuna whirled around, tears in his eyes. "Don't you understand, Yamamoto? Yamada hasn't arrived home yet! It's been over four hours since we left school! He could be dead!"

"I know, Tsuna, I know," said Yamamoto, "but it'll be dangerous for you to go looking for him!"

"I can't… I can't stay home not knowing!" Tsuna said. "I'm going! Tell mom I'll be fine."

He opened the door and made to run out, but Yamamoto stopped him. Tsuna turned around, mouth open, ready to rebuke him, but he was stopped by Yamamoto's calm, steady, and determined gaze.

"You wait here. I'll get my coat. I'm coming with you."

Before Tsuna could protest that it was too dangerous for Yamamoto to come along, Yamamoto had disappeared upstairs to Tsuna's room, where he had dropped off his things. In a few seconds, he was down, pushing Tsuna out the door and yelling to Nana that they would be okay.

Tsuna could have cried. "Thank you, Yamamoto."

"Don't worry about it, Tsuna. This is what friends are for, right?" said Yamamoto with a gentle smile. "Where to?"

"Yamada's house is this way," said Tsuna. "Let's hurry."

In silence, the two of them ran.

"I came home with him once, for a project," Tsuna panted. "He said he takes this route home every day. It gets really isolated just before it hits the neighborhood."

"Are there any stores this way? Maybe he's waiting the storm out."

Tsuna shook his head. "He really cares about his mom. He'd make sure to call home if he was going to be late."

Buildings were getting sparser and sparser the further they ran along. The road was becoming darker and isolated, shaded by towering oak trees whose leaves danced in the rain. The sky above was nearly black, illuminated by flashes of lightning that were as bright as the sun.

"Wait, Tsuna, stop," Yamamoto panted. He grabbed Tsuna by the arm and whisked him behind a tree. "There's something there."

The rain pounding in their ears and hammering against their eyes, the two of them stood as still as they could, fighting down their ragged breaths. A dark form was walking slowly down the road, in their direction.

Tsuna's heart began hammering erratically in his chest, not because of physical exertion, but out of fear. His hand scrabbled for his phone. Yamamoto's grip on his arm was tight and, when Tsuna looked up at the taller boy's face, his eyes were sharp and alert.

The figure passed by them slowly. They could not see its face, because the hood to his jacket was pulled low over its bowed head. They held their breaths, counting the seconds slowly, up to thirty, before they darted out from behind the tree and down the road again.

"Who was that?" Tsuna's voice quavered. "Do you think—"

"Don't think now," said Yamamoto. "I have a bad feeling. You have your phone?"

Tsuna nodded. They dashed on.

The path was uphill, now. It wasn't a steep incline, but just enough so that all the rainwater ran sluggishly down the concrete road. It wasn't long before Tsuna noticed something strange.

His eyes grew wide.

"Yamamoto," said Tsuna, voice constricted and high, "Yamamoto, what's that—what's this?"

Yamamoto looked down, where Tsuna's gaze was fixed. He turned pale.

What looked like faint rivulets of pink water was flowing down underneath their feet.

"Oh, god, no…"

"Call the police," Yamamoto said. "It's not safe here. Let's get going, near the trees."

Gulping, Tsuna pulled out his phone with a shaking hand.

The battery was dead.

Yamamoto pulled on a strained smile. "There's nothing else for it, then. The neighborhood should be pretty close now, right? Let's go. We'll be alright."

Sticking close to the shadows, only the lightning giving their position away, the two boys crept slowly up the road. Their hearts hammered in their throats. Yamamoto threw out an arm, breathing, "look…"

Tsuna ducked underneath the arm, straining his eyes to see what Yamamoto saw. The branches of the trees swayed in the heavy wind that was starting up, the rain blew pasts in great gusts. Water ran down the road on which there lay a motionless body…

Crying out, Tsuna ran past Yamamoto, halting abruptly just a few feet away from the body.

Yamada lay at his feet, blood flowing from his belly and slit throat.

Tsuna stared blankly. And Yamada's eyes stared blindly at the sky.

"Tsuna—Tsuna, we have to get out of here!" he vaguely remembered Yamamoto urging. "It's not safe!"

But Tsuna could only stare at the corpse of one of his few friends.

'This is all my fault… if I had only followed what the letter said… If only I had gone home… I'm so sorry…'

Yamamoto was too preoccupied with getting Tsuna to move, and Tsuna was too stricken by Yamada's death to care. They were off-guard. Their backs were turned the way they had come. The rain was too loud for them to hear anyone approaching.

The only warning they got was a faint yell that sounded like their teacher's voice, screaming, "GET DOWN!"

Yamamoto's athletic instincts kicked in, and in a flash, he and Tsuna were on the ground. A knife whistled in the air, just where they had been standing. Grabbing Tsuna, Yamamoto rolled away just a second before the same knife slammed into the ground.

Yamamoto caught a glimpse of their assailant before he dragged Tsuna to his feet and started running. Hooded, face shadowed, it was the figure they had seen earlier on the same path.

Gunshots cracked in the air. An excruciating pain burst in Yamamoto's side.

Yamamoto shut his eyes and felt his heart stop. Tsuna was screaming and everything was becoming a jumbled-up mush. Rain in his ears, pain in his side, water hammering against his skin...

Yamamoto thought for a moment that he was dead.

Then, he was being shaken roughly, the voice of his teacher pounding against his eardrums.

"Are you okay? Damn, I can't believe I missed that badly. Yamamoto! Open your eyes!"

It hurt too much for Yamamoto to be dead. Tsuna cried in relief when Yamamoto's eyes opened and a goofy smile appeared on his face.

"That was… a close call, huh?"

"Oh, god, I'm sorry!"

Dino's face appeared in his sight, golden hair sticking to his face from the rain. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… just a graze is all," Yamamoto said, struggling to sit up. Despite Tsuna and Dino's protests, he got to his feet, albeit unsteadily, and grinned.

"I'm so sorry," Dino continued apologizing. "It's because I haven't been practicing my shooting lately. I got a phone call from Yamada's mother, and I started out at once for Yamada's home, but I guess you guys beat me to it. I saw you about to get stabbed, so I started shooting… it's my fault you got hurt, Yamamoto, I'm sorry."

Yamamoto shook his head. "Did you get him?"

"No," said Dino, mouth set in a grim line. "He got away."

"And Yamada-san?" Tsuna said.

Dino shook his head. "Even from this distance, I can tell that there's no question. He's dead."

Tsuna felt immense guilt rise up in his chest. It hurt so much that he wanted to scream to alleviate the pain. But he didn't. He couldn't.

It was his fault that Yamada was dead, so he would have to bear the weight of the guilt.

"I just called my mentor," Dino said. "He's got his hands tied up with something else, but my coworkers should be here quickly. You guys stick with me, no matter what, and you'll be safe."

For the first time, Yamamoto noticed a gun in Dino's hand.

"What's that? A toy?"

Dino laughed. "This 'toy' just saved your life. Er, well, it also hurt you, but you're alive, is the point. But, no, it's not a toy, Yamamoto. It's real."

"Why does a teacher have a gun…?"

"Er."

Dino suddenly looked sheepish. He ran a hand through the hair plastered to his face.

"Actually, I'm a police officer," Dino admitted finally. "I just… was assigned to a teaching post as an undercover cop. So, no need to worry! As long as you're with me, you should be safe."

Before Yamamoto could say anything that matched his confused thoughts, a siren began wailing in the distance. Dino smiled.

"That'll be Romario and Ivan. Come on you guys. It's okay. We're safe now."

Yamamoto realized that his legs had suddenly become very weak. He checked his side; the entire left side of his shirt had turned crimson. He smiled to himself. He had gotten lucky. Very lucky. But, Yamada…

An ambulance arrived first. Medics threw a sheet over Yamada's body. The rain covered up any tears that were shed—tears of delayed fright, sadness, and guilt.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see something like that," Dino said softly as a police car stopped beside them. An older man wearing glasses and a tall, muscular man stepped out of the car and approached. Dino gave Yamamoto and Tsuna a tight, comforting hug, murmuring, "Don't worry. We'll get the killer, no matter what."


Reborn shifted his towel through his wet hair, having just gotten out of the shower after being drenched by the rain. In the bank across from the therapy center, a robber had been holding the workers at gun-point. Reborn had left his office, walked across the street in the rain, and calmly knocked out the robber.

He came back in a foul mood, the robber having managed to put a hole through Reborn's favorite fedora before being knocked unconscious, and cancelled all the rest of his appointments he had that day so that he could go home.

He didn't feel like taking the bus or interacting with other people. It took him about an hour to walk home on foot in the rain.

And now, something was nagging at him, telling him that he should check Tsuna's blog. He shrugged. He didn't have anything else to do. He logged on and opened Tsuna's page, pleasantly surprised to see that a new post had been made just five minutes ago, at nine-oh-three p.m.

His surprise quickly turned into vague concern and interest for his patient.

[I'm at the police station now. They are letting me type out what happened, since every time I try to talk, I can't and I cry. Yamamoto is here with me. So is Dino-sensei.

Something really bad happened today. It's my fault, I think. I can't stop shaking. I'm so sorry. It was raining, and I could have stopped him.
Yamada said, at the end of the day, that he had forgotten his umbrella. I offered him mine, but he refused it and ran home by himself. I got a phone call from his mom about four hours after we got out from school, saying that Yamada hadn't come home yet. I ran out to find him. Yamamoto followed me.
I went home with Yamada once, so I knew what route he had taken. We had just entered the final road to his neighborhood. Yamamoto saw someone, so he grabbed me, and we hid. The person passed by us. We went on.
We found Yamada on the road. We heard someone call out to us to duck. Yamamoto pulled me down. The person we had seen earlier was attacking us. Yamamoto pulled me to the trees, and we heard gunshots. Dino-san had saved us. Yamamoto got hit by accident.

This is what I gave to the police. Dino-san got them to let me keep the laptop I wrote it on. From here on out, this is the truth.

The letter told me 'no matter what, go home with Yamada.' I should have listened. I should have listened to myself from ten years in the future. He knew that this was going to happen, and he told me to go home with Yamada. Yamada was alone, but if we all had gone home together, maybe the murderer would have left us alone.

I should have listened to the letter. I regret it so much. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault.

I brought the letter with me. I forgot I had put it in my raincoat this morning.

This is what it says for tomorrow and the day after:

May 1

1) I skipped school today. I couldn't bring myself to go to just be reminded of Yamada's absence. Maybe if I had asked Yamada to come home with Ryohei and Yamamoto and me, he would still be alive.

2) Yamamoto dropped by. He said there was an announcement and a moment of silence for Yamada's death. The funeral is on the third. Do I have a right to go?

May 2

1) Yamamoto got me to come to school today. He dropped by in the morning and dragged me out of bed. He made me laugh. He's a great friend. I'm so glad I met him.

2) A new transfer student came today. His name is Gokudera Hayato. He sits in Yamada's seat. He seems really unfriendly.
I want you to ask him to have lunch with you. Don't leave him alone.

I won't leave him alone. This time, no matter what, I'll do what the letter says. If it means that I can save my friends, then…

I don't want to die regretting.

This is a secret between you and me.

Please, stay safe everyone.

—Tsuna]


How was it? Was it okay? Thank you for the quite frankly overwhelming response and encouragement. I know this story isn't as popular as some of the other stories out there, but I'm really surprised at the number of favs/reviews/follows! Thank you so much! *cries

It was just weird that there were a lot of follows and favorites, but no reviews :x Makes me think no one likes the story... But thanks for the encouragement! :) It's really appreciated and makes my day. If you have any suggestions on how I can make this story better, please say them. I'm always looking to improve.

Review please :D?