"Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your own two ears." – Laird Hamilton

The cold morning air was a nice burn in his lungs. Ryohei jogged through the hilly streets of his town, a routine he came to enjoy immensely. It was about the crack of dawn, just as the people were waking up. All he had in mind was boxing, training, boxing, training. It was something that his father drilled in his head since he learned how to walk. His whole life revolved around the sport and he pushed forward as if everything he had was on the line.

"Onii-san!" a bright voice shouted in the distance.

Ryohei grinned when a familiar brunet came around the street corner, catching up easily with his pace. "Sawada!"

The smaller boy smiled. "Good morning, Onii-san!"

They soon fell into a comfortable silence as they ran up the narrow, steep steps to a local shrine. Ryohei started jabbing the air with swift punches, keeping a steady count, while they climbed higher and higher. He didn't know how he and Tsuna became morning jogging partners but he wasn't complaining. It was nice to have some company and the brunet had an extreme work ethic. Tsuna even ran with him to the end of his route and back, which was a testament to his stamina and endurance.

It had already been a few months but Ryohei grew quickly fond of the brunet. His mother was also a formidable athlete, a former member of the national women's volleyball team, and helped Japan secure third place in the Volleyball Women's World Championship seven years ago. Other than that, Ryohei didn't actually know the brunet that well—he was too busy training and missed a lot of school with all the boxing competitions his father signed him up for out of town. What he did know was that Tsuna was just as obsessed with volleyball as Ryohei was with boxing.

"Oh, Onii-san," Tsuna said suddenly. "You have another competition on Saturday, right?"

Ryohei grinned. "Yeah! It's in Tokyo! I'm extremely excited! It's the group stages before the junior nationals!"

Tsuna widened his eyes and looked at him with awe. "That's so cool! You're really going to nationals, Onii-san?"

"Of course! I'll make it there to the extreme! I'll come back with the gold!"

You have to, his father's voice whispered in the back of his head.

That slightly dampened Ryohei's mood. If he didn't make it in nationals, he didn't know what his father would think. Heck, what would Namimori think? He was their boxing star, their athletic prodigy who already made a few headlines in the bigger cities. If he didn't make it and get the gold, there was no point anymore.

"Of course!" Tsuna said, grinning. "Because Onii-san is the best boxer I know!"

Ryohei smiled and ruffled the brunet's sweaty hair. "Thanks, Sawada."

The brunet looked at him quizzically, unaccustomed to Ryohei's softer tone, but didn't question him. Instead, he swatted away Ryohei's hand almost playfully and pouted. "Stop that, Onii-san. Too many people keep touching my hair nowadays. It's annoying."

Ryohei barked out laughing. "Hey, Sawada. Why don't you come join the boxing club? It would be extremely great!"

"Eh, our school doesn't have a boxing club. Can we even get one?"

"I was planning on making one soon!"

"You're only a third-grader, Onii-san!"

"Anyone can do boxing—nothing matters when you have the skills for it! Come on, Sawada, it'll be fun! You're an extremely good athlete!"

"Wow, that sounds like something from a movie! You're so cool, Onii-san!" Tsuna faltered a bit. "Thank you, but I was thinking of joining the volleyball club."

"Eh? Why not come to boxing instead? It's an extreme sport and cooler than volleyball!"

Tsuna grinned. "That's because you started with boxing, Onii-san! I love volleyball because it's a team sport! With boxing, it gets lonely in the ring, I think. Sure, you have your coach and your fans but I want to play with friends on the court! I just think it's more fun that way." An awed look overcame his eyes that slightly captivated Ryohei. "My dream is to play on the court with a team like Mama's! You should watch some of her videos, Onii-san! When the ball goes all the way across the net and people are diving everywhere—it's so cool! And the crowd always goes wild when a point scores, too!"

Ryohei listened to Tsuna endlessly rant about everything he loved about volleyball. He couldn't help but smile at the boy's enthusiasm. It was extremely contagious. He reached over and ruffled the brunet's hair again.

"Onii-san!" Tsuna protested.

"Come on, Sawada! We still need to go another mile! Let's go to the extreme together!"

Tsuna grinned. "Okay! Let's go, Onii-san!"

Ryohei could get used to this routine. It was a nice constant in his life, somewhere outside of the ring. If only he could ever talk about boxing like Tsuna did with volleyball.

A/N I smell some Ryohei angst coming up :^)

Thank you so much for reviewing, favoriting, and putting this story in your alert section! Makes me happy to see that others liked this crossover!

I've decided to go with Tsuna meeting the guardians before the high school arc. I'd rather not go through flashbacks, hehe. Currently he and Takeshi are both second-graders. Hibari, Mukuro, and Ryohei are a year older. I also decided which role they'll take up in the team. Try to guess which ones' which!

Also, to clarify some things, Vongola and the Arcobaleno are still a thing but they are not connected to the mafia. They'll have a different role in this story. I don't know how I'd be able to get the mafia involved in this when volleyball will be the main focus. I hope you understand, peeps!

Another shameless self-advertising again but I went and actually published a new crossover story with KHRxPJO. I couldn't resist, peeps…

Thank you so much for reading! Leave a thought or two if you can. I'll try to respond to any questions as soon as possible!

I hope to see you in the next chapter!

Have a lovely day~

Little Miss Bunny