A/N: EDITED 17-09-18

Alright, you beautiful humans, you're lucky that I am a fucking fast writer.

I assume some of you have noticed that the first chapter was actually pretty similar to "it's in her blood" and this one will be too, I know that much. The next chapter, however, will bring a lot more new stuff to the story and scenes that had completely eluded me when I first started writing on the first version, so the next chapter may take a little longer to get out, but... yeah.

Thank you guys so much for the response I've received for the first chapter, It's just... I can't even.

ApoptoxinWorshipper, your comment made me cry, thank you for bowing (insert frantic fangirl giggle)

I hope you like this chapter, I actually discovered that I turned the first chapter of the first version into two chapters, which just speaks volumes on just how much I wanted to add to the story.

So, please.

Enjoy (i sound like a waiter).

Scene 2:

The frailty of Humanity

The silence that followed that cringe-worthy sound was even more deafening than the sound itself. Even though it didn't sound at all like a 21st century actually sounded on the dramas, the sound itself had been rather loud and had come so suddenly that the class couldn't find the words anymore.

Takahashi himself looked around the room with a slight smile on his face.

"You see?" he asked, waving the gun in his hand as if that would prove just how harmless it actually was. "Harmless."

Not one eye was turned to Tsuna.

They probably should have been.

Slowly, said girl removed the hand that had, on reflex, flown to clutch at the side of her abdomen, her eyes slowly lowering down to her palm, and much to her horror, she found her fingers covered in a thick, red liquid.

Eyes widening, Tsuna suddenly realized just how hard it was to take a proper breath.

"Blood…" she murmured over the silence.

Because of the state of the class, even such a low voice managed to carry out over the whole room. Especially since it was the first word the absolute majority of them had ever heard her say.

As if on cue, all eyes turned towards her at the same time, just in time to see her knees give out under her weight, forcing her to fall backwards in what probably would have been a very uncomfortable position, or even crashing into the desks behind her, had Yamamoto not still been standing behind her and thus quickly caught her in his arms, gently turning her around as he noticed her breaths starting to come out in hiccups.

He stared down at her stomach, at the pure white fabric of her blouse, and the thick red liquid that was quickly being soaked into it.

"Sawada?" he asked rather frantically as he carefully maneuvered her tiny body to lie on her back, her entire form shaking at the immense effort of simply taking one breath. He cupped his hands over the wound, frantically trying to keep her from bleeding out, but if the blank had pierced an organ, that wouldn't help for long. "Sawada, stay with me." He practically pleaded, staring down at her face.

Her eyes were still open, but as he looked at them, the pain was starting to cloud over the previous glow they had had.

All around them, everyone was in a state of panic.

The students were staring, screaming, shaking one another as they all tried to decide what to do.

Apparently, calling the hospital was too hard for them to figure out.

The worst one off in the situation, however, was Takahashi.

For a long moment, he just stared at Tsuna, at the two large hand cupped over the white blouse that was now turning red at a much slower rate than before. His hand fell at his side, the prop gun falling out of his hand and landing on the tiled floor with a clatter that was swallowed up in the chaos surrounding him.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone in the classroom absolutely froze at the sound of the cold voice that they had all been forced to learn how to distinguish among a thousand of others ever since middle-school. Yamamoto was the only one brave enough to look up at the speaker.

Hibari Kyoya, head prefect of Namimori high and number one law enforcer of the building looked around the room with an expression that promised pain for whoever had caused the chaos.

Then… his eyes fell on the petite girl on the floor, and his expression turned absolutely murderous.

Even though the head prefect was notably on the short side, everyone shrunk away from him when his attention snapped towards the surrounding crowd, not even bothering to address the one person obviously trying to save the life of the one member of the student body.

"Explain." He ordered, his voice even colder than before if that was even possible.

That was the moment Takahashi's legs gave out on him, his brain seemingly not having to even register the head prefects presence as his eyes were still locked on Tsuna's quivering frame, and the prop gun still lay on the floor, not too far away from Takahashi's leg.

That was all the explanation Hibari seemed to need.

Quickly, Hibari fished out his sleep black obsidian type gem-phone apparently out of thin air. No one were within the line of sight to notice him dialing any form of number, they just saw him press the gem to his ear and waited for the call to connect. He worked fast that prefect.

His eyes never once left the pair of hands covering Tsuna's bleeding wound, even though his free hand seemed to be itching to magically produce his weaponry, this was not the time to make more victims. If he did, it would probably take longer for Tsuna to get any form of help, and at the moment, every minute she was still breathing was golden.

After a short, stiff conversation, Hibari ended the call and stuffed his gem away as she stalked over to the girl whose life was slowly draining out of her, his eyes hidden behind his pitch black bangs.

Crouching down opposite Yamamoto, the athlete was shocked then the prefect put his hand on his, though his attention was firmly locked onto the girl, his free hand reaching out to gently cup Tsuna's clammy cheek, almost forcing her to turn her hazy gaze towards him.

"The ambulance will be here in five minutes." He said, his voice the only thing steady in the room, leaving no room for anyone to tell him that no one could predict exactly when an ambulance would arrive. He probably wouldn't allow that either way. "You think you can hold on to then herbivore?"

Yamamoto looked at the prefect in confusion.

Because he was so close to him, he could clearly hear the tone of actual gentle concern in his voice, and the look in his eyes as he said those words…

No, he must be imagining things.

But… even the one word he usually used to demean people with was spoken with endearment…

No!

Imagination, it had to be his imagination.

For a frighteningly long moment, Hibari got no response from her. Then, her lips moved.

"I'll… try…"

The most gentle smirk Yamamoto has ever seen crawled onto Hibari's mouth.

"You're stronger than you look herbivore." He complimented with uncharacteristic gentleness. "Most people wouldn't be able to keep out of delusion in this state." His hand brushed over her mess of hair, moving her bangs away from her sweat covered face.

Loosely, she shook her head.

"Not… strong…" Tsuna denied weakly. "Used… to… pain."

And it was true.

As much as Yamamoto wished to deny it, it was true.

He'd seen her limping home, the bruises forming on her pale skin, and most, if not all, originating from her classmates becoming tired of harassing her with words alone, and thus took to physically hurting her. Pushing her down the stairs, shoving her into walls or lockers, pulling her hair, throwing her to the floor. Anything they could possibly think of that would help them vent their frustrations one way of the other made its way to her.

Both she and Yamamoto were glad that none of it had actually gotten sexual.

Probably because they believed her to be too disgusting for that kind of thing. Which was mean, but none the less a blessing in Tsuna's position.

This thought made Yamamoto feel bad.

He'd never actually been there when any of this abuse happened, but he felt as though he should have done something to at least try and put a stop to it.

Tsuna didn't deserve anything that life put her through.

Yamamoto watched as a look of silent, comprehensive fury spread across Hibari's face before he took a deep, calming breath and closed his steel gray eyes.

He turned his attention to Yamamoto.

"Keep up the pressure on her wound." He instructed. "It's going to give her a few extra minutes at least."

His steel gaze suddenly snapped down to where his own hands were resting on top of Yamamoto's, and he proceeded to retreat his limbs as though the touch of Yamamoto's skin had burnt him.

Quickly, Hibari stood up with a spin, turning him towards the rest of the class, his hard eyes burning with rage that he didn't even bother to try and keep hidden.

"I will not tolerate bullying inside my school." He growled, glaring at everyone around her. His voice had been rather quiet, but just like Tsuna's one word, he was heard by each and every one of them, making their blood freeze over in their veins, and forcing 80% of the students to take a step backward.

These were the students that had actively taken part of the bullying at one part or another.

The ones that hadn't, were easily spotted.

Sasagawa Kyoko almost ran to Tsuna's side, awkwardly falling to her knees at Tsuna's head, trying to navigate her skirt so that it wouldn't show off too much of her legs. Her hands found their way into the girl's hair, gently stroking her over her clammy skin, muttering as many soothing words as she could.

Kurokawa Hana had hesitated before she too had fallen to the floor at Tsuna's shoulder, taking the girl's hand as she muttered to the girl to "prove women were stronger than that".

Class president Kondou Yuki had calmly walked over, carefully adjusting Tsuna's position so that she lay in the most comfortable position possible before she set to packing up Tsuna's things, careful not to actually look at anything for too long before settling the finished bag at Yamamoto's desk at his request.

He would take it to her when she woke up.

The final person was the most surprising one.

It was one of the male students that have shared Tsuna's ballet class since the start of the school year. Going by the name of Fujitaka Sasuke, the ballet dancer had stood there staring at Tsuna, hands clenched and shaking at his sides before he had just as shakily found his legs moving towards Tsuna's trembling body, falling onto the floor where Hibari had just been crouching and let his hands fall on top of Yamamoto's, adding additional pressure on the wound.

Hibari threw a glance back to the scene before he turned his attention to the rest of the class.

"I'll bite you to death."

By the time the ambulance arrived three minutes later, Hibari was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest and one eye permanently focused on the shell-shocked class trembling in the corner, silently thanking the heavens that the head prefect actually hadn't seriously hurt any one of them.

But then again, if he had, Tsuna probably wouldn't have been carried off by the paramedics as quickly as she had been.

Yamamoto and Fujitaka had both been a little reluctant to remove their hands from Tsuna, but the paramedics had been very convincing, and soo, they had wheeled Tsuna out of the building, leaving the remaining students to stare out the window as the ambulance drove away with their classmate.

The head prefect had actually gone with them, they not even bothering to tell him no as he just jumped into the vehicle and they sped away.

He probably wanted to personally make sure that Sawada got the best treatment possible.

Tsuna had passed out about a minute before they had arrived, and this had made many of them almost panic, but Kyoko, the angel, had been caring enough to keep her fingers almost permanently planted on Tsuna's jugular vein, keeping track of her pulse to ensure them all that her heart was still beating.

It had been tricky to pry her away from Tsuna's side as well.

It had been one of the most traumatic experiences the class had ever gone through, something that would most certainly automatically sign them up for individual visits to the therapist in the future.

One student desperately fighting for her life.

One student having to live with his joke backfiring on him.

Five students have desperately tried to make sure that the dying girl would survive for five looong minutes.

And a whole classroom of frightened students having to juggle the shock of having witnessed someone getting injured by a blank bullet and the fear of having to face the punishment of the scariest person in school. And it had been bullying that had landed them all in that position.

As the paramedics had disappeared with Hibari in tow, Yamamoto Takeshi had remained on his knees, staring intently at the blood-stained hands resting in his lap.

Yamamoto had never actually thought about just how fragile a life could be, why should he have? He was turning sixteen in just a few days! And now, he had been forced to experience actually holding such a fragile life in the palm of his calloused hands.

He never wanted to go through something so terrifying again.

The five students stood for themselves, Kyoko's hands resting on Yamamoto's shoulders, Hana staring out the window after the retreating ambulance, Kondou having wrapped her arms around Fujitaka's shoulders, them being childhood friends keeping this from being too awkward.

They all tried to gain some strength from one another as they thought about what they had all been working towards just a few moments ago.

Keeping Sawada Tsunako alive.

Silently, and really without knowing it, all five of them silently agree on one thing.

From that moment on, they would work to stop bullying in their school.

They would do anything, and if what had just happened to Sawada Tsunako was anything to go by, then bullying can be a lot more dangerous than anyone would have liked to know.

Sawada's hands had been covered in flour when the call had arrived at the bakery.

She'd been forced to answer it through vocal commands, and thus the whole staff had gotten to hear the news of their irregular helper having wound up in the hospital emergency ward.

It hadn't taken much for them to convince Nana to leave, ensuring her that everything would be alright and she needed to be with her daughter right now.

And so, there she was, pacing in front of the operation door, it's red light blaring down at her, mocking her with its existence.

She didn't want to know that her daughter was still being operated on, she wanted to know what the hell happened to her in the first place and whether or not she would survive the night!

What would she tell Iemitsu if she didn't make it?

When she'd first arrived at the hospital, she'd been greeted by one of the prefects from Tsuna's school, telling her where to find her daughter before he had left to deal with the situation he had most likely left Tsuna's class in by getting into the ambulance.

Letting out a shaky breath, Nana sank into one of the chairs by the wall, burying her face in her hands.

She should have listened to her instincts that morning.

She shouldn't have let her daughter leave the house.

If she'd just been more confident in her motherly intuition, none of this would have happened!

Nana struggled to keep herself from crying.

Finally, after what felt like ages, The red light went out from above the door.

Nana practically flew to her feet as the doors opened and a doctor walked out, removing the rubber gloves from his hands.

His eyes fell on Nana.

"Mrs. Sawada?" he asked with a breath.

"Yes," Nana answered, hands clenched in front of her chest.

The doctor looked as though he was bracing himself for an incoming punch.

"We have done what we could to the hole in your daughter's stomach." Nana's face paled drastically. Hole? What hole? Why would there be a hole in her daughter's stomach? "But I'm afraid she's lost too much blood, so she'll be out of it for a while as her body get's used to the transfusion."

Nana couldn't take it anymore.

"What happened to her?!" she almost screamed, knowing that should she actually scream in this building, she would most likely get thrown out.

The doctor put a hand in his pockets.

"It would appear that one of her classmates brought a prop gun to school for a school assignment and wasn't aware that even a blank bullet can cause considerable damage if fired at a close enough distance."

Nana's hands found her mouth, forcing herself to keep the tears in.

Swallowing, she looked up at the doctor.

"Can I see her?"

The doctor nodded slowly and guided Nana through the doors.

Nana had never seen her daughter look so weak.

Lying on the operation table with her messy hair fanning out around her, her skin paler than she's ever seen and beads of sweat still clinging onto her face.

It was a frighteningly long time before Nana finally spotted the light rise and fall of her daughter's chest underneath the thin blanket covering her petite body.

She didn't look anything like the strong-willed girl she'd raised.

This girl looked more like a porcelain doll that's been dumped into a pool of water.

Cautiously, Nana reached out to stroke her daughter over the cheek.

"Tsuna-chan?" she whispered, hoping for some form of response. "Tsuna-chan can you hear me?"

It was then that it happened.

CRACK!

It was like the sound of metal breaking, echoing through the room for a split second before all hell broke loose.

It had all started when Nana suddenly felt as though her palm touching her daughter's cheek was on fire, and then Tsuna's whole body erupted into violent spastic movements, thrashing around on the operation table as though she were a fish that had just been taken out of the water.

Nana had been thrown out of the room faster than she'd had the time to blink.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring down at her palm and the red color it had taken on from the contact of her daughter's skin.

She started shaking.

This couldn't happen, it just couldn't.

She was too young, it just couldn't be read, Nana wouldn't believe it.

She told herself that, and yet, her hand slid down into her pocket to retrieve her gem-phone as her feet steered her out of the building.

Inside of a darkened room, an elderly man watched with wide eyes as a flame flickering inside of a transparent crystal ball roared into a blazing inferno.

It was time.

April 20

Monday 2215

Tsuna let out a weak groan as she forced her eyes open.

The first thing that hit her was the sheer brightness of the room, blinding her for a split second before she blinked the light away, the second thing was the pressure surrounding her hand. The last thing, however, was the thing that had almost sent her shooting out of the stiff bed she was lying in.

Before, she had felt as though her body hadn't belonged to her, as though she'd have been wearing a comedically large costume of a school-mascot, several sizes for her to comfortably walk around in, way too heavy for someone of her stature to have on her shoulders, and she also suspected that she might have been severely allergic to the material of which the costume had been made out of. But now…

Never mind the almost ghost-like pain in her stomach, she felt as though someone had finally noticed her predicament with the costume and thus had decided to exchange it for one that was more her size. It was still a few sizes too big, way too heavy and obviously made out of the same material as the first one, but she found that she wasn't quite as bothered by her own body as she'd been before. She tentatively tried to move her limbs to see if anything was wrong with her, but all she found was the pressure around her one hand keeping her arm in place, otherwise, she could find no problems with her motions, aside from her one attempt to move her back sending white-hot pain shooting through her stomach.

The events from the classroom came flooding back to her at the sensation.

She let out another groan.

Of course, of course, she would wound up getting mortally wounded by a prop gun.

When was her bad luck going to turn around?

Slowly, mindful of the wound in her stomach, Tsuna lifted herself off of the mattress, looking down at whatever had weighed down her hand so much.

There was her mother, lying on the mattress from where she was sitting in the visitor's chair and clutching onto her hand as though her life depended on it.

Seeing her mothers usually perfectly maintained hair looking more like her own, Tsuna flashed back to the last time she'd seen her mother, and more importantly, what she'd said.

She sighed.

"Looks like you were right Mom." She whispered, slightly surprised to find nothing wrong with her voice apart from the natural hoarseness that came with the lack of use.

Gently, Tsuna allowed her hand to slide out of her mother's grip, allowing her fingers to stroke over her mother's chocolate strands.

Tsuna couldn't remember the last time she had just had a quiet moment with her mother like this, or even the last time she'd had physical contact with any of her parents.

When was the last time she'd been hugged?

And feeling the grease under her hand, when was the last time her mother had showered?

At the touch of her hand, Nana began to stiffen.

Opening her eyes, Nana was met with those identical pairs of light brown eyes that she had been waiting almost three whole days to see again whilst at her daughter's side. She had only left the hospital to get some sleep and food into her stomach, even the frantic Sakura had been understanding enough to not call Nana in a panic during this time.

"Tsuna-chan!" Nana called out in happiness, tears streaming down her face as she threw her arms around her daughter's neck, hugging her as close to her chest as she allowed herself, fearing that her daughters wound would re-open should she be too violent.

It took a moment before Nana finally let go of Tsuna, sliding back down into the chair as she wiped away the tears from her rosy cheeks.

As Nana filled Tsuna in on what the doctors had said about her needing to stay in bed for a few days before they could apply skin-grafting over the stitches after which point it'd be safer for her to move around without the doctors fearing she might tear the stitching, Tsuna looked around the room, and to her surprise, there were two flower bouquets in there.

Nana explained to her that Takahashi had been so devastated by what had happened that he and his family has sent her flowers from their shop.

Purple Hyacinth's to be exact.

At Tsuna's confused expression, Nana explained that the purple Hyacinth mean "I'm sorry, please forgive me, and sorrow" in the flower language. The flower itself was very beautiful in Tsuna's eyes, and it was kind of nice to have received flowers from someone, and for one of her bullies to have felt back enough for what they had done for them to have actually decided to apologize in such a thoughtful way.

Then again, no one had ever apologized to her before, so that in itself was a nice change.

It was the other bouquet that had really warmed her heart, however.

Nana hadn't known them, but there had been a charming young man with dark brown hair that had come in the day before with his arms filled with dark red roses. Said roses were now in a vase at her bedside table, filling her surroundings with the most lovely scent.

Tsuna reached out her hand, allowing her fingertips to brush over the deep red petals of the closest rose, desperately trying to recall the face of the boy that had given them to her in the first place.

April 21

Tuesday 2215

Tsuna silently cursed the hospital policy of no foreign technology activities within the walls as she turned yet another page in one of the many books her mother had brought her.

She was well aware that humanity was practically locked to the moving screens nowadays, but Nana really had no idea what books Tsuna liked to read, so now she was stuck flicking through the pages of one of the most cringe-worthy "romance" novels Tsuna has ever had the misfortune to get her hands on.

She had nothing against romance, so long as it was a realistic romance, and falling in love with a vampire that did little more than constantly stare at you was definitely not romance.

She'd much rather be reading a book of concept art for a fantasy movie right now, at least that would give her inspiration for future paintings and actually keep her interest.

She'd been so locked in her own thoughts that she'd almost missed the sound of the door opening.

"Yo, Sawada."

The sound of that familiar voice almost made Tsuna drop her book.

Now that she thought back at it, she probably should have allowed that book to drop. Instead, she removed her eyes from the pages and turned her attention to the fifteen-year-old standing in the doorway.

Actually, he'd be turning sixteen in three days, wouldn't he?

"Yamamoto-san?" she asked uncertainly, not even bothering to mark her page in the book before almost snapping it shut in front of her, placing it on the table next to the roses that had somehow managed to keep blooming as she allowed herself to be distracted from that incredibly horrible read.

The athlete was smiling brightly at her as he stalked into the room.

Tsuna couldn't help but notice that there was something tucked under his arm…

"Your Mom called the shop said you woke up." He explained softly, settling down on the visitor's chair next to Tsuna as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Of course, this statement confused Tsuna.

Sure, Yamamoto has almost gone out of his way to being nice to her the past few weeks, but Nana didn't know about that, so why would her mother call Yamamoto's father's shop to tell them she's woken up?

"She… did?" Tsuna found herself asking tentatively, anxiously rubbing her hands together over the sheets.

"Yup." The athlete answered with a bright smile, as though that would answer everything. He leaned back in the chair, making himself comfortable as he looked Tsuna over. "So, how are we feeling?"

Tsuna tried to quell the unease she felt at the question.

It had been strange enough when Yamamoto had started going almost out of his way to being nice to her but was it really necessary for him to visit her in the hospital as well? It only made her rub her hands even harder, the pain helping her confirm that she really was awake and that this wasn't some kind of morphine-induced dream.

Not that she was on any morphine.

Hospitals had exchanged that for another substance that eased the pain on a much more thorough level without having to muddle-up the brain as it did so. And even so, Tsuna wasn't in much need of that, seeing as she wound only hurt whenever she moved around either too much or too quickly.

Something that she managed to do right now.

Sitting up in the bed, Tsuna had completely forgotten herself in her confusion, the pain shooting through her stomach reminded her by forcing her to double over, her hand clutching at the stitching.

"Hey!" Yamamoto exclaimed, almost shooting out of the chair to grab her by the shoulders, carefully laying her back down against the pillows. "Careful."

Staring up at the ceiling, Tsuna thought back at the question the athlete had asked her, slowly waiting for the pain to ebb away before she finally decided to open her mouth.

"Honestly…" she muttered, almost shocking Yamamoto as she did, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I'm feeling better than I have in years."

For a moment, Yamamoto looked at her in confusion, before the look morphed into an expression of disbelief.

"Really?"

Tsuna rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath as she slowly pulled her legs up to her chest, allowing her head to rest on top of her knees in one of the first successful attempts to fold herself in threes since she was shot.

She let her eyes rest on the athlete.

"Wound aside," Tsuna mumbled, taking a deep breath as she tilted her head slightly to the side. "I'm feeling better than I have in years."

Now, Yamamoto just looked confused.

He somehow looked very different than he did when surrounded by their fellow classmates.

She decided to finally put the poor boy out of his misery.

"My body feels more like mine now."

As she expected, Yamamoto looked even more confused than he did before.

"And it didn't before?" he slowly asked after a moment of silence.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna slowly shook her head, messy strands of hair falling in front of her eyes as she allowed her legs to slide just a bit away from her chest.

She locked her eyes with the athlete, her face stone-cold serious.

"No."

For a moment, the two of them just sat in silence, not looking at one another as they thought over the situation in their heads.

Who would have thought that either of them would be there?

This sparked a question inside Tsuna's mind.

Awkwardly turning towards her classmate, she cleared her throat, succeeding in catching his attention.

"Can I ask you something, Yamamoto-san?" she asked timidly.

Seeing her so uncomfortable brought a reassuring smile to Yamamoto's mouth, hoping it would make it easier for her to talk to him.

He never seemed to have a problem talking to her.

"Shoot." It's wasn't until just after he had said it that he realized just how insensitive that word probably was to her, his tanned face paling as the realization hit him.

The word brought a rather uncomfortable look to the young man's face. Groaning in shame, he scratched the back of his neck, looking at her in shamed apologies.

Tsuna just shook her head, swallowing hard as she gathered up the courage to actually ask the question that was burning away at her brain, worried about the possibility that she might insult him.

"Why are you here?"

It may have sounded slightly as if she was complaining, but they both knew that it was more or less a valid question. Whilst Yamamoto may have started to pay more attention to her very existence for the past couple of weeks, he'd never really done anything more than smile and talk to her, anytime before that he had barely looked her way.

Huh… that was a rather sad thought that they have shared the exact same class since middle-school, same school building since they were six. It was like someone was desperately trying to make them interact, and yet nothing had come from their plans, and now Tsuna was in a hospital bed.

Sighing heavily, Yamamoto appeared to be reaching out for Tsuna's hand, only he stopped himself before his fingertips had the chance to brush against her skin.

Fingers clenching, he retracted his limp.

"Sawada…" he sighed, one of his hands scratching at the back of his neck, his fingers weaving into the ruffled black locks at the nape of his neck. "I think it's impossible for someone to have someone else's blood on their hands without feeling the need to be close to the person." He seemed to freeze for a moment, thinking over his words before he started speaking again at a much more hurried pace. "Unless of course, you were the one that shed the blood in the first place, then I really have no idea what you would feel."

Realization dawned in Tsuna's light brown eyes, a stark contrast to his pondering hazel ones.

"You mean…" she swallowed hard, trying to force her words out. "You mean that… you were the one who…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

"I was the one who pressed down on your wound until the paramedics arrived, yes," Yamamoto admitted, once again locking his eyes her hers. Then, a thoughtful look passed over his face. "Well… me and that Fujitaka guy."

Tsuna frowned.

Fujitaka?

She knew that name… where did she know that name?

For a long moment, the two of them just stared at one another.

It was at that moment, Tsuna felt a strange connection to the athlete. It wasn't a romantic connection in the least, but she still felt like her life was somehow connected to his in a way.

She didn't know whether or not that connection had been there all the time and she just didn't know, or if it had come to being the moment he had put his hands on her bleeding stomach, but she knew, she just knew, at the back of her mind, that she was connected to this young man in a way that she had yet to figure out.

"Yamamoto-san…" she muttered, forcing the both of them out of their thoughts. "You saved my life."

This earned her a light laugh and yet another scratch at the back of the neck from Yamamoto.

"I… I guess I did… huh."

They remained there for a while, talking about whatever Yamamoto could think about.

The main subject was about just how school was coping since she was shot, and, according to Yamamoto, their whole class had gotten rightfully punished for everything they had done to her, most of them even loudly declaring that they would never bully another person so long as they lived again. But of course, both she and Yamamoto knew that that declaration wouldn't hold once their lives fell back to the way they were before they once again found that they had to take their frustrations out on something.

What Tsuna found the most relieving news, was that Takahashi had been suspended for his recklessness with the prop he'd brought. Yamamoto heard that he'd even pulled out of Namimori-high, and he would enroll in another school once he felt like he was ready for it.

Surprisingly, Tsuna found herself not dreading the thought of returning to school.

Something told her that her school life would be a lot easier to live once she was finally released from the white-painted walls that were constantly trying to blind her with just how bright they were when the sun hit them from the open windows. Whilst the outside buildings were painted in soft colors so as to not blinded people, the hospital obviously had no such qualms.

She was kind of looking forward to going back to school after so many days of locked up in this prison.

The two classmates had been talking for a few minutes when Tsuna's eyes fell on the something that had completely skipped her attention for several minutes.

It was a school bag, the one that had been tucked in under Yamamoto's arm when he had stepped into the room. It wasn't Yamamoto's own bad, she knew that. Yamamoto had a baseball patch sewn into the front. The bag was now leaning against one of the legs of the chair, just waiting for someone to notice it again.

Biting her lip, Tsuna made up her mind.

"What's that?" she found herself asking.

It had gotten a lot easier to talk to him, considering she hadn't done much talking to anyone in school for a long, long time, and now, here she was, conversing with one of the school's most popular boys as if it was one of the most natural things in the world to her.

Glancing down, Yamamoto's eyes widened.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed, leaning down to fish up the bag from the ground with expert swiftness.

He allowed the bag to fall into his lap, letting Tsuna see it clearly.

It was her school bag, the silver strap sporting a crystal bead with golden wires wrapped artistically around it tied to the zipper being the strongest indicator.

"Kondou packed up your things for you that day." He looked at her somewhat apologetically, obviously apologizing for someone going through her things without asking her first, but she didn't hold it against him. Someone had to take care of her things when she was out after all. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I figured you might want to have them until you can get out of this place." He fingered the handle of the bag, awkwardly clearing his throat. "Of course, I had to turn off your gem and mirror-screen because…" he waved a hand in the air. "Hospital."

Handing Tsuna the bad, he leaned back as he watched her almost frantically zipping it open, strap flying as she looked through her belongings.

Her eyes brightened suddenly, as she fished out a thick, black, leather-bound book sporting what looked like a golden sigil carved and painted into the leather. For a moment, she just sat there, letting her hand run over the detail of the cover, almost entranced at the sight of the object.

To be honest, Tsuna was quite surprised that she got to see this thing again.

Yamamoto watched the look in her eyes. It was such a pure, open expression, one that he had never seen on her before, one that he doubted anyone aside from her own parents had seen before.

"That important to you?" he asked, snatching Tsuna's attention away from the book.

Still smiling lightly, she nodded, turning back to the book.

She had always been worried about keeping her things in school, in case one of her bullies decided to go through her desk and think it to be a "funny prank" to destroy all of her belongings. So having them in front of her, looking like they hadn't been away from her line of vision at all, was a great relief to her.

Looking back at Yamamoto, Tsuna gave him the biggest, most genuine smile that she could ever remember giving anyone for several years.

"Thank you." She breathed, voice barely louder than a whisper.

Slightly taken aback at the sudden smile, Yamamoto had to shake his head before smiling right back at her.

"Don't mention it."

Suddenly, a loud beeping sound rang through the air, almost making Tsuna jump out of her skin.

Yamamoto's hand flew to his wrist where he had a special 21st century styled wristwatch strapped, his thumb jamming down on the screen that was blaring a bright blue light.

The noise immediately died down.

For a moment, Yamamoto just stared down at the annoying noise-maker, finally, he sighed in frustration, tapping on the screen to make sure that the alarm wouldn't start off again.

Grabbing his bag as he got up from the chair, Yamamoto looked down at Tsuna who was looking up at him with a questioning look in her light brown eyes.

"I got to go." The athlete stated, jerking his head in the direction of the door with a somewhat regretful tone to his voice. "Baseball practice starts in about half an hour so-"

"I get it." Tsuna cut him off, her hand raised with her palm facing him.

She was well aware of how much baseball meant to the boy, and she didn't want to be the thing that stood between him and doing the thing he obviously loved.

He smiled gratefully at her.

He shocked her by reaching out his arm, his hand landing on top of her birds-nest for hair and giving it a good ruffle and turned around to exit.

Only for him to pause in the doorway.

"By the way, Sawada."

Looking up from the sketchbook, Tsuna was met with the signature smile that for better or for worse had basically become associated with the athlete.

"You're really good at that." With that said, the athlete nodded down towards the sketch-book. His energetic smile turning more gentle before he gave her a small wave, and disappeared out the door, leaving the girl alone to stroke her hand over her book.

In the span of three days, high-school had actually managed to change her life around in the one way probably no one could have ever imagined. First, there was the mere factor that one of the schools most popular boys had started talking to her, and now she was lying in a hospital bed with a hole in her stomach with doctors currently checking out several tests to try and figure out why she was feeling differently in her own body.

Who would have thought that Tsuna would have had to get shot in the stomach before she got the chance to actually start living?

A/N: So... please tell me what you think and I'll be back with the next chapter as quickly as I can, or if I choose to hold it back until I've got a few more chapters finished because I'm evil like that.

So yeah, I'll be seeing you.

Your Ladyship.