Ryohei would be honest if he said that Tsuna and Takeshi were the last people he expected to see in his hospital room after an "extreme!" training accident resulted in both his legs being broken. To be fair, the driver hadn't expected him to be running past right as he pulled out.

The boxing team had given him their condolences...but there was a sharp undercurrent of relief that they were rid of him and his extreme training for a few months. Kyoko had come by already with flowers, but she was just happy he was alright and only suffered a few broken bones.

So when the baseball star and the so called "no good" of the school showed up, he was very surprised.

"What are you extremely doing here?" asked Ryohei. Though he was happy they had come at all. At most he expected a few visits from his sister and that was it.

"Well I remember how bored out of my mind I was without baseball for almost two and a half months, so I figured why not come to cheer you up?" laughed Takeshi.

"I came because he's still learning to play," said Tsuna flatly. And because Takeshi couldn't teach to save his life.

"That is extremely awesome!" said Ryohei, happy.

Tsuna eyed the boy oddly, as if sizing him up for something. What, Ryohei couldn't begin to guess.

He muttered something about wind, though Ryohei couldn't be sure.

The next day, Takeshi brought over some CD's, though it wasn't the genre he listened to. Though he didn't really have a set music preference, because usually he just listened to whatever someone else put on.

"What's this?"

"It's a type of musical instrument. With how loud you are normally, Tsuna said it might suit you pretty well. It's often used to announce the morning wake up on army bases, for instance."

The CD's were all trumpet-based.

After hearing Ryohei talk at his normal volume, Tsuna immediately pegged him as someone who could enjoy it. If only because you could hear it over the 'extreme' yelling.

Takeshi had laughed and jokingly accused Tsuna of trying to corrupt people with classical music. At least the ones he liked anyway.

Hibari had firmly vetoed any instrument playing, and Tsuna apparently couldn't see him as a singer.

(A fact that thoroughly amused Hibari's uncle, who was the source of all the classical Chinese music Hibari gave him. Fon was nice, if a bit strange and he didn't mind teaching Tsuna some Chinese Kempo during the summers. At least Tsuna could throw a proper punch now and not look like an idiot.)

Ryohei listened to them after Takeshi left...it was less boring than the TV, and the music was lively and fun.

The next day Tsuna came along with him, though he was rather nervous about it.

"So what do you think?"

"It was extremely good! What sort of instrument was that?"

Before Tsuna could reply, the door opened to reveal Ryohei's little sister Kyoko. The boy froze and seemed to melt into the surroundings.

Kyoko seemed surprised to see the two there.

"Takeshi-kun? Tsuna-kun?"

Tsuna looked very much like he'd love to be anywhere but there at that moment. It was obvious to Ryohei the boy had a one-sided crush on his sister, but was too afraid to even consider acting on it. Takeshi's face went blank, though the fake smile was firmly in place.

"Hello, Sasegawa-chan," said Takeshi.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I could commiserate not being able to practice for months on end. So we decided to bring something to distract Ryohei-sempai and hopefully cheer him up about not being able to train for two months," said Takeshi.

Kyoko noticed the CD's, and her face brightened.

"Oh, you want to try and convince Onii-san to play the trumpet?"

She looked almost relieved about that for some reason.

"Well we can show him how to read the sheet music, but he'd have to learn how to play on his own," admitted Takeshi.

"I didn't know you could play, Takeshi-kun."

Takeshi didn't need to feel the light kick from Tsuna to keep quiet.

"Well I'm still not very good, but Tsuna is a fan of classical music and knows a few things."

"How about I get us some drinks?" said Tsuna, unable to face his crush at all. He was still terrified of telling anyone he could play the violin. He was out of the door before Kyoko could say anything.

Ryohei looked confused, and Takeshi just looked tired.

"Was it something I said?" asked Kyoko, confused.

"No, Tsuna's just skittish about his hobby. Very skittish, and will deny it if asked," said Takeshi.

"Why?"

Takeshi leveled an odd look at Kyoko, one Ryohei didn't like very much. It practically screamed "You know why."

Still, they managed to make small talk until it was time to leave. Though the next day Ryohei confronted Takeshi about it.

"What was that about?"

"You mean about yesterday?" asked Takeshi. He wasn't smiling, which Ryohei knew was a major tell.

The older boy nodded.

"You know Kyoko-chan is in our class. What you aren't aware of is that outside of me, her and her friend Hana are the only people who haven't bullied Tsunayoshi or mocked him with the degrading nickname of 'dame-Tsuna'. Even the teachers use it against him," said Takeshi, rubbing his eyes.

Ryohei blinked.

"Seriously?"

Takeshi sighed.

"It's to the point where Tsuna can't even speak of his hobby or relax around others without fearing he'll be mocked or have it used against him. I only found out by accident, and it took a lot of work for him to trust I wasn't just trying to get close to him in order to make his life even more miserable by pretending to be his friend," said Takeshi. "He's the one who had the CD's, by the way."

"...And my sister?"

"She stays out of it, for the most part. Which is about the only reason I can remain civil," said Takeshi bluntly.

And the main reason he had considered visiting Ryohei at all. He knew Kyoko was the older boy's sister, and he wouldn't have brought Tsuna if she had participated in his torment.

"What's his hobby?" asked Ryohei.

"He plays the violin. He became a fan of classical music because of it, though he's terrified to speak up or play in front of others," said Takeshi smiling. "He thought you might enjoy the trumpet because it's as loud as you are, and it requires an 'extreme' lung capacity."

Which Ryohei almost certainly had, if the amount of yelling he did was any indication.

The boxer mulled over this new information. While he did love boxing, he had seen the relief in his sister's eyes when she heard he might take up learning the trumpet. She worried about him and the fights he got into.

He still couldn't read sheet music, but at least he had something to do on the weekends that made his sister happy.

He was, however, banned from the "rooftop practice" partly due to the fact that he still wasn't very good at playing, but mostly because he was too loud for Hibari to tolerate.


Tsuna, Age fifteen...

He had a bad feeling all day, and it only solidified when his mother told him about the new "home tutor".

Home tutor meant less time practicing or helping his friend with their own music. It also meant a higher risk of his hobby being found out.

Sadly, he was outvoted on the matter.

And it only got worse when he saw who his home tutor was.

"Ciaossu."

The baby, who was absolutely terrifying, was like something out of his nightmares.

Mafia? Really? As if his life wasn't bad enough now he was being roped into becoming a mafia boss?

Tsuna despaired, and could only hope to slip out fast enough to practice later. Somehow, he doubted it.

Reborn POV...

Tsuna was interesting. There was a large number of classical music CDs in his room, particularly the violin. And several pieces of sheet music, which was really strange.

Strange, in that he didn't see a single instrument in the room or any indication Tsuna knew how to play one.

His file certainly never indicated the boy had any musical talent, as he was a failure in everything. It barely registered the fact he had three possible friends, or close acquaintances.

Oddly, all three of the people mentions were Flame Latent and very good prospects for his Guardians. The Rain kid in particular seemed to already be displaying several qualities of being a good Guardian, though possibly as his left hand man. He had a natural hit man's aura.

And then Reborn hit him with a bullet, and Tsuna's day went straight to hell.

To be fair, he was blaming the fact that clearly Reborn knew Fon which only lead to his secret desire to at least prove to Hibari he wasn't a total "herbivore", and was really the omnivore Hibari sometimes hinted he could be.

Hence why he ran straight past Kyoko and to Hibari instead, and went into a familiar rhythm of attack and defend.

And when the five minutes were up, Tsuna barely had time to register the sight of the tonfa before he was knocked out cold.

It was official. Reborn was an asshole.


Tsuna woke up to find a less than amused Hibari, a speculative Reborn and a concerned Takeshi.

"What was that about?" asked Takeshi.

Tsuna, without hesitation, pointed at the fake baby with the lizard.

"Blame him," he said flatly with as much annoyance as he could possibly muster.

"Hmph. You need more practice omnivore," said Hibari before he left. There was the spare uniform he left in the disciplinary committee room for the times he got his original one dirty.

It took Tsuna a few seconds to register what the older teen had said before he beamed brightly at the retreating Hibari's back.

He called me an omnivore!

Which meant Hibari thought he had improved past his old self enough to warrant some respect. Coming from the violent teen, it was a high compliment.

"I wasn't expecting you to challenge that particularly vicious Cloud as your last regret," said Reborn oddly.

"It's all your fault. If you hadn't reminded me of Fon-sensei, I never would have remembered how much I wanted to prove to Hibari-san that I'm not a total weakling," said Tsuna, wincing. Hibari never pulled his punches for anyone.

Reborn suddenly went still.

"How do you know Fon?"

"He teaches me Chinese Kempo during the summers and brings sheet music from China," said Tsuna eyeing Reborn oddly. "He's actually really nice, even if he does almost resemble Hibari-san."

Most people seemed to think there was a strong resemblance between the two, which Tsuna never really understood.

Fon's eyes were more slanted, kinder and were far more tired. His hair was a lot less feathery than Hibari's, and it was longer to boot. Besides, they felt too different.

Hibari felt like wild and free, whereas Fon felt like a barely controlled hurricane.

When he said as much to the two of them, Hibari had huffed...but had looked rather pleased. Fon had just looked amused.

Come to think of it, that was around the time Hibari started hinting he could be upgraded to "omnivore"...

"Why do you have so much sheet music?" asked Reborn. Because that had been bothering him.

"I like classical music," said Tsuna shrugging.

"Ahaha... Tsuna doesn't mind us borrowing his sheets to practice with."

Mostly because he knew them so well he didn't really need them anymore, but the others could use all the help they could get.

"By the way, Hibari said that you could skip out on practice today, since he didn't think you'd be up to it after the beating he gave you."

Tsuna winced at the reminder. At least Hibari had avoided his arms on principle, because there was no way Tsuna could have handled not being able to play for months.

He was barely able to handle going to class, and inwardly he was cursing Reborn in his head for causing this mess.

Attracting attention only brought pain! It was a lesson he had learned instinctively years ago, and one he had kept in mind whenever he considered playing in front of others.

Still, the damage was done. Everyone had seen him fight Hibari and actually avoid being bitten to death using a competence no one had expected of him in martial arts.

Tsuna wilted under the looks of the other students. There was a reason he didn't talk about his hobbies.