~~Ryohei~~

"WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE TO THE EXTREME!" A white haired boy shouted at the top of his lungs, shrugging on his dress shirt as he ran. Beside him, ran a black haired girl who was struggling to keep up as she pulled a dress over her head.

"I'm sorry." She grumbled, head popping out of the top of the dress.

Reborn had stressed that they not only be punctual, but also presentable, which was extremely hard when your match had run late and as you were running towards Tsuna's allies event, tried fixing yourself up and making yourself look presentable.

"That idiot just wouldn't stay down!" The girl exclaimed, anger returning to her tone. Half way through the match, Ryohei had started telling her that it was time to go. But, the harder she tried to wrap up the match, the harder her opponent fought.

Yes, she had been roped into boxing even though it wasn't her passion. Yes, they were running towards Tsuna's event fresh from their matches. No, there had been no time for a shower. And yes, they were in fact running very late.

"Don't apologize. He was a tough opponent." Ryohei offered the girl a smile.

"Not tough, just persistent." She corrected, pausing to take off her basketball shorts, the bright red just barely visible under the knee length purple and black dress. As she caught up with Ryohei, she shoved the pants into the messenger bag slung across her body, and then pulled out a brush.

"Very admirable." He thoughtfully replied. "We should recruit him!" In his eyes, bright stars shone, as though he thought that was the best idea ever.

However, by recruit, the white haired boxer meant stalk, pester and challenge until they were suckered until joining his boxing club, well that's the story of how he got her to join anyways. Of course he's probably just bother them until they either gave in or beat him up in annoyance, or tried to at least.

"I think he's pretty loyal to his gym Ryo. Didn't you see that tattoo across his chest?" She pointed out out. The place of the gathering had better have refreshments, of not that then at least a water fountain or a soda machine.

"We should still try."

Shaking her head and sighing she said, "No Ryohei." She was speaking from experience. Once, and only once, had she gone on one of his recruiting missions and refused to let him to on another one alone because he had bitten off more than he could chew.

Ryohei is quite honorable, fighting his opponent one on one like he does in the ring. However, not everyone plays by those rules. In fact, he had told her to stay out of the fight even though it was him versus five other guys. And at first, she had been stupid enough to obey, but after one of the fools pulled a knife, another, a gun, she had to get involved. See her passion wasn't boxing, but martial arts and they came in handy then and in several other circumstances.

Together, they had spent the following week in the hospital.

The pair rounded a corner, rather skidded around it, Akari tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground as she strived to catch up with Ryohei, who was at least two strides ahead of her. When she fell, she got right up and continued on, hardly feeling the stinging sensation on her palms and knees, or the feeling of sticky liquid rolling down her leg.

They came to a complete stop just outside of the doors, breathing heavily because the ring was at least four miles away and they had been tired before they started running the entire way. Neither of them would dare enter the building if they did not look presentable, or thought that they would not pass as so, so she asked, "Oi! Do I look alright?"

Alright meant that her looks were passable, because if she recalled correctly, Reborn had threatened them. If they weren't presentable, they were going to die…or something like that. And so they had ran like bats out of hell.

He quickly looked his partner in crime over, and then nodded. "You're bleeding." He pointed out. Other than that, she looked fine. Presentable enough to not get killed. Akari was not the type to dress up, actually, this was his first time seeing her around a dress, let alone in one. Black combat boots covered her feet, there was not an ounce of makeup on her face and she had forming bruises all over her body, maybe wearing a sleeveless dress wasn't the best of ideas, but it was too late now.

Akari let out a quiet cruse but decided that she could pretend to have not noticed the scrape if asked about it. They didn't have band aids, or anything to use to cover the wound. "Well, if you were wondering, you look good as well."

He nodded and as they pushed open the doors, she murmured, "We are so dead."

"TO THE EXTREME!" He shouted his agreement.

Compared to everyone else, the pair was underdressed, however presentable they thought they were. Akair, in her casual dress, Ryohei in his boxing shorts, a white button up shirt and black jacket. Fishing around in her bag, Akari finally pulled out the thing that was missing and handed it to Ryohei. Quickly, he tied it into something that hopefully resembled a bow.

They looked ridiculous, and they both knew it but they had tried their hardest to look presentable.

A screeching noise had the crowd cringing and shrinking back, though it brought everyone's attention to the boy standing awkwardly at the center of the stage.

The only thing between Tsuna and the crowd was the microphone and its stand. A sea of people stretched out before him and he knew that he had everyone's attention. Off to his left Reborn stood, watching him with rapt attention, a small smile on his face.

"U-uh…h-he-good e-evening." He somehow managed to stammer out, as he nervously tugged at his collar. If he didn't have everyone's attention after that ear slitting screech, than he definitely had it now. He looked over at Reborn, golden eyes questioning if he could be done now, because he very obviously didn't want to be upon the stage with everyone's eyes on him.

"WHOOO! YEAH TSUNA!" Akari shouted, her voice carrying all the way to the front of the large room and reaching Tsuna's ears. "WE LOVE YOU TSUNA!" She cheered, jumping and waving at the boy, a huge smile on her face.

"TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei shouted, punching the air above his head, an equally large smile on his face.

"Yeah!" She gave Tsuna a two finger salute and then punched the air just like Ryohei had. Another shout and a fist pump reached Tsuna's ears, it was Gokudera, followed by Dino and a girl who stood next to Enma.

Tsuna looked embarrassed at the encouragement and the support of his friends, but, proceeded to thank everyone for coming and then got the heck off that stage hoping that his little speech was acceptable in Reborn's eyes.

The music started up again and the socializing resumed.

Crowded places weren't her scene, unless she was in a ring, beating opponents and the crowd surrounded the ring. But here, there was no ring, so Akari turned to Ryohei and said, "Hey, I'm leaving M'k?" And with that she started heading for the door, which wasn't too far away.

Before she could get far, he grabbed her upper arm, and as she gave him a confused look said, "No. Don't you want to say hi to Tsuna?"

"Nah. I'll do that tomorrow." She didn't feel like fighting her way to the front of the crowd, and then all the way back to the door. Not only that but she could tease Tsuna tomorrow at school. It would all be in good humor though.

"Alright." He let go of her arm and started forwards.

Only, without thinking, she grabbed his wrist and when he turned around said, "Hey…um…wanna grab a bite to eat and then practice a bit more at my place? There's this move my opponent used that I haven't seen before, I kindda wanna figure it out if you wouldn't mind helping me…" Yes, Akari realized how much her suggestion sounded like a pathetic request for a date, it's just she had grabbed his wrist before she had fully thought things through.

The upcurving of his lips and the baring of his teeth lit up his face. "Sure thing. Just sit tight and let me say hi to Tsuna real quick and then we can be on our way."

Nodding, she let go of Ryohei, took a deep breath and watched him disappear into the crowd.

They both knew that boxing was not her passion, and Ryohei was ok with that, he admired her hard to break will, which was the key to winning. You break their will and you have won the fight. They both knew that boxing was never going to be her passion, but what he didn't know was that somehow the loud, occasionally obnoxious, very forgetful, extremely enthusiastic, white haired boy had wrestled his way into her heart. And so even though boxing wasn't her passion, Ryohei was.

one day she would tell him, or he would figure it out, as unlikely as the later was, but, until then, they would just continue on as they had been.

A/N: I would greatly appreciate a few reviews. Your opinions and feedback are greatly appreciated considering I've never worked with half of these characters. But, I thank you for your views and your favorites and follows.

And thank you to those who have reviewed.

NEXT UP IS: Belphegor