Summary: He didn't want to... but he had to. Leaving behind those he had deemed precious with a heavy heart, he swore to be stronger without them. Those that he left behind were kept in the dark, not knowing why he left. What will happen when they discover the truth behind his disappearance? Loyalty...or betrayal? Post-Future Arc. Cover image belongs to Palettesky, not me.

Note: Chrome had transferred to their class one week after they arrived back from the future

Disclaimer: Akira Amano owns Katekyo Hitman Reborn

The two Guardians stared at the empty desk of their friend, not bothering to listen to the lesson (Gokudera because he already knew it and Yamamoto because he didn't care). They both had zoned out and were deep in thought about Tsuna's disappearance. Tsuna was more than their boss: he was their friend, just like how they were more than his Guardians. They couldn't help but feel worried when Tsuna hadn't come to school for the whole week, still not back from whatever he was doing. All the Guardians, except Lambo, agreed to meet up at the rooftop during lunch to discuss Tsuna's disappearance.

The bell rang for lunch; Gokudera and Yamamoto practically leapt out of their seats in their desperation to get to the Guardian meeting. When heading out of the classroom, however, they found their way blocked by their classmates.

"Yamamoto, you haven't come to baseball practice for a while now. Are you planning on coming back any time soon?" a baseball teammate asked.

"Sorry sorry! I've been busy. I don't think I'll be able to make practice any time soon though." Yamamoto replied, his trademark grin on his face as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck in apology. His teammates frowned at his answer, obviously wondering what was keeping their ace player from playing his favorite sport. As Yamamoto was occupied with his teammates, a flock of girls approached Gokudera, who was uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving.

"Neh, Gokudera-san. Now that Dame-Tsuna is gone, you could spend more time getting to know us, right?" One of the girls asked innocently. It was obvious that they were jealous of the attention that Tsuna had with the two most popular students in the school, three if you count Kyoko. Gokudera glared at the girls' stupidity as they continued to pester him and insult his beloved boss. Yamamoto noticed this; he too was getting annoyed at the persistence of the baseball team. Their classmates had never seen Tsuna outside of his dame self, so they don't know the Tsuna that they look up to. The two Guardians struggled to escape the persistent questioning of their classmates; they were eager to go up to the rooftop to discuss about their missing friend. All discussion stopped as they heard a quiet voice coming from the back of the classroom.

"Umm…If you guys don't hurry up, then we will be late…" The girls surrounding Gokudera turned around to see Chrome walking toward the two Guardians, head turned down to avoid the glares of their classmates as she waited patiently for them to finish their conversations. Instead of everyone leaving, they immediately redirected their attention to the timid girl, chastising her for spending so much time with Gokudera and Yamamoto. Chrome looked uncomfortable at the fury of the girls and the baseball team; all she wanted to do was alert the two Guardians about the wrath of Hibari that they were going to receive for arriving late to the rooftop meeting. It had, after all, taken a lot of persuasion and a few bruises to convince him that it was imperative that he had to go (along with the threat of his battle partner disappearing for good).

"Stop it." Everyone froze and turned around to see the source of the stern voice, shocked to see that it came from Yamamoto. The Rain Guardian had snapped, which was unusual for the usually calm and tranquil Guardian. His expression was cold and piercing, his normally bright eyes dark and overcast in anger. His hands were clenched in tight fists, shaking from the effort to stop himself from punching something. Gokudera stood behind him, his usual angry scowl plastered on and his fingertips itching to take out his dynamite. He knew, however, that harming innocent people would deeply upset his absent boss and refrained from doing so, but just barely. It would also greatly anger Hibari, who was already annoyed at having to go to their meeting. Therefore, he knew that Yamamoto could take care of it, since his interference would leave their school as a pile of rubble (and Hibari hard on his tail).

An involuntary shiver passed through the crowd, not understanding what caused Yamamoto's anger but knowing that one false move could definitely set him off. The crowd of students parted for Yamamoto as he made his way to Chrome, who still looked slightly unnerved but otherwise fine. Gokudera followed close behind, glaring at anyone that still stared at Chrome. "Are you ok?" Yamamoto asked quietly, his gaze softening as he glanced over the fragile Guardian. The mist Guardian nodded and relaxed slightly as the Story and Rain turned to face the now cowering students.

"You guys don't have the right to talk about Tsuna like that. You don't know him at all," the Rain Guardian stated simply, glaring one last time to get the message across before walking out the door, Gokudera and Chrome close behind him. As soon as they left, everyone ran out the door in an attempt to follow the trio, wanting answers about his vague statement. But when they reached the hallway, there was no one in sight, the hallway empty and deserted, leaving everyone confused as the same thought ran through their thick heads.

"What is so special about Dame-Tsuna?"

Back in Italy, a young mafia boss sneezed several times without warning.

"I made an illusion hiding us, so that no one will follow us," Chrome said quietly, wanting to let the two Guardians know that there was no risk of being followed as she clenched her materialized trident. She too was upset after watching their classmates talk about Tsuna like he was worthless. "Boss" was the one that took her in and the first to accept her after she was abandoned by her family, after Mukuro-sama.

Both of the Guardians relaxed at Chrome's words, no longer needing to worry about their classmates following them. They were tired of dealing with their classmates and the ridiculous rumors that they came up with about Tsuna's disappearance. The rumors varied greatly, from Tsuna having moved away to Tsuna being in a hospital after jumping off a cliff (random, but it was clear from the rumors that the students believed that Tsuna had enough of his stupidity and attempted suicide). For the majority of the week, they ignored the rumors (with the exception of Hibari, who claimed that the rumors were "disturbing the peace").

Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I think I overdid it there," he said as they continued hurrying to the rooftop.

"Che. They deserved it after what they said about the Juudaime. They don't know anything about him." Gokudera turned to face Yamamoto, anger still glinting fiercely in his eyes. "They deserved that and more. Those idiots! We should have beaten them for disrespecting the Juudaime that way!"

"Now now Gokudera. I think that they got the message." After seeing Yamamoto's anger, it was clear that their classmates knew not to talk down on Tsuna in front of them. It wouldn't stop the rumors and gossip, but at least it would make the situation a bit better.

Chrome could only nod in agreement; they all heard the rumors and struggled to keep their feelings under control, with varying degrees of success. It was no surprise that one of them would eventually snap, it was just a question of when and who. Gokudera and Chrome weren't particularly surprised that Yamamoto was the one that snapped first, since Gokudera snapping would be dangerous and Chrome would leave them mentally unstable. At least Yamamoto had the most control over his actions despite being angry.

They arrived at the rooftop and burst through the door, gratefully taking in the fresh air after being seated in the classroom for so long. It wasn't long, however, before they noticed a flash of steel on the other side of the rooftop.

"I will bite you to death for being late, herbivores."

The three Guardians look around the rooftop to see Ryohei and Hibari already there waiting. Hibari, however, had his tonfas out and looked annoyed at being called to a meeting where the Guardians were late. Ryohei, who was standing behind Hibari, was desperately trying to calm him down. They tensed in preparation of a fight; Hibari is always unpredictable.

"Hibari! Let's extremely let them off the hook this time. We have extremely more important stuff to talk about!" Ryohei persisted, one hand on Hibari's shoulder in order to restrain the cloud Guardian if needed. After a minute of hesitation, Hibari sheathed his tonfas and walked to the edge of the roof, leaning on the fence as if avoiding the "crowding of herbivores". Sensing that Hibari won't attack them at the moment, the three Guardians relaxed and made their way to the center of the roof, where they were joined by Ryohei as they sat down in a circle.

"Where were you guys?! I extremely had to convince Hibari to stay here, not to mention that this is an EXTREME meeting!"

"Sorry sorry! We got held up by our classmates." Ryohei became quiet after that and Hibari listened intently, suppressing the urge to go punish some more herbivores. The rumors had spread all throughout the school; there was no one that didn't know that Tsuna was missing.

"A-anyways, we should get started," Chrome said, still holding her trident to keep the students away from the rooftop. They didn't want anyone to overhear or interfere with their meeting.

"Yeah! Where extremely is Sawada?! I extremely didn't see him all week!" At this, Yamamoto and Gokudera looked away, worry evident in their expressions. It was Chrome that answered, having heard from them the first day.

"Boss…isn't home," she said quietly. "He left…"

"WHAT?! I EXTREMELY DID NOT KNOW THIS!" Ryohei looked upset that he wasn't informed of this earlier; the three Guardians were hoping that Tsuna would come back later in the week. Ryohei thought that Tsuna was sick, or had some logical reason for not being able to come to school.

"The herbivore isn't in Namimori," Hibari corrected. The four Guardians turned toward the cloud Guardian. Hibari was examining Hibird, who had just landed on his outstretched finger. No further explanation was needed as to how Hibari knew. After coming back from the future, the Guardians knew not to question Hibari's extensive information network.

"Then…where did the Juudaime disappear to? Don't tell me that he was abducted by UMAs!" Everyone sweat dropped at the ridiculous idea. Hibari stood up and began heading toward the door.

"Hibari-san, where are you going?" Yamamoto asked. The cloud Guardian glanced back before continuing toward his destination.

"I despise crowding with herbivores. And there are some that need to be bitten to death." Hibari left, leaving an awkward silence between the remaining Guardians. After a while, they continued brainstorming reasons as to why Tsuna had left.

"Maybe Tsuna wanted to play hide and seek?"

"Stupid sword freak! Why would then Juudaime do that?!"

"Shut up octopus-head! I extremely didn't hear you give a better idea!"

"What was that lawn-head?! At least I had an idea!"

"What?!"

Gokudera and Ryohei stood up, bumping heads as if trying to prove that they are right. It took the combined effort of Yamamoto and Chrome to get the two hot-headed Guardians to calm down and resume the meeting. After a few more minutes…

"Maybe…the Juudaime is training outside of the city?" Gokudera suggested.

"That would extremely make sense!"

"I see! That's why the kid left with him!"

"Boss…"

"Yosh! That means that we have to train too! We can't let the Juudaime be the only one powered up when he gets back!" All the Guardians cheer and leave the rooftop to begin preparations for their own training. Chrome stays behind, a bit hesitant about the conclusion that they came up with. Although it was a sensible one, she knew that Boss wasn't the type to disappear without warning for so long. She knew how much Boss cared for them, how concerned he was about their wellbeing.

She gasped, an idea having popped up about Tsuna's disappearance. "Maybe…" she speculated. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar laughter in her head.

Kufufufu. An interesting conclusion, my dear Chrome.

"Mukuro-sama?" Chrome asked, waiting for a reply. There was no answer, simply silence from the second mist Guardian, as if hiding what he knows about Tsuna's disappearance.

A/N: Hello there! I hope you are satisfied with this longer chapter. :D But the next chapter may be updated in 2 weeks because of school...the latest will be January 20th. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I had a bit of trouble writing it...But I imagined them coming to the wrong conclusion. Tsuna actually leaving them is too unbelievable after all.

Ciao Ciao~

Pikachu

Published 6 January 2013

Updated 24 March 2013