A/N: Thanks to all that reviewed! Those really keep me going guys so don't hesitate to tell me what you liked or disliked about the chapter. I can only grow as an author if I get good or constructive criticism.

This chapter, like I said in the one previous, covers chapter 8 of the manga only, and will be told from Yamamoto's point of view. Sadly, I couldn't get as much 8059 interaction as I wanted in this, but it's a start guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter for what it is. I look forward to the chapters to come where Gokudera and Yamamoto start interacting more often, and I have a feeling that you guys are too! =)

Thanks again for GStorm59's help in editing my chapters. You rock for being able to put up with me! XD

Family Entrance Test

It was a beautiful morning for a jog. I couldn't help but feel that way as I donned my track suit and started making my regular laps around the neighborhood before school. The cast to my right arm had finally been taken off a couple days ago, so it made it easier for me to work out now. After all, I had to get back in shape for my baseball team. I was still placed on the back-up team (which wasn't surprising; since I didn't start off too good in the season, and because I had broken my arm), but I knew that with some strength training to get my right arm back into shape and with more focus, I might be able to change my coach's mind about transferring me to the starting team.

As I returned home to take a quick shower, change into my school uniform, and scarf down some breakfast, I packed my baseball gear into the duffel bag I hadn't used for the past month. Today was my first official day back at practice since my health absence (I still attended club meetings after school; but just to watch), and I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for it. I had been craving to play baseball for weeks! So with my school bag, bento, and baseball gear in tow, I made my way to school with a spring in my step.

Sometimes it felt a little weird when I looked back on my actions a month ago. I had reacted too rashly, and rather stupidly, after I had broken my arm. Thanks to Tsuna, I could continue living my life now; and my arm had even healed just fine! The doctor said that playing baseball wouldn't be a problem! If I had actually ended my life a month ago, I would have done it all for nothing; and for that, I was really grateful to Tsuna. We had become great friends over the course of the month after my accident. I had tried joining his mafia game with Gokudera (the interesting transfer student), but they had denied me, which I think was mainly because Tsuna didn't want me to accidentally injure my arm again. I wasn't sure on Gokudera, but I had a good suspicion that he didn't like me for some odd reason, haha. Either way, I hoped that I could find a way to make things up to Tsuna, since I owed him my life. I wasn't going to dwell on hardships anymore and think of baseball as more important than anything else. There was more to my life out there somewhere, and I knew I would find it someday, but, until then, I was still planning on getting into the major leagues! After all, it was still my dream, so it was a waste not to go after it.

Cutting my thoughts short as I arrived at my destination, I made my way to the front of the school where I was more than ready to drop off my heavy club gear in my locker (I didn't have enough time to take it to the club room at the moment. I would have to wait until after school). It was there that I saw a familiar looking mass of messy brown hair attached to the top of a rather short student's head. With newfound excitement, I rushed over to walk beside the younger male where I was able to catch him yawning and rubbing at his eyes with one of his hands.

"Yo, Tsuna!" I greeted with my happy-go-lucky smile as I slowed my pace down to walk beside my newfound friend. Tsuna was an amazing guy; even though he didn't show it too often, and everyone still called him, 'No-Good-Tsuna'. And actually, if I thought about it, it was amazing that Tsuna could be so bad at so many things; but that's what made him interesting, hahaha! Plus, he was a really nice and thoughtful guy, so what wasn't to like?

"Yamamoto!" My newest, and probably best, friend exclaimed in slight surprise, lowering his hand from his sleepy eyes. "Mornin'!"

Seeing how tired the guy really looked, I couldn't help but poke a little fun at him.

"Lack of sleep? You have bags under your eyes." I laughed jokingly as I placed my right arm on his shoulder in a friendly gesture. I tried not to put too much pressure on my arm though, since it was still somewhat weak from being in the cast so long. I had also bandaged it recently from a bruise I received from weight training when I had tried to strengthen it again.

"Er…Ah…" Tsuna mumbled out in hesitation, his facial features morphing into exhausted annoyance as he thought over his lack of sleep. "Some stuff happened…"

I could feel one of my eyebrows raise as I glanced at him curiously. Actually, some interesting things had been happening to Tsuna during the last couple of days. Last Friday, some cute little lost kid in a cow suit showed up and attached himself to Tsuna's leg, and then Gokudera's sister even showed up! She seemed nice enough, even though I felt a dangerous vibe coming from her. I just thought that maybe that was a genetic thing though, since I got that same vibe from Gokudera every day, haha! The both of them also showed up again last Saturday when the girls made rice balls for the guys in our class for home economics. And then some teenager with wavy black hair, and one good eye showed up from out of nowhere too, and Gokudera's sister ended up smashing a cake into his face before he disappeared again. So really, a ton of strange stuff had been happening around Tsuna lately, and I totally couldn't blame him for looking exhausted. I don't even know how to explain half of it, hahaha!

"Well," I started again after I had thought over the past few days, "as long as you're not sleep deprived due to studying, that's good."

"Eh?" My smaller friend questioned me as he turned to give me a curious look. Apparently he hadn't caught my joke.

"If you studied more often, I'd lose my failure buddy, right?" I jokingly explained as I grinned towards Tsuna. I couldn't even begin to count how many remedial and summer classes I had taken with him, haha!

The smaller boy's eyes lit up in understanding before he started laughing with me too. And as we laughed together while we walked towards the school, I elbowed Tsuna in the shoulder with my right arm, giving him a friendly shove. My smaller friend careened to the side a bit with a surprised shout, but steadied himself just in time before he fell over. Whoops, I guess I was so used to my baseball teammates that I forgot that Tsuna wasn't as sturdy as them, haha! I have to remember to be a little less rough!

Tsuna only laughed it off though, which gave me more incentive to try my previous actions again, this time with less force. As I tested out my friendly shove again, I elbowed Tsuna in the shoulder in a lighter fashion. Apparently, Tsuna was weaker than I thought, because he was pushed off to the side in the exact same way as before. Maybe I just don't know my own strength too well…?

Anyways, I decided then that maybe it would be safer if I didn't give Tsuna anymore friendly shoves. He looked wary of standing close to me now, even though he was still laughing slightly, haha!

Giving Tsuna an apology for my rough behavior, we made it to class with time to spare. Surprisingly enough, Gokudera arrived to class just seconds before the bell rang; which was really unusual. Gokudera was usually here before either me or Tsuna, so to see him almost arriving to class late was a little strange; not to mention he looked downright furious too. I gave him a questioning glance as he passed by me on the way to his seat. He responded by sitting at his desk and sending me the most heated death glare I had ever received from a person in my entire life. That was saying something, since I was used to Gokudera glaring at me all the time (I still didn't know why he didn't like me. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I always bothered Tsuna and him about if I could join their mafia game so much?).

What was even more strange, as I sat around eating lunch with Tsuna and Gokudera on the roof (which had become a normal custom for us during the last few days), was that Gokudera was deadly silent while we ate. He was usually yelling at me and being overly friendly with Tsuna, but he didn't even glance in Tsuna's direction during the whole lunch period. All he did was sit there and tear into his sandwich like it had done him a personal wrong. Maybe Gokudera needed to drink more milk? I heard that frustration in people was usually caused by a lack of calcium.

When our awkward lunch period was over, and as we started heading back down for our afternoon classes, I felt a hand roughly grab my shoulder as I started following Tsuna down the stairs from the roof. Tsuna didn't take any notice of this though, since he kept on walking down without us.

I could feel confusion turn within me as I turned around to see who the culprit was. Unsurprisingly (since it had only been the three of us on the roof), Gokudera had been the one to roughly grab me. And, from what I could see of him in the gloomy stairway, he looked downright pissed.

"Meet me down by the tennis courts, near the line of trees, after school." He growled out before he roughly pushed passed me, leaving no room for arguments as he stomped down the stairs in an angry huff. I almost fell from the shove, and barely caught my balance by grabbing onto the stair railing. I could only look on as Gokudera left my sight, my mind filled with so many questions as to what this whole thing was about. Had I done something to offend him?

Shaking my head at this, since the only thing that Gokudera seemed to be around me was either angry, offended, or both, I just walked back to class; trailing after my classmates. Gokudera sure was an interesting guy…


As the final bell rang for the school day, I headed towards the area Gokudera had asked me to meet him at with a feeling of apprehension. I hoped that Gokudera wouldn't keep me too long, since I had to get to baseball practice.

With my duffel bag full of sports gear strapped around my shoulders, I finally arrived at the area outside the tennis courts near the line of trees that Gokudera talked about. Sure enough, the feisty, foreign exchange student was waiting for me with a sour look on his face (did this guy ever smile?). I was easily able to see that there was no one around, or nearby for that matter, as I approached him. And I couldn't help but feel like the other guy was actually calling me out to a fight. Truth be told, even though Gokudera was rather violent with his actions (from what I've noticed during the past month), I really had nothing against the guy. And, more than ever, I couldn't really afford to get into a fight either. One reason was because my arm had just healed enough to the point that I could actually play baseball again, and the other was because I could easily get suspended from the team if I was caught participating in a fight.

These were the only things I could think about as I stood a foot away from a glaring Gokudera. I scratched the bottom of my chin out of nervousness, waiting for what he was about to do, but he just continued to stare at me. If it was even possible, I think Gokudera's eyes narrowed even further in animosity towards my previous actions. Just what had I done to deserve so much of his anger?

My nervousness only increased as Gokudera started circling around me then like a predator to its prey; eyeing me up and down with a calculating glare.

"Hey, Gokudera?" I asked with slight hesitance in my voice as I continued to scratch my chin out of nervous habit; Gokudera really looked ready to pounce on me at this point. "What's up with calling me out and doing a silent stare down?"

Gokudera didn't even bother with responding to my question as he stopped in front of me again, his scowl transforming into a grimace. Was he looking at me with disgust now?

Still completely confused with what was going on, I just remembered my earlier thoughts to lack of calcium causing frustration. At that, I was reminded that I had gotten some milk from the vending machine before I left school, since I had wanted to drink a carton before practice. Seeing as someone else probably needed it more than me at the moment, I quickly rifled through my duffel bag and presented the little carton to Gokudera.

"You should drink some milk." I told him with complete seriousness in my voice and facial features (after all, if all Gokudera needed was more calcium, maybe we could get along better in the future?). "Frustration is usually caused by lack of calcium."

A look of complete surprise overcame Gokudera's features, replacing his regular glare. I only saw it for a second though, because in the next instant, he turned around and his hands started searching through his open school uniform as if they were looking for something. This only furthered my confusion as I wondered what the foreign exchange student was doing now of all things, and wondered if he was going to accept my kind offer of milk or not.

Before I could ask him again if he wanted my milk, I heard someone shouting from my right.

"Heeey!" The familiar voice of Tsuna exclaimed as he ran up to Gokudera and me, panting from exhaustion.

As if he had turned on a switch, Gokudera spun back around, holding his hands behind his back as if he was hiding something.

"Tenth!" He shouted in surprise and slight jubilation as I also greeted Tsuna with a friendly, 'Yo!'; placing my milk carton into the safety of my sports bag as I realized it wasn't wanted. Tsuna didn't really answer as he was bent forward and held his knees, gasping for breath from wherever he had run from.

It was here that I noticed something odd about Tsuna. I had never really seen something like this before; even though I did somewhat recognize the little kid in a weird hat standing behind him. Still, I felt a little perplexed at the image before me, but how could I not? Tsuna had a rope tied across his waist with the other end being held by a little toddler dressed in a black suit and funny hat. And not only that, the little kid was standing on a skateboard! Like I said, the little kid seemed familiar, but I was sure I had only seen him once. That so happened to be a month ago when Gokudera transferred to our school. The little guy had been standing beside Tsuna when I had asked to join their mafia game for the first time, and it had been bothering me as to who he exactly was. I had always wanted to ask Tsuna, but I had always forgotten about it when the time came to ask.

"Who's that?" I finally questioned as I nodded my head in the direction behind Tsuna. "Is he your little brother?"

"Eh?" Tsuna questioned in complete confusion. It was here that I felt a sense of déjà vu. I felt like I had heard a similar question beforehand.

"Ciaossu." I finally heard the little baby speak up as he greeted me in a cute, nasally voice.

That definitely got Tsuna's attention. My smaller friend jumped in fright at the sound of the little guy's greeting as he finally turned around to notice the kid behind him (shouldn't he have known he was there beforehand?).

"Geh! Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise, addressing the little kid by a weird name as he lowered his voice to an astonished mumble. "No wonder it felt heavy…"

Apparently, Tsuna had just taken notice that he had been pulling the smaller kid behind him during his run, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the silliness of it. Tsuna was such a funny guy!

As I inwardly chuckled at the situation, I saw the little toddler jump off his skateboard and walk over to me while Tsuna started untying the rope around his waist.

"I'm not his little brother," the little guy stated factually to my earlier question. "I'm Reborn, the Vongola Family hit-man."

I blinked in surprise at that for a few short seconds before realization dawned on me. This kid was playing pretend!

"Hahahaha!" I laughed in amusement as I bent down to the little kid's level. "I see. Well, I apologize."

Ignoring Tsuna's surprised exclamation to my response (was it really that surprising for me to go along with what the kid was saying?), I continued playing along.

"It must be troublesome to be a hit-man at your age," I tried to utter as sincerely as possible; despite the amusement I knew was showing on my face. This little kid was so cute to think he was a hit-man. He even got dressed up and everything!

"Not really," the little guy stated simply with a glint in his eyes. "You're going to join the Vongola Family too."

I couldn't help but blink in surprise at this as Tsuna started shouting at the little kid for what he had said. Excitement started coursing through my veins again as I realized that I had finally been invited to play the mafia game that Tsuna and Gokudera had created. This was going to be so much fun! I really needed a break from my usual schedule (even though it had already been broken due to my broken arm, haha. But at least this would be more entertaining!).

"Come on, he's only a kid," I kindly stated as I finally interrupted Tsuna's shouting fest towards the smaller child.

Tsuna only sent an incredulous look my way as I tried to appease him. Was it really that hard to understand what the kid was doing?

"Didn't you do it when you were young too?" I questioned with slight curiosity as I tried to explain to Tsuna what was going on. "Didn't you ever pretend to be a cop or hero?"

I know I definitely had. I couldn't tell how many times I had wrapped a bed sheet around my neck as a make-shift cape and pretended I was hero from the anime shows I had watched when I was little, haha! But now that I thought about it, playing 'mafia' wasn't exactly heroic, hahaha!

It was here that I noticed that the little toddler before me had raised his arms up in my direction, which I quickly understood to mean that he wanted to be picked up. Not seeing a problem with this, and noticing just how small he was, I gently took him in my hands and lifted him up to place him on my right shoulder.

"There," I stated with satisfaction as I held the little guy in place with my right hand, feeling my new little companion clench his tiny hand into my school uniform to steady himself as well.

"The Tenth head of the Family is Tsuna," the little guy spoke confidently from my shoulder, with no fear evident in his features for being up so high.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that, for I had known that Tsuna was the leader of his mafia game for a while now.

"Yeah, I figured as much." I laughed out jovially, a pleased smile coming to my face. "I have to say that he was a good choice for the job."

I heard Tsuna shout in surprise from what I had said, but I just ignored him for the moment; my attention fully on the baby on my shoulder. He had said that I was going to join the Family too, so I had to give him my definite answer, right?

"Okay, sure," I agreed finally to the little guy's earlier statement from when he first talked to me. "I've wanted to be part of this game for a while now, so how about you let me fully join this Vongola Family too?"

"Eh? Ya…Yamamoto?" Tsuna exclaimed as his expression became a mixture of horrified shock. "What are you saying?"

I didn't really know how to respond to that. I even felt a little bit hurt by Tsuna's reaction. Did he really not want me to play this game with him? Seeing the baby on my shoulder smirk in satisfaction to my answer though, and hearing an angry, "Tch." from Gokudera, I decided that it didn't matter. If Tsuna was so worried about me hurting myself again, then I would just not have to get hurt then, haha!

"So, what am I supposed to do?" I asked the little guy on my shoulder with an amused smile. After all, it seemed that he was the one who created this game in the first place (and not Tsuna and Gokudera like I had previously thought). Also, I had a feeling that Tsuna and Gokudera weren't going to help me get into the feeling for this game at the moment either.

The little guy (was his name Reborn? I already forgot. Haha!) just gave me another smirk as a mysterious twinkle came into his eyes.

"First, you have to pass the Family Entrance Test."

"Oh, there's a test?" I questioned with slight interest, wondering on what exactly this test entailed. "That's pretty legitimate."

To my surprise, the little guy on my shoulder brushed my hand aside from where I held him, and jumped down from my shoulder.

"If you don't pass the test, you can't enter the Family," he said with ease as he landed on the ground without any problems. I was surprised he didn't get hurt from that! He was so little, and he practically jumped down from 6 feet in the air!

"If you don't pass…" the little guy continued to say as he turned around to face me, a tiny smile on his face. "…it equals your death."

All I could do was blink in shock at what the little kid had said to me as I heard Tsuna screaming in fright in the background. Why was he getting so freaked out over this? Wasn't the kid just playing?

"Hahaha, you're seriously funny!" I laughed out good naturedly as I stooped down to the little guy's level again to pat his head affectionately (which meant I only tapped lightly on top of the funny hat he was wearing, since it got in the way). "I like you."

Another indiscernible twinkle appeared in the dressed-up toddler's eyes as the smirk he wore grew wider.

"The test is easy," he went on to explain as he brought out two assault rifles from out of nowhere and pointed them at me; the barrels shining ominously in the afternoon sunlight. "Simply dodge the attacks."

In the blink of an eye, the little guy placed his hands behind his back; the assault rifles strangely disappearing even though they were ten times his size. Was this kid a magician too, haha?

"Well, let's start," the baby said with an excited smile as he quickly threw his arms forward, releasing something from his hands. "First, knives."

"Woah!" I exclaimed with surprise. I had barely seen the little kid's arm movements, and, because of that, I was barely able to dodge the objects that were thrown my way at break neck speed. The objects were flying so fast, I could barely make out the pointed silhouette of the knives as they flew past me; one barely nicking my left wrist. I wasn't too worried about that though. They were just toys after all, right? But I have to admit that this kid had a good throwing arm! He would be great at baseball, haha!

Before I could get ready to dodge whatever else the kid was going to throw at me, I saw Tsuna jump between me and the little baby.

"W-Wait Reborn!" He shouted in horror. "Are you seriously trying to kill Yamamoto?"

Wow, Tsuna was such a worry wart, haha! He took things way too seriously. This just went to show that I had to calm him down and tell him he shouldn't worry so much about everything.

"Wait up, Tsuna," I stated calmly as I draped my right arm over his shoulder in a friendly, calming gesture. Tsuna just looked back up at me curiously, wondering why I had interrupted him.

"When we were kids, we all played with wooden swords, right?" I tried to explain to him as I gave him my most amused smile. "So it's all right. I'll stick around and continue with this, so everything will be fine. No worries, right? Hahaha!"

"As the boss, you should show him an example, Tsuna," the little guy announced in his nasally voice as I let go of Tsuna's shoulder.

"Wha?" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise and fear as I walked around him and lifted the strap to my duffel bag over my head. If I had to dodge stuff to get into the Family, then my sports gear would only slow me down. Plus, if Tsuna was now going to participate in this entrance exam game, then it wouldn't be fun if I handicapped myself, haha!

"Sounds good!" I commented with a challenging glint in my eyes as I placed my duffel bag on the ground. "So it's a race to see who's going to pass the test then?"

This game was shaping up to be more fun and entertaining than I had thought.

"Huh? Ehh?' Tsuna squeaked in confusion as he glanced between me and the little guy. Before I could try to calm my friend down again and tell him to just enjoy the game, I saw the toddler with the funny hat bring out more knives; holding three each in his miniature hands.

"Well, let's run!" I laughed confidentially as I started sprinting away from the little guy, my head tilted as far to the side as I could, so that I could see the baby's figure out of the corner of my eye.

"No way!" Tsuna wailed, figuring out what I was getting at as he started running after me. "Wait up!"

And just as Tsuna started running after me, the little guy let the knives he held fly through the air at mach speed. Since I had expected this, and could see the knives coming now, I was able to easily dodge them. Tsuna was able to dodge them too, much to my surprise.

"Woah," I whistled out, impressed by Tsuna's ability to dodge and the little guy's throwing capabilities. "Good form!"

As Tsuna and I continued to run away towards the edge of the club room building (where we planned to run around to the other side), I couldn't help but mull over a certain thought in my head. It had been bugging me since I saw the little guy bring out those real-looking assault rifles.

"You know," I shouted back to Tsuna, unable to keep my thoughts to myself, "toys these days seem so real! Those things the little guy threw at us looked like real knives, haha!"

"You thought those were toys?" Tsuna screamed incredulously as he tried to keep up with me. Haha! What did he mean by that? How could a little baby be carrying around real weapons? That was just crazy! Haha!

Before I could think too long on what my smaller friend had yelled at me, I slid to a halt near the edge of the club building as I noticed something blocking our path.

"The next weapon is a bow gun," the little guy stated easily, like he hadn't even broken a sweat running past us. Actually, now that I think about it, I didn't even see the little kid move from his previous spot. I guess my head was up in the clouds, haha!

"Geh!" Tsuna shouted in astonishment as he finally slid to a stop right next to me. "He got there ahead of us!"

"Haha, nice job!" I congratulated the smaller kid for showing such skill. He really was something else if he could outrun me! After all, the coach said I was the fastest sprinter on the team!

As the little guy smirked and cocked his newfound weapon at us (wow, this one looked real too!), Tsuna and I prepared to bolt away in the opposite direction, but before we could, a loud voice interrupted us.

"Gahahaha! Found you Reborn!" Another little kid voice shouted from above us.

"Now what?" I questioned lightly as I turned my head towards the direction of the voice's origin, which sounded like it had come from the upper floor of the club building.

"No…No way…" Tsuna whispered out in dismay as he followed my line of sight up towards the staircase that led up to the second floor. There we saw what appeared to be a little kid standing on top of the cement stair railing. Wait a minute! Did that kid have a black afro? Wasn't that the kid that strapped himself to Tsuna's leg the other day? Haha! Was he still lost?

"I'm Lambo from the Bovino Family!" The funny little kid introduced himself with gusto (so he was playing the mafia game too?). "I'm Lambo who came to junior high school even though he's five years old!"

"The annoying one is out!" Tsuna screamed in dismay towards the child named Lambo. I guess Tsuna really did know the little kid from beforehand…

Before I could question my friend as to how he had met the interesting cow-dressed kid, Gokudera finally walked up beside the little guy with the bow gun; an annoyed scowl on his face. Just where had Gokudera been all this time? I was surprised he let Tsuna join in on this Family Entrance game, since he was usually so protective. But I guess that he just didn't see that Tsuna was in danger. After all, it's not like the little guy was using real weapons, haha!

"Jeez, it's that annoying, Stupid Cow again," Gokudera growled out as he lit up a cigarette he placed in his mouth (didn't he know that those things could kill him? Not to mention that they smelled bad?). "What do you want to do, Reborn-san?"

The little guy didn't even falter as he brought out a second bow gun from behind his back (Haha! This little guy really did know how to use magic!).

"Continue," the little guy said without an air of concern as he fired both bow guns at Tsuna and me.

"Woah!" I shouted as I was taken off-guard, barely dodging an arrow as Tsuna screamed and ran off to the side. I followed after him as we continued to dodge the arrows shot at us, Tsuna screaming a high pitched wail throughout the whole ordeal. Haha! Tsuna sounded like a girl whenever he did that.

To my surprise though, before I could think any further, I almost lost my footing as I heard that Lambo kid shout from the second floor railing.

"Tada~! Missile Launcher!" The afro kid laughed out gleefully before he shouted. "Die, Reborn!"

I almost laughed at the fact that the little kid thought he actually had a missile launcher, but before I could actually think too much on this, I heard this weird whistling noise from behind me as I ran.

It was becoming louder by the second too.

"Wha—?" Tsuna questioned in fright as I saw him turn his head to look behind us. I almost turned my head with him as we continued to run forward, but before I could, a loud, ringing, explosion thundered over my head, and a scorching heat attacked my back. There was also a huge blast of air that almost sent me flying forward, but thankfully, I was able to keep my balance as I ran a few more feet before I slid to a stop. Sadly, Tsuna wasn't as lucky, because he was sent careening towards the ground with his hands covering his head; a hysterical scream leaving his lips as his face met dirt.

"Phew," I sighed in relief as I noticed the columns of smoke behind me, glad that I hadn't met the same painful fate as Tsuna (even though I did feel bad for him, of course). Those new toys really did pack a wallop these days! It was almost like a real explosion! I couldn't even hear right now, haha!

I couldn't repress the confident smile that spread across my face then, or the challenging glint I knew had come to my eyes as I thought that last sentence over.

"It looks like if I take it easy I won't be able to pass." I chuckled excitedly to myself as I noticed my hearing becoming normal again. This game just got more and more interesting as the time went on.

"Reborn! Let's stop this test!" Tsuna's scream interrupted my thoughts as I saw my smaller friend pick himself up and run over to the little guy a few feet away. "You saw that, right? Lambo started to shoot missiles!"

Tsuna was so silly to think that those things Lambo had shot at us were actually missiles. Just how did a toddler like him know what a missile was? And how did he even get them? They were probably just little fireworks, right? As long as we stayed ahead of his shots, we wouldn't get hurt.

"Next is a submachine gun," the little guy just said with another smirk as he replaced his bow guns with said machine gun; pointing it right at us.

"H…Hey…" Tsuna mumbled out feebly towards the little guy. Haha, how cute! The toddler ignored him.

"First…" The little guy continued with an air of smugness. "I'll shoot at you at the level of a trainee hit-man."

And with that, the little guy pulled the trigger and started shooting at us with his realistic looking toy. Tsuna screamed bloody murder as I ran alongside him and away from the 'bullets'. Just as we put some distance between us and the little guy, I heard the familiar whistling sound from Lambo's 'missile launcher' grow louder as we continued to run. My last thoughts were confirmed as I saw Tsuna glance behind us and shout, "Wah! Not again!" before another loud explosion sounded behind our backs.

As I smelt the smoke and felt a rush of air come up behind me and push me violently forward, I covered my head with my arms as I was knocked off my feet. Oh man, those firecrackers were closer to hitting us that time, haha! I wouldn't be surprised if the back of my uniform was singed!

It seemed that Tsuna got knocked off his feet again too as I turned and saw that his face was planted in the ground again. I wished that I could go over and help him, but we were in a competition after all, and I didn't know if the little guy was going to start shooting again. To my relief though, I saw Tsuna pick himself up and start running towards the left. That gave me the idea to start running off towards the right. How would the little guy go about shooting us if we weren't by each other now?

"Tenth!" I heard Gokudera shout from behind us, but I didn't turn around to see what was happening. My first priority was to get out of the line of fire. Besides, Gokudera was probably just trying to help Tsuna.

But, to my astonishment, I heard another explosion go off in the distance; the sound originating from far away, and up in the air. Too curious for my own good, I glanced up towards the club building to see pink smoke emanating from the stairwell. Before I knew it, a teenaged-looking boy with wavy black hair was standing where Lambo used to be. I saw the older guy open his mouth and speak as he grabbed a massive looking missile launcher from somewhere on his person, but I was too far away to hear what he was saying.

"Next is a rocket missile," I heard the nasally voice of the little guy say from a few feet away. Shocked out of my earlier musings, I quickly glanced in his direction to see the small toddler holding a bazooka-like contraption now.

I then heard a sizzling sound further to the little guy's right, and when I turned to see where the noise was coming from, I saw Gokudera standing there with fizzling fireworks in his hands, his eyes hidden by the shadow of his bangs.

"Die," he growled out venomously as he posed to throw his fireworks.

Before I could fully process all that was going on, another voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Thunder set!" I heard a new voice scream, and as I turned towards its source, I saw the sky grow dark and lightning fall from the sky. With a thunderous clash, it hit the mysterious older teen, making his body glow a brilliant white. Woah! What was going on? Was that guy alright?

All hell seemed to break loose then as Gokudera, the little guy, and the mysterious teen (who I also think I saw the other day during the rice ball fiasco), fired their weapons. Before I knew it, fireworks and very realistic missiles were flying towards Tsuna and me.

"What the…" I couldn't' help but whisper out in fear, my heart seizing in my chest. No matter how I looked at it, it didn't seem like a good idea to be hit by the volley of 'explosives' heading our way.

Tsuna's horror-filled scream interrupted my fear induced thoughts as I noticed my smaller friend a couple feet away from me, standing in place as he watched the others' attacks swarm towards him. Before I knew it, something came over me as I instinctively ran towards Tsuna's location, a look of pure determination on my face. I knew that Tsuna would be too afraid to run away, and I also knew that I just couldn't stand by and watch, or runaway by myself either. Tsuna had saved my life, and I owed him the favor, because, no matter how I looked at it, I didn't think anyone would be able to survive the triple attack just thrown at us; even if most of the attack came from toys.

As I finally reached Tsuna's location, I quickly grabbed him, threw his arm over my shoulder for support, and started sprinting away from the ensuing attack with every ounce of energy I had left. Explosions started going off around me in a deafening crescendo, the heat from them licking at my body as I tried to run ahead of the attack. I blindly zigzagged to and fro, trying my best to dodge the 'missiles' and fireworks thrown at us as the explosions continued to go off, an enshrouding cloak of red smoke the only thing I could see.

When the explosions finally stopped, I slowed down to a walk as I tiredly made my way through the smoke; trying to find my way out. Tsuna was limp against me, but I could tell he was breathing still. He must be scared stiff, haha! I know it wasn't right to laugh about something like that, but I was so relieved that the attack was finally over! My body was still coursing from the adrenaline rush, and I was giddy with relief and excitement. I had never imagined that this mafia game was going to be this fun! It had certainly given me a good workout before baseball practice.

Breaking out of my thoughts, I could hear yelling in the distance. Straining my ears to figure out who it was, I was able to decipher the voice as Gokudera's. He was calling out worriedly for Tsuna.

Following the voices calls, I could see the smoke starting to dissipate. As the smoke finally cleared, and I was able to see the little guy and Gokudera standing a couple feet away from us again, I couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh.

"Phew, that was close." I coughed out with a confident smile, trying to get the smoke out of my lungs. But still, I was rather pleased with myself for my dodging abilities. If I hadn't been good enough, Tsuna and I would probably be toast by now.

It seemed that Tsuna finally realized we were safe too, because he disbelievingly mumbled to himself, "Since Yamamoto pulled me out of the way…I was saved~."

I chuckled a little bit at my smaller friend's actions as I slowly let go of his arm and released his support from my shoulder. Tsuna finally seemed to get his bearings and understood what I was trying to do, because he stood on his own two feet again; a look of bewilderment still covering his face.

Giving Tsuna a comforting pat on the shoulder for getting caught up in the action, I noticed that the little guy and Gokudera were steadily approaching us now. The little guy arrived first and stared up at me with a small, congratulatory smile on his face.

"You passed the test. You are officially part of the Family."

I stared at him in shock for a moment before his words finally sunk in. That meant that I could continue playing the mafia game with Tsuna, right?

"Thanks!" I exclaimed with a pleased smile. This was going to be so much fun! I couldn't wait to play this game some more!

Before I could get too excited though, Gokudera finally appeared before me, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed, his bangs covering his eyes from view. He also seemed to be shaking with apprehension (from what I could tell), or maybe it was anger? I couldn't figure it out, but either way, I stiffened from shock and my own bout of apprehensiveness when I felt his hand grab hold of the front of my uniform, and pull me down closer to his face.

Nothing could prepare me for what I was actually in store for.

"Good job," Gokudera growled out reluctantly as a small, disgruntled smile pulled at his lips; his eyes shining with, what appeared to be restrained gratitude. Was it for saving Tsuna? That was probably the case, but there was something else in Gokudera's gaze, something that actually shocked me to my core; more so than the words that the silver-haired teen had uttered just seconds before.

Gokudera…looked impressed.

I never thought I would ever be able to see so many different emotions play on Gokudera's face, or notice how striking his icy green eyes were.

Before I could think on this for too long though, I felt Gokudera's hand push me back to my original position, and let go of my shirt.

"You protected the Tenth, so I have no choice but to admit you into the Family," Gokudera stated simply in a low voice that, for once, wasn't laced with anger towards me. "But the Tenth's right-hand man is me."

There was a short pause as Gokudera seemed to think something over in his head before he spoke again with more confidence.

"In that case, you're the shoulder blade."

"Sh…Shoulder blade?" I questioned incredulously, wondering where on Earth that comment had come from. Was Gokudera trying to play a body part game with me, or something? Hahaha!

Before I even knew what I was doing, I was wrapping my arm around Gokudera's shoulders and bringing him into my side.

"Hahaha! I thought so from before, but you're a funny guy!" I laughed heartily as I witnessed a look of utter surprise come across Gokudera's face from my actions and words. As I felt Gokudera's body tense up against mine, I knew it was probably best to let him go. He didn't come across as the touchy-feely type, haha.

When I finally let go of him, I couldn't help but think over Gokudera's earlier words. Since I was part of the Family now, and Gokudera insisted that he was Tsuna's right-hand man, it was almost like he was challenging me to say otherwise. Of course, I could never resist a challenge. They were too tempting to me, and too entertaining. If a challenge was ever set before me, I would give my all to try and achieve it!

"Too bad, I don't want to withdraw from being Tsuna's right-hand," I stated challengingly, pointing to myself with my thumb as I jokingly added (I didn't want Gokudera taking my challenge too seriously. It was all in good fun, after all). "So you'll be the ear lobe."

"The fuck?" Gokudera shouted incredulously, his anger quickly returning to him. "Then you're nose hair!"

"What?" I laughed out good-naturedly, not expecting Gokudera to continue on with this little game, but I wasn't disappointed in the slightest either. "Then you're snot!"

Gokudera made a little choking noise at that, unable to respond to such a comment. Haha, I won!

Sending him a quick, friendly smile of victory, I made my way over to my duffel bag. I had just remembered that I had to get to baseball practice, but it was more than likely I was late at this point. That didn't deter me though as I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I was in such higher spirits than I had been in days—no, weeks. I was finally able to participate in the mafia game, and I had impressed Gokudera. We had even gotten along to an extent! I was excited just thinking about if Gokudera and I could finally become friends.

As I started walking away, Gokudera still strangely silent behind me, I stopped by the little guy and Tsuna on my way.

"Well, I'm going to practice." I said in farewell as I mainly addressed the little toddler beside me (Tsuna was probably still too shocked by the whole ordeal to respond normally). "See ya, Little Guy."

The little toddler just gave a small smirk, before replying, "Okay."

Seeing as he wasn't bothering to stop me, or no one was for that matter, I couldn't help but reflect over the actions that had transpired this afternoon. Those toys were so real looking, and it was like the guns were shooting real ammunition. But that was just not possible right? How could that be?

"The toys these days seem so real~" I half mumbled to myself as I started walking away from the little guy and Tsuna. I had no idea if they heard me or not, but it didn't really matter if they did. I was just commenting, and nothing more. But I couldn't help but wish that my toys would have been as cool as that when I was little. I always had to use my imagination, hahaha!

Still, that wasn't a bad thing, and it was all behind me now, so it didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that I had a way of getting closer to my closest friend (Tsuna), and I even had a possibility of making the guy who seemed to hate me (Gokudera) like me as a friend as well. And really, there was nothing that made me happier than knowing I could possible form deeper bonds with the people around me.


A/N: Okay guys, I hoped you liked it! This was the official chapter where Yamamoto and Gokudera actually interacted for the first time in the manga, and there were some…questionable panels I have to say lol. My inner fangirl couldn't help but think that Gokudera looked turned on in the panel where he congratulated Yamamoto. XDD

Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what to expect for the next chapter, but I think that Haru will be introduced in it. Thank you for reading!

Inner Fan-girl Theater:

Gokudera couldn't believe it. That idiot had actually had enough skill to not only save the Tenth from the onslaught of explosives thrown at them, but he was also able to dodge those explosives without getting majorly hurt. Gokudera just assumed that it was Yamamoto's ability as a jock that got him through the ordeal, but the little Italian still couldn't help but feel begrudgingly impressed all the same.

Maybe Yamamoto wasn't as weak as he had first thought?

As the feisty bomber followed after Reborn-san towards Tsuna and Yamamoto, so many different emotions turned inside him. He was relieved that the Tenth was safe, and that he hadn't hurt him, but he also couldn't shake off the feeling that he was impressed by Yamamoto's skills; even though he didn't want to be.

Not knowing what to do with himself, Gokudera just fisted the front of Yamamoto's shirt in his hand and brought him down, close to his face. With a reluctant smile, the smaller teen uttered the first words that came to his mind.

"Good job."

The silver-haired bomber watched on as the taller teen's eyes widened in shock at that, his hazel orbs boring into Gokudera's green with a weird form of intensity. Before Gokudera could even blink, Yamamoto was shortening the distance between them and smothering the little bomber's lips with his own.

In the next instant, lit dynamite sticks were sent flying after a joyfully laughing Yamamoto.

To the young jock, these moments would never get old.