Okay... I'm still alive. Here you go. No review responses because I feel bad making you wait this long and decided to post it w/o wasting anymore time.

Tsuna walked home alone, his brow furrowed in concentration, wondering if his guardians would really listen to his orders. It was too late to stop them worrying, but there was nothing he could do about that now. His main priority was to keep Byakuran feeling like he was in control, and so far he wasn't doing a good job at it.

He paused in front of the door, taking a deep breath, smiling slightly. He shoved open the door and stepped into his own personal hell.

"Bya-kun!" He grinned, "I've missed you."

"Tsu-chan, same here."

And so the act began.

That night was probably one of the worst, just because it was so fresh. Tsuna sat silently, enduring the blows to his chest, sides, legs, anywhere that wouldn't be easily visible. He didn't cry out, he didn't even let pain show in his expression.

He sat and apologized for everything. For being rude, stupid, uncareful, for getting Byakuran sent away, for being happy without him. He apolozied for being born.

With every blow he watched his older brother's face. The sickening smile, spiky white hair, the tattoo that Tsuna knew was meant to represent each of the spikes he wanted to drive into the hearts of his family. One for his naïve mother, one for his arrogant step father, and one for his unwanted half brother.

The face made him want to vomit, but instead he smiled and said, "Forgive me, nii-sama."

"Just this once."

And with that Tsuna crawled in his bed and tried his best to fall asleep without having nightmares.

Gokudera and Yamamoto walked silently together toward their friends house, just like they always did. But today wasn't a normal day, they both knew. It was their first time seeing their friend after the bizarre incident with Byakuran.

They stepped up and rang the door bell. To their expectation Nana answered.

"Good morning. Is Tsuna almost ready?"

"Hm? Tsu-kun already left." She sounded surprised.

"What? By himself?" Gokudera asked alarmed.

Nana giggled, "Of course not! Bya-kun walked him… just like old times… she mumbled to herself as she watched the two boys sprint down the street.

They arrived at school breathlessly, and burst into their classroom with an air of expectation. To their dismay their boss was not present.

"We have to go find him!" Gokudera stated immediately.

"Wait," Yamamoto objected, slightly more logical. "Tsuna wanted us to trust him right? Let's wait until the bell rings. If he's not here by then, we'll go look for him."

"But he's with-"

"Remember what he told us yesterday." Yamamoto commanded. Gokudera rubbed his eyes tiredly. He hadn't gotten nearly any sleep yesterday, what with Tsuna's strange behavior and the ruckus the kids had caused.

"F-fine, but if Juu- Ts- he ends up hurt, I'll kill you." Gokudera said glaring.

The two boys took their seats, but as the start of homeroom grew nearer and nearer Gokudera found sitting impossible. He jumped up and started pacing. Yamamoto did his best to mask his worry with a light smile, but in reality his inside was tense. What are you doing Tsuna.

He was so immersed in his worry he nearly forgot to try and calm Gokudera down when he started yelling at the teacher after she asked him to stop pacing and sit down.

"Gokudera, I'm sure he's fine," Yamamoto smiled.

"How can you say that! When he's with the same bastard that did that to your father?" Gokudera lashed.

"I know but Tsuna said-"The black haired teen attempted to retaliate.

"I don't care! I don't believe him! Haven't you seen the way he's been acting? It's not normal! Something's wrong with him and I'm not gonna wait until it's too late to find out what!" He shouted, not caring about the listening ears of their classmates.

"Gokudera-kun… doesn't trust me anymore?" A quiet voice asked.

Both guardians' heads snapped up, realizing too late that Tsuna was standing in the doorway. His head was tilted down, and there was a depressed slouch to his body that made Gokudera regret with a passion every word he just said. He couldn't see his boss's face because of the wild mop of brunette hair, but something told him that his boss was on the verge of tears.

Tsuna didn't know what was wrong with him. In all honesty, Gokudera was right to think that way, but it still hurt to hear it.

Gokudera opened his mouth to apologize but never got the chance, because the next instant the bell rang and Tsuna scurried hurriedly to his seat. Gokudera was so dazed he complied without protesting when the sensei asked him to take a seat.

The classroom atmosphere was awkward. Mostly because Gokudera was for once sitting quietly and properly in his chair; Yamamoto wasn't smiling, sleeping or both, and Tsuna had a disturbingly blank stare plastered on his face. The teacher was so flustered at being for once allowed to teach, she didn't manage to teach anything at all.

Finally the bell rang and the class was free to flee from the room, leaving the three boys alone in a matter of seconds. No one wanted to be in the same room as Gokudera at that moment.

The first to move was Tsuna. He shoved himself up. He smiled at the two when they looked over to him.

"I'm going to go eat lunch then."

"Ah, Tsuna, don't you want to eat lunch together? My pops made me a lot of sushi. We can share!" Yamamoto suggested with a half hearted grin.

"Thanks for the offer, but I already promised someone else I'd eat with them." He left with a friendly smile and Yamamoto, and attempted to smile at Gokudera, but the storm never looked up from his desk.

Tsuna stopped eating with them after that fateful day.

If any of you are wondering what happened to me: All I can say is I totally forgot about this story for a while. I'm back to updating once a week. Since this chapter is so short, and the it's been so long... I'll update 2 today. Sorry again!