Recap [for those who don't want to go back and re-read what happened in the previous chapter]: Tsuna and Yuki go out into town, but then a mishap happens and Yuki is hit by the 10 year bazooka. However, instead of appearing ten years older, she appears as a child.

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Akira Amano does.

New Memories

A third year in middle school with an excited toddler in his arms and a brunette leading the front, hand-in-hand with a six year-old. As the four reached the front door of their temporary living space, the front door blasted open with a blond man landing on his knees in front of the group.

The brunette stumbled back a step in surprise as the older man stood up. "Hey you guys! Everyone else already had lunch. Where were you?"

"Uh…well," Tsuna mumbled, scratching his arm.

"And who's this little girl?" Dino smiled as he crouched down to the girl's height. The girl smiled back.

"My name is Yuki! I'm six years-old!" she answered with her six fingers erect in between the two.

The boss of the Cavallone glanced at the girl's fingers, at the girl's smiling face, then up at Tsuna—who smiled at him awkwardly. He stood up, and although he had a smile on his face. "Alright then, how about you, Ryohei, and Lambo head inside?" Dino suggested to the child.

She tilted her head in askance. "What about big brother?"

"I need to talk to him for a bit before we can head back in."

She looked up at the sky, searching her head for other things she had to say. "Alright! I'll see you later then, Uncle!" she giggled as she skipped towards the house.

"Hey! Lambo is the fastest and the greatest!" the cow-boy yelled. He began pounding on his carrier's chest. "Hurry up and beat that girl, stupid sheep!"

"Roger that!" Ryohei saluted as he began running towards the house.

"Heh heh! You'll never catch me!" the little Yuki smiled as she ran backwards. She jumped the steps almost gracefully but ended up stopping a foot within the house after hitting a pair of legs, landing on the hardwood floor with her bottom. "Owie!" she cried out loud. Then she looked up at what she hit until her eyes met angry onyx.

"You shouldn't be running in the house," the prefect stated, "especially when I'm in the middle of sparring with a man that doesn't know the boundaries of touching others."

"I-I'm sorry," Yuki apologized, looking down at the floor.

"Hnn." The student looked outside, scanning for his prey. He spotted his target with a well-known brunette, turning around after seeing the serious expression on the taller blond's face. "Don't keep sitting in the middle of the entrance or you'll get run-over by two herbivores that don't watch where they're going."

The black-haired girl looked up at the prefect's back then smiled as she hopped back onto her feet. "Okay!" she agreed as she grabbed onto the student's hand.

The boy looked down at the girl then whipped his hand out of her grasp. "I'm going to rest. You should find someone else to play with." Then he walked away from the girl, who began to follow him. Although he could hear her bounding after him, he ignored her as he walked up the staircase.

Dino and Tsuna watched as the entrance became barren. Then, the older mafia boss turned to his junior. "I have a lot of questions to ask about Yuki, but I think you should do some explaining first."

"Can we play together, please? I promise I'll be a good girl and play fair!" the girl pleaded in the hallway to a locked door.

The door remained silent.

"Please, please, please?" she pleaded again. This time, there was a reply, but not from the door.

"Ah, if Hibari's taking a rest, you shouldn't disturb him." The small Yuki turned up to the tall boy, who held a plastic bag full of Styrofoam boxes.

She gave the older boy a funny look, who returned her stare with a hearty laugh.

"Sorry, my bad, I should introduce myself first, shouldn't I? I'm Yamamoto Takeshi," the boy smiled as he squat down to eye-level with the girl. "And you are?"

"My name's Yuki," she mumbled, slightly intimidated by the smiling teen.

"How funny! There's this nice lady I'm playing a game with that's also named Yuki!"

Almost instantly, life rushed back to the girl in the form of red blush on her cheeks. "Really? Is she pretty?"

Yamamoto nodded, "She's a very pretty lady."

"Hey! Stupid baseball-nut! I know you're out in the hallway! You better hurry up with the food!"

Yamamoto stood up, staring down the hallway at a door on the left. "Sorry, Gokudera, I'm coming right now!" He turned back to the small Yuki. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now otherwise my friend will get really mad. Let's play together after I'm done working."

The small Yuki averted her gaze to the floor. "Alright. Then let's play together later, Takeshi-bro."

Yamamoto patted her shoulder, "Hey, no sad faces, okay?"

"Baseball nut!"

"Coming! Coming!" Yamamoto answered as he turned away from the small girl. He waved as he left, "See you later, Yuki. You should go play with Ryohei and Lambo!"

Yuki only nodded silently in reply. She cast one last stare at the door next to her before she hopped towards the staircase and down the wooden steps. As she reached the bottom, she bumped into Miss Smith.

"Oh, and who do we have here?" the maid asked.

Yuki looked up with a bit of sadness reflected in her eyes. "My name is Yuki," she answered quietly.

Miss Smith smiled softly at the six year-old, "You must be one of Mr. Sawada's friends. Is there something wrong?"

"No one will play with me," she admitted, scratching her arm in embarrassment for her own spoiled behavior.

"Well, I'm not as young as I used to be, but I think I can help cure your boredom."

Yuki looked up in excitement, "You do?"

Miss Smith nodded, "That's right. Just follow me to the kitchen for a moment."

Yuki smiled enthusiastically as she reached out for Miss Smith's hand. "Okay! But, I have a few questions…"

"Alright, what is it, dear?" Miss Smith asked with patience.

"Well, why is everything so weird here? On the way coming here, we saw giant moving boxes and everyone was dressed all funny. And there were these weird glowing lanterns except they weren't lanterns and there wasn't any fire in them…" Small feet came to a halt, fidgeting as two round eyes looked down at the floor, "And it wasn't very dark. A lot of people seemed very happy, like there was no illness in the air."

Miss Smith knelt down in front of the small girl, whose dark brown eyes seemed to be full of sadness. "Don't worry too much, dear. There's nothing to be afraid of around here. How about we go down to the yard and look at the flowers?"

The little girl's face brightened as a wide smile formed on her face. "Flowers? I love flowers! Let's go! Let's go!" She started running, dragging Miss Smith with her.

Dino sighed, scratching the back of his head. "If that's the case, then I guess there's no avoiding what's happened." He looked over his shoulder at the entrance of his home. "It's been five minutes since she was hit, right? Let's head back and ask her what happened while she was away."

Tsuna nodded, "Okay." He proceeded with following Dino into the mansion. As they reached the kitchen, the brunette spotted Lambo and Ryohei. "Bro! Have you seen Yuki-san?"

"Yuki-san? Is she back already?" Ryohei asked as his head was pounded upon by Lambo's fists.

The brown-haired teen began to sweat. "N-No, she isn't. How about the little girl that came home with us?"

Ryohei shut his eyes tight, grinding his knuckles into his temples. Tsuna only stared at the weird scene. "Oh! The little girl! I saw her with Miss Smith! They went into the courtyard! The little girl was extremely excited about something…"

"Oh, I see," Tsuna smiled. "Thanks, Bro."

"See you, Sawada!" he yelled back as the brunette jogged away.

Tsuna walked toward the center of the building, where the courtyard could be seen through the windows that encased it. Inside the clear frame, Tsuna could see Yuki sitting in front of the flowers, smiling as Miss Smith watched her from a shaded bench. The soft smile that had formed on Tsuna's face slowly faded into a worried frown as he came to the revelation: Yuki still hadn't changed back yet.

He returned to his "television". The small girl had spotted Tsuna, waved with a giant grin, then ran to Miss Smith with a string of flowers in hand. Miss Smith chuckled as Yuki handed over the line and tied the two ends together, giving it back to Yuki. Then, Miss Smith looked toward the brunette, beckoning him into the garden with her hand.

Tsuna pointed to himself, confused by the action. When she nodded, he strode towards the closest entrance to the courtyard. He had only just entered the garden when he was tackled by a small black-haired six year-old. "Y-Yuki!"

"Hi, big brother!" she looked up at him with her arms around his legs, smiling. Her cheeks were slightly reddened from running and sitting our in the sun. "Can you kneel down for a bit?" Yuki asked as she skipped backwards, hiding her hands behind her.

Tsuna looked at her in confusion and then up at Miss Smith, who had risen from her seat. She nodded to the brunette as she left and Tsuna did what the little girl had requested. "Like this?" he smiled as he went down on one knee.

Yuki nodded, "Now close your eyes!" Tsuna did as he was told. In a second, he felt soft petals grace his messy hair. He opened his eyes, finding large brown orbs staring at his face. They were hidden away by lids as a large smile graced the girl's face. "Now you can be the king of the garden!" she laughed.

Tsuna smiled, "Thank you, Yuki."

The girl's face burned tomato red.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Yuki shook her head vigorously. "No, it's nothing…" she mumbled. Then her head popped up again with a smile and she grabbed Tsuna's hand, dragging him to the tree where Miss Smith once sat under. "Sit," she ordered Tsuna, pointing to the stone bench. The brunette complied and watched as Yuki climbed onto the seat in the space next to him. She looked up at the sky through the tree leaves. "It's so pretty here," she wondered aloud.

"Yeah, it's very pretty," Tsuna agreed. Then he felt Yuki's head lean against his arm and he looked down at the six year-old, worry knitting his eyebrows together. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't want to leave this place. I don't want to leave big brother or go back to the lonely room or see the yucky streets. I don't want to see the cold people lying on the stone roads with that weird look in their eyes. It's scary there. I don't want to go back."

Tsuna stroked her hair with his arm, causing Yuki to land on his thigh. He said nothing, only watched the small girl and listened.

"It's sad where I came from. People were sick and dying. I was stuck in a room all by myself. I had nothing to do except watch other kids running outside on the streets," the small girl lamented, "The only time I ever got to play was when my friend came over."

"Your friend?" Tsuna questioned.

Yuki nodded, "It was only when Giotto came over that I was happy. I never got to spend time outside, but he'd always come visit me in secret. Sometimes he would bring G. and sometimes he wouldn't. Either way, he always made me very happy. When he visited me, he'd bring me flowers. He called them 'star cosmos'. They're my favorite flowers, but there aren't any here."

Tsuna recalled the flower boutique he had stopped in front of with the older Yuki and the same story that she had told him earlier. "Why do you like star cosmos, Yuki?"

"Because they're the flowers that Giotto used to bring me. Before I was put into that room, Giotto and I would play around in large open fields and we would look up at the stars. He would tell me which stars made pictures, even though I couldn't see the pictures as well as he could, and he would always tell stories about the pictures." Yuki sat up. "Even though the days I was alone were painful. Even though I had to drink yucky, bitter stuff and had to eat yucky food, I still had fun." She sighed, "I don't even feel bad, but the scary lady working at the orphanage said I was very sick and that I would die if I didn't stay in my room."

"You're an orphan?" Tsuna questioned, surprised by what the little girl had said.

Yuki nodded, "The scary lady said Mommy and Daddy died in a fire. I lived with other kids that the scary lady said were also 'very sick'. At night time, sometimes I could hear other kids screaming. I didn't know what happened when it was dark in the orphanage. But when we had to line up for breakfast, I saw that some of the kids began missing. And outside, where kids used to play, there was a giant oven. It always smelled bad, and no one went near it."

Tsuna stiffened; his intuition was inserting dark thoughts into his head as the six year-old girl continued her story.

The black-haired girl huddled into a ball, hiding her face in her arms. "One night, I got really, really thirsty. It was very dark, so I thought the scary lady was asleep. Even though we weren't allowed to go out of our rooms when it was dark, I was just so thirsty." She started to sniffle. "Then, when I opened the door, I saw the scary lady. She had a fire burning on a stick. She was in front of two really big boys. One was in front of the other. And, between them was the old blanket that everybody used to use to go on picnics with. It was supposed to be white, and because no one used it in forever, it should have looked nice. But…But…It wasn't. There was this large red spot in the middle and on the part where it was folded. The red dropped onto the floor as the two big boys walked." Yuki swallowed, "I was still thirsty, so I left my room. I was going to sneak behind the big boys, but when I got to the end of the wing and looked at the scary boys, I saw into the picnic blanket. I saw one of the kids inside the blanket and a lot of hands and feet. I screamed…Then….Then the scary lady turned around."

The brunette's eyes widened; the color from his skin drained. His body began to shake. "Yu…"

"She hit me with the big candle. It was really hot and it hurt a lot," Between each sentence, Yuki's sob surfaced, but she kept pushing it away. "I started crying because it hurt so much. But when I start thinking about Giotto, it hurt a lot less. I knew that Giotto would come save me. But, he didn't come. Then, I couldn't remember what happened after a while. When I woke up, I was in a different room. It wasn't one in the orphanage. It was worse. There was only one window. I was alone. After many days, Giotto came. He told me he was looking for me, but couldn't find me. He brought star cosmos like always, and I cried. I never told him what happened though. I didn't want him to think I was bad and got hit because I was bad. And it was too scary. I didn't want him to be afraid of me and run away. So…I didn't tell anybody." She continued sniffling, but did not sound like she was going to cry anymore. "This new room was also not fun. Even when Giotto came, it was hard for me to smile. It was only seven days ago that I got better from that day. Today, the people were going to let me go outside of my room, but I don't want to go back. I'm afraid. I'm really, really scared—"

Tsuna wrapped his arms around the little girl, whose tears were streaming down her cheeks silently. "Yuki, it's okay. Just remember, Giotto is waiting for you back there. He's probably wondering where you are right now. He probably has star cosmos in his hand and is waiting for you to get out of your room so you can go play. As long as Giotto is by your side, you'll be fine. Don't worry."

Yuki let out a wail. "Big brother!"

"It's okay, Yuki. It's okay. Giotto will always be there to protect you. Please don't worry. I know everything will be okay. You'll grow up and watch over Giotto and protect him. You'll go through tough times, but I know you'll be able to pull through."

As the small girl's shuddering breath calmed down, she mumbled, "Thank you, big brother…"

A cloud of smoke enveloped the small girl and in her stead, the Guardiano di Neve was there.

"T-Tuna?" she questioned, surprised. "What are you doing? Why are you crying? And why are we back at the—"

"Welcome back, Yuki-san," Tsuna interrupted, sniffling.

Yuki stared down at him, still confused, but smiled softly, stroking his back. "Glad to be back."

End Chapter Eleven

Sorry it took so long. I couldn't decide how I wanted to play it out. However, anyway I did it, it turned out to be angsty. =~='l|

Please forgive me if it's too angsty.

Reviews please?°（・ｘ・）。

~Love you all! X3

P.S. It wasn't a mistake when I said that little Yuki had brown eyes. :]