Ryohei was starting to get worried. There were forty minutes left until visiting hours were over and his uncle still hadn't come. Had he changed his mind?

As the young boy spiralled deeper into panic, he was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a commotion out in the hall. He was looking curiously at the door, wondering what was going on, when suddenly a man wearing black, gold-trimmed priest robes appeared at the door to his room, seemingly out of breath.

"Ryohei!" gasped out the man, and Ryohei's eyes widened as he suddenly realized who the man was.

"Uncle!" gasped out the young boy.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" he said, coming over and dropping into a chair beside Ryohei's bed. Offering an exhausted smile, he said, "I had to leave a little later than I'd originally planned."

Feeling tears well up in his eyes, Ryohei said in an unnaturally quiet voice, "Y-you came."

Knuckle's face relaxed into a gentle smile and he got up to wrap his arms around the boy. "Of course," he said. Clutching onto his uncle's robes with the hand he could still move, Ryohei cried for a long time.

When he pulled away, Knuckle placed a kiss on his nephew's forehead, then gently wiped away his tears.

"Everything's alright now," he said to the young boy in a reassuring voice, and Ryohei believed him, offering a nervous smile to the man. "So, did the doctor tell you when you're allowed to check out?"

Ryohei nodded. "They already took all the x0rays and stuff that they needed, and since there aren't any other really bad injuries, they said I'll be out in three or four days."

Knuckle nodded wordlessly. After a few moments of silence, he smile at Ryohei and said, "Sorry, I'm not so good with words, so I'll just come out and ask you."

"Ask me what?"

Taking a deep breath, Knuckle said, "What do you think about moving to Italy to live with me?"

"With you? To Italy?" asked Ryohei with wide eyes. The truth was, he really wanted to go, but . . . what about Kyoko?

As if reading his min, Knuckle smiled reassuringly again. "And, of course, when Kyoko-chan wakes up, she'll come too."

Ryohei's eyes widened; Kyoko was invited too? It was almost too good to be true!

"Are you sure it's okay?" he asked nervously. "We don't want to be a bother . . ."

"You're not a bother at all!" said Knuckle with a laugh. "We have plenty of room, and there are also other kids."

"Other kids?" asked Ryohei, starting to get a little apprehensive. Did his uncle have kids of his own? "You're a father?" he asked.

"Iie!" said Knuckle immediately, chuckling. "I'm a priest, remember? I can't have children." Then, his face softening into a fond smile, he said, "They're my friends' kids. They're all wonderful children, and I'm sure you'll get along great with them."

Tilting his head to the side, Ryohei smiled. "If uncle thinks so highly of them, then I EXTREMELY want to meet them!"

"Great," said Knuckle with a smile. "They're actually-"

He was cut off when a nurse came into the room. "I'm sorry, Knuckle-san, but visiting hours are now over. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Knuckle nodded once at her, and said, "Okay, just give me a second to say goodbye to my nephew."

Smiling, then nurse nodded, then turned and left, giving them some privacy.

Turning back to Ryohei, Knuckle hugged him around the shoulders, and dropped a kiss on his temple. "I'll be back tomorrow, okay? Sleep tight, caro mio."

Ryohei, though reluctant to see his uncle leave, smiled to hear the familiar phrase; it was one of the few Italian phrases he knew, because his uncle would repeat them to him and his sister every time he came to visit them. "Good night, uncle; I'll see you tomorrow."

As Knuckle closed the door, Ryohei laid back and closing his eyes, thinking back to a time when he was much smaller. He had gotten lost at the mall, and that time, it had been his uncle that had found him and brought him home; this time, it looked like his uncle would be the hero again.

It was the day that Ryohei was supposed to come home from the hospital, and Tsuna was looking for his wayward brother, Kyoya.

Finally, after an hour or so of searching, the little brunette dropped to the ground, right where he had been standing in the middle of the hallway, and let out a frustrated groan. He'd checked everywhere he could possibly think of, and still no sign of the skylark.

"Is there something wrong, herbivore?" asked a bored voice from behind him, and Tsuna whipped around to find the very cause of his frustration.

"Kyoya-nii!" he shouted, latching onto the older boy.

"Is there something wrong?" repeated Kyoya, obviously ticked off, which was unusual, because nobody ever got mad at Tsuna.

Tsuna, though, was completely unfazed. "Is there something wrong? You've been sad lately," said the brunette, concerned.

Seeing the younger boy's concern, Kyoya had to smile a little. "I'm fine," he said.

Not buying it, Tsuna shook his head. "You're not fine. I know. Tell me what's wrong, big brother!"

Sighing, Kyoya shook his head. "This is the town I was born in. I didn't think I would come here again so soon."

Tsuna's eyes widened. "Kyoya-nii was born in Namimori?"

Kyoya nodded. "And my mother wasn't exactly nice, you know."

When he said the word mother, Kyoya was surprised to see Tsuna's eyes gain a faraway expression. The next second, though, the expression was gone, and Tsuna smiled his usual smile. "Well," said the boy. "You live with us now, and your maman can't hurt you anymore!" Throwing his arms around the skylark, he looked up, and his smile became impossibly wider. "So please don't look so sad."

Sighing, Kyoya decided that he had better not think about the matter anymore; if only for Tsuna's sake. Showing a small smile, he asked, "Is that why you were looking for me?"

Tsuna, as if suddenly remembering something, smiled, and said, "Uncle Knuckle is going to arrive with his nephew soon, so we have to go meet him."

Ryohei stared in awe at the huge building in front of him.

"This is where we'll be staying?" he asked his uncle.

Chuckling, Knuckle nodded. "This is one of the three mansions we have in Japan. It was built only last year. Anyways, let's hurry on inside, I'm pretty sure the kids are all waiting for you. They were so excited when they found out you were coming."

Ryohei just nodded, and followed obediently after his uncle. He was starting to get butterflies in his stomach; he'd never really been close to any kids other than his little sister before.

By the time they were standing in front of the door, his heart was racing like a stallion.

Slowly opening the door, Knuckle stepped in, smiling when he saw Tsuna and the others lounging around, sitting on the steps and waiting for them.

As he moved to the side to let Ryohei in, he heard the boy gasp when he saw everyone waiting for him.

Tsuna smiled at the boy that had just entered with his uncle. Skipping over to him, he stopped a few paces away and said haltingly in Japanese, "Hello, m-my name is Tsunayoshi! . . . Nice to meet you!"

Ryohei stared at the feminine little boy who had just introduced himself as Tsunayoshi. Then, after a second, a wide smile made its way onto his face and he said, "It's EXTREMELY nice to meet you! You remind me of my sister, so I'll let you call me onii-san!"

Kyoya, who was the only one that understood Japanese fluently, had to hold back a chuckle, but luckily, Ryohei was talking so fast, that the other kids didn't understand what he said.

Knuckle, stifling a chuckle of his own, said to Ryohei, "You'll have to speak a little slower, because they don't understand Japanese that well." Then, turning to Tsuna he said in Italian, "Ryohei said it was nice to meet you, and that you can call him big brother."

Tsuna smiled brightly and nodded. "Onii-san!" he said, hugging Ryohei lightly around the waist, making not to agitate his injury.

Finally, the others thought it was time to introduce themselves.

When it came to Kyoya, Ryohei's eyes widened and he pointed at the skylark. "You're Hibari-san!"

Kyoya glared at the boy. "Yes, and you're Sasagawa Ryohei-san."

"What are you doing here?" asked Ryohei. "You suddenly disappeared a few years ago, and your mother said you went to live with your father."

Rolling his eyes, the skylark said in a matter-of-fact voice, "Yes, I did go to live with my father, and the reason I'm here is because my father is one of uncle Knuckle's friends."

Ryohei nodded, smiling widely. "So we're going to be brothers now? That's cool! I missed you to the EXTREME after you left, Hibari-san!"

"Call me Kyoya," said the skylark. "Brothers don't call each other by last names."

"Haha, that's true," said Ryohei, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Kyoya, then!"

Knuckle watched fondly as his nephews got acquainted. He had known that they would get along great, and it was good to see that Ryohei was still smiling; it meant that he was slowly getting over his parents' death.

Later that night, after Ryohei had been properly welcomed into the family and everyone but Giotto was asleep, the blond was on his way to his bedroom after finishing his paperwork (which had miraculously followed him to Japan) when he heard a sound coming from his son's room.

Peeking in, he found, to his surprise, that Tsuna was still awake.

"Tsuna?" he asked, walking up to his son's bed.

The brunette looked at him with wide eyes. "Papa!" he said, crawling into his lap like he used to do when he was younger.

"Tsuna?" asked Giotto, starting to get worried.

Tsuna wrapped his arms around his father's neck and buried his head in his chest, sniffling a little. "Papa, why doesn't Tsuna have a mother?"

Giotto's eyes widened at the question. "What?" he asked.

Looking up through tearful eyes, he said, "At school, Spanner always tells about how his maman plays together with him, and helps him with his homework. Even auntie Elena is Mukuro and Chrome's maman, so why doesn't Tsuna have a mama?"

Giotto clutched his hand into a fist. Forcing a smile, he said, "Papa can always help you with your homework and play with you. Isn't that enough?"

"But papa is papa!" exclaimed Tsuna in exasperation. "Papa can't be mama!"

Giotto felt his heart break when he heard those words. He always tried his best to give his son all the love he needed, but with those four words, Giotto realized that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't take the place of a mother.

Kissing his son on the forehead, he said, "I'm sorry, Tsuna, but your mama, she. . ."

As he trailed off, not knowing what to say, Tsuna looked at him with wide eyes. "Tsuna's mama didn't love him?" he asked tearfully.

"That's not it!" Giotto immediately said. "Tsuna, your mother loved you very much, it's just that something happened, and she couldn't take care of you, okay?"

"Really?" asked Tsuna, his eyes worried. Giotto felt horrible for lying, but he couldn't stand to see Tsuna so sad.

Trying to smile, he said, "That's right. She loved you very much, and she felt bad that she couldn't take proper care of you. So you have to show her that you're happy, okay? So that she doesn't feel sad, okay?"

"Okay!" said Tsuna enthusiastically. "Thank you, papa."

"No problem, sweetheart," he said, kissing his son on the head. "Now, you go to sleep, it's late." And with that, he bid his son goodnight and left towards his room. He lay awake for a long time before falling asleep, wondering if he would be able to raise Tsuna with the love he deserved.

SkyGem: Sorry, the last part was pretty random, but I just needed to include that there, 'cause it's very important to the story later on XD. Anyways, I know you're all probably getting kinda anxious, but don't worry. This arc shall be concluded in the next chapter!...hopefully. Anyways, please do leave a review, ne?