this is a story that I adopted from To The EXTREME KHR EnmaFan a few years ago. hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Ayako

Gokudera Hayato remembered the first day he met Ayako. It was a few days before his birthday, and Lavina had told him she prepared a surprise for him. Hayato remembered expecting something grand, like a new toy robot or maybe even a song she had composed herself. Instead he was met with his female look-alike.

"Why don't you two introduce yourselves?" Lavina had suggested.

Hayato remembered feeling threatened by the girl at the time, wary of this girl who seemed to be taking up all of Lavina's concern and attention and also disappointed with the surprise being her. "I'm older than you, so you have to answer all my questions. Who are you?"

Ayako glared at him. "You're not older than me! Why should I answer?"

Hayato scoffed in disbelief. "You're shorter! That means you're younger!"

"That makes no sense, dumbo!"

"I'm no dumbo, how dare you-"

"Kids. Play nice."

Ayako huffed. "Yes, Mom."

Hayato immediately turned alert at that. He had turned to Lavina. "She's your daughter, Lavina?"

Lavina shook her head, no doubt disappointed the two immediately started squabbling upon meeting. "I was about to explain that before you two started screaming at each other." Lavina turned to her daughter with a chastising glare. "Aya, where are your manners? I told you to play nice." Hayato remembered laughing at her, but then Lavina turned to him. "And Hayato! You are older, which means you have to be kinder. Don't treat those younger than you like that!"

Ayako protested. "He's older than me by one day, Mom!"

Hayato crossed his arms. "Still older!"

Before the two fought again, Lavina glared, and the two huffed in unison. "We're sorry."

Lavina smiled, and clapped her hands together. "Now, introduce yourselves! Civilly."

Hayato had held out his hand first, albeit reluctantly. "Hayato."

Ayako had taken his hand reluctantly too. "Ayako."

Hayato had thought he would be seeing Lavina's daughter pretty often, which was why he had conceded to get along with her so quickly. However, he didn't see Ayako for another few years; on his fifth birthday and all the others after, Lavina and Ayako never showed up.

Hayato remembered the day he found out Lavina was his mother and that in turn made Aya his younger sister. He had just turned nine, and was curious as to why his father always seem to dodge his questions as to why Lavina stopped showing up to the Gokudera residence. Hayato couldn't accept the fact that she had quit so suddenly, not when she had introduced his daughter to him and had wanted them to become friends. So he tried to find out. He tailed his father, until eventually he had arrived at a graveyard and that was when Hayato saw it.

The tombstone read Lavina Gokudera, showing the date of his fifth birthday as the day of her death.

That made everything click in Hayato's head: why Lavina never showed up to his birthday, why she stopped showing up ever since, why Lavina treated him like her own son, why Ayako looked like his female counterpart, why Ayako's appearance was supposed to be such a great surprise.

Hayato remembered feeling so hopeless and stupid, because he couldn't figure out something that was so blatantly obvious. And then Hayato realized that there lay no tombstone with Ayako's name on it. He started to get hopeful. Maybe Ayako was still out there. Maybe she was alive. Hayato refused to let another one of his relatives die without his knowledge, as his father would no doubt cover up Ayako's death if she met the same fate. No. He would meet her. He would make amends with her, apologize for not being there for her when Lavina died.

It was on his way home that he spotted his younger sister. He was ecstatic. He could take her in, they would become the closest of siblings-! And that's when he realized his younger sister was living on the streets, dressed in ragged and beat up clothes, begging people for food.

The father that was visiting the graveyard of his mother every year had abandoned his other living child and now she was living as a beggar. His father wouldn't help her. He would hide her.

Hayato had just turned nine the day he realized the adults in his life were not so respectable people after all.

"Hello good sir, if you could just spare your leftover food I would appreciate it-!"

"Get away, dirty brat!"

Ayako was pushed away, and rather than retaliating, she simply smiled and bowed. "Thank you, I hope you have a nice evening!"

Hayato, with trembling fists, walked over to his younger sister. When she raised her head, she immediately recognized the boy, her brother, but rather than stating so she smiled. "Hello good sir, what can I help you with?"

Hayato had turned to her with pained eyes. "Ayako... What happened to you? What happened... to you and Lavina?"

Ayako's smile instantly disappeared as she began to recall the events. She remembered getting into a black car with her mother, driving to the Gokudera residence, her mother had said. She remembered the car being halted, men grabbing her, her retaliating back, screaming at the top of her lungs, disobeying them, her mother paying the price, blood, blood, blood-!

"Ayako!" Hayato hugged his sister, who had started to scream at the top of her lungs "I'm sorry" and was bawling, trembling, terrified. He held her broken form tight, rubbing her back as she sobbed. Hayato found himself reassuring her, murmuring things like, "Brother is here, it's going to be okay, you're safe now, you're alright."

Eventually she calmed down, and he turned to her with a big smile. "Aya, happy birthday! You just turned nine, didn't you?"

She sniffled. "Did I?"

Hayato nodded. "Yep! I prepared a nice present for you! Do you trust me?"

Ayako had hesitated at first, but then she remembered the warmth his hug had given her. Warmth that she hadn't experienced since her mother's death, comfort. Ayako pursed her lips, and then she nodded.

Hayato took her hand, and after years of switching between adoptions, it was on her ninth birthday that Ayako finally settled into a permanent family.

"Gokudera-kun! Gokudera-kun!"

Hayato opened his eyes blearily to the voice of Tsuna, who was shaking him awake. He yawned, stretching out his arms. "Are we here yet, Juudaime?"

Tsuna shook his head. "We still have about ten minutes before we arrive. It's just your phone was ringing a lot, and it looked quite urgent so I thought to wake you. The Caller ID was someone named… Aya?"

Hayato's eyes widened, and he immediately pulled out his phone, and indeed he had 5 missed called from Aya. He immediately dialed her, waiting for her to pick up. When the call went through, there was silence on the other end. Hayato called out in a panic. "What's wrong, Aya? Is everything alright?"

"…Onii-sama…"

"I'm here, Aya, what's the matter?"

"Obaa-sama went into the ER two hours ago. They said... they said to expect the worst and…"

Hayato didn't like the way this was going. "And?"

"…Obaa-sama passed away thirty minutes ago."

Hayato's eyes widened, and he murmured a curse before he talked again, "Aya, where are you right now? Are you at the hospital? I'll head on over, I'm sure I can work things out on my end... point is, I'll be there! We'll figure this out together, no matter what, you won't be alone to deal with this, okay?"

"Onii-sama... what do I do? Obaa-sama was my only guardian... where do I live? Do I return to the streets? Am I... am I a beggar by birth after all?"

"Damn it, Aya, I'll be there right now! I will fix this, you trust me, right Aya? I'll be there, we'll figure this out, no matter what I'm not letting you go back to that shithole again, understand?!"

"…Okay."

"Okay, I'm going to hang up now, but you stay there. Don't move a muscle! I'll be there!" Hayato hung up the call, and he turned to Tsuna with a panicked expression. "I'm sorry Juudaime, but my sister's in trouble so I need to be there right now. Could we head over to this hospital at the moment? I know Vongola Nono wanted to meet with us, but my sister isn't used to being alone and there's a huge crisis and-"

Tsuna smiled. "Of course, Gokudera-kun. We'll head over there right now."

Hayato shut his eyes in relief. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Hayato practically ran inside the hospital, and luckily spotted his sister in the lobby room immediately. He noted her face was stained with dried tear marks, and her eyes looked void of emotion. She seemed to be spaced out, and Hayato ran to her. "Aya!"

She blinked out of her deadpan expression, and she smiled ever so slightly at the sight of her brother. "Onii-sama. You're here."

Hayato hugged her tight, shutting his eyes. "Aya, you can let it out. Let it all out, you hear?"

She wrapped her arms around her brother's body hesitantly, before she clung on to his shirt and began to sob. "O-Onii-sama…! W-wha... what do I do?! I don't want to be alone! I thought Obaa-sama would... would live…! And…!"

"Shh... I know…" He pulled away to grab onto her shoulders. "Aya… I've been thinking. Why don't you... why don't you come join me in Japan now?" Hayato averted his eyes. "To be honest with you, I didn't think I would stay for that long, but I realized that Juudaime is someone I really respect and want to serve for a lifetime and…" He smiled. "I've decided that if you want, you can join me. This way, we don't have to be separated anymore, and we'll finally be together! I'll try my best to find a place for us to live and make it work, but I promise that Juudaime's kindness overcomes it all and…!"

Ayako sniffled. "Onii-sama…"

Hayato smiled. "Yes, Aya?"

"I don't want to be alone anymore." Ayako averted her eyes. "Can I... Can I live with you? Would Juudaime-sama be okay with me there, would I be a bother?"

Hayato's smile brightened. "Of course Juudaime would, Aya. You're not a bother, ever. Don't let anyone tell you that." Hayato hugged his sister again. "We'll discuss everything later, okay? For now, let's prepare for Obaa-san's funeral together, and send her off in gratitude. She took care of you all these years, after all."

"Okay, Onii-sama."

Gokudera Ayako was fifteen the day her adoptive mother passed away. But it was also the day she would finally be able to be together with her beloved brother.

soo… angst! who knew I'd be this good at it, sorrynotsorry-

hope this was a better take on the story than my previous version, if any who read this before are even here lol

let's hope we finish the story this time, yeah?

hope you enjoyed,

ally