A/N

So, I'm happy! We got six inches of snow this weekend and I went skiing, nearly froze my last two toes off and drank hot chocolate. So that is my attempt to explain why I won't update on weekends... And I did mean to update yesterday, but then my teachers hit me with a whole bunch of tests... Anyways, onto the story! Thank you for the support for this story!

Guest: I don't plan on putting any kind of romance in this, so sorry! But I hope you'll read it anyways!

DISCLAIMER: Never gotten a penny for my work... So don't own it.

4.

Tsuna wasn't sure if he was glad he was allowed to stay or not. The rest of the students passed with relative ease, isolating him as the "Loser Who Couldn't Light His Flame". The teachers had then let the students go to get lunch, as the process had taken quite a while. Tsuna now sat hunched over his lunch tray as he felt tears prick at the edges of his eyes, the knowledge he was sure to be bullied heavy on his heart. It was supposed to be a second chance to possibly break free of his previous curse of uselessness. And he had thrown it away.

No one sat near him, not even Yamamoto. Tsuna couldn't blame him. It would probably ruin his reputation to be seen with Tsuna. Dame-Tsuna. Then again, Tsuna wasn't completely sure he wanted to see him. Yamamoto had really scared him earlier; that cold side of him, the cruel and calculating one, was exactly what Tsuna had been trying to avoid. Yet he had been so happy, so cheerful talking about sports. Which side was the real Yamamoto anyways? Duality wasn't something Tsuna could handle right now.

A pool of dread formed in his stomach when he heard snickers rising from the table across from him. A couple of the boys turned around, a wicked look in their eyes. Exchanging smirks, a small barrage of food and silverware flew at Tsuna. Tsuna fell backwards with a surprised hieeeee as the projectiles came close, barely avoiding getting himself stabbed by the flying knives and forks. The food splattered on his suit, ruining it as he crashed to the floor with a thump.

Rubbing the bump beginning to develop on his head, Tsuna started to get up only to be kicked back down by some people behind him. Tsuna stayed on the ground, curling up as he sensed people surround him. There wasn't going to be anyone to save him here, no one to show up with band-aids after they were done to cheer him up. Jeers and insults rose from the back of the crowd, encouraging his tormentors. A kick to his stomach prompted his hands to cover it, leaving his head exposed. One foot collided with his nose, bringing blood forth. The kicks continued viciously, fueled by the sight of blood and hitting every exposed spot they could. Tsuna had already let the tears start falling, not caring who saw them by now. He had no pride he needed to salvage; that had left when he hadn't passed the easiest of tests. A growl from the back of the crowd made many of the group stop and turn to look.

Screams started up from the back, quickly followed by grunts of pain. A flash of a long coat and a glare could be seen between the people around him. As the person came closer, Tsuna realized that the boy was growling something about herbivores and crowding. The crowd quickly began to disperse, those who could running from the rampaging boy. Tsuna felt the bullies desist in kicking him and took that opportunity to crawl under the table. Going out the other side, Tsuna ran for the main hall while everyone in the cafeteria began to get caught up in the fight.

Breathing harshly, Tsuna slowed as he neared the stairs. Climbing the two flights, he found his door, placing his palm on the panel and huffing out his password. Safe in the gray tones of his room, Tsuna went to the bathroom to take stock of his injuries. There didn't seem to be any major ones, just some bruising and his bleeding nose, which had stopped on his run to his room. And red eyes, he thought miserably as he carefully wiped the offending parts. I truly am pathetic. Why did I even come? Stripping off his clothes, Tsuna took a shower, revealing the bruising to be more extensive than he had previously thought as well as cuts where the loafers had missed a direct hit and instead done glancing damage. With a heart-felt sigh, Tsuna finished up his shower and decided to go to bed, hoping that the day would just end.

Climbing into bed, Tsuna tried to sleep, but his exhausted, beaten body wouldn't rest. Giving up after some time, Tsuna got redressed in the clean clothes, hating the gray color of the uniform. He sat curled on the chair at the desk in the corner, thinking about everything he had been hoping to avoid – bullies, mockery, failure, loneliness – before coming to the conclusion he had failed completely and he may as well leave. Quite frankly, he wanted to avoid the disappointed faces of his family if he could, but even those would be better than here. Gathering what few things he'd come with, Tsuna walked out of his room, drawstring bag over his shoulder. He was a little stiff from the earlier beating, but it wasn't anything big. His nose was fine now, the blood cleaned away. Overall, he'd be well enough for what he had in mind. Instead of walking towards the cafeteria where there were already sounds of students eating dinner, he turned towards the great doors that had let him in just yesterday. It already seemed so long ago, a mere 24 hours. But Tsuna wasn't going to take abuse like this every day; it would be worse than the bullies at his old school! So he would leave.

Tsuna finally managed to push the huge doors open, having an even bigger sense of respect towards Reborn for being able to open one so easily. But that was it, wasn't it? Reborn and everyone else here were bigger, stronger, and probably smarter than he could ever hope to be. He probably got in on a fluke, a random reaction that had a one in a million chance of occurring. Tsuna walked across the courtyard towards the gates. His heart was gradually growing heavier for some reason, a feeling like something was missing growing larger as he walked further from the school. Tsuna stood before the gates, taking a breath as he prepared to pass the gates and walk all the way back to his house, knowing there was no way to call his parents to come get him. Maybe someone would've done it if he'd gone to the offices, but he was already here so there was no reason to turn back. And yet Tsuna took one last look back.

As he looked at the very special place he'd almost belonged in, he didn't notice a huge cloud of dust appearing along the wall. He didn't even hear the whoop of, "EXTREME!" as the source neared. All he knew was that one moment he was looking at the school in a melancholic way and the next he was flying, feeling as though he'd been hit by a train. Tsuna flew a few feet, barely managing in his surprise to keep hold of his bag during his flight.

Tsuna lay on his back, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. Train? Bus? He blinked a couple times, the dying sun once more lighting up the stained windows of the school. It was the first thing he'd noticed when he'd first arrived yesterday. They really are pretty…

A shadow fell across Tsuna's face as he looked up at the culprit. There was a slight shine from the dying sun outlining a rather large figure. The face was familiar… Ah! It was one of the people who'd made the yellow pillar blaze really brightly. Up close, Tsuna could see that he had white eyebrows and gray eyes, the bandage still sitting on his nose. Once the face had ascertained that Tsuna had not died in his unfortunate flight, a bandage-wrapped arm entered his vision. "Let me help you up to the EXTREME!" the boy yelled, making Tsuna immediately put his hands up to protect his ear drums. The boy grabbed Tsuna's hand as he went to cover his ears and hauled him up easily, making Tsuna feel like a rag doll. "Sorry for running into you to the EXTREME! I was in the middle of an EXTREME run and I EXTREMELY didn't notice you there," the boy continued, oblivious to the volume of his voice. Tsuna winced as he nodded, realizing that the voice wasn't really blocked out even when he was covering his ears.

"My name's Sasagawa Ryohei! Nice to meet you to the EXTREME!" the boy yelled, a smile on his face.

"S-Sawada Tsunayoshi," Tsuna replied, beginning to adjust to the volume. But there was something familiar about his name… What was it? Sasagawa… Sasagawa… Oh! Kyoko's last name was Sasagawa. Tsuna was sure that was a coincidence though. But now that he thought about it, she had mentioned an older brother before…

"Ah! Do you know Kyoko to the EXTREME?" Ryohei yelled, beginning to jog in place.

Tsuna nodded, feeling a slight sinking feeling at meeting his crush's brother. It certainly wasn't the best situation Tsuna could've met him under. "Her brother, right? She talks about you a lot."

"Yeah! I'm her older brother to the EXTREME!" Ryohei yelled, the smile growing wider. "She EXTREMELY talked about you, too!"

Tsuna blushed. "R-really?"

Ryohei bobbed his head up and down. "Yup! Tsuna, the Dame, clumsy student to the EXTREME! She said you were nice though and you always EXTREMELY tried your best at everything!" Tsuna was conflicted. On one hand, he was disheartened to hear the same words everyone else said out of the mouth of his crush, but on the other, she thought he was nice and determined. "She also said you were extremely lonely. And that you extremely needed a friend or two," Ryohei continued in a quieter, more thoughtful voice, which was at a normal volume for anyone else. Tsuna blushed at that and started to feel uncomfortable. It was one thing to live his life out and quite another to have to talk about it.

"I-It's no big deal," Tsuna muttered. "But it was nice meeting you, Sasagawa. I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

"Onii-san!" the boy said. "Call me Onii-san to the EXTREME! It's too formal to call me by my last name. I'm an EXTREME big brother to all my friends," he declared with a grin.

Tsuna had a sense of déjà vu. Yamamoto had done the same thing, calling Tsuna by his first name and declaring them friends. The tiniest of smiles found its way onto Tsuna's face as he nodded, "I will, but only if you call me Tsuna." His eyes burned a bit as he looked at the boy; he rubbed them thinking it must be from the light Ryohei seemed to be radiating.

Ryohei nodded, eyes lighting up – somewhat literally, Tsuna thought seeing a flash of yellow cross the boy's gray eyes – and punched the air, shouting, "Of course to the EXTREME!"

"Why don't you go back to doing what you were doing then, Ryo—Onii-san," Tsuna corrected, feeling the energy coming off of Ryohei begin to infect him as well.

"Sure, to the EXTREME!" Ryohei began to jog in place, before stopping and turning around. "Hey, Tsuna? What were you doing just standing there, spaced out in front of the gates to the extreme?"

Tsuna wasn't sure how to answer. He felt as though he was sitting on the edge of a cliff, and this answer would either push him off or save him. It was a strange feeling, one he didn't understand yet, but it told him to tell the truth. Besides, Tsuna didn't want to lie to his crush's brother. "I… was leaving."

"Why, to the extreme, would you ever do that?" Ryohei said, his tone more careful than usual. Ryohei seemed to only stop yelling when he was serious, but he didn't seem to realize it created an unknown feeling within him that Tsuna couldn't identify, one that made his heart hurt. No one ever asked why he did anything; he gave up and everyone else just carried on.

"W-well, I didn't pass the test," Tsuna said, his throat closing up once more. Ryohei waited, as if knowing there was more to the story. He was rewarded after a few seconds. "A-and why should I stay someplace I'm not wanted? If it's going to be no different than it was before, then I'd rather go back to where the fights aren't guaranteed to kill me."

Ryohei stood in silence for a moment. "What if I said I wanted you here?"

Tsuna was taken aback by the sudden statement. "Huh?"

Ryohei nodded, surer of what he was saying, "I extremely don't want you to leave, Tsuna. You just extremely became my friend, so why would I want you to leave? Besides, you do belong here. Anyone who's approved by Kyoko must be a pretty EXTREME guy, so don't give it up just yet. Just keep going to the EXTREME!"

Tsuna surprised himself with a smile, feeling as though he maybe didn't need to leave just yet, "Sure, O-Onii-san. I'll try staying a little longer."

Ryohei nodded, his earlier energy coming back. Waving good-bye, he sped off to finish his nightly run. Tsuna picked up his bag and headed back towards the doors, resolving to give it one more night. At the very top of the building, a face half-covered in a fedora smirked as it watched from the window.

A/N

Word Count: 2,249

So, a little shorter than last time, but at least I got a second person in! Ryohei really is the most motivational person I could think of. He could be his own pep squad! I hope I didn't make him OOC when he got more serious... Read it as if the sentence doesn't have an all-caps EXTREME in it, he's being more serious. I hope to get a better handle on all the characters!

See you next time!