A/N

Dawwwww! I love you guys! So in the face of overwhelming response/feedback (Esperanz that was my longest review yet and I love you for it!) I decided to stop wasting time with planning and write the next one. Quick note, I changed a small part of 4 and 5 because of something Guest said, so if you don't want to go back and read them all over again, I'll leave a note at the bottom with what was changed (it was really only like 4 sentences). Ummm, that's it for now, so enjoy the story!

DISCLAIMER: Unless Lal Mirch and Colonello actually ended up having their wedding for all to see, I don't own it.

6.

His alarm once again went off at 6:30, refusing to stop until the boy had removed himself from his bed. Sighing, Tsuna made his way to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face until he woke up. It would be his third official day in the school. But it already felt as though he'd been here forever. Tsuna got dressed up in the drab suit before heading to the cafeteria as he had the day before.

Tsuna was not quite sure how this was going to go. Last time he'd been in the place, he'd been beaten on the floor. Not exactly an experience anyone wants twice. But there was nothing he could do short of starving himself, so with a heavy heart he walked into the cafeteria to grab his breakfast. One thing he couldn't fault the school on was their care of the students. Breakfast was a grand spread of bacon, pancakes, turnovers, sausage, pastries, cinnamon buns, eggs, hash browns, cereal, and granola bars. There was even a place where you could place a specific order for anything that wasn't available on the spread. Tsuna walked away with a plate filled with enough food to last him the majority of the day, just in case he didn't get another chance to eat in the cafeteria again.

Tsuna once more found himself in a spot free of people and sat down. He didn't feel the same loneliness he had just yesterday. Tsuna was pondering why that was when Yamamoto sat down across from him. Tsuna flinched at the sudden reappearance of the boy who had made him so aware of where he was. He also hadn't done anything to help Tsuna when he'd been on the floor. Yamamoto noticed the flinch and gave a slightly sad smile, "I scared you, didn't I? Sorry, if I did." Tsuna didn't say anything, staring at his plate where he'd been reduced to moving his eggs around his plate. "I'm also sorry I didn't eat lunch with you yesterday. The others in my class had dragged me away, so I was on the other side of the cafeteria when you got hurt. But I was trying to get them to back off when I found out. You probably didn't see me since the other boy made such a scene. Please, can we just… start over? I do want to be your friend."

Tsuna didn't say anything for several more moments before giving a small nod, eyes burning the slightest bit as he met Yamamoto's. Truth be told, he'd rather start over as well. The other boy's eyes widened almost imperceptibly – a streak of blue unknowingly flashing across his dark orbs – while Tsuna rubbed the burn in his eyes away, thinking he had been on the edge of crying. Yamamoto quickly brightened to cover up his slight shock and began talking about sports again, having fulfilled his mission of regaining Tsuna's friendship. Tuning him out a bit, Tsuna looked beyond Yamamoto and noticed that there was a table nearby where the boys were looking over at the two of them before turning around to talk to the others. Tsuna felt a small stone drop in his stomach as he recognized some of the faces as people who'd beaten him the other day. Yamamoto trailed off as he realized Tsuna was no longer paying attention to what he was saying. Turning to see what caught his eye, Yamamoto's look darkened. It grew darker when a group from the table got up and walked towards them.

"Hey, Yamamoto," one of them called, waving at Yamamoto. "Noticed you over here. Why don't you come sit with the rest of us? It's gotta be better than sitting with the loser." Tsuna ducked his head at the words and waited for Yamamoto to get up. He was obviously wanted elsewhere.

"Nah, I'm good," Yamamoto said coolly. "I'm sitting with a friend."

The boys shook their heads, "But Yamamoto, he's worthless." Tsuna felt a small stab at the familiar insult. "He doesn't have a color and there's always the possibility that he cheated to get in. Why would you ever want to be friends with him?"

Yamamoto opened his mouth as a loud voice erupted next to Tsuna, "Good morning to the EXTREME, Tsuna!" A certain white-haired, energetic boy sat down next to Tsuna. His plate was piled high with food from the spread; there was so much that some food that fell off when Ryohei put his plate down.

"Good morning to you, too, Onii-san," Tsuna said with a smile, momentarily distracted from the bullies. "How was your morning run?"

Ryohei beamed and opened his mouth to say how extreme it was when a familiar chuckle cut through the air, "Kufufufu~ good morning, Tsunayoshi." Tsuna turned around to find Mukuro, Chrome, and two more boys behind him.

"Good morning, Mukuro, Chrome," Tsuna said, smile broadening.

"G-good morning, Tsuna," Chrome stutters out, blushing slightly. Her eyes glowing indigo as she cast her gaze at him shyly. I guess it's a family trait, Tsuna thought, remembering yesterday.

At that moment, something irritated his eye, a heat slowly pulsing from them as she met his eyes. Sighing inwardly about dry eyes, Tsuna closed them and gently massaged the burn away, missing Chrome's startled look which was quickly reassured by a light touch to her arm from her brother. Hoping his eyes weren't watering, Tsuna looked back up and asked, "Are you feeling better, Chrome? Mukuro was really worried yesterday."

Chrome opened her mouth to respond when the boy with blonde hair fingering the scar on his face spoke up, "The stupid girl's fine. She's up and about, isn't she?" The words seemed a little coarse, but Tsuna saw the slight blush on his cheeks. One thing was certain: this boy didn't hate Chrome, no matter what he said.

The other boy sighed. His eyes were dead-looking and face expressionless as he said, "Ignore him. He's just an idiot." There was a barcode tattoo on his cheek just below his glasses and a beanie on his head. A yo-yo flickered in and out of his hand at a rapid pace, carefully controlled despite the apparent lack of attention directed towards the motion.

The boy with blond hair looked like he was about to start a fight, his face twisting itself into a rather animalistic snarl, when Tsuna quickly spoke up, "Sorry, but what are your names? I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi. Tsuna to my friends."

The blond tsked and said, "I'm Joshima Ken. Just call me Ken. The freak is Kakimoto Chikusa. Just call him Chikusa or Kaki-pi. There's another girl around here someplace…" He trailed off as what looked like a clarinet slammed into his head.

The culprit was revealed to be a girl with shoulder length orange-red hair and purple eyes. "Shut up, Ken. Name's M.M. Don't call me anything else." Tsuna gulped and nodded, not sure how to react to the new arrival.

"What the heck is with the freak show?" one of the boys said, forgotten until then. The loser was supposed to be alone. Why did he have so many big players backing him up?

Ken growled. Mukuro stepped forward, a rather disturbing look on his face. Neither did anything because just then a boy walked by, one Tsuna recognized as the one who'd put a stop to the beating yesterday. The boy stopped, saying with an aura of blood-lust, "I'll bite you to death for crowding, herbivores." The bullies paled instantly and fled back to their table, trying to avoid another beating. Mukuro, however, stepped up, twirling a trident that hadn't been there a second ago. Seeing the challenge, the boy turned to Mukuro, "Prepare to be bitten to death, herbivore."

Mukuro smirked, "If you can, skylark." They got into fighting stances, prepared to explode in violence as soon as the other made a move.

Yamamoto then got up and stood between the two, attempting to calm the situation, "Maa maa, why don't we all just sit down and have breakfast? It's beginning to get cold."

"Hn," Hibari said before walking away. Mukuro looked slightly disappointed, but sat down and began to eat. Tsuna could only breathe a sigh of relief that nothing had happened. He was truly surrounding himself with dangerous people.

"Yamamoto, who was that?" Tsuna asked when the person in question was out of earshot.

"Hm? Oh, he's Hibari Kyoya," Yamamoto said with a grin. Tsuna nodded, thinking his savior from yesterday was actually quite scary.

Tuning the rest of them out, he missed the look Yamamoto passed to the twins and Ryohei. So when Yamamoto asked, "Did you guys see it, too?" with a finger casually tapping the corner of his eye, Tsuna dismissed it as more sport jargon. Same with the three nods and the glances all four sent him, lightly flicking over him before settling back down to their food and continuing as though nothing was unusual.

Breakfast finished without a hitch, sending the students to their classrooms. Tsuna split up from the others as he came to the main hall wishing them their best as he headed for the orange arch. Butterflies exploded in his stomach as he realized that his class was tiny, and he was only let in as an exception. This couldn't end well.

Tsuna walked through the arch – feeling the slightest tingle – and stopped in awe. The hallway was long, almost as long as the main hall. But it was what was inside that stopped Tsuna's breath. Along the walls were old fashioned pillars with small niches with orange Flames burning without any apparent source of fuel. There was an opening at the end of the hall where it widened into a room. There was a mosaic on the far wall of four people surrounded by stars. The first three formed a triangle with a symbol in the middle: an orange arch crested over an orange shell, which in turn was resting on an orange wave. One of the three was back to back with a man holding an orange globe in his hands. Their faces were shadowed by hoods, making their features blurred and unrecognizable, and they were dressed in robes that faded into the background. The robes were black with a gold trim that flowed along the edges, giving a regal feeling. They seemed intimidating, but Tsuna knew they weren't actually bad, just strong.

A click of shoes behind him brought him face to face with Luce. A woman followed behind her, looking very much like Luce. She even had the same flower tattoo beneath her eye. Luce smiled at Tsuna. "Interested in the Princes?" she asked.

"Princes?" Tsuna asked.

"Yes. Those four people in the mosaic over there. You were looking at them quite intently."

"Y- yeah," Tsuna stuttered. "Who are they?"

"Hm, how to explain?" Luce said, putting her finger to her chin as she thought hard. "Aria, could you do it?"

The woman behind Luce nodded with a smile, "I'd be glad to, Mama." That explains that, thought Tsuna. "The Four Princes are considered the guardians of space and time. The first three watch over time. One watches over parallel time, one watches over generational time – a fancy way to say the current timeline –, and the last appears every once in a while, more of a referee between the two and is able to see the future. It's a secret, but one of the Princes is actually a Princess." At this, Aria winked and put a finger to her lips.

Tsuna smiled at the gesture before asking, "And the last one?"

Aria hesitated a second before she began again, "The last one is a special case. He is the only guardian of space, commanding the powers of the earth. Unfortunately, there were problems that forced the original guardian into hiding for a very, very long time. As such, no one is quite sure of what he can actually do."

Tsuna felt a wave of sadness at that, a sense of loneliness filling him as though he knew exactly what she was talking about. It was gone as quickly as it arrived, leaving Tsuna to wonder if it had just been his imagination.

Luce clapped her hands. "Well, you're actually the last one here. I thought that since it was your first class I would just let you look around, so you're free to leave whenever you'd like. This afternoon we'll do formal introductions with each other."

Tsuna nodded, "I think I'm just going to go back to my room. You've given me something to think about." He turned to go, but Luce called him back for a second.

"Tsuna, keep in mind that the Princes were not alone. They were merely the leaders; there were six other guardians. Each of the other halls has a mosaic of the guardians in their respective colors. The original mosaic has been missing for quite some time, but it supposedly shows all 28 guardians. After all, even the strongest Prince needs a guard… and a friend," she added after a moment, a soft smile gracing her lips as she watched the boy.

Tsuna, reflexively returning the smile, took in the information with confusion – after all, why would he need to know that? – but stored it away for thought later. Never hurts to know, I guess, Tsuna thought idly. Thanking Luce and Aria, he left the hall.

Word Count: 2,243

And done! So we have more kindness, that curious burning, the return of Yamamoto (I couldn't keep him away forever), and a short introduction to Hibari and the Princes. I probably will save Hibari for last, but expect a new guardian next time! As for Tsuna's breaking point, it'll come soon (?) I hope. And yes, he'll do it for someone else (that's all but a given). Thank you again, and what I added will be summarized below (because out-of-context writing sucks).

Really quickly, sorry Esperanz, but like you said, it's a hobby and I don't know how to fit more with the current way I'm writing. I'll try in the future to write more, so bear with me.

See you next time!

What I added:

Basically all I added was different points in which both the guardians' and Tsuna's eyes "burned" (although the guardians didn't feel it) while getting accepted by the each other. So Ryohei and Mukuro already knew, and Yamamoto and Chrome found out during this chapter and they are all keeping it a secret because no one really knows what it means. I'll probably elaborate a little more with the next chapter.