Chapter 4: Which Way the Rain Falls

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

The day was overcast and dreary. Students rushed home with umbrellas tucked under their arms in case it began to drizzle or in the worst case, pour. But by the end of the day, no rain had come.

Tsuna sat on the edge of his bed, looking out the window, staring at the rushed pedestrians. Unlike most, he like the rain. It soothed and calmed him when he was feeling upset. But most of all, it was like rain had its own feelings. Sometimes it felt cheerful and other times…not so much.

For as long as he could remember, Tsuna had loved the rain. He loved the soft patters against the ground it created. He loved feeling the smooth, slippery droplets slide over his skin. He loved almost everything about it except…

For when it refused to leave the clouds…like today.

He begged his mother to let him outside but she always told him to rest so his injuries would heal faster (she found out).

Of course he obliged (grudgingly), because he loved his mom more than the rain, after all they were family. But for the rest of the day, he was as gloomy as it was outside. That is, until Taiki came home with Reborn.

To put it simply, the Sawada Residence…livened up a bit.

"Kaa-san, Reborn is stealing my food again!" Taiki whined.

"Mou Tai-kun, Reborn-kun is a growing baby, he needs to eat a lot to grow big and strong!"

Reborn smirked behind his mug of coffee.

"But Kaa-san, he isn't—"

"Taiki, you can have some of mine. I'm not that hungry tonight." Tsuna spoke up. It was true; he wasn't in the mood, especially when Reborn was staring holes through his head.

Excusing himself, Tsuna slid his plate over to his twin then exited the kitchen and headed up to his room (he only tripped once!).

It took some effort, but he managed to slide open his window. Tiredly, lay his chin over his crossed arms, leaning on the windowsill. After a few minutes of listening to the sounds of traffic, Tsuna stretched out a hand.

That's when he felt the first drop of rain.

It landed on his ring finger and gradually slid down from his hand all the way to his elbow before drying up.

A childish smile played along Tsuna's lips. Maybe he could sneak through the window…

No!

He shook his head. It would be wrong to disobey his mom.

Softly, he clicked the glass shut and plopped down on his bed. He never realized how boring it was without Giotto around.

It seemed like hours passed, just staring up at the ceiling, listening to the soft pattering of rain against the roof.

Soon, he noticed a small trail of water forming on the sill. He must not have closed the window correctly. Figures. He pushed himself up and began to trace the leak. But he stopped when a small movement caught his eye.

Squinting, he peered out the window.

Was that…Yamamoto Takeshi?"

Struggling to push the window back open again, Tsuna called to the boy over the sounds of the rain. "Yamamoto-san? What are you doing out here?"

Startled, Yamamoto looked up. For a second, his eyes looked dull and unhappy but when he blinked, it was gone.

"Oh, Tsuna, you live here?" Yamamoto asked, glancing over to the nameplate. "Haha, I should have known. Sa-wa-da Res-i-dence." He read aloud.

"Yeah, may I ask why you're here, Yamamoto-san?"

"Why…I'm here?" He rubbed the back of his head in confusedly. "My feet just carried me here…I think."

"Oh, I see. Would you like to come in? You're probably soaking wet."

Yamamoto held up a dripping arm. "Yeah, sounds good."

"I'll meet you outside then." Tsuna, forgetting to close the window, raced downstairs, tripped twice, then ran face-first into the door but nevertheless made it down sort-of unharmed. When he opened the door, he stubbed his tow on the bottom of the frame. So when Yamamoto entered, he saw a slightly bruised Tsuna, jumping around, clutching his foot painfully.

"Sorry to intrude!" Yamamoto called out, looking questioningly at Tsuna.

"Kaa-san! I have a friend over!" Tsuna peeked into the kitchen where his mom was cleaning up.

Little did he know that Yamamoto's eyes widened at the word 'friend.'

"Ara? Tsu-kun's friend?" Nana's head popped out of nowhere. "Introduce him to me, Tsu-kun!"

Yamamoto bowed respectively before Tsuna could open his mouth. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, please take care of me, Sawada-san."

Nana cupped her cheek with one hand and flapped the other in embarrassment. "If you're Tsu-kun's friend, you can call me Mama!"

Noticing Yamamoto's slight discomfort, Tsuna grabbed his hand and pulled him upstairs. "We'll be in my room if you need us, Kaa-san."

"Hai, hai. Have fun!" Nana waved them off.

"Here's a towel." Tsuna said, tossing one over to Yamamoto who caught it with ease.

"Thanks Tsuna!" Yamamoto set it on his head and began to rub his hair dry.

"If you want, my father's clothing might fit you. You can change into them while yours dry." Tsuna suggested.

"Sure." Yamamoto grinned, watching Tsuna head off to grab a change of clothes, before dropping his smile when Tsuna's back disappeared past the door. The brunet was probably faking kindness just like all his other "friends." But then again, Tsuna seemed…different than the others; he just didn't seem the type to fake a friendship.

Yamamoto shook his head to clear away all the negative thoughts. Patting his head, his hair had dried so he folded the towel and neatly set it to the side.

Seconds later, Tsuna came back in with a normal-looking T-shirt and pants.

"I hope this works. You can use the bathroom over there." Tsuna pointed to the room adjacent from his.

Yamamoto took the clothes and slipped into the room to change. Not long after, he came out freshly dressed with his wet clothes in his arms.

Tsuna jumped onto his bed. "So, do you want to play video games? I've got a few good ones." He cleared his throat in slight humiliation. "But Taiki always beats me whenever we play."

"Haha, sure! I'm sure you'll beat me, so don't worry. I think I'm better at sports than video games."

Tsuna frowned when something about Yamamoto's voice made him sound unsure of himself. "Alright, how about one with swordsmanship? It's got stuff about samurai and shoguns. I think it's pretty fun."

"Fine by me!" Yamamoto smiled, sitting down on the floor and leaning back on his hands. "It doesn't seem that hard, I just have to go 'whoosh, whoosh' with my sword and slice as many bad guys as I can in half, right?"

"Yeah…whatever floats your boat."

A few hours later, with Taiki rolling on the floor in laughter (he had come in to watch with Reborn mid-way through the game), Tsuna was lying flat on his back in defeat while Yamamoto was whooping in victory.

Taiki wiped his eyes. "Man Tsuna, you really do suck. And here I thought I was just better than you. But you lost by 154 points! How can you only kill 19 people?" Taiki patted Tsuna's arm playfully. "I'll train you though, don't worry. Next time you challenge Yamamoto-kun, you'll wipe the floor."

Tsuna sighed. "Yeah, that lifts my spirits soooo much."

Beside Taiki, Reborn smiled sinisterly. He had studied that Yamamoto kid while they were playing. He had the makings to be a top assassin—he was born to be one! Maybe tomorrow, he'd confront Taiki to get Yamamoto into the family. If he couldn't get the Storm, maybe he'd get the Rain.

"Hey Tsuna, I'd best be getting home now. My pop is probably worried about me." Yamamoto stood up.

Tsuna scrambled to his feet. "Y-yeah! I lost track of time. I don't know where you live, but I can show you out of the area if you need it."

"It's fine." Yamamoto laughed. "I'll find my way home. Thanks for tonight, I had fun."

"No problem, feel free to come over any time." Tsuna handed Yamamoto his semi-dry clothes. "You can return those clothes tomorrow. Give them to Taiki, I don't think my Kaa-san will let me go to school yet."

"Oh yeah, you haven't been in school lately." Yamamoto adopted a curious expression. "You don't look sick, is there anything wrong?"

"No, not really…"

"He saved my life!" Taiki interjected. "I was going to explode but he pushed me out of the way and exploded instead!"

"Taiki," Tsuna sweatdropped. "I didn't explode, if I had, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Well, it's close enough." Taiki crossed his arms stubbornly.

"See ya' around then. I hope you get better." Yamamoto waved.

"Ok, and by the way, Yamamoto, you're really good at video games. Better than you think." Tsuna said, leading him out of the house.

Yamamoto smiled at the new way Tsuna was calling him. "You can just call me Takeshi, we're friends right?"

Tsuna didn't hesitate one bit, "Of course! That is, if you want to be friends."

"It's set then, we've agreed. We're friends." Yamamoto smiled genuinely. "Hey, tomorrow after school, come over to our Sushi place. It's called Takesushi. I'll introduce you to my old man, he'll want to meet you."

Tsuna looked at his mother who had appeared from behind them. "Sure, I'll be there, Takeshi."

For the first time in a while, Yamamoto started to hum a cheery tune. He really did have fun; it was as if they really were true friends. All those laughs, those smiles, those…foreign emotions…they couldn't have been faked, right?

Would Tsuna turn out to be like the rest? The ones that bummed off of him for fame or the ones who only stuck around because he was popular? Was Tsuna the useless kid who couldn't do anything right? The one who failed at everything? Or was there something to him that people didn't see? A part that he had subconsciously shown Yamamoto when they were playing earlier?

Yamamoto kicked a rock in frustration, his cheerful tune dwindled away into silence. The world…his life…it was all too complicated, if it all went away, would he be free from this mess?

At Takesushi, Tsuna had vague memories of going there once or twice when he was little. Yamamoto's father was nice, quite the fatherly type. He claimed to be on the house but Tsuna felt guilty not paying. Finally, Yamamoto's father had gave in and brought Tsuna's to a small dojo behind the shop to talk.

"Listen Tsuna. If you really want to do me a favor, watch over Takeshi for me. I'm worried about him. He hasn't been himself lately and he won't tell me what's wrong. I hope he can confide in you. He'd taken a liking to you y'know."

Tsuna nodded in understanding. He had noticed Yamamoto's strange behavior ever since that day in class where he started staring at him.

Yamamoto Tsuyoshi heartily patted Tsuna on his back. "You're a good kid, I'm glad you're Takeshi's friend."

Tsuna blushed at the compliment.

Tsuyoshi led the way back to the shop where Yamamoto was waiting patiently. As soon as his father walked away, Yamamoto leaned down to whisper in Tsuna's ear.

"So, what did my old man say to you?"

"Nothing important." Tsuna shook his head.

"Oh really?"

"Really."

Yamamoto huffed in disappointment. "Ok, fine. But let me introduce you to someone." He led Tsuna upstairs to his room and closed the door behind them.

"Ok, this is the first time I've ever—"

"G-Giotto-san!" Tsuna burst out, pointing an accusing finger at a certain blond who was sitting innocently on the floor, sipping a cup of steaming tea across from an old-fashioned Japanese man with raven-black hair.

"Ciao."

"Where've you been?" Tsuna cried, "You've disappeared for days!"

"Tsuna? Who is this?" Yamamoto questioned, looking at the blond.

"My father."

Yamamoto walked up to Giotto and poked him.

"Hey!" Giotto scooted away.

"What's he doing here?"

"I don't know," Tsuna puffed out his cheeks indignantly. "Ask him."

"I'm talking to Ugetsu." Giotto answered simply. "We need some time to catch up."

"You know Asari-san?" Yamamoto looked surprised. "Tsuna, are you sure this is your dad?"

"Yes, of course I am."

Giotto cleared his throat. "He means to say that his real father abandoned him so I'm acting in his place as the new one."

"Haha, that makes sense now!" Yamamoto laughed and sat down next to Asari.

"You're not a substitute, you are my father." Tsuna crossed his arms and sat next to his respective ancestor. "So, why did you leave?"

"I didn't leave, per se. I merely took a temporary trip to visit an old friend." Giotto stared at his empty teacup then set it down. He patted Tsuna on the head. "I see you've made a new friend?"

"Yep!" Tsuna smiled. "This is Yamamoto Takeshi." Lowering his voice, he added for only Giotto to hear. "And he's really good with the sword."

"Takeshi." The raven-haired person whom Giotto had been talking to spoke up. "Do you mind introducing me to this young man?"

"Sure. Asari-san, meet Sawada Tsunayoshi, Tsuna, meet Asari Ugetsu, my second father."

Tsuna bowed whilst sitting. "Nice to meet you again."

Asari smiled serenely. "My pleasure, please take care of Takeshi."

Tsuna mentally noted how similar the hidden plea was to Tsuyoshi's favor.

"Well Tsunayoshi, we're going to go somewhere so be good and play nice with Takeshi-san over there." Giotto patted Tsuna on the head again and disappeared, Asari following shortly after.

Tsuna humphed. "I wonder where they're going." Then he grinned devilishly. "Shall we find out?"

Reborn stroked Leon as he thought deeply about something concerning the Vongola. Taiki was capable, yes, but so far, he hadn't even made an attempt to gather his guardians. Of course, Reborn hadn't told him to gather anything but making friends with the Smokin' Bomb and Yamamoto should have been immediate if, that is, he was the true Sky.

Leon flicked his tongue in worry for his master.

Reborn set his companion back onto his fedora, rubbing his back once more in reassurance. "It's okay Leon, the world's Number One Hitman never fails a job."

A/N: …Right. I'm not that happy with this chapter. But anyways, tell me what you think.

-OnH