WHY, RYOHEI, WHY? I told you he'd be difficult, really I did. Also, my schoolwork recently has been murder.
So I've noticed that the people I have more trouble with tend to get longer entries, probably because I keep rambling on until something resembling information emerges. Tsuna? Easy, short, and sweet. Ryohei? Not so much. (Holy crap, HOW long is number 4?)
And, as always, thank you reviewers! Especially you repeat offenders! (Takahashi Reina, ThreeWayDart, Feri, BlackCatHikari, NACHOIMG, Emily Sinclair, ZiaLiaLis, Arcbound Illusionist, Lady Ladington, Kiwee, and anyone else I most likely forgot, you rock my socks off.)
THANK YOU, EVERYBODY!
To Feri: No, that's totally fair! I can especially see where you're coming from with 8, which is kind of the omake's (both anime and manga) fault, because him having a school uniform fetish is something of a running gag there. So, not technically canon. 5, on the other hand, has less to do with me thinking he's not a sadist (he most definitely is), and more to do with the belief that he's, well, freakin' insane. And so is his logic. Uh. That's why, in any case. I don't know if that helps?
To Kuro-30fyre: Guilty as charged, but in all honesty I don't think I would have been able to come up with ten if I hadn't. Also, speculation is what I live for. It really is. At least they're still kind of canon compliant? It would sort of ruin the purpose if they weren't. And then I would be sad.
Sasagawa Ryohei
1.
When tiny, toddler Ryohei stared down at the wailing pink bundle that he had just been informed would be joining his family, he realized instantly that it was the end of his freedom and privileges as an only child. He spent the next two years deeply resenting the rapidly growing infant he was told he had to call sister, particularly the fact that he was supposed to be responsible for this strange creature with absolutely no concept of fighting and an unhealthy obsession with dolls.
He comes to realize how stupid this is the day he goes for his daily run around their house (all he can handle at that age) and hears the huffing and puffing of a determined, short-legged Kyoko fighting the epic battle between gravity and inexperienced two-year-old as she struggles to tag along behind her older brother. He stops running and Kyoko crashes into him, craning her head upward and smiling at him with all the love and devotion of a trusting younger sibling.
This is the first day she calls him brother, and the day he comes to the conclusion that, above all else, Kyoko will always be worth protecting.
2.
Ryohei's crush on I-Pin's future self quickly fades when Tsuna is finally able to explain all the nuances of the Ten Year Bazooka to him, and he then takes it upon himself to unofficially adopt the Chinese assassin as a second little sister and ensure that she grows up to become the efficient fighter he so respected.
This leads to a number of problems when the Arcobaleno Fon's will forces Hibari Kyouya to officially adopt I-Pin, but after the initial, explosive battle between Ryohei and the volatile Cloud Guardian, very few of them involve Ryohei himself.
Hell, even Ryohei has to admit that the next person stupid enough to ask which one of them is the mother deserves what's coming to him.
3.
It takes five years, countless heated exchanges in the Sasagawa household while waiting for Kyoko to get out of whatever club she had deigned to help that week, two disastrous not-dates, a lot of growing up on both their parts and the inevitable outing of Ryohei's involvement in the Vongola family for him to realize that he's head over heels for Hana.
Falling in love with his sister's best friend is awkward, even for Ryohei, but Kyoko gives her blessing and he and Hana make it work in spite of their respective careers.
The number of arguments Ryohei has won has skyrocketed since he's been able to point out that he's apparently the sole Guardian capable of maintaining a stable relationship.
4.
Ryohei differs from ninety percent of the teenage population of Namimori in that when he first met Hibari Kyouya, he was already in the hospital. The meeting took place the year before either of them had entered middle school, at a time when Hibari had been a borderline delinquent with utterly terrifying combat potential but lacked the power and influence he would later gain as part of the Disciplinary Committee.
They'd been crammed in the same room after a nurse had noticed that they were around the same age, Ryohei having attempted to take on one too many thugs at once with rather disastrous consequences and Hibari on the road to recovery after his nasty bout of pneumonia had gone unnoticed by his parents until it was nearly too late.
Around his body cast Ryohei had somehow managed to take note of the fact that his roommate was in his age group and obviously interested in fighting, and proceeded to regale the other boy with the details of his many fights and lifelong ambition to become a boxer. Hibari, still weak from his illness and drugged to the gills with antibiotics and codeine, was able to get in a weak "shut up, herbivore" a total of two times during the conversation and was promptly ignored.
It surprises Ryohei, then, when Hibari instantly agrees to the fight Ryohei challenges him to after the boxer is deemed fully recovered and bidding his roommate a fond farewell. Hibari still had a few more days to go, but Ryohei enthusiastically vowed to wait outside the hospital until the other boy was ready to leave.
(Fifteen minutes after Hibari's release from the hospital, Ryohei is readmitted, along with twelve unfortunate bystanders. This sets the precedent for their entire future relationship.)
5.
After Kyoko's meltdown and crushing guilt over the scar Ryohei gets trying to defend her from bullies in elementary school, Ryohei makes a vow to push himself to the absolute limit in an effort to ensure that he never again upsets his sister like that.
The results of this vow are mixed, particularly when he's introduced to boxing not two years later and instantly becomes obsessed with the sport, but Ryohei lives secure in the knowledge that, as long as he continues to push himself, he will someday live to see the day where Kyoko will never have cause to cry again.
6.
Ryohei will be the first to admit that he's not the most intuitive man in the world, but even he can see that the majority of his fellow family members find his lifestyle to be absolutely batshit insane.
(The main reason he keeps butting heads with Gokudera Hayato, in fact, is because Ryohei recognizes that the bomber is nearly as haphazard as Ryohei himself and finds his disapproval to be extremely hypocritical.)
On the other hand, Ryohei is intuitive enough to recognize that, while his lifestyle is indeed a little on the wild side, even the most conventional-seeming of the Vongola still manage to be crazier than him in practically every other respect.
7.
Being a year older than Tsuna doesn't particularly bother Ryohei at first—Tsuna regards him as an older brother, after all, and someone had to go ahead and pave the way for the younger Guardians at Namimori.
(Hibari, naturally, was less likely to pave the way for the others than to pave the way with their broken and unconscious bodies.)
Following their showdown with the Varia, though, Ryohei begins to see just how far the gap has grown between his relationship with his boss-to-be and Tsuna's unbreakable friendship with Gokudera and Yamamoto, or even the twisted bond the Vongola heir shares with borderline psychotic stalker Rokudo Mukuro.
Getting left back a year may not have been a deliberate move on Ryohei's part, but he's grateful for it and the chance to make up for lost time with his fellow Guardians.
8.
While none of the Guardians are particularly the nurturing type, Ryohei still finds it strange that he's the one who ended up with the healing flame.
(Kyoko, of course, takes to healing like a duck to water and promptly bribes her brother to teach her self-defense in exchange for helping him with the medical procedures.)
Appropriately enough, he ends up using it on himself more than anyone else anyway.
9.
Ryohei's parents are doting, supportive, and entirely oblivious to their children's lives. As he grows older, Ryohei becomes absolutely convinced that the entire reason he and Kyoko are so gullible is because of their parents' influence.
Still, it quickly becomes obvious to Ryohei that he is the only Guardian to have the benefit of two present and caring parents, and he wouldn't trade them for the world.
(Years later, his parents are both delighted and awed that their only son is able to afford to keep sending them such extravagant gifts on an amateur boxer's payroll.)
10.
As much as he loves Kyoko, Ryohei has always wanted a younger sibling who shares his interests, and it is for this reason that he continuously tries to recruit anyone he takes a liking to into his boxing club.
Up until the day Byakuran becomes their largest priority and Ryohei stops asking, Tsuna unfailingly turns down the boxer's constant demands that he take up the sport. Nevertheless, Ryohei watches the weak uncertain youth desperately in need of a magical bullet to realize his full potential grow into a confident and strong man capable of pushing himself further beyond his limits than even Ryohei himself, and knows that there is no one in the world who deserves to call him "big brother" more than Tsuna.
(But if Tsuna even thinks about breaking his sweet little Kyoko's kind and loving heart, Ryohei will not hesitate to kick his ass, boss or no boss.)
…There's no ALL CAPS. Clearly this is a travesty. Also a mark of how tired I am right now. Lambo will probably come out sometime vaguely soon! Hopefully. I owe a double-whammy at this point, anyway.
Vote's the same: Reborn, Bianchi, I-Pin, Kyoko, Haru, and Lal Mirch. Currently, Reborn's in the lead with I-Pin in second place.
Until next time, then! Here's to hoping it's sooner than last time!