Haha, wao… it's been a while since I've updated this story, has it not? XD Oh well.

Enjoy this, please. I've been battling writer's block lately – it's bloody, there's carnage everywhere, and I've lost most of my troops. Hopefully this will pull my forces through to win the fight.

BTW, this is actually a two-shot. Yay! A little background: Tsuna & Gokudera are 17 and in high school. Tsuna has been the Tenth Boss of the Vongola for about 2-3 years now. Gokudera has been his friend and his loyal, hardworking right hand man this entire time. (And nothing more.) But lately, Tsuna has noticed that Gokudera's been behaving a little weirdly, like he's been standoffish and ominously quiet. Thus the story begins.

I don't own KHR. Akira Amano does. (Lucky.)

0o.o0o.o0

Take Me Home (Part I)

Fretfully checking my watch for the umpteenth time, I paced about the meeting room, holding the side of my head with one hand.

"Where is he?" Rosemary asked. Her red hair was pinned up in a tight bun and her glasses were perched perfectly across her face – she looked quite scholarly. We had to look professional, though. At quite a younger age, we had a slight disadvantage. "We can't afford to cancel with these guys."

"Don't you think I know that?" I retorted. The Celli family was one of the Vongola's most important – and volatile – allies. This meeting between we of the Vongola (Rosemary, my secretary, Basil, my outside advisor, Hayato, my right hand man and of course myself, the boss) and the uppers of the Celli had been scheduled months ahead of time. Leonardo Giardi, the boss of the Celli, was known for his temper, and he was looking forward to meeting us a lot.

Basil could only sit there and keep him occupied with conversation for so long.

I leaned in close to Rosemary. "I'll go look for him," I whispered. I headed for the exit.

"Hurry," she said back. She shut the door behind me.

The first place I looked was, incidentally, the only place I had to look. Hayato's room at this fancy old inn was empty, everything in its place. It was as if he weren't even there. But the French doors at the back were open just a crack, and that clued me into the fact that he was out on the porch.

It was misting lightly outside, the precarious state of weather somewhere between stillness and a subtle drizzle. Over us, there was pure black, but it faded to a lighter and lighter gray until, somewhere in the obscurely far distance, it shined just like normal, just like things weren't so bad here at all. In the breathing wind, he stood at the edge of the porch, pale hand tight on the stone balustrade, staring at that faraway bright sky. He was wet in splatters. Some grainy spots on his clothes were darker and clung to his skin. He was barefooted, and he looked as though he tried to dress up, but he was without a tie or jacket now, his collar unbuttoned halfway down his chest. His mossy eyes reflected the curves of the clouds.

I froze and stood in the half-open doorway, studying him, honestly not sure whether he noticed me or not. The humidity in the air made it hard to breathe, but I didn't really get wet. The wind was especially strong back here, though. Eventually, I stood up straight and took one slow step at a time toward him in my stiff black shoes. My footsteps sounded soft on the raw slate. I almost opened my mouth.

"I hate this," he said.

I stopped. His voice was abnormally deep and level, clear in the cottony air. My neck extended slightly.

"I hate this. All this. I'm sick of it."

My eyelids pushed together through the thick vapor and then pulled apart again. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He turned around and only then in the full view of it all could I see the sullenly guilty expression on his face. He gave a little half-smile that faded quickly, which was the most content he had ever managed to look lately.

"Tenth… there are a lot of things you don't know about me, about my past. And I think it's really best for both of us that you never know," he said, his eyes drooping. "And before I say anything, I just want to make this clear to you: you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. You're my best friend and a better boss than I could ever have dreamt of. This has nothing to do with you. Okay?" While speaking, he had begun to come closer to me.

I swallowed and nodded, feeling the sudden brush of wind push against me.

Hayato let out a little sigh, like he was relieved. "It's just…" He paused looked down. "Ever since I came here to Japan, ever since I met you…" Quickly he turned around and walked with purpose back to the railing, where he slammed his hand down and poked his head out past the cover of the roof and into the rain that was increasing in strength, his back to me completely. I heard him curse under his breath.

In seconds, I was at his side with my hand placed reassuringly on his shoulder. He was tense, wired. I could feel it. Maybe this was new; maybe this was how he had always felt to the touch and I had just never known. Either way, it made both of us feel a little uncomfortable. Neck craned to further hide himself from me, I ran my eyes over the strands of his silver hair, now droopy, slicked against the back of his neck and along the edges of his face.

He spoke into the wind, in some hope that it would blow my way, if not at least crawl through the air to my ears. "I don't hate you," he whispered. "I really don't."

My teeth clenched as I rearranged my fingers a little on his shoulder. I don't hate you.

"It's just…" he began again. He heaved a long, burnt-out sigh. "…Before. I used to be so sure of myself and what I wanted to do in life. And I used to be so much better. But somewhere along the way – no."

I bit down on my lip and tried and failed to get a better glimpse of his face.

"No, I know exactly where – I sort of lost touch with what I thought my life would be. Everything changed. It's all like some sort of regression. Or progression, I don't know. All I do know is… you…"

He finally looked at me. He wasn't crying. But the way the raindrops had fallen on his ghostlike face, it looked like he had.

"Tenth, I had never felt so insecure until I met you."

As the first purr of thunder shook us, I could feel my heart sink. A little well of something began to press at my eyes from behind. I barely had any voice: "What do you mean?"

Remorse sucked some of the color out of his complexion, but he had a heavy sense about his head. He needed to go on.

"To be honest, Tenth, you confuse me." His chest slowly rose and fell once or twice before he continued. "And you, yourself, I thank for that. But this feeling like I've lost my identity is something I really just cannot stand anymore. It's something I need to deal with, Tenth."

The little white highlights in his eyes bounced around, and I suppose mine did too; in one swift movement unnoticed by the both of us until it was already done, we had grabbed each other at the waist and pulled into a warm and wet little hug, our heads on each other's shoulders. I shut my eyes, digging my fingers into his soaking dress shirt to hear the squish of the rainwater filing out through the pores of the cotton.

His lips were right by my ear. "I cannot change what has happened, for the past is set in stone," he said. "But I can change the future."

Enveloped in the comfort of the embrace, a paid little attention to this comment. In retrospect, I should have regarded it more. But what could I have done then? Truth be told, I was… a little confused, too.

He tapped me on the back twice, released me, turned away and walked back into his room. I nearly fell into the emptiness in front of me. Now thoroughly drenched and then shaken by a sudden bolt of lightning, I dragged myself back through his room, too, and out into the hallway, to return to the meeting without my right hand man.

As I walked by a window, I noticed that the light space in the distance had waned away to almost nothing.

The next day, Hayato was gone.

0o.o0o.o0

*Rosemary is an OC of mine, from another (yet to be updated because I suck TTATT) fic of mine. She's a fairly new member of the CEDEF, and she's not an assassin, but instead trained to be Tsuna's secretary. She's about the same age as Tsuna, and pretty much all you need to know is that she's Australian with red hair and glasses and she's really smart and good with computers. And she and Basil are together. Like, romantically. Yeah…

Anyway, like it so far? Blah, I know it sucks. Whatevs. At least I'm slowly climbing out of the spiraling pit of depression and fire and piranhas that is writer's block. :D