Tsuna could not focus on the lesson written on the chalkboard. It did not help when the class was learning about the fundamentals of some algebraic formula. Even if he wanted to focus, his mind could not comprehend all the complicated terms of the foreign language and just got lost in the lecture. He blamed the person teaching it. It looked like he had to teach himself when he got home.

After getting a slight headache from listening to the teacher talk, his mind wandered off to the clouds. A small sad smile formed on his lips as a group of clouds slowly dispersed from one another, letting the rays of the sun touch the school. He turned away from the window and once again tried to focus on the boring lesson. Why is it that every time he runs into a problem with someone, he always thinks about that person? Now, he was thinking about Hibari. He knew the perfect was out looking for him and would continue to look for him after school, an encounter he did not want to happen. A sigh escaped his mouth in defeat. Unfortunately, it happened to be the wrong thing to do at the moment, since the teacher had been calling on him and he had not respond.

A piece of white chalk was chucked at him, hitting him squarely in the forehead. Once the object left his head, Tsuna had just registered what happened. "Itai!" He winced at the sudden pain and rubbed his new injury. Okay, it did not really hurt him that much but his self-esteem was pretty much damaged and the snickers of laughter around him did not help him either. He did what he usually does, act useless. His eyes looked up slowly, only to meet his teacher's angry gaze. The man was standing right in front of him, tapping his foot in impatience. Tsuna had one thought running through his head, HIEEE!

"Sawada, pay attention in class and stop daydreaming!" His teacher looked at him. After giving him one final glare, the man walked back up the chalkboard. His little snide remark along the way made Tsuan clench his fists until they turned into an unhealthy color of white.

"What kind of pathetic mother would want to keep that kind of child? Is she stupid or something?"

He was in shock but his eyes narrowed. "Keep my mother out of this," Tsuna sharply replied. His whisper was barely heard except for the student sitting behind him, causing the fellow to frown slightly. Tsuna could feel himself slowly becoming eruptive with anger. He had to hold it in. This was not the place to vent out his anger. As another output of dealing with his current situation, the boy started to jot down death threats into his notebook. He continued to glare at his teacher. Unknown to him, his death threats were slowly becoming audible as well as his eyes slowly changing into a crimson-like brown.

Yanagi Saitou stopped lecturing as his voice trailed off and slowly looked at Sawada with slightly fear-filled eyes. Why did he feel that he should be scared of the brat? He eyed the boy but his head was down and his hand was strangely jotting down notes. Shaking his head, he continued to write on the chalkboard. However, he had a feeling someone was glaring daggers at him, wanting him to drop dead or somewhere along those lines. Throughout the whole lesson, he could not help but feel someone or something was out to get him for his little comment.

He kept thinking it was Sawada that was making him feel uneasy. It was later confirmed when Sawada suddenly stood up from his assigned seat and left the classroom abruptly with his notebook in hand. Yanagi, a bit confused and angry, ran after his student but he stopped following the boy when Sawada turned around and all he saw darkness swirling in those eyes. He kept his mouth shut as Sawada rounded the corner and down the stairs towards what seemed to be the infirmary.

When he reentered the room, he could feel his students' curious eyes attached on him. That was not what bugged him though. The daggers that he felt were no longer there. Instead, it was replaced by sharp needles. The intent was still there but not as severe.

"Yanago-sensei, what's wrong with Sawada-san?" A girl with light auburn hair with matching eyes looked up at him with a worried expression weaved into her facial features.

He looked down at the person who asked the unexpected question: Sasagawa Kyoko. "Uh… Sawada didn't say anything but he looked unwell so it looked like he was headed towards the infirmary."

"Oh, okay…" Kyoko looked away from her teacher, a bit confused by her teacher's explanation. She turned toward her teacher to say something, but someone had beaten her to it.

"Isn't it because you made him mad, Yanagi-sensei? I could've sworn that I heard you comment about his mom."

Yamamoto Takeshi… Yamamoto Takeshi was speaking up for Dame-Tsuna…

The tall boy with short raven locks with strong brown eyes, fueled with determination, had a smile on his face. "I kept on hearing him say something like keep your thoughts to yourself or was it keep people who are not in this, out of it?" There was a confused look on his face, as he scratched the back of his head.

Yanagi looked at the school's star baseball player. Did Sawada actually say something like that? Wait, is this kid mocking me? Because it looks like that smile is mocking me! "I-I do not recall saying anything about his mother." His voice wavered at first but remained firm.

"Really? I thought I heard you say something like what kind of mother would keep him. Am I wrong?" That ridiculous smile was still on Yamamoto's face yet there was something amiss in the shine in his eyes.

Yanagi bit his lips. So the kid did hear him. He could feel the palms of his fists slowly becoming warmer because of the invisible tension. Did he mention it was getting hot? If not, it was definitely getting hot. This boy was testing him and his authority as teacher without even knowing it. If this was truly a battle, then he was not going to step down. "Yamamoto Takeshi, I do not want to hear anymore accusations coming out of that mouth of yours. If you're not going to stop and start spreading false ideas to your fellow classmates, then I would personally go talk to your coach. I don't think he would like when he hears that you're failing my class."

Yamamoto did not act like Yanagi thought he would. The boy chuckled as he lifted his hands in the air as an act of surrender. "Haha. Wow, you're getting so defensive all of a sudden. I was just stating what I thought I heard. I never really said that you actually said that." His face scrunched as if he was trying to remember something. His fist was suddenly held in his hand, as a small apologetic smile on his face. "Aw, then again, I think I heard something like that last night on T.V. Sorry about that, Yanagi-sensei." His eyes narrowed but the expression quickly left as it came.

"O-Okay, but don't do it again." He saw Yamamoto nod in agreement, but he was still tense when he heard his name on Yamamoto's lips. He felt as if hell was going to come after him one way or another. He shook it off like he did with Sawada and resumed teaching. He could not relax when no one dared to talk. After all, it was uncommon for Yamamoto to accuse someone.

Tsuna had no idea where his feet were leading him but somehow he ended right in front of the infirmary door, the one place he did not want to go to. Well, the doctor was known to only treat females and even if he was an exception, it was likely that he would be kicked out. Despite the disgusting urge of wanting to go back and sit in his seat until school ended, he was scared that Yanagi would ambush him with yells, exclaiming why the boy left. If Tsuna had shown him his notebook filled with death threats directed at the teacher, then he would have been sent directly to the principal and earning a phone call home to his mother in the process. Right now, he needed some place to himself and he knew that he could not go to the roof since Hibari was likely to be sleeping there.

Before Tsuna could knock on the infirmary door to inform of his intrusion, he froze when he heard footsteps coming nearer to where he was. He was scared stiff at the spot, since the person was also likely to be Hibari. He slowly turned his head around and saw the red badge. His brown eyes widened once he confirmed it was Hibari.

It was definitely Hibari and he did not exactly look happy or indifferent like usual. The scowl on his face was a bad sign for Tsuna.

Seeing it was the person he did not want to see, Tsuna accidentally ran into the infirmary door. Rubbing his nose in haste, he slid the door open and ran to the closest thing to hide underneath. Who would have known it was the doctor's desk?

Before the person occupying the room could react, Hibari had entered the room. "Did Sawada Tsunayoshi happen to enter the room?" If only Tsuna could turn around, there was a stern look on Hibari's face, masking the concern he had for the younger male. Also, if Tsuna had removed his hands from his ears, he may have heard the worry laced in with the malice the older boy had in his voice.

Shamal looked at where Tsuna was hiding, who was looking at him with pleading eyes to not say anything. The dark brunette sighed and then shrugged at Hibari. "Even if he came in here, do you think I would allow him to stay?" He looked at the perfect with a lazy gaze. "Sure, there are times when the kid would come in since he falls over and gets beat up. But it's class time right now, so I don't think anyone would try to hurt the kiddo in front of a teacher."

Hibari glared at Shamal before eyeing the man's desk. He thought he had seen Tsuna come in here. A small speck of brown caught the attention of his eyes or was that his hopeful thinking? Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him… He scowled once again. If his eyes were playing tricks on him, then he would have to pay that illusionist a small visit. "Okay. I'll be taking my leave then. Have a good day, Sensei." Giving up, Hibari left with a single bow.

"Sure will." Shamal chuckled as the perfect left the room and went over to close the door to the entrance. He stopped once he turned around and walked over his desk. He bent over his desk and stuck out a hand for Tsuna to take. "Tsunayoshi, you can come out now."

Tsuna hesitantly grabbed the older man's hand, which lifted him up. Once he released his hold on Shamal's hand, he slowly walked over to one of the infirmary beds. However, luck was not with him as he tripped and fell on his face on the floor, making Shamal wince.

He was honestly tired. The entire weekend he could feel his mom watching his back as she snuck in a roll of new bandages each day into his room. Just this morning, he yelled at his friend and did not how to apologize to him since Hibari was not exactly a forgiving person. Especially, that incident with Yanagi just made him want to shove something up that man's ass. If only that man knew how many times Tsuna had question himself about that. If only that man heard his mother's answer when he asked his mother that for the first time…

Shamal sighed as he lifted the dead-weight child in his arms and placed him on the bed. After placing a blanket over him, Shamal walked over the window.

Tsuna slowly shifted into a fetal position. It looked as though he was trying to protect himself. Slowly, his muscles relaxed and his senses allowed him to sleep. He could feel his heartbeat slowly returning to its normal pace as a cool breeze washed over him, whispering him to sleep.

The child was definitely a problem he could ignore, but in the end, he could not. Shamal knew that he could always question the boy later as to why he was here. He looked out the open window and sighed once again as cool air entered the stuffy room. He could use something to smoke right now, but that would endanger the boy's health. Shamal walked over to his desk and plotted himself into the spinning chair. He eyed his magazines sitting on his desk, waiting to be opened. But he had no mood for them as he pushed them aside into a secret compartment within his drawer. Shamal looked down at his hands and he spun around his chair like a child. "I guess he's my exception to the girls only rule."

Authors' Notes:

Ah, this went into different direction than we originally thought. If anyone is wondering how come there has not been any action, but just character interaction and pasts, it's because we want to create some character development. We don't want to make any of the characters as objects that can just be tossed to the side and be reused whenever we like it. Though are times when we would do that, since they'll be used to push a character into a certain direction, like Yanagi in this chapter. Also, this story does not not have shounen-ai despite all the signs. We focus on one character and then move onto the next. That way, we can introduce the character one at a time without pushing it too much since it might make the characters seem OOC.

Like always, setting the rising action and exposition are hard to write. We hope we met your expectations. Tell us what you think. Even if it's something small, your reviews keep pushing us forward to write more. Before we forget, thank you for the past reviews.