Review Response Corner:

Ashinan- Thank you very much! :D I shall try to keep the pace nice and steady...hopefully all works out nicely! Annnnnd...Acedia it is!

Cielo-negro- I am happy to hear that my story caught your attention! It's nice to know when your work is well received since I get so nervous sometimes when starting something new. :3 I was tempted to do Gula first, but decided to save that for a bit later. :D Avaritia shall be next, though!

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Chapter 2: The Sun Overcome By Acedia

One bleary eye opened only to close again right away as the light from the sun outside assaulted his cornea, threatening to damage his dilated pupil. A groan was issued as the closed eye blinked away the few spots that had erupted behind his eyelid. Suddenly his body tensed. Eyes popping open, Tsuna quickly sat up and looked frantically around his room. Where were the kicks? The explosions? The threats? Where was Reborn?

Gradually his eyes fell to his alarm clock when his tutor was nowhere to be found. It was strange. Usually about this time he was being woken up roughly by Reborn's devilish methods, Lambo and I-Pin playing loudly, or some other unnatural occurrence that had, at the one time, been non-existent until the Acrobaleno had come and everything changed. He sighed, running a tired hand through his bronze-kissed hair.

"I think you should be allowed a break…"

Tsuna tensed again as he pulled his hand from his hair, the words echoing in his still half-asleep brain. Had...had Reborn been serious? Did he actually mean those words? Tsuna's lips drew into a small frown. No. What was the catch? What horrible storm of craziness awaited him after this gentle calm?

"Tsu-kuuuuun! Wake up! Breakfast is ready!" He heard his mother's cheerful voice call from downstairs.

He waited for Lambo and I-Pin to come barging in, chasing each other while repeating his mother's call... but nothing. The frown, which had momentarily been replaced by an expression of surprise, returned. This couldn't be real! Climbing out of bed quickly, he dressed himself cautiously in his school uniform, waiting, almost desperately so as to ease the tension, for a sudden attack by Reborn for some irrational reason or Lambo.

Nothing.

And there was nothing as he washed up in the bathroom either.

"Tsu-kun! Hurry up!"

Shaking all worries from his head, he figured they had perhaps once again started breakfast without him. Grabbing his school bag, Tsuna headed down the stairs to go to the kitchen, pausing to set his bag by his shoes, only to stop and stare in disbelief at the sight before him as he passed by the table. Empty. The table was unoccupied and only one place was set. Caramel eyes looked cautiously around the room, listening intently for the others. Where were they?

"Ah! Tsu-kun! About time!" His mother said as she saw him standing there, smiling happily at him while placing an egg on his plate.

He looked at his mother, giving her a small smile in return. "Where...where is everyone?"

"Oh! Bianchi-san took Lambo-kun, I-Pin-chan, and Fuuta-kun to the park for a while. Reborn-san said he thought it would be nice to have the morning to myself for a change." She answered as she set the pan aside then ushered Tsuna to the table.

"I see..." Tsuna blinked slowly, not really seeing, before sitting down to eat. So everyone was out of the house? At least he would get some peace for the moment—wait! "Where is Reborn?"

"Mmm...he said he had something to do this morning and that he would meet you at school." His mother replied after a second's thought before placing a glass of milk before her son. "I hear you're taking a break from all of your hard work. It's good to know your tutoring is coming along nicely!"

Tsuna choked on a piece of egg at his mother's words before rescuing himself with a big gulp of milk. He felt the urge to cry inside of his head as he reveled in how nice it must be to be so blissfully ignorant to what was really going on. He sighed then continued to eat his breakfast as he thought about the supposed 'break'. So Reborn had told his mom about it, too? It wasn't some odd code name for what was really going to go down, was it? Like the "sumo matches" for the Vongola Ring battles? It still surprised him that the girls had actually believed that.

"Thank you for this meal." He said respectfully as he finished his meal and straightened his tie. Pushing away from the table, he figured he would just have to wait and see.

Walking back to the entry, he put his shoes on and grabbed his school bag as he called a hurried 'I'm leaving!' before rushing out of the house. Sprinting to the road, he was a little surprised to see the absence of one self-proclaimed right hand man. That was fine. More often than naught Gokudera met him as he walked, but the past few days or so he had been meeting him at his house. He figured it was because the foreign teen wanted personal time with his "boss" without the 'baseball idiot' around. That thought made him smile a little as he started walking to school.

It was nice to walk in peace, smelling the spring air and the blossoming sakura trees. The sun was bright in the sky, demanding all to be bathed under its rays as a lazy cloud drifted by. Tsuna amused himself with the thought of Ryohei in a sun costume trying to force his 'EXTREME!' ways on an uninterested Hibari. No doubt the overzealous sun would be 'bitten to death'. Yawning the last bit of sleepiness away, Tsuna shook his head at that absurd thought before noticing his school coming into view.

Making it to the gates, he paused and looked around. Where were Yamamoto and Gokudera? It had become habit that they walked to school together but Tsuna deducted that it wouldn't be abnormal for them to come on their own sometimes either. Did that mean they were already here? Waiting a few more minutes for nothing, he decided to just go on to the classroom. Yamamoto probably had something he needed to finish for baseball and Gokudera was probably taunting him about it or something. He sighed. At least it was still peaceful for a little longer.

Students passed him in the halls without saying hello as he walked to his class, almost like he wasn't there. It made him think of the period in his life before all of this mafia business. Before the rings, before the 'family', before Reborn. While it was more peaceful, no doubt, it was also more lonely. Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he quickened his pace, ready to see Yamamoto's welcoming smile and hear Gokudera's loud cry of 'Juudaime!'

Pausing at the door to let some of his classmates pass through to the hall, he entered and caramel eyes scanned for the familiar faces of his best friends. Only they weren't there? He walked slowly to his desk, continuing to look around the room. No 'Yo, Tsuna!' from Yamamoto and no 'Stay away from Juudaime!' followed by a flash of silver hair from Gokudera.

Tsuna frowned as his mind started telling him that something was wrong. No! He tried to reason with his thoughts. Just because they are not here, doesn't mean something was wrong! Once again he brought his hands to his hair, tugging on his messy locks as he thought hard. It had to be nothing! After all, Yamamoto did have other activities and surely Gokudera—he stopped his hand's movements.

No. Gokudera was very thorough at greeting him in the mornings. Something was wrong—ah! What if the two had been fighting?

"Hiii!" Tsuna jumped to attention at that thought, mind racing. If they had been fighting at school, surely Hibari would have punished them for 'disturbing the peace of the school' or some other similar reason. Then that meant they would be at the..."Nurse!"

Where Shamal wouldn't treat them because they were male—oh no! Tripping a little in his haste, he hurried off toward the nurse's office, not paying attention to the people who watched him and muttered about 'Dame-Tsuna' and his peculiar outburst. What could Gokudera have started this time? He didn't remember seeing any signs of explosions on his way to school or in any of the halls. Reaching the door, he paused to catch his breath for a minute before sliding it open and stepping inside.

"Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto!" He called out, voice cracking a little from nerves as he looked around the room for his friends.

"Huh? They're not here."

"Dr. Shamal!" Tsuna gasped as he turned to face the older man before what he said processed. They weren't here? But then..."They really aren't here?"

Shamal watched the young Vongola boss-in-training with interest before shaking his head. His curiosity at the teen's panicked state was overruled by the fact it had nothing to do with women. "Nope. Haven't seen either one. Lost them have you—"

"Thanks!" Tsuna called, waving over his shoulder as he made his way out of the room. So they hadn't been to the nurse's office? Maybe they hadn't been fighting. He stopped and looked out of a window over the school grounds, which were neatly kept thanks to Hibari and his disciplinary committee members, as he willed his racing heart to calm down. Then where could they—oh! What if they were still being punished by Hibari? Tsuna turned his attention to the grounds again, wondering where they could be.

"Tsuna-kun!"

Jumping at the sudden call of his name, he turned to see Kyoko moving towards him with worried eyes and a small frown on her face. He blushed lightly that she was talking to him alone and then thought of the daydream he had had yesterday. "Kyoko-chan, good morning! ...Is something—"

"Tsuna-kun, are you busy?" She asked the other gently, voice sounding anxious as she looked at him with hopeful round eyes.

"I—err, not really. Why? What's wrong?" His previous feeling of something being wrong doubled as he watched Kyoko look off to the side hesitantly for a moment.

"My brother...something is wrong. Tsuna-kun, do you think you could talk to him? He seems to like and respect you, maybe he'll open up to you." Kyoko said lowly as she turned to look back at Tsuna.

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little touched to be able to see a more vulnerable side of the lovely Kyoko, but that was soon replaced by a frown as his instincts told him he should hurry to his sun guardian, not just for Kyoko's sake. What was wrong? "Uh, sure...do you know where he is now?"

"Mmn! The boxing club!" Kyoko responded immediately as a relieved smile graced her angelic face. "Would you like me to go with you?"

Tsuna thought on that for a second. As much as he would love to say yes and be with her, what if it was about the mafia? Slowly he shook his head before offering her a shy smile of his own. "No, that's okay. You can go on to class."

"Okay! I'll tell sensei where you are!" Kyoko replied with a small bow before turning and going on her way.

He nodded before something caught his attention. "Ah! Kyoko-chan! Have you seen Gokudera-kun or Yamamoto?"

Kyoko paused mid-step, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I think I saw Gokudera-kun...but he went off somewhere."

"Thank you." Tsuna nodded his head then continued on his way toward the boxing club's designated area. Kyoko thought she saw Gokudera? It had to have been him! He was a rather distinguishable person. He felt slightly relieved at that information. Maybe Yamamoto was ill. He wondered if he would see Gokudera soon. Maybe he would go with him to pay Yamamoto a visit.

Pausing in front of the boxing club entrance, he hesitated. He really, really hoped he wouldn't be asked to join again. It got harder to refuse. Especially if Kyoko was around. Sliding the door open, he stepped inside and immediately spotted Ryohei sprawled out on the floor, next to the boxing ring.

"Ah! Onii-san!" Did he die? Tsuna ran over to him, dropping to his knees as he peered anxiously into the older teen's face.

"Oh, Sawada...what brings you here?" Ryohei asked with slow surprise as he looked up at the other.

"I—a-are you okay?" Tsuna blinked as his anxiety was replaced by curiosity. What was up? Where was all his extreme energy? "Are you sick, Onii-san?"

Ryohei watched Tsuna with his steel blue eyes for a bit before frowning lightly. "Kyoko asked the same thing. Why? Am I pale?"

He felt his eyebrows furrow. The older teen seemed fine as far as health went—but why the change? Shaking his head in reply to the boxer's question he moved to help Ryohei sit up. "Not really, it's just—well, is something bothering you?"

Tsuna watched as Ryohei allowed the younger male to pull him into a sitting position, moving at a rather slow pace. He didn't seem to be injured in any way, which meant he was moving like that because he wanted to? What was with the slow pace?

Ryohei sighed and yawned before leaning back against the boxing ring, as if sitting on his own was too much work. "Like what?"

"Well, what happened to your extreme attitude?" Tsuna asked carefully, not wanting to seem like he was trying to pry into his privacy too much as he sat next to the other.

"Extreme...? Ah. Don't you think that's just pointless?" The boxer asked, Tsuna turning to stare wide-eyed at him. "Being extreme all the time is too hectic."

"Eh...ehh? W-What are you talking about Onii-san? Y-You are the epitome of 'extreme' behavior! You're always training to be stronger—" He couldn't believe his ears! Surely something was up! Ryohei acting as un-extreme as possible? He had to be a fake! He peered analytically at the pale grey hair, curious eyes, and bandage across his nose. He looked the same.

"Isn't that too much? Why push to do more than need be? As long as I am alive, I am good. That's what I think." Ryohei stated simply as he turned his somewhat bored gaze to his club's ceiling. "Maybe I should go home. Class doesn't interest me today."

"Y-You can't do that! It's against the school rules and if Hibari-san finds—K-Kyoko-chan will worry!" Tsuna stuttered pathetically as he tried to process the change in Ryohei while convincing him to stay in school. It was no use to scare him with Hibari as he'd probably just see it as a challenge—well, the old Ryohei would.

Ryohei just stared at him, watching him panic, which made the other wonder if he had even heard him until the older one blinked and yawned again. "Yeah, maybe...maybe I should go to class for Kyoko."

"Yeah, good!" Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief before watching the other with a small frown. "Are...are you sure you're okay?"

"Nn." Ryohei looked at him with a light smile. "You're a good friend, Sawada. I'll go to class in a minute. You can go on without me."

"Are you sure?" Tsuna asked, unsure, as he got to his feet slowly, still worried about his sun guardian. What was wrong with him?

"Yeah. Don't worry..." Ryohei affirmed before shooing him off on his way lazily.

"Okay. Well, I guess I will see you later, Onii-san." Tsuna said lightly as he waved while leaving. He really didn't know how much he had helped but he could see why Kyoko was worried. It seemed Ryohei had done a complete 180 with no known cause. Hopefully it wasn't permanent so Kyoko wouldn't have to worry for long. Well, at least with Ryohei quieter, he would be less anxious around him?

He went back to class, apologizing to the teacher for being late and telling Kyoko not to worry during a break. When lunch time rolled around, Tsuna frowned. There was still no sign of Gokudera. Was he skipping class? Had something happened to him sometime between when Kyoko had thought she'd seen him and now? Would Reborn know—ah! Reborn! Of course! He was supposedly somewhere in the school, right? Maybe he could explain Ryohei's new attitude and tell him where Gokudera and Yamamoto were!

Grabbing his lunch, he left the classroom and hurried off to search for his tutor who could be harder to find than Waldo in a Christmas themed book. Reborn was always well hidden in the oddest places. Should he try looking where he had found him before? He decided to start outside. Before he could get far, however, he was stopped by a familiar presence.

"Juudaime!"

-Chapter 2 End-

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Author's Note: There we go! Chapter 2!

5/08/2017: Again, this chapter has been edited as well.