a/n: Okay, so the last chapter has proved way too long, and I've had to split it in two, but here is the penultimate chapter for you, with the last soon to follow. Special thanks to Shimaki-33, ShougiKnight, masura1102, RejectedByMostButLovedByAll and DiveToWorld for the reviews. Here's the last chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: 8059 Yamamoto has a crush on Gokudera, but Gokudera is hopelessly oblivious. Then he overhears something and misunderstands. Soon everyone in the mansion is a victim of this unfortunate circumstance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of its characters.

"speaking" thinking

Victims of Circumstance Chapter Five: Yamamoto's Answer

"Oi, Yamamoto, what's the matter? You seem extremely upset this morning."

"Eh? Oh, sorry senpai. I guess I am feeling a little down today." As usual, Yamamoto and Ryohei were on their morning run around the compound. Out of all of the guardians, they were the only ones even remotely inclined to get up early. Once an athlete always an athlete. Old training habits die hard, and the two guardians still felt the drive to get up every morning and go for a run. For Yamamoto it was not only refreshing, it cleared his head and gave him the jump start he needed to start the rest of the day. Though Ryohei was never a completely silent partner, he was quiet enough to give Yamamoto a chance to think most days.

"A little down? That's extremely unfortunate! What's the matter?"

"Ah, actually, well there's someone I like, but they don't like me back."

"Oh, I see. Are you sure they don't like you?"

"Well they pretty much shouted it in my face before storming out after I confessed to them, so yeah."

"Wow, harsh to the extreme. Do you still like them after that?"

"Ye-yeah, I do. After they rejected me, I've tried to keep things normal between us. I was hoping that things would go back to the way they were between us, but he- I mean they- keep acting weird around me, staring at me all the time like they're just completely disgusted by me. I don't know what to do. I still want us to be friends at least, and I cuold help but hope that maybe, someday, we could be something more than friends."

"Is that so? Okay! Then you extremely can't give up! If you like this person as much as you say you do, then you have to keep trying. Besides, that stupid octupus head is stupid and extremely stubborn. It'll probably take a couple of tries before you convince him."

"Oh? You too, senpai? I'm beginning to think that everyone in the mansion knows what's going on."

"Yeah, well, all the guardians probably know, and Basil too. I just know because I was in the next training room over, and I heard Gokudera screaming at you. He was extremely loud. I think everyone in the headquarters probably heard, maybe everyone in Italy."

"Oh, I see."

"At any rate, you extremely can't give up!"

xxxxx

Yamamoto had pondered Ryohei's simple advice all morning and finally decided to attempt to heal the breach between himself and Gokudera. As morning gradually faded to afternoon, Yamamoto went in search of Gokudera, hoping to have lunch with him and apologize. He could not find Gokudera in any of his usual haunts, and Yamamoto ended at last in front of Gokudera's room as a last check before he gave up his search entirely.

Inside his room Gokudera heard a muffled knocking at his door. Who the hell could that be this early in the morning? It's probably something important for them to wake me up.

"Come in." Gokudera grumbled as he sat up and began to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

As the door opened, Gokudera immediately snapped (perhaps a little harder than he intended to) "Baseball idiot! What the hell do you want?"

"Oh, sorry, Gokudera. I didn't think even you would still be asleep this late."

"What are you talking about it's-"

Gokudera stole a look at the clock as Yamamoto said, "Almost noon, yeah. Actually I was coming to see if I could have lunch with you. I wanted to say some things, not a repeat of last time I promise! I just, you know, I know I upset you, and I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you about it over lunch, though I guess it would be breakfast for you, Gokudera."

"Che, whatever, maybe tomorrow. I still haven't drawn my conclusions yet."

"Huh? What do you mean, Gokudera?"

"N-nothing" Gokudera insisted, but his eyes betrayed him as he snatched a quick glance at his timeline charting his relationship with Yamamoto.

Yamamoto followed Gokudera's gaze to the chart. "Oh, what's this?" He asked as he picked it up.

Give me that! Gokudera found himself inexplicably embarrassed, even though there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It was a perfectly logical solution and his analysis was quite thorough. Still, he found himself not wanting Yamamoto to see it. Though it was far too late to prevent that now.

As he read over the chart, Yamamoto tilted his head to the side and asked, "What's this for?"

"Damned baseball idiot! It's for the Tenth."

"Huh?"

"To answer a question he asked me."

"...which was?"

"He asked me what our relationship was."

"And you drew a chart?"

"Of course. I was thinking about it last night, and I realized this was the only logical way. I used the chart to lay out all the data points in front of me. Now I can analyze the data and draw a conclusion."

"Well it doesn't look very accurate."

"What do you mean? Of course it is! Well, as accurate as I could make it anyways. I had to make a few estimates, but I think I got pretty close."

"I don't think so." Chart in hand, Yamamoto plopped down on the bed, as Gokudera shifted next to him. "Look here." He said pointing to one spot on the time line. "You have it listed that the last time you threatened to shove dynamite down my throat was some time after our first couple of missions, but it was earlier than that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The last time you tried to do that was right before the end of high school, when we had to study for our final exams. Remember? I got the distance formula and the quadratic formula confused and did the entire algebra section of my math study guide wrong."

"I didn't care about you getting your answers wrong, but the Tenth had copied off your worksheet. You nearly made him fail high school!"

"You said the same thing then and tried to blow me up, but Tsuna managed to stop you. At any rate, after that you never had to tutor me again, and so you never had a chance to shove dynamite down my throat."

Gokudera nodded as Yamamoto said this and quickly adjusted his timeline. Yamamoto continued to look it over and said, "Everything else looks pretty close. Except for this. You have this a year too early. You started letting me wrap my arm around you here in the spring of the next year."

Gokudera was about to ask how he knew that, when he got another look at Yamamoto. His usually light and carefree eyes had dimmed to the serious demeanor Yamamoto wore only on missions. His tone had become gradually quieter and more somber. The odd behavior only served to heighten his curiosity, but Gokudera chose not to pry. Instead he turned his eyes back to the chart, only to have his thoughts interrupted by Yamamoto. "So," Yamamoto began back to his normal carefree tone, "What do you think?"

"What are you talking about, baseball idiot?"

"You have all the data now, so what's the answer?"

"I don't know. Actually, there is still one thing I can't figure out, one crucial piece of information that's missing."

"What's that?"

"Well...I still can't figure out when you began to like me. I know it wasn't in the beginning, because you dated plenty of people in high school. I just can't seem to pinpoint when you started liking me."

"Silly Gokudera! You just needed to ask. It was here." As Yamamoto pointed to the right spot, he tone turned serious again.

"That's the same time I started letting you touch me. What happened there?"

"You got hurt. It was supposed to be an easy mission, but we were ambushed. You were shot, on the left side of your chest. I knew immediately you'd been shot in the heart. It didn't hesitate to kill them all. Somehow you were still breathing. I got you to a hospital in time, but they still said it was a miracle that you made it. Something about your heart being in the right side of your chest instead of the left."

"Yeah, it's called dextracardia."

"I think I remember a nurse explaining that to me, but I wasn't even listening. I just sat there staring at you. You were full of tubes and hooked to all sorts of machines. You looked half dead already. That's when I realized. I tried to imagine a world without you, and I couldn't. You letting one of your rare and beautiful smiles slip, you looking at me with those stunning emerald eyes, you sneaking away to play the piano when you think no one's watching, your passion, your fire, your loyalty- life would be empty without you. You're a spark of life when everything seems dim, a raging storm when all else seems dank and oppressive. I realized then that I didn't know how to live without you."

Gokudera just stared in stunned silence replaying in his head everything Yamamoto had just said. No one, not even Tsuna, had ever expressed these sorts of feelings to him. He honestly had no idea how to react. Time stretched on, and what began as a pregnant pause slowly became an awkward silence neither knew how to break. Mustering his courage Gokudera began, "Listen, baseball idiot-"

"I know; I know. You're not interested in me, and I didn't mean to bring it up again, but now you have the data for your chart, right? I know we can't be anything more, and I promise I won't ask you out or talk about those sorts of feelings ever again. Still, still I hope that when you analyze the data from your chart, it shows that we're friends."

"Ye-yeah. It does."

"Oh, good! Well then, I'll leave you to your work." As Yamamoto got up to leave, Gokudera was still dazed by the brilliant smile he had seen just a moment before. Never could he remember seeing Yamamoto more happy than the moment he said they were friends, never could he remember his smile being more beautiful. And, somehow, as Yamamoto walked out the door, Gokudera found himself wishing he hadn't left.