Well, you all asked for Tsuna's reply, so here you go! Please forgive me if it's not good enough...
Thank you to AmiiStarr, thepieh0le, expletive deleted, Emi-chan and all my anonymous reviewers (: Y'all made my day today.
I don't own KHR.
Re: What are These Words and Why do They Say 'I Love You'?
Dear Gokudera-kun,
First of all, you're quite overwhelming. Your letter to me was so eloquent and well thought-out; I don't see how I can possibly respond to it without sounding like a total idiot. (By the way, I used a dictionary for a lot of words in this letter.)
Second of all, I'll come right out with this: I accept your feelings. I know how nervous you must be about this – after all, you said yourself that you have never really loved before. Well, I haven't either, to be honest with you. At best, my love has always been unrequited. But you are something different and new to me. Most of the time, when people meet me, they are disgusted by me. They think I'm a failure and tease and hate me. Even though you're so obsessive over my identity as the Tenth Vongola, I do believe that that… adoration you have has really come through to not just my "Tenth" self, but my own, Tsunayoshi Sawada self. Am I making sense here?
Basically saying, you're the first person I've met who bothered to look past my flaws and see the goodness inside me. When we first met, I had never encountered anyone who openly believed in me the way you did. That was scary to me at first because I had never been used to getting praise from people before; but over time, I've grown to love this feeling you give me of strength and importance and respect. And I've grown to love you, too.
You may think my life is all peaches and cream for me and that I'm perfect, but I'm not, and it isn't. My life wasn't as hard as yours, but you still mean as much to me as I mean to you. You say I saved you from a life of bitterness. You saved me, too: I gave you hope, you also gave me hope. When before I was scared of all people, you taught me how to trust and that people really do care. I guess I did the same for you, as well.
I sound like I'm stuttering and can't get my act together right now, I know. I'm just beside myself. And relieved.
My mother told me once that love meant finding pure beauty in someone. I see your beauty just as you see mine – I love everything about you, too, your silky silver hair, your light and graceful steps and every part in-between, even the things that aren't physically there. That is what I have to say. Will you take my feelings, too, so that we can both be something more for each other?
Sincerely,
Tsunyaoshi Sawada
P.S.: I know words mean nothing (as you emphasized), but I just thought you'd like to know, yours were very beautiful.