~VI.I~

"Tenth! Did you get any sleep last night?" Gokudera was worrying over him; more specifically, he was worrying over his face, which was pale from exhaustion with dark bags beneath his dull eyes.

"Mah mah, it looks like you haven't slept in ages, Tsuna!" Yamamoto laughed it off, such as he usually did. "Ah, but we just saw you yesterday and you weren't this bad…"

"Idiot!" Gokudera barked, hitting the baseball player over the head. "Stay out of it!" He swung back to Tsuna. "Is your mother bothering you? Do you want to stay over at my house tonight? Do you want to skip school today? Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office – no, that wouldn't work!" He went on to mutter to himself. "That useless pervert would most likely be there and then he'd just send you back to class…" His stormy green eyes were completely focused on his thoughts.

Tsuna tried to smile and wave off the concern, but the overall affect was ruined by a barely-stifled yawn. "I-I'm okay…" He managed to utter around his jaw stretching wide. "I – uuuhhh – was up all night doing… homework…?" He grinned sheepishly.

Yamamoto tilted his head curiously, but then chuckled. "Hah hah! Yeah, I thought the assignment was pretty hard too! We should study together later at my old man's place!"

Gokudera leaped from his own thoughts back into the conversation. "I agree, Tenth! As much as I hate to do so with the freak of all people, but his dad cooks good food and we will be able to think better on full stomachs!"

"Hah hah! Thanks, Gokudera." Yamamoto completely overlooked the insult in Gokudera's words and clung onto the compliments.

Tsuna smiled and nodded in agreement.

They never went over to his house anymore; he and Yamamoto used to before that, but never since then. Gokudera had occasionally walked him home afterwards, but Tsuna had eventually managed to get him to wait for him at school. He hated how his mother looked at his friends, as if he didn't deserve to have them. And his friends had come to learn that his mother would use low-handed tricks to try and guilt-trip them to stop being with him.

It was why, three years later, people still remembered him as the guy who had killed his baby brother just by not being there to take the bullet for him. It was as simple and as cruel as that.

"So, we're following me home after school?" Yamamoto enquired. Gokudera lived by himself and Tsuna's mom didn't care, so neither of them actually had to go to their houses first for permission.

"Idiot!" Gokudera growled. "What if the Tenth wants to go now? Can't you see how drained he is?"

"Yeah, but my old man is home right now, so if we go, he'll catch us…" Yamamoto trailed off; his father cared for his education, unlike their own parents.

There was an almost awkward silence.

"Then we'll go to my place first." Gokudera snorted. "What do you say, Tenth?"

He didn't give it much thought – the boy with the body made of roots haunted him – before nodding wordlessly again.

"Great!" Gokudera looked inanely proud.

"Alright! We're going to Gokudera's now, hah hah!" Yamamoto stood to his feet.

Gokudera glared at him, as if to wordlessly debate that. "Who said you were welcome?"

"Well, you said 'we' – "

"I meant the Tenth and me!" The silverette grabbed Tsuna's arm and pulled him carefully to his feet, leading him off the rooftop. "You can head back to class!"

"Aaaw, but, Gokudera… class isn't fun without you guys there!"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Pretty please?"

"NO!"

"What if I do that thing you like with my tongue – "

"SHUT! Up!" Gokudera hissed, a flare of red covering his cheeks.

Tsuna jerked unceremoniously back into reality; was he missing something?

Gokudera smashed his fist into Yamamoto's face, causing the taller male to collapse backwards as he clutched his abused nose. "Fine!" Gokudera then growled. "You can come!"

Despite having a nose spurting blood, Yamamoto grinned happily. "Hah hah!" His voice was nasally. "Let-d-s go!"

() 0 ()

He had a good time.

At first, they drank soda at Gokudera's place, talking about nothing in particular. Gokudera didn't have a TV, so they had crowded around on his small bed and eventually just started talking about whatever random thing came to mind (Gokudera was not impressed by Yamamoto's baseball stories, but he loved Tsuna's mumbled, incomplete jokes with the completely failed punch lines).

After school officially ended, they headed to Yamamoto's house and did their homework there. After some studying (Tsuna was left more confused than before, but Yamamoto got the hang of it), they went to the dojo Yamamoto's dad had behind his sushi bar and had taken a few lessons with the bamboo swords.

When all was said and done, each of them a few bruises heavier, they lied down in front of the TV and Tsuyoshi – Yamamoto's dad – brought them up dinner.

Tsuna felt like he was on cloud nine; this had been a great day… he had got to spend time with his two best friends, he hadn't had to hear about his mother's hatred for him, and – best of all – no roots.

Gokudera's head was drooping, the silverette on the verge of sleep. He kept jerking awake at the last moment, but he inevitably began to bob his head again to the tune of drowsiness.

On Tsuna's other side, Yamamoto couldn't have appeared any more awake; he chowed down on the food his dad had brought in and stared animatedly at the TV screen. He was, however, quick to get bored with that (he'd much rather be outside than watch what other people were doing), and so resorted to reaching around Tsuna and blowing into the silverette's ear whenever Gokudera shut his eyes.

He was the reason why Gokudera kept jerking awake with a startled snort.

Tsuna kept silent about it – or, at least as quiet as he could be as he snickered with Yamamoto, trying to cover his laughter up with his hands.

Closing in on midnight, Gokudera had fallen asleep with his head on Tsuna's shoulder. Likewise, Yamamoto had his head on Tsuna's other shoulder.

The middle-man shifted somewhat uncomfortably, feeling his butt going numb as he continued to sit on the wooden floor. Otherwise, he was… content.

Lambo had liked to sleep in his lap… back when he had been alive; sure, he had had his own room with his own bed, but he had liked to sneak into his room sometimes and curl up on top of him, sprawled across his belly as he snored. Other times, he acted timid as he waited at Tsuna's door for him to turn on a light so he could quickly scramble into his bed – safe from darkness – and burrow into his side, of course trying to evade a nightmare.

The memories made him smile bitterly. He had always ended up petting Lambo's hair… though that had been difficult to do; the kid had had that monstrous afro… though it had been surprisingly soft to the touch, it had still been of preposterous size, so large that Lambo had preferred to hide his worldly possessions in it.

He felt a tear trickle down his cheek; damn it. Why was he crying? Why? What had happened three years ago had happened three years ago.

But what if he had gone with Lambo? What if he had been with him on that street, at that moment, with him as big brothers were supposed to be with their little brothers? What if he had been the one shot instead?

What did thoughts like those accomplish? He sighed tiredly.

Maek a wIsh, bIg brOther!

The words brought back the image of the boy made of roots – and, therefore, he remembered the seed beneath his pillow.

He looked from one friend to the other, both breathing deeply and peacefully. Would it hurt to stay the night? After all, the next day was Saturday, so there wasn't any school…

Tsuyoshi peeked in and caught sight of him still awake; he threw him a wide, amused grin before leaving and then returning with a bundle of blankets and pillows. He left wordlessly.

He managed to get into a semi-comfortable position with the pillows before throwing the blankets over them, Yamamoto and Gokudera still considering him their own pillow. He settled down between them, feeling his already heavy eyelids lowering over his gaze. With a blissful sigh, he burrowed himself down to rest.

He wanted desperately to stay that way, he really did… except something was teasing the edge of his perception, rousing his thoughts and riling his being to consciousness. His eyes fluttered reluctantly open, feeling something crawl through him – foreboding? Acknowledgement of danger? Instinct? Whatever it was, it was chilly and heavy and it couldn't be good.

The boy was staring at him with that same cold grin; no, that was a lie… he was glaring at him, a trembling smirk on his pale lips as if Tsuna was at blame for something. His mouth opened and closed, but Tsuna couldn't hear a word he said. Was the boy suddenly mute? Was he mocking him?

No, Tsuna's intuition whispered with certainty, he's just too far away.

But that was ridiculous, Tsuna couldn't help but counter; he was standing right there… close enough that Tsuna could touch him! To prove such to his subconscious, he reached out his hand and stroked a gentle fingertip over the blinding white robe the boy wore.

Whatever the boy had been saying, he fell into silence. He stared at Tsuna now with shock, possibly because he hadn't expected to be touched.

Tsuna stared up into his eyes as the boy stared down, Tsuna still sitting. He blinked as he realized that the two weights on his shoulders were gone; as a matter of fact… the room in general was gone.

Why was he in his bedroom?

The boy began saying something again, his lips moving now with a harsher twist of his lips, appearing cross.

Despite being able to touch the boy, his intuition prevailed with the whispered knowledge that the child was just too far away. But that didn't make sense.

"Can you hear me?" He asked the child.

The boy glared at him, lips pursed. After a moment, he shook his head.

"Hey, if you can't hear me, how do you know what I asked?" He felt a little indignant.

The boy smirked and pointed at his mouth.

"… You can read lips?" The boy nodded. "Waaah… Show-off…" But he laughed anyway. "That's pretty neat…" He tugged on the kid's robe again.

He felt strangely unbothered… sure, there was still that heavy foreboding, but he felt almost as if on a high. There was simply nothing that could bring him down.

The child, again, looked startled.

"Ah hah hah… sorry…" Tsuna sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I must be making you uncomfortable." His hands slid off of the child and he lied down on his bed. "Oh, yeah… you asked me a question last night, right before I woke up…" Scarlet and cobalt focused on him. "… I don't think I can let you die… you just seem so sad and hurt; I don't think I can hate you just because you look weird… I mean, how much could I have expected after reading how to grow you? Sure, I didn't expect seeing you in my dreams, but… well… I don't mind." He nuzzled against his pillow. "It's weird and I couldn't get it out of my head all day – but I don't think I really care. I'll keep growing you… I promise."

The child looked… touched? Shocked? Awed? Whatever he felt, it was there and then gone in his expression. With that cold little smirk decorating his lips, he let the robe fall off again.

There was no blood-curdling mound of roots for a body; only a child.

Author's Note: Yes, Tsuna's feeling completed a full 180 turn.