AN. This chapter is dedicated to Wavering Libra. Sorry for worrying you and thanks! Also…Better late than never, I guess? Sorry for taking so long!

Why him? Had he been weaker or stronger would he had been spared? He lived in a monotonous routine. Monotonous, not boring…he lived every second trying to keep himself alive. He feared the next time he went to sleep he wouldn't wake up anymore. But he woke up and the routine started once again.

A fearful, pain-filled routine…

It's not like he had another choice.

Tsuna walked to the bathroom, sensing his tutor's eyes on him. He closed the door, locked it and stood still. He tried to breathe normally, calmly and silently. He cleared his forehead of sweat and stood still again. He was tempted to lean against the door but he was sure the hitman would notice.

Carefully he got rid of his school uniform and made a ball with it and tossed it far from him. Then he breathed in deeply and looked down.

His bandage was clean.

He sighed in relief and winced. He neared the toilet and started to undo it. As the bandage came off, it turned pinker and pinker until finally turning red.

The teen carefully slid it in the trash can and did a knot on it. He froze when he heard steps and hurried to turn the shower on.

When the steps faded away he sighed and looked at his side. It didn't look pretty. He frowned at the wound for a moment.

It had been so long already, and the wound was barely starting to close up. At first, he had been mad at the one who injured him but, he got furious and the results…well, it hadn't been pretty. Tsuna got slightly nauseous as he pictured the teen that had injured him, little more than a month ago, after he was punished.

He wondered mildly if he was even still alive.

Nicely tucked in bed, the covers hugging his body, Tsuna lay, fully awake. Listening to the even breathing of the hitman, he knew he was fast asleep; right now, he was the only one awake.

The teen rolled to face his room and surveyed everything with unusually cold eyes. His eyes paused on the shadow of the hitman's hammock before moving his eyes away, his eyes trailing every single shadow and object he could see until arriving at his own hands—which were hugging the bed sheets. He clenched the fabric softly before bringing it up to his face. He inhaled deeply the fragrance of home, of love , of mom…

His cold eyes softened just a tiny bit.

He could get used to this.

The next day, after school, both Tsuna's Storm and Rain were hanging out in the former's house. Nana had been elated and had hurried them in, fuzzing a longer time on her only son, her worry clear on her face( and on the sheer quantity of snacks she forced on the teens).

They talked, mostly of inane things, none of the three teens willing to breach the calmness that had settled in that evening. Reborn joined them soon enough, but didn't participate more than to snatch a snack and to make sure his student ate as well.

Gokudera didn't notice right away but Yamamoto watched as Tsuna's face —which had an almost anxious expression —seemed somewhat dazed as he seemed to absorb everything the bomber said and flinching occasionally when the other got overexcited.

And neither of them noticed right away but Reborn saw his No-Good student drinking in all compliments like a thirsty man who had been in a desert for too long. After a while the silver-head grumpily left them alone —after glaring at a certain raven-haired teen— and Reborn accompanied him.

"Ne, Tsuna?" Yamamoto softly called. They hadn't moved since Gokudera left, with Yamamoto sitting on the floor and Tsuna lying on his bed, head hanging to face the former.

"What is it, Yamamoto?"

"….Tsuna." Yamamoto suddenly pouted, momentarily —and somewhat relieved of— getting sidetracked. "Did you forget? I told you to call me Takeshi." At that the brunet looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"B-but-!" The raven's eyes saddened a little at the tiny voice that came out. It sounded so pitiful… "But I-!"

"Maa maa, it's alright, I know you're too shy Tsu-Tsu." Yamamoto quickly assured, trying to distract him. The brunet frowned a bit, and looked at him weirdly.

"Tsu…tsu?" He repeated, before he chuckled softly, amusedly shaking his head. "Honestly…"

"Haha, what's wrong Tsu-tsu?" Yamamoto asked, inwardly relieved at that normal reaction. The brunet had been too stiff lately.

"Mou, stop already Yamamoto!" Tsuna said with a smile, before catching himself and burying his head in his pillow.

"Tsuna?" His boyfriend asked, once again, worried. He stood up and slowly made his way to the other's bed.

"Ah. I'm sorry. It's fine." The brunet muttered, still not lifting his head. The baseball fan sat down on the very edge of the bed, extending a hand to caress a head of soft brown. Slow as he moved and as noisily as he was, the brunet still flinched minutely.

"Tsuna…I already told you that I'm here for you. I don't know what happened to make you so…" —fragile—" … so sad, but whenever you feel ready to tell me…I'll always be there to listen." He saw the brunet nod, before he turned to face him —his face red from being pressed down— and with a warming smile he said,

"Thank you."

Takeshi laughed as he felt a little bit lighter.

As Takeshi was walking back home he caught glimpse of a silverhead. The baseball jock ran up to the one he knew to be Gokudera. Upon reaching him, his carefree smile melted away into a frown upon seeing the livid expression on the Storm.

"Gokudera? What's wrong?" Pale green eyes snapped to meet his, making him pause at seeing the confusion and contained anger inside them. Looking a bit mournful, Takeshi stated, "So the Kid told you too…"

"I'm going to kill those fuckers!" The bomber hissed in reply, staring at the sticks of explosives he was clutching before sagging with helplessness. "Jyuudaime got hurt and…and I couldn't protect him. I failed him as his Guardian."

"…I guess, all we can do is make sure he returns to his healthy state, and make sure he knows we're there for him." Takeshi mumbled, pasting on a smile even as he wanted to cringe at Gokudera's words.

"And figure out who exactly did it…" Gokudera stated coldly, before seeming to steel himself. He stared at the raven with determined eyes and there was a silent exchange before Gokudera started to walk away.

They were going to make whoever hurt Tsunayoshi pay.

Morning found two teens waiting in silence just outside Tsuna's house. For once, these two weren't arguing but rather talking in hushed whispers about what they planned to do to help their boss get his health back. Gokudera also briefly informed that Reborn was going to contact him with members of CEDEF, so he could hear for himself every single detail and maybe figure something out.

The Rain flame user nodded, before reminding the bomber not to be so loud when with Tsuna and to keep his murderous intents towards the guilty party away from his mind until he was alone. Also he needed to act normal. No use getting Tsuna frightened.

They were talking on how best to inform their fellow guardians —maybe even just let Reborn do that part— when they were startled by Nana's exclamation upon seeing them.

After eating breakfast for the second time that day, the two Guardians accompanied their boss to school, bantering with each other and trying to get Tsuna to join in with them.

.

At lunch break the three of them were walking down the school corridor towards the rooftop when they saw Hibari walking in the contrary direction with purpose. Tsuna froze as he eyed the menacing teen's approach. Gokudera was fast to notice that his boss wasn't at his side and, glancing behind him, he saw the stiff teen's spine straighten, shoulders thrown back, not exactly relaxed but…controlled. The bomber mused seeing these minute changes in posture. The brunet's head was held higher, carefully keeping an eye on the Skylark.

"Oh, Yo Hibari-senpai!" Yamamoto greeted cheerfully but the prefect ignored him; the bomber looked at them before glancing back at the brunet. The green-eyed genius frowned a little in confusion before chalking it up to Reborn's training. After all no mafia boss should show the smallest sign of weakness. His eyes seemed to sparkle. 'As expected of Jyuudaime!'

"Jyuu-!" He began excitedly as Hibari passed by Tsuna, but his praise died on his lips upon seeing the blank stare of his eyes… That- that was concentration…right? Gokudera's train of thought jumped from Reborn's training to the attempt on Tsuna and unease settled inside him again.

Hibari arched an eyebrow at that sudden carnivorous attitude but huffed and continued walking. There were idiots that needed punishment right away, after all. Nonetheless a lustful smirk curved his lips as he thought how much stronger would the omnivore be.

The brunet forged on, maintaining his carefully vacant expression and his two friends had to hurry up to catch up to him. Then, from one of his many secret hiding places, Reborn appeared looking at the back of his student. Following him until the boys disappeared from sight before he made a beeline towards Hibari.

Lunch was slightly subdued after that interchange but the mood was lifted when Tsuna relaxed and Takeshi made a comment on how big his lunch seemed to be.

"I'm not even that hungry…" Tsuna complained staring at his lunch box mournfully. Takeshi managed to laugh before grabbing one of his own egg rolls with his chopstick and waving them back and forth at the brunet's mouth-height.

"Maa maa, don't say that, Tsuna. Now let me feed you!"

Blushing softly, Tsuna reticently opened his mouth, allowing Takeshi to feed him this once before ushering him to eat himself.

Gokudera was too busy tsking and Takeshi laughing for either to them to notice the trace of uncertainty and despondency that crossed the brunet's features.

Before the brown-haired teen could dwell in dark thoughts he was suddenly hit with the impression of warm orange flames and with a sudden start, Tsuna stopped eating as he looked from friend to friend, kind of bewildered.

"Tsu-?" "Jyuu-?"

"Guys! I can't believe I haven't-! God, I'm so sorry guys, for not having asked about you at all." Tsuna had closed both eyes at this, too embarrassed to look up, but peeked when he was only met by silence. He blushed. "Err… Has anything happened while I was gone?"

Tsuna started to fidget when the silence continued before a snort broke free from Yamamoto's mouth and soon he and Gokudera landed in a laughing fit.

Both teens realized just how tense they had been only when they stopped laughing— and after apologizing to a pouting Tsuna.

"Maa maa, it wasn't our intention…And answering your question, hmm let's see…" The baseball idol finally managed to say and he started humming while he thought. "Well, I can't think of anything important. Unless of course, you'd like to hear what I've been having for breakfast!"

"Tch, such an idiot. I, as your right-hand-man, have been training hard during your absence so I don't become a hindrance to you after your trip was over."

"Haha, that's good, I guess. You should later show me the results of it, how about it?" Tsuna said with a smile to his Storm. The green-eyed male stared at his boss with renewed adoration.

"Absolutely! "

Yamamoto gets jealous so easily sometimes…

The brunet snapped to attention, surreptitiously glancing at his Rain and blinking in surprise at seeing the minuscule pout on his lips. Sighing fondly he directed his attention to him.

"And how about you, Yamamoto? I'm not going to believe you haven't been competing with Gokudera about your training."

"Hahaha, I've been found out!" The amber-eyed jock laughed, pleasantry surprised at his boyfriend. "So, does that mean I can also brag about it like Gokudera?" Tsuna sighed as this brought up another volley of bickering —well, the bomber was bickering, and the swordsman was merely laughing as always.

Feeling somewhat odd, the brunet watched the two of them in silence, barely registering the fact that Gokudera wasn't being as loud as he always was and hadn't pulled out his dynamite yet. He drank in the sight, almost with nostalgia before he snapped out of it when the school bell rang. Lunch was over.

"Oh, it's time. Let's get going." Yamamoto said as he stood up, the silverhead doing the same, before both teens paused at seeing their unmoving boss.

"Jyuudaime, is there something wrong?"

And Tsuna looked at them with such lonely eyes that they immediately crowded closer to him. The brunet lowered his gaze to his hands as he asked, "I'm sorry but… do you think we could stay up here a bit longer?"

The Guardians exchanged a worried look before they plastered a smile on their faces as they sat back down.

"I'm sorry…" Tsuna repeated, before a hand on his head made him look up.

"Maa maa, don't apologize. And anyway, we're students, it's healthy to skip school every so often."

"You! Don't say such irresponsible things to Jyuudaime! And of course we can stay with you! I'd be glad to serve you as company!" He snapped his head from frowning to Yamamoto to beaming at Tsuna so quickly that the other two couldn't help but laugh.

.

And like that they started talking about stuff that had happened in Namimori. Things as inane as a big group of tourists booking Takesushi or getting new rings since the old ones were getting, well old. Things as boring as what they had seen in school or how much homework the teachers have been dumping on them. Things as important as the girls making Chrome a bit more out-going and that no one had been attacked during this period of time.

They talked and talked and the brunet just couldn't seem to get enough.

TBC

AN. Sorry it ended a bit strangely. It's short I know, but I'm thinning of keeping these chapter about this long, what do you think? (Btw, I'm going to get real busy soon, so this will be my last update for a while I think)

Any idea as to what's going on with Tsuna? Is there any guardian in particular you'd like to see more?

Do leave a review with your thoughts!