"EXTREME, SAWADA, EXTREME!" Ryohei roared. He punched the air. "TODAY, I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU MY NEW, IMPROVED, EXTREMELY EXTREME STRAIGHT!" His fists whooshed through the air in front of him, creating gusts of wind which whistled through the drooping leaves of the surrounding trees. Several leaves broke off at the stem and fluttered down to the ground. The woods were so silent, Ryohei could hear them land.

Ryohei sighed.

"You know, Sawada," he said, plopping down next to the silent, unresponsive coffin, twirling a bright yellow carnation between his bandaged fingers, "You know... It's just not the same..." He dropped the bright flower and shook his fists in the air. "I CAN'T SHOW MY EXTREME MOVES TO NO ONE, TO THE EXTREME!"

The woods were silent. There was no answer.

Ryohei sighed again, then frowned and sighed harder and louder, and sighed once more, even more loudly, then finally said, "EVEN MY SIGHS AREN'T AS EXTREME AS THEY USED TO BE! THAT'S AN EXTREME FAILURE!"

After a moment's silence, Ryohei reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter, many times read and a bit worn at the edges, despite it being fairly new. Ryohei had read it so many times, he practically had it memorized word for word.

To onii-san-

Be extreme to the max, as always, just not extremely sad. Protect Kyoko to the extreme and Lambo-kun and Haru to the extreme. Heh, I'm no good at these 'extreme' things, am I, to the extreme?

Nah, but it's extremely fun. I can see why you extremely like it.

Anyways, be the sun! Cheer the rest of them up, especially Lambo-kun. I have a feeling that he'll need it, to the extreme. But, just try and be your usual extreme self, alright?

Ja ne, to the extreme!

(I think I've used 'extreme' extremely too much in this letter, to the extreme.)

-Tsuna

P.S. Perhaps one day, cameras like the ones in Harry Potter will be made.

"Nah, Sawada... you can never use 'extreme' too much... At least, I don't think you can." Ryohei got up and left the yellow flower alongside with the blue flower and the two indigo ones.

"EXTREME! OCTOPUS HEAD, STOP DROWNING YOURSELF IN THE SHOWER TO THE EXTREME!" Ryohei roared, banging on the foggy shower glass. After waiting for almost an hour for Gokudera to come out, he had finally gotten impatient.

"Shut the fuck up and go the hell away," came a muffled voice. A finger slid itself over the mist, spelling out, "FUCK YOU," backwards.

"HEY! THAT'S EXTREMELY RUDE!" Ryohei yelled. There was no answer except for a gagging noise behind the glass. "HEY, OCTOPUS HEAD, ARE YOU ALRIGHT, TO THE EXTREME!"

"Shut the hell up. Can't you even let me die in peace?" snarled Gokudera. He wrote "FUCK YOU, GO AWAY," backwards on the glass, five times.

"BUT SAWADA WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE LIKE THIS!"

The shower turned off, but this time Ryohei heard the tap being turned on into what seemed like a half-filled tub. He heard a splash and nothing else but the tap water running into the water in the tub.

"OI!" Ryohei cried, yanking open the shower door. There was Gokudera, sitting in the tub with his sodden clothes clinging to his unhealthy-looking skin, with his head dunked into the water, air bubbles trailing out of his mouth. His face was hidden by his floating hair. Ryohei took Gokudera by the back of his shirt and lifted him out of the tub. He grabbed a few towels and started trying to dry Gokudera off. Gokudera protested weakly, trying to push Ryohei away as well as trying to enter the tub again. As a result, the towels got extremely soaked while Gokudera seemed to stay as wet as ever.

"Leave me alone, Turf-head," Gokudera said. "Or kill me. Either one. Either way, I'll still die."

"Hey, Octopus head!" Ryohei said, all the while bringing in more towels and a new shirt and pants for Gokudera to change into. Gokudera sat stubbornly with his arms around his knees as Ryohei attempted to remove his wet shirt. "Why do you want to die so suddenly?"

"..." Ryohei had succeeded in undressing Gokudera's top half and redressing him. He left the pants to Gokudera. Gokudera grudgingly changed. "It's all my fault..."

Ryohei whipped around angrily, for once showing what he truly felt inside. He scowled darkly. "What do you mean it's your fault? If it is, then it's my fault too! Do you think you're the only one who wants to kill yourself after what's happened?" He grabbed a fistful of Gokudera's shirt. "It's not all about you, Gokudera!"

Gokudera stared at Ryohei with a hollow, dead look in his eyes. Ryohei couldn't take anymore and swung his fist into Gokudera's pale face.

"The fuck-" Gokudera stumbled back, wrenching himself out of Ryohei's grasp. An angry red colored his face. He held his hands to his burning cheek.

"There. Now at least you're angry instead of sad," Ryohei said tonelessly. He crossed his arms over his chest and walked out of the bathroom. Gokudera stood alone in the bathroom, wondering what the hell had come over Ryohei.

"Yo, Yamamoto!" Ryohei greeted Yamamoto with false cheeriness. Yamamoto grinned in return. Both men noticed the forced smiles. Yamamoto had recovered slightly after visiting Tsuna's coffin, however, so it wasn't as painful as before.

"What's Gokudera up to?" Yamamoto asked. He walked into the kitchen with Ryohei and poured himself a cup of water.

"Trying to drown himself in the bathtub. It's no problem, I got him out," Ryohei added hastily as Yamamoto paled.

"Ahaha... you almost gave me a heart attack there!" Yamamoto smiled a real smile. he brought the cup to his lips and gulped.

"You should go check up on him anyways. He might smother himself with the towels I left there... or maybe hang himself, to the extreme." Ryohei said thoughtfully. Yamamoto choked on the water he was drinking. He nodded his head and sped up the stairs, coughing out, "Gokudera!"

Ryohei smiled wryly.

Fake happiness. Fake extremes. Fake smiles. Fake punches.

Everything was fake.

Nothing was real.

Ryohei smiled at Mukuro who smirked mysteriously as if saying, 'I know something you don't, but it's better if you don't know~' Ryohei kept the ugly smile plastered on his face as Chrome passed by him as well. His face muscles were starting to hurt.

He entered his room and shut the door behind him. Staring dully out at the sky where the clouds shrouded the sun, he bundled himself up in his blankets, throwing the sheet over his head and creating a depressing picture. He curled up tightly, wrapping blanketed arms around blanketed knees and then, in his bout of depression, he began banging his head harshly against his knees over and over, welcoming the pain.

"Sawada... I'm... sorry... it's... my... fault..." The sharpness of his knees was cushioned by the blankets. Frowning, he removed them and continued punishing himself. "If... I... had... been there..."

The clouds darkened. Ryohei stopped as a loud knock was heard on the door.

"Oh, Hibari!" Ryohei cleared his throat and looked around innocently. Hibari stood at the opened door, looking formidable.

"..."

"Uh... what's up?"

"..."

"..."

"What is that red mark on your forehead, Sasagawa Ryohei."

"OH! UH THIS? THIS IS A ... a... uh..." Ryohei trailed off; his mind had left him.

"... Stop bashing yourself on the head," Hibari said a bit awkwardly. He turned and added, "that's my job." He closed the door. "Besides, I can't sleep with that noise..."

"... but you can't even hear it to the extreme..." Ryohei mumbled to himself. He sighed. He was glad Kyoko wasn't in Japan right now, to see him as he was. He wondered what he was going to tell her about Tsuna... A random play of different scenarios played through his head.

"Kyoko! Sawada died in a sumo wrestling tournament!"

"Kyoko! Sawada's on a trip that will last forever!"

"Kyoko! Sawada's at the bottom of the ocean, looking for fish!"

"Kyoko! Sawada's dead!"

Whatever it was, it was definitely not going to be the last one. Definitely.

"GRAAARD!" Ryohei roared. He burst through the door, dashed past a surprised, humming Mukuro, down the stairs, out the front door and shoved on his shoes and flopped all the way to Tsuna's coffin.

"SAWADA! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE?" Ryohei bellowed. A small group of birds flapped their way through the trees, startled by Ryohei's outburst. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF FAKE SMILES! OF FAKED HAPPINESS! OF FAKE 'TO THE EXTREME!'"

Ryohei dropped to the ground and started punching the ground.

"Sasagawa... san?" came a timid voice. Ryohei looked up to see I-Pin, holding a peony in her hands.

"Ooh, uh, er... um... I-Pin!" Ryohei stammered. He scratched the back of his head. He looked around bashfully. "Um.. uh..." He scratched his cheek. "Uhhh..."

I-Pin smiled. "I often find that using a special ingredient too often in ramen makes it less special than it would be if I used it rarely, you know? Ah, my flower! It's getting wilted!" I-pin brought out a pair of scissors and snipped the bottom off of it and stuck it in a small vase, along with the other flowers. "Well, I'll see you back at the house, okay?" I-Pin smiled and walked back towards the mansion.

"Too much...?" Ryohei frowned.

"Nah, Sawada... you can never use 'extreme' too much... At least, I don't think you can."

"SAWADA!" Ryohei roared. If Tsuna was alive, he'd have winced. "I'VE REALIZED THAT YOU CAN SAY 'EXTREME' TOO MUCH!" He leaped up, getting into a boxing stance. "I'VE SUDDENLY DECIDED THAT I'LL ONLY USE EXTREME WHEN I THINK IT'S EXTREME! AND ONLY SMILE WHEN I FEEL LIKE SMILING! AND SO ON, TO THE EXTREEEEEME!"

"I... I'm glad Onii-san..."

"WOAH! THAT'S EXTREME!" Ryohei exclaimed, extremely startled. "MY BRAIN IS PLAYING EXTREME TRICKS ON ME!" He ran off into the direction of the mansion. "I MUST THANK I-PIN TO THE MAX! EXTREME!" Ryohei forgot his misery in the light of this new decision.

The sun came out from behind the clouds.

It was back.

The P.S. in Tsuna's letter was in reference to my story Appareil-Photo in which Tsuna starts up a photo album and tries to get pictures of everyone.

Don't own KHR or Harry Potter, obviously :P