Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

Thanks to those who reviewed!

Oh, and people are surprised that Tsuna is really smart for only being nine. It's not that he's smart. He's just very observant and is good at piecing a puzzle together. Which does require some intelligence, but he's not super smart. He still struggles with his lessons like math, English, science, etc.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Precious Sky

Chapter 3

When Tsuna opened his eyes the next morning, they fell on the clock that read six a.m. and he groaned. He hated getting up this early in the morning, but it couldn't be helped. He went to bed early last night because he was irritated and the best thing to do was sleep it off so it shouldn't be a surprise that he woke up early. Oh well, at least this way he could get ready and leave without his brothers pestering him.

He quickly got dressed and quietly made his way to the stairs. Giotto and Dino, who shared a room, were in the room right before the stairs so he had to be careful as not to wake them. Ever since Reborn began training them, they've become more alert, even when asleep. Which reminded him. Reborn was in the guest bedroom across from Giotto and Dino. Now he had to be even more careful.

He just hoped that his clumsy feet didn't trip him up on the stairs, but that shouldn't be a problem. Reborn had gotten sick of his clumsiness when he first arrived and helped him to become a bit agile and graceful.

Though, usually, luck was against him, today it seemed to favor him as he got down the stairs without any incidents and went to the kitchen where he could already hear the humming that came from his mom when she was cooking early in the morning. "Morning Mom." He greeted quietly.

Nana froze in her actions and turned to her son, smiling brightly. "Tsu-kun! You are sure up early. Usually Reborn has to wake you up."

Tsuna twitched at that. Even though the hitman wasn't his tutor, he found pleasure in waking up all the kids in the house. Though, he was gentler with waking Tsuna then he was with his own students. Tsuna wasn't complaining though. He had no desire to be woken up by being electrocuted, kicked, hit with a hammer, have ice cold water poured on him, etc. The way that sadistic hitman woke him up was slightly annoying and sometimes traumatizing, but he was fine with it this way.

"I went to bed early last night." Tsuna shrugged, but he saw the concern flash in his mother's eyes and regretted opening his mouth.

"Irritated. I heard you boys arguing when you came home last night. I couldn't understand what was being said since I was in the kitchen, but you didn't sound happy. Is everything alright, Tsu-kun?"

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Mom, can you make me an extra bento today?" Tsuna asked to divert her attention. "If you want, I can help you make them."

Nana giggled. "Does my little Tsu-kun want to learn to cook?"

Tsuna blushed, but nodded. He just really wanted to give something to his first friend, but he wasn't going to tell his mom that. If he told her he had a friend, she would want to know everything about him. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but his would mother would no doubt blabber all the information to Dino and Giotto. That would mean Takeshi's house would no longer be a sanctuary for him from his over-protective brothers.

Nana broke into a big smile at her youngest wanting to learn to cook. "Then let's get started. First, we're going to….."

Once the bentos were done, Tsuna packed them in his bag, grabbed some toast for breakfast, and left for school early so he didn't have to meet his brothers.

What he didn't expect was to see his friend outside, staring at the nameplate for the house. Raising a brow in confusion, Tsuna approached his friend, stopping to stare at the nameplate as well. "Is there something interesting about my last name, Takeshi?"

Said boy jumped in surprise at Tsuna's voice. He hadn't notice the boy approach him. "Sorry, Tsuna. I just didn't realize I passed your house on the way to school."

"Not a surprise since you didn't know my name before yesterday." Tsuna replied. "Why are you going to school so early anyway?"

"Classroom duty this morning, and you?" Takeshi asked.

"Avoiding my brothers. We got into an argument last night." Tsuna explained, frowning in an upset manner. He didn't like fighting with any of his brothers or sister (Elena).

"You shouldn't avoid them." Takeshi chided.

Tsuna shrugged. "Walk to school with me?"

"Sure." Takeshi said cheerfully and swung an arm over Tsuna's shoulder.

Unbeknown to both boys, a certain hitman had woken up and watched the whole exchange from his bedroom window. His curious eyes were hidden by his fedora. As far as he knew, Tsuna didn't have any friends and he knew everything. It seemed that he had some work to do. He let Tsuna slip out of his radar for too long.

"I was wondering, when do your brothers get up? It is getting pretty late for them to be waking up." Takeshi commented.

"Dino, Giotto, and I don't like getting up in the morning so Reborn usual wakes us. He wakes me in a way to creep me out, but he wakes my nii-sans up in cruel ways like hitting them with a hammer, kicking them out of bed, throwing ice cold water on them, and so much more." Tsuna said, twitching slightly as he thought about.

Takeshi, on the other hand, started to laugh loudly.

Tsuna snorted. "You laugh because you think I am joking."

"Tsuna, there is no tutor like that out there." Takeshi said once he got his laughter under control.

"You say that because you haven't met Reborn." Tsuna retorted.

"I think you've been reading too many mangas." Takeshi quipped.

Tsuna raised a brow. "You say that because you haven't met Reborn."

"Is that going to be your answer to everything?" Takeshi asked, raising a brow in amusement.

Tsuna blinked up at his friend, but allowed a small smirk to grace his features. "You say that because you haven't met Reborn."

"That one doesn't even make sense!" Takeshi half-shouted, but was amused.

"You say that because you haven't met Reborn." Tsuna commented.

"Neither does that!"

"You say th–"

"You say that one more time, I swear I'll," Takeshi paused to think of a threat. He didn't know Tsuna all too well since they only met yesterday, but he knew one thing about the boy. He liked being a quiet observer. "I'll make you the center of attention and make you talk to everyone and be distracted from your observations and dragged you around so people will swarm around you, not giving you any space."

Tsuna shuddered. "I don't like my personal space being disrupted, Takeshi."

The taller boy looked at his arm which was still wrapped around Tsuna's shoulder and removed it. He didn't realize he was making his new friend uncomfortable because his personal space was invaded.

Surprisingly though, Tsuna just glanced up at his friend with a frown. "By strangers, Takeshi. I don't mind family and friends being in it cause I can trust them not to harm me. You're a friend, Takeshi."

A grin broke out on Takeshi's face as he threw his arm back over Tsuna's shoulder.

When they arrived at their class, Tsuna went to his cubby in the back of the classroom while Takeshi went to talk to the only other child there, who was supposed to be his partner in the classroom duties that morning. To Tsuna's displeasure, it was Ohmae, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to cause any problems; that was Ohmae's job as he liked to pick on people, especially Tsuna since he was so quiet.

When Tsuna was finished at his cubby, he turned around to see that Takeshi and Ohmae were getting the classroom set up for the school day. Takeshi was putting all the chairs on the floor while Ohmae set up worksheets on the table in the front of the class for their classmates to grab and take to their desks when they came in. Their teacher was at the early teacher meeting that they had every morning.

"Hey Yamamoto." Ohmae called suddenly when he noticed Tsuna sitting at his desk.

Takeshi stopped in his work and glanced up at his baseball teammate. "What is it?" He asked, giving him a huge smile.

"Why, of all people, did you choose Sawada to come in with?" Ohmae asked, shooting a nasty glare at Tsuna, who sighed and glanced down at his desk. Of course people would sneer when they saw Tsuna with the popular Takeshi. Nobody actually liked him cause he was so quiet and liked to insult him. They loved it even more when he was the worst student in the class. It was lucky Reborn helped him with his grades, but that didn't stop all the teasing he got. Honestly, he was surprised that Takeshi didn't realize they were in the same class from all the teasing and insults he got.

"What do you mean?" Takeshi demanded, eyes narrowed at his friend.

Ohmae snorted. "Don't you realize how useless and dumb he is? All he does is sit there, all quiet. He never does anything! It's like he's an invalid!"

Tsuna sighed, but didn't raise his head. He was used to all the insults, but that didn't mean they didn't hurt him. He was constantly feeling the harsh words stab at his heart, but no one ever noticed. No one ever cared.

"Shut up!"

Tsuna's eyes snapped up to his friend. Takeshi sounded so harsh and angry in those two words. It was something he didn't think was possible for him. "Ta–" He started, but was cut off by Takeshi.

Takeshi was glaring at Ohmae so harshly that the boy was clearly trembling in fear and Tsuna couldn't blame him. When Takeshi wanted to be, he looked incredibly scary. "You do not insult Tsuna ever again, got it? He has never done anything to you and you know nothing about him. He is a much better person then you."

"Takeshi!" Tsuna shouted in dismay, jumping up from his seat. "Please, stop. You don't have to waste your time defending me."

"I'll say he shouldn't. Nothing good ever comes from associating yourself with an idiot like Sawada." Ohmae sneered, despite the fear he was feeling of Takeshi so it either made him really brave or really stupid.

It was lucky for the boy that Tsuna was fast and was able to grab a hold of Takeshi's shirt before he could hit Ohmae. "Takeshi, stop it! It doesn't matter what anyone says about me." Tsuna cried, desperately trying to hold Takeshi back, but to his surprise, Takeshi spun around to face him, which caused him to lose his grip and stumble forward slightly to have Takeshi grab him by the shoulders to keep from falling over. Though, that didn't comfort Tsuna as the taller boy was now glaring down at Tsuna.

"How can you say that?" Takeshi asked so quietly that it came out as a deadly whisper. "Of course it matters, Tsuna. He was insulting you!"

"It happens all the time! Don't concern yourself with it. I'm used to it." Tsuna retorted, giving his friend a smile to show he was alright with it.

Or, that was the plan until Takeshi was staring at him in a mix of anger and disbelief. "It seems that you have already forgotten, Tsuna. I am the King of fake smiles. You actually think I can't see passed that fake smile to know that you are hurting because of this?"

"Takeshi, listen to me! Everyone teases me, okay? Just forget about it and don't cause a scene." Tsuna said exasperated.

Takeshi shook his head and turned to glare at Ohmae, who was staring at them in disbelief. "I can't do that. No one should be teased so badly that they begin to think it's alright for them to be teased and that it will never end."

"Ta–"

"No." Yamamoto cut Tsuna off. He bowed his head slightly so his eyes couldn't be seen anymore. "No. No one is ever to insult Tsuna again, got it, Ohmae? No one."

Ohmae nodded frantically, a bit frightened by Takeshi. The baseball stare was always nice to everyone so to see this strange side of him was very scary.

Tsuna grabbed Takeshi's arm and dragged him to the back of the classroom so he was away from Ohmae. When they were alone in the back, Tsuna glared at Takeshi. "What are you doing? You shouldn't waste your breathe to defend a nobody like me against your friend."

"Ohmae is one of the people who only likes me because of my skill at baseball. That's all I'm good for, according to him." Takeshi retorted.

"You can't know–"

"I overheard him and a few other of my teammates talking about it. I know." Takeshi argued. "He's not a true friend. You are, so I am going to defend you."

Tsuna snorted. "What are you going to do? Go to every single person who teases me and tell them to stop?"

"Why not?" Takeshi asked innocently.

"Your reputation will be ruined because of a nobody." Tsuna answered.

"Tsuna," Takeshi said desperately. "We are friends. I can't just sit back and watch you get hurt. And don't try to say you're used to the teasing and it doesn't hurt. I saw the pained expression you were trying to hide earlier when Ohmae started."

Tsuna bit his bottom lip and glanced at Ohmae, who was glaring angrily at him as if blaming him for this surprise turn of events. "I just don't want to be the reason that your life becomes ruins. I am a no-good invalid that messes up everyone's lives." He said quietly.

Takeshi was shocked to the core when he heard those words. This….this couldn't be the same Tsuna that he met yesterday. Yesterday, Tsuna was the definition of calm, confident, brave and strong. He saved Takeshi from himself. Today, though, this Tsuna standing in front of him was weak, scared, and defenseless. He wasn't even trying to stick up for himself. Instead, he'd rather be concerned about Takeshi's reputation and life.

When Takeshi didn't reply, Tsuna sighed in sadness, but nodded his head in acceptance. He knew this had been coming when he said hanging with him would ruin Takeshi's life. Everyone valued the way their lives go and didn't want to risk it for anything. "I understand. I knew that it was too good to be true. It was a bad idea for us to call each other friends."

The baseball star couldn't believe his ears. Tsuna was dismissing him?

"I'm sorry for bothering you, Takeshi." Tsuna said in a whisper before moving to his seat in the back corner. "We can't be friends it seems."

"N-no….Wait, Tsuna." Takeshi mumbled, reaching out a hand to grab Tsuna, but his hand just wouldn't clench around Tsuna's arm and pull him back. All he could do was stare at Tsuna's back.

Before Takeshi could speak to Tsuna again, their teacher and some of their fellow classmates were coming in. He was surrounded by some of them, all of them speaking loudly and excitedly to him. Out of the corner of his eye, Takeshi noticed that not a single student approached Tsuna or the empty desk next to him as the desks were situated that two were pushed together to make a small table. There were three rows of these desks. Takeshi sat in the middle row in the middle of the classroom. It was no wonder he never saw Tsuna, who was in the very back and next to the window.

As the class was called to order, Takeshi walked over to his desk, but did it slowly while staring at Tsuna. He was hoping Tsuna would turn and catch his eye, but the boy did no such thing. He just kept staring out the window with his head resting in his palm.

Sighing, Takeshi collapsed in his seat, nodding to whatever his seatmate was saying that he wasn't listening to. Instead he was looking over at Tsuna all alone in his corner. No one sat next to him at his little table. Granted, they had an odd number in their class so someone was going to have to sit by themselves, but still, it looked like his classmates were avoiding him. Even those who were sitting in front of Tsuna and to his right seemed to be upset at how close they were to Tsuna. He even noticed a couple of them shooting nasty glares at the boy for doing nothing.

As the day went on, Takeshi felt himself looking over his shoulder at Tsuna more often. Each time he looked though, Tsuna either had his head down to stare stubbornly at his work or he was getting sneers or insults from his fellow classmates. Takeshi felt anger fill up in his stomach when he saw his friend being insulted just because he was different and preferred to sit down and watch others during recess.

What Takeshi didn't realize was that the insults and teasing were worse, way worse today, than usual. Tsuna knew though. He was the one receiving all the insults. There was no way for Takeshi to know it was worse than usual since he never noticed any of this before. There was no way for the oblivious boy to realize that by trying to defend Tsuna, he just made it all worse for the boy. Having a popular boy try to defend him, then to have Tsuna walk away from said boy and his efforts made everything horrible. His classmates were snarling at him and telling him to stay away from Yamamoto so he didn't ruin the boy's life. A stupid no-good like him had no right to talk to Yamamoto. During one of the breaks when their teacher had her back turned, one of the boys even dared to kick Tsuna's chair, causing the boy to yelp in shock and fall to the ground. His elbow slammed into the ground, causing him a bit of pain. He had just climbed to his knees when another boy came and kicked him harshly in the stomach, eliciting a pained groan from Tsuna. He fell forward clutching his stomach, one eye shut in pain while his other stared at the boys in front of him.

The one who started it kneeled down so he was hidden by the desks and grabbed Tsuna roughly by his hair and forced his head up so he was looking at the boy. "Stay away from Yamamoto-kun, got it? You're going to ruin our chances of winning the next game with your rotten luck."

Anger filled up in Tsuna when he heard the boy. These boys didn't care about Yamamoto. They just wanted his skill in baseball. There weren't true friends, but then, what could Tsuna say? He didn't have any friends. He had no place to get involved in Yamamoto's life. He was just a loser with horrible luck that traveled to anyone he tried to befriend or interact with. There was a reason he only talked to those who came to his house.

The boys may have managed to avoid the teacher's eyes, but they weren't hidden from the shocked ones that belonged to Yamamoto. How could he have been so oblivious to all of this? How could he have not seen what his classmates were doing before?

The boy that was holding Tsuna's hair let it go but before moving away, he punched the boy in the face so he could understand the message. "Stay away." He growled before moving with his buddies, leaving the students who saw all this to laugh at the crumpled heap on the ground.

At his desk, Yamamoto stood up to approach the fallen boy, but before he could move Tsuna had climbed back into his seat and, noticing Yamamoto staring at him, glared at the boy to keep him away. Horror stricken about what happened, the baseball star ignored the glare and took a step to the back of the classroom, but got no farther as the teacher suddenly called the class to order to continue the lesson.

Nothing. That was Yamamoto felt. He felt nothing. He wanted to feel anger at his classmates, but couldn't. He wanted to feel sadness, pity, for Tsuna, but couldn't. The only thing in him as the last lesson before lunch started was emptiness. Why did he never notice it before? Was it because all he was good for was baseball? It was an important part of his life, yes, but did he really allow it to blind him so much? Or were it his teammates that only used him to win games? Did the pain he felt from that completely leave him blind to the pain that others were feeling?

Yamamoto looked over his shoulder at the hunched figure in the back. He kept his head down, pencil clenched so tightly in his fist that it was shaking, and was breathing so heavily that Yamamoto could see the rapid rise and fall of his back. How could he be so stupid? He was so lost in his own pain and hopelessness that he didn't even think it was possible for others to feel pain like he did. He thought he was the only one hurting. Why didn't he just open his eyes and see that he wasn't alone?

The moment the bell rang for lunch, Yamamoto was out of his seat, determined to get to Tsuna, but he couldn't even take a single step before he was surrounded by his false friends.

While Yamamoto was trying to get away from his friends, Tsuna had slipped out of his seat and moved to his cubby. He pulled his stuff out, pausing when he looked at the second bento in his bag. How stupid he was? He had actually thought he could be friends with Yamamoto and made him a lunch. Really, he should have known better. There was no way that he could be friends with the most popular boy in the school. Sighing, Tsuna pulled the bento out. Even if they couldn't be friends, he shouldn't let the food go to waste. He glanced over his shoulder to notice that Yamamoto was distracted with his friends.

A few minutes later, just as Yamamoto got away from his friends, Tsuna was out the door with all his belongs and heading home. The black haired boy was desperately looking around the classroom for the boy, but to his displeasure, he couldn't find him. Dejected, he went over to his cubby to see a surprise waiting for him.

It was a bento with a note attached.

A/N: Awww, so sad! In the next few chapters, I want you all to remember that these two are only nine and never had true friends. They are still learning what it means to be friends and will make mistakes, huge mistakes. Just remember that cause I think the next few chapters might be hard for some of you. Or some of you might think I wrote it wrong and that would never happen. Once again, just remember, they're nine and never had real friends. Plus, everyone makes mistakes.

Please Review!