Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or any of the characters.

Chapter 6: Standing in the Rain

Tsuyoshi knocked gently on the door to his son's room. "Takeshi, dinner's ready."

"Thanks dad, but I'm really not hungry."

Tsuyoshi sighed. "You can't starve yourself Takeshi. You haven't eaten in days."

"…"

"I'm leaving the food outside your door." He said, setting a plate of sushi outside the room.

"Okay. Thanks."

Takeshi's father sighed and went back downstairs to wash dishes. "I'll give him one more day. After that I'll stuff the food down his throat."

~~~~~Where Tsuna is~~~~~

"Jack!" Tsuna yelled at the empty sky.

The tired response of, "What the crap do you want?" is what Tsuna got in return. The air in front of the brunette rippled and Jack appeared with a scowl on his face.

"I-I want to visit my rain guardian," Tsuna replied. Though he was slightly intimidated by the scowl, having to deal with Gokudera and the Varia on a regular basis left him mostly immune to its effects.

"Fine," Jack said, snapping his fingers. The air blurred again and suddenly Tsuna was standing in front of Yamamoto's sushi shop. "Feel free not to call again," Jack growled, disappearing into thin air. Tsuna sighed, scratched his head and entered the shop.

~~~~~The Sushi Shop~~~~~

When he entered, Tsuna could see the shop was full of customers, but Yamamoto was not waiting tables like usual. 'Now where could he be?' Tsuna wondered. He began walking around, in the process managing to break 3 plates, 2 cups and almost knocked over a customer. "Hiiiieee! I'm sorry!" Tsuna yelled before realizing the man couldn't hear him. He sighed. 'I seem to be doing that a lot lately,' he thought as he continued to search for Yamamoto.

~~~~~Yamamoto's room~~~~~

Yamamoto sat on the edge of his bed holding a baseball with an out of place expression of concentration on his face. 'Could I have saved him?' he wondered as he tossed the ball up into the air and caught it.

~~~~~Flashback~~~~~

Yamamoto had been joking with Gokudera who seemed to get louder and more convinced that dynamite was necessary with every word Yamamoto spoke. Yamamoto wasn't stupid, he knew it was dynamite, he just pretended it was a game. It was just a coping mechanism so he wouldn't freak out over the insane turn his life had taken since he met Tsuna. Of course, he would never resent Tsuna for it, as the brunette too had been unwillingly forced into the mafia.

That day, they were crossing the street when suddenly the squeal of tires was heard. Yamamoto's extremely sharpened instincts had allowed him to jump backwards quickly, but he watched in horror as Gokudera seemed frozen to the spot. The huge car continued barreling down the road and would collide with Gokudera if he didn't move RIGHT NOW.

He was about to go after the bomber, when suddenly Gokudera was shoved out of the path of the car by Tsuna. There was a huge sickening crunch. After that, paramedics came and the other guardians visited the hospital. It was too late. Later, they had a funeral service after which all the guardians had gone their separate ways. Yamamoto had locked himself in his room, refusing to leave, ever since.

~~~~~Flashback over~~~~~

'I ran away. Like a coward. I let him die,' Yamamoto thought as he caught the baseball for the umpteenth time. 'I just don't know what to do anymore.'

Tsuna finally arrived at Yamamoto's room, breathing heavily as he had run all over the store looking for him. He was stunned to see his rain guardian without his trademark smile and carefree demeanor. He began searching vigorously around the room to try and find something that would cheer Yamamoto up, but to no avail.

Yamamoto suddenly stood up and chucked the baseball towards the open window. 'Not like I'll need this anymore,' he thought, watching the thing that had once brought him joy sail through empty space. 'Nothing seems to bring me happiness anymore.'

"Hiiiieee!" Tsuna screamed as the ball streaked right towards his face. With the reflexes gained only from having Reborn shoot at him every day of his life, he managed to catch the ball before it hit his chest. Slightly stunned by the guardian's sudden action, he almost dropped the ball, but managed to keep a grip on it and let out a sigh of relief.

This was short lived as he heard an exclamation of, "What-?!" in front of him. Tsuna looked up to see Yamamoto gazing in shock at him or, more specifically, at the apparently magical floating baseball.

Tsuna sweatdropped. 'So much for being subtle… I would make the worst assassin…' Tsuna groaned at the thought of what Reborn would say about his nonexistent stealth. He then gazed back to his friend. "I want you to be happy like you used to be… This isn't you." He covered the baseball with his dying will flames and tossed it back to Yamamoto who seemed to catch it robotically, mouth still wide open.

As soon as Yamamoto caught the ball, he felt a pleasant sensation creep over him, almost as if the car accident had never happened. The flames were the same color of Tsuna's, he observed in wonder.

"So is this your answer, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked, holding up the baseball. The flames died out but resolve remained in his eyes. Yamamoto smiled his first genuine smile since the night of the accident. "Okay!" He said cheerfully, his voice breaking a little. He wiped some stray tears from his eyes. "I'll never let go of anything important to me again!" Yamamoto pocketed the baseball and ran out of his room and down the steps to the store.

Tsuna smiled as he watched the rain guardian filled with new hope. He could faintly hear Yamamoto talking excitedly to his father. 'That's all I can do here… I wonder what happened to the kids…'

A/N: Annnnnddddd done! *dodges bricks* So it's been a while... Yeah, I know, I suck. *sigh* Things have been pretty hectic with the holidays and all and my finals are coming up, so I have no idea when I'll be able to update next... Sorry to everyone who reads this! I'll try and keep my chapter a week target, but that probably won't work out very well... Hopefully by January my schedule won't be so insane...

The next guardian is Lambo! That should be interesting...

Anyways, Please Review!