Title: My Little Brothers

Summary: Because his younger brothers are more important than a stupid exam any day. Even if said exam costs Ryohei forty percent of his grades.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano

Pairing: None

Warning: None

Dedicated to: Fi Suki Saki

Note: Temperatures are written in Celcius. I will put the Fahrenheit version in bracket beside, though.

My Little Brothers

Ryohei was surprised when a familiar face entered the exam hall.

Kusakabe Tetsuya bowed politely to the Head Invigilator before speaking softly to him. The invigilator's eyes widened in shock at whatever that Kusakabe had told him before nodding furiously in agreement. Another bow in gratitude and politeness, and Kusakabe was heading towards Ryohei's direction.

The Foundation's Second-in-Command bent down to murmur softly in his ear and Ryohei's own eyes widened. He quickly packed up his stuff, and headed out of the exam hall, ignoring the invigilator's shouts behind him. In one of those rare times, Ryohei sat stiffly in the car beside a quiet Hibari as Kusakabe drove them back to the Vongola estate.

"Vongola Jyuudaime-san and Lambo-san are both down with a high fever. It seems that Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san are sick as well."

Ryohei clenched his fists.

'Wait for me. I'm coming back now…!'

"Saw- Tsuna!"

"R-Ryo…?" Tsuna murmured weakly.

Ryohei slid to a stop beside the Vongola Decimo's bed, taking in the flushed look of the brunette immediately. Tsuna was, as far as Ryohei could tell, still in his suit, though his suit jacket and waistcoat were tossed haphazardly on the ground. What clothes were left on him was soaked through by the sheer amount of sweat he was covered in. A wet cloth was pressed over his forehead and his bed covers was pulled up to his shoulder.

"Why… Why is Ryo here…?" Tsuna asked.

"You're sick. Of course I'm here." Ryohei huffed. He reached for the thermometer and quickly took Tsuna's temperature again. 'Forty degrees (One hundred and four)… A high-grade fever…'

"But… you have an exam…!" Tsuna protested.

"Who cares about a stupid exam when you're sick?" Ryohei growled lowly. The Sun Guardian threw the jacket he was wearing onto an empty chair before rolling up his shirt sleeves above his elbows. Tsuna opened his mouth to speak, but Ryohei cut him off, "Sawada, hush." He ordered.

Tsuna's mouth wisely snapped shut with an audible 'click'.

"Good." Ryohei nodded. "You might feel a little uncomfortable, but work with me here. I'm not letting you stay in those clothes."

Ryohei strode into Tsuna's walk-in closet and grabbed some light clothes before returning to the bedroom. Ryohei pulled off the covers, much to Tsuna's protest, and started stripping the brunette down to his boxers. The Sun Guardian gave Tsuna a wipe down with the basin of cold water sitting on the bedside table before helping Tsuna into the fresh clothing. It took a lot of time and effort, mostly because of Tsuna's lack of strength as well as his protest, but the brunette still helped out obediently. Ryohei laid Tsuna back down and covered him with a new bed cover, reapplying the wet cloth to the brunette's forehead.

"Tsuna, just go back to sleep okay?" Ryohei instructed softly. "I'm going to go che- go down to the medic bay and get some meds for you."

Tsuna glanced up blearily at the Sun Guardian with barely opened eyes and nodded groggily. Ryohei smiled and gently ruffled the fluffy brown locks before leaving the room as quietly as possible.

In the new silence of the room, Tsuna smiled.

Outside, Ryohei halted two maids, instructing one to head down to the medic bay to grab some Tylenol while the other headed for the kitchens with instructions to bring jugs of water. That done, Ryohei crossed the hallway and headed for Lambo's room that was across Tsuna's. Ryohei knocked on the door and, receiving no answer, decided to head straight in.

Lambo looked slightly better than Tsuna did, but still pretty bad by the Sun Guardian's standards.

"Lambo? Lambo…?" Ryohei gently shook the sleeping teen.

Lambo groaned and buried himself deeper into the blankets. "'ive m're minutes, Tsuna-nii…"

"Lambo. It's Ryohei, not Tsuna." Ryohei sighed softly, shaking the teen with a hand while gently prying the blanket off with another.

The youngest Guardian gave another groan as he peeked out from underneath the blanket, "Ryo-nii…?" He mumbled groggily. "Aren't you… supposed to be in school…?"

"I finished early." Ryohei lied. "Come on. I need to check your temperature." As with Tsuna, a thermometer had been left on the bedside table. (He suspected either one of the two other Guaridans were here before him.) Ryohei reached for it and checked Lambo's temperature. Nodding to himself in satisfaction when he noted that it was only a low-grade fever.

"Ryo-nii… Where's… Tsuna-nii…?" Lambo asked softly. "Tsuna-nii's… always here… when I don't feel good…"

"Sorry, Lambo. Sawada's a little busy. Can you make do with Ryo-nii?" Ryohei asked softly.

"Ryo-nii… good…" Lambo mumbled. "Lambo wants… Ryo-nii…"

Ryohei smiled. He went to Lambo's closet and grabbed some light clothes as well, placing them on a chair. He grabbed the basin of water that had long since warmed to room temperature to the attached bathroom and refilled it with cold water and headed back up. Again, he changed the teen's soaked clothes, wiping down the body in the process, though Ryohei had to take a lot more time since Lambo was barely conscious by then. Placing a wet cloth on Lambo's forehead, Ryohei tucked in the already-asleep teen and quietly left the room.

Ryohei didn't notice the small smile that crept onto the teen's face as Lambo snuggled deeper into the bed covers.

The maids met him outside Lambo's room. Ryohei checked over the contents before nodding in approval, instructing the maids to put their respective trays in Tsuna's and Lambo's room.

The Sun Guardian gently wiped off the sweat that had gathered on his forehead with a sleeve and turned to the room to the right of Tsuna's –Gokudera's room. Ryohei wasn't surprised at all to find the Storm Guardian's room empty. He figured that with Tsuna sick, Gokudera would be working twice as hard to cover Tsuna's workload so that the Vongola Boss need not work extra after he recovered. That didn't mean Ryohei wasn't annoyed at the silverette.

With a groan, Ryohei spun around and headed to the room on the other side of Tsuna's and checked. He slapped a hand onto his face and groaned. Empty. The two rooms didn't even show signs of being used since it was made up that morning! Oh, when Ryohei got to those two… The Sun Guardian sighed and turned around, heading back into Tsuna's room.

The brunette had fallen asleep since he left the room. Ryohei crossed the threshold of the room and gently removed the now-drier cold and left it hanging over the basin. He gently shook Tsuna and the brunette woke up almost immediately, having gotten used to being a light sleeper ever since he became Vongola Decimo.

"R-Ryo…?" Tsuna groaned quietly.

"Yep. How are you feeling?" Ryohei inquired.

"A little better after you got those clothes off me… I still don't feel well though…" Tsuna answered.

"That's to be expected. You have a really high fever, Sawada." Ryohei informed. He reached out and helped Tsuna to sit up against the headboard before passing him two white pills and a glass of water. "Tylenol." Ryohei said at Tsuna's inquisitive looks. Tsuna nodded and quickly swallowed the pills, drinking two more glasses of water before lying back down. "Sleep. I'll be back again later."

"Ryo…?" Tsuna called.

"Hmm?"

"…Thank you." Tsuna smiled.

Ryohei shook his head and ruffled Tsuna's already-messy bed hair. "Idiot. There's no need to thank me." Ryohei said. "Now. Sleep."

"Hai, Sasagawa-sensei…!" Tsuna joked, a small grin on his face.

'Lambo, then the two idiots.' Ryohei thought. He left for Lambo's room and repeated the process, again with slightly more difficultly, though with success. 'Now, the two idiots.' Ryohei growled and practically ran down the hallway; the Mafiosi, butlers and maids all stepping out of the way instinctively. A few of them raised their eyebrows though; although it was common to see Ryohei running on the estate, usually the Sun Guardian did it around the mansion, not in the mansion. He ran all the way to Gokudera's office, barely knocking before he ended.

"Lawnhead? What are you doing here?" Gokudera blinked.

Ryohei didn't answer; instead he stepped in front of the Storm Guardian's desk and scrutinized the silverette carefully.

Gokudera wrinkled his nose and leaned back, "I'm fine. Just a small bit of cough." Gokudera said. "Jyuudai–"

"I've been to Sawada's room. Lambo's too." Gokudera's mouth snapped shut. "Sawada's fever is high-grade; Lambo's low-grade. Likely because he has been so stressed lately, so it added to Sawada's illness. I've taken a look at them, gave them some Tylenol too." Ryohei explained. "You, on the other hand…"

"I'm fine." Gokudera insisted. "I went down to the sick bay, had my temperature and everything checked. They cleared me; said I only had a bit of cough. I already took some cough medicine."

"But you're still considered sick." Ryohei frowned. "You shouldn't be working. What if you make your cough worse?"

"I'm really fine." Gokudera sighed. "Didn't you have an exam today?"

"Kusakabe told me." Ryohei relied. "You can't really expect me to continue that exam after that, right?"

"Idiot. That exam cost forty-percent of your grade, doesn't it?" Gokudera asked.

Ryohei gave a half-strained, half-sheepish smile. "Mah. I'll just beg the professor to let me do some extra credit or something." Ryohei shrugged. "Don't work too hard, alright? Sawada hadn't noticed, but once he gets better, he'll probably be wondering where you are."

"Alright, alright." Gokudera sighed, giving an exasperated smile.

Ryohei shook his head and turned around for the door. Gokudera called out to him just when he was under the doorframe.

"Ryohei…!"

Ryohei turned his head to the side.

"…Thanks."

Ryohei chuckled, raising a hand to wave before closing the door behind him.

Ryohei checked on Yamamoto with little effort. Yamamoto had a bit of cold instead, but like Gokudera, insisted that he was fine enough to be working. After making the Rain Guardian promise that he wouldn't work too hard (despite Ryohei knowing deep down that both Gokudera and Yamamoto were liable to work more than usual), Ryohei headed back to Tsuna's room.

By then, the Sun had gone down, and the sky was painted a reddish-pink. Ryohei had gone back to his own room where he had haphazardly tossed his bag and retrieved his medical book before going back to Tsuna's room, so he was now seated in the bedside chair revising while he watched over the feverish brunette. Ryohei kept an eye on Tsuna while he read. Over the next few hours, Ryohei fell into a routine. He would wake Tsuna every second time he had to change the wet cloth and made the brunette swallow at least two to three glasses of water, leaving the room immediately afterwards to do the same with Lambo.

It was a few hours later, when the sky had darkened and the mansion had slowly fallen into a comfortable silence when Ryohei heard a soft knock behind him. He turned and blinked when he saw Gokudera walking in with Yamamoto, the later with a plate of sandwiches in hand. The duo walked over to glance at Tsuna, smiling when they found the brunette looking less flushed than he was in the day. Gokudera promptly turned and whacked Ryohei over the head while Yamamoto helpfully covered Ryohei's mouth with his free hand to muffle the yelp.

"W-What was that for…?" Ryohei hissed, careful not to wake the light-sleeper in bed.

"You idiot." Gokudera replied, his voice just as soft. "For someone who was nagging at us to not overwork, you forgot dinner."

"Here you go. Alfonse got something simple for you." Yamamoto continued, passing over the sandwich.

"Thanks." Ryohei mumbled. Now that he was reminded, he did feel rather hungry. Ryohei softly voiced his gratitude and bit into the sandwich, barely holding in a moan as he finally tasted food since breakfast that morning. "You two. Bed."

Gokudera rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."

Yamamoto chuckled and threw an arm around Gokudera, "Yes, Sasagawa-sensei."

"Not you too…" Ryohei sighed.

Yamamoto grinned knowingly. "Sleep early, sempai."

"Ahh. Good night." Ryohei nodded. "Thanks for the sandwich."

Gokudera grunted while Yamamoto smiled, and the two left. Ryohei listened out for the sounds of two sets of doors opening then closing, before going back to his sandwich, a small smile on his face.

Ryohei stifled another yawn as he headed into the bathroom to change the basin of water again. He barely slept the previous night; although he did nod off into dreamland, his body automatically woke up whenever it was about time to change the wet cloth, so he slept on and off all night. And for Ryohei who had faithfully followed his sleeping schedule in lieu of keeping his body fit, he felt rather messed up internally.

Ryohei shook his head and slapped himself a few times. 'I'm awake. I'm awake. I'm awake. I'm extremely awake!' Ryohei chanted to himself. 'It's okay. I did my morning run. I had breakfast. Master PaoPao even let me have a cup of his most precious coffee. I can do this. I am awake TO THE EXTREME!'

Ryohei nodded to his reflection and grinned widely as headed back out, a fresh basin of water in hand. He paused momentarily and blinked when he found Tsuna sitting up and looking blearily around the room. "Morning!" Ryohei greeted cheerfully as he put down the basin. "Well, it's nearing noon, actually. How are you feeling?"

Tsuna groaned softly. "I'm feeling better…"

"Let's check it, shall we?" Ryohei replied. He grabbed the thermometer and stuck it in Tsuna's mouth. While waiting for the telltale beep, Ryohei retrieved the cloth that had fallen to Tsuna's lap when the brunette sat up and dropped it back into the basin of water. "Let's see… Thirty-eight degrees (one hundred)…"

"…That's still bad, isn't it…?" Tsuna asked weakly.

"It's better than yesterday. You were burning as high as forty degrees yesterday." Ryohei replied. "Another day of rest and you should be up and running by tomorrow."

Tsuna nodded as his eyelids drooped.

"Ah. You need to eat something first." Ryohei said. "…How about you lay down and rest while I get one of the maids to grab something from the kitchen?"

Tsuna nodded again and shuffled under the bed covers, his eyes closing once more. Ryohei replaced the cold cloth and, after making sure Tsuna was well-covered, headed out. He stopped one of the maids and instructed her to grab something for the Vongola Decimo, reminding her to inform the head chef, Alfonse, that Tsuna still had a fever. The maid bowed and scurried off. Ryohei turned, about to reenter the room when he was called out to.

Ryohei turned to that direction and blinked. "P-Professor?"

"You know him, Sun?" The accompanying butler asked.

"Yeah. Thanks for bringing him over, Ian." Ryohei nodded. Ian bowed and quickly left. Ryohei turned to his Professor and gave a small bow in greeting. "What brings you here, Professor? I, uhh, didn't think you'll actually come to the Vongola estate…"

The Professor smiled. "It's a matter serious enough to warrant a visit, even if it's to the famous Vongola estate." The Professor gave him a small smile. "Ryohei, there is a make-up for the exam that you left halfway yesterday. It's later, at four pm, the same lecture hall you did your exam in."

Ryohei frowned. "…I'm sorry, Professor. I can't go."

"Has Vongola Decimo yet to recover?" The Professor asked.

"Yeah… His fever was quite high. Sa– Vongola Decimo was quite stressed lately. I think it was that and whatever that's been going around the estate lately." Ryohei explained. "Also, I have another younger brother who also had a fever. I… I just can't leave, Professor."

"…This exam cost you forty-percent of your grades, Ryohei. If you forfeit this forty-percent, I don't see how you can make it. Your grades are excellent, but even if you ace the rest, that still only makes sixty-percent." The Professor said.

"I know…" Ryohei nodded. "Is it possible to make it up some other way?"

"I'm sorry, Ryohei…" The Professor shook his head.

"…I… I did about half the paper yesterday. Could you just take that as my paper and grade that? We get to leave whenever we finish anyway." Ryohei said.

"I could, but…"

"That's okay. I'll take whatever grade I get." Ryohei said firmly. "If… If I still don't make it, then… I guess I…"

"Ryohei…" The Professor murmured. "Vongola Decimo is that important to you? I believe you told me before you're studying medicine for your family."

Ryohei nodded. "Vongola Decimo is like my younger brother. No… He is my younger brother. And he is sick. I have to take care of him. I won't leave him until he can run about again." He said determinedly.

The Professor smiled, "Vongola Decimo is very lucky to have an older brother like you."

"Really?" Ryohei gave a wry smile. "Because I think I'm the lucky one to have a younger brother like him."

The Professor seemed surprised. Ryohei merely smiled.

"Sun?"

"Oh, Silvia." Ryohei greeted. "Is that…?"

"Decimo's food, yes. Alfonse made soup for him." Silvia answered.

"Perfect." Ryohei grinned, taking over the tray. "Sorry, Professor. I need to feed him now. Silvia, please show the Professor the way out. Thak you for specially visiting, Professor."

The Professor smiled as he watched Ryohei disappear into the door behind him. "'Lucky to have a younger brother like him', huh… That does sound a lot like you, Ryohei."

"Good morning, Jyuudaime." Gokudera greeted automatically when Tsuna entered the dining room the next morning.

It had been two days, and Tsuna had made a complete recovery. His fever finally broke the night before and Ryohei declared him completely fit this morning. The Sun Guardian informed him that Lambo's fever had broken in the afternoon and by dinnertime, the Lightning Guardian was already bouncing around, irritating the hell out of the Storm Guardian (who was secretly very glad that the teen recovered, but would never admit it). The morning check-up had took some time, so Tsuna was the last to enter the dining room along with Ryohei, who did the check-up.

Tsuna smiled when he saw Gokudera, Yamamoto, Lambo and Chrome all there. It wasn't surprising to find Hibari missing, so it didn't bother him a lot. The Vongola Decimo couldn't help but burst out laughing when Gokudera's words finally sank in and the Storm Guardian choked on his morning coffee. "J-Jyuudaime?!"

"Yes, good morning to all of you too." Tsuna smiled brightly.

"You look refreshed, Tsuna." Yamamoto grinned.

"What about me! I was sick too!" Lambo pouted.

"Lambo-chan looks really good this morning too." Chrome said softly. "Boss, congratulations for recovering."

Tsuna blushed as he sat down at the head of the table. "We should really thank onii-san. He's the one who took care of us, ne, Lambo?"

Lambo nodded, "Yep. Ryo-nii is the best!"

"Mah. I'm just extremely glad all of you have recovered!" Ryohei grinned.

"Dame-Tsuna. You missed two days of work." Reborn spoke up with an evil grin. "I'll make sure you make up for all of those."

"Hiiieeee!" Tsuna shrieked. "Give me a break! I just recovered!"

"Sawada?" Ryohei called out as he entered Tsuna's office.

The brunette in question glanced up from his paperwork immediately and smiled, gesturing for the Sun Guardian to come in. "Ryo, here." Tsuna called, extending a folder in front of him.

"A mission?" Ryohei asked.

Tsuna merely smiled. Ryohei arched an eyebrow and glanced at the file. It was unusually thin for a mission file. Those were normally about a dozen pages thick minimally, consisting of the mission outline, details as well as any other information gathered by the Mist division beforehand. The file he had in his hand was unnaturally thin, only about a sheet or two within. Ryohei glanced over at Tsuna again, who was still smiling that mysterious smile. Ryohei took in a deep breath… and flipped the file open.

Mission #07273715E01

Ryohei blinked. The first four numbers were just serial numbers, the next four were coordinates, which Ryohei recognized to be the city where the Vongola estate was located in. The letter represented the mission rank, with E being the easiest and S being the hardest. The next two numbers gave the time allocated to finish the mission –in this case, one day. Ryohei frowned. What mission was so easy he could finish in one day? Tsuna still wasn't saying anything, so the Sun Guardian continued.

Assignment: 10th Vongola Sun Guardian, Sasagawa Ryohei

Mission Outline: Complete re-examination

Location: University of Catania, BI-303

Date Start: 27 February XXXX

Date End: 27 February XXXX

Assigner: Vongola Decimo, Sawada Tsunayoshi

Assigner Signature: S.T.

"Wha… What…?" Ryohei gasped. "27 February… That's tomorrow… Is… Is this…?"

"I've talked to the University. I managed to convince them to allow you to do a make-up exam. They will redesign a brand new test for you, and you will take it tomorrow." Tsuna said.

"But… How… I mean… You…" Ryohei mouth twitched.

"I, uhh… Might have abused the Vongola Decimo name a bit…" Tsuna said sheepishly.

"Sawada…" Ryohei frowned.

"I know. I shouldn't do it. I don't think you wanted me to do it either." Tsuna mumbled.

"Then why did you?" Ryohei asked.

"Because…! You left in the middle of an important exam for me and Lambo! You worked so hard on studying and… And all that was going to waste…!" Tsuna shouted. "It wasn't fair to you…" Tsuna frowned. "It's okay… If you don't want to do, I'll terminate the–"

"–I'll go." Ryohei interrupted.

"Ehh?" Tsuna blinked.

"I'll go." Ryohei repeated.

Tsuna blinked again. Ryohei thought about repeating once more when Tsuna smiled once more. "Good luck, onii-san."

"Heh. I don't need lucky. I am extremely confident of acing this!" Ryohei grinned.

Tsuna chuckle. He got up and circled around his desk to hug Ryohei tightly. "Suki dayo, onii-san."

Ryohei smiled. "I love you too, otouto."

A/N: In my other fic, 6 Times the Guardians Came Back Injured, there was a part near the end of Ryohei's chapter where Tsuna mentioned about an incident where Ryohei left in the middle of an exam because Tsuna and Lambo fell sick. In a review, Fi Suki Saki mentioned that she would like to see a fic about it. So, Fi Suki Saki, this fic is dedicated to you! I hope you liked it!

It turned out to focus more on Tsuna than Lambo though. Apparently, I realized that while I can write about injures, I'm not very good at illnesses. Although in my defense, Tsuna and Lambo both had fevers, so it was kinda redundant of me if I keep repeating the same thing. Ahh well.

Thank you for reading again as always! Ciao Ciao~