A.N.: First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence - school has completely taken over more than I thought it would, and I've had almost no spare time. Secondly, this chapter is short. REALLY short. When time frees up, I'm going to go back and make a longer, second ending, but for now, here is the last chapter of CBM (or CBtM whatever). Thank you to everyone who has/will review, it means a lot to me. This piece was extremely hard, as I was writing from the perspective of someone I can't really relate to. I should be working/posting chapters on my other unfinished works soon, as well as opening up another door to another fandom (hint: Criminal Minds). Again, thank you for reading, I apologize again for the length of this chapter, and please, leave a review! Positive and negative feedback are accepted. I know I'm a young writer and that I have a lot of room for improvement.

~theultimatenerdgurl

P.S. Another thing I forgot to mention - thank you to everyone who has followed/Favorited this! Your support means a lot to me! Thank you all so much!

"Go get Tenth, he's coming out now. I'll stay with the car."

Those were the last words I ever heard him say before he disappeared. It was bad enough he was already weakened by his injury. Now, the man I loved and respected had vanished, stolen away from me when I turned away for just a minute. No, Gokudera wasn't dead; at least, I didn't think he was dead. Tsuna was livid – he was barely controlling his anger, something I had never witnessed before. He never got this angry, ever! Of course, we were all worried, but what could we do? We had no information, no insights, no leads… Gokudera and his kidnappers had been pulled out of sight from right under our noses.

I don't worry often; I'm an easy-going kind of guy. But this? Oh yeah, I was just a little worried about my friend – well, maybe more than a friend now, which is probably why I'm so worried. 'Dera and I had always looked out for each other, no matter what, and I felt awful. I had failed him, twice. First, watching him get injured, and now this. To say I was in a depressional low was an understatement. This whole thing was my fault, I was sure of it.

It's been six months, and Tsuna's ordered me back to Japan, but I don't want to go. There's still been no sign of Gokudera, and the family that assaulted us, the Greco, have "repented" of their sins and pledged themselves to our cause. I know they're guilty, and Tsuna does too, but there's nothing we can do without having solid proof, which doesn't seem to exist, anywhere.

I take one last look around the room Gokudera and I had shared at Bovino HQ and rest a hand on the doorknob before I close the door, struggling to hold myself together. "Come back to me," I whisper, before I shut the door. "Come back to me…"