Summary: Tsuna was four years old when he first met the boy who lived in the mirrors.

SkyGem: Hey all! So, this fic, for once, actually wasn't prompted by my lovely Em, although she did help be get my creative juices flowing, so huge props to her! Love her lots! And as for this fic, it was actually inspired quite a bit by a Sherlock fanfic that I seem to have lost track of. If any of y'all have read it, please let me know where I can find it again, yeah? It's beautiful. Anyways, that's all for now! Hope you enjoy!

Tsuna was four the first time they saw each other.

Sitting on the counter in the bathroom, the boy had been painstakingly cleaning out a scrape on one of his arms when he looked up into the mirror, and almost shrieked when he saw two people in the mirror instead of just one.

One of them was just his reflection, looking back with wide, horrified eyes, jaw hanging open.

But the other was a little boy about the same age as him, staring with confused green eyes and murmuring soundlessly to himself, as if he were trying to come up with an explanation.

He was dressed in a very nice but uncomfortable-looking black suit, and had silvery hair, like liquid moonlight spilling to his shoulders.

When he noticed Tsuna staring, he lifted an enquiring eyebrow, sending meaningful looks at the cuts and scrapes all over his arms and face.

Tsuna just shrugged, murmuring a quite, "I fell."

The other boy looked confused, leaning forward and turning an ear towards the mirror.

"I fell!" repeated Tsuna in a louder voice, leaning forward so that the boy could hear.

And still, the other boy didn't seem to be able to hear him, because he just continued looking confused.

Suddenly, the boy's head turned to the side, as if he had heard somebody calling to him, and after a moment, he turned to look back at Tsuna, an apologetic smile on his face.

And with a wave goodbye, he disappeared out of the frame, and Tsuna was once again left alone with his reflection in the mirror.

After that incident, Tsuna kept a close eye on any and all mirrors he passed, hoping to see the boy again.

But as the days passed into months and then into years, and he still didn't see the boy, he slowly became convinced that he had made the whole thing up.

After all, how could there be a boy in a mirror?

Then one day, at age seven, Tsuna was passing the hallway mirror, when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Turning to look, the brunet was surprised to find a rather familiar face staring back at him through narrowed eyes.

Tsuna's jaw dropped open, but not because he had finally gotten to see the boy who lived in the mirrors again, but rather because of the heavy bruising and cuts on the other boy's face. The suit he had been wearing last time had been exchanged for a ratty old t-shirt, and he seemed to be looking rather...gaunt.

"Are you okay?" asked Tsuna, worried, his hands fluttering uselessly in front of him, and the other boy smiled slightly, despite still seeming unable to hear him.

The boy seemed to look around himself for a second, as if searching, and even disappeared from the screen for a while before returning only a few seconds later with a marker in hand.

Putting the tip to the glass, the other boy quickly drew a crude version of the "restroom" symbol, and it didn't take Tsuna long to understand what the other boy meant.

He hesitated a moment, worrying that he would lose the boy in the mirror again.

But the boy had already left as well, after erasing what he'd drawn, and Tsuna followed suit, grabbing a marker from his desk as he hurried to the bathroom, to the mirror where he'd first seen the boy.

When Tsuna got there, he waited in excitement for his new friend to come back. There was so much he wanted to ask.

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But the boy didn't show up again.

And Tsuna got a sinking feeling as he realized that he'd lost his mirror friend again.

After that second encounter, Tsuna despaired at the thought that he might have to wait another three years to see his friend again.

The brunet was already dying of curiosity and, now, concern as well.

He didn't think he could wait another three years.

As it turned out, he didn't have to.

The next time Tsuna saw the boy from the mirrors, it was just over a year after their second encounter, and the boy looked much more healthy than he had last time.

All the bruises and cuts were gone (well, of course they were. It had been a year!), and the disturbingly empty expression in the other boy's eyes was gone.

His gaunt face seemed to have gained a little bit more baby fat, making him look much more healthy, and Tsuna couldn't help but smile.

This time, the other boy was on Tsuna's television screen (which was off).

The boy smiled a beaming smile, and pulled out a marker he already seemed to have prepared.

In slightly awkwardly shaped characters, he wrote on the screen, "Japanese?"

Tsuna had to admit he was impressed. In order for him to see them properly, the other boy must have written the word backwards on his side of the screen/mirror/whatever he was looking at.

Tsuna, not wanting to start drawing on his television screen, nodded in answer.

The boy smiled again, before picking up a cloth and erasing his previous question.

"Italian," he wrote this time, pointing to himself. And then, after a few moments of deliberation, he added, "...mostly."

Tsuna's confusion must've shown, because the other boy erased what he had written, and wrote, "Mother, half-Japanese."

Tsuna's eyes widened in wonder, but before he could react in any other way, the boy turned his head to the side, as if someone were calling him, just like the first time they had met.

The boy turned to smile apologetically at Tsuna, who shooed the other kid off non-chalantly, to show that he didn't mind.

The other kid smiled brightly, and waved Tsuna goodbye.

Tsuna returned the wave.

The visits did seem to be getting closer together, and Tsuna hoped that this meant he might be seeing his tentative friend again soon.

He couldn't wait.

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter, folks! Did you enjoy it? Find it interesting? Please drop a review and let me know what you thought, yeah? I promise that this fic isn't going to become another of my long dormant other multi-chaps. This is more similar to "Time to Train" actually, in that it will be rather short, and will probably be finished in the next week or two. I haven't decided how many chapters yet though. Anyways, I'll update this tomorrow, so stay tuned, yeah? Ciao!

P.S. It's a big milestone for me today! 10 whole days I've updated in a row now! Next milestone is one month! Think I can do it?

P.P.S. I don't really like this title. Anyone got any ideas for what I could change it to?