Disclaimer: I don't own KHR. Wish I did. But I don't, so...

"You have twenty minutes to choose someone and explain why you chose that person," the prim and proper teacher sniffed, straightening his tie as he looked over the students sitting impatiently at their desks. "You may begin."

Tsuna stared down at his blank paper, pencil held loosely in his still hand. Blinking down at the lined paper, Tsuna struggled to think of something, anything to write down before the bell rung to signal the end of class. All Tsuna could think about was the teacher's words as they repeated themselves in his mind over and over again.

Who is the person you see as a hero or role model?

All around him, students scribbled down their answers, and Tsuna couldn't help but be carried away by the mind numbing blankness as he stared down at his paper, free of any words. In his head, he knew he should just choose someone, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn't know.

Tsuna had no clue who he saw as his hero or role model. Certainly not his father, who had barely been around for most of his life. And he couldn't choose someone like Primo, since the first Vongola boss was technically someone Tsuna had never met and hadn't known as anything but a Will. And Reborn. There was no way in hell he was choosing the violent hitman as a role model.

Well, he could always choose his mother, but now that Tsuna was so involved in the mafia, he felt that Nana was more of his support rather than his role model, same with Kyoko and Haru. The girls were great, but not people he really saw as heroes.

And his friends were a no go. They were crazy and violent, and he was usually the one who kept them in line—not that he did such a great job at that, but Tsuna always tried his best. Anyways, they weren't exactly the people that he could look up to and hope to someday be like.

So who did that leave?

No one. That left no one.

Twenty minutes came and passed and Tsuna sighed in defeat as the bell rang to signal the end of the school day. He could go home now, but at what cost? He had written nothing but his name on his paper in the end, and Tsuna just knew this wasn't going to turn out well for him.

"Hand me your assignment before you leave," Mr. Sniffles called out, sniffing loudly to accentuate his command. "This will be your ticket home."

Chairs scraped the linoleum floor as students took their leave. Tsuna just watched despairingly as his classmates filed out the door of the classroom, eventually just leaving Tsuna alone with Yamamoto, Gokudera, and a few other stragglers.

Yamamoto walked over to Tsuna's desk, paper in hand and smile plastered brightly on his face. Next to him, scowling at the tall baseball player, was Gokudera. When his two friends stopped by his desk, Gokudera's scowl morphed into the jovial smile that always seemed to be on the bomber's face whenever he was talking to Tsuna.

"Tenth!" Gokudera called out.

Yamamoto waved cheerfully. "Hey, Tsuna!"

Tsuna tried for a smile, but he was pretty sure it fell pretty flat, judging by his friends concerned looks. "Hey, guys."

"Tenth? Are you feeling alright?" Gokudera asked, placing a hesitant hand on Tsuna's forehead. He frowned slightly as he compared his own temperature. "It doesn't feel like you have a temperature. You're not feeling sick, are you?"

Tsuna shook his head, managing a small smile this time. "I'm fine, Gokudera-kun. Just a little stressed."

Gokudera's frown deepened, but before he could say anything, Yamamoto, the ever oblivious baseball player, laughed softly. "You work too hard, Tsuna. Maybe we should have a picnic or do something fun to get you to relax."

Gokudera gave Yamamoto a grudging smile. He turned to Tsuna, his smile morphing into something more like a grin. "As much as I hate to admit it, Tenth, maybe the baseball freak is right. You work too hard and don't get enough reconciliation!"

Tsuna almost snorted. He didn't actually work that hard, and his school grades showed it. The only reason he was stressed all of the time was because he had to deal with Reborn's and his family's shenanigans all the time, and he always found himself neck deep in some kind of trouble. That was why he was usually stressed.

Unfortunately, as horrible as it was to admit it, that wasn't the case. Right now, it actually was school that was the cause of his anxiety.

"Sawada!" Mr. Sniffles snapped. "Are you done yet?"

Tsuna gulped and looked down at his blank piece of paper, Gokudera and Yamamoto following his gaze. Wearily, Tsuna glanced up at the teacher and said, "Almost, sir. I'm almost done."

The teacher sniffed, his eyes hardening. "Hurry it up. You are the last one, and I don't want to be here all night."

Tsuna sighed, muttering to himself. "Right, of course you don't."

Yamamoto sat down in the desk next to his while Gokudera sat backwards in the desk just in front, both wearing concerned expressions.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto whispered. "You haven't even started yet."

Tsuna sighed, rubbing his temple with two fingers. "I know, but I don't know who to choose." Tsuna looked up at his two best friends, suddenly curious. "Who did you guys pick?"

Gokudera sat up a little straighter, his lips lifting up in a proud smirk. "I chose the Tenth, of course!" he exclaimed. "You saved my life and took me in when no one wanted me. I will follow you forever and be your right hand man."

Coughing slightly to try and stifle his laughter, Tsuna smiled. With the way Gokudera followed him around like a lost puppy, he guessed he should have assumed that that would happen.

"I wrote about my dad," Yamamoto said cheerfully. "He's really great and ever since he started teaching me the Shigure Soen Ryu, we've been a lot closer. He's amazing."

Tsuna smiled at Yamamoto, glad to see the happy grin on the baseball player's face. But then his plight came rushing back to him, and he sighed. He needed to just pick someone and get this over with. But who could he possibly pick?

"Who else, Dame-Tsuna?" a voice called out, and Tsuna couldn't help but shiver violently. He knew that voice. And he knew, if he wanted to live, he probably shouldn't start running. Running could be seen as a sign of weakness.

"Reborn," Tsuna said, his lips trembling ever so slightly. Why did he have to come now? He was going to kill Tsuna for not finishing his paper before school got out, just like usual. The hitman, appearing from absolutely the last place Tsuna would have expected, jumped out of Tsuna's school bag and jumped onto the desk, blank paper underfoot.

Tsuna risked a glance at the teacher, who looked positively bored out of his mind as he scratched at papers with a red grading pen. How he had not noticed what was happening right under his very nose, Tsuna didn't know. But he was grateful. He didn't need the teacher to call him out for having people around him when he was supposed to be finishing his assignment.

"Tsuna," Reborn said, calling the brunet's attention to him. "Your assignment isn't finished and you have to train with Ryohei today. If you don't get it done and miss the training, then I will personally see to it that your training doubles."

Sighing, Tsuna just let his shoulders slump. In his depressed state he barely even recognized that Reborn had forced him into another training session where he would just end up losing and getting beat up by the energetic Sasagawa.

"I don't know who I should pick," Tsuna said.

Reborn was silent for a moment before he decided to hit Tsuna over the head with a mallet. Tsuna yelled out in pain as the mallet him dead on, smashing his face into the desk. Tsuna rubbed at his sore cheek and shot Reborn a scathing look.

"And what was that for?" he asked coldly, not at all in the mood to be harassed by the Arcobaleno.

"For not choosing the obvious answer," Reborn said casually. "Who else, Dame-Tsuna? Who else makes you smile, makes you laugh? Gives you hope and happiness? Who fights for you when you can't fight for yourself? And even when you can?"

Tsuna gaped at Reborn, unsettled by the infant's sudden change in attitude. The hitman seemed so serious and grave, and Tsuna suddenly got the very distinct feeling that Reborn was staring into his very soul. The hitman was unearthing the thoughts and feeling Tsuna hadn't even been aware had been there.

Tsuna glanced back down at his paper, feeling a semblance of strength course through him. Looking up, his eyes full of understanding and love, Tsuna told Reborn, "My family. My friends and my family. Together, they are all my heroes."

Reborn gave him a proud smile. "Good, Tsuna. Now get to work. If you still want to be able to be alive by tomorrow, you might want to get started. I meant what I said when I told you I would schedule a training session twice as long. And then you will have to make up for any and all work that you miss. If you don't, we do it again."

Tsuna groaned, but it was half-hearted. He was too excited about what he had discovered. He had found what he was going to write about. Putting pencil to paper, Tsuna started to write, weaving a tale about a lonely boy who had found the strangest people to love him.

That was probably the cheesiest, lightest story I have ever written. Wow. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Well, tell me what you guys thought by reviewing. It'd make me the happiest person on the planet. Thanks for reading!