Disclaimer: The Reborn manga or anime series does not belong to me

Ryohei Sasagawa

He had known from the moment he had met her that she was special; different from other girls. She wasn't classically beautiful or graceful. In fact she was often tripping over her own two feet, and usually had a collection of bruises from falling down stairs. She isn't weak; she has taken down some extremely strong opponents, but there is that fragility around her that just screams protect me.

They made fun of her constantly; called her useless and laughed at everything she did. But she still tried her hardest to improve. He wasn't sure exactly when she had decided to change but change she did. Most people credited the transformation to her tutor, Reborn (or to him Elder PaoPao) and ignored the work that Tsuna herself had put into it, but he didn't. He saw how hard she pushed herself to improve, how far she stretched herself and even though she complained she completed every task that was asked for her. It inspired him and he resolved to follow her example.

Now he wasn't the most observant of the guardians, as the octopus head was constantly pointing out, but he was when he came to his boss. He knew whenever she bit her lip that she was thinking extremely hard about something very important. He noticed that her eyes would become as sharp as steel if someone threatened her family. He saw that she would tap her fingers on her elbow if she was nervous. All the little things that everyone else seemed to miss he would see.

It is with a sinking heart that he realises that he is one of the weakest of the guardians, except for the cow, but that is washed away quickly with the will to become stronger, to protect her. Which is why he always throws himself into his training with extreme passion. Even if his knuckles are bleeding or scarred with cuts he carries on, determined to get better. For he is the Sun: destroying the misfortune that attacks the family with his own body, he is the sun that brightly shines upon an area. Family has always been important to him, and sure even he can realises that Tsuna's family is far from normal it is still his family.

Now he is not someone who angers easily. In fact it is very hard to get him annoyed, apart from Gokudera who just gets under his skin. Yet whenever he sees one of the guardians getting close to her he can't help but feel a flare of annoyance, a flash of jealousy mixed with longing that frankly scared the hell out of him. He blames Yamamoto for it. The rain guardian kept putting his arm around her and left it there. At first it hadn't bothered him at all but as he got to know her better he found himself feeling resentment towards the smiling swordsman. Then he had started noticing how the others acted around her.

Gokudera treats her like a princess and is always smiling around her, now he isn't sure if she's just being nice but when she smiles back he wants to punch the storm guardian. Hard.

Mukuro seems to have no problem getting up close and personal. Whenever he's around she always gets flustered and seems slightly frantic. Even though he wants to take over her mind she allows him near. He seemed to have no concept of personal space and she didn't know how to handle him but she treated him like he was special. Heck she treated all of them like they were special. It was one of the reasons they gravitated towards her.

Hibari had a certain amount of respect for her. Usually he only threatened the two herbivores that hung around her. He himself had found out how tough the cloud guardian was and he had come to school the next day in a wheelchair. Tsuna was nervous around him but still cared for him a great deal. Once when Hibari had escorted her to one of the school dances (Yamamoto and Gokudera had mysteriously come down with a broken leg) he had become worried that she was in love, or at least had a crush on the prefect. That night he had trained himself so hard that he couldn't lift his arms the next day.

Even Lambo got attention, she fussed over him like a mother hen and the kid took full advantage of that. The cow was constantly showered with hugs. It was the first time he recalled being jealous of a five year old.

But him, him she kept at arms length. As if she felt awkward talking to her friends brother. She smiled at him and encouraged him but he hardly saw her outside of school and mafia business. At first he had respected that boundary, content to just watch her and admire from the sidelines. But as time went on he grew frustrated by the distance and tried to change it.

So he came over to her house more often. He met her on her way to school, which the octopus head hated, and came over to do homework, even though he was in the year above. Slowly she began to relax more around him. His shouts no longer caused her to jump back and look at him like he was crazy. She didn't mind being alone with him (not that it would be too long before Yamamoto and Gokudera found them) and opened up to him more.

He learnt about her life; how her father had left when she was young, how her mother's clueless behaviour annoyed her at times, how frightened she was if the future and what her life was like before Reborn came into it. His respect and admiration for her grows and the feeling in his chest seems to get bigger but he can't figure out what it is.

He can remember so clearly the first time she called him by name. It was after the ring battle and he had gone to visit her.

Flash back

"Hello Sawada-chan I hope that you are feeling EXTREMELY better." he had said. She smiled and her fingers fiddled with the bandages on her hand.

"I am thank you very much. Are you feeling OK?" There had been concern I her eyes and worry. He had put on a bright smile and given her a thumbs up.

"Don't worry about me Sawada-chan. It was an EXTREME battle but I'm fully healed." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, I was really worried about you Ryohei-san." He had frozen, so had she. Then she had blushed red (which made her look quite cute in his opinion) and waved her hands about.

"I-I-I'm so sorry for that. It was an accident, a-a slip of the tongue. I-"

"It's alright." She pauses and looks at him. "I don't mind. We're friends right so I don't mind." She blinks and smiles slightly a blush still on her cheeks. "But I have one condition. I get to call you Tsuna-chan." The blush returns full force but she nodded.

End

He can't help but feel pleased whenever she says her name. That funny feeling in his chest had started to grow. He wanted to be around her more and felt a strange fluttering whenever she was around. Kyoko teases him about it but he ignores about "Big brothers first crush".

He knows he loves her after they return from the future. He finds her alone in the park staring up at the sky a sad look on her face. He sits down next to her and she turns to smile at him.

"Glad to be back Ryohei-kun?"

"Extremely. I'm so relieved that Kyoko is safe." She nods and turns her gaze back to the sky.

"It was so scary. That world. So many people got h-hurt." On the last word he voice breaks and he sees a tear roll down her cheek. It hits him harder than any punch. One tear is followed by another and soon she is sobbing. It is such a terrible sight, something that should not happen. He has to stop it and slowly he wraps his arms around her in a hug. He is shocked when her deceptively strong arms circle his waist and she cries into his shirt. He doesn't say anything just holds her and gently strokes her back. The girl in his arms has seen things that no-one should yet she had born it all with a courage that humbled him.

Eventually she stopped sobbing and just stayed in his arms hugging him drawing on his strength. She lifted her head and gave him a watered down version of her amazing smile.

"Look at me. Some Vongola boss I'll be."

"Don't say that." She cocks her head at him. "You're an amazing person Tsuna. You took on an extremely mad man and saved the future, you revived the Vongola and fought with everything you had. You led us to victory. Without you we would have lost. Never doubt your own strength." His voice was soft, quiet. He wanted her to hear what he had to say. She had blinked at him with those big brown eyes of hers and a look of peace came over then.

"Thank you Ryohei-kun. I-I needed that." Looking into her eyes he had realised that there was nothing he wouldn't do for the girl in his arms. He loved her. They just sat there for ages on that benches. Her, taking comfort form him, him revelling in being near her.

He had no idea what to do with his feelings. This had never happened to him before and he was completely clueless (more so than usual). He became clumsy and awkward around her. His anger at the other guardians continued to grow. His master took him aside one day and asked what the hell was wrong with him, after slapping him around the head a few times, so he had told the blonde baby. To his surprise his master had been sympathetic and had listened patiently, before giving him some advice.

"All you can do kora, is be there when she needs you. Show her that you care. She's smart she'll figure it out kora."

So he had. He had gotten closer and closer to his boss. The others realised this and tried to subtly warn him off but he ignored them and carried on. Reborn watched him more and even Tsuna's mother seemed to know what he was up to and give him weird looks.

It was on her graduation when he told Tsuna how he felt. She had stared at him for ages and he had wanted to disappear but he stood his ground and stared at her with that burning intensity that was part of who he was. Slowly her hand had reached up to stroke his cheek and she had given the most beautiful smile he had ever seen on her face.

"I-I feel the same way Ryohei-kun." For a second his brain had stopped and he became a statue. Sure it was a dream and that he could never be so lucky. Then her lips had been on his and he was snapped back to his senses. Dimly he was aware of Gokudera being restrained by Yamamoto and Hibari glaring daggers at him but all he cared about was her soft lips on his and her slip body pressed up against him. It had been a long wait but she was so worth it.

The weather may change constantly but the sun will always rise and set, even if it is hidden by storm, cloud, rain, mist or thunder, it will always be there to light up the sky.

AN: Well what do you think. Was he too OOC? I'm hoping to do a couple of one shots for the guys in Reborn but I'm not bothered about who's next so please send me any requests. Did I write this OK? Thank you for reading! I know Ryohei is sometimes overlooked in fanfics and I really like him. The shots will be all femTsuna and no yuri. Sorry I can't write that stuff. I have no problems with love triangles and will try to make them as realistic as possible.