Listen to Your Love Song.

Gokudera grumbled and threw his stuff all over the place as he walked through the short and dimly lit hallway of his currently rented apartment. School was extra stressful today, and because of that, he had to bid his usual quirk of tidiness a trip to hell. He could always clean up during holidays, anyway. No one would mind a little break from his typical (strict) schedule. He was really dead beat... someone should curse that baseball idiot for dumping all the work to him!

Ah, getting worked up about it only made him even weaker. That lazy ass wasn't worth the little energy he had left. Maybe it was a mistake to fly from Italy from here, but it didn't seem such a bad idea until that baseball-centric idiot came into his life. Everything was perfect with just him and the Tenth. Why couldn't it be like that forever? Someone should really damn that kid to hell. Besides, no one wants him... only maybe except that gay Lussuria who goes head-over-heels for a corpse. Eh, either way, he didn't care how; he just wanted him gone from his life for good.

He groaned, pressing himself more against his comfy bed even more. Forget dinner and change of clothes, if the pack of cotton would just swallow him up, that would really be great. His back had more knots in them than when he would come back from training or an intense fight. Maybe it would be better to share the work with someone after all, but he wouldn't dare trouble the Tenth... and that idiot, he's only good when it comes to baseball. Moreover, that smile that moron gave him, when he said he'd handle them all because baseball idiots should just keep their idiocy in baseball only then maybe he'd get promoted to a lesser idiot, was priceless.

That moron's smile sure looked... he cut his train of thought even before it reached its destination, causing his eye to twitch once or twice. Stress was already reaching his brain. He should stop and rest now before it starts to take over him completely and make him do stupid things like... ah, no worries. He had successfully drifted off to La-la-land before he even managed to think of anything stupid except for the peculiar smile that moron always had.

But like all great things, it met an awfully abrupt end. Gokudera was woken up to a sharp sound of a wind instrument. Looking around, he assumed it was some time close to midnight because of the only light source left outside was the street lights. So who the hell would be up at this time of the night with the nerve to play and disturb the whole neighborhood? Tch. It must be some snotty kid who just had his first day in music school. The kid's parents are bound to give him some serious lecture... at least, that was what he thought and hoped for.

"What the hell?" he sat up again, grumbling cusses as he flipped around to the edge of the bed, and stood up. The soaring pitch just went on without a stump. The player ought to be a stingy old man or something and no one had the courage to tell him off. Well, no one but him! He didn't care how old the bastard was, he should already know a lifetime sense of respect having lived that long already. Selfish old fart should be ashamed of his self.

The Italian wandered out of his apartment and listened carefully to the song. Closing his eyes, he began to direct where it was from, and within a few throbs of his nerve situated in his head, he found himself on the building's rooftop, gazing down at the back of a strangely dressed man playing a sideways instrument.

"Will you cut that out?" he spat, planting his hands on either of his hips irately, but the man paid him no mind and continued to play. It infuriated him. "Hey! I'm talking to you! I don't know and I don't care what your freaking problem is, but stop playing the damn crap already! People want to sleep here, you know!"

Still, the man ignored him, playing that low note and dragging it gently as if finishing his song. A few seconds later, the flute-player laid his instrument on his lap with a sigh. It pissed off Gokudera even more.

"HEY!" He yelled with a heavy stomp off his foot, "Are you deaf, you piping idiot? I said you're being a big selfish bastard!"

"Huh?" the music-player turned around. The man turned out to be fairly aged and not some annoying old man. Well, that made things easier. Gokudera didn't have to hold back and worry about giving anyone a cardiac arrest this late night.

"Don't 'huh' me!" he growled, "I've been talking to you and you're just ignoring me!"

The man dumbly stared at him, childishly pointing at himself with his index finger. "Would you be hoping to converse with me?"

"You..." the Italian glowered at that face, somehow even though it looked very innocent, it really pissed him off like recognizing the man as someone who he owed a bone-breaking fiesta to. "I'm not trying to converse with you! I am talking to you! Actually, I've been talking to you for the past five minutes, you smartass! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

"Really?" he suddenly beamed, laughing lightly, "I am Asari Ugetsu. Pleased to meet you!"

"HUH?" Gokudera gaped at the strange man now revealed to be named as Asari Ugetsu. "Are you an idiot?"

"Say," Ugetsu started, turning around to face him completely, "How come you're still awake during the hour of the rat?"

"Hour of what now?"

"Youth your age must still be in social education, yes? You should take all the rest you could, chibi."

"Don't call me 'chibi', you crazy old man! And I was, and still should be if you weren't playing your stupid instrument and wake me from my sleep!"

"Oh, is that so? My apologies, then." He smiled.

"Yeah, you should be damn sorry." He scowled and turned towards the edge of the roof, "And you better not make me climb back up here!"

"Shouldn't I help you recover your lost sleep instead?"

"Huh?" the silver-haired foreigner turned around in curiosity only to be welcomed by the sight of Ugetsu returning the bamboo instrument close to his lips. Somehow this made him feel like he was dealing with that other idiot who doesn't change his mind no matter anyone else says. So annoying. "H-hey! I said—"

Ugetsu began to play another series of high-pitched notes, but this time, it strangely lulled young Gokudera to sleep. At the first few flicks of his fingers to the air from the long piece of bamboo, the Italian's heart strings were pulled in the gentlest way and coaxed his puffy eyes to rest. In a few more minutes, he fell down to the roof with consciousness even far from the tips of his fingers.

xxx

Bi-bi-bi-bip! Bi-bi-bi-bip! Bi-bi-bi-bi—"Shut up," Gokudera groaned awake as he slammed the alarm clock into silence. Rolling over the bed, he hugged the blue bed sheets closer and rested his eyes a few minutes more. Last night, even though he went to bed as early as he could, his body still felt as heavy as lead. Maybe it had to do with his also stressful dream. Come to think of it, that man from his dream looked a lot like the baseball idiot. He sighed. That idiot's gonna be in his nightmares now, too? Such a pain... but whatever, he decided to take a few more minutes of sleep, so...

"You're going to be late for school, chibi."

"Chi—WHOA!" Gokudera shot up, staring at the weird man from last night who was sitting at the edge of his bed. "You! What are you doing here? How did you get inside my apartment? Get out!"

Ugetsu laughed lightly, "Spilt water will not return to the tray, chibi."

"What the hell are you saying? And don't call me 'chibi'!" he sighed after the one-sided screaming bout against an idiot and then bent over to lay his light head on his still blanket covered lap. "Yelling so early in the morning is so tiring... my head still hurts."

"Death can only cure idiocy."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Gokudera glared up, snatching out a handful of dynamites. "Hey, are you part of some other family that are after the Tenth? Don't you dare lie or I'll blow you up!"

"Oh, you belong to a family, too?" Ugetsu smiled, "I wonder if we are allied families. I'm from the Vongola."

"You too? Then you're here to meet the Tenth! Or are you here on Xanxus's orders?" he asked, ready to light his explosives if his assumptions turned out to be right. The Italian looked closely at the musician's eyes, no matter how good one is, one's eyes will always be the window to one's soul. "Lie and die, old man."

"I'm not that old."

"Whatever, just answer my question!"

"I didn't come here under anyone's orders, chibi. You have my word for that."

"Hn. Fine," Gokudera sighed and laid down his explosives. "If you want to meet Tenth, then as the right-hand man, I'll accompany you to him. But as you can see, I am not read yet... so could you freaking please get out?"

"Now, now, no need to shout, chibi."

"I'm not 'chibi'!" he growled, "I'm Gokudera Hayato! The best right-hand man in the Vongola!"

"Really now?"

"Yes! Now, GET OUT!" the silver-haired jumped and tackled Ugetsu out of his room, shutting the door with a violent thud that made the musician cringe from the other side. "And don't you touch anything!"

"Yes, right-hand man," Ugetsu answered softly, smiling rather contentedly at his current very interesting finding, and then reached inside his left sleeve to take out his shinobue flute. Sitting down before the white painted door, he began to play his personal favorite song.

xxx

"Don't smile like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like THAT!" Gokudera screeched, stopping in his tracks to face a blatantly amused Asari Ugetsu. "And why are you even following me? I told you I'll let you meet the Tenth after school! Why can't you just wait till then?"

"Well, you didn't say I can't come with you."

"Well, I'm saying it now!" he growled, stomping his foot. "Go walk around the park or something! Just meet us at Namimori Middle School at around four!"

"Understood." Ugetsu nodded with a warm smile and then... v-v-v-v-vanished with a blue flame? Gokudera blinked once, twice, thrice... he couldn't be hallucinating that strangely dressed man! He didn't even know if he had enough imagination to create such a person! It can't be! It couldn't be! Asari Ugetsu was real, he was sure! But how can a person do that?

Gokudera gasped. There was only one logical explanation!

He's an U.M.A.!

xxx

For the rest of the morning, Gokudera's mind was all but spared by bunches of hypotheses regarding the U.M.A. he just encountered. He didn't even bother paying attention to discussions, not that he did ever, but he was more distracted than usual, scribbling on his notebook nonstop with his reading glasses fogging from all the unbolted excitement. It couldn't be helped since this was his first time to officially meet one!

"Asari Ugetsu, wasn't it?" he whispered, jotting down per letter from his self-invented G-letters with great depth. "I should've paid more attention to our conversations... tch!"

"You called for me, chibi?"

"W-whoa!" Gokudera gasped, falling off his seat, but instead of complaining, he hurried to his notebook and began scribbling down new information about the U.M.A. who just appeared out of thin air. "How could you do that?" he asked in wild amazement.

"Gokudera? Gokdera-kun! Are you alright? Are you hurt, Gokudera-kun?" The female population of the class worriedly asked, the class seemingly forgotten in an instant.

"Gokudera-kun," Tsuna approached, "Are you alright?"

"Ah, Tenth! Y-yes, of course, I'm fine!" He laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head, as he put all his things in order. "This guy just took me by surprise!"

"What guy?"

"Huh?" Gokudera blinked. "This guy, Tenth." He said, jabbing his finger to Ugetsu's direction.

"Outside the window? But there's no one there, Gokudera-kun."

"Okay, settle down class." the professor announced, cutting the Italian's reply by hitting the table with the thick attendance log book. Tsuna then just smiled at him with a nod and walked back to his seat, their conversation left unfinished. "Get back to your seats! Let's get back to the lesson."

Gokudera stared up at the musician's smiling face as he settled down his seat, "They can't see you?"

"Well, I suppose you're the only one who can see me, chibi."

"Awesome!" he beamed, turning back to his notebook and returned to writing his discoveries. "What else can you do? Can you like communicate to others like you?"

"I believe so,"

"Really? That's cool!"

Ugetsu laughed, seeing a completely new look on the boy's always scrunched up face. "We can always talk about me back at your apartment, chibi. For now, listen to your mentor. One's act is one's profit."

"What? Are you sending me a coded message?"

"It's a proverb, chibi." He chuckled, "I want you to listen to your class."

In the end, Gokudera didn't do what he was told. Throughout the classes that took place while Ugetsu was there, trying to persuade the enthusiastic Italian into paying attention in class, the musician's efforts were all futile. The young and proud Strom Guardian just kept on throwing and throwing him questions he didn't entirely understand, but tried to answer them to the best of his knowledge. After all, he couldn't entirely refuse the young child, when he could see in those eyes the light that someone close to him also once had.

So the hours ticked by and their conversations didn't die down even a bit. Gokudera welcomed him more this time, now that he was mistaken for one of the many things Ugetsu himself was curious about. The Italian was more than passionate, if there was even a bigger word than that. The musician had also long given up in trying to coax the young middle-school student since he didn't have the heart to break their interesting conversation by saying he wasn't what the boy thought him to be, because that seemed to be the only way to hold back the question barrage.

"Chibi," he began, slipping his hands on each of his long sleeves, and cut off the young one's voiced out thoughts and wonders. "It's time for free recreation."

"Huh?" Gokudera rested his eyes and took off his glasses, laying down his pen and closing his notebook. "You mean break time." He said, stretching his limbs.

"Mm-hm."

The Italians sighed contentedly, "Best time of the day."

"Aren't you going to eat with your friends?"

"I always eat with Tenth! Wanna come with us?" he grinned, sliding back his seat as he stood up. "You should show yourself to him, too! You're here to meet the Tenth after all, right?"

"Maybe next time, chibi." Ugetsu answered with a smile, taking out his bamboo flute. "I'm quite feeling too tired to rendezvous."

"Eh, will you be alright?" the tenth Storm Guardian asked, slinging his bag on his shoulder, "Do you take your energy from playing or something?"

"Perhaps. Let's meet again later." he said with a chuckle, raising the horizontal instrument to his lips, and then vanished with the fading sound of his high-pitched flute.

"Hn." Gokudera stared at the space that his recently discovered U.M.A. occupied. They sure can do a lot of great things. After all, they wouldn't be unidentified mysterious animals for nothing, but why would they hide so much, he wondered. It would really be amazing if a bunch of them would show up. That way he wouldn't have to concentrate on only one kind, because surely there are lots of them out there.

"Yo, Gokudera! Anything wrong?" Yamamoto approached, slinging his arm around the Italian's neck. "Did you forget your wallet?"

The light-skinned Italian student scoffed. "Idiot. Don't mistake me for you."

He laughed, "Well then! Let's go the rooftop before someone else gets our place."

"Idiot, what do you mean 'our' place? It's just mine and the Tenth's! You're not welcome there!"

"Now, now, Gokudera, don't be like that."

"Hands off, baseball idiot!" he snarled, pinching the hand dangling close to his chest hard which earned him a yelp and his desired reaction. "Don't you dare get cocky around me!"

"Loosen up, will you? We're both guardians now, aren't we?" the baseball player lightly laughed as he rubbed the sore spot on his hand. "Hey, Tsuna! Gokudera and I are gonna go on first, okay?"

"Oh, okay. I'll meet you guys there in a sec."

"Ack, no!" Gokudera began struggling, "I'm gonna go with the Tenth! Let go of me, baseball idiot!" He clawed at the arm that was locked around his neck as he tried kicking and everything, but Yamamoto always seemed to have more of strength than he ever had, proving his efforts pointless. It annoyed him so much that the stupid idiot was obviously not using even half of his strength to restrain and drag him out of the room. What was worse was the ringing bark of laughter close to his ear. "Tenth! Teeeeenth!" he yelled, reaching out and somewhat asking for help, but Tsuna just waved him goodbye and smiled real softly.

Tenth?

xxx

"You are such an idiot!" the Italian snarled, fisting the raven-haired's shirt and pulling him close to his face. "As the future right-hand man, I should always be with the Tenth! What will you do if something bad happens to him all of a sudden? You're being such a nuisance, baseball idiot!"

"Tsuna can take care of himself, Gokudera. He's not a child." He replied coolly with a shadow of a smile, trying to beat his temper in place, as the man gripping his shirt tightly glared daggers. "You saw how cool he was against that Xanxus guy, right?"

"Che!" he threw him back as he released his hold. "You are too carefree. You never know when some guy from another family suddenly shows up and..."

"Well, I think Gokudera is so up-tight!"

"Shut up! You're too carefree!" He spat, plopping down as he pealed off the thin plastic covering his sandwich, "Really, I still wonder why Reborn-san wanted you in the family."

"What are you talking about? The more the merrier, right?" the young athlete laughed, rummaging through his bag, and brought out a simple black bento box with little golden designs. "Try some, Gokudera! Dad made these to celebrate—eh? You don't want any, Gokudera?"

"Hn." He grunted, turning away, and stuffed his mouth with his bought lunch.

"C'mon, Gokudera, try them!" Yamamoto inched closer, holding out the opened bento. "Dad makes really great sushi!"

"I don't want it."

"I promise that you won't regret it. Just one is fine!"

"I already said I don't want it, baseball idiot! What makes you think asking me again will change my mind?" he barked, crumpling the clear plastic, and moved close to the fences to light his smoke. "Save them for the Tenth." He said, breathing in, "Tenth likes them a lot."

"Eh?"

"Your dad obviously prepared only for two, idiot." Gokudera turned around to face the rest of the school grounds as nervousness strongly washed through his veins. He drew in another shot of nicotine, desperately fighting the heat that was insistently climbing up his face, particularly to his cheeks. The stupid baseball freak sharing lunch... isn't that...

"Oh, Tsuna!" the baseball player beamed, greeting the arriving future Mafia boss, "I forgot to ask you this morning! But were you able to do your Math assignment last night?"

"Tenth!" he greeted too, smiling at the brunette, and then turned to the raven-haired sitting down on the floor. "Of course, he did, baseball freak! He's not an idiot like you!"

"A-actually, Gokudera-kun..." no-good Tsuna sighed, settling in the middle of his two best friends, "Lambo was so noisy last night, I couldn't concentrate."

"Eh? Again, Tenth? You should've called me over so I could help you." Gokudera sat back down, sitting close to the future boss. "Oh, and this idiot here brought some sushi, Tenth! You love them, right?

"But you're already working alone on our group project, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna replied before taking a sushi from Yamamoto's own offered bento box. "This tastes great, Yamamoto!"

"Of course, dad made them especially for today."

"That's right! You have a big game tonight, right?"

"Yup! Dad said he can't come watch, so he wished me luck by making this for me instead." He grinned, "But you two are gonna be there for me, right?"

"Eh?" the Italian blinked, unconsciously staring weirdly at the smiling raven-haired who was luckily too occupied talking to Tsuna to notice. Didn't Yamamoto say something about celebrating something?

"Um... I'm sorry, Yamamoto. I don't know if I could. Reborn said I should come home as early as I could."

"Oh, the kid, eh? I see, that's alright, Tsuna. There's always next time." The Rain guardian snickered and ruffled the smaller one's brown hair, "How about you Gokudera?"

"In case you have forgotten, I still have to do our group assignment. I can't waste my time watching you, idiot."

"That's why I told you to at least give me something to do." Yamamoto pouted. Yes, pouted... shit.

Gokudera's angry eye ticked. "And I told you that you're just going to mess everything up! Just limit your idiocy to baseball, baseball idiot!"

Yamamoto just laughed before taking in his food. This was their everyday kind of lunch: argue, fool around, argue, and then laugh and laugh. Afterwards, they would hurry to class even before the next class start to make up for the time they lost during the previous night and do their homework, this time with right answers (courtesy of Gokudera). Every day was like this, and if Gokudera would just say he wanted this to last forever, then everything would be extremely perfect, but that was far from the case. Days like this were just full of pain for him.

xxx

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just that... Gokudera came to watch my game!" The baseball player before him grinned, "I'm so happy."

Right... it was painful. Why did he come here again?

"I'm not here for you, idiot. Tenth asked me to so I could report to him how the game went, because obviously no one would understand a thing if we have you tell it." He muttered, turning away a little to light the cigarette dangling loosely from his lips. "Besides as the right-hand man, I have to make sure of all the guardian's well being. Who knows when you decide to goof around and hurt yourself."

"Still, I'm happy." Yamamoto insisted, taking off his baseball cap. "But I wish Gokudera would stop talking about being the right-hand man all time."

"What did you say?"

"Well, I want Gokudera to watch me as Gokudera, not as someone's right-hand man." Maybe for once in his life, Yamamoto's voice came out low and soft... almost impossible to be heard. He turned a little to the opposite side of where the Italian had his head skewed, and began awkwardly scratching his nape. "Well, what I'm trying to say is..."

"Tch. If you don't want me here, just say so." Gokudera almost growled as he held his lit cigarette away from his lips. "It makes everything easier."

"No, it's not that." He sighed, uncomfortably smiling. "I'm sorry... I don't know what I'm saying. Thank you for coming, Gokudera."

"Like I said, I didn't come here for you."

"I know that," Yamamoto smiles broadly as he put back on his cap. "Well, I have to go now! You better watch closely, Gokudera, so you can tell it good to Tsuna!"

"Uh-huh. Do your best, baseball idiot." The Storm Guardian yelled after the retreating form who gave him a simple thumb up for a reply. Gokudera shook his head and sighed as he took a seat, staring down at the brown soil before his feet. Really, why was he here? It was hard enough to be around that idiot during school hours and act like nothing was going on. What more when no one was there to remind him of his bounds? Tsuna already said he couldn't come.

"Chibi," a familiar voice whispered in his ear, cutting all his thoughts abruptly and reconstructing his selfish mask back up his face without a slight hassle.

"Ah, it's you."

"You're upset."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"...did you just appear just to annoy me?" the silver-haired gritted out, crushing the paper case of his cigarettes in one of his fists due to annoyance. "Stop smiling. It's annoying."

Ugetsu chuckled and began to hum, turning to face the temporary little house for the current players of the up-coming baseball game. "Now I see why you hate my smile so much."

He frowned, foreseeing where the conversation was going. "...that guy pisses me off." He puffed out gray smoke, choosing to look anywhere but to the place the musician was paying much close attention to. He really didn't like where this was going, but as awesome as U.M.A.'s were, he doubted he could take it somewhere else.

"And yet you're here, watching his game."

"Are you trying to get on my bad side?" Gokudera scowled, glaring at his companion as he stomped on his cigarette. Somehow, it didn't taste just as great than usual. "I'm here as the Tenth's representative, that's it." He muttered as he started feeling his pockets for a possible spare box of cigarettes.

"You shouldn't smoke so much, chibi."

"Oh, shut up. And stop calling me 'chibi'."

"Then, Hayato, was it?" Ugetsu smiled, peering close to the suddenly flushed Italian.

"It's Gokudera." He frowned, hating how his name sounded coming from the other. Looking at the musicican's face and not minding the weird headgear, it was almost like the other idiot was the one who just tried to call him by his first name with such ease. Why did they have to look so much alike? Really? The Storm Guardian coughed, clearing his throat to somehow relieve some tension he would've already lost if he only had some more stuff to smoke. "Call me Gokudera."

"Very well. Then, Gokudera-kun,"

The Italian stiffened, flushing. "Don't add 'kun'!"

"'-chan'?"

"Hell no!" he yelled, "Just 'Gokudera'!"

"But..."

"It's fine!" Gokudera-kun growled, turning away to hide his tomato red face. Why did it have to be this awkward? Stupid baseball idiotic face! "Tch. I'm out of cigarettes."

"Why do you smoke?" Ugetsu asked out of the blue, "Is it also because of stress?"

Also? "Well... bad habit," He sighed, brushing his hair up, "And yeah a little of stress."

"Well, that's because you always keep your emotions inside, Gokudera!" he said as a matter-of-factly and weirdly so enthusiastically, "You should learn to share."

"No, thanks." The Italian sulked, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and leaned back. "I'm a selfish man."

"You will not catch the cub if you do not enter the tiger's cave, Gokudera."

"What? Are you sending me coded message again?"

"You want a message?" Ugetsu smiled, carefully taking out his bamboo instrument from his long sleeves. "Tell the boy much you care."

"Psh. He can go die for all I care." The silver-haired leaned forward, cradling his chin with a clenched fist. "I'm not here because I want to."

The musician hummed, smiling slightly. "Child of a frog is a frog, after all." He murmured, but it was loud enough for Gokudera to hear. For some odd reason, the Storm guardian got the feeling that Asari Ugestu had been talking to him as if he knew everything about him. He couldn't fight off that strong pull even how many times he tried ever since he first laid his eyes on him. However, as strange as it would already seem, Gokudera also couldn't deny that he felt just the same.

He sighed, "I'm gonna go buy some cigarettes."

"No need. I'll take them away for you." The musically inclined U.M.A. softly spoke, laying his hands over the young Italian's clammy hand, and generously gave another warm smile. Turning straight, he gracefully brought his favorite instrument close to his lips and began playing. Soon after, the baseball game started and Ugestu kept on playing as Gokudera watched Yamamoto play his own favorite hobby.

For the rest of that afternoon, Gokudera lasted through the whole game without feeling the itch to light a single bar of cancer.

FEN: An U.M.A., for those who may have forgotten, is an unidentified mysterious animal. Gokudera is strangely interested to them to a very amusing extent, that's why I couldn't help but use it. He's such a freak-lover, being the baseball freak his favorite freak, ne? And oh, Ugetsu's coded messages are all Japanese proverbs translated literally. Anyhow, this will have slight love triangles between Ugetsu, Gokudera, and Yamamoto, but it would eventually be 8059. G will be joining in the fun a few chapters later, too. So, I hope you'll read till then?

Reviews will strip Gokudera and Yamamoto of their clothing! So help me strip them! XD