Evidence 1: The First Dream

Genre: Friendship, Supernatural, Mystery

Though the town of Namimori is small, its history holds three recent disappearances, and transfer students coming and going with the seasons. As Sawada Tsunayoshi, Tsuna for short, tries to solve the mysteries behind his friends and his past, he repeats dreams and relives memories, while the rabbit hole goes deeper than he that ever thought possible.

An explosion in the distance, followed by more. He couldn't see clearly, and all sounds seemed muted, like he was surrounded in a cloud of cotton. He couldn't move well, either.

Who was it…? There was someone shouting at him, shaking him by the shoulders, but he couldn't see them clearly. He could only tell that there was a lot of red. He felt his own mouth move, but he couldn't hear what he was saying. There seemed to be at least four of them… he couldn't see. Were there more?

Suddenly they were all running, and he heard the dull thudding of many feet hitting the dirt path into the forest. They were running towards a bright light. He pushed someone towards it, and that person turned and grabbed his sleeve. They were shouting at him too, but he couldn't understand. He couldn't hear, he could barely see the exact movements of the mouth, and he couldn't see the eyes, hidden beneath light-colored bangs.

He felt like he should have been panicking, but instead, he smiled and felt his mouth move again. Then he pushed. The person went stumbling backwards, and he continued smiling, closing his eyes as the light pulsated and expanded, as everything vanished into the blinding whiteness.

"… No!"

…

Tsuna jerked awake, yelping as his head collided with someone's elbow. As he clutched his head and rubbed the painful bump, he looked up with large caramel eyes brimming with tears. He had chestnut-brown hair that flew every which way and was perfectly untamable, framing a young face and high-placed eyebrows. He was of slight build, thin, with not much muscle and not much height. It was no wonder then, that whatever team he was on in PE always lost.

Gokudera Hayato blinked at him in momentary shock, then bowed apologetically. "I'm very sorry for disturbing your sleep, Tenth!" he said, letting go of the string he had been holding. "I came early and your mother asked me to come up and wake you, so I was pulling up the blinds! My elbow should not have been in a place where your head could have been hit! Allow me to cut off this offending arm!"

"H- hiiie! Gokudera-kun, please don't!" Tsuna yelped.

"Then at least allow me to slam my fingers in the door!"

Tsuna shook his head furiously and rubbed his head again, before looking around. It was his room, littered with junk and messy as always. The window above the desk was open to allow the warming morning air to enter, the blinds pulled up. He blinked in the bright light, raising an arm to shade his eyes. That must have been what the sudden whiteness in his dream was. The door was open, but that couldn't have produced the dull explosion noise; Gokudera was much too polite (at least to him) to slam a door open like that. What he had heard had been much more like…

Three loud knocks came then, dull, low sounds from the front door. "Tsu-kun, hurry and get up!" his mother called from downstairs. "I think Yamamoto-kun is here!"

"Drat!" Tsuna exclaimed, trying to extract his legs from the sheets he had managed to entangle himself in. "I need to-"

"I've already set out a set of clothes for you, Tenth," Gokudera said helpfully, before a pile of fresh laundry (neatly folded) plopped onto the brunet's lap.

Tsuna smiled. "Thank you, Gokudera-kun… but you really didn't have to."

Gokudera beamed at the praise and made an embellished gesture of gratitude. "It is my duty to care for the one who saved my life, Tenth!" he said proudly, bowing low again. "At least allow me to do this much."

"Yo, Tsuna," a new voice called from the doorway, and the two looked up to see Yamamoto Takeshi. Yamamoto was tall for a Japanese boy, standing at least a head and a bit over Tsuna, and had black hair that was just as messy as Tsuna's, though quite a bit shorter. His eyes were light for a Japanese person, too, being somewhere between the colors of a potato skin and dry dirt. He had tanned skin from many years of playing baseball, and calloused hands from handling the bat and ball. "I ended up coming early, hope that's alright."

Tsuna shook his head and finally got out of bed, picking up the clothes that Gokudera had laid out for him. "No, it's alright," he said, and motioned for Yamamoto and Gokudera to both take a seat. "Make yourselves at home, I guess; I'm going to go to the bathroom to change, okay?"

When the two sat down, he nodded and then exited to go change.

What a strange dream, he thought, slipping his pajama shirt off and tugging his t-shirt on. I can't even remember it clearly anymore… but… there was something I needed. Yawning, he decided to abandon the mental search for information on the dream. It was just a dream. He used the toilet before washing his hands, then tugged a pair of cargo pants on, followed by a jacket. Then he splashed his face with cold water and gathered his pajamas to take back to his room.

Re-entering, he was surprised to find Yamamoto and Gokudera talking civically. Gokudera, being easily annoyed, and Yamamoto, being loud and energetic and not much more than happy-go-lucky, did not usually go for any great amount of time without the former snapping for one reason or another. (On more than one occasion, it had even been just because "Yamamoto was radiating of stupid, Tenth!")

"Right," he began, smiling cheerfully despite not being a morning person (or a night person, or an after- actually, he really just wasn't a get-up-and-go person). "It's saturday, and we've got two days to work on this report for Language Arts. The teacher said that we can work in groups, so that's what we're doing. The assignment is to write a short piece using character development." He paused here, before turning to Gokudera. "Am I missing anything?"

Gokudera shook his head and rifled through his own ransel. "No, Tenth, I think that's it," he said, before managing to extract the assignment sheet. "Hmm, well… yes. You're right on the mark, Tenth."

"So how should we do this?" Yamamoto asked.

"The Tenth will lead us," Gokudera said proudly, turning with great expectations to his precious friend. "Right?"

Tsuna colored slightly. After two years of their little Namimori Trio, he still wasn't entirely used to being so heavily believed in. ("The Namimori Trio" was a nickname for themselves that, once upon a snow-capped mid-winter day in fourth grade, Yamamoto had joked and coined. The reason had been that, ironically, only Tsuna was really from Namimori [and even then his father was an Italian, hence his light brown hair and caramel eyes]. True, Yamamoto had lived there most of his life, but he had moved from another town, hence how when he had first come, "spaghetti" had been "western-sea style fried noodles." [Tsuna vaguely remembered that this had been the source of much hilarity for their classmates until they learned how much of a killer fastball he could throw. And any other kind of ball. And anything else to do with sports, especially baseball. His father had also set up a quickly-booming sushi restaurant, so nobody complained when Yamamoto brought some as a gift.] Gokudera had transferred to Namimori 2 years ago from… somewhere in the occident. Tsuna wasn't exactly sure where.)

"I- I can try my best, but that's all I can do," Tsuna laughed nervously, then looked around. "So… any ideas on how we can make this worth?"

Yamamoto opened his mouth, but was interrupted when his stomach gave an impatient rumble. "Haha, how about brainfood?" he suggested, laughing.

"Idiot," Gokudera grumbled. "You should have eaten before you came, instead of wasting the Tenth's time with senseless drivel!"

"Actually," Tsuna said, coming between them. "I think-" However, his stomach decided to finish the sentence in its own language with a growl. "Haha, guess Yamamoto was right," he laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe we should eat something before writing or brainstorming. Calories boost the brain or something like that?"

"Of course, Tenth!" Gokudera interjected, always trying to be helpful to his lifesaver. "How noble of you to think of our welfare! Oi, baseball idiot, be grateful!"

Tsuna smiled, watching Gokudera try to force a helplessly laughing Yamamoto into an awkward bow. Lively days were a given with the Namimori Trio, and today was no exception.

In almost no time at all, Sawada Nana, Tsuna's mother, had all three boys seated at the table and was setting out plates of two sausages each, some greens, and a slice of bread each, setting out more bread, spreadable cheese, jam, and almost everything else that could possibly included into a breakfast dish. "Mom, where's Dad gone?" Tsuna asked, taking his toast and spreading some jam on it. "He was here yesterday."

"He went to work early today, Tsu-kun," Nana reminded him, placing a liberal amount of fried egg on each of their plates. "Remember? He got called by the construction company out into one of the nearby towns."

"Oh yeah," Tsuna recollected, taking a bite. Sawada Iemitsu ran a number of jobs; one was managing the traffic flow around construction sites. Another was driving a delivery truck to and from the construction sites. Yet another was being a miner for the construction sites. In short, he could do (and had done at least once) every job involving said construction that needed doing.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Yamamoto said, spraying breadcrumbs back onto his plate. "Why don't we each write a story from someone else's point of view?"

The other two contemplated a bit. "I hate to admit it, but Yamamoto's got a pretty good idea there," Gokudera muttered grudgingly. Yamamoto grinned.

"Well who writes who?" Tsuna asked.

"As his right hand man, I shall write for you, Tenth!" Gokudera offered zestfully.

"Haha! Hey, I wanted to write Tsuna's!" Yamamoto laughed. Gokudera yelled at him.

Anxious to end the conflict, Tsuna chose a random selection. "Hey, why don't you two use rock-paper-scissors?" he asked helpfully. "Then it's just luck, so no hard feelings, right?"

Gokudera and Yamamoto looked at each other, then nodded. They hit their right fists into their left palms three times to the words "rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" and on the fourth, they made their own signs. The reaction was immediate.

Gokudera yelled dramatically and crumbled onto the table, nearly smothering his face onto his plate as he cried to the heavens on how he lost. Yamamoto, on the other hand, laughed gaily and scratched his head. "Guess I'm doing yours, then, Tsuna!" he chuckled.

Tsuna was too busy consoling Gokudera though. "Don't be so down, Gokudera-kun," he tried to say gently. "Um… I'll write yours, then! So be happy? I'll try to do a good job! So you have to try too!"

"… Since the Tenth says so," Gokudera sat back up, gathering himself together.

"Actually, it's sort of nice this way," Tsuna continued. "Since Gokudera-kun's always doing things for me, now I can give you something back because I'm writing for you."

By the end of the sentence, Gokudera was rubbing tears from his eyes. "Oh, Tenth! How kind of you!" he cried. "Forgive me for being so ungrateful! Yes, I will write something for Yamamoto!"

"So Gokudera does mine, I do yours, and you do his!" Yamamoto summed up with a smile. "Hmm… what to write…"

Gokudera wasn't listening anymore, on the other hand. He had already gotten out a pair of glasses and a notepad and was scribbling down ideas. Coming to a stop, he looked up and poked Yamamoto with a fork. "Oi, Baseball Idiot," he interrupted. "What kind of weather do you like?"

Yamamoto blinked at the odd question. "Weather? Um… I really like warm sunshine. But rain's really nice too! Fog is always cold and it gets hard to see. But then again, I didn't used to like rain. I mean, you can't really play baseball in the rain, you know? Haha! I like rain when it's falling 'zaa zaa' or 'para para.' Oh, but then snow is great! Y'know, snowball fights and all that! And when you're watching it fall it's just so… 'fuwa fuwa.' It's hard to play other games then, too, though. But yeah, sunshine is nice 'cause the sun's all 'hoka hoka!' And, and-"

"Now that I think about it, Yamamoto, you lived much farther south, didn't you?" Tsuna interrupted. He was pretty sure Gokudera was beginning to get annoyed with all the strange descriptions Yamamoto was using. "Was there any snow at all there?"

The other shook his head. "No, not really," he replied. "It was Nara. We had… maybe a week of snow a year; not much. Winter was usually around 3 or 4 degrees, I think. But summers went up to the high 20s and low 30s pretty regularly. Lots of rain though. Which reminds me, why's it so cool in November?"

"Because it's November, you idiot," Gokudera snorted. "Of course it's cool."

Tsuna laughed nervously. "I think he means that it's not cold yet," he said, hoping the words would translate better this time. Fortunately, they did. "But Yamamoto's right," he said. "I mean, usually around my birthday I'm shivering like a leaf. Yeah, I'm shivering like a leaf, but the temperature hasn't dropped any farther."

"Hey, Gokudera?" Yamamoto interrupted. The one in question grunted. "Can I borrow a sheet of that notebook paper?"

"What for?" Tsuna asked.

Yamamoto grinned. "'Cause I just got a really good idea."

Upon her next visit to the table, Nana had found them all scribbling down words on paper from Gokudera's notepad and extra pencils from Tsuna's pencil box (actually, only Yamamoto was doing both). Asking if they were done with their breakfast, all of them answered that they were planning to eat it, just got a bit distracted. Her only answer was: "What good kids! As long as it's being 'distracted' by homework, then I don't mind. But try not to get food stains in your notes!"

They quickly scarfed down the rest of their food (or as much of it as they could; Nana had habit of cooking too much food) and headed back upstairs, armed only with some notes, a pencil each, their randoseru, and a tray of tea and elevenses that Tsuna's mother had readied. (Despite the fact that it was still only 9, she had joked that they were elevenses because she had made so many they wouldn't be done until 11 at earliest.)

When Tsuna was almost done with a page, Gokudera interrupted them. "Hey, should we finish these here or get started and work on them later?" he asked.

"I'm in the zone right now!" Yamamoto laughed. "So I'm gonna see if I can finish. And if we do, then we can go somewhere fun tomorrow and not worry about homework, right?"

"Right," Tsuna agreed, still scribbling. "E- except I still need to do my science and history homework… and math. Which means everything"

"Oh yeah," Yamamoto said, tapping the butt of his pencil against his chin. "I haven't done any of that other stuff either. Well, since we all brought our bags, how about we work on Language Arts until noon or when we finish, whichever comes first, then History, then Science and Math last?"

"Can we really finish all that today?" Tsuna questioned skeptically. Yamamoto laughed after contemplating a bit and said that it probably wasn't possible to finish.

"If worst comes to worst," he joked, "Gokudera and I can always stay the night, and then tomorrow we can just blow the whole day off doing something fun. Or sleeping from pulling an all-nighter."

Tsuna's mother chose this moment to enter. "That sounds like a wonderful idea!" she smiled, setting down a fresh pot of green tea on the low table and picking up the cold one. (Tsuna briefly wondered what it was, exactly, that sounded like "a wonderful idea.") "Oh, but you two boys will have to call your parents. Doesn't that sound like fun, Tsu-kun?" She babbled on and on, asking if they were comfortable, if they needed anything, telling them where the phone was downstairs and how happy she was to have guests. Tsuna sometimes wondered how he was related to her.

"Thanks, mrs. Sawada!" Yamamoto laughed cheerfully.

Gokudera bowed. "Thank you for the kindness, Tenth's mother!" he said, before turning to Tsuna. "I live on the other end of the town, so would it be alright to go get my things now?"

"I have nothing against it," Tsuna chuckled. Gokudera could be so silly sometimes. "Don't you need to ask Bianchi? Should I go with you?"

Gokudera contemplated the question. "Actually, would you? I'm not sure if she's at work right now, and I'd rather not find out on my own. I'm very sorry for the trouble."

"Then why don't we all go together after lunch?" Yamamoto suggested. "Y'know, 'cause I need to get my stuff too."

Tsuna beamed. "That sounds like a great idea!" Gokudera ignored Yamamoto and agreed with Tsuna's plan. Nana agreed and left the room, telling them to come back downstairs whenever they got hungry. The three went back to writing.

"Gah!" Tsuna exclaimed a few minutes later, snatching another cookie. "I'm stuck…"

"Well what're you stuck with?" Yamamoto asked curiously. "I'm sure we can help."

"Would it make more sense for a cat to give a dog and a mouse a pledge or some sort of gift?"

Both contemplated the question. "Well, many cats are prideful creatures," Gokudera pointed out. "Then again, many aren't. What's the relationship between the three?"

"Friendship."

"Ah. In that case… a pledge would probably be made over something dead. A fish or a bird or something. Except that's a gift… I've found that when a cat gives you something that it killed, it's telling you something good."

Yamamoto laughed. "That reminds me," he chortled. "The other day I saw someone run up a street to have a staring contest with an alley cat. Was that you, Gokudera?"

Immediately Gokudera pulled away and made the most comical expression of indignant shock that neither Tsuna nor Yamamoto had everhoped to see on anyone, much less the grouchy and rather stoic Gokudera Hayato. "You–!" Gokudera spluttered as both burst out laughing. "When did- Oh my god, how did- Gaaaaah!" He was nearly tearing his hair out as he gaped at his two friends. Yamamoto had his face squashed into his manuscript paper, laughing hysterically and pounding his fist onto the table. Tsuna was curled up into a ball on the floor, trying in vain to stifle his giggles. "Neither of you say anything about that," Gokudera growled.

"Of course, of course!" Tsuna spluttered out, still giggling. "It's jus- heehee! It's just that you're the last person- hahaha!"

"Oh man, this is priceless!" Yamamoto chortled. "Of course we're not gonna tell- hehe! Gokudera! What do you take us for, i- i- hahaha!"

After a full minute, all three were 'back into the zone,' as Yamamoto put it. Gokudera was now writing down faster than before, having burnt through two pages and a bit already for an assignment that was limited to four. Apparently he had a burst of inspiration. Yamamoto was taking it slower, getting closer and closer to the one and three-quarter page mark. Tsuna was dead last, having finally gotten to a page and almost a half. He had to keep stopping from the fact that he was simply lacking in writing skills.

He looked up to try and compare his friends with the characters he had written. Apparently Yamamoto and Gokudera apparently had the same idea, because they suddenly all found themselves staring at each other. Hilarity ensued.

Finally, at eleven thirty, they put down their pencils. "I hope the teacher doesn't care that I went over a bit," Gokudera grumbled, shifting through his sheets. "I've been proofreading, but I can't find anything that would be alright to cut."

"Haha, that's easy for you to say!" Yamamoto laughed. "I barely scraped the two-page requirement!" Noticing that Tsuna was still scratching away, he nudged the brunet's foot under the table. "Hanging on there, Tsuna?" he asked cheerfully.

"Just a little bit more… Done!" Proudly, Tsuna slapped down his pencil with an air of decisiveness. "Er… I think I got two pages, and maybe three-quarters of a third one at most," he said, scratching his cheek. "Something like that? I wasn't keeping track."

Yamamoto looked at the clock. "We still have half an hour before lunch, guys," he commented. "Why don't we peer-edit? And Tsuna, your mom was right; there was no way we could've finished all those snacks before eleven! I mean, there's still a bit left!"

Tsuna laughed quietly too. "Yeah, mom likes to cook for people. She's everyone's mom, really. I mean, one time when we got a postcard that dad was coming home, the next morning I woke up to find a feast fit for seven kings on the table. And she was still making more!"

"Sounds like my dad," Yamamoto chuckled. "Whenever I talk to him about someone I met that day, he gets up, rolls his sleeves and said, 'Right then, how many was this again? I'll need to make sushi for them as thanks for taking care of you!' Haha, there's been plenty of times when they weren't even helpful to me!"

"My sister makes food out of poisonous herbs and animals, then kills things with it."

The merriment level dropped like a stone at Gokudera's dead-pan statement.

Then he grinned cheekily. "As if! She makes food, but a lot of times she likes to experiment, so sometimes funny things get into it. It's why I get stomach pains from seeing her; she repeatedly fed me cookies she made from an impromptu recipe. Apparently there were shiitake mushrooms, paprika, garlic, and fish oil in there. Not to mention who knows what else. It all summed up into trauma."

"A- anyway!" Tsuna interrupted. "Let's switch! Um… how about we switch with whoever wrote us, and then we show the person we wrote for tomorrow? How does that sound?"

"Sounds good t'me!"

"What a wonderful idea, Tenth!"

Passing their papers clockwise, Tsuna began reading Gokudera's narrative.

…

I always hated the rain.

Ever since I was little, I had resented the sky every time it broke water down upon the earth. I wasn't particularly poetic in the first place, but still, I never understood what all those poets and song-writers saw in the post-rain air or the feeling of getting drenched. It just never made sense. Not to me.

When it rained, I couldn't feel the sun's warmth. When it rained, the air felt heavy and depressing. When it rained, the whole town became a watercolor picture of monochrome hues. When it rained, I couldn't play baseball.

Whenever it rained, we had to cancel baseball practice, and I would always be bummed. Baseball was my life, and I couldn't play it when it rained. Therefore, I couldn't live when it rained. That's what I thought.

"Oi, baseball idiot! Hurry up!"

The 'baseball idiot' in question snapped up at the call, and realized that his two friends were calling him. Gokudera Hayato, the one who had made the statement, scowled, eyes smoldering in annoyance. Next to him stood the shorter Sawada Tsuna, with his usual shy smile. "Tch," Gokudera huffed, turning away. "What's a baseball idiot dreaming for? He's got no brain to think with. We're leaving; hurry up."

Yamamoto laughed his signature laugh, lazily using one arm to sweep all his notebooks, textbooks, and pencil case into his schoolbag. "Sorry, sorry!" he apologized, grinning widely. "Just started spacing out."

Tsuna laughed nervously, then walked over to close the window. "Um, Yamamoto?" he asked. "Are you… feeling alright?"

Yamamoto looked puzzled at the question. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

The brunet looked relieved, and pressed his hands on the glass, looking outside. "Nothing, nothing," he insisted, resting his forehead on the cool surface. "You just looked kind of… down just now. So I was only wondering if you were alright."

"Oi, Yamamoto, get your act together!" Gokudera growled, joining the gathering. "The Tenth is looking out for your well-being! Be grateful!"

"Wow," Tsuna sighed, completely ignoring his two companions. "Look at all that rain!"

Yamamoto turned his head. The downpour was so heavy, it made the sky almost as dark as it would be at nightfall. "Wow…" he echoed, though with much less energy. "Maybe we should go, guys," he sputtered out, hopping up and speeding out the classroom.

"What's wrong with him?" Gokudera sneered, glaring after the retreating figure. Tsuna only shook his head and replied that he didn't know.

Down at the shoe lockers, as Yamamoto was trading his sneakers for his uwabaki. Tsuna and Gokudera quickly came hopping down the stairs soon after. "Are you sure nothing's wrong, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked again.

He nodded. "Yeah, just… tired, that's all. Man, I'm glad it's friday!"

Tsuna nodded. "I completely agree," he replied. "After all, tomorrow's saturday, so that means we can do nothing for the better part of the day." Gokudera nodded in agreement. "Oh!" Tsuna said, clapping his hands together. "How about this: since it's raining now, a lot of the trash and stuff will be washed into the paths were the litter-pickers actually pick litter. Why don't we go to the park tomorrow?"

Yamamoto blinked in surprise. "The rain washes things away?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Tsuna affirmed. "It washes all the dust and bad things away." After a pause, he hopped over to the door. "Kind of like when you laugh, Yamamoto. It's like you don't need to worry about anything, because no matter what happens, Yamamoto will still laugh and smile. Does that make sense?"

"What beautiful poetic words!" Gokudera commented proudly.

As they walked out into the rain, Yamamoto no longer felt the need to pull out an umbrella. Because the sudden rain, as it gently dyed the whole town, was washing all the dust and bad things away.

…

Having finished, Tsuna put the stack back down. "Gokudera, let me just say a few things," he began. "First of all, I have no idea why you are in the sixth grade. You should be in high school, I swear. Or at the very least, you should be a middle school second-year at Yuumei onscholarship. Second, I see absolutely nothing wrong with this. In fact, all I see is you being amazing. Third, I feel awfully flattered even though the story is supposed to be about Yamamoto."

"I'm so honored, Tenth!" was his only coherent reply.

"Haha, I liked yours too, Tsuna!" Yamamoto laughed. "And you lied; it was almost four pages! These three should be the Nami Mori Trio, since they live in a forest!"

Tsuna held his floor cushion out for Yamamoto to take, and Gokudera smacked the latter with his own. "That's the worst pun I've ever heard," the silver-haired boy scowled.

Yamamoto was laughing instead. "Aw, c'mon, Tsuna!" he giggled. "Only one?"

"Only one," Tsuna confirmed, smiling. "Anyway, how was Yamamoto's, Gokudera?"

Gokudera shrugged. "It was good, for a baseball idiot," he said dryly. "I never thought he would have a head for symbolism like that."

"Sorry," Yamamoto laughed. "That was a one-time-only deal. I only got it 'cause Tsuna was talking about his view of the weather." At that point, his stomach gave a noisy gurgle, and he laughed. "Guess it's time to eat, then? Since I don't think any of us found anything particularly wrong."

Gokudera stretched and cracked his neck. "I need to go talk to aneki," he said, getting up.

"She works at a pizza place on weekends, doesn't she?" Tsuna pointed out. "Why don't we just go eat there and ask her while we're at it?"

"Sounds good t'me," Yamamoto grinned.

Gokudera complied, saying, "If the Tenth says so!"

…

"Bye mom, we're going out for lunch!"

"Come back before it gets dark!"

Slamming the door behind him, Tsuna walked out. "Alright," he said, pulling a pair of white mittens on. His mother had knit them for him for christmas last year, and they were wonderful; warm white wool with red patterns. "Should we go talk to Yamamoto's dad first, since it's close, or talk to Bianchi?"

"Gokudera probably won't be able to eat if we go see his sister first," Yamamoto pointed out. Gokudera agreed.

"So I guess we're going to Takesushi, then?" Tsuna shrugged. "Why don't you lead, Yamamoto?"

"Alright," Yamamoto said, taking a step ahead. "But I'm warning you, he's going to try and feed you a ton."

When they arrived, Yamamoto slid open the door. "Dad!" he called. "We need to- whoa!"

Lifting up his foot, Yamamoto extricated a rather large puppy's jaws from his ankle. "No, bad," he chided the pup. "Don't bite people's feet."

Walking in still holding the dog, Tsuna and Gokudera followed. "Yo, Takeshi!" Yamamoto Tsuyoshi called from behind the counter. "And Tsuna-kun and Gokudera-kun too! What's the rush? Don't tell me you broke someone's window again."

"No, I didn't," Yamamoto assured, laughing. "Actually, we were wondering if I could stay over at Tsuna's place tonight."

His father went right back to chopping up a sizable chunk of what looked like kanpachi. "Sure, sure!" he said cheerfully. "Come in, sit down. I'll get you something to eat!"

"N- no thank you, you don't have to!" Tsuna said. Yamamoto's father ignored them.

"See? What'd I tell you?" he laughed.

Resigning, they sat down at the counter. "So, how's your mom and dad, Tsuna-kun?" the light-hearted cook asked, striking up random chatter. "Heard your dad's away again."

"Y- yeah," the brunet replied. "He left early this morning, actually."

"Takeshi, can you take Jiro back out back? He wormed his way in a few minutes ago and just sat in front of the door. Like he knew you were coming."

"Sure thing, dad." Yamamoto got up, letting the puppy carry on with biting his head.

"I didn't know you had a dog, Yamamoto," Tsuna pointed out.

Yamamoto hummed. "Hmm? Oh yeah. He followed me home a few days ago so we just let him live here. And now he won't leave."

"Why 'Jiro?'" Gokudera asked, taking a sip of his tea. "Do you have two dogs or something?"

Yamamoto laughed. "No, no," he replied, waving his hand. "My dad joked that there were two kids in the house now, so we named him 'second son.' Funny, huh? Anyway, gotta go out back. He stays in the backyard or upstairs, 'cause, you know, this's a restaurant and all."

"I wonder if most restaurants are like that," Tsuna asked Gokudera, accepting and thanking Tsuyoshi when he handed them plates.

"Dunno," the other shrugged. "But I'd say that Yamamoto's family would be hard put to not be so carefree about it." Yamamoto came back, so he asked his own question. "Hey, Yamamoto. Why are there so few people even though it's lunchtime?"

"Actually, I'll answer that one," Tsuyoshi interrupted. "It's saturday. Most people wake up late on the weekends, so they eat late, so the lunch rush usually ends up being around 1 or 1:30 for restaurants. Here, have some negitoro!"

"Oh, no, we couldn't!" Tsuna said, gaping.

Yamamoto elbowed him and just accepted the plate from his father. "Don't argue with my dad, Tsuna," he laughed. "He wants you guys to have it; chances are, he's not gonna accept pay either, by the way." Passing out equal portions for each of them, he poured himself some soy sauce and dug in. Tsuna and Gokudera looked at each other, shrugged, and followed suit.

"Excuse me, are you open right now?"

All four males turned to see a young girl, probably a third year in middle school, looking into the shop through the still open door. (Yamamoto smacked himself on the head for his blunder.) They looked at Tsuyoshi, who shrugged. "Of course we are!" he said, smiling. "Come in, take a seat. Here's a menu."

"Yamamoto-san, do you always work solo?" Tsuna asked, a piece of kanpachi that they had just been supplied with halfway to his mouth.

"No, Takeshi helps a lot, actually," the father answered. "And usually I have one or two helpers. Today they're on break. Now, miss, have you decided what you're ordering?"

"Actually, I'm waiting for some friends," she said from a table. "But I'll take some tea for now!"

While Tsuyoshi was getting another pot of tea ready, Jiro began to bark and scratch at the door outside. "Oh, whoops!" Yamamoto laughed. "Forgot to refill his food and water! Be right back!" Immediately, he vanished behind the short curtains to the main kitchen in the back. There was the sound of a cupboard opening and shutting, the rustles of a paper bag, and the back door shutting with a clack.

Putting down his chopsticks, Tsuna spoke up. "Yamamoto-san!" he called. "May I borrow your phone for a moment?"

"Sure, Tsuna-kun," the man smiled. "Come back into the kitchen."

"What for, Tenth?" Gokudera asked.

Tsuna smiled. "Oh, I just figured it would probably be faster to call Bianchi now, y'know? You have her cell phone number, right?"

"Yes, but you shouldn't have to- for my sake!" Gokudera spluttered. He seemed rather distraught.

"No, no, it's okay!" Tsuna assured him. "It's just a phone call! I'll be right back." Convinced, Gokudera recited his sister's cellular phone number to his friend, and the brunet disappeared behind the curtains too.

And was immediately attacked by a dog.

Shrieking and yelling in surprise, Tsuna went down as Jiro put his large front paws on his forelegs. Gokudera shouted something incomprehensible. "Sorry, Tsuna!" Yamamoto yelped, running in. "I don't know what happened, Jiro just suddenly ran inside. You carrying any meat or something?"

"N- no, I don't think so," Tsuna managed to splutter out between Jiro nuzzling his face affectionately and giving him licks. "He- hey, don't do that!" He laughed, flailing a bit as the Akita's rough tongue showered him with affection. Working up some courage, he scratched the dog behind his triangular ear. Jiro immediately sat down obediently, tongue lolling appreciatively as his head leaned into the scratching and his tail thumped on the floor. "J- Jiro's sort of like you, Yamamoto. He's really… um… friendly."

"Haha, Jiro loves everyone," Yamamoto agreed. "Everyone he's met so far, anyway. You're the first person he hasn't gnawed on, though."

"What?" the brunet squeaked.

Yamamoto laughed again. "Jiro bites peoples' heads when he likes them," he explained, kneeling on the floor to give the tail-wagging dog a friendly pat/ruffle on the head. The akita turned and leaned his forepaws on Yamamoto's shoulder, biting down on the baseball nut's head. "See?" he laughed, petting the dog anyway.

"It's not like you've got any brains in there to damage," Gokudera snarked from the doorway. He had run in immediately after Tsuna shouted, and, having seen that there were no serious threats, simply stood there and glared at the dog. The dog barked at him in reply.

"A- anyway, I was going to call Bianchi," Tsuna said, rubbing Jiro's ear again and getting up. Yamamoto pointed into the corner where the phone was on the wall, before ushering the sweet puppy back outside to eat his own food. Punching in the numbers, Tsuna waited as the ringing began. Gokudera drifted closer once the must-too-carefree Yamamoto Takeshi and his much-too-friendly dog were out the door.

On the third ring, someone picked up. "Hello?" an older woman's voice answered.

"Ah, Bianchi-san?" Tsuna asked. Gokudera stiffened slightly, but stayed where he was.

"Speaking. Tsuna, is that you?"

"Ah, yes! I'm using the Yamamotos' phone at Takesushi."

"Ah, I see. Did you need something?"

"Actually, Gokudera-kun and I were wondering if he could spend the night at my house tonight. Would that be alright with you?"

"Of course it is. Where's Hayato right now?"

"Oh, he's right next to me. Would you like me to pass the phone to him?"

"Yes, I would. Thank you, Tsuna."

"No problem!" Holding out the phone to Gokudera, he said, "She wants to talk to you, Gokudera-kun."

The silver-haired boy accepted the phone politely and moved closer to the wall to talk. What Tsuna could hear of the conversation included much of the following: "yes," "yeah," "I know that!" "whatever," "why are you asking me?" "I don't care," "sure," "of course I will! What are you saying! ?"

Passing the phone back to Tsuna, Gokudera made to slam his head into the wall in frustration. Tsuna stopped him. "Thank you again, Bianchi-san!" he said cheerfully.

"No problem, Tsuna. I'm glad that Hayato's happy. Take care!"

Having cut the line, Tsuna replaced the phone back onto the wall. "What was that about?" he asked Gokudera curiously.

The boy immediately stood back up. "Nothing, Tenth!" he said a little bit too loudly. "It was just aneki saying stupid things."

After finishing their lunch, thanking Tsuyoshi for the free food, and collectively sneaking the ¥2570 that they had pooled underneath their plates, the three sixth-graders hightailed it out of the store and made it back to Tsuna's house without being discovered. "Tenth, allow me to excuse myself to go pick up my stuff from my house," Gokudera said.

"Haha, that's okay!" Tsuna said, and Gokudera bowed and split, calling as he left.

"If I'm late, please allow me to slam my head in the door on the way in!"

It was at that moment that his mother came out. "Ah, Tsu-kun!" she said happily upon seeing him. "I'm sorry, but could you run some errands for me? It's just picking up some groceries. I'm cooking something special for dinner tonight, since Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun are staying, so I can't leave my hands open! Oh, wait, the stove!" Hardly waiting to shove a wallet, a shopping bag and a laundry list of all the requested items into her son's hands, she scurried back inside to check on whatever happened to be cooking.

"Um… how about we just split up and meet back here in half an hour? Unless you want to come shopping with me, of course," Tsuna suggested. Yamamoto nodded.

"Haha, I think that's a great idea! I'll go take Jiro for a 20-minute walk or something, then!" They scattered.

…

"And last thing is… batteries. Well that should be- oh wait, there's a backside."

Tsuna groaned, making a turn into the route to the nearest convenience store. "I can just pick everything up there any- wah!"

Backing up and rubbing his nose, Tsuna started. "Ah, I'm so sorry! I just, um… you were… I think…"

"Hibari," the other filled in. Dusting off his black pants, Hibari looked Tsuna up and down skeptically. "You are… alone?"

"Um, yes!" Tsuna answered hesitantly. "I'm just running some errands for my mom before meeting up with some friends in… ten or fifteen minutes. A- and you, Hibari-san?"

The older boy shrugged. "I've moved to Namimori, so I needed to buy groceries. And… some other things. I'm out of batteries right now, so I was going to go buy some."

"Haha, what a coincidence!" Tsuna laughed nervously. "I need to buy some too. Do you need… um… how should I put this…"

Hibari shook his head. "I do not need any guidance, thank you. Though, if we're in search of the same item, it stands to reason that you might as well continue talking while we walk, seeing as you do not seem to be finished with whatever it was you were planning on saying."

As Tsuna walked a pace behind the taller boy, he tried to continue the slightly awkward conversation. He had only just met Hibari, so this was his chance to make a good first impression! It would be bad if everyone on earth began to think of him as no-good.

As they were flitting through the isles, Hibari picking up a few daily necessities like a carton of milk, a bottle of tea and some instant food along the way, he turned to face the shorter brunet. "You," he said. "Don't you have any companions?"

"Companions?" Tsuna asked, confused. "Um… not right now. My friends and I were going to meet back up at my house later. Gokudera-kun is getting things from his house and Yamamoto is taking his dog for a walk."

"I see."

Having found the batteries, Tsuna picked up what he needed, crossing the items off his list. "Well, I will be going home," Hibari said.

"Oh! Um, thank you for putting up with me, Hibari-san," Tsuna called after the retreating figure. His only reply was an off-handed wave. Sighing, he set to picking up everything else before heading home.

For those of you familiar with the 12-episode OVA "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", as the story goes on, you will likely notice that there are parallels between Tsuna and Hibari's relationship and Madoka and Homura's. Mostly in that there will be BL undertones.