Summary: Everyone has insecurities, and everyone has fears. And no matter how strong and confident they may seem, the Vongola guardians are no different. And when those insecurities and fears rise to the surface, who else should the guardians turn to but their Decimo? Who else would they allow to see them in their most vulnerable of states but their one and only sky? Two-shot. No pairings.

SkyGem: To those who were waiting for this: sorry for getting it out so late. And to those who have no idea what I'm talking about: remember how I told you I would occasionally be posting a one-shot? Well, this is one of those. I had the idea, and I had the time, so I decided to write it. Hope you guys like!

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

It was on a beautifully sunny day that it happened.

Tsuna was in the middle of signing through the stacks and stacks of paperwork on his desk when Lambo burst through the doors of his office, out of breath, his expression frantic.

Immediately picking up on his youngest guardian's distress, Tsuna quickly got up from his seat, making his way to the eleven-year-old.

"Lambo? What's wrong?" he asked, concern colouring his voice.

"I-it's Kyoya-nii!" gasped out the boy after he had gotten his breath back, and the blood drained from Tsuna's face.

The skylark, who had undertaken a very high-risk mission only a week before, wasn't due back until the day after tomorrow at the very earliest. What could have happened to make him come home so early?

"What happened to him?" asked Tsuna, already making his way to the infirmary.

"He's really badly hurt," said Lambo, his voice shaking, but not from fatigue. "Tsuna-nii...Ryohei-nii said that his injuries were r-really bad…do you t-think he might d-d-die?"

This question set Tsuna's head to spinning; his cloud, his family member, might…die?

Instead of answering Lambo's question, though, instead of reassuring him, he picked up his pace, the twenty-year-old all but sprinting to the infirmary, Lambo struggling to keep up but inevitably falling behind.

Stopping outside the infirmary doors, Tsuna took a moment to compose himself, and to prepare himself for what he was about to see, then opened the doors to enter.

The infirmary was a flurry of activity, with doctors rushing around, looking busy, with Ryohei and three other sun flame users bent over Kyoya's prone body, working furiously.

Tsuna stood, watching them numbly as they worked.

He stood there for nearly two hours, watching them, a small part of his mind realizing that Lambo hadn't turned up at the infirmary. How curious.

Suddenly, Ryohei sat back from his hunched position over Kyoya and let out a small sigh of relief, his assistants mirroring his motion.

At this point, the four sun flame users and Tsuna were the only ones still in the room, other than Kyoya, of course. The other doctors had left halfway through, finding there was nothing else for them to do.

As Tsuna took a step forward, relief beginning to bubble up inside him, Ryohei's head snapped around, his expression fiercely protective. When it came to his patients, the normally really friendly boxer could become as fierce as a mother bear protecting her cubs, and would usually not allow anyone to bother them.

Upon seeing Tsuna, though, Ryohei's expression softened and he got up, motioning for Tsuna to take his chair.

"The wounds were deep, some reaching to his bone, but we were lucky that we got to him before infection settled in," explained the sun as Tsuna sat down in his previous seat. "All that's left now are some scars, and probably some soreness. Otherwise, he's good as new."

Tsuna smiled gratefully at his sun, not knowing what to say, but it seemed his message had gotten through, because Ryohei just smiled in reply before ushering his assistants out ahead of him to give his boss some alone time with the unconscious skylark.

Tsuna looked back at the older male, and had to bite back a smile.

Kyoya's face was so vastly different in his sleep than when he was awake. Right now, the cloud's face was screwed up into an expression of childish discontent and he was, dare he say it, pouting…?

Suddenly, though, Kyoya's eyes flew open, his expression becoming slightly startled as he sat up, whipping his head from side to side, as if searching for something.

Then, his eyes landed on the table by his bed, where his blood-soaked tonfas were lying, and he let out a small breath of relief.

"They must be very important to you…" said Tsuna, and Hibari whipped his head around to stare at him.

There was a moment of silence before the older male nodded shortly, saying, "Hn."

"Where did you get them…?" asked Tsuna, and genuine curiousity in his voice.

For a second, it looked as if he wouldn't get an answer, but then, Kyoya said curtly, "From my father."

Tsuna couldn't help the small smile that came onto his face when he heard this. It was rare for Kyoya to talk about himself.

"What was your father like?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

Kyoya's eyes narrowed at this and he let out a little snarl. "He was a disgusting excuse for a human being who used to abuse my mother and I when I was younger."

This startled Tsuna out of the happy mood he had fallen into, and he was left speechless.

There was a moment's silence before Kyoya continued with, "But he was still my father…"

Tsuna really had no idea how to reply to that, shocked as he was by the suddenly almost vulnerable expression that crossed his cloud guardian's face for the shortest of seconds.

The skylark's next question, however, shocked him even more.

"Omnivore…what's it like to have a father that…loves you…?"

Tsuna was speechless for a few seconds more before shaking his head and smiling wryly, saying, "I'm sorry, Kyoya, but I have no idea. My father was never around enough for me to know the answer to that question."

"Hn," said Kyoya, his expression closing up again as he turned his face away.

Tsuna looked up from the book he was reading when he heard a knock on the door.

Frowning slightly (it was rather rare for someone to interrupt him during his 'alone time'), Tsuna called, "Come in!"

As the door opened slowly, Ryohei poked his head into the room almost timidly, looking around the room before noticing Tsuna on the bed.

Smiling brightly, Tsuna beckoned the boxer in, asking, "Is there something wrong, onii-san?"

The older male just smiled absently before entering the room and approaching Tsuna's bed.

Sitting down, he said in an unusually quiet voice, "I need a few months off, Tsuna."

Looking suddenly alarmed, Tsuna asked, "Why? Is there something wrong? Do you need help-?"

"No!" interrupted Ryohei, shaking his head quickly, "It's nothing like that! It's just…Kyoko is getting married…"

"Oh," said Tsuna in reply, surprised. The brunet had long gotten over his crush on the sweet girl that was his sun guardian's younger sister, so he could feel nothing but joy for his friend upon hearing this news. "So you want to return to Japan and help with the wedding?"

Ryohei nodded uneasily, his expression hopeful. "I'm sorry to the extreme, I know I'm asking a lot, but Tsuna…I'm the only one she can-!"

"It's fine, onii-san!" interrupted Tsuna hastily, trying to get his older brother figure to calm down a little. "You can take as long as you need, alright? Just make sure you don't forget to invite us!"

Ryohei smiled gratefully in reply, his expression relieved.

"Thank you so much, Tsuna…" he said, still in that same, unusually quiet voice. "You have no idea how much this means to me, or how much it will mean to Kyoko. You see, our parents were always so busy when we were younger, and I practically raised Kyoko myself. She would be a lot less nervous if I were there to help her plan."

Tsuna nodded in understanding at this.

"You took up boxing to protect her, didn't you?" he asked, voicing his suspicions for the first time.

Ryohei smiled wryly in reply. "At first, yes, I did. She was often bullied when she was younger; you know how little boys pick on girls they like."

An amused smile crossed Tsuna's face when he heard this, and he nodded for him to continue.

"And, well, since she didn't like brawling, I decided that I'd have to find a kind of fighting that she didn't mind. So I took up boxing."

"And you fell in love with it," replied Tsuna knowingly, and Ryohei smiled sheepishly.

"That's right."

There was comfortable silence for a few minutes after that before Tsuna decided to ask, "So, do you approve of the groom?"

Ryohei cracked a half-hearted smile at this, saying, "Yes. He's a wonderful guy, and I know he'll treat my Kyoko like she deserves…"

"…But…?" asked Tsuna, knowing there was more coming.

"But…I'm scared. I'm so scared Tsuna. W-what if…what if Kyoko doesn't need me anymore? Soon, she will have a husband to protect her in case someone tries to do something to her. Where will that leave me…? Will she forget about me? I don't want that to happen, Tsuna. I love her too much. I wouldn't be able to stand it-"

Tsuna immediately cut of his rambling by grabbing the older male's hand in his own and looking into his eyes.

When Ryohei had stopped talking, Tsuna smiled, and said, "You're her precious big brother, Ryohei. Like you said, you're the one that practically raised her; the one that protected her all those times. Don't think so lowly of yourself. She definitely loves you as much as you love her, which means she can never stop needing you. It's just that she now has one more guy by her side that will help make your job a little easier and keep her safe when you can't be there."

Ryohei drank this all in greedily, as if he had been wanting desperately to hear those exact words.

A relieved smile crossing his face, Ryohei pulled his surrogate brother into a hug and whispered, "Thanks."

"There you are, Lambo! I'm so sorry I'm late!"

A head of curly black hair swiveled around to look at Tsuna, wide green eyes showing immense relief.

The boy ran towards his older brother figure, hugging him around his waist.

"You came!" said the boy, clinging to Tsuna as if he were a lifeline.

Surprised at the clinginess of his youngest guardian, which he had thought had disappeared years before, Tsuna just smiled reassuringly, saying, "Of course I came. Why wouldn't I?"

Lambo ducked his head at this, a blush creeping up the skin of his neck and onto his cheeks as he scuffed his feet in the dirt.

The boy didn't say anything, merely pulling Tsuna towards the limo that would take them home.

Tsuna followed obediently, not saying anything, and when they had finally closed the door and the driver had taken off, Lambo leaned into Tsuna's side, his arms going around the older male's waist and his head burying in his chest.

"Lambo?" asked Tsuna, starting to get really worried. "What's wrong?"

"You were late," whispered the boy, "You're never late!"

"I know, I'm sorry, but something came up."

"Lambo-sama was scared, so scared that Tsuna-nii had abandoned him too…"

"What? What the hell are you talking about, Lambo?"

"L-Lambo-sama knows that he's not the n-n-nicest person, or that he c-can be really annoying, b-but, please don't make Lambo-sama go away! Lambo-sama promises to try his best to be good boy, but please don't send L-Lambo-sama back to them! Lambo-sama wants to stay with Tsuna-nii!"

"W-what? Lambo, what makes you think I'd ever abandon you?"

"Nobody likes Lambo-sama," the boy said, shaking his head. "Everyone thinks it would be better without Lambo-sama there to bother them!"

"That's not true, Lambo!" exclaimed Tsuna, wondering what had gotten Lambo into this mood. "Lambo, we all care for you very much! There's no way we would ever abandon you!"

"T-that's what he said too," sniffed the boy. "But then, one day, he took Lambo-sama to school, then never went to pick him back up. Lambo-sama doesn't want that to happen again!"

"Who are you talking about, Lambo?" asked Tsuna. "Who did that to you?"

"B-boss…" said the young boy quietly, and Tsuna felt dread pool in his stomach.

"Boss?" asked Tsuna, "Isn't that what you call your father? Your father abandoned you like that?"

The boy nodded slowly into Tsuna's chest.

Letting out a threatening growl, Tsuna wrapped his arms around his youngest guardian, saying, "Then he has no idea what he's missing, Lambo. You're a wonderful, cheerful, and very loving little boy. I have no idea how he could ever have been stupid enough to abandon you, but there's definitely no way I'm going to make that mistake, alright?"

There was a moment of absolute silence before Lambo slowly nodded his head, saying, "Arigatou, Tsuna-nii."

SkyGem: Well, there are the first three guardians! I originally wanted to include all the guardians in one chapter, but it got too long. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. Please review and let me know what you thought, ne? Goodnight!

P.S. I wrote Lambo's part while half-asleep. Forgive me if the quality isn't up to its usual standards.