-Tsuna's POV-

The rooftop was packed with students, most of them from my class. Some of the members from the baseball club are also here to talk some sense to that baseball fool and some students are just here to be busybodies.

I pushed my way towards the front, to see Yamamoto standing at the edge of the building, behind the chain fence. His eyes were staring blankly into the skies and his right arm was in a cast. Everyone dare not come close, creating a wide berth from him. But they are all shouting and pleading him to move away from there.

"C'mon man! This isn't funny."

"Please Yamamoto! Think about what you're about to do!"

"Hey, we can just talk it out alright? There's no need for this!"

So many pleas and protest from the audience but none stepped forward to drag him back. They are all afraid I see.

But I'm not. I really don't want to do what I'm about to but there's really no choice in the matter. I have to speak up and knock some sense into that idiot before he makes a decision that is irreversible.

I stepped out of the crowd of students and walked towards the chain fence. Yamamoto sensed my approach and turned his attention towards me.

"Hey Tsuna, if you come to persuade me, it won't work. After the baseball Gods abandoned me, I have nothing left. There's no meaning in my life now."

I'm speechless.

I have no idea baseball meant so much to him. I know he's great at it and he enjoys playing it but I never thought he would die for it. That's what it means to be dedicated to something.

Unlike me, I have nothing.

The cycle of reincarnation has killed everything in me. I'm living but not. My goal is to defeat Death but somewhere along the way, a part of me has given up and accepted my fate. And thus I drift through my days like a living zombie.

But watching Yamamoto has sparked something back to life again, something that I haven't felt so strongly in decades.

Resolve.

I thought it had died along with many of my other emotions in me. But now it burns strongly in me-raging in me-telling me one thing:

I don't want Yamamoto to die.

I want him to live.

'Why? He's not my friend, he's just a classmate.'

But this is no time for questions. I'll think about the reasons later.

"Yamamoto, I can't believe this is the same guy I'm looking at compared to yesterday." I muttered.

"Hah!" He gave me a crude laugh. "Funny how people change overnight. But you should know since you were a dame before but look at you now."

Me? I don't think I changed at all. Besides the fact that I have Gokudera by my side and I'm more outspoken than before.

"But for me, I'm.....I'm nothing without baseball!" He shouted.

Okay. That's it. I have enough of this. He's exaggerating this way too much.

"Do you really think that you're life is over just because of a broken arm? I may not understand what it means to dedicate your life to something but don't you think you're taking it a bit too far?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What would you know?" He glared at me. But I saw no anger behind it. All I saw was the pain and conflict in his eyes.

'He doesn't really want to do this. He's just confused right now.'

"I don't. So why don't you come down here and tell me about it? I'm willing to listen to whatever troubles you have." I said quietly but loud enough for only him to hear.

"Don't just selfishly decide to end your life over something so small."

"Baseball is no—"
I put up a hand to silence him when he opened his mouth to protest.

"Compared to your precious life, baseball is a small matter. What would you think your dad would say if you went through with this? Do you think he'd approve of it? Do you think he'd be happy? Think of the pain you'll bring to him. Do you want him to live the rest of his life alone?!" I ended with a shout, unable to control my anger. I paused to take in a breath to calm myself.

Yamamoto eyes soften at the mention of his father. "Oyaji...."

This whole time when I was trying to persuade Yamamoto, I felt as though these words are meant for me too.

No, I have never considered suicide before but that didn't matter because I know I'll die by 15 anyway. What I am sad about were the people I leave behind. Sure, I got a new life but I can't help thinking about the people who suffered just by knowing me. My past parents, my past friends and acquaintances. I always wondered if they had moved on with their lives after I'm gone.

Yamamoto flinched a little as his eyes met mine and I knew he saw my pain in it because I couldn't mask it any longer. But as quickly as I let my mask slip, I put it up again, steeling myself again and spoke with a calm voice.

"Your arm will heal one day but the wounds inflicted in your father's heart will never if you selfishly decide to do this." I whispered and he flinched again, realization finally dawning on him.

"Death is never the answer. You don't get another chance in life so don't waste it."

Yamamoto's face scrunched up in regret.

"Stupid...I'm so stupid...." he muttered.

'Seems like he finally gets it.' I smiled, relieved that I managed to talk some sense into him.

"C'mon. Climb over the fence, it's dangerous over there."

"Y-Yeah...." He still looks a little out of it but begin to climb the fence with his good arm.

But the rusted fence-after enduring rain and shine for years-could not hold Yamamoto's weight and broke. I watched in shock as he lost his balance and fell backwards, off the edge of the building. It all happened too fast for me to act.

All the students watching screamed in horror but still none went forward to help. I rushed to the edge and peered down, fearing the worse but to my surprise, Yamamoto hang there. He managed to grab hold of the edge with his good arm as he dropped.

He looked up at me with a strained smile and laughed.
"Little help?"

I blew out a breath of relief as I bend down to pull him up. But the moment I grabbed his arm, his strength gave out and his fingers slipped from the edge, dragging me along with him.

Time felt like it went into slow motion. I felt my body slowly fall over the edge. I felt the rush of wind in my ears as I fell. I felt the weight of Yamamoto's in my hands.

A single thought went through my mind:
'Ah.....Am I going to die before my 15th year? Maybe it's for the best.' I closed my eyes and accepted my fate. Instead of dying in the hands of Death, I would have used it to try to save the life of a friend. This way, my death may have some meaning in it. Wouldn't it?

"Tsuna!" I heard Yamamoto yell and his voice woke me up.

That's right. Yamamoto. I can't let him die here. With one hand still holding onto Yamamoto's, I reached out my other and grabbed onto a window sill.

I felt my arm being jerked on both sides when I stopped our fall and let out a small scream.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto cried out worriedly as he dangled from my grasp.

I grimace as I felt warm liquid trickling down both my arms and I knew I'm going to suffer for that later. Right now, adrenaline burns through me which helps in numbing the pain in my arms. I'm pretty sure my left arm is dislocated while my right is in pretty bad shape considering I can't feel much from it anymore.

"Tsuna! Let go off me!" Yamamoto shouted. I glared at him to shut him up. If I still have any strength left, I would tell him off for even suggesting something so stupid but right now, it's taking my all to even hold on for another few minutes.

I bit my lips in pain and desperately looked for a way to save him. I can still hear noises from the rooftop but it seems like no one would be coming to our rescue seeing how spineless my classmates are.

A glint of something shiny caught my eyes from afar and I could barely make out the outline of a fedora and a green gun pointing towards me from the shadows of the tree.

I blew out a small breath of relief. I knew he'll be somewhere close by. He always is. But this is the first time am I ever so glad that he's here.

I heard a gunshot and felt a bullet piercing my forehead. I felt a familiar warm spreading through me and I felt my regrets flow.

I'll regret it for the rest of my life if I fail to save Yamamoto from falling down this building. How I wished I have the strength to safety carry the both of us down.

I felt the flames burn my clothes away, leaving me with only boxers on but that didn't bother me right now. Saving Yamamoto is all that matters.

"REBORN!! I'll SAVE YAMAMOTO WITH MY DYING WILL!!!"

With my newfound strength, I easily pulled Yamamoto up into my arms-princess carry style-and ran along the sides of the building like a spider till I reached the ground. As soon as my feet touch the ground, the flames on my forehead sizzled out and I went back to my normal self.

I collapsed onto my knees in exhaustion. The adrenaline slowly disappeared from my system, leaving me drained and woozy. However, despite all this, the smile never left my face.

'I did it. I saved him.' I breathed in a much needed deep breath.

Yamamoto sat beside me, panting. He looked at me with a mix of emotions in his eyes. I saw shock from the fall, disbelief from what just happened and lastly admiration for saving his life.

When he finally found his voice, he spoke up.

"T-Thanks for the save Tsuna......" He gave me a tired smile but then dropped it. "I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess....nothing good ever come from my stupidity." He heaved a dry laugh.

"Don't..say..that...." I panted and glared at him. "I'm just glad that you're alright."

He looked taken aback by my words for a second and then he barked out a laugh. I frowned, wondering what's so funny about what I said.

"You're really amazing, you know that Tsuna~" He chuckled, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Well, I don't think so." I muttered.

I got up and wobbled a little, exhaustion hanging onto me like weights. I badly want to skip the rest of the classes and go home but I bet a certain 'home tutor' won't allow that. Even if I'm injured with a dislocated shoulder and some torn ligaments.

So, I have no choice but to drag my tired body and proceed back to class.

"C'mon. We have to get back to class." I signaled him over with a small wave of my hand.

He nodded and hops up without much difficulty, as though he didn't just drop off from a school building.

"Hey Tsuna?"

"Hm?" I answered him without looking back, walking forward.

"Do you think I can be as awesome as you one day?"

'I can't believe he just asked such an embarrassing question! How am I supposed to answer that?' I mentally screamed.

I shrugged. "Who knows." Once I said that, the next few words flowed out without me thinking about it. "But the first thing you should do is get rid of that fake mask of yours. Smiles should come from the heart and not used to please others. Besides, I think your genuine smile is pretty nice, so you should smile more."

I didn't see what his expression was when I said that. I was too embarrassed to even face him after saying all that mushy stuff that I power-walked all the way back into the building without a backward glance.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Once I was back in the building, I hid myself in the toilet stalls and took out a towel that I always carried around for this kind of purposes. What I'm about to do is not pleasant at all.

I stuffed the towel into my mouth and got myself ready for what I'm about to do.

3, 2, 1

Counting down in my head, I slammed my dislocated shoulder against the wall and heard a satisfying crack as it went back into place. I bit into the towel to hold back the howl of pain from my throat and tried to regulate my breathing. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead and into my eyes as I tried to blink them away because my hands are useless right now. I stayed like that for about 10 minutes as I wait for the pain to settle.

Once the pain died down a little, I tried moving it a little to test my arm. It was sore but at least I can still use it. My right arm on the other hand, is a different story.

The skin was torn and bleeding quite a lot. I used the towel to clean up all the blood and saw that my skin was bruised and swollen. I guess i have no choice but to see a doctor for that as much as I wanted to avoid going.

But for now, I wrapped a bandage around it to stop the blood flow. I always carry around bandages at all times due to the bullies that always beat me up for no reason. I learned to take care of my own wounds since long ago in order to not alarm Kaa-san every time I come home bruise and stained in blood. I can't help the stains on my clothes though but I can always make an excuse for that like I fell off the stairs or something like that. Considering how clumsy I am, Kaa-san actually believes it. But one can only fall off the stairs that many times. Kaa-san's not that naive to keep believing in that lie if I keep using it.

After getting patched up, I returned to class as though nothing happened. The rest of the class simply dismissed Yamamoto's suicide attempt as a 'joke' or some thought that I was behind it in order to 'prank' them.

Ignorant fools.

I ignored all the rumors floating about and drift off into dreamland. All the while, my arm was throbbing like crazy. Maybe I should have gone home like Yamamoto did, though I'll be risking the infant's wrath but it might be worth it.

Speaking of Yamamoto, I hope he gets better soon.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The next morning, with my right arm in a cast, I went to school feeling as crappy as ever. Kaa-san questioned me about my arm but I simply laughed it off as me being clumsy and falling off the stairs in school. As I said that, a familiar stab of guilt went through me but I ignored it. Kaa-san looks a little upset but nodded her head, accepting my pathetic excuse.

I headed to school without any incident but when I reached my classroom, there seemed to be something going on inside class. I heard a commotion as I was right outside the door. Right as I was about to open it, the door opened and I was met with Yamamoto's shock face.

We both stared at each other and at each other's arms wrapped in a cast.

Then, we couldn't take it anymore and we both burst out laughing at the absurd sight of us in casts. Even our injured arms are on the same side!

This is the first time since forever that I've laughed so much, especially in front of others. Everyone in class stared at us as if we're crazy but we ignored them.

Yamamoto smiled at me, a real genuine smile that made me feel happy too.

"Now, this is the Yamamoto I prefer." I grinned. "Compared to before, this is more refreshing and natural."

Yamamoto blinked, a little surprised. But his expression slowly turned soft.

"Thanks Tsuna. I'm so glad to have you as my friend."

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The crowd clapped and cheered for the musician performing in the streets. I stood in awe as his music captivated my entire being and smoothed my soul. Every note produced by the flute was heavenly and it flowed beautifully through the air, bewitching all who hears it.

The boy who stood there, fingers expertly playing the flute was no older than me but yet he was full of confidence in his skills and played in front of the crowd with pride.

He wore a strange looking blue and white robe with a tall black hat which was unusual around these parts. His eyes and hair were interesting too because no one around here have black hair and dark eyes like his.

As he was packing up his things, I hesitatingly walked up to him.

"You're really great! I was so amazed by your skills as a musician." I couldn't help but shout it out loud. It was the first time I've ever seen a musician as great as him, or as young as him. The musicians in the castle were always playing boring music without any soul in them. But the music this boy played was different.

"Thank you. I'm overjoyed to hear that you enjoyed my music." He bowed. He was soft-spoken and had a warm smile on his face.

"Erm...I'm Cielo! May I ask what your name is?"

"My name is Ugetsu Asari." He smiled.

"U-U..ge....ge...tsu..." I repeated, the name difficult to pronounce with my stiff tongue.

Seeing me struggle, he couldn't help but chuckle. "It's a Japanese name. You can just call me Asari."

"Please to meet you Asari!" I beamed, elated that I've made a new friend, and a foreign friend at that.

"Likewise." He grinned.