Even after the children had all awoken, there was silence as they all looked around at each other, having immediately realized what their new knowledge meant.

Going home meant being separated, and even though the kids really wished to be back in their own time, they were sad about the prospects it held for their friendship.

Tsuna clutched tightly to Hayato's hand, and Mukuro had his arms around Nagi.

There was a long while of silence before Kyoya stood up with a little sigh. "Let's go to breakfast."

Numbly, the Japanese kids all nodded, and everyone followed without argument, even Mukuro and Hayato, who were frequently picking fights with the young skylark.

When the kids arrived in the dining room, surprisingly enough, the only person already there was Lampo.

Upon seeing them, the teen, who was really only a little more than a decade older than them, smiled lazily, sipping his coffee.

"What's got you kids up so early?"

There was a moment of silence before Hayato answered, "We're leaving."

For a moment, Lampo stared at them uncomprehendingly before asking, "What? Leaving?" Despite his apparent lack of feelings for the children, his expression immediately became worried. "Did something happen to you guys? What do you mean you're leaving? You don't have anywhere else to go in this time and Talbot isn't ready to send you guys back yet!"

Mukuro shook his head, his omnipresent smirk absent from his face. "No, Lampo, nothing happened, and we don't need Mr. Talbot's help getting back home…"

Tsuna looked up at the green-haired guardian, tears blurring his vision. "It's time, Lampo-nii. We'll see you again one day, won't we?"

There was yet another moment of silence as Lampo digested all this new information, feeling as if there was a sudden hole in his heart; the kids were going back home? In the near two and a half weeks that they'd been there, the kids' presence had become natural; they were already a part of his life, and it would be hard to go back to his life before they had come.

Arranging his face into a reassuring smile, he said to the boy, "Of course we'll see each other again one day. I'm not so lucky to get rid of you brats so easily, ne?"

Tsuna smiled a watery smile at this and enthusiastically nodded, as if trying to convince himself of this fact.

"But how about we all have one more breakfast together, ne? As a family," suggested Lampo, and the kids nodded eagerly; Hayato and Mukuro had understood the word breakfast and had easily deciphered the meaning of the sentence.

They couldn't leave without having breakfast with the guardians, now could they?

When Giotto drifted into the dining room almost twenty minutes later, he found that he was the last one to arrive, and that the seating arrangement was quite unusual today.

While the kids generally sat together, today all the guardians were sitting beside their younger counterparts with a seat open beside Tsuna, obviously reserved for him.

Feeling an odd sense of despair in the pit of his stomach, he slowly made his way to the table and sat down, the blond smiled down at his young roommate, but the boy didn't return with his normal, blinding smile.

Frowning a little, Giotto swept his bangs aside, putting a hand to his forehead and asking, "Are you okay, Tsuna-kun? Do you have a fever?"

The four-year-old merely shook his head and offered up a tiny smile, his eyes flicking over to Lampo for a quick second.

Giotto followed his gaze, meeting Lampo's eyes and sending him a questioning glance.

Lampo just shook his head and meaningfully, his eyes telling Giotto to drop the subject. Giotto reluctantly did so, and the rest of breakfast passed by quietly, no one taking it upon themselves to fill the awkward silence.

Even though that breakfast was a quiet one, Tsuna found himself quite enjoying it, and tried not to think about what would happen when he finished eating.

When he finally put his fork down, though, Tsuna was forced to look up into Giotto's questioning gaze.

Feeling a smile come upon his face as he looked at the man that had come to be like an older brother to him these past few weeks, Tsuna beckoned for him to come a little closer.

His eyes showing curiosity, Giotto bent down and promptly found himself in Tsuna's clumsy embrace as the child placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Giotto-nii reminds me a lot of otou-san and grandpa, and I want to be just like him when I grow up," he whispered into his ear, and Giotto felt his heart plummet as he realized just how much those words sounded like a goodbye.

Pulling away a little, Giotto looked apprehensively at the small brunette who smiled brightly up at him, though there was a tinge of sadness to it.

Then, before Giotto could say a word, the little brunette squeezed his eyes shut and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

When Tsuna reopened his eyes, he found himself in a country thousands of miles away, in a time hundreds of years later.

He took a moment to look around at the familiar sight of his neighbourhood before turning and walking through the gate of the Sawada residence, outside of which he had reappeared.

Walking slowly, everything feeling surreal to the boy, he stood in front of the front door, looking at it for a while.

Then, he stretched up and pressed the doorbell.

There were a few moments of silence as he waited for the door to be opened, and when it was, he saw his mother standing there, her expression tired, with bags under her eyes as if she hadn't slept for days.

When she saw her son standing at the door, smiling faintly, Nana's eyes widened before she knelt down and drew him into a fiercely protective hug, tears dripping down her face.

"Tsu-kun," she choked out, burying her face into Tsuna's hair as the boy felt his own tears escape his eyes.

G stared in shock at the place where Tsuna had disappeared from before feeling a tug on his sleeve.

Looking down, he saw Hayato looking up at him with a half-smirk on his face. Beckoning him to come closer, just as Tsuna had done, the silverette surprisingly hugged G around the neck before playfully growling, "Turns out you're not such a huge jerk after all. I could've had a worse roommate."

G pulled away dazedly before looking down at the silverette, feeling his stomach plummet as he realized that this boy was also saying goodbye.

For a second, Hayato's smirk turned into a genuinely happy smile, then he disappeared into a puff of smoke, reappearing in a mansion not too far from where he had previously been, in a time far, far into the future.

It wasn't long before he was being chased by his sister to try the new dishes she had come up with during his absence, not noticing the relieved tears that were fighting to spill onto her cheeks.

As G's young roommate was saying goodbye, the same was happening with Daemon.

Feeling a little shaken after seeing Tsunayoshi's disappearance, he looked down at his young charges, knowing immediately from their expressions that they would have to be leaving soon too.

Mukuro smirked, before saying, "Your bed was quite comfortable; now we know which one to steal the next time we come here."

Nagi giggled, obviously thinking along the same lines as her friend, even if she couldn't understand him. "It was fun getting to know you, Daemon-nii. I hope you're not too mad at us for everything we've done to you!"

Before Daemon could return with a snarky reply, the two had disappeared, one to a run-down old building where he was promptly attacked by his relieved best friends, the other to a mansion where her parents hadn't even noticed she was missing.

Now that there were only three children left, Asari was beginning to panic.

Looking down at Takeshi, he saw the boy smiling mysteriously at him.

Standing on his chair to wrap his small arms around the older Japanese man's neck, Takeshi placed a kiss on his cheek before saying, "I hope you'll invite me to tea again one day."

As he unwrapped his arms and stepped away, Takeshi smiled once more before disappearing in a manner similar to his friends and reappearing just outside his father's restaurant.

He had taken but two steps inside before a customer noticed him and yelled for Tsuyoshi to come outside and that his son had returned.

It wasn't long before Takeshi found himself being crushed in his father's embrace.

Alaude looked down at the young boy sitting beside him, his eyes betraying his feelings at seeing the young boy go.

Kyoya looked back up at him with emotionless eyes before smiling up at him; a small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"I acknowledge you as a carnivore," he said shortly and without preamble before promptly turning his head away to hid a small tear glistening on his cheek and disappearing.

He reappeared in a house in Japan where his parents' divorce had been finalized and he was told to start packing his things for his new home in France.

Ryohei was the last of the kids to disappear, and Knuckle found himself fighting back tears as the small boy smiled brightly up at him.

"Knuckle-nii was an extreme roommate," he said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "I'm going to learn boxing and become strong, just like you."

And with that, the last of the kids were gone, having returned to his own time just in time to rescue his precious little sister from a gang of nasty school boys.

It wasn't long before he was back home, being hugged fiercely by both his parents and his younger sister.

He was finally back home.

SkyGem: Aww, such a sad chapter! I was planning on making this into two chapters and adding a little more detail, but I like the way it turned out, so I'm leaving it. I hope you guys like, ne? Please do leave a review! (I was also planning on them meeting their future selves, but that didn't happen sadly enough…) I'm sorry I can't post the next installment tonight, but it'll be up tomorrow, 'kay? Ciao for now!