This takes place about 5YL, in Nanimori.

As usual, this is not beta'd. I tried my best, but if you find any glaringly obvious mistakes, do let me know.

Tsuna and the others are on a short vacation during spring break, and Kyoko and Haru want to spend some time alone with their friend.

There are more notes in the end.

Tsuna woke up, like he usually does nowadays, to loud noises and the sound of things crashing.

This racket, however, was not caused by destructive Guardians, but by hyperactive siblings, eager to start the day.

The nineteen-year-old smiled as he thought about the small vacation he was spending with his family and friends, without the stress of their job, education, and dangerous life weighing on them.

They had arrived at Namimori two days ago, and he had spent every possible moment with his mother and siblings.

Tsuna noticed a slight change in the sounds coming from down-stairs, and recognised the voices of Hayato and Ryohei and, oddly enough, Haru arguing loudly, while Kyoko and Takeshi were adding to the argument in a much lower voice.

He quickly got ready for the day and made his way downstairs.

"What's going on?" He asked Fuuta, who was watching the squabble from the foot of the stairs along with I-Pin and Lambo.

"I'm not sure," The teenager answered hesitantly, "They were already arguing when they got here."

Tsuna nodded absently, and notices Chrome next to the Haru and Kyoko on one side, with the boys standing opposite them.

There was a brief lull in the conversation when they noticed Tsuna, then Kyoko announced loudly, "You get to see Tsu-kun all the time in Italy, we get to spend the day with him now!"

Haru nodded her agreement and Chrome added her quiet support, "They're right, we spend all our time with Boss, they've hardly seen him since we graduated."

Tsuna interjected, seeing as Hayato was about to explode, "I think that sounds fair; I'll spend the day with the girls, and then tomorrow all of us will do something together."

Kyoko and Haru brightened at that, as did the kids, eager to spend a day with other members of their (admittedly crazy) family, while the others, save Chrome, gave reluctant nods to that.

"Well, it's decided!" Haru exclaimed excitedly, and she and Kyoko each grabbed one of Tsuna's arms and proceeded to drag him with them, "See you all tomorrow!"

And then they were gone.

After grabbing a quick breakfast, Tsuna and the girls spent hours wandering around Namimori; checking out the changes that occurred to the town after a long absence, visiting the places they used to frequent when they were younger, reminiscing about old times and all the trouble Tsuna and his family got into, and catching up on what's happened in their lives since they last saw each other.

Tsuna had left to continue his studies in Italy straight after graduating, along with Hayato, Takeshi, and Chrome; Mukuro and Ryohei had gone there a year prior, after finishing their own high school careers; and Hibari followed them after settling a few thing with the fledgling Foundation.

Haru and Kyoko, on the other hand, decided to finish their higher education in Japan; Haru in Bunka Fukusou Gakuin, Japan's most respectable fashion design school; and Kyoko at NNT Ballet School, an exceptional school for aspiring professional dancers.

While at least half of Tsuna's and the Guardians' time was spent learning more about the Family, how to manage it, and unending training sessions with the Ninth generation and the Arcobaleno, the girls also spent some time (although considerably less than the Guardians did) learning how to be a part of a mafia Family, the politics involved, and how to defend themselves.

Eventually, they ended up sitting on a bench in a park close to the shopping district in town, talking about their experiences with higher education.

"I had a professor last term that always forgot what he wanted to say exactly thirty-two minutes into class, always." Tsuna was telling them, "It was so weird, and no one managed to figure out why. Hayato joined two American transfer students to stalk him in order to discover more about him."

The girls laughed at that, "Did they find anything interesting?"

"Not that I know of…"

It was then that they heard a voice call out "Kyoko-Chan!".

Looking around they spotted a brown haired girl make her way over towards them.

"Uh! Noriko-Chan!" Kyoko called back.

Tsuna remembers the name from school, Kita Noriko had a nasty attitude towards those she considered beneath her, and who lower than 'Dame-Tsuna'.

"Who is that?" Haru asked curiously.

"Kita Noriko, she went to school with me and Kyoko. We were in the same class throughout all of middle school."

Haru and Tsuna watched silently as the girl reached Kyoko and hugged her, "I haven't seen you since graduation! How are you?"

Kyoko smiled politely at her, while she was on friendly terms with nearly everyone in school, she didn't have any real friends outside of the Family. Her one real friend before she got close with Tsuna and the others was Hana, who also joined their Family when they were in high-school.

Everyone that Kyoko called friend was involved with the Vongola Famiglia, or other allied Families, in some way, shape, or form.

"I've been well. How about you?" Kyoko didn't want to have small talk, but it was the polite thing to do.

"I'm good, I'm good." She laughed, then noticed Kyoko's two companions, "Oh! Who are your friends? Why don't you introduce us."

Haru and Tsuna watched as the young woman turned towards them, not yet realising who the young man sitting with her former classmate was.

"Oh! That is Miura Haru, we met because of Tsu-kun in middle-school, Haru this is Kita Noriko, we were in the same class in middle-school." Haru and Noriko greeted each other softly, before the girl turned to Tsuna, "And who is he?"

"Ara?" Kyoko was confused, "You don't remember Tsu-kun? He was in our class in middle-school,"

"Tsu-kun? I don't remember that name,"

"Yes Tsu-kun," Tsuna watched in amusement as Kyoko's and Haru's confusion grew, "Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Sawada Tsu...na - you mean Dame-Tsuna!? Why are you hanging out with that loser!?"

While Tsuna had become somewhat desensitized to demeaning nicknames and insults thanks to years of going through the abuse, and no longer cared what the people he went to school with (barely acquaintances at best, honestly) thought of him and decided to call him, his friends and family would not stand for people mistreating him. Tsuna knew this very well.

He knew that Haru, who has never seen how Tsuna's school-mates treated him, would become extremely angry, and would not hesitate to give Kita a piece of her mind. Kyoko, on the other hand, had witnessed time and time again how horrible their classmates were to the brunet, and normally would not interfere, simply because Tsuna had asked her not to. Normally.

Right now, with almost a whole year between them and the end of high-school, and a really low chance of ever seeing these people again, with Haru to tag-team with against the person insulting their friend, she would not back down, regardless of what Tsuna has to say on the mater. Noriko won't know what hit her until it was too late.

"Hahi?! What did you call Tsuna-san?" Haru's tone was full of indignation and righteous rage.

"Wha-"

Noriko didn't have a chance to finish a single word before Kyoko cut her off, her voice like brittle glass "Tsu-kun is an amazing person, and he doesn't have to deal with people like you insulting him!"

"Haru, Kyoko, you don't have to…" Tsuna trailed off when the two young women turned their glares onto him; they will not stop regardless of what he thinks of it.

Tsuna, knowing a losing battle when he sees one, just sighed and let his friends deal with this. For the moment, at least.

"Amazing? Come on, Kyoko-Chan, don't tell you've forgotten how utterly useless he was when we were younger?"

"He might've been clumsy and bad at academics, but that does not mean Tsu-kun was a useless person."

"He saved Haru when she was awful towards him before we became friends. At the risk of his own life, even!" In her anger, Haru found herself returning to the speech patterns she favoured in her younger years.

"He is a sweet and caring person,"

"Always makes sure his friends and Family are well and happy,"

"Makes time for his sibling, even when he's super busy,"

"He is always there for them, no matter what."

"He makes sure that his mum is happy and content,"

"Works hard to keep everyone safe,"
"And is willing to risk his life to help others,"

"And he's willing to forgive almost anyone if they apologise and mean it,"

While Kyoko and Haru were recounting all the things that make Tsuna plain awesome (and being careful not say anything relating to the mafia) in rapid succession, Tsuna was getting redder with each point.

"So yes, Noriko-Chan, Tsu-kun is completely amazing!"

Seeing that the situation was just going to get tenser with each passing moment if nothing was done, and that the conversation wasn't going to get them anywhere with Kita's rudeness and conviction of Tsuna's inferiority, combined with Kyoko's and Haru's desire to defend their friend, the young Don-to-be decided to step in.

"He can't be all that. He's just Dame-Tsuna, he-"

The Vengola girls were getting ready for another round when Tsuna cut Noriko off, "With all due respect, Kita-san," Tsuna's tone held anything but respect in it, but the coldness and sheer authority of it kept Noriko from interrupting, "You do not know me now, nor did you really know anything about me back then to give a definite verdict on my character. Be that as it may be, seeing go out of your way to insult me, as you've often done in middle-school, is quite embarrassing to watch, and gives the impression that you -and our other peers- were somewhat obsessed with me.'

Noriko's face became bright red as the word's meaning sunk in. Tsuna just smirked and continued, " As flattering as it is to see that is still the case, I was catching up with two dear friends since we have not seen each other for the past few month, and you are interrupting that. So, if you have nothing of value to say, I think you should leave, so that we may get back to that."

Although it was worded as a request, the commanding tone was hard to miss; so with a muttered "Whatever," Noriko turned around and left the three friends.

It was silent for a moment, and then Tsuna spoke up again, this time in a gentle manner, "You didn't have to do that,"

The two women's feachers softened at that, "Of course we did, Tsuna-san,"

"That's what friends are for,"

"Still, thank you."

Kyoko and Haru shared a glance before grabbing Tsuna like they did that morning.

"You can thank us with ice-cream!"

The Sky laughed as he let his friends drag him around with them, knowing that they wanted to help get the horrid exchange and insults out of his mind. He honestly couldn't care less about things like that if his friends were by his side.

After all, he had already figured out that their opinion and support were the only ones that mattered.

And done!

I should have finished this a week ago (I only had the last bit with Tsuna left), but apparently I am terrible with time management.

I also learned that I can't keep a schedule to save my life (or academic career; I almost missed two assignments last week alone because of said awful time management), so I won't be posting chapters bi-monthly, but rather whenever I get them done. However, I'll still try not to have long time between the chapters getting published.

Also, there's like a 90% chance that the next chapter feachers Reborn!

I did want to say that although I don't usually reply to reviews, I do read and appreciate every single one. I want to thank you for them, for the support you show me in them, and for just caring about what I write.

So, if you like the story or have something you want me to write about, leave a comment, or head over to my new tumblr blog blog/roguemagic97 (which is empty at the moment) that is dedicated to my writing, where you can ask about my OC's, what plots I plan to go with, and generally anything you want to know.

RougeMagic