The first thing Yuuichi woke up to was the face of Ryuuichi, who was sleeping soundly but slightly frowning. He had a vice grip on Yuuichi as he pulled him nearer. Yuuichi sighed inwardly. It has been a while since Ryuuichi last sneaked into his room for the night. He peered over the digital clock by the night stand beside his bed. '6.29..' 

He leaned back into the warm body of his brother, his head. It would be a long day for Ryuuichi, seeing that he had sneaked into his room, probably somewhere in the middle of the night. The last time he had done that, he had a bad day and his temper was thinner than usual. A lot more thinner. It was the time of the month where he would be like this. At least once a or two months, his brother would be out than usual. He would be more silent that he already was, would preferred not to speak at all. If you annoy him even a little, he would snap at you.

Yuuichi wondered if something had triggered this peculiar behavior of his brother's. 'Oh right, today..' Yuuichi smiled a little. His brother was nervous. Ryuuichi always had this bad habit of not telling anyone what he feel and would bottle everything up, so whenever there's something going on that made him nervous or unsettled, he would become like this. 

His train of thoughts were broken when a groan escaped the older twin's lips as he snuggled closer to him. Yuuichi chuckled at the out of character brother of his. "Ryuu.." He called, trying to wake him up. "It's almost 6.45. You need to be at school by 7, right?" Ryuuichi groaned louder, still not letting go of Yuuichi but his grip had slackened. A silent 'One minute'. 

And exactly after a minute, he had fully let go, and had crawled up. His gaze were hazy from sleep as he looked at the clock for quite a while. 

Yuuichi chuckled again. He got of the bed and went to Ryuuichi's room. He took his brother's uniform and brought it back to his room. He was greeted by the sight of his brother faceplanting the pillows, body stretching. Really, he looked like a cat more. He place his uniform on the bed, before heading to the bathroom to wash up first. His brother would take a few more moment before he could finally fully awaken.

True to what he had expected, Ryuuichi was already awaken as he sat on his bed and stared into nowhere, mouth tugged downwards and eyebrows furrowed. He stared at Yuuichi when he walked into the room, making Yuuichi roll his eyes. The younger one grabbed his brother and dragged him to the bathroom along with his uniform. "Wash up and change. I'll tie your hair later"

Seriously, on these kind of day, his brother would turn into a muted robot.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Good morning, Mom. Dad." Sakura and Kei greeted back. Kei was sitting on his usual seat and reading the newspaper while Sakura was cooking her sons' lunch box. They raised an eyebrow when they didn't heard their oldest son's voice. They looked towards the doorway to the dining room and saw Ryuuichi's solemn look and realization hit them. They smiled softly but said nothing. Their oldest son need actions rather than words on these days after all.

---------------------------------------------------------

"You have everything, right?" Yuuichi asked, his brother nodded but still haven't said anything except greeting the teachers. He sighed. He cupped Ryuuichi's cheeks and had their eyes met. "Everything will be fine, ok? Trust me. You will do great" He smiled when his brother's eyes shone a little. 

He hugged his brother before letting go. "Break a leg" He bowed at Ryuuichi's club mates before walking off, only to be held back by Ryuuichi. 

"Yuuichi. Thanks" He smiled brightly. "Anytime, Ryuu."

--------------------------------------------------------

The day went according to how it always have, except the absent of his brother's presence and people asking about him here and there. Though, his brother's friends had been finding him for some reason. First, it was Hibari. During the first period, the prefect had literally barged into their classroom, surprising the living out of everyone. He had asked about Ryuuichi's whereabout and when he knew that he was absent, he simply shut the door and walked out without another word. 

Next, was during a free period when Gokudera skidded into the classroom. He had shouted for Ryuuichi until Yuuichi told him that the teen was absent. The bomber clicked his tongue and scowled before stomping out of the classroom too. A few more later was the seniors of the Archery club, saying something about needing Ryuuichi's opinion on something that Yuuichi didn't understand.

He sighed. Ryuuichi suddenly had became so popular that everyone needed him every second. Then again, his brother was always popular. 

At least he could have some peace during lunch break. He had forgone on eating with his friends(Basketball teammates) and had went a secluded spot by the court yard of the school. He sometimes wondered how the hell did his brother put up with that rowdy bunch of people. He swore he could always find them shouting at each other, well more like Gokudera shouting and Ryohei too if he was presence.

"Ryuuic- Ah. Yuuichi" He sighed. 'Here comes another one...' He looked towards the one that had called him, and saw a familiar brunette. He raised an eyebrow. 'Oh yeah. He still haven't remember' "Yeah?"

"U-umm.. Do you know where's Ryuuichi? I need to ask him something.." He sighed again. "Absent for Chess Competition in Tokyo. Won't be back til tomorrow evening" He mechanically said as he ate his lunch box. "One question" He turned back towards the brunette.

"Why was everyone searching for him? I mean, Hibari and Gokudera were looking for him, and now you're looking for him too"

Tsuna sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "W-well..... Hibari-san probably wanted a spar for all I know... And Gokudera-kun wanted to ask Ryuuichi about UMA or something about Science..." He avoided the gaze of the other teen's. "I... Could I seat here?" Yuuichi nodded, wondering what was with Tsuna.

"E-eer.. W-well... Yesterday, Ryuuichi told me something that I couldn't understand.. I never had the chance to ask him before he went home.. So..." 

Yuuichi chuckled at that. No wonder the brunette was looking for his brother. Ryuuichi always have the tendency to say something weird or a riddle that most couldn't understand. If you look into his notebook, you would find a whole lot more stuff that you couldn't understand. Not to mention all was written in English. "He told you something akin to a poem or riddle, didn't he?" He shook his head when Tsuna nodded. 

He leaned back against the tree's trunk he was sitting under. "Don't worry. You'll know what he meant once it's time... Well, that's the case, usually" 

--------------------------------------------------

Ryuuichi nerves hadn't settle even after playing five rounds already. He was fidgeted as he and his club mates waited for the dismissal. He played on his phone, more like stared at it. He could already start speaking without snapping at anyone after the first round, but he still couldn't calm down. He was still jumpy even though he had won all the five rounds and there will be three more rounds tomorrow.

They will be staying in an inn for the night in Tokyo before going back Namimori the next day. Fortunately, he would be staying alone in one room because of the uneven number of players in their team. He don't think he could stand sleeping with someone for the night other than his family members and Tsuna and the others. (How did Tsuna and his guardians fall into that category was still unknown to even him)

He sighed in relieved when they were dismissed, and literally sped walked to his room. Along the way, he accidentally bumped into a familiar teen as their stuff scattered on the ground. "S-sorry!" They quickly gathered their stuff from the ground. Ryuuichi's eyes widen and paused for a millisecond when he heard the familiar voice. 

They both stood up as he gave his stuff to the teen. "Here. Sorry about that" 'Why is he here....?' And they parted way, Ryuuichi didn't really know what to do. 

It wasn't until Ryuuichi threw himself on the bed in the room he was staying for the night and wanting to play on his phone did he realized that the phone was his. He's mind immediately went to the incident just now. He slapped his forehead and cussed. 'Dammit!!' He sat up and unlocked the phone, luckily it didn't need any password. 

He dialed his phone number and waited for the one who had his phone to pick up. 

"U-umm.. H-hello..?" He let out a sigh of relieved when he heard the familiar voice. At least he knew that his phone was really with the teen.

"Ah- Sorry. Are you the one that I've bumped into just now by the corridor?" 

"Y-yes..." He chuckled inwardly. 

"My apologies. It seems like we had accidentally switched our phones during that time. Could we meet up now?" 

--------------------------------------------------------

"E-excuse me..?" He heard someone called. He looked up from his notebook he was scribbling to pass the time while waiting for him and smiled. "Ah yes." He held up the phone. The teen sighed in relieved and sat down on the chair in front of Ryuuichi. They were in the cafeteria the inn had. 

"Sorry about all this" Ryuuichi said as they exchanged their phone. After confirming that the phone was his, he looked towards the teen. "I'm Shiroki Ryuuichi. You are..?" "A-ah Irie Shoichi...."

He smiled. "Are you participating the Chess Competition too, Irie?" He didn't really expect the teen to say yes. The teen was a genius in technology and robots. He didn't know that he was good at Chess too. "Heh. So which school are you representing?"

 "Yumei Private Middle School" 

"Oh? Namimori too? I'm from Namimori Middle School" He smiled. 

Shoichi felt unnerved. There's something about this teen in front of him that made him unsettled. His smiles made him felt like he was under the gaze of the teen. "Are you interested in Robots and Technologies?" He was taken away. How did he know? They had just met each other, not to mention it's because of an accident.

"A-ah Sorry. Your wallpaper of the robot gave me the thought that you like them.." 

"I do..." He could tell that the teen was faking all the surprises and all. "Hehhh~ So you're going to be an engineer in the future?" 

"N-no.. I want to be a musician..." Ryuuichi blinked. The teen was sharper than he thought. Then again, he was the strategist. He smiled again. "Hmmm~ I hope the best for you. Though, if you felt that you had to give up on being a musician, remember to strive for being an engineer." He didn't give the teen any chance to say anything and he had walked off. "I hope we could have a match tomorrow" 

'Not now, Shoichi... Not now..' Ryuuichi looked towards the setting sun through the window of his room. '... Ryohei...'

-------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuna was both happy and relieved. Happy because Ryohei had won and relieved because he wasn't injured much. The first match was a one-on-one match of the bearers of the Sun Rings. Ryohei's opponent was a girly looking guy named Lussuria and their battle ring was a boxing ring with bright lights. At first, Lussuria was the one with upper hand with the sunglasses on but as time goes by, Ryohei managed to break the lights. With that, the tables slowly turned.

Ryohei won. He actually won.

"No. No! I'm Varia! I'll win even with one leg. It'll be easy!" Tsuna and the others wondered why Lussuria was panicking. The man stood up from his lying position and frantically told Ryohei to continue, only to be shot by the back. "'Kill the weak'. That is one of the reasons why Varia is one of the most powerful organization" Reborn had said. 

"Lussuria panicked because of that"

"Tomorrow, two sun shall rise.
Though, there won't be two."

Tsuna recalled what Ryuuichi had said. His eyes widen as he shook. He shakingly muttered ".... One shall rise as planned... Whilst one shall fall..." He covered his mouth. 'Did Ryuuichi knew about this?! Did he knew what would happen!!?' "Tsuna?" "Juudaime?" He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear his best friends call.

Reborn had a solemn look. He had overheard what Ryuuichi had told his student yesterday. 'Ryohei is the one that rises.. While Lussuria is the one that falls...' He himself couldn't believe it. How did Ryuuichi knew about what will happen in the match when he himself wasn't present. 'He couldn't be a shaman....'

"Tomorrow night's battle will be Thunder" One of the Cervello announced. 

Tomorrow night, it would be Leviathan and Lambo. The Thunder.

---------------------------The Next Day-------------------------------

Click. Tap.

"Check mate" Ryuuichi declared. He looked up from the chess board and smiled. Shoichi's eyes widen as he looked at the pieces. Indeed, he had lost. He slumped onto his chair and huffed. "Thank you for the game" Ryuuichi said as he shook hands with the teen with glasses. 

"Thank you, too" They had taken their score to the arbiter of the game and had walked out of the hall together. "You're really tough, Shiroki-san" Shoichi huffed again. Really, he had to control his stomach ache in the middle of the game because of the nerves that was getting to him. 

Ryuuichi chuckled. He shifted his backpack behind him before speaking up. "Call me Ryuuichi. You're tough yourself, Irie. I thought I was going to lose back there" He looked at the flustered teen in amusement. It was true. He would have lost the last match if not for the one mistake Shoichi made. 

"Y-you're flattering me, Ryuuichi-kun..." He chuckled again. "It's the truth. You could've won if you didn't overlook the bishop." He took out his phone and checked the time. '2.00...' He looked back at the teen who was thinking back the game before sighing in resignation. "It has been a while since I last felt the pinch, Irie. I'm happy that I was able to play with you" He smiled.

Shoichi finally saw a different type of smile on the other's face. "I felt the same, Ryuuichi-kun. Please, call me Shoichi in return" He grinned. 

"Oh, let's exchange phone numbers. Maybe we could meet up some day to play again" 

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Tsunayoshi" Tsuna looked up and was surprised saw Yuuichi. Gokudera and Yamamoto themselves were shocked. They all didn't notice the teen coming up the roof top as they had lunch. (That's probably because of you, Gokudera) Yuuichi was holding his phone in one hand as he stood beside Tsuna. "U-umm Yes?" 

Yuuichi sighed. He couldn't really understand why his brother had asked him for such favor. He hold up his phone and let Tsuna looked into it. "Ryuu wanted me to give you this message" 

'From : Ryuuichi
XXX-XXX-XXXX

Pass this message to Tsunayoshi

'As strong as it may looked,
Do not hesitate to reach for Lightning''

Tsuna stared at the message, mouth agape. "W-wha-" Yuuichi sighed again. He locked his phone and kept it in his pocket, stuffing his hands in it along. "Don't ask me. Even I don't understand" Ryuuichi always says the weirdest thing out of nowhere. This time was no different. Yuuichi remembered that he had to go through all the headaches he had whenever Ryuuichi gave him a riddle and such.

"Y-yuuichi! Could I borrow your phone to call him?" Tsuna shot up from his place, surprising the wits out of him. He looked away and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, his phone was off. But if it's urgent, I will tell him to find you tonight. He probably will reach here by 6 in the evening" Tsuna couldn't ask anything more because the bell that signaled the end of lunch break had rang. 

"Opps. I need to go now." Yuuichi walked away hurriedly to his classroom. He didn't want to risk getting 'bitten to death' by a certain prefect. Not to mention that Ryuuichi wasn't around to stop the blood thirsty prefect.

------------------------------------------------------------

When night falls, Ryuuichi was finally back in Namimori. It was already late. He need to hurry up. "I'm home! I'll be back a little later!" He tossed away his backpack by the door way and ran out the door again. "Wha- Ryuu?!" He ignored the call from Yuuichi as he pushed out his bicycle. He cycled as fast as he could to the school and tried to be as careful as possible because the street was wet of rain water. 

He reached the school gate just in time to find Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei running out. A battered Lambo was in Tsuna's embrace. They were surprised to find a panting Ryuuichi on his bicycle. "Tsunayoshi! Get on! We have to get Lambo to the hospital as fast as we could!" The brunette snapped out of his shock and got on at the extra seat the bicycle had. "Hold on tight! We'll go ahead first!" 

Reborn had jumped onto Tsuna's head as Ryuuichi cycled off again, this time, the hospital.

As they waited for the doctors to treat Lambo in the waiting room, and waiting for the rest to arrive, Tsuna and Reborn begun questioning Ryuuichi. 

"Ryuuichi... Did you already knew what would happen...?" Tsuna slowly said. He had tons of questions in his mind that he didn't really know how to ask. The fact that things went according to how the teen implied was not funny at all. 

Ryuuichi huffed. He knew that Tsuna would ask. After all, who wouldn't when all those happened. He took a slight notice that the ring that was chained on Tsuna's neck was gone. "... Not exactly..." It was a lie. It's not like he can tell the truth, right? Of course, Tsuna and Reborn didn't brought it. He held his hand up when Tsuna was about to say something.

"There's a few reasons that I can't tell you. And I can't tell you those reasons either"

"Ryuuichi!"

"I apologize. But I honestly can't say.... At least... Not now" Ryuuichi had his eyes covered by his bangs. "I will tell you one day. All of you... Just, not now..." He peered up and looked at both of them in the eyes. "Can you trust me?" He smiled softly when they both nodded. "Thank you..." (Tsuna's intuition told him that he could trust him. Reborn couldn't help but trust him. There's something in him that was attracted to whatever the teen does)

He let out a loud sigh as he slumped onto the backrest of the sofa he was sitting on, fatigue finally getting him. "Right.... So anything else?" 

"U-umm.. Are you the one that helped me 6 years ago?" Tsuna meant the time when two children of his age had helped him when he had fallen from his bicycle. He briefly remembered one of the two had told him that he wasn't useless and had something more than he believe. His assumption was correct when Ryuuichi laughed out loud.

"You just realized it, Tsunayoshi? After almost a year?" He finally found them. The ones that gave him courage 6 years ago. He flushed a little. No wonder the teen and his brother looked so familiar when he first saw them. He didn't have much chance to say anything because Reborn suddenly spoke up.

"Are you a shaman?" Reborn asked out of the blue. Tsuna and Ryuuichi blinked at him, though, Tsuna didn't understood what the hitman was saying, unlike Ryuuichi. The dark brown haired teen chuckled a little. "No." Reborn himself should have known it. There are no shaman in this world other than the downline of her. "But the reasons I answer you guys fully has a rather similar one with why a shaman couldn't say what they had saw" 

Ryuuichi gave Reborn a knowing smile, not out of sympathy. The hitman definitely do not need to be sympathize. Reborn tugged his fedora down, hiding his emotions. Ryuuichi's phone rang. He looked at the contact and it was Yuuichi who called him. "It's getting quite late now. I've to get back." He stood up and walked to the door but stopped and turned towards the brunette.

"Once the sun sets,
And Lightning and Thunder sounded,
Storm comes next. 
After the storm,
Brought forth the rain.
Once rain let up,
Mist will deceit,
Cloud shall drift, 
And the sky shall appear"

"Tsuna, believe, and strive" Was the last thing he said before walking off.

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A/N= I probably will combine two match at the same time on each chapter for the Varia Arc. I've forgone the part where Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei, Tsuna and Reborn walking home after sending Lambo to the hospital.

Ryuuichi's strange behavior will be explain in later chapters. 

Ryuuichi, Yuuichi, Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto are currently 14 years old, the second year of Middle school, following the year. But Ryuuichi, Yuuichi and Tsuna are still 13 if following their birthday. They will officially be 14 after it. I got this age stuff sorted out just now because it was a bit confusing. 

Look up for Shaman on Reborn Wikia if you don't understand what they meant.

The twins behavior sometimes switches here and there so it might be a little confusing. 

It wasn't mentioned that Shoichi knows how to play chess. But because he was a good strategist, I presumed that he knew how to. To simply put it, the fact that he knew how to play chess was made up.

After 31, updates would probably be slower than usual because school's starting soon.

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc.etc. mistakes]