Daily Life: A Study in Murder Part I (…and nothing heart)

April, 1995.

I met her.

There was someone on the roof, and it wasn't him.

Hibari Kyouya felt the urge to snarl; his sanctuary at the heart of his territory was being invaded, most likely trespassed upon by a herbivore that he would tear from limb to limb once he got up there and—

There was a flash of bright daylight as he threw the door open, and for a moment his eyes were dazzled by the sight. As he blinked the whiteness faded from his vision.

There was a girl in a pink kimono standing with her back to him, looking at the blooming sakura trees in the middle distance. Her hair, such a light brunette that it could almost be called orange, swayed in the spring breeze.

She turned as the door opened, and Hibari could see her eyes, a brilliant amber that was empty as a void, bottomless, endless.

"It's you," was all he could say at that moment.

The girl tilted her head.

It was starting to snow in the sleepy town of Namimori.

There was downy white powder on everything, slowly covering the roads, and a chill crept into the silent streets; there wasn't a single other person awake, it seemed like.

All except for the dark-haired boy, still trudging along on his patrol route steadfastly. As the wind blew, he only pulled his gakuran slightly closer to his own body in response.

The road was starting to slope up the side of a hill, and just as he turned the corner his eye caught on a slight figure, standing at the top of the cliff, the blue of their obi popping out against the stark white of snow.

Hibari walked closer, and it was a girl, standing motionless and staring at the lights of the quiet town beneath them. Her wide, blank amber eyes didn't seem to even blink as she continued looking at the falling snowflakes.

Despite himself, despite his usual insistence that herbivores were beneath his notice, the boy called out to the girl. He just couldn't stop himself, despite his usual ironbound control.

"Oi," was all he said.

Ever so slowly, the girl turned. She saw him, her amber eyes as empty as the night sky overhead. The girl's face was too handsome to be called feminine, and yet too beautiful to be called masculine, and as Hibari watched, a slight smile ever so slowly crept across her pale lips.

Her blank eyes continued staring at him, her head still tilted.

"Who…are you?"

There was a social hierarchy in the small area of Namimori, and everyone who was anyone knew about it.

Inevitably, Hibari Kyouya was at the top of it for painfully obvious reasons, and he demonstrated them over and over with trails of groaning, unconscious bodies.

And then, there was Sawada Tsunayoshi, secretly nicknamed Yo-hime behind her back because of her cold yet regal demeanour and also largely because the grunts of the Disciplinary Committee probably have a shrine for her tucked away somewhere for being a moderating figure on their boss. It didn't seem quite right, to call someone like that by such a boyish name like Tsunayoshi, so Yo-hime they dubbed her and Yo-hime she was, especially to the Disciplinary Committee.

No one was quite sure where on the pyramid she was since she kept to herself so much, but there was always a whisper on the back of everyone's minds, telling them that no no no don't go near her she's dangerous that just could not be ignored. So they left her alone, that strange girl always dressed in a kimono. But even if their instincts hadn't essentially shouted that the girl was dangerous they still would have stayed far away for the simple reason that Hibari was interested in her. He even let her onto the roof every day, and some of the nosiest and most eagle-eyed students could see them eating together peacefully.

It was inexplicable. Most improbable. But…

To anyone outside looking in, it looked like Hibari Kyouya had made a friend.

Namimori was a quiet, peaceful town. On it's surface, it was clean and bright with light.

But whenever there was bright light, the shadows only grew deeper and deeper.

For example: on this night, a young girl in a kimono was walking along a narrow alleyway. She did not seem to care that it was pouring out and that her clothes were getting wet. She did not care when she continued walking ahead and the gutters ran red with blood, her wooden zori staining with crimson.

Soon she came upon what was probably once a human being, now only mangled flesh, and trembled. She shook not in fear, but in excitement. With a single finger, she smeared crimson across her pale lips, and smiled.

In the far-off light of a single streetlamp, you could almost glimpse the stark white of a bandage on her arm.

Kusakabe was…concerned. Yes, perhaps that was the right word. Concerned.

His family had followed the Hibari for generations, and their service was long and valued. He too, would be the one to follow in the venerable tradition, as his father had and his father before him. As such, Hibari Kyouya's well-being was very high up on his list of priorities. In fact, you could say it was his mission in life.

Therefore, the rumours floating around weren't exactly good for his peace of mind, but Hibari Kyouya was a very hard man to talk to when he didn't want to talk and most of the time he did not want to talk. So being perhaps the person who knows him the best in the world, Kusakabe waited until he was into his second pot of tea before he broached the dreaded subject.

"Hibari-san," he said. "Are you really sure about associating with that girl?"

Be direct. Do not mince words. Directness is key.

Hibari paused, for just a moment, before finishing the last sip on green tea in his cup.

"Hn."

Kusakabe, being well-versed in Hibari-speak, knew this was as good as a whole dissertation on how he would do he wished and could only sigh internally. "Very well, Hibari-san."

He only looked at Kusakabe in response, dark eyes cutting. "The dismemberment murder case?"

"Yes. From the files obtained from Masahiro-san, it seems that the serial killer is only getting more active as time goes on. There has been some new leads since the last incident." Kusakabe passed the thick manila folder to Hibari, grimacing slightly at the memory of the gruesome photos it contained; Hibari just flipped it open and didn't even blink an eye at the bloody scenes.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, fate has started to move.

"A Namimori Middle school emblem, and a wound on the arm…" Hibari frowned, and snapped the folder shut.

The sound of clashing swords in the morning light echoed in the small dojo.

(Sawada Iemitsu never really asked why his wife had wanted one built in the first place, but since his dear Nana had begged so hard and earnestly for it he gave the go-ahead without a single thought.

"I miss kendo from my own high-school days, anata," she had said, smiling in that especially charming way of hers. "It would do me good to feel young again, and little Tsuna could learn it as well! You could never go amiss with a bit of self-defence." Iemitsu had laughed and tried not to think about assassinations.)

But the end result was that there was a kendo dojo in the Sawada mansion, and that morning two figures in gi and hakama were sparring with live steel. With a clang, the younger figure was knocked backwards, unbalanced. She fell to her feet with a muffled thump.

"Ara, you've gotten better," NANA said, smiling. "But keep your strength moderated, and in the right place, or you shall be unbalanced."

"Yes, papa."

"Ah…have you prepared for breakfast yet? And have you told the boy about yourself yet? Since you are so taken with him." Her mother suddenly reached up and pulled off the tie keeping her medium-length hair from her face, signalling the return of Nana. Tsuna sighed and nodded.

"Yes, mom. And…and I will tell him. Eventually. TSUNA invited him out this Saturday apparently, and he has little reason to do that besides to tell him the truth."

"Tsuna-chan, I understand why you would want to tell him, but I would also understand if you never told him. After all, your papa and I never told your dad about NANA." Nana sighed.

Tsuna left her mother to her musings and went to her bathroom, staring for a long moment at the mirror. She looked long and hard at her own face, too strong-lined to be called feminine, and yet too thin-boned to be called masculine, and wondered how she was going to tell essentially the only person she is remotely close to about herself.

About both of them.

The other shoppers looked nervously at Hibari, who was steadily getting more impatient as he stared at the large clock on the wall ticking away the minutes. The omnivore…was late. Very late.

She would pay for this. He would make sure of that.

"Heyyy!" Someone tackled him from the side, clinging to his arm.

He stared at the girl who had crashed into him and taken his arm hostage, taking in her dancing amber eyes, cheerful smile, and bouncing gait. She was everything he knew about the omnivore had flipped on its head, so the obvious conclusion was… "You are not the omnivore. You are not Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Got it in one! But I'm still Tsuna. As much as she is. I'm just not the one you know." She smiled cheerfully even as she forcefully pulled him away. "Now come on! Since we're already, we may as well have some fun!"

"What—" But it was already too late; Not-Tsuna was already dragging him off into the shops, merrily clopping along.

(Hibari would deny it until the day he died, but deep down, it wasn't that bad, being dragged around by Not-Tsuna was…alright.)

Eventually, they both got a bit hungry, and naturally like other teenagers their age they went to McDonalds. Unlike the other teenagers, their topic of conversation was nothing close to typical.

"Explain," was all Hibari said, even as Not-Tsuna enthusiastically dug into her burger. She dashed half the thing in one go, and then grinned at him.

"About?"

"You."

"What about me?" Not-Tsuna said mischievously.

Hibari growled. The other patrons all shuffled a little lower into their seats around them.

"Okay, okay, no need to get impatient." She took a large slurp of her coke, making it sound as loud as possible, before sighing. "Think of it like a split personality disorder. Except not really. Tsuna and I were not originally one person split into two; we were two separate beings in one from the beginning. There's the Tsuna you know, the every-day personality, the female Tsuna, the Yin. And then there's me, the repressed thoughts, the male, the Yang. Since the beginning, it has always been just the two of us, just me and her, TSUNA and Tsuna against the world."

Tsuna (No, not Tsuna, Hibari realized; TSUNA) tilted his head and watched him with a little grin on his face. "You then suddenly appeared into our world, and now Tsuna is doing something strange. She's in denial."

Hibari tilted his head, his dark eyes not leaving TSUNA for a single second. TSUNA laughed a little."You have no idea how that's strange, do you? Well, here's the thing—Tsuna is meant only to affirm; while my purpose is to deny. So what is she doing, trying to deny our feelings?"

Hibari, being Hibari, had no answer for him, but it didn't seem like he required one. TSUNA cheerfully finished off his food, and with his own unstoppable momentum pulled Hibari out for yet another hour of shopping.

By the time they finished, TSUNA had a brand new, striking red coat thrown over her yellow kimono; it should have looked out of place, but it worked, somehow. Hibari was ready to snap when TSUNA somehow sneaked inside his guard and just brushed his lips against his cheek.

"I like you, so I'll be seeing you again really soon." He smiled and skipped ahead into the throng of afternoon shoppers before Hibari could even begin to try and stop him; by the time the crowd cleared, TSUNA was already gone.

"Hibari-san, this really can't go on. Something must be done." Kusakabe slammed down the case file on the dismemberment case, which had grown even more since he last saw it; there must have been more victims. "But there is good news. There has been an eyewitness."

Hibari grunted before grunting and reaching out for the file himself. His right-hand man's next words froze the blood in his veins.

"They say they saw a girl in a kimono."

"Hey, have you ever wanted to kill someone?"

Hibari looked up. "Omnivore," he said, "I beat herbivores half to death every three days."

TSUNA shook his head. "That's just beating them up, and a bit of fighting intent. Have you ever murdered someone?"

"No. And for the order of Namimori, I discourage it greatly." Hibari frowned at him, while TSUNA only looked back, face unreadable.

"Well, I have. It's the only thing I know." He got up from his seat on the desk and walked beside him. "Ever since I was born, I only knew murder. I murdered myself, over and over. I am the repressed thoughts of Sawada Tsunayoshi, and I cannot possibly exist outside, so my true purpose is to kill both myself, and anything that wakes me up. And, Hibari-san," he turned to look at him, his figure framed in the light of the setting sun through the classroom window, "I want to come out a lot, when I'm with you."

"Don't see me or look for me again, Hibari-san. Because if you do…I might just…"

By the time Hibari looked back, he was gone.

The omnivore was avoiding him.

One did not simply ignore Hibari Kyouya.

But the omnivore knew his habits, and was really sneaky when she wanted to be, so even though they were in the same homeroom she somehow gave him the slip every single day.

And that is why Hibari Kyouya was currently hiding in the bamboo grove outside of the Sawada estate, glaring at the door like if he stared at it hard enough it would open for him.

"You're not being very subtle, Hibari-san." Tsuna's calm voice came from underneath him, and the prefect huffed before nimbly making his way down the tree.

"Subtlety is unneeded for a carnivore. Especially since omnivores like you give me the slip, so I shall just wait here every single day until you tell me what is going on." Hibari set his jaw mulishly; he could be one of the most stubborn people in the world.

Tsuna only sighed, and sounded like she was about to cry.

"Please…just…stay away from me." She backed away from him, her bandaged arm shielded by her other hand. "Don't come to see me, ever again."

Then, she was gone, and Hibari was staring at the bamboo trees uncomprehendingly for a moment, before he tightened his grip on his tonfa.

"When have I done as you wished?" He snarled, and deep in his heart resolved to at least talk to her again.

That night, restless and unable to sleep, Hibari slipped out of his bed and made his way to the Sawada house in the pouring rain.

He made his way through the now familiar route through the bamboo trees, his surroundings made strange by the rain and darkness; he jerked his gakuran in annoyance as it snagged on a few branches.

It gave him just enough time to hear the scream echo in the confines of the grove; he took off sprinting, tearing through the trees, and saw—

Blood.

Blood pooling on the ground around a mangled body, something that once was a living human. And there—

Sawada Tsunayoshi stood there, clad in a striking red kimono. There was blood splattered on her face, and her pale lips slowly stretched into a wide, empty smile; in her hand, a sharp blade. Without any other warning, she was upon him, knife flashing in the dim light.

Grunting with the effort, he deflected the knife with his tonfa, and lashed out in successive counterstrikes, trying to knock the girl unconscious, but she was just a tad faster. With a sweep of her feet, Tsuna tripped him and immediately was right on top of Hibari, straddling his waist. He only snarled, baring his teeth savagely even as he tried to shift his weight underneath the girl to get her off. "I am not going to die here."

"…I want to…kill you." She said, her blade held to Hibari's throat.

Her eyes were blank in the rain, looking down at him—

And the next thing he knew was the sensation of her body sinuously jumping backwards—

"Who are you?!"

"I see. You are not ready yet."

Her wrist, slipping out of his grasp as she continued running.

Her red kimono in the light of the incoming car, he was still desperately running forwards, but it was too late, too late—

Impact.

[You Turn Into Light - End of Childhood]

AN: Don't look at me, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing.

And yes, this is a DIRECT FUSION of Kara no Kyoukai - the garden of sinners into KHR!. Essentially, fem!Tsuna is Ryougi Shiki while Hibari is Kokutou. Weirdass shit about to go down.

Also, while you can expect KHR! characters to show up as crucial characters in the story, the KHR! storyline events will not happen, chronologically, until after KnK Movie 7, aka A Study in Murder Part II. Also known as, Reborn is gonna be as confused as all heck when that time comes.

Look, I was thinking all about this fic the entire time when I was in Spain, don't ask me why. I probably came up with this while jetlagged.