Hello everyone, it's Slave here! I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm alive and back! Isn't that wonderful? Well, I thought I'd really commemorate my return with a new fic. :3

Hibari Kyoya. Age 16 and the Head of the Disciplinary Committee of Nanimori. Date of birth; May 5th. With the start of the new school year, a third year at Nanimori High, a school where the middle and high schools are in the same building. His parents aren't around much anymore, and as a result, he has the house all to himself, for the most part.

Usually the head of the Disciplinary Committee didn't dream, but for the past few days old memories played in his head about his childhood. What he found most odd was that the star of these dreams was always the same person. There had been many memories from his childhood, not all happy and fluffy, but so many happy ones were with this person, and all his memories of this person—his younger cousin Nona—were happy. Because of these dreams of Nona, his mood had been better than usual.

His dream was interrupted by his dry throat, as he sat up in his room. The teenager wore pajamas of black silk and his hair was a royal mess, but since he was alone in the house, he didn't care. Kyoya's legs swung out over the side of his bed and touched the cool hardwood of his bedroom. Normally people put on slippers to walk around an uncarpeted house, but he was not such an herbivore to need something like that. In his bare feet he padded out of his room and down the stairs, passing the house phone on his way to the kitchen. No one called it, and since his parents were never home to use it he'd thought about disconnecting it.

But like his dream, the phone contained memories of his dearest Nona, and he couldn't bear to disconnect it.

A glass from the last cabinet made its way into his hand, soon filled with water. The clear glass was lifted to his parched lips when he heard the oddest sound. It reminded him of the chirping of his beloved companion Hibird whom was currently sleeping in his makeshift nest of old newspaper and leaves. Almost, but then again this sound was tinny and old, almost robotic in quality, and as he looked around and saw that the phone that had gathered a film of dust was ringing, his heart dropped into his shoes.

Kyoya contemplated just letting the phone ring and giving the person the answering machine (was the answering machine full? Did they even have an answering machine?) but then pushed that thought away. He was thinking like a stupid, crowding herbivore, and he was a carnivore. Carnivores did not get frightened by the sounds of a stupid telephone, and did not dread the messages the voices would deliver. The teen's feet had moved, bringing him right in front of the telephone. He grabbed the speaking part and took it off its hook, bringing it to his ear despite the dust.

"Hello?"

It was a sunny day in Nanimori, but that might have been because the elements were happy all the children were going back to school, while the children themselves were nothing short of upset about such a chain of events. No one was more upset about the new school year than No-Good-Tsuna, also known as Sawada Tsunayoshi, the tenth boss of the Vongola. Tsuna was no good at school, nor was he good at the sports that they always pressed him to play at the school.

But more than anything he was not looking forward to dealing with the Head of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyoya. Even though he was his Cloud Guardian, the older teen never listened to a word the younger male said to him. It didn't have anything to do with age either, Kyoya just had no interest in the affairs of the family that he was a part of. That might have been a good or bad thing, considering that the male was "officially" on their side, but he frequently beat them up or walked away from where he was needed because he grew bored or they was disrupting the peace of his beloved Nanimori.

Tsuna's mother had packed him a delicious lunch, and the smell of it was driving him crazy with hunger. If he didn't get something to take his mind off of it he would open it and eat it, even though he had already eaten breakfast before he left the house.

"Tenth!" A familiar voice called. The brown haired mop didn't even have to turn around, since he already knew the owner of that voice quite well. A silver-haired-green-eyed male was already beside him, grinning stupidly at him. Gokudera was quite happy whenever he was around Tsuna, because he was the young Vongola's self-appointed right hand man. It was his job, and his pleasure, to go around beating people into shape when they didn't treat his boss with such respect as he thought was deserving of such a kind and powerful boss. Of course, his boss didn't think of their relationship as that of Boss and subordinate, he considered them friend and friend, and therefore was always confused when Smokin' Bomb Hayato gets mad at people for addressing him so formally.

He smiled at Gokudera. The Italian always knew exactly when to appear, since he'd saved him from eating his lunch before his breakfast had even digested. "Hello Gokudera-kun. I thought the summer would last longer, but we're already going back to school, aren't we?"

A nod from his overzealous friend. "It's a new year, Tenth! I'll work hard, especially hard, to become worthy of the title of your right hand man!"

What could Tsuna say to that? That was Gokudera's resolution every year, and some people were even starting to call his obsession something of unhealthy. Some people being himself and his mother, and those people who didn't think so being Reborn and Bianchi. Reborn figured that "loyal family members were the key to a strong mafia", and Bianchi thought that so long as Hayato did everything with a heart blazing with love he could overcome anything. Neither of their sentiments sat well with Tsuna, but at neither were ready to do something about it.

"I just hope Hibari-san isn't as mean as he was last year," whimpered a frightened Tsuna. He remembered last year—the black haired teen had whipped out his tonfas to bite the young Vongola to death more times than he cared to recall.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Gokudera moved to light a fistful of dynamite on a cigarette in him mouth. "I bite him to kingdom come if he gives you anymore trouble Tenth."

"N-no Gokudera-kun, I was just making an observation. You don't have to bite anyone to death. Plus I think Hibari-san would bite you to death for even using his phrase." He was waving his arms and shaking his head in a combined gesture that meant 'No for the love of God please no', but the male seemed to have understood. The fire on their fuses was put out and they vanished into Hayato's clothing.

This year was truly no different than last year.

They were coming up to their school, and rather than seeing a steady stream of kids going into the school they saw people standing around in something oddly reminiscent of a semicircle. Everyone standing was deathly silent, which made the sound of hard metal falling on soft, bloody flesh all the more audible. Hibari was no doubt punishing someone, even though the day had just barely began.

From the crowd of people they managed to see the familiar outline of one Yamamoto Takeshi. Tsuna smiled and ran over to him, not daring to make any noise for fear of invoking the wrath of the delinquent demon of the school. The baseball star smiled when they arrived and stood beside him before going back to watching the extremely one-sided fight.

Tsuna and Gokudera had missed much of the fight, for as they appeared Hibari landed one final blow on the boy who was laying on his side, blood clotting on his uniform. For one fleeting moment they thought that he was dead, but he got onto his hands and knees and moved away as best he could. His body looked almost mangled. But there was the oddest look on his face when he was finished. Usually he wore a mask of silent satisfaction once a punishment had been carried out, but this time he looked almost... ashamed of himself.

He lifted his tonfas. "Well?" The students moved as a body, all cringing away from the solitary figure who stood alone in the center. It had not been a loud declaration, but it was a well-known rule that if anyone made Hibari shout then they were dead before the echo died away. "Are you going to get to class or continue crowding like a bunch of mindless herbivores?"

That was all he needed to say to get everyone to move. Tsuna wasn't particularly fond of being bitten to death on the first day of school, so would have been one of the first ones in the building had it not been for the fact that he was no good at sports, and running was one of the things he was especially not good at.

"What do you think all that was about?" Yamamoto asked, leaning against his desk which was, right behind Tsuna's, and Gokudera's desk being to Tsuna's right. This made the dynamite user so inexplicably happy that he almost died and went to heaven when he saw it.

"Baseball idiot, don't you have any common sense?" the Italian was sitting on his desk facing Tsuna, but moved his head to give the stupid baseball fanatic a piece of his mind. "He was obviously punishing someone for disrupting the school."

"On the first day?"

"Yes, you dumbass, on the first day!"

"Hey, Yamamoto, you were here before us, right? What was Hibari-san punishing that kid for?"

Yamamoto only shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, I dunno. From what everyone told me apparently he'd just decided to beat the crap out of someone."

"That doesn't sound like Hibari-san..."

"Tenth... forgive my insolence, but to be perfectly honest I wouldn't be surprised if it were true."

"But... he didn't look like he enjoyed it..."

"What?"

Tsuna merely shook his head. "It's nothing Yamamoto-kun."

The bell sounded throughout the school and everyone moved to take their seats and let class begin. This year they were going to be working much harder than last year according to their teachers, but it would probably be no sweat for Gokudera, who would happily tutor Tsuna and grudgingly tutor Yamamoto. Despite his intelligence though, he seemed to not have a knack for tutoring anyone.

But all throughout the school day Tsuna couldn't forget the look in Hibari's eyes when he'd finished delivering what he'd felt to be a well-deserved punishment. He looked sad... and angry at himself for some reason. What could prompt those emotions in Hibari, the school's top-dog, the one and only carnivore for miles around? It was his job and happy duty to tame them, what he called herbivores, and teach them that they couldn't do whatever they wished. But today he had displayed emotions like theirs, emotions that he kept bottled up to separate himself from the herbivores that he tamed. Why...

By the end of school Tsuna had pondered the question many times over and over, and yet no answer could come to him. Hibari's face... it looked almost childish, like a kid that had just lied about breaking a plate and got away with it, coming back to the scene of the crime and feeling as though they'd just done something that would earn them a spanking later.

His distraction carried on through the evening and even at dinner, where the ever-keen Reborn noticed that Tsuna wasn't acting like his normal self. The future boss looked too thoughtful—it was too much in contrast to his normal happy-go-lucky emotions.

"Hey Tsuna," he said in his babyish voice, but got a response from his student nonetheless. He looked up at him but he was clearly still thinking about whatever was keeping him distracted. The tutor did not like this one bit and jumped onto the table, punching his insolent student onto the hard floor of the kitchen. He sat up, his annoying personality returning as he grasped his injured body. "You should pay attention at the table, dame-Tsuna."

All he did was sigh softly. "I know..."

It was Bianchi who, noticing his odd behavior, asked what was wrong.

"It's about Hibari-san. He punished someone today and—"

"Why does that have you worried?" The baby asked, returning to his food. "Doesn't the Cloud Guardian punish someone virtually every day?"

The young male's eyes went into his hands. "Well, yes... but this time was different. He looked... full of regret when it was over."

This information seemed to interest the baby and he let his student return to his seat and eat some of his food before realizing the entire situation. Tsuna was worried something was happening to Hibari, something bad, but didn't have the guts to confront him about how he felt and learn the problem. That was his completely useless student. No idea how to handle anything.

"If you're worried about him, then why not confront him about it?"

"I..."

One look at his face told the young tutor all he needed to know. His stupid student didn't know how to address the problem of Hibari's mood. After all, the teen considered everyone to be a worthless crowding herbivore as he put it, and since he treated all herbivores with such blatant disrespect, there would be no conceivable reason why he would actually tell Tsuna anything.

So he'd come back to this mood, wondering what was wrong but feeling worse than ever because he actually solved nothing in the way of his own Guardian's mood.

"Fine then, dame-Tsuna. I have an idea. I'll come with you to school tomorrow and we can both find out what's causing Hibari's strange behavior."

"Hieee? Really? Oh, Reborn..."

"Don't get too happy. I'm only doing this because from what you've just told me it's possible that something might seriously be wrong with him."

Those were the last words Tsuna had ever wanted to hear. It had been a long time ago, so long ago that Tsuna hardly remembered it, but there had been a time when Hibari wasn't a heartless thug. When he brought sweets into class and only beat up the hardcore bullies, leaving the bullied alone. He still thought himself to be better in those days, but at least back then he still mingled with other people. Back then Hibari had friends.

But something changed when he entered middle school. He began to beat up bullies and bullied alike, and anyone who bothered him in general met the wrong end of his anger. No one knew what had happened, because when he graduated grade school he was fine. Something happened over summer break—they say he'd gone on a family trip to Okinawa that summer—and returned completely changed.

What had happened over that fateful summer vacation? Did that have anything to do with what was happening now?

The next day, Hibari—the man who was so proud of the school he attended and never missed a day unless it was from breaking a leg or horrible illness, was late. Tsuna did not have the window seat, but he didn't really need one since he was only a row away from it and therefore Gokudera sat there. And even if the dynamite dynamo didn't sit there, the fact that it had indeed happened sent a shockwave of surprise throughout all of them. Even more so to the people (like Tsuna) who'd known Hibari since grade school, that he was never, ever late. Once or twice a year he would be absent, but never late.

It was a futile effort to try and get the class under control once the news had spread around the school that Hibari had come in late, student's dashed from class to class, sharing their conspiracy theories as to why the Great Carnivore had come to school late. By the time lunch had come around, rumors ranged from a simple incident of sleeping in, all the way to close encounters with supernatural beings.

Rather than eat with Gokudera and Yamamoto like he always did, he was heading up to the roof. It had been quite a chore to convince his self-appointed right hand man not to come up to the roof with him.

But just as he thought, Hibari was laying on the roof with Hibird flying in circles in the sky above. As soon as he walked out into the open air, Hibari was on his feet, tonfas in hand to deliver a well-deserved punishment. "Why aren't you in class?" He demanded, but slowly came out of his fighting stance once he saw Reborn.

"Ciaossu. We wanted to ask you a few questions." Reborn said with his usual 'Reborn Tact', which consisted of having no tact at all.

The head delinquent raised a black eyebrow. "Oh? And why should I answer?"

"Because if you do, I'll make sure we have that fight you've been wanting." Tsuna was amazed at Reborn's negotiation abilities. He knew exactly how to bend Hibari to his will.

"Alright. What is it?"

Reborn turned to Tsuna. He was going to have to ask the question. "Hieee?" He exclaimed incredulously. His brown eyes regarded the older and far more dangerous male. After plucking up the courage, he blurted out, "Why have you been acting so strange lately?"

A few moments passed and finally Hibari said, "My cousin is coming for a visit."

"Your cousin?"

"Yes. My younger cousin Nona."

"Oh... so you want Nanimori to be its best for your cousin, that's why..." A nod from Hibari was his only answer. "Why were you late today?"

"I was talking with Nona. Making plans."

"Ah, okay. Thank you Hibari-san." Reborn jumped onto the ground and Tsuna high-tailed it off the roof and down to his classroom to tell the others about why he'd just learned.

Gokudera seemed a little disbelieving. "So he's been acting strange because he has a soft spot for his little cousin?"

The tenth could already hear that Hayato didn't buy that for one second, but Tsuna believed what Hibari had told him was the truth. After all, he really had no reason to be lying other than the threat to his stoic nature, and being stoic meant that he didn't particularly care if people viewed him as stoic or not. "Yeah. He called her Nona."

As per usual, Takeshi overheard and chimed right in. "Nona? That's a cute name."

"Yeah, but since she's related to that demon Hibari, I bet she's fugly as crap."

"Hieee! Gokudera-kun! That's not nice!"

"Ah, forgive me tenth! Such bad manners are not worthy of your presence!" And the Smokin' Bomb ran out of the classroom in a whirl of emotions.

It was sunset, and it was one of the rare moments Hibari wasn't wearing his school uniform. He was standing amongst a throng of people in a normal tee-shirt and jeans, wearing his only pair of sneakers which were old and worn and still fit but barely since he was growing so much these past few years. Vaguely he wondered if Nona had grown at all through those last few years, and images of them as kids ran through his head.

A loud screech noise went through the platform as he stood there waiting. They had made plans to meet at this door specifically, and he waited, even as other people came and walked by and met up with friends and family, he waited. The throng of people had thinned some when he heard a shout.

"Kyo-chan!"

And that's the end of this chapter. Stay tuned!