notes: So, yeah, I finally wrote another one. God, do I love 1827. Anyway, I'll be writing another one after my life stops being a pain in my ass—I just happened to have time today to finish this. I'll be updating like black cherries and gorgeous nightmares soon, and then I'll be back on hiatus for a little while. At least until life gives me another break. Hopefully, this suffices?

notes2: Oh, I almost forgot: Merry late Christmas, everyone, and happy holidays!

straddling the fence

hold on with your dying will.

.

.

.

It's not easy to imagine Sawada Tsunayoshi himself coming within a one hundred meter radius of the god-forsaken mansion. And even though he knows it's impossible to deny—though he tries, and tries, and tries, to no avail—it's almost time for him and his Guardians to inherit the Vongola, and go on his first mission with his Cloud Guardian.

Just thinking the words is enough to send Tsunayoshi into a panic. He's only sixteen. He's still small, inexperienced, and wet behind the ears ("You'll always be Stupid-Tsuna, even though you'll technically be in charge of me," Reborn had said on the plane earlier, "even if I'm still your tutor.")—he still doesn't understand how he's supposed to keep six, unruly Guardians and their respective box weapons in line without losing his mind, and bursting into tears the first day on the job. He doesn't even know how he's supposed to keep Lambo out of the cookie jar when his back is turned. I-pin's only got two eyes—Hayato would blast the mansion to bits before thinking things through.

And in regards to going on a mission with Hibari… he doesn't have a hope in hell.

It's a bad idea, it's a bad idea, it's a bad idea, it's a bad idea, Tsunayoshi chants to himself, over and over again, tensing his hands in his denim pockets, shifting inside his red sweatshirt. There's no escape though—Reborn's bound to find him soon, unless Takeshi and Hayato find him first. Natsu purrs against the side of his neck, rubbing his muzzle into the brunet's auburn hair soothingly—"Just because you're acting cute now doesn't mean I'm going to do what you want in this deathtrap. Did you see that future? What if it happens again? What if I have to go back!?"—Tsunayoshi leans the side of his head against Natsu, and sighs.

He just needs fresh air, hopefully.

Or a face full of tonfa—Hibari's alone, standing on the hill overlooking the Italian countryside, Hibird perched atop his shoulder and Roll sniffing around close by. It would be a comforting sight if not for the tell-tale flash of silver in his hands. Tsunayoshi immediately recoils, turns around, and moves to walk back the way he came, holy crap, I've got to get out of here fast, fast, fast. But it's not long after he turns around that he hears Hibari's soft, ominous voice calling to him.

"Herbivore." Tsunayoshi stops dead. Stays still, waits for the predator to realize that he doesn't want any trouble, that he's just outside to clear his head—get away from the noise inside the mansion. Hibari turns around, his blue eyes narrowing, his tonfas sparking in the sunlight. "You're crowding, aren't you?"

Tsunayoshi spins around in a hurry, waving his mitten-covered hands—when did they get on his hands?—in an effort to look innocent, or to help plead his case. "No, no, of course not, Hibari-san! Why would I be crowding? It's a pretty day outside, isn't it?"

Stuttering's not going to help him, and he knows it.

Please, please, please, please, I'm begging you, Hibari-san, don't put me in the infirmary.

"Hn. I suppose you're not. Do as you please, then."

Tsunayoshi sighs—

Thank you, Hibari-san.

—and opens his eyes to Hibari's curious blue ones.

"W—What is it, Hibari-san?" Tsunayoshi stammers, holding his mittens up. The skylark's eyes rove across Tsunayoshi's face, up and down his frame, across his arm length, before returning to his eyes. It's a tense, quick, and sharp exchange of eye-contact, one that leaves Tsunayoshi scared for his life.

"Hn?"

Tsunayoshi blinks nervous brown eyes. "You're… staring."

"Do I need a reason?"

Tsunayoshi does a double take. He's wondering if he should pat the side of his head to make sure he's hearing right. Hibari's voice is soft, quiet on the air between them, and holy hell, are those chills on Sawada Tsunayoshi's arm? It's almost insane, really, for Tsunayoshi to think that he finds Hibari's—Hibari fucking Kyouya's—voice attractive. It's almost frightening, scary, and a little disturbing. The brown-haired boy hops a few paces backwards, hoping the distance between them will muffle Hibari's voice when he speaks next.

It doesn't. Only makes it worse, of course. Just his luck.

"U—Uh, I have to, uh, go do something for Reborn! So, uh, I'll see you soon, sorry for the trouble, Hibari-san!" Tsunayoshi exclaims, promptly turning and running the other way.

Back toward the—castle-about-to-turn-hellhole—Vongola Mansion.

Just what is he thinking?

It's not his imagination when he feels something touch the top of his head. At first, he assumes its Natsu—a quick glance to his left proves the thought hopelessly wrong—and Tsunayoshi stops dead in his tracks, his eyes beginning to shiver. He feels feet, something moving at the crown of his head, the crest of his bangs, and wonders why Natsu's staying quiet while something is molesting his master's auburn hair. It only occurs to him moments later that Hibari is oddly quiet, and Tsunayoshi turns his head to face him.

Hibari's eyes slide open, his raven-colored hair dancing in the wind—he looks soft, gentle, and quiet in this light, something that stuns Tsunayoshi—and he says, "If it has to be one of you herbivores, I suppose I'm happy that it's you."

It's a lovely, lovely, lovely comment, one that puts Tsunayoshi's nerves on end.

"Hi—Hibari-san, what do you mean?" Tsunayoshi stutters, blinking once, twice, three times. Hibari simply closes his eyes, and turns back to the hills sprawling out toward the horizon. Tsunayoshi doesn't know if he's talking about the mission in the morning, or his taking over the Vongola Family in a few months. As if to answer his question, Hibird beats his wings at the top of Tsunayoshi's head.

Hibari's scowl is back. "You're crowding now, aren't you?"

Tsunayoshi squeals—"Hiiieee!"—and throws his hands up in the air, turning back to the mansion and hauling ass out of the dead zone. Hibird, not fully content with leaving his master's side, lifts off from Tsunayoshi's shoulder, and promptly flies back to Hibari, leaving Natsu to take his place on Tsunayoshi's head. The brown-haired boy's not running as quickly now, knowing for certain that Hibari wouldn't follow him, and slows to a stop. He's in the middle of the lawn, standing out in the open.

It's almost as if everything falls into place: Reborn's riding Leon's Turbo-Form across the gravel toward Tsunayoshi, dressed as Master Pao Pao—obviously, the entire gang's chasing him out the door: Lambo, I-pin, Ryohei, Hayato, Takeshi, Chrome, Mukurowl (Tsunayoshi almost shivers at the sight of it, knowing that Mukuro's not too far away with it flying around freely)—and, naturally, he has the official mission orders in his tiny, infant hand. Tsunayoshi reaches up to pick up Natsu from the top of his head, and set him down on the earth beneath him.

Then, he drops his hands, and laughs.

—

Morning comes almost too soon—it seems like only five minutes have passed since Tsunayoshi's head hit the pillow, and already Reborn's pelting him with paintball bullets in the face—and breakfast is almost too delicious to leave without fully enjoying. But Tsunayoshi's bound by orders: he pulls on his formal attire (despite initial reluctance due to embarrassment), attaches Natsu's box to his waist, tucks his mittens and pills into his pockets. It's a silent event, walking out into the courtyard, where he sees Hibari hovering off to the side, avoiding glancing at Tsunayoshi at all costs.

So much for a nice time—the skylark's already in a foul mood.

"Good morning, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi greets him respectfully, dipping his head, and keeping his eyes down. "You're early."

"No." Hibari's eyes are on Tsunayoshi now. And they're not happy, or pleasant. "You're late."

… Correction: the train ride's not going to be a nice time either.

(Tsunayoshi's forgetting the car ride, which is at least three seconds away.)

Hibari moves to the car first, sliding into the far, far, far back, leaving Tsunayoshi with an entire row of seats to himself. The boy's grateful for the unintentional gift, and shortly after the car begins moving, stretches his legs out and starts dozing, knowing that Hibari's more than likely doing the same in the back of the car—Tsunayoshi has to wonder, is there any place where Hibari won't sleep?—and doesn't feel guilty about it. Though, he wishes he wasn't dressed in a suit and tie—he's missing his jeans, sweatshirt, actual tee-shirt, and sneakers right about now.

But he doesn't have much to worry about, because the car ride's a relatively short one.

Thank God.

It's when he spots the trains pulling into the station that he groans, and covers his eyes.

—

So, after the train ride, and thoroughly stretching his limbs in the sun, Tsunayoshi glances back to Hibari, to make sure he's keeping up. It's almost surprising how close the raven-haired boy is, his hands in his pockets, his tonfas hidden somewhere on his person, Hibird tucked into his chest pocket. Tsunayoshi throws him a soft, gentle smile before he can stop himself, and earns a narrow-eyed glower from the skylark—he's forgetting that the former prefect's not here because he wants to be—and promptly turns back around, flushing despite himself.

It's an easy mission: find, and destroy an enemy organization headquarters holed up in the Italian countryside using whatever means necessary. It's something that Hibari can do himself—is that why the skylark's in a sour mood?—so, Tsunayoshi has no idea why Reborn pushed so hard to have the auburn-haired boy tag along, unless it's for battle experience. That's the only explanation that Tsunayoshi has a prayer at understanding, but still, why Hibari-san? The boy's as volatile as Ryohei is loud-mouthed and excited. Tsunayoshi sighs, and decides to focus on the mission.

"According to Vongola intelligence, they should be in the hills somewhere," Tsunayoshi says, knowing Hibari won't offer a response.

It's no surprise when he doesn't—"I should've known better, he prefers silence. Maybe that's why Reborn sent me along: to teach me how to be quiet. That'd be just like him, the stupid infant."—but it's surprising when he picks up his pace and falls in step beside Tsunayoshi. The auburn-haired boy notes that the skylark's hands are still in his pockets—therefore, no tonfas will be deployed yet—and visibly relaxes, reading over the small, slip of paper written in G-characters for their convenience in terms of secrecy. Nothing else but destroying the organization.

Piece of cake.

"Around here, maybe?" Tsunayoshi's still talking. And Hibari's still silent. The quiet between them is already making Tsunayoshi start to combust. He needs to talk, he needs to hear Hibari say something, even if it's a death threat. At this rate, his voice box is going to implode at the lack of question and answer going on between them. "Hibari-san, at least say something."

"Be quiet."

Tsunayoshi's not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth, and thus takes what he gets.

He wanders to the crest of a hill—it's a slighter hill in comparison to the others sprawling out around it, reaching for the sky above their peaks—and raises a hand to his forehead, shading his eyes from the sun and glances around, searching for signs of life in the wilderness around them. Hibari comes to a stop just a little behind him, gazing off into the horizon with his cobalt-silver eyes hard and focused. Tsunayoshi doesn't say anything else, and looks around with his senses, and senses alone, reaching out with his hyper intuition and battle experience.

He can smell smoke. Gunpowder—they're both on the wind, and he reaches his right hand to brush Hibari's sleeve to get his attention. The skylark's initially irritated by the gesture, until Tsunayoshi's brown eyes flick toward the left, and Hibari scents the air too. There's no trace of deathperation flames, no trace of anything Mafia related. The gunpowder and smoke could be from hunters cooking animal meat from animals they acquired from their recent hunt or something, at least that's what Tsunayoshi figures.

He turns around, and starts back toward the train station. "Maybe we got off at the wrong stop. I mean, I don't really know Gokudera-kun's language very well. It's… kind of complicated."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Hibari's voice is closer than before—did he turn to follow him?—much, much, much too close, and instinctively, Tsunayoshi reaches into his pocket and pulls out two dying will pills, tensing his fingers around the spheres within the circumference of his palm. When he turns, the skylark's at his shoulder, a slender, pale hand melding into the curve of his collarbone, just what does Hibari-san think he's doing? It's only to hold Tsunayoshi where he is though—his other hand's got a death-tight grip on a shimmering tonfa, while his eyes are scanning the sprawling hills just behind them.

Then, Tsunayoshi feels it too.

"Hostile intent?" Tsunayoshi asks, reaching his hand toward his mouth, preparing to enter Hyper Dying Will Mode. It doesn't take long for Tsunayoshi's cowardly self to kick the door down. "But we just checked all over the place, and now we sense them?"

"Crowding herbivores," Hibari snarls, his blue eyes blazing, burning with flames of their own.

Tsunayoshi doesn't hesitate a moment longer. He pops his pills into his mouth, and swallows, losing himself to the feeling of fire bursting through his veins. Hibari's hand leaves his shoulder as orange flames spark from the boy's forehead, his amber, amber eyes sliding open underneath a curtain of auburn bangs. Tsunayoshi tightens his hands, and lights them with pure, pure Sky-class flames, before turning to Hibari, and fixing him with a calm, level stare. He notices the slight shiver of excitement overtake Hibari's spine, and widens his eyes slightly.

Tsunayoshi's voice is low, but powerful. "Stay back."

"Hmmm?" Hibari's eyes narrow. "I don't ever recall agreeing to take orders from you, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"It's dangerous—I'll handle this," Tsunayoshi replies, ignoring Hibari's statement entirely. Tsunayoshi shoves more resolve into his fists, and takes off, flying straight up into the air only to begin falling back down—something's dragging him toward the ground. "What—Hibari!"

It takes a single downwards glance to see what's holding onto him. It's one of Hibari's chains—the raven-haired boy's dangling from Tsunayoshi's left arm, swinging through the air with one hell of a scowl on his face. They're up so high, but Hibari doesn't seem afraid. There's not a single trace of fear on the former prefect's face—hell, Tsunayoshi thinks he might even be enjoying himself, being weightless up in the air. Hibari doesn't turn toward the ground to see how high and how fast they're flying, no, his eyes are locked with Tsunayoshi's, focusing solely on the flames holding him up in the air, as well as the ones illuminating his face.

Tsunayoshi doesn't stop flying, but doesn't speed up either. He doesn't know what to do.

"Hibari." It's spoken in a quiet voice—Tsunayoshi begins losing altitude. The raven-haired skylark closes his eyes, and snorts.

"If you so much as think about it, I'll bite you to death." Tsunayoshi's eyes tremble. "I won't allow you to steal my prey, herbivore."

"But—"

"—Keep flying," Hibari orders, his blue eyes narrowing tighter, fiercer. He says nothing else, not even another death threat.

But Tsunayoshi begins to see Hibari's logic: flying is much faster than walking, or hiking through the woods and spending the night in the wilderness. And, with the way they are now, Hibari's getting to the enemies much faster than Tsunayoshi is—all Hibari has to do is release the chain holding onto Tsunayoshi's left arm, and he's free. Tsunayoshi has to admit, for having such reckless and almost incomprehensible methods and reasons for doing them, Hibari is a fairly smart, and intelligent man. With a slight smile to himself, Tsunayoshi increases speed, and gradually raises them back up into the sky, regaining the altitude he lost moments ago, and causing Hibari to tighten the chain holding onto his arm.

So he does get scared.

Interesting.

"Should I tell you when I see them?" Tsunayoshi asks, sparing Hibari a downwards glance.

He's sure that the skylark won't respond—the man's hanging from his arm by a thin, but burning chain—and takes the silence as consent. There's nothing else he can do but assume that Hibari hears him, and pray to God that he manages to reach the target before Hibari gets antsy. Because if things get super-hairy in there, Tsunayoshi's not sure he'll be able to hold the former prefect back—the guy's a monster. But looking down at him, he doesn't seem scary, or intimidating.

Hibari looks almost… small, in comparison to the expanse of forests flexing their limbs under the sun. Tsunayoshi almost smiles again, but stops himself when the skylark flicks a scalding glare up in his direction. Again, he starts cursing Reborn: "I swear, so help me God, when I get back to the Vongola Mansion I will rip Reborn's hat in half and beat him with it until he's sore!" Of course, that's only if he gets back to the mansion in one piece. Considering whom his company is, that doesn't seem likely. But then again, the skylark's fairly calm, swaying through the air underneath him. He's almost convinced that Hibari's not all Tsunayoshi makes him out to be.

Until:

"They're crowding."

Tsunayoshi turns forward, and notes the gunpowder in the air, and notices the throngs of people lining up just at the foot of the establishment, raising weapons—bearing all the colors of the rainbow, mind you—to intercept Tsunayoshi and Hibari's approach. "Hold on."

"I told you—" Hibari's sentence is cut off when Tsunayoshi grabs onto the chain connecting them and jerks Hibari upwards, catching the skylark's waist in one arm, and holding him against his side. He knows he'll regret it later—he can feel the raven-haired boy's death aura stab into his skin, sinking deep. Though, it's for Hibari's own good: he'll be safer the closer he is to Tsunayoshi, at least in the air. "Herbivore, release me at once."

"Hold on," Tsunayoshi repeats, his eyes focusing on the bullets—wait, missiles? Are those missiles flying toward them?—and intensifying the flames cradling his hands, preparing to dive right into the thick of it. "I'll fly in, Hibari."

"Put me down."

"I can't," Tsunayoshi answers, weaving left, then right, then under, carrying Hibari with him. It's an odd sight, and Tsunayoshi knows it, but he can't help but feel stronger and more… confident having Hibari in one arm. He feels unbeatable, almost unstoppable with Hibari beside him. Not to mention the fact that the former prefect's face is at his ear… "If I put you down, you'll die."

Hibari closes his eyes. "I won't die, herbivore."

"You will."

Hibari snorts, and glowers at Tsunayoshi, his blue eyes burning with the violet flames blazing from his tonfas. Tsunayoshi corkscrews through a barrage of large, bulky missiles, before holding out his free hand and pushing flames outward to shield himself, and Hibari from the smaller, more manageable bullets shooting through the air. Hibari, knowing that it's almost his turn to step up and fight, tightens his grip on his tonfas and shifts against Tsunayoshi, but doesn't hold onto him. Tsunayoshi swoops down onto the clearest patch of cement he can find, and promptly releases the skylark, setting the black-haired boy down and landing beside him.

They're met with opposition—if one calls a trembling mass of armed rookies opposition—and though Tsunayoshi and Hibari are by no means friends, they exchange a glance. And though Tsunayoshi knows that with his deathperation flames bursting brighter than Hibari's brooding purple ones, Hibari's calling the shots on the ground. So, Tsunayoshi lowers his hands, and awaits Hibari's instructions—it never occurs to him that he's the boss, and Hibari's his subordinate, therefore Tsunayoshi should be the one making the calls, not the skylark—his amber eyes open and expectant.

"I'll leave it to you to decide how we move," Tsunayoshi says. Hibari blinks, an action that surprises Tsunayoshi. Hibari never blinks, hell, he's never surprised. The auburn-haired boy reaches for Natsu's swaying box at his waist, and grits his teeth. "They're pressing in closer."

"We'll break through." Tsunayoshi watches Hibari open his box—the ever-eager Roll tumbles out, surging into the mass of enemies surrounding them, propagating as he goes, expanding to take out nearly half of the soldiers assembled to stop them. Tsunayoshi has to admit: Hibari's strength is rather impressive.

Faced with the remaining arc of enemies, Tsunayoshi releases Natsu, and rises from the cement, charging the enemies head-on. He throws Hibari a backwards glance, "I'll create a diversion—you go ahead, Hibari."

"Can you do it?"

Without my help?

Tsunayoshi nods, aiming a fist into the closest enemy he can reach, before taking a hold of their gun, and melting the shaft. "Yes."

—

So, in the end, Hibari doesn't leave Tsunayoshi to fight by himself.

He keeps relatively close, watching the auburn-haired boy's back, eliminating herbivores that foolishly creep too close to their backsides. The feeling of weightlessness envelops Tsunayoshi—it's been a long time since he's felt this strong, this powerful, and he has a feeling that it has to do with Hibari being behind him, being the one that's his partner. He's never imagined that he'd ever appreciate Hibari's presence as much as he does now—the skylark flings his flaming tonfa into the enemy's face at the same time as Tsunayoshi reaches out and grabs the twisted grin on another's.

There's nothing spoken between them as they fight. They don't speak, talk, or breathe orders and commands to each other. They communicate with their bodies, and bodies alone. Tsunayoshi knows what Hibari's going to do before Hibari even does it, and Hibari—simply because he's Hibari fucking Kyouya—with flicks and glances out of the corners of his eyes, can see what Tsunayoshi's going to do next and fill in the blanks, moving seamlessly alongside, behind, and ahead of Tsunayoshi. They're like a fine-tuned machine: silent, cohesive, and deadly.

Tsunayoshi pats his back to Hibari's, and raises his hands, turning to both Natsu, and Hibari, "I'll break in."

"With the X-Burner?" The sound of the attack's name spoken through Hibari's voice lulls Tsunayoshi's senses for a heartbeat. He comes back to himself when Hibari snorts, glaring back at the brunet. Tsunayoshi's amber eyes are embers in the light—Hibari gazes into them directly, fearlessly, "Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Operation X," Tsunayoshi says, answering Hibari's question, and without a second thought—Hibari's back presses against Tsunayoshi's, an action that surprises the brunet—fires the X-Burner, his eyes narrowing as the blast of orange-red Sky flames surges forward.

It doesn't take long for the armed rookies to lower their shields of Lightning flames and give up hope of deflecting the attack. Once they do, Hibari's already there, one flaming tonfa raised to ward off the harmonious runoff of Tsunayoshi's X-Burner, the other flying into the fleeing soldiers' backs and sending them packing faster than before. Tsunayoshi sighs, and lowers his smoking hands, closing his eyes for a moment before raising his head and facing the shadowed skylark waiting beside what remains of the door: a melted mess of metal and steel.

Wordlessly, Tsunayoshi coasts toward the raven-haired teenager, and takes the lead, flying through the hallway with his flames as bright as the ex-prefect's behind him, his eyes and Hyper Intuition reaching through the walls, and scanning the premises as they go. Around a corner they go, another corner, two, three, four, before Tsunayoshi hears Hibari hiss something about incompetent herbivores. Tsunayoshi wonders if it's because the skylark's tired, and slows down, drifting backwards to fly alongside the raven-haired boy, his auburn eyes glancing over at him.

"Are you alright?" he asks, his tone cautious, careful. Hibari's eyes flash to the left, and Tsunayoshi wastes no time in taking hold of the skylark, holding one hand out and projecting his flames outward to shield the two of them from the bullets. "Now, Hibari."

"I know."

The skylark lashes out with his extending chains, striking the guards from underneath and around Tsunayoshi's shield of Sky a flame, wrapping his weapon around the width of the closest guard and with Tsunayoshi's help, manages to send the captured prisoner slamming into the one standing guard beside him. Tsunayoshi's eyes widen as an incoming surge of nearly a dozen guards floods the hallway, and Natsu tenses against the side of his neck, brightening his mane in the semblance of courage. There's no thought involved when Tsunayoshi takes the face of the guard closest to the front of the mass, no trace of restraint when Hibari throws his tonfas forward and assists Tsunayoshi in clearing the crowd.

(They're more than a fine-tuned machine: they're partners, they're friends.)

As much as Tsunayoshi doesn't want to admit it, he likes having Hibari beside him—he knows he can rely on him, and trust him to watch out for him, even though he knows that the skylark would much rather be by himself. But even as they're flying through the corridor, Hibari makes no move to release himself from Tsunayoshi's grasp. His side is still pressing up against Tsunayoshi's, his shoulder is still brushing Tsunayoshi's, and his face is still close—too close—to Tsunayoshi's for comfort, but he's not struggling. He's willingly remaining close to the brunet, and it comforts Tsunayoshi to know that the skylark trusts him even if a little bit.

It's more than enough for him.

They round the next corner, and after dropping Hibari to his feet, Tsunayoshi brings his legs swinging forward and slams them into the metal door obstructing their path, kicking the structure without mercy. His right palm hits the door next, flames pouring out of his hand, stronger and wilder then before, the tell-tale screech of melting steel filling the empty hallway. Hibari steps back as Tsunayoshi drifts backwards to give himself some room for a second charge, and the raven-haired boy lowers his tonfas to his sides, and waits. Tsunayoshi takes a breath, and brightens his flames, before surging forward once more, and flinging his fist into the metal door, shockwaves reverberating into the air around him.

Hibari slides back a pace, but regains his balance soon after Tsunayoshi pushes into the door harder, sending the obstruction flying across the room behind it shrouded in beaming, orange-scarlet flames. The brunet turns to the skylark, panting in order to catch his breath, and once he does, he nods to Hibari, sliding across the wind to give Hibari room to surge into the chamber and attack first. The skylark returns the gesture, and takes off, lighting his weapons with brooding violet flames, and disappearing into the room without a backwards glance, or a word.

There's screaming for a few moments—along with the hisses of deathperation flames lighting and fading—and once all becomes silent again, Tsunayoshi hears, "Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Right," Tsunayoshi replies, lifting off from the ground, and smoothly gliding into the room to follow Hibari. He swiftly locates the violet purple shadow, and holds out a hand—rather, an arm—and asks, "Hibari?"

There's no response—no spoken one, at least—and though Tsunayoshi knows he'll definitely be punished later for it, takes Hibari in one arm once more, raising them into the air, and flying forward again, much to the skylark's subtle annoyance. He knows the ex-prefect's going to bite him to death when they return to the Vongola Mansion—"He's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill me!"—but the skylark's quiet against his side, merely flying alongside him without a hassle or struggle. Tsunayoshi's almost surprised the Cloud Guardian's being so obedient, wait, what?

Hibari's never obedient unless there's something for him to gain.

There's got to be a catch.

A big one.

"They're close," Hibari points out directly into Tsunayoshi's ear. The brunet stifles the urge to shiver at the raven-haired boy's voice, and instead nods, turning one burning eye to the skylark. His Hyper Intuition picks up on Hibari's herbivores moments later, and he tightens his right hand, preparing to shield them with his flames again. As if knowing what Tsunayoshi's planning, Hibari reaches over, and presses a tonfa to the boy's wrist: "There aren't enough of them for that. There are one or two crowding herbivores."

"How strong?" Tsunayoshi asks, his words lost to the hallway. Hibari snorts, and grabs Tsunayoshi's collar and wrenches the boy's face to his ear. Tsunayoshi's mouth brushes Hibari's thick onyx hair, his lips parting against his ear. Unlike Tsunayoshi, Hibari isn't affected. Taking the assertive gesture as his cue to repeat himself, Tsunayoshi asks again, "How strong?"

"That would fall into your realm of expertise, wouldn't it, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

Hyper Intuition.

"Yes, Hibari," he responds, unsure of how else to reply. The skylark's not talking, but his face is still close to Tsunayoshi's ear, which disturbs him—who is he kidding, it's all disturbing—and he questions, "Hibari, why are you—"

His Hyper Intuition flashes.

"—Up ahead, they're close," Tsunayoshi says, increasing speed. He turns to Hibari, and tightens his grip on the onyx-haired boy, "Hold on, Hibari."

—

It's only after they reach the end of the endless hallways that they realize the whole mission was a ploy.

A trick.

A set-up.

It wasn't even real.

Tsunayoshi had figured it out shortly after Hibari did. And when he realized what they were dealing with: a scheme of Reborn's involving a completely, and characteristically frazzled Skull waiting for them at the center of the maze, his flames had blown out, and he had automatically begun to curse Reborn for involving him in one of his stupid schemes.

On top of that, Hibari had been beyond pissed, and Tsunayoshi wasn't sure how he was supposed to calm him down without losing a finger or a limb in the process.

—

Now that they're back at the mansion, it's ass-kicking time.

But first…

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi repeats, clapping his palms together and dipping his head apologetically. The answering glower from the angered skylark sends Tsunayoshi stumbling backwards a few feet—maybe even one hundred feet—and even though there's distance between them now, Tsunayoshi doesn't stop. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know that Reborn was behind all of it, I promise, no, I swear I didn't know anything!"

He hears footsteps—weighted, heavy, foreboding footsteps—hitting the cobblestone beneath them, and promptly shrinks in size, curling upon himself and cowering fear of the onyx-haired boy's wrath. But nothing happens, even though Hibari's standing just in front of him. He doesn't hear flames lighting, or tonfas rising, or anything threatening. Tsunayoshi opens his eyes, and glances up at the black-haired ex-prefect, and blinks at the soft, gentle smirk on the boy's face. It's almost comforting—"… It's actually kind of disturbing…"—to see the skylark smiling, but Tsunayoshi doesn't let his guard down.

He knows the death threat's coming.

"I'd expect this sort of mischief from the infant," Hibari replies, his tone softer, but not without its characteristic chill. "You aren't intelligent enough to formulate a scheme complex enough to trick me."

Or an insult. That works too.

"S—Sure, Hibari-san," Tsunayoshi responds, laughing awkwardly. "I see your point."

Hibari raises an eyebrow.

"A—Anyway, would you like to, uh, well, this might sound a little weird, but—"

"—Spit it out, herbivore," Hibari interrupts.

Tsunayoshi closes his eyes, and sighs, "W—Would you like to go on a mission with me—and I mean a real one, not one assigned by Reborn—again someday soon?"

Once these words leave his mouth, Tsunayoshi blanches, then promptly blushes in embarrassment. He doesn't know what possessed him to ask such a stupid question—"Oh, crap, now he's really gonna kill me!"—but decides to wait for the ex-prefect's answer anyway. He knows that Hibari will respect him more if he waits a few moments longer, and takes Hibari's answer face-to-face. Tsunayoshi knows better than anyone that the skylark prefers to get things done directly, without pause or interruptions. He's been bitten enough times to know that that's an unspoken rule of Hibari's.

He adds, "If you don't want to, it's fine, I don't know why I asked you that. It's a stupid question, isn't it?"

Hibari doesn't answer.

Tsunayoshi sighs, "Well, I'm sorry for the trouble, Hibari-san. I'll see you sometime, I guess."

He turns back to the mansion, and moves to leave. But once a hand touches his shoulder, and holds him still, Tsunayoshi glances backwards, noting the skylark's earnest, winter-kissed gaze, before flushing again. Hibari's normally pale cheeks are slightly pink as he flicks his eyes back and forth, trying to figure out how to answer Tsunayoshi's question without compromising his own pride, and as he does so, Tsunayoshi smiles—a soft, honest, friendly smile that reclaims Hibari's attention, as well as revives his signature scowl to the frame of his lips.

In response, Hibari raises his cobalt-silver eyes to Tsunayoshi's caramel brown ones, and dips his head.

It's unspoken.

.

end.

notes: Reviews, would be glorious.