Disclaimer : I do not have any ownership rights for Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
A/N : Metaphors galore! Imagery of cannibalism, gore. Read only if you can't be bothered.
Herbivores are weak. They are never smart enough to sense a trap, never agile enough to escape it. That is why the hunter will always get them.
This is how Hibari Kyoya has always known Sawada Tsunayoshi to be. A weak, small creature, with impossibly large eyes, eyes that always beg to be let free, even with it's hind legs ensnared between the bloody jaws of the trap. This little creature, painfully oblivious to the rules of the forest, where the biggest rush for the predator is to see the dying life in the hunted's eyes. Herbivores never struggle to escape, even with the pain, content to let sweet death descend upon them just like that. Dying without anything resembling a flourish. Very befitting, considering how they are born in masses just to feed the forest and all that lives within it. This is why, he thinks, Tsuna is fit to be devoured the first time he sets eyes on him.
But Hibari does not understand why sometimes it looks like he's protecting Tsuna instead.
Mukuro enjoys a good challenge once in awhile. It will make the hunt interesting, serving to break the monotony of killing with illusions, where his power so painfully reigns over his victims fascinatingly malleable minds. He loved chasing the prey right into the trap, forcing it to ensnare itself, and approaching it when it realizes with impending doom there will be no escape. All fun and games, more so, if the prey is properly distracted. This is why he appreciates, yes, that is the word, appreciates Hibari Kyoya's existence as a guard dog towards his pursuit of the young Vongola Boss, heart first, body later and finally mind.
Hibari intercepts any and every way he has devised to approach Tsuna. He is not exactly running out of ideas though, but Hibari might be, because that strong headed boy doesn't yet realize carnivores aren't supposed to develop a liking to herbivores. All this talk about animals, Mukuro was getting hungry already.
He knows Tsuna is not afraid of the fate Mukuro has planned for him. He has no reason to be, because Mukuro plans to rip the boy apart gently, devour his flesh before his own eyes, savouring the taste of bravery that must be running it's course in abundance through the boy's body, because why else would he be so foolhardy all the time? Saving his head for the last, because Mukuro wants to kiss those pretty lips before he chews them off.
Tsuna knows that he is condemned to sacrifice himself.
He used to be afraid of the notion, but he has grown so used to sacrificing himself that he does it without second thought. He was sure that was what a good leader should do, sacrifice, with due cause. But he looks at his own Guardians, the battle scars on them, their smiles that do not quite reach their eyes anymore, and feels maybe, all along, they were the sacrifices instead, for his sake, for Vongola's sake. He hates that things are happening this way, he is reminded how powerless he is, to keep his companions away from the battlefield, for him and this accursed famiglia name. It is a burden he cannot lift, and he feels it getting heavier.
Tsuna is so tired of struggling. So he just sits, and waits for either the dog or the hunter to get him. He wonders which one will be the first to bite his throat open, but he can't see in the darkness even as he opens his eyes wide. All this while, he has been keeping his enemies really close to his heart. Getting foolishly attached, but he silently rejoices in the fact that none of them had sunk their jaws into his defenseless back even when they could have.
Tsuna feels the cold from beneath him, around him. The only thing he hears is his blood gushing out from the hole where some important organ used to be. The hunter has laid his silver down on both sides of him. He almost manages a weak smile, this is unexpected, that he is swiped between the jaws of a passing fox before the dog and the hunter's surprised, outraged eyes. He feels his life seeping out of him, few more moments, but for now he feels all the victor.
End.
A/N : Juan, if you're reading these, stop laughing.