Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. And please ask for permission before reposting or using this composition.
This is based on a number of other inspirations, which, of course, I do not also own.
Read and review please.
Cross Time
Epilogue
The tenth Cloud Guardian of the Vongole family… a very strict and uptight man… known for his morbidity… and has the infamous silhouette of standing upon a pile of bodies. Bodies of men who were far older than him, those that he himself killed…
Those who were related to the underworld, feared him and gave him aliases that he never wanted nor cared for. He is the Angel of Death for on his own he can kill an entire mass of Mafia soldiers. Some say he is the evil incarnate, the very essence of soullessness. His imperturbable expression, icy aura and his lack of emotion make him a killing machine. Yes, a machine. He is a machine.
And who would have thought that there was a person who would be attracted to such a man? The kind of attraction that did not care for status nor material possession, nobody saw that coming, not even the very girl who lived her life the same way as the solitary Cloud did; that she would fall for him.
As time passed by, that same Chinese girl who is famous in the underworld for being an assassin, wanted to leave her famiglia and live a normal life independent from any dark works.
There really is no way to predict life accurately; it only relies in chances, either dependent or not. Really, very unpredictable…
0o0o0
The nights in Namimori pass by its dimly lit streets without much Mafia-related occurrences as of recent. And a lone girl walked the same streets fearlessly.
'Work's over, got to go home and do my assignments.' I-pin thought as she pranced about, ignoring her surroundings and feeling up and perky. But she slowed down with scrunched brows some time after and looked at the sky, marred by the street lights that block the light from the stars. Her shoulders sunk and she walked home. 'How could I escape your grip, Tsu-nii?'
Her life has been run by endless routines; her preparation included readying her tools and blocking her mind from thoughts that would shake her, then sneaking up her target and executing her orders. Then she would hide the body, erase all her traces and leave the vicinity unnoticed. So she would come back to base, wash her body, go to sleep as if nothing happened. But that was some time ago.
The present only consisted of normal things that a normal independent girl would do. It was calm but peace never befell her soul as she stayed alert always. However, she thanks her humanity and her emotions. Because of them, she was able to steer her mind off of things that she didn't want.
Time ticked by slowly and homework was almost done, but progress was hindered when her consciousness stumbled upon a memory—a memory of being sent back to the past by the ten year bazooka. I-pin smiled since she gawked at the young Hibari who happened to pass by when she left the Sawada residence to look for her customer in that time. Really, what a distraction love is. And so she went back to her studying…
A sudden jerk of her body woke her up; her constant nightmares haunted her in a never ending cycle. Not a single instance did she awake without being covered with cold sweat and a heart that felt being pulled out of her chest. That current night she decided to go out of her apartment after looking so hard at the door.
Yet a surprise was there for her. I-pin noticed a limping man trailing the shadows from the second floor of her apartment building where she stood. And with the skills she had acquired so far, she closed in on the man, squinted her eyes to identify him as it proved to be difficult without her glasses. "Hibari Kyoya," she spoke aloud and her action took its toll.
The said man attacked her with the chains that came from his tonfa, whipping through the air with lightning speed. I-pin moved into the light when she dodged thus making purple flames dissipate.
She approached while Hibari made a big effort of standing upright. Wounded as he is, I-pin pulled the man's arm over her shoulders because she knew that if he was told to do so, he would flatly say no.
A low growl was his reply followed by a hiss; his wounds must really smart hard.
"You know Hibari-san," she started by dragging him back to her flat, "If you cooperate, me crowding you will be over faster." a bull's eye that shot through the Guardian's stubbornness. Though their walk wasn't that fun and eventful, I-pin managed to get him through the door and on the mats to be treated. She boiled water and used it to clean Hibari's gaping wounds that she herself wondered how he contracted…
After her manual treatment, she strode from here to there as if looking for something. When she was taking so long to finish the ordeal, Hibari's raspy voice came out of his chest in a way she knew how difficult it must have been for him to breathe.
"You can use Sun Flames if I'm not mistaken" and she replied, gracefully sitting beside him, with a ring and a familiar box. She proceeded summoning her box animal and out came a song bird, a blank. It began singing the Namimori anthem to at least please its patient.
The bird went on shining its light on the injured man and I-pin did not favor the silence between her and her guest. "The Angel of Death" and to that he snorted but I-pin continued nevertheless. "These wounds are impossible… for you to acquire."
'That's what I thought though.' something she did not want him to hear…
Pale lips tightened more leaving a deep scowl on Hibari's face. "I was poisoned." Another surprise was that he chuckled in defeat but his pride was still intact, "I never thought of it happening again."
"I bet those hurt." She said out of her reverie; the man she looked up to reduced to this. What's worse was if the proprietors were just grunts. What disgrace.
"Of course they do. I also bleed."
A small smile crossed the young lady's face at his last statement.
'But it was you so you had done them in even if you were cheated.' She blushed when Hibari smirked at her, letting her know that her previous thought was visible on her face. A face he hadn't seen in a while.
An awkward silence intervened suddenly and the two of them parted from their eye contact. "You've… grown." He had said… "You've become a woman." And her heart missed a beat. 'Can time stop? Please don't look this way!' that she prayed…
Her box animal had finished regenerating the Guardian's wounds over the course of their conversation. The patient rose from his position to try his body and was surprised that his wounds recovered evenly; there were no phantom pains. And by the time Hibari had been able to release deep exhales I-pin had cleaned up all the bloodied cloth and stuff she used. "You can stay for the night if you want to."
"You do know the consequences of this," and their eyes were fixed on each other. Yet hers were the ones to fall first. It was known throughout the Japanese branch… what she did.
"It's like an endless consuming desert, once you get in you can never get out." And she turned to the Guardian from her room, "Is there anything that you would need?"
Silence meant nothing, and his piercing eyes seemed afraid so she quickly closed the door and deposited herself on the bed. 'Being afraid is normal… it's a primordial state of mind… It must be his pride.' Another smile, that special smile reserved only for that man, formed on her lips because of the privilege of seeing the great Disciplinary Committee Carnivore Hibari Kyoya afraid.
I-pin has had enough of surprises for a life time and the last one was that the next morning, Hibari actually waited for her to wake up before he walked away. A form of thanks, the Chinese guessed.
'To think that I actually imagined you confessing that you had feelings for me' she shook her head, 'Who'd care? I am a woman after all.'
All those years that she longed to even touch the untouchable, for some unfathomable twist of fate she was able to catch him. Crossing time and going to the past never gave her such an opportunity but crossing time by waiting was worth it. Just once… for the last time…
"GAH!" her screams wanted to echo through her apartment but it was muffled by the gag on her mouth.
Her interrogator lashed her once again, "I told you girl, where is the Vongole Cloud Guardian?" yet she never answered. How many hours they've been like that, the torture stripped her soul from her body bit by bit. Another blow was from a knife stabbed at her left side, somewhere near her stomach. Still she gave no answer to any question.
"You're useless. Go die." another two stabs and the torturer was sure she was to die if left alone…
News had gotten around the base, news of a death of an ex-member after rumors of the said person missing for a few days. Then a funeral was held for the honorary member and everyone was genuinely sad for her death. It was said that her demise was caused by helping a guardian, said guardian was silent throughout the course of time before Tsuna had to order everyone to let it go… To let I-pin go.
Epilogue
Her senses were getting dull, and she's been reflecting on her past. She's going to die after all, until there was somebody who came inside her house…
"You're still alive after six hours of being half-dead," the new entity moved closer to her and inspected her wounds. "Hmph"
"I… have a… avor." I-pin's voice was hoarse.
The Cloud Guardian looked at her with a face that knew what she was thinking. "Yes, I was afraid back then. I've killed my emotions a long time ago," he inhaled and closed his eyes, "But I've never been afraid like that before… That I was losing my touch."
He heaved a deep sigh, "That's what you wanted to hear, right?" a very weak smile, and tears flowed from her eyes. Then Hibari went around the place and took her right hand and slipped a ring (she figured it was a sun-attribute ring) then gave her a box in her other hand.
"Why?" She asked while trying her hardest to follow what he said.
"Don't be afraid little girl, just do it." and he helped her get the ring and box to meet. Finally, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth… My survival for your survival," and her face showed that 'I didn't do anything for you' look, in a very much pained way.
"Now I have a favor for you."
I-pin barely heard his voice and made out what she could understand. Quite unusual, the girl thought.
"Live."
OMAKE
Pink smoke pervaded the air and I-pin coughed her way through the annoying stuff only to find her self in front of a young boy with eyebrows scrunched together rivaling that of a komainu. And his eyes were dark and emotionless as—
"M-Mother?" the boy said without bending from his sitting position above the tatami. "You… look younger… for some reason." And near him was an indifferent man who wasn't even disturbed by her sudden appearance. Plus, he only gave a damned yawn and said, "Five minutes, sit there."
"I crossed time again, huh?" she said with a smile and a soft blush creeping on her face.
0o0o0
*A komainu is a statue of a dog with a weird face (it looks angry). It is usually erected at town entrances as a guardian to ward off evil or bad things.
And marriage is not necessarily about love but about getting used to one another.
-Kagura from Gintama, :P
The pattern of the story is similar to a one-shot that I've posted in my other story compilation. This is not romantic so I didn't put it there (What? NO I'm just propagating HibaPin love!). Thanks for reading! Leave a review for me so I can determine if the story is suitable for a comics/doujin/whatever.