The Reason Why
Summary: Why? These questions, and more, always follow every action you do, every question you ask. For TNWanderer.
A/N: This is for TNWanderer. I'm sorry I took such a long time to write it. And now I'm going to take the time to do some advertising. I welcome prompts. Any pairing, any scenario, and I'll try my best to write something up to par!
-x-
He always steered clear of the noisy market streets on his way home. They were too…bright for his liking. He was a loner, someone with his own theme song in the form of a fat yellow canary that followed him wherever he went.
Tonight was a routine night, albeit, something about the night felt off. It was too warm. He ignored that though, as he walked out the doors. He had finished the patrol at Namimori Middle, and confident that his beloved school was safe, he had started home. He always took the backstreets going home. The shady characters lurking in dark doorways always knew to steer clear of him as he walked down the street, his jacket flapping behind him like a pair of wings.
It amused him, to say the least, as he watched the tough, burly weightlifters that easily towered over him run away. "Herbivores," he muttered as he turned another corner. As he continued to walk down the alleyway, he was aware of scuffling and muffled curses.
Words and shouting drifted towards him, above the sound of the water lapping at the side of the pier, and he stopped in place, his tonfas sliding into place, resting comfortably in his hands. He was near the river, and he was almost home. But he could check this out; he had time.
He walked a few more meters forward, before the fight was brought to him.
Four men, one with a club, another with a bat, and the other two with just big ham-like hands for weapons, with two more behind them, surrounded their target like a pack of wolves converging on one rabbit.
However, this was no ordinary rabbit.
This was a silver-haired, pale-skinned, green-eyed, Italian rabbit.
And everybody knows Italian rabbits don't go down that easily.
Even so, one teenager facing against six grown up men does not calculate in the favor of the teenage boy. Hibari Kyouya, recognizing the "rabbit" trapped in the middle, allowed himself a brief flash of amusement before stepping in.
"You're disturbing the peace," Hibari purred as he stepped into the light shed by the street lamp, his tonfas held up near his face. The metal glinted in the yellow light.
Normally, this would be enough to frighten away these yakuza, but not this time, for some reason. Hibari then realized his vision was swaying around the sides, but he shook it off, blaming it on the fact that he hadn't slept in the past three days. The six men exchanged amused, confident smirks and began to surround Hibari. The prefect narrowed his eyes, and leapt forward, taking a zigzag path towards the one he thought of as the leader.
The other five immediately jumped on him, and it was all Hibari could do to keep on the defense. Six men, four with clubs and bats, and probably more concealed weapons, the last two with knuckle rings and very big biceps, was not an opponent you took on recklessly. However, Hibari was Hibari and he was sure he was invincible.
His left tonfa blocked the first bat from hitting his face, but another managed to slide underneath his right tonfa and smack him in the side. He was then kicked in the stomach and flew into a wall. He slid down the wall with anger in his eyes as he got to his feet, ignoring the pain from what he was sure was at least one cracked rib and plenty of bruises. He lunged forward, his tonfa easily snaking upwards and evading the bats and the weapons, knocking one man's head back. Hibari smirked in satisfaction when he heard the crack of a neck.
He was attacked again, this time by a guy with a knife. The knife slashed his arm, leaving a long cut on his pale skin. Blood began to stain his snow white shirt and Hibari's eyes flashed very, very dangerously.
"You shouldn't have done that," Hibari purred, advancing on the perpetrator. He was hit in the back as he advanced, but he ignored that one, or perhaps it was two attackers, despite the repeated beatings his spine was getting. His attention was focused on the man that had dared to soil Hibari's shirt.
Said man was then thrown into the river, as Hibari turned fluidly on the ones that had been behind him. He ducked, so that the club and the bat they were wielding hit each other, the vibrations running up their arms, stunning them momentarily.
He hit their heads together, leaving them in a pile on the middle of the street.
Out of nowhere, the one furthest away, who had been trying to run away, was blown into the air. It seemed the silver rabbit was still alive.
Hibari, despite all of his injuries, appeared behind the last attacker, his tonfas smashing into the man's spine. The man fell forward, landing on top one of his companions as Hibari leaned against the light post, his vision swimming.
Gokudera, spotting Hibari's condition, hurried forward.
"You're an idiot," Gokudera growled as he turned his back to Hibari, hunching over. Hibari frowned, wondering what the heck this herbivore wanted him to do. Gokudera turned his head and scowled, forcefully grabbing Hibari's hand and swinging him onto his back. Gokudera staggered a few steps, before adjusting to Hibari's weight. Hibari refused to let a hiss of pain slip out from between his lips as he was roughly pulled on.
"What are you doing, herbivore?" Hibari rasped, very much aware of how warm the silverette's back was underneath him. He would have hit anybody else for doing this, but something held him back. He couldn't bloody that perfect silver hair, bruise that pretty face. Hibari kept his emotionless mask on, but inside, his emotions were raging wall to wall. Stupid puberty. He was Hibari Kyouya. Hibari Kyouya did not fall victim to puberty.
"Saving you from yourself," Gokudera growled as he took a few steps forward. Either he was purposely taking a rough path or Hibari was imagining things, but each step the silverette took shook Hibari, pain sending sharp signals up his back. He ignored them as Gokudera, seemingly finding strength from nowhere, began to walk faster, heading up the pier towards the direction of one of the newer apartment buildings.
The doorman wordlessly held the door open as Gokudera walked up the stairs, his steps slowly growing slower, more leaden with each passing minute. "The elevator, Gokudera-san," the doorman bowed the two of them towards one of the ornate elevators, not even saying anything strange about the current situation.
Gokudera grunted his thanks, before stepping into the open doors.
Soft elevator music, strange and out-of-place, played in the background as the elevator shot them up onto the fifth floor. Once inside Gokudera's apartment, Hibari was placed on the sofa as Gokudera walked down the hall and out of sight. Hibari tried to get up, but his leg crumpled underneath him when he put weight on it. He could hear banging and crashing coming from the kitchen, before Gokudera was back, a wooden box held under his arm and a cigarette dangling from his lips.
"Take your shirt off," the silverette commanded, as Hibari looks at him with as an incredulous of an expression you can get on him. Gokudera rolls his eyes, before taking off the prefect's jacket, hanging it up on the back of the front door as Hibari glares at the bomber. Gokudera's fingers, the rings glinting in the light, are quick to unbutton Hibari's shirt and push it down, so he could see the full extent of the damage on Hibari's torso.
Gokudera hissed under his breath, as he took in the multicolored bruises, the angry red marks and, especially, the neat slice on Hibari's slender bicep. It was still bleeding. "This might hurt a bit," Gokudera warned as he poured rubbing alcohol onto a piece of cotton that he had tucked in a pair of tweezers. Hibari looked out the window, at the darkening sky, as the cool liquid touched his wounds.
He held back a grunt of pain as the alcohol seeped into the deeper cuts, cuts formed by either a rough edge on a club, or when he was thrown against the wall, his eyes focusing on the slim crescent of a moon that had appeared between the clouds. He was barely aware of Gokudera as the silverette continued to treat him, rubbing salve on his bruises and bandaging up his cuts. The only time Hibari was aware was when Gokudera was cleaning out the deep knife wound. That time was the only time Hibari allowed himself any noises. And it was just a very loud hiss. Hibari was too busy thinking.
Wondering.
Puzzling.
Why? Why was this herbivore doing this for him?
Why was he, himself, content with sitting here on this couch?
What about the herbivore that knelt before him anchored him to the sofa?
Hibari clenched his hands into fists and the pressure on one of his bruises stopped. "Hibari?" the herbivore's voice was a little bit worried. Hibari turned a cool gaze, and their eyes met, before the green ones dropped down onto the carpet.
"Why are you doing this?" Hibari found his voice, finally, his eyes cool, but with a hint of confusion behind it. Gokudera sighed, before tugging another cigarette out of his box and slipping it into his mouth.
"Give me your shirt," he said around the butt of the unlit cigarette. Hibari didn't do anything, so Gokudera took it forcefully, folding it and disappearing down the dark hallway, leaving Hibari on his sofa.
The prefect looked around with mild interest, noting, with amusement, that the room was just as decorated as the herbivore himself. The curtains were dark blood red, a color Hibari approved, and the carpet was oriental, black and white. The sofa he was sitting on was made of red suede and the entire apartment seemed to follow the color.
There was a balcony just outside and Hibari stood up, sort of forgetting that he was shirtless. He walked up to the glass door, finding that it was locked and scowled. He normally would have forced it open, regardless of the glass that would no doubt shower the floor, but again, something held him back. He ran a hand through his hair and turned around when he heard the herbivore come back.
"It's locked from the inside," Gokudera informed Hibari as he set down two cups, ice chinking against the sides, and a bottle of raspberry seltzer. Hibari's face remained blank as he unlocked it, sliding it open.
Hibari stepped outside, the cold wind against his bare skin making even him shiver. It was then that he was very, very aware that he was shirtless. This awareness was made even sharper when the herbivore moved to stand next to him on the balcony.
"You asked why," Gokudera's voice was soft, almost carried away on the wind. "I could ask you the same thing. Why did you stop and help me?"
"They were disturbing the peace," Hibari answered, as if it were the simplest question in the world. "Namimori does not deserve to have such rabble wander her streets."
"There's something else," Gokudera's sharp eyes missed nothing. He hadn't missed the way Hibari seemed a little faint, a little out of it when he happened upon the situation. "You're sixteen, aren't you?" Gokudera smirked, as his brilliant mind finally fell upon the obvious reason.
"What's that got to do with anything, herbivore?" Hibari snarled, obviously not following this complicated train of thought. Rather, he didn't want to. Maybe he didn't want to know the answer.
"It's about time you started going through puberty," Gokudera chuckled before turning to look at the city, closing the subject before Hibari could hit him. It was quiet for a long time, where the only sound the cars below and laughter from a party in the apartment on the floor below. "She sure is pretty," he murmured absent-mindedly. Hibari held back a look of mild surprise, wondering briefly who the herbivore was referring to. "Namimori at night, that is," Gokudera explained, before turning his back to the city. He leaned against the railing, taking a sip from the glass he held in his slender fingers. He hated owing people. And Hibari had just saved his life. And Hibari had actually done more. He'd saved his life more than once.
"Do you know why I came here?" Gokudera asked quietly, keeping his voice carefully blank, but still with some amount of anger laced in. Hibari raised an eyebrow. They were breezing through a lot of topics tonight. Hibari wasn't sure whether or not he was happy this was happening. But then again, happy? What was this happy that you spoke of?
"Do I care?" the prefect returned, deciding to hide behind his usual curtness.
Gokudera's next sound was a cross between a bark and a laugh. The bomber smiled rather darkly as he went on ahead, not caring for Hibari's reaction. Maybe he just wanted to get this out. Maybe, because he had always kept it so pent up, it was time to let loose and get it out.
"You would care," Gokudera replied bitterly. "If you knew that we have the same reason for being by ourselves."
At this, Hibari stiffened. How did this herbivore know?
Gokudera didn't say anymore, and turned to head back inside. Hibari reached out with his hand before he knew what he was doing and snatched the silverette's wrist.
They stood there for a long moment, cobalt blue eyes staring into dark forest green eyes, both spilling out their souls through their silence.
"Hn," Hibari broke the silence first. "You're not that bad of an herbivore, I suppose."
Again, Gokudera let out that sharp, bark-laugh. "I guess not," he replied.
What I would give, to stand here forever, frozen in time, looking you in the eyes.
-x
Whew! Finally, finished. Sorry this prompt took so long! I was a little stuck on how to make Hibari seem impressed, but I think I got it. ^.^" So, please tell me how you think I did! And I take prompt requests. Don't expect them to be coming too swiftly, however, because I started school and I won't have as much time as I did over the summer.
On a side note, I started a collaboration fic with FancyMittens. It's called Club 7. Go read it. =D
Akai-Pyon