I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Foreword: This is the first piece I've written after about a 2 year writers block, so please forgive me if the writing is bad. Also my first try at a serious KHR and D18, so forgive me again if it's out of character. This fanfic is based upon a real story and personal experience, so please try to refrain from 'flaming' the view of the actual topic (Christmas) and rather my writing instead if you think it's necessary. Otherwise, any reviews that are made are greatly appreciated. Well enough of my talk now. Here is the story, and thank you for reading. Enjoy.

"Woohoo! I've been waiting for this, Christmas Shopping! There's so many decorations around town and so many nice things to shop for~!"

Excessively over-advertised.

"You know, it's Christmas, so I kinda bribed, well like, asked my parents to get me a few things, hehe."

Foolishly abused.

"Our family's going to sing Christmas Carols all day and put up a massive Christmas tree. I'm going to have so much fun decorating it! Plus, we're gonna have a massive feast with all our friends."

Meaningless.

I lay on the school balcony, hands behind my head, legs crossed. I hated Christmas. I absolutely despised it. It was nothing more than an over-advertised day that companies would take advantage off. Nothing more than a day for a selfish child to beg their parents for a gift. It certainly held no more meaning than greed.

Hm… what's this? I feel the presence of someone coming up the stairs to the balcony. Wonder what scum it will be this time.

"Ah! I thought I'd find you here, Hibari-san! I hope I didn't interrupt you or anything…"

Heh, if it isn't Tsunayoshi Sawada and his little friends, Yamamoto and Gokudera.

"What do you want?" I glared at them.

"Well, I was thinking it'd be nice to have the guardians and our friends all gather up for a Christmas celebration, so…"

"I don't want to go." I turned my back to them. Just looking at them is an eyesore.

"Hibari, you…! How dare you reject the Tenth's invitation! He was trying to invite you out of his kindness and not only do you reject his invitation, you didn't even let him finish off his sentence! Are you looking fo-!"

"If it's a fight you want I'm going to let you know now you'll be crawling home crying in the face of defeat." That insolent brat Gokudera. He doesn't know how to shut up.

"Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy, Gokudera. If Hibari doesn't want to come then Hibari doesn't want to come. He probably has things of his own he wants to do. We're not here to force anyone, right Tsuna?"

"Yamamoto's right, Gokudera… well, you take care, Hibari-san. If you change your mind it'll just be at my house on the 25th. We should go guys… we shouldn't bother him anymore."

"Uhrg, okay Tenth… we're better off helping you and your Mum set up for the celebration instead of being in the face of someone like him, anyway."

Good riddance. I didn't need annoyances like them around. Not now, not ever, especially not at this time of the year. I wanted nothing to do with December 25th. I detested it. Stupid people running around everywhere, screaming and getting all excited like there's no tomorrow. Makes me want to bite them all to death, except I wouldn't, because that would case a riot in Namimori and possibly ruin the school's reputation.

I watched my little yellow bird flit around. So untroubled and free of all the world's complexities. It chirped the school anthem to me. I shut my eyes and aimed to wash away all the thoughts of the distant past I had. I wasn't going to let something ridiculous rile me up.

I needed to clear my mind. Right about now it would feel good to beat the crap out of something. I guess I'll go check if there are any delinquents trying to terrorise Namimori High. Or maybe… a spar with Dino… Heh, he should be the last person I should be thinking of at this point in time. Forget that.

Walking towards the stairs to get back down to the bottom of the school building, I noticed someone else was at the steps. Better not be Tsuna and his group again.

"Kyoya! I knew you'd here!"

Uhg, speak of the devil. That annoying voice… I could recognise it from miles away. He ran up to me with his arms out, expecting me to receive a hug from him with an idiotic smile on his face.

"Go away." I dodged his obvious… attack, letting him embarrass himself with a face plant.

"Kyoya, why must you be so mean to me? It's Christmas time, come on, be a little nicer, would you?"

"All the more reason to treat you without care." I watched the older man sulk. Such a child.

"Don't be such a wet-blanket, Kyoya. You should come home with me and we can put up a massive Christmas tree! It'll be fun, yeah?"

"Oh, that thing? It's just a waste of space and time. Forget it; you're never going to see it again. We're never bothering about such trivial matters such as that tree. No one cares."

I looked down at the ground.

"Get lost. No one cares…"

"Kyoya, that's not true! I care."

My mind's been made up. Nothing he says is going to change it now. It's too late.

"Shut up. Go prance around with your little friends and tell them how much you want that stupid tree to be set up. Get out of my sight." I ignored him, and proceeded to walk down the flight of stairs from the balcony.

"…Kyoya, what's the matter?" He picked himself from the floor and started to follow me.

"Nothing. I thought I told you to go away." I hastened my pace.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's on your mind." He matched my walking speed. I wished he would just disappear.

"It's none of your business. That's what's on my mind."

"It has everything to do with my business."

I slowed to a halt.

"Stop being so goddamn persistent and get out of my way, will you?" I ran. Why did he have to keep pressing me for something I didn't want to tell him?

"Don't force me to catch you, Kyoya," He followed closely behind me, "and when I do catch you, you'll be telling me everything there is on your mind."

As I ran, thoughts flew through my head. I don't know why I ran. I should've bitten him to death instead. If he catches me… if he catches me… I won't be able to refuse talking to him as much as I didn't want to breathe a word about anything…

"Kyoya…!" He reached out and grabbed my wrist.

"Don't…touch me."

"I won't let you go until you speak up." He pulled me closer to him.

I avoided eye contact with him. "I don't know what you're talking about. There is nothing for me to say."

"Kyoya, I can wait here for as long as you need."

"What are you waiting for? Don't look at me with that face. I told you, it's over. Don't even think that you're ever going to experience what those retarded people out there are doing. What they're doing is foolish, understand? But if you insist, go waste you own time. Suit yourself."

"…you're wasting your own time." I turned away so he couldn't see my face.

"The only one here that's wasting time is you. I told you; I can wait here forever if that's what you want."

A long silence ensued. I didn't know what to say. I wanted him to leave me alone yet at the same time I wanted to tell him everything, too. Eventually, he let my wrist go, as if convinced enough I wouldn't run away again.

"Kyoya…"

"Shut up. It was a long time ago…" I leaned against the wall and let myself slump to the ground until I was in a sitting position. I stared at the ground as if I were talking to it, although I meant the words for Dino. He, too, sat down. Quite close to me, almost to the point where he was leaning on my arm.

"Go on, I'm listening." He tried to look at my face.

"What are you doing? Don't sit so close and act as if you're all buddy-buddy with me." Hearing that, he inched away a little.

"Okay, okay, sorry…" He waved his palms in front of him as if to tell me to refrain from hitting him. Idiot.

"You can help me decorate it if you want, Kyoya. There are lots of things to put up on the tree."

"There used to be a tree; at the end of the hall." I tried my best to explain things. I'd never talked to anyone about something like this before. I would almost say I was nervous, but not quite.

"I used to put things up on it. A long time ago. There were never any presents at the bottom of the tree, but maybe one or two small gifts, just handed to me. It's pointless to be selfish and ask right out for something."

"I see." I didn't mind him talking whenever I took a break to think of how I would explain things next. At least I knew the moron was listening to me.

"And maybe, some nice food on the table. Something we all liked, usually…"

"Yeah?" He urged me to go on.

"Shut up or story-time ends now." I shot him an angry look. Impatient Italian.

"Urk… no need to be so harsh, Kyoya."

Looking back down at the ground, I proceeded to talk. "Then, things started to happen. And it wasn't the same again."

"I threw that thing in the garbage; it was taking up space, so yeah. No big loss, it was just a fake tree. Takes too long anyway, so much hassle. What? Did you except it to go up again? Didn't I already tell you no one cares?"

"We didn't put a tree up one year. I'd just assumed it was because the year had been busy, and we had no time for it. I didn't think it was much, we still had a nice dinner like we usually did."

"That doesn't sound too bad." I didn't need him to make such an obvious comment, but I really could've cared less at the moment.

"As the years passed, the relations between my parents deteriorated; as do all things. It eventually got to a point where they would argue all day on the 25th. The tree was never put back up the year it was taken down."

"This Christmas thing is a waste of time and effort! I spent all day making this and you bite my head off for something little I did? That's the last straw, seriously, we can forget this whole family concept. It's never going to work out with someone like you around…"

"I was told to get lost and never come home again since I 'never made anything better'. It would usually be so bad that no one would even dare talk to each other, and when someone did, it sounded like it was a command to force someone to do something."

"Just eat, I don't care if you don't want to. This is the last time you're going to see something like this, so just shut the hell up and do what I say."

"My father had cooked something up and got pissed off at something small once. That was probably the last of it. He made the rest of the family eat what he made and I was so disgusted with the attitude and resentment I held, I never ate what he put on the plate again after that. I hate those foods now."

"I'm sorry to hear all this, Kyoya…" The mood seemed to decline as I talked more. It was evident why.

"And I wonder if everything I read and learnt about Christmas when I was younger was all just a big lie that had just been overly sugar-coated. Seeing all those people run around in ignorance when the 25th is just around the corner; makes me want to bite them all to death. Because they don't understand a single thing about how the world works. I would love to shatter they little bubble of happiness and make them crumble outside their delusional notions." I smirked. It would be amusing to see a bloodbath out of that.

"You want to be treated somewhat like a normal kid? Are you trying to make me laugh? No. We're different. We're not like those people there who are only in bliss because of their ignorance. We are different. If you'd listened to me then you would understand that you don't need anything they need.."

"Kyoya, I don't think what you're saying is right." He stood up and leaned against the wall.

"I trust that you are not trying to stuff words back into my mouth, are you?"

"Not at all." I watched him chuckle and look at me. I stood up and faced him, holding my tonfas to his neck.

"I do not understand what it is you find so amusing that you'd laugh, Chiavarone." I applied more pressure to the tonfa that was pressed up against his neck.

"Please, there's no need for you to kill me over this. I don't find anything you said laughable. Don't you think that just because it's been rough for you, you have to make everyone relive that harsh past you had?"

I loosened the pressure on his neck a little to allow him to talk. "I don't need anyone to sympathise with me. I did not say I needed anyone to sympathise with me. It's just that watching them all out there in ignorance… enrages me…! Spoiled brats like you, and them all, need to learn."

"Kyoya, I don't think you understood what I meant. Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean you have to bring peril and ruin to those who do enjoy taking part in such things."

"Don't you dare try to mock me." I glared at him, so fiercely as if it pierced through him.

"I'm not. You find joy in staying at school, no? I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who dislike school very much. Even so, you don't necessarily pay attention as long they're not doing anything wrong and you like it, right? You'd just keep doing what you do, wouldn't you?"

"…" I softened my glare at him, going over in my head what he just said to me.

"The people who don't like going to school, they're not going to rampage and make a scene about how much they hate it. Just because they don't like it, they don't go around trashing the school."

"Some might." He seemed to ignore this statement of mine.

"What I'm trying to say is, just because they don't like it, they don't ruin it for the people who are taking it seriously or enjoying it. Tsuna doesn't like school, right? He doesn't go out of him way to try and make you hate it, too. So just because you don't like Christmas, you shouldn't try to make a hole in it for other people…"

I looked up at him. "…that's not it! You wouldn't understand." What he was saying made sense. I just didn't want to believe that all the hatred and anger I'd forced onto myself about the 25th was just a farce to sympathise with myself. Which I did not do. I am definitely not a fool that feels pity for myself.

"Kyoya, I do understand. I'm not telling you to stop hating Christmas right now and have a change of heart, I'm just telling you that it's not something you should dislike people for. Even if you don't make light of it, please consider how other people think of it."

I didn't know what to say. What was I supposed to say? Everything he said to me wasn't something I could deny. How could I have been so blind all this time? I only realise now that there was nothing to gain from hating the 25th. Only unnecessary feelings that will get in my way and hinder me. I suppose the excessive want I had for the desire to hate Christmas has made my thoughts unclear of the obvious truth.

I gazed in his eyes for a little while before I spoke again. I guess it was about time I needed to fix my perception of the 25th.

"Then show me."

"Hm? Show you what?" He returned my gaze, confused. Idiot.

"Show me how Christmas works."

"Oh." He grinned like a dork. I guess that's what I liked about him, though. "Did Tsuna invite you to his Christmas celebration?"

"Yes, he did. Earlier, before you found me."

"Do you want to go to that?"

"No. Too crowded."

"Not even if I went?" He placed his hands on my shoulders and gave me the puppy look. Disgusting.

"No. And could you please stop making that face? It's repulsive."

"I see, I see; cold as always, Kyoya." He kissed my cheek.

"Sugar-coating things is not going to make me agree with what you say, either." I pushed him away from me.

"Well then, how about you spend the 25th of December with me over at my house? Just us two. How does that sound?" The blonde haired man smiled and winked at me.

I paused for a moment to think about it. "Whatever."