First story on this account and I'm anxious to post it, so I'm unable to put a cover image for story for another three hours. Oh well. Not much so say except it's my first time writing in a while, and this is the first time I've ever written something vampirical. Also not willing to go cliche crazy, so hopefully my story won't come off as such.
AU, which is my excuse for fem!Tsuna. About 3YL! so they're all around 17, Hibari and Ryohei 19, etcetc.
Wars never began quietly. There was always a buildup of suffocating tension, until suddenly and devastatingly, the resulting explosion catalyzed the beginnings of battles.
Perhaps her declaration of defiance had been too quiet. Tsuna had, after all, been "bitten to death" along with the people she tried to save when she first started her rebellion... Filled with a sense of necessary civil disobedience and vigilante justice that overran her sense of self preservation.
Her first experience with standing up against Hibari had been pathetic, leading to her being effortlessly shoved out of the way. She had only been knocked out after she continuously and idiotically attempted to reason with the unreasonable brute.
"H-Hibari-san, please stop! They weren't doing anything wrong!" she pleaded as she shielded one of her classmates with her body. Barring way to prey would infuriate any predator.
Hibari snarled. "Those who crowd will be bitten to death. Now move, herbivore." Tsuna felt chills crawling down her spine when she saw a flash of crimson in his eyes.
"It's n-not against the s-s-school codes," Tsuna insisted, flinching as Hibari stalked towards her.
"Are you intentionally trying to dig your own grave, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" He sneered. A big name for a little girl.
"P-P-Please don't," she whimpered as the Disciplinary Committee chairman grabbed the front of her uniform. "Please d-don't hurt them."
"Sawada Tsunayoshi..." The way he said her name made her shiver. The killing intent radiating off of him was almost tangible. Deadly charisma laced his next words: "I'm going to do much more than that."
She didn't remember anything after his threat. There was a brief lapse in consciousness where she thought she saw Hibari crouching over a fallen victim, his eyes stained with a shock of red, but she had uneasily dismissed it as a fear-induced hallucination. Something about Hibari was eerie... And it wasn't just his ferocious bloodlust, or his habit of beating up whoever walked into his line of sight. Just thinking about him made her tremble. He scared her. But on the other hand, there weren't many things that didn't scare her, back when there had been no such things as early morning runs or bomb-rigged homework problems. Back when there was no Reborn.
At the advent of her cryptic tutor, everything changed.
For the first time in three years, Tsuna ran into Hibari. Literally.
"Sorry," she mumbled as she bent down to collect the papers that she had knocked over. She hadn't been this clumsy in years, but she was really late for lunch and worried that she might be inconveniencing her friends. She looked up to hand the papers back with an apologetic smile, only to stifle a gasp when she realized who she ran into. Hibari? The Skylark (Tsuna shivered, such an innocuous name for somebody so bloodthirsty) had disappeared near the end of her last year at Namimori Middle with no explanation, eliciting a large sigh of relief from the entire student body. Tsuna had been one of the relieved, although at the same time angry with herself, because despite whatever she did to try to stop Hibari from harming mostly innocent students, she had never, ever, succeeded, always being swatted away like a fly at the last second. She had never forgotten Hibari's mocking smirk, the one that silently relayed the message, who are you to stop me? She swallowed, trying to summon up the courage to initiate a conversation.
"I...uh..." Her mouth opened and closed, but she was unable to form anything coherent. Not liking the limelight herself, she rarely openly stared at others; but she found it impossible to look away from Hibari. Three years was a considerable amount of time. Instead of the neat hairstyle with the fringe that sometimes hid his eyes—eyes that somehow, using the trick of light, turned a crimson red at times—the Skylark now wore his locks in a shorter, messier, fashion, his hair cut in such a way that almost seemed as capricious as he. Tsuna noted the sharp jawline and how time had only honed his model looks. She swallowed again, this time out of suppressed desire. How could such a satanic tormentor be so devilishly handsome?
But then she recalled how he had ruthlessly continued to bash his tonfa—his weapon of choice—in his victim's ribs after he was already downed. The animalistic glint in his predacious, apathetic, and normally steely grey glare. The terrified shrieks of her classmates, begging for reprieve, for mercy, for an end, to just pleasepleaseplease stop.
So she settled her expression appropriately into a scowl. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she passed the papers to him. She hastily walked past him, knowing that his eyes were burning a hole at the back of her uniform, and knowing that once again, she would have to try to provide help to those he hunted. But this time, she would be doing more than administering first aid. She would prevent the problem at its roots. She clenched her fists. She had enough power to do so now...right? A phrase formed in her mind, and despite her mind vehemently protesting against doing so, she pivoted around on her heel and held Hibari's gaze, who was surprisingly, still observing her. If she knew better, she would have thought that the slight quirk of his eyebrow expressed his disbelief.
"Welcome back, Hibari-san." Oh gods, she thought as she realized what she had said. What she had committed—a grave, grave error. She was more manic than he was. Well, no way to salvage the situation. She whipped back around and darted down the hallway, hoping that Hibari wouldn't give chase. This is why Reborn thinks I'm an idiot, she cursed inwardly as she took the steps by two, bolting up the staircase and almost shoving the door to the roof open in her haste.
"Hey Tsuna!" Yamamoto was the first to notice. He grinned cheerfully as he fended off Gokudera, the glowering, silver-haired pyromaniac.
"Tenth!" Gokudera greeted happily before his expression turned stormy again. "Oi, give me that back you baseball idiot," he snapped as he reached for the stick of dynamite Yamamoto was holding above his head. "That's not a fu—freaking toy," Gokudera said after hastily correcting his language—he preferred not to curse around women, and right now there were two too many. Including that stupid woman who was currently yapping her head off about some sort of cake or another with Kyoko.
"Tsu-chan! Why are you late?" Kyoko asked as she patted the spot beside her.
"Come sit down after you try this cake! It's delicious!" Haru urged, passing a chunk of cake speared that was speared with a fork to her.
Tsuna accepted the sweet as she thought about how fortunate that Haru's father allowed her to transfer from Midori School for Elites after she graduated secondary school. She sighed around her mouthful of cake as she sat down. Good as always. Haru's taste in pastries was perfect.
"It's good!" she exclaimed, trying to shove her memories of Hibari to the back of her mind as she faked a smile. "I...I like it," she managed to say before feeling a teardrop roll down her cheek. ...Shit.
In a split second, her friends surrounded her.
"What's wrong, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked softly. Gokudera, Kyoko, and Haru let him be their spokesperson, despite wearing heavy concern on their faces.
"I, uh," she started as she frantically started to wipe at her quickly moistening cheeks, swallowing thickly when she knew she couldn't, wouldn't lie to her friends, who deserved to know why she was so afflicted with emotion. She stifled a broken sob. "Hibari's back."
She was weak. She knew that. She had never dreamed that she would ever openly challenge someone as strong as Hibari; she swore that it was Reborn's fault and he had done something that injected her with courage tainted with foolishness.
Her voice didn't falter when she issued her declaration of war. "You're not hurting anyone else. I will stop you." She held her chin up in an act of clear defiance after motioning for the caught students to scram. She hoped that he wouldn't follow them, and somewhere, a god listened. Hibari stayed put.
Her hands trembled, and she clasped them tightly together, hoping that he didn't notice.
He noticed.
Deliberately taking small steps toward her, Hibari backed her up against a wall.
"Am I supposed to believe that, herbivore?" he said lowly, his menacing silhouette completely blocking out the light. "You're afraid of me." A statement. Not a question, but something said like a fact. Tsuna had a fraction of time to mull over his statement. Afraid of him? Wasn't that clear? Her body was wracked with almost violent shivering. Realization dawned on her. But she wasn't really that afraid of him. Just the things she associated him with.
"I'm more afraid of the things you do," she managed to say. Almost confidently, she asked, "Why are you compelled to be so violent?" She finally looked met his eyes.
Steel blue. Not red.
Not red not red not red.
Steel blue holding her gaze. Steel blue that was mesmerizing. Steel blue that was...conflicted?
"I'll bite you to death."
But he didn't.
He kissed her instead.
Her first kiss wasn't innocent, wasn't a touch-and-go, wasn't a cherishable moment. It was searing, as if all the heat in the world was trapped between their lips, the places on their bodies where they were touching. Her first kiss was marred with her kissing the enemy.
She wasn't supposed to want Hibari. She wasn't supposed to want him in the way that would make him hers.
Hibari let her go with a confused look on his face.
"Forget this ever happened."
This is where I ask for feedback. It's my first time writing something like this, a twist on my own writing style. It's weird. But I would like to know what people think about this AU. I'm having fun so far writing it.
Next chapter will probably feature a Hibari POV (this one is centered around Tsuna).
