xxxxxxxxxx

The Missing Hibird

by Arienna

xxxxxxxxxx

Ideas came bursting in when I was playing Kiniro no Corda, after watching too much of Nodame Cantabile's dorama XD

It was a sunny and lovely day on one Wednesday of July. The students of Namimori Koukou vocational school had long since left the school ground after the activity for one day was ended by the school bell. The earlier crowded classrooms and field are now empty, with only a few people remaining behind for a certain club activities and such.

On the opened window sill of one of the practice room provided by Namimorikoukou, there sat a yellow bird. It had flew by around the school area for some time, but now it has found a spot only itself knew why he chose it. Because that room was currently occupied by Sawada Tsunayoshi, the school's well known "No-Good Tsuna". And he was about to practice his violin, which was infamous for the horrible sound.

"Yosh! I'll get it better this time!" the boy shouted, while stimultaneously shoved his fist up in the air.

The yellow bird tilted it's small head to the right and left, and it stayed there for quite some time to witness Tsuna's horrible play.

Usually waking up with a bird chirping around or nuzzling on his hair while he stared straight to the open sky, a certain raven haired pupil flinched his eyebrow when he realized that something's not right.

It has been the third day he woke up in silence. Utter silence. With no extra weigh on his head or any sight of a certain little yellow thing fluttering around and about. No squeaky voice singing Namimorichuu's anthem at all for these past three days like the raven haired boy usually heard. It was exactly like it was, before he found and adopted that stupid bird because it would NEVER leave his side, no matter what he does...

...so being already used to all of that, the young man decided that this silence is not right, and he would mend it just like how it was supposed to be.

But maybe later, after he took another nap.

It was such a nice weather, after all, perfect for sleeping.

"Those skirt are five centimeters lower than the regulation limit mentioned in your manual book," Hibari said monotonously. He gave a hand gesture to one of the Disciplinary Committee's member behind him, and Kusakabe nodded while he ruled out the cutter he's holding.

At this sight, the two girls shrieked in horror. Their futile attempt to try to plead for Hibari's mercy went flat as Hibari silenced them with his deadly glare. Kusakabe then proceed to cut off the remaining fabric of the girls' skirt.

"Earrings and accessories for students are prohibited in the school grounds," Hibari smirked menacingly at the terrified boys and girls in front of him. Kusakabe and some other members collected the accessories from them and put it inside a box labeled "confiscated". It was so heavy and full of things that are "not mentioned in the student manual book" that now the committee had to use a third box for that day.

The bell signaling the start of the class was rung Hibari glanced at the clock tower. He made another hand gesture and two people from the committee walked on both side of the school gate and then began to close it.

"Hiiiiii! W-wait! Wait!"

A small and slender boy managed to slip in time at the last minute before the gate was completely closed. He sighed, relieved that he had narrowly passed the closing gate...

"Thank God I made it in time..." he clutched his bag and a box-a violin case?-to his chest.

"You did, didn't you?" the boy-Tsuna-didn't realize the steel-cold tone coming from a dangerous person in front of him, because he was too relieved.

"Yeah! I forgot to bring my violin with me today, so I had to run back home to..." Tsuna's voice began to trail when he looked up and saw who he was talking to, and his face went visibly paler, "...get it back..."

Hibari stared the smaller boy down. Tsuna just wanted to shrink smaller until he was invisible from those scrutinizing eyes.

"Too bad you came just after the bell was rung," Hibari smiled menacingly. He lifted both of his hand and a pair of threatening tonfa was clutched between his hands. "Maybe next time you'll learn better than not to forget that violin of yours."

Instinctively, Tsuna drew back. But the feel of steel from the gate touching his back made him a hundred times more terrified. No escape and Hibari is approaching Tsuna steadily with tonfas in hand.

"HIIIIIIIIIII!" Tsuna let out a pitiful shriek, his last act of defend. So much for made it in time…

The yellow little bird came again and occupied his usual spot on the sill of the open window. By now, it had known Tsuna's usual arriving time and Tsuna's departing time. It was always on time, arriving a few seconds before Tsuna does, and leaving a few seconds before Tsuna does.

If anyone was aware of this fact, surely, they would have abducted Hibird and sold it to NASA or something. Luckily, nobody was aware of Hibird's presence aside from Tsuna. Who, by the way, didn't have any of those things crossed in his mind because of how pure his soul is. Or maybe he was just being ignorant. Or a mix of both. Whatever.

The door of the practice room was opened, and in was Tsuna, looking battered and messy, holding his violin case.

"Drats, Hibari-san sure hits hard..." he commented while rubbing his sore cheek. Then, he noticed his usual spectator already arrived at his favorite spot, and he cracked a smile. "Hey, it's the little birdie again."

Tsuna then went to tap his finger on the bird's head. The bird chirped "Tsuna, Tsuna" with it's squeaky voice as a response.

"Ahaha, you already know my name? Such a smart guy! Here, I have some leftover crackers from recess," Tsuna took out a pack of silver plastic from his pocket and offered it to the bird. It ate it happily and chirped the word "delicious" again as a sign of gratitude. "I have a new song prepared today. Listen until the end, okay?"

After Tsuna had took out his violin and its bow from their case and put the music sheet he's about to practice on the music stand, he began to take his usual stance. Hmm... he had heard this piece being played before in the movie it originated, so knowing what it sounds like wouldn't be a problem. Bearing the start of the song in mind while sight-reading the score in front of him, Tsuna began to play the first bars of the song.

Kriieeet dzooooeeeng kriieeeeet dzoooeeeeng

"..."

Ziiiiiing zooooeet

"...eh? Did I made a mistake somewhere...?" Tsuna paused to check at the sheet again. "Hmm... the last one was a bit off... I'll try it again from the top."

And so, the horrible sound kept on continuing... without Tsuna himself realized how horrible his playing actually is...

"..."

At around noon, Hibird had taken off like it usually did at this kind of hour. It had stopped singing Namimori anthem and took off from Hibari's head, even though Hibari wasn't sleeping. The last time the raven haired saw, the yellow bundle was flying off downwards.

Because he had nothing better to do, Hibari followed it.

Now here he was, standing behind a tree that's on the back of the practice room for students who wishes to practice their musical talents.

And just now, he had just heard something amazing.

Now Hibari knows the reason behind Hibird's constant disappearance.

Yet at the same time, he doesn't.

"What was with that dead cat parade song...?" he thought inwardly.

Nevermind the quality of the boy's performance, Hibari lean to the tree and sits through the whole song. It doesn't have anything to do with-despite the quality of it-Tsuna's concert touching the corner of Hibari's heart or anything. It was merely because Hibari finds the dreadfulness of the concert amusing.

"Hmm... so, music could be this fun..."

At the end of the concert, Tsuna didn't realize the yellow bird flew outside to the tree, now resting on Hibari's shoulder. The raven haired gave the little bird a long hard look.

"You're weird. Why would you want to listen to that for almost everyday?"

Tsuna was surprised to find the same yellow bird that usually listened to his horrible play (though he doesn't exactly know really how horrible his play is) welcomed him with his usual "Tsuna, Tsuna" chirping when the boy was browsing for a German dictionary on one of the rack inside the library. It flutters around above Tsuna's head for some time, before finally resting itself on the boy's shoulder.

"Wah…! What are you doing here?" Tsuna stared incredulously at the yellow bundle on his left shoulder. "How the heck did you even get in here?"

The bird just tilted his head to right and left before chirping again, "Hibari, Hibari".

"Huh?"

"Hibari, Hibari," the bird repeated.

Tsuna sweat dropped. "Um… okay…" it was stupid of him to expect a real reply from a bird.

So Tsuna continue to browse for the book he was looking for, trying to ignore the extra light weigh on his left shoulder. His eyes gleamed slightly when he finally spotted one on the upper side of the rack.

Hmm... he looked around to search for a staircase, but to no avail. The rack is too high for his short hand to reach, even when he tiptoed as high as possible. So after he had carefully removed the small bird from his shoulder and had it taken another flight under the restricted ceiling, Tsuna then proceed to climb the rack.

When the yellow bird began to sing Namimori school's anthem, a loud crashing sound was heard. Tsuna failed to get the book he wanted, and he was lying pitifully on the carpeted floor-his back and his hands aching from the fall. Thank God it was after school-hour, so the library was pretty empty from people and therefore, it saves Tsuna some humiliation.

"Aw, aw, aw," he breathed.

The boy was too concentrated to ease the pain from his sore elbow to notice an irritated voice from the next hallway and a growing dark aura starting to approach him. When he realized that a shadow of a person loomed over him, he averts his gaze upwards. The color from his face drained as quickly as he had fall.

"Hi-Hibari-san!"

"You… what are you doing…?"

Somewhere on the background, Tsuna could hear the yellow bird's squeaky voice, now done singing Namimori's anthem, and is chirping "Hibari, Hibari" on the prefect's head. Wait… why is that yellow bird perched on Hibari Kyouya's head? The terrifying disciplinary prefect who is literally ruling the school with steel-hands (his tonfas) and the person you do NOT associate with little cute animals?

Now that you mention it… could it be the earlier chirp the bird made when Tsuna asked how it could be inside the library, "Hibari", was actually referring to this Hibari Kyouya? That it was in because Hibari Kyouya had brought it along?

"That bird… is it Hibari-san's?" Tsuna asked something completely unrelated to his current predicament, innocently.

"So what if it is?" the prefect answered with his usual monotone voice. His face then curled up into a smirk, after the realization that Tsuna was ignoring his inaudible threat sink in. "Doesn't matter. What matter now is: you do know that you're not supposed to create a ruckus when you're in the library, right?"

Seeing the color on Hibari's face darkened, Tsuna realize again his true position and shrank back. "I-I'm sorry, Hibari-san! I was trying to reach for a Germany dictionary up there on the rack when I fell down… I'm really sorry for the disturbance!"

"I don't care for your apology," he cut in, "you disturbed my peaceful nap. I'll teach you a lesson to not to fall so easily when reaching for another book next time."

"HIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!"

Like the usual case with Hibari, Tsuna instinctively put both his hands in front of his face for protection. That's why he didn't see the sudden change of curled eyebrows on Hibari's face and the quick and abrupt stop of the prefect's movement. But Hibari was far too experienced in fighting and beating up many rebels like this and he didn't let Tsuna realized what just happened. He quickly altered his course and slams his tonfa against the boy's stomach.

"I won't go easy next time. Get lost, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Hiii! O-okay!" Tsuna scrambled around, trying to stand up and walk but failed because of the added pain on his stomach. Nevertheless, he managed to half-crawl half-walk out of the library, now completely forgotten about the German dictionary he originally came to find.

Later on that overly sunny day, a man clad in black suit and a fedora is seen walking inside the school ground. His appearance could be very well inviting curled eyebrows and curious glances from a lot of people—if only there were people around to inspect his out of the place aura and appearance. What with his all black attire with light orange shirt, his black case, and his dark expression, he could be mistaken as someone from the mafia. But surely, a mafia wouldn't have those silly curly sideburns… right?

Anyway, that person made a quick inspection on the school ground with his deadly stare before proceeding to walk on the left of the school, towards the terrain of the classes' windows.

Midway through his inspections, the sound of a violin playing through the air quirked his eyebrows. It was a song he had known out from a movie. But what made him interested wasn't the song itself, but by how it was played. He was curious to know who would've played a song this badly. That's why right now; the man is standing in front of the slightly opened window, where Sawada Tsunayoshi is playing his usual violin time.

Shadow covered the man's face as his face made a smirk. He then started to kneel and opened his case to bring out a shiny black thing… a camera? And he then he aims it at the sight behind the window glass.

He was only taking a shot or two when a deep, dark voice cuts him,

"Taking pictures on the school ground is forbidden. Especially if the object is one of the students," he said. "I'll have to confiscate that."

That someone turns out to be Hibari Kyouya, who had seemed to jump off from a nearby tree. He glared at the man for ever thinking of doing anything funny while he's on Hibari's territory. No suspicious looking strangers or everyone in particular he wasn't aware of could take any pictures on the school ground without his consent.

The man in black stared at Hibari for a bit before his face turned into a smug, "And you are?"

"I have no obligation to tell you," Hibari briskly answer.

"Hmph. Then I have no obligation to do what you said," the man in black replied.

"Then I guess I just have to take that camera away from you."

Both side exchange sinister glares before Hibari began to strike with his tonfas.

~tsuzuku~

AN: this was originally intended to be a one-shot and ended where Hibari had found the reason of Hibird's constant disappearances. But when I re-read it again, it seemed so anti-climax and too bland. So while I was searching for another alternate ending, I realized that the story is hard to end in just one-shot. So... here comes the unexpected multi chapter 1827! This is not betaed, so pardon all the weirdness. I know I still have a lot to go, so that's why feedbacks are always appreciated :D oh, any ideas who was that man in black was...? Heeheehee