Title: In Memoriam
Summary: Hibari remembers.
Pairing: 1880
Rating: PG13
Notes: Something that came to me in the middle of the night.
Disclaimer: "Belongs to Amano Akira, return to creator if found" TTwTT
Warning: Character death
Word count: 200+
.
You remember.
You remember when his strength first failed him or maybe it was that his knees refused to bend. You remember that he stopped smiling and maybe that was when you accepted that he was going to die.
It wasn't a common enemy you could have protected him from, someone he could have cut, something you could have bitten to death. The real problem was his body and how stupidly—selfishly—he continued to fight beside you for many years, even as he realized he was slowing down, his fingers gone numb. In the end, bedridden, there was little more he could do than to imagine sleep. There were times when you feared that he would stop breathing altogether.
Feeding Hibird brings back memories of another predator, Varia's Xanxus, throwing objects at a loudmouth swordsman, keeping him alert, awake, angry and alive. You think that he must have known what the cold flames would do to his own and fought to keep him the way Sawada didn't—the way you couldn't.
It's getting to be close. The doctors don't understand what could cause a healthy man to wither before their eyes but you know because you remember. You will always remember that his smile went away first.
.
A.N.: This fic was written under the assumption that sooner or later, using these flames is going to come and bite everyone in the ass. Although logic has no place in KHR, there are bound to be consequences when you are constantly wreathed in storm flames, rain flames or even sun flames whether or not it was produced by you. Eventually, Gokudera is going to suffer skin problems (unless being close to Tsuna all the time neutralizes all the damage), Yamamoto will end up feeling really old and Ryohei will be old. Or that's how my mind runs anyway, always looking for a new way to inflict emotional trauma. Happy year of the dragon everyone~!
