Title: The Day the Animals Went Missing

Summary: It started with Natsu. By the end of the day, even Leon was missing. In hindsight, Tsuna should have known.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! belongs to Akira Amano

Pairing: None.

Warning: Fluff

Dedicated to: ikebukurolove, who inspired this fic.

Note: Reborn is in his cursed form (i.e. baby form) in this fic, because I needed him to be cute.

The Day the Animals Went Missing

"Natsu? Natsu!"

Tsuna frowned as he searched around his bedroom. His loyal partner was not in its usual sleeping spot on the extra pillow next to Tsuna's that morning. Tsuna had searched his entire bed –underside included– then the bathroom and even his walk-in closet. The lion cub was nowhere in sight.

Tsuna sighed and ran a hand through his messy brown locks.

"…It's pretty rare that Natsu will run off without me…" Tsuna murmured. "…I'm sure, it'll be fine."

"Well, I do hate to mention this, but many a times when you say that–"

"–Primo! I swear, if you finish that sentence and jinx me, great-great-great grandfather or not, I am going to kick you!" Tsuna huffed.

Giotto chuckled.

"…Oh great. There goes my breakfast." Tsuna groaned at the time. "I'll have to search for Natsu later." The brunette gave the somewhat startled Vongola Primo a hug. "Good morning, Grandpa. I'll talk to you later!"

Giotto blinked as he watched Tsuna run out of the bedroom. The blond chuckled and shook his head lightly before disappearing in soft orange flames.

"Good morning, Jyuudaime!"

Tsuna barely glanced up from his paperwork. "Good morning, Hayato."

"I brought you breakfast, Jyuudaime." Gokudera beamed, setting down a plate of sandwiches.

"Umm, thanks…" Tsuna blinked.

"Primo showed up and told me you didn't get a chance to have breakfast, Jyuudaime." Gokudera explained.

"Ah." Tsuna nodded and smiled.

Gokudera grinned and stared at Tsuna.

"…Is… there something wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"Umm… Never mind, it's nothing much." Gokudera mumbled.

"Hayato."

"It's just…" Gokudera blushed. "U-Uri is missing..."

"Uri's missing too?" Tsuna's eyes widened.

"Wait, 'too'?!" Gokudera echoed. "N-Natsu is missing as well?"

"Yeah. He woke up before me, I guess, and he wasn't around in my room anywhere." Tsuna frowned.

"But, Natsu doesn't usually leave your side, Jyuudaime." Gokudera frowned. "Uri running off is no surprise for me, of course."

"…Well, whatever the case, let's hope they don't run far. They can defend themselves quite well, but still, we wouldn't want them injured." Tsuna said.

Gokudera nodded and bowed, "I'll take my leave now, Jyuudaime."

"Thanks for the breakfast again, Hayato!"

"Yo, Tsuna!"

"Welcome back, Takeshi." Tsuna smiled. "I assume the mission's done?"

"Of course." Yamamoto grinned. "That looks like a lot of paperwork."

"Yeah… We've been having meetings for the past few days, so the work just piled up."

"Is Natsu in his box?" Yamamoto asked. "He usually jumps me whenever I get back…"

"A-Actually… Natsu's missing." Tsuna said. "Disappeared this morning. Uri, too."

"Really?" Yamamoto arched an eyebrow. "Well… Jirou and Koujiro went somewhere when we came back too."

"…This is going to sound pretty insane, but… are our Box Animals having some form of secret meeting?"

"Maybe." Yamamoto laughed. "I'll go hunt around a bit, see if I can find them."

"Thanks, Takeshi." Tsuna smiled.

"No prob!"

Tsuna glanced up when his Lightning, Sun and Mist Guardian entered his office. He sighed, "Let me guess. Gyuudon, Kangaryuu and Mukurou are missing too."

Ryohei, whose mouth was opened to speak, snapped his mouth back shut.

"Umm… I'm not sure that's Hyper Intuition." Lambo said.

"No, but the fact that I have three other missing Vongola Box Animals –mine included– might help." Tsuna replied.

"Ehh?" "The other's too?" "Boss's offspring is missing?" "Me too!"

Tsuna buried his face in a hand and groaned. "Chrome, d-don't phrase it like that…" Tsuna blinked. "Wait a minute, did I hear four voi– R-Reborn!"

"Ciaossu."

"Don't 'ciaossu' me! When did you get here? A-And… did you say…" Tsuna blinked. "…L-Leon's missing? B-But… Leon never ever leaves your side!"

"That's why it's called, 'missing', Dame-Tsuna." Reborn chided.

"That's it." Tsuna grumbled as he got up. "We are hunting down our partners now."

"Well, I've got the answer to your problem."

"Takeshi?" Tsuna blinked. "Did you finally find them?"

"Yeah. They're…" Yamamoto trailed off. "Umm… I'm not sure you'll believe me unless you see it yourself."

"…They're… having a secret meeting?" Tsuna arched an eyebrow.

"N-Not exactly…" Yamamoto replied. "L-Look, just come with me."

Yamamoto lead the group, joined halfway by Gokudera, to one of the less frequently used, but still equally guarded, part of the estate. It houses some of the meeting and function rooms that were no longer in use as new ones have long since been built. The raven held up the universal sign for keeping quiet before slowly pushing open the door to one of the old meeting rooms.

The group's jaws dropped at the sight.

The large central desk has been shifted to the side, against the long line of windows, while the chairs have been neatly pushed to a corner –well, as neatly as one can with swivel chairs, at least. In the middle of the freed up space…

…lay one Hibari Kyouya, 10th Generation Vongola Cloud Guardian and Foundation leader…

…surrounded by the missing animals.

Hibari was lying on his back with his hands beneath his head, Hibird resting comfortably in his hair. Roll slept on the ground near his head, while Natsu was curled up with Uri and Kojirou on Hibari's chest. Leon napped on top of Natsu, while Jirou was snoozing quietly against Hibari's side. Gyuudon laid on the ground close by, while Mukurou lay on top of it with Kangaryuu against it.

Tsuna resisted the urge to coo at the sight and, ensuring the sound was off, snapped a picture of the scene, quickly sending it to Shoichi for 'safe-keeping'. Glancing back at the sight, Tsuna smiled.

'He says he hates herbivores, but he always cares for the small ones. No matter how much you deny it, you are kind, Kyouya.'

"…Herbivores…"

"Ah. He's awake." Yamamoto blinked.

"Way to state the obvious, Baseball Idiot!" Gokudera growled.

"…I'll bite you to death for disturbing my nap…!"

"What to do, Sawada?" Ryohei asked.

Tsuna chuckled and grinned. He turned… and ran, calling over his shoulder, "Run, of course!" Raising his voice further, Tsuna continued, "Kyouya, I'll spar with you if you catch me!"

The other Guardians blinked and ran.

Hibari smirked.

The side of Reborn's lips lifted ever so slightly.

'Just another day at Vongola.'

A/N: It all started... when I reread the manga where Hibari was fighting Adelheid. And I showed ikebukurolove panels of Hibari smiling at Roll (Target 320, Page 11) and Hibari calling Hibird, 'Little One' (Target 322, Page 6). ikebukurolove actually went, "Is that HIBARI?!", and proceeded to ask me to write about Hibari's love for animals.

Well, small animals. But the way I see it, Kargaryuu probably doesn't fear Hibari, considering his and Ryohei's relationship in the future, but Gyuudon might. Still, if the other animals (majority of which are small ones) are not afraid of Hibari (who wouldn't hurt them unnecessarily), then I can see Gyuudon being close to Hibari too.

Well, ikebukurolove, there you go. I hope you find this satisfactory.

I myself is not very sure of how this turned out. You know how you think you have this great, fantastic idea, and when you carry it out, it suddenly feels dumb and stupid. This is kinda like what I feel right now. That aside, I still love that picture I had in my mind about Hibari napping with all the animals. It's adorable.

Well, thanks for reading, peeps! Ciao Ciao~