The Promised Tree

1827

This story is roughly based off an episode in Natsume Yuujinchou, which I found absolutely adorable. In any case, this is also my second 1827 fic. They're not my OTP, but, I just felt that this was the only pairing suitable for the story. Anyway. It's a little late, but Happy New Year's! Thank you for all the reviews and comments from my previous stories. I promise to work hard this year! With that being said, this little fic is my gift to you~

Note: In this fic, Tsuna is a youkai, which is basically a Japanese spirit. He's not human. Hibari is human, though.

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, or Natsume Yuujinchou. Any similarities in events or characters living or dead are entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!

The Promised Tree

He jumped.

And jumped.

And jumped again.

Several spirits flittering by saw him and laughed, but Tsuna wasn't swayed. He set his lips in a firm line, bent his knees until he was crouching into a ball, and jumped again.

"Reach…!"

The little hand stretched for the tree branch, fingers brushing the rough wood, but gravity won over once again, and the tiny brunette fell once more, falling hard on his rear end.

"Ouch! That hurts!" Tsuna whined, kicking his feet. "Why am I so short?"

"Che. Only a herbivore would complain about something so useless."

Tsuna shrieked and spun around on his knees as a giant shadow loomed over him. He blinked and looked up fearfully at a terrifying male figure clad in black. A jacket hung loosely around his shoulders, the sleeves flapping next to him like bird's wings, and to gleaming pairs of ice-cold eyes staring down at him from behind raven-black bangs. Tsuna quaked at the sight of the demon above him, close to tears. The 'thing' tilted his head a little, and then opened his mouth.

"You—"

"Monster!" Tsuna screamed, scrambling backwards as fast as he could. In his haste, the brunette planted his hand on a pile of leaves and in an instant—slipped.

"Hieee!"

Tsuna rolled, rolled, and suddenly, the edge of a cliff loomed into view. Luck really wasn't on his side, Tsuna concluded. First he meets this terrifying-looking youkai, and now he's about to fall to his death.

Uh oh.

Suddenly, a large, calloused hand reached out and grabbed the skinny boy's wrist in one go, saving him at the last second from a fall off a fifty-foot high cliff. Tsuna gasped, hanging for dear life to the scary man. As terrifying as the raven was, no way did the brunette want to fall.

The raven stared at him for a moment; the blazing eyes still burning from underneath the bangs, and then hefted Tsuna back up in one go. The brunette squeezed his eye shut and clung on for dear life, small hands grabbing for the folds of the man's jacket. The raven raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he lowered Tsuna back onto the ground. The smaller of the two sniffled, blinking tears out of his eyes.

"T-thank you, m-mister…"

The raven shrugged his shoulders, making the sleeves of the jacket flap. "Che. Don't overact to such little things like that. Only herbivores do that."

"A what?" Tsuna asked, curious.

The raven gave him a funny look, then shook his head. "Never mind."

"Is it some kind of spirit?" Tsuna pressed. "Do they live in this area? Do they know how to get to the sea?"

"No," the raven said a little irritably, bonking his fist on Tsuna's head. Immediately, the brunette teared up the abuse, making the black-haired demon roll his eyes and instead start to ruffle the soft brown locks. Tsuna blinked. It felt…warm. The hand was large and scary, but there was an unmistakable feeling of warmth and…comfort?

Wait, when did youkai have body heat, anyway?

"Mister, how do you do that?" Tsuna asked curiously, jumping a little so that his hand bumped against the raven's as it was ruffling his hair. All his fear had vanished and was replaced by curiosity. The dark-haired man raised his other eyebrow. "Do what?"

"Make your hand warm!" Tsuna said brightly, still bouncing. "What kind of spell is it? I've never seen it before."

The raven stared at him. "There's no spell for that, baka. It's called body temperature."

"Eh?"

Judging from the other's look, he probably thought Tsuna was missing a few screws here and there. "Body temperature," he explained slowly. "As in, warm-blooded mammals, like bears, whales…"

Tsuna frowned. A what?

The raven rolled his eyes. "A human?" he offered, gesturing to himself. "Humans have body heat, stupid."

It took about five seconds for Tsuna to realize what the dark-haired man was saying. He was a human. Tsuna was speaking with a human. A human was patting him on the head.

"HIEEEEEEEE!"

All hell broke loose.

"You," the raven snapped, "are the only idiot I know who almost falls off the same cliff twice. In one day. Within five minutes."

"S-sorry," sniffled Tsuna, now seated far, far away from the hidden edge, and under a small baby tree instead. "I-I didn't mean…I didn't know you were a human."

The dark-haired man scoffed, crossing his arms. "Is it so bad to be talking to a human, youkai?"

"N-no! I didn't mean that either!" Tsuna cried, flailing everywhere. "I…this is just the first time I've ever talked to…a human before. Humans don't see us. So…how can you?"

The other smirked. "That's because I'm actually God."

"Hieeeee?"

"Don't be so gullible," the raven snapped, smacking Tsuna on the head. "I just happen to be able to see all of you herbivores, so don't question me. It's not like I asked to see."

"Oh…o-okay," Tsuna said, fidgeting. "W-what's your name, mister?"

"Why do you ask?" the raven said, stiffening. Tsuna flinched. "You saved me twice…so I thought that I should at least say a proper thank you," he said weakly. The dark-haired man surveyed him closely for a moment, then shrugged and said,

"At least you've got discipline. Very well. My name is Hibari Kyoya. Remember that well."

"Hibari Kyoya…" Tsuna repeated, feeling pleased. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. "Hibari Kyoya…"

"Stop muttering to yourself." Hibari snapped, flicking the youkai in the forehead. "If you're going to thank me, do it properly."

"H-hai!" Tsuna squeaked, scrambling to his feet. Even standing up, he was only about as high as Hibari's chest. Bowing low, the brunette stuttered quickly, "Thank you for your help, Hibari-san! I promise to stay away from cliffs and not to be so gullible in the future!"

A ghost of a smile quirked the corner of Hibari's mouth. "Fine, since I've already answered two of your questions, you have to answer one of mine now."

"Eh?" Tsuna asked, looking up.

Hibari glanced over at the tall tree behind the small youkai. "What in the world were you trying to do before?"

Tsuna blushed in embarrassment, thinking back to his mini tantrum about not being tall enough, playing with the sleeves of his hoodie. "I, uhm, I wanted to climb the tree," he muttered.

"And why would you want to climb that tree? It's gigantic." Hibari said. "Wouldn't it be more logical to try climbing a smaller one?"

"Yes, but you can't see the pond from the other trees." Tsuna replied.

Hibari looked surprised. "Pond?"

"Yup!" Tsuna said, beaming. "If I sit on that branch on that tall tree, I can see right over the outskirts of the farmland and there's a really pretty pond that sparkles when there's sunlight. When it rains, the pond gets even bigger afterwards! In the wintertime, the humans skate there, so I can watch them play as well. It's beautiful!"

"Why don't you just walk over there to see the pond?" Hibari asked flatly. "It's a little easier than trying to climb a tree to see it."

"Oh…well, I can't cross over the farmlands." Tsuna said sadly, looking at his knees.

"And why not?"

"W-well…my ancestors weren't very nice youkai," the brunette explained tentatively. "They used to terrorize the farmers and eat all the animals, so a priest came and made a seal over the land. Youkai are forbidden from crossing the line, so I can't go to the pond. I can only see it from that branch. My father used to lift me up onto the tree, but he's been gone for many years already. So I try to jump up there myself, since nobody else is around to help me."

Hibari made a noise in his throat. "You know, if you want to see something beautiful, you might as well look towards the ocean instead. It's far more majestic than some little pond in the distance."

"Ocean?" Tsuna asked. "What's an ocean?"

There was a moment of silence as two sparrow youkais fluttered by, singing songs. Then, Hibari, with the same expression he had on his face when Tsuna asked about body heat, reached into the folds of his jacket and pulled out a slip of paper and a fountain pen.

"Here." He said bluntly, shoving the utensils in the brunette's face.

"Hiee? What's this?" Tsuna stuttered, blinking innocently up at Hibari. The raven dropped the paper and pen into Tsuna's hands and said, "Write your name down on that sheet of paper."

Confused, Tsuna complied, scribbling his name vertically down the parchment. The moment he finished, Hibari snatched it out of his hands and squinted at the swiggly writing.

"Your name is Tsunayoshi?"

"Hai!" the brunette said. "But most of my friends call me Tsuna for short."

Hibari cast him a half-amused look before smirking. "Well, Tsuna, you've broken your promise already."

"Eh? What do you mean?" the tiny youkai asked, blinking in confusion. Hibari suddenly loomed over him, looking positively evil. "You promised me that you wouldn't be so gullible in the future, yet you gave me your name without question. Names are very important, you know? I could have complete control over you now."

"W-what?" Tsuna spluttered, paling. "Hibari-san! Y-you stole my name?"

"Tch. Why are you making it sound like I'm the bad guy? I won't do something stupid like forcing you to my will by taking control of your name."

"Oh," Tsuna said, immensely relieved. "So you didn't take it?"

"Nope, I did, I just have a little more discipline, unlike other humans."

Tsuna nearly cried out loud. This guy was terrifying! "W-what are you going to do…with my name?" he wailed, running up and beating on Hibari's chest with his little fists. "Tell me, Hibari-san!"

"Cut that out," Hibari retorted, stopping Tsuna with relative ease. "Just watch." The raven walked over to the sapling tree Tsuna had been sitting under moments before and tied the sheet of parchment to the lowest trunk. He then turned to face the tearful brunette, half-smiling at the frightened look on Tsuna's face and the blazing defiance in his eyes.

"Seeing as I have your name and you are now under my command, I'm telling you to meet me under this same tree fifty years from now."

"Fifty years?" Tsuna gasped. Hibari nodded solemnly. "Yes. Fifty years. Stop repeating what I say. In fifty years, come here and I'll give you back your name." The taller human almost grinned at the sudden change in Tsuna's attitude. The brunette was practically sparkling now.

"Will you really, Hibari-san?"

At first, Hibari didn't reply. The dark-haired teen simply turned on his heel and started walking through the forest. Bemused, Tsuna ran to catch up, falling into step behind him, blinking curiously up at the other. Hibari actually chuckled, bumping his fist on Tsuna's head.

"And…I'll show you the ocean as well."

Behind the ecstatic youkai the stoic human, the sheet of parchment fluttered a little on the branch it had been tied to, waiting for its namesake to return and a promise to be fulfilled.

The Promised Tree

Part 1 End