Standard disclaimer applied.
This is an AU. I rushed to finish this when I noticed HibaTsuna is ending /sob, correction is very much welcome. Unbeta-ed and contain OOC-ness.
Have fun reading, I guess.
Fourteen years…
Tsuna didn't realize it has been that long.
It wasn't something that he could boast off, but it's indeed something he was thankful for.
As long as he lived, eversince he could see, Tsuna –in his opinion- had been cursed by what people called having 'sixth sense'. He could see something that normal people don't; it wasn't only dead people he saw, many grotesque beings too; and thus normal people avoided him. His parents didn't listen to him, waving it off as child's paranoia. His younger years were spent with his parents wondering why he screamed or cried at nights or why he was frightened at nothing particular.
No other child believed him, and the things he saw found him to be interesting, they saw him as their prey and a tool they could use. Human bullied him, and the ghosts tormented him. His childhood years were awful, not all of them, but mostly were.
Until one day, his father came back from a work, and gave him a golden antique pocket-watch. Little Tsuna couldn't read the time well at that age, but he remembered the hands stopped –it has always been for years now-, he would open the lid from time to time, and it still stopped at six past twenty seven minutes.
It was an heirloom, his father said. There were some people on his line of blood who were like him, seeing things that people don't. The watch would protect him, and he should never forget to bring it around and not to show it off to people –because it was dangerous and expensive-looking.
The young brunet could only nod absentmindedly, checking the not-so-small stuff in his hands.
The night he got the watch was one of the memorable days of his life.
Some people started appearing in his dreams.
An old-looking man, a black-haired serious woman, a moustache man, a stoic pale blonde one, a scary weird-haired one, another scary with a scar-on-his-face man, a man with a monocle, a brown-haired with hair-facial one, and lastly a blonde who appeared quite often, he introduced himself as "Giotto".
Little Tsuna asked 'who are you' times to times, everytime, while keeping a distance from them. Because seriously, some of them were too scary for the little kid.
Some would just smile at him, the woman patted his spiky locks affectionately and the one with scar in his face ignored him.
Only the old-looking man came cautiously and gently lifted him to sit him on his hands while patting his head gently. "I am your grandfather. We are your guardians, little Tsunayoshi."
Tsuna believed him. He told his father about it, that he has guardians! He met his grandfather! His father laughed, "Good for you, Tsuna!" while messing with his hair.
Eversince they appeared in his dreams, the stuff he could see never bothered him again. It's as if they didn't realize he was there. Though, the human meanies still bullied him like a meanie they are.
"You have to be strong for yourself", the man with the scar, the other called him "Ricardo", told him, his eyes glared at the younger brunet, scaring the little boy until another man –the one with a big moustache, he introduced himself as "Fabio"- patted his head in reassurance before showing the little boy he could teach him to shoot, with a gun, which promptly freaked the little boy more.
The black-haired woman, "Daniela", came and closed his ears, shouting at the men something he couldn't hear then patted his heads afterwards.
The pale blonde then pointed out that eventhough they taught the little boy how to fight, it'd be quite difficult since they were in dreams, and Tsuna's body might have difficulties to adapt despite his mind knows how it works.
Little Tsuna stated that eventhough he was hurt, he didn't want to be the one who inflicted the pain, which promptly made his guardians –or more correctly, ancestors- shed a tear and group-hugging him.
With a lot of consideration from the others, they decided to teach the boy how to protect self when people attacked him. It turned out to be very helpful for the most of the brunet's life.
He remembered his younger-self often wondered why they knew so much about how to defend against attacks. Were they bullied too, was what he always wanted to ask. But now he thought about it, his guardians could have also been the bully instead.
Though none of that matters. They taught him how to cope with his miserable life, they drove the scary creatures away, and more importantly they were there for him.
He even learnt not to be scared and just completely ignored the scary creatures.
Until he reached his middle school life and met that man.
He was his senpai, a disciplinary committee member- the leader actually. He is scary, intimidating and anti-social, moreover quite a bully despite the discipline-talk he has. He was completely someone who Tsuna tried to avoid and didn't want to have anything to do with.
Unfortunately, his clumsiness and tardiness –which made him nicknamed no-good- always threw him into the disciplinary room; either it was because he was late, his grades , running on corridors or else he couldn't mention.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
"HI-HIBARII-SAAN!" He would always scream the name like he is seeing ghosts, which was kind of true, since he indeed saw ghosts…surrounding the prefect.
With his so-called sixth sense, it wasn't hard for him to notice the grudge and other evil things mounted on the man. The scary thing was, it wasn't only some vengeful beings; in his fourteen years of seeing them, he knew that a strong feeling could create something as powerful as that, and one of them is hatred.
He often saw how a potted plant suddenly fell on the prefect head (which was expertly destroyed by the almost-victim before the man proceeded to punish whoever dared to lose grip of the pot) or when a car almost drove over the man (where the poor driver was beaten to death for un-discipline driving), and many other incidents. Tsuna wondered -and in some way, respected- how the prefect was still alive and biting until today.
Though he did also wonder, just what exactly the disciplinary leader did to get so much grudge and hatred.
Fortunately, because of the watch-charm he had always carried around, the lump of darkness always disappeared whenever he was within certain proximity with the prefect. Tsuna wasn't sure his stomach and heart could handle the sight at close-range.
"Today marks the six times of your tardiness…"
"I-I'M SORRY! I'M REALLY SORRY!" He bowed deeply at the prefect, wishing it to be over quickly so he could storm far far away from the scary-with-scary-stuff-on-him man, "I-I set the alarm, but…"
Silver glinted under the sun before something smacked him on his cheeks and made him fell hard on the ground; it was the disciplinary leader's famous weapon, a pair of tonfa.
"Don't interrupt me, herbivore", let Tsuna corrected it, a scary-with-scary-stuff-on-him-and-weird-language man. "For all your un-disciplinary behaviors, I will grant you the special punishment."
Oh great, not again.
"Prepare to be bitten to death by me."
No wonder his classmates called him as Hibari-san's favorite. Out of all the Namimori Middle students, he received the award of "the student who gets bitten by Hibari-san the most". His new record was last month, where he got a total of 23 bites in a month, all done by the leader of the disciplinary committee. It was as if the prefect had marked him. Every single time he did something wrong –or what the prefect considered wrong-, the raven-haired man would be there, or knew or someone told on him (either it's the DC member –"Sawada, you again," or his schoolmates –"Oh~no-good-Tsuna, you're in for trouble, hehe~").
His life sucks.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi."
Oh, crap, he daydreamed on classes again.
"Not only you were late, but you dare not to pay attention on my class," the teacher was glaring at him through his thick glasses.
"Detention for you after class," ugh, "was what I thought. But since it's the third time, I will send you to the Disciplinary Committee instead," it was a rule whenever a student got his third detention, it's discipline time, and for Sawada Tsunayoshi, it was a known he'd be disciplined especially by the leader, lucky him eh?
"Hehe~ got a date with Hibari-san again, dame-Tsuna?"
A date, huh?
At these kinds of times, Tsuna always wished 'after school' would never come. He prayed to whatever God out there, or any miracles just…just erased his appointment with any discipline stuff for the good of his life!
Does God listen to not-paying-attention student?
Well, duh.
Instead of bracing himself, standing up and putting his books to his bag to make his way to the reception room; the brunet slumped down on the desk, sprawling his upper body lazily, wishing for himself to disappear right at the moment.
"Tsuna-kun," said boy lifted his face out of his arms a little to meet two pairs of faces; it was the school's idols, Sasagawa Kyoko and Yamamoto Takeshi, the only one in the school who were kind to him, and maybe his only friends.
"Are you okay? You look a bit gloom", Kyoko asked, looking over him worriedly.
Well, he'd soon meet –an appointment, at that- a demon afterall, but of course that's not something for his friends to be worried of, right?
"I'm okay, Kyoko-chan. Just a little bit…tired, I guess…" He shifted his eyes to the side for a good measure.
A slam on his back made his body stumbled forward, "Cheer up, Tsuna! You'll meet Hibari-senpai after this right?"
The girl giggled softly at that, "Ah, that's right. I'm sure Hibari-senpai will take care of you well, ne?"
Ah…the two idols were indeed kind but a bit…naïve. How could they believe all the teasing he got from his classmates as real? How could they believe him, the no-good student, is going out with the evil disciplinary leader?
"Yamamoto-kun, Kyoko-chan, I told you, I'm not going out with Hibari-san." Oh dear, just how many times should he say it until the two understand.
"Haha, don't be shy, Tsuna. It's okay we understand." Yamamoto patted his back encouragingly while grinning widely.
"That's right, Tsuna-kun. Don't worry, we are cheering for you and Hibari-san."
No, no, you guys shouldn't be cheering for that!, was what Tsuna wanted to scream out, but he instead only managed some awkward laugh before excusing himself from his two friends, saying he needs to go to the reception room soon.
The smiles his friends sent as they bid him farewell were very…disheartening.
Once Tsuna was out the door, Kyoko lowered her waving hand slowly, sighing a little, "Tsuna-kun is really shy, isn't he?"
"Haha, well, I think Hibari-senpai should work harder for Tsuna to understand his feeling."
"Ah, yeah, too bad, Hibari-senpai is such a tsundere, eh?" the girl smiled softly.
"I really don't understand you two sometimes," the two idols only smiled questioningly at Kurokawa Hana who was looking at them like they were growing heads, scratch that, half of the class who overheard the conversation were actually gaping at them.
Tsuna dragged his feet lazily on the corridors. He was pretty sure he looked like a zombie right now; everyone who was making his way towards the reception room would gain such ability, actually. Afterall, once they entered the gate of fate, they'd look no different than a walking corpse, literally.
Furthermore, the brunet actually had a solid reason why he avoided the room so much, I mean, much than any normal student…okay maybe not that different. Considering that the room was where the dark evil Lord was residing, it was overridden by all evil lurking inside, there was too many of them that the sixth-sense boy could see the darkness aura out of the door.
Carefully peeking his head out of the wall, brown-eyes observed the place. There was a DC member in front of the door, and their leader must have been inside the room since the evil aura was growing than ever. Tsuna took a nervous gulp.
"Sawada."
"HIEEE!" Said boy squeaked, turning around abruptly. A pair of black eyes was staring at him sharply.
It was one of the DC members, Sanada-san, if he wasn't mistaken, "Stop dawdling around. President is waiting for you."
"U-Uhm…I-I think I got stomach-", Sanada didn't let him finished, yanking his arm harshly and dragging him out of his hiding place, murmuring 'everyone always says that'.
He was greeted by the member who was guarding the door, Sasuke-san.
Sanada put him in front of the door, patting his shoulders while grinning, "Don't worry, despite his attitude, President's actually taken an interest on you, Sawada." Sasuke nodded in agreement behind.
Are they crazy? How beating the hell out of him every single time is showing interest?
"Stop dawdling outside and come inside, Sawada Tsunayoshi," came an irritated growl from inside the room, making the three men flinched –with Tsuna squeaking slightly-.
With a soft push on his shoulders, the two DC members left him with a good luck.
Good luck? Tsuna has long given up on such thing.
To say Hibari Kyouya was irritated was beyond understatement. He was pissed off and felt like murdering someone, but then again he had better self-control that that, so he opted to break another piece of his pen, nonchalantly throwing it into the bin and retrieved another one.
This had been such a daily thing for the prefect, it had been like that for almost three years, it was just recently he got even more and more irritated than ever.
Especially when he found that his dark mood was always enlightened by the sight of a certain herbivore named 'Sawada Tsunayoshi'.
Oh, his mood was enlightened indeed, and he paid no mind on the change at first. However when he realized that there was an herbivore, a pathetic one at that, could affect him that much, it irked the hell out of him.
Yet, he couldn't help but be interested that such herbivore could manage such a feat on a carnivore like him. Furthermore, despite the numerous biting he gave him, the herbivore was still alive and rarely submitted to the hospital. Of course, Hibari Kyouya was sure he had never given the herbivore a handicap or anything along the herbivorous line.
So instead he took a liking to bite the herbivore over and over again. It didn't take much work to find anything wrong of the herbivore, considering how pathetic and no-good the herbivore is, which actually irked him more and more.
His ears twitched when he heard whispers outside, right by the door. The herbivore had been getting too close to his subordinates lately.
Taking a mental note to discipline his subordinates later, he cleared his throat, calling the herbivore in while setting his paperworks aside.
Few minutes passed, no doubt the herbivore was busy fiddling with the knob nervously. Hibari twitched in annoyance.
"Come quickly or I'll bite you to death," well he would still be bitten to death once inside.
There was a squeak -Hibari always wondered how could a boy made such mouse-ly girly voice-, before the door was quietly slide. A mob of brown haired slowly peeked out of the door.
"U-Uhm, excuse me." The ravenette's eyes narrowed at the herbivorous act, before the man growled in annoyance, "Just come inside."
The brunet squeaked again, taking a slow step inside.
"Close the door." There was a stutter of 'y-yes' as the boy obediently did the order.
Silverish eyes watched in disinterest as the brunet fiddling with the hem of his blazer while biting his lips and looking at the floor.
"Come here, herbivore," does he need to order every action? How herbivorous could he more be? Hibari felt like biting whichever teacher who sent the boy here.
…
Nevermind. He was the one who told them to send the boy to him if he needs discipline.
He clucked his tongue when the brunet stopped right beside the couch. "Closer," a slow step, "and faster", it was amusing how the other was practically running to his desk.
As usual, once the boy was in close range with him, his mood suddenly felt better, he was practically smirking right now, wondering how he should tease –instead of punishing- the boy today. Hibari leaned on his office chair comfortably, humming as dark orbs were inspecting the report about the herbivore's today's attitude.
"Sleeping on class?", a snort, "you could have at least done a better job at not getting caught", he would also fell asleep on any History class. Seriously. Why would people care about dead people or things that already happened? "Well, I can't expect more from an herbivore like you."
The other's scrunched-face and how the boy was biting his lips raised his mood tenfold. Raising from his seat, he made his way towards the startled brunet, twirling his tonfa in excitement. "You're in luck, I'm in good mood. So, rough or gentle?"
Tsuna gulped nervously. Oh God, not this game…well he could pray and hope it wasn't, "Uhh…gentle?"
"Rough, it is."
Hibari was never fair in the game, no matter what he chose, he'd always bite him as rough as he could.
By the time the prefect was finished, which was 10 minutes later, Tsuna was already black and blue here and there.
As if there was no living corpse on the floor, the prefect casually returned to his desk and sorted out his paperwork.
It took quite some time for Tsuna to be able to raise from his lying position and made way to his bag and just escaped the hell altogether, "w-well then, Hibari-san…", even speaking was too much for his swollen cheeks and bruised jaw.
"Who said you are dismissed?"
Oh no.
"Take a seat."
"But I…"
"Take a seat", the order was repeated in a much colder tone that the younger one in the room immediately shut his mouth.
"C-Could I at least treat my…injuries first?"
Hibari made a soft sigh, setting an already signed paperwork aside, "the first aid kit is on top of the cupboard."
The brunet looked around, catching the sight of a small white box on the said place, wincing mentally as he saw the height. It would put pressure to his muscle and no doubt would ache. Casting a quiet glance at his senior, the raven-haired man didn't seem to have any interest to help him, so he just had to bear with it.
With a very slow and careful step -and as less painful as possible, the decimo reached for the box, hissing slightly at a sudden strain on the injuries of his shoulder.
However due to his height, he didn't have much option but to stretch his arm more and even so, they barely touched the box. A single thought to just ignore his bruises crossed his mind and it sounded much better than straining his already ached muscles. Yet he remembered slightly in the back of his mind, his ancestors' words to take care any wounds right away, lest they be much worse.
He unconsciously bit on his lips as an act to encourage himself, his arm was back to work, straining even more as his other hand gripped on the cupboard for balance. Despite he was already standing on his toes, he could only feel the box and worse knocked it slightly deeper. "Nngh…" a straining groan made out of his mouth, trying to restrain himself from crying aloud. His shoulder ached harder than before and he could only shut his eyes in pain to keep going.
"Was that too hard to ask for help?", he faintly –must be because of the pain- heard someone scorned behind him. A light brush touched his reaching arm, making him aware of another human's warmth and stumbling him in surprise. Thankfully, an arm caught him by the shoulder, steadying his dizzy self. Hibari gave one of his glares as he released him and gave him the box he'd been trying to get, "here."
"Thank you…" he mumbled silently. Although feeling slightly grateful, he was feeling annoyed as well. Hibari could have just given the box the first time he mentioned it to him, considering the man was the one who inflicted pain onto his body. But he could only bite back those thought into the back of his mind, knowing full well that it wasn't the wisest decision to talk back to Hibari Kyouya.
As the prefect made his way back to his seat, the younger student also stepped away and headed for the couch –slightly wincing.
He was grateful that the box had pretty much everything he needed. Pouring the alcohol into a handful of cotton, he slowly took off his clothes (thankfully he kept his pocket watch on his pants instead, he wouldn't want to get them confiscated or something) –while trying not to make an eye-contact with the other man in the room-and with a careful touch brought the cotton, dapping them slightly onto his bruises. Every so often, he would wince at the stingy pain and unconsciously again bit his lips to prevent a sound escaping. After done with the disinfecting process, he took his special cream out of his own bag and applied it all over his swollen bruises. The brunet was about to finish everything and wrapped himself with the bandage when a cold voice spoke up.
"You seem to be quite experience in it," Hibari remarked, his sharp eyes were staring at the other's body nonchalantly. There were some cut and burn marks, which he knew wasn't inflicted by him. Quite frankly, eventhough he never held back with the boy, he'd never used the spikes on his tonfa or other special function the weapon has. He considered the boy's faults were never necessary to use them. To top it off, the cut didn't look new. From the color of the skin around it, he knew it had been quite old.
Bullying? He concluded. The boy was weak and meek, a perfect target for a bully. However the prefect couldn't help but wonder silently why he had never received a report of this boy's bullying case….never from the boy or even his family.
Tsuna studied his senior confusedly. The prefect seemed to be out of the world, drowned in his own thought and the brunet wasn't sure if he should respond to the remark earlier. Embarrassed by the stare directed at him, he hurriedly wrapped his wounds and fixed his clothes before hiding his face away, staring at his reflection on the coffee table in front of him.
Not noticing the other boy's discomfort, Hibari continued with his observation.
If it isn't bullying, what would it be?
As strange as it sounded, he considered the other possible answer : 'training', which was very unlikely but made a sense as well –considering he had gone through some or worse-. And it would also relate to his question about the boy's surviving ability.
But then, why would he never fight back?
A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed his temple. Whenever it was the brunet, the question would keep coming and coming. Despite his ordinary appearance, the boy hid more than he thought. It kind of frustrated him.
One thing for sure, Sawada Tsunayoshi isn't much a herbivore like he originally thought.
Would he get the chance to see the other baring his fangs at him if he keeps these charades? Or should he provoke him more?
I will wait a little more. A carnivore loves to chase its prey and savored them in their's top form afterall.
Tsuna glanced awkwardly around, carefully not making any noise as he put everything back to its place, except the first aid kit which he just put on the table, "U-Uhm…Hibari-san…," he started nervously, "what do you need me for?" Said man momentarily gave him a questioning look.
"W-Well…you told me to stay…," Instead of saying anything, Hibari merely scoffed with a look that was saying 'as if I need help from a herbivore like you', then returned to his paperworks.
Dumbfounded but also scared, Tsuna decided to stay for a little while. Afterall, Hibari hadn't dismissed him yet, so it was best if he didn't do anything against the demon prefect. To start with, Hibari Kyouya was the most unreasonable person he ever met so it went without saying that Tsuna had little to no idea what the other wanted with him besides giving of punishment. Anyway, the prefect didn't even bother to glance at him, let alone paying attention on him as he went through his paperwork, so Tsuna was left fidgeting on his seat.
Having such spare time made the brunet slowly drowsy and soon the younger lad succumbed into a slumber, hoping his senior wouldn't mind him lying down on the other's black-sleek couch.
"Fuwa~"
Yesterday was one of the worst. Because he didn't get to do anything, he had fallen asleep in the reception room and was later woken up by a kick in the stomach by the owner of the room. It sucked. It hurt. Tsuna rubbed his stomach in comfort once he was reminded of the event. Until the end, Hibari didn't even tell him the reason why the ravenet kept him in the reception room for that long and Tsuna…well the brunet didn't want to have that kind of thing clogging up on his head when he wasn't even interested to know that much.
By the morning, he'd even already ignored the event altogether and as usual ran full speed ahead to the school since he woke up late. Fortunately, he managed to arrive by the gate before the bell rang and got into his seat before the homeroom teacher came. All in all, it started to be quite a peaceful day for him, especially with such a great weather ahead of him. Thinking that sometimes it was fine to indulge in such peace, the no-good student happily made his way to the rooftop, cradling his lunchbox in his arms. Afterall, nobody usually went to the place, it was a great place to be away from his bullies and have a little quiet time alone.
Or so he thought. The brunet gasped when he found a black figure just as he opened the metallic door. He had to scrunch his eyes to get confirmation of what he thought it was and almost scrambled away in fear once he recognized the black tall body. Wanting to escape as soon as possible, Tsuna quickly clutched the lunchbox in his arms and was about to leave quietly when something hit him.
The tall figure was standing on the rail and looking below, the dark aura which usually surrounded the boy had expanded more that it had taken a shape of a pair of hands which slowly creeping on the guy's back…
"HIBARI-SAN!"
Before he knew it, he had jumped and rushed to the said guy and clutched on the leg that was about to fall of the rail.
It was a stupid thought. When he thought back, Hibari Kyouya would probably come out alive even though falling from such height. However just for a second there, Tsuna definitely didn't want to see his senior's suicide in front of him.
"What are you doing, herbivore?"
The voice snapped him out of his reverie, reminding him he was still clutching tightly on the other's leg and his lunch was on the floor, no doubt the content was already in a mess.
"Let go of my leg."
Abruptly, Tsuna did so as ordered and finally Hibari leapt off of the rail and landed gracefully on the rooftop's ground. Trying to avoid meeting with his senior's eyes, the younger lad scrambled on his feet and pretended to gather back his lunch in a haste without saying anything.
Silence fell on both of them. Hibari, himself, was trying to recall on why he was in the rooftop when he was pretty sure he was patrolling around earlier. That missing piece would perhaps justify the reason why the younger boy was grabbing his leg earlier (Hibari deducted the brunet thought he was going to fall or something), but nothing came to mind.
Tsuna finally stood up, nervously clutching his chest and then with wavering voice the brunet spoke, "Hi-Hibari-san…I…Can you please keep this for a moment…?" He opened one button of his shirt and took off a golden pocket watch that was dangling around his neck and gave it to the other. "I-It's a family's heirloom," continued the freshman while playing with his fingers, "b-but right now, I need you to keep it."
At last, the head moved upwards and dared to stare into the grey ones, "I will take it back later, but for now, can you?"
For a moment, Hibari squeezed the item that was placed onto his palm before thrust it back, "I don't need it. I'm not your safe-keeper, herbivore."
"N-No! I really need you to keep it, Hibari-san!" For some reason, the much weaker boy insisted.
"I said…"
"Please! It's really important for you to keep it!"
Studying the determination in the brown orbs, Hibari gave in in the end, tucking the item inside his pocket in silent. "In the first place, this kind of item is prohibited to be brought into school. I'm confiscating it." He warned with a little bit of annoyance in the tone.
"Yes, that's fine!" Which to his surprise was replied by a smile. A smile. Why?
Tsuna was aware that everytime he stepped closer to Hibari and within a radius between each other, his guardians' protection also affected Hibari…which meant that the pocket watch would even protect anyone other than him. Right now, Hibari-san needs more protection than him.
That was what Tsuna was aware and certain of.
The downside of giving the item to the prefect was Tsuna couldn't and shouldn't go home after the clock struck six. Oh no, this wasn't a beautiful fairytale where he was casted upon fairy magic which lasted only for some hours. Instead it was of a horror movie where his eyes would witness the most gruesome things possible when the sky turned dark.
Again, he braced himself.
It was okay, he at least knew to avoid it so those things wouldn't notice his presence. He would be okay going home. While telling himself this, Tsuna got to get home safely the days after. He would still flinch once in a while but it didn't let anything to notice and get vicious at him. Besides, his fear would disappear once he saw Hibari Kyouya everytime he went to the school and saw the older guy wasn't in bad mood and the complexion in the other's face was a bit brighter. So far, everything went well.
On the fourth day, he met a purple-haired girl dressed in sailor-uniform (instead of Namimori blazer) by the school gate. He was about to ignore her, thinking she was waiting for her boyfriend, but the girl unexpectedly called out to him.
"Tsunayoshi-kun! It's been a long time!"
That surprised Tsuna. He never remembered to have known such a cute girl, especially one who would be delighted on seeing him. But soon, he knew why.
When the girl approached him, he could saw a pair of black wings on the other's back as well as a familiar hairstyle and mismatched eyes.
"Muku…ro?"
"Glad to know you still remember me, Tsunayoshi-kun."
Mukuro was a peculiar ghost. He came to little Tsuna before the brunet got his pocket watch and willingly played with him without any ill intention like other ghosts, even going as far as to shape himself to a little child to be able to play with the young brunet. Technically, the guy was his first ever friend.
Or so he thought.
The girl in front of him chuckled, finding it amusing to see his shocked face, "I was really troubled you know, when suddenly I could never find you again." That was true. Once Tsuna got his pocket watch, that was the time he lost his first ever friend.
"I was even threading carefully to be able to have your body," but only Tsuna who thought they were friends.
"What grandfather said was right."
"Ah, did you also tell your grandfather about me? Was that why I couldn't find you?"
Little Tsuna was told that he had to be separated from his friend, Mukuro, because the boy had something up his sleeves.
"Mukuro," Tsuna stepped back, drawing a distance between them, "why are you here? Who is this girl?" the usual frightened voice was full of cautiousness.
Again, Mukuro laughed at his face, "Kufufu, worry not. I no longer have interest in your body. As you see," the possessed girl twirled around in excitement, "I already found my vessel. Pretty, isn't she?"
"What did you do to the girl, Mukuro?" He couldn't believe he was friend with this little maniac.
"I didn't do anything. In fact, I saved her."
"Save?" Tsuna couldn't believe the words that came out of the smiling pretty lips.
"Yes, she was dying so she made a contract, willingly selling herself to the devil to save her life," explained the other while playing with the girl's long locks.
"The…devil…?" Tsuna took even more steps backwards.
"Si," Tsuna used to notice the foreignness of the other, but now as he grew older he knew for sure Mukuro was not Japanese, "can't you see these pairs of beautiful wings?" said wings were flapped playfully, "since I couldn't find you, I powered up myself," the smirk adorned on the face spoke volume and the sixth-sense boy didn't want to know the rest of the story.
"So, what does a devil need in my school?" Gulping down the lump on his throat, Tsuna asked further while clutching his bag. Some people had stopped and watched them in interest but soon after began to ignore them.
"Ah, that's right. I have important mission~"
Tsuna waited for the other to continue in silent.
"You see, I received a report that a human fits to be a high-rank devil is in here and since I'm nearby, I was told to take care of the affair. You wouldn't happen to know a human named Hibari Kyouya, would you?"
Hibari…san… A devil candidate…?
"And what do you want to do to the human?"
"Didn't you hear me? I was told to turn him into one of us, I said."
"That's not what I mean!" He was getting tired of Mukuro's playful nature and unconsciously snapped at the other.
"Maa, Tsunayoshi-kun, you're being scary~" with the quiet voice of the girl, Mukuro whined and tried to act sweet.
However that didn't bug Tsuna. Not at all, when he already knew the inside of the vessel. "I asked, what would you do to Hibari Kyouya to make him a devil?"
Smile was once again grown on the other's rather dark lips, "It's obvious, isn't it? First I need to cut his connection to the living world."
"Does it mean…death?"
"Ah, that's what human calls it, isn't it?"
"I'm not letting you kill Hibari-san!" He may have not special connection whatsoever to said senior, but Tsuna couldn't just watch the thing happened now that he already knew about it. It would make him an accomplice; it would mean he was also the killer…. Tsuna couldn't stomach the thought.
Mukuro, the girl in front of him didn't falter, "that would be a problem for me. As you know, we, devils, are pretty strict ourselves. Firstly, you don't even have the power against us."
That was true.
His hands had clutched his bag tighter and he was sweating profusely.
"Besides, you right now don't have your guardians protecting you, right Tsunayoshi-kun?"
That was the last thing he heard of when suddenly he was blacked out.
Yamamoto was humming to himself as he walked out of the school building. Today he got to hit pretty good pitches and his condition was in top notch. Thinking to himself to get some practice back home, he pulled his sport bag and threw it over his shoulder while grinning to himself. He halted his step when he saw a familiar figure approaching the building.
"Yo, Tsuna! Didn't you go home? Did you forget something?" He smiled, waving at the other casually.
Instead of returning the greeting or even looking at him, the shorter boy kept his head downward, seemingly murmuring to himself.
"Tsuna?"
"Yo, Yamamoto. Are you going home? Let's go together!" His club mate shouted behind his back but what the baseball star could focus on was what the words that was uttered out of the passing brunet's lips.
"Yamamoto?"
Snapping back to reality, Yamamoto abruptly turned to the approaching club mate, "Sorry! Go home first! I forgot something!" Without even waiting for a reply, he ran back inside, his favorite bat in his hand.
After school, it was mandatory for the disciplinary committee to patrol around, especially keeping an eye to the students who decided to spend more time in the school, as well as checking on the locks of each windows and doors.
Hibari had just finished checking on the third floor and was about to head downstairs when he saw a figure coming up.
"Hey, you, class is already over. No student is allowed to stay inside the school after 6 p.m.," declared the prefect as he drew out his weapon.
The intruder sure took a long time, taking each stair in a very slow step and sluggish motion. However, the hairstyle gave away right away.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, answer me."
Hibari kept his ground as said boy moved closer and finally was just three stairs away from him.
"Kukuku. I see. You are carrying a charm, aren't you? That's why I couldn't get closer these days."
It wasn't the usual high-pitch scared voice. Hibari Kyouya was greeted with a very cracky voice and distorted brown orbs that he was confirmed it wasn't Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"Who are you?"
The sluggish figure decided not to answer him and instead laughed maniacally. "Kuhahaha! I've been waiting for this! I should have thanked the devil for granting me this body," swiftly he leapt onto the ravenet, gaining a strike towards his lower body and thrown down the stairs.
Hibari watched silently as the body, as if not feeling any pain, got back on its feet and cackled, "this is perfect! I can touch you!" Without missing a beat, he leapt back upwards, this time jumping over the prefect to stand in the same corridor as the other.
"Cars couldn't work! And that boy bothered me when I was about to push you down the rooftop before," he caught the strike which was about to deliver onto his face, "but this time, I will kill you by my own hands."
"Stop talking, herbivore. You reek." Hibari scrunched in disgust when unknown smell caught by his nose.
As though he was possessed, the Sawada in front of him bounced around while cackling before jumping onto him. No matter how Hibari delivered his strike, the body didn't feel pain and instead took all the damage before catching his tonfa in his grip. The strength was almost impossible for the small body as the hands ignored the spikes which stabbed through the skin and forcefully threw it away.
"Heh, aren't you an interesting herbivore?" Knowing he no longer had his hand-weapon; Hibari swung his leg, aiming for the other's abdomen.
The brunet didn't even waver on attacking him even with blood spilling from his mouth and hands.
What is he?
Before the prefect knew it, his opponent had caught him by the leg and threw him against the window. The bloody hands were choking his neck and younger boy was looking upwards at him while laughing. The only thing which kept the other from really choking him to die was his own hands gripping onto the attacking arms. The attacker didn't even budge when clearly sounds of bones cracking was heard.
"Now finally, I can watch your bastard face die…"
"Rin! Pyou! To! Sha! Kai! Jin! Retsu! Zai! Zen!"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
As soon as the shout was heard echoing through the floor, the brunet released his grip of his neck and screaming painfully.
Hibari was left panting heavily; witnessing a black-haired spiky boy jumped and swung his bat as if he was slashing something out of the brunet.
Soon after, the corridor went silent. It was as if nothing had happened earlier; that the strong Hibari Kyouya wasn't choked by the weak no-good Tsuna earlier.
"That was dangerous. Are you alright, senpai?"
Hibari recognized the bat swinger. The baseball star, Yamamoto Takeshi.
"Yamamoto Takeshi, club activity should have ended earlier. No student is allowed to stay in school after 6 pm," he repeated like a robot to every student.
"Hahaha, but senpai, if I didn't come, you would be in a pretty big trouble, wouldn't you?"
Hibari refused to admit that he was saved by a herbivore…and attacked by another.
"What happened to him?" The ravenet eyed the whimpering brunet on the floor.
"O-Oh, right," still holding his bat, Yamamoto squatted down and rubbed his friend's back comfortingly, "Tsuna, you okay?"
The two ravenet had to wait for a few minute before the brunet finally regained his sense and looked at them confusedly, "Yamamoto? W-What happened? I…Hi-Hibari-san! Blood! Blood! Gaaah! My body! Hurt! My hands hurt!"
What an idiot herbivore. Tsuna noticed the red mark all over Hibari's neck and neck sleeve, but he didn't notice the liquid that was spilling from his hands and the pain on his body.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, Yamamoto Takeshi," Hibari bended down and picked up his fallen tonfa, inspecting the slight bend on them, "come to the reception room. You have some explaining to do."
"Ah, but first, Tsuna's wound…" said brunet was whimpering over his unmoving hands in pain.
"We'll treat them there. Come quick."
The two had no choice but to follow their senior's figure.
"Alright, so who would start?"
"…"
"…"
Smiling sheepishly, Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head, "I guess, I would," the tallest guy settled down more comfortably on his seat before started on his story, "well basically, I was about to head home when I met Tsuna at the yard. You know," he paused for a while, helping his friend picking up the alcohol and applied treatment all over the bruised body -Hibari was, as always, vicious, "I was surprised since you, I mean Tsuna," he wouldn't get so familiar with the prefect, "looked a bit weird. And you were murmuring some dark stuff."
That got his listeners' attention, "what do you mean?" Tsuna was the one who spoke out.
"Yeah, you were murmuring 'kill Hibari Kyouya' repeatedly, you know. So I knew something was up and ran after you. I didn't expect to find such a scene." The smile had gradually disappeared and his face was serious.
"The thing you shouted before…" Hibari didn't even inquire everything fully, but they understood.
"Ah, you see, my ancestor was said to be a priest or something. Anyway, he could do some exorcism. I, myself, can't, but that was the spell I was told to learn and could only remember. It can expel a spirit from a possessed body. Ah, but since I don't really have a power, I could only do that much. Besides that, I borrow a spiritual item to drive it away completely. This bat," Yamamoto rubbed said item affectionately, "since this is a treasured one, I can borrow its form earlier."
"An ancestor…Ah, now that you mention it, I usually saw a priest sitting in front of your shop."
The two ravenet turned their eyes on the shortest boy in the room.
Tsuna was a bit unsure, but he thought since Yamamoto had shared his side of story, it was only fair for him to explain himself. "A-Ah, you see…ever since I was small, I can see ghosts," started the brunet, wincing a bit when he knew he couldn't move his arms well.
"F-For some reason, there are a lot of vengeful spirits surrounding you, Hibari-san," the brown eyes fixed on said person, "trying to run you over by the car…using the falling pot…a lot of things happened to you, but you miraculously escape all of that."
Hibari crossed his arms arrogantly.
"That time in the rooftop, uhm…I saw they were about to push you down from the railing…," now even Yamamoto was looking at his senior worriedly, but Tsuna wasn't the one who continued the story.
"So that was why you gave me your pocket watch."
"You…knew?"
Running his fingers through his black locks, Hibari sighed as he pulled out said item, "the night you gave me this, some herbivo…," the older boy seemed to mull over his choice of words, "some crowds appeared on my dream and explained they are your guardians."
"Ah, they are my ancestors. Uhm…they protect me from the ghost…like creating a barrier so the ghosts won't notice me and try to take advantage of me."
The ravenet could care less about further explanation, "Anyway, they were whining for me to return this to you."
"E-Eh?! Even though I told you to keep it!"
"Tsuna, you must be really worried about Hibari-san," Yamamoto laughed teasingly which thankfully went unnoticed by the two oblivious boys.
"Well since you didn't ask it, I didn't bother to give it back."
Continuing on, the ravenet stood up, "And then, they told me to take something from my family heirloom," he walked to his desk, taking something out of the drawer before returning to the couch.
A pair of handcuffs was placed in the coffee table for the younger students to see.
"A handcuff?" Yamamoto didn't get to touch it since Hibari quickly took it back to his possession.
"They said it should have been useful for me. I still don't know what it can do though."
There were again a long silence between the three of them as each tried to process the information they've just gotten.
"Ah, that's right, Mukuro!"
"Mukuro?" Hibari and Yamamoto asked simultaneously.
Panicky, Tsuna was like he was about to jump off the couch in hurry, "H-He is a devil I know. Anyway, he's dangerous! You're in danger, Hibari-san!"
Said person who was in danger simply tilted his head and hummed in amusement.
"I'm serious! He's trying to make you one of his kin. H-He tried to kill you! I think that's why I was possessed! I met him and then…"
"Tsuna, calm down."
"He is probably still at the school gate. At any rate, Hibari-san, you still have to bring my pocket watch with you, so…"
"Sawada Tsunayoshi. Shut up."
Tsuna did, frightened by the commanding tone. He almost forgot that he was speaking with a devil candidate.
"Hahaha, that was awesome, senpai."
"You, too, herbivore."
"B-But, Hibari-san…"
"I don't need your pocket watch. I'm not weak." However he didn't say 'I'm strong' like he usually did.
"But…"
"Well then, Tsuna just needs to stick close to senpai then, right?" Yamamoto suggested while grinning widely.
"Hieeeee! Yamamoto-kun?! What are you saying?!"
"I don't need a herbivore's presence, either." Although, admittedly he had used Tsuna's presence once in a while before.
"If that Mukuro herbivore is trying to kill me, I will just fight back and win."
Ugh, as expected of Hibari-san, being unreasonable.
"...You know, senpai. I think I somehow figure out what your heirloom can do…"
"Eh?! You did, Yamamoto-kun?!"
"Well, it's just a guess…"
"Stop grinning like an idiot and spill it." Truthfully, Hibari couldn't stand these two's presence anymore. They were too herbivorous. He would rather get this done with quick and kick the two out of the room.
"Okay. Well, I can't do anything since I actually can't see or sense them, so Tsuna…" the tall ravenet turned to his friend and smiled, "can you take the watch and stand far away from Hibari-senpai?"
That startled the whimpering brunet, "Eh? But that would make Hibari-san…"
"I know."
Hesitantly, the boy let his friend put on the golden item on his neck and stepped out of the room, leaving the door open. Soon after the complexion on Hibari's face turned sour and his lips were already curved downward in annoyance.
"Take your handcuff, senpai," grudgingly the other did, "now, try to swing your tonfa around," and once the other ravenet did it, a painful scream was heard throughout the room. Tsuna who was standing quite far away was the only one who could really witness what was happening and was gasping in amazement.
"Tsuna, can you come back?" The brunet hurriedly did, closing the door behind him.
"Did you see anything?" Yamamoto questioned his friend while grinning.
"Hi-Hibari-san, I think I understand what Yamamoto-kun meant!"
"Stop gaping and just explain it." Truthfully, the brunet's face was already a giveaway.
"U-Uhm, when you swung your tonfa earlier, they hurt the spirits and some of them actually disappeared." Even though Tsuna was explaining everything excitedly, the ravenets in the room didn't look surprise at all.
"To sum it up, senpai's heirloom power is like mine. It gives senpai the power to be able to drive away the spirits."
"Fu~n, I see." So it was really useful, afterall. Granted, he couldn't really see and know his opponents.
"That means, Hibari-san should be able to expel all the spirits which haunted you!"
"Hahaha, Tsuna, you look even happier than Hibari-senpai."
On cue, the brunet squeaked in embarrassment, "w-well of course, since that means less danger for Hibari-san!" He probably didn't even realize what he had just said.
Ignoring the ruckus in front of him, Hibari kept swung his tonfa around, having fun with the silent cries around him before speaking up with warning tone, "since everything's already resolved, go home, herbivore." He ordered.
"A-Ah, that's right…, the school is already over…," Tsuna began to panic, "ah, wait, my bag! Ah I must have left it at the gate because of Mukuro! W-What if he's still there?!"
"Senpai, why don't you take Tsuna back to his house? You can explain to his mother why he is late coming back home," with a grin, Yamamoto pushed his friend and made Tsuna stumbled to their senior, "see you later, Tsuna!" and as quick as a sport man he was, the ravenet quickly sprinted out outside.
Silence fell on a clumsy brunet and a scary ravenet.
"U-Uhm, I should get going…"
"Your arms...they need to be checked on hospital," Hibari said quietly. He noticed the brunet had been wincing everytime he moved them.
"I-I can go by myself…whoa!"
"You can't even use your hands. Let's get going," knowing he couldn't drag the other by the injured arms, the prefect instead pulled the other by the collar.
"Hi-Hibari-san, my body hurts and it's choking me!"
"….That's your punishment."
"Eh?!"
Admittedly, Hibari did enjoy the peace he got when he had the watch in possession, so maybe he would keep the brunet…cough, he meant the watch close to him sometimes.
THE END.
*The pocket watch protection: Giotto and co. giving out an aura or something that guard around Tsuna, creating something like a barrier. This made the spirits won't notice Tsuna's capability of seeing them or the fact that Tsuna is a perfect vessel.
**Why didn't the spirit just possess Hibari and it easily possessed Tsuna? Hibari has more mental strength than Tsuna. Tsuna was being nervous and he didn't have his charm when encountering Mukuro, that was why it was easy for Mukuro to have a spirit possessed him.
***Rin Pyou To Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen. This is a spell I took from a manga 'Ghost Hunt'. In the manga, the user should do some hand-sign and the spell drives away the spirit forcefully from the possessed body. If this spell is not used by a quite high spiritual person, it can result to bring damage to the possessed one instead. Yamamoto has no clue about that fact, but yes, he himself actually has quite a high spiritual power.
****Yamamoto's ability to drive away the ghost Vs. Hibari's. If you realized when Yamamoto swung his bat in an act to slash the spirit away, there was no scream. That is the difference. Yamamoto's ability is more like purifying the ghost/spirit. Hibari, on the other hand, forcefully drives them away, thus the screams.
*****Tsuna's hands! They should bring him to the hospital right away! Yeah, they should, huh? It must be really painful and all. Oh man, our dear Tsuna can't use his hands or arms for a while /sob. But you know, when I wrote that vs Hibari scene, I felt like that would be what Hibari did. He wouldn't be gentle and soft, especially after knowing that the Sawada Tsunayoshi wasn't the real Sawada Tsunayoshi. Using spikes and all, I think he would go full throttle if not more. Tsuna got to drink pain-killer when he was treated in the reception room, by the way. And Yamamoto helped him walk there.
I hope the explanation is enough ahahaha. This AU is where Tsuna's hyper intuition = sixth-sense thing XD And thus, Yamamoto and Hibari also have relation with the primo generation. This came out more like friendship!182780 than a 1827 story, oh well...
Anyway, I really hope, you guys can drop some review about your thought since this is the first time I write a one-shot this long and I really thought about this AU and man...I really want to hear what you guys think.
So, please Review!
And HibaTsuna Month may end today (Feb 7, it is in my place), but don't worry! There's Valentine coming!