Blinking your eyes open, you hear the sound of a door closing. Must be Hibari-niisan, you think as you pull yourself out of the warm cocoon that are your blankets to get dressed. Walking out to the bathroom you whisper a quiet good morning to your grey eyed older brother and he nods to you, muttering around his toothbrush the same. It's the same as always, Alaude makes breakfast as you and Kyouya prepare lunch. You pack your bag after a quiet breakfast between the three of you, the silence just a quiet, comforting warmth.
Your older brothers wait for you at the doorway, Kyouya listening to the little ball of yellow fluff chirp his name and the other with his back to the wall, standing comfortably, with his arms crossed and head back. At your arrival Alaude lazily swings his head towards you and pushes off the white wall to open the door to the apartment. Hibird takes his perch in Kyouya's hair and you make sure that you have both your lunches. Kyouya would never want be caught carrying a lunch bag. Patting your pocket, you hear the wrinkle of candy and follow your brothers out the door.
The three of you walk to the train station, passing by various shops that were slowly opening as the sun began to peek over the city. Your family lives in a relatively new part of the city. After a fire had burned down your first home next to Namimori Middle School over a year ago your eldest brother decided that the Hibari family couldn't afford to buy another house and trains were not an unacceptable mode of transportation, no matter how much Kyouya protested. A sudden gust of wind chills the air further, so you slightly step up your pace to catch up to your eldest brother. Alaude puts his arm around you as you reach his side and you gladly take the warmth as you clutch the lunch bags a little closer and try to keep up with his long strides.
A frown slightly pulls down the sides of your mouth as you examine the difference in your heights. Alaude is more than a head taller than you and the top of your head barely reaches Hibari's cheek. You start to wonder if you just haven't hit your growth spurt yet or if the greater amount of time your brothers spend fighting and napping has anything to do with it. It has always taken your mind longer to shut off then theirs. Thought just never seem to stop running in your head. Besides that, you do get in an decent amount of fighting in but could it not be enough? Your brothers do seem to sense when you get into an altercation. Maybe you'll have to find someway of ending the fights before one of them shows up and finishes it for you.
As you walk into the brightly lit train station Alaude slides his arm off your shoulders, the walls of the underground station blocking the morning breeze. The station slowly fills up with adults off to work and a few students from various schools, the colors of their respective uniforms standing out from the mass of similarly suited adults. After watching your surroundings, you let out a soft, two note whistle. Hibird flies to your outstretched hand from its previous perch upon your brother's hair. Gently, you rub the fluffy ball of yellow as your dark haired brother glares at the cement floor, preparing himself to "crowd into a diabolical metal contraption filled with herbivores."
When the train rushes in the wind coming with it rustles your hair and send Hibird flying back to its perch in the Kyouya's stark black hair. You start to muse how odd it is that Alaude is platinum blonde while you and your other sibling share inky stands. A few sheets of paper rush past your head and snap you out of your daydreams. You snatch them out of the air before they can hit either of the brothers. You glance the papers, reading something like "debito" when a head of dirty blond hair comes into view.
"Th-th-thank you s-so much for grabbing my papers!"
He flashes you a wide, albeit shaky, grin after bowing and taking the papers. Not used to such open displays of emotion, let alone conversations at all, you're caught off guard when he continues talking. You open your mouth to tell him that he can shut up but are cut off by the sound of the station announcing the trains arrival. Deciding to leave the conversation you turn to go but he grabs your hand and quickly pulls you on before the train door closes. His hand is warm against your naturally cool skin. The grip makes you feel relaxed, even though physical contact usually ends with bruises. You can't really find a solid argument to push him away.
The train is packed and his proximity is just more proof of that. The force of the train pushes you backwards and the warm grip on your hand is replaced by a steady arm around your lower back. You follow the thin but muscled arm back to its owner and look into a pair of blue eyes. His eyes remind you of a piece of jewelry you saw once in a magazine. Azure? Unsure of what you should do, you respond the only way you know how; glare. Realizing where his limbs are, he snatches his arm back, bowing as low as the packed train allowed and stuttered out apologies, his face rivaling the color of a ripe tomato. You let out a small laugh at what your dark haired brother would definitely address as a "simply herbivore action" and see him swing his head back up. His eyes roam your face in what you interpret as awe until you notice his blush darkening. Unsure of what his current expression meant you drop your smile and let your normal blank expression cover any former trace of emotion, a family talent. Deep pools of blue question your change in emotion but you find no reason to explain. His continuous stare makes you uncomfortable but you refuse to back down, even when he's pushed closer to you and your lunch bags are the only things separating you.
Another wave goes through the crowd and he puts his hands on both sides of you, blocking you from the oncoming bodies but also cagin you in. His face somehow reaches a new level of red as he takes in your position. Back against the wall, you are shielded on the other three sides by his body which is mere centimeters away. Kabedon? You can smell his minty breath as he lets out a stream of apologies about how no man should be this close to a woman he has no relations with, not that wouldn't want to have relations with you but how he doesn't have any now and how he didn't mean it in a romantic sort of way, unless of course you were okay with it and of course he didn't mean to push you in any way. You listen to his seemingly endless torrent of apologies and explanations, sometimes noticing an archaic accent slipping through. You find it somewhat amusing how he feels the need to continue talking for so long and how he can never seem to keep eye contact with you for more than a second. His eyes look at the side of your head and dart to your bag before glancing up at your eyes. You raise one eyebrow, silently questioning his continuous chatter. His stumbling speech slows to a stop and as his bright eyes stay on yours and wow, his once diminishing blush flares right back to a bright red. You stare in wonder, thinking about how interesting it is that he is able show so much emotion with just the color of his face, something you don't think you could ever manage. He definitely doesn't look like a native but his uniform tells you that he is from the wealthy school about 5 minutes from your's. Hnnn so this stuttering blond has money. What the hell is he doing on the train? His dark blonde hair is parted on the left side, the strands toward the back reaching his neck while the ones more in front cupped the sides of his face. A large chunk of hair covered the right side of his face but it split at the top, leaving enough room for his eye to peek through. Weird how he manages to keep it that way. When the train comes to a stop he is still staring at you. You leave him there in his own world and step off onto the platform to wait by the third pole from the entrance, the unvoiced meeting point for your family.
You look back to see Kyouya stalking off the train, his hostile aura countered by Alaude's amusement. Kyouya's pale face easily shows an angry splash of red across his face. How odd. Apparently the stuttering blond got off the train while you were entertaining thoughts on your brothers and was talking to a tall, dark haired man that looked similar to the shorter, but still pretty tall, lighter blond next to shorter of the two was shooting a possibly wistful look at Kyouya. Wondering what happened you look to Alaude and slightly tilt your head to the right. His only is response a small shake of his head and a soft chuckle. Slightly confused, you follow your brothers outside.
Outside, the cold of late February bites once again and you ghost back to the side of your eldest brother. With his arm seeping warmth into your shoulders you look at your other brother who seems to have calmed down, his nails no longer tightly pressing into his palms. Abruptly, you feel a shudder go down your spine. Someone is staring...no, glaring at you. Glancing up at your oldest brother, your eyes meet and understanding passes between the two of you; you're being followed. Questions race through your mind as you reach out to softly grasp the bottom of Kyouya's black school jacket. After dark grey meet blood red he looks up to platinum blond and nods. You leave one brother's side to go to the other's after a brief embrace. Alaude leaves in the direction of his office. If anything happens you'll know that he'll be able to protect himself. Gitto is visiting him today anyways and between the two of them no group of "imbecilic stalking herbivores" could stand a chance. You and your dark haired older brother continue at an even pace, making sure not to alert your stalkers. People are starting to walk out to the street making it impossible to hear the footsteps of those following you. Hopefully the upcoming detour will throw them off enough to get a good look at them and possibly an attack. Right as a group of obnoxiously loud girls walk behind the two of you, you make for a small alleyway.
You wait anxiously next to your brother, who is gripping his dual tonfas tightly. He was angry earlier and would most definitely see this as an opportunity to blow off steam. It would be best just to let him take the lead. You'll just get a good look at the perpetrators and question them afterward...after a few punches of course. Can't let Kyouya-niisan have all the fun now can I? The two of you look for any suspicious people walking past but only see a few early students and athletes going to morning practice. A minute passes. Then another. The two of you stay there for another five minutes but no one even remotely suspicious passes by. Your phone lets out Hibird's recorded two note whistle and the text from your oldest brother tells you his situation is similar to your's. You show Kyouya your phone and he loosens his grip on the twin tonfas, blinking in thought.
As you continue your way to school thoughts of possible stalkers fades to azure eyes after spotting a navy blue uniform. A corner of your lips quirk up for a split second when you remember his never stream of words that seemed to whirl circles around themselves.
The start of your day at Namimori High is as dull as any other; you go to homeroom and sit through two subjects, dutifully staring out the window the whole time. Who the hell would even think to try to stalk us? Is it another released felon Alaude-niisan put in jail? The last time that had happened the person tried to stab Kyouya-niisan and he ended up in a coma for two weeks. Hnnn maybe Kyouya-niisan fought with another gang. But all the gangs here should recognize us. Placing a lollipop in your mouth, you continue to entertain possibilities as the teacher blabs on in broken English. He stopped paying attention to you after you fixed the grammar in first few tests he gave out. So much for learning anything in here.
During break you head to the rooftop to meet your brother for a family nap. When you open the door to the roof you find him already settled down in a shaded corner. You sit next to him and lean on his left shoulder but for some reason can't doze off like you normally do. You feel the familiar sensation of a pair of eyes watching you and you sit up straight. Peering around you, you see no one on the flat rooftop. Most people wouldn't dare come up here. The student population knows that this is your family's turf and all trespassers will be punished. Kyouya notices your absence on his shoulder and looks at you. A few seconds pass before he feels what you do. The heavy stares follow the both of you as you stand up and head back inside.
Kyouya walks you to class and gives you a small push in the direction of the door when you hesitate. Why aren't you going in?, he says through an arched eyebrow. Furrowing your's, you glance at the floor, Whatever happened out there really weirded me out. His grey eyes soften and he raises a hand to pet the top of your head, reassurance radiating from his hand.
With another push you head towards the classroom, uncaring when you interrupt the teacher's lesson. The irate math teacher calls on you and you answer the basic trigonometry question with ease. Alaude-niisan had taught you much more than this simple stuff during the summer when he was bored, why would you have a problem with this? Unable to put up anymore of a fight, the teacher chooses to ignore you for the rest of the period as you stare out the window. You plop a piece of chocolate in your mouth, thoughts of heavy stares blurring into the warmth of the blushing boy from the train, the memory of his stutter repeating itself over and over.