Title: Prayer
Pairing: Hibari x Tsuna
Preview: Repetition helps.
Warning: Sexual themes
The day was bright and clear, a day when all children rush outdoors to embrace the breeze and fill the air with laughter. But at the Sawada household, the only sounds heard were cries of pain.
"OW, Reborn!" cried Sawada Tsunayoshi in pain. "Ow ow ow!"
"Dame-Tsuna, you need to focus better," said Reborn, the baby who now held Tsuna's arm in an unnatural bend, despite being one-fifth the size of the boy at his mercy. After another twist, Reborn released his poor student, who dropped to the floor with a thump and exhalation of relief.
"To think you can't solve an algebra equation as simple as this," scolded Reborn. "Your awful mathematics skills reflect badly on me too."
Tsuna just groaned. He received a lecture like this at least once a day, and as much as he would like to scrape a passing grade on his tests or complete his homework properly, if only to get Reborn off his back, he just couldn't. The math problems might as well be in English, for all he could understand, and his English grade was as bad as his math one.
Tsuna's daily wallow in self-degradation was interrupted, as it always is, by Reborn.
"Here. I'll give you this."
Reborn threw something in Tsuna's face.
"Ouch!"
The something clattered to the floor.
"You could've just handed it to me…" Tsuna rubbed his nose, looking at Reborn petulantly. Then he saw what Reborn had bestowed upon him. "What do I need a bracelet for anyway?"
On the floor between Tsuna and Reborn lay the bracelet, a long one made of large, polished wooden beads with inscriptions, and smaller plain beads alternating between, all strung on a thin leather cord. Tsuna eyed it suspiciously, reluctant to touch it. Knowing Reborn, it was likely to attach itself permanently to his skin, or explode, or both.
"Those are prayer beads, dame-Tsuna," Reborn explained. "You hold one bead at a time, chant a prayer or meditate on an idea, till you go through the entire bracelet. It is an exercise in calm and focus. I suggest you chant to yourself, 'I, dame-Tsuna, will not be such a pathetic student, so my brilliant home tutor Reborn will not shoot me between the eyes.'"
Reborn pointed small fingers in the shape of a gun at Tsuna's face, then at Tsuna's wrist, where, to his great surprise, the bracelet was. He hadn't seen Reborn move from the spot.
"To further strengthen this exercise, some exercise is in order. You will run fifty laps from here to school and back again, saying your prayers with the beads. The repetition of the prayers combined with your rounds should drill the idea into your feeble brain. Now, get out."
So saying, Reborn kicked Tsuna out of the house. Tsuna rubbed his behind as he walked away.
He really didn't want to do fifty laps, but he didn't want Reborn to twist his arm again either, or worse. But, as he looked around, there was only a couple walking in the opposite direction. Otherwise, the street was empty.
He looked back up at his window, and choked with indignation. Reborn was in his hammock, fast asleep. The telltale bubble ballooned from his nose.
Reborn didn't want him to exercise, he just wanted to get rid of him during nap time!
Feeling discarded, Tsuna walked aimlessly down the road, fingering the beads of the bracelet. It was long enough to wrap around his wrist twice and still have a bit of slack, but now he draped the bracelet on his palm as he held one bead at a time.
Maybe he'd visit Yamamoto at the sushi shop. They could play video games, drink soda pop, laze about, talk about things that were not at all mafia-related, like girls, or baseball. Yamamoto's dad might even make sushi for lunch.
Then Tsuna remembered that today was Saturday, which meant Saturday baseball practice.
His happy vision of finally beating Yamamoto at MarioKart was effectively flattened.
Still… he could go watch Yamamoto practice. And maybe after they could hang out.
Considerably cheered now that he had somewhere to go, Tsuna set off for Namimori Middle School with a spring in his step.
Just outside the gate, Tsuna could already hear the distant crack of a baseball meeting bat and faint shouts. He lingered there a moment, feeling a little strange coming here on a weekend. Crack! The echo of another baseball's ascent into the sky reminded him why he was here in the first place, so he pushed the gate open and went in.
"Herbivore."
Tsuna jumped.
"Hibari-san!"
Hibari Kyoya stood there in the shade of a tree, collar sharp, hair sleek, his arms crossed beneath the blazer hung on his shoulders.
"You scared me, Hibari-san," said Tsuna nervously. In truth, Hibari scared him all the time.
"You are loitering on school property on a Saturday. That is not allowed."
Now Hibari moved smoothly into the sun, a corona alight on his dark head. Tsuna automatically took a step back. Even when he wasn't making any sort of threatening gesture and his hands were empty, Hibari still had the unmistakable presence of a predator, and to be close to such a presence went against natural instinct.
Hibari noticed Tsuna's recoil, and smirked. He'd been feeling a bit bored, and here a little herbivore had wandered into his territory. And it was this particular herbivore… He licked his lips unconsciously.
"Sorry," said Tsuna, continuing to back away with his hands before him in a placating gesture, "I'll just get going now…!"
And with that, Tsuna turned and ran-or tried to, but his neck collided with the tonfa held before him by Hibari's hand.
"Running away?" said Hibari. His breath ghosted over the back of Tsuna's neck, making Tsuna shiver involuntarily.
"N-no, I just, I came to see Yamamoto at baseball practice," Tsuna rambled, very aware of the cold steel on his neck and the menacing aura behind him. "I thought I'd see if he's free after, so we could hang out, maybe eat sushi, his dad makes really good sushi-"
Hibari stopped listening, instead focusing his intense gaze on the movement of the herbivore's throat, the fine cords jumping, thrumming.
"-and Reborn said to come here-well, no, he said to make laps between here and my house, and he also gave me these beads-they're prayer beads-"
He'd closed in on the smaller boy without realizing it, inclining his head, his mouth parted just above the junction between neck and shoulder, when Tsuna turned around.
Tsuna gasped loudly. Hibari's eyes widened a fraction.
Just a bead's breadth of space separated their faces.
After three heartbeats, Hibari realized two things. First, his still outstretched arm ending in tonfa now encircled the herbivore, who'd moved into his bodily snare rather than out of it. Second, the warmth on his chest was the other boy's hand. His grey eyes moved from the clear, liquid brown eyes to regard that hand, which held something.
Tsuna almost dropped the prayer beads under Hibari's scrutiny, but managed to keep his grip on them when he pulled his hand safely back to himself.
"L-like I said, these are prayer beads-well, maybe you knew that already, but if you didn't-I got them from Reborn, and he says they're good for meditation and focusing and being calm, so-you take them."
Tsuna thrust the beads into Hibari's chest, and Hibari reflexively caught them before they fell.
"I think Hibari-san could make good use of them," Tsuna explained. He looked up sincerely at Hibari through the fringe of hair above his eyes.
The boy's cheeks were pink, Hibari noticed. His lips were pink as well.
His lips tasted pink as well.
Tsuna was numb with shock, numb everywhere except his lips where he felt every caress of Hibari's lips. He was dimly surprised at the tenderness with which Hibari kissed him, but for Hibari it was just the beginning. Simply the first drop of flavor on his tongue with a banquet set out before him.
Hibari dropped the tonfa to seize the ends of Tsuna's hair, his other hand, wrapped in the prayer beads, pulling the younger boy in by the waist. He'd gotten a taste, and wouldn't deny himself more. Now his mouth clearly indicated its intention to ravage Tsuna's. And Tsuna could only cling to the front of Hibari's shirt with a vague desperation, lips parting at the insistence of Hibari's tongue-
"So this is where you've been slacking off."
The sound of someone else's voice disturbed the two when they'd thought they were alone. They sprang apart, hearts hammering, then both looked up to where the voice originated.
On the lowest branch of the same tree Hibari had stood beneath sat Reborn, his little legs dangling. He reached up his hand to the little green lizard on the brim of his fedora, and the lizard morphed into a small megaphone. Holding the megaphone to his mouth, Reborn said clearly and loudly:
"PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION ARE FORBIDDEN ON NAMIMORI MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMPUS."
"Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed, his eyes darting to and fro. "What if someone hears you?"
Reborn leapt off the branch, landing neatly atop Tsuna's head. Tsuna yelped.
"Come, dame-Tsuna. You've had enough play for today, it's time to return to your studies."
Tsuna looked helplessly at Hibari, who stared back silently. Then Tsuna resignedly made his way to the school's front gate.
Amidst the abundant sandy brown hair, Reborn turned back to look at Hibari. The baby's large black eyes gleamed.
Hibari clutched the beads tightly in his hand as he watched the herbivore and the baby leave the school bounds.
It was a long time before he could move from the spot and resume his leaning position against the tree. The courtyard was crowded with leaves. Faraway shouts from the baseball field. The cool shade. Things were just as they were before the herbivore's appearance. It felt as if he'd gone back in time.
He rolled the beads between his fingers, determining, with the transition of smooth wood to the creases of the engravings, that time had not reversed. The boy would not arrive at the gate, pause, then come inside.
The boy who had the coloring of a deer, all soft brown and cream…
That delicate neck he just wanted to sink his teeth into…
Those wide gullible eyes, sparkling…
The burst of flame on his brow, his smoldering eyes, how they always made Hibari's neck prickle and his teeth itch…
The way he couldn't quite determine whether the boy was an insignificant herbivore or a formidable rival…
How he couldn't decide whether he wanted to bite the boy to death, or devour him thoroughly.
He'd reached the end of the string of beads.
Then, the only thing to do was start again.
Inspired by the title page of chapter 29: Hospitalization. Hibari has what looks to be prayer beads attached to his belt, and I wondered who gave them to him…
Phew, it's been a good long while. Let's see if I can take this back up.