Wind Running

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna! What's up with the broody mood? Want us to brighten you up? Literally?"

Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts and his breath hitched as he turned around to see a group of clearly not good-intentional young men laughing in a mocking manner at the bad pun as they stood in the end of the street he had to go through to get to school.

This is bad. Five, six, seven... And all healthy as bulls.

Tsuna contemplated on what was worse – taking chances by somehow getting past this obstacle or definitely getting bitten to death by Hibari if he was late. The decision was obvious and Tsuna lowered his head, sticking his hands in his pockets and fastening his walk, soon sprinting into a limping jog as he kept the biggest distance between himself and this company he could manage.

It was exactly a year since his run became broken.

"Oi oi, Dame-Tsuna! What's up with that? We just want ten or twenty punches, that's all! You should count yourself damn lucky – I feel good today."

The brunet jumped as he felt a hand clasp on his skinny shoulder, forcefully turning him around to face what he supposed was the leader. Large brown eyes widened as they darted behind the stinky-smelling boy, to the right of himself, to the left and even down in search of a way out.

There was a fire escape staircase roughly forty meters away and a wall with advantageous bars Tsuna could slip through with his small body unlike the burly older boys.

The third floor balcony and the high stone wall with small cracks he could stick his fingers in were out of question and he wouldn't be able to avoid all of the teens by running to the right.

Be he what he was before, this wouldn't have been a problem. There were buildings around Tsuna which were, once upon a time, all that he needed.

Now, however, he had to choose the closer wall and risk jerking away from the leader to get as much of a head start between himself and the leader of the gang to be able to reach the heavenly bars in time. He hoped they would be at least mildly surprised and that it would buy him a second or two, but that was too much to ask for.

Come on, feet, come on!

...Why can't you remember how you did it before?

Tsuna sprinted, putting most of his weight on his left leg, making the bigger weakness of his right leg obvious to anyone who cared to look.

Just a bit... I still have my hands – I can make it! I'd even hand-walk but running is still the faster option.

Five steps were left when he felt his right leg suddenly paralyze, giving under the boy and he face planted into the solid asphalt.

The jeers of the gang behind, who slowed down after seeing Tsuna fall, and the particularly sneering tone caused a sharp pain to run through the brunet's chest. The pain he was getting used to but in the same time was not for the last year. The pain that was never present before he stopped running.

Fear.

"You're even clumsier than we thought! Such a pity you didn't let us punish you right away – there's no fucking way ten times will cut it now."

Tsuna scrambled away but it was futile now.

As he felt the blows land on him from various angles, letting out a scream when their boots collided with his right leg, he wondered absently about why he even thought he could make it out of this.

After all, his feet had long since forgotten how to run.

...

When he did arrive at the school – clothes ripped in several places, dirt still sticking to his hair and a bruise forming on his forehead with a split lip and an overall pathetic appearance – it was to see the prefect stand next to the gates to the school with an expecting look.

Tsuna approached and sharp grey eyes cut into his own dull brown ones like a knife, but unable to hold the gaze, the younger boy dropped his head in shame and awaited the punishment to come for being so late and coming to school in such a state with closed eyes.

The brunet missed the way Kyouya's lips twitched in a concealed emotion when the skylark saw the amount of bruises and most of all, the even worse limp than he remembered last time Tsunayoshi had come to school.

The very gang that just harmed Tsunayoshi was doomed to a horrendous fate the very second the raven-haired set his eyes on the small boy.

After waiting for a few seconds to see if the brunet would attempt to flee, the prefect almost – but of course he didn't – rolled his eyes and stormed up to the boy. He however stiffened when he saw Tsunayoshi tense up, clearly waiting for the strike. Roughly, he grasped the boy by the shoulder and shoved him to the gates, letting go just when Tsuna crossed the borderline.

The Sawada had looked up at him but instead of the predicted tonfas that would mean much pain, he saw the terrifying prefect just stand there, his arms crossed and his lips a thin line.

The utterly shocked eyes would make lesser men cry with sad tears but Kyouya was a carnivore and carnivores offered things proudly.

They stared at each other and after a while, Kyouya must have seen something in Tsuna's eyes that caused him to sigh and stalk up to the boy. Quietly, he leaned to the boy's ear and said.

"If you get to the doors, I'll let you go."

He heard the boy's breath hitch and saw his right leg visibly stiffen. So that was still too much.

"I will give you a five second advantage."

Tsunayoshi had looked at him and to the doors (of Heaven as it seems) and just faintly, Kyouya could see a shadow of hope glimmer in those brown eyes.

Good. Very good. He'd been trying to get that for the last year. Hibari could see the wheels turning in Tsunayoshi's head – either try his luck or be definitely bitten to death. Kyouya raised a tonfa to prove the last and that had thankfully sped up the wheel-turning process. The boy had bit his lip and then decided.

"H-hai, Hibari-senpai."

And after a curt nod, the boy was off – grace abandoned somewhere along the sidelines, and just a shadow of the former skill and fluency even if it was still evident that once upon a time, this boy was free of tire and not bound by gravity. The prefect counted exactly five seconds – he wasn't going to cut any slack; that would just be pity and Hibari Kyouya did not take pity – and then shot after the boy who had already managed to somehow cover half the distance which was all thanks to the skill still present in his feet, though it was really saddening to see this when the skylark remembered how goddamn beautiful it used to be.

He was quickly gaining on the boy though and he was about to grab the boy by the scruff of the neck – he wasn't really expecting Tsunayoshi to outrun him this time, not in the state he was right now even if he was trying to make the boy run for some time now – when suddenly, a strong gust of air from nowhere slammed into Kyouya, almost knocking him over if not for his steady stance. But that had been enough for the boy to shoot – well, limp further – and despite Hibari almost reaching after him, Tsuna jumped for his goal.

It was a desperate jump, more of a broken hop, and Kyouya could've easily knocked the boy to the ground but the raven-haired froze as the wind picked up again, and as if intentionally, gushed just past him and right at the brunet, tossing the light body of Tsunayoshi further as the boy reached forward.

When small fingers curled around the door handle, Hibari Kyouya smiled because the wind still loved this small boy – smiled because he saw ghosts of broken wings fade with the wind.

Tsunayoshi didn't even dare look at Hibari as he disappeared from view in the building.

...

Tsuna trudged up the stairs and quietly opened the door to his classroom. The teacher was very quick to notice and was about to scold him mercilessly when Tsuna stepped in hesitantly and he saw the state the boy was in. Feeling as if would regret saying as much as a word to the kicked pup- the boy, he just gestured to the vacant seat and was almost taken aback by the sheer gratefulness in the eyes of the most useless student of the school.

It didn't, however, save Tsuna from the snickers and sly remarks from the other students.

Completely ignoring them – which could've been a mistake since he almost tripped on one student's intentionally stuck-out foot – he took the seat and turned to look into the window.

All he could think about was one thing.

He could feel it again.

Very far away and he will have to work to get to it by getting past very hard obstacles, but he will clear them all because it was now there, unlike for the whole past year, gleaming in the horizon.

The boy was ready to thank Hibari all over but he knew it wouldn't get him a good reaction from the prefect and would most likely ruin whatever balance there was between them.

But still.

Sawada Tsunayoshi could feel his freedom again and that was more than he could've ever asked for.

A/N: Um. Hey!

*tries to dodge a rotten tomato and fails*

...Er, sorry. I didn't mean to not update this in two month, but I've looked at what plot I had on this story and trashed it all because it was utter crap. So, I decided to make a different plot from scratch and hopefully, this isn't very bad. I just know myself and if I continue putting this off, it will mean I won't ever get the courage and muse to write what comes next. I really hope this didn't ruin everything.

Please review? Frankly, I don't know if this is worth continuing because I might just loose some readers here...

Though if it helps, the next chapter is supposed to be about how Reborn comes into the picture.

Love, peace and cookies

River Melody

P.S. Fresh-baked cookies for free!*hands out cookies to everybody*

P.P.S. As a last note, please tell me if I should re-write this. I really want you to enjoy this so please write if I can continue with this or if I should delete this chapter and start over again?