Gochisoosama.
Two weeks before Hibari returned to Namimori from China, he challenged the Mist Guardian, Rokudo Mukuro, to a duel to the death. The illusionist gladly obliged and made sure not to tell Chrome of the possibility that his head might be the only thing she'll be able to visit in Kokuyo Land.
The battle lasted for nearly half a day in Namimori shrine. Would-be visitors who were enchanted by the purple and indigo flames reported returning back home in terror after hearing sounds that were not friendly to commoner ears or for those who have not popped their cherries yet. It ended not with a bang, but only when Mukuro managed to make Hibari collapse in exhaustion and tauntingly point the ends of his trident to the Cloud Guardian's throat.
Hibari leaned forward even when blood started trickling as he attempted to aim a chain strait to Mukuro's teeth.
"Stubborn aren't we?" Mukuro breathed, as he idly watches the chain burst into flames and disappear. "Even in admitting defeat?"
"You haven't killed me," Hibari seethed. "Remember the rules?"
"Kufu… still as obsessed with rules as ever," he clicked his teeth and let vines bind Hibari's hands and feet. "For a deranged megalomaniac, I do not get your fixation with them."
"Only when I make them," Hibari said under bated breath as he slowly got immersed by six feet deep of pool water Mukuro conjured, his hands now bound on both sides of his body. His eyes fix on Mukuro's multicolored ones, full of utter resentment.
"I often break even my own rules," Mukuro cackled. "Makes me feel… unbound?" he nods at his direction.
"Such as… staying in the Mafia?" Hibari drawled. "And submitting to your enemy? How is that… unbinding? Do tell me."
"There is no greater pleasure for me than to gouge out your eyes and cut your tongue, Hibari-kun," preened Mukuro, eyes still as calm as his hands as he continued to direct Hibari into the center of the shrine. "Or say, humiliate you by calling the entire Namimori population to watch you do animal tricks. You are in no position to act in command right now. If you want, you can do a sea lion impersonation sans unnecessary clothing?"
"I will see to it that all your hard efforts are paid in kind when my hands are functional…"
"Oh sweet joy! I have finally made Hibari Kyoya mad. Such an eventful day!" Mukuro laughed as he sat down on the grass, head tilting slowly as he watched Hibari's body bob along. "I should thank you. For making my last day in Namimori memorable."
Hibari froze. Mukuro waited for him to quip back at his sudden remark and it surprised him when Hibari began instead to violently wrest himself off his bindings.
"I've discussed it already with Sawada Tsunayoshi and the baby a few months ago," Mukuro paused as he now sat down on the grass, keen not to break eye contact with his captive. "Your position as the strongest in the Vongola will no longer be questionable." He waited for the cloud to counter his words, and when he continued ignoring his patience, he continued: "Of course, they believed my promise of returning, as they should. Little Chrome will remain here under their care…" Nothing came from Hibari's mouth as he by then began biting through the tendrils that begin wrapping around his face; the mist chuckled. "It's unbecoming of you, being passive under this kind of peace."
Hibari continued gnawing through the tendrils in his feral manner. "Sympathy doesn't suit you; The baby and Dokuro don't need it."
"Fuu…" Mukuro's smirk faded just as quickly as it crossed his lips. His chest heaved deeply as he stood up. "Is that your way of asking me to stay, Hibari Kyoya?" His eyes crinkled as the tendrils now began knotting over his neck. "Your charms won't work on me, you know."
Hibari doesn't relent even under the pretence of getting a crushed windpipe. Mukuro chose a crooked smile before raising his trident nudging it quickly. Hibari lands on all fours, under the dry grass, his head the only part dry from the mist's illusions. "You're quite predictable. Your opponents will tire of your challenges if you continue letting your hot head win."
By then, Hibari could not say anything more as his limbs give way and lets him pass out. Mukuro gently nudges his bruised and unconscious face with his foot, examining it closely as he recalled Reborn's warning about his decision.
If Hibari finds out about this, he'll definitely come and fight you.
"I…didn't want to win," Mukuro said quietly as he lovingly stomped onto Hibari's face one last time.
He remembers his answer to the baby that time.
He would be the best person to change my mind then…to forget my past. He has done so well in that department for so long, isn't that right?
-18-
Forgetting something or ignoring something aren't exactly synonymous actions for Sawada Tsuna. For him, they differ through the presence of effort.
Hibari Kyoya would have done the latter, as showed by the amount of dust caking the place. The future don tried to prevent himself from coughing and making enough noise to summon Hibari's ghost to come bite him to death as his eyes tried adjusting to the minimal lighting. It was a medium sized room, with a queen-sized bed and a small drawer on its right; across was a long drawer against the bare wall, devoid of any paraphernalia.
Despite his fear, Tsuna's chest constricted from feelings of something else. There was a reason this bedroom was pristinely left like this. Hibari did not like disorder, except when he was instigating it, and maybe this was the kind of order he preferred when it came to places like this; places that he would rather leave alone than disassemble again and again to erase the significant incidences it once held.
Is this Hibari-san's room? he wondered as he tiptoed at the right end of the room in case there were planted minefields around. The bed seemed to be a bright yellow in another lifetime, immaculately made but already suffering from pest bites. Tsuna then attempted to pry open the drawers but only found folds upon folds of black silk kimonos, all having prints of different flowers, from sweet peas to white and yellow camellias and pink roses. Yet every kimono that filled each drawer each had the same print despite the different flora bordering each one: All of them had prints of butterflies. Only one kimono stood out from the rest at the bottom drawer. It had moths bordering its sleeves with white roses; the moth's wingtips each reminded him of a snake's head. He had never seen that kind of moth ever. Its wings disturbed him.
He wanted these clothes to be the only things that he saw, and even if his brain was already rapidly firing signals in every part of his body to take flight, he kept reaching out for any foreign texture beyond the smooth clothes and wood until-
"Ow-" he supressed a howl as he clawed through something hard. By then, he reached out and managed to procure a small round box that looked like it was made of concrete. It was not too heavy; there was no lock whatsoever. The lid was painted in kanji he could not understand given his poor grades in the test last week.
It was strange. This place was lacking the resistance he was preparing for in case an idiot like him attempted to enter. Perhaps Hibari had never imagined someone would have the gall and stupidity to defy his orders. He tried not imagining Hibari's expression if he does find out about this. At that terrifying thought, Tsuna quickly opened the box.
Inside, there were five pictures and plenty of yellowing envelopes. At the bottom of that box, under the robes was a small cassette tape.
Tsuna would eventually take that tape, the only thing he was unable to know the contents of, Hibari's fury be damned. He saw the envelopes, but he was unable to understand the difficult kanji and had them returned to the box the soonest. His hands were, however, shaking when he saw the pictures. It was not because Hibari was absent in any of them.
He returned the contents and left just in time before the Reborn sounded the bell because he recognized two subjects in those photographs. Two people, who, he later regrets, be the first two casualties in a conflict he would unknowingly stumble into.
-18-
Fon was not ecstatic to find Hibari Kyoya in one of his schools one day and attempting to incapacitate his disciples for not revealing their master's whereabouts. His strained smile will disappear all too quickly when Hibari then unleashed a string of threats that were tailor-made for him and would send people laughing hysterically if no one other than he said them.
The former Storm Arcobaleno often did not have the time to respond to Hibari Kyouya's thirst for battle. He had to attend to his ten schools; he could then handle more than a hundred for every style he had learned, but he also wanted to have time to make gyoza so the latter won. He was getting older as well, in the Arcobaleno sense. Reborn was the only ex-Arcobaleno who wasn't growing, and they joked about that during their last meeting.
His disciples then were more than happy to sign him up as an idol in the wake of that Korean wave or whatever, so he had no choice but to abide to their wishes for the sake of him buying them his favorite mapo tofu. His disciples, most of them girls, said he looked like those Korean idols and was horrified when they told him minutes before his audition to sing and dance something in a language he had zero knowledge of. He really did not know how it happened exactly, but the martial arts he performed made the music producer enter him in as a trainee. Seeing that he had no time to go to Korea and teach his disciples, he asked his children and Reborn for advice. During one of their meetings, he pranked Hibari to enter in his stead, and he never received a call from that studio again.
Hibari was incensed to the point of nearly destroying the entire airport, but Fon managed to appease him enough with a battle that lasted the entire night.
That made Fon enjoy a one day off supervising his disciples' training and getting a chuckle out of it with Reborn.
"I like his energy, reminds me of my youth," Fon tittered that time, glossing over Hibari's potential to raze towns to the ground. He was enjoying a break with his students in his seventh school that day. "Quite rambunctious and nearly decapitated me plenty of times during our spar. He took it quite seriously," he adds the last statement with a laugh.
"Has he improved?"
"He still hasn't perfected the gyoza he makes me, so there's that," he nods. His disciples were playing with his pet monkey along with Hibird and Roll on the side while some continued their training.
"Tsuna is anxious of his return."
"The young Vongola must wait a little more. Taming a juvenile dragon takes time. Please ask I-pin if she is progressing with her training. It might take me awhile to visit her."
"Roger that." Reborn's end crackled for awhile. Fon by then places it below and begins to enjoy his mapo tofu.
"When Kyoya gets back I'll make sure to send you some mapo tofu," he says.
"You rarely get attached to people. Hibari must remind you of the things you threw away to become what you are now."
"I never saw Kyoya when he was a child," Fon muses. "Maybe that is all?"
"I never knew what you were like before you became a Storm Arcobaleno."
"It took me quite awhile to be at peace with the things I have seen. I merely want him to accept that darkness. It will always be a part of him, and only in that darkness can his flame burn like mine."
"Do not overestimate your ability. Only he can change himself."
"That is true," Fon looks at the moment to the looming verdant mountains in the horizon, along with the salmon pink sky. Summer seemed to have come early. "But he needs us to realize that." He turns off the phone and quickly finishes the rest of his meal. Hibari still hasn't come out yet to challenge him to another duel.
-18-
Fon attempted to surprise Hibari by bringing with him a tall glass of water and a bowl full of chili shrimp from their catch that late afternoon.
Hibari did not lunge at him as he lowered his meal at the table beside him, a first. Instead, he looked at Fon, who shifted quite uneasily from his standing. It was quite a tiring day no thanks to their fight earlier. In addition, he had talked with the Vongola HQ of a possible partnership to training their men and had to arrange a meeting with them in the coming month. After getting his new pupil's empty bowl, he should catch some sleep.
"You never came to visit Namimori," Hibari said, letting his pets squeal when they tried the shrimp and begged for him to lower his glass.
There was a long pause. "No," Fon goes, "I haven't."
Hibari drawled, "You were always her favorite. Maybe more than me," he continued to stare intently at the glass he swirled before shifting his attention at the man in front of him. "Are you afraid?"
This made Fon look at him finally. He looked at his pets that were now spilling water over the glass and then at Hibari's wide grin.
"Do visit next time," he said then, losing interest at his complacency. "There is a small pine tree somewhere with plenty of butterflies. She was fond of butterflies."
The man hummed.
"Nami never resented you. For not coming back."
He shifted his hands from his robes, letting them rest behind his back as he leaned against the wall, bowing his head and sinking into his thoughts.
"Think about what flowers you can give her."
"What flowers do you give her?"
Hibari inhaled deeply before standing up. He stared at the floor, and then at Fon. His animals continued to eat his scraps.
"Asters. They were not her favorite, but I don't dislike them. They make me remember."
Fon let out a small smile as he sank his head back at the wall. "People like her make the bad things harder to forget, don't they?"
"She never dies. Namimori will never die."
He stared at the floor again. There was a thud and he saw Hibari taking his rice bowl and glass of water. "Thank you for the meal," the boy said, and left him in that room along with his pets and the things that shouldn't be left alone.
-18-
Daybreak was almost peaceful in the temple, with the exception of Fon who was woken up when Hibari shoved a plate full of gyoza on his chest.
"Y-You are too early Kyoya-"
"Taste it. You promised if I passed, I may return to Namimori."
This was unprecedented for Hibari Kyoya. Fon's eyes opened in bewilderment at this shift in his approach. He took one with his hand and then bit. A small frown wormed its way to his lips.
"You pass," he said, almost like a plea. He did not like how good it was. What would make Hibari cancel his plans for a rematch with him? Was it so urgent that it was worth disregarding his ego for?
"I'm leaving in ten minutes. One of your disciples had a boat readied. The Vongola arranged a small jet nearby."
Fon cursed himself quietly for not lying.
"There's mapo tofu in the kitchen. Please give some to Reborn."
Hibari stroked his monkey for a moment before leaving the room. He jumped out of his cot and ran after him. By then, he stopped just as Hibari was in the kitchen and calmly taking out the tofu.
"Kei called me yesterday. He said father died. They're waiting for me in Namimori."
Fon's blood ran cold as he heard those words. He knew by then that no matter what he will say, Hibari had already made up his mind. He was going to let him leave, and there was nothing effective he can do. He laughed in his head and remembered what Reborn said. In the end, he could not help him at all.
"It was wise of you to not try stopping me. They have been gone too long. I have to welcome them properly."
Fon's frown grew. "I promised to not involve myself with our family's affairs."
"You value your principles above your blood ties. You and I are alike, no matter how much you deny it," Hibari smiled, and Fon did not like the sight of it.
"You don't have to sugarcoat it. I'm a coward," Fon's smile faltered. "But I am sensible enough to not partake in their agendas anymore."
Hibari said nothing as they walked and he wore his uniform. They traversed the path leading to the banks where a ferryman was waiting for them.
"What flowers then? I can give them to her on your stead," Hibari said as he jumped on the boat, much to the chagrin of the ferry man who nearly fell on the waters. His pets fell on the boat one by one.
Fon looked on, biting his lip. Hibari's smile never left his face as the boat left the bank, and he was now quickly drifting away. He shook his head and tried to laugh. He goes, "No. I can do it myself when the time comes."
Hibari raised his tonfa until Fon could no longer see a tonfa. He shuffled into a quiet walk, alone with his monkey and then.
Only then he was no longer alone.
He did not need to look and find out who it was.
"Why did you not chase after your brother?" he says, his voice becoming quieter, and now more akin to a wolfish growl. His pet perked up and left by then, screaming as it went.
A figure slowly emerged from the sea of trees. Fon removed his robes to reveal bare muscle he had trained for this moment all these years. He could stand the morning cold. He longed that somehow, he could feel the same shred of pity he had for Hibari Kyoya.
But he could not. And he would not. Pity was something he reserved for those who can be saved.
Hibari Kei was not one of them.
"He can wait," he says in a soft voice, unfitting for his tall frame. He was the spitting image of them both, only his dark hair was longer and almost reached his nape and was almost like a nest of black. It suited the finely-pressed suit he wore. "You have ten seconds to call anyone to say your final words, jii-san." By then, his grin grew wider.
"You are a polite one. Saito has raised you well," he bowed as he took out the phone from his pocket. There was only one person he can call now. Kei drew his blade, a katana with a long handle, a weapon Fon knew from his younger days. The phone rung, and the moment it clicked, he closed his eyes and let all the aural energy he had run through his entire body, leaving his enemy shielding his eyes from the light.
"Fon?" the hitman's distinctive voice called in the other line.
"Protect Kyoya. Promise me," he said in his last moment of peace before dropping it to the ground.
"Father never resented you. It was not father's will for us to come and kill you. Please remember that," his assassin said, raising his blade and showing the same vapid eyes he never loved. He began to walk.
He now knows. Maybe after this, he would surprise her with morning glories. The bluest and largest bouquet of morning glories she would ever see.
Fon smiled in the most sickening way he could before looking at the fire-lit sky. He imagined a faraway place, a memory. The smell of burning yakiniku. Hibari Kyoya's mother and father. Another memory. Someone else, a child, about five. She is screaming, tears rushing through her face, begging him to stay, even as her nails were drawing blood on his legs. He laughed darkly. The sky was still making him not forget.
Even at this quiet hour, you are a cruel one, he cursed at it as he prepared to fight.
Notes:
-Gochisoosoma is usually said after the meal. We're familiar with the 'Itadakimasu,' with 'Gochisoosama' translating to 'It was delicious' after eating.
-I will be using Japanese floral and faunal motifs for the oncoming chapters. Here, white roses mean innocence, silence, and devotion while asters mean remembrance. Morning glories are quite tricky; they can mean wilful promises, or the renewable nature of love, closing in the evening and opening once more in the morning. They can also mean mortality and love in vain. The moth meanwhile will be given its own time to explain itself later. Butterflies are believed to be the souls of the living and the dead or unlocked mysteries (there are lots of symbolisms associated with it that I may cover in the next chapters).