Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own KHR I only own my ideas.
"Il tempo è un gran medico"
Time is a great healer
The night was filled with the sharp clangs of steel against steel and the thudding of feet against roofs.
Against the gleam of the moon, two figures were locked in a fierce battle. Neither backed down, no matter how many injuries they sustained, and neither faltered once in their endless flurry of attacks.
"VOOOOIII!" One man with glistening silver hair shouted at the top of his lungs, "Why are you here in Japan? If you don't give me an answer, I'll make sure I squeeze it out of you!"
The other, a boy with a light blue flame dancing over his forehead replied. "I have no need to answer thee."
The man surged forward, his sword arching downward in a slash. It was parried by the boy's boomerang but the force behind the blow sent the boy skidding backwards over the side of the roof they had been standing on.
The boy let out a grunt as one of his hands caught the side of the roof in attempt to save himself from falling to his death.
"Vooooooiii." The man drawled, a predatory grin marring his face. "You're weaker than I thought."
Cursing softly under his breath, the boy grabbed a picture that floated out from his pocket. He stared at the photo with hardened determination. The two smiling faces on the picture stared back up at him. One of a child with fluffy brown hair and wide chocolate colored eyes, the other of a woman with similar features and an identical smile.
'I cannot lose at a place like this.'
{II}
Hibari had very few problems in life.
One was the fact that illegal activity was happening right this second in his town.
The other…well…was…this.
A golden-eyed, brown-haired, scrawny, annoying, pathetic…thing.
Yes, thing. Not herbivore, not omnivore, and especially not a carnivore.
It had been well over a week since his appearance. It had been a little over a week since Hibari started to research his background, family ties, anything. It had been a little under one second since Hibari had finally snapped.
Why? One might ask.
Because there was absolutely nothing to be found about the boy who called himself Ietsuna. No blood ties, no school files or transfers, no records whatsoever. Heck! The only other person in the world named Ietsuna, currently, was a baby about five months old who lived in the Okinawa prefecture miles away.
Which is why, one Hibari Kyoya was presently slamming his tonfas into the local yakuza's faces to vent off his anger.
Which is also why the Ietsuna now in discussion was standing on the sidelines, watching Hibari beat the crap out of the yakuza because Hibari wouldn't let a possible threat to Namimori wander around town without his supervision.
"Hibari-senpai, I think that's enough. You'll send them to their deathbeds at this point." Ietsuna called, looking worriedly at the fallen people groaning in pain.
Hibari grunted, threw one last punch in for good measure, and then pocketed his tonfas. He turned, eye twitching to the pathetic herbivore-omnivore-thing (he couldn't decide on which he was) and started walking away. "Hurry up."
Ietsuna fell into step with him, which Hibari found quite annoying, but thankfully kept his mouth shut until they arrived at their destination—Nami-Chu.
For a second, Hibari watched a foreign emotion slide across Ietsuna's face before it was replaced with confusion. "School? What are we doing here?"
"Enrollment."
"What?! But I don't want to go to school. I don't like school very much…" Ietsuna trailed off, looking wearily at the gates.
"Hn." Hibari gave a small shrug and continued walking, heading to the principal's office. With his status, getting Ietsuna in would be easy, tuition, on the other hand, was something else, but that could eventually be taken care of. But the only reason why Hibari was entering Ietsuna into school was because in Nami-Chu, it would be easier to keep an eye on him.
And so, Ietsuna's day had been started.
{II}
"Class, we have a transfer student today. Please treat him nicely. Ietsuna-san?"
The door slid open to reveal a short and timid looking blondish-brown-haired boy with shimmering golden eyes. He wrote his name on the board then turned around to give a small bow.
"Hello, my name's Ietsuna, just Ietsuna. Please take care of me."
The class was silent. All eyes swiveled back and forth between Ietsuna and the student, Sawada Tsunayoshi. There was an uncanny resemblance between the two. One brave soul decided to speak.
"Umm, are you by any chance, related to Tsunayoshi here?"
Ietsuna cocked his head to the side. He stared at the aforementioned boy who was scowling at him rather heatedly, then shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. I have no relatives that I know of."
Everyone broke out into hushed whispers, and girls began to talk excitedly to each other about the prospect of the new transfer student having a mysterious past. Looking slightly annoyed, the teacher rapped his hand against his desk to quiet the room.
And with that, the teacher directed Ietsuna to his seat by the window and class started.
Immediately, Ietsuna found the lesson to be extremely boring. He knew all this stuff, probably things he had learned previously and now it was coming back to him. He yawned tiredly. Sleep hadn't come easily over the past few nights—he had been plagued by nightmares yet he could never remember them when he woke. The only dream he could remember was the one of Hibari and his own supposed death.
Laying his head down on the wooden table, Ietsuna zoned out and closed his eyes. Hopefully, he didn't make a bad impression on his classmates. Because for some reason, he dreaded the thought about being bullied.
{II}
Ietsuna found himself being tossed around like a sack of potatoes. He was surrounded by darkness, save for the faint trail of light coming from above. The soft hum of an engine sounded as he was in bounced up and down along a rocky path.
He was in a type of vehicle, most likely a van, Ietsuna decided, taking in his surroundings. He felt a rough rope dig into his wrists and lock his legs together, and the foul taste of a dirty cloth in his mouth made him want to throw up.
Kidnapped. He concluded—all the evidence pointed to it after all. But by whom?
Trying to stand, Ietsuna pushed himself up against the side of the vehicle for support. He wracked his brain to see if he had anything sharp on him. But when he couldn't recall a thing, he searched the floor. But the only thing that greeted him was a slightly rough surface and an empty sack.
Sighing, he moved again to see if he could get a hold on his situation. But he froze when he felt the cold metal nose of a gun pressed against his temple. "Don't move or I'll blast a hole through your head!"
Ietsuna inwardly cursed himself. How had he not noticed the man sneak up on him? Especially in the closed-off room, the man must have been in here this whole time, watching, biding his time.
There was a grunt then Ietsuna was roughly shoved out into brightness when a single door swung open. He landed with a painful thump in dirt and grass, soiling his white dress shirt in the process. The cloth around his mouth was removed.
Two amethyst colored orbs, cold and like chips of purple ice stared down at him. "My, my. If it isn't Tsunayoshi-kun!"
"Byakuran." Ietsuna snarled, literally spitting out the name as if it tasted horrible.
"That's not a nice way to greet an old friend, Tsunayoshi-kun." Byakuran chastised, a fake smile spreading across his face. "But I'll let that slide for today." He clapped his hands cheerily. "Now down to business, as you can see, I had a few of my men…escort…you here to my mansion. We have a couple of important matters we must discuss."
"I have no such business talking to someone like you." Ietsuna spat, glaring viciously. "Now let me go!"
"Oh no, you know I could never do that, Tsunayoshi-kun," Byakuran said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "The Tri-Ni-Set depends on you, me and Yuni. Cooperation is a must."
"I'll never work with you, Byakuran. The day you decided to kill my men, my friends, and my family, was the day you ended any possibility of forming an alliance with my Famiglia."
Byakuran pouted, though behind his happy-go-lucky exterior, a cold rage emanated from him, which shone for a split second when his violet eyes opened to stare at Ietsuna darkly. "Then I guess I'll have to take more…extreme measures."
Snapping his fingers, five men appeared and carried the bound and re-gagged Ietsuna away. Ietsuna made sure to memorize the way they were taking him until a man noticed what he was doing and firmly placed something over his eyes. After what seemed to have been hours of trekking, Ietsuna was finally tossed into a dark room and locked behind large steel bars.
He must have stayed in the dungeon for weeks or months—it was impossible to tell. But he wouldn't give in to the torture; after all, Reborn had put him through much, much worse.
When the bars of the cage finally swung open, Ietsuna lifted his head but was blinded by the bright light shining in front of him. After blinking rapidly to clear his vision, he caught sight of a familiar mop of silver hair and another of dark brown before everything went black.
{II}
"…na…"
"…Tsuna."
"Ietsuna."
Ietsuna was jolted awake from his dream after being roughly shaken. He immediately jumped to his feet and wildly looked around. His hand slid to his right pant's pocket to pull out something but stopped when he realized there was nothing there but air.
"Woah!" A voice said sounding surprised.
Ietsuna whirled towards the sound to find two smiling hazel-colored eyes staring curiously at him. "Who're you?"
"Me?" The boy pointed to himself. "Yamamoto Takeshi, nice to meet you. I'm your classmate see? I sit next to you."
When Ietsuna glanced down, indeed, he observed that the boy sat next to him. Huh, he never noticed.
"It's almost lunch, so I though I should wake you up. It looked like you were having a nightmare, are you ok?" The boy asked, his face looking genuinely inquisitive.
Ietsuna shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Yeah, I don't really remember it anyways."
"Haha, I guess that's a good thing?"
Ietsuna looked at the boy strangely. "Maybe, maybe not."
Yamamoto waved his hand airily. "You want to have lunch with me? I know a good spot."
Nodding, Ietsuna followed the boy, Yamamoto out, making sure to bring his bento. He was led onto the roof where they both sat down and opened their lunches. Not soon after, a few more kids joined them.
"Yamamoto!" Someone said, sounding angry, "Do you know the definition of waiting?"
"Haha," Yamamoto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to eat with Ietsuna here."
Two pairs of eyes turned to him, one emerald green and the other a soft chocolate. He recognized the latter's as the boy he had fought the other day or two. Tuna-something, wasn't it?
"Hello." Ietsuna inclined his head cordially. "It's nice to properly meet you." He held out a hand for a handshake, disregarding the fact that he had, technically, met one of them before. It didn't hurt to start anew, did it?
But Tsunayoshi apparently didn't forgive easily seeing how he sniffed and crossed his arms, looking at Ietsuna's open hand distastefully. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. You and me look nothing alike. And I'll pay you back for that one time." Beside him, the boy with green eyes watched quietly, but his mouth was set in a firm scowl.
"C'mon Gokudera, let's eat somewhere else." Tsunayohi said, casting one last glance at the other two. "I don't feel like eating up here today."
Gokudera nodded his head dutifully and trailed after the brunet. But his gaze lingered a little longer than it should have on Ietsuna and Yamamoto who were sitting together on the roof, eating lunch. Then, he turned his head and walked away, shutting the door behind him.
Ietsuna turned towards Yamamoto and gave him a questioning look.
Yamamoto shook his head. "That was Sawada Tsunayoshi and Gokudera Hayato, two of my…friends. Don't mind Tsuna, he's not usually like that."
Ietsuna frowned at the way Yamamoto had said the word 'friends.' The way he said it made him think that they weren't friends at all. And the boy Tsunayoshi? Not usually like that his butt! The boy acted like a spoiled brat through and through.
Staring up into the brilliant blue sky, Ietsuna sighed. This day was filled with so many strange things.
{II}
Reborn watched as his idiotic student turned on his heel and disappeared down the stairway with the Smoking Bomb walking at least a foot behind him. He frowned at his actions. Reborn had arrived in Namimori about a month earlier and Tsunayoshi had acted like an idiot.
Now, a month later, he still acted like one. Reborn himself had been trying as much as he could to get rid of the boy's stuck-up attitude, but all his attempts had ended in failure. Nono would be disappointed in him. It would be the first time he had failed the only man he respected.
Balling his fists in controlled anger, Reborn turned to watch the mysterious boy Ietsuna chat with his student's Rain Guardian, Yamamoto Takeshi. He found it strange, ever since the boy had stepped through Nami-Chu's gates. The kid naturally attracted others to him, it seemed.
Yamamoto Takeshi himself had picked up a conversation with him and then decided to eat lunch together. Last time Reborn checked, Yamamoto was extremely distrustful of others because of his fame. 'Although,' Reborn rubbed his chin thoughtfully, 'as a new student, Ietsuna wouldn't know about Yamamoto's position as the school's baseball star.'
Shaking his head, Reborn resumed his careful examination of the boy Ietsuna. The striking resemblance that the boy and his student shared was suspicious. Could the boy have been sent to infiltrate the Vongola by replacing the heir-in-training? It was possible, but from the looks of it, the mission had failed.
'So,' Reborn concluded, 'the boy is either a threat or just nobody. But its best if he's labeled as a threat for now.' After all, Reborn was a naturally skeptical person. And it was a rule never to underestimate an opponent.
Stroking his partner, Leon, Reborn sat down on the roof and continued to watch the pair. He noticed Ietsuna starting to shift uncomfortably. Could it be that the boy could tell that Reborn was watching him? Reborn scoffed at the idea. Impossible.
But when Ietsuna began shooting glances behind him in the exact spot where Reborn was hiding, the baby grew increasingly frustrated. What was with this boy named Ietsuna? He was determined to find out.
{II}
When he arrived at the Hibari mansion, Ietsuna settled down at a table and started on his homework. Hibari himself had gone off somewhere, beginning his evening patrols of Namimori, leaving Ietsuna alone to himself.
He set his pencil down with a mischievous smirk. His week had been him cooped up in a boring old house with only antiques or paintings to keep him company. Now, Hibari had finally left him to his own devices while he patrolled, instead of taking the boy with him like he usually had done (albeit reluctantly). Ietsuna had a feeling it was a way for the raven-haired teen to keep an eye on him.
But now, Ietsuna thought, looking around, he could go anywhere he wanted as long as Hibari didn't catch him. Which also meant he was going to explore town a little more. Maybe even buy a couple of things to keep himself busy. It wouldn't hurt, would it?
Nodding to himself, Ietsuna slipped out of the mansion and walked down the lonely street that led to downtown.
It took ten or so minutes to reach the halfway point, a small park, Ietsuna noted, sitting down on a bench to rest his legs. Not that he was tired but he wanted to enjoy his stroll and take in all the surroundings. Hibari never stopped to admire anything. The only thing he did admire was his handiwork after beating up the Mighty Disturbers of Peace.
Ietsuna wondered what would happen if he pulled a prank. Would the prefect go crazy and hunt him down? It seemed the most likely answer. He snickered at the thought of the infamous Hibari Kyoya, tearing up his town with his eyes alight with flames of fury and a forked tongue poking out of his mouth in order to find one little troublemaker.
A troublemaker by the name Ietsuna.
Standing up, he continued his way to the crowd of shops and stores, knowing the perfect place to go to if he wanted to put a certain plan into action. The toy store.
Another ten minutes later found Ietsuna walking through an open door. Inside, a treasure trove of colorful gimmicks and gadgets stood proudly, lined up on shelves with price tags hanging off them, waiting to be bought.
Ietsuna gravitated to where colorful balloons hung, and picked up a pack of water balloons. Next came a couple of air horns, a lock, tacks, and several other trinkets and knick-knacks that he knew would come in handy later on.
After leaving the toy store, Ietsuna ventured over to the pharmacy where he collected a series of powders for a top-secret experiment that he would only reveal after his victim fell for it.
Next came the food market. One bottle of pepper, some mustard, and a package of Oreos later, he was back out the door. But just as he was exiting the building, he bumped into a woman.
"Ah, sorry about that." Ietsuna said, rubbing his head sheepishly. "Here, I can help you with those."
The woman stooped down to collect a few items that had fallen out of her bags. "Oh dear, it's fine." She laughed, her brown eyes shining cheerfully. "I've got it under control." She continued to talk, none of it of much importance so Ietsuna found himself zoning out and instead staring at the woman's features.
He frowned. This person seemed familiar.
"—fun, but sometimes…" She trailed off. "Oh my, are you crying? Did I say something wrong?"
"Huh?" Ietsuna brought a hand up to his cheek and felt a tiny trail of tears running down his face. "I-I…"
The woman waited patiently, looking sincerely worried.
"I don't know." He finished, wiping the tears away in embarrassment. "But it's not you're fault. I think there was something in my eye, that's all."
Smiling, the woman gave a small bow. "Well, I'm Sawada Nana, nice to meet you!"
"My name is Ietsuna, it's nice to meet you too."
"You know," Nana started, "you look a lot like my son, that's strange. I was so sure that he was the only one with that wild hair of his. Ah! You must go to the same school, don't you?" she said, looking at the uniform Ietsuna was wearing.
Ietsuna paused, piecing together his clues. Sawada…Sawada… "Oh! You're Sawada Tsunayoshi's mother!"
"So you do know my little Tsu-kun!" Nana squealed happily. "Please do take care of him. He worries me sometimes, going off for days without coming home, and when he does, he has all these bruises like he's been in a fight." She shook her head in slight exasperation. "Tsu-kun is growing up so fast."
Ietsuna nodded his head because he thought it would be the polite thing to do. Her son Tsunayoshi didn't strike him as the type to allow someone to "take care of him." And he had a feeling that Tsunayoshi's disappearance from his house on various occasions was due to the fact that he hung out in…bad…places. That would definitely describe why he came home with injuries.
"Well, I best am going now." Nana waved, "Dinner doesn't serve itself, does it?"
Ietsuna rubbed his head. "No, I suppose it doesn't."
Nana giggled, "You should come over to our house some time, Ietsuna-kun, I'm sure you and Tsu-kun will get along perfectly!" With one last wave, he headed off, carrying her bulging bags of groceries with her.
Ietsuna frowned. His chest hurt. But the pain was soon forgotten when he looked down at his own bags of goodies. It was time to put his plans into action…
{II}
Class started without a hitch. The teacher was casually reading out of his book as the class listened and took notes. Ietsuna smiled. Usually teachers didn't sit behind a desk and instead stood for the duration of class in front of a podium and chalkboard. But for the last few days, Ietsuna had wheeled in an adjustable chair, much to the teachers' relief. That was only so it wouldn't look suspicious if it suddenly appeared one day.
After giving the class and teachers a few days to get used to the chair being there, Ietsuna stuck an air horn under it, sticking it to the single leg with duct tape, before school started. He had that advantage because Hibari always brought him along in the mornings to arrive at school early (he claimed that the hallways had to be patrolled before the students and teachers arrived).
For the next hour, Ietsuna had sat in his seat, watching as students filtered in and out of the room until the bell rang, warning that classes were starting. Every seat was taken except for the teacher's rolling chair.
Ietsuna waited in anticipation. When the teacher finally got tired of standing, he walked over to the chair and sat down. The horn went off with an earsplitting honk.
Girlish screams and "manly" cries of shock rang through the air. The teacher jumped up in surprise, looked around, decided that whatever the sound was just some strange occurrence, and sat back down. The horn went off with another obnoxious honk.
The whole while, Ietsuna looked upon the scene in amusement. He didn't show it outwardly, of course. If anyone were keen enough, they would suspect him as the perpetrator. Instead, he mentally rolled on the floor in laughter.
Suddenly, the door was flung open with a loud crack and the school prefect and a handful of his Disciplinary Committee personnel came stomping in. Hibari, Ietsuna discovered, looked extremely pissed.
Kusakabe Tetsuya, the second-in-command of the Disciplinary Committee, and Ietsuna's current tea partner (Hibari refused to have tea time with anyone because it was considered crowding, but Ietsuna was determined to make the aloof teen sit with them at least once), walked up to the rapidly paling teacher.
"What's going on here?" He demanded, looking almost as cross as Hibari.
"I-I h-have n-no clue." The teacher managed to say, glancing back and forth between Kusakabe and the prefect in fear. "I-I sat d-down, and s-suddenly t-there was a-a loud noise."
Ietsuna snickered under his breath. He had nothing against this teacher, but it was hilarious to see him act like this.
Unfortunately for Ietsuna, Hibari's sharp hearing immediately picked up on the quiet laughter coming from a certain boy sitting by the window. Sending a bone-chilling glare over to the obviously suspicious boy. He even had the nerve to whistle a tune! An extremely annoying herbivorous tune.
Stalking over to the boy, Hibari slammed a tonfa down onto his desk, splintering the wood as easily as if he were pounding a loaf of bread. "I'll bite you to death for disrupting the peace."
"Woah, woah." Ietsuna said, pushing back from his desk and holding up his hands in a placating manner. "Who said I did it? What information do you have to back up your claim?"
The herbivores around them started to close in like a pack of starving animals…, which they were. Hibari growled menacingly. As if on cue, the herbivores were sent scattering away in fear of the prefect's wrath. That was better. He swung his tonfa again, making sure that it would smack the cheeky boy in the face. And hard.
His attack missed.
Ietsuna smiled and gave a knowing wink. "Can't catch me."
The student body gasped at Ietsuna's guts to directly take on the fearsome prefect.
Hibari swung again, this time with both of his tonfas. But each time, they passed through empty air. Interesting. Of course, Hibari didn't label him an omnivore for nothing.
A grin split Ietsuna's fourteen-year-old features as he brought up one of his hands to catch a tonfa. He twisted it until Hibari's grip slackened. He pulled it from Hibari's grasp and slid it into his hand, giving it a few experimental swipes.
Taking the few seconds that the boy wasn't paying attention as an opportunity to attack, Hibari whacked his tonfa on Ietsuna's head and stood back in satisfaction as a nice red bump rose up from that fluffy hair of his.
"Ow, ow, ow." Ietsuna complained, dropping the tonfa—much to Hibari's ire—and clutching his aching head in effort to block out the pain. "What was that for, Hibari-senpai?"
"For disturbing the peace." He replied gruffly, jerking his head towards the door as a signal for the rest of the Disciplinary Committee members to head out now that their job had been completed.
"But I said I didn't do it!" Ietsuna protested, looking at the prefect in annoyance. Of course I did, but I'm never telling you that.
Hibari didn't reply and settled for making a perfectly blank face as he exited the classroom, Kusakabe following him with the air horn in his hand.
No one spoke until at least ten minutes had passed. Then the room erupted in whispers and hushed conversations.
"Do you think Ietsuna-san did it?"
Yes, I think so.
"Naw, he's not the type."
Oh how you're wrong.
"Then who did?"
Me, duh.
"Dunno. But for all we know, it would even be a prank from another class, upperclassmen have a tendency to do those things."
Why don't you go find out.
"Hey guys, why don't we just ask Ietsuna himself?"
Why don't you?
"Didn't you hear him already? He said he didn't do it."
No dip Sherlock.
"Yeah, and I don't think he'd ever lie to Hibari-san's face."
People these days.
Over the clamor, Ietsuna raised his hand awkwardly, waving it a little to get the teacher's attention. "Umm Sensei? Can I get a new desk?"
{II}
"Fight me."
"No."
"You don't have a say in this matter, Omnivore."
"Would you quit calling me that? I mean, yes, I am an omnivore—pretty much all humans are—but seriously? My name is Ietsuna."
Hibari graciously ignored the comment and chose instead to punch the living daylights out of him with his tonfas. Much to his frustration, though, his target decided to avoid all his attacks while doing his homework.
"Fight me." Hibari growled, glaring holes in the back of Ietsuna's head.
"Must I repeat myself?"
Hibari twitched. His blood was boiling, his body itching for a fight. And a good one at that—he hadn't found a good enough opponent since that pineapple-freak had invaded his town. To top it off, that was ages ago (less than a week). The annoying herbivore wasn't worth beating up. Even though he showed potential strength when fighting the pineapple-freak, it seemed like he would hit his max sooner or later.
The annoying herbivore was lacking in something, though Hibari couldn't exactly tell what. Whatever the case, wherever the annoying herbivore was, was where the baby was and Hibari wasn't willing to hunt them down when he could take a nice long nap instead. Eventually they'd come to him. Not to mention it would save him the trouble, time and effort.
In the meantime, he did have a plaything at his disposal. The only problem was that it didn't wasn't to play—only petty games like tea party. Hibari shivered at the thought.
"Tomorrow at 7 o'clock sharp in the gym."
Hibari paused his train of thought. What?
Ietsuna glanced teasingly back at the prefect's stilled figure. "Must I repeat myself?"
Hibari glared then pocketed his tonfas and walked away. When the first opportunity came, he'd make sure to kick the boy out his front door and place him in the nearest—and cheapest, mind you—apartment he could find, and wish the annoying boy good riddance.
He nearly smiled at the prospect.
So for the next latter half of the day and early part of the morning, Hibari patrolled Namimori in silent anticipation. He could literally feel the sharp crunch of shattered bones beneath his tonfas, taste the metallic tang of fresh blood in his mouth, and see the wild fear surfacing in his prey's eyes.
When the time slowly neared the 6:45 mark, Hibari swiftly made his way over to the school's gym where he would wait for the next fifteen minutes. To be tardy was unacceptable, even for him.
Usually he didn't like to wait for anyone or anything. But today would have to be considered an exception—his long-anticipated battle was finally here. Irritably, Hibari glanced at the clock hanging off the wall. It was already one minute past 7. The omnivore was late.
The door swished open.
"Yo!" Ietsuna saluted, an annoying grin on his face. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I had some stuff to take care of."
Stuff? Hibari wondered what the omnivore had been up too. It wasn't like he had any jobs before school—students weren't allowed to have part-time jobs. He shrugged the thought away. It was probably of no importance.
"So," Ietsuna began. "Shall we get down to business?"
Silver flashed as Hibari whipped out his tonfas. Just as he was preparing to attack, the omnivore held up his hands.
"Hey, hey, slow down. Who said we were going to fight?"
Wait, what?
The omnivore—scratch that, he was an herbivore now if he didn't have the guts to fight—scratched his head nervously. "I mean, if you want to fight, we can but I'm not really in the mood."
Hibari didn't need to hear another word. The omnivore—yes, he decided to call him that again—looked lax, his hands in his pockets and his body slouched and careless. Easy prey. Almost too easy. Something was off.
Hibari stopped running but kept his arms up in a guarded position. His grey eyes carefully analyzed the situation. Was he hiding something in his pockets? No, they looked empty apart from the hands stuffed in there. Did he set a trap? He did say he had business to take care of beforehand. Was that when…?
"Hm?" Ietsuna looked puzzled, "Is something wrong?"
Hibari just glared in response. It must be a trap. The omnivore was acting too innocently, like he was clueless. That was suspicious he must be hiding something. Whatever the case, Hibari didn't have the patience to find out.
Again, he charged. He thrust his leg forward in attempt to catch the omnivore off balance; it worked, and sent the boy crashing towards the floor.
"Ouch, Hibari-senpai, I think you broke my nose." Ietsuna looked up, one hand covering half of his face, trying to stem the small trickle of red coming from it.
Hibari couldn't care less but the urge to fight had suddenly left him. He didn't know why, so he gave the omnivore a parting smack with his tonfas, which seemed to be becoming a routine for them, and walked away.
As soon as Hibari had left, Ietsuna stood up, tossing an empty ketchup packet into the trashcan, and wiped his hands across his pants. "Well then, I'm going to go take a shower."
{II}
Hibari twitched. Then he sneezed. Then a chill went up his spine. Then he scratched. His entire body was itchy. Was it another one of those trident mosquitoes from that perverted doctor? It was a possibility. When he saw him next, he'd make sure to properly bite him to death.
Despite the urge to scratch, Hibari ignored it and entered the Disciplinary Committee's headquarters for a nap. When he woke up, perhaps he wouldn't be itchy anymore.
Lying down on the couch, he closed his eyes. For several minutes he lay there, unable to fall asleep because of the annoying itching. He twitched again. Whoever did this would pay with their life.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had some stuff to take care of."
Hibari frowned. The omnivore was late by a minute because of secret business. It must've been him. It had to be. In fact, Hibari was certain of it. He wouldn't put it past a guy like him to have pulled a prank like this. No one else would have the guts to do so.
Just then, the loud blare of an air horn rang out through the school building. Again.
Grey eyes snapped open with the intent to kill. He stalked over to the omnivore's classroom and thrust aside the door, tonfas raised…and got soaked in water, an empty bucket clattering to the floor.
He stood there for several seconds, blinking, until a chalkboard eraser toppled down and landed on his head, coating him in white powder.
The teacher fainted, most likely due to the trauma from last time.
The class gasped and some even had the nerve to giggle, which Hibari found annoying.
The omnivore struggled to hide a smile, which Hibari found even more infuriating.
For the third time, he twitched then scratched his arm. The class erupted in even more laughter.
He couldn't tell if he was more frustrated, angry, or itchy. Actually, now that he thought about it, he wasn't itchy anymore. Despite that, he decided that the omnivore would pay for it later.
That night, when he arrived at home, he found a steaming hot plate of hamburger steak lying on the counter. With it lay a note with a poor drawing of the omnivore's smiling face reading "Gotcha!"
{II}
After a long, exhausting day at school, Ietsuna was still working his butt off, carrying boxes up and down stairs, bringing them to storerooms, and fetching random items. It was all punishment that Hibari had dished out for earlier, although Ietsuna had a feeling that this wasn't the end of it. But, it was for now, just as he set down the stack of boxes that held a bunch of sports supplies.
With that, he walked out and washed his dusty hands at the row on water fountains behind the school building. He casually shook his hands then stuck them into his pockets, strolling away. But before he exited the school, he saw a boy stagger out from behind a few bushes and fall heavily against a tree.
Ietsuna recognized him as the boy from the other day who followed Tsunayoshi like an obedient puppy. How did he get beat up like that?
Curious, Ietsuna inched closer to the teen as if he was a hostile animal, which he could be when around Tsunayoshi.
"Hey," he began, "you okay?"
He was answered with an angry glare.
"I'm taking that as a no." Ietsuna shrugged, stepping closer and putting a hand on the teen's shoulder, which was immediately slapped away and followed by a scorching glare.
"I don't need your help." The boy said gruffly, rubbing a spot of blood from his mouth and turning to sluggishly stagger away.
Huffing in slight annoyance, Ietsuna watched him leave, just in time to catch a fluff of brown hair disappear behind the brick gates. He had a feeling he knew who it was, and his was suspicion confirmed when he heard a jeer accompanied by a series of laughs.
Unfortunately, there was no reply or attempt to counter the comments. And for some reason, Ietsuna found it irritating, it ticked him off to see people take advantage of a situation and exploit it just for fun, only for their own entertainment.
Well, it wasn't like he had any obligations to anyone after he had finished Hibari's tasks…except his pile of homework that he had been putting off for a few days. But that could wait a little longer. He smiled; sneaking up to the school gates and silently peering through the bars to catch a glance at what exactly was happening.
Tsunayoshi and a band of kids had grouped together and surrounded the silver-haired teen and were throwing nasty comments at him, ones that Ietsuna couldn't quite make out, but could tell they were brushing a hurtful subject for the teen. He leaned in closer.
"Hey runt, did your Daddy finally decide to kick you out of the family? Is that why you're in Japan instead of Italy?"
"Yeah, you should tell us. After all, we're buddies, aren't we?"
"Wait, you're not actually part of the family, are you? An illegitimate child, born to a low-life woman and a powerful man, what a disgrace. Why weren't you disowned right away?"
A warning growl came from the subject of their hostility, and the teen pulled out a stick of…dynamite?
Ietsuna felt sickened by their attitudes. People these days had no respect for others' personal matters.
"Nice try, but those things won't work on us anymore. We came up with some safety measures against you a while back. Why don't we try them out?"
Instinctively, the teen threw his dynamite. At the same time, one boy decided to throw a rock at the teen's head but missing, instead leaving a long cut across his forearm. The action threw off the teen's aim and he dropped the explosives in front of him, seconds away from exploding.
The word danger was blazing through his mind, but Ietsuna could care less as he threw himself forward and barreled into the teen, shoving him out of the way. The gang, on the other hand had made a mad dash away behind the safety of very reliable looking trees.
The explosion rocked the earth, although no damage had been done to anyone in the area. He breathed a sigh of relief. That was a close call.
Ietsuna stared at the group of boys looking extremely scared for people who had been so confident before, and felt slightly affronted by their actions. He wasn't an expert on anything in this town, not after residing in it for a week or two, and it wasn't his place to intrude on personal matters (although this certainly wasn't a private matter at all), but for some reason his mind was telling him that he should step in. Though, Ietsuna thought, he didn't have to listen to his mind, his heart knew it was wrong, which was all the proof he needed to intervene.
"Hey, hey," He began, "don't you guys have any better things to do? Homework for example. Actually, forget what I just said. You all look like dropouts, so I seriously doubt that."
Tsunayoshi's eyes narrowed. "You. Come here to make laughing stock out of me again?"
"Woah, woah now." Ietsuna held up his hands placating, "Don't go jumping to conclusions here. And," he added as an afterthought, "I think you're making laughing stock out of him." He jabbed a finger in the teen's direction.
"So?" Tsunayoshi shrugged as if was a different matter entirely, "There's nothing wrong about it. All I'm doing is putting a dog in his place. Dogs are loyal to their masters, and if they show a hint of defiance, punishment should be dealt. Right guys?"
Behind him, the group of teens laughed in agreement.
Ietsuna was offended; he liked dogs, especially the faithful kinds that were partners for life. But he didn't like Chihuahuas. Their beady little eyes, their high-pitched bark, and most of all their painful bite—he shivered at the thought. Silently, he reminded himself that Chihuahuas were just fierce on the outside but cute little angels on the inside. Maybe they were like Tsunayoshi in a way.
"So, I heard Reborn was looking for you. Something about training… it sounded quite fun, now that I think about it."
Tsunayoshi, much to Ietsuna's amusement, blanched slightly, but quickly regained his composure and sent a glare at the other. "How do you know about Reborn?" He asked suspiciously.
Ietsuna's lips quirked up in a crooked grin. "Let's just say I have my resources." He noted the uncomfortable shift in the silver-teen's stance and the wary gaze that was turned to him. He could hardly blame the boy, despite how Tsunayoshi treated him; the teen was still (hesitantly) protective of him, looking out for potential assassination attempts.
Ietsuna distantly wondered why exactly he knew about assassination attempts on Tsunayoshi, but pushed it aside.
"Hey boys," Tsunayoshi said, a blank look on his face, "I'm quite bored, how does a new toy sound? Treat it however you please, I'll be content to sit back and watch."
This wasn't going good, even with Ietsuna's skill at calming people down when he wanted to. In fact, he should have known that this conversation would end in destruction. Tsunayoshi rubbed him the wrong way, and he was positive he did the same to Tsunayoshi.
It took three or four sounds of knuckles cracking to knock common sense into Ietsuna. Letting his survival instincts take over, he jumped around a punch, snagged the silver-haired teen's arm and ran away from the furious jeers and taunting screams.
Surprisingly, Ietsuna didn't get as much resistance as he thought he would receive from his luggage. When he finally stopped running and turned to face the teen, he was met by two guarded green eyes. "What do you want?"
"Nothing?" Ietsuna replied, "you looked like you needed the help, so I helped you."
"I told you I didn't need it." Came the blunt rebuke.
"Sorry, I'm not the type that listens to excuses." He winked playfully, but it had little effect on the temperamental teen. He cleared his throat. "Do you want me to treat those wounds? I'm pretty adept at bandaging injuries like that."
"I can do it myself." The boy scowled, turning away. He began to walk towards an apartment complex that looked to be a long walk away. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't seem to shake off the curious boy who had taken to clinging to him like a shadow.
"By the way, isn't your name Gokudera?"
Gokudera grunted. Beside him, Ietsuna (who, mind you, looked extremely similar to the boss but had a completely different personality) frowned. The look that crossed the boy's face almost made Gokudera stop in his tracks. It reminded him of what he had been like as a child—lonely. He silently wondered what would make such a cheerful person sad.
A second later, Ietsuna's expression decidedly changed to a smile, replacing the previous emotion completely. Gokudera felt a pang of sadness squeeze his heart. Long ago, he had been beaten by the boss and declared undying allegiance to him, following the rules of the Mafia code. He had done it willingly, but over the time he had spent with the boss, he began to regret his decision.
Tsunayoshi didn't see him as a companion or friend, after all, no matter how much Gokudera wanted to be seen as an equal. He had been on the receiving end of plenty of glares for the point to get across. Not once had he seen the boss smile, so when he saw a smile on the face of someone so familiar, it hurt.
While the silver-haired teen was deep in his own thought, Ietsuna watched him carefully. Something told him that the teen was unhappy. An idea suddenly struck him. Brilliant, it was, he almost wanted to pat his back at the sheer brilliance of the plan.
"Hey, Gokudera, can I show you something?"
The teen's face immediately shut down and a carefully guarded look made Ietsuna wince. "Leave me alone, you might have helped me back there, but that doesn't mean I hold any debts to you."
"Too bad." Ietsuna stuck out his tongue and took Gokudera's hands in his own, then raced off to who-knows-where.
'What am I, being kidnapped?' Gokudera thought bitterly as the energetic boy who refused to leave him to his own life pulled him along with a startling amount of power. Though for some reason, Gokudera couldn't say no to the boy. There was something about him that made him likeable (no matter how annoying he seemed on the outside). Maybe it was the fact that he didn't care about his shady birth that made Gokudera warm up to him (he knew the boy had overheard the one-sided conversation earlier). Or maybe it was the fact that he could see himself following someone kind and optimistic like Ietsuna. Like a boss and his faithful right-hand man.
{II}
"It's nothing special." Ietsuna murmured, his gaze traveling across the scattered clouds that blotted the azure sky. "But it's calming, don't you think?"
Gokudera merely shrugged, but nevertheless joined the small game of cloud watching. He hated to admit it, but he liked Ietsuna over Tsunayoshi. When he had left Italy on Reborn's request, he had hoped to find someone who accepted him. He didn't get what he wanted. But now…(here, Gokudera snuck a look at the boy resting beside him).
Gokudera began to inwardly scold himself for getting all sappy. He was Smokin' Bomb Hayato, d*ammit! And this kid could even be a potential assassin, sent to kill the boss. He even showed hints about his knowledge of the Mafia.
"So," Ietsuna said, "It's pretty late isn't it? I guess we should be heading home now. Hibari-senpai will kill me if I go past my curfew."
Ietsuna stayed with Hibari? Gokudera wondered why anyone would have the guts to do that. Then again, it was Ietsuna he was talking about. Maybe he'd talk to Reborn about it next time they saw each other. He was curious about Ietsuna, and he was sure that Reborn wouldn't let anyone enter Namimori without a couple once-overs. Neither would Hibari for that matter.
If the boy were any sort of threat, wouldn't he have been taken care of already?
"Gokudera." Ietsuna whined, waving his hand in front of his face, "Are you even listening?"
"No." He replied, turning away.
Ietsuna only sighed as if he had dealt with people like Gokudera hundreds of times in the past. "It's almost seven, and I was supposed to reach Hibari-senpai's house hours ago. And it's not healthy for your wounds to go untreated for a long time."
Gokudera scoffed and sat up. "I never asked you to follow me around. You could have left whenever you wanted."
"Then why didn't you leave if you're so annoyed with me?" Ietsuna pointed out.
Gokudera had the decency to blush, but hid his face before the other could see it. He wanted to say 'I had fun,' but instead said, "You didn't let me." Which was half-true because Ietsuna towed him all over the place.
This time, Ietsuna didn't walk after him. Gokudera couldn't tell if he was relieved or not, but he felt a twang of disappointment. It was quickly crushed when he reminded himself that the boy was a danger. He shot a small look back where Ietsuna was lying in the grass, a soft breeze ruffling his light brown hair. He looked so small and terribly lonely.
Ietsuna noticed Gokudera staring and turned his head to stare at the retreating teen. They locked eyes for a few seconds before Gokudera broke contact and continued on his way. He swore those golden-brown eyes had flashed orange but told himself it was the trick of the light. The sun was setting after all. He could have stared into the orbs of liquid fire for eternity, but he had stopped himself when he saw an emotion that didn't belong in eyes so young.
He was one of few who could recognize that look, being a part of the Mafia and staying alive to experience plenty of it himself. Gokudera congratulated Ietsuna for hiding so well up until now, but it was something that would never leave the eyes of those, which it possessed.
That boy had seen death.
{II}
Ietsuna yawned. Was boredness a word? He didn't think so, but if he could make it one, then he would. Because that was what he was now, bored with boredness. He was supposed to be sleeping, but he couldn't sleep. Something was keeping him awake.
So, he slipped out of his bed, rolling up the futon and placing it neatly to the side. Quietly, he changed into a jacket and pants, then tiptoed out of guest room and headed for the exit. Underneath his feet, the floorboards creaked loudly. Ietsuna held his breath, hoping he didn't wake anyone up. He silently counted to 10, and let out a breath of relief when Hibari didn't come storming out of his room. Leaning against the wall, he toed on a pair of shoes and softly closed the door behind him.
High above, the moon was just a sharp line, giving off little light, and the stars were hidden behind a curtain of clouds. The night was dark.
Ietsuna walked down the street, small pebbles shifting under his weight, making soft clinking noises. He paused. No, it wasn't the rocks making those sounds it was something else.
Turning his face to the night sky, Ietsuna squinted into the far north where a few condos were located. If he remembered correctly, that was where Gokudera, the boy from earlier lived. He started running in that direction, the premonition of danger seeming to come from that area.
As he got closer, the rings grew louder. He recognized it—it was the steel of a sword against another. 'A familiar sound,' Ietsuna thought with a small shudder.
He was panting now, his breath coming in rough gasps. For some reason he was scared, the reason was unclear. On any normal day, the run would hardly be a problem. But not tonight.
A loud explosion broke through the stillness of the night. Beside him, as the dust cleared, lay a boy around his own age holding a blade-like-boomerang. On his forehead, a blue flame flickered gently.
The boy groaned, sitting up painfully. When he opened his eyes, they were a clear blue, like the ocean. Immediately, they swiveled to the side, widening with surprise.
"Sawada-dono! Why is thou here?"
"Sawada-dono? I don't think I'm the person right person, my name's Ietsuna."
The boy looked troubled, taking a picture out of his pocket and looking back and forth between it, and Ietsuna.
"VOOOIII! What are you doing, scum? Have you given up?" A voice called out roughly, its owner appearing shortly after against the paltry light of the moon. He had long silver hair, and a fierce scowl. Strapped to his arm was a sword.
"C'mon, brat, you know you can't win. Hand over the rings already."
"Ne'r shall I give them to thee!" The boy shot back, standing up.
The other glanced to the teen next to the boy. "Voii, who's this? Not some pathetic help is it?"
"Sawada-dono has naught to do with this. Leave thee alone."
"Sawada? Isn't that the name of that External Adviser scum? Is this his son?" The man grinned, "Quite the lucky day, isn't it? I find trash hiding all over the place." He held up his sword, pointing the tip to Ietsuna's throat.
"Stop!" The boy rushed forward, his weapon raised.
"Out of my way, trash!" The man growled, easily kicking the boy aside, sending him flying into a brick wall.
"Hey!" Ietsuna shouted, "If I'm what you want, I dare you to catch me!" With that, he ran, using the time the man's focus was averted from him to the boy to his advantage and escape.
"Vooii! Come back here you trash!" The man yelled, waving his sword around angrily, using his longer legs to catch up to the teen easily.
He made a quick jab with his weapon, piercing Ietsuna's arm, and then jerked it to the side to make the gash longer.
Ietsuna gasped as the pain hit him, stumbling forward but quickly regaining his balance. But his foe had cornered him against a wall, leaving him with no ways to escape any more.
"If I kill scum like you," The man began, "then Boss will claim the title as the Vongola's Decimo."
"What are you talking about?" Ietsuna stalled, "Vongola? Decimo? Ten clams? What's that?"
"Oh? You don't know?" The man grinned viciously. "Too bad, you'll die without knowing why." He raised his sword and thrust it into Ietsuna's leg, pinning him to the wall behind him.
He winced, but took the sword with both his hands and yanked it out of his leg. It hurt, but for some reason, Ietsuna felt as if his body was almost immune to the pain. Grinning slightly, Ietsuna came up with an (slightly) ingenious plan that would give him an extra few seconds to escape when needed.
He slowly slid his two hands down the blade until the tip was hidden between them, then he pressed it down onto the ground, making it look like he had bent it.
"Voi, voi brat, what did you do to my sword?"
"Nothing much." Ietsuna smirked, glaring defiantly and refusing to give his opponent the satisfaction of seeing his fear. But unfortunately for him, the man took it the wrong way, which also meant his chances of escaping, had once again dropped to zero.
"Vooii," he said, leaning down so they were nose to nose. He roughly twisted his sword so it cut Ietsuna's hands, making him release the blade. The man glanced at it, frowning when he noticed it was perfectly straight. "Why aren't you scared? Most scum would have wet their pants by now."
Ietsuna didn't answer, annoying the other even more. The man looked pissed as he took his sword and slid the sharp blade across the teen's chest, leaving a deep wound behind.
Ietsuna took an automatic step backwards, but slipped in a puddle of water, his legs giving way underneath him. He landed with a splash, his back hitting the wall behind him, forcing the breath from his lungs. He felt the water seep through his clothes and shivered.
"Frightened yet?" The man sneered.
Looking up, Ietsuna brought his hand to his face to wipe away a small droplet of water that was threatening to fall into his eye. Then he froze.
Sticky.
Holding his hand up to the sickly pale light, Ietsuna caught the faint gleam of red. He heart tightened as if a cold claw had gripped it, threatening to squeeze out his life. His body shook with fear, and his stomach fluttered with every painful beat of his heart.
Blood.
He was covered in blood.
It was running down the wound in his arm and leg and trickling down the gash across his chest. He was coated in his blood.
His breath hitched and the world swam before him as the sickeningly sweet smell floated around him, twisting its tendrils around his body, whispering in his ear to give in.
The man standing above him watched silently, amusedly almost.
His family, his friends…death… His mind was swamped with images, he couldn't think straight. A picture of a silver-haired teen smiled at him, followed by the face of a cheerful raven-haired boy. Then the false grin of a white-haired man pushed the faces away.
Byakuran
In the far distance, Ietsuna heard the bang of a gunshot then a baby's voice telling him something. It reminded him of that one time with Yuni, the dream he had the night he left the hospital.
For some reason, he swore he saw Hibari charging at the longhaired swordsman but he shook it off as a hallucination, Hibari was back at his house, sleeping.
There was a small explosion and for a moment, Ietsuna saw a silver-haired teen looking worriedly at him, shaking his shoulders lightly to get him to stay awake. But all Ietsuna could think about was the laughing face of Byakuran, destroying everything he cared about.
Ietsuna fought dearly against the will to fall asleep—the teen looked exactly like the picture in his mind beforehand. But finally, the opposing force overwhelmed him. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell into the other's arms, unconscious.
A moment before he blacked out, a thought drifted through his mind, slowly repeating over and over again, trying to make it to his lips yet failing.
'I'm sorry.'
A/N: Itching powder is a popular prank, and I'm sure you've heard of the bending a spoon magic trick. Don't mind the pranks, by the way, it's just a method for Ietsuna to escape reality and have some fun.
So, how's that? Ietsuna has hemophobia, which I though would be fitting seeing as he's seen so much blood in his past lifetime. It's got to be pretty traumatic.
Please be patient for chapter 3!
Leave a review on your way out!
Ciao!