Summary: Hibari loves Hibird. He teaches it how to speak, follow orders, and is pretty much the only thing that Hibari doesn't get irritated with. But what if Hibird is actually hiding a sinister secret that may threaten the power of the Vongola, Shimon, and the rest of its' allied Famiglias?

I'm so sorry about the long wait for chapter three! I was seriously running out of ideas (already) for this story, I had to get ready for school and recover from jet lag (just came back from India) and my mom is restarting all my extracurricular activities. Yay. Oh, and a big thank you to all those people who I PM'ed for reviewing/favoriting/alerting my story! So, please read!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or anything related to it. Though I wish I did. But whatever. Read the story.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

Previously: Hibari left the school with Hibird, entrusting it to Adelheid, and went into the deepest part of the forest. Everything was rotten and dead, and suddenly Hibari realized that Hibird was gone. Mukuro appeared along the way, both surprised to see each other in this part of the forest. A youth emerges, showing proof to Hibari that he, in fact, was Hibird by warping his voice. Mukuro begins to interrogate him, in which he finds out that the youth's name was Alphonso and hails from the Corleone Famiglia.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

Hibari finally glanced up and glowered at the tall youth in front of him with pure, fresh hatred flaming in his eyes. He saw that Mukuro, beside him, had his eyes wide open in consternation at the information he had just received. Mukuro, being one of the three escaped fugitives of the impregnable Vendicare prison and a former enemy of the entire mafia, had about as vast of a knowledge of the mafia world as Reborn. And what he knew about the Corleone Famiglia was definitely not good if it surprised the other Guardian that was equal in strength to the Cloud.

However, the disciplinary committee head, and future Foundation head was not one to be surprised for long. After all, he was the Vongola Cloud Guardian. And he found emotion to be a grand show of weakness to the opponent. One single glint of hesitation or skittishness in the rival's eyes will be taken as fear and will surely be taken down in one shot if you are not careful. This was Hibari's way of thinking. Take the enemy down before they come too close.

He had completely forgotten this when he took in Hibird as his pet. No, Alphonso. He had let an enemy spy break through the boundaries of the most powerful organization in the mafia, other than the Shimon, and let it absorb all the knowledge of the sources of their strength.

In other words, he had betrayed his comrades.

Hibari would never forgive himself for this.

His heart pumped wildly in his chest. Hibari could hear the blood pumping , gushing, oozing through the veins and arteries in his body. Nerve cells sizzled up his spine faster than lightning, forming into adrenaline when mixed with the blood. "Skylark," Mukuro murmured. "This is not the time."

Hibari completely ignored the warning, mouthed dangerously by the illusionist. But he was not going to obey anybody at the moment. He would not listen to anyone. Perspiration dripped down his back, coming together in a wet pool at the back of his white shirt. Clammy hands slick with sweat gripped the tonfas with renewed strength and vigor. His shoulder and arm muscles tensed. He silently drifted back into a fighting stance, brewing with power.

"Hibari," Mukuro growled, glaring piercingly down at the boy next to him. "You do not know their power. Stop it, right now!"

Hibari refused to heed the Mist Guardian's advice.

Alphonso watched Hibari, looking slightly amused and cocking his head to the side as a deep, royal shade of violet coated his tonfas. The Cloud Flames licked outward, probing the air around it, as if itching for a fight. The flames lit up their surroundings, giving it an eerie light- making the trees seem alive.

Licking his lips in anticipation, Hibari narrowed his eyes until they almost looked like slits, adrenaline racing though his nerves faster than ever before. He wasn't thinking. Nothing was in his brain except a blooming black rose, growing bigger and deepening into a richer black color as it was fed with the hateful thoughts of the great, gray Cloud. Never before had Hibari felt such a deep anger before. Into the depths of his subconscious mind, the only part that was, at the moment, sane, he was quite bewildered at the repugnance that had now reached its' peak.

But his subconscious mind couldn't do anything as he had now reached his full power.

Hibari leaped into the air, and seemingly vanished for a moment or two, then came lashing down at Alphonso, uttering an ear-piercing roar of rage, now transformed into his Cambio Forma XX Version. The rings of text creating a globe around his body glowed and pulsed with power as he swooped down like a hawk, ready to engulf the blonde-haired herbivore, who watched him from below with a smirk that seemed- triumphant.

But Hibari wasn't going to care about that right now.

Remaining indifferent to Mukuro's vain, insistent protests, he was just a second away from pummeling the youth to a bloody, useless pulp.

Abruptly, all sounds ceased.

Hibari's roar had stopped midway. The clicking and whirring of gears and the soft breeze caused by the swirling rings of text faded away, leaving no sound at all. No wind. No rustling. No crunching. No sign of life yet again, exactly the way it was just when Alphonso appeared.

It remained like this for about five seconds.

Then Hibari's tonfas dropped to the ground, clanking and clattering over the decomposing exoskeleton's of the dead insects, leaves, and coating itself in dirt littered with old cigarettes.

It stopped moving altogether when it bumped into a log and rolled over, lying uselessly in the dirt. It didn't make another sound.

As if it were dying a humiliated death.

Mukuro sighed at the finishing sight in front of him. He had warned the lad to stop. In fact, he had begged him to stop. For goodness' sake, he had diminished his dignity in front of an enemy by pleading to someone. That was just idiocy. No one begs anybody when it comes to fighting. Especially when it was the mafia we were dealing with.

Alphonso was still leaning against the tree, smile plastered on his face, right hand shoved in his jeans' pocket. With his other hand, he grasped Hibari by the throat, holding him out to his left effortlessly in midair. Alphonso snickered as he sought out the pulse, which hammered against his thumb and forefinger, trying to get oxygen to Hibari's brain.

Alphonso pressed it. Hard.

Hibari gasped, and opened his eyes wide, helplessly dropping his other tonfa in sheer pain and suffocation. He couldn't suck in even a little bit of air. Even though the oxygen was tainted with the reeking odors of dead things, at the moment he would do anything for a small gulp. His heart beat faster and faster, thudding against his ribcage, as if trying to barge out so as to gather new oxygen for the dying cells. With the last of his strength, he tried to wrench the wicked person's hand away from his throat. But he soon realized it was no use. The youth's muscles were made of iron and steel. He gave up trying to break himself off.

Alphonso wasn't giving any mercy.

He pressed harder, and began to laugh. A twinkling, sweet laugh, but immersed in evil and darkness. Hibari's vision soon began to go blurry and a trickle of blood mixed with saliva trickled down the corner of his mouth. His sweat became cold and burned against his skin.

He knew there was fear in his eyes. Fear of dying. But he would never, ever let the tears welling up inside to flow out. Not in front of the pineapple-haired jerk. Or the traitor restraining him from living.

The world spun around him, black spots blotching the hazy view. He vaguely heard the sadistic creep guffawing at his predicament.

Hibari stole one last glance at the Vongola Mist Guardian, who silently watched and caught his gaze. Hibari, for the first time in his entire life, changed the expression in his eyes to somewhat of a plea. A call for help. A signal of regret for not heeding Mukuro's incessant warnings.

Mukuro gave a slight smirk. He tilted his head into a quick nod, and put his index finger against his lips. Hibari knew that this meant patience and silence.

Then he heard a voice in his head. Barely. Mukuro's voice. With the last drops of his strength and conscience, he listened in carefully.

Hibari didn't like the idea. But he had to obey. He owed Mukuro one. Even though he was one of those illusionists he despised, this was not the time to think that. It was the only way to get out of this position.

Satisfied and confident, he left his faith and trust in Mukuro, Adelheid, maybe even Julie- and the rest of the Vongola and Shimon Famiglia members before he finally fell unconscious and crumpled to the ground in a ruffled black heap.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

With Hibari eliminated (for now), it was Alphonso's and Mukuro's turn to face-off. Alphonso seemed interested in Mukuro, unlike the look of disgust and indifference to Hibari who had once been his- his owner of sorts.

After about five minutes of spooky silence (that Mukuro didn't give a damn about; he had been through all of Hell's realms anyway), Mukuro broke the silence by cautiously wording his sentence. "That was quite impolite," Mukuro teased. "I did not feel very entertained."

"Ah, yes," Alphonso replied, as if just realizing it. He smiled sweetly at the young man in front of him. "Forgive me for the horrible show. However, I must be leaving now."

"You will be taking him hostage?"

"Why, of course! Why would I have come here, then?" he chuckled and continued. "Besides, just killing is not very fun. Isn't that right?"

Mukuro smiled in response. "That is very true."

Alphonso sighed, looked down at Hibari's broken, battered body, kneeled and slipped his arms underneath. He hefted him up without any problem at all. Hibari's arms dangled uselessly over the side. Alphonso cracked a crooked smile at Mukuro. "I suppose getting him back will be much better entertainment for you. You have five days' time to find him."

And Alphonso turned his back to the illusionist, and with Hibari secure in his arms just in case he woke up or tried to escape, disappeared into the darkness.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

The Next Day, 5 PM, Kokuyo Land

"So that's what happened!" Tsuna exclaimed, who was sitting cross-legged on the musty, dust-layered floor. Mukuro was seated on the torn-up sofa in front of him, who nodded at Tsuna. "That's why Hibari-san didn't come to school today!"

"Uh-huh," Enma agreed timidly. "M- my h- hyper intuition f- figured that- that s- something was wrong." Enma was stuttering extra hard. That meant he was very worried.

"That fucking Corleone bastard," Gokudera growled in between Tsuna and Enma. "Even though it's that goddamned Hibari, he's still one of the Guardians."

"I told that idiot to be careful. Of course he doesn't listen," Adelheid complained.

"Oh. Well, he should come back easily. Right?" Yamamoto doubted aloud.

"No wonder the albino midget calls you yakyu-baka all the time!" Julie Katou realized with a perverted smirk on his face. "It's not at all easy to get past Corleone's defenses. Ne, Pinaphile-kun?" Julie asked, turning to Mukuro.

Mukuro's temple bulged. Lately, Julie had been coming up with ways to combine 'pineapple' and 'pedophile' together. This was one of them.

"Who the damn fuck are you calling a fucking albino, you mentally retarded freak?" Gokudera growled, clenching his hand into a fist and waving it into Julie's face, Yamamoto laughing all the while.

"So?" Tsuna asked, trying to get the group back on topic. "What's the plan, Mukuro?"

"A- and w- will Hibari-k-kun be a- all right?" Enma added gingerly.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

Okay, I know the ending was kind of abrupt and the chapter was pretty darn long, but if I divided this into two chapters it would seem really choppy. So… please review! I'll try to update as quick as possible!