I.
"Fight me."
The words were spoken without preamble and Hibari Kyoya obliged his cousin after a moment's pause, darting forward with a blood-thirsty grin on his face. His tonfa slid into his hands when he was a foot away from Tae-Il and the prefect arched one arm up – aiming for the teal-haired teen's face – while his other arm shot out towards Tae-Il's stomach.
Tae-Il shifted his body and tilted his head to the side, evading Hibari's initial strike, while one of the taekwondo practitioner's hands caught the tonfa aimed at his abdomen. Tae-Il slid his right foot forward – hooking it around Hibari's left ankle – and pulling it forward, causing the dark-haired teen to go pitching backwards. Tae-Il placed his free arm on his cousin's chest and pushed, further moving the other towards the ground.
Hibari scowled lightly before slamming down his free tonfa on Tae-Il's left shoulder, hard, and simultaneously bringing up his unhindered foot and kicking his cousin in the stomach. Tae-Il let out a grunt of pain from the blows to his shoulder and stomach and released his grip on the Namimori Prefect before moving backwards and putting some distance between the two of them. Hibari shot forward once more and Tae-Il swung up his right leg, rotating his hips as he did so, his foot sailing towards Hibari's head.
Hibari merely brought up his left tonfa in response and blocked the kick before his right tonfa shot out and connected with Tae-Il's side. Tae-Il clenched his teeth and let out a hiss before grabbing a hold of his cousin's right arm, pushing off the ground with his left leg and snapping that foot into the prefect's chin – causing Hibari to stagger backwards, before flipping nimbly in the air and landing in a light crouch.
The teal-haired teen then launched himself forward and delivered three successive strikes on Hibari's chest and abdomen. He dropped suddenly to the ground and aimed a low-kick at his cousin's legs, trying to sweep Hibari's feet out from under him. Unfortunately for him, the dark-haired teen simply leapt up and over Tae-Il's head before twisting his body mid-air and lashing out with his own kick aimed at Tae-Il's back.
The taekwondo practitioner threw a hand on the ground and pitched his weight forward, causing his body to go lurching into a one-hand hand-stand. He arched his back, angled his legs, and landed on his feet before straightening and turning around in one smooth motion. Regrettably, the split-second it took the teal-haired teen to turn gave Hibari more than enough time to rush forward and slam both his tonfa into Tae-Il's stomach. Hard.
Tae-Il let out a gasp of pain, as the wind was knocked out of him, and he took a step back from the sheer force of Hibari's blow. The Namimori Prefect didn't let up, however, and deftly twisted his wrist and brought one of his arms up, slamming a tonfa into Tae-Il's chin while the other tonfa slammed into Tae-Il's stomach once more. Hibari then rotated his body around, bringing up a foot and planting it onto his cousin's chest, before pushingoff and sending Tae-Il flying backwards.
Tae-Il angled his body to land harshly on his shoulder instead of his back and tried to hurriedly get back to his feet, only to freeze when a tonfa was pressed roughly against his throat. He peered up through his bangs to see Hibari standing over his crouched form, a slight smirk dancing across the prefect's lips.
Hibari tilted his head lightly and said, "Hn… I win this round."
Tae-Il clenched his fist, shoulders hunching forward for a moment, before his body suddenly went lax and he let out a deep sigh. "… Your win, Kyoya." He acquiesced, standing once his cousin withdrew his tonfa, the paired weapons sliding back into the prefect's clothes.
The teal-haired teen raised his arms above his head, interlocking his fingers together, and stretched languidly – letting out a sigh of contentment when a few of his bones popped from the movement. He then brought his arms down and rotated his slightly injured shoulder – the one Hibari had slammed his tonfa into earlier – and prodded at the undoubtedly growing bruise on it.
"… You have something on your mind, Carnivore." Hibari stated, turning on his heel sharply and striding away, his jacket fluttering in the wind. "You only lose to me when something's bothering you or if I'm in a particularly bad mood."
Tae-Il made a sound in his throat before following after his cousin. "… It's Tsuna," he revealed after a few minutes of silence, "he's hiding something from me… something dangerous."
"The only danger the Small Animal is in is you and your over protectiveness."
With a roll of his eyes, Tae-Il responded, "No, Kyoya. Something serious is going on here, I'm not joking. Just now I caught the new transfer student and Tsuna in a fight… with bombs."
Hibari's eyes glinted dangerously. "Having explosives is a breach of Namimori Middle's safety protocol… I will bite him to death."
"No need, Kyoya, I already… 'talked' to him."
The prefect turned his head and stared at his cousin with a raised brow. "That was for picking on the Small Animal… I will be punishing him for carrying explosives without permission."
"… Do what you want," Tae-Il said with a shrug and a sigh.
Hibari nodded his head and changed the direction he was walking in. After walking forward a few feet, he turned back around and said, "The Small Animal will tell you the truth soon… he's never been able to keep a secret from you for very long, Carnivore."
The teal-haired teen stopped mid-step and glanced at Hibari with a surprised look. Hibari offering any kind of comfort was extremely rare. "Kyoya…," he breathed before sobering and flashing his cousin a grateful smile, "Thanks…"
II.
Hibari didn't respond, he merely turned back around and began walking away.
He had an Herbivore to bite to death.
III.
The next morning, Tsuna was stunned to see Tae-Il waiting for the brunet at their usual meeting place, which was the convenience store near the brunet's house.
"T-Tae-Il…" He said nervously, glancing at the bandaged and bruised-covered Gokudera who was glaring angrily at the teal-haired teen.
"Tsuna," Tae-Il responded, pushing off the guard rail he was half-sitting, half-leaning against, and taking a few steps forward. He stared at Tsuna with a serious expression. "… I don't like this, you know? … Not knowing what's going on in your life and being unable to help you…"
Tsuna gripped the strap of his schoolbag and looked down. "I know…"
"However…," Tae-Il began after a pause, "I know you'll tell me what's going on eventually… so in the mean time, I'll trust you to handle whatever's going on in your life, okay? Just promise me this: That you'll call me or Kyoya whenever you're in danger or getting attacked," a sharp glance at the silver-haired teen, "okay? No matter where I am or what I'm doing… I'll always be there for you."
"T-Tae-Il… of course! I promise!"
The older teen held the brunet's gaze for a moment longer before letting a smile blossom on his lips. "Good…," he murmured, reaching out a hand to ruffle Tsuna's sienna-colored hair. "As for you," Tae-Il turned his full attention to Gokudera – who had not stopped glaring at him. "If you so much as put another scratch on Tsuna, I won't go easy on you like yesterday, understand?"
"Tch… and who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Bastard?" Gokudera scowled, narrowing his eyes even further.
"I am Tsuna best friend and the person who makes sure that people like you don't hurt him in any way, shape, or form. I also have familial ties to both the Yeong and Hibari clan so I would suggest you don't make an enemy out of me, okay?"
"Ha! Like I'm afraid of some punk who needs to use his family's name to intimidate other people!"
"And like I'm afraid of some silver-haired delinquent who's too afraid to fight in close-quarters and relies on long-range attacks to fight."
"Tch…! You wanna go, Bastard?!"
"Please, make my day."
"O-Okay! Th-That's enough! Please!" Tsuna immediately placed himself between Tae-Il and Gokudera. "I-If we keep this up we're going to be l-late for school! Then Kyoya will get mad!"
The two teens glared at one another once more, before looking away.
"Whatever the Tenth says…" Gokudera muttered with a scowl.
"... Don't think I'll just forgive and forget what you did to Tsuna, yesterday, Transfer Student. He may accept and forgive you, but I won't."
Before Gokudera could respond, Tsuna cut in with a nervous chuckle and a strained response of, "O-Okay then! Sh-Shall we get going?"
Tae-Il and Gokudera glared at one another once more, before nodding their heads and making their way to Namimori Middle – making sure to keep the brunet between them at all times.
IV.
Tsuna glanced at Gokudera out of the corner of his eye before turning his head to peer at Tae-Il. Both teens tried not to speak to one another while the three of them were walking to school, and for that, Tsuna was grateful; he wasn't sure how he'd be able to – if he even could – stop a real fight between the two of them.
Although… he glanced once more at the silver-haired teen walking next to him.
It wasn't so bad having a friend who wasn't afraid to stand up to Tae-Il.
It's also been about five years since I last wrote a proper fight scene. Did it flow well? Were you all able to understand and visualize who did what?
Please let me know via review or PM!
Hope you all enjoyed!