Chapter IV; Quiescence
The morning that followed was grossly, in an absolute value, different that the one before it. Kyoya woke up at six, normally. Yawning softly, he stretched in order to overthrow the last traces of the numbness of sleep from his muscles. A small sigh escaped him as he rose to his feet, the wooden flooring underneath his feet pleasantly warm. He extended his hand, mechanically, and crossed out a day from the calendar over his nightstand with the pen that was previously residing on the nightstand's surface. The pen was then, abandoned and he dragged his feet out of the room, towards the bathroom.
The warm sensation of the wooden flooring was replaced by the tickling sensation of the carpet, a sensation one expects due to being so used to it after all these years. About twenty five steps later he extended his hand again, found the doorknob, turned it. The carpet's sensation was replaced by the sharp, cold one of the bathroom's tiles. Kyoya turned the valve and let the sink's water run, then washed his hands and face. The cold water woke him up completely.
Turning that one valve close he removed his pajamas and underwear and entered the bathtub while turning the warm water on. He smiled in self-satisfaction as the pleasing sensation enveloped him. Each and every morning he'd allow himself that small pleasure. He washed his hair and when he decided he was clean enough climbed out of the bath and turned the water off. He cloaked himself in one soft towel he always kept by the tub and briefly looked at his reflection on the hazy mirror. The water dripping down his hair formed small diamonds on his back's bare skin. If Kyoya was one to make romantic thoughts he'd find the sight exotic... but since this was not the case he simply dried his skin and hair with the towel and picking his discarded sleepwear up he left.
The carpet sensation returned to his feet, then the wood's warmth. Pajamas were placed aside, then Kyoya moved to fix his bed so everything was orderly. His pajamas were placed under his pillow, his underwear and school uniform were retrieved from his desk's chair were he had laid them last night and were quickly unfolded, then worn. Having finished his self-preparation he walked down the hallway in a relaxed manner and slipped into the kitchen with full intention of preparing something else. Breakfast to be exact.
He pured some water in the boiler then turned it on and went to finish making his bento for school. He had prepared some fried shrimp and rice last night and all he had to do was pack them along with some umeboshi in order for it to be ready. Finishing up he wrapped both boxes up and put it aside to be placed in his bag. Returning to the boiler, he placed a cup with two spoonfuls of coffee besides it and pured the water in, then went to sit in the table and enjoy his coffee in silence. Of course it was coffee. Not tea. Tea was too light and a bit too hypocritically refined for a person like him.
It was still a quarter to seven. Everything was going smoothly. Maybe a bit too smoothly in contrast with the sequence of odd events in the past week. The moment he first tasted his coffee it was the moment he realized it. He felt a bitter, metallic taste fill his mouth that had nothing to do with the acidic taste of the coffee. It was a very bad feeling which was very different in essence from the premonition the other day. Or rather... it was the realization of the lack of that odd unsettling feeling, like butterflies in his stomach. It was almost as if his sense of danger had suddenly gotten numb.
Fear. Hibari Kyoya knew that it was a feeling he could awaken in others rather easily. He knew it was a defence mechanism that humans had in order to avoid being harmed. The inability to feel the fear that was previously there was bad. Kyoya wouldn't think for a moment that whatever it was simply decided to appear one day and then disappeared the next. It reeked of foul play. He wondered what it meant.
The thought that Mukuro might know a bit more was both comforting and repulsive at the same time. Kyoya felt better that he had someone to talk to about it, he hated that this someone just had to be Rokudou Mukuro though. It felt like a really, really bad joke, this whole setting, with the difference Kyoya knew, with that short of intuition only the sort of people that have outlived all sorts of battles can have, that is was everything but a joke.
Once the clock on the kitchen's wall informed him that it was nearly twenty minutes past seven, Kyoya placed his cup in the sink, took his lunch and school bag, and wearing his shoes, neatly arranged by the door exited the house. The week that was starting was promising to be interesting... though despite being a thrill-seeker himself this time he failed to enjoy it. Not to mention fate was plotting against him, for another time.
On his way to class, a little after he arrived in school, he had to stop and deal with some students that were picking on some girls and after glaring at them too, to show his displeasure at their encounter and the hideous way they were wearing their uniforms -just like they begged to be picked on- he left without sparing them another word. And afterwards... he just had to bump on more familiar faces, more people he blamed himself for associating with. Namely Gokudera Hayato, the annoying twerp that carried dynamite that had caused damage to his school more than once and Tsunayoshi Sawada, the hapless wimp -who, in a future ten years from now, wouldn't be as hapless, but deserved no respect from Hibari Kyoya for the time's being-. And if it wasn't for Sawada's look of utter desperation, who seemed as if he had been kicked really hard in the stomach he would never had actually stopped to spare them a 'good morning'.
Walking up to them he stopped and stared down at the two. The baby which made him want to fight it was nowhere in sight. Of course this had nothing to do with the task at hand. He spoke before the two ever had time to wonder and ask him what was it that he wanted.
"Is something the matter?" Kyoya asked coldly while giving Tsuna one of his very familiar glares which made the boy jerk away as if hit by lightning.
"Yiii! H-Hibari-san!!!" he exclaimed jumping backwards. "W-Well... N-nothings wrong over here." he attempted to explain while still stuttering from the slight shock he received. Kyoya couldn't trust on that so he lifted his eyes from Tsuna's form and let his gaze linger on Gokudera's face instead. While the boy seemed just as worried too... he seemed to be equally clueless about Sawada's condition. Henceforth it wasn't something that happened in his school, thus was of no interest to him. He couldn't hide the fact that he was glad. The last thing he needed was a gang that harassed not only female but male students as well now.
"Hn." he didn't spare them a reply. He couldn't waste his time with the two idiots any longer and so merely walked away, leaving them wondering what was with the sudden interest.
The following hours were spent rather peacefully, in this odd kind of peace generated by the lack of the previous feeling. Everything seemed fine, everything seemed normal, everything... Kyoya could only take so much all at once. At lunch break he went up on the school's rooftop and did not return for the P.E. class, in desperate need to be alone in order to let his frustration out by breaking his head about the recent events.
The sounds from the school grounds bellow found their way up to his ears. A part of him felt a little guilty for skipping class, then again it was what was needed on the moment. He dragged his fingers over the frozen cold wire fence, melting a little snow as he did that. For a moment he pictured the snow to be reality, disappearing at the moment he managed to grasp it. "Like glass breaking..." he mumbled to himself, grasping the wire fence in his hands as if it was his last lifeline remaining in the world. He did not know why he had done these associations in his mind either, nor could he understand why he felt that way. It was just that the one odd thing succeeded the next so rapidly that not even him could make any sense of it all.
"Hmmm? I didn't know you were romantic like that, Kyou-kun."
In a moment's notice Kyoya had turned around, tonfa in hand. This time he never noticed someone was behind him. He did notice one other thing though... his sense of danger had gone numb for good. It wasn't just the feeling of premonition missing anymore... it was as if someone had gotten rid of his survival instinct for him. To not have sensed a person with an aura as strong as Rokudou Mukuro's approach... such things were... preposterous!
Mukuro chuckled softly at the boy's reaction, clearly enjoying the whole thing with an expression of pure merriment imprinted on his thin facial features. "Jumpy, aren't you today, Kyoya?" he asked while a buoyant smile curved his lips. Kyoya scowled. Ever since when had he given Mukuro the right to address him so directly? Not that it mattered whether he'd give permission or not. The prefect knew that well. Mukuro was a person bound only by his own laws, an invisible thin thread he always walked on. In a sense Kyoya was jealous of him, not that he'd ever admit to it.
Kyoya snorted in an annoyed manner and pressing with his feet slightly against the smooth surface of the flooring he lounged himself against the other. Mukuro laughed softly, accepting the "welcoming gesture" expressed and within split seconds blocked the blow that was coming straight for him with the trident that had assumed a physical form in his hands. Within a few moments the two of them found themselves locked in close melee. The sounds of metal hitting on metal became drowned in the furious howl of the wind that suddenly picked up. As if to accompany the two fighters in their heated affair.
Kyoya's eyes where burning with a strange kind of hunger. It almost felt like as if the battle, his victory there, could satisfy it. On the other hand, Mukuro appeared calm enough to make it seem as if he knew something Kyoya ignored. It would only take him but a few additional moments to prove himself wrong however, as he failed to anticipate Kyoya's next blow and found himself staggering backwards in a desperate try to avoid it successfully, which thing he ended up doing but with the price of not raising his defence for another moment.
Hibari Kyoya knew it was his chance to strike the other down and so he advanced straight ahead. At this point, claiming victory was as easy as landing a single blow to the back of the other's head thus knocking him unconscious. Of course, Kyoya needed Mukuro in his senses in order to be able to talk with him and so he ended up stopping midway, tonfa clutched still in his hands, his mind still in its alarmed state in case Mukuro tried to retaliate somehow.
Instead of retaliating, Mukuro merely smiled again. "Ah, you got me there, Kyou-kun~" he simply stated seeming not bothered in the least by the fact he basically lost. That was merely due to his knowledge that if he saw this as anything else other than a little game to kill the boredom and pass the time he would be able to defeat Kyoya with a relative ease.
Kyoya shrugged at Mukuro's words and walked up to him and putting his tonfa away, extended one hand to help the other boy up. Mukuro chuckled at this but ended up actually taking the offered hand. The texture of Kyoya's hand was rough but in the same time it was this roughness that made it all familiar. The feeling lasted for a single second, as the hands were withdrawn pretty fast. Kyoya's expression grew dark. Their meeting had a specific reason that afternoon. Mukuro had stated a problem the day before and was expecting an answer today.
The two moved back to sit at the only place where the wind didn't blow as hard, where Kyoya had left his things earlier. He sat down beckoning the other to do the same. Kyoya unpacked his lunch and offered one of the two bento boxes he had prepared that morning to Mukuro. It wasn't that he particularly cared about the other in order to do so. It was just that he had noticed just how scrawny the other looked when they met the other day. He wasn't a person who would sympathize either, it was just that he wanted his allies in good enough condition to be able to fight properly.
Silence lingered between the two as both indulged themselves to their food. Kyoya didn't quite know how to start, Mukuro was waiting for the other to talk first. He wasn't quite prepared for the answer he was going to receive, even though he should have been if he payed just slightly more attention to the details Kyoya did. A short amount of time had gone by when finally Hibari placed his chop sticks down and sighed softly, not raising his eyes to look at the other sitting close to him -keeping always some distance just as a precaution, a 'biting' countermeasure.
"It's... gone." was the only thing Kyoya stated but it was enough to bring Mukuro to a state of complete mental disarray. It was because he came to realize what Kyoya had ever since the moment he woke up and suddenly his lack of ability to read Kyoya's moves when fighting adopted frightening proportions. He was forced to accept it though, in the same manner Kyoya was, even though he was almost too sure that it meant nothing good. Making an attempt to keep his smile on his face he merely spoke in a soft tone that indicating he was giving up -a sort of quiet surrender to one's fate, where things just are and there's nothing that can be done for them to change. "Yeah... I know." it was way too simple an answer to give... not that there was anything more left to say.
Neither of them was in a condition to ask what would they do now. There was no answer to that question.... and after all, it wasn't as if something bad had actually happened. It was just a feeling both of them hapenned to have... a feeling that mysteriously dissapeared all of a sudden for both of them...
Even so... there was the ever-lingering question 'why'. It was just a whisper now, a question begging to be answered, timidly pulling at the teenagers' coats like a small child wanting to be seen, understood. It was a whisper now... a whisper that would soon turn into a blood-curdling scream.