A/N: Added some links to pics that kind of look like what I imagine my Ryuu and Yoshi look like in my profile. Kota is the pic I put up top for the summary.
~Wing It Baby~
I was pretty sure my grandfather and I were fighting. It was a silent fight, a weird, strange battle of wills. I was ignoring him and I think he was ignoring me. If I passed him in the halls I would ignore him and try to find some way to piss him off. Then he would growl and shout that I was grounded. And then I would shout back and say he even if he did ground me I would just break the rules anyway.
I never did have the internal flinch most kids got when their parents said they were 'grounded'. I never had a father in my past life, and my mother wasn't good at punishing. So I was a rebel, freedom was my song. The man could stuff it! And right now that man happened to be my grandfather.
It was surprisingly lonely sleeping by myself last night. I would admit I was a little needy, but I had never really had that kind of affection turned towards me. I was a girl (man now) who had never really known real affection. Little touches and cuddles made me feel nice. And whether my grandfather liked it or not, I was going to have my Ryuu-bear.
Pfft. Oh god, Ryuu-bear. I can't wait to call Tatsumi that to his face!
I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket when it vibrated. I was eating breakfast with Hidenori and a few of the guys. I flipped it open and read the text sent from Ogawa.
Yoshi-kun: What do you mean your gramps is a Yakuza boss?! ( ꒪Д꒪)ノ
I wiped my hands on my pants before turning my full attention to the cell phone to text him back.
Kota-chin: He just is. Now I'm living with him. Oh hey, you should come over and join~. (ノ´ヮ´)ノ*:・゚✧ Then Ryuu-chan and I won't be alone~. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
I could feel my grandfather glaring at me as I texted at the table but I ignored him. My phone vibrated again alerting me to another message.
Yoshi-kun: …Sure, why not? Yakuza could be fun. I'll ditch during lunch. ┐( ̄ヮ ̄)┌
"No texting at the breakfast table!"
I just threw him the bird.
Kota-chin: Have fun escaping Hibari-chan~. (^▽^)
I felt the table vibrate as Hidenori slammed his hands down on it in anger. I kept my face blank as I waited on Ogawa's text.
Yoshi-kun: FFFFFFFFF-! (╯°□°)╯︵┻━┻
The kitchen table flew over my head before slamming into the wall, breakfast flying past me face, but somehow with none of it actually touching me. I blinked and couldn't help but snort in laughter. My grandfather had actually flipped the table in anger.
"Boss! Please calm down! Your blood-pressure!"
I snickered.
After spending most of the morning enduring the torture of having business pounded into my head, I headed out near the front to wait for Ogawa. I was actually kind of doubting he would make it, Hibari was kind of a monster after all. I was proved wrong though when I saw Ogawa appear down the street. He was breathing heavily and his limbs seemed as heavy as lead.
I ran out of the front gate to greet him, only to freeze and scream like a little girl when Hibari skidded around the corner after Ogawa.
"AHHHHH! It's Hibari! Run!"
I watched as Ogawa gained a sudden burst of speed and he dead sprinted at me. No doubt the sudden burst was from the threat of getting pounded to a pulp. I franticly waved at him to hurry up as I shouted for nearby dudes to get ready to fight. Ogawa was almost to the gate…and then he tripped.
It was like everything went in slow motion as he flew towards me. It would have been hilarious if Hibari wasn't bearing down on us. I was too shocked to move. Time sped back up again as Ogawa crashed into my chest and we fell to the cement in a heap. I groaned and rubbed my head in pain. I tried pushing Ogawa off of me.
"Oi, you're heavy. Get off me, fat ass."
"Too…tired…"
"Hm…so this is where you've been herbivore."
I froze under Ogawa and looked up at Hibari. He was staring down at me, tonfa out and jacket fluttering in the wind. I noticed the guys I had told to fight were already down and out for the count. Oh boy. I whimpered when he glared down at me. Ogawa really needed to move his ass.
"You skipped a day of school without notice."
The sun reflected off his tonfa as he moved them into a ready stance.
"I'll bite you to death."
"What is the meaning of this?"
Oh thank god. Was I ever glad to hear my grandfather's voice. I struggled with getting Ogawa off of me, but it was hard when he was trying to hold onto me to protect himself from Hibari. I pinched his cheeks and pulled.
"Let. Go."
"Nooooooo, pwotect me Kota-chwan~!"
My attention was drawn to Hibari when I heard him put his weapons away. I looked over at him confused. What? Hibari wasn't going to beat us up?
"Gotuda."
Eh?
"Hmm…? Ah, the young Hibari-san."
Eh? They knew each other? My eyes widened further when Hibari wasn't outright rude to my grandfather. He even nodded his head in greeting!
"You…you two know each other?"
Hidenori finally seemed to notice me on the ground and his eyes automatically zeroed in on Ogawa lying on top of me.
"Who is that?"
"Oi…psst…Ogawa, get off me."
He glanced up at my grandfather and was quick to scramble off of me at the dark glare. I stood up after him and dusted myself off. My head throbbed at the change in position and I wondered if I should get it looked at.
"This is Ogawa Yoshi. He's one of my friends."
"N-Nice to meet you!"
Hidenori glowered down at Ogawa and I snickered at his misfortune. I still wanted to know how my gramps knew Hibari though and pointed at the two.
"…you know him gramps?"
He finally let up on his glare and glanced at me.
"Hm…? We're business partners."
"Business…partners…?"
Hidenori gestured for some of his underlings to prepare a room and tea for himself and Hibari. He turned back to me after he was done to answer.
"Yes, business partners. We have a shared interest in Namimori."
I watched gaped mouthed as my grandfather led Hibari away. And Hibari followed him. What?
"Dude…"
Ogawa summed it up nicely with that statement. It did make some strange sense though; Hibari playing nice with Yakuza.
I shivered.
I never really did know what my grandfather and Hibari talked about, but the next day he said I was cleared to go to school again. He did give me this creepy, searching look though. It made me wary for anything Hibari could have spilled to him, he did know one of my big secrets, and I didn't know how I felt about my grandfather knowing that particular one.
Besides that, Yoshi and I had spent the rest of the day goofing off. He had unofficially joined Gotuda, being my friend and all, so he could come and go as he pleased. It was fun. While Ryuu and I were best friends and would always be loyal to each other, Yoshi and I just clicked, in that we-like-making-people-suffer way. In other words, pranking people till they went crazy.
And prank we did. Hehehe. I think they were glad to be rid of us when we went to school the next day. Which led me to where I was now, being Hibari's slave during lunch. I waved goodbye to both Ryuu and Yoshi as I stuffed curry bread down my throat. I don't know why, but somehow I wasn't that scared of Hibari anymore. Maybe it was because of how civil he had been to my grandfather yesterday?
A shared interest in Namimori…what the hell does that mean anyway?
I slid open the door to the reception room and was met with a jacket thrown in my face. I yelped and pulled it off. I looked down and noticed that it was the signature dark black jacket with a red armband. What…no way. I couldn't help the smile growing no my face as I looked back up at Hibari.
"I get a jacket?!"
"Hn."
"Sweet!"
I threw it over my shoulders and slid my arms through the holes in one smooth motion. Like a boss. Oh yeah, can't believe that worked. While I was fanboying over the awesome jacket, Hibari was digging something out of his desk.
"Herbivore."
I snapped back to attention and turned towards him. He had a map of Namimori spread across his desk. I walked over to him and looked at it curiously. Besides the general things that were on a map, there were red marks scattered here and there.
"What's this?"
"You're going to create portals between key locations."
I looked back up at him dumbfounded.
"…huh?"
He glared back at me.
"I do not like repeating myself, herbivore."
I shut my mouth and considered the request. I had no doubt that he meant permanent, stable portals. I rubbed my chin in thought. I had never actually considered that before. I supposed I could do it, but I would need something that would hold the energy of the portal…and there would have to be a trigger mechanism that people could use. My brain started working.
"I think I could do it, but I'll probably have to put some of my…flames in you."
"Why?"
"So you can activate the portals."
"…I will allow it."
"Ciaossu."
"AAUUUUUGH!"
I jumped about a foot in the air when Reborn appeared out of nowhere, his signature fedora and beady black eyes scaring the crap out of me. It took a moment to register the situation I was in. Oh shit. It was Reborn. And he's here. In this room. No doubt because he had been listening in. Because he had eyes everywhere in this school.
I'm such an idiot!
"Baby."
Hibari stared at Reborn with cool interest while I kept my eyes on anything but him. Holy shit. Act cool. Just. Act. Cool. I could practically feel the smugness radiating off of Reborn as he stared at me, but I didn't give in. I would act dumb until the end!
"What's…What's a baby doing here?"
Reborn simply smirked and tipped his hat up with his gun. Oh snap. He turned his lizard into a gun.
"What was that about flames?"
"N-Nothing."
I stared down at the map, pretending to be absolutely absorbed in it. Fuck Reborn was scary, even if he was in the body of a baby. I heard a clink of china and turned my head towards the sound. I stared in shock as reborn sipped on a cup of coffee, a small living room set up in a hole in the wall.
"Herbivore."
I turned my gaze back to Hibari. He pointed down to the map with a threat in his gaze. Was he just going to ignore the baby in the wall?! I felt like crying.
"D-Do…do I have to?"
"I'll bite you to death."
I cried inside my head. I should just give up, Reborn would have found out eventually anyway. He's fucking Reborn. I slumped my shoulders, defeated.
"Yeah, yeah….well…come over here so I can poke you."
Hibari's eyes narrowed and I was quick to reassure him.
"You know, for the flame thingy!"
He glared but he walked around the desk towards me. I gulped when he stopped in front of me, probably only a foot away. I gulped even further when I felt a weight land on my shoulder. Fucking Reborn!
"Okay…well um…I'll be putting some of my energy in you…so you can…feel what I'm doing and kind of understand it…okay? So don't bite me to death if it feels weird."
I took a deep breath, ignored Reborn on my shoulder, and brought my flame into being. I felt Reborn's tiny fingers clench at my hair when the dark flame formed around my hands and forehead. Hibari was staring into my no doubt black eyes. I cleared my throat.
"Okay um…just stay still?"
Hope no one notices that I'm winging this. Instinct, go with instinct.
I focused a ball of the flame's power into the tips of my pointer and middle finger on my right hand. I brought it up to his forehead and between his eyes; the one place I knew where psychic power gathered. I focused on ignoring everything around me, falling into a light trance as I became a part of the energy around me. I could feel the raging inferno coming off of Hibari as well as the one coming from my shoulder. I pushed Reborn's power to the side of my consciousness and focused completely on Hibari.
I could see the veins of power as they coursed through his system. It was slow and calm though, like it was asleep. I had to try and keep away from that. Only focus on his head, his perception. I knew what I was going to have to do. I brought my fingers to his forehead and slowly pushed the energy into his system. The black energy seeped into his inner eye and I watched amazed as it intertwined with his own purple energy. While most of my flames settled into the spot between his eyes, active and gentle (like water almost) the rest of it seeped into his system, slipping and settling alongside his own energy. I cut off my connection to the energy and pulled away.
My eyes slowly came back into focus and I realized that Hibari had his eyes closed and Reborn was relaxing against my head. I took a deep breath when I came fully out of my trance; it was almost like I had been underwater.
When Hibari opened his own eyes they were glazed and sleepy looking. I furrowed my own.
"You feel okay?"
He looked at me with hooded eyes before his gaze drifted to Reborn. They watched him for a while before settling back on me.
"Hn."
I guess I should take that as a yes.
"I can sense things that I hadn't before."
He sent me a pointed look, as if I had been keeping some secret from him. I shrugged my shoudlers. Hibari stared at me before deciding it wasn't worth it. No doubt he realized it came with the powers.
"Okay, well, guess I should lay down a portal now."
I looked around the room before walking towards a door to a connecting storage room. It was one of the sliding doors; it should work well. I rubbed my chin as I thought about how to go about it. I slid the door open and closed, imaging how the portal would open and close. Reborn was still on my shoulder, watching me work. I was starting to get used to him actually.
I laid a hand on the closed door before blinking and looking back at Hibari.
"Oh…um…focus on the way reality twists when I make the portal. It should help you understand how to open and close it."
He simply nodded.
I stuck my tongue out in concentration and was just about to get to work when I felt the barrel of a gun against my head. I froze in fright.
"You haven't poked me yet, Kota-chan."
Hiiiiiiii!
"Are…are you sure?"
"Don't worry. I can handle it."
I gulped. No doubt he wanted me to put some of my flame in him too so he could see what I was doing. (And most likely so he could use the portals whenever he wanted). But hey, I liked living, so I didn't fight him. I trusted that Reborn really could handle the flame (he was a super, powerful, awesome, assassin who knew flames like the back of his hand), and didn't take nearly as much caution with him as I did Hibari. I simply gathered my flame into my fingers and poked his forehead. It was kind of scary how it was more sucked in instead of me having to push it in.
Note to self: don't cross Reborn.
I heard Reborn hum on my shoulder before he settled back down.
"Alright, get to work."
I was relieved when I didn't feel the gun against my head anymore and focused my attention back on the door. I closed my eyes and breathed in before infusing a dormant portal into the door. It wasn't quite in the door, but in a parallel piece of reality where the door existed. I glanced at the map on the table and connected the dormant portal to the spot on the map. I blinked when I realized that was where my grandfather's manor was.
I shook off the disturbing thought before I made sure the connection between the portals was tightly wound, letting nothing come through between them before a side was activated. I severed the connection with the portal and breathed a sigh of relief when it stayed in place. Now all that was left was to test it out.
"Watch closely."
I brought some of my flame to my hand and infused the door with it as I pulled it open. The sliding of the door unwound the portal and as the door opened, so did the portal form in its threshold. I stared at the inside of my room with relief. It worked. I jumped when Reborn jumped off of my shoulder and through the door into my room. He looked around before jumping back onto my shoulder.
I sighed. Damn, he just really loved to scare me, didn't he?
"Did you feel how I put my energy into the door to open it?"
Reborn pulled my hair.
"Hurry up and continue."
I growled before infusing my energy into the door again as I closed it. I was reassured when I felt the portal winding closed as well. I opened the door again this time without any energy and was met with the inside of the storage room. Good.
"Well, you should get it now, so I'm gonna lie down and take a nap."
I moved to do so but Hibari stopped me with a growl.
"Herbivore."
I sighed.
"What?"
Reborn tipped his hat with an evil grin on his face.
"You still have more work to do."
What?
"The other locations, herbivore."
UUUUUUGH!
A/N: Lol. Reborn's been watching you Kota~. Plot development~~~~! Hibari you are so demanding! But that's okay, it's sexy. :D
