I'm back! This chapter is really short, sorry. My muse abandoned me. I haven't been able to write anything since the last chapter. I guess I could have waited and written some more, but I really wanted to get this out. And I suspect that all of you will be happy to finally get an update, even if it's not very long.
And with that, onto the story!
DISCLAIMER: I don't know why we keep writing these. Tradition, probably. Don't own it.
The lone figure stood still as he watched the people down below him. He was standing on the roof of the Namimori middle school's gym, silently observing. Eyes flicking over each student as they walked into the front entrance, the figure sighed. He knew that Toshi barely made it to school on time most days, but today he was taking longer than usual. It was aggravating, really. The boy needed to learn that making people wait was rude. Then again, Toshi didn't know that someone was waiting for him.
Nor would he.
Finally, his target arrived. Toshi dashed through the gates seconds after the bell rang. His blond hair was messier than usual, and his uniform was an absolute disaster. Dark circles hung under his eyes and his tie wasn't even done up. The figure grinned, imagining what would happen if Hibari found Toshi in this state. Hell would be raised.
Toshi didn't pause as he sprinted into the school. Being captain of the school's football team must really have its perks, the figure mused. A small, dark blur darted from tree to tree as Reborn followed his pupil. The figure made sure that he concealed all aspects of his presence as he watched the baby hitman. Things would be disastrous if he was discovered. Disastrous and deadly for Toshi. The baby disappeared into the school and the figure relaxed.
"What are you doing here, herbivore?" A cold voice drawled behind him.
The figure turned around, a bright smile on his face. "Boss! What a surprise to see you here!"
Hibari's eyes narrowed at the figure's sarcastic tone, unamused. "I asked you what you are doing here. You don't belong here, go home."
The figure pouted. "Don't be like that, Kyoya. I'll start thinking that you don't like me."
A tonfa slid into Hibari's hand. "Are you looking for a fight, herbivore?"
The figure looked away, back towards the school. "No. I was just watching."
"If you are concerned about Sawada Toshihide's safety, then you are wasting your time." Hibari said in a clipped tone. "You do not go to this school, and therefore are trespassing on my territory. I will not say it again; Go home."
The figure took a deep breath and sighed before flashing Hibari with another smile. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Don't screw around with Kyoya's precious Namimori middle school."
Hibari Kyoya inwardly growled with frustration. Why must his friend always put up the happy-you-can't-touch-me facade when he was hurting? He might be smiling, but inside he was a wreck. Which is why Hibari wanted as far away from Namimori middle school as possible right now. He always got worse when Sawada Toshihide was involved.
The figure took one last glimpse of the school building and froze. Walking up those stairs was a tall teenage boy with silver hair. The figure's lips parted and a small choking noise escaped his throat. No, it couldn't be. Why was he here? Reborn? He was going to slaughter that annoying arcobaleno.
Gokudera Hayato looked over his shoulder just before he entered the school. For a moment, it felt like somebody was watching him. But the presence was gone as soon as it came.
Without another word to Hibari, the figure fled the rooftop. His heart hurt too damn much for him to care.
Hayato's hand hovered over the door handle for a good five seconds. Taking in a deep breath, he grasped the handle firmly and yanked the door open, stepping inside the classroom with a scowl. The grumpy, bite-me appearance was a fraud. His heart was pounding and he felt shaky. He shouldn't be this nervous, but he was anyway.
The teacher glanced at him as he stomped into the classroom and pushed up her glasses. She did not look impressed. "You're late."
Hayato tched in response. The teacher looked even less impressed.
"Class," The teacher said loudly over the sudden sound of giggling girls. "The new transfer student from Italy is here. His name is Gokudera Hayato."
Hayato's eyes immediately shifted to look at the blond student in the middle. The blond teenager stiffened at the sound of his name and slowly looked up. Hazel eyes met green and Hayato could barely restrain his gasp. If the blond hair and hazel eyes were replaced by brown, then Sawada Toshihide would look exactly like his dead twin.
Hayato thought that he had mentally prepared himself for this meeting.
He was wrong, so very very wrong.
Memories he had buried in the pit of his mind resurfaced and a lump formed in his throat. It was too much, too soon. He wanted to scream, he wanted to laugh. He wanted to punch that familiar face and he wanted to hug it. Mostly, he wanted to cry. He's not Tsuna. He's not Tsuna. He repeated in his mind over and over again. He may look like his best friend, but he was a completely different person. Eight years was not nearly enough time to get over the death of the most important person in his life.
Toshi was shocked straight to the bone. Surely the teacher must have mispronounced the name, or maybe he had misheard it. Gokudera. . . Hayato? That was a name he would never forget as long as he lived. The silver haired teen was looking at him with his emotions painted plainly in his eyes. Toshi saw pain and remorse inside those hurting green eyes.
The teacher said something about 'taking the empty seat next to Sawada-kun' but Hayato was already moving.
Stopping next to Toshi's desk, Hayato stuck out his hand. "Gokudera Hayato." He said in a voice uncharacteristically soft for him. "It's nice to finally meet you, Toshi."
Toshi stood up and shook Hayato's hand. "Hayato-san, I. . ." He trailed off, not knowing the words to say. Nice to meet you? Thanks for taking care of my brother? I'm sorry that you never saw him again? "Hello." He said lamely.
Hayato's shoulders dropped and he simply nodded before taking a seat. Toshi couldn't pay attention to the lesson, he couldn't even relax. Now that their initial meeting was over, he had so many questions for the man who knew so much about his brother. He was drumming his pencil against his desk, but he didn't even notice. The same couldn't be said for his classmates, who were looking at him in annoyance.
"Sawada-kun." The teacher said finally, her patience at its peak. "Is something wrong? Do you need to go to the nurse? Or the bathroom, perhaps?"
Toshi flinched at the sound of his name. "What? Oh, no. I'm fine."
The teacher's eye twitched. "Then put down your pencil unless you are taking notes."
Placing his pencil down, Toshi tried to relax his shoulders. Gokudera Hayato, Tsuna's best friend when they were little was sitting behind him. Sitting behind him, looking at him. Probably comparing him to his deceased brother. Today was going to be a long day.
Lunch could not come soon enough for Hayato. He did not hear a single word of the lesson the teacher was teaching, not that he particularly cared. Sitting in front of him was none other than Sawada Toshihide. The boy that he had been waiting his entire life to meet. Anyone important to Tsuna was important to him, afterall. That was even more true after Tsuna's death.
Hayato balled his fists together under his desk and looked down. He had sworn to protect Toshi. Just like he had sworn to protect Tsuna. What if he failed? Again?
He couldn't bring himself at that moment to look at the blond in front of him. Toshi probably hated him. He had broken his promise, and now Tsuna was dead. Toshi had only been with his brother for, what, two days? Hayato had spent years getting to know Tsuna. There was no way that Toshi didn't hate him.
Lunch really couldn't come soon enough.
When lunch time finally did come, Toshi was out the door before Hayato could even blink. With a heavy heart and heavy legs, Hayato stood up to follow him. Toshi was waiting down the hall, his arms crossed and his bangs covering his eyes. Hayato walked towards him and opened his mouth to greet him, but no words came out.
"Hey, Toshi!" A tall, dark haired teen threw his arm over Toshi's shoulders. The blond stumbled forward, startled, but the other teen didn't let him fall.
"Takeshi!" Toshi said in a somewhat chiding tone. Hayato felt a sudden, unneeded surge of protectiveness. Who was this idiot, and what the hell did he think he was doing so close to his future boss? This 'Takeshi' dude turned to glare at him and Hayato got the impression that his feelings were returned equally.
"Morning, Toshi!" Takeshi said in an overly cheerful voice, his eyes still on Hayato. "Do you know the new transfer student?" Hayato heard the words not spoken, but underlining what had been said. Is the new transfer student bothering you?
"Yeah," Toshi said in a voice strange enough to make Takeshi look at him with worry. "He was friends with Tsuna back in Italy."
Takeshi's stance shifted immediately and he looked at Hayato with sorrow. "Yamamoto Takeshi." Yamamoto extracted his arm from Toshi's shoulders and stuck out his hand for Hayato to shake. "I'm in your class."
"Gokudera Hayato." Hayato shook the offered hand. How did Yamamoto know Tsuna?
"Glad to see that you all have met." A new voice announced. The door that lead to the emergency first aid supplies opened up and Reborn hopped out. "You came earlier than I expected, Gokudera Hayato."
"Reborn-san!" Hayato choked out and dropped into a bow. "Sorry for not calling you as soon as I arrived in Japan."
"Ah, it's the little kid who's been staying at your house, Toshi." Yamamoto exclaimed. Hayato glared at him distastefully. So far, he did not like this Yamamoto Takeshi.
Reborn hopped up onto Toshi's shoulder and then clambered to sit on his head. "Introductions are so boring, I'm glad I missed those." He said, completely ignoring Yamamoto. "Let's move onto more interesting topics. Gokudera, if you kill Toshi, then it's agreed that you can become the next boss of the Vongola."
Toshi blinked. "Eh?"
"Those were the terms I agreed to when I came to Japan," Hayato said, briefly glancing at the confused Toshi. "but upon inspection I have deemed Sawada Toshihide capable of taking over the Vongola. With your permission, Toshi, I want to join your famiglia!"
Reborn resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had seen this coming, but he had hoped that Gokudera could at least put up a fake fight. His idiot pupil needed some first hand experience, and he was just dying to use the dying will bullet on him. So far no opportunities had arrised, which, to be honest, was really pissing him off.
"Eh? What?" Toshi repeated again. "Hey, I never said that I would become a mafia boss or anything. I was hoping that I might bore the baby enough to make him go home. I'm not actually-"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off as Reborn punched his skull. Hard.
"Mafia?" Yamamoto asked innocently.
Today really was going to be a long day.
Hibari watched the four people with minimal interest. Toshihide seemed to be in pain as he rolled on the ground, clutching his head. Yamamoto was laughing and the new kid, Gokuheda or whatever had his hand stretched out, unsure if he was supposed to help or not. Reborn just looked smug as he said something to Toshihide. The blond's uncleanliness was really starting to get on Hibari's nerves, but the Namimori Middle Disciplinary Leader had made a promise to not touch a hair on Toshihide's hair.
His jacket made a wsshing noise as he flipped around and walked away. Unless he left, he was going to end up breaking that promise.
Reborn's eyes flickered to Hibari as the older teen walked away, a careful, calculating gleam in his eyes and a mischievous glint in his grin.
"I'm home." The figure heard Hibari's voice as the front door closed.
The figure groaned from his position on the couch. He was laying with his face pressed against the cushions, a blanket wrapped around him like a burrito. Hibari stepped into the living room and sighed at his room mate. "Lazy."
"Leave me alone." The figure moaned. "No, wait, go get me some sushi and then leave me alone."
"I'll bite you to death, herbivore." Hibari replied, taking off his jacket and hanging it up on a hook.
"Jerk." The burrito muttered.
"Who is Goku. . . the herbivore with silver hair?" Hibari asked after a pause.
"Gokudera Hayato." The figure filled in, unsurprised that Hibari could not remember his name. "You are unusually talkative today."
"And you are avoiding the question."
"Me? Never."
Hibari picked up a coin from the coffee table and held it a moment before chucking it at the burrito's head.
"Ouch!" A hand appeared from underneath the blankets to rub messy brown hair. "What did you do that for?"
"You are a sarcastic asshole." Hibari responded.
The figure shrugged. "And you are an emotionless brickwall of unboundless fighting intent. What's new?"
Hibari contemplated taking a swing at him with his tonfas. Or maybe dunking him in the pond out back until he learned some manners. Yes, that sounded good. He didn't, however, because he knew the stray herbivore he picked up could become a ferocious carnivore at a moment's notice. "Is the silver haired herbivore someone you used to know?"
"What makes you say that?" The figure looked away.
"You nearly had a panic attack when you saw him this morning." Hibari answered. "The only other person who does that to you is Sawada Nana. Did he once try to hurt you?"
The figure shot up. "No! It's nothing like that! I just didn't expect to see him so soon, I wasn't prepared."
Before their conversation could continue, a phone rang.
Meeting Hibari's eyes, the figure withdrew a sleek cellphone from his pocket. "My work phone. Must be a new job."
Hibari said nothing as the figure flipped the phone open and held it against his ear. After a minute, he replied, "It will be done. Transfer the money to the account I will email to you. You shall receive a text after the job has been completed." With that, the figure hung up.
"What is it this time?" Hibari asked as soon as the figure turned back to him.
"The Neve famiglia boss wants me to do some research on the Corvino family. She thinks that the Corvino attacked and robbed one of her supply boats while it was traveling to China. If they did, she wants me to ruin them financially." The figure replied while turning on a laptop placed on the coffee table. "Just the usual for Cielo Nascosto, freelance hitman for the mafia famiglias."
The sound of clicking keys filled the air as the figure went to work, his fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard.
"You're not invincible." Hibari sighed. "Sooner or later, you are going to get caught. Somebody will discover your true identity and all the mafia families you've ruined will want revenge."
The figure didn't even look up. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine."
Hibari shrugged. He didn't know how to say 'be careful' without using words. After the eight years they had spent together, the fluffy haired boy had really gotten under his skin and dug his way to become a very important person to him.
"What about Toshihide?"
The figure looked up sharply. "What about him?"
"Will he be okay if they discover who you really are? The Mafia always go after family when they get revenge."
"I won't get caught." The figure replied firmly.
Hibari shook his head. There was nothing he could say to change the mind of his sarcastic little asshole.
"The maid will have dinner ready at seven." He said instead. "Be done by then, Tsunayoshi."
Neve - Italian for snow.
Corvino - Italian for Raven
Cielo Nascosto - Italian for Hidden Sky
Takatou - I have no idea who the mysterious character at the end of the last chapter is. Really. *cough cough*
lovleydragonfly - Look who's alive! Now I don't have to have a cactus shoved up my ass. That sounds really unpleasant.
BlackRosedAlice - I am an evil author. I take pride in my evilness. It's a gift.
xeyuxe20 - I may take a couple months break in between my updates at times, but my goal is to never give up this story. I want to see it to the end. So if I ever take too long, send me an angry PM.
My Name is Alice - Alice-chan! I'm so sorry I took too long to get back to you! I really want you to be my beta!
Yenaya - Actually, that's kinda my plan for Nana. Sorry, not Tsuyoshi, but you were close.
Zivyx - Yup, in my summary I said no character death. Of course I'm not going to really kill Tsuna. *cough-but-what-about-Imitsu-cough*
YAmomoto - You created your profile just to review my story? Awe, I'm touched. I really loved your review ;)
ambiguous person - I like the idea of giving Tsuna night flames, but yeah, I'm probably not going to do that in this story. I'm giving Tsuna and Toshi both sky flames because of reasons.
Guest - No, I'm not making Hayato like he was in the anime. All the characters are reallly OOC.
Alicia Testarossa - Yeah, I made Nana the bad guy in this story because of all the Iemitsu hating stories out there. Don't get me wrong, I love Nana. I just wanted to do something different.
swanfrost - Tsuna may or may not be the mysterious character at the end of last chapter.
Ghostunderasheet - Gokudera is going to be loud and boisterous again after this chapter. Probably.
Next chapter will probably be what happened to Tsuna and Iemitsu after they got hit by the truck. I won't make any promises though!
