a/n= finally i have the time to update! Exams are done!
This chapter is an opening to the misty pineaple arc...again, I apologize if I make Hibari to OOC, but I always put his 'OOCness' as part of his character when he reacts to eight grade syndrome xD (i apologize for the motorcyle scene...it meant as a fanservice).
Please R&R!
People said it was a peaceful night in Namimori.
Full moon had risen beneath the clouds, and the midnight air was warm and breezy like the spring season. Rows of houses in the neighborhood had been filled with warm light, showering yellow light to the dusky street. Tall, dim streetlights assembled in front of the houses like reliable palace guards.
In the midst of the peaceful darkness, there was man— lying on the street— with purple-blue bruises stained on his cheeks.
As the man groaned in pain, a huge foot stomped on his face, pressing his face further into the concrete road. The stepper let out a high-pitched laughter, stuck out its tongue.
"I can't believe I beat you just like that," the stepper said in a superior tone. "I was expecting something more interesting from a Namimori student."
The man gingerly let his fingers touch the steppers shoes, and he used all of his remaining energy to remove the shoe from his face—it was surprisingly heavy, or was it just his drained strength that refuse to cooperate?
"Weak." The stepper finally crouched closer to the man, and he finally saw the culprit's face. He has an animal-like scar on his face; his hair was spiky, pale blond that looked like a monkey.
"I thought you're one of Hibari's underlings." The other guy beside the monkey boy spoke in a low tone.
The man—who turned out to be one of the Kusakabe clan—shot a sharp glare to the killer duo. Gritting his teeth, he forced out his voice. "I don't know what you want! But please don't harm Kyoya-sama!"
It was silent for a while, but then a pair of skittish, low laughter followed it. It sent shivers to Kusakabe's spine, and he could only laid bare and low. Hibari will be ashamed if he saw this.
"I don't want to harm him." The spiky haired boy clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "I just want you to give this to him."
With that, a white envelope slipped from his fingers, and it landed apologetically on the floor. Finally, the duo left, leaving the wounded Kusakabe member alone.
Five days after the Hibari incident, the familiar sense of peace finally enveloped back to the Eight-Grade Syndrome club.
To Tsuna's dismay, Hibari and his troops had retreated to Tsuna's clubroom, complaining their own clubroom was too crowded as an excuse. So, Tsuna's seat in the clubroom had been dominated by the aloof prefect and his Kusakabe men assembled all around the room as if they were guarding a bunch of important people—Tsuna and his friends, to be exact.
But to Tsuna's relief, Hibari wasn't here today, so the superior aura that caused uneasiness in everyone's heart never accumulate the room. As usual, Yamamoto was playing around with his cosplay box—he's planning to make a short, Naruto play with some of the eager Kusakabes, to Gokudera's dismay.
"Naruto-kun!" one of the Kusakabe yelped in a girly manner, who dressed up as Hinata; the wig fitted him poorly because of his stick-like hair.
"Don't worry, I will protect you!" Yamamoto, who obviously played the Naruto role, took out his sword and laid it in front of the whimpering 'Hinata'.
"Naruto doesn't use swords." Gokudera muttered darkly on the corner.
Tsuna simply sat on the couch beside Gokudera, lazily looking at the unplanned drama right before him. Even though Yamamoto's drama was unbearable to watch, at least it was a little bit engaging than his mom's favorite reality show Pitch Perfect.
Tsuna shifted his head around the room, trying to find Ryohei, who was absent too. No wonder it was surprisingly quiet—without the extreme cassette and the naggy prefect around, it was a little bit lonely. Gokudera seemed to be calm today, to Tsuna's relief.
Suddenly, the lovely, tranquil silence broke down when Hibari stormed in the room without knocking. The drama paused. Yamamoto quickly ushered the Kusakabe to undo their cosplay, who immediately done it as a response. Gokudera sighed. Tsuna tried to hold his breath.
But, Hibari simply walked in and ignored all the commotion before him, flopping himself to his personal desk that once belonged to Tsuna. In fact, Hibari's attention was fully absorbed by the paper between his fingers; a tiny smile hooked on his lips. For some reason, Tsuna could saw sparkling stars radiated from Hibari's direction, to his disgust.
"Tsunayoshi, is there something on my face?" Hibari looked up to Tsuna, confused.
Tsuna realized he had been looking at the prefect for too long and shook his head in embarrassment. "N-nothing! Hibari-san!"
Hibari, sighing, got up from his seat and handed the paper to Tsuna. Tsuna looked down on the paper, eyes fastened on the object. Hibari simply commanded. "Read."
Blinking, Tsuna took the paper from Hibari and his caramel eyes ran across the small, black letters on the paper.
"Dear, Namimori Eight Grade Syndrome Club
Hello syndrome victims! Are you all coping well with your daily life? If not, you may come to the Misty Pineapple fan meeting this Saturday in Namimori Square. Oh, do you even know who Misty-san is? If you don't, you're simply left in the dust.
Kufufufu…
Sincerely, Misty-san"
Suddenly, a brilliant flash of excitement flared on Tsuna's eyes, causing the brunet to uncharacteristically yell above his lungs. Hibari yelped beside him, confused and stunned. It was an once-in-a-lifetime comical scene.
"Hibari-san!" Tsuna snapped his head towards Hibari, eyes radiating stars—to Hibari's horror, who found it disturbing. "This is…this is…Misty Pineapple fan meeting!"
Hibari, stunned, loss for words. His lips tightened, preventing the smile that threatened his lips. The sienna haired male nodded, trying to hide the excitement in his voice.
"Yeah."
Tsuna skipped on the spot, embraced the letter and danced on the spot like a retarded ballerina. Hibari shifted his gaze away from the merry brunet, trying not to get infected by Tsuna's joyful aura.
"What? There is a Misty fan meeting?" Yamamoto approached them, the Naruto headband still hung on his head.
Tsuna nodded, a wide grin split on his face. The brunet took Yamamoto's arms, yanking them in excitement. "Yamamoto! Let's go!"
Seeing Tsuna's unusual happy mood, Yamamoto eyes slowly widened. The raven-haired male balled his fist and playfully hit Tsuna's head. "Let's go!"
"Yahoo!"
Sighing, Hibari pushed all his disciplinary documents and disposed them to somewhere on the cabinet. The prefect sauntered around the room while humming the school's anthem.
Gokudera—who has the monochrome mood in the midst of this rainbow, slumped himself deeper into the couch. A little bit inside him was quiet happy he could meet the boss' inspired man in person, but he can't help to let a tiny suspicion warned his mind.
Assuming saying anything would disrupt the mood, Gokudera tossed and turned on the couch and fell back to sleep.
The awaited Saturday had finally arrived on the calendars.
Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Ryohei and their surprise, Hibari, appointed to meet up on the Namimori playground. As usual, Tsuna was the first one to arrive early, followed by Gokudera and Yamamoto who showed up three minutes later. The three of them dressed completely normal—like a bunch of normal, middle school guys going for a hangout instead of an event for the disabled. Ryohei came in a little bit later, and now it was only Hibari left.
"Oi, that spoilt brat is late." Gokudera tapped his shoes impatiently, studying his watch.
"I'm afraid he didn't make it." Yamamoto said, a little bit downhearted.
Tsuna turned to his friends calmly, smiling. "Well, he was the one who looked forward to it."
Suddenly, a loud, thunderous screech snapped them out of their reverie. Right before them, a black limousine halted. The door gracefully opened, and four men in black emerged from the car. An old woman followed behind them, and she sat on a wheelchair the men in black had set up for her.
"Is that…Hibari's grandma?" Tsuna turned to his friends, whispering silently.
"Yeah, don't tell me that strict lady accompanied him to the extreme?" Ryohei tried to keep his voice low, slightly intimidated by the lady.
Hibari Hana sat on the wheelchair and sighed. She turned to her black subordinates, grunting. "This garden is already too old to be in Namimori. I need to call Kyoya-kun right away to set up the document and give it to the higher authority."
Tsuna and his friends gritted their teeth in anger. Hibari Hana was too cruel to let her son work, even in the weekends. Tsuna was a little bit afraid that Hibari would ditch them for his work instead.
Suddenly, the sound of motor engine piped up on the corner. From the distance, a jet-black motorcycle sped up towards Tsuna's direction. It easily passed through the black limousine and halted in front of Tsuna and his dumbfounded friends.
The rider opened its helmet. It was Hibari, flipping his soft, black hair back and forth.
"Hop in." Hibari turned to his friends, paddling the bike impatiently.
Without hesitation, the four friends frantically squeezed themselves at the backseat. It was quiet bigger than a decent bike— Harley Davidson.
"Kyoya-kun!" Hibari Hana crossly yelled above her lungs. "Come here son! You have work to do."
Tsuna switched fearful glances to the Hibaris. Hibari noticed Tsuna's frightened eyes and he turned to the brunet, smiling curtly.
"…Finally, the vampire escapes from the prison and go to his comrades instead."
"…What?" Tsuna asked him, confused. He seemed to have heard that line somewhere...it must be, Misty's book?
Hibari turned back, shrugging. "Never mind."
With that questionable response, Hibari pressed the pedal and zoomed off, leaving his grandma and her subordinates choking on the black fume of smokes.
As Hana's subordinates squeezed themselves inside the car, Hibari Hana broke into her own storm.
A few minutes later, the party finally arrived at their destination. Right before them, a blue tent stood, flooded with eight-grade syndrome victim—cosplaying left and right, screaming spells and magical words, and some who dressed normally with shirt and jeans. This really reminded Tsuna of a typical anime convection held in Akhibara.
"Wow!" Tsuna exclaimed, eyes tingling with excitement. "I never know Misty Pineapple is this popular!"
Gokudera nodded beside him, agreed. "Yes, he is the one who raised you after all, tenth."
"Well, we're here to pay some respects!" Yamamoto added, grinning.
"I will ask him to extremely baptize me to be an eight-grade syndrome victim!" Ryohei balled his fist, and everyone could see a burning excitement radiating from his aura.
Hibari approached the group after biking his motorbike somewhere with the other present vehicles. Smoothing his ebony hair, Hibari turned to the group, deadpanned.
"Leave me alone, Herbivores."
Tsuna flinched, confused. His mouth wide apart, and he could feel the same reaction from his friends. Without turning back, Hibari sauntered to the nearby tent, leaving his friends in confusion. Soon, Hibari's figure blended with the crowd, and finally, he was nowhere to be seen.
"What a fucking jerk!" Gokudera, as usual, was the first one to explode. "First, he is being all softy and bring us to ride with him! Now, he is leaving us just like that! What in the Uma is on his mind?"
"Isn't is supposed to be 'what in the world'?" Yamamoto looked at Gokudera, eyes wide.
"Shut up!" Gokudera barked at him, gritting his teeth.
Tsuna raked his tall, brown spikes in defeat. Smiling, he turned to his friends, who already started bickering back and forth in rapid-fire eight grade syndrome language.
"I hope he got eaten by that Mars Piranha and die!" Gokudera's anger went on.
"May the force not be with him!" Yamamoto followed, and Gokudera sent him a disgusted sneer.
"I am the boy on fire, to the extreme!" Ryohei yelled, probably yelling to himself.
Sighing, Tsuna dug his backpack and pulled out the envelope Hibari had found. For some reason, a swell of uneasiness rose up in Tsuna's throat as the brunet studied the envelope.
"I wonder if things will be alright…" Tsuna's voice was distant as he craned his head towards the tent; eyes fastened on the object, as if a blink could miss him from seeing something peculiar.