A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
This fragile appearance really doesn't suit this little fox.
This was the only thought running through Hibari's mind as he darted his eyes to his little prey. With her long, straight blond hair and large sapphire-like eyes, it was quite easy for someone to mistake his little prey as someone meek. But Hibari knew better. A single direct punch from her was just enough to break a person's bones into a million pieces.
It was quite interesting how those thin arms didn't betray that strength of hers. When he first met this little prey, he presumed a single direct hit from his tonfa would be enough to break her. It did not. These tonfa had never once landed a direct hit against this petite girl, not even a simple gaze against those whiskered cheeks.
"Your parents don't live here, do they?" his little prey asked. Curiosity laced her tone and the blond-haired girl tilted her head at him. Her blue eyes scrutinized him as if she was uncertain about whether or not he would answer her question. This aspect of the little fox made him curled his lips into a smirk.
There was always a bubble of amusement in his stomach whenever this little prey asked such silly questions.
"If you want me to answer that question then you would need to tell me about your own parents," he replied.
Little fox hummed and stroke her chin. Her eyes flickered between him and the small shrine that stood right in the middle of his living room. Hibari followed her gaze and kept his expression blank as his eyes rested on the table of the shrine. There was only one picture on the shrine. A picture of his mother, father alongside his older brother. If his memory served him right, his great-uncle took the photo when his brother graduated from high school.
It must have been the last photo his mother had of his brother.
"I don't know anything about my family," the little fox answered. Blue eyes shone with sadness, almost reminding him of the ocean during the storm, and Hibari paused. It was none of his business if the little fox was upset about not having a family. Families were after all nothing but shackles that herbivores loved to use as excuses.
There was no reason for him to say this to her, so he chose instead to focus his eyes on her. Despite the clear sadness in her eyes, Hibari could not make out a single tear coming from her eyes. That was a good sign. The little fox was not some weak herbivore who would cry over the unfairness of life.
She understood the laws of nature just like he did.
"My Father is in China doing Triad Business while my mother is doing business over in Tokyo," he finally informed her. If the little fox was able to part with such meaningless information, he should do the same. Equivalent exchange as the little prey would tell him whenever he wanted something from her.
The little fox tilted her head. "Do you have some Chinese blood in you?"
"My grandmother was Chinese," he admitted. His little prey stopped in her tracks and snapped her head at him. It was easy for Hibari to understand what made the prey stopped in her tracks. He answered the questions without demanding for something in return. But since his little prey did not know her family history, he had nothing to ask her.
Hibari could ask her about who trained her but it would be a pointless endeavor.
"I'm guessing she was the one to introduce your Father to the Triad?" she asked. Hibari rolled his eyes at the obvious question and continued on their journey to her new room. It always did rubbed him the wrong way whenever someone asked a rather stupid question, especially when it came to his father's shady business. "Then I'm guessing it was your Father who trained you."
He stopped in his steps and swirled his head at her. He wanted to flash his tonfa at her, but the fact he was going to start patrolling soon meant that he needed to control himself. That second-of-command of his did not stop ranting about his desire to fight his little prey because he left him some paperwork to deal with.
The fight had been worth the rant.
"That herbivore of a father did not train me," he replied. "It had been my brother."
His weak older brother who got bitten to death by the local Yakuza of this small town. I love this town, Kyoya. That had been that herbivore reason for trying to annihilate the Yakuza without any backup. The herbivore should have taken their father with him but he thought he was a carnivore.
The little fox tilted her head but made no attempt to question him about his brother. Instead her blue eyes fixated on him, searching his own grey eyes as if she was trying to figure out his feelings. He should look away but her eyes held him in place. Not once since he met his little prey did he ever liked this feeling from her gaze.
It was this feeling that made it easy for him to identify her through that strange disguise of hers.
She looked away and Hibari examined the girl again. No emotions flashed through her eyes but he could make out the fire in her eyes. It seemed like the longer she was away from her den, the more she reverted back to her usual self. That was good. This prey was not like one of those weak herbivores who never gave him any excitement.
His little fox reminded him of his Great-Uncle. Just like his Great-Uncle, Hibari could never land a single hit against the little fox. There had never been a young prey who had been able to avoid his attacks. But this little prey was the first to do it. It irritated and excited him at the same time that she was able to give him a good fight.
"I'm letting you stay here so I can finally beat you," said Hibari. He flashed his tonfa at the little fox and the girl did not flinch. Nothing ever really surprised her and that made fighting her fun. How could he land an attack on someone who was always on guard? That was an answer he still hadn't gotten answered.
Even when she was distracted, he still couldn't beat her.
"I know, Hibari-senpai," his little prey declared. A small smile played on her lips and amusement danced inside of her eyes. She is like a cute little fox. That had been his first thought when she showed herself without her mask. A cute little animal that would lure people into believing she was harmless but once they got close to her…she would attack.
"I expect you to fight me tomorrow after I come back from my patrols."
The little fox smirked. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you again."
"I will land a hit tomorrow," he declared, flashing the girl a smirk. The little prey arched a single eyebrow at him, looking faintly amused at his words. He bristled. Tomorrow would be the day that he would finally land a hit against the little fox who had been toying with him from the moment they met.
"You always say that," the little prey said dryly.
Hibari curled his lips into a bigger smirk and darted his eyes to the windows. If her predator was still looking for her then his little prey would not be able to go to school tomorrow. The predator knew her name or why else would the little fox skipped school by pretending to be sick. Knowing this made him stopped in his steps as an idea came to his mind.
He would take advantage of his deed later.
"I will inform your homeroom teacher that you are sick," he informed her.
The little fox frowned and her blue eyes sharpened. "You want something in return, don't you?"
"I want another one of your lunch boxes," he replied. The little fox blinked and Hibari stared down at her. Out of all the food he had tried, he would admit that only the little fox could make food that satisfied him. The food in their Middle School was adequate at its best and terrible at its worse. The food that she brought to the hospital had been good.
Besides, he allowed her into the den.
"I feel like in return of saving me the hassle of running to a different town, you just want to make me your slave," the little fox muttered, thinning her lips. He shrugged. Slaves were also meant to clean the house but Hibari had no desire of making his little prey do such meaningless tasks. "Alright."
Clicking his heels together, Hibari turned away and was about to make his way back to the entrance of his manor when he felt a tug on his sleeves. He snapped his head and raised a single eyebrow at the little fox. There was a crease around her forehead, informing him that the blonde was troubled about something.
"Little fox?" He asked.
"Are you sure you want to tell my homeroom teacher?" she asked with a frown. "People will talk if they knew you are informing my teachers about my condition. They are going to spread rumors about us if they see you act like this."
Hibari snorted and yanked his hand away from her. He looked down at her, grey eyes observing the little prey behind him. Despite the usual lack of emotions in her eyes, he could make out the concern coming out of her eyes. Was she concern that this would affect how people would see him? It was amusing.
If she believed he was like those herbivores then he had to make it clear to her.
"Since when have I ever cared about what those herbivores thought of me?" he asked. "If I cared what those herbivores thought, I would have never gained the power that I have."
(Next day)
"Guess what? I overheard Hibari-senpai telling our homeroom teacher that Uzumaki is still sick."
Tsuna looked away from his bagpack and fixated his eyes on the two girls sitting right behind Yamamoto. Uzumaki was sick? Did that mean Jiraiya-san hadn't seen her in her apartment? This was really worrying. He knitted his eyebrows together. If his female classmate was not at her home then where would she go? Better yet, why did Hibari informed their teacher?
He did not know anything about Hibari except for all of the rumors spread around town. Some say Hibari came from one of the families that founded this town. Other says that Hibari was a demon in human form with his desire for blood. But there was one thing that everyone in this town could agree on when it came to the older boy.
It was the fact he ran this town.
"Do you think there is something going on between them?" One of the girls asked. "I didn't think Hibari-senpai was the type to be interested in girls."
Tsuna frowned. That was frighteningly true. He heard that there had been some brave girls who tried to give the teen some chocolate, only for Hibari to beat them up. Crowding had been his excuse and ever since then, none of the other girls dared to give him any chocolates. But for him to inform the school about Uzumaki's situation was odd.
Very odd.
But he doubt Uzumaki and Hibari had a relationship. Tsuna bobbed his head and flickered his eyes to the empty seat that belonged to Uzumaki. From the number of times he watched his female classmate, she had never been the type to try and capture people's attention. That was just not her style. Grabbing Hibari's attention would be the last thing his classmate wanted.
So there had to be something else to it.
"She got so many boys' attention," the same girl complained. "First, it was Yamamoto-kun, now it is Hibari-senpai…whose next? Gokudera-kun? Uzumaki isn't even that pretty! And she is more like an ice-princess! I mean if she was like Kyoko-chan, I can understand but she is a bitch!"
Tsuna frowned and darted his eyes at Yamamoto. The dark-haired teen had a very thin smile playing on his lips and his brown eyes sharpened, not looking one bit pleased by what the girls were saying. He wasn't happy too. Uzumaki was a little bit cold but she could be nice when she wanted to be nice.
It just took a while to figure out when she was nice.
"I think Naruto is really pretty," Yamamoto declared. The chatter in the classroom died down and everyone swirled their heads at the smiling baseball player. The girls flushed a bright shade of red, looking visibly embarrassed, and Tsuna frowned. If they didn't want to be embarrassed then they probably should keep their mouths shut. "And I also think if she was here, she would tell you to use some logic."
The words were carefree and sounded almost like a joke but Tsuna could hear the anger leaking out of his voice. He frowned and fixated his eyes on the smiling baseball player. Maybe there was some truth behind the girl's words. Perhaps Yamamoto really did like Uzumaki in that way but he doubt it.
Yamamoto didn't react to Uzumaki like how he reacted around Kyoko-chan. So maybe Yamamoto really saw Uzumaki as a really good friend.
"Yamamoto-kun…Uzumaki-san is only using you to get attention," another girl said, curling her lips into a frown. "All of us believe that she is just using you."
Those brown eyes sharpened and that smile on his friend's face became even thinner. Tsuna gulped and shivered as the temperature in the room dropped to freezing levels. This was one of the few times that he had seen his friend looked so furious and serious at those words. But it made sense. They were accusing Uzumaki of something that she would never do.
Uzumaki would never gain anything if she used Yamamoto and that was something Tsuna would admit. If she saves someone, she wants something in return. Everything she does has it benefits and costs. He grimaced. It was a weird way of doing things but it made sense when he considered some of her actions. If she hadn't saved them then the school would have labelled her as heartless.
But it seemed like nothing Uzumaki did, would change how people's perception of her.
"I'm the one using her and not the other way around," Yamamoto declared, curling his lips into a wide smile. "I asked her to tutor me since the coach threatened to bench me if I don't improve my grades. Does that mean she is using me if I asked her to help me?"
Silence hung in the air as everyone processed what Yamamoto admitted. Some of the girls flushed a bright shade of red, looking embarrassed at their accusations while some of the boys blinked. Tsuna frowned and glanced at Gokudera. His silver-haired friend scowled but his green eyes gleamed with surprise.
Tsuna could not even blame Gokudera-kun for being surprised.
It wasn't everyday that Yamamoto could be serious.
"I have never seen Baseball Freak look so serious," Gokudera commented, darting his eyes at him. Tsuna couldn't bring himself to smile. All he could do was just nod. In the past few weeks of their friendship, he had seen the baseball player treat everything as a game. Whenever Reborn pulled out one of his stunts, Yamamoto would laugh and make it seem like a joke.
It was easy for him to forget what Yamamoto nearly tried to do a few weeks ago.
"Uzumaki saved us from falling off from the roof," Tsuna explained. "She helped me in figuring out the right words to say to Yamamoto-kun so that he wouldn't jump off the roof. W-When you think about all these things, wouldn't that make her important to him?"
Maybe there was more to it than the roof. Tsuna could see from the way Yamamoto was clenching his hands that there was more to their relationship than just friendship and her saving them from a fall. If Uzumaki really did tutor him then it meant they spent a lot of time together.
Their friendship must be very deep if Yamamoto was willing to say these many words to them.
"Juudaime, will you tell me what happened between Baseball Freak, you and this Uzumaki girl?" Gokudera demanded. Those green eyes held determination alongside anger and Tsuna gulped. Why must he be so scary? If he told him about what happened, his friend was going to dislike Yamamoto even more and would probably hate Uzumaki.
But he also knew Gokudera-kun would not stop bugging him until he got the answers that he was looking for.
"It is a really long story, Gokudera-kun."
"Boys, do you know if Naruto has any other friends besides you three?"
Takeshi blinked and blinked at the sight of Jiraiya standing right in front of Tsuna's house. The white-haired man had a frown playing on his lips as his black eyes fixated on the three of them. Concern and panic shone through his eyes. Takeshi allowed himself to drop his smile. It was no surprise to him that Jiraiya hadn't found Naruto.
The fact his blond-haired friend did not come to school at all, was proof that the man failed to meet her. She must have found a good hiding spot. This knowledge numbed him. What kind of life did his friend have for her to be always hiding? The fact she might be fugitive was not really helping but she should not be this good with hiding herself.
"J-Jiraiya-san!" Tsuna squeaked. "No, I don't think she has any other friends. Uzumaki-san always keeps a distance between her and everyone else."
The wind rustled and a bird chirped as Jiraiya processed what Tsuna had just said. Black eyes darkened and Yamamoto frowned. I overheard Hibari-senpai telling the teachers that Uzumaki was sick. Those words shouldn't nag him but it did. Hibari would never take such an interest when it came to someone. But Naruto was not just anyone. She was someone that you had to watch because there was just something interesting about her.
He frowned.
But even if Naruto was that amazing, Hibari would not bother to go into a crowded room to inform a teacher. Hibari hated crowds and everyone knew that. So why was his friend different? Takeshi frowned. Their senior hated being around people and anyone that approach them. But that day when Tsuna defeated Mochida-senpai, Naruto interacted with Hibari without being attacked.
Friendship should be impossible for someone like Hibari but it did seem like they were friends.
"Hibari and her get along."
Tsuna snapped his head and gawked at him. Doubt shone through his brown eyes as it focused on him while black eyes gleamed with hope. Takeshi grimaced. It was only a suspicion based on seeing those two interact but he wasn't stupid. Just because he didn't take the games that Gokudera liked to play seriously, it did not mean he couldn't notice something as small as this.
Especially when it came to the mystery that was Uzumaki Naruto.
"Yamamoto-kun, you don't believe what she said was true?" Tsuna squeaked. The younger boy trembled as his high-pitch voice echoed throughout the street. Yamamoto thinned his lips and curled his lips into a smile. The brown-haired teen relaxed his shoulders. If Naruto was here, she would probably get as irritated as Gokudera when it came to him smiling like this.
He had to smile because Takeshi knew that his smiles calmed Tsuna down from his panic mode.
"I don't believe it because of that," Takeshi reassured Tsuna as both Gokudera and Jiraiya glanced at each other. He dropped his smile and flickered his eyes to the window. Reborn stared down at them with a knowing smile. "I believe it because I saw the two of them talking to each other while you fought Mochida-senpai. Naruto denied that they are friends but I think differently."
Brown eyes widened at this piece of information and Takeshi hummed. It was a curiosity when he thought about it. How did Naruto end up becoming friends with Hibari? And why did Hibari help her? Their senior really was not the helping type. The disciplinary committee was proof of that. But then again Naruto was able to do the impossible and there was something about her that made you want to watch her.
He didn't know about Tsuna or Hibari but it had been her eyes that drew him in.
"Is Hibari a boy or a girl?" Jiraiya asked. His black eyes fixated on him, almost pleading for him to give him the answer that could calm him down. The black-haired teen scratched his neck. It was clear from the frown that the man would not be pleased, if he found out that his goddaughter was staying with a boy.
It rubbed him the wrong way too but Takeshi was not going to think anything about it.
"Does it matter?" Tsuna asked as Jiraiya pushed himself off of the wall of Tsuna's house. A frown decorated his friend's face and Takeshi could see the sweat dribbling down Tsuna's face. I can understand why he is concerned. He rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes fixated on Naruto's Godfather.
"Well I have to make sure that if Hibari is a boy that he doesn't try to take advantage of her," Jiraiya replied. The man rubbed his chin and darted his eyes to Tsuna's bedroom window before looking back at them. "She is still a 14-year-old girl and I'm worried that she might be taken advantage."
The word again was not said but Takeshi could almost hear it coming out of his lips. Takeshi could only dig his nail against the palm of his hands and darted his eyes at Tsuna and Gokudera. The brown-haired teen paled, looking almost sick at the implied words, while Gokudera only grunted at the implied words.
Of course Gokudera-kun wasn't surprised, he played the Mafia game like it was his life.
"She isn't the type of person that someone could take advantage of, anymore," Takeshi informed the man. Jiraiya frowned, not looking one bit convinced by his words, and the black-haired teen flickered his eyes to Tsuna. He forced himself to smile at the pale-faced boy. The brown-haired teen should not worry about Naruto. "She is someone that considers the benefits and risks before doing anything."
She always said it and Takeshi knew it was the truth. When he asked her to help him, she required only one favor from him. She didn't tell him it would be free. The girl made an argument of why she was going to take a risk helping him. A risk that Takeshi now knew had been a good concern because of what those girls thought about their friendship.
Naruto would never go to Hibari if she thought he would take advantage of her.
"I hope you are right, kid," Jiraiya said softly. "I don't know anything about the current Naruto but I hope you are right."
Takeshi stared at him. "She never lets down her guard."
The white-haired man quirked his lips into a smile but his black eyes didn't seem to be fully convinced by his words. He really has no idea what Naruto is like, does he? The thought made him smile. There was something special about knowing what the girl was like. Takeshi might not know what Naruto likes to eat or her favorite color, but he knew she could take care of herself.
You only needed one good slap on a cheek to know that Naruto had a monstrous strength inside of her. The way she retorted also told a person that Naruto was someone that knew how to bring a person to their knees by the use of her words.
"Do any of you know where Hibari lives?" Jiraiya asked.
Tsuna shook his head. "It is the biggest mystery in this town."
Jiraiya pinched his nose at those words and shook his head. His black eyes darted to Tsuna's room before looking back at the three of them with disappointment. Naruto really wants to make it a game for him, doesn't she? The thought made him smile. It would be a fun game if you asked him. Just another version of hide and seek…except they were looking at the whole town instead of just the park or their homes.
"I can see why the Hokage wished me luck when it came to finding her," Jiraiya muttered so quietly that Takeshi had to strain his ear to hear him. "I thought he was joking when he said that he used her as a way to train new guards."
Takeshi blinked. That was interesting if you asked him. It seemed like Naruto had always been good when it came to playing Hide and Seek but what did he mean by that? How could finding Naruto act as training? He glanced at Tsuna. His friend only knitted his eyebrows and his whole face paled as his brown eyes fixated on the window of his room.
Reborn's eyes gleamed with interest and Takeshi wondered if they were going to play another fun game of Mafia.
"Would you boys tell me what Hibari looks like?" Jiraiya asked.
Takeshi had a terrible feeling that once they told Jiraiya about what Hibari looked like, Naruto might yell at the three of them. No. He knew she was going to do something way worse but the thought did not completely terrified him. His body trembled but not from the fear of what Naruto would do to them…
"We will help you search for her!" Reborn declared from his room.
It was the excitement of playing a new game.
A/N: I would like to everyone who read this chapter and I hope that all of you enjoyed the story so far. If anyone have any comments about the story then I would like to hear it.
