The young boy was taken from the orphanage, accompanied by the other children residing there, by men who wore black suits.
The people who were taking care of them all assured them with a shaky voice that they were going to be fine but the young boy could tell that they would be far from fine.
He saw dreams.
Weird ones.
Where he was a little bit older. He was surrounded by people who wore white suits and held sharp small knives. Around him were tubes with unknown substance and when he focused enough, beside him were beds with children. Their four limbs restrained, their faces in agony as they screamed for someone to help them, for the men in white to stop hurting them.
It only took a few months for his dreams to become reality.
He was one of those children. He also cried, screamed, called for help, but no one arrived to save any of them. He thought those dreams were only nightmares due to how scary the men that took the looked, but proved him wrong as he experienced everything that he saw in those dreams.
Most of the children were placed on a bed and were cut up. Stomach, head, different parts of their body were sliced open and fiddled with by the adults. The boy noticed that only the weak ones were taken to be opened up.
Him and a few other children were lucky to be healthy. But it still gave them fear that it might be them on those beds one day.
The only thing that assured him was the rare warmth he felt while dreaming. He was tallerー older. But in those dreams, he always cannot see the face of the person who was giving him that warmth.
It made him endure the bout of insanity inside that place. It made him hope that someday this would all stop.
But when? He asked and that was the start of his dreams being nightmares instead. He saw that person die or get killed in different methods each time. It came to the point that he can't sleep properly, but slumber still called after him and he kept seeing the same yet different nightmare.
He held on, he endured but...
"You can hurt me. Butー but please!!ー don't hurt 「ー!!! 」"
... he saw an older him, smiling, as blood spilled. As he stabbed that person with a smile. He looked at him and grinned as if provoking him and further embedded the weapon to that person's chest.
"DON'T!!!!! STOPP!!"
He woke up and something snapped inside him, he felt that if he waited any longer he would lose that person. He cannot live without the assurance that that person is living well.
He planned. He thought of the fastest solution to be able to meet with that person. He and the other kids would escape the night where those adults would leave them unauthorized for a few minutes. In that miniscule of time, they would strike to escape this place.
"Gah!!!"
"Ugh!!!"
"Uwah!!!"
Holding the improvised weapons they grabbed, their nervousness were replaced with surprise when they heard the men guarding the door outside yelp in pain.
The door opened, the light outside blinding them for a short time before they could make out the silhouette of the people who took down the guards.
"Looks like we finally found them." The older of the two asked.
"Un." The other replied.
The young boy was jittery. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He always saw that person in his dreams but every time he tried to focus on what that person looked like, it would would blur further and he would wake up.
His warmth, his light.
"I finally met you, 「ー」." The boy said with a smile.
Hibari Kyoya is spoiled by his family. Everything that he came to want will be given to him almost immediately. No matter how expensive it was, as long as he desired, it would be given to him. But as soon as he grew tired of the object, or even person, it would be discarded easily.
By the time he turned two years old, he noticed that he rarely saw his parents, and instead of stopping the over spending of money, he used it as a medium to get attention from his parents. His young mind thought that by asking for many toys, his parents would take notice of him, talk to him, praise him, and be with him. It only took a few months for the boy to realize that spending money didn't rouse the attention of his parents.
Three years old; Hibari Kyoya grew tired of wanting things and decided that he wanted to go out. He had noticed that even once, he never experienced how it was outside of their house. Most of his requests were quickly declined by Kusakabe. He tried to talk to his parents of his desire to go out and play, but he didn't even get the chance to go in his father's room to ask for it.
That was the start of his often plan of escapes from the huge compound.
At first, he did it out of attention. But he noticed that most of the time, Kusakabe was the only one who follows after him. He saw no sign of his parents even once.
Then it became a form of releasing his anger. He was angry that they didn't seem to care. He was angry that not once did they follow after him. Not once did he see them run after him in worry.
That day was also one of his escapes. His small body had been honed to climb up unexpected places and manage to go past the walls around their compound. It was also one of those days where he had successfully evaded Kusakabe before the man could stop him from creating a foothold to hop on the wall.
Yet all of his careful planning had been stopped by a white-haired kid he met when he climbed up. The moment he jumped down and made a run from it, Kusakabe had arrived and asked the white-haired kid where he went. The kid had easily revealed his location, and so he was caught by Kusakabe.
He glared at the kimono-clad kid, still can't believe that if he wasn't there then he would've easily got away and manage to see what it was like outside.
Before he could even notice, the kid had called someone and he was already leaving. Still with his anger, Kyoya grabbed the kid.
"What?" The kimono kid asked.
"Tomorrow, come back. You owe me one escape from this place." Kyoya said with a glare. Tetsuya always said that as long as he glared, other kids would definitely feel scared of it. That it was a good things because Hibari Kyoya needs to be feared. If people are scared of you, then you are strong. And Kyoya was a child that wanted to be strong.
But despite his glare, the kimono kid was unfazed.
"When I have time." He replied and left just like that.
That was how Hibari Kyoya met Fujimoto Hikaru.
Day 1 of waiting: Kusakabe was praising the gods for the miracle which is Kyoya being well-behaved and didn't cause him to run around to look for him. But by the end of the day, the young master started to be irritable and easily provoked by whoever got close to him.
Day 2 of waiting: The Hibari's young master was still in a foul mood, but sat still waiting at their front gates, glaring holes to the entrance. Kusakabe was nervous since he knew that his young master was waiting for the Fujimoto, but he knew that the words spoke by the albino didn't specify which day he would come again. Night came and Kyoya's anger was noticed by the rare evident frown on his face.
Day 3: Hibari Kyoya lost it and urged Kusakabe to take him to the weird kid. The man on the other hand, didn't care anymore and was focused at the thought that his young master took the initiative to visit someone.
Kyoya didn't notice but in those months that he spent time with Hikaru, he wad solely focused on the albino. Kusakabe was surprised because for the first time, his young master who became uninterested at anything/anyone spent months with the Fujimoto.
Fujimoto Hikaru, age 6, training under the tutelage of Li, a master in martial arts/assasin. A reincarnated person whose apathy skill level has been maxed due to his past life.
Byakuran, no surname, age 5. Younger than Hikaru but slightly taller and caused Hikaru to have a small grudge(and evidently made sure Byakuran suffered through spars with him), taken in by the Fujimoto clan for a year. Loyal to Hikaru and was described by Li as 'a dog that wagged his tail whenever he saw Hikaru'.
The two were currently engaged in a spar, supervised by Li. No matter how reluctant Byakuran was to hurt Hikaru, due to the unrelenting assault of the albino, he was forced to exert effort in blocking and evading the older's strikes. As soon as Byakuran thought he could take a breather, Hikaru would send another punch/kick, making it impossible for the younger to rest.
"What are they doing? Why is Hikaru trying to punch and kick that kid?" The visiting Kyoya asked Li.
"They are sparring." Li said with no further explanation, as he was inexperienced with dealing with kids. Due to his exposure to Hikaru, it seems like he forgot that children were by nature, sometimes dumb because they were still young and naive. He often noticed this abnormality whenever he talked with the Hibari kid.
"What's kumite?"(1) Li blinked at Kyoya's question, finally remembering that not all children are weird like those two who were currently in a sparring section.
"Those two are currently fighting to increase their skills in hand-to-hand combat." Li was brief with his explanation.
"What's Sentō?"(2) Kyoya asked and as if poured with cold water, Li noticed that Hikaru and Byakuran really were different from other children. In retrospect, it was Kyoya who was normal. With his exposure to the two, he became accustomed to talking to children their age the same as how he talks with adults.
"That's gonna be your homework then." Li said and didn't expect another attack.
"What a shukudai?"(3) Li had once again remembered that compared to Hikaru and Byakuran, he should consider other kids are dumbasses who were inexperienced with kanji(4).
Li stepped forward, just enough for Hikaru and Byakuran to hear him.
"That'll be all for today." Li said and the action of the two came to a halt. Byakuran was sure that if Li hadn't stopped at that moment, a few more strikes and he would collapse. Sparring with Hikaru was tiring. He was reminded that the albino was stronger than normal children due to something related to their clan, but he still can't believe how heavy Hikaru's strikes were. Even with that, Byakuran could feel that Hikaru was still holding back.
"Can I do it too? Hey, hey, Hikaru can I also sparring(5) with you?" Kyoya asked with a rare gleam in his eyes which was met with Hikaru's stoic ones.
"No." Was the short reply, but Kyoya wasn't satisfied of having no explanation.
"Why not~?!" He complained.
"Because you're weak." That was right. Hikaru knew that the child Kyoya was weak since he still wasn't a battle-hungry skylark.
Then, as if hit with lightning, Kyoya stood there in shock.
"T-That's notー" his words were cut off when he himself looked around for reassurance that he was not weak.
He looked at Li, the old man shook his head. Then to Kusakabe who also shook his head. Kyoya cannot accept that fact and glared at Byakuran. Ever since this kid arrived last year, Hikaru rarely played with him. On most days of the week, it was said to him that Hikaru was with Byakuran(and Li; today was the first time Kyoya saw them in a sparring session.)
"Kgh... Then what about him? He looks weak and just kept dodging you since the beginning!" Kyoya pointed at Byakuran while facing Hikaru.
"Byakuran might be weaker than me, but he's still stronger than you." Another bout of shock was experienced by the coddled Kyoya.
Due to the ravenette not moving for a few sets of seconds, Hikaru deemed it was time he took a quick bath since the sweat was becoming bothersome.
With the sound of the door that Hikaru went in closing was heard, Kyoya was snapped out of his daze and moved a few steps back.
Kyoya glared fiercely at Byakuran and pointed at him.
"I'll beat you!!ー" He shouted and proceeded to run towards Kusakabe, urging him to hurry as he was going to ask his father for any kind of training that would make him stronger. But he stopped, then pointed at Byakuran again. "ーSomeday! Maybe even tomorrow, be prepared!!" And then finally left.
Hikaru who was currently relaxing in the bath didn't know that he was one of the reasons why Kyoya would become a battle-seeking skylark and caused him to have an infamous reputation in Namimori.
A/N: Some things for my non-weeb readers. If you're a weeb then you might have already understood Li and Kyoya's conversation.
1: is how karate calls sparring(組手)
2: romaji of the kanji of Combat(戦闘)
3: romaji of the kanji of Homework(宿題)
4: Chinese characters but Japanized(www)
5: Young Kyoya is a dumbass and has no proper grammar lol
I think this chapter showed how "unusual" Hikaru and Byakuran are considering their age. In Japan, most children do not know deep words(kanji) that early. At most, they might've know/studied about it, but it'll surely take years before they accumulate the thousands of kanji characters out there and what they mean.
I have a 5 year old nephew so I know how kids can be stupid sometimes, so you can't say anything about a dumb young Kyoya being unrealistic.