OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Cloud
This is how she fights with the Cloud.
Rules
Near the end of fourth grade, Noriko is late for class, probably the first time she ever has been. Punctuality is an important trait for meetings and negotiations, after all, and old habits are hard to shake.
"You're late." An older boy with grey eyes and black hair glares darkly at her from his position against the school gates, radiating an impressive aura of danger and menace. "I'm going to bite you to death."
Noriko wastes several precious seconds staring. She supposes, through the shock of recognition, that she should be happy he isn't threatening to arrest her. Then, instinctively, she dodges to the right, a tonfa missing her by a hair.
Of course. Just...of course he knows how to fight, and fight well from the looks of it, at this age.
Her laugh is more startled and delighted than anything else, and he stops his relentless attacks for a moment to cast an inquisitive look at her. Noriko takes the chance to break into a sprint, heading straight towards the double doors.
She isn't at all surprised when the thud of boots behind her tells her he is following.
Noriko laughs the entire way to her classroom, wrenching open the door and all but falling in. She is sitting calmly in her seat when he catches up and stands in the doorway with a scowl, silver tonfas held in both hands.
"Hi-Hibari-san..." her poor teacher stutters, eyes flickering from her student to the furious boy. "Is there something wrong...?"
Oh. Noriko ignores the concerned looks from Tsuna and Takeshi to smile thoughtfully. Hibari Kyoya. She has heard of him, the sixth grader who will brutally beat up anyone breaking the rules, crowding, or just plain annoying him.
She really should have put the pieces together earlier.
Kyoya glowers at Takara-sensei, who looks like she's resisting the urge to shrink away purely because of the watching - and terrified - children. He stalks forward to her desk and brings a tonfa crashing down on the wood.
Hard.
Noriko doesn't flinch even as her poor desk collapses and the students around her shriek. She meets calculating eyes squarely, smiling serenely, if a bit wildly.
"Hn. Don't be late again," Kyoya warns after an endless beat of silence, leaning back as if he has found whatever it was that he was looking for.
Her smile only widens. "Hai, Hibari-san."
Animal
Kyoya has a thing for animal metaphors. Noriko isn't sure what to think of that.
"You crowd like a herbivore," he tells her a week after their amusing - Tsuna looks awfully horrified; clearly he needs more exposure to the strange and violent - encounter. She hasn't been late to school again, but she has swung by the roof once or twice (or three, four, five, etc. times).
Remarkably, he has only attempted to "bite her to death" a few times.
She laughs, sitting against the edge of the roof with her arms wrapped around her bent legs. If she did not have prior knowledge of this loner, she might not have understood all of his statements, but she has always known that he does not enjoy mobs.
Then, there's the herbivore/carnivore thing, but that's something else entirely.
"Am I not a herbivore?" Noriko asks curiously, breaking her streak of silence. Tsuna and Takeshi would probably suspect her of being an imposter if they realized she has been silent for over fifty minutes, but Kyoya doesn't much like idle chatter.
"You run away laughing like a lunatic when I go after you," Kyoya points out dryly, lounging on the rooftop with his hands behind his head and eyes fixed on the sky.
"That's true," she acknowledges with a smile, eyes twinkling. "But I don't think I'm a carnivore, neh?"
"No," he says and goes silent.
Noriko is fairly certain Kyoya doesn't know how to classify her. Her smile dims a fraction despite herself.
Alaude didn't either.
Safety
If Noriko associates Tsuna with home and Takeshi with peace, then she associates Kyoya with safety.
It is not because Alaude was the Strongest Guardian. It is not because Alaude was the founder of CEDEF.
She was the founder of the Cervello. She was the trusted Adviser of the Vongola Primo.
Cynthia could take care of herself just fine.
Noriko can take care of herself just fine.
But, ironically, for the drifting Cloud, he is the steadiest person she knows. Unwavering, uncompromising, unshakable.
No matter what happens, he is always there.
Even more ironically, Kyoya is incredibly bloodthirsty and aggressive.
Noriko laughs and runs. Seconds later, a tonfa comes crashing down on the ground where she was standing, creating a lovely new crater. Perhaps she shouldn't have made fun of Kyoya's catchphrase?
Strange
Kyoya's sense of law is a strange thing. He will attack just about anyone, so long as he is irritated in some way, shape, or form.
Noriko's sense of fairness is a strange thing. She will not discriminate, will not succumb to favoritism, regardless of who is involved.
They are both rather merciless.
(They have both broken their own rules.)
"Uyeda Takeo is planning to cheat in today's baseball game," she whispers as she lightly brushes past the older boy to tutor Tsuna.
He says nothing in response before she is gone, but she catches the glint in his dark eyes and knows that it will be taken care of.
Scary
"Nori-chan, how do you deal with it?" Tsuna asks, brow furrowed. "Hi-Hibari-san's so scary..."
There is something so very wrong with hearing her Sky admit to being scared of his Cloud, but Noriko's smile doesn't falter. "Oh, faith," she claims. "Lots and lots of faith." And she has utmost faith in her family.