OpalescentGold: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.
Kyoya
This is how the clouds hide the moon.
Attention
Reiki Noriko first catches Kyoya's attention when she not only avoids his blows but outruns him when she is late that one fateful day. There is strength there, in that firm gaze. There is a conviction he cannot understand.
He lets her go.
Ephemeral
Noriko changes. She changes all the time, from hour to hour, second to second.
She is different when she is with the fluffy herbivore. She is different when she is with the baseball herbivore.
She is different when she is with him.
Yet, the core of her stays the same, tranquil and honorable and ardent.
Kyoya finds it faintly frustrating that no one but him notices.
Protective
The first time Kyoya raises a tonfa against Sawada Tsunayoshi when Reiki Noriko is around, he learns why the trembling, wide-eyed boy in front of him is left alone by the rest of the student body.
His tonfa is redirected by a swift kick and slate blue eyes pin him to the spot as assuredly as if she has wrapped chains around him. The spark of anger on her face is new, interesting.
Kyoya has never been able to goad Noriko into fighting with him properly.
"Don't touch Tsuna," she demands. "Ever."
The look of bewildered hurt in her eyes is strange, unwarranted.
He frowns and says, "Why?"
At that, she flinches as if he has struck her. She looks at him as if she is seeing him for the first time, as if he is suddenly a stranger though it has been weeks since they have met.
Kyoya's hands clench on the cold steel of his tonfas.
"It wouldn't be right," Noriko says at last, lost and sad, a wanderer in an unfamiliar world.
Classification
She cannot be a herbivore, even if she crowds like one.
(She is too strong for that, though she refuses to fight him.)
She cannot be an omnivore, even if she acts like one.
(She is too crazy for that, though she is just as intelligent.)
She cannot be a carnivore, even if she fights like one.
(She is too pacifistic for that, though she is feral, too.)
Kyoya is convinced that Noriko exists solely to frustrate him.
Skylark
"Your name means skylark, right?" she asks one day, completely out of the blue.
He glances sideways at her, one eyebrow raised. "Hai."
A funny half-smile quirks her lips. "Do you know what skylark is in French?"
He scoffs, inwardly questioning how he's ended up saddled with such an odd girl. Ah yes, because she won't go away and is somewhat entertaining. "Do you think I care, Reiki?"
She laughs and goes quiet.
Sun
This is how she laughs with the Sun.
Extreme
Noriko steps outside of her house on a fine spring day to admire the weather and pauses considerately. Kiku has gotten a job as a gardener, so she won't be home until much later, but Noriko is fairly certain that the dust cloud in the distance wouldn't be her mother anyway.
Five minutes later, a boy with a bandage on his nose runs past the house, not even noticing her, shouting something about training "to the extreme!"
Noriko absently wonders if the boy's a boxer as well, even as an elated grin curls her lips.
Boxer
The very next day, when Noriko spies the dust cloud on the horizon, she steps into the middle of the road and waits. Not long afterwards, the boy from yesterday appears, notices her from ten feet away, and skids to a stop, almost crashing into her.
She doesn't move an inch, though several strands of her hair is blown back from the wind.
"Hello," Noriko says, smile bright. "My name is Reiki Noriko. Who are you?"
The boy blinks at her before grinning widely. "I am Sasagawa Ryohei!" he proclaims loudly. "Would you like to join my extreme boxing club!?"
That would be a yes, she thinks to herself wryly. "No, thanks!" She laughs lightly, slipping on her tennis shoes. "How 'bout I run with you instead?"
"That sounds very extreme, too!" Ryohei gives her a thumbs-up and takes off, shouting over his shoulder, "Let's do an extreme workout!"
"Hai!~"
Group
Tsuna and Takeshi take to Ryohei easily, all too used to her stunts. Tsuna quickly identifies Ryohei as "Onii-san" and just seems resigned to all of the craziness in his life now, even taking the "extremeness" in stride.
Good for him. Noriko is of the opinion that, no matter what, the life of her Sky should never be anything so disturbing and mundane as boring.
Takeshi, on the other hand, takes the sports route with Ryohei and goes with "Senpai" as the older boy is also a sports fanatic. Like he does everything else but baseball, he also takes the "extremeness" without blinking.
Kyoya and Ryohei just throw threats at each other and end up destroying a building or two in their fights. Which means all is as it should be, even if Tsuna outright faints and Takeshi panics.
Noriko is delighted. Sky, Rain, Cloud, Sun - four down, three to go.
(She resolves to slap the Mist when she finds him though. Hopefully, he won't be like - )
Training
It's a bonus when exposure to Ryohei and insistence from Noriko results in Tsuna and Takeshi joining in on the morning runs and occasionally, some stretches and exercises as well.
Now, if Noriko can only sneak some katas in...
Kyoya grunts when she mentions it. He eyes them all contemplatively, no doubt wondering how long it'll take for him to get a decent fight.
Warmth
She still dreams at night, of beautiful pocket watches and a laughing, chaotic family.
But it's alright.
When she wakes up in the morning, that warmth doesn't fade away anymore.
Noriko smiles brilliantly.