A/N: I'm back with an update at last! It's been three weeks into school and it's draining me. My weekends are also packed already, so I only have Saturday and Sunday night to write. So, sorry for the late update. Not to mention that I had trouble uploading my documents the last few days. Did anyone else experienced that problem?

Anways, instead of listening to me ramble about school and excuses, go ahead and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9: Up on the Rooftop

It was the next week already and Hibari was once again in good health to go to school. Of course, it was obvious that the students would rather prefer him to be gone for good. They really enjoyed the last few days without the head prefect around searching for a prey to devour, but like the saying goes, good things must come to an end; though the students wished that this good thing would last must longer.

It really didn't matter for Miki that much. She would have to see him everyday anyways, whether he came to school or not. The only difference was that when Hibari wasn't at school, the rest of the Disciplinary Committee members didn't make her do committee work like Hibari did when he was around. He didn't tell her to specifically take care of anything either, so she thought that it was fine if she slacked off.

Now Hibari was back at school, so Miki had no choice but to once again go extra early to help him with his work. Miki sighed as she continued scribbling down the name of students that according to Hibari broke some kind of school rule in the last week while he was away. Even if the other members of the Disciplinary Committee already finished with them, Hibari wanted to make sure for himself.

There's going to be a bloody massacre today at Namimori Junior High…

When she finally finished, Miki neatly placed her finished work in a stack and slouched down in her seat. School was going to start soon, so she better start heading off to class.

"I'm going to class now," she told Hibari.

He didn't say anything and just nodded without even taking his eyes off his work.

Upon arriving at class, Miki noticed that the boys have not yet arrived.

"Ohayo, Miki-chan," Kyoko greeted as Miki sat down at her desk.

"Ohayo, Kyoko-chan."

"Nee, Miki, have you finished drawing in your sketchbook yet?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Can I have a look?"

"Sure," Miki replied, opening her bag and delving into it to find the sketchbook that she used for art class. After a couple of seconds, Miki abruptly shot up from her chair.

"Is there something wrong?" Kyoko asked when she saw the expression on her friend's face.

"I left it at home!" Miki exclaimed. Gosh, she was so stupid. "What time is it?"

"It's 8:20. You can still get it on time if you hurry."

"Yeah, I'll be right back!" Miki told Kyoko as she dashed out of the classroom. There were only ten minutes before class starts and she had to rush back to Hibari's place and grab her sketchbook before the bell rang for class. If she didn't make it on time…Hibari would be there waiting for her at the front gate, ready to give her a sweet moment of death.

Sliding the door to the guestroom open, Miki ran straight up to Hibari. "Can I have the house key?"

Hibari looked up from what he was working on. "For…?"

"I forgot my sketchbook at home and art class is third period."

Hibari reached into his pocket and tossed the chain of keys to Miki. "There's only ten minutes before class starts. You are aware of what will happen if you come back late right?"

Miki gulped. "Hai..."

"Then beat it."

Miki didn't need Hibari to tell her that. She was out of the room before he could finish his sentence. She raced through the hallways and down the stairs and finally out of the school doors and off campus. She ran as if her life depended on it. Actually, her life pretty much did depend on it. She would be as good as dead if she showed up late.

Once she reached Hibari's place, Miki sloppily took of her shoes, ran to get her sketchbook from her room, ran back to slip her shoes back on and dashed back outside, yet not forgetting to lock the door behind her.

She kept on running, but when she turned a corner she ended up bumping into someone. The impact of the collision sent her and the other person to the ground.

Groaning, Miki turned to face the person she ran into. "Tsuna!"

Hearing the person in front of him exclaiming his name, Tsuna raised his gaze to look. "Miki! Gomen, I didn't see you," he apologized.

"It's okay. I wasn't looking at where I was going either," Miki stated, getting up.

Tsuna gave her a small smile, but it quickly faded a second later once he remembered why he was in such a hurry. "We're going to be late!" he screamed, panic clearly visible in his voice and on his face.

"Let's hurry!" Miki said, running past Tsuna.

The two students ran with all they got, but it wasn't enough. The bell rang just as they approached the school gate.

"Hibari-san isn't around," Tsuna stated, turning his head to observe the area.

Miki let out a sigh of relief. They wouldn't have to be bitten to death now. "Come on, let's get to class," she said, making her way to the door, but came to a complete halt as a figure slowly made his appearance from inside the school building.

"I'm going to bite the both of you to death for being late to school," Hibari said coldly, advancing towards Miki and Tsuna with his tonfa raised.

Miki took an anxious gulp and Tsuna started to sweat.

"The second bell still hasn't rung yet," Miki remarked, trying to save her and Tsuna's life. "This means that we're not late for class yet."

"Everyone should be inside the school when the first bell rang."

"That's not fair..." Miki muttered.

Hibari glared at her. "Are you trying to argue with me?"

"Well…no, not really, but-"

Suddenly, the ringing of the school bell can be heard echoing throughout the campus.

"Do you have anything else to say before I deal with you two?"

"EHHH?! Chotto matte, Hibari-san! We're really sorry!" Tsuna said, waving his hands in front of him frantically as if in an attempt to block something.

"You should be," Hibari said, stepping closer to the two students.

"You're not serious about this are you? You really don't mean to do this right?" Miki questioned, hoping to be able to knock some sense of mercy into the Head of the Disciplinary Committee's head.

"You said that you were aware about the consequences."

Sadly it didn't work.

Miki knew fully well that when Hibari says something, he means it, and she did know that he would beat anyone up as punishment, but when it came to the situation like this, she couldn't help but think that it was all unfair of him to do so. She never did agree to him on punishing people up this way. They wouldn't have been late if he hadn't stopped them. If he had let them go on to class, they would have been on time for the second bell. He was being awfully unreasonable and unreasonable was something that Miki wasn't going to take.

"It's still not fair…"

Her being persistent at trying to talk back at him started to irritate Hibari. He stepped towards the poor girl and raised his tonfa.

Miki's face paled once she noticed that Hibari was now even more annoyed and she could feel the sticky sweat on her palms as she clenched her fist.

'Come on, Miki. Stand your ground. You can't let him know that you're afraid…'

However, her trembling feet betrayed her and she ended up slowly moving backwards step by step.

"No!" Tsuna suddenly shouted, thrusting himself between Hibari and Miki. "This is wrong."

Hibari raised an eyebrow. He was a bit surprise by the young male's actions. "You have no right to tell me what's right or wrong." Then without warning, Hibari swung his tonfa in Tsuna's direction and ended up missing the brunet's head by a hair's length.

Tsuna fell the ground with a cry. If it wasn't from his training, his head would have been smashed into bits already. 'Gosh, what on earth did I get myself into?' Tsuna thought. He took a glance back in Miki's direction. She was now his friend isn't that right? So, that means that there is only one thing to do. Tsuna took a nervous gulp before slowly getting back on his feet.

"Hibari-san, Miki didn't do anything wrong. She was just voicing her opinion and…" Tsuna hesitated before continuing. "I too, think that you're being unfair."

That was it. He so did it. Tsuna fully realized that he just dug his own grave by talking back to Hibari like that, but what else could he have done? Miki was his friend and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt his friends if it was the last thing he was going to do.

Hibari's eyebrows twitched. The person in front of him was starting to become quite arrogant in his eyes. "I'm going to bite you to death…"

Miki's eyes widen in surprise once she started to be able to pick up what Tsuna was trying to do.

"I was the one who spoke up against you. Don't hurt Tsuna," Miki said, stepping next to Tsuna.

Twitch.

Tsuna's mouth dropped open a bit as he stared, surprised at the girl next to him. "Hibari-san, you really shouldn't do this. The reason she was late was because of me. I ran into her in the first place."

Twitch.

"Yeah, but I was the one who wasn't looking where I was going and I was the one who forgot my sketchbook at home, remember?" Miki argued, taking a step in front of Tsuna. "So, it's my fault."

TWITCH.

Hibari raised his tonfa and started to bring it down on Miki, who closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. However, it never came. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Hibari's tonfa hanging less than an inch above her head.

No one dared move.

Hibari stared down at the girl in front of him. His teeth were clenched as he tried to suppress the many emotions that were bubbling up inside of him. He wanted to hit the girl in front of him so badly, but…he couldn't. He could not understand why. Feeling frustrated, Hibari lowered his shaking tonfa and with a twisted face, stomped back into the school in frustration.

Miki just stood there, speechless. Why didn't he hit her? Why did he hold back? It didn't make any sense. It was definitely not out of mercy or compassion; that she was sure of. Then what was the reason?

Tsuna who was just as confused, stared at the direction of the school building where Hibari disappeared into and then at Miki. What was going on?

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From a nearby tree, a small baby sat watching, allowing the shade of the branches to hide him from view. The corners of his mouth curved up into a small smirk.

'Just a little more…'

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"Gomennasai Juudaime! I failed to protect you as your right hand man!"

"It's really alright, Gokudera-kun! I'm not hurt or anything," Tsuna said, trying to calm the silver haired mafiaso down.

"Tsuna's right. It's not your fault, so stop blaming yourself already," Yamamoto agreed.

"Shut up baseball idiot! What about you? Why weren't you there protecting the tenth?" Gokudera yelled at the other guardian.

Yamamoto could only smile sheepishly.

"It's wasn't anyone's fault, so please stop it," Tsuna sighed in exasperation.

Gokudera immediately quiet down, though he was still glaring at Yamamoto.

Yamamoto laughed uneasily. He then turned to face their other friend who had been quiet for some time now. "You alright there, Miki?"

Miki looked up from her lunch. "Yeah," she replied and went back playing around with her shrimp tempura with her chopsticks.

She was still thinking about Hibari. She still could not understand why he didn't slam his tonfa on her earlier. Miki sighed. She was the type of person in which if she starts to ponder about something, she wouldn't be able to get it off her mind until she at least found a somewhat suitable answer. At this moment, she couldn't think of even one lousy explanation.

Tsuna, who apparently knew what was on her mind, frowned with a worried disposition. He had to admit that he too, wonder why Hibari didn't beat them up on the spot and instead let them go unharmed.

Yamamoto looked from Tsuna to Miki. He felt that there was something unusual going on, but didn't understand what it was. So, instead, he tried to erase it, for the time being at least.

"So, how's the project going?" he asked his friends.

"Oh, it's going great," said Tsuna, blushing slightly and scratching his cheek in embarrassment as he thought about Kyoko. Everything had been going pretty well and he enjoyed every single moment working with her. Last time, Kyoko even invited him to snack on something in her favorite cake shop with her after working. It felt as if they were on a real date. He would cherish that beautiful event with him forever.

Miki pinched Tsuna lightly when she sensed that he was starting to space out. Gosh, he really did like the girl a whole lot.

Just then Kyoko appeared from behind the door. "Tsuna-kun, can I talk to you about the project?"

"S-sure!" Tsuna quickly answered, springing up onto his feet. "See you guys later then," he said as he exited the roof with Kyoko.

"I'm going to go too. This time I won't make the same mistake of not keeping a good eye on Juudaime! That fighting maniac might be back again," Gokudera announced with eyes filled with determination.

"I guess that only leaves us," Yamamoto remarked as Gokudera left the school roof after Tsuna.

"I guess so," Miki said, closing the lid to her bento. "So, when can we work on the project together again?"

Yamamoto looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I'm kind of packed afterschool all week. The game is in two weeks and we have to do extra practices in order to make up for loosing practice last time because of the weather. Maybe we can meet during the weekend?"

"Sure, that's fine with me," Miki said. "You sure practice really hard," she added.

Yamamoto grinned. "It's because I love baseball."

Miki also smiled. "Baseball is really important to you isn't it?"

Yamamoto stared at her for a few seconds before smiling again. "It is. Actually, to tell you the truth, it used to be the most important thing in my life. It gave my life meaning, at least, until I met Tsuna."

"What do you mean?" Miki asked her voice filled with curiosity.

Yamamoto got up and started walking forward. "That one event helped changed me for good and it all happened on this very roof, right here on this very spot," he said, stopping at a spot behind the fence that surrounded the rooftop. There was a moment of silence before he continued. "Last year, I tried to jump off from here."

Miki was shocked at what she just heard. She couldn't have heard it right could she? She got up and walked next to Yamamoto. From the look on his face, he was serious. She couldn't and didn't want to believe it. How could the cheerful baseball player, who always seemed look at things on the bright side, have made such a daring and hopeless attempt to end his own life?

"At that time, I felt that my baseball career was going downwards and that I wasn't as good as I used to be. Tsuna…he told me to just do my best and when I did that and everything just got worse, I guess that at that time, the only way out was to just end it all…just to end everything…However, it was Tsuna's words that saved me when I was about to jump and it was then that we became friends and I found that friendship is something that is more worthy of being cherished than something like baseball. Of course, baseball is still important to me, but it's now second next to my friends and family."

"Yamamoto…"

Yamamoto turned to face Miki and was taken back for a second when he saw the look she wore on her face. She looked as if she was going to burst into tears anytime soon. "Gomen, what was I thinking? I shouldn't have said something like that. I'm alright now. You know that right?" he said, giving her a cheerful smile.

Miki nodded and smile back. "It's just kind of scary though…Thinking that I might have never met you."

"Well, I'm here and well, alive and enjoying life! We're even friends!" he said, reaching out his hand to ruffle her hair like he did before. Only this time, she didn't become all jumpy or flustered.

Yamamoto Takeshi…She felt that there is more to him than what meets the eye.

"We should be going back to class now. The bell should ring anytime soon," Yamamoto said, withdrawing his hand and heading to the door.

Miki nodded and followed.

Yamamoto reached for the doorknob and turned it. He blinked. He turned it again. He frowned and repeated turning the doorknob over and over again.

"Is there something wrong?" Miki asked. Somehow she had a bad feeling.

"It's locked."

"Haha…Very funny Yamamoto. Come on, let's hurry up and get to class or else we'll be late."

"I'm not joking. We really are locked on the roof."

"EHHH!?" Miki exclaimed in disbelief. Just this morning she was late and now she was going to be late again and face Hibari for the second time of the day in the position of violating the same school rule.

It was just then that the school bell rang.

Great. This was just great.

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Hibari Kyouya was on his normal duty in patrolling the school after the bell rang for the start of class in order to find a mischievous prey, which had no idea that it had sealed its fate by skipping class. So far during the morning classes, he had caught anyone breaking any school rule. This would be a good sign—a very good sign indeed, but for today, Hibari was in a sour mood because of that very fact. He still couldn't get his mind of not being able to beat Kimura Miki in the morning. He let someone who was supposed to be punished escape and it had hurt his pride. How could he, as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee have made such a mistake? Right now, more than ever, he wanted to beat someone to death right at the very spot as if it would be a good atonement for his earlier sin.

Hibari started walking to the rooftop next and as he ascended up the stairs, a small figure caught his eyes.

"Ciaosu, Hibari," Reborn greeted the Vongola Cloud Guardian, with a friendly tone of voice.

A smirk crept onto Hibari's face. He needed someone to let his frustration out on. "Interest in a little fight?" he said, pulling out his tonfas.

Reborn returned the smirk. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that I'll have to once again turn down your offer. Don't worry though. You'll get the chance to let off some steam." With that the little Arcobaleno slid off the railing and bounced down the stairs.

Hibari frowned. That baby knew he was in a mad mood. How? His thoughts about that were soon forgotten however, as he opened the door to enter the school roof.

"Hibari!" Miki exclaimed, shocked by the prefect's sudden appearance. Right now she wanted to dig a hole in the ground in order to hide herself from view. Her fears came true. Hibari found them first before anybody else did and they were finished.

Yamamoto chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "We have an explanation. You see-"

Yamamoto didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence when the cylinder shape of Hibari's weapon came into close view. Putting his great reflexes to use, the Rain Guardian shifted his position in order to avoid getting hit. The tonfa sliced the air just inches from Yamamoto's head and even managed to retrieve a few strands of his short black hair.

"Just hang on a second and listen to me first won't you?" Yamamoto said as calmly as he could.

However, Hibari didn't seem to even hear what he had to say for he took another swift charge towards the baseball player, who jumped to the side in order to dodge the prefect's second aim.

"The door was locked and we couldn't get to class on time," Yamamoto continued his explanation even if he didn't know whether or not Hibari was paying any attention at what he had to say.

"The door wasn't locked," Hibari said coldly, glaring at the other male.

Yamamoto eyes widen in shock. "That can't be. It was locked the last time I checked when the bell rang."

"You better think of a better excuse for skipping class next time. No matter, I'm going to bite you to death right here and now," Hibari growled, shifting into another fighting stance.

Yamamoto started to sweat. He was starting to get pressured by having Hibari's piercing grey eyes on him. They were hostile, furious—filled with murderous intent to bring him down. He had never seen the Head of Disciplinary Committee look like this before. Hibari was certainly extremely extra pissed off today.

It was then that something in Yamamoto's mind clicked. Could it have been because of the incident with Tsuna and Miki in the morning? It was the only thing he could think of. However, he still had no idea why that might be since he did not know any of the details of the incident.

The Rain Guardian also wondered how long he could keep this up. Hibari definitely wasn't the type of person who would listen to just anyone, especially in his current state, so the possibility of talking him out of this fight was just about zero. Yamamoto himself had the reflexes and agility, but without his Shigure Kintoki or some other weapon, he was at a large disadvantage in offence.

As Yamamoto was in his thoughts, Hibari came up for another round of attack. He aimed his tonfa at the other guardian, who was yet again able to dodge the attack. However this time, Hibari unleashed a string of metal chains from his other tonfa and with it wrapped it around the other male's arm, stopping him from escaping any further.

Yamamoto felt the resistance on his movement and was yanked forward before he could balance himself. With another swift movement, Hibari was in front of the baseball player and slammed the tonfa into the other male's chest, sending him flying backwards against the concrete wall.

Yamamoto coughed as he slid down to floor. His chest heaved painfully with every heavy breath. Hibari sure knew how to hit hard. Having not strength to stand up at the moment, he could only watch as Hibari advance towards him with his tonfa still raised—ready for the finishing blow.

A third figure, who had silently witnessed everything from the sideline however, jumped in between the two, facing Hibari with her arms stretched wide, shielding the fallen male.

"Stop this Hibari. Now," Miki's words came out as a command. There was no hesitant in her voice and she said it without any signs of being frighten of the person in front of her. Right now, she was too angry to be afraid. She couldn't accept how unreasonable Hibari was being again for the second time that day. He tried to hurt Yamamoto without listening to his full story first and pondering over whether or not his story was true or not. He just jumped to the conclusion that it was all a lie and started fighting recklessly.

Hibari's eyebrows twitched in irritation. His temper was already wavering over the danger zone and he didn't need anything else to push it deeper.

"Move."

"No."

Without warning, Hibari's tonfa made direct contact with Miki's side, sending her sprawling on the floor. Miki could feel warm tears cascading down her cheeks. It wasn't just because of the pain that was streaking madly through her side, but it was mainly because of the fact that he had hit her. She didn't understand. It wasn't like he hadn't hit her before. It was just that his time it was out of pure anger. He had slammed the cold metal against her with such full force without holding back the slightest bit. Compare to the other times, she could tell that he didn't hit her with his full strength. Now it was different. It hurt inside more than it did on the outside. Why that was she couldn't figure it out.

Hibari flinched when he saw the tears rolling down Miki's face. Something stirred inside of him. What was this feeling? Was he feeling guilty? That was impossible. Since when had he ever felt guilty about hurting other people this way? But there it was. That feeling that someone might describe as guilt. He stood there staring at the girl in front of him in silence for a few seconds before sliding his hands underneath her small body, lifting her up and exiting the roof.

"Hibari, wait…" Yamamoto started as he tried to stand up, however the pain that Hibari had inflicted on his chest still had not worn off and he ended up falling to the floor.

"Don't worry, things will be fine. You just lay down and rest for awhile."

Yamamoto lifted his head to look in the direction of the voice and saw Reborn standing next to him.

Reborn sat down beside his student. "Trust me. Everything will work out just fine," he said with a smile.

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Having no strength to struggle from the male's arms, Miki reluctantly allowed Hibari to carry her off from the roof. Right now, she didn't want to be near this person. She wanted to push him away and run back to see how Yamamoto was doing.

When they reached the guestroom, Hibari laid her down on the couch and went back outside. A few moments later, he reappeared with an icepack. Miki winced when she felt the cold object come in contact with her side. She was definitely going to get a nice bruise. If she also had any internal damages, the person in the room with her was going to get it big time.

Hibari backed away from her once Miki took hold of the icepack. He went to stand by the window. His vacant eyes stared outside.

Miki turned to gaze at him. It was strange, but her anger had already ceased. She was still displeased and frustrated over his actions, but the same bitter anger that she had just moments ago vanished when he had handed the icepack over to her. It was as if it was his way of apologizing. How strange…

Hibari Kyouya…Just what is it about this mysterious man...?

A/N: I felt like the ending was a bit rushed...Probably cause I just wanted to get his up. Bleh, when I actually have time, I'll probably edit it and also the part with Yamamoto and Miki cause I think that it still kind of lacks a bit of details and emotions...

I also sure hope that Hibari wasn't OOC in this chapter. Also, if you're staring to think that there is certainly quite a bit of 80OC and that wasn't this suppose to be mainly 18OC, well, yeah, there's quite a bit of Yamamoto lately and more to come, but not to worry, later on most of the focus will be on 18OC. In fact, Yamamoto isn't going even appear next chapter...sadly or not.

Once again, thank you to all my lovely readers!~ Love you all!