Windshear

Part 13/?

Authors: Kagaya Chou and The Dream Whisperer
Characters/Pairings: Everyone except their parents and the Varia. And no Souichi Irie today. Byakuran/Mukuro, eventual Yamamoto/Hibari.
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5951
Summary: The fight begins.

Reborn stood at the door, arms crossed and eyes hidden beneath his fedora. This morning was a crucial one for Hibari and the Vongola both, and Reborn was making sure that absolutely nothing would go wrong. He scanned his eyes over his surroundings, taking note of the four black Ferraris pulling out of the garage to line up along the porch. He had, of course, made sure that the drivers were all people that he deemed trustworthy for the purpose - Romario, Kusakabe, Kakimoto, and Bianchi herself - and the cars themselves were safe. Reborn doubted that Byakuran would sabotage their cars, but there were enemies other than the Gesso and it wouldn't hurt to be too careful.

Watching as Hibari - their star of the day - get into the second Ferrari, he nodded at the suit, well-cut enough to disguise Hibari's current skeletal frame as simply 'slender'. Reborn had the Vongola tailors rush it out last night, because Hibari's current wardrobe would simply fall off him and be a hindrance. Besides, none of them wanted to give Byakuran the satisfaction to see how weakened Hibari was.

First impressions always count.

The fact of the matter was that Hibari's physical appearance and the force of his own will both contributed to the strength of his presence. Appearing weak, Mukuro had warned them, would encourage Byakuran to play cat and mouse with Hibari, toying with him at length and tiring him out before moving in for the kill. Too strong, and the opposite would happen; Byakuran wouldn't take any chances.

Thus the fancy cars and clothes and safety precautions, all of the Vongola Guardians armed to the teeth despite the agreement that there would only be two people fighting today; it wasn't like the Gesso would do any less.

In his own car, Tsuna held a hand over the breast pocket of his suit, over his heart, murmuring a soft prayer for Hibari, because dear sweet Kyoko and Haru... Bless their women's intuition and their innocent souls because no one had the heart to tell them what was going and yet somehow, they knew enough to make Hibari an omamori, a protection charm.

It was just that Hibari never cared for such things. Asking him to carry one was the equivalent of asking to be bitten to death, really. So Tsuna carried it for him.

Dino slipped into the front seat just as Reborn dropped into the back, beside Tsuna. The blond was frowning, his lips drawn thin and white as he craned his neck backwards, looking pensively at the car that Hibari had disappeared into. He had wanted to sit with Hibari really, but Dino knew he would just disturb the younger man with his seemingly needless worrying.

Leaning back against the leather, Dino closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. He pulled a hand through his long hair, visibly frustrated.

"Dino," Reborn spoke, curt and sharp. "This isn't a battle for you to fret about. Not anymore."

Tsuna peered at Reborn wordlessly before leaning forward in his seat to place a gloved hand over Dino's shoulder. They had changed a lot in regards to that timeline, finding Irie and thereby coming across Spanner, supporting the Giglionero Family and thus preventing the formation of the Black Spell. One of the most difficult things that had to be done was confronting Verde to halt his research on the ring boxes, and the Vongola accomplished that - all of that - within the last ten years.

"It'll be all right, Dino-san. You know Hibari better than any of us."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," Dino answered wryly, turning around and putting his hand on top of Tsuna's. He squeezed it gently, glad for his little brother's comfort. "I know that Kyouya would win. He would never allow himself anything less."

He hesitated for a moment before sighing, "It's just that... I worry about what comes next. Kyouya puts everything he has into everything he does, but then..." he chewed on his lip, leaving the rest of the sentence hanging in the air, unspoken.

But not unacknowledged.

Reborn crossed his arm, turning his head to stare out of the window, "I had Hibari's doctors go over to your manor yesterday, Dino. They should be able to buy us some time. Enough for us to get the cure."

Tsuna nodded. "They should be able to administer it as soon as possible," if all went well, if Hibari was still alive after fighting all out with Byakuran, if Byakuran kept his word and no one decided to target the doctors instead. He shook his head, shoving those stray doubts down as he steadily continued, "If it's a delicate procedure."

"If we are able to find the cure in the first place," Reborn said grimly, his eyes narrowing. "Despite his words, I doubt that he would actually hand over the cure just like that."

Dino was silent for a moment, his hand slipping into the inner pocket of his jacket to touch the leather holster and the cool metal of the gun resting inside. "If he refuses..." he began slowly, then shrugged, half-nonchalant."Then we just have to force it out of him, haven't we?"

He never liked doing things 'the traditional mafia way', but he knew - he had been in this business long enough to know - that sometimes there wasn't any other way. And, honestly, he wasn't willing to risk Hibari's life over his own principles. Hibari would bite him to death for it.

He just... wanted Hibari to be alive enough to do that.

Tsuna eyed Dino's hand. Somehow, he didn't think his older brother was reaching in his coat pocket to touch a lucky charm. He was... more practical than that.

Leaning back against plush leather that should have been comfortable, Tsuna buckled up and tried to ignore the near-suffocating feeling that seemed to emanate from his gut. Over the years, he never stopped asking himself if there were better alternatives to the choices that they made; rather than sending his friends out on various missions where they had to fight, to hurt and to kill, how else could they all achieve what needed to be done for a better future? What were the consequences? And was it all worth it in the end?

He smiled wryly. Silly Tsuna, he could feel his tutor's eyes on him, and almost hear Reborn's voice even though he was just thinking to himself. It's not the end just yet.

***

The moment Hibari got into the car, after giving Kusakabe a curt nod of acknowledgment, he dropped himself backwards until he lay flat against the leather seats. He stretched himself out, sprawling until he had occupied the entire space inside. Crossing his ankles, he bent his knees to leave enough space for Yamamoto, since it seemed like the other man was going to sit in the back with him whether he liked it or not. Arms folding behind his head, Hibari closed his eyes.

It had been far too difficult for him to simply sleep, lately, so he would take any chance he had to simply rest. He had needed to be at his best - or what constituted as his best now - as much as he could be.

After all, he was going to bite that Byakuran to death.

If Yamamoto would just hurry up in the car that is, except he was standing there, staring for a moment, eyes widened slightly when Hibari stretched out. After a moment, Hibird flew in and settled on Hibari's head. Yamamoto laughed out loud at the sight, and got in, pulling the seatbelt on in place after closing the door.

Nonchalantly, Hibari stretched out his legs, dropping them on top of Yamamoto's thighs without a word.

That got him a few seconds of utter silence, and then another laugh, softer than the one before. "It's funny... Usually you rest your head on someone's lap, not your feet." Slowly, he lifted his hands from the belt buckle; he didn't seem to know where to put them next.

"I do whatever I want," Hibari said calmly, his eyes still closed. "Now shut up."

Yamamoto opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it. Instead, he held a hand out towards Hibird, curling a finger slightly, beckoning. The bird stared back at him for a few seconds, then hopped off Hibari's head and onto his finger. Steadily, he transferred the bird onto his shoulder.

Glancing up at the rearview mirror, Yamamoto nodded at Kusakabe. Ready whenever you are.

Kusakabe nodded, smoothing out his frown. He bit down hard on the piece of grass in his mouth, and then stepped on the accelerator.

***

As the cars rolled out, Gokudera leaned back in his seat, looked away from the window to sigh heavily to himself. Rather than risking a glance towards the rear-view mirror, towards his sister's face, he simply closed his eyes. He didn't know if he felt relieved or annoyed at the sight of that cheery baseball idiot, smiling like at a ball of yellow fluff on his shoulder like nothing was wrong.

And Yamamoto knew the stakes...

Lambo watched him, biting his lip and trying to not fidget. His self-control lasted for exactly five minutes before he started wringing his hands slightly, pressing the tips of his fingers together and then forcing them apart. He looked up.

"Hey, Gokudera..." he tried, sounding tentative.

"Yeah?" Gokudera opened his eyes after a moment, and turned his gaze upon the teenage hitman, already half-irritated by his timid tone. "What is it?"

Lambo tried not to cringe at that, instinctively leaning away from Gokudera towards the window. "Is..." he swallowed. "Is everything going to be okay?"

Gokudera looked away, thinking briefly about cigarettes, and then lung cancer. He licked his lips, sucking in a breath through his teeth, then let it out slowly. "Maybe. Maybe not." He didn't want to lie to the kid. "On the one hand, we have that bastard's word that he'll give us the cure to Hibari's illness if - when Hibari defeats him. But I doubt he's going to hand it over nice and easy.

"On the other hand, even though we're heading to the Cavallone's Roman compound, it's still the Gesso family we're facing. We could still be walking into their trap. You remember ten years ago, in that other future?"

"A little... Not much of it." Lambo admitted, toying with a lock of his hair. He didn't like thinking of that; about how useless he was at that time when everyone was trying their best and trying save the Vongola, while he was just... sort of around.

He took a breath, lifting his eyes to give Gokudera a small, tentative smile. "But I've read the reports of what happened... and the profile Reborn made of him." At that, he winced slightly.

"Yeah, well... We did weaken them, more than they'll ever know," Gokudera smirked back, and faintly, his eyes shining with pride. His voice was calm and dry as he continued, "If we could beat them then, we can beat them now; anything goes wrong today, and we'll crush them!" He made a fist in the air for emphasis.

Lambo could only offer a small, but bright smile at that. His hands clenched into fists on his thigh, bunching the soft leather beneath his nails. They would win, he reminded himself. They were the Vongola and Lambo's famiglia and of course they would win.

Of course.

His smile widened, and he nodded. "Yeah."

***

When Ryohei held the door open for Chrome, she smiled, a pretty picture of peace and serenity as she always seemed to be, and he grinned back. Meanwhile, Kakimoto Chikusa had peered up at him from the driver's seat, utterly expressionless. Ryohei couldn't help but give him a thumbs up.

"Thanks for the ride, Kakimoto!"

Bam!

The door was definitely shut now.

Chrome didn't even wince at the loud slam, simply taking it all in her stride. She gave Chikusa a small, knowing smile and nodded. Mukuro-sama was safe, and with her - with them - for now. She knew that the other two boys - men by now, but they would probably always be boys to her - worried very much about him often, especially after the little tidbit she told them about the future that was not theirs. So nowadays, she tried to give them as much reassurance as she could.

Chikusa nodded in response before turning back to the wheel, watching impassively as the other cars pulled out of the lot.

Turning back to Ryohei, Chrome's smile gentled even further. "Thank you, Sasagawa-san," she said, belatedly.

"Don't mention it," the Sun Guardian blithely replied. He glanced down as he buckled up, then quickly looked at her once more. "Oh! Hey, Mukuro's going be there again, right? What about the other guy... Joushima! He there already?"

Chrome nodded, "Mukuro-sama will be there." He didn't have much of a choice, to be honest, she thought wryly, leaning back against the cool leather seats with her eyes closed. Byakuran did call for all the Guardians to be there, and Mukuro... well, he was literally just beside Byakuran right now.

But it wasn't as if he would refuse to come anyway.

"Ken..." she continued, opening her eyes and sharing a tiny, secret smile with Chikusa in the rearview mirror."He might."

"Eh?" Ryohei blinked. He didn't know what to make of that sweet little smile of hers. Yamamoto's smiles used to be almost as unreadable. "... Heh," usually Chrome didn't give straight answers anyway. He shrugged. "Well, all right." It wasn't as if that Mukuro would betray Tsuna, he figured.

After all, pineapple-head was almost as obsessed with Tsuna as octopus-head.

Chrome turned her head to look at Ryohei for a long, silent moment before she spoke again. "Are you worried, Sasagawa-san?"

Ryohei grinned automatically, but his eyebrows creased together for a second before he relaxed his expression and shrugged. "For Hibari, yeah."

"I think everyone is," Chrome replied, almost placidly. Her hand slipped inside the pocket of her suit, feeling the cool metal of the small trident that was now her weapon. Her eyes lidded slightly as she stared out of the window. "I only hope that Byakuran-san would be reasonable."

"Yeah..." He thought back to the last time they all saw Byakuran. Come to think of it, Byakuran still seemed as cracked as they figured he'd be, but it was someone else who acted unexpectedly. "Actually I'm worried about Yamamoto... He's never been so extreme with his reactions before." Everyone reacted when Hibari fainted in front of them all, but even then...

Chrome nodded at that, a small, secretive smile curving her lips. "I'm sure he would be all right," she murmured quietly. "He's just worried about Hibari-san." Far, far more worried than the rest of them, because his attachment was simply so much stronger.

"Yeah, but like you said, we all are." Ryohei scratched his head. "What I don't get is how Yamamoto noticed something was wrong when the rest of us didn't. Besides Reborn that is."

Chrome laughed a little at that. She turned and gave Ryohei a small shrug, "I don't know either. But it's interesting to wonder, isn't it?"

***

The car slowed and came to a stop. Dino, arms crossed, opened his eyes and announced; "We're here."

He exchanged a short glance with Reborn, then Tsuna through the rearview mirror. His ex-tutor nodded, and they exited the car at the same time, leaning against it as they looked out towards the Cavallone base. The grounds were as well-kept as ever, lilies and tulips and petunias dotting the green lawns. A little further, a stone fountain cast rainbows in the air. And in the distance-

Spots of white, getting larger and larger. Reborn tipped his hat back a little, a breath escaping his lips.

"They're here."

Tsuna nodded, although his main concern had little to do with the approaching men... and Iris. Rather, from the corner of his vision, he spied Yamamoto alighting from Kusakabe's car.

For a moment, barely a second, it looked like Yamamoto was lifting a hand out towards Hibari. But the moment passed and his hand ended up against the car door, as though there was a need to nudge it open wider.

He could imagine the look that Hibari might have shot towards Yamamoto, but who could blame them? Tsuna's eyes refocused to the front to catch sight of Byakura's suit, Byakuran's hair, Byakuran's smile - white, white, bright as fresh fallen snow - and they were close enough now. He could see the white of his eyes even.

Faintly, Tsuna thought of snipers, variations on how to use his X Burner, and why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I?

Byakuran smiled knowingly. Tsuna was a pacifist, wasn't he? Well known and loved and protected, the Vongola Tenth was a breath of fresh air amongst the mafia and also quite a diplomat, much like a foreign goodwill ambassador at times, but he was still part of the mafia; he still sent people out into battle, to 'talk business' with violence, to kill... Such an entertaining combination of bigotry.

Reborn watched Tsuna, and then Byakuran. He knew what Tsuna wanted to do, what he himself wanted to do, what everyone had thought of doing, at some point or another. But it wasn't a solution that would bring them Hibari's life, because Byakuran held the cure and all the cards in his hands, so they had to play his game.

Briefly, he wondered if Byakuran realized what a fool he was to have chosen Hibari to be his opponent. He smirked, barely visible, and turned his eyes to the second car.

Hibari's back was straight but not too much, his breathing tightly controlled to the point that anyone who didn't know him might have thought that it looked natural. His head spun a little, but he pushed the dizziness away, his eyes fixated on the pale hair of his adversary. So this was the man who did this to him. He fingered the tonfa hidden up his sleeve. Here was a chance for him to take his revenge, neatly gift-wrapped.

He wouldn't waste it.

The Rain Guardian closed the door behind the Cloud Guardian, and Byakuran thought the gesture was sweet: the way marshmallows melted against his tongue, irresistibly soft and uncomplicated.

He observed openly and briefly tried to memorize Yamamoto's face, but someone else was staring at him with a good, strong dose of killing intent. Byakuran's gaze slide to Hibari, who was so pale, so gaunt, and hollow-cheeked. The other guardians just seemed to pale in comparison.

Dark circles under the Cloud Guardian's eyes betrayed the fact that he had caught little sleep of late, but those eyes were nonetheless piercing, and whoever tailored his suit had to be a master; overall, he simply looked anorexic, rather than almost dead.

Come to think of it, it was truly a wonder that he was still alive. Byakuran was hard pressed to think of anyone who even came close to surviving for a month or two after being inflicted with Hibiscus. The point was to let its victims leave a beautiful corpse.

Byakuran sighed. Life would be very boring indeed if everything went his way.

Mukuro heard the sigh, his eyes gliding over to watch Byakuran. His customary smile remained on his lips, but he was worried, in his own way. He had no doubt that Hibari would win, no matter how strong Byakuran was - after all, the circumstances where Hibari Kyouya had defeated him ten years ago were similar. He wasn't even walking around with broken bones this time... It was the cure - its location, to be exact - that preyed on his mind. That riddle...

His mismatched eyes caught Chrome's blue one, then Chikusa's, and his smile widened slightly, curving up into something almost like a smirk. He thought back on the other member of his little family, and lidded his eyes slightly to hide the smugness.

Ken would do just fine. He had the clue, the instructions. He would find the cure; after all, he was Mukuro's tenacious puppy. The only question was-

Would Hibari survive long enough for the cure to be brought here?

Hibari's dark eyes - sharp as knives despite the blurring of the world - met Byakuran's straight on. There was a blatant challenge in them. Though it was Byakuran who had set the rules of this game, this gamble, Hibari had never been one to take another's rules lying down.

He ignored everyone's eyes on him as he walked towards the place of their battle. He had been here too many times to not know the grounds like the back of his hand, and Hibari had never been a particularly patient man. Besides, delaying would not be to his advantage.

He knew that his time was running out.

But that didn't stop him from halting before Byakuran, danger woven in the curl of his fingers; in the narrowing of his eyelids; in every movement he made. His lips curved upwards, and it was a smirk, certainly not a smile.

"Byakuran of the Gesso," when Hibari spoke, his voice was louder and stronger than it had been in days - none of that weak, whispery version that the Vongola had been treated to. A twist of his hands and the tonfas came sliding out of his sleeves easily, but he didn't raise them, keeping them to his sides. It was a reminder to Byakuran that no matter how weakened he might seem, he was still Hibari Kyouya, still deadly, and should never be underestimated.

"Shall we begin."

Violet eyes widened in delight at the simple statement that was delivered with absolute conviction. "As soon as the gracious Cavallone Tenth leads us to our arena," Byakuran nodded, the look in his eyes soft as he admired the Cloud Guardian. When he turned his gaze upon said mafia boss however, the look became bland, his smile politely interested.

"If you would be so kind..." He half-turned, half-stepped aside for Dino, and looked down at Tsuna. "Hello again, Vongola Tenth," he chuckled. "Thank you for keeping your end of the bargain."

Tsuna stiffened. Behind him, the rest of the guardians were ready to mob Byakuran, and he knew it. But as he'd stressed, he didn't want an all out war. This fight was pointless enough, wasn't it? "As you will, I'm sure, Byakuran-san."

"Of course."

***

Dino's men had cleared the grounds entirely for the battle, Reborn noted, and smiled slightly at their efficiency. He watched as Hibari brushed past him, back straight and head held high. He doubted that anyone else would be able to tell that Hibari was as weak as he was, and that thought widened his smile.

He expected no less from the strongest Guardian.

Hibari stopped at one side of the circular arena, his hands clenching tighter around his tonfas to stop them from trembling. Watching through slitted eyes as Byakuran took his place at the other side, he let out a long, slow breath and shoved the pain he had been feeling out of his mind. It was not worth any attention, right now.

He lifted his eyes, and met Yamamoto's gaze.

It was warm; it was familiar - something intimate and annoying and too confusing to think about. And then came that soft, encouraging smile that Hibari never really needed.

Yamamoto just smiled. He kept his mouth shut because there were... quite a few things he wanted to tell Hibari, in case... Just in case, but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't be brushed aside, or irritate Hibari, or simply take the man's attention away from his fight.

A quick intake of breath. He nodded, as if to reassure...

But Hibari had never been the sort to need the reassurance. He returned Yamamoto's nod with a fierce look of his own before turning back to face Byakuran, his feet and body moving smoothly into his natural fighting stance. Tonfas held in front of him, Cloud ring on his finger, Hibari turned to look at Dino, his eyes demanding one thing and only one:

Let's begin.

Byakuran grinned widely at the briefly stricken looks that crossed both Dino Cavallone and Yamamoto Takeshi's faces. Idly, he wondered just what was so attractive about the Vongola Cloud Guardian, aside from his renowned strength and beauty. Certainly not his personality. So serious... so boring.

He glanced to the side at his men, who now flanked Mukuro as if they were allies. Byakuran chuckled, and raised a hand to study his fingers, contemplating the Mare Sky ring for a moment in particular before a clear orange flame flickered to life.

"Fetch us the cure, won't you, Mukuro-kun?"

Mukuro's eyes darted to him for a moment- Fetch us the cure, when Mukuro himself didn't have it, and didn't even know where it was. But of course that didn't show on his face. He merely smiled at Byakuran, bright and false as always, and nodded.

"Of course." He left the arena, walking away. This might even be fortuitous, really... He could check on how Ken was doing, after all. His eyes slid to Hibari, standing tall and proud despite looking as if a wind could blow him away with ease.

He smiled.

Hibari barely took notice of Mukuro's exit, eyes focused on Byakuran and the burning orange flames. So that was the Mare ring of Sky... Hibari slanted his eyes over to Dino once more, and when the man nodded, he lowered his body. Cloud flames ignited immediately from his ring to spread over to his tonfas, brightly violet and fierce.

And he struck.

Byakuran sidestepped with a fluid turn towards the left, curling his right hand around the Mare ring's flame as it flared up and into the shape of a double-edged long sword. It burned beautifully like something out of fanciful and terrible fables; the silver blade seemed to bring light into the room, as if it'd been dark before, and the rain guard fanned out with soft flames into the shape of the Mare ring's wings.

It was this man, Tsuna reflected, this self-styled White Knight, was who shone like an angel and brought the mafia world to its knees in another timeline. And although that reality does not exist anymore, Byakuran still had the power, still held so many - like the Phantom Knight of the Giglionero family - in his thrall.

He wielded his weapon with effortless grace, and ghosted past Hibari, smiling. Letting the edge of his blade drag around the curve of one tonfa, he used the steel as a pivot point, to slice across Hibari's body.

Of course, it couldn't have been that easy.

Hibari wasn't one to be caught with such a simple move. He twisted his body away from the roaring Sky flames, jumping up and flying backwards away from them. He frowned - this was tiresome, because the sword had a longer reach than his tonfas, and the flames themselves lengthened the reach even further.

But Hibari wasn't one to be discouraged by such little things. The Cloud flames on his tonfas burned brighter, hotter, fiercer as his resolve strengthened. To increase the flame of the ring was...

To be pissed off.

And Hibari was certainly angry enough for his flames to flare outwards, fanning out until it almost entirely swallowed his form. All of a sudden, the place seemed to be like an inferno, heat from the Cloud flames spreading outwards and distorting the air. Hibari took a breath through his mouth and his feet left the ground as he practically flew towards his opponent with quick, light steps. His tonfas drew backwards, aiming for Byakuran's throat.

Byakuran parried, simply deflecting Hibari's blow. But he did not press his advantage. Instead, he jumped back out of range, grinning like a little boy on Christmas morning. He had the audacity to laugh, knowing that Hibari probably wanted to end this quickly, but this fight wasn't about to be a one man show. Byakuran wanted to play first, to see if Mukuro was right about Hibari's strength.

And Hibari knew it.

He knew that Byakuran was simply playing, simply toying with him and that fact made him grit his teeth, tendons standing out. His knuckles were white against his tonfas, eyes narrowed as his Cloud flames burn even brighter as he moved into the next strike. He ducked downwards to the ground, sweeping a leg out to kick out Byakuran's legs from under him. His tonfas shot back up, aimed for Byakuran's pelvis and ribs, aiming to incapacitate.

He would show the man the mistake he made in underestimating him.

Violet eyes widened in surprise. But then, delightedly, Byakuran laughed. He had jumped when Hibari tried to trip him down, which left him vulnerable to being gutted when he landed - except, that was where the Mare ring came in. With its flame, he propelled himself higher up in the air, aiming to burn his opponent at the same time.

Hibari rolled out of the way immediately, hissing out his breath through his teeth when some of Byakuran's flames caught on his suit and skin. But he didn't spare a thought of that - pain was entirely inconsequential at this point - and leapt into the air to chase Byakuran. He dodged the fiery sword with a shift in his hips, gripping his tonfa tight as he tried to shove it into Byakuran's chest.

Byakuran held a hand out in Hibari's direction. A round shield of fire erupted from his palm, and as it took the brunt of the attack, ribbons of Sky flame burst out from the sides, to curl around, or rather, wrap around the Cloud flames.

But Hibari was the Cloud; the one who could never be caught. And he was older now; wiser, even. With a single thought, he muted his Cloud flames, shutting them off and plunging back to the ground. He landed on the balls of his feet, knees bent and chest heaving for breath. Black was edging to the sides of his vision.

He was running out of time, and realizing it.

Looking up, he watched Byakuran still in the air with narrowed eyes. For a moment, he thought about those boxes that Tsuna had spoken about and he himself had seen, but it was only a fleeting thought before violet flames flared up around him, shooting him upwards into the air swiftly. He feinted to the left, as if he was going for Byakuran's heart, but spun mid-air, tonfas extended.

The blow connected.

Having misjudged Hibari's intention, Byakuran raised his shield to block the thrust to the heart, only to have fire and metal slammed against his gut. The strength of Hibari's hit pushed him a few meters back. He stopped short of introducing the back of his head to a wall however, with a cushion of soft flame.

"Oh! My, but that was a nice shot," he chuckled. Despite the pain, his eyes danced with amusement. "Mukuro-kun warned me that you hit hard."

Now he was just goading Hibari.

Byakuran reminded Hibari of all of Mukuro's unpleasant qualities. His fighting style, as well, was as distasteful - all fanciful moves and empty fire, dancing around the arena, never striking properly and only dodging. As if it was all only a game.

Even Yamamoto Takeshi knew when to quit playing and start fighting seriously.

It frustrated Hibari; he had no time to play such games, nor did he want to. He moved to attack again, lips drawn back into a snarl.

No doubt, he wanted to wipe that serene smile off of Byakuran's face, but every time he seemed to manage, that smile was back, as if it could grow frustratingly wider.

Byakuran moved more cautiously now. Nonetheless, he didn't seem to favour anything, or show that he felt the least bit of hurt. Instead, he seemed remarkably energetic. And chatty.

"What you have, Hibari-kun, I call Hibiscus," he offhandedly revealed as he backed away from another flurry of blows. "In flower language, it has two meanings..."

"I don't want to hear it," Hibari intoned flatly. He wasn't listening to Byakuran – he knew that the man was trying to distract him, and he wasn't as stupid or rash to fall for the bait. He had fought enough with Mukuro to be able to block out such incessant noise.

Despite Byakuran not showing it, Hibari could tell that he was slightly weakened. The blow that connected was a strong one - it might have even cracked a few ribs. He wasn't sure, but he catalogued the possible injury in his mind. Narrowing his eyes, he suddenly moved upwards, his tonfa striking out to use Byakuran's shield as pivot. He twisted in the air, shoulders steeling to strike at Byakuran's head and neck as he came back down.

He caught the flat of the flame sword instead, and again, it happened again: Hibari's Cloud flame diminished on contact with the Sky flame, which only grew larger and clearer. Byakuran swung his sword to flip Hibari over him in the air, and continued with barely a hitch in his voice.

"Hibiscus, firstly, means delicate beauty. Now, I heard that you were beautiful, but you never really looked all that delicate to me," he chuckled. "Until now."

Hibari didn't even bother to acknowledge those words, narrowing his eyes when he realized what Byakuran was doing with his Sky flames. His lips thinned into a line - it wouldn't be so easy to swallow his Cloud flames to nothing.

After all, this was his dying will.

Hibari's breath rattled slightly in his chest as he somersaulted in the air, trying to get close to Byakuran again. His flames burnt even brighter and hotter than before, violet nearly swallowing his figure as he pressed down against Byakuran's sword, directly challenging his Sky flames.

If it was a battle of wills, Hibari knew he wouldn't - couldn't - lose.

From Byakuran's point of view, Hibari was playing right into his hands, practically throwing out all that Cloud energy without regard for what the Sky ring could do with it. He welcomed Hibari then, with seemingly open arms. Or rather, he stretched his arms out straight at his sides, sword and shield melting into formless fire in his palms.

Suddenly, Sky flames wrapped around them, both of them, morphing into a giant sphere of light. He heard screams down below, vaguely. But that was muted as the sphere closed.

"The second meaning is..." Byakuran chuckled, "... perhaps Rain-kun might have been a better candidate to consume your fire."

Byakuran was insinuating something, but Hibari didn't know what and couldn't care less about it. The air was suddenly thicker around them, shaking in the air from the sheer heat. Hibari gritted his teeth, fighting not to gasp for air as his head suddenly spun, dizziness nearly making him loosen his grip on his weapons.

But he wasn't one who would be so easily beaten. He breathed through his nose, searching for oxygen even as flames licked at the edges of his clothes. Closing his eyes against the blinding heat and light, his Cloud flames grew even stronger, pushing back against Byakuran's orange Sky.

Byakuran took it all in, the flames of Hibari's dying will, and channelled it through his own body, twisting the violet fire until it became his. As a result, the sphere grew larger, and the air around them, thinner.

Hibari simply gritted his teeth in response, his breath hitching and head spinning at the sudden decrease of air. When he could use boxes, he could do this: something like his Needle Sphere Form, Reversed. But his flames didn't back down - far from it. His muscles tensed, lips drawing back until they were white and his breathing stopped entirely for a moment.

Around him, violet fire burst outwards, trying to overcome the sphere of Byakuran's fire.

This is my dying will, he thought, and pushed back the black and the pain that wanted so badly to overwhelm him.

TBC