Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any other recognizable enterprises. Nor do I make money off them.

AN: This may be a bit odd, I started wondering what kind of life Hibari was going back to and this was born. Many joke about where Gokudera lives, but what about Hibari?

Before the Bullet

Chapter Seven

Tsuna lazed in bed for a long while after he woke up. A Saturday with out morning class was a great thing. What luck to have a School Improvement Day on a Saturday and my birthday on Sunday?

"Tsu-kun!" His mother called from downstairs.

Tsuna stretched and got out of bead. He entered the kitchen, yawning. "Good morning, Mama, Hib—" He broke off his yawn in surprise. "Hibari!"

"Good morning." Hibari, clad in his usual Disciplinary Committee uniform, smirked at Tsuna from position next to Nana at the kitchen table.

Oh God, that is a bad sign. No one should get smirked at by Hibari on a day off! Smiling, for the show of being normal kids they put on for his Mom, he asked, "What are you doing here, Hibari?" At Nana's frown, Tsuna added, "It's a bit early isn't it?"

"Kyouya-kun," Hibari and Tsuna froze, but Nana continued on without noticing. "Invited you for dinner tonight for your birthday! And then tomorrow we have dinner here. Won't that be great?"

Tsuna had only heard one person call Hibari by his first name once. Future Ryohei had immediately gotten a tonfa to the head hard enough to knock out the stubborn boxer. Please, please don't kill my Mom!

Hibari sat still and Tsuna sighed in relief. "Your pajamas suit you."

Dread filled Tsuna and he looked down. Purple pajamas with yellow ducks. His face heated up and Tsuna ran back upstairs.

I'm cursed. I have to be. The only reason I wore these instead of boxers was because the house was unusually cold last night.


After two hours of baking three different kinds of cookies with his mother, one hour of riding on a train to a smaller, forest area that was still considered a part of Namimori, and finding out they were going to Hibari's grandparents house, not his parent's, they reached a very big hill with steep steps disappearing into trees.

"Hibari Shrine? Do you have priests in your family?"

"My Grandmother owns the property but we do have a few priests in the family." Hibari started up the stairs.

I really don't know much about Hibari. Just his reputation and his fighting ability. I know more about Xanxus than him. Tsuna followed Hibari, stepping carefully after nearly falling on the first step. Guess that will change a bit.

The October air was cool and damp but Tsuna felt warm in his dress clothes. He didn't know where Nana dug this outfit out but Tsuna certainty never saw it before. Dress pants, white collard shirt, pinstriped vest, and black tie. Sometimes I really wonder how much my Mom knows…this outfit almost screams mafia.

"You are slow."

Tsuna was only about twenty steps from Hibari, who waited at the top. "I'm tired. I wasn't the one who sat around the kitchen all morning drinking tea."

"Nana offered."

Tsuna shook his head as he made it to the top. "You're a moocher just as much as the others."

"Are you really going to compare me to those weaklings? I could act like them and push you down the stairs. All five hundred eighty four of them."

Tsuna glanced over his shoulder, feeling slightly dizzy at the height. "Never mind."

Tsuna walked slightly behind Hibari, just enough to get a clue as of where they were going. The walked past the main temple and around the walled courtyard to a single building. At first, Tsuna thought it was another temple but the door opened up to a genkan. They took off their shoes and Hibari lead him down the halls.

They passed a woman in a simple kimono and apron who greeted Hibari as "Hibari-sama."

Hibari ignored her and the woman walked past them. Eventually, Hibari stopped at a shoji, which looked like all the others along the hallway. Tsuna had not even realized that section of the wall was a door.

Hibari gestured into the room. "She won't bite."

Tsuna trusted that smile as much as he trusted Lambo to not eat candy. He entered the room slowly.

A woman sat behind a low table in perfect seiza position. Lines across her face and lines of gray betrayed her age but the word 'elderly' did not seem to fit her. Her eyes held a fierce, but controlled energy.

"So you are the boy I have heard about." She stared at him and Tsuna felt like a mutt in a dog show. "My grandson didn't take you to his deadbeat father's house, did he?"

Tsuna shook his head. Wasn't aware Hibari actually had a family!

Her gaze softened. "Well then, sit."

Tsuna knelt down across from her and Hibari sat at his side. Fumiko poured them both tea.

Hibari inherited much from his grandmother. Hibari Fumiko had the same imposing, ominous presence of the adult Hibari, even with being two heads shorter. Hibari had her eyes and her hair, though Fumiko's was in a tight, neat bun and had a few threads of grey. The deep red kimono with little white flowers and black obi—was that a tanto tucked into the obi?—looked like Hibari's Disciplinary Committee uniform inverted. The uniform which he was wearing correctly for once with his arms in the sleeves.

"Grandson, Sawada-san." She inclined her head.

Hibari bowed deeply and Tsuna copied him. "It is nice to meet you Hibari-san."

"Call me Fumiko. I assume you call my grandson Hibari, as you are not confined to a hospital." Fumiko sounded quite proud.

Tsuna smiled weakly. If you were anyone else, Mama, you would have been in so much trouble.

"Hard to believe a child that looks so weak will become a yakuza."

"Mafia." Hibari corrected.

Tsuna could only blink.

"Mafia or yakuza, either way he seems ill fitted for the job." Fumiko sipped her tea, calm as if she was talking about the weather. "Do you really think you are capable of assassination?"

Tsuna squeaked and turned to Hibari. "You told her?!"

"He didn't tell you? So like his grandfather. I am covering for you this winter."

"Hiiii!"

"Hibari" and "sleepover" did not belong in the same sentence but Tsuna ended up in a borrowed on a futon next to a sleeping Hibari. Fumiko and Nana apparently decided this over the phone while the boys had been on the train. Tsuna himself could not fall asleep. He had too much on his mind.

Involving ordinary people in the Vongola—Tsuna did not like it. Haru and Kyoko in the future with him had reminded him how fragile people could be. He couldn't imagine even telling his mom and she married a mafioso! Tsuna had long since forgiven Iemitsu for leaving them. There were two worlds and balancing both begged for bloodshed.

Why, Dad, am I the Decimo? How did you decide that dame-Tsuna should be a boss? Tsuna sighed. His choosing seemed so random—and amazingly lucky, now that Tsuna thought about it. He was dame-Tsuna. School, sports, the world above crime, Tsuna had not excelled in. Had Dad been similar?

As carefree as his dad may seem, Tsuna doubted the choice was easy. Tsuna had learned about the dedicated and calculating side of him from Basil. Someday, he would have to ask him.

"Shut up, herbivore."

Tsuna squeaked.

I'm modeling Tsuna's school after a Japanese one I visited. They have school on Saturdays but only in the morning.

Genkan is the area you walk into in a Japanese house where you exchange your outside shoes for slippers or just go in socks.

Seiza is the traditional way of sitting for the Japanese. Is there even an English word, besides kneeling? My mind draws a blank.

A tanto is a small katana styled sword.

Quick note: Luche is Uni's grandmother. Thank you Craze Izumi! But for this fic, she'll be her mother.

Posted: June 1, 2009