Author Ramblings: Hallo! Another random thought that you might not be interested in, but it will have the usual amount of HibarixIpin romance, and I'm hoping you're not just after the pairing but the story itself. By the way, I always make sure that I-pin is at least 18 in my random thoughts, since Hibari appears a real pedophile when assuming the contrary. And I will keep the thoughts as short as possible, so as not to bore you guys. :D

And another note: I-pin is 21 in this thought. And this thought has no connection with the previous one.

WARNING: Angst and character death and a bit of OOC-ness

Bear with me.

I do not own "Katekyo Hitman Reborn!" in any manner, because if I did, it'll be a romance story rather than a comedy-action genre anime, and I-pin would be the Tenth Vongola boss.

Machiavellianism ~Penitence is a new word~

"It is better to be hated than to be loved…"

"Whoah!" echoed the voice of two boys in the corridor as they were awed by the sheer strength a certain girl showed them. "You're really strong Sawada-san!" they said while the girl was transferring the ice to the container.

Not only that, but the professor was also amazed by her demonstration, "Are you a black-belter in Tae Kwon Do, I-pin?" she asked.

"No, ma'am, but I practice a little of martial arts." She smiled. The tube ice was clumped together and it didn't fit in the container, she sighed.

"Seems like it still doesn't fit, senior," Another male student spoke, stating the obvious.

I-pin instructed the aforementioned student to prop the ice over the Styrofoam chest. She breathed in, then somebody's face flashed in her mind making anger rise in her. With a shout, she struck the ice with her fist and the breaking of ice again resounded in the corridors.

While I-pin and another student were taking care of the ice, a student approached, this time a girl, and then told her that her hand was bleeding. Indeed it was, and the skin over I-pin's middle knuckle was torn off, the others were riddled with ice splinters and her fingers were full of cuts. Yet she dismissed it quickly and attended to what she was doing.

Finally, the ice fit perfectly into the chest and was taken inside the laboratory. I-pin asked her professor for forgiveness though; she almost destroyed the container in the process.

Suddenly, she remembered her wounded hand, so she raced to the clinic while the others were setting up the thermodynamics experiment. Arriving there, she asked the nurse for help about her hand. The nurse then told I-pin to sit near the table that had medical stuff over it. Of course it is the job of the school nurse to ask what caused such a bloody injury and I-pin didn't know how to start.

"Well, you could have used something else to crush the ice you know." The nurse said while putting peroxide on her wounds. I-pin couldn't feel the sting of the liquid for her hand hurt ten times more.

What the nurse said made her think though, as to why she did that. She could have just let the boys take care of it, but she enjoyed what she did anyway; there was no point in regretting it. Imagining his face be hit by such a punch was fulfilling in many ways; it felt good to release some stress once in a while.

The nurse was done then dismissed her, and she ran back to the laboratory with a hand stained with iodine.

ioioioi

I-pin was glad that the stressful day was over; her bleeding hand didn't help at all. But there was still something to look forward to, seeing her daughter is enough to distract her from her problems.

She removed her shoes after she entered the door of the Sawada's residence and called out to the owner of the house while in the corridor. I-pin heard her call back and went to the living room to find Nana playing with Shiranui, a baby girl that had steely dark-blue eyes. The roughly year-old child kept on trying to grab the keys from the older woman who hung the said object over the baby's head, shaking it to keep the child's attention.

Nana saw I-pin enter the room and the baby was finally able to grab the keys due to the diversion. And to that, the younger woman dashed to take the keys before it got into the infant's mouth.

"You can't do that." I-pin reprimanded the child but with a gentle and calm tone. She then glared at Nana, the one who baited the keys, yet got a smile in return. I-pin gave back the keys and took Shiranui while thanking Sawada Nana for the help.

"It's okay, you know!" Nana said while putting a palm on her own cheek, "I haven't been taking care of children anyway." She spoke as I-pin collected her things and prepared to go. She then escorted the younger one to the door and was about to say goodbye when she remembered something, "By the way, Ran-chan is really like her father." With quite a solemn smile on her face, she referred to the child that was in I-pin's arms.

"Don't say that Aunt Nana!" was her reply. Her back faced Nana and she prepared to leave the vicinity but when she got to the gate she turned and spoke, "Maybe a little bit, about liking birds and cute animals." Then she left.

ioioioi

She arrived at her own house, a bloc away from where she came from, and then tried to unlock the door yet to her surprise, the door opened by its self. She was shocked for a moment but eased when she saw who opened the door.

She greeted him, "Oh you're back, Hibari-san." Without looking at him, she entered the house, removed her shoes then went to the living room to put Shiranui on a crib. Hibari trailed her and when she swirled to get a bottle of water, she crashed into him. I-pin hissed upon the collision, yet Hibari kept quiet; eyeing her until she got out of the room.

The child that lay in the crib caught his attention moreover, he reached out a hand to touch the baby and the child reciprocated his actions. But when they were about to have contact, he heard I-pin shout "Don't you dare touch her!"

He retreated then straightened and at that time, I-pin came back with two bottles in hand. She shoved past him, then gave the bottle containing milk to the baby, and propped it on a pillow as the baby sucked on the nipple.

She stood up, and was about to pick her other things when Hibari pulled her arm rudely so she faced him. He took the bottle of water that resided in her hand then threw the object on the couch, all that was done without losing eye contact with the Chinese woman. He started,

"That child," he looked at the crib's direction momentarily then back at I-pin, "is mine, am I right?"

I-pin pulled her arm yet he did not let go, answered his question next. "She is not yours." She stated so because the way he referred to Shiranui as a property pissed her off, so she might as well piss him off. Their glaring game lasted for a minute but suddenly ended when they heard a cry. Hibari let I-pin tend the child that demanded attention.

"You don't care about us after all." I-pin suddenly spoke while she carried the then grumpy child, and lulled it in her arms. She moved towards the sliding glass doors that lead to the patio, but to her surprise the glass shattered after a familiar loud sound rang through the air and she protected Shiranui from the shards in reaction.

Hibari instructed I-pin to take cover in case there was a next shot. It was a good thing that he did not take off his shoes when he went inside the house, and it made it easy for him to tread over the broken glass.

Hibari ran towards the backyard and saw a shadow move somewhere over the roof of another house and he pursued it by jumping onto the wall that separated I-pin's house from the street. That was when he saw that the assassin was aiming at him.

The assassin fired, and Hibari successfully evaded the projectile. With the assassin missing his mark, he leapt onto the roof that his opponent was on. He lunged forward to initiate close combat and his enemy put up a resistance. But resistance against Hibari was futile, thus the murderer was sentenced to a quick death.

With it done, he called Kusakabe and ordered assistance, then carried the body down and to I-pin's back yard. When he touched the ground, he turned toward the house only to see I-pin on the floor inside the house, leaning on the couch all the while still holding her child; she was bleeding. He then realized that the assassin was trying to kill anybody in the household.

He watched her carefully as he approached; trying to get a hint of movement and found that she was still alive as she tried to unbutton her shirt. He closed in and he saw her bared breasts, a large gaping hole was there just below her left collar bone. Blood continued to gush out of her wound, yet she did not mind and continued what she was about to do—she breastfed Shiranui on her right.

I-pin looked up at Hibari and smiled weakly. Her lips then formed words and she spoke to him in a very hoarse voice which was barely audible that Hibari couldn't help but crouch close to her just to hear her speak…

ioioioi

I-pin breathed her last and Hibari took the baby that she held and set it down on the crib. After he did, he returned to the Chinese woman and closed her shirt, subsequently covered her body with his coat that he had taken off.

The smile on her face made him conclude that she died peacefully. He wondered why he longs to hear her speak and why the time he conversed with her seemed so long although it only lasted roughly six minutes. Whatever was going on with him was something he did not like but something he could not deny; he had never felt so sad in his entire life.

What was the difference? So many deaths had occurred in front of him before, some he being the culprit, but none had been so strong that it invoked his long dead feelings.

His mind slowly crept back to reality and he heard Kusakabe call his name and was surprised that his subordinate had shaken him for a few times. Stimuli entered his mind, the blaring sound of the ambulance, the scurrying of feet on the floor, he finally felt everything. Was he that lost in his thoughts? He was; he didn't even hit Kusakabe for doing what woke him up.

He stood up and went to take the baby from the crib. While he picked her up, his mind reeled back to the conversation that happened between him and I-pin and it kept on bugging him.

ioioioi

Even though she was weak and tired, I-pin still tried her best to talk to him; she told him a lot of things, some were important and some he ignored but what he couldn't forget was how she looked so strong for a dying person. He wondered if he would be the same if he were dying.

Anyway, Hibari contemplated on his blurry memory of the conversation and retraced everything over and over. He didn't understand as to why he did, it all just happened.

"I wanted to say so many things, that I hate you for leaving me behind after making me think that you did care," was what she said and he remembered replying "It's better to be hated than to be loved…" the smile on her lips was so vivid in his memories that his insides twist.

Her spoken words were clear as well, despite the fact that she was losing her breath, "Machiavelli said if it was not both." Bloodstained was her hand that held his cheek but he did not mind at all, so she continued to caress his face, "But it's better to be loved than to be hated if you are loved and hated at the same time." He furrowed his brows, a bit confused at what she said and at the same time, was confused as to why he let her crowd him.

A few more seconds and tears rolled down her cheeks, her breathing shortened more, yet she went on, "Take care of Ran-chan for me."

That was when he interjected, "Don't tell me what to do."

"I'm not ordering you," she leaned forward and kissed him, breaking it only to speak further, "I'm asking you a favor. Please?" he did not remember saying anything but I-pin smiled anyway. "Thanks, I love you so much, the man whom I hate at the same time." A pause, "I trust you."

"I can always betray you, what if I did?" he asked but silence reigned in the house, and the beating of her heart was clear against such silence. He closely listened to it as it grew weaker, even wished that it would not stop, but nothing can prevent her soul from escaping her body.

She was gone but life goes on. He stared at her lifeless form with his unsympathetic look, but he very well knew what bothered him inside, and it made him rethink his ideals. Furthermore, he couldn't remove from his mind what I-pin used to say every time he met her by his apathy and his lack of emotions, 'A rock hard surface does not protect the heart.'

Epilogue

A few days later, gossips had been circulating in the Vongole family, a Yakuza family was found massacred in their own headquarters, apparently the family was one of those that had a grudge against the Vongole's Cloud guardian; news about I-pin being murdered, and about Hibari having a love-child, to name a few. But talking about it publicly was something like a taboo for all of the rumors were somehow related to the president of the Foundation.

What's more, I-pin's death was a touchy topic especially to Kyoko, Haru and the Thunder guardian Lambo. But everybody seemed to forget somebody who was mourning more than anyone, though he would not admit himself.

It was a timely death for the Sakura spring, pink petals fluttering in the wind made him scowl in irritation, as an ache coursed through his head. What a pain it was for him, but he was the one who ordered to have I-pin's grave near a Sakura tree, and aside from that, he learned a new word—penitence.

A daily ritual that he imposed on himself, along with carrying the infant named Hibari Shiranui in his arms every time he went to visit the Chinese's grave. It was such a bother and it was something that he wouldn't do, but the person to whom he dedicated his recent actions was somebody close to being important, a necessity that he only realized after she was gone.

He murmured something before he left the grave,

"I'll make sure that I'll hate and love this burden at the same time," quite ironic for he will never again feel anything.

End

"…If not both."

Niccolo Machiavelli

/Endnotes

Machiavellianism is drawn from the harsh reality of this world, that a person won't be able to survive if he was too weak, innocent and a goody-two-shoes. I think that it is all about being cunning, and of finding ways of how to manipulate everything in your environment, i.e. getting anything that you want by the way you want to. Also, not being too trusting is a point in Machiavelli's argument of how to get political power. It really suits Hibari in every point of perspective. If there is something wrong from the above statements, do correct me.

Just look up Niccolò Machiavelli's "The Prince" if you want to know more.

/

Random Ending Thoughts: I know the composition sucks a little, compared to the previous thoughts... And it's longer to boot! XD Anyhow thanks for reading! I love you guys! Ich liebe dich! Je t'aime! Aishiteru! Mahal ko kayo! Did I spell those correctly? Ahahahaha I know it is frigging angsty and all, forgive me for the theme.

Please leave a review for this chapter. That is all.

Danke! (Thank you!)

A paradox:

~ If God can do anything, can he create a boulder so heavy he can't lift it? ~