Sorry this took so long, but this story, while entertaining, is not my main love.
Also, I'm really sorry, but I feel like Sanji is just a touch (Read: REALLY) OOC in this story. Oops? Also, also, Hibari too.
Spoken words in italics = French. Or the recap. Or straight up in surprise. There is one of those in here too.
Last time; "I'm going to have a smoke if you all don't mind. Hayato, wanna join me?" he asked as he started to remove himself from the group, walking toward the railing with a cigarette already in his mouth. He brought the lighter up to light the stick just as Hayato yelled out,
"Ah! Sanji wait!" he was sadly interrupted by a growl of "Smoking on school property? I'll bite you to death." which caught Sanji's attention just as the black-haired guy from the upper roof lunged.
Sanji only barely had time to dodge the coming onslaught of tonfa strikes to his face, no time to attack anywhere, unless he got serious. Sanji's attacker, Hitori or Hibashi or something, jumped back to assess the chef with narrowed eyes, tonfa still raised and poised to strike again.
"You... can fight. So why don't you?"
"Haa? How would you know that? And why the fuck did you attack me just now, huh?! Mother fucker! You made me drop my cig!" Sanji was livid, back rigid and hands balled in fists in his pockets.
"I know you can fight, because of how you dodge, herbivore. And you shouldn't be smoking on school property anyway." The attacker stated coolly.
"Herbivore? Are you shitting me? I'm human; which makes me a fucking omnivore, you dipshit." He said, annoyance colouring his tone as he leaned forward, intent on beating this asshole into the ground. Sanji's wording seemed to only make the black-haired teen angrier, but before either teen could attack, Hayato and his smaller friend, Tsuna, blocked them. Literally.
"Woa, ok there, you really really don't want to fight him. I don't know if you can fight at all, but he can and will beat the shit out of you." Sanji could hear Hayato saying, and something similar from Tsuna to the black-haired teen. "He attacked me first!" Sanji nearly shouted, pointing harshly at the bastard across from him, mirroring his sneer of distaste. Hayato pressed in farther than strictly necessary, brought one hand up to Sanji's shoulder and whispered,
"I really don't want to visit you in the hospital, so could you please back down? For me?"
Sanji really had no idea why that did fluttery things to his stomach (or his heart) but he took a step back, looked at Hayato and really searched his face, his eyes. For what Sanji really didn't know, but he sighed and grit out, "Fine. But if he attacks me again out of nowhere, I'm not holding back!"
Hayato smiled a small, grateful twitch of the lips, and pulled his hand back to his side. He gave a slight pause, watching Sanji's eye before turning back to start screaming at the tonfa bearing asshat. "And you! Sanji is a new student, he wouldn't know all your bullshit rules, or your reputation of being a hardass about them! Back the fuck off, alright?"
"Oh? You're being awfully kind to this particular rule breaking herbivore, Gokudera Hayato. Any reason why?" Hibari cocked his head to the side in question, a calm, mocking smirk on his lips, and just when Gokudera began to sputter that there wasn't any reason he was being nice (Not that he was being nice at all. Really.) Hibari lunged.
Hayato tensed to receive the brunt of the attack, and a sudden hand came down on his shoulder with such pressure, he nearly stumbled back. A leg shot over his shoulder as Sanji launched himself from behind Hayato, his left leg catching one tonfa just under the grip once close enough and ripped it away with a kick powerful enough to send the weapon flying over the railing beyond. He braced with his left leg the moment it hit the ground and, in the same movement, sent one of his harder kicks from his stronger right leg into the other teen's centre mass.
The teen flew back nearly 6 feet, rolling into a skidding squat. There was a moment of still quiet as everyone one on the roof took a moment to understand what had just happened. Sanji straightened his stance, his hand still on Hayato's shoulder and turned slowly toward Hibari Kyoya.
"Oi. You."
Livid.
It was the only word Hayato could come up with that would come close to what Sanji looked like. The blond looked like a demon, rage marred his beautiful face, and murder sharpened those perfect blue eyes. Hayato wasn't even sure Livid fully expressed Sanji's mood properly. He was terrifying.
"How dare you attack Hayato. I just said I'd concede, that I wouldn't fight you and you still attack him for nothing? You son of a bitch. Stand up properly. We're going to fight for real." Sanji growled, literally growled and loosened his tie, taking in the smirk of the back-handed bastard who stood in front of him, single tonfa at the ready.
He kind of wanted to destroy that smirk.
So, with a cool look of his own, Sanji brought out his pack of smokes, pulled one out and lit it, all in one smooth action, all without ever looking away from the black-haired teen. And he watched with a sick satisfaction as that smirk fell slowly, and was replaced by a sneer so contorted, he looked ready to kill Sanji. And the chef loved it.
He noted from the corner of his eye how Tsuna and Tall Luffy (what was his name again? Sanji couldn't find it in himself to care just then) began herding the girls closer to the other side of the roof. He pulled in a deep breath of cigarette smoke, enjoying the feel of the nicotine filling his lungs, and let it out in a long stream from his nose.
"You gonna come at me or what?" Sanji asked smoothly, tapping the toe of his shoe against the ground. Almost as if to taunt him, the bell ending lunch period tolled loudly. Really the bell ringing wouldn't have stopped him from this fight; if anything, the bell would have normally signaled the start of the fight. If his opponent felt the same, that is.
"I guess we'll resume this fight after school this afternoon." The black-haired asshole said with a sneer. He slipped the tonfa back under his jacket and turned to the door. The sudden shift in mood nearly floored Sanji.
"What?!" He sputtered. "The hell is your problem?! You started this whole thing! You can't just walk away!"
The bastard (Hibari! That was his name!) turned back to Sanji with another amused smirk. "I can and I just did. Now get to class, herbivore." He turned stone cold eyes to the rest of the audience and said sharply, "The same goes to the rest of you. Get. To. Class. Before I bite you to death." And Hibari walked out without another word.
Sanji stared at his back incredulously for a good minute before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Slowly the chef turned to see his new friend nudging him toward the door. "The fuck was that!?" He shouted. Or, he tried to shout. His surprise had clogged his throat and the words came out squeakier that he had meant, but he got the point across. Hayato shrugged.
"Just be happy you don't have to actually fight him." He said lightly, letting his hand fall from Sanji's shoulder. The chef would have likely exploded at his new friend for even insinuating he was weaker than that backwards asshole, but the way those pale fingers lingered on his elbow before leaving his arm entirely thoroughly distracted Sanji, and he found the way he suddenly missed the touch more interesting to think on than anything else. He followed the group back to his desk and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering why he wanted Hayato's hands on him again.
By the time school had ended for the day, Sanji had completely forgotten his interaction with Hibari the lunatic. He was reminded of the reset for a fight when said lunatic blocked his path in front of the school. Tonfa (both of them) already raised, a scowl on his face, and his body in a battle stance; he looked like the past afternoon hadn't happened, and the battle from lunch had never been interrupted.
"Where are you going, herbivore? I thought I said we would fight after school, since lunch ended before we could really get into it."
Sanji noticed that over half the student population had paused at hearing this, many people paling in… fear? He raised a curled eyebrow in question but didn't comment on it. Before he could say anything in return, he felt something bump lightly into his shoulder. The chef looked down to his side, letting his blond hair cover his face entirely as he caught Hayato's gaze. Green held on to blue for as long a moment as they dared, before Hayato looked back to Hibari to keep watch while he asked,
"Are you sure you can take him?"
Sanji took in his tone and watchful eyes, and said playfully, "What? Don't trust that I can hold my own?"
A smirk played at Hayato's lips for a moment, "Not really." He glanced up at Sanji again before sobering, eyes back to Hibari in a blink. "But seriously. I've seen what he can do, and I don't want you to be one of his victims."
Sanji leaned back a bit and laughed, "You make it sound like he's a rabid dog or something."
Hayato nodded, "Well, you're not far off."
"Are you two herbivores done flirting?" The older teen called suddenly, causing both Hayato and Sanji to look his direction, and throw up identical middle fingers, Sanji leaning in closer to Hayato than he needed to just to provoke the bastard.
"I'll be fine. But… can you hold my jacket for me while I'm kicking his ass? It's in my way." Sanji whispered, letting his breath ghost across Hayato's cheek. The chef could feel the heat from his companions' face as a light blush flashed across the tops of his cheeks, and he took a step back to take in the view. It was better than he had hoped. Hayato had a small pout on his lips, a half-hearted glare in his eyes, pink stretching across his face and denial on his tongue.
'Oh my god, he looks actually adorable.' Sanji thought as a smile came to his lips.
"Whatever, jackass. I guess I can hold your jacket."
'He's an embarrassed Tsundere! That's awesome!' Sanji almost couldn't hold back the rather un-manly squeal of glee as he shrugged out of his jacket, his tie coming off as well. He watched as Hayato ducked his head with a growl of 'Don't lose' and slunk away. The silver-haired teen was less that a yard away when Sanji felt the rush of killer intent, and barely ducked in time to dodge the first attack. With a sneer, Sanji pivoted his hips, and planted a strong knee into Hibari's side.
Hayato stood about 3 feet from his boss watching in awe as Sanji, the smart-ass new student with amazing skills in a kitchen, practically flew as he fought Hibari, the demon. Never had he seen a fighter as graceful or as spontaneous as Sanji. Not even in Tsuna, whenever he fought with his Dying Will.
With Tsuna there was always a logic, a pattern that shifted with every opponent, geared to the person he was fighting. Sanji? There was no pattern, or at least it seemed like there wasn't. Where against Hibari, Tsuna would go left, right, back or sometimes (but very rarely) up and above. Sanji would go left, right, back, up, down and, most surprisingly, forward. Twice, in as many minutes, Sanji had gone in, the first with a knee to the stomach that actually had the demon stumbling back in pain. The second was a feint with a knee, and as Hibari stepped back out of the direct way, Sanji circled his raised foot around Hibari's back leg just after he shifted his weight to use it as a brace, and the chef twisted, yanking the perfect off balance and forcing him to the ground. The hit to the shoulder Sanji delivered after the demon was there, Hayato was sure had it been anyone else, would have been debilitating.
That wasn't to say Sanji didn't take as many hits as he gave. No, neither fighter was going to walk away from this unscathed.
Sanji launched himself across the wide circle created by the on looking students, raising his leg in the last moment for a kick seemingly aimed at Hibari's chest. The demon blocked by lifting his tonfa vertically in front of him. Sanji switched from a kick to a vaulting jump off of Hibari's tonfa, launching himself nearly 10 feet in the air. He spun ass over tea kettle 3 times over before he came down with a powerful axe kick that would have scrambled Hibari's brains, had he not moved the millisecond before it landed.
The kick left a crater where it landed. Forget scrambling Hibari's brains, it would have killed him.
The two fighters landed a few feet from each other, both out of breath, but with wicked grins promising more to come. (And Hayato could admit, at least in the safety of his head, that Sanji looked hot like that. His hair tousled, out of breath, and that smile that promised danger and adventure… the bomber could hardly stand being so far away form him.) Slowly, cautiously, both fighters stood straight. There was a long moment of silence where every spectator wondered if the fight would continue, or if something new would happen. Would a winner be declared? Would Hibari Kyoya finally be defeated? Or would the new student fall, like so many before him?
The black-haired teen broke the silence first.
"You fight well, for an herbivore."
"What does that have to do with anything?!" Sanji bristled, his grin fading back into a sneer that looked far more natural than anything like his manic expression he had during the fight.
"It's how I classify everyone who lives in my city. Herbivore, or carnivore. I am a carnivore, everyone else isn't."
Hibari stated it like an obvious fact to a child. Sanji could only stare like he just realised the other wasn't actually all there in the head.
"Uh-huh. Right."
"You, however," The crazy man continued, narrowing his eyes in apparent thought, "You have the potential to be more. Why don't you use your hands? You could have gotten at least 3 good hits in, if you had used your hands."
Sanji laughed, "What? You saying I didn't get you pretty good there? I know I kicked you hard enough to numb your arms, it's why you're stalling, not attacking, right?"
Hibari's eyes sharpened to a glare again. "No. Now answer my question."
Sanji let out a long, suffering sigh and repeated in the same tone the deranged man had used before. "I'm a chef. My hands are far more important than any dumb school yard fight."
Hibari looked taken aback, lifting an eyebrow a moment before asking, "Then why did you even learn to fight?"
"Why the hell do you wanna know?" Sanji shot back.
There was a moment where the two men stood, gaging how the other would come at them once more. Hibari was the first to move again, dashing in faster than he had the entire first half of the fight, and it jolted Sanji into jumping straight up into the air to avoid getting hit. Without proper momentum, the best kick Sanji could land was a cheap shot to the back of the assholes' head, but then he could injure his hands in the landing from such a move, so he made to push off of the teen's left shoulder with one foot, land somewhere behind and prepare to kick this bastards' ass.
The moment his foot touched the teen's shoulder for the push off, a hand grabbed his ankle and Sanji's world was sent in a spiral as he was flung down in front of the older teen. The force of the sudden throw expelled all the air from his lungs, and the impact with the ground kept him from being able to take a breath for a good moment. It was just long enough for Hibari to jump up on top of Sanji, pin him to the ground with a tonfa to the neck, and slam the other tonfa into the ground, less than a centimeter from Sanji's upturned left hand.
A stuttered gasp as Sanji's lungs finally took in air, and the chef could only stare as his hand, his hand had come just so close to being crushed to pieces.
"Sanji!" He could hear Hayato scream for him in fear, and damn, he could feel that fear running high in his veins too.
"You have two options." The demon said, tone dangerously low, "One, become a carnivore and use your hands to fight me. Or," He lifted his tonfa again, and lifted it high. "I smash both your hands into dust, bite you to death, and you run away like an herbivore."
Sanji took two deep breathes to calm himself, lifted his right leg just a touch off the ground, and swung it a little over his opposite leg. Hibari didn't seem to notice for the moment, so Sanji used that to his advantage. He took a third deep breath (because this move was going to hurt like a Bitch) and said,
"I choose option three." He spat in Hibari's face, startling the larger teen for a half second – and that was all the time Sanji needed. He rotated his leg as fast and as hard as he could, and he wasn't sure which he felt first, the snap-crackle-pop of his hip dislocating, or the crunch of Hibari's upper arm breaking when the kick landed. Then, all he could feel for a good two seconds was a blinding, white-hot paincoming from his hip.
Hibari was thrown a good distance away, landing on his now shattered arm with a cry of pain, before rolling to a skidding squat not two feet from a stunned Tsuna and co., watching in awe as their fabled, demonic, and previously undefeatable Hibari was panting from an injury that could very well end the fight.
"Hibari-san!" Tsuna called as he landed on his knees next to the taller teen, the other's around him following the action. Kyoko, being a young medic in training, darted over and grabbed Hibari's arm, causing the infallible man to cry out again. She frowned.
"It's not just broken. It's shattered." She said somberly, eyebrows drawn in worry, and Hibari hissed in her direction.
"This is nothing! I'll bite him to death!" He growled, and stood to lunge at him again, only for him to be yanked down to the ground by his bad arm by a rather unusually brave Sawada Tsunayoshi.
"No, the battle ends in a draw, and it ends now. You can challenge him again later, when you both are healed. Look! Sanji can't stand right now, let alone continue this fight."
They turned and looked back to the chef, just as the single most vaguely disturbing, and absolutely terrifying thing happened before their very eyes.
The moment Hibari Kyoya was sent flying in their direction, Hayato knew the fight had ended. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he was sure there was no other way the fight could end. And it seemed Tsuna thought the same, as the bomber listened to his rant, he knew Hibari was down with that arm, and Sanji…
"Shit!"
Hayato finally started to stumble over to the blond chef, where the man was rocking himself into a squat, his right hip dislocated, and stretched out to the side as he got his left foot underneath him, his heel directly under the visibly dislocated bone, and began lifting himself up, as if to stand. He braced his hands on his right knee and that was when it clicked in Hayato's head what the idiot was about to do.
"Sanji! Stop! You're just going to make it worse!"
But it was too late. The chef was slamming his hip back into place, forcing his knee towards the ground with his hands, and forcing the bone up into its socket with his heel. Sanji screamed in pain, and Hayato burst into a run to his side. The crowd took on a collective nausea, paling either at the sight or the sound, or both, while Tsuna and the rest looked thoroughly disturbed. Hayato crouched at Sanji's side, listening to the other's heavy breathing, and said sharply,
"You… stupid idiot! You know you just worsened that, right!? I'm taking you to a hospital, no arguments!"
"No need." Sanji panted, then laughed a bit, sounding rather manic to Hayato. "I'm fine. I got this. Watch." He winked at the other male, and pulled himself into standing, looking down with a grin that matched his manic laugh, and offered his hand to help Hayato stand with him. Stunned to silence, Hayato took his hand and stood up, looking Sanji over.
"How in the hell…?" He sputtered, "HOW ARE YOU STANDING?!"
Sanji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Uh, I relocated my hip, and stood up?" He laughed. Was it really something to gawk at? This wasn't even some of his worst injuries. Hell, if it was something he could fix and continue the fight through, then he really didn't consider it an injury, more just a painful hinderance. (That's probably the reason his young doctor-in-training friend was always yelling at him.)
Hayato really couldn't believe the chef; because, seriously? He stood there, narrowing his eyes in thinly vailed confusion, mouth open in disbelief, and turned to Juudaime. Was he seeing this too? Was anyone else seeing this? By the similar look on Juudaime's face, as well as the varying degrees of confusion mixed with disturbed nausea on the faces of his friends, they had indeed seen the same thing he did, and felt the same as he. The only one with a slightly different look on his face was Hibari Kyoya, and he looked equally disturbed and impressed.
"Uh, Hayato? I realise you're stuck in disbelief right now, but can I have my hand back? I kind of need it to keep fighting."
Hayato looked back at the chef, his eyes still narrowed in disbelief, the gears in his head processing the question. The logical part of his brain kicked in at the same time a blush flashed across his face, but before he could let go in embarrassment, he intertwined their fingers and held the chef's arm to his body, grabbing the appendage with his other hand for a better grip.
"No!"
"No?"
"I'm taking you to the hospital! There is no way you're ok from dislocating your hip, are you insane?!" Sanji cocked an eyebrow and looked back at Hibari.
"Fine," He sighed, looking back to Hayato, "Just let me do something else first." He began tugging his arm out of the other's surprisingly strong grip and walked closer to Hibari. "I'm not going to continue the fight, promise." He spoke softly, but his eyes were hard. The bomber had to fight to concentrate on holding the other in place, rather than stare stupidly at the other's determined expression. He decided to trail behind the chef and let go of his arm.
Hibari stood, in a half battle stance as if he wasn't sure Sanji would attack him again. His legs were shoulder-width apart, left leg braced further behind him than his right, broken arm down and his good arm up in a fist at his side. If the chef really were to continue this fight, Kyoya had no doubts he would be at a slight disadvantage, seeing as he had dropped both his tonfa after that last kick. Sanji stopped a good 5 feet from the madman, and they fell into a glaring contest.
The small brunette, Tsuna darted between them.
"Wait! You guys have to stop this fight."
Sanji lifted an eyebrow at the smaller male. "I'm not gonna fight him." He said calmly, for the second time in 15 seconds. "I just wanna ask him something."
"My, what a coincidence. I was also going to ask you something." Hibari said over spiked brown locks. Tsuna looked over his shoulder at the dark-haired demon, before turning back to Sanji and sighed, walking over to the tall Luffy (Yama-… something. Damn, Sanji really was bad with names.) muttering something Sanji couldn't quite make out. The chef dismissed it with a mental shrug.
"Why do you know how to fight so well, for someone who only wishes to cook for his life?" Hibari asked, tone genuinely curious. Sanji debated answering at all for a moment, but said with a sigh,
"My dad's restaurant only hires convicts. I picked up a bad attitude from them and my dad, and the old fart decided he would teach me to fight so that when I got into brawls I wouldn't risk my hands. You?"
"I like the fight and keeping order in my town means that I need to be skilled enough to bite down all threats, inside and out." He said, lifting his chin pointedly. "Threats like you."
Sanji smirked, "Uh-huh. Right. Total threat here." He paused a moment, "So, what's your name? Hibari, what?"
"…Hibari Kyoya." He responded hesitantly. Sanji nodded, his smirk widening.
"Ok, then, Kyo-chan, what's your favourite food?" Hibari visibly twitched with the pet name, and literally growled out,
"Just because our fight ended in a draw, does not mean you can be friendly with me."
Sanji snickered, "Ok, Kyoya, what is your favourite food? Seriously, I wanna know."
Simmering just under the surface, Hibari took a moment to answer, "Onigiri. Why?" The question was asked in such a dry tone, Sanji could hardly contain his humor.
"Alright then. Don't bring a lunch tomorrow, I'll bring you one." With that done, Sanji nodded again and walked away, heading back towards Hayato while ignoring the growled "What?" and the accompanying looks of confusion on pretty much every spectator there.
Hayato was blinking at him, his expression clearly asking Sanji what the hell was wrong with him. Sanji just smiled at him and grabbed his jacket and bag.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Hayato." He said with a wink as he left the stunned teen standing in the open court yard. Halfway home, Sanji realized something rather important.
"Shit, I forgot to get Hayato's number. Again."
The next morning found Hibari Kyoya looking at his sad excuse of a kitchen (a temporary place of stay after his usual place of living burnt to the ground nearly a month ago), at the usual empty bento sitting on the cracked counter and sighed. Did he really think the threat from the day previous would actually bring him food? No, but he had nothing left in his fridge anyway. He would go the day without food, should he need to. (Though, to be perfectly honest, Kusakabe would likely bring him something from the cafeteria if Hibari just asked him.)
Lo and behold, however, 5 minutes after the lunch bell and just as Hibari was seriously entertaining the idea of making Kusakabe bring him food, the demonic perfect heard sounds of familiar voices chattering out side of his door.
"You can't be serious, Sanji! That asshole tried to smash your hands yesterday! Why would you make him a lunch?"
"Remember how I said I was a cook from a young age? My dream is to become a chef of the highest caliber, not for the fame or fortune, but because I like feeding people. Even crazy lunatics like this guy."
"That's very admirable of you, Sanji-san, but I still don't think you should."
"Sawada, you don't even think I should be walking right now."
"Haha! How is your hip anyway? All better?"
"It wasn't even injured in the first place, man."
The end of the sentence was punctuated by the door to Hibari's office opening, and Hibari quickly pretended to ignore the clatter of multiple people waltzing into his space unannounced as he watched them come at him. With the blankest stare he could muster, he held out his hand expectantly, and was pleasantly surprised to have a relatively large bento presented to him.
"You can return that when you come ask for seconds. I'll be on the roof." Sanji said with a cheeky grin, shooting a wink at the perfect and sauntered his way out the door after that.
It took a full 5 seconds for the four left behind to realize what had just happened.
"Uh… what?" Tsuna asked quietly. Yamamoto and Hayato answered with a shrug, and Hibari responded with a glare. After Tsuna scampered out, his friends in tow, Hibari cautiously opened the bento and peered inside. There were 6 large onigiri and a side of vegetables, and the smell halted Hibari's brain from further thought.
He took a deep breath in through his nose, picked up the first onigiri, and brought it to his lips for the first bite. He chewed, slow and thoughtful, and grabbed the second before he even realized the first was done. And the first bite into the second was a small shock to his taste buds he was not expecting. Was that… salted salmon? Yes… yes it was. And it was practically melting in his mouth. He discovered as he ate that there was only one plain rice onigiri, the first, and the rest were all stuffed with various fillings. Having finished them before he could really appreciate them, he started on the vegetable side.
"… Wao…"
Sanji sat on the roof, once again in a circle of 7 plus himself, talking about everything and nothing. For a moment, the blonde really missed his own group of rowdy friends, seeing how calm and plain these people were in comparison. He missed Luffy's overjoyed laughter, Nami and Robin's cute giggles with each re-telling of Usopp's outlandish stories. He missed their music teacher's weird 'Yohoho!' laugh and his beautiful violin music, and he missed their shop teacher's equally weird antics and his amazing creations. He missed Chopper's worried complaining about injuries when ever he and Zoro got into a brawl. Hell, he even missed the marimo's infuriating smirk when they sparred!
"Sanji-san?" A feminine voice brought the chef from his reminiscing thoughts and back to the world at present.
"Hm? Yes, my dear?" He wasn't sure which young woman spoke, but they were all gathered directly across from him, so he just looked in their direction until someone else spoke up. The voice wasn't the same, but the girl with long black hair (Kurokawa Hana, if Sanji remembered correctly, and Sanji was much better at remembering girls' names than guys) pointed behind him.
"I think you have a visitor."
Sanji careened his neck back until he could see the black-haired male behind him. It was Hibari Kyoya, standing there in all his glory, pointedly looking away and thrusting his used bento box at the chef. Sanji grinned in thinly veiled victory.
"Why, hello there! What brings you allllll the way up here?" Sanji asked with a far-too-chipper tone as he sat up correctly and spun to his feet in a second. He reached to grab something from his bag and shoved it in his pocket as he stood, going unnoticed by most there. He hid the movement by straightening out his jacket near the bottom and took one long step into Hibari's personal space bubble. He finished by leaning in obnoxiously and asking sweetly, "How was your lunch?"
"Shut up and bring me more tomorrow." Hibari growled, shoving the empty box into Sanji's chest. The chef had to admit, it was hard keeping in his pure glee at this situation. It was just too funny. Sanji tisk'ed with a sigh.
"Yeah, I don't think I can."
"…. Why."
"Well, for starters, tomorrow is the weekend, and seeing as I don't know where you live, I don't think I can bring it to you."
Hibari just growled, his glare causing Sanji's heart to speed up – and not in a good way. The chef took in a discreet breath in through his nose to calm himself; he needed to be in full control of the situation here in order to gain the favour he wanted. That meant he couldn't afford to let Hibari know how much that glare got to him. It was quite possibly the scariest glare he had ever seen.
(Though there was that one-time Luffy found some guy trying to force himself on a drunken Nami at a party. That had been the worst beat-down Sanji had ever witnessed, and he frequently prayed that he would never have to see it again.)
"But I do have a proposition for you."
"Colour me intrigued, herbivore." Hibari challenged, his tone dryer than a hot summer's day. In Egypt. Sanji smiled.
"Let me have one cigarette on campus during lunch."
Hibari physically lunged, tonfa magically appearing in his hands, a snarl on his lips just as Sanji pulled out what he had stuffed into his pocket earlier.
A 7th onigiri was waved in front of Hibari's face, halting the deranged teen in his tracks.
"Geeze, would you let me finish what I was saying before you straight up attack me?"
Hibari narrowed his eyes further but waited in his frozen fighting stance.
"Thank you. As I was saying. Let me have one cigarette on campus during lunch everyday. In exchange, I'll make you a lunch everyday, until either you graduate, or I do. I'll be your personal chef for boxed lunches. And I swear on my mother's grave, I will never litter. I have a portable, disposable ash-tray and I like using it in public. In exchange for one cig now, I'll give you this extra onigiri I have."
Hibari relaxed his stance, slightly, his eyes never really leaving the onigiri, "And what makes you think I would make a deal with you? Smoking on school property is against the rules."
"Lighten up, will you?" Sanji sighed, but he had been expecting the push back. Though he really took a gamble on the onigiri actually stopping the teen from killing him, and he was surprised that the other male was even listening to him.
"Look, I have a real, honest reason for smoking. I need to have one before I can eat anything." The chef said in response.
"That is called an addiction."
"While the addiction is part of it, it isn't everything. I have extremely over sensitive taste buds, and I need that smoke either right before or right after I eat in order to actually keep it down. Preferably before, so that I can enjoy what I eat."
Hibari raised an eye brow. "And you expect me to believe such a lie?"
Sanji mirrored his look. "I was hospitalized once when I was little due to malnutrition because I couldn't eat, and when I forced myself too, I brought it back up because of the taste that lingered after I ate. Smoking numbs my taste buds enough that I can actually enjoy the food I'm eating, without bringing it back up. I can taste the fucking minerals in tap water. Anything I eat, spiced or not, it isn't the most pleasant experience."
They stood watching each other, waiting to see who would move first. Sanji, unfortunately, lost that battle.
"Quick recap then. Onigiri now for one cigarette. Lunch every weekday in exchange for one, one cigarette at lunch. That's a pretty good deal." Sanji tried again, nodding at the end of his sentence as if the motion would help sway the other. And maybe it did help, because the next words out of the violent perfect's mouth were,
"Just one, and lunch everyday, brought to me in my office." With that, Hibari Kyoya swiped the Onigiri from Sanji's hand and began walking away, unwrapping the meal-sixed treat and taking a bite as the door swung closed behind him.
A moment of pause passed over them, and Sanji's only thought during that time was, 'Holy shit, that worked?'
Sanji waited a couple heart beats, before grinning so widely his cheeks hurt. He spun to face the rest of the group with a flamboyant twist, bowing deeply with one forearm pressed to his stomach, the other to his back, and his ankles crossed.
"And that is how you negotiate with a tyrant." Sanji said with a laugh, though his victory was muted when the chef realised he was the only one making any sound. He straightened again and took in the looks of shock on each and every face looking back at him. Sanji found he probably would have laughed again, had the tension in the air not been so high. Hayato was the first to break the uncomfortable quiet.
"How did you do that?"
"…Do what?"
"Make a deal with Hibari-san!" Tsuna exclaimed, taking a deep breath as if he had been holding it this whole time. "I didn't even know it was possible to do that!" Sanji just laughed as he sank down to the ground.
"I suppose it would seem impossible, but you know the phrase 'The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach'? It's fairly accurate for, like, everything." He chuckled and closed his eyes a moment. He opened his eyes again just in time to see the girl with the eyepatch, Chrome, (weird name, but she was cute, and it somehow fit her very well.) lean forward and say slowly and suspiciously,
"You can cook like a 5-star chef, fight like a world champion, walk off an injury that would have put a normal person in the hospital for at least 6 months, and negotiate with the most stubborn man I've ever met. Are you even human?"
"Hey! Chrome-chan! That was mean!" The girl next to her, Kyoko, exclaimed, swatting good naturedly at the other girl's arm. They all started laughing like what the girl had asked was a joke, and Sanji joined them, laughing to hide how close to home the remark landed.
Sanji used the moment after the laughter ended to take a smoke break, excusing himself and leaning against the railing away from the crowd, pulling the first stream of toxins into his lungs. Hayato joined him a minute or two later, lighting a cigarette himself, and they stood in silence while the smoke calmed Sanji's suddenly rattled nerves.
"I know we've still just met, Sanji, but if there is ever anything you want to talk to me about, I'm here." Hayato said quietly, his words doing strange fluttery things to Sanji's stomach again. Sanji just stuttered a breath and smiled, a thin and so very see-through attempt to seem normal.
"I'm fine." He lied. Hayato looked like he didn't believe it, but also like he understood the context behind the lie – too much, too fast. Wasn't that what had occurred on Sanji's balcony, the night after they met? Hayato could understand that.
The silverette nodded slowly, and Sanji wanted to lean in closer, settle his hip next to Hayato's on the railing and just be near the other – but why would he do that? Why would he want that? Hayato was a guy and Sanji was straight! … wasn't he?
Physically shaking the thoughts from his head, Sanji pulled out his portable ashtray and dumped the dead butt in it, pinching the re-enforced paper to ensure the embers were out before passing it off to Hayato for the other to do the same. They re-joined the group and sat next to each other, perhaps a touch closer than Sanji had meant to, but neither teen moved away. Sanji also noticed that the group had been rearranged a bit – Tsuna had moved to sit closer to Tall Luffy (Yama… Yama… mo…to?).
"So, I've been wondering something." Kurokawa Hana said, pulling Sanji from his musings.
"Yes?"
"Why do you call Gokudera by his given name? I get why every one calls you by yours; your last name is French, right?"
"Yeah, Haru was wondering that too, why you call him that. And how do you pronounce your last name?" The girl next to her, Miura Haru asked, head tilted to the side.
"Actually, it was his idea." Sanji said, turning to Hayato, who in turn immediately looked away, not meeting Sanji's eyes. "Hayato?" He said lightly, tilting his head and leaning forward to try to get a glimpse at the other male's face, almost certain it would be flushed pink. He gave up when the other just moved farther away. With a sigh, Sanji turned back to the girls with a shrug.
"And yeah, I'm French. My last name is pronounced Noir. It means black." He said simply, used to giving this specific explanation about himself.
"N-No-aru?" The pretty lighter-haired brunette said, a finger to her lips and her head tilted to the side. Sanji smiled at her.
"So close!" He said with a grin and repeated his name again.
"Oh, I just love the sound of the French language! Can you say something else in it?" The same young girl asked. Sanji was so done with this question though; he really didn't want to say anything in his native tongue, even for a beautiful young woman. But she looked so… hopeful, Sanji didn't want to let her down. So, the chef decided to give her what she wanted, and give himself a mental break as well.
"Alright," He said. "You asked for it."
"Il y avait une femme de Cue, qui remplissait son vagin avec de la colle. Elle a dit avec un sourire, s'ils payaient pour entrer, ils paieraient pour s'en sortir aussi."
Hayato burst into laughter at his side, and Sanji turned to him, just as the other was calming down.
"Dude, where the hell did that come from?"
Sanji looked on in surprise, eyes wide with joy. "You speak French, Hayato?! That's awesome! When did you learn?"
Pink dusted across the Hayato's cheeks, but both teens ignored it in favour of continuing their conversation no one else could understand. "I actually taught myself. I went backpacking through Europe and landed my self in France. The language sounded really cool, so I thought it would be a good language for me to learn." He said with a smile.
"You're self-taught? You sound so good!" Sanji said with a laugh. "And someone from my Dad's restaurant taught it to me. You see, this guy-"
"Um, guys?" A small voice interrupted them, and the two teens turned to look at Tsuna. "Could you maybe speak a language we all understand?" He asked tentatively.
Sanji chuckled self-consciously and lifted a hand to rub the back of his head. But before he could apologize for it, Hayato beat him to it. The silver-haired teen lunged to the ground, immediately sweeping into a dogeza.
"I am so sorry, Juudaime! I didn't even think about how I was excluding you from our conversation! Can you ever forgive me for my thoughtlessness?!"
Sanji blinked at him. "Um… H-Hayato? What are you doing?"
Hayato sat up, looking both embarrassed and torn between continuing to apologize, and attempt to explain what he was doing to Sanji.
"I…"
"Gokudera-kun, it's ok. I don't mind if you want to have a conversation with Sanji-san, but don't hog him, ok? We all want to be his friend too." Sawada interrupted with a bright smile. Hayato seemed to be relieved that he didn't have to explain to Sanji, and the chef made note of that. There was something going on between the two of them, and for a split second, Sanji felt a little jealous. He knew he shouldn't; he didn't know Hayato like Sawada seemed too, no matter how much Sanji suddenly wanted to.
His thoughts were cut off as the girl who asked for him to speak French, Sasagawa Kyoko-chan, piped up.
"Sanji-san, that sounded really pretty. What did you say?"
Sanji grinned with a light blush, "Ah, well, something I probably shouldn't say in a language you understand."
"She's heard worse." Hayato said, ginning wide. "If you wont, I will."
Sanji looked the teen over, cocked his head to the side, and said, "You know what? Go ahead. I dare you; tell them. Let's see how good your translations are."
Hayato shrugged. "Alright." He grinned. "'There once was a woman from Cue, who filled her vagina with glue. She said with a grin, if they pay to get in, they'll pay to get out of it, too.'"
There was a long moment of silence as all four girls, plus Sawada, blushed a deep scarlet red. Yamamoto (that had to be his name, Sanji was sure of it!) was howling with laughter, and Sanji and Hayato were laughing too, just far less. Sanji looked to his side at Hayato, just as the other male looked back at him, and they lost it.
Well folks, this is chapter 2! I've actually split this in two, because otherwise it would be more than 12,000 words, and I just… can't.
Read, Enjoy, Review! Love you!