Hi hi~~

FINALLY this chapter is done. I scrapped it like twice and honestly a part of me is like wtf. Also I'm recovering from my surgery (wisdom teeth extraction- not fun) so there was that XP

Anyway thanks for sticking around and all (1060+ followers?! WOW) I love you all and thanks for the support~

Which brings me to this IMPORTANT bit.

Someone (thanks StagnantLaziness) had thankfully made me aware that someone on Wattpad had completely PLAGIARISED my work and I am SHOCKED and honestly a little DISGUSTED by this. I HATE people who take credit for other people's works and was appalled when this Adawas person did that to not one but TWO of my works, plus some other authors. I've already got them to take my stuff down but still, Adawas, if you're reading this I'm going to say- stop. I get if you use an idea or two- hell even a paragraph but that is just not on. Like, in the politest way possible, screw you man.

On a nicer topic~~

I do hope all of you will enjoy this chapter, these next few I think will focus on new characters being introduced! Or maybe another omake. Actually that'll be nice ;P

Enjoy~~

Ah also here's a SHOUTOUT RECOMMENDATION for a fic I seriously think EVERYONE should read! It's called Eat Me Drink Me by vialactea. It's soooo good, like the feels will kill you and, and urgh just try it out~~ It is seriously underrated and needs more attention- my guarantee.

A Missing Shoe, A Whole lot of Jealousy And the Vindice's Most Petty. Victory. Ever.

*ding* *ding*

Tsuna sighed gratefully as the lunch bell rang and he quickly shoved whatever textbook he had into his backpack. It was the first Wednesday that he will be sleeping over at his so-called house, away from the Vindice. It wasn't exactly the first time but somehow with the integration of school in his life the concept of leaving his beloved guardians was daunting and the brunette was not excited. Not in the least.

As the raucous classmates around him separated to their own little groups the brunette took out his bento and quietly sneaked out of the room. Luckily no one today had actively tried to single him out like the past few days, they seemed to be avoiding him though. The fluffy child wondered why.

It didn't matter right now though. All he wanted right now was to find a nice quiet spot to sit and eat his meal. Tsuna was a little ashamed that it hadn't occurred sooner to him that he could enjoy his food outside the classroom. Though despite all the Vindice's encouragement, he still found it a little daunting to go around the school that was filled to the brim with loud strangers. It didn't help the only people he immediately recognized were the kids who had bullied him before.

Tsuna timidly looked around in the crowded hallways from his classroom. When no one seemed to be paying attention to him he silently smiled to himself. Who needs these mean people as friends anyway? It wasn't like he was constantly surrounded by his family all the time since they were always so busy. The child knew how to entertain himself, he didn't need others to prove he wasn't alone.

With sneaky steps in the crowded hall, the brunette childishly decided that he was going to have fun in this dumb place. That will show everyone. Not only will every guard stop worrying about him, which, as much as he appreciates the sentiment, didn't like the idea that he looked so weak and dependable during the first few days of school to incur such overprotectiveness. Plus it will also make his birth mother's attempts at misery futile. Not to mention he'd gone through many things in his life; the scorn of his mother, practically living on the streets, the harsh training under the Vindice. Tsuna refused to let himself lose to this damning place.

Anyway there were many things on the top of his fluffy head that the boy could think of to do alone. He had always found make believe really helped pass the time and the brunette did have fun playing it. Even by himself.

Yes, he'll pretend to be a secret agent, on a super secret mission to blend in with this strange enemy base in order to find.. The brunette scrunched up his face cutely in thought. To find.. the perfect eating spot! Tsuna nodded approvingly at his brilliant idea. That will do quite nicely for his first infiltration. Somewhere quiet, where you could see the sky but could give you a nice view to observe the people.

It was entertaining, hiding from line of sight, moving in people's blind spots and hugging the wall close but not close enough to look suspicious. Blending into the shadows, making himself even more invisible than he already was. Jack would be proud at his stealth, ironic that he was the Vindice assigned to teach him that considering him being one of the loudest guard of them all. His smile wavered slightly as his ever observant eyes caught sight of a passing group of kids his age, laughing and talking. There was a ugly squeamish feeling in his chest which Tsuna quickly squished down.

No he didn't feel lonely at all. Not one bit.

"Oishii!~" Tsuna smiled happily as he ate his meal. It seemed the trio of cooks had in their own little way showed their concerns about him going to school. For the past three days they had packed some of his favourite foods instead of his usual simple meals and the thought and effort in them definitely didn't go to waste. The brunette only worried that he'll become spoilt rotten if this keeps up. Not that he was complaining.

Yeah. He has a loving family, people willing to play along with his strange games and feed him yummy food. He didn't need friends. No. Friends were like, like... jello! It's nice and all but Tsuna could probably live without it. Especially the apple flavored one. Ick.

Contrary to his thoughts however the brunette felt himself grow less and less hungry. Soon his desire to eat completely vanished, leaving only a half-finished bento box in his hands. Well at least he'll have something to eat when Nana conveniently 'forgets' to feed him enough.

With a sigh he began packing up his uneaten meal. It would be alright. Tsuna just wasn't used to school yet that's all. It'll be okay. It's not like the child hadn't had experience being alone after all. It wasn't like he had no people that loved him. No. He could deal with having no friends. He didn't need them. He didn't-

*hiccup*

"E-eh? Why is m-my eyes *sniffle* so wet? *choke* I-I-" Then the sobbing started. It was heavy and heaving like the weight of the world was scrunched into one lump and stuck right at the back of the small child's throat. The loneliness he had tried to ignore and suppress each time he made a single step inside this school gnawed painfully inside of him.

He knew he had family that loved him. He did. He didn't want to be ungrateful. Not to the people Tsuna considered like brothers and sisters, like fathers and mothers. Even really cool uncles like Shamal or Verde who showed him a lot of cool things. Or those nice aunties with the pink hair that occasionally visited and gave him candy. But... friends seemed different somehow. The boy didn't know how but they were different. And he wished so, so desperately to know what made that difference. It just w-

"Herbivores aren't allowed on the rooftops."

Tear filled wide eyes shot up to see a raven haired boy possibly a few years older than him glaring with steel grey eyes. "Uh-"

"I'll bite you to death."

Before his mind could even comprehend the words the older child pounced.

Hibari Kyouya expected the usual when he spotted a new herbivore on his roof. Screaming, crying maybe even begging like that cowardly herbivore and his ever-crowding group. However Hibari didn't expect this very fluffy herbivore to actually dodge his strike. And so successfully too. Steel grey orbs sparkled childishly in excitement.

Finally. Someone worth fighting in this herbivorous place.

Tsuna didn't understand. Was this a new way of bullying? Did this older boy wish to beat him up? Another way to show how 'Dame' he was?

Either way there was no way he was going to stand for this! Name-calling, purposely ignoring and isolating him- those were things the brunette didn't know how to defend himself from. But this, this he could. This time he won't run.

After all, if there was one thing he had learnt from his family- it was to uphold his Vindice Pride.

Dropping his packed bento Tsuna expertly dodged the attack of... wooden tonfas? He didn't have time to ponder on this stranger's choice of weapon because as quickly as he'd dodged, another strike was thrown.

The brunette was getting a little excited about this unexpected fight, despite his previous mood. He'd trained with the Vindice sure but he'd never had an opportunity to try and test his strength against anyone that wasn't a guard, not even one of his prisoners, let alone someone from the Outside around his age.

It was something new. And in a good way too. This wasn't a situation where Tsuna found himself completely lost and out of his element but at the same time it wasn't anything he'd done before. This was both nerve-wrecking and exhilarating all at the same time, scrunched up with electric adrenaline.

Experience and instinct coupled with intuition and the child's trained body made a force to be reckoned with. Tsuna could hear the voices of the Vindice occasionally popping up with advice and lessons that had been practically ingrained into his mind.

Jump. Flip. A step to the right. Duck. Sharp spin to the left. Use evasive moves, always observe the enemy. Watch your opponent. Moves, patterns, weakness. Soak it up. Find an opening.

Caramel brown flashed a brilliant fiery orange.

Then strike.

Barely missing the wooden weapon by a hair the smaller child with a scarily cheery smile bent low and with a speed that a rocket could be jealous of, sprung forward toward the older with a swift roundhouse kick to the other's back. The momentum was enough for the raven haired boy to hit the concrete roof floor with a soft yet sickening crunch. It was quick. Too quick Tsuna thought suspiciously. There was no way the fight could be over so fast. Tsuna was just warming up after all.

With wary steps the small brunette moved closer to the unmoving body. His intuition wasn't really giving off any funny feeling so that meant... "A-ano? Are y-you alright?"

Nothing but silence answered back confirming the child's fears.

"Hieee?! B-b-but I didn't even go full strength! H-how come- no, no first sick bay." Hands a little shaken tried to gently pry the unconscious older child from the hard floor. His little heart was beating a mile a minute. Tsuna had never come across a situation like this before and admittedly he was at a complete loss.

Usually he was the one on the floor unconscious, not the other way round.

A part of him wished he was the one on the floor, because the stranger was kinda heavy. Tsuna, despite all training never really focused on strength. Techniques? Yes. Agility? Yes. Flame manipulation? Definitely.

But strength?

Not really.

So by the time he got to the last few meters to the medical centre his muscles were screaming protests and objections at the strain the boy was putting himself through. Tsuna gathered that he must have really knocked the other out good because there was possibly more than one time that he had dropped, tripped on and/or stepped on the unmoving body throughout the journey. Possibly.

The brunette really hoped the boy wasn't dead. He honestly did not know how to even begin that conversation when asked by Bermuda and the others why he was expelled from elementary school. At least Gia-san might be proud of him.

But it was weird how quickly the other had fallen. The child frowned slightly at that. He would have to change his perception of strength if he assumed the unconscious boy was of a 'normal' caliber. Tsuna was aware that the people he lived with were very powerful and strong but even when they went easy on him he had always lost miserably. Though he had been getting a few more hits into their defense recently, it somehow didn't feel like he'd gotten stronger compared to his family. Or maybe the older kid was just extremely weak?

"Ah- excuse me! Miss!"

"Yes, how may I help- oh my." The young nurse stared at the two children, eyes focused on the fallen raven haired one mostly.

"I saw him collapsed on the rooftops." Tsuna casually lied.

He didn't want to get in trouble about fighting on school grounds after all. Especially if the boy was actually dead or comatose. The brunette wished he paid more attention to Alejandro's lectures on how to get away with murder. But Gia's talk on how to flaunt your murders to the public was soo much more interesting.

He couldn't possibly tell the puppeteer that though, he'll be sulking for weeks.

As the nurse lady was busy checking up on the older child Tsuna decided to take a tactical retreat for now. He wanted to hold no part of this incident. The sooner he left the better.

Of course he must have turned too quickly or something because almost immediately the brunette tripped on his own two feet. It caused an awfully loud noise which made Tsuna wince in embarrassment. Apparently even the Vindice could not completely nor successfully restrain his natural clumsiness.

There however was no time for self loathing at his lack of balance as the child could hear the raven haired boy start to stir and the nurse was beginning to focus his attention on him. Hastily the brunette pulled himself up, however one of his shoe's laces were tangled with the lower hinges of the door. Inwardly Tsuna was in a state of near panic as he began weighing his options.

Of course composed calculated thinking was promptly thrown out the window as Tsuna's ears picked up the undeniable sound of bed springs creaking from a shift in the weight on top of it. The fluffy child's little heart beat faster. He could practically see what would happen if he was recognized and caught- the boy would report him unfairly for beating him up, even more rumors would be spread about how No-Good he was, Nana would get just what she'll want and living in Namimori would be even more miserable than before. Not to mention how much trouble he'll be when Bermuda finds out he beat someone up and failed to hide the evidence.

And Bermuda will find out.

He always finds out.

And with that conclusion in mind the boy wasted no hesitation in slipping off his stuck shoe and running full speed out of there. He was sorely tempted to try warping again but if anyone caught him doing so, they'll be more than just a scolding lecture ahead of him.

'It will be alright.' Tsuna chanted repeatedly in assurance in his head as he dashed agilely between students in the crowded halls as he absentmindedly cursed the fact his skills had seem to only fail him when he truly needed them. But while still in a frantic state of mind, the boy had already formulated a brief outline of a plan. It was shaky at best and relied on many unknown factors and assumptions but it was something Tsuna could focus on for now.

He had two more days till he went back home to Vendicare, that meant two days to get his shoe back and avoid any questions. The nurse hadn't paid much attention to him so she would be a poor eyewitness at best and the victim would hopefully be too prideful to tell anyone he'd lost to a small fluffy child such as he. All he had to do now was to recover his shoe which should be relatively simple considering that there was apparently a place in the school where 'lost' items were placed. He'll fetch it back tomorrow. No one will be the wiser. And then everything will be alright.

Everything was not alright.

Tsuna gave a small growl of annoyance as he threw another shoe back on the lost and found pile. To an outsider the sight was absolutely adorable- this small pouting child emitting cute whining noises as he threw small shoes around the room, to Tsuna however it was mind numbingly irritating.

After fifteen more minutes of fruitless searching the brunette was near close to tears and was biting them back with sheer will power. He didn't even think about the possibility there were so many kids stupid enough to actually lose their shoes! This was incredibly frustrating. All he had to do was find his shoe and everything would be okay yet somehow he couldn't even accomplish that!

There was no way the shoe was still just lying in the hall stuck to the door, he had checked around the area either ways to be thorough and it wasn't there. Tsuna wasn't familiar enough to know any other place to logically search for his missing article of clothing and while a part of him still strongly believed in magic the brunette knew that his shoe would not have just run off. Time was limited now, if he couldn't find it now at lunchtime he would only have tomorrow's to locate the missing item. This was not good. Lunch was ending in-

*ding ding diinnng*

-as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang the child had to use all his strength not to scream.

Where was it?!

Hibari Kyouya woke up in the infirmary with a throbbing headache and a scowl that made the infirmary nurse cower in fear. Surprisingly though the boy was not feeling his usual furious irritation. He didn't even feel angry. Instead he felt something he hadn't felt before.

That fight with that scrawny herbivore had been completely overwhelming in more ways he could count on his fingers. It had been the first time a herbivore had ever exceeded his expectations and more. The only time the skylark had ever lost till now was to his father who taught him how to fight in the first place. That had been humiliating. This battle however... This battle had been exhilarating.

The raven haired child could still feel that rush of adrenaline pumping through his veins and all the hairs on his body stand as every fiber of his being was completely on the offense. He had felt this all the time when he fought, he thrived on this release of tension but this time it was practically euphoric. Never had Hibari had a more satisfying fight.

He had to find that mysterious boy.

Steel grey eyes narrowed a little in deep thought. But how? Though he had already shown everyone what a true carnivore he was, Hibari was aware that at this moment he still didn't have enough strength not power to gain access to other students' information. That will definitely change the moment he enters Namimori Middle, he will stake his title as Carnivore on it.

But right now he needed to figure out the identity of that herbivore. Herbivore? No, that didn't sound right. But neither did carnivore… Something in between. Oh he'll figure it out later, right now he needed to find that small animal again. But how?

"Nurse-herbivore," The boy heard the woman 'eep' softly at the name. "Who was the other… person who brought me here?"

When the woman couldn't answer Hibari shot her a menacing glare. "You don't know?" The way the small skylark asked was like a whole bag full of death threats stuffed into one question. The poor inexperienced young nurse looked like she wanted to cry.

"I-I-I-" She stammered out through her trembling. Inwardly she wondered why she even chose this job, it certainly did not pay enough to be worth all this. The woman flinched as the young, frightening child, that was single handedly the sole reason for near 96% of all her patients, begin to move out of bed toward her. She had heard a lot about Hibari Kyouya. None of which was good. A demon child. There had been talk that even at his young age of seven he had been seen brutally 'discipling' high schoolers and small time criminals.

Desperately she edged toward the doorway where at the edge of her sight she caught a small shard of hope in the form of a shoe. "Wait! I may not know the boy's name but.." The woman quickly snatched the abandoned item with a mixture of relief and triumph. Still slightly shaking but now more confident in her stride the nurse handed the shoe to the prefect much like handling meet to a wild dog. "That kid, h-he left this."

...

Hibari scowled as he slammed the classroom door behind him leaving a whole class of trembling students behind. Kusakabe trailed behind him, holding a small sneaker in his hands. "Kyouya-san I don't understand, we are searching for the owner of this shoe so you can, uh, fight him again?"

The small skylark just glared in response to the question. The truth was, he didn't actually know what he would do once he found this not-a-herbivore. There was no feeling of the usual hostility and disgust that usually came when meeting a person but neither was there any particular spark of pleasure like in the story books.

For once Hibari who could always so easily determine everyone's place in his little hierarchy was completely lost as this one tiny creature managed to in less than a handful of minutes, shake his entire view on how he perceives the world. It was almost as if everything had shifted, leaving a small gap, a small minor anomaly in a space that he had originally thought as perfect before.

And now he needed to find that boy to figure out how to get his world back to perfection.

"We are going to find the herbiv- small animal." Was all Hibari stubbornly replied, the older boy had to hold in an exasperated sigh as he forced himself to accept the fact his lunchtime today and in the future will now be spent searching for this mysterious 'small animal'. And that was not something he was looking forward to. Not to mention Kusakabe just knew Hibari was going to be in a mood if they didn't find the kid soon.

Where was he?

The throne room in Vendicare was filled with silent anxiety.

"…I should go check on the child." Bermuda suddenly declared, his tiny hands busy absentmindedly playing with the fur and tassels draped on his throne. The other Vindice silently groaned. This was the fifth time in the past two hours.

"Boss you know we shouldn't."

"But it's his first night completely away from us." The feared, almighty, all-powerful Vindice Boss whined. "What if he gets homesick? What if he doesn't eat enough? What if he forgot to pack his toothbrush?"

Jack was the next to crack. "Oh freaking god! Did he pack his toothbrush?! I don't remember! What happens when people don't brush their teeth again?!"

"Jack-san…" One of his subordinates muttered, "you helped pack and repack Tsuna's bag eight times at least."

And somehow that was the line that broke the cool, composed Alejandro. "But what if eight times wasn't enough?" The blonde fretted quietly but still somehow loud enough for all the cloaked jailers to hear, now pacing nervously. "What if we missed something? He'll be gone Wednesday to Friday. That's three whole days. Three."

Ario, Emilio and Fredrico groaned softly, as did most of the other guards. "Forgive me Alejandro-sir, but young Tsunayoshi has done this before for almost every month since he's been living with us. We too are worried yes but it hardly calls for such... crippling anxiety."

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly if you think about it Jäger was next to crack as he couldn't help but protest. "It is not anxiety. It is merely just concern for our charge. We have barely spent any time with him because of his schooling and now we must sacrifice even more time because of some stupid whor-"

"Language Jäger." The puppeteer corrected absentmindedly. "As much as I loathe that woman we have to consider ourselves lucky we even managed to prevent her from taking legal action."

"Blondie's right." Everyone turned to the shortest guard who was leaning on a nearby wall whittling a piece of wood till it was just a sad stick of wood. "The Vindice holds all the power in the underworld, but outside? Outside we are fucking nobodies."

All the guards were silenced at the harsh truth. It was true. They hated facing it but it was true. Despite being enforcers feared throughout all the mafia they were at their core, dead people. They held no identity anymore, no life, they've lost almost everything thanks to that damned Arcobaleno curse and the last few lingering remnants of their past lives they'd abandoned for the sake of revenge. If Tsuna's taken from them and his biological mother threatens them with court they wouldn't be able to fight back. Not legally at least.

Right now if they wanted to keep Tsuna and maintain their secrecy they had no choice but find themselves in a position that they despised. In the hands of an unsuspecting other. Helpless. The best thing they could do was to wait it all out till either the opportunity finally came to break the boy out of that toxic household completely or when Tsuna becomes finally old enough to leave by himself. There was also the option of underhanded tactics such as murder and corrupting the justice system but it went against the general morals of Mafia law enforcement.

Plus, and probably more importantly, Tsuna would disapprove. And to them that was worse than any rule broken.

"So now what?"

"Now," the Vindice boss sighed, tugging the fur draped on his throne. "Now we wait for our child and welcome him home with a smile."

Tsuna felt completely defeated on Friday. There was no sign of his shoe he had lost. He was going to have to explain why he had lost a shoe which in turn will go into the other kid he may or may not have beaten up till unconscious. Everyone was going to be so disappointed, more so on the whole 'stuffing up with the evidence' than anything else.

Maybe he could lie? Tsuna snorted inwardly. And get away with it? Yeah right. He was aware he was cute, but not that cute.

Immersed in self pity the boy began nibbling on some stale bread and meat he had managed to swipe in the kitchen, a part of his mind still busy desperately clawing at straws on what he might've missed, what clues he failed to notice. Tsuna pouted when his brain's results proved futile. It seemed so much easier in the detective novels!

Suddenly the classroom filled with chatter and squeals of other students was silenced by the resounding bang of the door. Tsuna looked up from his meal to see an older looking boy with a really weird hairstyle. However it wasn't the strange hair that caught his attention (of course that was an eye opener), the brunette's eyes instead were drawn to what the other was holding-

"My shoe!" Tsuna couldn't help but exclaim in a sudden burst of relieved happiness. Not even bothering to wonder why just one person, a kid their age no less, was able to bring forth such a reaction in his classmates, the brunette practically bounded toward the older boy and grabbed his shoe. "Thank you so, so much nii-san!"

The older boy with his shoe raised an incredulous brow. "This is yours?" The question held a note of surprise. Tsuna didn't notice, he was far too relieved. The smaller child nodded happily, hugging the previously missing item like a long lost toy.

"Uhn. Thank you again nii-san."

Tsuna smiled one of his most dazzling smiles. The one which makes his most rebellious prison charges swoon and the most stoic guard blush faintly. Of course the nice upperclassman was no exception to this rule, the older boy turned a rather interesting shade of red much to Tsuna's delight.

"W-what is your name kid?" He stammered, the brunette, eager to make a friend or at least an acquaintance that apparently wasn't aware of those awful rumours, cheerfully answered.

"I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, nii-san!" The boy chirped as cutely as he could. Then added quickly, "But call me Tsuna."

The older boy coughed awkwardly before rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to bite back his disbelief. This admittedly very adorable but small delicate kid was the person Kyouya-san was looking for?

"I'm Kusakabe Tetsuya." Kusakabe gulped feeling slightly guilty at what he was about to ask, "Can you, uh, follow me?"

The look of pure elation and oblivious delight in response did not help at all with the guilt. Did this kid not know what was about to happen? Because from the looks of horror and nausea from his fellow classmates they apparently did.

Inside Tsuna was jumping for joy. This was the first step to this elusive path known as friendship right? Being invited somewhere was a good sign? According to all the stories he read friendship always comes inevitably if you maintain constant proximity to the other person. Oh, he was getting butterflies just thinking about it!

Nervous but curious the brunette followed his potential new friend. As he walked past the class he caught the worried blue eyes of his brother. Ieyasu looked like he wanted to protest or say something which confused Tsuna. Wouldn't his brother want him to make friends? But of course his brother didn't dare speak up, probably to scared to, for whatever reason. Flashing a small reassuring smile Tsuna left the class. He had to let his gentle, kind yet cowardly brother know he'll be okay after all.

After a few minutes of quietly following the older boy, the younger quickly caught on to where they were heading. Suddenly he felt a lot more nervous than before.

"Uhm. Excuse me but... why are we going to the rooftops?"

The taller male's steps slowed, brown to the point of black eyes looked curiously at the smaller boy trailing behind him. "You really don't know?" The brunette shook his head innocently, big honeyed hazel eyes looking up at the other honestly. "Nope. It's my first week in school. Is there something I should know about?"

The raven haired male raised an eyebrow, it was true he didn't recognize the boy nor his name but it was still quite unusual for someone to actually come to school for the first time in the second grade of elementary, especially since it was obvious he was related to Sawada Ieyasu- a boy whose been attending since Namimori daycare. Of course it wasn't like there were stranger things in the world. Kusakabe thought as he opened the doors to the rooftops. The person waiting out there was definitely one of them.

"Kusakabe you're late."

Tsuna gasped softly as the familiar boy from before turned to face the pair. Raven hair flowing in the wind as steel grey eyes calmly glinted as the older boy stared at them. It was a very nice picturesque sight. Well, if that glare of the boy didn't completely ruin the whole image. The brunette could feel the taller male beside him shudder underneath the intensity of the gaze. Inwardly Tsuna shrugged it off. He'd seen worse.

"Apologies Kyouya-san."

The fluffy child, not wanting the first kid to properly speak and be nice to him to be punished, decided to quietly speak up. "A-ano it was my fault that Kusakabe nii-san was late, so I don't think.." His nervous voice trailed off as he felt the sharp steel gaze move onto him. Despite his experience with intimidation Tsuna couldn't help but gulp. The raven haired boy could be rather scary when he wanted to be.

"You. Not-a-herbivore."

The brunette tilted his head questioningly as he pointed to himself.

"Me? I am not a.. herbivore?"

The boy with steel grey eyes grunted in what he could only interpret as the affirmative. A little intrigued at such a strange quirk the ever curious child decided to prompt the other a little bit further.

"Then... I am a carnivore?"

The strange older boy scowled, brows furrowed as he contemplated the question. Then after a second the boy grunted again but this time in a lower tone to indicate the answer to be negative.

"So am I a herbivore or a carnivore?"

"You are neither."

Now it was Tsuna's turn to look puzzled. Both children stared each other down, each one trying hard to mentally solve the puzzle before them. Finally something seemed to click in the brunette's head and the fluffy child smiled almost triumphantly.

"If I am not a carnivore nor a herbivore then I am an omnivore." Tsuna declared smugly, happy he cracked this strange code. The older boy grunted again, the brunette wasn't aware of what this sound particularly meant but the approving glint in those grey orbs bodes well.

It seemed like the most logical and probably correct conclusion to this conversation but that didn't mean it was a conclusion to figuring out this new character. That excited him. Tsuna adored unraveling interesting characters. There was so many questions to answer. What was with the weird way of addressing others? Does he perceive himself as a particular type of being? Did he only refer to others by the contents of their meals? If so that was quite a curious way to discriminate people.

Tsuna shivered, and not in fear. No. The boy was admittedly intimidating but any fear the brunette held for him was merely skin deep and could be easily dismissed. After all- he had technically already beaten this so called fear down, it would be a waste of effort to be cower under it.

Not to mention Gia would make him go through a rigorous trauma inducing reintroduction class the sadist called Handling intimidation, danger and confrontation for Beginners. And the one time experiencing that course was one time too many in his opinion. It still made the brunette want to cry.

Honestly a small part of him wished he'll never reach ten just so he didn't have to go through the promised intermediate level. Tsuna there was ever a downside to living with and being taught by the Vindice this was it.

"Fight me.. Omnivore."

It was a good thing his little body could react faster than his mind in times like these as before the brunette's mouth could utter a response to the surprising declaration of violence, he had already jumped out of his way to narrowly dodge the oncoming attack. Needless to say it didn't take long for Tsuna to find himself sitting on his struggling attacker's back, pinning him down by his arm.

Kusakabe was staring and gaping at him like he just wrangled a crocodile. Tsuna knows, he's seen Verde use that same expression when the brunette wrestled Keiman for fun.

The brunette giggled as he felt the struggling figure underneath him growl in a irritation and well hidden eager satisfaction.

And that was the day Sawada Tsunayoshi officially met Hibari Kyouya.

The rest of the day Tsuna found himself liking these new acquaintances more and more. Kusakabe Tetsuya was more of a subordinate than a friend to the other boy from what the brunette could tell. A very trusted, well-liked subordinate but a subordinate all the same. The older boy soon left after he was sure the no one was going to be sent to the medical bay.

Hibari Kyouya was certainly one of the most fascinating and rather enjoyable people Tsuna had the pleasure to meet in Namimori. They both disliked crowding and overly loud classmates and they both enjoyed the rooftop immensely where they could sit and watch the sky. The skylark didn't talk much. Which was okay for the brunette since he wasn't exactly a talker either. Well, unless the topic was on theories on Deathperation Flames but he highly doubt his new friend-like person would get it.

By the end of the day Tsuna waved goodbye to the raven haired ever scowling boy who, to his delight, actually waved back. Tsuna almost didn't want to leave school just to spend a bit more time with Hibari-san. But of course he wanted just as much to get back to Vendicare. Either way the boy finally felt that he could actually start looking forward to the weekdays now. Maybe school wasn't going to be as terrible as he thought it would be after all.

… o …

"I hate that stupid. fucking. brat." Small Gia growled murderously as he threw Lightening flame infused knives at the innocent wall.

"I hate that little piece of shit too." Jack grumbled as he annihilated a poor punching bag with his fists alone.

"You guys are so immature." Alejandro chastised. Though the puppeteer too was showing signs of irritation as seen through his rather mangled looking puppet he had been carving.

Jäger who were merely watching it all at the doorway sighed condescendingly. His face was bandaged up having come back from a mission but they could feel the bemusement practically exude from him.

"Honestly, we are the Vindice. Show some pride for god's sakes."

The three guards glared at the Strongest Vindice Warrior.

"That's easy for you to say," The fiery guard snarled, "You've been in Alaska for two weeks! You don't freaking understand what we've gone through!"

Jager raised a brow. "And what, if pray tell may I ask, did you all go through that was so horrible?"

"Hibari-san is so amazing, I want hamburger because Hibari-san likes hamburger, that's not what Hibari-san told me." Small Gia mimicked in a mocking high pitched tone that dripped with sarcastic irritation. Then he crushed the knife he was holding in his hand. Jack scowled. Alejandro didn't say anything but the doll that just got beheaded really spoke volumes for him.

Jager's eyebrow raised even higher, the edge of his lips were quirking upwards in complete amusement. The Vindice Warrior was having a really hard time to not laugh. "You guys aren't actually… jealous of Tsuna's new playmate are you?"

The looks they gave him was enough for the undead co-founder of Vendicare to drop to his knees in repressed laughter. He didn't even care that his comrades began throwing sand bags, knives and sharp pieces of wood at his head. He was dead, why on earth would that rain his parade?

…

*BAM*

"I'm going to kill that little pint sized monster."

The three guards turned to look at the dented wall and the Vindice guard who caused it. "Excuse me?" The platinum blonde asked.

"Tsuna said…" The strongest Vindice warrior drew in a shuddering deep breath like the next thing he would say would physically hurt him, "Tsuna said… this Hibari-san was the coolest person ever. And… he wanted to be just like him." The last word was practically strangled out of the usually suave man's throat.

*BAM*

The trio winced as this time the floor took the heavy blow of a distressed Jager. "Fucking hell, I am the coolest person ever-"

"Uh, freaking what?"

"-Tsuna used to look up to me!"

"Kekeke, don't tell me… the great Jager-sama is- oh what did you so aptly say yesterday? Oh. Right- jealous of Tsuna's new playmate are you?"

The sadistic short guard cackled at the death glare he received. Oh if looks were physical manifestations Gia would have combusted by now. Actually if that was true Gia would have keeled over dead a long, long time ago.

"Bermuda?"

The Vindice boss stopped writing mid-way through and looked up from his massive stacks of paperwork to see his favourite living being sitting idly on top of a particular large pile of documents. "Yes child?"

"You like Hibari-san right?"

"I've never met the boy Tsuna." The Night Arcrobaleno carefully evaded. He was aware that Tsuna was incredibly excited in meeting his first ever friend his age and Bermuda was glad that the brunette was so happy, really he was. But that didn't mean he didn't feel just a smidgen jealous at this new hold the smug little pric*cough* this new child had on Tsuna. It didn't help that as a whole the Vindice were terribly selfish, possessive and obsessive people. "You know I dislike giving judgement on others if I've never met them."

Tsuna tilted his head thoughtfully, not noticing how uncomfortable the cursed infant was at the conversation.

"But you think he is a good person at least, right?"

Bermuda looked at him warily, it was an innocent enough question but something told him that this was leading somewhere that was not. "I think he is not a.. bad person from what I can gather if that is what you mean."

It was true. He and the rest of the guards had searched thoroughly through the records. Unfortunately seven year olds don't usually hold any outstanding criminal records and the only cases of violence the child had committed was very similar to the reasons why the Vindice punish people. Simply because they broke the rules. Albeit the value of the rules were very different, essentially as much as Bermuda loathed to admit it, this Hibari Kyouya was very similar to them.

It was almost ironic that if they met on completely different grounds the two parties would probably have got along relatively well. Bermuda could see this boy as a future enforcer, stoic, aloof, strong. Hell it was a little like him when he was younger. Of course he'd never felt as jealous at his younger self than this boy. Not that he was jealous. Much.

"So is it alright if I marry him?"

The pen snapped in a certain Vindice Boss' tiny hand.

"WHAT?!"

The brunette tilted his head to the other side completely oblivious to the implications of his words.

"Hibari-san told me he liked having me around and asked me at school yesterday if I wanted to be together with him forever. That is what is called a marriage yes?" The child asked naively, big honey brown eyes looking at Bermuda with all the purity in the world.

…

"That tiny perverse child needs to be eliminated."

Everyone stared at the sudden announcement of their boss who had called them all here for a meeting. There was silence in the throne room until-

"Freaking yeah! That'll show the brat whose Tsuna's real awesome big brother figure is!"

Many of the guards began murmuring their approval at the idea, throwing in various vindictive schemes that they had been secretly fantasising once they realised that their spot in their beloved child's 'favourite people' list was being threatened by this newcomer. The battle to fight for the boy's time and love between each other was hard enough as it was, they were not pleased at the idea an outsider would now snatch it all away.

"But wouldn't Tsuna get mad when he finds out?" A guard spoke up nervously.

"If he finds out." Another guard reassured. "We are the Vindice after all, what sort of ex-Arcrobaleno would we be if we couldn't cover up a simple murder?"

"Tsuna's hyper intuition is growing at an exponential rate though. Not to mention that while we are skilled at lying, we always seem to falter when it comes to our child." A third guard protested.

Bermuda nodded. Those were valid points. Not to mention killing children was not their thing. It would leave terrible tastes in their mouths afterwords, even if said child was a damn brat who unwittingly tried to make a move on their sweet Tsunayoshi. Also, and probably more importantly, on the off chance Tsuna did find out well- "Okay, then we will not kill the child."

There were a few groans in the crowd.

"Kekeke what about-"

"No maiming either."

The groans were much louder this time.

"Ok then, what about.." Jager began slyly. Everyone perked up at that, Small Gia may be the most sadistic guard but Jager came a close second. Plus his ideas usually involved less physical and more mental trauma. "we don't kill him OR maim him," More groans of disappointment, "but we merely… intimidate him a little? After all our enemy is just a child, it can't be helped if he gets a little… scared. You know, let him know his place in the world."

Everyone stared at the smirking guard. Then they too couldn't help but grin viciously too.

"What do you propose Jager-sama?"

"Ah, Hibari-san, Hibari-san!" The raven haired boy looked at the brunette that just appeared on the rooftops.

"What is it omnivore?" He snapped, only mildly annoyed his nap had been disturbed.

Tsuna smiled cheerily, his fine observation skills and intuition supplying the information that the skylark as much as he tries to hide it, was also quite pleased with this newfound friendship and source of companionship.

"I'm leaving now but some of my family want to meet you."

Hibari snorted. "Omnivore I've already met your herbivorous brother and mother."

The skylark still sometimes questioned why he'd never known about the existence of a second son in the Sawada household but those queries were always put on hold after seeing the expression the brunette always made when the topic of the two were ever brought up. This friendship while surprising how quickly they clicked, was still quite fragile. They were still wary of the boundaries and personal walls that had been built even unconsciously. They were both quite tentative in exploring this new, unfamiliar relationship of friends and both boys equally didn't want to do anything to ruin it. As much as the skylark loathed to admit it, Hibari may like his space but at the same time he didn't enjoy as much the loneliness that came with it at times.

The fluffy child smiled even wider and laughed like the skylark had told some sort of joke. "No, no Hibari-san my true family!"

Hibari raised an intrigued yet confused brow. How is his birth mother and brother not one's 'true' family? Curious the older boy agreed.

…

"..Omnivore that's your family?"

Tsuna nodded energetically, practically brimming with excitement as the two walked toward the school gates.

"Uh-huh, well part of it. There's a lot more people in my family but they like traveling in threes. The one with red hair is Jack-san. He can be a bit rough but he's very nice and tells me amazing bed time stories."

The brunette pointed at a scowling male with hair an unruly, fiery red that seemed to match with his temper. He had a black leather jacket covered in metallic studs draped on his shoulders like a cape and a blood red T-shirt that had the words 'WASSUP FUCKERS' decorated crudely on it. The boy who had bit his fare share of delinquents and small time yakuza could tell already this guy was not nice.

"The one with pretty blonde wavy hair is Alejandro-san. Every calls him a mother hen since he always dotes on me. Sometimes he tends to be a bit strict though."

Next to the delinquent looking man was a taller male looking disdainfully at the redhead. This adult was even taller than the one before but more slender and dignified. However even from this distance Hibari could sense the oppressive aura of the male, everything about him was cold. His perfect posture, the way his arms were folded across his chest, how some of those wavy lock were pulled back slightly to give a professional air and that pristine suit… it all screamed 'Elite figure, peasants leave'. To call him a bit strict seemed a major understatement.

"Gia-san is the last of the trio!" Tsuna giggled fondly, "He can be a little crazy or scary sometimes but he's actually quite the pushover when it comes to convincing him to play with you. Despite his strange treatment he has a great if not slightly weird sense of humour."

Honestly Hibari thought out of all three this particular person looked most likely to have trapped, tortured and killed people in his basement. He wore a long black trench coat covered in rips, piercings, studs and chains that covered most of his body. His hands were twirling a dangerous evil looking knife. This one was the shortest of the three but he looked like a demonic elf like in the stories; slightly pointed ears covered with many dangerous looking piercings, long fingers ending with pointed nails, sharp canines and an even sharper smile- it was like this fiendish person lived off the fear he created.

Not that Hibari was be afraid. No. He was a carnivore, carnivores don't back down from an enemy. Even ones as intimidating as these three seemed to be. Though even he had to admit there overwhelming presence was making him.. antsy.

"Hey guys!" The fluffy brunette called out, waving the trio's attention to him. Though if the little skylark had to guess he would have thought they held their attention on them for quite a while now.

"Yo Tsuna." "Tsuna." "Kekeke, sup chibi."

With a wide happy smile Tsuna bounded toward them at a startlingly speed considered for a six year old. The skylark trailed behind warily. Something about these men screamed power and dominance beyond anything his childhood had ever seen, and he had seen many criminals thanks to his parents work but none were quite on this level.

"This is Hibari-san everyone." The brunette announced happily, Hibari grunted in greeting. As strange as these people were they did take care of the omnivore so he should at least be somewhat respectful he thought. Apparently however the feelings were not mutual. The delinquent liking red head tilted his head back and to the side, shoulders hunched forward, eyes narrowed, and upper lip curled into a sneer as he shoved his hands in his pockets. The suited blonde merely nodded coldly and uncaringly in acknowledgement. And the spiky haired elfish man outright ignored him, choosing instead to file his claw-like nails with his dagger looking bored.

The small skylark could already feel his short fuse get even shorter. Hibari may not understand basic social cues but he knew when two carnivores find themselves in the same territory there is a need to assert their dominance. These men were clearly trying to scare him into submission and give back his friend.

Not to be outdone Hibari glared at the three men before him. He did not like submitting to anyone, even if they were carnivores. Because submitting meant letting his new friend go. True carnivores never let their prey go. Under. Any. Circumstances.

The men glared back. One with the heat and intensity of a raging wildfire. One that was colder than a frozen Winter. And one so malicious and sadistic it sent lightening down one's spine in fear.

Tsuna was completely oblivious to the sparking flames of rivalry between the two parties. To busy babbling about his day and how he found a really cool rock or flower or something equally innocent.

A small part of the guard's actually couldn't help but appreciate the guts of the little boy. Not many could withstand not one but three of their semi-most intimidating death glares without bursting into tears like a baby. Another minor more logical and neutral bit of them were quite proud that Tsuna had chosen what they would considered a suitable choice of friend, in fact they grudgingly admitted that this boy was better than some other options they saw whilst waiting at the gates. The bigger more jealous parts of them however were just plain irritated that the plan was not working.

Tsuna was stubborn. Hibari was apparently just as stubborn. And the Vindice had very, very limited options to take without upsetting Tsuna. It was getting annoyingly yet increasingly obvious that this grey eyed little eyesore was going to be sticking around for a long time. But that will not stop the Vindice from trying.

Years later they would look back on these days and practically curl up in embarrassment at how childish and petty they were being when faced with Tsuna's Cloud Guardian. It didn't help sometimes that said Cloud Guardian would occasionally just smirk as he nonchalantly brought the topic up just to watch them flinch ever so slightly.

Death threats were given which the surprisingly resilient boy shrugged off or burned, attempts at blackmail which ended pretty fruitless on the sheer grounds there was nothing to actually blackmail, even letting out minor criminals or delinquents from juvie just to busy the boy away from their precious Tsuna. It was known as the Great Skylark Hunt among the guards as they tried everything to drive Hibari away bar warping the boy to an undisclosed location. It could also be interpreted as the most petty the Vindice had ever stooped to.

Much to their frustrations nothing seemed to be working. In fact they were pretty sure the two were getting closer.

Finally the guards of Vendicare, the most fearsome all powerful Vindice, conceded defeat. They had lost the battle. It took five weeks, two days, around four point eight million yen and ninety eight traumatised delinquents slash yakuza. But it was finally over. They could not help but finally admit not only was he a good friend to Tsuna but they rather liked this stubborn Cloud themselves. He wasn't too loud, he held himself with alot of pride and maturity for his age plus he wasn't completely weak nor stupid. It was official, to this day forth the Vindice will grudgingly accept this friendship between one Hibari Kyouya and their Sawada Tsunayo-

"Wait."

All the Vindice looked resignedly at their boss. Bermuda stared at each and every guard beneath his bandages.

"We may have lost the war…"

The Vindice boss slowly smiled.

"...But we can still win the last battle."

Hibari Kyouya was in the worst of moods this morning. He barely even grunted to his parents at breakfast. But that was okay. Hibari Yunque and Hibari Kai were too shocked at their son's appearance to even say anything about his manners being poorer than usual.

The skylark stormed out of the house, his expression radiating all of the anger and humiliation a seven year could offer. He barely even looked at Kusakabe who was waiting outside the house for him. He did however threaten to bite the older boy to death if he did not forget the image for the rest of his life. Hibari found himself repeating that threat all throughout the day. He found much more satisfaction carrying out the threat than actually warning about it though.

He could not believe he had gotten coaxed into such an obvious trap. However at the same time he could totally see how he couldn't get out of the trap. It had been a lethal combination of Tsuna's hope filled puppy dog eyes and his family's aggravating jeers and taunts.

It wasn't so bad if he had been honest. A little strange that he had to be blindfolded to enter Tsuna's other home for something as simple (and stupid) as a karaoke night and surprising to see so many people in one place (he was aware after many many many visits from various 'family members' that there was a huge amount of individuals in this mysterious group but looking at the room there was easily over fifty) and even more surprising to see them all on the level of carnivores.

Despite Tsuna's shared dislike of crowding the brunette seemed to be at peace with such a large gathering of people, though Kyoya had to admit that even he didn't feel the rising irritation to bite them all to death. They were generally quiet and seemed all to enjoy their space much like him. Some even warmed up to him and talked about their past fighting exploits which he enjoyed immensely (though he refused to show it).

But then came the karaoke.

The Hibari's were a through and through Japanese family. His grandfather's brother apparently married someone of Chinese descent but other than that his family line was pretty much thoroughbred Japanese and in custom to that they were quite traditional to the culture. So while the skylark could admit to having a decent voice the fact that he could not speak much less sing in english nor any other language apart from Japanese proved fatal and in the end he'd gotten the lowest scores.

Kyouya grit his teeth in frustration. He'd even lost to the green haired infant! Out of all the people there this herbivorous baby had bested him. It did not help that he had felt quite smug and assured that he would at least be better than him, then failed in proving so. The smug little baby even smirked victoriously before leaving. It also did not help that there was a punishment game he didn't know about.

The raven haired boy blushed a deep crimson on his pale skin as he heard girls and parents coo quietly by the sidewalk as he passed by. He looked nothing like his usual self who wore simple white shirts and black pants with his fringe giving him a menacing look. Instead his hair had been tied up a bit so his whole baby face was shown, big rimmed rectangular glasses framed his face to make his eyes look bigger and wider. He wore a plaid blue shirt with a grey sweater vest and light brown khaki pants that perfectly matched. In short Hibari looked absolutely adorable in a nerdy sort of way. And he was mortified.

If that wasn't any worse his tonfas now were covered in bright blue woollen cosies with purple stitching which wrote LOVE on one and PEACE on the other.

And this penalty game was meant to last the whole day. Tsuna would make sure of it and his pride (or the tatters of it) refused to back down as well. However, steel grey glinted with an angry fire, he will get his revenge.

"Kusakabe."

"Huh-oh-uh-uhm, yes Kyouya-san?"

"Get me all the english translation study books you can."