Taming the Skylark (A Katekyo Hitman Reborn fanfiction)

Standard disclaimers apply. I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano Akira-sensei does; though, of course, the OC is mine.


Fourth Trial: Survival Hike

Test of Stamina and Teamwork

Standing on a stage, Belphegor announced the mechanics of the next round. The participants would be randomly assigned to a group of two where both would be given a handicap: one on the arms while the other on the legs. He swiftly added to explain, with a characteristic grin on his face, that it was made that way so they would move as one, as the test emphasized teamwork.

The goal was to climb the mountain and reach the castle while avoiding a variety of traps. The time limit was three hours.

While the other half had lined up for the lottery box, Nanami and the remaining participants waited for their assigned partners to approach them.

She sighed. Lilian would had been the perfect companion as they were already acquainted, but the ravenette was nowhere to be found after the third trial. Nanami guessed that she flunked the test and could only hope that, at least, nothing bad had happened to her.

A sudden tap on the shoulder caught her attention. She turned around and her eyes almost fell from its sockets.

The man behind her had a head of a canary. His body, however, obviously belonged to human and was donned in a tuxedo suit.

Nanami did her best to mask the confusion on her face with a smile, but was painfully aware of how futile it was, if the twitching of her mouth was anything to pass by.

"A, Are you my partner?" she asked, making sure to speak in English. The man—or bird—only nodded.

She extended a hand at him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Senritsu Nanami. You are?"

And there was silence.

What, can he understand humans but can only speak bird? Nanami was troubled.

He did not shake her hand nor speak and only walked away, towards where they will be given their handicaps. She followed him.

"You call these weights?" she whined upon having both of her forearms enveloped in heavy, metallic cylinders. "I can barely move my arms!"

On the other hand, her partner was given bulky, ankle weights of the same material. She saw him attempt to move his legs and immediately heard him click his tongue.

Nanami frowned. She did not know that birds could click their tongues?

A snicker pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked to her side and found fellow competitors jeering at them, or her to be more particular.

"That surely reduces her powers, no?" mocked an unknown man.

It seemed that being a representative of a Varia member earned her the ire of others. The man and his companions, most likely a group of acquainted assassins, were a little too happy that she would not be able to use her arms.

Unbeknownst to the scornful men, Nanami preferred to have the handicaps on her forearms rather than the legs because the challenge was a mountain hike and, obviously, having a pair of lower extremities was the bare minimum to complete the trial.

Soon, everyone was told to gather at the starting point.

Nanami noticed that Birdman—she decided to call him that, at least in her mind—was having a difficult time walking because of his handicap.

She knelt with her back facing him. "Please get on."

"What?" he spat, clearly surprised.

He spoke?! Nanami was too shocked to notice the familiarity of his voice.

"Get on my back," she added after clearing her thoughts. "I'll carry you and we'll jump through the trees. We won't reach the castle if we just walk."

Birdman ignored her and continued his slow travel towards the forest. She could see the struggle in his movements and guessed that the weights on the legs were probably a lot heavier than those of the arms.

"Mister, please let me carry you?" she asked sweetly, for safety measures, as she moved in front of him, only to be ignored again. He stepped aside and continued forward.

Left with no other option, the brunette sneaked a leg and tripped her partner. She caught him on her back in one swift movement.

She then locked her metal-coated forearms at back of his knees to prevent him from escaping, and said as respectfully as possible, "Please cooperate. We both know we can't survive without the other. You'll be my arms and I'll be your legs, okay?"

Immediately after her explanation, a surge of murderous intent overwhelmed her senses. Nanami cautiously looked over her shoulder and was relieved to see the same pair of innocent, large, round eyes directly meeting her gaze.

For a second, she thought that she had angered Birdman. Thankfully, he did not seem furious at all!

Nanami supported his legs on her arms and slowly stood up. She could feel him struggle to find his balance so she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry. You're not heavy at all!"

While many onlookers paled at the sight of unparalleled murderous aura overflowing from an unknown bird-man entity, a certain brunette remained clueless of her surroundings.

"...ou to death."

She heard a mutter and glanced questioningly at her partner. "Hm?"

He gave no response. Nanami simply dismissed it and moved to enter the forests.


The sun had already set and only an hour was left before the end of the trial.

So far, the trip had been smooth despite the number and wide variety of traps that they had encountered. With her instinct and his bird vision, they were able to anticipate all of the incoming traps. She focused on the travel, while Birdman deflected the blades that sprung from the trees and bushes with his tonfas.

Nanami remembered letting out an embarrassing yelp when he first pulled out his weapons. The first person that crossed her mind was Hibari Kyoya, and she almost immediately scolded herself for even daring to think that the person she was carrying on her back was him.

That was simply outrageous. Impossible. The world would end first before the prideful demon of Namimori would accept her help.

She thought rationally and concluded that they merely possessed the same weapon.

"Force of habit, sorry," she explained with a shy smile, and Nanami was not sure if the scoff she heard was simply a work of her own imagination.

She jumped to the highest tree. "The castle is already in sight. Let's go."

A loud thunder was heard and there came a sudden downpour.

The brunette immediately descended to lower heights to avoid being hit by lightning. Knowing the sadistic tendencies of Varia, she was almost sure that the handicaps were made out of conducting materials.

Travel continued nonetheless, but due to the heavy rain, traps and pitfalls had become much more difficult to see. As if climbing a mountain while carrying someone on your back—not to mention that they both had extra weights on them—and avoiding traps were not difficult enough, the terrain just had to become slippery.

She stopped on a nearby tree.

"Please wait for a second." Nanami put Birdman down as fatigue slowly caught up to her. She then removed her soaked trench coat to decrease some weight, and was only left in her white dress that was also starting to get drenched in rain.

She knelt and gestured him to lean on her back.

"You're tired," he breathed.

"I'm alright," she gave him a soft smile. "Please continue deflecting the traps. It makes it easier for me to focus on the travel."

Birdman was clearly hesitant, but relented in the end. Together, the two took flight once more.

Few moments later, a set of blades appeared from a shrub, but her partner easily repelled it with his tonfas. Compared to earlier, it was obvious that the number of traps had risen. It was probably because they were nearing the castle.

Nanami repeatedly jumped from one tree to another, and almost snapped her neck when he abruptly moved her head to face left. Her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing a net heading towards them and she hastily moved to another direction. However, both of them failed to see the large tree log that swung from the front.

The brunette managed to dodge, but not fast enough for Birdman to evade along with her. His face met the log in a loud thud.

The impact was so great, Nanami felt it as well. She gasped, "Are you okay?!"

The moment she looked over her shoulder, a sight that she had never expected to see made her heart instantly sink to her stomach. Instead of a canary, what greeted her was a familiar skylark.

A furious, murderous, nose-bleeding skylark.

She paled. "H...Hibari?"


Author's Note:

Birdman is Hibari Kyoya. He is wearing a bird mask all along and Nanami is so dumb for not noticing it. #StanDumbQueenNanami