Today was a wonderful day. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the sky was cleared of clouds, leaving the sun free to light up the world with its rays. The weather was also quite pleasant; not too cold and not too warm.
It was a perfect day to go sakura-viewing and many people were buzzing with excitement. There was also a subtle, competitive undertone to the occasion since everybody wanted the best spot to view the sakura trees. Reborn and the others were no exception. Thus, Tsuna and his friends were ordered by Bianchi to go ahead and save a spot for the group.
During the boys' journey to find a spot for the gathering, Yuuki and her team were getting ready for the sakura-viewing. Yuuki were preparing some food for the picnic since she knew that Bianca was planning to bring her poisoned ones and no one really want to die on such a wonderful day – actually, no one wants to die in general. Anyway, Shoshi was helping her with the food prep while the others were packing up the essential items.
Just when they were about to leave, Yuuki abruptly received some last-minute informant work from the Mugen clan. If it was any other job, she would have set it aside to do later, but apparently it was an emergency. So instead, she had to stay behind to complete it. Not wanting to spoil the fun for her team, she ordered them go on without her and assured them that she would go once she finished her tasks.
It took a bit of convincing since the boys did not want to leave her alone, but she eventually booted them out of the house and got to work.
It was a simple task and thus, it didn't take too long for her to finish. By the time she was done, everyone should have already be at the park, partying. Seeing how late she was, Yuuki debated on whether to go or not since the group has already started without her and it seemed pointless to go this late in time.
After some considerations, she decided to go. Since Tsuna was becoming a key figure in the underworld, it was more beneficial for her to continue strengthening their relationship.
Therefore, Yuuki found herself walking down the stone path of the park famous for their abundant of cherry blossom trees. As she strolled, Yuuki took the time to enjoy the view of the sakura trees that littered the park grounds and the soft, cool breeze that weaved in between them.
Amidst her strolling, Yuuki noticed a small movement from the corner of her eyes. Turning her gaze towards what caught her attention, she saw a stray butterfly fluttering towards her. Seeing the odd behaviour of the butterfly made Yuuki pause and hold up her hand. The butterfly flew down and landed on one of Yuuki's finger tips. Its wings fluttered as though stretching from the long flight before settling down on its perch. Once settled, the antennas of the butterfly flickered in familiar patterns as Yuuki listened to its inaudible words.
"Hmm, interesting," Yuuki hummed, the corners of her lips flickering down in displeasure. It seemed that Hibari had gotten into some trouble with a certain, infamous mafia doctor. Message delivered, the butterfly gave one last flick of its antennas in farewell before taking off. Yuuki watched the butterfly go, making sure it was safe before surveying the area.
She looked around, her head slightly tilted as though straining to hear something. After a couple of seconds, Yuuki straighten up and walked off the stony pathway into another direction. Crossing some patches of grass fields, Yuuki shortly came upon another stone path. Standing in the middle of the pathway, Yuuki waited. Before long she spotted Hibari in the distance, staggering towards her.
"You're too impatient," Yuuki reproached once Hibari stopped within distance in front of her. "You didn't even try to get the cure for the disease."
Hibari grunted and since he was still affected by the cherry blossom trees, his voice was a bit curt, "I don't need it."
Yuuki raised a skeptical eyebrow. Her gaze bared onto his swaying body which contradict with his previous words. Yuuki held her tongue though and instead frown. "Let's get out of here, ne?"
Slowly the two walked, side-by-side, out of the park. As they walked, Yuuki felt her fingers twitch every few seconds. She wanted to reach out and help the weak skylark, but she restrained herself because she knew that Hibari would not appreciate her assistance. As the pair got further and further away from the cherry blossoms, Hibari's stride grew stronger and more confident until he was back to his normal state by the time they entered town.
People who saw them gave the pair apprehensive looks, unsure on how to reaction when seeing the two together. Many of them knew Yuuki and respected 'him'. Sometime whenever they see the 'boy', they would always cheerfully greet 'him'.
Yuuki was like the town's protector and was quite popular around town. 'He' would always patrol the streets and make sure everyone was safe and sound. 'He' would even help or solve any trouble around town like with the police station or the hospital. Yuuki was highly regards and well-known by the townspeople.
Nonetheless, they also know of 'his' high reputation of power, especially 'his' association with the fearsome Hibari. The townspeople knew that despite Yuuki's care for the town, 'he' was also considered to be the founding ruler of it. Yuuki was not the official ruler like the mayor or anything, but 'his' power resigned in the more darker or hidden side of the town.
Similar to the highly-populated cities, the town has an formal leader, but Yuuki has huge influential, political power because of 'his' underground connections. Despite that, the people still care for Yuuki simply because most of them knew that they were safe as long as they don't get on Yuuki's bad side.
This was strikingly different to Hibari's show of power who was more similar to a tyrant than anything – doing whatever he wanted. Fortunately, he was still a student and does not have that much power… yet.
Therefore, when the people saw the pairing, they didn't know what to do. A part of them wanted to show their respect to Yuuki, but they were also repelled by the menacing aura of Hibari. Knowing that the skylark hate crowding, they ultimately made no attempt to get close to the two.
The townspeople gave the pair hesitant looks while the two simply ignored them. Yuuki was a bit glad that she didn't need to socialize today because of Hibari's presence. She was feeling antisocial at the moment and simply wanted to enjoy the peaceful stroll with the male beside her.
Upon entering an empty street, Hibari and Yuuki found themselves suddenly surrounded by a large group of delinquents. This caused Yuuki to raise an eyebrow and examine the group. These guys were either stupid, unaware of the two's reputation or came from a neighboring town because rarely does the pair get ganged up like this, especially when the two of them were together.
When examining the group, Yuuki found that she couldn't recognize them from any local gangs or schools, making the explanation of the group being from a different town more plausible. It didn't really matter either way. Yuuki knew that by the end of the day, the group would find themselves being bitten to death by Hibari – mainly because of their crowding.
Out of the mob came a tall, bulky, bald male with tattoos littering the exposed skin of his body. From the way the other members fall behind steps with the man and their submissive reactions towards him, Yuuki came the conclusion that he was the leader of the group. "Yo brat, I heard that you're the strongest in this town," the leader snapped, focusing all his attention onto Hibari.
Yuuki tilted her head, puzzled by their lack of acknowledgement to her presence. Did they not know who she was? That seemed highly unlikely since their reputation have expanded beyond Namimori by now. Then why do they not recognize her? "No crowding, herbivores," Hibari narrowed his eyes in warning.
"Haaaaaaaaah?!" The leader challenged, obnoxiously getting into Hibari's face. "Whaaaaat did you saaaaaaaaay?!" He was then interrupted by one of his subordinates.
"Hey boss, look! He got a girl with him. She's a real cutie too."
Made aware of Yuuki's presence, the group got distracted as they openly leered at the girl. Ah, that would explain it, Yuuki thought, feeling slightly irritated with being ogled at – they were eyeing her like a slab of meat.
The gang probably thought she was a girl and so didn't connect her to the rumor of Yuuki's reputation which dictated her as a male. The misidentification was probably caused by what the female was wearing. Instead of the usual school's boy uniform – which gave the illusion to others that she was a 'boy' – Yuuki wore some of her more casual clothing: a baggy, off-the-shoulders, dark-grey, light sweater with fitted, dark-blue jeans. Her current outfit revealed her more feminine curves and displacing her typical androgynous appearance.
Yuuki huffed and turned her head to the side, not wanting to look at those insects. She crossed her arms, unintentionally making her chest more pronounced. Since she was looking away, she didn't notice how intense the ogling got because of her action, but Hibari did. A soundless growl slowly emitted from Hibari's chest. Hibari was mad before because of the herbivores' crowding, but now he was furious – no, murderous. How dare those pathetic, weak herbivores look at what was HIS!?
Side-stepping Hibari – unaware of the skylark's homicidal thoughts – the leader swaggered up to Yuuki and threw an arm around her shoulders, drawing her flushed against his body so that he could perversely feel her curves against him.
"Hey cutie," the leader flirted, giving her a lust-filled smirk. Yuuki eyed the arm wrapped around her in distain. If this was part of her mission, she would have reluctantly tolerated such behaviour, but since it was not, she had no obligation to return the attention. The leader leaned into Yuuki's personal space, his foul breath brushing against her cheeks, "Why don't you ditch this guy and-"
Before she could pulverize the pervert, Hibari did it for her. He struck the leader across the face with his tonfas, sending him flying away from Yuuki and back to his gang. Shooting them a death glare, Hibari snarled, "You have some nerve touching what's mine."
Yuuki's heart jolted as a blush dotted her cheeks. What did Hibari meant by that? Does he mean it in that sort of way? No, Yuuki mentally shook her head, that was not possible. This was Hibari they were talking about here. There was no way he was interested in anyone. He probably meant it in a friendly, partnership sort of way. Like, 'no one touches his subordinate/follower/ally/pet' sort of way.
It was never good to assume, especially when it came to Hibari. You can ponder and wonder, but unless there were clear evidence, it can only be just a theory. Yuuki slowed down the beating of her heart, her rationalization both assuring yet depressing her.
"Boss!" The gang exclaimed. Those surrounded the leader, helped him up while the man, himself, clutched at his bleeding nose. It looked like Hibari had broken it. The rest of the members glared at Hibari, agitated by the assault.
"What are you waiting for?!" The leader yelled, his voice all deep and nasally from his broken nose. "Get him! We'll show him just who he's messing with and get his girl too!"
The group charged at Hibari who managed to fight back despite the overwhelming number of opponents. While Hibari was occupied by the gang, a few members made the attempt to seize Yuuki.
"You're coming with us, girlie," a guy ordered, grabbing Yuuki's wrist. At first, she didn't react, simply eyeing the hand in disgruntlement. Then she grabbed the arm of the unexpected male and twisted it. "Argh!" The man cried out in pain.
The man leaned to one side, his arm being bent at an odd angle. The others could only watch in shock, not expecting for the Yuuki to retaliate, as she quickly turned and threw the male over her shoulder, slamming him onto the concrete floor. The force of the slam knocked the man unconscious, leaving him with rolled-up eyes and foam bubbling out of his mouth.
Straightening up, she brushed off the invisible dusts from her body and calmly took out a small handkerchief. Using that handkerchief, Yuuki wiped the wrist which the man had grabbed with a slightly challenging look in her eyes before holding the soiled article away from her, in between her thumb and index finger, and chucking it away.
The other members' eyes twitched. She was treating their comrade as a dirty, disgusting smudge. The members exchanged insulted looks before sending glares toward Yuuki. With an unanimous battle cry, they charged in for the attack.
Dodging her first opponent's punch, Yuuki grabbed his arm and with quick, flexible manoeuvre, flipped him over her shoulder. While in a crouch position, she sensed another opponent rushing up behind her. When he was in range, Yuuki kicked out and send him flying. When she got up, she dodged another punch aimed at her face and kneed the perpetrator in the stomach. Smacking the man away, Yuuki turned and threw a punch to another. Avoiding an incoming blow, she retaliated with an upper-cut, feeling the jaw break under her knuckles and unhinging some teeth.
One by one, the gang members fell by the hands of Hibari and Yuuki until all that was left were small piles of unconscious bodies and the gang's frightened leader. The leader sat on the ground, shaking in horror at the destruction around him. All he could see were two dangerous predators staring down at him from the mountain of his 'dead' comrades. "HHHHIIIEEE!" He screeched when Yuuki took a step towards him. The man scrambled up and fled the scene, tripping over his feet in his haste.
Hibari scoffed as they both watched the man go. Once the man was gone, Yuuki drew her attention towards the bodies littered around the two. Not wanting to leave the bodies out in the open for everyone to see – it was bad for Namimori's image – she took out her phone to get Sakamaki, the policeman, to come over and clean up the mess. Hibari watched as Yuuki texted the policeman, telling him about what had just transpired and leaving the rest of the work to him.
Once Sakamaki confirmed her orders, her phone suddenly rang from an incoming call. Hitting the button to accept it, Yuuki lift the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Yuuki~, where are you?" Yuuki heard the whining voice of Kazuo. "We're starting to get worried."
"I'm currently in Namimori with Hibari. We just did some pest control with a trespassing gang group."
"Hibari's with you?" Kazuo muttered, sounding a bit upset and completely ignoring everything else Yuuki had said. He quickly changed the topic though, before Yuuki could question it. "When will you be arriving then?"
There was a pause as Yuuki thought over her answer.
"I'm actually thinking of going home instead of attending the sakura-viewing." Yuuki finally admitted, suddenly feeling slightly fatigued. She tried not to let it show in her voice or posture though. Unfortunately, she can't completely hide it from Kazuo who instantly took notice that there was something slightly wrong with Yuuki.
"Do you want us to come over then?" Yuuki could detect the worried tone in Kazuo's voice. Could it be happening again? Kazuo thought form the other side of the call. She shouldn't be alone then, if his guess was correct.
"No, no," Yuuki firmly denied his offer, "I'll just relax in the garden or something. You guys go have some fun and bond with the others. Use this chance to create some connections."
"…Well, if you sure," Kazuo sounded a bit reluctant to agree, but yielded to her request in the end. After exchanging goodbyes, Yuuki hung up.
"I'm heading home now. What will you be doing?" Yuuki asked as she turned to Hibari.
"Some coward needs to be punished," Hibari replied, referring to the runaway gang leader.
"Alright," Yuuki nodded before proceeding to pull the skylark into a hug. Hibari tensed up within her hold, but made no move to escape it. The two savored the moment, feeling the closeness of each other's bodies.
They have both been getting a bit affectionate lately, but the nature of their relationship hasn't been addressed yet. They both knew or at least had an inkling of what they were feeling, but for various reasons have been ignoring it or didn't feel the need to bring the topic up.
After a few more lingering moments, Yuuki reluctantly detached herself from Hibari. Immediately, Yuuki's body felt cold without Hibari's heat to warm her up. Turning around, Yuuki looked over her shoulder and gave one final farewell before she headed off home to go rest – she knew that her body sorely needed it. Hibari watched her leave before heading off to hunt his prey down.
N/A: Sorry for the long wait! I hope everyone is doing well during the pandemic! R&R!