Author's Note: First 1827 fic I've ever attempted. I wrote it a long time ago. I'm going to post it as I finish it.

Prologue: Your Torture, My Solace

At first, it had been simple glances towards the weakling—he had felt curiosity like this before towards others but it always sent him back into the state he had been in before, bored and still as bloodthirsty as he had been previously. Glances that, in appearance, were harmless means of observation—such as the way that Sawada Tsunayoshi's full lips would quirk downwards into a concerned frown or the way his eyebrows would knit together ever-so-slightly when one of his friends would cross paths with bad luck which resulted in them getting hurt (such as that Rokudo Mukuro incident that Hibari simply refused to dwell on for more than a brief second because it made his blood boil just thinking about it) or the color of his eyes, how they changed from being rimmed with dark, caramel brown and got lighter before fading back, once again, into that caramel brown around his pupils to a brilliant, fiery blaze of knowledge and emotion but at the same time, so calm and calculating.

They had meant nothing.

And then it had escalated into something more. When Hibari Kyoya faced defeat, for a brief moment as he laid there on the cold, unforgiving floor at Rokudo Mukuro's mercy, he saw that gaze—that cute, downturn of silk-resembling lips, the slight furrow of his thin eyebrows—directed at him. He had thought it was just his herbivorous nature—that weak compassion that seemed to stalk his every move—and that it would simply pass but, as his accursed (or was it gifted? He wasn't sure on that anymore) luck would have it, it didn't. And soon after, Hibari found himself yearning for that look of concern.

The days had blurred into weeks and months and Hibari had found himself drawn to the little herbivore. He hadn't expected to be looped in as far as he had been and of course during the Ring Conflict, when he had gotten to see that flare unearthly flare of pure, unaltered carnivore firsthand (from a distance of course… the place had been too crowded for his liking so he had watched from the rooftops) he had a thought that seemed to change his view on the little brunette.

He wasn't all that he appeared to be.

He was a challenge. And Hibari liked challenges.

Unfortunately, Hibari also had a hard time suppressing certain thoughts that seemed to come to mind when he saw those challenges, namely how much he wanted to bite him to death (among other things but his sexual fantasies were out of the discussion… for the moment, at least).

Hibari never expected to be looped in with the Vongola but after he was, he knew that he didn't have a choice in the matter anymore. It wasn't as though they were restraining him, quite the opposite, but he found it unnerving to be involved in something so large—and from what he knew about it from his late father's Yakuza connections, so dangerous.

Six months after Byakuran's bitter defeat and three months after the failed inheritance ceremony. The Shimon group had gone back to the island and left his school alone (something he was immensely grateful for because that woman irritated him to no end) but from what he heard, a certain Kozatto Enma was still in constant connection with Tsuna.

And once again, Hibari felt that sense of eerie calm overcome him.

As it was, he was sitting in his office—the reception room—and looking out the window where Tsunayoshi was flanked by his two carnivores (though Hibari would deny that he acknowledged the loudmouth one as a worthy opponent), seemingly unaware of the skylark's watchful eye.

His caramel brown eyes flickered slightly, altering in color when he looked up at where he sensed the gaze. Hibari felt a sharp rush of adrenalin at the challenging stare. Did the small animal know that direct eye-contact was a challenge to his primal instinct? Did that Sawada Tsunayoshi know how much Hibari wanted to bite him to death?

Judging from the way he looked away, Hibari would wager he did but that miniscule show of submission did nothing to stop the anger—was it anger? His blood felt hot and his heart began racing, similar (but not identical, he tried to argue) to the way he felt when he fought a strong opponent so he would continue to call it anger until proven otherwise—that overtook him.

That herbivore would pay for challenging him, he vowed instead of dwelling on the strange feeling. He had no time for such herbivorous past times, after all.

Tsuna didn't cry out when the tonfa hit his ribs. He didn't cry out when his head hit the cold unforgiving floor either. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to tame the angry carnivore because his foot collided with the side of his face, digging in. Tsuna sucked in a breath through clenched teeth in order to keep his cries muffled.

Contrary to common knowledge, Tsuna wasn't completely naïve to Hibari Kyoya's primal way of thinking. He knew that Hibari's mind was unpredictable in reading things and he couldn't understand—or didn't want to. He knew that he had angered his Cloud in some way and he knew that the only thing that would appease him right now was submission.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi. I will bite you to death!" Hibari's foot collided with the side of Tsuna's face once again and the heel of his shoes dug into the side of his face, more than likely bruising his sensitive flesh.

Tsuna cried out, unable to keep his sounds at bay any longer. Why did Hibari have to have a violent streak now of all times?

But his cries went unheard. School was in session and the teachers were clueless as to the anguish being inflicted on him.

The bell rang. Hibari gave him one last glance before he spun away, his coat flaring out like a demon's wings.

Tsuna sighed. What had he done to anger him this time?

Hibari was restless. It had been only an hour since his biting of Tsunayoshi and he couldn't help but reminisce at the herbivores pathetic attempts at blocking his fangs and claws, how he curled up into a ball.

And it had done nothing to satiate this burn which had changed into an uncomfortable churning in his lower gut, something he never felt before.

Hibari Kyoya could only hope that these… stirrings… would go away soon otherwise he may have to bite Sawada Tsunayoshi to death.

Literally.

When Tsuna walked into the house when he got home, he felt as if he would collapse from his wounds but knew that if he waited, infection would set in and then he would have to go to the hospital and he honestly didn't want that. Sighing, Tsuna bypassed his bedroom and went for the bathroom at the end of the hall, thanking every religious deity he could think of that he hadn't ran into Reborn.

He would only make things worse.

Tsuna looked up at the mirror and took in his swollen appearance. He had a bruise on his left cheek and his left wrist felt like it was bruised from when Hibari had grabbed him and threw him against the wall—which brought the throbbing sting in his ribs back to mind.

Gingerly peeling away his clothing, he examined his torso. There were thin lines from where the spikes had shredded at his skin without ripping his clothing—though, how Hibari managed that was beyond his comprehension—and thicker purple splotches from where he kicked him on his thigh.

Tsuna sighed softly and tilted his head back to pull out his contacts—the ones Spanner had given him during his adventure in the future—and dropping them into their rightful containers. Putting them in the medicine cabinet on the top shelf marked with his name on the bottom for the children to see, he pulled out a bottle of eye-drops and put some in to ease the irritation.

Tsuna continued peeling off his clothes and examining his wounds—a few more bruises and his right ankle was strained—before shaking his head slightly.

Hibari hadn't meant to do this much damage…

He was just… more angry than usual…

…right?

Hibari and Kyoya were entirely two different people. Hibari was a prefect-delinquent, law abiding and violent, while Kyoya was a socially inept teenager that didn't have a childhood to experience things. One can only watch his mother and father be cut down by an enemy because of their bloodlines and still be expected to blend with society.

And so, Hibari had put up a wall to keep Kyoya—the fragile-hearted, afraid child that never got to grow up—protected from pathetic crowding herbivores. And it worked… up until he met that stupid, no good Sawada Tsunayoshi that had managed to get through to that scared child and invade his mind-state. Hibari didn't want to believe it. It infuriated him to no end to know that that Sawada Tsunayoshi, a simple pathetic weakling had managed to invade his every thought.

Or maybe that was just Hibari talking.

No, Kyoya's thoughts were completely different. Kyoya thought about touching the brunet in a sickeningly gentle manner. Such herbivorous thoughts…

Hibari sneered at himself in the mirror. He was having those herbivorous thoughts again. There was no scared teenager… there was no herbivore child that was afraid of everything. There was only the solitary soul, Hibari Kyoya, that could be bound by nothing…

So how many times did he have to tell himself that before he actually believed it?

The weekend. It was by far Hibari's favorite time of week because it meant that he wasn't stuck at the school biting herbivores that crowded together entirely too often for whatever reason he saw fit. He could also get some grocery shopping done—if you could call instant food groceries because Hibari Kyoya could not cook worth crap—while no one was around to see him in such a pathetic state. The DC was disbanded and off spending time with their families in an attempt to mend the damage done and Kusakabe was taking care of his youngest cousin and contrary to most belief, he didn't wear his uniform outside of school on the weekend and he refused to be a shut-in.

Grabbing a pair of wash-faded grey jeans and a long-sleeved under-shirt, he quickly got dressed. He had bills to pay today too. Deciding that it was alright to look more like an actual teenager, Hibari grabbed a black t-shirt with a white skull on the front and silently slipped it over his purple long-sleeved undershirt.

Tugging a black and grey fur-lined jacket on and pulling up the hood, he turned on some music from a walkman and put on his headphones—it was low enough that if anyone spoke to him, he would still be able to hear. Grabbing his wallet and keys, he deemed himself ready to go out.

Maybe if he knew what was going to happen, he would have thought to reconsider.

Tsuna sat up, his pain having dimmed thanks to Reborn's secretly done healing—though if the Arcobaleno asked if he knew, he would deny it under oath and play the obliviously stupid card—and groaned at the time. Eight thirty.

On the freaking weekend!

He knew he shouldn't have been complaining, he did ask Reborn to wake him up early after all. He didn't know what woke him up until he saw a shadowy figure sitting on the foot of his bed. Malicious intent radiated from his form—the cause of his sudden awakening.

He glared at Reborn who was sitting on the foot of his bed with a hammer in his hand, poised as if to hit him. "Hit me with that and I'll kick you." Tsuna grumbled lowly. Though, he supposes he should thank him for pouring out malicious intent to stimulate his intuition instead of outright hitting him like he usually does.

"What was that, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked, a dangerous gleam in his eye as he waved the hammer around dangerously. Tsuna knew that it was his way of saying 'you're welcome' because Reborn knew everything.

"Hiie! N-nothing Reborn!" Tsuna squeaked, jumping out of his bed to get some casuals on. "At least I didn't get hit…" Tsuna murmured.

"Oh, I'm sorry… did you want to get hit? Are you going masochist now, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn taunted making Tsuna's cheeks flare with color.

"No! And don't say such creepy things!" Tsuna shrieked as he straightened out his last of his clothes. Her ran down the stairs and quickly jerked his shoes on. "I'm off, kaa-san!"

The night before, Tsuna had asked Reborn to wake him up slightly early so that he could buy a new game that he and Lambo played together as it was and only was a multiplayer game. He had played the first part and wanted to get his hands on it before all of the copies ran out as it was quite a popular game.

Tsuna walked into the game-store he usually took Lambo to and smiled at the cashier. "Sawada-kun! I had a feeling you would be coming for the new release game so I tugged one off of the shelf for you. We're already sold out." Tanaka was a fair haired university student that worked part time in the gamer's shop. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, and he was sickly almost. Tsuna had become a regular for multiplayer games because Lambo loved to spend his free time playing fight games with Tsuna who was getting more and more allowance from his mother—though, she had claimed that it was no bother because they were well off, Tsuna still felt guilty for taking all of that money. Video games weren't cheap, after all. Luckily, though, he had a lot left over from before his days as 'Juudaime' so the amount just seemed to accumulate over time.

"Thank you so much Tanaka-san." Tsuna beamed. "Lambo would sure appreciate it."

Tanaka grinned, "Go ahead and grab one of the grape candies for him. I know how much he likes those. It's on the house."

Tsuna, knowing better than to object to the older boy, nodded and grabbed one of the medium sized lollipops—grape flavor of course—and crammed it into the bag before putting some money on the counter. "Thanks for saving it for me, Tanaka-san."

"No problem," Tanaka winked. "Have fun beating it."

"Alright, thanks." Tsuna nodded before waving, "Later,"

"See you, Sawada." Tanaka called after the brunette before tending to the rest of his customers.

'Hm. I wonder if the cheats have already been hacked in… it would certainly make things easier on Lambo.' Tsuna had been so caught up in his thoughts that when he turned the corner he had accidently ran into a teenager that was clad in dark clothes.

They both fell to the floor with unceremonious grunts of discomfort. Tsuna's bag hit the floor, the plastic container to the game clacking against the cement, while the 'stranger's' hood fell back revealing straight black hair and a pair of steely blue eyes that, for once, weren't narrowed into slits.

Had Tsuna been paying attention to who it was, he would have seen Hibari Kyoya looking at him with mixed emotions flashing through his eyes—shock being the most prominent—but he was too busy sputtering out apologies and urgently gathering his things together before anything bad could happen that would possibly end in violence. "I… uh… w-wasn't watching wh-where I was g-going… s-sorry… er… sorry…" He murmured before scrambling away from the taller teen.

Hiba—no, he wasn't Hibari right now. He was Kyoya, the well behaved albeit timid teenager that didn't get to really grow up—Kyoya murmured a soft thanks to the receptionist before withdrawing his card from her aged hands and pocketing it. He turned on the balls of his feet and walked through the glass doors before sharply turning the corner to head to the grocery store.

At least, he would have if something hadn't knocked into him causing him to stumble back slightly. His hood fell from his head and a slight tinge of nervousness entered him but he crammed it away out of habit, replacing it with false anger that all but shriveled away when he realized just who it was that caused his ungraceful nature to show through.

He watched through amused eyes as Tsuna desperately tried to scramble together his change and pile it into the bag. "I… uh… w-wasn't watching wh-where I was g-going… s-sorry… er… sorry…"

Despite the usually dormant at this time snarling prefect's angered protest, Kyoya reached forward and began to help him pick up the things that feel. He reached for a grape-flavored candy and put it into the bag. "It's fine." He said in an almost whispering sort of tone.

And then Tsuna looked up.

His eyes widened slightly as realization—and now fear—at who he just ran into. He had to bite down on his tongue really hard not to shriek at the prefect who had given him a terrible beating just the night before. "H-Hibari-san… I-I'm s-sorry for r-running into you l-like that." Tsuna bowed his head, averting his eyes in submission.

Hibari—peaking out through Kyoya's personality—purred throatily. Tsuna looked so helpless and petrified that it teased at his sadistic, carnivorous nature. He could just ravage the brunet right now if he wanted to. Feeling the need to tease him about his unusually girly appearances, he smirked tauntingly, a ghost of his prefect persona, "Afraid of me, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Taunting but not harsh.

Tsuna's head jerked up as the two of them stood up, the streets mostly empty for how early in the morning it was. His expression became lax and his eyes blank of any emotion other than curiosity. He… wasn't afraid? Why wasn't he well on his way down the street? For a moment, he forgot about the game in his arms and looked, actually looked, at the teen standing in front of him.

His appearance wasn't strict and he was dressed in casuals. From what Tsuna could tell, he didn't have his tonfa—and from what he knew, he was lethal without them too—but his stance was relaxed, for lack of a better description. The smirk taunting at his lips was light and not bloodthirsty for once.

Tsuna's trance was snapped loose when the teen raised an eyebrow and prompted, "Well?"

Tsuna blinked and defiance flashed in his eyes, changing them to a glazed sunset color, as the heated feeling he felt before when he challenged the prefect burned underneath his skin once more. He jerked his chin up stubbornly making Kyoya want nothing more than to grab it and force a kiss onto him. "No."

Kyoya stepped forward, unconsciously making Tsuna step back against the brick wall. He put one arm above his head, trapping him but Tsuna only clutched the game closer to his chest while staring into Kyoya's eyes with fierce defiance that would have usually made Hibari very angry… but he wasn't Hibari right now. He leaned down until their lips were centimeters apart before murmuring a breathy, "Good."

Ba-dump.
Ba-dump.
Ba-dump.

Tsuna's heart thudded loudly in his chest as he remembered what happened only moments before with freaking Hibari Kyoya! 'Hello!? Did you not realize that it was only yesterday he beat the crap out of you?!' A voice screamed in the back of his mind. 'Gah! What drove him to do that? Was he actually going to k-k-kiss me or was he just playing with me?!' Tsuna's thoughts raced a million miles an hour as he walked at a slower pace than before.

Thinking back, he had never really gotten the chance to look at his Cloud before. The curve of his eyebrows were neat and soft and the way his lips lifted to smirk made Tsuna's stomach drop in an alien, almost needy, sensation but he found he liked the sense of heat that flowed in his veins.

It wasn't love… he vaguely recalled Reborn saying something about… lust? Arousal? Such foreign sensations… he'd never felt anything like it before—no, wait, that was wrong. He had felt it in another life when he still liked Kyoko but that was just an infatuation. When she had started dating Mochida Kensuke, Tsuna had felt the last of those feelings evaporate.

Wait, did that mean he had a crush on Hibari Kyoya?!

Tsuna stopped and yanked on his hair and banged his head on the wall with a groan. "Caiossu!" A voice said from beside him. Tsuna just about jumped out of his skin with a sharp 'hiie!' at Reborn's sudden appearance. His guard had been down. Reborn would punish him later—that much he was certain of.

"Reborn! Don't scare me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Tsuna wailed dramatically, flailing his arms for good measure. He sighed, putting a hand over his heart in an attempt to cool the rapidly beating organ.

Still… Tsuna couldn't help but think. What would it be like to actually be kissed by Hibari Kyoya?

One thing was for sure, a useless, no good boy like him would never know.

As Kyoya finished the last of his required errands, he couldn't help but let his mind drift back to his brief encounter with the little brunette. He looked like a scared little rabbit—or perhaps just a skittish kitten pretending to be a tiger? He didn't know but the little brunette was cute.

Small animal.

"Hibari, Hibari," The little bird that had somehow obtained the name Hibird landed on his awaiting finger. "Midori tadamiku~! Namimori no~!" Kyoya's lips twitched slightly, mouth curling into a small smile.

"Tell me… what do you know about Sawada Tsunayoshi?" He purred to the little bird.

"Small animal, small animal," The bird chirped, tilting its head cutely. "Herbivore, herbivore." Kyoya dropped his hand as the little bird flew away, singing all the while. "Midori tadamiku~! Namimori no~!"

Kyoya let his fingers drift over his lips. What would it have been like if he actually had kissed Sawada Tsunayoshi?

Tsuzukeru.