Title: The Unlikely Duo

Summary: No one ever thought that the shy, easily-scared, five-year old Sawada Tsunayoshi and the aloof, very scary, six-year old Hibari Kyoya could become friends—much less best friends. It was such an unlikely pair after all, a really unexpected duo. But to everyone's surprise, they still did, eventually.

Warnings: OCs, since they're kids and almost (or more than?) half of the crew is from Italy or is not from Japan, and of course, OOCness—but hey, since they're still young and all, their personalities have to yet develop to that of we know (that's what I would argue anyway).

Author's Note: To anyone who already read the last three (yes, three) versions of TUD, just forget about it. Please. This is a completely new, almost made from scratch, semi drabble-like revision. Emphasis on the drabble, since there are chapters that are just pointless but cute (at least to me). So please enjoy this new one

[Updated 11/3/15: Some grammar mistakes fixed; cover picture disclaimer added.]

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General Disclaimer: I do not own "Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!" Not the manga, not the anime, and especially not the characters (except for some OCs). It all rightfully belongs to its wonderful author and artist, Amano Akira-san.

I also don't own the cover picture of this fiction. All rights belong to the one who made it, or owns it.

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Prologue: And so a little rabbit is lost

He was lost. He was most terribly, terribly lost.

The young brunette looked at the hand drawn map again, but none of the landmarks there resembled anything he could see in his current surroundings.

He began to sniff. That unnaturally cold, March day was the day of Sawada Tsunayoshi's very first errand. He was hesitantly tasked by his mother, Sawada Nana, to buy some carrots at the convenience store they always passed by whenever they went home. Before he left, Nana tried to stop him, clearly worried, but his little confident self told her that he could "definitely do it!"

He even pounded his chest to show off.

And now he was lost.

"Hic—Hic—" Tsuna was finally ready to give up and cry miserably in the middle of the empty park, when a voice behind startled him.

"Little boy."

The voice was deep, but gentle, with an obvious amount of concern. Still, Tsuna turned nervously and rather slowly, the face of his mother as she warned him of not talking to strangers playing in a loop in his mind.

Standing before him was a tall man with very short raven-colored hair that appeared darker with his snow-pale complexion. What struck Tsuna the most about the man were his gray-colored eyes—his sharp, narrow eyes that were filled with nothing but concern.

Tsuna burst into tears. "Waaah!"

Immediately the man sat by Tsuna's side and hugged him, whispering words of comfort while rubbing his back as he did so, seemingly used to consoling children like the brunette.

When the cry finally subsided, the man pulled out a white handkerchief from his pocket and let Tsuna blew his nose on it. "Are you lost?" he finally asked.

Tsuna only nodded, belatedly noticing the familiar blue uniform of a police officer the man was wearing.

"Then do you have any identification card with you? Something your mother should have given you in cases like this..."

Tsuna remembered something like that was indeed given to him—a large paper with his name, phone number, and address written on it. The brunette then slid down from the man's lap, before fishing out a paper pressed in between hardened plastic from his small body bag.

The young police officer read the address and smiled, glad that the child's home wasn't that far. "Let's go," he happily said as he grabbed the boy's left hand.

"W-Where are we going?" Tsuna asked, confused.

"Back to your house. You're lost, right?" The man simply answered as he continued to walk. He suddenly stopped though, when the brunette pulled his hand to make him halt.

"Tsu—I mean, I-I can't go back yet..." Tsuna said as he stared at ground, face flushed for some unknown reason.

The man blinked, before kneeling down to Tsuna's level, all the while not letting go of his small hand. "Can I ask the reason why?"

Tsuna still refused to look up, maybe because of shyness, the police officer supposed, when he answered, "M-Mama asked me to buy something, and Tsu—I mean, I… I don't want to go back yet until I bought it..." he finished, and though his eyes were cast on the ground, the man could see the firm resolution in them—there was even this strange orange glow that had come and go in a second, making him wonder if he imagined it or not.

Pushing that aside, the young police officer smiled and ruffled Tsuna's brown locks. "Want me to accompany you then?"

Tsuna finally looked at him, a wide smile on his small lips. The police officer couldn't help but widen his own. "Do you know where you're supposed to buy it?"

Tsuna nodded once more, before presenting to the police officer the hand-drawn map leading from his house to the convenience store.

"S-Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Hmm?"

Tsuna fidgeted from the gaze. "My n-name," he only said, eyes back to the ground.

The man laughed. He already saw the brunette's name from the paper before, but he still went out of his way to introduce himself. He then ruffled Tsuna's hair again before finally introducing himself. "Hibari," he said with a soft laugh. "My name's Hibari Akihiro."

... .. .

Tsuna decided he really liked the man. He was patient and gentle, and there was this air about him that was both comforting and relaxing. The police officer of course accompanied him with his shopping, though there was this one single comment in the entire affair of buying orange sticks that Tsuna could not just comprehend—"You really are a herbivore, aren't you?"—the man had said it with a worryingly pleased smile. Tsuna didn't ask anymore what an "herbivore" was.

Ten minutes later, Tsuna was safely escorted home, with a sobbing Nana hugging him fiercely, greatly worried when her Tsu-kun took longer than should with his errand, but was glad that he was finally safe. Nana then invited Akihiro for some afternoon tea, to which the police officer politely refused. He then waved goodbye, happily returning to patrolling his beloved Namimori.

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"A rabbit-like herbivore?" The young boy asked as he looked up to his father.

"Well, yes and no," Akihiro said as he adjusted his son on his lap. His thighs where getting numb. "He looks and acts and is an herbivore, but somehow at the same time he is not."

The young boy tilted his head to the side, confused. "How can an herbivore be an herbivore and not at the same time?"

His son had a point. But Akihiro clearly remembered the resolution in Tsuna's eyes, one that definitely did not belong to any weak, plant-eating animal, and the orange glow that he was now sure he did not imagined. "I know what I said is confusing, but one day if you ever meet him Kyoya, you'll get what I mean." Namimori wasn't that large of a town after all. Akihiro knew the two would eventually meet someday.

"Hn," was Kyoya's only reply, clearly no longer interested, turning back to the steel tonfa he was playing with before.

Akihiro chuckled. He then ruffled his son's hair, mildly wondering, that if the two would really meet one day, would they become friends?

He guessed only time could tell.

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Another note: Since I already finished writing and editing ALL the chapters (yes, TUD is finally, finally finished), updates will be every other day.

Hooray!

Ciao!