A/N- Me: *Throws this at my readers and runs away*

Muse Kitty: *Yawns, rolls over, falls asleep*

Beta'd by the RedRoseCrane as always

Disclaimer- I still don't own Reborn

Chapter 6

Tsuna reluctantly trailed behind Yamamoto as the other boy ran around the town, looking for someone that most people would go out of their way to avoid. Tsuna, at least, had the sense to know that if he didn't break the rules, Hibari would ignore him. He was useless enough that the terrifying child ignored him out of disinterest. Tsuna doubted that would be the case if he was ever found out. The chaos it would bring to Namimori would be astronomical.

It was part of the reason he was reluctant to go to the bloodthirsty child for help. He knew that if he really wanted Chrome out of that house right away, all he had to do was hint that they were going to visit Namimori and disrupt the town, and Hibari would hunt them down, like a cat slaughtering mice. But Tsuna didn't because…

"Hmmm," Yamamoto mused out loud. "So he wasn't near the shrines, or the shopping district. Dad would kill me if we went near the yakuza controlled territories." He tapped his chin. "I'm not sure where else Hibari-san would be."

Tsuna let out a small heave of breath as he relaxed, and then he tensed again. How did Yamamoto's dad know what areas were yakuza controlled? He rubbed at his forehead and wondered if either of his friends were normal. He wanted to cry at the thought that, because then it might seem like it was too much to ask for to have one normal, average person in his life.

He took a deep breath, and said, "Maybe he doesn't want to be found? He's rarely in class-"

"The school!" Yamamoto interrupted him, and Tsuna realized with horror that the school was, in fact, the most likely place for the terrifying prefect to be. "That's genius Sawada!"

Tsuna groaned, not bothering to dig his feet in when Yamamoto grabbed his wrist and started to enthusiastically drag him back towards the school that he spent so much time avoiding. He didn't need any more reminders of how he was damaged thank you very much.

But he felt a small smile twitch upwards on his lips, betraying how much he actually enjoyed Yamamoto's enthusiasm for all the danger it presented. He couldn't bring himself to say no to his friend, especially since it was to help his first friend, who was someone Yamamoto had never met, let alone talked to. He didn't know if that was a normal reaction from a friend, but he respected Yamamoto even more because of it.

The school's shadow loomed above them, and Tsuna fought the urge to flinch. He thought that Yamamoto noticed anyways since the grip on his wrist tightened. It could have just been the fact that his friend had taken to following Tsuna through the halls to keep the bullies away from him and it had become a habit. Either way, Tsuna did flinch when the grip didn't loosen.

"Oops," Yamamoto said, and dropped his grip, "Sorry Sawada."

Tsuna rubbed at his wrist, but shook his head, "It's fine Yamamoto-san. More importantly, are we even allowed on school grounds this late?"

"Hibari-san's bound to be here, so I assume it is," Yamamoto told him cheerfully. Tsuna wondered if he remembered that Hibari seemed to be the exception to the law most of the time, so it wasn't best to judge based off of him. It confused Tsuna that Yamamoto would one moment know that Hibari was the one they should find when they need help breaking the law, but not realize that breaking the law before that might be a bad idea. He sighed and followed after the other boy anyways. If things got really bad, Tsuna did have a trump card after all.

Even if it ended in his death, he knew he wouldn't hesitate to reveal himself to save Yamamoto.

The hallway tiles of the elementary school echoed beneath their feet, and Tsuna glanced around nervously as Yamamoto cheerfully called out Hibari's name. They wandered for several minutes, criss crossing the halls and classrooms without a glimpse of the prefect.

"M-maybe Hibari-san isn't here?" Tsuna suggested, more than willing to go home. He had told his mother he would be home at a certain time and he was starting to push it. Too much later and he would come home to police officers. Again.

Yamamoto hummed in thought before saying, "I think I know one last place to check!"

Tsuna sighed and followed after his friend, not sure if he wanted Hibari to be there so that they could follow through this insane plan and hopefully get Chrome out of that house, but at the same time, he really didn't want to have to put this plan into action.

Yamamoto threw open a door that Tsuna was fairly certain led into an office and not a classroom. The warmth in him screeched in alarm, and Tsuna tripped in surprise from the sudden warning, trying to fall forward so he could shove Yamamoto out of the way at the same time. The two of them crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs at the same time a silver tonfa struck the doorway right where Yamamoto's face had been.

Tsuna let out a sigh of relief even as Yamamoto started to laugh, and the two of them helped each other up. Tsuna tried not to wilt under the glare that Hibari sent their way, even as the sunlight and warmth in his bones practically screeched in glee this time. Tsuna wanted to groan. He didn't think that his instincts realized that the less people he spent time with the safer they would be, because they wanted him to claim the glaring boy as well, even if the warmth whispered that this one would take time.

Tsuna wondered if Yamamoto would panic if he just started to cry right there, or if the cheerful and slightly oblivious boy would shrug it off. Maybe he was actually crazy because that would explain all of the people that his subconscious wanted him to hang out with. At least Chrome and Yamamoto pretended to be normal, or at least looked it at first glance. Anyone who saw him with Hibari would question his sanity. No one would question Hibari's partly because that's how you got bitten to death, and partly because there was no question about how sane the prefect was.

"Herbivores," Hibari said shortly, his tonfas still held at the ready. There was a strange gleam in his eyes when he looked at Tsuna. The brunet shivered at it. A flash of disappointment crossed Hibari's eyes and he turned away from him. "What do you want?"

"Well Hibari-senpai,' Yamamoto started cheerfully, stepping into the room fully. "We wanted to ask for your help with something."

Hibari turned to stare at Yamamoto, before his eyes darted to look at Tsuna, a slightly panicked look in them for a sliver of a second. Tsuna could empathize with the prefect. No one had probably willingly asked him for help before, and definitely not someone like Yamamoto. Tsuna tried to send him a reassuring look and a shrug before Yamamoto continued, oblivious to the byplay between them.

"See Sawada has this friend, and from what I hear she's pretty amazing, but her parents aren't the best. So we were going to go visit her, but no one's going to let us go alone at our age, but you run around on your own all the time so we thought we'd ask for your help," Yamamoto half explained, half rambled. Tsuna really did sigh, as the hostile look returned in Hibari's eyes and he started to raised his tonfas once more.

"They abuse her!" Tsuna shouted, half stepping in front of Yamamoto when it looked like HIbari would attack them for wasting his time. Everyone froze.

"They never let her out of her room, only to show her off at parties, and sometimes they forget to feed her, and no one's ever taught her how to really take care of herself, and she thinks that she isn't worth anything, and we just wanted to help!" Tsuna babbled, trying not to look Hibari in the eyes, not wanting to know what was in them. "I just wanted to check up on her, but Yamamoto thinks we should bring her back to Namimori with us, but that's kidnapping, and-"

"Herbivore," Hibari cut in and Tsuna's mouth shut so fast he clipped his tongue. Silence descended, and Tsuna risked glancing up from the bottom of his bangs, wondering what what going through the prefect's head.

He was stunned to see the gleam from before had returned full force, and Hibari's lips twitched like he was fighting an expression other than his usual deadpan. Tsuna's eyes widened. He felt like screaming because his warmth was purring about gaining some respect. It pushed him to make sure that the short lived respect didn't die as fast as it had sprouted.

So Tsuna, in a last ditch attempt to make sure the prefect stayed away from him, blurted out, "But if you don't want to Hibari-senpai, I'm sure that we can figure something out ourselves."

He thought that implying that they didn't need Hibari would insult the prefect and they could all go their own ways once more. Yamamoto might be disappointed that they hadn't helped Chrome immediately, but that would just give them more time to plan something. Tsuna was sure that if they had enough time, they could actually figure out a way without Hibari's help.

But from the way his warmth settled in contentment around him, he hadn't managed that. Hibari swept passed them, his jacket brushing against Tsuna's arm. He exchanged a confused look with Yamamoto who look more bemused than confused, and grinned at him.

"Herbivores," Hibari bit out from the hallway. "Don't slow me down."

Yamamoto cheered, and Tsuna let one sob out before straightening his back and following after them. He wondered why the two of them even thought about listening to him when he was so useless without his Godling powers, but he trailed after them anyways. Yamamoto threw an arm around his shoulders, warm and confident. Tsuna thought that whatever it was, he wasn't going to clue his friend and new friend(?) in on that fact. It wasn't worth it.