!Strawberry Kisses!

Word Count: 3,070

Soooo, how's the 'friends' thing going?

I bounced across the dining table to where Tsuna was slumped over his homework, a thousand-yard stare going straight through the algebra on the paper.

"Why did they bring the alphabet into it?" he whispered to himself. "What psycho mixed the alphabet with the numbers?"

You've had a month, I continued to press as I got closer to see the dead look in his eyes. You've had a month, and I all but gave you that Yamamoto fleshy. Have you interacted with him since? Or have you just been drooling after that Kyoko girl?

"I'm going to kill him," Tsuna continued, unaware of my prying gaze. "I'm going to dig up his body and kick him, whatever sick freak created algebra."

I tilted around and got right up in his face, chirping a bit as glazed-over eyes snapped to attention and dropped down to me.

"Strawberry," he whimpered pathetically. "Strawberry, I'm so confused!"

Oh don't be so dramatic, I sighed before leaning forward with a loud 'mwah~! Mwah~!' He whined and dropped his chin on the table, allowing me to begin tugging at his hair and try to get that incessant couple of strands to sit the heck down.

The little fleshy grumbled as I yanked and gnawed at his tangles, a hand coming up to poke at my talon. He puffed out a breath as I paused and then stepped on his finger, pinning it down.

Stop that.

Tsuna whined again and tried to pull his hand away but I pressed it harder and began to climb up his head, holding onto his hair as a rope. The boy sniffled to himself as I walked across his scalp, pulling at his hair to check for any nasty nits he may have gotten from those unrefined fleshies down in that cesspool of a school.

Then the thundering footsteps came from the living room and we both turned our heads to the sound.

"Strawberry!" Nana shouted, coming into the room with her hands on her hips.

Uh oh, she found it. I thought I had more time!

Tsuna blinked and sat up as his mother frowned down at me atop her son's head. I coughed and began to groom my feathers, keeping my attention away from her furrowed brows.

"Strawberry, did you draw on all of Iemitsu-kun's photos?" Nana demanded, shoving a photo in my direction.

To be fair, I hadn't drawn directly on the photo itself and had instead drawn on the glass. It was easy to remove with a wet tissue and some wiping, but it got the message across and let me let off some steam. They were mostly harmless drawings anyway! Just some x's over the eyes, blacking out some teeth in his grins and drawing devil-horns and stink lines.

I regarded the photo she provided as evidence with an uninterested huff; there was no proof it was me. Perhaps a robin hood of sorts broke in to the house and provided justice for those in the lands!

"Strawberry," she warned as I looked away pointedly.

Tsuna was completely unmoved by the situation presented to him. He glanced at the picture before going back to have another go at his homework.

I huffed as he moved me in the slump, dropping down to huddle against his chest while watching him write his working. His free hand came and scratched at my nape, and I liked to think he was saying 'good on ya'.

"Strawberry, apologise to Iemitsu-kun!"

Tsuna and I sent Nana matching looks of disinterest in the man, making her frown more severely. Tsuna continued to scratch my nape and I fluffed up in content, guiding his hand around to get at a spot that made me melt against the table in a flattening ball of feathers.

"Okay, time out for you," Nana harrumphed and I squawked indignantly as the mother scooped me up and began to walk me to my room.

How dare!? Rapscallion! I do the work of the 'Lord' and this is how you repay me: the backbone of this household!?

I shouted and flapped as I stepped off Nana's wrist onto the ladder inside my room, the woman smiling softly at my behaviour even as she persisted in her punishment. Giving a grunt of dislike I grabbed the little knitted blanket Nana had made for me weeks ago and burrowed under it, refusing to pay mind to the mother's soft cooing.

"Strawberry? C'mon, 'berry," she sighed, before giving up and locking my gate.

I sulked under my red blanket in my nest, an indignant puff of me. I listened to the fleshies move around the house while I was in unjust isolation, Nana spraying the glass with cleaners and trying to wipe away the real-life depictions I had endowed upon the thing that was Iemitsu's face. Ungrateful, I huffed and peeked out from under my blanket.

Leon.

That bug-eyed lizard was clinging to the front of my room and staring in, never once blinking. He stayed there and waited, tail slowly curling around the thin metal beams.

"Get out of my room," I hissed, peering over the edge of my nest in distaste.

"But I'm not in your room, Strawberry."

I took a deep breath, "Go away."

"But I thought you'd want company?" He hummed, staring into my freaking soul.

"Not from you. Away, you fiend."

"Ah, ah, Nana said you needed to be nice to me!" Leon grinned, and I was so ready to try and be an omnivore again. "So let's chat shall we?"

"No."

"What do you like to do, Miss Berry? What's your usual weekend?" He purred, getting comfortable as I glared at him.

"In my nest, quietly luxuriating and away from a certain lizard," I hissed out, and all he did was curl his tail tighter along the bars, tilting his head with a kind of satisfaction.

Oh, I'm gonna kill 'im. This lout of a chameleon. This pestering brute.

"Ah, a homebody," he continued without a waver. "I myself enjoy a good nap in the sunshine, a good way to warm up the blood."

"Great, go find a sunspot and roast."

"Such a way with words, Miss Berry."

You're so lucky that these bars are separating us otherwise you'd be growing back your tail for weeks.

I hissed and tugged up my blanket, before turning away and refusing to respond to anymore provocation. There was a groan of the floorboards and only then did I turn my head to see Tsuna pulling up a chair to sit beside my cage.

"Hey, pretty birdy," he smiled and I let out a huff at the familiar greeting. "Is Leon bothering you."

"Tsun~! Tsun~!" I chirped and he reached his fingers into my room so I could nibble on his fingertips. "Tsun~! Tsun~!"

"Tsuna-kun! You better not let Strawberry out!" Nana warned from the living room, and we both pouted.

Tsuna leant forward to the door of my room and gave me a sharp little smile that he almost never let slide onto his face. He made a shushing motion before he whispered, "I'll give you some honey when you get out for a good job, 'berry."

"Tsun~! Tsun~!" I cheered and decided to ignore the soft chuckle that bubbled from the lizard watching us.

Oh no. He's going to embarrass himself.

And embarrass me. Mostly me.

"Who let the child play volleyball?" I hissed, Tori hanging off the banisters of the Namimori school gym, swinging idly.

"They're throwing a big rock," he declared, watching the ball fly over the net with increasing speed.

I groaned at his lack of care and slumped against a crossing beam, feathers ruffled as the crowd below roared in approval. Tsuna's never going to be able to have children at this rate.

I knew something was going to go terribly wrong today. That weird baby had a gleam in his eye that Tsuna had learnt to fear at a Darwinian level. Usually when that shine takes Reborn's eye something terrible befalls the fleshy throughout the day, be it being chased by an animal that had no business being in Japanese suburbia, or a bomb set to detonate within ten minutes that mysteriously never gained the attention of the authorities.

Needless to say, I had yet to wake up peacefully since Reborn's arrival.

I sighed and ruffled my feathers as I watched Tsuna curl up in a fetal position on the floor, his cohort egging him on to continue to sacrifice his anatomy. Displeasure was a staple emotion when I visited any of my fleshy's school; displeasure, irritation and indignation. With the occasional humiliation.

"Eh, Strawberry there's a weird human," Tori chirped and I tore my eyes away from the spectacle below to see what had caught his attention.

A boy in a heavily modified Namimori uniform had plastered his face to the thin windows of the gym door, binoculars in hand as he peered in our direction. His hair was a shock of silver and my brain rattled with confusion. Dye? Albinism? Genetic mutation?

"Shiny," Tori breathed, eyes gleaming and I barely had time to squawk before the crow had lifted off from our perch and snuck out through an open window.

"Oh God, oh no," I wheezed before making chase.

I made it out of the gymnasium and nearly screeched when I saw that neither of the two weird males were where they should have been. Flying around, I scanned the school and tried to find a flash of silver or black or the sound of a young teenager being picked bald by an obsessed corvid.

"Wait! Come back shiny!"

"You'll never take me alive! I know what you are, you feathered spy-cam!"

Found 'em.

I dropped down with my talons out. Tori squeaked as I got him over the head, the crow going heads over heels into the long jump pit of the oval.

"Tori, what the hell are you doing? Stop assaulting random kids!" I hissed as he pulled himself out of the sand spluttering wildly.

"But Strawberry," he whined and I smacked him with my wing.

"No!" I scolded, "No buts! You do not dive bomb random kids!"

Tori sulked as I snapped at him one more time before I turned my attention over to the young teen that was curled up under a set of PE benches.

The student was eyeing us from behind his arms, bright, green eyes snapping between our forms. He gave Tori another scathing glance before fixing his attention on me, and I squinted back at him.

"Tori, he's not from Namimori, is he?" I asked slowly, turning my head side on to truly take in this new human fleshy.

"Nah, never seen this shiny before," Tori supplied, "No one else has either."

Ah yes, the Master Information Network that was the crows of Namimori. Never forget a face, never forget an interaction.

"So a new person is spying on my fleshy," I hissed out softly and the progress the human made in crawling out was quickly retracted.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," the human muttered under his breath and Tori and I turned to him.

"I think he's having a nervous breakdown."

"...Should we help him?"

I watched the human wheeze beneath the benches and slowly shook my head, "no, hang on. I'll go get my fleshy, I think he's traumatised. Watch him for me."

"Okay!"

"And don't tear his hair out."

"Aw, but Strawberry!" He whined but I was already in the air and sailing back towards the gym.

The students in the gym had dispersed at some point and left the place empty, leaving me to circle the vicinity and try to zero in on my fleshy.

"Hiiie!"

Ah, the distress call of a Tsuna.

"Strawberry, he got away!" Tori screeched, barrelling towards me from on high. "The shiny got awaaay!"

"We'll deal with that later," I dismissed, already swooping an arch to follow the sound of my fleshy.

We wrapped around the side of the school to the nature strip hiding at the back, classrooms empty with students flowing out of the gates. It didn't make me feel better that my fleshy was screaming and alone.

I squawked as the sound and rumble of explosions trembled in the air, my feathers standing on end as even Tori faltered his flying.

"Strawberry, I don't think-" he began but I kept barreling forward.

"Tsun~! Tsu-" I choked as I came upon the visage of my fleshy stripped down to his boxers and standing over the pale boy from before.

I landed on a ledge beside them and stared at them, unblinkingly, Tsuna staring back with a pale expression. The young man on his knees in front of him seemed torn between gaping at me and gazing upon Tsuna with a sparkle in his eyes, and I didn't know how to feel about it.

I suppose they're reaching that age. Tsuna, I give you my blessing. Go forth with pride, my little fleshy.

"Whatever you're thinking: no!" Tsuna wheezed, stumbling off his new 'friend' and slamming his hands down on either side of my birdy body.

I eyed him and his star-spangled boxers, taking half a second to notice how his shins had grazes and his fingers were red. The sight made me huff loudly and I squawked in reprimand as I began to climb up his arm to check for any other damage this foolish boy had befallen while I was gone.

"Tsun~! Tsun~!" I chirped, tugging on his earlobe. "Tsun~! Tsun~!"

"Strawberry!" he whined, gently prying my beak off and urging me onto his arm, my talons sinking into his skin to hold on. "What are you even doing here?! How'd you get out!?"

"Woah! Is this your bird!?" I blinked as a tall fleshy loomed over Tsuna's shoulder, the familiar face gawking down at me. "They're so cool looking!"

"Yamamoto-san!" Tsuna coughed, snapping around and making me flap to keep a hold. "Uh, yeah! This is-"

"A spy!" The pale one screeched and leapt at me. I chirped and took off, leaving the pale one to body slam Tsuna into the ground. "They're after your life, Tenth! The birds work for the bourgeoisie! They tried to get me before!"

Just as he screamed this, Tori landed on the ledge beside me, an aluminium wrapper pinched in his beak. He crowed a bit and glanced to each face, completely lost and without context, as the pale one straddled Tsuna and the tall one, Yamamoto Takeshi, cackled in glee.

"Reinforcements!" the pale one squeaked and I glanced at Tori as he tugged relentlessly on the wrapper.

Ah yes…'reinforcements'.

"Ah...they're not spies," Tsuna grumbled from beneath. "Strawberry's my pet bird."

I made a disgruntled noise at 'pet' and scratched me talons over the brick ledge.

"They're...yours, Tenth?"

"Eh, Strawberry is but the crow is just her boyfriend."

Beside me, Tori was still chewing on his wrapper, perpetually looking like he had the Wii theme playing in his head.

WRONG! I threw my head back and released an indignant screech that rang true to my dinosaur ancestors.

"Okay! Okay! He's not your boyfriend!" Tsuna yelped, wiggling his way out from under the pale one and tried to urge me down from my riot.

"Haha, it's like she can really understand you!" Yamamoto chuckled, crouching down in front of me. "Waa, look at those colours!"

Indeed, gawk and praise, land-dweller.

Then I jumped and turned back to Tsuna, a coo bubbling out as I walked up his arm again. Look at you! Two friends! I knew you had it in you! My brave fleshy boy!

I cawed and tugged on his fringe, pulling leaves from his locks that had tangled in the many enthusiastic embraces from the pale one. Tsuna pouted and whined as I groomed him, a hand coming up to touch my foot until I stepped on his fingers and he could pull me away.

"Bird."

"Hiiiiieee!"

Oh my God.

I flapped violently and perched myself on top of Tsuna's head, giving myself a good few centimetres extra space as the weird Bird boy crouched on the ledge and stared me in the eye. I squirted at him and looked him up and down, keeping hold as Tsuna backed up.

"What do you think you're doing to the Tenth!?" the pale one screeched and pounced.

"Strawberry, I'm bored!" Tori cawed hanging upside down in a tree.

"Gokudera-san, wait!" Tsuna yelped and I jumped off to land on the now vacant ledge.

"Oh, we're playing tag? I'm in then!"

"Screw you!"

"They're rather lively aren't they?"

I wheezed and snapped my head around to see Leon sunbathing beside me, his tail curled in satisfaction and his unblinking eyes staring into my freaking soul.

"When the heck did you get here?!" I hissed, taking three large steps away from him.

"I've been here the whole time, my human needed to make arrangements," he hummed, resting his chin on his green, little hands.

"Bird."

Bejebus-

I jumped again, six months taken off my life as I was suddenly beak-to-nose with a fleshy, slate eyes staring me down. Okay, nope, that's enough for today, too much is happening here.

"Tsun~! Tsun~!" I chirped, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Hibari," he corrected.

"Tsun~! Tsun~!" I called and flew over. "Mwah~!"

"Huh- oh," Tsuna blinked, before flushing as he realised the number of eyes on him. "Uh..."

No. No, you are doing the kissy. No escape.

"Mwah~!" I demanded and he withered, before giving a half-hearted whistle.

"Strawberry~!"

"Strawberry~! Mwah~! Mwah~!" I cooed, pressing my beak to his cheek. "Tsun~!"

"You're talking human again!" Tori screeched and I huffed, shaking myself out.

"Bird."

I looked over my shoulder and wheezed when I saw Hibari's face literally centimetres from my own, looking down at me rather pointedly. Okay, yep, going home now, bye.

With a loud chirp, I pushed off Tsuna's arm and went flying, Tori calling for me to wait up.

When Tsuna got home that afternoon - with clothes - he looked dead tired and eyed me with accusation. It seemed Hibari had given him grief after I had ditched the poor fleshy. I whistled innocently from the ceiling fan before he faceplanted on the couch with a groan of despair.

You're doing great, fleshy.