Sawada Tsunayoshi had no one.

His mother was oblivious to everything, and nonchalantly used the words that pierced his fragile, child heart like flaming arrows. His classmates and teachers were worse. Even the Demon of Namimori, the one and only Hibari Kyoya who relentlessly crushed any rule breaking, didn't stop the bullies from stealing his food and homework, from bullying him to the point where the only thing keeping him going were the bright smiles of Kyoko-chan.

Sawada Tsunayoshi stared down at the phone in his hand. Maybe, online, things could change.

(He'd take what he could get.)

"The Internet is my voice.

Listen."

(-FlyingUnderwater, Six-Word Memoirs)

AN: So, I know I promised that Xanxus TSAW chapter and you all definitely deserve it after the response it got (especially from Archive of Our Own). Unfortunately, Xanxus is being a little brat and not cooperating with me right now, and somehow, this happened instead. Oops.

AN2: Somehow the Xanxus chapter still came out first. I don't even know anymore. The characters just write themselves honestly.

AN3: I am apparently manga!Kyoko about Nana.

Warnings: Mentions of bullying and abuse. Extreme liberties were taken with the setup of social media because the author doesn't use it. Just imagine "Mida" as the ultimate social media site. Also, future FLUFF because I need it in my life. But until then, angst. And some humor, of course.

Disclaimer: KHR is not mine.

Sometimes, Sawada Tsunayoshi forgot his own name.

Oh, it wasn't because he had memory problems or anything like that. It's just that he heard his actual birth-name so rarely, it was easy to forget it wasn't something else.

He knew himself by many other, less pleasant names. Some names hurt, but he could grow used to them, learn to shield himself against the verbal barbs from people he did not know nor care for. (He tried to ignore the hurt that came with being friendless.)

"Dame-Tsuna!" "Useless!" "No good!" "Did you see that Sawada child…?" "A punk!" "A delinquent!" "It's amazing he's still alive, considering his clumsiness and stupidity."

There were other names, too. Ones he barely remembered.

"Tuna-fish!" "Grandson."

And the one that hurt the most.

"Oh, my Useless Tsu-kun, what am I to do with you?"

Sawada Tsunayoshi stared at the computer screen in front of him. His kaa-san had encouraged him to create a social media account to try and reach out to others. (To make him a little less of a disappointment.) Name? The cursor on the screen blinked in the blank box.

If he put his real name… everyone would know. He'd still be Dame-Tsuna, there would be no escape. Even online, his name alone would separate him from everyone. In another world, the young brunette with hopeful, tired eyes entered his real name and immediately found himself the subject of cyberbullying, leading him to delete his account and never try again.

In this world, Sawada Tsunayoshi took a deep breath before mustering all his courage and creativity and typed in a username of his own design.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27

He clicked Enter.

Not so far away, in a different part of the same Japanese town, a black-haired boy pulled out his mobile phone and flicked it open, absentmindedly scrolling through alerts from his Mida account while he relaxed on the sun-warmed pavement of the roof and white clouds drifted aimlessly overhead.

You have a new follower!

An arched eyebrow rose in bemusement as the boy saw his latest alert. It seemed that the Mida matching system had prompted a new user to follow him. He was prepared to dismiss it as he had all similar requests before he hesitated, thumb hovering over the screen. His instincts - honed and sharpened through danger until they were better than most predator's - were prompting him to accept, were murmuring promises of violence and interesting things. (And, if they also whispered of companionship, of finding a place to call home that wouldn't shackle, him, well. That was his business, and no one else's.)

A sharp smirk slid across aristocratic features as he selected Follow back! After all, he smashed through expectations and preconceptions in everything else, why not social media as well? He did whatever he wanted.

Below the school building, a group of students climbed the fence and began roughhousing playfully. The young teenager stretched lazily before rolling to his feet and leaping from the roof, tonfa gleaming and "Kamikorosu!" already growled out.

Kusakabe Tetsuya stepped out from where he had been waiting in the shadow of the stairs and picked up the phone his leader had abandoned.

Kusakabe blinked in surprise - after all, Hibari Kyoya was infamous for not following anyone or anything, even online. As such, it was the work of only a moment to draw out his own mobile and pull up his Mida account.

CarnivorousCloud18 is now following you!

DisciplinedHair is now following you!

Sawada Tsunayoshi nearly choked on his tea as two alerts popped up on his phone - two followers, one right after the other. And one was one of the people he had followed when he was first setting up his account! The brunette smiled. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea, after all.

At least online, he'd be known by his own name, even if it wasn't the one he was given at birth.

At least he chose it for himself, by himself.

DragonStorm: U should check this guy out. Apparently, my nephew decided to follow him.

HeatstruckBullets: Oh? I have been rather bored lately. The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27, huh? …Interesting choice of name. I'll check it out...

DragonStorm: Ur welcome. ; )

HeatstruckBullets: If we were IRL, I'd shoot you for that.

HeatstruckBullets: And just spell out "you're," seriously. You'll take the time to spell out "apparently" but not "you're?"

DragonStorm: LOL

HeatsruckBullets: Die.

When Sawada Tsunayoshi woke up from another night filled with dreams of cruel words and memories of punches and kicks and even more than that, he was greeted not by the call of his mother summoning her useless son to breakfast, but a cheery message from his new account.

HeatstruckBullets is now following you!

With a bright grin, the brunette hopped out of bed and hurriedly got ready for school. Unlike most days, it was easy to ignore the exhaustion that dragged at his bones and the cold mist that clouded his mind. Even the freezing cold that seeped into his bones and made him hurt and ache for as long as he could remember couldn't ruin his morning. Not when his phone was a constant, burning reminder in his pocket.

"Ara, my Useless Tsu-kun, did you follow my recommendation?"

Tsuna blinked up at his mother, toast already hanging out of his mouth and he pulled on his jacket and backpack. Biting down on what he could reach and grabbing the rest, the middle schooler swallowed quickly and nodded, beaming brilliantly.

"Hai, kaa-san! I already have three friends." Tsuna tried not to let the flash of surprise that crossed his mother's face hurt him. After all, he was Dame-Tsuna. His mother, who tried so hard for him, had every right to her disbelief that her no-good son had actually managed to get followers, especially so quickly.

(That didn't make it hurt any less.)

The clock on the wall ticked away, attracting Tsuna's attention before his caramel eyes widened in shock. "HIEEIII! Kaa-san, I'm going to be late!"

"Have a good day, Tsu-kun~"

The young brunette dashed away, waving distractedly over his shoulder as he sprinted, stumbling occasionally and wincing each time he fell, scraping his hands against the rough cement of the sidewalk.

The school gates were just in front of him when the bell rang, echoing across the empty yard. "No!" Tsuna cried out as he tripped in shock, landing flat on his face and wincing from the pain. "I was so close, too…" He sighed as he dragged himself back up, mindful of the possibility that the infamous prefect could be watching as the brunette entered the school, routinely accepting his detention and subsequent lecture for being late before taking his seat.

The day passed slowly, the usual mix of sneers from his classmates and even teachers flying over Tsuna's head as he doodled clouds with teeth on his papers instead of paying attention to the lessons he could never understand.

Once the lunch bell rang, Tsuna was the first to leave the class, easily making it to a small alcove in the roof where he usually hid and ate. No one ever came up to the top of the building because of Hibari Kyoya, who was rumored to take naps on the warm pavement during sunny days. Between the options of having his lunch stolen and beaten up or just being tonfa'd in the face, Tsuna thought he'd take his chances with the Disciplinary Committee Chairman.

Opening his bento happily, Tsuna dug into his kaa-san's delicious cooking while pulling out his bright orange phone and logging in, grinning to himself at the cute lion charm hanging from the phone. It was the work of seconds to pull up his Mida account, clicking on the names of his three followers.

CarnivorousClouds18 was definitely the most active account, Tsuna mused, even though the only person the user was following was Tsuna himself. (The thrill of pride that shot through him at that was completely unwarranted, but Tsuna relished the warm feeling anyway.) Despite that, the account had over a thousand followers from all over the world, though most of them had Namimori, Japan selected as their location. Tsuna gulped nervously, eyeing the simple Japan that CarnivorousClouds18 himself had chosen. Well, it wasn't like the other knew he was Dame-Tsuna, anyway. Besides, most of the posts were either police reports or wildlife facts and pictures - it was very unlikely that such a professional and focused page belonged to a fellow classmate.

DisciplinedHair was one of the people following CarnivorousClouds18 and seemed to mostly repost police reports and other stats. Some messages were worded really strangely, and the young brunette found himself wondering if it was based on some kind of code. In any case, both users seemed to have a lot in common from followers to messages, and Tsuna wondered if they worked together or something. This account also had Japan as its location, so there was still a chance that they didn't actually live in Namimori.

HeatstruckBullets, on the other hand, was terrifying. Tsuna's eyes widened as he saw how many followers the other had. He didn't even know that many people had social media accounts! The other's followers could probably form a medium-sized country if they all came together. Despite that, the user was following less than twenty people. Tsuna gulped. What were people like this doing, following a new user (a nobody) like him? Even more intimidating were the others posts. They ranged from travel pictures taken all over the world to new weapon developments to the latest math and science and music theories. The only personal information the other user had included were his gender and location: Italy. Tsuna wondered how someone could get so many followers when they only posted one to five messages a month.

The brunette put down his phone shakily, frowning as he saw that most of lunch had passed him by while he was investigating his new followers. Quickly finishing and packing his bento, Tsuna stood up quickly, ducking out of the small corner of the roof only to freeze in horror.

There, less than a foot from his face, was one Hibari Kyoya.

Tsuna felt like wailing, gulping as he stared into cold grey eyes. He wanted to beg, to run, to ask for forgiveness for a crime he did not commit. He opened his mouth-

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Tsuna froze once more.

That's right. He… He had friends now, or at least, a chance to have friends. Three followers, all of who were really, really cool, in Tsuna's opinion. So… so he wasn't going to be pushed around anymore!

Brown eyes flickered orange for less than a second, and steel grey eyes widened. How interesting... well, since the fluffy herbivore hadn't technically broken any rules...

"Hn. Hurry on, class will be starting soon."

Tsuna blinked in shock as the head prefect simply walked out onto the roof, not even giving him a warning smack with the deadly tonfa that peaked out of his sleeves. "H-Hai, Hibari-senpai!" The brunette decided not to question his luck and (quickly) walked away, barely dodging a tall, older boy in the black Disciplinary Committee uniform on the way.

Tsuna slumped against his desk with a relieved sigh, ignoring the glares from the bullies that had no doubt wasted part of their break while looking for him. Pulling out his notebook, Tsuna set forth on expanding his fanged cloud doodles to include smoking bullets and strange hair designs while school continued to drag on.

In his rush to escape, Tsuna missed one Hibari Kyoya turning around, a slight expression of surprise flitting across his face before disappearing. "Senpai? Hn… No one calls me that…" In Namimori, where everyone knew Hibari Kyoya was the Demon Prefect, the only terms he had ever heard were "san," "sama," "taichou," and so on (though he suspected Tetsu internally used "kun").

"Hibari-san! Is everything alright? Who was that boy? Wha-"

"Tetsu. Silence."

"Hai, Taichou."

"Hn."

Tsuna raced out the door as the school bell rang, not paying attention to anything but his hurry to get home as he unlocked his phone and pulled up his social accounts once more. Gulping, Tsuna selected his first follower, CarnivorousClouds18, and selected Private Message.

Tsuna hesitated.

What would he say? The only person he had ever really spoken with was his kaa-san, who talked enough for both of them. He could almost remember a time before, with a large, warm figure and an old man with a kind, but brittle smile. But those memories were brittle at best, and Tsuna let out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes.

A happy chirp from his phone made him open his eyes in surprise as a message appeared in the previously blank space.

CarnivorousClouds18: Hello. How are you enjoying Mida so far?

Tsuna gulped and almost dropped his phone in his hurry to reply, the orange lion charm tinkling against the metal as he typed.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Hello! It's been great, thx. I like ur name!

CarnivorousClouds18: Thanks.

Tsuna sweat-dropped. Now what? After several minutes of walking and staring at his phone in thought, a new message suddenly appeared.

CarnivorousClouds18: Since I've been on here longer, that makes me your senpai.

Tsuna felt the sweat-drop grow bigger. What? Why was he even asking that? Was… Was the other user just as nervous and bad at conversations as he was? No way, that was just crazy!

(On the other side of Namimori, Hibari hit a thug particularly viciously as he wondered why the other hadn't replied back yet and decided to use the confusing, fluttering feeling that no, was definitely not nervousness shut up brain, as fuel for his attacks. The thugs wept and forever regretted thinking a bed-headed teenager in sweats that looked like he had just crawled out of the gutter was easy prey.)

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Sure, Cloud-senpai.

CarnivorousClouds18: Acceptable, Sky-kohai. Call me 18 when not PMing.

Tsuna blinked. Huh…?

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Eh, why…? And what's PMing?

(Hibari Kyoya gulped and broke a robber's knee. If his instincts were so insistent that this other user was interesting, he couldn't scare him away just yet! ...Oh, he actually hadn't meant to break both of that one's arms. Ouch. ...He should probably call the hospital now.)

CarnivorousClouds18: Private Messaging.

CarnivorousClouds18: And just because.

Shrugging, the brunette paused by a crosswalk and looked up at the sky, watching as more clouds rolled in and grey stole across the blue expanse, slowly turning the sunny day overcast. Pounding feet in the distance caught his attention as Tsuna turned, seeing the figures of his classmates (tormentors) turn the corner and head in his direction.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Okay, Cloud-senpai. Um… I'm sorry, but I really have to go. Something just ca -

Tsuna fumbled as he pressed send too early, unable to finish his message as he hurriedly shoved the phone in his pocket. Any longer and the bullies would have seen his phone, and who knows what they could have done if he was still messaging Cloud-senpai. They could have typed anything! And if they broke his phone now, at least the other wouldn't think he was ignoring them.

"Oi, Dame-Tsuna! We didn't see much of you today. Hiding from your old friends, eh?" The speaker was the leader of this pack of delinquents.

"Y-You're not my friends! Y-You can't k-keep doing this to p-people! It's not right!" Tsuna didn't know who was more surprised at his outburst - the bullies, or himself. The bullies' faces turned red with rage as they stepped forward, dragging Tsuna into an alley. (People saw, but they wouldn't do anything. They never did.)

Tsuna gulped. This wouldn't end well.

Hibari Kyoya dropped the thug he was dragging to the ambulance in favor of pulling out his phone that had just buzzed. A dark, bloodthirsty aura rose from the black-haired boy as he read the text, slowly closing his phone and sliding it into his pocket.

The thug began crawling away.

"Tetsu."

"Taichou?"

"Track this phone signal."

"Taichou, we've talked about this. Stalking people isn't-"

"Tetsuya. Now."

"...Yes, sir."

"Hn."

Tsuna pulled out his phone as he limped, checking it for any damage before letting out a sigh of relief. Somehow, he had managed to protect his phone during the beating. The young brunette frowned as a drop of blood fell on his mobile, using his sleeve to wipe it away before pinching his nose shut. "Oh gosh, I hope Cloud-Senpai isn't mad at me…."

Opening Mida, Tsuna blinked at the sudden onslaught of messages that appeared on his screen.

CarnivorousClouds18: What happened?

CarnivorousClouds18: Sky-kohai, answer me.

CarnivorousClouds18: And finish your sentences.

CarnivorousClouds18: Where are you?

CarnivorousClouds18: I will find you.

CarnivorousClouds18: Don't make this harder than it needs to be.

CarnivorousClouds18: Sky.

CarnivorousClouds18: Kohai.

CarnivorousClouds18: What.

CarnivorousClouds18: Happened.

CarnivorousClouds18: And.

CarnivorousClouds18: Do not.

CarnivorousClouds18: Even think.

CarnivorousClouds18: About lying.

Tsuna gulped.

It was the first day, and already he was going to lose a friend. Sighing, the brunette shut his phone down and put it away. He'd answer it after he got home and cleaned up.

Anything to prolong the inevitable.

"Taichou, we lost the signal."

Hibari scowled from the backseat of the black van, glancing behind him to where Kusakabe and a couple other DC members were hooked up to computers, tracking technology, surveillance cameras, and more.

"To the last known location, then."

Tetsuya nodded and issued out commands, allowing Kyoya to sprawl out on his seat and relax for another fifteen minutes before arriving. Sniffing the air, the prefect scowled as he marched straight into a nearby alley, tonfa out and gleaming.

Just as the DC Chairman had sensed, there were bloodstains at the end of the alley. Kneeling down, Kyoya brushed his fingers against the rough, grimy stone wall. The crimson smeared at his touch and dripped from delicate fingers. Still fresh, then.

With a snarl, Kyoya stalked back to the van, allowing the DC forensic team to scour the area for clues while more hacked the surveillance cameras and police reports.

(Unfortunately for Kyoya, the cameras in this part of the city were ancient. As such, they only half worked at best and all videos were stored in the cameras themselves, which were wiped every 24 hours to make room for new film. At the discovery of this, the carnivore would fly into another rage and force all of Namimori to upgrade to the newest technology, funding most of it himself and making the small city one of the most security advanced in the nation. Though that wouldn't happen for another day.)

Hours later, while he was relaxing on the sofa in the committee room (which he did not live in, shut up Tetsu) his phone buzzed.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Sry for disappearing! My phone died.

Hibari glanced at the blood he hadn't bothered to wash from his fingers.

CarnivorousClouds18: You're lying.

CarnivorousClouds18: I told you not to.

The three dots signifying that the other was typing lasted for minutes, dragging on and on until Hibari wanted nothing more than to chuck his phone out the window and find the blasted herbivore himself.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Sorry, Cloud-senpai.

Kyoya nearly - nearly - groaned. What were you supposed to do with sensitive people? And how could someone his instincts promised was interesting be so touchy?

CarnivorousClouds18: Hn. Just take better care of yourself, kohai.

CarnivorousClouds18: I know someone hurt you.

CarnivorousClouds18: Who was it?

CarnivorousClouds18: I'll bite-

Hibari froze. If he wrote his infamous catchphrase, the other would easily figure out the Cloud's identity. He'd have to use something else… Quickly deleting his writing, Kyoya typed a new message and sent it before nodding approvingly. There, his identity was hidden. No need to scare the other off too soon.

CarnivorousClouds18: I'll arrest them to death.

Somewhere in Namimori, Kusakabe groaned in exasperation and put his face in hands. For some reason, he felt like he was going to have to give Kyo-kun "subtlety" lessons again.

In his room, Tsuna's eyes widened. That… That was kind of scary. But to think someone would do that for him, for (Dame-) Tsuna…. It was kind of nice, too.

The_Sky_Is_Not_My_Limit_27: Thx Cloud-senpai, but I want to handle it myself. ...I don't want to be weak anymore.

(Hibari smirked at the new message. So this was why his instincts had been so insisting. A baby carnivore was learning to use their fangs.

This would be fun.)

AN: I will be very impressed if you can figure out where Mida came from. I will even give you a one-shot or OC insert. Please review!

AN 2: I myself have forgotten where Mida came from. Someone please remind me. Seriously. It was a combination of something… Hmm. In other news, I likely forgot because yours truly managed to get a severe concussion! Guess who's not supposed to be using technology right now? Guess who just finished editing and typing this chapter! Yeah. Please forgive me, loyal readers that follow my other stories! I'll update as soon as I can, please just bear with me while I'm healing. Also, I did legitimate research on whether to spell it "senpai" or "sempai" so come fight me bro. And "why are you writing Japanese words when it's English, just use the English terms." No. I have Reasons when I use the Japanese words over the English. In this case, it's because Hibari is a nationalist (Namimori-ist) who would tonfa me in the face if I didn't.

Edited On: 4/21/2018