I don't like odd numbers, but this bit that was originally attached to Chapter 50 made it far too long so I split it off from Chapter 50. I hope you are somewhere comfortable, and enjoy it to the fullest even though it's far too long, a bit pointless, weird, and it also has so many paragraphs...

WARNING: OOC...

Epilogue

Confessions of a Teenage Hitman

Hibari's lips met Kiriyuu's in an instant.

She didn't even know what she had done to deserve this. Here she was, trapped within the cage of his arms, and her lips were captured within his feverish, fervent kiss. Her back was pushed against the wall - Hibari certainly had something to prove; he explored her lips roughly, and his hold on her tightened that she thought she was going to break in half. Kiriyuu let out a meek, muffled whimper under him, her hands awkwardly placed around his neck. She could hear him smirking as he kissed her hungrily, now trailing his lips to her cheek and down to her jawline, and finally to the nape of her neck. She gasped; his hair tickled her chin and his arms closing further down around her like iron bands, she had to clutch onto him, tilt her head back slightly.

Hibari didn't seem to care, just intent on ravaging the skin of her neck, and Kiriyuu thought her eyelids were going to droop when -

She thought she spotted someone spying on them from behind the crack of Hibari's open door. She squinted her eyes thoroughly, then tried to pry Hibari off her. He ignored her, still continuing in his endeavours. "Hibari, who's that?"

A squeak came from behind the door and a girl in a white sundress came waddling out, her face a nice, growing red shade as she watched shyly. "S-Sorry, I-I didn't mean to – "

Kiriyuu tried to get him off her, "Hibari, someone's here…" She protested weakly, wriggling in his grip.

He was now biting on her neck again, nibbling and suckling at her flesh. "…Ignore her." He murmured, and she blinked numbly.

"Hibari, she's staring right at us(!). I can't do these things in public!" Kiriyuu hissed, and a few moments later, she could feel his lips leave her skin, and he was now muttering something incoherently under his breath.

Hibari poked his head back from Kiriyuu's neck and turned sharpish to the girl who had been watching them. "Get out. Your business here is done." He didn't want any unnecessary distractions.

"Urh, who is she…?" Kiriyuu asked, a little suspiciously, still in Hibari's iron hold.

"Oh," This other girl said, and then, she smiled at her somewhat awkwardly, "I'm Kyouya's cousin, Kusanagi Hiroyuki, but everyone calls me Ryuki – "

Kiriyuu suddenly pushed Hibari to arm's length and he untangled his arms off her. "WHAT? 'Kyouya'…?" She suddenly shrieked loudly, gaping from Hibari to Ryuki, "…C-Cousin?"

"…Er, yes, is-is there a problem?"

Silence.

"I'm Hibari's cousin, not you! Get out!" Kiriyuu screamed angrily at her, "Get out of my house!"

Ryuki moved to place her hand on Hibari's arm. "Kyouya, I'm scared…"

"Get your dirty paws off him!" Kiriyuu pried her arm away from his and then brushed past her, and pushed her away, effectively kicking her out of the house. She hauled her luggage in quickly. "And stay out! Hibari's mine, you got that? MINE!"

The door was slammed shut in front of Ryuki's face.

Kiriyuu, now inside the house, turned to Hibari. "What the heck was that all about? Guiseppe said I should come back because he thinks you're good for my health and I don't think I was gone for too long - I even turned down the Varia just to come back and I see you and she-she – "

"She only comes to clean the house on Saturdays."

"Well, she's never coming back, now that I'm here!" She stomped around for a bit, cursed furiously under her breath, and then stopped. She didn't look as angry as she did anymore, and was now taking deep breaths in and out once more. Her face returned to its normal colour, and she ultimately grimaced, "…She's really your cousin?"

"I don't care."

Kiriyuu blinked, then looked at the ground. "…Uh…O-Okay." She let out a deep sigh. "S-Sorry about that, I guess I…uh, I'll…I'll just let her back in - "

"No. Just leave her. It was time she left anyway."

Before Hibari could perhaps pounce on her again, she held her arm out quickly. "…Wait - I really need to talk to you first. I'll make it quick…" She quickly took out a piece of paper from her pocket. She looked at it, then back up at him. "…Urm, I've prepared a-a list… like a speech, a thank-you speech…"

"For what?"

"For… taking care of me ever since I stepped foot in Japan, but now, I should really – Okay, I'll try and make this quick." She skimmed the list contents. "…Ahem. Dear Hibari, I wrote this because I want to thank you for providing me with food and shelter. Thank you for not blowing my cover when you discovered that I was a hitman… actually, I don't think you really 'discovered' I was, I told you. Anyway, thank you for not killing me when you had the chance since I had plotted to kill you ever since we met – " Her reddening face betrayed her growing embarrassment.

Hibari shifted himself on the spot. She suddenly looked back up at him from the list, her face aghast. He asked, "What's wrong?"

"…Um, I can't read the rest …"

"It's your own handwriting."

"I was writing this in the taxi…."Kiriyuu squeaked. "I'm… I'm sorry…!" She then bawled out, rubbing furiously at her eyes. When she moved her hands away, there was a huge amount of black mascara on the side of her fist, scattered over the side of her pinky and the flat of her palm. She didn't seem to notice.

Hibari folded his arms tightly, his expression clearly holding indifference to this situation she was finding so awkward. "Just tell me what you want to say. You have two minutes."

She blinked, then threw her gaze to her feet, "Right. Okay, I guess I could try. Okay, two minutes, yeah, that….that should be enough. Well, I… I… want to thank you - not just that, I also realised there are so many things I still haven't done with you – OH MY GOD! I'm so sorry, that totally didn't sound right at all! I-I didn't mean to imply - Oh god, I mean, oh geez, this is so embarrassing – "

Hibari twitched ever-so-slightly. Another cringe-worthy moment enough to last a lifetime.

Kiriyuu flailed around helplessly, her hands clawing at her head as if she was about to tear her hair out. "See? This is why I prepare! I'm so bad at communicating! This is why I can't be a spokesperson, or-or one of those politicians who make mind-numbing speeches! Not that I want to one… This is like the last time when I was back in Dr Shamal's clinic! I just completely embarrassed myself in front of Ryohei-nii-sama by saying all the wrong stuff!" She wailed.

"Hurry up and get this over with."

"Okay, okay… Anyway, I meant that I haven't had the opportunity to see and do a lot of other things that is available in this world, with you, beside me – like, well… travelling. Yeah, I know I went to the Disciplinary Training Programme with you but that was horrible and I really would like to go somewhere else with you other than to some haunted log cabin that smelt like wet cat fur with ten other guys with obsessions over Elvis Presley-style hair; it's okay if you don't want to go to Disneyland if you're uncomfortable, I respect that, I really do. But I would…. If you would let me, I would, erm… really like to spend some more time with you."

Hibari watched her. She put a hand on her hip and the other went to brush back a section of her hair. Her face was flushing terribly under the daylight.

"Anyway, uh, yeah, I still can't remember what has happened, because I think it was meant to be March and when I woke up in hospital, it was June or something, I can't remember – and there's meant to be… more memories there – well, duh, it's my brain, of course there's memories but the only ones I can remember the most is my time here with you, just up to when Longchamp came, and there's meant to be more but I just cannot remember them at all, I can remember some, though…" She looked to the side. "Something about a war…. Something about me in the future… Something bad happened to me, yeah, I really don't remember much. Anyway, I thought – I mean, I… would… erm, like to… have more memories to make up for the ones I am missing… You see, I have… this void."

"Void?"

"Yeah, it's like this bottomless pit that's inside me – trust me, it's not my stomach, haha." She guffawed at her own joke, then cleared her throat and straightened herself, "I don't even know why I have this void, it's like this empty feeling within me, unfulfilled and lacking. I'm missing something. I've… always been missing something…"

She took a deep breath, then raised her hand meekly in question, "I – "

"If you're going to tell me your life story, I'm not interest – "

" - I'm an only child; my father passed away when I was about… seven or something, I honestly don't remember much about him, only my mother." Kiriyuu had to tell him this; it was amazing Hibari hadn't beaten her up yet for interrupting him. "She was a hitman, belonging to the Giglio Nero family, and… she realised she wouldn't be able to take care of me properly so I was sent to a boarding school while she was working abroad on assignments. I tried to do my best in my studies and I was finally allowed to go home with my Uncle when he came for me. Back in Genoa, I went to the Academy."

Hibari rolled his eyes, Kiriyuu wasn't looking at him, and now busy scuffling at her shoes.

"…. They said that in the mafia world, everyone acted alone even though we belonged to 'families'. It was still every man for himself. A dog-eat-dog world." She bit her lip, "…But I didn't believe that, because I never felt as though I had a proper family. So families mean the world to me; I didn't care what family I was in, or who was in it. I just wanted to be in one so badly. I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to get rid of this empty feeling I had."

She continued.

"They realised I had this… well, they realised I could aim for something a long distance away and never miss. There were others like me. I didn't train for a long time; I decided to go back to the Giglio Nero. I did a lot of bad things." Kiriyuu said, but her voice was monotone. "One day, they tell me to go to Namimori and find someone named Hibari Kyouya. They wanted me to kill him. I didn't bring my sniper rifle. It didn't feel satisfying to kill someone without them knowing who you were, or where you were, when the bullet would penetrate through their foreheads and make them drop to the ground in a piddle of their own blood… So I approached you under a false alias. Your 'cousin'."

"I realised you were alone and the way how you were brought up was entirely different compared to the way I was. You were irrevocably alone yet you'd managed to adapt to it. You didn't care if you were missing something or the fact that you had no-one in this world except yourself." She looked up at him, tilted her head to the side. "I was… interested. Curious, possibly… fascinated, trapped within your…urh… Hibari-ness. I wanted to know more about you, and what kind of person you were."

Suddenly, she let out a weak chuckle. "I wanted to learn more about you. You, this… this person who was maliciously violent… this person who beat everyone up whenever he pleased and had everyone wrapped around his finger by installing fear. At some point, I wondered if that was your way of interacting with someone, the way of tackling your loneliness and grabbing attention so I went along with it, but I'm no shrink, so who am I to assume?"

Hibari yawned. She didn't notice.

"Anyway, you know what happens next. I realised I couldn't kill you no matter what I did, and even though Reborn gave me a new sniper. We lived together, got mixed up with all these weird happenings and I gradually opened up this side of me which even I've never even been before, if that makes any sense. I changed into this completely different person; I opened up to you without you even realising. And suddenly, I'm in hospital because I 'fell off a roof'. Then one day, I woke up and I was in Italy. You weren't there; and suddenly, I found out what I was missing."

"What?"

She bit her lip and scuffled around again, hopping from one foot to the other. Kiriyuu shot Hibari a discomfited glance. "I was… I was missing…. You." She went bright red. "You were missing in my life. So…. I would like to have more memories. Of you." Then she gagged.

Hibari checked his wristwatch. Two minutes had already passed.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, that was so cheesy. What I really meant by that, was that we still haven't gone to see a movie together at an actual cinema, or had a picnic yet, or fishing, or… doing chores, yeah - I really miss doing chores with you, I miss… fighting over you for the last ice cream in the fridge and the television…"

She swallowed.

"….and I miss doing the laundry and getting to rifle through all your underpants, and hanging them up to dry, and ironing your clothes and folding them, and I miss thumping on the bathroom door yelling at you to hurry up, and then you'd beat me up once you emerged out and even though that's not entirely a pleasant experience, I… just know that I miss that regime."

Pause.

"Okay, you know what? I'm a freak. Hibari, tell me I'm a freak."

"You're a freak."

"Thanks." She sniffled, "And I… really miss your insults… and the way how you glare at me when I do something wrong – actually, you always glare at me but sometimes you can be nice, if not, a little puzzling and confusing and intimidating, but I do know that I really miss you barging into my room every morning two hours before school and telling me to get up and get dressed and then when I go downstairs, there's always breakfast for me on the table and… and…"

Her rant/confession still hadn't finished yet.

"And… then we'd get our outdoor shoes and I would be walking with you to school and then once the bell rings for home time, I'd see you at the gate waiting for me and… and….then we'd arrive at the house, and then when we were in, you'd tell me to get my books out and you'd go over my homework with me and help me with it. And then if it's the weekend, we'd play video games or do more chores or finish homework and…and…"

Kiriyuu wiped at her eye, making more mascara smudge down her cheek, and smiled awkwardly at herself.

"…. I…I was …. Happy. B-Because… I've-I've never done anything like that before, and no-one's done anything like that for me before either… and even though… it's… probably something perceived as insignificant to somebody else, like something so little that you do everyday, and… something that you have to do that you don't think about it consciously – something that doesn't make the world a better place – or make you a better person… And I may not be someone with superpowers and genius intellect, but… they were so little things that made my life worthwhile... and… I liked it. I cherished every moment of it."

She inhaled a shaky breath, beginning to gasp and wheeze quickly as she struggled not to cry.

"I remember after we'd done the chores, the porch door would always be open, and you'd have dinner waiting. We'd either go to the porch to have dinner, or we're always sitting opposite or if we're watching TV, you'd be on the couch and I'd be on my favourite spot on the floor, right underneath the air conditioner. But if it was a scary movie you'd let me hide behind your back or chew on your cushions, and then when it's night, we'd close the porch door and then you would take long baths that I'd have to heat up my own water or if I'm lucky, you'd salvage some hot water. And then sometimes you'd let me stay with you in your room and lay a futon on the ground and we'd both go to sleep…. ready for tomorrow."

Kiriyuu snivelled tearfully.

"And-And we haven't walked by the canal for a long time… nor have we gone to see a sunset and for some reason, but I really, like really, really want to see you shaving in the morning at some point in my life and I want a chance to help you do up your tie before school even though you do everything perfectly. I want… I really want to see you wearing a trenchcoat, or-or a suit, some point in my life, and - Yeah, I know, weird. Anyway, I – Oh, excuse me."

She looked away from him, and then pulled out a hanky from her pocket, and began to weep silently into it. She turned back to him, her mascara running down her cheeks like mini black rivulets. She wailed loudly, darkening her face even more, "I'm sorry, it's hay fever."

"You don't have hay fever."

Her face went a million red shades from chin up, and she cleared her throat, but still drenched in tear-stained, smudged mascara. "Ahem. But it would really be great if I could, y'know, do all that – "

Hibari looked at the closed door. "Kiriyuu – "

"Wait, let me finish. I'm not done yet and I would really like to tell you what I want to say to you even though I'm starting to cry for some reason. Ahem. No, I didn't exactly come back just for those reasons, it's because I-I really, really like you, no, I love you and I want to, um, probably, well… get married to you if you let me propose to you and, I would, actually, FYI, get down on one bended knee but I can't at the moment because my denims are too tight and we're only kids and I also don't have a ring with me - "

He glanced at her tight jeans. She glanced at the Cloud ring on his finger. They both raised an eyebrow at the other.

Kiriyuu cursed mentally at how her sentences spilled out – she'd practised this speech in her mind for ages and now when she was finally here, the speech practically dumped her and left her like a gibbering wreck and somehow, she hadn't seen Hibari for such a long time and now she was thoroughly embarrassing herself; this was NOT how she had imagined her reunion with Hibari would be like! God, why was this so awkward? "Okay, I'm sorry, that totally didn't sound right. Let me start over. Hi, Hibari, I'm back, because, um – well, Guiseppe said you were good for my health and I have nowhere to go – yeah, that's it, and - "

Kiriyuu looked up at him sheepishly.

"This… really isn't easy for me to say, but…" She said, firmly, sternly, gathering up more courage than she would've mustered as she looked back at him squarely in the eye, "I would… I would do anything for you, Hibari. I would make it my duty to protect you even though you don't need someone to protect you; I would even quit being a hitman, if you want me to. Because I can't… I can't imagine life without you." She chewed on her lip, shifted her weight from one leg to the other and looked up at him, a little warily, nervously.

Silence.

"…H-Hibari?"

He still didn't respond.

Uh-oh. It was the stage of Hibari-ness which Kiriyuu called 'Silent Hibari'. Silent Hibari equals trouble. Maybe more, and maybe it was because of the emotional confession Kiriyuu unintentionally blasted him with – it was probably far too much. Maybe Hibari would explode. She gulped, her eyes glued to the floor, now she was patiently waiting for him to yell at her and tell her to get lost and maybe grow a pair.

She blinked thoroughly when she felt an iron grip on her arms, and she was pulled into his embrace without a word once more, with his arms wrapped firmly around her waist and his nose pressed against the small nape of her neck. Hibari always had this quaint smell to him; something husky, tight, and endearing, mirroring his exact appearance. Kiriyuu blinked aloofly at herself, then smiled ineptly, as she lifted her own arms up to Hibari, clutched at his back tightly as his hand let go of one arm, to sweep away wisps of her hair away from her face. He pulled back from the embrace, his thumb compressing over the slight bulge of her lips; he leaned in and –

Kiriyuu was left standing by herself stuck in a coughing fit of noxious Ten-Year-Bazooka gas. When she finally opened one eye, then the other, she gasped, and then looked around desperately. Her rear end hurt; it must've been where the bazooka hit (it goes to show that not everyone arrives at the future glamorously or generously for all that matters).

She let out a strangled roar of frustration that echoed thoroughly within the neighbourhood. "NUUUUUOOOOOOOOOO!" She kicked a stone from her path. "DAMN IT! Out of all the times, why now? Seriously, why do these things keep happening to me! Lambo, I'm going to pull all your hair out once I get back - !" She stomped around furiously, cursing erratically and pulling at her hair. Then she stopped.

How would she explain the Ten-Year-Bazooka's effect once she returned? Her TYL self would be swapped, right?

Kiriyuu then looked back up, her eyes widening temporarily to the size of saucers. Shakily, she took one step forward into the residence she had been transported to. She recognised the same oak tree in the corner next to that pink flowering tree she mistook for a sakura blossom tree; it must've survived all these ten years. Even the lawn looked kempt and tidy, not a weed in sight or a grass out of place. Flowers were arranged neatly in square perimeters around the lawn, while the stone path was as erratic as ever. Kiriyuu stopped marvelling at the front garden and looked at the house. The paint on the plate in front of the door was peeling slightly, other than that, the house looked intact. The front door was closed, windows closed, nothing moved.

This was Hibari's house. Only ten years later. Kiriyuu turned back to where she had been standing; the front gate was swinging eerily, a few grocery bags on the steps. She put two and two together and realised – "I live here." She murmured to herself, "I live here. I just bought groceries, and I was about to go inside the house."

A sense of excitement rushed through her and she quickly ran to the grocery bags. She rummaged around, only to find the usual items she'd usually get from a list Hibari concocted and the supposed house keys; but then she found 'her' purse, and flipped the black leather open. She looked inside. Only a few cents. No credit card. Nothing to establish her identity in ten years time. Oh, wait. She found a bank receipt – from a cash withdrawal ATM. She looked at it, then promptly frowned.

"Why am I so poor?" She asked out loud to no-one in particular.

Dismissing the receipt, she grabbed the bags and hastily ran up to the front door, fishing out the keys she'd found earlier, and with trembling hands, hurriedly unlocked the front door and slid it open.

Kiriyuu was amazed to see how little the house had changed over the course of ten years. She looked around enquiringly, a little nervously. "Hello?" She called, stepping into the lounge and looking around. Nobody was there, only a new couch and a new TV. Kiriyuu stormed towards the kitchen and poked around there, too. The kitchen tap hadn't been properly turned off; Kiriyuu turned it off and then looked around meekly once more. There was a new stainless steel fridge, no password feature; and a new washing machine/tumble dryer. That was good; it meant no more laundry. "Hello, Hibari? Are you there?"

Still nothing.

With her growing impatience lodged in her gut, Kiriyuu rushed out from downstairs and ran up the stairs. She missed Hibari's closed door for the moment and ran into her own room – only to realise that it had become the storeroom again. She raised an eyebrow, and then, snivelled slightly.

"But…this is meant to be my room…"

Kiriyuu returned back to Hibari's door and lifted her hand to the doorknob. She actually felt anxious; what if TYL Hibari was there? What if her future self had gone shopping and Hibari was in his room playing video games? She pressed her ear against the door and tried to listen for something. There was nothing; frowning again, Kiriyuu jerked on the handle and pulled the door open.

The first thing she saw was a king-sized bed. With two pillows. Kiriyuu's eye twitched and snivelled for no reason. Hibari never had a king-sized bed, nor did he have two pillows; he only had one. And he changed his duvet cover, too. She put a hand over her mouth. She ignored the bed for the moment and turned to the closet – which was not a built-in closet to save room, and opened the doors – and a built-in ironing board flopped up, making her scream. When she calmed down, she chuckled awkwardly at herself and folded the board back up. Again, her eye twitched. The wardrobe was filled with men's clothes and women's clothes, both in their individual corner. She looked at Hibari's side of the closet (the right), and waded through a few neat black suits and shirts, some casual clothing – clothes Kiriyuu recognised as Hibari's.

She looked at her side (the left); there were a lot of black jackets, and shirts, all professional – of a variety of pale colours and pinstripes – she found a few skirts as well – one was even a pencil skirt - a pair of formal, black trousers and a waistcoat, and even a charcoal-grey trenchcoat. She waded through thoroughly and found some more casual items of clothing, and then a black cocktail dress with lace trimming. Hmm, very Italian. Kiriyuu closed the wardrobe again, and looked around the room. Hibari's games console was gone; so was the TV. Now there was a bookshelf filled with all sorts of books, and a desk with a large stack of unsorted documents and stationery. Even the curtains had changed.

Kiriyuu walked up to the billboard by the desk and stared. There were a lot of photos – mostly of a woman, with brown, curled hair and green eyes, featured in all sorts of different occasions. There was one where she was grinning widely at the camera, holding up a huge rainbow trout in one hand, the other hand holding a fishing rod.

"TYL me." She croaked out, "I kept my hair brown. Urgh, I hate brown. Obviously not in the future." There was another one of her in some place that resembled Disneyland. Another photo had her standing around with a group of – "N-No way…?" Kiriyuu grabbed that particular photo off the board and stared, then she giggled. "TYL everyone… Look at Ryohei-nii-san, he has much more hair than he does now!"

The best was still to come – she spotted a photo hidden under more photos, and took it out. Then her jaw practically dropped as she gawked at it. A man was featured in this photo with her. She didn't know who took this photo, but they were somewhere in the mountains – maybe mountain climbing or something – and she was carrying a large bag and waving at the camera while the man had his arms crossed and –

"TYL Hibari…." She gushed, and she stuffed her knuckles into her mouth. "…He looks different. He's lost weight. And there's something... pointy about him."

She inspected the photo carefully. Seriously, why did everything about this Hibari in this photo seem so, well, as she said before, pointy? His chin, his nose, his hair, his angled shoulders, even the lapels of his shirt. A sound from downstairs made her jerk up in surprise. Hibari? He was….home? Eeeek. She stuffed the photos into her pocket for the moment and ran back downstairs, stopped at the open front door. "I'm pretty sure I closed it." She looked around. "Hibari?" She called out loud. "Hiba – "

A loud explosion from within the lounge shook the entire house; the windows smashed and the ground rocked fiercely, sending her flying completely out the open door, but someone caught her flailing body just before she landed back on the lawn, and then this someone was holding onto her very tightly and protecting her from the blast with his back as bits and pieces of the destroyed lounge flew out of the broken window, as she was momentarily crushed against his chest with her back lying on the grass. She was choking slightly, and once the fireballed house stopped smoking, she looked up.

A pair of steely, dark eyes stared back at her. She couldn't see him properly.

"….Do I know you?" She squeaked out. There was slight hesitation, then the man on top of her let out a short sigh, and rolled his eyes. Kiriyuu immediately gasped; her jaw dropped and she spluttered out, "H-HIBARI...?"

She then threw her arms around his neck tightly, something watery budding in the corner of her eyes, "Oh my god! I-I didn't even recognise you!(?)" She burnt red with embarrassment. And shame. Lots and lots of shame. She looked back up at him, still blushing profusely, "Y-You've… Changed...So much. So…So…..Beautiful! I… Oh, I'm even crying at the mere sight of you, not that I wasn't, urm, already crying before, ahaha…haha…ha." She laughed awkwardly at herself, smothering away at some tears, "How embarrassing. B-But I'm glad to see that you're well and…. Healthy and… err, slightly much older." She cringed. "….And you're wearing a suit…"

"….Are you alright?" The Hibari of the future had turned his head a little away from her, closed his eyes shortly, then re-opened them and swerved them to her from the corner of his furtive eyes. Kiriyuu blinked at him; she could tell there was something very different about him, not just his looks, his height, his everything. Hibari was Hibari, but there was a different characteristic to him. Something was alluringly sophisticated about his overall demeanour, with hard-on aristocratic, noble and statutory features; obviously mature and ripe, yet his old habits didn't die hard. She ultimately realised Hibari still didn't smile much and never really would. "Are you alright?" He asked again, still with her arms glued around his neck.

Due to the explosion, Kiriyuu was actually temporarily deaf. "WHAT?" She asked out loud, gesturing to her ears and shaking her head. "SORRY, I CAN'T HEAR YOU. SPEAK LOUDER."

He rolled his eyes; he was relatively surprised with the younger self's appearance – charcoal-black smudges down her eyes gave her this weird, gothic vibe, her clothes were patched with some dirt and grass, and her hair was dishevelled. He slowly got off her, still with Kiriyuu hanging off him like those monkey toys with the velcro-sticky hands. Kiriyuu slid back down to the ground. He dusted down his black suit, pieces of grass slipping off his lean shoulders, as Kiriyuu stared at the splendour of TYL Hibari. He really had changed.

Kiriyuu stared back dumbly at the burning house. "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Hibari looked back at her, with that unresponsive stare; head up, eyes down; he was becoming his old, patronizing self all over again. "The Millefiore."

"WHAT? FLOWERS? WHAT ABOUT THE FLOWERS? OH YES, THEY'RE VERY PRETTY. DID I DO THAT?" She blinked at him in sudden amazement, and then she giggled, "OHOHOHO. HIBARI, WHEN DID YOU LEARN ITALIAN?"

Rolling his eyes again as Kiriyuu gawped dazedly around the lawn, Hibari walked up to the mini-Kiriyuu and knelt down to her level. She blinked at him owlishly, and then he looked into her eyes, and said, "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Kiriyuu stared at him ineptly, then – "I THINK I'M ALRIGHT - BUT THERE'S SOMETHING WET AND SQUISHY ON MY HEAD." She emphasised her words slowly and in a matter-of-factly-tone.

Hibari made her look down, took his hands off her ears and swabbed with his finger at the crown of her head, and looked at his fingertip. Blood.

"I'M BLEEDING?" She squawked as she stood stiffly, gaping at the liquid oozing down his finger.

"Stay still." He said.

She hadn't heard him properly again, "WHAT?"

"Give me a bit of your shirt."

"WHAT?"

He let out another sigh and then gestured to her shirt.

Kiriyuu's jaw dropped, and then her shocked look turned into a somewhat angry, clouded expression and she put her arms protectively over her chest. "HIBARI! HOW DARE YOU!(?)"

"Just keep still." He grunted out, and grabbed her wrist despite the fact that she was still squawking in protest, then ripped a small section of her shirt away from her arm, and used it to wrap around the bleeding wound on her head. When he was finished, he pulled back, and she looked up at him sheepishly.

"… Sorry, I thought – "

"You thought what?" A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

Kiriyuu went BRIGHT red and threw her glance back down to the floor, looking all sweaty and flustered again, nibbling on her bottom lip and tugging at the ends of her shirt. She shook her head. Then she looked back at him as he stood up. Wow, he was so tall. She swooned again. "Someone just planted a bomb in the house. Let's go." He said, with his hair glistening in the sun, giving it a bluish glow that she had to shield her eyes from his radiance. Double swoon.

"A BOMB?"

"Yes, a bomb. We can't stay here. It's not safe anymore. I barely made it in time." He took her hand and began to lead her back out of the house, but Kiriyuu's feet were rooted firmly in the ground. Hibari turned back to her expectantly.

She shook her head. "But I just got here, and-and…Someone blew up our house…" She returned back to her normal volume of voice, and began to sniffle as she took out the photos she had saved. "At least I have these..."

Hibari watched her, remembering how much she used to cry when she was younger. He stiffly made his way back to her again. "We have to leave. They almost got to you."

She was snivelling drearily, her fists clenching, more mascara mingling with fresh tears. "Why would they want to blow up our house?"

"Because you're here. You came from the past."

She looked away, tilted her head to one side. "How'd you know I would get hit by the Ten-Year-Bazooka? I didn't see you nearby at all." She suddenly whipped her head up at him, gasping loudly, "...I'm alive! I'm alive in the future!" She bounced up and down the spot, giggling insanely. "And-And…I've been with you ever since…?"

"I had to leave to carry out some extensive research. I came back for you when the Millefiore – "

He was promptly interrupted as Kiriyuu sprang up like a frog and threw her arms around his neck again; Hibari had to catch her under the knees or she'd keep slipping off and ruin his suit. She was now completely full-hugging him tightly, with her legs around his waist, "I'm alive! I'm alive! Oh, I've never been so happy just for being simply alive!"

Hibari looked at her with half-lidded eyes, then sighed. "…Five minutes are up. Looks like you're here to stay for a long time." He smirked somewhat.

"Hrm?" She blinked, "B-But what will Hibari – I mean, you – of the past – what would you do, if I'm stuck here? I'm… basically missing. Oh, no." She croaked out, covering her mouth with her hand.

"What?"

"Poor Hibari. I just came back and now I've been hit by the bazooka… Oh no, the Hibari of the Past…. You're going to find an embarrassing photograph of me and then photocopy it a hundred times and report me as missing using that photograph on a 'Missing Persons' poster!" She wailed.

"My actions in the past are not the priority at the moment." Hibari said calmly.

"Huh?"

"You," he added, "You're not leaving my sight."

She blinked at him numbly again as he stared right into her eyes again. She swallowed somewhat under his steely gaze. There was something more to it when he looked at her now… Kiriyuu smiled awkwardly, "...But I want to go back – I just came home, and…well, we were about to – " Her face went rather red, and she began to mutter and garble under her breath incoherently, hyperventilate, mutter and gibber, the rest. Suddenly, she looked back up. "Hibari, what happened to Elia?"

"…Your apprentice is not part of the mafia anymore."

"Eh?"

"Her biological mother contacted her eight years ago. She left with her real family."

"Oh, r-really…?"

Before Hibari could reply, another voice sounded off: "Kyou-san!"

They turned to face another man, who had hurried out from the back garden behind the house, towards them. Kiriyuu immediately clung tighter to Hibari. His ducktailed-hair was smoking, and he stopped rushing, bent over and panting slightly in front of Hibari as Kiriyuu held on securely. "The Millefiore intruder got away – oh, Chibi-Kyuu-san, you're safe. Looks like we made it after all, Kyou-san."

Kiriyuu gaped at him. "K-Kusakabe?" And he had just called her 'Chibi-Kyuu-san'. Her jaw dropped as he grinned at her, rising back up proudly. "W-What's going on?"

"Ah, we'll fill you in with the details later."

She gasped again, "Oh my god! S-So...We've really been with each other since, like, for all those 10 years? B-But how could you tolerate me for so long?"

Kusakabe coughed into his fist and winced somewhat while Hibari stiffly stood his ground. Kusakabe then said, "Anou, Kyuu-san, we're not allowed to disclose much information to – "

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for prying. I just wanted to know." She pouted fiercely. Hibari smirked as she began to grumble in Italian. "Hey, um… can I ask what was I like in the future?" She then asked.

Hibari and Kusakabe glanced at one another. Kusakabe then looked at Kiriyuu hoisted up in Hibari's arms, and judging by how tightly she clung onto him; he realised that, obviously, the younger self was a lot more open and affectionate than her older self.

"You were irrational," Hibari began, almost a little tiredly.

"…What does that mean?" She uttered, "Oh, oh, oh! What about my status in the Vongola? Did I… Did I go and train in the Varia?"

"Yes, you trained in the Varia for a few years. You returned back to Namimori just recently. You called yourself a 'part-time member'." Kusakabe replied instead, with a small smile, "But you were very dedicated to your work and the family." He resumed, "Well, we've already received contact; your friends from the past should be here, too."

"Tsuna, Yamamoto and Gokudera? And Reborn, too?"

He nodded extensively, smiling reassuringly at her. " - and Kurokawa Hana has sent us a request. So… Shall we get going now, Kyou-san?"

Hibird returned to Hibari's shoulder, Hibari looked away from the bird at the moment, "Yes, before the neighbours raise suspicions."

She clung onto him, still sniffling, but louder this time, "But this is our house – "

"That house is a decoy."

Kiriyuu whipped her head up to him in shock at Hibari, "WHAT?"

He explained the situation to her very calmly, "This house is built on the other side of Namimori. It was constructed to resemble the original house, using the blueprints so everything looks exactly the same."

"So...then... our real house is still very much alive!"

"….Yes." He sighed. "But we have another house."

Hibari prompted her off him; Kiriyuu wasn't receiving the message and was now smothering away at tears in her eyes. Hibari sighed and turned to Kusakabe, gestured to him indicatively. Kusakabe blinked slightly, then hurried over with his arms out, and tugged at Kiriyuu to get off his superior. Then she detached her spangled arms off him, and her tangled legs, and returned back to the ground.

"Another house?" She muttered out in bewilderment.

Kusakabe elbowed her gently, and she turned to him, "Kyou-san established it in a secret location." He whispered to her. "Nobody knows except you two. Not even Reborn-sama. Anou... Kyuu-san," Kusakabe added, "What happened to your eyes?"

"Oh, it's my mascara." She giggled, smudging away the black stains.

"Are you ready?" Hibari had turned to her.

Kiriyuu blinked up at him innocently again, and then nodded, with much more vigour, seemingly enthusiastic with the entire ordeal.

Her tiny hand was encased within his again, and Kiriyuu found herself gawping at her tiny little hand in his, as they began to trod out of the garden and back outside to the street, towards a black car parked a distance away from the house. "Stay close," Hibari instructed calmly, and Kiriyuu nodded, clung to the back of his suit.

Kusakabe fished out the car keys and pressed the button.

BOOM!

Kusakabe went flying five feet in the air as the car blew up in a display of roaring fire and burnt metal; Hibari grabbed Kiriyuu again, just as their backs slammed on the road. She flopped on top of him with her clenched fists gripping his shirt tightly, trembling somewhat; he had brought his arms up to shield her. When the threat was over, Kusakabe rose to his feet shakily with his jaw practically touching the floor, and Hibari sat up slightly still with Kiriyuu in his arms; she peeked up at him from under his arms, blinking numbly at the spectacle.

"…That was cheap…" Kusakabe muttered under his breath, as he gazed at the burning car. "Guess we need to use the rings to travel from now on."

Kiriyuu, still trapped in Hibari's arms, flailed around under his grip and then eventually poked her head up and sat upright in his lap, still with Hibari's arms around her, and his hands… in a rather inappropriate position. She gawked stupidly at the blazing car, then at his hands, and peeled one off her thigh.

"Am I going to have to get used to this?" She asked, her eyebrow rose up into an elegant arch as she looked at his hand.

At that point, Hibari smirked at her. "This is just the beginning."

The End

I have written a blog with some sections that explained more for this story, if you would like to check it out. Just go to my HOMEPAGE or this URL:

http:(/)/fishandchipz(.)wordpress(.)com/

Remove the brackets and it should take you directly to my blog. Unfortunately, I decided not to continue with the spin-off or the sequel to this fic. Sorry! I'd prefer it if this story remained 'solo' if you get what I mean.

Anyway, if you kinda noticed... my self-esteem for this story went right downhill at the start of the 'Mukuro saga' (which was... Chapter...33?). To be honest, I think I could've written a better ending, but I was already finding it so difficult, I tried to make it right but it still feels pretty much in shambles. Ahh, well. This was an extreme plot bunny anyway!

Until then – take care, my wonderful readers, study hard in school/work, and thank you very much for supporting this story even though it was completely insane at some points.

Lots of love from Fish and Chips xxx