General overview

Summary: A series of six oneshots, each depicting Hibari Kyouya from a different perspective, and leading to a different pairing.

Rating & warning: Rated T just to be safe; het and shounen-ai fluff, a lot of violence and some cursing. And a bloodbath. (Not really, I just had to add that; even though there will be blood, though in lesser amounts.)

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own the characters used in this story. All of them belong to Amano Akira. (If I did own any part of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, it would have turned into a yaoi anime ages ago. And Hibari, Spanner, Squalo and Fran would get much more screentime.)

This chapter...

Pairing: Hibari & tyl!I-Pin

Summary: "Hibari knew his pride should have been shattered to pieces due to the fact that he had let anyone disarm him, and even trap him in a submissive position, but all his mind could process was the heat that slowly spread through his body, /.../"

One: With the Help of a Friend

To say that Hibari Kyouya was fairly surprised would be an understatement; however, his face showed nothing more than a faint curious smirk when two familiar (although he would have preferred them to be unfamiliar, as a matter of fact) children, one of them deep crimson blushed, appeared before him. He had, on numerous occasions, encountered the two, mostly as a combination, sometimes alone. He did not recall a single time that meeting both of them would be a pleasant experience; encountering the cow alone was even less enjoyable, since he wasn't even allowed to bite him to death (which he would, naturally, execute with pleasure, eliminating a posing threat to the peace of Namimori). The girl was, on the other side, bearable company; she was mostly silent, did not invade his personal space, seemed to be rather harmless and all in all looked like a small animal.

He did not muse about the possible reason for their unscheduled visit; it wasn't something the prefect would consider worth his time thinking about, especially when he was bound to be told anytime soon. With his slightly questioning, curiously amused gaze, he wordlessly bored into the two, indicating it was about time they spat out their intentions.

For his own amusement, he turned his glare into a something a tad more threatening; he always felt some sort of sadistic pleasure when the annoying cow squirmed under his gaze, rapidly eyeing all possible routes of escape, tears welling up in his big eyes that literally screamed "whiny timid herbivore" all over. Of course, he was, despite his notorious reputation, enough of a gentleman not to subject the little girl to the same treatment; she was a perfectly harmless little animal in every aspect, and had done nothing to disturb the peace of Namimori. (At least that's what the leader of the Disciplinary Committee was led to believe, for luck being on the young Chinese's side for once, he had never seen her ultimate destructive technique in action.)

After several moments of silence, when Lambo's bladder was dangerously threatening to give in to the fear seeping through him, the young girl finally managed to gather her courage, and proceeded to execute what she had come here to do.

With her cheeks rosy coloured, but the Pinzu time bomb trigger still under control, she measured the distance between her and the fearsome prefect with her little insecure steps, the slight tapping of her feet echoing over the room drowned in the suffocating silence. Upon reaching her destination, her arms, until now hidden behind her back, shot forth, revealing a carefully wrapped package in her tiny palms.

A fact that had not yet been mentioned to the unsuspecting reader, despite its essentiality to complete the picture, is that the day when these events occurred was the fifth of May.

If the cloud guardian of the Vongola had kept his face devoid of any emotion other than curious amusement, his façade now failed – for despite the fact that he had always despised celebrating one's birthday and refused to participate in such meaningless herbivorous customs, the child's gesture had touched his seemingly marble-cold heart. Oh, without doubt everyone held him for a ruthless sadistic delinquent with an air of elegance about him and with an absolute lack of compassion, affection, care and similar afflictions that herbivores tend to call feelings whatsoever, but that didn't necessarily mean it was true; it only meant he wanted them to believe so. (Mmmm, vem, da se temu v teh one-shotih ne bo dalo izogniti, ampak tole razmišljanje se mi zdi zanj malce OOC. Glede na to kako je vse skupaj formulirano, se da tale odstavek razumeti na 2 načina: 1)da si to on dejansko misli (se zaveda, da ni v resnici tako brezčustven, ampak to namenoma prikriva) ali 2)da je tole napisal vsevedni pripovedovalec, ki ve, da je Hibari v resnici takšen, vendar se sam Hibari ne zaveda, da prikriva svoje prave občutke. Očitno je, da je prva možnost zanj precej OOC, tako bi predlagala, da premečeš stavke tako, dab o bralcu očitno, da to govori pripovedovalec in se Hibari tega NE zaveda – seveda samo, če je to dejansko tudi v interesu tebe kot avtorice.

His delicate fingers brushed gently against the young maiden's trembling hands as she handed over the gift she had prepared, poured inside all the feelings of admiration her heart harboured. She had spent the day before – and most of the night that should have provided her with comforting sleep as well – making her present for the man that, not knowingly, stole her heart. Yes, she was a little child, uneducated in the ways of love, but she knew well enough that her knees became unsteady, her heart restless, and her stomach full of fluttering wings when she was in the vicinity of the raven-haired person whom she only recently learned was named Hibari Kyouya; and she knew well enough that above everything, she just wanted to see that person smile.

And that was what the prefect did when he stood up again with the tiny package in his hands. The parabola that shaped his lips was certainly devoid of any sadistic or malevolent intentions whatsoever; it was a priceless expression, extremely rarely etched on his face and seen by very few – a gentle smile of quiet delight that had nothing to do with bringing about someone's doom for a change.

He did not say his thanks; Hibari Kyouya never does. But letting her see such a rare sight, a tiny display of herbivorous emotions from him, was a reward that rivalled any other.

The young girl's heart, although wishing for exactly that smile, was unprepared though; and instantly, the formerly gentle rosy blush of her cheeks burned in a vibrant colour of the quince blossom, accompanied by the countdown displayed on her forehead.

The other child's reaction was even more unexpected; although, anyone knowing the five year old cow-headed bomber of the Bovino family would have surely anticipated as much. Being already fairly scared, remaining in his place merely because he was paralyzed by the overwhelming fear that consumed him after the fellow guardian pierced him with his gaze, he had absolutely chickened out when that same person smiled. According to his experiences, when Hibari Kyouya smiled, that meant nothing good. He hadn't even noticed the countdown of the Pinzu time bomb had started before he went through his now already daily routine: with tears flowing out from the corners of his eyes like rivers after the storm, he cried out "Gotta-stay-calm..!", pulled the familiar weapon out of the tangled forest of his bushy hair, and, without a second thought, pulled the trigger.

However, fate just couldn't let everything fold out smoothly for Lambo that was at that moment probably scared like he had never been in his life before, couldn't let him use the comfortable escape to the future. For the silly bomber, intimidated as he was, turned the ten-year-bazooka the wrong way, and, for a change, did something good.

In a puff of candy-pink smoke, a pair of long braids appeared, followed by their bearer which was obviously either in the middle of an intense training session or a fierce battle. Her attire was rather revealing, and it clung to her body tightly in order to not pose as an obstacle; the expression she bore was fearless, determined and proud, as in the ancient drawings depicting mythic god-like warriors, and the only indication that she was having a hard time beating her opponent was a tiny bead of sweat that trickled down her cheek and fell to the ground, disturbing the shocked silence her appearance had brought to the room.

The sound of the falling droplet as it made impact with the ground made the world that seemed to have stopped in its tracks resume revolving at full speed once again; Lambo, now even more confused and terrified, snapped out of his fear-induced paralysis and ran headlong out of the prefect's office, while the ten-years-older-than-just-a-moment-ago I-Pin, not yet quite aware of the situation she had been ruthlessly thrown into, launched herself towards the unsuspecting raven-haired teen whose eyes once for a change betrayed his feelings.

Before he could consciously react, his tonfas were already clenched in an iron-tight grip shaped by his fingers, and they instinctively shot forward to protect his face from the clenched fist that was approaching his nose at a dangerously high velocity. Carefully, he adjusted the angle of the weapon just before it made impact – he normally wouldn't mind hurting his opponent as much as possible, as a matter of fact that was generally the side-product of his fighting, a side-product that invoked rather pleasurable sensations in him; notwithstanding, hurting the attractive Chinese fighter in front of him just didn't feel right.

Instead, he elegantly avoided her hits, and they danced across the confiscated conference room in their lethal dance, circling around each other, feeling the other's breath on their skin, sensing the warmth of the other's body as they brushed right past each other, but never touching. The cloud guardian enjoyed the fight, even though not getting hurt, and more importantly not hurting anyone, was far from his fighting strategy; but he found unexpected pleasure in merely observing the agile young lady move in sync with him, her body swaying like a lone willow in the wind and yet with the feral flexibility of a wild cat.

His gaze was locked on her, and there was nothing that could divert his attention at the moment; the line of his lips curled up into a satisfied grin, the closest thing to happiness he had ever expressed. It wasn't hard to tell for anyone that at least barely knew him that the prefect found unexpected pleasure in fighting, or more precisely, in fighting strong opponents – he had no interest however in weak herbivores that he could bite to death for breakfast. But even so, he did not recall ever enjoying a spar this much, not even in the endless hours he had spent on the rooftop with the Cavallone.

Yes, the Cavallone was the closest approximation to a carnivore he had ever met until now; however, he came with a fatal flaw. In a fight, he could pass as a carnivore, and yet when he was alone, he was the weakest of the lowest plant-eaters, and he harboured the same useless feelings they did. Hibari had named him an omnivore, and despised him in the moments when the herbivorous part of his nature took over. But this girl, this young yet perfectly maturely shaped woman, surpassed the Cavallone; ruthlessly, determinedly, she launched herself forward, a predator against a predator they danced around in circles. Yes, she was indubitably a carnivore.

There was nothing even remotely herbivorous in the way she moved; her muscles tensed and relaxed, always working at the minimum energy required to perform the needed moves, saving up the rest in case the battle lasted longer than expected; her eyes were narrowed, concentrating merely on her opponent's weak points, not even noticing (and not truly caring) his identity; and when she struck, she channelled all the power of the blow into a single point, aimed to finish off her enemy in a split-second.

However, while the prefect had been observing her, marvelling at her skills, mastery of techniques and agility of her body, he had allowed his mind to stray too much, losing focus on his surroundings for a moment – and that single moment was more than enough for the experienced hakuda master to catch him mid-air, wrap her legs around his hips and pin him on the ground motionless.

It was not until that moment that their gazes met; and while the raven-haired teen looked at her in astonished bewilderment, her eyes exhibited nothing but pure shock once the realisation of his identity hit her.

Truly, there was nothing herbivorous about her; to be able to take advantage of a split-second moment of weakness and pin down the strongest guardian of the Vongola... Hibari knew his pride should have been shattered to pieces due to the fact that he had let anyone disarm him, and even trap him in a submissive position, but all his mind could process was the heat that slowly spread through his body, the scent that wafted off the young woman's skin, and her legs curled tightly around him, brining their hips together in a locking position which would under any other circumstances seem highly inappropriate. Not to mention that it more than certainly violated the school rules.

... the school rules? No, those were long forgotten.

Maybe they have crossed his mind for a second, before he pushed every single rational thought into the dimmest corner of his conscience, and using the opening the young Chinese gave him by taking her time to cope with her shock of her recognition, rolled them both over to switch their positions.

Before she could complain, he dove down, and crashed his lips against hers.

She probably would have nothing to complain about anyway, since after a moment or two of initiate hesitation that could probably be blamed on surprise, she joined in the kiss eagerly, whipping her arms out of his grip and curling them around him passionately.

Their kiss was not a gentle, soothing play of the two that had finally found each other – they were both carnivores after all, and would never submit to the chaste cuddling the plant-eaters indulged in so eagerly. No, their lips existed for the sole purpose to be bitten, to be marked, to be the proof of possession; their tongues existed for the sole purpose of fighting intently against each other rather than gently soothing, to push and struggle and curl around each other in the passion of a python; their teeth scraped against each other, pierced lips and threatened to cut their tongues; kissing was a game no less lethal than fighting.

However, five minutes' time does not last forever, and before the pair even parted their lips for the first time, the young Chinese disappeared in a puff of baby-pink smoke. The prefect rapidly regained his composure and stood up, backing a few paces from the place the formidable woman disappeared. An even tinier looking I-Pin than before emerged from the cloud, looked around in confusion, and then, relieved to have returned back to the past where she belonged, bowed hastily and ran out of the prefect's office. Muffled sounds of the Pinzu time bomb countdown could be heard from the hallway as she ran along them, trying to leave the premises of the Namimori middle school before the final countdown ended.

Back in the conference room, a certain prefect grinned like a Cheshire cat as he wiped the blood off his lips. He hummed to himself as he returned to his daily routine, allowing the tiny yellow bird to land on his finger as it munched on its favourite seeds.

Ten years wasn't that long after all... and she was certainly worth the wait.

However...

...he will have to borrow that cow-brat's bazooka more frequently.