Chapter 14

Abracadabra

The pitter patter of rain against the window woke Hibari around 7AM. Overnight he had unconsciously wrapped his arms around Kira's waist and entangled their legs together. But something was wrong.

Hibari heard her irregular breathing and felt her forehead. She was burning up. He slipped out of bed quickly and checked to see if the electricity was back on. No chance, but the cell towers were working again. Within minutes an ambulance was at his door and he carried Kira down, telling the paramedics what happened.

When they reached the hospital he picked her up again, not letting anyone else touch her. It was fine anyhow since she weighed so little.

He stayed by her while they ran tests and it was determined that it was a good thing he called because her fever was totally out of control, but things should be okay now that she was under professional care. With this, Hibari could leave and take care of things at home before returning to check on her.

He contemplated telling some of her friends for about half a second, but then decided not to. He didn't want them to know. If they heard she was at his hospital then they'd be swarming everywhere, and the thought of a crowd made his fingers twitch.

No, he'd relay some commands to Kusakabe for this weekend's debt collecting and then bring some of Kira's things to her. She'd probably miss her phone when she woke up. Let's see, phone and some good food.

But the weather took a turn for the worse and he was stranded indoors. The streets were completely flooded and he called the hospital to check on their situation. They still had some electricity from the generators and Kira was fine.

Hibari pushed away any feelings of concern. He still wasn't used to them; it was too foreign, too strange, and he didn't like the physical side effects they brought. Still, he spent the day in unease, the only piece of good news was that overnight the rain lessened and in the morning he might be able to get a ride to the hospital.

He arrived at precisely 8AM. The hospital was mostly empty and he went directly to Kira's room. But on his way there, he bumped into a nurse.

"Hibari-kun! Are you here to visit Kizuna-san?"

"Yes."

"Well, she's doing a lot better. She woke up today and her tests all came back normal. She should be able to check out by tomorrow." The nurse left as quickly as she came and Hibari stared at the blonde, wrapped up in sheets.

The nurse said she. Three times.

Kira was a girl?

He locked the door and stalked towards her. Sleeping or not, he needed answers now. Shaking her by the shoulder, Kira woke with a start. "Kyouya?"

"Something interesting just happened."

Still groggy, Kira rubbed at her eyes with a tiny fist. It looked so obvious now. "What happened?"

Her voice was so quiet and light, it seemed preposterous that he ever took her for a guy. "Turns out, you're female."

Kira's movement froze for a second, but she tried to play it off cool. "What are you talking about? That's crazy."

"Really?" He took a step closer. "Because the doctors did a full check up on you, and they told me you were a girl."

Feeling the colour drain from her face, Kira tried to come up with a lie. She wasn't fast enough as Hibari's face dipped closer to hers. She held her breath as they were just inches apart now. She didn't even notice him climbing onto the bed, straddling her.

Hibari took in the sight before him. Yes, definitely a girl. Tiny frame, soft facial features, weighed less than any guy and lips that were so red and full. Neither of them noticed that they were leaning in until their lips touched.

Startled, Kira gasped and lost her balance. As she fell backwards, Hibari's quick reflexes caught them and they became tangled in each other's limbs. He had one arm under her back and another beside her head. They were speechless, staring at each other wide-eyed. The silence was deafening and Kira struggled to say something. Anything!

"K-Kyouya…?"

The sound of her voice made his blood rush and he leaned down again, capturing her lips. This time she responded. Kira followed her instincts and moved along with him. The kiss started out tentative, but as it was Hibari, it quickly became passionate and rough as he started nibbling on her bottom lip. The bit of pain made her gasp and he took the chance to bring his tongue to hers.

It was moving so fast that Kira felt like she needed to hold onto to something, and her hands found Hibari's neck and collar. He took it as a sign to keep going, but she broke the kiss instead. Not finished, Hibari trailed kisses and nibbles down her neck to her collarbone until he heard a soft moan.

"Kyouya, stop," she whispered.

It took all his willpower, but he did so. He was afraid he had gone too far and that she would hate him, but as he propped himself up, his doubts cleared as he saw a faint smile.

"That's enough for today," she said as her eyes fluttered closed. She was still exhausted.

He got off her and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. She turned her head towards him and said, "And yes, I am a girl."

Hibari's mind was running wild. This changed everything. This explained everything. He always had a weird feeling about Kira. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

Kira swallowed the lump in her throat. "I wanted to. So badly. But I was afraid of what would happen if I did."

There was a small silence as he thought about her words. "Who else knows?"

Kira cringed. She was hoping he wouldn't ask that. "Well, Tsunayoshi and the guys. Reborn and Dino know, obviously, since they know me from Italy. I only told people who I was sure was going to part of my family."

There was that word again. Family. Except he knew she was referring to the mafia. The infant had made it clear during one of their meetings that he wanted him to join Tsuna's family.

Hibari wondered just what her role was. How important she was. He only knew that she was good with computers, but to what extent? It was only now dawning on him that he knew the least about her and that was aggravating.

"Are you upset?" She asked slowly, rolling onto her side so that her stomach was pressed to him.

The corners of his lips turned up and he met her eyes. "I'm not upset. I am however bothered by how much those herbivores know about you."

Kira laughed softly. Hibari was surprisingly cute when he was jealous, it reminded her of someone she hadn't seen in ages. She scooted down a bit and wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling into his side. "We can fix that. What do you want to know?"

Hibari only asked her to tell him what the others knew. He didn't want to get to know her like this, not by interrogation. What she did tell him was impressive, and at the same time irritating. He felt a strange sense of pride to know how high a position she held, but when she told him about her history with Mukuro all he wanted to do what rip that pineapple head limb from limb.

The person he hated the most was the first person she met, the first person she became friends with and from what he heard, it was clear Mukuro was not done with her. Then, there was Cavallone.

Now that he knew she was a girl, it was so painfully obvious Dino was smitten, and it made Hibari smirk that it had been him who got her.

"You should get some more sleep. I'll be back at 1 with lunch."

"Mmm, okay." She yawned widely, tiny tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. She looked so tiny, it was adorable. Kira slowly retracted her arms and crawled back up to the pillows. Hibari got up and helped tuck her in, kissing the top of her head before leaving. "See you later."

"Yeah."

Kira willed her heartbeat to return to normal and kept her eyes shut tight. She was afraid this was all a dream and when she opened her eyes the illusion would vanish. How funny that it was a nurse who sold her out and pushed their relationship forward. That was for the best though since she had no idea when she would have told him. Her mind finally at ease, Kira drifted off into slumber.

When Hibari returned, he had brought a mixture of Italian and Japanese cuisine since he didn't know what Kira would be in the mood for.

She was still sound asleep, her hair splayed around her. He noted that her hair had grown to the bottom of her neck and made her look even more feminine. His fingers tightened around the bag handles, his breathing quickened slightly, and he could feel his face getting warmer. He had no freaking idea what to do. This was completely unprecedented and he had no previous experience, nothing even remotely similar, to draw upon. He seriously considered ending this before it started since he felt like he could only hurt her, but something prevented him.

Going off instincts, he set the takeout on the chair and sat on the edge of the bed. Kira woke up when she felt the bed dip. "Is it lunch time already?"

"Are you hungry?"

She yawned widely and sat up, nodding. "For once, yeah. What did you get?"

They spread all the food on the bed and ended up having a hopsital picnic. Hibari said he could get a table, or rather make someone get them a table, but Kira insisted on a picnic. She had a much better appetite and ate both the Italian and Japanese dishes, which made Hibari secretly pleased that she enjoyed it. This was bringing out a new competitive side of him.

"Do you think I could get discharged today?"

"That's not a problem, but," he felt her forehead, her fever was almost gone. "You're sure you don't want to stay under professional care until you're completely better?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Kira internally pouted as he retracted his hand. Ever since their little incident this morning, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Were they dating? Casuals? A couple? Ugh, why was she being so basic? Still… she watched him tidy up the bed and began unconsciously memorizing his features. Holy crap, how am I only now noticing how unbelievably attractive this guy is. She then became very self conscious of her own body.

"I'll go dispose of this so get dressed while I sign you out." Hibari was choosing his words carefully now, and it was quite annoying. He didn't know what was the appropriate way to talk to someone he liked, or were they dating? He dropped the bags into a trash can on the way to the reception desk and signed her out. "Also, if Kizuna Kira checks in again, make sure she is given priority treatment."

Kira had finished changing and was playing tetris on her phone. She glanced up with her eyes quickly when the door opened. "Hey. Can we go now?"

"Yes, there's a taxi outside. Let's go." Hibari raised an eyebrow as she slowly walked towards him, still focused on her game. It was pretty clear she wasn't going to put that away. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed her free hand and led them out. He wouldn't admit it, but he didn't say anything about her game because it gave him an excuse to touch her. "The power is back on and the streets are mostly clear, but it's still raining."

Kira was pretty impressed at how quickly Japan repaired things. The entire city had been hit with some pretty horrible weather and in less than 12 hours everything was back to normal. It was a good thing Hibari had the sense to charge her phone. Ah, I lost. That's what I get for being distracted.

They got into the taxi and rode back in an awkward silence. Both wanted to say something, but neither knew what to say or how to start a conversation. Hibari was out of practice and Kira had too many ideas to choose from. Still, she resolved to say something when they got back to his house.

Alright, no more being a giant chicken. I have to ask him.

"Kyouya, can we talk about this morning?" The words felt horrible on her tongue, but she didn't know how else to phrase it. She swore she saw Hibari's shoulders tense for a second.

"I suppose."

His guard is going back up. "Come on," she smiled to try to lighten the situation and took his right hand in both of hers. This seemed to calm him down that she wasn't going to end things, tell him she hated him or something. She sat them down on the couch and chose her words carefully. "So, since there's no other way to say this, are we going out?"

He really didn't want to answer that since he didn't know if that's what she wanted. But then an idea occurred to him and he asked, "Do you want us to be?"

Kira grinned cheekily and leaned forward. "Are you trying to put this all on me?"

The tension began to dissipate and he smirked slightly. "Maybe."

"Well," she brought her knees to her chest and hugged them close. It was still a bit cold to her. "I don't mind. What about you?"

She didn't mind. He was filled with emotions that were frankly, quite uncomfortable. He couldn't remember the last time he felt them and didn't know how to handle them. It made his palms clammy and body nervous. Was this a side effect of having feelings for someone? He couldn't understand why people were in such a mad race to get in a relationship when it made you feel so out of control. But at the same time, he couldn't imagine cutting Kira out. "I don't mind either."

This was the extent of both their abilities to express their feelings.

Kira smiled as Hibari turned his head away slightly, his cheeks a tiny bit redder. She noticed she was still holding his hand, but given their new relationship it wasn't a problem. Enjoying the moment, she began tracing circles on the back of his hand. He was always so warm, and she cold.

Hibari noticed the change and just let her draw circles on his skin as he stared out the window. It was much more comfortable now as they were simply enjoying the other's company, something he never thought he would. As her movements slowed, Hibari shifted his eyes slightly to see that she was growing sleepy again. It was expected as the weather was still depressing and she still sick. "You should get some rest."

She looked up at him for about half a second and mumbled a soft 'okay' before falling forward into his lap, completely knocked out. Hibari tried to wake her but it was no use. She had used up too much energy, and as he held her up by her arms he grew more worried about her health. Out of options, he lifted her out and began walking up the stairs to his room. It was the only one with a bed in it. He tucked her in, making sure her back wasn't exposed, and then took a second to observe her.

He just tucked someone in.

What the hell?

Yeah, fine, he admitted he liked her, but how had he changed so quickly? How did she do this to him? Or… was he always like this and she just brought it out? He would never know these answers, but it made him feel better to know that aside from her, everything else stayed the same, so he wasn't turning into some soft herbivore.

Speaking of which, what was she if not a herbivore? She certainly wasn't the predatory type like him, but she seemed to keep mostly to herself or to one or two people at a time. Hm, just what exactly was she? Hibari stopped himself. Maybe it was wrong to try to fit her into one of his categories. He didn't know her well enough to do so anyway. It seemed going with his instincts and not overthinking was the best thing to do as it was working so far.

As soon as left the room and closed the door, Kira pulled out her phone and began rapidly texting Dino and Tsuna. She couldn't hold it in, she had to tell someone!

To Dino: Hey, how's your day going? Kyouya and I are fine now. And by fine I mean dating. Yeah, he knows.

To Tsuna: Yo! Don't tell the guys but Kyouya and I are a couple now, so shhh, okay?

She wasn't going to text Gokudera or Yamamoto, but a devious idea popped into her mind. So she texted them as well and told them not to tell anyone, that it was a secret. This was going to be funny.

But as she texted them, she wondered if Hibari would be comfortable with being public. How would the rest of the school react? She was still disguised as a boy so they would probably have to keep up the ruse in public. Well, it didn't bother her.

Smiling happily, she replied to the barrage of texts sarcastically, feeling playful and mischievous. Everyone, even Gokudera, was happy for her.

Kira closed her eyes, finally warm and slipped into a dreamless slumber.

Dino stared at the phone on his desk. So it was official, he lost. Strangely enough, he didn't feel that sad. Maybe he never liked Kira that way. Trying to look at this logically, he reasoned that seeing Kira get close to another guy made him a bit competitive, but that was all it was, it wasn't love.

Well, he still loved her as a friend, but he definitely wasn't in love with her. This was for the best as that would have irreversibly screwed up their friendship forever. No, he wasn't going to lose his best friend.

The sound of birds woke her before the sunlight had a chance to burn her eyelids. The days were getting much shorter, but it didn't bother her as much as the sounds of nature did. Her face scrunched up in annoyance before her eyes fluttered open. Holy crap, I feel amazing. Man is it good to not be sick anymore. She yawned widely and did a long cat stretch, relishing the feeling of her muscles waking up.

Too bad it's Monday, back to school.

Hibari wasn't in the room, and so she set out to look for him. It was still early, and unlikely that he was at school, even for him. Her nose alerted her that he was in the kitchen. Peeking around the corner, she saw that he was making omelettes.

How charmingly domestic.

Then, an idea popped into her head and she crept up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. The fact that she didn't get elbowed into the floor meant that he knew she was there. Smiling into his back, Kira squeezed him tightly and began to let go. "Good morning."

Hibari set down the spatula and with one hand caught hers, and with the other pressed it to her forehead. "Your temperature seems to have come down."

"Yeah," she said in a small and quiet, but happy voice. He too had a hint of a smile. "Breakfast smells good."

"You'll have to eat quickly. I need to be there by 6:45."

Kira glanced at the clock hanging over the counter, it read 6:14. "I'll eat as much as I can."

"Also-" there was suddenly a hand gripping her left bicep as Hibari spun her around and placed a kiss on her lips. Pleasantly surprised, Kira found herself tangling her fingers in his hair and pulling him closer. She was starting to really like the hormonal madness of teenagehood. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Kira pulled away, cheeks flushed and out of breath. Hibari thought the pink in her complexion really suited her. It made her look more lively and his fingers curled tighter around her waist as he resisted the urge to trail more kisses down her neck.

"We're going to be late," she said, still breathing hard. Hibari made a low sound of disapproval as she moved away and plated the omelettes before they burned. They didn't talk much, but both agreed that at school they would continue the charade, but otherwise in public they'd be a normal couple. At this point even if Kira revealed her gender she wouldn't be expelled or anything since she was under Hibari's protection, but they didn't want to deal with the consequences so this was the simpler choice.

The roads now clear, Hibari escorted them to school on his motorcycle since he had to weave through traffic and construction to get there on time. Kira had ridden on motorcycles before. Hell, she even owned a couple, but it felt totally different when she was with him. It made her unjustifiably giddy, and honestly she felt almost silly for being this way, but she didn't care.

Once at school, Kira and Hibari parted ways at the gate. He sent her to his office so she could get some more sleep since she was still in recovery. Hibari was immediately swept up by his committee as they each reported to him. Kira wasn't so interested but she was glad to know that Hibari was basically a mafioso already. It'd be easy for them to accommodate each other since they were so similar in this aspect.

Despite her feeling better, Kira still drifted into a slumber easily. Her dream, though, was shrouded in a strange darkness. When she woke, her forehead was coated in a cold sweat. She could only remember bits and pieces, but she was sure it involved it involved Mukuro. Kira noticed she was alone and checked her phone. Eight minutes until classes started. This would be a good time to leave. Hibari was definitely at the gates performing inspections.

As soon as she walked in, Tsuna and Gokudera pulled her to their corner in a huddle.

"Are you fucking serious?!"

"Gokudera-kun, not so loud!"

"Sorry Tenth! Kizuna, are you out of your mind?"

"You seemed much more supportive in your texts."

"That's not what I'm referring to." He pointed to her chest.

"Oh." She wasn't wearing her binder. "Um."

"Yeah. Are you going to declare that you're actually a girl now? You're going to get yourself killed."

"Oh yeah." She bit her bottom lip, thinking about any quick fixes. "The nurse likes you, right?"

"What about it?"

"Think you can score me some bandages?"

Just the thought of doing anything to aid her seemed to hurt his very soul. A quick please form Tsuna changed that real quick though. Kira waited for him in a stall in the bathroom and in a few minutes a plastic bag was slipped under the door.

"Thanks."

"Just hurry. This teacher already hates us."

"Will do."

To her relief, she made it out just as roll call began and sat down, now noticeably more uncomfortable than when she first started this charade.

After this year I may not be able to continue here.

The rest of the day her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Hibari. It was strange to be thinking about someone so fondly for this long. Kira tried to remember the last time she felt this way but couldn't find a match. But along with the good came the bad. She found herself scared. She didn't know what was going to happen and she was vulnerable in a way she had never experienced before. Still, she at least knew that being scared meant she was onto something worthwhile. If she wasn't then that meant she didn't really care and was just wasting her time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Hibari in the courtyard. He met her eyes and gave her a small wave. Kira found herself smiling lightly and waving back. Yeah, whatever this would bring, she was ready. It was her turn for a dose of this normality that everyone kept raving about.

But for now…

Her eyes trailed back to Tsuna's slumped over form. She had to step up her game as his tutor. His abysmal grades didn't point to a good leader and if they didn't fix that in early adolescence then it would most likely carry into adulthood. They may have done poorly this time, but Kira was determined to delve into why Tsuna had such a hard time learning. Whether it was just because they couldn't explain the concepts well enough or because he had ADD, they would figure it out. With this renewed determination, Kira began mentally planning a strategy to actually help Tsuna instead of torturing him.

When the lunch bell rang, she bounded over to him, excited to explain her plan. To her surprise, he was actually on board, which meant Gokudera had to be there too.

"You're totally gonna ace the next set of exams, Tenth!"

"As optimistic as I am, let's focus on getting him to a passing grade first."

"You're as supportive as ever, Kira."

She gave him a wide-toothed grin. "Why thank you! Reborn will be disappointed that he won't be able to inflict bodily harm upon you though."

"Don't count that out."

"GAH! Reborn! When did you get here?!" Tsuna shrieked.

"More importantly," Kira pointed at him with a look of 'why are you even' all over her face, "why are you dressed like that?"

"Do you like it?" He did a twirl. "It's my impersonation of Kira as a girl."

Tsuna and Gokudera almost screamed in disbelief.

"Oh shut up," she snapped.

"We didn't even say anything!"

"Yeah but you were thinking it."

"You have got to be kidding…" Reborn kept making obnoxious poses, his long blonde wig blowing in the wind that he setup with a fan. The overly frilly, pink, puffy dress looked like it belonged on a doll for 3 year olds.

"What do you think, Kira? After you stop parading around as a male, are you going to grow out your hair again and wear the pretty dresses that Bianchi sewed for you?"

Gokudera's eye twitched. "Excuse me?"

"Oh? You didn't know? Bianchi has been trying to get Kira to wear dresses for a long time."

Gokudera was flabbergasted to say the least. His sister knew who Kira was this whole time?!

"Oh come now, Hayato. Given their connection and the fact that I worked with Reborn for years, of course Bianchi and I know each other."

"Exactly. You wouldn't break an old friend's heart now, would you?" Reborn asked with crocodile tears in his eyes.

Everyone looked visibly distressed.

"Actually, I've no problem with that." Kira deadpanned.

Reborn let out a fake sigh of disappointment. "And here I thought thought maybe you'd finally change your mind after your heart opened to love."

Kira resisted the urge to bash her head against the concrete. "Please never use such disgusting language like that ever again. And I doubt Kyouya of all people would care whether or not I wear a dress."

"Really?" Tsuna asked.

Kira looked at him curiously. "Yeah. Why?"

"It's just that, if it were me, and I'm speaking for Kyoko-chan, but it would make me really happy to see her all dressed up if we were to go on a date or something…"

Gokudera agreed emphatically and commented that presently Kira had the femininity and grace of a dirty trucker, which quite frankly she found more insulting for the truckers.

"Well that's your preference. If you guys haven't noticed, Kyouya is a bit different from most people."

But that night she thought about it. It wasn't that she held any strong feelings against dresses, and if Hibari liked her in a dress then she wouldn't mind wearing them She looked at the clock: 9:47 PM. Tsuna was already dying from the sheer volume of questions concerning his learning history and childhood injuries, especially those pertaining to his head. So far they learned that he had never been a good student, everything confused him and he found it near impossible to focus in class and at home.

Bzzt, bzzt…

Checking her phone, there was a text from Hibari:

When are you going to be done?

She couldn't help grinning. Did he miss her already? She wrote back:

I think it's about time to pack up. Tsunayoshi has hit his limit for the day.

In a matter of seconds she got a reply saying that he was coming to pick her up since he still had his motorcycle. In preparation she asked Gokudera to help get Tsuna into bed and put some of the material away before saying goodnight to Nana.

She was only waiting at the gate for a few minutes before a pair of headlights turned the corner. The teenager in her felt her heart skip a beat and the butterflies in her stomach flutter frantically. Her legs began moving on their own, and as he removed his helmet she felt like she was in a movie as time seemed to slow down.

"Hey," he said. As she opened her mouth to return the greeting, he lifted her chin with the tips of his fingers and leaned over to kiss her tenderly. She felt her eyelids drooping as she melted into him.

I could get used to this.

"Ready?" He held out the spare helmet. She nodded and donned the helmet before climbing on and hugging him around the waist. The ride was a blur as she could only focus on the feeling of his abs against her palms, and the heat of his back against her chest.

Hello, hello! It has been sooo chaotic lately. I'm still not dead, haha! Not that you have to, but if you're wondering what the hell has been going on, my blog link is on my profile and you can confirm that I have not just been lazy =3=

With that said, thank you to LyriaHart, Ryanrene97, Zeila27, and the mysterious guest reviewers :D Your guys's reviews really help me as it greatly motivates me to keep writing! Thanks again and I will try to get the next chapter up asap!