Author's note:So I'm trying out a new way to write my author notes and whatnot. So here I am, still not updating any other of my fics in favour of shacking of this persistent plot bunny that I suppose will stop biting me after I finish write it. *sigh* It's 1827. Romance, friendship, you decide. I don't care. It was meant to be friendship but…

Warning:Yet again, for those who have read "Your Best Friend", it's the same. EXTREME OOC Hibari: like him being nice. And hopefully, that's all. However, if you do spot any typos, I'll be pleased to correct them if you point them out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn or any of its characters. That right belongs solely to Amano Akira.

Tsuna was comfortably lying next to Hibari. He closed his eyes, enjoying the little bit of peace this moment had to offer. Suddenly, a question popped into his mind.

"Ne, Kyouya?"

"Hn?"

"What if we had different fates? Let's see… For example, I was born in the Mafia, or if I had no connections whatsoever to the Mafia. What if I was even a girl?"

"Oi, Kyouya! We're going out! Hurry up and change into something a bit more appropriate than that school uniform. Not that I'm saying that it's ugly or anything, of course."

Dino was not scared of Hibari. Well, at least, not anymore. Had anyone told him a few years ago that he would be stripping Hibari of his prefect jacket, he would have immediately sent that poor lady/man to the psychiatrist. Seeing Hibari nearly everyday really has strengthened him tremendously.

"And why should I do that? Where are we going?" The sudden apparition of steel tonfas was all that was needed for Dino to know that Hibari was getting annoyed.

"Actually, remember Sawada Tsunayoshi, my adopted little brother?"

"The Vongola heir? The boy that you won't stop rambling about?"

Yes, Hibari knew him quite well, despite never having the chance to meet the very famous heir of the prestigious Vongola Family. The stupid Bronco won't stop bombarding him with facts about his "little brother": how cute he was, how he reminded Dino of when he was small or how strong he was. Truth to be told, despite being annoyed with the Cavallone boss, he found himself to be more and more interested in the Decimo-to-be. The fact that he was unable to find any kind of information on the boy whatsoever only served to fuel his curiosity.

"Yeah him," Dino grinned sheepishly. "Vongola Nono wanted to organize a supper at the Vongola Mansion. We were "graciously" invited to participate. I thought that it would be a good idea for you to meet Tsuna because I know that you are quite interested in him but also because despite being born and raised in Italy, Tsuna is half Japanese. His mother is from Namimori, your hometown."

Interesting. So the Decimo had Japanese blood? And he came from Namimori too? At this thought, Hibari was suddenly brought back to the days when he ruled over Namimori with an iron fist. That was of course before the Bronco heard of his strength and decided to add him to his Famiglia. Hibari accepted the offer for the sole purpose that it seemed interesting at that time. Of course, he absolutely refused to work with those over friendly subordinates so Dino had no choice but to appoint him as his external advisor. The post was empty so it seemed like the only logical solution.

Dino was kind of worried by how Hibari seemed to get more and more irritated by the second for some unknown reason so he decided to go back to the topic at hand.

"So! Hurry up and get changed. Why don't you wear that suit that I bought you the other day? I know that you've never worn it before but I think that today would be a great opportunity!"

At the supper…

Hibari was getting quite irritated with Dino. Not that he wasn't annoyed enough already but it seemed that his annoyance has just skyrocketed. Sadly, the boss was still blissfully unaware that the man that he was dragging off to meet everyone was getting quite pissed. Hibari decided to wait to get back before teaching the Cavallone a throughout lesson.

Suddenly, he was dragged into a room. While he was thinking about different ways he could beat his "boss" up into a bloody pulp, he didn't notice that he was being led to a more private part of the mansion. As he entered the room, he ducked the multitude of dynamites that were thrown his way. They exploded somewhere above his head and before he could relax, he felt an attack coming from his right.

The blow was blocked by a steel tonfa.

"Not bad…" He heard someone say.

As the smoke cleared, he discovered who his attackers were.

Dino, who was looking at the brawl from the wall behind them, said "Kyouya, I present to you Vongola Decimo's Guardians."

The man who threw the dynamites presented himself first. "I'm Gokudera Hayato, the Tenth's right hand man and Vongola's Storm Guardian. Che, you have some skills."

"You're right, he's pretty good! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, by the way. Swordsman and Vongola's Rain Guardian. Nice to meet you!" the man with black hair (definitely Japanese, Hibari noted) said cheerfully. What stood out most about him was the scar that ran across his chin.

The next to present himself was a man with silver hair and a band-aid on the bridge of his nose. "I'm Sasagawa Ryohei! Boxer and Vongola's Sun Guardian! You have some extreme skills going on there!"

Sasagawa Ryohei had an unusually loud voice, which annoyed Hibari slightly.

The presentations were followed by Vongola's Thunder Guardian and also the youngest, Lambo Bovino and Vongola's Mist Guardians, Chrome Dokuro and Rokudo Mukuro.

It was quite interesting as Rokudo Mukuro used to be one of the most important prisoners in the Vendice prison. It shows just how much influence Vongola had over the Mafia, Hibari assumed.

It seemed like the Mist Guardian had notice his scrutiny and the man had the gale to wink at him.

It made him feel murderous and all he wanted to do at the moment was to bash the pineapple head into the wall but it seemed quite rude to do so (it's extremely hard to wash blood off from walls. Personal Experience. 'Nuff said.) so Hibari refrained himself.

"Haha, if this guy wasn't part of the Cavallone already, I think that he would have made a nice Cloud Guardian, don't you guys agree?"

"Of course not, you baseball idiot! I admit that his skills are something but he will need a lot more than just that if he were to occupy the vacant Vongola CEDEF and Cloud Guardian post!" Gokudera replied, annoyed by the other's stupidity.

"Actually, I agree with Yamamoto. I think that he would be an extremely fitting Cloud Guardian!"

"See, Gokudera? Even Ryohei agrees with me!" Yamamoto countered the fuming Gokudera cheerfully.

"Of course he would! Brainless idiots tend to side with one and each other."

"What did you just say, octopus head?"

"Oh! Starting with the name insults again eh, turftop?"

As the two continued their mini verbal fight with Yamamoto trying to stop them, a single voice rose above them.

"Ryohei, Hayato, stop right now. Don't you see that you are annoying our guests?"

As soon as those words were spoken, they stopped.

"I apologize" and "Sorry…" were said simultaneously. Gokudera and Ryohei glared at each other before looking away with a "humph".

"It's okay," the hidden man acknowledged them with a hint of desperation and laughter.

Suddenly, a man (boy?) with spiky brown hair appeared. The man was well dressed but opted to keep the top buttons of his white shirt open instead of wearing a tie or bow, like his Guardians. Sharp chocolate brown eyes could be seen under long bangs. Something about this man enticed Hibari, inviting him, making him want to know more about him. The atmosphere around him was warm yet it radiated authority.

Sky flames…

Dino came out of his little corner and decided to do the presentations.

"Kyouya, this is Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo. Tsuna, this is Hibari Kyouya, my external advisor."

"Nice to meet you, Hibari-san. I look forward to our future exchanges. Please take care of me from now on." was said and a hand was offered to him.

As Hibari took Tsuna's hand, he noticed something about the way the boy looked at him. A small smile was dancing on his lips and his eyes were filled with a mixture of mirth and understanding that Hibari didn't quite catch. Instead of being irritated by this, he was quite intrigued.

"Yes… It will be a pleasure to work with you from now on."

This will be quite interesting…

Tsuna was getting beaten up by Hibari… again.

He really didn't understand why the prefect would always pick on him, and only him. Was he really that special?

Everyday, he would go back home, sporting new bruises and cuts. His dad would laugh at him and propose some kind of training that really didn't work at all and his mother would fuss over him. If this goes on, he'll get sent to the hospital for sure!

The only good thing that comes out of this was that the bullies were starting to leave him alone. Hibari would conveniently walk on them picking on Tsuna and he would bite them all to death. As soon as they were in a pile of bloody mush, the disciplinary committee leader would turn to him, flick the blood off his tonfas with a precise arm movement and start beating him up, fordrawingtomanybulliestohimself. Really.

Tsuna did notice, however, that no matter how many times Hibari would beat him up, he would never hit him that hard. Of course, they still hurt like hell and he would be nursing a few new bruises at the end of each beating but compared to others who were disciplined, he was pretty lucky. At least he wasn't sent to the emergencies with a broken skull.

Not only that, but every time he was getting beaten, he would feel this wave of melancholy wash over him before the pain took over. He thinks that Hibari feels the same as he sometime noticed that the prefect's eyes would flash with some sort of confusion/understanding before it was replaced by its usual coldness.

As he pondered over these thoughts on his way home, he bumped into something, or more like someone.

"I-I'm sor— HIEEEEE!" Tsuna let out a strident scream as he looked up to see a bulky giant looming over him, with his two followers standing behind him.

The tallest and skinniest one pulled his sunglasses down and stared down at Tsuna.

"Yo, pipsqueak! Ya know who 'er just bump' into? HEIN?"

"I'm so sorry! I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Tsuna bowed lowly, hoping to get away somehow. His hopes were dashed as soon as the leader spoke.

"Hehe, sorry kiddo but a "sorry" just won't cut it this time." Ominous sound of knuckles cracking reached Tsuna ears. He looked up and was about to scream in fright again as the three giants loomed over him, the setting sun behind them creating scary shadows on their faces.

"What do you think you are doing? People who disrupt peace will be bitten to death."

Tsuna was never happier to hear the scary prefect's voice. He turned around and saw Hibari standing there, with his tonfas out.

"Che, who're you? Ya dare talk agains' the boss? I think that 'e needs to be taugh' a lesson! Com' on, boys!" and the three idiots, as Tsuna dubbed them, charged at Hibari.

It never ceased to amaze him how, despite being in such a small town, there still were such brainless idiots who don't know about the infamous Hibari Kyouya.

It didn't take long for him to beat them up and as soon as he was done Hibari turned towards Tsuna.

"You shall be bitten to death for disrupting Namimori peace by drawing so many attackers to yourself."

As Tsuna tried to ease Hibari and take small steps backwards at the same time, he thought "Not again!"

It never occurred to him that his house was on the opposite direction from where Hibari was originally heading.

"Ne, Tsuna-chan! Is this the correct answer?"

"Hum… Let me see… Actually, you have a small mistake here so it should be 27 not 18. Apart from that, everything is perfect! Congratulations!"

"Thanks! You're really smart, Tsuna-chan!"

Tsuna blushed at that comment. "I'm really not that smart!"

Suddenly, the teacher entered and everyone scrambled to gain their own seats.

"Places everyone!" the teacher ordered.

When everybody was sitting behind their own desk, the teacher started roll call and school officially started.

After an hour or so of mathematics with Tsuna taking note of everything that the teacher was saying and diligently answering all of the his questions, a school personel opened the door and gestured for the professor. After talking outside for a few seconds the latter re-entered.

"Sawada Tsunayumi, you are asked by the student council."

As Tsuna passed by the old man, he whispered a small "Good job!" in her ear and she blushed in embarrassment.

She was given a chance to cool down her flaming cheeks by slowly walking towards the Student Council room.

Half way there, she suddenly met a boy (probably a year older than her) with a black jacket draped over his shoulders. From the distance, she could see something red on his right arm.

Then, it hit her: the Disciplinary Committee leader, Hibari Kyouya.

Truth to be told, it was the first time that she has met the infamous prefect. Despite never meeting him (she never broke the rules: never late, never wearing the skirt too short, etc) she certainly heard a lot about him. She was kind of scared, actually, that he would come and get her because of her law defying hair. She had them pretty long (waist length) but her bangs were definitely spiky. Luckily, it seemed like he had better things to do than worry about her bangs so she was spared.

She was tempted to go see him on several occasions but never did. She heard rumours about how he would nap on the rooftop and her curiosity made her want to go see but the more logical part of her said that it was most likely a suicide mission. And since when were rumours true anyways?

However, as she saw him for the first time in her life, in a school corridor no less, time seemed to have frozen when their eyes connected. Tsuna felt herself filled with possibilities that never existed and feelings that never were. This moment of connection was broken, though, when she suddenly felt somebody jump on her from behind.

"Hey, Tsu-chan!"

She looked back and saw her best friends from another class, Sasagawa Kyoko and Kurokawa Hana smiling at her.

"Why were you spacing out? Thinking about your crush—"

"Shhh!" Tsuna tried to silence Kyoko by putting both her hands on her mouth. It failed and Kyoko got away giggling.

"I don't know about you two but I think that we should get going or they would be wondering why we are so late," Hana informed the two girls.

"You're right. Let's go, Tsu-chan." Kyoko started walking away.

"A-ah! Wait for me, Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna scrambled awkwardly to catch up to her.

Hibari looked at the scene with impassive eyes. As the two passed each other, they never looked back.

They do not know that it was this fated meeting that started everything.

Hibari looked at the man lying comfortably beside him. He sighed.

"Well it wouldn't matter much, would it? I would have found you anyways."

Author's note: That was freakin' LONG! Gosh, I squeezed every single drop of my brain juice into this story so now, I'm totally empty. I hope you enjoyed it. Anything written in the fic can be considered as either friendship or romance. Some of it might seem to be more romance than friendship but please note that it was not my original intention. Of course, you are free to imagine however you wish to. Please leave a review! (I'm sorry for the typos but you could always tell them to me to have them corrected immediately. That is, if you have the time.)