EDIT: Just realised that FF ate its own line breaks and the Doc Manager is still being a butt at the moment, but hopefully this will be a little easier to read now.

I was watching Shrek again while plotting out my KHR x Pokemon crossover. Then this little idea spun off and decided it that had to become its own story because Hibird deserves love too. The first chapter is entirely slice of life moments of Tsuna growing up with Tsubird before Reborn comes.

This story is also going to be much shorter than the rest of my fics. It was supposed to be a one shot, but it just kept growing and growing and growing. There's probably only going to be 3 chapters though, maybe 4 if I really push it. I cranked out over 11,000 words in less than 2 days and none of this is the crack I had originally planned.

Summary: Tsuna has a feathery friend and Hibird thinks she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. "Does this mean that we're going to be in-laws?" "Only if Hibird can prove that he's not an herbivore." Eventual HibirdxTsubird(OC).

Warnings: AU, Violence, Language, OC, OOC

Pairings: HibirdxOC, platonic/pre-slash 1827 depending on your point of view.

Chapter One: Tsuna and Tsubird

When Tsuna was six, he found a baby bird in his backyard. It was pale and ugly, all veiny with bulging eyes and sparse tiny hairs scattered over its almost translucent skin. It was also sitting under the steel grate of the barbecue grill atop a pile of ashes and charcoal.

He pulled out the grate and gently scooped up the bird with both hands along with a generous pile of ash. It was almost uncomfortably warm, but Tsuna paid it no mind. The chick that had stopped peeping when the boy had opened the grill looked up and Tsuna calmly looked back down.

"Hello. My name is Tsuna."

The chick tilted its head as if to consider his words before chirping back a greeting.

"Where's your family?"

He received a blank look for his question.

"Are you alone?"

Another blank look.

"Are you…hungry?"

This time he got a more enthusiastic reply and the tiny creature wiggled a bit sending ashes spilling over the edges of Tsuna's cupped palms.

"It's almost time for dinner. Mama's really good at cooking. I'm sure you'll like it and I'm sure that she'll let you stay inside too. We need to use that grill tomorrow so you can't live there."

He carefully stepped off the small stool he had used to retrieve the bird.

"Maybe when you get bigger, we can try to find out what you are and if there are others like you."

The chirp he received sounded sort of dubious and maybe just a bit disappointed, like it didn't really believe that he would be able to.

"Don't worry. If you don't have any family, then you can be mine. No one should have to grow up all alone."

"Of course it can stay." Said Nana once Tsuna had told her what happened. "Poor thing, I wonder if a hawk or eagle had snatched it from its nest and accidently dropped it. I must have closed the grill without seeing it." Logic would had said that it was very impossible, for the chick to have survived a fall from that height, having slipped past the grate only to land on some very hard rocks to boot, but logic was really more of a very very distant acquaintance to Nana than a way of thinking.

The chick came to live in a padded shoe box on Tsuna's desk. Some hasty research revealed that it would need an external source of heat until it was older, so an old (and not at all energy efficient) desk lamp was pulled out from storage and set up above the box.

You could cook an egg with the amount of heat it put out so they figured that it would be enough.

And it didn't bother Tsuna one bit seeing as it was even brighter than his night light.

Tsuna creatively named the chick Bird. Both for the lack of any known way of properly sexing it and because he couldn't read well enough to find a suitable name in print that Bird liked. Bird didn't really care for any of the names that they heard when watching television or listening to the radio either.

Tsuna wasn't sure how he could tell, but somehow he understood that Bird simply preferred being called Bird and no matter what new cute name Nana tried to train Bird to respond to, she never got a response back.

Until a couple months later.

Bird had nearly tripled in size and grown a fuzzy coat of down. It was a soft red with yellow and orange swirls forming lovely flame like patterns.

Bird had also begun to make small whistling noises. Especially when it came to food or Tsuna's attention. It was a surprisingly melodic sound and pleasant enough that no one could really get too annoyed at the chick's constant demands.

"It's almost like Bird is trying to say Tsu." Nana commented as she and Tsuna watched Bird heartily devour a half a grape and whistled. Tsuna obligingly handed over the other half which chased the other piece down in seconds.

Bird bobbed its head and whistled again.

Tilting his head Tsuna asked.

"Are you trying to say Tsuna?"

"Hhhhuuuuu~!"

"Ah!" Nana clapped her hands together. She was still trying for something cuter than just Bird. "I've got it! How about Tsubird? Together it'll be Tsu-kun and Tsubird. You'll match!"

This got the most enthusiastic reply after a few moments of silence and it almost seemed like the newly named Tsubird had begun to do some sort of shuffling, bobbing dance on the tabletop in its joy. Nana did one as well, twirling about the kitchen and flaring her skirt while Tsuna just beamed and offered the chick another grape.

They eventually even learned that Tsubird was a girl…kinda.

Months of research about Tsubird's species passed without success and took with it the hope of finding any sort of special identifying feature so Tsuna decided to go ahead and ask one day.

"Are you a boy or a girl Tsubird?"

Tsubird didn't say anything, just cocked its head back as if to hear his guess better.

"A…girl?"

Tsubird chirruped her agreement with a nod and that was that.

Early on, Tsuna found out that birds needed some sort of grit to properly grind their food as they lacked the necessary parts to do so themselves. Most of it came from crushed egg shells mixed into Tsubird's scrambled eggs and the sand that she would inevitably swallow when she pecked at the bugs in the yard.

Tsubird seemed to have some sort of craving for charcoal though. She kept trying to get back into the grill and failing that, she searched about until she found the bag with the rest of it and clawed it open, digging about until she found a piece that she liked.

Attempts at taking it back resulted in an angry hissing bird and even if it dirtied her down and anything else it touched, which was quite a bit as she had taken to playing with it. Eventually, she pecked it down to small grains and swallowed those before starting the process again.

Nana simply assumed that Tsubird instinctively knew what she needed so a bag was always set aside just for her.

Tsubird drew attention, not so much from the neighbors, but from the other birds. Whenever they went outside, birds of all shapes and sizes lined the fences, the trees, the roof tops and anywhere else they could find purchase while maintaining a respectful distance. Finches and hawks and crows and pigeons and even a few escaped parakeets would all simply keep vigil over them. It was sort of unnerving at first, but seeing as Tsubird didn't have a problem with it, Tsuna eventually relaxed. There wasn't much noise for a crowd that size either, but neither Nana nor Tsuna realized it and figured that they were harmless.

Until the day the Kijiwara's pack of five small dogs decided to slip through the front gate to harass Tsuna. His cries drew Tsubird's attention away from her bug hunt and with a scream of outrage, she charged at the dogs that were on top of her human. Screeching in fury, she attempted to beat at them with her small wings. A sharp peck on the nose of one had it yelping in pain and another received a small scratch across its side from her short, but sharp talons.

The previously passive flock rose and suddenly the air was filled with a cacophony of bird cries and they dive bombed the pack who turned and fled. Crows continued to heckle them down the street by dropping stones from the sky while swallows and larks swooped down only to distract the canines into slowing long enough for the hawks to score even deeper marks.

For a long time, no one who witnessed the scene would connect it to the crying little boy and the little bird frantically trying to console him while making sure that he had no injuries. No one except Nana who certainly wasn't going to tell. Not after she, among several others, had asked long since asked the Kijiwara's to do something about their troublesome pets who had continuously snuck out of their property and into people's yards and done everything from digging up gardens and defecating on front doorsteps to killing other pet cats and dogs and biting at young children.

The next day, Nana put her husband's money to use, buying a tarp covering to be pinned to the ground in one corner of the yard and an oscillating sprinkler to be put on top. Rocks were strategically arranged underneath to allow the tarp to form puddles and thus the Sawada's had an instant functional, if not exactly aesthetically pleasing, birdbath.

It was offset by the other corner of the yard was where many, many birdfeeders where artfully arranged to provide a picturesquely cluttered scene.

She'd get around to prettying up the bath area later, but for now, it was more than enough to show her gratitude to their feathered guardians.

No one was sure what Tsubird's hatching day was so her birthday became April 3rd. The day Tsuna had opened the grill to find a tiny bald ugly chick staring back at him.

That tiny bald ugly chick was no longer tiny or bald or ugly...kind of. She was still a chick even though she was as big as a large chicken now. At least half of her body was still covered in down, but some bright red and gold feathers had shown up. At least those were lovely and Tsuna's and Nana's compliments of just how lovely they were made her preen and pose as if to say 'Just wait until I'm fully grown. Then you'll really see how beautiful I am.'

Tsubird's cake consisted of several small, but sweet whole grain loaves arranged in a circle around a large one, all loaded with fruits and nuts and topped with shredded cheese and more fruits and nuts.

The real treat though was the large red and gold '1' candle sending out sparks in the center loaf and Tsubird stared at it in fascination.

"Happy birthday Tsubird! Make a wish!"

"Tssuuu?"

"You're supposed to make a wish and then blow out the candle." At her confused look, Tsuna fell back to his default explanation. "It's a human thing."

She was still confused, but turned back to snap her beak at the burning wick, instantly snuffing it out.

"Good job Tsu-"

A marble-sized ball of fire shot out from Tsubird's beak, relighting the candle which began sparking again.

"Tsuuuuu~." She crowed in delight and snapped it out again only to blast more fire at the wick.

Tsuna and his mother could only sit and watch as she played with the candle for the next few hours.

"Well. At least, I think I know what Tsubird is now," stated Nana.

Tsuna learned many things about birds in general and the path to that knowledge was a hard, but determined struggle. It did have the benefit of slowly raising his abysmal grades in school though much to his mother's pleasure. He may not care for bettering himself just for himself, and he never would, but he would certainly do so if it meant being able to care for what was precious to him.

The fact that there were so many characters to learn and so many different ways to read and pronounce them had the brunet spending several hours studying instead of goofing off and watching educational programs more often than cartoons even if he couldn't understand everything they said.

Where he would have lagged behind in P.E., he was now somewhere in the middle of the group. Tsuna now spent a lot of time outside running with Tsubird instead of playing video games. She was energetic and if Tsuna wanted her to sleep without waking him at the crack of dawn he'd have to properly wear her out first. The effort to do so would often do the same to him as well.

In math, it had always taken him the longest to do simple addition and subtraction, but worry for overfeeding Tsubird had forced Tsuna to start learning how to measure out specific amounts of food for her meals in his head and fast lest an aggravated chick tried to lunge for it and make him spill everything to hurry it along. Within weeks, Tsuna was even able to approximate how much weight he was holding by either sight or feeling within no more than two grams. She was always hungry though, and Tsuna had to learn not to crumple like a soggy napkin to her pleading or sneaky ways. It worked. Occasionally. Once in a blue moon.

"No Tsubird. You can have more when the minute hand reaches the twelve. It's at six right now so that means you have thirty more minutes to go."

He got better at multiplication too. In fact he was getting better at everything. Needless to say, so was Tsubird.

She waited until her friend had gone back to doing his homework, too absorbed to notice her, before sneaking behind the clock and tugging out a black peg. She had seen Nana changing the clocks for Daylight Savings Time once and had taken to playing with Tsuna's alarm clock herself while the boy was in school. Slowly turning the peg, she craned her long neck over the edge to check her progress and finally stopped the minute hand at the ten, pushed the peg back in to restart the clock.

When the alarm went off ten minutes later, Tsuna blinked in surprise.

"Already?"

"Tsssuuuu~!"

"Okay. Okay. C'mon."

Offering Tsubird his shoulder, Tsuna headed to the kitchen, not even wincing as she tightened her hold. He had long since begun to wear thick padding and fingerless gloves at home in response to Tsubird's ever growing claws. Grabbing an apple, he set about dicing it to bite sized pieces for her to eat. They were still uneven, but most of it was a consistent size. A far cry from his early attempts and another thing Tsuna had picked up much sooner than he would have without her intervention.

"I know you're a growing bird but you eating more than me and Mama put together," he sighed. Then he saw the kitchen clock.

"Tsubird! How many times have I told you not to do that?!"

There was one piece of apple left. A large piece which Tsubird left on the plate that she pushed back to Tsuna.

"Don't think you can bribe me into forgiving you." He frowned.

Tsubird picked up the apple with her beak and wheedled him to take it by pressing it against his pursed lips while giving him her best 'innocent' look.

Sighing, Tsuna's shoulders slumped and he opened his mouth.

"What am I going to do with you Tsubird?"

Her reply was to feed him, then snuggle up, her ruby red swan-like neck curling around his to rub their cheeks together as he chewed.

'Love me.' Said her gesture. 'Love me like I love you.'

Tsuna sighs again. It's not like he really needed that clock much these days. Tsubird has him trained to her schedule anyways and he can now tell time from the position of the sun. Not to mention the fact that he still ends up waking with the sunrise courtesy of a hungry phoenix who now shares his pillow with him.

Tsubird eventually got the rest of her feathers and bright crimson made up the bulk of her body with gold emerging to create elegant arrangements. The flame pattern of the down was gone, but in its place were colors that rippled in the light, making it seem as if fire had been trapped inside each feather. The underside of her wings followed a pattern of rows of green, black, red, yellow, and white in contrast to the red and gold theme of the rest of her body. A crest of hand length feathers sprouted from the back of her head, an iridescent golden crown atop a ruby red head.

Tsubird also grew five long tail feathers like a peacock. If every tail was a different color and had dual toned barbs. Green, black, red, yellow, and white again with more white edging at least a finger's length long, the feathers curled and waved almost as if they were sea anemones undulating underwater even when there was no wind. The large 'eyes' at the ends somehow never failed to feel like they were watching him, but Tsuna never felt nervous or scared. Rather it was a safe feeling to be in sight of those eyes.

Tsubird was the size of a small swan now and far more elegant, but Tsuna feared that she wouldn't know how to fly without having someone to show her how. He needn't have worried about that. She had taken to hovering around the house and Tsuna was beyond guessing at how she did it without any support. He simply chalked it up to the same thing that let her spit fireballs from her mouth and healing tears from her eyes. Magic. It shouldn't be possible, but then again neither should a fire breathing bird.

The whole teleportation by fire thing was new to him though and Tsuna yelped as they burst into existence right above his bed. He had tried to cut through some alleys to get away from some bullies when Tsubird had appeared in a blaze of fire, latched a foot to both of his shoulders and left the same way she had come before anyone could see. It seemed that even though he was just an average student now, some things would never change.

"Thanks Tsubird."

His worried phoenix clucked and fussed over him before looking out the window.

"No."

"Tsuuuuu."

"No way Tsubird. Leave them alone. Dogs and cats can't talk, but people can."

Her regal head tilted as if to say, 'Let them.'

As far as anyone else was concerned, Tsubird was some sort of beautiful exotic bird that the Sawada's owned, but some family in Japan had a famous pet penguin didn't they? This was just another pet in the end and there was no way something like a mythical bird would exist in this tiny town right? The citizens of Namimori are very good at remaining oblivious. It's somewhat of a necessary skill to have when there is someone like Hibari Kyouya living nearby.

There were several expensive offers to purchase her and even a few attempts at outright birdnapping, but Tsubird proved to be a foul-tempered beast that brought bad luck to anyone who tried to take the feathered devil. Most of it was through mysterious fires, hostile bird attacks, and a constant rain of bird poop anytime the perpetrator tried to leave his or her cover.

Once she has learned how to teleport, Tsubird begins traveling further and further. To the point that she doesn't return for a few days or even weeks on one memorable occasion. Which is perfectly fine with Tsuna as his deadbeat dad has finally come home and he really doesn't want the house to go up in flames or his dad to get mobbed by birds if she ends up hating the man. Besides, it would make Mama upset.

She returns the last night before Iemitsu leaves, grabbing an empty basket from the kitchen and disappearing again. As he's already in a deep alcohol induced sleep, he never notices the phoenix return, gliding by with a basket of litchi freshly picked from China.

Tsubird is the one to introduce them to Tsuna and they share the sweet fruits on the rooftop for a few hours before going to bed. Now that she knows where this particular farm is, she'll be able to return whenever she feels like it in a matter of seconds.

Iemitsu leaves thinking that Nana and Tsuna have taken up extreme bird watching as a hobby, but never catches on to Tsubird herself.

Of the rare few who actually recognize Tsubird for what she is and not immediately writing her off as some sort of pet, unsurprisingly, Hibari Kyouya is one of them. Tsuna shares lunch with Tsubird whenever he can, but he generally wants to do it somewhere quiet and alone which usually means the roof. It's far safer and less trouble all around if no one spots the phoenix trailing prismatic light all the way to Namimori Elementary. Some have tried to give her food before, but Tsubird only really accepts any from Tsuna, his mother, and whatever tithe she deems to take from the local birdlife.

The best place to do this would be the unauthorized and supposedly empty rooftop. Supposedly, because as Tsuna hurries reach the roof before Tsubird decides that Tsuna needs to have some more protein in the form of live sea urchin from Hokkaido with his lunch, he nearly stumbles over the sleeping self-proclaimed carnivore.

"Herbivore, the roof is off limits for unauthorized personnel. Prepare to be bitten to death."

A part of Tsuna wants to ask 'then what are you doing here?' and another wants to scream in fear, but Tsubird appears just in time to bail him out like usual.

This might be the first time anyone has ever witnessed a truly stunned expression on Hibari's face, but Tsuna isn't able to appreciate it because now he wants to scream in fear for an entire different reason. Tsubird would rather attack Hibari than simply take Tsuna home and spend the next month heckling the boy who was going to hurt her beloved family.

Tsubird hisses from atop Tsuna's shoulders, spreading her wings as wide as they can go, a nimbus spreading out from behind them. She is beautiful and regal and so very very deadly. Everything the famous 'King' of birds should be. The blue five gallon plastic bucket still gripped in a claw and banging against Tsuna's arm is filled with sea urchins, abalone, crabs and other things that once lived in a tide pool on a remote beach in Okinawa. Tsuna is pretty good at predicting Tsubird's hour by hour gastronomic desires by now.

The biggest surprise of all is the way Hibari looks at them for a moment and Tsuna can see the way something just seems to click in those striking steely eyes.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Uhh-ye-yes?"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi." Repeats Hibari. "Tsunayoshi and Tsubird."

Because Hibari is just as imaginative as Tsuna when it comes to naming animals and because the handful of times he has met the phoenix, he has mostly heard her whistling 'Tsu', he has coined her Tsubird as well. A fact that has gained him some form of acknowledgement from the temperamental firebird even if he has never been able to touch her. Now things make more sense.

Salt water and sand from the bucket is dirtying Tsuna's sleeve and the atmosphere is uncomfortable so he decides to break it the same way his mother would.

"Would you like to join us for lunch Hibari-san?"

Tsubird gives Tsuna an unhappy look which Tsuna chides her for.

"I know you got them for us and I appreciate it, but it's more than we can eat even for dinner and they'll go bad. You can't just put this in the bathtub you know. The snails will get out and leave trail everywhere. Again."

One of Nana's friends had won a week-long spa trip at a resort for four and Tsuna had encouraged his mother to have her girl's week out. Tsubird would be more than enough to keep them fed even if she hadn't stockpiled a month's worth of food in the house.

With a disgruntled chirp, because Tsubird knows Tsuna just as well as he knows her, Tsubird puts down the bucket only to return with the barbecue grill, a bag of charcoal, cooking tongs, and a cooler conveniently prepacked with several plates, utensils, drinks and seasoning all from home. All the things they had originally planned to take to the beach later that night.

The door opens again.

"Kyou-san, what-"

At Hibari's acknowledgement of the suddenly struck dumb "Tetsu", Tsuna decides why not? He's Hibari's right hand anyways and knows better than to talk.

"Just in time Kusakabe-san. Do you like seafood?"

Kusakabe Tetsuya is Hibari's third cousin five times removed and now one of the few people who know and admit that Tsubird is a phoenix.

At Tsuna's prompting, Tsubird brings a twenty pound bag of bird seed too which she claws open and scatters across the roof top before trashing the plastic in an open top bin just outside the front of the school. The roof is flooded with the locals, but no one even so much as looks at a seed until Tsubird takes her first morsel of grilled cuttlefish from Tsuna's fingers. Then it's a storm of chatter as they descend on her gift.

"Tsubird knows better than to litter," explained Tsuna. "Ever since the time I trip over an empty packet of cookies that she left behind and fell down the stairs." Tsuna had cried and so had Tsubird who would later vehemently attack anyone who littered near Tsuna's entire neighborhood. Coincidentally her first sighting of Hibari was a scene of bloodshed and carnage at some yakuza who tossed their fast food wrappers and beer cans on the ground. It was what had endeared him to her in the first place and occasionally when Tsuna was too busy to play with her because of homework, she'd join Hibari on a Namimori clean up patrol.

Tsuna ends up missing classes for the rest of the day as he is too busy having a picnic on the roof of his elementary school with what might be his first human friends, but a note from Hibari who has made an exception for the day is more than enough to keep any authority figure's mouth shut. At his homeroom teacher's questioning look, Tsuna shuffles a bit and lowers his head.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He gets a look of sympathy from the man who never even tries to ask what the most bloodthirsty person in Namimori wants from the brunet and comes to take future notes without a word. Tsuna feels a bit guilty about it as Hibari's not actually doing anything bad to him, but as long as he's occupied with Tsuna and Tsubird the rest of the school can breathe a little easier and that's more than enough reason to encourage this by looking the other way.

Hibari and Kusakabe even come over to visit at times and Tsuna's mother is delighted, but not as much as Hibari when he sees the set-up of the Sawada's backyard. A pond has been installed by now and takes up half the small yard with stepping stones and a small red ornate bridge lined with lantern-shaped bird feeders on every post. It's constantly stocked with decently sized fish like trout and perch for passing water birds like herons and ducks and the tarp bird bath has become multiple shallow stone pools with a pump hidden in a fake rock that simulates a small waterfall. It's much more troublesome to clean, but Nana and Tsuna do it without complaint, taking turns every few days. It's still stays lot cleaner than any birdbath should be without human intervention.

There's even a sandy dry area for birds who prefer a dust bath although it's understandably smaller than the wet one.

What grassy areas remain occasionally has to be stocked with insects. A delivery of live crickets comes every Monday and is doled out over the week as treats. Almost everything grown provides some sort of flower suitable for hummingbirds or edible berries in addition to the multitude of birdfeeders made for those of all shapes and sizes. It's a little haven for anything with feathers that Iemitsu has been paying for over the years without ever seeing the end result. The back porch is stone and holds a patio set for the family to enjoy their meals outside.

Best of all, it's private and few people can really see it without some sort of aerial support or expressed invitation. The avian sanctuary is like a little version of the one in Hibari's home and here Tsubird reigns supreme for she is a 'King' and the rest, her court.

Hibari and Kusakabe are not the only ones to accept Tsubird for what she is.

Another happens to be Yamamoto Tsuyoshi, owner of TakeSushi and home to the best sushi in not just Namimori, but the entire diameter of a whopping four hundred miles from the borders of the town. The ingredients are fresh, but it's Tsuyoshi's incredible skill that makes the most out of it.

TakeSushi has an unspoken no pet policy, but Tsubird is no one's pet despite what most people think and the senior Yamamoto is no fool.

"I'm sorry, but we're out of Hamachi too. Someone ordered nearly all of our stock for a party earlier and I'm probably going to just close up now because I don't want to keep having to turn down my customers like this," he says apologetically. He's being truthful and by now word has spread about the lack of fare choices so the shop is nearly empty. Only Tsuna, Tsuyoshi and Tsubird are there, a laminated menu on the countertop in front of the boy.

"I need to make a run to the market if I want to get more fish in time for the dinner crowd, but…I doubt I'll be ready in time even for that." He's still apologetic and a bit disappointed himself, but there's nothing he can do. Takeshi is out having fun at a baseball game and will be back in a few hours. The huge order was a last minute thing, entirely unexpected and rushed and Tsuyoshi has to leave for the market now if he hopes to have dinner ready for his own family by then.

"Oh." He's genuinely sorry for disappointing Tsuna though, but that's not good enough for Tsubird who wants TakeSushi sushi for dinner tonight and only TakeSushi's sushi. She snags the man by the front of his shirt with her beak without letting go of Tsuna and takes all three of them away in a burst of flames. She does return to flip the 'Open' sign to 'Closed' though and even thoughtfully locks the front door and turns off the lights.

A few hours later, they return smelling like sweat and the ocean. They are also loaded with nearly half a ton of fresh seafood and Tsuna tries not to think about the way the six foot long Bluefin Tuna flopping about on the back kitchen counter got there. He is exhausted and smelly and hungry but Tsuyoshi is full of vigor and delight with his haul while Tsubird preens and whistles victorious "Tsuuuu~s", occasionally pitching in with a chiming warble to Tsuyoshi's joyful humming.

For once Tsuyoshi lets someone else handle his equipment other than his part time assistants. Takeshi is not allowed to help fix anything for sale as he can't prepare them to Tsuyoshi's superior standards and is too busy putting his effort into baseball to improve on his sushi making (or lack of) skills, but Tsuna is an old hand in any kitchen by now, trained under the unspoken, unacknowledged, queen of culinary cooking of Namimori herself, Sawada Nana.

He doesn't pick up Tsuyoshi's techniques with a single look like the way Takeshi will with the Shigure Soen Ryu, but he has good eyes and quick but steady hands that improve at a phenomenal rate. It's to the scene of his quiet classmate zipping out sushi, not as fast or as precise as the elder Yamamoto but still far far better than himself, that Takeshi comes home to.

"Oyaji! I'm hom-Tsuna?"

"Welcome home Takeshi. You're just in time for dinner. Go wash up and put away your gear. We're going to have a feast tonight!"

The restaurant remains closed for the rest of the night, but Tsuyoshi spends that time trying to haggle with Tsuna about payment. Even though he has to gut and clean everything himself, the cost of fresh prime ingredients is a few hours of his time and bits of the foundation that made up everything that he thought he knew about the world. It's all worth it, especially the Bluefin tuna alone which would have set him back several million yen just for a frozen one from the auctions.

Tsuna accepted free dinner for himself and Tsubird but refused any monetary payment though, stating the only reason they had to go through so much trouble was because the phoenix was ridiculously picky about food, having been spoiled by good cooking all her life and insisted on having Tsuyoshi-prepared sushi only for dinner tonight.

"When then I'm flattered that this lovely lady finds my sushi to be the best." And he really was. It wasn't everyday that you got an actual mythological creature complimenting your culinary skills, but he was going to show that he understood how privileged he was to have her favor. So he set up a sort of reverse- tab for the entire Sawada family. Whenever they came, their bill would be subtracted from it. The figure Tsuyoshi gave though had Tsuna choking on air and his son shooting milk from his nose as he choked as well. Tsuna ended up pounding the younger Yamamoto's back to help him while arguing with the elder.

They settle on an even one million yen, an amount that the entire Sawada family probably wouldn't use up in a year even with Tsubird's ability to eat Tsuna's weight in food daily and the high cost of just about everything in Japan. It's still less than ten percent of what the ingredients were worth though and the only reason he agrees to it is because Tsuna is both adamant and persuasive about the most random things.

He also plays dirty by targeting what he knows is the most precious thing to the widowed father. Very dirty, if the way he subtly hints about making use of the money saved on things like retirement, emergency, and high school and college funds is any indication. Or baseball tickets and vacations because family is important and Tsuna thinks Tsuyoshi and Takeshi should spend time with each other, because all Tsuna had really wanted from his own absentee father was for the man to come home and spend time together with them. You know. Like a family.

There is a particular game that Takeshi wants to go see desperately, but the ticket prices are absurd and would be sold out within the hour, not to mention travel and hotel fees, things that they wouldn't be able to afford at their current income so the boy has never said a word to his father. But now, they'd be able to by the time the tickets go on sale because Tsuyoshi would have earned enough by then with the amount of profit he'd be able to achieve since he doesn't have to buy more seafood for some time.

Sawada Tsunayoshi is a sly, sly child. Tsuyoshi still gets the last laugh though when he tells him that he's going to add fifty percent of the value of whatever Tsubird brings to him to the tab and Tsuna blanches but still manages to force Tsuyoshi down to ten percent instead, because he knows Tsubird will continue to do so as long as she considers Tsuyoshi's sushi the best. The Sawadas will most likely be eating for free from this place for as long as the man is still alive.

It's sort of surreal as Takeshi can't imagine just anyone managing to out haggle his father just to turn down free food much less the kid who used to be the weakest student both academically and physically in the entire school. It's also surreal to watch Tsuna's beautiful but huge pet bird try to literally spoon feed sushi to the little guy. It's cute too. Cute and hilarious.

Tsubird eats a lot, but she is dainty and elegant about it. She also refuses to take food from anyone's hands except Tsuna although she does accept a cup of hot green tea from Tsuyoshi with a scaly foot and even manages to drink from it without spilling a drop much to the fascination of both Yamamotos.

"So why did you name her Tsubird?" asked Takeshi.

"Oh. Uh, actually I used to just call her Bird. Then she started saying-"

"Tsuuuu!" It's a huffy demand and Tsuna obediently opens his mouth for a spoonful of ootoro which he swallows before continuing.

"Yeah. That. She would say that all the time when she wanted something and Mama thought Tsubird sounded cuter than just Bird so it just stuck."

He was about to say more when Tsubird realizes that they are out of pickled daikon and Tsuyoshi apologizes saying that they've just run out.

"We have some at home Tsubird. Remember?"

An agreeing chirp is the last thing Takeshi hears before his new friend goes up in flames right next to him.

"Tsuna!"

When the flames are gone, so are Tsuna and Tsubird.

Tsuyoshi takes this time to calm his panicking son and explain that Tsuna's pet bird isn't so much a pet as it is a family friend and guardian.

"Takeshi. Did you know that the phoenix represented power sent from the heavens to the Empress? If a phoenix was used to decorate a house it symbolized that loyalty and honesty were in the people that lived there. Or alternatively, a phoenix only stays when the ruler is without darkness and corruption."

Sawada Tsunayoshi is a sly, sly child, but he is also open and honest and loyal and kind with a heart of gold. There is no way a phoenix would be with him otherwise.

The vacated chair is wreathed in fire again and Tsuna's and Tsubird's forms separate from them.

"I got it!" Tsuna exclaims holding up a brown glazed jar. "It's homemade, but it's also Mama's special recipe and really good. Try some!"

"Tssuuuuu!"

Takeshi spends a long time stewing over his father's words after Tsuna and Tsubird go home. Loyal and honest. The little voice that Takeshi spends a lot of time shoving down to the darker depths of his mind chooses that moment to pipe up. If what his old man has said was true, Tsuna is everything that Takeshi's other so called friends aren't. Everything that Takeshi really wants a friend to be. For once Takeshi does not try to push it away. He supposes that he's going to have to spend a lot more time with the boy to find out if his father was right or wrong. It doesn't sound like bad idea, rather it is the opposite and Takeshi drifts off to sleep with a smile.

Tsuyoshi creates a new menu with several new platters and combinations with names like Triple Tsu-Special, Phoenix's Choice, The Firebird, and more.

When Hibari comes in for dinner a week later, he raises a brow at the new dishes and gives Tsuyoshi a knowing look before ordering the Phoenix Tails Platter. Five rows of green, black, red, yellow, and white sushi arranged in lines with white pickled radishes forming the outer barbs of the 'feathers' all artfully cumulating at the end into 'eyes' which are small dishes of different dipping sauces with more ingredients outlining it. It's delicious of course and he does mention it to Tsubird later making her fluff her feathers with pleasure.

"Tsuuuuuu~." She croons as she wipes her bloody claws on the shirt of the man unfortunate enough to have tried littering in her presence. She will order it herself the next time she goes to TakeSushi. Picking up the offending candy bar wrapper and depositing it into the nearest trash can, Hibari offers to go with her to get it as it is almost time for lunch and by the time they get it, Tsuna should be on the rooftop waiting. It sounds like a splendid idea to her and Hibari gets to touch Tsubird's feathers for the first time. He discovers just how Tsuna gets to places as fast as he does too.

Nana doesn't worry when Tsuna goes out no matter what time it is as long as he can wake up for school in time. The reason for that is Tsubird and the legion of birds that follow them. Tsuna didn't even know that there were so many different types of owls in Namimori until the night some muggers tried to grab him and Nana on the way to a convenience store. Most people have learned not to pick on or take advantage of Tsuna anymore but there are still the idiots who try.

When they come across the Sasagawa siblings being held captive by bigger kids, Tsubird eyes the crowd disdainfully, but has no inclination to help on her own. At least until Tsuna's horrified "Kyoko-chan!" rings out and draws the attention of everyone else.

From then on all bets are off as one of the bigger boys threatens Tsuna and starts coming over. By the end of it all, every bully is groveling and cowering at Tsuna's dusty sneakers and he scolds first them for picking on younger and smaller kids, then Kyoko-chan's brother for picking fights in the first place, and finally Tsubird for actively trying pluck out their eyeballs instead of restraining herself to pecks and scratches.

The area is still packed with birds and they are eerily silent as they watch down on the humans.

"But a man has to-"

"No buts, Sasagawa-san." Tsuna normally wouldn't be so assertive or aggressive if he wasn't so annoyed at everyone at the moment. A nearby store was having a sale on ice cream at the moment and he had wanted to get some before they sold out. Tsubird would guzzle down cartons like water if Tsuna didn't watch her.

"If you have that much energy, try channeling it into something more productive like a sport. If you still want fight, try boxing or karate or sumo or-or I don't know!" He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Just pick something else instead of fights with random people. You may be extreme, but what you did to start this whole thing in the first is so far from that it's-it's," he floundered for a suitable word before deciding to settle on something that would hit the white haired boy the hardest.

"Your selfishness put other people in danger. Your own family, the one you should be protecting. Sometimes things are unavoidable. Things just happen, but this," he gestures around to from the bullies quietly sitting in seiza to Ryohei's own bloody wound stretching from his forehead to his eye and finally to Kyoko whose arms are forming bruises from the grips of the older boys and tear stained face is watching back without a word. "-could have all been avoided. It was very unextreme."

The last word came out as more of a loud whisper than anything else, but it hits with all the force of a wrecking ball. The revelation drops Ryohei to his knees and keeps him there, a feat that not even the blows of many boys bigger and stronger than him had managed to do.

Tsuna's nowhere near done yet and Tsubird's lecture about overkill and bringing home unwanted and unwelcome body parts causes more mental trauma than being swarmed by angry birds did. The firebird is genuinely chastened but throws dirty looks at them from behind Tsuna as if it was their fault that she thought blinding them for life was a perfectly acceptable punishment.

Finally feeling that Ryohei had stewed in despair for long enough, Tsuna gently begins to reel him back from his near catatonic state by putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. The warmth snaps him out of his daze and dark grey eyes meet his looking lost and miserable.

"Sasagawa-san. Even though you started this, you still did your best to protect Kyoko-chan by taking that beating and not fighting back. Anybody can fight, but it takes a real man to know when to back down. A real extreme man."

The light comes back to his eyes and Tsuna can tell that something's changed. He gives a squeeze, mindful of any injuries and let go to give Ryohei a hand up with a smile. The boy smiles back and takes it. Within minutes Tsuna has just done what Kyoko and her parents have spent years unsuccessfully trying to achieve.

In the end, Tsuna has to pay for bandages and antiseptics and ointment and ice cream for everyone. If there was anything good to say about his father, at least he provided for them and very well too so it's doubtful that he'll even notice the purchases being made. He gains two new friends, a new big brother, a new big sister and the wary gratitude of a bunch of boys bigger and older than him who will eventually become part of Hibari's Disciplinary Committee inspired by both Tsuna's words about productively channeling their energy and Hibari's strength. They will display whatever scars gained from Tsubird that still remain with pride and talk about how Tsuna has managed to open their eyes. Tsuna will naturally be as embarrassed as Tsubird is proud.

While Tsubird later heals Kyoko's bruises and most of her brother's injuries with her special tears at Tsuna's behest, Ryohei stops her from healing the one on his face. The one that Tsuna has said will most likely scar even with the anti-scarring cream Tsuna had applied. He lets it heal naturally, stating that it will be a reminder of Tsuna's valuable lessons that he will wear for the rest of his life.

Tsubird is considerable warmer to the siblings after that. Especially when Kyoko gives them cookies that she baked herself.

Tsuna came home one day to find that his mother had gone out for a day with her friends and a black limo had taken residence outside his house. Or it would have been black if it were for the white droppings caked on top of the car and the street around it.

A large beefy man looking worse for the wear emerged and shook out a huge umbrella just in time for a fresh sheet of guano to pour down from above. Tsuna recognized Tsubird's signature slashes on his left cheek peeking out from under a large bandage.

"Wh-what are they?" Asked a voice on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Tsuna watched several large white and black birds fly away.

"Red-crowned cranes. About twenty of them I think."

"Oh-oh God." The voice wavered and a pale shaking man in what had to have once been a pristine pinstripe suit came stumbling out and sank down to his knees uncaring how his pants were now covered in fresh white poo.

"I-I should have listened to the others. I shouldn't have tried to be so greedy and now-now…" *sob*

Tsuna winced and gingerly reached out to pat him on the shoulder. The large beefy man made as if to stop him, but an angry hiss caused him to freeze in his tracks.

From the depths of the car, Tsubird emerged in all her brilliant rainbow glory. With a banana in one claw. She floated over to Tsuna's shoulders and arranged herself as if she was a particularly luxurious cape, all the while ignoring how her birdnappers had practically thrown themselves out of the way slipping on the slimy sidewalk as they did so. It was a pitiful sight and even if they had stolen Tsubird for whatever reason, Tsuna couldn't help but feel bad.

The bigger man, dubbed Beefy in Tsuna's head, crouched down, still holding the umbrella, and gave a handkerchief to now the crying man sitting in a pile of shit.

Sighing, Tsuna unlocked his front gate and beckoned to the men.

"Well come in."

They froze.

"Seriously, it's okay. They're not going to do anything else unless you somehow manage to be considered threatening again."

All around the neighborhood was an eerie silence. Sure there were the rumble of cars, the voices of people, the sounds of televisions and radios drifting through open windows, but all bird song had stopped. It was made worse by the fact that they had all gathered around Tsuna's house and were silently watching, as if they were all just waiting for the signal to renew their assault.

Tsubird gave the men a look as if daring them to refuse Tsuna.

They scrambled up and tried their best not to get too close as they stiffly approached.

"Don't you need to lock your car? If you've got anyone else, you might as well tell them to come in too."

Beefy turned around to have a hasty conversation with the unseen driver who had cracked open the window. Another nerve-racked man emerged. He shut the door, locked it, and hurried in after the others, shoulders hunched as if he was expecting to be sieged by doves again.

Tsuna led them to the backyard where he rinsed the worst ones down with the sprinklers and hose first before giving them towels and ushering everyone into the house to use the showers. He washed their clothes, dressed their wounds, applied new bandages and pulled out the premade afterschool snacks (full course dinner really) his mother had left behind. Finally seated at the table with cups of steaming hot tea, he took a sip first before steeling himself to begin the talk. Again. Granted, these people were the closest to breaking that he had ever seen without actually being pushed over the edge.

"So around what time did she decide to leave with you guys?"

"What?" The boss jerked in surprise. "I-I, we-"

"Stop." Tsuna held up a hand and the man instantly shut his mouth. "I get it. You for whatever reason decided to try to birdnap Tsubird here and found out the hard way that she can't be taken unless she wants to go. Which means she was either feeling especially bored and sadistic today or you offended her so badly that she wanted you to spiral into the depths of depression and insanity while staying sane enough to actually still be able to remember the horror of it for the rest of your lives. It's probably a combination of both."

"It's okay." He said once he saw their gaping faces. "I usually have to have this talk at least twice a week, but most people have learned by now so it's been slow lately. You're new to this area aren't you?"

In the end, Tsuna comes away with the explanation that the Crane Federation, some shady gang outside of Namimori, had been hired by a previously rejected buyer. The head of the Crane Federation explains how they've been experiencing nothing but incredible luck since they thought they had managed to bribe her to come with them. Incredible bad luck. Worse than losing several vital documents, warehouses, and compounds to mysterious arsonists were the attacks by their very mascots.

Tsubird narrows her eyes at the end of the tale and leaves in a burst of fire, but not before she insists on feeding Tsuna the banana she took from the kitchens of the wherever the Crane Federation had taken her and pointing a single white-gold talon from her eyes to them in a gesture that clearly said 'I'm keeping my eyes on you'. She leaves the grown men gaping more from the fact that she had peeled the banana and lovingly hand-well-claw fed it to the little boy than the fact she had spontaneously combusted.

The backdoor has remained wide open and hundreds of birds have been taking shifts the entire time, leaving to only to poo in some other neighbors yard, because they know better than to do so inside Tsubird's chosen nest. The men have been properly cowed and if they should foolishly attempt anything while she is gone well…

"It's the third strike. I have a three strike policy in place with Tsubird." Explained Tsuna. "Yanagi Shuji-san is a collector of rare and valuable animals has been especially rude and persistent. The first time, he tried to threaten Mama and me into selling her. The second time, he hired people to break in and just take her by force. You're the third strike. You're what, smugglers? from China?, that have an obsessive love for cranes so he was probably hoping you'd be able to find some way to entice Tsubird into staying in a gilded cage for the rest of her life. Any more questions?"

They talk for half an hour more and the boss explains how much of an honor it is to meet a real phoenix and her chosen household in accented but clear Japanese. If they had known what she really was, they would have never tried to steal her, maybe pay a visit and marvel, but not outright bird napping. Tsuna makes an offhand comment about how lucky the men are though. It takes the story of the time the pack of little dogs that tried to attack him when he was little to make them appreciate it.

"I heard later that the owners' were very upset when their dogs never came home. They never found the bodies either, but someone claimed that they saw an eagle carrying one away so there's that."

Tsuna coaxes them back outside to watch the same flock of cranes decimate the fish population of the small pond. He even finally manages to get them to relax a bit and share snacks and tea with him on the patio.

It's at this time that Hibari strides right into the backyard as if it was his own home with Tsubird trailing behind him. Tsubird chirps something to the cranes who all take off and only the local birds are left.

The men clearly recognize Hibari and are faint with terror. Which does not bode well for Tsuna's mind or heart.

"Hi-hibari-sama!"

Turns out that Hibari-san's mother is a Triad princess and the Crane Federation is a small branch of the one his friend's mother is from. Tsuna could have lived without knowing that.

"Tsunayoshi. My mother is in town. She wishes to meet you." He doesn't say that she wants to also see Tsubird, but it's a given as wherever Tsuna is, Tsubird will most likely be. She knows that Kyouya has a young friend who is known for having a beautiful exotic bird that looks like a phoenix, but not that it's an actual phoenix. He can't wait to see her face.

The horror that is reflected on the men's' faces is reflected in Tsuna's heart, but this is not the first and certainly not the last time he will be meeting with people from the underworld. So steeling himself with a sigh, Tsuna sets about preparing a generous gift basket of homemade treats with Kyouya's input of what his mother likes. Maybe she'll be more amiable about not having these men executed if her belly is full of good food.

Tsuna has been to the Hibari compound before and his favorite part has always been the Japanese style garden with a huge gazebo overlooking a pond which is really more like a small lake.

Turns out his friend's father is there too, having tea with his wife, and the entire group of three men, two boys, and one fiery phoenix bursts out of the fire and into existence right in front of them, nearly causing them all to be skewered by Kyouya's paranoid parents.

"Tssssuuuuuu~!" crows Tsubird as she practically glows under the shade of the roof. The sounds of shattering porcelain go unnoticed as Tsubird's former birdnappers attempt to reorient themselves while Kyouya's parents are too busy gaping to pay attention to the fact that hot tea is spilling over the edge of the table or that one of the small cups is now lying in pieces on the floor.

"Father. Mother. This is Sawada Tsunayoshi and Tsubird."

Tsuna puts on a smile. A sweet contrite smile that is full of both empathy and sympathy. A smile that has won over hundreds of other unsuspecting people just like the three triad members behind him.

He bows, offers his apologies for startling them and makes Tsubird do the same. Then he sets the basket down and sets out his offerings for everyone before proceeding to bargain for the men's (and Yanagi-san's) lives.

By the time they realize what has happened, Hibari's father, Hiroto, has promised to not start a man hunt for Yanagi Shuji and Hibari's mother, Xui-Yan, has agreed to not to have the branch members assassinated or punished in anyway. Mostly because Tsubird wants to do them both herself.

Kyouya sits back and watches it all happen with the slightest of smirks, highly entertained and maybe just a little in awe. In a few short years, Sawada Tsunayoshi has become an omnivore. His lack of ambition and meek nature keeps him from becoming a carnivore, but once roused, the soft squishy thing that is Tsuna's will become as hard as diamond and he will let nothing stand in his way.

Case in point as only fifteen minutes have passed and his own carnivorous business shark parents have already approved of whatever Tsunayoshi requested of them without any demands of their own. Not even the excuse of being blindsided by an actual phoenix will get them out of this. They will not go back on their word because it would infringe on their own pride and honor as well.

Loyalty and honesty. They are not always associated with kindness or humility, but both are signs of inner strength of which he knows that the unassuming brunet has in spades even as he hides it. Or tries to. Anyone who knows what a phoenix symbolizes will be able to tell instantly and it is this that prevent his parents from going all out in trying to wrangle some form of control back over the conversation. Not it'd do them any good by this point.

Finally Tsuna is winding down and convinces the Hibaris to instead lay claim on Yanagi's considerable assets and bankrupt him. As is their right because it was their group that was used and so earned the offense of a phoenix he explains, along with the ire of their own sacred birds. Tsunayoshi does not approve of killing or torturing anyone no matter how much they have wronged him, but he will not stand for letting his family and friends be threatened, much less hurt. That has never changed over the years and never will.

"Tsubird has no real use for riches and neither do I. All we want is to protect what's precious to us."

In the end, Kyouya decides to give his parents some help and points out that it is the Crane Federation's flock that has eaten nearly all of the Sawadas pond fish. The victories Kyouya's parents do achieve are smaller, but no less meaningful. Tsuna can't persuade them not to pay for more fish and Tsubird is absolutely no help. He's forced to give them a list of the usual types and the Hibaris will now pay for all the fish the Sawadas order for their pond using funds that will soon be appropriated from the persistent collector. They will arrive in two hours so Tsuna will have to go home soon.

The cranes that have vacated Tsuna's yard arrive and after several long moments of watching Tsubird interact with them, Tsuna rules that the men have been forgiven and the cranes will return to wherever they came from. There is a lot of noise and tears of joy at the announcement.

Finally Tsubird returns, draping herself back over her boy and tries to feed him a cookie. She even grabs a napkin to hold it.

"Tssssuuuuu."

"Thanks Tsubird, but I can feed myself."

She's insistent though, pressing the cookie against his lips, and all of Tsuna's fight had been used up when he steamrolled Kyouya's parents into not ordering hits on anyone.

It's sort of embarrassing being fed like a baby, especially in front of his friends, their parents and just about everyone else but Tsuna has long since come to realize that it's her way of showing her love. He still feeds her by hand too so he supposes that it's his fault anyways. Unfortunately, Kyouya's parents both have this secret tendency to take pictures of adorable things and Tsuna and Tsubird are no exception. It's made even worse by the fact that Tsubird knows it and deliberately poses them in ways to maximize their cute-factor.

To the side, Kyouya is clearly trying his contain his laughter and failing. Tsuna helps by bargaining with his parents. His friend's baby pictures in exchange for a chance to experience flame travel when Tsuna has to return home. Kyouya's smirk is instantly wiped off his face when his parents instantly agree and Tsuna knows that he will get revenge for this but it was so worth it.

A few weeks later, when Tsuna is occupied with homework and thinks that Tsubird has gone fruit picking again, she bursts into the air high above the Hibari compound. There is a terrified scream as her companion plummets into the pond with a mighty splash. The ducks and swans and the same cranes from earlier are waiting, still awake and more than willing to chasing the man out of their waters. He crawls onto land and tries to dash to the house and beg for help when a small figure appears in the light of the garden lanterns.

"Oh thank God. Ple-please. I know it sounds crazy, but you have to believe me. I've been attacked by these crazy feathered bastards ever since this afternoon and then this red one just s-"

The flutter of wings from all around make him freeze and stifle a sob of terror. If he wasn't already so wet, the expressionless boy in front of him would certainly notice the loss of control of his bladder. From all around them, hundreds upon hundreds of birds are silently eyeing him, beady eyes gleaming in the lamp lights.

There is a wave of immense heat from behind and Yanagi turns with trepidation to look behind him. Tsubird is glowing in the dark night just barely within the circle of lanterns, feathers shining brightly with their own lights. She is even more splendid to behold than the first time he saw her and for a moment he forgets his fear.

"Yanagi Shuji. You are charged with the assault and attempted kidnapping of a Namimori citizen as well as the breaking and entering of a Namimori residence."

"Wha-wha-what are you talking about? I-I didn't do anything like that!"

The boy gestures behind him. "Sawada Tsubird is a resident of the Sawada household and has been since she was a chick. Thus she is a citizen of Namimori and under the protection of the Hibaris."

"What are you saying?! She's a pet not a human! A goddamned beautiful one of a kind bird stuck in a little house with a useless mediocre family where she can't be properly appreciated and a fucking stupid piece of shit who's too full of himself jus-."

A jarring screech cuts through the air. Tsubird glows brighter than ever and the open flames of the stone lanterns flare and splutter out of their confinement with her mounting fury. The boy has stepped back and he is now joined by a man and a woman that Yanagi realizes are the Hibaris. By the woman's side are the members of the triad that he had hired for the task.

Yanagi takes a glance back just in time for a fireball to slam into his face. The fire from the lanterns lunge out to engulf him and steam rises into the air along with his screams. He rolls back and forth across the stone path until it's put out. By then he's sobbing in pain, his skin blistered and blackened and his hair burnt off. Fluid is running down his body from where the blisters have popped and sticking to the remains of his clothing, but everything hurts so much that he doesn't really notice. Though his eyes have been blinded and all he can feel is overwhelming heat, the voice of the child sends chills down his spine.

"For your crimes," continues the young boy who must be their son, "prepare to be bitten to death."

Yanagi can't see the tonfas but he can certainly feel them. He will be left alive, a victim of an unfortunate car accident according to the official reports, permanently blind and deeply in debt from the hospital bills which he will have accrued during his stay.

Everyone has promised Tsuna not to kill Yanagi for trying to steal Tsubird, but no one ever said a thing about Kyouya and Tsubird retaliating for insults against him. Tsuna will be upset if he ever finds out, but it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission with him. They are all secure in the knowledge that they won't lose any love from their friend even if he does.

Ryohei takes up boxing, mostly because he can't remember the rest of the sports Tsuna has listed out. Only the first one stuck, but he enjoys it anyway and vows to convince Tsuna to join as manager at the very least. Kyoko brings all sorts of baked goodies and Tsuna is able to compare ideas and tips about making them with her. The Sawada family now has a free lifetime premium membership to the Sasagawa Gym thanks their grateful parents who had despaired of their son's wild ways.

Kurosawa Hana comes to grudgingly accept Kyoko's friendship with the boy and his infamous bird and even admits that as impossible as it may be, Tsubird is most definitely a real phoenix and anyone who can't tell is a monkey. Tsubird personally brings her a big juicy melon for that.

Takeshi takes to the three new people joining them for lunch quite well when he's not eating with his baseball buddies. Kusakabe too. Hibari…not so much, but he settles for watching how Tsubird take offense to Ryohei's declaration of how she is a very extreme chicken and proceeds peck at him with a vengeance. The loud boy enthusiastically treats it as training and manages to dodge. Mostly.

He supposes they're tolerable enough. Sasagawa Kyoko makes excellent desserts and coupled with Yamamoto Takeshi's contribution of his father's sushi, which is apparently free until the Sawadas manage to use up their ever increasing reverse-tab, and Tsunayoshi's all-around cooking skills, they're pretty much running a catering service for the DC on the roof of Namimori Middle who thankfully aren't eating up there with them.

There's barely enough room for the rest of them as it is with the way hundreds of birds are still visiting. Tsuna managed to talk Tsubird into spreading the bird seeds in the school yard instead of the rooftop and most of the birds stay down there to eat.

It's not as quiet as it used to be with just the four of them, but Hibari supposes this is as peaceful as it's going to get.

How right he is. Hibari will later sometimes wish that the baby had never come, because peace will become a rare and precious thing to be savored. Then he will be forced to dodge a flaming punch from Tsunayoshi during one of their weekly spars and decide that it was worth it, noise and chaos and all.

Tsubird is sort of a combination of traditional eastern phoenix myths and Fawkes from Harry Potter. She is constantly referred to as King because it's the higher rank than Queen. Phoenixes are supposedly the King of birds even though it's considered female these days and a symbol of the Empress. You usually see them paired with a dragon which is considered male and symbolizes the Emperor. Once males were said to have five tail feathers and females two, but again, Tsubird is a combination of whatever I feel like so she has five here.

Hamachi (Japanese Yellowtail)-a type of fish

Ootoro-Most choice of all tuna meat, this is the fattiest part of the belly, up near the head.

1 million yen is approximately $10,940 US.

"The phoenix represented power sent from the heavens to the Empress. If a phoenix was used to decorate a house it symbolized that loyalty and honesty were in the people that lived there. Or alternatively, phoenix only stays when the ruler is without darkness and corruption."

-Tsuyoshi's explanation is taken word for word from Wikipedia.