Disclaimer: I don't think I own KHR. Wait, do I? Let's see… I can't draw people. I can't draw furniture. I can't draw awesome hot Hibari eyes. Sigh… I don't own KHR.

Notes: Occurs after the TYL arc, whenever that will happen hehe…

Warnings: Possible minor implications of stuff, a little blood, and a little cussing. Enjoy.

My name is Yamamoto Takeshi. Age 25. Currently in love with a certain indifferent Cloud Guardian who most likely only tolerates me because I can hold my own against him in a fight. Most of the time.

Let's see… I'm Vongola's tenth Rain Guardian, not that it matters anymore since Tsuna… no, I shouldn't be thinking about that right now. Oh right, so we're on a mission, Hibari and me, and I think I'm about to join Tsuna really soon…

I turn my head to Hibari and throw him my best smile; hey, people tell me that's my best selling point. Above me I can see the glint of a few dozen machine guns. I almost laugh as I readied my sword. I mean, I know Hibari could probably get away from this no problem. After all, for some reason they're all pointing at me to begin with. I'm pretty sure I can block maybe a bullet or three but… Oh, I think I know now, they can't see him; I walked out first.

It was supposed to be a fairly simple mission: reconnaissance of a warehouse where several of our men reported strange activities. I honestly didn't expect the two of us to walk straight into a trap. Wait, they still can't see him. That's good. You know, I think I hesitated for a second there; I'm not that ready to die yet. I mean, Hibari's not coming with me, so… Ah, my resolution is dissolving ha ha! Have to stop that...

Good thing I didn't tell Hibari yet, not that it matters; I've never seen him cry… like me when… oh wait, that doesn't matter now either. I… I have to look at the bright side of things! I'll be seeing Dad soon too…

I can almost feel them tensing around me. They're ready to fire. This might actually hurt…

It feels like forever when you're waiting to die. Maybe I can do a countdown! Five… four… I'm finding it a little hard to hold my smile… two… I think… one… I really… ze… Hibari…

"Takeshi!"

'Ah,' Yamamoto thought in a mental half-sigh-half-yell as a mass of smoke severed his ties to reality, throwing him to the floor. He admitted that the fall hurt quite a bit; he had hit his head on whatever he landed on, and the environment around him spun a little from the shock. 'Hearing him call me by my first name before I die… I can live with that… Oh wait, I mean 'die' with that.' He smiled serenely and chuckled to himself as the little particles of dirt cascaded around him like a miniature dust storm. He waited patiently for the darkness to take him and the sounds of metal against metal, tonfa against guns and other weapons to start echoing through the warehouse, but neither of that happened. 'Do I have to wait for death too?" he thought, frowning. 'Wait... if this is death, then it really doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would,' he observed, finally realizing that he could feel the cold touch of what seemed like floor tiles underneath him, and now that he thought about it, the dust actually tickled his nose irritatingly.

"Yamamoto-san?" he suddenly heard a panicked voice call his name from the other side of the wall of smoke. He frowned. It sounded familiar and yet he couldn't quite place his finger on it; it was almost like…

"Tsuna?" Yamamoto answered excitedly, deciding death couldn't be all bad if he could see Tsuna again, except he wondered why the other sounded so young. True, the Rain Guardian sometimes forgot things absentmindedly, but to forget that one's boss and friend passed on at the young age of 24 was completely unacceptable. "Tsuna! Is that really you?" he called out again.

"Wah! Lambo! You really hit Yamamoto-san!" he heard Tsuna again from the other side of the now quickly clearing smoke, and he made out the sound of crying accompanying Tsuna's voice along with a few chokes of a word that he deciphered as, "Tolerate!"

'Wait… Lambo's not…' The smoke finally cleared enough for him to realize that they were currently in one of Namimori High's many hallways. He almost grinned a little, remembering the little things that happened in this particular hallway of the school like they occurred yesterday. Here was where he had finally managed to best Hibari in a small scuffle that first time after Gokudera had almost killed himself in a mass of explosions during the second round of the Ring Battles. 'Hibari…' he almost breathed out the name as his mind snapped back to the current situation.

"Lambo…" he gasped as the shock of realization slowly sank in. "I think you might have just killed the younger me…"

...

Hibari Kyoya was fast, a fact everyone in the underground world knew or had at least heard of, but two dozen enemy hitmen all equipped with machine guns aimed at a target at least ten feet away from him complicated even the Cloud Guardian's decision making and movement. If they had fired at Hibari, he could have gotten away easily; after all, he doesn't get hit easily to begin with. However, moving another object larger and most likely heavier than himself who looked like he was already accepting death was a little difficult.

He tried anyway. After all, Yamamoto's content expression and cheesy smile annoyed him to no end. He wanted to bite the other to death for giving in so easily, and that wasn't going to happen if the Rain Guardian died prematurely.

Later, he decided, when he had the time and energy, he would curse his instincts, but not now. They fired.

...

"What? What was happening?" Tsuna exclaimed, panic filling his eyes.

"Uh… I was on a mission with Hibari. We… no… I was just about to get fired at." Yamamoto scratched his head nervously. "I seriously thought for a second there that I'd died."

"No! That means after 5 minutes, you'll…" Tsuna fell weakly to his knees.

"Tenth!" Gokudera called the Vongola boss as he put his hands on the other's shoulders, attempting to shake the other out of it. "Hey! Calm down! You can't break down now!"

"We've fought so hard… and now…" Tsuna muttered.

"We have a few more minutes," Yamamoto said awkwardly, attempting to put on his usual grin. It worked; Tsuna looked up, apparently comforted by his friend's "normal" expression, even if it was on a face that was ten years older. "Who knows? Maybe Hibari somehow figured something out, and it's not like I would die that easily, right? I mean, come on! I'm your Rain Guardian!" He decided not to mention that he was more or less accepting his imminent death a few moments ago.

"Yeah…" Tsuna sighed, shaking a little as he stood up with the help of Gokudera. "You're right, worrying won't help. We should get an ambulance ready, just in case."

...

"Ow…" Yamamoto groaned, frowning a little. He didn't expect to be back in the future so soon, especially right at the moment when his future self was thrown backwards onto the ground. He felt something wet drip onto his face and touched it, confused. It felt too warm for comfort, and he immediately began looking around for the source of the blood. "What…" Yamamoto froze when he saw Hibari above him, arms on the ground on either side of the Rain Guardian, trying to keep himself from falling on top of the teenager.

The liquid came from a gash on the other's cheek, and it took another second for the Rain Guardian to see the rest of the wounds; blood flowed freely from bullet holes with the cursed metal cases half embedded in the former Disciplinary Committee Head's chest, and another set of injuries came from cuts created by bullets that just grazed the other's arms, legs, and torso; a small tinge of relief swept over Yamamoto when he realized that the bullets had at least missed his savior's head. Anyone would die from a bullet to the head no matter how strong, unless it happened to be one of Reborn's special bullets that he used on Tsuna. Their eyes finally met; wide brown ones stared dazedly into intense dark eyes that were quickly dilating.

'That bastard…' Hibari thought when he realized that the older Yamamoto had somehow switched places with the younger one. He supposed that it was for the best at the moment; things might have been worse if he hadn't managed to entirely throw both of them to the ground. He did hear most of the bullets fly above him, the ones that missed of course. Hibari studied the younger Yamamoto for a split second. He looked more or less unchanged from the time the Cloud Guardian saw him, a few months ago, no obvious facial scars to say the least. The eyes were the same, goofy and good-natured, but he immediately recognized the lack of experience; this Yamamoto was obviously still not entirely acquainted with the idea of death. This one had not lost his father yet, had not seen his friend gunned down, had not properly killed another man before, and Hibari almost smirked at the exasperated expression on the Rain Guardian's still innocent face. Almost. A sudden violent lurch in his head and a split second loss of vision told him that his studying time was up.

Hibari decided that he would at least keep this much of his dignity as he threw himself away from the teenager with a final push against the ground, crumpling into a heap besides the panicking Rain Guardian. His traitorous battered body gave a shudder, and he involuntarily coughed, feeling the blood swell up into his mouth, almost cutting off his breathing, and he gasped for air.

"Hibari!" Yamamoto finally regained enough of his senses to yell, panicking and looking around for possible help, finding no one.

"You're… too… loud…" Hibari said between breaths as he felt the blood pool beneath him. Around them his hedgehog's sphere gave a shudder as it was cut off from its master's Cloud Flames.

...

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hibari said, eyes flashing, as he held a tonfa to the other's neck. "You are crowding."

"Uh…" Tsuna gulped, wondering if it was a good idea to have called the ambulance directly into school grounds. "You see, Yamamoto-san is…"

"Hibari? Is that really you?" the older one cut in, unable to hold in the excitement in his voice despite the situation. The prefect stared at him for a moment, and Yamamoto laughed as a slight blush came on across his face. "I haven't seen you like this since ten years ago." Indeed, unfortunately for Yamamoto, the younger Hibari had swapped places with the older one long after Yamamoto himself had been hit by the bazooka during the war with Byakuran in the future.

Hibari ignored him and turned back to Tsuna. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Uh… when Yamamoto-san comes back, he might be…" Tsuna searched for an explanation that would make sense.

Meanwhile, Yamamoto indulgently studied the young Cloud Guardian a little absentmindedly as nostalgic memories made their way back into his thoughts. He remembered the time when Hibari had saved him during the Ring Battles. The other's determined figure basked in moonlight trying to give off a murderous air while cover in cuts and crude bandages… 'Was that when I fell in love?' Years after, during the spring when the other finally decided that he would give sakura watching another shot to the dismay of the others in Namimori except for Yamamoto…

"Hey! Calm down a little!" Yamamoto said, laughing, and raising his hands up in defeat as the other tried to knock him to the ground. He finally calculated the timing correctly and caught the weapon in one hand, half-wrenching it from Hibari's grasp.

The prefect stared at him with surprised eyes for a moment before attempting to smash Yamamoto's ribs in with the other tonfa. "Give it back," he hissed, thoroughly annoyed.

'Ah, is he whining? This is rare,' Yamamoto thought, amused, as he narrowly avoided the attack. "Aw come on. Two isn't crowding right?"

Hibari stopped, glaring at him.

'Yay, he stopped!' Something fuzzy and spiky suddenly collided with Yamamoto's face, knocking him to the ground, as he felt Hibari take the tonfa back. He realized that the other had thrown the Cloud hedgehog at him, and thanked the stars that the animal had landed on its belly instead of its spiky back.

"Ah, um…" Yamamoto gently lifted the creature off his face and, to his surprise, found the other already sitting under a nearby tree. He laughed and walked over, handing the half-asleep hedgehog to Hibari. The Cloud Guardian had accidentally given the animal too many Flames again, and the little creature hiccupped before crawling contently into its master's lap.

"Ah ha ha, he likes you a lot," Yamamoto commented, grinning at the hedgehog and Hibari, a combination he thought didn't fit at all.

"Ten feet away," Hibari muttered.

"Huh?"

Hibari pointed to the side. "Sit over there." He closed his eyes. "And if you wake me or come any closer than ten feet, I'll bite you to death."

"Ah, okay," Yamamoto replied, grinning. Of course, after he made sure that the other had fallen asleep, he snuck over and stole a sakura petal that had landed in the other's hair before leaving.

Yamamoto unconsciously poked the necklace in his pocket; he had taken it off because of the mission, but he rarely parted with the hidden petal, especially when he was away from the older Cloud Guardian. After all, it wasn't often that Hibari was back at headquarters when the entire world was becoming his domain. Yamamoto smiled. Seeing a younger Hibari every now and then was refreshing.

"I love you so much…" Yamamoto almost mouthed, unable to contain the growing emotion inside of him, a gesture that the others thankfully hadn't caught. Or at least, he assumed that they others didn't notice. Hibari's eyes momentarily shifted toward him, but it happened so fast that Yamamoto decided that it was just his imagination. He let out a breath, concluding that the entire ordeal was getting to him. 'I'm becoming careless…'

"So you see…" Tsuna continued. A burst of smoke cut him off as the older Rain Guardian swapped back with the younger one.

"Yamamoto-san!" Tsuna yelled, moving past Hibari and away from the dangerous tonfa.

"Tsu… Tsuna?" a shaky voice answered. "Tsuna… Hi… Hibari…"

"Hey, Baseball Idiot!" Gokudera called, frowning. "Are you okay?"

The smoke cleared, revealing their friend staring blankly back, covered in blood. The substance stained his clothes in massive quantities; he looked like he had washed his hands in it.

"Ah! Yamamoto-san! Get the ambulance!" Tsuna yelled, himself heading towards the ambulance for help. To his surprise, Yamamoto suddenly grabbed his shirt, stopping him. "Wait here! You're going to be okay!" Tsuna told him.

"No, Tsuna…" Yamamoto seemed to have finally regained his voice. "I'm fine…"

"Fine? You're covered head to toe in blood! How the hell can you be fine?" Gokudera exclaimed.

Yamamoto turned to Hibari, who looked thoroughly annoyed by the whole situation, eyes demanding an explanation before he decided to bite everyone to death. The Cloud Guardian glared at his prey, watching as the other started to tremble. Yamamoto attempted to get to his feet, but they were jelly and refused to move. Sweat trickled down the side of his face, and his breathing quickened. The Hibari before him suddenly had shorter hair, matted against his face by sweat and blood. Eyes… dilating… The Rain Guardian opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, almost choking on his words.

'What's wrong with him?' Hibari thought irritably. He recognized the typical herbivore-like behavior, but he never expected it to come from Yamamoto. Furthermore, the other's actions were downright strange even for someone who might be afraid of Hibari, and it irritated him further when he didn't know the reason for the other's distress.

"I…" the Rain Guardian finally managed and fainted.

"Yamamoto!"

… Must write… more… Okay, so as of now I have no idea how long this will be, but for sure it would be more than 2 chapters, so that's cool, right? Ha ha, I don't know. Do people prefer longer stories or shorter ones?

Chapter 1 is fixed now, and I changed the summary a little.

Anyways, as usual, thank you for reading! (Insert little hearts here.)