Sorry for not updating for such a long time! How many months has it been? I deeply apologize! Please forgive me! I'm really sorry! I updated this as soon as VIVIANVAMPYRIC finished editing it. Thank you very much, VIVIANVAMPYRIC!

Thanks to all those who read and reviewed and put this in their favorite and alert list! Thank you so very much though I will not be mentioning the names! I currently have a Math test to prepare for. So very sorry!

Disclaimer: I do not own this awesome anime, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Howling Wind

By: Fire Princess21

Chapter 14: Reminisce

Hibari's POV

Looking through her things in her old room was like going down memory lane.

Her battered cleats sat on her shoe shelf in their place of honor.

A few trophies adorned a different shelf on one side of the room.

Her study table still had a few notebooks stacked on top, as if school had never ended for her.

Her computer sat on the other side of her desk.

Pictures frames of various people stood on her night stand.

He picked up the one that had both of them in it and his sharp gaze softened.

He remembered the first and only picture of them he had allowed her to take when they became official.

She was holding his arm in front of a Sakura tree, her cheek against his shoulder. She was smiling goofily and he was looking away as if he didn't care but his cheeks were slightly pink. Flushed.

That was the first time she had ever kissed him on the cheek spontaneously before the picture was taken- which would explain his flushed cheeks.

And it was also their first date.

Flashback…

"Kyoya!" she called him. He was walking ahead, feeling odd that he was out enjoying the day, not patrolling Namimori.

And he was enjoying it with a girl.

He turned around irritably for the umpteenth time she dared call him by his first name that day.

She was standing closer than he had actually thought and his cheek met with her lips with a resounding smack.

It wasn't painful.

But the feeling of another human's touch- especially her lips on his cheek was certainly… different- not to say that he didn't like it.

She was the first one to step away, smiling sheepishly.

"I wanted to ask if you would want to take a picture for remembrance." She said, looking at the ground. Her hand was already around her camera, fiddling with it nervously.

"Fine."

His answer surprised him more than it surprised her.

She grinned at him happily and took his arm, pulling him close to her and with her other hand, she positioned her camera at a distance. He looked away, his cheeks tinted very slightly red.

"Cheese!"

She clicked the button and there was a flash.

She framed the picture and placed it beside her bed a week after.

End of flashback

Leaving the frame empty, he pocketed the picture and left her room.

Sakura's POV

A drop of water woke me with a start.

I sat up from my fetal position on the ground and looked around wildly, forgetting momentarily that I had fallen asleep on my grandmother's grave until I saw her name again. Wiping my eyes from dried tears, the rain suddenly fell harder.

I did not get up, savoring the rain like an early morning shower.

I shivered and sneezed, not making any effort to get up and out of the rain.

I heard footsteps suddenly, echoing on the stone path.

Standing up, I turned around to my right and saw a bush of familiar white hair some distance away.

I felt a stab of fear.

Squinting through the sheet of rain, I could barely make out the person.

But there could only be one person who would visit me coincidentally on rainy days.

I waited with baited breath as the person- undoubtedly male in my perception- made his way towards me.

Could it really be him? Could he really have been able to find me here in the future?

"Oya, oya, Sakura-chan!" Byakuran said, as he came closer. "What are you doing here?"

I flipped my fans open.

I was not going to live under the shadow of fear he cast over me.

Hibari's POV

He went to many of her favorite haunts before he finally proceeded to the cemetery.

He wasn't entirely sure after all if she really was going to go where she said she was, given the chance to explore. He grimaced at the time he had wasted. Working to remain incognito under suspecting eyes, trying to find one single girl in a crowd…

He would have given anything to tear his way through the crowd and run to the cemetery to find her.

But he had to be patient, to be careful.

It would only take one wrong move to attract unnecessary attention and he couldn't risk that. Though he could handle any number of herbivorous Millefiore soldiers, it would only alert them to the presence of Sakura around the parts of Namimori.

He continued to walk unbidden by rain clouds that converged in the sky.

He finally passed the crowded town center and was not at all surprised to find a troop of Millefiore soldiers waiting for him there.

He had no time to waste as he grew more anxious by the moment.

Slipping on a C class Cloud ring, he took out his box weapon, lit his ring and inserted the flame into the box.

The Millefiore soldiers were startled to find an armed Hibari making his way towards them and took out their weapons also, eyeing Hibari warily, almost fearfully.

"W-We're not afraid of you!" one of them stuttered, pointing his weapon at Hibari.

"Get out of my way." He growled.

And the fight began.

Sakura's POV

"That's not a way to greet an old friend!" Byakuran said with a pretend pout.

"You killed my grandmother." I said silently, looking at her grave. "How can you call yourself my friend?"

"Oya, oya! I didn't kill your grandmother." He said. "Her blood is not my hands."

"It doesn't matter." I replied. "I'll stop you. No matter what, I swear I will stop you." My grip on my fans tightened before I lowered them. I was boiling for the chance to hit him now but I knew I couldn't. Somehow, I felt he was in control of the situation.

No, I would wait, and train to become stronger and then defeat him.

A new sort of determination boiled within the very depths of my soul.

And I suspected he sensed it too.

He smiled at me, wider this time, mockingly.

"But I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just purging the world of you Vongolas." He said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Leave me alone." I hissed at him. "You have no right to be here."

"All right." He held up his hands in surrender, "I just wanted to tell you something."

I eyed him warily as he walked towards me, when he stopped beside me, he spoke in a low tone that only I could hear.

"You must not have known, Sakura-chan, that I offered you to join me." He said. "The you of this era vehemently declined though it is still open to you. Think about it. I would certainly love to steal you from Hibari-chan!"

I gritted my teeth.

"If I- of this era- declined already, what makes you think I would join you now?"

"If I told you I could resurrect you grandmother, would you consider the chance?"

My eyes widened in surprise. He smiled slyly in response.

"Not even the almighty Vongola could give you that gift."

I was speechless. For a minute, I considered his offer.

My grandmother would be alive again.

I could live with her again and be ignorant of this mess once more.

But it wouldn't be fair.

To drag her into this mess, to wake her from eternal slumber… It wouldn't be fair or right. And would she even be proud of what I would have done? My selfish wants for the betrayal of my friends?

His offer wasn't the answer.

"It would be a curse to make her live again for my own selfish reasons." I said through clenched teeth.

"Well, the offer still stands in case you change your mind." He said with a final smile.

And he was gone like a whisper of the wind.

I opened my eyes when I felt something warm being draped on my back.

Rubbing my eyes, I looked up and saw Hibari looming over me.

Byakuran had just been a dream.

Hibari's POV

He saw her sitting cross-legged in front of her grandmother's grave, eyes closed, head drooped, as if in silent prayer.

For a moment, he thought she was injured but there were no visible blood stains nor were her weapons drawn. At the entrance of the cemetery, there had been evidence of a fight- even before he came- and he thought of her encounter with the Millefiore troop.

It would be a lie to say he hadn't released his pent-up breath when he saw her, safe and sound and, possibly, sleeping.

Walking closer, he clutched a bouquet of flowers in one hand, something he picked up after defeating the Millefiore soldiers.

Carefully, he shrugged off his jacket as light rain began to pour and draped it lightly around her. She sat up straight, eyes opening. She rubbed her eyes and saw them widen when she saw him.

"Hibari?" she asked, tone both surprised and uncertain. He did not respond. Instead, he bent down beside her and placed the flowers in front of her grandmother's grave. She blinked at him.

She clutched his jacket around her shoulders tightly, biting her lip.

"I didn't think of that." She murmured, referring to the bouquet of white flowers. He stood up and dug his hands inside his pocket.

"Cover your head." He said. She obediently did so, covering her head with his jacket. She looked up at him quizzically.

"What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously.

"I came to visit." He replied nonchalantly.

"Why? You didn't even know my grandmother."

"Did you?"

He could see that his question took her by surprise. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. You have a lot to learn." He replied suspiciously. She surveyed him, eyes narrowed, before she returned her gaze to her grandmother's grave, apparently deciding that that was all he was going to give.

The way she looked at her grandmother's grave made him want to pull her into a tight hug but he restrained himself.

He couldn't tell the truth, not yet. Not the whole truth, anyway.

After a few minutes of silence, he spoke.

"Let's go." He said, offering her his hand. Staring at it, she realized it was exactly like the first time they had met in this era. She took it without hesitation.

When she stood up, she stared at him, as of searching his face, her eyebrows furrowed.

He began to walk, leaving her there, as he knew she would follow.

After a few seconds, she did, running to catch up to him.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked suspiciously, trying to keep up.

She waited, stopping in her tracks, to see if he would answer.

He kept on walking.

"Hey!" she called out to him. "Hibari!"

He kept on walking.

"Hibari!"

He pretended to be deaf.

"Hibari-san!"

He was already far away. He almost didn't hear her.

"I'm sorry, Hibari!" she called out.

He stopped walking.

Did she just apologize?

She ran up to him again as he stopped and bowed low in front of him.

"I'm sorry I attacked you," she started. "I'm sorry I blamed you. It's not your fault. If there's anyone to be blamed, it's me. I am truly sorry." She stood up straight. "I hope you can still accept me as your student."

He looked at her briefly before proceeding to walk away. She followed.

"Are you still mad? You haven't been answering any of my questions."

"I choose not to answer them because they are pointless."

The drop in her expression tugged at his heart.

"Oh." They stopped walking.

He faced her, expression softening.

He was frustrated at her, for running away, for causing everyone trouble, and for all the things that could have happened but thankfully didn't.

And he was most frustrated at her for making him worry.

It wasn't every day that anything could make him worry.

"Let's go," he said softly. "The others are worried about you." He started to take a step but she didn't budge. "What is it?" he asked.

"I'm tired," she said wearily. "Can we rest for a while? I feel dizzy."

It was rare of her to complain, he thought. She must be feeling sick after being in the rain for so long.

Approaching her, he bent down slightly in front of her.

She blinked at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Carrying you," he answered. "Staying here further is dangerous. We need to get back now."

"You're going to give me a piggy-back ride?" she asked incredulously. And she thought she'd never live to see the day Hibari actually did anything for anyone.

"Yes," he said irritably. "Now put your arms around my neck."

She obediently did so and with both of his hands, he took hold of her legs, supporting her weight and started to walk.

It was silence again between them.

But he could tell she was blushing. He smirked.

After a few moments, he felt her face press against the crook of neck and she realized she was asleep.

He was surprised by the sudden contact, stopping for a second in his walk.

He continued after a while, savoring it.

This was as close as he could probably get to her.

And he wasn't going to waste a second of it.

Her breath tickled the skin of his neck and when he pressed his cheek against her forehead, she felt warm.

Maybe she had a fever.

He frowned at the thought.

They were almost at the base now.

He could wake her up and make her change her clothes before tending to her needs.

She couldn't get sick at a time like this.

She stirred slightly, moving her head, but didn't wake up.

His pace became faster as he climbed the steps to the temple which also served as his base. Entering through the door, he was immediately greeted by Kusakabe.

"Kyo-san! Sawada and the others-" he stopped when he saw him carrying Sakura, sleeping on his back.

"Get hot water ready and a towel." Hibari ordered him and proceeded to her room.

He put her down on the bed where she opened her eyes slightly.

"Change into warm clothes." He ordered her. "I'll come back in a few minutes." She nodded sleepily and stepped out of her room to give her some privacy.

Getting the hot water and the towel from Kusakabe, he also prepared a cup of hot tea and medicine for her.

She was sleeping soundly on the bed when he entered her room.

Again, his expression softened as he saw her curled up on the bed.

Sitting beside her, he brushed her hair from her cheek. She turned around and sighed.

He took the towel soaked in warm water from the basin and squeezed the water out before folding it and placing it on her forehead. She groaned and her eyes fluttered open.

"Hibari-san?" she said tiredly.

"Sit up. You need to drink your medicine if you don't want to get sick." He said.

Groggily, she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Taking the aspirin and the cup of tea from his hands, she swallowed both in one gulp.

"Thanks." She murmured sleepily and lay back down, asleep within a few seconds.

Hibari took the hot towel that fell on her lap and left the room.

His eyes lingered a few seconds on her sleeping form before closing the door.

Yeah, it sucks, I know. I had and have a lot of things to do so I apologize again if this didn't meet your expectations! I'm really sorry!

But as boldly as I updated this chapter, I will also daringly ask you, my dear readers, to please leave a review! And a few suggestions too. I'm running out of ideas. I'm really sorry! Thank you very much!

P.S. Not sure when I'll update next. Ehehehehe... So very sorry! Also, I don't think the title matches the content of the story. I'll make the next one better. Whenever that is...