Title: To Make a Carnivore

Characters: Hibari and Tsuna

Genre: Humor

Warnings: mild violence

Summary: In which a nine-year-old Kyouya attempts to teach a seven-year-old Tsuna how to be a carnivore.

Notes: Hi! This is my first KHR fic. I typed this out pretty fast and quickly skimmed over it, so please forgive any grammatical mistakes. As for the characterization...I probably made them both beyond OOC. That is my warning, so don't draw and quarter me for butchering their personalities.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

~X~

Hibari Kyouya first met Sawada Tsunayoshi when they were nine and seven, respectively.

By that time in their lives, Kyouya had already begun his reign of terror as an enforcer of discipline and justice (well, perhaps not so much the justice part since he just bit to death anyone who rubbed him the wrong way) with his twin steel tonfas while Tsuna had solidified his status as a clumsy, no-good failure.

But on that particular fateful sunny day, Tsuna had suffered a long string of consecutively unlucky incidents, which eventually led to him being chased by a group of four angry bullies around the school. Fate must have decided to take some pity on the scrawny little brunette because he somehow ended up on the roof and just happened to trip over a black-haired skylark conveniently lying in his path (though later, Tsuna would wonder how he had not seen the older boy stretched out under the sun in plain sight).

The whirlwind of events that occurred after the unceremonious meeting of his face and the rooftop didn't register to Tsuna. All he knew was that when he finally looked up with watery eyes (due to the pain), Hibari Kyouya was looming over him with a glacial glare and bared tonfas raised to strike. Large brown eyes widened to (what should have been) an impossible size, emphasizing the tears gathered in the corners.

Kyouya promptly froze and stared in complete stupefaction. The cute meter residing deep within his carnivore mind went off with flashing lights and exploding fireworks. Several long minutes passed before he slowly lowered his weapons. Before his mind could catch up (the flashing lights were proving to be more than distracting), he dropped his tonfa and had a hand buried in the nest of brown hair. Kyouya's mind decided to short-circuit for a second at the feel of soft locks sliding through his fingers.

Fearful brown eyes turned curious as Tsuna tilted his head slightly to the side, sky-rocketing his cuteness factor to levels unheard of in herbivores.

Even the much feared carnivore couldn't resist the cuteness that was Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Then and there, Kyouya decided he wanted to keep this one. He gently patted the head of brown hair and murmured almost affectionately, "Good puppy."

It wasn't until later when Kyouya was dragging Tsuna towards the door that the innocent brunette finally caught sight of the four bullies chasing him earlier sprawled across the rooftop, unconscious and thoroughly bitten to death.

~X~

From then on, school life became somewhat easier for Tsuna. Word quickly spread about Hibari's claim, and no one wanted to offend the ruling skylark by blatantly bullying his property.

But, it didn't mean Tsuna completely escaped the bullying, though. It just became more subtle and definitely less painful for the brunette. He was usually the only one left to clean up after classes. But Tsuna, being Tsuna, didn't complain and accepted the responsibility without a word. Even when his clumsiness struck at the most inconvenient times and he went home with more bruises then when he arrived in the morning, Tsuna didn't seem to notice and continued smiling as though everything was perfect in the world (which, to Tsuna, everything was great because he had finally made his first friend…kind of).

But, Kyouya did notice. And it irritated him that his new pet would just take the passive abuse with a wide smile (though he was quite partial to the little puppy's smiles). Unfortunately, he couldn't bite those worthless herbivores taking advantage of his puppy because Tsuna had pleaded with wide, watery eyes for him not to bite any of them to death.

Kyouya was powerless against those eyes and reluctantly backed down.

Since he had given his word not to bite those annoying herbivores to death for saddling Tsuna with the chores, he needed to make new plans.

As much as it (inwardly) pained Kyouya to admit, his puppy was (simply put) a wimp. Tsuna jumped at his own shadow and often tripped over his own feet for no apparent reason. Though it added to the cuteness factor that made Kyouya (inwardly) melt, the herbivorousness needed to go.

For even the most vicious wolf had begun as a helpless puppy. He just needed his puppy to realize his inner carnivore.

So, Kyouya began to plot.

~X~

The one thing all carnivores needed to learn was how to hunt. Kyouya figured just throwing his puppy into the wilderness wasn't the best idea, so he decided to start simple. Tsuna first needed to learn how to use his (cute, baby) fangs to bite.

The opportunity to teach his pet the first lesson came one day when he came across some nameless idiot stupid enough to vandalize the wall surrounding his territory (Namimori Elementary).

A bloodthirsty grin spread across his face.

Ten minutes later, Kyouya burst into Tsuna's classroom and swept out with the brunette in tow without a sound. The teacher blinked owlishly, shook her head and continued as though nothing had happened. Thinking about Hibari and his sheer carnivorousness for any extended amount of time never boded well for anyone's mental stability.

As it was, Tsuna stumbled after his (only) friend and concentrated on not falling flat on his face despite Kyouya's grip on his wrist. He wondered if it was really okay for him to leave class like that, but he then dismissed the thought. He had no idea what the teacher had been talking about. Tsuna figured he was going to flunk the test anyway, so why bother staying in class? He would much rather be with Kyouya. Though, he did wonder why Kyouya (the enforcer of discipline) would drag him out of class. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Tsuna asked, "K-Kyouya-san? Where are you taking me?"

The skylark spared his confused puppy a glanced and smirked. "I'm going to teach you something, Tsunayoshi."

A shiver slid down Tsuna's spine. Something told him he would probably be mentally and emotionally scarred for the rest of his life from this experience. "But, what about class?"

Kyouya scoffed, "I'll teach you something more useful than whatever that woman is teaching you."

They reached the school shed and Kyouya unceremoniously kicked open the door. Tsuna blinked and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darker interior. After a minute or two, the brunette could make out a figure slumped in the corner. "Eh? Kyouya-san! There's someone here!"

The skylark made a sound of agreement and dragged his puppy over to the corner. Once they were close enough, Kyouya pulled out one of his tonfa and held it out to the brunette.

Tsuna looked from Kyouya's face to the tonfa and back again. "Huh?"

The older boy patiently pushed the weapon into Tsuna's hands and motioned to the tied up and gagged vandal. "I'll make you into a carnivore."

The brunette's jaw dropped. The tonfa would have dropped to the ground, too, but Tsuna fumbled with the weapon for a moment before he hugged it to his chest. "W-What?"

Kyouya sighed, "You want to be a carnivore, don't you, Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna slowly nodded. Kyouya was everything he wasn't but wanted to be. Strong. Respected. Kind. Kyouya was also the only one who wanted to stay by Dame-Tsuna's side. All-in-all Tsuna practically hero-worshiped the skylark and wanted to be just like Kyouya. He wanted to be a carnivore, too.

He just didn't understand what the tied up person had to do with becoming a carnivore.

The skylark smiled and patted Tsuna's head. "The most important thing a carnivore needs to know is how to hunt. A carnivore is ruthless and always bites his prey to death. I'll teach you how to catch prey later. First, you need to learn how to bite."

Tsuna automatically nodded (he didn't want to admit that Kyouya's explanation was going over his head).

Kyouya again motioned to the shaking vandal with an expectant look on his face.

The brunette blinked. "I don't understand, Kyouya-san."

The (established) carnivore raised an eyebrow and ordered, "Bite him, Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna looked at the vandal then back to Kyouya with the most adorable look of confusion on his face. "B-Bite?"

"…Yes." Kyouya resisted the sudden urge to facepalm when understanding didn't brighten his puppy's face. He reached out and correctly positioned the tonfa in Tsuna's hand. "Tsunayoshi, just hit him with the tonfa as hard as you can. That's what I mean by biting."

"But, won't that hurt him, Kyouya-san?"

Kyouya straightened to his full height (he may not have been the tallest kid around but he was still taller than Tsuna, who was not only younger but also rather short for his age) and said imperiously, "Carnivores. Bite. Herbivores. It's what we do. It's nature."

Tsuna, not wanting to disappoint Kyouya but still not really understanding why he had to hit this poor stranger, took a deep breath and turned to face the wide-eyed vandal, who was now seriously regretting his decision to spray paint the wall of his former school (he would never look at elementary kids the same way ever again...and if he somehow got out of this shed alive, he was never going to watch another nature show for as long as he lived). The brunette raised the tonfa with a (noticeably) shaking arm, closed his eyes and swung.

Kyouya's gray eyes gleamed with pride as he waited for the satisfying thwack of steel against flesh.

But in mid-swing, Tsuna lost steam. So instead of the hard hit Kyouya had been expecting, the tonfa lightly tapped against the vandal's temple.

A moment of silence passed, broken by the sound of steel hitting the ground.

"HII! I'm sorry!" Tsuna dropped down to his knees next to the abandoned tonfa and prostrated himself to the confused vandal. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Mister! If you want, you can hit me back!"

The skylark frowned contemplatively and ignored the wailed apologies while the vandal breathed a silent sigh of relief through the gag.

Kyouya didn't understand what was so hard about biting a single herbivore. Perhaps…his puppy didn't know how to bite? Did Tsuna need a demonstration? Absently nodding to himself, Kyouya picked up the fallen tonfa. "Tsunayoshi."

The brunette sniffled and looked up at the carnivore. "Kyouya-san? Did I do okay?"

Kyouya tensed as the urge to glomp the cuteness displayed before him nearly overwhelmed his logical mind. Pushing aside the thought for later, he cleared his throat. "That was pathetic. Carnivores never apologize for anything much less biting a lowly herbivore."

Tsuna visibly deflated at the censure.

The skylark inwardly flinched at the picture of utter dejection. "But…"

His puppy perked up a bit. "But…?"

"I'll give you another chance to bite him."

"…Oh." Tsuna shoulders slumped slightly. He had been hoping to put aside this whole biting thing so they could go eat lunch together. His mother had made rice balls today and had packed more than enough for two growing boys to share.

Kyouya gently pulled Tsuna onto his feet. "I'll show you how a carnivore really bites, Tsunayoshi. Just watch and copy what I do." Without any further preamble, he pulled back his arm and whacked the vandal.

Tsuna watched with horror as blood trickled down the stranger's chin from a badly split lip, then the person went limp.

The skylark straightened and smirked at a job well done. It slightly irked him that the herbivore was unconscious, but he graciously decided not to hold it against the vandal. His puppy, on the other hand, didn't look all that impressed. In fact, Tsuna was currently mimicking a fish and near hyperventilating if the harsh pants were anything to go by. "Tsunayoshi?"

"Is…is he d-dead?"

Kyouya shrugged nonchalantly. "He's dead enough."

Tsuna squeaked and promptly fainted.

Kyouya blinked at the unconscious brunette and sighed. He had obviously underestimated his puppy's wimpiness. Fainting was unacceptable behavior for a carnivore.

Then again…maybe Tsuna had never seen a dead herbivore before. If that were so, then he needed to take a few steps back. His puppy would have to be acquainted and get used to seeing piles of bitten herbivores (because it wasn't any fun to bite just one herbivore to death at a time…besides they tended to flock together, so it was a carnivore's duty to bite the entire herd for crowding).

Satisfied with this reasoning, Kyouya bent down to pick up the unresponding brunette and walked out of the shed, kicking the door closed behind him (conveniently forgetting the unconscious vandal still tied and gagged in the corner).

Tomorrow, then.

Tomorrow, he was going to find and bite a few herbivores to death and present their unconscious corpses to his puppy.

If things went according to his plan, then Tsuna would become a feared carnivore in no time.

~X~

Wow...this was originally supposed to be a drabble but somehow ended up over two thousand words.

Anyways, thanks for reading.