It has been months, but I am back with a new chapter finally. More Ayumi and Hibari childhood stuff.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KHR

The black haired boy looked up at the bright eyed girl sporting a dazzling smile. He glared at her, but her smile didn't waver in the slightest. Strange, that usually caused others to cower on spot.

"Hi, I'm Mayuda Ayumi. Could you beat me up?" she smiled.

He let out a growl wanting her to leave, but she merely continued staring at him. She rapidly blinked her eyes before turning her face.

"You don't have to be too rough or anything. Just a little punch here." she explained, putting a finger up to her cheek. "I heard you put someone in the hospital. I'm not looking for that kind of treatment. My parents are lawyers so they would definitely try to make a case out of this if you hospitalized me you know so…." she continued blabbing while Hibari grew more irritated.

Maybe he should give this girl what she wanted. She just continued to talk and he swiftly swung his left fist to her cheek. The girl casually tilted her neck. "So I guess we have a deal?" she smiled.

Hibari glared at her, jumping onto his desk. He swung his other fist out at her while leaping off the table. She smoothly took a few steps back. "Since we're gonna be so casual about this, how about I call you Kyoya? You can even call me Ayumi. That way my parents will just think it's a fight between friends. They probably wouldn't sue my friends."

Watching her dodge his attacks, he started a new barrage. Ayumi continued dodging, frowning as he pushed himself closer towards her. "Could you please tone it down Kyoya? I just wanted one punch, not fifty."

He ignored her and continued throwing hits. She pouted and kneeled down, sharply head butting him in the stomach. He keeled over, clutching his stomach.

The girl has both hands on her hips and a prominent pout on her lips. "Could you please listen when I'm talking to you? Gosh, this wouldn't be such an issue if you just listened."

Hibari let out a small chuckle. It wasn't the first time someone had dared to challenge him, however, she had probably lasted the longest of the people he had fought. She had even managed to hit him. What an interesting girl.

Ayumi stood, watching the boy with his head down, chuckling. 'Did I break him?'

The girl leaned down, trying to catch a glimpse of his face only to be punched straight in the stomach. She coughed out and threw a hand to cover her mouth, certain her breakfast was going to come up.

The boy stopped for a second to assess the situation, an eyebrow raised. Ayumi's brow twitched and she felt her face heating up. "You…." she muttered.

"You punched me square in the gut so why do you look so surprised?" she pointed a finger accusingly while shouting. Still clutching her stomach she glared up at him. "You know I was gonna let you off for trying to attack me as long as we had an agreement, but you went way too far! I'm gonna slaughter you Hibari Kyoya!"

The group sat in shock as Ayumi continued her story.

"So you're saying you and Hibari-san had a battle in the classroom?" Tsuna asked with disbelief.

She nodded. "Basically. You guys know how he is with that disagreeable personality and that antisocial behavior, all topped off with his violent tendencies."

She sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "The funniest thing was that they didn't even try to pull us apart. We eventually ran out of energy and stopped, but they ended up calling me to the principal's office."

"Ayumi-chan, I know you're a good girl, so why did you fight with your friend?"

She sat in the chair, arms crossed, swinging her legs back and forth. Her lip was out in a pout while she glared down at her lap, the small blue bucket hat covering her expression from the woman.

The woman continued to stare at Ayumi with concern. "Ayumi-chan, why won't you say anything? I know you may not feel comfortable because I'm not your parent, but we have to know what happened."

Ayumi whipped her head up, now directing her glare at her caretaker. She harshly bit down on her lip, letting out a low growl.

The principal, who sat across from the two, sighed. "Mayuda-san, we're going to have to punish you for causing a commotion."

"Me?" she shouted. "The one who started the fight was Hibari Kyoya! Shouldn't he be getting punished?"

"Ah well…." his hesitation caused her to raise a questioning brow.

"Well what? My parents are lawyers, we can sue you!" she shouted, climbing onto the principal's desk. "You can't just unfairly punish me!"

"Now, now Ayumi-chan," the elderly woman spoke, pulling Ayumi back into her seat. "I'm sure if you apologize the principal will let you be."

"Yes that works. If Hibari-san accepts your apology then we can leave everything the way it is."

"Over my dead body!" she screamed, storming out of the room.

"Stupid jerk Hibari Kyoya." she muttered under her breath.

She had just wanted one thing, her parents' attention. Did they not care one bit that she got punched in the gut? Apparently none of the students had dared to say anything against Hibari, so it's not as if they could've known. And the school hadn't directly contacted her parent's phone, just the landline. Of course, there was no way her parents would just leave her alone in this situation. If they had known then they would definitely be here.

An idea struck Ayumi immediately. She would call her parents and explain the whole situation to them. It may not have played out the way she originally plotted, but the basics were the same. Miserable Ayumi in school attacked by vicious student leads to family bonding. They'd realize how their selfish behavior only ruined everything for her and start taking better care of her. Less time at work and more time with her.

The tone rang in her ear as she held the phone close. She tapped her finger on the dresser, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Hello you have reached-"

With a sigh, she disconnected the call and now began tapping her mother's number. She had been trying to reach the two of them for the past 15 minutes, but only got voicemail. She alternated between the two numbers, so as to not call every minute, but was sure that they both had about 50 missed calls.

'Why weren't they picking up?' she wondered with a frown.

"Hello?" her mother's tired voice reverberated through the phone.

"Mom?" asked Ayumi.

"Ayumi, why are you constantly calling me? I have so much work to do and dozens of missed calls. Is there an emergency of some sort? Suzumiya-san should be there and you know the emergency number."

She frowned, swallowing the lump in her throat. "No… it's just that I wanted to tell you something."

"If it's not an emergency, can't it wait?" she sighed.

"Well it's important!" Ayumi exclaimed. "At school, I got into a fight and they want to get me in trouble, but you know they really can't do that mom."

"Wait you got into a fight? God that Suzumiya, what is she thinking? Why do I pay her good money if she's not even taking care of you? And Ayumi why are you starting fights? You know I don't have the time to deal with this. Didn't Suzumiya-san take care of it?"

"Um well they want me to apologize-"

"So apologize." her mother blurted out. "Ayumi you know better than this. You can't give me a hard time when you know how busy I am. You're a big girl now; you have to understand the difference between right and wrong."

She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and slammed the phone onto the receiver. It was always about work wasn't it?

"Ayumi-chan?" Suzumiya called out from the kitchen. "Is everything okay? I heard a slam."

Ayumi bit her lip and tried to hold back her sobbing. She was tired of everything. No one was on her side. Her parents, the principal, her caretaker, not even her classmates who were too scared of Hibari to do anything. She ran out of the house and slammed the door behind her.

It was still bright outside and the weather wasn't too bad so she decided to explore. She had to get away from everything, find her own quiet place to hide away. Anywhere would be better than here. Her house was a bit farther away from the town's main street, a mass of trees, what she believed to be a forest, surrounding the backyard. Ayumi headed in that direction, knowing there wouldn't be many people. She continued wandering, leaves crunching underneath her footsteps. She inhaled a deep breath of air and slowly released it, a low whimper leaving her mouth. She was still shaken by the conversation with her mother, but she wasn't going to cry. Crying wouldn't help her at all, so what good would it do? She wouldn't let anyone have the satisfaction of hearing her cry.

As she advanced through the forest she stumbled upon the back of a building. She walked over the wooden fence separating the area from the forestry realizing it was a shrine. She couldn't remember the last time she had gone to the shrine with her parents during New Years. It had probably been years. She headed over to the front and read the sign. Namimori Shrine. It looked like any typical shrine, but was empty. She had at least expected a priestess to be there. Ayumi peeked through the entrance, noticing the bare interior.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The entire shrine was desolate. Maybe she had stumbled upon a haunted building? Regardless she was glad to have somewhere she could be alone. She let out a deep sigh, settling on the wooden floorboards. She rested her back against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest. She placed her chin on her arms that lay folded over her knees. Suddenly she felt her eyes beginning to tear up and she lightly sniffled which soon transformed into heaving sobs.

Ayumi had never been so disappointed in herself. What did she think she was doing crying now of all times? After she had held herself back this whole time. Not just on this occasion, but for years. The whole time her parents had refused to speak, throughout the fights, the neglect, the divorce, through everything. If she was gonna break down she should've done it earlier, maybe then it would've been of some use. She was upset and angry, at her parents, at herself, at everything. Her face was buried into her arms and she felt her tears seep onto her clothes. She furiously rubbed her palms over her face, wiping away the snot and tears as much as she could.

When she looked up she saw grey eyes glaring pointedly inches from her face.

"If you don't stop crying, I'll bite you to death." muttered none other than the boy she was convinced was the case of it all. Hibari Kyoya.

"What are you doing here?" she said in between her heaves, struggling to calm herself. Her cheeks flushed at the thought of him having seen her cry. How embarrassing.

"This is my area. I don't recall allowing herbivores to loiter around, so leave unless you'd rather get beaten."

She blinked, lightly sniffling. "No. I'm not leaving I was here first. It was empty, why do I have to go?" she managed to hiss out.

He smirked, lifting up his tonfas in preparation for battle. Ayumi grimaced; she was not in any condition to put up a fight whether it was physically or mentally. She was exhausted.

"I'm sorry." she looked up at him. "I'm sorry for everything, but please just leave me alone. I'll leave soon, but not now. I don't have anywhere to go and I really just can't fight you right now."

Hibari frowned and lowered his weapons. He walked away from Ayumi and sat at the wall opposite her while she attempted to hold back her sobs. She observed him from afar, noting his relaxed posture and nonchalant gaze. For someone so bloodthirsty it seemed he actually did come here for peace and quiet. And he had left her alone, so maybe he wasn't so bad after all?

She scoffed at her thoughts. He wasn't so bad after all? How low had she fallen that her opinion of the boy could be changed through one act of decency? Everything was just so ridiculous.

"Ayumi-chan!" she felt a hand gently shake her out of her slumber.

"Hm?" she murmured, eyelids struggling to open. She felt a cramp in her neck from her awkward sleeping position and brought a hand up to massage it. She blinked before realizing she had fallen asleep in the shrine after crying.

"Oh Ayumi-chan!" Suzumiya pulled her into a hug. "I was so worried about you. I didn't know where you had gone and then I had to call the police. They looked around everywhere for you."

Ignoring the elderly woman's story, she rubbed her eyes and searched for Hibari. She looked at the empty space opposite to her that he had been previously sitting in, noticing it was now empty. Of course he was no longer here, why would he have stayed?

"Excuse me, little boy?" the officer asked, nudging Hibari who was only about a foot away from where Ayumi was sleeping.

Hibari's eyes opened and he shook the officer's hand off, glaring at the man. Ayumi blinked in confusion. When had he gotten there? The four walked out of the shrine and the officer began lecturing the children.

"You should all get going home. And you kids need to make sure not to stay out too late. It's not always safe out."

Ayumi merely nodded, while Hibari continued glaring at the man. She wouldn't have even been surprised if he attacked the officer with how threatening his expression was.

"Are you going to go home now?" she asked him.

He stared at her blankly. "Hn."

"Do you need anyone to walk you back?"

He blinked and walked away from her, only further confusing her. What a strange boy…

The group stared at Ayumi with a mixture of skeptical and confused expressions.

"You cried in front of Hibari and he didn't beat you up?" asked Tsuna.

"As if that guy has any sympathy for anyone." Gokudera scoffed in disbelief. "He even stayed with you that whole night? What a joke."

"Say what you will, but when they found us I was leaning on his arm. He probably moved away once I woke up, so that I wouldn't realize he did something sweet. That's just how Kyo has always been. He's a jerk, but he can be nice somewhere very deep down in the depths of his heart."

"I'm still calling bullshit." replied Gokudera.

Ayumi rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine go ahead. Here's the alternate story. He beat me up and I cried and I swore I'd have my vengeance, so I made it my life goal to bother him until death do I stop."

"Sounds more accurate." said Reborn.

She pouted. "Kids aren't all evil. I probably reached out to him when he actually had a soft spot for pathetic and tiny creatures."

"But how did you two become friends after that?" asked Yamamoto.

"Well from then on I just wouldn't leave him alone." she spoke with a smirk, recalling their childhood. "I was probably the only kid who bothered talking to him. After the whole shrine incident I was curious, so I wanted to know more and before he knew it he couldn't get rid of me."

So I was planning on ending the flashback chapter with this, but then somehow I felt like their relationship should be more well developed. Basically next chapter is gonna be random moments in their childhood and probably the transition into middle school. Do let me know how this chapter is; any commentary is welcome. Working with Hibari's personality is hard though bc he really does not care about like anything lol. The manga just makes me realize what a self absorbed guy he is and that it's no surprise that everyone thinks Ayumi is insane for wanting his friendship. If I keep thinking realistically then she probably has an odd dependence on him which I do plan on including at some point in later chapters. Anyways hope you guys enjoyed!