An Unusual Stalker

Trembling, she opened the door to Namimori Middle's roof. There he was, sleeping soundly. He almost looked innocent and child-like, but she knew better. Using all her stealth, she made her way next to him. She sat in sieza position and clutched the two bentos in her lap. Trying to relax a bit, she sighed and wondered, as she often did, whether or not her tutor made her do these kind of things for her benefit or his pleasure.

"You want me to do what?"

"Hibari would make an excellent addition to the familigia, so it's your job to bring him in," said Reborn, an amused smirk on his lips.

"I didn't come here to expand my familigia, Reborn!" she protested. Yamamoto and Ryohei were bad enough. She came here to get away from the mafia, from fighting and wars that hurt those to close to her. She did not want to drag more back with her. Yamamoto and Ryohei, to her shame, had already entangled themselves too far before she noticed. But Reborn was training them, in his weird indirect way, so she knew they would be fine eventually, and nothing would change their minds now anyway. However, she did not want to entangle anyone else. Even the violent prefect. "I won't make Hibari join."

The gun expectedly pointed to her head.

"A donna should put her familigia before her feelings," he said. "If Hibari can protect the familigia, it is your job to secure him."

"And if he isn't?"

"Do you doubt my judgment?" asked Reborn, adding a faint quiver in to his voice. Tsuna rolled her eyes. Reborn cocked his gun and smirked. "Why don't you check out for yourself?"

"Do I even want to know what you mean?" she asked in a flat tone.

"Get to know him. Spend some time together."

"Please tell me this isn't going to be like with Xanxus..."

"That's a wonderful idea, Dame Tsuna. You start tomorrow at lunch."

"I hate you," she said, though she didn't mean it.

Thinking back on it, perhaps she did mean those words. With another sigh, she put the bottom benot next to her and opened the top bento quietly. She pulled out her chopsticks and used them to pick half-heartedly at the rice. A chirp caught her attention as a fluffy yellow bird perched on her left hand. She smiled at it and offered it some rice with her chopsticks The bird chirped again and took a few grains before fluttering off her hand in a flurry of feathers. The yellow puffball landed on the jacketed shoulder of the now awake prefect. Tsuna inwardly cursed her inattention to her surroundings. Reborn would up her torture regimen if he ever caught wind of such carelessness on her part. Somehow, she ended up locking eyes with the prefect's dangerously sharp grey eyes. For a moment, both looked at one another, but the moment broke when Hibari glared.

"You're crowding."

"S-sorry," she squeaked, returning to her Dame-Tsuna persona. She bowed and scurried backwards until she bumped into the door and fell on her backside. She bit her lip as the teen still stood glaring at her. "I-is this far enough?"

He continued his glare. Looking behind her longingly at the door, Tsuna scuttled exactly opposite side of the roof from the prefect. The glare left the dangerous teen's expression, and his face became blank, though Tsuna could see the interest in his eyes even from this distance. She settled down again and checked the bento still in her hands. The food had been jostled, but it was still edible thankfully.

Hibari was still looking at her as the bird remained perched comfortably on his shoulder. The bird chirped and fluttered down from the prefect's shoulder and landed on the second bento, still on the floor next to Hibari. Immediately, his glare returned.

"Littering is not allowed in Namimori."

"O-oh, u-um…t-that's for you, Hibari-san. I-I've never seen you e-eat lunch so I don't know if you're hungry b-but…M-my mother a-always said that everyone should eat 3 meals a day s-so…p-please eat it…"

The glare turned into a confused look for a quarter of a second before shifting back to that blank look. Actually, Tsuna wouldn't have been entirely certain she saw anything like confusion on the stoic face if not for her hyper intuition. Hibari turned away from her and leapt onto the chain link fence bordering the roof.

"Pick up your trash," he said before leaping off the fence. Tsuna sighed, sure the prefect had landed safely. Reborn made her do the most impossible, unpleasant tasks. Leaving the bento where it was, she returned to her class. She dreaded the second part of her task, but she wouldn't be swayed. She was right about Hibari, she just knew it. Or perhaps she only hoped so.

She had been following him since he had exited the school. She had waited by the school gate until night fall when his round outside Namimori Middle began. He had thrown the bento he had found still on the roof at her, and she had barely caught it. She quivered under his glare, but for some reason, he hadn't felt fear from her.

As he proceeded into the commercial area of Namimori, he noticed the strange herbivore kept a good distance away but didn't hide or look embarrassed when he looked back at her. No, the strange herbivore cowered a bit the first few times in that peculiar fearless way and continued to follow him. He took rooftops, went through dark alleys, and crossed the bridgeless part of the river. Still, she always stayed a reasonable length behind him, running parallel to the rooftops, hurrying through the dark alleys, and swimming gracelessly across the river. She did not litter, did not crowd him or others, did not disturb the peace for all her following, and generally obeyed all of Namimori's laws. Basically, she gave him no reason to bite her to death. His agreement with his father prevented him from doing any more that glaring at her. Females were important and not to be harmed unless absolutely necessary, and only a few females would ever make it necessary. This strange herbivore was obviously not going to make it necessary, and so he could not force the annoying female away. And worse, the town was as quiet as usual, so he had no release for his frustration, no noisy herbivores to discipline.

Finally, the strange herbivore left when he entered the shrine. She had looked at the shrine with huge herbivore eyes, but had not tried to enter. As soon as he entered, he slipped his shoes off and hurried to his room fighting off the herbivorous feeling of relief. Tomorrow, she had better leave him alone.