Chapter 0: Hidden in the Shadows
Staring outside with eyes widened in horror, a brunet clutched the hem of his sweater in fright. His breathing was heavy and rapid as he tried to calm down. Something didn't feel right. He flinched and collided with the individual he was sharing a seat with, not bothering to apologize as he stared outside of the bus window.
A menacing smile was apparent and nothing else could be seen in the pitch dark. He held his head in pain as a headache wormed its way into his head. Wincing in pain, he leaned back and tried to convince himself that everything was going to be fine. "Tsuna are you alright?" The said boy felt a hand on his shoulder and smiled trying to reassure his friend.
"Don't worry about me Yamamoto, I'm okay—"Shrieks erupted from almost everyone on the coach bus as the vehicle was nearly tipped over and a haunting laugh drifted through the air. Silence followed the strange occurrence; the conductor opened the bus' doors and ventured into the unknown.
The lights on the bus dimmed and flickered, causing some students to take out their flashlights. Everyone peered out of their windows trying to make out where the conductor had gone.
They saw something flash by quickly, throwing the driver onto the floor. And then he was swallowed whole. The creature looked at the bus and observed all the teens sitting door was still open.
Everyone panicked and instead of staying inside the vehicle they dropped everything and ran outside, thinking they could outrun the strange organism. Only three people remained. They stared at one another, wondering how they were to survive…
"W-what is that thing?" Tsuna mumbled, not believing what was happening. The lights in the bus continued to flicker and the creature advanced towards them at a slow pace, eyeing Tsuna especially.
Yamamoto sent the brunet a solemn look, telling him not to move a muscle and the boy nodded. Turning his head, Yamamoto observed the teen sitting in the back and oddly enough he found him talking on the phone, a serene expression on his face. "You've gotta be shitting me…" He hung up, hesitantly and shoved the phone into his back pocket before making his way to the front of the bus, his silver locks swaying back and forth.
"Gokudera, what are you-"
"Shut it, baseball freak."
Stepping down the bus' steps he ceased movement when he realized the creature was still staring at Tsuna, completely unaware of his presence. Gokudera pulled out a slim, petite, stick and a lighter. He then lit the hand held firework and watched it burst to life before walking towards the dark being. Backing away, the creature receded into the ground after letting out a loud wail.
The two remaining individuals on the bus gawked at the sight while Gokudera returned to his seat on the bus and began collecting his things. "Gather your stuff and head into the school." Gokudera said as he glared at the duo. He sauntered off of the bus and walked along the sidewalk, using a flashlight instead of a sparkler this time.
Tsuna gathered all of his belongings, not wasting a second and quickly rushed into the school with Yamamoto following closely behind him. Whipping his head back and forth, Yamamoto searched for Gokudera and spotted him walking to the cafeteria. "Hey, wait up."
Gokudera glanced over his shoulder, irritated and continued on, not bothering to stop. Tsuna and Yamamoto jogged to catch up before entering the lunch room. Some students actually managed to escape and had settled down inside. Tsuna's eyes roamed over the room and rested on Kyoko as a sigh escaped his mouth, completely relieved that she managed to make it out alive.
The brunet thought over the events that took place in the last half hour or so, he had no idea what was going on whatsoever. Everyone was excited for their trip to a ski resort and while they had been packing everything onto the buses the sun had set and a sudden foreboding feeling etched its way into Tsuna's chest. Other students were still inside the school when the strange occurrence happened. Shivering, Tsuna counted them lucky.
The duo saw Gokudera in the corner, setting his stuff aside as he chatted on the phone once again. "So you want me to meet up with you? Right now?" The boy grumbled and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Tsuna. "Alright, alright." Hanging up he faced the petit brunet and warned, "Don't leave this building, and don't go outside, just stay put."
Tsuna nodded, intimidated by the delinquent. He heard a handful of rumors about the boy and this was just about the first time he ever interacted with him. He didn't understand why Gokudera was concerned with his safety but he just shrugged it off. Gokudera turned to Yamamoto and pointed to Tsuna. "Watch him."
"But where are you going?" Yamamoto grabbed Gokudera's shoulder as he was leaving.
"That's none of your business, just focus on what I told you to do." He strolled over to the double doors of the dining hall. He looked back one last time before growling, "If you fuck up, your ass is grass." The silver haired teen disappeared through the doors, his hands inside his pockets as he strolled down the corridor.
Yamamoto frowned and observed Tsuna who was currently staring across the room, admiring a certain ginger. At this the teen chuckled causing Tsuna to fall out of his trance. "What?" The brunet pouted.
In response, Yamamoto shook his head. "It's nothing." He ceased his laughing gradually and thought about the strange creature earlier. "Hey Tsuna…what did you think that thing was?"
"I-I don't know." Tsuna trembled as he remembered the frightening experience. He stared at the floor and fiddled with his fingers. He wanted to believe this was all a dream. He wanted to believe that half of his classmates weren't gobbled up by some dark beast. He wanted to believe he would wake up at any minute. That wasn't the case. Finally returning his friend's gaze, he answered, "It sounds kind of stupid but it looked like a shadow to me."
Heaving a sigh, Yamamoto took in the facial expressions of those settled down within the dining area. Everyone was horrified. He swallowed a lump in his throat and was about the respond to Tsuna's theory as to what had attacked them but someone shouted across the room, catching everyone's attention.
"You guys expect me to believe that bull?" Mochida shouted while standing upon a table. After receiving some harsh answers, he smirked at looked dead at Tsuna. "Dame Tsuna got here later than everyone else, that wimp would have gotten ripped to shreds!"
Tsuna merely rolled his eyes at Mochida's ignorance. The bully could go outside and search for the monster for all he cared but Gokudera already got rid of it. Yamamoto patted the brunet on the back. "Don't worry about it Tsuna."
"If you think we're lying then you can just go home!" Another student, Hana Kurokawa countered. At this, Mochida hesitated but quickly came up with something.
"I came here to go to a Ski Resort!"
The brunet decided it was best to ignore the argument. Tsuna dug into his pocket, fishing around for a dollar. Once he found one his face brightened up and he ambled over to a vending machine, telling Yamamoto he would be right back.
Straightening the wrinkly dollar, Tsuna attempted to enter it into the machine but the lights began to flicker and dim. Loud banging could be heard and every one turned and stared at the entrance of the cafeteria. The hallways were consumed in darkness but the lights were on just a few seconds prior.
"Mochida, why don't you go and see who… or what that is." Hana suggested and other students agreed with her, not wanting to go themselves. Everyone watched the Kendo club captain approach the doors, still confident that someone was just pulling a prank.
"All I want is a bottle of water; can I at least have that?" Tsuna whined while trying to get the crumply dollar into the machine.
Dark chuckling erupted into the air. Mochida stared through the small glass on the door and backed away. A taunting smile with sharp fangs was pressed up against the glass
"You cannot stop our dance in the dark."
"We will consume your light…"
Mochida made a bee line for the exit on the other side of the cafeteria, a warm substance trickling down his pants leg. All students followed suit. Yamamoto grabbed his and Tsuna's belongings and tried to find Tsuna.
Suddenly, the doors, the only thing separating the students from their worst nightmare, burst open and the lights went out. Yamamoto cursed under his breath as he turned on a flashlight, trying to find the brunet. Yamamoto didn't know that Tsuna was the first person out of the room. The boy would never forget that horrifying grin.
Tsuna dashed up the stairs and onto the second floor, his lungs begging for air. He glanced down the hallway and noticed how the lights got dimmer the further he looked. He heard loud thuds behind him and screaming. Tsuna refused to turn back.
He continued to sprint. Looking to the floor, he noticed a shadow that did not belong to him and the fact that it didn't look like it belonged to another human being scared him further. This caused the boy to run even faster which took a toll on his body.
He stopped due to the next section of the corridor being unlit. Tsuna looked back and saw a silhouette quickly approaching. The brunet, startled, observed the area and noticed that a room a few yards away from him was lit. His converse pounded against the tiled floor as he reached the door, the creature not too far from him now. "J-Jesus, please let me survive this…"
He struck the door repeatedly, hoping that the person inside would open up. To no avail, no one answered and the boy turned, ready to face his doom. But he heard a strange tune that grew louder with each second that passed by."Namimori's Anthem?"
A petite yellow bird circled around Tsuna several times before perching himself atop Tsuna's head. "Herbivore! Herbivore!"
The boy's attention was torn from the small fowl that nestled in his mop of brown hair and he gazed up at the shadow that hovered over him. Eerie Laughter flowed through his ears and the boy closed his eyes, prepared for the end.
"Descendant of the Sky…"
"Your light shall become ours…"
Tsuna started to tremble vigorously. He had no idea what that thing was talking about but he honestly couldn't care less. He peeked through one of his eyes and saw that the creature was only centimeters away. It opened its mouth and Tsuna could see nothing but darkness as he peered down its throat.
A flash a silver whizzed by and the creature was knocked onto the floor. Cold steel gray eyes glared at the shadow as it tried to morph back into the ground but the lights turned back on. The creature howled and screamed. The assaulter put away his tonfas and grabbed Tsuna, dragging him to the other side of the hallway.
The creature exploded, leaving a disconcerting trail of black residue on the floor that relayed a message.
We will obtain you Sawada Tsunayoshi
Tsuna gaped at the message and started to shake uncontrollably. He stared at the person who came just in time. The Head of the Disciplinary Committee, Hibari Kyoya, had saved him; the brunet read the band on the teen's forearm. Tsuna never met or saw the prefect simply because he was too afraid to have an encounter with him. A scowl adorned his face and those frigid eyes studied him, threatening him. His skin was pale and smooth as if it were porcelain.
"Herbivore…" Hibari approached Tsuna and was he…was he ruffling his hair? The raven haired teen retrieved the yellow fluff that resided on Tsuna's head during the whole scenario.
"It's against regulations to loiter around school grounds after hours." The skylark equipped his tonfas once again.
"W-wait a minute!" Tsuna screeched, backing up against the wall. He wasn't simply wandering around; he was running for his life! Did the shadow being not faze him at all?
"I'll bite you to death."
"That sounds awfully kinky!"
A/N
I apologize for my crappy writing. First chapter was really short but I made up for it by making Hibari debut in this chapter, amiright?
Tried to make the ending funny but of course I'm not funny
For once, there's actually a plot.
Please review since it motivates me to write more or else I'll get real lazy and I'll never update like with some of my other stories.
I might update weekly, maybe…
See you next time.