Wind Running


This chapter is a look in the past, from Hibari's perspective.

And please, this is actually a very precious chapter for me that I for once really liked writing, like, really. Please be kind. I've been trying to finish this for more than half a year.

(Also, I wrote this while listening to 'Divenire' and 'Eden Roc' by Ludovico Einaudi. Really recommend listening to those ^^)


Hibari Kyouya was never one to deign it necessary to become... attached to anyone.

He was also of an unpopular opinion that while people studied complex social interactions and hierarchies, everything was much simpler and painfully so – there were herbivores, like the ones who liked crowding and brawling with each other and behaving like the herd instinct dictated them to, and there were carnivores, in dwindling numbers, who bit herbivores to death for various reasons.

Carnivores such as Hibari Kyouya was.

Kyouya had from a very young age established this principle and while there was a very small exception for small animals he felt an instinctive willingness to protect, and instinct was next to the only thing he listened to, he did not bound with anyone because it would simply make him weak and burdened.

He very much despised any kind of undisciplined behavior among the everyday herbivores, especially at the epicenter of the despicable crowding – the school grounds. He hated crowding in his territory – something all of Namimori was. The herbivores ran around like headless chickens, human beings, they claimed themselves to be, shrieking like animals should and not human kind, females flocking and clucking about their own kin, and the scuffles and general loud noise irritated Hibari to a degree when places he walked past turned into piles of bodies who experienced first-hand just how much Hibari hated crowds.

Hibari Kyouya became the demonic prefect and head of the Disciplinary Committee in Namimori Elementary and no herbivorous teacher nor any other herbivore dared to say anything against him. Crossing paths with Hibari Kyouya entailed much unpleasantries.

So it came as a slight surprise when Hibari found himself confronted by an experience he never before encountered. In the face of a ridiculously small boy with equally as ludicrous large eyes and an attitude that would leave most speechless.

"Herbivore. You are late and therefore I shall bite you to death."

A scrawny creature – must be a herbivore; though Kyouya had seen it walk to school and it was almost always alone, and also never late unlike today – stared at the raven-haired teen standing in front of him with impossibly big brown eyes. Quite an unsightly reaction, Kyouya had thought, his tonfas unsheathing and eyes filling with an animalistic sort of glee at the prospect of biting someone to death.

In the ensuing silence, several students who have been late too slipped by just as the prefect lunged.

The herbivore only inclined his head to the right as he slightly bent his knees – cowardly herbivore, Kyouya had thought – slightly shifting to the left and then he... evaded the blow. Easily. Hibari's lips twitched upwards as he continued thrusting his tonfas, all intended to strike and all missing just by a few inches.

To the astonishment of the still watching students, the brunet stayed light on his feet, tonfas never really touching him.

He possessed a grace Hibari had never seen before – the grace of a light breeze that one can never so much as touch and it only spurred the prefect's resolve to bite down the cheeky wind that reminded him too much of his distant uncle.

(Though being completely honest with himself, which he always was, considering his belief that lying to oneself is as foolish as it can get, he couldn't really see any cheek or impudence in the herbivore's expression. It unnerved him slightly.)

To the frustration of the raven-haired, this- this little animal was avoiding his attacks with his arms folded behind him. But that wasn't even the most frustrating thing – the creature was smiling, and so sincerely at that, which was something Kyouya had never seen his victims do.

And then the school bell had rang and the younger boy heard it, his eyes widening as he glanced at the clock behind Hibari with growing horror, absently dodging another blow meant for his chest. While he slipped under another thrust – to his head – he managed to bow to Hibari and sprint- no, fly to the entrance of the school, covering the distance between the gates and the doors in remarkably little time for a being with such short legs. The prefect could see that the boy didn't as much as break a sweat.

The herbivores watching earlier had their jaws clanging on the floor while Kyouya stared for a long time at the place from where the little animal had bowed to him. He remembered his bright-lit eyes and the smile that seemed permanent.

Sorry, Hibari-san, I can't stay to play any longer.

...

The next day came and the prefect was already waiting for the animal at the entrance, regardless of the fact that Sawada Tsunayoshi – that was the herbivore's name – wasn't late. In fact, Hibari arrived earlier than he usually did but only just in time to see the rather fragile-looking creature walk past the gates – a spring to his step and a small hum under his breath. The raven-haired stalked up from behind, intending to whirl the boy around and beat him up six ways to Sunday as overdue punishment, but just when he approached, a small rock screeched under his shoe and Kyouya watched in slight fascination how Tsunayoshi jumped up at least a meter into the air, his already impossible hair standing on end as if he were a frightened cat, and the boy scampered with a speed Hibari never saw before. Scratch what he saw yesterday – this was something worth mentioning. It was as if one second the little herbivore was still in the air from shock and the other he was frantically tugging the door of the school open, dashing inside without looking back.

Hibari had stomped into the school and quickly pulling the herbivore's class from his memory, whirled through the corridors and stormed into the classroom, and up to the boy's desk right in the middle of the class, scaring the living spirit out of both the teacher and all the students as he ignored all and everything and just stared ice daggers at the Sawada.

And much to his ever-growing fascination, Tsunayoshi only pursed his lips and sighed when confronted with a steely silver gaze, golden brown watching back so innocently. The others present in the classroom were already bidding Tsunayoshi goodbye and a good time in the afterlife but the brunet just blinked sheepishly.

"I'm sorry for running away like that, Hibari-san. I'm a real scaredy cat when someone comes at me from behind. I should make it more entertaining next time, ne?"

Hibari continued to stare, irises almost slitted and he slowly uttered.

"I should bite you to death for running in the corridors."

"But I wasn't running."

Kyouya rose a brow, much to the shock of the others – the brunet should be dead for backtalk and running, not having a – mostly – civil discussion with the demon prefect who actually showed a genuine human emotion like curiosity on his face.

"And what do you call an intentional rapid movement of your lower limbs with a goal of escaping from punishment?"

The animal had the guts to smile, albeit slightly nervously.

"That was sprinting, Hibari-san. Even I know that much."

"...Hn."

With that, the prefect slowly retracted his 'claws', glaring at the tiny spike-haired animal, and swept out of the room with no idea as to why he didn't drag the clearly undisciplined animal by the scruff of the neck out of the class or didn't bite him to death right there and then.

Maybe, it was the challenge he saw in the little animal.

Maybe, seeing the animal in blood didn't look particularly appealing.

...

On the third day, Hibari almost managed to grab Tsunayoshi by the collar. The boy had twirled around just in time as Kyouya's fist closed sheer inches from his nose and blinked wide-eyed, and then he just bounced like that, backwards, quickly gaining a speed that rivaled Hibari's straight sprint.

Kyouya was pleased to find that he forced the boy to actually use more advanced moves that he evidently in his arsenal – Tsunayoshi had glanced absently over his shoulder, then flashed around and vaulted over a bench in a swift dash vault, barely touching the bench at all with an ease and fluidness that spoke of much, much experience. The sheer force of the momentum threw the brunet meters through the air, legs stretched forward as he smoothly came down and his feet flashed rapidly when he landed and scampered right from the moment his shoes touched the ground, using the gravity as an advantage it wasn't supposed to be.

The raven-haired wanted to take out his tonfas out of habit but reluctantly decided against it since they would only get in the way when he chased the boy, hindering his freedom of movement. Besides, he didn't really need them all that much – he could always make a decent amount of damage with bare hands alone.

The fleeing herbivore had noticed the weapon's absence and Hibari was almost taken aback at the utterly shining grin he received as he heard words sounding something like 'finally' and 'that's how he should be'.

He frowned slightly. It was pathetic, of course... The herbivore must be simply rejoicing about not getting bitten to death right away, that was it. He wouldn't really care about anything else – it was against the basic survival instinct to think otherwise.

The prefect didn't catch the boy's happy gazes that were directed at something very slowly, but surely, day by day, unfurling behind Hibari's back.

(He hadn't yet come to know of the things Tsuna could see. Not yet.)

Of course, by the time he arrived at the classroom, Tsunayoshi was already fully assembled and had his little nasty face in the textbook. He'd raised his brown eyes over the book to meet gazes with a slightly out of breath Kyouya and his eyes twinkled.

Twinkled, for god's sake.

...

On the fourth day, Tsunayoshi had the nerve to enter the school via the back wall and run around the building right behind Hibari's back who didn't expect such insolence yet and only noticed the creeping brunet when the latter was opening the door and it betrayed the boy by screeching.

Shrieks and skidding footsteps commenced but Hibari still couldn't catch the herbivore.

...

By the fifth day, it was established that once Tsunayoshi reaches his desk, the chase was put on pause since the desk was a sacred place for studying, the lack of which Hibari would not tolerate – herbivores were stupid enough as it is – though if the boy wanted to have lunch somewhere else than the class or wanted to wander around during the recess, any plans that the boy might have had were cut short by Hibari who swept in to try take hold of him. It became a sort of odd game of one-sided tag with a single off-limit place in the entire school and school territory – the boy's desk – which the boy used shamelessly by pretending to be studying all the time and eating his bento there. At times, Hibari would pass by his class on recesses to search for loitering students – plenty of them, unfortunately – and cast icy looks the herbivore's way.

One time, when Tsunayoshi finally felt a hot glare burning holes in his back and turned to look at Hibari cluelessly, his eyes widened and he...

...He waved.

Waved and smiled, flowers blooming behind him and of course the glitters took over from there.

The fearsome head of the Disciplinary Committee did not run.

It was a strategical retreat. And no, the pathetic red coloring his own usually impassive face had nothing to do with it.

He did not admit to being hypocritical about 'not lying to oneself'.

...

The sixth day was the start of the weekend and Kyouya stared from his cabinet of the Disciplinary Committee where he was supposed to be finishing paperwork, but was instead watching from the window the empty school grounds that had never before bothered him before and usually pleased him to a certain extent.

He didn't have anyone to chase that day, nor on Sunday.

...

The next Monday and throughout the week, everything repeated. Tsunayoshi sometimes came with the most early students and sometimes later than the tardiest of herbivores. He could suddenly plummet from the main gates straight for the school doors or creep over a wall or corner when Hibari wasn't looking and soundlessly try to avoid being noticed by Kyouya, usually successful in that because the raven-haired never noticed how the boy cleared the school fence.

One day, the prefect didn't even see how Tsunayoshi got into the school and was already marking him as being absent – ergo, bite to death upon seeing, immediately – when he passed the class the animal educated in – of course it was not intentional, not at all – and saw the boy's head hidden behind a carefully open textbook so the teacher didn't see Sawada himself.

When Hibari found a better angle, he saw the brunet's face buried in his arms as Tsunayoshi appeared to be sleeping peacefully. A beat later, one tonfa imbedded itself into a wall sheer inches from the boy's nose, knocking down the textbook to reveal a very startled Sawada who was blinking groggily, eyes sobering with a rapidness that brought righteous satisfaction to Hibari. While the teacher conveniently chose to turn back to the chalkboard to write something down rather than try sorting out whatever the coming of Hibari promised, the class stared nervously between Tsuna and Kyouya, some biting their nails or seeking refuge under the desks while some muttered chanting prayers. The raven-haired glared at the boy and, his words thundering in the deathly silent classroom, murmured.

"Sleeping in classes is punished. Next time, you will be bitten to death."

Tsunayoshi, instead of feeling intimidated like every normal herbivore in the class with an instinct of self-preservation did, examined the tonfa with fascination, noting the perfect 90 degree angle between the weapon and the wall. He even took out a protractor and measured it, lips twisted upwards like they always did – irritatingly genuine. Carefully, he tugged the tonfa out of the small crater it created, sighing at the plaster that crumbled onto his desk, and, cringing slightly at the weight, tossed it all over class right into Hibari's only instinctively opened palm. Kyouya's eyes just barely twitched in annoyance at the lack of fear and the animal's apologetic smile, and the slight incline of his head was doing nothing to help.

"I'm very sorry, Hibari-san. I didn't get any sleep yesterday so I must've accidentally fell asleep..."

"Hn."

And not that that was the only time the little animal did it. Far from that, in fact. Hibari glimpsed Tsunayoshi napping from time to time and the boy decided that putting a textbook that shielded him both from the teacher and the door from where Hibari usually saw him take his naps was a brilliant idea.

Аs if it could stop Kyouya and prevent his disciplining.

Though it was also the first time Hibari couldn't help but wonder what the boy did at night that he would choose not to get proper sleep and instead risk being caught sleeping in class. He also wondered if it had something with the herbivore's fast feet though he quickly chased away that thought since it held no relevance.

A few times, Hibari managed to startle the little animal which pleased him greatly, even if he still couldn't catch him. Tsunayoshi didn't have that much of a presence and Kyouya doubted he was any use in a fight if it came to it, but the boy's feet outweighed any flaws he might have had. The boy wasn't a carnivore – didn't act like one anyway, and he didn't smell carnivore either – but he was certainly a little animal who adapted to surviving in his own way, effortlessly and with rather graceful style. Even though at the time, Hibari didn't fully understand that he had seen nothing yet.

He hadn't known Tsunayoshi's running was something far more special than simple escaping from punishment.

...

It had really only dawned him one day, when the circumstances fell into a right place and he saw exactly how the animal cleared the school fences.

That one time, Kyouya was standing under the west wall, expecting the boy to climb over – Kusakabe reported seeing the boy coming to the school from that direction – and drop right next to the prefect where the raven-haired would seize the opportunity. Surely, climbing over the wall would cause at least some loud noise to alert him, and at the very least, the little animal could not just pass the wall without slowing down.

The prefect stood there, waiting, and he felt the wind pick up slightly. He absently wondered since when there was a wind on a windless day and quickly dismissed the thought.

He strained to hear the boy approach but, however, to Kyouya's surprise, instead he had just barely enough time to register a sound of running feet, speeding up with increasing rapidness, and a light swoosh! of wind from behind the wall and snapped around to look up, momentarily blinded by the sunlight as a figure flashed right above him, legs bent tightly under himself to not skim, hands spread and slightly in front of him to keep a more or less vertical position and goddamn flying, farther than Kyouya ever saw a human do. As if in slow motion, he watched with slightly widened eyes as the little animal passed over him, stretching his arms forward, his whole body arching into a position and landing at least four meters away from Hibari with an audible thud of a fluid roll, springing right back and shooting into the school as if he never stopped running and on the contrary, gained more speed.

Hibari was too caught up in the after-image to follow after.

After all, one can never forget a sight of an airborne boy, with the sun as a golden halo around his head and the wind ruffling his hair, and two momentarily visible white blurs stretching behind him, as if coming from his back in forms of sunrays that rivaled the brightness of the child's utterly happy smile.

Hibari only resumed to his responsibilities when a pair of students skipping classes walked right behind him and automatically, he disposed of the offenders.

the image really had stuck in his mind ever since.

...

The day after, Kyouya caught Tsunayoshi literally running up a wall and climbing up two stories to his class. Clearly, he wanted to annoy Hibari.

Not as obviously, Hibari found himself amused and even slightly... amazed at the way Tsunayoshi flung himself up the windowsills on each floor, opening the window to the shrieks of those inside – they could be heard from way down; very irritating – and slipping inside, right into his seat. Upon taking his place, the brunet had looked back out, sticking his head out of the window while leaning dangerously far, hair even more wild in the wind than usual, and the little animal met gazes with the vicious carnivore.

Tsuna gave thumb ups and mouthed, 'This is so fun!'

Kyouya snapped his head to look away, not believing himself to not quirk his lips upwards if he continued to look at the contagiously joyous boy. It really was pathetic. Since when did his composure began to fail at times like this?

"Tch."

Hibari walked away with a fearsome scowl.

Compared to his usual deathly-ice glare, it meant something much less fearsome than one would think.

...

One day, Tsunayoshi came skipping to the school and Hibari couldn't even come close to intercepting him. The boy was shining with excitement at whatever it was that brought him such, and Kyouya witnessed just how efficiently happiness spurred the little animal to move faster. It was rather fascinating, if not annoying on some level because apparently Kyouya wasn't the mostly difficult object of challenge to the little animal.

When the last class ended, the prefect was already waiting at the classroom door, intent on catching the boy when he exited through the door and maybe hear what made him so happ- so fast. Instead, Hibari only got to see how a mop of brown hair, school bag in one hand and a carefree laugh on his face, jumped onto the windowsill and dashed right out of the window, to the gasps of the other students who sprung after him, frantic to see what happened.

Hibari was long gone by then and when he arrived outside the gates, it was to see Tsunayoshi waving from afar, his school bag under his arm and putting his hands around his mouth, to yell.

"I'm sorry Hibari-san, I've gotta go!"

He had stood there, watching the younger boy as he disappeared out of sight with an unreadable expression, and then he turned around and went back to his business, chasing away the unwanted thoughts.

Carnivores don't care for others.

He isn't supposed to wonder.

...

That evening Hibari got a call.

"Skylark, we have an inter-region run – today's gonna be field day for you. Make sure you hunt only the bastards who deserve it or else the deal's off. I ain't one to tolerate unnecessary blood."

Yoru, or Yoru no Hogosha, the Night Guard of the parkour web. It was one of the unofficial groupings that weren't part of the wide underworld – the opposite, in fact. The female carnivore – he smelled carnivores when he saw them, even though nothing Kyouya tried to make her fight him worked; instead he was irritated beyond words when she flipped him the finger and evaded his tonfas like a magpie bird she was rumored actually to be – tolerated no dirty dealings and prevented all attempts to make crime in the name of Namimori free-runners in the root. She made a deal with him out of common interests which inlcuded him biting to death those who disturbed the peace of Namimori or/and broke the rules of the parkour group. An inter-region run meant there will be some newcomers from outside Namimori, and fhat meant there would be a chance someone sketchy might turn up to disturb citizens and innocent herbivores as representatives of different gangs. There were bound to be scuffles.

Hibari smirked like a beast.

It was ten in the evening when the run started – Hibari couldn't care less about the herbivorous game or whatever it was; the sheer idea of someone running away from someone implied herbivorousness – so he stayed away from the crowds that weren't really crowding since they were all scattered around the region, part of why Hibari tolerated their presence and running around his territory in the first place.

He was scanning the dark in search of rule-breakers – there were three to break so Hibari glared icily for presences of fights, ganging up and cheating. So far, everyone were fair – disgustingly obedient; the female carnivore in charge of Namimori's parkour web must have an iron grip on it – when suddenly, he had only enough time to feel someone approach at an impossible speed and Hibari's silver eyes widened slightly as a soundless shadow flashed past him in an orange blur of a double king vault from one building onto another coupled with a dash vault over the corner of a two story house and a mind-numbing triple backflip, right out of sight.

A few seconds later – it would count as not so long after but in this game, every millisecond seemed to count so they were to be regarded as pathetically slow – the prefect watched two bulky teenagers chase after the hooded person who had long since disappeared from view.

Hibari bared his teeth in a feral grin as he jumped down in front of the two, cutting off any means of escape.

"Ganging up on other participants is strictly prohibited. I shall bite you to death."

After fulfilling his duty and feeling slightly more content, Kyouya found a good spot to survey the section of the town where houses and buildings were especially close-knit to each other – it created lots of good parkour maneuver opportunities which was why the female must have chosen this part of the region.

A couple of times, the prefect saw free-runners jump over high walls or climb up or do rolls or hide in the boxes and gare age cans to avoid being caught while they take a breath and ward off their exhaustion, and he also saw how one chase came to an end – fairly. The chaser had run up to an unsuspecting player from behind while the latter was standing with his back to a small alleyway, and the herbivore snatched a red flag much to the other herbivore's disappointment. The victorious herbivore had laughed in a good manner and patted the other's shoulder – they must be, what were they called, friends? some herbivorous thing like that – and though dejected by the loss, the loser herbivore just sighed and smiled before they both disappeared around the corner.

Mildly, Hibari wondered if this was what the female carnivore talked about in a both carnivorously confident and herbivorously sentimental way.

"Free-runnin' means we search for freedom. Yes, Skylark, by runnin', whatever you say about it. Stupid nestlings usually think that by winning in games like this with whatever it takes, they can find it. Especially the newbies who taste victory over others, which isn't the actual point, since it isn't the freedom we speak 'bout. Some think that by loosin', they loose that so-called freedom. They forget that it's just a stupid children's game, meant for fun and exercise and adrenalin. This is a literal case of when winnin' ain't important, the participation is, because those who actually did find their own freedom know that violence or cheating or a stupid victory is never a path to it."

Kyouya had sneered that victory was everything in this world where stronger species dominated those who are weaker and got an exaspaeated roll of eyes from the other end of the line.

"Oh come on, you're a skylark for fuck's sake. You should know that victory is good but flyin' is way better."

It wasn't until half an hour later that while walking through one of the countless backways – he'd got bored and a cold sitting – that Hibari heard a challenging whistle in the distance and realized it was the whistle of the wind that was getting closer and closer. The prefect turned around sharply to see the same orange hooded figure bound across the garbage cans in a flurry of speed vaults, barely touching them and jumping over Hibari's head in a long monkey vault, then practically flinging himself half-way up a wall, using his feet and the well-gained momentum to reach up with a hand and fluidly pull himself up, sprinting along the rooftop side and into a window of the abandoned building.

The whole sight brought a very familiar feeling and a suspicion that he'd seen this herbivore(?) before. Though in a much simpler form of only running and occasionally jumping, though with the very same feeling as if...

...As if he didn't belong on the ground.

Hibari frowned at the thought.

Just before the figure disappeared into the darkness, the prefect noticed a small orange flag tied to the person's wrist.

Right. The female carnivore said something about participants trying to take hold of those.

"If ya want to, you're free to try catch one. What's it you say you are... a carnivore? Yeah, that, a carnivore – betcha like chasing after people then, ne? There might be some challenges for you in my nest. Try Ryuu, or Tenshi. Yuki is a slippery kid and hard to catch too so you might have fun with him. If you get bored of them, you can always try Neko. It's always fun with him."

A short laugh.

"Though I doubt you'll be able to catch him. Even I can't catch Neko."

The prefect had heard rumors of an extremely short free-runner with miraculous jumping skills dubbed 'Kaze no Neko' for reasons Hibari didn't bother to find out – he didn't even pay attention to the information at the time. Now, however, he was quite intrigued because the short herbivore in an orange hoodie that occasionally darted in Kyouya's line of sight was most definitely this 'Kaze no Neko'.

Hibari smirked.

If the female carnivore couldn't catch the wind cat it didn't mean he couldn't. After all, he was the strongest carnivore in his grounds and he can catch any herbivore as he pleased.

He'd forgotten about one certain boy with the innocent eyes of an angel and feet that carried him straight out of Hibari's claws.

And so, two hours later, Kyouya admitted that he'd spoken too soon.

He, for once, understood exactly what the female Night Guard was talking about.

Hibari was standing on the edge of a rooftop, five stories high, panting slightly and sporting a bruise on his knee from a single landing gone awry at the very start of the chase and one would never be able to know of the annoying pain Kyouya felt from the teen's deadpan. The parkour roll he had executed should've been perfect but there was one big mistake – he'd chosen to follow the cat's pathway and mindlessly assumed that if such a little free-runner pulled off that drop down a six meter wall with ease then so would Kyouya.

At the time, he hadn't even noticed the impossibly strong wind that accompanied Neko all this time.

If he wasn't as good as he was, he'd have certainly broken a bone, but he managed to avoid that narrowly by taking most of the force of the collision with his back.

The pathway was not a pathway to one lesser than Kyouya in terms of difficulty but he still couldn't with all the skills in his possession climb up a seven meter wall without another one to push up off and even then, he'd have to catch the side railing and pull himself up with quite some effort. The narrow fence he ran on afterwards had almost caused him to tumble down a drop one would rather not fall from.

The wind cat ran up that wall in sheer seconds and sprinted along the fence without glancing down even once.

And then, the drop down six meters right onto a roof of a lower building which served as the cause of the injury on his leg.

As frustrated and ashamed of himself he was – such a herbivorous reaction – he'd let out a suppressed but still audible gasp of surprise from the pain. The orange silhouette that had up until now flickered in the distance as a beacon slowed down and turned to look at Kyouya, and though he stood in a light from a post lamp that prevented the prefect from seeing his features, the deep concern was evident.

Hibari had suddenly noticed that the wind stopped whistling, calming down as the herbivore stopped running.

Instead of contemplating, he bit his lip and growled like a wolf, lunging forward after the small cat in a surge of fury. The sound of rushing air cand back with new force and Neko bolted, with just a slight stagger from surprise.

Strangely enough, despite the challenging route the cat seemed to take at first, after that unfortunate (to Kyouya, not the cat) drop, he seemed to run along simpler constructions and wider walls and lower fences. From there on, the perfect had no problems with the objects he had to clear or the drops he had to take. It made him angry and undermined and stubbornly he pushed the pain of his foot aside, focusing on a much more important goal – catching the cheeky cat that dare take pity on him.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu.

He ran, jumping up and down and running and sprinting, following the orange hoodie in the never-shrinking distance, up until the teen momentarily lost sight of the cat who disappeared around a corner. Kyouya rounded it swiftly, jumping over a gap between walls in the process, and slowed down in front of a house. The window of a roofless building was far too small and dark for him to dive into without stopping to stick his head inside precariously and the gigantic gap in the floor of a warehouse he was supposed to chase through was enough to make him wonder if this was where the cat had really gone in the first place.

Kyouya took a few steps back and jumped through the window in a precise dash vault just in time to see the orange figure emerge from the shadows inside the building and into the light from the moon, speeding towards the gaping black in the floor with no reluctance or fear in his almost inhuman movements.

The world slowed down, muting, as the wind cat jumped.

The prefect, had, for the first time in his life, saw them.

A warm flurry of wind rushed past the, perhaps for the first time in his life, shocked Hibari and he gaped wide-eyed because in the moonlight and the rejoicing breeze...

He saw wings shine in the starlit night.

Kaze no Neko soared with the wind.

And when he landed on the other side, the silence roared with air rushing past.

After that, the chase became a daze. Kyouya had never experienced this feeling – he never thought it even existed. It was so different from what he was used to and it brought him something much different than disciplining herbivores ever brought him. It brought him satisfaction on a level higher than ordering around subordinates and beating people to death – this was an experience of a much, if he could even say it that way, personal level.

The starry, moonlit night of a chase – a hunt, Hibari would like to call it – a hunt after a small, fast, winged prey wreathed in wind as if it were a spirit and flying through the roofs, only touching walls and the ground occasionally in blurs and laughter, it was now obvious that this is what he had waiting for. The whole world became black, white, blue and orange – orange being that one candlelight beaconing Hibari to its presence.

Through the streams of jumps and runs and outright falling down off buildings, all with the feeling of soaring through air, high on adrenalin and the whispers of the wind that seemed to accompany both of them through the chase and then climbing back up on the buildings, and sometimes Hibari caught glimpses of breath-taking views along the way.

It really wasn't something that can expressed through words. It was something more, something that made Kyouya's whole being boil with excitement, but not excitement alike to fighting someone. Excitement of a sense of freedom, his own freedom, the one where he hunted prey like he did now, but he didn't do it on the ground.

In the end, hours later when the monochrome sky began tinting pink at the horizon and the colors and the reality and the day began announcing their collective rightful presence, the figure had finally stopped the mind-blowing chase, just when a single gap was left in between the two of them. Hibari stood rigidly on top of a pedestal-like end of a fence, feeling some particular muscles in his body he never knew the existence of start to ache ever-so-slightly – he never practiced running and jumping and climbing for so long, and it's not the same as fighting, but he hated being restrained, hated that with a passion, so he pushed his body to the limits to hunt because Hibari Kyouya was nothing if not determined. The other person, his hood still covering his hair and face, stood on the other side of the gap, on a similar start of a higher wall. They both stared at each other in silence, the shorter one looking slightly from above as sharp steel gleamed in the dawn and the darkness under the hood scanned the prefect.

Hibari's gaze momentarily flitted over to the person's shoulders and then slightly upwards, unwillingly wondering if he will see anything there. As morning descended on the world, Hibari found that image from the warehouse, while still as sharp and present because he cannot ever forget what he saw, becoming more and more alike to a dream. A vision. Maybe... Maybe it really had just been a trick of light, because neither herbivores nor carnivores have wings, after all. They can't. They can't have wings.

As Hibari blinked and his sight blurred for just an instant, a ray of sun reached out from the horizon and the wind picked up slightly and then, for a flitting fraction of moment, feathery shapes flared white in gigantic arches folding down and then it was all gone.

Leaving just that.

An extremely small kid wearing an orange hoodie.

Another beat of silence passed and then the smaller figure slowly reached down to a pocket from which the tangerine flag was showing slightly, and pulled the cloth out into the light.

He then dangled the cloth in front of himself, quite cheekily passing on the message of exactly who won this round, which made Hibari's irritation spike as his eyes narrowed and flashed an angry glare.

"Nasty herbivore..." He growled as the other one drew back hastily, displaying a laughable clumsiness when he almost toppled off the wall and stuffed the flag back into his pocket as he steered himself upright. The dignity and the mysterious aura he seemed to carry at night was evaporating with every moment passing as more light crept into the skies.

"Oi, herbivore."

Hibari scoffed when the other boy – it really became apparent now, because no grown up or female would stand like that and his physique only proved as such – slightly inclined his head quizzically.

Kyouya deadpanned.

"You are aware that school starts soon."

It amused the prefect to no end to watch the famed Kaze no Neko, the fastest and most graceful free runner in Yoru's society whom he hadn't caught in the night that passed – he will correct such a fluke certainly, when the next game comes – stumble and scramble to snatch out a mobile phone from his pocket. Once the screen lit, the boy let out something akin to a shriek and, gulping audibly enough for Hibari to hear, slowly raimed his head to stare intensely at the prefect.

Heels flashing in insane speed, the boy shot along the wall and, performing an exquisite double flip, lazy vaulted over the railings and disappeared into the streets of Namimori.

Hibari watched him go, and for what must've been for the very first time, he didn't feel the urge to bite the herbivore to death. Instead, he was contemplating things he saw today and things that he was reminded of.

Hibari Kyouya was a stubborn person and he wouldn't ask anyone of their whereabouts directly.

He had suspicions. He was a carnivore; he wasn't stupid like other herbivores.

So when Sawada Tsunayoshi, black circles under his eyes and a yawn stuck in his throat, came to school two minutes late that very day, the prefect and head of the Disciplinary Comittee Hibari Kyouya welcomed him by pulling the boy up by the scruff of his uniform and aiming a tonfa at his head.

Only to find that the boy slipped out and left his jacket in Hibari's hand while he ran into the school.

And the chase resumed.


A/N: If it helps, I had so much fun writing this chapter :D To be completely honest, this is my little baby that I've been writing since November. I hope you liked it as much as I did, and believe me, I usually do not like what I write.

I hope you find Kyouya at least at some times in character because I honestly wanted to make him like that. Just imagine that when he was younger, he wasn't as, uh, closed up and more considerate, if possible? And not as fast as Tsuna though devilishly strong nevertheless? I mean, he'd still be violent and sociopathic and scary stuff, but just a bit more open to some particular people? Tsu-kun is a fluffball and even Hibari knows it.

Regarding Tsuna, just imagine what would have been if he was happier with his life? I find this a plausible version of a Tsuna who found something fun in his life which resulted in a few changes that were the reasons to his Dame-iness. Consequentially, his self-esteem and engrained fear of bullies isn't present and you know how adorable Tsu-kun can be when he's happy. Hence his personality here. Plus, I suck at writing manga/anime!Tsuna 'cause it feels unnatural to insert so many shrieks and 'hiiiieee's into one paragraph. And about how he avoids Hibari like he's a strong person – I haven't said a word about Tsuna's fighting skills because he has none, being of the belief that free-running implies no violence. If he tried to go on the offensive, he'd loose in seconds, just how Hibari esteemed. I'm just saying that while Hibari is very strong, and faster than any person his age or ten years older, he still can't match Tsuna's strongest technique in this fic – his speed. So while Tsuna has no known weaknesses to force him to stop running, he's practically untouchable because he doesn't have a reason to stand and wait for 'kamikorosu, herbivore'.

I really really hope you like this chapter because this is one of those I put an actual lot of effort – not that I don't put effort in other ones, but this was harder to write but more satisfying – and I really wanted to write this kind of stuff. I'm a closet wing!fic fan, hence many references here. Also, obviously this chapter isn't the whole story to Tsuna's background. I was thinking where this has to be placed in the plot and I actually had this written for some time but it never felt quite finished so yeah. I think now it's finished.

I am also very sorry for not updating this in so long.

*cries in tumblr*