No excuses... You can flame me for not updating.

"Hibari-san? Hibari-san, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked. He studied the other's face, trying to find a clue why he was so surprised.

Hibari snapped out of his shock and stared. "It's nothing," he lied, but Tsuna frowned.

Tsuna narrowed his eyes at him. "You're lying."

Hibari glared. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I am not."

"Yes, you are! I can tell!"

Instead of being angry, Hibari felt curious. "How?"

"There's this... feeling in my head and my heart feels… weird when someone lies," Tsuna explained.

Does he have some sort of sickness or unworldly luck…? Or does he have a good sense of intuition? Hibari thought to himself.

"It's just luck," Hibari said, shaking off the bizarre idea of some sort of special intuition. It probably had nothing to do with Giotto.

Tsuna pouted. "It's not luck! I know! I've never been wrong before," he insisted, cheeks puffing out in an agitated manner.

If he's never been wrong before, then that mean he does have a good sense of intuition… Hibari paused. Intuition… Giotto… His eyes widened. So he—

Tsuna peered at him curiously. "Hibari-san?"

No response.

"Hibari-san?" he repeated.

Still no response.

Tsuna stood up and looked curiously at Hibari. Walking over, Tsuna was startled when Hibari abruptly stood up and said, "I'm going patrolling."

Wondering if he'd done anything wrong, he followed Hibari with a concerned gaze.

Nana paced around the room, rubbing her eyes occasionally. "I shouldn't have let Tsuna alone… I won't let him alone ever again..."

She stifled a sob. "If I ever get him back… Oh, Tsuna… Iemitsu," She looked up and out the window. "Please find him."

Iemitsu waited anxiously at the runway in the forest. Namimori forest was a generally quiet place and a jet landing was sure to be heard by others. Why did they choose a quiet forest?!

Oh, just arrive already! I want to see my son... After all these years… Iemitsu looked older than what he actually was. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed impatiently. The stress was getting to him...

Glancing up at the sky, he hoped nothing had happened to his son.

Hibari was walking silently, staring at the ground.

Did I do something wrong? Tsuna thought. He stared at Hibari's back.

It was quiet.

If anyone had looked from their window, they would see Hibari walking. They would shrink back in fear, about to close their blinds, but see a little cute boy following him with a curious look on his face.

And they would think, What is that little boy doing?! He's gonna get bitten to death!

About to shout and warn the little boy, they notice that the infamous skylark was not doing anything. Confusion would take reign over their minds, the thought sticking to their brains. "Why isn't Hibari doing anything?" they would say. They would shake their heads, frowning in confusion, then closing their blinds to mull over this fact.

Tsuna blinked. Everyone's windows were shut and their blinds fluttered softly from being closed recently. Why was everyone's blinds closed?

Tsuna shrugged in confusion and looked back at Hibari again. "Hibari-san..." he called.

Still no response. Tears began prickling at the edges of his eyes. Did he do something wrong? Surely he did. Guilt and sadness made his small heart heavy.

"Hibari..." he whimpered. His face felt hot and his body felt warm. He looked down and squeezed his eyes together.

"What did I do…?"

Hibari had a revelation. The little herbivore was the descendant of a carnivore. The little herbivore was the descendant of a carnivore. Hibari did not give the title of carnivore so easily. Actually, it was almost impossible to get the title, for nearly everyone he knew or saw was a herbivore—irritating, noisy, crowding, weak herbivores.

It was unbelievable. But… it made sense. The little herbivore resembled the carnivore from the paintings and he even has the famous hyper intuition.

He continued walking thinking about the little herbivore and his orange flames. Why are his wings called Giotto? Is the soul of Giotto trapped in the wings? Where did the little herbivore get the wings?

He vaguely heard whimpering in the background. I must be near the woods—animals will get hurt in the wild. I must not interfere with nature. But even as he thought this, he had the urge to help out the little animal that was hurt. He looked back up from the ground—he was now aware of everything. The blinds of houses were closed and the sky was bright. The sun was beating down hard and there was the soft pitter patter of someone's footsteps. He was nowhere near the forest. Strangely enough, the steps were getting weaker until he heard a small poof!

It was confusing so he glanced behind him. He initially did not understand what… that was, but then it dawned to him.

Orange flames…

Brownish eyes…

An image flashed in his mind.

… Oh. The little herbivore followed me?

Tsuna was just so… so… guilty! He was not aware of what he did, but surely it was bad if Hibari was ignoring him!

He quietly stifled his whimpers and paid no attention to the fact that he was really, really warm—warmer than he should a regular hot day—and the fact he suddenly turned smaller. He stumbled; his legs seemed to forget how to walk properly. And, on instincts, he hopped. He hopped along, sniffling and brushing away his tears with something soft and warm. Did he wear a sweater today? Why would he wear a sweater when it's so hot?

"Herbivore?"

Eh? Tsuna looked up. But when he did, he jumped back a foot. "When did you get so big?!" he squeaked.

"... You're a bird. A flaming bird," Hibari replied.

Tsuna blinked his large, brown bird-eyes and chirped with a hint of confusion laced within it. He tried moving his arms forward but winced when he felt that they did not move that way. He looked down instead.

What he saw was not what he was expecting at all. Orange feathers covered his chest and it looked fluffy. He could see large brown claws, replacing his feet. He stretched his wings high above his head and saw it was orange with a tint of red where his wings connected with his body. At the end of his wings, warm orange flames licked up at the sky calmly.

He didn't know what to make of this. What… what was happening? His mind was not comprehending… Wha… He... was not human?

"Hibari-san, wha...?" he squeaked. And fainted.

He looked at the small creature in his hands. After the little herbivore had fainted, he had picked him up and headed back home. His flames were pleasantly warm as always.

… What a strange herbivore… Choosing to move when he's not even healed completely and he's already fainting…

"Tsuna-kun," a voice called out. The voice sounded familiar...

"Tsuna-kun, you have to wake up!" the voice paused. Oh, it's Fire-san's voice! "Well, if you wake up here then that means that you would be stuck here in your mind for a bit…" Fire-san said. Ah, but Fire-san told him to call him… Boto? Jugo? Jo… do?

"Nevermind, Tsuna-kun, go back to sleep!" Jodo said frantically.

"Ah, Jodo-san?" Tsuna mumbled, rubbing his eyes weakly. He pushed himself up to sit.

"... It's actually Giotto, not Jodo."

"Oh… Sorry," he apologized.

"Ah, it's okay! Just remember that from now on," he chastised lightly.

Tsuna nodded. Looking down on himself, he vaguely remembered...

He shot up from his position and shouted in shock, "I'm a bird!" His immense shock had caused his flaming wings to pop into existence from his back, flames ever so gently swaying.

There was silence.

Giotto spoke up after a while. "Actually, Tsuna-kun, you're in human form right now."

"Huh?" He looked down at himself, and indeed, he was a human. "Oh..."

Giotto smiled in response, reassuring that Tsuna wasn't crazy or that the memory was a dream.

"So.. What happened to me?" Tsuna asked timidly, choosing to duck his head down to hide his embarrassment of exclaiming... that in front of someone. Giotto noticed what he was doing, but chose to say nothing.

Instead, he explained. "Well, you fainted after the realization that you were in bird form."

Tsuna blushed and mumbled something. However, Giotto caught what he had said and gave a disapproving frown. "Tsuna-kun, you are not stupid or weak! It's normal to have that reaction! If anyone else found themselves as a bird, they'd do that too!"

Tsuna gave a confused look. "But that's what everyone at school says… Isn't it true?"

Giotto sighed and gave Tsuna a hard look. "If I told you to kick Alau—no, Hibari-kun, would you do it?"

Tsuna gave him a shocked look, and quickly replied, "Of course not! Why would anyone do that?"

Giotto smiled again and nodded. "See? Don't do or believe what others tell you. You live your own life, you make what you are today because that was your choice. You chose not to kick Hibari-kun since you care about him, right?"

Tsuna nodded, his chubby face starting to smile along with Giotto. "Right!"

"Good." He said, nodding. "Now that we got that out of the way, I'll finish explain what happened to you."

"Okay!" Tsuna exclaimed, nodding enthusiastically.

Ah, I see why Hibari took a liking to him… Giotto thought. He dismissed his thoughts, choosing to explain the current situation. "Well, after you… passed out, Hibari picked you up and started to head back to his home."

He earned a nod of understanding before Tsuna paused, as if thinking about a question.

"What is it, Tsuna-kun?" Giotto asked, prepared to answer his question.

"Mmh, well… How do you know that Hibari picked me up?" he questioned, his head tilting to the left.

"Ah, good question, Tsuna-kun!" Giotto praised, earning another embarrassed blush from Tsuna. "Well, to be honest, Tsuna-kun, I don't."

Tsuna made a very, very confused face, before it became enlightened. "Ah! Are you like me, Giotto… san?"

"Just call me Giotto," he chuckled. "But I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean."

Tsuna made a face. "I really don't how to… um..." He struggled slightly for the right word.

"Explain?" Giotto provided, chuckling lightly at the scrunched up face Tsuna made. Tsuna beamed.

"Yeah! Thank you, Giotto-san! I mean, Giotto..." Tsuna shyly looked at Giotto, embarrassed at how intimately they exchanged words. Tsuna never called anyone by just their names, as he had no friends. Hibari-san was his healer, providing him a safe place to stay before he could move around to search for his house. Tsuna had initially thought that Hibari could carry him to his house, only for the idea to be shot down when Hibari told him he could only do that if Tsuna knew the street name. Seeing how Tsuna seemed glum after that, Hibari assumed that he didn't know.

Giotto smiled softly at him, much like a proud father would do if his son had achieved the greatest goal ever. And for lonely little Tsuna, it might as well have. Giotto gently prodded at the discussion again, stirring Tsuna from his "embarrassing" situation. "Well? Are you going to tell me?" Giotto teased, smiling at him.

"Mmh-hm!" Tsuna chirped. "I'll try my best to… e-explain?" Tsuna looked at Giotto, waiting if he pronounced the foreign word correctly. Giotto nodding, ruffling Tsuna's head. His proud, father-like touch felt nice. It made him feel proud. It wasn't the same as his mother's petting, but very similar. It was like he had another parent, or an uncle, the term his mother mentioned before.

"Well, when something happens, like someone lying, I know if they were lying!" Tsuna exclaimed. "Or maybe… um… I feel like something's bad gonna happen, and I try… not to get hurt but I always do."

Giotto frowned slightly, but nodded anyways. "When you try to not get hurt or try to stay away from something, you 'avoid'." He smiled again.

"Mmh, okay!" Tsuna nodded his head several times, eager to learn new words.

Giotto smiled sadly, wondering how many times he got hurt from mischievous bullies. He seemed so eager to be accepted and to learn, but it seems that both the teachers and students don't. But before he could question him, Tsuna's feet started disappearing, startling both Tsuna and Giotto.

"HIIEEE! Giotto! Giotto! What's happening?! Why does it feel like someone's pulling me away?" Tsuna squeaked, flailing his arms as his shins seemed to evaporate . Giotto immediately grabbed him, telling him that he wasn't in danger. "It's okay! You're only waking up in real life!"

Tsuna stopped squirming, looking at Giotto with teary eyes. "D-does that m-mean that you're not real? That I only dreamed this?"

"No! Of course not. I didn't explain this before, but we're in your mindscape right now." Seeing Tsuna's confused face, he said, "A mindscape is like a world inside of your mind."

"Oh… So I'm only waking up? And why is my... mindscape so blank and dark?" Tsuna questioned, sending glances at his legs, nothingness creeping over his knees.

"Yes, you are, and your mindscape is blank because you didn't put anything in here yet," Giotto explained.

"I can put things in my mind? How?" Tsuna asked in wonder, blinking those large brown eyes at Giotto. Giotto simply laughed at how much awe was displayed on the cute face.

"Nuh-uh, Tsuna-chan! That'll be a surprise until the next time you visit your mindscape!" Giotto laughed, causing Tsuna to giggle as well. The last of Tsuna was disappearing into darkness and Giotto hugged his head close.

"Don't ever forget the ones you love, Tsuna. No matter what."

Tsuna woke up. He was very warm. He blinked his large brown eyes and shifted to look at his hands.

I'm a boy again! Tsuna thought, and grinned but faltered. But… if I'm a boy again, why am I so warm?

Glancing at his surroundings, he saw that he was in Hibari's arms yet again. In his shock, he had almost squeaked, which would have woken Hibari up and he didn't want that. He froze, not knowing what he should do, before settling with hugging Hibari closer.

But unbeknown to Tsuna, Hibari had already woken up due to Tsuna's shifting.

Aah, the herbivore woke up… And judging by his weight, he's a human again. Hibari idly thought. What to do…?

Hibari pondered his choices, before choosing to hug Tsuna closer. I bit a lot of other herbivores before… Tetsuya can deal with the usual batch of herbivores today.

They laid there lazily, cuddling and exchanging warmth.

How fluffy. And how terrible I am as an author. So, so terrible. And I'm not being modest—it's the truth. After months and months of procrastinating and contributing to the story little by little, I wrote this. Aren't I the worst? I wasn't even dead.

UWAAAAH, I'M THE WORST ACTIVE (but I might as well not be, seeing as I almost never update) AUTHOR EVERRRR! KILL ME NOW! KILL ME NOW! Actually, no, don't. I didn't complete my life goals yet. Then you can kill me. Until then, you can wait another few months for one chapter. Argh, the sentence makes me feel sad but it's the truth...