Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn © Amano Akira

I realize I jumped time a lot in this story and I can't help it. KHR has a thing with time-traveling even though the time-travel part itself was not the main focus in the long run.

4. As your Guardians

He woke up to the sound of a familiar melody but for the life of him, he couldn't remember it, or anything in the matter. The room was extraordinary grandiose and the bed where only him had been resting was too large for just one person, in fact it looked like it could fit in ten more persons and still being spacious then.

The music stopped. By the time his gaze fell on the grand piano situated on the other side of the room, a brunet was walking toward him. Those brown eyes drew him in, the way they glowed with inner strength in contrast to that soft smile spoke of the innocence hardly yet at the same time surprisingly went well with what this man was truly capable of. Almost feminine in build under his near transparent thin shirt, the light shade of skin tone indicated long hours of staying indoor, but the most misleading thing about him was his demeanor. For a dangerous kind of living being this man wholly entitled to, he didn't appear to be on guard in front of him. That meant this man knew him on a personal level, or he was that confident in his ability to look down on him, or he was a total idiot.

Before he could decide on one of the three assortments, the male casually sat on the bed by his side as if the definition of personal bubble between them was nonexistence. For now, they were supposed to be knowing each other, and seemingly closer than mere acquaintances then.

"He will lie." A voice in his head told him.

The brunet looked at him for a while, then he chuckled, broke their eye contact as his lids fell and hid his smile behind the hand he had lifted to cover his lips. "It's been a while since the last time I was on the receiving end of the look you are giving me," The male sighed, but instead of turning away in disappointment, that same hand reached over to caress his cheek as its owner leaned in until their noses were hairbreadth away, "They told me not to expect too much, but I can't help it. Do you remember me?"

"Don't let him get any closer." The same voice hissed at him.

"No." His voice came out icily, surprised himself by the familiarity with the one had been resounding in his ears. Unlike how relax the other male was, his body was completely rigid. His hands fisted on his lap as if to hold himself back from harming the only person in the same room with him. While he might have lost what he should remember about this man, the part that hadn't forgotten wanted nothing more than pushing him as far as possible, away from his sight. But at the same time,

Where does this desire to hold him so tight until he suffocates and dies in my arms come from?

"I know this may be very sudden to you, my Cloud,"

There was an unreadable glint flickered in the brown eyes before it was replaced with a soft light, so kind it was obviously fake if he didn't know any better. Strange, because these eyes looked persuasively honest to him, why was he so certain it was a false one the moment he saw it directed at him?

"You are Hibari Kyouya,"

His supposed name sounded wrong in the ears when being spoken by this male, he had no idea why. The way he caressed each syllable like a prayer? The way it came out from those lips with a gentleness that shouldn't be? The way those eyes looked at him as if they were going to cry because the pain in just saying his name was so immense, too overwhelmed that even tears were unable to fall anymore?

"I am Sawada Tsunayoshi,"

That name caused something deep within him to stir, his heart to quicken, his eyes to narrow. And the mantra of his own voice drilling the two words "he lies" repeatedly in his head with all kinds of emotions he had ever known, getting ever louder. Too loud. Until his entire body trembled, boiling with a desire. To kill this man.

"Your lover."

"You lie." He didn't think it was this easy to overpower this man who was too strong, maybe even stronger than him. But as his hand tightened around the slender throat, where his nails were leaving indents so close to break skin, and hovered over the other like a predator. He didn't only feel hatred for this man, but also the root of it when his memory returned like an assembling puzzle.

"You could have left everything behind and lived on as if these years never happened." Sawada Tsunayoshi told him with a disappointed smile, not in the least minding a fact his own life was being threatened.

"Unlike you, I do not entertain living in a lie." He sneered harshly.

The brunet closed his eyes and sighed in resignation, "I wish it would last longer, even for just another moment."

He frowned, removed his hand from the neck to grip the chin, until the Mafia Boss looked at him. His eyes widened. Was that… defeated? "What happened to you?" He found himself asking.

"Reborn is dead," He was told emotionlessly, "So did Yamamoto Tsuyoshi."

"Pardon?" He hissed, not liking what he had heard. He didn't care enough about the latter, but the former name was a different story.

"The information he sent back along with his Sun Arcobaleno Pacifier before he got paralyzed to death was hazardous. There is this kind of thing released in the air that exceptionally harmful only to Arcobaleno, the anti Tri-ni-set radiation. This matches the detail report you had Kusakabe delivered to me prior from your own investigation based on what left in Verde's facilities."

Tsuna closed his eyes with a tired sigh. "Byakuran, he got me."

"This is not like you, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Mmm, I didn't plan on seeing you, but I know I will regret it if I didn't… so…" Tsuna lifted his hand in their view, showing a crystal clear bullet between his index and middle-finger. "I commissioned Verde to create this not long after you left. The person who got shot by this will forget everything, themselves, and their life up to that point. Knowing how you hate abiding to someone else's rules, I had hoped it would last me an hour." He chuckled helplessly, "But this is enough. Had I known you imprinted myself to the deepest part of your memory even if you fell into the hands of enemies and got brainwashed to death for information, only seeing me would you remember everything…"

"You will what?" Hibari demanded, "This is the world where I can't have you for myself while you have all the rights to call me yours the moment I took one of those accused rings!"

"I can only give you my life."

His pupils dilated at the words spoken without hesitation, Hibari was shocked into stillness.

"Only you, who love me enough to hate me to the very core of your being, can kill me with your own hands." Tsuna cupped the pale cheeks in his hands, his thumbs traversed gently on the smooth and warm skin.

"What are you—!" His outburst was cut off by a finger on his lips.

"Irie Shoichi contacted me. I have gathered enough of his information to decide we can't win Byakuran as we are, not with what he is capable of." Tsuna frowned. The way his brows furrowed in thought right now denied the existence of that defeated look and acceptance expression earlier of his. Why, Hibari wondered.

"That is one of the reasons I think we should destroy the Vongola Rings."

Hibari didn't do so much after Tsuna's conclusion other than a blink.

"Just so you know…" Tsuna turned his gaze away, "I ordered the Varia to assassinate all the Vongola Cloud Guardian candidates after you left. Fortunately they all are too incompetent to even take on the Varia's lackey squad so no matter how many of them the useless old man threw at me, none ever passed the first round!" He raised his voice defensively by the end of his rant.

"Why are you telling me this?" Hibari questioned uncaringly.

"Do you know how tedious it was after you left?" Tsuna groused moodily, "Xanxus just doesn't know when to stop! He keeps whining at me for the lacking of elite Cloud flame fighters on both my side and his so I sent Hayato-kun to shut him up. But all they did was destroyed the Varia HQ. That man who claimed himself my right-hand man didn't like the design of the bathroom in his temporary living quarter because he has trypophobia, which was totally a LIE, and demanded his Jacuzzi to be changed to a rectangular shape to rile Squalo up!"

"… Have I been competing with these idiots for you all these years?" Hibari asked slowly.

"I don't know," Tsuna smiled sourly. "You have always been with Dino-san. I was convinced you returned your Vongola Ring to stay with him," He put a hand over his eyes and breathed out shakily, "Imagine my surprise when he and half of his men at my door asking your whereabouts as I was crying myself to sleep, holding your Vongola Ring, telling myself that you were still around somewhere and only dropped your ring and that you would go looking for it very soon…"

Hibari curled his hands into fists and swallowed hard.

What have we done…

"We don't have time to think about us anymore," Tsuna said softly. When he removed his hand and opened his eyes, all traces of bitter feelings were gone. Brown eyes narrowed sharply that also fitted well with how dangerous he had become over the years. "I want to place a bet on myself, who is ten years younger."

"Excuse me?" Hibari snarled incredulously. What did this total idiot thinking, leaving everything in the hands of a child, even if that child was himself? He was the one got hit in the head with a bullet recently, not this lunatic carnivore!

"I had Giannini worked on a safe field in which detached itself from the outside in our bases and special gears that will be to Reborn's liking as soon as he is transferred here from the past. As long as he stays within our bases, his life won't be in immediate danger." Tsuna closed his eyes with a smile, "As for myself…"

"There is no guarantee that child will survive in this world as it is now." Hibari warned.

"I know, that's why," Tsuna looked at the person above him and wrapped his arms around Hibari's neck, "You decide it. Kill me before I get killed by Byakuran, or make me become less boring in your eyes. Knowing Reborn, he would request you put me through the Vongola Trial to force a quick power boost on my younger self, and get me used to the fighting style of this era with you being the strongest person among those he could choose by then. Since you are not an idiot, you won't get switched that fast."

"You… there is no way to make you to rethink this?" Hibari whispered near desperately, lamenting those earlier ignorance seconds when his memory was still blank about everything, and most of all, about this man lying beneath him.

Tsuna shook his head. "Reborn told me there will be no change no matter I use this bullet on you or not. I didn't get what he meant then, but I think I understand now, even if it is too late…" Tsuna said in a strangle tone, his breathing was slightly uneven, a telltale sign of him trying to hold back from breaking down. "Please… give me another chance."

"Let go of me," Hibari told the brunet.

Tsuna shook his head again, tightened his hold around the other man's neck and pulled him down until Hibari was flattened against him on the bed. "If I get shot to death, I want my coffin to be placed in Namimori. The Namimori's discipline is best, peaceful, and most important of all, it is where I met you and everyone. It is the place everything begins."

Hibari shut his eyes tightly to block out the voice. He gritted his teeth in anger. One of his hand went around the small back, the other weaved in brunet hair, holding the lithe frame impossibly closer to him. "Shut up, or I'll bite you to death." There was a breathy chuckle from Tsuna as Hibari felt the hot wetness damping his shirt.

"What have we been doing… Kyouya-san?" Tsuna pondered quietly.

"Associating with you lot has turned me into an idiot too, so it seems." Hibari told him with a grunt.

"When I am with you, I feel like everything will definitely be fine."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"Did you?"

"… I'm biting you to death."

"Since I see you blushing like this, I can die happily now." Tsuna smiled contently.

"You will not die by the hands of an herbivore like Byakuran," Hibari lifted Tsuna's face by his chin, staring him down, "Because only I can bite you to death."

"Stop that," Tsuna grinned cheekily, "Your confession is making me feel really embarrassed."

"It must be your hobby to mess with time." Hibari told the one covering his eyes, whose lap was cushioning his head.

"It is your bad habit to sleep on the veranda, where you are exposed to the elements and catch a cold more often than not." The ten years older Tsuna told him without missing a beat.

"What kind of game are you playing this time?" Hibari asked bluntly.

"You are not cute at all. Just moments ago you were so small, so adorable I could have picked you up and squeezed you to death, now you are interrogating me!"

Tsuna was pouting, but because his hand was keeping Hibari from seeing him, the carnivorous lord and master of the house could only imagine how that mature face of the brunet looked like right now from his memory of that man. "I remember wondering where did that carnivore had disappeared to, leaving the tiny herbivore from earlier in his place like those common magic shows on the TV."

"… Was I the reason you have been keeping those tonfas…?" Tsuna wondered hesitantly.

"I figured if I'm holding onto them, you would eventually come back to retrieve them."

Tsuna ducked his head at his own stupidity. "So I went to the past, when my 5 years old self was being bullied by some drunkard meanies, as you were about to bite them with your too-young fangs, in a moment of madness I had used my Cloud tonfas because I'm sure using my bare hands is cheating, then dropped them when I ran to check on you later… you then picked them up and kept them until now…"

"And apparently, to ten years later, until they got hacked into pieces by an herbivore with illegal eyebrows." Hibari finished for him.

Tsuna let out a distressed groan.

"Don't make it your habit. You may become like that Byakuran." Hibari warned.

"It is too late…" Tsuna told him gravely, "I have become too evil I even act like a long lost friend of Xanxus. I loiter around the Varia HQ more often than my own mansion! He often drags me along to his missions, only to leave me alone at the tea table with all these big-bad-Bosses, telling me to be a good kid and behave while daddy went off to clean the place. Do you know how much I want to shoot him to death the longer his laughter got on my nerves? I swear he's testing my patience!"

"Wao," Hibari smirked, "Can I bite you to death now?"

"No." Tsuna rejected, "I am too dissatisfied with you to indulge any of your demands now."

An eyebrow arched, "And that concerns me how?"

"Because today is my birthday!" Tsuna declared mightily in explanation for everything.

"And?"

"Have you any idea how long since I've last seen you?" Tsuna demanded bossily.

"Since the week before my birthday to today, your birthday." Hibari responded nonchalantly.

"That's it!" Tsuna snapped, "I'm buying a gold cage and lock you inside until I'm through with you!"

Hibari's smirk widened, "That idea had resulted well last time, hm?"

"As I thought," Tsuna remarked emotionlessly, his earlier dramatic demeanor gone, "You remember." He lifted his hand from Hibari's eyes.

He looked identical to the one in the memory of his future self, this Sawada Tsunayoshi. But what was it he couldn't place his finger on? Hibari frowned. No, this one was a little different.

"You can't ask about the future, and you can't ask about us, either, or we will stop thinking about our own future." Tsuna closed his eyes with a sigh. "That's why only those who didn't get transferred to that future received the memory of our fight against Byakuran."

"Judging by your rules this time, I presume you are pleased with what you have now." Hibari surmised.

Tsuna smiled. Pink smoke surrounded him, in his place the current Sawada Tsunayoshi appeared, still sleeping and falling forward by the position his future-self had left earlier. Hibari's eyes widened in surprise, reflexively rolled away and off the brunet's lap before their heads collided.

"Ouch!" Tsuna groaned and rubbed his sore forehead, where it had hit the wooden floor. Wood? He sluggishly knocked his knuckles on the floor several times to be sure, not wanting to wake up yet. Definitely wood. Why? And it was cold. Too COLD! Where was his blanket?! Tsuna opened his eyes, looking around for his blanket frantically— "HIIII! WHERE AM I?!" He grabbed his head in horror, not recognized the traditional Japanese house he was in belonged to anyone he knew. He couldn't have sleep-walking in someone's house, could he?!

"… Sawada Tsunayoshi…"

Tsuna stilled and gulped fearfully, realizing the owner of that very menacing voice breathing down his neck like that of a reaper. Oh Gods… please have mercy…

Inside Hibari was grinning like a cat that got the cream.

.

.

.

In a certain Sawada household, Reborn went back to sleep with a dark smirk. He would train Tsuna to become that one, definitely. It had been too long since he met someone made his bloodlust raise so much. Next to him sat a letter with the Vongola symbol on the outer seal. I can't wait, Tsuna.

.

.

.

Tsuna glanced behind his shoulder and suppressed a shiver before he looked back in the front on time to dodge Hibari's chain wiped pass his cheek, flew out of the way when Roll started propagating from his sides.

"You are distracted," Hibari observed, retracted his chains and lowered his tonfas.

"I suddenly have a very bad feeling…" Tsuna murmured uncertainly, landed next to his Cloud Guardian, the flame on his forehead died out. At the other male's blank stare, he frowned, looking for the right words, "… like every time Reborn is planning something…"

"Mi~dori~ tana~biku~ Namimori no~" Hibird flew in and perched on Hibari's forefinger when the later raised his hand for him.

"You are going to be late for school." Hibari told the shorter male.

Tsuna blinked, looking between the bird and its owner, slowly registered what was said. His eyes widened before he shrieked, "HIIIIII!" Flame flared on his forehead and he flew home at breakneck speed.

"Wao."

Hm, interesting. Reborn watched them in secretive when they thought no one was looking. If Tsuna had been smiling and grinning happily among his friends when they surprised him by hiding in the living room and jumped out as soon as he came in, the moment he saw Hibari sitting on the rooftop, he was practically glowing. He had more or less confirmed their feelings, but how far along their individual progress was beyond his calculation. It seemed to be platonic at best, since Tsuna was still the blushing idiot when it came to Kyoko though the girl was oblivious as ever. And Hibari didn't appear to be any different from his usual aloof self.

Then there were these sneaking glances throwing back and forth. When their eyes met, Tsuna hastily looked away, appeared more awkward than embarrassed about getting caught by Hibari. Maybe he was reading too much into it where there was nothing to begin with? Because, there was the other profuse example when Tsuna caught Haru's eyeing him, the girl immediately flushed to the root of her hair and shied away from his questioning gaze for a while, or until his attention was elsewhere.

The mixed signal came up when Chrome kissed Tsuna on the cheek as she gave him his present and whispered "Happy Birthday, Boss," in his ear. Tsuna blushed, stuttering his thank to her over the protesting screams of Gokudera and Haru on the background. He noticed a slight twitch on Hibari's brow, and Mukuro's laughter under his breath, so softly it almost got washed away by the commotion.

It didn't happen until after his announcement that Tsuna was leaving for Italy as soon as he graduated from Namimori Middle. He had decided to personally take care of Tsuna's studying instead of waiting for him to go up the grades like now. First thing it was taking too long, the second thing was for several of his personal reasons that involve Tsuna. Nono had sent him a letter asking about his thought on Tsuna's schooling progress and he was not happy at the rate like now. It was not about Tsuna being Dame-Tsuna anymore, it was because Tsuna could take more than what he was taught at school due to his recent development regarding him going into Hyper Dying Will mode at will. Of course Tsuna didn't mean to take advantage of it and his forehead didn't suddenly ignite flame while he was in class, it was just the sign his normal self was in harmony with the flame he was born with more than before. He felt bad for taking the normal life away from Tsuna too soon, but Tsuna had already become the Boss of his own generation. Even if Tsuna wasn't still vehemently refusing, Reborn doubted he would do any different. Maybe Colonello was right, he should inspect his own feeling when Tsuna was concerned than measuring Tsuna's relationship with the others.

Tsuna had fought, fought him hard. He expected the reaction, but didn't anticipate this level of ferocity and animosity. Tsuna wasn't yelling at him for being unreasonable, instead, he asked calmly if he could destroy Vongola as soon as Reborn was done educating him in Italy, because it was the reason he had to leave Namimori. By that, Tsuna had questioned him if he would choose Nono and his Vongola, or Tsuna himself. He had answered Tsuna the same thing Primo told him in his Vongola Trial, to do whatever he wanted with Vongola.

Tsuna approached Mukuro then. But before Reborn could read their lips, the Mist Guardian had shrouded them both in his own illusion, taking them away from the normal eyes.

"Kufufu, that Arcobaleno is getting on my nerves. I hope you don't mind, Vongola." Mukuro said, sitting on the grass field similar to the scenery in their dreams.

Tsuna shook his head and sat down next to the other. "He had been very quiet I was worried earlier. At first I thought he came up with that idea on another whim but by his demeanor tonight, I knew he had given it some serious thoughts. Announced it like this also means he is asking everyone to choose."

"Oh?" Mukuro feigned a smile.

"Mukuro, you accepted to become Vongola Mist Guardian was because your real body had been imprisoned and my dad promised to protect your friends right? Now you are free so there is no need for you to work with the Vongola anymore."

"Are you renouncing me, Vongola?" Mukuro asked monotonously.

"Yes," Tsuna replied, turned to look at the heterochromatic eyes narrowed at him, "Because you don't need Vongola anymore."

Mismatch coloring eyes widened.

"We all saw it when we fought against the Simon family, Giotto-san's memory of when he created Vongola. It was not the current Vongola and nowhere relatively looked like a Mafia Famiglia. I admire Giotto-san and want to create my own Vongola." Tsuna stared at his hands, clenching and unclenching then curled them into fists. "I am going to destroy the Vongola that used to act like the Estraneo Family and all the terrible things I had seen through the previous Bosses' memories. I'll be the last Boss of this Vongola."

Mukuro wanted to laugh at the hilarity of this child's idea, but… He put his hand on Tsuna's head, the corner of his mouth curled up.

Tsuna looked up at the sudden touch, his eyes widened at the smile directing at him. It was not same as the usual arrogant smirks, this one made this person beside him look more on the kind side than anything else.

"You are interesting. I guess I'm sticking around a little longer to see how you'll go about it." At Tsuna's brighten expression, Mukuro added, "Besides, if I use the name Vongola to provide temporary replacement for internal organs, I can drain any Famiglia in no time since that Arcobaleno from Varia had set an example."

"That's too expensive!" Tsuna shouted in exasperation, remembering Mammon's ridiculous price for Byakuran's organ.

Mukuro shrugged uncaringly, adopted his usual condescending tone again, "What are you talking about? I am providing for Chrome, Ken, Chikusa, M.M., and recently Flan all by myself. Of course my service can't be cheap or they all are going to die from starvation."

You are talking like a loan shark! Tsuna screamed in his mind.

"And you!" Mukuro pointed his finger at Tsuna's face, causing the brunet to recoil at his intimidating glare, "I can't charge you because Chrome will hate me, so I will have to make do with your meager paychecks while taxing something else! You are in no position to harass me about being expensive!"

Harass you?! Tsuna looked away and muttered sullenly, "Uh… thank you very much?"

"Your attitude doesn't sit well with me. Show me your gratitude by getting on your knees and kiss my toes!" Mukuro demanded, standing up with his hands on his hips and stared Tsuna down.

Tsuna also stood, facing Mukuro and raised his hand palm up. "Stab me."

Lips parted slightly but Mukuro caught his surprise gasp on time.

"If I make a contract with you, then you can kill me whenever you feel like I'm going to become what you detest most."

Mukuro closed his eyes and breathed out. He put a hand on the back of the brunet head and drew Tsuna to him, propped his chin on top of the fluffy hair to hide his smile. "Have I not told you before, I already decided to trust you, Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna was smiling. "I can't give you any paycheck now."

"Kufufu, you still have your underdevelop—"

"Don't start that."

There was hostile lightning sizzling in the air when Mukuro and Hibari glared each other down as soon as the former returned with Tsuna. It didn't take long for the others to realize the birthday boy was missing, because of the obvious.

Instead of Chrome who was closer to Mukuro than everyone presented, Hibari sensed exactly where they would reappear first, because he had been glowering at the spot long before Chrome looking in the same direction.

The event after Gokudera settled down (since screaming at the top of his lungs was completely ignored by the man he had been screaming at for kidnapping his beloved Juudaime), was the continuous of where they left from earlier. Gokudera originally from Italy, so if Tsuna was going to leave Namimori, he had no reason to stay. The same with Lambo. However, Tsuna didn't let Ryohei and Yamamoto choose between himself and their family still in Namimori, so the two didn't object him when he told them to stay but they didn't appear to be happy about that either.

Now Tsuna went out to the veranda, where Hibari sat by himself away from the crowd staring at the small garden.

"Hibari-sa—"

"Come." Hibari stood, walked over to the wall and jumped outside.

Tsuna hesitantly looked over his shoulder to the group still chattering between themselves. He saw Mukuro looking at him and motioned with his eyes to go after Hibari. He nodded his thank and ran out of the house.

When Reborn shot Mukuro a displeased look, the heterochromatic eyes male only shrugged him off. Well, since their future Boss relieved him of their former contract in which he became Vongola Mist Guardian in exchange for the protection of the Kokuyo gang, he had no reason to answer any of them now.

"That Baby has been watching the whole night." Hibari told Tsuna as soon as he saw the brunet, sitting on his motorbike with a look could only be described as annoyance in his face.

"You noticed too…" Tsuna said lamely.

Hibari grunted dismissively, "Unlike those herbivores, I am not an idiot." He threw a helmet to Tsuna, "Come on."

"Hibari-san…" Tsuna whispered uncertainly, tightened the circle of his arms around Hibari's mid-section as they sped away, "Do you have a license?" He wouldn't dare to ask Hibari that if the wind wasn't so loud it howled over his voice, and the likelihood of Hibari hearing him was very low. But, this was strange. Even if Hibari didn't have a license and driving at a reckless speed like now, Tsuna still trusted him with his life without second thought.

Hibari parked when they arrived at a more seclude part of Namimori where mountain on one side and the ocean on the other side of the road. The raven sat cross legs on a curb dangerously perching on the cliff's edge, one slip could cause his life to be swallowed in the maws of the angry waves roaring below.

"Hibari-san…" Tsuna called anxiously. Thousand and one reasons came to his mind as to why there was no Hibari in that five minutes in the future he had visited months ago.

"Why have you let me take you here away from the other herbivores?" Hibari questioned, not waiting for answer, he continued, "Why did you cling onto me while you are fully capable of taking care of yourself with those flames of yours?"

"I trust Hibari-san." Tsuna told him, gripping his hands.

"Why?"

"When I am with you, I feel like everything will definitely be fine."

Silver eyes widened at that. "When I am with you, I feel like everything will definitely be fine." The older voice of the same brunet from distance future that had long passed resounded in his ears. Hibari lowered his head, bang covered his eyes. "How about if I am not with you?"

"I don't want that!" Tsuna shouted at Hibari's back. "I had been searching but I couldn't find any sign of you ever being there or anywhere at all. No picture, no name, nothing! As if you have never been there to begin with! I don't want any of that!" He shook his head in hysteria.

"Has it ever occurred to you that I've had enough with you herbivores and leave?"

Tsuna gripped his hands, fearing the obvious answer. "Have you, Hibari-san?"

"Yes."

It hurt, hearing that directly than the time Reborn told him Hibari got hives from associating with them for too long. But he couldn't ask anything of Hibari, could he? After all, what was Hibari's reason to become Vongola Cloud Guardian? He wasn't even the one asking him, or anyone else in the matter. Everything was decided by Reborn and his dad. Nothing, none of the Vongola Guardians ever be his choice. Even Reborn came knocking at his door to become his home-tutor was not his choice. That was why he didn't have any say in everyone's decision…

"You are having that same boring look again." Hibari now sat facing him, staring at him. "What exactly do you think you can understand within five minutes of running around like an idiot in the future?"

"I…" Tsuna bit his bottom lip, unable to answer.

"Hadn't the first future taught you anything?" Hibari stood, closed the distance between them in one long stride and put a hand on Tsuna's cheek to lift his face so they were eye to eye, "When you wake up in a world you don't understand, you readily believe in what you see and what people tell you about it. You chased after Irie Shoichi with the clues Gokudera Hayato left for you, only to find out that was the plan of your future self and the red hair herbivore along with my future self to take down Byakuran."

"Then…" Tsuna spoke softly, hope raising in him.

"You will go doing what you want to do. And I will do what I want to do."

"What do you want to do, Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked curiously.

"This may take time, but by then," Hibari directed his gaze upward at the night sky, "I'll be the only one can bite you to death."

The Vongola Mansion, ten years later.

"Damn! Shit! And every hell in between!" Gokudera cursed under his breath as he peeked at the kitchen from a corner away. "Chrome is in there by herself."

"This is fatal to the extreme!" Ryohei whispered beside him, also flattened himself against the wall.

"I wish I can go back to Namimori and visit my dad." Yamamoto forced a strain smile but his voice was shaking with trepidation.

"She's even singing 'Bring me to Life' while baking cake for our early death." Mammon muttered.

"Vooooiiiiiii, someone gets the hell in there and murders that woman before she cake-poisons us all!" Squalo hissed, only keeping his voice down for this kind of situation.

"Ushishishi, the prince is leaving on a vacation now—"

"Bel-sempai, the scariest Boss told our lazy Boss that if anyone doesn't eat the cake Chrome-nee makes for his birthday with him, he will dump his entire paperwork on that person until the next time his birthday comes around." Flan cut him off monotonously.

"Che…" Belphegor clicked his tongue.

"Alright, lets man up and say 'no' to the paperwork by eating the damn cake!" Lambo suggested tearfully, on the receiving end of Chrome's cooking for years.

"Ossu! Let's eat the cake and be a man to the EXTREME!" Ryohei yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Oh~! You are so manly, Ryo-chan~!" Lussuria put his hands on his cheeks and swayed where he was, batting his eyelashes at the Sun Guardian.

"I think I'm gonna puke…" The group grumbled.

"What the hell are you trashes doing here?"

"Xanxus/Boss!" The Guardians and Varia exclaimed in alarm.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Xanxus snarled at them, kicked Levi away from his boots and pulled out his guns in the ready to fire, "Do you think this Xanxus-sama would eat that sorry excuse of a ca—!"

"Oh, everyone is here," Tsuna said behind him, smiling brightly.

"BOSS!" The Guardians and Varia, minus Xanxus, screamed in terror.

A half-dead Mukuro dragging himself behind Tsuna, black rings circled his eyes from sleepless days and nights of doing Tsuna's paperwork for nearly half a year now (as punishment for pulling a prank on Tsuna). The onlookers visibly cringed at his current state, Xanxus was a bit subtler.

Tsuna clapped his hands once in glee. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's eat my birthday cake together!"

In comparison with Tsuna's megawatt smile, his words were like death sentence descended on the heads of those who presented.

"J—Juudaime," Gokudera scratched his cheek with a finger, stretching his smile, "Reborn-san has not returned yet and another one is missing still…"

Nice stalling, Gokudera! The others urged him on in their heads.

"Ah, don't worry about Reborn. He's out hunting, last minute errand for me." Tsuna's smiled disappeared as his poker face returned, "And the last one will be home late, no need to wait."

DAMN THEM!

Omake

"It will be troublesome fighting without the Vongola Ring." Hibari said with a sigh.

Tsuna looked down, his fingers stopped their random circles in the short raven hair. "Why?"

Hibari raised his hand, "Give me any Cloud Ring."

Tsuna blinked, tilted his head, and put an A-rank Cloud Ring on Hibari's middle finger. As soon as his hand moved away, Cloud flame ignited on the ring and it shattered, reduced to nothing.

"… I see," Tsuna observed solemnly, "Your flame pressure is too strong. It would certainly put you at disadvantage when you run out of rings in battles." He felt Hibari's head shifted in his lap as the man nodded. They lapsed into silence, each with their own thought. "I didn't know you are so pissed at me that none of the rings could withstand it!" Tsuna cried dramatically, covered his face with his hands.

Hibari's eye twitched, grinding his tonfa under Tsuna's chin threateningly for attempting humor at time like this. "Shut up, or I'll bite you to death!"

A/N:

In case anyone will ask, this chapter hinted that the place Tsuna couldn't find Hibari when he was transferred to the future in previous chapter is the Varia HQ. There is no Cloud Guardian in the Varia, they have two Mist Guardians (Mammon and Flan) instead.

I've decided to end this one here and I am planning its sequel with a T-rate continuous story. The reason is because the K+ rating is not suitable for later events, and how about just change the rating from K+ to T? I'm still considering it.

Many thanks to everyone who have been following, favorite and put me on their author alert. Special thanks to my reviewers who had taken time to leave me reviews, I love all of them.

Again thank you for reading my story and see you around,

Asuka K.