Title: Friends

Pairing: 692718

Type: One-shot

Rating: K+

Summary: Hibari has two imaginary friends: a petite boy with large, adorable golden eyes and gravity-defying red-orange hair; and a pineapple-haired boy with mischievous light blue eyes and red-violet hair. They were better than nothing; and Hibari loved them. Mild 692718. Fluff and slight angst.

I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

On the rooftop of Namimori Middle, a raven-haired boy bearing the name Hibari Kyoya was lying on his back as he gazed at the blue sky.

"Look, Hibari-san! Look at the clouds! They're so white!" a young boy with fiery red-orange hair and golden eyes said giddily as he pointed up to the sky.

"Tsunayoshi, calm down." Hibari said, glancing at the former.

"Just let him have his way, Kyoya-san. Tsunayoshi's really happy when he looks at the sky and the clouds." A voice belonging to the pineapple-haired boy, about the same age as Hibari, declared.

"I suppose, Mukuro." Hibari mumbled, looking up at the sky once again.

RING!

"Hey, Hibari-san, shouldn't you be in class?" Tsunayoshi – Tsuna for short – asked the raven-haired teen, floating over him.

"I could care less." Hibari said, turning to his side.

"But you have to study, Kyoya-san." Mukuro pleaded, shaking the raven-haired boy slightly.

"Please?" Tsuna asked, putting his hands together.

Tsuna and Mukuro were Hibari's imaginary friends. Plus, they were his only friends. But Hibari didn't mind. He liked being with the two of them.

His mind wandered back to the time he first met the duo.

During the first day of school, Hibari had somehow managed to end up in the rooftop.

"Might as well rest. It's breezy up here." He told himself, proceeding to lie down on the cold cement floor.

"Hey, Mukuro, look! Somebody's here!" a childish, happy voice cried.

"Kufufu, Tsunayoshi, don't be so loud; he might want to rest." Another one – this time, much mature-sounding – told the former.

Hibari sat up and searched for the owners of the voices.

And he found them; they were floating above the ground right before his very eyes.

"W-What the…" Hibari trailed off as he stared at the two floating figures with wide eyes.

"Hello! I'm Tsunayoshi! What's your name?" a boy with large golden eyes said excitedly, extending out his hand.

"I'm Mukuro, Tsunayoshi's friend and sort-of older brother." An older boy with red-violet hair greeted.

"Fine, I'll go to class." Hibari agreed, getting to his feet and heading for his class.

When his teacher and classmates saw him attend class, they were shocked, amazed, and afraid.

Tsuna merely giggled at this, earning a curious look from both Mukuro and Hibari.

"N-Nothing! Maybe they just aren't used to Hibari-san after all. That's why you should attend your classes more often, Hibari-san!" the red-orange-haired boy said happily.

Hibari merely sighed, then a small smile crept its way up to his lips.

After class, Hibari saw Tsuna and Mukuro under a sakura tree.

"What are you doing?" the raven asked the duo, looking up at the tree as they're doing.

"Admiring the sakura, that's all." Tsuna replied, still gazing at the falling sakura petals.

"Tsunayoshi, you really have a thing for nature." Mukuro remarked, ruffling the petite boy's hair.

"I have to go home now. See the two of you tomorrow!" Hibari waved, smiling at the both of them.

The pair smiled back warmly at him.

[New Year's Day]

"Look, fireworks!" Tsuna exclaimed happily, his big golden eyes staring at the beautiful burst of colors in the night sky.

"Tsunayoshi, why are you always so amazed?" Hibari asked as he gazed up at the fireworks as well.

"Because…" Tsuna pondered, then his eyes lit up, and he continued, "Because they're very beautiful and they remind me of our friendship with Mukuro, Hibari-san!"

"Tsunayoshi, is our friendship really that beautiful?" Mukuro chuckled, placing a hand on the boy's head.

Tsuna nodded and hugged the two of them. Even though Hibari couldn't feel Tsuna's body, he felt warmth radiating from his very own heart.

The day after, Hibari found Tsuna crying under a leafless sakura tree alone.

Mukuro was nowhere in sight.

"Mukuro?" Hibari called out into the cold air.

But nobody answered him.

Why did his chest hurt?

"Tsunayoshi?" he asked concernedly, settling down beside the boy, who was still crying his heart out.

"H-H-Hibari-s-san…" Tsuna said through sobs, eyes puffy and red.

"Why are you alone? Where's Mukuro?" Hibari asked his imaginary friend.

"M-M-Mukuro…. I didn't see him today… It was like h-he left m-me… He l-l-left us…." Tsuna stuttered, then continued sobbing.

"Mukuro… left us…?" Hibari repeated, his eyes wide with disbelief.

No… Mukuro wouldn't leave them.

Hibari refused to believe that.

"I-I'm sure Mukuro's going to come back." Hibari tried to comfort Tsuna, even though he was on the verge of curling up into a fetal position and start crying himself.

Tsuna just shook his head sadly and just leaned against the trunk of the sakura tree.

"Mukuro…" he mumbled sadly, more tears spilling out of his eyes.

It was the last day of school.

It had been months since Mukuro had left them.

Mukuro left them…

This certain statement threatened to send Hibari into a sad walk down memory lane or into a crying fit.

'No, Mukuro will come back.' He told himself to keep himself together.

He saw Tsuna sitting on a branch of the sakura tree; his dainty legs swinging back and forth.

"Tsunayoshi." The raven-haired teen greeted, looking up.

In return, Tsuna just smiled back at him sadly.

Why are his eyes on the verge of crying?

"Hibari-san, I have something to tell you." Tsuna began, looking away from Hibari.

"What is it?" Hibari asked, feeling more afraid of what Tsuna might say to him by the minute.

"Hibari-san… I…I am going to leave."

Hibari tried with all his might to not cry right there and then.

But a single tear slid down his face.

"What…?" he asked in disbelief.

First, Mukuro and now, Tsuna?

"I can't explain, Hibari-san, but I have to leave. Goodbye." Tsuna said, before fading away into thin air.

Hibari broke down that instant. He was leaning against the bark of the sakura tree with his knees pulled to his chest. More tears spilled out of his eyes as he bit his lip to prevent himself from desperately screaming out Tsuna and Mukuro's names.

Why did they have to leave?

Hibari was lying down on the roof once again.

He was a second year already, and he was the Chairman of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee.

He rarely left Namimori Middle, since he was still hoping that maybe Tsuna or Mukuro or both of them would show up.

But no, he never saw them again. So he stopped going to class, and smiling.

He had stopped going to the rooftops, but this time he made an exception.

He wanted to do some thinking.

After this, he won't ever go to the rooftops.

He was on the branch of the sakura tree, and in his palm was a sakura flower.

He gazed at it lovingly and smiled.

Mukuro liked the sakura, and so did Tsunayoshi.

Being near the sakura tree made him feel like Tsuna and Mukuro were with him.

They did have a lot of memories in this spot after all.

He missed Tsuna and Mukuro so badly, so he was always near the sakura tree, to keep himself from feeling lonely.

It was the first day of his third year.

He was about to settle down under the sakura tree when he spotted a familiar figure under it, gazing up like Tsuna did.

But this figure was not transparent, nor was he floating. His feet were touching the solid ground.

But as Hibari approached the figure, he realized that it looked like Tsuna.

There was only one way to find out.

"Tsunayoshi?" Hibari called out to the figure.

Said figure turned and faced him, eyes filled with confusion.

It was Tsunayoshi. But he had brown hair and brown eyes.

"U-Um, do I…know you or s-something?" the brunette asked timidly.

Hibari just mumbled "Never mind" and walked away from him.

He had confirmed that it was Tsuna.

But this Tsuna doesn't remember him at all.

'But…'

Hibari smiled.

'Maybe, just maybe…'

Hibari glanced back at Tsuna, who smiled at him brightly.

'He's still the same Tsuna that I loved so much.'

After school, Hibari had decided to go to Namimori Park.

There, he saw another, unmistakably familiar figure sitting on the swing.

The figure was alone, and he was gazing up at the orange afternoon sky and smiled to himself.

"The sky, huh…" Hibari heard the figure mumble to himself.

"Why do I feel like something's missing?" the figure said out loud.

Hibari silently walked closer in order to see the figure clearly and hear the figure talk clearly.

He(the figure) picked up a stick and began to write in the sandy soil of the park.

Afterwards, he left and dropped the stick.

Hibari went closer to see what the figure had written.

On the soil, the names Hibari and Tsuna were written, as well as, "I don't know who you are, but I think you're special to me."

Hibari smiled to himself as he realized that he, Mukuro, and Tsuna will be together again…

Even though they don't remember who Hibari was.

It didn't matter, as long as the three of them were together again.