Note: Unedited. No Beta. Slow update.

Wide Skies

Stage I: Childhood Days

Chapter Six Part III: [7 Years Old]

Ever since Hibari encountered that herbivore who was quite obviously being chased by those rule-breaking herbivores carrying weapons which he never allowed inside Namimori, he noticed that his beloved town swarmed of annoying insects gathering around and dirtying his territory.

After he had cleansed his town of those gang-pests and yakuza-bugs, these bunch of wussy herbivores come and have him do his work all over again?

Didn't they know that this town was his?

No one was allowed to disturb the peace of Namimori.

As he disposed the annoying bugs loitering around the honey-eyed herbivore that greatly resembled a lion cub complete with huge glittering eyes and a presence confusing enough that he almost dubbed him as a carnivore if it weren't for the fact that he hid from those rule-breaking herbivores the first time he saw him, he couldn't help but think that perhaps, the increase of disturbance around was because of him.

Or more specifically, the triplets.

Truthfully speaking, he didn't know why he was drawn to that herbivore, why he felt … at ease when around him. He couldn't understand when he knew the other was a complete herbivore.

Perhaps it was because of the fact that the other had the potential to rise up to his omnivorous self.

That was something interesting indeed. Perhaps he had to look for the herbivore's health a lot more. Then he'd have someone who could challenge him when time comes.

It's not as though he cared really. He only disposed of these crawling insects around because they were disturbing the peace of his town. They also give him challenge and they were fun to beat to death. They're squealing was annoying true, but it was satisfying to silence them.

Literally. In this case, his connections were properly used to dispose of the bodies that were trailing around his town.

Ah, if only they didn't have guns with them and tried to shoot him, telling him that they were going to kill him like he was a helpless herbivore, that they were in the higher food chain than him. If only they didn't feel the need to lord their supposed status as a carnivore in front of him, he wouldn't have felt the need to kill their herbivorous selves.

Really, his various network of connections – that all Hibari had, only his were excessive and extensive since he had already made it a point to increase his personal connection ever since he was five years old after his father and mother taught him how to while he was still three. He's a genius after all, and a carnivore – were useful in this case.

They do their job well.

As he pressed the button on his phone and called one of his minions to do clean up, he looked back at the house of the three confusing and annoying herbivores which were being illuminated rather nicely by the moon in the starry sky.

Yes, he'd watch out for them. Especially that herbivore he first met.

It's not because he cared really.

They just presented a rather interesting life for him.

If his continued association with that herbivore for these past few months was any way good enough to determine his character, his potential was staggering along with the other two.

It wasn't as if it was hard really. Because as much as he would like to grumble about their incessant chatter, they're tolerable as they let him be.

And the free meals were also nice.

. . . . .

Hideaki was now running along the short cuts and narrow places he knew around the town he was in, sweating as the sun above was up and scorching hot in the morning. He was angry yet at the same time apprehensive and afraid as someone was following him wherever he went to, running along and catching up with him. If it weren't for the fact that he knew every nook and cranny of the entire town and was able to slip into many small holes that would lead to the other side of the town, his pursuer might have caught up with him.

And he'd be dead.

That gun the other was carrying wasn't just for decoration he was sure.

Especially when he already knew the true job of his father.

That- that- that idiot of a father of his was a complete moron! He had never been vocal about the utter naivety and idiocy of his father. Not in front of himself and certainly not in front of Na-kun. He just let everything be and didn't say anything. Not that hard and full conviction in his voice like what Ki-chan had been doing since they saw their father again after how many years had passed. He sometimes even discouraged Ki-chan from talking like that about their father, if only so Na-kun wouldn't be sad.

But in this instant, he'd agree to everything his twin sister ever say when the topic of their father ever came up.

He's a part of the mafia! Apparently a leader of that organization that ruled side by side with that powerful mafia in the entire underworld.

And he didn't leave any protection to them?! Was he really right in the head or was he just this seriously inept thinking about perfectly worst case scenario?

'He's part of the mafia! The underworld! Couldn't father think about our safety and leave just a few of his useless men to look after us and make sure no one from his side of business ever comes within a foot of us?' he couldn't help but snarl inside his head.

To be perfectly honest, out of the three of them, he had the worse temper. Everyone thought it was Ki-chan who had the worse temper but that wasn't true. Ki-chan's temper was like a tantrum of a child their age. Out of the three of them, she acts the most childish and was always prone to childish fits even if she did have a quite sharp mind which she rarely use as she knows that that was more of my area. My temper was cold and vicious.

And all of them along with their friend knew that fact.

Na-kun also had a temper, but it was more concentrated on calculated and word play along with delivering promises he gave when his temper was evoked. When it appeared, even his temper paled to Na-kun's. But his older twin brother's temper was rarely – if ever – evoked. He had a Saint's patience so for Na-kun, he and Ki-chan compensated.

They worked well like that.

And because of this fact, he already knew how Na-kun would react if ever he was in his position. He would keep quiet and hope it wouldn't continue. And if it happened again, he would make sure none of them would know.

They wouldn't even know if it already happened unless he was already gone.

Or dead.

And that thought made fear took over him along with his anger.

He stopped running. He just stood up there and didn't move. He was suddenly calm and not an ounce of fear, apprehension, anger or fury came onto his mind. He was just quiet and his intuition was flaring with knowledge on what he would need to do next to eliminate the current threat to his family.

And to Na-kun specifically.

He wouldn't ever allow anyone to hurt his family.

Ever.

He heard footsteps behind him until it stopped. He knew without turning that the person behind him was the woman who kept on trying to capture him.

"So… you made me run throughout this whole goddamn town when you were going to surrender anyway?! You made me sweaty when you already wanted to die in the first place? You brat!"

He stayed silent, waiting for the right time to strike. It's no use listening or even facing the other.

Not when the woman was bound to be erased in the world.

"Not going to turn? Anyway, I just have to kill you and my vacation starts," he heard a cocking of what he knew was a gin. He didn't know where the knowledge came from and he didn't question it. The knowledge was helping him. He didn't need to be cautious about it.

"Die," when the woman said that and fired, he moved to his right side in a split-second, knowing that he missed the gun by a millimeter and dashed to the woman. In a second, he was right there in front of the surprised woman's face.

He didn't speak. He instinctively gathered some sort of scorching yet warm energy – something that reminded him of Na-kun quite well – in his right hand, raised it and smashed it right to the woman's face.

She screamed.

He pulled his hand back, looking at it coolly yet a bit confused as he tried to understand why his hand was on fire with a color orange mixed with indigo flames.

The screaming was still on and he snapped his attention to look at the woman who was trying to put the fire of her face to no avail. He wondered why she wasn't dead yet.

He blinked and the dual flame on the woman's face spluttered and died just as the fire on his hand did. Suddenly, he was horrified and felt like vomiting when the woman passed out right there and then, gun falling beside her.

He didn't want to come close but he had to. He had to see, had to know if the woman chasing him was dead or alive.

He forced his feet to move towards the other, not looking at the burnt face of the other and just reached to the woman's hand feeling for a pulse. He gave a sigh of relief at feeling a pulse. He stood up, wanting to run away from there when he saw the woman.

Her face was burnt quite badly. He felt sick.

He bolted away from there and ran towards the other side of the town, back towards the house and to the presence of his Maman.

He wanted to be held at that moment.

. . . . .

"Maman? Hi-kun?"

Tsuna looked around his home tentatively, Ki-chan peeking behind him. Their lunch time was already finished and class was about to start earlier when Hi-kun never returned to the place they said they'd wait.

He was nervous.

Because those men that had been chasing him kept on returning and running towards him with their weapon's in sight and directed towards him. And with Hi-kun looking quite alike with him, he worried that they would chase his twin brother instead of him.

And that is unacceptable.

He was already allowing them to chase him. They weren't allowed to touch or hurt even a strand of his family's hair.

They waited for almost an hour for Hi-kun to return, not attending class as they were quite worried for their twin brother but not even his shadow was there.

So they decided to return home after another hour of waiting thinking that if Hi-kun didn't return, he might have a reason. In that case, maybe he went home immediately.

And their house was eerily silent.

He blinked a bit when Ki-chan decisively stepped inside while preventing him from entering with her arms stretched to the side. He didn't bother to object her sudden bout of protectiveness. He was already used to Ki-chan and Hi-kun's antics. It made him warm inside anyway so he let them.

It wasn't as if he wasn't also protecting them so they were fair really.

Ki-chan was about to open her mouth - no doubt she would shout with how wide open her mouth was and how she took a deep breath when they heard footsteps coming right from upstairs. Both him and Ki-chan tensed, looking to see who would come.

When they saw Hi-kun uncharacteristically wrapped around a huge blanket, some of it being dragged onto the floor.

"Hi-kun!" they both exclaimed in confusion and relief. Relief because there wasn't any stranger in their house and Hi-kun was safe inside and confusion because he looked tired as he looked at them from his cocoon of blanket.

Something that Hi-kun never does unless the three of them were doing it inside a blanket. Or when they were persuading him to join the two of them.

"Hi Na-kun, Ki-chan," Hi-kun said and even his voice sounded tired. He wasn't even wearing his glasses. He looked like he just woke up from a very, very bad nightmare.

He and Ki-chan looked at each other before he went inside towards where Hi-kun was standing, leaving Ki-chan to close the door and follow him.

When he was already right in front of Hi-kun, he hugged him tightly, feeling him tremble even with the blanket wrapped several times around him. He became afraid. Hi-kun was a strong person. Out of the three of them, he was the most confident one and didn't seem to be affected by everything around him. One could say that he was cold out of the three of them.

But of course he's different when it came to their family. All of them were.

But to see him like this, it made him fear about what could have happen to make him like this. Even to the face of the bullies, Hi-kun was strong. He didn't even react this severe when they finally knew what their father was hiding from them. Why he was always away from them. He was still calm, a little unsettled but calm.

This… Hi-kun was clearly unbalanced by something.

What happened?

"Hi-kun?"

He didn't speak. He just stared at him through tired looking eyes. He bit his lip in worry. Suddenly, they were both engulfed into tight embrace. Well, more like they were pounced. They were forced to sit on the floor with the force she delivered. They didn't stood up. They were comfortable in their position after all.

"Hi-kun, you okay? What happened? Why did you come home early? We waited for you for hours!" Ki-chan whined softly, still embracing them.

"Sorry," he mumbled. Hi-kun was looking down the stairs so he didn't see Ki-chan, but he was looking at her so he saw her bottom lip quiver before she bit it rather savagely to apparently stop it.

"Hi-kun…" he said, her voice soft and really, really worried. His heart beat fast.

"Hi-kun, tell us what happened," he said, voice firm. It didn't break and hi tone clearly said to tell them. He didn't use the tone often because it felt like he was ordering them and he didn't want that. But he had to do it because Hi-kun was being even more quiet even though Ki-chan was right beside him smothering him with her tight hug.

Hi-kun didn't like being smothered by Ki-chan and they always argue when she did it – maybe that's why Ki-chan did it earlier, to get the usual reaction from Hi-kun – but he didn't react. That meant he didn't mind it.

And it meant something was really, really wrong.

"Mafia people," Hi-kun said after probably a minute of staring at each other. Ki-chan gasped in surprise. But his eyes went wide and he felt as if his heart stopped for a second before beating faster than before.

How dare they? How dare they touch Hi-kun when they were already running after him! Wasn't he enough? What did they do to Hi-kun? They better not have tried to kidnap him like they did to him or tried to even harm a finger of him!

"Na-kun," Hi-kun quiet voice interrupted his anger and he immediately looked at his brother, startled to hear the usual tone of his voice rather than the tired one he had before. He saw him looking at him in quiet determination.

"Hi-kun?" he asked tentatively.

"Did they come after you before?" he resisted the urge to open his eyes wide in utter surprise. Because that would give him away almost immediately. But then again, he didn't want to lie to his brother so he kept quiet, letting them think what his answer would be.

And of course they arrived to the correct conclusion. There is a saying that silence meant yes after all. And even if he didn't quite believe in that saying, in this instance, it was true.

"They did?" Ki-chan asked in surprise and disbelief while Hi-kun looked at him gravely, the expression seemed to oddly fit his appearance right at that moment. He winced. He knew why she sounded like that and why Hi-kun looked at him like that.

Hi-kun didn't look surprise because he already probably had an idea while he was being chased while Ki-chan did because she didn't know. And disbelief because she couldn't believe he didn't say anything about it.

"Why didn't you say anything Na-kun?" Hi-kun asked, disappointment clearly on his voice. It was his turn to not say anything again.

"You would have been hurt and we wouldn't know until we see you… bloody…" Ki-chan started out passionately, her eyes held out a quiet ember of fire that immediately fizzled out as her voice dragged out her last words softly, almost afraid. Her eyes watered and tears slid down her cheeks. He became alarmed.

"Ki-chan! I-I'm okay! See?" He let her look at him and she wailed. He immediately turned and gave her emotional sister a hug. She smacked his shoulder repeatedly as Hi-kun looked on, eyes still grave.

"Na-kun you dummy! How could you! What if- what if you were gone? What would we do? What would happen to us? To Maman? Dummy! Dummy!" she wailed and sobbed, continuing to hit him until she held onto his shirt tightly. He saw Hi-kun's eyes held the same convictions and worries as Ki-chan even if he did keep quiet and felt horrible.

He just wanted to protect them. He didn't want them hurt. But it seemed his action still hurt them even with his good intentions.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

He could remember that saying, echoing inside his mind. When he read that one before, he couldn't understand why. But now… seeing both his brother and sister's reaction, he could.

He could.

"I'm sorry. I thought… I thought it's better if you didn't know. You won't have to worry about it,"

"Na-kun, we would worry more if you didn't tell us and then one day, you couldn't return because they took you. Or they… they-" Hi-kun stopped talking at once, but they all knew what he was about to say.

Killed.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again. Sshh… don't cry Ki-chan. I won't do it again,"

Ki-chan took a few minutes to stop her tears from falling. She wiped them and gave him a glare with her red eyes and swollen from crying.

"You won't keep quiet okay Na-kun?" she demanded. He nodded with a smile, looking at them sincerely.

"I won't," he swore.

"Good," Ki-chan said imperiously, sniffing at them that both him and Hi-kun smiled.

Finally, he thought seeing that smile on his brother. He brought his attention back to the still wrapped Hi-kun.

"Were you only chased Hi-kun? Did they hurt you?" he worried. Hi-kun nodded and then shook his head. He was confused at that answer.

"They chased me and tried to hurt me but they weren't able to. I do know the town more than them," he said in a subdued voice. Both him and Ki-chan kept quiet and urged him to continue.

"I thought that they might have done what they were doing to me to Na-kun. I burned her,"

Silence.

"You- you burned her?" Ki-chan started incredulously. He nodded. Ki-chan laughed. Both him and Hi-kun looked at her as if she had gone mad.

"Ki-chan?" He asked.

"That's good Hi-kun. You did a good job. Now there are one less mafia people chasing after us," she said almost vindictively. Both him and Hi-kun looked at each other before Hi-kun spoke again.

"It was horrible Ki-chan. She screamed loudly and in pain. I could still remember the flames on her skin and the smell of burning flesh. It was ugly,"

"That's what she get!" she angrily said, standing up and stomping her feet in righteous anger. "They wanted to hurt and k-kill Na-kun. Take him away from us! Even you were almost hurt Hi-kun! They should know the feeling of that! Stupid mafia people! Stupid papa entering the mafia!" she grumbled.

He watched as Hi-kun nodded slowly at that, looking as if he could follow, understand and adopted Ki-chan's thinking even if he was still feeling unsettled. He sighed. He knew that they wouldn't change that thinking.

Especially when their family was hurt.

He would just observe them and teach them that not everything could be solved in violence.

Just not right now especially when their anger is still new.

They heard their gate open and they tensed. They watched as the door opened and saw that it was their mother carrying bags of grocery. The three of them immediately stood up and greet her and she blinked several times before smiling at them.

"Ara? My little angels are home? No class?"

They fidgeted before Ki-chan spoke.

"Hi-kun didn't feel well Maman. We came home. We forgot to tell the teacher," She said in a rush. Their mother immediately set down her groceries and went towards them upstairs as she saw Hi-kun wrapped around in a blanket.

He stared at Ki-chan disapprovingly and she mouthed out a 'Sorry'. He let it slide just this once. They didn't want to go out today after all.

"Hide-kun, are you okay?" Maman asked concernedly. Hi-kun grumbled at them but gave Maman a small smile.

"I'm okay now Maman," he said sincerely.

As he watched Maman fuss over Hi-kun while Ki-chan spoke, making Maman fuss over Hi-kun even more and Hi-kun looking disgruntled at Ki-chan as he tried to reassure their mother, he smiled.

His family is okay once again. True, Maman didn't know what was happening. But they'll tell her if Papa wouldn't.

Eventually. She has the right to know after all. They refuse to let their mother live a lie.

So they will tell her.

Eventually.

Just not right now.

TBC.

A/N:

Okay, this chapter is almost 3.7k words, the longest I've written in Wide Skies so far. So sorry for the late update. I got caught up in my other works. I have other KHR ones if you want to read. And two crossovers along with a bunch of other works I'm writing.

Guys, I just have to say that the ending is getting nearer and the juicy parts will come when their aged eight. That's a clue. You'd know why the summary is like that. I know all of you wanted to know about that. Then childhood stage is finish and we'll go to canon arc. And in that arc, my writing style will be the same as Eclipse (KHR). Just anticipate it.

Side Note: Guys, do you know the triplets and the guardian's age at this time? Their still kids really. Too young to think about love. There won't be romance in this arc. But in the next... yeah, there probably will be. It just really depends on them. Maybe this could be seen as foundation and potentials for partners...

So, give me your reviews? I really like reading your thoughts. Ideas are welcome too. :)

Review!