Hey everyone! So... this is the last chapter of the fic. Thanks to all who read, followed, favourited, and/or reviewed! A special thanks to Liliana Pelangi for your continuous support. You reviews always make my day XD Also, thanks to Doubting duplication, who played a HUGE role in the making of this fic by introducing me to the world of KHR in the first place.

Now, without further ado, here is Hibari-san's part. I hope you enjoy and, again, please drop me a review! Thanks ^.^

Disclaimer: I'd never dare to say I own KHR or else Hibari-san will bite me to death T_T

Chapter notes: This happens about ten years after the manga ending.

Chapter warnings: Descriptions of blood, mentions of violence and torture, and Gokudera-kun's swearing tendencies...

雲雀恭弥 – Hibari Kyouya

Kusakabe Tetsuya frowned.

They are going to ambush the Vongola Headquarters in two days…

It was a bit of a shock when they found out about the underground famiglia that had been building up in Japan. It was new, unheard-of, but quickly gathering in numbers with the sole purpose of bringing down the Vongola.

And the Vongola had a lot of enemies, especially since they had the foolish tendency of leaving people alive.

Kusakabe shook his head. He personally valued Sawada Tsunayoshi's kindness, but now it was coming back to haunt him.

And the Foundation had no way of contacting the Vongola HQ.

For one reason or another, their communications here in Japan were entirely shut down. They could disguise someone as a tourist and send him to Italy but, even if he made it without being gunned down on the way, it wouldn't give the Vongola enough time to call back all the Guardians and set up an effective defence.

They had to find a way to stall the enemy and, ideally, to make the Vongola attack instead of be attacked.

But how?

Kusakabe could only frown as he knelt in front of Hibari's room and slid open the shouji.

"Kyou-san…"

"Tetsu," the man greeted, setting down his tea cup with a certain deadly gracefulness.

"Kyou-san, it's been confirmed. They are launching the attack in two days."

Hibari poured more tea into the cup with steady hands. A wisp of pale, aromatic steam rose up and calmly dissipated into the air.

"And I apologize, Kyou-san," Kusakabe continued, "we still can't find a way to contact the HQ."

"Hmm…" Hibari hummed softly as long, slim fingers lifted the tea cup. He sipped quietly with his eyes downcast, thick lashes caressing pale skin. His hand hovered above the table for a moment before setting the cup back down without a sound.

Kusakabe kept his head down and remained silent. Hibari seemed to be weighing his options.

When he spoke again, his voice was intense.

"Tetsu, their boss, tell me about the man."

"Yes, Kyou-san. He was apparently the firstborn of a mid-power mafia family in Italy. He had inherited the title of boss when he was seventeen, when h–"

"No," Hibari interrupted, "tell me about the man."

Kusakabe frowned in confusion… before realization dawned to him.

Oh…

This was strange. Hibari rarely asked about an enemy's character.

"Yes, Kyou-san," Kusakabe replied, keeping his calm. "He is said to be quite capable, ruthless and, above all, arrogant, and known for underestimating his enemies."

…

Silence.

…

Then, Hibari smirked.

"I will go to the herbivore's base tonight."

Kusakabe's frown deepened.

"Kyou-san, do you intend to fight them alone?"

There are too many of them – hundreds, maybe thousands…

Kusakabe kept his thoughts to himself. After all, he hadn't received his position of second-in-command by doubting his boss.

"I am strong," Hibari stated, his smirk widening, "but I'm not stupid. Prepare for the arrival of the Vongola."

With that, he stood up in one fluid motion and strode out of the room without another word.

What?

Kusakabe sighed in frustration. His boss was being vague as usual. He had always had to resort to second-guessing when it came to Hibari. But this time, the man's intention seemed even more elusive.

Is he going to use the enemy's communication system to contact the HQ?

But that would be at the heart of the enemy base, which would require a massacre to reach, and Hibari had already said himself that he wasn't stupid enough to face thousands on his own.

"Prepare for the arrival of the Vongola."

So what was Hibari planning that would not only stall the enemy, but alert the HQ of their location?

Kusakabe racked his brain for an answer.

…

Oh…

He balled his fists and seethed.

He would try to stop the man, but he had too much respect for his boss to doubt his choice.

Kyou-san…

Kusakabe could only bow his head and silently curse every last person who'd ever thought of questioning Hibari's loyalty.

Sawada Tsunayoshi was all but drowning in paperwork when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called, secretly thankful for the interruption.

"Juudaime," the Storm Guardian greeted as he stepped into the Vongola boss's office.

"Ah, Gokudera-kun! What's up?"

Tsuna's smile dropped at the sight of the man's deep frown.

"Eh… Gokudera-kun? What's wrong?"

His right-hand man winced and hesitated.

"Juudaime, this could be just a rumour but… word is going around that Hibari was captured by an enemy family last night."

Huh?

"Some are even saying that he just walked in and let himself be caught…"

Eeh?!

That seemed really unlikely but…

"Gokudera-kun, where did they say Hibari-san is?"

"In Japan, Juudaime."

Well that was strange. Apparently communication was all shut down in Japan. But if Hibari Kyouya, the strongest, most-feared man in the mafia was captured, then word would surely leak out one way or another, and it would travel fast.

But Hibari-san getting captured?...

As odd as it sounded, this was too serious to simply ignore.

"Gokudera-kun, contact all the Guardians. Video conference in fifteen, please."

Tsuna sat down in a large leather chair in the conference room, with Gokudera to his right and Reborn lurking in the corner.

All the Guardians – or their images – were already present: Ryouhei from Rome, Yamamoto from Vienna, Lambo from Paris, and Mukuro – no – Chrome, from god knows where.

"Mina-san, I'm sorry to interrupt your missions, but you may or may not have already heard the rumours about Hibari-san being captured by an enemy family in Japan. Spanner will send you the estimated location in a minute." A pause. "We need a solution."

…

"Tsuna…" it was Yamamoto who spoke up first, sounding uncharacteristically tentative, "it might just be another rumour but… I've heard that it's an underground famiglia that's been gathering up in Japan… A famiglia that is aiming to bring down the Vongola."

"But it's extremely unlikely that Hibari would be captured," Ryouhei said with a frown. Tsuna inwardly thanked the gods that the Sun Guardian was no longer as loud as he was during his teenage years.

"Maybe Hibari let himself be caught in order to defeat them?" Yamamoto suggested hopefully, raising an eyebrow.

"Woah! You are extremely right! Then we should definitely stay put! Hibari wouldn't want us to interfere or else he'll bite us to death TO THE EXTREME!"

"Shut up lawn-head! You are hurting Juudaime's ears!"

"What did you say, octopus-head?!"

"Maa~ Maa~"

"You shut up, baseball-idiot!"

Amidst the commotion, Tsuna spotted Lambo trying to get everyone's attention, all the while mouthing something that looked suspiciously like "I'm not a herbivore."

He glanced at the rest of the Guardians. They seemed much less mature than their ten-years-later selves from that future. But that's good, isn't it? It also meant that they'd been through much less heartache and pain.

The argument died down after a few minutes. Beside him, Gokudera muttered a few words of apology.

Tsuna considered Yamamoto's earlier suggestion. It did seem likely that everything was just a part of Hibari's plans and, if that was the case, the man would definitely not want them to interfere, since –

"Um… G-Guys…" Lambo timidly interrupted Tsuna's train of thought, "H-Hibari-shi is always saving us… M-Maybe it's about time we saved him?"

The stunned silence that followed was deafening.

Kusakabe had hit the nail with his guess – the Cloud Guardian had walked right into the enemy base and let himself be captured.

It'd been almost four days since then, and absolutely nothing new had happened.

Kusakabe had no clue what the enemy was doing to Hibari. They might be trying to extract information, or simply holding him as hostage, but the darker depths of his mind whispered torture and blood…

At least he managed to stall the attack. The enemy boss is probably too elated to have the 'most feared man in mafia' in his hands to do anything else.

Kusakabe sighed. He wished the Cloud Guardian would stop being so reckless.

Once, a few months back, he had blatantly voiced his concern when Hibari had decided to plunge head first into another, for a lack of better description, suicide mission. The man had only smirked and said, "Don't be ridiculous, Tetsu. I, not anyone else, get to decide when I die."

It was reassuring – Hibari's confidence, but Kusakabe thought, despite the man's insistent denial, that he put his life down for the Vongola far too often.

This time around, Hibari seemed so certain that Tsuna and the rest of the Guardians would come for him.

But what if they don't? After all, Hibari had never been the one that needed to be saved, and –

"Kusakabe-san! We have just spotted the Vongola private jet on the radar."

The second-in-command's eyes widened.

Kyou-san… How did you know?

"Hattero!" Gokudera shouted as he threw another handful of Rocket Bombs at the enemies.

And there are so fucking many of them?!

Tsuna was fighting right beside him, and –

What the fuck?!

A few metres ahead, a familiar-looking pair of tonfas lay limply in front of a closed door.

Gokudera cursed under his breath and rushed forward with Tsuna trailing only steps behind. The Storm Guardian picked up the tonfas in one clean sweep and yanked the door open.

The sight that greeted him was nauseating.

The… cell was dark, dirty, and disgustingly humid with an overwhelming smell of iron. A man was writhing on the ground in a pool of red, with a knife in his throat. Gokudera instantly recognized the dark brown hair, the neatly-trimmed moustache, and the ring on his hand. He'd seen this man before, in a photograph from Kusakabe's files.

That's one fucking sick way to die, even for an enemy boss…

Right beside the man knelt the Vongola Cloud Guardian.

Gokudera winced. Hibari – that stupid bastard – looked absolutely horrible. His upper body was completely exposed, with numerous red, still-bleeding wounds, and the old scars that marred his too-pale skin were no less disturbing.

Are those fucking handcuff marks on his wrists?

Before Gokudera could utter a single word, the Cloud Guardian looked up at the Tenth with glazed eyes and a bloody smirk.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi. It's about time."

Gokudera grimaced.

Yeah… It's about fucking time…

"Kusakabe-san! How is Hibari-san?"

The man in question smiled tiredly and sat down across from the Vongola Boss at the kitchen table.

"Kyou-san is still unconscious, but out of danger."

Sawada sighed in relief.

…

"Ano… Kusakabe-san, why did he do it?"

The second-in-command hesitated. Hibari usually disliked giving away too much information, but…

"They were going to ambush the HQ two days before you arrived here," Kusakabe replied briefly, letting the other man connect the dots.

Sawada's eyes widened before he pursed his lips and nodded.

…

"Ano… If you guys ever need any help – no – if you guys ever need any reinforcement in the future, please don't hesitate to call on us. No matter what he says, Hibari-san is still family."

Kusakabe sighed and smiled with something akin to relief.

"I will keep that in mind. Thanks for the offer."

Sawada Tsunayoshi nodded and left without another word.