Title: Their Bonds

Summary: He may have forgotten, but they never did—not the days they had ran underneath the scorching sun in the name of adventure, or the mundane breaks where they had talked about rumors that only held truths. No one would ever dare to forget those days—most especially, a certain lone Cloud.

Genre: Friendship, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Humor

Warnings: Swearing and OOC-ness.

Author's note: Randoseru – those backpacks used by elementary kids in Japan

Aaaaaaand, here's the promised sequel! Notes about when will I update and other things are at the bottom, so for now, enjoy the prologue! :)

... .. .

General Disclaimer: I do not own Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! Not the manga, not the anime, and especially not the characters. It all rightfully belongs to its wonderful author and artist, Amano Akira-san.

I also don't own the cover picture of this fanfiction. All rights belong to the one who made it, or owns it.

... .. .

Prologue: Once, the closest

Six years—it wasn't until six long years when the two finally met again.

Of course, the moment he set foot on his beloved Namimori, the first thing Hibari Kyoya wanted to do was to immediately see a certain brunette—his best friend—Sawada Tsunayoshi, who he hadn't seen or contacted in those six long years. He was reluctant to after their regrettable parting, but when he finally had the courage to contact the brunette, by some horrible twist of fate—his mother's phone got snatched, along with Tsuna's mother's contact info.

And even with this misfortune, fate was still unkind—for Kyoya was only able to come back to his hometown on the early morning of the new school year.

Clicking his tongue in dismay at the turn of events, the second year now walked through the still empty hallways of Namimori Middle School, the black gakuran from his previous school rising slightly in the wind as he increased his pace, while delinquents he had once bitten to death followed quietly behind him in unbridled loyalty. On that early April morning, just a few hours before the school gates opened, Kyoya took control of the middle school's meager Disciplinary Committee and became its chairman. The promise he had made to himself back then—of protecting his dear Namimori and of the ways he could do so—never once forgotten.

When the first day of school finally ended, and the disciplining of the students left to his second-in-command, Kusakabe Tetsuya, Kyoya finally made his way to the Sawada household, stopping every now and then to bite some unruly herbivores to death, noting to himself how much they had increased in those six years he was away.

A boy's face was hit harder than intended when the skylark remembered with annoyance and a little bit of guilt on how long it had been, knocking the boy unconscious immediately. He quickly finished the other three—deciding to make them unconscious just like their friend—and was about to continue his way when he saw another group crowding in the park.

Kyoya glared at their backs, writing another mental note as he silently approached them to clean up Namimori after his long awaited reunion, his annoyance quickly turning to anger as he saw how much of the undisciplined herbivores now crowded his beloved town, and how they have been keeping him from finally meeting Tsuna.

So it was then a great shock, when Kyoya finally disposed all the herbivores and turned around to continue his way, when he saw him—the untamed auburn hair, the still petite frame, and the large, all too familiar caramel-brown eyes.

"Tsunayoshi."

A long time ago, fate had brought them together and took them apart, and now, once more, fate created another chance meeting for them—for the twelve-year old Sawada Tsunayoshi and the soon-to-be fourteen-year old Hibari Kyoya. Moreover, just like back then—it was spring, with multitudes of cherry blossom trees surrounding the two, the delicate flowers of the seasonal trees dancing all over them to an unknown tune.

It was surreal, phantasmagoric—an encounter that was almost like a dream, but the moment could never last, as it was broken by one, honest question from the brunette.

"I'm sorry… do I know you?"

Blue-gray eyes quickly widened as caramel-brown ones scanned him in confusion—clearly trying to recognize him. For what felt like a long moment, Kyoya stood there in shock. His heart felt like it stopped, his skin felt oddly cold, while his mind rejected in vain the blatant implications of the brunette's words.

Was this some kind a joke?

"Don't you remember me?" Kyoya asked, voice wavering a bit. He stepped closer. "It's me, Kyoya."

There was a flicker of recognition in the brunette's eyes before it was replaced again by confusion—and was that pain?—before Tsuna lowered his face and apologetically shook his head.

"…I'm sorry," he said again, nearly a whisper.

Kyoya blinked. No—

"But I don't know any Kyoya-san."

Wrong. There was definitely something wrong—Kyoya could just feel it. Besides, Tsuna couldn't just easily forget that one year, right? Especially after everything that had happened, after everything they had shared, even if it may had been six long years, Tsunayoshi couldn't—shouldn't be able to easily forget—

Right?

And so the silence between the two boys grew as Kyoya continued to stare in disbelief at the brunette. Tsuna, on the other hand, returned the stare with mixed confusion and apology. And when the younger of the two couldn't take the quietness anymore, he anxiously gripped the strap of his randoseruand bowed his head in goodbye.

But when he turned around to make his leave—a strong hand suddenly grabbed his lower arm, effectively stopping him, sounds of metals clacking to the ground reverberating in the instance. Tsuna was pulled back then, nearly falling from the force, before he was roughly turned around—face suddenly in close proximity with the raven-haired's.

Blue-gray irises quickly moved back and forth as it searched for something in the eyes in front of it, some sort of recognition, an acknowledgement—anything that could say that Tsunayoshi didn't just—and yet, Kyoya could only see, hear, two things from those honest and familiar caramel-brown brown eyes.

I'm not lying.

I don't know you.

Even without concrete words, Kyoya couldn't believe how much it stung to be told that.

"P-Please, let me go," Tsuna suddenly pleaded, his voice laced with fear when the raven-haired painfully tightened his grip on his arm, the taller boy's narrow eyes now glaring menacingly at him.

"Why?" Kyoya demanded. "Why—how could you forget, Tsunayoshi?"

But the brunette didn't answer him. Tsuna was now only trying—desperately—to wrench his arm from his iron grip. "Please—"

"Answer me!" Why are you pulling away?

"Let—"

"What happened?!" Tell me!

"Go!"

And then, suddenly—Kyoya found himself slowly drifting away from Tsuna, belatedly registering that he was, in fact, pushed away—pushed by the very same brunette who had once irritatingly, persuasively—and then warmly, pulled him to his life.

Kyoya staggered backward, eyes staring all the while in shock and disbelief at Tsuna, who was now cowering in fear of him. And for a moment—barely a fraction of a second—the raven-haired couldn't recognize the boy in front of him.

Where was the annoyingly brave Tsuna of back then?

"I-I'm sorry," Tsuna apologized once more, and perhaps, the last time. "B-But I-I think you've m-mistaken me f-for someone e-else." He swiftly inclined his head then, before turning around and dashing away, leaving Kyoya to stare dumbfoundedly at his quickly retreating form.

... .. .

Weeks had passed since that meeting, but Kyoya still couldn't accept that Tsuna had forgotten about him.

He foolishly hoped that there's still something the brunette remembered about their days together, and so—in those weeks, Kyoya tried, really tried, to make Tsuna recall. But every time he approached him, the brunette would suddenly pale in fear and ran away from him.

His growing reputation as Namimori's most fearsome man wasn't helping either.

On the few chances that he did get to talk to him, which was always, always after he saved him from his bullies—why was he bullied?—Tsuna would only give him the same fearful, averting gaze, and the same desperate, stuttered responses—"I-I'm sorry, H-Hibari-san." "Y-You must be m-mistaken." "P-Please, d-don't bite me t-to d-death."

"P-Please, just l-leave me a-alone!"

... .. .

After that, Kyoya at last searched for Tsuna's old classmates, the people he also had adventures with, to learn the truth. After all, he still felt something was amiss with everything—and finally, he got his answers from two people who willingly talked to him—Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Kyoko.

"Tsuna went into a two-day coma on the day you left," Takeshi began, his backside resting against the back wall of their elementary school building. In the far distance, he could hear other students playing in the front yard of their school. He tightened his clenched hands as he stared straight into Kyoya's eyes. "I don't know why you never heard, but when he woke up, Tsuna managed to forget nearly everything that happened in that one year, Hibari. He barely remembered us, and he forgot everything about you."

He averted his eyes to the ground. "We—during our last year in kindergarten, we all tried to make Tsuna remember, to be friends with him again, but Tsuna—he—he suddenly went back to his shy self and became wary of us. He even pushed us away once when we got too… forward."

"It's harder now to be friends with him," it was Kyoko now who spoke, "because ever since we entered elementary school, not once did we became classmates with Tsuna-kun. When we try to talk or even greet him outside of class, Tsuna-kun would always shy away from us. And I don't think…" the brunette's eyes narrowed in melancholy then, "he could even remember us anymore."

And they may not know it yet, but once they enter middle school, not only Tsuna's wariness of them—but puberty, social conformity, peer pressure, and such—would make it hard for them to restore their friendship.

Kyoya could only stare at the two with widened eyes then. He couldn't believe what he just heard—he knew he left Tsuna when he needed him the most, but he didn't know his leave could affect the brunette so much that his mind would decide to just forget everything—forget all the pain of being left behind by the people he loved. He also had a feeling his mother knew a bit about this, maybe about Tsuna getting into a coma, though she may had hidden it from him so that he wouldn't feel guilty about it.

In quiet frustration, Kyoya gritted his teeth and clenched his hands hard—making his nails dig deep into his palms, drawing blood.

Was fate still playing with them?

... .. .

For two more weeks, Kyoya tried, desperately and unsuccessfully, to bring his best friend back—did his best to bring back the memories of the secrets and warmth they had shared. For two weeks he hopelessly tried—

Until finally, crushingly—

Kyoya had enough.

That this was enough.

That the friendship he had longed for and treasured had disappeared with that single, necessary move.

On the third month of Kyoya's return to Namimori, he finally resigned and accepted that his best friend—Sawada Tsunayoshi—was now long gone, replaced by a cowering herbivore who would run at the mere sight of him. Kyoya had made a promise to himself then, just like he once did on that afternoon to his beloved Namimori, that even if Tsuna could no longer remember, he would watch and protect him from afar, just like a cloud.

Yes, just like a cloud, Kyoya mused to himself, finally letting the memories from two years ago slowly fade away. He continued to watch over the brunette, who was down below on their school's courtyard, laughing and joking around with his two friends—with the baseball ace, Yamamoto Takeshi, and with the Italian transfer student, Gokudera Hayato.

Once, when the infant had visited him to give him his half Vongola Ring, the eternal five-year old had told him that Tsuna was his Sky—"Rain, Storm, Cloud, Sun, Mist, and Lightning, he influences all of them. He understands and accepts all of them, Hibari. And you are his Cloud—the aloof, drifting Cloud that protects the Family from an independent standpoint, and whom nothing can ever bind."

"How fitting," the raven-haired uttered as he smirked. He slowly removed his gaze then from the group and redirected it to his now complete Cloud Vongola Ring—to the only connection he had left to Sawada Tsunayoshi.

A flicker of what could have been sadness or irritation passed over Kyoya's blue-gray eyes. The ring reminded him a little bit too much of the one he had once received from the brunette, the one that was destroyed in a fight far too long ago. After a glare and a quick turn of his feet, Kyoya dismissed the memory from his mind, continuing then down the stairs and into the corridor, finally starting his inspection for any damage left unfixed from the "Ring Battles" a week ago.

And so, just like the Cloud that he was, Hibari Kyoya continues to drift about, independent and alone; every now and then remembering—as he patrolled the streets of Namimori or quietly napped on the roof of his school—the time when he was the closest to the Sky.

... .. .

Author's note II:

1. I know, this is pre- and within-manga. But it's the prologue, you know? Chapter 1 and so on will be post-manga.

2. For now, updates will be, again, every other day. (Rejoice!) But since I'm freaking extra busy now, it might (surely) change. But don't worry - I'm telling you now, this fic will never, ever go on hiatus. Heck no. Over my dead body. The worst thing that could happen is a once-a-week update. Yes, that's the worst. I'll also notify you guys beforehand if the update days will change.

3. Yeah, since I'm busy, I might not be able to reply to all your reviews. I'll still do my best though.

4. Lastly, belated Happy Birthday Giotto!

See you guys the day after tomorrow!

Ciao~