Competing for Love

The entire mess began with an innocent observation on Yamamoto's part.

As the three of them made their way to school, they paused at the gates to the courtyard only to find the disciplinary committee leader standing there, glaring at everyone as usual. Gokudera snorted and rolled his eyes, looking unimpressed, "looks like the stupid tonfa-freak is as angry as always."

Tsuna immediately held a finger up to his lips and tried to calm his friend down, "Shh! Gokudera! Don't let him hear you or we'll get in deep trouble!"

Then from behind the gates, an unexpected figure stepped out with a grin on his lips, "Kyouya, if you keep glaring at people like that, your face will get stuck like that! Besides, I'm pretty sure you're scaring all the students."

A scoff, "They have a good reason to be scared. If anyone does anything that disrupts the discipline of Namimori, I'll bite them to death. And that includes you, Bucking Horse."

The blond held his hands up in protest, "Hey! I'm just a visitor! How much discipline could I disrupt anyways?"

The younger man crossed his arms, "Last time, you tripped and broke one of the vending machines."

Dino frowned in protest, "But that was because there was something wrong with my shoes! I swear! I don't normally trip over myself like that! You should know that! I'm perfectly fine whenever we spar, aren't I?"

Gokudera scrunched his nose up in distaste, "what's Bucking Horse Dino doing here? How rude, he should've announced his arrival and gone to see the Tenth first, not the Tonfa-freak!" Pulling out a couple sticks of dynamites, he took his stance, "I'll show him!"

The Vongola Tenth immediately pulled the other boy back, "it's alright, Gokudera-kun! Please calm down!" Their antics caught the attention of the two by the gate. Smiling nervously, he waved, "G-good morning, Hibari-san…and Dino-san, what are you doing here?"

Grinning, the Cavallone returned the gesture, "ciao, Tsuna! Sorry I dropped in unannounced like this, but it wasn't exactly planned! I actually got in a couple hours ago an-"

Unmoved, Hibari took out his weapons and let out a low growl, "Stop crowding and mingling, you herbivores. If you don't want to be bitten to death then get to class already."

Then Yamamoto said it.

And he said it with a smile, "hey Hibari, you look good today! Wouldn't you agree, Tsuna? Hibari looks especially good today, right?"

What? Wh-what are you trying to say, Yamamoto?

The whole world seemed to stop for a moment as everyone in the vicinity gaped.

Hibari merely raised a brow and cocked his head to the side, "what? Why wouldn't I look good?"

Another moment of silence followed.

Tsuna stared at the two with widened eyes, though the relief he felt at the lack of destruction and blood could clearly be seen. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "w-what? Really? That was unexpected…Hibari-san's just going to accept Yamamoto's compliment like that? I guess that's a good thing…"

His right-hand man also looked slightly surprised, "who would've thought that the baseball-freak had those kinds of interests?"

"Gokudera-kun, I don't think he mea-"

He was cut off by the Italian, who also took the statement the wrong way and looked rather displeased with how everything turned out. "That's it? I've never seen Kyouya accept anyone else's compliment like that… No! Only I'm allowed to compliment Kyouya on his looks! I refuse to let this happen! I won't hand over Kyouya to anyone-"

"Was that a challenge I heard?"

They all turned to face the owner of the voice, "Reborn!"

Hibari raised a brow in interest, "hey Akanbou."

"Ciaossu."

And suddenly, both Tsuna and Dino got a familiar sinking feeling in their stomachs. "W-what are you doing here, Reborn?"

The baby shrugged, "I was just passing by when I heard this challenge being issued and decided to step in to lend you guys a hand."

"Challenge? Wait, you can't possibly be talking about Yamamoto's compliment just now…"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. And since it was instigated by a member of your family, Tsuna, it's only right that we hold this contest Vongola-style!"

Yamamoto laughed, "What's this about a contest now? It sounds fun!"

Y-Yamamoto, you're just making things worse!

Dino looked hesitant but stepped forward, "I'll participate too! …even though Reborn's contests have never been particularly fun or safe for me…actually, they rarely ever end well for anyone now that I think about it…"

Even Dino-san is getting into this!

The hitman let out a smile, "well then, let's relocate to a more appropriate place to hold this contest then, shall we?"

They ended up assembling on the rooftop. Tsuna looked around; nothing had changed since the last time he'd been in there other than the fact that he was usually there for more casual purposes. Then he noticed the scoreboard leaning against one of the walls, it was the same one that'd been used before. "Reborn, do you bring that board with you everywhere?"

"Don't question me," was the reply, along with a smack to the cheek. "Anyways, is that everyone? Everyone here is a participant, right? Other than Romario, Kyoko, and you, Haru since you'll be our MC. You guys can just enjoy the snacks that were provided by Bianchi. I'm sure it tastes great."

Tsuna gaped, "what? I have to participate as well?"

"Of course, you do. As an upcoming Vongola boss, it's only fair that you fight for the right to love your guardians and allies. And in return, they'll learn to accept and respect you. Got it?"

"I-I guess that makes sense…what about Gokudera-kun then?"

The teen gave him a supportive thumbs-up, "I'm here to assist you, of course! Just leave it to me, Tenth! We'll woo that tonfa-freak so hard, he'll never know what hit him!"

The statement caused Tsuna's brain to momentarily blank out, "what? Woo him?"

"That's exactly right, Tsuna! The judge today shall be none other than Hibari, since this contest started because of him. And you're all expected to impress him one way or another in order to win the right to love him, and he'll reward you points accordingly. Does that sound fair to you, Hibari?"

A shrug, "I don't really care. I'm only here because you asked me to be. Hurry up and get this over with, I've got patrol later."

"That's fine with me, that'll only add to the challenge. You heard the judge, there's a time limit so let's get started!"

Ryohei pumped a fist into the air and cheered, "Yea! Now that I know what we're doing, I'm getting all fired up to the extreme!"

He came here without knowing anything?

Haru nodded and took out her cue card, "Um…let's see…the first contestant is-"

"That'd be me. Kufufufu…hello Hibari Kyouya-"

The brunet's gray eyes narrowed immediately, "I hate pineapples. Negative 500 points. And in addition to that, you get to be bitten to death by me."

There was no hesitation at all! Ah, Reborn just threw Mukuro's name off the roof! It's so far off the scoreboard that it has to be thrown off the roof!

Evading the oncoming attack, the Mist Guardian stepped back, "Oh? How disappointing. I don't even get a fair chance to compete? I could easily make your wildest dreams come true."

Hibari looked far from impressed as he parried, "My wildest dream is to have you bitten to death by my hands, and I don't need you to grant it for me. I'll make my own wishes come true."

Halfway through their fight, Reborn blew a whistle. "That's enough, you two. Mukuro, your turn's over. The judge has already made his decision."

Lowering his weapon, the illusionist appeared to think for a moment before shrugging, "Fine. I suppose I'll step down for now and let you get along with your little contest, but don't worry, Hibari Kyouya, we'll meet again. I'll make sure of it."

The boy frowned, "Hey, get back here. Don't run away."

"Kufufufufu, I'm not running away. I just figured I'd give everyone a chance to compete for your attention, that's all. I mean, as long as I'm around, I'd end up being the only person on the scoreboard, wouldn't I? I'll be back again another time to continue this."

And with that, he turned back into Chrome, "Mukuro-sama? Oh, hi boss…sorry about that…"

Tsuna shook his head, "don't worry about it! I'm not even the right person to apologize to!"

Huffing, Hibari studied everyone in the room for a moment, "this is taking too long. Hey Akanbou," he smirked, "I'll let let you win this if you fight me."

The tutor shook his head, "That's flattering and all, Hibari, but I'm not a participant. I'm afraid you'll have to choose someone else here."

"Tch…fine. Let's do this my way then. All of you come at me and whoever manages to land a hit first will be the winner. I'll even let you guys group together. Is that simple enough for you herbivores?"

Yamamoto let out a grin and put his bag down to retrieve his baseball bat, "this is just getting more and more fun, isn't it? I'll definitely try my best!"

Yamamoto's really getting into it…

Tsuna chewed his lower lip, "Eh? He completely changed the format of the contest. Reborn, is that even allowed?"

"He's the judge, so it's his call."

"B-but if it's a physical confrontation, I'll never make it out alive…especially if it's against everyone here…I don't even have a weapon…"

"Then do it with your dying will."

A moment later, the Vongola Tenth sprung up with a familiar mad gleam in his eyes, "attack Hibari Kyouya as if I were to die!"

Hibari smirked and dodged the punch, "that's more like it. All of you; come."

Taking their cues, the others revealed their weapons and attacked. Dino smirked and snapped his whip, "Tsuna, even though I consider you as my sworn little brother and all, this is the one time I absolutely can't let you win!"

After a couple minutes of sparring, Hibari managed to land a particularly hard hit on the Sun Guardian, knocking him back and out. The brunet frowned, "10 points." The baby nodded and put Ryohei's name up onto the board. Hibari smirked, "This is too easy. Let's step it up a notch."

"Gokudera-kun!"

Gokudera blinked as he noticed something flying towards him from the corner of his eyes, "Wha-?" A moment later, he found himself on the floor, bound by oversized handcuffs. "That's not fair! Using box weapons without warning like that!"

Unfazed, the disciplinary committee leader continued fighting without ever sparing him a glance, "Only herbivores would announce everything they intend to do. I'll do as I please. 20 points."

"That's 20 points for Gokudera then," Reborn repeated, putting the teen's name onto the board.

The Rain Guardian laughed and unleashed his own box weapon, "Oh? This is getting more and more exciting, isn't it? How expected of you, Hibari!"

The boy remained unmoved by the comment and raised his weapons, "Stop talking and fight me."

As the four of them fought, their small audience watched. And as they watched, Romario unwittingly began munching on the plate of snacks that Bianchi had made them. After taking a bite, the man immediately realized his mistake and paled. He stood up with a hand to his mouth and bolted from the roof with a weak "Ugh! S-sorry boss!"

Then the inevitable happened.

Distracted by his lackey's sudden disappearance, Dino blinked and turned, "Romario?" And as he did so, his whip somehow ended up out of control. A moment later, there was a loud "crap, I tripped!" and a crash.

When everything settled down again, everyone raised a brow at the pair on the ground. Somehow, Dino had tripped and taken Hibari with him, tangling the both of them up with his whip. When he opened his eyes, he found the boy glaring at him, "what was that?"

The Cavallone gave an uncertain grin, "…a hit? …hey, does that mean I win?"

Snapping out of his dying will mode, Tsuna blinked, "what?"

But Dino-san clearly tripped! He even said 'crap, I tripped' earlier! He really is clumsy without his men around…

Furling his brows, Hibari looked away, "hn, I guess I'll give you 90 points for that."

Dino brightened immediately, "What? Really?"

"Hurry up and get off me before I bite you to death."

So after they managed to untangle the two, Hibari stood there, with his arms crossed, looking as unimpressed as ever. Yamamoto was standing to the side, laughing, "I guess Dino-san really beat us to it, didn't he, Tsuna?"

"Yea, I suppose he did…" he casted a nervous glance at his tutor, wondering what kind of punishment he'd be subjected to for losing the contest.

Reborn on the other hand, remained impassive, "Hibari, your final verdict? We have Dino in first place, and Tsuna and Yamamoto tied for second. You can still change your mind…"

A shrug, "I guess the bucking horse…"

But then suddenly, a little yellow bird flew over them, singing a familiar school anthem before landing on the boy's outstretched arm and affectionately chirping "Hibari! Hibari!"

The Cloud Guardian nodded approvingly, "you finally got that note right. It's about time." He looked over at the baby, "I change my mind. This guy gets 100 points. He wins."

The bird fluttered its wings happily, "Applause! Applause!"

The hitman nodded, "alright then, it's been decided. Hibird's the winner. He has earned the right to love Hibari." Then he let out a sigh and looked over at the two very shocked faces of Tsuna and Dino, "and here I was thinking that at least one of my pupils wasn't completely useless…I suppose I better prepare a new training schedule for you, Tsuna. Be expecting something very soon…"

Tsuna shot up in alarm, "No! Anything but that!"

"I don't want to hear any whining from you. You lost to a bird. And Dino…you…" the blond looked up from patting the Vongola's head with a gulp.

There was a long pause.

Then Reborn let out a disappointed sigh.

He sighed! He's not even going try to reprimand Dino-san? Was it really that bad?

Dino appeared to be having the same thoughts, "b-but, Reborn, I got second! I mean, I placed first, human-wise! That should count for something, shouldn't it?"

Yamamoto smiled, "ah, but Hibari really likes small animals, doesn't he? Oh well, at least you get to look forward to your training now! It sounds pretty fun, maybe I'll join you!"

You're the one who started all of this!

"Don't worry Tenth! I'll accompany you the entire way! I can't believe I was so easily caught off guard by that violent-idiot! Let me prove my worth to you by doing this!"

He waved his hands frantically, "You really don't have to, Gokudera-kun!"

"No! What if something happens to you? As your right-hand man, I'd never forgive myself!"

"Hey," the discipline committee leader frowned from the doorway, "if you're going to mingle, go mingle elsewhere. You're disrupting the discipline of Namimori. I'll be going on patrol now, but if I come back and you're still here, I'll bite you all to death."

"Y-yes, Hibari-san!"

Then, as he was leaving, the brunet turned around with a raised brow, "hey, you."

Dino blinked, "me?"

"Yea, what are you doing, just standing around like that? I can't just leave you unsupervised or you'll go and disrupt the discipline of Namimori again. So are you coming or not?"

A happy expression appearing on his face, the Cavallone beamed, "certo!"

Tsuna sighed and smiled, "no matter how you look at it, I'm pretty sure Hibari-san had already decided on who the winner was long before this contest started."

Yamamoto nodded, "you noticed that, too? Hibari always looks a little better whenever Dino-san's around, doesn't he?"

"Oh…is that what you meant earlier…?"

"Hm? How else would I have meant it?"

"Never mind…"

They smiled and stood around as they watched Dino run happily towards the door only to fumble and fall. "Oops, I tripped!"

"You…what do you think you're doing?"

"S-sorry, Kyouya! It's my shoes, I swear!"

"I'm going to bite you to death then throw your shoes in the garbage where they belong."

"But they're Armani!"

The next day, the three of them walked down the street with their lives more or less back to normal, excluding the fact that they still had to go through Reborn's training program which could pop up at anytime. Yamamoto looked over and gave his usual happy grin, "Hey Tsuna, I never noticed before, but you actually have really nice eyes! You agree with me, don't you, Gokudera?"

Nya~

It's been awhile since I last wrote a Reborn fic, hasn't it? And it's a non-tragedy one at that, too! What a surprise, right? But don't worry, the next fic I'm working on will be another tear-jerker, so just wait for it! The manga's turned a lot more serious since it first started, didn't it? And I swear, under that happy grin, there's a Dark!Yamamoto there somewhere just enjoying himself. Here are unrelated omake because Spanner's adorable and Dino's chair seems to magically appear out of nowhere! Enjoy!

Omake 1: Spanner's views on love

Shouichi leaned over as his friend typed away feverishly on his computer, "So Spanner, I know it's out of the blues, but what are you views on love?"

"Hm? Oh. It's you, Shouichi…and Vongola's here, too?" The mechanic paused and turned his lollipop as he thought about the question, "well…I suppose there are various things to consider…"

Tsuna raised a brow in surprise at how seriously the other was taking it.

"I mean…I prefer one on the smaller side…slim…a nice, elegant curve. Let's see, what else? A good memory…up to date, high level of compatibility…and one I can take with me everywhere. And I'd want something that would last."

"Wow…Spanner's surprisingly romantic and picky, isn't he?"

Shouichi looked unconvinced.

"Oh, and the RAM," the blond nodded to himself, "…lots of RAM."

The Vongola Tenth stared, "…what?"

"Then you'd have to check out the insides, too…the CPU…I suppose…the video and sound cards would have to be checked, too…"

Giving the brunet a pat on the back as he headed for the door, Shouichi shook his head, "you shouldn't be too surprised…I mean, this is Spanner we're talking about. Now that he's started, he won't stop until he's described the perfect computer."

Tsuna sighed, "I know…I just forgot who I was listening to for a moment, that's all. Excuse me, I have to get back to work now…"

"…and the user interface design's crucial, too…"

Omake 2: The Chair (spoilers for Target 27 & 352)

The Vongola Tenth blinked at his empty room, "hey Reborn…I just noticed…whenever Dino-san's over, there seems to be an extra chair here…a big leather armchair…"

Reborn nodded, "that's right. Dino's men carry that thing everywhere with them."

He stared in disbelief, "What? Seriously? So they flew it in from Italy just so he can sit in it everywhere he goes?"

"That's what I'd assume. They insisted that he needed to be comfortable and look good while doing so. And sitting on a floor simply wouldn't do for a Cavallone don."

"So they flew it over to Japan, drove it out here to my house, carried it up the stairs and put it in my room so that Dino-san could look good during our meeting…then they took it away again after we were done?"

The baby didn't look all too surprised and shrugged, "I suppose so."

His shoulders slouched as he muttered incredulously, "Wow…Dino-san's men must really love him…"

Omake 3: Dinner for 4 (spoilers for Target 355)

Tsuna gaped at the dressed up Cavallone, "Dino-san!"

The blond smiled charmingly, "Thanks for coming. I've got to keep up appearances for my former tutor and my little brother. Eat to your fill."

"Okay!"

"You…" Reborn looked unconvinced as he hopped onto the Italian's shoulder, making the other shift uncomfortably, trying his best to avoid eye contact. "This was a rather last minute call for your standards. Could it be that your original guests cancelled on you?"

He shook his head frantically, "N-no! What are you talking about?"

"The seating arrangements have been set up in a very peculiar way. Two separate tables for two? Did you really think you could fool me?"

"…alright! I invited Kyouya! And I thought it'd be less awkward if Romario and Kusakabe were catching up nearby, so I invited him too! But Kusakabe turned out to be sick and couldn't make it which was fine. But then Kyouya said he had to go on patrol and that 'mingling over dinner was for herbivores', so he's not here either! He said no even though I told him that he could order nothing but meat! Maybe I should've offered to go on patrol with him instead, but that'd sound too desperate! Unless he was hinting at it…was he?"

Reborn sighed, "You're still as hopeless as the day I met you…"

Neither of them noticed Tsuna getting taken away by Belphegor.

Omake 4: And then there was one (spoilers for Target 355)

Dino groaned and buried his face in his arms as he slouched over the dinner table. What'd originally been dinner for several ended up dinner for two. Romario sat across the table from him, watching him pound a fist on the table and sighed. The Italian lifted his head, "Romario, why is it that all my dinner dates either currently out on patrol and hates mingling, sick, or kidnapped?"

"I couldn't answer you even if I wanted to, boss. What happened to Reborn?"

The blond merely deepened his frown, "he got annoyed at me and left…"

"What'd you do?"

"I just stated an honest, personal opinion! I mentioned that I wouldn't mind seeing that Fon person winning-but that's because he looks like a happy version of Kyouya! And if he wins and turns back to normal, then there'd be a bubbly version of Kyouya running around! I just thought that'd be nice!"

The man sighed again and shook his head, "boss…you're so hopeless sometimes. When has pissing Reborn off ever been beneficial to you?"

"Never?"

"Exactly-oh, excuse me, I have to take this call. Pronto? Yes? Oh, that's good to hear! Sure, that sounds great, I'll see you then!"

"Who was it?"

"Kusakabe, he's feeling well enough to go for drinks, so I said I'd go since we haven't caught up in awhile. Guess I should get going then. Later, boss."

"Alright, ciao…huh? Isn't he still in school…? Wouldn't that mean he's underage?" But his right-hand man was already gone. Then he realized, "wait! Romario! You can't go and ditch me, too! I don't want to eat alone!"

And still, no efforts were made to rescue Tsuna.