[fic] Request 1: Motivated Grocery Shopping
Okay, I'm getting distracted by my icon. Gokudera is not amused (by any of this. Ever).
--
Motivated Grocery Shopping
a Hitman REBORN! fic
Requested by: amecandy
The Request: HIBARI/TSUNA PLEASE!
Rating: G
Warnings: Nothing, really.
Summary: Tsuna runs into Hibari at the produce store. Pineapples are involved.
Author Note: Nothing really happens - I don't even know if you can classify this as Hibari/Tsuna - but they DO interact and there's no hitting involved, so I'm going to say that's a step up from the manga. ^^;;
Tsuna got home after extra classes on Monday, he opened the back door to see his mother standing in front of the chopping board with tears in her eyes. Lambo was clinging to her leg and bawling, and I-Pin was looking at them both as if they'd lost their minds. Okay, actually, she was studying the refridgerator as if it has lost its mind, but she probably thought it was Mom and Lambo. Her vision was just that terrifyingly awful.
Tsuna's heart clenched at the sight of his mother with tears running down her face. "Mom!" he cried, tossing his schoolbag onto the table and starting forward. "What is it? Is everything okay? What's--"
"Oh, it's nothing," she sniffed, smiling through the tears and wiping her eyes. "I'm just cutting onions, dear." She gestured with her knife to the diced onions on the chopping board.
Tsuna staggered to a halt and slumped his shoulders, his worry brought to an immediate (and embarrassing) halt. He pointed at Lambo weakly. "And Lambo is ...?"
"Crying because I am, probably," his mother laughed, wiping her eyes again and chuckling. "It's only natural. He's just a child, after all."
Lambo ceased crying at the mention of his name, and now he was looking up teary-eyed at both Tsuna and his mother. Mom reached down and patted his head affectionately. Tsuna gestured helplessly while Lambo offered a wobbly smile, still catching his breath from the wailing. "Uh, well ... I'm home," Tsuna offered with an embarrassed laugh.
"Welcome home," his mother greeted. "Sorry to send you right back out, but I realized I forgot to pick up some tomatoes for dinner tonight. Would you be a dear and run down to the grocer's?"
The produce store was only a few minutes away if Tsuna ran, but honestly, any excuse to not be doing homework (or stuck with Reborn) was a good excuse in Tsuna's book. "Sure!" he agreed immediately. "Money's in your purse?"
"You shouldn't need more than one thousand yen - just pick up one or two," his mother said with a choked voice, her knife hitting the cutting block with a steady thock, thock, thock. "Hurry, okay? Dinner"--she sniffled again--"will be soon!"
Even if it was just caused by chopping onions, it was hard to resist that tone in his mother's voice. "I will," Tsuna promised, retrieving the money and taking off at a jog. A glance in the direction of his room as he turned out onto the street showed a hint of a wide-brimmed hat, but it was impossible to tell if it was on Reborn's head or not. Tsuna shrugged and half-waited for Reborn to pop out of a trick slab of pavement or a telephone pole.
The tomatoes were in season, so they were right out in the front of the produce store, looking ripe and red and delicious. Tsuna collected the biggest, juiciest-looking tomatoes he could find and started for the counter, mindful of his promise to hurry, but it took him past the pineapple display.
He dropped one of the tomatoes, and it - being so ripe and red and presumably delicious - splattered on the floor and all over Tsuna's shoes splendidly. "Ah!" Tsuna said in surprise.
Hibari Kyoya of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee was at the pineapple display, looking at them with the same look as he usually wore. To Tsuna, however, it was clear he was giving them a look of contemplative disgust.
Tsuna had only seen Hibari in passing at school since 'the Mukuro Incident' (as Reborn called it. Yamamoto called it 'that mafia game', and Gokudera called it 'the time the Tenth kicked that bastard's ass!'), but somehow, despite being severely wounded, he seemed to be doing okay. Tsuna was relieved, but Hibari wasn't the kind of person who you came up and asked about his health; he had too much pride.
Why Hibari was glaring at pineapples, Tsuna couldn't begin to imagine. Maybe he really hated pinapples? Maybe he actually liked pineapples, but he couldn't find one that looked appetizing.
Tsuna didn't think Hibari shopped in his neighborhood. Heck, it was hard to imagine Hibari shopping at all. He was like a spirit, ever watchful and only ever on his own territory - the grounds of Namimori.
Then Hibari picked up one of the pineapples, seemingly at random, and put it under his arm, walking right past Tsuna and towards the register.
Tsuna took a step back automatically to give Hibari room to pass by, but the Disciplinary prefect didn't even seem to notice him. For some reason - perhaps just the sheer coincidence of it - Tsuna couldn't let the incident go so easily. "Ah, Hibari-san!"
Hibari paused and looked at Tsuna. There was no recognition in his eyes for a long moment. "It's you," he said, without any change in his facial expression.
Tsuna waited for Hibari to say something else - anything - but the prefect said nothing. Tsuna realized he was going to have to carry the conversation. "Um ... I just ... I didn't know you shopped here," Tsuna started. He pointed at the pineapple under Hibari's arm. "Do you like pineapples?"
Hibari didn't reply. He tilted his head to look at the tomatoes in Tsuna's hand. "No," he answered, after an unnaturally long pause.
Another monosyllabic, unhelpful response. Tsuna was wilting. "Then ... why ...?" he started, before backtracking, "Oh, never mind!"
"... Do you like tomatoes?" Hibari asked just as Tsuna was about to excuse himself and go to the register. He gestured loosely to Tsuna's fare.
Tsuna was startled by the question, because Hibari didn't seem like he was actually curious. Then he realized that Hibari was actually mocking him - showing that just because a middle-schooler was buying a particular item didn't mean he personally liked it. Tsuna blushed and tried to imagine Hibari running an errand for his mother. What kind of mother would Hibari have, anyway? His brain was smoking just trying to guess.
"O-oh ... well, sort of," Tsuna answered. Lame, he thought. "My mom asked me to pick them up." Which reminded Tsuna that he was supposed to be in a hurry. "Actually, I'm running late! Excuse me!" he bowed to his senpai and started to brush past him, all in a rush.
But as he was passing, Hibari abruptly grabbed Tsuna's arm, catching him with a solid grip at the crook of his elbow. Tsuna tripped, but Hibari's grip held him up. He looked up at Hibari with wide eyes, wondering what Hibari was stopping him for, and how he could possibly be breaking school rules here on neutral territory, because that was the only thing Hibari would ever--
"This," Hibari said, shrugging his other arm and jostling the pineapple nestled there, "is for target practice." The corner of his mouth turned upwards.
Tsuna's eyebrows tried to climb into his hair. He couldn't figure out what on earth Hibari meant by ...
Hibari released his arm and turned to go. Tsuna cocked his head after Hibari's broad back.
"Target practice?" he asked the air.
fin?
coda
"Woah, he actually confided in you?" Yamamoto asked the next day at lunch. (Gokudera sat on Tsuna's other side, glaring at some of the older students on the other side of the field. If they had any ill intentions, Gokudera's glowering face was sure to keep them away.) "Hahaha, that's incredible!"
"But I don't even know what he meant! I mean, why would Hibari-san need a pineapple for target practice?" Tsuna grumbled, biting into his tuna sandwich.
"Don't you mean pineapple-head?" Gokudera asked, coming into the conversation late.
"No, I mean a pineapple!" Tsuna gestured to show the shape of the fruit.
Gokudera, clearly not wanting to contradict his Boss, gave the Tenth head of the Vongola family a perplexed look. "The prefect wants to beat in Pineapple-Head, right?"
"Who's--oh," Tsuna said, understanding dawning on him. "Oh! Mukuro ...?"
"Yeah," Gokudera nodded vigorously.
"So he's going to practice on a pineapple," Yamamoto mused. "Seems like he gets a lot of practice here on school grounds, beating people's heads in. Heh," he laughed as Gokudera glared at him over Tsuna's head.
"No one asked you," Gokudera grumbled.
"Anyway, maybe it's like some kind of motivation for him," Yamamoto mused.
Tsuna leaned over to where he could see Hibari striding down the sidewalk, a little yellow bird from the Bird Man flitting along behind him. Why did he tell me? Did he think I wouldn't get it? he wondered. Because Hibari-san ... he really likes fighting strong people, and Mukuro humiliated him. I don't think he can rest until he beats Mukuro all on his own.
"Maybe," Tsuna said, faintly.
fin
--
Motivated Grocery Shopping
a Hitman REBORN! fic
Requested by: amecandy
The Request: HIBARI/TSUNA PLEASE!
Rating: G
Warnings: Nothing, really.
Summary: Tsuna runs into Hibari at the produce store. Pineapples are involved.
Author Note: Nothing really happens - I don't even know if you can classify this as Hibari/Tsuna - but they DO interact and there's no hitting involved, so I'm going to say that's a step up from the manga. ^^;;
Tsuna got home after extra classes on Monday, he opened the back door to see his mother standing in front of the chopping board with tears in her eyes. Lambo was clinging to her leg and bawling, and I-Pin was looking at them both as if they'd lost their minds. Okay, actually, she was studying the refridgerator as if it has lost its mind, but she probably thought it was Mom and Lambo. Her vision was just that terrifyingly awful.
Tsuna's heart clenched at the sight of his mother with tears running down her face. "Mom!" he cried, tossing his schoolbag onto the table and starting forward. "What is it? Is everything okay? What's--"
"Oh, it's nothing," she sniffed, smiling through the tears and wiping her eyes. "I'm just cutting onions, dear." She gestured with her knife to the diced onions on the chopping board.
Tsuna staggered to a halt and slumped his shoulders, his worry brought to an immediate (and embarrassing) halt. He pointed at Lambo weakly. "And Lambo is ...?"
"Crying because I am, probably," his mother laughed, wiping her eyes again and chuckling. "It's only natural. He's just a child, after all."
Lambo ceased crying at the mention of his name, and now he was looking up teary-eyed at both Tsuna and his mother. Mom reached down and patted his head affectionately. Tsuna gestured helplessly while Lambo offered a wobbly smile, still catching his breath from the wailing. "Uh, well ... I'm home," Tsuna offered with an embarrassed laugh.
"Welcome home," his mother greeted. "Sorry to send you right back out, but I realized I forgot to pick up some tomatoes for dinner tonight. Would you be a dear and run down to the grocer's?"
The produce store was only a few minutes away if Tsuna ran, but honestly, any excuse to not be doing homework (or stuck with Reborn) was a good excuse in Tsuna's book. "Sure!" he agreed immediately. "Money's in your purse?"
"You shouldn't need more than one thousand yen - just pick up one or two," his mother said with a choked voice, her knife hitting the cutting block with a steady thock, thock, thock. "Hurry, okay? Dinner"--she sniffled again--"will be soon!"
Even if it was just caused by chopping onions, it was hard to resist that tone in his mother's voice. "I will," Tsuna promised, retrieving the money and taking off at a jog. A glance in the direction of his room as he turned out onto the street showed a hint of a wide-brimmed hat, but it was impossible to tell if it was on Reborn's head or not. Tsuna shrugged and half-waited for Reborn to pop out of a trick slab of pavement or a telephone pole.
The tomatoes were in season, so they were right out in the front of the produce store, looking ripe and red and delicious. Tsuna collected the biggest, juiciest-looking tomatoes he could find and started for the counter, mindful of his promise to hurry, but it took him past the pineapple display.
He dropped one of the tomatoes, and it - being so ripe and red and presumably delicious - splattered on the floor and all over Tsuna's shoes splendidly. "Ah!" Tsuna said in surprise.
Hibari Kyoya of the Namimori Disciplinary Committee was at the pineapple display, looking at them with the same look as he usually wore. To Tsuna, however, it was clear he was giving them a look of contemplative disgust.
Tsuna had only seen Hibari in passing at school since 'the Mukuro Incident' (as Reborn called it. Yamamoto called it 'that mafia game', and Gokudera called it 'the time the Tenth kicked that bastard's ass!'), but somehow, despite being severely wounded, he seemed to be doing okay. Tsuna was relieved, but Hibari wasn't the kind of person who you came up and asked about his health; he had too much pride.
Why Hibari was glaring at pineapples, Tsuna couldn't begin to imagine. Maybe he really hated pinapples? Maybe he actually liked pineapples, but he couldn't find one that looked appetizing.
Tsuna didn't think Hibari shopped in his neighborhood. Heck, it was hard to imagine Hibari shopping at all. He was like a spirit, ever watchful and only ever on his own territory - the grounds of Namimori.
Then Hibari picked up one of the pineapples, seemingly at random, and put it under his arm, walking right past Tsuna and towards the register.
Tsuna took a step back automatically to give Hibari room to pass by, but the Disciplinary prefect didn't even seem to notice him. For some reason - perhaps just the sheer coincidence of it - Tsuna couldn't let the incident go so easily. "Ah, Hibari-san!"
Hibari paused and looked at Tsuna. There was no recognition in his eyes for a long moment. "It's you," he said, without any change in his facial expression.
Tsuna waited for Hibari to say something else - anything - but the prefect said nothing. Tsuna realized he was going to have to carry the conversation. "Um ... I just ... I didn't know you shopped here," Tsuna started. He pointed at the pineapple under Hibari's arm. "Do you like pineapples?"
Hibari didn't reply. He tilted his head to look at the tomatoes in Tsuna's hand. "No," he answered, after an unnaturally long pause.
Another monosyllabic, unhelpful response. Tsuna was wilting. "Then ... why ...?" he started, before backtracking, "Oh, never mind!"
"... Do you like tomatoes?" Hibari asked just as Tsuna was about to excuse himself and go to the register. He gestured loosely to Tsuna's fare.
Tsuna was startled by the question, because Hibari didn't seem like he was actually curious. Then he realized that Hibari was actually mocking him - showing that just because a middle-schooler was buying a particular item didn't mean he personally liked it. Tsuna blushed and tried to imagine Hibari running an errand for his mother. What kind of mother would Hibari have, anyway? His brain was smoking just trying to guess.
"O-oh ... well, sort of," Tsuna answered. Lame, he thought. "My mom asked me to pick them up." Which reminded Tsuna that he was supposed to be in a hurry. "Actually, I'm running late! Excuse me!" he bowed to his senpai and started to brush past him, all in a rush.
But as he was passing, Hibari abruptly grabbed Tsuna's arm, catching him with a solid grip at the crook of his elbow. Tsuna tripped, but Hibari's grip held him up. He looked up at Hibari with wide eyes, wondering what Hibari was stopping him for, and how he could possibly be breaking school rules here on neutral territory, because that was the only thing Hibari would ever--
"This," Hibari said, shrugging his other arm and jostling the pineapple nestled there, "is for target practice." The corner of his mouth turned upwards.
Tsuna's eyebrows tried to climb into his hair. He couldn't figure out what on earth Hibari meant by ...
Hibari released his arm and turned to go. Tsuna cocked his head after Hibari's broad back.
"Target practice?" he asked the air.
fin?
coda
"Woah, he actually confided in you?" Yamamoto asked the next day at lunch. (Gokudera sat on Tsuna's other side, glaring at some of the older students on the other side of the field. If they had any ill intentions, Gokudera's glowering face was sure to keep them away.) "Hahaha, that's incredible!"
"But I don't even know what he meant! I mean, why would Hibari-san need a pineapple for target practice?" Tsuna grumbled, biting into his tuna sandwich.
"Don't you mean pineapple-head?" Gokudera asked, coming into the conversation late.
"No, I mean a pineapple!" Tsuna gestured to show the shape of the fruit.
Gokudera, clearly not wanting to contradict his Boss, gave the Tenth head of the Vongola family a perplexed look. "The prefect wants to beat in Pineapple-Head, right?"
"Who's--oh," Tsuna said, understanding dawning on him. "Oh! Mukuro ...?"
"Yeah," Gokudera nodded vigorously.
"So he's going to practice on a pineapple," Yamamoto mused. "Seems like he gets a lot of practice here on school grounds, beating people's heads in. Heh," he laughed as Gokudera glared at him over Tsuna's head.
"No one asked you," Gokudera grumbled.
"Anyway, maybe it's like some kind of motivation for him," Yamamoto mused.
Tsuna leaned over to where he could see Hibari striding down the sidewalk, a little yellow bird from the Bird Man flitting along behind him. Why did he tell me? Did he think I wouldn't get it? he wondered. Because Hibari-san ... he really likes fighting strong people, and Mukuro humiliated him. I don't think he can rest until he beats Mukuro all on his own.
"Maybe," Tsuna said, faintly.
fin