(no subject)
“Music is love in search of a word.”
- Sidonie Gabrielle
--
If there is one thing Hibari hates most, it is dependence. He hates the way those weak herbivores cling together-the way they need each other. For what is need, really, but to put faith in something other than yourself or, in Hibari's terms, to lose? Because your entire life is a battle, and the moment you acquiesce, you've surrendered a part of yourself.
And he had always hated to lose, no matter what the circumstances. But enough, now's not the time, he tells himself. With a Japanese sunset as his backdrop, Hibari lifts his bow to his violin and slowly begins to play. Music notes begin to cut through the air: a sad song, but one of triumph. The story of his life.
Grandfather had said that there was no way he would allow his grandson to play the violin. After all, that loose wretch of a woman (his nickname for Hibari's mother) had used that infernal music to lure his one and only son away. The old man thought that without a teacher, Kyoya wouldn't be able to play such a complex instrument on his own.
But he'd underestimated his grandson's tenacity. The loss of the person he'd dedicated his life to raising had stripped him of his ability to reason.
Or perhaps he'd never known his son, either.
On his deathbed, all Grandfather wanted was for his grandson to take care of Namimori. Hibari would have done so even had the old man not said a word. The school was all he had left. The school for his forefathers, the violin for his mother-what a pretty pair.
As he leans in slowly and hits the final high note, Hibari lets these thoughts of the past go, and they disappear like smoke. He allows himself only minimal time to dwell on them because he doesn't need them. A grandfather who had been obsessed with tradition, a father that easily left his son behind after his wife's death, a mother he'd never even seen…
Absolutely useless.
These are his thoughts as the last note decrescendos into nothing.
As Hibari starts to lower his violin and prepare to leave, he hears a squeaking noise from just outside the door. He frowns. The violin is quickly put into its case, which is closed with a deciding clack. Silently, Hibari heads towards the door and yanks it open, causing the person leaned up against it to tumble inside helplessly. Sawada Tsunayoshi. He should have known. The boy has an absolute talent for always being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hibari glares at Tsuna, his quiet fury requiring no words.
Tsuna seems to sense that no excuses he can give will work, so he only opens and closes his mouth several times like a little goldfish gasping for breath. Hibari doesn't have the time for this-before Tsuna can even blink again, Hibari's tonfas make contact with his face and the tenth Vongola boss is lying in a heap on the ground.
Satisfied with the knowledge that the 'voyeur' has been taken care of, Hibari gathers up his things and leaves, a grin on his face.
"I-It sounded really nice!"
A weak voice shatters Hibari's so-called triumph, and he freezes mid-step. Grandfather wasn't the only one to underestimate others, apparently. For exceeding his expectations, however, the herbivore boss would be allowed to live-for now. "And?"
"U-um! N-nothing, I j-just didn't think you d-did this sort of thing! A-although I guess Gokudera-kun doesn't seem like the type either..." His words degenerate into incoherent mumblings as he loses his point entirely.
Hibari's normal glare is replaced by a quizzical look. For as long as he could remember, Sawada has been convinced that Kyoya's inner child needs a friend, no matter how many beatings he's endured in the name of this quest. The pink blush currently on Tsuna's face (that seems to appear often when Hibari's around) is still foreign to him and he does not understand why the little herbivore is always so flustered in his presence. Part of Hibari doesn't really want to understand. It seems to be part of a world he does not know and cannot begin to fathom.
As he quits his reverie and slowly tunes back in to what Tsuna is saying, Hibari makes out something about a "sushi party", as well as a line or two about his birthday. He figures the other boy is trying to be kind. How cute. But since when does Hibari care about the day he was born? He can't even remember how old he is-his age, and thus his birthday, is an unimportant matter when it comes to governing Namimori. He barely even remembers the date.
Finally, getting annoyed with Tsuna's roundabout way of speaking, Hibari speaks up. "Sawada." He silences the stammering boss with only three syllables. "I'm not interested in anything you have to say to me. I don't need your herbivore mafia family's sushi party, and I definitely don't need you."
Tsuna looks hurt, but to his credit, manages to keep most of it off his face. "B-but wouldn't it be more fun to have friends?"
"I don't want to ever have things I need to protect. To save." Hibari spits out the last word bitterly, as if the very thought is unworthy of him.
Surprisingly, instead of crumbling, Tsuna stands up a little straighter, looks a little larger than the cowering idiot he normally is. "Yes," he says quietly, but assertively, "Hibari-san is strong. But the rest of us are not so weak that we need saving. We're … no. I. I'm not going anywhere."
I'm not going anywhere.
The tension leaves Hibari's body and he closes his eyes. His lips curl into an amused smirk. "Is that so?"
Without another word, he turns. His uniform jacket billows behind him like a cape in the wind. He walks away and only just acknowledges the sound of Tsuna's footsteps beside him. Hibari hits Tsuna-a well-placed tonfa to the head-for daring to walk next to him as if they were equals, but the attack lacks his usual intensity.
Their footfall sounds in time, a conversation without words; a conversation that slowly decrescendos into nothing against a set sun.
『TITLE』 decrescendo.
『RATING』 PG to avoid lawsuit.
『CHARACTERS』 Hibari Kyoya, Sawada Tsunayoshi (KHR)
『WORDCOUNT』 1,056
『NOTES』 I completely forgot to post this here, but this was for the contest at 1827_is_love back in ... July? Yeah, this is pretty old. And I really had no idea where the heck I was going with this. I think I have some obsession with filling in holes in characters' backstories, but I didn't think I really achieved it as well with this as I did with the Bel fic I wrote for mini-bang. Thanks to Fizzy for her help!
『SUMMARY』 An introspective Hibari is confronted by an earnest Tsuna and is once again surprised and beguiled.