tampered | Log; completed

Log; completed

When; January 20th (today)
Rating; PG
Characters; Hibari

mafiacow), Tsuna (

mafiaphobic)
Summary; Lambo comes to play with the Warden candidate who likes children, Hibari shows how much he (dis)likes children, and Tsuna gets drawn into an aftermath that turns TYL.
Log;

Talk of Wardens and politics had been going on in the City and on the network all day. With all the contenders, threats and violence for votes -- or for failing to vote -- and the occasional suggestion that even he would be a good choice, Tsuna had developed a headache. The sound of Lambo arriving the apartment was, for once, a welcome cacophony of noise that drew him out of his room to greet the child assassin. Maybe they could go for ice cream and the chaos would calm down in the interim.

Tsuna smiled at the idea and opened his door -- quietly, by the habit to not annoy Hibari -- so that he could enter the main area of the shared apartment. "Lambo, how about ic--"

Words were cut off abruptly as a small black-and-white form flew past him at high speed and struck the far wall. Tsuna blinked and stepped outside the room, head twisting about to see Hibari standing where the projectile had flown from, and Lambo where it -- or he?! -- had landed. "Lambo?!"

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Talking was a meaningless and useless activity to Hibari when there was little time left to fight and gauge each other's capacity. The thought of made his blood run faster even though his face reflected none of the excitement that sang through his body. His eyes were the same cold and calculating gaze as always even when his own Dying Will flames clashed with Tsuna's, threatening to ignite the narrow hallway they were in.

"I'll tell you if you defeat me," he replied before moving to go around Tsuna and aim for a blow to his head, using his greater height to his advantage.

Those were the words Tsuna had expected to hear, and had heard many times before. They had been the prompt of many scuffles, and though he still disliked to fight, Tsuna heard them and nodded calmly, even as Hibari swung for his head. They were the only terms he had known to get Hibari to stop and listen to him, even for a moment.

"I will make it fast," Tsuna promised, knowing that closed quarters were a disadvantage and not eager to prolong it and waste this window of the past.

Flames that signaled his hyper state flickered, shifting erratically as Tsuna slipped down, to use his lesser height to evade the worst of the blow and give space for his hand to reach up and grab for it. Pain never deterred Tsuna, though it was heightened as the temperature plummeted at his hand and he initiated the zero-point breakthrough to draw away the flames that covered the tonfa.

It was a move Tsuna had used on him before, one that had signaled the beginning of his defeat the last time they had had an all-out fight, but Hibari still came at him with another blow, refusing to bow down in defeat. The clash made the flames burn brighter, his tonfa connecting with Tsuna's gloves simultaneously, and a smile tugged at his lips, even if he could barely see passed the brightness.

Things were always better this way when the two of them could let go and attack and full strength. Hibari never had any need to hold back against an opponent, but he also lacked the need to even use half of his capacity. Sawada Tsunayoshi had grown, though, in the passed few years. He'd become someone Hibari aimed for in the same way he'd wanted to defeat Mukuro in the past.

The force of the blows brought Tsuna to one knee, his other hand shooting up to grab the second tonfa as he allowed his dying will state to slip into the negative and consume more of the flames, converting the Cloud purity to his own. The strength Hibari displayed highlighted how Tsuna missed the terror of Namimori and the City, someone that he had trained against and one of the few that consistently sought to repeat the training.

Until he had left.

Tsuna furrowed his brow, concentrating on the zero-point breakthrough and not the memories of when Hibari had been able to return. The relief he had felt that someone had been able to return to their world, but the emptiness that remained without that constant fear of trespassing upon the iron rules laid down. That had been a grief dealt with, a hope settled that he could return as well and meet him again, but this now was the reality, the force very real against his hands.

The flames around the tonfa flared erratically, as though in contest to his influence and the corner of his lips turned up in that nostalgic smile. Hibari would reject this attempt, and his tonfa would no doubt follow the same path. However -- and his expression grew calm and focused again -- Tsuna was the tenth boss now and would not bow down. His hands pressed back against the tonfa, raising to counter when his grip slipped and Hibari threatened to strike him, aiming to raise to his feet and push him back.

The flames had died down for a brief moment right in Tsuna's grip. The Vongola boss had indeed mastered his gloves and were nothing like the Tsuna Hibari had faced, the child who could barely control his strength. He remembered the reckless passion he'd fought with and could hardly compare it to the measured that gaze that mirrored his own. That face that had once broken down in fear was no full of confidence and determination.

Hibari liked that look on him and only wished to see it broken once again.

The feet that lashed out, however, connected with his person, making him a stumble a few steps back, but he recovered quickly and managed to reignite the flames around him. This time, he would come at him with a decisive blow, knowing there wasn't much left before he would return to his former self. It would be better to prove himself fast, rushing towards Tsuna, the flames once again reaching a critical point as he threatened to slash him with both at once, the spikes rising up noisily along his steel tonfa.

Tsuna straightened in the time it took Hibari to recover, flames flaring at his hands as he clenched his fingers into fists. The cold eyes that looked at him would have sent a shiver down his spine in any other state, but this one only alerted him to its intent. With Lambo behind him and an apartment around them, he could not afford his strongest moves as the flames would put others at risk, and that forced him into a snap decision.

Dying will flames shot forward at Hibari, channeled and strengthened to keep from doing more than charring the walls -- with a silent apology to his younger self -- and focused on the distance between them, knowing that a single feeding of flame would not keep Hibari at bay. He ran forward, to meet the blows -- rather, to evade them and twist past Hibari, while he tried to strike him hard on each wrist and elbow. Tsuna sought to numb the muscles and force a disarm, lest he be driver to freeze the tonfa within the zero-point breakthrough and risk harming his friend.

"This fight will end soon," he murmured as he neared Hibari's shoulder. "End it early and we have a chance to find a way to make our next meeting exceed five minutes."

Hibari's eyes slid shut for a moment, feeling the pain that seared up his arms, a foreign sensation because few had ever had the ability to even lay a scratch on him. This was almost welcomed and enough for the words to filter into his ears, breathing reason into him.

As much as he wanted to fight, as much as he wanted to drag this out and see the true measure of their strengths against one another, it was better to find a way to recover the Tsuna of his time. He wanted to face off against this man again and finish things with him once and for all.

In a moment, the flames started to die down, his arms lowering by his sides as he gazed at Tsuna, not quite obeisant but willing to consider what he had to say.

"Next time, then." He paused, another smiling tugging at his mouth. "And there will be one because I know you."

Tsuna let the flames fade to their normal state, relieved that Hibari had chosen to relent in light of their timed interlude. With battles that had lasted for hours prior, five minutes was pitifully insufficient to spend in combat when they had no other opportunities to see one another.

"My dying will remains to be with the guardians again," Tsuna confirmed with a faint smile and a hand stretched out to rest on Hibari's shoulder, a dangerous action, but one he felt the need to make. To see that he existed and feel his body again, even in this one touch.

His expression calmed again and he looked around. "That is why I need this time," he murmured. To find some way to let his younger self know that the fear which had dominated him, inspired by the words of Irie Shouichi, had not been the truth in this world. Without death looming in his future, Tsuna might had done more to return home and regain his rings. That was the gamble Tsuna sought to take on himself.

"You were able to return," he added after a brief hesitation, glancing to Hibari. "...was I there?"

The hand was instantly removed, knocked out of the way seconds after making contact, and Hibari regained his personal space, the tonfa disappearing from his hands in an instant. The gesture was still un-welcomed even if he'd grown more tolerant of Tsuna over the years. He still refused to be a part of his family or consider him as a teammate and only associated with him when it benefited himself or when he was looking for an interesting challenge.

Neither were the case today. Instead, he had his own personal plans to transmit to his younger self the bulk of his research so he could begin to train himself how to use the boxes as soon as possible. It would give him an advantage in this world, one he needed when faced with stronger opponents, and it would help him to de-claw Shouichi Irie that much earlier. With the Vongola rings still present and in one piece, he could open the Cloud box and unlock an even greater power.

Starting to make his way to his own computer, he didn't even bother sparing Tsuna another glance as he answered, "You died."

Had the effects of the bazooka faded, a younger Tsuna would have stared and stammered, rejecting the outcome that Hibari relayed to him. Ten years, however, aged even the most denying of minds and Tsuna simply nodded sadly. That had been the vehement prediction by Shouichi and he had long suspected in true in his own world, but that did not make it right to stay in the City and live in cowardice of that fate.

Tsuna flexed his fingers at the slight brush off and turned towards the room he had crept in and out of many a time in his days there. And though his steps were steady and strong in his approach to the room, he hesitated a moment to look at Hibari.

"I'm sorry," were the two words offered, for his failure to stay alive in their world, and perhaps for his failure to escape this one. To Lambo, Tsuna glanced and smiled, digging a candy out of his pocket to throw to the child. "When my other self is back, you'll go for ice cream," he promised.

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Log; completed

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