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Basil didn’t know it at the time, but it all started when Hibari found him loitering alone on the roof of the school. He stepped over one of the multitude of lines and laws of the world that Hibari all but carved out of stone. He wasn’t a student. He wasn’t an official visitor. He waited where he had no business being and during school hours. That, and Hibari had already been having a difficult day.
Luckily for Basil, he was already aware and wary of Hibari when the student came striding across the rooftop, eyes focused only on him. The training he had gone through at Reborn’s behest to help Lord Tsuna had strengthened him and his own skills. As such, he didn’t react with unarmed surprise when Hibari went from striding to lunging, tonfa out and fire in his eyes. He at least had his weapon out.
Hibari would have gotten first blood, had his tonfa any sharp edges. Though unseen under his clothing, Basil could feel the growing bruises along his side and back, even one on the middle of his thigh. It made fighting difficult, when every stretch of muscle over bone made his limbs ache. But Basil defended himself and even went on the attack when he had a very brief window of opportunity.
That was how he managed to nick a slender cut along Hibari’s jawline. The battle came to a pause as a fat, ruby red droplet swelled along that line and ran down to Hibari’s lowered chin. It dropped from his skin and splashed on the back of his hand that he held in front of himself. Hibari looked at it, a flicker of something akin to respect flashing through his eyes like lightning. Basil swallowed, blade up, feeling the ebb and flow of his flame through his body and into his weapon. How much longer could he maintain the fight with the Cloud Guardian? He didn’t think he had much more time.
In the end, that single scratch was the only visible change Basil left on Hibari- though Basil would be feeling the aches of those bruises for several weeks later. With fear down to his core, Basil lay on the ground of the rooftop, thoroughly expecting to be killed, maimed, or at least knocked unconscious. Hibari had won, there really hadn’t been much of a contest to begin with.
Yet he didn’t flinch when Hibari’s shadow loomed over him. He didn’t cringe when the end of a tonfa pushed his arm, rolling him from side to back. He stared up at Hibari and waited for judgment to fall upon him.
“Only students and office permitted visitors are allowed on school property like buildings, yards and rooftops during school hours. You must either enroll or sign in at the main office if you wish to loiter up here, but be advised that students aren’t allowed here during class hours.” Hibari spoke quickly, as though repeating these words were a necessary part of the duel.
After a moment, Basil risked a question, “Is one permitted to linger in the yard, perhaps at the front gate, awaiting the company of a registered student even if one does not register or enroll?”
“It’s allowed.” Hibari replied, “As long as it isn’t distracting to the school activities or students.”
“Right.” Basil understood then. He had trespassed and where a teacher or another student would have told him so from the beginning, this was Hibari. Even if he didn’t have Lord Tsuna’s or his family’s stories to tell him so, one could clearly see that Hibari was made of something different than those around him. Basil felt an acute curiosity as he looked up at the leader of the student disciplinary committee. “My apologies. I will refrain from trespassing on school grounds during operating hours. Please forgive me, if thou art willing to do so.” One of Hibari’s eyebrows lifted up. Basil noted that the tonfas had been put away from the place they came from, wherever in the world Hibari kept them. He let out a light breath full of relief to see them gone.
“I will consider it.” Was Hibari’s only reply to the apology before he turned and began to walk away, “Hurry off the roof, or I’ll be forced to show you off myself.”
Basil, wincing in pain, got quickly to his feet. That was an invitation he was not eager to accept.
“Basil? Hey!” Tsuna brightened considerably as he saw the young man loitering outside the gates to the school. He hurried his step, briefly leaving Gokudera behind he caught on to his boss’s intentions. Tsuna greeted Basil with a wide smile. “I thought you were leaving for Italy yesterday.”
“Master was planning on doing so, it is true, but at the last moment something came up and he had to stay one more night.” Basil smiled back. He gingerly shifted his weight from foot to foot, silently glad that Hibari hadn’t struck any part of his face that made it hard to smile. “In fact, he requested that I accompany thou this evening instead of tailing him for his work.”
“Really? I wonder what he’s up to…”
“So Basil’s going to hang out with the Tenth all day?” Gokudera butted in, “That sounds like fun. Count me in!”
“Eh? You too?” Tsuna blinked and then heaved a sigh, “Why am I even surprised? Of course you too.” He turned and headed down the street, “Let’s go before anyone else decides to join us tonight.”
Laughing, Basil followed, wincing only a little when a bruise on his ribs ached and the one on his thigh very impolitely reminded him of its presence. He glanced over his shoulder, briefly, and saw a frightening and familiar face. Swallowing with a little difficulty, Basil quickened his step to keep up with Lord Tsuna. He rather wished he hadn’t noticed Hibari watching him leave.
They passed in the hall, briefly and without much acknowledgement. Or at least, that’s what Tsuna expected. He would give a shy greeting to Hibari, if he saw him, and the other would walk on by after a cold stare.
Except, of course, Hibari didn’t do that this time. He approached Tsuna with efficient steps and one of his subordinates lingering a little ways behind. Tsuna smiled, curious and a little afraid. He hadn’t though the warranted any particular punishment from the head of the school’s disciplinary committee, but then there were plenty of rules he probably didn’t know and he was, after all, No-Good Tsuna. “Ah. Hey Hibari…”
“The Italian one,” Hibari said after the silence that Tsuna always considered to be his regular greeting. “Where is he?”
Italian…? Oh. “Gokudera should be in the library. Our teacher sent him to go get some books with another student…” There was a furrow to Hibari’s brow that told Tsuna he had answered incorrectly. “Unless you mean another Italian?” Who else was there? Bianchi was a female, so obviously not her. Reborn? But Hibari called him the baby…
“I do.” Hibari held out his hand, “The one this tall. Speaks in archaic language?”
“Oh!” Tsuna brightened considerably. “You mean Basil! Yeah he went back to work. I guess he’s in Italy? I’m not sure where he is, really.” Suddenly remembering that Basil was accompanying his father out on missions around the world, Tsuna had to look away. He never considered being jealous of Basil, for being with his dad so much, but it certainly never made him very happy. Best not to think of it, then. Focus on something else instead! “Why do you want to know?”
“When you contact him, inform him that I will be expecting another battle upon his return. He should train accordingly.”
Another…? “Uh. Okay.” How was he going to get ahold of Basil? Maybe Reborn knew a way. “But I don’t know when he’ll be coming back.” If he really was with Tsuna’s dad so much, he might not see Basil for another five years. The thought really was depressing. Basil had been friendly, good-natured and a great help prior to battling Varia. “Is there anything else you want me to tell him?”
“Not at this time,” Hibari replied before walking on, sweeping past Tsuna and leaving him behind in the hall. Tsuna let out a heavy sigh and rubbed at his forehead. Usually he was glad that he had no idea what was going on inside of his Cloud Guardian’s head, it seemed like a truly frightening place to be, but sometimes it only made him confused and curious. Well, hopefully Reborn would have an idea how to contact Basil, even if he was away on a mission.
The little economic car pulled to a stop at the curb and waited, exhaust putting out little clouds as the engine thrummed. A man sat in the back seat, window rolled down and with his arm hanging out. The sunshine was bright and warm, making the afternoon perfect for a long nap. Iemitsu sighed as he slouched a little more against the seat. Where on earth was the kid? They really had to hurry up and get back. If he could manage to wrap up the report in time, then he could take a deserved nap that wasn’t just his head propped up on his desk.
There was a jingling of a bell as the door to the shop opened. Out stepped Basil, parcels tucked under his arm and his hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. He smiled, trotting up to the car that Iemitsu waited in. Basil handed over most of the mail through the window before hurrying around to the other side and climbing into the car. Iemitsu was already tearing into the paperwork, eager to get it over with.
As he worked on the wrapping of the package, he looked over to see Basil reading his own letter. “Huh,” said the teenager to himself. “Peculiar.”
The car puttered down the street, carrying them back to their current residence. The driver hummed to himself as he navigated the dangerous streets, years-old cobblestone making the chassis bump along if he went too fast.
“Hey, who’s that from?” Basil didn’t usually get personal mail and only went through Iemitsu’s when there was handfuls of it to read. He kept his words in Japanese. Basil sometimes got rusty on foreign languages when they went unused long enough. That, and the driver wouldn’t be able to understand.
“Lord Tsuna,” Basil replied, his eyes flicking over the document again. It wasn’t very long at all. “He is carrying on a message to me from another. How did he manage to send this to the right place?”
“Reborn,” Iemitsu said automatically. Did Basil really have to ask that? Of course the arcobaleno would either know where to find them or know someone who did. “What is the message? He asking about his dear old dad? Is it something from Nana?”
“No…” Basil had gone pale. He laughed nervously. “It’s from Hibari.”
There was silence in the car, except for the humming driver, the wind in the window and the purr of the engine. Speechless, the man reached over and took the letter from Basil’s limp fingers. It was a short letter, addressed to Basil and written, it looked like, in Tsuna’s own writing.
The first line or two were pleasantries of how are you?, and what’s the weather like? It’s getting warm here. And then it devolved in to apparent madness as Tsuna wrote:
Hibari-san wanted me to tell you to train hard! He must be worried about you because of a battle you two went through. I forgot to ask what it was about. I was pretty nervous when he approached me so suddenly, to be honest.
I didn’t know you two had become friends while you were here. That’s really surprising. Not because you are hard to befriend but, I mean, Hibari is not the nicest guy around. Maybe this is his way of telling me he misses you? It’s really hard to tell with that guy and I get the feeling if I asked I would get into a spontaneous training match with him…
Anyway, keep up the training and get stronger. I’m sure Hibari is training as well. I’ll be sure to write you again if he has anything else to say.
Rereading the letter again, Iemitsu considered it. He tried to see it from Tsuna’s perspective, the naïve, and future leader of a mafia family. Then he tried to see Hibari actually saying those words to his son and his mind fizzled to a stop. He held the letter back to Basil, who, after some prodding by the paper, took it and held it in both hands. They had been busy, as of late, and Iemitsu would be the first to admit they had been slacking on their training. Investigations sometimes had more to do with paperwork and running around questioning people than in fighting. When had been the last time they sparred. A week? Two?
Basil carefully folded the letter back up and put it in its envelope. He put that away in his pocket and sighed, heavily.
“What battle is he talking about? I wasn’t aware you two fought together.”
“On the final morning that I spent in Japan, whilst thou had business to attend to, Hibari accosted me on the roof of Namimori. At his insistence, there was a fight and, as I am sure thou hast already inferred, I was defeated and Hibari was the victor.” Basil sighed again. He had ached for several days after that thorough beating. Yet, there was a tiny bit of pride in his heart, knowing he had nicked Hibari’s cheek just a little. “I was at fault. I trespassed on school grounds during hours of operation while waiting for Lord Tsuna…”
Iemitsu was laughing now, shaking his head as he did so. “That Hibari. He is an interesting kid.” He reached over and gave Basil a comforting pat on the shoulder. “All right. I think it best we get you back into a regular training schedule. We wouldn’t want you to disappoint your new friend, would we?”
“No, Master,” Basil replied. Iemitsu ruffled his hair and laughed again, saying something about Tsuna’s strange family, while Basil, hand reaching up to absently touch the envelope, thought back to Hibari’s cold smile and colder gaze.
In the aftermath of the battle, Basil could still smell the smoke on the air and was still weak from Ghost’s attack. He was standing with the others, smiling, relieved that they were alive, and together, and just a little sad too. He hadn’t seen many of his friends here in several weeks. It was something he’d thought he’d gotten used to, meeting people during missions and leaving them behind when they were done. But it was a different thing when the people left behind were acquaintances, café waitresses or shop owners of places he visited the most often while in that one city. These were his friends. He had trained with them, fought with them, and had saved multiple parallel universes too.
That bittersweet feeling burned away very quickly when he noticed Hibari striding across the area to him. His legs locked into place and he waited for the imminent descent of the Cloud Guardian. “You.”
Basil was struck with the sudden, and probably insane, urge to laugh. He had received no less than five letters from this teenager. Did he not even know his name? “Hello.” He said as evenly as possible.
“When we return to the past,” Hibari couldn’t have been any more threatening if he had replaced his teeth with fangs and his hands with claws. He was leaning in slightly, his dark eyes focused solely on Basil, “You and I will have a rematch. I saw only a portion of your skill here and I will see a better example of them back in Namimori.”
Basil smiled. He didn’t have the heart to remind Hibari that he would probably reappear in Spain, where he had been taken from. He thought that if he said as much, Hibari might insist on a fight right here and that was the last thing that anyone needed. Knowing that Hibari, for all his calm control and rules in his life, didn’t have a really proper grasp on social aspects like that, Basil said instead, “I look forward to it. I know that thou shalt test my skill vigorously and without hesitation. I hope to impress thee with my growth.”
Hibari backed off slightly, nodding his head in acknowledgement. He was about to turn, Basil could see it in the way his foot turned away, when he stopped. Up went his hand, stopping in the air between them, as though Hibari had decided to reach up and touch his hair before thinking better of it. In that moment, for Basil, the world fell away around them. Battling Hibari, threatening Hibari, intimidating Hibari and even training worried Hibari- these were all sides of the somber teenager that Basil was quite aware of and used to.
The Hibari that stood in front of him now, hand half raised, eyes not on Basil’s own but on his shoulder perhaps, on that lock of brown hair that brushed against his chin, he didn’t recognize him at all. There was such a minute softness in his expression that Basil was quite certain he was imagining the whole thing and that Chrome must be fooling with his perceptions.
Except there was no reason for her to. Except that she was off busy somewhere talking to someone and the only one who was paying attention to the two of them was, well, the two of them. Basil’s heart pounded so hard in his chest that it hurt as he reached his own hand up. He barely touched the back of Hibari’s knuckles when the Cloud Guardian whipped his hand away so fast it seemed to cut the very air. Then Basil was the one left with his hand held up and the noise of the world flooded back in between them.
With a curt nod as goodbye, Hibari turned and walked some steps away, putting his back to Basil and keeping it there. Basil sighed, lowering his hand. He almost wanted that sparring match with Hibari now. If he wasn’t so tired…
No. Basil scratched at the back of his head, smiling down at the ground as he thought. That would be a bad idea still. To fight again so soon after such a battle? Lord Tsuna wouldn’t like that.
There was something in Basil that wondered what Hibari was doing. He was as difficult to predict as the clouds whose flame he wielded. Basil put his hands in his pockets and stepped over to join what looked like an adamant conversation between Gokudera and Tsuna. At least there was one thing he knew about whatever it was Hibari was after with him, rain did best under a cloudy sky.
“It’s been getting pretty cold out,” Tsuna said, rubbing his hands together. He wore his mittens today, not just because he had to keep them handy, but because they actually did keep his hands warm. It was a win-win situation and he was all about those when they didn’t involve dying will flames or being kicked in the face. His breath formed a little fog in front of his face and he grinned, breathing out again to do it on purpose. “Do you think it’s going to snow soon?”
The sky overhead was overcast, but that only diffused the bright sunlight and made the world above seem a silvery-grey. Kind of pretty, if Tsuna let himself think so about some plain old weather. Not as pretty as Kyoko though. She looked really cute in that red scarf she’d started wearing to school. Tsuna sighed happily.
Gokudera, standing at his side, sipped his hot drink slowly. It steamed continuously, no matter how many times he blew across the top. “Maybe. I don’t think there’s enough moisture in the clouds to have them start any snow yet, Tenth.”
They stood at the school gates, waiting for Yamamoto to finish up ‘just one more thing’ with a teacher. The three of them had been enlisted by Mama to stop by the store on the way home from school and pick up some supplies she needed. Apparently they required the three of them to carry them home, instead of Mama and Bianchi.
“Lord Tsuna! Gokudera!”
A surprising voice made them turn to see an unexpected but familiar face came trotting down the street. He almost had to do a double take, as Basil’s hair had grown out considerably over the months apart and in the winter coat he didn’t look quite the same. Basil waved his hand in the air as he ran, calling out their names again. Tsuna waved back, grinning. Even Gokudera, clutching at his drink for warmth, briefly let go to wave. “Basil! I didn’t know you’d be in town today!”
“Thou didst not?” Basil said in surprise once he’d joined them at the gate. “Master had sent word ahead of himself this time. We have heard of the fluctuation of guests at thy house, my lord, and he did not wish to overburden thy mother.”
“Oh.” Tsuna blinked. “I guess Mom knew but wanted it to be a surprise.”
Alarmed, Basil hit his forehead, “I hadn’t thought of that! And now I have ruined the surprise. Please forgive me, my lord.”
Gokudera grumbled into his drink. He was too cold to have to deal with this, but he thought it was considerably sloppy for Basil to let the surprise loose like that. He would’ve never done such a thing, as the right hand man of the Tenth.
“You could have waited for us at the house,” Tsuna said, “school is out. We would have been home soon enough. Why did you come all the way out here to see us?”
“Ah,” Basil cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. It was a lot longer than before. Why hadn’t Basil gotten it cut? “To be honest, I came here to fulfill a promise made months ago. I have put off Hibari’s request for a rematch long enough.”
“I was beginning to think that you’d forgotten.”
Tsuna jumped, spinning around. Gokudera, however, had been in the middle of a sip when the voice startled him and he ended up spluttering and choking on the hot liquid. Bent over, he coughed to regain his breath.
Hibari stood beside Yamamoto, who had a sheepish expression on his face like a puppy that had brought home the neighbor’s troublesome tomcat once more. “Sorry for the wait guys, but I’m ready to go now!”
“About time,” Gokudera snapped back, muttering the phrase ‘stupid baseball freak’ under his breath. He cautiously sipped his drink again, eyeing them all to make sure no one surprised him again. Yamamoto only laughed at Gokudera’s insult. He didn’t even have to really hear it to know that it was being said.
“Of course I have not forgotten,” Basil said carefully, addressing Hibari. “I intended to fulfill this promise months ago, but I could not return to Japan during that time. My apologies for putting it off so long. I understand if you’re upset, Hibari. Thy letters sounded quite insistent for my prompt return.”
“Letters?” Gokudera and Yamamoto said simultaneously, looking from Basil to Hibari. Hibari, of course, offered no explanation. Tsuna immediately recalled, however, the slim letters he’d been passing back and forth between them. After the incorrectly remembered information put into the second letter, Hibari had taken it upon himself to write them out and have Tsuna pass it along, instead of telling Tsuna what to say. Tsuna hadn’t once dared to open one, fearing he would call down the wrath of his strongest guardian. A vision of letters where the only thing written on the page was Get back to Japan and fight me flicked across Tsuna's mind. It sounded an awful lot like Hibari.
“You apologize too much, it is a habit meant for herbivores.” Hibari looked away from the four other teens. Basil sighed softly. Of course.
Tsuna cleared his throat, “Well, we really should go to the store for Mom…”
“Oh right!” Yamamoto said cheerily. “Basil do you want to come with us? The more the merrier!”
Shaking his head, Basil opened his mouth to politely decline when Hibari interrupted with a, “He has plans with me and they are long overdue.” He took a step forward. Tsuna automatically took a step back and Gokudera glared at Hibari without moving. Tsuna noticed a strange look on Basil’s face, and wondered what was going through his head as he faced down the utterly fearsome Hibari.
(Basil once again found the world to fall away. His heart slammed against his ribs, threatening to burst and he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why. He was wondering how long Hibari would put off the fight for this small talk before he did something drastic like hauling Basil away by the arm or, even worse- better?- slinging him over a shoulder. That only made his heart beat faster.)
And then something truly amazing happened. Hibari stepped up within arm’s reach of Basil and reached up. He curled a lock of Basil’s brown hair around his fingers, running his thumbs over the strand. Gokudera watched in utter shock, mouth hanging open, eyes bulging out. Tsuna couldn’t breathe, his brain had stopped doing anything but watch. Even Yamamoto seemed surprised, though he had to move over a few steps to get a better view of what was happening.
“Your hair has grown considerably,” Hibari spoke quietly, as though his words were only intended for Basil. By the look on Basil’s face, it certainly seemed as though they were the only thing he heard. Gokudera was making a faint, high pitched whine in the back of his throat. “Why do you have it hanging down like this?”
“My ears get cold,” Basil replied. Tsuna couldn’t help but notice that when he spoke, his breath turned white and seemed to touch Hibari’s face.
Covering his face with his mittens to obscure the hot blush that flared across his cheeks, Tsuna was the only one who had his mouth covered when the world ceased making any sense at all and the ground opened up beneath them to reveal an endless abyss of insanity.
Automatically, Gokudera had been drinking from his cup, and at the moment everything in the world went sideways, he had had a mouthful of hot liquid. In the next moment, fifty percent of it was sprayed across Yamamoto’s face because, even if the world was ending, Gokudera wouldn’t do anything to provoke Hibari.
Especially when Hibari was kissing Basil.
Fingers curled in his hair, lips chapped, dry, and warm against Basil’s own, these were the only two points of influence, of pressure that Hibari had placed on him. Yet, as the kiss lingered on, all the questions he had had, of the interest of his training, the curiosity to his return to Japan, simply why Hibari had bothered going through so much trouble to send him any letters at all, everything slid into place and locked there. Ah, Basil’s mind seemed to say, with the certainty in comfort like a man sinking into his favorite armchair, now it all makes sense.
Then Hibari was pulling back, fingers slipping away, leaving lips to the open air again, and Basil found himself smiling. Because the world still made sense to him, made even more sense now. He smiled and said, “Ready for the rematch?”
The Hibari standing before him, hard and cool as the stone wall they stood by, nodded his head. Even if one looked for hours, they would never find any tenderness in Hibari’s expression. It wasn’t there to be found, nor was it in his words, or his posture.
It had been in the soft touch of fingertips on Basil’s jaw, hidden in their curl around his hair. It had been in the warmth of breath on his mouth, just before and just after Hibari kissed him. It had been in the way Hibari’s eyes had closed first, as though this was natural, and he could trust Basil not to do anything in that brief moment of blindness.
And just as that moment had passed, so too had the tenderness. Basil didn’t know what he would have to do to earn more of it, but he suddenly found himself desperate to try. Hibari was leading the way back to the school and, with a quick apology and goodbye to Tsuna and his family, Basil went after him. He was smiling so broadly his face hurt. He couldn’t help it even if he tried.
Basil returned home later than anyone else. Dinner was in full swing, the table laden with food and surrounded by people of all ages. There was chatter and laughter and it took no pause when he greeted these people, his friends, with a smile. Mama gave him a plate piled with food and Master had laughed and pulled Lambo onto his lap to give Basil space.
Even Yamamoto was there, with Gokudera and others of their friends and family. Bianchi’s contributions went untouched, though she hardly seemed to notice as she sat with Reborn. Both of the Sasagawas were in attendance, Ryohei excitedly praising Mama for her cooking at each bite. Haru and Kyoko giggled together, immersed in the family as thoroughly as anyone else. Tsuna, though he looked overwhelmed, was beaming. He gave Basil a brief look of concern when he noticed a bruise on his arm but Basil waved him off.
He would heal up soon enough. The bruises would fade from purple to green and then away again. And the other marks, that weren’t just bruises? Well. Basil wouldn’t mind if those ones lingered a little longer.