Chapter Text
Ten years before Reborn's arrival, Namimori
It was midnight and the sushi chef had just finished cleaning everything up after an unpleasant surprise that happened on his usually ordinary day when he heard the distinctive knocking that could belong to only one person. Nevertheless, instinct had him reaching for his sword and his Rain Flames even before he was aware of it, only to calm down when he recognized the Misty Storm that reached out for him as a reassurance. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi calmed himself and approached the door, still wary but far more welcoming than before as he opened the door to reveal his late night visitor, one Hibari Enmu, who had, to his surprise, not come alone.
"Hibari-sama, Hibari-kun, what may I do for you at this late hour?" He asked with an arched eyebrow but none of his usual good-natured humor that people know him by. "I know you're still adjusting to being a parent as well as the Police Commissioner, Enmu-baka, but I'm pretty sure even you know your four year old son should be in bed right now."
"I'm afraid that just shows how dire the matter is, my friend," Enmu replied in a tone Tsuyoshi has not heard in many, many years.
"And I'm five," argued the cuter Hibari with an adorable pout.
"Not for another few weeks you're not," the swordsman shot back with good humor, doing his best to stifle the laughter that wants to escape in the face of utter adorableness that is his childhood friend's little son. "Though, seriously, what brings you here? I kind of had ... A rough night so I would appreciate some sleep soon."
Enmu's face immediately blanked as the man read that sentence for what it was. Enmu might be a policeman but he was the first in his entire family line who had completely escaped the shadow of the underworld that his family had first let roots in. Not even his twin brother, a Storm through and through that cannot be tamed despite how amicable he seemed at first glance, could escape it, though through no fault of his own. Fon had dived into the depths of darkness at a very young age to spare his twin brother and had only recently managed to swim back to the surface. Fon had the stomach, the strength and the will to survive it. He had come back, even if he now wore clothing as red as the blood he had spilled for the Chinese Triads to buy his freedom.
The underworld had found him again, just last year, and Enmu's family was still recovering from the blow. Fon lived and yet ... Perhaps death would have been a mercy.
Tsuyoahi looked into his friend's stormy eyes and saw ... fear, well masked as it was with determination. It sobered him up immediately. "What happened, Hibari-sama?" Technically, Enmu was now the heir of his family, an organization that ran on clan mentality more than anything, despite Fon still living.
Oh, people knew that there was a pair of Hibari twins, identical, as heir and the spare. Only no one knew that Fon had been the older one. It's always been a well kept secret which twin was born first and it came in handy after what happened to the master martial artist. The only difference between the brothers was the length of hair and the color of their eyes. Enmu's were silver. They flashed now with too many emotions that they might as well be emotionless altogether.
But then Enmu looked at his son and knelt by his side. "Kyoya, show chichi's friend what you can do, okay?"
Hibari Kyoya, soon to be five years old, frowned. "But you said not to show anyone, even mama!"
"Yes, well, Tsuyoshi is the exception to that rule, okay? Only Tsuyoshi, your jiji, me and you can know about this, Kyoya. No one else."
The littler Hibari obviously had a problem with that but let it go because it was a rule. The kid loved rules for some reason. "Okay." Silver eyes so alike Enmu's gazed up at Tsuyoshi before the kid brought up his hand, palm up and as if he were holding a round object. Nothing happened for a moment before violet Flames lit and started dancing in little Kyoya's even smaller palm. Tsuyoshi felt his eyes become huge like saucers.
"I've never seen or felt such pure Cloud Flames!" He ... He could see why Enmu was worried. Clouds were always Sky-bait. Every Sky wants a strong Cloud and Hibari Kyoya would definitely fit the bill.
"Go a bit deeper, Kyoya. Show him the others, too."
'Others? A multi-Flame user? But how?! That should be impossible with how pure his Cloud is!'
And yet, a moment of concentration later, indigo fire replaced violet, smaller but still curiously pure. A Cloud with a Mist secondary. Both very rare, both very strong and both rather troublesome personality-wise.
Still not a good enough reason for Enmu to look like he's about to go to war with the world despite knowing he has no chance of victory.
And then Kyoya frowned a little, bit his lip and indigo burst into orange, smaller, shier than the other two and yet Tsuyoshi clearly felt its effect as soon as the smaller Skylark had let it free.
"Oh." Oh, that explained so much of why Enmu worried. The boy was not only a multi-Flame user with an incredibly pure and strong Cloud as his primary, but he also had a very pure secondary Mist and an equally pure tertiary Sky. That ... That alone should not be possible, that the Sky was not the primary Flame Type, but Dying Will Flames can never truly be fully understood, not with how strange they acted from person to person. Even if you put the strangeness of that aside, the reason for worry was clear.
Sky, Cloud, Mist, in that order, are the rarest Flame Types of the Flames of the Sky (followed by Sun, Rain, Lightning and Storm). And these were all so pure. That, too, should be impossible. Flames in multi-Flame users mingle, mix. That's where terms like Misty Storm, Stormy Clouds or Sunny Rains or any such combination come from. You should not be able to so completely separate Flame Types in a single person because they all have the same signature, just a different attribute and color, they have the same wave frequency. Tsuyoshi was truly stumped. He ... He did not know what to say. He did not know what his friend wanted him to say, to do.
"As you can imagine," Enmu said, sounding tired, resigned and yet incredibly proud at the same time. "I have much to be worried about. You can let them go now, Kyoya." The boy didn't, seemingly liking to play with and stare at his Flames. Tsuyoshi took note that the kid didn't seem winded by the little Flame exercise he'd just done or maintaining the Sky Flames in his hand. He could tell already that this one would grow up to be a frightening Flame user. Ultimately, all Hibari were to be feared. This one, though, will no doubt take more after his uncle than father.
Enmu let Hibari-kun be, sighing in exasperation and instead focusing on Tsuyoshi. "This was the absolutely worst time for this discovery, Tsuyoshi. The Tokyo yakuza have declared war on us and my foolish father intends to fight." Tsuyoshi grimaced at that. The Hibari would not be able to fight, not so soon after the mysterious fire from five years ago that had wiped out half of their numbers and burned down their compound to the ground save the mansion near the Namimori temple, which was also technically Hibari property. They'd repaired their compound but had very few able men and women to fight, be they Hibari or subordinates. The worst part was that no one knew who could be behind the fire, if it was a freak accident or an attack. Enmu's very pregnant wife had nearly died in the fire, as had Enmu himself.
"You know I quit that life, Hibari-sama-"
"I'm not asking you to abandon your wife and son, Tsuyoshi," cut in the man. His eyes were dead serious despite trying to be reassuring to his old friend. "I'm not asking that you pick up the sword once again. I'd actually prefer it if you continued playing civilian/retired assassin. No, I have a different favor to ask. As a friend."
Tsuyoshi furrowed his eyebrows at that, not sure what to expect. Enmu had almost never asked him for a favor outside of maybe babysitting his kid when he couldn't come home right away due to police work. Enmu's wife was lovely and kind but she was actually a pretty bad mother. "Then ask away, Enmu-baka."
"I ... I need you to promise me you will look after Kyoya, should anything happen to me."
The Rain's eyes widened at that. "W-what?"
"I need you to look after Kyoya-"
"You're actually going to participate in this madness!?" The incredulous sushi chef asked, not able to believe this. "Enmu, you must know that you can't take them on, not as you are."
"I know, Tsuyoshi, believe me that I know," the older Hibari replied in resignation. "But all Hibari are called upon. My wife is going. Hell, Fon-nii couldn't get out of this and given our father's all but disowned him after ... that ..." He shook his head, not needing to finish that statement for Tsuyoshi to understand just how grave the situation must be. "If we don't do something about it soon, we'll all be dead for sure. They're going to attack us, Tsuyoshi, regardless of if we return the war declaration. If we don't fight, then we'll surely all be dead. This way, with Fon-nii, we stand a chance to at least have a few Hibari walk away."
"When will this happen?" The swordsman asked after a long pause, already resigning himself to possibly losing his childhood best friend. Enmu was strong and Fon was hundreds of times stronger, but they were both still human. Or whatever it is that Fon was, now. Fon was at least considerably harder to kill, as far as he knew, because of it, the only good side to it all. The Hibari as a whole were incredibly strong. They came from an old, strong bloodline. They had strong Flames, all of them. All of them were Flame Active and almost all of them had perfect control over their Flames. Still, they will be going up against a yakuza from Tokyo, so it will not be a small group they will be fighting. They'll probably hold out longer than most would with double the number of men, but not even they will be able to walk away from that unscathed. They'll be lucky to come back alive.
Enmu pursed his lips.
Tsuyoshi knew, without words, that he will be leaving tonight. Tomorrow, at best. That's why he'd brought over little Kyoya. That's also why he'd said now was the worst possible time for the boy to manifest his Flames. All Flame Active Hibari were expected to fight. No wonder young Kyoya was not allowed to tell anyone, not even his mother. Hibari Wu was, as said earlier, a good person, but she was not a good mother and, on top of that, she was a Hibari loyalist, coming from a local former yakuza family that had been loyal to the Clan for decades. She'd report to her father in law that her son was Flame Active and, worse yet, a Cloud. That Flame Type would be more than enough to put the kid on the front lines. Clouds were rare and oftentimes more than powerful enough to cover bases as much as multiple other Flame users by themselves.
And it's not like the little Hibari doesn't know how to fight. Tsuyoshi doesn't speak all that often with Enmu and he hasn't seen Fon in months, but every now and then, he'd hear from other Hibari or from Enmu when he dropped by for a drink and some sushi that the boy's training had begun and that he was progressing nicely. They all even suspected he'd be left under Fon's direct tutelage soon, because the kid seemed gifted like his uncle.
If they knew Hibari Kyoya was Flame Active, he'd be sent out with the rest of them. He's just a child, but he'd be expected to fight to the death.
He may be gifted, but he's so young, barely a year older than Takeshi, Tsuyoshi's own son ...
"I will gladly look after him for a few days," he finally told his old friend, trying very hard not to let mourning enter his voice as he continued. "But I expect you to come back, you hear? Enmu-baka." No matter how much the both of them knew the chances of them ever meeting again were slim to none. Even with Fon there ... Even if they managed to surprise their enemies ... "So you better not get hurt." But they can still pretend, even if it's only for the child's sake.
"Thank you, old friend," Enmu said, in a voice as thick as Tsuyoshi's before he turned to his son and started whispering something to him in Mandarin. Tsuyoshi had never been good with Chinese and besides, it was private, so he made sure he didn't overhear anything. He left them be for a minute, to tell his beloved wife about their little guest, and when he came back, he saw father and son, the spitting image of each other, hugging each other desperately. Little Kyoya didn't seem to notice just how much his father's hands were shaking when he finally let go of the child.
Enmu straightened up and nodded to Tsuyoshi, knowing a goodbye would be far too final and might just tip off Kyoya to the fact that he was about to become an orphan. The Police Commissioner of Namimori left Takesushi with his head held high and his shoulders squared back in pride and dignity, as if doing his best to give his son and friend a strong image to remember him by, should the fates truly decide this is the last time they shall lay their eyes on him.
Tsuyoshi did not even notice that there were tears running down his cheeks until a small hand tugged at his apron, making him look down to little Kyoya. "Don't cry, mister. Carnivores don't cry." Tsuyoshi wiped his tears away and chuckled at the weird statement and crouched down in front of his new - hopefully temporary; he hoped at least someone of the kid's family will survive, even if that means they had turned tail and ran away like a coward; pride was useless to the dead - charge and did his best to paint a smile on his face.
"It's just that something got in my eye, Hibari-kun. I promise I'm fine."
"Then why are you still crying?" The adult blinked, because he knew for sure that he was keeping the tears at bay now that he was aware of his slip. He had to appear strong in front of this boy. Hibari respected strength, especially the young ones because they were always surrounded by only the strongest, most competent people as they grew up. He doesn't know how long the boy will stay with him, but he needs to have some authority over him as the responsible adult and his caretaker. He needed the boy's respect beyond because his father had told him to. Especially as this was a baby Cloud, with a secondary Mist. Such tricky Elements ... They were powerful and they were rare and they were unruly-
"I'm not crying."
"You are," insisted the little tyke stubbornly. Then, he reached out with a little hand and placed it right over Tsuyoshi's heart. "In here."
'Must be his Sky intuition,' a part of Tsuyoshi's mind managed to think before his whole being focused on the spark that ignited on the place of contact, those pure, innocent, young Sky Flames reaching out to his Rain and his Rain latching onto them until it all clicked into place and he felt breathless all of a sudden. Because he had just bonded with a child. His best friend's son. At the age of thirty two, he had finally found his Sky. In a soon to be five year old, soon to be orphan, baby Hibari.
A Sky he was, apparently, perfectly matched with.
A near hundred percent compatibility, if not indeed a full hundred percent compatibility!
He felt himself, only distantly, fall on his ass on the floor of his own sushi shop, finally dislodging the boy's hand and he had to bite back a whimper as the young bond finally dulled to a normal casual awareness of where his Sky was. Young Kyoya blinked, his eyes finally losing the orange tinge that had apparently taken over them upon bonding. The boy stared down at his hand curiously before looking up at the undignified form of Tsuyoshi on the ground.
"You're so sad," the kid mumbled before he boldly walked over to the adult and even went as far as to hug him. He was probably high on forming a bond with his - possibly - first Guardian when he was still so painfully young because Tsuyoshi had never seen the boy this touchy-feely before. They should have figured he'd be a Cloud. But now, it seemed his Sky was in the driver's seat because the little Hibari was hugging him, his little face buried in Tsuyoshi's chest. A small hand was petting his head. Probably it was meant as a comfort. "Don't be sad."
A new tear slid down Tsuyoshi's cheek and landed on soft black hair. He brought his arms around the child and held on as tight as he dared to his Sky. "I won't be. I promise, Kyoya-dono, I won't."
'I'm sorry, Enmu,' he thought as he tried to get himself back under control and stop the tears that slid down one after the other. 'But it would seem that I can't keep my promise.'
Enmu might not want him to pick up the sword again, but he will.
For his Sky, he will.