02. Afternoon Routines - Katekyo Hitman Reborn - 1886

Cloud Watching Days

Summary: Series of connecting slice-of-life one-shots concerning our favorite couple, Haru and Hibari! Their moments in time together. Hibari x Haru / 1886

My lack of KHR knowledge might make some things untrue or some characters OOC!

I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!

Please forgive any mistakes, both character-wise and grammatically-wise. I don't have time to re-read or edit things.

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02. Afternoon Routines

HappyFace1886

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“Haru-chan, let’s go to the library and study,” the brown haired girl laughed as she felt arms wrap behind her. From behind, her friend pouted. “You’re never around these days. You always go off to Namimori. It’s not fair!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Haru said, sounding a bit abashed. “Haru needs to take care of something at Namimori. I’ll join you at the library this weekend in the morning though!”

Her friend’s pout grew bigger. “Why is it always in the morning and on a weekend? Why can’t we ever study together after school anymore? It’s a boy isn’t it? You’re going to Namimori because of a boy!”

Haru’s face flushed and she shook her head. “N-No, of course not!”

“It’s not that dame-Tsuna again, is it?” her friend huffed. The legend of the no-good kid reached even to the other schools and she couldn’t believe it when Haru came up to her one day, hearts floating in the air, declaring that she’d fallen in love. The stories had gotten even weirder later when Haru came and said she was going to marry Tsuna and become a mafia lady or something... whatever that meant.

“...it’s not Tsuna-san,” Haru murmured, shifting uncomfortable under her friend’s arms as her blush deepened.

---

“What are you doing here?” Hibari inquired coolly, watching Haru nervously milling about on the rooftop of Namimori Junior High. He’d arrive to take his daily afternoon nap when he’d found the intruder skulking upstairs. If not for the fact that she was completely and pathetically helpless, he’d have already knocked her out of the school grounds, regardless of the fact that falling off from the rooftop would mean the death of her.

Haru squeaked and would have started running if not for the fact that her hands were occupied with a little fluffy yellow bird who was delicately pecking at the seeds in her hand. “H-H-H-Hibari-san!”

“Visitors aren’t allowed without authorization from the disciplinary committee,” he took a threatening step forward. “What are you-?”

“Haru was just visiting to feed Hibird because she saw Hibird sitting on Hibari-san’s shoulder and wanted to make sure that Hibird was properly cared for!” Haru quickly yelped out before ducking her head, raising her hands higher and jostling the little birdie who chirped chidingly at her. “Please don’t bite Haru dead!”

Haru wanted to cry at being caught by the infamous and scary prefect and while the stories she’d heard from the rumors and from Tsuna-kun himself would have normally been enough to send Haru scurrying as far away as she could from the deadly prefect, she just couldn’t keep herself away from the cute little birdie that’d always ride on his head or shoulder. While the bird looked to be in decent health, it’d look somewhat skinny and so, Haru had taken upon herself to at least feed the little birdie from time to time... and now she was caught. Oh god, he was going to kill her! No, he was going to bite her dead!

She was too young for this! Not to mention, she still wasn’t married to Tsuna-san yet! And there was that delicious tiramisu she’d promised she’d eat on Haru appreciation day, which wasn’t until next week.

While Haru bid adieu to the cruel, cruel world that made it so that a girl can’t freely devour sweets and pastries without horrible consequences, Hibari stared at how freely her emotions were running through her face. He could practically feel the despair and desperation rolling off of her in waves and couldn’t stop the smirk that made its way to his lips.

Ah, now he remembered the girl.

She was the one sent by the baby before to ask inane questions for some interview of sorts. She’d been too energetic and loud at first, but at least provided some modicum of amusement due to her overly fluctuating emotions. And while being a pathetic herbivore and completely beneath his line of vision, she’d at least acted freely around him despite knowing of his dangerous history... but at the same time, she apparently had some brain cells in her since she knew there were consequences when it came to breaking the rules.

Hibari eyed the little bird still happily chowing away on her trembling hands.

...there was still one question lingering in his mind.

“Hibird?”

Haru, brought out of her own internal self-pity, turned to him with an energetic smile. “Hahi! Since this cute little bird belongs to Hibari-san, Haru decided to name him Hibird! T-That is if Hibari-san doesn’t already have a name for him... I-It just didn’t feel right calling Hibird bird the entire time.”

“....request for a pass from my office next time you come to feed Hibird.”

Haru jerked her head towards where Hibari was, her eyes widening in surprise. The scary boy was already walking away to the other side of the rooftop, intent on finding a comfortable spot for his afternoon nap. However, as the words processed in her head, Haru’s smile brightened and she bowed in the direction of where Hibari was going. “Thank you very much Hibari-san!”

Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all?

---

Her friend’s eyes glowed mischievously. “Oh? Then who is it? Is it that guy who’s on the baseball team? I remember you telling me about how you’re always going to his games.”

“H-Haru is just going with the rest of her friends at Namimori!” she said quickly. “We all cheer Yamamoto-san together! That’s all!”

“Oh, your face says otherwise!”

“I-It’s not Yamamoto-san...”

---

Haru looked up to see the door of the rooftop opening and instinctively stiffened at the sight of the scary disciplinary prefect. She immediately chided herself for being unfair to Hibari-san when he was so kind to accommodate her when it came to taking care of Hibird. With a happy smile, she gave him a wave, knowing he’d rather keep his distance. They’d been following this routine for a few weeks now, after all, and she believed they’d created a peaceful status quo.

However, instead of ignoring her and walking off to his spot for his afternoon nap, he took a few steps closer and stared at her, his arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing?”

“H-Hahi?” she squeaked.

“It’s earlier than when you normally come to feed Hibird.”

“H-Haru got the visitor pass from Kusakabe-san because Hibari-san wasn’t in his office!” Haru whipped out the pass to prove her innocence. “H-Haru was going to explain to H-Hibari-san that she has an exam coming up a-and that she needed to study. It takes a while to walk from Namimori to home, s-so Haru brought her study books...”

Her words trailed off and she winced when she looked at her surroundings. The way she worded it made it seem like she had a few books, but she might as well have brought a wagon filled with text books and study guides. Actually, it wasn’t that far from the truth. She’d brought an enormous bag filled with books and only succeeded in taking everything to the rooftop because Kusakabe-san had noticed her plight and helped her carry everything up.

“Studying for an exam,” Hibari tilted his head before giving a brief nod, losing interest in anything else she had to say as he turned to walk away. Behind him, Haru sighed in relief, only to freeze when he paused in mid step. He smirked in amusement, though it was hidden as he had her back towards her. “There’s room in the bookshelf of the disciplinary committee’s room. You can leave some of your books there.”

Haru gawked at him, taken off guard by the offer. The question as to why he was even bothering was at the tip of her tongue, but she remembered how Kusakabe-san had helped her haul all her books upstairs instead of advising her otherwise. In fact, he’d chuckled and remarked that Hibari would likely approve. Maintaining the discipline of school was Hibari’s utmost priority, which means making sure that everyone properly, be it academically or athletically, represents one’s school.

For some reason, Hibari’s approval made her face blush and she pressed her notebook against her face, hiding the lower half of it.

Hibari-san was still intimidating... but he wasn’t unreasonable, at least.

---

“Eh? Then who, the silver haired punk?” Haru’s friend paused and hummed in delight. “Well... I guess he’s cute too.”

“No! It’s not that idiot!”

---

Haru hummed to herself as she carried the bird seeds she’d picked up for Hibird. She’d made sure to try a new packet this time, one filled with a lot of vitamins and tasty little morsels for Hibird to peck on. The little birdy was so cute and affectionate. Haru had only seen Hibird rest on Hibari’s shoulder (something Haru envied tremendously), but a few days ago, Hibird had actually gone up her shoulder and just stayed there while Haru studied!

She was so excited at the prospect of a second moment of affection with the cute little ball of fluff, she completely missed the loud noises coming from above. Haru grabbed the handle to the roof and swung it open, ready to cheerfully greet her feathered companion, when she heard a loud yell from afar.

“Haru-chan, look out!”

Her eyes widened in confusion, unsure of what the danger was, when she felt something jerk her to the side. The packet of bird food went flying and it was as though the world was going through in slow motion as the little bag was ripped into pieces by what appeared to be... a whip?

Haru stared dumbly at how the seeds scattered over the ground, blindly leaning against the warm figure who held her from behind. She vaguely noticed that there was an arm wrapped around her shoulder, firmly holding onto her and keeping her steady. “...hahi?”

“You should be more aware of your surroundings,” a low voice quietly spoke out and Haru looked up in surprise.

“H-Hibari-san?” she stammered.

“Haru-chan, are you okay?”

She turned her head to the source of the voice and saw Dino-san rushing towards her with a whip at hand. Haru blinked at it and instinctively took a step back towards Hibari, clutching onto his shirt. Wasn’t this guy Tsuna’s ‘older brother’? What was he doing with a weapon like that? “D-Dino-san?”

“I’m so sorry!” Dino apologized, frantically bowing several times. He’d been so consumed with Hibari’s blood thirsty aura and trying not to get killed that he hadn’t noticed another presence coming up the stairs. “I really didn’t mean to do that. Are you okay?”

“H-Haru is fine, but what is Dino-san doing with a whip?”

Dino stared at the weapon in his hands and blanched. There was no way he was going to explain to an innocent girl about the mafia and how there was going to be a bloody fight between a couple of middle schoolers and a dangerous assassination squad. “Um... I was... teaching Hibari how to be a... cowboy?”

She stared at him before asking with sparkling eyes. “There are cowboys in Italy?”

From behind her, Haru felt Hibari huff in amusement before unwinding his arm from around her. The lack of the comforting warmth made Haru all too aware of the fact that her fingers were still clenched around Hibari’s shirt. She immediately murmured an apology and her thanks before she stepped away, knowing that Hibari valued his space.

Before them, Dino arched an eyebrow, a bit puzzled by this development.

Now that he thought about it... Hibari protected Haru by physically pulling her towards him. He could have stopped the whip with his arm or, if he was feeling particularly cruel (which he probably should have been right now, since his fight had just been interrupted), literally just kick her to the side so that it didn’t hit her. But no, he’d pulled her away from it and even held her until she found her footing. He didn’t even threaten her when she held onto him!

No, no, this was Hibari he was talking about. He may not have known the boy for long, but he was as bloodthirsty as they come. If he had a 'nice' side, Dino had only seen it with the bird that follows him around. He had to be imagining things.

From behind, Romero snickered into his fist, desperately trying to smother his amusement.

---

“Then who is it?” her friend demanded.

“I promise! There’s no boy!” Haru swore, but the steel look in her friend’s eyes told her that she didn’t believe her. Knowing they were going nowhere from this, Haru somehow managed to untangle herself from her friend’s grip and grabbed her bag, ready to run out of the classroom.

“Hey! Haru!”

“Sorry, I have to go! I’m late as it is!” Haru yelled back without looking; afraid that if she did, she’d see that she was being chased.

“We’re not through just yet!”

Haru winced at that. Now half the class was going to be curious. One of the banes about going to an all-girl school was that gossip ran rampant. It was bad enough that people talked behind her back about going to a different school to hang with a bunch of guys. She didn’t want to imagine what they’d say if they thought she was involved with Hibari-san... or what Hibari-san would do to her if he heard the gossip.

Her footsteps slowed and her features softened.

It wasn’t a lie though. She wasn’t going to Namimori for a person. She was going there to feed Hibird.

...though right now, she could only wonder where Hibird and Hibari were. Ever since that day with the whip on the rooftop, Hibari and Hibird had vanished. Kusakabe-san had reassured her that Hibari-san was merely off on a training journey of sorts, but it still worried her. Not to mention, there’d been stories about explosions going off in the downtown district. (Squalo and Basil) With Hibari-san’s personality, he’d likely try and find the person who’d disturbed his territory and would-.

Haru quickly shook her head. What was she thinking? She barely knew the guy! He wouldn’t appreciate her worrying about him anyways. She knew he’d probably feel smothered and would try to bite her dead instead if she said anything. He was strong, anyhow, and could take care of himself. Hibari-san would be fine.

Still, as her feet automatically led her to the Namimori school grounds, Haru looked up at the top of the building and felt her chest tightened, knowing that the top floors were still completely empty.

“Please be safe, Hibari-san...”

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::owari::

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AN: A little tidbit of how it may have all started. 

This all takes place before and during the beginning of the Varia arc, meaning the explosions in downtown that Haru was talking about was because of the fight between Basil and Squalo. I also went crazy trying to find the chapter where it was mentioned that Haru named Hibird (Chapter 141, page 13 btw) and they never mentioned when she’d named him, only that it was a long time ago. Since chapter 141 is when they’d just arrived in the future and TYL-Yamamoto was saying how Haru named Hibird a long time ago, I wrote it so that Haru named Hibird not long after Hibari got him... after all, no one knows when exactly Hibird was named. For all we know, by the time other people knew Hibird’s name, Haru had already dubbed him Hibird a long time ago and only she and Hibari knew of the name! Meaning they could have been friendly with each other already and the chance of what I wrote being true can happen, right? RIGHT?! xD 

Also, I know the Haru interviews in the manga are just for fun, but I decided to make them canon. That’s what Hibari was referencing when he said that he recognized Haru, haha. It's also why he's so amused by her behavior, because, while he first said he'd never talk to someone as loud as her on his own initiative, he eventually actually called her amusing right after (omg, is my love for this ship actually canon?!! XD).  Also while Haru got nervous about him getting angry, she still talked back to him in the interview, showing she has some spunk in her! The interview takes place in volume 14 and there wasn’t any mention of Hibird here, so I just wrote it so that the interview happened before Hibird came into the picture. 

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03. Cappuccino Kisses