05. Old Intimacies - 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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05. Old Intimacies

HappyFace1886

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After announcing his presence behind the door, Kusakabe entered into Hibari’s private room within the underground facilities of the Foundation, only to pause and arch an eyebrow at the sight that awaited him.

“Not a word,” the twenty-four year old Hibari warned calmly as he sat on top of one of the cushions on the tatami mat. In his arms was the slumbering younger version of Miura Haru, her hands clutching onto the front of his kinagashi with tear stains clearly marring her features. Hibari’s arms carefully cradled her against him, keeping her protectively held within his arms.

Kusakabe raised his hands up in surrender, trying to hide his slight smile. “I didn’t plan to, Kyo-san.”

“What do you want?”

“Nothing urgent,” Kusakabe said with a chuckle and began to make his way back to the door. “I’ll return later when you’re more... available.”

Hibari scowled, but gave no other reaction as the man quickly made his way out of the room. Instead, he turned his attention to the slumbering young girl. He’d been so careful about staying away from her. Being around her younger self was too much of a distraction, one that he could not afford if he wished to obtain the goal he had in mind.

---

Hibari paused in the midst of glancing over the list of people who’d be forcibly brought to the future. His gaze sharpened and he looked up at the quiet man in front of him. In the past, the man would have flinched and run away, but this time he coolly and almost somberly returned his gaze. “It’s necessary.”

“It is not,” Hibari said icily, dropping the paper on the table while leaning back on his seat with an almost dismissive flair. “The one your younger self cares for the most is Sasagawa Kyoko. She will provide all the motivation your younger self needs to strive to become stronger. There is no point in bringing her here as well.”

“And yet she’s one of those being targeted by the Millefiore and we know it isn’t simply due to her relationship with me and the Vongola,” two-toned eyes turned to him grimly. “She needs to be brought here as well.”

Hibari wanted to claim that his own younger self would not be worried about her safety either, that while Sasagawa Kyoko would have the support of this man’s younger self and even her older brother for comfort, Miura Haru would have no one. Their relationship wouldn’t have progressed to the point that he’d actually consider her otherwise. However, the words would not leave him. He could not acknowledge it. She’d become too important for him to dismiss like this.

Hibari’s smiled coldly at him, looking so thoroughly decadent of what was to come.

He would make the young Sawada Tsunayoshi awaken his true abilities even if it meant killing him.

---

Unfortunately, his training wasn’t progressing fast enough. To make matters worse, the fool had dared to take his frustration and fear out on his own Famiglia. Knowing Haru, she’d attempted to hide from the others to prevent them from worrying and had run blindly through the corridors, accidentally ending up within the Foundations division within the underground facilities. And of course, the place she’d found refuge in would be the room he preferred to reside in whenever he returned to this base.

Hibari scowled. He’d expected the others, such as that poisonous cook, to keep an eye on her to make sure she was fine, but apparently he’d overestimated them. When he realized just who it was that was behind the sliding doors of the room and just who exactly was releasing those quiet sobs, it had taken all his self-control to fight against the instincts to enter inside and hold her.

For too long, they’d been a constant to one another. A source of comfort, a source of warmth, a source of home...

But now he had to bitterly wait until she cried herself to sleep before entering inside.

---

Rules and preplanned strategies stifled him. He was not a man that could be constrained or lorded over. No, the epitome of the Guardian of the Cloud, he was one who walked where he wished and behaved however he wanted to. Unfortunately, he was also aware of the gravity of the situation.

Just as he’d do everything in his power to maintain the discipline and order of Namimori, he would do all that and more in order to keep her safe. Even if it meant doing something he didn’t prefer.

The door slid open quietly and Hibari entered the room, his eyes drawn towards the petite figure lying on top of the tatami mats. It would be so easy to actually approach her, to talk to her, and explain to her what was happening and what was to happen. The others did not shy away from such interactions, but Hibari found himself unable to do so. No, he didn’t want to.

Because the girl before him was not her. Not yet. She was just a memory of what she used to be and he refused to tarnish her with information that he firmly believed would take place, regardless  of the fact that time was being changed even with each passing second of the time traveler’s presence within this timeline...

But still, the sight of her tears seemed to affect him as much as the older one’s did. Hibari resisted the urge to sigh and instead kneeled before Haru, gingerly lifting her up into his arms. It would not do if she woke up in such a place, especially if it might cause her to return here for solace.

---

He should have returned her to the other side of the base. It would probably be a few hours before she awakened as the combination of the stress created by the foolish Sawada, her fear of being trapped into a terrifyingly dangerous situation, and crying herself to this state had mostly likely exhausted all of her energy. Still, he should have ordered Kusakabe to take her away from this place.

Instead, he found himself settling down on a cushion with her in his arms. Regardless of the fact that this was her younger self, how long had it been since he held her like this? For the past few months, he’d been so consumed with his travels to learn more about the Box weapons and preparing for the ultimate plan that he, Irie Shochi, and Sawada Tsunayoshi had formed, that he’d absolutely had no time for her. And, of course, her patience was never ending.

---

Hibari glanced up when he saw Hibird flying towards him. The yellow ball of feathers had disappeared for a few days and now, while Hibari was preparing for his journey out of Japan after meeting Sawada Tsunayoshi and Ire Shochi, Hibird returned with a tired peep on his shoulder. His sharp eyes hadn’t missed the small note attached to the small bird’s leg and as Hibari leaned his face against Hibird, his senses picking up even the most minute traces of her scent.

Haru.

He pulled the note from Hibird’s leg and unraveled the small scrap of paper.

‘Stay safe.’

---

The fact that he made her wait.

The fact that he would ever find himself in a position such as this.

How infuriating.

It did not escape Hibari that if Byakuran had truly succeeded in crumbling the world in several other parallel worlds, that meant he’d also been successful in subduing all the other Hibari’s that’d existed in that world. His blood would normally thrum with excitement at this prospect of fighting such a worthy opponent, but at the same time, his ire could not be contained by the fact that his enemy dared to endanger what was his.

Fighting and dominating over the pathetic herbivores was a way of life. Harming what should not be harmed, however, was an act worthy of a slow and painful death.

---

Hibari’s hand reached up to caress her smiling face while she looked down at him, her hands running through his hair while he rested his head on top of her lap. The sunlight gently rained down on them from under the blue sky and the shade from the giant tree provided them from the protection of any of the more intense heat.

A lazy idyllic warm afternoon spent on the rare occasion they were both free at the same time. These moments had become farther in between after they’d both obtained their respective and official positions in life and so when these days did occur...

Haru’s laughter at his feather-light touches made him smile.

...every second was to be cherished.

---

His next training session with Sawada wouldn’t be until another hour or so. Once he met him again, he’d be sure to physically beat into the fool of the error his ways. There was no time for childish games and immature hesitation. There was no time for him to grow frustrated and angry when the fact of the matter was that the fate of the entire world rested on what developed right here and now. Sawada Tsunayoshi currently had the power to make a difference and needed to awaken that strength immediately.

And if Sawada couldn’t live up to his full potential, there was no need for him to be even alive anymore.

Hibari’s hold on Haru became more protective, his gaze sharpening while a foreboding aura nearly seemed to seep out of his body.

There was just too much at stake this time around.

---

::Extra Scene 01::

The first time Haru stumbled upon Hibari after the startling revelation of the fact that they were somehow in a future, more dangerous, Namimori was after Kyoko-chan had run away from the base. Haru had been waiting for the others, just about ready to burst into tears again in fear, when she heard that Kyoko-chan and the others had returned from the outside. Her entire frame had been shaking and just getting to where the others were coming had been a terrifying ordeal in itself, especially after she heard that Gokudera-san and Yamamoto-san were both brutally injured. God, even while running, she could feel her hand trembling almost uncontrollably.

However, just when she felt as though she was going to hyperventilate from terror, all of it seemed to evaporate once her eyes fell on him.

Hibari had always been a bit taller than her, but the fact dawned upon her that he still had a lot of growing to do. The ten year older version of Hibari Kyoya seemed to tower over her, looking down at her with those piercing eyes that almost always made her squeak in alarm. His face had matured, refining the sharp features that, admittedly, made a lot of girls swoon around him even when he’d been ten years younger. His blood-thirsty, twisted nature was the only fact that prevented him from having an actual fan club, really.

In atypical Hibari fashion, his eyes seemed to linger only briefly on her as though to acknowledge her presence before he passed by her without a single word. Haru couldn’t react anyways, too stunned by the reality of it all. The fact that she really was in this dangerous future where people wanted her, of all people, dead. Her seeing an older Hibari-san cemented it all.

The fading of Hibari’s footsteps made her snap out of her thoughts and she remembered that she’d originally been running to check on Kyoko-chan and the others. However, she couldn’t miss the prevalence of the fact that she was no longer out of breath, her heartbeat slowing and the terror ebbing away.

The trembling had stopped...

---

::::Extra Scene 02:::

He could hear her crying in the supply room and his hands subconsciously curled into a fist at the fact that he could not approach her while she was like this. Years of hardened self-control was the only thing that held him back from turning the corner and walking down the steps where he knew he’d find her curled up against the walls, stifling her cries into her trembling fist... and it was only due to matured self-control and composure that prevented him from beating Sawada’s head into the ground for being the cause of her despair.

They were still but children.

She was still just a child.

And she was not his Haru. At least not just yet. His younger self and her would not have even held hands just yet. Him approaching her right now while she believed herself to be alone and vulnerable like this would only serve to frighten her, a bitter and stark difference from his current relationship with her older self where she'd actually search for him for comfort, even naturally expect it from him, as she'd feel safe in no other place than within his arms.

His eyes darkened.

Such restrictions. He hated this. But as much as he preferred to live life as he wished, this was not the moment. There was too much at riding on this. Her safety was at stake. Their future together was at risk.

So Hibari remained leaning against the wall, his murderous aura muted as much as possible with his hands clenched into impossibly tight fists, listening helplessly to her cries... for that was the only thing he could offer her...

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::owari::

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AU: Any similarities between extras and the actual thing is because I wrote the extras while getting stuck with the main one. :D Another note, in a way, hibari's willingness to restrict himself (i.e. not openly comforting Haru when he really wants to) shows just how desperate the Vongola is in the future...  just like how future tsuna even changed his behavior and brought Haru and Kyoko and Ipin into dangerous situations 

Yes, yes, I promised Genesis, but Thanksgiving threw me off. Hope this is a good substitute for now! I had it mostly written so, it was easier to post this then write Genesis. I'll try to have that updated next weekend!

04. Five Minutes
06. Hospital Visit