Children (TYL!Hibari & Reader)
Wrote this little thing back in 2013 when I was planning out a big Hibari story, but could never bring it to fruition. I was listening a lot of the last opening - Canvas - when I wrote this. Also, the whole Hibari & Reader thing is implied, haha! I just love writing interactions with Kusakabe because he's adorable.
Delicate eyelids flutter over now closed eyes, momentarily shutting out the broken, destitute world . You remain still as a tranquil breeze gently skims over your tense limbs. Its tremors bristle the grass beneath your feet in waves and swirls the fallen cherry blossoms in whimsical patterns across the sky. Perhaps you would have taken notice of the beautiful progression in weather, had your mind not been elsewhere. Instead, you desperately try to cling onto the silence for as long as possible.
As you exhale lightly, you open both of your eyes. Through a hurricane of pink petals, you see two distinct figures running about in a nearby field. Somewhere in the distance, a thirteen-year old Lambo chases around I-Pin, who is dribbling a soccer ball away from the usually lethargic Thunder Guardian. Seeing them so carefree somehow eases the discomfort in your body.
Not more than ten minutes ago, you were sitting in a meeting office with majority of the Vongola members. It had been a impromptu meeting called by Tsunayoshi, and you suspected a connotation of urgency in his speech. You recall feeling your stomach sink as you watched a grim expression settle on the man's usually lively face. His sweet disposition was long gone once he announced that in a week’s time, he would be negotiating an ultanium with the Millefiore. His right-hand man had verbally opposed to this meeting, begging to be at least an escort, but Tsunayoshi had quieted him down.
You didn’t want this war.
So engaged in your own musing, you didn’t realize the presence of a figure watching over you.
Beside you sits Tetsuya Kusakabe — a man twenty-five years of age who still sports a truly distinctive hairstyle. He remarks that faraway look in your eyes, always so gently glossed in an indescribable pensiveness. And he’s been seeing it more than usual in the past few months. He always owed it to your heavy paperwork - which was more or less comprised of a slew of arithmetic and equations. But this time, he’s certain that your thoughts are going far beyond mere numbers.
He takes to audacity to ask.
“Is something on your mind, (Name)?”
Suddenly snapping back to reality, you turn to face Kusakabe.
“Not really,” you reply, laughing off the embarrassment of having been caught daydreaming.
“There’s no need to hold back,” the older man encourages, twirling a strand of grass in his mouth. His face lights up in in clear amusement when he notices your face turning the slightest tint of pink.
“You’re always welcome to share with me.”
You nod politely, acknowledging Kusakabe's presence.
You extend an arm to catch a floating petal in your hands, fidgeting around with it before murmuring something about spring epitomizing the rebirth of life. Kusakabe raises an eyebrow at your sudden interest in the season. As you let the wind carry the delicate pink flower away, Kusakabe smiles kindly. He doesn’t expect you to speak anymore nor does he urge you to. He'd learned not to pry. Instead, the man starts to rise from his seat with an intent to call the two teenagers back into the newly constructed base. He stops his movements however, when your voice abruptly penetrates through the pregnant silence.
“Do you... ever think about having children, Kusakabe?”
The man chuckles slightly. You lightly slap his shoulder in good humour, but the Cloud Guardian’s subordinate remained unfazed.
So this is the question that was lingering on your mind...?
"I know I shouldn't bring such a topic up, given the current conditions of the Vongola," you stammer, awkwardly trying to patch in the parts that Kusakabe might just misinterpret. "But I -"
"- do, in fact, (Name)," Kusakabe reassures you, sheepishly scratching his cheek.. "Though it can wait; I'm in very little hurry."
"I just wish we weren't involved in this warfare at the moment," you sigh. "I can't imagine a pleasant outcome to it at all..."
Kusakabe shakes his head in disagreement.
"If it's the Vongola who's dealing with it," he speaks, and you can hear the utmost confidence laced in his words. Having been affiliated with said family for the last decade or so, Kusakabe has put much faith in Tsunayoshi and his Guardians. "They'll put a stop to it before it has a chance to develop fully."
He immediately notices a relieved grin gracing your face at his response. You bury your head into your arms, hair splaying over the sleeves of your blazer. The wind around you two begins to die down until the world momentarily comes to a peaceful still. Almost simultaneously, the late afternoon sun shyly peeks through the mass of clouds who paves way for it.
Kusakabe clears his throat. He supposes he can let Lambo and I-Pin cherish the final few minutes outside. "And yourself?"
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear, you voice your previous desires that has been eating at you since the beginning.
"Maybe after the feud with the Millefiore is over, when all the civilians are safe," you whisper willfully. You hope it wouldn't be too long before you are able to see daylight as freely as today. "It's too much of a dream now that I think about it,, but maybe then I could..."
You don’t even need to continue for Kusakabe to understand the full intent of your incomplete phrase. Back turned towards you, the man ambles over the dry grass. He is certain that your eyes are now filled with a longing hope; a hope for the war to end as fast as it had started.
After all, no matter how much resemblance your future children may bear to Kyoya, Kusakabe supposes that it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to baby-sit one or two more little Cloud Guardians in the future.