even though I only know one other person who's read both toriko and zatch bell/gash bell, I still wanted to do a crossover of sorts. So I said fuck it and decided to write it anyways. Granted, I only have a few ideas for what I want to do so this whole thing'll be more of a collection of (mostly linear) drabbles than anything else.

Main pairing is Toriko/Komatsu, and no real warning for anything.

also consider this whole thing dedicated to late night iridescence- who always fuels my bad crossover ideas (like the fact that im seriously considering doing an Ushio and Tora crossover too- dammit!)

Komatsu threw himself into his work again today- which wasn't to say that he usually slacked off, but this whole week he had just needed to lose himself in the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. Between preparing dish after dish and making sure that the rest of the kitchen was running smoothly and sending everything out on time, there was no time left for him to think about anything else. He worked hard, focusing on the feel of his kitchen knife in his hand, the slight, but bearable ache from being on his feet all day, and the strong smell of all different types of food being cooked in the same place.

Inevitably, night fell and the restaurant closed and the other chefs cleaned their stations and left, leaving Komatsu with just the building's cleaning staff. However, there was only so much stalling that he could do and after loafing around for an hour longer than he should have, he finally decided that he'd put leaving off long enough.

He stopped by his office one last time and grabbed his bag; hesitating for a second before opening it up and peeking inside. He snapped it closed almost immediately again. He knew that his reaction towards the little blue book- sitting innocently in his bag- was unreasonable, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't help but remember the feeling of the book in his hands and the glow of it as he'd read its first line of text just a few nights ago.

He also couldn't help but remember what had happened afterwards. Luckily for him, they had been at a park, late at night, so no one had been hurt. The only collateral had been a few trees and a park bench. Still, he tried to suppress a full body shiver at the memory before shouldering his bag and heading home.

He rode the bus back to his apartment and tried to convince himself that everything was normal as he went up the stairs. He opened the door to the small apartment with a certain amount of trepidation before peeking his head in the doorway. "Hello?" he asked, hoping against hope that there wouldn't be any response from inside.

Instead he almost jumped when a booming voice said, "Komatsu? What are ya waiting outside for? Hurry up and get in here!" Komatsu almost tripped over himself in his haste to follow the order, slamming the door behind him with more force than necessary. He slunk into the living room to see his not-quite-welcome guest sitting on the couch. Or rather, sitting probably wasn't the right word. Instead, he was lounging like an overgrown house cat; one arm tucked up beneath his head and lying sideways on the small couch as much as a man his size could. In the other hand was the remote control as the man lazily flipped through the tv channels, clearly not interested in anything that the late night programs had to offer.

And Komatsu- Komatsu tried to pretend like he wasn't there as walked past the couch, and into his bedroom to change into something more comfortable than his chef whites.

His house guest, Toriko, was, in no uncertain terms, a demon. Maybe not something out of a children's fairy tale per say, but he was a demon all the same, despite the fact that he looked quite human…

Ok, mostly human.

After all, most humans weren't seven feet tall with bright blue hair, scars on their faces, teeth sharp enough to rival a dog's and muscles bigger than the average person's head. But even without his size and appearance, Toriko would have been terrifying. Not only was he loud- he seemed to shout more than talk- but he was also forceful and demanding. Just a few days ago he'd shown up out of the blue, telling Komatsu that he was supposed to just drop everything and help Toriko become the king of the demon world since he was Toriko's 'book owner'.

Komatsu shivered again, hating the fact that he couldn't hide his own fear. Granted, if Toriko knew how frightened Komatsu was, he never mentioned it, but Komatsu knew that Toriko must have been frustrated with him. From the brief explanation that Toriko had given Komatsu that first night, in this fight to become the king of Toriko's world, they had to fight along side humans. But what about the humans who didn't want to fight? When he'd tried to ask that first night- just barely able to squeak out the question in the face of a man who'd clearly taken his participation as a given- Toriko had given him an almost blank look before sighing about how much of a pain all of this was.

Well excuse him then! Komatsu huffed as he changed and made up his mind, slapping his cheeks a little to build up his resolve. As it was, he didn't like the current situation so he had to do something about it- and he'd do it tonight. This had been going on long enough, after all. All he had to do was just tell Toriko that he couldn't fight with him and that the demon needed to find himself someone else to read his book for him and that was that.

With some new resolve and a do-or-die attitude, Komatsu marched out to his living room, his posture straight, and he stopped by the couch. "Toriko-san," he started, and-

And Toriko just barely looked at him, observing him like a cat might a rodent and Komatsu lost all of his nerve. But he couldn't just give up without a fight. "Toriko-san," he tried again. "I- uh… would you like something to eat?" was what finally came out and Komatsu sighed at his own weak will. He'd never been good at confrontation and it seemed like that wouldn't change any time soon.

Toriko, however, perked right up and Komatsu swore that he saw a little bit of drool there. "Of course!" he grinned. "I'm starved." Which wasn't surprising, considering the amount of food that Toriko seemed to be able to put away in a single meal.

So Komatsu just walked into the kitchen with his head bowed and sighed.

So much for that plan then.

komatsu would be such an unwilling book owner though (at least in the beginning)

But yeah, I'm just planning to have a little fun with this. While it is based off of Zatch Bell and will have some of the same plot elements, it won't follow any big story line and it'll pretty much update whenever I feel like it (which will hopefully be often since I really do like this crossover idea)