This is a requested oneshot for my awesome friend, Pineapple Mist! You're incredible~!
Disclaimer: I do not own Reborn.
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Two years. It's been two years since Tsuna's beloved Kyoko passed away. Ever since that night, he felt that if it weren't for his caring son, Kaoru, he would have lost all feeling in his heart, all the love for his family, and the ability to cherish his loved ones.
Kaoru Sawada, the young heir of the Vongola Family. He was Kyoko's last gift to Tsuna, the chubby, happy-go-lucky two-year-old toddler that everybody loved. With the light, auburn hair, the amber eyes, and the oblivious, innocent smile, he was the splitting image of his mother. And as long as he lived, Tsuna would not allow any harm to come to his precious son.
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"Hey, you hear? The Tenth's new secretary is coming today."
"I hope she's not as bad as the last one. Did you know that she actually hit Kaoru when he wouldn't stop crying?"
"Poor kid. Can't blame him for crying, that face and perfume of hers was nasty."
"Anyways, let's pray that she's not trouble. Tsuna doesn't need anymore grief right now."
"Poor Tsuna..."
If one were to take a stroll around the Vongola mansion right now, they would hear snippets of different conversations all with the same topic: Tsuna Sawada's new secretary. They would hear how horrible the last secretary was, how badly she had treated the Vongola's son, and how often she tried to seduce the men of the family, especially the boss. They would take note of how Tsuna was never the same after his wife's death, how depressed he was these days, and how he frequently tried to act optimistic and upbeat for everyone else's sake. But he never knew how they would always see through his act.
"Hayato!" Said storm guardian looked up from his conversation with Yamamoto, only to choke and faint to the ground, twitching all the way. Bianchi made her way over to the two guardians, looking stressed. That was strange. The cool, collected Poison Scorpion almost never looked hassled like she did now.
"Bianchi! What's up?" Yamamoto asked cheerfully, while prodding Gokuderawith his foot. The silver-haired bomber was laying on his side, pale with shock, saliva dribbling out of his mouth. Very attractive.
Bianchi started pacing around, and said," I can't find Kaoru!"
These four words did wonders on Gokudera. He wasn't even unconscious for 5 seconds when he sat up straight, still pale and sick, now with worry and alarm now in his eyes.
Bianchi crouched over her brother, concern plain on her face. She grasped his face, forcing him to look at her, and cried dramatically," Hayato! You fainted again! Are you sick, dear brother?"
As soon as these words left her, Gokudera fainted. Again. Then he came to, avoiding looking directly at Bianchi.
"We have to find the Tenth's son! He's the heir to the Vongola, how could you lose him?!"
"Tsuna'll flip his lid when he finds out his son's missing. You better go find out where the little rascal's hiding before he runs into trouble." Yamamoto grinned, and started checking behind the curtains, as if he was hoping the little Sawada would jump out of nowhere and shout," BOO!" Gokudera stood up and ran out of the room, yelling that he would check the other rooms. Bianchi ran after her brother, thinking of all the possible places where Kaoru would hide. What if he wasn't hiding? What if he was kidnapped? There were some enemies who would do anything to bring down The Vongola Tenth, and Kaoru was his major weakness. Maybe Kaoru crawled off somewhere dangerous. Tsunawould never forgive Bianchi if he had managed to crawl over to an air vent and was stuck in the dusty, cold, metal passageways. Bianchi shook her head, and cursed Romeo again. If only he hadn't appeared in the doorway, Bianchi would still be trying to teach the happy little kid that Romeo was a bad, bad man.
"Kaoru!!!" Gokudera's voice boomed through the empty corridors. Bianchi checked behind any curtains, doors, or hallways that came up. Nothing.
"KAORU!!!" In a desperate attempt, Gokudera whipped out his dynamite, figuring he would blow apart the whole mansion brick by brick until he found the Tenth's dear son.
"Gokudera? Bianchi? What's going on here?" Said bomber and poison scorpion froze in their tracks, slowly turning their heads towards the brown-haired Vongola boss, who was making his way towards two of his best friends and family members with a cheerful Futa.
Gokudera gulped, and stuffed his dynamite out of sight. He started babbling," H-hey, boss! How's it going? Have you seen Reborn around? Or maybe the baseball freak? And I heard that Lambo was found in the top bathroom with his head stuffed in-" Futa cut off his prattle with an amused smile. He shook his head, and said," Tsuna and I just got back from there. Apparently, someone shoved Lambo's head down the toilet, and stuck this on his back." He held out a piece of paper that said," MOO! STUPID COW."
"Ha, I wonder who would do that..." Gokudera laughed weakly, twitching a bit. Tsuna raised his brow knowingly, took the paper from Futa and shoved it in his suit pocket. He glanced around, and asked," Bianchi, I thought you were taking care of Kaoru today? Where is he?" Bianchi turned pale. Telling the Vongola boss that you lost his son isn't the best way to go. In fact, it's practically a suicidal mission.
"Well, Tsuna," she began. Just then, Yamamoto came running out of nowhere, his usual carefree smile a bit stressed. He yelled out," Gokudera, Bianchi, I can't find Kaoru in any of those rooms. Did you check downstairs?" When he heard these words, Tsuna froze. Yamamoto's words rang in his ears.
I can't find Kaoru...I can't find Kaoru...I can't find Kaoru...
"What?! What do you mean you can't find Kaoru?! How did you lose him?! I can't believe my son is lost somewhere!" Tsuna exploded uncharacteristically, and ran off to find his missing son. Gokudera scowled at Yamamoto, who was sheepishly scratching the back of his head.
"Way to be subtle, baseball freak."
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'I hope everything goes okay.' You thought nervously to yourself. You were wearing a neat business suit that you hoped looked mafia-like enough. You clutched your bag, and nervously walked to the front doors of the Vongola mansion. On the way, you couldn't help but admire the gardens. They were beautiful, with colourful flowers gently swaying in the breeze. The floral aroma smelled wonderful; you took a deep breath to calm yourself down.
"Okay...this job will go fine...just don't mess anything up, ______, and you'll have enough money to put food on your table." You told yourself, and raised a hand to ring the bell. Suddenly, you noticed a slight movement near the flowers.
"...daddy?" An adorable toddler had waddled towards you, babbling cute baby nonsense with arms outstretched. He had a slightly confused, upset look on his face. You smiled, delighted. You always did like babies. Leaning down, you put your bag on the ground and picked up the little child, tickling his chin. Immediately, he giggled, grabbing your hand to play with your fingers.
"Now, who are you, little guy? Where are your parents?" you asked, smoothing back some of his messy hair with your other hand. He kept on smiling, and you sighed.
"Maybe someone inside will know. Let's go in, and see where your mom and dad are." Picking up your bag, you held the toddler tightly so he wouldn't wiggle free; but the boy had no wish to run away. You rang the doorbell and waited for a few moments. No one answered for awhile, so you rang it once more. Again, no one answered the door. You frowned; was no one home? They were supposed to be expecting you; you were the new secretary after all. You tried twisting the doorknob. To your surprise, the door silently opened. You peered in, and saw no one in the dark hallway.
"Let's go inside, sweetie. Maybe someone's home." You told the smiling baby, and stepped in. You set the adorable boy down, and closed the door. A small, warm hand reached for yours, and you looked down to see the toddler smiling at you.
"Hand?" he asked in a cute voice. You just wanted to squeal; how kawaii~!!
Getting a hold of yourself, you nodded, and offered him your hand. He took it instantly, and started walking as fast as a young toddler can walk.
"Find daddy."
"Sure, honey. Let's go find your daddy." And set off next to the determined child.
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"Kaoru! KAORU! Where are you?!" Tsuna called out desperately. He should have known not to trust Bianchi with Kaoru. It happened almost everything she babysat him: Lambo would appear, start crying about something insignificant, take out his 10-year-bazooka, and turn into TYL! Lambo, a.k.a "Romeo," causing Bianchi to chase after Lambo with her poison cooking. Tsuna sighed, and thought of all the places that his son could be in. The kitchen? He often went there looking for cookies. The living room? That was, after all, where his mother's largest picture hung. The gardens? Kaoru loved them as much as Kyoko did.
Kyoko...
A sudden lump appeared in Tsuna's throat. He wiped his eyes, brushing away tears that had emerged in the corners of his eyes. He had no time to cry now! He had to look for Kaoru! What if he got lost? What if he was kidnapped? What if Tsuna never saw him again? He would never see that cheery smile, never feel his warm, chubby hand in his, never get another hug from him, never hear that happy voice calling," Daddy! Come play with me!"
"Daddy!" Tsuna shook his head. Thinking about Kaoru like this was making him paranoid. Now he was hearing his son's voice everywhere.
"Daddy! Daddy! Look! New friend! Nice lady!" Tsuna quickly turned around. No way he had imagined that. He saw his precious son walking hand-in-hand with an unfamiliar woman. She had sparkling, (e/c) eyes, silky (h/c) hair, and a gorgeous face. Tsuna could only stare. When was the last time he felt like this?
You walked next to Kaoru, feeling a bit self-conscious. An extremely handsome man was staring at you with an unreadable expression. You started panicking inwardly. Did you have dirt on your face? Was your outfit muddy? Was there spinach stuck in your teeth? Taking a calming breath, you reminded yourself that you didn't eat any spinach today. You smiled at the man, who had recovered himself and was hugging his son.
"I found him the gardens. Sorry if I came in here uninvited; no one was answering the door." You explained. The man nodded.
"No, it's okay! Thank you so much for bringing Kaoru in; I was going crazy just looking for him. I'm Tsuna Sawada, the tenth generation Vongola boss." Tsuna felt a bit awkward introducing himself like that; but after hanging out with Reborn and Gokudera for a long time, he had gotten into the habit of saying that.
Your eyes widened. This was your new boss?! This young, attractive man was the Vongola Tenth?! You had always imagined mafia bosses as old, sleazy, and disgusting. This was the mafia, after all.
"I'm ______ ______, the new secretary. It's nice to meet you, Sawada-sama."
"Please, just call me Tsuna."
"Then it's nice to meet you, Tsuna." You smiled awkwardly at him. Just wait 'til he found out how useless you were at these things.
Kaoru, who had not taken to being ignored well, impatiently tugged on his father's hair.
"Ouch! Kaoru, that hurt!"
"Me hungry!" Kaoru pouted. Tsuna smiled down at him. He said," Then let's go get some food for the hungry monster. Maybe the cook will have some fresh snails and frogs for us?" and tickled his son. You smiled at the sight; it was clear that Tsuna loved his son. Tsuna looked back at you.
"Are you hungry as well?" You shook your head.
"I'm alright, thank you. Er...don't I have to work as soon as I get here? Someone on the phone named Gokudera said that I would have to work hard and keep out of the tenth's way..." Tsuna twitched. Of course, only Gokudera would call the new secretary to warn her about leaving the tenth alone.
"Don't worry about that. Come on, we'll go get some food for Kaoru, then you can meet the rest of the family."
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The Vongola family, you mused, were about as unmafia-like as possible. There was Yamamoto, the cheerful, baseball-obsessed rain guardian, who seemed to think it was all a game half the time. Gokudera, the crazy, tenth-obsessed storm guardian kept himself busy either fainting at the sight of his sister, or yelling at everybody but the boss. Bianchi, the Poison Scorpion, Gokudera's older sister, and was very cool, in your opinion (you just had to remember not to eat her cooking). There was also Hibari Kyoya, the cloud guardian who had threatened to bite you to death just because you had called his pet bird cute, and the sun guardian, Ryohei Sasagawa, who's motto for everything was," EXTREME!" There were only a few people you were introduced to; the others were busy on missions or such, Tsuna had said.
Overall, you liked everybody you met so far. They were nice, and had accepted you without complaint (with the exception of Gokudera and Hibari). Kaoru, especially, had taken a liking to you. He would reach for your hand whenever you were around, ask to play with you, or give you half of his nibbled cookie. You also liked Kaoru back. He was an adorable two-year-old, who was unusually cheerful for a child without a mother, as you had learned recently. Kyoko Sasagawa, sister to the extreme Ryohei, and wife to Tsuna Sawada, had passed away on the night of Kaoru's birth. It was really sad, you thought, how people had to leave their loved ones, how they had to die without living most of their cherished lives.
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"______! Have you seen Ryohei?" Haru asked you. After working in the mansion for a week, you two had quickly become friends. She was running towards you with a piece of paper in her hand. You nodded.
"Yes, I saw him outside, yelling something about taking an extreme run from girly chores. Why? Do you need him?" Haru nodded with an anger mark on her face.
"It's his turn to go grocery shopping today, and we're almost out of bread!" she huffed with annoyance. You laughed, and said," He probably didn't think that grocery shopping was manly enough for his extremeness. I'll go, if you want. I'm done all of my work for today." Haru's face brightened.
"Really? That's great, ______-chan! Here's the list. You know where the store is, right?" You nodded.
"I'll be back soon enough." And left to do the 'feminine chore.'
On the way to the store, you couldn't help but notice random outbursts of "EXTREME!" a few blocks away. Typical Ryohei.
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The local grocery store was pretty nice. It was big, clean, and had a sweet fruity aroma to it. As you walked back to the Vongola mansion with your hands full of bags of food, you noticed a dark car creeping behind you. Didn't you see that car before, a couple of other times this week? Was it following you or something? That thought scared you, and you started walking more hurriedly than before. The whole street was nearly empty, and the sun was starting to set. Suddenly, the car screeched to a stop in front of you. Two brutal-looking men jumped out of the vehicle, and grabbed you swiftly. No one was outside to hear your groceries collapse on the ground, to hear your startled scream, or to hear the car speeding away from sight.
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"Daddy?" Tsuna looked down at his son, where he was playing with a few toy cars. Kaoru had a funny look on his face, like he was trying to remember something important.
"What is it, Kaoru?"
"Where's mommy?" Tsuna froze. Mommy? Didn't Kaoru ask this half a year ago, after wondering where his mother was for a year and a half? Didn't Tsuna already explain this to him, how Kyoko had passed away two years ago, how she had gone for a better place, and how she was always watching over them?
"I told you, Kaoru," Tsuna said as gently as possible," Mommy is in heaven now. She-"he was cut off by the two-year-old impatiently shaking his head.
"No, where's mommy?" He pointed to ______'s bag, which was sitting on a nearby table. Tsuna almost choked on his saliva. ______, mommy? The more he thought about it, the more it made sense (sorta). Kaoru really liked ______. Almost everyday he demanded that she play with her, to walk in the gardens with her, or to share a chocolate-chip cookie with her. The feeling was mutual with ______. She treated Kaoru like he was her own son. Tsuna couldn't deny his feelings for the shy, hard working ______ either. She was nice, beautiful, and eager to help out in any way she could. She had a fabulous way of making Tsuna smile (even if it was a little twitch in the corner of his mouth), something his family, with the exception of Kaoru, had been attempting (and failing) for the past two years. She was gentle, and treated everyone from the carnivorous Hibari to the extreme Ryohei with nothing but respect and care. She-
"Tsuna! TSUNAAAA!!!!" Haru screamed as she ran into the living room. Tsuna jumped up, startled by her scream. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear Haru running into the room. She had a worried, almost terrified air about her. He asked worriedly," What's wrong, Haru?"
"______'s missing! She went out grocery shopping over an hour ago! Ryohei came back and said that the groceries and food list was just spilled everywhere on the sidewalk! Her purse was there too! Oh, where could she be?! I'm so worried! What if she's hurt?! What if-" Tsuna cut off Haru's distressed tirade in a sharp, concerned voice.
"She's missing?! What happened? Where's Ryohei? I need to talk to him; he's the one who found her stuff missing."
"He's in the living room talking to Futa and Yamamoto. Futa said something about the Todd family being the number one most likely family to kidnap ______." Tsuna nodded. Of course, the Todd family. After his encounter with them ten years ago, Tsuna had a feeling that they would come back for revenge. He stood up, and thinking of all the possible places where they would take ______.
"Watch Kaoru, Haru," he told the anxious woman," I'm going to look for ______."
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You groaned as you slowly gained consciousness in a dark, cold room.
"Where am I...?" you mumbled to yourself, noting that you had ropes binding your hands and feet tightly. Your back was to the door, and the small, barred window in the high corner was padlocked tightly. In other words: escape was impossible.
"Looks like she's awake, boss." A loud, malicious voice said.
"Yeah, she's opening her eyes and everything." A second voice added.
"Oh shut up, you morons, I can see for myself!" A third voice snapped over the other two's mutterings. You frowned.
"What...?"
"You're gonna give us any information we want about the Vongola family." A tall, muscular man slowly walked in front of you, with two other men behind him. Then it hit you: you had been kidnapped by these thugs while innocently shopping for food! What kind of kidnappers did that? And if they were any good at these things, then they would have found out that you had only been with the Vongola for a week, hence your useless amount of knowledge of the Vongola tenth.
"So tell us, girlie, just what is Tsunayoshi Sawada's weakness?" the man who seemed like the leader cracked his knuckles threateningly. You gulped; what could you say?
"I-I don't know..." SMACK!
"Don't lie to us! We know that you're the new secretary for the Vongola. We know that you've been working close to Sawada. You know his weakness, and a whole bunch of other secrets, and we're not afraid to use force to find out." Shocked, you could only stare at the man while your red cheek stung in the cool air. Did they really think that you knew everything about Tsuna Sawada, the man who shielded his heart from everyone except for his son? Like he would ever pour his soul out to you. You remained silent, hoping the man would give up and leave. No chance of that.
SMACK!
"I'm giving you one last chance, girlie. Tell us his one major weakness, and we won't kill you." Your arms ached to be free, just so you could rub your injured cheek. Your head pounded, and you felt a painful headache coming.
"I don't know his weakness! I don't know anything about him!" you whispered. The man and his goons snorted.
"Well, I suppose if you're just gonna go on like this, then it's arrivederci for you." He raised a gun straight to your head. As the cold steel barrel met your forehead, you squeezed your eyes shut, praying desperately under your breath. There were so many things you wanted to do in life, and yet, you never had gotten the opportunities to do them!
'Mom, dad, I'm sorry I was so useless. I'm sorry I joined the mafia. I'm sorry I moved to the other side of the world. Sis, I'm sorry I ate Dad's slice of cake and blamed it on you. I'm sorry I put toothpaste in your shoes. There were so many things I wanted to do, so many things I wanted to say...' As this last thought left you, an image of Kaoru and Tsuna came to mind. Kaoru was playing happily with his toy trucks, and Tsuna was watching him bash the plastic vehicles together with a tender smile on his face. You almost cried; there was a countless amount of things you wanted to say to him. You wanted to tell him how he should smile more often; it was one of the nicest things you ever saw in your life. You wanted to tell him that he should cheer up more; couldn't he see how his friends and family were suffering with him? You wanted to tell him that he wasn't alone in this world; Kaoru, Haru, Gokudera, Yamamoto...everyone was with him. And...you wanted to tell him how much you had grown to love him in the past week, how much your heart ached to see a sincerely happy smile from him, just for you, and how much you wanted to hear three simple, yet meaningful words coming out of his mouth.
'Tsuna...I'm sorry I'm so useless at this...'
You heard the click of the gun getting ready to fire a shot. There was a loud noise outside of the room, but you paid it no mind.
'Goodbye, everyone.'
CRASH!
The door smashed open, and pieces of painted wood flew everywhere. Your eyes snapped open, drinking in the sight of your savior, Tsuna Sawada, punching the lights out of your captors. He had what seemed like a large, strange flame on his forehead, and even though he looked calm, the Vongola tenth radiated a deadly aura all around him. His eyes were what scared you the most. They looked dangerous, holding a promise of pure pain and agony for anyone who dared to cross him.
"Tsuna..." you voice was weak with relief as he knocked out the last man, just as his flame blew out. He quickly turned to you, freeing your hands and feet of the rope. You shakily stood up, and Tsuna grabbed you for an embrace, holding you closely as though you might disappear. Blushing, you hesitantly put your arms around his neck, gradually tightening your grip on his as tears of joy, fear, and relief sprang to your eyes. Your eyesight blurred slightly as the hot, salty teardrops fell to the floor, marking a trail on your face. Tsuna gently stroked your hair, murmuring soothing things into your ear.
"Shh...it's okay now...they're not going to hurt you..." you could only shake your head, sobbing as tears fell faster and faster, trying not to imagine what would have happened if Tsuna hadn't come when he did.
Gradually, you stopped crying, sniffing occasionally. Tsuna patted you on the back somewhat awkwardly, and removed his arms from you.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concern evident of his face. You nodded, gulping in one last, calming breath. Tsuna placed a reassuring hand on your arm.
"Come on, ______. Let's go home."
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Moving extra carefully, you placed a blanket on the sleeping child and lightly smoothed some of Kaoru's hair from his face. He looked like an absolute angel when sleeping, with warm, pink cheeks, and auburn hair messily laying everywhere like a halo. You sat on the couch near him, recalling the events of what had happened when you and Tsuna arrived home from your near-death encounter with the Todd family. Haru almost flattened you with a flying hug, and had cried about nearly losing you to a bullet. Ryohei apologized an extreme amount of times for not being there with you-"Next time, I, Ryohei Sasagawa, EXTREME lion puncher, solemnly swear to go grocery shopping to the EXTREME! I will shop for bread to the limit!"- while Lambo was running away from an enraged Bianchi. Kaoru had insisted on holding your hand for the whole time, calling you "mommy" more than a few times. You had almost flipped your lid; mommy?
Now that everyone was off in bed, or doing their own thing, you gazed down at the dozing Kaoru.
"Hmm...mommy, eh? Reminds me of often I never saw my mom...stupid work kept her too busy..." you spoke softly to yourself. Hearing a low chuckle, you raised your head in the direction of the noise.
"Kaoru really likes you, ______." Tsuna said, walking over to sit next to you. You lowered your gaze, feeling faintly bashful from the compliment.
"I really like him too." You mumbled, playing with the edges of the blanket with your fingers. Large, warm hands caught yours, and you looked up curiously, red in the face, to find Tsuna's serious face right by yours. If possible, you reddened even more.
"T-Tsuna...?"
"When I saw you with that gun by your head, I think I almost lost it," he said in a low voice, his eyes looking intently into yours," I was imagining how terrible it would be if we lost you. I would have wondered all of my life about what could have been, of what something like this would feel like, of what you would have said about it..."
Your heart was pounding frantically against your chest as you whispered," Said about what?"
No words were needed. As Tsuna leaned in closer and closer, you found yourself on the brink of hyperventilation, dizzy from his intoxicating scent, just wanting and wishing for his lips to meet yours already...
And they did. His warm, soft lips kissed yours, lightly at first, as though you might fall apart at the slightest touch. Then, slowly, but surely, he kissed you with more passion, wrapping his arms around your waist protectively. You responded with as much love as you could; one of your hands found itself buried in Tsuna's silky hair, running the soft strands through your fingers; the other slowly caressed his cheek, and was still there when you broke apart, panting slightly and smiling at each other. You knew, right there and then, that this man, Tsunayoshi Sawada, the tenth generation mafia boss of the Vongola family, was your one and only, the only sun that could shine and break though the shadowy depths to reach you; the lone, bright light that was waiting for you at the end of the abandoned, lonesome tunnel; the guardian angel that would save you from death's cold, greedy arms, no matter what. Your guardian angel.
Tsuna watched you with an expression filled with love and care. When he spoke, he said the three words that you had been dying to hear from him. He said the three words that in itself held the hidden promise that he would always love you with all of his heart, keep you safe from all of the dangers in his mafia world, and let absolutely no harm come your way.
"I love you."
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L.M.H: Well, there's the result of two week's worth of hard work and procrastination! Hope you liked it, Pineapple-chan~! My apologies if you find any spelling and grammar mistakes.
Ken: If there are spelling or grammar mistakes, then that just means that you're a lazy writer who can't be bothered to use spell check.
L.M.H: Shut that insanely large mouth of yours, Dog Boy! You're just mad that you're not in the story!
Ken: Tch! Just because a certain emo writer can't be bothered to-
L.M.H: I'm not emo! *procedes to strangle Ken*
Review, please! *smiles cheerfully while Ken is lying in a crumpled heap in the corner*