Italics between quotation marks most of the time is done to show the speaker is speaking English

"T-this is very impressive." Her mouth hung slightly agape, gaze framed by glasses running up and down the multiple windows before her, nose nearly squeezed between her face and the computer. She glanced at the male sitting on the chair before the desk situated in front of her, his emerald stare veiled by the obsidian bangs when he lowered his head as a pink crawled upon his cheeks. "Excuse me for asking again, but what is your age?"

"Two-and-twenty following the week after the next." He lifted his head then, the pink darkening till a deep crimson. Crap…I said that in English. "I-I meant to say almost twenty-two."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, silently wondering how one forgets one is in not supposed to speak English when, clearly, they were in the Land of the Rising Sun where the native and perhaps only tongue spoken was Japanese. "So, what university was it you attended? I can't pronounce it for the life of me."

"Cambridge University."

"Kamubi—no, kamube—," she mumbled to herself, eyes drawn close into concentration. She huffed at her incapability of even remembering how the young man had pronounced it. Speaking of young… "When did you start university?"

He hummed softly to himself and tapped his lower lip, eyes drifting to the ceiling as if the blank paint there would bring forth some color into his mind. "The summer I finished high school when I was seventeen I believe it was." He scratched the back of his head, his lips curling up slightly. "I somehow managed to finish my studies in four years and get my medical degree."

She returned the smile with much vigor. "Well, then, I see you'll have no problem in this competitive environment. I'll print out a list of the patients you will be assigned." She turned her attention back to the computer, her hand scrolling about with the mouse and occasionally typing in a few words. It was not till a few minutes later when she found what she was searching for. With a small cry of victory, she clicked on "Print", and the machine not far behind began its purpose. She swiveled around on her chair and reached out for the printed paper, swiveled back around as she extended her arm, and placed the paper facing the young man. Leaning forward, she pointed at the list and stopped. The list was rather short. There's only one name. She shuddered at the memory of the owner of the name. "Ah, sorry, Kazu-sensei. I think I printed out the wrong list." But the name at the corner of the list labeled in bold "Kazu Akemi" told her otherwise.

Akemi, too immersed in peering at the name set before him, did not hear her at all. He took the list into his hand, light twinkling about his eyes. "Hibari Kyouya-shi, huh?" he read out loud, purposefully drawling each vowel—the way it rolled off his tongue…it sent shivers down his spine.

"Ah, Kazu-sensei! Where are you going?!" He had simply gotten up and left the office without glancing anywhere but the list! She ran after him when seemingly out of nowhere a brooding form suddenly appeared. She froze. A lump began to clog her throat, and beads of sweat formed and rolled down her face; her chest was constricting, robbing her of breath.

"No screaming is allowed in the hospital," he reminded, voice colder than the hellish winters on the poles. His lips slowly curled upwards in nothing but for brutal viciousness. "I'll deal with you later, though. Where is my new doctor?"

Unable to speak, she pointed at the general direction she saw Akemi go towards, inwardly praying the Sadist wouldn't drive the only handsome recruit of Namimori Hospital away.

With a curt nod, he pivoted on his heel and strode down the hall, hordes of personnel and patients scrambling to clear his way.

"Oh, god, have mercy and kill me now. I did it again—I subconsciously left a room without a word!" He tugged at his obsidian fringes as he rubbed his palms against his eyes, elbows upon his knees. The wind rustled by, lifting the hip-length strands from their resting place on his back. He usually had the ponytail hidden under his trench coat, but right now he could care less who saw it; his haircut was strategically styled so it seemed as though he had no hair longer than slightly less than halfway down to the base of his neck when seen from the front, though, so there was less of a chance people would see it. Why did he have his hair styled like this? Well, there was a long reason to that. He sighed heavily. "I'll come in early tomorrow in the morning and ask around for a tour."

"No need."

His heart almost hammered out of his chest, shoulders tense as though he had been caught red-handed stealing a precious stone. He tilted his head back to meet the owner of the voice. His eyes widened, entranced by the piercing silver and storm-stricken azure irises of the man, his muscularly slender shape framed by a tuxedo tainted in the colours of night, the organized disarray of raven locks, and the metal, cylindrical weapons (?) bound by the man's grasp at his sides that glinted like a fragment of a diamond lustering under the light. Uwah, so handsome! "May—may I help you, sir?"

"Are you the herbivore named Kazu Akemi?"

He puckered his lips into a pout. "That is my name, but I eat meat. May I inquire who you are?"

"An herbivore is always an herbivore; one can't change that unless the Infant is somehow concerned," he scoffed. "You should know who I am."

"How should—" He closed his mouth, then, finally realizing what the man meant. Oh. "You're Hibari Kyouya-shi?"

Hibari nodded and pivoted on his heels. He half-turned his body towards Kazu, and, somehow, the piercing gaze shot a bullet through the latter's chest. "Come." He turned back and began to walk away with all the grace of the world, his raven locks stirring about in the wind.

Akemi's heart hammered against its confinements near the point of being called painful, his breath suddenly caught in his throat. What was more perplexing was the heat warming his cheeks. W-what?

Hibari heard shuffling steps behind him, too slow to be anywhere past a few meters from the bench the herbivore was sitting on. "Hurry up."

That cold tone…that melodic, velvety deepness…it sent shivers wrecking him all the way to his fingertips. He jogged to catch up to Hibari. When he was besides the taller man, with his head lowered to hide the crimson taint upon his cheeks, he mumbled, "W-where are we headed to, Hi-Hibari-shi?"

He wanted to beat out the pathetic sight of the herbivore, yet he reminded himself to refrain from scaring away the umpteenth doctor. "Your job."

Akemi blinked, the heat upon his cheeks slowly cooling and his heartbeat muffling its drum as they were replaced by worry. "You are injured? Or perhaps sick?"

This herbivore was really pulling at his strings. The Hibari Kyouya injured? As if! "No. The Infant was the one who told me to bring you."

"'The Infant'?" He looked up at Hibari at this, confusion written across his face. He received no reply. He frowned. This could be an imposter sent to lure people out with his drop-dead looks for all I know...I'll just stealthily walk away, then. He took a side-ways step, ready to run when Hibari turned to look at him. He gulped. When Hibari turned his attention back to road in front of him (which seemed like a millennium of dread had passed before he did), he sighed. He opted to wait for a moment until he found the raven-haired man's attention on him slacken, so he glued his eyes onto the center of said man's back.

Sensing a stare, Hibari turned down and found the emerald-eyed herbivore to be the culprit. His gaze travelled lower to the doctor's plump lips—he didn't fail to notice the light hue on the cheeks when the doctor noticed him looking at him—and, out of nowhere, the image of similar lips murmuring soft words to him as they leaned forth to plant a gentle kiss on his own lips resurfaced.

"I love you, Kyouya."

He halted abruptly, and the doctor slammed against his back. He ground his teeth, hands clenching into fists and blood seething through his veins. That little bastard stole his first kiss only to suddenly leave the country the next day. But that was long ago, when he had recently become eight years old, and, now, he could only remember the voice, those enticing lips, and what he thought to be eyes as green as the brightest emerald. He swore the day he found the fucking herbivore that dared steal his heart for the sole purpose, it seemed, of ripping it into a million pieces and throwing it into the filthiest trash—oh, he swore everyday he was reminded of that event—he was going to bite him to death. Painfully.

Hibari turned to fully face the herbivore behind him to examine those lips. They look too alike. A dark cloud brewed about his shoulders like the cloak of a God of Death, eyes narrowing to a glower. "Have we met before?"

Akemi blinked up at Hibari. "E-eh? I don't believe so." He tilted his head to the side in deep contemplation, and the innocence behind the action nearly blinded the skylark. "Why do you ask?"

This person…was too…girly. Was the herbivore from long ago like this? He sighed inwardly. "Never mind." He felt his spirits crumble to dust. Whatever the reason was that the Infant had me bring this herbivore to him in return for a fight no longer is of my interest. "Kazu Akemi, forget about your job for today."

He stared at the retreating back of Hibari in shock. What in the bloody hell…? He shook his head as a short chuckle rippled from his throat, already finding this "Hibari Kyouya" person an object of his curiosity. Ah, well, I guess I'll just go off to my next job.

Turmoil brewed in him. Right now, he desperately needed as much money as he could earn, for he had to leave behind all of his belongings in England to doom; he was still in debt to the university; he had to pay for rent, electricity, water, and heating; and all of the money he had left went to food, which consisted of ramen, ramen, ramen, and more ramen. My, how healthy. He groaned as he ran his hands over his face; he wearily coughed onto his balled-up hand, shoulders shaking and throat burning as moisture collected at the corner of his eyes. He groaned and snuggled further into his futon. "I need to stop exhausting myself like that; it's ruining my health, isn't it, Yoru?"

Yoru was the cat not longer than two-thirds of a forearm (tail included) and fluffier than fluffy and dyed, as its name suggested, in the deepest black; its azure eyes—Akemi swore up and down they were the prettiest he had ever seen and were, dare he think it, more beautiful than the sky—twinkled as it mewled. It stretched, eyes closed in glee at the wonderful sensation of the popping of bones, before curling up on Akemi's heaving chest under the covers, a soft purr emanating gently.

"Yo-tan, aren't you too hot under the covers?"

Yoru ignored him in favor of sleeping.

"'Yo-tan'?" a voice of the velvety depths of the ocean reiterated questionably.

Startled, Akemi wrapped his hands around Yoru as he sat up abruptly. "Who goes there?" His eyes traveled around the room until a drift of wind drew his attention to the window. There, perched leisurely on the window that was four floors up from the ground and clad in a dress shirt the hues of a purple night and black jeans, was Hibari Kyouya the Great. He fought off the heat rising to his cheeks. "How the fuck did you get in here?!"

"The window," he answered as though that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I can see that! But this is the fourth floor!"

Hibari frowned, an action Akemi found to look too delicate for such a man. "Herbivore, you're too loud."

"Well, excuse me, sir, for being raising my voice when a stranger suddenly pops out of nowhere," Akemi bit back in English.

He stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "I don't 'pop out of nowhere'. The Infant calls for you."

"This 'Infant' person again?" The doctor stood wearily as he looked down at his pet digging its claws into his shirt and skin (not that he minded)—it had remained asleep. He peered around his house to locate the bag of cat food; when he did, he sighed. There's no more food left. I need to go out to buy some.

"Yes." Without warning, Hibari pushed himself off the window and landed on the ground below with feline agility.

He walked over to the window and looked down to find Hibari still there with his hands in his pockets and silver gaze boring holes into Akemi's forehead. "Pardon me, Hibari-shi; may I take Yoru along?"

He expected for Hibari to deny him with a stern "no", not for him to extend his arms and tell him he would "catch the kitten, so hurry up; I don't have all night."

Akemi looked down at Hibari uncertainly as he bit his lower lip. "You will catch him, right?"

"Yes, now, throw—" He stopped to contemplate something (that delicate frown was all Akemi needed to see through the blankets of darkness to know this). The herbivore looks too weary to move a muscle. "Jump down as well. It'll be faster this way."

The prospect of vaulting down four floors into the embrace of a person who reminded him of a demon in an angel's clothing was not a pleasant idea; his flustered cheeks and hammering heart with foreign emotions that made butterflies swim in a pool of heat in his stomach were proof of that. He sucked in a breath and clutched his eyes close, his hold around Yoru tightening. He jumped.

He caught Akemi by the back of the shoulders and knees with nothing but ease and a grunt as he nearly lost his balance. He's a lot lighter than what I expected him to be; he's lighter than Sawada Tsunayoshi even though he is taller by at least seven centimeters, actually. He sauntered his way to the black motorcycle parked under the tree.

Akemi squirmed in his grasp. "U-umm, can you put me down, please?" His heart was beating so loudly he bet the entire neighborhood could hear it.

Instead of answering, Hibari raised a leg over the motorcycle and settled himself on it as he unwound his arms from the doctor in favor of grasping the handle bars and snapping up the foot peg. A sly smile curled his lips. "Hold on."

Akemi blinked at him. "Eh?"

Note to self: never ride on any type of vehicle with Hibari-shi. His mind was still trapped in the world of sharp curves, knees grazing the road, swiveling to and fro among cars, ignoring stop lights and signs, and squeezing between two trailers. How the in the bloody hell did I survive that?

"K-Kazu-san, are you alright?"

A small smile graced his lips as he cradled Yoru closer to his chest, the kitten purring its contentment at being close to its master. Of course, the cat had slept through the ride as though the world was spinning at its regular pace (which it was, as far as Akemi could tell) and did not once stir. "Yes, I'm sorry for worrying you, Sawada-san. How do you feel?"

The brunet smiled sheepishly. "A lot better, thank you; I think the medicine is starting to kick in. I'm sorry Reborn sent out Hibari to drag—I mean bring you here."

Reborn, Akemi had learned in the past hour he had been in this abnormal yet normal house, was who Hibari referred to as "the Infant". The man had introduced himself as "the world's best and greatest hitman and the home tutor of that pathetic student you see there dying from a simple cold".

He chuckled at the memory of those cobalt eyes staring at him intently as he did the usual check-up procedure. "Not at all, Sawada-san—I'm honored to be able to offer my assistance."

"Please, call me Tsuna. Ah, I'm also sorry about Gokudera-kun."

Gokudera Hayato was the silver-haired man that had threatened to "stick dynamites up your ass if you don't cure the Tenth this instant". Not a very pleasant thought. "I think it's cute to have such a worrying friend."

"I don't know how many times I need to apologize for Mukuro," Tsuna continued.

Rokudou Mukuro, he recalled very vividly, eerily materialized out of thin air as a low chuckle resounded throughout the room and a mismatched stare of crimson and azure peered in a very disturbing—and when he says disturbing, he means over the top creepy—at him. His hairstyle—oh, this made him laugh—was one of a high resemblance to a pineapple and a long ponytail of blue strands that settled neatly against his back. "My, Akemi-kun," Mukuro had told him, "if I didn't know any better, I'd confuse you for a girl." Akemi had taken an immediate dislike for the man. His eyebrow twitched. "You're not one to talk," he retaliated, "Mukuro-kun."

Despite the fact he was very tempted to punch Mukuro, he offered a sprightly smile. "It's fine, really."

Hibari sometime during those events had disappeared somewhere, though.

Yoru nuzzled his nose against his thigh.

"Oh, that reminds me. Is there a pet store around here that is still open?"

"A pet store?" Tsuna tilted his head to the side in contemplation. "The store that I know that stays open till eleven is at a fifteen-minute walk from here." He took a gander at his clock sitting under the shade of the lamp. "But it's already midnight." He blinked, his doe-like eyes widening further. "Eh?! It's already midnight?!" He bowed his head several times. "I'm really sorry for keeping you here so late! And you have work tomorrow! Or is it today? Ah, that's worse! I'm sorry!"

Akemi chuckled. "Worry not, Tsuna-san. You are the only patient I have to attend to at the moment unless something happens to Hibari-shi."

"The world would crumble before something happens to Hibari-san," Tsuna muttered darkly to himself and lowly enough so only he could hear. "Kazu-san, would you mind staying the night here, then?"

"Eh? No, I couldn't. I'd be intruding too much." He waved his arms in front of him, the smile on his lips never faltering.

"I insist."

They both turned to the source of the third voice. "Ah, Reborn, welcome back." Tsuna offered a nervous smile.

"I'm back, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn leaned against the door frame, the light allowing a longer shadow to be cast over his face by the fault of his fedora where a chameleon sat upon. "Kazu, stay the night. Matsunaga is too far to go back to at this time."

Tsuna tugged at his sleeve, a sweet smile gracing his lips. "Kazu-san, it's also too dangerous to be wondering the streets at this time; after all, this is when Hibari-san goes out to patrol and bite troublemakers to death. Who knows what will happen if you get caught up in one of the fights."

"Hibari-shi patrols Namimori?"

Reborn nodded. "Everyone in this town—and some of Kokuyo—know him for that reason. He won't hesitate to beat down those who cause the 'discipline' and 'peace' of Namimori to be disrupted."

"And the police," Akemi asked slowly, "don't mind this?"

Tsuna sighed. "No. In fact, they are either too scared to do anything about it or simply are too lazy to enforce the law."

A bubbling of something—he didn't exactly know what it was; he just knew it was something—was creeping its way into his chest, constricting his lungs in an uncomfortable manner; all he knew was he needed to be somewhere but here…that somewhere where Hibari-shi is at. Kazu stood up and bowed, Yoru held protectively in his embrace. "Thank you for the offer, but I can't stay." A Cheshire-like grin spread on his face. "Besides, I have a trick or two up my sleeve. I'll be fine!"

"I have a trick or two up my sleeve", my ass. I can't even run for more than two minutes before I am a gasping bundle of muscle on the side of the road. "I did say I would be fine, but…" He trailed off when shadows lurking in the alley tussling about and raising boisterous cacophony caused his chest to clench. It's that feeling again. He hugged Yoru closer to himself, and the cat (he's not a kitten, by the way, but a very petit adult) mewled in protest at the pressure. "Sorry," he whispered to the feline just as a mangled man was sent flying several feet across the street. His heart stopped its low drum at what he saw next.

The unmistakable figure of Hibari Kyouya sauntered out from the alley as he wiped with the back of his hand a splotch of blood that was not his own from near his ear. There was a dangerous glint dancing in those mesmerizingly piercing eyes, lips drawn into a thin line of disgust. "Fucking herbivore, you'll pay for that."

The man whose face was not a pretty sight to behold laughed hysterically, eyes wide in fear. "Heh…heh-heh…ha-ha…hehehehe…I...I did it…!"

He was frozen on his spot by the events playing before him. Then, out of thin air, a strong arm wrapped itself around his shoulder, and the cool surface of a sharpened blade pressed against his neck. Shit!

The breath of the man holding him reeked of alcohol. The man roughly pushed Akemi forth, the blade nicking slightly at his skin. "Oi! Hibari Fucking Kyouya! Drop your weapons, or this pretty boy's neck is his death!"

Akemi could only watch in horror as Hibari lurched on his spot to face them, lips curling menacingly. "I really hate herb—no, you are below an herbivore. I really abhor creatures like you that use cowardly tactics." He twirled a tonfa in his hand, and, with a swing of the arm too fast for the untrained eye to see, the weapon collided against Akemi's captor. The man's forehead indented, the sickening crunch of bone cracking under pure pressure resounding throughout the night as blood sprayed forth, staining the obsidian locks belonging to Akemi with its sinful essence. The man's eyes rolled back into his head as he crumbled to the floor, twisting his leg in a painful position as he did so.

The knife spun off towards a dark nook on the street.

He stood like a statue for several seconds, his brain processing the fact a man had just been murdered bereft a blink of remorse. Yet, he could not find it in him to hate the skylark—he had saved his life! How could he hate him?

Hibari fell upon knee, face pinched with excruciation as he held his right shoulder, red oozing from the gaps among his fingers; his tonfa remaining weapon clattered to the floor. The glower he sent to the last surviving man only intensified each passing second, eyes promising nothing but a torturous death.

It was at this moment when Akemi knew looks could kill: after giving a blood-curling screech, the frightened-beyond-this-universe man was clutching at his left arm, cold sweat beading on and rolling down every last patch of skin; his breath came out in short gasps, heart beating and beating at his chest. Then, with a spasm, he collapsed to the side, eyes a picture of horror as the pupils dilated. His heart stopped.

He was certain now he wouldn't be able to sleep for the next month. Why didn't I accept Tsuna-san's offer to stay…? A muffled moan turned his attention back to Hibari, who was attempting to not fall down once more. I feel like I jinxed Hibari-shi earlier or something. He jogged to Hibari and pressed a hand against the latter's shoulder to give some balance. His emerald irises glazed with worry peered into the steady glow of silver azure. "Hibari-shi, are you alright?"

"Are you alright, Kyouya?"

That green-eyed gaze…he remembered it now—it belonged to that herbivore from long ago. And the voice of the doctor…it ached him to hear it, for it sounded too similar to that herbivore. He reached his hand gloved with his blood to tilt this herbivore's head up. "Are you certain…we have not met before"—he leaned down, their lips almost grazing each other, to drawl his last, two words—"Kazu Akemi?"

It was faint, but he definitely felt the press of lips that were softer than clouds upon his own, leaving behind a tingling sensation. He didn't need a mirror to know his face was flushed a roseate more crimson than the reddest roses. H-he...he k-ki-kis-kissed...

And Hibari Kyouya promptly collapsed on him.