hinamorimomo13: Wouldn't you be mean too if you found out you had a brother? D: Oh my, that's a hot idea... Might add that in later on lmfao. I'll credit you, of course. I don't actually like incest that much. I was really creeped out at first o.o Then I read some weird manga and it was cool. I remember looking up on people's reviews for it and the title was 'Is incest really wrong?' My mother saw that and became worried. I have an older brother. :c 6918... incest? I died inside. Aki: For different fandoms, there's always a fic where someone accepts their new brother/sister immediately, no questions asked. Makes me go, 'wth?' So I'm glad you liked this. Since I know who you are now, ohoho, I'm grateful you don't mention my stories irl. I'd die. Die. Oh, I'll clear this up. Dino doesn't love Kyouya yet. o-o It's just friendly~ Yup, I bolded that so other people can see. I Like To Stalk You: I needed someone to bam it up to M-rated haha. A reader suggested on MSN that I added it in, so I did. xD Fuwa's sister came up with Kyouya's and I just derped for Dino's. I was hyper. Mmm, incest indeed. ;) Eyes17k: Brother Dino's gonna get fooled through this chapter instead. Oho. N'aw, already got a scene in mind for Dino to meet Hibird. Not gonna happen yet, but soon. p: I Like To Stalk You: Ohoho, they'll get along soon, in more than one way. ;] I'm really sorry to hear that! I hope she's okay and everything. D: Face Faith: Sorry for the long chapter then haha. This one's the shortest yet. Yup, that's how I wanted them to look. xD LOL. Alaude as the father... would've been too weird. I did consider it, but then I was like, 'OH HELL NO.' Herbivore is common... in my mind. LOL. So glad you're enjoying this. It's great to know someone likes it. :D Face Faith: Clumsiness is cute, I had to add it in haha. Grah, my beta added in a hyphen instead of a bar. DAMN HER. :O IT's such a nice image to imagine Kyouya in boxers... :c The online conversations are so hard to write lmao. I thought it would be easy, but no! I died inside when I even thought about making them typ lik diz. Or using emoticons. Ugh. Ahh, sorry about that then. D: Idk what else to describe shops smelling like! Lol. Doesitreallymatter: Thank you for giving it a try, even though you don't like incest. ^^ I was just trying something different! There's not many online gaming fics and stuff like that lol. Doesitreallymatter: Would sex and all kinds of fluff make you forgive Kyouya being a prick? :c No? Good. I can't write that. /sob LOL
家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN! © 天野明
Chapter three—Directions
A groan slipped past my lips as my eyelids fluttered open. There were any rays of light coming through my window—it was still the dead of the night—yet I'd jolted myself awake for some odd reason. I couldn't remember what I'd dreamt of, but the beads of sweat that were clinging onto my forehead were a clear indication that it wasn't anything enjoyable. There wasn't an odd feeling in the bottom of my stomach, meaning that I'd had thoughts that were close to a sexual kind, yet I was still taking in deep breaths as if I had. Letting the covers fall off my body, I sat up in bed, placing my head in my palm as I brushed my bangs out of my face with a sigh. It was still an embarrassing experience to wake up gasping for breath for no particular reason; I felt as though my imagination was trying to hint at something for me. Possibly, I was turning into a herbivore from my lack of self-control when I wasn't conscious.
Pushing the damp strands out of my face, I closed my eyes whilst raising one of my knees up and propping my chin on top of it. It was an odd position, but comfortable in the dark. The only light filling up some of the room, I observed whilst taking in my surroundings, were the small beams of light from the moon and a few lights that were strategically placed outside in the street. It was annoying that my window faced the street; it meant that if I looked out, instead of seeing a garden or something remotely interesting, I saw either cars speeding past or the occasional drunk individual stumbled past in the middle of the night. I turned my head in the direction of my window, only seeing a few of the trees that were high in the sky from my low position. My vision was mostly black apart from the dark green blobs of where I supposed the leaves were. My eyelids were closing themselves again, becoming heavier than usual, when I became aware of someone's soft breathing echoing within the room. I froze on the spot as I listened to the noise, straining my ears to try and make out where it was coming from. Tearing my now wide open eyes away from my window, they darted around the room whilst looking for the source. Due to the lack of light and the speed my eyes were darting around the room, it took me almost a minute to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.
Before I could stop myself, his name slipped through my lips. "Dino."
How could I forget about him? I could only make out where his head was poking out from, just under his duvet, and yet I was still frozen in my place. The sound of him breathing was making my ears ring. It would've been a good idea to buy a lamp and place it on my desk; that way I could have reached over and illuminated a small portion of my room, just enough to see where I was stepping. If I wanted to get out of bed at that point, there was a possibility that I would step onto Dino and wake him up. Although I was trying to be nice to him—as nice as I could—there was a limit to how much time that meant. When it was probably around three o'clock in the morning, I didn't want him talking to me. The earliest I could deal with would have to have been eight o'clock, just before I walked away to go to school. It was an excuse to get rid of him, after all. On weekends, on the other hand, I didn't know what time he woke up on an average. My own sleeping times were strange; it was either really early that I woke up and stumbled out of bed or I didn't sleep until early in the morning. I need some sort of a routine, I told myself. That way I can avoid him as much as possible.
Eventually after a few minutes of staring at Dino's sleeping form, I let my body relax and let my back hit against my mattress again. My arms were crossed behind my head as I stared up at my dark ceiling, wide awake despite the early time. I yawned into my hand after a few minutes, trying to think of what to do to occupy my time. Only on a rare occasion could I close my eyes and fall back asleep. Most of the time, when I'd woken up, that was it for me for at least a few hours. Unless I took a nap at an inappropriate time, I was going to drag on through the day and hope I wouldn't yawn too much.
After five minutes of being bored, I sat back up in my bed and ran a hand through my hair. It was far too early to do anything remotely important; I couldn't even be bothered to attempt to walk around Dino's sleeping body and then go downstairs. I would've probably only started to read a novel, too. All the ones I owned I'd read at least twice—nothing extremely interesting that I could do to pass the time. My sleeping habit was another reason why I took up the hobby of gaming. When it was late at night or when no one was awake, I'd reach for my laptop and click onto random websites in hope of finding something to occupy my time with. Eventually, I'd clicked onto a multiplayer online game and found myself amused about the reactions I could spark from people. It was an outlet for my violence as well, but when I felt a frown on my face from losing to someone who had the nerve to childishly taunt me through the internet, I knew I needed to quit. To me, violence was always better in real life, apart from when I received some unfortunate cuts that weren't supposed to have appeared across my skin.
Holding onto the edge of my mattress, my right hand reached out and groped the floor in front of me in search of my laptop. I was sure I'd placed it somewhere near my bed, or on top of my desk, and I was determined to find it as quickly as possible without turning the light on. My fingers were digging uncomfortably into my bed when I'd finally found it. I pulled the laptop out from under my bed quickly, placing it onto my lap before casting a wary glance towards Dino's sleeping form. His position was no reassurance, but the soft breathing that met my ears yet again reassured me that I hadn't woke him up with my movement. He could have just been a heavy sleeper, though. It depended on my mood before I went to sleep whether or not I woke up from a small noise. If I was in a relatively good mood, I could sleep for a few hours even if my mother opened the door. On the unfortunate days where I wanted nothing more than to rip all of the hair out of my scalp, just the sound of someone walking up the stairs made me jerk forward, fully awake within seconds. It was annoying to say the least; if I'd slept for an hour whilst in a bad mood, that was it for me for at least six hours. I'd thought about buying sleeping pills before, but dubbed them too much trouble after finding out that if I didn't want to make a scene, I would have to have a slip signed by a doctor. The only doctor within Namimori when I needed one was someone who refused to treat males. When I'd met him for the first time—by accident—I'd been asked if I was trying to deny my gender by dressing like a boy. Needless to say, instead of an insulting reply he received a sharp jab to the face from my tonfa.
When my laptop screen was becoming increasingly brighter, I lunged for the mute button so the damn start up tone wouldn't echo within the room. I still didn't know what Dino could sleep though; waking him up in the middle of the night with a light illuminating my face meant I couldn't play it off as being asleep. I scooted backwards, still clutching the laptop, until my back hit against the wall beside me. My duvet was placed on top of my bare legs, keeping them warm, whilst I shivered from the cold air hitting my torso. I couldn't do anything about it—getting up and searching for some sort of t-shirt was out of the question. My wardrobe was next to Dino. Hitting him in the face with one of the doors was tempting, but the events that would happen after it weren't.
When the laptop had finally loaded I was yawning openly into my hand. I blinked away the moisture before letting my fingertips press against the keys, searching for something to occupy my time. Curiosity got the better of me after loading up my internet browser. Count Blonde had said he'd finally found something to do last night, but that hadn't meant he wouldn't reply to my last message. It had only been around eight hours ago that I'd said it as well. I assumed he shared the same time zone has me, meaning there was a chance he'd stayed up late.
I blinked in surprise when my assumptions were correct. Although there was only one message, it was better than none.
Count Blonde—Nami! I think I messed up.
My eyebrows were raised in surprise. I'd hardly known Count Blonde more than two days and from his last message, it sounded as though he was going to ask my opinion on something that had happened. It would have been a lie to say I didn't slam the laptop shut and then place it on the floor again without replying to his message. I was bewildered that he would actually turn to me for help; I hadn't been particularly nice even though I was trying to convince myself to do so. It was a good sign that he deemed me suitable enough to talk to about problems, but it was far too soon. I'd expected such a thing to had happened after a few months or so, not two days. I wasn't the type of person to have been dubbed honest enough to have been told problems straight away, that was a ridiculous thought.
On one of the old games I'd seen, there were some players who chose to talk in a chat marked for everyone—so it got posted on everyone's screen unless they chose to turn it off—instead of conversing in private chat. I'd seen from their open conversations that individuals online did in fact spill their life stories out to others on the internet. It was odd to see at first, I'd barely believed my eyes, yet as the years went on I'd grown to accept it. It was amusing to see what kind of stories the spat out at each other, the reactions they received, too. There had been a random player who'd proclaimed they'd lost all of their friends in real life from play too much. The reaction she'd received was absolutely priceless, I even remembered having to cover my mouth with my hand due to the fact I was trying to hold back a laugh. The answer was one along the lines of telling her to attend the gym for a few hours, quit whining like an eight-year-old and then attempt to find pathetic people to talk to her. The way it had been worded was harsh, blunt and hysterical. Similar situations had happened since then on different games, yet the first one I'd seen was definitely the best. The player quitting from rage after swearing was the cherry on top.
I press my body back down onto the mattress, staring back up at my ceiling in boredom. I doubted I'd killed more time than half an hour; the sun still wasn't rising, which meant it was still the dead of the night. The amount of things I could do were definitely increasing and I decided at that moment to go out through the day and buy a small lamp. It would save me a lot of trouble in the long time. Looking at my room in the light would have been a good choice, too, that way I could see where I could step without stepping onto Dino and alerting him that I was awake. Placing my arm over my eyes, I took in a deep breath whilst trying to keep my thoughts under control. I was still surprised from the last message from Count Blonde. My strange reaction could have been from yesterday, too. Dino trying to cover up for my actions had confused me to no end and I found myself furrowing my eyebrows whilst my eyelids were closed. There was absolutely no reason for him to cover up for me. Even if he wanted to get closer to me, lying to our mother wasn't the way to go about it. He'd been far too nice when we were talking, too; especially since I'd lost my temper when he'd first attempted to hug me and then in the supermarket as well. It was ridiculous that I was losing my patience and the composure I'd tried to keep up all of the time over just one event. I should have just pushed him to the side and carried on with my life. It was going to be increasingly difficult with him staying in the same room, though. When I had to attend school again—which meant tomorrow—I couldn't sleep during different times. I would become sluggish if I slept during the day, leaving him to occupy the room at night. My reactions would have been slower, meaning the chance that he could catch me off guard would have been higher. That's a bad idea, I told myself.
When I'd taken in another deep breath, I heard a quiet hum echo throughout my room.
Removing my arm from my face, I propped myself up in curiously, straining my ears to make out whatever the sound was.
"—ya."
It wasn't my imagination at that point. I pivoted in my bed, letting my feet hit gently against the floor as I figured the noise was coming from Dino. Does he talk in his sleep? I stared down at his sleeping form—or where I thought it was—waiting to see if he spoke again. I'd distinctly heard the last syllable, but that didn't mean I could make out what he was saying as a whole.
"Kyouya," he whispered lowly.
My eyes had widened in surprise when I processed what he'd said. Unfortunately, when I placed my hand over my mouth to stifle my humiliating gasp, I felt that my cheeks had became hotter, too. It was embarrassing that he had the nerve to utter my name without any reason to. He didn't know me nor did he have any rights to. I bit down on my bottom lip in horror, trying to keep my irritation at bay as one of my hands clenched into a fist. My resolution would have been put to waste if I got up and hoped to hit where I thought his face was. Instead, I chose to listen to a wise suggestion inside of my mind. I pushed my duvet off of me quickly, placing it carelessly onto the end of my bed, half hanging off from what I could tell. I placed my feet on the floor carefully being making my way towards the door. It was easier said than done—I'd placed my foot down in front of me slowly, prodding the air to see if I was going to hit his mattress or anything remotely similar. I inwardly cringed when I heard Dino mutter something again, this time with less volume than I was used to. Finally, when my hand grasped the cold metal of my door knob, I turned it quickly before practically jumping out of the room. I let my back hit against tithe door as I tried to get my breathing back to normal. I overreacted—I was sure of that—yet at that moment, I deemed it appropriate.
"That idiot," I hissed under my breath.
After running my hand through my hair was more force than necessary, I started my trek downstairs. It was a lot easier than walking through my room; I knew exactly where I was going and where all the steps were located. I turned the light inside my living room on quickly, blinking at the sudden difference in lighting before squinting and settling myself down onto my sofa. I shivered from the cold material, opening my eyes fully after finally adjusting to the light. There wasn't anything particularly interesting inside; just a bookcase in one of the corners and a television placed on a wall. An annoying coffee table was in the middle of the room—the damned thing had attempted to trip me over more than few times. I'd caught myself at the last minute, stabilizing myself and walking away as if nothing had ever happened. Luckily, no one had ever witnessed such an event. I was sure that if my mother had seen it, she would've laughed and then brought the event up whenever it wasn't appropriate. Eventually, I ended up searching through the bookcase, looking for some sort of novel to read. Only a few of them were my own, therefore I had to choose between odd books my mother had bought—some that looked terrifying from the pink covers—or the odd military ones my father tended to read in his spare time. I choose a military one quickly and sat back down on the sofa, the hairs on my body standing up from the cold temperature. I really should have grabbed a shirt of some sort before coming downstairs, or at least sleeping in a pair of pyjamas. Buying a pair would have to come first, though, especially with Dino inside my room from now on. Walking around in my underwear wasn't the best attire if I wanted to keep the upper hand in our relationship.
When I started reading the book, I found out that it was incredibly boring. I couldn't have cared less about the events that someone was exaggerating. After thirty minutes of my eyes darting back and forth across the pages, my eyelids were beginning to droop. It was far too boring to keep my attention piqued.
My eyelids flew open when I felt someone's hands on my bare shoulders. Moving out of their grip and looking up into their curious face, I reacted like a startled cat. A hiss left my throat as I pressed my body back into the cold sofa, noticing that my surroundings were a lot lighter despite the fact that the light had been turned off. My eyebrows were slanted downwards in irritation as I heard a small laugh escape Dino's mouth as he retracted his hands from near me, placing them beside his side.
"Nice sleep, Kyouya?" he asked.
No. I frowned before averting my eyes, choosing to stare down at the carpet my feet soon touched. I pushed myself up from the sofa—trying to ignore the fact Dino wasn't moving to let me get out—and squeezed through the small space that was left.
Dino was dressed in different clothes than yesterday; a pair of cargo pants along with a blue t-shirt. They contrasted greatly with his blond hair and making his skin seem to glow compared to the rest of the colours. I shook my head, hating the fact I was partially dressed, before walking away. I heard him laugh to himself again as I excited the room, yet I chose not to look back in irritation. I wasn't going to show him I felt insecure as a musical chuckle left his lips; my body language probably already told him enough. I closed the door to my bedroom quickly after not hearing any footsteps following me. Hopefully, that meant that Dino was going to stay downstairs for a long enough time for me to get dressed. I found my clothing quickly; my usual outfit of black trousers and then a white shirt. I slipped the buttons between their allocated slots quickly, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to place my jacket on my shoulders or not. Yesterday, I had to come back upstairs to retrieve it after deciding not to wear it. I didn't want to repeat the same mistake, so grudgingly, I slipped it on and shuddered at the cold feel of the material against my shoulders. It would've been a good idea to place it on top of a radiator to heat up, same with my other clothes. Shivering to myself, I ran a hand through my hair before giving up, not bothering to look in the mirror to see how many of the strands were sticking up. I could tell by the amount that were stabbing into my hand when I held it a few centimetres away that I needed to brush my hair after I'd showered.
When my eyes darted around the room to see if Dino had touched anything inappropriate, I breathed a sigh of frustration when I saw where I'd placed my laptop I'd became embarrassed through the night. When I'd carelessly dropped it onto the floor, I'd placed it upside down and I could tell by the green light that I could faintly see blinking along the side, it was still turned on. That meant that Dino didn't snoop around my room and look at any of my possessions. Wise choice, I thought whilst nodding to myself. I picked up my fallen laptop and sat down on the floor, my back pressed against my back as I opened up the screen. I was more than surprised to see that when I'd reloaded the page, I'd gotten another message. Even though I hadn't replied to the last—instead choosing to freak out—Count Blonde was still eager to trust me.
"He's a fool," I mused.
Count Blonde—I definitely messed up. Can I hear your opinion on this, Nami? I want to know how you're doing as well, of course.
My thoughts from earlier were absolutely correct. Apparently, Count Blonde did trust me enough to ask my opinion on what had happened. The fact that he'd brought the topic up again, especially seeing my lack of response, meant that as well. He really was a fool and yet, I found myself typing a response.
Namibird—Just spit it out.
It was blunt, but more than enough to show I was slightly curious. I was, after all it wasn't everyday a stranger chose to open up to me of all people. The nicest thing I'd said so far to him was asking what he was doing, if I recalled our monotone conversations correctly. I turned the laptop off quickly after that, placing it on top of my desk before leaving the room, still not bothering to look in the mirror to see how badly my hair was sticking out that morning. I'd glanced in the corner of my screen before pressing down on the power button; it was just after eleven o'clock in the morning, meaning that I'd slept more than enough. I slept far too long, I thought to myself whilst yawning into my hand. It was possible to become sleepy after sleeping too long, which usually happened when I had a nap through the middle of lessons. It wasn't as though there was anything remotely interesting to keep my attention on therefore, I chose to casually sleep on my arm or on top of the rooftop. The gentle breeze up there refreshing, also the lack of individuals that travelled up there, too. Only the rare few came stumbling up and that was usually just to gulp in the fresh air. I didn't say a word most of the time, choosing to avert my eyes and wait for them to wander off back to their group of friends. The longest someone other than myself stayed on top of there was usually around ten minutes.
I peered over the banister as I was making my way down the stairs, checking to see if anyone was inside the kitchen yet. I didn't know whether my parents would have been disappearing for the day—usually, for one night, they disappeared and travelled somewhere and stayed in a hotel, which was usually a Friday, yet that week they hadn't. It probably was because Dino had came along, finally disturbing the routine we'd had for months on end. When I heard noises coming from the living, I walked across the hallway slowly, trying to make as less noise as possible. I was in an irritated mood from not only from Count Blonde actually trusting me, a stranger on the internet, but also Dino muttering my name in his sleep. Not only were they both embarrassing, they made me consider what exactly I was doing wrong.
Am I coming across as a pushover? I asked myself whilst opening the lid to the breadbin.
Eating my slice of toast quickly, without bothering to add any toppings, I was deciding what to do with my day whilst leaning back against the countertop. From the voices I could hear from the living room, I figured that Dino would be coming into the kitchen at some point with our mother to make breakfast. I washed my hands afterwards, making sure that all of the crumbs from my slice of toast were off of my body and clothes before walking back out into the hallway. I strained my ear as I walked past the living room again, that time distinctly hearing Dino laugh.
"You wouldn't believe what he did next!" I heard Mother say from inside the same room.
Inwardly cringing, I trailed my hand up the banister whilst retreating to my bathroom to quickly brush my teeth. By her tone of voice and the warm atmosphere I could sense from even being outside in the hallway, I knew what kind of story she was sharing with Dino. It was definitely one revolving around the family; I'd heard her utter the same words on the phone to one of her friends, before my name was mentioned and along with my father's. It was odd, yet I chose not to let my curiosity get the best of me. It was the best choice to simply ignore what nonsense she was muttering, moving on with my life and focusing my attention on bigger and better things. Her laugh echoed throughout the house before I stepped foot onto the second floor, still shaking my head at her antics. She was definitely in one of her younger moods—laughing whenever it was appropriate and then becoming optimistic.
"Strange woman," I muttered under my breath before I made my way to the bathroom. I pushed my teeth quickly, trying to ignore the burn of the toothpaste being rubbed into my gums when I pushed too hard. As I was wiping my mouth afterwards, I heard a knock on the room. Placing the towel back down, I turned towards the door curiously, arching one of my eyebrows in interest as I saw the knob turning by itself. He's coming in, I observed.
Just as I'd expected, Dino was standing at the door, his right hand holding onto the doorknob whilst he looked towards me.
"Kyouya," he acknowledged me.
My hand which was gripping the towel, on top of the countertop, became tighter as my eyes narrowed a small amount. "Yes?"
"I thought you went back to sleep," he murmured. "Good morning."
Bemused, I returned the greeting. "Morning." I was sure when I'd muttered my greeting that I'd furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
Dino looked as though he was debating something, wondering whether or not to say it as he avoided eye contact. He wasn't moving from the doorway, meaning I couldn't walk past him as rudely as possible. That's not what I want to do, I tried to convince myself. When he bit down softly onto his bottom lip, I was sure he was debating something with himself.
"What do you want?" I pressed.
"Well," he trailed off, his eyes darting to be as he pronounced his syllable.
For some reason or another, his irides were a bright shade of sienna, a lot brighter than I recalled them the day before. "Well?"
"I need to enrol at your school."
I should have seen this coming, I thought bitterly to myself. "What's your point?" I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral to mask my irritation. Dino attending the same school as me meant I couldn't avoid him as much as I'd wanted. Unfortunately, when I walked to school there was a chance that I'd see him there or he'd even attempt to walk by my side. That would've been the most humiliating situation; if Dino wanted other people to acknowledge our relationship, I was going to start hating my life even more.
"Mom said to ask you to show me the way," he explained softly.
I tried to reject him quickly without actually having to say it aloud. "Ask her for directions."
Dino's next statement had me wanting to slam my palm into my face from frustration. "It's only the two of us home today." The chances of ditching Dino and finding something interesting to do outside of the house for at least ten hours was minimal. "Please?"
"Why?" Why can't you just attempt to find your own way? My expression was incredulous as I observed Dino fidgeting upon his feet. It looked ridiculous, especially in addition to the fact he'd only looked towards me a few times. I could understand if he was feeling awkward around me—I certainly was around him, a lot more than usual—but that didn't mean he could spout nonsense without having the nerve to attempt to convince. I didn't welcome half-hearted comments.
"It's a chance to spend time together."
At that moment, it was my turn to avert my eyes.
Looking down at the floor, trying to ignore the fact I could feel his gaze on my face, finally, I refused. "No."
Surprise was evident in Dino's voice. "Eh?"
"No," I repeated, this time barely restraining myself from hissing in protest.
My head snapped back up into place when I heard his feet hitting against the tiles of the bathroom. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief when I saw Dino stepping in front of me, his body barely a metre away as he stared down at me. I tried to keep my expression neutral again, but I was sure my attitude was starting to crack through my mask and show clearly upon my face. My eye was close to twitching and I thought that if he spouted out more nonsense, I was going to pull some of the strands from my scalp out.
I inwardly cringed when I saw Dino start to open his mouth, his expression was one of determination as he proclaimed, "I want to get to know you, Kyouya."
I blinked in surprise, straining my ears to see if I'd misheard.
"I'm your brother," he pointed out softly.
That was when my hold on my irritation snapped. I clenched my hands into fists as I stared up at Dino, my eyes narrowed almost to the points of slits. Through clenched teeth, I spat, "Just because we're related doesn't mean I acknowledge you."
He opened his mouth to respond, but I quickly cut in with a low voice.
"I'd rather you didn't appear before me ever again."
"Kyou—" His right hand had been raised and moving towards me, but when it entered my personal bubble—that had already been violated more than enough times by him—I grabbed it angrily. Grinding my nails into his flesh, I glared at him through gritted teeth.
"Do not touch me, Herbivore," I hissed.
"Wait," he said.
My nails pressed in deeper to his skin and finally, I was rewarded by a painful gasp coming out of his mouth. His eyes widened as his eyes flickered between looking at my face and then my hand that was damaging his skin. For some reason or another, he let me grind into his skin, ignoring the fact he could have easily raised his other hand up and removed my own. It was as though he believed it was best to let me do what I pleased and if his attitude was going to be like this—one of a pushover—I wasn't going to get through a single day without being annoyed. It was another reason not to accept him into my life; a herbivore wasn't welcome.
"You're not worth my time," I spat whilst removing my hand.
As I walked past him briskly, I did see that Dino had raised his other hand up in what I thought was an attempt to grab me. He stopped halfway through the motion, dropping his arm back down to his side before muttering something under my breath. I clucked my tongue in annoyance before slamming the door behind me, choosing to continue walking down the stairs at my fast pace and strain my ears to see if he was coming out of the bathroom. By the time I'd reached the ground level, I couldn't hear anything. I shot an irritated glance back up the stairs before pouring myself a glass of orange juice, gulping the liquid down quickly before placing it within the soapy water within a tub in the sink. It was a good placement—I simply let it soak for a few minutes as I cleared my head outside in the cold air before washing it up properly. My annoyance levels were back to normal and I was shivering from the sudden change in temperature as I dried the glass before placing it away again.
Finally with nothing left to do I gripped the side of the countertop, my fingers curling around the edge, as my thoughts drifter back to my first encounter of the day with Dino. "That didn't go well," I mused.
I wanted to toy with him, possibly have him twisted around my little finger, so life would have been easier. By reacting to his small comments, over exaggerating my reaction and then bruising another part of his body was definitely not the way I should have gone about it. If anything, I only fuelled the awkward atmosphere between us even more so than usual. I closed my eyes in exasperation with myself, letting a small sigh slip through my lips before I ran a hand through my hair. I needed to rethink how I was going to act around Dino—if my reactions were going to get out of hand, along with my temper, then it was definitely going to hard sharing a house with him. When our parents went away again, I was sure that I was going to be hiding within my room and trying to stay out of his presence as much as possible. The fact that I felt as though he deserved an apology for me acting as though I was bipolar was getting on my nerves, too. He'd randomly came into my life—without any warning at all—and had suddenly wanted to get to know me better. I could tell he was being sincere with his words and yet, they had only made my mood worse. It was still humiliating to know how quickly he'd accepted me into his life whilst I was still acting crazy. He's probably thinking I have something wrong with me, I thought bitterly to myself. I need to do something.
The question was what I could do. Suddenly changing my attitude, whilst cursing myself inside my head, and then approaching him would only make things worse. My tactic of reminding myself to calm down wasn't working either.
After muttering a curse under my breath, I turned around and started to walk towards the front door. It was definitely a good choice that I'd worn my jacket. I wanted to get out of the house before I could catch sight of Dino again and there was a chance that he was seated inside our room, doing something I didn't know of. I swear, if he touches my stuff...
As my hand was on the doorknob, I stopped in my tracks.
"What am I doing?" I asked myself.
It was as though I was running away from him. Although I was, in reality, but in my mind I wanted to believe that I was the one coming out on top. I let my hand fall back to my side as I thought about what I was going to do. Stepping outside meant defeat for me at that moment, but going back upstairs and initiating a conversation with Dino was even worse.
"Damnit."
The simplest way to make it as though I won was to simply give him directions. That was what Dino had came to me for; if I supplied some sort of map and placed in within his hands—even if it was a mangled attempt at one or similar to that of a bad treasure map—he would've taken it and walked out. A smirk spread across my lips as I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, quickly scrawling across the sheet before trying to stop my hand from crushing it as I walked back towards the stairs. I was gnawing on the inside of my cheek as I walked up, straining my ears to see if I could hear anything. My first stop was our bedroom. I didn't bother knocking against the wood, simply grasping the doorknob and twisting it, swinging the door open and letting my eyes scan the room. I blinked in surprise as I saw where Dino was. He wasn't sitting on my bed or even on my side, instead perched on the end of his mattress with a laptop upon his lap. I quirked an eyebrow as I saw he hadn't looked in my direction when I'd came inside too immersed in typing something on the keyboard. His face was towards me, but I could only see the back of the silver laptop.
He's definitely not paying attention, I observed. I'd been inside the room for at least two minutes already, yet he hadn't looked up once.
"Dino," I hissed.
His reaction was amusing. He'd jumped before snapping his head up, his eyes widening as he stared up at me. I arched an eyebrow before letting the piece of paper fall to the floor, not bothering to hand it over to him before turning around.
His confused expression as he let his eyes dart between the piece of paper and me meant I had to explain. "You'll find your way with that."
I shut the door quickly behind me, barely making out the words Dino had said in reply.
That means I wasn't running away, right?
When Dino had left the house, I was inside the kitchen feeding Hibird. He hadn't said goodbye or even said he was leaving, which was a relief. That meant I didn't have to strain myself to reply with some nonsense. He'd left quickly—I'd seen through the window that he was walking fast whilst clutching the piece of paper on his hand.
A small chuckle left my throat as I remembered that I'd given him the wrong directions. Dino was going to end up in a street littered with shops instead of the school.
AN: school chapter is next. More online conversations, Dino meeting Hibird and then some time spent together. I don't know when the update will be.