Chapter 4 That Smile

"Here, drink up."

A bowl of milk is placed in front of him. His ears twitch and his tail swishes around excitedly.

'Thank you!' Natsu mews happily to the raven. The raven tilts his head at the cat. He hears the cat's almost singsong mews. He scratches his head confusingly; it seems that strangely enough, he feels like he can understand the kitten's words.

"Oh, wow. You're a really smart cat aren't you?" He grins and pats the kitten, who in turn, purrs at the touch. He takes off his sweater and sits beside the kitten. He took the bottle of milk and drinks the remaining drink in a gulp. Once he finishes it, he puts the bottle beside him and sighs. Natsu hears that almost inaudible sigh. He turns his head up to the raven and mew to him.

'You don't like the milk? It's delicious!'

The raven hears another singsong mew from the kitten. He laughs at how the kitten nudges the bowl of milk to him. "Hey, are you trying to cheer me up?"

Natsu stares at the raven's eyes. He observes the smile that the latter's has and tilts his head.

'It doesn't seem right.' Natsu has always seen how Tsuna smiles at him. He feels happy whenever the brunet smiles at him. He wants so much for Tsuna to always have that smile. He feels love, he feels warm; that is how Tsuna's smile affect him. But the raven's smile is like a fake one. It suits him, but something does not feel right.

"Hey, you're easier to get to compared to your owner, you know?" Natsu's ears perk up.

True. He has been observing the brunet for a while now. From what he could see, Tsuna will avoid any interaction with whomever it is living in the house. Why? Tsuna is the nicest human he has been interacting with so far. He cannot imagine the brunet harboring any hatred toward others. If you do not hate someone, why will you avoid them?


"Natsu?"

'Tsuna!'

Natsu spots that familiar brown hair and immediately runs toward it. Once he reaches the brunet, he purrs and rubs himself to the brunet's leg. Then, he feels himself being picked up and placed on that familiar shoulder. He mews in his singsong voice. Tsuna always smiles whenever he did so.

But he does not this this time.

'Tsuna?' He mews slowly, but the brunet pays him no attention.

"Yo, Tsuna." The raven grins and holds up his right hand, waving at Tsuna. Tsuna nods slowly at him.

"You're early today, Yamamoto-san. I haven't prepared dinner yet."

The boy named Yamamoto smiles sheepishly while scratching his head upon hearing the honorific used by the brunet, but he doesn't bother to say anything about it and instead just nods to the brunet, saying that it is okay. He keeps his eyes on the brunet the whole time. Tsuna heads to the refrigerator and takes out a piece of meat.

"Oh yeah, Tsuna, my friend said that he'll move in next week if that's possible."

Tsuna turns to Yamamoto and nods. He then turns to the cupboard to get some spices. He begins mixing them out with the meat and foils them back into the refrigerator.

"I don't mind it, just as long as he can pay his rent."

"Hahaha, umm, yeah, I think he'll be doing some part time job. He's a genius you know, so I don't think he'll have any problem with school."

Tsuna hums at Yamamoto's answer, indicating that he is okay with it. Then, they both remain silent. Tsuna continues on with his work, while Yamamoto, still sitting beside the table, watches the brunet. Natsu starts to feel the immense tension in the kitchen. He feels how Tsuna was acting like he is uncomfortable due to the presence of the raven watching him, so he decides to cheer the brunet up.

'Tsuna, I want to eat more of that sashimi!'

The sudden loud mews, while cutting the vegetable, startles Tsuna, thus accidentally cutting his own finger. Tsuna drops the knife and immediately starts clutching his finger.

"O-ow.."

Natsu's eyes widen. He sees the blood dripping from that little finger. Tsuna winces in pain and tries to put some pressure on it to compensate for the pain. He heads to the sink and starts washing the blood that is still dripping.

"You should disinfect that." Yamamoto stands beside Tsuna with a box of first aid kit. When did Yamamoto get the box, is beyond Tsuna's knowledge, but he knows the latter is a sportsman, so it is not a surprise that he can get the box in a whim. Yamamoto's face has a deep frown, looking at the wound on the brunet's finger. Yamamoto brings out a disinfectant and a band-aid. He tries to reach for the brunet's hand, but Tsuna quickly backs off from him.

"I can do it myself. Thank you." Tsuna stares at Yamamoto warily and takes another step back. Yamamoto's frown deepens upon the brunet's act, but he doesn't make another move. He places the first aid kit beside the sink and pushes it to Tsuna.

"Well, I don't think you should work with the kitten on your shoulder you know." Yamamoto has his usual grin on and the atmosphere immediately turns to normal. Yamamoto turns to Natsu and gestures to the kitten to come to him. "Here, Natsu, come here. Let Tsuna do his bandage okay."

Natsu immediately jumps off from Tsuna's shoulder and into Yamamoto's hand. The raven catches him and starts to pat the shivering kitten. Natsu does not dare to turn and look at Tsuna, that is what Tsuna can notice from how the kitten is keeping his head deep into the raven's school uniform. Yamamoto smiles seeing at how the kitten is acting.

"Hey Tsuna, I think your cat feels sorry for you."

Tsuna blinks at Yamamoto and bends down to Natsu. He stares at the kitten, who is desperately trying to avoid the eye contact with the brunet. Tsuna tilts his head and smiles, "Natsu, look at me won't you?" Tsuna places his hand and Natsu and starts patting the kitten. Natsu stiffens upon Tsuna's touch and turns to Tsuna.

'I'm sorry Tsuna.'

Tsuna hears the slow mews and starts laughing slowly. He starts ruffling the kitten instead, "It's okay, I'm not mad at you, ne?"

Yamamoto remains quite and stares at the brunet. Tsuna was about to take Natsu from Yamamoto, but the raven yanks the kitten up, where Tsuna cannot. Tsuna stops his action and gets up to face Yamamoto, blinking questioningly. But clearly, their difference in height is just too much, Tsuna can only reach up to Yamamoto's shoulder, forcing him to tilt his head up, to meet with the latter's eyes. The raven leans closer to the brunet's face and smiles, the height difference making it difficult for Tsuna to avoid the sudden move from the dark-haired man.

"Hey, Tsuna, I'll give him to you if you would smile at me too."

Tsuna is startled at Yamamoto's sudden action, and blushes when the raven gets closer to his face. He tries to speak, but the raven moves closer to him, halting his words. He moves a step back, but Yamamoto follows him to keep their gap close.

'Don't bother Tsuna!'

Both are startled by the sudden growl from the kitten. Natsu puffs up and hisses at the raven. He struggles and starts scratching the raven's hand. Tsuna takes this chance to grab Natsu from the startled Yamamoto and runs across the table. Natsu still has his fur puffed up and glares at Yamamoto. He is mad. It is clear that Tsuna is uncomfortable by the close gap the raven made. He certainly does not like it when somebody decides to bother Tsuna.

"Oh, ow. Ahahaha, sorry, I'm just joking, Tsuna." Yamamoto clutches his hand, now full with scratches, but it does not seem to bleed. That got a relief from Tsuna, since he knows how hard Natsu can actually scratch someone. He already has a few from trying to give the kitten a bath.

"Please don't, Yamamoto-san." Tsuna does not move from his position. He waits for Yamamoto to move, but the latter does not make a move either. Natsu is still growling and glaring at the raven. Only the sound of the clock's ticking could be heard then, Natsu would occasionally hiss at Yamamoto, and Tsuna is still fidgeting in his position. He needs to prepare dinner; the others will get back soon. Truthfully, he does not appreciate crowding.Eh? Why does it sound familiar?Tsuna shrugs and takes a glance at the clock.

"Umm, I need to cook. So can you please move?"

Yamamoto tilts his head and grins. He puts both his hand to the back of his head and bends down. With his head facing the ground, he mutters.

"Hey Tsuna, I…..might have to quit baseball…"

"Eh?"

Yamamoto gets up and smiles at the brunet. Natsu and Tsuna can clearly see the sadness in those hazel eyes. "I can't keep up anymore, with kendo and baseball. So I think I might have to quit one. My performance isn't going better anyway."

Natsu remains silent. He does not understand a thing. Baseball? Kendo? If you like them, why can't you have both of them?

"But baseball-"

"Tsuna, I'm depressed. Cheer me up won't you?"

Tsuna doesn't realize that Yamamoto has gotten closer to him. Startled, he tries to move, but the wall behind him prevents him from doing so, Yamamoto takes this chance to get closer to him. He blushes harder when he can feel Yamamoto's breath on his face. Yamamoto sees the flushing brunet and chuckles. So Cute.

"Herbivore! Herbivore! Dinner! Dinner!"

A fluff yellow blur flies between them. The yellow blur spins around them, startling them. Natsu becomes curious of it.Looks delicious…He tries to catch the yellow blur, but he fails when Tsuna's grip on him becomes stronger.

The yellow blur finally lands on Tsuna's hair and snuggles itself to the fluffy brown lock. It starts singing a familiar school song anthem with its high pitch voice.

"Midori tanabiku namimori no~"

"Dai naku shou naku nami ga ii~"

And the song goes on.

"Herbivores.


R&R please.

Beta'ed by Orithyea :)

Disclaimer: Don't own anything...