Chapter 9: Bathroom Towels!

They had started with basic combat, no weapons involved. Just in case her attacker was coming at her when there was no weapon present. You know, so in future she didn't bludgeon her attacker to death.

Kenji, considering his previous skills with the steel pole, was also significantly amazing in his ability to use his fists and legs. At a certain point, Nanako had actually wondered if she was being taught by the real life equivalent of the sensei from the film the karate kid, but that seemed like an understatement when the man demonstrated more than just karate moves. Karate, boxing, kickboxing, capoeira, the list of his skills just never ended. Who was this guy?

After the man stopped demonstrating the moves –which seemed like forever seeing as there was about a hundred of them- he finally stood beside Nanako and started to explain basic punches she could send at an opposition. Uppercuts were apparently excellent if targeting the jaw. Punches to the side would help her send blows to the enemy's sides of course. And finally there was a straight punch that could be sent anywhere if decided, the face being the best place to target if possible.

He instructed her to try them out but as soon as Nanako got to work, he instantly stopped her, and out came his reprimanding tone, "Your punches are sloppy, clumsy and have no strength behind them in order to do damage," and she couldn't disagree with him. Her punches never did damage! She had tried to punch her bullies in the past but that only lead to them laughing at her then beating the crap out of her even more!

He repositioned her arm, pulling it back to show her how much pressure she should use, what angle was correct, and how to clench her fist.

At first she kept tucking her thumb into between her curled over fingers but as soon as she had thrown that punch, Kenji had grabbed the hand quickly, halting and flicked her sharply on the hand.

"Never, and I repeat never, tuck your thumb in," he cautioned her as she nursed her abused hand in the other.

"Why?" she had retorted, trying to control her voice from sounding clearly like a whine, "What harm could it do?"

"Break your thumb idiot," ok that had clearly put her in her place.

The rest of the afternoon, they had concentrated solely on the punches. It seemed that Nanako needed a lot more training than she thought.


When she got home that night -and it was late- she had collapsed onto the nearest comfy chair in the house.

She was in desperate need of a shower more than anything, seeing as she smelt awful. But her body was begging her not to move.

There was no one in the house yet surprisingly. Then again work sometimes drew on longer than normal for both the adults of the household, and the devil incarnate was still at the hospital. So Nanako took the time to rest longer, her mind wandering as she relaxed.

The house was painfully quiet really, she didn't want to admit it but the idea of having the arsehole in the house was a lot more comforting. Right now, the house just seemed big and scary.

"Damn it, I won't be a wimp, I won't be a wimp," she chanted to herself to pick up her spirits, before launching herself off the chair and down the hallway.

As she reached the bathroom, she swore she heard a noise, and in turn locked herself in it quickly, turning the shower on to mask away the noise.

It's just my imagination, she told herself as she quickly stripped of her clothes and jumped into the shower.

The sound of the running water had actually made her feel considerably better. Not to mention the hot water did wonders on her strained joints.

It took Nanako 30 minutes to finally say goodbye to the shower, as lovely as it was, staying in there any sooner would probably make her woozy.

Getting out, she grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it tightly around herself. She hadn't brought any clothes to change into the bathroom; however she didn't think this was a necessity being the only one in the house.

Opening the door, she took a peek just in case, and then nodded happily over the fact the coast was clear.

Though, as she went to open her bedroom door, there was a noise; a clear indication that someone else was in the house.

At first, her body had remained stationary. It wasn't till she pinched herself that she came back to the real world and tried to guess who it was.

Her guesses went solely on either her mother or Akio. Kyouya was still in the hospital, so it couldn't be him.

"Hello?" she called down the hallway and waited for a response. She didn't get one. Now that was strange, she knew her voice was loud enough for the other in the house to hear, so why hadn't they answered?

She tried again, only to be ignored once more.

Her mother would never ignore her, and she thought Akio would have the decency to say hello like he normally did, so this was getting even weirder.

With her thoughts finally creating an answer, her stomach shrivelled and squeezed into a tight ball.

There was a burglar in her house. In her home. And now…the burglar had heard her?

What would they do now they knew she was here?

The noises continued to appear and Nanako nibbled her bottom lip in frustration. She couldn't just let this person rob her house, no, Akio's home. The house he had let her and her mother into comfortably. She couldn't just not do anything! But at the same time, she was scared, so scared that her legs had seized up and refused to move.

"I'm not scared, I'm not scared," she continually repeated under her breath, her eyes shut tightly as if it all was a bad dream, her fists clenched as she wished her body would move.

"You take down this person, just do what Kenji taught you," she muttered quietly, her legs finally acquiring the ability to move again.

She smiled weakly, before clenching both of her fists. She had forgotten that she was only clad in a towel, but in all honesty she didn't think this was considerably important right now. She tip toed as quietly as she could to the front of the house, before peering into the dark kitchen.

Yes, someone was definitely moving around in there. And by their build, it was positively a male, their shoulders were a bit too broad to be considered a woman's…unless said woman was an muscle increasing nutjob.

Slivering into the kitchen, she hid behind a cabinet, preparing to attack the criminal who was now only inches away.

When the man moved away from the cabinet, she seized her chance, throwing a banana from the kitchen fruit bowl in his direction to distract him, before attacking head on with a punch that resembled the ones Kenji had taught her earlier.

Though what she hadn't expected was someone so skilled. The person instantly caught her wrists into vice grips and without difficulty pinned her against the fridge.

The lights seemed to turn on then and she was faced with an extremely pissed Kyouya.

"W-What are you doing here?" she demanded, aware that the boy should still be at the hospital and not home.

So if he was home, did this mean his dad or her mum had brought him back?

Unable to use her arms due to the fact she was still in the clutches of someone who shouldn't be home right now, she leaned a little to her side, to see if either of the parents had walked through the door.

"I came home by myself herbivore, I'm not a child," well that certainly answered Nanako's question.

"Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" Nanako spoke in a tone that reminded her of Kenji when he told her off for her sloppy attacking style, this causing her to briefly forget she was pinned.

"The hospital got boring," he said with a yawn and Nanako just raised her eyebrows.

Well hospitals aren't really supposed to be fun are they?

Nanako's attention then turned towards her captured wrists, then to something she had completely forgotten about earlier…she was only clad in a short bathroom towel. She was only clad in a bathroom towel! WHY WAS SO STUPID?

Shrieking loudly, she threw her wrists back against the fridge in order for the boy to free them. Though it was definitely not the right idea as Kyouya, who was holding them, hadn't seen this coming.

Now Nanako really thought the time was appropriate for a shriek, but her mouth didn't budge. The boy was only centimetres away from her now; it was almost like the time the night before, except she had let that slide seeing as he was ill. However currently, the boy was well and truly conscious.

If Nanako moved forward right now, her lips would have hit his; the same could be said on his behalf.

So what could she do? Between shock, and actual embarrassment, she couldn't say anything. All she could do now was stay perfectly still until the boy moved away.

Her eyes flickered up to his for a second, as to ask him what was going on, but the boy didn't answer her, nor did he move. He just stared, his gaze only flickering momentarily to her lips, which caused her to swallow.

Anyone walking in right now would totally take this the wrong way, what with her pinned to a fridge only dressed in a bathroom towel, then again…what was going on right now? Why wasn't he moving?

Nanako's heart pounded in her chest, and her stomach felt real funny, like someone was tickling it with feather light fingertips. Even though it was stupid, she even took a look down there to see if Kyouya was tickling her. But then again the boy didn't have more than 2 hands, and both were occupied with her wrists. And the idea of the boy ever tickling anyone seemed less likely than a dodo walking the Earth after years of extinction.

His breath brushed her face, and she had only prayed it be rancid to knock her out of the weird daze she was falling into. But it didn't, even though the boy had been sick hours earlier, his breath smelt perfectly pristine with the hint of mint too…toothpaste?

And then finally the boy's face pulled back, only a little though, and his head seemed to tilt.

"K-Kyouya?" her mouth had uttered the word, her voice sounding wobbly, and like usual the boy hadn't replied, though instead of his normal glare, he seemed mesmerised by something; absolutely tuned out.

Whatever it was, it was something currently on her face.

It couldn't be food, she hadn't eaten yet, and it couldn't be dirt because she had just been for a shower, this explaining her current lack of clothes.

So what was it? What was he staring at? She didn't like this. She didn't like this one bit!

The boy's eyes suddenly flickered with life and Nanako felt relief worm its way through her body. He would let go now! He would call her repulsive! Insult her; probably hit her with the silver sticks of doom!

This was it, she was waiting for this.

But as she had wished for this to come, the boy's face was slowly closing in on hers, sending Nanako's heart and mind into a frantic state.

At a tantalising pace, he got closer, and closertooclose!

Suddenly the door made a noise, and a voice sounded from the door,

"Nanako, is that you?"

It was no other than his father, and when his voice was heard, she couldn't describe how fast Kyouya had lurched away from her and onto a nearby chair, his eyes fixated on nothing but the wall across from him.

Nanako's senses all hit at once, and her stomach had lost all sensations from the moment before thankfully. However, she really needed to get changed now.

Dashing down the hallway, she paused, remembering that she hadn't answered the man at the door. Only earlier she had thought that the man had decency to greet her, and her assumptions had been correct, so it was only good manners if she replied back.

Just before stepping into her room, she turned on her heel.

"HI! I've just got out of the shower, wait a second! Off to get changed! You've probably seen Kyouya is home," she yelled, before pacing quickly into her bedroom and shutting the door.

As soon as she was alone, Nanako had crumbled. Her lips trembled, her eyes watered, her throat felt dry as if she swallowed a mouth full of sand.

But that wasn't the worst thing about it. When she managed to move over to her mirror, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her cheeks shone immensely. Like all the blood in her body had come rushing to her face.

It was as if someone had chucked red paint on her. Or perhaps got a big tub of blusher and simply smudged it all around her face.

She didn't like this face. There wasn't an ounce of happiness or relief, all that was there was fear. Sheer but silent terror.

She never wanted to see this face again…ever.

Chucking on any clothes quickly, not caring what she looked like, she quickly headed back to the bathroom.

Next the sink turned on and in went the plug before any water escaped down the drain, and with a quick swoop, Nanako's face was plunged into freezing cold water. Only to be continued again and again, until her face had turned a sickly pale.


"What are you doing home?" his father sounded unpleased, but as of right now that wasn't on his mind.

The only thing of his mind was the fact he was going to kiss the herbivore.

Was he sick in the head? Why would he do such a thing? To kiss someone who was clearly the empathy of everything he loathed, everything he wished that would just disappear from the face of the Earth.

"Kyouya!" This time he turned his attention to his father.

"What?" By the look on his father's face, it was clear that he had spat the word at him, the man's eyes darkening.

"Don't speak to me like that!" It had been a while since his father had got this angry, he had forgot the weak man could possess such a tone.

But he didn't remain in this tone for log, his mouth gaping like a face over his actions.

"I'm sorry, you must feel better son," his father had muttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, with a guilty look on his face, "I heard your sister, so she's home, good, I think Arisa is bringing in the food tonight, it'll be take out again."

Sister? His father was actually referring to that girl as his sister? Then it hit him, he hadn't just nearly put his lips to something he despised but to also someone most people would have thought was his sister.

What the devil is going on?

Hibari stormed straight to his room, and closed the door louder than he should of.

In his own company, his tonfas were out in a flash, taking out revenge on things around the plain room.

First his mirror smashed and Hibari didn't even flinch, in fact it felt good. He didn't believe in the suppositious bullshit about breaking a mirror brought bad luck so he moved onto the next item. A small vase was the next thing to be in pieces on the floor, followed by several books, the pages littering his room.

Soon he would have to stop though, he was never much into smashing things he owned, other people's possessions felt great when crushed under the pressure of his tonfas, his own…not so much.

Feeling a hell of a lot better, he flopped down onto his bed, and closed his eyes tightly, ready to fall straight to sleep. His thoughts were cruel on him though.

Instead of the blank mind the boy wished to have, his were filled with the scene only 10 minutes ago.

First he had let himself in, that was fine, then he had heard the girl greet him and he hadn't answered back, that was normal, he hadn't bothered to turn the light on and then went on to open the kitchen cupboard to get a glass, this was normal, what was not normal was a banana flew past his head and when he went to pick it up, the herbivore had jumped him; actually attacked him. He had grabbed his attacker thinking it was someone else.

Then for some strange reason, the lights in the house seemed to spring on, and she was glancing up at him in surprise…only sporting a bathroom towel.

His natural assumption at the girl's attack and her natural surprise was that she thought someone was breaking in, but to only fight dressed in a small bathroom towel was beyond ridiculous.

At first, she hadn't seemed to react about him seeing her like this. But he had reacted, reacted disgustingly. His eyes had trailed along her arms that he pinned above her head, and then they got to work down the rest of her body, slowly inspecting every area of uncovered skin as he answered her questions uninterestedly.

She had made a loud noise, Hibari wondering if he had been caught staring, but instead he was lurching forward as the girl flung her arms back alarmed against the fridge.

It was the girl's fault that his hormones had kicked in. She had brought him so close, that he could examine everything on her face, feel her warm breath against his lips, and she didn't move; didn't even budge as if she wanted Hibari to merely do anything to her. Like she was his prey and it had become submissive.

She was his prey, he felt guaranteed a taste.

That's what made his mind throb and one of his tonfas smack callously against a wall.

He needed to drive her out, as soon as possible, before he turned into something he was not.


A/N: Urrrrghh, did I just try to create couple development? Nuuuuu, I think I failed this chapter…I feel ashamed now, let's hope Hibari fangirls won't want my death for writing garbage. Need to write more about Nanako's fighting training whatits next time, oh and for anyone who wondered, Nanako will not become a guardian.

Cheers to all who have reviewed last chapter and alerted and faved. I love you all. 30 reviews is freaking epic; never had that much on an OC story before, so thank you thank you thank you!

If you don't mind, I would love it if people continued to review and fav, and alert, because well that just makes my day :D.

Sorry this one came out late, not to make up excuses, but the next one might be out late again also due to the fact my mother is forcing me to find a job and I started sixth form a month ago…it's bloody difficult…damn for being dumb.