CHAPTER 17:

WELCOME TO ANOTHER CHAPTER!

Thank you for reading A Not So Ordinary Life of a Background Character!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn

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Before Natsumi could even react, she was wrapped up in her blanket like a burrito. Then she was being carried like a sack of potato, utterly blind to where they were headed until she could feel Byakuran running down the stairs.

Natsumi was about to shout how dangerous running down the stairs was, especially when he's carrying her, but they made it down without any accident. Thankfully.

She felt herself get dumped somewhere that is definitely not a chair or a couch. Before she could start deciphering what she was sitting at, Burrito-Natsumi was unwrapped.

And came face-to-face with the amused face of on Kikyo.

Natsumi was mortified.

She probably looked disheveled. Correction, she probably looked awfully disheveled.

Her hair must be a mess, braided for bed it may be. Her face probably got oily again and is shining, shimmering, but definitely not splendid. Does she have drying drool trailing down from her mouth? Her clothes must be in disarray.

Oh sh*t. Natsumi wasn't wearing any bra!

She hastily stood up and tried to run away, but her legs got tangled in her blanket, making her faceplant at her carpet.

"Little Miss Natsumi?" Kikyo called out in concern.

Natsumi merely let out an embarrassing squeak before untangling herself and running back to her room. She grabbed a random bra out of her drawer and locked herself inside the bathroom.

A lot more composed, Natsumi came down from her room.

Okay, that's a lie. She was red.

Not just with embarrassment but with rage.

What the heck is wrong with her self-proclaimed best friend?! Natsumi doesn't wear a bra at night, and she was wearing one of her thinner pajamas because it was summer. What he did was not okay! Especially how he comes and goes as he pleased in her supposedly private bedroom!

"Byakuran!" Natsumi hissed when she found the living room empty.

"Here!" Byakuran shouted. She stomped towards the dining room, where she heard his voice.

Natsumi honed in on the albino's form and prowled towards him, "Byakuran!" She stopped in front of her and poked at his chest, "You! How could you?! My bedroom is supposed to private and safe! And you went and barged in without warning! What if I was changing?! And earlier, I didn't even have any bra on! I was in thin pajamas! I was indecent, and you went and dumped me in a man's lap! What's wrong with you?!"

Byakuran opened his mouth but thought better and closed it again. In a subdued voice, he apologized, "I'm sorry."

Natsumi huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Don't do it again!"

Someone cleared their throat, which made Natsumi startle a bit. She turned around and saw that, yep, there were more people in the kitchen. And it wasn't just Kikyo.

There were rust-colored hair, mustard yellow hair, light blue hair, and moss-colored hair other than the familiar teal hair.

Natsumi looked dumbly at the guests she didn't know she has.

"She got Byakuran-sama to apologize and mean it," mustard yellow whispered in disbelief.

"I probably passed out in exhaustion again and fell asleep somewhere," rust-red mumbled to himself.

"Well, I don't wanna be stuck in the same convoluted nightmare as you two," light blue replied drily.

Moss green only hugged his pink bunny stuffed toy closer to himself.

"These are my friends!" Byakuran told Natsumi brightly. "Let me introduce you!"

Irie Shoichi needs his sleep. Pronto. Natsumi could relate. She wonders if Irie-san also gets ambushed midnight by Byakuran like herself.

Spanner managed to find her secret stack of candies and ate all the strawberry-flavored ones before moving onto the others.

Bluebell is…well…she's a brat, frankly. She was quite haughty and teasing, but nothing Natsumi hadn't seen before from other children and heck her own classmates.

And Daisy…well…Natsumi was very concerned about that boy. She was of the opinion that he needs therapy. She knew that suicide and death jokes are part of Gen Z's humor but something about the boy saying them just…worried her greatly. And disturbed. She was disturbed.

"Everyone!" Byakuran suddenly yelled. "There's one minute left!"

"…what?" Natsumi asked, confused. Apparently, she was the only one confused because her guests began singing "Happy Birthday" while Kikyo walked towards her carrying a cake.

Natsumi smiled wryly at that cake after finally realizing what Byakuran meant. There was a minute left before June 21 turns into June 22. There was one minute left of her birthday.

Thank you for another year in my life, and thank you for my friends, including the new and very new ones. I wish for everyone's continuous health, and I wish…I wish that next time, Tatsuya and Ara could join the celebration.

Then she blew at the lone candle.

The cake was sliced and shared. It was cream cheese and salted caramel flavor, which unexpectedly tasted good together.

Natsumi joined the countdown up to midnight Byakuran prompted from 10 seconds. She laughed at its silliness because this "ritual" was supposed to be done anticipating the New Year and not waiting for her birthday to end.

As soon as the celebrations were over, Byakuran disappeared. Bluebell dragged Daisy with her, citing needing someone to walk her home. Thankfully, Natsumi managed to shoo Kikyo with them because a child shouldn't walk a fellow child home in the middle of the night.

Irie-san and Spanner-san were kind enough to help her clean up the night's mess before the two left as well.

Natsumi did her nightly routine again, and as she laid down in her bed, she regretted not including "no more getting caught in shenanigans" in her wishes.

Natsumi kept reading and rereading her calendar. She felt like she forgot something important, but she just can't remember it. She had asked her classmates, and there was nothing due. She had asked her ducklings, and they don't have anything due. She had asked Madoka-san, and she hadn't missed any birthdays or events.

Heck, Natsumi got desperate enough to ask Editor-san if she missed anything. (She only got an additional deadline for that "time-wasting phonecall.")

Natsumi bit her lower lip as she looked at her little calendar.

What the heck did she forget? And why is she feeling an impending sense of doom?

Before Natsumi knew it, the days were steadily marching towards Finals. Notes were borrowed and/or photocopied. Ducklings were tutored. Projects were submitted.

Natsumi was once again top of the class thanks to Gokudea-kun not submitting several homeworks and individual projects.

With that, the trimester ended, and Natsumi was finally allowed to catch up on lost sleep.

Oh no.

There was another party this year.

Natsumi was already planning an evacuation route from the map of the water park Vongola-sensei reserved for them.

That's right. Vongola-sensei reserved a whole d*mn water park for their class. No matter if it was Vongola property in the first place. It was still an entire water park…just for their class.

Flexing his money much?

The students were allowed to have a "plus one," while teachers were allowed up to "plus three," much to the students' envy.

Kyoko took Hana in virtue of the latter being in the other class.

Tsuna took Haru as her own plus one, to the disappointment of the fanboys that aren't in their class. Based on the gleam on said fanboys' eyes, they'd likely find a way to sneak in.

As for Natsumi…

Byakuran was currently giving her the puppy eyes.

"Please stop making that face," Natsumi told him in a deadpan tone.

In response, the albino just widened his eyes even more while making his lower lips tremble a bit.

"Please, for the love of chocolates, you look disturbing," Natsumi pleaded, "And if you don't stop, I'll take Bluebell instead."

At least that had Byakuran stopping. He now has a smirk on his face as he said, "Since I stopped, does that mean you're taking me as your plus one?"

Natsumi just sighed at that, making Byakuran grin in victory.

Natsumi could see at the corner of her eyes how Tsuna's fanboys started entering the clothing store one by one.

Tsuna, Kyoko, Hana, Haru, and Natsumi were picking out their swimsuits that afternoon. Natsumi hadn't wanted to come, anticipating the fanboys' antics thanks to last year, but when has she ever been able to say no to Tsuna, Kyoko, and Haru's puppy eyes? Especially all three at once?

Hana has no right to judge. She wasn't immune either.

Natsumi picked a one-piece swimsuit that covered both front and back. It was black, but on the front side from the chest area down to the waist, there was a printed design of overlapping peacock feathers. It was bright enough to closely resemble Natsumi's favorite color.

Hana picked a one-piece swimsuit as well, dark maroon in color, spaghetti-strapped, and has a tiny ribbon in the middle of the chest area.

Kyoko chose a two-piece, pink swimsuit, whose top was off-shoulder and ruffled.

Haru chose a sage green two-piece swimsuit whose top has sleeves that stopped above the elbows.

Tsuna's swimsuit was a one-piece in the shade of burnt orange with cuts on the sides.

As for the fanboys…they were already creating a ruckus at the male side of the swimsuit section. Natsumi and Hana dragged the other three girls away when it finally exploded into a fight.

"…why?" Natsumi asked.

"Hahi! We need to be in tip-top shape for the party! Haru reasoned.

Kyoko nodded determinedly, "Dieting is one method, but we also need to exercise to keep in shape!"

Except Natsumi had never dieted to keep in shape once in her life. She does exercise regularly, but it focused more on her upper body for her archery than her core and lower body.

Hana leaned in and whispered to Natsumi, "It'll just be jogging and some stretches in the morning until the celebration. Just go along with it, less troublesome that way."

The female Emiya could see the wisdom in those words. She gave the girls a reluctant smile before saying, "Let me change into something more comfortable."

After the four left Natsumi's house, they stopped by Tsuna's. It was Tsuna's lovely mother, Nana-san, who answered the door. The fluffy-haired brunette was easy enough to convince.

And that was how five girls found themselves jogging around the local park at 5:00 (freaking) AM in the morning.

Thanks to the regular morning exercises (which included more than stretching and jogging, Hana, you liar), Natsumi found herself waking up early in the morning despite being supposedly on vacation.

Darn those crunches…and the freaking planking.

Natsumi almost couldn't wait for the darn D-Day.

Natsumi wants to take her words back. D-Day could wait a few more days. Or weeks. Or months. Or never come at all.

It started when their class and their guests began arriving.

"I-Pin-chan! Hibari-san!" Natsumi called out, pleasantly surprised by their presence.

"Natsumi-chan!" I-Pin-chan greeted back as the young teen skipped towards her.

Hibari-san walked at a more subdued pace as he replied, "Emiya-san."

"Hibari-sensei brought you two with him?" Natsumi inquired.

"And Kyoya," Hibari-san added.

"And Kyoya-san," I-Pin-chan echoed with a slight blush on her face. Natsumi smiled at her teasingly at that. The younger girl has a crush on Hibari-sempai of all people.

"And I see you brought a…friend as your own plus one," Hibari-san commented lightly. It was apparent "friend" wasn't what Hibari-san wanted to say.

Byakuran, who was just flirting with Tsuna (because, of course, he had to add himself among the large number of fanboys that Tsuna has), miraculously heard them. He turned and gave them a wave with a sh*t-eating grin.

Natsumi forced a smile on her face as she replied, "I had to so he'd stop making that disturbing expression on his face."

"Disturbing?" I-Pin-chan asked, tilting her head to the side.

And since the albino heard that clearly, he gave them his version of puppy eyes.

"Disturbing indeed," Hibari-san agreed, which made Byakuran grin again.

The pandemonium continued when the other sophomore class arrived as well.

In Vongola Xanxus-san's words, he's a Vongola as well and could invite anyone in any of their properties as he wants.

Vongola-sensei's face merely twitched at that before conceding.

(It sounded like an old argument that thankfully didn't happen.)

Then, of course, to add to the chaos, Sinclair-sempai and Cavallone-sempai showed up.

Which started the trickle of non-invited people.

Which somehow includes Kikyo-san.

"O-ho, you look lovely in that swimsuit, Little Miss Natsumi," Kikyo complimented, eyeing the peacock feather designs.

Natsumi's blood all rushed to her head, making her a dark shade of crimson. "Thank you!" she managed to squeak out. "You're-! Uhm," Natsumi looked down from his face to try and compliment the young man's attire, but that meant her eyes passed through his chest and abdominals. And stopped there. Oh my, abdominals. When she realized where she was staring, she immediately looked up again and saw Kikyo's smirking face. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" Natsumi apologized because she must have seemed like a perv.

"It's fine," Kikyo reassured, "Now why don't we find some shade? You look quite red."

"Ah…haha, yes! Away from the sun! And heat! Please! To make me less red! Haha! Must be the heat!" Natsumi sputtered out.

Kikyo escorted Natsumi under one of the parasols set up beside a pool. There was a set of one table and two chairs under each parasol; she occupied one chair while he sat on the other. Noticing that Natsumi's redness wasn't dialing down, Kikyo was even kind enough to get Natsumi iced tea. She sipped every drop of said ice tea in one go.

"Hmm, perhaps I should get another glass," the young man mused, looking at the glass now only containing ice cubes.

"No!" Natsumi hastily denied, "It's fine. Haha, I'm not thirsty anymore."

"If you're sure," Kikyo replied to that.

Awkward silence.

Natsumi's eyes trailed down to Kikyo's Hawaiian patterned shorts, carefully NOT staring at any part of his body, before she looked up once more. Her eyes landed on something rather interesting, and she blurted out, "I like your eye shadow." It was in the exact same shade as his hair.

It was beautiful. And awesome. Mostly beautiful.

Kikyo gave her an amused smile, "Do you want me to put eyeshadow on you as well?"

Natsumi's eyes widened at the offer. "If you do not mind?" her voice sounded positively hopeful.

A minute later and Natsumi was admiring her own teal eyeshadow from the pocket mirror Kikyo pulled out from somewhere, probably the same place he pulled out his make-up kit.

"We match now!" Natsumi gushed.

Kikyo had opened his mouth to reply, but a voice interjected, "You." The two turned to see a scowling Hibari-sensei. "Leave. You are not on the list of invited guests," Hibari-sensei told Kikyo.

Natsumi wanted to protest, but Kikyo placed a hand on her shoulder. The teal-haired young man then replied to the History teacher, "But I am not the only one present that was not officially invited. I do not see you making them leave."

"I'm starting with you," Hibari-sensei shot back, "And unhand my student."

Kikyo had opened his mouth when Natsumi yelled, "Kikyo-san!" That got the two's attention. Natsumi sank into herself, and in a much quieter voice, continued, "I've uhm…wanted to…leave already. Yes, uhm, because uhm. Just because? So! We could just leave together now."

That was such a lame excuse that there wasn't even an excuse given.

"Emiya, stay." Hibari-sensei then turned to Kikyo. "And you, I told you to unhand her."

"You cannot make Little Miss Natsumi stay if she wants to leave," Kikyo argued, making Hibari-sensei narrow his eyes.

Natsumi saw the teacher's hand reach for something, so she immediately stood up and got between the two arguing men. "Hibari-sensei, please," she begged, "We'll just leave. So please, please don't fight."

Hibari-sensei's jaw clenched before he clicked his tongue, turned around, and left. He headed towards Skull-sempai's direction, which had Natsumi praying for the purple-haired college student.

The History teacher got sent into a worse mood after their conversation.

Now dressed in casual clothes, Natsumi and Kikyo were walking towards the nearest train station with their bags in tow.

"I don't understand why Hibari-sensei dislikes you so much," Natsumi grumbled, "Like I know he dislikes most of the population in general, but he just seems to dislike you on a whole other level. No offense to you, Kikyo-san."

"O-ho, I can't say you're wrong," Kikyo replied, "Let's just say…our souls are incompatible. Something about our…beings have us disliking each other in principle."

Natsumi scowled at that, "What? That doesn't make any sense."

Kikyo gave her a wry smile, "It wouldn't to you, I guess."

Natsumi furrowed her eyebrows when Kikyo didn't elaborate more than that. Then refused to when she prompted him.

What the heck does that even mean?

"Have you informed your friends that you had left?" Kikyo suddenly asked. "I have informed Byakuran-sama."

Natsumi's eyes widened at that, "Oh no! I haven't!" She hastily retrieved her phone from her bag and texted the girls.

(Forgetting the discussion about incompatible souls and proclivity to dislike each other.)

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Replying to Reviews

From daniellapg26: Natsumi is Natsu in human form? I MISSED OUT ON THAT CONCEPT! WHAT THE HECK?! Unfortunately, I already have an outline for this fic, and adding that concept is kind of too late…and won't make sense in what I planned… But imagine Uri in human form, though! And Bester! (Yes, I'm unapologetically a cat person)

From Mystic Moon Flower: To bother Natsumi's sleep mostly. And I imagine being an heir had Byakuran attending extra lessons with tutors. Also, with dodging bodyguards and security? Probably sneaking past asleep Hibaris, too XD

From KooraX: I was planning for Editor-san to be a genderfluid OC. Halfway through making the OC's profile, I just thought, why not the genderfluid character already in KHR? So yeah, Viper/Mammon. Also explains why Natsumi's books became famous and lucrative and why Editor-san was willing to work with someone underage…because they were also underage when Natsumi started publishing books.

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END OF CHAPTER!