Ch-ch-ch-chapter 9?! Holy shit!

Note/reminder: because the first part/ most of this chapter, is in Reborn's/Aizawa's POV

'Speech in regular is the forefront of the mindscape.'

'Speech in italics is the backseat of the mindscape.'

The meeting with All Might and the principal and the half dozen other Pro Heroes/ teachers (including a particular principal from the teen's home district) and police officers (including the teen's original arresting officer) could have been worse. It could have gone a lot better, but in retrospect, it really could have gone worse.

Shota sighed in the back of their shared mindscape as Reborn thought back on the meeting, the sole reason the meeting went wrong at all skulking behind them at a snails' pace. Reborn glanced over his shoulder at the teen seemingly wrapped up in boredom and teenaged angst – which was something Reborn had never seen before. Even back when they first met, the first time Kyoya was 15, he never had this much 'teenaged angst'. He never acted out on an emotion other than bloodlust and territorial rage.

And he had never, ever actually bitten someone.

(Reborn forced back a smirk as he remembered All Might trying to struggle to keep his Muscle Form while Kyoya clung to the man's flailing arm with his teeth. Now that was chaotic comedy at it's finest.)

"So, did you actually aim to kill that thing or was it a 'spur of the moment' type of hostility?" The principal had asked.

Kyoya tilted his head, crossed one leg over the literally just healed knee, and said coolly, "My aim was to bite it to dea-"

"Spur of the moment!" Reborn half-way leapt from his seat to interject on Kyoya's behalf. A silence hung in the air after that for a moment before Kyoya continued as if Reborn hadn't just yelled.

"… bite it to death, considering it was harming the one person I consider a friend in this world." Kyoya was staring him in the eye when he had said it, and the former hitman wasn't sure what to do with that, so he just sat back down, a little chocked up. And then the teen turned back to the principal and ruined it all. "That being said, I didn't truly want to kill it, but when it became clear it regenerated, and like an animal would not stop without a command, I had to put it down."

Yes, Kyoya had knowingly and intentionally said the words 'put it down' to the mouse/bear/dog that had been experimented on by humans before his escape from that very demise.

It had gone down hill from there. Quickly. It took every cunning ploy Reborn had, and 3 hours, to get Kyoya the out he did.

"I can't believe I still have a job." Reborn sighed and turned to the teen, "No thanks to you."

"I can't believe I'm still a student." Kyoya shrugged, walking casually despite the 10-pound ankle monitors on each foot. (To be honest, he hardly felt them.)

'I can't believe you're having this conversation.'

'Shut up Shota.'

"To be fair, Kyoya, you made it very clear your intentions to become a Villain, should they drop you as a student. Really, you gave them no choice in the matter. This," he gestured to the teen's feet, "Was the lesser evil. Literally." Thankfully it shut Kyoya up for a good minute or so, but the teen had to open his mouth and really, Reborn just wanted to switch places with Shota, but the man wouldn't budge.

"So, where are we going?" Kyoya asked as they left the school grounds. Both his ankle monitors beeped twice, warning that the teen had left the premises, but Reborn hit a button on the new remote in his pocket that stopped the alarm from getting to the police, the principal, and three other Heroes on call that night. The remote was small, but it was something the former hitman had to carry with him from now on.

"My place." Reborn grunted.

Why? Because this really was the best outcome. The three main things that Kyoya was being punished with were as followed:

1) 24/7 watch. This meant that not only both monitors were on his legs permanently, but Reborn had to be in charge of Kyoya. As in, he had to literally live with the brat. As in, he had to take Kyoya home with him, because he had a two-bedroom apartment while Kyoya had a one room studio and there was no way in hell Reborn was ok with that.

That also meant that Kyoya and Reborn had to make regular reports to the detective in charge. Nightly for the first month, weekly for the next 5 months following.

2) His tonfa, both the regular pair and the modified pair, and his costume were taken away – for now. Kyoya might get them back by midterms if he behaved.

3) Kyoya was stripped from his place as top student. This one was really just more to appease the vindictive nature of the principal, and really Kyoya deserved it for what he had said. Reborn even agreed with it – so what if Kyoya had earned the title while being handicapped by the simple fact that he was Quirkless? That was a low-blow and the black-haired teen knew it.

"Can we swing by my place first? I really don't want to use your Pajamas, or your toiletries, or your… anything, really."

Reborn took a mental break, swallowing all his irritation and continued on to his apartment, a highly annoyed Himura Kyoya trudging along behind him.

His apartment was on fire.

Well, technically the apartment above his was on fire, and his was being drenched in the ensuing fight. He fought the urge to attack the nearest person who happily watched his life drown above ground with cameras because "The fire was pretty."

"Hey, now can we go to my place instead?"

Reborn smacked Kyoya upside the head as he turned silently to start walking to the teen's apartment. Between Recovery Girl and his own internal Sun Flames, the casts had come off a few minutes after Kyoya's knee brace, so Reborn shoved free hands into his pockets and straightened his still hurting back.

Not even ten minutes of silence on an empty street before Kyoya opened his mouth again. It was so unlike the man he remembered that for a moment Reborn wondered if the teen hadn't been insane all along, and just pretended to be someone else – but that wasn't possible, not with their Language Shiritori, or his knowledge of Flames. The black-haired teen went on and on about stupid shit that made next to no sense, and Reborn was nearing the end of his sanity on day one.

"– and what would I have worn to bed anyway? One of your shirts? And what about my school uniform? Would I have to wear a dirty one back to my place tomorrow just to change into something el-"

Something in Reborn snapped, the chains that held the 'Hitman' part of his soul strained as the man lashed out, a hand wrapping tight around the teen's throat, cutting off the annoying sound that would not stop.

"Shut. Up."

Kyoya's eyes widened a touch before narrowing with a predators' grin, murder dancing in unhinged eyes.

"Finally!" The teen growled. The hand on his neck tightened, cutting off air momentarily and bringing him off the ground enough that his toes scrapped the pavement.

"What." The Hitman deadpanned. The hold on those chains loosened, allowing the Hitman to throttle the teen a little before he let Kyoya talk.

"You've been this tamed thing for as long as I've known you in this world, and it's disgusting. Honestly, to see a carnivore that I once looked up to be tamed for the role of a Hero. It's makes me sick." Kyoya chocked out. Reborn pulled hard on those chains and the Hitman was once again hidden. He dropped Kyoya back to the ground, the teen setting his feet down as his smile died.

"Never mind. I guess the carnivore is gone for good." Kyoya grit out as he passed the teacher on the pathway.

"I'm not-"

"Yes, 'Reborn' is there." Kyoya growled as he whipped around, throwing air quotes around the man's name. "But the carnivore is gone."

Reborn growled in return. "This is how you thank me for getting your ass out of that situation? Annoy me and insult me?"

"The Reborn I remember would not have intervened. The Reborn I remember would have let me enjoy my own made chaos. The Reborn I remember would have seen that I was actively trying to get dropped as a student!"

It was the loudest and most expressive Reborn had ever seen Kyoya react. Silence reigned around them for what seemed like forever before Kyoya briskly turned away and continued toward his small apartment. It took him a moment to remember how, but Reborn quickly fell in step with him and followed, continued the silence like it was the only thing holding reality together.

Why was he a Hero? Because it was what Shota wanted? What did he even want? His entire entity, literally 'Reborn' was solely to be a Hitman, a bringer of death, so what was he without it?

'…Reborn?'

Reborn couldn't find it in him to respond, but he melted back to allow Shota to take command. Shota ignored his counter-self's wince as Himura muttered 'Herbivore' under his breath.

Himura opened the door to his apartment with perhaps a bit more force than he had meant, but at least he didn't slam his door in Shota's face, so the teacher took that as a win. He walked in and closed the door quietly behind himself, bending over to take off his shoes as he did.

"What do you want for dinner? I don't have much, but I have rice, and… something."

The small kitchenette was directly off of the entryway, and all Shota could think was that this was going to be a tight fit for the two of them.

'Three, but, yes.'

'Two, because you and I count as one body. And thank god for that, because this space is way too small.'

'How does Kyoya cope with this space anyway? It feels like it would be too small for even just him.'

"Are you done having a conversation with yourself, herbivore?" Himura asked irritated, looking at the man from the corner of his eye as he looked through his kitchenette for food. Shota hummed to himself.

"So that's what it feels like to be called an herbivore… it feels like an insult, Himura."

"Good. That's what it's meant to be."

"You are a very unlikeable child, you know that?"

Himura huffed and ignored him, pulling out the carton of eggs he had in the mini fridge and setting the rice cooker with two portions. Shota watched Himura cook in silence, Reborn taking control of his mouth for quick seconds to blurt out random spices to make the dish better, all of which went unheard.

A few minutes later, Shota found himself sitting across from Himura at a small table in the main room – though calling it a 'main room' was insensitive to actual main rooms, seeing as this was basically a little bigger than a prison cell. The kitchenette was disconnected by a door, another door separating the bathroom/small one-person shower and toilet off the kitchenette. The main room also hosted a small twin bed, a T.V., a desk for homework, and a foldable travel cloth closet for his clothes.

In other words, it was really cramped for just one person. Two was impossible.

'Well, this is going to be fun. How long do you think it's going to be until our apartment is fixed?'

Reborn sighed. 'Two weeks likely. If we pay a personal cleaning crew for just our apartment, we might be back in a week though.'

'Yeah, and how much would a cleaning crew cost us? How high is our savings again?'

'… I mean, we could do it and expense the school. They are the ones that want us to take Kyoya in.'

"I'm not sure why, but watching you have a conversation with yourself is irritating. Stop it." Shota looked up at the impudent teen, sitting across from him and eating omurice as elegantly as any would think impossible for such a meal. Shota bit down on Reborn's instant snarky reply and decided he would play mediator for them. It was a pain, but if he didn't want to live with the teen's sulky behaviour and his other self's salty attitude, he had to do it.

"Himura, I have something I'd like to ask you; do you mind?"

Himura paused in bringing his chopsticks up to glare at Shota a moment, as if assessing the man. After a moment, he gave an effortless, single-shoulder shrug and continued eating.

"Why did you want to be a Hero?" He asked calmly, taking a bite of the surprisingly tasty meal. Himura barely paused between swallowing the food in his mouth and taking another bite.

"Didn't All Might ask that in the meeting? I'm sure I answered sufficiently."

"Yes, you gave a very scripted response, one that I find might not have been true to you when you originally applied for U.A."

"…Meaning what, herbivore?"

"Meaning that I want to know what you wanted from this school, or rather, from this career when you first thought about joining. I don't want to know why you would go about being a Hero as you feel now, I want the truth."

"You think I was lying?"

"No, not at all," Shota back-peddled, holding up his chopsticks in surrender. Himura growled at him. 'He doesn't like that gesture; it makes him feel like you're challenging him.' Reborn supplied helpfully.

'What is he, a wild animal?'

'I mean, aren't we all technically wild animals?'

Shota brought his hands down nevertheless and continued. "No, I meant the truth to you at that time, not the truth now. You made that second one very clear in the meeting."

Himura stopped glaring and looked down at his food contemplatively, moving the last bit of his dinner around the plate. It took him a few minutes, but just as Shota was about to call it quits and collect the dishes to wash them, Himura spoke, so quietly Shota almost missed it.

"I… wanted to prove that being Quirkless was not the same as being powerless and weak."

"Did someone say that you were?" Himura wouldn't meet Shota's eyes, a snarl popping up on his face.

"Never to my face, but I'm not deaf. I heard the rumors. That my mother was depressed because I'm powerless, that my father was disappointed in my weakness, that no matter how hard I struggle, I'll never be enough. Poor. Me." The last two words were ground out from between his teeth, his grip on his chopsticks so tight the disposable wood snapped in several places.

'Ah, that actually explains a lot.'

'Indeed. Even when he was a teenager the first time, his strength was never questioned. This must be a shock for him.'

"And this was a way to prove you could do everything they said you couldn't?"

Himura nodded.

"I see… so, why do you want to become a Villain now?"

Himura's head snapped up to the man so quick, for a moment Shota worried for the teen's neck. Himura's eyes were wide, both surprised and questioning.

"What? Did you think Reborn and I can't hear and see what goes on around us when were not in control?" Shota smirked as the teen blushed with the barest hint of red of the tops of his cheekbones. The teacher dismissed it in favor of this conversation.

He or Reborn would bring it up later for Blackmail.

"You tried to get dropped as a student, but you refused to even acknowledge that you could drop yourself form the course. Probably because that would go against you as a person, and it would seem like you really were weak to the other people from your hometown if you quit, right?"

"Is Reborn feeding you what to say to me?" Himura accused, narrowing his eyes. Shota sighed a small huff of breath – this was the reaction he had hoped he would get, as opposed to the fight he had half expected from 'accusing' Himura of being weak.

"No, he isn't. He's actually being quiet for once, it's nice."

'Ho? Is that how you feel?' the 'snark' was real there.

'Shut up Reborn.'

"But honestly, Himura, why do you think being a Villain now would do what being a Hero wouldn't? Because you're right, it would, but it's not the way to gain pride from the people you're trying to tell to fuck off."

"… They would fear me, if I'm a Villain."

Shota nodded sagely, as if that was the answer he was expecting – and it was actually, the answer he was expecting. "Do you want them to fear you? Why do you want them to fear you?"

Himura took another moment to pause and consider his answer, and Shota took that as his chance to gather up the plates and take them back to the kitchenette to wash them.

"I want them to fear me," Himura said from behind him, and it took all Shota's inner control not to scream. When the hell had Himura snuck up behind him?!

"I want them to fear me, because then, no one will even underestimate me. They won't see 'Quirkless', they'll see me."

Shota tossed a towel over his shoulder at the teen, 'accidentally' smacking him in the face with it. Himura growled lowly but stood next to him with the towel in his hands, ready to accept the first dish to start drying.

"I know it's useless to say this, as I'm sure you know it already, but you can do that as a Hero too." Himura huffed but stayed silent for the few minutes it took to wash, dry and put the dishes away.

Himura pulled out a coffee maker and set it out on the counter, pulling a couple mugs down and starting up a small pot.

"What made you want to be a Hero?"

The words were quiet, but sudden in the previous silence, and Shota just gazed down at the floor in his memories.

"When I was… 10? Yeah, about 10, I saw a couple of kids fighting. 3 on 1, odds were good the three were bullying the other kid, but I was just going to walk past them. I was a kid, the same age as them, and with my Quirk, I would get just as beaten up if I tried to help… this bullied kid had a beautiful fire Quirk – he could make shapes with the flames; works of art that never burned other people. The leader of the other kids had a fire Quirk too, but he was mostly just good at punching things and kicking things, and he often got over shadowed by the other kids beautiful art." Shota paused, because this was a part of the story he didn't like telling, but he knew that opening up like this was something that Himura needed, so he pressed on.

"I didn't do anything. The art kid's Quirk wasn't meant for battle, and mine could have stopped it all, but I couldn't do anything but watch as this bully gave such horrible burns to the art kid… someone called the cops at some point, but it was too late. The kid died a week later due to the complications from his burns, and I don't know what happened to the other kid, but we were 10, so probably juvie or something. But I didn't do anything. I could have saved that kid, but I didn't."

Another pause as Himura poured coffee into two mugs.

"So, you became a Hero to atone for something you were not at fault for?"

Shota let a small smile fold over his lips as he accepted the mug. He spoke as he added sugar to his hot drink, wishing Himura had crème he could add as well. "More like, I became a Hero to stop it from happening again – where I can do something about a situation most couldn't."

There was another moment of quiet between them as they drank their coffee.

"You know, it's weird."

"What is?" Himura sounded irritated that the silence had been interrupted, but no where near as irritated as he had before. Shota looked up at him with warmth in his eyes – it wasn't a look he often gave.

"I didn't like coffee at all before Reborn. Now… I can't get enough of the stuff."

Himura huffed a small laugh into his mug. "I'm sure he would prefer Espresso much more than regular coffee," he glanced back at the counter, "With sugar in it of all things."

"I can't stand Espresso. And I need sugar and crème, it's too bitter without it all." Shota huffed a laugh, ignoring Reborn scoffing in his head.

'You did NOT just say that in my presence.'

'And how else am I supposed to say it? We are literally together all the time. We're the same person.'

'But are we really?'

'Please. Please don't start this again. I'm still confused ever since you last brought this up.'

"Your face is weird when you have conversations with Reborn. Stop."

The night was… awkward. Shota laughed and very quickly forced Reborn to take over when it was reviled that Himura only had a very small spare futon that the teacher could use. (So small, it was literally just enough room for one person to flip over – hell, Shota swore he had more room in his sleeping bags.) And worse, the only way the room was big enough for the two of them was for Kyoya to flip his bed frame, his box-spring, and his table onto their sides, on the small balcony, and lay his mattress side-by-side with Reborn's futon.

They were literally back to back.

Reborn, shameless, ditched all but his undershirt, boxers, and socks, and laid down without so much as a 'goodnight' to his host. Kyoya was laying in his pajamas, his blanket tucked between them and acting as a childish barrier for the night. They had taken turns changing while the other was one the phone with the Police officer for Kyoya's new nightly routine of reports.

"You're figuring out how to expense the school to move us into a hotel by tomorrow night. Or else."

Reborn snickered. "I am, am I?"

"Yes."

Kyoya spoke in traditional Chinese – mainly because the word 'yes' sounded like the Japanese word for 'die'. 'Shi'

The silence stretched between them for a long while – so long, Kyoya wondered for if the former hitman had gone to sleep. A shift alerted him to the fact that the other man was awake, possibly irately, and quietly asked something that had been on his mind for a little more than a day.

"All Might is like, 10 years older than you, right?"

It was a long moment before Reborn answered him. "…Uh… I guess so? He's never really told anyone how old he is, but I think so. Why?"

"Just… thinking out loud here for a moment – stating facts."

"Ok?"

"So," Kyoya began, flipping over to face his ceiling. "I died on a battle-field. Tsuna and Hayato and Takeshi were with me. Chrome was in Russia looking for Mukuro, whom had disappeared two years prior. Ryohei was in France, watching over Haru, Kyoko, and Hana. Lambo was in China with I-pin, learning how to 'master his chi' or something with Fon."

Reborn rolled over to face Kyoya, squishing the blanket wall to see the teen's face. "Ok? So what are-"

"Chrome, Tsuna, Takeshi, Hayato, Ryohei, and Haru are all my current classmates, and that Villain with the hands that looked about two years older than me? That was Mukuro. You're 16 years older than me here." Kyoya turned just his head to Reborn. "You died 16 years before me."

Reborn cocked an eyebrow (which looked really funny sideways) "You can't be suggesting-"

"All Might is Iemitsu."

Reborn narrowed his eyes and scrunched up his eyebrows, before realization dawned on him. "Iemitsu died 10 years before I did." Kyoya nodded and turned back to face the ceiling.

"I think Time between our two worlds is relative. Not the same, but relatively close."

"Not the same?"

"Tsuna, Hayato and Takeshi all died with me on that battle-field. Probably. But we don't have the same birthdays in this world."

Another pause and Reborn turned to his back, deep in thought. "I have a question."

"Aren't you the teacher?"

"Hush. But really, how do you know who's who?"

Kyoya scrunched his eyebrows together for a moment and sat up, leaning on an arm to look down at the man. "What?"

"You heard me. I have to use my Quirk just to see someone's Flames – a can't even sense them anymore. I have to see them to tell what Flame a person has."

"… Seriously?" It was a genuine question Kyoya asked, and he was weirded out by squeaky it came out. Reborn laughed at him but nodded in response.

"Seriously. So how do you know… Why are you holding my hand?"

Kyoya had grabbed Reborn's hand to thrust his Flames at the man, and force them to mingle with the former hitman's stunted Sun. But Reborn was acting like he couldn't feel the attack. Kyoya was literally pulling apart a piece from the man's soul, and Reborn couldn't feel it?

What?

Kyoya dropped Reborn's hand and smoothed out the man's left-over Flames as he let go. He wasn't scared that the most Flame sensitive man he had ever known hadn't felt the attack. Really. "I… I know by touch. I can feel when another's Flames are familiar to me – it's how I know so many of my classmates are my Familia from my past life… you couldn't feel that? At all?"

"Feel what? You holding my hand? Not going to lie, that was-"

"I was attacking your Sun Flames with my Cloud. You couldn't feel it?" The last bit was ground out in desperation, and Kyoya needed the man to say that he had been joking, that he had felt it and that Kyoya was being foolish to think he hadn't.

But Reborn's eyes widened before he abruptly sat up into a meditative pose. Kyoya let him search himself a moment. When the man looked down at his hand in shock, the teen's heart sank.

"I… I didn't notice. At all." Reborn clenched his hand into a fist. Then, like a sudden light switch, his posture shifted, and Aizawa-sensei looked back over his shoulder at Kyoya.

"So, since you sent Reborn into a mild panic attack, want to fill me in on what just happened?"

"I thought you and Reborn can see and hear things even when not in control?"

Aizawa frowned. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I understand all this fire shit."

Kyoya sighed out, "Flames. Dying Will Flames." He laid back down, Aizawa mimicking him and he talked for the next few minutes about all the knowledge he had about the Different kinds of Flames and what, exactly, he had just done to Reborn – and Aizawa, technically.

"You know, Himura, if I wasn't so tired, I'd be angry at you for that."

Kyoya lapsed into silence for another moment. "Hey, sensei? Can you pass Reborn a message for me? About the meeting and what he did for me?"

"Sure. What's up?"

Kyoya snuggled deeper into his pillow, his back to the teacher. "'Thank you.'"

Whelp. That's a chapter.

Everyone seems to think Mineta is Lambo… not gunna confirm or deny, but yall are in for a shock.

Ok, I love you, Bi-Bye!