thanks again to Plume85 for the review hehe!

sorry for the late chapter y'all, hope you enjoy nevertheless.

Chapter 7: Why I Don't Understand Men

"So it's you."

What, no attacking-on-sight this time? That's… unexpected.

Rather than meeting him on the way to his residence like our first encounter, I had successfully reached Hibari's house and knocked on the door. I didn't expect him to open the door though, considering his house was big and extravagant and looked like he probably had servants of some sort, yet he remained the person that stood in front of me.

Already forgetting how I used to treat him when I wasn't screaming at him to leave me alone, I gave an awkward smile. "Here, Hibari. Your order." I handed him the box, and that was when I was able to really look at him and realize that he was wearing… a kinagashi. I blinked. "It suits you, strangely." He frowned at me, and I blinked, laughing awkwardly. "Oh, I'm talking about your kinagashi. I didn't think anyone would really suit a kinagashi in our modern world, but it just fits on you. Like it belongs." Realizing how cringy I sounded, I started to ramble again, "I mean of course it would fit on you, you own it after all, and you do live in this really traditional house so I'm sure your whole family wears it, but I don't know I just thought that I should mention it I mean it's something that I wasn't really expecting after all and here you were, wearing a kina…ga… shi…?"

I found my voice trail off from the sight in front of me.

Hibari's eyes had widened by just a little bit and a very very slight tint of red was on his cheeks. Before I could permanently record it in my brain however, he averted his eyes and took the takeout box from me. "Hn... don't be late for your duties tomorrow, Izanami." And then the door shut.

My eyes widened, and I just stood there for another minute before feeling my heart fluttering.

…Did he just call me by my name?

That experience was not the first of many, much to my disappointment. In fact, that was the last time I saw such a different side of Hibari. After that, his old demeanor seemed to have returned full swing, which was annoying on all accounts. Rather than simply accepting the damn food he ordered, he constantly demanded we spar, as he heard from Reborn that the "training" I received from Tsuyoshi-san had made me "evolve" into a carnivore.

What am I, some sort of Pokemon?!

And I didn't even receive training, I just got some pointers!

My happiness of being called my first name by Hibari was short-lived as now the name he called me was-

"Carnivore, you've finally shown your fangs."

…Can soft Hibari come back please?

Seriously, what about that name is supposed to make me happy?

I ducked his swing, at this point purely relying on my reflexes. "Fangs? What fangs? I'm just here to deliver your food! Can't you just civilly accept it-Hie!"

I fled, creating a substantial amount of distance between us before glaring at him. "Do you really have to do this every time I deliver your food?! I have to work, you know! I don't appreciate getting money for my job when rather than working, I'm spending my work hours with you! If you're going to keep doing this, don't order food as an excuse to spar with me, you adrenaline-crazy asshole!" Hibari narrowed his eyes, and I put out my fists in defense, confused of what about my statement had ticked him off. "W-what?!"

"You're bleeding."

I blinked. "What?" I panicked. "W-where?!" I looked at my arms and legs, and then finally felt my cheek. There was a cut. Although it was a very slight one, it had still managed to draw blood, and so I was bleeding. I released a sigh of relief. "That's it? You made me think it was my head or something, geez Hibari."

He dropped his battle stance, to which I became wary of, but rather than approaching me he instead grabbed his food and headed inside his home.

Huh?

And it was the same for all encounters after - Hibari would draw blood somehow or another and he'd just accept his food and 'hn' his ass inside his home. It left me confused, for the most part. Wasn't his aim to 'bite me to death'? If he couldn't even draw blood, what was the point of him approaching me in the first place?

…Not that I want him to continue sparring with me, I appreciated having fully-functioning body parts, as a matter of fact. It just... surprised me. Was Hibari Kyoya really the bloodthirsty demon of Namimori that his reputation held him as?

Hibari Kyoya... Just what is going on inside your head?

I realized I hadn't seen Takeshi and Tsuyoshi-san within proximity of each other for awhile. Granted, I only saw the two when I was working, but I was worried now. Just what exactly did they talk about, and why in the world weren't they talking?

It didn't take long for me to figure out, however - as soon as I stepped into the vicinity of the Yamamoto kendo dojo, I heard yelling and clashes of wood.

So Takeshi is learning kendo…?

Letting my curiosity get to me, I peeked inside the dojo, only to see Takeshi training by himself with wooden dummies. What startled me, though, was that he had a real katana in his hands, not the bamboo sword that was usually used for kendo.

Whether it was that Takeshi had sensed me there or because I stayed there for too long, Takeshi ceased his training and turned to me with confusion. "Nee-chan? What are you doing here?"

I blinked, and I sent him an awkward smile, holding up the takeout box I held in my hand. "I was just about to go make my deliveries, but I heard someone in the dojo so I wanted to check it out. It turned out to be you, huh?"

"Oh. Yeah." He seemed to realize he was holding a katana in his hands, and before I knew it it had transformed back into its bamboo form. At this my eyes widened, and Takeshi immediately tried to explain, "Uh Nee-chan, you see I-"

"Are you slacking off, Takeshi?" cut in Tsuyoshi-san's stern voice from behind me. I turned to see him, dressed in appropriate attire for kendo, and saw a foreign seriousness in my usually cheery boss. At the sight of me his face softened. "Ah, Nami-chan. Did you perhaps come here to check on Takeshi?"

"Yeah…" I looked at Takeshi, who seemed to have lost his cheeriness at the sight of his father, and turned to Tsuyoshi-san, who seemed to be faking his smile so that I didn't see his mafia persona. I internally sighed. Looks like they have a long way to go to patch things up again. I sent a smile to both of them. "I'll head out, then. Good look with training, Takeshi."

Really… men.